Digital Commons Network^™

Towards Better Utilization Of Nexrad Data In Hydrology: An Overview Of Hydro-Nexrad, Witold F. Krajewski, Anton Kruger, James A. Smith, Ramon Lawrence, Charles Gunyon, Radoslaw Goska, Bong Chul Seo, Piotr Domaszczynski, Mary Lynn Baeck, Mohan K. Ramamurthy, Jeffrey Weber, A. Allen Bradley, Stephen A. Delgreco, Matthias Steiner

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

With a very modest investment in computer hardware and the open-source local data manager (LDM) software from University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Unidata Program Center, a researcher can receive a variety of NEXRAD Level III rainfall products and the unprocessed Level II data in real-time from most NEXRAD radars in the USA. Alternatively, one can receive such data from the National Climatic Data Center in Ashville, NC. Still, significant obstacles remain in order to unlock the full potential of the data. One set of obstacles is related to effective management of multi-terabyte datasets. A second set of obstacles, for …

A Moving-Object Index For Efficient Query Processing With Peer-Wise Location Privacy, Dan Lin, Christian S. Jensen, Rui Zhang, Lu Xiao, Jiaheng Lu

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

With the growing use of location-Based services, location privacy attracts increasing attention from users, industry, and the research community. While considerable effort has been devoted to inventing techniques that prevent service providers from knowing a user's exact location, relatively little attention has been paid to enabling so-called peer-wise privacy-the protection of a user's location from unauthorized peer users. This paper identifies an important efficiency problem in existing peer-privacy approaches that simply apply a filtering step to identify users that are located in a query range, but that do not want to disclose their location to the querying peer. to solve …

Clustering Web Video Search Results Based On Integration Of Multiple Features, Alex Hindle, Jie Shao, Dan Lin, Jiaheng Lu, Rui Zhang

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

The usage of Web video search engines has been growing at an explosive rate. Due to the ambiguity of query terms and duplicate results, a good clustering of video search results is essential to enhance user experience as well as improve retrieval performance. Existing systems that cluster videos only consider the video content itself. This paper presents the first system that clusters Web video search results by fusing the evidence from a variety of information sources besides the video content such as title, tags and description. We propose a novel framework that can integrate multiple features and enable us to …

Development Of A Versatile Man-Portable Obscurant Aerosol Generator: Characterization Of Aerosols In Laboratory And Field Environments, Robert William Schaub

Doctoral Dissertations

"The objective of research presented in this dissertation was to develop a readily deployable and environmentally benign obscurant system operating with a single liquid for the visible and near infrared regions. To achieve this objective, research efforts were directed in two areas: i. Evaluating suitable biogenic oils to replace the United States Army's "Fog Oil" as the obscurant fluid. ii. Design, fabrication and validation of a prototype man-portable / vehicle mountable modular obscurant aerosol generator. Petroleum middle distillate - "Fog Oil" has been the material of choice for wide area obscuration for several decades. Large quantities (thousands gallons) of the …

Synthesis And Binding Studies Of Peptide Mimetics, Anion Receptors, And Kinase Inhibitors, Nanditha G. Nair

Doctoral Dissertations

"A series of novel purine-based fluoroaryl triazoles were synthesized and assayed for their neuroprotective effects of hippocampal slice culture exposed to amyloid beta (Aß) oligomers. A monofluorinated triazole has been identified which has comparable neuroprotective effect as that of flavopiridol and roscovitine against the Aß induced neurotoxicity. Carnosine and histidine are biologically interesting antioxidants. In order to probe whether they exert their antioxidant effect through metal ion chelation, the Cu(ll) ion chelating abilities of these compounds were measured by UV-vis spectroscopy. Amyloid beta, the major component of senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease, is known to complex transition metal ions through …

Approximate Policy Iteration For Semi-Markov Control Revisited, Abhijit Gosavi

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The semi-Markov decision process can be solved via reinforcement learning without generating its transition model. We briefly review the existing algorithms based on approximate policy iteration (API) for solving this problem for discounted and average reward under the infinite horizon. API techniques have attracted significant interest in the literature recently. We first present and analyze an extension of an existing API algorithm for discounted reward that can handle continuous reward rates. Then, we also consider its average reward counterpart, which requires an updating based on the stochastic shortest path (SSP). We study the convergence properties of the algorithm that does …

Arguing Security Of Generic Avionic Mission Control Computer System (Mcc) Using Assurance Cases, Bhanuchander Reddy Poreddy, Steven Corns

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An assurance case is a body of evidence organized into an argument demonstrating that some claim about a system holds, i.e., is assured. Assurance cases are used to comment about system safety, and it serves as a mean to show that the systems acceptably satisfy their safety properties. Assurance cases perform rigorous security analysis on safety-critical complex systems. in this paper, the analysis done is an approach to documenting an assurance case for system security, i.e., a security assurance case. the paper deals with the Assurance cases for Generic Avionic Mission Control Computer system, by constructing tangible claims and investigating …

Sysml Profiling For Handling Army Base Camp Planning, Dustin Nottage, Steven Corns

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Army base camp planning is a complicated process involving many variables and optional facilities. the facilities can also vary in size and resource utilization depending on permanency of the base, local resources, and population on the base. Each level of facility is modeled and placed into a library database. All of these facilities must be distinguishable for planners to come in and export the correct facility based on the mission. the first method involves separating the different levels into packages so just the package could be exported. the issue is not all facilities will fit correctly. the second method is …

Adaptive Reconfiguration Of Complex System Architecture, Khaled Haris, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, an approach for adaptive reconfiguration of architecture of a complex system using computational intelligence techniques is proposed. This paper establishes that the simulated change in the relative importance of rules reflecting the significance of customer's key performance attributes could be used to affect architectural evolution. the proposed approach was demonstrated on a sample system. It was also extended to a general system. the evolving system architecture gave the system an adaptive feature in the sense that it accepted alternative components based on the simulated changes in the environment. Architecture alternatives were generated through genetic algorithms (GA), while …

Cognition Evolutionary Computation For System-Of-Systems Architecture Development, Feng Yang, Cihan Dagli, Weiping Wang

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The evolving nature of system-of-systems requirements and corresponding architecture, and the complex causal relationship between the architecture of system-of-systems and its emergent behavior make the problem of system-of-systems architecture development a great challenge. as a tentative effort in meeting this special challenge, a new evolutionary computation paradigm- named Cognition Evolutionary Computation(CEC) is proposed, which models the creative cognition process of divergent and convergent thinking, adaptation and innovation, that drives the co-evolution of problem space, knowledge space and solution space. the optimization algorithm for CEC uses causal probabilistic network as the knowledge representation mechanism. a theoretical framework for CEC based system-of-system …

Model Development Of A Virtual Learning Environment To Enhance Lean Education, Akalpit Gadre, Elizabeth Cudney, Steven Corns

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Modern day industry is becoming leaner by the day. This demands engineers with an in-depth understanding of lean philosophies. Current methods for teaching lean include hands-on projects and simulation. However, simulation games available in the market lack simplicity, ability to store the results, and modeling power. the goal of this research is to develop a virtual simulation platform which would enable students to perform various experiments by applying lean concepts. the design addresses these deficiencies through the use of VE-Suite, a virtual engineering software. the design includes user-friendly dialogue boxes, graphical models of machines, performance display gauges, and an editable …

Local Linear Regression For Soft-Sensor Design With Application To An Industrial Deethanizer, Zhanxing Zhu, Francesco Corona, Amaury Lendasse, Roberto Baratti, Jose A. Romagnoli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Soft-Sensors for Estimating in Real-Time Important Quality Variables Are a Key Technology in Modern Process Industry. the Successful Development of a Soft-Sensor Whose Performance Does Not Deteriorate with Time and Changing Process Characteristics is Troublesome and Only Seldom Achieved in Real-World Setups. the Design of Soft-Sensors based on Local Regression Models is Becoming Popular. Simplicity of Calibration, Ability to Handle Nonlinearities And, Most Importantly, Reduced Maintenance Costs While Retaining the Requested Accuracy Are the Major Assets. in This Paper, We Introduce Several Approaches for Defining an Appropriate Locality Neighborhood and We Propose a Recursive Version of Local Linear Regression for …

Micropile Response To Combined Loading, Kyle Allen Kershaw

Doctoral Dissertations

"The familiarity and acceptance of micropiles by engineers, contractors, and owners has greatly expanded in recent years such that they are routinely considered on many projects. However, research regarding the behavior of micropiles has lagged behind. The goal of this research project was to address some of the fundamental gaps that were not addressed in engineering practice and require further study and testing. Specifically, this research studied the behavior of micropile foundations subjected to simultaneous axial and lateral (combined) loading, including an assessment of the impact of axial load on lateral behavior of micropiles. This research project consisted of three …

Modeling Of Novel Coaxial Cable Bragg Grating Sensor By Coupled Mode Theory, Songping Wu

Doctoral Dissertations

"A new sensor based on the novel concept of coaxial cable Bragg grating (CCBG) has been developed for the integrity of civil infrastructure monitoring. In this dissertation work, fundamental research is conducted in sensor modeling and applications, which correspond to the first four papers of the dissertation. A coupled mode theory (CMT) is first applied to establish a physics-based model for CCBG. A numerical solution of the coupled wave equations for CCBG has been derived and validated. As an indicator of sensor sensitivity, the quality factor (Q-factor) of CCBG as a function of sensor structural/material parameters was analytically investigated by …

Nonlinear Modeling And Simulation Of Radial Forging Process, Jian Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

"Radial forging is an important manufacturing process to produce large cannon barrels. It is used to improve the material properties and reduce the porosity of the billet. The objective of this study is to develop finite element models to investigate the behavior of the workpiece and predict the elimination of void defects in the radial forging process. A nonlinear coupled finite element model has been developed to study the behavior of a large-diameter tube subjected to mechanical and thermal loadings in hot radial forging. The model is formulated in a three-dimensional frame, accounting for both axial and circumferential effects. A …

Editorial, Mauro Forti, Paolo Nistri, Vittal S. Rao

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Fault-Tolerant 3d Clock Network, Chiao Ling Lung, Yu Shih Su, Shih Hsiu Huang, Yiyu Shi, Shih Chieh Chang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Clock tree synthesis is one of the most important and challenging problems in 3D ICs. the clock signals have to be delivered by through-silicon vias (TSVs) to different tiers with minimum skew and latency. While there are a few related works in literature, none of them considers the reliability of TSVs. Accordingly, the failure of any TSV in the clock tree yields a bad chip. the naive solution using double-TSV can alleviate the problem. But the significant area overhead renders it less practical for large designs. in this paper, we propose a novel TSV fault-tolerant unit (TFU) that can provide …

Reducing Dimensionality Of Hyperspectral Data With Diffusion Maps And Clustering With K-Means And Fuzzy Art, Louis Du Plessis, Rui Xu, Steven Damelin, Michael Sears, Donald C. Wunsch

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

It is very difficult to analyse large amounts of hyperspectral data. Here we present a method based on reducing the dimensionality of the data and clustering the result in moving toward classification of the data. Dimensionality reduction is done with diffusion maps, which interpret the eigenfunctions of Markov matrices as a system of coordinates on the original dataset in order to obtain an efficient representation of data geometric descriptions. Clustering is done using k-means and a neural network clustering theory, Fuzzy ART (FA). The process is done on a subset of core data from AngloGold Ashanti, and compared to results …

Hierarchical Mission Management, Emad William Saad, John Lyle Vian, Ryan J. Meuth, Donald C. Wunsch

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The different advantageous embodiments further provide a system for hierarchical mission management comprising a number of mission planners, a data processing system, and a communication system. The number of mission planners are associated with a number of agent groups. The data processing system is configured to execute the number of mission planners. The communication system is configured to provide communication between the number of mission planners.

Minimal And Near Minimal Congruence Lattice Representations Of Finite Lattices By Finite Algebras On Sets Of Integers, Roger Lee Bunn

Doctoral Dissertations

"We give finite congruence lattice representations of some finite distributive, modular and nonmodular lattices by means of finite algebras on sets of integers. These representations are minimal or near minimal as determined by ρ, a mapping from the class R of finitely representable lattices into the natural numbers N"--Abstract, page iii.

Femtosecond Laser Micromachining Of Microstructures For Sensing And Detection, Yukun Han

Doctoral Dissertations

"This thesis focuses on the fabrication and analysis of miniature functional devices that can be used for different sensing and detection applications. As the first step, the surface characteristics and morphology of the micro/nano structures on substrates (fused silica and silicon) fabricated in water and in air by femtosecond laser were investigated. Based on this study, three micro devices have been designed and fabricated by femtosecond laser, and they were analyzed for optical and chemical sensing and detections. The three micro devices are: 1) an optical Fabry-Perot interferometer in optical fiber (made from fused silica) with smooth cavity surfaces. The …

Applied Palynology: Multidisciplinary Case Studies From Egypt, Gulf Of Mexico And Usa, Mohamed K. Zobaa

Doctoral Dissertations

"Various applications of palynology have been used to study case studies from four different parts of the world, namely northern Egypt, offshore Gulf of Mexico, eastern Tennessee (USA), and New Orleans, Louisiana (USA). In these case studies, palynomorphs (spores, pollen, dinoflagellate cysts, and algae) have been utilized to define zones of hydrocarbon potential, reconstruct paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic conditions, constrain the ages of the studied rock sequences, and express its potential as a replacement proxy for some expensive organic geochemical analyses. The ability to detect past hurricane activities and their associated damage to the geologic record is here presented as a …

A Geological And Geophysical Study Of The Tendaho Graben In The Afar Depression, Ethiopia: Insights Into Transitional Continental Rifting, David Lee Bridges

Doctoral Dissertations

"A detailed magnetic and gravity study across the Tendaho Graben (the Red Sea propagator within the Afar Depression, Ethiopia) revealed features that can best be interpreted as a continental rift undergoing oceanization. This NW-trending extensional structure is ~50 km wide and it is confined within well-developed NW-trending boarder faults that deform the 2 km thick and ~ 2 Ma basaltic flows of the Afar Stratoids. The age of the basaltic flows becomes progressively younger inward from the boarder faults until it reaches ~30,000 years close to the rift axis. The central part of the Tendaho Graben is characterized by a …

Approximate Dynamic Programming Solutions With A Single Network Adaptive Critic For A Class Of Nonlinear Systems, Jie Ding

Doctoral Dissertations

"Approximate dynamic programming formulation implemented with an Adaptive Critic (AC) based neural network (NN) structure has evolved as a powerful technique for solving the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equations. As interest in ADP and the AC solutions are escalating with time, there is a dire need to consider possible enabling factors for their implementations. A typical AC structure consists of two interacting NNs which is computationally expensive. In this work, a new architecture, called the "Cost Function Based Single Network Adaptive Critic (J-SNAC)" is presented that eliminates one of the networks in a typical AC structure. This approach is applicable to a …

Biodegradable Polymer/Clay Nanocomposites Based On Poly(Butylene Adipate-Co-Terephthalate) And Polylactide, Mahin Shahlari

Doctoral Dissertations

"In offering a scientifically succinct methodology which leads to property-enhanced biodegradable polymer products for broader application, as well as in promoting the use of bio-sourced renewable polymers such as Polylactide (PLA) in biodegradable polymers with desirable properties from petroleum based polymers such as PBAT, this study and its results both directly and indirectly contribute to the technological solutions that address growing environmental and energy problems caused by the increased use of and reliance upon nondegradable, nonrenewable, petroleum-based plastics. This work studied blends of PBAT and PLA compounded with organoclay through direct melt mixing in a twin-screw extruder and a batch …

Quantum Electrodynamics And Fundamental Constants, Benedikt J. Wundt

Doctoral Dissertations

"The unprecedented precision achieved both in the experimental measurements as well as in the theoretical description of atomic bound states make them an ideal study object for fundamental physics and the determination of fundamental constants. This requires a careful study of the effects from quantum electrodynamics (QED) on the interaction between the electron and the nucleus.

The two theoretical approaches for the evaluation of QED corrections are presented and discussed. Due to the presence of two energy scales from the binding potential and the radiation field, an overlapping parameter has to be used in both the approaches in order to …

Modeling Hourly Electricity Prices: A Structural Time Series Approach Incorporating Modified Garch Innovations, Edirisinghe Mudiyanselage Asitha Edirisinghe

Doctoral Dissertations

"The main objective of this research is to develop time series based procedures for modeling day-ahead and real-time hourly electricity prices. Such empirical processes exhibit features that make the direct application of standard time series models infeasible. Four years of hourly day-ahead and real-time electricity price data from the region supplied by the American Electric Power (AEP) company through the PJM Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) and one half years of real-time electricity prices from the MISO RTO are utilized as an empirical basis for developing such procedures. The price data show several features, such as irregular seasonal behavior, weekly and …

Multiple Differential Study Of Fragmentation Processes In 75 Kev Proton-Molecular Hydrogen Collisions, Kisra Nayomal Egodapitiya

Doctoral Dissertations

"Double Differential Cross Sections (DDCS) were measured for single ionization of H₂ by 75 keV proton (p) impact as a function of the projectile scattering angle (θp) for a fixed energy loss (ΔE) for two different target-collimating slit distances, which determined the width of the projectile wave packet (Δx). In one case Δx was larger than the inter-nuclear separation of the H₂ molecule (coherent projectile beam), while for the other case it was much smaller than the inter-nuclear separation (incoherent projectile beam). A Young type interference pattern was observed in the coherent data, but this was not present in the …

First-Principles Studies Of Complex Hydrides For Li-Ion Battery And Hydrogen Storage Applications, Timothy Hudson Mason

Doctoral Dissertations

"We employ density functional theory in a computational study of two energy storage systems.

In the first, we explore the thermodynamic viability of light metal hydrides as a high capacity Li-ion battery negative electrode. Given a set of solid-state and gas-phase reactants, we have determined the phase diagram in the Li-Mg-B-N-H system in the grand canonical ensemble as a function of lithium electrochemical potential. We present computational results for several new conversion reactions with predicted capacities between 2400 and 4000 mAhg⁻¹ that are thermodynamically favorable and that do not involve gas evolution. We provide experimental evidence for the reaction pathway …

Interfacial Effects On Dielectric Properties Of Polymer-Particle Nanocomposites, Sasidhar Siddabattuni

Doctoral Dissertations

"Dielectric materials that are capable of efficiently storing large amounts of electrical energy are desirable for many electronic and power devices. Since the electrical energy density in a dielectric material is limited to εV_b²/2, where ε is the dielectric permittivity of the material and V_b is the breakdown strength, increased permittivity and breakdown strength are required for large energy storage density. Interfacial effects can influence the dielectric properties, especially dielectric breakdown resistance in polymer-particle nanocomposites. Several functional organophosphates were used to modify the surface of titania and barium titanate nanofiller particles in order to achieve covalent interface …