Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science / Kimberly W. Kramer / This report, “A Recruiting Analysis for the Kansas State College of Engineering: The Financial Prospective,” is an initial baseline report that measures the effectiveness of KSU COE recruiting. This analysis examines the financial factor, or how students pay for their education. Specifically, the report examines the current students in the KSU COE and how they pay for their education and then compares the information to how college students pay for their education on a national level which is outlined in a report, “How America Pays For College”, by Sallie Mae using research conducted by Gallup. Next, the report examines the reasons the current students in the KSU COE came to Manhattan to study engineering, emphasizing their geographic background as well. The results found were that more students in the KSU COE borrow funds to pay for their college education than college students on a national level. Fewer students in the KSU COE or their parents solely pay for their college education when compared to students on the national level. To gather information on how the students in the KSU COE pay for their education, 89 current students in the KSU COE were surveyed. The students were fourth and fifth year students having a high probability of finishing their degree programs than first year students. After gathering data on how this sample of 89 students paid for their education, using statistical theory, conclusions on how all the current students in the KSU COE pay for their education were made. These conclusions are compared to the payment methods for the students in the national sample.

Modern and future many-core systems represent large and complex architectures. The communication fabrics in these large systems play an important role in their performance and power consumption. Current simulation methodologies for evaluating networks-on-chip (NoCs) are not keeping pace with the increased complexity of our systems; architects often want to explore many different design knobs quickly. Methodologies that trade-off some accuracy but maintain important workload trends for faster simulation times are highly beneficial at early stages of architectural exploration. We propose a synthetic traffic generation methodology that captures both application behaviour and cache coherence traffic to rapidly evaluate NoCs. This allows designers to quickly indulge in detailed performance simulations without the cost of long-running full system simulation but still capture a full range of application and coherence behaviour. Our methodology has an average (geometric) error of 10.9% relative to full system simulation, and provides 50x speedup on average over full system simulation.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering / Donghai Wang / Cellulosic ethanol is a renewable source of energy. Lignocellulosic biomass is a complex material composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Biomass pretreatment is a required step to make sugar polymers liable to hydrolysis. Mineral acids are commonly used for biomass pretreatment. Using acid catalysts that can be recovered and reused could make the process economically more attractive. The overall goal of this dissertation is the development of a recyclable nanocatalyst for the hydrolysis of biomass sugars. Cobalt iron oxide nanoparticles (CoFe[superscript]2O[subscript]4) were synthesized to provide a magnetic core that could be separated from reaction using a magnetic field and modified to carry acid functional groups. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the crystal structure was that of cobalt spinel ferrite. CoFe[superscript]2O[superscript]4 were covered with silica which served as linker for the acid functions. Silica-coated nanoparticles were functionalized with three different acid functions: perfluoropropyl-sulfonic acid, carboxylic acid, and propyl-sulfonic acid. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images were analyzed to obtain particle size distributions of the nanoparticles. Total carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur were quantified using an elemental analyzer. Fourier transform infra-red spectra confirmed the presence of sulfonic and carboxylic acid functions and ion-exchange titrations accounted for the total amount of catalytic acid sites per nanoparticle mass. These nanoparticles were evaluated for their performance to hydrolyze the β-1,4 glycosidic bond of the cellobiose molecule. Propyl-sulfonic (PS) and perfluoropropyl-sulfonic (PFS) acid functionalized nanoparticles catalyzed the hydrolysis of cellobiose significantly better than the control. PS and PFS were also evaluated for their capacity to solubilize wheat straw hemicelluloses and performed better than the control. Although PFS nanoparticles were stronger acid catalysts, the acid functions leached out of the nanoparticle during the catalytic reactions. PS nanoparticles were further evaluated for the pretreatment of corn stover in order to increase digestibility of the biomass. The pretreatment was carried out at three different catalyst load and temperature levels. At 180°C, the total glucose yield was linearly correlated to the catalyst load. A maximum glucose yield of 90% and 58% of the hemicellulose sugars were obtained at this temperature.

Contributions to two nanosatellite missions are discussed. First, the design and development of a test system for an advanced nanosatellite power board is discussed. Details of software and hardware design process involved in the implementation of automated test procedures are presented. The system has been deployed for unit-level testing of power boards for several nanosatellite missions, significantly reducing testing cost and time. Next, a Mission Planning and Scheduling Software platform is proposed for Earth Observation missions. The motivation is described for the development of a stand-alone application enabling satellite operations teams to identify suitable observation scenario parameters. Attitude and orbital trajectory estimation algorithms constituting the computational model are integrated and implemented within a graphical visualization environment to allow interaction with the user in an efficient and intuitive manner. Key results of major component-level testing are presented, showing the behaviour and accuracy of analytical components satisfy mission requirements.

Contributions to two nanosatellite missions are discussed. First, the design and development of a test system for an advanced nanosatellite power board is discussed. Details of software and hardware design process involved in the implementation of automated test procedures are presented. The system has been deployed for unit-level testing of power boards for several nanosatellite missions, significantly reducing testing cost and time. Next, a Mission Planning and Scheduling Software platform is proposed for Earth Observation missions. The motivation is described for the development of a stand-alone application enabling satellite operations teams to identify suitable observation scenario parameters. Attitude and orbital trajectory estimation algorithms constituting the computational model are integrated and implemented within a graphical visualization environment to allow interaction with the user in an efficient and intuitive manner. Key results of major component-level testing are presented, showing the behaviour and accuracy of analytical components satisfy mission requirements.

Modern and future many-core systems represent large and complex architectures. The communication fabrics in these large systems play an important role in their performance and power consumption. Current simulation methodologies for evaluating networks-on-chip (NoCs) are not keeping pace with the increased complexity of our systems; architects often want to explore many different design knobs quickly. Methodologies that trade-off some accuracy but maintain important workload trends for faster simulation times are highly beneficial at early stages of architectural exploration. We propose a synthetic traffic generation methodology that captures both application behaviour and cache coherence traffic to rapidly evaluate NoCs. This allows designers to quickly indulge in detailed performance simulations without the cost of long-running full system simulation but still capture a full range of application and coherence behaviour. Our methodology has an average (geometric) error of 10.9% relative to full system simulation, and provides 50x speedup on average over full system simulation.

Master of Science / Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering / Warren N. White / The objective of this research was to show that controls demonstrations and education can be greatly improved with the use of Web 2.0 tools. First, a user-centered and collaborative website was developed using the freely available Web 2.0 tools. Then procedures for creating animations using control system simulations were developed. Using the Java programming language, interactive graphs were constructed for display to allow the viewer to change the initial conditions of the controls system and plot the results of the simulation as calculated. These animations and interactive graphs used already developed MatLab resources. Using Web 2.0 tools, the collaborative web site can be easily updated by several people simultaneously, only requiring access to the internet. Because of these advantages, collaboration between multiple universities and controls researchers in distant locations is possible, and the new website has the potential of becoming the center of controls research around the world. More importantly, the procedure allows future systems to be demonstrated while requiring minimal additional work, thereby increasing the universities' ability to educate their students, as well as the general public, about controls system research.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science / Charles L. Burton / Most of our education in college is focused on producing students that will graduate and go on to work for someone else. Most classes taken in college are based on theory and technical subjects, which are very important to understand. Where the education falls short on is showing the opportunity of owning and running your own business. This report describes basic steps necessary to start up a consulting business. The report concentrates on the challenges involved, deciding on the right type of business ownership, location and equipment, and extensively on the business plan. Engineering is typically considered a technical field with little interaction with people, which is only half right. There is a lot of interaction between the engineer and the architect, client, contractor, and any other consultants for any particular project. This report will also talk about relationships and how to convey a professional image. The emphasis of this report is to describe basic steps to get started on owning your own company.

This thesis deals with the fabrication of MEMS air quality sensors for automotive applications. The goal of this project is to design, fabricate and test an integrated sensor that measures three important air quality components inside the automotive cabin, which are temperature, relative humidity and carbon monoxide (CO) concentration. The sensors are fabricated on silicon substrate covered with thermal oxide and LPCVD nitride. Various deposition and etching techniques were utilized to fabricate these sensors including E-beam evaporation, thermal oxide growth, PECVD, LPCVD, RIE, KOH and HF etching. The temperature and humidity sensor use nickel as the sensitive material while the CO sensor was designed to use SnO2 although it was not fabricated to completion. A chamber was created where the temperature and humidity are controlled and the sensors were tested. Curves of sensor resistance vs. temperature and sensor resistance vs. humidity were created and the two sensor’s sensitivity was calculated.

This thesis deals with the fabrication of MEMS air quality sensors for automotive applications. The goal of this project is to design, fabricate and test an integrated sensor that measures three important air quality components inside the automotive cabin, which are temperature, relative humidity and carbon monoxide (CO) concentration. The sensors are fabricated on silicon substrate covered with thermal oxide and LPCVD nitride. Various deposition and etching techniques were utilized to fabricate these sensors including E-beam evaporation, thermal oxide growth, PECVD, LPCVD, RIE, KOH and HF etching. The temperature and humidity sensor use nickel as the sensitive material while the CO sensor was designed to use SnO2 although it was not fabricated to completion. A chamber was created where the temperature and humidity are controlled and the sensors were tested. Curves of sensor resistance vs. temperature and sensor resistance vs. humidity were created and the two sensor’s sensitivity was calculated.