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Room-Temperature Atmospheric Pressure Plasma For Biomedical Applications, Mounir Laroussi, Xinpei Lu

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

As low-temperature non-equilibrium plasmas come to play an increasing role in biomedical applications, reliable and user-friendly sources need to be developed. These plasma sources have to meet stringent requirements such as low temperature (at or near room temperature), no risk of arcing, operation at atmospheric pressure, preferably hand-held operation, low concentration of ozone generation, etc. In this letter, we present a device that meets exactly such requirements. This device is capable of generating a cold plasma plume several centimeters in length. It exhibits low power requirements as shown by its current-voltage characteristics. Using helium as a carrier gas, very little …

Power And Memory Optimization Techniques In Embedded Systems Design, Atef Khalil Allam

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Embedded systems incur tight constraints on power consumption and memory (which impacts size) in addition to other constraints such as weight and cost. This dissertation addresses two key factors in embedded system design, namely minimization of power consumption and memory requirement. The first part of this dissertation considers the problem of optimizing power consumption (peak power as well as average power) in high-level synthesis (HLS). The second part deals with memory usage optimization mainly targeting a restricted class of computations expressed as loops accessing large data arrays that arises in scientific computing such as the coupled cluster and configuration interaction …

Daubechies And Quadratic B-Spline Wavelets For Automated Early Diagnosis Of Alzheimer's Disease, Genevieve Jacques

Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer's disease is a neurological disorder characterized by nerve degeneration and neuronal death. The diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease at an early stage is a major concern due to the lack of a standard and effective diagnosis procedure available to community healthcare providers, as well as the increasing numbers of the elderly population affected. Clinical evaluation, the standard AD diagnostic procedure conducted at major university hospitals and research clinics, achieves, on average, a positive predictive value of 93%, with a sensitivity of 83%, specificity of 55% and an overall accuracy of 75%. An effective and objective tool for early diagnosis of …

Three-Dimensional Shape Characterization For Particle Aggregates Using Multiple Projective Representations, Jonathan Paul Corriveau

Theses and Dissertations

Shape descriptors are used extensively in computer vision/automated recognition applications such as fingerprint matching, robotics, character recognition, etc. The conventional two-dimensional shape descriptors used in these applications do not readily lend themselves to compact representations in three dimensions. The situation is even more challenging when one attempts to numerically describe the three-dimensional shapes of a mixture of objects such as in an aggregate mix.

The goal of this study is the design, development and validation of automated image processing algorithms that can estimate three-dimensional shape-descriptors for particle aggregates. The thesis demonstrates that a single set of numbers representing a composite …

Short-Term Scheduling Of A Hydro-Thermal System Using Linear Programming Technique, A Kyaruzi

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The paper discusses the short term scheduling of Hydrothermal for Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (TANESCO) Power System. The problem is to determine on hourly interval the Hydro and Thermal generation. The scheduling keeps balance between production and consumption in a reliable and economical way during the study period. Linear programming (LP) mathematical model using MATL4B has been developed. The constraints are hydrological balance, thermal power plants limitations and load requirements. The result from LP solution gave low operation cost. Generation was mainly from hydro and all reservoirs elevation was high at the end ofplanning period.

An Investigation Of Multi-Dimensional Evolutionary Algorithms For Virtual Reality Scenario Development, Scott Papson

Theses and Dissertations

Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a powerful visualization tool for design, simulation, and analysis in modem complex industrial systems. The primary motivation for this thesis is to develop a framework for the effective use of VR in design-simulation-analysis cycles, particularly in situations involving large, complex, multi-dimensional data-sets. This thesis develops a framework that is intended to support not only the integration of such data for visual, interactive, and immersive displays, but also provides a method for performing risk analysis. Previously "static" VR environments are enhanced with time-evolutionary capabilities. Four candidate algorithms are evaluated for this purpose – deterministic modeling, …

Information And Communication Technology Applications In The Tanzanian Health Sector, M Victor

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The potential role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the health sector is to improve the delivery of health services and would also help to deal with major constraints in uplifting the health standards Of Tanzanians. ICT in heath can be used to facilitate remote consultation, diagnosis and treatment. The objective Of the study was exploratory in nature and aimed at determining the awareness level of the länzanian health sector on various ICT applications which could be used in the sector. The study also aimed ar establishing the challenges to the implementation of ICT in the Tanzanian health sector. …

Byu Micro-Sar: A Very Small, Low-Power Lfm-Cw Synthetic Aperture Radar, Michael Israel Duersch

Theses and Dissertations

Brigham Young University has developed a low-cost, light-weight, and low power consumption SAR for flight on a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at low altitudes. This micro-SAR, or uSAR, consumes only 18 watts of power, ideal for application on a small UAV. To meet these constraints, a linear frequency modulation-continuous wave (LFM-CW) transmit signal is utilized. Use of an LFM-CW signal introduces some differences from the typical strip map SAR processing model that must be addressed in signal processing algorithms. This thesis presents a derivation of the LFM-CW signal model and the associated image processing algorithms used for the uSAR …

The Effects Of Influent Debit On Hydrodynamic Characteristic Of Bojongsoang Facultative Pond: Without Wind Effects, Rositayanti Hadisoebroto, Suprihanto Notodarmojo

Makara Journal of Technology

The Effects of Influent Debit on Hydrodynamic Characteristic of Bojongsoang Facultative Pond: Without Wind Effects. The performance of facultative pond in Bojongsoang WWTP have reported to be unstable. One of the cause of the unstable performance is the hydrodynamic characteristics that not met the criterion. The improper hydrodynamic characteristics are included the existence of dead-zone, the short-circuiting, and the turbulence due to eddy current. The study was to analyze the effect of the influent debit variation on the hydrodynamic characteristics of the pond using mathematical model. The two-dimensional hydrodynamic model was built from two hydrodynamic equations which are continuity and …

Feature Detection Using Linear Structure Modeling And Pca, Kawshif Muhammed Riaz Ahmed

Masters Theses

An algorithm to extract features from digital images such as cracks in concrete bridges for automated inspection is developed. The algorithm is based on the use of Principal Component Analysis (PCA). In general, PCA is used to reduce the dimensionality of a data set that consists of a large number of interrelated variables while retaining the variation present in the original data set. This ability of PCA will be used in this project to identify clusters using two training sets of images. Linear structure modeling is used to emphasize the image features (cracks) prior to applying PCA. Whole images processing …

Carbon Nanotube Based Chemical And Biological Sensors, Srikanth Singamaneni

Masters Theses

Carbon nanotubes are among those wonderful molecules man has discovered by chance. Carbon nanotubes are sheets of graphite rolled up to form seamless cylinders. Their outstanding electrical, mechanical and thermal properties form the inspiration behind this work. This work investigates the possible application of carbon nanotubes as biological sensors for the detection of various biomolecules like Streptavidin and Mouse monoclonal Immunoglobulin-G. Electrical conductance changes of Carbon nanotubes for exposure to alcohol vapors were studied. This thesis demonstrates that these quantum wires can form highly sensitive biological and chemical sensors at molecular level. Although the main focus of the-research was chemical …

Consistency Results For The Roc Curves Of Fused Classifiers, Kristopher S. Bjerkaas

Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. Air Force is researching the fusion of multiple classifiers. Given a finite collection of classifiers to be fused, one seeks a new classifier with improved performance. An established performance quantifier is the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve, which allows one to view the probability of detection versus the probability of false alarm in one graph. Previous research shows that one does not have to perform tests to determine the ROC curve of this new fused classifier. If the ROC curve for each individual classifier has been determined, then formulas for the ROC curve of the fused classifier exist …

Non-Cooperative Detection Of Ultra Wideband Signals, Brett D. Gronholz

Theses and Dissertations

Techniques for the non-cooperative (non-matched filter) detection of impulse-like ultra wideband signals using channelized receiver architectures are developed and evaluated. Each technique considered is modeled and simulations conducted to characterize detection performance, the results of which are compared with the detection performance of three receivers: the matched filter receiver, which provides optimum detection performance in AWGN; the radiometer, or energy detector; and the multi-aperture cross correlation receiver. It is shown that a channelized receiver (with no downconversion) can provide approximately 2.5 dB improvement over the radiometer when performing detection using the temporal-temporal matrix (TTM). The TTM processing technique provides the …

Ultra Wide Band Signal Modeling For Radar Receiver Characterization, Robert J. Backscheider

Theses and Dissertations

Results for modeling, simulation, and analysis of interference effects that modern wideband signals have on existing narrowband radar system performance are presented. In particular, radar detection performance is characterized using a basic radar receiver model and operational parameters consistent with those of the ARSR-4 air route surveillance radar. Two modern wideband signals (interferers) are addressed in this work, including the GPS military signal (M-Code signal) and a direct sequence ultra wideband (DS-UWB) waveform meeting outdoor emission restrictions imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Interference effects are characterized for an unmodulated sinusoidal pulse as well as linear frequency modulated (LFM) …

Real Time State Estimation Of Multi-Converter More Electric Ship Power Systems Using The Generalized State Space Averaging Method, Madan M. Jalla, Ali Emadi, Geoffrey A. Williamson, Babak Fahimi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a real time state estimation algorithm for control and security maintenance of multi-converter MES power electronic systems. Estimation of the state variables of the system includes the effects of ripples and converter switching actions. the proposed state estimator is based on the Weighted Least Squares (WLS) approach. Generalized state space averaging technique in which we consider the DC value of the state variables, and their harmonics is used to model DC/DC converters for the state estimator. in this paper, after introducing the proposed approach and the concept of security and control assessments, results of applying the proposed …

Analysis And Control Of A Buck Dc-Dc Converter Operating With Constant Power Load In Sea And Undersea Vehicles, Claudio Rivetta, Ali Emadi, Geoffrey A. Williamson, Ranjit Jayabalan, Babak Fahimi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Power electronics based zonal DC power distribution systems are being considered for sea and undersea vehicles. the stability of the DC power electronics-based power distribution systems is a significant design consideration because of the potential for negative impedance induced instabilities. in this paper, dynamic properties and control of a buck converter feeding a downstream DC-DC converter are studied. the controller in this system combines an instantaneous current feedback loop using hysteresis with a proportional-integral algorithm to regulate the output voltage of the converter. based on a large-signal averaged model of the converter, the stability-in-large around the operation point is presented. …

Telerobotic Controller, Michael Fewless, George Slater, Steve Waldron

Honors Theses

Atelerobotic system allows a user to interact with an environment indirectly. Our project successfully creates a telerobotic environment between the Phantom 1.5 controller and the UMI RTX robotic arm. Utilizing the haptic features of the Phantom controller, a more realistic interaction was created between the telerobotic system and the user by providing sensory feedback. As the user manipulates the hand-controlled Phantom device, signals are sent via a parallel port to the personal computer. A real-time WIN32 application, utilizing the GHOST SDK library, reads the position of the Phantom controller's coordinates and calculates the corresponding motor positions of the UMI RTXrobotic …

Understanding And Improving Moment Method Scattering Solutions, Clayton Paul Davis

Theses and Dissertations

The accuracy of moment method solutions to electromagnetic scattering problems has been studied by many researchers. Error bounds for the moment method have been obtained in terms of Sobolev norms of the current solution. Motivated by the historical origins of Sobolev spaces as energy spaces, it is shown that the Sobolev norm used in these bounds is equivalent to the forward scattering amplitude, for the case of 2D scattering from a PEC circular cylinder. A slightly weaker relationship is obtained for 3D scattering from a PEC sphere. These results provide a physical meaning for abstract solution error bounds in terms …

Electrochemical Behaviours Of Hemoglobin-Ddab-Modified Powder Microelectrode And The Application Of The Powder Microelectrode In Determination Of Nitric Oxide, Zhi-Mou Guo, Huan Liu, Jian Chen, Wen-Ting Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The electrochemical behaviours of DDAB-Hb-PME were studied in this paper. The (apparent) surface concentration of Hb was enhanced greatly by using the powder microelectrode (technique). NO reacts with Hb and absorbs on the surface of the modified carbon powder. Therefore, the output of the electrode was enhanced greatly by employing PME with higher reaction surface (area). The sensitivity of DDAB-Hb-PME is 3.1 mA/μmol·L^-1·cm², which is much larger than the values obtained with the traditional electrodes. The detection limit is 9 nmol·L^-1 and the linear response range is 9～100 nmol·L^-1.

Improvement And Its Mechanism Of Storage Performance Of Ni-Mh Battery, Xiao-Feng Li, Li-Ping Ma, Yu-Wan Lou, Feng Li, Bao-Jia Xia

Journal of Electrochemistry

The storage performance of nickel-metal-hydride (Ni-MH) battery was studied by using galvanostatic charge-discharge and cyclic voltammetry. The experimental results indicated that CoOOH could not be completely restored after its being thoroughly reduced at lower potential, which might weaken electric conduction network in the positive electrode and result in fading of electrochemical properties of Ni-MH battery. Addition of nickel powder as a conductive agent into the positive electrode was beneficial to the capacity recovery after storage.

Electrocatalytic Performances Of Carbon Nanotube Air Electrode For Oxygen Reduction, Feng-Ming Zhao, Chun-An Ma

Journal of Electrochemistry

The air electrodes with different mass ratio of Pt/active carbon or carbon nanotube as catalyst layer material have been prepared. The electrocatalytic performances for oxygen reduction were evaluated by means of polarization curve and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results disclosed that carbon nanotubes dealt with nitric acid in the catalyst layer had been improved obviously on the electrocatalytic activity. After the surface of carbon nanotube was oxygenated and aggraded with platinum, the catalyst had obviously effects on the electrocatalytic activity. The air electrode with the mass ratio of active carbon to Pt/carbon nanotube in 4∶1 showed better electrocatalytic activity, …

LicoXNi1-XO2 Cathode Materials Prepared By Electrolysis Of Co And Ni, Jin-Ping Wei, Xin Sun, Xiao-Yu Wang, Xi-Kui Bian, Jin-Ling Zhai, Yan-Jie Yan-Jie

Journal of Electrochemistry

A new electrolytic method was developed to prepare LiCo_xNi_1-xO₂ as a cathode material of lithium-ion battery. Contrary to the traditional method, electrolytic method is a potential method with simple process to industrialization and no pollution. Metal cobalt and nickel were electrolysed in parallel to prepare the precursor of Co_xNi_{1- x}(OH)₂.Different compositional precursors could be conveniently prepared by changing electrolytic current. The LiCo_0.3Ni_0.7O₂ cathode prepared by this method was found favorable charge-discharge and cycle properties. For the LiCo_0.3Ni_0.7O₂ cathode material, …

Applications Of New Activated Carbon Meterials In The Electric Double-Layer Capacitor, Jian-Jun Zhang, Hua Jiang, Jian-Hui Fang, Li-Yi Shi, Ren-He Yin, Yi Wen, Ji-Quan Liu

Journal of Electrochemistry

A new type activated carbon whose precursor was coconut shell could be obtained using specific physics-chemistry activation, and the activated carbon was applied as the material of electrode in EDLC (electrical double-layer capacitor),which had a large specific capacitance, and could charge and discharged in some large currents. Carbon dioxide and acid were used to modify carbon,and the effects of post-treatment on surface area and pore volume were investigated. A moulding method which has influence on some properties of carbon electrode with PTFE additive was researched in the paper.

Effect Of Fe3+ Dopen Of Titanium Dioxide Film On Absorption Spectra And Photo Catalysis, Mei-Qun Xiao, Jia-Nian Shen, Moucheng Li, Peng-Fei Wu, Dong Liu, Yu-Juan Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Photo-catalytic titanium dioxide film in nano crystalline has been prepared by electrochemical oxidation process and adding different amount of ferric ion into the electrolyte during the anodic oxidation.The effects of Fe³⁺ dopen on absorption spectra and photo-catalytic of the titanium dioxide films have been studied. It shows that the Fe³⁺ dopen caused the red shife of the absorption edge for the incoming light and exhibited the improved photocatalytic reactivity.

Anodic Dissolution Of Aluminum In Koh-Ethanol Solutions, Hai-Bo Shao, Jian-Ming Wang, Xiao-Yan Wang, Yi Zheng, Jian-Qing Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The feasibility of employing aluminum in KOH ethanol solution as a battery anode system was discussed. Weight loss measurement showed that the corrosion rate of Al is low enough to be used in sealed batteries. Through the measurements done by anodic polarization, EIS and galvanostatic discharge, it was found that Al is electrochemical active in a wide potential range in this system, and its discharge mechanism is similar to that of Al in aqueous solution. The discharge potential increased rapidly after a period of time, which might be caused by the discharge products depositing on the electrode surface.

Preparation And Photo-Catalyst Properties Of The α-Fe2O3-Tio2 Films On Sodium Alginate Polymer, Li-Qin Chen, Huai-Zhen Zhong, Ri-Yao Chen, Xi Zheng, Zhen Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

Three new nano thin films of α-Fe₂O_3, TiO₂ and α-Fe₂O₃-TiO₂ by doping their powder with sodium alginate polymer were prepared. Surface structure and catalytic activities of the films were characterized by FTIR, XRD, PL, TEM and I-V techniques. The results of UV-visible absorption showed that the methylene blue was mineralized in aqueous of α-Fe₂O₃/SA, TiO₂/SA and (α-(Fe₂O₃))-TiO₂ /SA upon radiation with ultra violet light. α-Fe₂O₃ enhanced their photo-decolorized-activities by doping 15% TiO₂.

The Investigation Of Bafesi/C Alloy Composite As Anode Materials For Li-Ion Battery, Rui-Xiang Feng, Hua Dong, Xin-Ping Ai, Han-Xi Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

A novel BaFeSi/C composite was prepared by mechanical ball milling, and lithium insertion reactions on the composite electrode were investigated by cyclic voltammetry , charge-discharge measurements, XRD and XPS spectroscopy. It is demonstrated that the capacity retention with indiscernible capacity decas during charge-discharge cycling. The improved cycling ability of the composite is suggested from a cooperative action by inactive FeSi₂ and BaSi₂ matrix and outer graphite shell, which both buffer the volumetric changes of the active Si phase and provide a good connection for electronic and ionic conduction during lithium insertion and extraction processes.

Kalman Consensus Strategies And Their Application To Cooperative Control, Randal Beard, Derek Kingston, Wei Ren

Faculty Publications

Sponsorship: AFOSR, NSF. In this paper, we propose discrete-time and continuous-time consensus update schemes motivated by the discrete-time and continuous-time Kalman filters. With certainty information encoded into each agent, the proposed consensus schemes explicitly account for relative confidence in the information that is communicated from each agent in the team. We show mild sufficient conditions under which consensus can be achieved using the proposed schemes in the presence of switching interaction topologies. The Kalman consensus scheme is shown to be input-to-state stable. We show how to exploit this fact in multi-agent cooperative control scenarios.

Polarimetric Temperature Sensor Using Core-Replaced Fiber, Benjamin L. Ipson

Theses and Dissertations

Optical fibers are increasingly being used to create sensing devices. The D-fiber has an elliptical core and exhibits birefringence. This birefringence can be used to create a polarimetric sensor. The elliptical core supports two orthogonal modes that have separate effective indices of refraction. The indices of refraction change with a change in temperature. Since the effective indices of refraction change differently for the two modes, the birefringence also changes. This change in birefringence can be seen as a change in detected power through the fiber through the use of polarizers. The fiber then becomes a temperature sensor. The sensitivity of …

Condition Monitoring Of Squirrel-Cage Induction Motors Fed By Pwm-Based Drives Using A Parameter Estimation Approach, Behrooz Mirafzal, F. Fateh, Chia-Chou Yeh, Richard J. Povinelli, Nabeel Demerdash

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Abstract:

A rotor condition monitoring technique is presented in this paper based on a parameter estimation approach. In this technique, the stator currents, voltages and motor speed are used as the input signals, where the outputs will be the rotor's inductance, resistance and consequently rotor time constant. This approach is verified by simulation of two different induction motor cases. These simulations are buttressed by experimental data obtained for a 2-hp induction motor in the case of healthy as well as one, three and five rotor bar breakages. In these tests, the induction motor was energized from a PWM-based drive, in …