Engineering Commons^™

An Investigation Of Position And Force During Gait-Mimicking Finger Motions, Matthew Stephen Noesner

Theses

Spinal cord injuries are extremely debilitating, often leaving the injured person without the ability to use their legs (paraplegia) and sometimes, without the ability to use their arms and legs (tetraplegia or quadriplegia). Currently, primitive forms of feed-forward functional electrical stimulation (FES) and special orthotics are available for persons with paraplegia. However, these forms of FES do not allow the individual to actually control their movements on a real-time basis, nor do they offer the ability for the injured person to sense the ground on which they stand.

It is the goal of the researchers at the Neuromuscular Engineering Laboratory, …

Supply Chain Risk Mitigation, Roshan R. Pai

Theses

In recent years, especially post 9/11, there has been an increasing awareness for securing business supply chains against probable disruptions. With globalization and lean inventories, the efficiency of supply chain has greatly enhanced over the years, but at the expense of new vulnerabilities. Supply chain vulnerabilities have resulted in disruptions to the economic stability and security. As a result, risk analysis and mitigation has now grown to become one of the key links to business stabilization. To ensure business continuity, it is necessary to identify key assets (physical and operational) within the supply chain and secure them against probable threats. …

Extrusion And Evaluation Of Degradation Rate And Porosity Of Small Diameter Collagen Tubes, Bipinkumar G. Patel

Theses

The limited availability of autografts and failure of small diameter synthetic vascular grafts has stimulated continuing efforts to develop small diameter vascular grafts based on natural materials. The small diameter collagen tubes were extruded using bovine collagen type I. The biodegradation rate was determined and compared for small diameter collagen tubes crosslinked with glutaraldehyde and N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N'-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) and Nhydroxysuccinimide (NHS) to evaluate physio-chemical properties. The samples were also evaluated for their surface area and porosity using mercury porosimeter. The noncrosslinked tubes almost completely degraded after 2 hours. The tubes crosslinked with EDC/NHS degraded slower than the ones crosslinked with …

Biomimetic Sensor For In-Vivo Applications, Daya I. Sooryadas

Theses

The development of sensitive specific devices (e.g., molecular sensors) for the detection, diagnosis and monitoring of diseases, drug discovery, environmental detection of pollutants and/or biological agents has been an active area of research. A molecular sensor is a biomolecule or biomimetic molecule that performs two distinct functions in detecting target molecules. The sensor molecule recognizes a target molecule and specifically binds to it. This specific binding generates a signal in response to the event of target binding that can be then detected. The long term vision of this thesis research work is to develop a specific recognition ligand for detecting …

Exchange Model For Oscillatory Interlayer Coupling And Induced Unidirectional Anisotropy In [Pt/Co]3/Nio/[Pt/Co]3 Multilayers, Mikhail Ye Zhuravlev, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, Sitaram Jaswal

Materials Research Science and Engineering Center: Faculty Publications

In a recent Letter [1] Liu and Adenwalla found an interesting oscillatory behavior of the interlayer exchange coupling (IEC) through an insulating NiO (111) layer with a period of 2 monolayers (ML). They interpreted this phenomenon in terms of multiple reflections of electronic waves from a periodic atomic potential in the spirit of the model of Ref. [2]. However, this interpretation is not consistent with the tunneling mechanism used by the authors which would result in a modulated exponential decrease of the IEC but no periodic change in sign. In this Comment we show that the observed oscillatory IEC can …

Studies Of Infrared Optical Properties Of Palladium Nanoparticles With Different Sizes And Dispersed States, Yan-Xia Jiang, Hong-Gang Liao, Wei Chen, Shi-Gang Sun

Journal of Electrochemistry

Pd nanoparticles with different sizes and dispersed states were prepared. Their infrared optical properties were studied with CO molecule probe. The infrared spectroscopic investigation revealed that Pd_n of 6.6 nm and Pd_n(cube)of 100～150nmexhibit normal IR absorption. The center of IR bands are around 1970 cm^-1 and 1910cm^-1. Pd_nis introduced into the surface of electrode, and is induced by interface electric fieldto form the aggregation of nanoparticles Pd_n(ag). The Pd_n(ag) has a different IR optical property from Pd_n. The direction of IR absorption band of Pd_{n …}

Preparation And Optical Properties Of Highly Ordered Cds Nanowire Arrays, Lan Sun, Chang-Jian Lin

Journal of Electrochemistry

Highly ordered CdS nanowire arrays have been prepared by using dc electrodeposition in the porous anodic aluminum oxide template. Scanning electro microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveal that the nanowires are uniform and highly ordered. The measurements of X-ray diffraction and high-resolved electron microscopy (HRTEM) show that the nanowires are hexagonal structure with the crystallographic c-axis preferentially oriented along the length of the pore. The UV-Vis absorption spectra of CdS nanowire arrays show that the absorption edges of the nanowire arrays shift towards short wavelength with the decrease of the nanowire size. The photoluminescence measurements show that the …

Preparation, Characterization And Photoelectrochemical Activities Of Cu-Tio2/Ito Films, Dong Shu, Chun He, Han-Xia Zhang, Ya Xiong

Journal of Electrochemistry

Cu-TiO₂/ITO films were prepared by direct photo-reduction deposition of Cu²⁺ on TiO₂/ITO films. The nanocomposite films were characterized by UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), XRD spectra, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) technology, and photovoltage measurement. The feasibility of improving the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ film by combining the modification of Cu nanoparticles with the application of anodic bias was investigated. The experimental results showed that the deposited Cu has an apparent enhancement effect with respect to suppressing the recombination between the photogenerated charge carriers and enhancing the photocatalytic oxidation of formic acid. The combination could …

Investigation Of Adsorption And Oxidation Behavior Of Isosafrole On A Smooth Pt, Xiao-Hong Zhang, Xiao-Jing Su, Qi-Ling Zhong, Lei Zhang, De-Sheng Mei, Bin Ren, Zhong-Qun Tian

Journal of Electrochemistry

The electro-oxidation of isosafrole on a smooth platinum electrode was investigated in the non-aqueous solution. The CV curve shows two oxidation peaks and one reduction peak in the potential region between -0.5 V and 1.95 V. The relation between the oxidation and reduction peaks has been determined also by CV. The adsorption behavior of isosafrole on Pt was also investigated.

Study On Electrochemical Performance Of Electroless Cobalt Coating For Microencapsution Of Hydrogen Storage Alloys, Tong-Chi Xia, Sheng-Li Zhang, Shu-Xin Wang, Kun Huang, Wen-Zeng Tian

Journal of Electrochemistry

The chemical cobalt plating method is used to treat on the hydrogen storage alloys. Effect of the surface treatment on the electrochemical performance of MH eletrodes was investigated by carrying out experimental methods of CV, AC and charge/discharge cycle tests. The results showed that after microencapsulation with cobalt, the impedance of electrochemical reaction on the surface and polarization during chare/discharge process was markedly decreased; and the electrocatalytic activity on the surface, discharge capacity, charge efficiency was improved. It was also indicated that the anode reaction of MH electrode treated was controlled by diffusion process.

The Matching Study Of Electrodes In C/Ni(Oh)2 Hybrid Capacitor, Yue-Feng Su, Feng Wu

Journal of Electrochemistry

The energy storage mechanisms of electrochemical double-layer capacitor (EDLC) and C/Ni(OH)₂ hybrid capacitor had been studied. The results proved that,the difference between the capacity of EDLC and C/Ni(OH)₂ hybrid capacitor was detemined by the effectiveness usage of the activated carbon negative electrode, which is a criterion to estimate or design the theoretic capacity of the C/Ni(OH)₂ hybrid capacitor. The electrochemical availability of activated matter in Ni(OH)₂ electrode was introduced, and the quantity of the activated matter in Ni(OH)₂ electrode should be compatible with the capacity of carbon electrode. When the capacities of Ni(OH)₂ electrode …

Electrodeposition Of Copper Into Trenches Under Rotating Hydrodynamic Condition, Jian-Jun Sun, Bu-Gao Xie, Wen-Hui Yin, Guo-Nan Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

Silicon chips patterned with treneches were fixed onto a rotating electrode. Copper was electrodeposited into the trenches under rotating hydrodynamic conditions The sizes of the trenches are 1 m in height and 0.35 m, 0.50 m and 0.70 m in width, respectively. The effects of rotating of the chip, the current density and the concentration of Cu²⁺ on the filling of thetrenches were studied. It is found that lower current density and moderate concentration of Cu²⁺ resulted in a void free filling of the trenches.

Two Kinds Of Polarons Observedin Polyaniline In Aqueous H2So4, Qin Zhou, Lin Zhuang, Jun-Tao Lu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Simultaneous electrochemistry electron spin resonance (ESR) conductance measurements were carried out on electropolymerized polyaniline and ESR spectra were obtained with high signal/noise ratio. Spectral simulation revealed that in the early stage of polymerization, there were two kinds of polarons. According to the potential dependence of the ESR line width and the corresponding conductivitychange of the polymer, the two polarons are thought to be in ordered and disordered domains, respectively. With increasing doping level, the two polarons underwent similar transfer from Curie spin to Pauli spin and both polarons were charge carriers in the conducting polymer. This deduction was further supported …

Electrochemical Lithium Insertion Of Nanosized Tio2, Ying Lan, Jian-Wen Liu, Xue-Ping Gao, Xing-Di Zhou, Jin-Qiu Qu, Feng Wu, De-Ying Song

Journal of Electrochemistry

The protonic titanate nanotubes with the diameter of 10～15 nm were synthesized via hydrothermal method in NaOH solution and the calcined nanotubes at 500 ℃ were transferred to anatase nanorods with the diameter of 12～20 nm due to dehydration.The electrochemical behavior of the anatase nanorods as lithium insertion materials was examined. The results showed that the nanorod electrode had the high initial discharge capacity of 232 mAh/g and second reversible capacity of 198 mAh/g. The capacity of nanorod electrode maintained 152mAh/g after 20 cycles.

Electrocatalytic And Lifetime Studies Of Commercial Catalystsin A Pemfc, Cheng Xuan, Yan-Yun Ma, Li Qi, Cheng Peng, Ling Chen, Jun Zhao, Ying Zhang, Qin-Bai Fan

Journal of Electrochemistry

A particularly designed H-type cell was used to simulate the operating condition of a hydrogen-air proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The electrocatalytic activity, morphology, structure and lifetime of commercially available catalysts, carbon support platinum (Pt/C) and unsupported platinum-ruthenium (Pt-Ru), were preliminary studied by carrying out electrochemical measurements and by SEM, XRD techniques. The catalysts were simultaneously tested in the H-cell under operation, and also separately tested in a conventional electrochemical cell for comparison. It was found that the characteristic peaks of hydrogen adsorption/desorption on cyclic voltammograms shifted considerably to a more positive direction for Pt/C, while a more negative …

Direct Electron Transfer Of Redox Proteins And Enzymes Promoted By Carbon Nanotube, Chen-Xin Cai, Jing Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

The redox proteins (enzymes), such as hemoglobin (Hb), horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and glucose oxidase (GOx) were immobilized on the surface of the carbon nanotube modified with glassy carbon (CNT/GC) electrode, respectively. The experimental results showed that the redox proteins (enzymes) underwent effective and stable direct electron transfer reaction at the surface of CNT/GC electrode with a pair of nearly symmetrical redox peaks in phosphate buffer solution. The formal redox potential, E^0' , is almost independent on the scan rates, the average value of E^0'  for Hb, HRP and GOx is -0.343±0.001, -0.319±0.002 and -0.456±0.001 V (vs.SCE,pH 6.9), respectively. …

Exceptional Electrochemical Activities Of Amorphous Fe-B And Co-B Alloy Particles Used As High Capacity Anode Materials, Ya-Dong Wang, Xin-Ping Ai, Han-Xi Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Ultrafine amorphous alloy particles (UAAP) of Fe-B and Co-B were synthesized and tested for possible use as electroactive anode materials. It is found that unlike their parent elements, the alloy particles of transition metal (TM) and boron, the Fe-B and Co-B showed superior electrochemical activities when used as anodic materials in aqueous alkaline solution. The discharge capacities of Fe-B and Co-B electrodeswere observed to be 1200 mAh/g and 1100 mAh/g at moderately high rate of 100 mAh/g, respectively, much higher than the theoreticalcapacity of currently used zinc metal (820 mAh/g). The exceptional high capacities of the boride alloys were probably …

Stability And Electrochemical Performance Of Nio Cathode Modified By Zno Additive For Mcfc In Molten Carbonates, Bo Huang, Fei Li, Qing-Chun Yu, Gang Chen, Ke-Ao Hu

Journal of Electrochemistry

The ZnO/Ni composite cathode was fabricated by tape-casting method, which microstructures and phases were studied. The electrochemical behaviors of ZnO impregnated NiO cathodes were also evaluated in molten 62 mol%Li₂CO₃ + 38 mol%K₂CO₃eutectic at 650 ℃ by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as a function of ZnO content and immersion time. The ZnO impregnated nickel cathodes showed the similar porosity, pore size and morphology to the reference nickel cathode. The stability tests of ZnO impregnated NiO cathodes showed that the ZnO additive could dramatically reduce the solubility of NiO in a eutectic carbonate mixture …

Structures And Redox Activities Of Poly(M-Methoxyaniline), Yun-You He, Yi-Ting Xu, Li-Zong Dai, Jean-Yves Gal, Hui-Huang Wu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Poly(m-methoxyaniline), PmMAn, was prepared in the presence of HCl, p-toluene-sulfonic acid and perchloric acid. By using cyclic voltammetry, the effect of different acid dopant on electrochemical activities of PmMAn was studied. The results showed that perchloric acid is the best acid to prepare PmMAn with good electrochemical activities The FTIR spectra indicate that the acid radical anions have embedded into PmMAn molecularchain as counter-ion during synthetic process, and this great influences the redox activities of PmMAn. SEM and XRD measurements illustrate that PmMAn is characterized by its typical molecular crystalline being monoclinic.

Study On Electrochemical Properties Of Peo-Based Composite Polymer Electrolytes, Hong-Yan Du, Hu Cheng, Yong Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Composite polymer electrolytes were prepared by introducing nano-scale SiO₂ into PEO₈-LiClO₄ matrix. The ionic conductivity, lithium transference number and the electrochemical stability windows were measured. The phase component was evaluated with DSC techniques. The results showed that the introduction of nano fillers enhanced the ionic conductivity. It reached 4.3×10^-5 S·cm^-1 at 22 ℃. The conductivity enhancement of the composite polymer electrolytes is analyzed and proposed.

Study Of Anti-Corrosion Property On Poly(An-Co-Oas)/Epoxy, Qing-Wu Wang, Geng-Chao Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Polyaniline, polyanisidine and their copolymer poly(An-co-oAs) were synthesized via the solution chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline and anisidine in an acidic aqueous medium, and their properties and structure were characterized. The electrochemical method were applied to evaluate the corrosion behavior of tined iron uncoated or coated by polyaniline, poly(An-o-oAs), polyanisidine and poly(An-co-oAs)/epoxy blend in acid or saline aqueous solution. The result showed that with the increase of anisidine content, the solubility of polymers is improved apparently but their oxidation extent decreases accordingly. It is also founded that polyaniline, poly(An-co-oAs) and polyanisidine all have good anti-corrosion properties, and their anti-corrosion capacity …

Study On Reduction Process Of Electrolyic Manganese Dioxide In Situ By Ultraviolet-Visible Absorption Spectroscopy, Li-Cai Zhu, Zhong-Zhi Yuan, Wei-Shan Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

The concentrationsof soluble Mn(Ⅲ) species, during the reduction ofelectrolytic MnO₂ (EMD) in alkaline solution,have been monitored in situ by UV-visible spectroscopy. The concentration of Mn(Ⅲ) ion in solution changes with discharge time. The first electron discharge process of EMD can be described by three different steps: 1) the reduction of Mn⁴⁺ ions on the surface of EMD particles and the structural defect regions within the EMD, 2) the reduction of Mn⁴⁺ ions in ramsdellite, 3)the reduction of Mn⁴⁺ ions in pyrolusite. During the second electron discharge of EMD, the soluble Mn(Ⅲ) is reduced to Mn(Ⅱ) , …

Investigation Of Subcritical Fatigue Crack Growth In Gamma Titanium Aluminides, Blair London

Materials Engineering

Our titanium aluminide alloy was readily heat treated to a fully lamellar state by holding at 1345C for 1.5 hours and furnace cooling resulting in a grain size of 330 muon m. The yield stress, ultimate stress, and total elongation were 315MPa, 465MPa, and 0.46% respectively. The fully lamellar microstructure shows significant work hardening. No long cracks initiated at R=0.1 and variation max=300MPa with up to 1.4 million cycles.

I/Q Imbalance Of Two-Path Ladder Filters, Peter Kiss, Vladimir I. Prodanov

Electrical Engineering

The frequency-(in)dependent I/Q imbalance of analog filters is a significant contributor to the tight noise budget of high-performance wireless applications, such as 802.11a wireless LANs. This paper proposes a “frequency-dependent” statistical I/Q-imbalance analysis method for two-path filters, which can be configured for both low-IF and zero-IF architectures. A 7-pole complex band-pass ladder filter is analyzed, and it shows large image rejection ratio (rms IMR > 43.7 dB for 3 σ). The same filter, but reconfigured as a pair of real low-pass filters, achieved about 13-dB less IMR. These results suggest a low-IF architectural choice to combat the I/Q imbalance of two-path …

Modeling And Control Of Surface Micromachined Thermal Actuators, Robert K. Messenger

Theses and Dissertations

A model that accurately describes the transient and steady-state response of thermal microactuators is desirable to provide guidance for design and operation. However, modeling the full response of thermal actuators is challenging due to the temperature-dependent material properties and nonlinear deformations that must be included to obtain accurate results. To meet these challenges a three-dimensional multi-physics nonlinear finite-element model was developed using commercial code. The Thermomechanical Inplane Microactuator (TIM) was chosen as a candidate application to validate the model. TIMs were fabricated using the SUMMiT V™ process and their response was measured using a high-speed camera. The TIMs were modeled …

Optimizing Manufactured Housing Energy Use, Florida Solar Energy Center, Mark Mcginley

FSEC Energy Research Center®

In partnership with the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), two manufactured homes were located on North Carolina A&T State University's campus in Greensboro, NC and used in a side-by-side energy consumption comparison. One of the homes was built to the basic HUD code standard and the other was constructed with features expected to produce a home that was 50% more energy efficient.

FSEC and NCATSU began monitoring energy performance in both homes. In addition, the performance of each unit was evaluated using a DOE2 based computer energy analysis program developed by FSEC. A comparison of the performance of the units …

Evaluation Of Nonlinear Static Procedures Using Strong-Motion Building Records, Rakesh K. Goel

Civil and Environmental Engineering

The objective of this investigation is to evaluate the FEMA-356 Nonlinear Static Procedure (NSP) and a recently developed Modal Pushover Analysis (MPA) procedure using recorded motions of buildings that were damaged during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. It is found the FEMA-356 NSP typically underestimates the drifts in upper stories and overestimates them in lower stories. The MPA procedure provides much-improved estimates of the response compared to the FEMA-356 NSP. In particular, the MPA procedure, unlike the FEMA-356 NSP, is able to capture the effects of higher modes.

Evaluation Of Nonlinear Static Procedures Using Strong-Motion Building Records, Rakesh K. Goel

Civil and Environmental Engineering

The objective of this investigation is to evaluate the FEMA-356 Nonlinear Static Procedure (NSP), the Sum-Difference procedure, and the Modal Pushover Analysis (MPA) procedure using recorded motions of buildings that were damaged during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. It is found the FEMA-356 NSP and the Sum-Difference procedures typically underestimates the drifts in upper stories and overestimates them in lower stories. The MPA procedure provides estimates of drifts that are better compared to the FEMA-356 NSP and the Sum-Difference procedure. In particular, the MPA procedure is able to capture the effects of higher modes.

The Influence Of Strontium Substitution In Fluorapatite Glasses And Glass-Ceramics, R. G. Hill, A. Stamboulis, R. V. Law, A. Clifford, Mark R. Towler, C. Crowley

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Strontium is often substituted for calcium in order to confer radio-opacity in glasses used for dental cements, Biocomposites and bio glass-ceramics. The present paper investigates the influence of substituting strontium for calcium in a glass of the following composition: 4.5SiO₂3Al₂O ₃1.5P₂O₅3CaO2CaF₂, having a Ca:P ratio of 1.67 corresponding to calcium fluorapatite (Ca5(PO 4)3F). The glasses were characterized by magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS-NMR), by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The ²⁹Si, ²⁷Al and ³¹P NMR spectra for the glasses with …

A Spatiotemporal Query Service For Mobile Users In Sensor Networks, Chenyang Lu, Guoliang Xing, Octav Chipara, Chien-Liang Fok, Sangeeta Bhattacharya

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

This paper presents MobiQuery, a spatiotemporal query service that allows mobile users to periodically gather information from their surrounding areas through a wireless sensor network. A key advantage of MobiQuery lies in its capability to meet stringent spatiotemporal performance constraints crucial to many applications. These constraints include query latency, data freshness and fidelity, and changing query areas due to user mobility. A novel just-in-time prefetching algorithm enables MobiQuery to main-tain robust spatiotemporal guarantees even when nodes op-erate under extremely low duty cycles. Furthermore, it sig-nificantly reduces the storage cost and network contention caused by continuous queries from mobile users. We …