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Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Foam Fractionation Column Scale-Up For Recovering Bovine Serum Albumin, Czarena L. Crofcheck, Kelly Gillette

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Foam fractionation is an adsorptive-bubble separation method that, according to researchers, is a feasible technique for the separation and/or concentration of proteins. The foam fractionation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) in laboratory-scale foam fractionation columns (750 and 1250 mL) and the relationship between the two laboratory-scale columns and a pilot-scale column (5000 mL) were investigated. Recovery, enrichment, and performance factor values were experimentally determined with three different column volumes with varying pore sizes, gas superficial velocities, and, in the case of the 750 mL column, foam column height. As the pore size decreased, the amount of protein recovered from the …

A Four-Level Crossing Dc/Dc Converter Based Drive System, X. Kou, Keith Corzine

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper introduces a novel crossing front-end dc/dc converter for a four-level drive system which provides a voltage boost as well as dc capacitor bank voltage regulation. The primary advantage of the proposed converter is that it simplifies the control of the four-level diode-clamped inverter since capacitor voltage balancing is not required by the inverter control. Furthermore, the inverter modulation index can be varied up to its physical limitation. An average-value model of the converter is derived and used for insight and analysis of the converter operation. Detailed simulations of the four-level drive system demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed …

Synergetic Control For Dc-Dc Boost Converter: Implementation Options, Enrico Santi, Antonello Monti, Donghong Li, Karthik Proddutur, Roger A. Dougal

Faculty Publications

The theory of synergetic control was introduced in a power electronics context in a previous paper. In this paper, we review the theory, then focus on some practical aspects with reference to both simulations and actual hardware. In particular, we address management of the current limit condition and solve it with several different approaches. Adaptive and other control laws are also introduced to improve the control performance. The various controls are evaluated by applying the classical voltage reference step test and the step load test.

Inside Unlv, Gian Galassi, Cayrn Key, Carol C. Harter, Patrick Ferrillo

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Formation And Growth Of Intermetallics Around Metallic Particles In Eutectic Sn-Ag Solder, J. G. Lee, Katherine C. Chen, K. N. Subrmanian

Materials Engineering

Incorporation of metallic particulate reinforcements in eutectic Sn-Ag solder results in the formation of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) along particulate/ solder interfaces with different morphologies. For instance, “sunflower” and “blocky faceted” IMC shapes have been observed around Ni particle reinforcements incorporated in the eutectic Sn-Ag solder matrix. The time and temperature above solder liquidus during the heating stage of the reflow process has been found to play a significant role in determining the IMC morphology in these Ni particulate-reinforced solders. Similar studies were carried out with Cu and Ag particulate reinforcements using the same solder matrix. The amount of heat input …

Oci-Based Group Communication Support In Corba, Dongman Lee, Dukyun Nam, Hee Yong Youn, Chansu Yu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Group communication is a useful mechanism guaranteeing consistency among replicated objects. The existing approaches do not allow transparent plug-in of group communication protocols into CORBA. They either require modification of CORBA or OS, or provide no room for incorporating group communication transport protocols into CORBA. We thus propose a generic group communication framework that allows transparent plug-in of various group communication protocols with no modification of existing CORBA. We extend the open communications interface (OCI) to support interoperability, reusability of existing group communication, and independency on ORB and OS. We also define the group communication inter-ORB protocol (GCIOP) as a …

Kalman Filtering For Fuzzy Discrete Time Dynamic Systems, Daniel J. Simon

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper uses Kalman filter theory to design a state estimator for noisy discrete time Takagi–Sugeno (T–S) fuzzy models. One local filter is designed for each local linear model using standard Kalman filter theory. Steady state solutions can be found for each of the local filters. Then a linear combination of the local filters is used to derive a global filter. The local filters are time-invariant, which greatly reduces the computational complexity of the global filter. The global filter is shown to be unbiased and (under certain conditions) stable. In addition, under the approximation of uncorrelatedness among the local models, …

The Effects Of Nationality In The Intercultural Relationship In A Maquila Environment, Cultural Dimensions A Practical Approach, Daniel Martin Reynoso Ortiz

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The Maquiladora Industry has enhanced economic development in the U.S. and Mexico border region. Initially, investors came to set up assembly lines requiring a small amount of technical skill; however, increases in the technological level of products have created the need for companies to require more technical expertise from their staff. Today, the requirement is for the design or redesign of some of their products and the manufacturing processes required to make these products. This brings managerial problems in dealing with technical people in cross cultural environments. These problems deal with staffing issues such as getting the right people and …

Weapons On Aircraft And Aviation Security, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article presents Issues to consider in developing aviation security policy on the deployment and employment of weapons on aircraft by aircrew and air marshals.

Trends. Legislation, Bias, And The Funding Of Security Technology And Services, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses the funding of security technologies and services, and the costs of potential bias in terms of legislation and procedures.

School Bus Idling And Mobile Diesel Emissions Testing: Effect Of Fuel Type And Development Of A Mobile Test Cycle, Jason Scott Hearne

Theses and Dissertations

The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is currently sponsoring a research study at Rowan University to develop strategies for reducing diesel emissions from mobile sources such as school buses and class 8 trucks (classified as a heavy-duty truck of more than 33,000 lbs.). This thesis presents the results of an investigation performed to measure school bus idle emissions in a controlled environmental chamber. This thesis also presents the results of mobile school bus testing that has been performed to quantify the emission reduction capabilities of various alternative fuels, such as biodiesel, ultra low sulfur diesel, and a blend of …

Swift Electro-Optic Modulator, Geofrey Craig Harston

Theses and Dissertations

The Silicon Wafer Integrated Fiber Technology, SWIFT, is a novel platform for the development of photonic devices. SWIFT is comprised of an optical fiber, specifically a D-fiber in this work, embedded into a V-groove etched into a silicon wafer. This provides a method to secure the fiber and allows the use of standard semiconductor industry equipment and techniques in latter processing for device fabrication.

The SWIFT platform is used as the basis for the development of a polarimetric in-fiber electro-optic modulator. The modulator is based on the application of a nonlinear optical polymer, NLOP, film into the evanescent field of …

Developing A Sensing System For The Measurement Of Oxygen Concentration In Liquid Pb-Bi Eutectic: Quarterly Progress Report (Aug. 01 – Oct. 31, 2003), Yingtao Jiang, Bingmei Fu

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The experimental setup designed and manufactured in UNLV was shipped to LANL in early Aug. One student has been working in LANL to conduct the experiment since then. In the meantime, one new Ph. D. student has started to run the simulation for transport in oxygen mixing. In Oct., a professional has been hired to work in both experimental and the theoretical studies pertaining to the proposed work.

Environment-Induced Degradation And Crack-Growth Studies Of Candidate Target Materials: Quarterly Progress Report (June 1 – August 31, 2003), Ajit K. Roy, Brendan O'Toole

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

As indicated in the original proposal, the primary objective of this task is to evaluate the effect of hydrogen on environment-assisted cracking of candidate target materials for applications in spallationneutron- target (SNT) systems such as accelerator production of tritium (APT) and accelerator transmutation of waste (ATW). The materials selected for evaluation and characterization are martensitic stainless steels including Alloy HT-9, Alloy EP 823 and Type 422 stainless steel. The susceptibility to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) and hydrogen embrittlement (HE) of these materials are being evaluated in aqueous environments of interest using tensile specimens under constant load and slow-strain-rate (SSR) conditions. …

Development Of A Mechanistic Understanding Of High-Temperature Deformation Of Alloy Ep-823 For Transmutation Applications: Quarterly Progress Report (June 01 – Aug 31, 2003), Ajit K. Roy, Brendan O'Toole

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the elevated temperature tensile properties of Alloy EP-823, a leading target material for accelerator-driven waste transmutation applications. This Alloy has been proven to be an excellent structural material to contain the lead-bismuth-eutectic (LBE) nuclear coolant needed for fast spectrum operations. Very little data exist in the open literature on the tensile properties of this Alloy. The test material will be thermally treated prior to the evaluation of its tensile properties at temperatures relevant to the transmutation applications. The deformation characteristics of tensile specimens, upon completion of testing, will be evaluated by surface …

Use Of Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy For Stress-Strain Measurements: Quarterly Progress Report (June 01 – August 31, 2003), Ajit K. Roy

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The purpose of this collaborative research project involving the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), the Idaho State University (ISU), and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is to evaluate the feasibility of determining residual stresses in cold-worked, plastically-deformed (bent), and welded materials using a nondestructive method based on positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS). This technique uses γ-rays from a small MeV electron Linac to generate positrons inside the sample via pair production. This method is known to have capabilities of characterizing defects in thick specimens that could not be accomplished by conventional positron technique or other nondestructive methods. The generated …

Kinetics Of Wet Air Oxidation Of Phenol Over A Novel Catalyst, Jing Guo, Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Wet Air Oxidation Kinetics of an Aqueous Solution of Phenol Was Studied over Extrudates of an Al-Fe Pillared Clay Catalyst in the Temperature Range of 90-150°C and Air Pressure Range of 0.8-2.5 MPa. the Variables Studied Included Reaction Temperature, Air Pressure, Solution PH, Initial Phenol Concentration, and Catalyst Loading. the Obtained Findings Are Compared with Those Obtained using Hydrogen Peroxide Oxidation. a Group of Kinetic Models Considering Both the Power-Law and Langmuir-Hinshelwood Approaches Was Evaluated to Describe the Catalytic Kinetics of the Phenol Disappearance. the Nonlinear Dependence of the Phenol Conversion Rate on the Catalyst Concentration Was Taken into …

Temperature, Stress, And Corrosive Sensing Apparatus Utilizing Harmonic Response Of Magnetically Soft Sensor Element (S), Craig A. Grimes, Keat Ghee Ong

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Patents

A temperature sensing apparatus including a sensor element made of a magnetically soft material operatively arranged within a first and second time-varying interrogation magnetic field, the first time-varying magnetic field being generated at a frequency higher than that for the second magnetic field. A receiver, remote from the sensor element, is engaged to measure intensity of electromagnetic emissions from the sensor element to identify a relative maximum amplitude value for each of a plurality of higher-order harmonic frequency amplitudes so measured. A unit then determines a value for temperature (or other parameter of interst) using the relative maximum harmonic amplitude …

Development Of A Mechanistic Understanding Of High-Temperature Deformation Of Alloy Ep-823 For Transmutation Applications: Annual Progress Report (September 2002 – August 2003), Ajit K. Roy, Brendan O'Toole

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the elevated temperature tensile properties of Alloy EP-823, a leading structural target material for accelerator-driven waste transmutation applications. This alloy has been proven to be an excellent structural material to contain the molten lead-bismuth-eutectic (LBE) nuclear coolant needed for fast spectrum operations. Very little data exist in the open literature on the tensile properties of this martensitic alloy. Three different heats of this material, produced by vacuum induction melting, were thermally treated to produce fully-tempered martensitic microstructure without any retained austenite (Table I). Cylindrical specimens were fabricated from the heat-treated round bars …

Spin Blockade In Ferromagnetic Nanocontacts, M. Ye Zhuralev, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, Sitaram Jaswal, A.V. Vedyayev, B. Dieny

Materials Research Science and Engineering Center: Faculty Publications

Using a free-electron model and a linear response theory we investigate spin-dependent electronic transport in magnetic nanocontacts in the ballistic regime of conduction. We emphasize the fact that in atomic-size ferromagnetic contacts it is possible to achieve the conductance value of e²/h, which implies a fully spin-polarized electric current. We explore some consequences of this phenomenon. In particular, we show that the presence of a nonmagnetic region in the nanocontact separating two ferromagnetic electrodes can lead to a spin blockade resulting in very large values of magnetoresistance.

External And Intrinsic Anchoring In Nematic Liquid Crystals: A Monte Carlo Study, Nikolai V. Priezjev, G. Skacej, R. A. Pelcovits, S. Zumer

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

We present a Monte Carlo study of external surface anchoring in nematic cells with partially disordered solid substrates, as well as of intrinsic anchoring at free nematic interfaces. The simulations are based on the simple hexagonal lattice model with a spatially anisotropic intermolecular potential. We estimate the corresponding extrapolation length b by imposing an elastic deformation in a hybrid cell-like nematic sample. Our estimates for b increase with increasing surface disorder and are essentially temperature independent. Experimental values of b are approached only when both the coupling of nematic molecules with the substrate and the anisotropy of nematic-nematic interactions are …

Surface Structure Of Ultrathin Copolymer Films Of Ferroelectric Vinylidene Fluoride (70%) With Trifluoroethylene (30%) On Graphite, Lei Cai, Hongwei Qu, Chenxi Lu, Stephen Ducharme, Peter A. Dowben, Jiandi Zhang

Materials Research Science and Engineering Center: Faculty Publications

The structure and local structural distortions, through the polarization manipulation, of crystalline films of ferroelectric vinylidene fluoride (70%) with trifluoroethylene (30%) [P(VDF-TrFE)] copolymer on graphite were studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). A quasispiral twist in C[Single Bond]C bonds with rotations about the polymer chain axis was observed by high-resolution STM, indicating a surface relaxation of the strained copolymer films. Such a relaxation behavior appears to be linked to the observed local dipole rotations accompanied by the reversal of the local polarization with biasing the STM tip. A structure model is proposed based upon the observations.

Biometric, Psychometric, And Sociometric Profiling, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article articulates basic Issues in developing security-based profiling technologies.

Oct 2003, Tractor Museum

Lester F. Larsen Tractor Museum: Planning and Development Documents

Farmall Donation Storage Space Funding Opportunities

Intelligence Support For Aviation Security, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes an introduction to and critique of intelligence support for aviation security.

Deterministic Solutions For A Step-Growth Polymerization, Sungjae Choi, Xiangdong Liu, Delmar C. Timm

Papers in Molecular Chemistry

Chain topology, including branch node, chain link and cross-link dynamics that contribute to the number of elastically active strands and junctions, are calculated using purely deterministic derivations. Solutions are not coupled to population density distributions. An eigenzeit transformation assists in the conversion of expressions derived by chemical reaction principles from time to conversion space, yielding transport phenomena type expressions where the rate of change in the molar concentrations of branch nodes with respect to conversion is expressed as functions of the fraction of reactive sites on precursors and reactants. Analogies are hypothesized to exist in cross-linking space that effectively distribute …

Computation Of Effectiveness Factors For Partially Wetted Catalyst Pellets Using The Method Of Fundamental Solution, E. Palmisano, P. A. Ramachandran, K. Balakrishnan, M. (Muthanna) H. Al-Dahhan

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Trickle Bed Reactors Are Widely Used in Many Process Industries. the Catalyst Particles Are Often Incompletely Wetted Especially in the Trickling Flow Regime and Hence to Design These Reactors, the Effectiveness Factor of Partially Wetted Catalyst Needs to Be Calculated Accurately. Numerical Solutions by Traditional Methods Are Time Consuming and Not Very Accurate, Especially for Some Commonly Used Complex Catalyst Shapes Such as Trilobes, Quadrilobes Etc. the Paper Presents a Novel Numerical Solution for These Problems based on the Method of Fundamental Solutions. the Advantage of the Method is that It Involves Only Boundary Collocation and Can Be Applied to …

Preliminary Work On The Antibacterial Effect Of Strontium In Glass Ionomer Cements, A. Guida, Mark R. Towler, J. G. Wall, R. G. Hill, S. Eramo

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The antibacterial effect of strontium in glass ionomer cements (GIC) was discussed. The glass transition temperatures were found to decrease with the increasing fluorine content consistent with the fluorine replacing bridging oxygens. However no significant correlation was found between the fluoride release and the antibacterial activity.

Vector Dissipativity Theory For Discrete-Time Large-Scale Nonlinear Dynamical Systems, Wassim M. Haddad, Qing Hui, Vijaysekhar Chellaboina, Sergey Nersesov

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

In analyzing large-scale systems, it is often desirable to treat the overall system as a collection of interconnected subsystems. Solution properties of the large-scale system are then deduced from the solution properties of the individual subsystems and the nature of the system interconnections. In this paper, we develop an analysis framework for discrete-time large-scale dynamical systems based on vector dissipativity notions. Specifically, using vector storage functions and vector supply rates, dissipativity properties of the discrete-time composite large-scale system are shown to be determined from the dissipativity properties of the subsystems and their interconnections. In particular, extended Kalman-Yakubovich-Popov conditions, in terms …