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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

An Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of Air Force Risk Management Practices In Program Acquisition Using Survey Instrument Analysis, Michael J. Maroney Jr. Jun 2015

An Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of Air Force Risk Management Practices In Program Acquisition Using Survey Instrument Analysis, Michael J. Maroney Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Air Force acquisition programs invest a large amount of resources to develop and field systems. Many of these resources go to risk management in order to help ensure those programs finish successfully with respect to cost, schedule, and technical performance goals. The question arises as to whether this is a sound investment. Although risk management has been shown to be effective in industry, scant empirical evidence exists for its effectiveness within the Air Force. Correlation and regression analysis of survey data show that a positive relationship does exist between specific risk practices and project success. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that …


Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of The F-15e Risk Management During Peacetime Operations, Elliot B. Vasquez Jun 2015

Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of The F-15e Risk Management During Peacetime Operations, Elliot B. Vasquez

Theses and Dissertations

Human factors are causal or contributory in 80% of Class A mishaps in the Air Force. Risk management tools are used throughout the service in every aircraft to help mitigate the risk of those human factors occurring. The F-15E Strike Eagle community was selected for analysis on the effectiveness of its risk management program but the data was comprised on Class A mishaps from Accident Investigation Boards since 2000 between the F-15 (all models), F-16 (all models), and F-22. Cases were selected if there were human factors root causes or contributory. A fault tree analysis coupled with the Department of …


A Methodology For The Optimization Of Disaggregated Space System Conceptual Designs, Robert E. Thompson Jun 2015

A Methodology For The Optimization Of Disaggregated Space System Conceptual Designs, Robert E. Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

Optimal design techniques have proven to be an effective systems engineering tool. Using systems architecture as the foundation, this research explores the use of mixed variable optimization models for synthesizing and evaluating disaggregated space system concepts. Model-based conceptual design techniques are used to identify and assess system architectures based upon estimated system cost, performance trades, and cost risk. The Disaggregated Integral System Concept Optimization (DISCO) methodology is introduced, and then applied to representative space-based missions. Several results are obtained that indicate significant cost effectiveness gains from the optimization of multi-orbit and multi-function/multi-orbit disaggregated space systems. The general methodology has broad …


Simulation Of Metal Particulates In High Energetic Materials, Eduardo Nieto Jun 2015

Simulation Of Metal Particulates In High Energetic Materials, Eduardo Nieto

Theses and Dissertations

This research focused on analyzing the effects of aluminum in high explosives such as PBX9501 using the MPEXS computational simulation code for a wide range of metalized explosive cases. The varying parameters are aluminum particle diameter and mass fraction of aluminum. The addition of metal particulates in explosive mixtures increases the density of the shock wave, causing a higher pressure in the shock. It was concluded that pressure and density steadily increases as the Al particle diameter increases, and pressure and density decreases when Al mass fraction increases. The concentrated pressures will dissipate quickly due to the high density, providing …


Creep Of Sylramic-Ibn Fiber Tows At Elevated Temperature In Air And In Silicic Acid-Saturated Steam, Kevin B. Sprinkle Jun 2015

Creep Of Sylramic-Ibn Fiber Tows At Elevated Temperature In Air And In Silicic Acid-Saturated Steam, Kevin B. Sprinkle

Theses and Dissertations

Stressed oxidation experiments on Sylramic-iBN fiber tows were performed to evaluate the novel fiber's mechanical performance, creep behavior, and creep mechanisms. This research effort investigated creep response of Sylramic-iBN fiber tows at elevated temperatures in both air and in silicic acid-saturated steam environments. Creep experiments were conducted at creep stresses ranging from 127 to 762 MPa at 400°C and 500°C in order to examine the mechanical behavior of the Sylramic-iBN fiber tows at temperatures below and above the melting point of boria (450°C). Sylramic-iBN fibers are known to have excellent creep resistance, better than most other non-oxide fibers and significantly …


Exhaust Composition In A Small Internal Combustion Engine Using Ftir Spectroscopy, Kevin P. Horn Jun 2015

Exhaust Composition In A Small Internal Combustion Engine Using Ftir Spectroscopy, Kevin P. Horn

Theses and Dissertations

The mission-specific needs of small, remotely piloted aircraft demand lighter, more efficient engines with increased performance for their propulsion systems. A wide range of experimental efforts were undertaken to further the ability to obtain performance data on small engines as well as to develop understanding of their operation. Data were collected to quantify friction losses present in the dynamometer drivetrain on the small engine research bench. A correction and calibration model was developed for brake power collected by the dynamometer. Mechanical efficiencies for 28 cm3, 55 cm3 and 85 cm3 engines were 92.4%, 91.3% and 89.7%, respectively. Maximum fuel conversion …


Effect Of Prior Exposure At Elevated Temperatures On Tensile Properties And Stress-Strain Behavior Of Four Non-Oxide Ceramic Matrix Composites, Sarah M. Wallentine Jun 2015

Effect Of Prior Exposure At Elevated Temperatures On Tensile Properties And Stress-Strain Behavior Of Four Non-Oxide Ceramic Matrix Composites, Sarah M. Wallentine

Theses and Dissertations

Thermal stability of four non-oxide ceramic matrix composites was studied. The materials studied were commercially available composites: SiC/SiNC; C/SiC; C/SiC-B4C (C/HYPR-SiCTM); and SiC/SiC-B4C (SiC/HYPR-SiCTM). COI Ceramics manufactured the SiC/SiNC and C/SiC composites using polymer infiltration and pyrolysis (PIP). The C/HYPR-SiCTM and SiC/HYPR-SiCTM CMCs were manufactured by Hyper-Therm High-Temperature Composites using chemical vapor infiltration (CVI). All four composites rely on a dense matrix for strength, stiffness, and oxidation protection. Fiber coating provides a fiber-matrix interface that allows fiber-matrix debonding and fiber pullout to occur, imparting fracture toughness to the CMC. The SiC/SiNC, C/SiC, and C/HYPR-SiC …


Coupling Nuclear Induced Phonon Propagation With Conversion Electron Mössbauer Spectroscopy, Michael J. Parker Jun 2015

Coupling Nuclear Induced Phonon Propagation With Conversion Electron Mössbauer Spectroscopy, Michael J. Parker

Theses and Dissertations

Mössbauer spectroscopy is a very sensitive measurement technique (10-8 eV) which prompted motivation for the experiment described in this thesis. Namely, can a sensitive detection system be developed to detect nuclear recoils on the order of 10 to 100 of eVs? The hypothesis that this thesis tests is: Nuclear induced phonon bursts caused by Rutherford scattered alphas, decayed from 241Am, in a type-310 stainless steel material can couple with 7.3 keV conversion electron Mössbauer events at the other end of the material which will have a statistically significant effect on a Mössbauer spectrum. The phonon bursts produced by …


Modal Characterization Of A Piezoelectric Shaker Table, Randall J. Hodkin Jun 2015

Modal Characterization Of A Piezoelectric Shaker Table, Randall J. Hodkin

Theses and Dissertations

Piezoelectric actuated shaker tables are often used for high frequency fatigue testing. Since natural frequencies can appear in the operating range of these shaker tables, it is necessary to conduct modal characterization of the system before testing. This thesis describes the design and experimental validation of a mechanical model used for modal analysis of a piezoelectric shaker table. A commercially available three-dimensional scanning device was used to produce a point cloud model of the surface geometry, which was converted to a solid model and imported into a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) package for modal analysis. Using a laser vibrometer to …


Orbit Estimation Of Non-Cooperative Maneuvering Spacecraft, Gary M. Goff Jun 2015

Orbit Estimation Of Non-Cooperative Maneuvering Spacecraft, Gary M. Goff

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the ever increasing congestion of the space environment, there is an increased demand for real-time situation awareness of all objects in space. An unknown spacecraft maneuver changes the predicted orbit, complicates tracking, and degrades estimate accuracies. Traditional orbit estimation routines are implemented, tested, and compared to a multiple model format that adaptively handles unknown maneuvers. Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation is implemented in an original way to track a non-cooperative satellite by covariance inflation and filtering-through a maneuver. Parameters for successful instantaneous maneuver reconstruction are analyzed. Variable State Dimension estimation of a continuously maneuvering spacecraft is investigated. A requirements …


Topology Optimization Of An Aircraft Wing, David L. Walker Jun 2015

Topology Optimization Of An Aircraft Wing, David L. Walker

Theses and Dissertations

A Topology Optimization (TO) was conducted on an aircraft wing in order to mathematically determine an ideal structural case for future aircraft. TO generally involves iteratively reducing individual elemental density until the desired mass or volume constraint is met. Two different TO styles where approached: a global three-dimensional concept and a more traditional two-dimensional rib and spar optimization which more closely mimics the baseline model. All optimizations were compared against a baseline wing for von-Mises stress, displacement, and buckling. The objective of this research was to develop a design procedure maintaining the baseline structural integrity of the wing while reducing …


Minimizing Average Handling Time In Contact Centers By Introducing A New Process: Rowan Support Desk Case Study, Niusha Jafari Jun 2015

Minimizing Average Handling Time In Contact Centers By Introducing A New Process: Rowan Support Desk Case Study, Niusha Jafari

Theses and Dissertations

Quality of a call center performance is an important factor in insuring customer satisfaction. Customers, the "callers", want their requests solved quickly, permanently and to their satisfaction. Often, there are staff constraints, budget or cost limitation, and the Service Level Agreement (SLA) which is resource availability to accomplish a task within a deadline. The purpose of this research is to analyze feasible approaches to minimize the long-lasting open requests and enhance a call center's performance. Multiple challenges that a call center often faces in handling requests are studied to identify key bottlenecks in the process of handling requests. Rowan University …


Void Modeling In Resin Infusion, Mark Wesley Brandley Jun 2015

Void Modeling In Resin Infusion, Mark Wesley Brandley

Theses and Dissertations

Resin infusion of composite parts has continually been reaching to achieve laminate quality equal to, or exceeding, the quality produced with prepreg in an autoclave. In order for this to occur, developers must understand the key process variables that go in to producing a laminate with minimal void content. The purpose of this research is to continue efforts in understanding 1) the effect of process conditions on the resultant void content, with a focus on resin infusion flow rate, 2) applying statistical metrics to the formation, location and size of voids formed, and 3) correlate these metrics with the local …


A Simplified Performance-Based Procedure For The Prediction Of Lateral Spread Displacements, Levi Thomas Ekstrom Jun 2015

A Simplified Performance-Based Procedure For The Prediction Of Lateral Spread Displacements, Levi Thomas Ekstrom

Theses and Dissertations

Characterization of the seismic hazard and ground-failure hazard of a site using traditional empirical lateral spread displacement models requires consideration of uncertainties in seismic loading, site conditions, and model prediction. Researchers have developed performance-based design methods to simultaneously account for these sources of uncertainty through the incorporation of a probabilistic analytical framework. While these methods can effectively handle the various sources of uncertainty associated with empirical lateral spread displacement prediction, they can be difficult for engineers to perform in a practical manner without the use of specialized numerical tools. To make the benefits of a performance-based approach accessible to a …


Address Space Translation For Fpga Accelerated Simulators, Michael Thaddeus Chamberlain Jun 2015

Address Space Translation For Fpga Accelerated Simulators, Michael Thaddeus Chamberlain

Theses and Dissertations

Microarchitectural simulation is needed to help explore the large design space of new computer systems. These simulations are taking increasingly longer amounts of time to run due to the increasing complexity of modern processors. Co-simulation and high level synthesis are promising fields to improve the overall time required for microarchitectural simulators, and can contribute to low design times and fast simulation speeds permitting a larger range of design space exploration. While promising, co-simulation techniques must find effective ways to map the host memory address space to the FPGA memory address space to be able to correctly transfer simulation data between …


Service Dependency Analysis Via Tcp/Udp Port Tracing, John K. Clawson Jun 2015

Service Dependency Analysis Via Tcp/Udp Port Tracing, John K. Clawson

Theses and Dissertations

Enterprise networks are traditionally mapped via layers two or three, providing a view of what devices are connected to different parts of the network infrastructure. A method was developed to map connections at layer four, providing a view of interconnected systems and services instead of network infrastructure. This data was graphed and displayed in a web application. The information proved beneficial in identifying connections between systems or imbalanced clusters when troubleshooting problems with enterprise applications.


Investigation Of Parameters Affecting The Nanoinjection Of Hela 229 Cancer Cells, Tyler E. Lewis Jun 2015

Investigation Of Parameters Affecting The Nanoinjection Of Hela 229 Cancer Cells, Tyler E. Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to deliver sequences of DNA and other molecular loads across the membrane of a cell and into its nucleus is an area of interest in the medical community. One of its many applications is that of gene therapy. In contrast to other forms of treatment, gene therapy seeks to treat diseases at the cellular level. The success of these treatments depends on the technologies for cell transfection that are available. Physical methods are sometimes able to overcome poor efficiencies of chemical methods and the safety concerns of viral methods, but are usually impractical due to the limited number …


A Study Of Reconfigurable Antennas As A Solution For Efficiency, Robustness, And Security Of Wireless Systems, Rashid Mehmood Jun 2015

A Study Of Reconfigurable Antennas As A Solution For Efficiency, Robustness, And Security Of Wireless Systems, Rashid Mehmood

Theses and Dissertations

The reconfigurable aperture (RECAP) is a reconfigurable antenna consisting of a dense array of electronically controlled elements, which can be manipulated to support many antenna functions within a single architecture. RECAPs are explored herein as an enabling technology for future software defined and cognitive radio architectures, as well as compact wireless devices supporting many bands and services. First, the concept of a parasitic RECAP is developed and analyzed for various communication applications. This begins with the analysis of existing RECAP topologies (e.g. planar and parasitic) using a hybrid method combining full wave simulations and network analysis. Next, a performance versus …


On The Free Surface Skipping Characteristics Of Highly Deformable Elastic Spheres, Randy C. Hurd Jun 2015

On The Free Surface Skipping Characteristics Of Highly Deformable Elastic Spheres, Randy C. Hurd

Theses and Dissertations

When a highly deformable elastic sphere impacts a water surface at an oblique angle it can skip several times in a manner similar to a skipping stone. However, this sphere seems to skip more readily and with more ease than a traditional skipping stone. This thesis examines the improved skipping characteristics of highly deformable elastic spheres made from cured silicone rubber. The effect of impact velocity, impact angle, sphere diamter and material shear modulus on ricochet trajectory is experimentally examined using high speed photography and image processing techniques. Experimental evaluation shows that deformation is the primary contributor to an increased …


Assessing The Repercussions Of A Mass Departure Of Building Inspectors From The Code Professional Industry In Utah, George Reese Williams Jun 2015

Assessing The Repercussions Of A Mass Departure Of Building Inspectors From The Code Professional Industry In Utah, George Reese Williams

Theses and Dissertations

National studies suggest that eighty percent of existing code professionals are expected to retire within the next fifteen years. As part of this research, it was determined that approximately half of all licensed building inspectors in the State of Utah will reach retirement age within the next ten years. As building inspectors make up a large part of the Code Professional Industry this demographic was selected as the focus of this research. The purpose of this research project was to assess the urgent need for new entrants into the Code Professional Industry in Utah. As part of this research, trends …


Using The Offset Panel Technique To Develop Innovative Origami-Based Applications, Michael Robert Morgan Jun 2015

Using The Offset Panel Technique To Develop Innovative Origami-Based Applications, Michael Robert Morgan

Theses and Dissertations

Origami, the art of folding paper, was once only an art form. In recent years, it has collided with the world of engineering and is acting as a source of inspiration for solutions to various engineering problems. Paper, the typical material used in the art form, is thin and works well for origami, but is not often suitable for use in engineering. Researchers have developed a handful of methods for accommodating thick/rigid materials in origami design. Most of these preserve only the kinematics of the model or its range of motion. Not only does the offset panel technique (OPT) preserve …


Tethys Platform: A Development And Hosting Platform For Water Resources Web Apps, Nathan R. Swain Jun 2015

Tethys Platform: A Development And Hosting Platform For Water Resources Web Apps, Nathan R. Swain

Theses and Dissertations

The interactive nature of web applications or “web apps” makes it an excellent medium for conveying complex scientific concepts to lay audiences and creating decision support tools that harness cutting edge modeling techniques. However, the technical expertise required to develop them represents a barrier for would-be developers. The barrier can be characterized by the following hurdles that developers must overcome: (1) identify, select, and install software that meet the spatial and computational capabilities commonly required for water resources modeling; (2) orchestrate the use of multiple FOSS and FOSS4G projects and navigate their differing application programming interfaces (APIs); (3) learn the …


A Study Of Carbon Infiltrated Carbon Nanotubes Fabricated On Convex Cylindrical Substrates For The Creation Of A Coronary Stent, Warren Beecroft Robison Jun 2015

A Study Of Carbon Infiltrated Carbon Nanotubes Fabricated On Convex Cylindrical Substrates For The Creation Of A Coronary Stent, Warren Beecroft Robison

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the minimizing of cracks in the fabrication of carbon-infiltrated carbon nanotube (CI-CNT) forests on cylindrical rods for the purposes of creating a CI-CNT coronary stent. It is a continuation of the work begun by Jones [1] and Skousen [2] whose work included the creation of a feasible CI-CNT coronary stent on a planar surface. The current research was performed in two parts: 1) growth on the whole circumference of the rod for ~20mm in length and 2) growth in lines and patterns. Experiments were done on either a 309 or 304 stainless steel rod ~3mm in diameter.The …


An Efficient Feature Descriptor And Its Real-Time Applications, Alok Desai Jun 2015

An Efficient Feature Descriptor And Its Real-Time Applications, Alok Desai

Theses and Dissertations

Finding salient features in an image, and matching them to their corresponding features in another image is an important step for many vision-based applications. Feature description plays an important role in the feature matching process. A robust feature descriptor must works with a number of image deformations and should be computationally efficient. For resource-limited systems, floating point and complex operations such as multiplication and square root are not desirable. This research first introduces a robust and efficient feature descriptor called PRObability (PRO) descriptor that meets these requirements without sacrificing matching accuracy. The PRO descriptor is further improved by incorporating only …


The Performance Of Structured High-Capacity Si Anodes For Lithium-Ion Batteries, Jui Chin Fan Jun 2015

The Performance Of Structured High-Capacity Si Anodes For Lithium-Ion Batteries, Jui Chin Fan

Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to improve the performance of Si-based anodes through the use of hierarchically structured electrodes to provide the nanoscale framework needed to accommodate large volume changes while controlling the interfacial area – which affects solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation. To accomplish this, electrodes were fabricated from vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNT) infiltrated with silicon. On the nanoscale, these electrodes allowed us to adjust the surface area, tube diameter, and silicon layer thickness. On the micro-scale, we have the ability to control the electrode thickness and the incorporation of micro-sized features. Treatment of the interfacial area between the electrolyte and …


Integrating Synchronous Collaborative Applications With Product Lifecycle Management Workflows, Jordan Lowell Johnson Jun 2015

Integrating Synchronous Collaborative Applications With Product Lifecycle Management Workflows, Jordan Lowell Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems are used by thousands of engineering companies world wide. Improving these systems will have a drastic and global effect. One possible improvement is to integrate synchronous collaborative applications with PLM systems. These applications allow multiple people to work on a single digital object simultaneously. They have already been shown to reduce the time a task requires. Using these applications to complete a project will reduce the project time. However, simply including synchronous collaborative applications within a PLM system ignores powerful benefits that could provide further time-saving benefits. The integration must allow improved awareness at the …


Temperature Control In Friction Stir Welding Using Model Predictive Control, Brandon Scott Taysom Jun 2015

Temperature Control In Friction Stir Welding Using Model Predictive Control, Brandon Scott Taysom

Theses and Dissertations

Temperature is a very important process parameter in Friction Stir Welding (FSW), but until lately active control of temperature has not been practiced. Recently, temperature control via a PID controller has proven to be effective. Model Predictive Control (MPC) is a control method that holds promise, but has not been attempted in FSW before. Two different model forms are developed for MPC and are evaluated. The first is a simple first-order plus dead time (FOPDT) model. The second is the Hybrid Heat Source model and is more complex; it combines the heat source method and a 1D discretized thermal model …


Friction Bit Joining Of Dissimilar Combinations Of Dp 980 Steel And Aa 7075, Rebecca Hilary Peterson Jun 2015

Friction Bit Joining Of Dissimilar Combinations Of Dp 980 Steel And Aa 7075, Rebecca Hilary Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

Friction Bit Joining (FBJ) is a new technology that allows lightweight metals to be joined to advanced high-strength steels (AHSS). Joining of dissimilar metals is especially beneficial to the automotive industry because of the desire to use materials such as aluminum and AHSS in order to reduce weight and increase fuel efficiency. In this study, FBJ was used to join 7075 aluminum and DP980 ultra-high-strength steel. FBJ is a two-stage process using a consumable bit. In the first stage, the bit cuts through the top material (aluminum), and in the second stage the bit is friction welded to the base …


Provisioning Rural Wireless Broadband: A Prototype Implementation With Cognitive Radio Technology, Babajide Mandela Adejumobi May 2015

Provisioning Rural Wireless Broadband: A Prototype Implementation With Cognitive Radio Technology, Babajide Mandela Adejumobi

Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive radio technology, a revolutionary communication paradigm that can utilize the existing wireless spectrum resources more efficiently, has been receiving a growing attention in recent years. Our study is motivated by the fact that researchers are beginning to unveil different obstacles in the practicability of cognitive radio (CR) and, consequently, an urgent need has arisen to demonstrate practical implementations of CR technology. Specifically, this study seeks to implement a scenario in which two mobile phones communicate with each other using CR technology. Since commercially available mobile phones do not have the capability to dynamically adapt the operating parameters to function …


Power Control And Load Balancing Algorithms In Femtocells: Game Theoretic Approach, Henry Shyllon May 2015

Power Control And Load Balancing Algorithms In Femtocells: Game Theoretic Approach, Henry Shyllon

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we propose a novel game theoretic model to determine optimal pilot power for femtocells in a WCDMA heterogeneous network (HetNet) deployment. The proposed utility function takes proportional fairness into consideration in pilot power allocation of Femto APs and accepts Common Pilot Channel (CPICH) measurements of femtocell user equipment (FUE) with co-channel interference values as input parameters. We prove that the proposed game model is supermodular and converges to a Nash Equilibrium. Furthermore, since Femto APs are designed for indoor use, we propose an algorithm to regulate femtocell range by adjusting converged pilot transmit power in response to …