Engineering Commons^™

Afci Quarterly Input – Unlv October 1 Through December 31, 2005, Harry Reid Center For Environmental Studies. Nuclear Science And Technology Division

Transmutation Research Program Reports (TRP)

Quarterly report highlighting research projects, activities and objectives of the Transmutation Research Program at the Nuclear Science & Technology Division, Harry Reid Research Center.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas supports the AFCI through research and development of technologies for economic and environmentally sound refinement of spent nuclear fuel. The UNLV program has four components: infrastructure, international collaboration, student-based research, and management and program support.

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2005, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge.

The senior design competition helps to focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects …

Self Consistent Bathymetric Mapping Using Sub-Maps: Survey Results From The Tag Hydrothermal Structure, C. Roman, R. Reves-Sohn, H. Singh, S. Humphris

Christopher N. Roman

The spatial resolution of microbathymetry maps created using robotic vehicles such as ROVs, AUVs and manned submersibles in the deep ocean is currently limited by the accuracy of the vehicle navigation data. Errors in the vehicle position estimate commonly exceed the ranging errors of the acoustic mapping sensor itself, which creates inconsistency in the map making process and produces artifacts that lower resolution and distort map integrity. We present a methodology for producing self-consistent maps and improving vehicle position estimation by exploiting accurate local navigation and utilizing terrain relative measurements. The complete map is broken down into individual "sub-maps'', which …

Multiple Channel Laser Beam Combination And Phasing Using Stimulated Brillouin Scattering In Optical Fibers, Brent W. Grime

Theses and Dissertations

Brightness scaling lasers using stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in optical fibers is explored. A multiple-channel amplifier approach is used to increase the total power of a laser system while avoiding a significant burden on a single channel. The work explores two approaches utilizing both SBS beam cleanup and SBS piston error conjugation. A unique beam combiner that takes advantage of the SBS beam cleanup properties of a long, gradient-index multimode fiber was designed and tested. The beam combiner was developed to combine multiple-channel laser beams simultaneously with high input and output coupling efficiency. The design for the SBS beam combiner …

54th Spsj Annual Meeting Yokohama, Japan, May 25-27, 2005, Jane C. Vogl, Hiroyuki Ohno

Emeritus Faculty Author Gallery

No abstract provided.

Minerva 2005, The Honors College

Minerva

This issue of Minerva includes an article on the development of HON 170: Currents & Contexts; a discussion of the Honors College's "Last Lecture Series;" a reflection on the legacy of former Honors Program Director, Robert Thomson; and an article on the visual art found around the Honors College complex.

54th Spsj Annual Meeting Yokohama, Japan, May 25-27, 2005, Jane C. Vogl, Hiroyuki Ohno

Otto Vogl

No abstract provided.

Loss Aware Rate Allocations In H.263 Coded Video Transmissions, Xiao Su, Benjamin Wah

Faculty Publications

For packet video, information loss and bandwidth limitation are two factors that affect video playback quality. Traditional rate allocation approaches have focused on optimizing video quality under bandwidth constraint alone. However, in the best-effort Internet, packets carrying video data are susceptible to losses, which need to be reconstructed at the receiver side. In this paper, we propose loss aware rate allocations in both group-of-block (GOB) level and macroblock level, given that certain packets are lost during transmissions and reconstructed using simple interpolation methods at the receiver side. Experimental results show that our proposed algorithms can produce videos of higher quality …

Coupled Oceanic-Atmospheric Variability And U.S. Streamflow, Glenn A. Tootle, Thomas C. Piechota, Ashok Singh

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

A study of the influence of interdecadal, decadal, and interannual oceanic-atmospheric influences on streamflow in the United States is presented. Unimpaired streamflow was identified for 639 stations in the United States for the period 1951–2002. The phases (cold/negative or warm/positive) of Pacific Ocean (El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)) and Atlantic Ocean (Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)) oceanic-atmospheric influences were identified for the year prior to the streamflow year (i.e., long lead time). Statistical significance testing of streamflow, based on the interdecadal, decadal, and interannual oceanic-atmospheric phase (warm/positive or cold/negative), was performed by …

Lattice Quantum Algorithm For The Schrodinger Wave Equation In 2+1 Dimensions With A Demonstration By Modeling Soliton Instabilities, Jeffrey Yepez, George Vahala, Linda L. Vahala

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A lattice-based quantum algorithm is presented to model the non-linear Schrödinger-like equations in 2 + 1 dimensions. In this lattice-based model, using only 2 qubits per node, a sequence of unitary collide (qubit-qubit interaction) and stream (qubit translation) operators locally evolve a discrete field of probability amplitudes that in the long-wavelength limit accurately approximates a non-relativistic scalar wave function. The collision operator locally entangles pairs of qubits followed by a streaming operator that spreads the entanglement throughout the two dimensional lattice. The quantum algorithmic scheme employs a non-linear potential that is proportional to the moduli square of the wave function. …

A Microreactor System For Measuring Size Selectivity In Porous Wo3 Sensor Materials, Meng Lu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Our interest in studying reactions catalyzed by high surface area W0₃ powders is based on their potential application as the active material in sensors for low level (ppb) detection of flammable or toxic gases. A series of porous W0₃ powders with both meso- and micro-porosity have been synthesized by Waghe and Tripp. Preliminary results of the response of sensors fabricated from these materials indicated the possibility of size selectivity on the molecular scale. To provide support for the hypothesis of size selectivity and understand the reaction kinetics of alcohols over the new porous W0₃ powders for sensor …

Architecture And Execution Model For A Survivable Workflow Transaction Infrastructure, Haraldur D. Thorvaldsson, Kenneth J. Goldman

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

We present a novel architecture and execution model for an infrastructure supporting fault-tolerant, long-running distributed applications spanning multiple administrative domains. Components for both transaction processing and persistent state are replicated across multiple servers, en-suring that applications continue to function correctly de-spite arbitrary (Byzantine) failure of a bounded number of servers. We give a formal model of application execution, based on atomic execution steps, linearizability and a sep-aration between data objects and transactions that act on them. The architecture is designed for robust interoperability across domains, in an open and shared Internet computing infrastructure. A notable feature supporting cross-domain applications is …

Atr-Ftir Spectroscopic Analysis Of Sorption Of Aqueous Analytes Into Polymer Coatings Used With Guided Sh-Saw Sensors, Yolanda K. Jones, Zhonghui Li, Michael M. Johnson, Fabien Josse, Jeanne Hossenlopp

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

Attenuated total internal reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy was used for the investigation of sorption of aqueous solutions of analytes into polymer coatings. A series of simple model polymers, such as poly(dimethylsiloxane), poly(epichlorhydrin), and poly(isobutylene), and films and analytes, such as aqueous solutions of ethylbenzene, xylenes, toluene, and nitrobenzene, were used to evaluate the use of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy as a screening tool for sensor development. The ratios of integrated infrared absorption bands provided a simple and efficient method for predicting trends in partition coefficients. Responses of polymer-coated guided shear horizontal surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW) sensor platforms to the series …

Universal Geometric Camera Calibration With Statistical Model Selection, Chistopher Paul Broaddus

Masters Theses

We propose a new universal camera calibration approach that uses statistical information criteria for automatic camera model selection. It requires the camera to observe a planar pattern from different positions, and then closed-form estimates for the intrinsic and extrinsic parameters are computed followed by nonlinear optimization. In lieu of modeling radial distortion, the lens projection of the camera is modeled, and in addition we include decentering distortion. This approach is particularly advantageous for wide angle (fisheye) camera calibration because it often reduces the complexity of the model compared to modeling radial distortion. We then apply statistical information criteria to automatically …

A Generic Object-Oriented Tabu Search Framework, Hoong Chuin Lau, Xiaomin Jia, Wee Chong Wan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Presently, most tabu search designers devise their applications without considering the potential of design and code reuse, which consequently prolong the development of subsequent applications. In this paper, we propose a software solution known as Tabu Search Framework (TSF), which is a generic C++ software framework for tabu search implementation. The framework excels in code recycling through the use of a well- designed set of generic abstract classes that clearly define their collaborative roles in the algorithm. Additionally, the framework incorporates a centralized process and control mechanism that enhances the search with intelligence. This results in a generic framework that …

Radar - A Novel Admission Control And Handoff Management Scheme For Multimedia Leo Satellite Networks, Syed Rashidali Rizvi

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks are deployed as an enhancement to terrestrial wireless networks in order to provide broadband services to users regardless of their location. In addition to global coverage, these satellite systems support communications with hand-held devices and offer low cost-per-minute access cost, making them promising platforms for Personal Communication Services (PCS). LEO satellites are expected to support multimedia traffic and to provide their users with some form of Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees. However, the limited bandwidth of the satellite channel, satellite rotation around the Earth and mobility of end-users makes QoS provisioning and mobility management …

Robust And Efficient Localization Techniques For Cellular And Wireless Sensor Networks, Haseebulla M. Khan

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Localization in wireless networks refers to a collection of tasks that, collectively, determines the location of a mobile user, striving to hide the effects of mobility from the user and/or application. Localization has become an important issue and has drawn considerable attention, as many applications including E-911, cargo tracking, locating patients, location-sensitive billing, etc., require knowledge of the location of user/objects. It was realized, quite a while back, that extending emergency 911-like services (E-911) to continually growing mobile population is one of the extremely important localization applications. The bulk of the proposed solutions to emergency location management in wireless environments …

Copper Electrodeposition Under The Perturbation Of Hard Particles, Zeng-Wei Zhu, Di Zhu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Copper electrodepositon was carried out on the rotating cathode,with hard particles(such as ceramic beads) filling between the electrodes.The rotation of cathode led hard particles to polish and impact the surface of deposit during electrodeposition.Copper deposits with a mass of cuspidal nodules were produced in acid sulfate solutions while brittle deposits without nodules were produced in alkaline sulfate solutions.It was also found that brightening and smoothing deposit could be obtained from the alkaline solution,and the deposit was approximatively disordered orientation with granular morphology of about 100~300 nm.The results show that the polishing and impact of hard particles can effectively disturb the …

Silicides And Composites Materials As Anodes For Lithium Ion Batteries, Jun-Mei Yan

Journal of Electrochemistry

The anode materials of Mg_(2)Si and MnSi were synthesized by mechanically activated annealing(MAA) techniques in this work and the in electrochemical performances were also studied.A series of composite materials of Mg_(2)Si and CNTs or CMS were prepared by ball-milling method respectively.The reversible capacities of the composites were higher than that of the pure Mg_(2)Si and pure carbon materials.The cyclic performances have been improved greatly by ball-milling of the Mg_(2)Si and carbon materials.Results show that ball-milling method is one kind of method to make alloy materials into practical use.

A Continuous Operation For Electroreduction Of Oxalic Acid To Glyoxylic Acid, Xiao-Hui Hu, Xiang-Fei Yan, Yu-Zhong Su, Jun Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

A simulative-continuous-operation approach was proposed to study the continuous operation for electroreduction of oxalic acid to gloxylic acid using a packed bed reactor and a parallel reactor with cooled cathode in order to solve the low productivity problem in current state by using traditional reactor.The effects of the concentration of oxalic acid and temperature on this process were also studied.Results showed that,after 30min of the reaction(residence time),the mass fraction of the produced glyoxylic acid in the catholic solution could reach 3.76% and 3.66% with respect to a saturated oxalic acid method and a step-temperature decreasing method.From this study,we conclude that …

The Electrocatalystic Investigation Of 3,4-Dihydroxybenzoic Acid On The Modified Multiply Wall Carbon Nanotubes, Ming-Qi Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

The electrochemical behavior of 3,4-Dihydroxybenzoic acid(DHBA)on modified multiply wall carbon nanotubes electrode was investigated by cyclic voltammetry(CV) and square wave voltammetry(SWV).Results show that in 0.1 mol/L HCl solutions the modified carbon nanotube electrode has an obvious electrocatalytic effect on the oxidation and deoxidization of DHBA.The oxidation current of DHBA is linear to it's concentration in the range of 4.0×10~(-6)～1.0×10~(-4) mol/L and 2.0×10~(-4)～8.0×10~(-4)1mol/L with correlation coefficient of 0.9995 and 0.9992.The detection limit is 1.0 ×10~(-6)mol/ L.

The Mechanism Of Ethylenediamine On Electroless Ni-B Alloy Deposition, Sen-Lin Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The effects of ethylenediamine stabilizer on the deposition rate and on the stability of the plating bath for electroless deposition of Ni-B alloy were investigated.It was found that the addition of ethylenediamine greatly enhances the stability of the electroless plating bath.The electrochemical polarization including cathodic and anodic polarizations measurements were carried out to examine the effect of ethylenediamine on the deposition process.The results show that ethylenediamine affects both the cathodic and the anodic polarization processes.The oxidation current of the reducer and the reduction current of Ni-B alloy decrease greatly when ethylenediamine was added into the plating bath.The infrared spectroscopy(IR) experiments …

Electrochemical Disinfection Method To Treat Wastewater From Hospitals, Lizhi-Fu Lizhi-Fu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Electrochemical disinfection method was used to treat wastewater from hospitals.The mechanism of electrochemical disinfection was researched by using the different anode materials.The results showed that when the titanium coated with noble metal(Ru、Pt、Ir)oxide was used as an anode and stainless steel as a cathode,the current density was 6 mA/cm~(2),hydraulic retention time was 15 min,air flow rate was 40 L/h,the rate of anode effective area to the inner water volume was 1.0,the amount of total colibacillus was below 500 CFU/L after electrochemical disinfection,All these meet the first order of Effluent Discharge Standard(GB8978-98).

Electrochemical Controllable Preparation Of Hydroxyapatite Coating With Different Morphologies And Preliminary In Vitro Tests, Hai-Yan Shi, Ren Hu, Chang-Jian Lin

Journal of Electrochemistry

The Controllable electrochemical deposition has been developed to prepare the hydroxyapatite(HA) coatings on Ti substrate with different morphologies and structures.Three kinds of typical topography of HA coatings,i.e.standing-up,flower and ordered porous structures have been obtained.The XRD and FTIR results demonstrate high crystallinity of the coating and exclusion of other forms of calcium phosphates.In vitro tests reveal that the biological property is largely dependent on the structure and morphology of the HA coating.It has been found that all pure HA coating show good biocompatibilities,while only the HA coating with ordered porous structures exhibits best bioactivities.

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells-Materials And Prospects, Molenda Janina, Marzec Jacek

Journal of Electrochemistry

The paper summarizes and discusses the basic properties of solid oxide fuel cell(SOFC) components(electrode materials and electrolyte) from the point of view of their essential functional parameters suck as chemicalstability,transport,catalytic and thermomechanical properties under operational conditions in a SOFC.An interrela-tion between the defect structure of these materials related to oxygen nonstoichiometry and their electronic propertiesand catalytic activity was shown.Single-chamber fuel cell concept was also presented.

Effect Of Hco_3~-Concentration On Co_2 Corrosion In Gas And Oil Fields, Guo-An Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The effecs of HCO_3~-concentration on CO_(2) corrosion in gas and oil fields were investigated by carrying out potentiodynamic scans and weight loss tests.Potentiodynamic polarization curves showed that the cathodic current density decreased with cm increase of HCO_3~-concentration when [HCO_3~-] was lower than 0.042(mol/L.)The cathodic reations were promoted by increasing [HCO_3~-] when it reached 0.126 mol/L,(Anodic) behavior was an active process at low er [HCO_3~-] concentration and the anodic current density decreased with the increase of [HCO_3~-] concentration.An evident active-passive behavior exhibited in anodic process at 0.126 mol/L HCO_3~-.Under high pressure and high temperature,the corrosion rate of steel X65 decreased with …

An Investigation On Poly(Vinyl Chloride-Co-Isobutyl Vinyl Ether) Coatings Modified By Rutile Nano-Tio_2 Pastes, Xiang Bin

Journal of Electrochemistry

The anti-corrosion coating of Poly(Vinyl Chloride-Co-Isobutyl Vinyl Ether)(PVCCIVE) was modified by rutile nano-TiO_(2).The influence of nano-TiO_(2) pastes on the coating's corrosion resistance was investigated through electrochemistry impedance spectroscopy(EIS).The results show that the addition of nano-TiO_(2) pastes does not have obvious effect on the coating's performance of adhesion,flexility,impact resistance,but improves the coating's UV resistance and the gloss.Meanwhile,with the proper addition of rutile nano-TiO_(2) pastes,the(anti)-corrosion behavior of the coating was advanced.

A Study Of Overcharge Characteristic Of Lithium-Ion Cells, Jing Pang, Shi-Gang Lu, Sha Liu

Journal of Electrochemistry

The overcharge characteristics and effect factors of lithium-ion cells containing LiMn_(2)O_(4)cathodes were studied in detail.Overcharge testing of Lithium-ion cells with a systematic variation in the cell balance demonstrated that the overcharge characteristics of Lithium-ion cells was affected by the amount of cathode in the cells,which is independent of the amount of anode material.The rate of charge was found to be an important parameter,as electrolyte complete decomposition at low charge rates caused the end of overcharge testing,while high charge rates accelerated the rate of heat generation in the cells and the cell temperature increased as a result of insufficient heat dissipation.The …

An Electrochemical Study Of Electroless Copper Plating Using Glyoxylic Acid As Reducing Agent, Li-Qiong Wu, Fang-Zu Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The electroless copper plating using glyoxylic acid as a reducing agent,Na_(2)EDTA as a chelating agent and K_(4)Fe(CN)_(6) and 2,2'-dipyridyl as additives was studied.The effect of chelating agent and addtives on the polangation behaviovs of copper reduction and glyoxylie acid oxidation were analyzed by linear sweep voltammetry.The results mainly demonstrated that the chelating agent hindered both the oxidation of glyoxylic acid and the reduction of copper complexing ions.It has revealed that K_(4)Fe(CN)_(6)and 2,2'-dipyridyl(with the content over than 20 mg/L)both played negative actions on the oxidation of glyoxylic acid.

The Deactivation Mechanism Of Metal Oxide Anodes Under Alternative Current Electrolysis Condition, Jun-Tao Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The metal oxide anodes coated on titanium used in seawater electrolysis were prepared by thermal decomposition.Their morphologies、compositions and phase structures were determined by scanning electron microscope(SEM)、energy dispersive X-ray detector(EDX) and X-ray diffraction(XRD).The electrochemical properties of the anodes were characterized by accelerated life test,cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.SEM、EDX and XRD showed that solid solution structures of(Ru,Ir,Ti)O_(2)and(Ir,Ti)O_(2) were formed after pyrolysis,the solid solution structures and active components were disappeared after the deactivation of the anodes.Electrochemical results indicated that the active area decreased and the coating resistance increased,which are resulted by active component falling off from the anode surfaces.Hence,the deactivation of the …