Engineering Commons^™

Prediction Of Brain Tumor Progression Using A Machine Learning Technique, Yuzhong Shen, Debrup Banerjee, Jiang Li, Adam Chandler, Yufei Shen, Frederic D. Mckenzie, Jihong Wang, Nico Karssemeijer (Ed.), Ronald M. Summers (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A machine learning technique is presented for assessing brain tumor progression by exploring six patients' complete MRI records scanned during their visits in the past two years. There are ten MRI series, including diffusion tensor image (DTI), for each visit. After registering all series to the corresponding DTI scan at the first visit, annotated normal and tumor regions were overlaid. Intensity value of each pixel inside the annotated regions were then extracted across all of the ten MRI series to compose a 10 dimensional vector. Each feature vector falls into one of three categories:normal, tumor, and normal but progressed to …

Excitation-Induced Germanium Quantum Dot Formation On Si (100)-(2×1), Ali Oguz Er, Hani E. Elsayed-Ali

Physics Faculty Publications

The effect of nanosecond pulsed laser excitation on the self-assembly of Ge quantum dots grown by pulsed laser deposition on Si (100)-(2×1) was studied. In situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction and ex situ atomic force microscopy were used to probe the quantum dot structure and morphology. At room temperature, applying the excitation laser decreased the surface roughness of the grown Ge film. With surface electronic excitation, crystalline Ge quantum dots were formed at 250 °C, a temperature too low for their formation without excitation. At a substrate temperature of 390 °C, electronic excitation during growth was found to improve the …

A Fpga-Based Architecture For Led Backlight Driving, Zhaoshi Zheng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, Light-emitting Diodes (LEDs) have become a promising candidate for backlighting Liquid Crystal Displays [1] (LCDs). Compared with traditional Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFLs) technology, LEDs offer not only better visual quality, but also improved power efficiency. However, to fully utilized LEDs' capability requires dynamic independent control of individual LEDs, which remains as a challenging topic. A FPGA-based hardware system for LED backlight control is proposed in this work. We successfully achieve dynamic adjustment of any individual LED's intensity in each of the three color channels (Red, Green and Blue), in response to a real time incoming video …

Structure Prediction For The Helical Skeletons Detected From The Low Resolution Protein Density Map, Kamal Al Nasr, Weitao Sun, Jing He

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Background: The current advances in electron cryo-microscopy technique have made it possible to obtain protein density maps at about 6-10 Å resolution. Although it is hard to derive the protein chain directly from such a low resolution map, the location of the secondary structures such as helices and strands can be computationally detected. It has been demonstrated that such low-resolution map can be used during the protein structure prediction process to enhance the structure prediction.

Results: We have developed an approach to predict the 3-dimensional structure for the helical skeletons that can be detected from the low resolution protein density …

Microstructure And Property Evaluation Of Lifepo4 Thin Films For Application In Microbatteries, Jose Marcos Mares

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The shortage of fossil fuels and the requirements to produce clean, environmental friendly, efficient, and economical energy are the principal problems in the context of energy technology for current and future generations. Therefore, advanced energy storage and conversion capabilities with higher capacity and efficiency are desired. Currently, there is an enormous interest in the development of high energy density rechargeable batteries for use in domestic applications, automotive industries and portable electronic applications. The present research focuses on the development of LiFePO4 thin films for solid-state thin-film microbatteries. The present effort was performed with a specific purpose of understanding the effect …

Renewable Energy Integration: An Approach For Micro-Grid Optimization., Nicolas Lopez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the Renewable Energy Integration Problem beginning with a literature review on the different sources of electrical energy classified as Non-Renewable and Renewable, stating that the integration of renewable sources within the pre-existing Power-Grids is a current worldwide problem that is being addressed with different approaches.

The impossibility to exactly model the different equations relating the electric output of the renewable energy sources as they relate with meteorological factors, makes the renewable sector a stochastic component of the overall mathematical model, where it can be concluded that most of the problem is in the area of the forecast. …

A Gis-Based Emission And Air Quality Impact Assessment For Evaluating Transportation Mitigation Measures, Jose Maria Mares

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The research presented here develops a framework that assesses a transportation project's air quality impact. The framework not only integrates transportation and emission modeling but also improves the accuracy of the emission estimates. In order to do this, the framework makes use of six modules: environmental conditions data input, GIS database, emission modeling, transportation network, post-processing, and graphical presentation. Each module aims to improve the quality and accuracy of the inputs used by MOBILE6.2. In addition, the framework has the capability, among other features, of presenting the emission estimates in a GIS-based modeling platform that enables the analyst to spatially …

Synthesis And Manufacture Of Photocrosslinkable Poly(Caprolactone)-Based 3d Scaffolds For Tissue Engineering Applications, Nathan Jonathan Castro

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

It is known that the body can efficiently repair hard tissue (bone) micro fractures by suturing the defect through the deposition of minerals resulting in an area that is stronger post-injury. Larger defects, however, generally cause more trouble since the body is incapable of repairing them. Bone defects can occur as a result of congenital abnormalities, trauma, or disease. Traditional methods for addressing these defects have involved the use of acellular cadaverous bone or autologous bone. Both contain innate problems associated with them; the former method can result in disease transmission, as well as very low integration with the host …

Development Of Wide Band Gap Semiconductor Materials For Renewable Energy, S.M. Sarif Masud

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Several new wide band gap semiconductor nanocomposite photocatalytic materials have been synthesized from HTiNbO5 and HNb3O8 for solar energy conversion. As a source of renewable energy, the materials are being tested to produce hydrogen fuel from water via photolysis. The materials have high surface areas, are macroporous, and have flatband potentials suitable for reducing water to create hydrogen. Under visible or ultra violet light, the materials were found to be very promising as hydrogen evolving photocatalysts. As part of the synthesis of the composites, the catalysts also exhibited excellent catalytic activity under UV light for reducing ionic platinum and gold …

Table Of Contents

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

No abstract provided.

Avoiding Sanctions At The E-Discovery Meet-And-Confer In Common Law Countries, Milton Luoma, Vicki Luoma

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The rules of civil procedure in common law countries have been amended to better deal with the requirements of electronic discovery. One of the key changes in case management is the scheduling of a meet-and-confer session where the parties to litigation must meet early in the case before any discovery procedures have begun to exchange information regarding the nature, location, formats, and pertinent facts regarding custody and control of a party’s electronically stored information (ESI). Failure to abide by the rules and participate in good faith at the meet-and-confer session can have dire consequences for the parties and lawyers involved. …

Malware Forensics: Discovery Of The Intent Of Deception, Murray Brand, Craig Valli, Andrew Woodward

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Malicious software (malware) has a wide variety of analysis avoidance techniques that it can employ to hinder forensic analysis. Although legitimate software can incorporate the same analysis avoidance techniques to provide a measure of protection against reverse engineering and to protect intellectual property, malware invariably makes much greater use of such techniques to make detailed analysis labour intensive and very time consuming. Analysis avoidance techniques are so heavily used by malware that the detection of the use of analysis avoidance techniques could be a very good indicator of the presence of malicious intent. However, there is a tendency for analysis …

Climate Change And Sea Level Rise Initiative (Ccslri), Larry P. Atkinson

CCSLRI Brochures

Brochure of the Old Dominion University Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Initiative (CCSLRI)

Climate And More Sustainable Cities: Climate Information For Improved Planning And Management Of Cities (Producers/Capabilities Perspective), C.S.B. Grimmond, Matthias Roth, Tim R. Oke, Y. C. Au, M. Best, R. Betts, Gregory R. Carmichael, Helen Cleugh, Walter F. Dabberdt, Rohinton Emmanuel, E. Freitas, K. Fortuniak, Steven Hanna, Petra M. Klein, Laurence S. Kalkstein, C. H. Liu, Alex Nickson, David Pearlmutter, David J. Sailor, James Voogt

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the last two decades substantial advances have been made in the understanding of the scientific basis of urban climates. These are reviewed here with attention to sustainability of cities, applications that use climate information, and scientific understanding in relation to measurements and modelling. Consideration is given from street (micro) scale to neighbourhood (local) to city and region (meso) scale. Those areas where improvements are needed in the next decade to ensure more sustainable cities are identified. High-priority recommendations are made in the following six strategic areas: observations, data, understanding, modelling, tools and education. These include the need for more …

Effect Of Cu Addition On The Conductivity Of Xcui-(1-X)Agi,(0.1 _ X _ 0.4) Solid Solutions., Chu Lee Peng

Student Works (2010-2019)

Silver Iodide (AgI) based superionic conductors continue to be investigated for their intriguing structure phase transformation and complex but useful ion dynamics. However, unlike the others alkali iodides, AgI does not easily admit impurities in its tetrabonded zincblende structure. Introduction of copper (I) iodide (CuI) into AgI lattice was expected to initiate and stabilize changes in structure of the cation sublattice which controls the phase stability and phase transition behavior. In the present work, silver rich xCuI-(1-x)AgI (0.1 ' x ' 0.4) have been prepared by sintering method. The mixtures were ground and pelletized before subjected to sintering temperature at …

Heat Stress Evaluation Of Protective Clothing Ensembles, Amanda Lee Pease

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Clothing directly affects the level of heat stress exposure. Useful measures to express the thermal characteristics are WBGT (wet bulb globe temperature) clothing adjustment factor (CAF) or apparent total evaporative resistance (R_e,T,_a). The CAF is assigned through laboratory wear trials following a heat stress protocol in which the air temperature and humidity are progressively increased until the participant clearly loses the ability to maintain thermal equilibrium. The critical condition is the point of thermal transition and from these conditions both the CAF and Re,T,a are computed. The first objective of this study is to compare the …

A Computational Analysis Of Cognitive Effort, Luca Longo, Stephen Barrett

Books/Book Chapters

Cognitive effort is a concept of unquestionable utility in understanding human behaviour. However, cognitive effort has been defined in several ways in literature and in everyday life, suffering from a partial understanding. It is common to say “Pay more attention in studying that subject” or “How much effort did you spend in resolving that task?”, but what does it really mean? This contribution tries to clarify the concept of cognitive effort, by introducing its main influencing factors and by presenting a formalism which provides us with a tool for precise discussion. The formalism is implementable as a computational concept and …

On The Applications Of Deterministic Chaos For Encrypting Data On The Cloud, Jonathan Blackledge, Nikolai Ptitsyn

Conference papers

Cloud computing is expected to grow considerably in the future because it has so many advantages with regard to sale and cost, change management, next generation architectures, choice and agility. However, one of the principal concerns for users of the Cloud is lack of control and above all, data security. This paper considers an approach to encrypting information before it is ‘place’ on the Cloud where each user has access to their own encryption algorithm, an algorithm that is based on a set of Iterative Function Systems that outputs a chaotic number stream, designed to produce a cryptographically secure cipher. …

Authentication Of Biometric Features Using Texture Coding For Id Cards, Jonathan Blackledge, Eugene Coyle

Conference papers

The use of image based information exchange has grown rapidly over the years in terms of both e-to-e image storage and transmission and in terms of maintaining paper documents in electronic form. Further, with the dramatic improvements in the quality of COTS (Commercial-Off-The-Shelf) printing and scanning devices, the ability to counterfeit electronic and printed documents has become a widespread problem. Consequently, there has been an increasing demand to develop digital watermarking techniques which can be applied to both electronic and printed images (and documents) that can be authenticated, prevent unauthorized copying of their content and, in the case of printed …

Accelerated Lattice Boltzmann Method For Colloidal Suspensions Rheology And Interface Morphology, Hassan Farhat

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

ACCELERATED LATTICE BOLTZMANN MODEL FOR COLLOIDAL SUSPENSIONS RHEOLOGY AND INTERFACE MORPHOLOGY

by

HASSAN FARHAT

July 2010

Advisor: Dr. Singh Trilochan

Co-Advisor: Dr. Joon Sang Lee

Major: Mechanical Engineering

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Colloids are ubiquitous in the food, medical, cosmetic, polymer, water purification and pharmaceutical industries. Colloids thermal, mechanical and storage properties are highly dependent on their interface morphology and their rheological behavior.

Numerical methods provide a cheap and reliable virtual laboratory for the study of colloids. However efficiency is a major concern to address when using numerical methods for practical applications.

This work introduces the main building-blocks for …

Far-Field Optical Nanoscopy Based On Continuous Wave Laser Stimulated Emission Depletion, C. Kuang, Wei Zhao, Guiren Wang

Faculty Publications

Stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy is one of the breakthrough technologies that belong to far-field optical microscopy and can achieve nanoscale spatial resolution. We demonstrate a far-field optical nanoscopy based on continuous wave lasers with different wavelengths, i.e., violet and green lasers for excitation and STED, respectively. Fluorescent dyes Coumarin 102 and Atto 390 are used for validating the depletion efficiency. Fluorescent nanoparticles are selected for characterizing the spatial resolution of the STED system. Linear scanning of the laser beams of the STED system along one line of a microscope slide, which is coated with the nanoparticles, indicates that a …

Finite Element Analysis Of Ring-Shaped Emission Profile In Plasma Bullet, Yukinori Sakiyama, David B. Graves, Julien Jarrige, Mounir Laroussi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Using a one-way coupled model of neutral gas flow and plasma dynamics we report a mechanism to explain the ring-shaped emission pattern that has been observed experimentally in plasma bullets at atmospheric pressure. We solve a fluid model with the local field approximation in one-dimensional cylindrical coordinates, corresponding to a cross-section of a plasma bullet. Pulselike uniform electric field is assumed to be applied perpendicular to the simulation domain. Time and spatially resolved spectroscopic measurements support the simulation results.

Experimental Studies On The Plasma Bullet Propagation And Its Inhibition, Erdinc Karakas, Mounir Laroussi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Plasma bullets generated by atmospheric pressure low temperature plasma jets have recently been an active research topic due to their unique properties and their enhanced plasma chemistry. In this paper, experimental insights into the plasma bullet lifetime and its velocity are reported. Data obtained from intensified charge-coupled device camera and time-resolved optical emission spectroscopy (OES) elucidated the existence of a weakly ionized channel between the plasma bullet and its source (such as the plasma pencil). Factors responsible for the inhibition of the propagation of the bullet, such as low helium mole fraction, the magnitude of the applied voltage, and the …

Design Of Organic Tandem Solar Cells Using Pcpdtbt: Pc61 Bm And P3ht: Pc71bm, Gon Namkoong, Patrick Boland, Keejoo Lee, James Dean

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We conducted optical and electrical simulations with the goal of determining the optimal design for conjugated polymer-fullerene tandem solar cells using poly[2,6-(4,4-bis-(2-ethylhexyl)- 4H-cyclopenta[2,1- b;3,4- b′] dithiophene)-alt-4,7-(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)] (PCPDTBT): [6,6]-phenyl C₆₁ butyric acid methyl ester (PC₆₁ BM) as a bottom cell and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT): [6,6]-phenyl C₇₁ butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM) as a top cell. The effects of photon density, absorption, balanced and unbalanced charge carrier transport, and bimolecular recombination in the two subcells were incorporated into the simulations. We found that the maximum energy conversion efficiency (η) is 9% when charge carrier mobilities in …

Robust Isothermal Electric Control Of Exchange Bias At Room Temperature, Xi He, Ning Wu, Anthony N. Caruso, Elio Vescovo, Kirill D. Belashchenko, Peter A. Dowben, Christian Binek

Kirill Belashchenko Publications

Voltage-controlled spin electronics is crucial for continued progress in information technology. It aims at reduced power consumption, increased integration density and enhanced functionality where non-volatile memory is combined with highspeed logical processing. Promising spintronic device concepts use the electric control of interface and surface magnetization. From the combination of magnetometry, spin-polarized photoemission spectroscopy, symmetry arguments and first-principles calculations, we show that the (0001) surface of magnetoelectric Cr₂O₃ has a roughness-insensitive, electrically switchable magnetization. Using a ferromagnetic Pd/Co multilayer deposited on the (0001) surface of a Cr₂O₃ single crystal, we achieve reversible, room-temperature isothermal switching …

Near-Field Radiative Transfer: Thermal Radiation, Thermophotovoltaic Power Generation And Optical Characterization, Mathieu Francoeur

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on near-field radiative transfer, which can be defined as the discipline concerned with energy transfer via electromagnetic waves at sub-wavelength distances. Three specific subjects related to this discipline are investigated, namely nearfield thermal radiation, nanoscale-gap thermophotovoltaic (nano-TPV) power generation and optical characterization. An algorithm for the solution of near-field thermal radiation problems in one-dimensional layered media is developed, and several tests are performed showing the accuracy, consistency and versatility of the procedure. The possibility of tuning near-field radiative heat transfer via thin films supporting surface phononpolaritons (SPhPs) in the infrared is afterwards investigated via the computation of …

Hydraulic Geometry Relationships And Regional Curves For The Inner And Outer Bluegrass Regions Of Kentucky, Ruth Roseann Brockman

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Hydraulic geometry relationships and regional curves are used in natural channel design to assist engineers, biologists, and fluvial geomorphologists in the efforts undertaken to ameliorate previous activities that have diminished, impaired or destroyed the structure and function of stream systems. Bankfull channel characteristics were assessed for 14 United States Geological Survey (USGS) gaged sites in the Inner Bluegrass and 15 USGS gaged sites in the Outer Bluegrass Regions of Kentucky. Hydraulic geometry relationships and regional curves were developed for the aforementioned regions.

Analysis of the regression relationships showed that bankfull discharge is a good explanatory variable for bankfull parameters such …

Investigating An Optimal Decision Point For Probability Bounds Analysis Models When Used To Estimate Remedial Soil Volumes Under Uncertainty At Hazardous Waste Sites, Charles O. Dankwah

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Hazardous waste site remediation cost estimation requires a good estimate of the contaminated soil volume. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) currently uses deterministic point values to estimate soil volumes but the literature suggests that probability bounds analysis (PBA) is the more accurate method to make estimates under uncertainty. The underlying statistical theory is that they are more accurate than deterministic estimates because probabilistic estimates account for data uncertainties. However, the literature does not address the problem of selecting an optimal decision point from the interval-valued PBA estimates. The purpose of this study was to identify the optimal …

Periodic Resource Reallocation In Two-Echelon Repairable Item Inventory Systems, Hoong Chuin Lau, Jie Pan, Huawei Song

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Given an existing stock allocation in an inventory system, it is often necessary to perform reallocation over multiple time points to address inventory imbalance and maximize availability. In this paper, we focus on the situation where there are two opportunities to perform reallocation within a replenishment cycle. We derive a mathematical model to determine when and how to perform reallocation. Furthermore, we consider the extension of this model to the situation allowing an arbitrary number of reallocations. Experimental results show that the two-reallocation approach achieves better performance compared with the single-reallocation approach found in the literature. We also illustrate how …

Waves In Materials With Microstructure: Numerical Simulation, Mihhail Berezovski, Arkadi Berezovski, Juri Engelbrecht

Publications

Results of numerical experiments are presented in order to compare direct numerical calculations of wave propagation in a laminate with prescribed properties and corresponding results obtained for an effective medium with the microstructure modelling. These numerical experiments allowed us to analyse the advantages and weaknesses of the microstructure model.