Digital Commons Network^™

Study Of Computational Image Matching Techniques: Improving Our View Of Biomedical Image Data, Ahmadreza Baghaie

Theses and Dissertations

Image matching techniques are proven to be necessary in various fields of science and engineering, with many new methods and applications introduced over the years. In this PhD thesis, several computational image matching methods are introduced and investigated for improving the analysis of various biomedical image data. These improvements include the use of matching techniques for enhancing visualization of cross-sectional imaging modalities such as Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), denoising of retinal Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), and high quality 3D reconstruction of surfaces from Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images. This work greatly improves the process of data …

Improving The Speech Intelligibility By Cochlear Implant Users, Behnam Azimi

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we focus on improving the intelligibility of speech for cochlear implants (CI) users. As an auditory prosthetic device, CI can restore hearing sensations for most patients with profound hearing loss in both ears in a quiet background. However, CI users still have serious problems in understanding speech in noisy and reverberant environments. Also, bandwidth limitation, missing temporal fine structures, and reduced spectral resolution due to a limited number of electrodes are other factors that raise the difficulty of hearing in noisy conditions for CI users, regardless of the type of noise. To mitigate these difficulties for CI …

Solid State Protective Device Topological Trade-Offs For Mvdc Systems, Vikas Singh

Theses and Dissertations

Presently accepted approaches to protection are “Unit-Based” which means the power converter(s) feeding the bus coordinate with no-load electromechanical switches to isolate faulted portions of the bus. However, “Breaker-Based” approaches, which rely upon solid state circuit breakers for fault mitigation can result in higher reliability of power and potentially higher survivability. The inherent speed of operation of solid state protective devices will also play a role in fault isolation, hence reducing stress level on all system components. A comparison study is performed of protective device topologies that are suitable for shipboard distribution systems rated between 4kVdc and 20kVdc from the …

Probabilistic Reliability Analysis Of Electric Power Systems With Smart Grid Technologies And Water Distribution Networks: Modeling, Assessment, And Comparison, Ruosong Xiao

Theses and Dissertations

With the rapid growth of population, the modern human society is becoming more and more dependent on the proper operation of critical infrastructures - the interconnected electrical power system, the drinking water distribution and supply system, the natural gas transmission and distribution system, and so forth. It has become an important issue to maintain reliable functions of these critical systems. As a result, comprehensive reliability evaluation is highly needed to quantify their reliability in an objective manner. Conventionally, deterministic criteria were used in reliability evaluations. However, it lacked the ability to model and quantify the stochastic nature of system behaviors …

The Study Of Locating Ground Faults In Dc Microgrid Using Wavelet Transform, Ruijing Yang

Theses and Dissertations

As the proliferations of distributed generation and power electronic equipment in power systems, direct current (DC) microgrid emerged and attracted more and more researchers’ attentions. Protection of DC microgrid is a big challenge and to build a well-function protection system, locating the faults accurately is a critical issue. It is easy to find the location of short circuit faults in DC microgrid. However, it is difficult to locate ground faults in DC microgrid because of the spray capacitors and the large amount of distributed resources.

In this thesis, Wavelet Transform is applied to decompose the common mode currents that is …

Transient Control Of Synchronous Machine Active And Reactive Power In Micro-Grid Power Systems, Luke Gerard Weber

Theses and Dissertations

There are two main topics associated with this dissertation. The first is to investigate

phase–to–neutral fault current magnitude occurring in generators with multiple zero–sequence

current sources. The second is to design, model, and tune a linear control system for oper-

ating a micro–grid in the event of a separation from the electric power system.

In the former case, detailed generator, AC8B excitation system, and four–wire electric

power system models are constructed. Where available, manufacturers data is used to

validate the generator and exciter models. A gain–delay with frequency droop control

is used to model an internal combustion engine and governor. …

An Energy Efficient, Load Balancing, And Reliable Routing Protocol For Wireless Sensor Networks, Kamil Samara

Theses and Dissertations

AN ENERGY EFFICIENT, LOAD BALANCING, AND RELIABLE ROUTING PROTOCOL FOR WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

by

Kamil Samara

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2016

Under the Supervision of Professor Hossein Hosseini

The Internet of Things (IoT) is shaping the future of Computer Networks and Computing in general, and it is gaining ground very rapidly. The whole idea has originated from the pervasive presence of a variety of things or objects equipped with the internet connectivity. These devices are becoming cheap and ubiquitous, at the same time more powerful and smaller with a variety of onboard sensors. All these factors with the availability of …

Deep Tissue Light Delivery And Fluorescence Tomography With Applications In Optogenetic Neurostimulation, Mehdi Azimipour

Theses and Dissertations

Study of the brain microcircuits using optogenetics is an active area of research. This method has a few advantages over the conventional electrical stimulation including the bi-directional control of neural activity, and more importantly, specificity in neuromodulation. The first step in all optogenetic experiments is to express certain light sensitive ion channels/pumps in the target cell population and then confirm the proper expression of these proteins before running any experiment. Fluorescent bio-markers, such as green fluorescent protein (GFP), have been used for this purpose and co-expressed in the same cell population. The fluorescent signal from such proteins provides a monitory …

Wireless Power Transfer Using Class-De Converter Via Strongly Coupled Two Planar Coils, Ayetullah Bahadir Biten

Theses and Dissertations

WIRELESS POWER TRANSFER USING CLASS-DE CONVERTER

VIA

STRONGLY COUPLED TWO PLANAR COILS

by

Ayetullah Bahadir Biten

The University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, August 2016

Under the supervision of Professor Adel Nasiri

Wireless power systems are getting popular with the improvement in the technology not just because it is a fancy and cool conception but also because it is more convenient and safer in some applications. For example, this project aims to help high power data center design to be changed to wirelessly powered center to provide a safe and hands-on work environment even under different load conditions. Thinking of the …

Design, Implementation, And Evaluation Of A Fluorescence Laminar Optical Tomography Scanner For Brain Imaging, Mahya Sheikhzadeh

Theses and Dissertations

Implementation of new instrumentation and techniques for neuroscience research in recent years has opened new avenues in the study of the dynamics of large-scale neural networks such as the brain. In many of these techniques, including fluorescence recordings and optogenetic stimulation, a combination of photonics and molecular genetic methods are exploited to manipulate and monitor neural activities. Such techniques have been proven to be highly efficient in unraveling the mysteries of data processing in the micro circuits of the brain and as a result these techniques are widely used nowadays in most neuroscience labs.

In optogenetics, cell-types of interest are …

A New Paradigm Of Maximizing The Wind And Solar Penetration– A Economical Assessment, Yuming Chen

Theses and Dissertations

Wind and solar energies are the most potential and widely-used renewable energies. But in most cases these energies cannot be maximized because of transmission line capacity and their remote location. Therefore, this thesis proposes a new paradigm which using battery transportation and logistics instead of transmission line, to maximize wind and solar energies. The main focus of this work is to investigate the economical feasibilities of this new paradigm.

In the first part, different models and application are presented. The purpose is finding an appropriate model which can make full use of existing grid resources such as transmission line and …

Monitoring Cellular Metabolism With Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, Jeffrey Jay Sugar

Theses and Dissertations

Aims: Although NIRS oximetry has been widely used in clinical and research settings to monitor oxygen consumption in muscles (1), it is not necessarily able to obtain cellular metabolic levels directly. Oxygen saturation will only change with aerobic metabolism (2); however, anaerobic metabolism cannot be assessed by monitoring oxygen saturation. This work aims to measure cell oxygenation and blood oxygenation, simultaneously, by applying oximetry to hemoglobin/deoxyhemoglobin and to cytochrome c oxidase (CCOX). A custom build NIRS device called the cytoximeter was constructed to achieve this goal. This work could have important impacts on monitoring neurological diseases, Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), …

The Effects Of Geomagnetic Disturbances On Electrical Power Systems, Benjamin J. Hynes

Theses and Dissertations

Solar storms that generate coronal mass ejections are a cause for concern due to the damage that they cause in high voltage power grids. Geomagnetically induced currents can be introduced onto the grid and cause many adverse effects. The vulnerability of the bulk electric power systems to such events has increased during the past few decades because the power system transmission lines have become more interconnected and have increased in length. Real and reactive power flows, voltage fluctuations, frequency shifts, undesired relay operations, higher order harmonic currents, undesired damage to assets and failure of assets are all possible outcomes from …

Coding Strategies For Cochlear Implants Under Adverse Environments, Qudsia Tahmina

Theses and Dissertations

Cochlear implants are electronic prosthetic devices that restores partial hearing in patients with severe to profound hearing loss. Although most coding strategies have significantly improved the perception of speech in quite listening conditions, there remains limitations on speech perception under adverse environments such as in background noise, reverberation and band-limited channels, and we propose strategies that improve the intelligibility of speech transmitted over the telephone networks, reverberated speech and speech in the presence of background noise. For telephone processed speech, we propose to examine the effects of adding low-frequency and high- frequency information to the band-limited telephone speech. Four listening …

Improved Attribute-Based Encryption With Fpga For Automatic Appliance Control Application In Smart Grid, Xueqing Wang

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, the author describes the privacy violation issues in smart grid with Automatic Appliance Control applications, and explains the security threats related to it. The smart grid is a sensitive and sophisticated system in real life operation. A mass of data including the remote control commands and users’ energy consumptions is transmitted between the utility companies and other devices in the smart grid such as the substations, smart meters, smart home appliances and much more. Without efficient cryptographic methods, an adversary may hack into the data or the remote control commands and extrapolates a resident’s activity model. Therefore, …

Design And Optimization Of Hybrid Energy Storage For Photovoltaic Power Fluctuation Smoothing Based On Frequency Analysis, Ruirui Yang

Theses and Dissertations

A proper design of energy storage system (ESS) can effectively smooth the photovoltaic (PV) output power fluctuation, lower the cost, and improve the power quality and stability.

According to the response characteristics of different energy storage equipment, an optimal hybrid EES sizing method is proposed based on frequency analysis. A hybrid ESS including lead-acid battery, lithium battery and electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) is selected to smooth out PV power fluctuation and meet both power and energy requirement of the power grid. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) method is applied for analyzing the spectrum of unwanted PV fluctuation. From the FFT analysis, …

Analysis, Design And Implementation Of A Resonant Solid State Transformer, Mohamad Zouheir Sabbah

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the design of a full-bridge resonant LLC Solid State Transformer. The proposed topology uses a high-frequency transformer which helps minimizing its cost and size, and enables operating at varying load conditions. By using a resonant circuit, soft switching is achieved. Commutation techniques are discussed, namely ZVS and ZCS. Both concepts are applied on different legs of the H-bridge. Pulse frequency modulation (PFM) and Phase Shifting Modulation (PSM) are utilized to control this resonant converter. One of the requirements of this work is to achieve a tightly regulated DC bus voltage. This was shown to be achieved using …