Engineering Commons^™

Doug Ruthven And Jorg Karger: Their Individual And Collective Contributions To The Field Of Zeolite Science And Engineering, Dhananjai B. Shah

Chemical & Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Prof. Doug Ruthven and Prof. Jörg Kärger are two giants in the field of zeolite science and engineering. Over their academic careers encompassing almost forty years each, they have contributed significantly to the advancement of fundamental understanding of adsorption and diffusion in zeolites as well as their industrial applications. The author, in the beginning of his academic career, had an opportunity to spend two years as a post-doctoral fellow in Prof. Ruthven’s laboratory at the University of New Brunswick (1975–1977). This experience actually motivated me to spend my academic career in working in the field of zeolite adsorption and …

Synthesis Of Reversible Circuits For Large Reversible Functions, Marek Perkowski, Nouraddin Alhagi, Maher Hawash

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper presents a new algorithmMP (multiple pass) to synthesize large reversible binary circuits without ancilla bits. The well-known MMD algorithm for synthesis of reversible circuits requires to store a truth table (or a Reed-Muller - RM transform) as a 2n vector to represent a reversible function of n variables. This representation prohibits synthesis of large functions. However, in MP we do not store such an exponentially growing data structure. The values of minterms are calculated in MP dynamically, one-by-one, from a set of logic equations that specify the reversible circuit to be designed. This allows for synthesis of large …

A Fiber Bragg Grating-Based All-Fiber Sensing Systems For Telerobotic Cutting Applications, Ginu Rajan, Dean Callaghan, Yuliya Semenova, Mark Mcgrath, Eugene Coyle, Gerald Farrell

Articles

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based strain sensing system for minimally invasive telerobotic cutting applications is presented in this paper. Investigations assume that a scissor blade can be approximated as a uniformly tapered cantilever beam. A replica of the scissor blade is produced and strain characterization has been carried out using an FBG sensor system. Results are validated against measurements obtained using conventional electrical resistance strain gauges. The scissor blade experiences both direct and lateral forces during cutting, hence the system is characterized for a direct load range of 0-30 N and a lateral load range of 0-10 N. The results …

Combining Mobile Technologies For Accurate, Open Source, Privacy Sensitive, Zero Cost, Location Determination, Seamus Rooney

Doctoral

Determining the location of an object or individual using a mobile device (e.g. cell phone) is an important aspect of modern information gathering. Various solutions have been proposed which all have their strengths and weaknesses. To date, no solution has been devised for a mobile device that will work effectively in multiple environments and without assistance from network-provider connections1. To address this, it is argued that the current state of the art can be advanced using a hybrid approach that combines a number of sensor technologies to provide a more reliable, and accurate mobile location determination that functions in multiple …

Home Owners’ Attitudes, Perceptions And Willingness To Pay For Microgeneration Technologies, Marius Claudy, Aidan O'Driscoll, Aidan Duffy

Reports

This report evaluates Irish home owners’ perceptions, attitudes and willingness to pay (WTP) for microgeneration technologies, including photovoltaic (solar panels),[1] solar water heaters, micro wind turbines and wood pellet boilers.

The data presented in the report stem from two large-scale surveys, both designed by Technological University Dublin (DIT) and commissioned on behalf of Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI) and DIT. The first study gathered data on Irish people’s general awareness of microgeneration technologies and was conducted in March 2009. The second and main survey targeted Irish home owners in order to understand their perceptions of and attitudes to microgeneration. …

The Generation Of Domestic Electricity Load Profiles Through Markov Chain Modelling, Fintan Mcloughlin, Aidan Duffy, Michael Conlon

Articles

Micro-generation technologies such as photovoltaics and micro-wind power are becoming increasing popular among homeowners, mainly a result of policy support mechanisms helping to improve cost competiveness as compared to traditional fossil fuel generation. National government strategies to reduce electricity demand generated from fossil fuels and to meet European Union 20/20/20 targets is driving this change. However, the real performance of these technologies in a domestic setting is not often known as high time resolution models for domestic electricity load profiles are not readily available. As a result, projections in terms of reducing electricity demand and financial paybacks for these micro-generation …

Sustainable Practices And Related Performance Measures At State Highway Agencies, Lenahan O’Connell

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This report identifies seven ways in which an SHA can harm the environment: (1) excessive consumption of virgin materials; (2) unnecessary levels or amounts of storm water runoff; (3) release of environmental contaminants by SHA employees and contractors; (4) inadequate environmental training of employees and contractors; (5) wasteful use of energy by SHA employees and contractors; (6) the promotion of excessive driving by the public and concomitant release of green house gases; and (7) inadequate oversight mechanisms and procedures to prevent unsustainable practices. The report then identifies the sustainable practices and related performance measures SHAs can use to prevent or …

Generalized Ellipsometry On Sculptured Thin Films Made By Glancing Angle Deposition, Daniel Schmidt

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this thesis, physical properties of highly optically and magnetically anisotropic metal sculptured thin films made by glancing angle deposition are presented. Predominantly, the determination of optical and magneto-optical properties with spectroscopic generalized Mueller matrix ellipsometry and homogenization approaches is discussed. Nomenclatures are proposed to unambiguously identify the sculptured thin film geometry.

Generalized ellipsometry, a non-destructive optical characterization technique, is employed to determine geometrical structure and anisotropic dielectric properties of highly spatially coherent three-dimensionally nanostructured thin films in the spectral range from 400 to 1700 nm. The analysis of metal slanted columnar thin films (F1-STFs) deposited at glancing angle ( …

The Changing Patterns Of Internet Usage, Christopher S. Yoo

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Essays from Time Warner Cable's Research Program on Digital Communications.

The Challenge Of Increasing Broadband Capacity, Dale N. Hatfield

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Essays from Time Warner Cable's Research Program on Digital Communications.

Evaluation Of Tetrachloroethene Dechlorination Under Low Ph Conditions In Microcosms And Enrichment Cultures, Michael Hickey

All Theses

Chlorinated ethenes are among the most prevalent groundwater contaminants found at hazardous waste sites throughout the United States. Two such sites are the Statesville FCX OU3 Superfund Site in North Carolina and the C-area at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in Aiken, SC. Both sites are contaminated with two of the more common chlorinated ethenes; tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE). Anaerobic biological reductive dechlorination is an increasingly common treatment option. There are two main concerns as to the feasibility of this approach. The first is if the microbes are present that are needed for carrying out complete reductive dechlorination of …

Hybrid Nanomanufacturing Process For High-Rate Polymer Nanofiber Production, Chad T. Peterson

Department of Engineering Mechanics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nanotechnology and nanomaterials have the potential to revolutionize existing and create entirely new industries. Unique physical, mechanical, chemical, and biological properties of nanomaterials have been extensively documented in the last two decades. However, most nanomaterials are discontinuous in nature, creating problems with their processing and manipulation into devices and raising health concerns. Continuous nanofibers represent an emerging class of nanomaterials with critical advantages to applications. Continuous nanofibers are readily produced by electrospinning process comprising spinning polymer solutions in high electric fields. Electrospinning is a very economic top-down nanomanufacturing process that has been used to produce ultrafine continuous nanofibers from several …

Flight Physician - December, 2010, Civil Aviation Medical Association

Browse all Civil Aviation Medical Association Newsletters

A sixteen page newsletter of the Civil Aviation Medical Association. The newsletter provided news about civil aviation medicine and information related to the organization.

Petroleum Industry Linkages And Nigeria's Economic Development, Chinyere U. Nwolisa, Chinyelu N. Ugoji

Bullion

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and potentially its largest economy, has witnessed decades of dictatorship and misrule. Accompanying this misrule are severe economic problems of an unprecedented magnitude. This paper intends to add further clues to the solution for this national developmental puzzle. The remaining part of the paper is arranged thus: Part 2 presents an overview of the Nigerian Petroleum industry while the part 3 looks at the literature of economic development the country appears to be executing. Parl4 discusses the various linkages the Petroleum industry offers visa-vis Nigeria's exploration of their potentials. The penultimate part will offer some …

Performance Evaluation Of A Pbil-Based Power System Damping Controller, K. A. Folly, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Recently Population-Based Incremental Learning (PBIL) algorithm has been applied to a range of problems in engineering with promising results. However, in most of the literature the standard PBIL with fixed learning rate has been used. It has been shown that when applied to dynamic environment as the one encountered in power systems, adaptive learning rate is more appropriate to use. in this paper, Population-Based Incremental Learning (PBIL) algorithm with adaptive learning rate is used to tune the parameters of a power system controller for damping power oscillations in a multi-machine power system. the optimization of controller's parameters has been performed …

Guest Editorial Special Section On The 2009 International Conference On Electromagnetic Near-Field Characterization And Imaging (Iconic'09), Jean Fu Kiang, Sergey Kharkovsky

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Incorporating Correlation Matrices Into Hardware Triply Selective Fading Channel Emulators Using Kronecker Product, Fei Ren, Yahong R. Zheng

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This article proposes a hardware triply selective Rayleigh fading channel emulator which is implemented by incorporating spatial and inter-tap correlation matrices into uncorrelated frequency-flat Rayleigh fading waveforms with a Kronecker product method. the Kronecker product of square roots of three correlation matrices are computed in real time via serial, parallel, or mixed serial-parallel computational methods and then combined with uncorrelated flat fading waveforms. a 4x4 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) triply selective channel with 4 correlated delay-taps per subchannel is implemented on a Stratix III FPGA DSP development kit. We show that the three methods provide flexibility for designs in speed and …

Decentralized State Feedback And Near Optimal Adaptive Neural Network Control Of Interconnected Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems, Shahab Mehraeen, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Mariesa Crow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, first a novel decentralized state feedback stabilization controller is introduced for a class of nonlinear interconnected discrete-time systems in affine form with unknown subsystem dynamics, control gain matrix, and interconnection dynamics by employing neural networks (NNs). Subsequently, the optimal control problem of decentralized nonlinear discrete-time system is considered with unknown internal subsystem and interconnection dynamics while assuming that the control gain matrix is known. For the near optimal controller development, the direct neural dynamic programming technique is utilized to solve the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation forward-in-time. The decentralized optimal controller design for each subsystem utilizes the critic-actor structure …

A Novel Impedance Definition Of A Parallel Plate Pair For An Intrinsic Via Circuit Model, Yaojiang Zhang, Gang Feng, Jun Fan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Rigorous analysis of via-plate-pair interactions requires the impedance of a plate pair to be defined in terms of radial transmission lines on perfect magnetic conductor (PMC) ports. the plate domain is not a solid plate pair but one with multiple PMC holes where conventional impedance definitions are not suitable. a new impedance definition is proposed where port voltages and currents are expressed in terms of the inward and outward zero-order modes of a radial transmission line. Radial scattering parameters among multiple radial ports are then introduced and the transforms between the radial scattering and impedance matrices are given. an analytical …

Hybrid Method Used To Model Via Transitions, Hanfeng Wang, Albert E. Ruehli, Jun Fan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A hybrid approach to solve via impedance and model via transitions is presented in the paper. the method is a combination of via-plane capacitance extraction and the impedance matrices calculation of parallel plane pair. a new formulation of the integral equation method for axially symmetric geometry is used for the capacitance extraction. the method is validated with other model results. ©2010 IEEE.

Frequency-Domain Turbo Detection For Ldpc-Coded Single-Carrier Mimo Underwater Acoustic Communications, Longbao Wang, Jun Tao, Chengshan Xiao, T. C. Yang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper proposes a frequency-domain detection scheme for single-carrier multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) underwater acoustic (UWA) communication using low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. the new scheme employs turbo equalization technology together with iterative decoding technique, leading to a double-layer turbo detection structure. in the outer-layer turbo equalization, a soft-decision frequency-domain equalizer (FDE) iteratively exchanges soft information with the soft-decision LDPC channel decoder. within each outer-layer iteration, the LDPC decoder performs inner-layer iterative decoding with sum-product algorithm. the new scheme achieves excellent detection performance attributing to the double layers of iterative operation, which has been tested by experimental data measured in two undersea …

Equivalent Transmission-Line Model For Vias Connected To Striplines In Multilayer Print Circuit Boards, Siming Pan, Jianmin Zhang, Qinghua B. Chen, Jun Fan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Vias are typical discontinuities for high-speed signal transmission in printed circuit boards. Previous work has studied the through-hole via connections from the top layer to the bottom between microstrip traces and proposed an equivalent transmission-line model for impedance matching between traces and vias. in this paper, the equivalent transmission-line model is extended for the via structures connected to strip lines based on modal decomposition. Both single-ended and differential cases are discussed, and the effects of the model parameters on the performance of signal transition are also investigated. the extended equivalent transmission-line model is accurate and fast to be embedded in …

Safety Enhancement Of The Indot Network Pavement Friction Testing Program: Macrotexture And Microtexture Testing Using Laser Sensors, Shuo Li, Samy Noureldin, Karen Zhu

JTRP Technical Reports

The Indiana Department of Transportation has conducted annual network inventory friction testing using the locked wheel trailer to reduce wet pavement crashes. However, issues have arisen concerning the data credibility and field operation safety on high-speed highway facilities. Some researchers have investigated the evaluation of pavement friction using macrotexture measurements and found the relationship between friction and macrotexture is extremely weak. Currently, macrotexture can be readily measured at highway speeds, but microtexture is evaluated using friction at low speeds from a surrogate device. Microtexture plays an important role in friction force. The evaluation of pavement friction from texture measurements will …

Determination Of Sorption Coefficients For Neptunium, Plutonium, Iodine, And Technetium In Engineered And Natural Systems Under Oxidizing And Reducing Conditions, Michael Lilley

All Theses

Plutonium, neptunium, technetium, and iodine present appreciable risks at nuclear waste disposal sites around the world due to their potential mobility. Sorption of each of these radionuclides is profoundly influenced by oxidation/ reduction reactions. Therefore, the mobility of each radionuclide may be greatly influenced by redox conditions of the natural or engineered system. The primary focus of this study was to determine distribution coefficients (K_d) for each radionuclide for engineered concrete and saltstone systems with varying amounts of reducing slag (a cement additive to create a reducing environment), and for iodide/iodate in natural sediments. Saltstones are a mixture …

On The Use Of Natural-Mode Basis Functions For Electromagnetic Analysis Of Arbitrary Conducting Surfaces, Joshua Lawrence

All Theses

The natural modes defined in the singularity expansion method (SEM) are used as basis functions for the frequency- and time-domain current responses of arbitrary perfect electrically conducting (PEC) surfaces in this work. First, a method of determining the natural frequencies and corresponding modes which employs the electric field integral equation is presented. These quantities are then calculated for several geometries and the currents induced due to an incident plane wave in the frequency and time domains are approximated by a weighted sum of the natural modes. Additionally, the modal weights prescribed by SEM are compared to a set of weights …

The Next Generation Cubesat: A Modular And Adaptable Cubesat Frame Design, James Dolengewicz, Lucas Whipple, Stephanie Wong

Mechanical Engineering

The goal of this project is to develop an improved next-generation CubeSat structure for Cal Poly’s PolySat program. Notable achievements include significantly increased ease of access, design to optimize payload space, improved machinability, increased modularity and a platform which allows for easy integration of future payloads.

Robot Crawling Device And Tee Table, Todd P. Trauman, Kyle M. Colvin, David Charles Fantz

Mechanical Engineering

As golf becomes a more frequently enjoyed activity, equipment manufacturers such as Hot Stix Golf require updated testing mechanisms to actively compete in their respective markets. One such testing device is a golfing robot nicknamed the “Iron Byron”. Two issues were asked to be addressed for the senior project. First, the robot was practically immobile unless taken apart and moved with a forklift. The request from Hot Stix was to mobilize the robot so that it could easily be transported with minimal use of external help. Secondly, the initial tee-table was both poorly-designed and missing altogether. The new tee-table needed …

Water Well Drilling Rig Final Project Report, Alexander (Alex) Wargnier, Thad Jablonski, Coel Schumacher

Mechanical Engineering

In this report, the improvements of a previously produced cable tool drilling rig are described. The purpose of the rig is to drill water wells for use in Africa in order to provide safe drinking water to many in need. An affordable, effective, and controllable rig is the design goal for this project. With the San Luis Obispo Rotary Club sponsoring the project the design team of WHole Engineering have made necessary design choices to manufacture the product. Actions performed include background research of existing drilling technologies, analysis of top concepts for the controlling mechanism, and selection for the final …

The Quadricycle Hand And Foot Cycle, Marissa Chin, Parker Drennan, Spencer Nelson, Kevin Reidy

Mechanical Engineering

This report documents the design process from concept generation to manufacturing for a hand and foot powered cycle named the Quadricycle.  The Quadricycle project is a joint effort at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo between the Mechanical Engineering and Kinesiology Departments.  The project objectives are to design a portable cycle that can be powered by hands and feet simultaneously in order to provide recreation and rehabilitation for a person with a disability.  This project is funded under a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

A Self Organization-Based Optical Flow Estimator With Gpu Implementation, Manish Shiralkar

All Dissertations

This work describes a parallelizable optical flow estimator that uses a modified batch version of
the Self Organizing Map (SOM). This gradient-based estimator handles the ill-posedness in motion
estimation via a novel combination of regression and a self organization strategy.
The aperture problem is explicitly modeled using an algebraic framework
that partitions motion estimates obtained from regression into two sets, one (set H_c) with estimates
with high confidence and another (set H_p) with low confidence estimates. The self organization step
uses a uniquely designed pair of training set (Q=H_c) and the initial weights set …