Engineering Commons^™

Passenger Car Equivalent Factors For Level Freeway Segments Operating Under Moderate And Congested Conditions, Umama Ahmed

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The significant impact Heavy Vehicles (HV) have on freeway operations has been identified since the first edition of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM). The method of incorporating their impact in freeway capacity calculations has changed through the years. The HCM 2000 used Passenger Car Equivalent (PCE) values and percent of trucks/buses and Recreational Vehicles (RV) to account for HV effect on capacity. However PCE values in the most recent HCM edition rely on a limited field database and extensive simulation runs based on this information; they were calibrated on `steady-flow' traffic operations. The objective of this effort was to indentify …

Observer Incorporated Neoclassical Controller Design: A Discrete Perspective, Winston Alexander Baker

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Control theory has generally been divided into two categories, modern control and classical control. Modern control uses state feedback to alter the pole locations of a given system. Classical control uses pre-compensation to alter the zeroes of the system and uses output feedback to adjust the poles to bring stability to the system. The drawback is that the application of classical control techniques can be a lengthy, complicated and iterative design process and in the end, classical control techniques still do not give information about the state of the system. Neoclassical control combines classical control techniques with the state feedback …

Design Of A Transtibial Prosthesis Utilizing Active And Passive Components In Conjunction With A Four-Bar Mechanism, Bryan Bergelin

Master's Theses (2009 -)

This thesis outlines the design and testing of a powered ankle prosthesis which utilizes a four-bar mechanism in conjunction with a spiral torsion spring and a servo motor that mimics non-amputee (normal) ankle moments during the stance phase of gait. Previous research has shown that this novel approach is feasible, but the proof-of-concept prototype was not designed to be able to be worn by an amputee due to size, strength and mobility limitations. The goal of this research was to redesign the transtibial prosthesis to fit the requirements of the targeted amputee population. A preliminary virtual prosthesis was designed using …

Design And Validation Of An Mr Conditional Upper Extremity Evaluation System To Study Brain Activation Patterns After Stroke, Rubing Xu

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Stroke is the third leading cause of death and second most frequent cause of disability in the United States. Stroke rehabilitation methods have been developed to induce the cortical reorganization and motor-relearning that leads to stroke recovery. In this thesis, we designed and developed an MR conditional upper extremity reach and grasp movement evaluation system for the stroke survivors to study their kinematic performances in reach and grasp movement and the relationship between kinematic metrics and the recovery level measured by clinical assessment methods. We also applied the system into the functional MRI experiments to identify the ability to study …

Quantification Of 99mTc-Duramycin Uptake Kinetics In The Area-At-Risk After Myocardial Ischemia And Reperfusion, Joseph Capacete

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Myocardial infarction (MI) is a condition in which blood supply to the heart is insufficient. MI is associated with two forms of cell death: apoptosis and necrosis. ^99mTc-duramycin (^99mTc-D) is a novel radiopharmaceutical that detects cell death by recognizing externalized phosphatidylethanolamine. The objective of this study was to develop a compartmental model for ^99mTc-D uptake kinetics in normal and infarct myocardium, and utilize this model to compare the uptake kinetics of ^99mTc-D in MI with that of another radiopharmaceutical, ^99mTc-C2A-GST.

MI was induced in rats which were then injected (i.v.) with ^99mTc-D. Rats …

Image-Based Quantification Workflow For Coronary Morphology: A Tool For Use In Next-Generation Bifurcation Stent Design, Sara Marie Nomeland

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Coronary artery disease (CAD) occurs in ~200,000 bifurcation lesions annually. Treatment of CAD near bends and bifurcations is challenging and a preferred strategy for bifurcation lesions has yet to be established. However, a favorable treatment option may be elucidated by a more thorough understanding of vessel morphology as well as local hemodynamic alterations caused by current stenting approaches. Computational modeling of human arteries offers an attractive way to investigate the relationships between geometry, hemodynamics and vascular disease. Recent developments also make it possible to perform analysis on realistic geometries acquired noninvasively.

The objective of this work was twofold. The first …

Simulation Of Scenarios To Meet Dissolved Oxygen Standards In The Chicago Waterway System, Yaping Ao

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Although most reaches of the Chicago Waterway System (CWS) meet the General Use Water Quality Standards a high percentage of the time, dissolved oxygen (DO) standards are not met in the CWS during some periods for both the WYs 2001 and 2003 as representative of wet and dry years. Several methods were used to solve this problem; however, they were inadequate for achieving the proposed DO standards. Therefore, a method of integrating the alternative DO remediation methods into one integrated strategy for improving water quality is considered in this study.

The main purpose of this study is the application of …

Coupling Into Waveguide Evanescent Modes With Applications In Electron Paramagnetic Resonance, Jason Walter Sidabras

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The use of analytical and numerical techniques in solving the coupling of evanescent modes in a microwave waveguide through slots can be optimized to create a uniform magnetic field excitation on axis within a waveguide. This work has direct applications in Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) where a 100~kHz time-varying magnetic field is incident on a sample contained in a microwave cavity. Typical cavity designs do not take into consideration the uniformity of the 100~kHz field modulation and assume it to be uniform enough over the sample region from quasi-static principles. This work shows otherwise and uses Ansoft (Pittsburgh, PA) High …

A Visual Approach To Construction Cost Estimating, Phuwadol Samphaongoen

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Construction cost estimating is considered one of the most important and critical phases of a construction project. Preparing reliable and accurate estimates to help decision makers is the most challenging assignment that estimators face. An estimate is not only necessary for proposal preparation but also for several project management functions. Despite the importance of estimating, it has remained a very time consuming process. The most inefficient part of construction cost estimating is determination of the amount of resources needed for the construction of a project. This is also known as quantity takeoff. Quantity takeoff is a very long and error-prone …

A Voip Implementation On An Embedded Platform, Zachary D. Lund

Master's Theses (2009 -)

This thesis presents a method of building an open VoIP telephone using off-the-shelf hardware. VoIP has become an important area of study in computer science and engineering, but many of the pieces are expensive and proprietary. We discuss the process of building an open IP telephone, the design decisions and difficulties, a performance evaluation of the different pieces of the system, and methods and suggestions for improving the overall system.

The IP telephone is built on the Freescale 68HC12 microcontroller because of its analog and digital capabilities and the Linksys WRT54GL router for its embedded simplicity and network capabilities. The …

Upper Extremity Kinetics During Lofstrand Crutch-Assisted Gait In Children, Neha Bhagchandani

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Complete biomechanical analysis helps evaluate the motion during various gait patterns for the upper and lower extremities. Extensive studies have been performed to evaluate unassisted gait patterns, but very little has been accomplished for studying assisted motion. Children with pathologies such as osteogenesis imperfecta, spinal cord injury, and cerebral palsy use assistive devices such as anterior and posterior walkers, canes, Lofstrand and axillary crutches for ambulation purposes.

Statistics show that there are currently about 566,000 crutch users in the United States. The long-term crutch users in this population can suffer various upper limb pathologies associated with extensive upper extremity (UE) …

A Non-Rigid Registration Method For Analyzing Myocardial Wall Motion For Cardiac Ct Images, Elizabeth B. Philps

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has a high percentage of non-responders. Successfully locating the optimal location for CRT lead placement on a priori images can increase efficiency in procedural preparation and execution and could potentially increase the rate of CRT responders.

Registration has been used in the past to assess the motion of medical images. Specifically, one method of non-rigid registration has been utilized to assess the motion of left ventricular MR cardiac images. As CT imaging is often performed as part of resynchronization treatment planning and is a fast and accessible means of imaging, extending this registration method to assessing …

Real-Time Health Monitoring System For Mast-Arm Sign Support Structures, Andrew David Smith

Master's Theses (2009 -)

There has been an ongoing study conducted by Marquette University and supported by the Wisconsin Highway Research Program that is seeking to understand the risk of fatigue-induced fracture in the connections of mast-arm sign support structures. This study has been brought on by recent problems encountered with the connections contained in, and the in-service performance of, several cantilevered mast-arm sign support structures. A resulting recommendation of phase one in this effort was to monitoring an in-service cantilevered mast-arm sign support structure.

The health monitoring system developed in this thesis effort includes a grouping of strain gages (full-bridge arrangements) positioned around …

Light-Activation Influence On The Thermal Analysis Of A Resin-Modified Glass-Ionomer, Raksha Srinivas

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The acid-base and light polymerization reactions in resin modified glass ionomers (RMGI) have been shown to compete and possibly inhibit one another during early RMGI development. Earlier beginning times of light polymerization initiation may limit the acid-base reaction and if time allowed for the acid-base components to react is increased, the extent of light cure reaction may be lesser. The thermal behavior of a commercially available RMGI was investigated in relation to a light initiation regimen using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The relationship between delay in light initiation or no light initiation and the resultant set matrix of the …

Bi-Planar Postural Stability Model: Fitting Parameters To Patient Data Automatically, Andrew Michael Sovol

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Studies of children with cerebral palsy (CP) have shown that maintaining control of posture in quiet standing is often difficult. Physical therapy and assistive devices, both with or without surgery, may be employed in an effort to improve postural stability. Assessing the effectiveness of such interventions is important for healthcare providers and their patients. A previously created bi-planar model of posture control has been further developed as a method of assessment. This MATLAB and Simulink model has successfully replicated experimental results for typical adults and children, as well as children with CP across three different test conditions: eyes open, eyes …

Sensitivity Of Motor Adaptation To The Statistical Properties Of An Environmental Load, Timothy Michael Haswell

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Linear, limited-memory models capture many important features of adaptive motor performance during reaching, stepping and pointing. A recent study in our lab found that a model fitted to data obtained from subjects reaching against elastic loads which varied from trial-to-trial later failed to fit the steady-state response behavior of subjects exposed to deterministic, step changes in load. Does motor adaptation depend on statistical properties of the environment (eg. mean load strength and variability)? Neurologically intact volunteers (n=14) made 6 blocks of 100 planar, ballistic, 10cm, out-and-back reaching movements against spring-like loads having equilibrium positions at the hand's starting point. View …

Mechatronic Tools For The Modeling And Design Of Servo Motor Actuated Belt Driven Motion Systems, Robert William Copsey

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Mechatronics is defined as the synergistic integration of physical systems, electronics, controls, and computers through the design process, from the very start of the design process, thus enabling complex decision making. This definition reveals the elements involved yet it eludes to the complexity and the constant balance of tradeoffs which are prevalent in the context of applying Mechatronics to a successful design process. This work pursues the use of various tools for the application of Mechatronics to the modeling and design of a servo motor driven motion system.

The use of Mechatronics is pervasive in and among today's highly integrated …