Digital Commons Network^™

The Dewaterability Of Anaerobically-Digested Sludges, Hui-Ching Lee

Theses

Vacuum filtration is the most common method used for sludge dewatering. Filtering or dewatering was operated to reduce the moisture content of the sludge after anaerobic digestion treatment.

The main purpose of this study is to determine the effect of the operating conditions of anaerobic digestion system on specific resistance in sludge filtration. The anaerobic sludges used for the present study were produced from the conventional single stage system and the multiple-stage system. From the experimental results, presently obtained that it is possible to compare the advantage and disadvantage of the two different digestion systems.

In addition, the effectiveness of …

Electromagnetic Transients Program Interfacing, Enhancement And Comparison With Spice, Siswa Trihadi

Theses

The Electromagnetic Transients Program (EMTP) is a computer program used to simulate high speed power system transients. The EMTP input data structures and the rules in setting up the input data file are described in this thesis by means of two sample cases i.e an RLC series circuit and a sin le line to ground fault in power system.

The EMTP input data are very detailed an highly-structured column-dependent. To improve the user-friendliness of EMTP by ignoring the difficulty of arranging the column structures, this thesis presents the EM P User Interactive Program. Sample cases using this interactive program are …

Finite Element Analysis Of Torsional Concentric Composite Shaft Using Isoparametric Circular Element, Yee-Haur Wong

Theses

Finite Element Method is used to analyze the concentric composite material shaft subjected to torsion. Isoparametric circular ring element has been formulated to solve the one-dimensional problem. An intermaterial element at the interface has been developed to accomodate the changing modulus of rigidity.

Solutions of Prandtl's stress functions are used to compute shear stresses and torque in the composite shaft. Results of torque of the composite shaft are established using convergence tests of homogeneous solid and hollow shafts. Good agreement with classical solutions are obtained for homogeneous solid and hollow shafts.

A Torsional Concentric Composite Chart has been developed showing …

Trends Of Eom, B(A)P, Sulfates, And Nitrates In Air-Borne Particulate Matter In Eleven Proximate Locations In New Jersey During 1988, Sathish Pushpala

Theses

Air-borne particulate matter was collected at eleven proximate locations in New Jersey during the year 1988. Particulate matter was extracted in cyclohexane and acetone to separate non-polar and polar components. Particulate matter was also analyzed for B(a)P, Sulfates and Nitrates.

This report presents the inter-site and intra-site variation of concentrations of pollutants between summer and winter seasons. Levels of B(a)P varied from 0.12 to 0.03 ng/M³ between urban and rural sites. During winter, B(a)P concentrations were 5 times more than summer. Concentrations of Cyc which represent mostly primary pollutants, were found 3 times lower in rural sites. Ace fractions …

Characterization Of Material Removal In The Course Of Abrasive Waterjet (Awj) Machining, Yu Yang

Theses

The objective of this study is to develop a practical procedure for prediction of the results of abrasive waterjet (AWJ) machining. The first stage of the study involves the development of the technique for prediction of the rate of material removal in the course of abrasive waterjet (AWJ) machining. A new parameter, Exergy Distribution Density (EDD), is introduced and used in order to characterize the cutting conditions. EDD, determined as the kinetic energy of particles delivered to a unit length of the generated surface, is the function of diameters of the sapphire nozzle (Dn) and the focusing tube (Dc), the …

Temperature Scale-Up On Rotating Biological Contactor Nitrification System, Kuanchun Lee

Theses

The relationship between RBC scale-up factor (SUF) and wastewater temperature is successfully developed by using Dr. Wu's mathematical model as a basis and 114 sets of data from the operation of 8 full-scale and 5 pilot-scale RBC plants served for NH3-N removal. The SUF obtained from this study is put into practice to present the scale-up of hydraulic loading for basic full-scale RBC plant design when the pilot study results are known and the design efficiency is fixed. An additional study is made to investigate two different RBC products manufactured by Autotrol Inc. and Lyco Inc. in terms of the …

Estimating 3-D Motion And Structure Parameters Of A Rigid Planar Object By Establishing Landmark Correspondences, Herman Agustiawan

Theses

The application of a landmark based approach in recognizing 3-D rigid planar objects[3] along with two different motion and structure estimation algorithm [21][23] have been studied to perform motion and structure estimation tasks of moving objects. The recognition algorithm is based on a sphericity value derived from affine transformation that maps feature points in the object under observation from first to second view in the 2-D image space. The motion and structure estimation algorithm is based on a unique mapping given four or more feature point correspondences.

More than ten experiments have been done including small and large rigid motions. …

Recovering Surface Structure Using Direct Method, Zhu Ying

Theses

A new approach to recovering surface structure from a pair of stereo images is proposed in this thesis. The approach is based on an extension of the concept of optical flow to a spatial sequence of images. z.e., the unified optical field (DOFF). A direct method in spatial domain is developed which is able to recover surface structure that can be characterized by an Nth order polynomial equation. The order N of the surface can be one. a planar surface. or two, a cylindrical or spherical surface. for example. or any number higher than two. This is a big improvement …

Microwave Treatment Of Hazardous Wastes : Benchscale And Pilot Plant Studies, Yaoli He

Theses

Microwave treatment of hazardous wastes was studied on both bench-scale and pilot plant scales. Bench-scale studies were carried out on two processes: steam distillation to effect the removal of volatile and semi-volatile organics from substrata like soil; immobilization of heavy metals like chromium in soil.

The pilot plant work involved the start-up of a newly-installed facility and the determination of the efficiency of energy transfer from the power system to a load.

It was found that microwave generated steam within the substratum effects the distillation of naphthalene in both sandy soil and clay soil, respectively; 95% removal is effected within …

Stabilization/Solidification Of Organic Containing Wastes Using Organophilic Clay And Coal Fly Ash, Edith Lagoutte

Theses

The relative merits of eight different coal fly ashes for use in the stabilization/Solidification of a waste containing both heavy metals and pentachlorophenol were investigated. Also studied, was the possible use of either untreated or treated (with hexade-cyl ammonium bromide) clay to enhance the stabilization of the organic. The sample composition was : 62% foundry baghouse dust (or 60% if 2% clay as added to the sample), 4.5% cement, 14% coal fly ash, 19.5% water. Pentachlorophenol was chosen as represen¬tative of the organic contamination. All tests were performed after curing the samples at 22°C, 98% Rh for 28 days. The …

A Petri Net Simulation Tool, Ashish H. Shukla

Theses

A user friendly and highly interactive graphical tool for drawing, editing and simulating translated Petri Net models is developed. This SunView based tool allows simulation to be carried out in the 'step' and 'run' modes. In the 'run' mode it produces a log file of the simulation run which consists of: a) total number of tokens in the net; b) names of the transitions that fired; and c) the system state reached after each step's execution. The tool offers a new solution to the problem of modeling concurrent and interlocked systems, such as computer systems, modular software, flexible manufacturing systems …

Cascading Of Ever Adaptive Variation Of Lzw Algorithm With Arithmetic Coding Method, Ramesh Vishwanatham, Ketan Tejani

Theses

Two known compression algorithms appropriate for communication are LZW and the Arithmetic Coding method. Both algorithms are adaptive and require no extra communication from the encoder to the decoder. We have considered a variation of LZW algorithm known as Online version which result in better compression. Here we present a scheme to cascade Online LZW with Arithmetic algorithms into an Ever Adaptive data compression algorithm which achieves higher compression ratio and is appropriate for communication.

Comparison Of Methods For Generation Of Absolute Reflectance Factor Measurements For Brdf Studies, Xiaofan Feng

Theses

For remote sensing applications, there is a need for knowledge concerning the reflectance properties of natural and man-made materials as a function of measurement geometry and wavelength. This information is used to determine the so-called bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF). This study is intended to generate an absolute bidirectional reflectance factor for BRDF studies. This is accomplished by development of a goniospectroradiometer which can simulate any source-sensor-target geometry. The spectral range is from visible to near- infrared (2500 nm) with a spectral resolution of 10 nm. The study involves both theoretical and experimental work for calibration of BRDF by: (1) …

Conventional And Differential Scanning Optical Microscopy Using Higher-Order Gaussian-Hermite Beam Patterns, Peter Chrusch

Theses

This thesis addresses the problem of contrast in scanning optical microscopy by resorting to differential imaging. The use of a unique, two-wavelength laser as the coherent source in a scanning format is investigated. In particular, it is shown that the TEM10 mode of this laser provides a novel method for performing simultaneous conventional and differential microscopy. Results are presented on the use of the laser for performing differential imaging. In addition, the technique is extended to encompass a second, tunable, laser. Rather than performing electronic differentiation, the TEMi0 mode of this, second, laser provides an in-situ, optical differential microscope. Two …

Provocations: Raw Constructs In Mixed Media, Heinrich Klinkon

Theses

None provided.

The Dynamics Of Bicycling : An Analytical And Experimental Investigation To Determine The Principles Of Design, Sylvester Yen

Theses

Bicycles have existed in working order for a century. They are mechanical products whose dynamic characteristics are highly nonlinear. This has to some extent prevented detailed analysis and for the most part design has been made from practical experience. The advent of computers has markedly changed the techniques and procedures used to calculate the performance of a bicycle. Bicycling began long ago, and since the first bicycle was demonstrated, bicyclists, scientists and engineers have designed thousands of different bicycles considering safety, comfort to ride and ease of control. Nonetheless, nobody claims to fully understand bicycling. If the fundamental principles exist, …

A Detailed Mechanism For Initial Phases Of Oxidation And Pyrolysis Of Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (Mtbe), Wen-Chiun Ing

Theses

The lead phasedown in gasoline in both the U. S. and in Europe, the failure of other nonlead oxygenates (e.g. ethanol...) to significantly improve octance ratings and therefore to serve as replacement for tetra ethyl lead in gasline, and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency's restrictions on gasoline RVP (Reid Vapor Pressure) to decrease tropospheric ozone concentrations are the factors causing the rapid growth in MTBE demand. There is however no detailed chemical kinetic study on the thermal or oxidative reactions of MTBE for full understanding the behavior and characteristics of MTBE and its degradation products during combustion processes.

Detailed …

Edge Matching Of Aerial Scenery Using Fourier Descriptors, Ananth Kittappa

Theses

In this report an integrated method of classifying aerial images as related to photo stereo grammetry is discussed. In this method, an investigation of Fourier descriptors as features for the edge matching approach is carried out. The efficient calculation of the Fourier Descriptors is made possible by applying the polygonal approximation method to the original edges. In order for the features to be invariant to rotation, scaling and starting point shift, a normalization technique is adopted. Initially the Fourier Descriptors are tested for synthesized test datasets and it was proved that the variances of the Normalized Fourier Descriptors was a …

Landmark-Based Partial Shape Recognition By A Two-Stage Bam Neural Network, Xianjun Liu

Theses

In this thesis, we develop a Bitfirectional Associative Memory (BAM) based neural network to achieve partial shape recognition. To recognize objects which are partially occluded, we represent each object by a set of landmarks. The landmarks of an object are points of interest relative to the object that have important shape attributes. To achieve recognition, feature values (landmark values) of each model object are trained and stored in the network. Each memory cell is trained to store landmark values of a model object for all possible positions. Given a scene which may consist of several objects, landmarks in the scene …

Characteristic Shape Recognition With Fuzzy Dustering, Kalpesh J. Patel

Theses

The problem of shape detection has been treated as one of clustering. A fuzzy-shell clustering(FSC) has been formulated as non linear least squares with fuzzy memberships as weights. An improved FSC algorithm has been proposed based on this formulation to partition the input feature vectors into hyper-spheres. To illustrate the usefulness of improved FSC we have provided numerous examples in 2-D space. The idea has been extended to fuzzy ellipsoidal-shell clustering (rESC). A FESC algorithm has been proposed to partition the input feature vectors into ellipsoidal patterns. To substantiate our claims regarding usefulness of this algorithm we have provided many …

Microengineered Thermal Conductivity Vacuum Pressure Sensor, Sanjay Talreja

Theses

This thesis details the first designs for microengineered vacuum pressure gauges based on silicon microelectronic technology. A monolithic polysilicon air-bridge structure (supported at both ends), within a Wheatstone bridge circuit, is used as a pressure sensor. The device utilizes the change of the thermal conductivity of a gas with ambient gas pressure. The doubly supported beam functions as a temperature sensitive resistor with a negative temperature coefficient of resistivity. Thermal change of resistance monitored as a measure of ambient pressure constitutes the basis of operation for this sensor. The sensor operates over the pressure ranging from 1 Torr to 10 …

Reflection And Transmission Through Achiral-Chiral Interface, Jia-Feng Wang

Theses

Electromagnetic wave propagation through an achiral-chiral interface is analyzed via Maxwell's equations using the appropriate boundary conditions. Experimental data for reflected power from achiral-chiral interface was found to be in qualitative agreement with the analytical results. In addition, coupled mode equations for chiral cladding waveguides were derived and solved for weak coupling. The experimental results of chiral cladding waveguides show that an average of about 0.2° per cm in polarization rotation occurred. These waveguides were fabricated by using spin-coating deposition. The sense of the rotation was found to be independent of the handness of the cladding chirality, which was predicted …

Modeling And Analysis Of Electrical Properties Of Polycrystalline Silicon Films, Yunsheng Wang

Theses

In recent years, investigations on polysilicon grain structures have shown that all polysilicon films by LPCVD which are most used in today's integrated circuits are columnar in structure. In this work, a square columnar grain structure has been considered to model electrical properties of polycrystalline silicon films instead of all previous one-dimensional grain structure models. By solving Poisson's equation with certain boundary conditions, we find that the barrier height at the corners of the grain is lower than that in the one-dimensional case. Assuming the trapping state energy level as constant, we also find that this level has a value …

A Quantization Noise Feedback Technique In Pyramid Image Coding, Zhili Lin

Theses

In communication, we frequently encounter the problem about the trans-mission rate and quantization noise. That is, small quantization noise or high fidelity definitely increases transmission rate, or large quantization noise or low fidelity might require low transmission rate. In our research, we developed a quantization noise feedback technique, with which quantization noise can be reduced greatly at a given transmission rate. We applied this technique in pyramid image coding environment. An error analysis in frequency domain was carried out. Error estimation for pyramid image coding with and without quantization noise feedback was made. Finally, plenty of computer simulation confirms our …

Max/Min : A Novel Rank Order Based Filter Family, Raafat E. Kamel

Theses

In the early development of signal and image processing, linear filters were the primary tools. Their mathematical simplicity made them easy to design and implement. They also offered satisfactory performance in many applications. However, they show poor performance in other cases, such as image processing.

Nonlinear filtering offered a solution to these problems. Nonlinear filtering has undergone a lot development for a long time. Among the first known nonlinear filters was the median filter, which was proposed by Tukey. Median filter preserves signal or image details better compared to a linear filter. Later other nonlinear filters were developed, including median …

Landmark-Based Shape Recognition By A Modified Hopfield Neural Network, Kuowei Li

Theses

In this thesis, we introduce a new thethod to achieve partial shape recognition by means of a modified Hopfield neural network. To recognize partially visible object, we represent each object by a set of "landmarks." The landmarks of an object are points of interest relative to the object that have important shape attributes. Given a scene consisting of partially occluded objects, a model object in the scene is hypothesized by matching the landmarks of the model with those in the scene. A measure of similarity between two landmarks, one from a model and the other from the scene, is needed …

Decomposing Non-Product Form Queuing Lattices Through Simulated Annealing, Jr-Chin Lin

Theses

A random, heuristic search called Simulated Annealing is adapted to decompose the state transition lattice of Non-Product Form Queuing Models. Simulated Annealing Algorithm has been successfully applied to a number of optimization problem such as The Traveling Salesman Problem, Graph Partionning, Physical Computer Design, VLSI Chip Design, Image Processing,... etc. It has the advantage over other gradient descent techniques to solve the combinatorial problems. The solution can escape from local minimum by adding Boltzmann Distribution Factor to the algorithm. Most lattice of non-product form queuing models can be decomposed into Solvable Subsets through this algorithm, and solvable subset is the …

Design And Simulation Of Submicron Microelectronic Vacuum Triodes, Hou-Jun Wang

Theses

This thesis presents the first design and detailed Simulation of submicron vacuum microelectronic triodes static characteristics. In this thesis a new 5-electrode active device is emphasized.

These devices have potentially important advantages over semiconductor devices. They can be used in extreme environments. The picosecond transit time for internal electron ballistics provide optimism for very fast devices applications. It appears reasonable to fabricate these devices using standard VLSI processing equipment. Further, the micron dimension makes " vacuum microelectronic chips" a reasonable goal.

Devices are characterized for static parameters including electron trajectories, electric field contours, and voltage potential contours. The field emission …

An Interferometric Method For Evaluating Holographic Materials, Roger C. Sumner

Theses

A new method for evaluating the performance of holographic optical elements and holographic materials is described. The method involves recording a spherical holographic lens, aligning the lens in an interferometer, obtaining an interferogram, and analyzing the interferogram with fringe interpretation software . The analysis of the holographic lens provides a direct measure of the optical performance including the wavefront error or optical path difference, the point spread function, the MTF, and a set of Zernike polynomial coefficients. The aberration coefficients could prove to be very useful in quantifying the limiting performance of the holographic material as well as establishing a …

Comparative Analysis Of Single And Double Dwell Acquisition Schemes, Gurinder Singh Ahluwalia

Theses

Single and double dwell pseudonoise (PN) acquisition systems are described, explained and analyzed. These systems are designed to synchronize a locally generated PN signal with a received PN signal of unknown phase in the presence of noise. The mean, variance and an approximate probability distribution function (PDF) of the acquisition time for the single and double dwell PN acquisition schemes is developed. Intuitively, the double dwell acquisition system should be superior to the single dwell system because of the ability to quickly dismiss incorrect cells and further verify probable hits. It is shown analytically that this is in fact true …