Digital Commons Network^™

Success? The Impact Of Involving Customers In E-Commerce Development, Julian Terry, Craig Standing

Research outputs pre 2011

In e-commerce, customers have become Information System users. In this environment of non-mandatory usage, remote, untrained users need to quickly feel comfortable and satisfied with a site encounter. Throughout the literature for four decades, a commonly cited factor pertaining to system success has been user participation in the systems development process. Among other things this is likely to lead to increased user satisfaction and the perceived usefulness of the application. This study uses findings from thirty cases of recently completed e-commerce sites in which project leaders accounts of customer participation in e-commerce development activities are analysed, along with their perceptions …

Use Of The Wfg Toolkit And Pisa For Comparison Of Moeas, Lucas Bradstreet, Luigi Barone, Lyndon While, Simon Huband, Philip Hingston

Research outputs pre 2011

Understanding the behaviour of different optimisation algorithms is important in order to apply the best algorithm to a particular problem. The WFG toolkit was designed to aid this task for multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs), offering an easily modifiable framework that allows practitioners the ability to test different features by "plugging" in different forms of transformations. In doing so, the WFG toolkit provides a set of problems that exhibit a variety of different characteristics. This paper presents a comparison between two state of the art MOEAs (NSGA-II and SPEA2) that exemplifies the unique capabilities of the WFG toolkit. By altering the …

Bridge Damage Detection Using An Intelligent Engineering System, Dionysios N. Danilatos

Masters Theses

"This thesis concerns the design of an algorithm that is capable to detect structural damage in civil infrastructure bridges. The algorithm, which will be dubbed Damage Diagnostics System throughout the thesis, is the software component of a broader Bridge Health Monitoring System. This broader system integrates software and hardware,such as sensors and data acquisition components...The rationale for the Structural Damage Diagnosis is based on the principle of the structural vibration testing. The Health Monitoring System captures the vibration signals, as the bridge responds to excitation from various sources. The purpose of the Diagnostic System is to extract information from the …

Development Of A Decision Support System For Selection Of Trenchless Technologies To Minimize Impact Of Utility Construction On Roadways, Dulcy M. Abraham, Hyeon-Shik Baik, Sanjiv B. Gokhale

JTRP Technical Reports

The need to replace deteriorating underground utility infrastructure and to expand utility services, increases the need for utility conduits to intersect roadways. Open-trench method is currently the most widely used method for installation of underground pipelines and conduits of all sizes. However, open-cut construction has several shortcomings, chief amongst which are: health and safety concerns of workers, surface disturbance, disruption to vehicular/pedestrian traffic and reduction of pavement life. Today, other cost-effective alternatives exist to traditional open-trench construction. These methods are categorized as "Trenchless Technologies" as they require minimum trenching (excavation). While the benefits of trenchless technology are quite apparent when …

Indot Guidance Document For In-Situ Soil Flushing, Linda S. Lee, Xihong Zhai, Jaesun Lee

JTRP Technical Reports

Many of the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) sites are contaminated with aromatic hydrocarbons and chlorinated solvents; these contaminants often occur in the form of light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPLs) or dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs). Considerable effort has recently been focused on developing in-situ technologies for removing or destroying NAPL source zones, and several potentially viable methods have emerged including cosolvent-enhanced source zone removal. Most recently, site-specific remedial designs involving a combination of in-situ methods (often referred to as a treatment train) have been proposed for which data are still sparse. The primary goal of the laboratory experiments is …

Nitrogen Oxides In The North Atlantic Troposphere: Impacts Of Boreal Wildfire And Anthropogenic Emissions, Maria Val Martin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Nitrogen oxides play a crucial role in the budget of tropospheric ozone (O sub(3)) and the formation of the hydroxyl radical. Anthropogenic activities and boreal wildfires are large sources of emissions in the atmosphere. However, the influence of the transport of these emissions on nitrogen oxides and O sub(3) levels at hemispheric scales is not well understood, in particular due to a lack of nitrogen oxides measurements in remote regions. In order to address these deficiencies, measurements of NO, NO sub(2) and NO sub(y) (total reactive nitrogen oxides) were made in the lower free troposphere (FT) over the central North …

Applicability Of Borman Decision Tree Its Management Tool To Other Expressway Systems, Ahmed S. Soliman, Robert Bertram Jacko, Barry K. Partridge

JTRP Technical Reports

An empirical model called the Traffic Air Quality Model (TAQ) was developed from meteorological and PM2.5 measurements adjacent to the Borman Expressway in Northwest Indiana to estimate PM2.5 road emissions. It concluded that on average a 74% improvement in air quality is expected (based on reduction of mass emitted per mile [g/mi]) when the average Borman speed range is improved from < 30 mph to >50 mph. An additional 39% (on average) improvement in the PM_2.5 emissions on the Borman Expressway was found when traffic flow speeds increased from 55 mi/h to 75 mi/h. The TAQ model was found to perform well when tested …

Some Aspects Of Process Control In Semiconductor Manufacturing, Keelin Relihan, Shane Geraghty, Aidan O'Dwyer

Conference papers

This paper outlines some aspects of process control in semiconductor manufacturing. Starting with an outline of the semiconductor manufacturing process, the contribution will discuss temperature control of the chemical vapour deposition stage and the control of the wafer etching process, based on the industrial experience of the first two authors. Subsequently, the authors draw the attention of the semiconductor manufacturing community to the potential of properly tuned PID controllers for the achievement of simple and high performance control solutions.

An Evaluation Of Mahalanobis-Taguchi System And Neural Network For Multivariate Pattern Recognition, Jungeui Hong, Rajesh Jugulum, Kioumars Paryani, K. M. Ragsdell, Genichi Taguchi, Elizabeth A. Cudney

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Mahalanobis-Taguchi System is a diagnosis and predictive method for analyzing patterns in multivariate cases. The goal of this study is to compare the ability of the Mahalanobis- Taguchi System and a neural-network to discriminate using small data sets. We examine the discriminant ability as a function of data set size using an application area where reliable data is publicly available. The study uses the Wisconsin Breast Cancer study with nine attributes and one class.

3m Personal Air Monitoring Systems, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

3M monitors are made to allow sample desorption directly in the monitor itself. The monitor comes with a snap-on elution cap that permits the desorbing solvent to be injected into the monitor. The solution is then poured into sample vials for analysis. 3M monitors use standard analytical methods: gas chromatography for the organic vapor monitor and ethylene oxide monitor, and colorimetry for the formaldehyde monitor.

Electro Osmotic Pulse Technology For Prevention Of Water Intrusion In Concrete Structure, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Groundwater intrusion into a building can cause serious structural degradation, corrosion of expensive mechanical equipment. ElectroOsmotic Pulse (EOP) technology is based on the concept of electroosmosis; the movement of an electrically charged ion in a liquid under the influence of an external electric field. EOP not only eliminates water-seepage problems from the interior of the structure without excavation, but it further mitigates corrosion damage to mechanical equipment and reduces the interior relative humidity of the basements.

Armstrong I-Ceilings - Wireless Systems, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

It is sometimes inconvenient to use cell phones with laptop computers in many buildings, especially in a room with no windows or on the basement floors. Cell phone or wireless equipment coverage is limited in many buildings due to the lack of technical support to the wireless service. It has required installing many small antennas in a building. Armstrong's new i-ceilings Wireless Systems Antenna Panel is a standard Armstrong ceiling panel with the antenna already imbedded inside.

Acoustic Wave Sensors, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Modern office buildings are generally considered safe and healthful working environments. However, energy conservation measures have minimized the infiltration of outside air and contributed to the buildup of indoor air contaminants. Three products manufactured by Microsensor Systems Inc. are introduced: HAZMATCAD, CW Sentry Plus, MiniCAD MKII.

Rapid In-Situ Load Testing, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Load tests and structural monitoring are used to gain information regarding the health and performance of an existing structure. Both are more representative than analytical approaches to evaluate the structure, especially when little is known about the structure's geometry and composition. Rapid in-situ load testing is intended to be much simpler and can be carried out in a fraction of the time and at a much lower cost. The testing procedure was originally developed at Center for Infrastructure Engineering Studies, University of Missouri-Rolla to offer a non-destructive yet conclusive demonstration of the performance of new construction techniques and technologies.

Pipeman:Safety In Trenches, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Even though heavy construction equipment such as a crane or backhoe excavator, is used to perform the task of pipe laying in the trench, workers are required to be inside the trench to guide the excavation, pipe laying, and final alignment. Work place safety has become a major concern in the construction industry over the past few decades, and trench cave-ins have caused serious and often fatal injuries to workers in the United States. The Construction Automation and Robotics Laboratory(CARL) at North Carolina State University has developed an alternative which involves advanced new technology: the prototype robotic excavation and pipe …

Prrt™: Project Rework Reduction Tool, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

PRRTTM was designed to engage all project participants and stakeholders. Implemented as early as possible in a project’s timeline, it promises to consistently improve the likelihood of project success through the elimination of rework at all phases in all of projects development. It can be applied to all Process Industry EPC projects, irrespective of size and location.

4d Modeling, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Traditional design and construction planning tools, such as 2D drawings and network diagrams, do not support the timely and integrated decision making necessary to move projects forward quickly The construction knowledge necessary to build 4D models has been formalized and developed by a methodology that guides project planners in generating 4D models from 3D product models. This formalized knowledge enables project managers to create and update realistic schedules rapidly and to integrate the temporal and spatial aspects of a schedule as intelligent 4D models.

Air Ventilation Protection System For Building Security, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

The new technology to solve the limitation of conventional Collective protection equipment (CPE) system has been developed as "Combined ESP/ESF/PCO and microfibrous media CPE application". This concept of this new technology is the combination of the both systems; 1) Microfibrous Material Technology, and 2) Photocataytic Oxidation Technology.

Chemical Cleaning Process For Porable Water Distrubution Pipe Systems, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Aging potable water distribution pipe systems are becoming a major concern throughout the world. Deterioration of water quality and service as a result of micro biological tuberculation and corrosion continues to increase. Major costs for replacement or rehabilitation of distribution systems are being faced by most communities. The chemical cleaning solution is an organic oxide scavenger which is mixed with a predetermined quantity of muriatic acid and circulated through an isolated section of the water main.

Delmia Safework®Pro™ : Human Modeling, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Manufacturers and designers strive to develop products that conform to all relevant Health and Safety standards and are "user-friendly" while still maximizing the productivity of their own workforce. Digital human modeling technology can assist a designer to determine the performance of people in the context of a workplace or a product before it exists and throughout its entire lifecycle. SAFEWORK’S accurate manikin has the highest number of Anthropometric Variables (104), Segments (99) and Degrees of Freedom (149). It also has fully articulated spine & hand models as well as joints with coupled range of motion. Moreover, it’s unique Multivariate Algorithm …

In-Situ Vitrification, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

While landfills are the predominant form of solid-waste disposal for municipalities in the U.S., people are objecting to the establishment of new landfills in their communities. Decreasing availability of land, worries about potential health problems and a growing concern for the environment have made the disposal of solid waste a challenge. This technology represents a safety improvement. There is no need for contaminated soil transportation and handling. The need for disposal landfills disappears. Any type of radioactively contaminated buried waste unit, which because of its high activity represents significant risk for exhumation and re-disposal, would be a potential application for …

Safespantm: Multi-Span Bridge Decking And Shielding, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Contractors in bridge rehabilitation have been experiencing risks and difficulties associated with their line of work: safety and inspection issues, environmental concerns, business interruption, emergency situations, and rising labor costs. Safespan™ Multi-Span Bridge Platform System was developed by James Frangos and Lambros Apostolopoulos in 1995 to alleviate the obstacles found in bridge rehabilitation. The system designs are flexible. It uses various methods to connect the platform to the structure, depending on the bridge's configuration, that allow contractors to adjust the platform's height for a desired working clearance.

Unpaved Road Stabilizer, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Many roads cannot be paved due to geological, environmental or economical reasons. However, unpaved roads may cause environmental concern from residents and users of the roadway. Natural Solutions Corporation's Roadbind products can reduce unpaved road maintenance costs by up to 95%, and help provide for a safer and healthier environment by eliminating hazardous fugitive dust and unsafe driving conditions.

Asphalt Paver Engineering Control Systems, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

At present, there are approximately 300,000 asphalt paving workers who are routinely exposed to asphalt fume. Presently, limited data exists concerning the level of exposure and subsequent health effects for paving workers. The engineering control method developed for highway class pavers includes ventilation systems, baffles, and enclosures to capture the generated contaminant within the paver's auger area and to exhaust it before it enters the workers' working environment.

Safe Excavation, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Excavating with a backhoe or similar equipment has the potential risk of hitting an underground utility which could cause serious injuries and expensive damages. An electronic device that provides a real-time warning of the utility lines immediately ahead of the digging tool and provides an easily interpreted, real-time computer readout of the depth, location, and size buried metallic objects. Developed by Dr. Leonhard E. Bernold, it consists of an active metal detector search coil; a signal processing (control) unit; and a PC computer equipped with an analog-to-digital converter interface.

The Potential For Ch4-Enriched Biogas As A Transport Fuel In Ireland, Niamh Power

Theses

Ireland needs a biofuel industry- to aid compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, the Biofuels Directive and to secure its energ>' supply. The overall aim of this work is to assess the potential of CH4-enriched biogas as a transport fuel in Ireland. Biogas is produced during the anaerobic digestion of biomass. This work investigates biogas production from two different feedstocks; biodegradable municipal waste and agricultural crops. To assess the potential for biogas as a transport fuel the alternatives to biogas are investigated and compared. Thus digestion and composting of biodegradable municipal waste, and biogas and ethanol production from agricultural crops …

Anaerobic Digestion: Decision Support Software, Marco Poliafico

Theses

Ireland has significant quantities of livestock; meat exportation is a vibrant sector of the economy. Environmental management of animal wastes has therefore become an important concern. On the other hand in the last decade, national and EU policy debate has highlighted the need to investigate alternative energy: in particular energy for transport.

This study investigates the quantities of animal wastes produced in Ireland and their potential treatment using Anaerobic Digestion technologies. In 2005 Ireland had over 8 millions animals (cattle and pigs) and the annual slaughter accounted for over 4.2 million of these creatures. These animals have been responsible for …

Opensourcepacs: An Extensible Infrastructure For Medical Image Management, John David N. Dionisio, Alex A T Bui, Craig Morioka, David B. Johnson, Usha Sinha, Siamak Ardekani, Ricky K. Taira, Denise R. Aberle, Suzie El-Saden, Hooshang Kangarloo

Computer Science Faculty Works

The development of comprehensive picture archive and communication systems (PACS) has mainly been limited to proprietary developments by vendors, though a number of freely available software projects have addressed specific image management tasks. The openSourcePACS project aims to provide an open source, common foundation upon which not only can a basic PACS be readily implemented, but to also support the evolution of new PACS functionality through the development of novel imaging applications and services. openSourcePACS consists of four main software modules: 1) image order entry, which enables the ordering and tracking of structured image requisitions; 2) an agent-based image server …

Designing Computer Agents With Personality To Improve Human-Machine Collaboration In Complex Systems, Sasanka V. Prabhala

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The dynamic nature of complex systems and the overwhelming amount of data that must be handled by human operators requires the development of smart systems that augment human capabilities. For these systems human-agent collaboration is part of the system dynamic. Unfortunately the computer agent is not typically perceived by the human operator as a collaborative team member. This research addressed the key question of how to develop and evaluate computer agents with personality to enhance human-machine collaboration. To move towards this goal three research objectives were established: (1) develop agents with personality, (2) validate that humans perceive these agents as …

Role-Based Access Control For The Open Grid Services Architecture - Data Access And Integration (Ogsa-Dai), Anil L. Pereira

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Grid has emerged recently as an integration infrastructure for the sharing and coordinated use of diverse resources in dynamic, distributed virtual organizations (VOs). A Data Grid is an architecture for the access, exchange, and sharing of data in the Grid environment. In this dissertation, role-based access control (RBAC) systems for heterogeneous data resources in Data Grid systems are proposed. The Open Grid Services Architecture - Data Access and Integration (OGSA-DAI) is a widely used framework for the integration of heterogeneous data resources in Grid systems.

However, in the OGSA-DAI system, access control causes substantial administration overhead for resource providers in …