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Modeling Catalytic Destruction Of Subsurface Contaminants In Recirculating Wells, Kerry J. Cadena

Theses and Dissertations

Groundwater and soil contamination is a significant problem throughout the nation, with approximately 300,000 to 400,000 sites affected (National Research Council, 1994). Examples of groundwater contaminants of special interest to DoD and AF installations include fuel hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons, and nitroaromatic compounds. Traditional remediation technologies, which include pump-and-treat, permeable reactive barriers, and natural attenuation, have numerous drawbacks associated with them. These drawbacks have prompted researchers to look for innovative contamination clean-up methods. The technology investigated in this thesis, reticulating horizontal flow treatment wells (HFTWs) with in-well palladium (Pd) catalyst reactors, offers the potential for destruction of groundwater contaminants commonly found …

Inside Unlv, Gian Galassi, Jennifer Vaughan, Carol C. Harter, Carolyn Sabo

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Calculation Of The Actual Cost Of Engine Maintenance, Oguz Ezik

Theses and Dissertations

The cost of military operations has been difficult to determine, yet considered of high importance. The cost of an operation is largely dependent upon the answers to subordinate questions involving the discrete costs of military activities, like supporting individual items, While different cost estimates have received attention from the media, the question arises as to how accurate these figures are, There have been numerous studies performed by the Operations Research analysts to minimize costs while allocating scarce resources, However, the values of these studies are dependent upon whether or not the cost figures used are sufficiently "true" or accurate, This …

Modeling Homeland Security: A Value Focused Thinking Approach, Kristopher A. Pruitt

Theses and Dissertations

The events of September 11, 2001 have propelled the topic of homeland security to the forefront of national concern. The threat of terrorism within the United States has reached an unprecedented level. The pervasive vulnerabilities of the nation's critical infrastructure coupled with the destructive capabilities and deadly intentions of modern terrorists pose extraordinary risks. The United States must mitigate these risks while at the same time balancing the associated costs and impact on civil liberties. Currently, the United States lacks effective methods and measure for assessing the security of the homeland from acts of terrorism. This study outlines a first …

Use Of Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy For Stress-Strain Measurements, Ajit K. Roy

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The purpose of this collaborative research project involving the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and the Idaho State University (ISU) is to evaluate the feasibility of determining residual stresses of welded, bent (three-point-bend), and cold-worked engineering materials using a new nondestructive technique based on positron annihilation spectroscopy. The proposed technique is to use x-rays from a small MeV electron Linac to generate positrons inside the sample via pair production. This method can be used for materials characterization and investigation of defects in thick samples that could not be accomplished by conventional positron technique or other nondestructive methods. The data …

Satisficing Applied To Simulated Soccer, Jay Packard

Theses and Dissertations

Satisficing was introduced by the economist Herbert Simon to allow for decisions that are "good enough" when there are insufficient computational resources and knowledge to obtain the optimal outcome. Autonomous multi-agent systems often require such decision making because of the complexity and unknown factors present in such an environment. Satisficing has been extended significantly by Wynn Stirling. Through extended satisficing, he has departed from conventional approaches to autonomous multi-agent systems, based as they usually are on the assumption that each participant is motivated exclusively by its own self interest, and will therefore attempt to maximize its benefit, regardless of the …

Fuel Characteristics Of Processed, High-Fiber Sugarcane, Scott Q. Turn, Charles M. Kinoshita, Lee A. Jakeway, Bryan M. Jenkins, Larry Lin Baxter 8507091, Ben C. Wu, Linda G. Blevins

Faculty Publications

A study of treatment methods to improve the fuel characteristics of sugarcane variety B52298 was conducted. Two parent materials, whole cane (WC) and stripped cane (SC), were included in the study. The whole cane material was subjected to three treatments: (1) no treatment, WC-U; (2) a single milling, WC-M; and (3) an initial milling followed by leaching and a secondary milling, WC-MLM. Treatments (1) through (3) are in order of increasing severity. The stripped cane material was subjected to treatment (3) and designated as SC-MLM. Regardless of parent material, milling produced moisture contents of ∼50% wet basis and fiber bulk …

Compositions And Methods For Wood Preservation, Peter Laks, Patricia Heiden

Michigan Tech Patents

The invention provides a method for incorporating biocides into wood or a wood product. The method comprises incorporating an additive into a nanoparticle, applying the nanoparticle to wood or a wood particle and applying sufficient pressure to force the nanoparticle to penetrate the wood or wood particle.

Spect Imaging Of Pulmonary Blood Flow In A Rat, Christian Wieholt, Robert C. Molthen, Roger H. Johnson, Christopher A. Dawson, Anne V. Clough

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Small animal imaging is experiencing rapid development due to its importance in providing high-throughput phenotypic data for functional genomics studies. We have developed a single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) system to image the pulmonary perfusion distribution in the rat. A standard gamma camera, equipped with a pinhole collimator, was used to acquire SPECT projection images at 40 sec/view of the rat thorax following injection of Tc99m labeled albumin that accumulated in the rat's lungs. A voxel-driven, ordered-subset expectation maximization reconstruction was implemented. Following SPECT imaging, the rat was imaged using micro-CT with Feldkamp conebeam reconstruction. The two reconstructed image …

Twinscan: A Software Package For Homology-Based Gene Prediction, Paul Flicek

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

A complete mapping from genome to proteome would constitute a foundation for genome-based biology and provide targets for pharmaceutical and therapeutic intervention. This is one reason gene structure prediction has been a major subfield of computational biology for over 20 years. Many of the widely used gene prediction systems were developed in the 1990s and are unable to take advantage of the revolution in comparative genomics brought on by the sequencing of the entire genomes of an increasing numbers of vertebrates. Twinscan is a new system for high-throughput gene-structure prediction that exploits the patterns of conservation observed in alignments between …

Statistical And Dempster-Shafer Techniques In Testing Structural Integrity Of Aerospace Structures, Roberto A. Osegueda, Seetharami R. Seelam, Bharat Mulupuru, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Several techniques are known for non-destructive testing of aerospace structures, such as pulse echo, Eddy current, magnetic resonance, etc. Each of these techniques detects some faults but misses others, so it is desirable to combine (fuse) the results of these techniques. Several methods of data fusion are known. To improve the quality of fault detection, we modified the straightforward statistical method as follows: (1) we computed mean and variance iteratively: detected faults are excluded form the computation on the next iteration; (2) we treated the plate's edge and the inside separately; (3) we dismissed measurements in which only one technique …

Detection Of Cracks At Rivet Holes In Thin Plates Using Lamb-Wave Scanning, Roberto A. Osegueda, Vladik Kreinovich, Soheil Nazarian, Enrique Roldan

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

This paper describes a Lamb-wave scanning method for the detection of notches simulating cracks at rivet holes in thin plates. The approach requires the generation of an ultrasonic So-Mode Lamb wave using an incident transmitter excited with a tone burst centered at a near non-dispersive frequency. Area scans are performed of a plate with a hole with a notch to generate times series information which is used to create animations illustrating the wave propagation characteristics. The time series are subject to a sifting process to obtain intrinsic mode functions which contain narrow frequency banded information of the signals. The Hilbert-Huang …

Wright State University College Of Engineering And Computer Science Bits And Pcs Newsletter, Volume 19, Number 4, February 2003, College Of Engineering And Computer Science, Wright State University

BITs and PCs Newsletter

An eight page newsletter created by the Wright State University College of Engineering and Computer Science that addresses the current affairs of the college.

Modeling And Control Of Aeration Tanks In Wastewater Treatment Plants, Ola Diaa El Monayeri

Archived Theses and Dissertations

Enhancing the petformance level and efficiency of existing WWTPs has been an important area of research and investigation over the past decade. Several attempts have been directed towards developing computer tools for modeling and control of these plants. GPS-X program was used in this research to study the petformance of the activated sludge module of Gabal EL Asfar WWTP in Cairo, Egypt, one of the landmark projects not only in the Middle East but worldwide. This plant is designed to treat a sewage flow rate of 1.0 million m3/d for the first stage. Samples were taken from different locations at …

Using Natural Systems For Wastewater Treatment At Egyptian Coastal Resorts, Hussein Yahia Zakaria

Archived Theses and Dissertations

Reuse of treated wastewater to develop landscape areas in touristic sites is a maJor consideration in any site development plan. There is a need, however to identify an alternative method of treating wastewater at these sites other than compact units which depend on mechanical and chemical processes that adversely affect the cost of development. Often overlooked is the idea that compact units also negatively impact the architectural layout in that they must be placed in a hidden location with no relation to the guest area for aesthetic reasons. The increasing use of natural treatment systems 111 various municipal and industrial …

Fuzzy Modeling Of Skin Permeability Coefficients, Angela K. Pannier, Rhonda M. Brand, David D. Jones

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Purpose. The purpose of this work was to determine whether a new modeling methodology using fuzzy logic can predict skin permeability coefficients that are given compound descriptors that have been proven to affect percutaneous penetration.
Methods. Three fuzzy inference models were developed using subtractive clustering to define natural structures within the data and assign subsequent rules. The numeric parameters describing the rules were refined through the use of an Adaptive Neural Fuzzy Inference System implemented in MatLab. Each model was evaluated using the entire data set. Then predicted outputs were compared to the published experimental data.
Results. All databases produced …

Development Of A Web-Based Mass Transfer Processes Laboratory: System Development And Implementation, Yusong Li, Eugene J. Leboef, P. K. Basu, Louis Hampton Turnver Iv

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

A web-based environment is utilized as a means to introduce advanced mass transfer processes concepts in environmental engineering and science courses. System development and implementation is presented, including detailed descriptions of the techniques employed to link software written in high level computer languages such as C++ and FORTRAN to an internet-based, user-friendly graphical user interface for both program input and output.

Perspectives On Radioactive Waste Disposal: A Consideration Of Economic Efficiency And Intergenerational Equity, Helen R. Neill, Robert H. Neill

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

There are both internal and external pressures on the U.S. Department of Energy to reduce the estimated costs of isolating radioactive waste, $19 billion for transuranic waste at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and $57 billion for high level waste at Yucca Mountain. The question arises whether economic analyses would add to the decision-making process to reduce costs yet maintain the same level of radiological protection. This paper examines the advantages and disadvantages of using cost-benefit analysis (CBA), a tool used to measure economic efficiency as an input for these decisions. Using a comparative research approach, we find that CBA …

Inside Unlv, Gian Galassi, Richard Jensen, Carol C. Harter, Kenneth E. Marks

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

The Development Of A Biodegradable Scaffold For A Tissue Engineered Heart Valve, Thomas Adam Alheidt

Theses

In the current state of medical technology, there exists the need for a quality medical device to replace a failing heart valve. Presently, mechanical valves as well as donor tissue valves, either from humans or animals are used to replace failing heart valves. These valves although they can operate in the heart satisfactorily are not equal to the body replacing its own valve. Tissue Engineering in simple terms is the field of helping the body replace its own failing organ. In scientific terms, Tissue Engineering is a relatively young field, a majority of the major advancements have come in the …

Integrating Tolerances In G And M Codes Using Neural Networks, Vijay Kumar Sundareshan

Theses

Continuous integrated solutions from CAD down to the preparation of NC programs were developed in the recent years. However, if tolerances should be considered, the interaction of human experts is still necessary. A way to fill this gap in the production process is shown in this thesis. The study builds a relationship between the given design tolerances and including these tolerances in machining by generating respective G and M codes. The study focuses on physical phenomena and their inter-relationship while manufacturing. For example how the speed of machining, torque, power, depth of cut, etc. influences machining under specified tolerances. Artificial …

An Interface Chip For Saw Based Sensor In An Ad-Hoc Network, Yagneshwara Ramakrishna Vadapalli

Theses

The design of a smart integrated chemical sensor system that will enhance sensor performance and compatibility to ad hoc network architecture remains a challenge. This work involves the design of an interface chip for a Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) based chemical sensor where the sensor reflects the RF input and introduces a time delay proportional to the concentration of the vapors absorbed by it. The interface chip detects the frequency shift as a function of the chemical species absorbed by the sensor and alerts the ad hoc network controller when a monitored parameter exceeded some threshold, based on local processing …

Electrohydrodynamical Manipulation Of Particles Based On Dielectrophoresis, Oleksii Vasylyschuk

Theses

The movement of matter in a non-uniform electric field, termed dielectrophoresis, is of interest to scientists of various branches: physics, chemistry, engineering, and life science. To chemists and physicists it is a science of many varied phenomena. To engineers it is a source of new and useful techniques for separating materials or improving materials’ behavior. To ecologists it provides a major means of minimizing pollution. To life scientists it offers new ways to study and manipulate cells and their subparticles, and to help unravel the nature of living systems.

The purpose of this thesis is to concentrate on some aspects …

Pichia Pastoris Fermentation With Mixed-Feeds Of Glycerol And Methanol: Growth Kinetics And Production Improvement, Wenhui Zhang, Karen J. Hywood Potter, Bradley A. Plantz, Vicki L. Schlegel, Leonard A. Smith, Michael M. Meagher

Papers in Biochemical Engineering

Fed-batch fermentation of a methanol utilization plus (Mut+) Pichia pastoris strain typically has a growth phase followed by a production phase (induction phase). In the growth phase glycerol is usually used as carbon for cell growth while in the production phase methanol serves as both inducer and carbon source for recombinant protein expression. Some researchers employed a mixed glycerol-methanol feeding strategy during the induction phase to improve production, but growth kinetics on glycerol and methanol and the interaction between them were not reported. The objective of this paper is to optimize the mixed feeding strategy based on growth kinetic studies …

Creating An Entrepreneurial Culture At A Startup Engineering Program, Anthony J. Marchese, John L. Schmalzel, John C. Chen, K. Mark Weaver

Teaching Entrepreneurship to Engineering Students

In 1992, the College of Engineering at Rowan University was created as the direct result of a $100 million gift from entrepreneur Henry M. Rowan. Mr. Rowan’s requirements were that the gift be used to create a high-quality, public undergraduate engineering institution and to impact the economic development of southern New Jersey, a region which has historically lagged behind northern New Jersey. Having started with a clean curriculum slate during a period of national change in engineering curricula in response to ABET 2000, we had the opportunity to infuse an entrepreneurial culture into our engineering program from its inception. Specifically, …

Technological Innovation: An Option In The Ms In Technology Program, James R. Gray

Teaching Entrepreneurship to Engineering Students

The Technological Innovation (TI) option of the Masters of Science in Technology program emphasizes the research, development and technical management of the technological innovation process within the technology-based organization. It is structured to aid the industrial and engineering professional that is responsible for the design and development of technical processes and products. This option includes the technical management of innovation processes, research and development, information technologies, and process technologies. Participants in this option come from a wide range of technological disciplines and draw on an extensive array of theoretical and applied knowledge. This paper presents the development and implementation of …

Flight Physician - January, 2003, Civil Aviation Medical Association

Browse all Civil Aviation Medical Association Newsletters

A twenty page newsletter of the Civil Aviation Medical Association. The newsletter provided news about civil aviation medicine and information related to the organization.

Nebraska Summary: S319 Challenger Mt 565, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Recommended Strategies For Odor Control In Confinement Beef Cattle Operations, Kent Tjardes, Alvaro Garcia, Hans Stein, Charles Ullery, Stephen Pohl, Christopher Schmit

SDSU Extension Special Series

Odors coming off a beef feeding operation are generated from three different sources: the feedlot facility, waste storage, and the land where the manure is applied. In some operations, the feedlot facility may also serve as the primary waste storage area. To reduce the total amount of odor generated from a beef feeding operation, odor generation and emission by each of these three sources needs to be reduced.

Protein Structure, Function, And Folding, Dan E. Krane, Michael L. Raymer

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Presentation prepared for Intro to Bioinformatics. The lecture comprises material from the text Fundamental Concepts of Bioinformatics.