Digital Commons Network^™

Reducing Energy Costs By Optimizing Controller Tuning, Aidan O'Dwyer

Conference papers

The proportional integral derivative (PID) controller is the most dominant form of automatic controller in industrial use today. With this technique, it is necessary to adjust the controller parameters according to the nature of the process. This tailoring of controller to process is known as controller tuning. Controller tuning is easily and effectively performed using tuning rules (i.e. formulae for controller tuning, based on process information). Such tuning rules allow the easy set up of controllers to achieve optimum performance at commissioning. Importantly, they allow ease of re-commissioning if the characteristics of the process change. The paper outlines the results …

Applying The Mahalanobis-Taguchi System To Vehicle Handling, Kioumars Paryani, Elizabeth A. Cudney, K. M. Ragsdell

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Mahalanobis-Taguchi system (MTS) is a diagnosis and forecasting method using multivariate data. Mahalanobis distance (MD) is a measure based on correlations between the variables and patterns that can be identified and analyzed with respect to a base or reference group. The MTS is of interest because of its reported accuracy in forecasting using small, correlated data sets. This is the type of data that is encountered with consumer vehicle ratings. MTS enables a reduction in dimensionality and the ability to develop a scale based on MD values. MTS identifies a set of useful variables from the complete data set …

Atmospheric Mercury Deposition In An Urban Environment, Mark Fulkerson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Atmospheric mercury deposition, known to be a major source of mercury to aquatic and terrestrial environments, was studied at an urban site in Orlando, FL. Precipitation sampling was conducted from September 2003 to May 2006 at a Mercury Deposition Network site located on the University of Central Florida campus. Weekly rainfall and mercury wet deposition data were gathered from this site, which provided the framework of data for this study. Historical mercury wet deposition data from several sites in Florida were used to develop a regression model to predict mercury deposition at any location in Florida. Stormwater runoff from a …

Compositional Effects On Gas-Oil Interfacial Tension And Miscibility At Reservoir Conditions, Daryl Sean Sequeira

LSU Master's Theses

Minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) is an important optimization parameter for an enhanced oil recovery process involving Carbon Dioxide or hydrocarbon gas injection. Therefore an accurate experimental measurement is required to determine the MMP. The MMP for a gas-oil system is directly related to the interfacial tension between the injected gas and the reservoir crude oil. When CO2 gas contacts the reservoir oil at reservoir temperature, the interfacial tension between the fluid-fluid phases reduces as the miscibility is approached and the interface between the fluid-fluid phases eventually disappears at miscibility i.e. the interfacial tension becomes zero. Hence, a pressure condition of …

Development Of Criteria For The Utilization Of Cement Kiln Dust (Ckd) In Highway Infrastructures, R Asha Sreekrishnavilasam, Maria Caterina Santagata

JTRP Technical Reports

This research addressed the recycling of cement kiln dust (CKD), a by-product of cement manufacturing. While significant quantities of CKD are generated every year, its utilization in construction has been to this day quite limited. Additionally, the issue of reusing already landfilled CKD has remained almost completely unexplored. The work made use of three fresh CKDs collected at different instances from the same U.S. plant, as well as CKD obtained from different locations in a 12 year old landfill adjacent to the plant. A comprehensive experimental study of the physio-chemical and engineering properties of the CKDs was performed, and the …

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Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Topology Optimization Of Engine Exhaust-Washed Structures, Mark A. Haney

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Aircraft structure subjected to elevated temperature and acoustic loading present a challenging design environment. Thermal stress in a structural component has typically been alleviated by allowing thermal expansion. However, very little work has been done which directly addresses the situation where such a prescription is not possible. When a structural component has failed due to thermally-induced tensile stresses, the answer to the question of how best to stiffen the structure is far from trivial. In this work, we demonstrate that conventional stiffening techniques, for example, those which add material to the thickness of a failing panel, may actually increase the …

Multi-Attribute Optimization Based On Conjoint Analysis, Hemanth K. Amarchinta

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Over the last thirty years, there were tremendous advances in multidisciplinary design optimization in reducing computational cost, developing algorithms for efficient sensitivity analysis in reaching an optimum. Most of these efforts assumed a single objective (attribute) function and a multitude of constraints. Very little work has been done in including the designer's preferences as part of the optimization scheme and in addressing the ability to handle multiple attributes simultaneously. This need to develop a systematic method for including designer's preferences is the main focus of this research work. The concept of modeling preferences among multi-attribute alternatives is prevalent in consumer …

Study Of Salt Wash Water Toxicity On Wastewater Treatment, Mostafa F. Hashad, Surabhi Sharma, Loring F. Nies, James E. Alleman

JTRP Technical Reports

This research effort focused on evaluating the toxicity of the saline waste water generated from washing of Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) deicing trucks and to study the feasibility of discharging it into wastewater treatment plants. Performance of activated sludge treating wastewater under varying levels of salt concentration was studied by measuring the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), activated sludge oxygen uptake rate (OUR) and Turbidity. For the COD tests, wastewater was tested with salt concentrations ranging from 0 mg/L – 1500 mg/L. Within this range there is no impact of salt on COD stabilization, suggesting that the microorganisms are not …

Miniature Circularly Polarized Rectenna With Reduced Out-Of-Band Harmonics, Mohammod Ali, Guangli Yang, Roger A. Dougal

Faculty Publications

Wireless embedded sensors are becoming increasingly important for many safety critical applications. Sensor batteries or capacitors must be charged as needed in order to achieve high data rate communications. A miniature circularly polarized rectenna operating at 5.5 GHz is introduced which, with the help of an integrated band-reject filter, reduces out-of-band harmonic emission significantly. The rectenna has a conversion efficiency of 74% with more than 50 dB out-of-band harmonic suppression at 11 GHz.

The Transcriptome Of Human Oocytes, Arif Murat Kocabas, Javier Crosby, Pablo J. Ross, Hasan H. Otu, Zeki Beyhan, Handan Can, Wai-Leong Tam, Guilherme J. M. Rosa, Robert G. Halgren, Bing Lim, Emilio Fernandez, Jose Bernardo Cibelli

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

The identification of genes and deduced pathways from the mature human oocyte can help us better understand oogenesis, folliculogenesis, fertilization, and embryonic development. Human metaphase II oocytes were used within minutes after removal from the ovary, and its transcriptome was compared with a reference sample consisting of a mixture of total RNA from 10 different normal human tissues not including the ovary. RNA amplification was performed by using a unique protocol. Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 GeneChip arrays were used for hybridizations. Compared with reference samples, there were 5,331 transcripts significantly up-regulated and 7,074 transcripts significantly down-regulated in the …

Biological Opinion On The Operation Of The Missouri River Main Stem System, Missouri River Bank Stabilization And Navigation Project, And Operation Of The Kansas River Reservoir System

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) prepares an annual report for interested parties in accordance with the reporting requirements of the “Biological Opinion (BiOp) on the Operation of the Missouri River Main Stem System, Operation and Maintenance of the Missouri River Bank Stabilization and Navigation Project (BSNP), and Operation of the Kansas River Reservoir System” prepared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) dated November 30, 2000 and the Amendment, thereto, dated December 16, 2003.

This annual report documents the Corps threatened and endangered species conservation activities to comply with the provisions of the 2000 BiOp and the …

U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers Omaha District Monthly Drought Report, April 2006

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

Current Conditions

Water Year 2006 Mountain Snow

Drought Outlook

Ft. Peck, Montana

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Garrison, North Dakota

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Boat Ramp Information

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Other Areas of Interest/Concern

Oahe, South Dakota

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Mainstem Reservoir Information, Weekly Elevation Comparison 5 DEC 2005 through 26 DEC 2005

Mainstem Reservoir Storage Comparison Water Year 2004 vs. Water Year 2005

Ft. Peck, MT

Garrison, ND

Oahe, SD

U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers Omaha District Monthly Drought Report, December 2006

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

Current Conditions

Drought Outlook

Ft. Peck, Montana

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Garrison, North Dakota

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Boat Ramp Information

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Other Areas of Interest/Concern

Oahe, South Dakota

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Mainstem Reservoir Information, Weekly Elevation Comparison 6 NOV 2006 through 27 NOV 2006

Mainstem Reservoir Storage Comparison Water Years 2004, 2005, 2006

Ft. Peck, MT

Garrison, ND

Oahe, SD

U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers Omaha District Monthly Drought Report, February 2006

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

Current Conditions

Water Year 2006 Mountain Snow

Drought Outlook

Ft. Peck, Montana

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Garrison, North Dakota

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Boat Ramp Information

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Other Areas of Interest/Concern

Oahe, South Dakota

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Mainstem Reservoir Information, Weekly Elevation Comparison 5 DEC 2005 through 26 DEC 2005

Mainstem Reservoir Storage Comparison Water Year 2004 vs. Water Year 2005

Ft. Peck, MT

Garrison, ND

Oahe, SD

U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers Omaha District Monthly Drought Report, January 2006

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

Current Conditions

Water Year 2006 Mountain Snow

Drought Outlook

Ft. Peck, Montana

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

AccessOverview

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Garrison, North Dakota

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Boat Ramp Information

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Other Areas of Interest/Concern

Oahe, South Dakota

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Mainstem Reservoir Information, Weekly Elevation Comparison 5 DEC 2005 through 26 DEC 2005

Mainstem Reservoir Storage Comparison Water Year 2004 vs. Water Year 2005

Ft. Peck,MT

Garrison, ND

Oahe, SD

U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers Omaha District Monthly Drought Report, November 2006

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

Current Conditions

Drought Outlook

Ft. Peck, Montana

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Garrison, North Dakota

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Boat Ramp Information

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Other Areas of Interest/Concern

Oahe, South Dakota

Reservoir Elevation Overview

Water Intake Overview

Access Overview

Noxious Weeds Overview

Cultural Resources Overview

Mainstem Reservoir Information, Weekly Elevation Comparison 7 AUG 2006 through 28 AUG 2006

Mainstem Reservoir Storage Comparison Water Years 2004, 2005, 2006

Ft. Peck, MT

Garrison, ND

Oahe, SD

Modeling, Analysis, And Experimental Study Of In Vivo Wheeled Robotic Mobility, Mark E. Rentschler, Jason Dumpert, Stephen R. Platt, Karl Iagnemma, Dmitry Oleynikov, Shane M. Farritor

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Laparoscopy is abdominal surgery performed with long tools inserted through small incisions. The use of small incisions reduces patient trauma, but also eliminates the surgeon’s ability to view and touch the surgical environment directly. These limitations generally restrict the application of laparoscopy to procedures less complex than those performed during open surgery. This paper presents a theoretical and experimental analysis of miniature, wheeled, in vivo robots to support laparoscopy. The objective is to develop a wireless mobile imaging robot that can be placed inside the abdominal cavity during surgery. Such robots will allow the surgeon to view the surgical environment …

Purification And Scale-Up Of A Recombinant Heavy Chain Fragment C Of Botulinum Neurotoxin Serotype E In Pichia Pastoris Gs115, Michael P. Dux, Rick Barent, Jayanta Sinha, Mark Gouthro, Todd Swanson, Ardis Barthuli, Mehmet Inan, John T. Ross, Leonard A. Smith, Theresa J. Smith, Robert Webb, Bonnie Loveless, Ian Henderson, Michael M. Meagher

Michael Meagher Publications

A recombinant C-terminus heavy chain fragment from botulinum neurotoxin serotype E (BoNT/E) is proposed as a vaccine against the serotype E neurotoxin. This fragment, rBoNTE(H_c), was produced intracellular in Pichia pastoris GS115 by a three-step fermentation process, i.e., glycerol batch phase and a glycerol fed-batch phase to achieve high cell densities, followed by a methanol fed-batch induction phase. The rBoNTE(H_c) protein was purified from the soluble fraction of cell lysates using three ion-exchange chromatography steps (SP Sepharose Fast Flow, Q Sepharose Fast Flow, Sp Sepharose High Performance) and polished with a hydrophobic charge induction chromatography step …

Effect Of Keyswitch Design Of Desktop And Notebook Keyboards Related To Key Stiffness And Typing Force, Marcia J. Bufton, Richard W. Marklin, Mark L. Nagurka, Guy G. Simoneau

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

This study aimed to compare and analyse rubber-dome desktop, spring column desktop and notebook keyboards in terms of key stiffness and fingertip typing force. The spring-column keyboard resulted in the highest mean peak contact force (0.86N), followed by the rubber dome desktop (0.68N) and the notebook (0.59N). All these differences were statistically significant. Likewise, the spring-column keyboard registered the highest fingertip typing force and the notebook keyboard the lowest. A comparison of forces showed the notebook (rubber dome) keyboard had the highest fingertip-to-peak contact force ratio (overstrike force), and the spring-column generated the least excess force (as a ratio of …

An Experimental Investigation Of Guided Wave Propagation In Corrugated Plates Showing Stop Bands And Pass Bands, Tribikram Kundu, Sourav Banerjee, Kumar V. Jata

Faculty Publications

Nonplanar surfaces are often encountered in engineering structures. In aerospace structures, periodically corrugated boundaries are formed by friction-stir-welding. In civil engineering structures, rebars used in reinforced concrete beams and slabs have periodic surface. Periodic structures are also being used to create desired acoustic band gaps. For health monitoring of these structures, a good understanding of the elastic wave propagation through such periodic structures is necessary. Although a number of research papers on the wave propagation in periodic structures are available in the literature, no one experimentally investigated the guided wave propagation through plates with periodic boundaries and compared the experimental …

Elastic Wave Propagation In Sinusoidally Corrugated Waveguides, Sourav Banerjee, Tribikram Kundu

Faculty Publications

The ultrasonicwave propagation in sinusoidally corrugated waveguides is studied in this paper. Periodically corrugated waveguides are gaining popularity in the field of vibration control and for designing structures with desired acoustic band gaps. Currently only numerical method (Boundary Element Method or Finite Element Method) based packages (e.g., PZFlex) are in principle capable of modeling ultrasonic fields in complex structures with rapid change of curvatures at the interfaces and boundaries but no analyses have been reported. However, the packages are very CPU intensive; it requires a huge amount of computation memory and time for its execution. In this paper a new …

Composting Of Biodegradable Municipal Waste In Ireland, Niamh Power, Jerry D. Murphy

Publications

The implementation of the Landfill Directive (96/31/EC) will lead to a massive reduction in quantities of Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW), which may be landfilled. In 2016, an estimated 2.6 million tonnes of BMW will require diversion from landfill in Ireland. Recycling of dry paper, reuse of textiles and home composting will divert significant quantities of BMW. However, to divert the quantities required to comply with the Directive a significant proportion of the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) will require treatment in centralised biological facilities. A survey was undertaken of composting facilities in Ireland to ascertain present capacity, present …

University Of Nevada, Las Vegas Transmutation Research Program Annual Report Academic Year 2005-2006, Anthony Hechanova, Rebecca Arbour

Transmutation Research Program Reports (TRP)

It is my pleasure to present the UNLV Transmutation Research Program’s fifth annual report that highlights the academic year 2005 – 2006. Supporting this document are the many technical reports and scientific papers that have been generated over the past five years.

In the fifth year of our program, we saw amazing growth in the Radiochemistry Ph.D. program with a total of 12 students in the second year of the program (twice the number we anticipated in the program proposal). In the back of this issue, under Infrastructure Augmentation, you will find some news about the new academic programs sponsored …

Neutron Multiplicity Measurements Of Target/Blanket Materials, Denis Beller

Transmutation Sciences Physics (TRP)

The U.S. Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) is a program to develop economic and environmental methods to reduce the impact of waste from commercial nuclear fuel cycles. One concept for near-complete destruction of waste isotopes from used nuclear fuel is accelerator-driven transmutation. High-power accelerators would be used to produce high-energy charged particles, which then collide with heavy metal targets to create a cascade of neutrons. These neutrons then cause nuclear reactions in subcritical systems.

To design these systems, complex reactor physics computer codes and highly detailed data libraries are used to compute the reactivity of systems, reaction rates, destruction rates, …

Solution-Based Synthesis Of Nitride Fuels, Kenneth Czerwinski, Thomas Hartmann

Fuels Campaign (TRP)

A wide variety of fuel concepts are considered for advanced reactor technology including metals, metal oxides or metal nitrides as solid solutions or composite materials. Nitride fuels have appropriate properties for advanced fuels including high thermal conductivity, thermal stability, solid-state solubility of actinides, fissile metal density, and suitable neutronic properties. A drawback of nitride fuels involves their synthesis. A key parameter for preparing oxide fuels is the precipitation step in the sol-gel process. For nitride fuels, the current synthetic route is carbothermic reduction from the oxide to the nitride. This process step is based on solid phase reactions and for …

Energy Audits Of State Buildings In Alabama, Harshad Prakash Shetye

All ETDs from UAB

The purpose of this project was to perform preliminary energy audits at various state buildings in Alabama. Energy audits were conducted for a total of 18 buildings at the Department of Youth Services (Chalkville campus) and the Alabama State Capitol complex. Facility reports and summaries were prepared with the help of data obtained from building managers. Our research team identified areas in these facilties where energy conservation could be employed at no or low cost. The energy savings resulting from these audits were estimated based upon the guidelines presented in the Science Technology and Energy Division Guide for Calculating Program …

Investigation Of Routing Protocols In A Sensor Network, Ramesh Praveenkumar

All ETDs from UAB

The objective of this thesis is to model the communication and computation resources of the sensor netork, develop a framework for lifetime estimation and performance evluation of the network, and explore routing schemes so as to extend the functional lifetime of both the individual nodes and the entire network. The sensor network is severly constrained by limited resources, so, energy efficiency is the most important factor in designing the network. Designing an efficient routing protocol in a sensor network is challenging due to various factors, such as limited resources, concentration of load to a limited portion of the network, and …

Multimodality Image Registration, Persis Prasai

All ETDs from UAB

Image registration has been a major area of research in the last few decades. It is a complex problem that involves handling large data sets. The relation between the real object and the image is very intricate and encompasses the object’s shape, surface properties, position, and illumination. In this thesis, a general solution to this problem was devised that can be applied to multimodality and within-modality image registration. The approach followed here is such that various factors such as illumination do not affect the algorithm. The algorithm considers the intensity of the images as raw data for the registration. The …

Engineering Education Through Service-Learning In Developing Communities: Two Case Studies, Evan A. Thomas, Andrew Azman

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper provides case studies of two service learning projects that University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder) students are integrating into their academic experience. The projects focus on developing communities and are managed under the auspices of Engineers Without Borders-USA (EWB-USA), a group founded by Dr. Bernard Amadei, Professor of Civil Engineering at CU-Boulder. These projects expand students? understanding of the social value of their chosen profession, and expose them to a type of engineering significantly different than what is presented in most of their classes. Specifically, focusing on developing communities provides students with the opportunity to design solutions to …