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LSU Master's Theses

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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

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 …


Asynchronous Replication Of Metadata Across Multi-Master Servers In Distributed Data Storage Systems, Ismail Akturk Jan 2009

Asynchronous Replication Of Metadata Across Multi-Master Servers In Distributed Data Storage Systems, Ismail Akturk

LSU Master's Theses

In recent years, scientific applications have become increasingly data intensive. The increase in the size of data generated by scientific applications necessitates collaboration and sharing data among the nation's education and research institutions. To address this, distributed storage systems spanning multiple institutions over wide area networks have been developed. One of the important features of distributed storage systems is providing global unified name space across all participating institutions, which enables easy data sharing without the knowledge of actual physical location of data. This feature depends on the ``location metadata'' of all data sets in the system being available to all …


Numerical Investigation Of Film Cooling Fluid Flow And Heat Transfer Using Large Eddy Simulations, David Houston Leedom Jan 2009

Numerical Investigation Of Film Cooling Fluid Flow And Heat Transfer Using Large Eddy Simulations, David Houston Leedom

LSU Master's Theses

Large eddy simulations of film cooling from discrete holes inclined at 35° with a feeding plenum chamber are performed at a density ratio of 2 and blowing ratios from 0.5 to 2.0 in order to gauge the suitability and performance of different hole shapes. Cylindrical holes at length to diameter ratios of 1.75 and 3.5 as well as shaped holes (laterally diffused and console holes) at a length to diameter ratio of 3.5 are simulated issuing into a laminar crossflow at a Reynolds number of approximately 16,000 based on freestream velocity and hole diameter. The domain extends 15 hole diameters …


Functionally Gradient Syntactic Foams, Kanakaji Chittineni Jan 2009

Functionally Gradient Syntactic Foams, Kanakaji Chittineni

LSU Master's Theses

Syntactic foams are comprised of hollow microballoons in matrix systems. The superior mechanical and physical properties of syntactic foams such as light weight, high compressive strength, and low moisture absorption make them attractive materials for structural applications. As these materials are used in high mechanical performance applications, there is a need to achieve both high compressive strength and high energy absorption with minimal or no increase in density. In this study, the effect of gradient configuration of syntactic foams on the energy absorption and compressive strength is studied. Functionally Gradient Syntactic Foams (FGSFs) in five different layer sequencings are fabricated …


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 …


Sialic Acid Conjugated Chitosan For The Attenuation Of Amyloid-Beta Toxicity, Dhruva Dilip Dhavale Jan 2009

Sialic Acid Conjugated Chitosan For The Attenuation Of Amyloid-Beta Toxicity, Dhruva Dilip Dhavale

LSU Master's Theses

Amyloid-beta (Aβ), a 39 to 43 amino acid long peptide, is the primary species identified in senile plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and has been implicated in the neurotoxicity associated with AD. It is believed that Aβ toxicity is mediated through the interaction with neuronal membranes. A variety of evidence indicates that 1) Aβ may bind to the cell surface sialic acids, 2) the affinity of this interaction is higher if the gangliosides or sialic acids on the cell surface are clustered, 3) the removal of the surface sialic acids attenuate Aβ toxicity. Based on this data, we hypothesized …


Intracellular Ice Formation In Adult Stem Cells In The Presence Of Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone, Avishek Guha Jan 2009

Intracellular Ice Formation In Adult Stem Cells In The Presence Of Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone, Avishek Guha

LSU Master's Theses

The main objective of this work was to assess the effect of 10% (w/v) polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) on the pattern of intracellular ice formation (IIF) in human adipose tissue derived adult stem cells (ASCs) in the absence of serum and other cryoprotective agents (CPAs). Passage 1 (P1) ASCs were cultured, washed and suspended in either 1x PBS (Phosphate Buffered Saline) or 10% w/v solution of PVP in 1x PBS. The freezing experiments were carried out using a fluorescence microscope equipped with a Linkam™ cooling stage using two different temperature/time cooling protocols. Both the cooling protocols had a common cooling ramp: cells …


The Modification, System Software Development, Validation, And Clinical Trial Of A Novel Ankle Stiffness Testing Device, T. Tyler Clement Jan 2009

The Modification, System Software Development, Validation, And Clinical Trial Of A Novel Ankle Stiffness Testing Device, T. Tyler Clement

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this project is to modify, validate, and gather preliminary clinical data on a novel ankle stiffness device that measures stiffness (torque / degree) and range of motion (ROM) of the ankle joint complex (AJC). The initial device was designed by a mechanical engineering design group at Louisiana State University in 2006, but had not been tested on human participants. Clinical evaluation of the ankle joint is important in patients afflicted with diabetes mellitus, Hansen’s disease, or peripheral neuropathies. The combination of peripheral neuropathies, decreased ankle range of motion, and increased stiffness pose a threat to these patients, …


Aerodynamic And Heat Transfer Studies In A Combustor-Fired, Fixed-Vane Cascade With Film Cooling, James William Post Jan 2009

Aerodynamic And Heat Transfer Studies In A Combustor-Fired, Fixed-Vane Cascade With Film Cooling, James William Post

LSU Master's Theses

Pressure and heat transfer data has been generated in a high-pressure, high-temperature vane cascade. This cascade differs from many others seen in typical low-pressure facilities using room temperature air. Primarily, a natural gas-fired combustor generates realistic turbulence profiles in the high-temperature exhaust gases that pass through the vane cascade. The fixed-vane cascade test sections have film cooling holes machined into the surfaces in arrangements that closely model configurations seen in real-life first-row nozzle guide vanes (NGV). Theoretical coolant jet-to-crossflow blowing ratios (M) range from 0.5 to 3.0. Coolant jet-to-crossflow theoretical density ratios (DR) used for typical tests vary between 1.0 …


Thermomechanical Characterization Of A Shape Memory Polymer Based Syntactic Foam, Damon Nettles Jan 2009

Thermomechanical Characterization Of A Shape Memory Polymer Based Syntactic Foam, Damon Nettles

LSU Master's Theses

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are a type of smart material capable of “remembering” multiple shapes and transitioning between them in response to an external stimulus. They offer the potential to self-seal macro-length scale damage in a nearly autonomous fashion. Syntactic foams are lightweight structural materials currently used in the marine and aerospace industries. This study seeks to bring syntactic foams and SMPs together, retaining characteristics of both components, to create a low-density smart composite. The SMP based syntactic foam is used as the core of a grid stiffened sandwich structure capable of healing impact damage multiple times. In order to …


A Non-Invasive Semiconductor Optical System To Measure Skin Tension, Anna Charron Dugas Jan 2009

A Non-Invasive Semiconductor Optical System To Measure Skin Tension, Anna Charron Dugas

LSU Master's Theses

The objectives of this project are to design, construct, validate and test a low-cost, non-invasive and painless device to measure skin tension. Skin is a complex, multi-layered, anisotropic material with non-linear viscoelastic behavior during stress application. The intricate balance of different semi-elastic fibers and continuous regeneration has brought difficulty to the accurate measurement of its mechanical properties. Commercial skin tension measurement products have been described, but are too expensive to be readily accessible for skin research and clinical utilization. The device to be developed in this project differs from existing devices in that it measures skin deformation under vacuum using …


A Capacity-Approaching Coded Modulation Scheme For Non-Coherent Fading Channels, Youngjeon Cho Jan 2008

A Capacity-Approaching Coded Modulation Scheme For Non-Coherent Fading Channels, Youngjeon Cho

LSU Master's Theses

Approaching the Shannon limit of the communication channels has been studied by many researchers to efficiently and reliably transmit data through the channels. To solve this problem, various methods and schemes have been proposed for approaching the theoretical limit for Shannon’s channel capacity. Among them, both low-density parity check (LDPC) codes and Turbo codes have been proposed to minimize the bit error rate (BER). Therefore, understanding of LDPC codes and Turbo codes is useful for their applications in modern communication systems. The study about non-coherent channels, which do not require explicit knowledge or estimation of the channel state information, has …


Analysis Of Gas Dynamic Waves In Explosively Actuated Valves, Blaise H. Paul Jan 2008

Analysis Of Gas Dynamic Waves In Explosively Actuated Valves, Blaise H. Paul

LSU Master's Theses

A mathematical model is formulated for assessing quasi-one-dimensional gas dynamics occurring within axis-symmetric explosively actuated valves. The model describes complete valve operation and accounts for pressure-dependent explosive combustion within an actuator, compressible product gas flow within the actuator, through a small port, and into and within a gas expansion chamber. The gas dynamic waves induce piston motion at the terminal end of the expansion chamber which is needed for valve operation. The model is mathematically posed as an initial-boundary-value problem in terms of generalized coordinates to facilitate numerical computations on a domain that volumetrically expands due to combustion and piston …


Enhancing Security In Quantum Cryptography, Partha Basuchowdhuri Jan 2008

Enhancing Security In Quantum Cryptography, Partha Basuchowdhuri

LSU Master's Theses

Quantum Key Distribution was named as one of the top ten emerging technologies by Technology Review Journal in 2003 in their annual edition. The growth in quantum cryptography since the beginning of the millennium has been expedited by new theories and ideas. The introduction of practical quantum cryptosystems offered by USA based company MagiQTech and its European rival idQuantique has changed the face of cryptography. With active experimental research in USA, Europe, Japan and Singapore, the scope of quantum cryptography seems to be growing daily. When Bennett and Brassard proposed their BB84 protocol in Bangalore in 1984, no one would …


Factors Affecting Young Driver Safety In The State Of Louisiana, Cherian Cherian-Korah Jan 2008

Factors Affecting Young Driver Safety In The State Of Louisiana, Cherian Cherian-Korah

LSU Master's Theses

Though teenage drivers constitute only 6.4 percent of the total drivers in United States, they are responsible for 14 percent of the fatal crashes and are involved in 18 percent of all police-reported crashes in the country. One of the main causes of teenage crashes was found to be the presence of passengers in the vehicle. This study is focused on the effect of passengers on young drivers in the state of Louisiana. There have been efforts from traffic safety departments to contain crashes involving this age group of drivers and, particularly the Graduated Driver's License Law, which imposes restrictions …


Quantification Of Tars And Particulates From A Pilot Scale, Downdraft Biomass Gasifier, Christopher Osita Akudo Jan 2008

Quantification Of Tars And Particulates From A Pilot Scale, Downdraft Biomass Gasifier, Christopher Osita Akudo

LSU Master's Theses

Alternative energy production through biomass gasification produces combustible gases, such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methane. These gases can be used for generation of direct heat, electricity, or liquid fuels through the Fischer Tropsch process. However, a major limitation of the overall process is the purity of the generated synthesis gas. The tars and particulates generated in the gasification process constitute a major impediment to the commercial use of this technology because they may condense on valves, fittings, and therefore, hinder the smooth running of an engine. This research was aimed at developing a gas characterization and testing protocol, and …


Assessing A Hydrothermal Liquefaction Process Using Biomass Feedstocks, Jason S. Midgett Jan 2008

Assessing A Hydrothermal Liquefaction Process Using Biomass Feedstocks, Jason S. Midgett

LSU Master's Theses

The need to reduce the United States dependence on foreign oil has never been greater. In the past decade emphasis has been placed on developing new and/or improved means to procure clean renewable energy. Liquefaction, which was developed for coal conversion over a century ago is one of these areas. Liquefaction used for biomass conversions to bio-oils is grouped under the thermochemical conversion (TCC) area of energy conversion methods along with gasification and pyrolysis. This thesis discusses liquefaction experiments conducted using varieties of Louisiana biomass feedstocks. Dairy manure collected from the Louisiana State University Dairy Farm in Baton Rouge, was …


Characterization Of Hma Mixtures Containing High Recycled Asphalt Pavement Content With Crumb Rubber Additives, Samuel B. Cooper, Jr. Jan 2008

Characterization Of Hma Mixtures Containing High Recycled Asphalt Pavement Content With Crumb Rubber Additives, Samuel B. Cooper, Jr.

LSU Master's Theses

As the price of petroleum and material costs escalate and pressures of maintaining the sustainability of our environment, owners must continually find methods to decrease material costs and maximize their benefits. One such method is to increase and/or begin using readily available recycled materials like reclaimed asphalt pavements (RAP) and crumb rubber (CR). The objective of this study was to fundamentally characterize the laboratory performance of conventional HMA mixtures and mixtures containing high RAP content and waste tire crumb rubber/additives through their fundamental engineering properties. A Superpave l9-mm nominal maximum aggregate size (NMAS) Level 2 HMA mixture meeting LADOTD specification …


The Effectiveness Of The Introduction And Amendment Of Traffic Laws On Louisiana Road Crashes, Vamshi Krishna Mudumba Jan 2008

The Effectiveness Of The Introduction And Amendment Of Traffic Laws On Louisiana Road Crashes, Vamshi Krishna Mudumba

LSU Master's Theses

Evaluating the safety benefit of a treatment provides information to the future safety projects of our transportation system. Various transportation laws have been amended in the state of Louisiana, aiming to reduce the roadway crash rates. The major traffic laws introduced or amended in the state in the past decade were the Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) Program in 1998, repealing the mandatory motorcycle helmet law in 1999 and reenacting it in 2004, introducing the open alcohol container laws in 2000, and lowering the per se Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) from 0.10 to 0.08 percent in 2003. A before-and-after analysis was …


Nanoclay Reinforced Polymer Composite And Its Application To Hybrid Composite Structures, Gefu Ji Jan 2008

Nanoclay Reinforced Polymer Composite And Its Application To Hybrid Composite Structures, Gefu Ji

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to find the optimum mixing technique that leads to maximum gain in mechanical, thermal, and fire-retardant properties of vinyl ester based nanocomposites. Specifically, five combinations of incremental mixing intensity were applied to five groups of samples that were made of vinyl ester resin reinforced by 1 wt. % of montmorillonite (MMT). Changes in mechanical properties associated with each mixing combination were examined through a variety of tests, which were low velocity impact test, bending test, compression test, and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Additionally, changes in thermal properties (e.g., thermal diffusivity, glass transition temperature) and …


The Design And Fabrication Of Pentacene Acoustic Charge Transfer Devices, Hua Shao Jan 2008

The Design And Fabrication Of Pentacene Acoustic Charge Transfer Devices, Hua Shao

LSU Master's Theses

Acoustic charge transport (ACT) devices are used to transfer electrical signals by surface acoustic waves (SAW), which are generated by interdigital transducers (IDT) on piezoelectric crystal substrates. In order to reduce fabrication cost, pentacene ACT is desired to transfer charge packages because of its reduced cost in. As some researchers reported, pentacene is a p type organic semiconductor, and can get high carrier mobility by growing in very pure crystalline structure under some specified growing conditions. In this project, charge transfer channel was made of crystal pentacene to form and carry the charge packages following SAW propagation. The pentacene ACT …


Design And Testing Of An Infrared Temperature System To Test The Effects Of Chemical Stimulation On Heat Production In Cell Cultures, Nicholas Gerbo Jan 2008

Design And Testing Of An Infrared Temperature System To Test The Effects Of Chemical Stimulation On Heat Production In Cell Cultures, Nicholas Gerbo

LSU Master's Theses

Temperature is an important physiological parameter of cell biology. The thermal energy output of cells in vitro can offer insight into cellular processes. Standard methodology of measuring cellular thermal output has been through microcalorimetry. In this work, infrared thermography is presented as an alternative to microcalorimetry and other measurement techniques. An enclosure that controls the temperature of cells and allows for injection of temperature control of chemical agents and subsequent measurement of cell temperature using an infrared camera has been designed and tested. The enclosure was tested with 3T3-L1 adipocytes treated with the β3 adrenergic agonist CL 316-243 for up …


Design And Realization Of An Electrophoretron Cycler, Celine Raymonde Ramet Jan 2008

Design And Realization Of An Electrophoretron Cycler, Celine Raymonde Ramet

LSU Master's Theses

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a powerful enzymatic reaction commonly used to amplify specific sequences of Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid (DNA). Since the introduction of the lab on a chip concept, numerous Continuous Flow PCR cyclers were realized with success at the micro scale. As reducing the reactor size and improving thermal management led to reduced sample volumes, results could be achieved much faster with these CF-PCR cyclers than with common commercial cycler. Furthermore, most of these demonstrated CF-PCRs are nowadays evolving towards high-throughput systems. However, most CF-PCR cyclers require complex manipulations and are not flexible (e.g. fixed number of cycles, …


Physical Modeling Of Flow And Sediment Transport Using Distorted Scale Modeling, Ryan L. Waldron Jan 2008

Physical Modeling Of Flow And Sediment Transport Using Distorted Scale Modeling, Ryan L. Waldron

LSU Master's Theses

As coastal Louisiana's land loss problem continues to grow unabated, many different solutions have been proposed. One such solution is the concept of diverting fresh water and sediment from the river into the coastal wetlands. Louisiana State University has a Small Scale Physical Model (SSPM) for the study of the potential of such diversions; it is deisgned to study the bulk movement of sediment in the river and diversions. The model is a distorted scale model with a horizontal scale of 1:12,000 and a vertical scale of 1:500; this extreme distortion has brought into question the applicability of the model. …


Airlift Assisted Wastewater Treatment, Brian Sidney Johnson Jan 2008

Airlift Assisted Wastewater Treatment, Brian Sidney Johnson

LSU Master's Theses

Static low density media (SLDM) filtration has been received with great admiration in the aquaculture industry and consequently spawned into the domestic wastewater setting on the pilot scale. This method of granular filtration uses plastic beads to facilitate the roles of both clarification and biofiltration into one compact unit. The fundamental operating principles utilized in this form of treatment can be greatly enhanced when they are coupled with self contained recirculation from airlift pumps. Recirculation of this type in a SLDM unit has the ability to provide multiple passes of the substrate in the wastewater through the bead bed to …


High Strain Rate Characteristics Of Rubber Modified Syntactic Foams, Paul Wehmer Jan 2008

High Strain Rate Characteristics Of Rubber Modified Syntactic Foams, Paul Wehmer

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis deals with the characterization of hybrid syntactic foams under high strain rates (HSR) ranging from 450/s to 1000/s. The foams studied are comprised of epoxy resin matrix filled with 63% volume fraction glass microspheres and 2% volume fraction of ground rubber fragments. The focus of this study is to compare the strength, ultimate strain, and modulus of these composite materials at high strain rates and quasi-static conditions and to find out the effects of HSR on the failure mode and fracture behavior of these materials. Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) apparatus is used for the HSR testing. Foams …


Pilot-Scale Study On Anaerobic Digestion Applied To A Saline Industrial Waste Activated Sludge, Changjiang Shen Jan 2008

Pilot-Scale Study On Anaerobic Digestion Applied To A Saline Industrial Waste Activated Sludge, Changjiang Shen

LSU Master's Theses

In the field of municipal wastewater treatment, anaerobic digestion is a well-established, effective process for stabilization of organic sludge with the attractive features of low operating costs and production of methane as a useful by-product. Application of anaerobic digestion for the treatment of saline industrial wastewater sludge, however, has not been well established. The studies described in this thesis were conducted with the overall goal of assessing the feasibility of mesophilic anaerobic digestion processes for treatment of waste activated sludge (WAS) containing moderate salinity (approximately 3% m/v). Experiments employed two 30-gallon conical-bottom HDPE reactors. In the first phase of testing, …


Experimental And Numerical Investigation Of Fluid Flow And Heat Transfer In Microchannels, Wynn Allen Phillips Jan 2008

Experimental And Numerical Investigation Of Fluid Flow And Heat Transfer In Microchannels, Wynn Allen Phillips

LSU Master's Theses

Microchannels are of current interest for use in heat exchangers where very high heat transfer performance is desired. Microchannels provide very high heat transfer coefficients because of their small hydraulic diameters. In this study, an investigation of fluid flow and heat transfer in microchannels is conducted. A review of the literature published regarding fluid flow and heat transfer in microchannels is provided in this study. A thorough background on the theory of internal convective heat transfer is provided as well. A critical analysis of some of the published heat transfer experiments on microchannels is also given. It was found that …


Three-Echelon Supply Chain Delivery Policy With Trade Credit Consideration, Farhana Rahman Jan 2008

Three-Echelon Supply Chain Delivery Policy With Trade Credit Consideration, Farhana Rahman

LSU Master's Theses

In recent years, collaboration in supply chain approach widely discussed in the literature; but most have dealt with the two-echelon systems. This study focuses on the just-in-time delivery policy of three-echelon supply chain by collaborative approach, where any of the information from the supply chain is available to all the subsystems involved; manufacturer, distribution center and retailer. In the first part of the study a simple model has been developed for a three-echelon supply system that consists of a single manufacturer, a single distribution center and a single retailer. The other part of the study extends this model by considering …


Adjustable Speed Drives Laboratory Based On Dspace Controller, Kiran Kumar Gunda Jan 2008

Adjustable Speed Drives Laboratory Based On Dspace Controller, Kiran Kumar Gunda

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis refers to the EE 4490 Adjustable Speed Drives course, which is taught at Louisiana State University (LSU). The part of this course is variable speed AC and DC drives laboratory. The objective of this thesis is to modify the existing DSP Based Electric Drives Lab Manual developed by Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota in order to adjust it to the EE 4490 course syllabus and to verify the experiments by carrying out the tests on the lab equipment available at the Elec. & Comp. Eng. Dept at LSU. There are four major components, of …