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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Dynamic And Static Effects In Wetting Of Capillaries And Fibers, Taras Andrukh Dec 2012

Dynamic And Static Effects In Wetting Of Capillaries And Fibers, Taras Andrukh

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This research is centered on the analysis of static and dynamic effects of wetting of single capillaries and fibers. We discuss specifics of the capillary rise and drop-on-fiber techniques and develop new methods of characterization of surface energy of single fibers when its contact angle varies between zero and ninety degrees. The contact angles were evaluated and compared for different substrates. We study the dynamics of the meniscus formation inside and outside of capillaries and fibers. We develop a mathematical model of liquid uptake by capillaries and analyze the factors affecting liquid uptake. The derived fundamental equation describes the dynamics …


Induced Elastic Matrix Synthesis Within 3-Dimensional Collagen Constructs, Lavanya Venkataraman Dec 2012

Induced Elastic Matrix Synthesis Within 3-Dimensional Collagen Constructs, Lavanya Venkataraman

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Elastin, a primary component of elastic arteries, maintains structural stability of the cyclically recoiling artery, and critically regulates vascular cell behavior. Accelerated degradation of elastic matrix, such as that seen in vascular pathologies like abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), can therefore severely compromise vessel homeostasis. Tissue engineering and in-situ matrix repair strategies evaluated so far are primarily limited in inducing adult vascular cells to replicate the complex elastic matrix assembly process, and restore lost matrix integrity. Previously, our lab established the elastogenic benefits of concurrent delivery of TGF-β1 and HA-oligomers (together termed elastogenic factors, EFs), within 2D cultures of rat aortic …


Integrated Production And Distribution Problem With Single Perishable Product, Wennian Li Dec 2012

Integrated Production And Distribution Problem With Single Perishable Product, Wennian Li

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This dissertation investigated the extension of the Integrated Production and Distribution Scheduling Problem (IPDSPP) using a variety of perishable products, applying the JIP principle and make-to-order strategy to integrate the production and distribution schedules. A single perishable product with a constant lifetime after production was used in the model discussed here. The objective of the problem was to find the solution that results in minimal system total transportation costs while satisfying customer demand within a fixed time horizon. In the solution, the fleet size, vehicle route and distribution schedule, plant production batch size and schedule were determined simultaneously. This research …


Phase Transformation In Ti-Mo-O, Herbert Boeckels Dec 2012

Phase Transformation In Ti-Mo-O, Herbert Boeckels

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The present dissertation has investigated the effect of oxygen on the ù and á phase stability in metastable Ti-Mo â titanium alloys using thermal analysis, hardness measurements, electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction.
Single crystal x-ray diffraction has shown that oxygen atoms are located in the tetrahedral interstitial lattice sites in the rapidly cooled bcc Ti crystal structure, interfering directly with the reversible displacive formation of ù, with this transformation involving collapse of the bcc lattice along â. Subsequent thermal exposure of reversible ù, as occurring during slower cooling, heating, and aging, prompts short range diffusion and the formation of chemical …


Managing Elective And Non-Elective Case Assignments For An Operating Room Suite, Narges Hosseini Dec 2012

Managing Elective And Non-Elective Case Assignments For An Operating Room Suite, Narges Hosseini

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The success of operating room management depends on all levels of decision making, from strategic to tactical and operational decisions. One key decision in systems with block booking is to assign sufficient amount of block time to surgeons and surgery groups. While the typical method of block assignment identifies the share of surgery groups from OR times based on average of past usage, this method does not count for the difference between cost of under and overtime. One of the goals of this research is to develop a decision framework for block assignment. This work is presented in chapter two. …


Synthesis And Characterization Of Nanoscale Fluorescent Polymer Films, Maryus Chyasnavichyus Dec 2012

Synthesis And Characterization Of Nanoscale Fluorescent Polymer Films, Maryus Chyasnavichyus

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Performance of the chemical sensing devices is based sensitivity to the targeted analytes and accuracy of the measurements. Of many different types of chemical sensors, fluorescence based sensing devices draw much attention as efficient yet small and straightforward devices, capable of detection of various analytes at extremely small quantities.
Polymeric materials provide support for the fluorescent materials and usually serve as a host for the chromophores, protecting them from harsh environments, and serve as a transport media for the analyte.
In the present study thin fluorescent polymer films, sensitive to the environment are synthesized and studied. Poly(glycidyl methacrylate) was used …


Photo-Thermal Processing Of Semiconductor Fibers And Thin Films, Nishant Gupta Dec 2012

Photo-Thermal Processing Of Semiconductor Fibers And Thin Films, Nishant Gupta

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Furnace processing and rapid thermal processing (RTP) have been an integral part of several processing steps in semiconductor manufacturing. The performance of RTP techniques can be improved many times by exploiting quantum photo-effects of UV and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photons in thermal processing and this technique is known as rapid photo-thermal processing (RPP). As compared to furnace processing and RTP, RPP provides higher diffusion coefficient, lower stress and lower microscopic defects. In this work, a custom designed automated photo assisted processing system was built from individual parts and an incoherent light source. This photo-assisted processing system is used to anneal …


Updated Force Model For Milling Nickel-Based Superalloys, Andrew Henderson Dec 2012

Updated Force Model For Milling Nickel-Based Superalloys, Andrew Henderson

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Nickel-based superalloys are commonly used in applications which require high strength and resistance to creep and oxidation in extreme conditions. All nickel-based superalloys are considered difficult to machine; however, cast gamma-prime-strengthened nickel-based superalloys are more difficult to machine than common nickel-based superalloys. Machining comprises a significant portion of manufacturing processes and with advancements in technology and material properties, the methods and models used must be adapted in order to keep pace.
In this research, correlations are made, using fundamental principles, between measurements made with on-machine touch probes and the cutting tool's wear state, those correlations are used in an adaptive …


Assessment Of Fidelity To Data And Robustness To Uncertainty To Assure Credible Predictions In The Modeling Of Wind Turbine Blades, Kendra Van Buren Dec 2012

Assessment Of Fidelity To Data And Robustness To Uncertainty To Assure Credible Predictions In The Modeling Of Wind Turbine Blades, Kendra Van Buren

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In the field of wind energy, modeling and simulation techniques provide an efficient and economical alternative to experimentation for studying the behavior of wind turbines. Numerical models however are approximations of reality, thusly making it crucial to evaluate various sources of uncertainties that influence the model predictions. Credibility of a numerical model rests on the model's ability to replicate existing experimental data, widely known as fidelity-to-data. This dissertation advocates that fidelity-to-data, while necessary, is insufficient to claim credibility of a numerical model. Herein, the objective is to develop numerical models that not only provide agreement to experimental data, but also …


Supply Chain Network Design: Risk-Averse Vs. Risk-Neutral Decision Making, Alireza Madadi Dec 2012

Supply Chain Network Design: Risk-Averse Vs. Risk-Neutral Decision Making, Alireza Madadi

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Recent events, such as the Heparin tragedy, highlight the necessity for designers and planners of supply chain networks to consider the risk of disruptions in spite of their low probability of occurrence. One effective way to hedge against supply chain network disruptions is to have a robustly designed supply chain network. This involves strategic decisions, such as choosing which markets to serve, which suppliers to source from, the location of plants, the types of facilities to use, and tactical decisions, such as production and capacity allocation. In this dissertation, we focus on models for designing supply chain networks that are …


Develop Novel Frap Techniques For Determining Anisotropic Solute Diffusion In Cartilaginous Tissues, Changcheng Shi Dec 2012

Develop Novel Frap Techniques For Determining Anisotropic Solute Diffusion In Cartilaginous Tissues, Changcheng Shi

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Cartilaginous tissue is a connective tissue composed of specialized cells (e.g., chondrocytes and fibroblasts) that produce a large amount of extracellular matrix (ECM), which is comprised mostly of collagen fibers, abundant ground substance rich in proteoglycan, and elastic fibers. It is characterized by its avascular structures within the tissue, implying that nutrition for normal tissue cells, for maintaining a healthy ECM, is mainly supplied through diffusion from nearby vascularized tissues and synovial fluid. Poor nutritional supply to the cartilaginous tissue is believed to be an important factor leading to tissue degeneration. Moreover, due to the complex collagen fiber structures, the …


Network Traffic Analysis Using Stochastic Grammars, Chen Lu Dec 2012

Network Traffic Analysis Using Stochastic Grammars, Chen Lu

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Network traffic analysis is widely used to infer information from Internet
traffic. This is possible even if the traffic is encrypted. Previous work uses
traffic characteristics, such as port numbers, packet sizes, and frequency,
without looking for more subtle patterns in the network traffic. In this work,
we use stochastic grammars, hidden Markov models (HMMs) and probabilistic
context-free grammars (PCFGs), as pattern recognition tools for traffic
analysis.
HMMs are widely used for pattern recognition and detection. We use a HMM
inference approach. With inferred HMMs, we use confidence intervals (CI) to
detect if a data sequence matches the HMM. To …


Stochastic Tools For Network Security: Anonymity Protocol Analysis And Network Intrusion Detection, Lu Yu Dec 2012

Stochastic Tools For Network Security: Anonymity Protocol Analysis And Network Intrusion Detection, Lu Yu

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With the rapid development of Internet and the sharp increase of network crime, network security has become very important and received a lot of attention.
In this dissertation, we model security issues as stochastic systems. This allows us to find weaknesses in existing security systems and propose new solutions. Exploring the vulnerabilities of existing security tools can prevent cyber-attacks from taking advantages of the system weaknesses. We consider The Onion Router (Tor), which is one of the most popular anonymity systems in use today, and show how to detect a protocol tunnelled through Tor. A hidden Markov model (HMM) is …


Phoneme Weighting And Energy-Based Weighting For Speaker Recognition, Eric Fang Dec 2012

Phoneme Weighting And Energy-Based Weighting For Speaker Recognition, Eric Fang

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This dissertation focuses on determining specific vowel phonemes which work best for speaker identification and speaker verification, and also developing new algorithms to improve speaker identification accuracy. Results from the first part of our research indicate that the vowels /i/, /E/ and /u/ were the ones having the highest recognition scores for both the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) and vector quantization (VQ) methods (at most one classification error). For VQ, /i/, /I/, /e/, /E/ and /@/ had no classification errors. Persons speaking /E/, /o/ and /u/ have been verified well by both GMM and VQ methods in our experiments. For …


Improving Accuracy In Ultra-Wideband Indoor Position Tracking Through Noise Modeling And Augmentation, Salil Banerjee Dec 2012

Improving Accuracy In Ultra-Wideband Indoor Position Tracking Through Noise Modeling And Augmentation, Salil Banerjee

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The goal of this research is to improve the precision in tracking of an ultra-wideband (UWB) based Local Positioning System (LPS). This work is motivated by the approach taken to improve the accuracies in the Global Positioning System (GPS), through noise modeling and augmentation. Since UWB indoor position tracking is accomplished using methods similar to that of the GPS, the same two general approaches can be used to improve accuracy.
Trilateration calculations are affected by errors in distance measurements from the set of fixed points to the object of interest. When these errors are systemic, each distinct set of fixed …


Application Of Carbon Dioxide Towards The Development Of Smart Materials, Green Reaction Schemes And Metallic Nanoparticle Synthesis, Fiaz Mohammed Dec 2012

Application Of Carbon Dioxide Towards The Development Of Smart Materials, Green Reaction Schemes And Metallic Nanoparticle Synthesis, Fiaz Mohammed

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Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have steadily risen over the last 50 years, with 34 billion tons of CO2 released in 2009 alone. Its potential as a greenhouse gas has negatively affected of our lives and environment by the resulting ocean acidification and climate change. To mitigate atmospheric CO2, various strategies have been implemented for CO2 separation, capture, storage and use as a chemical feedstock. The use of CO2 in various chemical industries is attractive as its non-flammable, non-toxic, and relatively inert properties have made it an inherently safer alternative to traditional organic …


Network Target Coordination For Design Optimization Of Decomposed Systems, Wenshan Wang Dec 2012

Network Target Coordination For Design Optimization Of Decomposed Systems, Wenshan Wang

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A complex engineered system is often decomposed into a number of different subsystems that interact on one another and together produce results not obtainable by the subsystems alone. Effective coordination of the interdependencies shared among these subsystems is critical to fulfill the stakeholder expectations and technical requirements of the original system. The past research has shown that various coordination methods obtain different solution accuracies and exhibit different computational efficiencies when solving a decomposed system. Addressing these coordination decisions may lead to improved complex system design. This dissertation studies coordination methods through two types of decomposition structures, hierarchical, and nonhierarchical.
For …


On-Line Transient Stability Studies Incorporating Wind Power, Zhenhua Wang Dec 2012

On-Line Transient Stability Studies Incorporating Wind Power, Zhenhua Wang

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Transient stability is a major concern in power system security and reliability because it is the most common type of instability and its impacts can cause greatest economic losses. For enhancing the energy security, it requires the power system operation to be evaluated during both the planning and the operation stage. Many online/offline transient stability assessment techniques have already been developed for this purpose. However, due to the increase in energy demand, the modern power system has grown to a very sophisticated and large system for which extent transient stability assessment methods may not be able to handle. In addition, …


Analysis And Evaluation Of Existing And Novel Turbulent Dynamic Pressure Based Methods For Measuring Bridge Pier And Abutment Scour, Murray Fisher Dec 2012

Analysis And Evaluation Of Existing And Novel Turbulent Dynamic Pressure Based Methods For Measuring Bridge Pier And Abutment Scour, Murray Fisher

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Scour is one of the most significant threats to bridge infrastructure and is the leading cause of failure within the United States. Given this risk to the nation’s transportation infrastructure, it is necessary to understand the development of scour holes around bridge piers and abutments. This can be achieved with scour monitoring, a Federal Highway Administration approved scour countermeasure. As the monitoring techniques available range from simple devices that rest on or in the channel bed to advanced scanning systems that provide a bed contour profile, a concise study of the state of the art in real time scour measurement …


Towards Trustworthy, Efficient And Scalable Distributed Wireless Systems, Ze Li Dec 2012

Towards Trustworthy, Efficient And Scalable Distributed Wireless Systems, Ze Li

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Advances in wireless technologies have enabled distributed mobile devices to connect with each other to form distributed wireless systems. Due to the absence of infrastructure, distributed wireless systems require node cooperation in multi-hop routing. However, the openness and decentralized nature of distributed wireless systems where each node labors under a resource constraint introduces three challenges: (1) cooperation incentives that effectively encourage nodes to offer services and thwart the intentions of selfish and malicious nodes, (2) cooperation incentives that are efficient to deploy, use and maintain, and (3) routing to efficiently deliver messages with less overhead and lower delay. While most …


Environmental And Biological Applications And Implications Of Soft And Condensed Nanomaterials, Pengyu Chen Dec 2012

Environmental And Biological Applications And Implications Of Soft And Condensed Nanomaterials, Pengyu Chen

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Recent innovations and growth of nanotechnology have spurred exciting technological and commercial developments of nanomaterails. Their appealing physical and physicochemical properties offer great opportunities in biological and environmental applications, while in the meantime may compromise human health and environmental sustainability through either unintentional exposure or intentional discharge.
Accordingly, this dissertation exploits the physicochemical behavior of soft dendritic polymers for environmental remediation and condensed nano ZnO tetrapods for biological sensing (Chapter two-four), and further delineate the environmental implications of such nanomaterials using algae- the major constituent of the aquatic food chain-as a model system (Chapter five).
This dissertation is presented as …


A Process Analysis Of Engineering Problem Solving And Assessment Of Problem Solving Skills, Sarah Grigg Dec 2012

A Process Analysis Of Engineering Problem Solving And Assessment Of Problem Solving Skills, Sarah Grigg

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In the engineering profession, one of the most critical skills to possess is accurate and efficient problem solving. Thus, engineering educators should strive to help students develop skills needed to become competent problem solvers. In order to measure the development of skills, it is necessary to assess student performance, identify any deficiencies present in problem solving attempts, and identify trends in performance over time. Through iterative assessment using standard assessment metrics, researchers/instructors are able to track trends in problem solving performance across time, which can serve as a gauge of students' learning gains.
This research endeavor studies the problem solving …


Flow Behavior Modeling And Process Control Of Electrically-Assisted Forming (Eaf) For Sheet Metals In Uniaxial Tension, Joshua Jones Dec 2012

Flow Behavior Modeling And Process Control Of Electrically-Assisted Forming (Eaf) For Sheet Metals In Uniaxial Tension, Joshua Jones

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This work studies the influence of an applied electrical current on magnesium sheet metal and introduces models which are successful in predicting the deformation behavior (i.e. material flow stress, local material strain, and thermal response). Also, this work examined the theory of electroplasticity by studying prior proposed theories and by quantifying the prior theories potential for improved dislocation mobility. From this analysis, a single dominant mechanism is determined and the theory of electroplasticity is explained using this single mechanism. The theory discussed in this work is supported by experimental testing and microstructure analysis.
In addition to studying the exact electroplastic …


Optimal Energy Management For Microgrids, Zheng Zhao Aug 2012

Optimal Energy Management For Microgrids, Zheng Zhao

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Microgrid is a recent novel concept in part of the development of smart grid. A microgrid is a low voltage and small scale network containing both distributed energy resources (DERs) and load demands. Clean energy is encouraged to be used in a microgrid for economic and sustainable reasons. A microgrid can have two operational modes, the stand-alone mode and grid-connected mode. In this research, a day-ahead optimal energy management for a microgrid under both operational modes is studied. The objective of the optimization model is to minimize fuel cost, improve energy utilization efficiency and reduce gas emissions by scheduling generations …


Engineering Single-Molecule, Nanoscale, And Microscale Bio-Functional Materials Via Click Chemistry, Michael Daniele Aug 2012

Engineering Single-Molecule, Nanoscale, And Microscale Bio-Functional Materials Via Click Chemistry, Michael Daniele

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To expand the design envelope and supplement the materials library available to biomaterials scientists, the copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuCAAC) was explored as a route to design, synthesize and characterize bio-functional small-molecules, nanoparticles, and microfibers. In each engineered system, the use of click chemistry provided facile, bio-orthogonal control for materials synthesis; moreover, the results provided a methodology and more complete, fundamental understanding of the use of click chemistry as a tool for the synergy of biotechnology, polymer and materials science. Fluorophores with well-defined photophysical characteristics (ranging from UV to NIR fluorescence) were used as building blocks for small-molecule, fluorescent biosensors. Fluorophores …


On Simulation And Modeling Of Turbulent Non-Premixed Reacting Shear Flames At Low And High Pressure, Justin Foster Aug 2012

On Simulation And Modeling Of Turbulent Non-Premixed Reacting Shear Flames At Low And High Pressure, Justin Foster

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A database of simulations of fundamental turbulent H2/O2 and H2/Air shear layer flames has been developed using the direct numerical simulation technique in which all length and time scales of a flow are fully resolved without resort to turbulence modeling. The formulation includes the fully-compressible form of the governing equations, a pressure dependent detailed chemical kinetics scheme (9 species, 19 steps), a cubic real gas equation of state, realistic property models, and generalized heat and mass diffusion models. Simulations were conducted for a temporally developing shear layer geometry and cover a wide range of initial pressures (1 atm < P < 125 atm) and flame Reynolds numbers (850 < Re < 4500). These supercomputing simulations are the largest yet performed for high pressure conditions to the author's knowledge. Computational requirements for the largest simulations included mesh sizes of ~3/4 billion grid points and ~2.2 million CPU-hrs conducted on nearly 4,000 CPU cores on Clemson's Palmetto cluster.

The database …


A Novel Haptic Simulator For Evaluating And Training Salient Force-Based Skills For Laparoscopic Surgery, Ravikiran Singapogu Aug 2012

A Novel Haptic Simulator For Evaluating And Training Salient Force-Based Skills For Laparoscopic Surgery, Ravikiran Singapogu

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Laparoscopic surgery has evolved from an 'alternative' surgical technique to currently being considered as a mainstream surgical technique. However, learning this complex technique holds unique challenges to novice surgeons due to their 'distance' from the surgical site. One of the main challenges in acquiring laparoscopic skills is the acquisition of force-based or haptic skills. The neglect of popular training methods (e.g., the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery, i.e. FLS, curriculum) in addressing this aspect of skills training has led many medical skills professionals to research new, efficient methods for haptic skills training.
The overarching goal of this research was to demonstrate …


Thermo-Mechanical Modeling Of The Electrically-Assisted Manufacturing (Eam) Technique During Open Die Forging, Wesley Salandro Aug 2012

Thermo-Mechanical Modeling Of The Electrically-Assisted Manufacturing (Eam) Technique During Open Die Forging, Wesley Salandro

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This thesis contains all of the steps which allow the Electrically-Assisted Manufacturing (EAM) technique to be experimentally explored and analytically modeled for an electrically-assisted forging operation. Chapter 1 includes the problem statement, proposed solution, and literature reviews on EAM. Chapter 2 describes a thorough background on the EAM technique, highlights prior EAM research, and explains the research approach taken for this thesis. The coupled thermo-mechanical modeling strategy, along with the introduction of the Electroplastic Effect Coefficient (EEC) is provided in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 explains the two different approaches to determine the EEC profiles when modeling a particular metal. The …


Investigating The Role Of Mechanosensitive Ion Channels In Urothelial Cell Pressure Mechanotransduction, Shawn Olsen Aug 2012

Investigating The Role Of Mechanosensitive Ion Channels In Urothelial Cell Pressure Mechanotransduction, Shawn Olsen

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Overactive bladder (OAB) is a bladder disorder that is characterized by bladder storage symptoms of urgency with or without urge incontinence, frequency, nocturia, and, as of 2003, affected approximately 16.5% of adults in the United States with an annual treatment cost of over $65 billion. While therapies are available to mitigate the symptoms of OAB, there are no treatments for the cause of OAB, due to the lack of understanding of the etiology of the disorder. Recent research has provided evidence that the bladder urothelium is not just a passive barrier, but is also sensitive to various chemical and mechanical …


Prognostic And Health-Management Oriented Fuel Cell Modeling And On-Line Supervisory System Development, Xian Zhang Aug 2012

Prognostic And Health-Management Oriented Fuel Cell Modeling And On-Line Supervisory System Development, Xian Zhang

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Of the fuel cells being studied, the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is viewed as the most promising for transportation. Yet until today, the commercialization of the PEMFC has not been widespread in spite of its large expectation. Poor long term performances or durability, and high production and maintenance costs are the main reasons. For the final commercialization of fuel cells in the transportation field, durability issues must be addressed, while costs should be further brought down. At the same time, health-monitoring and prognosis techniques are of great significance in terms of scheduling condition-based maintenance (CBM) to minimize repair …