Engineering Commons^™

The Tax Treatment Of Tokens: What Does It Betoken?, David J. Shakow

All Faculty Scholarship

Digital tokens have been used to raise substantial amounts of money. But little attention has been paid to the tax consequences surrounding their issuance and sale. There are significant potential tax liabilities lurking in the use of digital tokens. But, because of the anonymity inherent in the blockchain structures used for the issuance of tokens and payments for them, there is a significant question as to whether those tax liabilities will ever be collected.

How Governmental Greenhouse Gas Science Has Been Weathered Through Time And Why It Matters, Christopher Apple

STAR Program Research Presentations

Global consumption of materials and energy is accelerating. The rate of plant and animal species extinction is accelerating. On a finite Earth with a growing population, current consumption cannot continue sustainably. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) tell us an important part of this story. The Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network, managed by scientists at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, is the largest greenhouse gas analysis network in the world. It has been shaped by scientific questions, stagnant funding despite rises in research costs, and the task of understanding how the Earth system will respond to a changing climate. The Network began by …

Empirical Study On The Accessibility Of Wi-Fi, Computers And Cell Phones In Cuba, Katalina Montalvo

Student Works

This paper reviews the accessibility of technology in Havana, Cuba as it begins to open its borders to the modern world. The technology researched includes cell phones, Wi-Fi, computers, and personal computers. As the embargo on Cuba begins to fade, tourists and new businesses are flocking to this once heavily restricted island. The focus of this paper is to explain the availability of modern technology to the citizens of Cuba. Currently, technology is very limited in Cuba because Wi-Fi is an expensive luxury for the average Cuban. Modern computers are also an expensive purchase, which forces Cubans to put together …

Who R U? Identity Theft And Unl Students, Marcia L. Dority Baker, Cheryl O'Dell

Information Technology Services: Publications

How can academic institutions help educate their students about the risks of identity theft? Or teach students to better understand how one’s online presence can hold so much joy and angst? For one campus, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the opportunity came from a middle school teacher engaging his students in a future problem-solving activity. UNL had the opportunity to create a 45-minute presentation on identity theft for local public school students who would be spending the day on campus researching this topic.

While preparing the presentation, we realized a top 10 list on identity theft for UNL students would be …

Effects Of Light Intensity On Spatial Visualization Ability, Petros J. Katsioloudis ., Mildred Jones

STEMPS Faculty Publications

A plethora of technological advances have happened since artificial illumination was developed by Thomas Edison. Like technology has had an effect in many areas in the modern civilization it also made a difference in the classroom. Nowadays, students can have instruction in classrooms with no external windows, even during gloomy winter or rainy days, and virtually during any hour of the day. Several lightning devices are being used, ranging from energy efficient LEDs to fluorescent lighting. Some forms of lighting methods have been found to be inappropriate for prolonged exposure to the human eye such as various gas-discharge lamps that …

Creep Behaviour And Constitutive Model Of Coal Filled With Gas, Xiangchun Li, Chunli Yang, Ting X. Ren, Baisheng Nie, Caihong Zhao, Shuiwen Liu, Tao Jiang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Coal exhibits different creep behaviours when filled with different amounts of gas. Creep tests of coal filled with 0 and 0.5. MPa. gas were performed, and strain under different axial stress was compared. The three creep constitutive models which were analysed using the method fitting experimental data for determining which creep model can reflect the creep process of the test best. The results show that the deformation of coal filled with 0.5. MPa. gas is more higher than that of coal filled with 0. MPa. gas under the same axial stress. Gas plays a positive effect on the deformation of …

African Societal Challenges Transformation Through Iot, Salim Al Isma'ili, Mengxiang Li, Jun Shen, Qiang He, Abdulaziz Alghazi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

No abstract provided.

Explicit Stress-Strain Equations For Modelling Frictional Materials, K J. Xu, Martin D. Liu, Buddhima Indraratna, Suksun Horpibulsuk

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

In this paper, a comprehensive study on simulating the shearing behavior of frictional materials is performed. A set of two explicit equations, describing the relationship among the shear stress ratio and the distortional strain and the volumetric strain, are formulated independently. The equations contain three stress parameters and three strain parameters and another parameter representing the nonuniformity of stress and strain during softening. All the parameters have clear physical significance and can be determined experimentally. It is demonstrated that the proposed equations have the capacity of simulating the complicated shearing behavior of many types of frictional materials including geomaterials. The …

Feasibility Of Free Breathing Lung Mri For Radiotherapy Using Non-Cartesian K-Space Acquisition Schemes, Shivani Kumar, Robba Rai, Alto Stemmer, Sonal Josan, Lois C. Holloway, Shalini K. Vinod, Daniel Moses, Gary P. Liney

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Objective:

To test a free-breathing MRI protocol for anatomical and functional assessment during lung cancer radiotherapy by assessing two non-Cartesian acquisition schemes based on T₁ weighted 3D gradient recall echo sequence: (i) stack-of stars (StarVIBE) and (ii) spiral (SpiralVIBE) trajectories. Methods:

MR images on five healthy volunteers were acquired on a wide bore 3T scanner (MAGNETOM Skyra, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany). Anatomical image quality was assessed on: (1) free breathing (StarVIBE), (2) the standard clinical sequence (volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination, VIBE) acquired in a 20 second (s) compliant breath-hold and (3) 20 s non-compliant breath-hold. For functional assessment, StarVIBE …

Optimal Control Based Stiffness Identification Of An Ankle-Foot Orthosis Using A Predictive Walking Model, Manish Sreenivasa, Matthew Millard, Martin Felis, Katja Mombaur, Sebastian I. Wolf

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Predicting the movements, ground reaction forces and neuromuscular activity during gait can be a valuable asset to the clinical rehabilitation community, both to understand pathology, as well as to plan effective intervention. In this work we use an optimal control method to generate predictive simulations of pathological gait in the sagittal plane. We construct a patient-specific model corresponding to a 7-year old child with gait abnormalities and identify the optimal spring characteristics of an ankle-foot orthosis that minimizes muscle effort. Our simulations include the computation of foot-ground reaction forces, as well as the neuromuscular dynamics using computationally efficient muscle torque …

Load And Moment Interaction Diagram For Circular Concrete Columns Reinforced With Gfrp Bars And Gfrp Helices, Hogr Karim, M Neaz Sheikh, Muhammad N. S Hadi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This paper presents analytical and experimental studies on the axial load-bending moment behavior of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars and helices RC columns. The nominal axial load and bending moment of the columns were analyzed based on the stress-strain behavior of the cross-sectional components. A numerical integration method was used to determine the compressive force of concrete in the compression region. The analytical results were verified with experimental results of 12 circular specimens reinforced with GFRP bars and GFRP helices. Out of these 12 specimens, eight specimens were taken from available literature and four specimens were tested in this study. …

Role Of Membrane Fouling Substances On The Rejection Of N-Nitrosamines By Reverse Osmosis, Takahiro Fujioka, Hitoshi Kodamatani, Hidenobu Aizawa, Stephen Gray, Kenneth P. Ishida, Long D. Nghiem

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

The impact of fouling substances on the rejection of four N-nitrosamines by a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane was evaluated by characterizing individual organic fractions in a secondary wastewater effluent and deploying a novel high-performance liquid chromatography-photochemical reaction-chemiluminescence (HPLC-PR-CL) analytical technique. The HPLC-PR-CL analytical technique allowed for a systematic examination of the correlation between the fouling level and the permeation of N-nitrosamines in the secondary wastewater effluent and synthetic wastewaters through an RO membrane. Membrane fouling caused by the secondary wastewater effluent led to a notable decrease in the permeation of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) while a smaller but nevertheless …

Effects Of Aerodynamic Damping On The Tower Load Of Offshore Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines, Xiong Liu, Cheng Lu, Gangqiang Li, Ajit R. Godbole, Yan Chen

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Aerodynamic damping has an important effect on the dynamic response of offshore Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs). In this paper, an analysis of the loads on offshore HAWTs is presented. The analysis combines the aerodynamics, hydrodynamics and structural dynamics of the structure, and includes the effects of aerodynamic damping. The aim is to better understand the role of aerodynamic damping during the interaction of wind and wave and the structure, and to quantitatively evaluate the effects of aerodynamic damping on the lifetime fatigue load on offshore HAWT towers. The aerodynamic loads are estimated using the Blade Element-Momentum (BEM) theory, including …

Persuasive Systems Design Features In Promoting Medication Management For Consumers, Khin Than Win, Judy Mullan, Sarah Katherine Howard, Harri Oinas-Kukkonen

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Medication safety continues to be a growing concern in the healthcare industry. Providing medication information to consumers and supporting self- management would help to reduce medication errors and to increase medication adherence. This paper reviews the persuasive systems design features used in current medication management applications for consumers. A database search was conducted to identify relevant articles, which were then reviewed using the Persuasive Systems Design model as a framework for analysis. The results highlighted the applicability of these features for the medication management information systems available to consumers. Primary task support and Dialogue support categories were highly cited in …

A Mann-Whitney Type Effect Measure Of Interaction For Factorial Designs, Jan De Neve, Olivier Thas

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

We propose a measure for interaction for factorial designs that is formulated in terms of a probability similar to the effect size of the Mann-Whitney test. It is shown how asymptotic confidence intervals can be obtained for the effect size and how a statistical test can be constructed. We further show how the test is related to the test proposed by Bhapkar and Gore [Sankhya A, 36:261-272 (1974)]. The results of a simulation study indicate that the test has good power properties and illustrate when the asymptotic approximations are adequate. The effect size is demonstrated on an example dataset.

A Highly Accelerated Parallel Multi-Gpu Based Reconstruction Algorithm For Generating Accurate Relative Stopping Powers, Paniz Karbasi, Ritchie Cai, Blake Schultze, Hanh Nguyen, Jones Reed, Patrick Hall, Valentina Giacometti, Vladimir Bashkirov, Robert P. Johnson, Nick Karonis, Jeffrey Olafsen, Caesar Ordonez, Keith Schubert, Reinhard W. Schulte

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Low-dose Proton Computed Tomography (pCT) is an evolving imaging modality that is used in proton therapy planning which addresses the range uncertainty problem. The goal of pCT is generating a 3D map of relative stopping power measurements with high accuracy within clinically required time frames. Generating accurate relative stopping power values within the shortest amount of time is considered a key goal when developing an image reconstruction software. The existing image reconstruction softwares have successfully met this time frame and even exceeded this time goal, but require clusters with hundreds of processors. This paper describes a novel reconstruction technique using …

The State Of The Art Of Battery Charging Infrastructure For Electrical Vehicles: Topologies, Power Control Strategies, And Future Trend, Viet Thang Tran, Danny Sutanto, Kashem M. Muttaqi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Electric vehicle battery (EVB) charger topologies play a vital role to increase the penetration of EVs. This paper reviews the status quo of EV battery (EVB) chargers in term of converter topologies, operation modes, and power control strategies for EVs. EVB Chargers are classified based on their power levels and power flow direction. Referring to power ratings, EV chargers can be divided into Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3. Level 1 and Level 2 are normally compatible with on-board chargers while Level 3 is used for an off-board charger. Unidirectional/bidirectional power flow can be obtained at all power levels. …

After 40 Years Of Regional And Coordinated Ship Safety Inspections: Destination Reached Or New Point Of Departure?, Armando Graziano, Jens-Uwe Schröder-Hinrichs, Aykut I. Olçer

Journal Publications

Port State Control (PSC) is the major global strategy for fighting substandard shipping since the signature of The Hague Memorandum in 1978. In the last years, the increased volume of trade, the enlarged number of main international conventions and the highlighted differences among the various Regimes have posed new challenges to the modern system of PSC, which may need to find its new course.

This paper examines the point of view of key maritime stakeholders with regard to the EU PSC regime. Elite interviews (n = 14) were conducted with subject matter experts ranging from policy makers, to industry and …

Role Activity Diagram-Based Discrete Event Simulation Model For Healthcare Service Delivery Processes, Nagesh Shukla, John E. Keast, Darek Ceglarek

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

In case of healthcare systems, discrete event simulations are useful techniques to identify problematic process issues. However, currently available simulation models often use a simplified flow chart as an input which represents patient flow obtained from on on-site observations and interviews complemented with historic patient data. This is insufficient in modelling important interactions between clinical staff, equipment and patients causing the resultant models to be incomplete and unrealistic. This in turn leads to oversimplified outputs from any simulations. This paper presents a systematic methodology for the development of discrete event simulation model from process mapping model based on the Role …

Editorial: Modelling And Simulation In Health Care Systems, Nagesh Shukla, Pascal Perez, Manoj K. Tiwari, Darek Ceglarek, Joana M. Dias

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Increasingly, changes in population demography, technological and medical advancements, and others, have affected the paradigm of health and social care systems worldwide. These changes have direct effect on organisation and working of health care systems whether they are hospitals, general practitioners or long-term care. An efficient and effective health care system is crucial for high quality of the life in the society. In recent times, major challenges faced by health care systems are accurate diagnosis, operational issues (such as bottlenecks, low throughput, low resource utilisation), hospital redesign, workforce planning and scheduling, streamlining of patient flow, performance management, disease monitoring, and …

The Extension Class And Kms States For Cuntz-Pimsner Algebras Of Some Bi-Hilbertian Bimodules, Adam C. Rennie, David I. Robertson, Aidan Sims

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

For bi-Hilbertian A-bimodules, in the sense of Kajiwara-Pinzari-Watatani, we construct a Kasparov module representing the extension class defining the Cuntz-Pimsner algebra. The construction utilises a singular expectation which is defined using the C*-module version of the Jones index for bi-Hilbertian bimodules. The Jones index data also determines a novel quasi-free dynamics and KMS states on these Cuntz-Pimsner algebras.

Influences Of Temperature And Grain Size On The Material Deformability In Microforming Process, Zhengyi Jiang, Jingwei Zhao, Haina Lu, Dongbin Wei, Kenichi Manabe, Xianming Zhao, Xiaoming Zhang, Di Wu

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This paper investigated the influences of temperature and grain size on the deformability of pure copper in micro compression process. Based on the dislocation theory, a constitutive model was proposed taking into account the influences of forming temperature, Hall-Petch relationship and surface layer model. Vacuum heat treatment was employed to obtain various grain sizes of cylindrical workpieces, and then laser heating method was applied to heat workpieces during microforming process. Finite element (FE) simulation was also performed, with simulated values agreed well with the experimental results in terms of metal flow stress. Both the FE simulated and experimental results indicate …

Nonlinear Analysis Of Circular High Strength Concrete-Filled Stainless Steel Tubular Slender Beam-Columns, Vipulkumar I. Patel, Qing Quan Liang, Muhammad N. S Hadi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Concrete-filled stainless steel tubular (CFSST) slender columns are increasingly used in composite structures owing to their distinguished features, such as aesthetic appearance, high corrosion resistance, high durability and ease of maintenance. Currently, however, there is a lack of an accurate and efficient numerical model that can be utilized to determine the performance of circular CFSST slender columns. This paper describes a nonlinear fiber-based model proposed for computing the deflection and axial load-moment strength interaction responses of eccentrically loaded circular high-strength CFSST slender columns. The fiber-based model incorporates the accurate three-stage stress-strain relations of stainless steels, accounting for different strain hardening …

Osmotic Versus Conventional Membrane Bioreactors Integrated With Reverse Osmosis For Water Reuse: Biological Stability, Membrane Fouling, And Contaminant Removal, Wenhai Luo, Hop Phan, Ming Xie, Faisal I. Hai, William E. Price, Menachem Elimelech, Long D. Nghiem

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This study systematically compares the performance of osmotic membrane bioreactor - reverse osmosis (OMBR-RO) and conventional membrane bioreactor - reverse osmosis (MBR-RO) for advanced wastewater treatment and water reuse. Both systems achieved effective removal of bulk organic matter and nutrients, and almost complete removal of all 31 trace organic contaminants investigated. They both could produce high quality water suitable for recycling applications. During OMBR-RO operation, salinity build-up in the bioreactor reduced the water flux and negatively impacted the system biological treatment by altering biomass characteristics and microbial community structure. In addition, the elevated salinity also increased soluble microbial products and …

Application Of Fractional Calculus In Modelling Ballast Deformation Under Cyclic Loading, Yifei Sun, Buddhima Indraratna, John Philip Carter, Timothy R. Marchant, Sanjay Nimbalkar

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Most constitutive models can only simulate cumulative deformation after a limited number of cycles. However, railroad ballast usually experiences a large number of train passages that cause history-dependent long-term deformation. Fractional calculus is an efficient tool for modelling this phenomenon and therefore is incorporated into a constitutive model for predicting the cumulative deformation. The proposed model is further validated by comparing the model predictions with a series of corresponding experimental results. It is observed that the proposed model can realistically simulate the cumulative deformation of ballast from the onset of loading up to a large number of load cycles.

Experimental Investigation And Simplified Modeling Of Response Of Steel Plates Subjected To Close-In Blast Loading From Spherical Liquid Explosive Charges, Alex M. Remennikov, Tuan D. Ngo, Damith Mohotti, Brian Uy, Michael Netherton

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Detonations of nitromethane spherical charges have been carried out to study close-in blast loading of steel plates and the effectiveness of several protective solutions. Three types of bare steel plates, namely mild steel, high-strength steel, and stainless steel were subjected to explosive blast loading. Steel plates of the same type with polyurea coating and composite covers were also subjected to localized blast loading. During an explosive field trial, the blast pressures and displacements of steel plates were measured. Additionally, loading of steel plates by the impinging detonation products was captured by high-speed video recordings. This experimental program has produced results …

Holistic Sludge Management Through Ozonation: A Critical Review, Galilee U. Semblante, Faisal I. Hai, Dionysios D. Dionysiou, Kensuke Fukushi, William E. Price, Long D. Nghiem

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This paper critically reviews the multidimensional benefits of ozonation in wastewater treatment plants. These benefits include sludge reduction, removal of emerging trace organic contaminants (TrOC) from wastewater and sludge, and resource recovery from sludge. Literature shows that ozonation leads to sludge solubilisation, reducing overall biomass yield. Sludge solubilisation is primarily influenced by ozone dosage, which, in turn, depends on the fraction of ozonated sludge, ozone concentration, and sludge concentration. Additionally, sludge ozonation facilitates the removal of TrOCs from wastewater. On the other hand, by inducing cell lysis, ozonation increases the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nutrient concentration of the sludge …

Vibration-Induced Aerodynamic Loads On Large Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Blades, Xiong Liu, Cheng Lu, Shi Liang, Ajit R. Godbole, Yan Chen

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

The blades of a large Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) are subjected to significant vibrations during operation. The vibrations affect the dynamic flow field around the blade and consequently alter the aerodynamic forces on the blade. In order to better understand the influence of blade vibrations on the aerodynamic loads, the dynamic stall characteristics of an S809 airfoil undergoing translational motion as well as pitching motion were investigated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques. Simulation results indicated that both the out-of-plane and in-plane translational motions of the airfoil affect the unsteady aerodynamic forces significantly. In order to investigate the effects …

Liquid Desiccant Lithium Chloride Regeneration By Membrane Distillation For Air Conditioning, Hung Duong, Faisal I. Hai, Ali Aljubainawi, Zhenjun Ma, Tao He, Long D. Nghiem

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Liquid desiccant air conditioning (LDAC) has emerged as an attractive technology for improving indoor air quality and thermal comfort. Regeneration of liquid desiccants is critical to sustain the process efficiency of LDAC. This study explores membrane distillation (MD) for regeneration of lithium chloride (LiCl) desiccant solution commonly used in LDAC. The results demonstrate the viability of MD for LiCl regeneration. The MD process at the feed temperature of 65 °C could increase the LiCl concentration up to 29 wt.% without any observable LiCl loss. Given the high concentration of the LiCl solution feed, unlike traditional desalination applications, the impact of …

Performance Evaluation Of High Strength Concrete And Steel Fibre High Strength Concrete Columns Reinforced With Gfrp Bars And Helices, Hayder Alaa Hasan, M Neaz Sheikh, Muhammad N. S Hadi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This study presents the results of an experimental investigation on high strength concrete (HSC) and steel fibre high strength concrete (SFHSC) circular column specimens reinforced longitudinally and transversely with Glass Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) bars and helices, respectively. The Influence of the type of the reinforcement (steel and GFRP), the pitch of the transverse reinforcement, the addition of the steel fibres and the loading condition (concentric, eccentric and four-point loading) on the performance of the specimens was investigated. The study showed that the GFRP bar reinforced HSC (GFRP-HSC) specimen is as efficient as the steel bar reinforced HSC (steel-HSC) specimen in …