Engineering Commons^™

Book Review: Cyber Security And Global Information Assurance: Threat Analysis And Response Solutions, Gary C. Kessler

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

I freely admit that this book was sent to me by the publisher for the expressed purpose of my writing a review and that I know several of the chapter authors. With that disclosure out of the way, let me say that the book is well worth the review (and I get to keep my review copy).
The preface to the book cites the 2003 publication of The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace by the White House, and the acknowledgement by the U.S. government that our economy and national security were fully dependent upon computers, networks, and the telecommunications infrastructure. …

Seasonal Adaptation Of Vegetation Color In Satellite Images For Flight Simulations, Yuzhong Shen, Jiang Li, Vamsi Mantena, Srinivas Jakkula

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Automatic vegetation identification plays an important role in many applications including remote sensing and high performance flight simulations. This paper proposes a novel method that identifies vegetative areas in satellite images and then alters vegetation color to simulate seasonal changes based on training image pairs. The proposed method first generates a vegetation map for pixels corresponding to vegetative areas, using ISODATA clustering and vegetation classification. The ISODATA algorithm determines the number of clusters automatically. We then apply morphological operations to the clustered images to smooth the boundaries between clusters and to fill holes inside clusters. Six features are then computed …

Automatic Diagnosis For Prostate Cancer Using Run-Length Matrix Method, Xiaoyan Sun, Shao-Hui Chuang, Jiang Li, Frederic Mckenzie, Nico Karssemeijer (Ed.), Maryellen L. Giger (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among men in US¹. Quantitative assessment of prostate histology provides potential automatic classification of prostate lesions and prediction of response to therapy. Traditionally, prostate cancer diagnosis is made by the analysis of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels and histopathological images of biopsy samples under microscopes. In this application, we utilize a texture analysis method based on the run-length matrix for identifying tissue abnormalities in prostate histology. A tissue sample was collected from a radical prostatectomy, H&E fixed, and assessed by a pathologist …

Low-Temperature Growth Of Inn On Si(100) By Femtosecond Pulsed Laser Deposition, M. A. Hafez, H. E. Elsayed-Ali

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

InN films were grown on Si(100) using femtosecond pulsed laser deposition. Laser induced breakdown of ammonia was used to generate atomic nitrogen for InN growth. An indium buffer layer was initially deposited on the Si substrate at low temperature followed by an InN intermediate layer. The crystal quality and surface morphology were investigated by reflection high-energy electron diffraction during growth and atomic force microscopy and x-ray diffraction after growth. The results showed that the In (2×1) initial buffer layer improved the quality of the InN film. High quality InN films were grown at a temperature of ∼350 °C.

Dynamic Adaptation Of Joint Transmission Power And Contention Window In Vanet, Danda B. Rawat, Gongjun Yan, Dimitrie C. Popescu, Michele C. Weigle, Stephan Olariu

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, we propose an algorithm for joint adaptation of transmission power and contention window to improve the performance of vehicular network in a cross layer approach. The high mobility of vehicles in vehicular communication results in the change in topology of the Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET) dynamically, and the communication link between two vehicles might remain active only for short duration of time. In order for VANET to make a connection for long time and to mitigate adverse effects due to high and fixed transmission power, the proposed algorithm adapts transmission power dynamically based on estimated local traffic …

Electronic And Structural Properties Of Molybdenum Thin Films As Determined By Real Time Spectroscopic Ellipsometry, J. D. Walker, H. Khatri, V. Ranjan, Jian Li, R. W. Collins, S. Marsillac

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Walker, J.D., Khatri, H., Ranjan, V., Li, J., Collins, R.W., & Marsillac, S. (2009). Electronic and structural properties of molybdenum thin films as determined by real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry. Applied Physics Letters, 94(14). doi: 10.1063/1.3117222

Quantum Algorithm For Bose-Einstein Condensate Quantum Fluid Dynamics: Twisting Of Filamentary Vortex Solitons Demarcated By Fast Poincare Recursion, Jeffrey Yepez, George Vahala, Linda L. Vahala

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The dynamics of vortex solitons is studied in a BEC superfluid. A quantum lattice-gas algorithm (measurementbased quantum computation) is employed to examine the dynamical behavior vortex soliton solutions of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation (ø⁴ interaction nonlinear Schroedinger equation). Quantum turbulence is studied in large grid numerical simulations: Kolmogorov spectrum associated with a Richardson energy cascade occurs on large flow scales. At intermediate scales, a new k^-6 power law emerges, due to vortex filamentary reconnections associated with Kelvin wave instabilities (vortex twisting) coupling to sound modes and the exchange of intermediate vortex rings. Finally, at very small spatial scales a …

Flame Interactions And Burning Characteristics Of Two Live Leaf Samples, Brent M. Pickett, Carl Isackson, Rebecca Wunder, Thomas H. Fletcher, Bret W. Butler, David R. Weise

Faculty Publications

Combustion experiments were performed over a flat-flame burner that provided the heat source for multiple leaf samples. Interactions of the combustion behavior between two leaf samples were studied. Two leaves were placed in the path of the flat-flame burner, with the top leaf 2.5 cm above the bottom leaf. Local gas and particle temperatures, as well as local oxygen concentrations, were measured along with burning characteristics of both leaves. Results showed that the time to ignition of the upper leaf was not significantly affected by the presence of the lower leaf. The major difference observed was that the time of …

Optimal Design Of Discrete-Time Delta Sigma Modulators, Matthew Edward Jackson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this thesis, optimal signal transfer functions (STFs) and noise transfer functions (NTFs) for discrete time delta sigma (ΔΣ) modulators are determined. For a given oversampling rate (OSR), these STFs and NTFs are optimized with respect to a weighted combination of the ΔΣ modulator's signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and dynamic range (DR). This optimization problem is solved using a novel hybrid orthogonal genetic (HOG) algorithm that uses customized genetic operators to improve algorithm performance and accuracy when applied to multimodal, non-differentiable performance surfaces. To generate optimal system functions, the HOG algorithm is implemented as a constrained global optimizer to minimize cost …

Update To Ansi/Ans-6.4.3-1991 For Low-Z And Compound Materials And Review Of Particle Transport Theory, Luis Durani

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The ANSI/ANS-6.4.3-1991 Gamma-Ray Attenuation Coefficients and Buildup Factors for Engineering Materials Standard (herein known as ANS Standard), contains derived gamma-ray attenuation coefficients and buildup factors for selected engineering materials and elements for use in shielding calculations (ANSI/ANS-6.1.1, 1991). The current status of the ANS Standard is withdrawn due to the lack of any updates since its last publication. Since the last update of the ANS standard, more accurate codes for particle transport and cross sectional data have become available. As a result, this study was carried out to update gamma-ray buildup factors for iron and water as a function of …

Performance Evaluation Of Network-On-Chip Interconnect Architectures, Xinan Zhou

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With a communication design style, Network-on-Chips (NoCs) have been proposed as a new Multi-Processor System-on-Chip paradigm. Simulation and functional validation are essential to assess the correctness and performance of the NoC design. In this thesis, a cycle-accurate NoC simulation system in Verilog HDL is developed to evaluate the performance of various NoC architectures. First, a library of NoC components is developed based on an existing design. Each NoC architecture to be evaluated is constructed from the library according to the topology description which specifies the network topology, network size, and routing algorithm. The network performance of four NoC architectures under …

Optimization Of Channel Geometry In A Proton Exchange Membrane (Pem) Fuel Cell, Jephanya Kasukurthi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Bipolar plates are the important components of the PEM fuel cell. The flow distribution inside the bipolar plate should be uniform. Non-uniform flow distribution inside the bipolar leads to poor performance of the fuel cell and wastage of expensive catalyst. A single channel PEM fuel cell is taken and electrochemical analysis is carried out on it. The results are compared with the available published experimental data obtained by other research group, and they are found to be in good agreement. A baseline design of the bipolar plate is taken and numerical analysis is carried out. The results show that the …

Spectral Analysis Of Pathological Acoustic Speech Waveforms, Priyanka Medida

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Biomedical engineering is the application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical field. The design and problem solving skills of engineering are combined with medical and biological science, which improves medical disorder diagnosis and treatment. The purpose of this study is to develop an automated procedure for detecting excessive jitter in speech signals, which is useful for differentiating normal from pathologic speech. The fundamental motivation for this research is that tools are needed by speech pathologists and laryngologists for use in the early detection and treatment of laryngeal disorders. Acoustical analysis of speech was performed to analyze various features …

Hierarchical Routing In Manets Using Simple Clustering, Adam Carnine

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis presents both a review of current MANET routing protocols and a new MANET routing algorithm. The routing protocols reviewed include representative samples from the three primary forms of routing found in MANETS: proactive routing, reactive routing and hybrid routing. Secure algorithms are given special treatment in the review. In addition several protocol enhancements are discussed.

The proposed routing protocol is designed to support networks of a medium size, containing over 200 nodes but less than 3,000 nodes. The design is intentionally simple to allow ease of implementation in comparison with other MANET protocols that provide similar functionality.

Experimental And Numerical Study Of A Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer For Hydrogen Production, Sachin S. Deshmukh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Hydrogen as a fuel source has received attention from researchers globally due to its potential to replace fossil based fuels for energy production. Research is being performed on hydrogen production, storage and utilization methods to make its use economically feasible relative to current energy sources. The PEM electrolyzer is used to produce hydrogen and oxygen using water and electricity. Focus of our study is to provide a benchmark experiment and numerical model of a single cell electrolyzer that can assist in improving the current state of understanding of this system. Parametric analysis of an experimental cell was performed to understand …

Individual Copper Nanowire Decorated By Gold Nanoparticles For Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering, Roshan Guttikonda

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this Thesis, I discuss the theory, implementation and applications of Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Surface enhanced Raman scattering has been used to detect 4 mercaptopyridine molecules. On a Silicon wafer, Gold nanoparticles are deposited onto Copper nanowires. Hotspots occur at the small gap (less than 10nm) between the nanowire and nanoparticle. The interaction of the electromagnetic field of the incident laser and the surface plasmon resonances of the metal nanoparticles at the hot spots enhances the Raman scattering signal of the adsorbed pyridine molecule (10 -3 M ). The dependence of SERS signal on the polarization angle of …

Evaluation Of Rapid Electric Battery Charging Techniques, Ronald Baroody

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Battery powered electric vehicles are gaining popularity worldwide. This is trend is driven by several factors including the need to reduce air and noise pollution, and dependence on fossil fuels. The main drawback of today's electric vehicle is its limited range, and the long time duration that is required to charge the electric batteries. This thesis addresses the latter problem.

In recent years, significant progress (through research and development) has been made to accelerate the charging time of the electric vehicle batteries through pulse charging rather than supplying continuous current and/or voltage. Some patented fast charging techniques demonstrated reduced charging …

Islanded Operation Of A Distribution Feeder With Distributed Generation, Chandu Venu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A distribution system that is equipped with distributed generators, such as roof-mounted photovoltaic systems, can operate as a microgrid (i.e., separated from the grid) under some specific conditions. A key feature of a microgrid is its ability to separate and isolate itself from the utility seamlessly with little or no disruption to the loads within the microgrid. Then, when the utility grid returns to normal, the microgrid automatically resynchronizes and reconnects itself to the grid, in an equally seamless manner. This thesis addresses the conditions necessary for proper microgrid operation: these include local generation-load mismatch, local energy storage, load switching, …

Quantity-Based Cost Forecasting System For Street Construction Projects, Nipesh Pradhananga

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Construction projects typically are not withdrawn after going into the competitive bidding process. The decision of contracting authorities regarding which projects will proceed to the bidding stage depends, in part, upon the early estimates of probable cost. Efforts are made to make this estimate as realistic as possible. Irrespective of the estimate of probable cost, the actual project cost is established by the amount of the winning bid.

This study analyzed historical bid data of street construction projects undertaken by the Public Works Department, Clark County, Nevada, from 1991 through 2006. The focus of this study was on utilizing statistical …

Functional Stability Of Transfemoral Amputee Gait Using The 3r80 And Total Knee 2000 Prosthetic Knee Units, M. Barbara Silver-Thorn, Christine L. Glaister

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Prosthetic knee designs have become extremely sophisticated compared to early constant friction single axis mechanisms. Today, prosthetists and physicians have a wide variety of components to choose from for their transfemoral amputee patients. Unfortunately, there are little quantitative data comparing the performance of different types of prosthetic components, and prosthetic prescription is often based on empirical knowledge and experience, rather than objective comparison of prosthetic designs. This study used gait analysis to objectively evaluate the stability characteristics of two types of prosthetic knee designs, the polycentric Total Knee 2000 (Ossur, Aliso Viejo, CA) and the single axis 3R80 stance control …

The Future Of The Irish Manufacturing Industry In Relation To Global Competitiveness, Joceley Martins Wilson

Theses

This study is an examination of the challenges faced by the manufacturing sector in Ireland. As the speed of globalization intensifies, new demands are constantly being levied on the manufacturing sector. In order to maintain this very important sector in Ireland, the manufacturing industry must promote constant innovation, automation and specialization, specifically in niche areas where there is a requirement for specific specialized skills, and where the labor cost is not a prohibitive or fundamental issue.

Innovation has been a key success factor for the manufactures to date, and will continue to be an ai'ea of focus as competitive forces …

Dc Electrokinetic Transport Of Cylindrical Cells In Straight Microchannels, Ye Ai, Ali Beskok, David T. Gauthier, Sang W. Joo, Shizhi Qian

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Electrokinetic transport of cylindrical cells under dc electric fields in a straight microfluidic channel is experimentally and numerically investigated with emphasis on the dielectrophoretic (DEP) effect on their orientation variations. A two-dimensional multiphysics model, composed of the Navier-Stokes equations for the fluid flow and the Laplace equation for the electric potential defined in an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian framework, is employed to capture the transient electrokinetic motion of cylindrical cells. The numerical predictions of the particle transport are in quantitative agreement with the obtained experimental results, suggesting that the DEP effect should be taken into account to study the electrokinetic transport of …

Formation Control Of Mobile Robots And Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Travis Alan Dierks

Doctoral Dissertations

"In this dissertation, the nonlinear control of nonholonomic mobile robot formations and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) formations is undertaken and presented in six papers. In the first paper, an asymptotically stable combined kinematic/torque control law is developed for leader-follower based formation control of mobile robots using backstepping. A neural network (NN) is introduced along with robust integral of the sign of the error (RISE) feedback to approximate the dynamics of the follower as well as its leader using online weight tuning. Subsequently, in the second paper, a novel NN observer is designed to estimate the linear and angular velocities of …

Integration Of Energy Storage Components With Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Converters, Jingsheng Liao

Doctoral Dissertations

"In recent years, multilevel converters have gained considerable attention in medium-voltage motor drive and grid applications. This popularity is owed to their reduced voltage stress on the semiconductor devices used in their structure. In addition, multilevel converters generate near sinusoidal outputs with low harmonic distortions. Other advantages of such converters include inherent modularity and low dv/dt stresses. In general, multilevel power electronic converters are classified into three main topologies: diode-clamped, flying-capacitor, and cascaded H-bridge. A cascaded H-bridge multilevel converter is created when several H-bridge cells are placed in series. Each H-bridge cell must be fed by a stiff voltage source. …

Biocompatibility Of Poly-Ε-Caprolactone-Hydroxyapatite Composite On Mouse Bone Marrow-Derived Osteoblasts And Endothelial Cells, Haiying Yu, Paul H. Wooley, Shang-You Yang

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

Tissue-engineered bone may be developed by seeding the cells capable of both osteogenesis and vascularization on biocompatible composite scaffolds. The current study investigated the performance of mice bone marrow-derived osteogenic cells and endothelial cells as seeded on hydroxyapatite (HA) and poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) composite scaffolds.

Methods

Mononuclear cells were induced to osteoblasts and endothelial cells respectively, which were defined by the expression of osteocalcin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and deposits of calcium-containing crystal for osteoblasts, or by the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) and von Willebrand factor (vWF), and the formation of a capillary network in Matrigel™ …

Modelling And Simulation Of A Biomass Gasification-Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Combined Heat And Power Plant Using Aspen Plus, Wayne Doherty, Anthony Reynolds, David Kennedy

Conference Papers

In this paper the operation and performance of a high temperature solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack on biomass syn-gas from a demonstration biomass gasification combined heat and power (CHP) plant is investigated. The objective of this work is to develop a computer simulation model of a biomass-SOFC CHP system, flexible enough for use in industry, capable of predicting system performance under various operating conditions and using diverse fuels. The biomass gasifier is of the dual fluidised bed (DFB) type with steam as the gasifying agent and is operated at atmospheric pressure. The tubular SOFC configuration, developed by Siemens Power …

Alternative Sources Of Energy, David Kennedy

Conference Papers

Ireland relies on imports of fossil fuels for up to 83% of its energy needs and this statistic is relatively common in other European countries. Apart from the high import costs and pollutions associated with fossil fuels and the need to meet new targets in terms of CO2 emissions, energy security is essential. This paper provides an overview and outline of the different alternative energy sources available for use either at domestic or on large scale production, some of which are established and others less likely to succeed in our climate.
Some of the alternative energy sources such as wind …

Organ Motion And Image Guidance In Radiation Therapy, Jining Zhou

Theses and Dissertations

Organ motion and inaccurate patient positioning may compromise radiation therapy outcome. With the aid of image guidance, it is possible to allow for a more accurate organ motion and motion control study, which could lead to the reduction of irradiated healthy tissues and possible dose escalation to the target volume to achieve better treatment results. The studies on the organ motion and image guidance were divided into the following four sections. The first, the interfractional setup uncertainties from day-to-day treatment and intrafractional internal organ motion within the daily treatment from five different anatomic sites were studied with Helical TomoTherapy unit. …

Partial Program Admission, Michael Wilson, Ron Cytron, Jon Turner

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

Real-time systems on non-preemptive platforms require a means of bounding the execution time of programs for admission purposes. Worst-Case Execution Time (WCET) is most commonly used to bound program execution time. While bounding a program’s WCET statically is possible, computing its true WCET is difficult.We present a new technique we call partial program admission, a means of statically enforcing an otherwise untrusted assertion of WCET without adding runtime overhead, by means of code duplication. We apply this technique to real programs from the virtual networking arena and present the results.

Design Of An Extensible Network Testbed With Heterogeneous Components, Charlie Wisemen, Jyoti Parwatikar, Ken Wong, John Dehart, Jonathan Turner

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

Virtualized network infrastructures are currently deployed in both research and commercial contexts. The complexity of the virtualization layer varies greatly in different deployments, ranging from cloud computing environments, to carrier Ethernet applications using stacked VLANs, to networking testbeds. In all of these cases, there are many users sharing the resources of one provider, where each user expects their resources to be isolated from all other users. Our work in this area is focused on network testbeds. In particular, we present the design of the latest version of the Open Network Laboratory (ONL) testbed. This redesign generalizes the underlying infrastructure to …