CAPSTONE DESIGN EXPO 2015

PROJECT ABSTRACTS

2015 CAPSTONE DESIGN PROJECTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FROM THE DEAN The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Engineering Capstone Design Program and Expo is a platform for undergraduate students to demonstrate the skills learned over the past four years by solving a problem with a real world application. Faculty, staff and industry advisers provide guidance and support to the senior design teams. The local engineering community plays a critical role in making the Capstone Design Program and Expo an experience for our senior students that prepares them for life after college. Our industry friends lend their support in many ways. This includes mentoring student teams, judging projects at the Expo and providing vital funds and donations of supplies so students are free to explore their most innovative ideas. Private support also covers the cost of the event itself, allowing students to share their designs with the greater Richmond community. We have been fortunate this year to be able to provide additional funds to deserving projects through a generous donation from Mark A. Sternheimer. I extend my sincere thanks to all of the members of the Sternheimer committee, who spend many hours reading and evaluating student grant applications. Members of the committee include Michael Sims, David Alvarez, Tony Uliano, Nathan Karr, Chung-Chee Tai, Michael Mason, Vinnie Schoenfelder, Dave Barlow, Jeff Stanfield, Dr. Frank Schmidtmann, Shahrzad Grami, Him Yang, Vince Lovejoy, Chris Gray, Behnam Moradi, Bill Smith, Eric Duvekot, Alan Williamson, Bruce Ferris, Howard Turner and Ed Hall. And of course, I would also like to thank Mark A. Sternheimer whose generosity allows us to recognize excellence in design and innovation. Finally, we must acknowledge that presenting designs at a location like the Science Museum of Virginia provides students with even more of an incentive to strive for excellence. We owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Richard Conti, Director and CEO of the Science Museum of Virginia, and his staff for hosting the 2015 Capstone Design Expo at the museum. This is the sixth year that we have been privileged to showcase our projects at the museum and I feel that this venue in particular enhances our students’ work, allowing us to engage and inspire young audiences to consider a career in engineering and science. I understand that more than 1,000 visitors attended the Expo in 2014, and I anticipate even greater attendance this year. It is especially gratifying to meet young boys and girls at the museum and inspiring to observe the interaction between these aspiring scientists and our School of Engineering seniors. As evidenced by the continued success of the Capstone Design Expo, I am pleased to say that the partnership between faculty, students and the engineering community is as strong as when the School first opened its doors nearly 19 years ago. Congratulations to the Class of 2015 and everyone involved for a job well done. Go Rams! Barbara D. Boyan, Ph.D. Alice T. and William H. Goodwin, Jr. Chair in Biomedical Engineering Dean, VCU School of Engineering

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TABLE OF CONTENTS • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FROM THE DEAN

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• TABLE OF CONTENTS

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• PREFACE

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• 2015 CAPSTONE DESIGN EXPO SPONSORS AND CORPORATE COMMITTEE

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• 2015 CAPSTONE DESIGN EXPO ADVISERS

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• CAPSTONE STEERING COMMITTEE

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• STERNHEIMER COMMITTEE

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• THANK YOU

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BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

• BME01: Single-Use Cervical Biopsy Tool

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• BME02: Device to deliver Endodontic material for temporary dental fillings

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• BME03: Cell stretcher for live-cell imaging

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• BME04: Smart device for automatic detection and localization of unconscious personnel

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• BME05: Decullularization of a Pocine Lung

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• BME06: Flow-Cytometry Machine for the Developing World

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• BME07: Brain Injury Rehabilitation Tablet

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• BME09: Toy for Preschoolers with Deaf-Blindness

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• BME10: Physical therapy assistive device for visually-impaired individuals

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• BME11: A Non-Contact System to Measure Wrist Kinematics of the Scaphoid and Lunate Bones

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• BME12: Indoor Navigation System for the Visually Impaired

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• BME13: Non-invasive blood glucose monitoring system

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• BME14: A device for the objective assessment of ADHD using eye movements

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• BME15: Semi-Interpenetrating Network (sIPN) of Hydrogel Scaffold Formulations for the Transbuccal 25



Delivery of Insulin • BME16: 3-D Scaffold for Neural Stem Cell Regeneration

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CHEMICAL AND LIFE SCIENCE ENGINEERING

• CLSE01: Separation Technologies of Base Oils

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• CLSE02: Treatment of Menorrhagia and Irregular Menstruation By use of Cryo-fluid Endometrial

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Ablation



• CLSE03: Ion Nanoparticles to Detect AT-III in Open Heart Surgery

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• CLSE04: Phosphorous Removal from Wastewater

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• CLSE05: Studying the formation of ammonium bisulfate in activated carbon bed absorbers for High 32



Temperature Fluidized Bed incinerators

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

(CONTINUED)

• CLSE06: Effluent Treatment and Product Recovery of Soluble Organics from Product Waste

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Stream by Using Nano-Porous Technology • CLSE07: Designing mass balance on novel protocol to deliver HIV drug using solid lipid

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nanoparticle carriers (SLNs)

COMPUTER SCIENCE

• CS01: Optimizing Data server using virtualization

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• CS02: Big Data Indexing for Terabyte Scale Document Search

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• CS03: Upgrade Tatami

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• CS04: CHAT App and Web site optimization

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• CS05: Labview with SoftIOC

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• CS06: Development of mobile applications for VCU’s Center for Clinical and Translational Research

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• CS07: Predator-prey game to maintain stable fish population for Ecotoxicological studies

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• CS08: Clover Care: Website and E Marketing Development

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• CS09: CRM Integration App for Smart Phones

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• CS10: Columbia Graphics Print Estimator Application

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• CS11: Text Analytic System for the Critical Infrastructure Dependency Mining

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• CS12: INL Smart grid stability and issues/ challenges associated with coupling nuclear and renewable 47

energy sources

• CS13: Quantifying the Effectiveness of Phishing Emails

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• CS14: Smart Grid Communications Network Simulation Project

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• CS15: Driving simulator - Vehicle Simulation development and testing

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• CS16: Porting of INLs Grid Simulator to a Java Based Format

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• CS17: Rams OnBoard

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• CS18: Visualization of NLP extractions

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• CS19: Next generation cohort discovery tool for VCU Massey Cancer Center Cancer Informatics Core 54 • CS20: RecDroid: a resource access permission control portal and recommendation service for

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smartphone users

ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING • ECE01: JSRCC Automotive Object Detection Simulator

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• ECE02: Automated Magnetic Field Scanning System

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• ECE03: Temeperature Measurement System for Cloud Data Centers

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• ECE04: Non-casual Autonomous Parking System for Driverless Vehicles

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• ECE05: Wind Energy Harvesters for Urban Small Scale Power Generation

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

(CONTINUED)

• ECE06: Human-Machine Interfacing via Epidermal Electronic Systems

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• ECE07: Low Power Sensors

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• ECE08: Fly-Eyed Solar Cell

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• ECE09: Rapid Identification of Radio Frequencies Using Software Defined Radio

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• ECE10: Head-Tracking Wireless Streaming Device

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• ECE11: Automated Disc Kiosks

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• ECE12: Home Automation with Remote Access via Smart Technology

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MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING • MNE01: Fundamental Study and Design of a Molten Metal Loop Using an Electromagnetic Pump

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• MNE02: The Perfect Coffee Cup

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• MNE03: The Low-cost Desalination Unit

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• MNE04: Superhydrophobic Boat

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• MNE05: R/C Aircraft Design

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• MNE06: FLEX MOTION EXOSkeleton

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• MNE07: Nuclear Reactor Simulator

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• MNE08: JSRCC Automotive Object Detection Simulator

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• MNE09: Tapered Roller Bearing Accelerated Fatigue Life Test Rig Design - A

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• MNE10: Tapered Roller Bearing Accelerated Fatigue Life Test Rig Design - B

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• MNE11: Design for External Coiling Brush Attachment

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• MNE12: FSAE – Shift Control system

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• MNE13: Robotic Inspection of Geometrically Complex Tanks – Dr. Speich

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• MNE14: Telescoping Arm for Tank Inspection

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• MNE15: FSAE – Differential Carrier and Design

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• MNE17: FSAE – Car Pedal Box

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• MNE18: FSAE – Undercarriage Diffuser

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• MNE19: FSAE – General Vehicle Aerodynamics

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MULTIDISCIPLINARY • MULTI01: Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusor

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• MULTI02: Improved Lower Arm Prosthetic

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• MULTI03: Photocell Optimization through Thermoelectric Generation

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• MULTI04: Cartridge Filter Test Stand

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• FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES

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PREFACE - BENNETT C. WARD, Ph.D. The Capstone Design experience at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Engineering is the culmination of every engineering student’s undergraduate education. As a prerequisite to attaining a bachelor’s degree, the program presents each student with the challenge of working with a team to harness real-world engineering problems. The interdisciplinary efforts of the five departments, Chemical and Life Science, Mechanical and Nuclear, Biomedical, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Computer Science, are a perfect example of how our engineers “Make it Real.” Capstone Design teams learn and apply the engineering design process: defining functional requirements, conceptualization, analysis, identifying risks and countermeasures, selection, prototyping and testing. At the Science Museum of Virginia you will see the product of our students’ ambitious endeavors over the past eight to nine months. This year’s student projects complement the School’s 2013-2020 Strategic Themes. Through Capstone Design, students collaborate within their community and pool resources with team members, thereby bringing their own ingenuity to solve real-work problems. Through partnerships with industry and other VCU schools, the health sciences in particular, we have launched many mutually beneficial projects, which have led, in many cases to significant results addressing a considerable unmet need. The number of projects sponsored by industry, the health sciences and non-profit organizations have increased from 15 percent to over 50 percent in just one year. We invite you to explore the Capstone Design website to learn more about this senior year experience: egr.vcu.edu/senior-capstone-design. I would especially like to thank our students for a job well done. To our faculty advisers and project sponsors, thank you for these successful projects and your overwhelming support for Capstone Design and the VCU School of Engineering. For questions or comments please contact Ben Ward, Ph.D., Director Project Outreach and Capstone Design Coordinator, at [email protected] or (804) 828-6371.

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2015 SENIOR DESIGN EXPO SPONSORS AND CORPORATE COMMITTEE Capstone Senior Design teams work with experts from local industry, the health sciences and non-profits to practice problem analysis, solution-based investigation and prototyping. Transcending traditional academic study, student projects are an opportune way for young engineers to hone professional, team-based and critical thinking skills. Industry sponsors aid our students through this ambitious yearlong process with generous funding and valued guidance. Through this advantageous collaboration, our sponsors' leadership prepares the next generation of engineers to enter the workforce post-graduation. The list of the Industrial Sponsors are (alphabetical order) • AMC Technology • VCU Anesthesiology • VCU Biostatistics • Brenco • CHAT • Chemtreat • Clover Care • Columbia Graphics and Printing • Delta Pure • Dominion • Evonik • Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News Shipbuilding • Idaho National Laboratory • Ippon USA • J-LAB • JSRCC • Paraclete • RLC Technologies • Sealeze • Search Box • Securboration • US Army Corps of Engineers R&D Center • VA McGuire • VCU Dentistry • VCU OB/GYN • VCU Office of Human Resources

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2015 SENIOR DESIGN EXPO ADVISERS Faculty advisers form the backbone of the Capstone Senior Design experience. These professors serve as a touchstone for student inquiry, directing coursework and project development. Experts in their fields, faculty advisers lead their students through conflict resolution and guide students to an understanding of professional, ethical and contemporary issues that may impact a project on its way from conceptualization to utility. The Faculty Project Advisers are (alphabetical order) • Gary M. Atkinson – Associate Professor • Jayashima Atulashima – Qimonda Associate Professor • Sama Bilbao y León – Associate Professor and Director • Michael J. Cabral – Associate Professor • Charles Cartin – Assistant Professor • Daniel E. Conway – Assistant Professor • Ding-Yu Fei – Associate Professor • Afroditi V. Filippas – Interim Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies • Carol Fung – Assistant Professor • Preetam Ghosh – Associate Professor, Associate Chair and Undergraduate director • Frank A. Gulla – Assistant Professor • B. Frank Gupton – Research Professor and Chair • Rebecca L. Heise – Assistant Professor • Robert H. Klenke – Professor and Interim Chair • Christopher A. Lemmon – Assistant Professor • Nastassja A. Lewinski – Assistant Professor • Milos Manic - Professor • Bridget McInnes – Assistant Professor • James T. McLeskey Jr. – Associate Professor • Gerald E. Miller – Professor and Chair • James Miller – Assistant Professor • René Olivares-Navarette – Assistant Professor • Ümit Özgür – Qimonda Assistant Professor • Dianne T.V. Pawluck – Associate Professor • Michael H. Peters – Professor • Supathorn Phongikaroon – Associate Professor • Robert Sexton – Associate Professor • John E. Speich – Associate Professor and Associate Chair • Hooman V. Tafreshi – Associate Professor • Jennifer S. Wayne – Professor • Paul A. Wetzel – Associate Professor • Weijin Xiao – Professor and Director of Computer Engineering Program • Hu Yang – Associate Professor • Woon-Hong Yeo – Assistant Professor • Ning Zhang – Associate Professor • Yue Zhao – Assistant Professor

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CAPSTONE STEERING COMMITTEE The Capstone steering committee is comprised of representatives from the five VCU School of Engineering departments, as well as the School of Engineering Capstone Coordinator. The committee is responsible for general oversights, project vetting and selection, and budget management. List of Committee members • Ben Ward – Associate Professor, Director of Project Outreach • Russ Jamison – Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering • Krys Cios – Professor and Chair, Department of Computer Science • Preetam Ghosh – Associate Professor, Associate Chair and Undergraduate Director, Department of Computer Science • Frank Gulla – Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Nuclear • Arunkumar Subramanian – Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering • Michael Cabral – Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering • Rudy Krack – Instructor, Laboratory Engineer, Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering • Frank Gupton – Research Professor and Interim Chair, Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering

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2015 STERNHEIMER COMMITTEE Mark A. Sternheimer, Sr. is the President of Sternheimer Brothers, Inc. Founded in 1930, Sternheimer Bros., Inc. owned and operated a chain of apparel and shoe stores in Virginia. Mr. Sternheimer has served the VCU School of Engineering as a member of the Foundation Board since 1999 and continues to be an avid supporter of the school. His generous contributions have most recently offered students the opportunity to apply for Capstone Design project funding through the Sternheimer Grant process. Capstone Design groups have the opportunity to apply for the Sternheimer Grant during the fall semester of their senior year. This year dozens of applications were submitted to a committee of industry experts from across all disciplines. The committee has historically favored projects that are innovative in nature and have objectives that will positively impact the world. The VCU School of Engineering would like to thank the individuals who served on the Sternheimer Grant Selection Committee and congratulate the winners of the 2015 Sternheimer Grants! The list of Committee members & Company name (alphabetical): • Michael Sims (AdvanceTEC) • David Alvarez (Altria Group, Inc.) • Tony Uliano (AMC Technology, LLC) • Nathan Karr (Atlantic Constructors Inc.) • Chung-Chee Tai (BluePrint Automation) • Michael Mason (Brenco, Inc.) • Vinnie Schoenfelder (CapTech) • Dave Barlow (CHA Consulting Inc) • Ed Hall (Dominion) • Jeff Stanfield (Dupont Teijin Films LP) • Frank Schmidtmann (Evonik Corporation) • Shahrzad Grami (HDL) • Him Yang (Infilco Degremont) • Vince Lovejoy (Jewett Automation Inc) • Behnam Moradi (Micron technology Foundation Inc) • Bill Smith (Newport News Shipbuilding) • Chris Gray (OneMind Health) • Eric Duvekot (Porvair Filtration) • Alan Williamson (Royall & Company) • Bruce Ferris (Spark Product Development) • Howard Turner (Trane) Winning projects of the 2014-15 Mark A. Sternheimer Capstone Design Award: • Toy for Preschoolers with Deaf-Blindness • Non-Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring System • A device for the objective assessment of ADHD using eye movements • Ion Nanoparticles to Detect AT-III in Open Heart Surgery • Wind Energy Harvesters for Urban Small Scale Power Generation • Improved Lower Arm Prosthetic

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A THANK YOU TO THE SCIENCE MUSEUM OF VIRGINIA The VCU School of Engineering would like the thank the Science Museum of Virginia for their generosity and use of the museum for the Capstone Design Expo. The Science Museum of Virginia’s continued support helps make the Expo a great success!

Science Museum of Virginia | 2500 West Broad Street | Richmond, VA 23220 804.864.1400 | smv.org Monday - Saturday, 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. | Sunday, 11:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

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BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING PROJECT ABSTRACTS

Single-Use Cervical Biopsy Tool BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | 01

Project Team Members: Matthew Suyama Krisinger

Project Faculty Adviser: Dianne Pawluk, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Phillipe Girerd, Ph.D. VCU Health Services

Acquiring a sample of tissue from the outer cervix is essential to diagnosing a patient with cervical cancer. Currently, a sample of tissue is taken from a patient using a surgical tool known as a Kevorkian forceps. The tool uses a pinching motion to obtain a biopsy from the outer cervix that will then be collected and sent to a pathology lab for examination. The current tool cannot easily obtain a sample from the frontal face of the outer cervix, is expensive, and can take multiple tries to get a usable sample because of dulling of the blades. The current tool often rips or tears cervical tissue causing discomfort to the patient. A more accurate and efficient method is needed to take a biopsy from the outer cervix. A solution to the current problems associated with the Kevorkian forceps is a complete redesign of the tool. We propose a new design that involves the use of a flat, circular head attached to the end of a shaft of surgical stainless steel with the proximal end containing a syringe-like mechanism that is able to be pushed 2.5mm into the shaft. The pushing of the end into the shaft will cause blades hidden within the head of the blade to be pushed out of the head and into the cervix and will collect the desired sample once the blades return to their starting position. A few inches of the top portion of the shaft can be removed and sent off to the lab for examination. We plan to test many different blade configurations to ensure the most accurate, painless, and timely procedure. We will be able to deliver a surgical biopsy tool prototype that can consistently obtain a testable sample of tissue from the outer cervix on first attempt, is virtually painless, and is more cost effective than the current methods used. The instrument will be very useful in the hands of an OB/GYN. Initially, the blades of our surgical biopsy tool were imagined to be straight but after considering the sample size and ability of the instrument to retain the sample, we have decided that curved blades will more effectively provide a useable sample of tissue. The design of the shaft of the tool was modified to have a detachable top portion to allow for single use without the inflated cost from disposing of all portions of the tool; this also deals with the problem of the dulling of blades over time because the blades are only used to take a single sample. The deliverables of this project include a Solidworks design with specifications and chosen materials, silicon models of the cervix, a final prototype, and results from design and testing.

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Device to Deliver Endodontic Material for Temporary Dental Fillings BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | 02 Project Team Members: G.N Cyprus H. Kamoun G.B Reddy

Project Faculty Adviser:

Rene Olivares-Navarrete, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Virginia East, Ph.D. VCU Health Services

A. Salman

Root canal therapy requires patients be treated over several visits to clean and shape the pulp chamber. In endodontic treatments, cotton wool is placed beneath the temporary filling to preserve the space of the pulp chamber and to prevent any blockage of the root canals with temporary filling between clinic visits. Despite its simple application and affordability, cotton wool can lead to fibrous remnants in the pulp chamber or become incorporated into the temporary filling, which can lead to micro-leakage or bacterial colonization on the cotton fibers and subsequent infection. Gelatin capsules or silica gels are proposed endodontic materials which can replace cotton wool in root canal therapy by creating a barrier for entry into the root canals and conferring mechanical stability to the temporary filling above. An innovative and clinically suitable delivery device is required to catalyze the use of novel endodontic materials in place of cotton wool during root canal therapy. The proposed solution is a device that will deliver a variety of endodontic material into the pulp cavity. The device will be comprised of customizable, disposable attachments that will contain sufficient endodontic material to fill the tooth and a permanent base that will house a mechanically operated delivery system. The design team has created several concept designs for the dental device and narrowed them down as a group using evaluation criteria such as potential clinical feasibility, functionality, and utility. After overcoming initial difficulty with 3D drafting, 3D designs of the selected concept device have been developed and preliminary 3D model has been printed using ABS polymer. These preliminary models allow for analysis of size, weight, and handling and will allow for the further development and refinement of our design. Upon recognizing the need for further exploration of the potential user market, an online survey was created and distributed to better understand the preferences of clinicians with regards to dental devices. Responses from the School of Dentistry faculty are currently being collected and analyzed. In addition, an initial estimation of the project budget, including 3D printing and proposed materials for prototyping, was made. The focus of the team is currently centered on the ideation of the delivery mechanism, creation of customizable accessory attachments, and determination of prototyping strategy.

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Cell Stretcher for LiveCell Imaging BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | 03

Project Team Members: Adam Gonzalez Trevor Mack Iswarya Ramachandran

Project Faculty Adviser: Daniel Conway, Ph.D.

HongVan Trinh

There are cells in the human body that are continually subject to strain; some of these cells include cardiomyocytes, lung cells, and skin cells. Scientists study cells under strain in order to understand how this may affect cellular function. The current method to study how strain affects cellular function includes fixing (i.e. killing) the cells before imaging. There is not yet a method to image living cells while simultaneously subjecting them to strain. Our solution to this problem includes designing a simple, mechanically adjustable cell stretcher that fits a microscope stage for live cell imaging while the cells are subject to strain. The device design went through several stages of development, beginning with a fully framed circular device with several layers of gears and mechanisms. However, upon further investigation, it was found that the cells undergoing the strain would require the constant presence of cell media to remain alive during imaging. In order to account for this, as well as to prevent corrosion of the device mechanisms, it was decided to convert the design into several smaller and simpler devices that could be mounted to the side of a media¬filled dish. We have devised a mountable device that utilizes a screw and linear gear mechanism to pull a membrane of cells and subject them to stretch. We have created a cardboard model of the screw and linear gear mechanism to validate and demonstrate its function. Future work will include assembling the mechanism with the circular frame to complete the model. Once a working model is constructed, it will be scaled down to create a working prototype.

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Smart Device for Automatic Detection and Localization of Unconscious Personnel BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | 04 Project Team Members: Manahel Alqadeeb Mihir Baxi Zhenyu Fang

Project Faculty Adviser: Ding-Yu Fei, Ph.D.

Pooja Shah

The objective of this project is to create a device that will locate unconscious personnel. Currently, there is no such device that performs this function. The proposed solution provides a stimulation on the hand/wrist of the individual that can induce a measurable response. The failure of a response, indicating unconsciousness, will transmit the location of the individual. Expected deliverables for this project will consist of a testing prototype that determines unconsciousness and location. A design with a heart monitor was proposed initially, however after some reasearch this concept was not further pursued due to heart rate variability from person to person. From there, the concept design was moved towards the current design concept in which hourly vibrations would be induced on a person’s hand. Progress thus far includes identifying components for the device, determining parts that pertain to specifications of the device as a whole, and ordering parts for the prototype. Vital components to the prototype are identified. An Arduino Uno microcontroller would be programmed to collect and process the information provided by the inertial measurement unit (IMU) as well as stimulate the vibration motor. An iNEMO 3D Module 3D Accelerometer IMU detects movement, thus allowing the response of the personnel to be measured. A Precision Haptic 5 mm Vibration Motor is to be used as the stimulus and was chosen due to a low power usage and it being ideal for hand placement. A global positioning system (GPS) is to localize the individual. A bluetooth wireless module relays the information from the GPS to the microcontroller over the distance of 100 meters. All major components were chosen based on compatibility, efficiency, cost, and lifetime. Problems encountered over the course of the project in the first half include compatibility among parts, ambiguity of circuit design and execution of the work plan. In order to resolve the first issue, the group decided to write a parts brief that would compare each individual component on compatibility, efficiency, cost and lifetime before assembly. In order to resolve the second issue, the group decided to design and test different circuits based on the use of different amplifiers, capacitors and power sources. Over time, the design for the circuit would be simplified so that less issues may occur due to the circuit. The third issue would be solved by ordering multiple microcontrollers so that each individual component can be programmed and tested before combining all parts together.

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Decellularization of a Porcine Lung BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | 05

Project Team Members: Kristen Hulbert Linh Ta Lumumba Reid

Project Faculty Adviser: Rebecca Heise, Ph.D.

Baltej Dhillon Mahir Dagra Our project aims to standardize the decellularization of a porcine lung by creating a bioreactor to house the lung, automating the decellularization process and developing a protocol that will increase the precision and the repeatability of the process. Our deliverables include a working prototype, an automated system that will inform the user when the decellularization process is complete, a pressure sensor to control perfusion, and automated pressurized pulses that will increase the rate of decellularization. Our accomplishments thus far include: a design for a working prototype that will decellularize a porcine lung, determining the proper rate to perfuse the lung, finalizing the list of chemicals and enzymes, and finding a colorimetric cellular assay to determine when decellularization has been completed. Our research has shown that some amount of degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) will occur in the decellularization process. The degradation of the ECM will be minimized by controlling the flow rate to mimic physiological pressure and eliminating any air bubbles trapped within the lung thus allowing a faster perfusion rate of the decellularization chemicals. We can also minimize degradation by modifying existing protocols that already in use and by using a new method, such as N-TIRE, that has yet to be fully investigated. The first problem we encountered was the identification of an existing automated method to decellularize a porcine lung. To overcome this, we have improved on the functionality by included a method to verify complete decellularization, modifying the protocol to reduce ECM degradation and reducing pressure during perfusion. The second problem that we encountered involved determining which assay could be used to determine if the lung had been fully decellularized by analyzing the fluid expelled from the lung. We chose the Bradford assay due to the visible color change. The third problem was with the lack of communication amongst team members. This was resolved following a meeting and discussion about more effective avenues of communication. The final problems we encountered were with using the N-TIRE method. These include the temporary vasoconstriction induced by the pulses, utilizing the process on an organ the size of the lung, and the possibility of damaging the lung tissue.

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Flow-Cytometry Machine for the Developing World BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | 06

Project Team Members: Paul Howell Jaynie Laverty

Project Faculty Adviser: Chris Lemmon, Ph.D.

Flow cytometry provides critical diagnostic, measurement, and research applications across many healthcare and biological disciplines. Its use in the detection of blood-cancers, HIV/AIDS, cell differentiation, and viral detection is unique and unparalleled. Despite flow cytometry’s vast array of applications, its use is limited by expense. Rather than individual labs being able to afford a dedicated machine, core facilities are developed and the research is exported. In addition, flow cytometry’s high costs create a barrier to its implementation in developing nations. There were 35 million people living with HIV in 2013, nearly 1% of the world’s population. There are more than 50,000 new cases of leukemia every year in the United States, accruing to more than 3% of all new cancer cases. More than 70,000 new cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 4.3% of all new cancer cases, were estimated in 2014 thus far. About 530,000 people, in the United States alone, are living with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. These diseases account for more than 1.5 million deaths every year. Flow cytometry can be and is a source of diagnostic measurement and monitoring of these and many other serious diseases. The problem lies in flow cytometry’s availability to world’s population. A flow cytometry machine for the developing world should include the ability to count and distinguish cell types as well as detect a fluorophore-marked cell surface epitope. The machine should be low-cost and have streamlined functionality. Expected deliverables include computerized models of the individual components for 3D printing and a physical prototype. Flow cytometry machines are typically sectioned in three aspects – optics, fluidics, and electronics – and our design concepts have been divided likewise. Design concepts for the prototype optics currently include using LED lights or lasers salvaged from CD/DVD or Blu-ray players due to the extremely high cost of the currently used lasers. A CMOS type sensor or silicon array photodiode will reduce the cost of using the traditional photomultiplier tubes. In addition, costs will be reduced by the use of colored gel paper as bandpass filters. Design concepts for the prototype fluidics include using a 3D printed flow cell or capillary array inspection point, in-case waste and sterilization management, and CAM arm- operated butterfly pump or syringe controlled flow. The electronics aspects of the design include using an in-case microcontroller for fluid level alerts, switching between sample and sterilization fluids, data collection, and a LED or LCD display. Essential to the concept is an in-case uninterruptable power supply able to last long enough to finish running a sample and save the data.

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Brain Injury Rehabilitation Tablet BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | 07

Project Team Members: Aneesh H. Patel Sachin Sharad Christian Wallace

Project Faculty Adviser: Gerald Miller, Ph.D.

Patients with brain injury do not possess the necessary skills required to operate a tablet and become frustrated with something that is a daily operation for the majority of people. Currently, there are some built-in accessibility functions on tablets but these are not adequate enough for these patients. Other applications exist as well but are often very expensive such as Proloquo2go, which lets patients create sentences by clicking on pictures. Our proposed solution is to streamline the tablet and make it much easier for these patients to operate. It will give them auditory feedback for everything they do and double check with them before performing any actions to ensure that they intended to perform that action. We also intend to create simple applications (apps) that will aid in their recovery and be a more fun form of therapy rather than the monotonous routines that have been used for decades. Expected deliverables of this project include the prototypes of the apps and a finalized tablet ready to be used by these patients. Throughout the past four months, there have been many complications that have affected our approach to the project. Picking a suitable tablet was a complication because things such as price and aesthetics played a big role in the selection. At first, we decided to select the Nexus 9, a very expensive but big and aesthetically pleasing tablet. However, the price being very high we had to scale down and settle with the Nexus 7, which although not as big, was still a good and aesthetically pleasing tablet. Another complication we had to go through was scheduling a visit to VCU Medical Center to get patient and physician feedback on what specifications or features of the tablet they would thing would be the most beneficial for rehabilitations and that they would like to see. Although we had a date picked out and ready to go, our advisor informed us that he would set up a different date so that he could contact specific people that we could meet with at VCU Medical Center that would be more appropriate for answering our questions and giving us more useful knowledge as to the medical desires of our project. Lastly, we had to go through some small complications with the development of our applications. The first application we were working on was unable to be finished because during coding, we realized that the tablet interface would only be able to recognize one finger touch at a time and not multiple ones. Therefore, we recently had to abandon our finger twister application and have just started working on our concentration application. We are currently working on the primary motions in the concentration application and plan to have it finished by the onset of Winter Break.

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Toy for Preschoolers with Deaf-Blindness BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | 09

Project Team Members: Allison Beckman Chelsea Gebs Julia Grace Polich

Project Faculty Adviser: Dianne Pawluk, Ph.D.

There are approximately 70,000-100,000 people living in America that are diagnosed as deaf-blind. Since children with deaf-blindness are an extreme minority in the US, research, toys and technological advancements for these children get overlooked. As a result, the developmental processes of children with deaf-blindness are delayed by several years, compared to normal children, due to the lack of resources available to encourage learning. According to Virginia’s Department of Education standards of learning for preschoolers, development physically, mathematically,of environmental awareness and of a sense of self are core requirements for Kindergarten. Therefore, there is a need for a toy that will provide stimulation to develop physical, social, and cognitive progression to keep children with deaf-blindness on a normal learning curve. Our design consists of components each of which stimulate one of the development goals. The first component is a chair that promotes proper posture. The second component is a colored and vibrating drum game to stimulate mathematical development through pattern recognition. The third component is a Braille exposure game to stimulate literacy development, by associating a Braille word with an object or concept. The fourth component is an apparatus that can be placed over the chair that contains dangling objects where the child can reach out to explore their surrounding environment. Under the supervision and interaction of a parent/guardian, the child will develop socially through human interaction and feedback suggested in the provided instruction manual. Our team has been conducting research online and consulting professionals that have worked, or are currently working, in the deaf-blind field; therefore we gathered information on how children with deaf-blindness typically react to certain stimuli and various developmental concerns, to aid with the design of the toy components. With this foundation, our group drafted a variety of design concepts. We weighed out the positives, negatives, and overall efficiency of each concept which lead us to produce our final design. Then we presented our final design to our faculty advisor, perfect our idea and move forward with materials selection. Our next step in the design process is to test the efficiency of different materials and methods that we selected for the stimulatory components through experimentation and computation of engineering principles behind the design. Unfortunately our group encountered a problem in the design process, we are behind in the construction of the chair components due to the amount of time it took to complete the machine shop class. Once our testing is completed, we will begin to construct and complete the full prototype of our product.

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Physical Therapy Assistive Device for Visually Impaired Individuals BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | 10 Project Team Members: Ashley Duke Megan Goldberg Lindsay Schnur

Project Faculty Adviser: Dianne Pawluk, Ph.D.

Physical exercise is challenging for individuals who are blind because they lack the spatial awareness necessary to imitate described motions for exercises, and additionally require physical guidance. The current solutions involve tactile equipment to assist in body placement, but a person with low vision cannot compare their own position to the correct position and adjust properly. The proposed solution is an instructional yoga program that will give feedback to the user based on her exercise performance, allowing people who are blind to be able to perform these exercises independently at home. The design will incorporate the Skeletal Tracking program of the Microsoft Kinect, which uses infrared waves to determine 3D positions of twenty points on the body relative to one another. The program will use these points to determine the relative anatomical joint angles and relate them to the angles that correspond to the yoga positions. It will determine for each limb segment what motion is needed to match the desired yoga position. The user will then receive vibratory feedback on the portion of the limb in the direction in which it must move. There will be four vibrators each on the humerus and femur, one each for flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction, and two each on the forearm and lower leg, one for flexion and one for extension. Because only one of the vibrators corresponding to opposing motion will be on at a time, there are twelve channels of communication, each with three different positions (0: both off, 1: one on, -1: other on). Each limb will be adjusted and given feedback separately before the user holds the pose. A microcontroller will be programmed to activate the appropriate vibrator based on data sent wirelessly from the computer. The vibrators will be attached to compression sleeves, so their positioning is constant and in contact with the skin. Our progress includes designing the software concept and program outline as well as determining the hardware needed to provide feedback including a parts list. We also chose yoga poses that we expect to be detectable by the Kinect, and vibrators that are compatible both with our hardware and the sensitivity of the mechanoreceptors. We initially were underestimating the complexity of the hardware needed for wireless communication and for controlling the actuators, but our advising and research allowed us to understand and make decisions about these design components. We also modified the number of vibrators in our design due to eliminating rotating motion, at the suggestion of our advisor. We learned about how low vision affects balance and coordination, exercising, and spatial awareness.

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A Non-Contact System to Measure Wrist Kinematics of the Scaphoid and Lunate Bones BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | 11 Project Team Members: Kristina Hendel Joseph Newton Shruthi Murali Vivek Patel

Project Faculty Adviser: Jennifer Wayne, Ph.D.

Ligamentous and bone injuries in the wrist affect tens of thousands of adults per year and leads to abnormal function. Surgical procedures as well as physical therapy intended to restorefunction have room for improvement. Measuring wrist kinematics of the small carpal bones is necessary to understand the effect of ligamentous injury during normal motion. Currently there are motion analysis systems that are used to track large scale movementfor total body kinematics such as gait analysis. The accuracy of these systems is catered toward capturing gross movement and cannot precisely measure on the order of millimeters necessary for carpal kinematics. There are some devices currently on the market that can measure the kindematics of a cadaveric wrist, however they either us expensive CT and X-Ray technology, or require physical contact with the specimen that might affect the accuracy of the data obtained. Additionally, these devices cannot measure the continuous motion and only determine the location of wrist and carpal bones at the beginning and end of movement. We propose a non-contact system for measuring wrist kinematics that can accurately and precisely measure the three dimensional movement of the scaphoid and lunate. Three designs for markers were considered; passive, active, and magnetic. Initially we decided active LED markers would be the best option for our project needs. However, after working with active LED markers we determined limitations associated with the markers like wiring that would get in the way of measurement. Thus, we decided to develop passive (not electrical) markers for our system. We created a system of color coded passive markers in order to record three dimensional movement. In addition, we began computational analysis via Matlab to identify the active markers in an image and calculate the distance between them. We have created a three dimensional matrix on Matlab in order to map the movement of each marker. Moving forward we will create an algorithm that can calculate the relative position of these two bones in a three dimensional space. The main deliverables of the product are a working prototype, consisting of a frame and passive markers, and the algorithm that can identify and measure the motion of the markers on a video recording to calculate the wrist kinematics. Thus far progress has been made toward creating the physical working prototype and the algorithm. In the end patents for the finished product and associated algorithm will be necessary.

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Indoor Navigation System for the Visually Impaired BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | 12

Project Team Members: Andrew Stuart Joseph Chea Elliot Roth Christopher Neal

Project Faculty Adviser: Paul Wetzel, Ph.D.

Visually impaired persons often struggle with autonomous navigation in unfamiliar indoor environments. When navigating these complex indoor environments, visually impaired persons are more susceptible to injury than their non-visually impaired counterparts. Navigation tools designed to assist the visually impaired are often invasive, noticeable, and provide minimal feedback about their immediate surroundings. The information they receive pertaining to their immediate surroundings is critical to their ability to wayfind in an unfamiliar environment. Our navigation system will provide a means for visually impaired persons to navigate through these complex indoor environments. The navigation system is comprised of a modular mechanical component affixed to the end of the user’s white cane. A Raspberry Pi computer will then take the X-Y motion input from the mechanical component and calculate outputs on a digitized representation of the indoor environment. The output, or distance travelled, will be calculated using a stepwise function encoded in python on a digitized map. The computer provides ongoing tactile feedback to the user through an array of vibration motors. Initially, the user will input their desired destination through a binary numeric keypad which will be verified by the computer by repeating the user’s input through an attached speaker. One problem we encountered with our preliminary system was the need for the user to maintain constant contact with the ground in order to accurately track their distance traveled. The team hypothesized the need for visually impaired persons to tap their canes indoors, the act of raising and lowering their cane to gain tactile and auditory information pertaining to their immediate environment, thus losing contact with the surface. A phone interview with a visually impaired person, who stated that tapping indoors is much less frequent than outdoors, helped elucidate this problem but did not give the team a visual representation of the problem. In order to solve this problem the team has planned to hold a focus group to observe how the visually impaired use their canes to obtain an accurate visual representation. Some possible solutions the team has discussed are incorporating an accelerometer and creating an error rate in the code to measure distance each time the cane is detached from the surface based on observational data.

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Non-Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring System BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | 13

Project Team Members: David Decker Brittany Martinez Brittany Noah

Project Faculty Adviser: Paul Wetzel , Ph.D.

The objective of this project is to create a non-invasive hypoglycemic alert system that will detect a drop in blood sugar in type 1 diabetics during sleep. This will be achieved by creating an algorithm that couples heart rate variability with skin conductance to increase the accuracy of hypoglycemia detection. The device will be housed in a torso strap that will include: electrodes located over the user’s rib cage, a skin conductance sensor placed in the user’s armpit, a microcontroller to collect and process the data, and vibrating motors that will awaken the patient if hypoglycemia is detected. Integrating the ECG leads into the torso strap incorporates a capacitive circuit that reduces reverberation due to lead placement over the rib cage while also increasing user safety and accuracy of R-wave detection. This is in contrast to the standard bipolar three ECG lead arrangement. This technique was discovered after realizing the need for a more ergonomic design to allow for full range of motion for the user. Skin conductance will be measured through a sensor made of conductive fabric that will be placed in the patient’s armpit due to the high concentration of sweat glands while maintaining the ergonomics of the design. A LillyPad microcontroller will be programmed to collect and process the signals using Arduino Software and will include a SD Card for storage. The ECG signal will be amplified, filtered, and the R-wave will be detected. A timer within the system will determine the intervals of the R-waves which will create a plot of time versus the index number. This data will be saved on the SD Card. Welch’s Method of averaging Discrete Fourier Transforms (DFT) will determine the power of the low frequency band of the signal in order to compute spectral components. Previous research has shown that the power of the low frequency range (0.04-0.15Hz) of the ECG is related to hypoglycemia. Skin conductance will be measured using a low level constant current which will measure a change in conductivity of the skin via the conductive fabric located in the armpit that will be attached to the torso strap. If skin conductance increases along with a decrease in the power of the low frequency component of the ECG signal, the diabetic will be alerted via a vibrating motor in the torso strap. A finalized material and budget list as well as a finalized conceptual model were created for the Sternheimer Grant application. Materials for fabrication are in the process of being ordered and will be ready to begin prototyping in mid-January.

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A device for the objective assessment of ADHD using eye movements BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | 14 Project Team Members: Overlin Turnage Dosaj

Project Faculty Adviser: Paul Wetzel, Ph.D.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorder characterized by lack of focus, self-control,and hyperactivity. ADHD is difficult to diagnose without extensive observation by an expert, and even then is often misdiagnosed. Current methods of pediatric diagnosis rely on subjective measures of activity and behavior relative to other children [3]. Proper diagnosis is critical in preventing unnecessary prescription of the powerful, habit-forming nature of the drugs used to manage ADHD, such as Adderall and Ritalin [1][5]. Research has shown that patients with ADHD show abnormalities in reading tests and antisaccade tests, as these tests gauge ability to focus and suppress impulsive behavior [2][6][4]. This project proposes to create a dedicated device that will use eye movement analysis to accurately and objectively screen children for ADHD. The device will be inexpensive and easy to use for school nurses, optometrists, and primary care physicians. First, research was conducted to decide the type of eye tracker to build, the tests that would be run, the layout of the device, and the type of headgear to use. After the preliminary research was completed, it was decided that a limbus eye tracker would best fit the needed functionality of the device. Limbus tracking is both more accurate in horizontal tracking and less costly than other systems. A basic circuit diagram has been created and circuit parts have been ordered. The IR LED and phototransistors have been tested and appear to be working properly, but further testing will be conducted and mounting for the components will be constructed. One problem encountered was the selection of a computational module that incorporates our needs for digital I/O, A/D conversion, significant processing power and speed, DOS-basedoperating system, and VGA output. No single board computer yet found incorporates all these features in one module without being too costly. The team is awaiting a decision concerning Sternheimer funding before exploring the use of more cost-effective strategies. Another point of discussion among the team was how to affix the device to a child’s head or keep a child’s head still enough for the eye tracker to be accurate. The result was a preliminary design utilizing safety glasses. The next steps in this project include deciding upon a single board computer and ordering it and ordering more circuit parts and safety glasses. While these parts come in, the circuit design can be enhanced, an approach for the programming portion will be created.

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Semi-Interpenetrating Network (sIPN) of Hydrogel Scaffold Formulations for the Transbuccal Delivery of Insulin BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | 15 Project Team Members: Vasquez Pradhan S. Salim Clingenpeel

Project Faculty Adviser: Hu Yang, Ph.D.

Insulin is a hormone created in the pancreas that controls blood glucose levels by allowing your body to use or store glucose from the carbohydrates consumed. People that have diabetes either cannot produce insulin or do not respond to insulin in their pancreas due to damaged beta cells and therefore need an outside source to control their blood glucose levels. Diabetics are given doses of insulin as subcutaneous injections multiple times a day. This project proposes an alternative route for insulin delivery to eliminate the need to subcutaneous injections, while still delivering the proper dosage. Transbuccal drug delivery is an alternative drug delivery method that administers drugs through the buccal mucosa and allows them to enter directly into the bloodstream. This alternative drug delivery route will be accomplished with the use of mucoadhesive hydrogels. Hydrogels are a soft scaffold of a cross-linked network of polymers that are absorbent, flexible, and biocompatible. They consist of three components: a polymer, an initiator, and a cross-linker. For this project, two separate formulations of hydrogels will be tested in comparison to each other—one made from hyaluronic acid and one from chitosan— to assess the effectiveness of both and produce a hydrogel formulation that will result in the ideal release of an insulin dose. Polyethylene (glycol) Diacrylate (PEGDA) will be used for both the formulations as the cross-linker due to its mucoadhesive qualities and its properties to assemble into a network. Hyaluronic acid is a mucopolysaccharide that is produced naturally within the body, where it binds to water and has a viscous gel-like stiffness and texture and is naturally occurring in the body where it is present in the extracellular matrix of the gum tissue, making it biocompatible. Chitosan is a natural polymer that is chemically obtained from crustacean shells and is researched for use in hydrogels due to its biocompatibility, low toxicity, and biodegradability. Both polymers are cross-linked with PEDGA by the photoinitiator, DMPA, which is activated by exposure to UV light. Two different types of hydrogels were photo cross-linked with PEGDA to form the hydrogel scaffolds. Swelling studies and diffusion studies will be conducted on these hydrogels to assess the amount of absorption and permeability, respectively. Next semester will be focused on the pharmacokinetic studies of insulin and the biotransport processes of insulin through the hydrogels through assays and permeability studies. An in situ experiment will also be conducted next semester using a porcine buccal mucosa to observe the effects of insulin release on live tissue, as well as the effectiveness of the hydrogel in the release of the drug.

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3D Scaffold for Neural Stem Cell Regeneration BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | 16

Project Team Members: Reep Ilyas Talej Park

Project Faculty Adviser: Ning Zhang, Ph.D.

Research into stem cells is a growing field of contemporary biology due to their extraordinary potential to develop into myriad cell types for use in regenerative medicine and research applications. Stem cells can vary from adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells, or induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS. Due to the high potential for therapeutic applications, or individualized medicine, there is an increasing demand for stem cell quantities since a critical cell count must be met to demonstrate any therapeutic effect. The problem lies in the amount of time it takes to culture this critical cell count. Isolating fibroblasts in vitro and generating a high number of cells requires around a few weeks timeframe. Since this field requires urgency, we propose to develop acceleration via a specific substrate composition. There are many existing substrate/culture systems departing from the traditional 2-dimensional polystyrene tissue cultures, such as hydrogel, fiber, and nanoparticle based suspension systems, each with its own advantages and disadvantages which were explored to determine the ideal system for scalable proliferation. We will be using neural stem cells, a model type, because the neuron is a static cell type. These neural stem cells can generate neurons or glial cells. Our objective is to increase neurogenesis, not glial cells, as glial cells are associated with inhibitory and inflammatory pathways and the body has sufficient mechanisms for proliferation of glial cells. Over the course of the semester, we succeeded in completing team and individualized laboratory technique trainings in bead preparation, fabrication, and neural stem cell culture. We completed a team¬based comprehensive literature overview per our advisor’s specifications. We used this information to guide our final decision to pursue a polystyrene based particle microcarrier 3-dimensional culture system. The design and construction of a novel mechanism by which a piezoelectric system may utilize sinusoidal waveforms to create homogeneous polystyrene beads was facilitated by a post¬doc working under our advisor. In order to be clinically relevant, our process must be simple and replicable, with cells that easily attach and detach, while still ensuring our system will be compatible with subsequent manipulation. Ideally, we will produce a retrievable cell culture system which does not compromise cell viability or differentiable properties.

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CHEMICAL AND LIFE SCIENCE ENGINEERING PROJECT ABSTRACTS

Separation Technologies of Base Oils CHEMICAL AND LIFE SCIENCE ENGINEERING | 01

Project Team Members: Kelsey Mangham Nguon “Michael” Lay Nicholas Montesdeoca

Project Faculty Adviser:

René Olivares-Navarrete, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Anthony Dollins EVP RLC Technologies

There has been a recent increase in the amount of oil and natural gas exploration due to fuel reserves that were once inaccessible in North America becoming available through methods such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. However, these methods of exploration generate substantial amounts of oil contaminated waste which pose significant pollution risks of which current methods of treatment are slow and ineffective. This project aims to design a better operating process for use with Anaerobic Thermal Desorption Units (ATDU) that are currently manufactured by RLC Technologies which offer more environmentally safe and quick processing of such wastes. Current methods used to treat oil contaminated waste include land farming and deep well injection. These methods in essence leave the oils on or in the ground that has raised concern regarding land and groundwater pollution. These methods are practiced due their lack of regulation and little cost investment. RLC provides a waste treatment service that is currently more cost efficient than the rest of the current market for thermal desorption plants. Through success of this project, a more cost effective method can be offered by RLC Technologies that can be competitive with the current regulation light methods in practice. The focus of the project is on aiding RLC in the utilization of their ATDU for their plant operations. In order to do so, the team will study the effects of drum rotation speed, temperature, and waste composition on waste materials from drill cuttings and (remove!) synthetically created waste on a bench and pilot scale sized batch ATDU. The data collected will be used for determining the thermal efficiency by analyzing how much of the base oils are collected. The desired outcomes are to improve the oil recovery of the current ADTU capabilities by at least ten percent while reducing costs associated with it’s operation. There will be efforts to increase the amounts of the diesel ranged oils in the recovered product through controlling the thermal cracking in the ADTU. (remove!)

Figure 1. ATDU pilot scale model. Provided by Anthony Dollins.

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Treatment of Menorrhagia and Irregular Menstruation By use of Cryo-fluid Endometrial Ablation CHEMICAL AND LIFE SCIENCE ENGINEERING | 02 Project Team Members: Julia Biddle Hubertina Rose Tolpa Krystal Zentgraf

Project Faculty Advisers: Frank B. Gupton, Ph.D.

Rudy Krack Ben Ward, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Phillipe Girerd M.D. VCU Health Science

Menorrhagia (abnormally heavy and prolonged menstrual period) is a condition suffered by many women; these women have menstrual flow greater than 80 mL per cycle compared to the average 30 mL for normal cycles. The area of the uterus responsible for menorrhagia is the regenerative basal layer of the endometrium (inner uterine layer). In order to relieve menorrhagia, the endometrium needs to be destroyed through the basal layer. This project looks to address issues which patients face with current standard menorrhagia treatments, such as invasiveness, intense pain, or incomplete treatment of the uterine wall, by developing a superior remedy. The plan is to develop a free flowing cryo-fluid treatment technology to selectively freeze and destroy the endometrium down to the basal layer. A key driver of a cryo-based system is that the anesthetic properties of cold should make the treatment less painful than currently practiced thermal ablations and reduce the need for radical hysterectomy as a menorrhagia treatment. The approach to complete the design is a multi-step process beginning with identification of a model system to represent the female uterus. The design team is working with OB/GYN staff at the VCU Medical Center to mold a model out of Perma-Gel, a synthetic ballistics gel, which will represent the smooth muscle wall of the uterus. The cryogenic fluid will be circulated inside our model, while monitoring temperatures of various locations inside the uterus and at different penetration depths and flow rates inside the model. These are the process variables required to be known for an accurate estimate of cell death in the system. The end goal is a proof of the concept using a model system that will lead to further research and exploration into a cost efficient, relatively painless procedure that can be performed in a doctor’s office rather than a hospital/surgical setting. Acknowledgments: Dr. Frank Gupton, Professor Rudy Krack P.E, Dr. Ben Ward, VCU Medical Center, Dr. Philippe Girerd, Dr. Ellen Brock

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Ion Nanoparticles to Detect AT-III in Open Heart Surgery CHEMICAL AND LIFE SCIENCE ENGINEERING | 03

Project Team Members: Lance Johnson Sai Katikala Maaz Nawaz

Project Faculty Advisers: B. Frank Gupton, Ph.D.

Rudy Krack Nastassja A. Lewinski, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Umesh R. Desai Bruce Spiess

Anesthesiology

More than 500,000 open-heart surgeries are performed in the United States every year. The anticoagulant Heparin is used to decrease the likelihood of thrombosis or hemorrhaging in each surgery by bonding to the enzyme inhibitor antithrombin III (AT-III). However, anesthesiologists currently lack the ability to measure antithrombin levels in a patient quickly, making appropriate Heparin dosages difficult to determine and possibly resulting in thrombosis or hemorrhaging if thrombin levels move outside the allowable range. This could be prevented with a simple bedside test. Current tests use gold, but we believe Iron (III) Oxide (commonly known as rust) can be used at a much lower price. Given a thrombin molecule with a fluorescein and quencher, the process to design and synthesize a test particle from Iron (III) Oxide coated in an aminosilane to detect AT-III levels was investigated.

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Phosphorous Removal from Wastewater CHEMICAL AND LIFE SCIENCE ENGINEERING | 04

Project Team Members:

Laura “Viktoria” Pretzman Snehi Shrestha Nicholas Seymour

Project Faculty Advisers: B. Frank Gupton, Ph.D.

Rudy Krack Ben Ward, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor:

ChemTreat William Henderson, Ph.D. Kalakodimi Prasad, Ph.D.

Phosphorous, being one of the fundamental building blocks of life, has been linked with the increase of cyanobacteria and algae growth. One of the main ways that phosphorous enters the marine ecosystem is through the form of runoff phosphates from fertilizers and industrial processes. In addition to disrupting the biology of ecosystems another drawback of excess of phosphates is the tendency for these chemical groups to form scale buildup on metal through the form of calcium phosphate. The goal of our project is to investigate a novel way of removing phosphate groups from wastewater with the use of the rare earth element cerium. Current methods that remove phosphates use iron and aluminum salts to react with the phosphate, creating crystalline complexes that can be filtered out as a precipitate. Our team hopes to evaluate a similar precipitation reaction with phosphate and cerium and evaluate the optimal parameter that promote the desired reaction. The main benefit of this reaction is that its crystals are exponentially smaller than the ones produced by the traditional phosphate removal processes (indicating that this novel method might be more efficient than the traditional methods). The main challenge of this project is to properly characterize the produced cerium phosphate crystals and design an industry-scale filtration process that would remove these crystals effectively. This analysis will be completed with the use of analytical chemistry techniques, nano-characterization equipment and process engineering design work. The filtration system design process will focus on optimizing produced crystalline complexes and then collecting and removing them effectively for large quantities of water. This project is being conducted with the support of ChemTreat, and with this partnership we hope to compare this new cerium based phosphate removal method with the current ferric-aluminum based methods. The results of this comparison could lead to the development of an entirely new and more effective method of removing phosphate from wastewater.

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Studying the formation of ammonium bisulfate in activated carbon bed absorbers for High Temperature Fluidized Bed incinerators CHEMICAL AND LIFE SCIENCE ENGINEERING | 05 Project Team Members: Luke Bolten Ahmed Elmak Christopher Holland

Project Faculty Advisers: B. Frank Gupton, Ph.D.

Rudy Krack

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Infilco Degremont Inc. Gary Claytor

Infilco Degremont’s efficient sludge treatment process using a High Temperature Fluidized Bed (HTFB) incinerator is used by several waste processing plants in the United States and Canada. In a few instances, a buildup of ammonium bisulfate within the activated carbon bed absorbers has become an issue. The carbon bed absorbers are used for the removal of mercury from the incinerator flue gas. Buildup of this compound on the carbon surface results in increases in the pressure drop across the adsorber, as well as decreases in the efficiency of the unit. This eventually leads to the need to shutdown the afflicted train in order to clean the absorbers and replace the activated carbon. Based upon literature research, it is believed that sulfuric acid aerosols in the system reacts with ammonia entering the gas stream from the scrubber service water to form ammonium bisulfate. In order to reduce the production of ammonium bisulfate aerosols within the gas stream, a caustic scrubbing system will be added to the system to neutralize acidic sulfur oxide species present in the waste gas. Process information provided by Infilco was used to develop a process simulation through AspenTech. Using this simulation, recommendations for the rate of sodium hydroxide addition in the gas scrubber were made. Furthermore, the change in aerosol formation due to the reduction in sulfuric acid was estimated.

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Effluent Treatment and Product Recovery of Soluble Organics from Product Waste Stream by Using Nano-Porous Technology CHEMICAL AND LIFE SCIENCE ENGINEERING | 06 Project Team Members: Suhaib Alramamneh Zach Turner Allison Warth

Project Faculty Advisers: B. Frank Gupton, Ph.D. Rudy Krack



Industrial Adviser and Sponsor:

Evonik Frank Schmidtmann, Ph.D.

This semester Evonik Industries, a specialty chemical producer located in Hopewell, Virginia, approached VCU’s Chemical Engineering department with a project that would reduce their costs and increase process sustainability. The project is to determine a way to separate their liquid organic product from their waste stream in order to recycle the lost product. LiquidLiquid extraction is a procedure used across most of the chemical industry. Proven separation techniques already exist for the standard liquid-liquid separation; however, when one liquid is miscible in the other the difficulty of separation is greatly increased. In order to do a liquid-liquid separation of an organic liquid in water at a large scale at an advantageous cost, a new technique must be implemented. This project would be well suited for students with the knowledge gained over three years in Chemical Engineering. Implementing a method using a hydrophilic nano-porous membrane to separate organic material from water using a pressure gradient will require experimental analysis of the compounds initially. Our team will perform testing on several organic molecules in order to determine the polymer’s hydrodynamic radius. This allows the team to determine the appropriate material and porosity needed for our proposed porous material. The addition of a cosurfactant is also recommended in order to create micelles, which would increase the size of the product being collected. These procedures will be carried out on a bench scale and later scaled up to determine the solution’s feasibility in Evonik’s Hopewell facility. Currently, flash distillation is the primary technique of liquid-liquid separation of miscible liquids, but in a large process this would become very costly and energy consuming. The solution to this project can become very cost effective and would not require much, if any, energy input to work. The proposed solution to this problem could be used worldwide in order to further purify products, increase product yield, as well as to drive down costs production costs from recycling.

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Designing mass balance on novel protocol to deliver HIV drug using solid lipid nanoparticle carriers (SLNs) CHEMICAL AND LIFE SCIENCE ENGINEERING | 07 Project Team Members: Ji Young Yoon Kurt Janson Jeremy DiGennaro

Project Faculty Advisers: B. Frank Gupton, Ph.D. Michael Peters, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Internal

The project scope involves investigating the multiphase system of the solid lipid nanoparticles and the water phase of the body as a means for drug delivery. Mass balances and the thermodynamic properties will be calculated to determine if the solid lipid nanostructure combined with the active ingredient is a viable option for drug delivery. There are multiple advantages of SLN drug delivery via the lymphatic system over traditional oral medications. Because the drug is delivered straight to the heart and the lymphatic system, it is able to bypass first­pass metabolism through the liver unlike traditional oral medications. The lymphatic system is an ideal route for drugs to treat human immunodeficiency virus because there are high concentrations of T­cells in the lymphatic system. The option of loading the body with the drug and then having a slower release would be useful in situations where an individual needs to be treated, but doesn’t have daily access to a clinic where he or she can be treated every day. In that case, the patient would be loaded with the medication and have it released for an extended period of time. This project has the potential for a direct impact on drug delivery, especially in Africa, where there are many people without daily access to a clinic who are affected by HIV. After the investigation, high pressure homogenization could be used for production of SLNs. High pressure homogenization is used to create stable dispersion or emulsion for drug delivery. The most important conclusions will be constructing a mass and energy balance to determine if the active ingredients combined with the solid lipid nanostructures are suitable for efficient drug delivery of the medication.

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COMPUTER SCIENCE PROJECT ABSTRACTS

Optimizing Data server using virtualization COMPUTER SCIENCE | 01

Project Team Members: Jason Kruse Osman Sesay Stephanie Goggin-Burns

Project Faculty Advisers: Preetam Gosh, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Mark Thompson

Daryl Kahle Newport News Shipbuilding Ray Montgomery (Contact)

Design a computer network using two or more host servers that supports a virtual hosting environment. The importance of creating a successful datacenter is to allow a company to maintain data accessibility while keeping the data secure. One way of doing this is to have servers at multiple locations to insure that data isn’t lost in case of a failure at one server location. The impact of a datacenter that supports a virtual hosting environment is to maximize hardware recourses, grants the ability to quickly stand up server services and increases availability during hardware failure due to software like VMotion. We start the project by deciding the type of server that best fits the needs of the project. The next step is figuring out which RAID configuration best fits the needs of the datacenter. Once the RAID configuration is decided the user needs to figure out how much storage is going to be required for the datacenter to do its job. Depending on the RAID configuration each hard drive will only be able to access a certain amount of it capacity. Once the host server is set up the administrator can create virtual hosts, vCPUs and virtual machines to implement different required server functions. We will use different VMware products like VMware workstation and VMotion to maximize the usage of the physical hardware. The goal of the project is to create a datacenter with multiple servers and allow for remote access. The datacenter must be able to implement new services and manage its resources to provide maximum functionality. The datacenter must also be able to support warm and hot backups in case of a hardware failure. Anticipated Results and Conclusions: We expect to have a working datacenter with multiple hosting servers. We will utilize virtual machines and physical servers to create a computing environment. With the computing environment we will be able to test different applications on different platforms on a single device.

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Big Data Indexing for Terabyte Scale Document Search COMPUTER SCIENCE | 02

Project Team Members: Tri D. Nguyen Thomas M. Veale Zachery H. Johnson

Project Faculty Advisers: Preetam Ghosh, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Timo Selvaraj



Search Blox

In this digital world, access to information is essential. We need it and almost every day; Google, Bing, Yahoo, or one of these other major services that help us find what we’re looking for so we can use a resource or answer a simple question. SearchBlox, an enterprise elasticsearch toolkit which boasts a robust and easy to use indexing system for an array of MIME types lacks an essential capability: remoting. The scope of this problem requires the ability to efficiently index particularly voluminous, dense, or distributed file-systems to a centralized SearchBlox indexing server while keeping the services that clients expect from this software intact. More specifically, the ability to be easily deployed as a remote agent, access the indexed documents via a central server, remain fault tolerant, and react to changes in the file-systems in question. The work here is important for maintaining accurate and up to date indexes to information. This problem is challenging in lieu of the sheer amount of information which is growing at an alarming rate. Storage of this information means more distributed file systems because of current hardware capacity. Users need access, and chances are – the documents will not be local. If a solution to this problem is successfully implemented, users will possess a fault tolerant streamline to the information they need. Our approach stemmed from Requirements Engineering. We reduced the end-goal into modules and worked to produce a system of Akka actors, each with a job and a role. To achieve the performance required we implemented an Apache-esque Hadoop cluster worker nodes. Stylistically, we were agile in that each member of our team had a task to work on and often each task was dependent on each other’s modules. We took the bottom up approach, building the necessary tools to crawl, parse, and make indexes on a remote server concurrently. Then pursued the other required capabilities of reactive and ensuring the availability of files from the indexing server. We were successful in streamlining a large volume of data to a local SearchBlox server and expect reactive, real time, and deployment capabilities in the near future. We expect that our agent will benchmark well on the terabyte scale and will be performing metrics on several different hardware platforms to support such claims.

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Upgrade Tatami COMPUTER SCIENCE | 03

Project Team Members: Kenny Hegeland Jeremy Narron Kameron Spruill

Project Faculty Advisers: Preetam Ghosh, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Romain Lhèritier

Ippon USA

Tatami is an open source enterprise social network created by Ippon, a consulting and software design company with offices in France and the USA. Any company can install Tatami, allowing its employees to communicate in a Twitter-like fashion. Self-hosting Tatami also lets a company retain ownership of its data, keeping it out of the hands of third parties. Tatami’s front end was originally coded using the Backbone.js library, which can make it challenging to add and modify features. Ippon decided to have it rewritten using the AngularJS web application framework, which will fix the previously mentioned problems. This rewrite will also allow contributors to easily overhaul Tatami’s conversation experience in the future. Technology moves fast, so Tatami is a bit out of date in the back end as well. We will rewrite all database related Java code to work with the latest recommended version of Cassandra, the chosen database software for Tatami. Also, we will modify the Spring Framework back end to use Spring Boot so that companies can get Tatami up and running quicker. Currently we have moved the front end from Backbone.js to AngularJS. We will spend the Spring 2015 semester upgrading the back end. Once all upgrades are complete, we expect it to be easier for software developers all over the world to contribute to Tatami on GitHub. Lastly, more activity on Tatami’s repository will help introduce more people to Tatami and increase the adoption of Tatami as the preferred way for employees to stay connected within their company.

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CHAT App and Web site optimization COMPUTER SCIENCE | 04

Project Team Members: Dhundi Acharya Michael McAlexander Dhruvil Shah

Project Faculty Advisers: Preetam Ghosh, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Todd Waldo

Kishau Rogers CHAT

Problem Statement: Church Hill Activities and Tutoring ( CHAT ), a non-profit organization which invests in the lives of Richmond’s most at-risk children by establishing strong connections through one-on one tutoring, mentorship, and enrichment activities , is facing difficulty in managing consistent communication with parents and volunteers. Each of these audiences requires different channels and information, and currently, sending paper to the home through students has become the primary channel for communicating with parents. The reliability of this practice is limited but continues because parents’ contact information, such as phone number or email, changes frequently. Rationale: Since CHAT is facing difficulties in communicating with parents and volunteers, we as a team are creating a mobile solution to share important and timely information with parents and volunteers. Users will receive notifications and regular updates to schedules and announcements. Users will also be able to update their contact information directly through the app so that the CHAT staff does not have difficulties reaching them. Approach: We divided the application in to three groups, students, parents and volunteers. Student page will contain the announcements or schedule relating to student events, parent’s page will contain the announcements, an option to change/ update their contact information, and an option to submit questions/suggestions to CHAT, and finally the volunteer’s page will contain the same thing as the parent’s page except it will have its own announcements. Interim Results and Conclusions: For this semester, we are tackling an android application, and so far we have designed a layout for the app. We have also designed a SQL database to store student’s, parent’s and volunteer’s information. Anticipated Results and Conclusions: By the end of the next semester, we will have completed both the Android and IOS application, and hope to have it available for download for android and IOS users.

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Labview with SoftIOC COMPUTER SCIENCE | 05

Project Team Members: Michael Talbott Kenneth Butler David Shires

Project Faculty Advisers: Preetam Ghosh, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Christiana Wilson



Jefferson Labs Ed Daly (Contact)

Problem Statement In working with labView and experimental physics at Jefferson Lab the current configuration is a linux based control system. Christiana has posed the task of implementing a windows based network configuration where input and output from the data readings is distributed across the network. With the help of LabView demos and CALabs softIOC we were asked to prove the concept of this windows based configuration to be possible. Specifically the task is to prove (or disprove) that we can serve data using the caLabs soft IOC. Rationale The current configuration of Jefferson Labs data systems is served on hardware that is obsolete (Networked Apple II boxes) compared to todays standards especially in regards to UX and ease of access. With a windows based implementation Jefferson Lab will be able to update to more current technology as well as enabling a more user friendly environment for the experimental physicists to work with. The impact of this proof of concept allows Jefferson Lab to move forward with an actual implementation on site. It was an ideal project for our team because we could set up a networked test environment on hardware that we had administrator access over. This alleviated the problem of having to ask the IT management department at Jefferson labs to open ports and relinquish privileged access for the purpose of testing this software. Approach Initially, our team had to develop enough working knowledge of LabView to begin working on our problem. After preparing our team edited a LabView demo to change randomly generated input to String input we could control and serve to the caLabs softIOC. With no firewall restrictions we served input to another computer on our network which was successfully read and displayed in the caLabs/LabView UI. After successfully proving that caLabs soft IOC could indeed send information over the network, we began working on a simplified demo. The goal of this demo is to exhibit the proper usage of caLabs soft IOC over a Windows configured network. The result being a unambiguous implementation that can be scaled up as per the needs of Jefferson Labs. Results After initial testing we have a documented a proof of concept that with no firewall restrictions that we are successfully able to serve LabView data to caLabs through a network. The results of this concept moves us into the next phase of our project. We have proven this concept will work. We are now hoping to contribute to the effort of an implementation on site. The first transition to this software package, at Jefferson Labs, will be the upgrade of the superconducting test facility called the Vertical Test Area. Another goal is to successfully build a working physical demo of this project with actual hardware PLC’s to display at the senior design expo at the end of the Spring 2015 semester. Acknowledgments Carsten Winkler - Author of caLabs software

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Development of mobile applications for VCU’s Center for Clinical and Translational Research COMPUTER SCIENCE | 06 Project Team Members: Stephen D. Wu Bowen Zhang Vattana V. Vichith

Project Faculty Advisers: Preetam Ghosh, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor:

David Fenstermacher, Ph.D.

Biostatistics

In today’s day and age, data should be accessible at all times. The biggest break-through for data accessibility is mobile technologies such as phones and tablets. The CCTR provides a continuum of informatics research and services to support translational and clinical research. Clinical Trials represent one of the central themes for the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, but they do not have a mobile app for the VCU community to access CCTR’s informatics resources. This project aims to promote the expanded informatics research and services available to VCU students, faculty and staff as well as patients interested in discovering more about clinical research at VCU. The CCTR wants to extend current research data management systems and traditional webpages to mobile technologies. This will enable the CCTR to provide the CCTR user community with seamless access to its current and developing infomratics resources. The project followed the agile development methodology. Each week, we created new features for the mobile app, slowly adding onto the initial app we created. The major goal of the project was to be able to pull data from the Forte API. Extra features were added on later on for the overall user-friendliness. The app primarily focused on function over form. In the end, we tried to stick with VCU colors. Over the course of the project, we encountered a few issues along the way. None of us have had experience programming for the android OS. We were familiar with java, but the android library had many more requirements to get everything working. We needed to learn to program for the android OS and also learn new technology associated with mobile app programming. Another issue we came across was scalability, getting the app to comply with VCU branding seemed simple at first, but when we started adding in logos, we encountered a lot of errors. The logos had to be refactored to fit 100% with the application. The CCTR now has a fully functional Clinical Trials Android Application. Over the course of the final semester, additional features will be prioritized based on complexity, and importance to the CCTR and included in the mobile apps. Features that impact the access of information and benefits the CCTR will be added as the project progresses. The final goal will be to create both an Android and an iOS app. Before the apps can be officially finished, a live instance of data will be needed that utilizes VCU resources for accessing data about VCU’s clinical trials.

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Predator-prey game to maintain stable fish population for Ecotoxicological studies COMPUTER SCIENCE | 07 Project Team Members: Jason Blondin Catherine Halpern Tyler Malkus

Project Faculty Advisers: Preetam Ghosh, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Michael Mayo, Ph.D.

US Army ERDC

With the state of the environment on the forefront of many minds today, it’s important for our society to be able to understand how we interact with our local ecosystems and the potential impacts we can cause. Creating computational simulations of these environments can help to predict the possible effects of different situations. The purpose of our project was to create a predator-prey simulation of different species of fish that could take into account different population management strategies and accurately reflect the waves that could be caused by the introduction of various chemicals into the fish’s environment. In order to create the model of this aquatic ecosystem, our team started with the framework of NetLogo, an agent-based simulation framework and modeling environment. This framework was used to create a prototype that would reflect the behaviors of fathead minnows and small mouth bass living together in a closed ecosystem, based on research done by the team to determine actual behaviors of these fish. In the model, the user can adjust the number of fish present at the start of the session, to try to create a balanced population that will maintain itself. The simulation also allows for the user to input chemicals into the water, and reflects how this would impact fish populations by changing reproductive rates, and other factors. We hope to improve our model to provide a platform that allows for more user interaction and a more engaging experience. In order to do so, we plan to add further population management strategies, such as placing food sources in ideal locations that will encourage a dwindling group of prey fish to move away from clusters of predators, or away from an area that has been polluted. We also plan to further refine the underlying algorithms that control agent movement, feeding, and reproduction, to make the simulation as accurate as possible. Potentially, a more polished graphical user interface will be developed to further the user’s experience.

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Clover Care: Website and E Marketing Development COMPUTER SCIENCE | 08

Project Team Members: Parker Bryant Amber Elliott Weston Kingery

Project Faculty Advisers: Carol Fung, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Jeffrey Law

Clover Care

Ervin Ramos Acknowledgments: Daniel Holloway, Justin Risch

Clover Care is a geographically diverse company with both caregivers and clients spread across multiple counties. Efficient resource management and communication is critical for such a broadly distributed company. Clover Care also expects to continue expanding its geographical service area, making a solution even more critical. Clover Care was interested in updating and expanding their existing website to address this need. The centralization provided by using a website allows caregivers, clients and their families, and managers a way to quickly and effectively communicate. The primary Clover Care forms that were to be centralized included the caregiver timesheet, client case management form, and client invoice. Four distinct roles were identified as needing access to information: Caregiver, Client, Case Manager, and Administrator. Administrators required read and write capabilities for all objects. Case Managers required read capability for Caregiver timesheets and users, and write capability for case management forms. Caregivers required write capability for timesheets. Clients required read capability for timesheets, case management forms, and invoices. Access to the secure forms was provided using a central logon page. Users were then taken to a dashboard that allowed them access to forms based on the user’s role. The user would then read from and/or write to a form based on the permissions associated with their role. The website interface was developed using the PrimeFaces JSF library. Back-end functionality and security was provided using Spring and Hibernate. MySQL was used to store forms and user information for the purposes of development. This website is expected to be hosted using an Amazon hosting service (AWS), using their database service. Once the web site is publicly hosted on AWS, statistics gathering and analysis will be performed to assist Clover Care in focusing on the geographical locations with the most usage. Our goal is to find an effective e-marketing strategy to increase the visibility of Clovercare in targeted geographical areas.

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CRM Integration App for Smart Phones COMPUTER SCIENCE | 09

Project Team Members: Matthew Jenkins Allen Calderwood Matthew Bates

Project Faculty Advisers: Preetam Ghosh, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Sufyan Ababneh

The problem our project solves is the feasibility of use of Salesforce, MSCRM and many other CRM technologies outside of the desk environment. When a user is away from their desk, they are unable to easily use these CRM technologies and our project solves that problem through the use of a Mobile Application that communicates with a desired CRM technology and deliver the desired information to an Android Smart-Watch. Regardless of what a company may do, efficiency is important. Through the use of our Mobile Application, companies that use CRM technologies such as Salesforce are able to further enhance their efficiency, especially when away from the desk environment. There are clear advantages to having a more efficient work force, so the impact of our application is clear as well as it aims to improve efficiency. For this project we used an Agile development approach. We viewed the project as three parts that could all be worked on separately and then implemented together after completion of each. This allowed for very rapid development and, as a result, the project was finished quickly. We felt that our project was highly successful and an excellent product worthy of recognition. We’re excited to see what more we can do with it in the following semester and excited to learn what AMC Technology will do with our project after we graduate.

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Columbia Graphics Print Estimator Application COMPUTER SCIENCE | 10

Project Team Members: Alex Jacobi Christopher Wooten Sahil Zubair

Project Faculty Advisers: Preetam Ghosh, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Scott Haugh

Columbia Graphics

Problem Statement: Can we create a web application to help facilitate the estimation of printing services as requested by clients and allow for the full interaction between a client, sales representative, and an administrator all through a single web application. Rationale: The importance of this project is to create an easy to use online service that a user can access from either their smartphone or desktop computer. If successful, this project will allow users to have quick access to quotes regarding their printing needs anywhere they are without the need of contacting an actual printing company. This project will also allow the owner of a printing company to easily manage and quote potential jobs from customers. Approach: We aimed to create a web application where an administrator could view all jobs in a queue, assign certain jobs to a sales representative, and communicate with customers in order to better organize the process of managing clients as a print company. We created three endpoints: client, sales representative, and administrator. We wanted to create a client request form, a sales representative portal, an administrative tool to manage the web application, and a pdf estimate generator. The application uses php to interact with a mysql database to form dynamic views. Anticipated Results/Conclusions: We have created a interactive web application to help handle the cost estimation of printing jobs requested by customers with minimal sales representative intervention. The result would be a deployable web application that could be used in a commercial setting to better manage and organize the needs of the print shops customers.

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Text Analytic System for the Critical Infrastructure Dependency Mining COMPUTER SCIENCE | 11 Project Team Members: J. Ryan Murphy Joseph Contarino James Cecil

Project Faculty Advisers: Milos Manic, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Mr. Ryan Hruska

Idaho National Lab

Knowledge discovery is a critical function of infrastructure protection in the U.S. By analyzing key text documents, we can gain insight into the interwoven and interdependent infrastructure system of the U.S., and better understand the security aspects of the system as a whole. Massive amounts of relevant data resides in text documents, which must be gathered and parsed to be analyzed on a large scale. Our algorithm collects web-based text embedded in HTML pages and analyzes it in various ways to decipher similarities. It will be a needed component of the larger system being developed by the Idaho National Laboratory, which will seek to accomplish what was described above. By analyzing the similarity of these HTML documents, we are helping the Idaho National Laboratory to keep redundant data out of the database. Without proper parsing of similar data, repetitive entries may clog the system with unneeded information. We attack this problem by providing a series of interfaces, each culminating into the same comparison algorithm. The interface can accept a raw String, a text file, or a web URL. The BoilerPipe library is used to extract useful text from the HTML document, by stripping the document of its tags, and using a series of filters to acquire desired text. A simple Java scanner is used to parse the text file. This text is then lemmatized, stripped of punctuation, converted to lowercase, stemmed, and put into a term-document matrix. Finally, we use cosine similarity to generate a proper percentage point representing how similar or dissimilar the two provided text documents are.

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INL Smart grid stability and issues/ challenges associated with coupling nuclear and renewable energy sources COMPUTER SCIENCE | 12 Project Team Members: Abderrahmen Chouat Shiyoon Joo Jacob Holcombe

Project Faculty Advisers: Preetam Ghosh, Ph.D. Milos Manic, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Piyush Sabharwall

INL

Project Scope: Smart grid stability and issues/ challenges associated with coupling nuclear and renewable energy source will be researched. The changes we can expect in grid technology so the robustness and resilience could be further improved will be addressed. This projects will entail literature surveys and may involve running some simulation software and comparisons. Another aspect of the project will be focus on nuclear plant as part of the future smart grid stability challenge. Specifically, this part of the project will entail CFD modeling of zig-zag Printed Circuit compact heat exchanger and modeling it in MATLAB and seeing the difference if any and gaining confidence in correlation which exist in the literature. Rationale: I believe that this project has value and importance to the academic & research community here at VCU, and elsewhere in the United States, and even the world. There aren’t very many databases of thermodynamical properties combined together in this manner. One of the known Databases is by NIST, and it is not free. As it gets further developed, we cant measure its ability to influence because so much can be incorporated. For instance this simple application can be developed into a package of material for a class. Approach: Well specifically for this java application I started with the basic logic for a couple of main components inside the program. (1) – Reading Data -Structure .txt file -InputFile.txt -Units.txt -AdditionalInfo.txt (2) – Creating Data Structure - correct sizes must be read by tests from .txt files. - ability to work through them. - ability to extract/trim data - ability to graph data. (3) LOOP BACK TO TOP IF CLIENT WANTS TO SEARCH AGAIN Interm Results & Conclusion: In conclusion we want to be able to move forward. Progress comes with diligence, good creative thinking, being open minded, & taking pride in the work you do. We want to make an impact, to bring resources to researchers and students. So as we move forward we will be finding unique additions for he program that will be the most helpful to those who wish to use it. Maybe even get involved with the Mech & Nuc Engineering departments here at VCU.

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Quantifying the Effectiveness of Phishing Emails COMPUTER SCIENCE | 13

Project Team Members: Mike Hodges Chris Neville Joshua Rymer

Project Faculty Advisers: Milos Manic, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Miles McQueen

Idaho National Labs

Problem: How can the effectiveness of a phishing attack be quantified and/or measured? Applications: This project will provide a resource for Idaho National Labs to quantitavely evaluate the effectiveness of their security awareness program in regards to phishing attacks. In turn, it will aid them in hardening the human element of security at the research facility. Approach: Our approach is to construct a fully functional phishing system where we can craft phishing emails, send emails, and place links that point to our web application. We hope to use this system to conduct an anonymous and non-malicious experiment. This data will assist in the design and implementation of the algorithm that will evaluate the relative effectiveness of a phishing email. Interim Results: At this point in time we have have started the experimental approval process and developed a functioning phishing system to use in our experiment. We have created the framework in which to construct our algorithm. Anticpated Results: Next Semester we plan to have a fully functioning phishing email evaluation algorithm. In addition are trying to run a live phishing study at VCU and if it is approved, itwill provide valuable data on the accuracy of our algorithm.

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Smart Grid Communications Network Simulation Project COMPUTER SCIENCE | 14

Project Team Members: Morgan J. Waser Brandon T. Perkins Benjamin C. Koppier

Project Faculty Advisers: Milos Manic, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Dr. Kurt Derr

Idaho National Laboratory

Problem: In the coming years the United States is working to move towards a smarter electric grid. One that is more versatile and can adjust to different situations. To move forward with these from our current electric grid to the Smart Grid, simulations are needed to understand how the new grid is likely to behave in different situations. Rationale: The importance of creating these simulations is to try and predict which topological set-ups are best for different kinds of scenarios as well as how the grid might behave under different circumstances. Once different situations are simulated, Smart Grid developers can use the simulations as a guide for building the physical and digital Smart Grid. Approach: Our team used the simulation software NS3 to write our Smart Grid simulation. We are beginning with a basic network topology and trying to implement five use cases on this network. From there we hope to be able to expand to be able to look at slightly different topologies and compare their performance completing the use cases. The use cases are: on demand meter read, on demand meter read failure, on demand meter interval period read, normal meter reading operations, and bulk meter interval data read. Interim Results and Conclusions: We have begun with a simple topology (shown below) with a point to point connection between individual meters and the data concentrator, which then send information to the data and control center. We have begun implementing the use cases while monitoring time for completion, loss of information and other important factors we would like to compare across all of our various topologies. Anticipated Results and Conclusions: At the conclusion of this project, we hope to have a functioning simulation that can compare and assess different topologies and network set-ups.

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Driving Simulator – Vehicle Simulation Development and Testing COMPUTER SCIENCE | 15

Project Team Members: Ivan Grinkevich Justin Boswell James Freund

Project Faculty Advisers: Milos Manic, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: David Gertman Zach Spielman Jordan Holmberg

Idaho National Laboratory

Problem Statement: VCU will be putting together state of the art 3D curved screen driving simulator. This simulator will mimic fleets of vehicles behavior and will be networked with INL and Univ. of Idaho simulators. The project will entail putting the simulator together and improving existing simulator software. Rationale: Conduct research in the areas of important behaviors to increase driver efficiency, how simulation training can encourage good driving habits, Psychology of driver habits and distractions, and benefits of audio and visual cues to assist drivers. Approach: Identify the most optimal 3d engine and develop simulation environment using the chosen engine. Interim Results: • Identified the optimal 3d engine • Static objects and obstacles • Sky environment • Cameras and lighting • Field of view terrain • Load .scene of drivable course Anticipated results: • Physics • Dynamic Traffic • Day/Night and Seasons • Make a drivable bus with User Interface for driver • Apply to new 3D screen equipment and Support for steering wheel and pedals

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Porting of INLs Grid Simulator to a Java Based Format COMPUTER SCIENCE | 16

Project Team Members: Sean Amos Patrick Sivils Aidan Collins

Project Faculty Advisers: Milos Manic, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Tim McJunkin

Idaho National Laboratory

Objective: Idaho University has implemented a power grid simulator game as a teaching aid for students enrolled in their Resilient Control Systems course. The game was created in LabView and requires the user to download the LabView client, as well as install the Grid Game on their machine in order to play. Our goal is to recreate the Grid Game in a Java based webbrowser format so that the game is more accessible and easy to use. By recreating the Grid Game in a format that can be played in browser, other universities, companies, and individuals will easily be able to coordinate lessons and competitions, or just learn how control systems work, quickly and easily without too much overhead. Also, since Java is a more popular format than LabView, there will be more opportunity for others to expand and improve upon our design. Approach: At the beginning of the project, we mainly focused on the physics behind the game rather than the playability aspect. Since none of our team members had any experience with grid architecture, most of our design method involved us meeting and talking our way through the equations needed to get the background physics to work. Once we had a grasp on the physics, we divided up work amongst ourselves, adding more functionality as we progressed. Interim Results: As of the end of the first semester, we fully implemented and tested, using an INL dataset provided by Mr. McJunkin, the Swing equation. We then added power storage functionality and generator control in order to allow the user to balance the Swing equation via a basic UI. Some other “game” aspects were included to flesh out the prototype a little more, including a basic scoring system and the ability to buy more generators. Anticipated Results: Next semester we plan on creating a more involved scoring system, connecting to an INL server to pull data and communicate and compete with other players, and improve upon our UI design. There has also been some interest in porting the game to an Android mobile platform, which we believe will be fairly simple to do.

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Rams OnBoard COMPUTER SCIENCE | 17

Project Team Members: De-Shunda White Yamil Irizarry Boo Samuel Brazil

Project Faculty Advisers: Preetam Ghosh, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Jim Yucha

Konjit Chitty Julia Ascyue Meredith Stockman Linda Winn VCU Office of Human Resources

In order for the Virginia Commonwealth University Engineering Human Resources department to provide seamless new hire integration, they need to upgrade their current post-hire information gathering techniques. Currently the HR department continues to provide paper forms and packets to new hires to fill out and return for review. This method requires over $30,000 in cost for materials and labor. The main goal of our project is to establish a way for newly hired employees to complete their new hire forms electronically through the VCU server. By successfully executing our project we are moving VCU’s onboarding process to a completely paperless process where not only the pre-hire application process is submitted electronically, but also the post-hire information gathering process. Our project will allow VCU to go paperless, reducing the risk of outdated forms circulating, obtaining required information for American’s with Disabilities Act disclosure, and improving first impressions through branding of professional software. This completely electronic hiring process does not only save time for both the HR Representatives and newly hired employees, but also saves money for VCU in labor and material costs. Lastly, it will improve overall efficiency within the Human Resources department allowing for quicker employee integration. We first began our project by reviewing the work already done by the previous group the year before. After looking through the different files and folders we spoke with our team advisors to gather information about their expectations for the onboard site and to collect business requirements. The different forms and requirements gathered were put into an Excel sheet in listed form to be shared by all individuals involved with the project. The group broke up the work accordingly and set goals to transform the old framework into a working site. We constantly check the requirements given and new ones discussed in meetings to provide the appropriate changes to the site. For each new business requirement transformed into a technical requirement we test at every level of development. Throughout this semester’s development we have done a couple of live demos displaying our prototype at different stages. We received positive feedback from our faculty advisors on the progress of our work and future expectations for our project.

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Visualization of NLP Extractions COMPUTER SCIENCE | 18

Project Team Members: Kevin D. Barbour David D. Vieth Deepak S. Warraich

Project Faculty Advisers: Bridget McInnes, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: CTO

Securboration Inc.

The goal of this project is to design a visualization system for information extracted from large amounts of unstructured text. The importance of the project is for the system to display information in a more informative way than simple highlighting of the raw text. The data is obtained from a program that scans multiple files for entities and extracts the information in said files pertaining to those entities. The entities that the program scans for includes people, organizations, locations, dates, incidents and any relative key words. The information is extracted and stored in JSON files, specifically in a format that can be recognized by the visualization tool. The tool used is Exhibit 3.0 by Simile Widgets and is shown below, Figure 1 displaying the map and Figure 2 comparing the points. Exhibits displays the inputted data out on a map, using plots to show which locations had more frequent occurrences. The anticipated results are that the visualization system allows researchers to better understand the information being returned.

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Cohort Discovery Tool for VCU Massey Cancer Center Informatics Core COMPUTER SCIENCE | 19 Project Team Members: Javan Cohen

Nandu Radhakrishnan Brian Seal

Project Faculty Advisers: Preetam Gosh, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: David Fenstermacher VCU Biostatistics

Massey Cancer Center is currently bound by an internal Active Directory and role based account system and organizations outside of VCU need to write specific code to be able to access the information provided. Massey wanted to move their system to a federated account system with claims based authentication. This project is important because having information readily available to other trusted cancer research groups will help promote understanding and treatment of cancerous cells. Our approach was to take what we learned in CMSC 355 to create a design document that was approved by Dr. Fenstermacher. We used this to create a system that was claims based. We currently have a functioning prototype, are familiar with C#, familiarized ourselves with the Cohort Discovery Tool so we will be prepared to tackle it next semester. We anticipate having a polished security and token system, and have the cohort discovery tool configured properly for client’s needs.

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RecDroid: a resource access permission control portal and recommendation service for smartphone users COMPUTER SCIENCE | 20 Project Team Members: Gerrit Bond Marcus E. Pare Steven T. Jackson

Project Faculty Advisers: Carol Fung, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: CTO

Securboration Inc.

The rapid growth of the smartphone applications market raises security concerns regarding untrusted applications. Studies have shown that most apps in markets request to collect data irrelevant to the main functions of the apps. Traditional Android permission control design based on one-time decisions on installation has been proven to be ineffective in protecting users’ privacy and poorly utilizes scarce mobile resources (e.g. battery). RecDroid is designed to help protect user data in a market where unauthorized data collection is prevalent in most applications. With RecDroid’s recommendation feature, which is based on expert analysis, the user will be able to avoid unnecessary privacy breach while retaining safe functionalities of many third party applications. RecDroid’s implementation consists of three distinct components: Application, OS modifications, and Recommendation Server. Firstly, RecDroid is exposed to the user as an application that allows them to manage permissions for installed applications and provides recommended permissions for new installations. In order to accomplish this, the Android OS needed to be modified to add two key functions to make our application work: editing the PackageManager class to handle user set permissions and to add a probation installation setting to let RecDroid know what applications to monitor. The last core component required for the RecDroid application is a server that collects participating users’ decisions sent by the application, makes recommendations based on stored decisions, and provides recommendations to the application. When RecDroid is fully implemented and has a sufficient user base, we expect to have a fully functional application that can effectively protect user data from dishonest applications that seek to overstep their essential reach. The server will continuously collect more data and recruit new users, which will correspondingly increase the confidence level and accuracy of RecDroid recommendations.

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ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING PROJECT ABSTRACTS

JSRCC Automotive Object Detection Simulator ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING | 01

Project Team Members: Lucas Cerully Salima Fenaoui Derek McCubbin

Project Faculty Advisers: Michael Cabral, Ph.D. Weijun Xiao, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Melissa Gay

JSRCC

With a constant rise in the automobile industry, there is a demand for more advanced integratable technology along with it. With the consumer’s safety always in mind, automobile companies are adding more to their systems to help detect and prevent collisions. Among these technologies is the object detection system. In summary, this component warns or reacts to oncoming objects that could put the driver in danger. As with any piece of technology, there are problems and bugs that the object detection system can come across that would cause it to act irregularly. In turn, this requires the availability of technicians who can troubleshoot and fix these systems. Currently, there are no systems in the market that simulate troubleshooting for object detection systems. Our system will provide the needed simulation to help automotive technicians learn how to troubleshoot object detection systems. This project will help train automotive technicians on troubleshooting automatic object detection systems for automobiles. Our project will give an expanded view of the components that make up the object detection systems that have not been shown before and will give students a deeper understanding of these systems. Our design will feature a front facing camera that will detect simple objects or shapes and an LED bank to represent the automatic braking. There will also be two distance sensors that will simulate blind spot detection with LED lights to show when an object is detected. Our system will be controlled with an Arduino microcontroller. Our automatic accident prevention system will demonstrate automatic braking and provide training technicians a visual aid for debugging similar systems. With intentional bugs implemented in the software and hardware, this training system will prove very useful for educational institutions.

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Automated Magnetic Field Scanning System ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING | 02

Project Team Members: George Bakirtzis Tim Owen Tara Powell

Project Faculty Advisers: Afroditi V. Filippas, Ph.D. Ümit Özgür, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Ed Daly

Jefferson Laboratory

One of Jefferson Laboratory’s research areas is in Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) science and technology. SRF cavities are tested in the Vertical Testing Area (VTA) at Jefferson Laboratory, within a series of large cylindrical dewars. The measured quality factor (Q factor) of the SRF cavity is directly influenced by any existing magnetic field. Because the VTA previously housed a cyclotron, all the rebars within the building have residual magnetic fields emanating from them. This magnetic field effect of the building renders the measurements of Q factor on the devices inaccurate and the testing data unreliable. A magnetic field scanning system must be employed to accurately map the magnetic field within the testing dewar so that an existing set of current-carrying coils installed around the dewar can be used properly for cancellation of the residual magnetic fields. This process will ensure the initial testing conditions are free of any unwanted magnetic fields that could cause unreliable testing data. The proposed system will scan the residual magnetic field inside vertical dewars of varying sizes (16”- 34” diameter by 72”132” depth) in three dimensions and log data for later use, as well as display a visual mapping of the data to the operator through LabView. A sensor with a sensitivity of at least 0.1 milligauss will be attached to the bottom of a long pole that will be lowered into the dewar. Translation in the z direction, on the dewar’s central axis, will be achieved by using a pair of stepper motors controlling a rack and pinion set up on the center pole. To achieve incremental mapping in the x-y plane, an arm will be attached to the bottom of the pole that will house additional sensors. The platform holding the stepper motors will turn on a dial with degree measurements, allowing for rotational movement of the entire center pole and arm. By calculating the x-y values for each sensor on the arm at that set degree amount, mapping of set increments in the x-y plane can be achieved.

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Temperature Measurement System for Cloud Data Centers ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING | 03

Project Team Members: James McAdams Michael Tu Faida Matabaro Eric Cobbinah

Project Faculty Advisers: Michael Cabral, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Bill Sneddon

Paraclete

In this project we will be developing a system to help monitor temperature in data centers. This system will include software and a circuit to route resistive temperature devices (RTDs) (Figure 1) to a microchip which will output their readings as data. The system should be able to connect with 64 RTDs, read the temperatures from them, and make the data accessible over a network. This system could also be used in other situations besides data centers. The user would decide where to place the devices and how to use the temperature data. This system will allow more RTDs to be monitored by the microchip than can currently be monitored. Currently one of the microchips can control 8 RTDs in a daisy chain configuration. The system will also allow the data to be accessed over a network. With this capability the user can check on the temperatures in the data center remotely. If successful, this project will give data center managers the capability to monitor for hot spots more easily and thoroughly. The system will be composed of the circuit which routes the RTDs to the chip and the software on the computer to control everything. To design the circuit block, diagrams will be used to represent the components and their functions. More detailed models will be made using circuit design software (Figure 2). Block diagrams will also be used to lay out the functions of the software. The software will need to send the current RTD routing data to the circuit, translate the data from the microchip, store the data, and supply the data in response to queries on the network. The system will use category 5 Ethernet cables for all connections, and the MAX31865 chip to read the RTDs. A raspberry pi device will be used as the controlling computer and will be programmed using the python programming language.



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Non-casual Autonomous Parking System for Driverless Vehicles ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING | 04

Project Team Members: Swarna Chowdhuri Ngoc Hue Vo Ivo Yotov

Project Faculty Advisers: Yue Zhao, Ph.D.

According to an Audi Urban Future Initiative study, the average person spends 106 days over their life-time searching for parking spaces. Whether it is on the side of a busy city street or a shopping center car park, the issue of parking private vehicles poses a substantial logistical challenge that scales in complexity along with population density. As modern populations trend towards urbanization it becomes imperative to develop more efficient parking structures. With the inevitable shift towards driverless vehicles, there exists a need to establish a control system to mitigate these complications. One embodiment of such a solution is a distributed sensor network feeding real-time data to a central management system which delegates navigational directives to individual vehicles based on algorithms designed to maximize spatial and temporal efficiency. This method would rely on wireless radio communication between the host and client nodes with a static sensor providing state feedback information enabling a non-causal autonomous parking process. The project strives to streamline the process of finding a vacant parking space while ensuring client safety through the direction of localized traffic by means of an optimized control scheme determined by the central server leveraging data collected from the sensor network. Such a mechanism would not only improve safety and efficiency by reducing collisions and time spent searching for open spaces, but also obviate the need for driverless vehicles to have prior knowledge of the destination layout by having the information available locally and on demand. Acknowledgements: Macpherson Stevens and Michael Cabral, Ph.D.

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Wind Energy Harvesters for Urban Small Scale Power Generation ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING | 05 Project Team Members: Zachary Gartrell Andrew Krupacs James McNamee

Project Faculty Advisers: Ümit Özgür, Ph.D.

The energy demands of society are increasing, and the ability to produce this energy from renewable sources such as wind must also increase to meet these demands. Large wind turbines are a great way to harvest renewable wind power, but they are often too large to use in an urban environment. This project focuses on designing wind energy harvesters, based on existing iterations that produce output power per area comparable to that of an efficient wind turbine, approximately 3 watts per harvester that is 1 meter long. In order to reach this target power level, two innovative designs are under investigation. Each design involves two elastic belts tightly stretched in parallel with one another, and suspended at both ends on a solid frame. One design features separate coils made out of multiple turns of thin copper wire strategically placed on the membrane, whereas the other uses a single elongated copper coil across each of the two parallel membranes. In both designs, permanent magnets mounted on the frame between the two membranes. Wind flow causes the membranes and the copper coils attached to them to flutter, which in a stationary magnetic field produces a time varying magnetic flux through the coils and induces an AC electric current. The number of turns in the coils, the magnetic field strength, the frequency of flutter controlled by the wind speed, and the design dimensions all influence the magnitude of induced current, and therefore, the maximum electrical power that can be produced. This output would then be put through a transformer to increase the output voltage, and then that voltage will be converted to DC using a rectifier circuit. At the scale of our design, the Windbelt has three primary benefits over other common renewable energy harnessing systems: solar panels and wind turbines. First, due to its lower profile it can be incorporated into the architecture of buildings and provide invisible energy generation. Second, the device is highly modular, having the ability to be connected in either series or parallel in order to generate greater voltages or currents. The frames of the Windbelts will be designed such that multiple belts can be easily connected together in both configurations. Third, the Windbelts are significantly easier to maintain than solar panels or turbines particularly at locations that are not easily accessible. There are no moving parts in the conventional sense and the belts are easily replaced by non-technical personnel.

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Human-Machine Interfacing via Epidermal Electronic Systems ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING | 06

Project Team Members: Stefan Sharpley Matthew Nelson Michael Flynn Drew Simmons

Project Faculty Advisers: Alen Docef, Ph.D. – ECE Hong Yeo, Ph.D. – MNE

Surface electromyography (EMG) is rapidly becoming a viable control source for interfacing with machines. By measuring the electric potential generated by the contractions of skeletal muscles, systems can be controlled with a mere flick of the wrist, allowing intuitive and versatile control to the wielder. As sensors and classification algorithms become more sophisticated, EMG control has increasing potential to revolutionize the way we interact with and utilize technology. Prosthetics in particular have benefited the most from these recent advances, with one research team successfully returning ambulation to a leg amputee last year. However, this technology is not yet suitable for practical use, as implementations often require bulky hardware and is limited by the complexities of the software. To amend these issues and facilitate further research in this field, we propose a consolidated solution that will handle the acquisition and classification of an EMG input while providing protocols to interface with an external system. Where most setups are cumbersome and impractical, usually requiring a piece of dedicated hardware for each step in the signal chain, we have made our system as small and cost-effective as possible. By consolidating our solution onto a single circuit board with bluetooth integration, we will maximize portability and afford researchers flexibility when working with our system. This portability will allow our device to be placed in close proximity to the EMG sensors to transmit the signal wirelessly to a central hub, which will process it further. Here the central hub will classify the waveform and map it to a definitive command that can be used to interface with an external system. This will abstract the classification aspect away from the developer, simplifying the process and allowing them to focus on what they are trying to accomplish. Our system will also allow for further extension by being robust enough to handle multiple EMG inputs and allowing researchers to easily configure the device for their purposes. To accommodate future advances in classification algorithms or future improvements to the system itself, we will also provide frameworks that will allow researchers and developers to program the device themselves. By giving researchers the tools to quickly implement this technology, we allow them to focus on other aspects of what they are trying to build instead of worrying about the technicalities that go into designing a system like this. Further development in this field will give us unprecedented ways to interact with the world around us and change how we utilize technology. Given this technology’s proclivity towards those who are disabled, our project has the potential to drastically improve the quality of life for the unfortunate as well.

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Low Power Sensors ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING | 07

Project Team Members: Mustafa Othman Taylor Coleman Zack Ashley

Project Faculty Advisers: Gary Atkinson, Ph.D.

For our project, we are implementing an enhanced – depletion load NMOS, which is a form of digital logic family that uses only a single low power supply voltage. Unlike earlier MOS logic circuits that need higher voltage, our device uses less power and improves the switching speed by increasing the device’s density and decreasing the gate delay. The figure below displays a cross view of our device. We are constructing different inverters with multiple digital logic gates. The inclusion of depletion-mode NMOS transistors in the manufacturing process demanded additional manufacturing steps compared to the simpler enhancement-load circuits; this is because depletion-load devices are formed by increasing the amount of dopant in the load transistors channel region, in order to adjust their threshold voltage. This is normally performed using ion implantation and solid source doping. Threshold voltage can be altered by either changing the ion dopant dose or by changing the thickness of the oxide. We are also designing Ring Oscillators, NAND gates, and NOR gates that reflect the characteristics of the inverters. Our objective is to provide a new learning opportunity for future VCU students, by creating more efficient transistors that use less power. Our design can be integrated between analog and digital circuits, such as analog and digital sensors, and transducers. We will like to acknowledge Dr. Gary Atkinson, our professor, who helped us developed the concept to our design project.

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Fly-Eyed Solar Cell ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING | 08

Project Team Members: Dexter K. Lau Arthur French Nicholas Buckley

Project Faculty Advisers: Gary Atkinson, Ph.D.

In a rapidly developing world, it is necessary for solar power systems to be potent and affordable in order to power cities while reducing CO_2 emission. The average temperature of Earth’s climate system has climbed 1.4°F since the 1880s – that’s about 0.01°F per year. The rate of change in climate may seem low and insignificant, but over time it adds up and negatively affects the environment. To help reduce CO_2 emission and promote a greener world, the Fly-Eyed Solar Cell team aims to improve on the design of commercialized solar cells by making it more energy efficient, environmentally friendly, cheaper to manufacture, and easily reproducible. The project plan is to fabricate an array of microlens on top of a black silicon solar cell. This project concept revolves around the idea of exploiting the photovoltaic effect in conjunction with the laws of optics. The microlenses will act as a layer that refracts and traps light into the deep cavities of the inverted pyramid structures within the silicon substrate. Trapping light in the inverted pyramid cavities will force the photons to bounce off the Silicon substrate at random angles until most of its energy is converted into commercial power. (See figures 1 and 2).

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Rapid Identification of Radio Frequencies Using Software Defined Radio ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING | 09 Project Team Members: Ali Aldajaei Ryan Littleton Matthew Thomas

Project Faculty Advisers: Robert Klenke, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Charles Cushing

QRC Technologies

The project being proposed has to deal the processing and identification of radio frequencies. As more and more frequencies are being used on the radio spectrum, noise and interference have become a problem. Currently spectrum analyzers can be used to identify this noise and interference but they require manpower and specialized equipment. Our project will focus on automating the process of analyzing multiple frequencies and identifying signals from interference. This will be done by first taking an input from a radio antenna to acquire radio signals at various frequencies and storing the values. These values will then be analyzed to remove noise and identify unique signals. Then finally, based on where in the spectrum these signals are located, the signals will be identified based on Federal Communications Commission regulations. The ability of analyzing a large array of radio signals allows for faster, and more reliable communication. In a high density area, it becomes very difficult to identify an unused radio frequency. By knowing which range of signals are being used, and which range is not being used, one can start a communications protocol based on that information. Due to the large amount of radio frequencies that are allocated for use, our project will focus on a reduced version of the radio spectrum. In doing so, we are able to have clearer results, and we will become able to be very accurate.

Figure 1.0: the radio frequencies allocated to different use in the United States

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Head-Tracking Wireless Streaming Device ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING | 10

Project Team Members: Kyle Arpe Christopher Foster Zachary Somers

Project Faculty Advisers: Robert Klenke, Ph.D.

In various businesses and services, there is a need for tight integration between visual media, human response to that media, and coordination of that response. For example, emergency responders may need information from a separate perspective using robotically controlled cameras in order to improve coordination efforts. The aim of this project is to design a low cost, high performance video streaming device. The essential feature of our design is to wirelessly send a video stream from a webcam to a micro-display and remotely control the orientation of the webcam using head movements. There are many future applications for this project including target recognition, blind spot detection, robotics, human studies, and security. Future improvements include the utilization of a transparent screen using OLED technology, power aware computing, data overlay onto the image displayed to the user, and a more ergonomic electronic solution.

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Automated Disc Kiosks ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING | 11

Project Team Members: Allen Woods Kaloyan Stankov Yaw Amoatin

Project Faculty Advisers: Carl Elks, Ph.D. Robert Klenke, Ph.D.

Our improved automated disc kiosks are designed with two purposes in mind: to improve the inventory management and agility of current automated media rental services and to simplify and consolidate the storage and distribution of installation media in an IT environment. The kiosks combine the ability to store and dispense optical discs (CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray Discs, etc.) with the ability to burn newer content pushed out via a network connection from a company’s servers. Designed and built with commonly available components to minimize costs, the prototype consists of a Digilent Zybo FPGA board powered by a Xilinx processor. A tablet is used simply as a touchscreen monitor connected to the Zybo. A CD drive with burning capabilities, a label printer, and an external hard drive are all connected via USB. Finally, the internal mechanisms, including the various servos, are connected directly to the Zybo’s I/O ports. Rental companies can benefit from these kiosks by reducing or even eliminating the number of workers and vehicles needed to restock machines and redistribute existing inventory. Each kiosk can report its current inventory to a management system, through which licenses for new media may be purchased or re-assigned and a disc containing the content can be created by the kiosk. This means an end to running out of a certain movie or game. Demand and predictive algorithms will determine where media is distributed. Finally, older titles can be overwritten to make space for newer content, all without the need for a person to service each kiosk. IT departments throughout various industries still rely on disc media to install major systems and applications; our kiosks provide an easy way to maintain a catalog of software which is easily accessible and compatible with existing technologies. Employees no longer need to keep huge binders full of CDs, with duplicates between many. A central kiosk can store those discs and burn new ones from images, all in a single hassle-free device.

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Home Automation with Remote Access via Smart Technology ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING | 12

Project Team Members: Audrey Morrisette Christian Griggs James Pepper

Project Faculty Advisers: Robert Klenke, Ph.D.

Problem Statement The idea of an ‘Internet of Everything’ has been floating around for a while, but beyond mere buzzword this concept carries with it immense, and unfortunately as of yet untapped potential. The idea of complete interconnectivity most typically conjures images of home automation; smart appliances capable of self-regulation, self-setting thermostats, etc., but with this connectivity comes with it not only the capacity to remotely monitor an existing system but to control it as well (be it with a smart phone, online application, what have you). There exists ‘smart technologies’ which incorporate user’s smart phones in the operation and monitoring of home appliances, but rarely has this extended beyond novelty. The technology has failed to take off with the general public, be it due to the design not being given serious consideration (again, capitalization on mere novelty), limited functionality, or in perhaps the more obnoxious of scenarios unnecessary ‘bundling’. Without addressing the issue, the technology, and the potential it brings with it, will descend further into the realm of novelty and make serious consideration just that more difficult. Rationale There is a niche available to produce a system which can be easily incorporated into a future design which takes into consideration this interconnectivity; a highly flexible, highly portable system would ideally, help this technology, and the ideas which inspired it, finally take off in the capacity we feel it capable. Approach The approach taken by the team will be to construct an embeddable system which can detect parameters vital to the operation of a given appliance/component of the home as well as communicate remotely with the end user those parameters and adjust conditions accordingly. Anticipated Results and Conclusions The anticipated results of our project is a system capable of receiving and interpreting a set of signals relevant to a given system, respond to the signals according to a program set by the manufacturer, and deliver those metrics to the end user while allowing for remote control. To better illustrate the concept, our intention is to design an iPhone app which allows for the control of a circuit constructed for demonstration purposes, and can receive updates/warnings should the circuit behave in a way unintended for the system.

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MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING PROJECT ABSTRACTS

Fundamental Study and Design of a Molten Metal Loop Using an Electromagnetic Pump MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 01 Project Team Members: Dominic Espiritu Dor Granek Jerald Moore Scott Torres

Project Faculty Advisers:

Supathorn Phongikaroon, Ph.D.

The first challenge of this proposed study was the gauges for the loop, which were not functioning properly and giving off inaccurate data due to a loop flow issue. Therefore a new loop design, including gauges, was created to gather accurate data for the electromagnetic pump. The electromagnetic pump used in this experiment differs from the standard electromagnetic motors by using rare earth magnets set into opposing steel plates that rotate simultaneously. Accurate data from the velocity and pressure gauges is necessary so the correlation between the EM pump’s speed and the flow velocity could be calculated. This technology could be advantageous to industries using metal transportation, by saving both money and time for industries. A loop for molten metal must be created so that differential pressure and flow rate can be tracked accurately. This can be found through the use of research, model development, and previous design work. To accomplish this task, SolidWorks was used to create models of the molten metal loop to be built. Based on this data, the design was manufactured and tested to ensure it can accurately gather data. The important outcomes for this project were to develop correlations between the flux generated by the electromagnetic pump and the RPMs. If this was achieved, then the possible incorporation of a Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) system will be incorporated to analyze the different compositions (contaminations) of the molten metal in the loop. Multiple ports were be added to the loop for implementation of the quartz window in anticipation of future use of the LIBS system, as well as other measurement apparatuses. In the meantime, the LIBS system will not be addressed at this stage in the project. Acknowledgements: Ammon Williams, Graduate Student

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The Perfect Coffee Cup MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 02

Project Team Members: Suzanne Bowers Jessica Ingram David (Adam) Murphy Gillian Stavlas

Project Faculty Advisers: James McLeskey, Ph.D. Hooman Tafreshi, Ph.D.

To design a coffee cup that will maintain the coffee at the optimal drinking temperature for several hours using Phase Change Material, PCM. The importance of this project is designing a coffee cup that will retain its temperature for a prolonged period of time giving the consumer plenty of time to finish their coffee at the desired consumption temperature. We designed a double walled cup that would contain the PCM. Heat transfer calculations were done for different materials such as acrylic, glass, and stainless steel with various thicknesses for each material. These calculations were used to decide on the ideal material the cup should be made out of and the optimum thickness of the material. Rigorous experimentations have been done with the PCM showing the relationship between temperature and time for both melting and cooling the PCM. These experimentations were used to determine the amount of PCM needed per volume of coffee. Based off the preliminary heat transfer calculations, material pricing and availability, it has been concluded to manufacture the cup out of either glass or acrylic for the best results. Once the coffee is poured into the cup, the PCM will begin to melt, immediately activating the PCM. This will instantly cool the coffee to the optimal drinking temperature of 60°C and maintain the temperature of the coffee around 60°C for several hours. We anticipate that the PCM will be able to keep the coffee hot for at least twice as long while, cooling the coffee to drinking temperature in minutes. The PCM will melt at 60°C and will absorb the heat until the temperature of the coffee drops below 60°C. When this happens the PCM will then begin to solidify and radiate heat to warm the coffee back up to optimal temperatures. The Perfect Coffee Cup

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The Low-Cost Desalination Unit MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 03

Project Team Members: Meghan Herbert-Walters Aubrey Martin Lauren Scolese Tina Trinh

Project Faculty Advisers: James McLeskey, Ph.D. Hooman Tafreshi, Ph.D.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 783 million people do not have access to a reliable clean water source. With this many people in the world without access to clean water, a solution to this problem is highly essential. The objective of this project is to create a low-cost compact desalination unit that can be used to turn contaminated water into pure drinking. For our design, a direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) approach was used. The DCMD system allows only for the evaporated feed water to pass through the membrane and therefore causes an increase in the amount of clean drinking water in the permeate tank. A diagram of the system and its components can be found below. The DCMD process provides a system that uses much lower temperatures and pressures than other distillation processes, thus requiring a considerably smaller amount of energy. Along with consuming low amounts of energy, the final design is a fraction of the cost of other desalination units. The low cost and low energy design will permit areas clean drinking water that previously could not afford more expensive systems. Based on experimental data and the size of this unit, a 0.39 liter increase in clean water, per day is possible. The design is simple enough that minor part upgrades or larger scaled models can be made, allowing for an increase in the clean water output.

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Superhydrophobic Boat MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 04

Project Team Members: Cole Anton Edin Avdic Aneesh Sandhir Tyler Zheng

Project Faculty Advisers: Hooman Tafreshi, Ph.D.

The purpose of this project is to successfully design and construct a boat hull while minimizing the amount of solid material in contact with the water. If successful, this experiment could serve as a first step in designing more efficient vessels through the reduction of the water drag force on the object. The approach to this project involved determining the optimal wire mesh and coating combination for the boat hull using both computational methods and experiment.

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R/C Aircraft Design MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 05

Project Team Members: Dakota MacGill Ryan Wydler Robert Peake Michael Johnson

Project Faculty Advisers:

Jayasimha Atulasimha, Ph.D.

Building an R/C aircraft isn’t exactly a project intent on breaking ground in the field of aerospace engineering, rather it is an opportunity to apply fluid dynamics in a practical manner to gain experience in aeronautical engineering. An aerospace engineer is one who designs and builds aircraft and spacecraft and are often tasked with deeming an aircraft flight worthy or not. We will attempt to predict the feasibility of our custom plane designs using aircraft engineering techniques found through research and through texts provided by our advisor, Dr. Jayasimha. The goal of this design is to design and fabricate a plane that abides by the SAE 2012 Aircraft Competition guidelines. These constraints require the plane to lift off in under 200 ft of runway, not have rotary wings (such as helicopter), weigh less than 55 lbs, and the propeller must rotate at the same RPM as the motor. The problem we are trying to solve is to accurately predict the behavior of the model prior to fabrication by using aerodynamic engineering calculations and simplifications. We aim to predict the take-off velocity, the induced drags on the plane, required engine performance, in-flight performance, and overall feasibility of the design. If successful, we will gain a decent understanding of how aerospace engineers predict the flight behavior and specification requirements of airplanes. It is actually more difficult to design a flightworthy small-scale aircraft rather than a large commercial one due to the low altitude of operation, which induces fairly laminar boundary conditions, which in turn increases the drag force on the plane. In order to do this, coefficients of lift and drag of the airplane’s airfoil will be found using the software XFLYER 5, which is a specialized program for aircraft design. Using this software and formulae found from R/C aircraft related texts, an excel sheet will be made to predict flight performance and by altering the dimensions of the plane and airfoil shape, we will be able to choose the most flightworthy design. So far we are working with an airfoil at an angle of attack of 7 degrees which yields a coefficient of lift of 0.943 and a coefficient of drag of 0.0062. With rectangular wings 13’’X 42’’, a fuselage of length 5.5 ft, a Rimfire 1.60 motor, and a weight of 25 lbs, it was predicted that the plane will need to reach 37mph, overcome a drag of 14.5 Newtons, and will take about 77 ft of runway to lift off. We aim to reduce these values by adjusting parameters accordingly.

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FLEX MOTION EXOSkeleton MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 06

Project Team Members: Saswat Mishra Juan Soto Karan Patel Forrest Baber

Project Faculty Advisers: Woon-Hong Yeo, Ph.D.

Francis “Farbod” Azari

The purpose of our design revolves around the concept of enhancing the human body through the use of a lower body exoskeleton. The most applicable demographics for our design consists of paraplegics and non-paraplegics. The various uses we hope to include would allow the user to: walk again, lift heavier loads with the ability to move forward, back and be seated. Although lower body exoskeletons already exist on the market, they still have shortcomings that prevent widespread use among the general public. Our hope is to improve upon the design of existing exoskeletons with the integration of epidermal electronic systems (EES) with a hydraulic systems; allowing more functionality with less human metabolic consumption. We want the system to do most of the work for the user; to further our vision of minimalistic effort. The system will function by utilizing skin surface electromyogram signals (EMG); sent by muscles in the forearms. The signals will be picked up by the epidermal attachments transmitting them wirelessly to a microcontroller, activating the exoskeleton motion. A rigid, yet flexible frame will support the hydraulic systems and electronic components. One to two hydraulic pumps will be needed for three cylinders. One hydraulic cylinder, per leg, will be attached from the hamstring to the calf muscle. The third will be located at the hip, lifting the leg close to a ninety degree angle. The process for completing the lower body exoskeleton is split into three components: the hydraulic system, the electronic components, and the EES “tattoo.” The first step involves creating a CAD design of the frame and hydraulics. Francis Azari will be welding together the frame and attaching the cylinders to these frame at a machine shop with the assistance of Forrest Baber and Karan Patel. Saswat Mishra and Juan Soto will work together to program the Arduino Microcontroller and wire it to calibrate the hydraulic cylinders. Lastly, the EES “tattoo” will be fabricated by Saswat and Karan, using UVLithography in the VCU clean room. Our method of achieving our goal consists of splitting up into smaller groups; allowing us to complete work more efficiently. In order to allow ample time to complete the frame of the exoskeleton, the mechanical and electrical work has been split into the fall and spring semesters, respectively. By late December, we want the frame and hydraulic system to be completed so that we may begin coding and fabricating the EES in January. If all minimum goals can be completed early, we hope to include more features that will enhance the functionality of the suit.

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Nuclear Reactor Simulator MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 07

Project Team Members: Adriana Camargo Jonathan Dip Gordan Ek Vance Petrella Caleb Soeuen Nicole Waugh

Project Faculty Advisers: James Miller

Rosa Bilbao y Leon, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: William Beck

Thu Ho John Lautzenheiser

VCU’s nuclear reactor simulator provides a real time simulation of the operation of a nuclear power plant. Student developed LabVIEW programs display the controls and instrumentation of a reactor control room on twenty eight computer monitors, thirteen of which are touchscreens. Changing reactor conditions are calculated with the best-estimate nuclear system analysis code RETRAN-3D. Simulator design provides for the interaction between student reactor operators and an instructor through instructor driven reactor transients. The simulator is used as a teaching tool for VCU engineering students and for public education and community outreach. The VCU nuclear simulator is an ongoing senior design project suitable for computer science, mechanical and nuclear engineering, and electrical engineering students. Upgrades to the system under consideration include remote access to the simulator, expanded plant event capabilities, the addition of new reactor designs such as a boiling water reactor, and performance and user interface enhancements.

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JSRCC Automotive Object Detection Simulator MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 08

Project Team Members: Stephen Holder Taylor Fines Ishoc Salaam

Project Faculty Advisers: Charles Cartin, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Melissa Gay

JSRCC

Can you imagine starting your car, pushing a button, and it drives you to work? This technology is not as far in the future as you may think. Cars such as Mercedes Benz’s S-class and Audi’s A7 prototype have a traffic jam assist feature which at speeds under 40 mph, a button can be pressed and the car will drive itself on the highway. The system uses an array of cameras, sensors, and radars to follow the car in front at a safe distance while staying within its lane. If another car cuts in front of it with the feature active, the brakes will be automatically applied and the car will be again adjusted to follow at a safe distance. The driver can take control of vehicle by replacing his or her hand back on the steering wheel. This technology is not in your more common cars, but most new cars have automatic braking assistance, or object avoidance. These systems use sensors and radars to apply the brakes fully or partially to avoid an object or person that may be the in the vehicles path. Some systems have the ability to automatically steer around the obstruction. Because this technology is very recent and developing rapidly, automotive technician curriculums and simulators used to teach trouble shooting methods have not caught up. Though you can find these systems on most new cars and the automotive industry seems to be moving towards developing autonomous vehicles, there is no company currently manufacturing simulators equipped with this technology. Teaching students how to trouble shoot cars equipped with these systems presents a great challenge for automotive technician instructors. In an attempt to update its automotive curriculum to adapt to new technology, J Sergeant Reynolds Community College (JSRCC) ordered several new instructional simulators. These simulators use recent automotive technology, but are very limited in object detection or automatic braking. For Instance, the OEM light and accessory system with doors can do any lighting or door function of a Chevy Cobalt. The simulator is a unit equipped with Cobalt doors which open, it stands still and allows students to trouble shoot any of the lighting or Door functions of a Cobalt. The electronic system has preprogrammed bugs that students must trouble shoot, identify, and fix as a part of their training. JSRCC wants an actual vehicle that moves remotely, can be equipped with object detection, automatic breaking, and steering systems to give students a real life interactive instructional simulation. This will be a one of a kind instructional tool that will give students the ability to see these systems work, then by applying a preprogrammed bug the students will have to troubleshoot and repair the vehicle so that it is operating properly again. The plan in achieving this goal is to design a remote controlled chassis equipped with a steering and braking system. The chassis will have an override that can be integrated with an object detection/automatic braking system. The OEM light simulator will be attached to the chassis by permanent means. The completed instructional vehicle will be remote controlled and have all the lighting and door features of a Chevy Cobalt. It will also be able to be able to detect an object in front of it. If the object is big enough to cause damage to the car or harm to its passengers, the object detection system will override the remote and automatically apply the brakes stopping the vehicle. If the object can be cleared by a slight veer, the system will override the steering system to steer around the object while applying the brakes enough to complete this maneuver. The mechanical engineers on this project are specifically responsible for designing and manufacturing a remote controlled chassis with an electronic steering and braking scheme, attaching the OEM light and accessory simulator to the chassis, and incorporating an override of these systems for an object detection arrangement

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Tapered Roller Bearing Accelerated Fatigue Life Test Rig Design -A MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 09 Project Team Members: Hilton Bennett Nathan Morris Charles Grimm Elizabeth Englert David Trinh Matthew Ofsonka

Project Faculty Advisers: Charles Cartin, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Michael Mason, MS

Brenco

Fatigue life testing of large tapered roller bearings for railroad applications is both expensive and time consuming. Accepted methods for testing bearings include full–size and scaled down testing. Currently, bearing test methods at Brenco take up to six months to complete, and scaled down testing requires additional resources for manufacturing prototypes and testing capabilities that are not economically ideal. The purpose of this project is the development of a tapered roller bearing test rig to test bearings to their fatigue life as quickly as possible. The rig design can accommodate bearing sizes in the range of one half (½) to a maximum of four (4) Class K, 6 ½ x 9 inch double row tapered roller bearings in line with an axial load. This Senior Design team developed an accelerated life test rig capable of testing up to four (4) full size bearings, which will cut the current analysis time in half. The development of this rig will allow Brenco to perform more efficient and effective testing of bearing life, which in turn will enhance research methods for determining better quality materials and suppliers.

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Tapered Roller Bearing Accelerated Fatigue Life Test Rig Design -B MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 10 Project Team Members: Andrew Compton Donald Miller Milton Chandler Thomas Miller

Project Faculty Advisers: Charles Cartin, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Martin Reed Mason Michael

Brenco

Problem Statement: Fatigue life testing of large tapered roller bearing components for rail applications is often very costly and time consuming. The purpose of this project is to assist Amsted Rail Company, Inc. develop a large railroad tapered roller bearing test rig that does not require scaled down prototypes bearings. As these are tapered rollers, loads can be applied from either the lateral or radial direction. L10 bearing life test predictions for the test rig bearings should be carried out using the American Bearing Manufacturers Association standards. The test rig can be designed to test as many as 4 bearings at a time or as little as one bearing raceway (1/2 bearing) at a time. The overall goal of the project is to design a test rig that will provide accelerated life test results, create solid models of the test rig design for illustration purposes, and provide supporting design calculations. Rationale: With completion of this project it will allow Amstead Rail Company Inc. to test their bearing products in a quicker and more efficient manner. They will be able to obtain test data in a much quicker manner, drastically decreasing the amount of time needed to make manufacturing adjustments to current production. Secondly, it will allow Amstead Rail to excel in product development by enabling them to test prototype bearing at a never achieved pace. Approach: Our team has used the method of static analysis to solve for the loads corresponding to a rail car bearing under full and partial loads. We then designed a prototype test rig and that we saw as a best fit to our customers need. We then animated the product in 3D using the Inventor CAD program and analyzed the rig/bearing in ANSYS computer software to ensure that it could provide/withstand the designed loads. Interim Results and Conclusions: As of 12/1/2014 our team has determined the static loads that may be seen in the rig and bearing during testing operation. We have factored in many engineering criteria and worked with our contact personnel at Amstead Rail to ensure that our prototype design will meet their desired needs. Currently, our team starting to move forward with the Inventor 3D modeling and ANSYS load analysis of the test rig. Anticipated Results and Conclusions: The expected results of this design project are to provide a bearing test rig concept that has been proven through static analysis; with corresponding 3D CAD drawings that will allow for a functioning prototype to be built along with a bill of materials needed to create the rig.

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Design for External Coiling Brush Attachment MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 11

Project Team Members: Amber Clark Timothy Paredes Andrew Richardson Kayleigh Rogers Branden Yam

Project Faculty Advisers: Charles Cartin, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Dave Chrisman Milo Hairfield

Russell Rowland Roger Ferryman Sealeze

Problem Statement: Company initially desired a new machine that would be able to produce external coiled brushes that would help in increasing revenue and project opportunities. The design has shifted to making an attachment to the existing equipment that would help in this effort instead of developing a completely new unit. Rationale: Sealeze sees this as an opportunity of increasing revenue and also taking on the effort of making externally coiled brushes more efficiently. If successful, more clients can be taken in and it would make Sealeze a more versatile company. Approach: The main approach revolved around weekly meetings with Sealeze. E-mail was utilized daily in order to make sure that the desire of the company were met. There were at least three different iterations to the design until one was settled upon. Main design tool used was SolidWorks and the design model was shown to the company frequently. Interim Results and Conclusions: The main problems that were of concern revolved around the amount of force needed to bend the brush and in a circular fashion. Calculations were done to insure that the brush would be bent with the right amount of force when also taking into consideration the motor driven components that were guiding the brush. Anticipated Results and Conclusions: According to the calculations, it is expected that the brush will not buckle while the machine is running and will be able to formed into the desired spiral. Acknowledgements: Russell Rowland (Initial Industry Advisor), Roger Ferryman (Initial Industry Contact), John Lowe (Works most closely with the machine), Rick Wheeler (Floor Manager), Doug Laws (Plant Manager), Doug Pollak (President)

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FSAE – Shift Control system MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 12

Project Team Members: Ashton Bressler Cody Bryant Christian Fergusson Jason Shephard

Project Faculty Advisers: Charles Cartin, Ph.D.

Problem statement: Formula SAE has been at VCU for the last three years and the team is now getting to the point of having the formula car ready to run and drive. One of the things that needs to be finished for this to happen is the installation of a shifting system. Rationale: Once completed, the FSAE team will be one step closer to having a competition ready formula car. While a major part of the team is the members’ love of all things fast, we also believe that the car will provide exposure to the VCU School of Engineering through competitions and promotional events. Approach: This design will provide a reliable, safe, and user-friendly system that provides quick responding shifts for the FSAE formula car. A micro-controller is to be programmed to take shift commands from the driver (sent via paddles located on the steering column), and process them into signals. These signals will then be sent to a pneumatic system that will perform the clutch and shift operations. In addition, the micro-controller will provide feedback of its operation to the driver using instrument cluster LED indicators. Anticipated Results and Conclusions: Currently, the team plans on having the system designed and installed well in advance of April 2015. The system will provide 2 driving modes: one for the drag portion of competition and one for the street course portion. Complete shifting times are predicted be to within 1 millisecond of driver input.

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Robotic Inspection of Geometrically Complex Tanks – Dr. Speich MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 13

Project Team Members: Jay Kim James Dinsmore, Randolph Snook Thanh Tran, Trenton Wilhelmi

Project Faculty Advisers: John Speich, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Allen Valencia Richard Hillyer

Robert Helsler Huntington Ingalls Industries- Newport News

The primary focus of this project is to create an autonomous rail based robot to inspect and traverse tanks with the idea of future improvements that would carry out all duties of the refurbishing process. By using a more cost-efficient method of semi-autonomous robotic inspection and refurbishment, Newport News Shipbuilding will be able to reduce the risk of harm and level of manual labor required for the refurbishment process. Additionally, the amount of personal protective equipment that needs disposal should be decreased, thus having a positive impact on the environment. An initial prototype was developed as a 2013-2014 senior project. The goal of this year’s project is to make desired improvements of the rail system, such as inverting the rail system, turning corners, and adding the capability of determining the location of the robot. The need to invert the rail system is to improve clearance through the portals for easier access throughout the tank while the workers are installing the system. By adding the ability to turn corners, the flexibility of the system is increased with regards to system reach and tank access. Finally, a method for determining its position within the tanks is required in order to allow external control of the installed system. This will increase safety by avoiding the need for a human observer in the bay while the robotic system is moving. Autodesk Inventor will be used for all design and analysis work. The proposed inverted rail system utilizes the same rail material as proposed in phase one. However, the spreader bar concept is replaced with a magnetic hanger system in order to improve flexibility during installation and operations. The carriage design will also modified in order to allow turning corners without removal from the rail system. The anticipated results are a semi-autonomous robotic system that can travel smoothly on a rail based system to inspect the tank, while being directed by human operators outside the tank environment. The anticipated results for Phase Two of this project are a carriage which can transport the required equipment for tank refurbishment throughout the tank, regardless of point of entry, all while transmitting positional information back to the operator. Future work will include improved positiondetection equipment, as well as refinement to the carriage control system to allow better remote control of the system.

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Telescoping Arm for Tank Inspection MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 14

Project Team Members: Tyriek Bayne Sarah Morgan Donald Reid Charles Stacy

Project Faculty Advisers: John Speich, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Jeff Hogge Allen Valencia

Richard Hillyer Newport News Shipbuilding

Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) has requested a design for a telescoping arm able to carry out vertical tank inspection aboard ships. This device will play a key role in saving time and money, as well as potentially decreasing health and safety risks. The current system is both time consuming and limited to incremental positioning. A new system will permit inspectors to spend less time and effort at this portion of the tank and possibly complete their task much sooner. Based on design criteria given by Newport News Shipbuilding, a telescoping mechanism will be designed to lower a camera 18 ft. into a tank to perform the inspection. There are five vertical access holes that the camera inspection system will need to be lowered into in order to inspect the tank and its various components. The device will allow for a stable inspection as it traverses throughout the tank. It will be able to raise and lower the camera at any moment along the path. The device will be able to support a camera up to 15 lbs.; while the system itself will weigh less than 50 lbs., allowing it to be carried easily by two people. It will also be able to fit through a doorway 2.5ft. wide and 5ft. tall. The parts used to build the new device will be both easy to replace and manufacture. By replacing the current system, the physical effort workers have to tolerate will decrease significantly and the inspection process will be considerably safer for the inspector. Acknowledgements: Support for the project was provided by Newport News Shipbuilding.

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FSAE – Differential Carrier and Design MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 15

Project Team Members: Nicholas Rivero Peter Quach Zack Jillani

Project Faculty Advisers: Frank A. Gulla, PE

The Formula SAE design project enables engineering students to develop, analyze, build, and benchmark a Formula-style racecar. A differential was designed for VCU’s car to ensure that power is evenly distributed to the drive wheels under all possible handling conditions. A mounting system is required to secure the differential to the frame. Failure of this carrier could be catastrophic, therefore precise consideration of all possible forces and loading situations is required for design. A team was developed to examine how dynamic forces and fatigue contribute to component failure. Based on the results of this analysis a differential carrier can be designed and fabricated to ensure safe, reliable operation of the VCU Formula SAE car. After determining the magnitude of applied loads, finite element analysis (FEA) software was utilized to examine the loading effect on various design configurations. FEA allows accurate inspection of several nodes and elements within a specific component. This analysis allows one to determine material that can be removed from areas that experience no load allowing for a more efficient and effective design. Regions that exhibit high theoretical stresses can be redesigned to meet FSAE engineering standards allowing for efficiency in design while maintaining structural integrity. Numerous constraints must be considered including but not limited to the following: 1) 2) 3)

Compliance to SAE regulations Installation to a SAE designed frame Budget limitations that preclude exotic materials or high-precision machining

Preliminary results of the current iteration indicate very acceptable stresses and deflections. Further refinement will focus on weight reduction and improvement in machinability of the carrier. A finished product will be delivered by Q1 2015.

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FSAE Car Pedal Box MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 17

Project Team Members: Christopher Hathcock Tyler Munden

Project Faculty Advisers: Robert Sexton, Ph.D.

The VCU FSAE team has a need for foot controls for the brakes and throttle on their newest race car. The assembly must meet the rules set forth by the FSAE organization to compete, and must be as light and low as possible to conserve the acceleration and handling characteristics of the car. Furthermore, the project must be completed on a budget of $500 allotted to Senior Design teams. The FSAE team has been working on the current car since 2005 and has yet to produce a drivable race car. The Senior Design teams this year cover the major systems needed to make the car run and compete in the national competition in Michigan. In order to conduct the first acceleration test, a foot control for the throttle must be present, and will soon mandate the need for control of the brakes. Goals for the pedal box include: simplicity of manufacture, durability, minimal weight, and low center of gravity. In the initial design phase, the options that would have raised the center of gravity were eliminated. Of the low-mount designs, options that would have required complex machining or non-standard parts were eliminated. Finally, any parts that could be made of lightweight materials were specified as such. The team has concluded on a robust and simple design for production. The final part of the design will be to eliminate weight through optimization, making sure that the materials are as thin as possible within a factor of safety. The results of the analysis may even show that symmetry in the 4 clamps used for repositioning the pedal assembly may be foregone in favor of fewer clamps mounted asymmetrically. Throughout this process, the design must be proven as safe given that there will be someone driving the car and –hopefully- at race-winning speeds.

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FSAE – Undercarriage Diffuser MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 18

Project Team Members: Saman Usodan Zarwan Waqar

Project Faculty Advisers: Robert Sexton, Ph.D.

Seyed Hossini

To generate additional force that is applied to the rear of the FSAE race car The importance of the rear diffuser is to add a rear force to the vehicle. The rear force is generated from the airflow coming from underneath the vehicle. The way the airflow creates a force is through generating a pressure differential in which the air exiting the rear of the race car is now causing a downward force from the diffuser. The use of a diffuser is known to be of use at high speeds and if designed correctly creating the aerodynamics needed to keep the vehicle better grounded in the rear. The model was created through SolidWorks and tested using ANSYS to determine whether the design has met expectations. A main goal is to make sure that the diffuser can be as effective as possible while maintaining budget limitations. Design for a rear diffuser that is to be placed on the tail end of the VCU FSAE race car. This generates a downward force to help with the traction of the race car, through the unique design and modeling created on Solidworks while being tested through ANSYS.

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FSAE – General Vehicle Aerodynamics MECHANICAL AND NUCLEAR ENGINEERING | 19

Project Team Members: Marcus Wardlow Chris Buettner

Project Faculty Advisers: Robert Sexton, Ph.D.

Michael Al-badini Wesley Russell Steven Summersville Our senior design project entails designing, analyzing the front upper aerodynamic nose for the Formula SAE at VCU’s race team. Currently there are no provisions on the chassis to provide relief for parasitic loss of speed & efficiency due to drag. Since Formula SAE is focused on building a engineered, safe, and efficient vehicle our aerodynamic design will help with handling, downforce, and fuel economy all while reducing drag. Our Aerodynamic design will play a key role not only in how the Formula car is perceived aesthetically, but our calculations will be a large determining factor in the cars overall final performance. Our group started the project by initially consulting texts to better grasp knowledge on aerodynamic systems and their role in contributing to an efficient vehicle. With our research we were able to come up with numerous design considerations and gained more insight into how aerodynamics systems are analyzed. Once we conducted our background research we made some rough sketches of what we wanted the aero to look like. With these 2-D drawings we gathered equations necessary to calculate the drag coefficient and conducted a theoretical analysis of our 2D version to compare to our 3D calculations that will be solved using ANSYS. Our research showed us that the tear drop is generally thought to be the best shape so we based our drawings off of that consideration. Once we had a rough sketch, we started modeling the aero using an existing drawing of the chassis in Solidworks. At this stage we created a few different types of models so that in the future we would be able to quickly differentiate the aspects of our drawings that reduced the coefficient of drag. Moving forward with the project we expect to encounter many other problems associated with our design and analysis. However our aim is to narrow down our 3D designs and consider the aspects that reduced drag. This will allow us to come up with a further refined result. Once our data is analyzed we can conduct a comparison of our initial designs versus our final product and gain understanding as to what is needed to quickly and efficiently design aero in the future. This project will entail engineering through hand calculations, designing for real world problems using surface models in solidworks, and performing an analysis using the finite element method & computational fluid dynamics. Thank you to Robert M. Sexton Frank Gulla Charles Cartin For assisting us with the resources needed to formulate our answers

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MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROJECT ABSTRACTS

Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusor MULTIDISCIPLINARY | 01

Project Team Members: Jordan Stark Cody Boyd Adam Stanfield Nick Reuter Yonathan Kassaye Brian Hortelano Thomas Veilleux Dimitris Killinger

Project Faculty Advisers:

Mr. James Miller - MNE Sama Bilbao y León, Ph.D. – MNE Afroditi Filippas, Ph.D. - ECE

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Dominion Newport News

Shipbuilding Patriot Auto Works

The VCU Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) Fusor design project is a multi-year and multi-disciplinary venture. It was started as a means to build a neutron generator for the Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering department at VCU. The IEC fusor is a device based on the designs of Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of the cathode ray tube. Our design utilizes a high voltage cathode located in a vacuum chamber that is filled with deuterium gas. This high voltage accelerates the deuterium particles towards the center of the chamber, resulting in deuterium-deuterium (D-D) fusion. This reaction creates a bright purple glow that can be seen through the viewport in the top of the fusor device. Overall, the fusor device consists of these components: a vacuum pump, turbo molecular pump, deuterium tank, fusor body, and the high voltage power source. This year, additions to the project include a cart to permanently house the fusor device, shielding to protect users from harmful radiation, a microcontroller device to monitor the device during experimentation, and an optimized grid to maximize neutron flux. An actively cooled grid will also be implemented to keep a constant temperature in the chamber, as well as limit deformation of the metal grid. The main goal of these additions is safety and usability for future use as a teaching aid for professors. We aim to make the setup as user friendly as possible, so that it will not be run in unsafe conditions. As of December 2014, all of the plans and preparations have been made so that we can start fabricating the planned systems during the spring 2015 semester. The fusor device itself is already functional, and can be run to produce a very low neutron flux that does not require shielding. All of the necessary tools and funding for the continuation of this project have already been acquired. Our plan is to have all of the additional systems working by May 2015. Acknowledgements: The fusor team would like to thank the employees at Patriot Auto Works, Dominion Exploration and Production, and Newport News Shipbuilding. These companies provided us with the tools, funding, and equipment calibration that we needed in order to complete this project. We would also like to thank our advisors, whose constant patience and support made this project possible. Thank you all!

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Improved Lower Arm Prosthetic MULTIDISCIPLINARY | 02

Project Team Members: Trent Ernst Eric Henderson Patrick Borges Taylor Powell

Project Faculty Advisers: Michael Cabral, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Joe Webster VA Maguire

Over the past few decades, innovations in myoelectric sensing in upper limb prostheses have given systems the ability to read, detect, and emulate fine motor control in an increasingly realistic manner. However, the practical impact that these scientific accomplishments yield is significantly limited by the lack of adoption witnessed by patients who are given such prosthetics. Some people see the device as a burden rather than an improvement. To address this issue, we propose the development of an improved lower arm prosthesis. This prosthesis is intended to encourage patient adoption and retention by emphasizing simplicity and comfort over technical precision. Our project has the ability to change one’s lifestyle. It’s significance can change a person’s life from living with one hand to now being able to use both. The importance to us as a group is not only to build a successful hand and learn something from it but also to make it successful, i.e. comfortable, reliable and low cost. We believe that we can positively impact an amputees life. The design of this prosthetic will be centered around: less weight, comfort, and low cost. An electromyographic (EMG) sensing system will be incorporated into our design. This system measures the electric signals emitted from the muscles of the user’s upper¬limb during attempted movement. Based on these read¬in micro¬voltages, a ZYBO Zynq¬7000 development board will be used to electrically control motors that manipulate string¬based tendons which control the hand. The comfort of the prosthesis will be optimized through the use of an adjustable elbow brace¬like attachment outfitted with breathable materials. We plan to construct a functioning hand that has an easy adaptability learning curve for the user.

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Photocell Optimization through Thermoelectric Generation MULTIDISCIPLINARY | 03

Project Team Members: Brian Nguyen Dante Johnson General Roberts Taylor Powell

Project Faculty Advisers: James McLeskey, PhD MNE Zhifang Wang, PhD - ECE

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Bill Sneddon Paraclette

Problem Statement: Photovoltaic units, also known as solar cells have an ideal operating temperature of about 25 C or 77 F, for each degree Celsius above the optimal operating temperature, we can expect the efficiency of the unit to drop 0.5%. On any given summer day, it is not uncommon for solar cell temperatures to reach upwards of 70 C which is about 158 F, this results in a drop of 25% efficiency. If we think of efficiency as the quantity energy produced divided by energy supplied, we can quantitatively see how loss of efficiency corresponds to a loss in energy produced. Our goal is to make up some of this loss energy through thermoelectric generation using the increased heat from the solar cells to create a current that we can add back into the total power produced. Successful implementation of such as system could potentially decrease the dependency of fossil fuels

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Cartridge Filter Test Stand MULTIDISCIPLINARY | 04

Project Team Members: Joshua Byrd Tejeswini Shrestha Daniel Phan

Project Faculty Advisers: Rudy Krack – CLSE Ben Ward, Ph.D.

Industrial Adviser and Sponsor: Todd Furbee Jay Bernsley

Delta Pure

Problem statement The goal is to determine the parameters which produce the optimal filters. Rationale Melt-blowing is a process by which Delta Pure uses to manufacture water filters. Several production parameters affect the characteristics of these filters and the goal is to determine which variables impact these characteristics the most. Approach Three different production parameters were chosen; air pressure, polymer temperature, and extruder speed. Eight filters were produced with each parameter set to high and low points, as well as one filter which served as a midpoint for the data. These filters were run in the testing rig (pictured above) to find the differential pressure and the flow rate through the filter. The filters were then subjected to a compression test to find the load that the filters could take. Afterwards, statistical software was run to determine the parameters which most affected the filters’ rigidity, differential pressure, and flow rate. Anticipated results and conclusions • Selection of parameters for testing of Filters by setting up a 3x3 DOE • Test pressure differential, flow rate, and rigidity of the filters • Use statistical software to find the optimal conditions of filter production Results • Of the three chosen parameters, air pressure and extruder speed had the greatest impact on the filters’ characteristics. • Changes in flow rate were negligible across all the tested filters. Acknowledgements Dr. Frank Gupton

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FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES CHAIRMAN Mr. William H. Goodwin, Jr. Chairman, CCA Industries, Inc.

Mr. Oscar Martin, Jr., Ph.D. ‘09 Chief Innovation Officer, Dupont Teijin Films

Mr. Joseph C. Farrell* Retired Chairman, CEO & President Pittston Company

PRESIDENT Mr. Clifford A. Cutchins, IV Partner, McGuire Woods LLP

Mr. Richard E. Posey Retired President and CEO, Moen, Inc.

Mr. Thomas F. Farrell, II Chairman, President & CEO, Dominion Resources, Inc.

The Honorable George F. Allen President, George Allen Strategies Ms. Jennifer Boykin Vice President, Engineering, Newport News Shipbuilding Mr. Bradford A. Crosby ‘01 Contracting Officer, US Navy Mr. Mark Cruise Vice President, Applied Technology, Altria Client Services Mr. Larry Cummings Marketing Leader, Strategic Partnerships, TRANE Ms. Marguerite Davis Owner, The Davis Collection Mr. Mason Dirickson Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Infilco Degremont Mr. Hans de Koning President, FLEXiCELL Ms. Mary Doswell Sr. VP, Alternative Energy Solutions Dominion Resources Mr. Thomas E. Gottwald President and CEO, NewMarket Corporation Mr. Lewis Edwin Harvie President, KSB, Inc. Mr. Wayne L. Hunter Managing Partner, Harbert Venture Partners Mr. Arthur D. Hurtado Chairman and CEO, Invertix Corporation Mr. Hugh A. Joyce President, James River Air Conditioning Co., Inc. Mr. Bill Lamp Principal, Engineers Plus Mr. John A. Luke, Jr. Chairman, President, & CEO, MWV

Mr. Martin Prakken CEO, BluePrint Automation Group

Mr. J. Carter Fox Retired President & CEO, Chesapeake Corp.

Ms. Anne G. Rhodes Community Leader Mr. Brian Riopelle Chair, IP Litigations/Patents Department, McGuireWoods LLP Mr. Paul F. Rocheleau Chairman, Cupron, Inc. Chairman, Va. Life Science Investments, LLC Director, Applied NanoTechnology, Inc. Mr. Jason Roe ‘01 President, ERNI Electronics Mr. John Sherman, Jr. Former Vice Chairman, Scott & Stringfellow, Inc. Mr. Greg Sitkiewicz Cuff Business Manager GE Healthcare – Patient Care Solutions Mr. Kirk E. Spitzer Retired President and CEO, Alfa Laval, Inc. Mr. Jeffrey T. Stanfield Human Resources Director, DuPont Teijin Films Americas Region Mr. Mark A. Sternheimer, Sr. President, Sternheimer Brothers, Inc. Mr. Charles A. Williamson CEO, CapTech Ventures, Inc. Mr. Robert W. Woltz, Jr. Retired President, Verizon Virginia FOUNDING & EMERITI TRUSTEES Mr. William W. Berry* Retired President, Vepco Mr. James C. Cherry Retired Chairman, Mid-Atlantic Banking Wachovia Bank, N.A. Mr. William S. Cooper, Jr. VP & Deputy Director for Diversity & Inclusion Federal Reserve Bank Mr. Thomas D. Eilerson Chairman, EDC

93

Mr. Robert M. Freeman* Former Chairman & CEO, Signet Banking Corporation Mr. Bruce C. Gottwald Chairman, NewMarket Corporation

Mr. Dwight Schar Former President, NVR, Inc. Mr. Wolfgang Schubl Former President, Weidmuller, Inc. Mr. Thomas J. Seifert Advanced Micro Devices Mr. Richard L. Sharp Managing Director, V10 Capital Partners Mr. Jeremiah J. Sheehan Retired Chairman & CEO, Reynolds Metals Company

Mr. Bruce A. Henderson* Former Chairman & CEO, Imation Corporation

Mr. Hugh R. Stallard Retired President & CEO, Bell Atlantic-Virginia, Inc.

Mr. C.T. Hill Former Chairman, President & CEO, SunTrust Bank

Mr. Richard G. Tilghman Retired Chairman, SunTrust Banks, Inc, Mid-Atlantic

Mr. Richard G. Holder* Retired Chairman & CEO, Reynolds Metals Company Mr. Sean Hunkler Vice President, Manufacturing, MEMC

Mr. James E. Ukrop Chairman, Ukrop’s Super Markets/ First Market Bank

Mr. E. Morgan Massey Chairman, Evan Energy Company

Mr. Hays T. Watkins Chairman Emeritus, CSX Corporation

Mr. Malcolm S. McDonald Retired Chairman & CEO, Signet Banking Corp.

Mr. Robert C. Williams Chairman Emeritus, James River Corporation

Mr. John L. McElroy, Jr. Mr. C. Kenneth Wright Chairman Emeritus, Wheat First Union Chairman, Wright Properties, Inc. Mr. David L. Milby* EX-OFFICIO TRUSTEES Former Sr. VP of Operations & Procurement Services, Philip Morris USA Michael Rao, Ph.D. President, Virginia Commonwealth Mr. Wayne K. Nesbit University and VCU Health Vice President, CREE System Mr. S. F. Pauley Chairman and CEO, Carpenter Barbara D. Boyan, Ph.D. Company Alice T. and William H. Goodwin Chair in Biomedical Engineering Mr. E. Bryson Powell President, Midlothian Enterprises, Inc. Dean, School of Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth Mr. Robert E. Rigsby University Retired President & COO, Dominion Virginia Power Mr. R. Scott Rash, CFRE Mr. Walter S. Robertson, III Executive Director, Chief Development President & CEO, Scott & Stringfellow, Officer Inc. VCU School of Engineering Foundation Mr. E. Claiborne Robins* Former Chairman & Director, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare *Deceased

VCU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

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