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Title: MODELS AND SIMULATIONS OF SPROUTING ANGIOGENESIS
Creator: Langman, Catherine
Date: 2016, 2016-05
Description: All living mammalian cells need to consume oxygen and nutrients for cellular processes and need a way to remove waste from those cellular...
Show moreAll living mammalian cells need to consume oxygen and nutrients for cellular processes and need a way to remove waste from those cellular processes. Capillary networks provide places for such exchanges to occur. The process of creating new capillaries from existing blood vessels is called angiogenesis. Understanding angiogenesis is critical to the advancement of knowledge in the life sciences, as well as in medical applications where blood vessels play an important role. Angiogenesis is a complex process composed of many subprocesses which are not yet fully understood and take place over varying temporal and spatial scales. Mathematically modeling and simulating angiogenesis, and evaluating the capillary networks that result from angiogenesis, can help further understanding of angiogenesis and improve therapeutic treatments. This thesis examines mathematical models and simulations of sprouting angiogenesis and proposes two generic models of sprouting angiogenesis based on descriptions found in educational and scientific literature. Future research opportunities for scientific study and educational study using these models as a starting place are discussed.
M.S. in Applied Mathematics, May 2016
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Title: MATERIAL INVENTORY CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN CONSTRUCTION USING GIS APPLICATIONS AND A "HYBRID" TRACKING SYSTEM
Creator: Le, Kiet Tuan
Date: 2017, 2017-05
Description: Material inventory control and management is simply the process by which an organization is supplied with the goods and services that it needs...
Show moreMaterial inventory control and management is simply the process by which an organization is supplied with the goods and services that it needs to achieve its objectives of buying, storing and moving materials. There are usually plenty of materials in a construction site. A large amount of stored materials can meet unexpected demands, and can prevent future purchases that can be affected by an escalation of material prices. However, a large amount of stored materials can also cause negative impacts such as increased costs for storing redundant inventory, and decreased construction productivity. Therefore, a proper material inventory control and management system is critical for economy and efficiency in construction projects. A material inventory control and management system consists of two main elements: inventory control and inventory management. Inventory control is the process of monitoring the flow of materials on the construction site beginning when materials are received from manufacturers and ending when those materials are used in production. Inventory management is the practice overseeing and managing the ordering, storage and use of materials on the construction site. In this study, an automated material inventory control and management system is developed using Geographical Information System (GIS) applications and a “hybrid” tracking system to identify the need for materials, order, track, transport, store, control the inventory, circulate on site, and incorporate into production. The proposed system allows users to have access to real-time information about the materials on the construction such as: the arrival of materials, the amount of materials received, the status of materials (either in storage area or in-production), and the up-to-date information about site stocks. Furthermore, the system provides users the ability to make correct and timely decisions regarding materials on the construction site.
Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, May 2017
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Title: THERMAL ANALYSIS OF PM MACHINES FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Creator: La Marca, Frank
Date: 2016, 2016-07
Description: As demand grows for electrification of the automotive industry, the need for a traction motor becomes imperative. There has been considerable...
Show moreAs demand grows for electrification of the automotive industry, the need for a traction motor becomes imperative. There has been considerable effort by electric machine manufacturers to develop and build a traction motor that meets the speci- fications of the automobile industry. One of the limiting factors in the design of an electric automobile is the thermal performance of a traction motor. This thesis focuses on thermal analysis of an electric machine with a major focus on a machine that operates in an automotive environment. Thermal analysis of the electric machine will be focus on the analysis of an electric machine that is used in a FSAE electric racecar. Theory behind various thermal extraction methods are reviewed, including heat transfer and the fluid dynamics of an electric machine. Thermal modeling methods are also investigated, including analytical methods and numerical methods such as finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics. The importance of thermal modeling of an electric machine is to understand the heat transfer occurring in the machine. In high performance electric machines the limiting factor of the machine the temperature rise when torque is applied. In- vestigation of the heat transfer of a machine can identify the hot spot of the machine and methods of reduction. This will allow for more current applied and more torque which will give a higher density machine.
M.S. in Electrical Engineering, July 2016
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Title: NEW SOLID AND LIQUID ELECTROLYTES FOR LITHIUM RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES
Creator: Mei, Xinyi
Date: 2016, 2016-12
Description: Currently, rechargeable lithium batteries are widely used in our consumer electronic products, including cell phones, laptop computers, and...
Show moreCurrently, rechargeable lithium batteries are widely used in our consumer electronic products, including cell phones, laptop computers, and cameras and so on. They have extraordinary potential for application in electric and hybrid electric vehicles by their high energy and power density[1]; however, the major challenges include the higher cost, safety issues related to the solvents and conductibility at lower temperatures are still waiting to be fixed. In this Ph.D. thesis, two types of rechargeable lithium batteries: lithium-ion batteries and lithium-sulfur batteries are discussed. Two different approaches are presented, in the direction of achieving an enhanced electrolyte system for rechargeable lithium batteries. One approach is based on the conventional poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) system. The key feature of this approach is the preparation of nanoparticle lithium salts (NPLS) and low lattice energy fluorinated di-lithium salts. The ionic conductivities of these PEO-based SPEs were markedly improved, due to a decrease in the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the polymer. For lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, the polysulfide shuttle (PSS), caused by the dissolution of cathode polysulfide intermediates into the electrolyte, has delivered a mortal blow to nearly every attempt at obtaining a viable Li-S battery. So, another approach involved the strategic design and synthesis of a series of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) to prevent PSS: i) Three series of di-cationic ionic liquids (DILs) are synthesis and characterized. DILs-based electrolytes displayed excellent properties, such as non-flammability, high electrochemical stability and thermal stability. ii) Twelve new asymmetric fluorinated RTILs (FRTILs) were also introduced. The FRTILs based electrolytes showed even better properties than DILs-based electrolytes.
Ph.D. in Chemistry, December 2016
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Title: SKINNING AND STORAGE METHODS FOR STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL STUDIES OF MANDUCA SEXTA FLGHT MUSCLE
Creator: Zhang, Mengjie
Date: 2012-04-22, 2012-05
Description: Like mammalian cardiac muscle, the flight muscle of the hawk-moth Manduca sexta is synchronous. However, it also has significant structural...
Show moreLike mammalian cardiac muscle, the flight muscle of the hawk-moth Manduca sexta is synchronous. However, it also has significant structural similarities with asynchronous insect flight muscle systems, such as those of Drosophila and Lethocerus. Different physiological function depends on the underlying different molecular structures. Although Drosophila and Lethocerus have been well studied, Menduca sexta is still a newly developed research model. Many different skinning and storage methods are being used worldwide for in vitro studies of a wide variety of muscle systems. Here our goal is to develop better skinning solution and storage condition which will maintain muscle structure and function as well as intact muscle. To achieve this end, several kinds of skinning solutions and storage conditions were evaluated by laser and X-ray mechanical experiments. The solution from HAMM Lab (University of Washington) showed the best ability to destroy plasma membrane, without affecting muscle interior structure and function. For two storage conditions, 4°C without glycerol and -20°C with 50% glycerol, both laser and X-ray experiments show the latter one is better, which means muscles stored at -20°C with 50% glycerol have faster and stronger reaction for high calcium solution, and also have sharper peaks in X-ray diffraction patterns. The presence of protease inhibitors is also necessary to maintain the contraction ability of muscle. Furthermore, the X-ray experiments for muscle fibers stored at -20°C with 50% glycerol and -80°C with 75% glycerol, show the expected results, which the muscles stored at latter condition show far superior X-ray diffraction patterns, especially in meridional reflections and layer lines. The lower temperature can minimize protein degradation. Notably, incubating muscles in glycerol solutions at 4°C before storing them at -80°C, and washing muscles thoroughly after stored at 75% glycerol, are critical to ensure that all of the glycerol goes in and out of muscle fibers, respectively. The significance of these findings is that it now appears to be possible to store prepared Manduca sexta flight muscles for at least eight days at -80°C with good structural preservation enabling a large class of future experiments not requiring fresh deliveries of moth from the suppliers.
M.S. in Biology, May 2012
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Title: STRAWBERRY EXTRACT ATTENUATES ELEVATED FREE FATTY ACID AND/OR GLUCOSE MEDIATED IMPAIRED INSULIN SIGNALING IN VITRO IN HUMAN SKELETAL MUSCLE CELLS
Creator: Kangath, Archana
Date: 2013, 2013-07
Description: Elevated glucose and free fatty acids (FFA) are evident in individuals with insulin resistance (IR) and are associated with oxidative stress....
Show moreElevated glucose and free fatty acids (FFA) are evident in individuals with insulin resistance (IR) and are associated with oxidative stress. Anthocyanins are suggested to have favorable effects on human health due to their ability to modulate oxidative stress and cell signaling pathways in peripheral tissues. We hypothesized that strawberry anthocyanins (Str) will improve oxidative stress-mediated impaired insulin signaling in vitro in human skeletal muscle cells (HSMCs). Oxidative stress was generated using physiologically high glucose, FFA or a combination of both for 2–6 h with and without Str (0.1–1.0 mg/mL) in vitro in HSMCs. Cell viability was not affected by any of the above treatments/time. At the end of treatments, cells were treated with insulin (100 nM) for 20 min. Phosphorylation of Akt (p-Akt/Akt) was studied using AlphaScreen® Surefire® assay as a measure of insulin signaling. Our results indicate that FFA (2 mM) or combination of Glucose (15 mM) + FFA (2 mM) significantly decreased p-Akt/Akt compared to control cells treated with phosphate buffered saline (P<0.05). ST extract restored FFA and Glucose + FFA-induced reductions in p-Akt/Akt levels (P<0.05). These in vitro data suggest a role of strawberry in improving insulin sensitivity having potentially important implications for people with IR.
M.S. in Biological Sciences, July 2013
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Title: FLOW IN PARTIALLY CONSTRICTED PLANAR CHANNELS - ORIGINS OF VORTEX SHEDDING AND GLOBAL STABILITY OF NAVIER{STOKES SOLUTIONS
Creator: Boghosian, Michael Edward
Date: 2011-04-17, 2011-05
Description: Vortex shedding is a well-known unsteady uid-dynamic phenomenon occur- ring in a variety of ows in nature including stenosed blood vessels. We...
Show moreVortex shedding is a well-known unsteady uid-dynamic phenomenon occur- ring in a variety of ows in nature including stenosed blood vessels. We nd that current hypotheses regarding the origin of vortex shedding do not apply for the inter- nal ow in a partially constricted two-dimensional channel. As a result, we postulate a novel mechanism to explain the origin of vortex splitting and shedding in this ge- ometry. Numerical simulations of the unsteady, two-dimensional, incompressible Navier{ Stokes equations are performed in a channel having a constriction modeled by a two- parameter Gaussian distribution on both channel walls. Reynolds numbers from 1 to 3000 based on inlet half-channel height and mean inlet velocity and constriction ratios of 0:25, 0:5 and 0:75 are considered. The Navier{Stokes solutions are observed to experience a number of bifurca- tions including unsteady behaviour with shear-layer uctuations and vortex shedding downstream of the constriction. A sequence of events is presented describing how a sustained shear layer instability leads to the unsteady vortex shedding phenomenon via a convective instability and a proposed streamwise pressure-gradient mechanism. In addition, a global linear stability analysis is performed on several station- ary Navier{Stokes solutions to determine the long-term temporal behavior of small amplitude perturbations. Finally, the implications of this research on the hemodynamics in the cephalic vein and potential failure of the brachiocephalic stula are addressed.
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, May 2011
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Title: IMPLICIT ATTITUDES TOWARD SEASONAL VEGETATIVE SYMPTOMS
Creator: Meyers, Katherine
Date: 2011-11-28, 2011-12
Description: In contrast to self-report measures, implicit measures do not require introspection and are less likely to be influenced by factors such as...
Show moreIn contrast to self-report measures, implicit measures do not require introspection and are less likely to be influenced by factors such as insight (e.g. Asendorpf, Banse, & Mucke, 2002) or social desirability (e.g. Greenwald, Poehlman, Uhlmann, & Banaji, 2009; Kim, 2003). According to the dual vulnerability model (Young, Watel, Laymeyer, and Eastman, 1991), seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is the result of the tendency to negatively appraise physiological changes that occur in the wintertime, which leads to an increase in cognitive and mood symptoms. Although empirical support for the dual vulnerability model is growing (e.g. Rohan, Roecklein, Tierney, Johnson, Lippy, Lacy, & Barton, 2007; Young, Reardon, & Azam, 2008), implicit tests have yet to be used to evaluate the relationship between vegetative and cognitive symptoms. This study developed a method to assess the appraisal of vegetative changes as indicating illness using the Go/No Go Association Task (GNAT; Nosek & Banaji, 2001). We hypothesized that implicit attitudes would interact with vegetative symptoms to predict the severity of cognitive symptoms. Results showed that attitudes toward fatigue, but not hunger, moderated the relationship between vegetative and cognitive symptoms. Furthermore, based on response style theory (Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991), we examined whether rumination would predict stronger illness-related attitudes in general, and would interact with vegetative symptoms to predict illness-related attitudes. Rumination predicted illness-related implicit attitudes towards fatigue, but not hunger, and acted as a moderator between vegetative symptoms and attitudes. This study helped to increase our understanding of how illness attributions exacerbate seasonal symptoms of depression.
M.S. in Psychology, December 2011
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Title: A mechanical course for high schools
Creator: Perkins, Robert Augustus
Date: 2009, 1917
Publisher: Armour Institute of Technology
Description: http://www.archive.org/details/mechanicalcourse00perk
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology

Title: The methods used by public utility commissions in arriving at the proper depreciation and valuation of electric light, power, and railway companies and their effect on rate regulation
Creator: Schmidt, Emil J., Detar, Delos
Date: 2009, 1911
Publisher: Armour Institute of Technology
Description: http://www.archive.org/details/methodsusedbypub00schm
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology

Title: PEDESTRIAN DETECTION AND TRACKING FOR ADVANCED DRIVER ASSISTANCE SYSTEMS
Creator: Mesmakhosroshahi, Maral
Date: 2017, 2017-05
Description: In an effort to reduce driver errors in being the major cause of traffic accidents, there is a lot of research being conducted into the...
Show moreIn an effort to reduce driver errors in being the major cause of traffic accidents, there is a lot of research being conducted into the development of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). ADAS is a system aimed at helping the driver in tasks such as pedestrian and vehicle detection, traffic sign recognition and lane detection. Pedestrian detection is one of the major tasks in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Most of the stereo based pedestrian detection algorithms include three major steps: 1. Ground plane estimation 2. Region of interest (ROI) generation 3. Pedestrian classification In this thesis, we present a stereo-based pedestrian detection framework for advanced driver assistance systems by exploiting both color and depth information obtained from a stereo camera installed in a vehicle. In our proposed framework, we first use the vertical gradient of the dense depth map to estimate and discard the ground plane. The boundaries of the ground plane are then searched to detect the pedestrians and the depth values of the boundaries are used to compute the size of the detection windows for detecting pedestrians at different scales. In addition, a depth-based multi-scale ROI extraction method has been proposed to reduce the computation time of ROI extraction. For classifying ROIs to pedestrian and non-pedestrian classes, Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG)/Linear support vector machine (SVM) and Integral Channel Features (ICF)/Adaboost are used. To recover the missed pedestrians and improve the detection rate, an ROI tracking algorithm is proposed which incorporates the ROIs extracted from the current frame with theROIs tracked from a reference frame. For additional reduction in search space, we propose a novel algorithm to reduce the number of candidate windows extracted as ROI by taking advantage of the temporal correlation between the adjacent frames. We also propose a method to improve the accuracy of the pedestrian classifi- cation using the aggregated channel features. In this approach, we use the aggregated channel features as our baseline detector and improve it's accuracy using the tanh normalization and Gabor filter. After classification using Adaboost, we use a posi- tive subset of the bounding boxes to classify them again using Convlutional Neural Network to finalize the detection.
Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, May 2017
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Title: Methods for the oxidation of potassium manganate
Creator: Johnson, F. R., Pearson, A.
Date: 2009, 1918
Publisher: Armour Institute of Technology
Description: http://www.archive.org/details/methodsforoxidat00john
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology

Title: Mechanical filtration for municipal water supply
Creator: Spalding, R. S.
Date: 2009, 1906
Publisher: Armour Institute of Technology
Description: http://www.archive.org/details/mechanicalfiltra00spal
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology

Title: CELL SHRINKAGE STRATEGY FOR SALMONELLA DURING DESICCATION
Creator: Megalis, Christina
Date: 2013, 2013-07
Description: Salmonella is a growi ng concern in low-moisture foods. The objective of this project is to further unlock the mechanism for Salmonella...
Show moreSalmonella is a growi ng concern in low-moisture foods. The objective of this project is to further unlock the mechanism for Salmonella desiccation survival. Salmonella Tennessee and Typhimurium LT2 were used in this study, each demonstrating a strong and weak resistance to desiccation , respectively. Exponential phase cells were desiccated (RH= II %) for 5 days on steri le paper discs and were reduce d by 4 and 7-logs CFU/mL, respectively. This study examined the role of rod/cocci conversion in Salmonella stress res istance using an SEM. The typical rod-shape of Salmonella was altered upon a 5-day desiccation treatment (aw=O. l l), produ cing a cocci shape and significantly more so in the case of S. Tennessee. S. Tennessee fresh and desiccated cell lengths were 1.32 ± 0.12 and 1.14 ± 0.07 urn, respectively, compared to S. LT2 fresh and desiccated that were 1.55 ± 0. 19 and 1.42 ± 0.14 urn, respectively. Scatter plot analysis showed that the convers ion from rod shape to cocci occurred at greate r extent in S. Tennessee than S. Typhimurium LT2 responding to the 5-day desiccation treatment Cytoskeletal genes involved in cell elongation (rodA, rodZ, mrdB, mreB, mrdA, mrcA, and mrcB) were anal yzed for expression using qRT-PCR. The gene expression profile for the two strain s significantly differed with S. Tennessee virtually having no change in expression after 24-hour desiccation while S. LT2 exp ression ranged from 38 to 91-fold up-regulated . This thesis provided additiona l understanding of Salmonella desiccation resistant strategy; however, to fully understand the expression change of those genes, study of gene expression at different time point is needed in future.
M.S. in Food Safety and Technology, July 2013
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Title: Method of measuring earth pressures on vertical and inclined retaining walls
Creator: Fainstein, Morris
Date: 2009, 1920
Publisher: Armour Institute of Technology
Description: http://www.archive.org/details/methodofmeasurin00fain
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology

Title: A history of the development of the suspension bridge
Creator: Mann, Herbert A
Date: 2009, 1921
Publisher: Armour Institute of Technology
Description: http://www.archive.org/details/historyofdevelop00mann
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology; Bibliography: leaves 86-98

Title: DEGUELIN ACTION IS THROUGH REGULATION OF ERK-MAPK PATHWAY IN TRIPLE- NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER CELLS
Creator: Katta, Harshadadevi
Date: 2012-11-21, 2012-12
Description: Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer related deaths amongst women in the United States. In 15-20% of...
Show moreBreast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer related deaths amongst women in the United States. In 15-20% of patients with breast cancer, patients do not express steroid receptors(ER/PR) and do not have amplification of HER2. This condition is called triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Patients with TNBC have poor prognosis. No molecular targeted therapies are available to treat TNBC. Anthracyclines and taxane based therapies are effective with limited success, and are often toxic. As TNBC cells overexpress Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR), it provides an attractive molecular tool for the targeted therapy. Deguelin, a rotenoid isolated from an African plant, Mundulea sericea has been shown to inhibit growth of various experimental cancers. Deguelin is a well known inhibitor of pAKT, a downstream target of EGFR. In this study we evaluated the effect of deguelin and its mechanism of anticancer action in triple negative human breast cancer cell lines. Deguelin inhibited cell proliferation of MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468, BT-549, and BT- 20 in a dose and time-dependent manner. Western blots and immunofluorescence analyses suggested that the effect of Deguelin is mediated through inhibition of Receptor Tyrosine Kinases (EGFR, c-Met) and its downstream molecular targets, Our results show that deguelin treatment reduces the expression of pERK (p44/42) (Thr202/Tyr204), pAKT (ser473), c-Myc, pSTAT3 (Tyr705) and survivin in a dose and time dependent manner in MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468 human breast cancer cells. In conclusion, results from this study suggest that Deguelin may be of potential therapeutic value in treatment of triple negative breast cancers.
M.S. in Biology, December 2012
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Title: Investigation of high-tension switching equipments
Creator: Clarke, Fred, Sturgess, Fred M.
Date: 2009, 1907
Publisher: Armour Institute of Technology
Description: http://www.archive.org/details/investigationofh00clar
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology; Bibliography: leaves 80-90

Title: Investigation of pitot's tubes as a watermeter
Creator: Yoshida, H. T.
Date: 2009, 1912
Publisher: Armour Institute of Technology
Description: http://www.archive.org/details/investigationofp00yosh
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology

Title: An investigation of the flow of liquid fuel through orifices
Creator: Marks, Milton, Clausen, Harold F., Wong, Yak M
Date: 2009, 1920
Publisher: Armour Institute of Technology
Description: http://www.archive.org/details/investigationoff00mark
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology

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