Engineering Commons^™

Research Incentive Programs For Closures Of Public And Private Grade Crossings, Julius Codjoe

Publications

Vehicle-train crashes that occur at highway-rail crossings result in injuries, fatalities, and damage to equipment. In order to reduce the number of vehicle-train crashes, Federal Railroad Administration requires states which have challenges with crossing safety, including Louisiana, to develop a State Action Plan to improve grade crossing safety. Consequently, identification of specific solutions for improving safety at crossings was included in the 2015 Louisiana Transportation Plan as one of its objectives. This study seeks to identify and evaluate current and new incentive programs that encourage closure of at-grade railroad crossings to reduce the number of potential vehicle-train collision points, and …

Crude Oil Prices Forecasting: Time Series Vs. Svr Models, Xin James He

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This research explores the weekly crude oil price data from U.S. Energy Information Administration over the time period 2009 - 2017 to test the forecasting accuracy by comparing time series models such as simple exponential smoothing (SES), moving average (MA), and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) against machine learning support vector regression (SVR) models. The main purpose of this research is to determine which model provides the best forecasting results for crude oil prices in light of the importance of crude oil price forecasting and its implications to the economy. While SVR is often considered the best forecasting model in …

The Relationship Between Organizational Resources And Green It/S Adoption: A Rbv Approach, Lutfus Sayeed, Alberto Onetti

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

ABSTRACT

The objective of the present study was to empirically explore the impact of the implementation of Green IT/S measures on organizational resources in the US and European firms. The study examined the influence of reconfiguration of resources within a firm while adopting various Green IT/S practices and technologies. Green IT/S implementation requires resource commitment from organizations (Bose and Luo, 2011). What are these resources and how do they affect the extent of Green IT/S measures adopted by businesses? Resource Based View (RBV) of the firm was used as the theoretical framework of the study. The relationship between the adoption …

Table Of Contents Jitim Vol 27 Issue 3, 2018

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Table of Contents

Research On Safety Management Of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships, Kangqun Chen

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Trust In The Cryptocurrency Marketplace: A Reputation Scoring Approach, Dan Freeman, Tim Mcwilliams, Sudip Bhattacharyya, Craig Hall, Pablo Peillard

SMU Data Science Review

Trust is paramount for the effective operation of any monetary system. While the distributed architecture of blockchain technology on which cryptocurrencies operate has many benefits, the anonymity of users on the blockchain has provided criminal users an opportunity to hide both their identities and illicit activities. In this paper, we present a scoring mechanism for cryptocurrency users where the scores represent users’ trustworthiness as safe or risky transactors in the cryptocurrency community. In order to distinguish law-abiding users from potential threats in the Bitcoin marketplace, we analyze historical thefts to profile transactions, classify them into risky and non-risky categories using …

Yelp’S Review Filtering Algorithm, Yao Yao, Ivelin Angelov, Jack Rasmus-Vorrath, Mooyoung Lee, Daniel W. Engels

SMU Data Science Review

In this paper, we present an analysis of features influencing Yelp's proprietary review filtering algorithm. Classifying or misclassifying reviews as recommended or non-recommended affects average ratings, consumer decisions, and ultimately, business revenue. Our analysis involves systematically sampling and scraping Yelp restaurant reviews. Features are extracted from review metadata and engineered from metrics and scores generated using text classifiers and sentiment analysis. The coefficients of a multivariate logistic regression model were interpreted as quantifications of the relative importance of features in classifying reviews as recommended or non-recommended. The model classified review recommendations with an accuracy of 78%. We found that reviews …

Determination Of Takeoff And Landing Distances Using An Ipad Performance Application For The Diamond Da40, Tyler A. Babb, Christina Hiers

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

All pilots are required to calculate aircraft performance parameters prior to flight. This includes takeoff and landing distances. Traditionally, pilots in training have planned for takeoff and landing performance using paper charts provided by the manufacturer. However, professional pilots use devices such as Flight Management Systems (FMS), Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) applications, or on-board performance computers (OPC) to make such calculations. During primary flight training, student pilots could make performance calculations with proper software, similar to the method they will typically use at the professional level. Recently an iPad application was released which can calculate numerous performance parameters for specific …

Book Review: Fundamentals Of International Aviation, Alan Bender

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Not applicable.

Incorporating Diegetic Elements To Increase Engagement In Games For Engineering Education, Katherine Smith, Yuzhong Shen, Anthony W. Dean

VMASC Publications

One of the difficulties in developing educational games is maintaining player engagement. This engagement is critical for games to provide effective learning experiences. One way to increase engagement in games is to limit interruptions during game play. In educational games, this can be accomplished by incorporating learning or problem-solving elements diegetically. Diegetic elements are those that are part of the game scene. With this in mind, a series of games for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has been developed focusing on content in courses that are prerequisites to the engineering curriculum. These games cover topics in pre-calculus, calculus, …

Desalination Concentrate Disposal: Ecological Effects And Sustainable Solutions, Ryan Hanley

Global Honors Theses

Freshwater availability is a growing global concern, and desalination is often presented as the solution, but from this important technology comes issues of toxic waste. Ecosystems are delicate areas that contain species adapted to that specific location, and any chemical or physical changes can disrupt the fitness of species. The concentrate byproduct waste from desalination plants is toxic to species if the concentrate is not compatible with the receiving water body. A critical review of scientific articles, industry-leading books, conversations with industry experts, and information from the American Membrane Technology Association conference was used to analyze the current knowledge. Species …

Sensor Technologies For Intelligent Transportation Systems, Juan Guerrero-Ibáñez, Sherali Zeadally, Juan Contreras-Castillo

Information Science Faculty Publications

Modern society faces serious problems with transportation systems, including but not limited to traffic congestion, safety, and pollution. Information communication technologies have gained increasing attention and importance in modern transportation systems. Automotive manufacturers are developing in-vehicle sensors and their applications in different areas including safety, traffic management, and infotainment. Government institutions are implementing roadside infrastructures such as cameras and sensors to collect data about environmental and traffic conditions. By seamlessly integrating vehicles and sensing devices, their sensing and communication capabilities can be leveraged to achieve smart and intelligent transportation systems. We discuss how sensor technology can be integrated with the …

Influence Of Steel Fibres On The Behaviour Of Rpc Circular Columns Under Different Loading Conditions, Ahmed Al-Tikrite, Muhammad N. S Hadi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

An experimental program was conducted to investigate the effect of inclusion of steel fibres on the behaviour of Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) columns. Three different types of steel fibre were used: micro straight steel fibre (MF), macro deformed steel fibre (DF) and waste steel fibre (WF) recovered from discarded tyres. In addition, a hybridization of steel fibres was made up to produce waste-industrial hybridization (WHF) (MF, DF and WF). Twenty reinforced RPC column specimens were prepared and tested under axial concentric, eccentric and flexural loading. Results of testing demonstrated that the ultimate axial load and the corresponding axial deformation increased …

Behaviour Of Carbon Fibre-Reinforced Polymer-Confined Hollow Circular Concrete Columns With Inner Polyvinyl Chloride Tube, Hussamaldeen Goaiz, Tao Yu, Muhammad N. S Hadi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Existing studies have shown that the use of an inner tube can significantly enhance the effectiveness of confinement in fibre-reinforced polymer-confined hollow columns. The inner tube used in the existing studies, however, generally had a large stiffness and also served as longitudinal reinforcement. The use of a stiff inner tube is inefficient in resisting bending for hollow columns with a relatively small void and may be unnecessary for constraining the inner surface of concrete. Against this background, this article presents the first experimental study on fibre-reinforced polymer-confined hollow columns with an inner polyvinyl chloride tube. The experimental program included a …

Local Buckling Of Steel Plates In Concrete-Filled Steel Tubular Columns At Elevated Temperatures, Ghanim Mohammed Kamil, Qing Quan Liang, Muhammad N. S Hadi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Local buckling remarkably reduces the strength of steel plates in rectangular thin-walled concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns at ambient temperature. This effect is more remarkable at elevated temperature. However, there have been very limited experimental and numerical investigations on the local and post-local buckling behavior of steel plates in CFST columns at elevated temperatures. This paper presents numerical studies on the local and post-local buckling behavior of thin steel plates under stress gradients in rectangular CFST columns at elevated temperatures. For this purpose, finite element models are developed, accounting for geometric and material nonlinearities at elevated temperatures. The initial geometric …

The Impact Of Imaging Modality (Ct Vs Mri) And Patient Position (Supine Vs Prone) On Tangential Whole Breast Radiation Therapy Planning, Kylie L. Dundas, Elise M. Pogson, Vikneswary Batumalai, Geoff P. Delaney, Miriam M. Boxer, Mei Ling Yap, Verity Ahern, Christine Chan, Steven David, Marion Dimigen, Jennifer A. Harvey, Eng-Siew Koh, Karen Lim, George Papadatos, Elizabeth Lazarus, Joseph Descellar, Peter E. Metcalfe, Lois C. Holloway

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) versus computed tomography (CT)-derived planning target volumes (PTVs), in both supine and prone positions, for whole breast (WB) radiation therapy.

Methods and materials

Four WB radiation therapy plans were generated for 28 patients in which PTVs were generated based on CT or MRI data alone in both supine and prone positions. A 6-MV tangential intensity modulated radiation therapy technique was used, with plans designated as ideal, acceptable, or noncompliant. Dose metrics for PTVs and organs at risk were compared to analyze any differences …

Development And Evaluation Of An Mre-Based Absorber With Two Individually Controllable Natural Frequencies, Jie Yang, Shuaishuai Sun, J Chi, Donghong Ning, Haiping Du, Shan-Wen Zhang, Weihua Li, Shixin Mao

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Adaptive tuned mass absorbers, which are based on magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) have been widely accepted for vibration absorption due to their frequency shift capability. Wider frequency bandwidth indicates more effectiveness in reducing vibrations. In order to broaden the effective bandwidth of the MRE-based absorber, this study proposes a new design consisting of an eccentric mass. This design enables the absorber to have two natural frequencies: the rotational natural frequency and the translational one. These two natural frequencies can be controlled separately by adjusting the MRE stiffness and the eccentric length. This design not only broadens the effective bandwidth of the …

Position Control Of A Soft Prosthetic Finger With Limited Feedback Information, Solen Kumbay-Yildiz, Rahim Mutlu, Gursel Alici

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

One of the challenging research questions in soft robotics is the establishment of valid mathematical models and control techniques under limited feedback conditions. A soft robotic system will typically have a continuum or monolithic body seamlessly embodying its actuation and sensing elements, accompanied by mechanical structure, and even the energy source, much like a biological system. In this study, we propose a relay sliding mode controller based on the input - output model (RSMC-IO), which is a simple but effective control approach that does not require a complete system model, to control the tip position of a soft prosthetic finger, …

Driver Intention Based Coordinate Control Of Regenerative And Plugging Braking For Electric Vehicles With In-Wheel Pmsms, Wenfei Li, Haiping Du, Weihua Li

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Electric vehicles have been the focus of the automotive industry in recent years. However, relatively small driving range of electric vehicles makes it not be broadly adopted in the market. Regenerative braking is one of the most effective ways to extend the endurance of electric vehicles. To sufficiently utilise the regenerative braking of electric vehicles and explore the potential of the electric motor plugging braking capability to simplify the braking system structure and reduce the cost, a new braking strategy based on the driver's braking intention and motor working characteristics is proposed. Driver's braking intention is classified as the emergency …

Modeling Supply Network Configuration Problems With Varying Demand Profiles, Subodha Dharmapriya, Senevi Kiridena, Nagesh Shukla

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

In this paper, we develop a novel multi-objective modeling approach to support supply network configuration decisions, while considering varying demand profiles. In so doing, we illustrate how such an approach could contribute to building supply network robustness and resilience. The proposed model entails two key objectives; minimizing lead time and cost across the supply network. The solution approach first employs a bidding mechanism to select a set of supply network entities that match with a given demand profile from a candidate pool of entities. It then applies the popular technique known as N on-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II to generate a …

Combined Message Passing Based Sbl With Dirichlet Process Prior For Sparse Signal Recovery With Multiple Measurement Vectors, Zhengdao Yuan, Chuanzong Zhang, Qinghua Guo, Zhongyong Wang, Xinhua Lu, Sheng Wu

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This paper concerns the problem of sparse signal recovery with multiple measurement vectors, where the sparse signal vectors share multiple supports (i.e., the signal vectors can be clustered and the vectors in a cluster share a common support) and the prior knowledge on the supports of the vectors is unknown. This problem can be solved using sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) with Dirichlet process (DP) as hyper-prior, which is named DP-SBL in this paper. This work aims to design efficient inference algorithms. The variational inference for DP mixtures, in particular mean field (MF) inference, has been studied, and applying it to …

Delay-Dependent Fault-Tolerant Shape Control For Stochastic Distribution Systems, Yu Cheng, Long Chen, Tao Li, Haiping Du

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

A new adaptive delay-dependent fault-tolerant shape control strategy is proposed for the stochastic distribution system with time-delay, which can effectively make the output probability density function (PDF) track a given target distribution. In this framework, firstly, a system model based on PDF with the actuator failure is constructed. And then, an adaptive delay-dependent fault-tolerant controller, which include a normal controller and an adaptive compensation controller is designed. The normal controller can track the given output distribution with an optimized performance index when there is no actuator fault, and the adaptive compensation controller can reduce the negative effects caused by the …

Design Of A Single-Layer Microchannel For Continuous Sheathless Single-Stream Particle Inertial Focusing, Yan Zhang, Jun Zhang, Fei Tang, Weihua Li, Xiaohao Wang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

High-throughput, high-precision single-stream focusing of microparticles has a potentially wide range of applications in biochemical analysis and clinical diagnosis. In this work, we develop a sheathless three-dimensional (3D) particle-focusing method in a single-layer microchannel. This novel microchannel consists of periodic high-aspect-ratio curved channels and straight channels. The proposed method takes advantage of both the curved channels, which induce Dean flow to promote particle migration, and straight channels, which suppress the remaining stirring effects of Dean flow to stabilize the achieved particle focusing. The 3D particle focusing is demonstrated experimentally, and the mechanism is analyzed theoretically. The effects of flow rate, …

Multizone Soundfield Reproduction With Privacy- And Quality-Based Speech Masking Filters, Jacob Donley, Christian H. Ritz, W Kleijn

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Reproducing zones of personal sound is a challenging signal processing problem which has garnered considerable research interest in recent years. We introduce in this work an extended method to multizone soundfield reproduction which overcomes issues with speech privacy and quality. Measures of Speech Intelligibility Contrast (SIC) and speech quality are used as cost functions in an optimisation of speech privacy and quality. Novel spatial and (temporal) frequency domain speech masker filter designs are proposed to accompany the optimisation process. Spatial masking filters are designed using multizone soundfield algorithms which are dependent on the target speech multizone reproduction. Combinations of estimates …

Simultaneous Estimation Of Primary And Cross-Channel Gains For Underlay Cognitive Radios, Junteng Yao, Ming Jin, Qinghua Guo, Youming Li

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

In underlay cognitive radios, the primary-channel gain from a primary transmitter (PU-Tx) to a primary receiver (PU-Rx) and the cross-channel gain from a cognitive transmitter (SU-Tx) to the PU-Rx are crucial for the SU-Tx in controlling its transmit power when sharing spectrum with primary users (PUs). However, the non-cooperation between PUs and secondary users (SUs) makes it difficult for the SU-Tx to acquire the primary-channel and cross-channel gains, in particular when the channel reciprocity is not applicable. Most existing works focus on cross-channel gain estimation and are often based on the channel reciprocity. In this work, we propose a scheme …

Lattice Boltzmann Simulation Of Flow And Heat Transfer Evolution Inside Encapsulated Phase Change Materials Due To Natural Convection Melting, Qi Lin, Shugang Wang, Zhenjun Ma, Jihong Wang, Tengfei Zhang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

A comprehensive study of the melting process inside a capsule can potentially take full advantages of latent heat of phase change materials (PCMs). The present study was devoted to the problem of complex interaction of natural convection and melting of PCMs inside a spherical capsule under differen t sizes. The numerical results, simulated by lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), were compared with experimental data and published simulations. The results showed that LBM presented desirable accuracy compared to traditional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. Then, the effects of non-uniform PCM properties, expressed by the solid/liquid thermal diffusivity ratio, on the melting rate …

Analog Least Mean Square Loop For Self-Interference Cancellation In Generalized Continuous Wave Sar, Anh Tuyen Le, Yijiang Nan, Le Chung Tran, Xiaojing Huang, Y J. Guo, J (Yiannis) Vardaxoglou

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Generalized continuous wave synthetic aperture radar (GCW-SAR) is a promising new imaging radar system since it applies the full-duplex (FD) transmission technique to achieve continuous signaling in order to overcome several fundamental limitations of the conventional pulsed SARs. As in any FD wireless communication system, self-interference (SI) is also a key problem which can impact on the GCW-SAR system. In this paper, the analog least mean square (ALMS) loop in the radio frequency domain is adopted to cancel the SI for a GCW-SAR system with periodic chirp signaling. The average residual SI power after the ALMS loop is analyzed theoretically …

Experimental Investigation And Assessment Of Internal Stability Of Granular Filters Under One-Dimensional Static And Cyclic Loading, Jahanzaib Israr, Jehangir Israr

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Internal instability occurs when the finer fraction of a filter escapes with the infiltrates, causing permanent changes to its particle size distribution and rendering it ineffective. Thus far, numerous criteria based on particle and constriction size distributions have been proposed to assess the potential of internal instability. This paper reports the results of pressure gradient controlled hydraulic tests performed on granular soils including silt-sand-gravel, sand, and sand-gravel mixtures with their uniformity coefficients ranging from 1 to 304 and compacted at varying relative densities between 0 and 100 %. Select dense samples were then subjected to a series of hydraulic tests …

Axial Compressive Behavior Of Steel Equal Angle Section-Reinforced Square High-Strength Concrete Column, Ayoob Ibrahim, M Neaz Sheikh, Muhammad N. S Hadi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

A new method of reinforcing concrete columns with steel equal angle (SEA) sections has been investigated. A total of 12 square high-strength concrete (HSC) column specimens (with 210 mm [8.26 in.] sides and 600 mm [23.62 in.] height) reinforced longitudinally with either steel bars or SEA sections were cast and tested. The lateral tie spacing of specimens varied from 50 to 400 mm (1.96 to 15.74 in.). The influences of the type of longitudinal reinforcement and the spacing of lateral ties on the behavior of HSC specimens under axial compression were investigated. Experimental results showed that the use of the …

Numerical Simulation Of The Shear Behavior Of Rock Joints Filled With Unsaturated Soil, Libin Gong, Jan Nemcik, Ting X. Ren

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Weak infilled discontinuities commonly exist in rock masses, in which the infill degree of saturation largely influences the overalljoint shear behavior and ground stability. However, so far, research on the shear of infilled joints at unsaturated conditions is rare, especiallythose performed in numerical simulation. To the authors'knowledge, no attempts have been made to investigate the shear-induced variationsin unsaturated soil parameters, which are vital for proposing the infilled-joint constitutive models. For thefirst time, a series of constant watercontent direct shear tests on the unsaturated infilled-joint soil were conducted using the numerical software Fast Lagrangian Analysis ofContinua (FLAC)/Two-Phase Flow. Intrinsic soil-water retention …