Engineering Commons^™

Influence Of Acid Washing On The Surface Morphology Of Ionomer Glasses And Handling Properties Of Glass Ionomer Cements, C. M. Crowley, J. Doyle, Mark R. Towler, N. Rushe, S. Hampshire

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Acid washing is known to influence the handling properties of ionomer glasses used in glass ionomer cements due to the production of an ion depleted zone on the surface of the glass particles. The influence of acid washing on the particle size distribution and surface area of four glasses was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), particle size analysis (PSA) and accelerated surface area porosimetry (ASAP) and the working and setting times of cements, produced from the glasses, correlated to changes in surface morphology. A linear relationship was found between the specific surface area of acid-washed SiO₂-Al_{2 …}

Experimental Analysis Of Plasma Conditions In An Inverted Cylindrical Magnetron Sputtering System, Bradley Handloser

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this report, we will investigate Langmuir probe and mass spectrometer plasma diagnostic systems used to characterize conditions within a magnetron sputtering system. The specific systems used were the ESPION Langmuir probe and EQP mass spectrometer by Hiden Analytical and the ICM-10 inverted cylindrical magnetron sputtering system by Isoflux, Inc. This paper will show how these systems work, are operated, and produce data. Low power oxygen and argon plasmas were used through this research for diagnostics. With the EQP, two modes were used to collect data: RGA for neutrals and radicals and SIMS for positive ions. With both modes, mass …

Direction Of Arrival Estimation Based On Support Vector Regression: Experimental Validation And Comparison With Music, Andrea Randazzo, Mohamed A. Abou-Khousa, Matteo Pastorino, R. Zoughi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this letter, the problem of estimating the directions of arrival (DOAs) of coherent electromagnetic waves impinging upon a uniform linear array (ULA) is considered. In particular, an efficient DOA estimation approach based on the support vector regression is assessed using experimental measurements. Moreover, the obtained results are compared with those yielded by the multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm.

Dhp-Based Wide-Area Coordinating Control Of A Power System With A Large Wind Farm And Multiple Facts Devices, Wei Qiao, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Ronald G. Harley

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Wide-area coordinating control is becoming an important issue and a challenging problem in the power industry. This paper proposes a novel optimal wide-area monitor and wide-area coordinating neurocontroller (WACNC), based on wide-area measurements, for a power system with power system stabilizers, a large wind farm, and multiple flexible ac transmission system (FACTS) devices. The wide-area monitor is a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) that identifies the input-output dynamics of the nonlinear power system. Its parameters are optimized through a particle swarm optimization (PSO) based method. The WACNC is designed by using the dual heuristic programming (DHP) method and RBFNNs. …

Vibrational Modes Of ⁴He And H₂ Gases Adsorbed On Carbon Nanotubes, Silvina M. Gatica, Angela D. Lueking, W. Milton Cole, Gerald D. Mahan

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present calculations of the breathing mode phonon frequencies of ⁴He and H₂ physically adsorbed on the outside surface of one or more carbon nanotubes. Two geometries are considered. The first is a single, isolated nanotube, upon which the gas is adsorbed as a commensurate phase. The second is a quasi-one-dimensional "groove" phase nestled between two nanotubes. While the computed breathing mode frequencies depend on nanotube radius and the adsorbate, in general, they are of the same order of magnitude as those of the bare nanotubes.

Approximate Dynamic Programming And Neural Networks On Game Hardware, Ryan J. Meuth, Donald C. Wunsch

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Modern graphics processing units (GPU) and game consoles are used for much more than simply 3D graphics applications and video games. From machine vision to finite element analysis, GPU's are being used in diverse applications, collectively called General Purpose computation onf graphics processor units (GPGPU). Additionally, game consoles are entering the market of high performance computing as inexpensive nodes in computing clusters. This paper explores the capabilities and limitations of modern GPU's and game consoles, surveying the ADP and neural network technologies that can be applied to these devices.

Pulmonary Microvascular Injury Resulting From A Single Exposure To Low-Dose Thoracic Radiation, Q. Wu, G. Schmirler, John E. Moulder, Elizabeth R. Jacobs, Meetha Medhora, Robert C. Molthen

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

A Time-To-First-Spike Cmos Image Sensor, Xiaochuan Guo, Xin Qi, John G. Harris

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A time-to-first spike (TTFS) imager was designed such that each pixel outputs a single digital pulse whose timing encodes pixel illumination. For still image applications, this time representation provides a tremendous increase in dynamic range, similar to that of other existing time-based imagers. However, a major advantage of the TTFS imager is that this wide dynamic range can be achieved even for 30 frames/s video applications. A prototype 32x32 TTFS image sensor was fabricated in AMI 0.5 μm CMOS technology. The prototype chip demonstrates a 104 dB dynamic range (limited by the optical equipment), 42 μV/electron conversion gain, 1.25 nA/cm …

Nitrogen And Phosphorus Concentrations Of Runoff As Affected By Moldboard Plowing, John E. Gilley, Bahman Eghball, David B. Marx

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The excessive application of manure on cropland areas can cause nutrients to accumulate near the soil surface. This study was conducted to measure the effects of moldboard plowing on the redistribution of nutrients within the soil profile and nutrient transport by overland flow. Composted beef cattle manure was applied at dry weights of 0, 68, 105, 142, and 178 Mg ha^-1 to a silty clay loam soil and then incorporated by disking. Selected plots were moldboard plowed 244 days later to a depth of approximately 23 cm. Soil samples for analysis of water‐soluble phosphorus, Bray and Kurtz No. 1 …

Nutrient Concentrations Of Runoff During The Year Following Manure Application, John E. Gilley, Bahman Eghball, D. B. Marx

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Little information is currently available concerning temporal changes in nutrient transport following the addition of manure to cropland areas. This study was conducted to measure nutrient transport in runoff as affected by tillage and time following the application of beef cattle or swine manure to a site on which corn (Zea mays L.) was grown. Rainfall simulation tests were initiated 4, 32, 62, 123, and 354 days following land application. Three 30 min simulated rainfall events, separated by 24 h intervals, were conducted at an intensity of approximately 70 mm h-1. Dissolved phosphorus (DP), particulate phosphorus (PP), total phosphorus …

Pricing In Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problems, Miguel Andres Figliozzi, Hani S. Mahmassani, Patrick Jaillet

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The principal focus of this paper is to study carrier pricing decisions for a type of vehicle routing problems defined in a competitive and dynamic environment. This paper introduces the vehicle routing problem in a competitive environment (VRPCE) as an extension of the traveling-salesman problem with profits (TSPP) to a dynamic competitive auction environment. In the VRPCE, the carrier must estimate the incremental cost of servicing new service requests as they arrive dynamically. The paper presents a rigorous and precise treatment of the sequential pricing and costing problem that a carrier faces in such an environment. The sequential pricing problem …

Understanding The Safety Effects Of Roadway Illumination Reductions, Christopher M. Monsere, Thareth Yin, Michael Wolfe

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In 2001, Oregon’s governor responded to a perceived future energy shortage in the Pacific Northwest by directing all state agencies to reduce power consumption by 10 percent. After review of power saving opportunities, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) elected to include selective illumination reductions on Oregon interstate highways as part of their energy saving strategy. The illumination reductions occurred at interchanges and along lineal highway sections between October 2001 and April 2002. A total of 47 interchanges and 6.03 miles of interstate highways were modified. Changes in illumination were broadly classified as either full (including high-mast) to partial designs, …

An Investigation Of A Gis-Based Methodology For The Sustainable, Participative Management Of Walking Routes In Ireland, Helen Farrell

Doctoral

This thesis has identified and tested a methodology for the sustainable planning, development, auditing and routing of Waymarked Ways (walking routes). In testing and comparing the methodology on two routes in Ireland, a range of results have been gathered. Findings suggest that the approach is appropriate and effective in managing waling routes in the context of the study and in including community participation in the management process. Two study sites with different landscapes and infrastructures and varying levels of attractiveness for walking were used during research, and they were found to be quite different in their route management procedures. The …

Integrated Nurse Staffing And Assignment Under Uncertainty, Prattana Punnakitikashem

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

One of the major problems in the United States health care system is a shortage of nurses. Baby boomers and an increasing elderly population are the main reasons for a rapidly growing demand for nurses. Besides the decline in enrollments in registered nurse degree programs, many nurses have suffered from work burnout. High workloads and undesirable schedules are two major issues that cause nurses' job dissatisfaction. As a result, nurses plan to leave their jobs causing low retention and low entering rates. One consequence of the shortage is that excessive workload on nurses decreases the quality of patient care. Many …

A Data-Integrated Simulation-Based Optimization Approach For Nurse-Patient Assignment, Duraikannan Sundaramoorthi

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This research develops a novel data-integrated simulation to evaluate nurse-patient assignments (SIMNA) based on a real data set provided by Baylor Regional Medical Center (Baylor) in Grapevine, Texas. Tree-based models and kernel density estimation were utilized to extract important knowledge from the data for the simulation. Classification and Regression Tree models, data mining tools for prediction and classification, were used to develop five tree structures: (a) four classification trees, from which transition probabilities for nurse movements are determined; and (b) a regression tree, from which the amount of time a nurse spends in a location is predicted based on factors …

Experiments In Cooperative Timing For Miniature Air Vehicles, Timothy Mclain, Derek R. Nelson, Randal W. Beard

Faculty Publications

This paper presents experimental results for two cooperative timing missions carried out using a team of three miniature air vehicles (MAVs). Using a cooperative timing algorithm based on coordination functions and coordination variables, the MAV team executed a series of simultaneous arrival and cooperative fly-by missions. In the presence of significant wind disturbances, the average time difference between the first and last vehicle in the simultaneous arrival experiments was 1.6 s. For the cooperative fly-by experiments, the average timing error between vehicle arrivals was 0.6 s. These results demonstrate the practical feasibility of the cooperative timing approach.

Obstacle Avoidance Using Circular Paths, Timothy Mclain, Randal W. Beard, Jeffery Brian Saunders

Faculty Publications

This paper develops a method of obstacle avoidance for fixed-wing miniature air vehicles (MAV) using a series of circular oscillating paths and a single point laser ranger. The laser ranger is a low power, light-weight device used to report the distance to an object in a single direction of the body frame of a MAV. The oscillating paths allow the laser ranger to scan for obstacles and possible escape paths for the MAV in the case of obstacle detection. The circular paths are generated along waypoint paths and transition between waypoint paths without loss of scanning capabilities. Obstacle avoidance is …

Cost-Time Sensitive Decision Tree With Missing Values, Shichao Zhang, Xiaofeng Zhu, Jilian Zhang, Chengqi Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Cost-sensitive decision tree learning is very important and popular in machine learning and data mining community. There are many literatures focusing on misclassification cost and test cost at present. In real world application, however, the issue of time-sensitive should be considered in cost-sensitive learning. In this paper, we regard the cost of time-sensitive in cost-sensitive learning as waiting cost (referred to WC), a novelty splitting criterion is proposed for constructing cost-time sensitive (denoted as CTS) decision tree for maximal decrease the intangible cost. And then, a hybrid test strategy that combines the sequential test with the batch test strategies is …

D-4f Does Not Mitigate Key Parameters In Rat Model Of Severe Pulmonary Hypertension, Robert C. Molthen, Shelley Baumgardt, K. A. Pritchard Jr

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Soleus H-Reflex Excitability Changes In Response To Sinusoidal Hip Stretches In The Injured Human Spinal Cord, Maria Knikou, Brian D. Schmit, Debjani Chaudhuri, Elizabeth Kay, William Zev Rymer

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Imposed static hip stretches substantially modulate the soleus H-reflex in people with an intact or injured spinal cord while stretch of the hip flexors affect the walking pattern in lower vertebrates and humans. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of dynamic hip stretches on the soleus H-reflex in supine spinal cord injured (SCI) subjects. Sinusoidal movements were imposed on the right hip joint at 0.2 Hz by a Biodex system. H-reflexes from the soleus muscle were recorded as the leg moved in flexion or extension. Stimuli were sent only once in every hip movement cycle that …

Experiments In Cooperative Timing For Miniature Air Vehicles, Derek R. Nelson, Timothy W. Mclain, Randal W. Beard

Faculty Publications

This paper presents experimental results for two cooperative timing missions carried out using a team of three miniature air vehicles (MAVs). Using a cooperative timing algorithm based on coordination functions and coordination variables, the MAV team executed a series of simultaneous arrival and cooperative fly-by missions. In the presence of significant wind disturbances, the average time difference between the first and last vehicle in the simultaneous arrival experiments was 1.6 s. For the cooperative fly-by experiments, the average timing error between vehicle arrivals was 0.6 s. These results demonstrate the practical feasibility of the cooperative timing approach.

Drying Behavior Of Fractionated Fibers, Hussam E. Alkahasawneh

Dissertations

This dissertation studies water removal from paper produced using fractionated fibers. One of the principal aims of fiber fractionation is to separate long fibers from fines and then to use these long fibers in paper grades that require high bulk and high water absorption. However, during the paper manufacturing process, the bulk of these materials may be reduced by mechanically pressing the paper to remove water. Also the drying rate of the high bulk paper may be lower than conventional paper due to changes in the resistance to heat transfer. The main objective of this dissertation is to further develop …

A Study To Investigate The Relationship Between A User’S Thermal Comfort And Seat Pan Materials, Anil Raghavendra Kumar

Dissertations

Workers performing sedentary tasks in job types such as administrative, technical, customer service and executive could be seated for four or more hours during their normal work shift. Due to the prolonged periods of sitting, a worker could experience dissatisfaction, discomfort, and fatigue, which could lead to reduced performance. Symptoms of discomfort could over time lead to injuries and illnesses such as low back pain, cumulative trauma disorders, disc herniation, and pressure ulcers.

Shift Work In The Long-Termcare Industry : An Examination Of Organizational And Individual Factors That Influence Employee Outcomes, Kristin Elizabeth Charles

Dissertations and Theses

The long-term care (LTC) industry provides medical and social services in facility-based settings to the elderly, chronically ill, and disabled. With the aging of the United States population, the need for LTC workers is expected to drastically increase in the next decade. However, the industry faces a significant staffing shortage. One potential cause of staffing problems in LTC is working non-standard work schedules. Because of the need to provide around the clock care, LTC employees often work non-standard shifts, long hours, night work, and over weekends and holidays. Although many studies have examined health and sleep-related outcomes associated with non-standard …

Ceas E-News 07.31.2007, College Of Engineering And Applied Sciences

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences News

Kalamazoo middle-schoolers study engineering careers at WMU

Decentralized Control Of Multiple Uavs For Perimeter And Target Surveillance, Derek B. Kingston

Theses and Dissertations

With the recent development of reliable autonomous technologies for small unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), the algorithms utilizing teams of these vehicles are becoming an increasingly important research area. Unfortunately, there is no unified framework into which all (or even most) cooperative control problems fall. Five factors that affect the development of cooperative control algorithms are objective coupling, communication, completeness, robustness, and efficiency. We classify cooperative control algorithms by these factors and then present three algorithms with application to target and perimeter surveillance and a method for decentralized algorithm design. The primary contributions of this research are the development and analysis …

The Effect Of Alternative Fuels And Aftertreatment Devices On Measured Mobile School Bus Emissions, Andrew Todd Toback

Theses and Dissertations

Since January 2002, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) has sponsored a research study at Rowan University to develop strategies for reducing diesel emissions from mobile sources such as school buses and class 8 trucks. This thesis presents research conducted on reducing emissions from school buses during mobile operating conditions. Four fuel blends and three aftertreatment devices were tested on three school bus engines.

For all of the tests, exhaust gas emission measurements were made using a Sensors Semtech-D to measure CO, CO₂, NO₂, NO, O₂, and HC, along with a Sensors PM-300 …

Nevada Risk Assessment/Management Program (Nramp) – Phase 2: Quarterly Progress Report April 1, 2007 Through June 30, 2007, Klaus J. Stetzenbach

Nevada Risk Assessment/Management Program

Work conducted this quarter consisted of continuing the detailed data and information acquisition; review of the received document contents, and interpretation of significance in light of previous DOE documents. Much of the effort was devoted to reconciling inconsistencies and contradictions in both the primary data bases and in and among the DOE published documents. These review and reconciliation efforts included regular telephone and e-mail correspondence, as well as in-person discussions with DOE NVO personnel at the April DOE Generator Conference in Las Vegas. Reconciliation efforts continued with frequent (daily) exchanges on the inventory data sets, and the engineering descriptions of …

Design And Validation Of A Mr-Compatible Pneumatic Manipulandum, Aaron J. Suminski, Janice L. Zimbelman, Robert A. Scheidt

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The combination of functional MR imaging and novel robotic tools may provide unique opportunities to probe the neural systems underlying motor control and learning. Here, we describe the design and validation of a MR-compatible, 1 degree-of-freedom pneumatic manipulandum along with experiments demonstrating its safety and efficacy. We first validated the robot's ability to apply computer-controlled loads about the wrist, demonstrating that it possesses sufficient bandwidth to simulate torsional spring-like loads during point-to-point flexion movements. Next, we verified the MR-compatibility of the device by imaging a head phantom during robot operation. We observed no systematic differences in two measures of MRI …

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

Publications (NSTD)

• Ceramatec Sulfuric Acid Decomposer. Modeling with different reacting flow channel configurations (ribbed-surface channels, hexagonal channels, and diamond-shaped channels) was performed. The probability of failure for the one channel geometry with different reacting flow channel configurations was calculated to be zero in the three principal directions for all of the cases.

• Bayonet Heat Exchanger. The Matlab code for calculating the probability of failure using a two-dimensional axisymmetric model of the bayonet decomposer was developed. The probability of failure was calculated for the inner and outer SiC walls, and the intermediate quartz wall of the decomposer and found to be …