Engineering Commons^™

Electroretinogram Modeling : Parameter Identification And Intensity-Response Function Fits, Juan J. Castro

Theses

Electroretinography testing provides many useful techniques for clinical diagnosis of the visual system. However, the interpretation of the electroretinogram data involves a great amount of subjectivity. The use of mathematical models and parameter estimation techniques to fit the electroretinogram data supply a non-subjective and more standard way for analysis of the electroretinogram data. Mathematical models provide a way of summarizing the information enclosed in the raw electroretinogram response into a small set of parameters that define the response.

This thesis presents a mathematical model for the electroretinogram response due to light stimuli. It also provides a non-subjective method for obtaining …

A Mouse-Driven Interface For Androx Ics-400, Chin-Tien Chen

Theses

A mouse-driven interface is extremely useful for software performing image processing tasks. This thesis describes an implementation of a mouse-driven interface for the Androx ICS-400 image processing board. The Androx board is housed in a Sun 4/330 running a UNIX-based operating system. The main goal of this interface is to provide a consistent and friendly user interface for image processing tasks and integrating the Sun window libraries with the Androx libraries. Various image processing tasks, such as gray scale and binary morphological operations, histogram, thresholding, filtering, spot, logical operations, arithmetic operations, zooming, scrolling, rank and image acquisition are implemented in …

The Bandwidth Allocation Of Atm Control By Neural Networks, Jin-Syan Chou

Theses

In this thesis, we develop a neural network method based on Adaptive Resonance Theory to train and control the optimum bandwidth allocation of ATM network. In Broadband Integrated Service Digital Network (BISDN), the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is already adopted as the transfer facility by CCITT. ATM is a high-bandwidth, low- delay, fast-packet switching and multiplexing technique. Using ATM technique, we can flexibly rearrange the network and reassign the bandwidth to meet the requirement of all types of services. As an effective optimization method, Genetic Algorithm (GA) is applied to implement the bandwidth allocation of ATM. Then, we use Adaptive …

Modification Of Wear Testing Methodology, Muhammed Farooq

Theses

In this work the existing computer controlled methodology has been modified A loading and unloading mechanism has been designed, manufactured and assembled. A specimen fixture has been designed and installed. Alloy steel specimens with different surface treatment were tested on the modified wear testing machine. Operational surface roughness was measured in all stages of running-in, steady state and catastrophic wear. The difference between technological and operational surface roughness was observed. The results show that the surface treatment by Plasma Ion-Nitriding with Magnetic treatment increases wear resistance. It was found that the coated material which had been magnetically treated with a …

A Modified M/G/1/N System And Its Application, Bernice Annette Figueroa

Theses

We study a single server queueing system with finite buffer, Poisson arrivals and exceptional service requirements for the first customer in each busy period. The system is studied as a Markov Chain and the limiting probability distributions are obtained. The explicit form sorution for the queue length distribution, blocking probability, waiting time distribution as well as the busy period are derived through the Laplace-Stieltjes transform method. These results are then applied to a tandem system with a finite buffer in front of the first station and no intermediate buffer between the two stations. Finally, similar results are obtained for the …

Application Of Non-Imaging Optical Inspection To The Detection Of Pinhole Defects In Latex Condoms, Paul Micha Gelencser

Theses

An optical technique was demonstrated for the detection of pinhole defects in latex condoms. To evaluate the optical inspection concept, a prototype inspection apparatus was constructed. In order to maximize contrast between pinhole transmitted signal and optical signal transmitted through the latex condom material, ultraviolet (u.v.) light of wavelength 253nm has been used. This inspection was performed during rotation of the condom, with the light source inside the condom and the photomultiplier photodetector outside. The form on which the condoms were mounted was made of quartz in order to allow the u.v. light to be transmitted through it.

Background signal …

Modeling Of Vacuum Microelectronic Lateral And Vertical Devices, Qiong Gui

Theses

Vertical and lateral configurations of the vacuum microelectronic device have been modeled using the simulation tools. Both cone and ridge cathode structures are used. Simulation results are compared with experimental data where available. These device structures include cathode, extraction grid, anode, and deflectors. The electric field at the tip of the cathode has been calculated for tip radius as small as 0.1nm. The model used takes into account the effect of potential on all electrodes on the E-field at the cathode tip. Also the effect of cathode geometry on the E-field is detailed.

Static characteristics are based on a new …

Load-Deformation Behavior Of Reinforced Fibrous Concrete Beams, Rujun He

Theses

This study deals with the load-deformation behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete beams.

Theoretical development of moment-curvature and load-deformation relationships is presented in this paper. It is based on the assumption that the failure at a section occurs either when the force equilibrium equation is violated or when the concrete elements start to get crushed in the member. The complete stress-strain relationship of plain fibrous concrete in reference [2] was used in this study.

A special computer program is presented herein to carry out the theoretical studies of load-deformation behavior of simply supported beam under two-point loading. The validity of …

Representing Tolerances In A Geometric Modeller, Chih-Tsung Huang

Theses

Current geometric modeller contains dimension information only. This thesis describes how tolerance can be added to a geometric modeller. The modeller is based on a hybrid design of the Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) scheme and Boundary Representation (B-Rep). Various tolerances based on the ANSI standard are considered.

The Neural Network Based Control System For Dynamic Channel Allocation In Pcn Communications, Ching-Yao Huang

Theses

A neural network based control system (NNCS) is adopted in this paper to conduct the channel allocation task in the personal communication networks (PCN). Binary adaptive resonance theory (ART-1) that was modified for pattern matching and provided the corresponding responses is selected as the basic algorithm for the system. Digital portable radio technology can provide reliable access to high quality wireless service for many users. Low power transmission requirement and small cell size configuration that can support more users and diverse services than cellular radio system are the attractive attributes of PCN. Assigning multiple time slots to a user in …

Automatic Infrared And Visual Inspection Of Solder Joints On Pcbs, Jiang Huang

Theses

This thesis reports the research results of automatic inspection of solder joints on printed circuit boards (PCBs). The previous work on this regard has been advanced significantly in the following three aspects. With the application of some microlens and the principle of geometric optics solder joints of real size are inspected in this work instead of larger simulation solder joints in the previous work. A new set of features is formulated and used for infrared inspection. Consequently, better results have been achieved in this work.

Reasonably good results demonstrate the capability of infrared inspection of solder joints on PCBs. Once …

Direct Recovering Of Composite Surface Using Uoff, Zhesheng Huang

Theses

The research work reported in the thesis is motivated by the problem raised in the computer vision area. It utilizes direct method to recover surface structure of objects in 3-D space from a pair of stereo images. The direct method, compared with optical flow-based approach and feature-based approach, is robust and computationally efficient. However it can only recover planar surface structure so far. A new approach to recover structure from a pair of stereo images based on unified optical flow field (UOFF) is developed recently. It can recover curved surface structure.

In this thesis, the problem of recovering surface structure …

Computer Graphic Simulation Of Sweeping Of Solid Objects, Jr-Jyun Jang

Theses

This thesis is on the computer graphic simulation of the swept volume of a solid object undergoing Euclidean motions (including translation and rotation). The study helps visualize different types of Euclidean motions and supports the previously developed swept volume theories by providing graphic realism.Included in the thesis presentation are the following :

1. Description of Euclidean motions of polyhedral objects, using ruled surfaces to represent swept volumes.
2. Representation of sweeping of solid objects, -using parametric cubic equation and sweep differential equation.
3. Simulation of motions of PUMA and IBM robots.
4. Wire-frame and shaded image displays of swept volumes.

A Cmos Logic Circuit To Reduce Substrate Current/Hot Carrier Effect, Tejinder K. Jaswal

Theses

A new C-MOS NAND and CMOS full adder logic circuits which reduces hot carrier problems are discussed. The application of new circuit lowers the channel electric field in N-MOSFET during switching transient and leads to suppression of the N-MOSFET substrate current. The simulation results shows that about 3.99 and 3.75 times smaller peak substrate current are obtained in C-MOS NAND and adder with new circuit compared to the conventional logic circuits. These logic circuits also gives better noise and shows shorter rise and fall times. The new concept provides highly reliable logic circuits without any change of device structure or …

Brushless Dc Motor Speed Control System With Saturation Nonlinearity, Khawja M. Kamal

Theses

A study of a three-phase, pulse-width modulated, velocity controlled brushless DC motor speed control system is presented. Previous works on brushless DC drive systems could not explain global instability, due to linear approximations. A complete three-phase system model is presented here, along with a simplified single-phase model, which is similar to a conventional DC motor model. The models incorporate saturation nonlinearity. The brushless DC drive system is analyzed and simulated. Special emphasis is laid on the study of the limit-cycle phenomenon, due to saturation nonlinearity. Global instability is accounted for and relevant parameter regions are established for global stability. The …

Numerical Simulation Of The Heating Of Glass Mat Thermoplastic (Gmt) By Combined Conduction And Dual Beam Microwave Source Terms, Shrenik Kasturi

Theses

Fabrication of parts from glass mat thermoplastic involves the heating of the composite to a temperature above the melting point of the matrix iesin to obtain a low viscosity and to allow sheets to be molded without fractui ing. The focus of this work is this heating stage, particularly the influence of a source term in the energy equation.

The solution to this physical situation is complicated by the nature of the GMT sheet, which has a layeied structure, with diffeient thermophysical properties in different layers. The use of source terms has not been reported yet. and is the piimary …

Expert System For Blown Film Extrusion, Jiachyi Li

Theses

Expert systems and blown film extrusion are two subjects to deal with in this thesis. Expert systems are an aspect of artificial intelligence, or a computer's ability to think. The determination of a suitable expert system for particular problem is an important factor in current societies. Blown film is extruded as a continuous tube which is air cooled, collapsed, and wound onto a roll as a double layer of film. Such film, if heat sealed and perforated, makes a roll of bags. There are many factors that affect blown film extrusion. Therefore, using expert system to evaluate blown film extrusion …

Application Of Expert System For Control Of Heating Distribution Network : A Case Study, Jun Li

Theses

The use of an expert system for the heating distribution network is an application of artificial intelligence to the domain of energy engineering.

The development of an expert system for a heating distribution network is explained. The expert system is implemented through the software Kee. The expert system is used to monitor the heating distribution network, and to complement some functions of the controls such as balancing the system pressure, stabilizing output, in addition to fault diagnosis, system process simulation. It serves also as a medium to system moniting, and operator training. Many other functions will be developed on the …

Workstation Allocation Schemes For Response Time Improvement In A Multiserver Pc Lan, Asit V. Merchant

Theses

Microcomputer Local Area Networks have recently become quite popular. Higher demand in term of number of users who contribute a variable amount of load has led to Multiple File servers in a LAN. As a result of variable load, response time at workstations differ significantly depending not only on total load on the network but also on workstation distribution across servers. The goal of this study is to develop schemes to keep response time as low as possible and constant among workstations. This study is based on minimizing response time and containing it or keeping it constant by distributing workstations …

A Comparative Study Of Image Coding Techniques : Filter Banks Vs. Discrete Cosine Transform, Hosam Fawzi Mutlag

Theses

Subband coding of still image frames using Binomial PR-QMF has been presented in this thesis. Simulation results have shown that the performance of subband coding using a low complexity coder is practically the same as the performance of the industry standard (8 x 8) DCT based image coder.

A low bit rate adaptive video coding technique is also introduced in this thesis. The redundancy within adjacent video frames is exploited by motion compensated interframe prediction. The Motion Compensated Frame Difference (MCFD) signals are filtered by employing Binomial PR-QMF structure into four subbands. Then, the subbands are quantized using an efficient …

Evaluation Of Cracking Mechanism In Fiber Reinforced Concrete Subjected To Impulsive Loading, Rajendra K. Navalurkar

Theses

This thesis presents an experimental evaluation of J-Integral for plain and fiber reinforced concrete subjected to impact loading. A computer assisted instrumented Charpy test system was employed in applying the impact loads. Twenty two three point bend specimens with two different notch lengths were tested under impact velocity of 43.29 in/sec. Development and testing of a new fiber optic sensor, for the determination of internal Crack Tip Opening Displacements (CTOD) in concrete is described.

Evaluation of J_IC values from experimental results of this study indicate that J_IC can be characterized as a material constant. The Dynamic value of …

Minimized Test Patterns For Sequential Logic, Chetan Patel

Theses

This thesis presents a novel algorithmic approach which can be used to reduce the total test pattern lengths for testing a sequential logic circuit. Test generation for sequential circuits has long been recognized as a difficult task. Several approaches have been made in the past to solve the problems of test generation stage for sequential circuits but they were either an extension of the classical D-algorithm or based on the random techniques. When number of states of the sequential circuit is larger and the test demands long input sequences, they can be quite ineffective for the test generation. The STALLION …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Boron Nitride Masks For X-Ray Lithography, Venkat Paturi

Theses

Boron nitride thin films were deposited on silicon and fused quartz substrates by low pressure chemical vapor deposition using liquid precursor source consisting of Triethyl amine borane complex over a temperature range of 600-900°C. In the range of 600-800°C, the deposition rate, measured at a constant pressure of 0.35 Torr and flow rate of 30 sccm, was observed to follow an Arrhenius behavior yielding an activation energy of 11 kcal/mol. In the temperature range of 800-900°C, the addition of ammonia to Triethylamineborane complex produced films that are stoichiometric, as estimated by RBS measurements, and hydrogen free as determined by Infrared …

Implementation Of A Production Planning And Control System In A Small Manufacturing Company, Carmelo Pernice

Theses

This thesis analyzed and discussed the implementation of a production control system in a small manufacturing firm. The basic concepts of production control were provided to give insight on the methodologies typically applied in production control systems. Overviews were presented on Material Resource Planning, Capacity Planning, and Shop Floor Control, as well as any supporting methodologies and technologies.

As with any project, some investigation was done in order to choose a system which best suits the company's needs. At Teledyne Adams, The DCD Shop Floor Control System was chosen since it is capable of handling batch manufacturing as well as …

Influence Of Fly Ash Characteristics On Compressive Strength Of Mortar, Poorna Rajeswari Ratnaweera

Theses

Fly ash-cement mortar, constituting of fly ash, cement and sand, vary in strength characteristics from conventional cement sand mortar. Out of many parameters effecting the compressive strength characteristics of fly ash-cement mortar, four were investigated in this study. They are particle size and its distribution, weathering of fly ash, moisture content & water/cementitious ratio and mix proportioning.

Class F fly ashes from three different sources were used in this study. The particle size distribution and moisture content of fly ashes were investigated by standard ASTM methods. The unconfined compressive strength of mortar was obtained by testing 2"x2"x2" test cubes conforming …

Analysis And Implementation Of A Navigation System Using Vanishing Points In A Generalized Environment, Rolf Schuster

Theses

The development of accurate sensors is of crucial importance in navigation of mobile autonomous robots. The following master's thesis analyzes the use of vanishing points for robot navigation. Parallel lines in the environment of the robot are used to compute vanishing points which serve as a reference for guiding a robot. To accomplish the navigation tasks, three subtasks are to be performed: detection of straight lines, computation of vanishing points, and robot navigation with vanishing points.

An edge detection algorithm is presented that combines Sobel and Laplacian of Gaussian operators. The algorithm preserves the precision of the Laplacian of Gaussian …

Water Treatment Plant Sludge As Sanitary Landfill Liner, Sinnadurai Sockanathan

Theses

This study was performed to explore the possibility of using the sludge waste from the water treatment plant at Boonton New Jersey as a containment material for the sanitary landfills or as a fill material. At present natural clay is being used as a containment liner for the landfills and by using this sludge, recycling of a waste product will be achieved in an economical manner.

As a first part of this studies, efforts were made to utilize the liquid sludge having a solid content of about 3%. Attempts to dewater the liquid sludge to a workable mix by adding …

Linear Regulator And Singular Control In Generalised State Space System, Devesh Kumar Thodimela

Theses

The problem of unconstrained optimal control of continuous-time singular systems is considered, by straight forward extension of some well-known equations derived for ordinary state-space systems by variational calculus and by the aid of the simplest algebraic and matrix tools: In this thesis, the interest is restricted to the case where the system is to be driven from a fixed initial state to a fixed final state as well as free final state tf while minimizing a performance index of the form

J = 1/2 ∫t_f t_o <( Y - Y_i), Q ( Y - Y_i) > d_t

Subject …

Controlling Hazards Associated With Confined Spaces, Srinivas S. Varahabhotla

Theses

Work in Confined Spaces poses special health and safety problems. To avoid the serious consequences which may follow poorly planned or poorly supervised confined space work, a comprehensive program of recognition, evaluation and control of potential dangers must be developed.

The work force should be aware of the extreme dangers associated with confined space and of the procedures and equipment used to overcome these dangers effectively and safely.

The purpose of this thesis is to present the hazardous conditions in a confined space and different means of overcoming these dangers which are not readily apparent. It shows how confined spaces …

Analysis Of The Effects Of Wear And Tear Of Gates And Runners In The Injection Molding Process For Multi-Cavity Injection Molds In Natural Imbalance, Krishna Siva Rama Vellanki

Theses

Intuition, prior experience, and trial and error experimentation have previously been the key factors in solving the mold design and process optimization problems, when there is a dimensional change in gates and runners due to wear and tear in multi-cavity injection molding. The effect of wear and tear of gates and runners of circular and rectangular geometries, using the flow analysis package MOLDFLOW have been studied. A mold with two rectangular cavities of volume in the ratio 2:1 has been taken as the reference model for the analysis. It is observed that the amount of imbalance due to wear and …