Engineering Commons^™

Micromachined Nanoporous Membranes For Blood Oxygenation Systems, Vijayakrishnan Ambravaneswaran

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

An oxygenator is a medical device that aids in the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the human blood during procedures and illnesses that may cause the interruption or cessation of blood flow in the body. Porous membranes currently used in blood-oxygenation systems are bulky, and the pores are relatively large in dimension. The control over the pore size is poor due to the fabrication techniques used. The standard deviation of the pore size and the placement of the pores deteriorate even further with decreasing pore diameter. It is because of inaccurate pore placement and poor control over the …

Improved Design Of A Piecewise Linear Network, Sayantani Pal

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

An efficient design of the Piecewise Linear Network (PLN) which maps the N dimensional input vector space into an M dimensional output vector space is presented. Several clusters are formed in the given datasets and a linear mapping is fitted for each cluster using regression and the total mapping error is calculated. We have designed this network using Self Organizing Map (SOM) clustering which uses the Euclidean distance measure. Again the same has been designed by using various weighted distance measures whose results are compared. It is observed that there is a decrease in Mean Square Error (MSE) of the …

Study Of Patch Antennas For Strain Measurement, Uday Shankar Tata

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

Reliable strain measurement is important for damage detection of mechanical and civil structures. Existing wireless strain sensing technologies require a high operating voltage, bulky signal conditioning systems, and an external wireless module to transmit the sensor output. These limitations make the strain monitoring unreliable and expensive. An innovative method of measuring strain using a patch antenna is investigated in this thesis to overcome the limitations of existing strain sensing technologies. The patch antenna is made of a thin sheet of low-loss insulating material, called the dielectric substrate. The antenna pattern, i.e. a metallic patch, is printed on one side of …

Error Correction Methods For Latency-Constrained Flash Memory Systems, Priyanka Ankolekar

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

Maintaining the reliability of data stored in Flash devices and reading it correctly has become a challenge as the demand for higher density is forcing aggressive shrinking of Flash architectures. For all Flash systems, especially latency-constrained NOR Flash, an on-chip error correction code (ECC) is the only viable and robust solution to this problem. This thesis investigates and optimizes low-latency error correction schemes for on-chip implementation in NOR systems using existing error correction methods as a starting point. As the first step towards doing this, a mathematical relation has been derived to compute the bit error rate (BER) of a …

2008 Safety Belt Usage Survey In Kentucky, Kenneth R. Agent, Eric R. Green

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objective of this study was to establish 2008 safety belt and child safety seat usage rates in Kentucky. The 2008 survey continues to document the results after enactment of the initial “secondary enforcement” statewide mandatory safety belt law in 1994 and the subsequent change to “primary enforcement” which was enacted in 2006. Data were collected at 200 randomly selected sites spread across Kentucky. Data from the individual sites were combined into a statewide percentage considering roadway functional classification, geographic region, and vehicle miles traveled.

The data show that the usage rate in 2008 (73.3 percent) increased compared to 2007 …

Evaluating Performance Tradeoff In Defect-Tolerant Gate Programming Techniques For The Clock-Free Nanowire Crossbar Architecture, Minsu Choi, Ravi Bonam

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A novel asynchronous nanowire crossbar architecture has been recently proposed by authors' research group. The proposed clock-free architecture provides numerous significant benefits over its clocked counterparts which include better manufacturability, scalability, modularity and robustness. We also proposed various gate mapping and reconfiguration algorithms for defect-tolerant programming of PGMB (programmable gate macro blocks) - which is the primary building block of the proposed architecture. These algorithms were tested by simulations and a variety of parameter values were applied to show their performance characteristics. The most important performance metric of the proposed techniques is the programmability (i.e., the ratio of successfully programmed …

Investigating Isolated Neuromuscular Control Contributions To Non-Contact Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Risk Via Computer Simulation Methods, Scott G. Mclean, Xuemei Huang, Antonie J. Van Den Bogert

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Background

Despite the ongoing evolution of anterior cruciate ligament injury prevention methods, injury rates and the associated sex-disparity remain. Strategies capable of successfully countering key control parameters existent within the injury mechanism thus remain elusive. Forward dynamics model simulations afford an expedited means to study realistic injury causing scenarios, while controlling all facets of the movement control strategy. Utilizing these methods, the current study examined the potential for perturbations in key initial contact neuromuscular parameters to injure the anterior cruciate ligament during the stance phase of sidestep cutting maneuvers.

Methods

Controlled experiments were performed on optimized and validated subject-specific forward …

Automation Of Thermal Model Extraction And Optimization, Obiorah Oji

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

Semiconductor device model optimization is highly beneficial; it improves the accuracy with which we can predict the performance of real devices and whole circuits before they are fabricated. This helps save time and money in being able to predict undesirable circuit responses. Although, it proves to be very useful, it can become very time consuming. The goal of this thesis is to use readily available tools to enhance and automate the somewhat complex process of optimization and streamline it so that results can be analyzed quicker with the goal of generating VBIC models that accurately match the behavior of the …

Exploratory Study Of Gold Nanoshell As A Therapeutic Thermal Ablation Agent For Cancer Treatment Using Laboratory And Animal Tissue Phantoms, Yajuvendra Rathore

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer in the United States and the second leading cause of male death from cancer. Surgical removal of the prostate is associated with high risks of surgical complications and consequences such as incontinence and sexual dysfunction. In my study, I have investigated a nanoparticle-assisted photothermal therapeutic method that may be used for treatment of prostate cancer in the future. This method is minimally-invasive and uses gold nano-shells as hyperthermia agents to treat localized necrosis of cancer cells. I have conducted a feasibility study for a new class of NIR absorbing nanoparticles called Gold …

Study Of Normobaric Hyperoxia Effects During Focal Hypoxia-Ischemic Injury In Mice Using Optical Spectroscopy Measurements, Shereen Mohideen

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

Optical spectroscopy has seen tremendous growth and development in recent years and has been extensively used to characterize the optical properties of biological tissues. The purpose of this study is to investigate the values of oxygen saturation and concentration of hemoglobin in mice with focal hypoxic ischemia after being recovered in normobaric hyperoxia. Mice at five different age levels were used for this purpose, in order to see the effects of hyperoxia at different developmental stages of the brain; ischemia was induced in them by ligating their right carotid artery and subjecting them to hypoxic (8% oxygen) environment for half …

Model Driven Analysis Of Optical Reflectance Spectroscopy For Detection Of Human Prostate And Kidney Cancers, Aditya Vivek Mathker

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

Renal cell carcinoma is one of the most common forms of kidney cancer originating from the renal tubule. During surgery, it is difficult for the surgeons to identify the cancer tissue from the normal tissue and also the benign tumor from malignant tumor. Moreover, prostate cancer is the leading cause of death amongst men in the United States. In this study, optical reflectance spectroscopy with short source-detector separation is used as a minimally invasive technique to differentiate normal tissues from tumor lesions and also to differentiate benign from malignant tissues in renal cell carcinoma. Clinical post-operative readings were obtained using …

Comparison Of Hemodynamic Response Non-Linearity Using Simultaneous Functional Near Infrared Spectrsoscopy And Magnetic Resonance Imaging Modalities, Renuka Parlapalli

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response, which is measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), is known to be a combination of various vascular parameters, among which deoxy-hemoglobin is argued to be a major contributor. Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) though limited in its spatial resolution provides a promising tool to study cortical activations, due to its specificity of independent measurement of blood parameters (Oxy, De-oxy and Total Hemoglobin), high temporal resolution and ease of use. To integrate the best aspects of two imaging modalities, it becomes important to study the close relationship between the two imaging modalities. A finger …

Surgical Fluorescence Imager For Visualizing Anteriorly Placed Biliary Structures, In-Vivo During Human Cholecystectomy, Santosh Hariharan

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

Cholecystectomy is one of the most common procedures occurring in United States to cure gall bladder diseases. There are two means of performing this procedure, Open Cholecystectomy and Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy, the later one being more frequent. The critical issue while performing Cholecystectomy is injury to Common Bile Duct (CBD) which could cause post procedural complications. Since the CBD is under fat layer it is important to image and locate the CBD during the procedure. The novel fluorescence imager developed in this project would help visualize the CBD by using the fluorescence properties of Indocyanine Green, to be injected into the …

Study Of Nirs Based Motor Cortex Activation Patterns In Cerebral Palsy Affected Kids Using Image Based Metrics, Nayan Jaikrishna Asanani

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

In recent years the National Institutes of Health has placed great emphasis on addressing the emergent need to accelerate translation of laboratory discoveries into clinical practice. The proposed study is very much aligned with this NIH emphasis, targeting on the translation of near infrared (NIR) brain imaging to clinical assessment for children with cerebral palsy. Over ten million Americans are affected by central nervous system disorders that result in motor deficits. Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common motor disorder of central origin in childhood and affects at least 2 children per 1000 live births every year . One of …

Analysis And Design Of A Hypersonic Scramjet Engine With A Starting Mach Number Of 4.00, Kristen Nicole Roberts

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

When pressures and temperatures become so high in supersonic flight that it is no longer efficient to slow the oncoming flow to subsonic speeds for combustion, a scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) is used in place of a ramjet. Currently, the transition to supersonic combustion generally occurs at a freestream Mach number around 5.0 to 6.0. This research details analysis completed towards extending scramjet operability to lower Mach numbers, while maintaining performance at higher Mach numbers within the same flowpath as detailed in the Air Force solicitation AF073-058. The specific goal is to determine whether the scramjet starting Mach number can …

Subsurface Investigations Using High Resolution Resistivity, Dharmateja Maganti

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Electrical resistivity imaging has been proved to be well suited to produce images of subsurface conditionsbecause of the ability of the technique for detecting resistive features and discriminating subtle resistivity variations in the soil media. Electrical resistivity imaging survey was performed at E. Center Development in Duncanville, Texas. The survey was conducted using SuperSting R8/IP Multi-channel Resistivity Imaging System to image the subsurface structure. Both 2-D and 3-D electrical resistivity imaging tests were conducted using dipole-dipole array at 2 feet, 5 feet and 20 feet electrode spacing. Earth Imager 2D and Earth Imager 3D software's were then used to invert …

Sealing And Lamination Of Microfluidic Devices, Christopher Ryan Oliver

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Theses - Archive

A difficult problem facing microfluidic manufacturing of devices remains that often material requirements force device designers to choose materials that are difficult to bond, seal or enclose. Examples of these materials include the Polyolefin family such as HDPE (High Density Polyethylene), PP (Polypropylene) or high performance polymers such as PEEK (Polyetheretherketone), Acetal or Polyimide. The problem arises from the chemical resistance of the materials making them ideal for processing corrosive chemicals but the same property reduces the effectiveness of laminates, surface bonding, surface coatings and solvents. To address this problem a methodology for sealing devices made of these materials is …

Rampart Roads In The Peat Lands Of Ireland: Genesis, Development And Current Performance, Juan Pablo Osorio, Eric R. Farrell, Brendan C. O'Kelly, Tom Casey

Articles

The construction and improvement of roads on peat lands has always been a challenging task in geotechnical engineering. Rampart roads, which are a particular feature of the bog roads in Ireland, are caused by the excavation of peat from the roadsides over many years for use as a domestic fuel. The historical development of rampart roads and current performance under the added traffic loading is discussed. Various road improvement methods have been applied to improve the road ability to carry traffic and the technical aspects and performance of the methods are discussed. In particular, the performance of the improvement methods …

Ccfss News Fall 2008, Wei-Wen Yu Center For Cold-Formed Steel Structures

CCFSS Newsletters (1999 - 2008)

No abstract provided.

Design Of A Signal Generator Using Current Feedback Operational Amplifiers, Akm Sydul Haque

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Sinusoidal, triangular and rectangular waveforms are generated using current feedback operational amplifiers. A signal generator using a Current Feedback Operational Amplifier (CFOA) was designed, simulated and fabricated. The simulated frequency of oscillation for the sinusoidal wave is 13.13 MHz to 23.94 MHz, for the triangular and the rectangular wave are 6.78 MHz to 59.5 MHz in simulation. The current feedback operational amplifier can achieve higher oscillation frequency than a voltage feedback operational amplifier. Two different types of current feedback operational amplifiers were designed. These are the double buffer current feedback operational amplifier and the double buffer current booster current feedback …

Sequential Frameworks For Statistics-Based Value Function Representation In Approximate Dynamic Programming, Huiyuan Fan

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Dynamic programming (DP) was derived by Bellman in 1957 as a mathematical programming method to solve multistage decision problems. The DP concept has great potential, but it only can solve small problems exactly under very limiting restrictions such as linear dynamics, quadratic cost, Gaussian random variable, etc. With advances in computational power, a new family of dynamic programming known as approximate dynamic programming (ADP) has emerged. A real-world DP problem is often high-dimensional and stochastic with continuous state variables. To handle this type of problem, ADP methods discretize/sample the continuous state space and approximate the future value (or cost-to-go) function …

Acuta Enews August 2008, Vol. 37, No. 8

ACUTA Newsletters

ln This lssue

Report from the 37th Annual Conference & Exhibition

From the President.......Corinne Hoch, Columbia Univ., ACUTA President

Board Report............ Riny Ledgerwood, San Diego State Univ., ACUTA Secretary/Treasurer

Tech Talk: Disks Will Fail, but how Do You Know When?.......... ...Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR

lnfo Links ............. Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern Iowa

DC Update ...........Dove Ostrom, Washington State University

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Studies Of Polymers In Fouling Release Coating Science, Haoran Chen

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In chapter one, we describe our studies of the solubility properties of two biocides in F127 aqueous solutions. One is zinc omadine and the other is C9211. The partition coefficients of these two biocides were also determined from the analytical results.

In chapter two, we conducted phase related studies of a triblock copolymer, PEO400- PBO55-PEO400 in aqueous solution. The phase diagram features of PEO400-PBO55-PEO400 in water are compared with those of F127. We believe the lack of a lower gel to liquid transition boundary in this system is because of the relatively longer PEO segments relative to the PBO segment. …

Strategic Plan For Industrial And Management Systems Engineering, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Reports

The role of this strategic plan is to map out a range of department goals, offer objectives for achieving each goal, and list potential strategies for meeting an objective. It also lists performance metrics for measuring progress for each goal. Each year, a subset of goals and objectives will be identified by the IMSE department as a priority for the coming year. Detailed metrics for measuring improvement for the department’s priorities areas will then be defined. The department committee to develop the plan consisted of Paul Savory (committee chair), Susan Hallbeck, and Erick Jones.

Computing The K-Hop Neighborhoods In Wireless Networks Locally, Iyad A. Kanj, Andreas Wiese, Fenghui Zhang

Technical Reports

A k-local distributed algorithm (k is a natural number) is a distributed algorithm in which the computation at every point/device in the distributed system modeled as a graph depends solely on the initial states of the points that are at most k hops away from the point. A distributed algorithm is local if it is k-local for some fixed natural number k. Local distributed algorithms are very important, especially for applications in ad-hoc sensor and wireless networks, since such algorithms are naturally scalable, robust, and fault tolerant. Clearly, an essential component of any k-local distributed algorithm is computing the k-hop …

On The Pseudo-Achromatic Number Problem, Jianer Chen, Iyad A. Kanj, Jie Meng, Gei Xia, Fenghui Zhang

Technical Reports

We study the parameterized complexity of the pseudo-achromatic number problem: Given an undirected graph and a parameter k, determine if the graph can be partitioned into k groups such that every two groups are connected by at least one edge. This problem has been extensively studied in graph theory and combinatorial optimization. We show that the problem has a kernel of at most (k-2)(k+1) vertices that is constructable in time O(m\sqrt{n}), where n and m are the number of vertices and edges, respectively, in the graph, and k is the parameter. This directly implies that the problem is fixed-parameter tractable. …

Spatial Variability Of Radionuclide Distribution Coefficients At The Savannah River Site And The Sub-Surface Transport Implications, Kelly Grogan

All Theses

Distribution coefficients, Kd, were measured for a suite of gamma-emitting radionuclides in uncontaminated soils from the E-Area burial grounds at the Savannah River Site. The objectives of the study were to (1) characterize the spatial variability of Kd, (2) evaluate the effect of spatial variability on vadose zone transport, and (3) develop statistical models for predicting Kd from physical or chemical characteristics.
Equilibrium batch sorption tests were performed on 27 soil samples collected from depths ranging from 11 ft to 100 ft from the BGO-3A core with 241Am, 109Cd, 139Ce, 137Cs, 57Co, 60Co, 203Hg, 85Sr, and 88Y. Distribution coefficients were …

Life Cycle Assessment Of Bio-Material Stabilized Expansive Soils, Ranjith Samuel Rosenberk

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Pavement cracking is one of the major maintenance works that requires millions of dollars in repair costs annually. Pavement cracks are formed due to moisture and temperature fluctuations in the soil. Stabilization of pavement shoulder subsoil with the addition of compost material was studied for preventing pavement cracks. Eight different compost materials with three major feed stock sources such as biosolids, wood waste, and animal manure were investigated in this research. Compost treatment studies were performed at four different test sites located in various regions of the state of Texas. Laboratory experiments were conducted completed compost manufactured topsoil's (CMTs) to …

Sources Of Variability In Reflectance Measurements On Normal Cadaver Ears, Susan E. Voss, Nicholas J. Horton, Rebecca R. Woodbury, Kathryn N. Sheffield

Engineering: Faculty Publications

Objectives:

The development of acoustic reflectance measurements may lead to noninvasive tests that provide information currently unavailable from standard audiometric testing. One factor limiting the development of these tests is that normal-hearing human ears show substantial intersubject variations. This work examines intersubject variability that results from measurement location within the ear canal, estimates of ear-canal area, and variations in middle-ear cavity volume.

Design:

Energy reflectance (ER) measurements were made on nine human-cadaver ears to study three variables. (1) ER was measured at multiple ear-canal locations. (2) The ear-canal area at each measurement location was measured and the ER was calculated …

Link Path Design On A Block-By-Block Basis, Francesco De Paulis, Jun Fan, Jay Diepenbrock, Samuel Connor, Antonio Orlandi, Bruce Archambeault

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In high-speed data communication systems, the complexity of link path between transmitters and receivers present a challenge for designers to maintain an acceptable bit error rate. An approach is presented in this paper to design the link path on a block-by-block basis. The unique advantage of this approach lies on the physics-based model of each block, which relates performance to geometry and makes design improvement and optimization possible. An example link path involving a backpanel is investigated using the approach. The via stubs and the dielectric materials in the backpanel are demonstrated to be critical factors for link performance in …