Other Engineering Commons^™

A Directionally Tunable But Frequency-Invariant Beamformer On An Acoustic Velocity-Sensor Triad To Enhance Speech Perception, Yue Ivan Wu, Kainam Thomas Wong, Xin Yuan, Siu-Kit Lau, Shiu-Keung Tang

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Herein investigated are computationally simple microphone-array beamformers that are independent of the frequency-spectra of all signals, all interference, and all noises. These beamformers allow the listener to tune the desired azimuth-elevation “look direction.” No prior information is needed of the interference. These beamformers deploy a physically compact triad of three collocated but orthogonally oriented velocity sensors. These proposed schemes’ efficacy is verified by a jury test, using simulated data constructed with Mandarin Chinese (a.k.a. Putonghua) speech samples. For example, a desired speech signal, originally at a very adverse signal-to-interference-and-noise power ratio (SINR) of -30 dB, may be processed to become …

Application Of Drum-Buffer-Rope Methodology In Scheduling Of Healthcare System, Arefeh Mohammadi, Emmanuel S. Eneyo

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Theory of constraints (TOC) is a management philosophy that seeks to increase throughput (efficiency or performance) of the system by identifying those processes that are constraining the system bottlenecks. There have been very few profound studies of TOC in health care systems. In order to fill this gap, this study was conducted to determine how healthcare systems are utilizing components of TOC to schedule operations and what results are being obtained. This is done by using a patient flow model for a radiotherapy section of a hospital. The drum-buffer-rope (DBR) was used as the methodology for scheduling this flow. Successful …

Teaching Sustainable Design Using Bim And Project-Based Energy Simulations, Zhigang Shen, Wayne Jensen, Tim Wentz, Bruce Fischer

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

The cross-disciplinary nature of energy-efficient building design has created many challenges for architecture, engineering and construction instructors. One of the technical challenges in teaching sustainable building design is enabling students to quantitatively understand how different building designs affect a building’s energy performance. Concept based instructional methods fall short in evaluating the impact of different design choices on a buildings’ energy consumption. Building Information Modeling (BIM) with energy performance software provides a feasible tool to evaluate building design parameters. One notable advantage of this tool is its ability to couple 3D visualization of the structure with energy performance analysis without requiring …

Creating A State-Wide Transfer Program For Engineering Technology And Technology Management Studies, Gregory Arbuckle, Mark Doggett

SEAS Faculty Publications

The primary purpose of the Western Kentucky Pipeline for 2+2+2 Engineering Technology and Technology Management (ET/TM) students program is to significantly increase degree production and workforce preparation in central and western Kentucky through the construction of a long-term sustainable, reproducible model bridging program of cooperation between Western Kentucky University (WKU), Murray State University (MSU) and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). The program will significantly increase industrial and technology education opportunities, technology enrollment and two and four-year degree completion. Additionally, this project supports the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education’s (CPE) goal to double the overall number of undergraduate …

Perceptions And Rankings Of Technology Management Competencies, Mark Doggett, Pam Mcgee, Sophia Scott

SEAS Faculty Publications

According to Thamhain (2005) the “Management of technology is the art and science of creating value by using technology together with other resources of an organization” (p. 6). A technology manager should have some minimum level of technical knowledge, applied abilities in systems design, application, products or processes, and skills in one or more contextual areas (ITEA, 2000/2002). Technology managers must have certain competencies that are agreed-upon or measurable, preferably both. At the university level, technology management programs are distinctly different from engineering or engineering technology programs (i.e., mechanical, electrical, civil, etc.). A required management curriculum is what distinguishes ATMAE …

The Theological Origins Of Engineering, Brad Kallenberg

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Knowledge of our roots can sometimes help us figure out how we ought to proceed. Many claim that engineering began in ancient antiquity with the Egyptian pyramids, Archimedes' inventions, or the Roman aqueducts. Others give contemporary engineering a more recent history, tracing its origins to the Industrial Revolution or the Enlightenment. Yet what is often overlooked is the fact that contemporary engineering owes part of its identity to medieval monasticism.

The advantage of remembering this history is the bearing it has on the questions "What is engineering for?" and "How ought engineering be practiced?"

Michael Davis makes the claim that, …

An Evaluation Of The Performance Of Network Rtk Gnss Services In Ireland, Audrey Martin, Eugene Mcgovern

Conference Papers

The national Geodetic infrastructure for the island of Ireland has developed rapidly to a fully GNSS compatible coordinate reference system - Irish Transverse Mercator (ITM) which is realised through a Continuously Operating Reference System (CORS) network of active GNSS stations. The National Mapping Authority’s CORS network provides data for post processing and streamed raw data for real-time network (NRTK) solutions. This NRTK raw data is currently being used by both Leica and Topcon to provide independent NRTK solutions. A second CORS network, known as VRS Now Ireland, with both RINEX and NRTK capabilities, was established in 2008 by Trimble and …

Fact Or Fiction?, Allison Marsh

Section 5: Imaging at the Nano Scale

No abstract provided.

Spotlight On Usc: Department Of Art, Allison Marsh

Section 5: Imaging at the Nano Scale

No abstract provided.

Usc's Nanocenter, Allison Marsh

Section 5: Imaging at the Nano Scale

No abstract provided.

Art Versus Image, Allison Marsh

Section 5: Imaging at the Nano Scale

No abstract provided.

Nano Imaging, Allison Marsh

Section 5: Imaging at the Nano Scale

No abstract provided.

What Is Nanotechnology?, Allison Marsh

Section 5: Imaging at the Nano Scale

No abstract provided.

Nanotechnology In Everyday Life, Allison Marsh

Section 5: Imaging at the Nano Scale

No abstract provided.

Choosing An Instrument, Allison Marsh

Section 5: Imaging at the Nano Scale

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Roof Pitch On Air Flow And Heating Load Of Sealed And Vented Attics For Gable-Roof Residential Buildings, Shimin Wang, Zhigang Shen

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Pitch value is an important consideration in residential gable roof design and construction. However, how roof pitch, coupled with air flows in attic space, affects the energy performance of building attics has been barely investigated. In this paper, a 2D unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is employed to investigate the effects of roof pitch on air flow and heating load of both sealed and vented attics for gable-roof residential buildings. The simulation results show that air flow in the sealed attics is steady and asymmetric, while that in the vented attics is a combination of an essentially symmetric base …

Neutrosophic Masses & Indeterminate Models Applications To Information Fusion, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this paper we introduce the indeterminate models in information fusion, which are due either to the existence of some indeterminate elements in the fusion space or to some indeterminate masses. The best approach for dealing with such models is the neutrosophic logic.

Effects Of Inclusion Shapes Within Rigid Porous Materials On Acoustic Performance, Hyun Hong, Siu-Kit Lau

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

The present study investigates the influence of various shapes of inclusions having same volume embedded in a porous rigid material. Previous studies showed improvement of the broadband sound absorption with particular shapes of inclusions. However, different volumes of the inclusions have been considered; therefore, the bulk densities are not the same for comparison. The present study extends the investigations of inclusions in porous materials with same volume (or bulk density) to eliminate the influence by the change of bulk density. The effects of shape will be discussed. Finite element modeling will be used for this study. Total four different shapes: …

Impacts Of Ventilation Ratio And Vent Balance On Cooling Load And Air Flow Of Naturally Ventilated Attics, Shimin Wang, Zhigang Shen

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

The impacts of ventilation ratio and vent balance on cooling load and air flow of naturally ventilated attics are studied in this paper using an unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. Buoyancy-driven turbulent ventilations in attics of gable-roof residential buildings are simulated for typical summer conditions. Ventilation ratios from 1/400 to 1/25 combined with both balanced and unbalanced vent configurations are investigated. The modeling results show that the air flows in the attics are steady and exhibit a general streamline pattern that is qualitatively insensitive to the variations in ventilation ratio and vent configuration. The predicted temperature fields are characterized …

The Impact Of Roof Pitch And Ceiling Insulation On Cooling Load Of Naturally-Ventilated Attics, Shimin Wang, Zhigang Shen, Linxia Gu

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A 2D unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is employed to simulate buoyancy-driven turbulent ventilation in attics with different pitch values and ceiling insulation levels under summer conditions. The impacts of roof pitch and ceiling insulation on the cooling load of gable-roof residential buildings are investigated based on the simulation of turbulent air flow and natural convection heat transfer in attic spaces with roof pitches from 3/12 to 18/12 combined with ceiling insulation levels from R-1.2 to R-40. The modeling results show that the air flows in the attics are steady and exhibit a general streamline pattern that is qualitatively …