Engineering Commons^™

Heavy Metal Adsorption On Iron Oxide And Iron Oxide-Coated Silica : Macroscopic, Spectroscopic, And Modeling Studies, Ying Xu

Dissertations

To accurately model metal mobility and bioavailability in soils and sediments, systematic sorption studies are needed using representative and well-characterized minerals. Two important surfaces are iron oxide and silica, which are ubiquitous and associated with one another in the environment playing important roles in metal distribution. The objectives of this research are to develop models for predicting speciation and mobility of toxic trace metal ions in groundwater, soils, and sediments when competing ions are present. A model system for soils and sediments, iron oxide-coated silica, was synthesized; the degree of coatings was highly sensitive to the particle size of silica …

Study Of Si/Sio2 Interface Passivation And Sio2 Reliability On Deuterium Implanted Silicon, Tias Kundu

Dissertations

One of the major defects that contribute to the interface states in the silicon band gap is the dangling bond, which degrades performance of MOS devices. Passivation of these bonds with hydrogen had been found to diminish their effect but the improvement degrades the operation due to hot electron effect. Passivation with deuterium annealing has proven to improve the lifetime of the metal oxide semiconductor devices but this technique is not very effective for a multi-level metal-dielectric structure. This work investigates and optimizes incorporation of deuterium by ion implantation into the silicon substrate before the growth of 6.5 nm thin …

Robust Techniques And Applications In Fuzzy Clustering, Amit Banerjee

Dissertations

This dissertation addresses issues central to frizzy classification. The issue of sensitivity to noise and outliers of least squares minimization based clustering techniques, such as Fuzzy c-Means (FCM) and its variants is addressed. In this work, two novel and robust clustering schemes are presented and analyzed in detail. They approach the problem of robustness from different perspectives. The first scheme scales down the FCM memberships of data points based on the distance of the points from the cluster centers. Scaling done on outliers reduces their membership in true clusters. This scheme, known as the Mega-clustering, defines a conceptual mega-cluster which …

Variable Permittivity Dielectric Material Loaded Stepped-Horn Antenna, Ozgur Ozdemir

Dissertations

Stepped-horn antenna loaded with dielectric material of variable permittivity is proposed to improve radiation characteristics and/or to increase the electrical dimensions of the radiating structure compared to unloaded empty one. A hybrid numerical technique is used to analyze such an antenna. The tapered section of the horn antenna is modeled by multi-stepped waveguide structures filled with variable dielectric constant material. Generalized scattering matrix representation of the tapered section of the horn antenna is obtained using mode matching technique. The radiating aperture problem is solved by the method of moments, under the assumption that the horn is terminated by an infinite …

On The Design For Flexibility Of Manufacturing Systems : A Stochiastic Approach, Nathapol Areeratchakul

Dissertations

Flexibility has emerged as one of the most strategic imperatives for company viability in today's fast paced economy. This realization has stimulated extensive research efforts in this area most of which have focused mainly on defining flexibility and its attributes, the need for flexibility and how to measure it. Nevertheless, despite the considerable amount of publications regarding flexibility and its related subjects, insufficient attention has been given to the optimality of the design for flexibility and the inherent needs to meet uncertainty. Bridging this gap is the intent of this work.

In this dissertation, developed analytical models are for the …

Opportunistic Transmission Scheduling For Next Generation Wireless Communication Systems With Multimedia Services, Chengzhou Li

Dissertations

The explosive growth of the Internet and the continued dramatic increase for all wireless services are fueling the demand for increased capacity, data rates, and support of different quality of service (QoS) requirements for different classes of services. Since in the current and future wireless communication infrastructures, the performances of the various services are strongly correlated, as the resources are shared among them, dynamic resource allocation methods should be employed. With the demand for high data rate and support of multiple QoS, the transmission scheduling plays a key role in the efficient resource allocation process in wireless systems. The fundamental …

Energy Efficient Organization And Modeling Of Wireless Sensor Networks, Jin Zhu

Dissertations

With their focus on applications requiring tight coupling with the physical world, as opposed to the personal communication focus of conventional wireless networks, wireless sensor networks pose significantly different design, implementation and deployment challenges. Wireless sensor networks can be used for environmental parameter monitoring, boundary surveillance, target detection and classification, and the facilitation of the decision making process. Multiple sensors provide better monitoring capabilities about parameters that present both spatial and temporal variances, and can deliver valuable inferences about the physical world to the end user.

In this dissertation, the problem of the energy efficient organization and modeling of dynamic …

Optimal Speed Limit For Shared-Use Roadways, Yongqiang Yang

Dissertations

Motor vehicle crashes are a serious social problem in the United States. Each year a large number of motor vehicle crashes occur and many people are killed or injured, resulting in substantial economic costs. To minimize economic costs, it is necessary to determine optimal speed limits on roadways because of the strong relationship among posted speed limit, crash frequency, and crash injury severity.

A comprehensive literature review about the relationship among posted speed limit, crash frequency, and crash injury severity level was conducted. Crash frequency prediction models and crash injury severity models are developed to obtain crash frequency and injury …

Investigation Of Solid Polymeric Hollow Fiber Heat Exchange Devices For Use In Thermally-Driven Desalination Processes, Saskia Christian

Theses

The heat exchange between hot brine (4 wt% NaCl) and cold water as well as between condensing steam and cold water without direct fluid-fluid contact using modules made out of solid polymeric hollow fibers of polypropylene (PP) and polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has been studied. The solid hollow fiber dimensions were 425μm/575μm (ID/OD) for PP and 420μm/570μm (ID/OD) for PEEK. Extensive heat transfer measurements have been performed and the experimentally-determined overall heat transfer coefficients utilized to isolate the wall heat transfer coefficient, the inside heat transfer coefficient and the outside heat transfer coefficient. The heat exchange between hot brine and cold water …

An Analytical Model Of Mac Protocol Dependant Power Consumption In Multi-Hop Ad Hoc Wireless Sensor Networks, Komlan Egoh

Theses

Power efficiency is the most constraining requirement for viable operation of battery-powered networked sensors. Conventionally, dynamic power management (DPM) is used to put sensor nodes into different states such as active, idle, and sleep, each consuming a certain level of power. Within the active state, communication operational states, such as receive and transmit consume different levels of nodal power. This thesis shows how DPM states and protocol operational states can be combined into a single stochastic model to finely evaluate the power consumption performance of a medium access control (MAC) protocol. The model is formulated as a semi-Markov decision process …

Evaluation Of Coding Scheme For Mimo Radar, Suresh Kumar Harikrishnan

Theses

Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna systems have shown a great potential for wireless communication. These systems support high capacity, increased diversity and interference suppression. Recently it has been proposed MIMO constellations for Radar. MIMO Radar is not only a new research field, but also a very promising approach in terms of overcoming Radar Cross Section (RCS) fluctuations with diversity. This thesis explores the potential of coding schemes for MIMO Radar.

The ambiguity functions measures related to MIMO Radar are used to evaluate how much diversity gain can be coherently achieved with certain coding schemes. The results of this analysis …

Multifractal Analysis Of Heart Rate Variability Using Wavelet-Transform Modulus-Maxima Method, Chirag Jani

Theses

Physiological signals are complex and carry information of human health. Recent studies reveal that under normal conditions, the heart rate time series shows multifractal behavior. In contrast, HRV in the pathological state such as congestive heart failure exhibits more monofractal-like structure. Recent advances in the assessment of heart rate variability (HRV) uses a nonlinear dynamics approach. In this study, the main objective is to use the wavelet-transform modulus-maxima method for the multifractal analysis of the heart rate time senes.

The degree of the multifractality is defined by the singularities (a point in time series where a mathematical function is not …

In Vitro Evaluation Of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell Neural Differentiation On Tyrsine-Derived Polyarylates And Polycarbonates, Yee-Shuan Lee

Theses

Present spinal cord injury treatments cannot restore motor and sensory functions caused by the injury. These functions can return in the hopes of repairing the neural cells with a tissue engineered designed scaffold complex. The scaffold complex will include cells to repair and replace the damaged cells.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are multipotent adult stem ells that are capable of differentiating along several lineage pathways. Neural stem cell and MSC differentiating along the neural lineage bave been investigated both in vivo and in vitro depicting its feasibility. MSC for neural differentiation can be achieved by microenvironmental signaling. Substrate surface characteristics …

Automated Liquid Dispensing Pin For Dna Microarray Applications, Suganya Parthasarathy

Theses

This thesis describes the research and development of a new liquid dispensing/aspiring system that is capable of producing micro sized spots/droplets for molecular biology research and analysis. In particular, the application is focused on DNA microarray fabrication with the goals of smaller spot size, higher yield, more efficient usage of biological materials, and capability to handle high viscosity liquids. The new system is based on active sensing and control and it is part of a fully integrated robotic microarray system for genomic and proteomic applications. The prototype system handles water as well as thick liquids such as 100% glycerol and …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Polymer Nanocomposites, Nirav S. Patel

Theses

Polymer nanocomposites were produced by solution mixing of a commercial flexible acrylic polymer paint, with nanofillers of different size, shape, aspect ratio and purity such as hydrotalcite (HT), sodium montmorillonite (MMT), single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT) and fullerenes (FUL), at 5 and 10 wt% loading. Structural characteristics and mechanical, thermal and barrier properties of the nanocomposites were characterized by different techniques and compared to those of the unfilled polymer.

The presence of partially exfoliated and intercalated nanoplatelets in the polymer resulted in increased 2% secant tensile modulus, and decreased tensile strength and elongation at break, to different extents. While the …

Wet-Spinning And Thermal Analysis Of Collagen Fibers Incorporating Hydroxyapatite In Mixed And Coated Form, Sandesh Nathaniel Prakash

Theses

The composition of natural bone comprises of collagen (Cg) as organic phase which acts as a matrix and inorganic calcium phosphate, particularly hydroxyapatite (HA), which is used as reinforcement. This study involved the wet-spinning of collagen fibers incorporating HA in mixed and coated form. The weight percent ratio of collagen and HA in the composite fibers was 95 to 5 respectively. HA coating on pure collagen fibers was achieved by immersing them in HA solution formed by mixing HA in water. With Thermomechanical analysis, the highest breaking point temperature was obtained for the composite fibers and the least with pure …

Quantification Of Long-Range Power Law Correlations Among Healthy And Pathologic Subjects Using Detrended Fluctuation Analysis And Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis, Hardick Raval

Theses

The healthy heartbeat is traditionally thought to be regulated according to the classical principle of homeostasis whereby physiologic systems operate to reduce variability and achieve an equilibrium-like state. However recent studies reveal that under normal conditions, beat-to-beat fluctuation in heart rate display the kind of long-range correlations typically exhibited by the dynamical system far away from equilibrium. In contrast, heart rate time series from patients with severe congestive heart failure show a breakdown of this long-range correlation behavior. Two different non-linear dynamic methods namely Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) and Multifractal (MF) DFA are used for the quantification of this correlation …

The Creation And Testing Of A Mock Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Facility For Pain Patients, Gladstone Vincent Reid

Theses

Unfamiliarity with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) facilities leads to unwanted stress-related disturbances in the processing of fMRI data. A mock fMRI facility was developed to increase familiarization among subjects participating in fiviRI studies and to alleviate the time and cost of familiarizing each subject in an actual fMRI facility. A decommissioned Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) unit was remodeled to visually and aurally resemble the Siemens Magnetom Allegra 3 Telsa fMRI machine currently used at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), Newark, New Jersey. Instrumentation was developed using LabVIEW software which presented subjects with recreated sounds …

Quantification Of Regularity In Rr-Interval Time Series Using Approximate Entropy, Sample Entropy, And Multi-Scale Entropy, Nirvish Shah

Theses

Heart rate variability (HRV) has proven to be a useful noninvasive tool to study the neuronal control of the heart. Recently, nonlinear dynamic methods based on chaos theory and fractal dynamics have been developed to uncover the nonlinear fluctuations in heart rate. Approximate Entropy (ApEn), Sample Entropy (SampEn) and Multi-scale Entropy (MSE) are measures based on chaos theory that quantify the regularity in time series. This study has been designed to examine the ability of these measures to distinguish the RR-interval time series of normal subjects (NSR) from subjects with congestive heart failure (CHF). The study was conducted on the …

A Multi-Factor Model For Evaluating Manufacturing Defect Opportunities In Six Sigma Analysis, Karthikeyan Sundaram

Theses

Six Sigma Quality Analysis provides a structured method for manufacturing quality problems and defect opportunities to be defined, measured, analyzed, improved, and controlled. The technique is now being widely used in both the manufacturing and service industries to evaluate the classical "defects per million" metric. An underlying assumption of classical Six Sigma Analysis is that all defects contribute equally to the derivation of the defect rate. In the thesis, it is proposed that this assumption skews and often distorts the derived defect rate. Using classical Six Sigma the user is able to list a large number of often border-line defect …

Multicodes For Improved Range Resolution In Radar, Rhiya Vitto

Theses

Third generation (3G) wireless systems are required to support a variety of communication services like voice, image, motion picture transmission, etc, each of which requires different transmission rates. Multi-code modulation has been introduced therefore as a means of supporting multi-rate services and operating in multi-cell environments [8, 9, 10]. This multi-rate multi-function capability may be used in Radar related applications, too. For example, a single transmitted waveform consisting of two orthogonal codes can be used to simultaneously track a target and obtain high range resolution. Tracking requires low bandwidth and high resolution needs a high bandwidth signal. Orthogonal codes like …

Combined Effects Of Prozac And Hypothalmic Mediated Response On Masseter Muscle Activity In The Cat, Chika P. Nwaorgu

Theses

The present study tested the hypothesis that infusion of Prozac would serve to suppress defensive rage elicited from the medial hypothalamus of the cat. Cats are known to exhibit certain kind of behavior, known as the "defensive rage response" such as unsheathing of the claws, retraction of the ear and vocalization (hissing).

Three adult cats (2 males and 1 female) weighing (2.8 - 3.4 kg) were utilized during the experiments. Cannula-electrodes were implanted into the medial hypothalamus for elicitation of defensive rage behavior. EMG activity was recorded with a bipolar electrode attached to the masseter muscle to establish baseline before …

A Gait Generation Mechanism For Leg Rehabilitation Therapy, Yazan Ahmad Manna

Theses

While most take their ability to walk for granted, some are unable to walk secondary to any number of pathologies, such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury (SCI), cerebrovascular accidents (CVA), cerebral palsy (CP), multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's disease, as well as various orthopedic conditions. Decreased activity has been shown to be associated with rapidly deconditioning and other co-morbidities. Rehabilitation techniques that afford patients the ability to begin reconditioning through walking sooner may ultimately enhance their return to a better quality of life.

The overall goal of this study is to design a gait generation mechanism for rehabilitation …

Haptic Induced Motor Learning And The Extension Of Its Benefits To Stroke Patients, Adrienne M. Coppa

Theses

In this research, the Haptic Master robotic arm and virtual environments are used to induce motor learning in subjects with no known musculoskeletal or neurological disorders. It is found in this research that both perception and performance of the subject are increased through the haptic and visual feedback delivered through the Haptic Master. These system benefits may be extended to enhance therapies for patients with loss of motor skills due to neurological disease or brain injury.

Force and visual feedback were manipulated within virtual environment scenarios to facilitate learning. In one force feedback condition, the subject is required to maneuver …

Growth Behavior Of Fibroblasts Influenced By Small Changes In Polymer Structure, Saraswathi Doddi

Theses

Polymers are a promising class of biomaterials that can be engineered to meet specific end use requirements. The order and processing history of the polymer, which would alter the molecular orientation of the material could have a significant contribution towards cellular attachment and in turn, cell growth on the particular polymer. Surface properties of the material were considered to directly influence the properties of the adherent cells including cellular growth and reorganization. The present study is aimed at comparing cell growth on polyarylates with that of polylactic acid in their original state or by introducing small changes in the surface …

Enhancing End-To-End Quality Of Service Provisioning In Wireless Ad Hoc Networks Using Service Vectors, Didem Gozupek

Theses

A cross-layer architecture that achieves significant power savings, while enhancing the end-to-end QoS provisioning and granularity in wireless ad hoc networks is proposed in this thesis. Recently, a new concept called service vector has been introduced, which enables an end host to choose different service classes along its data path. This scheme enhances the user benefits from the network services and network resource utilization, while maintaining the simplicity and scalability of the current Differentiated Services (DiffServ) network architecture. This thesis explores the application of this concept on wireless ad hoc networks and provides a cross-layer architecture based on the combination …

Deposition Of Tantalum Thin Films By Rf Sputtering With Substrate Bias, Savita Raina

Theses

The effects of energetic ion bombardment on the crystallographic structure of RF sputtered tantalum thin films on different substrates, particularly aluminum and silicon, have been studied. The effect of substrate biasing on ion current and film thickness has been investigated. The study included comparison between substrate ion current of DC sputtering and RF sputtering and also was aimed at finding the process parameters, which could influence the crystallographic phase of Ta film. The characterization of Ta films is carried by RBS and x-ray diffraction techniques.

A magnetron sputtering system with a matching network between the source and the RF generator …

Optimization Of Sequential Purification Of Beta-Glucosidase From Tricoderma Reesei In Aqueous Two-Phase System, Shalini Gautam

Dissertations

A novel sequential technique was developed for the purification of a valuable enzyme, beta-glucosidase, from microorganism Tricoderma reesei. The fungus T. reesei produces cellulose degrading enzymes, called cellulases: beta-glucosidase, endo-glucanase and exo-glucanase and low molecular weight proteins. For specific applications, the enzyme must be separated from other contaminants. The sequential technique, that included affinity precipitation with chitosan followed by separation with an aqueous two-phase system (ATPS), was implemented for the purification of beta-glucosidase from the culture filtrate of T. reesei.

The cultivation medium (nutrient) was optimized for the production of betaglucosidase from T. reesei cell culture. Treatment of the …

Nanostructured Composite Materials Based On Carbon Nanotubes And 3-D Photonic Crystals, Jing Chen

Dissertations

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) and in particular, single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) have been extensively studied, in large part, due to their unique one-dimensional crystalline structures and related electronic and optical properties. Various polymeric composite materials, which were based on carbon nanotubes, have been also developed in an attempt to combine the properties of polymer and CNT in a single film. Such composites were mainly formed by mixing carbon nanotubes within the polymer without special emphasis on the structure and thereby, the nanoscopic properties of the resultant material.

Photonic crystals belong to a class of man-made structures aimed at manipulating the propagation …

Communications Over Fading Channels With Partial Channel Information : Performance And Design Criteria, Xinmin Deng

Dissertations

The effects of system parameters upon the performance are quantified under the assumption that some statistical information of the wireless fading channels is available. These results are useful in determining the optimal design of system parameters. Suboptimal receivers are designed for systems that are constrained in terms of implementation complexity.

The achievable rates are investigated for a wireless communication system when neither the transmitter nor the receiver has prior knowledge of the channel state information (CSI). Quantitative results are provided for independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) Gaussian signals. A simple, low-duty-cycle signaling scheme is proposed to improve the information rates …