Engineering Commons^™

Neural Network Dimension Selection For Dynamical System Identification, Devin Sabo, Xiao-Hua Yu

Electrical Engineering

Choosing an appropriate size of a network is an important issue for any neural network applications. The common practice is to start with an “over-sized” network, then gradually reduces its size to find the optimal solution. In this paper, a new hybrid neural network pruning algorithm for multi-layer feedforward neural networks is investigated. Computer simulation results on system identification and pattern classification problems show this algorithm can significantly reduce the network dimension while still maintaining satisfactory identification and classification accuracy.

Equi-Biaxial Fatigue Of Elastomers: The Effect Of Oil Swelling On Fatigue Life, Stephen Jerrams, John Hanley, Niall Murphy, Ali Hassan

Articles

The effect of oil swelling on the fatigue life of ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber (EPDM) has been studied under conditions of equi-biaxial cycling using dynamic bubble inflation. Specimens were subjected to varying degrees of swelling in reference mineral oils and fatigued at constant engineering stress amplitudes. The reference oils used for swelling the EPDM had known aniline points, allowing the rubber-oil compatibility to be determined. The inflation fluid for fatigue testing was selected with a solubility parameter that would produce a desired level of incompatibility with the test specimens, thereby limiting the amount of additional swelling during cycling. Wöhler …

Additional Information About American And Arab Perceptions Of An Arabic Turn-Taking Cue, Nigel Ward, Yaffa Al Bayyari

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

This technical report is a supplement to "American and Arab perceptions of an Arabic turn-taking cue", a paper submitted to the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. It provides additional details, discussion, figures, tables, and references relating to the main finding, that English speakers tend to misinterpret the prosodic pattern used in Arabic to cue back-channel responses, perceiving it as an expression of negative affect. It also describes an experimental demonstration that being able to detect and respond to this prosodic pattern in dialog can increase native-speaker perceptions of the social effectiveness of learners.

An Engineering Evaluation Of Ankle Prosthetics, Christopher Thian, Stephen Tiernan, Fiona Mcevoy, Robert Flavin

Conference Papers

There are a wide range of different types of ankle replacements on the market today each with a
different mechanical design. Unfortunately the results of ankle replacements are not as good as hip
and knee replacements; this is due to the complexity of the ankle joint. In the early days of ankle
replacements some of the prosthetics only lasted 4 months. Recent developments have improved the
longevity of the replacements although, there are still many complications and failures of the
replacements, these include; the prosthetic components migrating into the bone, the components
failing due to stresses induced by the forces …

Temperature Dependence Of Macrobending Loss In All-Fiber Bend Loss Edge Filter, Pengfei Wang, Yuliya Semenova, Gerald Farrell

Articles

A theoretical model for macrobending-induced temperature dependent loss (TDL) for a standard singlemode fiber (SMF28) with dual coating layers is presented, with good agreement demonstrated between theoretical calculations and experimental results. The impact of temperature on two examples of an all-fiber based edge filter is also investigated theoretically and experimentally and using the developed model, it is shown that it is possible to predict the impact of temperature variations on an all-fiber based edge filter.

Environmental Effects On Corrosion Properties Of Alloy 22, Mano Misra

Publications (YM)

This document presents detailed technical report for four Subtasks that were conducted independently. All four Subtasks investigated environmental effects on corrosion properties of Alloy 22. The four Subtasks that were investigated are as follows: Subtask 1: Experimental Determination of Parameters for the General Corrosion Model. Subtask 2: Corrosion under Dust Deposits Containing Hygroscopic Salts. Subtask 3: Heated Electrode Approach for the Study of Corrosion Under Aggressive Conditions. Subtask 4: Effect of Hydrogen Permeation on the Stability of the Passive Film of Alloy 22.

Verified Methods For Computing Pareto Sets: General Algorithmic Analysis, Boglarka G.-Toth, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many engineering problems, we face multi-objective optimization, with several objective functions f1,...,fn. We want to provide the user with the Pareto set -- set of all possible solutions x which cannot be improved in all categories (i.e., for which fj(x')>=f_j(x) for all j and fj(x')>fj(x) for some j is impossible). The user should be able to select an appropriate trade-off between, say, cost and durability. We extend the general results about the (verified) algorithmic computability of maxima locations to show that Pareto sets can also computed.

Automated Near-Field Scanning To Identify Resonances, Giorgi Muchaidze, Huang Wei, Jin Min, Shao Peng, James L. Drewniak, David Pommerenke

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Near-field scanning systems are a tool for rootcause ESD, EMI, and immunity analysis of electronic systems, as well as qualification methodology for ICs and modules. For emissions, they have developed into a standardized method. Development of universally accepted file formats for data exchange is on-going. Four main types of scanning have been implemented by this and other authors: Near-field EMI scanning, ESD scanning, radiated immunity scanning, and resonance scanning. This article concentrates on resonance scanning as a newly added method for automated EMC system analysis.

Particle Swarm Optimization With Quantum Infusion For The Design Of Digital Filters, Bipul Luitel, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, particle swarm optimization with quantum infusion (PSO-QI) has been applied for the design of digital filters. In PSO-QI, Global best (gbest) particle (in PSO star topology) obtained from particle swarm optimization is enhanced by doing a tournament with an offspring produced by quantum behaved PSO, and selecting the winner as the new gbest. Filters are designed based on the best approximation to the ideal response by minimizing the maximum ripples in passband and stopband of the filter response. PSO-QI, as is shown in the paper, converges to a better fitness. This new algorithm is implemented in the …

Mining Mining Data: Bringing Empirical Analysis To Bear On The Regulation Of Safety And Health In U.S. Mining, Alison D. Morantz

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Workers At Risk: The Unfulfilled Promise Of The Occupational Safety And Health Act, Lynn Rhinehart

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Integrating Technology To Improve Mine Safety In The Wake Of Recent Mine Disasters, Jeffery L. Kohler

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Free Markets, Individual Liberties And Safe Coal Mines: A Post-Sago Perspective, C. Gregory Ruffennach

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cryptosporidium Outbreak (Water Treatment Failure): North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Spring 2001, Patrick B. Jameson, Yung-Tse Hung, Chin Y. Kuo, Paul A. Bosela

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

An outbreak of cryptosporidiosis occurred in the town of North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada in the spring of 2001. The outbreak left thousands of people sick including about 50 people hospitalized. The source of the outbreak was from the city's surface water treatment plant. The Sedimentation Contact Unit did not satisfactorily remove suspended solids from the source water, resulting in filter breakthrough. Contaminated water was released into the distribution system causing the outbreak. Communication breakdown and confusion exacerbated the situation, extending the duration of the outbreak. The outbreak prompted the province to change the way it regulated municipal utilities of water …

International Energy Agency Bestest For Ground Coupled Heat Transfer, Joel Neymark, Ron Judkoff, Michael Crowley

Reports

The objective of this project is to assess the accuracy of building energy analysis tools that have incorporated detailed models for predicting ground-coupled heat transfer related to floor slab and basement constructions. An executive summary is to be found in the main report.

Section Properties For Cellular Decks Subjected To Negative Bending, Gregory L. Snow, W. Samuel Easterling

CCFSS Library (1939 - present)

Cellular decks are formed by attaching cold-formed “hat-shaped” deck sections on top of cold-formed steel sheets. The attachment is typically made using resistance spot welds spaced at a specific interval. The void left underneath the deck flutes and above the steel sheet provides a convenient means for the distribution of wiring and data cables throughout building systems. The section properties of cellular decks subjected to positive bending can be determined using the provisions of Chapter B of the 2001 AISI Specification (AISI, 2001). However, the provisions of Chapter B do not apply to cellular decks subjected to negative bending unless …

The Role Of Micro Wind Generation In Ireland’S Energy Future, Keith Sunderland, Michael Conlon

Conference papers

This paper defines the current position for micro-generation, with particular reference to the potential for micro-wind units, in the Irish electricity supply system. A network model is developed using the Distflow method of load flow analysis and is applied to consider the appropriate level of micro-generation penetration.

Global Verification And Analysis Of Network Access Control Configuration, Ehab Al-Shaer, Will Marrero, Adel El-Atawy, Khalid Elbadawi

Technical Reports

Network devices such as routers, firewalls, IPSec gateways, and NAT are configured using access control lists. However, recent studies and ISP surveys show that the management of access control configurations is a highly complex and error prone task. Without automated global configuration management tools, unreachablility and insecurity problems due to the misconfiguration of network devices become an ever more likely.

In this report, we present a novel approach that models the global end-to-end behavior of access control devices in the network including routers, firewalls, NAT, IPSec gateways for unicast and multicast packets. Our model represents the network as a state …

The Failed Promise Of Workplace Health Regulation, David C. Vladeck

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Method For Processing Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler Velocity Data From Towed, Undulating Vehicles, David A. Jay, Jiayi Pan

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The utility of the acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) for sampling small time and space scales of coastal environments can be enhanced by mounting a high-frequency (1200 kHz) ADCP on an oscillating towed body. This approach requires both an external reference to convert the measured shears to velocities in the earth coordinates and a method to determine the towed body velocities. During the River Influence on the Shelf Ecosystems (RISE) project cruise, a high-frequency (1200 kHz) and narrowbeam ADCP with mode 12 sampling was mounted on a TRIAXUS oscillating towfish, which steers a 3D path behind the ship. This deployment …

Enhanced Particle Swarm Optimizer For Power System Applications, Yamille Del Valle, M. Digman, A. Gray, J. Perkel, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Ronald G. Harley

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Power system networks are complex systems that are highly nonlinear and non-stationary, and therefore, their performance is difficult to optimize using traditional optimization techniques. This paper presents an enhanced particle swarm optimizer for solving constrained optimization problems for power system applications, in particular, the optimal allocation of multiple STATCOM units. The study focuses on the capability of the algorithm to find feasible solutions in a highly restricted hyperspace. The performance of the enhanced particle swarm optimizer is compared with the classical particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, genetic algorithm (GA) and bacterial foraging algorithm (BFA). Results show that the enhanced PSO …

Hardware Implementations Of Swarming Intelligence -- A Survey, Cameron Eric Johnson, Parviz Palangpour, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Swarming intelligence (SI) is the property of a system whereby the collective behaviors of (unsophisticated) agents interacting locally with their environment cause coherent global patterns to emerge. Because there are no central processing requirements, SI is ideal for parallelization, which lends it well to hardware implementations in many inexpensive processors. Several implementations in hardware that exploit this property for rapid calculation and inexpensive construction are highlighted in this paper to provide a good starting point for developing hardware platforms for SI algorithms.

Optimal Svm Switching For A Multilevel Multi-Phase Machine Using Modified Discrete Pso, Chris M. Hutson, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Keith Corzine

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper searches for the best possible switching sequence in a multilevel multi-phase inverter that gives the lowest amount of voltage harmonics. A modified discrete particle swarm (MDPSO) algorithm is used in an attempt to find the optimal space vector modulation switching sequence that results in the lowest voltage THD. As with typical PSO cognitive and social parameters are used to guide the search, but an additional mutation term is added to broaden the amount of area searched. The search space is the feasible solutions for the predetermined vectors at a given modulation index. Comparison of the MDPSO algorithm to …

Parametric Study Of Alternative Ev1 Powertrains, Adam Saplin, Andrew Meintz, Mehdi Ferdowsi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The General Motors (GM) EV1 is an electric vehicle originally powered by either a PbA or NiMh battery pack. This paper examines the possibility of alternative powertrain configurations. These alternatives include an ultracapacitor (UC) storage system, fuel cell system with UC storage, and a fuel cell system with a NiMh battery pack. The configurations were simulated using ADVISOR. Parametric tests were performed by varying the size of the energy storage systems. The study of these combinations is followed by an examination of the current art of the hybrid energy storage topologies used to combine battery and ultracapacitor storage. These topologies …

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 …

Swarm Intelligence And Evolutionary Approaches For Reactive Power And Voltage Control, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, G. Krost, G. A. Bakare, Lisa L. Grant

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a comparison of swarm intelligence and evolutionary techniques based approaches for minimization of system losses and improvement of voltage profiles in a power network. Efficient distribution of reactive power in an electric network can be achieved by adjusting the excitation on generators, the on-load tap changer positions of transformers, and proper switching of discrete portions of inductors or capacitors. This is a mixed integer non-linear optimization problem where metaheuristics techniques have proven suitable for providing optimal solutions. Four algorithms explored in this paper include differential evolution (DE), particle swarm optimization (PSO), a hybrid combination of DE and …

Reducing Computational Time Delay In Digital Current-Mode Controllers For Dc-Dc Converters, Kai-Tak Wan, Mehdi Ferdowsi

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A new method to improve the performance of digital current-mode controllers used in dc-dc power conversion is introduced. The proposed scheme is based on a simple prediction method which offers more time for DSP calculations than its conventional counterparts. Therefore, there will be less DSP computational time delay, which results in faster dynamic response and more accuracy and stability in power electronic converters. Principles of operation of the proposed prediction method as well as its application to several digital control techniques are presented.

Enhancing Water Removal From Whole Stillage By Enzyme Addition During Fermentation, Ana Beatriz Henriques, David B. Johnston, Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Removal of Water from Coproducts in the Fuel Ethanol Process Requires a Significant Energy Input. in This Study, the Addition of Commercially Available Cell-Wall-Degrading Enzymes Was Investigated to Determine Whether or Not the Enzymes Could Reduce the Amount of Water Bound within the Wet Grains. This Would Have the Effect of Allowing More Water to Be Removed during Centrifugation, Reducing the Time and Energy Needed during the Drying Process. the Experiment Screened 15 Cell-Wall-Degrading Enzyme Preparations. a Significant Reduction in Water-Binding Capacity Was Found for a Number of Enzymes Tested in the Initial Screening. the Experiment Was Repeated and …

Comparison Of De And Pso For Generator Maintenance Scheduling, Yusuf Yare, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a comparison of a differential evolution (DE) algorithm and a modified discrete particle swarm optimization (MDPSO) algorithm for generating optimal preventive maintenance schedules for economical and reliable operation of a power system, while satisfying system load demand and crew constraints. The DE, an evolutionary technique and an optimization algorithm utilizes the differential information to guide its further search, and can handle mixed integer discrete continuous optimization problems. Discrete particle swarm optimization (DPSO) is known to effectively solve large scale multi-objective optimization problems and has been widely applied in power systems. Both the DE and MDPSO are applied …

Efficient Prediction Of Rf Interference In A Shielding Enclosure With Pcbs Using A General Segmentation Method, Yaojiang Zhang, Xiaopeng Dong, Zhenwei Yu, Francesco De Paulis, Gang Feng, Jason A. Mix, Daniel Hua, Kevin P. Slattery, James L. Drewniak, Jun Fan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Cavity model with segmentation method is extended to the analysis of radio frequency interference (RFI) problems in a shielding enclosure with printed circuit boards (PCBs) . Sixteen different Green's functions, instead of one in the conventional segmentation method developed for PCB cavities, are introduced to describe the fields in various cavities formed by enclosure walls and PCB copper planes. Both horizontal and vertical connections among these cavities are achieved by enforcing the boundary conditions along their common interfaces. Numerical examples demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the method by compared with full wave simulations.