Engineering Commons^™

Coalition Battle Management Language (C-Bml) Study Group Final Report, Major Kevin Galvin, Mike Hieb, Andreas Tolk, Charles Turnitsa, Curtis Blais, James Montgomery

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

Interoperability across Modeling and Simulation (M&S) and Command and Control (C2) systems continues to be a significant problem for today's warfighters. M&S is well-established in military training, but it can be a valuable asset for planning and mission rehearsal if M&S and C2 systems were able to exchange information, plans, and orders more effectively. To better support the warfighter with M&S based capabilities, an open standards-based framework is needed that establishes operational and technical coherence between C2 and M&S systems.

Afci Quarterly Input – Unlv October 1 Through December 31, 2005, Harry Reid Center For Environmental Studies. Nuclear Science And Technology Division

Transmutation Research Program Reports (TRP)

Quarterly report highlighting research projects, activities and objectives of the Transmutation Research Program at the Nuclear Science & Technology Division, Harry Reid Research Center.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas supports the AFCI through research and development of technologies for economic and environmentally sound refinement of spent nuclear fuel. The UNLV program has four components: infrastructure, international collaboration, student-based research, and management and program support.

Analysis Of Sugar Beet Pulp By X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Guilin Jiang, Ghaleb A. Husseini, Larry Lin Baxter, Matthew R. Linford

Faculty Publications

Determining the chemical structure and composition of biomass fuels using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy XPS can provide fundamental knowledge of their structures that is useful in understanding and predicting their combustion behavior. Sugar beet pulp is an example of an agricultural residue byproduct of food and feed production of potential interest for biomass combustion. The XPS spectra of sugar beet pulp provide both its elemental composition and indications of its bonding. Traditional fuel analyses of this fuel are also provided. These include: ultimate analysis — the elemental composition of the overall fuel C, H, N, S, and O; chlorine analysis — …

Analysis Of Sawdust By X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Guilin Jiang, Ghaleb A. Husseini, Larry Lin Baxter, Matthew R. Linford

Faculty Publications

Determining the chemical structure and composition of biomass fuels using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy XPS can provide fundamental knowledge of their structures that is useful in understanding and predicting their combustion behavior. Sawdust is an example of a forest product residue byproduct of paper and lumber production of potential interest for biomass combustion. The XPS spectra of sawdust provide both its elemental composition and indications of its bonding. Traditional fuel analyses of this fuel are also provided. These include: ultimate analysis — the elemental composition of the overall fuel C, H, N, S, and O; chlorine analysis — reported here as …

Analysis Of Grain Screenings By X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Guilin Jiang, Ghaleb A. Husseini, Larry Lin Baxter, Matthew R. Linford

Faculty Publications

Determining the chemical structure and composition of biomass fuels using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy XPS can provide fundamental knowledge of their structures that is useful in understanding and predicting their combustion behavior. Grain screenings are an example of an agricultural residue byproduct of food and feed production of potential interest for biomass combustion. The XPS spectra of grain screenings provide both its elemental composition and indications of its bonding. Traditional fuel analyses of this fuel are also provided. These include: ultimate analysis — the elemental composition of the overall fuel C, H, N, S, and O; chlorine analysis — reported here …

Analysis Of Sunflower Shells By X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Guilin Jiang, Ghaleb A. Husseini, Larry Lin Baxter, Matthew R. Linford

Faculty Publications

Determining the chemical structure and composition of biomass fuels using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) can provide fundamental knowledge of their structures that is useful in understanding and predicting their combustion behavior. Sunflower shells are an example of an agricultural residue (byproduct of food and feed production) of potential interest for biomass combustion. The XPS spectra of sunflower shells provide both its elemental composition and indications of its bonding. Traditional fuel analyses of this fuel are also provided. These include: ultimate analysis — the elemental composition of the overall fuel (C, H, N, S, and O); chlorine analysis — reported here …

Research Article| December 30 2005 Analysis Of Shea Nut Shells By X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Guilin Jiang, Ghaleb A. Husseini, Larry Lin Baxter, Matthew R. Linford

Faculty Publications

Determining the chemical structure and composition of biomass fuels using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) can provide fundamental knowledge of their structures that is useful in understanding and predicting their combustion behavior. Shea nut shells are an example of an agricultural residue (byproduct of food and feed production) of potential interest for biomass combustion. The XPS spectra of shea nut shells provide both its elemental composition and indications of its bonding. Traditional fuel analyses of this fuel are also provided. These include: ultimate analysis — the elemental composition of the overall fuel (C, H, N, S, and O); chlorine analysis — …

Method And System For Electronically Generating Random Answers, Stephen O. Bozzone, Bonnie Bachman

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

The invention concerns a method (300) and system (110) for electronically generating random responses in a portable electronic device (110). The method includes the steps of detecting (316) motion of the portable electronic device, in response to the detecting step, generating (318) the random response and outputting (320) the random response to a user of the portable electronic device. The method can further include the steps of prompting (312) the user to ask a question and following a predetermined time period after prompting the user to ask the question, prompting (314) the user to shake the portable electronic device. The …

Analysis Of Straw By X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Guilin Jiang, Ghaleb A. Husseini, Larry Lin Baxter, Matthew R. Linford

Faculty Publications

Determining the chemical structure and composition of biomass fuels using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy XPS can provide fundamental knowledge of their structures that is useful in understanding and predicting their combustion behavior. Straw is an example of an agricultural residue byproduct of food and feed production of potential interest for biomass combustion. The XPS spectra of straw provide both its elemental composition and indications of its bonding. Traditional fuel analyses of this fuel are also provided. These include: ultimate analysis — the elemental composition of the overall fuel C, H, N, S, and O; chlorine analysis — reported here as part …

Magnetopolaron Interactions In N-Type Indium Phosphide, R. A. Lewis, P. E. Simmonds, Y. J. Wang

Faculty of Engineering - Papers (Archive)

Broadband far-infrared absorption spectroscopy is used to investigate n-type indium phosphide in magnetic fields of up to 30 T. The large energy range 2–14 Ry and the large magnetic field range 03 employed permit the observation of a rich variety of magnetopolaron interactions. We report on the magnetopolaron effect for bound states in InP, beginning with the coupling of the 2p+ state with the 1s+LO phonon state. We further observe the magnetopolaron effect associated with the metastable state 210. In addition we report i) the re-emergence of the 210 impurity state transition beyond the LO phonon manifold, ii) the possible …

System And Method For Generating Psuedo-Noise Sequences, Sina Balkir, Walter D. Leon Salas, Michael W. Hoffman, Lance C. Pérez

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Disclosed is a method for generating psuedo-noise (PN) sequences utilizing a system comprised of a quantizer, and N directly quantized output/input map containing chaotic map cells, each in functional combination with combiner means and an m-bit shift register.

Synthesis Of Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes Using Unseeded Hydrocarbon Diffusion Flames, Kozo Saito, Forman A. Williams, Alvin S. Gordon, Liming Yuang

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Patents

A method is provided for synthesizing carbon nanotubes from unseeded methane-air diffusion flames. A novel stainless steel and Ni—Cr wire probe is also provided for collecting carbon nanotubes from those diffusion flames.

Adaptive Weighing Of Context Models For Lossless Data Compression, Matthew V. Mahoney

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

Until recently the state of the art in lossless data compression was prediction by partial match (PPM). A PPM model estimates the next-symbol probability distribution by combining statistics from the longest matching contiguous contexts in which each symbol value is found. We introduce a context mixing model which improves on PPM by allowing contexts which are arbitrary functions of the history. Each model independently estimates a probability and confidence that the next bit of data will be 0 or 1. Predictions are combined by weighted averaging. After a bit is arithmetic coded, the weights are adjusted along the cost gradient …

An Evolutionary Multi-Objective Crowding Algorithm (Emoca): Benchmark Test Function Results, Ramesh Rajagopalan, Chilukuri K. Mohan, Kishan G. Mehrotra, Pramod K. Varshney

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - All Scholarship

A new evolutionary multi-objective crowding algorithm (EMOCA) is evaluated using nine benchmark multiobjective optimization problems, and shown to produce non-dominated solutions with significant diversity, outperforming state-of-the-art multi-objective evolutionary algorithms viz., Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm – II (NSGA-II), Strength Pareto Evolutionary algorithm II (SPEA-II) and Pareto Archived Evolution Strategy (PAES) on most of the test problems. The key new approach in EMOCA is to use a diversity-emphasizing probabilistic approach in determining whether an offspring individual is considered in the replacement selection phase, along with the use of a non-domination ranking scheme. This approach appears to provide a useful compromise between the …

Reflections Of Active Galactic Nucleus Outbursts In The Gaseous Atmosphere Of M87, W. Forman, P. Nulsen, S. Heinz, F. Owen, J. Eilek, A. Vikhlinin, M. Markevitch, R. Kraft, E. Churazov, C. Jones

Faculty of Engineering - Papers (Archive)

We combined deep Chandra, ROSAT HRI, and XMM-Newton observations of M87 to study the impact of active galactic nucleus (AGN) outbursts on its gaseous atmosphere. Many X-ray features appear to be a direct result of repetitive AGN outbursts. In particular, the X-ray cavities around the jet and counterjet are likely due to the expansion of radio plasma, while rings of enhanced emission at 14 and 17 kpc are probably shock fronts associated with outbursts that began 1–2 × 107 yr ago. The effects of these shocks are also seen in brightenings within the prominent X-ray arms. On larger scales, ∼50 …

Strong Terahertz Emission From (100) P-Type Inas, Rajind Mendis, M. L. Smith, L. J. Bignell, R. Vickers, R. A. Lewis

Faculty of Engineering - Papers (Archive)

Terahertz emission has been observed from (100) Zn-acceptor-doped InAs under illumination by fs pulses of near-infrared radiation. Turning the crystal about the surface normal produces two maxima per rotation, whether the angle of incidence is 45° or 75°, in contrast to (111) p-InAs, where three maxima per rotation have been reported. The emitted terahertz power has a quadratic variation with the pump power and decreases with increasing temperature in the range 20–300 K. This behavior is consistent with a photocurrent surge being the dominant terahertz generating mechanism at low excitation fluences. The p-type InAs generates about two orders of magnitude …

Monitoring Structural Degradation Of Rail Pads In Laboratory Using Impact Excitation Technique, S. Kaewunruen, Alexander Remennikov

Faculty of Engineering - Papers (Archive)

In ballasted railway track, the deterioration of a sleeper and ballast support usually occurs due to both regular and irregular wheel/rail interactions. The repeated impact of train wheels over sleepers can reduce the lifetime of a sleeper and degrade ballast. To attenuate the effect of the impact loads on concrete sleepers, the resilient rail seat pads are used. After a certain time in service conditions, the worn rail pads have to be replaced. Assessment of the condition of rail pads is of great importance to track engineers and plays an important role in the overall track maintenance cost. A non-destructive …

Simulation Of Phonon-Assisted Band-To Band Tunneling In Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistors, Siyuranga O. Koswatta, Mark S. Lundstrom, M. P. Anantram, Dmitri E. Nikonov

Other Nanotechnology Publications

Electronic transport in a carbon nanotube metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) is simulated using the nonequilibrium Green’s functions method with the account of electron-phonon scattering. For MOSFETs, ambipolar conduction is explained via phonon-assisted band-to-band (Landau–Zener) tunneling. In comparison to the ballistic case, we show that the phonon scattering shifts the onset of ambipolar conduction to more positive gate voltage (thereby increasing the off current). It is found that the subthreshold swing in ambipolar conduction can be made as steep as 40 mV/decade despite the effect of phonon scattering.

Tsunami Affected Coastal Soil Disturbance And Implications On Reconstruction With Special Reference To Low-Cost Dwellings And Rail Tracks, Buddhima Indraratna, Mohamed A. Shahin, Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn, Hadi Khabbaz

Faculty of Engineering - Papers (Archive)

On 26 December 2004, the largest earthquake for more than 4 decades (magnitude 9.0) occurred between the Australian and Eurasian plates in the Indian Ocean (along the overly stressed Sunda trench) to the west of Aceh Province (Northern Sumatra). The quake triggered a series of waves that increased in height rapidly close to the shore (tsunami) spreading thousands of kilometers across the Bay of Bengal. In the Eastern and Southern coastal belt of Sri Lanka, the floodwaters reached almost 1 km inland, causing unprecedented damage to infrastructure and over 4000 fatalities. Widespread destruction included several kilometres of rail tracks, dislocating …

Preparative Synthesis Of Dtdp-L-Rhamnose Through Combined Enzymatic Pathways, Young Bok Abraham Kang, Yung-Hun Yang, Kwang-Won Lee, Sun-Gu Lee, Jae Kyung Sohng, Hei Chan Lee, Kwangkyoung Liou, Byung-Gee Kim

Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering

dTDP-L-rhamnose, an important precursor of O-antigen, was prepared on a large scale from dTMP by executing an one-pot reaction in which six enzymes are involved. Two enzymes, dTDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-glucose 3,5-epimerase and dTDP-4-keto-rhamnose reductase, responsible for the conversion of dTDP-4-keto-6-deoxy- D-glucose to dTDP-L-rhamnose, were isolated from their putative sequences in the genome of Mesorhizobium loti, functionally expressed in Escherichia coli, and their enzymatic activities were identified. The two enzymes were combined with an enzymatic process for dTDP-4- keto-6-deoxy-D-glucose involving TMP kinase, acetate kinase, dTDP-glucose synthase, and dTDP-glucose 4,6- dehydratase, which allowed us to achieve a preparative scale synthesis of dTDP-L-rhamnose using dTMP …

Analysis Of Indentation Loading Of Cortical Bone Using Acoustic Emission Techniques, Ashkan Safari, Ger Reilly, Brendan Mccormack

Conference Papers

In this study, we recorded the number of Acoustic emission (AE) hits and related AE energy during indentation fracture of cortical bone using a PAC PCI-2 card and pico sensor. A threshold value of 43dB was used to filter premature trigger due to background noise. Registered AE hits had more than one count (threshold crossing). Amplifier gain was set at 40dB with a (0.1-1) MHz band pass filter. 8mm cubes of cortical bones were indented in the longitudinal direction at constant crosshead speed of 1 mm min-1 using a large 2D, 50˚ wedge indenter. We hypothesised that signals occurring as …

Injection-Locking In Fabry-Perot Quantum-Well Lasers, Xiaomin Jin, Shun-Lien Chuang

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2005, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge.

The senior design competition helps to focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects …

Experimental Study Of The Solids Velocity Field In Gas-Solid Risers, Satish Bhusarapu, Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan, Milorad P. Duduković, Steven Trujillo, Timothy J. O'Hern

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Solids Flow Dynamics in Gas-Solid Risers is Inherently Complex. Model Refinement through Experimental Validation Requires the Acquisition of Detailed Nonintrusive Measurements. in This Study, Noninvasive Computer-Automated Radioactive Particle Tracking (CARPT) is Employed to Visualize and Quantify in a Three-Dimensional Domain the Solids Dynamics and Mixing in Gas-Solid Risers. This Technique Has the Added Advantage that, along with the Derived Eulerian Solids Flow Field (Time-Average Velocity Map and Various Turbulence Parameters Such as the Reynolds Stresses, Turbulent Kinetic Energy), It Also Provides Directly the Lagrangian Description of the Solids Motion. the Solids Velocity Field Data Are Obtained in Two Different Risers …

Structural Characteristics Of Carbon Nanofibers For On-Chip Interconnect Applications, Yusuke Ominami, Quoc Ngo, Alexander J. Austin, Hans Yoong, Cary Y. Yang, Alan M. Cassell, Brett A. Cruden, Jun Li, M. Meyyappan

Electrical and Computer Engineering

In this letter, we compare the structures of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of Ni-catalyzed and Pd-catalyzed carbon nanofibers (CNFs) synthesized for on-chip interconnect applications with scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). The Ni-catalyzed CNF has a conventional fiberlike structure and many graphitic layers that are almost parallel to the substrate at the CNF base. In contrast, the Pd-catalyzed CNF has a multiwall nanotubelike structure on the sidewall spanning the entire CNF. The microstructure observed in the Pd-catalyzed fibers at the CNF-metal interface has the potential to lower contact resistance significantly, as our electrical measurements using current-sensing atomic force microscopy indicate. A …

Top-Down Structure And Device Fabrication Using In Situ Nanomachining, Xiaodong Li, Xinnan Wang, Qihua Xiong, Peter C. Eklund

Faculty Publications

We demonstrate the potential of an alternative tool for the fabrication of nanoscale structures and devices. A nanoindenter integrated with an atomic force microscope is shown to be a powerful machine tool for cutting precise length nanowires or nanobelts and for manipulating the shortened wires. We also demonstrate its utility in cutting grooves and fabricating dents (or periodic arrays of dents) in ZnSnanobelts. This approach permits the direct mechanical machining of nanodevices that are supported on a substrate without the inherent complications of e beam or photolithography.

Fully Compliant Tensural Bistable Micro-Mechanisms (Ftbm), D. L. Wilcox, Larry L. Howell

Faculty Publications

A new class of bistable mechanisms, the fully compliant tensural bistable micromechanism (FTBM) class, is introduced. The class consists of linear bistable micromechanisms that undergo tension loads, in addition to the bending loads present, through their range of motion. Proof-of-concept designs fabricated in two different microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) surface micromachining processes were demonstrated. Three sets of refined designs within the FTBM class were designed using optimization methods linked with nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA), then fabricated and tested. Measured force and displacement performance are compared to values obtained by FEA. On-chip actuation of the bistable mechanisms was achieved using thermomechanical …

Performance Analysis Of Common Detectors For Shaped Offset Qpsk And Feher's Qpsk, Tom Nelson, Michael D. Rice, Erik Perrins

Faculty Publications

Sponsorship: US Air Force Grant FA9302-05-C-0001. A detector architecture capable of detecting both shaped offset quadrature phase shift keying (SOQPSK-TG) and Feher's quadrature phase shift keying (FQPSK-JR) is developed and analyzed. Both modulations are embodied as fully interoperable modulations in the Interrange Instrumentation Group (IRIG) standard IRIG-106. It is shown that the common detector achieves near optimal bit error rate performance without knowledge of which modulation is used by the transmitter. The detection techniques are based on a common trellis-coded modulation representation and a common continuous phase modulation (CPM) representation for these two modulations. In addition the common pulse amplitude …

54th Spsj Annual Meeting Yokohama, Japan, May 25-27, 2005, Jane C. Vogl, Hiroyuki Ohno

Emeritus Faculty Author Gallery

No abstract provided.

The Potential For Real-Time Traffic Crash Prediction, Mohamed Abdel-Aty, Anurag Pande, Liang Y. Hsia, Fathy Abdalla

Civil and Environmental Engineering

The development of freeway crash prediction models using intelligent transportation systems (ITS) archived data could be a substantial advancement in the field of real-time traffic management. Such models not only are expected to improve safety but also may go a long way to improve freeway operations by reducing incident-related congestion.

Because there is a need to use real-time traffic data emanating from loop detectors, the approach differs distinctly from previous studies estimating crash frequencies or rates on a certain freeway section through aggregate measures of flow (such as average daily traffic or hourly volumes).

Although the authors try to establish …