Engineering Commons^™

Towards Chemical Applications Of Dempster-Shafer-Type Approach: Case Of Variant Ligands, Jaime Nava

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Why Curvature In L-Curve: Combining Soft Constraints, Uram Anibal Sosa Aguirre, Martine Ceberio, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In solving inverse problems, one of the successful methods of determining the appropriate value of the regularization parameter is the L-curve method of combining the corresponding soft constraints, when we plot the curve describing the dependence of the logarithm $x$ of the mean square difference on the logarithm $y$ of the mean square non-smoothness, and select a point on this curve at which the curvature is the largest. This method is empirically successful, but from the theoretical viewpoint, it is not clear why we should use curvature and not some other criterion. In this paper, we show that reasonable scale-invariance …

How To Bargain: An Interval Approach, Vladik Kreinovich, Hung T. Nguyen, Songsak Sriboonchitta

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Microstructural Evolution Of Surface Layers During Electrolytic Plasma Processing, Cristian Cionea

Material Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Electrolytic Plasma Processing is an emerging technology for surface modification. The EPP process is based on electrolysis of an aqueous electrolyte by application of an electrical potential between the workpiece and counter-electrode, and the production of plasma (micro-arc discharges on the workpiece surface). The plasma micro-arcs provide a heat source for surface modification via localized surface melting and rapid cooling (cleaning process) and, if desirable, enhance ion deposition on a given substrate (coating). Three substrates (low carbon steel, pure Al and pure Ti) were "cleaned" by EPP and their near surface layer microstructure was studied. It was found that the …

Bubble Template Synthesis Of Hollow Gold Nanoparticles And Their Applications As Theranostic Agents, Chienwen Huang

Material Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Hollow gold nanoparticle with a sub-30nm polycrystalline shell and a 50 nm hollow core has been successfully synthesized through the reduction of sodium gold sulfite by electrochemically evolved hydrogen. Such hollow gold nanoparticles exhibit unique plasmonic properties. They strongly scatter and absorb near infrared light. In this thesis we seek to understand the formation mechanism of hollow gold nanoparticles in this new synthesis process and their plasmonic properties. Also, we explore their biomedical applications as theranostic agents (therapeutic and diagnostic imaging). A lithographically patterned electrode consisting of Ag stripes on a glass substrate was used to investigate the formation process …

Study On The Leakage Current Behavior And Conduction Mechanism Of Porous Low-K In Cu/Porous Low-K Interconnects: The Influence Of Extrinsic Factors, Liangshan Chen

Material Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This study investigates the influence of extrinsic factors including moisture and impurities trapped in porous low-k (PLK) and defective diffusion barrier on the leakage current behavior and the associated conduction mechanism of PLK in advanced Cu/PLK interconnects. For this purpose, a voltammetry technique that was previously developed for diffusion barrier characterization was extended to detect the trapped impurities in PLK. With this technique in hand, the influence of extrinsic factors was then studied. Cu was found to diffuse out into PLK through barrier defects in the presence of electric stress. Its out-diffusion and subsequent migration in PLK manifested as a …

Nanocrystalline Piezoresistive Polysilicon Film Obtained By Aluminum Induced Crystallization For Pressure Sensing Applications, Suraj Kumar Patil

Material Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The overall objective of our research was to integrate various sensors on to a single flexible substrate for multi-sensory information gathering. Additional capabilities could be incorporated towards the realization of 'smart skin' for simultaneous and real time sensing of various mechanical, biological and chemical stimuli. Recent research venues are dictated by the trend of shifting from conventional silicon (Si) substrates to lower weight, low profile, structurally robust and lower cost flexible substrates. These flexible substrates easily conform to non-planar objects, could be batch fabricated at lower cost and enable multilayer construction. This would eventually evolve into seamless assimilation of sensors …

Surface Optimization Of High Density Polyethylene And Carbon Nanofiber Composites For The Improvement Of Electromagnetic Shielding Effectiveness, Brandon C. Jarvis

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Nanoreinforced composites of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and Carbon Nanofibers (CNF) of varying nanofiber concentration were fabricated via melt mixing. Following fabrication, various metal and metal-nitride thin films were sputter deposited upon the substrates. Volume resistivity measurements of the composite substrates, as well as four point probe analysis of the composites and the deposited films were performed and are reported. Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Shielding Effectiveness (SE) measurements were performed upon all samples in order to gauge the effects of percolation and the presence of the deposited film(s) upon overall SE. Comparisons of experimental measurements with analytical models available in the …

Local Evaluation For The Cumberland Gap Tunnel Regional Its Deployment, John Crossfield, Len O'Connell, Candice Wallace, Jennifer Walton

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This report is the local evaluation of an Intelligent Transportation System deployment for the Cumberland Gap Tunnel and U.S. 25E corridor in Tennessee and Kentucky. This report examines the planning for the deployment and the systems and components used to achieve the goals of the deployment. The goals and expectations of the ITS deployment were to provide updated travel information to drivers in the vicinity of the Cumberland Gap Tunnel and along the U.S. 25E corridor; to improve the integration of the tunnel systems; to improve incident detection, verification, and response times along the U.S. 25E corridor; and to develop, …

Sports-Tool, Bryant Ung

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Creating events and finding people to play sports is a hard thing to do. The solution to this problem is to provide a web based interactive site that allows people to create and join different type of events and interact with each other by creating teams.

Finite Horizon Markov Control With One-Step Variance Penalties, Abhijit Gosavi

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Variance-penalized Markov decision processes (MDPs) for an infinite time horizon have been studied in the literature for asymptotic and one-step variance; in these models, the objective function is generally the expected long-run reward minus a constant time the variance, where variance is used as a measure of risk. for the finite time horizon, asymptotic variance has been considered in Collins [1], but this model accounts for only a terminal reward, i.e., reward is earned at the end of the time horizon. in this paper, we seek to develop a framework for one-step variance in the finite time horizon in which …

Investigating The Use Of A New Universal Breakaway Steel Post -- Phase Iii, Dean L. Sicking, Ronald K. Faller, Robert W. Bielenberg, Karla A. Lechtenberg, Jennifer D. Schmidt

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

A Review Of The Benefits And Applications Of The Thorium Fuel Cycle, Vincent Hall

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper aims to inform the reader of the benefits that can be achieved by using thorium as a fuel for nuclear power. Stages of the thorium cycle are directly compared against the current uranium based nuclear fuel cycle. These include mining, milling, fuel fabrication, use of various reactor designs, reprocessing, and disposal. Thorium power promises several key advantages over traditional nuclear power methods, namely a dramatic decrease in long lived radioactive waste, increased fuel efficiency, greater chemical stability during disposal, and higher adaptability for differing reactor designs across a wider range of the thermal neutron spectrum. Obstacles that face …

Analysis Of Part Consolidation Techniques For Automotive Body In White Panels Based On Advanced Sheet Metal Forming Technologies, Harish Thiruvengadam

All Theses

The automotive industry is looking to move from mass production to mass customization in order to manufacture and sell a variety of products in different markets on a global scale. This requires a robust and cost effective manufacturing system which would help design new products in the shortest possible lead time. This thesis tries to investigate the current sheet metal forming process for body in white, identify the limitations and propose an alternative which would help the industry cut down product lead time and costs. Decision making tools are used to identify the technical requirements of a BIW manufacturing system …

The Gel Documentation System: A Cornerstone To The Implementation Of The Introduction To Biotechnology And Introduction To Bioinformatics Cross-Disciplinary Course Series (Final Report), Marcy Kelly, Gregory Lampard, Constance Knapp

Cornerstone 3 Reports : Interdisciplinary Informatics

Our original goal was to offer Pace undergraduate students opportunities to be introduced to both Biotechnology and Computer Science as it relates to Bioinformatics. We proposed a two course series, offered to both computer science and biology students that will increase both biological and computer science literacy of our students. The two courses are Introduction to Biotechnology (BIO 372) and Introduction to Bioinformatics.

Increasing High School Stem Participation Through Robotics Training And Tournaments (Final Report), Richard Kline

Cornerstone 2 Reports : Community Outreach and Empowerment Through Service Learning and Volunteerism

The overall goal of this project was to engage high school students in an exciting way to increase their interest in science and technology. We planned to accomplish this by making Pace University an official Affiliate Partner of the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) robotics competition, a fast-growing program with more than 1,100 participating teams in 2009-2010. In FTC, high-school age participants design, build, and program their own robots to enter into regional and national competitions. Building on the Seidenberg School’s past success as a partner to FIRST with its FIRST LEGO League program, we intended to organize, host, and run …

Use Of Mobile Phone Computing For Development Of Student 21st Century Skills, Susan M. Merritt, R. Lara Lee

Cornerstone 2 Reports : Community Outreach and Empowerment Through Service Learning and Volunteerism

Mobile phone computing enables immediate capture and transfer of data, images, notes and experiences from the field to a repository where retrieval, analysis, edits, aggregation, and further development are possible. Immediate findings and later results can be shared on the Web with local and global communities, and development of integrated service learning projects in concert with underserved communities is possible using this mode of information gathering and sharing.

Mobile phone computing incorporates moments when participants build tomorrow's skills while addressing today's learning goals. Use of digital tools and supporting resources bring real world problems into focus. Mobile phone computing enables …

Security@Web: Teaching Security With Alignment In Trust On The Web (Final Report), Li-Chiou Chen, Mary Long

Cornerstone 3 Reports : Interdisciplinary Informatics

No abstract provided.

A Numerical And Experimental Study Of Differential Settling In Cohesive Sediment, Chad Heiliger

All Theses

Accurate sedimentation modeling has important applications in a number of fields. This includes modeling the accumulation of sediment in harbor channels and modeling the sedimentation and accumulation of particles in retention ponds in the still waters behind dams in order to calculate the trap efficiency. By accurately modeling sedimentation, engineering failures such as the 2008 TVA spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant could possibly be avoided. Three different numerical models comparing the settling rates of individual particles in quiescent waters were created to compare the change of settling velocity due to particle size distributions, change of local concentrations, and flocculation …

Neomycin-Enhanced Carbodiimide Cross-Linking For Glycosaminoglycan Stability In Bioprosthetic Heart Valves, Joshua Leong

All Theses

Valvular heart diseases lead to over 290,000 heart valve replacements worldwide each year, and approximately half of these involve replacement with a bioprosthetic heart valve (BHV) [1]. BHVs exhibit excellent hemocompatibility, but suffer from inadequate long-term durability with most adult implanted valves failing within 12 to 15 years after implantation [2]. Although this may be adequate for some individuals, BHV implantation may be contraindicated in younger individuals to avoid reoperation. Even in elder recipients, valve dysfunction can still cause death or reoperation that could be avoided with increased BHV durability. Therefore, investigation into methods of increasing BHV durability can not …

Synthesis, Stabilization, And Characterization Of Metal Nanoparticles, Gregory White Ii

All Dissertations

Wet chemical synthesis techniques offer the ability to control various nanoparticle characteristics including size, shape, dispersibility in both aqueous and organic solvents, and tailored surface chemistries appropriate for different applications. Large quantities of stabilizing ligands or surfactants are often required during synthesis to achieve these nanoparticle characteristics. Unfortunately, excess reaction byproducts, surfactants, and ligands remaining in solution after nanoparticle synthesis can impede application, and therefore post-synthesis purification must be employed. A liquid-liquid solvent/anti-solvent pair (typically ethanol/toluene or ethanol/hexane for gold nanoparticles, GNPs) can be used to both purify and size-selectively fractionate hydrophobically modified nanoparticles. Alternatively, carbon dioxide may be used …

Universality Of Non-Ohmic Shunt Leakage In Thin-Film Solar Cells, Sourabh Dongaonkar, Jonathan D. Servaites, Grayson M. Ford, Stephen Loser, James E. Moore, Ryan M. Gelfand, Hooman Mohseni, Hugh W. Hillhouse, Rakesh Agrawal, Mark A. Ratner, Tobin J. Marks, Mark Lundstrom, Muhammad A. Alam

Birck and NCN Publications

We compare the dark current-voltage (IV) characteristics of three different thin-film solar cell types: hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) p-i-n cells, organic bulk heterojunction (BHJ) cells, and Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) cells. All three device types exhibit a significant shunt leakage current at low forward bias (V< ∼ 0.4) and reverse bias, which cannot be explained by the classical solar cell diode model. This parasitic shunt current exhibits non-Ohmic behavior, as opposed to the traditional constant shunt resistance model for photovoltaics. We show here that this shunt leakage (I_sh), across all three solar cell types considered, is characterized by the following common phenomenological features: (a) voltage symmetry about V = 0, (b) nonlinear (power law) voltage dependence, and (c) extremely weak temperature dependence. Based on this analysis, we provide a simple method of subtracting this shunt current component from …

Uncertainty Propagation In A Multiscale Model Of Nanocrystalline Plasticity, Marisol Koslowski, Alejandro Strachan

PRISM: NNSA Center for Prediction of Reliability, Integrity and Survivability of Microsystems

We characterize how uncertainties propagate across spatial and temporal scales in a physicsbased model of nanocrystalline plasticity of fcc metals. Our model combines molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to characterize atomic level processes that govern dislocation basedplastic deformation with a phase field approach to dislocation dynamics (PFDD) that describes how an ensemble of dislocations evolve and interact to determine the mechanical response of the material. We apply this approach to a nanocrystalline Ni specimen of interest in micro-electromechanical (MEMS) switches. Our approach enables us to quantify how internal stresses that result from the fabrication process affect the properties of dislocations (using …

Tangerine Avenue Retrofitting Project, Ni-Bin Chang, Martin Wanielista

BMP Trains Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Design Charts For Retaining Walls In Seismic Areas, Yingwei Wu, Shamsher Prakash

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Retaining walls have failed either by sliding away from the backfill or due to combined action of sliding and rocking displacements, during earthquakes. Performance based design of the retaining walls in seismic areas must account for the likely displacements, in addition to calculating the usual factors of safety against failure in bearing, sliding and overturning. a realistic model for estimating dynamic displacement has been developed, which accounts for the combined action of sliding and rocking and takes into consideration, non-linear soil stiffness in sliding, and rocking, geometrical and material damping in sliding, and rocking, and coupling effects. This model was …

Information Quality On The World Wide Web: A User Perspective, Jaikrit Kandari

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Information Quality has emerged as an important measure for the success of Information Systems. At the same time the World Wide Web has established itself as the key infrastructure for information administration, exchange, and publication. Users are getting information from the web at the click of a button however they must filter sub-standard information before they can use quality content. Researchers have aimed to address this problem by suggesting various information quality frameworks. Research till date has seen twenty important Information Quality (IQ) frameworks emerge. These models though varied in their approach and application share a number of characteristics regarding …

Cal Poly Rose Float Electric Vehicle, Jennifer Slone, Jason Sherrett, Dionysios Pettas, Timothy Baldwin

Mechanical Engineering

(1) Background:

The Cal Poly Rose Float is currently powered by a pair of V-8 internal combustion engines. This is the second project in a three phase effort to replace the existing drive engine with an electric motor powered by a DC bus. The main goal of this phase of the project is to get the motor selected in phase one spinning.

(2) Results:

Originally, the project involved programming a microcontroller to achieve motor control. The decision was made, early on, to approach this task in a different manner due to the team’s minimal background in programming and mechatronics. The …

Asme Human Powered Vehicle, Benjamin Knaus, Philip Basmadjian, Nick Supat

Mechanical Engineering

Speed Solutions has been contracted to design and build a Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) frame and drivetrain for the Cal Poly HPV club to use in their 2011 race season. This project is being funded by the Cal Poly HPV club and their sponsors. The goal is to design, test and build a bicycle frame that the HPV club can attach to a fairing of their design. Primary design considerations will include speed, weight, cost, rider ergonomics, reliability and ease of repair. This vehicle will be used to compete in ASME’s Human Powered Vehicle Challenge (HPVC) series of races.

Adapted Recumbent Bike, Kurtis Mundell, Dane Tiemeier, Laura Yakuma, Darius Yu

Mechanical Engineering

The adapted recumbent project was to redesign a disabled veteran’s recumbent bicycle.  The main areas of concern were the crank pedal, chain tension, braking and steering system, and ergonomics. Since the customer is an avid biker, this bike will be used often, so the design is based on the ease of repair and replacement.  The crank system was redesigned to a lightweight, adjustable part with chain clearance and high strength. The chain tension was improved by replacing the existing single idler wheel/chain tube system with a dual idler wheel system. The dual idler has a titanium sprocket in one of …

Development Of A Cubesat Payload To Model Particle Dampening In Space: Design And Implementation Of Software For Cp7, Daniel Walker

Computer Engineering

The California Polytechnic State University CubeSat student research & development group, PolySat, is currently in a mature development stage of a single unit CubeSat designated CP7. The CP7 mission implements a scientific payload designed to characterize particle dampers in microgravity conditions. When subjected to vibration, the momentum exchanges and frictional forces of the particles create a damping effect that can be optimized to suit a number of applications over a broad frequency and amplitude range. In space based applications, particle dampers would serve as a robust and simple device to eliminate jitter in optical assemblies and other sensitive instrumentation. This …