Engineering Commons^™

Respiratory Impedances Computed From The Forced Oscillation Technique Using An Esophageal Balloon, Richard Thomas Fisler

Theses

The purpose of this investigation is to develop methodology for the standard measurement and physiological interpretation of lung resistance and compliance using non-invasive forced oscillations techniques and validating these results with standardized esophageal balloon techniques. Application of the forced oscillation technique with an esophageal balloon in place permits partitioning of the respiratory system into the pulmonary system which is of primary interest and the less clinically important chestwall system. Diseased lung states are induced in normal subjects by inhalation of a bronchoconstrictor. The total respiratory (pulmonary plus chest wall) and pulmonary impedances are interpreted using both a linear three element …

The Evaluation Of The Impact Of Reducing The Domestic Wastewater Phosphorus On The Algal-Related Water Quality Of The Hudson/Raritan Estuary And Northern New Jersey's Coastal Waters, Ron Gautreau

Theses

An investigation was undertaken to examine the planktonic algal-related water quality of the Hudson/Raritan Estuary and northern New Jersey's coastal waters with respect to quantifying the relationship between the amount of phosphorus loading to the planktonic algal-related water quality responses. Recreational and commercial uses of northern New Jersey's coastal waters have at times been impaired by excessive growth of planktonic algae. Using population equivalents and export coefficients the amount of domestic wastewater and land runoff derived phosphoruscontributed to the Estuary was estimated. The P load contributed to the Estuary via the discharge of New York and New Jersey domestic wastewater …

Anaerobic Biodegradation Of Trichloroethylene By Activated Carbon Fluidized-Bed, Jiunn-Horng Chern

Theses

The synthetic wastewater containing trichloroethylene (TCE) was anaerobically degraded with glucose using activated carbon fluidized-bed.

The range of TCE concentration from 26 ppb to 10.8 ppm was examined. The ratio of glucose to TCE in the influent wastewater was ranged from 26 to 805, while the TCE loading ranged from 0.025 to 1.510 mg/hr-L.

The TCE removal efficiency under these treatment conditions was found to be of 99.4%. However, the reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD) decreased when the TCE loadings was over 0.38 mg/hr-L.

Unsaturated Column Studies Of Silty Sand Using A Conservative Tracer, Canagasabapathy Nallianathan

Theses

A laboratory study was conducted to investigate the flow and mass transport of a conservative tracer in the unsaturated phase. For this purpose, a relatively "large-scale" cylindrical column(12 in. O.D. x 4 feet long) was fabricated and equipped with tensiometer and psychrometer sensors.

The soil used in the study was a New Jersey based silty sand compacted to an average dry density of 93 lb/ft³. The soil was permeated with a 0.5 M NaCl solution infiltrated at the top of the column using a perforated spiral tube assembly. The permeant was applied at a constant rate of approximately …

Degradation Of Dichloromethane, Trichloromethane & Carbon Tetrachloride In A Photoreactor, Sanjay Wadhwa

Theses

A SS 304 photoreactor has been designed to study the degradation of EPA priority pollutants. This newly designed system was used to study the kinetics of degradation of dichloromethane, trichloromethane and carbon tetrachloride under O₂/UV, O₃/O₂/UV and H₂O₂/UV schemes. These compounds have been found to exhibit similar kinetics. The experimental data obtained was. analyzed for pollutant concentration using gas chromatography. The rate constants and mass transfer coefficients were found using a mathematical model to fit the experimental data. A computer program based on the Rosenbrock Hillclimb method in conjunction with …

An Automated System For Optimal Synthesis Of Planar Linkages, Daming Wang

Theses

This thesis addresses the fundamental weakness of the current CAD capabilities and develops a new CAD system with optimization capability. A computer-aided mechanism design system is developed for general problems of optimal kinematic synthesis of planar four-bar mechanisms. The new system is made as user-friendly as possible and it is unique in that it combines Graphics capability, general Analysis capabilities, and Optimization capability into one system. Related background theory in IMP, optimization and optimal synthesis of mechanisms are discussed. The problems and methods in developing the new system are addressed. New routines and modifications made to the original systems are …

A Dynamic Model Of Fill-And-Draw Reactor Utilizing An Inhibitory Substrate, Yun-Fei Ko

Theses

A dynamic model of a fill-and-draw reactor has been developed, which includes a number of operational parameters, the fraction of total cycle time devoted to fill, reaction and draw, and the concentration of the toxic substance in the feed to the reactor.

Operating diagrams have been generated, from which one can choose suitable operating parameters.

The model has been solved numerically for Andrews kinetics ( substrate inhibition ), and tested experimentally, using a 5-liter fill-and-draw reactor with phenol as sole carbon source and a pure culture of Pseudomonas putida. Results compared very well to the model predictions.

Effects Of Compliance And Machining Prameters On Robotic Grinding/Deburring, Kung-Le Chang

Theses

A theoretical model for robotic grinding/deburring has been developed and compared with experimental results. Various grinding parameters such as depth of cut, feed rate, surface profile and roughness, grinding forces, and robot stiffness, have been experimentally investigated in this study. It was observed that the depth of cut is a function of specific grinding energy, force, and robot compliance. The observed roughness and waviness are directly proportional to depth of cut and feed rate and, in addition, to the robot compliance and the encoder quantization error. Other effects of the robot system for grinding performance are also addressed.

Hydrodynamic Lubrication Performance Of Mineral Oils With Polymer Additives, Moshe David Felzenstein

Theses

This study was undertaken with the view to determining experimentally the influence of polymer additives on journal bearing performance under static load. Viscoelastic lubricants such as oils with polymer additives are in common use and exhibit a reduced dependence of the viscosity on temperature but the effect on the performance of a static journal bearing is not clear. Additives of the polymer polyisobutylene and STP were blended with Newtonian base oil which was used to establish the baseline performance of the test bearing. A comparison was made between the performance of these blends and the base oil. The performance of …

Charge Transfer Inefficiency Of Buried-Channel Charged Coupled Device Registers For Low Temperature Operation Of Ptsi Infrared Image Sensors, Benjamin Benjamin Esposito

Theses

Buried channel charge coupled devices used as readout registers in PtSi Schottky-barrier detector infrared image sensors were investigated to characterize factors that influence charge transfer efficiency at low temperatures ranging from 38 to 80K. These factors included frequency of operation, background signal, gate voltage, signal level, gate length, and temperature. It was found that increased gate voltage and decreased gate length are most effective in reducing charge transfer efficiency. This was attributed to increased fringing fields between the potential wells involved in charge transfer. As temperature was decreased from 50K to 38K progressively larger trapping losses were observed due to …

Three Dimensional Study Of Macromolecular Leakage Patterns Using Video Image Analysis, Nikhil V. Khimani

Theses

It has long been known that blood - tissue transport of macromolecules in the microcirculation is driven by diffusion. Although two dimensional models fit the experimental data well, the diffusion process is three dimensional.The objective of this research was to establish a three dimensional unsteady state mathematical model for intravascular transport of macromolecules, and suppoi t the theoretical establishment by experimental results.

Three dimensional diffusion of macromolecules through the interstitial space in the hamster cheek pouch was studied, with intravital fluorescence microscopy. After application of bradykinin, the movement of Fluorescein isothiocynate (F.I.T.C.) - labeled Dextrans of average molecular weight 150,000 …

Artificial Intelligence And Mechanical Engineering, Efthimios Papayianis

Theses

Many artificial intelligence programs have been developed to assist engineers in their search for solutions. Most of them are designed to assist with a specific type of problem and they usually take the form of an expert system. However one may also use the concepts of artificial intelligence to solve a problem for which an expert system is not yet available.

Three expert systems were developed with Prolog to demonstrate how artificial intelligence can help solve problems in mechanical engineering. The first expert assists in the design of simply supported beams. The second expert assists in the design of thick …

Lf Pulse Magnetic Field Generation And Uniformity Studies, Shun-Wen Tan

Theses

This thesis dealt with the design and construction of a pulsed magnetic field (PMF) generation circuit. The spatial variations of the generated PMF are also studied The generated PMF is intended to be used for two purposes (a) in hospitals, for its healing effect of broken bones, and (b) to study the effects of PMF on industrial bacteria and their activity in transforming toxic waste to benign waste

A square coil made of two sections is constructed and the associated circuitry for the PMF generation is designed and built The circuitry is divided into two parts. the control circuit and …

An Application Of Bit Level Systolic Arrays On Digitized Adaptive Array Processes, Shin-Hwa Tsai

Theses

This thesis has concentrated on some aspects of adaptive arrays, i.e., the data type as well as the calculating processes under an optimized version. An adaption of a modified bit-level array is described on the control structure for processes like correlation matrix, Q-R decomposition and solution of triangular linear systems. In short, an implementation of SMI(Sample Matrix Inversion) under a parallel systolic array process is consider5ed. Also an application of utilizing systolic array on a matrix inversion is derived. As a result, it could be predicted that a VLSI chip implementation for small adaptive arrays is feasible in the near …

Co-Metabolism Of Pentachlorophenol With Glucose Using Two-Stage Anaerobic Activated Carbon Fluidized Beds, Zen Wang

Theses

Abstract - Detoxification of pentachlorophenol by using a two-stage anaerobic biological activated carbon fluidized bed has been investigated. Glucose was introduced as a cosubstrate to determine the relationship between the glucose/PCP ratio and the extent of PCP detoxification in such a system. This system has been proved to be effective in the removal of both PCP and COD. Ratio of glucose to PCP predominates the performance of the system throughout the whole course of this experiment. At a glucose/PCP ratio of 0.33, the system has a highest reduction of both PCP and COD. Addition of glucose to the highly PCP …

Decontamination Of Contaminated Clay Soils By Thermal Treatment, Chandrakanthi Weerasinghe

Theses

An experimental investigation on the desorption of contaminated clay soils by thermal treatment was performed. This study was carried out on two clay soils (kaolinite and bentonite) sorbed with three liquid organic compounds (phenol, chlorophenol, and chlorobenzene). The study consists of two different phases, the adsorption and desorption. The results on batch equilibrium adsorption were correlated with different isotherm models of which the Freundlich isotherm model was found to be best fit in predicting adsorption capacities of kaolinite, and that for bentonite was found to be the linear isotherm model.

A thermal desorption study followed the equilibrium adsorption study. A …

Gas-Phase Reactions Of Methylene Chloride And Methylene Chloride-Trichloroethylene Mixture With Methane In Tubular Flow Reactor And Atmospheric Pressure, Javad Tavakoli-Attar

Dissertations

Reactions of methylene chloride diluted in methane and Argon and a mixture of methylene chloride + trichloroethylene diluted in methane and argon are studied in three flow reactors of different surface to volume ratios 4, 10.5, and 16 mm ID , atmospheric pressure and over a temperature range of 750-1000 °C. Experiments were conducted isothermally, ±5 °C over central 80% of oven length using a three zone oven. Argon was added as a diluent in order to limit carbon (s) formation. The concentration ratios of methylene chloride/methane/argon and methylene chloride/trichloroethylene/methane/argon was held constant at 1:4:10 and 1:1:40:40 respectively, throughout the …

Waveform Analysis And Application To A Model Of The Egg Waveform, Eu-Rune Chang

Theses

The purpose of thesis is to describe and investigate a model of electroglottogram waveform. At the beginning, we generate a set of sine waveform models to analyze by using Fourier transform theory. Then, according to the electroglottogram is conjectured to be related to the area contact between the vocal folds, we assume a simple model of vocal fold vibratory motion is used to estimate the vocal fold contact area as function of time. Therefore, we modified and developed the mathematic EGG waveform model by using personal computer program computation to become a set of realistic EGG waveform models, which are …

Development Of A Rock Model Testing Capability At The New Jersey Institute Of Technology And Testing Of Plane Stress Models Possessing A Central Circular Opening With A Nearby Horizontal Discontinuity, David R. Good

Theses

This thesis had three main objectives. They were to develop a rock model testing capability at N.J.I.T. by (1) developing and building a load testing frame for rock models, including all necessary appurtenances and load measuring devices, (2) developing a rock modelling material and quantifying its properties, and (3) applying the capabilities described in items 1 and 2.

A high capacity load test frame was constructed from structural steel members. Heavy screw rams were utilized to apply load and specially constructed proving rings were employed to accurately measure load. Additionally, load platens and other support equipment were constructed.

The model …

Kalman Filtering Applied To The Analysis Of Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials, Chong An Qian

Theses

The objective of this thesis is to detect the Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER) using lower numbers of averages than at present, by using an optimal smoothing method which is based on the Kalman Filter.

By using this method, the wave V latency of the BAER which is useful in testing for hearing loss can be detected with as low as 500 averages, while the traditional signal averaging method requires at least 2000 averages. Thus the time required for a hearing loss test can be reduced from one hour to approximately 20 minutes.

Also several other methods for detecting BAER …

Formation Of Light Hydrocarbons And Soot In The Pyrolysis Reactions Of Chloro, Dichlorobenzene, Acetylene And Benzene In An Atmosphere Of Hydrogen, Larry Jiyuan Zhu

Theses

The kinetics of thermal decomposition of chlorobenzene and dichlorobenzene in a hydrogen and helium atmosphere were further studied to investigate formation of soot and light hydrocarbons. The experiments were performed at atmosphere pressure with residence times rangeing from 0.2 to 1.2 seconds, and the temperature ranges of 850°C to 925°C for chlorobenzene and 870°C to 910°C for dichlorobenzene. Flame ionization detectors, which were connected to GC columns, were utilized for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the reaction products. A methyl silicone capillary column was used analyzing of heavy aromatics and a Carbosive G was used to analyze light hydrocarbons. …

High-Energy, Curable Polycyclopentadiene Binder For Solid Rocket Propellants, Jian Guo Ning

Theses

Diels Alder polymerization of cyclopentadiene ( CPD ) has been carried out at 170°C under inert atmosphere. The resulted polymer has a low bulk viscosity, 7.4 cps, and a number average molecular weight M_n up to 3000. This liquid Prepolymer is curable with maleic anhydride. With ammonium perchlorate, aluminum, and maleic anhydride, a high energy solid propellant has been formulated with this polymer. Via bomb calorimeter, Instron, and density measurement, it was found that this propellant has a better heat of combustion, tensile strength, and solid loading than that of the commercial rocket propellant based on hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene.

A Study On The Poly(Ethylene Terephthalate)/Flouropolymer Blends, Chyan-Nin Chiu

Theses

The rate of crystallization of Polyethylene terephthalate) (PET) can be improved by blending it with polyethylene co chlorotrifluoroethylene) (ECTFE; tradename Halar) so that it can be suitable for injection molding. The special advantage of this method is that molecular weight of the blend will not decrease so much as by adding nucleating agents. That is to say, the mechanical strength of the blend will not decrease very much compared with that of virgin PET.

Determination Of Aromatic Amines By Diazonium Salt, Hong-Hue Hsu

Theses

There are many analytical methods used in the identification of aniline by the production of various colors upon treatment with certain reagents. In this work a new inexpensive, easy and sensitive methods to quantitate aniline is developed. The change of absorbance is large enough to measure with a difference of only 1 ppm in the aniline concentration.

In this method, the reagent (2,4-dinitrodiazonium sulphate) which reacts with aniline produces a yellow color. Formation of this color (which absorbs at 486 nm) indicates the presence of aniline. The amount of aniline can be determined by measuring the absorbance at 486 nm. …

Learning System, Bhavesh T. Adani

Theses

Many rule-based learning systems have been implemented which generate and update rules/facts from illustrative examples provided by the user. But very few of them have succeeded in achieving the efficiency and accuracy of an ideal system.

The approach made here is to continuously update the hierarchical structure of rules/facts of a knowledge-base so that efficient and accurate solutions to any query can be achieved easily and immediately from the many possible solutions to the query. As the rule-based systems deal with a very large knowledge-base, it is sometimes necessary to apply a learning technique that finds optimum solutions efficiently.

The …

An Intelligent Computerized Pulse-Duplicator For The In-Vitro Evaluation Of Prosthetic Heart Valves, John F. Andrews

Theses

A computerized data acquisition system is presented for the in-vitro determination of the hydrodynamic performance of prosthetic heart valves. High speed data acquisition and ensemble averaging techniques are employed to minimize error and provide a standard for data collection and analysis across a wide range of simulated physiologic conditions. Processing algorithms automatically divide the cardiac cycle into phases based on landmarks in the pressure and flow waveforms, with minimal variability and without operator intervention. The contributions of valve resistance, regurgitation, ejection, leakage, and power loss to hydrodynamic performance are isolated for investigation. Phasic power loss analysis is reviewed as a …

Analysis And Design Of A Surface Microengineered Silicon Humidity Sensor, Uei-Yanq Chen

Theses

This thesis details the design for a solid-state humidity sensor which utilizes state-of-the-art silicon technology. The sensor design utilizes a microengineered surface which includes a polysilicon airbridge structure as heater and sensor element in an integrated device.The operation of this device depends upon the small variation of thermal convection coefficient which effects the temperature of the heated element within the device. The temperature of the polysilicon bridge is monitored by means of a resistance bridge. In one design(sensor I) a single polysilicon airbridge is used for both the heater and resistance sensing element. Also a second inferior design (sensor II) …

Optimal Cache Size In Microprocessor-Based Multiprogramming System, Charalambos Stephanou Christou

Theses

The Motorola 68020 microprocessor, its paged memory management unit MC68851 and cache memories are rigorously studied. The simulation model of this uniprocessor, multiprogramming system was constructed and tested to determine the optimal physical cache size.

The parameters varied in the model are the cache size, the degree of multitasking, the loop count and size, the cache algorithm and the time slice given to every task. A number of simulations have been conducted and the results are examined.

The Strategic Planning Dilemma In American Manufacturing, James Andrew Kiray

Theses

The decline of American manufacturing competitiveness is a highly publicized and controversial issue. This publicity has led to a panacea of solutions being offered to this problem. As a result, many conflicting viewpoints have emerged, which have aided in making any solution to this problem extremely difficult. Top executives have been inundated with recommendations for change, causing confusion at all levels of management.

In an effort to define the underlying problems existing within the American strategic planning process, this author has selected current literature which supports his own views, and has expended upon these views.

Once these underlying problems are …

Computerized Analysis Of Gastrointestinal Spike Burst Activity, Karthik Krishnan

Theses

This thesis describes a computer algorithm for locating gastrointestinal spike bursts. The algorithm also finds the the number of spikes within each spike burst, the average duration, and average amplitude of each spike burst. The algorithm was applied to the automation of the analysis of the Migrating Colonic Complex.

The algorithm detects the spike burst using threshold, time interval and frequency criteria. The computer program is implemented on a PDP 11/73 digital computer. The operation of the algorithm was tested on animal models to detect the spike bursts, before and after the inducement of certain drugs to alter the colonic …