Digital Commons Network^™

Hybrid Force-Feedback Control For Virtual Environments, Carol Chesney

Link Foundation Modeling, Simulation and Training Fellowship Reports

The scope of this project is the design and implementation of a force-feedback device that utilizes brakes as well as motors for hybrid force control.. The device is a pen-sized device for planar point force-feedback. The design and software are implemented with consideration towards extending the force-feedback technology to three dimensions. The benefits of such a hybrid device include increased safety and realism. Larger forces can be reflected safely in the form of impenetrable constraints and instabilities can reduced or eliminated. The passive force component is the only way to accommodate the model of static friction. Delay in force measurement …

Climate Change And Nebraska

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

The earth’s climate is predicted to change because human activities are altering the chemical composition of the atmosphere through the buildup of greenhouse gases — primarily carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons. The heat-trapping property of these greenhouse gases is undisputed. Although there is uncertainty about exactly how and when the earth’s climate will respond to enhanced concentrations of greenhouse gases, observations indicate that detectable changes are under way. There most likely will be increases in temperature and changes in precipitation, soil moisture, and sea level, which could have adverse effects on many ecological systems, as well as on …

Computer-Assisted Gait Analysis In Equine Orthopaedic Practice: The Case For Inverse Dynamic Analysis, Antonie J. Van Den Bogert

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Optimization Of Solid-State Fermentation Parameters For The Production Of Xylanase By Trichoderma Longibrachiatum On Wheat Bran, Elizabeth R. Ridder, Sue E. Nokes, Barbara L. Knutson

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Solid-state fermentation has the potential to produce inexpensive enzymes for use in high-volume industrial applications. Process parameters such as substrate moisture content and length of fermentation can have a significant effect on the amount and timing of enzyme production. This study was conducted in two stages, a screening stage and an optimization stage, to determine the effects of moisture content of the substrate, surfactant addition upon inoculation, depth of the substrate, and duration of fermentation on xylanase activity produced by Trichoderma longibrachiatum. Screening fermentations were conducted at 25°C, 50 and 75% wet basis moisture content (w.b.), 0.0 and 0.2% …

Vegetated Filter Strip Removal Of Cattle Manure Constituents In Runoff, Teng T. Lim, Dwayne R. Edwards, Stephen R. Workman, Brian T. Larson, Lloyd Dunn

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Pasture runoff can contribute to elevated concentrations of nutrients, solids, and bacteria in downstream waters. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of vegetative filter strip (VFS) length on concentrations and transport of nitrogen, phosphorus, solids and fecal coliform in runoff from plots treated with cattle manure. Three plots with dimensions of 2.4 × 30.5 m were used. The upper 12.2 m of each plot was treated with cattle manure, while the lower 18.3 m acted as a VFS. Runoff produced by rainfall simulators was sampled at VFS lengths of 0, 6.1, 12.2, and 18.3 m and …

Use Of Polyurethane Material Models For Simulating Leg-Form Impact In Different Explicit Finite Element Codes, Joe Hassan, Peter Schuster, G. Frederick

Mechanical Engineering

Compressible plastic foams are used throughout the interior and bumper systems of modern automobiles for safety enhancement and damage prevention. Consequently, modeling of foams has become very important for automobile engineers. To date, most work has focused on predicting foam performance up to approximately 80% compression. However, in certain cases, it is important to predict the foam under maximum compression, or 'bottoming-out.' This paper uses one such case-a thin low-density bumper foam impacted by a pedestrian leg-form at 11.1 m/s-to investigate the 'bottoming-out' phenomenon. Multiple material models in three different explicit Finite Element Method (FEM) packages (RADIOSS, FCRASH, and LS-DYNA) …

Automatic Analysis Of Electronic Drawings Using Neural Network, Yi Shi

Dissertations

Neural network technique has been found to be a powerful tool in pattern recognition. It captures associations or discovers regularities with a set of patterns, where the types, number of variables or diversity of the data are very great, the relationships between variables are vaguely understood, or the relationships are difficult to describe adequately with conventional approaches.

In this dissertation, which is related to the research and the system design aiming at recognizing the digital gate symbols and characters in electronic drawings, we have proposed: (1) A modified Kohonen neural network with a shift-invariant capability in pattern recognition; (2) An …

Reuse Of Cold Top Ex-Situ Vitrified Chromium Contaminated Soils In Hot Mix Asphalt Concrete, Gerald Charleston

Theses

This research investigated the pilot scale feasibility of the remediation of chromium contaminated soil through cold top ex-situ vitrification and the reuse of the vitrified products as highway construction aggregates. There are more than two million tons of chromite ore residues from the chromate extraction manufacturing leftover in Hudson County, New Jersey. They contained both un-leached hexavalent and unoxidized trivalent chromium. Hexavalent chromium is well known as a group A human carcinogen. It is also considered an environmental and health hazard. Of the many ex- situ and in-situ physical, chemical, and biological treatment technologies for chromate production waste, the ability …

Urban And Environmental Planning In Nepal, Ambika P. Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

This collection of essays deals with issues related to housing, and urban and environmental planning in Nepal. Specific focus is on the planning and environmental problems related to the towns of the Kathmandu Valley.

Nepal is facing several challenges in the areas of urban and environmental management and planning . Rapidly increasing population is exerting pressure in all aspects of urban infrastructure, services and housing. Traditional community support and planning systems are breaking apart due to several factors, such as changing societal values, urban consumption patterns and commercialization of traditionally household activities. On the other hand, Nepali society is not …

40th Rocky Mountain Conference On Analytical Chemistry

Rocky Mountain Conference on Magnetic Resonance

Final program, abstracts, and information about the 40th annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Conference on Analytical Chemistry, co-sponsored by the Colorado Section of the American Chemical Society and the Rocky Mountain Section of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. Held in Denver, Colorado, July 25 - August 1, 1998.

Drip/Micro Irrigation Survey For Delano-Earlimart Irrigation District, Charles M. Burt

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Delano-Earlimart ID (DEID) has kept informal statistics on the use of drip and micro-irrigation (drip/micro) within its boundaries for several years. These statistics showed that there has been only a slight increase in the acreage of these systems over the past 10 years. Because the rate and extent of conversion to drip/micro may influence the type of future water delivery service needed from DEID, DEID management is interested in knowing more about farmer perceptions regarding these newer irrigation methods.

DEID obtained a grant from USBR Mid-Pacific region to examine perceptions of its farmers regarding future conversions to drip and micro-irrigation. …

Comparison Of Observed And Simulated Grow-Finish Swine Performance Under Summer Conditions, Larry W. Turner, Thomas C. Bridges, Richard D. Coffey, Richard S. Gates, Gary R. Parker, Tami M. Brown-Brandl, Douglas G. Overhults

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

As a part of a National Pork Producers Council educational program, our research and extension team at the University of Kentucky was linked with an independent commercial swine producer to test the NCPIG model against observed commercial on-farm data. This experience provided improved information for model development as well as increased producer insight into the data input needs and potential benefits of modeling. Detailed production information comparisons between the NCPIG model and producer data are presented for summer time conditions to assess the validity of the NCPIG model for simulation of grow-finish swine performance. Results demonstrated that the NCPIG model …

Quality Of Runoff From Plots Treated With Municipal Sludge And Horse Bedding, Elizabeth L. Busheé, Dwayne R. Edwards, Philip A. Moore Jr.

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Land application of horse stall bedding and municipal sludge can increase runoff concentrations of nutrients, organic matter, and bacteria as well as steroidal hormones such as estrogen. Concentrations of materials in runoff from sites treated with animal manure can be reduced by aluminum sulfate, or alum [Al₂(SO₄)₃•14H₂O] treatment. The objectives of this study were to assess plots treated with horse stall bedding or municipal sludge for: (a) runoff quality [concentrations of nitrate nitrogen (NO₃-N), ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N), orthophosphate-phosphorus (PO₄-P), fecal coliform (FC), chemical oxygen demand (COD) …

Effect Of Pulsed Electric Fields On Aquatic Nuisance Species, Amr Abou-Ghazala

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Clinical and theoretical evidence indicate that electric fields have biological effects ranging from recoverable disturbance to mortality induction depending on the field parameters and time of exposure. In this thesis, the effect of electrical field in pulsed form on aquatic nuisance species is investigated. Pulse parameters in terms of amplitude, width, shape, and repetition rate that stimulate the species to desirable levels are to be defined. Applying the electrical pulses with appropriate parameters to stun aquatic nuisance species entering marine cooling systems will prevent it from attaching to pipe walls. The use of electrical fields to seek efficient, environmentally friendly, …

Runoff And Erosion Following Field Application Of Beef Cattle Manure And Compost, John E. Gilley, Bahman Eghball

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Manure or compost from beef cattle feedlots can be excellent sources of nutrients and organic matter when added to soils. This study was conducted to determine the effect of a single application of manure and compost on runoff and erosion under no-till and tillage conditions. Tillage consisted of a single disking operation up and down the slope on a Sharpsburg soil which was cropped to grain sorghum or wheat the previous season. Manure and compost were applied at rates required to meet corn fertility requirements. Additional experimental treatments included the application of inorganic fertilizer and an untreated check. The addition …

Multiple Streams Synchronization In Collaborative Multimedia Systems, Emilia Stoica

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

With the recent increase of the communication bandwidth and processor power, new types of applications have emerged. Among them, there are multimedia application, in which users are able to control, combine, and manipulate different types of media, such as text, sound, video, computer graphics, and animation. A key requirement in any multimedia application is to synchronize the delivery of various media streams to the user. To achieve this, the sender has to provide the temporal relations between the streams as they are captured. Since the receiver uses this information in streams presentation, its accuracy is very important.

Our main contribution …

Needs Assessment: Photovoltaics In Disasters, Florida Solar Energy Center, William Young

FSEC Energy Research Center®

In recent years, solar energy has been used sporadically for disaster relief. Disaster relief organizations knew very little about photovoltaics; therefore, the technology was not included in their plans or operations. Likewise, the photovoltaic (PV) industry has not been directly involved on disaster teams, and did not aggressively pursue associated markets.

However, the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) recently completed an energy needs assessment of disaster response, recovery and mitigation activities. The study found that PV is best suited for specialized or dedicated applications that need to operate for long periods of time. This paper …

Sustainability And Resource Assessment: A Case Study Of Soil Resources In The United States, Dana L. Hoag, Jennie S. Hughes Popp, D. Eric Hyatt

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Assessment of environmental condition is critical to wise management and policy decisions. However, for some concerns such as sustainability, it is difficult to assess environmental condition because it involves disparate social objectives and an understanding of complex ecological systems. Here, a general framework is proposed to examine sustainability of environmental resources in objective, measurable ways. By using soil quality as an example, sustainability research is taken beyond theory and into application.
Sustainability depends on the quality of resource endowment. Endowment of a natural resource can be modeled as an index of quality to assess the degree of sustainable management. This …

Acuta Enews June 1998, Vol.27, No. 6

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

CICs Go to 4 Digits June 30

Winners Announced in Second Annual Student Papers Competition

Board Report

Do You Have a Story?

UNM Admissions Goes Online

FYI: Digital Decay

PRI ISDN at UMSL

DC at a Glance

Positions Available

Welcome New Members

Evaluation Of Kentucky's Driver License Point System, Kenneth R. Agent, Nick Stamatiadis, Jerry G. Pigman

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objectives of this study were to: a) summarize the characteristics of drivers in Kentucky involved in traffic crashes and b) evaluate and recommend improvements to Kentucky's driver license point system. Comparisons of driving record were made by driver age and sex. The relationship between violations and traffic crashes was analyzed. The change in driving record after various interventions was investigated. Based on a review of the point systems used in other states and the analysis of the driver's license file, a revised point system was recommended for use in Kentucky.

Development Of A Practical And Effective Technique To Determine The Complete Level Of Autonomic Neural Activity During Stress, Vikki Hazelwood

Theses

Clinical evidence exists to suggest that an individual's level of stress contributes to the state of many physiological and psychological disorders, The autonomic nervous system, by adjusting parasympathetic and sympathetic activity, is attributed with the control over an individual's level of neural stress. Therefore, it is desired to develop a better and quantitative understanding of the stress! autonomic system mechanism.

Previous work has been done to gain a partial understanding of such activity. The primary objective for this study is to complement and advance the previous work by determining whether there is other physiological data which could reveal more about …

Design Of An Effective And Timely Product Development Process For Medical Devices, Jean Benoit Almonor

Theses

Effective product development process is one of the most critical issues facing medical devices manufacturing today. There is a need to search for ways to improve or solve the cross organization and company boundaries to enhance the faster release of new medical products to the market. This thesis presents an integrated set of perspectives on the process of new product development of medical devices with dual goals of achieving marketing speed and meet customer satisfaction.

The Attribute Driven Specifications approach described in this thesis, is one of the most valuable tools in the approach to effective product development in medical …

Investigation Of Pathophysiologic Trends In Caucasian And Afro-American Hypertensives By Means Of Heart Rate Variability Recording During Upright Tilt-Table Testing, Jose F. Torrealba

Theses

The incidence of hypertension is more prevalent among the Afro-American population than the Caucasians and there is not a satisfactory explanation for this discrepancy.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) has been demonstrated to reflect the relative activities of the sympathetic (SMP) and parasympathetic (PSMP) divisions of the autonomic nervous system (ANS).

This study consisted in comparing the HRV, as well as the blood pressure (BP) of four different groups during up-right tilt table testing. The subjects were grouped by age, gender, race and health condition. Analysis in time and frequency domain was applied to the data. In the frequency domain, the …

Wright State University College Of Engineering And Computer Science Bits And Pcs Newsletter, Volume 14, Number 5, May 1998, College Of Engineering And Computer Science, Wright State University

BITs and PCs Newsletter

A ten page newsletter created by the Wright State University College of Engineering and Computer Science that addresses the current affairs of the college.

The Political Psychology Of Air Shows: Strata Of Mass Rally, Pageantry, And Spectacle, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes the psychology of air shows' attractiveness and suggests the congruence of this psychology with the attractiveness of mass political rally, pageantry, and spectacle.

Diffuse Reflectance Changes During The Culture Of Cottage Cheese, Frederick Alan Payne, R. Carol Freels, Sue E. Nokes, Richard S. Gates

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

A sensor for measuring diffuse reflectance of milk during the typical 6-h culture of cottage cheese was installed in a local manufacturing facility. Diffuse reflectance was found to increase slowly during the first three hours of the culture and increase rapidly toward the end of fermentation. The correlation between parameters generated from the diffuse reflectance profile and cutting time was sufficient to develop an algorithm for cutting time prediction. An algorithm incorporating t_max (time from adding culture to the maximum rate of change in reflectance) and slope of the reflectance curve at t_max predicted the operator selected cutting …

Mechanical Properties Of The Tendinous Equine Interosseus Muscle Are Affected By In Vivo Transducer Implantation, M. O. Jansen, H. C. Schamhardt, Antonie J. Van Den Bogert, W. Hartman

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Liquid metal strain gauges (LMSGs) were implanted in the tendinous interosseous muscle, also called suspensory ligament (SL), in the forelimbs of 6 ponies in order to quantify in vivo strains and forces. Kinematics and ground reaction forces were recorded simultaneously with LMSG signals at the walk and the trot prior to implantation, and 3 and 4 days thereafter. The ponies were euthanised and tensile and failure tests were performed on the instrumented tendons and on the tendons of the contra lateral limb, which were instrumented post mortem. The origo–insertional (OI) strain of the SL was computed from pre- and post-operative …

Dual Adaptive Recumbent Trike, Jason V. Eastman

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The DART team's objective was to develop a tandem recumbent tricycle that would be economical, easy to build, and adaptable. This would involve designing, building and testing the tricycle.

Home Automation System, Joshua James Earl

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The home is the place where people should feel the most comfortable. Considerable technological development is dedicated to making the home more comfortable; smart appliances are a good example of this. There is always a market for products that provide easier control of home appliances and electrical devices. With this in mind, I have designed and implemented a PC-controlled Home Automation System (HAS). This HAS allows complete control of home appliances and electrical devices from the homeowner's IBM-compatible PC. make use of advanced technology in the transmission of the control signals by way of power-lines already present in the home. …

Multidirectional Ecg Coherent Optimal Timing Of Defibrillation Shocks, Abhijit R. Patwardhan, Fabio M. Leonelli

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Patents

A method for of delivering a defibrillation shock to a heart at an optimal time to stop ventricular fibrillation which involves obtaining an electrocardiogram of a heart in at least two directions, determining a time-coherency of the electrocardiogram based upon each of the at least two directions, and computing a tracking function from the time-coherency. An optimal time to apply a defibrillation shock to the heart is determined by locating a local maximum on the tracking function. The method utilizes spacia characteristics of the ventricular fibrillation. The method can be incorporated into implantable cardioverter defibrillators utilizing existing hardware technology.