Engineering Commons^™

A New Lean Model: Improving Race Team Performance Through Team-Driver Communication Efficacy, Joseph Ruric Stainback Iv

Doctoral Dissertations

In some organizational settings and in the field of competitive automobile racing, certain situations and rules place an emphasis on and sometimes escalate the need for effective team communications. This dissertation hypothesizes that effective and dense communications contributes directly to team performance. Supported by organizational behavioral and lean six sigma theory, communications is declared a form of waste within the context of Industrial Engineering subject to data collection, measurements, and real-time, value-added metrics. Measuring and reporting trends in communications provides a basis for a new and unique model called a Communications Productivity Model (CPM) with an associated Communications Density Report …

Molecular Simulations Of Adsorption And Diffusion In Metal-Organic Frameworks (Mofs), Ruichang Xiong

Doctoral Dissertations

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a new class of nanoporous materials that have received great interest since they were first synthesized in the late 1990s. Practical applications of MOFs are continuously being discovered as a better understanding of the properties of materials adsorbed within the nanopores of MOFs emerges. One such potential application is as a component of an explosive-sensing system. Another potential application is for hydrogen storage.

This work is focused on tailoring MOFs to adsorb/desorb the explosive, RDX. Classical grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) and molecular dynamic (MD) simulations have been performed to calculate adsorption isotherms and self-diffusivities of …

Kernel-Based Data Mining Approach With Variable Selection For Nonlinear High-Dimensional Data, Seung Hyun Baek

Doctoral Dissertations

In statistical data mining research, datasets often have nonlinearity and high-dimensionality. It has become difficult to analyze such datasets in a comprehensive manner using traditional statistical methodologies. Kernel-based data mining is one of the most effective statistical methodologies to investigate a variety of problems in areas including pattern recognition, machine learning, bioinformatics, chemometrics, and statistics. In particular, statistically-sophisticated procedures that emphasize the reliability of results and computational efficiency are required for the analysis of high-dimensional data. In this dissertation, first, a novel wrapper method called SVM-ICOMP-RFE based on hybridized support vector machine (SVM) and recursive feature elimination (RFE) with information-theoretic …

Flow-Based Adaptive Split Signal Control, Airton G. Kohls

Doctoral Dissertations

Over the last 35 years many adaptive traffic signal control systems have been developed presenting alternative strategies to improve traffic signal operations. However, less than 1% of all traffic signals in the United States are controlled by adaptive systems today. The extensive infrastructure necessary including reliable communication and complex calibration leads to a time consuming and costly process. In addition, the most recent National Traffic Signal Report Card indicated an overall grade of D for the nation’s traffic signal control and operations. Recent economic adversity adds to the already difficult task of proactively managing aged signal timing plans.

Therefore, in …

Long-Term Acid Deposition Effects On Soil And Water Chemistry In The Noland Divide Watershed, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Usa, Meijun Cai

Doctoral Dissertations

Impacts of long-term acid deposition on soil and water chemistry are of particular concern in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM), receiving some of the highest acid deposition rates in the eastern United States and limited by inadequate acid buffering capacity. In the GRSM, the Noland Divide watershed (NDW) has been monitored since 1991 for water chemistries of precipitation, throughfall, soil, and stream. The impacts of long-term acidic deposition on stream water quality in the NDW were investigated through: 1) development of an ion input-output budget; 2) analysis of trends and seasonal patterns for major ions; 3) comparison of …

A High-Temperature, High-Voltage Soi Gate Driver Integrated Circuit With High Drive Current For Silicon Carbide Power Switches, Mohammad Aminul Huque

Doctoral Dissertations

High-temperature integrated circuit (IC) design is one of the new frontiers in microelectronics that can significantly improve the performance of the electrical systems in extreme environment applications, including automotive, aerospace, well-logging, geothermal, and nuclear. Power modules (DC-DC converters, inverters, etc.) are key components in these electrical systems. Power-to-volume and power-to-weight ratios of these modules can be significantly improved by employing silicon carbide (SiC) based power switches which are capable of operating at much higher temperature than silicon (Si) and gallium arsenide (GaAs) based conventional devices. For successful realization of such high-temperature power electronic circuits, associated control electronics also need to …

Multi-Scale Simulation Of Linear, Short-Chain Polyethylene Liquids Under Flow Conditions, Jun Mo Kim

Doctoral Dissertations

The rheological and structural properties of polymeric liquids cannot be condensed within a single numerical model. They should be described within hierarchical, multi-level numerical models in which each sub-model is responsible for different time and length scales; atomistic, mesoscopic, and continuum. In this study, the rheological and structural properties of linear, short-chain polyethylene liquids were investigated from the classical atomistic level to the mesoscopic and continuum levels of description. At the atomistic level of description, nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations of linear, short-chain polyethylene liquids spanning from C16H24 to C128H256 were performed to advance our knowledge of fundamental characteristic of …

Anomaly Detection In Unknown Environments Using Wireless Sensor Networks, Yuanyuan Li

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the problem of distributed anomaly detection in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). A challenge of designing such systems is that the sensor nodes are battery powered, often have different capabilities and generally operate in dynamic environments. Programming such sensor nodes at a large scale can be a tedious job if the system is not carefully designed. Data modeling in distributed systems is important for determining the normal operation mode of the system. Being able to model the expected sensor signatures for typical operations greatly simplifies the human designer’s job by enabling the system to autonomously characterize the expected …

A Call Center Simulation Study: Comparing The Reliability Of Cross-Trained Agents To Specialized Agents, Louis Franklin Ali Iii

Masters Theses

Call centers are an important function of most companies’ day to day business activities. They are often the link between a company and its customers and hugely impact the customer’s perspective or point of view (POV) of a company. A call center in the most general sense is a place, representing a business, which receives inbound calls from customers and/or makes outbound calls to customers, the latter being most commonly referred to as telemarketing. There was a time when a typical call center strictly consisted of agents who handled inbound/outbound calls; these agents are considered specialized agents. Generally speaking, a …

Mpi-Based Parallel Solution Of Sparse Linear Systems Using Chio's Condensation Algorithm And Test Data From Power Flow Analysis, Robert Bernard Armistead

Masters Theses

Solving sparse systems of linear equations permeates power system analysis. Newton-Raphson, decoupled, and fast decoupled algorithms all require the repeated solving of sparse systems of linear equations in order to capture the steady state operational conditions of the power system under test. Solving these systems of equations is usually done using LU Factorization which has an order of complexity O(n3) where n represents the number of equations in the system. The Chio’s condensation algorithm is an alternative approach, which in general has a complexity of O(n4). However, it has a straightforward formulation that can be easily implemented in a parallel …

Developing Chitosan-Based Biomaterials For Brain Repair And Neuroprosthetics, Zheng Cao

Masters Theses

Chitosan is widely investigated for biomedical applications due to its excellent properties, such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, bioadhesivity, antibacterial, etc. In the field of neural engineering, it has been extensively studied in forms of film and hydrogel, and has been used as scaffolds for nerve regeneration in the peripheral nervous system and spinal cord. One of the main issues in neural engineering is the incapability of neuron to attach on biomaterials. The present study, from a new aspect, aims to take advantage of the bio-adhesive property of chitosan to develop chitosan-based materials for neural engineering, specifically in the fields of brain …

An Empirical Model Of Thermal Updrafts Using Data Obtained From A Manned Glider, Christopher E. Childress

Masters Theses

Various methods have been used, including airborne radars, LIDAR, observation of flying birds, towers, tethered balloons, and aircraft to gain both a qualitative and quantitative representation of how heat and moisture are transported to higher altitudes and grow the boundary or mixing layer by thermal updrafts. This paper builds upon that research using an instrumented glider to determine the structure and build a mathematical model of thermals in a desert environment. During these flights, it was discovered that the traditional view of a thermal as a singular rising plume of air did not sufficiently explain what was being observed, but …

Ph Effect On The Arsenic Separation In Waste Water Of Coal Based Power Plant, Ye Hao

Masters Theses

Arsenic (As) poses a significant water quality problem and it is a big challenge for all coal-based power plant industries worldwide. Currently most of the researches on the leaching behavior of arsenic from fly ash are based on the titration experiments. In this study a simulation method is used to study on the pH effect on the arsenic separation of coal-based power plants. Both single point and composition survey simulation of the OLI stream analyzer are used in the study. The simulation results of single point calculation indicates that for the fly ash which has high lime weight percent and …

Georeferenced Riverine Habitat Mapping In The Big South Fork National River And Recreation Area, James Bryan Mcconkey

Masters Theses

Abstract

This project describes the development of a river habitat map of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (BISO NRRA) using GPS-based video mapping and image georeferencing techniques. The Big South Fork of the Cumberland River and major tributaries have been floated and mapped with GPS, sonar, and georeferenced under and above water video cameras. Video footage is interpreted for physical bedforms and compiled in an ArcGIS attribute table that can be queried for species specific habitat location.

Underwater video mapping system (UVMS) bedform data includes river characteristic (pool, riffle, run), substrate (bedrock, fines/sand, gravel, cobble, and …

A Fully Integrated High-Temperature, High-Voltage, Bcd-On-Soi Voltage Regulator, Benjamin Matthew Mccue

Masters Theses

Developments in automotive (particularly hybrid electric vehicles), aerospace, and energy production industries over the recent years have led to expanding research interest in integrated circuit (IC) design toward high-temperature applications. A high-voltage, high-temperature SOI process allows for circuit design to expand into these extreme environment applications. Nearly all electronic devices require a reliable supply voltage capable of operating under various input voltages and load currents. These input voltages and load currents can be either DC or time-varying signals. In this work, a stable supply voltage for embedded circuit functions is generated on chip via a voltage regulator circuit producing a …

Effect Of Chemicals And Binders On The Durability Of Flame Retardant Treated Cotton Nonwovens, Hatice Mercimek

Masters Theses

Cotton based highloft nonwovens have been used in consumer goods such as pillows, upholstered furniture and mattresses for years. Cotton provides comfort, soft hand and cost effectiveness to these products. In contrast to its desirable properties, cotton products have a higher proneness to burning and are characterized as highly flammable materials. During the last decade, the fire safety has been an important issue, and there has been increasing focus on approaches to reduce hazardous fire risks and effects. Incorporating flame resistant (FR) chemicals and fibers is one of the most effective methods to improve thermal resistance of cotton to ignition, …

Dynamic Application Level Security Sensors, Christopher Thomas Rathgeb

Masters Theses

The battle for cyber supremacy is a cat and mouse game: evolving threats from internal and external sources make it difficult to protect critical systems. With the diverse and high risk nature of these threats, there is a need for robust techniques that can quickly adapt and address this evolution. Existing tools such as Splunk, Snort, and Bro help IT administrators defend their networks by actively parsing through network traffic or system log data. These tools have been thoroughly developed and have proven to be a formidable defense against many cyberattacks. However, they are vulnerable to zero-day attacks, slow attacks, …

Performance Evaluation Of Memory And Computationally Bound Chemistry Applications On Streaming Gpgpus And Multi-Core X86 Cpus, Frederick E. Weber Iii

Masters Theses

In recent years, multi-core processors have come to dominate the field in desktop and high performance computing. Graphics processors traditionally used in CAD, video games, and other 3-d applications, have become more programmable and are now suitable for general purpose computing. This thesis explores multi-core processors and GPU performance and limitations in two computational chemistry applications: a memory bound component of ab-initio modeling and a computationally bound Monte Carlo simulation. For the applications presented in this thesis, exploiting multiple processors is done using a variety of tools and languages including OpenMP and MKL. Brook+ and the Compute Abstraction Layer streaming …

Gpu Implementation Of A Novel Approach To Cramer’S Algorithm For Solving Large Scale Linear Systems, Rosanne Lane West

Masters Theses

Scientific computing often requires solving systems of linear equations. Most software pack- ages for solving large-scale linear systems use Gaussian elimination methods such as LU- decomposition. An alternative method, recently introduced by K. Habgood and I. Arel, involves an application of Cramer’s Rule and Chio’s condensation to achieve a better per- forming system for solving linear systems on parallel computing platforms. This thesis describes an implementation of this algorithm on an nVidia graphics processor card us- ing the CUDA language. Increased performance, relative to the serial implementation, is demonstrated, paving the way for future parallel realizations of the scheme.

An Effective Approach To Nonparametric Quickest Detection And Its Decentralized Realization, Dayu Yang

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the study of nonparametric quickest detection and its decentralized implementation in a distributed environment. Quickest detection schemes are geared toward detecting a change in the state of a data stream or a real-time process. Classical quickest detection schemes invariably assume knowledge of the pre-change and post-change distributions that may not be available in many applications. A distribution free nonparametric quickest detection procedure is presented based on a novel distance measure, referred to as the Q-Q distance calculated from the Quantile-Quantile plot. Theoretical analysis of the distance measure and detection procedure is presented to justify the proposed …

Capstone Design: Energy Efficient Windows Triple Pane Window Analysis, Michael S. Kee, Drew Ryan Hughes, Amanda Michele Lee, Michael Mcmillan, Jake Eric Plewa

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Corrosion Resistant Surface Finish By Chemical Browning, William Brandon Goodwin, John William Bohling, Ryan Christopher Pearce, Jonathan Kenneth Rhyne

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Team Volocity, Beth Clement, William Schuman

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Final Tool Comparison Report: Evaluation Of Craftsman And Dollar Tree Drill Bits, Saranya Sathananthan

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

A High Voltage Charge-Coupled Device (Ccd) Controller Asic For The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (Lsst), Ross F. Chun

Masters Theses

This thesis will present the design, implementation, and testing of a high voltage Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) controller ASIC for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), which will be used to study dark energy and dark matter. The LSST observatory, which includes a 3.2-gigapixel camera, will cover the entire sky every three nights by taking continuous 15-second exposures. The CCD controller ASIC, or Sensor Control Chip (SCC), will provide five CCD driver channels that are capable of generating serial or parallel clock signals for the LSST’s imaging sensors during readout mode. The SCC will also provide three programmable bias voltages for …

A Novel Downscaling Technique For The Linkage Of Global And Regional Air Quality Modeling, Y. F. Lam, Joshua Fu

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Civil & Environmental Engineering

Recently, downscaling global atmospheric model outputs (GCTM) for the USEPA Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Initial (IC) and Boundary Conditions (BC) have become practical because of the rapid growth of computational technologies that allow global simulations to be completed within a reasonable time. The traditional method of generating IC/BC by profile data has lost its advocates due to the weakness of the limited horizontal and vertical variations found on the gridded boundary layers. Theoretically, high quality GCTM IC/BC should yield a better result in CMAQ. Unfortunately, several researchers have found that the outputs from GCTM IC/BC are not necessarily better …

Multilevel Dc-Ac Converter Interface With Solar Panels, Yue Cao

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

This paper presents a single-phase 11-level (5 H-bridge) cascaded multilevel DC-AC converter that has implemented a Phase Locked Loop (PLL) and Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) with 5 separate solar panel DC sources. This topology upgrades the conventional 3-level Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) controlled converter with advantages such as smoother output waveforms, more flexibility in voltage range, smaller filter size, and switching angle control. Simulation results of voltage synchronization using PLL and experimental setup and results implementing the entire converter interface are also presented.

Dynamics Of Individual Molecules Of Linear Polyethylene Liquids Under Shear: Atomistic Simulation And Comparison With A Free-Draining Bead-Rod Chain, J. M. Kim, B. J. Edwards, David J. Keffer, B. Khomami

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations of a dense liquid composed of linear polyethylene chains were performed to investigate the chain dynamics under shear. Brownian dynamics (BD) simulations of a freely jointed chain with equivalent contour length were also performed in the case of a dilute solution. This allowed for a close comparison of the chain dynamics of similar molecules for two very different types of liquids. Both simulations exhibited a distribution of the end-to-end vector, |R_ete|, with Gaussian behavior at low Weissenberg number (Wi). At high Wi, the NEMD distribution was bimodal, with two peaks …

Msematters Newsletter Fall 2010, Department Of Materials Science & Engineering

MSEMatters Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Research Highlights, Haitao Liao

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Industrial & Information Engineering

No abstract provided.