Digital Commons Network^™

A Low-Cost Motion Tracking System For Virtual Reality Applications, Abhinav Chadda

Masters Theses

"This thesis provides an insight into the design and development of a highly effective, low-cost motion tracking system comprised of off-the-shelf (OTS) hardware for virtual reality applications. Present-day motion tracking systems usually have a high cost associated with them. A capable yet affordable OTS motion tracking system is a key enabler to make motion controlled virtual reality an accessible and ubiquitous technology.

The motion tracking system developed in this study is used in conjunction with virtual reality software towards simple and natural human-computer interface solutions. It is developed with the budget of $1,000 per system. The cost includes 2 cameras …

Design, Analysis, And Optimization Of Composite Structures For Aerospace Applications, Tyler Jason Keil

Masters Theses

"This thesis contains three papers that focus on composites that pertain to a variety of structures commonly found in the aerospace industry. The first paper presents an investigation of the stowage and deployment strength of a thin carbon fiber-reinforced polymer shell capable of being rolled and stowed in a tight rolled configuration. The intent of this structure is for use as a segment of a larger deployable reflective aperture. This study involved finite element analysis of several laminates, coupon-level and full-scale prototype testing, which provided a much needed insight and benchmark of composite shells used in this manner.

The second …

A Statewide Analysis Of Highway Safety In Arkansas, Uday R. R. Manepalli

Masters Theses

"This research concentrated on two major aspects of highway safety analysis, hotspot identification and identification of crash contributing factors on highways. The objective of the first part of this thesis is to evaluate two crash frequency, three crash severity and two composite hotspot ranking methods. Based on the limitations of the existing hotspot identification methods (HSID), crash factor method (CFM), a crash severity based HSID method is proposed. A composite rank method (F 1) based on principal component analysis is also proposed. These methods are evaluated using three tests, the site consistency test, the method consistency test, and the total …

Nomadic Amdo Tibetan Glu Folk Songs, Wendolyn Craun

Masters Theses

Tibetan glu folk songs are a literary and musical expression historically passed down from generation to generation. This regional study purposes to define the origins, influences, categories, qualities, and significance of nomadic Amdo Tibetan glu folk songs. These topics are explored within the settings of Tibetan culture, history, theory, and current usage. Recordings of twenty-seven glu folk songs accompanied by transcribed text and music offer contemporary examples of this song genre that is quickly disappearing. The ultimate goal of this study is to answer the question: What are the defining characteristics of nomadic Amdo Tibetan glu folk songs?

A Framework For Transparent Depression Classification In College Settings Via Mining Internet Usage Patterns, Raghavendra Kotikalapudi

Masters Theses

Depression is a serious mental health problem affecting the mind and body of people in our society. As of today, depression affects about 5 to 7% of the American population, which roughly translates to 14 million people! A particularly worrying concern these days is the increasing incidence of depression among college students. The problem is so severe that many US campuses have dedicated centers with mental health professionals catering to students needs. Although there are very effective treatments for depression, studies report that ~80% of depressed students do not seek any help due to the lack of perception of the …

Integrated Reliable And Robust Design, Gowrishankar Ravichandran

Masters Theses

"The objective of this research is to develop an integrated design methodology for reliability and robustness. Reliability-based design (RBD) and robust design (RD) are important to obtain optimal design characterized by low probability of failure and minimum performance variations respectively. But performing both RBD and RD in a product design may be conflicting and time consuming. An integrated design model is needed to achieve both reliability and robustness simultaneously. The purpose of this thesis is to integrate reliability and robustness. To achieve this objective, we first study the general relationship between reliability and robustness. Then we perform a numerical study …

Field Programmable Gate Array Based Multiple Input Multiple Output Transmitter, Richa Shekhar

Masters Theses

"MIMO is an advanced antenna technology compared to Single Input Single output (SISO), Multiple Input Single Output (MISO), and Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) and is used to obtain high data rate in the system. Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems have at least two transmitting antennas, each generating unique signals. However some applications may require three, four, or more transmitting devices to achieve the desired system performance. This thesis describes a comparison between different approaches like the microcontroller, ASICs and the FPGA available in the market for baseband signal generation. It also describes the design of a scalable MIMO transmitter, based …

Microcontroller-Based Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Transmitter Systems, Balaji Madapuci Kanday

Masters Theses

"Multiple-Input Multiple_output (MIMO) Systems use multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver to increase data throughput and/or system reliability. An MIMO transmitter can be implemented using a variety of approaches. This work describes some of the approaches that can be used to generate the transmitted waveforms, and discuss the features and limitation of each. In particular, it shows haw a microcontroller-based system can be used for applications which require low power consumption. This thesis also describes the high-level design of a microcontroller-based MIMO transmitter. The computational speed of the microcontroller, as compared to Field-programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and Digital …

Effect Of Initial Conditions On Molecular Mixing In A High Schmidt-Number Rayleigh-Taylor Mixing Layer, Lakshmi Ayyappa Raghu Mutnuri

Masters Theses

"Characterizing molecular mixing in Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) driven flows where the density and velocity fields are coupled is essential for developing exacting predictive models. Sensitivity of the Rayleigh Taylor mixing layer to initial conditions is a topic that is being explored extensively in interests of accurate turbulent mix model development and its direct consequence in various applications like design of inertial confinement fuel capsule and atmospheric modeling. As part of the current work, an experimental investigation of the effect of initial conditions on molecular mixing in a low Atwood number(~7.5 x 10⁻⁴), high Schmidt number(~1000), RTI driven mixing layer is …

Social Network Analysis Of The Video Bloggers' Community In Youtube, Anusha Mogallapu

Masters Theses

"This research studied the structure of the social network of the video blogger community on YouTube. It analyzed the social network structure of friends and subscribers of the 187 video bloggers on YouTube and calculated the social network measures. This thesis compares the results to the structure described by Warmbrodt et al. in 2007 and explains the reasons for the distinctions. The number of video bloggers has increased enormously, and the form of their interactions has changed. As a result, the video blogger social network has evolved from a core/periphery structure to one that is centralized. This indicates that the …

A Detailed Petrographic Analysis Of The Mt. Sheridan Roosevelt Gabbro And Associated Rock Types, Daniel Russell Lasco

Masters Theses

"The Mt. Sheridan Roosevelt Gabbro of the Wichita Mountains igneous province in Southwestern Oklahoma underwent dynamic crystallization, resulting in three distinct gabbro zones with a range of pegmatite morphologies spread throughout. The three zones are informally named the lower, central, and upper zones. The lower zone consists of a quartz and alkali feldspar poor, plagioclase and pyroxene rich, poorly altered, gabbro cumulate. The central zone is comprised of a heavily altered quartz and alkali feldspar rich gabbro with few cumulate textures. The upper zone is mineralogically and texturally identical to the lower zone, distinguished only by its higher elevation. The …

Development Of Lower Cost Imaging Systems For Laser Metal Deposition Process, Shyam Barua

Masters Theses

"Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) has been used as an additive manufacturing process in industries such as aerospace and die castings. LMD is especially useful in repair applications involving die repair. However, it is still not used widely in industry due to variations in the quality of parts. There are multiple interactions between various factors which influence the quality of deposit.

There exists a need for defect detection systems to detect any changes in the deposition quality during deposition. On demand detection enables adjustment in process parameters and minimization of rework cost.

Vision systems have been used extensively in the industry …

A Neural Network Based Approach For Path Planning On Costmap, Songjie Chen

Masters Theses

"In this thesis, a path planning method using a three-level hierarchical system model is proposed. In the top level of the hierarchy, the given location points to visit are taken as waypoints. The waypoint navigation process is formulated as a traveling salesman problem (TSP). The Lin-Kernighan algorithm is used to solve the TSP and transfer the solution to the lower level of the hierarchy. In the middle level, the path is represented by a grid-based costmap. A novel modified Grossberg neural network is designed to solve the point-to-point path planning. The bottom level of the hierarchy smoothens the path with …

Pressed Powdered Titanium And Aluminum Conical Shaped Charge Penetration Of Geological Targets, Dominique John Nolan

Masters Theses

"Conical Shaped Charge penetration into rock is dependent on the physical characteristics of the rock itself and the design and composition of the shaped charge conducting the work. This study looks at the effects of a non-typical conical shaped charge and its penetration into four different rock targets. The shaped charge is made of a liner, which is not a typical solid but instead is a pressed powdered metallic compound of Titanium (Ti) and Aluminum (AI).

The study presents the raw data from testing against rock targets that range in density, uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), tensile strength, hardness scales, and …

Simulink As A Tool For Modelling Communication Systems, Chaitri Avinash Aroskar

Masters Theses

"Simulink is a graphical tool provided by MathWorks to enable model-based design and simulation. This thesis consists of two papers which take advantage of Simulink features in order to model communication systems.

The first paper employs Simulink to create projects to supplement a purely lecture oriented course: Communication Systems I. The projects cover Linear systems, Analog modulation and Digital modulation concepts in a set of six projects. These projects have been designed based on Gagne's nine events of instruction to enhance their impact on students' learning process. The paper also outlines the advantages of this approach over the conventional programming …

Seismic Interpretation And Reservoir Characterization Of The Middle Eocene Gialo Formation, Assamoud Field, Sirte Basin, Libya, Abdalla Abdelnabi

Masters Theses

"The Gialo Formation is a major gas producing reservoir in the Assamoud Field, Sirte Basin, Libya. It is called Gialo limestone because it consists of shallow marine limestone. Seismic and well data in conjunction with the results of a previous study were used to delineate the hydrocarbon reservoir of Middle Eocene Gialo Formation of Assamoud Field area located in Eastern part of concession 6, Sirte Basin, Libya. The data include three-dimensional seismic data acquired by Sirte Company in 2009. It covers approximately an area of 150 km² and with more than 10 wells penetrating the reservoir. Seismic data were used …

Creating A Sustainable Transportation Workforce: Identifying Skills, Abilities And Knowledge For Future Transportation Workforce, Sandhya Gopalakrishnan

Masters Theses

"The recruitment and retention of a transportation workforce capable of adapting to the requirements of emerging sustainable technologies is an important concern for engineering managers in transportation. Although there is an increasing demand for transportation professionals to fill positions stemming from retirement or created by innovations in sustainable transportation systems, the supply is decreasing. The objective of this research was to fill the gap between the supply and demand of skilled workforce by presenting a life-cycle framework for recruiting and retaining the transportation workforce as part of succession planning efforts funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Transportation Education Development …

Comparison Of Matrix Pencil And Prony Analysis For Estimating Electromechanical Modes In Noisy Signals For Power System Applications, Lisa L. Grant

Masters Theses

"As modern power systems continue to grow and evolve, accurate system stability analysis and oscillation control become increasingly important to guarantee system security. Network instability due to power system oscillations caused by the natural modes of the system is becoming a common occurrence. Modal analysis techniques can estimate the eigenvalues of large nonlinear systems from their dynamics responses. The extracted modal information can be applied to detect low frequency oscillations and assess stability margins for power system monitoring and preventive control. Modal information is also useful for low-frequency oscillation damping controller design. This thesis examines two techniques for modal identification …

Assess Commercialization Feasibility Of Algae-Based Bio-Fuel With Dashboard And Scorecard Technologies, Madhur Chopra

Masters Theses

"The growing energy depleting energy supplies and increasing environmental pollution has motivated researchers across the globe to look for alternative energy sources. Various energy sources have been identified but none of them have the capability of realistically replacing the fossil fuels and meeting the current demand. Algae based bio-fuels give some hope but producing them at large scale is a challenge which needs to be overcome.

The underlying objective of this research project is two folds. Firstly, the project aims to assist with the commercialization of algae based bio-fuels by developing Dashboard based and Balanced Scorecard based monitoring prototypes. The …

Effect Of Web Atmospheric Cues On Users' Emotional Responses In Ecommerce, Tanvi Joginapelly

Masters Theses

"The internet has revolutionized the shopping experience. As consumers' emotional responses play an important role in predicting behavioral intentions and satisfaction, it is imperative to study e-commerce from an affective perspective and identify the website design features that influence consumers' emotional responses. This research adopted the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model to examine the effects of web atmospheric cues. mainly vividness and interactivity, on users' emotional responses in e-commerce, and their influence on users' purchasing intentions.

The study had three stages: First, experts in human computer interaction (HCI) were recruited and asked to evaluate and rate 25 different e-commerce websites on interactivity …

Airline Revenue Management Using A Semi-Markov Critic Algorithm, Ketaki Dilip Kulkarni

Masters Theses

"This thesis presents a novel semi-Markov actor-critic algorithm to solve the airline revenue management (ARM) problem. The ARM problem has been the subject of much research since the deregulation of the airline industry in 1978. Various heuristics and numeric techniques have been developed and continue to be developed for solving this problem, but the search for more efficient techniques is still ongoing. This work focuses on the single-leg ARM problem modeled as a semi-Markov decision problem (SMDP). For Markov decision problems that suffer from the curses of dimensionality and modeling, it is difficult to obtain solutions with classical dynamic programming. …

Experimental Investigation Of Cutting Forces, Temperature And Surface Roughness In End-Milling Of Hastelloy C-2000, Ryan Matthews

Masters Theses

"This thesis presents the results of experimental investigation of the effects of cutting parameters (spindle speed, feed per tooth, axial depth of cut and radial depth of cut) on the three components of cutting forces (F_x, F_y, F_z), workpiece temperature and surface roughness in end-milling of Hastelloy C-2000 alloy using design of experiments (DOE) and response surface methodology (RSM). End-milling experiments were conducted using 0.5 inch diameter end-mill on Cincinnati Milacron Sabre 750 vertical machining center using water based flood coolant. An inscribed central composite design of experiment was used to study the four …

Geological And Geomorphological Evolution Of The Egyptian Nile Between Aswan And Kom Ombo: A Remote Sensing And Field Study Approach, Leslie Lansbery

Masters Theses

"This work uses field and remote sensing studies to examine structural controls of the Egyptian Nile between Aswan and Kom Ombo (referred here to as AKN). This segment of the Egyptian Nile incises through Cretaceous Nubian sandstone and Precambrian crystalline rocks separated by a shallowly-dipping to theN unconformity. It was only 0.8 Ma that the Egyptian Nile connected to the rest of the sub-Sahara Africa drainage system. Prior to this time, the Egyptian Nile evolved independently through 8 phases: Pre-Eonile (Ma), Eonile (6.0-5. 4 Ma), Gulf Phase (5.4-3.3 Ma), Paleonile Phase (3.3-1.8 Ma), Desert Phase (1.8-0.8 Ma), Prenile Phase (0.8-0.4 …

Development Of A Graphical User Interface For The Study Of Parallel-Connected Solar Arrays, Nisha Nagarajan

Masters Theses

"For any solar array it is necessary to be able to harness the maximum possible power from it. A new technology is proposed to improve the efficiency of solar arrays and harness maximum potential power as well by connecting the solar panels in parallel. This thesis describes the development of a graphical user interface for the evaluation of this parallel-connected solar array technology and to compare different scenarios for solar arrays to predict the potential power output to decide the best configuration for an application. This is done via several computations and analysis of field data. The first paper describes …

Exploring Join Caching In Programming Codes To Reduce Runtime Execution, Swetha Surapaneni

Masters Theses

"This thesis describes an approach to reduce the runtime of a large program by exploring object querying and query caching in programming codes. Some object-oriented languages allow the programmers to express queries explicitly in the code, which are optimized using the query optimization techniques from the database domain. In this regard, Java Query Language (JQL) has been developed that allows object querying and performs the query optimization and query caching at runtime. The problem that has been addressed in this thesis is how to reduce the runtime of a large program during the single execution by employing an efficient cache …

Improving Student Learning Outcomes Through Personal Response Systems (Clickers), Ran Cai

Masters Theses

"The main purpose of this research was to examine the impact of Personal Response Systems (PRS) or clickers, (as they are commonly called), on student learning outcome. Student learning outcomes as measured by course grades were compared between traditional lecture format and clicker use lecture format. Student perceptions on clicker use were observed in the mean time. Statistical analysis indicated that although student conveyed positive attitude on clicker adoption, there were no significant differences in course scores between students who used clickers and students who did not.

This study also considered the influence of other factors, such as gender, student …

A Social Network Of Service Providers For Trust And Identity Management In The Cloud, Makarand Bhonsle

Masters Theses

"With the advent of a new paradigm in computing known as Cloud Computing which offers computing as a service, the inflow of a variety of service vendors is increasing constantly. One of the main challenges in this distributed network of service provisioning and deprovisioning system is the end user's privacy. Enforcing authentication and authorization protocols customized to the needs of every service provider evolves to a very intricate Identity Management System with respect to both the collaborating service providers as well as the user. This problem was addressed by the Federated Identity Management systems, where the user information is stored …

Comprehensive Evaluation Of A Computer Based Learning System, Arun Sharma Chintalapati

Masters Theses

"This thesis presents the results of a comprehensive multi-method evaluation that was conducted on the Rapid Development System (RDS), a computer-based learning environment. The development of the project was funded by a National Science Foundation grant. Prior to this evaluation, the RDS had gone through two iterations.

A pre/post evaluation was conducted using questionnaires and eye tracking. Multi-method evaluation was employed to help triangulate the results and to provide additional insights. Data from the eye tracking was used to study the influence of the RDS interface on the attention and the cognitive workload of students with respect to the learning …

Development Of Virtual Engineering Simulation For Lean Education, Akalpit Kiran Gadre

Masters Theses

"Global competition and customer demands are pressing modern industry operations to become leaner. The race among the global corporations to "go lean" demands engineers with an in-depth understanding of lean philosophies. An overview of current methods for teaching lean shows that they include small scale hands-on projects, presentations, and guest lectures. There is a need to incorporate a more immersive virtual simulation to further inspire students. Many lean simulation games are available in the market; however, they lack simplicity, ability to store the results, and modeling power.

The goal of this research is to develop a virtual simulation platform, enabling …

Analyzing Dashboard Performance In Educational, Non-Profit Sectors, Rutuja B. Honnatti

Masters Theses

"Applications of the performance dashboard in the business sector are well documented, but very little research has been performed on its implementation in higher education. The changing economic scenario has exerted pressure on universities to perform to a new standard and achieve their missions and goals. The objective of this research is to investigate if performance management dashboards can be applied to overcome challenges faced by institutions of higher education, such as lack of access to information, stakeholders not taking advantage of what is being offered, students' anxiety about not being able to find a job and strategic planning. A …