Engineering Commons^™

Optimal Block Encoding And Optimal Entropy For Lossless Image Compression, Larry Ray Dennis

Dissertations and Theses

In this thesis, a novel approach is designed using a quad-tree stack structure to encode the image to determine the optimal block size at the optimal and effective entropy in the lossless image compression method. Proof is given through encoding of the predictor and randomly constructed planes. There is a high degree of relationship between the placement of bits in the planes. Clearly results shows that use of the optimal entropy and encoding block sizes will increase the compression ratio using the lossless method. The cost of using the block size methods to encoding and entropy is discussed and proven. …

Routing, Driven Placement For Atmel 6000 Architecture Fpgas, Songhua Zhang

Dissertations and Theses

Based on the concept of Cell Binary Tree (CBT), a new technique for mapping combination circuits into ATMEL 6000 Architecture FPGAs is presented in this thesis. Cell Binary Tree (CBT) is a net-list representation of combinational circuits. For each node of CBT there is a distinguished variable associated with it, the node itself represents a certain logic function, which is selected according to target FPGA architecture. The proposed CBT placement algorithms preserve local connectivity and allow better mapping into ATMEL FPGA. Experiments reveal that the new mapping technique achieved reduction in a number buses used for routing comparing with previously …

Modeling Improvements For Water Supply Forecasting In The Columbia River Basin, Daniel Albert Buller

Dissertations and Theses

The purposes of this study were twofold. The first was to explore possible improvements that could be made over existing methods by applying alternative modeling approaches, including the one developed by Garen to forecast runoff volumes in the Columbia River at The Dalles, Oregon. The second was to use the Southern Oscillation as one of the variables to forecast spring and summer runoff and to evaluate whether this variable adds significant information early in the season before any snow has accumulated. The Columbia River basin's mountainous topography and northern latitude are ideally suited for water supply forecasting because much of …

High-Performance Input/Output Circuit For Cmos Integrated Circuit Interface, Chee How Lim

Dissertations and Theses

In recent years, strong demand for high-performance electronic products has fueled the need for high-speed and high-integration VLSI circuits. This demand is expected to continue growing in the future, which will lead to development of IC's that are much more compact and operate at higher frequencies. As a result. preserving signal integrity for proper IC communications becomes an increasingly difficult challenge. In this thesis, an understanding of IC noise in relation to IC packaging is sought. An IC package is modeled with sophisticated 3-D simulators to extract its corresponding parasitics. These parasitics. expressed in terms of resistance. inductance. and capacitance …

Limitations Of Methods For Determining The Position Of The Center Of Mass Of A Human Subject Performing A Sit-Up, Terrence Chadwick Smith

Dissertations and Theses

The knowledge of the position of the center of mass of a human subject performing a sit-up could help us understand the coordination of the sit-up motion. This thesis investigates the limits in three methods of determining the center of mass of a human subject. The three methods are the anthropometric method, the dynamic method, and the static torque method. The anthropometric method is a standard method that uses measurements of the subject to estimate the mass properties of individual segments of the body. The center of mass of the body is calculated from the mass and positions of the …

The Column Multiplicity Problem In Decomposition Of Functions And Relations, Rahul Malvi

Dissertations and Theses

Finding the column multiplicity in Functional Decomposition has been known to be one of the most important problems to be solved in the process of functional decomposition of discrete functions. A lot of research has been done in this field with many new heuristics generated to find the column multiplicity, but there has not been an evaluation of the algorithms on the kinds of graphs that occur in decomposition and whether having an exact method to calculate the column multiplicity is useful from the overall design goals.The intent of this thesis was to investigate the column multiplicity problem, in order …

Training Strategies For Critic And Action Neural Networks In Dual Heuristic Programming Method, Christian Peter Paintz

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis discusses strategies for and details of training procedures for the Dual Heuristic Programming (DHP) methodology. This and other approximate dynamic programming approaches (HDP, DHP, GDHP) have been discussed in some detail in the literature, all being members of the Adaptive Critic Design (ACD) family. The example applications used here are the inverted pendulum problem and a fully nonlinear constant velocity bicycle steering model. The inverted pendulum has been successfully controlled using DHP, as reported in the literature. This thesis suggests and investigates several alternative D HP training procedures and compares their performance with respect to convergence speed and …

Tool Condition Monitoring: A Computational Approach, Anthony Clinch

Dissertations and Theses

Tool Condition Monitoring offers a new approach to reducing the costs associated with catastrophic tool failure. The manufacturing process is becoming more computationally oriented all the time. Computational methods of determining the condition of cutting tools will lend themselves to easy integration with current and forthcoming manufacturing techniques. Coupling the results of this computational approach with a cost analysis will provide a means of maximizing the investment in cutting tools, while minimizing the damage caused by tool failure. Tool Condition Monitoring, as defined here, is a method of computationally determining the condition of a cutting tool. The problem of determining …

Automatic Synthesis Of Vlsi Layout For Cmos Continuous-Time Filters, Wei Han

Dissertations and Theses

Automatic synthesis of digital VLSI layout has been available for many years. It has become a necessary part of the design industry as the window of time from conception to production shrinks with ever increasing competition. However, automatic synthesis of analog VLSI layout remains rare.

With digital circuits, there is often room for signal drift. In a digital circuit, a signal can drift within a range before hitting the threshold which triggers a change in logic state. The effect of parasitic capacitances for the most part, hinders the timing margins of the signal, but not its functionality. The logic functionality …

A Simplified Approach To Reduce Blocking And Ringing Artifacts In Transform-Coded Images, Jianping Hu

Dissertations and Theses

Presently Block-based Discrete Cosine Transform (BDCT) image coding techniques are widely used in image and video compression applications such as JPEG and MPEG. At a moderate bit rate, BDCT is usually a quite satisfactory solution to most of practical coding applications. However, for high rate compression it produces noticeable blocking and ringing artifacts in the decompressed image. It has been an active research area for a decade for reducing these artifacts. In this thesis, a novel post-processing algorithm is proposed to remove the blocking and ringing artifacts at low bit rate. It is non-iterative and uses both spatial and transform …

Settlements Due To Arid Collapsible Soils, Heather L. Devine

Dissertations and Theses

The arid alluvial deposits common to the western United States frequently undergo moderate to severe collapse when wetted that can threaten or destroy the stability of structures that are founded on such soils. Additionally, in some areas collapse has been known to occur due to overburden stresses alone. As development expands in these areas a method to estimate the degree of this collapse is essential. Current settlement methods are reviewed and evaluated as they apply to collapsible soils, providing a basis for the development of a proposed settlement method for determining collapse. To aid in the determining the basis for …

A Telescopic Approach To Modeling Leachate Dynamics And Migration At The St. Johns Landfill, Portland, Oregon, Thomas Stephen Lowry

Dissertations and Theses

The St. Johns Landfill is a 225-acre site that lies near the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, in the North Portland Industrial District of Portland, Oregon. A slough system surrounds the landfill on three sides with the fourth side adjacent to a shallow lake. The landfill first opened in 1930 when it was operated as an open dump. It operated as an open dump until 1969 when it was converted to a sanitary landfill, employing daily cover and compaction. The landfill was closed in 1991.

The landfill sits directly on top of a thick layer of silty overbank …

Numerical Simulation Of Contaminated Sediment Transport In The Upper Columbia Slough System, Binghong Wu

Dissertations and Theses

An integrated modeling system has been developed to simulate sediment and contaminated sediment transport in the Upper Columbia Slough System during the Flood of 1996. The modeling system consists of a hydrodynamic model, a sediment transport model, and a contaminant transport model. The hydrodynamic model predicts the Slough flow dynamics and sediment transporting power; the sediment transport model predicts flow-induced sediment transport; and the contaminant transport model predicts the migration of contaminated sediments in the Slough system.

The Upper Columbia Slough modeling system is characterized by its recognition of the complex interplay of Slough hydrology, hydrodynamics, sediment transport, contaminant transport. …

Complete-Range Activity-Based Rtl Power Estimation, Nur Kurt-Karsilayan

Dissertations and Theses

In recent years, power consumption has become a major concern in the electronic industry. Power reduction can be accelerated in the design cycle by fast and accurate power estimation tools. Since the units of lower-levels of design abstraction are transistors or gates, power estimation becomes a slow process at these levels. Therefore designers need to have tools for fast and accurate power estimation at the higher levels of design abstraction such as register transfer level (RTL).

A novel RTL power estimation technique called CRAB-RPE will be presented in this thesis. The CRAB power model is built upon four important properties …

Achieving Cochannel Interference Objectives Over Selected Topologies In The Portland, Oregon Cellular Network, David A. Wand

Dissertations and Theses

Wireless cellular mobile communications is a rapidly growing global technology which places increasing demands on a limited electromagnetic radio frequency spectrum. However, in North America only a 25 MHz block of spectrum has been allocated to each of two service providers. This must be utilized for all services offered within their assigned market.

The wireless cellular link from the mobile or portable phone to terrestrial base stations utilize this limited frequency spectrum. This is divided into 416 two-way channels, each 30 kHz in width, a subset of which is assigned to each base station. As more base stations are constructed, …

Erp Analysis Using Matched Filtering, Correlation Coefficient And Mann-Whitney Test, Yun Yan

Dissertations and Theses

Event related potentials (ERPs) carry very important information that relate to the performance of the brain functions of a human being. Further studies have identified that the late positive complex (LPC) are affected by the memory process.

The matched filter method is used to improve the signal -to-noise ratio of signal ERPs. We use the output of the matched filter to distinguish the difference of the waveforms. In our study, we found that the peak values of the matched filter output differed among normal subjects and memory-impaired subjects.

The correlation coefficient is a statistical value that can be applied to …

Simulating Migration Of Contaminated Sediments In The Lower Columbia Slough System, Min Chen

Dissertations and Theses

Recent screening-level risk assessment of Slough sediments initiated by the City of Portland identified five contaminated areas in the Slough as posing the greatest potentially significant risks to human health. These five areas were recommended for accelerated remedial action.

But one question remains, does the sediment contamination at these hot spots change over time in response to the changing Slough hydrodynamics? Specifically, will the contamination move or spread even before remedial action is taken? Will they still be there by the time when potential remedial action is taken? Will any new hot spots be created in response to nonuniform transient …

New Approaches To Column Compatibility Checking And Column-Based Input/Output Encoding For Curtis Decompositions Of Completely Or Incompletely Specified Switching Functions, Michael A. Burns

Dissertations and Theses

Cube calculus is an algebraic model used to process boolean functions. Cube calculus operations are widely used in logic optimization, logic synthesis, image processing and recognition, machine learning, and other applications which require massive logic operations.

The cube calculus operations can be carried out on general-purpose computers. Since these operations can involve several levels of nested loops, this approach has poor performance.

A cube calculus machine which has a special data path designed to speed up cube calculus operations is presented in this thesis. This c-qbe calculus machine can execute cube calculus operations 10 to 25 times faster than the …