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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Enhance Diamond Coating Adhesion By Oriented Interlayer Microcracking, Habio Guo, Xingcheng Xiao, Yue Qi, Zhi-Hui Xu, Xiaodong Li Dec 2009

Enhance Diamond Coating Adhesion By Oriented Interlayer Microcracking, Habio Guo, Xingcheng Xiao, Yue Qi, Zhi-Hui Xu, Xiaodong Li

Faculty Publications

In this paper, we report a microcrack toughening mechanism for enhancing the adhesion of diamondcoating. The oriented microcracks were formed within the TiC interlayer to dissipate strain energy and accommodate deformation via the crack opening-closing mechanism, thus enhancing the coating/substrate interfacial toughness. The delamination of diamondcoating was effectively prevented when the parallel microcracks were confined within the interlayer and arrested at interfaces of coating/interlayer/substrate. Density functional theory calculations revealed that the highly anisotropicfracture strength of the TiC phase energetically favors crack initiation and propagation along (100) planes only, which are 54.7° away from the interface. These microcracks are constrained inside …


Phage-Induced Alignment Of Membrane Proteins Enables The Measurement And Structural Analysis Of Residual Dipolar Couplings With Dipolar Waves And Lambda-Maps, Sang Ho Park, Woo Sung Son, Rishi Mukhopadhyay, Homayoun Valafar, Stanley J. Opella Sep 2009

Phage-Induced Alignment Of Membrane Proteins Enables The Measurement And Structural Analysis Of Residual Dipolar Couplings With Dipolar Waves And Lambda-Maps, Sang Ho Park, Woo Sung Son, Rishi Mukhopadhyay, Homayoun Valafar, Stanley J. Opella

Faculty Publications

At pH > 6 added filamentous bacteriophage fd is compatible with many of the detergents used to solubilize membrane proteins for solution NMR studies of membrane proteins and, therefore, serves as an alignment media. In combination with strained polyacrylamide gel alignment, Dipolar Waves can be used to directly assess the secondary structure and a λ-map extracts the order tensors for de novo structure calculation of membrane proteins without distance restraints.


3510-V 390-M Omega . Cm(2) 4h-Sic Lateral Jfet On A Semi-Insulating Substrate, Chih-Fang Huang, Cheng-Li Kan, Tian-Li Wu, Meng-Chia Lee, Yo-Zthu Liu, Kung-Yen Lee, Feng Zhao Sep 2009

3510-V 390-M Omega . Cm(2) 4h-Sic Lateral Jfet On A Semi-Insulating Substrate, Chih-Fang Huang, Cheng-Li Kan, Tian-Li Wu, Meng-Chia Lee, Yo-Zthu Liu, Kung-Yen Lee, Feng Zhao

Faculty Publications

The performance of high-voltage 4H-SiC lateral JFETs on a semi-insulating substrate is reported in this letter. The design of the voltage-supporting layers is based on the charge compensation of p- and n-type epilayers. The best measured breakdown voltage is 3510 V, which, to the authors' knowledge, is the highest value ever reported for SiC lateral switching devices. The R-on of this device is 390 m Omega . cm(2), in which 61% is due to the drift-region resistance. The BV2/R-on is 32 MW/cm(2), which is typical among other reported SiC lateral devices.


X-Ray Photoemission Analysis Of Chemically Treated Gate Semiconductor Surfaces For Radiation Detector Applications, A. J. Nelson, A. M. Conway, B. W. Sturm, E. M. Behymer, C. E. Reinhardt, R. J. Nikolic, S. A. Payne, G. Pabst, K. C. Mandal Jul 2009

X-Ray Photoemission Analysis Of Chemically Treated Gate Semiconductor Surfaces For Radiation Detector Applications, A. J. Nelson, A. M. Conway, B. W. Sturm, E. M. Behymer, C. E. Reinhardt, R. J. Nikolic, S. A. Payne, G. Pabst, K. C. Mandal

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Gene Order Phylogeny And The Evolution Of Methanogens, Haiwei Luo, Zhiyi Sun, William Arndt, Jian Shi, Robert Friedman, Jijun Tang Jun 2009

Gene Order Phylogeny And The Evolution Of Methanogens, Haiwei Luo, Zhiyi Sun, William Arndt, Jian Shi, Robert Friedman, Jijun Tang

Faculty Publications

Methanogens are a phylogenetically diverse group belonging to Euryarchaeota. Previously, phylogenetic approaches using large datasets revealed that methanogens can be grouped into two classes, “Class I” and “Class II”. However, some deep relationships were not resolved. For instance, the monophyly of “Class I” methanogens, which consist of Methanopyrales, Methanobacteriales and Methanococcales, is disputable due to weak statistical support. In this study, we use MSOAR to identify common orthologous genes from eight methanogen species and a Thermococcale species (outgroup), and apply GRAPPA and FastME to compute distance-based gene order phylogeny. The gene order phylogeny supports two classes of methanogens, but it …


A Miniature Implanted Inverted-F Antenna For Gps Application, Mohammed Z. Azad, Mohammod Ali Jun 2009

A Miniature Implanted Inverted-F Antenna For Gps Application, Mohammed Z. Azad, Mohammod Ali

Faculty Publications

A miniature implanted Hilbert inverted-F antenna design at the 1.575 GHz; global positioning system (GPS) frequency is proposed, which can be used to track the location of its user, e.g., the elderly with declining mental capacity (alzheimer's disease). A detailed parametric study of the antenna design is performed by considering it to be implanted within a human muscle model. The effects of the substrate, superstrate, and the nearby muscle tissue on antenna performance are carefully investigated. A laboratory prototype of the antenna was built and tested within a muscle equivalent fluid indicating good VSWR performance. Finally the said antenna when …


Probability Density Functions For Snir In Ds-Cdma, David W. Matolak Jun 2009

Probability Density Functions For Snir In Ds-Cdma, David W. Matolak

Faculty Publications

Analytical expressions for the probability density function of block-wise signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio for both synchronous and asynchronous direct-sequence spread spectrum code-division multiple access systems are developed, for equal average energy signals on the Gaussian and Rayleigh flat fading channels. Using the standard Gaussian approximation for multi-user interference, accurate density approximations are obtained, which agree very well with computer simulation results.


Tobacco Mosaic Virus Templated Synthesis Of One Dimensional Inorganic-Polymer Hybrid Fibres, Jianhua Rong, Fiona Oberbeck, Xinnan Wang, Xiaodong Li, Jerry Oxsher, Zhongwei Niu, Qian Wang May 2009

Tobacco Mosaic Virus Templated Synthesis Of One Dimensional Inorganic-Polymer Hybrid Fibres, Jianhua Rong, Fiona Oberbeck, Xinnan Wang, Xiaodong Li, Jerry Oxsher, Zhongwei Niu, Qian Wang

Faculty Publications

Inorganic–polymer hybrid nanofibres were prepared by using a rod-like tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) as a template. With tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as a precursor, long silica-coated TMVfibres were formed via a head-to-tail assembly, which showed a substantial increase of the elastic modulus. Furthermore, homogenous titania–TMV hybrid fibres could be prepared using polyaniline-coated TMV fibres as a template, which were used to form a composite film that was able to sense liquefied petroleum gases.


Parallel-Connected Solar Pv System To Address Partial And Rapidly Fluctuating Shadow Conditions, Lijun Gao, Roger A. Dougal, Shengyi Liu, Albena P. Iotova May 2009

Parallel-Connected Solar Pv System To Address Partial And Rapidly Fluctuating Shadow Conditions, Lijun Gao, Roger A. Dougal, Shengyi Liu, Albena P. Iotova

Faculty Publications

Solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays in portable applications are often subject to partial shading and rapid fluctuations of shading. In the usual series-connected wiring scheme, the residual energy generated by partially shaded cells either cannot be collected (if diode bypassed) or, worse, impedes collection of power from the remaining fully illuminated cells (if not bypassed). Rapid fluctuation of the shading pattern makes maximum power point (MPP) tracking difficult; generally, there will exist multiple local MPPs, and their values will change as rapidly as does the illumination. In this paper, a portable solar PV system that effectively eliminates both of the aforementioned …


Exploiting Matrix Symmetry To Improve Fpgaaccelerated Conjugate Gradient, Jason D. Bakos, Krishna K. Nagar Apr 2009

Exploiting Matrix Symmetry To Improve Fpgaaccelerated Conjugate Gradient, Jason D. Bakos, Krishna K. Nagar

Faculty Publications

In this paper we describe a new approach for accelerating the Conjugate Gradient (CG) method using an FPGA co-processor. As in previous approaches, our co-processor performs a double-precision sparse matrix-vector multiplication. However, our implementation doubles the amount of computation per unit of input data by exploiting the symmetry of the input matrix and computing the upper and lower triangle of the input matrix in parallel. Using a Virtex-2 Pro 100 FPGA, we have achieved an observed computational throughput of 1155 MFLOPS.


La0.85Sr0.15Mno3− Infiltrated Y0.5Bi1.5O3 Cathodes For Intermediate-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, Jiang Zhiyi, Changrong Xia, Fei Zhao, Fanglin Chen Mar 2009

La0.85Sr0.15Mno3− Infiltrated Y0.5Bi1.5O3 Cathodes For Intermediate-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, Jiang Zhiyi, Changrong Xia, Fei Zhao, Fanglin Chen

Faculty Publications

Porous yttria-stabilized bismuth oxides (YSB) were investigated as the backbones for (LSM) infiltrated cathodes in intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells. The cathodes were evaluated using anode-supported single cells with scandia-stabilized zirconia as the electrolytes. With humidified as the fuel, the cell showed peak power density of 0.33, 0.52, and at 650, 700, and , respectively. At , the cell polarization resistance was only , of the lowest value previously reported, indicating that YSB is a promising backbone for the LSM infiltrated cathode.


Deep Levels In Gate And Gate:In Crystals Investigated By Deep-Level Transient Spectroscopy And Photoluminescence, Y. Cui, D. D. Caudel, P. Bhattacharya, A. Burger, K. C. Mandal, D. Johnstone, S. A. Payne Mar 2009

Deep Levels In Gate And Gate:In Crystals Investigated By Deep-Level Transient Spectroscopy And Photoluminescence, Y. Cui, D. D. Caudel, P. Bhattacharya, A. Burger, K. C. Mandal, D. Johnstone, S. A. Payne

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Low Temperature, Organic-Free Synthesis Of Ba3B6O9(Oh)6 Nanorods And Ss-Bab2O4 Nanospindles, Rui Li, Xinyoung Tao, Xiaodong Li Feb 2009

Low Temperature, Organic-Free Synthesis Of Ba3B6O9(Oh)6 Nanorods And Ss-Bab2O4 Nanospindles, Rui Li, Xinyoung Tao, Xiaodong Li

Faculty Publications

Using a low temperature, organic-free hydrothermal technique, single-crystalline barium polyborate Ba3B6O9(OH)6 (BBOH) nanorods were synthesized. It was found that β-BaB2O4(BBO) nanospindles can be achieved by annealing the BBOH nanorods at a relatively low temperature of 810 °C. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques were used to characterize these nanomaterials. The formation mechanisms are discussed in conjunction with the crystallographic characteristics and surface energy of the BBOH nanorods and BBO nanospindles. UV-vis absorption spectra demonstrated that both BBOH nanorods and BBO nanospindles are …


Unveiling The Formation Mechanism Of Pseudo-Single-Crystal Aragonite Platelets In Nacre, Xiaodong Li, Zaiwang Huang Feb 2009

Unveiling The Formation Mechanism Of Pseudo-Single-Crystal Aragonite Platelets In Nacre, Xiaodong Li, Zaiwang Huang

Faculty Publications

We demonstrate direct evidence that a single-crystal-like aragonite platelet is essentially assembled with aragonite nanoparticles. The aragonite nanoparticles are readily oriented and assembled into pseudo-single-crystal aragonite platelets via screw dislocation and amorphous aggregation, which are two dominant mediating mechanisms between nanoparticles during biomineralization. These findings will advance our understanding of nacre’s biomineralization process and provide additional design guidelines for developing biomimetic materials.


Correlating Threshold Power With Free-Space Bandwidth For Low-Directivity Antennas, Abu T.M. Sayem, Mark G. Douglas, Gernot Schmidt, Ben Petric, Mohammod Ali Feb 2009

Correlating Threshold Power With Free-Space Bandwidth For Low-Directivity Antennas, Abu T.M. Sayem, Mark G. Douglas, Gernot Schmidt, Ben Petric, Mohammod Ali

Faculty Publications

This paper develops a threshold power rationale that can be used to demonstrate inherent compliance for portable wireless devices with specific absorption rate (SAR) limits over the 300-6000-MHz frequency range. This is achieved first by understanding the relationship between basic antenna parameters (bandwidth, operating frequency, and distance to the body) and SAR. From this, an upper limit is determined for the power transmitted by a portable wireless device such that the SAR will not exceed the compliance limit. Based on the presented computational and measured data, an empirical formula is developed for the threshold power as a function of the …


Inhomogeneous Degradation Of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane In Pem Fuel Cells, Xinyu Huang, Wonseok Yoon Jan 2009

Inhomogeneous Degradation Of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane In Pem Fuel Cells, Xinyu Huang, Wonseok Yoon

Faculty Publications

Membrane durability is one of the technical barriers for the commercialization of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Membrane embrittlement (a form of mechanical weakening) can lead to the frequently observed “sudden death” behavior of PEM fuel cells. It is the objective of this study to explore the fundamental mechanisms of the mechanical weakening of perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) based electrolyte membranes during the accelerated degradation test.


Effect Of Water Transport On The Production Of Hydrogen And Sulfuric Acid In A Pem Electrolyzer, John A. Staser, John W. Weidner Jan 2009

Effect Of Water Transport On The Production Of Hydrogen And Sulfuric Acid In A Pem Electrolyzer, John A. Staser, John W. Weidner

Faculty Publications

The thermochemical cycle involving the interconversion between sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid is a promising method for efficient, large-scale production of hydrogen. A key step in the process is the oxidation of sulfur dioxide to sulfuric acid in an electrolyzer. Gaseous SO2 fed to a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer was previously investigated and was shown to be a promising system for the electrolysis step. A critical factor in the performance of this gas-fed electrolyzer is the management of water since it: (i) is needed as a reactant, (ii) determines the product sulfuric acid concentration, …


Reduction Of Model Order Based On Proper Orthogonal Decomposition For Lithium-Ion Battery Simulations, Long Cai, Ralph E. White Jan 2009

Reduction Of Model Order Based On Proper Orthogonal Decomposition For Lithium-Ion Battery Simulations, Long Cai, Ralph E. White

Faculty Publications

A reduced-order model (ROM) is developed using proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) for a physics-based lithium-ion battery model. The methodology to obtain the proper orthogonal modes and to analyze their optimality is included. The POD-based ROM for a lithium-ion battery is used to simulate a charge/discharge process and the behavior of a battery pack. Compared to the physics-based model, the computational time to solve the ROM is significantly less, and the two models show excellent agreement.


Polymer Composite And Nanocomposite Dielectric Materials For Pulse Power Energy Storage, P. Barber, S. Balasubramanian, Y. Anguchamy, S. Gong, A. Wibowo, H. Gao, Harry J. Ploehn, Hans-Conrad Zur Loye Jan 2009

Polymer Composite And Nanocomposite Dielectric Materials For Pulse Power Energy Storage, P. Barber, S. Balasubramanian, Y. Anguchamy, S. Gong, A. Wibowo, H. Gao, Harry J. Ploehn, Hans-Conrad Zur Loye

Faculty Publications

This review summarizes the current state of polymer composites used as dielectric materials for energy storage. The particular focus is on materials: polymers serving as the matrix, inorganic fillers used to increase the effective dielectric constant, and various recent investigations of functionalization of metal oxide fillers to improve compatibility with polymers. We review the recent literature focused on the dielectric characterization of composites, specifically the measurement of dielectric permittivity and breakdown field strength. Special attention is given to the analysis of the energy density of polymer composite materials and how the functionalization of the inorganic filler affects the energy density …


A Miniature Spiral Diversity Antenna System With High Overall Gain Coverage And Low Sar, Abu T.M. Sayem, Sadia Khan, Mohammod Ali Jan 2009

A Miniature Spiral Diversity Antenna System With High Overall Gain Coverage And Low Sar, Abu T.M. Sayem, Sadia Khan, Mohammod Ali

Faculty Publications

A miniature spiral diversity antenna system operating at 1.85 GHz is proposed. Two 10 mm 6.25 mm antennas were placed at two corners of a printed circuit board at a height of 7 mm from the ground plane. Each antenna achieves nearly 7% bandwidth within 6 dB return loss. The mutual coupling between the two antennas is less than 10 dB. The proposed diversity antenna scheme exhibits high overall gain performance in all three principal planes compared to a single antenna solution. Computed specific absorption rate (SAR) data against a specific anthropomorphic mannequin (SaM) phantom and a hand model show …


The Effect Of Copt Crystallinity And Grain Texturing On Properties Of Exchange-Coupled Fe/Copt Systems, H. Oguchi, A. Zambano, M. Yu, Jason R. Hattrick-Simpers, D. Banerjee, Y. Liu, Z. L. Wang, J. P. Liu, S. E. Lofland, D. Josell, I. Takeuchi Jan 2009

The Effect Of Copt Crystallinity And Grain Texturing On Properties Of Exchange-Coupled Fe/Copt Systems, H. Oguchi, A. Zambano, M. Yu, Jason R. Hattrick-Simpers, D. Banerjee, Y. Liu, Z. L. Wang, J. P. Liu, S. E. Lofland, D. Josell, I. Takeuchi

Faculty Publications

The effect of the crystallinity and the grain texturing of CoPt hard layers on exchange coupled Fe/CoPt soft/hard magnetic systems was studied using gradient thickness multilayer thin films. We have studied the hard layer structures by transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction, and characterized the exchange coupling interaction through magnetization loops obtained by the magneto-optical Kerr effect measurement. We found that exchange coupling strongly depends on the crystalline characteristics of the CoPt hard layer. There is correlation between the mixture of different grain orientations of the CoPt hard layer and coupling efficiency. In particular, interlayer coupling is enhanced when there …


An Infrared Imaging Method For High-Throughput Combinatorial Investigation Of Hydrogenation-Dehydrogenation And New Phase Formation Of Thin Films, H. Oguchi, Jason R. Hattrick-Simpers, I. Takeuchi, E. J. Heilweil, L. A. Bendersky Jan 2009

An Infrared Imaging Method For High-Throughput Combinatorial Investigation Of Hydrogenation-Dehydrogenation And New Phase Formation Of Thin Films, H. Oguchi, Jason R. Hattrick-Simpers, I. Takeuchi, E. J. Heilweil, L. A. Bendersky

Faculty Publications

We have developed an infrared imaging setup enabling in situ infrared images to be acquired, and expanded on capabilities of an infrared imaging as a high-throughput screening technique, determination of a critical thickness of a Pd capping layer which significantly blocks infrared emission from below, enhancement of sensitivity to hydrogenation and dehydrogenation by normalizing raw infrared intensity of a Mg thin film to an inert reference, rapid and systematic screening of hydrogenation and dehydrogenation properties of a Mg–Ni composition spread covered by a thickness gradient Pd capping layer, and detection of formation of a Mg2Si phase in a …


Agents And Service-Oriented Computing For Autonomic Computing: A Research Agenda, Frances M.T. Brazier, Jeffrey O. Kephart, H. Van Dyke Parunak, Michael N. Huhns Jan 2009

Agents And Service-Oriented Computing For Autonomic Computing: A Research Agenda, Frances M.T. Brazier, Jeffrey O. Kephart, H. Van Dyke Parunak, Michael N. Huhns

Faculty Publications

Autonomic computing is the solution proposed to cope with the complexity of today's computing environments. Self-management, an important element of autonomic computing, is also characteristic of single and multiagent systems, as well as systems based on service-oriented architectures. Combining these technologies can be profitable for all - in particular, for the development of autonomic computing systems.


Electrochemical Removal Of Carbon Monoxide In Reformate Hydrogen For Fueling Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, Sivagaminathan Balasubramanian, Charles E. Holland, John W. Weidner Jan 2009

Electrochemical Removal Of Carbon Monoxide In Reformate Hydrogen For Fueling Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, Sivagaminathan Balasubramanian, Charles E. Holland, John W. Weidner

Faculty Publications

A twin-cell electrochemical filter is demonstrated to reduce the CO concentration in reformate hydrogen. In this design, the potential and gas flow are switched between the two filter cells so that alternative CO adsorption and oxidation occur in each cell while providing a continuous flow of H2 to a fuel cell. The effects of filter switching time and applied potential on the CO concentration of gas exiting the filter are presented here for a CO concentration of 1000 ppm in nitrogen flowing at 100 cm3/min. The parasitic loss of hydrogen from a corresponding reformate stream was estimated to be 1.5%.


Sulfur Dioxide Crossover During The Production Of Hydrogen And Sulfuric Acid In A Pem Electrolyzer, John A. Staser, John W. Weidner Jan 2009

Sulfur Dioxide Crossover During The Production Of Hydrogen And Sulfuric Acid In A Pem Electrolyzer, John A. Staser, John W. Weidner

Faculty Publications

A proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer has been investigated as a viable system for the electrolysis step in the thermochemical conversion of sulfur dioxide to sulfuric acid for the large-scale production of hydrogen. Unfortunately, during operation, sulfur dioxide can diffuse from the anode to the cathode. This has several negative effects, including reduction to sulfur that could potentially damage the electrode, consumption of current that would otherwise be used for the production of hydrogen, introduction of oxygen and SO2 to the hydrogen stream, and loss of sulfur to the cycle. However, proper water management can reduce or eliminate the …