Digital Commons Network^™

Non-Foster Matching Of An Rfid Antenna, Nedime Pelin Yalcin

Theses

In this thesis, novel designs of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag antennas with better matching characteristics to achieve extended range for passive tags have been investigated in the ultra-high frequency (UHF) band. A variety of cavitybacked/coupled microstrip dipole antennas in 915 MHz range were considered. Additionally, a negative impedance converter designed to cancel out antenna's input capacitance at resonance frequency and to produce the real antenna input impedance was designed, simulated and implemented for an RFID antenna. Numerical simulations have been carried out using ORCAD software package (Cadence), ADS software package (Agilent) and HFSS software package (ANSYS/ANSOFT Inc). Antennas have been …

Water Purification In Haiti : An Engineers Without Borders Project, Melissa Valoura

Theses

The objective of this thesis was to present the necessary steps to help a town in Haiti develop an organization focused on improving their water quality. It goes through the technology needed to create the organization and explains the procedures for implementing a charitable project in a foreign country. A narrative of the student project in Milot, Haiti, where students from the New Jersey Institute of Technology's Engineers Without Borders Chapter implemented a water purification project, explains the course of action that was taken and gives an example of a successful project. A summary of Haiti and its history paints …

Evaluation Of Activated Carbon As A Reactive Cap Sorbent For Sequestration Of Pcbs In Presence Of Humic Acid, Bhawana Sharma, Kevin H. Gardner, Jeffrey S. Melton, Amy Hawkins, Gregory Tracey

Civil & Environmental Engineering

This study investigated the interferences caused by high humic acid concentrations on the adsorption of coplanar and noncoplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) on coconut shell activated carbon. In particular, the research focuses on the application of activated carbon as a reactive cap for contaminated sediment sites, a possible intervention to reduce contaminant flux through pore water, and to organisms in aquatic environments. Kinetic and equilibrium studies were conducted using activated carbon as a sorbent for individual PCB congeners including BZ 1, 52, 77, 153, and 169, respectively, in the presence and absence of humic acid. Results showed that preloading of activated …

Automatic Detection Of Slip-Induced Backward Falls, Jian Liu, Thurmon E. Lockhart

Computer Sciences and Electrical Engineering Faculty Research

Falls are the leading cause of injury deaths among people 65 years and older. The National Safety Council reported that in 2005, 17,700 Americans met their death by falling, and of these deaths, the majority (over 80%) were people over 65 years of age [1]. It is certainly desirable to avoid the fall accidents altogether through developing a comprehensive fall prevention program [2]. However, in case of unavoidable falls, an effective injury-prevention technology is critical to minimize/reduce fall-related physical injuries. Recently, the concept of wearable airbag [3] emerged as one viable and promising injury-prevention approach.

Design And Optimization Of Peristaltic Micropumps Using Evolutionary Algorithms, Ravi Bhadauria

Theses and Dissertations

A design optimization based on coupled solid–fluid analysis is investigated in this work to achieve specific flow rate through a peristaltic micropump. A micropump consisting of four pneumatically actuated nozzle/diffuser shaped moving actuators on the sidewalls is considered for numerical study. These actuators are used to create pressure difference in the four pump chambers, which in turn drives the fluid through the pump in one direction. Genetic algorithms along with artificial neural networks are used for optimizing the pump geometry and the actuation frequency. A simple example with moving walls is considered for validation by developing an exact analytical solution …

Thermionic Emission Energy Distribution From Nanocrystalline Diamond Films For Direct Thermal-Electrical Energy Conversion Applications, Kishore Uppireddi, Tyler Westover, Timothy Fisher, Brad H. Weiner, Gerardo Morell

Birck and NCN Publications

In the ongoing quest for energy production by nonconventional methods, energy conversion by vacuum and solid-state thermionic emission devices is one of the potentially efficient pathways for converting thermal energy directly into electrical power. The realization of practical of thermionic energy conversion devices strongly depends on achieving low work function materials, which is thus far a limiting factor. In an attempt to develop a new low work function thermionic material, this work reports thermionic emission energy distributions (TEEDs) from nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films in the temperature range from 700 to 900 degrees C that reveal a consistent effective work function …

Traffic Signal Control With Swarm Intelligence, David Renfrew, Xiao-Hua Yu

Electrical Engineering

Traffic signal control is an effective way to regulate traffic flow to avoid conflict and reduce congestion. The ACO (Ant Colony Optimization) algorithm is an optimization technique based on swarm intelligence. This research investigates the application of ACO to traffic signal control problem. The decentralized, collective, stochastic, and self-organization properties of this algorithm fit well with the nature of traffic networks. Computer simulation results show that this method outperforms the conventional fully actuated control, especially under the condition of high traffic demand.

Effects Of Non-Equilibrium Plasma On Eukaryotic Cells (Final Report: Grant Fa9550-06-1-0004), Mounir Laroussi, Fred C. Dobbs, Old Dominion University

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This document is our final report describing the research activities carried out under AFOSR Grant FA9550-06-1-0004. First, descriptions of our cold plasma generation systems are presented. Two systems, developed with past and present AFOSR support, are available in our laboratory. The first is a pulsed device capable of emitting a cold plasma plume in room air. The second is an air plasma generator the core of which is a dielectric barrier discharge excited by a high AC voltage. Following these brief descriptions we first present the effects of an atmospheric pressure air plasma on four different types of eukaryotic microalgae. …

Preparation And Characterization Of An Electrospun Gelatin/Dendrimer Hybrid Nanofiber Dressing, Alicia P. Smith-Freshwater

Theses and Dissertations

A novel dendritic wound dressing was designed and characterized for its potential to treat chronic wounds. Comprised of gelatin, dendrimer, synthetic polymer and antibiotics, the dressing was electrospun to mimic the natural extracellular matrix (ECM). Gelatin is biocompatible, biodegradable, non-toxic, and easily available. The antibiotic, doxycycline, has the ability to inhibit matrix metalloproteinases. Matrix metalloproteinases, which occur in excess in chronic wounds, degrade the reconstituted ECM. Starburst™ polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer G3.5, which provides a versatile and structurally controlled architecture to construct nanomedicine, was covalently bonded to the gelatin backbone and electrospun into nanofibers with gelatin, doxycycline and stabilizing polymers. The …

Diversity And Strain Specificity Of Plant Cell Wall Degrading Enzymes Revealed By The Draft Genome Of Ruminococcus Flavefaciens Fd-1, Margret E. Berg Miller, Dionysios A. Antonopoulos, Mark Brand, Albert Bari, Alvaro Hernandez, Jyothi Thimmapuram, Bryan A. White, Marco Rincon, Harry J. Flint, Bernard Henrissat, Pedro M. Coutinho

Cyber Center Publications

Ruminococcus flavefaciens is a predominant cellulolytic rumen bacterium, which forms a multi-enzyme cellulosome complex that could play an integral role in the ability of this bacterium to degrade plant cell wall polysaccharides. Identifying the major enzyme types involved in plant cell wall degradation is essential for gaining a better understanding of the cellulolytic capabilities of this organism as well as highlighting potential enzymes for application in improvement of livestock nutrition and for conversion of cellulosic biomass to liquid fuels.

Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy For Hb And Hbo₂ Detection Using Remote Sensing, Rane M. Pierson

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of the work presented in this thesis is to develop a wireless, near-infrared (NIR) imaging system to provide flexibility and functionality to clinicians and researchers who require monitoring of blood profusion to tissue, muscles, or the brain. The prototype device uses a single stimulus/detection unit composed of an Epitex NIR LED with three wavelength options: 730, 805, and 850 nm, and an OPT101 photodiode detector. The device can be used to detect changes in the levels of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin in the body by measuring the amounts of absorbed and backscattered light at the wavelength associated with …

Pilot Rainwater Harvesting Study Ireland, Liam Mccarton, Sean O'Hogain, Anna Reid, Niamh Mcintyre, Jenny Pender

Conference papers

There are no National Water Quality Standards for Rainwater Harvesting supply in Ireland. The Development Technology Centre (DTC) at the Technological University Dublin was commissioned by the National Rural Water Monitoring Committee in 2005 to assess the feasibility of using rainwater harvesting to supplement treated mains water for non-potable uses. The project involved the design, installation, commissioning and monitoring of rainwater harvesting facilities for rural domestic and agricultural water supply. This paper will present the results from the domestic pilot rwh project. A dual water supply system was designed and installed to use rainwater collected from the roof surface to …

Fabrication Of Anisotropic Nanostructures On Solid Substrates For Applications As Optically Active Surfaces, Mohan Krishna Vattipalli

Dissertations and Theses

Analysis of the vibrational energy levels in molecules using Raman Spectroscopy is a popular analytical method amongst today's optical technologies. Unlike fluorescence microscopy, the Raman emission doesn't undergo the process of photobleaching, which leads to short lived signal collection. The only downside with this approach is the small absorption cross-section resulting in a low intensity of the emission signal. One of the approaches used to boost this weak signal is Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS). My research efforts have been focused on how to create a novel SERS substrate with aligned patterns of Au/Ag nanoparticle deposited metals of a particular …

Electrocardiogram (Ecg) Signal Modeling And Noise Reduction Using Wavelet Neural Networks, Suranai Poungponsri, Xiao-Hua Yu

Electrical Engineering

Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal has been widely used in cardiac pathology to detect heart disease. In this paper, wavelet neural network (WNN) is studied for ECG signal modeling and noise reduction. WNN combines the multi-resolution nature of wavelets and the adaptive learning ability of artificial neural networks, and is trained by a hybrid algorithm that includes the adaptive diversity learning particle swarm optimization (ADLPSO) and the gradient descent optimization. Computer simulation results demonstrate this proposed approach can successfully model the ECG signal and remove high-frequency noise.

Towards A Universal Ultra-Thin Fluorinated Diamond-Like Carbon Coating For Nanoimprint Lithography Imprinters, Ryan Winfield Fillman

Theses and Dissertations

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) has proven to achieve arbitrary, nanoscale features, over large areas, without the use of costly step-and-repeat UV lithography tools. The fidelity of the imprinted pattern depends on the elimination of the adhesion between the imprinted polymer and the imprinter upon withdrawal of the imprinter. The plasma deposition of a layer of fluorinated diamond-like carbon (F-DLC) has proven to be a successful anti-adhesion layer but in the past has required an entire diamond-like carbon (DLC) substrate. The requirement that the imprinter be made of DLC limits the imprinter processing and can limit the capabilities of NIL. DLC films …

Diagonalization Is Also Practically Useful: A Geometric Idea, Martine Ceberio, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

No abstract provided.

Stable And Reproducible Electronic Conduction Through Dna Molecular Junctions, Ajit K. Mahapatro, Gil Lee, Kyung J. Jeong, David B. Janes

Birck and NCN Publications

This letter presents the observation of stable and reproducible electronic conduction through double stranded (ds) DNA molecules in a nominally dry state. Stable conduction was realized by immobilizing 15 base-pair guanine:cytosine rich dsDNA within gold nanogap junctions, stabilizing the dsDNA with a polycation, and characterizing in nitrogen. In air, the current levels decrease with successive voltage scans likely due to oxidation of the guanine bases under bias. In nitrogen, reproducible current-voltage traces are observed and the current levels at specific bias points are stable with time. The stability allows comprehensive electrical studies and could enable conductance-based DNA sensors.

Thermionic Emission Energy Distribution From Nanocrystalline Diamond Films For Direct Thermal-Electrical Energy Conversion Applications, Kishore Uppireddi, Tyler Westover, Timothy Fisher, Brad Weiner, Gerardo Morell

Birck and NCN Publications

In the ongoing quest for energy production by nonconventional methods, energy conversion by vacuum and solid-state thermionic emission devices is one of the potentially efficient pathways for converting thermal energy directly into electrical power. The realization of practical of thermionic energy conversion devices strongly depends on achieving low work function materials, which is thus far a limiting factor. In an attempt to develop a new low work function thermionic material, this work reports thermionic emission energy distributions (TEEDs) from nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films in the temperature range from 700 to 900 °C that reveal a consistent effective work function of …

The Effect Of Bio-Based Materials On Quality And Shelf Life Of Celery, Chike Ifezue

All Theses

Bio-based materials have garnered increasing interest as food packaging
materials because they are derived from renewable resources such
as corn starch, cellulose and sugar beet. These materials do have the disadvantage
of having
poor mechanical performance compared to non-bio based materials and their
effect on quality and shelf life of some produce is unknown.
This research studied the effect of three bio-based materials on quality
and self life of celery. Materials consist of biopolymer films and LDPE
film. The variable materials were: Polylactic Acid (PLA), a versatile
biodegradable aliphatic polyester derived from 100% renewable resources,
Ecoflex, a biodegradable aliphatic-aromatic copolyester, …

High Efficient Electrical Stimulation Of Hippocampal Slices With Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanofiber Microbrush Array, Edward D. De Asis Jr., T. D. Barbara Nguyen-Vu, Prabhu U. Arumugam, Hua Chen, Alan M. Cassell, Russell J. Andrews, Cary Y. Yang, Jun Li

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Long-term neuroprostheses for functional electrical stimulation must efficiently stimulate tissue without electrolyzing water and raising the extracellular pH to toxic levels. Comparison of the stimulation efficiency of tungsten wire electrodes (W wires), platinum microelectrode arrays (PtMEA), as-grown vertically aligned carbon nanofiber microbrush arrays (VACNF MBAs), and polypyrrole coated (PPy-coated) VACNF MBAs in eliciting field potentials in the hippocampus slice indicates that, at low stimulating voltages that preclude the electrolysis of water, only the PPy-coated VACNF MBA is able to stimulate the CA₃ to CA₁ pathway. Unlike the W wires, PtMEA, as-grown VACNF MBA, and the PPy-coated VACNF MBA …

Hierarchical Bayesian Cortical Models: Analysis And Acceleration On Multicore Architectures, Pavan Yalamanchili

All Theses

There is a significant interest in the research community to develop large scale,
high performance implementations of neuromorphic models. These have the potential to
provide significantly stronger information processing capabilities than current computing
algorithms. This thesis examines the parallelization of two recent biologically inspired
hierarchical Bayesian cortical models onto recent multicore architectures. These models
have been developed recently based on new insights from neuroscience and have several
advantages over traditional neural networks. In particular, they need far fewer network
nodes to simulate a large scale cortical model than traditional neural networks, making
them computationally more efficient. This is the first …

Acceleration Of Spiking Neural Networks On Multicore Architectures, Rommel Jalasutram

All Theses

The human cortex is the seat of learning and cognition. Biological scale
implementations of cortical models have the potential to provide significantly more
power problem solving capabilities than traditional computing algorithms. The large
scale implementation and design of these models has attracted significant attention
recently. High performance implementations of the models are needed to enable such
large scale designs. This thesis examines the acceleration of the spiking neural network
class of cortical models on several modern multicore processors. These include the
Izhikevich, Wilson, Morris-Lecar, and Hodgkin-Huxley models. The architectures
examined are the STI Cell, Sun UltraSPARC T2+, and Intel Xeon …

The Characterization, Isolation, And Fractionation Of Natural Organic Matter From Three Surface Waters, Olivia Orr

All Theses

The main objective of this study was to gain insight to the principles of isolation of natural organic matter (NOM) using reverse osmosis (RO) and subsequent fractionation using resin adsorption chromatography (RAC). Specifically, this study evaluated the RO and RAC methods for NOM characterization from three surface waters with varying physiochemical characteristics. Efficiency of RO was assessed by closing mass balances for dissolve organic carbon (DOC). Mass balances were also closed for dissolved nitrogen (DN), bromide (Br-), nitrate (NO3-), total calcium (Ca), total potassium (K), total manganese (Mn), total iron (Fe), total magnesium (Mg), total aluminum (Al), total copper (Cu), …

Accuracy And Multi-Core Performance Of Machine Learning Algorithms For Handwritten Character Recognition, Sumod Mohan

All Theses

There have been considerable developments in the quest for intelligent machines since the beginning of the cybernetics revolution and the advent of computers. In the last two decades with the onset of the internet the developments have been extensive. This quest for building intelligent machines have led into research on the working of human brain, which has in turn led to the development of pattern recognition models which take inspiration in their structure and performance from biological neural networks. Research in creating intelligent systems poses two main problems. The first one is to develop algorithms which can generalize and predict …

The Effect Of Relative Humidity On The Microbial Barrier Properties Of Porous Packaging Materials Used In The Medical Device Industry, Jennifer Blocher

All Theses

Porous packaging materials, such as medical-grade paper and Tyvek¨, are used often by the medical device industry for packaging sterile devices when the products are sterilized post packaging. Their use can be attributed to the fact that multiple sterilization methods require the ability for vapors to enter and/or exit the package efficiently, while simultaneously reducing the amount of microbes entering the package. Much research as been done to study the effects of multiple material and environmental factors, such as material structure and dispersion concentration, on the microbial barrier properties of these materials, however no research had been conducted to examine …

Inferring Gene Regulatory Networks From Time Series Microarray Data, Peng Li

Dissertations

The innovations and improvements in high-throughput genomic technologies, such as DNA microarray, make it possible for biologists to simultaneously measure dependencies and regulations among genes on a genome-wide scale and provide us genetic information. An important objective of the functional genomics is to understand the controlling mechanism of the expression of these genes and encode the knowledge into gene regulatory network (GRN). To achieve this, computational and statistical algorithms are especially needed.

Inference of GRN is a very challenging task for computational biologists because the degree of freedom of the parameters is redundant. Various computational approaches have been proposed for …

Chip-Scale Nanophotonic Chemical And Biological Sensors Using Cmos Process, Lincoln Bollschweiler, Alex English, R. Jacob Baker, Wan Kuang, Zi-Chang Chang, Ming-Hsiung Shih, William Knowlton

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A monolithic integrated chip-scale surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor is demonstrated. The device consists of a pn photodiode covered with a periodic modified thin metal film whose lattice constant is on the order of the wavelength of light. The device performs real-time measurement of resonant wavelengths of enhanced optical transmission due to surface plasmon resonance, which are influenced by the presence of chemical or biological materials at the device’s surface.

Operation Assessment Of Reservoirs In The Savannah River Basin, Travis Yates

All Theses

Hydropower is generated from three reservoirs in the United States Army Corps of Engineer's Savannah District. These reservoirs include J. Strom Thurmond, Richard B. Russell, and Hartwell. Currently, a contract in place specifies that certain amount of energy must be provided to the region. The contract for the hydropower was based upon the critical hydrologic year of 1981. Historically, this was the most severe drought on record and assumed to provide the lowest net inflows for the three reservoirs, thus providing an attainable or reliable energy amount for the system, which suggests a dependable energy yield.
Reevaluating the contract amount …

Biohydrogen Production From Cull Peach Medium By Hyperthermophilic Bacterium Thermotoga Neapolitana, Abhiney Jain

All Theses

ABSTRACT
Thermotoga neapolitana is a marine hyperthermophilic bacterium that ferments various sugars to hydrogen and acetate. In this study, cull peaches were used as carbon source in a defined medium for biohydrogen production and produced 18 % to 25% hydrogen in the headspace. The hydrogen production varied from 6.4-7.7 mmol H2/g peach (dry weight). The hydrogen concentration did not increase after 20 hours of incubation. The final pH decreased to 4.9 after 20 hours. Unautoclaved peach medium can be used for hydrogen production. The hydrogen production did not increase with the increase in peach concentration from 50 g/L to 100 …

Modeling Nitrogen Loss From Regional Switchgrass Agriculture, Saumya Sarkar

All Theses

A water quality modeling study was conducted to determine and compare nitrogen loss from agricultural systems growing switchgrass and cotton in the southeastern USA. The water quality impacts were modeled at the plot scale and at the watershed scale. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to replicate field conditions observed at switchgrass research plots at Pee Dee Research and Educational Center at Florence, South Carolina. The plot scale modeling suggested that in the early years of growth there is significant nitrogen loss from switchgrass to streamflow and groundwater but they are significantly less as the switchgrass matures. …