Other Engineering Commons^™

Addressing Mercury Contamination From Artisanal Gold Mining In Colombia: Pollution Exposure, Health Risk, And Educational Efforts In The Communities Of La Toma, Colombia, Kelli Mccourt

All Dissertations

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) has become a primary environmental and public health concern in the region of Colombia known as Alto Cauca. The predominantly Afro-descendent communities of Yolombó and La Toma in Alto Cauca have experienced pollution linked to the use of mercury in the ASGM process. For the past decade, mercury has emerged as a contaminant of increasing concern in the communities due to its toxicity and ability to bioaccumulate and biomagnify. Likewise, mining in the region raises concerns over the leaching of metals into local waters. Given the complexity of risk and pollution in the communities, …

Interaction In Games: Custom Driving Controller, Christian Crank

Symposium of Student Scholars

The problem I am trying to solve pertains to the high entry costs and the requirements to fully enjoy driving games. Driving games always sound like a fun experience, but without the right controller the game feels lackluster, uncomfortable, and not quite immersive. The problem is, if someone wants a gaming experience that makes the game feel natural and sensory, they may need to drop hundreds to thousands of dollars. Furthermore, they don’t even know if the expensive equipment will provide them with the experience they want. These expensive controllers are set up in a way to be universal and …

Interaction In Games: Digital Board Game Hybrid, Ryan Whisenhunt, Logan Haines

Symposium of Student Scholars

The realm of digital board game hybrids is a relatively new field, and a majority of games currently use computerization for casual board games or accentuating flavor. There is still plenty of room to use these ideas for more complex board games and means. In this study, we explore the avenues in which digital implementation of physical games can provide a streamlined and accessible gameplay experience. Participants in the study will be given a chance to play a short version of the game. A retrospective will be conducted after, where respondents are interviewed on how well the computer supported the …

Organic Electronics In Biosensing: A Promising Frontier For Medical And Environmental Applications, Jyoti Bala Kaushal, Pratima Raut, Sanjay Kumar

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

The promising field of organic electronics has ushered in a new era of biosensing technology, thus offering a promising frontier for applications in both medical diagnostics and environmental monitoring. This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of organic electronics’ remarkable progress and potential in biosensing applications. It explores the multifaceted aspects of organic materials and devices, thereby highlighting their unique advantages, such as flexibility, biocompatibility, and low-cost fabrication. The paper delves into the diverse range of biosensors enabled by organic electronics, including electrochemical, optical, piezoelectric, and thermal sensors, thus showcasing their versatility in detecting biomolecules, pathogens, and environmental pollutants. Furthermore, …

Furthering Development Of Smart Fabrics To Improve The Accessibility Of Music Therapy, Ellie Nguyen, Daisy Z. Fernandez-Reyes, Franceli L. Cibrian

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

In this paper, we present the design and development of HarmonicThreads, a smart, cost-effective fabric augmented by generative machine learning algorithms to create music in real time according to the user's interaction. In this manner, we hypothesize that individuals with sensory differences could take advantage of the fabric's flexibility, the music will adapt according to users' interaction, and the affordable hardware we propose will make it more accessible. We follow a design thinking methodology using data from a multidisciplinary team in Mexico and the United States. Then we will close this paper by discussing challenges in developing accessible smart fabrics …

Self-Dual Systems For Backscattering Cancellation, Nasim Mohammadi Estrakhri

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Using carefully arranged electric and magnetic components, we have recently demonstrated that backscattering from otherwise arbitrarily shaped two- and three-dimensional structures can be fully eliminated. Here, first we investigate the possibility of creating self-dual microwave absorbers that may provide advantages compared to typical commercial magnetoelectric absorbers. Next, we demonstrate that the self-duality condition is not limited to homogenous structures and may be extended to effective material properties, opening the door to realistic implementation of these structures at microwave and optical frequencies.

Introduction To Vacuum Technology, David M. Hata, Elena V. Brewer, Nancy J. Louwagie

Milne Open Textbooks

Vacuum systems are critical to many industries. They are vital to establishing required process pressures, establishing a clean process environment, and removing reaction by-products from the process chamber. This text, a revision and expansion of David Hata’s Introduction to Vacuum Technology published in 2008, addresses basic topics in vacuum technology for individuals tasked with maintaining vacuum systems and instructors teaching technician-level courses. The topics are carefully curated to the needs of technicians in a production environment and the types of vacuum systems used, and the accompanying laboratory manual and instructor’s guide support the delivery of lecture-laboratory courses.

This book approaches …

Adaptive Octree Meshes For Simulation Of Extracellular Electrophysiology, Christopher Bc Girard, Dong Song

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Objective. The interaction between neural tissues and artificial electrodes is crucial for understanding and advancing neuroscientific research and therapeutic applications. However, accurately modeling this space around the neurons rapidly increases the computational complexity of neural simulations. Approach. This study demonstrates a dynamically adaptive simulation method that greatly accelerates computation by adjusting spatial resolution of the simulation as needed. Use of an octree structure for the mesh, in combination with the admittance method for discretizing conductivity, provides both accurate approximation and ease of modification on-the-fly. Main results. In tests of both local field potential estimation and multi-electrode stimulation, dynamically adapted meshes …

Investigations On Potassium Penta Borate Based Semi-Organic Materials For Nonlinear Optical Applications, Kamatchi K

Theses and Dissertations

Crystal growth has attained the pinnacle of a point in the current research owing to the requirement of the single crystals in the frontier field of nonlinear optics. Organic crystals exhibit high transparency, high laser damage threshold and de-localized π electron cloud. But they possess weak mechanical stability. In contrast, the inorganic crystals exhibit magnanimous mechanical and thermal properties but have modest nonlinear optical property. If we combine these two materials, then we can obtain the semi-organic materials.

Among the organic materials, the amino acids are chosen and they are mixed with inorganic material potassium penta borate octa hydrate. They …

A Comparison Of Ground Reaction Forces And Muscle Activity Of The Tsunami Bar® Against A Rigid Barbell During Back Squat Phases, John Carver Middleton

Theses and Dissertations

An Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved study was conducted to investigate the effects of the Tsunami Bar® (TB), a flexible barbell, on ground reaction force (GRF) production and muscle activity in the quadricep, hamstring, and gluteal muscle groups during phases of the squat exercise and compare the effects to the effects to using a rigid barbell (RB). A two-by-two repeated measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test was used to compare the results. Descriptive statistics showed significantly higher GRFs for the TB during the unweighting phase, significant differences in GRFs between speeds for each phase, significantly higher forces on average with the …

All Hands On Deck: Choosing Virtual End Effector Representations To Improve Near Field Object Manipulation Interactions In Extended Reality, Roshan Venkatakrishnan

All Dissertations

Extended reality, or "XR", is the adopted umbrella term that is heavily gaining traction to collectively describe Virtual reality (VR), Augmented reality (AR), and Mixed reality (MR) technologies. Together, these technologies extend the reality that we experience either by creating a fully immersive experience like in VR or by blending in the virtual and "real" worlds like in AR and MR.

The sustained success of XR in the workplace largely hinges on its ability to facilitate efficient user interactions. Similar to interacting with objects in the real world, users in XR typically interact with virtual integrants like objects, menus, windows, …

High-Power Laser Cooling And Temperature-Dependent Fluorescence Studies Of Ytterbium Doped Silica, Brian Topper

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

Experimental observation of optical refrigeration using ytterbium doped silica glass in recent years has created a new solution for heat mitigation in high-power laser systems, nonlinear fiber experiments, integrated photonics, and precision metrology. Current efforts of different groups focus on compositional optimization, fiber fabrication, and investigating how much silica can be cooled with a laser. At the start of this work, the best effort in laser cooling ytterbium doped silica saw cooling by 6 K from room temperature. This dissertation follows the experimental efforts that culminated in the increase of this initial record by one order of magnitude. Comprehensive spectroscopic …

Examining Biological Algal Harvest For Use In Clemson University’S Algal Carbon Capture System Using Freshwater Mussel Elliptio Complanata, Jack Grimes

All Theses

Capture of atmospheric carbon by freshwater algae is being proposed in Clemson University’s outdoor algal carbon capture system, formerly described as the Partitioned Aquaculture System (Drapcho and Brune, 2000). Several algal species have been present in the system, depending on cultivation conditions. However, mechanical harvesting of the algae has proven difficult because of the cost of chemical flocculants, the energy cost of filtration due to small particle size of algae, and the relatively dilute algal cell concentrations in the system. Prior research on algal filtration by freshwater mussels has indicated its potential for use as a biological filter. This research …

The Effect Of Package Types On Fresh Peaches In The Direct-To-Consumer Distribution Environment, Brennan Lytle

All Theses

The direct-to-consumer (DTC) shipping mode presents new opportunity for fresh peach sales in North America where demand over the past four decades has steadily declined. The hazards in this distribution mode are severe, and fresh peaches are fragile emphasizing the need for proper protection. A full analysis that not only encompasses the effects of the direct-to-consumer distribution environment, but also incorporates analyses of the environmental and economic impact of the packages utilized for transit of peaches is necessary. In this study, we use the metrics of peach grade, firmness, soluble solids concentration, and percent softness before and after the distribution …

Effect Of Heat Input On Microstructure And Mechanical Properties Of Submerged Arc Welded Sm570-Tmc Steel, Toni Yuhandri, Winarto Winarto, Diana Natalia

Journal of Materials Exploration and Findings

SM570TMC is high-strength steel (HSS), which is commonly used in structures that require higher-strength components. In this research, submerged arc welding (SAW)-welded SM570 TMC steels' microstructure and mechanical characteristics were examined. SM570 plates with 12mm thickness were multi-pass welded by using a 3.0 mm diameter of ESAB OK Autrod 13.40 (AWS A5.23: EG) filler metal. The joint design is a single V multi-pass butt weld with a backing strip. Two welded joints were prepared by using heat inputs of 2.2 and 2.9 kJ/mm. The microstructures of two welded joints were observed by using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM). …

The Plastics Collection Reference Packet, Special Collections Research Center

Special Collections Research Center

This reference packet is an informational tool to support further research into the history of plastics—whether interested in companies, individuals within the plastics industry's history, historical plastics materials, essays, and more. All content featured within this packet was previously published on the former plastics.syr.edu website as part of a Syracuse University Libraries and Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) partnership established in 2007 with the Plastics Pioneers Association (PPA)—an association of plastics industry professionals interested in preserving the plastics industry's past.

An Effective Heuristic To Reduce Total Flowtime For Randomly-Structured Flowshop Problems, Arun John Abraham

Theses

We propose a heuristic to reduce total flowtime in a six-job, four-machine permutation flowshop scheduling problem. This work contributes to the prolific research efforts reported in the permutation flowshop scheduling problem (PFSP).

The heuristic was applied to 102 randomly structured flowshop scheduling problems, with job processing times generated using an integer uniform distribution in the interval [1,100]. The results of computational experiments were deemed satisfactory after being evaluated by using the ordinal and percentile ranks of the resulting total flowtime for the six jobs.

A Bridged Cybersecurity Curriculum With Embedded Stackable Credentials, Fitratullah Khan, Ala Qubbaj, Laura Saenz, Liyu Zhang

Informatics and Engineering Systems Faculty Publications

Supported by a federal grant, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) streamlined the Bachelor of Science in Cyber Security (BSCS) and Master of Science in Informatics (MSIN) whereby each degree is broken down into embedded stackable credentials, with a fast-track 4+1 option for students to complete both degrees in 5 years. This paper provides a blueprint of the bridged undergraduate and graduate curriculum integrated to provide embedded stackable credentials with fast-track 4+1 option bridging the two degrees. Most of the major-core of BSCS is divided into three embedded stackable credentials, namely, Cyber Security Basics Certificate, Cyber Security Systems …

Gold(I)-Hydroarylation In Polymer Modification – Alkynes And Alkenes With Unexpected Reactivity, Samuel B. Hunt

Dissertations

Polymer modification is crucial for developing new properties and materials from recalcitrant waste polymers. Synthetically, polymers possess a chemical inertness that renders their functionalization challenging. Specifically, the omnipresence of C–H bonds in all commercial polymers endows their chemical resistance. Thus, developments in C–H activation chemistry are crucial to polymer diversification processes and allow for fundamental insight into the role of material processing conditions on novel chemical reactions. Au(I)-chemistry has recently come to the fore owing to a unique chemical reactivity nonexistent with other transition metals. The alkynophilicity of Au(I), in tandem with their insensitivity to common polymer processing conditions (air, …

Toward Low Carbon Footprint And Lightweight Masonry Alkali-Activated Material, Zina Ebrahim, Mohammad Mastali, Marc Maguire

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

The portland cement concrete industry and the masonry industry are undergoing changes in response to skilled labor shortages and concerns over climate and pollution. There may be interest from parts of the industry in lower carbon footprint and lightweight masonry products. Toward this aim, the use of hemp shiv--the woody core of the hemp plant--in alkali-activated concrete was investigated herein and shown to have a wide range of impacts on the hardened state characteristics of a material suitable for structural concrete masonry units (CMUs) in accordance with ASTM C90 requirements. Hemp shiv is well known for its use in hempcrete, …

Fire Protection And Life Safety Analysis Of The Illinois Department Of Transportation (Idot) District Six Headquarters Building, Karl Mallinger

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

Enclosed in this report is a comprehensive analysis of the fire protection and life safety components of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) District Six Headquarters building. The original building was constructed in 1972 and renovation operations were recently completed in 2022. The building is four stories in height with an aggregate floor area of approximately 69,300 square feet. The building functions as an office space for IDOT staff, therefore the majority of floor space is used as open office and private office space. The business spaces are supported by assembly spaces such as conference and break rooms on each …

Building San Francisco, Ca, Kevin Nguyen

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

The objective of this report is to conduct a thorough analysis and evaluation of the existing fire life safety and fire protection systems in place at the Building located in San Francisco, California. The building is classified as a Type II-A building and serves predominantly as office space. The building is six stories tall with a total gross area of approximately 97,170 SF.

The initial portion of this report concentrates on a thorough prescriptive-based analysis, which provides an evaluation of the egress design, fire alarm system, communication systems, fire suppression system, structural and construction design, smoke control, and flammability requirements. …

Analysis Of Scramento State University Union, Zachary Schuler

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

Sacramento State Union is a centrally located building with a large occupant load during the school year. This building is a 239,000-square-foot three-story structure built originally back in 1975. This original building was constructed using waffle slab construction. Additions in 1996 and 2016 were built using steel beam and girder construction to meet the total square footage we have today. This mixed-use occupancy is not only a congregation point, but many events are held in this building as well.

In this analysis of the building, fire life safety systems are reviewed and determined if they not only meet the minimum …

University Of Washington Bill & Melinda Gates Center For Computer Science & Engineering, Devin Ide

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

The purpose of this report is to analyze and evaluate the prescriptive and performance-based criteria used to design the fire protection systems installed in the Gates Center for Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle Campus. The Gates Center is a five-story building housing business and assembly spaces such as classrooms, workrooms, offices, a lecture hall, event center, and a café. The main architectural feature is a central atrium, which connects the ground, first, second, and third floors of the building.

Aspects of the prescriptive-based fire protection design include egress, automatic sprinkler systems, detection and notification devices, …

Fire Protection And Life Safety Analysis Of The 2704-Hv Hanford Building, Guillermo Rodriguez

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

This report analyzes multiple aspects of fire protection and life safety design for the 2704-HV Building located at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation Site in Washington State. The analysis contained within focuses on both prescriptive and performance-based designs for the fire systems within the structure. The 2704-HV building is a two-story office building containing approximately 90 individual full-office spaces on each floor along with approximately 60 individual cubicle office spaces on each floor. There are various other types of gathering spaces within the 2704-HV layout including: conference rooms, showers, kitchen and dining areas, training rooms, and lobbies.

The 2704-HV building was …

Fire And Life Safety Evaluation Of An Assisted Living And Memory Care Center, Sarah Chandonait

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

This culminating project has been submitted as part of the graduate program in Fire Protection Engineering at Cal Poly. It documents an Assisted Living and Memory Care Center’s compliance with applicable fire safety prescriptions contained in the 2019 California Building and Fire Codes (CBC and CFC). Performance-based methods incorporating deterministic design fires were then used to verify that the final building design and operating procedures met the life safety needs of its unique occupants.

The building under analysis was a 45,000 sq. ft, two-story, 58-bed residential care facility for the elderly. Occupants were all 60 years or older without acute …

Fire Protection Analysis Of A K-12 Classroom Building, Raymond Yip

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

The report evaluates the fire protection features of a K-12 classroom building (Bldg. B) in San Bernardino County, California. Bldg. B is a two-story Type V-A light timber frame construction. At the time of this report’s composition, Bldg. B is undergoing modernization construction. The fire protection analysis of this building consists of prescriptive and performance portions.

The prescriptive analysis verifies the compliance of building egress, passive, and active protection features with the 2019 edition of California Codes of Regulations Title 24 (Title 24) and Title 24-adopted National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards. The analysis comprises of four sections: egress, structural …

Iris Island Culminating Project Report, Cory Wolf

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

This report covers an analysis of each component of the fire protection system within the Iris Island building. The Iris Island building contains several unique features such as a three-story monumental stair on Levels 1 through 3. It also contains several mock court rooms and lecture rooms on Levels 2 and 3 as well as a two-story library on Levels 4 and 5. This document begins with a description of the prescriptive requirements for this building as required by the 2018 edition of the International Building Code. Analysis is performed for the egress systems, the fire resistive construction, the fire …

A Fire Protection And Life Safety Analysis Of An Oupatient Healthcare System Building, Conrad Chandler

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

The subject building of the report is an outpatient healthcare system building that is a two stories in height and 184,670 SF building. This building offers primary, specialty, and mental health outpatient care to patients throughout its state of location.

The facility is a mixed occupancy building with business as the primary occupancy, a surgery suite that classifies as an ambulatory health care occupancy, and assembly uses in the conference rooms, kitchen, and canteen. The Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) has adopted the National Fire Codes (NFC) published by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and throughout this report, the life …

Graphite: Open Source 2d Graphics Editor, Christopher H. Mendoza, Oliver A. Dolan

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Graphite is an open source 2D graphics editor aiming to provide a useful alternative to the Adobe product suite while integrating modern ideas from research and industry, including a node-based procedural approach that makes the design process fully non-destructive. Tools from the VFX and gamedev industry like Nuke, Houdini, and Substance Designer have proven the power and flexibility of node-based systems, but they are each lacking in their user experience because of the deep level of complexity that is not abstracted into simpler concepts for users (Adobe Systems, SideFX, The Foundry Visionmongers Ltd., n.d.). Graphite puts the node-based core into …