Engineering Commons^™

Developing An Implementation Plan For The Arkansas Msri Coalition Workshop Summary - Final Report, Florida Solar Energy Center, Jennifer Szaro

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Workshop conducted to develop an implementation plan for the Arkansas Million Solar Roofs Initiative.

Developing An Implementation Plan For The Alaskan Msri Coalition Workshop Summary - Final Report, Florida Solar Energy Center, Gerard Ventre

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Workshop conducted to develop and implementation plan for the Alaskan Million Solar Roofs Initiative.

Plasma Deposition Of Spin Chucks To Reduce Contamination Of Silicon Wafers, Richard N. Savage, Emir Gurer, Ed C. Lee

Materials Engineering

An apparatus for delivering a fluidic media to a wafer includes a housing defining a process chamber. A fluidic media delivery member is coupled to the process chamber. A rotatable chuck is positioned in the process chamber. The rotatable chuck has a wafer support surface coated with a coating material. A vacuum supply line is coupled to the rotatable chuck.

Use Of Short-Pulse Laser For Optical Tomography Of Tissues, Kunal Mitra, Tuan Vo-Dinh

Biomedical Engineering and Sciences Faculty Publications

This paper analyzes the short pulse laser propagation through tissues for development of a time-resolved optical tomography system for detection of tumors and inhomogeneities in tissues. Traditional method for analyzing optical transport in tissues is the parabolic or diffusion approximation in which the energy flux is assumed proportional to the fluence (intensity averaged over all solid angles) gradients. The inherent drawback in this model is that it predicts infinite speed of propagation of the optical signal. In this paper accurate hyperbolic or wave nature of transient radiative transfer formulation is used to overcome such drawbacks. The transmitted and reflected intensity …

Acuta Enews June 2001, Vol.30, No. 6

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

History Goes Up in Flames

Web Conference on IP Video

DC Update

Cellular Tower Service Considerations

Disposable Cell Phones

Board Report

Welcome New Members

Positions Available

2001 Wisdot Specifications - Construction Note, Marquette University, Transportation Research Center

Transportation Research Center: Noise & Texture Studies

For the past several years, Marquette University has been conducting a research study for WisDOT on tining patterns to reduce the objectionable tire/pavement whine. During the research study, WisDOT issued Construction Notes to implement the interim results of the research rather than tine the pavement according to Subsection 415.5.9.6.3 of the Standard Specifications.

In the completed study, Marquette University has determined that a skewed, randomly spaced, transversely tined surface results in the lowest levels of pavement whine while retaining the favorable friction characteristics achieved under the current specifications. The overall noise level is not reduced by skewed randomly tined surfaces. …

Automatic Referencing Of Satellite And Radar Images, Sreenath Srikrishnan, Roberto Araiza, Hongjie Xie, Scott A. Starks, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In order to adequately process satellite and radar information, it is necessary to find the exact correspondence between different types of images and between these images and the existing maps. In other words, we need to reference these images. In this paper, we propose new methods for automatic referencing of satellite and radar images.

2-D Analogues Of Allen Interval Algebra For Image Analysis: Towards Justification, Scott A. Starks, Dima Iourinski, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In reasoning about time and duration, researchers often use Allen's Interval Algebra. This algebra describes possible relations between 1-D intervals. An interval can precede the other one, follow the other one, start the other one, etc. This algebra describes the relationship between different intervals in terms of words from natural language. To give a natural language description of 2D images, it is desirable to develop a similar approach for describing the relationship between 2-D objects in a picture. In their recent papers, Jim Keller and his collaborators proposed a new approach based on a simulation of a ``force" between these …

Reduction To Independent Variables: From Normal Distribution To General Statistical Case To Fuzzy, Mourad Oussalah, Hung T. Nguyen, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many practical problems, we must combine ("fuse") data represented in different formats, e.g., statistical, fuzzy, etc. The simpler the data, the easier to combine them. Therefore, to combine complex data, it is desirable to "decompose" this complex data into simpler (easy-to-combine) data chunks.

It is well known that when we have n random variables x1, ..., xn with a joint Gaussian distribution, then we can reduce them to n independent variables by an appropriate linear transformation x1, ..., xn --> y1 = f1(x1,...,xn), ..., yn = fn(x1,...,xn). It is not so well known but also true that when we …

Interval Methods In Remote Sensing: Reliable Sub-Division Of Geological Areas, David D. Coblentz, George R. Keller, Vladik Kreinovich, Jan Beck, Scott A. Starks

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

No abstract provided.

Teaching Factory, Sema E. Alptekin, Reza Pouraghabagher, Patricia Mcquaid, Daniel Waldorf

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Academia must develop a new approach to teaching in order to better prepare engineering students to function efficiently and adjust readily within the framework of the factories in the real world. Some engineering programs emphasize theory, while others emphasize application as isolated blocks. The "Teaching Factory" being developed at Cal Poly combines both theory and applications. It makes use of state-of-the-art industrial grade production equipment, computer hardware and software in the form of the following two systems: 1) a functioning "real" factory hardware environment, and 2) a Production Planning and Control Center.

The Role Of The Journal In Mentoring Students, Harold M. Cota

Civil and Environmental Engineering

No abstract provided.

Wright State University College Of Engineering And Computer Science Bits And Pcs Newsletter, Volume 17, Number 9, June 2001, College Of Engineering And Computer Science, Wright State University

BITs and PCs Newsletter

An eight page newsletter created by the Wright State University College of Engineering and Computer Science that addresses the current affairs of the college.

Assessment Of The Impact Of Climate Variability And Change On The Reliability, Resiliency And Vulnerability Of Complex Flood Protection Systems, Slobodan P. Simonovic

Water Resources Research Report

An original modeling framework (DYHAM) for assessment of climate variation and change impacts on the performance of complex flood protection system has been developed and tested using the Red River basin (Manitoba) as a case study. Modeling framework allows for evaluation of different climate change scenarios generated by the global climate models. Temperature and precipitation are used as the main factors affecting flood flow generation. System dynamics modeling approach proved to be of great value in the development of system performance assessment model.

The most important impact of climate variability and change on hydrologic processes is reflected in the change …

Localized Regression Analysis As A Method For Detecting Erroneous Measurements In Geospatial Databases, With Application To Gravity Databases, Qian Wen, Nigel Hicks, George R. Keller, Ann Q. Gates, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Geospatial databases generally consist of measurements related to points (or pixels in the case of raster data), lines, and polygons. In recent years, the size and complexity of these databases have increased significantly and they often contain erroneous measurements or noise. In this paper, we address the problem of detecting erroneous and suspicious values in a database consisting of point measurements. We use a database of measurements of anomalies in the Earth's gravity field that we have complied as a test case, and we found that the standard methods of detecting erroneous measurements - based on regression analysis - do …

Towards Automatic Detection Of Erroneous Measurement Results In A Gravity Database, Qian Wen, Ann Q. Gates, Jan Beck, Vladik Kreinovich, George R. Keller

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Geospatial databases often contain erroneous measurements. For some such databases such as gravity databases, the known methods of detecting erroneous measurements -- based on regression analysis -- do not work well. As a result, to clean such databases, experts use manual methods which are very time-consuming. In this paper, we propose a (natural) "localized" version of regression analysis as a technique for automatic cleaning. We illustrate the efficiency of this technique on the example of the gravity database.

Towards More Realistic (E.G., Non-Associative) And- And Or-Operations In Fuzzy Logic, Jesus Martinez, Leopoldo Macias, Ammar Esper, Jesus Chaparro, Vick Alvarado, Scott A. Starks, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

How is fuzzy logic usually formalized? There are many seemingly reasonable requirements that a logic should satisfy: e.g., since A&B and B&A are the same, the corresponding and-operation should be commutative. Similarly, since A&A means the same as A, we should expect that the and-operation should also satisfy this property, etc. It turns out to be impossible to satisfy all these seemingly natural requirements, so usually, some requirements are picked as absolutely true (like commutativity or associativity), and others are ignored if they contradict to the picked ones. This idea leads to a neat mathematical theory, but the analysis of …

Infopipes—An Abstraction For Information Flow, Jie Huang, Andrew P. Black, Jonathan Walpole, Calton Pu

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Building Object-Oriented Distributed Systems has been facilitated by Remote Message Sending (RMS) systems like Java RMI and implementations of CORBA. However, RMS systems are designed to support request/response interactions. Streaming applications, in contrast, are characterized by high-bandwidth, long-duration communication with stringent performance requirements. Examples of streaming applications include video-on-demand, teleconferencing, on-line education, and environmental observation. These applications transfer huge amounts of data and focus on distributed information flow rather than request/response.

To simplify the task of building distributed streaming applications, we propose a new abstraction for information flow—Infopipes. Using Infopipes, information flow becomes the heart of the system, not an …

Arc Spot Welds In Sheet-To-Sheet Connections, Roger A. Laboube

American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) Specifications, Standards, Manuals and Research Reports (1946 - present)

No abstract provided.

Typical Photovoltaic System For A Commercial Building, Florida Solar Energy Center, Gobind Atmaram

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This paper covers the design and installation of an 11 peak kilowatt (kWp) grid-connected photovoltaic system on the roof of the new facilities at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC7). The main objectives of this work are to demonstrate the application of photovoltaics (PV) as a demand-side management option for meeting peak commercial electric loads and provide a typical PV array and system design for commercial buildings. The PV array consists of 48 ASE America=s EFG ribbon silicon modules and is interfaced with three Omnion 4kW power conditioners. The complete array and system electrical design and installation were performed by …

Impedance And Photo-Electrochemical Properties Of Oxide Films On Stainless Steel Formed By Different Polarization Techniques, Mona Salim Saleh Ai Kaabi

Theses

Stainless steel alloys have a very active and important role in industry. Because many of

These industries have to work in aggressive media; stainless steels are threatened by corrosion

Which may affect their performance and cost the manufacturers millions of dollars yearly.

Several treatments have been taken part to solve this problem; one is by forming a protective

Oxide layer on the stainless steel (SS) surface to prevent it from corrosion. In this thesis; this way of protecting SS Surface is applied to two different types of Stainless Steel, those are AISI 316 and AISI 31 0; respectively. The oxide …

Single-Sided Noninvasive Inspection Of Multielement Sample Using Fan-Beam Multiplexed Compton Scatter Tomography, Matthew A. Lange

Theses and Dissertations

As aircraft age, corrosion forms upon unobservable surfaces, particularly at the junction of the sheet aluminum and the steel rivets used to attach the sheets to the airframe, degrading the aircraft s airworthiness. Previous research developed a noninvasive technique for the evaluation of the material composition of aluminum surfaces, utilizing the information encoded in the energy spectra of Compton-scattered gamma emissions. The spectra are gathered by a six-element, high purity germanium detector array. A, first principles, deterministic computer code is used to reconstruct a two-dimensional map of the electron density of aluminum samples. Previous efforts, to image pure aluminum samples, …

Time-Resolved Photoluminescence Of Inas/Gainsb Quantum Well Lasers, Michael R. Mckay

Theses and Dissertations

In the world of semiconductor photonic device fabrication, one important objective may be to extract as much light as possible from the device. In these devices, photons are created when electrons recombine with holes by transitioning from a high-energy state to a lower one. Unfortunately, electron-hole recombination does not always result in the formation of a photon. There are three basic types of recombination: the first results in the formation of a photon and is called radiative recombination; and the second and third, known as Shockley-Read-Hall and Auger recombination, result in the heating of the device and do not produce …

The Impact Of A New Bypass Route On The Local Economy And Quality Of Life, Eric C. Thompson, Joseph Miller, Jonathon Roenker

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Highway improvements such as bypass construction typically are motivated by a desire to improve the flow and safety of travel. But, given the importance of travel, transportation improvement projects often can affect the local economy and quality of life. This study assesses these potential impacts. The study was conducted by the University of Kentucky Center for Business and Economic Research, as part of a subcontract with the Kentucky Transportation Center. The study is one component of a larger Kentucky Transportation Center study entitled Planning Decisions Related to Bypass Construction, Life-Cycle Costs of Access Control, and Safety Impacts of Rural Road …

Analysing Construction Risk : A Project Management Model, P K Dey

IIMB Management Review

The success parameters for any project are ontime completion within the specific budget, and requisite performance or meeting the technical requirements. The main barriers to achievement are changes in the project environment. The problem multiplies with the size of the project. Large-scale construction projects are exposed to an uncertain environment because they are subject to such factors as planning and design complexity, presence of various interest groups (project owner, owner’s project group, consultants, contractors, vendors etc), availability of resources (materials, equipment, funds etc), climatic environment, the economic and political environment and statutory regulations. Other risk factors include the complexity of …

Evaluation Of Reference Markers (Final Report), Jerry G. Pigman

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objective of this research evaluation was to evaluate the reference markers which were installed on sections of interstates and freeways in the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky area, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County area, the Louisville-southern Indiana area, and the Indianapolis area. The evaluation was conducted to determine if the use of reference markers at spacings of 0.1 or 0.2-mile intervals could improve the effectiveness of the emergency response and incident management processes. Also evaluated were color of the markers and the placement location within the right-of-way. Both "white on blue" and "white on green" markers were installed various projects, with some installed …

Evaluation Of Trimarc Procurement Procedures (Final Report), Monica L. Barrett, Jerry G. Pigman

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

An Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS), referred to as TRIMARC (Traffic Response and Incident Management Assisting the River Cities), was installed in the Louisville, Kentucky and southern Indiana area beginning in the summer of 1998. A system integrator approach was used for the installation, operation, and maintenance of this system. The system integrator approach involved using Special Experimental Project No. 14 (SEP-14) procedures to procure the services of an equipment installation contractor.

The SEP-14 process is an innovative means of procuring projects that may be uncharacteristic to the traditional projects normally encountered by highway departments. SEP-14 provides an opportunity to …

Management And Effective Use Of Changeable Message Signs (Final Report), Jennifer R. Walton, Monica L. Barrett, Joseph D. Crabtree

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Changeable message signs (CMS) are used to communicate accurate, timely, and pertinent information to travelers on Kentucky’s roadways. This information helps travelers avoid hazards or delays and respond properly to changing roadway conditions. In an ideal environment, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) would be able to allocate CMS to various areas of the state based upon changing needs. The location of each sign would be monitored, and the message could be controlled and checked remotely.

Currently these capabilities do not exist. KYTC has four different types of portable CMS in use throughout the state. Each type has different internal and …

Evaluation Of Tennessee Reference Markers, Jerry G. Pigman

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Reference markers were installed on sections of interstates and freeways in Tennessee in 1999 and 2000. An evaluation was conducted to determine if the use of reference markers at spacings of 0.2-mile intervals could improve the effectiveness of emergency response and incident management processes. The evaluation included an.general observational survey, meetings with emergency response personnel, and an opinion survey of the application, placement, color, and overall benefits of the reference markers. The condition of the markers was found to be very good and there appeared to be only minor problems within the relatively short period of time since installation.

Interview …

Globally Convergent Approximate Dynamic Programming Applied To An Autolander, J.J. Murray, Richard Saeks, C.J. Cox, George G. Lendaris

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

A globally convergent nonlinear Approximate Dynamic Programming algorithm is described, and an implementation of the algorithm in the linear case is developed. The resultant linear Approximate Dynamic Programming algorithm is illustrated via the design of an autolander for the NASA X-43 research aircraft, without a priori knowledge of the X-43's flight dynamics.