Engineering Commons^™

Trends In Uspto Office Actions, Ron D. Katznelson

Ron D. Katznelson

No abstract provided.

High-Speed Three-Dimensional Shape Measurement System Using A Modified Twoplus- One Phase-Shifting Algorithm, Song Zhang, Shing-Tung Yau

Song Zhang

This paper describes a high-resolution, real-time, three-dimensional shape measurement system using the modified two-plus-one phase-shifting algorithm. The data acquisition speed is as high as 60frames∕s with an image resolution of 640×480pixels per frame. Experiments demonstrated that the system was able to acquire the dynamic changing objects such as facial geometric shape changes when the subject is speaking, and the modified two-plus-one phase-shifting algorithm can further alleviate the error due to motion. Applications of this system include manufacturing, online inspection, medical imaging, compute vision, and computer graphics.

Posterminaries: More Or Less Modern, Alexander H. King

Alexander H. King

It is yet another sign that I am aging. More and more often when young researchers hand me a written report of their research, I find myself criticizing their introductory section: “You need to start your literature survey with the original papers on this topic. Go and read…” followed by a citation to some classic of the learned literature.

Ocena Wpływu Planowanego Zakładu Termicznego Przekształcania Odpadów Komunalnych Na Jakość Powietrza W Krakowie, Robert Oleniacz, Maria Pilch

Robert Oleniacz

The work presents air quality impact assessment for the planned Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI) plant in Krakow with a established capacity of 255000 tons per year. The evaluation is based on assumption that air pollutant emissions from the incinerator will be at the highest allowed level resulting from emission limit values for waste incineration plants with operation time each of two planned lines 7500 hours per year. Calculation results for the one of the considered localization of the MSWI plant in Krakow (district of Nowa Huta) support the thesis that building the incineration plant of this size will not …

Electric Power: Cyber And Electromagnetic Security Issues, George H. Baker

George H Baker

Electric power is essential to the functioning of U.S. society. The electric power system increasingly operates at or near its reliability limits. The geographic scale of the tightly coupled networks involved makes the system susceptible to large-scale outages. More frequent natural and accidental failures portend possible catastrophes from intentional disruption. Deregulation has been a major factor to the lack of investment in system upgrades. Techniques to prevent attacks and reduce vulnerabilities are available and affordable.

Growth-Temperature Optimization For Low Carrier-Density In0.75Ga0.25As-Based High Electron Mobility Transistors On Inp, Paul J. Simmonds, H. E. Beere, D. A. Ritchie, S. N. Holmes

Paul J. Simmonds

Two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) were formed in undoped In_0.75Al_0.25As / In_0.75Ga_0.25As / In_0.75Al_0.25As quantum wells. The optimal growth temperature for this structure is 410°C, with peak 2DEG electron mobility and density values of μ = 221000 cm²/V s and n = 1.36 × 10¹¹ cm⁻² at 1.5 K. This electron mobility is equal to the highest previously published for these undoped structures but with a factor of 2 reduction in n. This has been achieved through the use of a significantly thinner InAlAs …

"Conversational" Dialogues In Direct-Manipulation Interfaces, David G. Novick

David G. Novick

This paper reports ongoing research in extending direct-manipulation interfaces by incorporating, via the direct-manipulation modality itself, interaction techniques that add kinds of language features associated with spoken conversation. The paper proposes means of implementing ways for a user of a direct-manipulation system to define new kinds of relations among objects in the interface.

Users And Uses Of Synchronous Business Communications Software, David G. Novick, Eleanor Wynn

David G. Novick

To help designers and authors understand users' intentions and work practices for synchronous business communications in a systematic way, we used ethnographic and task-analytic techniques to collect, analyze and classify evidence of the activities of potential users as they conducted their work lives. The interactions we observed among our users took place through a variety of modalities. We found eight categories of tasks for the collaborative or interactive work in which our subjects engaged. Based on these data, we were able to classify roles of potential users of synchronous business communications software into a set of "archetypes" that characterize their …

Hands-Free Documentation, Karen Ward, David G. Novick

David G. Novick

In this paper, we introduce an analysis of the requirements and design choices for hands-free documentation. Hands-busy tasks such as cooking or car repair may require substantial interruption of the task: moving the pan off the burner and wiping hands, or crawling out from underneath the car. We review the need for hands-free documentation and explore the role of task in the use of documentation. Our central analysis examines the roles and characteristics of input and output modalities of hands-free documentation. In particular, we review the use of speech as an input modality, and then visual means and speech as …

An Interaction Initiative Model For Documentation, David G. Novick, Karen Ward

David G. Novick

In this paper we propose a model of creation and use of documentation based on the concept of mixed-initiative interaction. In our model, successful single-initiative interaction is characterized by grounding of contributions, and successful mixed-initiative interaction is characterized by both grounding and agreement. Just as in spoken conversation, achievement of actual agreement depends on the intentions of both parties; agreement is achieved when the reader follows the documentation’s instructions. In fact, readers are not obligated to—and often do not—act according to the author’s intentions. By making these dynamics explicit, the model can aid authors in developing effective documentation. The paper …

Assessing Effectiveness Of Personality Style In Documentation, Kenneth Sayles, David G. Novick

David G. Novick

This paper extends previous work by other researchers that indicated that users of computers preferred a computer with a personality that was similar to theirs. We conducted a similar experiment, but looking beyond preference to see if the personality of documentation would make a difference in the user’s performance. Our data suggest did not indicate that personality match affects performance; and if such a relationship exists it is likely to be weak. We discuss the related research, describe our methodology, present our results, and describe their implications and limitations.

Platinum Nanoparticle Shape Effects On Benzene Hydrogenation Selectivity, Kaitlin M. Bratlie, Hyunjoo Lee, Kyriakos Komvopoulos, Peidong Yang, Gabor A. Somorjai

Kaitlin M. Bratlie

Benzene hydrogenation was investigated in the presence of a surface monolayer consisting of Pt nanoparticles of different shapes (cubic and cuboctahedral) and tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB). Infrared spectroscopy indicated that TTAB binds to the Pt surface through a weak C-HâââPt bond of the alkyl chain. The catalytic selectivity was found to be strongly affected by the nanoparticle shape. Both cyclohexane and cyclohexene product molecules were formed on cuboctahedral nanoparticles, whereas only cyclohexane was produced on cubic nanoparticles. These results are the same as the product selectivities obtained on Pt(111) and Pt(100) single crystals in earlier studies. The apparent activation energy for …

Web Site Personalization Based On Link Analysis And Navigational Patterns, Magdalini Eirinaki, Michalis Vazirgiannis

Magdalini Eirinaki

The continuous growth in the size and use of the World Wide Web imposes new methods of design and development of online information services. The need for predicting the users' needs in order to improve the usability and user retention of a Web site is more than evident and can be addressed by personalizing it. Recommendation algorithms aim at proposing “next” pages to users based on their current visit and past users' navigational patterns. In the vast majority of related algorithms, however, only the usage data is used to produce recommendations, disregarding the structural properties of the Web graph. Thus …

Approaches To Mitigating Decayed Buried Timber Within Railway Embankments, Barry A. Palynchuk Phd

Barry A. Palynchuk PhD

During the last three years, several sinkholes have been observed along CPR railway lines in Southern Ontario. The sinkholes have formed as a result of the decay of buried timber trestles in railway embankments. Although it has not occurred the sinkholes could result in hazardous changes in track geometry under load. This study summarizes the site investigation results and remedial methods implemented at five sites in southern Ontario. Remedial methods include placement geosynthetic reinforcement, soil-cement column reinforcement and grouting of voids at the trestle bents. The design, installation methods and construction constraints for the remedial options are described in this …

Non-Destructive Horseradish Peroxidase Immobilization In Porous Silica Nanoparticles, Rebecca Voss, Michael A. Brook, Jordan Thompson, Yang Chen, Robert H. Pelton, John D. Brennan

Rebecca Cademartiri

The preparation of protein doped silica particles is impeded by the difficulty of incorporating proteins within the silica mesostructure under conditions that do not lead to denaturation. Herein, the synthesis of spherical silica particles (diameter 150 nm–550 nm) under protein friendly conditions in a one step process is described. Diglyceroxysilane (DGS) was reacted in ethanol and methanol-free conditions in pure water or in buffer solutions with or without the presence of additional glycerol. Stabilization of the particles, consistent with steric stabilization, was obtained using poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) of various molecular weights and with various end groups, including allyl and (CH2)3Si(OEt)3 …

Quantum Dot Resonant Tunneling Diodes For Telecom Wavelength Single Photon Detection, H. W. Li, Paul J. Simmonds, H. E. Beere, B. E. Kardynał, D. A. Ritchie, A. J. Shields

Paul J. Simmonds

Single photon detection was realized at a telecom wavelength with quantum dot resonant tunneling diodes grown on an InP substrate. The structure contains a AlAs/In_0.53Ga_0.47As/AlAs quantum well with InAs quantum dots grown on the top AlAs barrier. The single photon detection efficiency of the device under 1310 nm illumination was measured to be about 0.35% ± 0.07% with a dark count rate of 1.58×10^-6 ns^-1. This corresponds to an internal efficiency of 6.3%.

3d Data Merging Using Holoimage, Song Zhang, Shing-Tung Yau

Song Zhang

Three-dimensional data merging is critical for full-field 3-D shape measurement. 3-D range data patches, acquired either from different sensors or from the same sensor in different viewing angles, have to be merged into a single piece to facilitate future data analysis. In this research, we propose a novel method for 3-D data merging using Holoimage. Similar to the 3-D shape measurement system using a phase-shifting method, Holoimage is a phase-shifting-based computer synthesized fringe image. The virtual projector projects the phase-shifted fringe pattern onto the object, the reflected fringe images are rendered on the screen, and the Holoimage is generated by …

Preliminary Model Tests For The Design Of A Gliding Deep Water Elevator, Christopher Roman, T. Gregory, E. Martin, A. Sanguinetti, J. Drummond

Christopher N. Roman

This paper presents progress on the design of a "smart elevator" to be used in conjunction with deep sea ROV operations. Deep sea elevators are gravity driven untethered platforms used to deliver and or return items from the sea floor. Elevators are used when items are too large or heavy to be handled by the ROV, or when the turn around time to recover and redeploy the ROV system for sample removal is prohibitive. Unfortunately, efficiency is complicated by the precision with which elevators can be landed at a specific location on the bottom and recovered on the surface because …

Functional Principal Component Regression And Functional Partial Least Squares, Philip T. Reiss, R. Todd Ogden

Philip T. Reiss

Regression of a scalar response on signal predictors, such as near-infrared (NIR) spectra of chemical samples, presents a major challenge when, as is typically the case, the dimension of the signals far exceeds their number. Most solutions to this problem reduce the dimension of the predictors either by regressing on components--e.g. principal component regression (PCR) and partial least squares (PLS)--or by smoothing methods which restrict the coefficient function to the span of a spline basis. This paper introduces functional versions of PCR and PLS, which combine both of the above dimension reduction approaches. Two versions of functional PCR are developed, …

Torsional Waveguide Density Sensor, Radek Glaser

Radek Glaser

Quantum Dot Resonant Tunneling Diode For Telecommunication Wavelength Single Photon Detection, H. W. Li, B. E. Kardynał, P. See, A. J. Shields, P. Simmonds, H. E. Beere, D. A. Ritchie

Paul J. Simmonds

The authors present a quantum dot (QD) based single photon detector operating at a fiber optic telecommunication wavelength. The detector is based on an AlAs/In_0.53Ga_0.47As/AlAs double-barrier resonant tunneling diode containing a layer of self-assembled InAs QDs grown on an InP substrate. The device shows an internal efficiency of about 6.3% with a dark count rate of 1.58 × 10⁻⁶ ns⁻¹ for 1310 nm photons.

Industrial Symbiosis For Very Large Scale Photovoltaic Manufacturing, Joshua M. Pearce

Joshua M. Pearce

Sorption-Enhanced Steam Reforming Of Hydrocarbons With Autothermal Sorbent Regeneration In A Moving Heat Wave Of Catalytic Combustion Reaction, Andrey N. Zagoruiko, Alexey G. Okunev

Andrey N Zagoruiko

Novel technological concept of sorption-enhanced hydrocarbon steam reforming with autothermal regeneration of the carbon dioxide scavenger in the moving super-adiabatic heat wave of the exothermic catalytic combustion reaction performed directly inside the adsorption-catalytic bed is presented. Process modelling results, confirming the capability and high efficiency of the proposed technological approach, are discussed. It is shown that proposed approach opens the way for creation of cheap, reliable and energy-saving adiabatic packed bed methane processors of unlimited processing capacity.

Control Of Porosity In Fluoride Thin Films Prepared By Vapor Deposition, Alexander H. King

Alexander H. King

We have measured the porosity in thin films of lithium fluoride (LiF), magnesium fluoride (MgF2), barium fluoride (BaF2), and calcium fluoride (CaF2) as a function of the substrate temperature for films deposited by thermal evaporation onto glass substrates. The amount of porosity in the thin films was measured using an atomic force microscope and a quartz crystal thickness monitor. The porosity was very sensitive to the substrate temperature and decreased as the substrate temperature increased. Consistent behavior was observed among all of the materials in this study.

Posterminaries: Full Circle, Alexander H. King

Alexander H. King

A few years ago, I was walking near the old Union Station in Pittsburgh with a colleague only slightly younger than myself, when we happened upon some large-scale relics of the steel industry displayed for public viewing. “You don’t see too many of those in public parking lots,” I offered. “Um… what is it?” was the response. I suppose I was just a little surprised that a prominent materials scientist did not recognize a Bessemer converter—arguably the principal source of wealth during the U.S. industrial revolution—but this conversation took place back when steel was in decline, and many university Materials …

Phase Error Compensation For A 3-D Shape Measurement System Based On The Phase-Shifting Method, Song Zhang, Peisen S. Huang

Song Zhang

This paper describes a novel phase error compensation method for reducing the measurement error caused by nonsinusoidal waveforms in phase-shifting methods. For 3-D shape measurement systems using commercial video projectors, the nonsinusoidal waveform of the projected fringe patterns as a result of the nonlinear gamma of projectors causes significant phase measurement error and therefore shape measurement error. The proposed phase error compensation method is based on our finding that the phase error due to the nonsinusoidal waveform depends only on the nonlinearity of the projector’s gamma. Therefore, if the projector’s gamma is calibrated and the phase error due to the …

Density Functional Study Of Structural Trends For Late-Transition-Metal 13-Atom Clusters, Lin-Lin Wang, Duane D. Johnson

Duane D. Johnson

Because reactivity increases as particle size decreases and competition between numerous structures are possible, which affects catalytic and magnetic properties, we study the structural trends of late-transition-metal 13-atom clusters using density functional theory within the generalized gradient approximation to exchange-correlation functional. We consider open structural motifs, such as bilayer and cubic (recently found to have lower energy), and find new bilayer candidates that are even lower in energy. To study the influence of d-orbital filling on structural trends, we focus on Pt, Pd, and Rh clusters and find several new, low-energy structures for Pt13 and Pd13 from searches using a …

Numerical Simulation Of The Filling And Curing Stages In Reaction Injection Moulding, Using Ansys Cfx, Rui Igreja

Rui Igreja

Commonly used methods for injection moulding simulation involve a considerable number of simplifications, leading to a significant reduction of the computational effort but, in some cases also to limitations. In this work, Reaction Injection Moulding (RIM) simulations are performed with a minimum of simplifications, by using the general purpose CFD software package Ansys CFX, designed for numerical simulation of fluid flow and heat and mass transfer. The Ansys CFX’s homogeneous multiphase flow model, which is generally considered to be the appropriate choice for modelling free surface flows where the phases are completely stratified and the interface is well defined, is …

Quantifying Total And Sustainable Agricultural Biomass Resources In South Dakota, Kurt A. Rosentrater, Russell Persyn, Dennis Todey

Kurt A. Rosentrater

Conversion of biomass is considered the next major advance in biorenewable fuels, energy, and products. Wholesale conversion to biomass utilization could result in removal of current crop residues from agricultural fields or even implementation of different crops and cropping strategies (i.e., switchgrass). To date, the driver for biomass processing has been economics and limitations on the conversion of the lignocellulose. Over the last forty years significant investments and resultant changes in management practices in the agricultural sector have focused on soil and water conservation. One of the major efforts has focused on conservation-till or no-till, with the goal of retaining …

Design Of A Gas Tight Water Sampler For Auv Operations, Christopher Roman, R. Camilli

Christopher N. Roman

This paper presents the design and preliminary test results for a small gas tight water sampler intended to work on scientific AUVs. In recent years AUVs have developed into reliable platforms capable of carrying a wide variety of environmental sensors for in-situ chemical measurements. Physical sample collection however remains difficult, due to the combination of space, power and complexity constraints inherent in working with autonomous platforms. The AUV sampler is a small (12 cm times 85 cm) cylindrical package designed to collect eight 20 ml gas tight volumes of water, with each sample maintained at high pressure to depths of …