Engineering Commons^™

Beyond Biobricks: Synthesizing Synergistic Biochemical Systems From The Bottom-Up, Mark A. Bedau

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Engineers who attempt to discover and optimize the behavior of complex biochemical systems face a dauntingly difficult task. This is especially true if the systems are governed by multiple qualitative and quantitative variables that have non-linear response functions and that interact synergistically. The synthetic biology community has responded to this difficulty by promoting the use of "standard biological parts" called "BioBricks", which are supposed to make biology into traditional engineering and enable engineers to "program living organisms in the same way a computer scientists can program a computer". But the BioBricks research program faces daunting hurdles, because the nonlinearity and …

Automated Data Import And Revision Management In A Product Lifecycle Management Environment, Brad Walton Brooks

Theses and Dissertations

A method has been created that addresses the issues that prohibit the conversion of product artifacts into a secure, efficient and reliable Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) environment. These issues include automatic import of data into a PLM system and revision control of such data. A test case is shown which specifically addresses these issues as they pertain to the management of both legacy and new engineering data in a PLM system.

East Bay Energy Consortium Meeting Minutes, October 5, 2009, East Bay Energy Consortium

East Bay Energy Consortium Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

University Satellite Programs, 1982-2009, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint Presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs titled "University Satellite Programs, 1982-2009" from October 5, 2009.

Low Cost/ High Precision Flight Dynamics Estimation Using The Square-Root Unscented Kalman Filter, Trevor H. Paulsen

Theses and Dissertations

For over a decade, Brigham Young University's Microwave Earth Remote Sensing (MERS) team has been developing SAR systems and SAR processing algorithms. In order to create the most accurate image reconstruction algorithms, detailed aircraft motion data is essential. In 2008, the MERS team purchased a costly inertial measurement unit (IMU) coupled with a high precision global positioning system (GPS) from NovAtel, Inc. In order to lower the cost of obtaining detailed motion measurements, the MERS group decided to build a system that mimics the capability the NovAtel system as closely as possible for a much lower cost. As a first …

Sharing Landmark Information Using Mixture Of Gaussian Terrain Spatiograms, Damian M. Lyons

Faculty Publications

In this paper we evaluate the use of a novel spatial histogram called the terrain spatiogram as a common representation for exchanging landmark information between robots working as a team to map an area. Individual robots use range sensors to provide the spatial dimension of the spatiogram and video for the image dimension. We have previously shown that terrain spatiograms can be shared between robots in a heterogeneous team to recognize landmarks and to fuse observations from multiple sensors or multiple platforms. A terrain spatiogram using a mixture of Gaussians (MOG) model is introduced and a corresponding normalized spatiogram similarity …

Combining Multiple Scoring Systems For Target Tracking Using Rank-Score Characteristics, Damian M. Lyons, D. Frank Hsu

Faculty Publications

Video target tracking is the process of estimating the current state, and predicting the future state of a target from a sequence of video sensor measurements. Multitarget video tracking is complicated by the fact that targets can occlude one another, affecting video feature measurements in a highly non-linear and difficult to model fashion. In this paper, we apply a multisensory fusion approach to the problem of multitarget video tracking with occlusion. The approach is based on a data-driven method (CFA) to selecting the features and fusion operations that improve a performance criterion. Each sensory cue is treated as a scoring …

Acuta Enews October 2009, Vol. 38, No. 10

ACUTA Newsletters

In This lssue

Nominate Now for 2010-2011 Board of Directors

From the President........... Harvey "Buck" Buchanan, Florida State Univ., ACUTA President

Tech Talk To Blog or Not to Blog....................Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR

Nominate Now for Institutional Excellence Award

Board Report....................... George Denbow Univ. of Texas-Austin, ACUTA Secretary/Treasurer

DC Update.................Dave Ostrom, Washington State Univ. (retired)

Audio Seminar: "Cutting the Telecom Power Bill"

Tweet Tweet?................. .Amy Burton, Mgr., Membership Marketing & Corp. Relations

Get Your ACUTA Logo Here

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

Financial Crisis Activity in Washington Newsletter

Welcome New Members

Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 51 Number 2, Fall 2009, Santa Clara University

Santa Clara Magazine

16 - POLITICS AND RELIGION: STILL ON A COLLISION COURSE? An interview with Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Israeli Knesset. Plus excerpts from talks by E.J. Dionne Jr., Lisa Sowle Cahill '70, and Michael Eric Dyson.

20 - THE GULF OF WONDER By Emily Elrod '05. With a movie, Patrick McVeigh '78 offers investors a unique opportunity: Wake up the citizens of America and help them save one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Plus, a 30 percent return.

24 - SEASON PREMIERE: "RESURRECTION" By Karen Crocker Snell. Forensic investigator Horatio Caine lies facedown in a pool …

A Broadcast Approach For Fading Wiretap Channels, Yingbin Liang, Lifeng Lai, H. Vincent Poor, Shlomo Shamai (Shitz)

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - All Scholarship

A (layered) broadcast approach is studied for the fading wiretap channel without the channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter. Two broadcast schemes, based on superposition coding and embedded coding respectively, are developed to encode information into a number of layers and use stochastic encoding to keep the corresponding information secret from an eavesdropper. The layers that can be successfully and securely transmitted are determined by the channel states to the legitimate receiver and the eavesdropper. The advantage of these broadcast approaches is that the transmitter does not need to know the CSI to the legitimate receiver and the eavesdropper, …

Leed Certification Workbook For Eco-Charrette Process Improvement At The Boeing Company, Wesley R. Fromm

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Companies across the globe are greening their portfolios. In an effort to define green construction, the United States Green Building Coalition (USGBC) has developed Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification. LEED provides a means for measurement and accountability in sustainable design. However, the volume of information to be processed when considering a building's candidacy is daunting. The LEED Certification Workbook for Eco-Charrette Process Improvement at the Boeing Company takes on this task. By utilizing observations from Boeing's Shared Services Group in Seal Beach, California, the designed solution meets the requirements for an effective gathering of stakeholders in the …

Third Grade Lesson Plan: Where Does Heat Come From?, Getaway Special Team 2009

Education and Outreach

No abstract provided.

Automating Java Program Testing Using Ocl And Aspectj, Yoonsik Cheon, Carmen Avila

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Random testing can eliminate subjectiveness in constructing test data and increase the diversity of test data. However, one difficult problem is to construct test oracles that decide test results---test failures or successes. Assertions can be used as test oracles and are most effective when derived from formal specifications such as OCL constraints. If fully automated, random testing can reduce the cost of testing dramatically. In this paper we propose an approach for automating Java program testing by combining random testing and OCL. The key idea of our approach is to use OCL constraints as test oracles by translating them to …

Harmonic Analysis Of Input Current Of Single-Phase Controlled Bridge Rectifier, Michael Mccarty, Taufik, Andre Pratama, Makbul Anwari

Electrical Engineering

Harmonic analysis of input current of single phase uncontrolled rectifier is widely known. However, little has been known about harmonic of the input current of single phase controlled or thyristor rectifier. This paper presents such an analysis using the bridge configuration for the controlled rectifier circuit. Results obtained from mathematical derivation, computer simulation, and hardware measurements will also be discussed.

Material Properties Are Related To Stress Fracture Callus And Porosity Of Cortical Bone Tissue At Affected And Unaffected Sites, Rachel C. Entwistle,, Sara C. Sammons, Robert F. Bigley, Scott J. Hazelwood, David P. Fyhrie, Jeffery C. Gibeling, Susan M. Stover

Biomedical Engineering

Stress fractures are overuse injuries of bone that affect elite athletes and military recruits. One response of cortical bone to stress fracture is to lay down periosteal callus. The objectives of this study were to determine if material properties are different among bones with different stages of stress fracture callus, at both a callus site and at a distal site. Cortical specimens were mechanically tested to determine their stress–strain response. Material property differences were examined using nonparametric and regression analyses. At the callus site, material properties were low during the earliest stages of callus, higher with increasing callus maturity, but …

Numerical Solutions For The Cawapi Configuration On Unstructured Grids At Usafa, United States, Scott A. Morton, David R. Mcdaniel, Russell M. Cummings

Aerospace Engineering

No abstract provided.

Lessons Learned From The Numerical Investigations On The Vfe-2 Configuration, Willy Fritz, Russell M. Cummings

Aerospace Engineering

The Second International Vortex Flow Experiment provided a variety of experimental data for a 65° delta wing with sharp and blunt/rounded leading edges. Flow measurements including forces and moments, surface pressures, Pressure Sensitive Paint measurements, and off-surface flow variables from Particle Image Velocimetry were made available for comparisons with computational simulations. A number of test cases were chosen for simulation by seven numerical groups, and a summary of their results is presented here. The ability of computational fluid dynamics to predict such flow features as the dual primary vortex system found on the blunt leading edge configuration and a shock/vortex …

Efficiency Performance Analysis Of Series Loaded Resonant Converter, Michael Mccarty, Taufik, Andre Pratama, Makbul Anwari

Electrical Engineering

Series Loaded Resonant (SLR) converter is a well known topology typically used in kilowatt-range power supplies. The topology may operate in either continuous or discontinuous conduction modes whose switching properties are covered in many power electronic text books. However, information related to the actual converter’s efficiency for each conduction mode is lacking and thus will be addressed in this paper. The development of a lab scale SLR converter will be described along with results of computer simulation. Efficiency performance from hardware results for each conduction mode when output power and switching frequency are varied will also be discussed.

Volumetric Flank Wear Characterization For Titanium Milling Insert Tools, Uli Burger, Mathew Kuttolamadom, April Bryan, Laine Mears, Thomas Kurfess

Publications

Machining wear models are useful for the prediction of tool life and the estimation of machining productivity. Existing wear models relate the cutting parameters of feed, speed, and depth of cut to tool wear. The tool wear is often reported as changes in flank width or crater depth. However, these one-dimensional wear measurements do not fully characterize the tool condition when tools wear by other types of wear such as notching, chipping, and adhesion. This is especially true when machining difficult-to-machine materials such as titanium. This paper proposes another approach for characterizing tool wear. It is based on taking measurements …

P300-Based Speller Brain-Computer Interface, Reza Fazel-Rezai

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Warehouse Redesign Of Facility Layout, Racking System And Item Classification At Sunrize Tackle, Inc, Tobiah R. Master

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This report presents the warehouse redesign of Sunrize Tackle Inc's main facility. Located in Santa Barbara, California, Sunrize Tackle is a manufacturer of premium swimbaits and other fishing tackle. They currently face a problem as their product is undergoing an alteration in packaging, and will not fit into the current space available. The objective is to develop an alternative layout and plan for the facility that improves flow of product and employees, reduces inefficiencies in daily operations, and can adapt to fluctuations in demand and sales. The current layout and operations were reviewed, and three major components which affect the …

Shock Effects On Delta Wing Vortex Breakdown, Lucy A. Schiavetta, Okko J. Boelens, Simone Crippa, Russell M. Cummings, Willy Fritz, Ken J. Badcock

Aerospace Engineering

It has been observed that delta wings placed in a transonic freestream can experience a sudden movement of the vortex breakdown location as the angle of incidence is increased. The chapter reports on the use Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to examine this behaviour in detail. The study shows that a shock-vortex interaction is responsible. The balance of the vortex strength and axial flow, and the shock strength, is examined to provide an explanation of the sensitivity of the breakdown location. Limited experimental data is available to supplement the CFD results in certain key respects, and the ideal synergy between CFD …

Numerical Solutions For The Vfe-2 Configuration On Unstructured Grids At Usafa, United States, Russell M. Cummings, Andreas Schϋtte

Aerospace Engineering

The numerical simulation of the flow for the VFE-2 configuration with rounded leading edges is presented. For the numerical simulation the Cobalt Code was used, which uses a cell-centered unstructured hybrid mesh approach. Several numerical results are presented for the steady RANS equations as well as for DES and DDES hybrid approaches. Within this paper the focus is related to the dual primary vortex flow topology, especially the sensitivity of the flow to angle of attack and Reynolds number effects. Reasonable results are obtained with both steady RANS and SA-DDES simulations. The results are compared and verified by experimental data, …

Ole Miss Engineer 2009

Ole Miss Engineer

No abstract provided.

Improvement Of Eeg Based Brain Computer Interface By Application Of Tripolar Electrodes And Independent Component Analysis, Hongbao Cao

Doctoral Dissertations

For persons with severe disabilities, a brain computer interface (BCI) may be a viable means of communication, with scalp-recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) being the most common signal employed in the operation of a BCI. Various electrode configurations can be used for EEG recording, one of which was a set of concentric rings that was referred to as a Laplacian electrode. It has been shown that Lapalacian EEG could improve classification in EEG recognition, but the complete advantages of this configuration have not been established.

This project included two parts. First, a modeling study was performed using Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to …

Fifth Grade Lesson Plan: Solid, Liquid, And Gas, Getaway Special Team 2009

Education and Outreach

No abstract provided.

Sixth Grade Lesson Plan: Heat Moves, Getaway Special Team 2009

Education and Outreach

No abstract provided.

Structural Assessment Of Highway "N" Power Substation Under Earthquake Loads, Genda Chen, Dongming Yan, Zuocai Wang, Seth Justin, J. David Rogers, Kazi Rezaul Karim

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this study, the Highway N Substation was analyzed with a finite element model (FEM) for its vulnerability. The 'rigid' bus and electric switch components were characterized with full scale shake table tests. Each component of the substation was carefully modeled with due considerations of mass density, stiffness and geometries. Based on the FEM, modal analysis was conducted to identify the natural frequencies of the structure along with their corresponding mass participation factors. In response spectrum and time history analyses, the dynamic responses of main components, such as 'rigid' buses and switches, were evaluated. The magnitude and location of the …

Comparing Role-Playing Activities In Second Life And Face-To-Face Environments, Fei Gao, Jeongmin J. Noh, Matthew J. Koehler

Visual Communications and Technology Education Faculty Publications

This study compared student performances in role-playing activities in both a face-to-face (FTF) environment and a virtual 3D environment, Second Life (SL). We found that students produced a similar amount of communication in the two environments, but the communication styles were different. In SL role-playing activities, students took more conversational turns, but have shorter exchanges compared to the FTF environment. Students generated an equal amount of topic-related concepts in the two environments. They also reported role-playing activities in SL as more interesting and less formal. The educational implications for this study are discussed.

The Uqam Mummy – The Use Of Non-Destructive Imaging To Reconstruct An Ancient Osteobiography And To Document Modern Malfeasance, Andrew J. Nelson, Andrew D. Wade, R. Hibbert, B. Macdonald, M. Donaldson, R. Chatelain, N. Nguyen, V. Lywood, G. Gibson, M. Trumpour, S. N. Friedman, P. V. Granton, J. Morgan, David W. Holdsworth, I. A. Cunningham

Anthropology Presentations

An Egyptian mummy and her coffin dating to the 26th Dynasty were donated to the École de Beaux Arts in Montreal in 1927. This mummy has been in the collection of the Université du Québec à Montréal since 1967. Inscriptions on the elaborate coffin identify the individual as Hetep-Bastet. In 1969, the mummy was attacked by a protester, who caused extensive damage. The mummy was scanned once over a decade ago. However, computed tomography (CT) technology has advanced a great deal since that time, and some conclusions reached were somewhat suspect (e.g. that she suffered from a large dental abscess …