Digital Commons Network^™

Pre-Exposure Training As A Means To Reduce Vection Induced Symptoms Of Motion Sickness, Nicholas James Stapleton

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The focus of this study was designed to empirically examine the effect of inducing mild motion sickness as an ameliorative to a more severe motion sickness exposure. Twenty-seven participants were selected for this study based upon their susceptibility to motion sickness, that is, only people who were determined to be motion susceptible were tested. All participants were exposed to a motion sickness-inducing environment. Eighteen participants were trained to adapt to motion sickness by exposure to a milder motion sickness-inducing environment, ending either 6 hours or 24 hours prior to the more severe motion test environment.

Participants during the pre-exposure experimental …

3d Object Recognition Based On A Geometrical Topology Model And Extreme Learning Machine, Rui Nian, Bo He, Amaury Lendasse

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In This Paper, One Geometrical Topology Hypothesis is Present based on the Optimal Cognition Principle, and the Single-Hidden Layer Feedforward Neural Network with Extreme Learning Machine (Elm) is Used for 3d Object Recognition. It is Shown that the Proposed Approach Can Identify the Inherent Distribution and the Dependence Structure for Each 3d Object Along Multiple View Angles by Evaluating the Local Topological Segments with a Dipole Topology Model and Developing the Relevant Mathematical Criterion with Elm Algorithm. the Elm Ensemble is Then Used to Combine the Individual Single-Hidden Layer Feedforward Neural Network of Each 3d Object for Performance Improvements. the …

The Santa Clara, 2013-02-28, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

Generating Co-Occurring Facial Nonmanual Signals In Synthesized American Sign Language, Jerry Schnepp, Rosalee Wolfe, John Mcdonald, Jorge Toro

Visual Communications and Technology Education Faculty Publications

Translating between English and American Sign Language (ASL) requires an avatar to display synthesized ASL. Essential to the language are nonmanual signals that appear on the face. In the past, these have posed a difficult challenge for signing avatars. Previous systems were hampered by an inability to portray simultaneously-occurring nonmanual signals on the face. This paper presents a method designed for supporting co-occurring nonmanual signals in ASL. Animations produced by the new system were tested with 40 members of the Deaf community in the United States. Participants identified all of the nonmanual signals even when they co-occurred. Co-occurring question nonmanuals …

The Santa Clara, 2013-02-14, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

Innovative Computing In Engineering And Medicine I, Chung-Hao Chen, Khan Iftekharuddin, Christian Zemlin

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Chairs: Drs. Chung-Hao Chen, Khan Iftekharuddin, & Christian Zemlin, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

The Santa Clara, 2013-02-07, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

Online Optimal Control Of Nonaffine Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems Without Using Value And Policy Iterations, Hassan Zargarzadeh, Qinmin Yang, S. Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Online optimal control of nonlinear discrete-time systems in a forward-in-time manner is a challenging problem due to a lack of closed-form solution to the Hamilton- Bellman-Jacobi (HJB) equation. Traditionally, value and policy iteration-based approximate optimal control schemes are developed in the literature by assuming that a significant number of iterations can be performed within a sampling interval which is not practical. By contrast, this book chapter introduces a novel online time-based optimal framework for nonlinear discrete-time systems by using both: (a) reinforcement learning and (b) online neural network approximation-based forward-in-time dynamic programming without using iterative methodology. The overall stability proof …

Design Of A 2.4 Ghz Horizontally Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna Using Rectangular And Circular Directors And Reflectors, Yosef Yilak Woldeamanuel

Electrical Engineering Theses

In the urban or indoor wireless environment, after a complicated multiple reflection or scattering effect, the polarization of the propagating radio waves may change significantly. Although many current wireless systems are vertically polarized it has been predicted that using horizontally polarized antenna at both the transmitter and receiver has many advantages. In this thesis, new designs are proposed to develop a horizontally polarized microstrip patch antennas for 2.4 GHz applications using directors and reflectors to guide the radiated power. The radiation characteristics of these designs with respect to various geometrical parameters such as the dimensions of the reflector and directors, …

Visual Homing With A Pan-Tilt Based Stereo Camera, Paramesh Nirmal, Damian M. Lyons

Faculty Publications

Visual homing is a navigation method based on comparing a stored image of the goal location and the current image (current view) to determine how to navigate to the goal location. It is theorized that insects, such as ants and bees, employ visual homing methods to return to their nest [1]. Visual homing has been applied to autonomous robot platforms using two main approaches: holistic and feature-based. Both methods aim at determining distance and direction to the goal location. Navigational algorithms using Scale Invariant Feature Transforms (SIFT) have gained great popularity in the recent years due to the robustness of …

Power And Politics In Organizations, Thomas W. Camm

Mining Engineering

Aristotle made the observation that man is a political animal. Engineers often like to think they are above the fray when it comes to organizational politics, but most organizational theorists believe politics is a fundamental dynamic in any group. This paper examines the various ways that people use power within organizations to negotiate the political interactions in the work place.

Protection Against Cardiac Injury By Small Ca2 +-Sensitive K+ Channels Identified In Guinea Pig Cardiac Inner Mitochondrial Membrane, David F. Stowe, Ashish K. Gadicherla, Yifan Zhou, Mohammed Aldakkak, Qunli Cheng, Wai-Meng Kwok, Ming Tao Jiang, James S. Heisner, Meiying Yang, Amadou K.S. Camara

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

We tested if small conductance, Ca^{2 +}‐sensitive K⁺ channels (SK_Ca) precondition hearts against ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury by improving mitochondrial (m) bioenergetics, if O₂‐derived free radicals are required to initiate protection via SK_Ca channels, and, importantly, if SK_Ca channels are present in cardiac cell inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM). NADH and FAD, superoxide (O₂⁻), and m[Ca^{2 +}] were measured in guinea pig isolated hearts by fluorescence spectrophotometry. SK_Ca and IK_Ca channel opener DCEBIO (DCEB) was given for 10 min and ended 20 min before IR. …

Molecular Diversity Of Bacteroidales In Fecal And Environmental Samples And Swine-Associated Subpopulations, Regina Lamendella, Kent C. Li, Daniel B. Oerther, Jorge W. Santo Domingo

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Several swine-specific microbial source tracking methods are based on PCR assays targeting Bacteroidales 16S rRNA gene sequences. The limited application of these assays can be explained by the poor understanding of their molecular diversity in fecal sources and environmental waters. In order to address this, we studied the diversity of 9,340 partial (>600bp in length) Bacteroidales 16S rRNA gene sequences from 13 fecal sources and nine feces-contaminated watersheds. The compositions of major Bacteroidales populations were analyzed to determine which host and environmental sequences were contributing to each group. This information allowed us to identify populations which were both exclusive …

Fabrication And Evaluation Of A Collagen-Based Fiber-Gel Three-Dimensional Construct For Peripheral Nerve Repair, Mevan Lakmal Siriwardane

Dissertations

Nerve regeneration following a peripheral nerve injury often relies on growth cone- mediated guidance and the presence of Schwann cells to support the regenerating axons and remyelinate portions of denervated nerve pathways. The emphasis of this work is to develop a synthetic nervous tissue construct that contains similar basal lamina or extracellular matrix to peripheral nerve in order to achieve a level of effectiveness in nerve repair and future peripheral nerve regeneration applications. To this end, three- dimensional nervous tissue constructs consisting of type I collagen are fabricated into a composite biomaterial scaffold to promote contact-guided growth of neuronal and …

The Santa Clara, 2013-01-31, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

Life Cycle Assessment Of Dewatering Routes For Algae-Derived Biodiesel Processes, Daniel O'Connell

Theses and Dissertations

Biodiesel derived from algae is considered a sustainable fuel, but proper downstream processing is necessary to minimize the environmental footprint of this process. Algae is grown in dilute liquid cultures, and achieving the low water contents required for extraction represents one of the greatest challenges for the production of algae derived biodiesel. An analysis of the life cycle emissions associated with harvesting, dewatering, extraction, reaction, and product purification stages for algae biodiesel was performed. This "base case" found 10,500 kg of total emissions per t BD with 96% of those attributed to the spray dryer used for dewatering. Alternative cases …

A Robust Patch-Based Synthesis Framework For Combining Inconsistent Images, Aliakbar Darabi

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Current methods for combining different images produce visible artifacts when the sources have very different textures and structures, come from far view points, or capture dynamic scenes with motions. In this thesis, we propose a patch-based synthesis algorithm to plausibly combine different images that have color, texture, structural, and geometric inconsistencies. For some applications such as cloning and stitching where a gradual blend is required, we present a new method for synthesizing a transition region between two source images, such that inconsistent properties change gradually from one source to the other. We call this process image melding. For gradual blending, …

Quantification Of In Vivo Oxidative Damage In Caenorhabditis Elegans During Aging By Endogenous F3-Isoprostane Measurement, Christiaan F. Labuschagne, Edwin C.A. Stigter, Margriet M.W.B. Hendriks, Ruud Berger, Joshua Rokach, Hendrik C. Korswagen, Arjan B. Brenkman

Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications

Oxidative damage is thought to be a major cause in development of pathologies and aging. However, quantification of oxidative damage is methodologically difficult. Here, we present a robust liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) approach for accurate, sensitive, and linear in vivo quantification of endogenous oxidative damage in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, based on F3-isoprostanes. F3-isoprostanes are prostaglandin-like markers of oxidative damage derived from lipid peroxidation by Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). Oxidative damage was quantified in whole animals and in multiple cellular compartments, including mitochondria and peroxisomes. Mutants of the mitochondrial electron transport proteins mev-1 and clk-1 showed increased oxidative damage …

A Novel Fast Solver For Poisson's Equation With Neumann Boundary Condition, Zuhui Ma, Weng Cho Chew, Lijun Jiang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, we present a novel fast method to solve Poisson's equation in an arbitrary two dimensional region with Neumann boundary condition, which are frequently encountered in solving electrostatic boundary problems. The basic idea is to solve the original Poisson's equation by a two-step procedure. In the first stage, we expand the electric field of interest by a set of tree basis functions and solve it with a fast tree solver in O(N) operations. The field such obtained, however, fails to expand the exact field because the tree basis is not curl-free. Despite of this, we can retrieve the …

Modeling Biofuel Expansion Effects On Land Use Change Dynamics, Ethan Warner, Daniel Inman, Benjamin Kunstman, Brian Bush, Laura Vimmerstedt, Steve Peterson

Dartmouth Scholarship

Increasing demand for crop-based biofuels, in addition to other human drivers of land use, induces direct and indirect land use changes (LUC). Our system dynamics tool is intended to complement existing LUC modeling approaches and to improve the understanding of global LUC drivers and dynamics by allowing examination of global LUC under diverse scenarios and varying model assumptions. We report on a small subset of such analyses. This model provides insights into the drivers and dynamic interactions of LUC (e.g., dietary choices and biofuel policy) and is not intended to assert improvement in numerical results relative to other works.

Demand …

The Nucleus 2012-2013, Rrosalie A. Richards

Science Education Center

No abstract provided.

Accurate 3-D Capacitance Of Parallel Plates From 2-D Analytical Superposition, Richard E. Matick, Albert E. Ruehli

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The two-conductor strip line is a classic transmission line structure which has been extensively studied and used in endless applications for decades. Unfortunately, the exact determination of the 3-D capacitance of this basic case is analytically intractable. It will be shown that accurate values of the total 3-D capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor with thin plates of any length, width, and separation can be determined from the superposition of the exact 2-D capacitance obtained from an analytic solution using elliptic integrals in a very simple manner. The accuracy is determined for a range of cases through a comparison of …

Alterations Of Glass Surfaces & Functional Coatings For Energy Conversion Systems, Joachim Deubener

Functional Glasses: Properties And Applications for Energy and Information

No abstract provided.

Solar Energy Collection Analysis Tool For Conceptual Aircraft Design, Grant M. Glazebrook, Robert A. Mcdonald

Aerospace Engineering

As battery energy storage and solar cell technology improve, solar aircraft are increasingly being considered for high altitude long endurance missions. Although solar vehicles may theoretically remain on station indefinitely using the sun as a power source, their design and feasibility is sensitive to mission planning details as specific as the time history of the vehicle’s deck orientation relative to the sun; the energy available for capture by the on-board solar array is governed by the solar incidence angle, and at certain orientations, the vehicle may cast shadows on itself and further reduce its energy capture capabilities. To quantify these …

Dual-Tracer Background Subtraction Approach For Fluorescent Molecular Tomography, Kenneth M. Tichauer, Robert W. Holt, Fadi El-Ghussein, Scott C. Davis, Kimberly S. Samkoe, Jason R. Gunn, Frederic Leblond, Brian W. Pogue

Dartmouth Scholarship

Diffuse fluorescence tomography requires high contrast-to-background ratios to accurately reconstruct inclusions of interest. This is a problem when imaging the uptake of fluorescently labeled molecularly targeted tracers in tissue, which can result in high levels of heterogeneously distributed background uptake. We present a dual-tracer background subtraction approach, wherein signal from the uptake of an untargeted tracer is subtracted from targeted tracer signal prior to image reconstruction, resulting in maps of targeted tracer binding. The approach is demonstrated in simulations, a phantom study, and in a mouse glioma imaging study, demonstrating substantial improvement over conventional and homogenous background subtraction image reconstruction …

2013 Nebraska Water Monitoring Programs Report, Marty Link, Joe Kenning

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality: Reports

The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) is charged with monitoring, assessing, and to the extent possible, managing the state’s water resources. The purpose of this work is to protect and maintain good quality water and encourage or execute activities to improve poor water quality. Monitoring is done on the over 16,000 miles of flowing rivers and streams, our greater than 148,000 acres of surface water in lakes and reservoirs, and the vast storage of groundwater in Nebraska’s aquifers.

Engineering Research 2013, College Of Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Michigan Tech Engineering Magazine

Table of Contents

• Energy
• Earth, Air & Water
• Engineered Materials
• Health
• Research Centers
• Innovation
• Graduate Research & Education

Development Of A Field Test Method For Total Suspended Solids Analysis, Tian Zhang, John S. Stansbury, Jessica Branigan

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Total suspended solids (TSS) are all particles in water that will not pass through a glass fiber filter with a pore size less than 2 μm, including sediments, algae, nutrients, and metals. TSS is an important water quality parameter because of its adverse effects on aquatic species and wildlife. TSS is regulated through the EPA via the NPDES in many states. Since there are no accepted field tests for TSS, projects with TSS regulations must send samples to a laboratory for analysis, which can delay projects for days or weeks. The goal of this research was to develop a rapid, …

Studies On Drying Of Sorghum Seeds In A Fluidized Bed Dryer, K. Sandeepa, V.V. Basava Rao, S. Ram Mohan Rao

The 14th International Conference on Fluidization – From Fundamentals to Products

No abstract provided.

A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Mri) Study Of The Formation And Interaction Of Spouts And Jets, Maximilian H. Kohl, James R. Third, Klaas P. Prussmann, Christoph R. Muller

The 14th International Conference on Fluidization – From Fundamentals to Products

No abstract provided.