Digital Commons Network^™

An Experimental Study On Removal Cadmium From Wastewater By Emulsion Liquid Membrane, Jing-Chi Shiu

Theses

Research was conducted on cadmium, a heavy metal pollutant, extraction out of wastewater by means of an emulsion liquid membrane system. The emulsion liquid membrane was made of a carrier (di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid), a surfactant (ECA 4360J), and a stripping agent (sulfuric acid). The effects of using the following parameters on the membrane to optimize the operating conditions were investigated: type of buffer solutions, initial external phase pH, initial cadmium concentration, internal sulfuric acid concentration, impeller stirring speed, carrier concentration, surfactant concentration, and selectivity between cadmium and sodium ion.

The best performance for the system presented in this thesis was: …

Implementation Of A Geometric Hashing Technique And It's Application To 3d Molecular Structure Search, Jennifer Lynn Cerequas

Theses

This paper proposes the application of a geometric hash technique to the searching of 3D chemical structures. Chemical structures are represented in global XYZ coordinate format. An algorithm is applied to the substructures within the existing chemical structures to hash them into hash tables on disk. A query substructure is then hashed to find matches (hits) of the existing hash tables. The entries in the matching hash tables are compared to the query substructure to find the existing substructures that are an "approximate" match.

The result is a technique which allows existing substructures to be compared to a (new) query …

Assessment Of Recreation Space Along The Hudson River Waterfront In Jersey City, Nj, Darren M. Davidowich

Theses

For the past decade Jersey City, New Jersey has worked to redevelop its waterfront. The once highly industrialized waterfront is now the location of residential and commercial uses and more projects are slated for the future. Although many improvements to the physical and built environment occurred along the waterfront, many question whether enough emphasis was placed on outdoor recreation. Site assessments, field observations, and surveys of waterfront users in Jersey City, NJ were conducted to determine what uses are possible, and in the greatest demand on the waterfront. A total of (950) field observations were made of waterfront users. This …

Protocols For Packet Switched Communication And Reliable Multicasting In Fully-Dynamic Multi-Hop Wireless Networks, James Pelech

Theses

Designing protocols for a fully dynamic wireless packet switched networks pose unique challenges due to the constantly changing topology of the network. A set of protocols is presented that are capable of handling a fully dynamic wireless network in which switching centers and base stations are mobile as well as the end users. The protocols provide basic message delivery, network routing information updates, and support for reliable multicasting.

There are four contributions of this work: (i) a hierarchical architecture for a fully dynamic wireless network, (ii) improved routing and update protocols with reduced control traffic, (iii) a method to provide …

Development Of A Practical And Effective Technique To Determine The Complete Level Of Autonomic Neural Activity During Stress, Vikki Hazelwood

Theses

Clinical evidence exists to suggest that an individual's level of stress contributes to the state of many physiological and psychological disorders, The autonomic nervous system, by adjusting parasympathetic and sympathetic activity, is attributed with the control over an individual's level of neural stress. Therefore, it is desired to develop a better and quantitative understanding of the stress! autonomic system mechanism.

Previous work has been done to gain a partial understanding of such activity. The primary objective for this study is to complement and advance the previous work by determining whether there is other physiological data which could reveal more about …

Mathematical Model Of Human Sit-To-Stand And Stand-To-Sit Motion Analysis, Jayeshkumar Gandhi

Theses

In designing a device for an amputee, it is important to find those underlying principles which determine the normal human sit-to-stand task. For this purpose we have developed a mathematical model of human sit-to-stand movement, which it is possible to predict the minimum mechanical energy consumption to move from the sit-to-stand position.

To the best of author's knowledge, this thesis represents the first time that the periodic motion of stand-to-sit and sit-to-stand movements have been mathematically modeled by a simple mechanical system. A complex model, such as the one used by Seireg and Arvikar (1973) [1] that contained 31 muscles …

Catalyctic Reduction Of Nitric Oxide By Carbon Monoxide And Copper Loaded Granular Activated Carbon In The Presence Of Oxygen, Kaiwen Ma

Theses

The reduction reaction of nitric oxide (NO) by carbon monoxide (CO), and granular activated carbon (GAC) in the presence and absence of oxygen was studied in a fixed bed catalytic reactor. The conversion of NO as a function of reaction temperature was evaluated for various reductant to NO ratios and space velocities. The results show that oxygen enhanced the NO+CO reaction over copper (Cu) ion exchanged ZSM-5. About 60% NO conversion to nitrogen (N₂) was obtained at 400°C and 2,000 v/v/hr. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that CO is an intermediate in the soot-NO reaction. The …

Design, Fabrication And Characterization Of Silicon Microlenses For Ir-Ccd Image Sensors, Dhiren Pattnaik

Theses

There is a growing trend in the study of Focal Plane Arrays(FPAs) of very small microlenses, used for a wide variety of imaging and sensing applications, to increase optical efficiency. Present day sensor technology might take a different direction altogether with the development of compact, high quality, high resolution imaging microlenses, which could make the fill factor >90%. A method to increase light sensitivity of Interline Transfer(IT) type image sensors is to position microlens FPAs on top of the image sensors. FPAs are structures of small lenses which focus the incoming light on the photo sensitive part of the image …

Application Of The Internet Technology And Client/Server Paradigm For The Implementation Of Repi, Chetankumar G. Patel

Theses

There are many problems associated with Requirements Engineering such as defining the system scope, developing understanding among the communities involved in the system to be built, volatility of requirements etc. These problems may lead to poor requirements and therefore cancellation of the system development, or else the development of a system that is unsatisfactory, has high maintenance cost or is unacceptable. By improving Requirements Elicitation, the Requirements Engineering can be improved, leading to a better requirements specification and eventually a better product.

Requirements Elicitation requires effective communication among the team members, as communication is the key factor. Easing communications between …

A Meeting Of Minds : Coalitions, Representations And American Non-Governmental Organizations In The Brazilian Amazon, Lise Fernanda Sedrez

Theses

American environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have created and spread in the last decade a particular representation of the Amazon rainforest among the public and policy-makers. This new representation contrasts with earlier American representations of the Amazon in that it has been more responsive to local (Amazon) concerns and agendas. This greater responsiveness is a direct result of strategic coalitions with Brazilian NGOs by must US NGOs. US NGOs may avoid charges of "environmental imperialism" and obtain larger legitimacy in their action in the Amazon by opting for the coalition strategy. However, this option also stresses the differences between two environmental …

Investigation Of Pathophysiologic Trends In Caucasian And Afro-American Hypertensives By Means Of Heart Rate Variability Recording During Upright Tilt-Table Testing, Jose F. Torrealba

Theses

The incidence of hypertension is more prevalent among the Afro-American population than the Caucasians and there is not a satisfactory explanation for this discrepancy.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) has been demonstrated to reflect the relative activities of the sympathetic (SMP) and parasympathetic (PSMP) divisions of the autonomic nervous system (ANS).

This study consisted in comparing the HRV, as well as the blood pressure (BP) of four different groups during up-right tilt table testing. The subjects were grouped by age, gender, race and health condition. Analysis in time and frequency domain was applied to the data. In the frequency domain, the …

Orthogonal Transmultiplexers : Extensions To Digital Subscriber Line (Dsl) Communications, Xueming Lin

Dissertations

An orthogonal transmultiplexer which unifies multirate filter bank theory and communications theory is investigated in this dissertation. Various extensions of the orthogonal transmultiplexer techniques have been made for digital subscriber line communication applications.

It is shown that the theoretical performance bounds of single carrier modulation based transceivers and multicarrier modulation based transceivers are the same under the same operational conditions. Single carrier based transceiver systems such as Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) and Carrierless Amplitude and Phase (CAP) modulation scheme, multicarrier based transceiver systems such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) or Discrete Multi Tone (DMT) and Discrete Subband (Wavelet) Multicarrier …

A Model For Travel Mode Switching, Lei Cao

Dissertations

Transportation policy research assesses the effect of policy changes such as the imposition of a parking charge or the augmentation of passenger rail service, on individual travel behavior. Over the last few decades, Conditional Lo it Model has been strongly advocated among discrete choice models for transportation policy study due to its ease of estimation and realistic outcomes.

This dissertation analyzes the necessity of the entry of constraints in the indirect utility function. These functions are used in discrete choice models and form the basis for travel demand modeling. This dissertation proposes a hypothesis that the explicit entry of constraints …

Biodegradation Of Pah Contaminated Soil And Sludge Using Non-Ionic Surfactants, Seema Narula

Dissertations

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are one of the most prevalent environmental pollutants contaminating a large number of industrial and Superfund sites. Low solubility and sorption to solid surfaces limit biodegradation rates of PAHs in the environment. Bioremediation of these compounds have been previously tested with partial success. In the present study, aerobic biodegradation of three PAHs (fluorene, phenanthrene, and pyrene) has been studied in shaker flasks, batch fermenter, and bioslurry reactor, in the presence of non-ionic surfactants. A mixed bacterial culture derived from both a refinery sludge and an activated sludge was used as the seed population in the degradation …

Flag : The Fault-Line Analytic Graph And Fingerprint Classification, Ching-Yu Huang

Dissertations

Fingerprints can be classified into millions of groups by quantitative measurements of their new representations - Fault-Line Analytic Graphs (FLAG), which describe the relationship between ridge flows and singular points. This new model is highly mathematical, therefore, human interpretation can be reduced to a minimum and the time of identification can be significantly reduced.

There are some well known features on fingerprints such as singular points, cores and deltas, which are global features which characterize the fingerprint pattern class, and minutiae which are the local features which characterize an individual fingerprint image. Singular points are more important than minutiae when …

Decentralized Reliable Control For Large-Scale Lti Systems, Zhengfang Chen

Dissertations

Reliable control concerns the ability of closed loop system to maintain stability and regulation properties during arbitrary sensor, controller, and actuator failure. Reliable control research has been an active research topic for more than 10 years.

Recent approach for reliable control includes the H∞ method, the algebraic factorization design, and the robust servomechanism control. These methods have been surveyed and discussed in this thesis with the robust servomechanism control methodology serving as the basis of the research development of this work.

In this thesis, the reliable control for large-scale, multi-input/output linear system is considered. Two concepts of reliable control …

Numerical Study Of Three-Dimensional Free Convection From Semi-Enclosed Geometry And Discontinuous Heat Sources, Aklilu T.G. Giorges

Dissertations

Three-dimensional natural convection from three-by-three array of isoflux heat sources mounted on one vertical wall of semi-enclosed region has been numerically investigated. Detailed thermal information of this important engineering configuration is currently not available. The major objective of this study was to obtain this needed thermal and velocity information.

The semi-enclosed geometry can be viewed as a thin rectangular region with four closed and two open sides. The open surfaces are located at the top and adjacent side. For the fluid air, Pr = 0.71, the study covered a heat flux based Rayleigh number (Ra) range of (10² ≤ …

Effects Of Surfactants And Fenton's Reagents On Extraction And Destruction Of Phenanthrene In Spiked Sand, Ming-Chin Chang

Dissertations

In this study, surfactants and Fenton's reagents (Fe(II) and H₂0₂) ere proposed to solve contaminated site problems in situ on a lab scale. Phenanthrene is a simple PAHs (polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons). The phenanthrene spiked ottawa sand simulated contaminated soil. HPLC was used for phenanthrene analysis because it provided excellent separation and no interference. Six surfactants (including nonionic and ionic) were tested. The operating conditions were optimized based on process and economic considerations such as reaction time, mixing speed, concentrations of surfactants and concentrations of Fenton's reagents. Surfactants could effectively dissolve phenanthrene from the spiked sand. In …

Parameter Optimization For Curl Distortion In Building Parts Using 3-D Laser Stereolithography, Laurel A. Hanesian

Theses

The curl distortions in rapid prototyping using 3-D laser stereo lithography occur as the top layers shrink after being drawn and attaching to the bottom layers. The amount of curl is dependent upon the how much shrinkage the layer has finished prior to adhesion. It is also dependent on how deep the cure of the top layer amounts to as it adheres into the bottom layer. This thesis investigated the effect of build parameters on the distortions associated with the diagnostic 'Letter-H' shaped test part. The same parameters were also considered in a time optimization study, using calculated, predicted results …

Development And Characteristics Of Carbon Nitride Thin Solid Films For Advanced Coating Applications, Muhammad A. Hussain

Theses

Carbon nitride films were synthesized on silicon substrate by reactive magnetron sputtering of graphite target in an environment of Ar and nitrogen gas. The performance of a negative carbon ion source was also investigated to use the source in negative ion-beam-assisted deposition. These films were synthesized at room temperature at a constant pressure of 5 mtorr and at 300 Watts R.17 power, but at different composition of nitrogen in Ar-N₂ gas mixture ranging from 0-53 percent. The films deposited were microscopically smooth, amorphous and their properties found to be varied with nitrogen composition in plasma. The deposition rate was …

Voc Removal From Nitrogen By A Membrane-Based Combined Absorption-Stripping Process, Boya Xia

Theses

A regenerative membrane-based absorption process has been extensively studied to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from air/N₂ using silicone oil as absorbent. The absorbent liquid is regenerated by applying vacuum in a membrane-based stripper. In this process, there are no flooding, loading and entrainment, which limit the gas/liquid flow rate in the traditional absorption process. In the present study, attention has been focused on the removal of volatile component(s) from binary gas mixtures such as methanol-N₂, and toluene-N₂, and from a model multicomponent mixture of gasoline vapor constituents and nitrogen. The process performance was tested …

Thermodynamic Properties Of Chlorocarbons And Kinetic Analysis For A- And B -Addition Of Oh+C2h3cl, Li Zhu

Theses

Thermodynamic properties, ΔHf°₂₉₈, S°₂₉₈ and Cp(T) 300≤T/K≤1500, for C₁, C₂ chlorocarbons are calculated by AM1 and PM3 in MOPAC6, then compared with the literature data. AM1- and PM3-derived S°298 and Cp(T) (300≤T/K≤1500) are found to be consistent with the literature (Rd ≤ ± 5%). ΔHf°₂₉₈ of CH₂Cl₂, CH₂ClCH₂Cl, CH₂ClCHCl₂, CHCl₂CHCl₂, and C₂Cl₄ and C₂Cl₂ calculated by PM3 as well as ΔHf°₂₉₈ of CCl₄, C₂HCl₃, …

Kinematic Analysis Of A Swash-Plate Mechanism Using Transformation Matrices, David Edgar Evans

Theses

The swash-plate mechanism is used to transfer rotational motion into translational motion and vice versa. Using transformation matrices to describe each joint, the displacements of the swash-plate mechanism were analyzed. The general transformation matrix model for the plane joint, not previously developed using transformation matrices, was presented. The solution was tested using a computer program. Examples of three different swash-plate angles; 10, 45, and 25' were considered. The solution was found to agree with previous solutions while offering a more complete description of the mechanism. Future work in this area could include a complete static, velocity, and/or dynamic analysis of …

Introduction To Pollution Prevention Concepts In Freshman Chemistry Through Simulations And Hypermidia, Aniraban Bhaumik

Theses

As citizens of the 20th century, a key issue we all are aware of is degradation of the environment. In the interest of teaching the environmental issues to freshmen engineers, this study develops a computer aided learning/teaching (CAL/T) tool.

This CAL/T tool consists of Internet based multimedia courseware and intelligent simulations. The courseware assembles the fundamentals of chemistry associated with current environmental issues such as air pollution, stratospheric ozone layer depletion and environmentally sensitive or 'clean' manufacturing. The courseware targets early and comprehensive understanding of pollution prevention concepts with a focus on environmentally friendly manufacturing. The courseware includes: on-line text, …

Dynamic Friction Measurement, Modeling, And Compensation For Precise Motion Control, Simon Cohn

Theses

In this thesis, measurements of dynamic friction in a hydrodynamic journal bearing were performed for varying sinusoidal velocity excitations, loads, and lubricants. The results indicate that the friction data displays a negative slope in the mixed region of friction vs. velocity (f-v) curves, and also shows that the dynamic friction is not just a function of current velocity, but also a function of velocity history (hysteresis). These results are in agreement with previous experimental investigations by other investigators in lubricated friction.

Secondly, a dynamic friction model is fully explored and partially extended to provide quantitative agreement to measured friction values. …

Investigation Of Optical Properties Of Inp, Ain And Sapphire For Applications In Non-Contact Semiconductor Process Monitoring, Rajasekhar Velagapudi

Theses

The objective of this thesis was to develop a reliable multi-wavelength pyrometer for simultaneous measurement of the wafer temperature and its optical properties in the wavelength range of 1 to 20 microns and temperature range of 30 to 1500° C. The spectral emissometer has been utilized for measurement of the temperature dependent optical properties of InP, AlN and Sapphire. The experimental results presented in this thesis showed that the measurement of high temperature optical properties could be performed reliably with a novel approach using the spectral ernissometer. The temperature determination capability of the emissometer was tested and verified using a …

Optimal Synthesis Of A Planar Four-Bar Function Generator Based On Imderect Measure Of Structural Error, Robert Ellis

Theses

A novel technique for optimal synthesis of a planar four-bar function generator is presented. An indirect measure of structural error is used to formulate an objective function which, along with its derivatives, is straightforward to evaluate and results in an elegant and robust algorithm. Lagrange multipliers are used to incorporate the loop closure constraint into the objective function.

In this thesis, the formulation of the objective function and the minimization algorithm are described, examples are presented, and the virtues and shortcomings of the algorithm are discussed.

Performance Enhancement Of Linear Robotic Workcell Using Dsp Based Control, Kedar Arvind Godbole

Theses

Robotic Controllers have for the major part been computer implementations of PID or similar controllers. In this thesis DSP based control of a Robotic Workcell is presented. The control algorithms used with the DSP based controller are Input Shaping and also State Feedback. Input Shaping is a Feed Forward strategy for eliminating vibration under certain conditions. In this thesis Input Shaping is applied to the performance enhancement of a linear robot system. Although feedback control strategies offer higher accuracy and are much more robust, feedforward strategies offer possibilities for improving the response time. Input Shaping is successfully applied to the …

A Design-For Retirement Rating Model For Environmentally Conscious Products, Xin He

Theses

Design-For-Retirement is a concept that allows one to design a product such that its retirement time and post-life treatment are optimized to lead to the minimum environmental impact and maximum financial gain. Retired product parts or subassemblies face three primary multi-lifecycle engineering treatments. The first one is to recondition them for reuse in the next lifecycle. The second one is to convert their post life parts into a material form for recycling back into new parts. The last is to dump or landfill them. Each option has a significantly different environmental cost-benefit ratio. Another important concern is the dismantling process …

Applications Of Internet Technology For Requirements Elicitation, Deepak Pandit

Theses

During the Requirements Elicitation part of a project various stakeholders need to be able to communicate their requirements to the developers, and the developers need to be able communicate their understanding back to the stakeholders. Communication between the various members of the project is the key factor during the Requirements Elicitation part of a project. Easing communications between stakeholders and developers makes the process of eliciting requirement easier, leading to better requirements specification and eventually a better product.

The Requirements Elicitation Process through Internet (REPI) web site has been designed and implemented to explore this idea. The prototype version of …