Engineering Commons^™

University Of Nevada, Las Vegas Advanced Accelerator Applications University Participation Program: Quarterly Report, Third Quarter Year 2 (Sept. 2002 To Nov. 2002), Anthony Hechanova

Transmutation Research Program Reports (TRP)

This Quarterly Report is a primary deliverable from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) University Participation Program (UPP) Director to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as described in the UNLV AAA proposal and Statement of Work for the Fourth Quarter.

The UNLV AAA UPP Director implements the program’s administration using staff from the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies (HRC) to ensure that work conducted under the UNLV AAA UPP meets program objectives. The UNLV AAA program consists of three components: Program Support, Research Infrastructure Augmentation, and Student Research.

Wright State University College Of Engineering And Computer Science Bits And Pcs Newsletter, Volume 19, Number 1, October 2002, College Of Engineering And Computer Science, Wright State University

BITs and PCs Newsletter

A sixteen page newsletter created by the Wright State University College of Engineering and Computer Science that addresses the current affairs of the college.

Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 44 Number 2, Fall 2002, Santa Clara University

Santa Clara Magazine

6 - INSTITUTE ON GLOBALIZATION By SCM Staff. For the academic year 2002-03, SCU will focus on globalization and how it is shaping our world.

12 - TOUGH TALK By Dale Larson. End-of-life conversations can help us cope with the loss· of a loved one.

16 - BUILDING CHARACTER By Miriam Schulman . Alumni are helping troubled kids make better choices using a program developed by SCU's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

2002 Scholars And Artists Bibliography, Michael Schwartz Library, Cleveland State University, Friends Of The Michael Schwartz Library

Scholars and Artists Bibliographies

This bibliography was created for the annual Friends of the Michael Schwartz Library Scholars and Artists Reception, recognizing scholarly and creative achievements of Cleveland State University faculty, staff and emeriti

Pattern Recognition For Electric Power System Protection, Yong Sheng

Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this research is to demonstrate pattern recognition tools such as decision trees (DTs) and neural networks that will improve and automate the design of relay protection functions in electric power systems. Protection functions that will benefit from the research include relay algorithms for high voltage transformer protection (TP) and for high impedance fault (HIF) detection. A methodology, which uses DTs and wavelet analysis to distinguish transformer internal faults from other conditions that are easily mistaken for internal faults, has been developed. Also, a DT based solution is proposed to discriminate HIFs from normal operations that may confuse …

Yet Another Algorithm For Pitch Tracking (Yaapt), Kavita Kasi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This thesis presents a pitch detection algorithm that is extremely robust for both high quality and telephone speech. The kernel method for this algorithm is the Normalized Cross Correlation (NCCF) reported by David Talkin [16]. Major innovations include: processing of the original acoustic signal and a nonlinearly processed version of the signal to partially restore very weak F0 components; intelligent peak picking to select multiple F0 candidates and assign merit factors; and, incorporation of highly robust pitch contours obtained from smoothed versions of low frequency portions of spectrograms. Dynamic programming is used to find the ''best" pitch track among all …

Approaching High Fidelity Human Tracking And Representation In Interactive Virtual Environments, Taimur K. Khan

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This thesis revolves around an Office of Naval Research (ONR) grant known as Virtual Environments for Training (VET). The primary goal is to determine the effectiveness of an immersive environment for training; the secondary goal is to compare the results of this study to a similar study conducted in an environment that is less immersive.

Effectiveness will be determined by the performance of trainees manning a virtual military checkpoint. A four-wall immersive environment employing cave technology will be compared to a three dimensional desktop version of the scenarios employed in the more immersive environment. In order to make this comparison, …

Object-Oriented Architecture For Concurrent Processes In A Port Simulation, Reejo Mathew

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

An architectural model to represent the resources and infrastructure within a cargo terminal, as well as to support the concurrent but opposite flow of cargo within the terminal, is presented in this thesis. The model supports the configuration of an individual cargo terminal according to its characteristics, as well as the processing involved in the simultaneous flow of cargo in opposite directions through the terminal. This is useful in the analysis of the flow of military cargo and aids the decision-making process to increase the efficiency and throughput of any military operation. This model has been developed with the aim …

Support For Statistical Analysis Of The Configurable Port Simulation (Cports), Saurav Mazumdar

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The primary objective of this thesis is to provide support for statistical analysis of CPortS: a transportation logistics simulation, which models the movement of military traffic through seaports and the interaction of the traffic with port infrastructure. By any standards, CPortS is a very large, data intensive simulation. It provides capabilities for analyzing many important issues such as port clearance and throughput. CPortS was classically run in single run mode. Only a single replication of the simulation was performed and conclusions were drawn from the results obtained. Users and analysts of CPortS performed multiple runs only to see the effect …

Recurrent Neural Networks And Algorithms For Reconstruction Of Images From Noisy And/Or Partial Data, Ming-Jung Seow

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis, modular architectures and neighborhood-distance based learning algorithms for fast and effective convergence with increased storage capacity of Hopfield neural networks are presented. The main objective of this research work is to better understand the function of recurrent neural networks and the influence of modularity within a network, and to design, implement, and test the performance of modular Hopfield neural networks for pattern association. Mathematical analysis and results are provided to show that the speed, storage capacity, and generalization capability of the recurrent networks are improved significantly by incorporating the modular architectures and learning algorithms. A new ratio …

Study Of Transport Properties Of Inas Using Monte Carlo Simulation, Satyanadh Gundimada

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The present research is aimed at ascertaining the usefulness of InAs semiconductor material for single photon avalanche photo detectors operating in the Geiger mode at 2 μm wavelengths. InAs is considered as the material suitable for the purpose because of its less bandgap and lower effective mass of the electrons when compared to other semiconductor materials presently in use. Hence, theoretically transient transport properties of bulk InAs are superior and the velocity overshoot phenomena stronger. InAs is a relatively less explored material when compared to other materials like GaAs. The choice of the material is justified with thorough exploration of …

A Multilevel Neural Network Architecture For Digital Implementation Of A Face Recognition System Based On Eigenface Approach, Linda Rajan

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The design and development of the digital implementation of a multilevel feed forward neural network architecture for face recognition based on statistical features representing Eigenfaces is presented in this thesis. The architecture is divided into three parts: feature extractor, classifier and identifier, The Eigenface extractor architecture is developed based on an efficient design strategy in which all the M weight values corresponding to the Eigenfaces are generated simultaneously from M images representing the Eigen vectors and the test input image. The multilayer neural network classifier is trained using error backpropagation algorithm. A novel multilevel digital architecture is developed for the …

Development Of A Mechanistic Understanding Of High-Temperature Deformation Of Alloy Ep-823 For Transmutation Applications: Annual Progress Report (September 2001 – August 2002), Ajit K. Roy, Brendan O'Toole

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the elevated temperature tensile properties of Alloy EP-823, a leading target material for accelerator-driven waste transmutation applications. This alloy has been proven to be an excellent structural material to contain the lead-bismuth-eutectic (LBE) nuclear coolant needed for fast spectrum operations. Very little data exist in the open literature on the tensile properties of this alloy. The test material will be thermally treated prior to the evaluation of its tensile properties at temperatures relevant to the transmutation applications. The deformation characteristics of tensile specimens, upon completion of testing, will be evaluated by surface …

Development Of A Systems Engineering Model Of The Chemical Separations Process, Yitung Chen, Randy Clarksean, Darrell Pepper

Separations Campaign (TRP)

The AAA program is developing technology for the transmutation of nuclear waste to address many of the long-term disposal issues. An integral part of this program is the proposed chemical separations scheme. This process, as envisioned by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) researchers, will be outlined later in this report.

Nearly all issues related to risks to future generations arising from long-term disposal of such spent nuclear fuel is attributable to ~1% of its content. This 1% is made up primarily of plutonium, neptunium, americium, and curium (the transuranic elements) and long-lived isotopes of iodine and technetium created as products from …

Trends. War On Personality And Personality And War: Comments On Nass And Lee (2002), Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses another article – Identity and deconstruction, by Clifford Nass and Kwan Min Yee – published in volume 3 (2002) of Archives of Psychiatry & Psychotherapy in which the authors demonstrate that people reliably attribute personality characteristics to computer-synthesized speech, exploring the ramifications in a political psychological context.

A Mechanical System For Soil Reconstruction, John Patrick Fulton, Larry G. Wells, Timothy D. Smith

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

One of the most perplexing problems associated with reclaiming surface–mined lands is excessive compaction of soil due to the heavy earthmoving equipment used during the reclamation process. Over the years, some innovative material handling schemes have been devised to limit vehicle traffic during reclamation on reconstructed soil. However, final grading operations can often create root–limiting bulk densities, which affect plant growth and yield. The purpose of this article is to describe a mechanism designed at the University of Kentucky whereby mine soil can be reconstructed without introducing compaction caused by surface traffic in order for the soil to sustain desirable …

Adaptive Harmonic Balance Method For Unsteady, Nonlinear, One-Dimensional Periodic Flows, Raymond C. Maple

Theses and Dissertations

A new adaptive split-domain harmonic balance computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is developed to solve highly nonlinear time-periodic flows such as those found in turbomachinery. The basic harmonic balance CFD method transforms an unsteady time-periodic problem into a steady-state problem by assuming a solution in the form of a Fourier series in time. The new method employs a unique multi-domain split-operator solution technique to remove a large-series stability restriction present in previous harmonic balance CFD approaches. In addition, the new method adapts the frequency content to the flow, starting with a small number of Fourier frequencies and augmenting the frequency …

Pickup And Delivery Problem With Time Windows: Algorithms And Test Case Generation, Hoong Chuin Lau, Zhe Liang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In the pickup and delivery problem with time windows (PDPTW), vehicles have to transport loads from origins to destinations respecting capacity and time constraints. In this paper, we present a two-phase method to solve the PDPTW. In the first phase, we apply a novel construction heuristics to generate an initial solution. In the second phase, a tabu search method is proposed to improve the solution. Another contribution of this paper is a strategy to generate good problem instances and benchmarking solutions for PDPTW, based on Solomon' s benchmark test cases for VRPTW. Experimental results show that our approach yields very …

On The Area Of Hypercube Layouts, Ronald I. Greenberg, Lee Guan

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper precisely analyzes the wire density and required area in standard styles for the hypercube. It shows that the most natural, regular layout of a hypercube of N^2 nodes in the plane, in a NxN grid arrangement, uses floor(2N/3)+1 horizontal wiring tracks for each row of nodes. (In the process, we see that the number of tracks per row can be reduced by 1 with a less regular design, as can also be seen from an independent argument of Bezrukov et al.) This paper also gives a simple formula for the wire density at any cut position and a …

Design And Evaluation Of Processes For Fuel Fabrication: Year 1 Final Report, Georg F. Mauer

Fuels Campaign (TRP)

The project objective is the design and evaluation of manufacturing processes for transmuter fuel fabrication. The large-scale deployment of remote fabrication and refabrication processes will be required for all transmutation scenarios. Current program emphasis is on a five-year effort to determine the feasibility of transmutation as a technology to limit the need for repository storage of spent commercial fuel. The evaluation of the fabrication processes will create a decision support data base to document design, operations, and costs. Fabrication processes required for different fuel types differ in terms of equipment types, throughput, and cost. The year 1 project was focused …

Hydrogen-Induced Embrittlement Of Candidate Target Materials For Applications In Spallation-Neutron-Target Systems: Quarterly Progress Report (June 01 – August 31, 2002), Ajit K. Roy, Brendan O'Toole

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The primary objective of this task is to evaluate the effect of hydrogen on environment-assisted cracking of candidate target materials for applications in spallation-neutron-target (SNT) systems such as accelerator production of tritium (APT) and accelerator transmutation of waste (ATW). The materials selected for evaluation and characterization are martensitic stainless steels including Alloy HT-9, Alloy EP 823 and Type 422 stainless steel. The susceptibility to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) and hydrogen embrittlement (HE) of these materials are being evaluated in environments of interest using tensile specimens under constant load and slow-strain-rate (SSR) conditions. Further, the localized corrosion behavior of these alloys …

Use Of Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy For Stress-Strain Measurements: Quarterly Progress Report (June 1 – August 31, 2002), Ajit K. Roy

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The purpose of this collaborative research project involving the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), the Idaho State University (ISU), and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is to evaluate the feasibility of determining residual stresses in cold-worked, plastically-deformed, and welded materials using a nondestructive method based on positron annihilation spectroscopy. This technique uses γ-rays from a small MeV electron Linac to generate positrons inside the sample via pair production. This method is known to have capabilities of characterizing defects in thick specimens, that could not be accomplished by conventional positron technique or other nondestructive methods. The generated data will …

Analysis For Cooperative Behavior Effectiveness Of Autonomous Wide Area Search Munitions, Sang M. Park

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate how a simulation model can accurately represent the performance of the autonomous wide area search munitions, and to find the effectiveness of the cooperative behavior on the autonomous munitions. Though it does not provide a practical solution for the development of the autonomous wide area search munitions, this research will show some meaningful allocations of the munitions tasks that are applicable to the development of the autonomous munitions. For the first phase, this thesis presents how accurately a simplified simulation model can represent a proposed weapon system by comparing the simulation results …

Modeling Corrosion In Oxygen Controlled Lbe Systems With Coupling Of Chemical Kinetics And Hydrodynamics-Task V: Final Report -Phase I 09/01/2001-08/30/2002, Samir Moujaes, Yitung Chen

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The Lead-Bismuth eutectic (LBE) has been determined from previous experimental studies by the Russians and the European scientific community to be a potential material that can be used as a spallation target and coolant for the AAA proposed application. Properly controlling the oxygen content in LBE can drastically reduce the LBE corrosion to structural steels. However, existing knowledge of material corrosion performance was obtained from point-wise testing with only very sparse experimental data. Scientists have noticed that the concentration of oxygen dissolved in the liquid alloy could control the corrosion rate of steels exposed to Pb or Pb-Bi. At high …

Optimum Of Catalyst Layers For Direct Methanol Fuel Cells, Jun Zhang, Lei Li, Li Xu, Yu-Xin Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The performances of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs)with various Pt loading were compared. The amount of Nafion in a catalytic layer was optimized, and the effect of Nafion loading on the resistance of MEAs was investigated with ac impedance spectroscopy. For a MEA with both Pt 4 mg/cm² in the anode and the cathode, suitable Nafion loading was 21.4 wt% in the anode. With 21.4 wt% Nafion loading in the cathode, the Direct Methanol Fuel Cells(DMFC) showed the highest performance at high current density. While, the DMFC performances came down, as Nafion loading increasing,for ohm and concentration polarization.

Electrochemical Properties Of Nitrate Immobilized On Gold Electrodes With 2-Aminoethanethiol Sams, Ya-Ru Song, Hong Wu, Hui-Bo Shao

Journal of Electrochemistry

Nitrate reductase (NR) and phospholipids were immobilized on gold electrodes with 2-aminoethanethio(AET) SAMs. After Au/AET/NR and Au/AET/NR/lipid were soaked in pH 7 phosphate buffers for days, a pair of pre-reversible peak appeared at around 0.202 V and 0.149 V respsctively, irregularly grew with soaking time in blank buffer.The cathodic peak current (i_pcl) of Au/AET/NR system had linear relationship with scan rate between 0.02 and 0.5 V⋅s^-1 ,while i_pcl was proportional to V^1/2 in Au/AET/NR/lipid system. The direct electron transfer of enzyme electrodes was strongly affected by pH. Compared with Au/AET, NR exhibited a higher electrochemical …

Study On Modification Of Spinel Limn2O4 By Overcoating, Ren-Gang Zhang, Shi-Xi Zhao, Jung-Lei Xia, Han-Xing Liu

Journal of Electrochemistry

The surface of spinel LiMn₂O₄ was modified by the sol-gel process with LiCoO₂-coated LiMn₂O₄ and studied by XRD, SEM and EPMA. The results have shown that the surface of the coated grains heated at 700 ℃ for 10h, which is cubic spinel, were Co-rich. The amount of Co³⁺ in the grains changed owing to different place of the grain and decreased from surface to inner parts. Using the coated as the cathode of Li-ion cells, the initial capacity deceased slightly, but the amount of Mn²⁺ solving in electrolyte decreased, Jahn-Teller …

Facilitated K+ Ion Transfer By Db18c6 Across The Micro Liquid/Liquid Interface, Dong-Ping Zhan, Bing-Liang Wu

Journal of Electrochemistry

A novel microcavity Ag|AgCl electrode was fabricated to construct the micro-interface of two immiscible electrolyte solutions(ITIES). The transfer reactions of K⁺ ion facilitated by DB18C6 across the water/1,2-DCE interface was investigated with the three-electrodes system. The corresponding reaction parameters were derived from the voltammetric data. The results showed that the microcavity electrode would be a useful and efficient tool to investigate the charge transfer reactions at ITIES.

Electrochemical Techniques For Measuring Anti-Corrosion Behavior Of The Thin Corrosion Inhibitor Layer To The 907a Steel, Yong-Tao Zhao, Jian-Hua Wu, Fan-Cai Chen, Zhong-Ping Gao, Jia Wang, Chang-Jiu Zhao

Journal of Electrochemistry

The corrosion inhibiting behavior of 907A steel, which was covered with thin inhibitor layers in moist seawater atmosphere,was studied. The electrochemical measurements, including EIS method and the coulostatic method, were used to atmospheric corrosioed monitor (ACM) under thin inhibitor layers to determine its corrosion rate. The results shown that the application of electrochemical methods such as the coulostatic technique and EIS could readily detect the on going process of film formation. Hence, the rapid evaluation of the thin inhibitor layers for 907A steel might be possible.

Synthesis And Characterization Of Lini0.8-XAlXCo0.2O2 As Cathodes For Lithium-Ion Batteries, Jun Zhang, Zhong-Kao Jin, Qing-He Yang, Qing-Mei Song, Xiao-Hua Ma, Xiang-Fu Zong

Journal of Electrochemistry

Single-phase solid solution of LiNi_0.8-xAl_xCo_0.2O₂ (0≤ x <0.1)had been synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Their electrochemical performance was examined by charge-discharge cycling. The LiNi_0.71Al_0.09Co_0.2O₂ compound showed a discharge capacity of 152 mAh/g after 20 cycles that corresponds to 97.4% capacity retention. The beneficial effect of co-doping with Al and Co elements was corro-borated by slow scanning cyclic voltammograms(SSCV), electrochemical impedance spectrum (EIS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) data on charged cathodes. These results show that the 2D-character of the crystal lattice was stabilized by co-doping with Al and Co, the phase transitions that occur during deintercalation or intercalation of Li-ions were significantly suppressed, …