Digital Commons Network^™

The Challenge Of Increasing Broadband Capacity, Dale N. Hatfield

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Essays from Time Warner Cable's Research Program on Digital Communications.

Second Generation Precast Deck Panel (Nudeck) System, Kromel E. Hanna, George Morcous, Maher K. Tadros

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of The Locations Of Kentucky’S Traffic Crash Data, Eric R. Green, Kenneth R. Agent

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This research study evaluated the current accuracy of the location information provided in Kentucky‟s crash data. Since the year 2000, the Kentucky Open Portal System‟s (KYOPS) eCrash form has included latitude and longitude data as well as the more traditional County, Route and Milepoint data (CRMP). The Kentucky Transportation Center conducted a research report in 2004 that evaluated the effectiveness of using latitude and longitude, or GPS, as a means to locate traffic crash data.1 This previous study found that both the CRMP and GPS location data had substantial problems resulting in the location data only being accurate about 50 …

An Exploratory Survey Of Drivers’ Knowledge Of Right Of Way At Freeway On-Ramp Merging Areas, Deogratias Eustace, Stephen Owusu-Ansah, Vamsi Krishna Indupuru

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Faculty Publications

Motor vehicle crashes are one of the leading causes of death in the United States. The most recent data available show that in 2006 there were almost 6 million police-reported motor vehicle crashes in the United States where a total of 42,642 people were killed and an additional 2.6 million were injured. The majority of these motor vehicle crashes occurred at intersections or within the intersection influence areas. Traffic conflicts occur at intersections due to traffic streams moving in different directions interfering with each other, and as a result they become areas with high potential for traffic crashes compared with …

Exploring The Effects Of International Traffic In Arms Regulations Restrictions On Innovation In The U.S. Space Industrial Base, Kalliroi L. Landry

Theses and Dissertations

The International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) are used to protect United States (U.S.) military technologies. However, changes to ITAR export controls regarding space technologies have had a major impact to the U.S. space industry. The literature mentions a concern for the health of lower-tier firms because they are a major source of innovation, but there is no additional information considering the effects of ITAR on space innovation at those lower tiers. The purpose of this thesis was to explore the implications of continuing the current ITAR restrictions with regard to innovation in the space industry. This research used a …

A Synthesis Of Overweight Truck Permitting, Muhammad K. Bilal, Muhammad Irfan, Anwaar Ahmed, Samuel Labi, Kumares C. Sinha

JTRP Technical Reports

For purposes of safety and system preservation, trucking operational characteristics are regulated through legislation and policies. However, special permits are granted for trucks to exceed specified operational restrictions. Thus, the Indiana DOT not only seeks highway operations policies that retain/attract heavy industry including those that haul large loads but also seeks to protect the billions of taxpayer dollars invested in highway infrastructure. As such, it is sought to avoid policies that may lead to premature and accelerated deterioration of assets through excess loading or undue safety hazard through oversize loads. This study was carried out primarily to document the state …

Modeling Initial Response: Firefighter High-Rise Access Time Simulation, Robert Till

Publications and Research

Historically, a high-rise building has been described as one which (1) was taller than the reach of fire
service apparatus and, therefore, required interior firefighting, (2) posed the potential for significant
stack effect (vertical interior smoke movement), and (3) required unreasonable time for occupant
evacuation. High-rise buildings require firefighters to access the building and travel to an upper fire
floor by using either stairs or elevators. The fire continues to grow during the time needed to apply
water on the fire. This paper demonstrates ways for using Discrete Event Simulation (DES) to estimate
the time for firefighters to access a …

Seismic Assessment Of An Existing Non-Seismically Designed Major Bridge-Abutment-Foundation System, Aman Mwafy, Oh Sung Kwon, Amr Elnashai

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A comprehensive study carried out to assess the seismic response of a 59-span bridge using a refined inelastic modeling approach and considering Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) is summarized in this paper. the focus is on describing the methodology adopted to idealize the bridge and its foundation system, while only highlights from the extensive elastic and inelastic analyses are presented. the bridge represents a typical case of vulnerable complex bridges since it was built in the early seventies with minimal seismic design requirements at a distance of about 5 km from a major fault. the SSI analysis is significant in this study …

Mapping The Medical Device Development Process, Scott T. Ham

Industrial Technology and Packaging

This project examined the use of process mapping as a tool to show the process of developing medical devices from a broad perspective that includes research, innovation, development, regulation, and marketing. The medical device development cycle, on a broad scope, is not well defined. The lack of a universal language with which to describe this process has made it difficult to understand and communicate. In this project, data was collected from peer-reviewed sources, summarized in a literature review, drawn out by hand into a series of lower-level process maps and finally assembled into a single process map. This project is …

Tk Ripper, Charles Volk, Vincent Priolo, Zachary Mckibbin

Mechanical Engineering

The TK Ripper was designed to pull a rider on a wakeboard up from a deep water start. We believe the force and power required to pull a rider on a wakeboard out of the water provides enough force and power for many other extreme sports.

Energy Harvesting From Exercise Machines Cal Poly Recreation Center Implementation, Justin Arakaki, Praveen Lawrence, Audrey Nakamura

Electrical Engineering

As Cal Poly moves towards an environmentally friendly campus, the Energy Harvesting from Exercise Machines (EHFEM) project looks to generate a new source of renewable energy to help power the Cal Poly Recreation Center. The project focuses on retrofitting exercise machines to generate electricity. As of December 2009, Audrey Nakamura, Justin Arakaki, and Praveen Lawrence developed a design which allows the contribution of electricity generated from multiple exercise machines into the power grid.

The project will require an investigation of retrofitted machine designs by Cal Poly students and commercially available products and systems. The information obtained from the product research …

Power Flow In Railway Electrification Power System, Sisi Li

Theses

This thesis discusses aspects of the design of the railway electrification system (RES) and in particular the electric distribution system for a 2x25 kV railway power system.

The analysis of Railway Power Supplies (RPS) presents a unique type of load flow problem which is characterized by its constant moving loads, dynamically changing load types (constant current/constant power), and its specialized network structure. The autotransformer power supply system with double track was the system studied in this thesis.

The details of the system studied were provided by Caltrain (California Commuter Rail) for a planned high speed extension to Caltrain system. A …

Analysis Of Tunnel Behaviour Under Seismic Loads By Means Of Simple And Advanced Numerical Approaches, Daniela Boldini, Angelo Amorosi, Fabrizio Palmisano

International Conferences on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics

In this paper different approaches aimed at investigating the dynamic behaviour of circular tunnels in the transverse direction are presented. The analysed cases refer to a shallow tunnel built in an ideal soft clayey deposit. The adopted approaches include one-dimensional (1D) numerical analyses performed modelling the soil as a single phase visco-elastic non-linear medium, the results of which are then used to evaluate the input data for selected analytical solutions proposed in the literature (uncoupled approach), and 2D fully coupled Finite Element simulations adopting visco-elastic and visco-elasto-plastic constitutive assumptions for the soil and the lining (coupled approach). The results are …

Floatation Of Tunnel In Liquefiable Soil, S. C. Chian, S. P. G. Madabhushi

International Conferences on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics

Underground structures such as tunnels have a lower unit weight than the surrounding soil and are commonly deemed to be susceptible to floatation in liquefiable soil. In the process of floatation, the tunnel has to possess ample buoyancy force to shear and carry the overlying soil upwards. This is aided by soil liquefaction resulting from the increase in water pressure with number of earthquake loading cycles. With onset of liquefaction, effective stress decreases which lead to a reduction in the shear strength of soil, hence assisting the floatation of tunnel. Conversely, the total stress exerted by the overburden soil suppresses …

Distracted Driving – Preliminary Analysis And Survey, Jerry G. Pigman, Kenneth R. Agent, Eric R. Green

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This report primarily focuses on an attempt to document the level of driver distraction existing in Kentucky through an analysis of crash data and by conducting an observational survey of drivers. Additional research is cited as a means of comparing other studies with results from Kentucky, as well as establishing a definition of distracted driving. The status of laws related to use of cell phones in other states was summarized, and the recently passed legislation in Kentucky was noted by incorporation of the full text as an appendix.

It was determined from analysis of Kentucky data that if the three …

Evaluation Of Safety Impact Of Access Management In Urban Areas, Xuecai Xu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The access provided by streets and highways to adjacent lands are managed by controlling the spacings between the access points including signals, driveways, and media openings on mid-block segments, and setting the limit on the corner clearances around intersections. There have been studies on evaluating the impact of access management techniques on safety and mobility in urban areas. Samples of mid-block segments and intersections can be collected from selected arterials. Because the mid-block segments or intersections in the same arterials share the same missing information, safety and mobility on them show unique features that should be taken into account when …

Increased Functionality Of Floodplain Mapping Automation: Utah Inundation Mapping System (Utims), Brian K. Stevens

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Floodplain mapping has become an increasingly important part of floodplain management. Floodplain mapping employs mapping software and hydraulic calculation packages to efficiently map floodplains. Modelers often utilize automation software to develop the complex geometries required to reduce the time to develop hydraulic models.

The Utah Inundation Mapping System (UTIMS) was designed to reduce the time required to develop complex geometries for use in floodplain mapping studies. UTIMS reduces the time required to develop geometries used in floodplain management studies. The automated geometries developed include: flood specific river centerlines, bank lines, flow path lines, cross sections, and areal averaged n-value polygons. …

Micro Electro Mechanical Systems Integrated Frequency Reconfigurable Antennas For Public Safety Applications, Hema Swaroop Mopidevi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis work builds on the concept of reconfiguring the antenna properties (frequency, polarization, radiation pattern) using Radio Frequency (RF) Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS). This is a part of the overall research performed at the RF Micro/Nano Electro Mechanical Systems (μN∈MS) Laboratory at Utah State University, which includes design, microfabrication, test, and characterization of μN∈MS integrated cognitive wireless communication systems (Appendix A).

In the first step, a compact and broadband Planar Inverted F Antenna (PIFA) is designed with a goal to accommodate reconfigurability at a later stage. Then, a Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna …

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Analysis: Lessons Learned From Stationary Power Generation Final Report, Scott E. Grasman, John W. Sheffield, Fatih Dogan, Sunggyu Lee, Umit O. Koylu, Angie Rolufs

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study considered opportunities for hydrogen in stationary applications in order to make recommendations related to RD&D strategies that incorporate lessons learned and best practices from relevant national and international stationary power efforts, as well as cost and environmental modeling of pathways. The study analyzed the different strategies utilized in power generation systems and identified the different challenges and opportunities for producing and using hydrogen as an energy carrier. Specific objectives included both a synopsis/critical analysis of lessons learned from previous stationary power programs and recommendations for a strategy for hydrogen infrastructure deployment. This strategy incorporates all hydrogen pathways and …

Acuta Enews April 2010, Vol 39, No. 4

ACUTA Newsletters

ln This lssue

From the President.. ...,Harvey "Buck" Buchanan, Florida State Univ., ACUTA President

Board Report...........,.. George Denbow, Univ of Texas, ACUTA Secretary/Treasurer

Tech Talk Riding the Hype Cycle ...Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR

Washington Update Newsletter

DC Update Dave Ostrom, Washington State Univ (retired)

Magnussen Named to Pandemic Planning Working Group

Congratulations to Sharon Stille and Mark Watters

Add Names from Your Campus to Your ACUTA Roster

Member Anniversaries

Multi-Event Discount: Attend More in 2010 and Save More!

Welcome New Members

Check lt Out: Press Releases...Job Postings...RFls/RFPs...Special Deals

Wave Energy Converter Performance Modeling And Cost Of Electricity Assessment, Dmitri Jarocki

Master's Theses

California is experiencing a rapid increase in interest for the potential of converting ocean waves into clean electricity. Numerous applications have been submitted for the permitting of such renewable energy projects; however the profitability, practicability, and survivability have yet to be proven. Wave energy conversion technology has steadily matured since its naissance in the 1970’s, several wave energy power installations currently exist, and numerous plans for commercial power plant are in the works on the shores of multiple continents. This study aims to assess the economic viability of two proposed commercial wave energy power plant projects on the Central California …

Optical Limiting Study Of Double Wall Carbon Nanotube-Fullerene Hybrids, Kang-Shyang Liao, Jun Wang, Daniel Fruchtl, Nigel Alley, Enrico Andreoli, Eoghan Dillon, Andrew Barron, Hansoo Kim, Hugh Byrne, Werner Blau, Seamus Curran

Articles

In order to merge complementary temporal and spatial nonlinear optical characteristics of Fullerene and carbon nanotubes, synthesis of double wall carbon nanotube-Fullerene hybrid was performed by covalently linking DWNT and C60 by amination reaction with polyethylenimine. DWNT-Fullerene hybrids were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, UV-vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Optical limiting performance of DWNT-Fullerene hybrids is superior to those of Fullerenes and SWNTs at the same level (~ 80%) of transmission. Whereas nonlinear scattering is an evident mechanism, reverse saturable absorption from Fullerene moieties has significant contribution. Charge transfer between the DWNT and Fullerene moieties may play an important role …

Codifying Information Assurance Controls For Department Of Defense (Dod) Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (Scada) Systems (U), Eddie A. Mendezllovet

Theses and Dissertations

Protecting DoD critical infrastructure resources and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems from cyber attacks is becoming an increasingly challenging task. DoD Information Assurance controls provide a sound framework to achieve an appropriate level of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. However, these controls have not been updated since 2003 and currently do not adequately address the security of DoD SCADA systems. This research sampled U.S. Air Force Civil Engineering subject matter experts representing eight Major Commands that manage and operate SCADA systems. They ranked 30 IA controls in three categories, and evaluated eight SCADA specific IA controls for inclusion into …

Knowledge Transformation In The United States Air Force Civil Engineer Career Field: A System Dynamics Approach, Gregory J. Ward

Theses and Dissertations

Recent operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have brought the level of expeditionary contractors to historically unprecedented levels, altering the work composition for military engineers. The alteration has shifted emphasis from technical knowledge areas toward managerial knowledge associated with supervising the increased number of contractors. This research utilizes System Dynamics modeling to analyze this shift in the United States Air Force Civil Engineer officer career field and resulting transformative effect on career field knowledge levels, both technical and managerial. The model is then tested with multiple external policy adjustments in the areas of career field structure, training, and operating policy. Results …

Reverberation-Chamber Test Environment For Outdoor Urban Wireless Propagation Studies, Helge Fielitz, Kate A. Remley, Christopher L. Holloway, Qian Zhang, Qiong Wu, David W. Matolak

Faculty Publications

We introduce a test environment to replicate the well-known clustering of reflections in power delay profiles arising from late-time delays and reflections. Urban wireless propagation environments are known to exhibit such clustering. The test setup combines discrete reflections generated by a fading simulator with the continuous distribution of reflections created in a reverberation chamber. We describe measurements made in an urban environment in Denver, CO, that illustrate these multiple distributions of reflections. Our comparison of measurements made in the urban environment to those made in the new test environment shows good agreement.

Acuta Enews February 2010, Vol 39, No. 2

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

From the President.......... Harvey "Buck" Buchanan, Florida State Univ. ACUTA President

Tech Talk: MANET: Not the Art, but the Science......... Kevin Tanzill, Dux PR

Cast Your Vote for ACUTA Board

DC Update........... Dave Ostrom, Washington State Univ. (retired)

Overheard on the Listserv: Handling Large Volumes of Incoming Calls

Washington Update Newsletter

Your State/Province Could Be #1

A Rank Amateur's Guide to Twitter........... Daphne Gray-Grant

Thanks to Sponsors for 2009

Multi-Event Discount: Attend More in 2010 and Save More!

Bring Winter Seminar to Your Desktop

Board Report............ George Denbow, Univ. of Texas, ACUTA Secretary/ Treasurer

Info Links........... Randy …

Second Generation Precast Deck Panel (Nudeck) System, Maher K. Tadros Ph.D., P.E., Kromel E Hanna, George Morcous Ph.D.

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The majority of today’s bridge decks are built using cast-in-place concrete construction. This is due to the perceived low initial cost and constructor familiarity with the system. This research report describes the design, details, and construction of an innovative full-depth precast concrete bridge deck system – the Second Generation NUDECK (Nebraska University Deck). The quality of this system is far superior to castin- place construction. Cast-in-place concrete bridge decks experience cracking shortly after construction due to differential creep and shrinkage with the supporting beams. This leads to bridge deck deterioration; a problem that is not experienced with the virtually crack-free …

Comparison Of Indian Ppp Construction Industry And European Ppp Construction Industry: Process, Thresholds And Implementation, Louis Gunnigan, Renuka Rajput

Conference papers

Abstract Since the 1990’s, there has been a rapid rise of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) across the world. Governments in developing as well as developed countries are increasingly using this procurement method to bridge the much needed infrastructure gap. PPPs are seen as an important tool for producing an accelerated and larger pipeline of infrastructure investments, and catching up with the infrastructure deficit. Arguably, this is why developed and especially developing countries are very keen on PPP models. This paper will compare the PPP procurement process followed in Europe compared to India and presents a thorough review of literature on …

Non-Profit Management System For Friends Of The Elephant Seal, Matthew Justus, Robert Macasi, Jeff Zinn

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Friends of the Elephant Seal (FES) are a non-profit organization based in San Simeon, California. Their current method of tracking and reporting information is inefficient. A project was proposed to develop a new information management system for FES, install it at their office and provide training including a user manual. The project was divided into three parts: Database Design and Implementation; User Interface Design and Ergonomics; and User Manual & Help System.

The objective of the project was to design a user-friendly interface specifically for the FES worker that allowed for easy access to data entry functions, reporting functions and …

The Systemic Correlation Between Mental Models And Sustainable Design: Implications For Engineering Educators, Linda Vanasupa, Roger Burton, Jonathan Stolk, Julie B. Zimmerman, Larry J. Leifer, Paul T. Anastas

Materials Engineering

Many studies have illuminated our understanding of the kinds of competencies and behaviors exhibited by effective designers. Against the backdrop of global challenges made more urgent by unintentional negative impacts of engineered products and systems, however, we are left to deduce that our ways of educating engineering designers is fundamentally flawed. We assert that one can trace the cause of our collective, unintended negative consequences to the mental models of reality that we consciously or unconsciously carry. In this paper, we present the case for developing awareness and facility with mental models. We also suggest an alternate mental model as …