Digital Commons Network^™

Constructed Wetlands As An Innovative, Cost-Effective Solution For Wastewater Treatment In Small Communities, Christy Womack Vines

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

A Kinematically Intelligent Blackboard For Computer Aided Instruction, J. Keith Nisbett, D. Watkins, Clark R. Barker

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A CAI (computer-aided instruction) package is being developed to be used as a classroom tool for the instruction of undergraduate mechanical engineering students in an introductory kinematics of mechanisms course. This graphical environment allows the instructor to emulate on the projected graphics screen everything that is currently done on the blackboard for planar mechansims. Unlike the blackboard, the software will have the intelligence to interpret the drawings in a kinematic sense so that the drawing of the linkage will behave as a linkage. The software environment involves three principal components: (1) a sketching method for defining the linkage, (2) the …

A Robust Aggregation Approach To Simplification Of Manufacturing Flow Line Models, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Presentations

One of the more difficult tasks facing a modeler in developing a simulation model of a discrete part manufacturing system is deciding at what level of abstraction to represent the resources of the system. For example, questions about plant capacity can be modeled with a simple model, whereas questions regarding the efficiency of different part scheduling rules can only be answered with a more detailed model. In developing a simulation model, most of the actual features of the system under study must be ignored and an abstraction must be developed. If done correctly, this idealization provides a useful approximation of …

A Robust Aggregation Approach To Simplification Of Manufacturing Flow Line Models, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

One of the more difficult tasks facing a modeler in developing a simulation model of a discrete part manufacturing system is deciding at what level of abstraction to represent the resources of the system. For example, questions about plant capacity can be modeled with a simple model, whereas questions regarding the efficiency of different part scheduling rules can only be answered with a more detailed model. In developing a simulation model, most of the actual features of the system under study must be ignored and an abstraction must be developed. If done correctly, this idealization provides a useful approximation of …

Model Parameter Identification Of The Oscillatory Potential In The Electroretinogram, Sung Hoon Jang

Theses

A mathematical model of the oscillatory potential which may be a useful clinical tool to diagnose the progression of diabetic retinopathy. The model has been investigated by compressing from oscillatory potential into three parameters which contain most of the information for the oscillatory potential data.

About thirty subjects including both normal and diabetic subjects were investigated in this study. Comparing normal and diabetic subjects, we found amplitude parameter was most important factor to classify subjects by normal and diabetic.

Since modeling of the oscillatory potential and the estimation of the model parameters were our final goal, we haven't proposed to …

Optimization Of Flow In The Collecting Duct During The Concentrating Mode And The Diluting Mode In A Nephron Population Of Two Different Length With The Renin Angiotensin System And Adh Mechanism, Sivakumar Subramanian

Theses

Our present study is to find out how the short and long nephrons are interacting in the human kidney to adjust the flow in the collecting duct to have the maximum flow during the diluting mode and minimum flow during the concentrating mode. The best lengths for the short nephron and long nephron are calculated during the concentrating mode and the diluting mode by using the Newton-Raphson method. If one wants the kidney to perform only the above mentioned functions, a design criteria for an artificial kidney has been proposed. These studies have provided qualitative information regarding the concentrating mechanism …

Acuta Enews October 1993, Vol. 22, No. 10

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

E-mail

President's message

Data Comm Project at Delaware Tech

User Groups Meet at Conference

21st Century Technology

Staff Report

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Impulse, Cindy Maisch, Cindy Price, Samantha Penney, Julianne Trautmann

Impulse (Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering Publication)

Features:
[Page 2] Mini-Baja Racing Team: Students create vehicle for Midwest contest
[Page 3] Contributors make it possible for Mini-Baja team to compete
[Page 4] SDSU dune buggy hits the track at Midwest Mini-Baja Competition
[Page 5] Inventors Congress enters second year
[Page 6] SkidMix: Ag engineering project shows strong manufacturing possibility
[Page 7] SDSU graduate student invents color machine vision
[Page 8] Helder develops procedure to improve readability of satellite data
[Page 9] Researchers, alumni create technology to help farmers

Departments:
FACULTY
[Page 10] Ground source heat pump research may lead to new training facility
[Page 11] Sander serves …

Survey Of The Impacts Of Environmental Regulations On State Highway Operations, Theodore Hopwood Ii, Christopher M. Oberst

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

In recent years, the transportation industry in Kentucky as represented by Kentuckians for Better Transportation (KBT) and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KyTC), have expressed concern over the growing impact of environmental regulations upon transportation activities in the state. The imposition of environmental regulations has resulted in higher costs for new construction and maintenance on roads, project delays, scheduling and financing difficulties, and the creation of additional transportation agency bureaucracy to address environmental regulation mandates. In Kentucky, the impacts of those regulations have not been thoroughly assessed nor have the attendant costs been measured. Coinciding with that lack of information is …

Who Are The Customers?, Francis B. Francois

Kentucky's Annual Forum on Transportation

No abstract provided.

Review Of Planning Distribution Model (Pdm) Status And Application Possibilities For The Egyptian Irigation System, Robert W. Hill, Richard C. Peralta, Gary P. Merkley

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The comprehensive water management Planning Distribution Model, or PDM, was developed by the Biological and Irrigation Engineering Department, Utah State University (USU), under contract with the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). Most of the work was carried out in the Planning Sector, Ministry of Public Works and Water Resources (MPWWR) , in Cairo, under the Planning Studies and Models Component of the USAID funded Irrigation Management Systems Project.

Research And Development Project Selection Tools: Probing Wright Laboratory's Project Selection Methods And Decision Criteria Using The Lateral Airfoil Concept, James E. Barger

Theses and Dissertations

This research accomplished three major tasks. First it examined familiarity and usage rates for fifteen published R&D project selection methods in the context of a larger general issue, the Air Force's ability to develop and exploit technology. Wright Laboratory served as the focus for the research effort and displayed a greater tendency to use formal methods in 1993 than was shown in prior research. The laboratory's overall preference for simpler models like Checklist, Scoring, and Sorting led to a recommendation that authors familiar with the other techniques communicate them in engineering and management vernacular. Secondly, the study introduced a technological …

Development Of A Multicriteria Decision Model For Prioritizing Air Force Environmental Restoration Program Projects, Thomas E. Ellingson, T. G. Gallogly

Theses and Dissertations

Cleaning up hazardous and toxic wastes left from past activities has become one of the major goals of the Department of Defense. Within the Air Force, individual major commands (MAJCOMs) annually review numerous projects submitted under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP) and forward these projects to HQ USAF/CEVR for funding. Until recently, adequate resources have been available to fully fund all projects. However, within the last two years, funding shortfalls have been experienced, and projects have received only partial funding. The Air Force needs a decision support system that will assist in determining funding priorities for these projects. This …

Evaluation Of The Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Standard For Cleanup Of Petroleum Contaminated Sites, Rick A. Blaisdell, Mark E. Smallwood

Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated the TPH (total petroleum hydrocarbon) cleanup standard for petroleum contaminated soils (PCS). A survey of 13 state regulators was performed to characterize current standards and regulatory viewpoints on the use of a TPH versus a BTEX cleanup standard. The regulatory community considers the BTEX constituents the greatest threat to groundwater, yet expressed concern that the use of a compound specific standard, without an accompanying analysis for TPH, might result in residual soil contamination that may present risk. This study also evaluated the ratio of BTEX TPH in soil over time. Based on JP-4 contaminated site soil data, …

A Refinement Of Risk Analysis Procedures For Trichloroethylene Through The Use Of Monte Carlo Method In Conjunction With Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling, William J. Cronin Iv, Eric J. Oswald

Theses and Dissertations

This study refines risk analysis procedures for trichloroethylene (TCE) using a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model in conjunction with the Monte Carlo method. The Monte Carlo method is used to generate random sets of model parameters, based on the mean, variance, and distribution types. The procedure generates a range of exposure values for human excess lifetime cancer risk of lxl0 (exp-6), based on the upper and lower bounds and the mean of a 95% confidence interval. Risk ranges were produced for both ingestion and inhalation exposures. Results are presented in a graphical format to reduce reliance on qualitative discussions of …

Analysis Of Best Management Practices For Storm Water Compliance At Air Force Airfields, Peter A. Ridilla, Bradley T. Hoagland

Theses and Dissertations

This research analyzed storm water best management practices (BMPs) that may a Base Civil Engineers/Environmental Managers in complying with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) storm water discharge requirements for Air Force airfield pavements. As a result of recent storm water regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, increased emphasis has been placed on preventing and controlling the discharge of pollutants into surface waters of the United States. Based on the results of an American Association of Airport Executives' survey of civilian airports, the types and levels of airfield pollutants were identified. Typical NPDES storm water permit standards were then …

A Risk Assessment Of The Health Liabilities From Exposure To Toxic Metals Found In The Composted Material Of Air Force Municipal Solid Waste, Timothy L. Merrymon

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis assesses the risk of the health liabilities from exposure to toxic metals found in the composted material of Air Force municipal solid waste (MSW). The goal is to determine the probability that the composted MSW could be a health hazard if it were used as a soil amendment. The research limited the assessment of the exposure risk to heavy metals found in raw MSW and its resulting compost. The thesis uses reviews of present literature to examine the food and soil ingestion exposure pathways. These pathways are assessed using the heavy metal concentrations found in MSW compost and …

A Guide To Implementing Reclamation Processes At Department Of Defense Municipal Solid Waste And Construction Debris Landfills, Gregory L. Tures

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis serves as a guide for implementing landfill reclamation techniques on municipal solid waste or construction debris landfills owned, operated, or used by the DoD. The research describes historical and current methods for disposing of solid waste including open dumping, sanitary landfilling, and the development of state-of-the-art sanitary landfill cell technology. The thesis also identifies the factors which have led to the need for new methods of managing municipal solid waste. The vast majority of the study is devoted to identifying actions which should be taken before, during, and after implementation of a landfill reclamation project. These actions include …

Guidance For The Development Of Air Force Storm Water Sampling Programs, Jerry K. Weldon Iii, Roy T. Willis

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to develop sampling guidance that will enable Air Force (AF) installations to conduct cost effective storm water sampling in accordance with current storm water regulations. Data on the techniques used by AF bases to obtain storm water samples for the AF group storm water permit application were collected and analyzed. This information was used to outline management and resource requirements associated with the implementation of NPDES storm water regulations. The use of in-house personnel, automatic sampling equipment, or a contractor to perform the field data collection was examined. An in-house manual approach to storm …

Development Of A Cost-Effectiveness Methodology To Prioritize Environmental Mitigation Projects, Robert E. Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

A cost-effectiveness prioritization methodology was developed using concepts from the cost-effectiveness technique. The new methodology called the Cost-Effectiveness methodology (CEM) allows the prioritization of mitigation projects across broad categories of hazardous sites as would be ranked among the offices of the Environmental Protection Agency. Two performance criteria were incorporated into the process--rank projects that save the most lives per dollar and enhance general applicability across different categories of risk. A metric was developed that represents the ratio of lives saved per dollar spent on mitigation alternatives of contaminated environmental sites. This metric was incorporated into the CEM to distinguish mitigation …

Economic Analysis Of Costs Incurred From Chemical Exposures In The Workplace Resulting In Non-Carcinogenic Responses As Additional Justification For Pollution Prevention Projects, Michael L. Forcht, Timothy D. Neu

Theses and Dissertations

This research determines the applicability of using costs associated with chemical exposures in the workplace for financial justification of pollution prevention projects. Specifically, this thesis looks at costs incurred due to noncarcinogenic effects caused by chemical exposures. Average costs are determined through researching applicable statistical cost data. Acute effects are analyzed using an analysis of available statistical accident data from multiple sources. Expected values are then calculated based upon the projected cost of an accident and the probability of having an accident. Chronic effects are analyzed using an empirical analysis. A risk assessment is used to determine the likelihood of …

Leukocyte Extravasation Into The Pancreatic Tissue In Transgenic Mice Expressing Interleukin 10 In The Islets Of Langerhans., Lise Wogensen, Xiaojian Huang, Nora Sarvetnick

Journal Articles: Regenerative Medicine

Transgenic expression of interleukin 10 (IL-10) in the islets of Langerhans leads to a pronounced pancreatic inflammation, without inflammation of the islets of Langerhans and without diabetes. A scattered infiltration of macrophages (M pi) precedes localized accumulations of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, and M pi. This recruitment of inflammatory cells to the pancreas is somewhat surprising, since the biological activities of IL-10 in vitro indicate that IL-10 is a powerful immunosuppressive cytokine. Since endothelial cells play a major role in leukocyte extravasation, we examined if vascular changes and extralymphoid induction of peripheral and mucosal type vascular addressins …

Measurements And Predictions On The Elkhart Greek Culvert, P. M. Byrne, T. Srithar, C. B. Kern

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

This paper describes field measurements and analysis carried out on the Elkhart Creek soil arch culvert structure in British Columbia, Canada. The structure has a span of 13.4 m, a rise of 7.3 m, and a soil cover of 9.6 m. The original structure collapsed during backfilling in October 1987. A new structure of the same design was built in the Fall of 1989, and because of controversy regarding the design thrust value, it was instrumented to measure thrust, moment, and displacements in the arch. Displacements and stresses in the soil were also measured. The measured thrust values were much …

Blur Identification And Restoration Of Images Of Coronary Microvessel, Kuen Tak Wong

Theses

The objective of this research was to identify the blur characteristics of the blurred images of the rat coronary microvessel, and the information of the blur characteristics was used to restore the blurred images. The blur characteristics were analyzed by using the image power cepstrum. The Wiener filter was implemented to restore the images. There were two types of point spread functions proposed and studied for the restoration. They were: defocus blur PSF and motion blur PSF. The images were transferred from HP A900 system to an AVS workstation. The images were processed and manipulated by the AVS, and showed …

Computer Simulation Of Intracranial Hemodynamics During The Induction Phase Of Anesthesia, Gopinath P. Sundaram

Theses

The induction of general anesthesia is associated with severe hemodynamic compromises which, in turn, may cause acute elevation of intracranial pressure (ICP). Quantitative assessment of cerebrovascular responses arising from multiple mechanical and pharmacological interventions occurring in a short time interval require a large number of human studies which are difficult to perform. The purpose of this project is to evaluate the effect of various stimuli on the intracranial hemodynamics during induction using a mathematical model of cerebrovascular circulation.

A five compartmental model of the cerebrovascular system is used for our simulation. Autoregulation is modeled by adjusting arterial-arteriolar resistance in order …

A Multicompartmental Model For The Simulation Of Soluble Gas Exchange In The Lungs, Chitaranjan Varadhan

Theses

No abstract provided.

Simulation Of Manufacturing Cell Using Hoops Graphic Software And Siman Simulation Language, Parikh Vipul

Theses

Control of jobs being processed in manufacturing shop floor is important to management. The performance of job shop is affected by shop congestion due to arrival rate, batch size, number of machines, buffer capacity, process time variation, and dispatching rules use to load the jobs on the machine.

The job shop is a very complex system and hence, it is difficult as well as time consuming to obtained result using analytical method. A SIMAN simulation language is used to create generic model of a manufacturing cell and simulation analysis of those parameters variation such as job shop efficiency, the average …

Distributed Economic Systems With Agents That Learn, Stanley Foster Perry

Dissertations and Theses

Economic systems are distributed in the sense that economic agents make decisions without any central control. Prices, quantities, wealth, and market structure emerge from the interaction of agents acting in their own self interest. The concepts and language of systems science are used to define economic systems in a manner that captures and articulates the distributed nature of economic systems. Further, the systems definition permits multiple views of the economic system, and in addition, allows the agents to "step outside" the system in order to study it.

Economic systems are defined in such a way that it is feasible to …

Silicon Carbide/Electroless Nickel Composite Plating For Aluminum Substrates, Ben Charbit

Masters Theses

The effectiveness of producing a composite coating by suspending micron-sized particles in an electroless nickel bath while plating a 2024T4 aluminum alloy part was studied. The variation in the count of particles trapped in the nickel coating due to changes in the particle size, concentration of the particles in the bath, and the substrate surface texture was also studied. Particle sizes of 1 micron and 10 microns, concentrations of 15 gr/lt and 30 gr/lt, and polished and blasted textures were used. It was found that this technique is an effective way to produce composite coatings rendering a high number of …