Engineering Commons^™

Explicit Solution Of The Large Amplitude Transverse Vibrations Of A Flexible String Under Constant Tension, Ali Nikkar, Reza Taghipour, Tohid Akhlaghi

Ali Nikkar

This paper presents the analytical simulation of string with large amplitudes using the Variational Iteration Method (VIM) and Hamiltonian Approach (HA). In order to verify the precision of the presented methods, current results were compared with He’s Variational Approach and Runge-Kutta 4th order. It has been found that these methods are well suited for a range of parameters and the approximate frequencies and periodic solutions show a good agreement with other techniques. The results show that both methods can be easily extended to other nonlinear oscillations and it can be predicted that both methods can be found widely applicable ...

Assessment Of Policies For Innovative Financing In Infrastructure Systems, Ali Mostafavi, Dulcy Abraham, Charlene Sullivan

Infrastructure System-of-Systems (I-SoS ) Research Group

Infrastructure systems are drivers of the economy in the nation. A dollar spent on infrastructure development yields roughly double the initial spending in ultimate economic output in the short term; and over a twenty-year period, and generalized ‘public investment’ produces an aggregated $3.21 of economic activity per $1.00 spent [1]. Thus, formulation of policies pertaining to infrastructure investment and development is of significance affecting the social and economic wellbeing of the nation. The aim of this policy brief is to evaluate innovative financing in infrastructure systems from two different perspectives: (1) through consideration of the current condition of ...

Infrared Transmitting Glasses With High Glass Transition Temperatures, Steve W. Martin

Iowa State University Patents

A chalcogenide glass capable of infrared transmission which is either sulfur, selenium or tellurium based and consists of compositions of the formula MX+M.sub.2 'X.sub.3 +SiX.sub.2, wherein M is one of the metals calcium, strontium, barium, zinc and lead, and M' is either aluminum or gallium and X is either sulfur, selenium or tellurium. Aluminum or gallium chalcogenide acts to increase the covalent bonding network structure of the glass with the result being that excellent high temperature 8-14 micron IR transmitting glasses with transition temperatures above 500C are prepared.

Experimental And Numerical Investigation Of The Mechanism Of Blast Wave Transmission Through A Surrogate Head, Yi Hua, Praveen Akula, Linxia Gu, Jeff Berg, Carl A. Nelson

Mechanical & Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

This work is to develop an experiment-validated numerical model to elucidate the wave transmission mechanisms through a surrogate head under blast loading. Repeated shock tube tests were conducted on a surrogate head, i.e., water-filled polycarbonate shell. Surface strain on the skull simulant and pressure inside the brain simulant were recorded at multiple locations. A numerical model was developed to capture the shock wave propagation within the shock tube and the fluid-structure interaction between the shock wave and the surrogate head. The obtained numerical results were compared with the experimental measurements. The experiment-validated numerical model was then used to further ...

Frontal White Matter Integrity In Adults With Down Syndrome With And Without Dementia, David K. Powell, Allison Caban-Holt, Greg A. Jicha, William C. Robertson, Roberta Davis, Brian T. Gold, Frederick A. Schmitt, Elizabeth Head

Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy Center Faculty Publications

Adults with Down syndrome (DS) are at high risk for developing Alzheimer's disease after the age of 40 years. To detect white matter (WM) changes in the brain linked to dementia, fractional anisotropy (FA) from diffusion tensor imaging was used. We hypothesized that adults with DS without dementia (DS n = 10), DS with dementia (DSAD n = 10) and age matched non-DS subjects (CTL n = 10) would show differential levels of FA and an association with scores from the Brief Praxis Test and the Severe Impairment Battery. WM integrity differences in DS compared with CTL were found predominantly in the ...

Study Of Nonlinear Vibration Of Euler-Bernoulli Beams By Using Analytical Approximate Techniques, Saman Bagheri, Ali Nikkar

Ali Nikkar

In this paper, nonlinear responses of a clamped-clamped buckled beam are investigated. Two efficient and easy mathematical techniques called He’s Variational Approach and Laplace Iteration Method are used to solve the governing differential equation of motion. To assess the accuracy of solutions, we compare the results with the Runge-Kutta 4th order. The results show that both methods can be easily extended to other nonlinear oscillations and it can be predicted that both methods can be found widely applicable in engineering and physics.

Fault Locating In Large Distribution Systems By Empirical Mode Decomposition And Core Vector Regression, Benyamin Khorramdel Mr., Hesamoddin Marzooghi Mr., Haidar Samet Dr., Meisam Pourahmadi-Nakhli Mr., Mahdi Raoofat Dr.

Hesamoddin Marzooghi

This paper proposes an intelligent fault locating method using a new signal analysis technique called Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) and Core Vector Regression (CVR) for large distribution systems. The conventional fault locators are based on the measurement of post-fault line impedance suffering from the factors such as path fault impedance, system configuration and line loading, so that they have low accuracy. On the other hand, because of the vast range of resistances, the negative impact of damping factors affects the performance of travelling wave-based fault locators in large distribution systems. To overcome these problems, this paper uses a minimum measuring ...

Decaf: A New Event Detection Logic For The Purpose Of Fusing Delineated-Continuous Spatial Information, Kerry Q. Hart

Computer Science and Engineering: Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research

Geospatial information fusion is the process of synthesizing information from complementary data sources located at different points in space and time. Spatial phenomena are often measured at discrete locations by sensor networks, technicians, and volunteers; yet decisions often require information about locations where direct measurements do not exist. Traditional methods assume the spatial phenomena to be either discrete or continuous, an assumption that underlies and informs all subsequent analysis. Yet certain phenomena defy this dichotomy, alternating as they move across spatial and temporal scales. Precipitation, for example, appears continuous at large scales, but it can be temporally decomposed into discrete ...

The Astral Box, Patrick C. Davis, Marshall J. Underwood, Zack R. Hicks, Jahan Z. Hussaini

University of Tennessee Honors Thesis Projects

No abstract provided.

Object Tracking By Pan Tilt System, Lily Hoang

University of Tennessee Honors Thesis Projects

No abstract provided.

Machine Learning Analysis Of Peripheral Physiology For Emotion Detection, Sarah M. Brown

Electrical and Computer Engineering Master's Theses

Peripheral physiological signals have shown promise as a measure of a person's emotional state. There are many applications where a more quantitative evaluation of an individual's mental state would be beneficial. For example, in PTSD or depression diagnosis, a quantitative measure to assist and compliment the qualitative assessments conducted by clinicians could reduce the time involved in treatment planning. A better understanding of the underlying mechanism is necessary for building systems that use these signals to assist in critical decision making.

Previous work in emotion research has relied upon averaging in time and then applying standard significance tests ...

Active Sensing For Dynamic, Non-Holonomic, Robust Visual Servoing, Avik De, Karl S. Bayer, Daniel E. Koditschek

Departmental Papers (ESE)

We consider the problem of visually servoing a legged vehicle with unicycle-like nonholonomic constraints subject to second-order fore-aft dynamics in its horizontal plane. We target applications to rugged environments characterized by complex terrain likely to perturb significantly the robot’s nominal dynamics. At the same time, it is crucial that the camera avoid “obstacle” poses where absolute localization would be compromised by even partial loss of landmark visibility. Hence, we seek a controller whose robustness against disturbances and obstacle avoidance capabilities can be assured by a strict global Lyapunov function. Since the nonholonomic constraints preclude smooth point stabilizability we introduce ...

Response Of Large River Fishes To A Prolonged High Water Event In The Missouri River, Nebraska, Nicholas Paul Hogberg

Dissertations & Theses in Natural Resources

Regulation and modification of large rivers to accommodate human uses have been a root cause of freshwater biodiversity declines. The Missouri River is among the most drastically-altered large river systems in North America, with a series of mainstem impoundments in the upper watershed altering flow characteristics downstream, and channelization throughout the lower river homogenizing instream habitat and reducing off-channel habitat. Precipitation events during the winter and spring 2010-2011 caused flooding of the greatest magnitude and duration since reservoir completion. The large magnitude and long duration of this flood made it unlike any flood in recent history and provided a unique ...

Volatile Organic Compounds (Vocs) In Indoor Air: Emission From Consumer Products And The Use Of Plants For Air Sampling, Todd A. Wetzel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Indoor air concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including many with documented adverse health effects, vary widely but are generally higher than found outdoors. Volatile organic compounds can enter indoor environments via internal (e.g. paints, paint strippers, fuels, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials, adhesives) and external sources (e.g. vapor intrusion (VI) from contaminated soil and/or groundwater and ambient air from automobiles and industrial facilities). Since many consumer products contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are also the focus of soil and groundwater cleanup projects, emissions of these VOCs can lead to false source identifications during VI investigations ...

Essence Reflection Meetings: Field Study, Cécile Péraire, Todd Sedano

Cécile Péraire

This paper presents an empirical evaluation of the team reflection support provided by the Software Engineering Method and Theory (SEMAT) Essence framework, and compares Essence reflection meetings to other types of team reflection meetings. The researchers conducted a field study involving seven graduate master student teams running Essence reflection meetings throughout their practicum projects aiming at delivering a working product for an industry client. The main result validates that Essence meetings generate reflective team discussions through a thinking framework that is holistic, state-based, goal- driven, and method-agnostic. Student teams benefit from stepping back and assessing the project holistically throughout its ...

Considerations For Hood Placement And Design Downstream From A Fixed-Cone Valve, Barry Jacob Prettyman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In many hydroelectric projects there is a need to safely dissipate the energy associated with the elevation of the water surface. When the flow is not passing through the turbines, bypass valves are often used. A valve that is commonly used is the fixed-cone valve. Fixed-cone valves, also known as Howell-Bunger valves, are devices often used to safely reduce flow energy at dams with medium to high heads. The valve directs the outflow into a conical hollow jet, which requires a large area for energy dissipation. The flow is controlled by an adjustable sleeve, also known as the gate which ...

Evaluation Of Composting Of Municipal Solid Waste, J. Ryan Stebbins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A field-scale commercial compost study was conducted to evaluate the impact of the Bio-Environmental Resource Recovery International (BERRI) Microbial Assisted Regeneration System (MARS) process, specifically its proprietary microbial inocula, on compost production of various agricultural waste and municipal solid waste (MSW) mixtures. Treated and control windrows were constructed to compare the MARS inoculum by quantity and quality of compost produced, organic stabilization time, and individual component sorting (i.e., green waste, wood, agriculture waste, food waste, MSW, C&D debris, and tires). Specific VOC and SVOC compounds, as well as a common pesticide, carbaryl, were added specifically for this study ...

Building Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Is Goal Of Cedarville Engineers, Josiah Clemons

News Releases

Racing in supermileage car competitions has been the norm at Cedarville Univesity since 1991. In these competitions, first with SAE (1991-2010) and now with Shell (since 2007), the teams of Cedarville engineering students have gained practical learning knowledge while winning awards in the process.

The Folklore Of Herbs, Lisa K. Miller

DLPS Faculty Publications

This Powerpoint presentation is a stroll through the herb gardens of history, and reveals how our ancestors used herbs and what their beliefs were surrounding them.

Sustainable Desalination - A Multipurpose Facility Developed To Alleviate Water Crises Suffered By Small Island Nations Due To Global Climate Change, Brandon Harper

College of Engineering Presentations

As the effects of global warming become more prevalent, small island nations around the world are on the frontline of not only rising seas, but an even more immediate threat of drought brought on by climate change. Even during the most severe drought, these small landmasses are surrounded by an endless supply of saltwater that can be converted into potable water. Desalination by reverse osmosis, an increasingly popular technology around the globe, is notoriously expensive, energy intensive, and emits large amounts of pollution depending on the energy source utilized.

This research project inspects the feasibility and capabilities of a small-scale ...