Engineering Commons^™

Supporting Protocols For Structuring And Intelligent Information Dissemination In Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks, Filip Cuckov

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is the presentation of supporting protocols for structuring and intelligent data dissemination in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). The protocols are intended to first introduce a structure in VANETs, and thus promote the spatial reuse of network resources. Segmenting a flat VANET in multiple cluster structures allows for more efficient use of the available bandwidth, which can effectively increase the capacity of the network. The cluster structures can also improve the scalability of the underlying communication protocols. The structuring and maintenance of the network introduces additional overhead. The aim is to provide a mechanism for …

Interconnections Of Nonlinear Systems Driven By L₂-Itô Stochastic Processes, Luis A. Duffaut Espinosa

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Fliess operators have been an object of study in connection with nonlinear systems acting on deterministic inputs since the early 1970's. They describe a broad class of nonlinear input-output maps using a type of functional series expansion, but in most applications, a system's inputs have noise components. In such circumstances, new mathematical machinery is needed to properly describe the input-output map via the Chen-Fliess algebraic formalism. In this dissertation, a class of L₂-Itô stochastic processes is introduced specifically for this purpose. Then, an extension of the Fliess operator theory is presented and sufficient conditions are given under which …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Birnessite And Cryptomelane Nanostructures In Presence Of Hoffmeister Anions, Marcos A. Cheney, Robin Jose, Arghya Banerjee, Pradip K. Bhowmik, Shizhi Qian, Joseph M. Okoh

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

The effect of Hoffmeister anions Cl(-), SO(4) (2-), and ClO(4) (-) on the structure and morphology of birnessite and cryptomelane-type manganese dioxide nanostructures, produced by the reduction reaction of KMnO(4) and MnSO(4) in aqueous acidic media, was studied. The syntheses were based on the decomposition of aqueous KMnO(4) in presence of HCl for birnessite-type and acidified MnSO4 for cryptomelane-type manganese dioxide under soft hydrothermal conditions. They were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) techniques. XRD patterns show the formation of birnessite for the first synthesis and a mixture of cryptomelane and …

Abatteuses Forestières : Dispositif Et Circuits De Commande Relatifs À La Sécurité, Laurent Giraud, Yuvin Chinniah, Damien Burlet-Vienney, Joseph-Jean Paques, Marina Koutchouk, Renaud Daigle

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Les abatteuses forestières sont des engins tout-terrains conçus pour évoluer en forêt, qui servent de véhicule moteur pour déplacer une tête d’abattage.

L’utilisation d’abatteuses avec une tête d’abattage multifonctionnelle s’est largement répandue au Québec ces dernières années pour deux raisons :

• Cette méthode d’abattage réduit la machinerie car une seule machine tronçonne et façonne les arbres en billots, là où il en fallait plusieurs avec les anciennes méthodes;
• La méthode d’abattage abîme moins le sol de la forêt car le façonnage des arbres se fait sur place et crée ainsi un tapis végétal.

L’IRSST a lancé une série d’études sur …

Advances In Controlled Meteorological (Cmet) Balloon Systems, Paul B. Voss

Engineering: Faculty Publications

Over the past five years, small altitude-controlled balloons have been developed for atmospheric research and deployed in several major field campaigns. These Controlled Meteorological (CMET) balloons have been operated at altitudes from sea level to 18,000 feet, at latitudes from 18 to 80 degrees north, and for periods of up to five days. CMET balloons are now sufficiently simple to prepare and launch that they are being mailed to scientific collaborators oversees and operated remotely via satellite, greatly reducing the cost of making in situ atmospheric measurements. The balloon payload has been redesigned around a novel eight-parallel-processor microcontroller that enables …

Graphical Analysis And Equations Of Uniformly Accelerated Motion - A Unified Approach, Warren Turner, Glenn Ellis

Engineering: Faculty Publications

All introductory textbooks surveyed included a discussion of uniformly accelerated motion. However, when equations relating important quantities are developed it is clear that the authors differ when deciding how many equations to present. An inquiry-based, graphical approach to the study of motion builds on pedagogical advances and allows students to build a problem-solving framework for addressing uniformly accelerated motion. Through this approach, students - not their teacher - conclude that there are five important quantities with five corresponding important relationships and then actively participate in their derivation. This process helps the novice problem solver develop a big picture view of …

Reduction Of Stresses On Buried Rigid Highway Structures Using The Imperfect Ditch Method And Expanded Polysterene (Geofoam), Liecheng Sun, Tommy C. Hopkins, Tony L. Beckham

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The study of earth pressure distribution on buried structures has a great practical importance in constructing highway embankments above pipes and culverts. Based on Spangler’s research, the supporting strength of a conduit depends primarily on three factors: 1. The inherent strength of the conduit; 2. The distribution of the vertical load and bottom reaction; and 3. The magnitude and distribution of lateral earth pressures that act against the sides of the structure. Rigid culverts are frequently used in Kentucky for routing streams beneath highway embankments because of rolling and mountainous terrain, numerous streams, shallow depths to bedrock, which creates unyielding …

Kentucky Highway User Survey 2008, Lenahan O'Connell

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This study updates surveys of Kentucky driver opinion regarding the quality of Kentucky’s highway system. The survey was conducted in 2008. Data is presented in bar graphs and tables that allow the analysis of changes in public opinion since the first administration of the survey. For most topics, data are available from 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2008. The respondents are 845 Kentucky-licensed drivers, age 18 and over. The study looked at seven characteristics of Kentucky highways and found that satisfaction levels were quite stable since 2003. In regard to overall satisfaction in 2008, 54% of drivers said they were …

Filtering, Modeling, And Control Of Axial Force Signals In Friction Stir Welding Processes, Thomas Michael Oakes

Masters Theses

"In Friction Stir Welding Processes, good contact between tool and work piece can be accomplished through control of the axial force signals. A method of stochastic modeling is introduced and used in conjunction with a Kalman filter to develop empirical static and dynamic models relating the axial force to input process parameters. The filtering method reduces signal variance by an order of magnitude. The models are experimentally validated and used to design and implement a general tracking controller with disturbance rejection for axial force control. Online control of the axial force is experimentally validated for bead-on-plate welds using a 6061 …

Stereoscopic Display Technology For Visualizing Vascular Structures, Thomas Wischgoll

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Crystallography Open Database – An Open-Access Collection Of Crystal Structures, Saulius Grazulis, Daniel Chateigner, Robert T. Downs, A. F. T. Yokochi, Miguel Quirós, Luca Lutterotti, Elena Manakova, Justas Butkus, Peter Moeck, Armel Le Bail

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Crystallography Open Database (COD), which is a project that aims to gather all available inorganic, metal–organic and small organic molecule structural data in one database, is described. The database adopts an openaccess model. The COD currently contains 80,000 entries in crystallographic information file format, with nearly full coverage of the International Union of Crystallography publications, and is growing in size and quality.

Precession Electron Diffraction And Its Advantages For Structural Fingerprinting In The Transmission Electron Microscope, Peter Moeck, Sergei Rouvimov

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The foundations of precession electron diffraction in a transmission electron microscope are outlined. A brief illustration of the fact that laboratory-based powder X-ray diffraction fingerprinting is not feasible for nanocrystals is given. A procedure for structural fingerprinting of nanocrystals on the basis of structural data that can be extracted from precession electron diffraction spot patterns is proposed.

The Journal Of Undergraduate Research: Volume 07

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

This is the complete issue of the South Dakota State University Journal of Undergraduate Research, Volume 7.

Measurements Of Turbulent Pressure Under Breaking Waves, Christopher Olsen

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

The experiments discussed in this paper describe the turbulent fluid pressures in breaking waves. Before actual data measurements could be made, the instruments used were put through various tests to determine their ability to capture accurate data. These tests were both static and dynamic in nature. Following the tests on the pressure measurement system, waves were produced such that they were breaking at the instrument panel. Wave height, subsurface pressure, and three components of velocity were measured at this point. Using MATLAB to produce plots, waves that produce strong turbulence were isolated and their respective pressures, as well as theoretical …

Vibratory Feeder Bowl Analysis, Chris Green, Jeff Kreul

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Vibratory feeder bowls are used to feed small parts into various stations. At each station the parts will be rejected or accepted depending on the orientation of the part. This analysis was for Royal Plastics, Inc. who was looking to increase the production by increasing the part feed rate of one of their vibratory feeder bowls. As the parts are orientated they will be fed to a new station and often used in robotic systems that produce larger assembled products. The scope of this analysis is to produce a detailed analysis of the vibration system required to move parts through …

Wind Turbine Mounting Analysis, Chris Applen, Garet Miller, Ryan Jervik

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper analyzes the bolts and screws necessary to secure a certain wind turbine design to a silo. The analysis is divided into two major segments. First is the determination of maximum wind velocity and the resultant forces from the given wind conditions. The resultant force is determined from the dynamic pressure caused by the wind velocity and the surface area of the wind turbine blades. Second is carrying out the fatigue analysis to ensure the chosen bolts and screws will not fail. This is done through the use of a Goodman line diagram. In order for the fatigue design …

An Algorithm To Solve The Associative Parallel Machine Scheduling Problem, Mohannad Abdelrahman Shuaib

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Effective production scheduling is essential for improved performance. Scheduling strategies for various shop configurations and performance criteria have been widely studied. Scheduling in parallel machines (PM) is one among the many scheduling problems that has received considerable attention in the literature. An even more complex scheduling problem arises when there are several PM families and jobs are capable of being processed in more than one such family. This research addresses such a situation, which is defined as an Associative Parallel Machine scheduling (APMS) problem. This research presents the SAPT-II algorithm that solves a highly constrained APMS problem with the objective …

Material Selection Of Z-Fibre In Stitched Composites - Experimental And Analytical Comparison Approach, Kwek Tze Tan, N. Watanabe, M. Sano, M. Takase, Y. Iwahori, H. Hoshi

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

Strain energy release rates are measured and compared for laminated composites stitched with different fibre materials – Carbon, Kevlar and Vectran. DCB test and FE simulation are performed to evaluate the interlaminar toughness. It is proven that Vectran provides the toughest interlaminar reinforcement and is most suitable for Zfibre application.

Particle Swarm Optimization Approach For Maximizing The Yield Of A Coal Preparation Plant, Vishal Gupta, Hussain Unjawala, Ajay Mohan Mahajan, Manoj Mohanty

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

This paper presents the use of particle swarm optimization to maximize the clean coal yield of a coal preparation plant that typically has multiple cleaning circuits that produce the same product quality so that the blend of clean coal meets the targeted product quality contraints. Particle swarm is used for the yield optimization while satisfying multiple product quality restraints. The results show a 2.73% increase in the yield can be achieved leading to additional revenue of $5,460,000 per annum for a plant producing 10 million tons of clean coal per year without significantly adding to the implementation/operation cost.

Shear-Driven Liquid Film In A Duct, Magesh Thiruvengadam, B. F. Armaly, J. A. Drallmeier

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Two-dimensional flow simulations of shear-driven thin liquid film by turbulent air flow in a duct is performed using the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes and continuity equations along with the Volume of Fluid (VOF) model that is part of the FLUENT-CFD code. the purpose of this study is to determine the suitability of using this code/model for predicting reported measurements of shear driven liquid film in a duct. Both a laminar and a turbulent flow model were examined for the liquid film flow region to assess their impact on film thickness and velocity. the Low Reynolds number k-ε turbulence model is …

Equational Coalgebraic Logic, Alexander Kurz, Raul Leal

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Coalgebra develops a general theory of transition systems, parametric in a functor T; the functor T specifies the possible one-step behaviours of the system. A fundamental question in this area is how to obtain, for an arbitrary functor T, a logic for T-coalgebras. We compare two existing proposals, Moss’s coalgebraic logic and the logic of all predicate liftings, by providing one-step translations between them, extending the results in [21] by making systematic use of Stone duality. Our main contribution then is a novel coalgebraic logic, which can be seen as an equational axiomatization of Moss’s logic. The three logics are …

Nanofiltration Membrane Pilot Studies For Disinfection By-Product Control, Eric J. Lynne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Watertown, South Dakota currently uses conventional softening to treat ground water to remove hardness, iron and manganese, and natural organic matter. The distribution system has experienced elevated concentrations of disinfection by-products, which will require additional treatment to comply with future limits set by the Stage 2 Disinfectant/Disinfection By-Products Rule. A nanofiltration membrane system has been proposed to remove additional natural organic matter from the softened water. Removing the natural organic material disinfection by-product precursors should reduce the concentration of disinfection by-products. The use of nanofiltration membranes has been previously documented to reject total organic carbon, while allowing desirable levels of …

Information Hiding By Stochastic Disfusion And Its Application To Printed Document Authentication, Jonathan Blackledge, Eugene Coyle

Conference papers

The use of image based information exchange has grown rapidly over the years in terms of both e-to-e image storage and transmission and in terms of maintaining paper documents in electronic form. Further, with the dramatic improvements in the quality of COTS (Commercial-O-The-Shelf) printing and scanning devices, the ability to counterfeit electronic and printed documents has become a widespread problem. Consequently, there has been an increasing demand to develop digital watermarking, information hiding and covert encryption methods which can be applied to both electronic and printed images (and documents) for the purposes of authentication, prevent unauthorized copying and, in the …

Auto Racing, John Alfred Heitmann

History Faculty Publications

As a consequence of new sponsors, personalities, race tracks, and television exposure, automobile racing — and in particular NASCAR — reached unprecedented popularity during the 1990s. Indeed, NASCAR became a "way of life" for many Americans.

Health Prognisis Of Electronics Via Power Profiling, Jonathan Amilcar Cervantes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The objective of this research is to investigate a new approach for the early detection of latent defects in electronic devices in the field. Reliability is assessed through the non-traditional approach of recording and evaluating the power profile of electronic devices within a deterministic state of operation. Traditionally, measuring the quiescent current (Iddq) of a device has been employed in manufacturing tests to detect defective parts prior to deployment to the field. However, the monitoring of the deterministic power signature (i.e. boot up or during a self-test routine) has never been exploited to monitor the health of a device in …

Experimental Study Of The Response Of Semiconductor Detectors For Edxrf Analysis., Sunil Kumar Valaparla

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This present work relates to the study and characterization of the response function of an energy-dispersive x-ray spectrometer. The problems of energy, efficiency and resolution calibration of the system operating in the energy (5-60 keV) range are discussed. We present the operation characteristics of the portable pyro-electric x-ray generator (COOL-X) and the application of the calibrated response spectrum in the elemental analysis using X-ray Fluorescence (XRF).

We study the response of the Si(Li)-Pin XR-100CR semiconductor detector to low energy photons. The photopeak efficiency was determined experimentally by using radioisotopes and compared against a theoretical efficiency curve. The efficiency for gamma …

Silica Removal From Brine By Using Ion Exchange, Carlos R. Acevedo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Local governments have been forced to look for additional water sources to satisfy the ever increasing demand for fresh water. Very often, the new water sources such as the underground water in continental territories have high salt content. Currently, reverse osmosis technology (RO) is one of the most common processes for water desalination. However, this process is limited by high silica and salt concentrations in water. At high concentrations silica clogs the membranes used in the RO process, reducing their life and increasing operational costs. In this study, quaternary ammonium resins and sulfonic acid resins were used to remove silica …

Effect Of Air Addition On Plasma-Based Reforming Of Methane And Propane, Atul Vitthalrao Ambhore

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Integrated Software Package For Model-Based Neuro-Fuzzy Classification Of Small Airway Dysfunction, Nazila Hafezi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Respiratory disorders can be difficult to differentiate, as their symptoms are sometimes similar to one another. Concerning asthma which is the major interest in this research, early detection of small airway impairment could greatly help with timely diagnosis. In this research, an integrated software package (ISP) has been developed to help clinicians in classification of asthma severities using Impulse Oscillation data.

The ISP has been developed based on object-oriented methodology. In this package, IOS "diagnostic" parameters such as AX and frequency-dependence of resistance as well as parameter estimates of extended RIC (eRIC) and augmented RIC (aRIC) models (simplified cases of …

Corpvis: An Online Emotional Speech Corpora Visualisation Interface, Charlie Cullen, Brian Vaughan

Conference papers

Our research in emotional speech analysis has led to the construction of several dedicated high quality, online corpora of natural emotional speech assets. The requirements for querying, retrieval and organization of assets based on both their metadata descriptors and their analysis data led to the construction of a suitable interface for data visualization and corpus management. The CorpVis interface is intended to assist collaborative work between several speech research groups working with us in this area, allowing online collaboration and distribution of assets to be performed. This paper details the current CorpVis interface into our corpora, and the work performed …