Engineering Commons^™

Battery Energy Storage Systems To Mitigate The Variability Of Photovoltaic Power Generation, Heath Alan Gurganus

Dissertations and Theses

Methods of generating renewable energy such as through solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and wind turbines offer great promise in terms of a reduced carbon footprint and overall impact on the environment. However, these methods also share the attribute of being highly stochastic, meaning they are variable in such a way that is difficult to forecast with sufficient accuracy. While solar power currently constitutes a small amount of generating potential in most regions, the cost of photovoltaics continues to decline and a trend has emerged to build larger PV plants than was once feasible. This has brought the matter of increased …

Enhanced Sonar Array Target Localization Using Time-Frequency Interference Phenomena, Jordan Almon Shibley

Dissertations and Theses

The ability of traditional active sonar processing methods to detect targets is often limited by clutter and reverberation from ocean environments. Similarly, multipath arrivals from radiating sources such as ships and submarines are received at sensors in passive sonar systems. Reverberation and multipath signals introduce constructive and destructive interference patterns in received spectrograms in both active and passive sonar applications that vary with target range and frequency. The characterization and use of interference phenomena can provide insights into environmental parameters and target movement in conjunction with standard processing methods including spectrograms and array beamforming.

This thesis focuses on utilizing the …

Coordinating Job Release Dates With Workdays: A Job Shop Application To Utilities Field Service Scheduling, Ryan Lawrence Pelkey

Dissertations and Theses

A local utility company processes a variety of jobs each day including meter reading, service shut-offs, emergency response, and customer service work. For the Company, a specific workflow begins with automated meter-reading (AMR) and ends with collections/service shut-offs (CSOs) for accounts with excessively late payments (AMR-CSO workflow). There are considerable and systemic sources of variability in both the workload and resource demands of the AMR-CSO workflow including order arrival, order release schedules, order batch-sizing and maintenance scheduling.

This project draws on theory from the job-shop problem to explore possible means to mitigate this variability. We hypothesized that controlling various forms …

Application Of Support Vector Machine In Predicting The Market's Monthly Trend Direction, Ali Alali

Dissertations and Theses

In this work, we investigate different techniques to predict the monthly trend direction of the S&P 500 market index. The techniques use a machine learning classifier with technical and macroeconomic indicators as input features. The Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier was explored in-depth in order to optimize the performance using four different kernels; Linear, Radial Basis Function (RBF), Polynomial, and Quadratic. A result found was the performance of the classifier can be optimized by reducing the number of macroeconomic features needed by 30% using Sequential Feature Selection. Further performance enhancement was achieved by optimizing the RBF kernel and SVM parameters …

Optics And Spectroscopy In Massive Electrodynamic Theory, Adam Caccavano

Dissertations and Theses

The kinematics and dynamics for plane wave optics are derived for a massive electrodynamic field by utilizing Proca's theory. Atomic spectroscopy is also examined, with the focus on the 21 cm radiation due to the hyperfine structure of hydrogen. The modifications to Snell's Law, the Fresnel formulas, and the 21 cm radiation are shown to reduce to the familiar expressions in the limit of zero photon mass.

Evaluation Of Phase Change Materials For Cooling In A Super-Insulated Passive House, Jeffrey Stephen Lauck

Dissertations and Theses

Due to factors such as rising energy costs, diminishing resources, and climate change, the demand for high performance buildings is on the rise. As a result, several new building standards have emerged including the Passive House Standard, a rigorous energy-use standard based on a super-insulated and very tightly sealed building envelope. The standard requires that that air infiltration is less than or equal to 0.6 air changes per hour at a 50 Pascal pressure difference, annual heating energy is less than or equal to 15kWh/m2, and total annual source energy is less than or equal to 120 kWh/m2. A common …

Negotiating The Inclusion Of Nanoscience Content And Technology In Science Curriculum: An Examination Of Secondary Teachers' Thinking In A Professional Development Project, Jennifer Gayle Wells

Dissertations and Theses

The Next Generation Science Standards represent a significant challenge for K-12 school reform in the United States in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (NSTA, 2012). One important difference between the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996) and the Next Generation Science Standards (Achieve, 2013) is the more extensive inclusion of nanoscale science and technology. Teacher PD is a key vehicle for implementing this STEM education reform effort (NRC, 2012; Smith, 2001).

The context of this dissertation study is Project Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Outreach (NANO), a secondary level professional development program for teachers that provides a summer workshop, …

Evidence Supporting Treatment Practice Based Delineation Of Stormwater Runoff Zones, Jacob J. Gorski

Dissertations and Theses

Particles mobilized by stormwater negatively affect receiving surface waters. Stormwater best management practices (BMPs) can reduce solids along with associated pollutants in runoff but engineers and environmental managers have been long vexed by the problem of choosing the optimal BMP for a given situation. A common BMP process for solids removal is sedimentation. This thesis addresses the question of whether the effectiveness (and thus choice) of a sedimentation device can be estimated (and thus optimized) from the particle size properties of runoff, which, in turn, could be associated with specific runoff zones or land uses. Presented here is a series …

Trust-But-Verify: Guaranteeing The Integrity Of User-Generated Content In Online Applications, Akshay Dua

Dissertations and Theses

Online applications that are open to participation lack reliable methods to establish the integrity of user-generated information. Users may unknowingly own compromised devices, or intentionally publish forged information. In these scenarios, applications need some way to determine the "correctness" of autonomously generated information. Towards that end, this thesis presents a "trust-but-verify" approach that enables open online applications to independently verify the information generated by each participant. In addition to enabling independent verification, our framework allows an application to verify less information from more trustworthy users and verify more information from less trustworthy ones. Thus, an application can trade-off performance for …

Self-Timed Dram Data Interface, Rajesh Nerkar

Dissertations and Theses

A DRAM communicates with a processing unit via two interfaces: a data interface and a command interface. In today's DRAMs, also known as synchronous DRAMs (SDRAMs), both interfaces use a clock to communicate with the processing unit. The clock times the communication between the processing unit and the SDRAM on both the data interface and the command interface.

We propose a self-timed DRAM. The self-timed DRAM introduces more flexibility into the DRAM interface by eliminating the clock. The command interface and the data interface each communicate with the processing unit using a handshake protocol rather than a clock.

This thesis …

Solid State Pre-Formed Electronics Adhesive (Spea), Alexander Randon Cope

Dissertations and Theses

In mobile and handheld consumer electronic markets, product use conditions drive the requirement for mechanical strength and device durability. The majority of relatively large form factor electronic components in a laptop, mobile internet device, PDA, or mobile phone use an adhesive as a stiffener to help protect the component from physical stresses imposed by daily wear and tear. Described herein is an innovative solution referred to as Solid State Pre-Formed Electronics Adhesive (SPEA), which enables a decrease in circuit board manufacturing throughput time while increasing mechanical durability with a consistent and characterized adhesive application process.

Today, many consumer electronic ODM's …

Characterization Of Secondary Organic Aerosol Precursors Using Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography With Time Of Flight Mass Spectrometry (Gc×Gc/Tofms), Melissa Jordan Roskamp

Dissertations and Theses

The oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) plays a role in both regional and global air quality through the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA). More than 1000TgC/yr of non-methane VOCs are emitted from biogenic sources (significantly greater than from anthropogenic sources). Despite this magnitude and potential importance for air quality, the body of knowledge around the identities, quantities and oxidation processes of these compounds is still incomplete (e.g., Goldstein & Galbally, 2007; Robinson et al., 2009). Two-dimensional gas chromatography paired with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC/TOFMS) is a powerful analytical technique which is explored here for its role in better …

A Parametric Study On Power Variation For Model Wind Turbine Arrays, Dominic Delucia

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis presents the results of wind tunnel experiments performed for various model wind turbine arrays. The aim is to understand how siting affects power output. To optimize wind farm efficiency the experiments vary the parameters of the model wind turbines and the layout of the wind turbine array. The parameters include the alignment, height, spacing, and the rotational direction of the model wind turbines. These experiments employ mechanical torque sensors to simultaneously measure the torque and rotor angular velocity, which yields a direct measurement of the fluid mechanical power extracted by the turbine at multiple locations. For a 4 …

Rooftop Pv Impacts On Fossil Fuel Electricity Generation And Co2 Emissions In The Pacific Northwest, Daniel Albert Weiland

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis estimates the impacts of rooftop photovoltaic (PV) capacity on electricity generation and CO2 emissions in America's Pacific Northwest. The region's demand for electricity is increasing at the same time that it is attempting to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The electricity generated by rooftop PV capacity is expected to displace electricity from fossil fueled electricity generators and reduce CO2 emissions, but when and how much? And how can this region maximize and focus the impacts of additional rooftop PV capacity on CO2 emissions? To answer these questions, an hourly urban rooftop PV generation profile for 2009 was created …

Identification Of Markov Processes Within A Wind Turbine Array Boundary Layer, Matthew Scott Melius

Dissertations and Theses

The Markovianity within a wind turbine array boundary layer is explored for data taken in a wind tunnel containing a model wind turbine array. A stochastic analysis of the data is carried out using Markov chain theory. The data were obtained via hot-wire anemometry thus providing point velocity statistics. The theory of Markovian processes is applied to obtain a statistical description of longitudinal velocity increments inside the turbine wake using conditional probability density functions. It is found that two and three point conditional probability density functions are similar for scale differences larger than the Taylor micro-scale. This result is quantified …

Incorporating Chemical Activity And Relative Humidity Effects In Regional Air Quality Modeling Of Organic Aerosol Formation, Marguerite Colasurdo Marks

Dissertations and Theses

Atmospheric particulate matter is known to have significant effects on human health, visibility, and global climate. The magnitudes of these effects, however, depend in complex ways on chemical composition, relative humidity, temperature, phase state, and other parameters. Current regional air quality models such as CMAQ (Community Multiscale Air Quality model) ignore many of these considerations, and consider that the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) can be calculated by assuming thermodynamic ideality in the organic particulate matter (OPM) phase as well as negligible uptake of water into the OPM phase. Theoretical predictions and model simulations considering non-ideality and water uptake …

Improving Vehicle Trip Generation Estimations For Urban Contexts: A Method Using Household Travel Surveys To Adjust Ite Trip Generation Rates, Kristina Marie Currans

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this research is to develop and test a widely available, ready-to-use method for adjusting the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Handbook vehicle trip generation estimates for urban context using regional household travel survey data. The ITE Handbook has become the predominant method for estimating vehicle trips generated by different land uses or establishment, providing a method for data collection and vehicle trip estimation based on the size of the development (e.g. gross square footage, number of employees, number of dwelling units). These estimates are used in traffic impact analysis to assess the amount of impact …

Solar Data Analysis, Mike C. T. Ray

Dissertations and Theses

The solar industry has grown considerably in the last few years. This larger scale has introduced more problems as well as possibilities. One of those possibilities is analyzing the data coming from the sites that are now being monitored, and using the information to answer a variety of questions.

We have four questions which are of prime importance identified in this thesis:

1. Can data from customers be trusted?

2. Can we use data from existing sites to determine which sites need the most improvement?

3. Can we implement a location-based algorithm to reduce the amount of false positives for …

Exploring Data Quality Of Weigh-In-Motion Systems, Chengxin Dai

Dissertations and Theses

This research focuses on the data quality control methods for evaluating the performance of Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) systems on Oregon highways. This research identifies and develops a new methodology and algorithm to explore the accuracy of each station's weight and spacing data at a corridor level, and further implements the Statistical Process Control (SPC) method, finite mixture model, axle spacing error rating method, and data flag method in published research to examine the soundness of WIM systems. This research employs the historical WIM data to analyze sensor health and compares the evaluation results of the methods. The results suggest the new …

Quantum Circuit Synthesis Using Group Decomposition And Hilbert Spaces, Michael S. Saraivanov

Dissertations and Theses

The exponential nature of Moore's law has inadvertently created huge data storage complexes that are scattered around the world. Data elements are continuously being searched, processed, erased, combined and transferred to other storage units without much regard to power consumption. The need for faster searches and power efficient data processing is becoming a fundamental requirement. Quantum computing may offer an elegant solution to speed and power through the utilization of the natural laws of quantum mechanics. Therefore, minimal cost quantum circuit implementation methodologies are greatly desired.

This thesis explores the decomposition of group functions and the Walsh spectrum for implementing …

A Parabolic Equation Analysis Of The Underwater Noise Radiated By Impact Pile Driving, Nathan Laws

Dissertations and Theses

Impact pile driving can produce extremely high underwater sound levels, which are of increasing environmental concern due to their deleterious effects on marine wildlife. Prediction of underwater sound levels is important to the assessment and mitigation of the environmental impacts caused by pile driving. Current prediction methods are limited and do not account for the dynamic pile driving source, inhomogeneities in bathymetry and sediment, or physics-based sound wave propagation.

In this thesis, a computational model is presented that analyzes and predicts the underwater noise radiated by pile driving and is suitable for shallow, inhomogeneous environments and long propagation ranges. The …

Computer Aided Design Of Permutation, Linear, And Affine-Linear Reversible Circuits In The General And Linear Nearest-Neighbor Models, Ben Schaeffer

Dissertations and Theses

With the probable end of Moore's Law in the near future, and with advances in nanotechnology, new forms of computing are likely to become available. Reversible computing is one of these possible future technologies, and it employs reversible circuits. Reversible circuits in a classical form have the potential for lower power consumption than existing technology, and in a quantum form permit new types of encryption and computation.

One fundamental challenge in synthesizing the most general type of reversible circuit is that the storage space for fully specifying input-output descriptions becomes exponentially large as the number of inputs increases linearly. Certain …

Understanding Travel Modes To Non-Work Destinations: Analysis Of An Establishment Survey In Portland, Oregon, Christopher D. Muhs

Dissertations and Theses

During the past three decades, research in travel behavior has generally proceeded from broad-level, aggregate analysis of mode share--the proportions of walking, bicycling, transit, and vehicle travel occurring in traffic analysis zones, census tracts, neighborhood, or other geographical units--to fine-grained, disaggregate analysis of mode choices and other trip-making attributes at the individual level. One potential issue is whether there are differences in the types of conclusions drawn from results of analyses performed at these different levels, as these results directly inform transportation planning and policy.

This thesis aims in part to confirm whether the types of conclusions drawn from different …

Automated Channel Assessment For Single Chip Medradio Transceivers, Mark Alexander Hillig

Dissertations and Theses

Modern implantable and body worn medical devices leverage wireless telemetry to improve patient experience and expand therapeutic options. Wireless medical devices are subject to a unique set of regulations in which monitoring of the available frequency spectrum is a requirement. To this end, implants use software protocols to assess the in-band activity to determine which channel should be used. These software protocols take valuable processing time and possibly degrade the operational lifetime of the battery. Implantable medical devices often take advantage of a single chip transceiver as the physical layer for wireless communications. Embedding the channel assessment task in the …

Data Driven Feed Forward Adaptive Testing, Chaitrali Santosh Chandorkar

Dissertations and Theses

Test cost is a critical component in the overall cost of the product. Test cost varies in direct proportion with test time. This thesis introduces a data driven feed forward adaptive technique for reducing test time at wafer sort while maintaining the product defect level. Test data from first insertion of wafer is statistically analyzed to make a decision about adaptive test flow at subsequent insertions.

The data driven feed forward technique uses a statistical screen to analyze test data from first probe of wafer and provides recommendations for test elimination at second insertions. At the second insertion dies are …

Equivalence Checking For High-Assurance Behavioral Synthesis, Kecheng Hao

Dissertations and Theses

The rapidly increasing complexities of hardware designs are forcing design methodologies and tools to move to the Electronic System Level (ESL), a higher abstraction level with better productivity than the state-of-the-art Register Transfer Level (RTL). Behavioral synthesis, which automatically synthesizes ESL behavioral specifications to RTL implementations, plays a central role in this transition. However, since behavioral synthesis is a complex and error-prone translation process, the lack of designers' confidence in its correctness becomes a major barrier to its wide adoption. Therefore, techniques for establishing equivalence between an ESL specification and its synthesized RTL implementation are critical to bring behavioral synthesis …

Strategic Evaluation Of University Knowledge And Technology Transfer Effectiveness, Thien Anh Tran

Dissertations and Theses

Academic knowledge and technology transfer has been growing in importance both in academic research and practice. A critical question in managing this activity is how to evaluate its effectiveness. The literature shows an increasing number of studies done to address this question; however, it also reveals important gaps that need more research. One novel approach is to evaluate the effectiveness of this activity from an organizational point of view, which is to measure how much knowledge and technology transfer from a university fulfills the mission of the institution. This research develops a Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM) to measure the contribution …

An Investigation Of Fast And Frugal Heuristics For New Product Project Selection, Fatima Mohammed Albar

Dissertations and Theses

In the early stages of new product development, project selection is dominantly based on managerial intuition, rather than on analytic approaches. As much as 90% of all product ideas are rejected before they are formally assessed. However, to date, little is known about the product screening heuristics and screening criteria managers use: it has been suggested that their decision process resembles the "fast and frugal" heuristics identified in recent psychological research, but no empirical research exists. A major part of the product innovation pipeline is thus poorly understood.

This research contributes to closing this gap. It uses cognitive task analysis …

The Impact Of Knowledge Inflows On The Performance Of National Laboratories In Technological Latecomer Countries, Pattravadee Ploykitikoon

Dissertations and Theses

The national laboratories (NLs) play a critical role in the economic and social development of technological latecomer countries, yet no academic study has ever quantified how knowledge inflows and internal knowledge impact the performance of the NLs. This dissertation identifies and ranks the importance of factors pertaining to knowledge inflows and project-internal knowledge, which determine the success or failure of research projects in the NLs of Thailand. A survey of 123 project managers in the NLs, which covers 208 R&D projects, has been conducted. It consists of a questionnaire and unstructured interviews in which the project managers discuss their project(s). …

Climate Change Impact On The Spatio-Temporal Variability Of Hydro-Climate Extremes, Mohammad Reza Najafi

Dissertations and Theses

The rising temperature of the earth due to climate change has shown to alter the variations of hydro-climate variables, including their intensities, frequencies and durations. Extreme events such as floods are, in particular, susceptible to any disturbances in climate cycles. As such it is important to provide policymakers with sufficient knowledge about the probable impacts of climate change on hydrologic extremes and most importantly on floods, which have the highest impacts on the societies. For this reason analysis of hydro-climate extremes is commonly performed using data at each site (or grid cell), however due to the limited number of extreme …