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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Modeling Pyrolysis Of Large Coal Particles With Many Species, Jianqing Li Oct 2016

Modeling Pyrolysis Of Large Coal Particles With Many Species, Jianqing Li

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Coal currently supplies 40% of the world’s electricity needs, and is one of the most important energy sources. As the initial stage of coal combustion, pyrolysis is a thermal decomposition process which converts coal into light gases and tars, which are subsequently consumed in combustion reactions, as well as solid char. Recently there has been interest in using slow pyrolysis as a stand-alone process for the production of chemicals and fuels from large (mm-scale) coal particles. Simulations can be used to efficiently study the impact of pyrolysis conditions on gas, tar and char yields, as well as gas and tar …


Performance-Robust Dynamic Feedback Control Of Lipschitz Nonlinear Systems, Winston Baker Oct 2016

Performance-Robust Dynamic Feedback Control Of Lipschitz Nonlinear Systems, Winston Baker

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation addresses the dynamic control of nonlinear systems with finite energy noise in the state and measurement equations. Regional eigenvalue assignment (REA) is used to ensure that the state estimate error is driven to zero significantly faster than the state itself. Moreover, the controller is designed for the resulting closed loop system to achieve any one of a set of general performance criteria (GPC). The nonlinear model is assumed to have a Lipschitz nonlinearity both in the state and measurement equations. By using the norm bound of the nonlinearity, the controller is designed to be robust against all nonlinearities …


An Interactive Likelihood For The Multi-Bernoulli Filter, Anthony B. Hoak Jul 2016

An Interactive Likelihood For The Multi-Bernoulli Filter, Anthony B. Hoak

Master's Theses (2009 -)

In this thesis, a simple yet effective technique is presented for increasing the accuracy of multi-target tracking algorithms with a focus on sequential Monte-Carlo implementations of random finite set-based approaches. This technique, referred to throughout this work as an interactive likelihood, exploits the spatial information that exists in any given measurement, reducing the need for data association and allowing for more target interaction thereby increasing overall tracking accuracy. The interactive likelihood is constructed entirely within the random finite set framework and is integrated with a multi-Bernoulli filter. In addition, a state-of-the-art deep neural network for pedestrian detection is combined in …


Development Of A Wireless Mobile Computing Platform For Fall Risk Prediction, Akm Jahangir Alam Majumder Apr 2016

Development Of A Wireless Mobile Computing Platform For Fall Risk Prediction, Akm Jahangir Alam Majumder

Dissertations (1934 -)

Falls are a major health risk with which the elderly and disabled must contend. Scientific research on smartphone-based gait detection systems using the Internet of Things (IoT) has recently become an important component in monitoring injuries due to these falls. Analysis of human gait for detecting falls is the subject of many research projects. Progress in these systems, the capabilities of smartphones, and the IoT are enabling the advancement of sophisticated mobile computing applications that detect falls after they have occurred. This detection has been the focus of most fall-related research; however, ensuring preventive measures that predict a fall is …


Least-Squares Mapping From Kinematic Data To Acoustic Synthesis Parameters For Rehabilitative Acoustic Learning, Xiangyu Zhou Apr 2016

Least-Squares Mapping From Kinematic Data To Acoustic Synthesis Parameters For Rehabilitative Acoustic Learning, Xiangyu Zhou

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Thousands of people suffer from dysarthria resulting from neurological injury of the motor component of the motor-speech system, and need to rely on alternative methods to communicate in daily life, such as body language or text-to-speech [1] . However, there are currently very few effective rehabilitative therapies for helping these patients improve their speech. Because of this, research is needed to develop better rehabilitative therapies. One such area of research is the use of involuntary acoustic learning. The Speech and Swallowing lab at Marquette University has an Electromagnetic Articulography (EMA) system to collect kinematic data and a software system called …


Investigation Of The Use Of A Plasticizer-Polymer Sensor Coating With Improved Long-Term Stability In The Liquid Phase, Laura Jeanne Alderson Apr 2016

Investigation Of The Use Of A Plasticizer-Polymer Sensor Coating With Improved Long-Term Stability In The Liquid Phase, Laura Jeanne Alderson

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Benzene is one of the volatile organic compounds present in crude oil and gasoline. Leakage from underground storage tanks or hazardous waste sites can introduce benzene contamination into nearby groundwater. Benzene is a known carcinogen and its exposure is limited by the Environmental Protection Agency to 5 parts per billion (ppb) in drinking water. Early, accurate detection of the presence of benzene contamination in groundwater supplies is extremely important. Shear horizontal surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW) devices with a chemically sensitive coating can be used for the detection of volatile organic compounds in liquid, such as BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and …