Digital Commons Network^™

Cross-Layer Optimized Wireless Video Surveillance, Yun Ye

Department of Computer Electronics and Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A wireless video surveillance system contains three major components, the video capture and preprocessing, the video compression and transmission over wireless sensor networks (WSNs), and the video analysis at the receiving end. The coordination of different components is important for improving the end-to-end video quality, especially under the communication resource constraint. Cross-layer control proves to be an efficient measure for optimal system configuration. In this dissertation, we address the problem of implementing cross-layer optimization in the wireless video surveillance system.

The thesis work is based on three research projects. In the first project, a single PTU (pan-tilt-unit) camera is used …

Cable Median Barrier Failure Analysis And Remediation Phase Ii, Cody S. Stolle, Dean L. Sicking, Ronald K. Faller, John D. Reid

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Cable median barrier crashes from a total of 12 states were analyzed. Crash data included scene diagrams, photographs, and field measurements, crash narratives, although the availability of data in each crash varied.

Major contributors to penetration crash propensity were identified: diving underride, in which the front end of the vehicle dropped below the bottom cable; prying, in which the vehicle profile caused cable separation or lifting; override; bouncing override, in which the vehicle rebounded after contact with the back slope and bounced over the top of the barrier; system failure, in which one component failure or design failure prevented the …

Acuta Enews June 2013 Vol. 42, No. 6

ACUTA Newsletters

In this Issue,.,

1 Building on the Conference

2 Evaluating Emergency Notification Systems i

Next Generation 9-l-l

3 Results of the 2013 Forum Competition

i ACUTA Discount for SIP Certification

4 Info Links

5 Ddjd Vu All Over Again: Can We Please Pttf SDNs in Context?

6 Do You ROCKZi?

6 Fall Seminar

6 Have You Paid Your Dues for 2013- 14?

7 Welcome New Members

7 Check It Out

Exploring Factors Contributing To Injury Severity At Freeway Merging And Diverging Locations In Ohio, Worku Y. Mergia, Deogratias Eustace, Deo Chimba, Maher Butros Qumsiyeh

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Faculty Publications

Identifying factors that affect crash injury severity and understanding how these factors affect injury severity is critical in planning and implementing highway safety improvement programs. Factors such as driver-related, traffic-related, environment-related and geometric design-related were considered when developing statistical models to predict the effects of these factors on the severity of injuries sustained from motor vehicle crashes at merging and diverging locations. Police-reported crash data at selected freeway merging and diverging areas in the state of Ohio were used for the development of the models. A generalized ordinal logit model also known as partial proportional odds model was applied to …

Path Loss In An Urban Peer-To-Peer Channel For Six Public-Safety Frequency Bands, David W. Matolak, Qian Zhang, Qiong Wu

Faculty Publications

We provide path loss data and models for a peer-to-peer wireless channel for an urban environment in six public safety bands, for simultaneous transmission to five spatially separated receiving sites. Results are from measurements in Denver, Colorado. The six frequencies at which we measured are (in MHz) 430, 750, 905, 1834, 2400, and 4860. Both line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight conditions were covered, and we quantify path loss exponents and linear-fit standard deviations as functions of frequency and location. Line-of-sight results agree with prior work, but non-line-of-sight exponents, from 3.6-7.3, are generally larger than in most other references.

Comparing Class A Compressed Air Foam Systems (Cafs) Against Plain Water Suppression In Live Fire Gas Cooling Experiments For Interior Structural Firefighting, Sean Carter Mitchell

Master's Theses

Wildland fire services have successfully integrated compressed air foam systems (CAFS) into their fire suppression arsenal over the last few decades to effectively increase the firefighting ability of water. Many urban fire departments have done the same, but far more still rely on plain water to extinguish Class A fires. Many claims have been made about the advantages and disadvantages of firefighting foams, but only limited research has been conducted on the subject to date. Fire departments need more information, beyond that provided by foam suppliers and CAFS equipment manufacturers, to make an independent decision on whether or not to …

Uav Formation Flight Utilizing A Low Cost, Open Source Configuration, Christian W. Lopez

Master's Theses

The control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in a swarm or cooperative team scenario has been a topic of great interest for well over a decade, growing steadily with the advancements in UAV technologies. In the academic community, a majority of the studies conducted rely on simulation to test developed control strategies, with only a few institutions known to have nurtured the infrastructure required to propel multiple UAV control studies beyond simulation and into experimental testing. With the Cal Poly UAV FLOC Project, such an infrastructure was created, paving the way for future experimentation with multiple UAV control systems. …

An Approach To Light-Frame Disaster Relief Housing, Hayley Dickson, Megan Cronan, Anne Walkingshaw, Katherine Busch

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

An Approach to Light-Frame Disaster Relief Housing investigated the use of bamboo structures to provide safe, affordable and easily constructible housing in developing countries that are prone to natural disasters. The team chose to use the Cagayan Valley Region in Northern Philippines that has a demonstrated need for relief housing due to its susceptibility to high seismic activity, monsoons, and floods. The proposed solution includes a complete structural and geotechnical foundation design of a house that can resist the demand loads determined for the region. The structural system is designed using bamboo and includes a lateral force resisting system, and …

A Discussion Of Structural Analysis Techniques For Western Kentucky University's Concrete Canoe, "Courageous", Aaron J. Daley

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

One of the most famous aspects of the WKU Civil Engineering department is the annual student participation in the Concrete Canoe Competition. This year-long project requires seniors to design, manage construction for, and compete with a twenty-foot long boat made out of concrete and reinforcement. It is important to know the loads that the canoe will experience during its use in paddling races. The process for determining these internal forces is called structural analysis. For my project I will be discussing the analysis process employed for the 2013 concrete canoe, exploring accuracy, technical knowledge required, and the practical application of …

Quantifying Annual Bridge Cost By Overweight Trucks In South Carolina, Linbo Chen

All Theses

With the economic development in recent decades, more trucks including overweight trucks are operating on the highways. As a result, many bridges are expected to carry more loads than they did in previous years. The impact of overweight trucks on existing bridges has been an urgent concern for the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT). There is a pressing need to quantify the annual bridge cost in South Carolina caused by trucks and, in particular, overweight trucks so that the SCDOT and the state legislators can determine the appropriate fee structure for operating overweight trucks. This research focused on quantifying …

Pavement Management Analysis Of Hamilton County Using Hdm-4 And Hpma, Trisha Sen

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

According to the 2009 ASCE Infrastructure Report Card, Tennessee roadways have received a B- due to lack of funding. This thesis focuses on the optimal utilization of available funds for Hamilton County using PMS. HDM-4 and HPMA are used to assess the existing pavement conditions and predict future conditions; estimate fuel consumption; calculate road agency costs and user costs; determine cost-effective maintenance treatment; and suggest optimum utilization of funds. From this study, fuel consumption is higher at peak hours due to reduced traffic speeds. User cost is higher on the state route than the interstate due to stop-and-go motion. Road …

Hazard Classification And Hydraulic Remediation Options For Flat-Topped And Ogee-Crested Low-Head Dams, Riley J. Olsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The dangerous hydraulic conditions that can form downstream of a low-head dam were investigated. These dangerous hydraulic conditions have been the cause of hundreds of drowning incidents since the construction of the first low-head dams. Two primary objectives were identified for this study, each of which were primarily performed using the Computational Fluid Dynamics software, Flow-3D^®, with physical models used to verify the numerical results. The first objective was the identification of a risk factor made up of easily measured parameters that could accurately predict when the dangerous hydraulic conditions are present at a low-head dam. The risk …

Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (Mems) Integrated Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna, Abdul Zohur

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis investigates the concept of reconfigurability of an antenna’s properties, such as frequency, radiation pattern, and polarization, for a planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA), by the use of radio frequency micro-electro-mechanical system (RF MEMS) switches. This research work has been conducted at the Micro/Nano Electro Mechanical Systems (µN _eMS) Laboratory at Utah State University. In this thesis, two electrically small frequency reconfigurable antenna designs have been presented with two and three modes of operation with central frequencies of 718 and 4960 MHz and of 857,809 and 4960 MHz, respectively. The maximum frequency tunable ratio achieved in these designs …

Barrette Foundations — Two Case Histories From Turkey, H. Turan Durgunoglu

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

In the recent decades construction of tower structures in big cities around the world is a new trend that has been followed. As a result, engineers are faced with foundations to be designed and constructed under heavier super structural loads imposed by such structures. Often, poor subsoil conditions, site heterogeneity, variability in geometry, and high seismicity brings further challenge in cost effective and safe foundation design. To overcome such complexities and meet higher load capacity requirements often barrette foundations have been utilized instead of cast in situ circular large diameter piles. In this paper applications of barrette foundations together with …

Students As Forensic Engineers: An Innovative Approach To Teaching Soil Mechanics, Benoît Courcelles, Lina Forest, Anastassis Kozanitis

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

Civil engineers are everyday faced with multidisciplinary problems. Their tasks are not only related to technical aspects, but also involve ethical and environmental issues, economic considerations and, nowadays, international collaborations. This broad spectrum of aspects requires a strong technical knowledge, as well as many interpersonal skills and an interest in societal related issues. When traditional courses are simply adapted to the development of technical competences, introducing students to non-technical (although civil engineering-related) aspects remains a challenge. To remediate to this difficulty, an innovative approach was implemented in the undergraduate course of Soil Mechanics at Polytechnique Montreal. The originality of our …

Seismic Retrofit Of Crane Valley Dam, David Ritzman, Faiz Makdisi, Joseph De Larios, Joseph Sun, Charles Ahlgren

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

Crane Valley Dam is located on the North Fork of Willow Creek in Madera County, California, and is owned by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E). The results of seismic stability analyses performed in 2005 and 2006 showed that the dam’s hydraulic fill embankments would experience large deformations during and after the earthquake shaking postulated for the site. To improve the seismic stability and performance of the dam, PG&E initiated the Crane Valley Dam Seismic Retrofit Project (Project), which includes placing new rockfill buttresses on the upstream and downstream slopes of the dam, constructing internal drainage improvements, reinforcing portions of …

Using The 1911 Austin Dam Failure Case History In Undergraduate Teaching, Andrew T. Rose

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

The 1911 sliding failure of Austin Dam in Potter County, Pennsylvania presents an interesting case history combining an engineering failure with ethical, social legal and regulatory issues. The concrete gravity dam, completed in December 1909, was plagued by poor design and construction, influenced greatly by the owner pressuring the designer to keep costs low. Seepage through the foundation, an inadequate shear key, and cracking of the cyclopean concrete, all contributed to the eventual catastrophic failure that destroyed the towns of Austin and Costello, claiming at least 78 lives. As a case history, the failure of Austin Dam has applicability to …

Case Histories Of Earthen Dam Failures, R. P. Sharma, Ali Kumar

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

Historical study of dams conceived in earlier times is essential. To continue advancing, the engineering profession must periodically review past problems and the lessons that they taught. Candid sharing of information on failures as well as successes is needed. In fact, some of the most valuable learning has come from projects where errors have been clear in retrospect. In recent years, dam safety has drawn increasing attention from the public. This is because floods resulting from breaching of dams can lead to devastating disasters with tremendous loss of life and property, especially in densely populated areas. Past dam failure disasters …

Failure Investigation And Restoration Of Two Cellular Sheetpile Structures, Frank M. Clemente

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

The Trainer - Delco Tap - Mickleton 220-38 kilo-volt transmission lines are carried across the Delaware River by two 332-foot high steel latticed towers each founded on a man-made foundation island structure. Each island structure is comprised of four interconnected cellular sheetpile structures. One island, suffered a severe partial failure due to long-term scour in the Delaware River, near Chester, Pennsylvania. The other island exhibited early symptoms of potential failure, also due to scour. The client was the Philadelphia Electric Company, now known as PECO, acting on behalf of the owner, the Atlantic Electric Company (AECO). The author served as …

Geotechnical Lessons Learned From Earthquakes, Jonathan D. Bray, J. David Frost, Ellen M. Rathje

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

Geotechnical earthquake engineering is an experience-driven discipline. Field observations are particularly important because it is difficult to replicate in the laboratory, the characteristics and response of soil deposits built by nature over thousands of years. Further, much of the data generated by a major earthquake is perishable, so it is critical that it is collected soon after the event occurs. Detailed mapping and surveying of damaged and undamaged areas provides the data for the well-documented case histories that drive the development of many of the design procedures used by geotechnical engineers. Thus, documenting the key lessons learned from major earthquake …

An Epistemological Inquiry Into The Incorporation Of Emergency Management Concept In The Homeland Security With A Post-Disaster Security Centric Focus, Mehmet Secilmis

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The historical roots of the Emergency Management concept in the U.S. date back to 19th century. As disasters occurred, policies relating to disaster response have been developed, and many statuary provisions, including several Federal Disaster Relief Acts, conceptually established the framework of Emergency Management. In 1979, with the foundation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), disaster relief efforts were finally institutionalized, and the federal government acknowledged that Emergency Management included mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery activities as abbreviated 'MPRR.'

However, after 2000, the U.S. experienced two milestone events - the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and Hurricane Katrina …

Tdma Slot Reservation In Cluster-Based Vanets, Mohammad Salem Almalag

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) are a form of Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) in which vehicles on the road form the nodes of the network. VANETs provide several services to enhance the safety and comfort of drivers and passengers. These services can be obtained by the wireless exchange of information among the vehicles driving on the road. In particular, the transmission of two different types of messages, safety/update and non-safety messages.

The transmission of safety/update message aims to inform the nearby vehicles about the sender's current status and/or a detected dangerous situation. This type of transmission is designed to …

An Architecture For Coexistence With Multiple Users In Frequency Hopping Cognitive Radio Networks, Ryan K. Mclean

Theses and Dissertations

The radio frequency (RF) spectrum is a limited resource. Spectrum allotment disputes stem from this scarcity as many radio devices are con confined to a fixed frequency or frequency sequence. One alternative is to incorporate cognition within a configurable radio platform, therefore enabling the radio to adapt to dynamic RF spectrum environments. In this way, the radio is able to actively observe the RF spectrum, orient itself to the current RF environment, decide on a mode of operation, and act accordingly, thereby sharing the spectrum and operating in more flexible manner. This research presents a novel framework for incorporating several …

An Evaluation Of The Organizational Structure Of Air Force Emergency Operations Centers Using Social Network Analysis And Design Structure Matrices, John W. Marshall

Theses and Dissertations

The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 demonstrated that the United States' emergency response capability, while robust, was disorganized in that organizations were not prepared or equipped to coordinate response actions across multiple agencies at a national level. This research investigates whether NIMS and the AFIMS structure is optimal for Air Force emergency managers, or whether, while maintaining NIMS compliance, there is a more effective way for the Air Force to organize its emergency management and response forces. Specifically this research focuses on the organization of the EOC and investigates whether shifting from the current structure of the ESFs to …

Purdue Road School: Funding, Funding, Funding, Gregory T. Guerrettaz

Purdue Road School

Municipal entities are facing many issues which are causing financial distress. This presentation will discuss strategies to assist in these difficult times. The strategies to be discussed will include short and long-term financial planning, board discussions and the creation of a capital improvement plan.

Court House Project- Fire Protection Report, Ryan Rigsbee

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

This fire protection report intends to provide Fictitious Architects (The Client) with sufficient information about code requirements and best practices pertaining to occupant and building safety. The chapters within this report include specific design requirements to aid the client during the design of the Court House Project. The following recommendations have been prepared by Ryan Rigsbee to address all major building code requirements for life safety systems. These life safety systems include egress, fire alarm and signaling, water-based fire suppression, structural fire protection, smoke control, and an emergency management plan. This project details the requirements for a new courthouse containing …

Effective Criteria For Seismic Rehabilitation Planning Of Road Transportation Infrastructures, Mohammadreza Yadollahi, Rosli Mohamad Zin, Sadegh Asgari

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

While seismic rehabilitation process for road infrastructures has been traditionally based on seismic factors, consideration of non-seismic factors is necessary for reliable project ranking. Non-seismic factors include socioeconomic criteria, determining the value of a project to its users’ community. Based on the information obtained from a questionnaire survey and literature review, this paper identifies a set of effective rehabilitation criteria (ERC) for seismic rehabilitation decision-making to develop a priority index that is applied to determine the rehabilitation priority. The identified RC will then be weighted for four types of road structures including bridges, tunnels, retaining walls, and buildings. The results …

Acuta Enews March 2013 Vol. 42, No. 3

ACUTA Newsletters

In this issue...

1 Meet the 2014 Board

2 Connexity

3 What's on Your Desk?

3 New State/Province Coordinators

4 Second Annuall ResNet Report The App Is Back-Better than Ever!

5 Info Links

6 Members Celebrate Anniversaries

8 FCC 6 the Enterprise

9 Congratulation to Brian Yamaguchi

10 Board Report

10 Compliance Alliance: First Anniversary

11 Welcome New Members

11 Check It Out

Driver Injury Severity At U.S. Highway-Rail Crossings, Wei Hao

Dissertations

There are approximately 240,000 highway-rail grade crossings in the United States and highway-rail grade crossing areas have been considered in this study as these are locations where crashes frequently occur. Existing studies on crash models at highway- rail grade crossings can be classified into two categories: accident frequency prediction models and driver injury severity models. Accident frequency prediction at highway-rail grade crossings have been investigated by previous studies using varied statistical models. Few studies, however, have focused on driver injury severity studies. Three drawbacks will be addressed in this research including limitations in traditional highway- rail grade crossings studies, limited …

Safety Performance Comparison Between Light Rail Transit And Subway, Nehemie Jasmin

Theses

Along with the expansion and addition of guide way transit systems, such as light rail and subway, there came the need to compare the safety performance of each mode. The multimodal transportation systems with many different technologies, operating characteristics and diversified environments made it more difficult to compare their safety.

In order to evaluate the potential for intermodal comparison of safety performance measures, the thesis has focused on the subway and Light Rail Transit (LRT) modes at the national level. Starting with clear definitions of each safety category, the analysis utilizes mostly the National Transit Database (NTD) from recent years …