Engineering Commons^™

Design And Development Of A Prototype For A Web-Based Interface For Online Material For Tanzanian Youth, Mjema A.M

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

A prototype of a web-based interface for an online database was developed to be used by youth organizations in Dar-es-Salaam. A participatory approach involving secondary students in the identification of user interface requirements, in designing and testing the prototype was used. A questionnaire was designed and manned in seven secondary schools in Dar-es-Salaam to estimate the Internet usage. Interviews were conducted to countercheck the questionnaire responses. The interview and the questionnaire helped to come up with a set of user requirements for the web-based interface of an online information search. From the specifications of the user requirements the author was …

The Systemic Nature Of Action Learning Programmes, G Mwaluko

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

A lot of attention has been paid on action learning in the last four decades or so and the success of such programmes has also been widely publicized. But why have these programmes been so effective in helping organizations cope with change? Many authors state that the success of such programmes is due to the fact that they link learning to actions. Yet others claim that action learning programmes succeed because they involve employee empowerment and provide a much greater learning curve. In this paper the authors hold that action learning programmes succeed because they are partly systemic and can …

Improving The Design Of Low Volume Sealed Roads In Tanzania, Mfinanga A

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The main objective of the study was to identify appropriate road designs for Low Volume Sealed Roads (LVSRs) with the aim of improving the design of such roads in Tanzania. The study was conducted in Dar es Salaam and Morogoro regions in Tanzania where data for LVSRs were collected from primary and secondary sources in the two regions. The study found that by using an improved pavement design method specifically meant for LVSRs results in cost savings for LVSRs of up to 51% compared with the conventional method of pavement design in Tanzania. The study recommends that the pavement design …

Department Of Biological Systems Engineering Newsletter, Volume 4, Number 2, December 2008

BSE Department Magazine

Environmental Management Research
From the Department Head
Meet the Faculty
Alumni News
Comings and Goings
Alumna Profile
In Memoriam
Museum Hand-picked for HELP
Urban Water Quality
Summer Graduates
Distinguished Fellowship Awards
Partners in Pollution Prevention Interns
Quarter-scale Tractor Competition
Scholarships and Ice Cream
BSE faculty develop Odor Footprint Tool By Crystal Powers
Ethanol Co-product Storage and Utilization Conference, by John Hay
Biological Systems Engineering Department Hall of Fame: Don Eret and Ned Meier
International Symposium
Faculty and Staff News
University Service Awards
ASABE Annual Meeting

Creating Tomorrow, Fall 2008, College Of Engineering

College of Engineering Magazines

Annual magazine for the College of Engineering at Utah State University.

Hydrogen Production Using Geothermal Energy, Theodore Wayne Hand

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

With an ever-increasing need to find alternative fuels to curb the use of oil in the world, many sources have been identified as alternative fuels. One of these sources is hydrogen. Hydrogen can be produced through an electro-chemical process. The objective of this report is to model an electrochemical process and determine gains and or losses in efficiency of the process by increasing or decreasing the temperature of the feed water. In order to make the process environmentally conscience, electricity from a geothermal plant will be used to power the electrolyzer. Using the renewable energy makes the process of producing …

Bioflocculation For Control Of Wastewater Pond Microalgae, Daniel Thomas Frost

Master's Theses

Investigates several hypotheses regarding the use of bioflocculation as a harvesting method for wastewater pond microalgae. Research performed on pilot-scale high rate ponds (HRPs) on the California Central Coast.

Gene Order Phylogeny Of The Genus Prochlorococcus, Haiwei Luo, Jian Shi, William Arndt, Jijun Tang, Robert Friedman

Faculty Publications

Background
Using gene order as a phylogenetic character has the potential to resolve previously unresolved species relationships. This character was used to resolve the evolutionary history within the genus Prochlorococcus, a group of marine cyanobacteria.

Methodology/Principal Findings
Orthologous gene sets and their genomic positions were identified from 12 species of Prochlorococcus and 1 outgroup species of Synechococcus. From this data, inversion and breakpoint distance-based phylogenetic trees were computed by GRAPPA and FastME. Statistical support of the resulting topology was obtained by application of a 50% jackknife resampling technique. The result was consistent and congruent with nucleotide sequence-based and gene-content based …

A Fundamental Study Of The Pcr Amplification Of Gc-Rich Dna Templates, T. G. Mamedov, Elsje Pienaar, Scott E. Whitney, Joel R. Termaat, G. Carvill, R. Goliath, Anuradha Subramanian, Hendrik J. Viljoen

Hendrik J. Viljoen Publications

A theoretical analysis is presented with experimental confirmation to conclusively demonstrate the critical role that annealing plays in efficient PCR amplification of GC-rich templates. The analysis is focused on the annealing of primers at alternative binding sites (competitive annealing) and the main result is a quantitative expression of the efficiency (η) of annealing as a function of temperature (T_A), annealing period (t_A), and template composition. The optimal efficiency lies in a narrow region of T_A and t_A for GC-rich templates and a much broader region for normal GC templates. To confirm the …

Fully Evolvable Optimal Neurofuzzy Controller Using Adaptive Critic Designs, Salman Mohagheghi, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Ronald G. Harley

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A near-optimal neurofuzzy external controller is designed in this paper for a static compensator (STATCOM) in a multimachine power system. The controller provides an auxiliary reference signal for the STATCOM in such a way that it improves the damping of the rotor speed deviations of its neighboring generators. A zero-order Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy rule base constitutes the core of the controller. A heuristic dynamic programming (HDP) based approach is used to further train the controller and enable it to provide nonlinear near-optimal control at different operating conditions of the power system. Based on the connectionist systems theory, the parameters of the …

Rank-Data Distribution Method (R-D Method) For Daily Time-Series Bayesian Networks And Total Maximum Daily Load Estimation, Joon-Hee Lee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Daily time series-based models are required to estimate the higher frequency fluctuations of nutrient loads and concentrations. Some mechanistic mathematical models can provide daily time series outputs of nutrient concentrations but it is difficult to incorporate non-numerical data, such as management scenarios, to mechanistic mathematical models. Bayesian networks (BNs) were designed to accept and process inputs of varied types of both numerical and non-numerical inputs.

A Rank-Data distribution method (R-D method) was developed to provide large time series of daily predicted flows and Total Phosphorus (TP) loads to BNs driving daily time series estimates of T-P concentrations into Hyrum and …

Adventures On The Dark Continent, Hal Cope

ERAU Prescott Aviation History Program

Fascinating stories of flying adventures in Kenya, from
1962-1967 as told by a bush pilot, safari guide, African
wildlife photographer, airline Captain, and aviation
executive/consultant, better known as “Bwana Hal”

2008 Scholars And Artists Bibliography, Rajshehkar G. Javalgi Dr., Michael Schwartz Library, Cleveland State University, Friends Of The Michael Schwartz Library

Scholars and Artists Bibliographies

This bibliography was created for the annual Friends of the Michael Schwartz Library Scholars and Artists Reception, recognizing scholarly and creative achievements of Cleveland State University faculty, staff and emeriti. Dr. Rajshekhar Javalgi was the guest speaker.

Effect Of Operating Pressure On The Extent Of Hysteresis In A Trickle Bed Reactor, Zeljko V. Kuzeljevic, Werner Van Der Merwe, Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan, Milorad P. Dudukovic, Willie Nicol

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Dependence of Hydrodynamic Parameters, Such as Pressure Drop, on the Flow History of the Bed is Called Hysteresis. This Phenomenon is Most Commonly Associated with Changes of Flow Distribution and Flow Patterns with the Flow History. Many Studies Have Shown that Increased Operating Pressure Will Affect Flow Distribution and Wetting Efficiency; However, There Seems to Be No Study of the Effect of the Elevated Operating Pressure on the Extent of Hysteresis. in This Study, an Experimental Investigation of the Hysteresis in a High-Pressure Trickle Bed Has Been Performed. a Hysteresis Factor Has Been Introduced to Quantify the Extent of …

Web Crippling Behaviour Of Thin-Walled Lipped Channel Beams Subjected To Eof And Etf Loading, M. Macdonald, Manoj A. Heiyantuduwa, J. Rhodes

CCFSS Proceedings of International Specialty Conference on Cold-Formed Steel Structures (1971 - 2018)

No abstract provided.

Engineering@Nebraska - Fall 2008

Engineering@Nebraska (Alumni Magazine)

Table of Contents:

Front & Center
A Welcome Home: Zero Net Energy Test House unites university and industry as students' learning is caught green-handed
Making their mark on mars: Huskers at Honeybee, a New York City robotics firm, work on Mars missions
Epigenetics: A dialogue between biologists and engineers: Joe Turner, professor and chair of the Department of Engineering Mechanics, collaborates with UNL plant scientist Sally McKenzie on nanoscale work with huge potential
Energy monitoring on the home front: Together with OPPD, Nebraska Engineering studies devices to promote efficiency
Wave of the future: Biological Systems Engineering professor Greg Bashford creates …

Developing Effective, Sustainable, Mutually Beneficial International Collaborations In Engineering And Technology, Mike Murphy

Presentations

No abstract provided.

A Low-Cost Open-Hardware Wideband Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (Mimo) Wireless Channel Sounder, Michael A. Jensen, Jon W. Wallace, B. T. Maharaj, Louis P. Linde

Faculty Publications

Due to the complexity of multiple-input-multiple- output (MIMO) wireless channels, direct measurement is the main viable option for accurate characterization. Details on a new low-cost wideband channel sounder are presented, which was mainly constructed from conventional instruments and components. This switched architecture system is similar to commercial channel sounders and has modest cost (< US$ 50000). The sounder operates in the 2- to 8-GHz range with up to 100 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth and supports eight transmitters and receivers, which are sufficient to support the development and assessment of current and future MIMO wireless systems. In this "open-hardware" project, the hardware design and software components are openly available to other researchers interested in developing or enhancing the MIMO measurement capability. The actual systems built at the University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, and Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, are presented, as are some example studies.

Determining The Repair Ranking Of Existing Rc Bridges Using Multi-Pole Fuzzy Pattern Recognition Evaluation Method, Ming-Te Liang, Ting- Bang Chu, Wen-Hu Tsao, Chi-Jang Yeh

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This paper proposes a technique for determining the repair ranking of existing reinforced concrete (RC) bridges using the multi-pole fuzzy pattern recognition evaluation method. The differences between bridges and grades are expressed by weighted generalized weight distance. To find the optimal relative membership degree of an evaluated bridge attributed to any grade, the operative principle is that the sum of the square of weighted generalized weight distance is minimum. Based on this principle, the problem of extreme value is established by the objective function in connection with constraint condition. Using the Lagrangean method, the multi-pole fuzzy pattern recognition evaluation method …

2008 Fall Engr333 Project Assignment, Matthew K. Heun

ENGR 333

The Fall 2008 semester ENGR333 project assessed the feasibility of a Green Revolving Fund for Calvin College. I asked the students “What would it take to implement a Calvin Energy Efficiency Fund (CEEF)?”

The project emerged from the work of the previous year’s students who uncovered the concept of green revolving funds.

Immediately after the Fall 2008 semester, I went on sabbatical to South Africa for all of 2009. While I was away, the Calvin administration established the Calvin Energy Recovery Fund (CERF). Over the next decade, CERF saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs and was …

Approaching Coal Mine Safety From A Comparative Law And Interdisciplinary Perspective, Anne Marie Lofaso

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Power System Control With An Embedded Neural Network In Hybrid System Modeling, Seung-Mook Baek, Jung-Wook Park, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Output limits of the power system stabilizer (PSS) can improve the system damping performance immediately following a large disturbance. Due to nonsmooth nonlinearities arising from the saturation limits, these values cannot be determined by the conventional tuning methods based on linear analysis. Only ad hoc tuning procedures can been used. A feedforward neural network (with a structure of multilayer perceptron neural network) is applied to identify the dynamics of an objective function formed by the states and, thereafter, to compute the gradients required in the nonlinear parameter optimization. Moreover, its derivative information is used to replace that obtained from the …

Barriers To Innovation In Public-Private Partnership (Ppp), Louis Gunnigan, David Eaton

Conference papers

This paper sets out to identify barriers to greater use of innovation in PPP projects. Using a series of in-depth interviews with participants on two closely related PPP projects, data were gathered and analysed to compare the success of the projects in relation to innovation. The views of the participants relating to the approach to innovation were recorded and were examined relative to the views on innovation expressed in published documentation relating to these projects. The research showed that two different types of innovation could be identified – namely cost reducing innovation and product enhancing innovation. It also showed that, …

Intelligent Tool For Determining The True Harmonic Current Contribution Of A Customer In A Power Distribution Network, Joy Mazumdar, Ronald G. Harley, Frank C. Lambert, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Marty L. Page

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Customer loads connected to power distribution network may be broadly categorized as either linear or nonlinear. Nonlinear loads inject harmonics into the power network. Harmonics in a power system are classified as either load harmonics or as supply harmonics depending on their origin. The source impedance also impacts the harmonic current flowing in the network. Hence, any change in the source impedance is reflected in the harmonic spectrum of the current. This paper proposes a novel method based on artificial neural networks to isolate and evaluate the impact of the source impedance change without disrupting the operation of any load, …

Bio-Inspired Algorithms For The Design Of Multiple Optimal Power System Stabilizers: Sppso And Bfa, Tridib Kumar Das, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Usman O. Aliyu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Damping intra-area and interarea oscillations are critical to optimal power flow and stability in a power system. Power system stabilizers (PSSs) are effective damping devices, as they provide auxiliary control signals to the excitation systems of generators. The proper selection of PSS parameters to accommodate variations in the power system dynamics is important and is a challenging task particularly when several PSSs are involved. Two classical bio-inspired algorithms, which are smallpopulation- based particle swarm optimization (SPPSO) and bacterial foraging algorithm (BFA), are presented in this paper for the simultaneous design of multiple optimal PSSs in two power systems. A classical …

Investigating Failure Of A Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Wall In Black Hawk, Colorado, Jonathan T. H. Wu, Kanop Ketchart

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

Approximately 18 months after construction, an 11-m high rock faced Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil (GRS) wall was found to suffer from subsidence of about 100 mm on the crest, along with rocks being dislodged from the wall face from time to time. In the ensuing three months after these signs of problems were first detected, the subsidence on the crest of the wall increased to about 250 mm with significant lateral bulging on the wall face. The wall comprised two sides. The problems occurred primarily on one side of the wall; while the other side showed little distress. The entire wall eventually …

Foundations Of The Nation: The Hillbrow And Brixton Towers As Figurations Of National Identity In South Africa, Lizè Groenewald, Francis Legge

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

In its accreditation of degrees, the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) requires the inclusion, in any curriculum, of 10% of total credits of what are termed complementary studies that encompass reflections upon environmental impact, legal matters, cultural heritage and design philosophies as they pertain to the engineering profession. By stipulating this inclusion ECSA acknowledges that engineering can no longer be regarded as a neutral, apolitical endeavour. This paper responds to the latter position and sets out to offer a broadening of the current scope of scholarly dialogue between a logical science and the human community which it serves. In …

Microbiological Improvement Of The Physical Properties Of Soil, Edward Kavazanjian Jr., Ismail Karatas

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

The application of microbiological processes for improvement of the physical properties of soils offers the promise of sustainable, cost effective, non-disruptive ground improvement for a variety of geotechnical problems. Potentially beneficial applications of microbiological processes include increasing the stiffness of soil to reduce settlement and lateral deformations, increasing shear strength to enhance foundation bearing capacity and slope stability and to facilitate excavation and tunneling, reducing the susceptibility of granular soil to earthquake-induced liquefaction, reducing swell (expansion) potential of fine grained soil, and reducing permeability for groundwater control. Microbiological processes that can potentially be employed for these applications include mineral precipitation, …

Past Proceedings: Sixth International Conference On Case Histories In Geotechnical Engineering, Arlington (2008), Multiple Authors

International Conferences on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Damage To A Road And Sports Complex On Expansive Clays, M. B. Mgangira, P. Paige-Green

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

The paper discusses a road rehabilitation project and a sports complex, where the underlying in situ materials were typical African black cotton soils known for their expansive characteristics. Field investigations were undertaken to discern the main causes of the pavement distress and the serious damage to roads and structures encountered at a large sports complex with the support of quantitative data from test pits and with laboratory test results. In addition, available design documents and construction records were reviewed to identify key aspects that may have contributed to the observed excessive cracking of the road pavement and damage to both …