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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 …

Development Of Hybrid Composite Bipolar Plates For Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, Nathaniel James Richie

Masters Theses

"Bipolar plates are one of the most expensive components of a PEM fuel cell and by far the heaviest. Bipolar plates are responsible for providing flow fields for reaction gases, acting as current collectors for electrons liberated during the chemical reaction inside the cell, and providing structural support for the fuel cell stack. Current PEM fuel cell bipolar plate technology is built on the use of sintered graphite which is costly and requires time-consuming machining. Furthermore, due to the brittle nature of graphite, plates must be made relatively thick which adds significant weight and volume to larger stacks, such as …

Experimental Study Of The Interaction Between Surfactants And Preformed Particle Gels, Farag Awadh Muhammed

Masters Theses

"Gel and surfactant treatment are two principle methods to reduce water production and enhance oil recovery (EOR). However, either method by itself has limitations that can be avoided by combining the two. Gel treatment can improve sweep efficiency but has little effect on micro-displacement efficiency. Surfactants are mainly used to improve displacement efficiency but have little effect on sweep efficiency. This research sought to investigate whether the combination of gel and surfactant treatments can be used to significantly enhance oil recovery while reducing water production for extremely heterogeneous mature reservoirs. A newer trend in gel treatments is preformed particle gels …

Relaxation Imaging To Characterize Lightweight Polymer-Crosslinked Aerogels, Emmalou T. Satterfield

Masters Theses

"Silica aerogels are three-dimensional assemblies of silica nanoparticles with extremely low densities. In some instances, the internal void volume is more than 90% of the total volume. The highly porous structure of the aerogels leads to attractive properties for thermal and noise insulation, due to very low thermal conductivity and very high acoustic impedance. The strength of silica aerogels has been substantially improved by casting a thin conformal polymer coating over the entire internal porous surfaces of the nanostructure. The coating reinforces the interparticle connections without significantly compromising the internal void space. To analyze and compare the properties of several …

Bi-Harmonic Atomic Force Microscopy, Santosh R. Kodandarama

Masters Theses

"In tapping mode atomic force microscopy, surface features are measured indirectly via the amplitude of the tapping cantilever. A change in surface profile is detectable only if it results in an amplitude change that is significant enough to be measured by the optics. Previous works have focused on improving sensitivity through the system's Q-factor, either by changing physical cantilever properties or using feedback control, but those approaches undesirably slow down the dynamic response. In this work we take a novel approach to sensitivity amplification by reshaping the tapping trajectory. By shaping the trajectory so that the probe spends a greater …

A Comparison Of Bootstrap, Binomial Inference, And Monte Carlo Methods For Demand Distribution Modeling, Swithin Samuel Razu

Masters Theses

"Analysis of customer preferences is one of the most important tasks in new product development. How customers come to appreciate and decide to purchase a new product impacts market share and, therefore, the success of the new product. Unfortunately, when designers select a product concept early in the product development process, the "true" customer preferences and therefore, market share of the new product is unknown. Conjoint analysis is a statistical methodology that has been used to forecast the market share of a product concept from customer preference survey data. Although conjoint analysis has been increasingly incorporated in design research as …

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 …

Crack Formation In Investment Casting Ceramic Shells, W. A. Everhart

Masters Theses

"This thesis is a collection of papers that discuss shell cracking in investment casting during pattern removal. The application of rigid polymeric foam for large investment casting patterns with complex geometries can improve the dimensional tolerances and the surface quality of the casting. However, these pattern materials have a tendency to promote crack formation in investment casting shells during pattern removal by firing.

The first two papers discuss the factors affecting shell cracking and methods to prevent it. Experimental methods were combined with finite element modeling to predict stress in the shell. A 3D nonlinear finite element model was developed …

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 …

"Long" Carbon Fiber Reinforced Concrete For Impact And Blast Resistance, Benjamin Paul Gliha

Masters Theses

"One of the most commonly used materials for protective structures and construction is traditional reinforced concrete. However, in a blast, conventional reinforced concrete (RC) is susceptible to significant spalling (small to medium size chunks of concrete detaching from the original member). The force of the blast turns spalled concrete into projectiles, resulting in secondary fragmentation and the majority of loss of life. Furthermore, the concrete debris makes for difficult and uncertain footing. Both phenomena endanger personnel and complicate post-blast recovery efforts. A very promising but barely explored change to conventional RC construction is the addition of "long" carbon fibers (fibers …

Quantitative Oxygen Imaging With A Display Screen And A Color Camera, Sanghan Park

Masters Theses

"Optical oxygen sensing uses luminophores such as metal complex dyes that respond to oxygen when illuminated by their specific excitation wavelengths. Traditional optical instruments are mostly spectrometric instruments based on the measurements of emission, absorption or reflection. There is, however, a great need to develop simple, economical, photometric detection components toward quantitative and two-dimensional imaging instruments.

In this work, familiar optoelectronic devices were utilized to demonstrate a simple determination method of gaseous oxygen both quantitatively and qualitatively. A liquid crystal display (LCD) screen and a color charge-coupled device (CCD) camera were employed as a light source for fluorescence excitation and …

Innovative Air Breathing Design And Output Control For Portable Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell, Amar Bala Sridhar

Masters Theses

"Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell Technology is an energy source that can provide several times more energy per unit volume than current lithium ion batteries that are available in the market today. The barriers that exist that prevent the fuel cell from entering the world of portable applications are mainly system architecture integration. The idea is to have a fully functioning fuel cell with optimum power output using an innovative chimney design. Tests were conducted to quantify the advantage of using a chimney with the fuel cell. Further research was done to shed light on how different chimney designs …

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 …

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 …

Continuous Monitoring Of Bioactive Glass Conversion Using Optical Biosensors, Prajakta Bhagwat

Masters Theses

"The engineered regeneration of bone is a significant challenge being undertaken to treat conditions such as traumatic casualties, bone cancer, osteoporosis, etc. Advances in hard tissue regrowth may potentially lead to significantly improved lives for millions of people. Bioactive glasses as potential materials in the fabrication of scaffolds for hard tissue regeneration have been studied recently. Bone regrowth requires maintenance of optimal levels of oxygen, glucose, phosphate, calcium, and pH. Current work at Missouri S & T's Center for Bone and Tissue Repair and Restoration focuses on developing optical biosensors to monitor: conversion of bioactive glass to hydroxyapatite, ease of …

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 …

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 …

Femtosecond And Nanosecond Laser Fabricated Substrate For Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering, Adam Hamdorf

Masters Theses

"Surface-enhanced Raman scattering has many applications to chemical science, and shows great promise in the medical field because of its ability to provide "molecular fingerprinting" of probe molecules, whereby a material can be identified and potentially quantified. This is done by enhancing the normally weak Raman spectrum by many orders of magnitude with the use of fabricated substrates. It is therefore desirable to produce repeatable substrates with high enhancement factors for identification and quantification of samples. This thesis introduces a new method for generating such a substrate. By using femtosecond laser machining, gold sputtering, and nanosecond laser annealing, gold nanoparticles …

Selective Laser Sintering Of 13-93 Bioactive Glass, Krishna C. R. Kolan

Masters Theses

"Bioactive glasses are promising materials for bone scaffolds due to their ability to assist in tissue regeneration. When implanted in vivo, bioactive glasses can convert to hydroxyapatite, the main mineral constituent of human bone and form a strong bond with the surrounding tissues, thus providing an advantage over polymer scaffold materials. Bone scaffold fabrication using additive manufacturing techniques like selective laser sintering (SLS) provide control over pore interconnectivity during the fabrication of scaffold, which helps in mimicking human trabecular bone. 13-93 glass, a third-generation bioactive material designed to accelerate the body's natural ability to heal itself, was used in …

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 …

Economic Evaluation Of Sustainable Strategies For The Transportation Sector, Yaqin Lin

Masters Theses

"Sustainable strategies are drawing growing attention as global environmental challenges increase concerns over energy consumption. As one of the most intensive consumers of energy, the transportation sector has a particular need to go green. Implementing alternative energy sources and applying advanced energy efficient technologies are two major approaches to achieve sustainability. Much work thus far used cost-effectiveness as an important criterion for assessing the practicability of sustainable strategies. However, few studies have evaluated such strategies systematically. This thesis has developed a framework of cost-effectiveness analysis to assess sustainability strategies. The framework summarizes the various effects of five representative alternative energy …

Fabrication Of Sers Active Nanostructures By Femtosecond Laser Micromachining, Matthew Aaron Olson

Masters Theses

"This work investigated the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) enhancement of gold nanoparticles on femtosecond laser created nanostructures on a silicon wafer. The goal was to use the nanostructures to assemble the nanoparticles into three-dimensional aggregates and compare these enhancements to those of two dimensional aggregates. The SERS enhancement generated by the three-dimensional structures was on average 5 x 10⁴ with a high enhancement of 1.2 x 10⁵. The magnitude of this enhancement was on par with previous experiments that tested SERS enhancements on gold nanoparticles, but it did not show any significant enhancement caused by the three-dimensional nature of the …

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 …

Mesh Optimization Of Finite Element Models Of Wellbore Stress Analysis, Ming-Yen Lee

Masters Theses

"Numerical modeling methods such as the widely used finite element method provide an excellent opportunity to analyze the wellbore state of stress for a variety of applications such as wellbore integrity, wellbore design or hydraulic fracturing. However, numerical modeling methods introduce errors by nature and may not precisely match the analytical solution if the meshing of the numerical model is not carefully taken care of. This study presents a parametric study of the meshing parameters mesh density, element type, and model size for 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional vertical wellbore models under three different types of boundary conditions, and a guideline for …

Solar Powered Residential Hydrogen Fueling Station, Aanchal Shah

Masters Theses

"Interest towards the hydrogen fuel technology is increasing but its potential benefits will not be felt until hydrogen vehicles and the fueling infrastructure captures a substantial market share. Though there has been a rapid progress in the hydrogen fuel cell technology, a major challenge to the commercialization of fuel cell vehicles is the lack of hydrogen fueling infrastructure. The development of a commercial hydrogen fueling station is a challenge due to its high initial cost and safety concerns. Residential fueling stations provide an innovative solution to this issue since they also produce electricity and heat for the residential buildings in …

Adaptive Rule-Based Malware Detection Employing Learning Classifier Systems, Jonathan Joseph Blount

Masters Theses

"Efficient and accurate malware detection is increasingly becoming a necessity for society to operate. Existing malware detection systems have excellent performance in identifying known malware for which signatures are available, but poor performance in anomaly detection for zero day exploits for which signatures have not yet been made available or targeted attacks against a specific entity. The primary goal of this thesis is to provide evidence for the potential of learning classier systems to improve the accuracy of malware detection.

A customized system based on a state-of-the-art learning classier system is presented for adaptive rule-based malware detection, which combines a …

Visual Inspection And Ground Penetrating Radar Investigation Of The Historical Pulaski County Poor Farm Cemetery, Ibrahim E. Ahmed

Masters Theses

"This thesis is a comprehensive summary of the geotechnical investigation of the Historical Pulaski County Poor Farm Cemetery, southeast Waynesville, Missouri. This research demonstrates that unmarked graves in an abandoned historical cemetery can be located using visual site inspection and ground penetrating radar techniques.

During the course of these investigations, multiple visual site inspections of Pulaski County Poor Farm Cemetery were conducted and ground penetrating radar data were acquired. Based on the visual site inspections and the interpretation of ground penetrating radar data, a total of one-hundred and fifty-one (151) graves were identified; eighty-seven (87) of the graves were mapped …

Location Privacy Policy Management System, Arej Awodha Muhammed

Masters Theses

"The advance in wireless communication and positioning systems has permitted development of a large variety of location-based services that, for example, can help people easily locate family members or find nearest gas station or restaurant. As location-based services become more and more popular, concerns are growing about the misuse of location information by malicious parties. In order to preserve location privacy, many efforts have been devoted to preventing service providers from determining users' exact locations. Few works have sought to help users manage their privacy preferences; however management of privacy is an important issue in real applications. This work developed …

Heat Transfer Augmentation In Rectangular Ducts Due To Passive Flow Destabilization, James Jackson Tinsley

Masters Theses

"The following thesis documents the comparison of surface enhancements in rectangular ducts for heat transfer enhancement of the air-side of off-road heat exchangers. Two sets of experiments were completed, one utilizing air as the working fluid, and the other utilizing water. Five air geometries and four water geometries were studied, including those with crosswise bumps, longitudinal vortex generators, and a unique rifling geometry. A smooth test section was also tested in the water experiments to verify the experimental setup. Such verification had been performed previously for the air experiments by Rucker [2007]. The experiment involved an applied constant heat flux …