Engineering Commons^™

Spatially Varying Threshold Models For The Automated Segmentation Of Radiodense Tissue In Digitized Mammograms, Richard Edson Eckert Iii

Theses and Dissertations

The percentage of radiodense (bright) tissue in a mammogram has been correlated to an increased risk of breast cancer. This thesis presents an automated method to quantify the amount of radiodense tissue found in a digitized mammogram. The algorithm employs a radial basis function neural network in order to segment the breast tissue region from the remainder of the X-ray. A spatially varying Neyman-Pearson threshold is used to calculate the percentage of radiodense tissue and compensate for the effects of tissue compression that occurs during a mammography procedure. Results demonstrating the efficacy of the technique are demonstrated by exercising the …

Development Of An Augmented Haptic Control For In-Vehicle Law Enforcement Applications, Edward R. Guest Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Typical police vehicles are filled with as much technology as the department can afford. Everything from the newest digital camera system to a simple entertainment radio is within the reach of an officer. Currently, most of these systems are installed without any consideration toward the other systems or the interaction required between the driver and the car. The lack of a systems approach in the installation has spawned a project to look at the safety and overall system installation in the New Jersey State Police vehicles.

The research presented in this thesis suggests consolidation of the various controls into one …

Multi-Sensor Data Fusion Using Geometric Transformations For The Nondestructive Evaluation Of Gas Transmission Pipelines, Philip James Kulick

Theses and Dissertations

Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) plays a vital component in the operation and maintenance of large infrastructure such as gas transmission pipelines, nuclear power plants, aircraft, bridges and highways, etc. As this infrastructure continues to age it is essential that the inspection techniques reliably and accurately predict the integrity of these systems. No single NDE method is capable of inspecting all types of anomalies and extracting all required information – a combination of methods must be used and the resulting data fused. Moreover, newer systems that are developed are often made of composite materials that include metals and dielectrics. One interrogation modality …

Hdl Implementation Of A Controller Area Network Node, Anthony Richard Marino

Theses and Dissertations

With increasing technology inside automobiles, especially law enforcement vehicles, there is a growing need for centralized wiring and device interconnection methods. Each new technology, such as GPS navigation units and in-vehicle video systems, includes a corresponding wiring harness that needs installation. The summation of all these hardwired technologies leads to large volumes of wire that negatively affect safety, power demands, and future design opportunities. A new trend among automotive manufacturers is to design and implement innovative networks that allow for shared communications between technologies.

This thesis presents the design, development, and implementation of an in-vehicle network that will centralize connections …

Wind Scatterometry With Improved Ambiguity Selection And Rain Modeling, David W. Draper

Theses and Dissertations

Although generally accurate, the quality of SeaWinds on QuikSCAT scatterometer ocean vector winds is compromised by certain natural phenomena and retrieval algorithm limitations. This dissertation addresses three main contributers to scatterometer estimate error: poor ambiguity selection, estimate uncertainty at low wind speeds, and rain corruption. A quality assurance (QA) analysis performed on SeaWinds data suggests that about 5% of SeaWinds data contain ambiguity selection errors and that scatterometer estimation error is correlated with low wind speeds and rain events.

Ambiguity selection errors are partly due to the "nudging" step (initialization from outside data). A sophisticated new non-nudging ambiguity selection approach …

A Normalization Scheme Of Bidirectional Reflectances And Normalized Vegetation Indices For Short-Term Multi-Angular Spot Satellite Images, Chien-Hui Liu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

Though the view angle range of SPOT HRV is smaller as compared to those of NOAA AVHRR, EOS MODIS/MISR and ADEOS POLDER, numerous researchers had showed significant bi-directional effect of ground reflectance for decades. Currently, there's no existing normalization method of bidirectional reflectances for multitemporal SPOT images. In this study, a normalization scheme for multi-angular SPOT data is proposed. This scheme will correct both atmospheric and bidirectional effect for short-term multi-temporal SPOT data. Five SPOT images scanned within twelve days are used. The results show that the variation of trees reflectance to viewing zenith angle is very significant. The proposed …

Spatiotemporal Databases: Models For Attracting Students To Research, Ágnes Bércesné Novák, Peter Revesz, Zsolt Tuza

CSE Conference and Workshop Papers

In higher education professors often make much effort to introduce their students to research. Unfortunately, the present standard database systems curriculum is composed of well-settled subjects that do not lead to research. The challenge is to bring the research frontier closer to students at beginner level. In this paper we describe how it can be done in the area of spatiotemporal databases. We propose a new database systems curriculum and illustrate its benefits by mentioning several highly succsesful student projects in some recent experimental introductory database systems courses that followed the new curriculum.

Satellite Scatterometers: Calibration Using A Ground Station And Statistical Measurement Theory, Peter Kenneth Yoho

Theses and Dissertations

Satellite scatterometers have recently gained popularity due to their unique ability to measure global geophysical data on a daily basis. Increased interest in scatterometry mandates improved design and calibration of these instruments. This dissertation presents new techniques for scatterometer calibration and addresses issues related to the design of future instruments and applications. First, the use of a calibration ground station is considered. A new methodology is established for calibration of SeaWinds, NASA's current scatterometer, using a receive-only ground station. Principles of the methodology are implemented, new analysis techniques developed, and important results obtained for instrument timing, frequency, power, position, and …

Identification Of The First Limiting Amino Acid In Cooked Polished White Rice Fed To Weanling Holtzman Rats, Mellova Masrizal, J. B. Lamb

Makara Journal of Technology

Forty-eight male weanling rats (91 g) were utilized to study the nutritional adequacy of cooked polished white rice. Rats were individually housed, and allowed ad libitum access to one of six treatment diets. Treatment diets were 1) polished white rice plus 10% casein and 0.18% methionine, CAS, 2) polished white rice, WHR, 3) polished white rice plus 0.45% lysine, LYS, 4) polished white rice plus0.40% methionine, MET, 5) polished white rice plus 0.30% threonine, THR, 6) polished white rice plus 0.45% lysine, 0.40% methionine, and 0.40% threonine, COM. Rice was cooked prior diet formulation using a 3 to 1 ratio …

Adoption Of Variable Rate Technology, Isti Surjandari, Marvin T. Batte

Makara Journal of Technology

Site Specific Management (SSM), which also variously referred to as Variable Rate Technology (VRT), is an emerging technology that enables producers to make more precise input application decisions based on soil and field characteristics. This study analyzes factors influencing the adoption of VRT for fertilizer application for cash grain production in Ohio. Results show that producer and field characteristics might influence the adoption decision on various SSM components differently. It also provides insight as to the sequence of adoption of SSM component technologies and how this sequence might differ for producers of differing characteristics.

An Economic Analysis Of Variable Rate Technology, Isti Surjandari, Marvin T. Batte, Mario J. Miranda

Makara Journal of Technology

Variable Rate Technology (VRT) offers an opportunity to improve production efficiency by allowing input applications to fluctuate in response to spatial variations in soil characteristics and nutrient levels. Society may also benefit from reduced negative externalities, such as surface and groundwater contamination, from input applications. Using a dynamic spatial model, this study examines how the interaction among variability, spatial autocorrelation, and mean level of soil fertility affects optimal sampling density and the economic gains from VRT. VRT was found to be profitable under selected conditions, and the optimal grid size will vary with these conditions. In the case where variability …

Alum And Pacl Coagulation, Winarni Winarni

Makara Journal of Technology

Alum and PACl Coagulation. Coagulation occurs by interaction of aluminum hydrolysis products with the contaminant such as colloidal particles. It is necessary to consider the different aluminum species that may present during specific conditions, since the mechanism of turbidity removal is dependent upon them. PACl consists of preformed aluminum hydrolysis products, which are stable below pH 6 and less sensitive than in situ hydrolysis product, alum. The benefits of PACl relative to alum have been investigated as a function of pH and Al dosages. Specific conditions and aluminum species that exist during the certain mechanisms of coagulation are discussed. Results …

Study On Electrochromic Effect Of Polyaniline Film, Lienda Handojo, Junus Simangunsong

Makara Journal of Technology

Study on Electrochromic Effect of Polyaniline Film. The light transmission factor of an electrochromic film changes reversibly with the application of an electrical voltage. Thereby the transparent film becomes reversibly opaque so that it may be used to control light transmission. In this paper the results of a study on polyaniline film as an electrochromic active material is reported. Polyaniline looks yellow transparent in the reduced state and turns to green-blue at its oxidized state. The electrochromic device considered in this paper was fabricated in planar configuration of ITO glass − polyaniline film − electrolyte − ITO glass which involved …

Application Of Tabu Search Algorithm In Job Shop Scheduling, Betrianis Betrianis, Putu Teguh Aryawan

Makara Journal of Technology

Application of Tabu Search Algorithm in Job Shop Scheduling. Tabu Search is one of local search methods which is used to solve the combinatorial optimization problem. This method aimed is to make the searching process of the best solution in a complex combinatorial optimization problem(np hard), ex : job shop scheduling problem, became more effective, in a less computational time but with no guarantee to optimum solution.In this paper, tabu search is used to solve the job shop scheduling problem consists of 3 (three) cases, which is ordering package of September, October and November with objective of minimizing makespan (Cmax). …

Role Of K3-Xhxpw12o40 As A Catalyst In Selective Catalysis Of Methylamine Synthesis From Ammonia And Methanol, Mohammad Nasikin

Makara Journal of Technology

Role of K3-xHxPW12O40 as a Catalyst in Selective Catalysis of Methylamine Synthesis from Ammonia and Methanol. Synthesize of methylamine from methanol and ammonia was studied in this research work using a partially potassium heteropoly salt (K3-xHxPW12O40 abbreviated as KPW) as a catalyst. KPW was prepared from heteropoly salt and potassium carbonate by using ion exchange method. The reaction was conducted at 600 ~ 800K and at the atmospheric pressure. Reactor used was a continue flow reactor with W/F=0,1~0,9g-kat.mnt./cc.Concentration of reactants and products were analyzed by gas chromathography while catalyst structure was observed by XRD (X-ray diffraction). Isothermal adsorption method was …

The Selection Of Materials For Roller Chains From The Perspective Of Manufacturing Process, Rahmat Saptono

Makara Journal of Technology

The selection of materials for an engineering component is not only requested by its design function and shape, but also the sequence through which it is manufactured. The manufacturing operation of roller chains involves drawing and trimming processes aimed at producing semi-finished chain drives component with a well-standardized dimension. In addition to final combination of properties required by design constraints, the ability of materials to be formed into a desired shape and geometry without failure is also critical. The objective of materials selection should therefore involve additional attributes that are not typically accommodated by the standard procedure of materials selection. …

Optical System With 1xn Interleaver And Methods Of Making And Using Same, Michael A. Scobey, Lucien P. Ghislain, Dennis J. Derickson, Loren F. Stokes

Electrical Engineering

An optical system and method are disclosed for multiplexing or de-multiplexing channels within a wavelength band. The optical signals carried on the system comprise separate channels 1 through n, each having a unique passband and a center wavelength spaced from the center wavelength of adjacent channels by d nm. The signals are semi-multiplexed, demultiplexed, or semi-demultiplexed by an interleaver comprising optically matched and directly optically coupled etalons. Periodic spectral passbands of width less than d nm, spaced from each other a distance of zd, where z is an integer greater than or equal to 3, are substantially transmitted through the …

Analytical Modeling Of High Performance Reconfigurable Computers: Prediction And Analysis Of System Performance., Melissa C. Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

The use of a network of shared, heterogeneous workstations each harboring a Reconfigurable Computing (RC) system offers high performance users an inexpensive platform for a wide range of computationally demanding problems. However, effectively using the full potential of these systems can be challenging without the knowledge of the system’s performance characteristics. While some performance models exist for shared, heterogeneous workstations, none thus far account for the addition of Reconfigurable Computing systems. This dissertation develops and validates an analytic performance modeling methodology for a class of fork-join algorithms executing on a High Performance Reconfigurable Computing (HPRC) platform. The model includes the …

Automated Casting Cleaning, Chris Anderson

Graduate Research Papers

The dilemma facing all foundries today is finding a cost effective, efficient, and safe manner in which to clean castings. At the same time produce a cleaned casting that meets consistent quality and delivery expectations. Today nearly 90% of all casting produced are cleaned by the use of manual labor via chipping an grinding. This manual method has proved to be very labor intensive, costly, lacking consistent quality, and carry high rates of injuries. The use of automation to clean castings is in its embryo stage in the foundry industry. The use of automation in the foundry industry, products currently …

Uml Extensions For Real-Time Control Systems, Qimin Gao, Lyndon Brown, Luiz Fernando Capretz

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

The use of object oriented techniques and methodologies for the design of real-time control systems appears to be necessary in order to deal with the increasing complexity of such systems. Recently many object-oriented methods have been used for the modeling and design of real-time control systems. We believe that an approach that integrates the advancements in both object modeling and design methods, and real-time scheduling theory is the key to successful use of object oriented technology for real-time software. Surprisingly several past approaches to integrate the two either restrict the object models, or do not allow sophisticated schedulability analysis techniques. …

Ann-Based Technique For Predicting Voltage Collapse In Power Systems, Almoataz Youssef Abdelaziz

Almoataz Youssef Abdelaziz

Voltage stability problems have been one of the major concerns for electric utilities as a result of heavy loading of power system. This paper reports on an investigation on the application of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) in voltage stability assessment using the energy function technique. A multi-layer feed-forward ANN with error back-propagation learning algorithm is proposed for calculation of Voltage Stability Margins (VSM). Extensive testing of the proposed ANN based approach indicates its validity for determination of power system voltage collapse. Simulation results on two test systems are reported in the paper.

Structural Usable Speech Measure Using Lpc Residual, Ananth N. Iyer, Melinda Gleiter, Brett Y. Smolenski, Robert E. Yantorno

Ananth N Iyer

In an operational environment speech is degraded by many kinds of interferences. The operation of many speech processing techniques are plagued by such interferences. Usable speech extraction is a novel concept of processing degraded speech data. The idea of usable speech is to identify and extract portions of degraded speech that are considered useful for various speech processing systems. The performance reduction of speaker identification systems under degraded conditions and use of usable speech concept to improve the performance has been demonstrated in previous work. A new usable speech measure, based on the structure of Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) residual …

Viewing The Learning Process: Assessment Via Usability Testing, Vicki M. Eller, Steve Eugene Watkins, Richard H. Hall

Business and Information Technology Faculty Research & Creative Works

Learning through Computer-Based Activities Provides a Multi-Modal Approach in Which the User Can Select the Educational Media and Process. Effective Development of These Activities Requires an Understanding of User Interactivity. Traditional Assessment, Such as Test Scores and Subjective Surveys, Looks at End Results and Attitudes. This Method Does Not Monitor the Learning Process. in Particular Developer Needs to Accommodate Diverse Usage Preferences and Choices. Hence, Assessment Should Involve Usability Measures that Are Quantitative and Qualitative. Usability Testing Records Usage Patterns and User Reactions. a Usability Laboratory Was Created at the University of Missouri-Rolla. It is Supplements the Traditional Assessment for …

A Preliminary Study Of The Effects Of Exposure To A One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma (Oaugdptm) On The Surface Energy And Strength Of Meltblown And Nanofiber Fabrics, Weiwei Chen

Masters Theses

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) methods have recently been developed to electrospin nano-scale non-woven webs and to improve their properties by exposure to the One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma (OAUGDPä), as a collaborative effort by the UT Plasma Sciences Laboratory and the UT Textiles and Nonwovens Development Center (TANDEC).

Nanofiber webs are made by the electrospinning (ES) process, which uses the electrostatic force to spin fibers from a polymer solution or melt. Digitized SEM images show that the fiber diameters range from 10 nm to several microns. Such nanofiber fabrics have a significantly higher tensile strength than meltblown (MB) webs of the …

Virtual And Augmented Reality Simulation Of Chattanooga Creek, Sirisha Vadlamudi

Masters Theses

Virtual reality involves reproducing all the details of a physical object or environment that has to be simulated in virtual space. Augmented reality is the mixing of computer-generated information with the user’s view of the real world. Augmented reality is an alternative for virtual reality. This thesis presents the interactive virtual reality simulation and augmented reality simulation of Chattanooga Creek in Chattanooga, TN. The augmented reality part involves implementation of the basic concept of augmenting the virtual graphics to the real world.

Silicon-On-Insulator Power Management Integrated Circuit For Thin-Film Solid-State Lithium-Ion Micro-Batteries, Jeremy Ross Jackson

Masters Theses

This thesis presents the design and implementation of a power management integrated circuit (IC) that is capable of both current and voltage charging thin-film, solid-state, lithium-ion micro-batteries. The power management system has been fabricated using a single-poly, 0.35-ìm, partially-depleted, silicon-on-insulator process (PD-SOI). The system contains a temperature stable current charger (current generator and a 4-bit current-mode DAC), a regulated voltage supply (voltage amplifier), and a voltage monitoring circuit (2-bit flash ADC). Experimental results of the first version of the power management system show proper functionality was obtained. The current charger produced a 2% worst-case variation in output current over the …

Energy Efficient Routing Protocols For Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Chansu Yu, Ben Lee, Hee Yong Youn

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Although establishing correct and efficient routes is an important design issue in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), a more challenging goal is to provide energy efficient routes because mobile nodes' operation time is the most critical limiting factor. This article surveys and classifies the energy-aware routing protocols proposed for MANETs. They minimize either the active communication energy required to transmit or receive packets or the inactive energy consumed when a mobile node stays idle but listens to the wireless medium for any possible communication requests from other nodes. Transmission power control approach and load distribution approach belong to the former …

Design Of A Wide-Swing Cascode Beta Multiplier Current Reference, Bradley David Miser

Masters Theses

This thesis presents a study of the design of a wide-swing, cascode β multiplier current reference to be used as a biasing circuit. The current reference has been fabricated in a 0.5mm CMOS technology. First, a review of wide-swing cascode current mirrors and current-source self-biasing is covered. Then, the process of designing a current reference that is both wide-swing and has high output resistance is presented. Simulation and measurement results from the current reference are detailed. Improvements upon the current reference are also suggested.

Performance Of Bit Error Rate And Power Spectral Density Of Ultra Wideband With Time Hopping Sequences., Joseph Martin Peek

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on several modulation methods for an ultra wideband (UWB) signal. These methods are pulse position modulation (PPM), binary phase shift keying (BPSK), on/off key shifting (OOK), and pulse amplitude modulation (PAM). In addition, time hopping is considered for these modulation schemes, where the capacity per time frame of time hopping PPM is studied using different spreading ratios. This thesis proves that with the addition of time hopping to all types of modulated UWB signals, the performance of power spectral density improves in all aspects, despite the increase of data per time frame. Note that despite the increase …

Modeling And Analysis Of Soft-Test/Repair For Ccd-Based Digital X-Ray Systems, Byoungjae Jin, Nohpill Park, Koshy M. George, Minsu Choi, Mark B. Yeary

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Modern X-ray imaging systems evolve toward digitization for reduced cost, faster time-to-diagnosis, and improved diagnostic confidence. For the digital X-ray systems, charge coupled device (CCD) technology is commonly used to detect and digitize optical X-ray image. This paper presents a novel soft-test/repair approach to overcome the defective pixel problem in CCD-based digital X-ray systems through theoretical modeling and analysis of the test/repair process. There are two possible solutions to cope with the defective pixel problem in CCDs: one is the hard-repair approach and another is the proposed soft-test/repair approach. Hard-repair approach employs a high-yield, expensive reparable CCD to minimize the …