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Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

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Comparison Of Numerical Simulation To Existing Experimental Data Involving Downwash Wake Reduction For The V-22 Osprey, Brian O'Hara Jan 2005

Comparison Of Numerical Simulation To Existing Experimental Data Involving Downwash Wake Reduction For The V-22 Osprey, Brian O'Hara

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

It is of interest to develop numerical techniques to simulate the implementation of blowing slots on a V-22 Osprey airfoil in order to alleviate downwash. In order to develop these techniques, two separate experiments were simulated and the numerical results were compared with the experimental data. The first experiment used in comparison was performed by Fort F. Felker at the NASA's AMES Research Center in 1990. The second experiment was done by Chad Riba and Gerald M. Angle at West Virginia University in 2003.;The commercially available RNG k-e turbulence model with enhanced wall treatment found in Fluent 6.1 was used …

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Evaluate The Adaptability Of Present Licensing Requirements To New Nuclear Fuels For Use In Current Reactors, Samuel A. Paletta Jan 2005

Evaluate The Adaptability Of Present Licensing Requirements To New Nuclear Fuels For Use In Current Reactors, Samuel A. Paletta

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Currently there is no comprehensive plan available for the methodology, timeline, and cost structure needed when licensing for new nuclear fuels, cladding, and geometry. By combining various sources from the NRC, nuclear vendor documents, and experience from engineers who have worked on licensing standard nuclear materials, a methodology, timeline, and cost structure for licensing new fuels, cladding, and geometry was developed. The specific scenarios of fuels, cladding, and geometry were used to outline the common advantages and disadvantages of changing the physical properties or physical structure of the standard nuclear fuel assembly. From these changes, the timeline and costing analyses …

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Data Mining Framework, Hemambika Payyappillil Jan 2005

Data Mining Framework, Hemambika Payyappillil

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this document is building a framework for working with clinical data. Vast amounts of clinical records, stored in health repositories, contain information that can be used to improve the quality of health care. However, the information generated from these records depends vastly on the manner, in which the data is arranged. A number of factors need to be considered, before information can be extracted from the patient records. This document deals with the preparation of a framework for the data, before it can be mined.;One of the issues to deal with is information about the patient contained …

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The Effect Of Adding Multiple Triangular Vortex Generators On The Leading Edge Of A Wing, Francisco Adolfo Pino Romainville Jan 2005

The Effect Of Adding Multiple Triangular Vortex Generators On The Leading Edge Of A Wing, Francisco Adolfo Pino Romainville

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The goal of this research was to investigate preliminary test data obtained by Professor Robert E. Bond at the University of Tennessee in the year 2001. Dr. Bond added triangular horizontal flat plates (vortex generators) to the leading edge of a wing, to delay flow separation at high angles of attack. The present approach was both experimental and computational. The experimental method was used to determine, with the aid of smoke, the angle of attack at which the wing stalled. For this qualitative method a wing (airfoil NACA 0015) was used. It had a 32 inch span and attached to …

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Characterization Of Noise And Design Of Active Noise Control Technology In Longwall Mines, Arunkumar R. Rai Jan 2005

Characterization Of Noise And Design Of Active Noise Control Technology In Longwall Mines, Arunkumar R. Rai

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Production and safety have always been a prime issue for mining industry and mining engineers, who strive hard to achieve the critical balance between them. Hearing loss and uneasy working environment are few common ones affecting the health statistics of a underground mine. As a result, recent years there have been the focus on to develop an engineering controls to reduce the underground noise. Unique work has been done in this thesis to add additional information on the active noise control technology applied to Longwall mining operations.;Mostly, the survey results indicated that the frequency content of each noise and the …

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Multi-Layer Feed Forward Neural Networks For Foreign Exchange Time Series Forecasting, Bina R. Setyawati Jan 2005

Multi-Layer Feed Forward Neural Networks For Foreign Exchange Time Series Forecasting, Bina R. Setyawati

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation examines the forecasting performance of multi-layer feed forward neural networks in modeling five weekly foreign exchange rates: Australian Dollars/U.S. Dollars (AUS/USD), Euro/U.S. Dollar (EUR/USD), Swiss Franc/U.S. Dollar (CHF/USD), British Pound sterling/U.S. Dollars (GBP/USD), and Japanese Yen/U.S. Dollars (JPY/USD). There are five objectives to accomplish. The first is to determine the key modeling factors that should be considered in topology determination. The second is to compare the performances of Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Modified Tabu Search (TS) in choosing the topology for Neural Networks (NN) implementation. The third is to investigate the suitable learning algorithm for NNs for time …

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Detecting Malingered Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Using The Morel Emotional Numbing Test-Revised (Ment-R) And The Miller Forensic Assessment Of Symptoms Test (M-Fast), Julia M. Strunk Jan 2005

Detecting Malingered Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Using The Morel Emotional Numbing Test-Revised (Ment-R) And The Miller Forensic Assessment Of Symptoms Test (M-Fast), Julia M. Strunk

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

From feigning psychosis to avoid prosecution to claiming an anxiety disorder to receive disability insurance, people from all socioeconomic and educational backgrounds have been suspected of or found to be malingering (Rogers, 1997). The present study investigated the utility of two assessment measures in detecting malingered PTSD: the Morel Emotional Numbing Test-Revised (MENT-R) and Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test (M-FAST). The Detailed Assessment of Posttraumatic Stress (DAPS) was used as the criterion variable for the following groups: clinical PTSD, subclinical PTSD, honest responders, and coached malingerers. Total scores on the MENT-R distinguished among the four groups of participants. The …

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Forestry Transfer Students: A Case Study. West Virginia University Forest Resources Management Curriculum., James B. Harrold Jan 2005

Forestry Transfer Students: A Case Study. West Virginia University Forest Resources Management Curriculum., James B. Harrold

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

College students are constantly transferring from one university, college or community college to another; or transferring within one university program to another. At West Virginia University, Division of Forestry, Forest Resources Management Curriculum, transfer students are enrolling at an increasing rate each year. This study is an attempt to determine the impact the transfer student has on the Forest Resources Management Curriculum at West Virginia University. The study addressed present and possible future impacts on the curriculum and present problems and suggested solutions associated with the transfer student. Student transfers in the Forest Resources Management Curriculum at West Virginia University …

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Multi-Heuristic Theory Assessment With Iterative Selection, Kareem Ammar Dec 2004

Multi-Heuristic Theory Assessment With Iterative Selection, Kareem Ammar

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Modern day machine learning is not without its shortcomings. To start with, the heuristic accuracy, which is the standard assessment criteria for machine learning, is not always the best heuristic to gauge the performance of machine learners. Also machine learners many times produce theories that are unintelligible by people and must be assessed as automated classifiers through machines. Theses theories are either too large or not properly formatted for human interpretation. Furthermore, our studies have identified that most of the data sets we have encountered are satiated with worthless data that actually leads to the degradation of the accuracy of …

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Development Of New Protocols To Evaluate The Transverse Loading Of Mine Ventilation Stoppings, Thomas M. Barczak Dec 2004

Development Of New Protocols To Evaluate The Transverse Loading Of Mine Ventilation Stoppings, Thomas M. Barczak

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The transverse loading requirement for stoppings as specified in the current Code of Federal Regulations is 39 psf. This measure is based on physical testing of a freestanding wall in accordance with ASTM E 72 specifications, where the dominant parameter is the tensile strength of the sealant. A new protocol based on rigid arching is proposed to determine the true transverse load capacity of stoppings. Arching is achieved by the restraint of the stopping against the mine roof and floor, whereby compressive forces are developed within the wall. A laboratory procedure using the NIOSH Mine Roof Simulator (MRS) to simulate …

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Development Of A Program To Gather And Process Data From Oil And Gas Fields, Joshua R. Cook Dec 2004

Development Of A Program To Gather And Process Data From Oil And Gas Fields, Joshua R. Cook

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In this thesis new software is developed to examine the needs and available options to gather information from oil and gas fields and to analyze data in an efficient manner. The program outlines potential setups as well as practical analysis techniques. The result is a program to store field data and capability to analyze input in different formats.;The developed system uses accounting, economics, engineering, and management concepts to process data. The program uses the relationships between field data gathered in a number of methods. The developed program provides a useful tool for the engineer to gather oil and gas field …

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Recycling Of Plastics Derived From End-Of-Life (Eol) Electronic Equipment, Xiufang Cheng Dec 2004

Recycling Of Plastics Derived From End-Of-Life (Eol) Electronic Equipment, Xiufang Cheng

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research work focuses on a chemical process to separate mixed plastics from EOL electronic equipment.;The most prominent components of waste plastics, PC (Polycarbonate), PS (Polystyrene) and ABS (Acylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) from obsolete computers are taken to be samples in this work. Qualitative analysis was carried out to identify these samples using FT-IR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscope). Quantitative analysis was performed using Elemental Analyzer to get the calibration curves for PC/PS and PC/ABS. A number of organic solvents were investigated to dissolve the desired samples. A series of separation experiments were carried out with PC/PS, PC/ABS, and PC/PS/ABS mixtures under …

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Effectiveness Of Electrical Demand Reduction Strategies, Chandra Gopalakrishnan Dec 2004

Effectiveness Of Electrical Demand Reduction Strategies, Chandra Gopalakrishnan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A common notion in the industry is that energy is an overhead and not related directly to the product. Measures that reduce electric demand are usually considered in isolation and their effect on the other costs related to the product is ignored. This is especially true for multi-product operations where the demand for various products is not constant and it is hard to track the costs associated with each product. This research takes a software based approach to analyze how a demand reduction measure affects the carrying cost, stockout cost, labor cost, electric usage cost and electric demand cost. This …

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Constraint-Based Facilities Planning, Tafazzul Ahmed Khan Dec 2004

Constraint-Based Facilities Planning, Tafazzul Ahmed Khan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In recent years a large variation of production volume for the mass-production products happens frequently due to the changes in technology and market. Those changes cause introduction of new products having shorter life cycles, thus enforcing modification and renewal of production facilities much earlier than their lifetime. A model was built to assess the impact of manufacturing parameters on the effectiveness of the layout and the material handling system. A relationship was developed between variations in production oriented parameters and its impact on the facility size and final cost of the product being manufactured exclusively in terms of machine time, …

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Design And Development Of A Target-Costing Model For Machining, Ameet Kokatnur Dec 2004

Design And Development Of A Target-Costing Model For Machining, Ameet Kokatnur

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In today's intensely competitive and highly volatile business environment, consistent development of low cost and high quality products meeting the functionality requirements is a key to a company's survival. Companies continuously strive to reduce the costs while still producing quality products to stay ahead in the competition. Many companies have turned to target costing to achieve this objective. Target costing is a structured approach to determine the cost at which a proposed product, meeting the quality and functionality requirements, must be produced in order to generate the desired profits. It subtracts the desired profit margin from the company's selling price …

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Diffractive Optical Lens Design And Fabrication For Integrated Monitoring Of Microelectromechanical Lateral Comb Resonators, William Brent Mccormick Dec 2004

Diffractive Optical Lens Design And Fabrication For Integrated Monitoring Of Microelectromechanical Lateral Comb Resonators, William Brent Mccormick

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Analysis of fault characteristics and control of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is becoming increasingly important as these devices are incorporated into safety critical systems. Mechanically decoupled monitoring techniques are needed to ensure that accurate, low-noise positional information is gathered from these devices during operation. Optical monitoring has been shown by various groups to be capable of achieving this goal. However, Integrated Optical Monitoring (IOM) must be achieved in order to enable incorporation with the MEMS die in a single package for effective lifetime system monitoring. This research addresses the design, fabrication and testing of diffractive optical elements (DOES) for achieving IOM. …

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Empirical Assessment Of Architecture-Based Reliability Of Open-Source Software, Ranganath Perugupalli Dec 2004

Empirical Assessment Of Architecture-Based Reliability Of Open-Source Software, Ranganath Perugupalli

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A number of analytical models have been proposed earlier for quantifying software reliability. Some of these models estimate the failure behavior of the software using black-box testing, which treats the software as a monolithic whole. With the evolution of component based software development, the necessity to use white-box testing increased. A few architecture-based reliability models, which use white-box approach, were proposed earlier and they have been validated using several small case studies and proved to be correct. However, there is a dearth of large-scale empirical data used for reliability analysis. This thesis enriches the empirical knowledge in software reliability engineering. …

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Geotechnical Investigation Of Montrose Wetland Site, Christopher R. Ryan Dec 2004

Geotechnical Investigation Of Montrose Wetland Site, Christopher R. Ryan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this investigation is to obtain the geotechnical characteristics of the site and to aid in the creation of a proposed engineered wetland at Montrose, West Virginia. The tests performed in the laboratory to obtain the soil properties were: water content, Atterberg limits (liquid and plastic limits), grain size (sieve analysis and hydrometer), specific gravity, field density, and hydraulic conductivity. Tests were performed on soil samples taken from the site during installation of monitoring wells. Results from tests were used in the classification of soil. Additional samples were reconstructed to determine the permeability of the soil. These tests …

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Contextual Biometric Watermarking Of Fingerprint Images, Nikhil C. Tungala Dec 2004

Contextual Biometric Watermarking Of Fingerprint Images, Nikhil C. Tungala

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research presents contextual digital watermarking techniques using face and demographic text data as multiple watermarks for protecting the evidentiary integrity of fingerprint image. The proposed techniques embed the watermarks into selected regions of fingerprint image in MDCT and DWT domains. A general image watermarking algorithm is developed to investigate the application of MDCT in the elimination of blocking artifacts. The application of MDCT has improved the performance of the watermarking technique compared to DCT. Experimental results show that modifications to fingerprint image are visually imperceptible and maintain the minutiae detail. The integrity of the fingerprint image is verified through …

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Finite Element Analysis Of Interaction Between Actin Cytoskeleton And Intracellular Fluid In Prechondrocytes And Chondrocytes Subjected To Compressive Loading, Sundar Viswanathan Dec 2004

Finite Element Analysis Of Interaction Between Actin Cytoskeleton And Intracellular Fluid In Prechondrocytes And Chondrocytes Subjected To Compressive Loading, Sundar Viswanathan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Prechondrocytes exhibit a change in their actin cytoskeletal arrangement when subjected to loading. This study looks at the implications of the altered solid-fluid interactions due to this change. A 2-D Finite element model of a cell was developed. A solid-fluid interaction solution procedure was validated and used to determine fluid flow/pressure in a cell when subject to deformation. These values were then used to calculate fluid flow induced stresses on individual actin fibers. The results suggest that prechondrocytes alter their cytoskeletal structure to reduce stresses as a result of fluid flow due to deformation of the cell.

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Limiting Dns Covert Channels And Network Validated Dns, Rex D. Mccracken Dec 2004

Limiting Dns Covert Channels And Network Validated Dns, Rex D. Mccracken

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Despite the variety and number of network security devices and policies available, sensitive data, such as intellectual property and business data, can still be surreptitiously sent via the Internet to unscrupulous receivers. Furthermore, few security mechanisms address securing or limiting covert channels. This study defines a framework for determining a rule set to minimize covert channel capacity on the DNS protocol specifically. The information and techniques used in this study may be useful in aiding security professionals and developers with enforcing security policies on DNS and other Internet protocols.;This research resulted in the development of a rudimentary tool, referred to …

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Behavior Of Frp Wrapped Concrete Cylinders, Renee R. Rajappa Dec 2004

Behavior Of Frp Wrapped Concrete Cylinders, Renee R. Rajappa

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In this research, increases in strength, stiffness and ductility due to external wrapping of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) sheets on plain and steel reinforced concrete cylinders were studied. The research focused on behavior of plain and wrapped concrete cylinders with respect to parameters such as: (1) concrete compressive strength (fc'); (2) fiber orientation of CFRP wrap (0°, 45° and +/-45°); (3) cylinder size (3" x 6", 4" x 8", 6" x 12"); (4) number of CFRP wraps (1, 3, 6); (5) wrapping height and location (top and bottom, middle); (6) degree of fabric wetting; and (7) degree of bonding …

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Resonant Optical Waveguide Biosensor Characterization, Shantanu Pathak Dec 2004

Resonant Optical Waveguide Biosensor Characterization, Shantanu Pathak

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The importance of miniaturized sensors for quick and accurate assessments of a broad spectrum of hazardous biological agents has been highlighted by recent high profile events. Integrated optical devices based on evanescent wave interrogation techniques can register minute refractive index changes enabling detection of bioagents on the sensor surface and providing a potential for compact structure combined with a possibility of detecting several analytes simultaneously by fabricating multiple devices on the same chip. Most commonly integrated optical interrogation techniques suffer from issues of optical alignment and fabrication complexities. In addition the materials used to fabricate integrated optical devices experience drifts …

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Multispectral Segmentation Of Whole-Brain Mri, Nitya Krishnan Dec 2004

Multispectral Segmentation Of Whole-Brain Mri, Nitya Krishnan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a widely used medical technology for diagnosis and detection of various tissue abnormalities, tumor detection, and in evaluation of either residual or recurrent tumors. This thesis work exploits MRI information acquired on brain tumor structure and physiological properties and uses a novel image segmentation technique to better delineate tissue differences.;MR image segmentation will be important in distinguishing between boundaries of different tissues in the brain. A segmentation software tool was developed that combines the different types of clinical MR images and presents them as a single colored image. This technique is based on the fuzzy …

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Trace Detection Of Mercury Using Boron-Doped Diamond Electrodes, Latha Ramakrishnan Dec 2004

Trace Detection Of Mercury Using Boron-Doped Diamond Electrodes, Latha Ramakrishnan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This Project was undertaken to develop electrochemical techniques using Boron-doped Diamond (BDD) electrodes for the purpose of detecting mercury in solutions in the ppb-ppt range. Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV) was used successfully to develop calibration curves for mercury detection in standard solutions in the ppb-ppt range, followed by using these curves for mercury measurements in unknown samples. DPV experiments were performed in nitrate, thiocyanate and chloride media. Investigation in the chloride medium is important since practical samples always contain chloride impurities. The formation of calomel in chloride medium is avoided on the BDD surface by the co-deposition of 3ppm of …

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Development Of A Test Method To Measure "In-Use" Emissions From Stationary And Portable Diesel Sources, Gurudutt A. Nayak Dec 2004

Development Of A Test Method To Measure "In-Use" Emissions From Stationary And Portable Diesel Sources, Gurudutt A. Nayak

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A cost-effective, accurate and easy-to-use in-field test method was developed that would allow regulatory bodies, such as the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to determine in-use compliance with emission standards for newly manufactured portable and stationary engines. As emissions measured during an engine-dynamometer test do not faithfully reflect real-world emissions, a test method that functions like an Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) type test method was developed. Only concentration measurements of pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen (NO x) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are required to determine compliance using this "compliance factor, F" approach. Hence, errors introduced due to engine work …

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Forensic Analysis Of Digital Evidence From Palm Personal Digital Assistants, Christopher M. Mcnemar Dec 2004

Forensic Analysis Of Digital Evidence From Palm Personal Digital Assistants, Christopher M. Mcnemar

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Personal Digital Assistants are becoming more affordable and commonplace. They provide mobile data storage, computational, and network abilities. When handheld devices are involved in a crime, forensic examiners need tools to properly retrieve and analyze data present on the device. Unfortunately, forensic analysis of handheld devices is not adequately documented and supported.;This report gives an overview of Palm handheld development and current forensic software related to Personal Digital Assistants. Procedures for device seizure, storage, imaging, and analysis are documented. In addition, a tool was developed as part of this work to aid forensic examiners in recovering evidence from memory image …

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Real-Time Video Compression Using Dvq And Suffix Trees, Pavan Kumar Vedantam Dec 2004

Real-Time Video Compression Using Dvq And Suffix Trees, Pavan Kumar Vedantam

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Video processing is a wide and varied subject area. Video compression is an important but difficult problem in video processing. Several methods and standards exist which address this problem with varying degrees of success depending on the performance measures adopted. The present research work focuses on the real-time aspect of video processing.;In particular we propose a real-time video compression algorithm based on the concept of differential vector quantization and the suffix tree. Differential vector quantization is a relatively new area that focuses on efficient compression of data. The present work integrates the compression provided by Differential vector Quantization and the …

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Effect Of Driving Cycles On The Particulate Mass And Number Emissions From In-Use Heavy Heavy-Duty Diesel Vehicles, Sairam Thiagarajan Dec 2004

Effect Of Driving Cycles On The Particulate Mass And Number Emissions From In-Use Heavy Heavy-Duty Diesel Vehicles, Sairam Thiagarajan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study focused primarily on the particle mass and number emission from various in-use heavy heavy-duty diesel vehicles operating on different driving cycles. Chemical speciation results are also presented to discuss the formation and composition of particles emitted during various cycles. Tests were performed with West Virginia University's Transportable Heavy Duty Vehicle Emissions Testing Laboratory located at Riverside, California. Five vehicles were selected to cover a wide range of model year from 1989 to 2004. All five vehicles were subjected to chemical speciation and analysis conducted by Desert Research Institute. WVU employed the use of the Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer …

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Models Of High-Temperature Desulfurization Using Zinc-Based Sorbents, Yong Zhang Dec 2004

Models Of High-Temperature Desulfurization Using Zinc-Based Sorbents, Yong Zhang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study focuses on determining models that are currently available to describe gas-solid reactions to predict the observed (experimental) results from a series of TGA experiments. Variations of the GPM (Grainy Pellet Model) were used and shown to give good agreement with experimental conversion histories of zinc oxide particle undergoing sulfidation using H2S at temperature in the range of 482 to 593 degree centigrade.;By using SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) and Visilog(TM) imaging analysis software, the grain size distribution and grain sphericity can be obtained.;The basic forms of the SCM (Shrinking Core Model) and GPM models could not predict correctly the …

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