Jie Liang, Ph.D. Bioengineering Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation Career Award, National Institutes of Health R01, Office of Naval Research, and the Whitaker Foundation Protein surface matching
Problem Statement and Motivation •
The structure of proteins provide rich information about how cells work. With the success of structural genomics, soon we will have all human proteins mapped to structures.
•
However, we need to develop computational tools to extract information from these structures to understand how cell works and how new diseases can be treated.
•
Therefore, the development of computational tools for surface matching and for function prediction will open the door for many new development for health improvement.
Evolution of function
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • •
•
We use geometric models and fast algorithm to characterize surface properties of over thirty protein structures. We develop evolutionary models to understand how proteins overall evolve to acquire different functions using different combination of surface textures. Efficient search methods and statistical models allow us to identify very similar surfaces on totally different proteins Probablistc models and sampling techniques help us to understand how protein works to perform their functions.
• • •
• •
We have developed a web server CASTP (cast.engr.uic.edu) that identify and measures protein surfaces. It has been used by thousands of scientists world wide. We have built a protein surface library for >10,000 proteins, and have developed models to characterize cross reactivities of enzymes. We also developed methods for designing phage library for discovery of peptide drugs. We have developed methods for predicting structures of beta-barrel membrane proteins. Future: Understand how protein fold and assemble, and designing method for engineering better proteins and drugs.
Prof. Andreas A. Linninger Funding by: NSF CBET 1010621, NSF RET EEC 1132694
Problem Statement and Motivation • Problem: Drug delivery in the Central Nervous System (CNS) is especially challenging due to the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) and ranging cell types • IT-nanoparticle based drug delivery can circumvent the BBB • MDT reduces systemic toxicity by localizing drug concentration
• Improve patient outcomes and efficacy of therapeutics due to reduced drug dosages
Technical Approach • Develop gold coated magnetite nanovehicle for conjugated delivery • •
Targeted drug treatment; doxorubicin Secondary imagining modality; quantum dots
• In vitro cell culture studies: • •
Analyze nanovehicle uptake, efficacy, and toxicity Develop 3D live cell model of spinal cord tumor
• In silico human subject model: • •
Predict distribution of IT drug infusion Optimize magnet position and strength for guided localization of nanovehicle to a priori target regions
• In vivo model: • •
Use optimized parameters for MDT of specific tumor cell region Prove tumor cell death by reduced tumor size in the animal model using imaging techniques such as MRI
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Synthesis and characterization of nanoparticle-drug complex • Predict IT drug dispersion using CFD models with varying magnetic field configurations • Design live 3D spine tumor cell model for in vitro analysis MDT treatment using the drug delivery vehicle • Localized targeting of spinal cord tumors in the animal model to prove feasibility of in vivo MDT.
Hui Lu, Bioengineering Primary Grant Support: NIH, DOL
Problem Statement and Motivation Protein-DNA complex: gene regulation DNA repair cancer treatment drug design gene therapy
•
Protein interacts with other biomolecules to perform a function: DNA/RNA, ligands, drugs, membranes, and other proteins.
•
A high accuracy prediction of the protein interaction network will provide a global understanding of gene regulation, protein function annotation, and the signaling process.
•
The understanding and computation of protein-ligand binding have direct impact on drug design.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Data mining protein structures
•
•
Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations
• •
•
Machine learning
•
Phylogenetic analysis of interaction networks
•
Gene expression data analysis using clustering
•
Binding affinity calculation using statistical physics
• • •
Developed the DNA binding protein and binding site prediction protocols that have the best accuracy available. Developed transcription factor binding site prediction. Developed the only protocol that predicts the protein membrane binding behavior. Will work on drug design based on structural binding. Will work on the signaling protein binding mechanism. Will build complete protein-DNA interaction prediction package and a Web server.
Hui Lu, Ph.D., Bioengineering Primary Grant Support: Chicago Biomedical Consortium, NIH
Problem Statement and Motivation •
To efficiently function, cells need to respond properly to external physical and physical and chemical signals in their environment.
•
Identifying disease states and designing drugs require a detailed understanding of the internal signaling networks that are activated in responses to external stimuli.
•
In the center of these process is a particular group of protein that translocate to the cell membrane upon external activation.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Combine machine learning techniques with characterization of the protein surface to identify unknown membrane binding proteins.
• •
•
Developed highly accurate prediction protocols for identifying novel cases of membrane binding proteins, based on properties calculated from molecular surface of the protein structure.
Atomic scale molecular dynamics simulation of the interactions between proteins and membranes
•
Mathematical modeling is used for studying the spatial and dynamic evolution of the signal transduction networks within the cell when changes in the external environment occurs.
Determining membrane binding of properties of C2 domains in response to changes in ion placements and membrane lipid composition.
•
Goal: To model the network dynamics to understand how changes in membrane binding properties of certain domains changes the efficiency of signal transduction in the cell.
Hui Lu, Ph.D., Robert Ezra Langlois, Ph.D.,Bioengineering; Primary Grant Support: NIH, Bioinformatics online
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Massive amount of biomedical data are available from high-throughput measurement, such as genome sequence, proteomics, biological pathway, networks, and disease data.
•
Data processing become the bottleneck of biological discovery and medical analysis
•
Problem: Protein function prediction, protein functional sites prediction, protein interaction prediction, disease network prediction, biomarker discovery.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Formulate the problem in classification problem
•
Developed machine learning algorithms for protein-DNA, proteinmembrane, protein structure prediction, disease causing SNP prediction, mass-spec data processing, DNA methylation prediction.
•
Derive features to represent biological objects
•
Develop various classification algorithms
•
Developed an open-source machine learning software MALIBU
•
Develop multiple-instance boosting algorithms
•
Goal: Biological network analysis and prediction.
David T. Eddington Supported by NSF, NIH, and the Chicago Biomedical Consortium Rapid Diffusion: microfluidic model of yeast chemotropism
Brett et al, 2012, Lab on a Chip Surface to volume ratio: microfluidic circulating cancer cell diagnostic
Launiere et al, 2012, Analytical Chemistry Laminar flow: electrode calibration device for in vivo cyclic voltammetry
Problem Statement and Motivation • The microscale offers several advantages • Rapid diffusion • Large surface to volume ratios • Laminar flow • Process integration • We leverage these microscale phenomena to achieve new experimental possibilities
Sinkala et al, 2012, Lab on a Chip
Technical Approach • Microfluidic devices are fabricated by soft lithography • Microfluidic channels can be made in several materials • Polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) • Glass • Ridig Plastics (COC, PMMA, PP, PE)
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Microfluidic models of medicine • Islet transplantation functional assay • Circulating tumor cell diagnostic • Microfluidic models of biology • Microfluidic oxygen control • Regional control of microenvironment in brain slice preparations • Microfluidic yeast reorientation assay • Environmental bacteria isolation • Algae culture in microdevices
Dieter Klatt, Bioengineering Grant Support: Campus Research Board, UIC
Problem Statement and Motivation • Various diseases are associated with imbalances in tissue pore pressure. • Detection of pressure imbalances in the human body may enable early intervention and treatment of disease such as hydrocephalus and portal hypertension. • Currently there is no non-invasive technique for the determination of pore pressure within the human body. • Pore pressure effects the resistance of the surrounding tissue to deformation and thus may correlate with Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE)-derived parameters.
Technical Approach
Key Achievements and Future Goals
• Two-layer Ecoflex phantom with hollow center exposed to various pressure values.
• Changes in pore pressure correlate with shear stiffness of surrounding tissue.
• Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) for the determination of the shear stiffness at each pressure value.
• MRE has the potential to serve as a noninvasive tool for the determination of pressure changes within biological tissue. • Future plans: • Increasing the sensitivity of MRE-derived mechanical parameters to pore pressure changes by using 3D SLIM-MRE. • Testing the diagnostic capabilities of 3D SLIM-MRE in animal models of diseases associated with pressure imbalances, such as hypertension and hydrocephalus.
Hui Lu, Ph.D., Bioengineering, Julio Fernandez (Columbia University), Hongbin Li (U of British Columbia)
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Mechanical signals play key role in physiological processes by controlling protein conformational changes
•
Uncover design principles of mechanical protein stability
•
Relationship between protein structure and mechanical response; Deterministic design of proteins
•
Atomic level of understanding is needed from biological understanding and protein design principles
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
All-atom computational simulation for protein conformational changes – Steered Molecular Dynamics
•
Identified key force-bearing patch that controlled the mechanical stability of proteins.
•
Free energy reconstruction from non-equilibrium protein unfolding trajectories
•
Discovered a novel pathway switch mechanism for tuning protein mechanical properties.
•
Force partition calculation for mechanical load analysis
•
Calculated how different solvent affect protein’s mechanical resistance.
•
Modeling solvent-protein interactions for different molecules •
•
Coarse-grained model with Molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations
Goal: Computationally design protein molecules with specific mechanical properties for bio-signaling and bio-materials.
Dr. Jun Cheng, Bioengineering
Short pulse (femtosecond)
Long pulse (nanosecond)
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Optical manipulation is non-invasive
•
Ultrafast pulses provide high peak intensity with minimal heating effect
•
Near infra-red wavelength allows deep penetration into tissues
•
Structural knockout by microsurgery is complimentary to genetic knockout to study the role of specific biomedical structures.
Clark MXR Inc.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
A microsurgery platform was designed to provide nanometer microsurgery precision
•
Effects of light-tissue interaction can be controlled by laser dosimetry.
•
One of the centrosomes in stem cell was successfully ablated by laser microsurgery without any apparent collateral damage to other subcellular organelles
•
Ultrafast laser can be used to machine 3D microstructures. Letters of UIC were machined by femtosecond lasers on glass
•
Low level light has shown therapeutic effects and plays role in chronic wound healing.
Michael Cho, Ph.D. Bioengineering Primary Grant Support: National Institutes of Health and Office of Naval Research
Problem Statement and Motivation
New Tissue Engineering Strategy •
The costs associated with tissue loss or organ failure have been estimated over several hundreds of billion dollars.
•
Severe shortage of tissues and organs continues to persist and cannot adequately be overcome.
•
Tissue engineering attempts to control, manipulate, and reconstitute tissues in vitro ultimately for in vivo use to repair and replace damage tissues, and therefore offers a viable alternative.
•
Recently, the use of stem cells in tissue engineering has advanced exciting possibilities for numerous biomedical and clinical applications
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Both bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells and embryonic stem cell lines are used to engineer several tissues including bone and cartilage, just to name a few.
•
We have engineered a co-culture system that exploits the physicochemical differentiation factors and thereby minimizes the use of biochemical factors that could have unwanted side effects
•
Regulation of stem cell proliferation and tissue-specific differentiation by biochemical and physical cues appears to lead to enhanced regenerative capability that will likely result in desired integrity and functionality.
•
This unique model may offer an alternate tissue engineering approach to design pre-vascularized bone tissue constructs
•
Future: Translate these laboratory results to clinical settings, including animal models and eventually human trials. Ultimate goal is to engineer tissues that can be implanted to treat and regenerate lost and damage tissues.
•
Appropriate use of both mechanical cues and biochemical cues may be combined to solve one of the most challenging problems in tissue engineering- angiogenesisi, formation of blood vessels.
M. Cho, Bioengineering; A. Yarin, C. M. Megaridis, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering; E. Zussman, Technion-Israel
A1
Problem Statement and Motivation
Oriented
Random
•
Cell orientation and adhesion control the functionality of natural and engineered tissues
•
Electrospinning is a low-cost technique which can produce polymer nanofibers aligned along a specific direction
•
Polymer nanofibers can be used to mimic the native extracellular matrix (ECM) features
•
Electrospun polymer nanofiber scaffolds are used to manipulate cell orientation and adhesion
B1 Cells: Green, Nanofibers: Red
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • •
Random and oriented polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibrous scaffolds produced using electrospinning
A2 B2 hMSCs were cultured and seeded on two scaffold types (random,
•
hMSCs adhered and oriented along PCL nanofibers
•
During long-term culture, hMSCs demonstrated no preferred orientation on random nanofibrous scaffolds; cells consistently aligned on oriented scaffolds
•
Oriented PCL nanofibrous scaffolds could be used to mimic the cell and ECM organization in the native tissue, such as muscle, tendon, and the superficial zone of articular cartilage
•
The fiber scaffold/hSMC approach holds promise for a variety of tissue engineering applications
oriented) •
Orientations of hMSCs and nanofibers on random and oriented nanofibrous scaffold samples were measured via laser scanning confocal microscopy at different time points during an 18-day culture period
•
hMSC viability tests were performedB3 to verify compatibility of the cells A3 with the PCL
John R. Hetling, Bioengineering; Tom C. Baker, Entomology (Iowa State) Primary Grant Support: NSF – Biological Information Technology and Systems (BITS)
Problem Statement and Motivation
Pore
Dendrite
Sensory Neuron
Ch. 3
Cuticle
•
Artificial nose technology has several potential applications in security, defense, industry and clinical diagnosis
•
Current artificial nose technology is constrained by low sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility, and slow response times. Efforts to improve AR technology are largely biomimetic.
•
Our objective is to use the insect olfactory organ as the sensor in a hybrid device that is fast, sensitive and highly specific.
Sensillar Lymph
Ch. 4
Axon
Insect antenna equivalent circuit
Ch. 1
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
A four-channel biopotential amplifier was constructed to measure the electroantennogram (EAG) from four species of antennae in an airstream.
•
Both parametric and non-parametric classifiers were developed which operate on the four-channel EAG signal in near-real time.
•
The system was characterized under laboratory conditions (wind tunnel) and in the field. Up to 9 odors have been tested with a single preparation, consisting of natural (insect pheromone components) and anthropogenic (DNT, a volatile associated with land mines) compounds.
• • •
•
Individual odor strands can be accurately classified in < one second, at concentrations approaching 1 ppb (significantly better than current artificial noses). A global measure of classifier performance (accuracy weighted by confidence) ranged from just above chance to near 100%. Ultimate Goal: Consistent 80% performance for each odor strand in a turbulent environment, and coupling with meteorological data for source localization. The Goal is being achieved by moving to a cell-based preparation cultured on a 60-channel multielectrode array, and integrating wind and GPS information.
John R. Hetling, Bioengineering Primary Grant Support: The Whitaker Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is a potentially blinding disease for which there are no cures; one in 4000 people are diagnosed with RP
•
Microelectronic prostheses represent a potential treatment option for RP
•
Our objective is to learn to stimulate the diseased retina with microelectrodes such that useful information is conveyed to the mind’s eye of the blind patient
F
C
A D
•
B
E
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
The response of the retina to electrical stimulation is studied in vivo
•
•
Microelectrode arrays, 12 um thick (above, right), are fabricated in the UIC MAL and surgically placed beneath the retina in the eye (above, left)
This novel approach is the only means to study electrical stimulation of the retina at the cellular level, in vivo, in a clinically-relevant animal model
•
Using pharmacological dissection, we have begun to identify the types of retinal neurons targeted by electrical stimulation
The response of the retina to electrical stimulation is recorded and compared to the response to natural light stimuli
•
Ultimate Goal: To communicate the visual scene to the diseased retina with the highest resolution possible
We use a unique transgenic rat model of retinal degenerative disease developed in our laboratory
•
The Goal will be achieved by optimizing the design of the microelectrode array and the stimulus parameters
•
•
John R. Hetling, Bioengineering
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Prevalent blinding eye diseases often begin locally, and progress across the retina (e.g. glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration). Early detection is critical to minimizing vision loss.
•
Existing clinical techniques for measuring local health of the retina have limitations, including long test duration (10 min) and indirect measurement.
•
The new test proposed here can be administered in one second, and provides a direct measure of retinal physiology.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
A multi-electrode array contact lens was designed for the rat eye to establish proof of concept for this approach, including experimentally induced laser-damage lesions on the retina.
•
Prototype multi-electrode contact lenses have been fabricated.
•
A detailed FE model of a rat eye has been constructed.
•
The ERG potentials recorded at the cornea will be used in conjunction with a finite-element model of the eye to estimate local activity of the retina.
•
Preliminary meERG data have been recorded and used to optimize and validate the model, with encouraging results.
• •
The meERG signal contains detailed information on the physiological state of the retina which cannot currently be measured with other functional mapping techniques.
Ultimate Goal: Thoroughly demonstrate proof of concept in rat, and transfer the technology to human studies for eventual clinical application.
•
A U.S. Patent is pending.
Dieter Klatt Bioengineering, UIC Curtis Johnson, Beckman Institute, UIUC
Problem Statement and Motivation • In conventional 3D MRE, each component of the displacement vector is acquired in consecutive steps. • Long imaging times in 3D MRE. • Potential source of error: Image misalignment in between individual acquisition blocks.
Technical Approach
Key Achievements and Future Goals
• Simultaneous application of motion encoding gradients (MEGs) along three directions.
• Acceleration of measurement time of 3D MRE by a factor of three.
• Use of direction specific sample interval of the phase difference between vibration and MEG projection.
• Immediate co-registration of the three components of the displacement vector potentially increases the accuracy of MRE-derived mechanical parameters of biological tissues.
• Encoding of displacement projections into directionspecific discrete frequency bins. • Klatt et al. Phys Med Biol 58, 8663-8675 (2013).
• Increase in accuracy needs to be confirmed in reproducibility studies.
Dieter Klatt & Thomas J Royston, Bioengineering, UIC Primary Grant Support: NIH EB012142 & NSF 1302517
Problem Statement and Motivation • Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) applied to small geometries, such as fingertips or rodent organs requires the use of vibrations in the high frequency range. • Tissue mechanics becomes increasingly rate dependent at higher vibration frequencies; therefore, the mechanical parameters need to be determined at multiple frequencies. • Current MRE techniques are not capable of simultaneously acquiring multi-frequency vibrations without limiting the encoding efficiency.
Technical Approach • SDP-MRE for the simultaneous acquisition of three vibration frequencies. • Filter Condition is applied for selecting one frequency per projection of the displacement vector.
• Encoding efficiency correlates with number of cycles of the motion encoding gradient. • Yasar et al. Phys Med Biol 58, 5771-5781 (2013).
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Full 3D three-frequency spectrum of a vibration can be acquired in only three temporally-resolved MRE experiments. • No limitations to encoding efficiency as there are in fractional multi-frequency MRE approaches. • Future Goals: Determination of the mechanical behavior of small biological structures in the high frequency range at multiple frequencies.
Dieter Klatt & Richard L Magin, Bioengineering, UIC
Problem Statement and Motivation • Combination of Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) and Diffusion MRI may provide complementary information on the changes of tissue cellularity and structure associated with pathology. • Recent MRE approaches accounting for the anisotropy of tissue use the direction information obtained from Diffusion MRI as input parameters in novel wave inversion algorithms. • Currently Diffusion MRI and MRE information is acquired consecutively in separate imaging blocks.
Technical Approach • Synchronization of diffusion gradients and vibration by obeying a constraint for the diffusion time. • Gradient shape tuning to have a good compromise between b-value and encoding efficiency.
• Encoding of intra-voxel coherent motion (MRE) and intravoxel incoherent motion (diffusion MRI) in the phase and magnitude of the MR signal, respectively.
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Simultaneous acquisition of diffusion MRI and MRE information in ex vivo tissues using dMRE yields the same stiffness and ADC values as the conventional approaches. • dMRE reduces imaging time by a factor of two and allows for immediate co-registration of stiffness and ADC maps. • Future Goals: • Verification of dMRE in in vivo human environments. • Refinement of dMRE towards DTI-MRE.
James C. Lin, PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Bioengineering Primary Grant Support: Magnetic Health Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Wide Spread Use of Cell Phone Technology
•
Concerns about Health and Safety
•
Plectin is A High Molecular Weight Protein
•
Plectin Immunoreactivity Follows Brain Injury
•
Mutation of Plectin Identified With Signs of Neurodegenerative Disorder
Immunolabeling of Irradiated Rat Brain Using Monoclonal Antibody, Pletin.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Irradiate Young Adult Rats (300 g) in Plexiglass Holder
•
Immunolabeling of Irradiated Rat Brain Showed Increased Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (IFAP)
•
Produce Power Deposition Patterns in Rat Brains Comparable to Those in Humans
•
GFAP Plays An Important Role in Glial Reactions After Lesions.
•
Brains Were Removed and Incubated
•
•
Floating Sections Were Used for Immunocytochemistry
Preliminary Results Indicate There is No Difference in Expression Pattern of Plectin Among the Brains Tested at Peak SAR levels of 0, 1.6 and 16 W/kg in the brain.
•
Use Monoclonal Antibody - plectin – Labeling
•
Additional Experiments to Establish Statistical Validity
•
Examination by Light Microscopy
Richard L. Magin, Bioengineering; Shadi F. Othman, Bioengineering; Thomas J. Royston, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Primary Grant Support: NIH R21 EB004885-01
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Disease changes the mechanical properties of tissues
•
Palpation by physician requires physical contact
•
Propose a noninvasive way (MRI) to measure the stiffness of biological tissues (elastography)
•
Use the elastography system to measure the mechanical properties of regenerating tissue
•
Extend the technique to high magnetic field systems to allow micoroscopic resolution
Three dimensional shear wave through agarose gel
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Generate shear waves in the tissue
•
Improving elastography resolution to 34 mm x 34 mm for a 500 mm slice
•
Apply magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to capture shear wave motion
•
Monitoring the growth of osteogenic tissue engineered constructs
•
Measure the shear wavelength through the sample
•
Applying high resolution microelatography in vivo
•
Convert the shear wavelength to shear stiffness
James Patton, Ph.D., UIC BioEngineering and The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) Primary Grant Support: NIH, Department of Education (NIDRR), American Heart Association
Problem Statement and Motivation New technology and understanding has led to new possibilities in exploring the control of movement: • • • • • • • • •
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Measure forces, motions, and muscle activity while individuals attempt to move in different activities
•
Robotic devices can follow along, assist, perturb, or perform otherwise unrealizable forces and torques during movement
•
Enhancement of the feedback through error augmentation
•
Altering the mechanical world using robotics
•
Altering the visual world using virtual environment technology
•
Repetitive practice and rehabilitation of stroke patients, in the presence of specialized forces and visual feedback designed by the computer
Robotics and Haptics (artificial rendering of touch) Human machine interface Neural adaptation and Sensory-motor intelligence Robotic Teaching Augmented reality Rehabilitation of stroke patients Bimanual coordination Postural control Hand-eye coordination
• • • • • •
Understanding of the nervous system and how to approximate sensory-motor interactions with a computer model Several training techniques that improve hand-eye coordination Restoration of function in survivors of stroke Human machine operator training that enhance the motor learning process Faster and better learning of tasks Understanding the learning related to multiple types of interfaces with the nervous system – physical, sensory, and electrophysiological
Andreas A. Linninger Department of Bioengineering
Problem Statement and Motivation Pressure (mmHg)
Flow (uL/min)
16
6
15
5
14
5
13
4
12
3
11
2
10
1
•
Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) occurs in 40% of the U.S. population costing over $8.5 billion per year and is the 4th leading cause of death
•
Analysis of perfusion maps obtained from MRI and CT do not reliably assess patient health
•
Oxygen perfusion of tissue at microvasculature scale is uncertain due to limited resolution of imaging modalities
•
May help physicians in surgery planning
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Centerline extraction from high-resolution medical images for apparent vessel modeling
•
Arterial networks automatically reconstructed from medical MR angiography images
•
Constrained constructive optimization creates morphologically consistent microvasculature
•
Microvasculature model of for oxygen perfusion
• •
Modeling of the cerebrovasculature provides simulation results down to capillary level and can be used as a diagnostic and surgery planning tool
Artificial angiography from simulated dye convection and registration of dye projection to voxel matrix
•
Acquiring high-resolution images for better reconstruction for both arterial and venous network
•
Oxygen perfusion from capillaries to brain cells
Andreas A. Linninger Department of Bioengineering NSF CBET Process & Reactions Engineering Pressure, mmHg
pO2, mmHg
66
80
56
70
47
60
37
50
28
40
18
30
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Cerebrovascular Disease (CVD) occurs in 40% of the U.S. population costing over $8.5 billion per year and is the 4th leading cause of death
•
Analysis of MR and CT images do not reliably capture the dynamics of tissue oxygen perfusion in response to vasomodulating factors
•
Oxygen perfusion of tissue at microvasculature scale is uncertain due to limited resolution of imaging modality and difficulty of obtaining in vivo human measurements
•
Modeling of the cerebrovasculature on the tissue scale provides missing meso-scale simulations between large cerebral vessels and capillary perfusion of brain cells
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Centerline extraction from high-resolution medical images for apparent vessel modeling coupled with constrained constructive optimization (CCO) to create morphologically consistent microvasculature
•
Arterial and venous networks automatically reconstructed from medical MR angiography images and enhanced with space filling CCO algorithm to create morphologically accurate networks
•
Biphasic blood rheology computed using novel kinetic plasmaskimming model to accurately predict oxygen distribution to deep cortical layers
•
Microvasculature model of RBC distribution shows network-level hemoconcentration due to plasma skimming, increasing oxygen perfusion predictions over one phase models
•
3D anisotropic oxygen perfusion from capillaries to neural and glial brain cells computed as a function of red blood cell distribution, vessel tone, and extracellular space geometry
•
High-resolution images of arteriole, venule, capillary vessels as well as the spatial distribution of neurons and glial cells will be used to build more realistic tissue-level simulations
Andreas Linninger Prime Grant Support: NSF CBET EAGER
Problem Statement and Motivation • Cerebral vascular disease is the 4th leading cause of death in the U.S. • Mostly treated through digital subtraction angiography (DSA) • Currently, no method exists for quantifying blood flow in DSA
Technical Approach
Key Achievements and Future Goals
• Anatomical reconstruction of cerebral vasculature through image processing
• Pipelining of the image processing procedure for anatomical features
• Contrast agent convection simulation using computational modeling
• Development of optimization algorithm based on flow principle algorithms
• Optimization algorithm for blood flow measurement
• Artificial DSA projections for objective function in the optimization algorithm
Investigators: M. Stroscio, ECE and BioE; M. Dutta, ECE
Problem Statement and Motivation • Coupling manmade nanostructures with biological structures to monitor/control biological processes. • For underlying concepts see M. Stroscio and M. Dutta, Integrated Biological-Semiconductor Devices, Proc. of the IEEE, 93, 1772 (2005) and Biological Nanostructures and Applications of Nanostructures in Biology: Electrical, Mechanical, & Optical Properties, edited by Michael A. Stroscio and Mitra Dutta (Kluwer, New York, 2004). TsaiChin Wu, Guijun Zhao, Hui Lu, Mitra Dutta, and Michael A. Stroscio, Quantum-dot-based Aptamer Beacons for K+ Detection, IEEE Sensors Journal, 13, 1549-1553, 2013; Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/JSEN.2012.2229387
Technical Approach • Synthesis of nanostructures • Binding biomolecules (proteins, DNA, selective-binding aptamers, antibodies) to manmade nanostructures • Modeling electrical, optical and mechanical properties of nanostructures • Experimental characterization of integrated manmade nanostructure-biological structures • Applications of manmade nanobiostructures in biomedical engineering including nanosensors as physiological state indicators, nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, and molecule detection.
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Numerous manmade nanostructures have been functionalized with biomolecules; recent work focuses on integration of luminescent quantum dots with DNA aptamers • Nanostructure-biomolecule complexes have been used to study a variety of biological structures including cells • Interactions between nanostructures with biomolecules and with biological environments have been modeled for a wide variety of systems • Ultimate goal is controlling biological systems at the nanoscale
Michael A. Stroscio, ECE and BioE, and Mitra Dutta, ECE
Problem Statement and Motivation • Use DNA and RNA Aptamers as well as Molecular Beacons for Chem/Bio Sensors • Biomedical Detectors • Detection of Pollutants and Toxins
Technical Approach • Graphene-based FET Fabrication; DNA or RNA Aptamer Sensing Element • Characterization of I-V Curves for Selective Binding of Analytes to Aptamers
• Extension to Quantum-wire Functionalized Aptamers • Extension to Quantum-wire—Aptamers for Simultaneous Detection of Multiple Analytes
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Potassium, Lead, Mercury, Cocaine, specific DNA molecules and other analytes detected; sensors designed for other biomolecules including IgE • Graphene-based and electrolyte-based nanosensors demonstrated
Bo Song, Huajun Yuan, Cynthia Jameson, Sohail Murad, Chemical Engineering Department Primary Grant Support: US Department of Energy
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Understanding the interaction between nanoparticles and biological membrane is of significant importance in applications in cell imaging, biodiagnostics and drug delivery systems.
•
Some basic questions explored: • How do nanoparticles transport? • What structural changes occur? • Can a lipid membrane heal?
•
Use molecular dynamics simulations to develop better understanding of the transport process and characterization of nanoparticles.
•
Investigate the elastic and dynamic properties of lipid membrane, during the permeation of the nanoparticles.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • • •
Used various sizes of nanocrystals as probes. Used coarse-grained dipalmitoylphosphatidy-lcholine (DPPC) lipid bilayers as a simple model membrane. Explored the transport of nanocrystal across DPPC lipid bilayers Investigated the changes in the structural and mechanical properties of DPPC bilayers during permeation.
• • •
Used coarse-grained models to simulate nanoparticles and biomembrane systems successfully. Examined the permeation process of nanoparticles through lipid membranes and the response of lipid membrane at the fundamental molecular level. Explored the effect on transport across a lipid membrane arising from surface coatings on the nanoparticles.
Bo Song, Huajun Yuan, Cynthia Jameson, Sohail Murad, Chemical Engineering Department Primary Grant Support: US Department of Energy
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Understanding the nanoparticle permeation mediated water/ion penetration and lipid molecule flip-flops is of significant importance in drug delivery systems and cytoxicity.
•
Some basic questions explored: • How many water molecules and ions may leak during nanoparticle permeation? • How do water and ion leakages depend on the physical properties of the nanoparticle and the surrounding environment? • How do individual lipid molecules respond when nanoparticle, water and ions permeate simultaneously?
•
Use coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations technology.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • •
Used bare gold nanoparticles as model nanoparticles. Coarse-grained dipalmitoylphosphatidy-lcholine (DPPC) lipid bilayers were used as a simple model membrane. Investigated the effect of NP size, permeation velocity, pressure and ion concentration gradient effects.
•
Used coarse-grained models to simulate nanoparticles and biological membrane systems successfully.
•
Examined the permeation process of nanoparticles through lipid membranes at the fundamental molecular level.
•
Examined the water/ion penetration and lipid molecule flip-flop during the nanoparticle permeation.
Hongmei Liu, Cynthia Jameson and Sohail Murad, Chemical Engineering Department Primary Grant Support: US National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Need for understanding transport of ions in biological membranes
•
Understand the conduction mechanism of chloride ions in simpler models of ClC.
•
Explain the permeation mechanisms of ions in such ClC ion channels.
•
Validate our models with the experimental results, and then extend studies to more complex systems.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Use molecular simulations to model the permeation of ions in chloride ion channels.
•
Explained the molecular basis of conduction mechanisms of ions in ClC.
•
Examine the effects of the architecture of the tube surface on the water molecules in the tube.
•
Used this improved understanding to predict behavior of ions in ClC.
• •
Determine reorientation correlation times of water molecules of the first hydration shell of the ions in ion channels and in the bulk solution.
Used molecular simulation to explain the permeation mechanism of ions in ClC.
Huajun Yuan, Cynthia Jameson, Sohail Murad, Chemical Engineering Department Primary Grant Support: US Department of Energy
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Explore small molecules transport through membranes, to better understand a range of biological processes essential for life itself.
•
Compare transport process of different gases.
•
Compare gas permeability across different lipid membranes.
Model Lipid Membrane with embedded OmpA Protein Channel
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Develop an effective coarse-grained model to simulate gas transport across a model membrane with embedded OmpA protein channel.
•
Validate model/method by comparing with atomistic simulations and experimental results.
•
Compare transport of different gases across pure lipid membranes and lipid membranes embedded with OmpA.
•
Predict behavior not studied experimentally.
• • •
Simulated water channels with open and closed OmpA channels. Compared gas permeation with and without OmpA. Validated simulation results with experimental measurements on gas permeation.
Lewis E. Wedgewood, Chemical Engineering Department Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation, 3M Company
Problem Statement and Motivation Brownian Dynamics Simulation of a Ferrofluid in Shear
•
Establish The Mechanical Properties And Microstructure of Ferrofluids Under Flow Conditions
•
Use Ferrofluids To Test New Theories Of Complex Fluids And The Relation Between Mircostructure And Flow Behavior
•
Use The Resulting Models And Understanding To Develop Improved Ferrofluids And New Applications Such Targeted Drug Delivery
H Hey Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Brownian Dynamics Simulations For Spherical And Slender Particles Is Used To Model The Microstructure Of Ferrofluids
•
Improved Understanding Of The Behavior Of Ferrofluids Near Solid Boundaries And The Application Of Boundary Conditions
•
LaGrange Multiplier Method Used To Satisfy Local Magnetic Field Effects
•
Established Relation Between Applied Magnetic Fields And Ferrofluid Microstructure
•
Computer Animation And Statistical Analysis To Characterize Particle Dynamics
•
Development Of Constitutive Relations Suitable For Design Of New Applications
•
Continuum Theory And Hindered Rotation Models To Model Mechanical Behavior
•
Verification Of Hindered Rotation Theory And The Transport Of Angular Momentum In Complex Fluids
L.E. Wedgewood; Kyung-Hyo Kim, UIC Chemical Engineering
Problem Statement and Motivation
2.4+-0.1m 1.0+-.08m
•
Understanding blood rheology (i.e., blood flow properties) is important for the treatment of occlusive vascular disease.
•
Viscoelastic behavior of red blood cells affect flow behavior and transport in blood vesicles.
•
A red blood cell is a biconcave disk with length of ~8.5um [Fig 1] and accounts for roughly 38% - 46% of blood’s volume.
•
Fahraeus-Lindqvist effect: The decrease in apparent viscosity when blood vessel has small diameter less than about 0.3 mm [Fig 2].
•
To develop a Brownian dynamics (BD) model that captures the essential rheological behavior of blood [Fig 3].
8.5+-0.4m
Fig 1 Dimension of normal human with deviations Fig. 2.1- Dimensions with standard deviationsRBC of a normal wet standard human
Fig 2 RBC in a blood vessel
Fig 3 Simulation model of RBC
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
Construct a model for red blood cells suspended in blood plasma Fig. 3: • Bead-and-Spring Model: flexibility and elasticity of a red blood cell is represented by a network of springs to mimic cell membrane. • Intrinsic curvature of the membrane is modeled by bending potentials. • Membrane area and cell volume are constrained to be constant in accordance with actual cells. Complex flow calculations are made using Brownian dynamics simulations. Motion and configuration of red blood cells can be simulated in complex flow geometries.
•
Results for a three bead-and-spring model gives a simplified view of the physical system, but captures the essential physical characteristics of red blood cells: • Correctly predicts the steady shearing properties giving the correct relation between shear stress and shear rate. • Correctly predicts the Fahraeus-Lindqvist effect for circular tubes of various radii.
•
Future goals: • Addition of details to the red blood cell model: internal viscosity of cell, bending potentials and interaction between cells. • The method can be extended to more complex situations by replacing the single vessel for more complex geometries (walls, constriction, bends, junction, networks) or combinations.
L E Wedgewood, L C Nitsche, B Akpa: Chemical Engineering; R D Minshall, Pharmacology and Anesthesiology Primary Grant Support: National Institutes of Health
Problem Statement and Motivation Fig. 1 Caveolae are ~50 nm indentations at cell surfaces
Fig 2 Caveolae accept molecules to be absorbed into the cell (endocytosis)
•
Animal cell membrane regions rich in the protein caveolin form ~50 nm pits or indentations (‘caveolae’) [Fig. 1]
•
Caveolae accept molecular cargo that is to be absorbed by the cell, thus forming endocytic vesicles [Fig. 2] • roles in signaling, cholesterol trafficking, pathogen invasion • disruption of caveolin expression is linked to disease
•
Current microscopic techniques cannot be used to continuously observe the process of formation of specific caveolae
•
Coarse-grained approaches can be used to feasibly study interactions of caveolins with the lipid bilayer that result in the formation of caveolae [Figs. 3 and 4]
n rtransverse
rnormal Fig. 3 Increasingly coarse-grained models of lipid bilayer phospholipids
r
Fig. 4 A section-view of the membrane model
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
The lipid bilayer is modeled as a coarse-grained 2D fluid [Fig. 3] • each particle in the model represents a cluster of phospholipids
•
2D structure is preserved using a combination of potentials that [Fig. 4] • favor a specified minimum inter-particle distance • cause particles to be attracted to one another • penalize particles for leaving the 2D surface
•
Computation is saved by only considering interactions with neighboring particles • particle interactions restricted to specified cutoff distances
•
Caveolins modeled as bead-spring chains • subject to Brownian forces
•
Lipid membrane modeled as a stable 2D fluid
•
Various kinds of surfaces modeled • plane, sphere, hemisphere
•
Physical properties of model are being investigated • to confirm that model exhibits typical lipid-bilayer characteristics
•
Future goals • to incorporate caveolin proteins on the bilayer • to model the cytoskeleton and its interactions • to model the pinch-off of invaginated surface caveolae to form endocytic vesicles
Sohail Murad, Chemical Engineering Department Primary Grant Support: US Department of Energy Semi-permeable Membranes
S O L U T I O N
S O L V E N T
Recycling Regions
S O L U T I O N
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Understand The Molecular Basis For Membrane Based Separations
•
Explain At The Fundamental Molecular Level Why Membranes Allow Certain Solvents To Permeate, While Others Are Stopped
•
Use This Information To Develop Strategies For Better Design Of Membrane Based Separation Processes For New Applications.
Solvated Ion Clusters Prevent Ions from Permeating the Membrane
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Determine The Key Parameters/Properties Of The Membrane That Influence The Separation Efficiency
•
Explained The Molecular Basis Of Reverse Osmosis in a Desalination Process (Formation of Solvated Ionic Clusters).
•
Use Molecular Simulations To Model The Transport Of Solvents And Solutes Across The Membrane?
•
Used This Improved Understanding To Predict The Zeolite Membranes Would Be Effective In Removing A Wide Range Of Impurities From Water.
•
Focus All Design Efforts On These Key Specifications To Improve The Design Of Membranes.
•
This Prediction Was Recently Confirmed By Experimental Studies Carried Out In New Mexico.
•
Showed That Ion Exchange Is Energetically Driven Rather Than Entropic. Explains The More Efficient Exchange Between Ca And Na In Zeolites.
•
Use Molecular Simulations As A Quick Screening Tool For Determining The Suitability Of A Membrane For A Proposed New Separation Problem
Randall J. Meyer, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago in collaboration with Dr. Jeffrey Miller, Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Lab Supported by NSF grants CBET 0747646 and CBET 1067020
Problem Statement and Motivation
Industrial catalyst
•
Finite fossil fuel reserves dictate that new solutions must be found to reduce energy consumption and decrease carbon use
•
Current design of catalysts is often done through trial and error or through combinatorial methods without deep fundamental understanding
•
Our group seeks to combine experimental and theoretical methods to provide rational catalyst design
100 x 100 nm Model Catalyst
Computational model
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
A combination of experimental methods is employed to characterize catalysts: • X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) is used to identify local structures and to determine electronic structure changes in alloys • Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy is used to provide structural models for catalytic active sites with atomic resolution • Kinetic analysis provides insight into reaction pathways Density Functional Theory calculations are used to determine the thermodynamics and kinetics of proposed reaction mechanisms
•
Graduate Student Haojuan Wei has identified novel acrolein hydrogenation catalysts based on dilute alloys
•
Graduate student Carolina Gomez has found that alloying effects in XAS can be classified in terms of charge transfer, lattice effects and changes in orbital overlap.
•
Graduate student David Childers has shown that alloy catalysts for neopentane hydrogenolysis/isomerization can be more selective than either monometallic component.
G. Ali Mansoori, Bioengineering & Chemical Engineering Primary Grant Support: ARO, KU, UMSL, ANL
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Experimental and theoretical studies of organic nanostructures derived from petroleum (Diamondoids, asphaltenes, etc.)..
•
Quantum and statistical mechanics of small systems - Development of ab initio models and equations of state of nanosystems. Phase transitions, fragmentations.
•
Molecular dynamics simulation of small systems - Studies in nonextensivity and internal pressure anomaly of nanosystems.
•
DNA-Dendrimers nano-cluster formation, nanoparticle-protein attachment for drug delivery
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Nanoparticles-Protein Attachmrnt
•
DNA-Dendrimer Nano-Cluster Electrostatics (CTNS, 2005)
•
Nano-Imaging (AFM & STM), Microelectrophoresis
•
Nonextensivity and Nonintensivity in Nanosystems - A Molecular Dynamics Sumulation J Comput & Theort Nanoscience (CTNS,2005)
•
Ab Initio computations (Applications of Gaussian 98)
•
Principles of Nanotechnology (Book) World Scientific Pub. Co (2005)
•
Nano-Systems Simulations (Molecular Dynamics)
•
•
Statistical Mechanical Modeling and its Application to Nanosystems Handbook of Theor & Comput Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (2005)
Nano-Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics •
Phase-Transition and Fragmentation in Nano-Confined Fluids J Comput & Theort Nanoscience (2005)
•
Interatomic Potential Models for Nanostructures" Encycl Nanoscience & Nanotechnology (2004)
Sohail Murad, Chemical Engineering Department Primary Grant Support: US National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation FAU Zeolite
MFI Zeolite
CHA Zeolite
•
Understand The Molecular Basis For Membrane Based Gas Separations
•
Explain At The Fundamental Molecular Level Why Membranes Allow Certain Gases To Permeate Faster than Others
•
Use This Information To Develop Strategies For Better Design Of Membrane Based Gas Separation Processes For New Applications.
y z
Zeolite Membrane x
Feed Compartment (High Pressure)
Product Compartment (Low Pressure)
Feed Compartment (High Pressure)
Recycling Regions
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Determine The Key Parameters/Properties Of The Membrane That Influence The Separation Efficiency
•
Explained The Molecular Basis Of Separation of N2/O2 and N2/CO2 Mixtures Using a Range of Zeolite Membranes.
•
Use Molecular Simulations To Model The Transport Of Gases –i.e. Diffusion or Adsorption
•
Used This Improved Understanding To Predict Which Membranes Would Be Effective In Separating a Given Mixture
•
Focus All Design Efforts On These Key Specifications To Improve The Design Of Membranes.
•
Used Molecular Simulation to Explain the Separation Mechanism in Zeolite Membranes.
•
Use Molecular Simulations As A Quick Screening Tool For Determining The Suitability Of A Membrane For A Proposed New Separation Problem
Huajun Yuan, Cynthia Jameson and Sohail Murad Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation, Dow Chemical Company
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Needs for Better Physical Property Model
•
Industrial Interest – Safe Storage of Liquids at Extreme Conditions
•
Understand Molecular Basis For Chemical Shift in Liquids
•
Explain At the Fundamental Molecular Level the Close Relation Between Chemical Shift and Solute-Solvent Interaction Potential
•
Use This Information to Develop Strategies For Better Design of Solute-Solvent Interaction Potentials, and Provide a Better Estimation of Henry’s Constant (Solubility of Gases in Liquids)
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Use Molecular Dynamics Simulation to Model Chemical Shift of Gases in Alkanes
•
Determined the Key Parameters of Solute-Solvent Interaction Potential, Improved the Potential for Better Solubility Estimations.
•
Determine the Key Parameters of Solute-Solvent Interaction Potential.which Affect the Solubility
•
Calculated the Gas Solubility of Xenon in Different Alkanes at Different Temperatures. Showed that Improved Agreement with Chemical Shift Resulted In Better Solubility Results
•
Use Molecular Simulation for Chemical Shift Calculation as a Quick Screening Tool for Improving the Intermolecular Potential.
•
Able to Use Modified Potential Model to Get Better Estimations of Solubility of Gases In Liquids, Especially under Extreme Conditions Which are Difficult to Measure Experimentally.
•
Estimate the Solubility of Gases in Liquids using the Improved Potential Model.
Lewis E. Wedgewood, Chemical Engineering Department Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation, 3M Company
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Construct a Theory that Allows the Vorticity to be Divided into an Objective and a Non-Objective Portion
•
Develop Robust Equations for the Mechanical Properties (Constitutive Equations) of Non-Newtonian Fluids using the Objective Portion of the Vorticity
•
Solve Flow Problems of Complex Fluids in Complex Flows such as Blood Flow, Ink Jets, Polymer Coatings, Etc.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Mathematical Construction of Co-rotating Frames (see Figure above) to Give a Evolution for the Deformational Vorticity (Objective Portion)
•
Finite Difference Solution to Tangential Flow in an Eccentric Cylinder Device
•
Brownian Dynamics Simulations of Polymer Flow and Relation Between Polymer Dynamics and Constitutive Equations
•
Continuum Theory And Hindered Rotation Models To Model Mechanical Behavior
•
Improved Understanding Of the Modeling of Complex Fluids
•
Applications to Structured Fluids such as Polymer Melts, Ferromagnetic Fluids, Liquid Crystals, etc.
•
Development Of Constitutive Relations Suitable For Design Of New Applications
•
Verification Of Hindered Rotation Theory And The Transport Of Angular Momentum In Complex Fluids
Craig Foster, Civil and Materials Engineering and Sandeep Jain and Dimitri Azar, Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Philip Iannoccone, Children’s Memorial Hospital Primary Grant Support: NIH, UIC
Problem Statement and Motivation • • • Collagen cross-linking stiffens corneas weakened by keratoconus
Finite element modeling can help optimize procedure
We are developing models of normal, keratoconic, and and collagen crosslink treated corneas to determine quantities such as strain, stress, stiffness, and and shape under intraocular pressure. One major goal is to examine how the mechanical state of stress and strain influences patterns observed in cell formation and migration, including spiral formation in the epithelium. A second goal is to develop a model that can be used to predict the outcome of a specific treatment regimen of collagen cross-linking on a specific patient.
Cross-linking increases number of bonds between collagen fibers
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Multiscale models are developed using the stiffness curves of collagen fibrils oriented in different directions in the cornea (see below) and implemented in a finite element code.
•
Once the traction-free geometry is determined, the intraocular pressure is added, and displace, strain, stress and other quantities of interest are determined.
• • •
Development of anisotropic models based fibril orientation completed Parameter fitting and experimental validation under way Future work includes extending models to keratoconicc corneas and determining effect on cell pattern formation
Shear stress in a preliminary cornea model
Approximate orientations of collagen in the cornea
Raja Kaliappan1, Rachael Jones2, Karl J Rockne1 1Civil and Materials Engineering and 2Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Funding from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
Problem Statement and Motivation •
This study attempts to link adverse pregnancy outcomes, birth defects and childhood leukemia to pre/postnatal exposure to atrazine and nitrate through drinking water
•
Atrazine is a widely applied herbicide in the cultivation of corn, sorghum and sugarcane
•
Atrazine is transported by surface runoff and infiltration leading to surface water and ground water contamination and subsequent human exposure through drinking water
•
Atrazine is a known endocrine disruptor. Several studies show limited evidence of atrazine exposure to adverse reproductive/birth outcomes and childhood leukemia
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Collection of county level agrochemical data in drinking water from SIDWIS and adverse reproductive/birth outcomes from birth certificates from eight Midwestern states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin
•
Annual and monthly atrazine and nitrate exposure estimates
•
Identification of potential confounders, correlation and multivariable regression (health-linkage) analysis of county level data
•
Cluster detection, mixed effects model and geographically weighted regression using spatial statistical methods
•
Drinking water data analysis shows that peak atrazine concentrations occur in the months of April to August, consistent with known application patterns
•
County level annual and monthly average atrazine/nitrate exposures have been quantified for inclusion in a GIS database for spatial mapping
•
These data will be linked with adverse pregnancy outcomes from public health data (birth records, birth defects, and cancer registries) for an environmental epidemiological study
Asha Rani, Azivy Aziz, Karl J. Rockne Department of Civil & Materials Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago
Problem Statement and Motivation Sources of mercury to wastewater treatment systems are primarily from industrial sources and dental operations. Studies conducted by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) revealed that a typical dental clinic can generate up to 4.5 g aqueous Hg waste/day. Our previous research demonstrated that elemental Hg from removed dental amalgam fillings is transformed to the highly toxic methyl Hg (MeHg) by sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB).
Dental trap FLX amplicon pyrosequencing
Sequence analysis
• • •
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • • • • • • •
Dental wastewater (DWW) collection from dental traps Determination of total Hg and MeHg levels using mercury analyzer Metagenomic DNA isolation from samples Identification of novel bacteria by 16S rRNA gene sequencing Automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) on metagenomic DNA Quantitative-PCR for estimation of total eubacteria versus SRB High-throughput FLX amplicon pyrosequencing of all the samples to characterize total microbial communities Phylogentic analysis and identification of novel lineages
Key questions will be answered by this research: Where is Hg methylated? In the mouth or in the DWW system? How many and which Hg methylating bacterial species exist? What microbial communities can exist in the highly toxic DWW?
• • • • •
Metagenomic DNA isolated from Hg contaminated DWW 16S rRNA gene has been amplified for pyrosequencing Q-PCR optimized for total eubacteria and SRB ARISA and pyrosequencing analysis in progress Phylogenetic analysis for identification and characterization of microbial community composition in progress
•
Future goal to employ these techniques to understand microbial community structures in other high Hg environments worldwide • Minamata Bay, Japan: Estuarine • Soda lakes in Western USA: (pH 13) • Solar saltern in Spain: (>35% salt) • Hg mines, SW Alaska: Freshwater, cold
Sheng-Wei Chi, Department of Civil and Materials Engineering, UIC Primary Grant Support: UIC
Problem Statement and Motivation Initial trial
Construction of muscle model from a stack of images
Characterization of material properties of tendon from in vivo MRI
Isometric study on the mechanics of passive materials in muscle
•
The patient-specific computational modeling requires tremendous efforts to convert medical images to a 3D geometric representation and to a finite element mesh.
•
The study aims to develop an image-based computational framework for modeling biological systems, such as, the musculoskeletal system.
•
Seamlessly integrate CAD geometric representation with numerical simulation.
•
Develop effective and accurate computational methods for modeling problems that exhibit fundamental difficulties, such as, incompressible, contact, and extremely large deformation problem.
•
Understand better how muscles function and predict muscle force output.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • • •
Finite element analysis with mixed formulation Levelset based autonomous image segmentation 3D muscle morphology using levelset methods Anisotropic hyperelastic model for muscle 2
“3D Modeling of Complex Muscle Architecture and Geometry”, Dissertation, S.S.Blemker
W I1 , I 2 , I 4 , I 5 W I 3
total fiber
I1 I1 I 31/ 3 ,
I 2 I 2 I 32 / 3 ,
I 4 I 4 I 31/ 3 ,
I 5 I 5 I 32 / 3
a0
3
act pass iso t f fiber * f fiber *
Anisotropic hyperelastic constitutive model for muscle
1
Levelset based image segmentation
•
Develop an image-based computational framework.
•
Develop a levelset based method to autonomously construct the 3D geometry of muscle from images.
•
Reveal and explain complex strain mechanics in the aponeuroses of contracting skeletal muscle.
•
Study the passive material influence on the deformation and force output of skeletal muscle.
•
The future work is to develop a multiscale constitutive model for muscle active contraction.
Kouros Mohammadian, PhD, S. Yagi, J. Auld, and T.H. Rashidi (PhD Candidates), CME, UIC Primary Grant Support: NIPC/CMAP, FACID, and IGERT (NSF) Synthetic Population
Activity Generation Model
Problem Statement and Motivation
Synthetic City
•
Traditional four step travel demand models are widely criticized for their limitations and theoretical deficiencies
•
These problems lead the model to be less policy sensitive than desired
•
Travel is derived from participation in activities. This fact is not accounted for in 4-step models. Therefore, there is a need for a better modeling approach
•
An activity-based microsimulation travel demand model is considered that simulates activity schedules for all individuals
Activity Scheduling Model
ADS/HTS Surveys
Synthesized Population
Policy scenarios
Executed Schedules Activity-Based Modeling
Activity/Travel Microsimulation
Activities/ Tours/Trips
Travel Demand
Highway/Transit Network Assignment Policy Analysis
Vehicle/Fuel Condition
Emission Model
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • •
• •
The modeling framework utilizes both econometric and heuristic (rulebased) approaches All human activities are related to broad project categories which have a common goal (e.g., Work, School, Entertainment, etc.) and tasks and activity episodes that are required to reach that goal are modeled Activity participation is modeled at household/individual level (microsimulation) Explicit representation of time/space of occurrence for all travel episodes, linked to associated activities Activity scheduling model is linked to a population synthesizer, rescheduling and resource allocation models, and a regional network microsimulation and emission models
• • • •
• •
A comprehensive multi-tier activity-based microsimulation modeling system is developed. A new population synthesizer is developed. Activity scheduling/rescheduling decision rules are developed and applied to adjust the simulated daily activity patterns. Intra-household interaction rules are developed and applied to account for joint activity generation and household maintenance activity allocation problems. Transferability of activity scheduling/rescheduling decision rules across different spatial and temporal contexts are evaluated. The microsimulation model is applied to evaluate future transportation policy scenarios.
Sheng-Wei Chi, Department of Civil and Materials Engineering, UIC Primary Grant Support: UIC
Problem Statement and Motivation
Progressive penetration processes and predicted damage and contact surfaces
•
Increasing demands are placed on materials and structures to withstand complex phenomena due to extreme loads such as impact and penetration.
•
Key issues needed to be addressed in penetration simulation include high strain rate, extreme large deformation, material fracture, and fragment impact.
•
The study aims to develop a multiscale meshfree approach for modeling fragment penetration into concrete.
•
The ultimate goal is to understand better the phenomena in the penetration process and to predict the structure response under extreme loads.
Comparison of experimental and numerical damage patterns
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • • •
Semi-Lagrangian Reproducing Kernel Particle formulation in which the point discretization follows the material while the radius of interaction of a point is fixed in Euler coordinates. Levelset enhanced kernel contact algorithm Image-based meso-scale concrete fracture simulation Microstructure informed damage model Meshfree discretization
p
0
Schematic of image-based meso-scale concrete fracture simulation
•
Develop a levelset enhanced kernel contact algorithm that does not require a predefined contact surface.
•
Develop an image-based computational approach to effectively construct a computer model based on cross sectional images.
•
Develop a concrete constitutive model based on the damage evolution in the meso-scale via the energy bridge theory.
•
The future Goal of this study is to take into consideration multi-physics phenomena in penetration simulations, including: • • •
Thermo effects Rate effects on concrete and projectiles Shock wave
Karl J. Rockne, Department of Civil and Material Engineering An Li, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Neil C. Sturchio, Earth and Environmental Sciences Primary Grant Support : US. Environmental Protection Agency – Great Lakes National Program Office
Problem Statement and Motivation •
•
•
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
Sediment samples collected through surface Ponar grabs, along with 25cm deep sediment cores retrieved at selected sites using an Ocean Instruments MC-400 “Spyder” Multi Corer. Physical/chemical characterization of sediment including elemental analysis of sediment organic matter, and pore-water ion composition.
•
Age dating of sediments through radionuclide analysis and Gamma emission spectrometry.
•
Chemical analysis for PBTs including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), pesticides, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PDBE).
The mission of GLSSP is to investigate the presence of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals, and reveal the spatial distribution and temporal trend of PBT pollution in the Great Lakes sedimentary record. Sediment is one of the largest depository matrices of pollutants in aquatic systems, and often acts as a secondary source even long after discharge ceases. Properly retrieved and preserved sediment samples can provide information valuable to the effective management and remediation of the contaminated water bodies. Although the Great Lakes have been one of the most investigated large freshwater systems, the number of region-wide studies on both legacy and emerging chemical pollutants in the sediment is still limited. A better understanding of the transport and transformation of PBT chemicals deposited in the sediments demands detailed characterization of the sediments and the over laying water column.
• • • •
Successful sediment sampling of deepest point in Lake Superior (385m depth) achieved, May 2011 Genetic assay of water column microbial genomes through pyrosequencing Investigation of in-situ dehalogenation of PBTs in sediment. Analysis of sediment mercury (Hg) and potential Hg-methylation.
Sampling Year Summer, 2010 Summer, 2011 Summer, 2012 Summer, 2013 Summer, 2014
Targeted Great Lakes, Bays and Rivers Lake Michigan, Green Bay Lake Superior Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River Lake Ontario, St. Lawrence River Lake Erie including Niagara River
# of Cores 11 11 10 8 7
# of Grabs 26 28 40 40 30
Sybil Derrible, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Materials Engineering Primary Grant Support: University of Illinois at Chicago
Problem Statement and Motivation •
With increasing urbanization and growing environmental concerns, public transportation systems will expand in cities all over the world.
•
Current planning practices have limitations, and in particular they omit the topological network feature of transit.
•
Inspired from complex systems thinking, the first step is to identify any inherent patterns, common to all transit systems.
•
The second step is then to explain any differences in metro network topologies.
•
Eventually, we should aim to “steer” relevant metrics in desirable directions for more sustainable and livable cities.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Characterized metro systems according to their State, Form and Structure
•
Developed a methodology to analyze metros as complex systems
•
Observed hidden yet relevant patterns common to all metro systems
•
Studied the relationship between ridership in network properties.
•
Future goals: apply a similar methodology to all transportation modes.
•
For more information, visit our webpage: http://www.uic.edu/~derrible/
•
Translate a metro system into a network with a set of nodes (transfer stations and termini) and links (rails). • Calculate relevant topological metrics such as degree of connectivity, cyclomatic number, scaling factor, betweenness centrality. • Plot and observe the evolution of these metrics with network size. • This figure shows one metric (quad. coeff. of cumulative distribution of betweenness centrality) as a function of size, clearly depicting two regimes in metro network topologies.
Farideddin Peiravian, PhD Candidate, and Sybil Derrible, Assistant Professor Department of Civil and Materials Engineering Primary Grant Support: University of Illinois at Chicago
Problem Statement and Motivation
Population
Buildings
Roads
Intersections
City of Chicago Feature Pop+Empl Density Floor Area Density Road Length Density Intersection Density
Radius (km)
Fractal Dimension
R2
tstat
Significant?
1 to 10 11 to 21 1 to 10 11 to 21 3 to 10 11 to 21 3 to 10 11 to 21
1.36 0.73 1.20 0.70 0.21 0.09 0.39 0.19
0.99 0.98 0.99 0.99 0.98 0.95 0.98 0.95
-77 -22 -66 -45 -13 -11 -15 -13
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
The characteristics of an urban system is the aggregated outcome of numerous individual and collective choices during its history. The idea is that no matter how a system has evolved, from a larger perspective it has an inherent order, a characteristic of complex systems. The spatial spread of various elements of an urban system exhibit selfrepeating patterns. Although such elements are not directly comparable, using a fractal approach to analyze them offers the provision of a measurable metric, i.e. fractal dimension, enabling one to gage how they co-exist and interact within the built environment. Objectives • Analyze the characteristics of different elements of an urban system • Determine and compare the fractal representations of those elements • Explore the reasons behind such similarities and differences
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Selected Chicago for case study, and the “Loop” (CBD) as its center Chose Population+Employment, Gross Floor Area, Road Length, and Number of Intersections as representative elements of the city Obtained the data and removed uninhabited areas (water bodies, etc.) Created 1 km equi-distance rings around the center Clipped the data according to the intersecting ring Calculated the amount of each feature within each ring Created buffers around the center with radial increments of 1 km Calculated the density of each feature within the buffers Plotted the densities versus radius and observed the “Power Law” trend, which is a manifestation of fractal property Plotted log-log diagram of density of each feature versus radius Performed piecewise linear fitting of data based on trend changes Calculated the fractal dimension of each linear segment Performed statistical significance tests to validate the results
• • •
• •
Showed that cities (example: Chicago) are complex systems in which dissimilar features indeed possess inherent order and fractal characteristics which can be captured, quantified, and compared Showed that the spreads of Population+Employment as well as Gross Floor Area in a same city are directly correlated and in fact have very similar fractal dimensions Showed that the distributions of the road network as well as the intersections within a city are directly correlated and in fact have very similar fractal dimensions Used fractal properties to identify the hidden changes in the topology of the urban system, which was otherwise hard to identify. Presented a fractal approach to the characterization of complex urban systems, which can be used in future to identify system deficiencies.
Craig Foster, Civil and Materials Engineering, B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, IISc., Bangalore, India Primary Grant Support: NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation • • •
Though they have been used for millennia, the structural behavior of earthen materials such as rammed earth and stabilized mud block is not well understood. Such materials may fail by diffuse plasticity, fracture along weak interfaces, and fracture through the bulk material. Advanced finite element modeling can help elucidate structural failure modes, limit states, and help design safer, more economical structures.
Stabilized mud block (top, left) and rammed earth (right) buildings
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • •
Using enhanced finite elements with embedded discontinuities, we can simulate the changing stress and strain as walls are loaded, and model fractures passing through the bodies. The complex material behavior will be fit to bulk and interface constitutive models. Experiments for parameter determination and validation performed with the help of Professor BVV Reddy’s group at IISc, Bangalore.
• • • •
Development of material models and implementation to finite element codes Experimental determination of material properties Validation of large-scale bending and shear experiments Examination of shear behavior of earthen walls Fracture of a stabilized mud block wall in bending
Yield surface of continuum plasticity model
Yield surface for fracture model
Investigators: Kouros Mohammadian, J. Auld, and B. Karimi, CME; and K. Kawamura, CUPPA Primary Grant Support: Illinois Department of Transportation
Problem Statement and Motivation
Legend HSR station HSR line
•
Currently, there are four statewide long-distance travel modes competing across Illinois and its neighboring states: Car, Amtrak, Bus, and Airplane. Each of these travel modes, depending on their attributes such as fare and travel time, attract a specific share of passenger ridership.
•
High-speed (up to 220mph) train is studied as a new alternative travel mode to estimate what percentage of travelers would choose it as their travel mode and how it would affect other modes.
Model Region
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
A micro-simulation approach was employed to simulate all long distance trips across the study area at person level for the base year and future target year.
Census
Land Use
Synthetic Population
Long Distance Trip Generation
•
Total annual ridership of high-speed train was estimated for the base year and for a target year.
•
High-speed train mostly attracts travelers from car and airplane modes.
•
An economic model to maximize revenue while maintaining high ridership was also developed and various fare structures were examined.
•
The simulation tool is used to examine various policy scenarios.
HH Survey Trip Distribution Intercept Surveys
Mode Choice
Ridership
Investigators: Kouros Mohammadian and Zahra Pourabdollahi, CME Primary Grant Support: Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) & National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (CFIRE)
Problem Statement and Motivation •
An efficient freight transportation system could have considerable positive impacts on the economy
•
Freight models and related public policy tools are far behind the logistics and technological advances
•
Freight transport modeling frameworks should be revised in a way that captures the basis of decision making process across the supply chain
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
Develop activity based microsimulation freight transportation framework which simulates decision making process in freight market at a very disaggregate level
•
Incorporate behavioral logistics choice models (supplier selection, shipment size choice, mode choice, shipping chain choice) into the framework
•
•
Simulate the commodity flow between each pair of firms and determines characteristics of each individual shipment
•
Internet-based establishment survey is used to gain insight into decision making process and model logistics choices
•
• • •
Behavioral logistics choice models are developed in the design process to improve freight movement analysis A detailed dataset is collected through the internet-based establishment survey and is used to develop logistics choice models A traffic simulation module will be incorporated directly in the microsimulation model Data simulation techniques are also being improved Simulation results should be validated with the real observed data Policy scenarios should be developed and examined
Nabin Kafle, PhD student and Bo Zou, Assistant Professor Department of Civil and Materials Engineering
Problem Statement and Motivation • Flight delay is a serious problem in the US and causes airlines and passengers tens of billion dollars each year • A significant portion of flight delay stems from delay propagation from earlier flights, but the formation mechanism and the influencing factors are not well understood
DFW
12:50
86
2 14:03
20:40 20:42
21:30
22:56
13:04
14
DCA 16:25 16:42 17:10 17
8
17:18
LAX
00:30
01:35
65
Technical Approach • Formulation and application of a flight-level analytical model to trace the formation of initial delay and how initial delay of an early flight propagates into the subsequent flights throughout a day • Development of flight propagation performance metrics based on the initial delay and delay propagation results from the analytical model • Estimation of truncated regression models to quantify the impacts on delay propagation of an aircraft of system –wide operational performance and buffer times on the ground and in flight schedules
• This research contributes to enhancing the research community’s modeling capability for flight delay propagation and enriching the understanding of spatial-temporal characteristics of the formation and propagation of flight delays in the US
Key Achievements and Future Goals • A new framework for analyzing flight delay propagation is established • The framework is successfully applied to the US domestic network to identify the delay propagation patterns
0
23 13:40
600000
11:10
Minutes 400000
DEN
200000
20 10:50
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Hours of day
New Departure Delay
• Important policy implications are derived from the modeling outputs
Propagated Arrival Delay
Ahmadreza Talebian, PhD Student and Bo Zou, Assistant Professor Department of Civil and Materials Engineering Grant Support: Illinois Department of Transportation (through Urban Transportation Center)
Problem Statement and Motivation • The state of Illinois has launched the High Speed Rail project connecting Chicago and St Louis using track infrastructure shared by passenger and freight rail • It is important to understand the costs and benefits of different stakeholders (travelers, shippers, passenger rail agency, freight railroads) on the shared corridor • This research aims to develop an integrated planning model for optimal rail service to enhance stakeholders’ and policy makers’ understanding of the costs and benefits and engagement in HSR development
Technical Approach • Formulate hyper-graph based binary integer programs to determine optimal train schedules that minimize: 1) System total cost encompassing both passenger and freight side costs 2) Passenger- and freight-side cost sequentially given that HSR has higher priority • Develop efficient solution procedures to solve the optimal trains schedules
One of the optimal train schedules
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Optimal train schedules for the future Chicago-St Louis HSR corridor are generated under a variety of service conditions • Evaluation of the impact of speed heterogeneity and service frequency on system overall performance, and welfare distribution among different parties • Exploration of best options for future infrastructure investment to accommodate future demand growth
Maen Farhat, Momenur Rahman, Mustapha Ibrahim and Mohsen Issa, Univeristy of Illinois at Chicago Primary Grant Support: Utility Concrete Products (UCP)
Problem Statement and Motivation •
•
•
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
•
• •
Perform experimental study on a 20 ft. high, 166 in. wide full scale prototype (TPCCRW) to asses the strength and service behavior of the wall: Identify the optimum methods and stages of fabrication and prepare an advanced instrumentation and monitoring system that will allow to examine the behavior of the wall at different locations. The TPCCRW was tested experimentally by soil backfilling to simulate real life applications followed by applying load scenarios (4 different tests) reaching 200 kips by using hydraulic actuators. Conduct a finite element analysis using ANSYS package. The nonlinear analysis is carried out imitating the exact construction sequence of a retaining-wall backfills and surcharge loads.
Totally Precast Concrete Counterfort Retaining Wall (TPCCRW) system is an innovative solution to the growing need to develop sustainable retaining wall systems. It provides means for fast track construction that would significantly cut off the time of the construction and erection processes. It is designed to satisfy the code requirements for strength, serviceability, durability and constructability within the least possible cost and the maximum possible safety margins. The fully precast retaining wall system consisted of the face panel and 3 counterforts fabricated as a single entity and assembled with the precast base slab. From each counterfort, 5 headed anchors were extended and grouted in the base slab.
• • •
• • •
The anchors, being the most critical component, succeeded to maintain serviceability, and ultimate strength requirements per AASHTO LRFD. The wall deflection in the middle (H/2) did not exceed 0.2 in. and did not exceed the allowable limits. An accurate finite element model capable of predicting the performance of TPCCRW was calibrated with the acquired experimental data using ANSYS software. A comprehensive design for the TPCCRW meeting the requirements of AASHTO LRFD was performed. Future parametric study using the validated finite element model. Additional experimental Investigation of the performance of the headed anchors when subjected to pullout load.
Ibrahim Lotfy, Maen Farhat and Mohsen Issa, Univeristy of Illinois at Chicago Primary Grant Support: NURail Center (U.S. DOT-RITA)
Problem Statement and Motivation •
• 13,000
Ultimate Pullout Load, lbs
12,000 11,000 10,000 9,000 8,000 7,000
6,000 Setup A
Setup B Setup C Setup Type
Setup D
0.5
1 2 Stroke (in./min)
73oF 100oF 125oF Temperature (oF)
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach Striving to assess the feasibility of implementing HDPE crossties in rail applications, this study examined the behavior of the fastening system. I. Perform experimental testing as per AREMA specifications: • Investigate the behavior of the fastening system components of HDPE crossties under different loading, temperatures and setup conditions (spike pullout, spike lateral resistance and fastener uplift).
II. Conduct a finite element analysis using ANSYS: • Develop a modelling technique capable of properly simulating the interactions between each component in the system along with its effect on the HDPE crosstie.
High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) is a green, recyclable, and environmental friendly material. It has structural and economical advantages which grant it a competitive edge among other alternatives in the rail market such as wooden and concrete crossties The implementation of the new recycled Plastic railroad crossties would improve the railroad industry public image as a green, sustainable industry. The recycled products are manufactured with plastic waste that otherwise would be landfilled which reduces the waste products and additionally eliminates any pollution or deforestation. Moreover, Recycled, HDPE crossties are light, workable, easy to transport and handle, can overcome the main issues facing other materials and can replace wooden crossties on a one-to-one basis without the need for special installation or heavy equipment.
•
•
• • •
The fastening system components satisfied and surpassed the AREMA requirements for polymer composite crossties in terms of fastener uplift and spike pullout and lateral restraint. An accurate finite element model capable of predicting the performance of each component was constructed and calibrated with the acquired experimental data using ANSYS software. Experimental Investigation of the performance of the crosstie and fastening system when subjected to cyclic loading and wear/abrasion. Further optimization and calibration of the material model. Implementation of the HDPE crossties in elevated structure-bridge applications as well as assessment the track bridge interactions.
Secondary Supporters: Tangent Technologies and the Chicago Transit Authority
Ibrahim Lotfy, Maen Farhat and Mohsen Issa, Univeristy of Illinois at Chicago Primary Grant Support: NURail Center (U.S. DOT-RITA)
Problem Statement and Motivation •
• 4,000 3,500 3,000
STRESS, psi
2,500 2,000 1,500
10 F 40 F 73 F 100 F 125 F
1,000
500 0 0.00
0.01
0.02 0.03 0.04 STRAIN, in./in.
0.05
0.06
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach Striving to assess the feasibility of implementing HDPE crossties in rail applications, this study examines its flexural behavior. I. Perform experimental testing as per AREMA specifications: • Investigate the flexural behavior, cracking and failure modes of HDPE Crossties under different conditions; center and rail seat bending. • Assess the effect of temperature changes on the flexural and mechanical properties of the HDPE crossties. II. Conduct a finite element analysis using ANSYS: • Construct a calibrated non-linear material model for use in subsequent analyses. • Develop a suitable modelling technique which portrays the actual behavior of the crosstie.
High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) is a green, recyclable, and environmental friendly material. It has structural and economical advantages which grant it a competitive edge among other alternatives in the rail market such as wooden and concrete crossties The implementation of the new recycled Plastic railroad crossties would improve the railroad industry public image as a green, sustainable industry. The recycled products are manufactured with plastic waste that otherwise would be landfilled which reduces the waste products and additionally eliminates any pollution or deforestation. Moreover, Recycled, HDPE crossties are light, workable, easy to transport and handle, can overcome the main issues facing other materials and can replace wooden crossties on a one-to-one basis without the need for special installation or heavy equipment.
•
•
• • •
The HDPE crossties satisfied and surpassed the AREMA requirements for polymer composite crossties in terms of flexural strength and stiffness (MOE and MOR). An accurate material model capable of predicting the flexural performance of HDPE crossties was constructed and calibrated with the acquired experimental data using ANSYS finite element package. Experimental Investigation of the performance of the crosstie and fastening system when subjected to cyclic loading and wear/abrasion. Further optimization and calibration of the material model. Implementation of the HDPE crossties in elevated structure-bridge applications as well as assessment the track bridge interactions.
Secondary Supporters: Tangent Technologies and the Chicago Transit Authority
Aiman Shibli and Mohsen Issa, University of Illinois at Chicago
Problem Statement and Motivation 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Shear Test:
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5
0
5
10 Tensile strain
15
Spc-1 [14 days curing] Spc-2 [14 days curing]
0.5
1
1.5
2
Strain
Ball Drop :
Accelerometer
PC Supporting pin
Supporting pin
Supporting pin
Strain Gauges
Strain Gauges
0.01
Sim - Gauge - Top Sim - Gauge - Bot Test - Gauge - Bot Test - Gauge - Top
Big Plate: 70mmX20mmX1mm Small Plate: 20mmX20mmX1mm Adhesive: 70mmX20mmX0.2mm Top Span: 35mm Bottom Span: 60mm
Supporting pin
Test - Gauge - Top Sim - Gauge Bot
0.006
Sim - Gauge Top
0.004 50
•
Test - Gauge - Bot
0.008
100
150
200
250
Strain
Strain
0.01 0.008 0.006 0.004 0.002 0 -0.002 0 -0.004 -0.006 -0.008 -0.01
•
Spc-3 [7 days curing]
0
20
Loading pins
Four Point Bending:
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Stress [Mpa]
Tensile stress [MPa]
Tensile Test:
•
0.002 0 -0.002
Force [N]
0
0.002
-0.004
0.004
0.006
Time (sec)
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • •
Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are increasingly used in structural applications due to their advantageous material properties. However, structural FRP components are difficult to connect using the traditional joining methods such bolting and riveting due to the brittle fibrous and anisotropic nature of the materials. Many structural industries have seen the use of adhesive for joining load-bearing components as an excellent candidate for replacing the traditional joining due to their unique characteristics such: high strength, light weight, dimensional stability, high joint efficiency and ease of use. In order to utilize adhesives bonding in civil infrastructure applications, it is crucial to understand their behavior and strength and to be able to predict it for a given geometries and loads.
Characterize adhesive’s mechanical property under tensile and shear loadings, at low and high rates (static and dynamic). Build representative material model that can mimic their behavior and can be used in numerical models for computational studies. Validate material model experimentally and computationally at coupon level and sub-system level at quasi-static and dynamic loadings.
• •
•
Quasi-static and dynamic experiments were completed on structural adhesive at different loading modes: tension and shear. Material model has been created and validated at coupon level and subsystem level, under quasi-static and dynamic loadings. Comparison between experimental results and numerical results obtained from 3D finite element analysis showed very good correlation at different loading modes and rates. Future work, this study need to be implemented and investigated in real case application
Mustapha Ibrahim, Mohsen Issa, PhD, and Mustafa Al-Obaidi, Univeristy of Illinois at Chicago Primary Grant Support: Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT)
Problem Statement and Motivation • •
Cement production account for more than 5% of CO2 emission worldwide. On average, each ton of cement produced from a cement plant accounts for 0.92 tons of CO2 emissions. Reducing this carbon emission requires a breakthrough technology that might take decades to be adopted by the cement industry. One of the low-cost successful methods that aided in developing a more sustainable production program was in adding pulverized limestone and other inorganic processing to cement, reducing the amount of clinker in its production. IDOT is making several changes to concrete mix designs by applying revisions to cement specification. These proposed revisions will enable the use of more limestone and inorganic processing additions (IPA) (sustainable materials) for concrete pavements, overlays, and bridge decks. A study was conducted to test the performance of concrete mixes batched with cement comprising of higher quantities of limestone and IPA.
•
•
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • •
•
The goal is to develop economical and practical concrete mixes that would provide sustainable and durable concrete pavements. Twenty-four concrete mixes with different cementitious combinations and aggregates were developed for this study. Three sources of cement were used. The mix combination of each cement source is shown below: • The program included testing the fresh and hardened strength and durability properties of concrete. • The fresh properties included measuring the slump, air content, unit weight, and setting time. The strength properties included testing the compressive and flexural strength of concrete. The durability properties included testing the Freeze and thaw resistance and rapid dynamic modulus of concrete, microscopic hardened entrained air, rapid chloride penetration resistance, salt ponding and chloride ion penetration, and water permeability.
• • •
•
•
The use of limestone and IPA in cement with quantities above the specified limits proved to have similar performance to conventional cement when mixed in concrete. The use of different cementitious materials (Fly Ash or Slag) improved the durability of concrete The success of this project prompted the IDOT to adopt the use of the new modified cement in replacement to the conventional cement. The amount of cement used in concrete batching was 375 lbs/yd3 which is the minimum cement content required by IDOT. As a result of this study, the amount of cement was increased from 375 lbs/yd3 to 400 lbs/yd3. Future development of concrete service life predictions and models to study the chloride ingress/ diffusion in concrete and its resistance to freeze and thaw.
Hossain Saboonchi, PhD Student and Didem Ozevin, Assistant Professor Department of Civil and Materials Engineering Primary Grant Support: UIC, Faculty Research Award Out of plane AE sensor (fn=50 kHz)
Problem Statement and Motivation
Out of plane AE sensor (fn=200 kHz)
In plane Inertia Switch (fn=150 Hz) Out of plane Inertia Switch (fn=100 Hz) Strain Sensors (120 Ω & 350 Ω)
Capacitance change
In plane AE sensor–gap change (fn=150 kHz)
SEM image of MEMS strain sensor
In plane AE sensor–area change (fn=100 kHz)
dC d dA dg Co A g
• Acoustic Emission is a highly sensitive Structural Health Monitoring method to monitor damage in aging structures. However, the sensitivity to environmental noise requires significant post-processing to differentiate the relevant data. • Single SHM method may not be sufficient for reliable damage detection and diagnostics. Multiple information collection simultaneously reduces the uncertainty.
SEM image of In plane AE sensor–gap change (fn=150 kHz)
Technical Approach • Multiple sensing elements are designed on the same device, including acoustic emission sensor to measure motions in out-of-plane and in-plane, strain and vibration to be used as inertia switch to activate AE collection. • The response of in-plane sensor to the out-of-plane motion is eliminated through novel differential mode approach. • The AE sensor is connected to on-chip inertia switch in order to collect AE data when the structure is highly stressed. The hypothesis is that the crack grows when the structure is loaded above a certain level.
• MEMS allow manufacturing multiple sensing mechanisms on the same device.
Key Achievements and Future Goals • The MEMS sensors are designed, modeled using COMSOL Multiphysics software and manufactured using MetalMUMPS process.
MEMS AE sensor
• The electrical and mechanical characterizations are completed. • The device will be tested in laboratory for detecting crack initiation and growth.
MEMS strain sensor
Didem Ozevin, Assistant Professor, Zahra Heidary PhD Student, Nadia Simek Undergraduate Student Department of Civil and Materials Engineering Primary Grant Support: NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation
single point leak localization
• The buried and on-ground pipelines develop damage due to temporal variables such as corrosion and creep or instantaneous threats such as earthquake and impact.
New Approach with Particular Geometry Sensor Design
• The detection of leaking at oil, water or natural gas pipelines before reaching structural instability can increase the public safety and prevent environmental pollution. • Passive nature of Acoustic Emission implemented for real time leak detection.
method
can
be
• The challenge is that the sensor sensitivity and wave attenuation prevent a reasonable sensor spacing for pipeline networks.
Technical Approach • The numerical models are linked with experimental studies to understand the reliable leak detection range and sensor spacing. The waveform properties of leaks due to different operational conditions can be identified experimentally. • Shear type Acoustic Emission sensor increases the sensor spacing range due to less attenuative characteristics of longitudinal waves. • Highly efficient numerical formulation is developed to study wave propagation in pipes due to non-axisymmetric loading. • Wave characteristics due to different leak rates for different frequencies are investigated.
Key Achievements and Future Goals • The AE characteristics due to varying pipe pressure, leak size and earth pressure are identified. Numerical attenuation curves are driven. • The AE sensor is designed with a particular geometry, modeled numerically and manufactured. • The developed transducer and the numerical model will be tested in a field condition.
Comparison of 2D efficient model with conventional 3D models
Didem Ozevin, Assistant Professor and Zeynab Abbasi PhD Student Department of Civil and Materials Engineering Primary Grant Support: TRB IDEA and NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation Complex loading case
Wave change with stress
Laboratory calibration for biaxial loading for existing equation as
Technical Approach • The research objective of this proposal is to understand the interaction between nonlinear ultrasonic characteristics and stress state of complex loaded critical structural components in order to measure the stress state at a given cross section. • The goal is to quantify the normal stresses and shear stress at a given cross section, which will be achieved through testing a set of frequencies to create Rayleigh waves with varying depth of penetration. • The equation in the literature will be modified to introduce the effect of shear stress on nonlinear ultrasonic measurement as
Dv = K1s 1 + K 2s 2 + K3s 12 vo
• Understanding the risk for a built structural element requires knowledge of the cumulative stress state in order to estimate the remaining strength such as residual stress and excessive loading condition. • A reliable damage prognostic approach should have a welldefined damage accumulation function. • The quantification of the cumulative stress state for a built element is needed for preventing unexpected failures at highrisk structural elements. • Currently, there is no nondestructive testing method to find stress tensor including normal and shear stresses.
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Multi-scale bridge model is built to estimate stresses at a 3/8 inch thick gusset plate. • An ultrasonic measurement device to quantify the stress at three directions is built.
• The measurements from laboratory scale plate will be conducted and theoretical equations will be modified to include the shear stress.
Mohsen A. Issa, Ph.D., P.E., S.E., FACI, Department of Civil and Materials Engineering Primary Grant Support: Illinois Department of Transportation
Problem Statement and Motivation •
The interstate highway system is approaching its service life and urban congestion is increasing. Anticipated future costs of repair/reconstruction of the nation’s infrastructures are huge.
•
Utilization of innovative full-depth deck panel system (high performance, durable, ease and speed of construction, cost-saving, aesthetic, minimal noise, and no interference with the traffic flow) leads to substantial reductions in the costs of repair and new construction projects.
•
The concerns about the performance of the components of the system and its constructability require systematic optimization to achieve high performance and fast construction.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
All of the full-depth system major components (deck panels configurations, transverse joints, post-tensioning levels, shear connectors, overlay system, and materials) were tested and optimized based on consecutive studies included large scale specimens and prototypes.
• • •
•
Nonlinear finite element models were created to optimize the components and support the experimental testing.
•
Based on the findings, a full-scale prototype bridge full depth deck panel system was designed, fabricated, and tested with and without overlay simulating AASHTO HS-20 truck loading, overload, and ultimate load .
•
Complete innovative full-depth deck panel system with clear information about its constructability and details and performance of its components was developed . The system is utilized in many new and repair bridge projects implementing the recommendations of this study. Current and future research are focused onto generalizing the fulldepth concept to develop totally prefabricated superstructure system (bridge deck and beams). The developed full-depth system as well as the LMC overlay system will be utilized in the coming New Mississippi River Bridge Project (the widest stay-cable bridge in the world).
Ben O’Connor, Department of Civil and Materials Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago Kirk LaGory and John Hayse, Argonne National Laboratory Primary grant agency: Western Area Power Administration Developing models to assess hydropower impacts to downstream fish communities of interest
Problem Statement and Motivation •
•
Rainbow Trout
(study site is Green River, downstream of Flaming Gorge Dam, Utah) Brown Trout
•
•
Development of geomorphic change detection analyses to assess changes to channel morphology and habitat conditions Develop 2-dimensional hydraulic models to simulate environmental flow regimes Integrate hydraulic model with individual-based models (IBMs) to predict fish behavior
Analysis of channel geomorphic change following 2011 flood flows in critical trout reach
Alterations to downstream flows
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Flow releases from large hydropower facilities have downstream impacts to aquatic ecology Develop quantitative hydraulic and sediment transport models to assess flow release impacts to habitat and flow regimes affecting fish communities
• • •
Channel bathymetric and hydraulic surveys completed in 2012 Hydraulic and IBM models being developed Future goals include evaluating hydropower release scenarios and unsteady flow conditions relating to ramping rates of the hydroelectric facilities
Ben O’Connor, Department of Civil and Materials Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago Yuki Hamada, Argonne National Laboratory Primary grant agency: Department of Energy
Problem Statement and Motivation •
•
Extracting stream channel properties from spectral data to evaluate impacts to ephemeral streams in arid ecosystems being considered for utility-scale solar energy development (study site near Blythe, California)
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
•
Develop extraction algorithms for high-resolution stereo-imagery that can identify channel networks and quantify meaningful channel geometry properties Use hydrologic simulations to assess the transport of water through ephemeral stream networks Combine hydrologic simulations with spectral indices of vegetation and soil characteristics to evaluate the ecological significance of certain stream channel reaches
Physical and ecological processes of ephemeral streams in arid environments is difficult to quantify because of the episodic nature of hydrologic events. Renewable energy development has the potential for large-scale land use changes and alterations to stream networks
Multispectral Image Vegetation Index PCA Layer Stack & Spatial Heterogeneity Analysis Channel Map Stream Line Map
• • •
Developed channel network extraction algorithm Stereo-imagery collected in January 2014 Developing digital surface model from stereo-imagery to extract channel geometry features
Input Image
Channel Map
Krishna R. Reddy, Department of Civil & Materials Engineering Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation •
More than 500,000 contaminated sites exist in the U.S. that require urgent remediation to protect public health and the environment
•
Existing technologies are ineffective or expensive for the remediation of mixed contamination (any combination of toxic organic chemicals, heavy metals, and radionuclides) in heterogeneous/low permeability subsurface environments
•
Innovative and effective new technologies are urgently needed
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Chemical oxidation can destroy organic contaminants, while electrokinetic remediation can remove heavy metals
•
Integration of chemical oxidation and electrokinetic remediation is proposed to accomplish simultaneous: • Electroosmotic delivery of the oxidant into homogeneous and heterogeneous soils to destroy organic contaminants • Removal of heavy metals by electromigration and electroosomosis processes
•
Fundamental processes and field implementation considerations are being investigated through bench-scale experiments, mathematical modeling, and field pilot-scale testing
•
Bench-scale experiments revealed that: • Oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide can be introduced into clay soils effectively based on electroosomosis process. Native iron in soils can be utilized as catalyst in Fenton-like reactions. Organic compounds such as PAHs can be destroyed. • Heavy metals such as mercury and nickel can electromigrate towards the electrode wells and then be removed. • Electrical energy consumption is low
•
On-going research evaluating field contaminated soils, optimization of the process variables, mathematical modeling, and planning of field pilot-scale test.
Krishna R. Reddy, Department of Civil and Materials Engineering Primary Grant Support: NSF, EREF, CReeD & Veolia Environment
Problem Statement and Motivation •
In conventional “dry tomb” landfills, waste biodegradation is very slow because of the lack of adequate moisture. These landfills require longterm monitoring for any potential environmental problems (regarding the water and air pollution).
•
The leachate re-injection or addition of selected liquids to landfill waste (bioreactor) has potential to accelerate waste decomposition and settlement, but will affect the waste properties and slope stability.
•
Urgent need exists to understand the moisture distribution in the waste and its effects on waste biodegradation and properties as well as geotechnical stability of landfills.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Monitoring several bioreactors to monitor moisture content (with geophysics), biogas and leachate production and quality, waste degradation and properties, and waste settlement.
•
Developing a mathematical model for: • Understanding the spatial and temporal variations of moisture distribution and landfill settlement • Incorporating change in waste properties caused by decomposition with respect to time • Understanding the influence of leachate recirculation on landfill settlement and slope stability • Optimizing leachate recirculation system designs
•
Field monitoring at bioreactor landfills is in progress. Studies conducted to date show that dynamic moisture variations within the waste mass during leachate recirculation can be characterized with geophysical methods (electrical resistivity tomography).
•
Coupled flow and mechanical modeling is in progress for different bioreactor landfill conditions. Preliminary results show that the coupled flow and mechanical modeling can predict both waste moisture and settlement with time under different operational conditions.
•
Field monitoring and modeling results will be utilized to develop design and monitoring guidelines for bioreactor landfills.
Krishna Reddy & Kevin Richards, Department of Civil and Materials Engineering Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation p'-Qcrit
Qcrit (cm3/sec)
1.5 1.0
y = 0.027x + 0.845
•
Piping causes approximately 46% of all dam failures, with the backwards erosion mode of piping in perhaps 31% of all these piping cases
•
Current methods for evaluation of backwards erosion piping have not been successful in preventing or assessing piping in unfiltered dams, which results in billions of dollars in unnecessary damages and repairs each year.
•
A laboratory investigation of the constitutive behavior of pipe initiation is necessary to define key parameters that influence piping potential and to allow formulation of predictive tools and develop remediation strategies.
0.5 0.0 -5
1.27 cm opening 0.52 cm opening
0
5
10
15
p' (N/cm2)
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Previous investigations into piping have focused on pipe progression. Our focus is on pipe initiation, which should yield a more sensitive tool for the prediction of the critical hydraulic conditions necessary to initiate piping.
•
•
Previous investigators have found a correlation between confining stress conditions and critical piping parameters. Our work is addressing this phenomenon in more detail.
•
•
Research includes conducting bench-scale experiments to (1) determine the critical hydraulic gradient and the critical discharge coefficient of different granular soils subjected to variable confining stresses in a true-triaxial load cell, and (2) assessing the influence seepage direction and the rate of change in hydraulic loading conditions has on the critical hydraulic gradient and critical discharge coefficient.
•
•
Different soil types have been characterized and are being used in the experiments Preliminary results have found a relationship between the confining stresses and critical piping parameters when soils are in a nonbuoyant condition The geometry of the exit also plays a large role in pipe initiation due to the convergence of flow lines at the exit point and increased gradients due to confinement. This explains the high incidence of piping failures where convergence effects are produced around buried structures. The influence of seepage direction and rate of change of hydraulic loading are currently being investigated.
Krishna Reddy & Amid Khodadoust, Department of Civil and Materials Engineering Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Nanoscale zerovalent iron (nZVI) particles have the potential to be superior to iron filings, both in terms of initial rates of reduction and total moles of contaminants reduced per mole of iron.
•
Instead of waiting for the contaminants to pass through the permeable reactive barriers, the nZVI particles can be injected into the contaminated source zones for rapid and effective detoxification of the contaminants.
•
The delivery of nZVI particles into the contaminated zones uniformly and in required amounts in a controlled manner is essential for effective remediation.
Fe3O4 70nm
Fe0
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Our hypotheses are that: (1) as a result of aggregation, nZVI particles can be transported only to limited distances in subsurface; and (2) enhancement strategies such as use of dispersants and pressurized system have potential to enhance transport of nZVI particles in subsurface.
• • •
•
Research scope includes conducting (1) bench-scale column experiments to determine transport of nZVI particles in different gradation soils without and with enhancement strategies, and (2) bench-scale tank experiments to determine transport of nZVI particles in homogeneous and heterogeneous soils under the optimal conditions determined from the column experiments. Preliminary mathematical modeling will be performed to predict the transport of nZVI particles in porous media under laboratory and simulated field conditions.
•
Different soil types and commercial nZVI particles are being characterized and used for the experiments Enhanced treatments are being achieved through the use of novel dispersants, pressurized system, and the simultaneous use of dispersant-pressurized systems. The commercial nZVI particles possess magnetic properties; therefore, a real-time transport of the nZVI particles in porous media is being monitored using an electromagnetic susceptibility sensor system. Experiments are being conducted to evaluate the effects of soil heterogeneities on the transport of nZVI particles. The reactivity of nZVI particles is being quantified before and after transport in contaminated soils.
Krishna R. Reddy, PhD, and Hanumanth S. Kulkarni (PhD Candidate), CME, UIC Primary Grant Support: CReeD, VEOLIA, and NSF Leachate injection (horizontal trenches) Biogas collecting and reclaiming
Leachate injection (wells) Leachates storage
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Leachate collecting
Biogas collecting
• •
•
Bioreactor landfill technology has been introduced recently which involves recirculation of generated leachate back into the landfill with the help of different leachate recirculation systems (LRS) and therefore reduce the time taken for the MSW to biodegrade within 15-30 years compared to conventional landfill that takes about 50-100 years Leachate introduction in a bioreactor landfill increase moisture and pore pressures and therefore physical stability has to be ensured Hydraulic properties (saturated hydraulic conductivity and unsaturated hydraulic parameters), type of LRS employed, mode of leachate recirculation, geotechnical properties of MSW with respect to biodegradation affect the moisture distribution in a bioreactor landfill The main objective of this study is to develop design guidelines to optimize the LRS achieving uniform moisture distribution throughout the landfill, generating an optimal environment for the waste to degrade.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Moisture increase in the landfill helps distribute the nutrients and microbes that are responsible for the MSW biodegradation
•
•
Moisture distribution in an unsaturated municipal solid waste (MSW) is being investigated by two-phase flow theory
•
•
Two-phase flow consider the flow of recirculated leachate and generated landfill gas within the pores of MSW solids
•
Flow of leachate and landfill gas are modeled by Darcy’s Law, and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of MSW for leachate and landfill gas are modeled by van Genuchten fitting function
•
•
The developed model was validated based on few field observations, laboratory studies, and previous mathematical modeling results documented in literature.
•
•
MSW has to be considered as heterogeneous and anisotropic over homogeneous and isotropic to simulate field condition Intermittent leachate recirculation in bioreactor landfill proves better than the continuous recirculation to generate an optimal environment in a landfill without producing excess pore water pressure Proper unsaturated hydraulic properties of MSW has to be considered in the design of LRS in a bioreactor landfill Spatial variation of hydraulic properties affect the moisture distribution in the bioreactor landfill and therefore, probabilistic approach has to be followed in designing the LRS Development of design charts and guidelines to optimize these LRS are in progress and the coupled flow-mechanical analysis of the moisture distribution will be carried out in future.
Prof. Krishna Reddy, Ph.D., P.E. (Principal Investigator), Sara Dastgheibi (M.S. Student), CME, UIC Prof. Krishna Pagilla, Ph.D., P.E. (Co-Principal Investigator), Giridhar Prabhukumar (Ph.D. Student), CAEE, IIT Primary Grant Support: US EPA, Grant ID GL-00E00526
Problem Statement and Motivation • •
• • •
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • •
•
Correlate the urban stormwater runoff quality to beach water quality monitoring parameters. Quantify contaminant attenuation and/or degradation capacity and hydraulic efficiency of different filter media materials individually and in sequence simulating layered filter design under different simulated urban stormwater runoff conditions, and Demonstrate a near full-scale design to determine flow rate/volume treated, and contaminant removal at one of Chicago’s public beaches.
The potential for beach water contamination due to stormwater runoff in urban settings (e.g., Chicago) is a significant concern. Pollutants found in urban runoff include microbial contamination, nutrients, toxic metals, oil & grease and other organic contaminants. Of these, microbial contamination is the main reason for beach closures in the Great Lakes region and the other contaminants present in the stormwater encourage their growth. Current best management practices (BMPs) are not feasible in urban setting and also to handle a variety of contaminants present in runoff. Media based filtration can be an effective way to treat urban runoff water without the risk of contamination of ground water, which is a concern with BMPs such as bioretention/infiltration systems. There are several natural and synthetic media choices that are known to remove a particular type of pollutant. However, it is a challenge to design a media based filtration system that can effectively remove a wide range of pollutants.
•
Currently, we are investigating the performance of different types of materials such as perlite, zeolite, anthracite, calcite, iron filings, sand, iron oxide coated sand (IOCS) and biochar, as possible media for our filter system. • Determine geoenvironmental properties of filter media. • Determine maximum infiltration rate and maximum hydraulic retention time of filter media. • Quantify contaminant removal and degradation of filter media by batch experiments. • Quantify contaminant removal and degradation of filter media by column experiments. • Select combinations of different filter media and optimize filter media based on their individual physiochemical and contaminant removal characteristics.
Development of Biochar-amended Landfill Cover for Landfill Gas Mitigation Krishna Reddy & Poupak Yaghoubi, Department of Civil and Materials Engineering
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Column 2: 20 % biochar amendment
• • • •
Column 1: Soil only
Fractional Oxidation of CH4 (%)
25 Column 1
Column 2
20
•
15 10
5 0
0.038
0.041
0.049
Landfilling is the most dominant solid waste management option in the world Landfill gas from MSW landfills consists mainly of CH4 and CO2 Methane greenhouse effect is 21 times more powerful than carbon dioxide The natural CH4 oxidation efficiency of landfill cover systems is not efficient , only 15% of the generated CH4 is removed from conventional landfill cover systems With its porous structure and high surface area, biochar, the carbon-rich product of biomass pyrolysis, facilitates the oxidation process by enlarging the oxidation layer of landfill covers The objectives of this study are to investigate the behaviors of biochar on adsorption, microbial oxidation and the effect of its amendment to the landfill cover soil on the landfill gas mitigation performance
CH4 Influx (ml/cm2 -min)
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • • •
• • •
To study adsorption and transport properties of methane and oxygen To investigate the effects of biochar amendment on microbial oxidation within landfill cover To investigate the interaction between adsorption and oxidation for methane mitigation To test the adaptability of biochar amended landfill cover to variation of methane concentration, and environmental conditions such as moisture content and temperature Both Batch and Column test were conducted on adsorption and microbial oxidation of methane To evaluate the potential of mitigating CH4 emissions from landfill covers amended with biochar, experimental column testing in laboratory were conducted Distribution of methane along the length of the columns (one as a control with soil only and one with soil amended with 20% of biochar (w/w)) were studied
• • • • • •
The batch testing results showed that biochar has an adsorption capacity only 2 times as large as that of soil at 35 ˚C to methane but 10 times at 22 ˚C Adsorption of CH4 and CO2 onto biochar is exothermic reaction Adsorption capacity decreases as temperature increase On Microbial oxidation the concentration distribution along the depth suggested that reactions were taking place in top part of more than 30 cm for column 2 and 10 cm for column 1 The oxidation efficiency of CH4 with biochar amendment was up to 19.2 times that of column with soil only Biochar amended landfill cover is mostly suitable and promising for small or old abandoned landfills where the gas collection is not required and gas to energy project is not applicable
Eduard Karpov, CME Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation •
• •
• • Typical deterministic multiscale modeling approach; Broughton, PRB 60(4)
Creep cavity in 304 austenitic steel, and its self-healing mechanism by BN surface precipitation; Shinya, IJMSS 17
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Continuum scale finite element model reflects the concurrent atomistic configuration via frequently updated material properties, while the kinetic Monte-Carlo model utilizes deformation parameters for an update of interatomic geometry and microscopic diffusion rates
Modern functional materials for engineering and medical applications are designed to perform a self-controlled smart action, similar to a living creature able to sense and process the environment and take necessary actions Self-healing materials is one important class of evolutionary smart materials The smart action is related to a progressive change of constitutive material properties at a macroscopic interval of time, governed by atomic scale processes Interplay between the mechanical performance and the internal structure dynamics can be two-way Deterministic multiscale modeling approaches with an atomistic resolution based on molecular dynamics are inadequate in application to the evolutionary materials, due to physical time limitations
• • •
•
An efficient mechanokinetic coupling methodology has been developed and applied to the to biomimetic crack self-healing by surface precipitation under external mechanical loading Physical time is derived statistically from temporal characteristics of small scale processes to enable modeling over macroscopic intervals of physical time with an atomistic resolution Qualitative trends of the self-healing problem are compliant with experimental observations, while the modeling takes the analysis far beyond available empirical data and current experimental capabilities The proposed methodology is applicable to a wide class of evolutionary processes including strain dependant diffusion, nanostructure synthesis, material chemical transformations, surface chemical waves and adsorbate dynamics
Eduard Karpov, CME Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation • •
• • Hot electron mechanism of electrolyte-free chemical to electrical energy conversion; Karpov et al., APL 94, 214101
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • •
Electric charge separation and the resultant electromotive force can be achieved in electrically continuous metal-semiconductor catalytic structures with nanometer thickness metallization (diagram above) Metal nanofilm thickness must be smaller than the hot electron mean free path that is 10-50 nm for most catalytic metals Laboratory system setup for hot electron current detection: (1) vacuum/gas handling components (2) mass spectrometer (3) signal conditioning unit (4) multichannel temperature controller (5) analytical chamber (6) main flange for sample mounting (7) high precision V/A source
Traditional fuel cell technologies based on ground-state electrochemistry suffer from slow-rate ionic diffusion, spurious electronic conduction in electrolytes and electrolyte degradation At the same time, synergistic catalytic effects observed in composite catalysts, in particular, in photocatalysts with a nanodispersed metal phase is surprising. Evidence exists that it owes to an exchange of inequilibrium charge carriers (hot electrons) at the metal/nonmetal support interface Reaction induced hot electron flow in a class of electrically continuous metal-semiconductor catalytic nanostructures provide a hope for “electrolyte-free chemical to electrical energy conversion” Hot electron currents detected in metal-semiconductor nanostructures also provide a valuable in-situ analytical tool to study basic physical mechanisms of heterogeneous catalysis
•
• •
• •
Studies of Pd/SiC, Pd/GaP and Pt/GaP prototypes revealed the hot electron component to comprise 60-85% of the total current induced by the H2+1/2O2 = H2O surface reaction, and the remaining fraction belongs to the usual thermal currents Reliable techniques to separate the hot electron and thermal currents have been developed Electron yield of a potential electrical generator was 0.20 for the SiCand 0.11 for GaP-based prototypes, implying a big promise for this electrolyte-free chemical-electrical energy conversion approach The hot electron current was also demonstrated for identification of distinct modes of the surface reaction Higher efficiency material systems operating at room temperature are currently underway
J.E. Indacochea, M.L. Wang, Department of Civil and Materials Engineering, UIC H.H. Wang, Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation AAO nanowell
Problem Statement and Motivation Pd nanoparticle
0.735
Al substrate
H off
1% H
0.734
•
Hydrogen has been envisioned as a futuristic energy system. Gas detectors will be key components to ensure safety and reliability in hydrogen infrastructure.
•
Limitations of current hydrogen sensing devices include long response time, low sensitivity, and poor performance at room temperature.
•
Very large active surface and nanoscale dimensions make nanostructures a promising alternative to overcome current limitations in hydrogen detectors.
Resistance (kOhm)
0.733 0.5% H
0.732 0.3% H 0.2% H
0.731
0.1% H
0.73
0.05% H
H on
0.729 0.728 0.727 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Time (s)
Change in resistance in presence of hydrogen at different concentrations
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) nanowell array has been selected as substrate because it provides a robust, insulating, and ordered structure for catalyst deposition.
•
Pd nanoparticles have been selected as catalyst due to their high sensitivity and selectivity to react with hydrogen.
•
The nanostructure is being characterized and tested for hydrogen detection. Dimensions and configuration are being systematically studied to achieve optimal performance.
•
The electrical resistance of the nanostructure increases with hydrogen concentration due to the formation of a non conductive Pd hydride phase.
•
Response time is greatly faster compared to that for other nanostructured and micro sensing devices.
•
Very low hydrogen concentrations can be detected at room temperature without compromising sensitivity.
•
The main goal is to achieve optimal performance and integrate the nanostructure into modern sensors.
Michael McNallan, Civil and Materials Engineering, UIC; Ali Erdemir, Argonne National Laboratory Primary Grant Support: U.S. Department of Energy 752
400
•
Mechanical Seals and bearings fail due to frictional heating and wear
•
Materials used are hard ceramics, such as SiC or WC
•
Friction can be reduced by coating with carbon as graphite or diamond
•
Graphitic coatings are not wear resistant
•
Diamond coatings are wear resistant, but fail by spallation or delamination from the underlying ceramic
572
max. safe temperature
M A X . S A F E T EM P . F O R HNBR
SiC-SiC
200
392
SiC-CDC 100
°F
S T AT O R O .D . T E M P . °C
300
Problem Statement and Motivation
212
0 0
60
120
180
240
300
360
420
480
540
600
660
720
780
840
900
T IM E (S )
Pump seal face temperature during dry running at 4000 rpm with and without CDC coating
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Produce a low friction carbon layer by chemical conversion of the surface of the carbide
•
SiC(s) + 2Cl2(g) SiCl4(g) + C(s)
•
At temperatures < 1000oC, carbon cannot relax into equilibrium graphitic state and remains as Carbide Derived Carbon (CDC)
•
CDC coating contains nano-porous amorphous C, fullerenes, and nanocrystalline diamond
•
CDC is low friction, wear resistant, and resistant to spallation and delamination
•
CDC has been produced in the laboratory
•
It’s structure and conversion kinetics have been characterized
•
Tribological performance was verified in laboratory and industrial scale pump tests with water
•
CDC was patented and selected for an R&D 100 Award in 2003
•
CDC was Licensed to Carbide Derivative Technologies, Inc.in 2006
•
Scale up to industrial production rates, characterization of process reliability and testing in specific industrial environments is the next goal.
Tanya Berger-Wolf, Computer Science, UIC; Daniel Rubenstein, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton; Jared Saia, Computer Science, U New Mexico
Problem Statement and Motivation Recent breakthroughs in data collection technology, such as GPS and other mobile sensors, are giving biologists access to data about social interactions of wild populations on a scale never seen before. Such data offer the promise of answering some of the big questions in population biology. Unfortunately, in this domain, our ability to analyze data lags substantially behind our ability to collect it. Particularly, current methods for analysis of social interactions are mostly static. Our goal is to design a computational framework for analysis of dynamic social networks and validate it by applying to equid populations (zebras, horses, onagers).
Technical Approach •
Collect explicitly dynamic social data: sensor collars on animals, synthetic population simulations, cellphone and email communications, …
•
Represent a time series of observation snapshots as a series of networks. Use machine learning, data mining, and algorithm design techniques to identify critical individuals, communities, and patterns in dynamic networks.
•
Validate theoretical predictions derived from the abstract graph representation by simulations on collected data and controlled and quazi-experiments on real populations
Key Achievements and Future Goals Done: • Formal computational framework for analysis of dynamic social networks • Scalable methods for • dentifying dynamic communities • identifying periodic patterns • predicting part of network structure • identifying individuals critical for initiating and blocking spreading processes Future: • Validate methods on biological data • Extend methods from networks of unique individuals to classes of individuals
Tanya Berger-Wolf and Bhaskar DasGupta, Computer Science, UIC; Mary Ashley, Biology, UIC; Wanpracha Chaovalitwongse, Industrial Engineering, Rutgers
Problem Statement and Motivation
Microsatellites Genotypes Alleles #1
5’
CACACACA
#2
CACACACACACA
#3
CACACACACACACA
1/1 2/2 3/3 1/2 1/3 2/3
•
Falcons and other birds of prey are extremely secretive about their lives. Sharks are hard to catch in the open ocean. Cowbirds leave eggs in other birds’ nests and let them raise the cowbird chicks. One of the things common to all these species is that it is difficult to study their mating system. It is even difficult to identify which animals are siblings. Yet, this simple fact is necessary for conservation, animal management, and understanding of evolutionary mechanisms.
•
New technologies for collecting genotypic data from natural populations open the possibilities of investigating many fundamental biological phenomena. Yet full utilization of the genotypic data is only possible if statistical and computational approaches keep pace with our ability to sample organisms and obtain their genotypes.
•
Our goal is to develop robust computational methods for reconstructing kinship relationships from microsatellite data.
CACACACA
Reconstruct
Young Lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) during sampling in Bimini, Bahamas Cowbird (Molothrus ater) nestling with a song sparrow nestmate
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Use Mendelian constraints to form potential feasible family groups
•
Use the combinatorial optimization of the covering problem with various parsimony objectives to find the best sets of family groups containing all individuals. Typically there is more than one optimal or near optimal solution.
•
Use consensus techniques to combine solutions that are optimal, coming from different methods, or resulting from perturbations allowing for errors in data into one robust error-tolerant solution.
•
All resulting optimization problems are NP-hard and provably hard to approximate. We use commercial optimization package CPLEX to find optimal solutions.
http://kinalyzer.cs.uic.edu •
The following methods are or becoming available as a web-based service: • Reconstruction of sibling groups + error identification • Reconstruction of parental genotype • Reconstruction of half-sibling relationships
•
Future: • Incorporation of partial information • Multi generation pedigree reconstruction • Non-diploid species
Robert V. Kenyon, Computer Science; James L. Patton, RIC Primary Grant Support: NIH, NIDRR
Problem Statement and Motivation
PROJECT:
To evaluate the utility of simple robotic devices for providing rehabilitation therapy after hemispheric stroke. The integration of virtual reality and robot technology increases flexibility in training for patients recovering from stroke. Promoting innovative techniques to train the nervous system for the recovery of functional movement.
Development Of A Robotic System With An Augmented Reality Interface For Rehabilitation Of Brain Injured Individuals
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Personal Augmented Reality Immersive System (PARIS): • Virtual and physical objects seen by user.
•
Robotic systems: PHANToM, Haptic Master, WAM: • These back-drivable robots provide force to the subject only when commanded to do so
•
Software integration: • Real-time interactivity requires rapid communication between the different components of the rehabilitation system and must contain consistent representations of what the user should feel and see. • The robot’s control must quickly communicate with the display control so that graphics are synchronized with the robot’s state.
•
This system provides a platform for exploring how the nervous system controls movements, teaches new movements, explores novel strategies for training and rehabilitation, assesses and tracks functional recovery, and tests and challenges existing theories of rehabilitation.
•
Such a system will determine the necessary levels of quality for future design cycles and related technology.
•
Future designs will lead the way to new modes of clinical practice and to the commercialization of such systems.
Investigator: Bhaskar DasGupta, Computer Science Prime Grant Support: NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation We investigate fundamental graph-theoretic problems with significant applications in analyzing biological, social and financial networks. Some example categories of such problems include: • graph partitioning and community detection in social networks, • graph sparsification to address degeneracy and redundancy issues in biological networks, and • stability of financial network models.
Technical Approach
Key Achievements and Future Goals
• We formulate precise computational problems, study their properties, use novel algorithmic tools to design efficient algorithms, and implement the resulting algorithms to test their accuracy and efficiency.
Some examples of key achievements include:
• A primary focus of our technical approach is to involve combinatorial algorithmic techniques.
• analyzing stabilities of shock propagation models in financial networks, and
• analysis of computational complexities of Newman's modularity maximization approach for biological and social networks,
• development of methodologies for synthesis, inference and simplification of biological signal transduction networks. For further information, see www.cs.uic.edu/~dasgupta
Philip S. Yu, Computer Science, UIC with other researchers outside UIC Primary Grant Support : NSF IIS-0905215, DBI-0960443 Chemical Compound
Graph Object H
H
Anti-cancer activity
Problem Statement and Motivation • Graph/network mining is an emerging technology, but has not yet been applied to drug discovery data.
N H C
C H
C
C
• Drug discovery is a time consuming and costly process.
H
C
label
C
H
• Graph mining has the potential to drastically reduce the cost and time needed by identifying the highly likely chemical compounds
C
O
N
H
H
Technical Approach
Key Achievements and Future Goals
• Adopt subgraphs based features to characterize graph objects, i.e. the chemical compounds
• Devised new subgraph-based feature construction techniques for chemical compounds
• Mine discriminative subgraph features that can distinguish the class labels
• Made good prediction on the effectiveness of chemical compounds to treat disease
• Introduce scoring functions to rank the features effectiveness
• Developed novel approaches to reduce the training examples needed which have to be obtained via costly experiments
• Explore anti-monotonic property to speed up the mining process
Philip S. Yu, Computer Science, UIC with other researchers outside UIC Primary Grant Support: DBI-0960443
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Early detection of brain diseases is critical for medical treatment - Alzheimers Disease, ADHD and HIV
•
Brain diseases generally result in anomalies in brain connectivity
•
Functional connectivity derived from fMRI image is noisy
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Explore novel graph mining techniques instead of traditional image classification approaches
•
Developed novel feature selection and classification algorithm for uncertain graphs
•
Represent fMRI brain images as uncertain graphs
•
Captured temporal dimension of fMRI
•
Identify the relationship between uncertain graph structures and labels
•
Demonstrated the effectiveness of the network/graph based approach to detect anomaly in brain connectivity based on patient records
•
Use graph classification to identify anomalous brain networks
Lenore D Zuck (contract with U of Pittsburgh– DARPA funded)
Problem Statement and Motivation • •
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • •
•
Construction of robust, privacy preserving, fully verified, protocols that are fault tolerant, consume little power and memory, and are highly efficient and privacy preserving Use step-wise refinement to guarantee that implementation follows specification and preserves all properties of protocols Expand basic protocols to more sophisticated situations (that are anticipated in such a satellite cluster) and repeat the above steps UIC’s role is to provide for the formal framework to allow for the verification: • Automatic verification of systems with arbitrary nodes connected in arbitrary topologies • Development of methods of verification for fault tolerance, power, memory, and privacy properties
DARPA’s System F6 program aims at developing new space architecture where clusters of small, cheap, wirelessly connected satellites replace current satellite architecture The project will design, evaluate, develop, and fully verify asynchronous distributed system protocols to create a secure, robust, real-time, and reliable protocol suite capable of facilitating applicationlevel communication within DARPA’s F6 project.
• • • • •
•
The project started in May 2011 A protocol was developed for attaining secure aggregation of data in networks that are the topic of the project The protocol was formally modeled Its properties were formally specified. The properties were formally verified using the (real-time) modelchecker UPPAAL using small, realistic, network topologies In the near future we expect to expand the methodologies to apply to arbitrary topologies
Maxine Brown, UIC Computer Science; Thomas DeFanti and Tajana Rosing, University of California, San Diego; Joe Mambretti, Northwestern University Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation •
•
The TransLight/StarLight team focuses on experimentation with nextgeneration network infrastructure technologies to better understand the emerging requirements of e-Science and other advanced applications that have yet to be supported in production environments with today's international research networks. The team expands upon and enhances innovative communication services in support of global science research and education as they relate to specific applications: GreenLight International, Science Cloud Communication Services, CineGrid, High-Performance Digital Media Network, the international Global Environment for Network Innovations (iGENI), and SAGE™ (Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment).
GLIF, the Global Lambda Integrated Facility, is an international virtual organization supporting persistent data-intensive scientific research and middleware development on advanced optical networks. (GLIF map 2011 – www.glif.is)
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
The goal is to continue to expand upon experimental networking technologies through the development of several international communication services and advanced applications, leveraging existing collaborations to make significant scientific impact. To accomplish this, we use regional, national and international optical networking infrastructure, as available, to: • Integrate applications, middleware and new technologies across geographically distributed sites. • Focus on end-to-end connections and services of leading-edge sites and facilities. • Focus on experimentation to meet the emerging requirements of e-Science and other advanced application domains.
•
•
•
TransLight/StarLight leadership has established international partnerships, communication channels, forums, and processes to ensure ongoing successful interactions among its constituents. The management team continually works with domain scientists to better understand application requirements and the need for customized services. All science is not well served by one protocol at one network layer. Through its aggressive use of networks to conduct end-to-end experiments, TransLight/StarLight will discover new methods and technologies that motivate services and capabilities to be customized for individual science disciplines. www.startap.net/translight
Maxine Brown, Andrew Johnson, Luc Renambot, UIC Computer Science; Jason Leigh, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa; Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation Problem Statement and Motivation •
• The UIC Cyber-Commons 3D wall runs SAGE, which enables users to simultaneously display 3D as well as 2D windows
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
•
SAGE is cross-platform, open-source middleware that provides a common operating environment, or framework, to access, stream and juxtapose 2D and 3D data objects – whether digital cinema animations, high-resolution images, video-teleconferencing, presentation slides, documents, spreadsheets or laptop screens – on one or more tiled display walls. SAGE’s network-centered architecture allows collaborators to simultaneously run various applications (such as 3D rendering, remote desktop, video streams and 2D maps) on local and/or remote computers and clusters, and share them by streaming the pixels of each application over ultra-high-speed networks to large tiled displays. Users manipulate content in real time using a keyboard, laptop, Gyromouse, joystick, trackball, 6 degree-of-freedom magnetic tracker, Nintendo Wiimote, touch screen, and/or MS Kinect.
SAGE is a trademark of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.
SAGE and tiled display walls create global collaborative visualization environments that enable virtual teams of researchers to manage the scale and complexity of 2D and 3D data and work with one another. • Scientists can view ultra-resolution images and create “cybermashups,” or juxtapositions of information – a critical component of data analysis – to make informed observations and discoveries. • Technology-enhanced classrooms, such as UIC’s Cyber-Commons, teach students to collaborate within a university and among universities, and to solve problems within a discipline and among multiple disciplines. Current funding is helping transition SAGE from a research prototype to a hardened technology, to nurture the growth of the SAGE User Community, and to create new open services for visualization and collaboration utilizing shared cyberinfrastructure.
•
•
• •
SAGE is having a profound and transformative effect on data visualization, data exploration and collaboration, and is making cyberinfrastructure more accessible to end systems and to end users, both in the laboratory and in the classroom. Currently, users at over 90 sites worldwide rely on SAGE and tiled display walls to provide them with a globally integrated collaborative work environment to facilitate data analysis and high productivity, in such diverse fields as geoscience, homeland security, bioscience, cosmology, atmospheric science, chemistry, computer science, medicine, and cultural heritage. SAGE is used to support several classes and seminars taught in the UIC Computer Science, Art and Design, and Physics departments. www.sagecommons.org
Ugo Buy, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: NIST
Problem Statement and Motivation
GUI
Constraints
SFCs
Plant spec
Translator
•
Control programs are hard to write and maintain
•
Flexible manufacturing demands rapid reconfiguration
•
Possibility of deadlock, mutex violations, deadline violations
TPNs
Supervisor generator Refined TPNs
Code generator
Control code
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Avoid verification complexity with supervisory control
•
System for enforcing deadlines on transition firing in time Petri nets
•
Petri nets vs. finite state automata
•
Framework for compositional control
•
Synthesis of deadline-enforcing supervisors using net unfolding
•
Integration of methods for enforcing mutual exclusion and freedom from deadlock
•
Compositional methods (e.g., hierarchical control)
•
Generation of target code
Isabel F. Cruz, Ouri Wolfson (Computer Science) and Aris Ouksel (Information and Decision Sciences). In collaboration with Roberto Tamassia (Brown U.) and Peter Scheuermann (Northwestern U.) service layer
biological and chemical sensors
web services, on-line libraries, emergency info
CASSIS application layer
4
Context and Profile Manager
1
3
user layer
7 8
7 8
city maps, floor plans of buildings
police profile db
police station
hospital, clinic
Architecture of a new system, CASSIS, to provide comprehensive support for context-aware applications in the Health Domain as provided by the Alliance of Chicago
•
Testing on operational scenarios of public health management applications:
6
dynamic info e.g. operating at full capacity
database layer
• Application Server
5
2
environmental db (hospital states, sensor states, etc.)
Problem Statement and Motivation
on-line cameras with recording device
GIS data
fire house
firemen profile db
subway control center
aggregated user profiles
healthcare profile db
• • •
FBI profile db
police officer
dy n e.g amic . G in PS fo
fireman
doctor
Daily operations of health care providers Epidemic occurrences (e.g., meningitis) Crisis situations (e.g., terrorist attacks, natural disasters)
travelling businessman
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Peer-to-peer and mediated semantic data integration
•
•
Dynamic data as collected by sensor networks
•
•
Matching of user profiles to services
•
Competitive environment management
•
Security and privacy
•
Performance and scalability (e.g., caching and data aggregation)
•
• •
Peer to Peer Semantic Integration of XML and RDF Data Sources [Cruz, Xiao, Hsu, AP2PC 2004] Opportunistic Resource Exchange in Inter-Vehicle Ad-Hoc Networks (Best paper award) [Xu, Ouksel, Wolfson, MDM 2004, Best Paper Award] An Economic Model for Resource Exchange in Mobile Peer-to-Peer Networks [Wolfson, Xu, Sistla, SSDBM, 2004]. Multicast Authentication in Fully Adversarial Networks [Lysyanskaya, Tamassia, Triandopoulos, IEEE Security and Privacy, 2004] Personal Service Areas for Location-Based Wireless Web Applications [Pashtan, Heusser, Scheuermann, IEEE Internet Computing, 2004]
Isabel F. Cruz, Computer Science, in collaboration with Nancy Wiegand, U. Wisconsin-Madison Primary Grant Support: NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Geospatial data are complex and highly heterogeneous, having been developed independently by various levels of government and the private sector
•
Portals created by the geospatial community disseminate data but lack the capability to support complex queries on heterogeneous data
•
Complex queries on heterogeneous data will support information discovery, decision, or emergency response
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Data integration using ontologies
•
Ontology representation
•
Algorithms for the alignment and merging of ontologies
•
Semantic operators and indexing for geospatial queries
•
User interfaces for • Ontology alignment • Display of geospatial data
•
Create a geospatial cyberinfrastructure for the web to • Automatically locate data • Match data semantically to other relevant data sources using automatic methods
•
Provide an environment for exploring, and querying heterogeneous data for emergency managers and government officials
•
Develop a robust and scalable framework that encompasses techniques and algorithms for integrating heterogeneous data sources using an ontology-based approach
Piotr Gmytrasiewicz, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation observation Beliefs Environment State
Problem: Allow artificial agents to make optimal decisions while interacting with the world and possibly other agents •
Artificial agents: Robots, softbots, unmanned systems
•
Hard-coding control actions is impractical
•
Let’s design agents that can decide what to do
•
One approach: Decision theory, not applicable when other agents are present
•
Another approach: Game theory, not applicable when agent is action alone
Agent(s) actions
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Combine decision-theoretic framework with elements of game theory
•
Use decision-theoretic solution concept
•
Agent’s beliefs encompass other agents present
•
Solutions tell the agent what to do, given its beliefs
•
Computing solutions is hard (intractable), but approximate solutions possible
•
Solution algorithms are variations of known decision-theoretic exact and approximate solutions
•
Convergence results and other properties are analogous to decisiontheoretic ones
•
A single approach to controlling autonomous agents is applicable in single-and multi-agent settings
•
Unites decision-theoretic control with game theory
•
Gives rise to a family of exact and approximate control algorithms with anytime properties
•
Applications: Autonomous control, agents, human-machine interactions
•
Future work: Provide further formal properties; improve on approximation algorithms; develop a number of solutions to dynamic interactive decision-making settings
Andrew Johnson, Jason Leigh, Maxine Brown, Tom Peterka, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation and Department of Energy
Problem Statement and Motivation •
• The NASA-funded ENDURANCE project uses CAVE2 and SAGE to further planetary science research. (UIC Electronic Visualization Lab, UIC Earth & Environmental Sciences Dept., Stone Aerospace, NASA Ames and Montana State University.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
CAVE2 is built with polarized stereo LCD displays with ultra-thin bezels. UIC partnered with U.S. company Planar Systems, Inc., to design and build the desired display screens. CAVE2 is programmable with a variety of application programming tools; notably: • UIC’s OmegaLib middleware enables the development of applications on scalable virtual-reality and hybrid systems, and can be integrated with third-party toolkits. It also supports Omicron, a library that handles input from a number of novel input devices – such as multi-touch, 3D hand/body gesturing, head tracking, and mobile and tablet devices. • UIC’s SAGE™ (Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment) enables CAVE2’s wall to be partitioned into “windows” – enabling one or many 2D and 3D windows of information to simultaneously be displayed.
CAVE2 and SAGE are trademarks of University of Illinois’ Board of Trustees.
CAVE2, the next-generation virtual-reality environment, is a hybrid system that merges the benefits of both scalable-resolution display walls and virtual-reality systems to create a single unified environment. • Virtual environments immerse people in worlds too large, too small, too dangerous, too remote, or too complex to be viewed otherwise. • Tiled display walls create virtual “project rooms” in which people can display very-large images and/or simultaneously juxtapose more information, and better spatially organize, see and infer relationships among the data. The seamless 2D/3D CAVE2 environment supports information-rich analysis as well as 3D simulation exploration at a resolution matching human visual acuity.
•
•
• •
CAVE2 is the world’s first flat-panel-based, high-resolution CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment, which UIC built and successfully commercialized in the 1990s). It provides users with a 320-degree panoramic environment for displaying information at 37 Megapixels in 3D or 74 Megapixels in 2D with a horizontal visual acuity of 20/20 – almost 10 times the 3D resolution of the original CAVE. CAVE2 enables computer scientists to study a wide range of new problems at the intersection of human-computer interaction, virtual reality, computer graphics, high-performance computing, high-speed networking, and computer-supported cooperative work. CAVE2 transforms scientific workflows by providing researchers with new and more intuitive ways of interacting with their data. http://www.evl.uic.edu/cave2
Robert Kenyon, Steve Jones, Stellan Ohlsson, Andrew Johnson, Eulalia Abril, UIC Computer Science, Communications, and Psychology Depts; Jason Leigh, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa; Giselle Giselle Mosnaim, Rush University Medical Center – Primary Grant Support: UIC CCTS Fall 2011 Pilot Grant Program UIC students are designing a computer-enhanced asthma doser device based on commercial platforms such as Arduino to gather and wirelessly transmit data from the embedded sensors to a prototype Health Cloud data server. This Cloud anonymously stores the information and then presents personalized Persuasive Visualizations to individuals in the targeted user group.
Problem Statement and Motivation •
•
•
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • •
• •
UIC exploits emerging trends in computing technologies (sensors, cloud computing, mobile computing and visualization) to transform healthcare. UIC is prototyping a healthcare ecosystem that consists of handheld asthma devices, Health Cloud computing to monitor and capture data, and avatar-based Persuasive Visualization feedback delivered via social networking services to motivate recipients to adhere to daily medication schedules. The technologies being developed must be generalizable to other healthcare areas, and to individuals with or without health risks. Small clinical studies will quantitatively assess if these technologies improve this group’s asthma outcomes, and qualitatively evaluate the social and psychological benefits of applying Human Augmentics to asthma self-management.
The overarching goal of this project is to apply emerging trends in computing technologies to transform healthcare. Basic principles of computer modeling, health communications, and behavior change theory are translated into actionable strategies and practices to help individuals change health behaviors and improve health outcomes. The hypothesis is that if individuals are able to easily monitor their health status 24/7 and receive personally tailored, persuasive, and actionable feedback and suggestions at the right times, they can be continuously coached towards healthier living; e.g., reducing unhealthy practices such as sedentary living or cigarette use, or reminded to take daily medications. Specifically, this research aims to help reduce emergency room visits and hospitalizations for acute exacerbations of asthma in inner-city African American adolescents who fail to take their preventive medications.
•
•
• • •
The vision is to create the infrastructure for a “lifelong coach” that monitors an individual’s health status, makes predictions of their health future, and provides tailored, persuasive and actionable recommendations and encouragement to help them remain healthy long into their old age. This “coach” will dramatically affect their health and potentially reduce the costs of medical care and insurance. Can human behavior be impacted? Can healthcare be transformed from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive, proactive, evidence-based, person-centered wellbeing? Human Augmentics refers to the field of study that employs information technologies to amplify human capabilities. www.uic.edu/depts/mcam/CCTS/about/pilotgrantfundedfall-2011.shtml# www.augmentics.org
Ajay Kshemkalyani, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: none
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Advance theoretical foundations of • Distributed computing, and • Network design
•
Understand inherent limitations on • upper and lower bonds, and solvability
•
Subareas: sensor networks, peer-to-peer networks, mobile, ad-hoc, and wireless networks
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Design of distributed algorithms
•
Design of routing and multicast algorithms
•
Prove upper and lower bounds
•
•
Advance understanding of: • Causality and time; Temporal modalities
Experimental evaluation, where necessary
•
•
Synchronization and monitoring mechanisms
More info: see publications at http://www.cs.uic.edu/~ajayk/int/dsnl.html
•
Predicate detection algorithms for distributed systems
•
Web and internet performance
John Lillis, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: NSF, IBM
Problem Statement and Motivation A
B
A
B
•
Today, circuit performance determined by wiring more than logic
CR
•
Optimizations made by traditional logic synthesis tools correlate poorly with post-layout performance
•
Need for functionality preserving circuit perturbations at physical level
•
Candidate: Logic Replication
C C D
E
D
Inherently non-monotone paths
E All paths near-monotone after replication
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Extract timing-critical sub-circuit
•
Induce equivalent logic tree by replication
•
Optimally embed tree in context of current placement by Dynamic Programming
•
Embedding objective includes replication cost to prevent excessive replication
•
Mechanism applied iteratively
•
Very large reductions in clock period (up to 40%) observed in FPGA domain with minimal overhead [DAC 2004]
•
Adapts easily to graph-based architectures common in modern FPGAs. Many conventional placers ill-suited to this environment.
•
Generalizations deal with limitations resulting from reconvergence [IWLS2004]
•
Ongoing work includes: application to commercial FPGAs; simultaneous remapping of logic; study of lower-bounds on achievable clock period; integrated timing optimization based on Shannon factorization.
Bing Liu, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation Positive training data
Unlabeled data
Learning algorithm
•
Given a set of positive examples P and a set of unlabeled examples U, we want to build a classifier.
•
The key feature of this problem is that we do not have labeled negative examples. This makes traditional classification learning algorithms not directly applicable.
•
The main motivation for studying this learning model is to solve many practical problems where it is needed. Labeling of negative examples can be very time consuming.
Classifier
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach We have proposed three approaches. •
Two-step approach: The first step finds some reliable negative data from U. The second step uses an iterative algorithm based on naïve Bayesian classification and support vector machines (SVM) to build the final classifier.
•
Biased SVM: This method models the problem with a biased SVM formulation and solves it directly. A new evaluation method is also given, which allows us to tune biased SVM parameters.
•
Weighted logistic regression: The problem can be regarded as an oneside error problem and thus a weighted logistic regress method is proposed.
•
In (Liu et al. ICML-2002), it was shown theoretically that P and U provide sufficient information for learning, and the problem can be posed as a constrained optimization problem.
•
Some of our algorithms are reported in (Liu et al. ICML-2002; Liu et al. ICDM-2003; Lee and Liu ICML-2003; Li and Liu IJCAI-2003).
•
Our future work will focus on two aspects: • Deal with the problem when P is very small • Apply it to the bio-informatics domain. There are many problems there requiring this type of learning.
Tom Moher, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation •
K-12 learners have insufficient opportunity to engage in “patient science” involving extended observation, manipulation of variables, and aggregation of evidence.
•
“Ubiquitous computing” often associated with personal computational devices; embedded phenomena explore the “other side” of ubiquitous computing: ambient media embedded in the physical environment.
•
Use of conventional classroom computers running standard browsers creates opportunities for widespread adoption on installed school technology base.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Simulated phenomena are “mapped” onto the physical space of the classroom.
•
Four applications: RoomQuake (seismology), HelioRoom (astronomy), RoomBugs and WallCology (population ecologies).
•
The state of the simulation is represented through conventional computers located around the classroom serving as “portals” into that phenomenon.
•
“Phenomenon Server” allows teachers to configure and schedule phenomena for delivery to their classrooms.
•
•
Students conduct investigations of the phenomenon by monitoring and manipulating of the state of the simulation through those portals.
Field trials and investigation of student learning in over two dozen classrooms.
• •
The simulations are persistent, running concurrently with the regular instructional flow for periods of days and weeks.
Best paper, ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2006): “Embedded Phenomena: Supporting Science Learning with. Classroom-sized Distributed Simulations.”
Peter Nelson, CS; Xin Li, CS; Chi Zhou, Motorola Inc. Primary Grant Support: Physical Realization Research Center of Motorola Labs Genotype:
Phenotype :
Problem Statement and Motivation
sqrt.*.+.*.a.*.sqrt.a.b.c./.1.-.c.d •
Real world data mining tasks: large data set, high dimensional feature set, non-linear form of hidden knowledge; in need of effective algorithms.
•
Gene Expression Programming (GEP): a new evolutionary computation technique for the creation of computer programs; capable of producing solutions of any possible form.
•
Research goal: applying and enhancing GEP algorithm to fulfill complex data mining tasks.
Mathematical form:
1 (a bc) a cd
Figure 1. Representations of solutions in GEP
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Overview: improving the problem solving ability of the GEP algorithm by preserving and utilizing the self-emergence of structures during its evolutionary process.
•
Constant Creation Methods for GEP: local optimization of constant coefficients given the evolved solution structures to speed up the learning process.
•
A new hierarchical genotype representation: natural hierarchy in forming the solution and more protective genetic operation for functional components.
•
Dynamic substructure library: defining and reusing self-emergent substructures in the evolutionary process.
•
Have finished the initial implementation of the proposed approaches.
•
Preliminary testing has demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of the implemented methods: constant creation methods have achieved significant improvement in the fitness of the best solutions; dynamic substructure library helps identify meaningful building blocks to incrementally form the final solution following a faster fitness convergence curve.
•
Future work include investigation for parametric constants, exploration of higher level emergent structures, and comprehensive benchmark studies.
John Dillenburg, Pete Nelson, Ouri Wolfson, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: NSF, Chicago Area Transportation Study, Illinois Department of Transportation
Problem Statement and Motivation
Global Positioni ng System
•
US Highw ay Miles
Vehicles increase, roads do not
180
Travel Assitant
Transi t
Internet
•
Travel Assitant Ride Share Partners
170
Congestion costs U.S. economy over $100 billion/year Vehicle occupancy has dropped 7% in last two decades
Index 1980 = 100
•
160 150 140 130 120 110 100 1980
1985
Travel Assitant
Travelers
VMT (1980=100)
1990
1997
Year Central Travel Information Computer
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
We envision a convenient mobile device capable of planning multi-modal (car, bus, train, ferry, taxi, etc.) travel itineraries for its user
•
Partnered with Regional Transportation Authority on multi-modal trip planner system project sponsored by FTA
•
The devices communicate with each other and with a central database of travel information via a peer-to-peer ad-hoc network
•
Prime developer of Gateway traveler information system sponsored by IDOT
•
Trips with other users could be shared via dynamic ride sharing
•
•
Fares and payment are negotiated electronically
Prime developer of Ride Match System 21 car and van pooling system sponsored by CATS
•
Traffic prediction is used to determine the best route
•
Realistic, full scale micro simulation of ITA system
•
Persistent location management is used to track device locations
•
Test bed deployment for Chicago metro area
•
Trajectory management is used to predict the future location of a device for planning purposes
A.Prasad Sistla, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation Concurrent System Spec
Yes/No
Model Checker Correctness
Counter example
•
The project develops tools for debugging and verification hardware/software systems.
•
Errors in hardware/software analysis occur frequently
•
Can have enormous economic and social impact
•
Can cause serious security breaches
•
Such errors need to be detected and corrected
Spec
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Model Checking based approach
•
Developed SMC ( Symmetry Based Model Checker )
•
Correctness specified in a suitable logical frame work
•
Employed to find bugs in Fire Wire Protocol
•
Employs State Space Exploration
•
Also employed in analysis of security protocols
•
Different techniques for containing state space explosion are used
•
Need to extend to embedded systems and general software systems
•
Need to combine static analysis methods with model checking
Robert H. Sloan (Computer Science) and György Turán (Mathematics—MSCS) Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation •
•
•
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • • •
Key mathematical tools for most of the research are complexity theory and combinatorics. Undergraduate students helping explore current capabilities of the largest implemented knowledge base systems. Use of large network analysis to understand large knowledge bases as very large directed graphs. Developing new algorithms for knowledge revision.
All areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI) relay on large bodies of knowledge, large parts of which change over time. As opposed to a database containing facts that can be queried, a knowledge base contains general statements that can be used to derive further implications. Developing a knowledge base, in particular, a knowledge base containing commonsense knowledge that can be used for commonsense reasoning, is a fundamental task of AI. We study the key problems of reasoning, updating (revising), and learning for such knowledge bases, especially those in the computationally efficient Horn form.
•
• •
Analysis of the standard framework for knowledge revision for the important (because computationally efficient) case of Horn knowledge bases. Published papers including the first, in flurry of ~20 papers in this area in past few years. Analysis of the properties, especially inference, of random collections of Horn formulas, treating them a random hyper graphs. Empirical work measuring actual verbal IQ of a commonsense knowledge base (MIT’s Concept Net 4). Result: VIQ 100—Average Verbal IQ of 4 year 0 month child. See figure opposite corner • Gathered significant press attention
Robert H. Sloan, Computer Science (In collaboration with Richard Warner, Chicago–Kent College of Law) Primary grant support: National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation •
To develop technologically realistic and sophisticated privacy policies to bind private companies in the 21st century, very much including rules concerning threats to security from data loss.
•
Most interactions among people and companies are governed in part by long-standing social norms, in addition to formal rules, but in this area social norms are lacking. • One major goal is to contribute to the development of social norms concerning privacy that will simultaneously shape and inform both the development of appropriate technologies and appropriate business practices and laws.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
This project is inherently interdisciplinary. The interdisciplinary approach is surprisingly unusual: There are remarkably few interdisciplinary examinations of privacy that effectively combine legal and computer science expertise.
•
First compilation of all 50 states, state-by-state, of major privacy and data security statutes, and analysis of technical cost and efficacy
•
Proposal for new legal liability regime, intermediate between negligence and strict product liability, for producers of mass-market software software containing security vulnerabilities, and gametheoretic analysis of the effects of this on the market.
•
Analysis of the ability of major ISPs to reduce spread of malware and bots.
•
Short-term goal: Extend our analysis to cover at least US government action.
Traditional technical Computer Science analysis, legal analysis, economic analysis, and occasionally philosophy play a role.
V.N. Venkatakrishnan, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation • •
•
•
Technical Approach • •
•
ESP-IGERT is an interdisciplinary PhD training program that includes faculty from the CS, ECE, Communication, IDS, and Public Health Departments at UIC. The program combines technological, human, enterprise, and legal expertise from the faculty members in those departments to develop interdisciplinary research tackling information privacy using multiple considerations. ESP-IGERT will support approximately 30 PhD students and engage them in six interdisciplinary classes, team-taught by faculty from different departments and two international research summer internships, as well as in multidisciplinary groups contributing to and enriching to each other’s perspectives.
Electronic security and information privacy are central issues in today’s digital age The ecosystem where private and sensitive information resides is composed of many IT subsystems belonging to individuals, organizations, and governments, who are driven by different, and often conflicting, motivations, policies, and practices. Thus, effective solutions for privacy protection must take into consideration all these aspects. They must be easily usable by end users, easily adoptable by businesses, not conflicting with their business goals, and in line with current legislation. To produce such solutions and derive general principles and best practices for individuals, businesses, and public policy makers, an interdisciplinary approach is needed.
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Future Goals A set of broad scientific principles that constitutes a systemic, deeper understanding of fundamental issues in Electronic Security and Privacy A set of usable methods, tools, and policies that can be employed by end users, technologists, and policy makers
Ouri Wolfson and Bo Xu, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation resource-query D resource 8
A
D
resource-query C resource 6 resource 7
resource-query A resource 1 resource 2 resource 3
B
•
Currently, while on the move, people cannot efficiently search for local resources, particularly if the resources have a short life, e.g. an available parking slot, or an available workstation in a large convention hall.
•
Applications in matchmaking and resource discovery in many domains, including • social networks • transportation and emergency response • mobile electronic commerce.
C
resource-query B resource 4 resource 5
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Use Database and Publish/Subscribe technology to specify profiles of interest and resource information
•
Peer-to-Peer information exchange among mobile devices such as cell phones and pda’s, that form ad hoc network
• •
•
Exchange uses short-range, unlicensed wireless communication spectrum including 802.11 and Bluetooth.
•
Exchanged information is prioritized according to a spatial-temporal relevance function to reduce bandwidth consumption and cope with unreliable wireless connections.
•
Adaptive push/pull of resource information
• •
• •
Developed and analyzed search algorithms for different mobility environments and communication technologies. Designed a comprehensive simulation system that enables selection of a search algorithm. Built a prototype system Published 6 papers, received $250k in NSF support, delivered two keynote addresses on the subject. Submitted provisional patent application Future goals: design complete local search system, combine with cellular communication to central server, test technology in real environment, transfer to industry.
Clement Yu, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation
Users Queries Metasearch Engine
•
Retrieve, on behalf of each user request, the most accurate and most up-to-date information from the Web.
•
The Web is estimated to contain 500 billion pages. Google indexed 8 billion pages. A search engine, based on crawling technology, cannot access the Deep Web and may not get most up-to-date information.
Results Queries Search Engine 1
………
Search Engine N
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
A metasearch engine connects to numerous search engines and can retrieve any information which is retrievable by any of these search engines.
•
On receiving a user request, automatically selects just a few search engines that are most suitable to answer the query.
•
Connects to search engines automatically and maintains the connections automatically.
•
Extracts results returned from search engines automatically.
•
Merges results from multiple search engines automatically.
• • • • • • •
Optimal selection of search engines to answer accurately a user’s request. Automatic connection to search engines to reduce labor cost. Automatic extraction of query results to reduce labor cost. Has a prototype to retrieve news from 50 news search engines. Has received 2 regular NSF grants and 1 phase 1 NSF SBIR grant. Has just submitted a phase 2 NSF SBIR grant proposal to connect to at least 10,000 news search engines. Plans to extend to do cross language (English-Chinese) retrieval.
Clement Yu, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation Query appropriate query interface
rn Retu rface te In y r Que
Formulate Query
Query
Repository Query Interfaces Airline Reservation Rent a Car Real Estate
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Many companies sell the same type of products ( eg. computers) or services ( eg. life insurance) via the Web.
•
Looking for the best product or service (eg. lowest price and meeting specifications) requires excessive checking of many Web search engines. • This imposes too much burden on a user.
•
The aim is to allow a user seeking a product or a service to submit a single query and to receive the results ranked in descending order of desirability.
METASEARCH ENGINE subquery 1
Search Engine 1
subquery n
Search Engine 2
Search Engine n
Merge Results
Web Database Final Ranked Results
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Companies selling products or services via the Web have different user interfaces.
•
Most steps in the construction of the integrated user interface have been automated.
•
Create an user interface that integrates the features of each individual user interface and organize them such that the integrated interface is easily understood.
•
The same technique can be applied in other areas (e.g. construct generalized forms): • For selling a car online multiple forms need to be filled in • Create a generalized form applicable to multiple sellers.
•
A user query submitted against the integrated interface is translated into subqueries against individual interfaces.
•
Preliminary results have also been obtained to determine the proper search engines to invoke for each given user query.
•
Will produce metasearch engines for various products and services.
•
It is possible to determine for each user query, which search engines should be invoked: • based on the previously processed queries
Clement Yu, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Given a collection of documents and a query, the proposed system finds documents which are relevant to the query and are opinionated
•
The proposed system can advise consumers about the sentiments of a given product or service. It can suggest hints for advertisements.
•
The system can also analyze political opinions as well as comparing the political viewpoints of different parties.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Accurate retrieval by identifying concepts in queries and documents
•
Identifying opinionated features
•
Classifying sentences into opinionative sentences
•
Determine whether opinions are relevant to the query topic
•
Determine whether the opinion is positive, negative or mixed (positive and negative)
•
Achieve the highest effectiveness scores for title queries in the Blog Track of TREC (Text Retrieval Conference) in 2006 and 2007. The tasks include retrieving relevant opinionated documents as well as classify them into positive, negative or mixed categories.
•
Plan to build various systems to have higher effectiveness, higher efficiency and satisfy different needs.
Philip S. Yu, Computer Science
Problem Statement and Motivation
Co-author network
•
Data accumulated at exponential rate across all organizations , all domains, and all geographies
•
These data often not in structured record format - we focus on graphs and networks
•
Need to be able to mine the vast amount of data to get useful information and knowledge
Yeast protein interaction network
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Identify distinctive or discriminative substructures in the graph as features
•
Devise new similarity measures on graphs
•
Explore graph compression to reduce a huge graph into a smaller one for further analysis
•
Conduct community mining from multi-relational networks
•
Capture dynamic and evolutional behavior of networks
•
Develop real-time processing capability to address monitoring type applications
•
Graph indexing methods
•
Similarity search methods for graphs
•
Data Integration, cleaning and validation techniques in Information Networks
•
Online Analytical Processing paradigms for Information Networks
•
Algorithms for mining Information Networks, including social networks
•
Real-time stream mining algorithms
Philip S. Yu, Computer Science, UIC Primary Grant Support : DBI-0960443, CNS-1115234, OISE-1129076, Army Grant W911NF-12-1-0066
Problem Statement and Motivation • Data being generated at every high rate • Needs for instance response • Many applications: surveillance, ad placement, highfrequency trading, outbreak control, etc.
Real-time monitoring & mining of multiple steams
• The challenge on real-time stream processing • One-pass • Resource constraint • Evolving nature with concept drift • Noisy data
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • Adapt OLAP type approach to separate on-line and off-line operations • Develop summarization approaches to reduce on-line storage and processing
•
Devised real-time scalable mining algorithms on clustering, classification, frequent patterns, outliers, spams, community detection, etc.
•
Developed new approaches to fuse data streams from multiple heterogeneous sources
•
Handled concept drift, and noise and incomplete data
•
Received IEEE ICDM 2013 10-Year Highest-Impact Paper Award
• Capture evolving patterns and abnormality • Introduce resource adaptive computation to match the depth of the computation with the rate of the data stream which can be bursty • Address data uncertainty in designing mining algorithms
Philip S. Yu, Computer Science, UIC with other researchers outside UIC Primary Grant Support: DBI-0960443, CNS-1115234, OISE-1129076
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Many social networks with different focuses - Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare
•
Many people participate in multiple social networks
•
By fusing the information scattered in different networks, prediction power can be greatly improved.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Identify some corresponding accounts across networks referred to as anchor points
•
Developed effective anchor link predict algorithms to link up the corresponding accounts across networks
•
Use anchor points as a base to transfer knowledge across networks
•
Developed novel algorithms to transfer knowledge across networks to help predict user behavior, including social links and location links
•
Address heterogeneous node and link types, including social, spatial, temporal and text information
Philip S. Yu, Computer Science, UIC with other researchers outside UIC Primary Grant Support : NSF IIS-0905215
Problem Statement and Motivation • Information networks are ubiquitous • Chemical compounds, biological networks, social networks, world wide webs, cyber physical networks • Each node and link may have attributes, labels, and weights
HIN of Movie Data Technical Approach • Recognize the path semantics of HIN • Author-Paper-Conference-Paper-Author (authors with papers in the same conference) is different from Author-Paper-Author (co-authorship)
• HIN allows multiple object and link types • E.g., Medical network: patients, doctors, disease, contacts, treatments
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Developed path based mining algorithms for HIN • Clustering, classification, similarity search, recommendation, etc. • Developed network based OLAP to handle large networks
• Introduce the concept of meta path based similarity measure to guide knowledge discovery • Integrate linkage and node information for more effective mining
• Applied HIN to solve various application problems from bioinformatics to social networks
Philip S. Yu, Computer Science, UIC with other researchers outside UIC Primary Grant Support : NSF IIS-0905215, Google, MITRE
Problem Statement and Motivation • Social network gains ever increasing popularity • Abundant of information is captured • How to effectively take advantage of these information remains a challenge • The information is noisy, with spam and malicious postings • How to utilize the wisdom of the crowd is unclear
Technical Approach • Devise scalable algorithms to handle large social networks • Develop novel models to capture insights from social science research
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Devised novel influence propagation models • Develop new models to detect magnet community to understand the talent flow • Developed new approaches to detect review spam
• Find innovative ways to utilize the wisdom of the crowds in the social network • Address noisy and incomplete information • Utilize the heterogeneous information network approach
• Devised novel models to detect network shakers to handle the cascading effect of “too big to fail” entities as in the financial network
Philip S. Yu, Computer Science Primary Grant Support : NSF IIS-0914934, CNS-1115234
Problem Statement and Motivation • The large amount of data being captured, and digitized has made privacy an important issue
Anonymization
• In many cases, users are not willing to divulge personal information unless privacy is assured • Many industries need to access vast amount of personal data to advance the products or services, e.g. from personalized medicine to product recommendation
k2-degree anonymization (k=2) Technical Approach • To preserve privacy on network/graph data • Not only node attributes, but also connection information need to be anonymized or perturbed
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Identified the friendship attack in a network, where the degrees of two vertices connected by an edge is utilized to reidentify related victims in a published network and devise the k2-degree anonymization technique.
• Identify weakness of current privacy protection methods
• Devise new privacy attack models
• Proposed the concept of structural diversity to protect the anonymity of the network community identities and develop the k-SDA technique
• Develop novel privacy protection methods accordingly • Received EDBT 2014 Test of time award
Philip S. Yu, Computer Science, UIC with other researchers outside UIC Primary Grant Support : DBI-0960443, OISE-1129076, OIA-0963278, Army grant W911NF-12-1-0066
Problem Statement and Motivation
Data Stream with Concept Drift • High Dimensional Data • Heterogeneous Data Sources • Unconventional Data Types • Uncertain Data
• The ever increasing amount of data being captured, and digitized creates the big data challenge
Velocity
Variety
BIG R Data
• Big data is being recognized as a valuable asset Volume
Scalable Mining Algorithm
Technical Approach
• Getting the value out of the big data remains a challenge • Volume • Velocity • Variety
Key Achievements and Future Goals
• Adapt OLAP type approach to separate on-line and off-line operations
• Devised real-time data stream mining algorithms to handle concept drift
• Develop summarization approaches to reduce on-line storage and processing
• Developed new approaches to handle novel data types, such as graphs/networks
• Use matrix factorization approaches to achieve dimensional reduction
• Developed new approaches to integrate data from heterogeneous data sources
• Consider data uncertainty in designing mining algorithms
• Received IEEE Computer Society 2013 Technical Achievement Award on Big Data
Philip S. Yu, Computer Science Primary Grant Support : DBI-0960443, OISE-1129076, Army Grant W911NF-12-1-0066
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Difficulties for new ventures to get funding
•
Crowdfunding emerges as new way to raise funding via the web technology
•
Need to understand the impact of social media on crowdfunding
•
Success of crowdfunding will help create more new ventures and jobs to grow the economy
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Develop prediction models on the number of backers and the success of the fund raising
•
Studied the effect of early promotion on social media to the success rate on fund raising
•
Identify key factors that will affect the success rate of the fund raising
•
Identified strategies to improve the success rate
•
Improved understanding on how to participate in crowdfunding
•
Collect Twitter data regarding Kickstarter to develop and evaluate the models
Lenore Zuck, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: NSF, ONR, and SRC
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Translation Validation • Backward Compatibility of successive generations of software • Formal proofs that optimizing compilers maintain semantics of programs
•
Termination proofs of Pointer programs
•
Property Verification of parameterized systems (bus protocols, cache coherence, &c)
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Translation validation verifies each go of the system. Verification conditions that are automatically created are send to theorem provers
•
Combination of model checking and deductive methods allows to push the envelope of automatic verification of infinite-state systems (for both pointer programs and protocols)
•
Based on methodology developed, Intel is using MicroFomal to verify backward compatibility of micropgrams (between RISC & CISC) • (Need to develop better methodologies to prove theories that have bit vectors)
•
IIV is a new tool that allows automatic verification of safety properties of parameterized systems (nothing bad will ever happen)
•
Researchers at MSR have expressed interest to integrate pointer analysis in their verification tool
John Dillenburg, Pete Nelson, and Doug Rorem, Computer Science Primary Grant Support: Illinois Department of Transportation
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Integrate disparate systems into a central traffic information system
•
Provide XML and CORBA data streams to government agencies, academic institutions, and industry
•
Provide www.gcmtravel.com website with real-time maps of congestion, travel times, incidents and construction
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
System developed by AI Lab personnel
•
435,000,000 website hits per year
•
Centerpiece of corridor’s intelligent transportation system architecture
•
USDOT’s “Best Traveler Information Website” two years in a row
•
Uses NTCIP Center-to-center communications standards to network with Tollway and other IDOT agencies
•
Traffic data from Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s MONITOR system, Indiana Department of Transportation, *999, Northwest Central Dispatch, IDOT’s Traffic System Center
•
Advanced AI techniques for data fusion of multiple data sources •
•
Website hosted via 4 clustered servers in AI Lab
•
Dual T1 lines to Schaumburg for traffic data feeds and Internet access for IDOT
Gateway II system planned for near future: upgraded hardware and software, more data connections to other agencies, 511 integration, cell phones as probes for arterial streets, redundant fault tolerant design, geo-database upgrade
Miloš Žefran, ECE; Matteo Corno, ECE; Maxim Kolesnikov, ECE Primary Grant Support: NSF; UIC College of Dentistry
Problem Statement and Motivation •
New surgical procedures are introduced at a high rate. Each requires costly training.
•
Haptic simulators provide a cost-effective alternative to traditional training: no need to travel, 24/7 availability, easy to create additional units as needed.
•
Existing paradigm for haptics is not suitable for teaching sensorimotor skills. Lack of good models and of realistic haptic rendering are main obstacles to creating useful simulators.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach Position and force information are simultaneously displayed to facilitate motor skill acquisition. The user is modeled as a three-input, single-output system.
•
Developed a new paradigm for teaching of sensorimotor skills with haptics.
•
Proposed a new model for a user responding to haptic and visual stimuli. The model experimentally verified.
•
The model of the human enables stability analysis through the Lyapunov second method; traditional passivity techniques can not be used. Time delays are critical for stability and are explicitly modeled.
•
Stability analysis of the system performed. Stability boundaries explicitly identified.
•
•
Implemented a new method for haptic rendering.
The Euclidean group SE(3) used to develop haptic rendering algorithms that properly account for translations and rotations. Kinetic energy provides an intrinsic way to define the penetration which is in turn used to compute the reaction force.
•
Future work: applications in medical training, rehabili-tation; faster implementation of the haptic rendering; implementation on cheap haptic displays; extensions of the new paradigm for collaborative haptics.
•
Investigators: Mitra Dutta, ECE; Michael Stroscio, ECE, BioE, Physics Primary Grant Support: AFSGO
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Mercury ions and other heavy metals are found in environmental waters, which can lead to toxicity in humans
•
A rapid detection method for environmental monitoring and exposure levels in humans is needed
•
Engineering a nanoconstruct to detect these heavy metals in fluids can be done using quantum dots and single stranded DNA
Hg 2+ 10000
: eFluor® 650NC
: DNA aptamer
Intensity (a. u.)
: Nanogold : Hg 2+
0 Hg
5000
500 nM Hg 824 mM Hg
0 600
650
700
Wavelength (nm)
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
DNA aptamers used as molecular recognition elements in sensing strategies for ions and biomolecules
•
Mercury ions were detected using a spectrometer to measure the fluorescence intensity of the QD
•
Aptamers can perform like antibodies with affinity to a wide range of targets which can result in a conformational change as in the figure
•
Detection is achieved in the nanomolar range, while higher levels of mercury were shown to interfere with QD fluorescence
•
Quantum dots (QD) are robust and stable fluorophores and gold nanoparticles are stable quenchers
•
Future targets include lead, zinc, and cadmium, which have been shown to interact with specific DNA aptamers
•
Conjugating QDs and gold nanoparticles to aptamers provides the detection signal
•
Optical detection platform to be applied to biomarkers
•
Translate detection assay to portable handheld device
•
Surface energy transfer between QD and gold nanoparticle is the mechanism for optical detection
James C. Lin, PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Bioengineering Primary Grant Support: Magnetic Health Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Wide Spread Use of Cell Phone Technology
•
Concerns about Health and Safety
•
Plectin is A High Molecular Weight Protein
•
Plectin Immunoreactivity Follows Brain Injury
•
Mutation of Plectin Identified With Signs of Disorder
Neurodegenerative
Immunolabeling of Irradiated Rat Brain Using Monoclonal Antibody, Pletin.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Irradiate Young Adult Rats (300 g) in Plexiglass Holder
•
Immunolabeling of Irradiated Rat Brain Showed Increased Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (IFAP)
•
Produce Power Deposition Patterns in Rat Brains Comparable to Those in Humans
•
GFAP Plays An Important Role in Glial Reactions After Lesions
•
Brains Were Removed and Incubated
•
•
Floating Sections Were Used for Immunocytochemistry
Preliminary Results Indicate There is No Difference in Expression Pattern of Plectin Among the Brains Tested at Peak SAR levels of 0, 1.6 and 16 W/kg in the brain.
•
Use Monoclonal Antibody - plectin - Labeling
•
Additional Experiments to Establish Statistical Validity
•
Examination by Light Microscopy
James C. Lin, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Bioengineering Primary Grant Support: Magnetic Health Science Foundation 64MHz
200MHz
300MHz
340MHz
Problem Statement and Motivation
400MHz
To analyze the physiological response of radiofrequency (RF) power deposition during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with headspecific volume coils.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach FDTD methods are used to calculate RF power deposition and temperature elevation in MRI of the human head within volume coils from 64–400 MHz at different power levels both with and without consideration of temperature- induced changes in rates of metabolism, perspiration, radiation, and perfusion.
•
At the highest power levels currently allowed in MRI for head volume coils, there is little effect from the physiological response.
•
To assess the possibility that at higher power levels or in different types of coils (such as extremity or whole-body coils) the physiological response may have more significant effects.
Ishita Basu,ECE; Daniela Tuninetti,ECE; Daniel Graupe,ECE; Konstantin Slavin,Neurosurgery Primary Grant Support: Dr. Tuninetti’s start-up package.
Problem Statement and Motivation •
MOTIVATION: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a surgical method of relieving advanced stage Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patients of most of their debilitating symptoms (like tremor). DBS involves stimulating the area of the brain that controls movements with a high frequency train of electrical pulses through an implanted electrode.
•
PROBLEMS: In today’s DBS systems the stimulation parameters are optimized manually by the physician with visual feedbacks from the patient. Moreover, the stimulation is continuous and constant over time.
•
OBJECTIVES: 1) Design an intermittent deep brain stimulation instead of a continuous stimulation. This ensures lower power requirements, a longer battery life, and possiblye reduce damage to healthy neurons in PD patients. 2) Tune the parameters of the DBS (frequency, pulse amplitude, pulse duration) by employing a closed-loop control. This allows to tailor the DBS stimulation to each individual patients thus enhancing DBS efficacy.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
A cluster of actively firing neurons is modeled as a group of coupled oscillators that is mathematically described by stochastic differential (Langevin) equations.
•
Simulation results shows that on an average a train of high frequency pulses with its frequency and/or amplitude stochastically modulated with Gaussian noise performs better than its deterministic counterpart.
•
The signals measured from PD patients, such as the local field potential from the brain and the muscular potential from surface EMG, are modeled parametrically.
•
Next, we will test the above hypothesis on a model with parameters extracted from actual measured signals.
• •
The signal parameters are adaptively estimated for each patient from the measured signals and to optimize the DBS stimulation parameters.
We will trace the evolution of the parameters extracted from the measured signals which will serve as a reference in the control loop.
•
We will optimize the DBS stimulation parameters.
Primary Investigator: Hulya Seferoglu
Energy Efficiency in Cooperating Mobile Devices
Problem Statement and Motivation • Increasing popularity of applications such as video streaming in mobile devices introduces: • Higher demand for throughput; • Strain on cellular links. • Cooperation among mobile devices by exploiting both cellular and local area connections (WiFi, Bluetooth) is promising. • Popularity of applications exponential increase in data rates. • The energy per delivered bit needs to be reduced in cooperating mobile devices.
Technical Approach • Goal: Develop energy efficient cooperation schemes for mobile devices by taking into account energy consumption cost of mobile devices while maximizing throughput. • Approach: • Develop stochastic network control algorithms that take into account practical requirements of cooperating mobile devices. • Investigate energy consumption cost of mobile devices and its impact on the control algorithms. • Investigate energy storage (battery) levels of mobile devices. • Develop energy efficient stochastic network control algorithms for cooperating mobile devices.
Key Achievements and Future Goals • The PI has published several conference and journal papers in the broader area. • The PI is planning to submit a proposal on this topic.
Investigators: M. Dutta, ECE, M. Stroscio, ECE and BioE Primary Grant Support: AFOSR, ARO, NSF, SRC, DARPA, DHS Quantum Dots in MEH-PPV Polymer
Problem Statement and Motivation
Gold contacts •
Design, fabrication, characterization of QD-based photon-absorbing media embedded in conductive polymers for optoelectronic devices
•
For underlying concepts see group’s paper on “Applications of Colloidal Quantum Dots,” Microelectronics Journal, 40, 644-649 (2009).
ITO Glass
Top view MEH-PPV Polymer / CdSe Quantum Dot Composite
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Design of quantum-dot (QD) ensembles in conductive polymers
•
Fabricating quantum-dot (QD) ensembles in conductive polymers
•
Modeling electrical and optical properties including robustness and sensitivity to QD-QD separation
•
Experimental characterization of integrated structures
•
Multi-wavelength optoelectronics
•
Numerous simulations of electrical and optical properties including robustness and sensitivity to QD-QD separation
•
Numerous simulations for a variety of QD—conductive-polymer systems
•
Current sensing AFM measurements of I-V curves for a variety of QDs embedded in conducting polymers
•
Ultimate goal is realization of multi-wavelength photodetectors
P.I. Igor Paprotny Funding: new faculty startup, California Energy Commission
Problem Statement and Motivation • • •
•
•
Integrating discrete components on flexible substrates Using ultra low-power wireless radios and microcontrollers to implement low-power wireless networks Algorithms reconstruct system parameters from sparse (distributed) sensory data
Energy harvesting enables potentially perpetual operation of the sensor nodes
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • •
Low-power radios and ancillary electronics introduce the possibility of ubiquitous low-cost wireless sensor networks. Distributed sensors are predicted to be an integral part of our every day life Enable many important applications: • Energy systems sensing • Body sensor networks • Environment systems
• • •
Created a 4 mm x 4 mm sized low-power sensor node using discrete components Developed a self-calibrating current sensor system Future goals: • Develop a co-location system for 1 mm3 wireless sensor node • Integrate a wireless sensor network in underground coal mines • Create a smart bandaid body sensor node
Wenjing Rao, ECE department
Problem Statement and Motivation
Post-manufacturing defect-tolerant logic implementation on nano-crossbars • Models, algorithms, yield analysis
•
Exploiting time / hardware / information redundancy at multiple design hierarchical levels and granularities • Logic gate level: nano-PLAs • Arithmetic level: fault tolerant adders • Processor architecture level: speculative computation based fault tolerance paradigm
•
Redundancy sharing on a locally connected network • Flexible, dynamic assignment schemes • Network analysis
Future electronic systems on nanoscale devices
•
Promises • Boosts of computational power • Wide application domains
•
Challenges • Severe unreliability (manufacturing defects + run time faults) • Localized interconnect
•
Need: • New system design and computational paradigms for constructing future reliable nanoelectronic systems.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
•
Low-cost defect / fault tolerance approaches exploiting • Reconfigurability • Multiple hierarchical levels and granularities • Regularity
•
Decentralized resource allocation protocol on locally connected network • Low communication overhead • Scalable • Generalizable framework for self-adaptive systems
Rashid Ansari, ECE; Ashfaq Khokhar, ECE/CS Primary Grant Support: NSF, U.S. Army
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Real-time visual tracking is important in automated video scene understanding for applications such as surveillance, compression, and vision-based user interfaces
•
Visual Tracking: Locate moving objects from visual cues.
•
Low computation complexity (Real-time requirement)
•
Tracking rapid motion, in presence of occlusion (self and foreign-body)
•
Tracking multiple objects using multiple cues
•
High dimensionality (articulated human body tracking)
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Combine particle filtering with efficiency of mean shift tracker.
•
New formulation of visual tracking in a set theoretic framework.
•
Graphical models (Markov Random Field and Bayesian Network) provide high-level modeling for single object and multiple object tracking in high-dimensional spaces.
•
Real-time tracking with improved efficiency compared with the standard particle filter-based tracker by 20-40%.
•
Improved performance with robust tracking under rapid motion
•
Handles partial occlusion and short-time full-occlusion
•
Naturally extends from single to multiple object tracking
•
Convenient fusion of multiple cues (no pre-adjustment of tracker needed). Easy incorporation of additional cues.
•
Application in foveated video compression and event recognition in scenes will be investigated
Jezekiel Ben-Arie, ECE Primary Grant Support: NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation This project is focused on the development of methods and interactive tools that enable efficient querying, recognition and retrieval of video clips in a video database of human motion. Natural and symbolic languages are not suited to accurately describe human motion.
An Example of a query composition of human activity along a trajectory. The humanoid then animates it for visual feedback.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach Our Approach: is to represent human motion by novel temporal scripts that define the 3D pose and velocity of important body parts. The human body is represented by an hierarchic structure. This enables not only efficient representation but also robust recognition from any viewpoint. The user is also allowed to interactively compose practically any desired motion query and to view it.
•
An innovative method for human motion Recognition by Indexing and Sequencing (RISq) was developed. The RISq requires only few video samples. An interactive GUI based tool for composing articulated human motion was also established.
•
This project has also broader Impacts. Since our interactive-graphic approach does not require reading or writing, it could be also applied to enhance the creativity and educational participation of groups such as children in authoring animated plays and movies.
•
Our future goals is to extend the range of activities and the number of persons that can be composed. We are also extending our activity recognition system –RISq (which is currently patent pending) to include speech and object recognition.
Jezekiel Ben-Arie
Problem Statement and Motivation â&#x20AC;˘
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach â&#x20AC;˘
The recognizer uses a novel approach called RISq (Recognition by Indexing and Sequencing) which requires for training only few stored exemplars for each word class. User can train the recognizer to user's personal speech in any language and accent simply by recording their vocabularies.
Developing a robust method for continuous speech recognition which can be easily trained to any speaker with any accent at any language and even several languages.
â&#x20AC;˘
Achieved Recognition rates which are better than prevalent methods based on HMM. Currently improving training and recognition rates by developing additional phoneme classification.
Jezekiel Ben-Arie
Problem Statement and Motivation â&#x20AC;˘
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach â&#x20AC;˘
Developed a novel approach Employing Tensor Recognition with additional improvements by a new Exemplar Compounding which enables to represent much larger variety of stored models with few exemplars
Developing a detection and recognition methods of various object and animal classes in a very large image database which includes a variety of these classes from different views, poses and partial occlusions.
â&#x20AC;˘
Much better detection and recognition rates than the best known state of the art methods
Jezekiel Ben-Arie
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Developing a novel method named RISq (Recognition by Indexing and Sequencing). RISq is recognizing sequences of vectors derived from the 3D skeletal joints of the humans tracked.
Recognize in Real time a large variety of Human Activities using 3D Video acquired by 3D Kinect Cameras.
•
Achieved Robust human activity recognition invariant to view points and action speeds. Recognition rates are much better than the prevalent HMM based approaches.
Natasha Devroye (ECE) NSF CAREER Award 1053933: Foundations of Two-way Communication Networks NSF CIF 1216825: Wireless Relay Networks: Coding Above Capacity and Exploiting Structure
Problem Statement and Motivation • • • •
•
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • •
We have devised a key technical tool: a lattice list decoder We tailor and devise new technical approaches to mimic random coding proofs using nested lattice codes
Random codes have traditionally been used to demonstrate the information theoretic achievability of rates in networks Structured codes such as lattice codes for Gaussian channels are more practical, and have linearity properties which classical random codes lack We know lattice codes may mimic random codes in certain single-hop scenarios (point-to-point, broadcast, multiple access channels) We know lattice codes surpass the known performance of random codes in certain scenarios (two-way relay channels, N>2 user interference channels) Question: can structured codes replace random codes in general networks, and furthermore achieve better rates?
•
• •
•
We have used this, and other careful manipulations to show that lattices may achieve the same rate as random codes as • The Decode-and-Forward rate of the relay channel • The Compress-and-Forward rate of the relay channel We have used the lattice list decoder to generalize two-way relaying schemes to two-way relaying scenarios with direct links Long-term goal: demonstrate that lattice codes may replace and improve upon random codes in Gaussian networks Y. Song and N. Devroye, ``Lattice codes for the Gaussian relay channel: Decode-and-Forward and Compress-and-Forward,’’ submitted to IEEE Trans. Information Theory, October 2011.
Natasha Devroye (ECE) NSF CAREER Award 1053933: Foundations of Two-way Communication Networks
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Classical information theory is suited to one-way communication
•
In recent years much progress has been made in bounding the theoretical limits of one-way communication networks
• •
Communication is inherently two-way We ask: what is the fundamental performance of two-way networks?
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • •
We approach two-way networks from an information theoretic perspective We seek the capacity region, or inner and outer bound to the capacity region of two-way networks We start by considering three simple two-way networks, and initially seek to characterize when the ability of nodes to adapt future transmissions (channel inputs) to past channel outputs does not increase capacity:
• • •
• • •
For certain deterministic two-way networks, were able to obtain capacity: showed that equal to two one=way channels in parallel Future goal: what is the most general class of network for which this holds? Future goal: When does adaptation (exploiting previously received outputs in two-way networks) help, when is it useless?
Z. Cheng, N. Devroye ``Two-way Networks: When Adaptation is Useless,’’ submitted to IEEE Trans. On Information Theory, June 2012. Z. Cheng, N. Devroye, ``On Constant Gaps for the Two-way Gaussian Interference Channel,’’ Allerton 2012. Z. Cheng, N. Devroye, ``On the Capacity of Mult-user Two-way Linear Deterministic Channels,’’ ISIT 2012.
Natasha Devroye (ECE) AFOSR FA9550-10-1-0239: ``Fundamental bounds on information fusion with focus on waveform-based intent detection and avoidance’’
Problem Statement and Motivation • •
•
•
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
We use Directed Information (DI) as waveform scheduling metric
Numerous defense applications rely on closed-loop, or adaptive, information gathering systems As radar waveform generators and processing abilities become more capable, the question is how one should design waveforms in an adaptive fashion (cognitive radar) to extract maximal information from an imaged scene Waveform adaptation, sensor scheduling and waveform library design have all been approached from classical statistical signal processing perspectives We ask: • Can information theory provide bounds on the performance of closed loop information gathering systems such as cognitive radar?
• •
• •
Proposed a new information theoretic framework for obtaining fundamental bounds on the distortion in the radar scene reconstruction for closed loop adaptive waveform scheduling systems Future goals: • demonstrating the utility of this framework in tangible channels which accurately model radar situations of interest • tightening the theoretical results P. Setlur, N. Devroye, ``Waveform Scheduling via Directed Information in Cogntiive Radar,’’ IEEE SSP workshop, August 2012. P. Setlur, N. Devroye, ``Adaptive waveform scheduling in radar: an information theoretic approach’’, SPIE, April 2012.
Stefano Rini, Alex Dytso, Daniela Tuninetti, Natasha Devroye (ECE) NSF CCF, CIF Small Award 1017436: Fundamental Limits of Layered Wireless Networks
Problem Statement and Motivation • • •
• •
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • •
We first consider a symmetric Gaussian interference channel with a cognitive relay to reduce the complexity We obtain general inner and outer bounds which we are able to tighten for certain classes of channels such as the linear high SNR deterministic channel model
Cognition is a rapidly emerging new paradigm in wireless communication whereby a node changes its communication scheme to efficiently share the spectrum with other users in the network One way of modeling cognition is through non-causal message knowledge at certain nodes in a networks The interference channel with a cognitive relay consists of a two user interference channel where a third node, a cognitive relay knows the messages of both source nodes and aids in their transmission This channel generalizes numerous multi-user information theoretic channels including the interference channel, broadcast channel and cognitive interference channel We seek the capacity region of this channel to characterize its fundamental limits
• • • • • •
We have characterized the capacity region of the linear high SNR deterministic and symmetric channel model for many, but not yet all subsets of parameters We have characterized the capacity in the strong interference regime We will address these remaining cases before using the intuition gained to determine capacity to within a constant gap for the Gaussian channel S. Rini, D. Tuninetti, N. Devroye ``Capacity to within 3 bits for a class of interference channels with a cognitive relay,’’ ISIT 2011. S. Rini, D. Tuninetti, N. Devroye ``The capacity of an interference channel with a cognitive relay in strong interference,’’ ISIT 2011. A. Dytso, S. Rini, D. Tuninetti, N. Devroye ``On the capacity region of the symmetric, high SNR deterministic interference channel with a cognitive relay,’’’ ICC 2012.
Natasha Devroye, Daniela Tuninetti (ECE) NSF CCF, CIF Small Award 1017436: Fundamental Limits of Layered Wireless Networks
Problem Statement and Motivation • • •
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • •
We take an information theoretic approach to derive both inner and outer bounds to the capacity of such layered wireless networks We consider both centralized and distributed layered networks
Inefficiencies in spectrum usage have led to a interest in alternative secondary spectrum licensing paradigms The underlay secondary spectrum licensing paradigm allows for secondary users to simultaneously access the spectrum licensed to the primary users as long as they do not ``disrupt’’ the primary users We seek to determine the fundamental limits of layered secondary networks which share the spectrum with primary users under the constraints that: • Lower layers remain oblivious to higher layers (seamless layering, backwards compatibility, incentives for primary users) • Higher layers are more ``intelligent’’ and may thus opportunistically access the network and exploit added knowledge such as codebook knowledge
•
•
• •
Our proposed opportunistic interference cancelation scheme and rates has won the Best Paper Award at CROWNCOM 2011 (N. Devroye, P. Popovski `Receiver-side Opportunism in Cognitive Networks,’’ CROWNCOM, June 2011. A. Dytso, N. Devroye, D. Tuninetti, ``The sum-capacity of the symmetric linear deterministic complete K-user Z-interference channel,’’ Allerton 2012. D. Maamari, N. Dvroye and D. Tuninetti, ``The Sum-Capacity of the Linear Deterministic Three-User Cognitive Interference Channel’, ISIT 2012. Future goals: extensions to Gaussian noise and oblivionincorporating outer bounds
Shantanu Dutt, ECE Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation Partitioning
Floorplanning
Placement
Problem Statement and Motivation
Routing Simulation
Incr. Place
VLSI CAD Flow:
•
Current and future very deep submicron chips are so complex and minute that they need “corrections” or re-optimizations in small parts after initial design & simul.
•
Need to keep the correct parts of the chip as intact as possible – good resource usage, time-to-market req.
•
Need incremental CAD algorithms that re-do the “incorrect” parts fast and w/o significant effect on the correct parts
•
This project focuses on such incremental algorithms at the physical CAD or layout level of chip design – placement & routing
e.g., for timing closure
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
Use of a constraint-satisfying depth-first search (DFS) process that explores the design space for the incremental changes to: • Optimize them (e.g., power, critical path, signal integrity) • Subject to not deteriorating metrics of the larger unchanged chip beyond pre-set bounds (e.g., <= 10% increase in wirelength)
Use of a new network-flow based methodology to explore the design space in a more continuous manner (as opposed to discrete in DFS) for faster solutions: • Some approximations involved for discrete -> continuous optimization mapping
•
Incremental routing for FPGAs: • optimal DFS algorithm wrt # of tracks– if a solution exists will find it; 13 times faster than competitor VPR
•
Incremental routing for VLSI ASICs: • 98% success rate in completing routes – up to 9-12 times fewer failures than Std and R&R routers
•
Timing-driven incremental routing for VLSI ASICs: • 94% succ rate; 5 times fewer timing violations
•
Incremental placement for VLSI ASICs: • Prel results: applied to timing closure – 10% improv
•
Future Work: (1) Apply to timing, power closure via logic & circuit re-synthesis at the physical level + re-placement & re-routing; (2) Integration of incremental routing & placement
Ashfaq Khokhar and Rashid Ansari Multimedia Systems Lab. (http://multimedia.ece.uic.edu) Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation • •
•
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • •
• •
Develop efficient watermarking techniques that can imperceptibly embed information in the media Embedding capacity (#of bits embedded) of the proposed techniques should be large and embedded information should withstand different types of adversary attacks including re-sampling, compression, noise, desynchronization, etc. – exploit temporal and spatial correlation in the multimedia data. Develop detection algorithms that can detect the embedded information in the face of modifications and other adversary attacks. Develop distributed protocols based on trust metrics to recover modified contents
Emergence of peer to peer networks and increased interest in online sharing poses challenges for preserving and protecting online digital repositories. Existing efforts are mostly focused on text data. Research challenges are amplified when the contents are multimedia – just re-sampling of voice or image data, which is difficult to detect, compromises the authentication and validation. Developing multimedia asset management tools and distributed protocols that embed signatures, evaluate authentication, and help perform recovery using copies at peer nodes, if contents have been compromised.
•
•
• •
Developed novel watermarking techniques that embed information in selective frequency subbands. The embedded information is 10-15 times more than existing techniques and can withstand adversary attacks. Developed an Independent Component Analysis based detector that can detect embedded information in the presence of extreme noise (less than 1% error probability even in the presence of 80% noise). Developing a comprehensive digital asset management system using data hiding for fingerprinting and authentication. Developing a suite of distributed protocols for content validation and recovery in case of compromised data.
Gyungho Lee, ECE Primary Grant Support: NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach instruction-level program behavior description with execution path
•
Achievement • program counter encoding for low cost control flow validation • augmented branch predictor for complete control flow validation
•
Future • Data Flow Validation • Industrial Control System - SCADA • mobile devices – 4G cell phone environment
Dan Schonfeld, ECE; Wei Qu, ECE; Nidhal Bouaynaya, ECE Primary Grant Support: Motorola, Inc., NeoMagic Corp.
Problem Statement and Motivation • • • • • •
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • •
• • •
Particle Filter Motion Proposal Detection Proposal
x11 x
2 2
x
.. .
.. . x2m
m 1
x 1 1
z
z z12 . ..
xt1 xt2
...
..
. xtm
1 t
1 2
z
zt2 . ..
z22 . .
.
z1m
Magnetic-Intertia Model Interactive Distributed Model Mixture Hidden Markov Model
... ...
x12 2 1
z2m
Video Surveillance (Activity Monitoring) Video Communications (Virtual Background) Video Enhancement (Handheld Camera Quality) Video Animation (Virtual Conference Room) Video Steroegraphy (3D from a Single Camera) Video Retrieval (Visual Search Engine)
ztm
• • • • • • • •
Real-Time (No Offline Processing Required) Very Fast (Few Particles Required) Low-Power (Embedded Processors) Complete Occlusion (Hidden Targets) Multiple Camera Tracking (Information Fusion) Video Auto-Focus (Fixed Lens Camera) Video Stabilization (Handheld & Vehicle Vibrations) Randomly Perturbed Active Surfaces (Robust Contour)
Primary Investigator: Hulya Seferoglu
Practical Network Control (NC) for Wireless Networks
Technical Approach • Goal: Develop a new theory for optimal network control that takes into account practical constraints. • Approach: Consider practical issues that arise at multiple levels of the system hierarchy including; • Device-level issues: Investigating the impact of device limitations, • Protocol-level considerations: Investigating the interaction of between legacy protocols and the optimal control framework. • Network-level migration: Developing control algorithms for a network with a mix of controllable and uncontrollable nodes. • Test-bed implementation: Implementing our control algorithms using commodity off-the-shelf devices.
Problem Statement and Motivation • Problem: • Growth in mobile and media rich applications Increasing demand for wireless bandwidth • Dramatic increase in demand poses a challenge for current wireless networks • Existing approaches: • Significant research on the theory of network control • Deployment of theory is rather limited due to the gap between theory and practice • Motivation: • New network control mechanisms are needed • Better use of scarce wireless resources • Taking into account practical constraints
Key Achievements and Future Goals • The PI has published several conference and journal papers in the broader area. • The PI has submitted a proposal about this project to NSF. The proposal submission is currently under review.
Daniela Tuninetti, Natasha Devroye, Stefano Rini, ECE Primary Grant Support: Dr. Tuninetti’s NSF CAREER grant.
Problem Statement and Motivation
+ 2. Bits received at the same power as the noise are `erased’. 3. Approximate the real sum with a bit-wise sum
•
In multi-terminal additive Gaussian noise networks two factors determine the network performance: the noise and user interference.
•
While we understand how to operate networks in the noise limited regime (i.e., the interference power is comparable to the noise power), we still do not have a clear grasp on how to operate networks in the interference limited regime.
•
A promising tool towards this goal is to approximate the (probabilistic) Gaussian network with a deterministic one in which the effect of the noise is neglected and the interference among users is deterministic.
1. Translate the received powers in bit levels
XOR The noise `erases’ some bits. The remaining bits interfere with each other.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
The signals and the noise are approximated with binary vectors whose length equals the number of bits that we can be send over a link.
•
We determined the capacity region of the deterministic two-user cognitive interference network.
•
All the bits received below the noise level are considered erased (i.e., unreliable).
•
This result provided some inside on the the capacity of a general Gaussian cognitive network.
•
Real-value summations are approximated by binary XOR operations.
•
Our future goal is to determine the capacity of Gaussian cognitive interference channels within a constant gap.
•
We will extend this framework to more general cooperative networks.
In this simplified framework, the effect of the noise and of the interference becomes deterministic. Determining the optimal network performance is expected to be easier for the deterministic network than for the original probabilistic Gaussian network.
Oliver Yu, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Primary Grant Support: DOE, NSF On-demand Lightpath (10 Gbps) Cluster All-optical LAN
Cluster Chicago StarLight
Amsterdam NetherLight
PIN All-optical MAN UIC
Cluster
PIN
Lambda Grid reserves lightpaths or lambdas of light (10 Gbps transport capacity) among a distributed collection of data, computing, visualization and instrumentation resources that are integrated to provide collaborative capability to end users.
•
To support a Multi-domain Lambda Grid with on-demand lightpath provisioning over multiple optical network domains with heterogeneous control planes.
•
To support e a Multi-purpose Lambda Grid for multidisciplinary collaborative applications.
PIN University of Amsterdam
ISON
•
All-optical LAN ISON
ISON
Problem Statement and Motivation
Chicago OMNInet
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
Photonic Inter-domain Negotiator (PIN) is developed to support the Multi-domain Lambda Grid. It provides an open secure inter-domain control plane to interoperate multiple optical network domains with non-compatible signaling and routing functions. Integrated Services Optical Network (ISON) is developed to support the Multi-purpose Lambda Grid. It provides multiple traffic transport services: Gigabit-rate stream (single lambda per application); Kilo/Megabit-rate stream (multiple applications per lambda); Tera/Petabit-rate stream (multiple lambdas per application); and variable bit rate bursty traffic.
• • • •
• •
Publication O. Yu, “Intercarrier Interdomain Control Plane for Global Optical Networks,” in Proc. IEEE ICC, June 2004. O. Yu, T. DeFanti, “Collaborative User-centric Lambda-Grid over Wavelength-Routed Network,” in Proc. IEEE/ASM SC 2004, Nov. 2004. Three journal papers has been submitted to IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology. Demonstration Through collaboration with University of Amsterdam, on-demand lightpath provisioning was demonstrated over Lambda Grid between Chicago & Amsterdam in SC 2003, November 2003. Future Goals Extend multi-domain and multi-purpose Lambda Grid with photonic multicast capability by splitting incoming light into multiple outputs. Demonstrate the new prototype in iGrid 2005 symposium at San Diego.
Zhichun Zhu, ECE Primary Grant Support: NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Multi-core and many-core processors have increasing demands on memory capacity and bandwidth
•
Conventional memory systems are heading to a scalability wall • Memory power consumption becomes a significant part of system power profile • Memory thermal emergency becomes an important design consideration
•
New memory technologies emerge to address the memory scalability issue; but there lack architectural supports for them
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Universal memory architecture to support diverse memory modules
•
Thread-aware memory scheduling to improve memory performance
•
Memory management schemes for heterogeneous memory systems
•
Coordinated memory thermal management schemes
•
Processor-memory cooperation to optimize system performance and power-efficiency
•
Decoupled memory organization to optimize memory power-efficiency and performance
•
Memory thermal models and simulators
P.I. Igor Paprotny Funding: new faculty startup, Intel, DOE
Problem Statement and Motivation • • •
Airborne particulate matter (PM) is harmful to our health In particular fine PM smaller than 2.5 µm in diameter (PM2.5) Includes: • Diesel exhaust • Tobacco smoke • Bio-aerosols
• •
Current instruments are too big and expensive to be portable Personal PM2.5 sensor does not exist
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • •
•
Use MEMS techniques to create air-microfluidic lab-on-a-chip that measures airborne PM by direct mass deposition Inertial separation (virtual impaction) is used to separate PM2.5 from the rest of the airstream. Thermophoretic precipitation is used to deposit the separated PM2.5 on top of a mass-sensitive film-bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) The rate of the frequency shift in the FBAR corresponds to the PM2.5 concentration.
• • • •
Demonstrated a microfabricated PM2.5 direct-mass sensor • 5 cm x 2.5 cm x 1 cm in size Sensitivity comparable to large instruments • 1-2 µg/m3 PM2.5 concentration Form factor enables integration into a regular cellphone Future goals: • Improve sensitivity • Measure particle-size distribution • Chemical speciation
P.I. Igor Paprotny Funding: Department of Health and Human Services
Problem Statement and Motivation • • • •
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • • •
A flat surface placed in a mine environment collects deposited dust Incident light at several wave-lengths is reflected from the deposited layer, and is collected by a photo-detector Microfabricated mass sensors and humidity sensors helps to determine the true explosibility of the deposited layers Connects to a communication backbone to automate the operation of the rock dusting equipment
Excessive build-up of coal dust in underground mines leads to explosion risk Rock-dusting (dispensing of inert lime-stone dust) is used to mitigate the explosion risk • Increasing total incombustible content (TIC) Currently manual sampling of dust in mines to determine TIC and control rock dusting A low-cost reliable automated method is needed
• • •
Verified the viability of using multi-wavelength optical method to detected the layers of deposited dust Created preliminary sensor prototype Future goals: • Determine the dependence of the optical method on humidity content and particle size, as well as the layer thickness • Create a MEMS mass and humidity sensor • Integrate with a communication backbone in the underground mine
Mahshid Amirabadi, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Problem Statement and Motivation •
•
•
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
ac-link universal power converters are new class of power converters with numerous advantages over the existing technologies: • The input and output of these converters may be dc, single phase ac, or multiphase ac. They can be employed in a variety of applications including, but not limited to, photovoltaic power generation and wind power generation systems. • Link current and voltage are alternating and their frequency can be high. This results in compact link and filter elements. • They do not need dc electrolytic capacitors or low frequency transformers. • ac-link Universal power converters provide soft switching. Therefore, the switching losses are negligible and the link frequency may be increased further.
Power Electronics is an integral part of many systems including, but not limited to, renewable energy systems and electric and hybrid electric vehicles. The existing power electronic circuits have some limitations • They are usually bulky. • Their reliability is low and they have a short lifetime. For example, the lifetime of the PV inverters is 5-10 years whereas the life time of a PV module is 25 years. Therefore, PV inverters need to be replaced 2 or 3 times within the lifetime of a PV module. • The low reliability of power converters adds cost to the system. For the long-term success of renewable energy sector we have to increase the reliability of power converters, decrease their size/weight and reduce their cost.
• • • •
ac-link universal power converters are much more compact compared to the existing technologies. They have higher reliability. They are less expensive. Sparse and ultra-sparse ac-link universal power converters have the same principles of the operation but they require fewer switches: • They further decrease the size. • They dramatically increase the reliability. • They are less expensive than the ac-link universal power converters.
Sudip K. Mazumder, ECE Primary Grant Support: NSF, DOE (SECA and I&I), PNNL, CEC, NASA, Ceramatec, Airforce (award pending), TI, Altera
Problem Statement and Motivation •
To achieve reliable interactive power-electronics networks
•
To design and develop power-management electronics for residential and vehicular applications of renewable/alternate energy sources (e.g., fuel and photovoltaic cells)
•
To achieve higher power density and realize systems on chip
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Stability and Stabilization of Power-Electronics Networks: a) Global stability analysis of stochastic and functional hybrid system b) Stabilization using wireless networked control
•
Optimal Fuel Cell based Stationary and Vehicular Energy Systems a) Resolving interactions among energy source (such as fuel cells), power electronics, and balance of plant. b) Fuel-cell power-electronics inverter design that simultaneously meet criteria of cost, durability, and energy efficiency
•
Robust and efficient power devices and smart power ASIC a) High-speed, EMI immune, wide-bandgap power devices b) Integration of low- and high-voltage electronics on the same chip
•
First, wireless distributed control dc/dc and multiphase converters and three-phase induction motor control
•
First, zero-ripple, multilevel, energy-efficient fuel cell inverter
•
First, photonically-triggered power transistor design for power electronics
•
First, nonlinear VRM controller for next-generation Pentium processors
•
Comprehensive solid-oxide-fuel-cell (SOFC) spatio-temporal system model
Sudip K. Mazumder, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Director, Laboratory for Energy and Switching-Electronics Systems Funding Agencies: NSF, ONR, DOE, AFRL, GeneSiC Semiconductor, APEI
Hybrid SiC optical power device
Optically-switched highfrequency and high-voltage power converter
Problem Statement and Motivation •
To realize a high-gain, high-voltage, and high-temperature opticallyswitched power transistor, which is triggered in a non-latched manner using low power monochromatic photonic source by monolithically integrating an optically-controlled transistor with a high-voltage SiC field-effect transistor.
•
The scalable device technology can have radical impact for highvoltage and ultra-high-frequency power-electronics/power systems including solar/wind/fuel-cell inverters, energy storage systems, pulsed power, fault current limiting, fly-by-light systems, solid-state transformer, electromagnetic-interference-immune systems.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
GaAs-based optically-controlled high-gain superjunction lateral triggering device to enable non-latched and low-cost long-wavelength triggering SiC based high-voltage and high-temperature vertical metal-oxidesemiconductor-field-effect transistor (MOSFET) for power switching at high frequency and high voltage
•
Optoelectronic integration of the hybrid SiC MOSFET and GaAs based optical triggering device to yield hybrid SiC optical power device
•
Power converter design and fabrication using the hybrid SiC optical power device and switching characterization of the power converter under high-frequency and high-voltage operation.
• • • • •
World’s first 0.25 MHz wide-bandgap device based opticallyswitched dc/dc converter 6 NSF, ONR, DOE, and AFRL grants 2 U.S. patents received and 1 patent pending 2 journal papers in IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics with an impact factor > 5 Future work involves a) optically controlled very high voltage (> 15 kV) SiC bipolar transistor; b) control of a power-electronic system at device level by dynamic intensity and/or wavelength modulation of the optical power device.
P.L.E. Uslenghi (P.I.), S. Dutt, D. Erricolo, H-.Y. D. Yang, ECE in collaboration with Clemson University, Houston University, Ohio State University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Michigan Primary Grant Support: AFOSR
Problem Statement and Motivation
High Power EM fields
E
Puls er
•
Understand and predict the effects of the new electromagnetic threat represented by high power microwave (HPM) and ultrawide band (UWB) pulses on digital electronic systems found inside fixed or moving platforms.
•
Develop recommendations for performing field tests/measurements
H
External EM Source (Impulse Radiating Antenna)
Illuminated target
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Apply electromagnetic topology to predict the effects of HPM/UWB aggressor signals
•
Fast computer codes are under development at UH, UIUC, UM and OSU.
•
Apply recently developed fast and accurate computer simulation tools.
•
Topology studies are underway at CU. Analysis of devices and of processor faults are being conducted at CU and UIC.
•
Further extend the capabilities of the computer simulation tools to obtain a better understanding of the overall problem.
•
Validation tests for codes are being developed at CU, OSU, and UIC.
Investigators: M. Dutta, ECE, and M. Stroscio, ECE and BioE
Problem Statement and Motivation
Bare QDs
FRET
• Organic-inorganic hybrid structures enable integration of useful organic and inorganic characteristics for novel optoelectronic applications. • The time required for resonant energy transfer in the composite of inorganic quantum dots (QDs) and photosystem I (PS-I) has not been determined previously. Transfer time ~ 6 ps).
Colloidal Quantum Dots and Photosystem-I Composite
Technical Approach • Synthesis of the composite of inorganic CdSe QDs and organic PS-I, hexahistadine-tagged PS-I from Chalamydomonas reinhardtii - green unicellular algea • Experimental measurement of the energy transfer between QDs and PS-I • Investigation of structural, optical and transport properties by means of photoluminescence, time-resolved photoluminescence, absorption, capacitance-voltage and I-V measurements
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Observed energy transfer from CdSe QDs to PS-I by optical and electrical measurements. • Photoluminescence data and absorption data show that the energy of excited carriers of CdSe QDs to PS-I by processes that include fluorescent resonant energy transfer (FRET) between the inorganic and organic components of the system. • I-V measurement data are sensitive to incident light in the composite CdSe QDs/PS-I material.
Investigators: ; M. Dutta, ECE, and M. Stroscio, ECE and BioE
Problem Statement and Motivation • Design, fabrication, characterization of QD-based nanosensors on a variety of platforms • For underlying concepts see group’s paper on “Applications of Colloidal Quantum Dots,” Microelectronics Journal, 40, 644-649 (2009).
Technical Approach • Design of quantum-dot (QD) based nanosensors
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Numerous demonstration of nanosensors based on beacon like structures
• Fabricating quantum-dot (QD) ensembles • Modeling electrical and optical properties including robustness and sensitivity to QD-QD separation
• Numerous nanosensors demonstarted for a variety of QD systems
• QD blinking modeled and observed • Experimental characterization of integrated structures • Multi-analyte detection
• Ultimate goal is realization of multi-analyte detectors on a single platform
P.I. Igor Paprotny Funding: new faculty startup
Problem Statement and Motivation • • • •
200 mm •
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • •
• •
Use MEMS techniques to create robotic chassis several micrometers in size A stress-engineering post processing solution adds precisely controlled curvature to planar silicon structures Power is provided externally through a set of underlying interdigitated electrodes to the propulsion component, which is a scratch drive actuator (electrostatic inchworm) Patterned stress-engineering layer defines the out-of-plane deflection of the steering arms Difference in deflection results in different control voltage, which can be used to independently control several microrobots
New, largely unexplored area of robotics Difficult to achieve due to component scaling Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) Components difficult to implement at the microscale: • On-board power • Sensing • On-board control Many application opportunities, such as in: • Medicine, • Manufacturing • Information security
• • • •
Demonstrated independent control of several (four) MEMS microrobots Controlled self-assembly of microscale structures Developed a new stress-engineering process to design the robots that does not require a photo lithography stage Future goals: • Develop designs and algorithms that allow for simultaneous control of large numbers of microrobots • Create new microrobotic systems that operate in liquids • Use 2-photon stereolithography to create new types of microrobotic systems
Mitra Dutta, ECE and Michael Stroscio, ECE & BioE Primary Grant Support: ARO, AFOSR (a) 0 1 2
-4
Fluorescence
-3 LUMO
3 4 5 6 7
HOMO
•
Organic-inorganic hybrid structures enable integration of useful organic and inorganic characteristics for novel applications such as solar cell, chemical sensors, and fluorescent biotags.
•
Energy transfer in the composite of inorganic quantum dots (QDs) and photosystem I (PS-I) is not understood although it is very important and well studied for photosynthesis.
0 +1
+- +-
+2 CdSe QDs
QDs
-2 -1
En1 Ec hv Ev Eh1
8
Problem Statement and Motivation
NEH(V)
Evac(eV)
+3
PS-I
QDs+PS1
Glass
Glass
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Synthesis of the composite of inorganic CdSe QDs and organic PS-I
•
Observed energy transfer from CdSe QDs to PS-I by optical and electrical measurements.
•
Experimental measurement of the energy transfer between QDs and PS-I
•
Photoluminescence data and absorption data show that the energy of excited carriers of CdSe QDs to PS-I by means of radiative emission, FRET, and electron/hole transfer between the inorganic-organic system.
•
I-V measurement data are sensitive to incident light in the composite CdSe QDs/PS-I material.
•
Further studies continue to identify each energy transfer method.
•
Investigation of structural, optical and transport properties by means of photoluminescence, time-resolved photoluminescence, absorption, capacitance-voltage and current-voltage measurements
Investigators: ; M. Dutta, ECE M. Stroscio, ECE and BioE
Problem Statement and Motivation Example of ZnO Nanowires
• Design, fabrication, and characterization of quantum-wire based optoelectronic devices and structures including those incorporating conductive polymers • Design, fabrication, and characterization of quantum-wire based piezoelectric devices and structures for energy harvesting
Technical Approach • Growth of quantum wires
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Numerous simulations of electrical, optical and piezoelectric properties of quantum-wire structures
• Fabrication of quantum-wire based devices • Modeling electrical and optical properties including robustness of quantum-wire-based devices
• Numerous simulations and predictions for a variety of quantum-wire—conductive-polymer structures and piezoelectric structures
• Experimental characterization of integrated structures quantum-wire-based structures
• Demonstrated polarization-dependent light inteactions with arrays of quantum wires • Strong Enhancement of Near-BandEdge PLof ZnO Nanowires
M. Dutta, ECE; M. Stroscio,ECE and BioE Primary Grant Support: ARO, NSF, AFOSR, SRC, DARPA
Problem Statement and Motivation Au wire
CdS
CdSe-ZnS
•
Future electronic and optoelectronic systems must be integrated on the terascale and beyond
•
This research effort explores the use of biomolecules as molecular interconnects for such terascale systems
CdSe-ZnS-GGGC
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Synthesis of semiconductor nanostructures
•
Chemical self-assembly of semiconductor nanostructures
•
Modeling electrical, optical and mechanical properties of ensembles of nanostructures
•
Experimental characterization of massively integrated networks of semiconductor nanostructures
•
Numerous manmade semiconducting nanostructures have been synthesized
•
Integrated semiconductor quantum dots have been assembled chemically in the Nanoengineering Research Laboratory at UIC
•
Interactions between semiconductor nanostructures and molecular wires have been modeled for a wide variety of systems
•
Ultimate goal is massive integration of semiconductor nanostructures in functional electronic and optoelectronic networks
Mitra Dutta, ECE. Primary Grant Support: NASA Ames Research Center
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Annealing at specific conditions and environment would refresh the Tin Oxide nanowire used in gas sensing applications.
•
Minimization of defects in nanowires which determine the electrical and optical properties for high performance applications.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Synthesis of Tin Oxide nanowires using a special carbothermal reduction process.
•
Identifying various inherent structural defects in nanowires and understanding their role in modifying the electronic and optical properties using various experimental characterization techniques.
•
Obtain a specific Annealing condition which would serve to minimize the defects as well pre-charge/refresh the nanowires for future gas sensing applications.
•
Nanowires of various diameters have been synthesized in large scale.
•
Intrinsic defect levels/states/traps have been identified and minimized by annealing in oxygen and nitrogen under specific conditions. Luminescence and structural properties of the wires have improved/changed by a significant extent post annealing.
•
Specific annealing condition used for refreshing nanowires has been obtained.
•
Ultimate goal is massive integration of tin oxide nanowires for gas sensing and nuclear radiation detection.
Mitra Dutta, ECE Primary Grant Support: Intelligent Expitaxy Technology and MDA
[011] [011] aAs 1mm G
GaAs 150nm
•
Robust low cost Infrared photodetectors as well as those with room or near room temperature operation
•
Quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) due to the well developed mature GaAs technology
•
High-pass filter for the photocurrent which blocks the tunneling dark current
[100]
s 0.79A l0.21Ga 5nm A 0.9As In0.1Ga 3.5nm a0.79As Al0.21G 50nm
Quantum Well Infrared Photodectetor (QWIP) with a energy filter between base and collector
Problem Statement and Motivation
d grade filter 40nm a0.79As Al0.21G
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
InxGa1-xAs/AlyGa1-yAs multi quantum wells, three terminal structure grown by molecular beam epitaxy
•
The atomic resolution images and x-ray diffraction patterns verified a lattice matched and band-gap engineered device structure of IHET.
•
Modeling of electrical properties based on its composition and doping
•
Photoluminescence data indicated the composition and a deep energy level in hot electron filter
•
Investigation of structural, optical and transport properties by means of transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, Photoluminescence, Raman spectroscopy, current-voltage measurement
•
Current-voltage data showed high-pass filter blocks the tunneling dark current, with resulting satisfactory detectivity
•
Optimization of the composition, thickness, and doping of high-pass filter
Mitra Dutta, ECE and Michael A. Stroscio, ECE and BioE Primary Grant Support: ARO AFOSR
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Semiconductor nanocrystals functionalized with conductive polymers promote efficient charge transfer
•
Low cost, light weight and tunable conductivities
•
Explore the application of nanocomposite heterostructures in novel electronic and optoelectronic devices
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Fabrication of nanocomposite heterostructures incorporating semiconductor quantum dots and inorganic polymers
•
Different types of nanocomposite heterostructures have been synthesized
•
Numerical modeling of the electrical properties
•
Electrical and optical properties have been studied with modeling and experimental methods
•
Experimental characterization with optical and electrical measurements
•
Developing high efficiency photodetectors and solar cells
Investigators: Banani Sen, ECE, Mitra Dutta, ECE, Physics, Michael Stroscio, ECE, BioE, Physics Alex Yarin, MIE, Suman Sinha-Ray, MIE
Problem Statement and Motivation
V
•
Piezoelectric energy harvesting is necessary to meet today’s energy requirement.
•
ZnO nanofibers have drawn much attention because of its promising material characteristics.
•
Bulk production of substrate free nanofibers are needed for various application, viz. power shirts.
L L ± L (a) TEM image of ZnO nanofiber deposited by electrospinning. (b) Schematic representation of energy harvesting measurement setup.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Synthesis of ZnO nanofibers by electrospinning followed by annealing in oxygen ambient.
•
TEM image shows single crystalline stoichiometric ZnO nanofibers deposited by electrospinning.
•
Investigation of morphological, optical and material properties by means of Transmission electron microscopy, Photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy.
•
Photoluminescence spectrum shows UV peak (near band), Vis peak ( antisite defects and interstitial oxygen).
•
•
Synthesis of ZnO nanofiber and PVDF polymer composite by electrospinning for energy harvesting.
Raman scattering- E2 (high), quasi LO and TO modes of mixed A1 and E1 symmetry.
• •
Piezoelectric voltage measurement on application of mechanical strain.
Preliminary electrical measurement results indicate the composite to be promising for energy harvesting. Further systematic study will be continued to evaluate the power density from this piezoelectric composite.
Investigators: Mohsen Purahmed, Mitra Dutta, ECE Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago
Problem Statement and Motivation •
ZnO NWs are one of the promising candidates for future nanostructure devices such as short-wavelength semiconductor lasers, light-emitting diodes and energy harvesting devices.
•
ZnO NWs have a weak near-band-emission (NBE), numerous studies have been done to enhance the NBE and photoluminescence efficiency of ZnO Nanowires (NWs).
ZnO nanowires (NWs) grown by PVD method
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Growth of ZnO NWs by PVD method
•
Optical characterization of ZnO NWs
•
Enhancement of near-band-emission (NBE )of ZnO
•
Photoluminescence (PL) of ZnO nanowires coated with the metallic nano particles deposited by rf-magnetron sputtering .
•
Very strong enhancement of ultraviolet emission is observed after coating with metallic nanoparticles and Ar plasma treatment.
•
Future goals include studying the waveguiding and lasing effects in these ZnO NWs and making a nano laser with a low threshold lasing power.
Hyeson Jung and Mitra Dutta Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Current Density (mA/cm2)
0
Problem Statement and Motivation
68SE1-68AE10
-5 -10 -15
Voc : 0.79V Jsc : 22.96 mA Vmp : 0.62 V Jmp : 19.62 mA FF : 67.06% eff :12.16 %
•
Current commercial solar cells - single/poly crystalline silicon
•
Recent crystalline silicon wafer prices increases make second generation cells more attractive
•
The Second-generation cells – thin film of amorphous Si, CdTe, and CIGS can be competitive
•
Energy band gap of CdTe is 1.5 eV, considered optimal band gap for solar cells
•
CdTe solar cell higher efficiency than a-Si
-20 -25 -30 0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
Voltage (V)
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Fabrication of CdTe thin film solar cell: CdTe, CdS thin film deposition by means of e-beam followed by cell fabrication
•
Development of alternative post-treatment, and optimization of the treatment condition
•
Investigation of structural, optical and transport properties by means of Photoluminescence, X-ray spectroscopy, absorption measurement, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Atomic Force Microscope, and current-voltage measurement
•
CdTe solar cells were fabricated and tested; the CdTe was grown by e-beam evaporation or magnetron sputtering, followed by post treatment.
•
Alternative post treatment system was developed.
•
12 % efficiency achieved with first efforts.
•
Incorporating nanostructures we hope to achieve higher efficiency
Hyeson Jung, Michael Stroscio, Mitra Dutta Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
(111) 110
En1 ,h1
2 212 2 212 Eg * * 2me a 2 2mh a 2
Problem Statement and Motivation •
To explore materials for tandem solar cells, PbSe nanowires were investigated. By adjusting diameter of the wires, bandgap can be engineered. This is one of advantages of nanotechnology.
•
Nanowires of PbSe are of enhanced interest due to their special properties where the relatively large Bohr excitonic radius and small effective masses lead to strong electron and hole confinement in PbSe nanowires.
PbSe
EC En1 EF EV Eh1
Depletion region, W
Oxidized PbSe surface
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
•
Growth of quality PbSe nanowires which are contamination free, compatible with device processing, less expensive and simple by using RF sputter deposition. The optical properties of the wires were characterized by absorption and photoluminescence.
Investigate possibility of achieving nanowire behavior in PbSe larger wires that are grown by sputter deposition due to the effect of surface field and a strong depletion layer.
•
PbSe nanowires grown by magnetron sputtering
•
Though of large size wires showed a large blue shift demonstrating quantum confining
•
Attributed to Fermi level and strong band pinning, large band bending and a wide depletion layer
•
We have demonstrated that effective diameter of the nanowires are adjustable for different band gap materials.
•
Development of solar cells using these PbSe nanowires in the near future
Ayan Kar and Mitra Dutta, ECE Primary Grant Support: DoE
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Long term need for an inexpensive sensor for the detection of special nuclear materials.
•
Ideally sensors which are small, with minimal circuit complexity, and non-cryogenic cooling and requiring small manufacturing costs would provide ideal solutions to this problem.
•
Tin oxide (SnO2) nanowires have demonstrated to have excellent sensing performance which is comparable to or even surpasses the best thin film counterparts.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Nanowire surface modification using annealing.
•
Fabrication of SnO2 nanowire Schottky diode sensors.
•
Expose the nanowire sensors to ionizing 20 Curies of Cesium-137 (137Cs) γ –radiation having an energy of 667 KeV.
•
Investigation of change in diode electrical properties on being exposed to radiation using current-voltage measurements. Change in nanowire structural properties using photoluminescence.
•
Large changes (~14.8 MΩ) in resistance in the forward bias region were observed after exposure to the 137Cs) γ –radiation.
•
A maximum sensitivity of 254% was obtained at a radiation dosage of 42,371 mR/hr.
•
A short sensor response time of 8 seconds with the permanent change in the nanowire resistance after the radiation is turned off.
•
Future possibility of stand-off remote detection of radioactive sources using a mm-wave (MMW) technique.
Investigators: ; M. Dutta, ECE and M. Stroscio, ECE and BioE
Problem Statement and Motivation Quantum Dots in MEH-PPV Polymer
Gold contacts
ITO
Glass
• Design, fabrication, characterization of QD-based photonabsorbing media embedded in conductive polymers for optoelectronic devices • For underlying concepts see group’s paper on “Applications of Colloidal Quantum Dots,” Microelectronics Journal, 40, 644-649 (2009).
Top view
MEH-PPV Polymer / CdSe Quantum Dot Composite
Technical Approach
Key Achievements and Future Goals
• Design of quantum-dot (QD) ensembles in conductive polymers
• Numerous simulations of electrical and optical properties including robustness and sensitivity to QD-QD separation
• Fabricating quantum-dot (QD) ensembles in conductive polymers
• Numerous simulations for a variety of QD—conductivepolymer systems
• Modeling electrical and optical properties including robustness and sensitivity to QD-QD separation
• Current sensing AFM measurements of I-V curves for a variety of QDs embedded in conducting polymers
• Experimental characterization of integrated structures
• Ultimate goal is realization of multi-wavelength photodetectors
• Multi-wavelength optoelectronics
Vitali Metlushko, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Nanotechnology Core Facility (NCF) Primary Grant Support: NSF ECS grant # ECS-0202780, Antidot and Ring Arrays for Magnetic Storage Applications and NSF NIRT grant # DMR-0210519 : Formation and Properties of Spin-Polarized Quantum Dots in Magnetic Semiconductors by Controlled Variation of Magnetic Fields on the Nanoscale, B. Janko (P.I.), J. K. Furdyna (co-P.I.), M. Dobrowolska (co-P.I.), University of Notre Dame is leading organization, A. M. Chang (Purdue) and V. Metlushko, (UIC)
Problem Statement and Motivation Lorentz image of magnetic nanostructure.
The field of nanoelectronics is overwhelmingly dedicated to the exploitation of the behavior of electrons in electric fields. Materials employed are nearly always semiconductor-based, such as Si or GaAs, and other related dielectric and conducting materials. An emerging basis for nanoelectronic systems is that of magnetic materials. In the form of magnetic random access memories (MRAM), nanoscale magnetic structures offer fascinating opportunities for the development of low-power and nonvolatile memory elements.
SEM image of 700nm MRAM cells. UIC’s Nanoscale Core Facility
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach In past few years, the interest in nano-magnetism has encreased rapidly because they offer potential application in MRAM. Modern fabrication techniques allow us to place the magnetic elements so close together that element-element interactions compete with singleelement energies and can lead to totally different switching dynamics. To visualize the magnetization reversal process in individual nanomagnets as well as in high-density arrays, Metlushko and his coauthors employed several different imaging techniques- magnetic force microscopy (MFM), scanning Hall microscopy, magneto-optical (MO) microscopy, SEMPA and Lorentz microscopy (LM).
•
This project has led to collaboration with MSD, CNM and APS ANL, Katholieke Univesiteit Leuven, Belgium, University of Notre Dame, NIST, Universita` di Ferrara, Italy, Inter-University Micro-Electronics Center (IMEC), Belgium, Cornell University, McGill University and University of Alberta, Canada
•
During the past 3 years this NSFsupported work resulted in 21 articles in refereed journals already published and 10 invited talks in the US, Europe and Japan.
Investigators: M. Stroscio, ECE and BioE; and M. Dutta, ECE 0 1
Evac
Al0.25Ga0.75N
CdSe Quantum Dot PDCTh Polymer
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Al0.125Ga0.875N
PDCTh Polymer
Technical Approach • Design of single-photon detectors • Fabricating quantum-dot (QD) ensembles in conductive polymers • Modeling electrical and optical properties including robustness and sensitivity to QD-QD separation
Problem Statement and Motivation • Design, fabrication, characterization of QD-based optoelectronic devices as components of single-photon detectors • For underlying concepts see Mitra Dutta, et al., Colloidal Quantum Dots (QDs) in Optoelectronic Devices --- Solar Cells, Photodetectors, Light-emitting Diodes, in Handbook for SelfAssembled Semiconductor Nanostructures for Novel Devices in Photonics and Electronics, edited by M. Henini, Elsever Publ. (2008) and Ke Sun, Milana Vasudev, Hye-Son Jung, Jianyong Yang, Ayan Kar, Yang Li, Kitt Reinhardt, Preston Snee, Michael A. Stroscio, and Mitra Dutta, Applications of Colloidal Quantum Dots, Microelectronics Journal, 40, 644-649 (2009).
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Numerous simulations of electrical and optical properties including robustness and sensitivity to QD-QD separation • Numerous simulations for a variety of QD—conductivepolymer systems
• Current sensing AFM measurements of I-V curves for a variety of QDs embedded in conducting polymers
• Experimental characterization of integrated structures • Ultimate goal is realization of photodetectors capable of single-photon detection
Zheng Yang, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Problem Statement and Motivation Diluted magnetic semiconductor is a kind of electronic materials with properties of both a semiconductor and a ferromagnetic material. In modern technology, semiconductor materials are used for logic devices such as the CPU in the computers due to its tunable electric conductivity under external electric field (arisen from the bandgap); while the ferromagnetic materials are used for memory devices such as the hard drive in the computers, in which the information storage is carried by the orientation of the majority spin polarization. Diluted magnetic semiconductor material is a combination of both. In a layman language, if a diluted magnetic semiconductor is successfully demonstrated, we may have the CPU and hard drive integrated in one device chip in our computers in the future. The major two obstacles hindering the practical application of diluted magnetic semiconductor are the Curie temperature and whether the ferromagnetism therein is intrinsic. Curie temperature is a critical temperature above which the material loses ferromagnetism.
Technical Approach Whether the ferromagnetism in the diluted magnetic semiconductor is intrinsic or not is determined by whether the spin polarization is carried by the free carriers or localized ions. If it is localized, sometime we call â&#x20AC;&#x153;extrinsicâ&#x20AC;?, it is not applicable for device applications generally. Several diluted magnetic semiconductors have been confirmed as intrinsic ferromagnetism such as Mn-doped GaAs, however, all of them show Curie temperature below room temperature. On the other hand, it has been observed above-room-temperature Curie temperatures in ZnO diluted magnetic semiconductor materials, but whether the ferromagnetism therein is intrinsic is still controversial and needs further clarification from experiments. The most straightforward experiment to investigate whether the ferromagnetism in diluted magnetic semiconductor is intrinsic or not is to study whether the ferromagnetism shows free carrier concentration dependent property.
Key Achievements and Future Goals It has been originally demonstrated that the free carrier concentration dependent ferromagnetism in ZnO diluted magnetic semiconductors. First, It has been experimentally achieved precise control of free carrier concentration in ZnO thin films with Ga doping. Then these ZnO thin films with different free carrier concentration were doped with magnetic dopants. It has been first time observed that the larger free carrier concentration leads to larger magnetization. Comprehensive electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction studies have been performed to exclude the possibility of the existence of localized magnetic clusters inside the ZnO diluted magnetic semiconductors. In the next steps, two major research projects will be carried out. The first is to study electrostatic doping (via a gate voltage instead of chemical doping) effect on the magnetic properties of ZnO diluted magnetic semiconductors. The second is to investigate the magnetic properties of ZnO diluted magnetic semiconductor in lowdimensional systems, such as nanowries.
Ivan Zivkovic & Farid Amirouche, Mechanical Eng.; Mark Gonzalez, Orthopedic Surgery Primary Grant Support: Zimmer Orthopedic
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Total hip replacement surgery has become a common procedure to alleviate pain caused by osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fractures, and other hip related problems for patients over 55 years of age.
•
With the aging of the global population, the demand for hip replacements is increasing, along with the required clinical lifetime.
•
The goal of this research is to study the effect of aging and surgical technique on stability of a hip prosthesis and ultimately to improve durability of hip joint prosthesis.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
• •
Experimental cadaveric study was conducted to measure initial relative micromotion at the prosthesis/bone interface and to investigate the effect of bone density and surgical technique on the early micromotion at the interface that may predispose to a prosthesis loosening. Sensor technology was used to capture the micromotion of acetabular prosthesis Image-processing package (SeScan 3.0) was designed to generate a 3-D bone geometry and material distribution from ST scan and MRI data. Parametric patient based finite element model, validated with experimental results, was developed to further analyze the conditions affecting the initial stability and loosening of the interface for different loading conditions.
•
Patient specific computer system is developed which couples clinical imaging with finite element method
•
This increased interpretive power has the potential to streamline biomedical diagnosis, analysis, non-invasive surgical planning and most importantly computer-assisted surgery
•
At the initial clinical consultation proposed system would warn orthopedic surgeon of any anatomical abnormalities that could jeopardize the implant fixation, helps in determining optimal positioning of the prosthesis, insertion method, etc. which leads to reduction of operating time and to enchased patient care.
Elisa Budyn, Mechanical Engineering Primary Grant Support: UIC; Collaboration: Ecole Centrale Paris (Thierry Hoc, Material Science)
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Determination of the effects of the local geometrical and material heterogeneities in sane and pathological cortical bone at the micro and nano scales over the local strain and stress fields and global response of the unit cells.
•
A better understanding of the effect of pathologies over cortical bone quality
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
•
Multi-scale numerical models to characterize the mechanics of materials and biomaterials with multi-phase complex microstructures. Failure mechanics of these microstructures though damage and fracture processes studied over the micro and nano scales, modeled through FEM and X-FEM approaches.
Concomitant experiments over the multiple scales.
•
Determination of the RVE
•
Determination of the Macroscopic Moduli
•
Effect of the cement lines over the local strain field and the work of separation due to crack propagation
•
Determination of localization patterns
•
Crack initiation and crack propagation in cortical bone
Thomas J. Royston, Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Bioengineering Primary Grant Support: NIH
Problem Statement and Motivation
Mechanical phantom model for code validation: foam with airways (lungs) surrounded by silicon with embedded garalite ribs (chest wall).
•
Develop and experimentally validate a subject-specific computer model of sound generation, transmission and measurement in the pulmonary system and chest.
•
Motivation: Complement to National Library of Medicine “Visible Human Project.” Research and education/ training tool. Integration into Haptic Virtual Reality environment in the future (e.g. ImmersiveTouch™).
Wire mesh geometry of chest surface, lungs and main airways based on Visible Human Male.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
Patient-specific acoustic model based on coupling an analytical airway model with a lung tissue boundary element model and finite element model of the ribcage and chest surface
Validated via experimental studies on phantom models and human subjects
•
Code validation via experimental phantom studies in progress
•
Development of computational model based on Visible Human Male in progress
•
Future plans: Experimental validation on human subjects
•
Future plans: Extend to cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and gastroinstestinal systems flexible sonic sensor array pad
Front view
Laxman Saggere, Mechanical and Industrial Engineer David Schneeweis, Bioengineering Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation • Motivation: Photoreceptor degeneration in diseases such as ARMD and RP is the leading cause of blindness in the world. No cures or therapies are available for these diseases, but a retinal-based prosthesis offers a promising treatment option. Most current retinal prostheses rely on the concept of electrical stimulation of neurons, which is conceptually simple, but faced with many challenges • Objective: To develop a biomimetic technology enabling a fundamentally different and technically superior approach to a retinal prosthesis. This approach, in principle, mimics a natural photoreceptor’s function of transducing visual stimuli into chemical signals that stimulate the surviving retinal neurons.
Technical Approach • Approach: A microdispenser unit integrated with a miniaturized solar cell and a thin-film piezo actuator on one side and several micron-scale ports on the other side contains liquid chemical (neurotransmitter). An array of such microdispenser units constitutes the core of a prosthesis. • Principle of Operation: Light falling on the retina irradiates the solar cell, which generates voltage across the piezo actuator. The actuator pressurizes the liquid and dispenses it through the micro ports. The liquid diffuses through micro-capillaries in a soft encapsulation and stimulates retinal cells. • Technologies: MEMS, microfluidics, thin-film piezoelectric actuators, solid-sate solar cells, chemical cellular signaling.
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Challenges: i) Low intensity light at the retina; ii) Integration of array components and microfluidics; iii) Chemical dispensing rate, mechanism, long-term operation; iv) Biocompatible packaging. • Key Achievements: i) Completed preliminary system design and established the concept feasibility; ii) Established a technique to chemically stimulate neuronal cells and record the cellular response; iii) Fabricated and characterized the light powered actuator; iv) Established techniques to quantify nanoliter flow • Future Goals: i) To fabricate and test an in-vitro proof of the concept device; ii) To lead the technology developed towards clinical relevancy through interdisciplinary collaborations with neuroscientists and retina specialists.
P. Pat Banerjee, Cristian J. Luciano, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Primary Grant Support: NIH
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Ultrasound has been the main technique for clinic palpation and procedural guidance, even after the invention of CT/MRI technology.
•
Identification of different anatomical regions is crucial to successfully carry out surgical procedures using real-time ultrasound imaging. It has been proposed and well studied, but it has not been extensively explored and implemented.
•
The computer generated ultrasonic application of the real-time visualization and haptic rendering is able to train the surgeons and residents to properly place the medical instrumental with considerable cost reduction and obtain greater performance outcomes.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Volume models obtained from DICOM data set are used for anatomical structure identification and visualization
•
The performance of the simulation has been benchmarked and demonstrated qualified for the real time use.
•
2-Dimensional raw images are clipped according to the placement of transducer during the palpation.
•
The application has been applied to the multi-discipline training category as a curriculum in the commercialized simulator.
•
Computer generated ultrasound image can illustrate the percutaneous veins and arteries and reflect the deformation under the pressing force.
•
The quality of the ultrasound image is to be improved, while the volume deformation in 3-Dimensional space is to be probed.
•
Haptic rendering on different types of interaction between the instruments and the percutaneous structures as well as the skin surface.
Suresh K. Aggarwal, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Primary Grant Support: NASA, NSF, Argonne National Laboratory
Y, mm
Problem Statement and Motivation 40
•
Application of the advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods using detailed chemistry and transport models
30
•
Simulation of flame structure, extinction and fire suppression
•
Multi-scale modeling of combustion and two-phase phenomena
•
Extensive use of computer graphics and animation
20
10
0
-10
-5
0
5
10
X, mm -3 -1
Heat-release, kJm s *10-3 1 5 10 15 20 50 75
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach (See flame images above.) The image on the left shows a comparison of simulated and measured triple flames that are important in practical combustion systems, while the five images on the right depict a simulated flame propagating downward in a combustible mixture.
•
“A Numerical Investigation of Particle Deposition on a Square Cylinder Placed in a Channel Flow," Aerosol Sci. Technol. 34: 340, 2001.
•
“On Extension of Heat Line and Mass Line Concepts to Reacting Flows Through Use of Conserved Scalars," J. Heat Transfer 124: 791, 2002.
•
“A Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Droplet Evaporation," Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 46: 3179, 2003.
•
“Gravity, Radiation and Coflow Effects on Partially Premixed Flames,” Physics of Fluids 16: 2963, 2004.
Matthew L. Bolton, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
… Step 23 … DisplayedValue = Incorrect PrescribedDelay = Correct ChangeDelay = Done Count = 1 …
Environmental Conditions
Mission Goals
Human Actions
Human Task Behavior
Device
Interface State
DisplayedValue ≠ PrescribedDose DisplayedValue ≠ Change DisplayedValue = PrescribedDose Dose PrescribedDose
System Model
or_seq
Press Left
Press Right
Problem Statement and Motivation
Proof or counterexample:
Environment
Human Mission
Normative Task Behavior Model
InterfaceState = SetDelay
Set Delay
•
• • •
•
Breakdowns in complex systems often occur as a result of system elements interacting in unanticipated ways DisplayedValue ≠ PrescribedDelay• Unanticipated normative and erroneous human-system interactions DisplayedValue ≠ Change DisplayedValue = Accept PrescribedDelay Delay PrescribedDelay are often associated with these failures • Formal verification analyses (like those supported by model checking) or_seq ord allow analysts to prove whether or not a model of a system satisfies Change Select Press Clear Digit Next Enter safety properties ord ord xor • Human factors engineers have models capable of representing Verification Press Press Press Press Model Up Report Left Right Clear normative human task behavior and erroneous acts Checker • This work is focused on synthesizing these technologies into novel tools capable of predicting when normative and erroneous human behavior can Erroneous Behavior contribute to system failure ord
59
Generator and Translator
Specification
Technical Approach • • •
InterfaceState ≠ SetDelay
Normative human behavior is represented using a task modeling notation A translator automatically converts this into formal modeling notation As part of this translation, erroneous human behavior can be generated in the formal representation of the human behavior model The formal human behavior model is integrated with a larger formal system model that includes human mission goals, device behavior, and the operational environment A specification asserts desirable properties about the operation of the system using a temporal logic A model checker is used to prove whether or not the system model adheres to the specification The model checker produces a verification report that contains a confirmation or a counterexample (counter proof)
Key Achievements and Future Goals Key Achievements: • A novel, formal, task analytic modeling notation • A task-model-to-formal-model translator • Two novel methods for generating erroneous human behavior • A counterexample visualization tool • Successful application of the method to the design of aircraft checklist procedures, an automobile cruise control system, and a patient controlled analgesia pump Future Goals • Improve method scalability • Model human-human interaction and communication error • Integrate method with other analysis approaches
Professor Sabri Cetinkunt, Mechanical and Indusrial Engineering Primary Grant Support: Caterpillar, NSF, Motorola
Problem Statement and Motivation •
The world needs more affordable, reliable, energy efficient, environmentally friendly construction and agricultural equipment. Energy efficiency improvements can help overcome poverty in developing world.
•
Embedded computer control and information technology applications in construction and agricultural equipment: closed loop controls, GPS, autonomous vehicles.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Developed a new steer-by-wire EH system (for wheel loaders)
•
Developed a new closed center EH hydraulic implement control system
•
Developed semi-active joystick controls
•
Developed payload monitoring systems
•
Closed loop control for graders, site planning with GPS
•
Three US patents awarded (fourth filed)
•
12+ former graduate students employed by CAT
Ahmed A. Shabana, Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering Primary Grant Support: Federal Railroad Administration (USA)
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Develop new methodologies and computer algorithms for the nonlinear dynamic analysis of detailed multi-body railroad vehicle models.
•
The computer algorithms developed can be used to accurately predict the wheel/rail interaction, derailment, stability and dynamic and vibration characteristics of high speed railroad vehicle models.
•
Develop accurate small and large deformation capabilities in order to be able to study car body flexibility and pantograph/ catenary systems.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Methods of nonlinear mechanics are used to formulate the equations of motion of general multi-body systems; examples of which are complex railroad vehicles.
•
Fully nonlinear computational algorithms were developed and their use in the analysis of complex railroad vehicle systems was demonstrated.
•
Small and large deformation finite element formulations are used to develop the equations of motion of the flexible bodies.
•
The results obtained using the new nonlinear algorithms were validated by comparison with measured data as well as the results obtained using other codes.
•
Numerical methods are used to solve the resulting system of differential and algebraic equations.
•
•
Computer graphics and animation are used for the visualization purpose.
Advanced large deformation problems such as pantograph/catenary systems have been successfully and accurately solved for the first time.
•
The tools developed at UIC are currently being used by federal laboratories and railroad industry.
Investigators: John Cuttica, Clifford Haefke (Energy Resources Center) Primary Grant Support: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), Midwest SEOs
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Anaerobic digesters provide the necessary conditions to foster the natural occurring decomposition of organic matter by bacteria in the absence of oxygen.
•
Anaerobic digestion provides an effective method for treating the waste products from livestock farming and food processing industries into:
The ERC fosters anaerobic digester alternative energy project identification and implementation in the 12 state Midwest region through targeted education, unbiased information, and technical assistance.
•
•
Biogas that can be used to provide heat and/or electricity, injected into the natural gas pipeline, or converted to a compressed or liquid transportation fuel
•
Solids (fiber) that can be used as compost, animal bedding, granule fertilizer, and/or medium density fiberboard
•
Liquid (filtrate) for liquid fertilizer land application
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
•
•
The ERC, working closely with several of the State Energy Offices and State Agriculture Departments, has formed partnerships with the anaerobic digester stakeholders in the Midwest.
Since 2004, the ERC has co-organized and/or co-sponsored 14 waste-toenergy workshops on anaerobic digester technologies and their market applications in the agriculture, food processing, and wastewater treatment industries reaching over 1,300 interested attendees: IA (2), IL (5), IN (3), OH (2), MI (1), and MN (1).
•
The ERC has implemented a full gamut of outreach services, including web site, targeted market workshops, project profiles, site technical and financial analyses, and specialty reports.
The ERC has assisted the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) in awarding state grants to 5 Illinois anaerobic digester biogas projects.
•
The ERC has completed 14 technical feasibility assessments and 12 project profiles on anaerobic digester alternative energy projects.
Investigator: Steffen Mueller, PhD (Energy Resources Center) Primary Grant Support: Argonne National Laboratory
Problem Statement and Motivation • • •
•
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
• •
• •
The ERC is co-developing an interface to the GREET model called the Carbon Calculator for Land Use Change from Biofuels Production CCLUB-GREET to assess the emissions from land use changes prompted by different biofuels policies The CCLUB-GREET interface is MS excel based but currently being integrated into the new GREET. Net graphic interface The model itself is populated with results from other modeling efforts including those conducted by Purdue University’s GTAP team and Winrock International. The ERC is working to integrate the various models into CCLUB-GREET Furthermore, the ERC is continuously collecting industry data to support the CCLUB-GREET modeling efforts All information is published in peer reviewed journals
Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation fuels are a major contributor to climate change Biofuels blended into the petroleum based-fuel supply can provide a way to reduce GHG emissions but the overall emissions benefits vary by biofuels feedstock and production method Argonne National Laboratory is the developer of the key life cycle emissions modeling framework used in the United States for fuel cycle emissions modeling: the GREET model The ERC is working closely with Argonne National Laboratory to expand and refine GREET across the various biofuels pathways considered in the model
•
• • •
Elliott, Sharma, Best, Glotter, Dunn, Foster, Miguez, Mueller, and Wang; ”A Spatial Modeling Framework to Evaluate Domestic Biofuel-Induced Potential Land Use Changes and Emissions”; Environmental Science & Technology, 2014 Dunn, Mueller, Kwon, and Wang; “Land Use Change and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Corn and Cellulosic Ethanol”; Biotechnology for Biofuels, 2013 Kwon, Mueller, Dunn, Wander; “Modeling state-level soil carbon emission factors under various scenarios for direct land use change associated with United States biofuel feedstock production”; Biofuels and Bioenergy, 2013 Dunn, Mueller, Wang; “Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from enzyme and yeast manufacture for corn and cellulosic ethanol production”; Biotechnol Lett; October 2012
Investigator: Stefano Galiasso (Energy Resources Center) Primary Grant Support: Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO)
Problem Statement and Motivation • • • •
Technical Approach •
ERC supports the Illinois State Energy Office at the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in multiple ways: • Program analysis and planning • Market Potential Studies • Outreach and Education (market transformation) • Program Implementation (Boiler Tune-Up, Green Nozzle direct install)
Illinois is one of the forefront States in Energy Efficiency The State has set aggressive Energy reduction targets to be achieved every year New technologies are constantly introduced in the market, changing the landscape and requiring constant adaptation The State Energy Office is managing the Public and Low Income sectors, and faces challenges in meeting the targets
Key Achievements and Future Goals Achievements: • Over 2.5 Million Therms/year saved and independently evaluated over 2 years of program administration • IL Public Sector and Low Income market potential study • Filed 3-year plan to ICC Future goals: Introduce new programs and help Illinois achieve higher savings
Investigators: Jennifer Klemundt, Dragan Nikolovski (Energy Resources Center ) Prime Grant Support: Illinois Department of Central Management Services
Problem Statement and Motivation •
• •
• •
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • • •
•
The ERC utilizes proven data management tools and technologies coupled with in-house expertise to provide quality data management service The ERC developed a series of billing, modeling, and analytical tools to store, audit, analyze and summarize supplier’s and utilities’ billing data The ERC has developed a variety of analytical and reporting tools that generate periodic as well as ad-hoc reports for CMS Energy Manager and CMS fiscal office The ERC has designed, developed and implemented a comprehensive billing data repository consisting of consumption and cost data for all state facilities, as well as billing data from participating public utilities.
Since the deregulation of natural gas and electricity markets in Illinois, the Department of Central Management Services implemented a single-buyer market-oriented bulk procurement program for energy commodities and services State of the art data analysis tools and expertise are needed to support decision management and long term strategy development CMS needs a strategic partner to provide data management and analysis for state’s large energy portfolio, as well as in-house data management and analysis tools easily accessible by CMS stakeholders The ERC was selected to manage, monitor and audit deregulated commodity billing data for participating state facilities The ERC was selected to design and develop centralized utility billing data repository for all state facilities.
• • • •
•
The ERC has been providing billing data management and reporting service to CMS for over 15 years The ERC has designed, developed and implemented the State of Illinois Utility Database Management System (SUDMS), a comprehensive utility billing data repository for all state facilities The ERC has been maintaining SUDMS for 4 years The ERC has assisted CMS in the expansion of Natural Gas Bulk Procurement program to incorporate facilities from Ameren territory The ERC has responded to CMS RFP regarding the continuation and expansion of billing auditing and reporting services.
Investigators: Graeme Miller, Henry Kurth (Energy Resources Center) Primary Grant Support: Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO)
Problem Statement and Motivation • Due to the recent events over the past decade with natural disasters severely disrupting energy infrastructure the state of Illinois thought it prudent to create and maintain and energy assurance plan. • The ERC works with state officials to gather data on how to prevent future energy supply disruptions and to minimize future outages.
Technical Approach • The ERC is responsible for the implementation of the project. This includes development and maintenance of the geospatial database, monitoring energy supply and potential disruptions and working with state officials during energy emergencies. • Through ArcGIS, Python and other programming skills the ERC is able to follow weather patterns, real time energy pricing, and grid constraint and their effect on current disruptions and potential interruptions to the state energy network.
Key Achievements and Future Goals • Prepare annual update to the State of Illinois Energy Assurance Plan • Update and maintain the geospatial database of state energy assets • Maintain Supply Disruption Tracking Process Plan • Monitor potential disruption in Illinois energy supply and pricing • Map potential sites of micro-grids that would strengthen the overall electric grid and create a more reliable network.
Kenneth Brezinsky Kenbrez@uic.edu
Problem Statement and Motivation In order to improve internal combustion engine fuel efficiency and mitigate the emission of harmful pollutants, there is a need for predictive chemical and physical models that can predict the behavior of real fuels from the fuel tank to the exhaust. Chemical details of how fuels burn determine their • Burning efficiency: i.e. energy saving, • Cleanness : i.e. soot, NOx, particulates, priority pollutants • Applications: i.e. aviation, spark ignited, or diesel engines; stationary power plants
Single Pulse High Pressure Shock tube Lower Pressure Single Pulse Shock Tube
Future, alternative, fuels will have different chemical burning characteristics; • Combustion chemistry information is necessary of future application
Funding sources: NSF, AFOSR, DOE, NASA, DOD
Technical Approach Develop a chemical experimental and kinetic modeling validation database at real combustor conditions. • • • •
Experiments conducted in two different shock tubes 1) Very high pressure tube: 15-1000 bar 2) Lower pressure tube: 1 -10 bar Chemical species obtained as a function of temperature (6002500K) for a given pressure and time (1- 3 msec) • Species concentrations simulated with detailed chemical models developed in our laboratory
Key Achievements and Future Goals Representative Publications: • “Experimental and modeling study on the pyrolysis and oxidation of n-decane and n-dodecane”, Proc. Combust. Inst., 34, 361-368, 2013. (T. Malewicki, K. Brezinsky) • “Experimental and modeling study on the oxidation of Jet A and the n-dodecane/iso-octane/n-propylbenzene/1,3,5trimethylbenzene surrogate fuel “, Comb. Flame, 160(1), 1730, 2013 (T. Malewicki, S. Gudiyella and K. Brezinsky). • “Pyrolysis of n-Heptane and Oxidation in Mixtures of Ethylene/Methane and iso-Octane” , J. Prop. Power 29, 732743, 2013 (A. Fridlyand, A. Mandelbaum and K. Brezinsky).
Carmen M. Lilley, Mechanical Engineering Primary Grant Support: NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation
FIG. 1: (a) Micrograph of a Ag nanowire under 4-probe I-V measurement, (b) STM scan of the cross-section from left-to-right, (c) line scan profile of cross-section from left-to-right (solid curve) and right-to-left (dashed curve).
•
Successful integration of nanosystems into microelectronics depends on stable material properties that are reliable for at least a 10 year lifecycle with over a trillion cycles of operation.
•
Fundamental understanding of the physics of deformation and failure in nanometer scale capped or layered structures, where surfaces play a dominant role, does not exist. Prior work has mostly focused on monolithic nanometer scale materials.
FIG. 2: Electromigration of a Cu nanowire with the current stress of 4.2 mA (length = 2.04 µm, width = 90 nm, and thickness = 50nm): (a) 0 min, (b) 40 min, (c) 80 min, (d) 120 min, and (e) 137.5 min.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Identify surface contaminants present in as-synthesized nanowires according to metallic, organic, and mixed-materials classifications.
•
Measure the electrical properties of as-synthesized nanowires and identify contamination effects on electrical properties with an accuracy of 5%.
•
Measure the stability of electrical properties of nanowires under accelerated electrical testing and classified according to structure.
[1] [2] [3] [4]
•
Preliminary results on measuring the presence of surface contaminants and their influence on electrical properties completed [1].
•
In depth study on size and surface effects on electromigration for Cu and Au nanowires have been performed [2-4]
•
Additionally, this work has been extended to studying electron surface scattering for single crystalline Ag nanowires.
C. M. Lilley, Q. J. Huang, Applied Physics Letters 2006, 89, 203114. Q. J. Huang, C. M. Lilley, M. Bode, R. Divan, Journal of Applied Physics 2008, 104, 23709. Q. Huang, C. M. Lilley, R. Divan, Nanotechnology 2009, 20, 075706. Q. Huang, C. M. Lilley, R. S. Divan, M. Bode, IEEE Transactions in Nanotechnology 2008, 7, 688.]
Investigators: John Cuttica, Clifford Haefke (Energy Resources Center) Primary Grant Support: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
Problem Statement and Motivation
For more information: www.midwestchptap.org
Technical Approach •
•
•
The U.S. DOE Midwest CHP Technical Assistance Partnership (CHP TAP) was established at the Energy Resources Center (ERC) to promote and assist in transforming the market for Combined Heat and Power (CHP), Waste Heat-to-Power (WHP), and District Energy (DE) with CHP throughout the 12 state Midwest region. The focus of the ERC work is to Market Opportunity Analysis, Education and Outreach, and Technical Assistance. The applied research areas include reciprocating engines, combustion turbines, microturbines, steam turbines, fuel cells, waste heat-to-power systems, organic rankine cycle, absorption chillers, desiccant dehumidification, grid interconnection, and anaerobic digestion. The Midwest target market sectors emphasized include: healthcare, higher education, commercial office buildings, data centers, ethanol plants, industrial manufacturing facilities, wastewater treatment facilities, food processing plants, dairy/hog farms, etc.
•
Combined Heat & Power (CHP), Waste Heat-to-Power (WHP), and District Energy (DE) with CHP systems can provide substantial energy savings, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reliable electric power, and electric utility grid relief. The ability to generate electricity on-site combined with the ability to recycle the waste heat from the prime mover results in fuel use efficiencies as high as 75% - 85% in Conventional (topping cycle) CHP systems.
•
The major barriers to the significant increase in implementation of CHP, WHR, and DE systems is lack of understanding of the technologies by the potential customers, concern by electric utilities that these systems invade their business space and reduce their revenues, ability to secure long term contracts and financing, and lack of state policies that encourage the implementation of these technologies.
Key Achievements and Future Goals In 2013, the Midwest CHP TAP: • was tasked by the U.S. DOE with providing technical assistance to 270+ industrial and institutional facilities in 24 states with coal and oil boilers that are facing stringent emissions limits under the Clean Air Act pollution standards of Boiler Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT). • provided education and unbiased information to Midwest state energy offices, public utility commissions, utilities, and other stakeholders towards the understanding and evaluation of CHP/WHP technologies in state energy efficiency and renewable energy portfolio standards (EEPS / RPS). • assisted MidAmerican Energy Company in the creation of revised standby rates.
F. Mashayek, MIE/UIC; D. Kopriva/FSU; G. Lapenta/LANL Primary Grant Support: ONR, NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation The goal of this project is to develop advanced computational techniques for prediction of various particle/droplet-laden turbulent flows without or with chemical reaction. These techniques are implemented to investigate, in particular, liquid-fuel combustors for control of combustion and design of advanced combustors based on a counter-current shear concept. The experimental components are conducted at the University of Minnesota and the University of Maryland.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach • Turbulence modeling and simulation • Direct numerical simulation (DNS) • Large-eddy simulation (LES) • Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) • Droplet modeling • Probability density function (PDF) • Stochastic • Combustion modeling • PDF • Eddy-breakup • Flamelet • Flow simulation • Spectral element • Finite volume • Finite element
•
Pioneered DNS of evaporating/reacting droplets in compressible flows.
•
Developed a multidomain spectral element code for large clusters.
•
Developed user-defined functions (UDFs) for implementation of improved models in the CFD package Fluent.
•
Developed several new turbulence models for particle/droplet-laden turbulent flows.
•
In the process of development of a new LES code with unstructured grid.
•
Investigating advanced concepts for liquid fuel combustors based on counter-current shear flow.
Farzad Mashayek, MIE/UIC; John Shrimpton, Imperial College London Primary Grant Support: NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation Bio-fuel combustion in direct injection engines and stationary gas turbines is now widely considered as a potential solution to the future energy crisis. Burning bio-fuels reduces CO2 production by naturally recycling this gas. It is also strategically favored because of reducing our dependence on foreign mineral oil. The main impediment to existing technology for combustion of bio-fuels, however, is the difficulty of atomization due to higher viscosity of these oils.
The nozzle
Spray without (left) and with Combustion of Diesel (right) charge injection oil in open air
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach We use an electrostatic process which has proven extremely efficient in improving atomization, dispersion, evaporation rate, and hence combustion mixture preparation. The novelty of this work lies in the implementation of this process for electrically insulating liquids such as bio-fuels. This is accomplished by injecting charge into the liquid prior to its flow through the orifice. The charging process is more efficient for more viscous fluids and requires a negligible (~ mW) electric power with a small (~ 3-4 bar) pressure. This makes these nozzles ideal for injection of highly viscous liquid fuels without any need for preheating.
•
Electrostatic spraying has already been successfully implemented for a range of mineral oils.
•
A workable theory exists for predicting the size of the drops by assuming a negligible role of hydrodynamics.
•
The main goal of this project is to extend this process to bio-fuels which are viscous than common diesel oil.
•
The role of hydrodynamic and the physics behind the charge injection process will be investigated theoretically to improve the design of the atomizer.
C. M. Megaridis, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Primary Grant Support: Motorola, NASA
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Droplet impact ubiquitous in nature and relevant to many practical technologies (coatings, adhesives, etc.)
•
Spreading/recoiling of droplets impacting on solid surfaces (ranging from wettable to non-wettable) features rich inertial, viscous and capillary phenomena
•
Objective is to provide insight into the dynamic behavior of the apparent contact angle and its dependence on contact-line velocity VCL at various degrees of surface wetting
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Perform high-speed imaging of droplet impacts under a variety of conditions
•
Surface wettability has a critical influence on dynamic contact angle behavior
•
By correlating the temporal behaviors of contact angle and contactline speed VCL, the vs. VCL relationship is established
•
There is no universal expression to relate contact angle with contactline speed
•
Common wetting theories are implemented to extract values of microscopic wetting parameters (such as slip length) required to match the experimental data
•
Spreading on non-wettable surfaces indicates that only partial liquid/solid contact is maintained
•
The present results offer guidance for numerical or analytical studies, which require the implementation of boundary conditions at the moving contact line
A. Salehi-Khojin, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Problem Statement and Motivation • To perform a fundamental understanding of chemical sensing in graphene-based chemical field effect transistors for the development of next generation chemical sensors. • To examine the sensing performance of external defects on insulating substrate and internal defects on graphene surface. • To study the effect of humidity and different dopant on the sensitivity of graphene sensors.
Technical Approach • Device fabrication, characterizations and sensing experiments under different conditions • Density Functional Theory calculations to explore the sensing mechanism in graphene
• Suspended graphene fabrication to deconvolute the role of external defects on substrate B. Kumar, K. Min, M. Bashirzadeh, A. Barati-Farimani, M.-H. Bae, D. Estrada, , Y. D. Kim, P. Yasaei, Y. D. Park, E. Pop, N. R. Aluru, A. Salehi-Khojin, The Role of External Defects in Chemical Sensing of Graphene Field-Effect Transistors, NanoLetters, 3 (5), 1962–1968, 2013.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Suresh K. Aggarwal, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Use of Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics methods to investigate thermodynamics and flow processes at nanoscales
•
Dynamics of droplet collision and interfacial processes
•
Interaction of a nanodroplet with carbon nanotube
•
Solid-liquid Interactions and Nanolubrication
Vaporization of a non-spherical nano-droplet
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach Z
1000 Steps
X
30
z
20 0 10 20 30
0 0
40 50
10
y
60
20
x
70
30 40
Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Droplet Evaporation, Int. J. of Heat & Mass Transfer, 46, pp. 3179-3188, 2003.
•
Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Droplet Collision. M.S. Thesis, K. Shukla, 2003.
Y
40
10
•
80
MD simulation of the collision between two nano-droplets
Carmen M. Lilley, Mechanical Engineering (a)
x
Problem Statement and Motivation
Undeformed NW centerline
v
Deformed NW centerline
•
Surface effects, such as a surface elastic modulus and surface stress have been predicted for FCC NWs from atomistic simulations.
(c)
•
Experimentally, elastic modulus measurements of FCC metal NWs have been found to vary widely. Some results indicate apparent size effects, other studies indicate no size effects.
•
For Nanoelectromechanical Systems (NEMS), accurate elastic properties are necessary to design devices.
p(x)=Hv'' (b)
Left
Top w
t1 Right t z
O y Bottom
t1
D
O θ y Surface
z
Note: Drawings are not to scale.
Modeling Surface Stress Effects on the Static Bending Behavior of Nanowires (NW). (a) Schematic of the undeformed and deformed NW centerline. (b) Crosssectional view of a rectangular NW with the surface highlighted. (c) Crosssectional view of circular NW with the surface highlighted..
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Model the elastic bending behavior of face centered cubic (FCC) metals with continuum mechanics.
•
Derived analytical solutions for NWs under static and dynamic bending. [1,2]
•
Apply Young-Laplace Theory to study transverse load effects as a result of surface stress of nanowires (NWs) due to undercoordinated atoms at the surface.
•
Validated theory that surface stress and boundary conditions affect the apparent elastic modulus measured experimentally. [1,2]
•
Study the influence of boundary conditions on the resultant bending mechanical behavior of nanowires.
•
Proposed a surface effect factor as a qualitative parameter predict the influence of surface stress and geometry on the elastic behavior of static bending nanowires. [1,2]
•
Test hypothesis that surface stress and boundary conditions affect the apparent elastic modulus of NWs.
•
Extending the method to large deformation of nanowires for application to NEMS resonators. [3]
[1] J. He, C. M. Lilley, Nano Letters 2008, 8, 1798. [2] J. He, C. M. Lilley, Applied Physics Letters 2008, 93, 263108. [3] J. He, C. M. Lilley, Computational Mechanics In Press.
Farzad Mashayek, MIE/UIC; Themis Matsoukas, ChE/Penn State Primary Grant Support: NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation
Simulated flow of ions over a nanoparticle
Nanoparticles of various materials are building blocks and important constituents of ceramics and metal composites, pharmaceutical and food products, energy related products such as solid fuels and batteries, and electronics related products. The ability to manipulate the surface properties of nanoparticles through deposition of one or more materials can greatly enhance their applicability.
Nanolayer coating on a silica particle
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach A low-pressure, non-equilibrium plasma process is developed using experimental and computational approaches. Two types of reactors are being considered. The first reactor operates in “batch” mode by trapping the nanoparticles in the plasma sheath. Agglomeration of the particles is prevented due to the negative charges on the particles. The second reactor is being designed to operate in a “continuous” mode where the rate of production may be significantly increased. This reactor will also provide a more uniform coating by keeping the nanoparticles outside the plasma sheath.
•
The batch reactor is already operational and has been used to demonstrate the possibility of coating nanoparticles.
•
A reaction model has been developed to predict the deposition rate on the nanoparticle surface.
•
The possibility of using an external magnetic field to control the trapping of the particles has been investigated computationally.
•
The experimental effort is now focused on the design of the “continuous” mode reactor.
•
The computational effort is focused on development of a comprehensive code for simulation of the plasma reactor, nanoparticle dynamics, and surface deposition.
C. M. Megaridis, A. Yarin, Mechanical and Industrial Eng., UIC; Y. Gogotsi, J.C. Bradley, Drexel Univ.; H. Bau, Univ. Pennsylvania Primary Grant Support: National Science Foundation
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Investigate the physical and chemical properties of aqueous fluids contained in multiwall carbon nanotubes
•
Determine the continuum limit for fluid behavior under extreme confinement
•
Provide experimental data for parallel modeling efforts
•
Evaluate the feasibility of fabricating devices using carbon nanotubes as building blocks
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Multiwall carbon nanotubes filled by high-pressure high-temperature processing in autoclaves
•
Gas/Liquid interfaces in carbon nanotubes with diameter above 10nm resemble interfaces in macroscopic capillaries
•
Nanotube diameter in the range 5nm-200nm, and lengths 500nm10μm
•
Non-continuum behavior observed in nanotubes with diameter below 10nm
•
Gas/liquid interfaces used as markers of fluid transport
•
Wettability of carbon walls by water observed; important property for adsorption applications
•
High-resolution electron microscopy and chemical analysis techniques used to resolve behavior of fluids stimulated thermally in the electron microscope
•
Future applications include drug delivery systems, lab-on-a-chip manufacturing, electrochemical cells, etc.
•
Model simulations used to interpret experimental observations
C. M. Megaridis, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering; C. Takoudis, Bioengineering; J. Belot, Univ. Nebraska-Lincoln; J. McAndrew, Air Liquide, Inc. Primary Grant Support: Air Liquide
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Patterned metal films are essential to a wide range of applications ranging from printed circuits, to thin-film displays and electrodes in biomedical implants
•
Inkjet printing has environmental benefits while offering flexibility, cost savings, and scalability to large area substrates
•
Initial focus on Copper due to its very low resistivity. Future extension to bio-compatible metals
•
Homogeneous metal inks eliminate obstacles encountered while using nanoparticle ink suspensions
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Synthesis of metal compounds as primary ingredients of homogeneous inks
•
Ink physical and rheological properties (viscosity, surface tension) optimized for printability
•
Printing tests for optimal line formation; thermal treatment to reduce the deposit to pure metal; final product testing/evaluation
•
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron microscopy used to characterize deposit chemical composition and surface quality
•
Candidate organocopper compounds and solvents have been identified, providing facile decomposition to metallic copper (removal of ligands + reduction of Cu2+ to Cu0), and copper content > 10% wt.
•
Copper lines printed in the laboratory indicate that homogeneous solutions of organocopper compounds can be developed with suitable properties for ink-jet printing
•
Research has the potential to catapult progress in metal ink fabrication and in-situ formation of metallic lines with feature size in the 10-100 mm range
Laxman Saggere, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Primary Grant Support: NSF
Problem Statement and Motivation A 20-mm sphere gripped & moved by two fingers SEM of the micromanipulator chip Integrated micromanipulator system
A 20-mm sphere rotated between two fingers
A micro-object gripped & moved by the fingers
Motivation: Nanomanufacturing is critical for building new functional and useful products. Nanomanufacturing by an assembly-based approach promises to fill the void between the current “bottom-up” and “top-down” approaches and enable assembly of building blocks in future NEMS. However, despite recent advances, currently available tools and techniques for mechanical manipulation of micro/nano-scale objects lack dexterity to accomplish complex assembly of nano-scale objects. The success of assembly-based nanomanufacturing will depend on a micromanipulator tool with high-degree of dexterity beyond that provided by current simple cantilevers and parallel jaw grippers and tweezers. Objectives: To investigate the principles and fundamental issues in a novel manipulation methodology based on the coordinated action of multiple agile fingers at a chipscale to accomplish controlled contact manipulation tasks such as grasp, rotate, regrasp, move and position micro- and nano-scale objects in a defined 2D workspace.
Experimental setup including user control inputs and visual feedback A micro-object rotated between two fingers
Technical Approach The approach involves a novel chipscale micromanipulator comprised of four (or more) tiny compliant fingers, each of which can be independently actuated by integrated piezo actuators. By providing controlled actuation, the fingers can be guided to move in-plane and coordinate with each other to carry out controlled manipulation tasks such as grasp, rotate, move point-to-point and position micro- and nano-scale objects and perform assembly operations in a defined 2D workspace in the plane of the chip. The actuation, and thus, the motion of the micromanipulator fingers can be controlled by means of external user inputs via a gaming controller or a programmed software and visual feedback of locations and motions of the fingers/objects on a video monitor.
Key Achievements and Future Goals Key Achievements: A novel micromanipulation system comprised of a multifingered micromanipulator chip integrated with piezo actuators and enclosed in a precision-machined custom housing has been developed. This micromanipulator system enables highly dexterous manipulations of micro-scale objects on the chip by coordinated action of the fingers when controlled in a close-loop by external user inputs supplied via a wireless gamming controller.
Future Goals: To achieve high precision coordinated manipulation of micro/nano-scale objects incorporating a more sophisticated position/force feedback and a fully programmed motion planning for assembly of the objects in the manipulator workspace.
S. Sinha-Ray, Y. Zhang, Prof. A.L. Yarin (MIE, UIC)
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Development of a novel method of solution blowing of monolithic and core-shell nanofibers.
•
Incorporation of such by-products of BioDiesel production as soy protein into solution blown nanofibers.
•
Demonstration of robust nanofiber nonwovens containing soy protein.
•
Carbonization of core-shell polymer nanofibers and transforming them into amorphous carbon nanotubes.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Solution blowing with gas speeds of about 230-270 m/s.
•
Solutions of soy protein and Nylon-6 in formic acid.
•
Collection of nanofibers on rotating drums.
•
Carbonization to make carbon nanotubes.
•
SEM, staining and fluorescence imaging.
•
To appear in Biomacromolecules (in press, 2011)
•
Demonstration that solution blowing can produce nanofibers at a high rate.
•
Formation of carbon nanotubes from core-shell nanofibers.
•
Formation of robust nanofiber nonwovens containing about 40% of soy protein.
•
Future work will explore strength of soy protein nonwovens; nanofibers will be decorated with silver nanoparticles for applications in catalysis.
S. Sinha-Ray, Y. Zhang, Prof. A.L. Yarin (MIE, UIC)
Problem Statement and Motivation •
Nano-textured surfaces for the enhanced spray cooling, especially for microelectronics, avionics and space applications.
•
Drop cooling with local heat removal rates of about 1 kW/sq.cm.
•
Electrokinetic delivery of coolant to nano-textured surfaces (joint with IIT).
•
Suppression of drop receding and bouncing.
•
Significant surface area enhancement.
Key Achievements and Future Goals
Technical Approach •
Electrospinning of polymer (PAN) nanofiber mats onto a wafer.
•
Sputter coating with Pt-Pd to a thickness of 15 nm.
•
Metal-plating onto nanofibers with control of grain sizes.
•
Drop impact: water and Fluorinerts.
•
SEM and CCD Camera imaging.
•
Published in Langmuir 27, 215-226 (2011) and Physical Review E v. 83, 036305 (2011)
•
Contact line of a fully spread-out drop is pinned, practically no splashing, receding and bouncing.
•
The physical mechanism of pinning and millipede-like drop structure is kindred to the shaped-charge (Munroe) jets.
•
Local heat removal rates of the of about 0.7 kW/sq.cm have been demonstrated with water.
•
Future work will explore pinning of drops at substrates at temperatures of 200-300 C, detail impacts of Fluorinerts and measure heat removal rates for them.