Digital Commons Network^™

Trends Of Metals (Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr, Mn, Fe, Hg And Ni) Concentration In The New Jersey Air Environment, Shobha R. Boddu

Theses

The atmospheric concentrations and relative trends of ten trace elements (Co, Cd, Fe, Hg, Pb, Ni, Zn, Cu, Cr and Mn) were studied at Elizabeth and Carteret, New Jersey from July 1987 to September 1989. The specific sites are Industrial and Residential Interface areas. The analytical procedure involved collection of the airborne particulates on a quartz microfiber filter using a high volume sampler. The samples were digested and then analyzed using the atomic absorption spectrometer. Elizabeth usually showed lower values for the metals than Carteret. Average concentrations (ng/m3) for the respective metals over the entire project are: Metal: Co Cd …

A Comparative Study Of Cadmium Uptake By Cells Of Gram-Positive And Gram-Negative Bacteria, Shubhangi Rajan Bhende

Theses

Cadmium uptake by cells of Gram-positive and Gram- negative bacteria was studied. Gram-positive and Gram- negative bacterial cells were separated from activated sludge collected from the Parsippany Troy Hills Water Pollution Control Plant (NJ) by isolating them on agar plates. These were grown separately and used for uptake experiments.

Gram-positive bacterial cells showed 17% more uptake of cadmium as compared to Gram-negative cells at 30°C and pH 6.6. More than 95% of the total cadmium removal from the solution was observed during first 5 min. of cell-metal contact time. In case of Gram-positive bacteria cadmium uptake decreased by 5-10% after …

Design Of A Real Time Optical Sensor For Continuous Blood Cell Separation, Girish S. Yerande

Theses

For continuous measurement and display of oxygen saturation and RBC content in blood during cell separation a reflection type optical sensor is designed based on the theoretical model using the photon diffusion theory. The prototype sensor consists of two arrays of light emitting diodes, red and infrared, and photodiodes. The emission wavelength of LEDs are 660 nm and 800 nm. The 800 rim which is in the infrared region is very close to isobestic value for blood. The prototype sensor is mounted on the blood cell separator equipped with an antitwister mechanism. Each LED emits a specific wavelength of light …

Biodegradation Of Polymers And Isolation And Crude Characterization Of Proteins From These Studies, Sunil S. Godbole

Theses

The performance of immobilized and free microorganisms in the biodegradation of polymers was investigated using a recirculation flow reactor and an air-sparged reactor respectively. The bio-oxidation ability of these microbes towards polyamide emulsion was studied.

Extracellular protein cuts isolated were checked for oxidative activity in a microassay reactor. These fractions were compared from various biodegradation studies.

Microassay tests and monitoring of the oxygen consumption in recirculation flow confirmed substrate dependent oxygen consumption, polyamide being provided as the sole carbon source. Increases in extracellular protein buildup were a positive indication of biodegradation.

The protein cut greater than 500,000 daltons was found …

Thermal Desorption Of Contaminated Soils, Chengdi Dong

Theses

The objectives of this research are of twofold, namely, to investigate the desorption behaviors of hazardous constituents evolved from several types of contaminated soils, and to evaluate the in-situ thermal treatment of organic chemical contaminated soil.

Two clay soil minerals and a silty sand with five organic compounds, dichlorophenol, trichlorophenol, pentachlorophenol, trichloroethylene, and tetrachloroethylene (TCE) were used in this study. The desorption behaviors were evaluated by thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and a simulator of in situ desorption by heating probes. The results of TGA analysis revealed that a completely removal of organic contaminants can be achieved in a moderate temperature. They …

Prestressed Concrete Columns Under Bending And Axial Load, Ajit Chiplunkar

Theses

A general analysis and design equation for slender and nonslender prestressed concrete columns subjected to uniaxial or biaxial moments combined with axial load is proposed. The proposed equation is an extension to the one developed by Hsu for reinforced concrete columns. The analytical results of the ultimate loads of eccentrically loaded slender prestressed columns are compared with the experimental results reported by Brown and Hall and Aroni respectively. The comparative study shows that the proposed equation of interaction diagram is in good agreement with the actual tests.

The ultimate loads of biaxially loaded short columns are also compared with the …

Non-Parametric Dominant Point Detection Algorithms, Kuo-Wei Huang

Theses

Dominant point detection is one of the most important preprocessing steps for landmark-based shape recognition and point-based motion estimation. Two new methods for detecting dominant points are presented. Both methods do not require any input parameter and the dominant points obtained by these methods remain relatively the same even when the object curve is scaled or rotated.

In the first method, for each boundary point, a support region is assigned to the point based on its local properties. Each point is then smoothed by a Gaussian filter with a width proportional to its determined support region. A significance measure for …

Quality Assurance Studies For Collection Of Whole Air Samples In Stainless Steel Canisters, For Volatile Organic Compound Determinations, Weifang Ji

Theses

Internally polished stainless steel canisters are being used in many laboratories to collect whole air samples for VOC analysis. The replacement of adsorbents for collection and concentration of VOC by canister collection, with in-laboratory cryogenic concentration, may solve some problems associated with adsorbents, such as artifact generation and breakthrough. However, the canisters can be a source of new problems, ranging from wall adsorption to memory effects.

In this work, four major contamination sources in the whole air sampling and analyzing system have been identified. They are the canister internal adsorption, the whole system transfer line, the air pump and the …

Adhesion Effects In Micro Mechanisms, Dennis Alan Kalgren

Theses

Dielectric resonators (DR) are suitably shaped objects made of high dielectric constant materials like TiO2, BaO, ZnO, and accessory ingredients, which can function as electrical resonators covering a very wide frequency range upto 40GHz. The physical dimensions of dielectric resonators are in mm range. High dielectric constant material resonators seem to be ideally suited for microwave applications because of their miniature size, low loss, insensitivity to magnetic dc biasing fields, and ability to concentrate large RF magnetic fields in small volumes. However temperature stabilization of dielectric resonators is an important consideration as the center frequency is a function of temperature. …

Design Of Spatial Linkages For Dwell Function Generation, Donald F. Kelly

Theses

Certain single-loop spatial linkages containing spherical pairs may be used as dwell function generators. Analysis and design of these linkages, however, may be too complex for the practicing engineer.

In this study a method is presented, where the set of link lengths representing a linkage are determined from a smaller set of design parameters. Graphical relationships are also found between the design parameters and functional requirements for dwell, such as output function amplitude and dwell range. These graphs may be used as design charts, and design becomes the calculation of link lengths from design parameters chosen to satisfy the functional …

Chemical Degradation Of Pcp And Polychlorophenols, Kon-Tsu Kin

Theses

There are generally two ways of removing PCP and polychlorophenols from the environment: biodegradation and photodecomposition. However, no convenient way has yet been available to destroy PCP wastes which exist in a concentrated form which may result from some cases of emergency spills. In this thesis, a chemical oxidation procedure is proposed for the destruction of PCP and polychlorophenols.

In a water medium and in the presence of base and oxidant, the PCP and model polychlorophenols destruction percentage obtained is higher than 99.8%. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)₂) are utilized as the bases, and sodium hypochlorite …

Optimum Power System Planning, Youn Tae Kyong

Theses

This thesis presents analysis method of optimum power system planning. The Gauss-Seidel iteration method is used to calculate load flow data of power system. The real and reactive powers, voltage magnitude and phase angle at each bus were obtained using Gauss-Seidel iteration method for a given IEEE sample power system. The load flow calculations were repeated under 60 percentage, 70 percentage, 80 percentage, 90 percentage, 100 percentage loading condition.

The transformation of reference frames were performed to simplify given IEEE sample power system identification. The transformation of reference frame transforms real and reactive voltage, current and impedance variables(reference frame 1) …

Image Data Compression With Neural Networks, Jianjun Li

Theses

Three efficient image coding schemes, based orb neural networks, have been developed in this thesis: (1) Neural network vector quantization (NNVQ). The main advantage of this new technology is that it can accomplish the complex encoding process much faster than the previous algorithms. Its properties are studied and demonstrated by simulations. (2) A adaptive NNVQ for image sequence coding. Simulation experiments have been carried out with 4 x 4 blocks of pixels from an image sequence consisting of 40 frames. At 0.67 bits/pixel, this scheme achieves good image quality suitable for videoconferencing systems; (3) Neural network prediction. This new prediction …

Cascading Of Arithematic Coding Method With The Lzw Algorithm, Venkat R. Maram, Nageshwar R. Kadakuntla

Theses

Two known compression algorithms appropriate for communication are the LZW algorithm and the Arithmetic Coding method. Both algorithms are adaptive and require no extra communication from the encoder to the decoder. We present a scheme to cascade these algorithms into an adaptive algorithm which achieves higher compression ratio and is appropriate for communication.

Trellis Coded Tamed Frequency Modulation In Rayleigh Fading Channels, Kiran R. Patel

Theses

It is usually difficult to reduce the effects of channel impairements on transmitted information. A fading channel is one such media in which digital communications system operates. A signal is subject to distortion in amplitude and phase when propagating towards the receiver. This puts constraint in required SNR at the receiver, for given performance. Various modulation/coding and demodulation/decoding techniques are employed to lessen the effects of fading. Bit error rate is a performance parameter that sets the criteria for signal design, system architecture and performance.

Here, a slow Rayleigh fading channel with three propagation paths possesing a scattering function of …

Selection Of Master Degrees Of Freedom In Model Reduction Techniques, Yixing Qi

Theses

Based on the model reduction technique called SEREP (System Equivalent Reduction Expansion Process), systematic ways to select the master degrees of freedom (the degrees of freedom kept in the reduced model) are developed and their usefulness is demonstrated by the examples. The following two criteria are ' developed for two specific objectives.

When we need to identify the response of the full model from the response of the reduced model (usually obtained from the experiments,) we hope to reduce the estimation error between the estimated response and the actual one. We also hope to keep the points which will have …

Modification Of Turret For Enhancement Of Internal Turning Operations On A Cnc Lathe, Talla Rajasekhar

Theses

Towards the modification of the CNC turret a complete set of tool holders have been designed. They have been manufactured and installed according to the specifications. A detailed study of MARK CENTURY 2000 controller and PartMaster is presented. Additionally a component has been designed to be machined on the CNC lathe utilizing the MC2000 part programming capabilities. The part program of the machine component has been developed utilizing various phases of MC2000's Partmaster software. The generated part program has been executed on the CNC lathe.

Effective Use Of Management Information Systems In Manufacturing, Bhavik Shah

Theses

Information is the catalyst of management and the ingredient that coalesces the managerial functions of planning, organizing, actuating and controlling. The implementation of management information system (MIS) provides the vehicle by which management process can be administered and integrated. Information is at the core of creative thinking, which leads to new ways of improving products, process and services to the invention of new devices and to discovery of new marketable concepts. Thus information for an organization has a dual application for internal operation and external marketing potential.

The organization studied was a small to medium sized batch manufacturer of healthcare …

The Kinetic Study Of Degradation Of The Azo Dyes By Photolytic Ozonation And Photolytic Hydorgen Peroxide Oxidation, Hung-Yee Shu

Theses

The experiments which study the decomposition of azo dyes such as acid red 1 and acid yellow 23 by using ozonation, photolytic ozonation and photolytic hydrogen peroxide oxidation have been studied in laboratory sized reactor and pilot scale reactor to determine the reaction rate constants.

The rate constants and mass transfer coefficients were obtained by a series of experiments of varying complexity. A reaction kinetic model which describes the contemplated experiments was developed and exercised using the Rosenbrock Hillclimb Optimization Algorithm with the Forth-Order Runge-Kutta method. The effects between different hydrogen peroxide dosages and pH level were also analyzed.

In …

Multi-Sensor System For An Articulated Robot Hand, Narendra Sucahyo

Theses

The precision and dexterity of a manipulator hand critically depends on the proper extraction and processing of sensory information. This thesis describes how a sensor system equipped with fingertip sensors and strain gauges can provide proper feedback to drive the grasp kinematics of an articulated robot hand. The grasp kinematic that provide the manipulator hand with precision and dexterity is based on impedance control. The fingertip sensors and the strain gauges are constructed of piezoresistive materials for force transduction. Through optimization, based on the sensitivity and capability of the sensors, a synergism of force and contact information can be obtained …

A Study Of Signal Cancellation Effects In Adaptive Arrays, Cheng-Der Sun

Theses

An adaptive array can automatically place pattern nulls in directions from which undesired signals (interference, jamming, or clutter, etc.) arrive and can also provide gain for a desired signal. The purpose of this study was to study the effects of the adaptive array on the desired signal while suppressing the undesired signal.

This was done by studying the transfer characteristics of the adaptive array between its input and output. In this study, C.W. jammers along with the desired signal were considered and input and output relationship of the adaptive array were determined. Several basic types of adaptive arrays were studied …

Removal Of Heavy Metal Ions From Wastewater By Foam Flotation, Xue-Jun Tang

Theses

The foam flotation technique was used to remove Cr³⁺, Cr⁶⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, Co²⁺, and Nz²⁺ from solution The simulated wastewater contained 20 - 50 ppm of each of these ions. Fe³⁺ is added into wastewater as coagulant to produce floc. These dissolved metal ions are adsorbed onto the floc and/or coprecipitate with them. The floc can be then removed from solution by foam flotation. Under optimal conditions, such as pH=6.3 - 7.4, Fe³⁺=160 ppm for hexavalent Chromium or 90 ppm for others and Lauryl Sulfate=90 ppm, …

The Optimal Design Process : Integrating Creativity And The Axiomatic Approach, John V. P. Tirrell

Theses

This thesis will show that the optimal design process incorporates both creativity and the axiomatic approach. An examination of past and current design methods will substantiate the need for the integration of these components. Creativity is the designer's tool to produce innovative designs which transcend existing design solutions. Creativity is also an integral element of the axiomatic approach to design. In the axiomatic approach, two design axioms are applied to efficiently ascertain the best design solution from the infinite number of choices. Application of the design axioms, theorems, and corollaries streamlines the design process. The integration of creativity and the …

Cad/Cam : An Analysis And Application To An Industrial Environment, Kulendu Vyas

Theses

This work is intended to explore details of CAD/CAM techniques and to check its application in medium size industry. To achieve this goal, a thorough study has been carried out on current CAD/CAM techniques, keeping in mind it's requirements, source and application, considering both the hardware and software side of it. To check application of CAD/CAM in an industrial environment, Schering Plough corporation was chosen as a subject. The main theme behind this application to the Schering Corp. was to develop the CAD/CAM capability within company, in order to gain better control over the quality and productivity, and to reduce …

Computer-Aided Planning For Automatic Assembly Of Printed Circuit Boards, Qin Xiang

Theses

A study of printed circuit board assembly in the context of process planning and optimization of assembly motion is presented. A knowledge-based system is developed utilizing software packages VP-Expert, dBase 3 for the Universal automatic assembly machines. The planning of time-optimal assembly motion falls into the travelling salesman problem whose solution is obtained using a composite algorithm. Branch-and-bound algorithm is also discussed for solving the travelling salesman problem.

Automatic Infrared Inspection Of Solder Joints On Mounted Circuit Boards, Ken Kekuan Zhou

Theses

This thesis reports the research work on automatic infrared and visual light inspections of solder joints on printed circuit boards (PCBs) utilizing an image processing system and statistical pattern recognition techniques.

A small scale image processing system, consisting of a SUN workstation and several DATACUBE modules, is set up for the research. Software packages for imaging, displaying and solder joint inspection are developed and ready for public usage.

The capability of infrared inspection for solder joints on PCBs is demonstrated. The fusing of infrared and visual light imagery for the inspection is shown to offer better results than that obtainable …

Biodegradation Of Phenol By Two Competing Microbial Species In A Sequencing Batch Reactor, Yoo-Suk Ko

Theses

Biodegradation of a single pollutant by two competing microbial species has been mathematically described for the case where a sequencing batch reactor is used. The model has been solved numerically to predict the behavior of the reactor under different operating conditions and for different kinetic expressions for biodegradation.

Experiments were performed to verify the predictions of the model. Serratia marcescens (ATCC 17991) and Pseudomonas putida (ATCC 31800) were the species used. Experiments were first performed in order to reveal the kinetics of biodegradation for each individual species. The biodegradable substance used was phenol, which was the sole carbon source in …

Impacts Of Treated Municipal Waste-Waters On Development And Growth Of Hudson-Raritan Estuary Fishes, Chien-Min Chen

Theses

The Hudson—Raritan Estuary, known as one of the worst polluted estuaries in the world, receives pollutants from many point sources. Treated municipal wastewater (TMW) counts for 13% of its total freshwater input and more than 98% of the chemicals classified as priority pollutants been infused. Because of the complexity of the input, treatment facilities cannot remove toxicants efficiently. In addition, generation of new compounds by water treatment such as chlorination occurs. Batch-to-batch variability in the chemistry of this effluent was reflected in the early life stage toxicity bioassays using mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) and winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) embryos.

TMW has …

Thermal Desorption Of Hazardous And Toxic Organic Compounds From Sand Matrices, Jaeil Kwon

Theses

Incineration processes are effective and sometimes efficient technologies for the remediation of contaminated solids which result in permanent destruction of most organic hazardous compounds. A less energy intensive, but more efficient process to remove contaminants from the soil is the application of heat and a flow of inert gas where the entire soil mass is not heated to incineration temperatures. This thermal treatment increases volatilization and often effects complete removal of organic compound depending on soil conditions and species volatility,

The goals of this research are to develop an understanding of the mass transport phenomena and adsorption thermodynamics that control …

A Comparison Of Integrated And Differential Estimates Of Flourescent Intensity Profiles Using Digital Video Image Analysis, Langfang Wu

Theses

The dynamics of macromolecular transport across microvascular walls in the hamster cheek pouch have previously been studied by other investigators using fluorescence intravital microscopy. Fluorescein Isothiocyanate labeled Dextrans (FITC-Dx) of 20,000, and 70,000 molecular weight (FITC-Dx-20 and FITC- Dx-70) were used as macromolecular probes. Values of fluorescent intensity were previously recorded on videotape as a function of distance perpendicular to leaking vessels over a period of about 2.5 hr to allow for tracer equilibration in the interstitial space. In this study, these videotapes were played back frame-by-frame and 215x130-pixel windows around each leaking vessel were selected for further analysis of …