Engineering Commons^™

High Grade Control Of Linear Induction Motor Drives, Haidong Yu

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Linear induction machines (LIM) have been widely utilized in military, transportation, aerospace due to the impressive advantages such as simple configuration, easy maintenance and high acceleration/deceleration. However, the existence of trailing eddy current effect and magnetic asymmetry effect undermines the expected functionality of vector control even though LIM inherent similarities from its rotary counterpart. As a result, it has been a focal research area to either improve the performance of vector control for LIM or develop a new high grade control strategy. Therefore, the in-depth knowledge of electromagnetic behavior of LIM is necessary. From both finite element analysis (FEA) and …

Regression Model For Prioritization Of Corridors When Retiming Traffic Signals, Manjari G. Mittal

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Traffic signals are used by transportation engineers to safely and efficiently manage vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian traffic on roadways. However, to maintain the effectiveness of traffic signals, traffic signals should be adjusted or retimed periodically to match the current traffic patterns. Traffic signal retiming is one of the most cost effective ways available to transportation engineers for reducing delays and mitigating congestion. A region may contain a large number of traffic signals all of which cannot be retimed at once due to limited availability of funds and other resources; only a subset of signals can be retimed at any given …

Development Of The Midwest Guardrail System (Mgs) W-Beam To Thrie Beam Transition Element, Ronald K. Faller, John R. Rohde, Robert W. Bielenberg, Karla A. Polivka, Dean L. Sicking, John D. Reid, Craig M. Eller, Erin M. Allison

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Are There Rearrangement Hotspots In The Human Genome?, Max A. Alekseyev, Pavel A. Pevzner

Faculty Publications

In a landmark paper, Nadeau and Taylor [18] formulated the random breakage model (RBM) of chromosome evolution that postulates that there are no rearrangement hotspots in the human genome. In the next two decades, numerous studies with progressively increasing levels of resolution made RBM the de facto theory of chromosome evolution. Despite the fact that RBM had prophetic prediction power, it was recently refuted by Pevzner and Tesler [4], who introduced the fragile breakage model (FBM), postulating that the human genome is a mosaic of solid regions (with low propensity for rearrangements) and fragile regions (rearrangement hotspots). However, the rebuttal …

Estimation Of High-Frequency Currents From Near-Field Scan Measurements, Haixiao Weng, Daryl G. Beetner, Richard E. Dubroff, Jin Shi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

High-frequency currents on the pins of integrated circuits (ICs) and on printed circuit board (PCB) traces are needed to predict and analyze electromagnetic interference in high-speed devices. These currents can, however, be difficult to measure when traces are buried within the PCB or chip-package, especially when several current-carrying traces are in close proximity. Techniques for estimating high-frequency currents from near-field scan data are proposed in this paper. These techniques are applied to find currents on the pins of an IC, on traces buried beneath other traces in a PCB, and on traces over a slot in the ground plane. Methods …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Multi-Period Combinatorial Auction Mechanism For Distributed Resource Allocation And Scheduling, Hoong Chuin Lau, Shih-Fen Cheng, Thin Yin Leong, Jong Han Park, Zhengyi Zhao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We consider the problem of resource allocation and scheduling where information and decisions are decentralized, and our goal is to propose a market mechanism that allows resources from a central resource pool to be allocated to distributed decision makers (agents) that seek to optimize their respective scheduling goals. We propose a generic combinatorial auction mechanism that allows agents to competitively bid for the resources needed in a multi-period setting, regardless of the respective scheduling problem faced by the agent, and show how agents can design optimal bidding strategies to respond to price adjustment strategies from the auctioneer. We apply our …

The Price Of Stability In Selfish Scheduling Games, Lucas Agussurja, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Game theory has gained popularity as an approach to analysing and understanding distributed systems with selfinterested agents. Central to game theory is the concept of Nash equilibrium as a stable state (solution) of the system, which comes with a price - the loss in efficiency. The quantification of the efficiency loss is one of the main research concerns. In this paper, we study the quality and computational characteristic of the best Nash equilibrium in two selfish scheduling models: the congestion model and the sequencing model. In particular, we present the following results: (1) In the congestion model: first, the best …

Sub-Bottom Profiling Using Time-Frequency Analysis, William Sanders, Dale Bibee, Edit J. Kaminsky

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Wireless Power Transmission To A Buried Sensor In Concrete, Khan M.Z. Shams, Mohammod Ali

Faculty Publications

The feasibility of sending wireless power to a buried sensor antenna within concrete was studied. a receive patch rectenna with 75.8% conversion efficiency was designed for operation at 5.7 GHz. The received DC power at the rectenna was measured within dry and wet concrete samples with various cover thicknesses and air-gaps. For the rectenna buried within 30 mm of the concrete, the received DC power was 10.37 mW, which was, about 70% of the received DC power in free-space.

Transfected Cell Arrays For The High-Throughput Analysis Of Transcription Factor Activity, Abigail D. Bellis, Angela K. Pannier, Lonnie D Shea

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Presentations and White Papers

Transfected cell arrays offer a high-throughput method that allows for the parallel analysis of multiple pathways or genes within a physiological context. We have developed a transfected cell array that employs a dual-plasmid system that gives the ability to normalize for spot-to-spot variation in transfection efficiency. Each spot within the array contains a constitutively active normalization plasmid encoding for renilla luciferase as well as a functional plasmid that contains transcription factor specific binding elements driving the expression of firefly luciferase. Dual bioluminescent imaging provides highly sensitive analysis while limiting post-transfectional processing. Adequate transfection poses a significant challenge in extending this …

Manure Testing: What To Request?, Charles A. Shapiro, Charles S. Wortmann

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Manure testing is necessary to make optimum use of manure while protecting water resources. This publication is a guide to providing information on a Manure Sample Sub­mission Form for reliable interpretation of results.

The tests most frequently needed to optimize nutrient management are total and ammonium nitrogen (NH₄-N), phosphorus (P₂O₅), potassium (K₂O), pH, soluble salts, sodium, and dry matter content.

Nitrogen. Manure contains both organic and inorganic forms of nitrogen. Ammonium-N is the primary inorganic form in manure and is readily available to crops. Nitrate-N concentration is usually too small to …

Measurement And Analysis Of Truck And Rail Shipping Environment In India, Sher Paul Singh, A. P. S. Sandhu, Jay A. Singh, E. Joneson

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Free trade agreements have been on the rise in all regions of the world in the past decade. This has allowed for global distribution and marketing of products in an international market. Products once produced for domestic markets must now be able to compete in international markets without trade barriers. Increased international commerce and manufacturing have forced many packaging and logistics engineers to broaden their true understanding of the global distribution environment. India is a recent entrant on the global arena for manufacturing and services. While China’s economic developments have dominated global headlines, India’s own growth has been impressive as …

Measurement And Analysis Of International Air Parcel Shipping Environment For Dhl And Fedex Between Europe And United States, Manuel-Alfredo Garcia-Romeu-Martinez, S. Paul Singh, Vicente-Agustin Cloquell-Ballester, Koushik Saha

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Various studies have been conducted to determine the dynamics that single packages undergo during distribution between destinations as a function of package size and weight and carrier. Previous studies have normally focused on regional and domestic measurements of these environments in Europe and North America. However, no information is available to determine the international handling and shipping environment of single parcels between the two continents. This study used instrumented packages containing triaxial accelerometers. The measured shocks were analysed to determine the velocity change levels as a function of the events measured in the distribution environment and to develop data for …

Designing The Market Game For A Commodity Trading Simulation, Shih-Fen Cheng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we propose to design a market game that (a) can be used in modeling and studying commodity trading scenarios, and (b) can be used in capturing human traders' behaviors. Specifically, we demonstrate the usefulness of this commodity trading game in a single-commodity futures trading scenario. A pilot experiment was run with a mixture of human traders and an autonomous agent that emulates the aggregatedmarket condition, with the assumption that this autonomous agent would hint each of its action through a public announcement. We show that the information collected from this simulation can be used to extract the …

Detecting And Segmenting Un-Occluded Items By Actively Casting Shadows, Tze K Koh, Amit Agrawal, Ramesh Raskar, Steve Morgan, Nicholas Miles, Barrie Hayes-Gill

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

We present a simple and practical approach for segmenting un-occluded items in a scene by actively casting shadows. By ‘items’, we refer to objects (or part of objects) enclosed by depth edges. Our approach utilizes the fact that under varying illumination, un-occluded items will cast shadows on occluded items or background, but will not be shadowed themselves.We employ an active illumination approach by taking multiple images under different illumination directions, with illumination source close to the camera. Our approach ignores the texture edges in the scene and uses only the shadow and silhouette information to determine the occlusions. We show …

Experimental Validation Of An Autonomous Control System On A Mobile Robot Platform, Timothy Mclain, Randall W. Beard, Wei Ran, J.-S. Sun

Faculty Publications

An autonomous control system designed for a non-holonomic wheeled mobile robot that is programmed to emulate a fixed-wing unmanned air vehicle (UAV) flying at constant altitude is experimentally validated. The overall system is capable of waypoint navigation, threat avoidance, real-time trajectory generation and trajectory tracking. Both the wheeled mobile robot experimental platform and the hierarchical autonomous control software architecture are introduced. Programmed to emulate a fixed-wing UAV flying at constant altitude, a non-holonomic mobile robot is assigned to follow a desired time-parameterised trajectory generated by a real-time trajectory generator to transition through a sequence of targets in the presence of …

Polarization Rotation Correction In Radiometry: An Error Analysis, David G. Long, Derek Hudson, Jeffrey R. Piepmeier

Faculty Publications

Yueh proposed a method of using the third Stokes parameter TU to correct brightness temperatures such as Tv and Th for polarization rotation. This paper presents an extended error analysis of the estimation of Tv , Th, and TQ equiv Tv - Th by Yueh's method. In order to carry out the analysis, we first develop a forward model of polarization rotation that accounts for the random nature of thermal radiation, receiver noise, and (to first order) calibration. Analytic formulas are then derived for the bias, standard deviation (STD), and root-mean-square error (RMSE) of estimated TQ, Tv , and Th, …

High Temperature Heat Exchanger Project: Quarterly Progress Report July 1, 2007 Through September 30, 2007, Anthony Hechanova

Publications (NSTD)

• Ceramatec Sulfuric Acid Decomposer. The numerical model of a SiC ceramic coupon with two layers of microchannels was developed. Calculations of the factor of safety and probability of failure for the case of a straight channel were performed. Results for a pressure of 7.5 MPa were performed. The thermal and mechanical stress analyses of the Ceramatec HTHX and decomposer were completed.

• Bayonet Heat Exchanger. The thermal and mechanical stress analyses of the bayonet type HTHX and decomposer (Sandia design) were completed. Temperature profiles obtained from thermocouples measured from the Sandia experiments have been applied to the whole packed …

Ceas E-News 10.30.2007, College Of Engineering And Applied Sciences

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences News

Saturday Preview Day showcases CEAS programs, people, facilities.

Method Of Introducing A Plurality Of Genes Into Plants, Vincent Lee C. Chiang, Laigeng Li

Michigan Tech Patents

A method of concurrently introducing multiple genes to plants and trees is provided. The method includes an Agrobacterium-mediated gene delivery system by which multiple genes together with a single selectable marker gene are simultaneously transferred and inserted into the genome of plants, including trees.

Genetic Engineering Of Syringyl-Enriched Lignin In Plants, Vincent Lee C. Chiang, Laigeng Li

Michigan Tech Patents

The present invention relates to a novel DNA sequence, which encodes a previously unidentified lignin biosynthetic pathway enzyme, sinapyl alcohol dehydrogenase (SAD) that regulates the biosynthesis of syringyl lignin in plants. Also provided are methods for incorporating this novel SAD gene sequence or substantially similar sequences into a plant genome for genetic engineering of syringyl-enriched lignin in plants.

Prediction Of Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnosis From Psychosocial Questionnaires, Scott David Mist

Dissertations and Theses

Astonishingly, most Traditional Chinese Medicine (CM) research in the West proceeds without CM diagnoses, perhaps because CM diagnosis is time consuming or not considered relevant. One way to improve the feasibility of incorporating CM diagnosis would be to prescreen participants using questionnaires. This would allow cost savings in recruitment, and balancing of treatments by CM diagnosis. Consequently, the hypothesis of this research was that pre-treatment questionnaires can predict CM diagnosis.

Baseline questionnaires from 195 participants with temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) were examined to test the hypothesis. Two methods, logistic regression (LR) and reconstructability analysis (RA), were used in conjunction to …

Visualizing Morphometric Data Of Vasculatures, Thomas Wischgoll

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Volume visualization is a common, very well-established visualization technique for volumetric data sets. Numerous advancements have been proposed and sophisticated improvements have been implemented to produce elaborated renderings that are capable of enhancing details within the volume. However, volume visualization alone is often not sufficient for the application domain. Often times, researchers are interested in accurate measurements extracted from volumetric data to gain further insight of the specimen. These extracted measurements can then be used to generate and visualize a geometric reconstruction of the specimen. The visualization can incorporate additional tools that allow researchers to determine additional measurements of the …

Linear Tactile Nanodevice With Resolution On Par With Human Finger, Ravi F. Saraf, Vivek C. Maheshwari, Chieu Nguyen

Ravi Saraf Publications

A large area thin-film nanodevice made by self-assembly containing electroluminescent nanoparticles is reported. The ~100 nm thick device on application of potential across the top and bottom surface of the film converts local pressure to light. The intensity of the electroluminescent light is linearly proportional to the applied local compressive stress. By imaging the light, the stress distribution over the area of contact is obtained at resolution on par with human finger.

Effect Of Tip Resonances On Tunnelling Anisotropic Magnetoresistance In Ferromagnetic Break Junctions: A First-Principles Study, John D. Burton, Renat F. Sabirianov, Julian P. Velev, O. N. Mryasov, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal

Materials Research Science and Engineering Center: Faculty Publications

First-principles calculations of electron tunneling transport in nanoscale Ni and Co break-junctions reveal strong dependence of the conductance on the magnetization direction, an effect known as tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance TAMR. An important aspect of this phenomenon stems from resonant states localized in the electrodes near the junction break. The energy and broadening of these states is strongly affected by the magnetization orientation due to spin-orbit coupling, causing TAMR to be sensitive to bias voltage on a scale of a few millivolts. Our results bear a resemblance to recent experimental data and suggest that TAMR driven by resonant states is a …

Ultra Reliable Computing Systems, Chong Ho Lee

Dissertations and Theses

For high security and safety applications as well as general purpose applications, it is necessary to have ultra reliable computing systems. This dissertation describes our system of self-testable and self-repairable digital devices, especially, EPLDs (Electrically Programmable Logic Devices). In addition to significantly improving the reliability of digital systems, our self-healing and re-configurable system design with added repair capability can also provide higher yields, lower testing costs, and faster time-to-market for the semiconductor industry.

The digital system in our approach is composed of blocks, which realize combinational and sequential circuits using GALs (Generic Array Logic Devices). We describe three techniques for …

Optical Reading And Playing Of Sound Signals From Vinyl Records, Arnold Hensman, Kevin Casey

Conference Papers

While advanced digital music systems such as compact disk players and MP3 have become the standard in sound reproduction technology, critics claim that conversion to digital often results in a loss of sound quality and richness. For this reason, vinyl records remain the medium of choice for many audiophiles involved in specialist areas. The waveform cut into a vinyl record is an exact replica of the analogue version from the original source. However, while some perceive this media as reproducing a more authentic quality then its digital counterpart, there is an absence a safe playback system. Contact with the stylus …

Ceas E-News 10.23.2007, College Of Engineering And Applied Sciences

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences News

2007 Engineering Opportunity Day ... loaded with job hunting possibilities

High Performance Quality Management Systems And Work-Related Outcomes: Exploring The Role Of Audit Readiness And Documented Procedures Effectiveness, Sean P. Goffnett

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates a comprehensive quality management system (QMS) and its influence on multiple work-related outcomes. It examines certified quality systems used in the automotive industry to test whether QMS audit readiness mediates the relationship between quality factors and outcomes. A survey instrument, encompassing quality award criteria and system certification precepts, helped identify factors associated with high-performance. Regression results showed several factors, including leadership and process management, as being critically important in predicting work outcomes. Human resources emerged as being critical to most outcomes. Audit readiness did not emerge as a mediating variable, but rather as a significant process outcome. …