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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Design, Development And Biomechanical Analysis Of Scaffolds For Augmentation Of Rotator Cuff Repairs, Amit Aurora Jan 2010

Design, Development And Biomechanical Analysis Of Scaffolds For Augmentation Of Rotator Cuff Repairs, Amit Aurora

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Rotator cuff tears are a source of debilitating pain that commonly affects more than 40 of our aging population. Despite advances in surgical treatment, the failure rate of rotator cuff repairs is as high as 20-90 . Extracellular matrix (ECM) derived scaffolds have recently been investigated as augmentation devices for rotator cuff repairs, but none has yet demonstrated both the appropriate biological and mechanical properties for mitigating re-tears and enhancing healing. This dissertation proposes to engineer the mechanical properties of allograft fascia lata in a manner that will allow its use as an augmentation device for rotator cuff repairs. This …


A Major Study Of American (Ford) Compared With Japanese (Honda) Automotive Industry: Their Strategies Affecting Surviabilty, Patrick F. Callihan Jan 2010

A Major Study Of American (Ford) Compared With Japanese (Honda) Automotive Industry: Their Strategies Affecting Surviabilty, Patrick F. Callihan

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Understanding the role of technology, in the automotive industry, is necessary for the development, implementation, service and disposal of such technology, from a complete integrated system life cycle approach, to assure long-term success. This dissertation provides a unique complete characterization of the system life (cycle) business major cost elements of the automotive industry the subsystems, cost elements, interplay and interdependencies that affect the total real life cycle cost and value the various stated product, organizational, and process initiatives intended to produce significant improvements in the American automobile industry, as compared to the Japanese. This dissertation adds a perspective, understanding, and …


A Computational Study For The Utilization Of Jet Pulsations In Gas Turbine Film Cooling And Flow Control, Olga V. Kartuzova Jan 2010

A Computational Study For The Utilization Of Jet Pulsations In Gas Turbine Film Cooling And Flow Control, Olga V. Kartuzova

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Jets have been utilized in various turbomachinery applications in order to improve gas turbines performance. Jet pulsation is a promising technique because of the reduction in the amount of air removed from compressor, which helps to increase turbine efficiency. In this work two areas of pulsed jets applications were investigated, first one is film cooling of High Pressure Turbine (HPT) blades and second one is flow separation control over Low Pressure Turbine (LPT) airfoil using Vortex Generator Jets (VGJ) The inlet temperature to the HPT significantly affects the performance of the gas turbine. Film cooling is one of the most …


Developing A Protocol For An Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Plus (Epp+) Program At Nasa Glenn Research Center, Amarin Kongtawelert Jan 2010

Developing A Protocol For An Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Plus (Epp+) Program At Nasa Glenn Research Center, Amarin Kongtawelert

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EPP+ or Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Plus is a Environmentally Preferable Purchasing program with incorporated a unique Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) scoring system which implemented at NASA, Glenn Research Center. A protocol has been developed to aid in selecting among products based on principles of Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The protocol has been developed for use at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) but is intended to benefit anyone wishing to make sustainable purchasing decision. The protocol was designed as a web-based application which evaluates the life cycle factors, affirmative procurements, price, and performance of products that …


Surface Microtopography Modulation Of Biomaterials For Bone Tissue Engineering Applications, Eun Jung Kim Jan 2010

Surface Microtopography Modulation Of Biomaterials For Bone Tissue Engineering Applications, Eun Jung Kim

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The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a biodegradable and implantable scaffold with precise surface topographies that can provide osteoconductive stimuli to connective tissue progenitor cells (CTPs), and subsequently, enhance bone regeneration applications without the complications of autogenous cancellous bone grafts. This dissertation presents the modification of surface microtextures to provide osteoconductive stimuli to CTPs for bone regeneration applications. First, the effect of surface topography on cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation was validated through experiments using surface post microtextures and CTPs. Post microtextures accelerated CTP growth behaviors compared to smooth polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and standard cell culture dishes. Second, …


Evaluation Of Upper Motor Neuron Pathology In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis By Mri;Towards Identifying Noninvasive Biomarkers Of The Disease, Venkateswaran Rajagopalan Jan 2010

Evaluation Of Upper Motor Neuron Pathology In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis By Mri;Towards Identifying Noninvasive Biomarkers Of The Disease, Venkateswaran Rajagopalan

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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the commonest adult motor neuron disease (MND) which causes progressive muscle paralysis and death usually within 5 years of symptom onset. As a result, only ╠â30,000 individuals in the United States are afflicted at any one time even though 5,000 or more individuals are diagnosed yearly. The diagnosis of ALS requires evidence of degeneration in upper motor neurons (UMNs) in the brain and in lower motor neurons (LMNs) that exit the brainstem and spinal cord to innervate skeletal muscles. Diagnosis can be incorrect or delayed when disease is early or atypical because non-invasive objective tests …


Finite Element Modeling Of Stress Urinary Incontinence Mechanics, Thomas A. Spirka Jan 2010

Finite Element Modeling Of Stress Urinary Incontinence Mechanics, Thomas A. Spirka

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Stress urinary incontinence is characterized by the involuntary transurethral loss of urine caused by an increase in abdominal pressure in the absence of a bladder contraction that raises the vesical pressure to a level that exceeds urethral pressure. Adult women are most commonly affected by SUI which is believed to be caused in part by injuries to the pelvic floor sustained during childbirth. In spite of the large number of women affected by SUI, little is known about the mechanics associated with the maintenance of continence in women. In theory the mechanics underlying the mechanics of female continence can be …


Cell-Taught Gene Therapy For The Preservation And Regeneration Of Cardiac Tissue Following Chronic Heart Failure, Srividya Sundararaman Jan 2010

Cell-Taught Gene Therapy For The Preservation And Regeneration Of Cardiac Tissue Following Chronic Heart Failure, Srividya Sundararaman

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Heart failure is the primary cause of mortality and morbidity in the Western world. Although cell therapy has demonstrated improvement in cardiac function, these benefits are being attributed to the activation of paracrine factors, rather than the differentiation and integration of the transplanted cells into the host tissue. Based on this knowledge the focus of this thesis work was to deliver paracrine factors, and evaluate its effect on cardiac function. Gene therapy has evolved as a promising option to deliver pro-angiogenic proteins to infarct zones, thus providing cardiac benefit. This study has identified a gene design without the use of …


Fadaptive Backstepping Control Of Active Magnetic Bearings, Silu You Jan 2010

Fadaptive Backstepping Control Of Active Magnetic Bearings, Silu You

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A new control methodology, adaptive backstepping control (ABC), is applied to a linearized model of an active magnetic bearing (AMB). Our control objective is to regulate the deviation of the magnetic bearing from its equilibrium position in the presence of an external disturbance. The control approach is based on adaptive backstepping control, which is a combination of a recursive Lyapunov controller and adaptive laws. In this thesis, two types of adaptive backstepping methods are used. The first method is based on full-state feedback, for which all three states in the linearized AMB model (velocity, position, and current) are used to …


Sensing And Control Of Mems Accelerometers Using Kalman Filter, Kai Zhang Jan 2010

Sensing And Control Of Mems Accelerometers Using Kalman Filter, Kai Zhang

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Surface micromachined low-capacitance MEMS capacitive accelerometers which integrated CMOS readout circuit generally have a noise above 0.02g. Force-to-rebalance feedback control that is commonly used in MEMS accelerometers can improve the performances of accelerometers such as increasing their stability, bandwidth and dynamic range. However, the controller also increases the noise floor. There are two major sources of the noise in MEMS accelerometer. They are electronic noise from the CMOS readout circuit and thermal-mechanical Brownian noise caused by damping. Kalman filter is an effective solution to the problem of reducing the effects of the noises through estimating and canceling the states contaminated …


A Theoretical Model Of The Effect Of Bone Defects On Anterior Shoulder Instability: A Finite Element Approach, Piyush Walia Jan 2010

A Theoretical Model Of The Effect Of Bone Defects On Anterior Shoulder Instability: A Finite Element Approach, Piyush Walia

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Presence of either a Hill Sachs or a Bony Bankart lesion has been indicated as a possible cause of subluxation and anterior shoulder dislocation. Previous studies have investigated only effects of these isolated lesions on the glenohumeral instability of the shoulder. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the effect of both Bony Bankart lesion and Hill-Sachs lesion in the glenohumeral joint on the stability of the shoulder. We hypothesize that as the size of the lesion increases, the glenohumeral joint's stability will decrease. We further hypothesize that the presence of both defects together will reduce the glenohumeral joint's …


Application Of Differential Scanning Calorimetry To Characterize Thin Film Deposition Processes, Andrew John Roger Snell Jan 2010

Application Of Differential Scanning Calorimetry To Characterize Thin Film Deposition Processes, Andrew John Roger Snell

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With the recent increase in awareness on the environmental impact of industrial coating processes, chromate-based coating processes have been elevated to the rank of the technologies targeted by the EPA for rapid replacement by environmentally friendly processes. Therefore, there is a clear need for advances in coating technologies to identify alternative industrial practices. This thesis characterizes a process developed at Cleveland State University as an alternative deposition technique to generate uniform coatings onto solid substrates. A kinetic analysis to extract scale up parameters involved in the reaction kinetics leading to high-performance coatings is demonstrated in this research. The work consists …


Thermal Analysis Of Natural Convectiona And Radiation In Porous Fins, Mehulkumar G. Maheria Jan 2010

Thermal Analysis Of Natural Convectiona And Radiation In Porous Fins, Mehulkumar G. Maheria

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No abstract provided.


Heat Transfer In A Nanofluid Flow Past A Permeable Continuous Moving Surface, Sarvang D. Shah Jan 2010

Heat Transfer In A Nanofluid Flow Past A Permeable Continuous Moving Surface, Sarvang D. Shah

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The main purpose of this paper is to introduce a boundary layer analysis for the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of an incompressible nanofluid flowing over a permeable isothermal surface moving continuously. The resulting system of non-linear ordinary differential equations is solved numerically using Runge-Kutta method with shooting techniques. Numerical results are obtained for the velocity, temperature and concentration distributions, as well as the friction factor, local Nusselt number and local Sherwood number for several values of the parameters, namely the velocity ratio parameter, suction/injection parameter and nanofluid parameters. The obtained results are presented graphically and in tabular form …


Natural Convection In A Porous Medium Saturated By Nanofluid, Kaustubh Ghodeswar Jan 2010

Natural Convection In A Porous Medium Saturated By Nanofluid, Kaustubh Ghodeswar

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A boundary layer analysis is presented for the natural convection heat and mass transfer flow past along two different geometries i.e., a vertical cone and an isothermal sphere in a Non-Darcy porous medium saturated with a nanofluid. A co-ordinate transformation is used to transform the governing equations into non-dimensional non-similar boundary layer equations. These equations are then solved numerically using implicit finite difference method (Keller-box method). Numerical solutions for heat transfer rate, mass transfer rate and friction factor have been presented for parametric variations of the buoyancy ratio parameter N-r, Brownian motion parameter Nb, thermophoresis parameter Nt and Lewis number …


Biological Treatment Of Milk And Soybean Wastewater With Bioproducts, Tianzhu Bi Jan 2010

Biological Treatment Of Milk And Soybean Wastewater With Bioproducts, Tianzhu Bi

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Dairy industries discharge larger amounts of wastewater as compared to other food industries. Wastewater contains high amount of total organic carbon materials and nutrients, such as fat, protein, and lactose. Biological treatment is widely used to treat this kind of wastewater due to the fluctuation of amount and content of dairy wastewater. This study investigated removal of total organic carbon (TOC) from two types of dairy wastewater-milk and soy milk wastewater. The bioproducts used in experiments were baker's yeast, beer's yeast, live liquid microorganism (LLMO), Enforcer Overnite Toilet Care Liquid, and Enforcer Overnite Toilet Care Granular. The parameters included in …


The Thermodynamics Of Fluid-Phase Benzene Via Molecular Simulation, John L. Tatarko Jan 2010

The Thermodynamics Of Fluid-Phase Benzene Via Molecular Simulation, John L. Tatarko

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Accurate values for thermodynamic properties throughout the fluid phase are a requirement for the design of separation processes. To date, very few pure substances have been completely characterized because of time and monetary constraints. Low cost computing power now permits complete determination of the thermodynamic properties of pure substances via molecular simulation. Molecular simulation is computational statistical mechanics. Benzene is an important industrial chemical and pharmaceutical precursor. It is the prototypical, symmetric, hexagonal molecule and is an ideal candidate for molecular simulation. The molecular models of three researchers in the field are submitted for Monte Carlo simulation in the virtual …


A Comparative Study On Fault Detection And Self-Reconfiguration, Ning Ge Jan 2010

A Comparative Study On Fault Detection And Self-Reconfiguration, Ning Ge

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Extended State Observer (ESO) and the Alpha-Beta-Gamma Tracker are introduced and compared. In comparison, the ESO is found to be more noise resistant. The extended state used for the estimation of the general system dynamics in real time makes it suitable for fault detection. Four control schemes are proposed for self-reconfiguration upon fault detection. These schemes are Active Disturbance Rejection Control, Tracker-based Feedback Control, Fuzzy Logic Control and Tracker-based PID Control. To compare their control performance, these schemes are applied to three different applications namely Active Engine Vibration Isolation System, Three-Tank Dynamic System and MEMS Gyroscope System. The advantages and …


Flow Induced Vibrations In Pipes: A Finite Element Approach, Ivan Grant Jan 2010

Flow Induced Vibrations In Pipes: A Finite Element Approach, Ivan Grant

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Flow induced vibrations of pipes with internal fluid flow is studied in this work. Finite Element Analysis methodology is used to determine the critical fluid velocity that induces the threshold of pipe instability. The partial differential equation of motion governing the lateral vibrations of the pipe is employed to develop the stiffness and inertia matrices corresponding to two of the terms of the equations of motion. The equation of motion further includes a mixed-derivative term that was treated as a source for a dissipative function. The corresponding matrix with this dissipative function was developed and recognized as the potentially destabilizing …


Automatic Utility Meter Reading, Kaicheng Xie Jan 2010

Automatic Utility Meter Reading, Kaicheng Xie

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This thesis discusses research in the automation of reading a utility meter. The hardware required is a wireless camera pointed at the meter to be read. This meter can be a water, electricity or gas meter. After the wireless camera collects the image from the utility meter it transmits the image to a computer through a receiver. The computer analyzes the image with pattern recognition technology to obtain the numbers. We use image processing techniques in this thesis, including image preprocessing, image segmentation (Otsu threshold method), and number recognition. Finally we create a graphical user interface using Visual C#®


Identification Of Unmodeled Dynamics In Rotor Systems Using Mu-Synthesis Approach, Ryan J. Madden Jan 2010

Identification Of Unmodeled Dynamics In Rotor Systems Using Mu-Synthesis Approach, Ryan J. Madden

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It is well recognized that analytical models only approximate the true dynamics of analyzed rotating machines, due to the presence of components that are inherently difficult to model. Such models of rotating machines are driven by the best engineering knowledge and experience, and very often are updated based on experimental results. The problem of unmodeled or missing dynamics can be exacerbated in the presence of rotor structural damage such as a transverse crack on a shaft. This thesis will present an effective approach for model updating using advanced tools developed in robust control theory, specifically mu-synthesis. The methodology will be …


Evaluation And Comparison Of Mac Protocols In Wireless Sensor Networks, Sharmila Kollipara Jan 2010

Evaluation And Comparison Of Mac Protocols In Wireless Sensor Networks, Sharmila Kollipara

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Wireless sensor network applications call for different kinds of network protocols at different levels of the network stack based on application requirements. A number of medium access control (MAC) protocols have been proposed in the literature. Evaluation of most of these MAC protocols have typically been based on simulation, and while such simulation provides interesting insight into the behavior of these protocols, artifacts caused by behavior of hardware is ignored. Further more, MAC protocols are usually evaluated by comparing the new protocol with others based on one or two metrics, the ones that determined the design decisions for the protocol …


A Generalized Inverter Control Method For A Variable Speed Wind Power System Under Unbalanced Operating Conditions, Shuang Wu Jan 2010

A Generalized Inverter Control Method For A Variable Speed Wind Power System Under Unbalanced Operating Conditions, Shuang Wu

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This thesis presents a generalized control method for complete harmonic elimination and adjustable power factor of a grid side inverter under unbalanced operating conditions used in variable speed wind power systems. The theoretical analysis of the proposed control method is described and verified by simulation in Simulink®. Two types of traditional control methods are also explained and applied in the wind power system for comparison, which are the indirect current control in a-b-c reference frame and the active and reactive power control in d-q synchronous frame. This method is verified for the gird fault right-through operation as well


Opportunities For Lean Enterprise In Public Regional Transportation, Levent Baykut Jan 2010

Opportunities For Lean Enterprise In Public Regional Transportation, Levent Baykut

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This thesis demonstrates the application of Lean Enterprise principles in a unionized/government-subsidized environment. This study states that Lean cannot be fully implemented in such an environment. The work environment and organization's culture required a hybrid system to maximize the process efficiency. Lean production is a manufacturing philosophy that focuses on adding value for the customer. It is commonly accepted that Lean is applicable to almost any repetitive process in any kind of organization, including government agencies and unionized work environments. The objective of this thesis was to research the opportunities and applicability for Lean Enterprise in public transportation. During the …


A Risk-Based Approach For Examining Vertical Separation Distances In On-Site Wastewater Treatment Sytems, Anthony M. Janicek Jan 2010

A Risk-Based Approach For Examining Vertical Separation Distances In On-Site Wastewater Treatment Sytems, Anthony M. Janicek

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Regulations regarding the use of on-site wastewater treatment systems in many states lack a sufficient scientific basis, which in many cases restricts the use of on-site systems, drives up cost, and restricts innovation of new treatment technologies. Of particular regulatory concern is the minimum vertical separation distance (VSD) located in the area between the trench bottom of the subsurface soil absorption system and any restricting or limiting layer. The minimum VSD needed for proper effluent treatment is based on many complex and interrelated factors regarding physical, chemical, and biological soil conditions at a particular site. Research has shown that depending …


Value Stream Mapping Of Information Flow In Infrastructure Projects, Venkata Ramana Ramana Ari Jan 2010

Value Stream Mapping Of Information Flow In Infrastructure Projects, Venkata Ramana Ramana Ari

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Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a tool for depicting the flow of material in a manufacturing process. This study demonstrates that value stream mapping can also be applied to the movement and processing of information in a non-manufacturing environment. Here, the handling of, and changes to, water project construction plans within the Cleveland Division of Water (DOW) are tracked using value stream mapping. The map identifies opportunities for the Division of Water to streamline its processes and ensure that accurate information about project construction reaches its primary database in a timely fashion. Currently it takes about 19.1 weeks from the …


Directional Solidification Of Al - 7 Wt Si Alloy, Ravi Shanker Rajamure Jan 2010

Directional Solidification Of Al - 7 Wt Si Alloy, Ravi Shanker Rajamure

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Al - 7 wt Si alloy has been directionally solidified from an aluminum single crystal seed with its [100] orientation parallel to the growth direction with a positive thermal gradient of 40 K/cm and over the range of growth speeds. Growth speed dependence of primary Dendrite Spacing and Primary Dendrite trunk Diameter has been analyzed during the step increase and step decrease in the growth speeds. Frequency distribution of Nearest Neighbor dendrites obtained from the statistical analysis shows the hexagonal distribution of dendrites. The interdendritic convection was present in the form of transverse macrosegregation and non uniform distribution of dendrites …


Dc-Dc Power Converter Design For Application In Welding Power Source For The Retail Market, Edward J. Oshaben Jan 2010

Dc-Dc Power Converter Design For Application In Welding Power Source For The Retail Market, Edward J. Oshaben

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The purpose of this study is to design and analyze a DC-DC power converter for application in a welding power source that is cost-competitive with the more traditional, lower-tech welding power source topologies. This thesis first presents a background study of recent design approaches to DC-DC power converters, as they relate to application in welding power converters. The background study also surveys recent design approaches to welding power source controls. Evaluation of available options in DC-DC converter topologies and switching schemes for application in a welding power source is presented. Design methodology of a low-cost DC-DC converter for application in …


Implementation And Evaluation Of A Tdma Based Protocol For Wireless Sensor Networks, Robert M. Fiske Jan 2010

Implementation And Evaluation Of A Tdma Based Protocol For Wireless Sensor Networks, Robert M. Fiske

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When evaluating MAC layer network protocols for wireless sensor networks performing simulations of a protocol's operation can provide great insight into the performance of the protocol. In order to prove that a protocol will work in a real setting and not just at the theoretical level, however, there is no substitute for evaluation with a physical implementation. This thesis discusses a physical implementation and evaluation of the Many-to-One-Sensor-to-Sink (MOSS) MAC layer protocol for sink based wireless sensor networks using the MAC Layer Architecture for TinyOS. MOSS is a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) based protocol first proposed in an earlier …


Experimental Study Of Cooperative Communication Using Software Defined Radios, Murali Krishna Marunganti Jan 2010

Experimental Study Of Cooperative Communication Using Software Defined Radios, Murali Krishna Marunganti

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The aim of this thesis is to implement and test a real time wireless communication environment. Cooperative Communication is one of the methods by which a reliable communication can be obtained. This is performed using a Software Defined Radio. The received output is compared with the actual signal that is transmitted over the wireless channel. The wireless communications are often hindered by the noisy environments and make the system unreliable. The interference from neighboring nodes also poses a major disadvantage. There is a necessity to improve the performance of the system where the neighbor nodes can work in coordination with …