Engineering Commons^™

An Exploration Of A Discrete Rhombohedral Lattice Of Possible Engineering Or Physical Relevance, Jim Mcgovern

Conference Papers

A particular discrete rhombohedral lattice consisting of four symmetrically interlaced cuboctahedral or cubic point lattices is described that is interesting because of the high degree of symmetry it exhibits. The four constituent lattices are denoted by four colours and the composite lattice is referred to as a 4-colour rhombohedral lattice. Each point of the 4-colour lattice can be referenced by an integer 4-tuple containing only the positive non-zero integers (the counting numbers). The relationship between the discrete rhombohedral lattice and a discrete Cartesian lattice is explained. Some interesting aspects of the lattice and of the counting-number 4-tuple coordinate system are …

Material Perturbations To Enhance Performance Of The Theile Half-Width Leaky Mode Antenna, Jason A. Girard

Theses and Dissertations

Microstrip traveling-wave antennas, often referred to as leaky-wave antennas, have been shown to radiate when the dominant or fundamental mode is suppressed and the first higher-order mode is excited. One such microstrip variation is the Thiele Half-Width (THW) antenna, which operates from 5.9 - 8.2 GHz for this research. Increasing the bandwidth over which the THW antenna radiates is desired, as is a fundamental understanding of the propagation characteristics over this region. This dissertation seeks to vary or perturb the material and physical properties of the THW antenna, including strip-width variations and modifications of the substrate layer, to achieve these …

Predicting The Hydrogen Pressure To Achieve Ultralow Friction And Diamondlike Carbon Surfaces From First Principles, Haibo Guo, Yue Qi, Xiaodong Li

Faculty Publications

Hydrogen atmosphere can significantly change the tribological behavior at diamond and diamondlike carbon (DLC) surfaces and the friction-reducing effect depends on the partial pressure of hydrogen. We combined density functional theory modeling and thermodynamic quantities to predict the equilibrium partial pressures of hydrogen at temperature T, P_H2 (T), for a fully atomic hydrogen passivated diamondsurface. Above the equilibrium P_H2 (T), ultralow friction can be achieved at diamond and DLC surfaces. The calculation agrees well with friction tests at various testing conditions. We also show that P_H2 (T) …

A Secure And Efficient Communications Architecture For Global Information Grid Users Via Cooperating Space Assets, Victor P. Hubenko Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

With the Information Age in full and rapid development, users expect to have global, seamless, ubiquitous, secure, and efficient communications capable of providing access to real-time applications and collaboration. The United States Department of Defense’s (DoD) Network-Centric Enterprise Services initiative, along with the notion of pushing the “power to the edge,” aims to provide end-users with maximum situational awareness, a comprehensive view of the battlespace, all within a secure networking environment. Building from previous AFIT research efforts, this research developed a novel security framework architecture to address the lack of efficient and scalable secure multicasting in the low earth orbit …

Statistical Methods For Image Registration And Denoising, Matthew D. Sambora

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes research into image processing techniques that enhance military operational and support activities. The research extends existing work on image registration by introducing a novel method that exploits local correlations to improve the performance of projection-based image registration algorithms. The dissertation also extends the bounds on image registration performance for both projection-based and full-frame image registration algorithms and extends the Barankin bound from the one-dimensional case to the problem of two-dimensional image registration. It is demonstrated that in some instances, the Cramer-Rao lower bound is an overly-optimistic predictor of image registration performance and that under some conditions, the …

An Analysis Of Botnet Vulnerabilities, Sean W. Hudson

Theses and Dissertations

Botnets are a significant threat to computer networks and data stored on networked computers. The ability to inhibit communication between servers controlling the botnet and individual hosts would be an effective countermeasure. The objective of this research was to find vulnerabilities in Unreal IRCd that could be used to shut down the server. Analysis revealed that Unreal IRCd is a very mature and stable IRC server and no significant vulnerabilities were found. While this research does not eliminate the possibility that a critical vulnerability is present in the Unreal IRCd software, none were identified during this effort.

Neural Network Models For Solving The Maximum Flow Problem, S. Effati, M. Ranjbar

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

In this paper, two new neural network models for solving the maximum flow problem are presented. The maximum flow problem in networks is formulated as a special type of linear programming problem and it is solved by appropriately defined neural networks. The nonlinear neural networks are able to generate optimal solution for maximum flow problem. We solve neural network models by one of the numerical method. Finally, some numerical examples are provided for the sake of illustration.

Fault Growth And Propagation During Incipient Continental Rifting: Insights From A Combined Aeromagnetic And Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Digital Elevation Model Investigation Of The Okavango Rift Zone, Northwest Botswana, Baraka D. Kinabo, John Patrick Hogan, Eliot A. Atekwana, Mohamed G. Abdel Salam, Motsoptse P. Modisi

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Digital Elevation Models (DEM) extracted from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data and high-resolution aeromagnetic data are used to characterize the growth and propagation of faults associated with the early stages of continental extension in the Okavango Rift Zone (ORZ), northwest Botswana. Significant differences in the height of fault scarps and the throws across the faults in the basement indicate extended fault histories accompanied by sediment accumulation within the rift graben. Faults in the center of the rift either lack topographic expressions or are interpreted to have become inactive, or have large throws and small scarp heights indicating waning …

Electric Elves: What Went Wrong And Why, Milind Tambe, Emma Bowring, Jonathan Pearce, Pradeep Reddy Varakantham, Paul Scerri, David V. Pynadath

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Software personal assistants continue to be a topic of significant research interest. This article outlines some of the important lessons learned from a successfully-deployed team of personal assistant agents (Electric Elves) in an office environment. In the Electric Elves project, a team of almost a dozen personal assistant agents were continually active for seven months. Each elf (agent) represented one person and assisted in daily activities in an actual office environment. This project led to several important observations about privacy, adjustable autonomy, and social norms in office environments. In addition to outlining some of the key lessons learned we outline …

Performance Of Air Breathing Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Under Ambient Condition, Jian-Guo Liu, Jun Gu, Tao Yu, Zhi-Gang Zou, T.S Zhao

Journal of Electrochemistry

The performance of the passive DMFC was systematically investigated under an ambient condition by simulating a wide range of temperature and humidity in a high-quality environmentally controlled room.The results indicated that the performance of the passive DMFC was nearly independent of ambient humidity from 30% to 90% RH and water produced in the cathode was expelled mostly from the cell in a liquid state.Compared with the humidity,the ambient temperature has a significant effect on the performance of the passive DMFC.The power density of 30 mW·cm^-2 were obtained at 40℃,while only 10 mW·cm^-2 at 10 ℃.

Structure And Property Of Molecular Self-Assembled Membrane With Zirconium Ion, Tian-De Wang, Rong Wang, Xia-Qin Wu, Zhi-Gang Guo, Wei-Wei Ji

Journal of Electrochemistry

According to the complex interaction between dodecyl phosphonate and stainless steel surface as well as the zirconium ion,the self-assembled monolayer and double-layer dodecyl phosphonate modified 304 type stainless steel electrode were prepared.The electrodes were characteristiced by static contact angles and electrochemical polarization methods.The results suggested that the double-layer modified stainless steel electrode had better corrosion inhibition effect than the monolayer modified electrode.

Electrodeposition Of Sol-Gel Imprinted Films Modified Electrode And Its Application For 3,4-Dihydroxybenzoic Acids Determination, Gui-Lin Wang, Rong Wang, Xia-Qin Wu, Zong-Rang Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The sol-gel molecularly imprinted films modified glassy carbon electrode was prepared by electrodeposition of tetramethoxysilane(TMOS) and phenyltrimethoxysilane(PTMOS) with chronoamperometry in the presence of template molecules 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid(3,4-DHBA) followed by extraction with ethanol.The modified electrode could successfully avoid the polymerization of oxidized 3,4-DHBA and the interference of 2,4-DHBA.A linear concentration response curve was obtained from 1.0 × 10^-5 mol·L^-1 to 8.0×10^-4 mol·L^-1,with the detected concentration limit of 5.0 × 10^-6 mol·L^-1.

Preparation And Catalytic Activity Of Nanostructured Pd And Au-Pd Thin Films, Cui-Cui Qiu, Jin-Tao Zhang, Fang Tian, Hou-Yi Ma

Journal of Electrochemistry

The nanostructured Pd thin films were directly formed on the glassy carbon electrode(GCE) substrates by using potential cycling method.The as-prepared Pd thin films deposited onto the GCE were able to absorb enough amount of hydrogen in acidic solutions at the cathodic potentials more negative than the hydrogen evolution potential.Moreover,the absorbed hydrogen could be used as the reducing agent to reduce gold(III) ions to Au nanoclusters,thereby forming bimetallic Au-Pd thin films on the GCE substrate.SEM and cyclic voltammetry characterization demonstrated that the Au-Pd thin films display much higher catalytic activity towards the electro-oxidation of ethanol than the pure Pd thin films.

Carbon Nanotube Array Electrodes Based Supercapacitors With 3.5v Working Voltage, Hao Zhang, Gao-Ping Cao, Yu-Sheng Yang, Zhen-Nan Gu, Bin Xu, Wen-Feng Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The carbon nanotube arrays(CNTA) were grown directly on the substrates of Ta and stainless steel by chemical vapor deposition.The button-like supercapacitors were fabricated based the CNTA electrodes.The electrochemical performance of CNTA based supercapacitors presentsed high working voltage(3.5 V),long cycle life,and good rate capability.The power and energy densities are were 928 kW·kg^-1 and 19 Wh·kg^-1,respectively(based on the mass of CNTA).

Direct Electrochemistry Of God On Glassy Carbon Electrode Modified With Mesoporous Carbon, Kun-Qi Wang, Lin Zhu, Wei Xing

Journal of Electrochemistry

Glucose oxidase(GOD) is immobilized on glassy carbon electrode mesoporous carbon by simple method.Cyclic voltammetric results indicated that on GOD of the modified electrode a quasi-reversible redox reaction took place(GCE) surface modified at a formal potential of-0.4294 V in 0.1 mol/L phosphate buffer solution(PBS)(pH 7.1).The electrochemical reaction consisted of a two-electron transfer coupled with a two-proton transfer.The GOD can completely catalyze oxidation of glucose via electron transfer intermedia of ferrocene monocarboxylic acid(FMCA) in saturated solutions with N₂.The bioactivity of GOD on the modified electrode with mesoporous carbon was obviously unattacked.

Electrochemical Performance Of C-Lifepo4 By Polyaniline Doping, Wei Wang, Li-Fang Jiao, Hua-Tang Yuan

Journal of Electrochemistry

The olivine LiFePO₄ cathode materials were synthesized using the solid state method in an inert atmosphere by doping polyaniline into the C-LiFePO₄.It was found that the electrochemical performance of polyaniline-doped C-LiFePO₄ slightly improved.At a low discharging rate(0.1C), the capability of(C-LiFePO₄)0.9(PANI)0.1 reached 164 mAh·g^-1.When the charge-discharge rate is increased to 0.5C and 1.0C,the showed capacities of 121.6 mAh·g^-1 and 110.1 mAh·g^-1 were obtained,respectively.

Electroless-Deposition Synthesis Of Highly Active Ptru/C And Ptrusn/C As Anode Catalysts For Defc, Jing Zhu, Yi Su, Hua Ma, Fang-Yi Cheng, Zhan-Liang Tao, Jing Liang, Jun Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

In this paper,the preparation,characterization,and ethanol electrocatalytic oxidation of Pt_0.5Ru_0.5/C and Pt_0.5Ru_0.15Sn_0.35/C electrocatalysts were reported.The electroless-deposition with sensitization-activation pretreatment was applied to prepare Pt_0.5Ru_0.5/C and Pt_0.5Ru_0.15Sn_0.35/C electrocatalysts. The XRD and TEM analyses showed that the as-prepared catalysts were composed of well-dispersed PtRu or PtRuSn nanoparticles with an average particle size of about 3 nm.The electrochemical measurements demonstrated that the as-prepared Pt_0.5Ru_0.5/C and Pt_0.5Ru_0.15Sn_0.35/C catalysts exhibited much enhanced peak current density for …

Electrocatalytic Performance Of Pt/C And Pt/Wo3/C Catalysts For Methanol Oxidation, Yuan-Yuan Chu, Bing Wu, Ya-Wen Tang, Tian-Hong Lu, Ying Gao

Journal of Electrochemistry

The catalysts of Carbon supported Pt(Pt/C) and carbon supported Pt/WO₃(Pt/WO₃/C) were prepared with liquid phase reduction method.It was found that the catalytic activity and stability of the Pt/WO₃/C catalysts were increased with the addition of WO₃.When the atomic ratio of Pt and W was 1∶1,the best electrocatalytic performance of the Pt/WO₃/C catalyst for the methanol oxidation was obtained.This is attributed to the larger electrochemical surface area of Pt/WO₃/C and the weeker adsorption of CO towards the catalyst.

Preparation And Electrochemical Capacitance Of Spherical-Like Polypyrrole Doped With Heparin Sodium, Hong-Yu Mi, Xiao-Gang Zhang, Su-Dong Yang, Xiang-Guo Ye

Journal of Electrochemistry

Spherical-like polypyrrole with an average diameter of 100 nm as the electrode material for supercapacitor was prepared by a self-assembly process with heparin sodium salt as the dopant at-10 ℃.The morphology and electrochemical properties were characterized by transmission electron microscopy(TEM),cyclic voltammetry(CV),galvanostatic charge/discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS) measurements.The results showed that the polypyrrole doped with heparin sodium salt exhibited good capacitive behavior.The specific capacitance of single electrode was up to 338 F/g at 3 mA/cm².

Synthesis Of Agv3O8 As High-Capacity Of Cathode Materials For Lithium Secondary Batteries Via A Soft Chemistry Technique, Xiao-Yu Cao, Tao Li, Ling-Ling Xie, Xiang-Yang Yan, Chi-Wei Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The layered cathode material of AgV₃O₈ has been prepared for the lithium secondary batteries via the soft chemistry technique. The so-synthesized powders were characterized by XRD(powder X-ray diffraction), SEM(scanning electron microscope) and LPSA(laser particle size analysis). The electrochemical property was investigated by the galvanostatic discharge-charge technique. The results indicated that the particale sizes of AgV₃O₈ prepared were small in the distribution of narrow range, which leads to high discharge capacity. Among them, the material synthesized at 400 ℃ displayed the first discharge capacity of 760.5 mAh/g.

Passivation Behaviors Of Mo, W Electrodes In Mgcl2-Kcl-Nacl-Cacl2 Molten Salt For Electrolysis Of Magnesium, Ye Chen, Ke Ye

Journal of Electrochemistry

The discharge process and passivation behaviors of Mg(Ⅱ) on cathode(Mo, W) in MgCl₂-KCl-NaCl-CaCl₂ molten salt system had been investigated by means of cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The composition of molten salt was MgCl(10%) + CaCl(20%) + NaCl(60%) + KCl(10%)(by mass) and the temperature of electrolysis was 725 ℃. The deposition potential of Mo was 37 mV more negative than that of W, while the peak current was sharper than Mo according to the voltammograms at 0.05 V/s, indicating that the passivation on Mo cathode is easier than W. The formation of MgO impurities during the electrolysis could …

The Effect Of Annealed Temperature On Properties Of Ru-Ir-Sn Oxide Anode Coatings, Lei Ji, Jun-Tao Wang, Li-Kun Xu, Wen-Bin Liu, Gui-Lin Xue

Journal of Electrochemistry

The anode coatings of Ru-Ir-Sn oxide were prepared by sol-gel method with different annealed temperatures.The influences of annealed temperature in properties of anode coatings were characterized by scanning electron microscope(SEM),energy dispersive X-ray detector(EDX),X-ray diffraction(XRD),potential of chlorine evolution,accelerated life,cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS) tests.The results showed that the annealed temperature affected the morphology of coatings,while the electric quantities of cyclic voltammetry and double layer capacitances of anode coatings had a tendency to fall down and the potential of chlorine evolution and accelerated life had a tendency to increase as the annealed temperature increased.

Preparation And Photoelectrochemical Properties Of Fe-Doped Tio2 Nanotube Arrays, Jing Li, Lan Sun, Hui-Fang Zhuang, Cheng-Lin Wang, Rong-Gui Du, Chang-Jian Lin

Journal of Electrochemistry

The Fe-doped TiO₂ nanotube arrays were fabricated in Fe(NO₃)₃-HF mixing solutions by electrochemical anodic oxidation method,and characterized by FESEM,Raman,XPS and DRS.The effect of Fe concentratiions on photoelectrochemical property of the arrays was also investigated.The diameters and lengths of Fe-doped TiO₂ nanotube arrays were 50~90 nm and about 200 nm,respectively.Compared with the undoped TiO₂ nanotube arrays,the absorption edge of Fe-doped TiO₂ nanotube arrays appeared red shifting.The more Fe content,the larger red shifting,in addition,the photocurrent of Fe-doped TiO₂ nanotube arrays increased obviously.

Cyclic Voltammetry And In Situ Ftir Studies Of Cyanide Adsorption On Nanostructured Au Film Electrode In Alkaline Solutions, Chun-Hua Zhen, Chun-Jie Fan, Shi-Gang Sun

Journal of Electrochemistry

The adsorption of cyanide(CN^-) on electrodes of nanometer scale thin film of gold supported on glassy carbon(nm-Au/GC) in alkaline solutions were investigated using cyclic voltammetry and in situ FTIR spectroscopy.It has revealed that the electrodeposited nanostructured Au thin film exhibited AIREs(abnormal infrared effects) for CN^-adsorption,which manifested 3 nonlinear IR spectral features: inversion of the direction of CN^-band,enhancement of IR absorption of adsorbed CN-species(about 39.2 folds) and increase in the FWHM(full width at half maximum) of CN^-band.

Quick Tester With Usb Interface For The Corrosion Protection Properties Of Organic Coating, Xiang-Dong Zhuo, Chang-Jian Lin

Journal of Electrochemistry

According to the principle of multiple dynamic potential scaning polarization,a quick tester with USB interface for the fast study of corrosion resistance properties of organic coating/ metal system has been developed.This tester is portable,facile,practical,and has a strong function for data collection and data treatment.It is not only suitable for the accelerated test in laboratory,but also for the quick test and evaluation to the corrosion resistance of the organic coating/metal system in industrial spots.

Synthesis And Electrochemical Characteristics Of Li[Li(0.167)Mn(0.583)Ni(0.25)]O2 Cathode Material, Ling-Yan Yu, Wei-Hua Qiu, Fang Lian, Jia-Yuan Huang, Xao-Li Kang, Wei Liu

Journal of Electrochemistry

The cathode material of Li[Li_0.167Mn_0.583Ni_0.25]O₂ was synthesized by low-heat solid state reaction.The results of XRD and FESEM indicated that the powders of the material were well crystallized with the uniform diameters ranging from 60 nm to 100 nm and could be indexed as α-NaFeO₂ structure(R3-m space). Galvanostatic charge-discharge tests showed that the electrode delivered the capacity of about 120 mAh/g with good cyclability when cycled in 2.5~4.4V at 0.5C. When the cut-off potential was set up to 4.6V, the cathode delivered much larger capacities with the maximum of 234 mAh/g. It was …

Electrochemical Performances Of Copper/Activated Carbon Composites, Lan-Ting Li, Qiang Xie, Wen Yan, Yan-Yan Wang, Wen-Wen Xing

Journal of Electrochemistry

The development and improvement of electrode materials can result in the enhancement of the performances of electrochemical capacitor.In this paper various copper/activated carbon composites were prepared in the presence of different amounts(from 0% to 40%) of copper nitrate from bituminous coal.Then different electrodes were prepared from copper oxide,activated carbon and copper/activated carbon composites,respectively,and were characterized by cyclic voltammetry,alternative current(AC) impedance,charge-discharge at constant current and maintenance of the self-potential.The results showed that the proper amount of copper in copper/activated carbon composites positively influenced the electrochemical performances of electrodes,and the capacitance of copper/activated carbon composites was larger than that of the total …

Preparation Of Zn-Ni Alloy Whisker By Electrochemical Method, Zhen-Hai Liang, Xi-Hua Xia

Journal of Electrochemistry

The Zn-Ni alloy whiskers were prepared by electrochemical method and were characterized by XRD, SEM and EDS methods. The results showed that Ni₅Zn₂₁ and Ni₃Zn₂₂ whiskers were obtained with the length of 2~4 μm and the diameter of 250 nm, thereby the rations of length/diameter fell between 8 and 16. The electrochemical behavior was investigated by cyclic voltammetry method simultaneously. A new method was provided on whisker preparation based on this work.

Ice Nucleation And Overseeding Of Ice In Volcanic Clouds, Adam J. Durant, R. A. Shaw, William I. Rose, Y. Mi, G. G. J. Ernst

Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences Publications

Water is the dominant component of volcanic gas emissions, and water phase transformations, including the formation of ice, can be significant in the dynamics of volcanic clouds. The effectiveness of volcanic ash particles as ice-forming nuclei (IN) is poorly understood and the sparse data that exist for volcanic ash IN have been interpreted in the context of meteorological, rather than volcanic clouds. In this study, single-particle freezing experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of ash particle composition and surface area on water drop freezing temperature. Measured freezing temperatures show only weak correlations with ash IN composition and surface …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Spring 2008, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge.

The senior design competition helps to focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects …