Engineering Commons^™

Effect Of Nitrogen Filling On Tire Rolling Resistance And Vehicle Fuel Economy, Prakash Venkataraman

All Theses

There are various losses associated with passenger vehicle that affect its fuel economy as it is being operated. These losses include engine, driveline, aerodynamic and rolling losses. While engine, driveline and aerodynamic losses are inherent with the vehicle due to large number of parts that go into assembling, rolling loss is associated with the vehicle tires and it is the only part of the vehicle that comes in contact with the road. The rolling resistance of inflated tires is an important component of resistance to vehicle motion and contributes to vehicle fuel consumption. Many research works have been focused on …

Response Of Phlebotomine Sand Flies To Light-Emitting Diode-Modified Light Traps In Southern Egypt, D. F. Hoel, Emad Y. Fawaz, J.E Butler, N. Watany, S. S. El-Hossary, J. Villinski

U.S. Navy Research

Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) light traps were modified for use with light-emitting diodes (LED) and compared against a control trap (incandescent light) to determine the effectiveness of blue, green, and red lights against standard incandescent light routinely used for sand fly surveillance. Light traps were baited with dry ice and rotated through a 4 x 4 Latin square design during May, June, and July, 2006. Trapping over 12 trap nights yielded a total of 2,298 sand flies in the village of Bahrif, 6 km north of Aswan on the east bank of the Nile River in southern …

Yield And Reliability Analysis For Nanoelectronics, Tao Yuan

Doctoral Dissertations

As technology has continued to advance and more break-through emerge, semiconductor devices with dimensions in nanometers have entered into all spheres of our lives. Accordingly, high reliability and high yield are very much a central concern to guarantee the advancement and utilization of nanoelectronic products. However, there appear to be some major challenges related to nanoelectronics in regard to the field of reliability: identification of the failure mechanisms, enhancement of the low yields of nano products, and management of the scarcity and secrecy of available data [34]. Therefore, this dissertation investigates four issues related to the yield and reliability of …

Variability In Compression Strength And Deflection Of Corrugated Containers As A Function Of Positioning, Operators, And Climatic Conditions, Jay A. Singh, P. Bainbridge, S. P. Singh, Eric Olsen

Industrial Technology and Packaging

ASTM D642 is a commonly used standard for measuring the ability of containers to resist external compressive loads applied to its faces, to diagonally opposite edges, or to corners. The procedure recommends testing by centering the specimen on the lower platen of the testing machine in the desired orientation, so as not to incur eccentric loading. It is also recommended by the standard that the load be applied with a continuous motion of the movable platen of the testing machine at a speed of 0.5 ±0,1 in. (12.7 ± .25 cm)/min until failure or a specified load, has been reached. …

Measurement And Analysis Of Vibration Levels On Warehouse And Retail Store Material Handling Equipment, S. P. Singh, Jay A. Singh, P. Gaur, K. Saha

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Material Handling Equipment (MHE) is widely used to move packaged goods from manufacturing to warehousing, storage, transportation, in both warehouses and distribution centers to retail stores. Moving product between facilities is done by different types of equipment ranging from manually pushed carts to automated vehicles. A considerable amount of research has been conducted to evaluate the ergonomics of manual or mechanized MHE in the past. There is, however, no published work documenting vibration conditions that occur when transporting packages using MHE. This study measured the vibration levels for typical MHE used at warehousing facilities. Power spectral density plots were generated …

An Examination Of The Variables Affecting Rfid Tag Readability In A Conveyer Belt Environment, Jay A. Singh, C. Deupser, Eric Olsen, S. P. Singh

Industrial Technology and Packaging

There is a growing list of companies implementing radio frequency identification (RFID) systems to help optimize their supply chain processes. These companies realize that a successful RFID system can potentially lead to lower supply chain inventory levels, reduced operating expenses, and greater visibility throughout the supply chain. However, since RFID technology is still relatively immature, a majority of the applications experience less than perfect read rates for tagged items moving through the supply chain. This paper reports the results for a variety of different arrangements of variables that may influence the readability of the RFID tags in a conveyer belt …

Acuta Enews December 2007, Vol.36, No. 12

ACUTA Newsletters

ln This lssue

From the President............. Walt Magnussen, Texas A&M Univ., ACUTA President

Check lt Out: RFls/RFPs, Job Postings, Press Releases

Tech Talk: Mash Up Your Data and Serve lt with Gravy................ Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR

Board Report.................... Riny Ledgerwood, Son Diego State Univ., ACUTA, Sec../Treasurer

DC Update............ Jeanne Jansenius, Sewanee, The University of the South

lnfo Links............... Randy Hayes, Univ, of Northern lowa

Why Do We Do What We Do?...................... Bill Farris, Univ. of Kansas

FYI: Useful Information from Campus............. Eric Weil, Student Monitor

Nominations Open for Institutional Excellence Awards............... Carmine Piscopo, Providence College

Thanks to 2007 Sponsors

PAETEC …

Study Of The Minimum Spanning Hyper-Tree Routing Algorithm In Wireless Sensor Networks, Ting Yang, Yugeng Sun, Zhaoxia Wang, Juwei Zhang, Yingqiang Ding

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Designing energy-efficient routing protocols to effectively increase the networks' lifetime and provide the robust network service is one of the important problems in the research of wireless sensor networks. Using the hyper-graph theory, the paper represents large-scale wireless sensor networks into a hyper-graph model, which can effectively decrease the control messages in routing process. Based on this mathematic model, the paper presents the minimum spanning hyper-tree routing algorithm in synchronous wireless sensor networks (MSHT-SN), which builds a minimum energy consumption tree for data collection from multi-nodes to Sink node. The validity of the algorithm is proved by the theatrical analysis. …

Tuning Tabu Search Strategies Via Visual Diagnosis, Steven Halim, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

While designing working metaheuristics can be straightforward, tuning them to solve the underlying combinatorial optimization problem well can be tricky. Several tuning methods have been proposed but they do not address the new aspect of our proposed classification of the metaheuristic tuning problem: tuning search strategies. We propose a tuning methodology based on Visual Diagnosis and a generic tool called Visualizer for Metaheuristics Development Framework(V-MDF) to address specifically the problem of tuning search (particularly Tabu Search) strategies. Under V-MDF, we propose the use of a Distance Radar visualizer where the human and computer can collaborate to diagnose the occurrence of …

Designing And Manufacturing Microelectronic Packages For High-Power Light-Emitting Diodes, Brian Wright, Jianbiao Pan, Richard Savage

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

A new microelectronic package was designed for a high-power light-emitting diode (LED). The objective was to build a package that enables the LED to operate with currents as high as 2 Amps. An innovative thin-film interface has been developed to electrically connect the cathode of the LED die to a 22AWG Cu wire. This thin-film interface is wirebondable and solderable, and consists of three layers: Au, Ni93/V7, and Si. Four 1 mil Au wirebonds, supporting 2A of maximum current, connect the Au thin-film to the LED die cathode. Sn96Ag4 solder is used for connecting the Ni93/V7 thin-film to the 22AWG …

Measurement And Analysis Of Truck And Rail Shipping Environment In India, Sher Paul Singh, A. P. S. Sandhu, Jay A. Singh, E. Joneson

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Free trade agreements have been on the rise in all regions of the world in the past decade. This has allowed for global distribution and marketing of products in an international market. Products once produced for domestic markets must now be able to compete in international markets without trade barriers. Increased international commerce and manufacturing have forced many packaging and logistics engineers to broaden their true understanding of the global distribution environment. India is a recent entrant on the global arena for manufacturing and services. While China’s economic developments have dominated global headlines, India’s own growth has been impressive as …

Measurement And Analysis Of International Air Parcel Shipping Environment For Dhl And Fedex Between Europe And United States, Manuel-Alfredo Garcia-Romeu-Martinez, S. Paul Singh, Vicente-Agustin Cloquell-Ballester, Koushik Saha

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Various studies have been conducted to determine the dynamics that single packages undergo during distribution between destinations as a function of package size and weight and carrier. Previous studies have normally focused on regional and domestic measurements of these environments in Europe and North America. However, no information is available to determine the international handling and shipping environment of single parcels between the two continents. This study used instrumented packages containing triaxial accelerometers. The measured shocks were analysed to determine the velocity change levels as a function of the events measured in the distribution environment and to develop data for …

In-House Development Of Scheduling Decision Support Systems: Case Study For Scheduling Semiconductor Device Test Operations, Tali Freed, K. H. Doerr, T. Chang

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Most manufacturing processes can benefit from an automated scheduling system. However;: the design of a fast, computerised scheduling system that achieves high-quality results and requires minimal resources is a difficult undertaking. Efficient .. scheduling of a semiconductor device test facility requires an information system that provides good schedules quickly. Semiconductor device testing-is the last stage of the long semiconductor manufacturing process, and therefore. is subjected to customer service pressures. The cost of an off-the-shelf computerised scheduling system may he prohibitive for many companies. In addition, many companies are taken aback by other characteristics of off-the-shelf scheduling systems, such as code …

Fabrication Of Functionally Graded 3a/5a Zeolites By Electrophoretic Deposition, X. Wang, E. A. Olevsky, E. Bruce, M. B. Stern, D. T. Hayhurst

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Functionally graded zeolites of molecular sieve type 3A and 5A are deposited by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) from acetone suspension with 8% volume concentration of n-butylamine as particle charging agent. The EPD characteristics of both 3A and 5A suspensions are studied. Functionally graded zeolite 3A/5A deposits are obtained at 200 V DC. Energy dispersive X-ray dispersion (EDX) analysis results confirm the graded structure. The deposited zeolites are also analysed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The factors influencing the deposition process are discussed.

Acuta Enews November 2007, Vol.36, No. 11

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

From ACUTA Headquarters.................. Jeri A. Semer, CAE, ACUTA Executive Director

Tech Talk: There Are Lots of Zeroes Behind a Yottabit............ Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR.

DC Update............... Jeanne Jansenius, Sewanee, The University of the South

lnfo Links ............... Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern lowa

Board Report............... Riny Ledgerwood, San Diego State Univ., ACUTA Sec./Treasurer

ls Your lP Phone Counterfeit?..................... Gary Audin, Delphi

FYI: Useful lnformation from Campus.................. Eric Weil, Student Monitor

Thanks to 2007 Exhibitors

Welcome New Members

Check lt Out: RFls/RFPs, Job Postings, Press Releases

The Effect Of A Knee Support On The Biomechanical Response Of The Low Back, Yu Shu, Zongliang Jiang, Xu Xu, Gary A. Mirka

Gary A. Mirka

Stooping and squatting postures are seen in a number of industries (e.g., agriculture, construction) where workers must work near ground level for extended periods of time. The focus of the current research was to evaluate a knee support device designed to reduce the biomechanical loading of these postures. Ten participants performed a series of sudden loading tasks while in a semisquat posture under two conditions of knee support (no support and fully supported) and two conditions of torso flexion (45 and 60°). A weight was released into the hands of the participants who then came to steady state while maintaining …

Effects Of Electromagnetic Interference On Control Area Network Performance, Fei Ren, Y. Rosa Zheng, Maciej Jan Zawodniok, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, the effects of electromagnetic interference (EMI) on control area network (CAN) communications are investigated by hardware experiments. Distinct CAN bit rates, communication cables, and networks are used to test effects of EMI on CAN bus. Waveforms of CAN data frames in EMI environment are observed and analyzed for figuring out details of effects. Experiments show that the EMI pulses frequently encountered in automobile and off-road machinery can cause the reduction of bit rates and errors in high-speed CAN communications. Replacing traditional unshielded parallel communication cables with shielded communication cables is proved to be an effective method of …

Predictive Congestion Control Protocol For Wireless Sensor Networks, Maciej Jan Zawodniok, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Available congestion control schemes, for example transport control protocol (TCP), when applied to wireless networks, result in a large number of packet drops, unfair scenarios and low throughputs with a significant amount of wasted energy due to retransmissions. To fully utilize the hop by hop feedback information, this paper presents a novel, decentralized, predictive congestion control (DPCC) for wireless sensor networks (WSN). The DPCC consists of an adaptive flow and adaptive back-off interval selection schemes that work in concert with energy efficient, distributed power control (DPC). The DPCC detects the onset of congestion using queue utilization and the embedded channel …

Designing The Market Game For A Commodity Trading Simulation, Shih-Fen Cheng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we propose to design a market game that (a) can be used in modeling and studying commodity trading scenarios, and (b) can be used in capturing human traders' behaviors. Specifically, we demonstrate the usefulness of this commodity trading game in a single-commodity futures trading scenario. A pilot experiment was run with a mixture of human traders and an autonomous agent that emulates the aggregatedmarket condition, with the assumption that this autonomous agent would hint each of its action through a public announcement. We show that the information collected from this simulation can be used to extract the …

The Price Of Stability In Selfish Scheduling Games, Lucas Agussurja, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Game theory has gained popularity as an approach to analysing and understanding distributed systems with selfinterested agents. Central to game theory is the concept of Nash equilibrium as a stable state (solution) of the system, which comes with a price - the loss in efficiency. The quantification of the efficiency loss is one of the main research concerns. In this paper, we study the quality and computational characteristic of the best Nash equilibrium in two selfish scheduling models: the congestion model and the sequencing model. In particular, we present the following results: (1) In the congestion model: first, the best …

Multi-Period Combinatorial Auction Mechanism For Distributed Resource Allocation And Scheduling, Hoong Chuin Lau, Shih-Fen Cheng, Thin Yin Leong, Jong Han Park, Zhengyi Zhao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We consider the problem of resource allocation and scheduling where information and decisions are decentralized, and our goal is to propose a market mechanism that allows resources from a central resource pool to be allocated to distributed decision makers (agents) that seek to optimize their respective scheduling goals. We propose a generic combinatorial auction mechanism that allows agents to competitively bid for the resources needed in a multi-period setting, regardless of the respective scheduling problem faced by the agent, and show how agents can design optimal bidding strategies to respond to price adjustment strategies from the auctioneer. We apply our …

Global Positioning System Systems Engineering Case Study, Air Force Center For Systems Engineering, Patrick J. O'Brien, John M. Griffin

AFIT Documents

No abstract provided.

Acuta Enews October 2007, Vol.36, No. 10

ACUTA Newsletters

ln This lssue

From the President .............. Watt Magnussen, Ph.D., Texas A&M University

Tech Talk: Makin' Bacn: Another Way to Clog lnboxes............... Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR

DC Update............... Jeanne Jansenius, Sewanee, The University of the South

Board Report ................. Riny Ledgerwood, San Diego State Univ., ACUTA Sec./Treasurer

New Faces at ACUTA

Web Tip: Listserv Reminders ................. Aaron Fuehrer, ACUTA Information Technology Mgr.

Member Sites to See

lnfo Links Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern lowa

lnvite Your Vendors to Join ACUTA............. Amy Burton, ACUTA Mgr., Membership Mktg.& Corp. Relations

Welcome New Members

Check lt Out: RFls/RFPs, Job Postings, Press Releases

Evaluation Of Surface Residual Stresses In Friction Stir Welds Due To Laser And Shot Peening, Omar Hatamleh, Iris V. Rivero, Jeds Lyons

Iris V. Rivero

The effects of laser, and shot peening on the residual stresses in friction stir welds (FSW) has been investigated. The surface residual stresses were measured at five different locations across the weld in order to produce an adequate residual stress profile. The residual stresses before and after sectioning the coupon from the welded plate were also measured, and the effect of coupon size on the residual stress relaxation was determined and characterized. Measurements indicate that residual stresses were not uniform along the welded plate, and large variation in stress magnitude could be exhibited at various locations along the FSW plate. …

Semester Project For Engineering Management, Paul Savory

Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Instructional Materials

This is the semester-project for my IMSE 405/805 course on Engineering Management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This team-based project required students to develop an operational plan (facility layout, required staffing, company operating policies, company benefits program) for a specified product.

Workshop - Building Reflective Team Skills With A T-Group, Ray Luechtefeld, Steve Eugene Watkins

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

ABET criteria require that engineering graduates have the ability to "function on multidisciplinary teams" and "communicate effectively". An important component of these skills is the ability to reflect on one's personal actions and the dynamics occurring within the group. This workshop is intended to provide participants with a practical exercise that can help students become more self-reflective and aware of group dynamics, while demonstrating the use of the "virtual facilitator" system to improve group dialogue. The workshop will engage the participants in a self- directed learning exercise modeled after T-Groups. This exercise will help participants: 1) Become aware of their …

Expert System For Team Facilitation Using Observational Learning, Ray Luechtefeld, R. K. Singh, Steve Eugene Watkins

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

While ABET criteria require that engineering graduates be able to "function on multidisciplinary teams" and "communicate effectively", the need for effective team skills goes far deeper. One solution is the use of a computationally intelligent "virtual facilitator" that contains a subset of the expert knowledge of a skilled facilitator. The "virtual facilitator" models behaviors of an expert facilitator to engineering student teams as they are working together. Albert Bandura's theory of observational learning suggests that skills can be developed through observation of expert "others" engaged in practice. Preliminary research indicates that students can increase beneficial team behaviors (such as inquiry) …

Comparisons Of An Adaptive Neural Network Based Controller And An Optimized Conventional Power System Stabilizer, Wenxin Liu, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Donald C. Wunsch, Mariesa Crow, Li Liu, David A. Cartes

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Power system stabilizers are widely used to damp out the low frequency oscillations in power systems. In power system control literature, there is a lack of stability analysis for proposed controller designs. This paper proposes a Neural Network (NN) based stabilizing controller design based on a sixth order single machine infinite bus power system model. The NN is used to compensate the complex nonlinear dynamics of power system. To speed up the learning process, an adaptive signal is introduced to the NN's weights updating rule. The NN can be directly used online without offline training process. Magnitude constraint of the …

Neural Network Based Decentralized Controls Of Large Scale Power Systems, Wenxin Liu, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Donald C. Wunsch, Mariesa Crow, Li Liu, David A. Cartes

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a suite of neural network (NN) based decentralized controller designs for large scale power systems' generators, one is for the excitation control and the other is for the steam valve control. Though the control inputs are calculated using local signals, the transient and overall system stability can be guaranteed. NNs are used to approximate the unknown and/or imprecise dynamics of the local power system dynamics and the inter-connection terms, thus the requirements for exact system parameters are relaxed. Simulation studies with a three-machine power system demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller designs.

Radical Impact Of Change In Actions And Confidence Index On Reverse Decision Making An Application Based Study, Swatee Trimbak Paithankar

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

While making decisions under uncertainty, people are often unaware of the logical approach to form the decision process. It is assumed that collecting details, analyzing and evaluating data is enough to make 'proper' decisions. However, past research in the decision making arena has significantly validated that there exists a class of decision problems which is complex, ill-structured and not defined to the level where decision makers can draw logical conclusions based on existing traditional decision approaches. RDM (reverse decision making), one of the novel approaches of decision making under conditions of uncertainty, has shown potential towards addressing some of these …