Engineering Commons^™

Thermal Desorption Of Phenol Contaminated Clay Soils, Chia-Ling Ting

Theses

Clay mineral/organic reactions have been studied extensively by a numerous physicochemical methods. There also has been extensive research done in the areas of adsorption, Lewis acid-base reactions, desorption, adduct formation. Many of these studies explain the role and dehydration of silicates.

Studies have shown through extraction, thermal analysis, and gas chromatography. That there is more than one type of bonding, weak and strong, taking place between the clay mineral and the organic waste.

In order to determine the practicality of the containment technology, this research has been investigated by using more powerful tools, such as thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry …

Analysis On Dielectric Resonators, Xuan Tu

Theses

This dissertation deals with the studies and analysis of Dielectric Resonators (DR). A shielded dielectric iesonator structure, consisting of the substrate, the spacer, the dielectric resonator and the metallic shielding is modelled theoretically. The theoretical expressions for the resonance fields are derived by using radial-mode matching and axial mode-matching techniques. In these techniques, the structure is divided into partial regions and the fields in each pai tial region are represented in terms of a series of the appropriate modes with unknown coefficients. Matching the adjacent regions yields a system of linear or nonlinear equations — which then are solved. The …

Nonlinear Variants Of The Least Mean Square (Lms) Algorithm, John George Van Saders

Theses

Adaptive systems using the LMS algorithm or its variants usually require bilinear correlation multipliers with high dynamic range and large bandwidth. The class of LMS-type algorithms utilizing zero-memory limiters (on one or both correlation multiplier inputs) to reduce dynamic range are examined. The correlator limiters may be included to simplify the hardware implementation or may arise due to limited dynamic range of the loop components. The application of a theorem due to Price provides a technique for simplifying the analysis, which otherwise might be extremely difficult. The analysis provides closed-form expressions for the mean weight convergence behavior, permitting examination of …

Arithmetic Pipeline Analysis Package Ii, Sai K. Vedantam

Theses

This work describes the implementation of arithmetic pipeline scheduling algorithms, to enhance an existing simulation package. The user need only specify the arithmetic equations to be processed and the required stage configuration. The program automatically performs the tasks of forming the reservation table, building the pipeline and specifying the input/output connectivity for each segment and multiplexer in the pipeline. This package integrates two existing simulation tools and enhances many aspects of the previous programs.

The main application area for such a tool is education. Since it is very easy to use and requires little or no time for one to …

Image Coding With Quantization Noise Feedback, Jen-Chieh Wang

Theses

A progressive image transmission based on Laplacian pyramid structure is used for the scheme of quantization noise feedback. Because a reduction in transmission rate inevitably increases the quantization noise and degrades the image quality, the designer of the quantizer laces the dilemma of balancing the transmission rate and the quantization noise. Using the algorithm of noise feedback will reduce the quantization error without appreciably increasing transmission rate. Uniform quantization and nonuniform quantization rate used to compare the result with or without noise feedback. In the transmitter end, the original image can be reduced by a certain procedure to form a …

Efficient Design Of Trellis Coded Cpfsk, Hsinhsyong Yang

Theses

In this thesis convolutional coded continuous-phase frequency shift keying (CPFSK) is studied.

CPFSK which is a subclass of continuous phase modulation ( CPM ) is a constant amplitude digital modulation scheme with very good spectral characteristics.

A new method, called matched encoding, that combines convolutional codes and CPFSK is studied. With the maximum free Euclidean distance as the optimization criterion, the best combined coded schemes were found for the same rate of the codes and given total number of states in the optimum decoder.

A different method which was suggested by Rimoldi[7], called the decomposition method, is also described in …

Measurement Of Biodegradation Aniline, 2,4-Dichlorophenol, 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene Using Microcalorimetric Method, Lung-Weng Yao

Theses

Biodegradation of aniline, 2,4-dichloro-phenol, and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene by using micro-calorimetric method under aerobic condition has been investigated. The rate of heat energy output during the course of log growth phase was kinetically expressed by inhibition equation. The constants of Um(the maximum energy production rate), Ks(saturation rate), Ki(inhibition constant), and n(degree of inhibition) has been of 8.764hr-1, 0.13mg/L, 0.136mg/L, and 4.6 for 2,4-DCP; 3.33hr-1, 0.315mg/L, 0.35mg/L, and 1.4 for 1,24-TCB; 3.639hr-1, 0.4485mg/L, 0.485mg/L, and 5 for aniline.

Caldac, A New Approach To Computer-Assisted Theatrical Lighting Design, David William Zalewski

Theses

CALDAC, which stands for Computer-Assisted Lighting Design and Control, is a design environment integrating two present day state-of-the-art theatrical lighting computer aides, the computer-aided design (CAD) program and the preset storage system. The CALDAC environment also features On-Screen Stage Simulation, a newly proposed design tool. It is shown that this integration offers a strong advantage to the lighting designer and his/her crew.

The thesis begins by introducing the concepts of theatrical lighting design and the evolution of computerized control. The basics of CAD for the lightplot design are presented, followed by an introduction to the concepts of on-screen stage simulation. …

Application Of Microwave Energy To Remediation Of Soils Contaminated With Chromium, Chih-Ju Jou

Theses

A process based upon microwave treatment has been developed to render soil non-hazardous after that soil had been classified as hazardous due to heavy metal contamination. It has been applied to chromium-contaminated soil. The object of the present regulations is to prevent damage to water supplies as a result of the leaching of heavy metal ions from the soils. This object is expressed in the standard test for leaching, namely, the EPA EP Leachate test. This process can be used to immobilize metal ions sufficiently to meet the aforementioned standard. The present standard is based upon acid leaching, and not …

A Computer Program On The Economics Of Collection And Sortation Of Recyclable Materials In Municipal Solid Wastes, Ara Nigogos Kahyaoglu

Theses

The first version of the economic of recyclable materials in municipal solid waste analysis program was developed in interpretive BASIC by Rutgers the State University of New Jersey. Since BASIC is a line interpretative language several restrictions were encountered, the major one being the language size restriction.

The first objective was to obtain a truly portable program that would not be dependent on specific compilers and operating systems. The second objective was to generate a program that had the capability for expansion.

The C language was used over other high level languages such as PASCAL and FORTRAN because it had …

The Evaluation Of Polysulfone Composites As Structural Implants In Orthopaedic Surgery, Howard L. Scalzo

Theses

Two polysulfone composites were evaluated to determine their use as structural implants in orthopaedic surgery. The first composite, carbon fiber reinforced polysulfone (C/PS), was evaluated for environmental degradation in an in vivo and in vitro study. The C/PS composites were implanted subcutaneously in the abdomen of rabbits for the in vivo study and immersed in saline solution at 32° C for the in vitro study. The second composite, hydroxylapatite coated polysulfone (HA/PS), was evaluated for bone ingrowth in an in vivo study, and for attachment strength between the HA and the PS in an in vitro study. Also, two surface …

Reactor Design For Hazardous Waste Treatment Using Immobilized Phanerochaete Chrysosporium, Ikram Ul Haq

Theses

The degradation of 2-Chlorophenol by Phanerochaete chrysosporium, a white rot fungus, was studied in three different reactor configurations, namely a batch reactor, a chemostatic reactor with the fungus immobilized on a silica based porous biocatalyst, and a packed bed reactor utilizing balsa wood chips as packing.

Preliminary experiments indicated that the use of porous solid support improved the degradation rate in batch reactor and chemostatic reactor. However, the packed bed configuration was found to be superior, and was studied in greater detail. The apparent Michaelis-Menten kinetic constants were obtained for the packed bed reactor.

Thermal Decomposition Of 1,1,1-Thrichloroethane-Methane-Oxygen Mixture In Tubular Flow Reactor, Yo-Ping Wu

Theses

The thermal decomposition of 1,1,1-trichloroethane in methane/oxygen mixtures and argon bath gas was carried out at 1 atmosphere total pressure in a tubular flow reactors. The thermal degradation of 1,1,1-trichloroethane and methane were analyzed systematically over temperature ranges from 500 to 800°C, with average residence times in the range of 0.05 to 2.5 seconds. Five reactants ratio sets in three different size flow reactors were studied.

It was found that the complete decay (99%) of the 1,1,1-trichloroethane at 1 second residence time occurs at about 600°C for all the reactants ratio sets. The major product for 1,1,1-trichloroethane decomposition are 1,1-dichloroethylene …

Surfactant Enhanced Scrubbing In An Ejector Venturi Scrubber Of Sulfur Dioxide From Air Exhaust Streams, Humberto Roman

Theses

The objective of this work was to determine the feasibility of applying the Surfactant Enhanced Scrubbing technique to the removal of sulfur dioxide using an ejector venturi scrubber.

Surfactants were chosen according to information from manufacturers. Those surfactants which offered good behavior in the presence of acidic solutions ( low pH ), and anti-corrosion characteristics were tested.

In the first phase, experiments were performed to determine the behavior of the foams in the ejector venturi scrubber. A foam destruction system was used when foaming conditions required it. In the second phase dynamic runs were performed to determine the removal efficiencies …

Ph Parametric Pumping : An Examination Of Different Feed Locations For A Two And Three Column Process With The Same Flow Patterns And Ph Distribution, Roberta Rosty

Theses

PH parametric pumping is used to separate protein mixtures of hemoglobin and Albumin.

In this thesis, modifications to a two-column process, where the fluid stage flow pattern and the pH distributions were constant, were explored. These modifications consisted of: changes in the feed stream inlet and outlet locations, changes in the amount of feed itself, and an addition of another column and reservoir to the original two-column process. The results were obtained through computer simulation.

Results indicate that the batch or no-feed two and three column processes yield better separations of the two proteins than the same processes with feed …

Scanning Electron Microscopy And X-Ray Energy Dispersive Spectroscopic Analysis Of Selected Sorbent Materials, Elhamy Amin Sedhom

Theses

A previous study⁽¹⁾ showed that a combination of acidic and basic sorbents in a layered system is required to reduce to safe levels the contaminants present in the leachates emanating from industrial landfills. The sorbents used were fly ash, vermiculite, kaolinite, illite, zeolite, apautagite, bentonite, activated carbon and bauxite.

The purpose of this investigation is to study the physical properties, elemental composition and the distribution of the aforementioned solid sorbents. Properties of interest are particle size, shape and distribution and also the chemical composition and the distribution of the elements within the sample particles.

Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and …

Integrated Voice/Data Services On Multihop Radio Networks, Chialun Lu

Theses

Integrated voice/data is the first step toward Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN). Various techniques have been proposed and analyzed for multiplexing voice and data over a large bandwidth channel. Network efficiency is what we are most concerned about. In this paper, we address the problem of determining optimal access policies for a tandem ISDN network by using Dynamic Programming. Computer simulation shows that optimal policy minimizes the data delay.

A Non-Invasive Technique For Burn Area Measurement, Jong-Daw Yu

Theses

The need for a reliable and accurate method for assessing the surface area of burn wounds currently exists in the branch of medicine involved with burn care and treatment. The percentage of the surface area is of critical importance in evaluating fluid replacement amounts and nutritional support during the 24 hours of postburn therapy. A noninvasive technique has been developed which facilitates the measurement of burn area. The method we shall describe is an inexpensive technique to measure the burn areas accurately.

Our imaging system is based on a technique known as structured light. Most structured light computer imaging systems, …

Rays And Beams Near The Shadow Boundary, Weixing Gao

Theses

Asymptotic techniques in wave propagation problems exhibit attractive features in computational aspects compared to numerical methods. However, they experience problems in complicated environments due to the transition regions associated with them. The transition region involving a shadow boundary in the downward refractive index profile has been investigated. The ray paths were determined solving the ray equation analytically. The Green's function due to a line source is constructed and evaluated using numerical integration (reference solution) and asymptotic techniques. Then, the field produced by the source, is synthesized, using superposition of beams generated from complex source point representation. The floating parameters such …

Reduced Complexity Receivers For Trellis Coded Modulations Via Punctured Trellis Codes, Bonchul Koo

Theses

We introduce a new concept, called matched punctured trellis encoding, that simplifies the complexity of Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation (MLSE) receivers for combined trellis encoding and modulations with memory. Matched punctured trellis encoding is applied to tamed frequency modulation (TFM) which is a bandwidth efficient correlative - FM scheme. TFM finds applications in satellite, microwave radio, and mobile communications.

Our approach is based on puncturing a rate - 1/2 matched convolutional code to obtain a rate - 2/3 mismatched code. A matched code is one that produces trellis coded modulations of minimum complexity. Puncturing these codes to obtain mismatched codes …

Schottky-Barrier Solar Cells, Surface Patterning For Efficient Light Collection, Constantinos Manolis

Theses

Different geometrical surface configurations are considered here for a Au/n-Si semiconductor Schottky-barrier solar cell to improve their light collection efficiency.

Optical and electrical properties are theoretically analyzed for two given optical wavelengths of 0.9 and 0.5 micrometers respectively.

The configurations considered are: V-shaped, Star- shaped, M-shaped, asymmetric-V-shaped, and asymmetric-M-shaped. They all show a significant improvement in the short-circuit current over a flat cell model, while the open-circuit voltage remains practically unchanged.

Design Of A Gear Driven Anti-Twister Mechanism For A Seal-Less Blood Processor, Ajit Nachiket Dastane

Theses

This thesis presents the design of a gear driven anti- twister mechanism for a blood cell separator. The anti- twister mechanism allows for continuous feed and discharge lines that are rigidly attached to the rotating centrifuge head, thus eliminating the need of rotating seals. It is anticipated that the device using a gear driven anti-twister mechanism will have smoother power transmission and closer rpm tolerances.

In addition, a procedure for the dynamic analysis of the existing device, which uses a belt-driven anti-twister mechanism, is developed. The experimental values obtained from the device are compared with the theoretical values obtained by …

Computer Controlled Oxygen Bioreactor, Dinesh Sachdeva

Theses

A computer controlled oxygen bioreactor has been designed to obtain more accurate values for oxygen bioreactor requirements and to optimize oxygen productivity with respect to oxygen concentration. This study solves a specific problem relating to oxygen concentration measurement and bioreactor control. The proposed reactor system is computer controlled to insure a desired oxygen concentration supply to an oxygen consuming reaction or organism. This thesis also explains and illustrates the bioreactor and its computer control system.

The computer controller incorporates oxygen sensing, oxygen measurement and temperature measurement, Electrical circuits have been designed and built for proper signal conditioning, data acquisition, data …

Estimation Of Thermodynamic Properties Of Petroleum Fractions To Supplement The Aspen Simulator, Steven E. Sund

Theses

The objective of this study was to develop a method of estimating hydrocarbon pseudocomponent data in a format that is consistent with the ASPEN simulator. Although algorithms exist to estimate the pseudocomponent properties, no comprehensive program exists for the public version of ASPEN. A computer program was developed which will take a minimum of input data and can generate the necessary pure component properties for an ASPEN simulation. The program is meant to complement the ASPEN simulator, so the input is similar to ASPEN's input. The output can be incorporated directly into an ASPEN input or can be of the …

Mathematical Model Of A Continuous Sterilization System For Fermentation Media Containing Suspended Solids, Mark A. Leskowicz

Theses

A mathematical model has been developed for a continuous sterilization system where the role of suspended solids on the overall degree of sterilization achieved is taken into account. Evaluation of a "typical" commercial continuous sterilization system showed the role of suspended solids to have little effect on the overall sterilization obtained. For continuous sterilization systems operating in a total residence time of less than one minute, the role of solids may become important and should be evaluated.

A Study Of The Effect Of Some Inhibitors On The Corrosion Rates Of Austenitic Stainless Steels In Sulfuric Acid, Shang-Yinn Chiou

Theses

Four sulfur-containing and three nitrogen-containing organic compounds have been tested as inhibitors for four different austenitic stainless steels-SS304, S5316, SS317L, and SS41O-in 10-50 weight% sulfuric acid solutions respectively. Results confirmed that the sulfur-containing compounds were more effective than the nitrogen-containing compounds. The effect of sodium iodide additions on the behaviours of two of the nitrogen-containing compounds was also studied. The synergistic effect caused by the 1 ion was essential for nitrogen-containing compounds as inhibitors in sulfuric acid solution.

Adsorption And Desorption Of Chromium On Clayey Soils, Ker-Shu Tan

Theses

Chromium residue waste was produced during sixties in the chromium production process. It was used as construction fill. Problems associated with chromium waste sites include structure distress and surface and groundwater contamination.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the adsorption and desorption of chromium on soil. In order to achieve this purpose, experiments were conducted to study the effect of pH, type of chromium compound, and type of soil on adsorption and desorption.

Experiments were performed on kaolinite, bentonite and sand. In our study, it was found that sand had almost no adsorption for chromium. Kaolinite had less …

Recirculation Flow Bioreactor For The Synthesis Of Nitroxide And N-Oxide Pharmaceuticals, Douglas Lischick

Theses

An investigation of the properties of calcium alginate immobilized hog liver microsomes, rich in FAD-containing mixed function oxidase, was performed. Studies involving catalyst storage, immobilization of cofactors within the matrix, and alginate gel concentration were performed using a 1.8 ml mixed flow micro assay reactor. A recirculation flow reactor was designed and used for the biochemical production of 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-1,3-oxazolidine-l-oxyl, a potentially useful MRI contrast agent.

The activity of the immobilized microsomes was found to increase over time when stored in CaCl₂ or in buffer at 4-8°C. The increase in activity is a result of the removal of inherent inhibitors …

Prediction And Correlation Of Liquid-Liquid Equilibria, Jose Simonetty Jr.

Theses

The NRTL, LEMF, and UNIQUAC models are used in the prediction and correlation of liquid-liquid equilibrium data for ten type I systems. The results indicate that best predictions are obtained with the LEMF equation, with an overall average absolute percentage error in distribution coefficients of 19.5 as compared to 23.0 and 24.7 with the NRTL and UNIQUAC equations, respectively. Good correlation of liquid-liquid equilibrium data alone is obtained with all three models; the LEMF equation is slightly better with an overall average absolute percentage error in distribution coefficients of 5.5 as compared to 6.7 and 5.9 for the NRTL and …

Robotic Safety Utilizing A Safety Engineering Approach, Brian Gallagher

Theses

Robotic safety is examined and explained using a safety engineering perspective. After reviewing robot fundamentals and defining the need for safety, hazard assessment and risk analysis techniques are studied. Reasons for a comprehensive robot safety program are discussed. Currently available accident statistics are examined to better understand the hazards associated with robot installations. Robotic safety procedures and methods are listed which can help reduce the severity or frequency of hazards. Various safeguarding sensors and types are analyzed for they are the "last line of defense" to reduce hazards to an acceptable level. The American Robot Safety Standard, ANSI/RIA R15.06 - …