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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Touch-Screen Sd Card Text Reader, Samia Rahman Nov 2009

Touch-Screen Sd Card Text Reader, Samia Rahman

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


Mechanical Optimization Of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Blades, Alexander Laurence Combe May 2009

Mechanical Optimization Of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Blades, Alexander Laurence Combe

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


Adhesion Of Jurkat Cells In Defined Media And Substrates, Sarah De Leo May 2009

Adhesion Of Jurkat Cells In Defined Media And Substrates, Sarah De Leo

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


Numerical Implementation Of Prandtl’S Lifting-Line Theory And Modeling Of Aircraft Take-Off Phase For Wing Optimization, John William Dykes May 2009

Numerical Implementation Of Prandtl’S Lifting-Line Theory And Modeling Of Aircraft Take-Off Phase For Wing Optimization, John William Dykes

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


Intelligent-Navigating, Maze-Mapping, And Maze-Solving Robot Equipped With Sensors, Compass, And Gps System, Yunan Yuan May 2009

Intelligent-Navigating, Maze-Mapping, And Maze-Solving Robot Equipped With Sensors, Compass, And Gps System, Yunan Yuan

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


Site-Specific Deoxyribonucleic Acid Modifications For Use With Chemical Cages, John P. Casey Jr May 2009

Site-Specific Deoxyribonucleic Acid Modifications For Use With Chemical Cages, John P. Casey Jr

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


Impedance Spectroscopy Of Zebrafish Sperm, Robert Egnatchik Apr 2009

Impedance Spectroscopy Of Zebrafish Sperm, Robert Egnatchik

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


The In Vitro Characterization Of Chitosan-Plga Nanoparticle/Plasmid Dna Complexes, Hali Bordelon Apr 2009

The In Vitro Characterization Of Chitosan-Plga Nanoparticle/Plasmid Dna Complexes, Hali Bordelon

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


Processor Design Space Exploration And Performance Prediction, Balachandran Ramadass Jan 2009

Processor Design Space Exploration And Performance Prediction, Balachandran Ramadass

LSU Master's Theses

The use of simulation is well established in processor design research to evaluate architectural design trade-offs. More importantly, Cycle by Cycle accurate simulation is widely used to evaluate the new designs in processor research because of its accurate and detailed processor performance measurement. However, only configuration in a subspace can be simulated in practice due to its long simulation time and limited resources, leading to suboptimal conclusions that might not be applied to the larger design space. In this thesis, we propose a performance prediction approach which employs a state-of-the-art technique from experimental design, machine learning and data mining. Our …


The Study Of Sediment Dynamics In A Shallow Estuary Using Integrated Numerical Modeling And Satellite Remote Sensing, Haihong Zhao Jan 2009

The Study Of Sediment Dynamics In A Shallow Estuary Using Integrated Numerical Modeling And Satellite Remote Sensing, Haihong Zhao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary objective of the study is to develop an effective tool to investigate the resuspension, deposition and transport of mixed cohesive and non-cohesive sediments in an estuary. The research has integrated 1) statistical analyses of the primary forcing, 2) numerical models for hydrodynamics, surface waves and sediment transport, and 3) the MODIS (Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer) remotely sensed imagery, to investigate hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics in Mobile Bay, Alabama. First, based on long-term meteorological and tidal observations, statistical analyses have been conducted to predict extreme values of winds and water levels at different return periods in the estuary. Application of …


Biocompatible/ Bioresorbable Polymer Based Silver Nanaomaterial Coatng For Chronic Indwelling Medical Devices And Bioscaffolds For Tissue Regrowth, Ammar T. Qureshi Jan 2009

Biocompatible/ Bioresorbable Polymer Based Silver Nanaomaterial Coatng For Chronic Indwelling Medical Devices And Bioscaffolds For Tissue Regrowth, Ammar T. Qureshi

LSU Master's Theses

The objective of this study is to synthesize and characterize antimicrobial, bio-polymer based silver nanomaterials composite coatings, for use in chronic indwelling medical devices, and bioscaffolds. The coatings and bioscaffolds are comprised of novel biomass mediated silver nano particles (SNP) that are biocompatible, highly concentrated, highly pure, cost-effective, polydispersed and compatible with a range of polymer systems applicable for use with existing chronic indwelling medical devices. This thesis is divided into three main chapters. In Chapter 1, detailed review on the need for antimicrobial nanocomposite coatings for chronic indwelling medical devices along with different SNP synthesis and characterization methods is …


Quantitative Macro- And Microscale Methods For Characterizing Cell Viability, Julianne Forman Audiffred Jan 2009

Quantitative Macro- And Microscale Methods For Characterizing Cell Viability, Julianne Forman Audiffred

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this study is to combine molecular and microdevice methods to characterize and quantify viability of single mammalian cells. Fluorescent-based assays were optimized for adherent HeLa and suspension Jurkat cells and were used as a tool for validation of a microfabricated diagnostic device. Cell and substrate/surface interactions were considered for designing a microfluidic device that can be used to characterize cell viability for quantitative biomedical and cell biology applications, which require label-free, real-time monitoring of cells. Several interdisciplinary methods are employed to evaluate electrical impedance differences between live and dead Jurkat cells in a microfluidic device. Biological Micro-Electro-Mechanical …


A Decision Making Framework For Hurricane Evacuation And Sheltering, Jason Fennell Jan 2009

A Decision Making Framework For Hurricane Evacuation And Sheltering, Jason Fennell

LSU Master's Theses

There are few tools currently available to emergency managers to assist in making decisions about whether to evacuate, shelter locally, or shelter-in-place, and none of these tools explicitly consider risk to life safety. A methodology was developed to provide risk-based guidance for evacuation versus sheltering decision making. The hurricane hazards considered in the developed methodology are high winds, storm surge flooding and waves, and rainfall flooding. Vulnerability of buildings to these hazards and the associated risks to life safety are then determined. These results are compared to the hazards and risks associated with evacuation, particularly for medical special needs populations …


Mechanistic Foam Modeling And Simulations: Gas Injection During Surfactant-Alternating-Gas Processes Using Foam-Catastrophe Theory, Ali Afsharpoor Jan 2009

Mechanistic Foam Modeling And Simulations: Gas Injection During Surfactant-Alternating-Gas Processes Using Foam-Catastrophe Theory, Ali Afsharpoor

LSU Master's Theses

The use of foam for mobility control is a promising means to improve sweep efficiency in subsurface applications such as improved/enhanced oil recovery and aquifer remediation. Foam can be introduced into geological formations by injecting gas and surfactant solutions simultaneously or alternatively. Alternating gas and surfactant solutions, which is often referred to as surfactant-alternating-gas (SAG) process, is known to effectively create fine-textured strong foams due to fluctuation in capillary pressure. Recent studies show that foam rheology in porous media can be characterized by foam-catastrophe theory which exhibits three foam states (weak-foam, strong-foam, and intermediate states) and two strong-foam regimes (high-quality …


Effects Of Processing Parameters On The Embrittlement Of Self Reacting Friction Stir Welds, David Eric Taylor Jan 2009

Effects Of Processing Parameters On The Embrittlement Of Self Reacting Friction Stir Welds, David Eric Taylor

LSU Master's Theses

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) has been adopted as one of the major welding processes for joining Aluminum. Many aerospace and marine structures are welded through this novel FSW processes currently. The Lockheed Martin Space Systems (LMSS), Michoud Operations, in New Orleans is continuously pursuing Friction Stir Welding technologies in its efforts to advance fabrication of the external tanks of the space shuttle. Recently, a reduction in mechanical strength (embrittlement) has been observed especially in self-reacting (SR) friction stir welds. This strength reduction was attributed to Residual Oxide Defects (ROD) but the exact reasons for this type of behavior needed to …


Enhancing Reductive Dechlorination Of Chlorinated Ethenes And Ethanes In A Natural Treatment System, Caroline Burda Jan 2009

Enhancing Reductive Dechlorination Of Chlorinated Ethenes And Ethanes In A Natural Treatment System, Caroline Burda

LSU Master's Theses

Chlorinated solvent contamination continues to plague sites around the world. In many cases, lower chlorinated daughter products build up and remain in ground waters and soils. A Bio-Filter/Phytobed (BFP) system has been developed to replace a traditional pump and treat technology currently operating at the ReSolve Superfund site in North Dartmouth, MA. Pilot scale testing at the facility displayed a significant acclimation period prior to microbial dechlorination, as well as delayed degradation of chlorinated ethanes. Microcosm studies suggest that acidic conditions, possibly created by the peat mixture used to construct the bio-filter, inhibited bacterial growth. The neutralization of trench pH …


Sophisticated Denial-Of-Service Attack Detections Through Integrated Architectural, Os, And Appplication Level Events Monitoring, Ran Tao Jan 2009

Sophisticated Denial-Of-Service Attack Detections Through Integrated Architectural, Os, And Appplication Level Events Monitoring, Ran Tao

LSU Master's Theses

As the first step to defend against DoS attacks, Network-based Intrusion Detection System is well explored and widely used in both commercial tools and research works. Such IDS framework is built upon features extracted from the network traffic, which are application-level features, and is effective in detecting flooding-based DoS attacks. However, in a sophisticated DoS attack, where an attacker manages to bypass the network-based monitors and launch a DoS attack locally, sniffer-based methods have difficulty in differentiating attacks with normal behaviors, since the malicious connection itself behaves in the same manner of normal connections. In this work, we study a …


Freeway Crash And Lane Compliance Under Truck Lane Restriction And Differential Speed Limit, Murat Korkut Jan 2009

Freeway Crash And Lane Compliance Under Truck Lane Restriction And Differential Speed Limit, Murat Korkut

LSU Master's Theses

In the last decade, several fatal truck related crashes occurred on the elevated freeway over the Atchafalaya Basin. In an attempt to reduce the crash rates, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development implemented two policies to regulate the truck traffic on this rural divided freeway that has two lanes in each direction of flow. These policies restricted truck traffic to the right lane and reduced the maximum truck speed limit to 55-mph. On the other hand, maximum car speed limit was kept at 60-mph. The changes took place in 2003. While the policies were in effect, crash and traffic …


Development And Operational Analysis Of Highway Alternating Merge Transition Zones, Wakeel Ishola, Anthony Idewu Jan 2009

Development And Operational Analysis Of Highway Alternating Merge Transition Zones, Wakeel Ishola, Anthony Idewu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The design and control of work zone traffic control areas is governed by standards published by the United States Department of Transportation (US-DOT) and documented in the Manual for Uniform Control Devices (MUTCD). While these configurations have evolved over time to reflect safer and more efficient management practices and have become familiar to drivers, they are also recognized as areas of vehicle conflict that can cause congestion and safety problems. As part of this research, a new design has been developed that has the potential to lessen the detrimental effects of lane closures in work zones. This new concept, known …


Prioritization Of Safety Countermeasures For The State Of Louisiana Using Fuzzy Inference Systems, Meisam Akbarzadeh Jan 2009

Prioritization Of Safety Countermeasures For The State Of Louisiana Using Fuzzy Inference Systems, Meisam Akbarzadeh

LSU Master's Theses

In this study a fuzzy inference system is proposed for prioritization of countermeasures aimed at improving safety in the state of Louisiana. Countermeasures are prioritized based on their collective performance on cost, expected crash reduction and the severity of the problem they address. These three decision parameters can have six permutations in terms of their relative importance in decision making. In order to make the prioritization procedure handier for decision makers, the inference system is capable of being run under all six possible cases. Current safety standards influence the importance attached to crash reduction performance and severity of the problem …


Advanced Microwave Technology For Biodiesel Feedstock Processing, Beatrice G. Terigar Jan 2009

Advanced Microwave Technology For Biodiesel Feedstock Processing, Beatrice G. Terigar

LSU Master's Theses

The goal of this work was to assist in overcoming the most important bottlenecks in the biodiesel production chain: to improve the biodiesel production process (oil extraction and esterification) using advanced microwave technologies from traditional and alternative feedstock; and identify the important characteristics of an alternative, high oil yield crop (TT). Dielectric properties of two feedstocks, soybean and rice bran were measured in presence of several solvents at different ratios, temperature and frequency. Results indicated that dielectric properties are ratio, temperature, frequency and solvent type dependent. Quasi-linear relationship using second order logarithmic transformation of the data provided a reliable estimator …


Ternary To Binary Converter Design In Cmos Using Multiple Input Floating Gate Mosfets, Josephine Ratna Sathiaraj Jan 2009

Ternary To Binary Converter Design In Cmos Using Multiple Input Floating Gate Mosfets, Josephine Ratna Sathiaraj

LSU Master's Theses

In this work, a ternary to binary converter circuit is designed in 0.5μm n-well CMOS technology. The circuit takes two inputs corresponding to the ternary bits and gives four outputs, which are the binary equivalent bits of the ternary inputs. The ternary inputs range from (-1,-1)3 to (1,1) 3 which are decimal -4 to 4 and the four binary output bits are the sign bit (SB), most significant bit (MSB), second significant bit (SSB) and the least significant bit (LSB). The ternary inputs (-1, 0 and 1) are represented in terms of voltages of -3V, 0V and 3V. Multiple …


Granular Activated Carbon Sorption As A Load Equalization Mechanism In Operation Of Air Pollution Control Devices, Marilou Montevirgen Nabatilan Jan 2009

Granular Activated Carbon Sorption As A Load Equalization Mechanism In Operation Of Air Pollution Control Devices, Marilou Montevirgen Nabatilan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Transient periods of unsteady loading pose a challenge in design and operation of bioreactors for air pollution control. As a potential means of overcoming some of these challenges, a systematic study of granular activated carbon (GAC) sorption was conducted to further evaluate its potential as a load equalization mechanism for unsteady loading of volatile organic carbons (VOCs). GAC columns were experimentally tested under dynamic loading conditions involving variations in contaminant concentrations, gas flow rates, and relative humidity. Toluene was used as model VOC, and BPL 4x6 mesh GAC was used as a model adsorbent. The research was divided into four …


An Uncertainty-Based Approach To The Total Maximum Daily Load Development, Abhijit Patil Jan 2009

An Uncertainty-Based Approach To The Total Maximum Daily Load Development, Abhijit Patil

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A Bayesian-updating approach is developed to the estimation of the total uncertainty-based Margin of Safety (MOS) for Total Maximum Daily Load calculations using the watershed modeling tool HSPF. In order to determine the prior, likelihood, and posterior distributions of uncertainties involved in Bayesian approach, various probability density functions are derived. The temperature measurement induced uncertainty in dissolved oxygen simulation is found to be normally distributed. The temporal scale uncertainty in weather data decreases with decreasing temporal resolution. The temporal-scale uncertainties in the rainfall and temperature data follow a Weibull and general extreme value distributions, respectively. The spatial-resolution uncertainty in simulated …


Evaluation Of Interwell Connectivity Of Little Creek Field, Mississipii [Sic] From Production Data, Gbemisola Yewande Ogunyomi Jan 2009

Evaluation Of Interwell Connectivity Of Little Creek Field, Mississipii [Sic] From Production Data, Gbemisola Yewande Ogunyomi

LSU Master's Theses

The understanding of geological characteristics and heterogeneity of a reservoir enables better decisions for reservoir development. Statistical methods use universally available injection and production rate data to help evaluate reservoir characteristics and behavior.In this research project, statistical methods typically used to infer communication between injector-producer well pairs in a waterflood reservoir using only production and injection rate data are applied to a CO2 flood. The multivariate linear regression (MLR) technique computes weighting coefficients possibly related to the fraction of the flow in a producer that comes from each of the injectors (Albertoni and Lake, 2002). MLR was applied to the …


Residential Building Damage From Hurricane Storm Surge: Proposed Methodologies To Describe, Assess And Model Building Damage, Carol J. Friedland Jan 2009

Residential Building Damage From Hurricane Storm Surge: Proposed Methodologies To Describe, Assess And Model Building Damage, Carol J. Friedland

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Although hydrodynamic models are used extensively to quantify the physical hazard of hurricane storm surge, the connection between the physical hazard and its effects on the built environment has not been well addressed. The focus of this dissertation research is the improvement of our understanding of the interaction of hurricane storm surge with the built environment. This is accomplished through proposed methodologies to describe, assess and model residential building damage from hurricane storm surge. Current methods to describe damage from hurricane events rely on the initiating mechanism. To describe hurricane damage to residential buildings, a combined wind and flood damage …


Nanoidentation Behavior Of Clay Minerals And Clay-Based Nonstructured Multilayers, Zhongxin Wei Jan 2009

Nanoidentation Behavior Of Clay Minerals And Clay-Based Nonstructured Multilayers, Zhongxin Wei

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Clay minerals, ubiquitous in the geosphere, are hydrous layered silicates or phyllosilicates that are made of nanometer-thick 2:1 or 1:1 layers. Understanding their mechanical properties of clay minerals is of vital importance to a variety of disciplines, such as geomechanics, geophysics, mineral physics, and nanocomposites. Owing to their complex crystal structure and size, however, accurate determination of their mechanical properties is a significant challenge. This dissertation presents the first research effort to study systematically the fundamental mechanical properties along the c-axis (e.g., elastic modulus, hardness) of a wide range of phyllosilicates with varying crystal structure and chemical compositions. To explore …


Bacterial Characterization Of Louisiana Groundwater Contaminated By Dnapl-Containing Chloroethanes And Other Solvents, Kimberly Bowman Jan 2009

Bacterial Characterization Of Louisiana Groundwater Contaminated By Dnapl-Containing Chloroethanes And Other Solvents, Kimberly Bowman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In support of an effort to determine the feasibility of using an in-situ bioremediation strategy for cleanup of groundwater in an area containing chlorinated solvents present as a dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL), the bacterial population in the groundwater at a Superfund site located near Baton Rouge, Louisiana was characterized. More than 3¡Á107 cells/mL in the groundwater were observed via microscopy. Universal bacterial and ¡°Dehalococcoides¡±-specific 16S rRNA gene libraries were constructed and analyzed. Universal clones grouped into 18 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), as defined by sequence similarity ¡Ý97.0%, which included several as yet undescribed organisms. Multiple unique sequences closely related …


Particle-Chemical Interactions And Environmental Chemodynamics Of Fine And Ultrafine Particles In A Natural Disaster Scenario, Nicholas A. Ashley Jan 2009

Particle-Chemical Interactions And Environmental Chemodynamics Of Fine And Ultrafine Particles In A Natural Disaster Scenario, Nicholas A. Ashley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The interactions of fine and ultrafine particles with chemicals play a dominant role in determining the mobility and availability of pollutants in the environment. Fine particles in sediments can sequester chemicals from the water column, and release volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds to the gas phase upon exposure to air. Ultrafine particles which are photoreactive can degrade these vapor-phase contaminants, and may transform the molecules into species which are more toxic or hazardous than the parent. As the widespread, commercial use of ultrafine particles becomes more common, understanding the chemodynamics of these particles and their interactions with chemicals in the …


Investigation Into The Hydrothermal Treatment Of Sugarcane Bagasse Under Near- And Supercritical Conditions, John E. White Jan 2009

Investigation Into The Hydrothermal Treatment Of Sugarcane Bagasse Under Near- And Supercritical Conditions, John E. White

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Processing biomass in near- and supercritical water has garnered increasing attention because of its ability to accept a variety of wet feedstocks, energy efficiency, and ability to regulate the solubility and separation of components. Very few studies of biomass hydrothermal conversion provide a comprehensive evaluation of multiple process parameters and various additives and their effects on a single product phase. This research examined the influence of temperature, residence time, biomass concentration, and particle size on volatiles production from the hydrothermal conversion of sugarcane bagasse. Temperature had the greatest impact on volatile yields with the largest increase (23 wt %) occurring …