Engineering Commons^™

Interaction Of Voluntary Activity And Functional Electrical Stimulation In The Upper Extremity As A Method For Short-Term Alteration Of Corticospinal Excitability And Force Control, Katherine Maia Gerton

Theses

Repetitive movement training (RMT) is a well-established method for rehabilitating functional movement. However, many stroke survivors are not able to participate in RMT for the necessary duration to produce results due to rapid muscle fatigue or inability to perform the desired movement at all. Often, functional electrical stimulation (FES) is applied passively, as a rehabilitative therapy, to stroke subjects who are unable to participate in RMT. The effects of voluntary contraction and FES are not well understood for the upper extremity following a stroke. This experiment was designed to elucidate the mechanisms of functional and neurophysiological changes associated with combining …

Iterative Learning Control For Improved Tracking Of Fluid Percussion Injury Device, Steve Susanibar

Theses

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) afflicts over 10 million people around the world. Injury to the brain can occur from a variety of physical insults and the degree of disability can greatly vary from person to person. It is likely that the wide range of TBI outcomes may be due to the magnitude, direction, and forces of biomechanical insult acting on the head during such TBI events. Lateral Fluid Percussion (FPI) brain injury is one of the most commonly used and well-characterized experimental models of TBI. A Fluid Percussion Injury (FPI) device in the laboratory is used to replicate the injury …

A Fuzzy Logic-Based Text Classification Method For Social Media, Keyuan Wu

Theses

Social media offer abundant information for studying people’s behaviors, emotions and opinions during the evolution of various rare events such as natural disasters. It is useful to analyze the correlation between social media and human-affected events. This study uses Hurricane Sandy 2012 related Twitter text data to conduct information extraction and text classification. Considering that the original data contains different topics, we need to find the data related to Hurricane Sandy. A fuzzy logic-based approach is introduced to solve the problem of text classification. Inputs used in the proposed fuzzy logic-based model are multiple useful features extracted from each Twitter’s …

Profiling The Neurovascular Cell Interactions In Alcohol Exposure And Hiv-1 Infection, Agnieszka Agas

Theses

Alcohol use is known to exacerbate the progression of human immunodeficiency virus associated acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or HIV/AIDS in the brain, known as the NeuroAIDS. The mechanisms of this accelerated progression are still poorly understood. The purpose of my thesis is to review the parameters contributing to the co-morbid effects of alcohol in the progression of NeuroAIDS. The first aim will evaluate the exacerbating effects of alcohol on HIV-1 transmission, infection, and the role of metabolic energy imbalance during NeuroAIDS progression, which will enable me to formulate the possible mechanism for NeuroAIDS progression. The second aim will help me establish …

High Performance Lattice Boltzmann Method Yield-Stress Calculations Based On Intravital Images Of Clot Formation In Live Mice, Vishnu Deep Chandran

Theses

Thrombo-embolic infarction is the major cause of mortality and morbidity in the United States, causing over 1 million strokes, heart attacks and other life-threatening thrombotic events each year in the United States. Conversely, deficiencies in these processes result in severe bleeding risks. The ability to access hydrodynamics stresses at which thrombus structure is likely to embolize can provide insight into the thrombogenesis process. Interestingly, the viscoelastic behavior exhibited by the thrombus resembles that of a Bingham fluid - a material that behaves as a rigid body at low stresses but flows as a viscous fluid when the stress exceeds critical …

Decision Tree Rule-Based Feature Selection For Imbalanced Data, Haoyue Liu

Theses

A class imbalance problem appears in many real world applications, e.g., fault diagnosis, text categorization and fraud detection. When dealing with an imbalanced dataset, feature selection becomes an important issue. To address it, this work proposes a feature selection method that is based on a decision tree rule and weighted Gini index. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is verified by classifying a dataset from Santander Bank and two datasets from UCI machine learning repository. The results show that our methods can achieve higher Area Under the Curve (AUC) and F-measure. We also compare them with filter-based feature selection approaches, …

Corrosion Studies Of Stainless Steel Blades, Dhruv S. Kothari

Theses

Corrosion is a subject of interest to interdisciplinary research communities that includes fields of materials science, chemistry, physics, metallurgy and chemical engineering. In order to understand the mechanisms of corrosion and the function of corrosion inhibitors, the reactions at the interfaces between the corrosive electrolyte and a steel surface, particularly at the initial stages of the corrosion process, need to be described. Naturally, these reactions are strongly affected by the nature and properties of the steel surfaces. It is however seen that the majority of recent corrosion and corrosion-inhibition investigations are limited to electrochemical testing, with ex situ analysis of …

Smart Polymeric Temperature Sensors – For Biological Systems, Greenee Anilkumar Sinha

Theses

The damaged brain is vulnerable to increase in brain temperature after a severe head injury. Continuous monitoring of intracranial temperature depicts functionality essential to the treatment of brain injury Many innovations have been made in the biomedical industry relying on electronic implants in treating condition such as traumatic brain injury (TBI) or other cerebral diseases. Hence, a methodical and reliable way to measure the temperature is crucial to assess the patient’s situation. In this investigation, an analysis of various approaches to detect the change in the temperature due to resistance, current-voltage characteristics with respect to time has been evaluated. Also, …

Preemptive Efficient Queueing For Scheduling Deadline-Bound Data Center Flows, Vinaykrishna Gopalakrishna

Theses

This thesis introduces a new deadline aware flow scheduling scheme called Preemptive Efficient Queuing (PEQ). Unlike other schemes which use policies like EDF, SJF or fair share, this scheme aims to procrastinate flows as much as they can afford to, while keeping with their deadlines. Thereby, PEQ prioritizes more urgent flows that have shorter time to procrastinate, or cushion time. Results of PEQ are compared with state-of-the-art schemes for the transport of data-center flows, such as Preemptive Distributed Quick (PDQ) and Deadline-Driven Delivery (D³). The results show that PEQ outperforms D³ and PDQ. We identify results …

Iii-Nitride Nanowire Light-Emitting Diodes: Design And Characterization, Dipayan Datta Choudhary

Theses

III-nitride semiconductors have been intensively studied for optoelectronic devices, due to the superb advantages offered by this materials system. The direct energy bandgap III-nitride semiconductors can absorb or emit light efficiently over a broad spectrum, ranging from 0.65 eV (InN) to 6.4 eV (AlN), which encompasses from deep ultraviolet to near infrared spectrum. However, due to the lack of native substrates, conventional III-nitride planar heterostructures generally exhibit very high dislocation densities that severely limit the device performance and reliability. On the other hand, nanowire heterostructures can be grown on lattice mismatched substrates with drastically reduced dislocation densities, due to highly …

Experimental Study Of Bubble Rupture During Shock-Fluid Interaction, Subhalakshmi Chandrasekaran

Theses

Head injuries are associated with exposure to high energy explosive detonation. There are four distinct types of blast induced neurotrauma (BINT): 1) these caused by supersonic shock waves propagating in the atmosphere (primary), 2) high velocity impact of shrapnel and debris (secondary) 3) acceleration and deceleration of the body and collision with the solid objects in the field (tertiary) and 4) exposure to high temperature and toxic gases (quaternary). One of the mechanisms implicated in non-impact primary blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) is cavitation. It is hypothesized that cavitation can occur in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) layer, brain interstitial fluid, …

Multi-Population-Based Differential Evolution Algorithm For Optimization Problems, Ishani Chatterjee

Theses

A differential evolution (DE) algorithm is an evolutionary algorithm for optimization problems over a continuous domain. To solve high dimensional global optimization problems, this work investigates the performance of differential evolution algorithms under a multi-population strategy. The original DE algorithm generates an initial set of suitable solutions. The multi-population strategy divides the set into several subsets. These subsets evolve independently and connect with each other according to the DE algorithm. This helps in preserving the diversity of the initial set. Furthermore, a comparison of combination of different mutation techniques on several optimization algorithms is studied to verify their performance. Finally, …

Measurement Of Finger Coordination During A Motor Learning Task, Robert Ebel

Theses

The focus of this study is to observe the changes in whole hand grasp strategy, in healthy subjects, over time in a series of isometric force control learning tasks. During a series of trials with real-time visual feedback of the five finger forces, subjects adapted their grasp strategy in order to reach the target in a time efficient manner. In early trials, it is very evident that subjects focus on controlling the force output of one finger at a time until they reach the goal. As the block of trials progresses, subjects alter their strategy to a more coordinated movement …

Nanocomposite Thermite Powders With Improved Flowability Prepared By Mechanical Milling, Ci Huang

Theses

Nanocomposite thermite powders are of interest to develop varieties of reactive parts and components. Manufacturing these components requires tailoring properties of the thermite powders such as their particle size distributions, particle shapes, and powder flowability. For example, an improved flowability is desired to use these powders as feedstock in additive manufacturing. Arrested reactive milling (ARM) offers a versatile and practical approach for preparing various nanocomposite thermites with fully dense particles, which will retain their structures and mixedness between reactive components while being stored, handled, and processed. However, ARM products usually have broad particle size distributions, rock-like particle shapes, and poor …

Thermal Swing Membrane Based Method For Co2 Capture From Flue Gas, Mukesh Kumar Kamad

Theses

Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas and a major contributor to global warming, is released in large amounts by flue gases. To limit climate change, such CO₂ emissions have to be reduced, CO₂ captured and sequestered. Conventional monoethanolamine (MEA)-based absorption techniques are costly due to high capital cost and high energy consumption since the absorbent has to be regenerated at a high temperature ~ 120°C. A temperature swing membrane absorption (TSMAB) process was described by Mulukutla et al. (2015) using a novel membrane contactor, novel absorbents and a cyclic process. In this device, the absorbent is on the shell …

Memorizing Chromic Response To Pressure, Maulik Kiritkumar Padh

Theses

Almost all appliances are prone to mechanical stress in one form or the other. An increasing dependence on machines in daily life calls for a need to increase their maintenance quality. Various materials, methods and configurations to observe mechanical pressure have been devised and this paper discusses one such technique. The use of gold nanoparticles in its one dimensional array causes plasmonic coupling between the nanoparticles, which when disrupted creates a plasmonic shift in its assembly. Such a film, when casted on a polymer with a known elastic limit, causes deformation by an application of stress. This forces the film …

Investigation Of Nh3 And No Adsorption Over Cu/Sapo-34 And Cu/Aloo3 Catalysts For Nh3–Scr System, Basil Rawah

Theses

In this study, Copper supported on SAPO-34 molecular sieves or alumina is prepared via an incipient wetness impregnation method for ammonia selective catalytic reduction (NH₃-SCR). These NH₃-SCR catalysts are characterized by pulse chemisorption, temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), and temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) with three different conditions (NH₃, NO, combined NH₃-NO) to evaluate the adsorption of ammonia and nitric oxide. Cu/SAPO-34 catalyst has shown higher ammonia adsorption capacity compared to Cu/Al₂O₃ catalyst. The Cu/SAPO-34 adsorption is enhanced due to the strong acidity and high surface area of SAPO-34 molecular sieves. NO adsorption …

Field Oriented Control Of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor With Third-Harmonic Injection Pulse Width Modulation To Reduce Quadrotors’ Speed Ripples, Yuxi Shi

Theses

The world’s commercial unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry has witnessed unprecedented boom in recent years. Delighted with an ample supply of this excellent high-tech product, global consumers are paying more attention on UAVs. Civilian UAVs now vastly outnumber military ones, with the estimate of over a million sold by 2016. An UAV has various degrees of autonomy as enabled by the use and precise control of motors. Traditional Direct Current (DC) motors are replaced by permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) associated with the new power electronic inverters. Because of a PMSM’s higher power density than a DC motor, it reduces …

Power Dissipation And Power Correlations For A Retreatblade Impeller Under Different Baffling Conditions, Chadakarn Sirasitthichoke

Theses

Glass-lined stirred reactors and tanks are commonly used in the pharmaceutical industry because of their corrosion resistance, ease of cleanliness and minimization of product contamination. Most industrial glass-lined tank reactors are provided with a torispherical tank bottom and a retreat curve impeller with low impeller clearance from the vessel bottom. The power, P, dissipated by the impeller is a critical process parameter to mixing processes to achieve the desired mixing effect, especially since the power per unit volume, P/V, directly controls mass transfer processes and other mixing phenomena. However, little information has been published about the power dissipation and the …

Undersampling Ga-Svm For Network Intrusion Detection, Zhenyu He

Theses

Network intrusion detection is one of the hottest issues in the world. An increasing number of researchers and engineers deal with this problem by using machine learning methods. However, how to improve the identification accuracy of all the attack classes remains unsolved since the dataset is an imbalanced one with high imbalance ratio. This thesis work intends to build a classifier to achieve high classification accuracy. It proposes an undersampling Genetic Algorithm-Support Vector Machine (GA-SVM) method to handle this problem. It applies an undersampling method in GA-SVM. To solve the multiclassification problem with a binary classifier, this work proposes to …

Rca: Use And Future Possibilities, Bushra Marium Islam

Theses

Reuse and recycling of concrete is essential for construction purposes. There has been progressive development in construction projects but at the same time it has an inverse effect on the environment. Concrete structures are built and demolished continuously all over the world, generating tons of waste materials which are actually reusable in concrete production itself. This paper emphasis on recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) and many characteristics of RCA. This paper studies RCA’s different properties. RCA’s replacement in the place of natural aggregate is discussed. The proper amount and researches done on RCA improvement have also been discussed for further in …

Durability Of Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Bars In Seawater-Contaminated Concrete, Abdelrahman A. E. Alsallamin

Theses

This research aims to investigate the durability performance and microstructure characteristics of two different types of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars in severe environment. GFRP bars encased in seawater-contaminated concrete were immersed in tap water for 5, 10, and 15 months at temperatures of 20, 40, and 60°C. Half of the specimens were conditioned under a sustained load of 25% of their ultimate strength whereas the other half was conditioned without load. Following conditioning, the GFRP bars were retrieved then tested to failure under uniaxial tension. Microstructure analysis was performed by employing differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) …

Evaluation Of Electrocoagulation For Chloride And Ammonium Removal From The Reject Brine Effluent Pretreated By Solvay Process, Miada Abubaker Ali

Theses

Excessive use of desalination, due to the increase in freshwater demand, results in large productions of reject brine. Therefore, the development of an efficient treatment process of the reject brine becomes vital. The Solvay process is one of the main treatment technologies, wherein NH₃ is introduced to convert soluble Na⁺ into insoluble NaHCO₃. However, in this process, Cl^- is not removed and NH₄⁺ is introduced, and therefore electrocoagulation has been proposed for their removal. The experiment was designed using Minitab with different initial concentrations of chloride (7400 – 32600 mg/l), current densities (0.033 …

Oil Recovery By Surfactant Flooding; Sensitivity Analysis To Technical Parameters And Economic Analysis, Hadel Mohsen Moustafa

Theses

Various enhanced oil recovery methods including miscible gas injection, chemical, thermal and other methods are applied at the third phase of production after the primary and secondary recovery have been exhausted. Surfactant flooding is one of the chemical methods that is capable of recovering more oil by decreasing the IFT and/or wettability alteration.This piece of work aims to asses and select the development options using surfactant process that maximize oil recovery for a synthetic reservoir model by optimizing technical and economic analysis.

Reservoir simulation study using ECLIPSE 100 was used to study the different development options of surfactant flooding applied …

Wave Energy Assessment In Southern Central Java Island And Control Method For Maximizing The Captured Power In Wave Energy Converters, Fatima Sultan Ghdayer Ali Alaryani

Theses

This thesis discusses the wave energy potential of the Indian Ocean on the south coast of Central Java Island, where no previous known similar study has been conducted. A control technique that involves a dynamic electrical model was established. The following objectives were achieved. The first was to determine the ideal location to implement wave energy conversion (WEC), and the second objective was to simulate the significant wave height by using the novel control method.

To achieve these goals, the following steps and procedures were implemented. Wave energy assessment was conducted for the Indian Ocean on the south coast of …

Urban Park Design, Level Of Enclosure And People’S Satisfaction: A Comparative Analysis Of Al Jahili And Al Selimi Parks In Al Ain, Uae, Amnah Ali S Gargoum

Theses

The purpose of this research is to understand how physical characteristics of parks with a particular focus on different levels of enclosure affect park usage level and user patterns in the city of Al-Ain, UAE. Parks in Al Ain are present in different parts of the city and provide plenty of opportunities for leisure and recreation. Despite this diversity, parks located within the inner city area remain the most popular among the residents of Al-Ain, and have expanded significantly in the last few years. Specifically, this thesis aims to understand how the levels of usage and the behavioral patterns of …

Performance Study For Capillary Machine-To-Machine Networks, Maisaa Othman Albaghdadi

Theses

Communication technologies witness a wide and rapid pervasiveness of wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. It is emerging to apply for data transfer among devices without human intervention. Capillary M2M networks represent a candidate for providing reliable M2M connectivity. In this thesis, we propose a wireless network architecture that aims at supporting a wide range of M2M applications (either real-time or non-real-time) with an acceptable QoS level. The architecture uses capillary gateways to reduce the number of devices communicating directly with a cellular network such as LTE. Moreover, the proposed architecture reduces the traffic load on the cellular network by providing capillary …

An Immersive Learning Model, Shamsa Abdulla Salem Al Mazrouei

Theses

Our overarching goal is to provide children with immersive game-based learning environments to support Arabic linguistic skills acquisition. We postulate that immersion in- creases learning. To investigate this hypothesis, we developed a model and built an implementation of an educational virtual environment (EVE) that supports immersion and thus, induces effective learning. Experimental results confirm our hypothesis.

Our model integrates learning content, learning activities, immersion and gameplay. Based on our analysis of various curricula, specifically the United Arab Emirates grade one curriculum, we identified the nature of the learning content in order to satisfy the curriculum requirements. This content is conceptually …

Enabling Smart City Services For Heterogeneous Wireless Networks, Besintha Jafar Marakkarakath

Theses

A city can be transformed into a smart city if there is a resource-rich and reliable communication infrastructure available. A smart city in effect improves the quality of life of citizens by providing the means to convert the existing solutions to smart ones. Thus, there is a need for finding a suitable network structure that is capable of providing sufficient capacity and satisfactory quality-of-service in terms of latency and reliability. In this thesis, we propose a wireless network structure for smart cities. Our proposed network provides two wireless interfaces for each smart city node. One is supposed to connect to …

Electrical, Electronic And Optical Properties Of Mose2 And Wse2, Sushant Shashikant Rassay

Theses

Transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) crystals have emerged as a new class of semiconductors that display distinctive properties at monolayer thickness. Their electrical, electronic and optical properties are of particular interest and importance for applications in optoelectronics as light emitters, detectors, and photovoltaic devices. Monolayer MoSe₂ and WSe₂ have an intrinsic band-gap in the visible region of the solar spectrum (400nm - 700nm) which makes them distinct from other 2-D materials like graphene.

In this study, the electrical, electronic and optical properties of monolayer and bulk MoSe₂ and WSe₂ are studied. The electronic band structures are presented for …