Engineering Commons^™

Light-Activation Influence On The Thermal Analysis Of A Resin-Modified Glass-Ionomer, Raksha Srinivas

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The acid-base and light polymerization reactions in resin modified glass ionomers (RMGI) have been shown to compete and possibly inhibit one another during early RMGI development. Earlier beginning times of light polymerization initiation may limit the acid-base reaction and if time allowed for the acid-base components to react is increased, the extent of light cure reaction may be lesser. The thermal behavior of a commercially available RMGI was investigated in relation to a light initiation regimen using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The relationship between delay in light initiation or no light initiation and the resultant set matrix of the …

A Voip Implementation On An Embedded Platform, Zachary D. Lund

Master's Theses (2009 -)

This thesis presents a method of building an open VoIP telephone using off-the-shelf hardware. VoIP has become an important area of study in computer science and engineering, but many of the pieces are expensive and proprietary. We discuss the process of building an open IP telephone, the design decisions and difficulties, a performance evaluation of the different pieces of the system, and methods and suggestions for improving the overall system.

The IP telephone is built on the Freescale 68HC12 microcontroller because of its analog and digital capabilities and the Linksys WRT54GL router for its embedded simplicity and network capabilities. The …

Sensitivity Of Motor Adaptation To The Statistical Properties Of An Environmental Load, Timothy Michael Haswell

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Linear, limited-memory models capture many important features of adaptive motor performance during reaching, stepping and pointing. A recent study in our lab found that a model fitted to data obtained from subjects reaching against elastic loads which varied from trial-to-trial later failed to fit the steady-state response behavior of subjects exposed to deterministic, step changes in load. Does motor adaptation depend on statistical properties of the environment (eg. mean load strength and variability)? Neurologically intact volunteers (n=14) made 6 blocks of 100 planar, ballistic, 10cm, out-and-back reaching movements against spring-like loads having equilibrium positions at the hand's starting point. View …

Mechatronic Tools For The Modeling And Design Of Servo Motor Actuated Belt Driven Motion Systems, Robert William Copsey

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Mechatronics is defined as the synergistic integration of physical systems, electronics, controls, and computers through the design process, from the very start of the design process, thus enabling complex decision making. This definition reveals the elements involved yet it eludes to the complexity and the constant balance of tradeoffs which are prevalent in the context of applying Mechatronics to a successful design process. This work pursues the use of various tools for the application of Mechatronics to the modeling and design of a servo motor driven motion system.

The use of Mechatronics is pervasive in and among today's highly integrated …

Simulation Of Scenarios To Meet Dissolved Oxygen Standards In The Chicago Waterway System, Yaping Ao

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Although most reaches of the Chicago Waterway System (CWS) meet the General Use Water Quality Standards a high percentage of the time, dissolved oxygen (DO) standards are not met in the CWS during some periods for both the WYs 2001 and 2003 as representative of wet and dry years. Several methods were used to solve this problem; however, they were inadequate for achieving the proposed DO standards. Therefore, a method of integrating the alternative DO remediation methods into one integrated strategy for improving water quality is considered in this study.

The main purpose of this study is the application of …

Learning And Assessment Of Student Communication Skills On Engineering Programs: Some Experiences, Aidan O'Dwyer

Conference papers

In this contribution, the author reports on, reflects on and evaluates case studies in which the ability to communicate effectively was embedded into modules for which the author had academic responsibility, on both Level 8 (Bachelors) and Level 9 (Masters) engineering programs. The generic competency was developed using formal student presentations, mostly done individually, with a minority done in teams. Peer and tutor assessment of the presentations was employed, following a structured guideline agreed with the students; among other advantages, peer assessment assists in the further development of student analytical skills and professional ethics. The contribution discusses the peer assessment …

Residual Variance Estimation Using A Nearest Neighbor Statistic, Elia Liitiäinen, Francesco Corona, Amaury Lendasse

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In This Paper We Consider the Problem of Estimating E [(Y - E [Y {Divides} X])2] based on a Finite Sample of Independent, But Not Necessarily Identically Distributed, Random Variables (Xi, Yi) i = 1m. We Analyze the Theoretical Properties of a Recently Developed Estimator. It is Shown that the Estimator Has Many Theoretically Interesting Properties, While the Practical Implementation is Simple. © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Impacts Of Emergency Vehicle Signal Preemption On Urban Traffic Speed, Hualiang (Harry) Teng, Valerian Kwigizile, Gang Xie, Mohamed S. Kaseko, A. Reed Gibby

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

We used GPS data from paratransit vehicles to evaluate the impact of emergency vehicles on urban traffic speeds. The results indicate that speed variance is significantly higher during emergency preemption and the mean speeds of traffic flowing in the same direction as the emergency vehicle and on crossing streets are lower during preemption than during normal conditions. Regression results indicate that traffic on major arterials and traffic in the opposite direction of the emergency vehicle tend to have higher speed during signal preemption. Signal preemption during peak periods and duration of preemption had a significant negative impact on traffic speeds. …

Ontology-Based Automatic Classification For News Articles In Indonesian Language, Prajna Wira Basnur, Dana Indra Sensuse

Makara Journal of Technology

Ontology-Based Automatic Classification for News Articles in Indonesian Language. Searching specific information will be difficult if relying only on query. Choosing less specific queries will result in a lot of irrelevant information fetched by the system. One of the most successful ways to overcome this problem is to perform document classification based on the topic. There are many methods that can be used to conduct such a classification, such as using statistical and machine learning approaches. However, those document classification methods require training the data or learning the documents. In this study, the authors attempted to classify documents using a …

Particle Filter With Binary Gaussian Weighting And Support Vector Machine For Human Pose Interpretation, Indah Agustien, Muhammad Rahmat Widyanto, Sukmawati Nur Endah, Tarzan Basaruddin

Makara Journal of Technology

This paper proposes human pose interpretation using particle filter (PF) with Binary Gaussian Weighting and support vector machine (SVM). In the proposed system, particle filter is used to track a human object, then this human object is skeletonized using thinning algorithm and classified using SVM. The classification is to identify human pose, whether it is normal or abnormal behavior. Here particle filter is modified through weight calculation using Gaussian distribution to reduce the computational time. The modified particle filter consists of four main phases. First, particles are generated to predict target’s location. Second, the weight of certain particles is calculated …

Maintenance Activity Planning By Reability Centered Maintenance Ii Method, Rachmad Hidayat, Nachnul Ansori, Ali Imron

Makara Journal of Technology

Maintenance Activity Planning by Reability Centered Maintenance II Method. This research discusses maintenance activity planning using the RCM II method to evaluate failure function risk on compresor screw. The calculation of maintenance time is performed by considering maintenance and repair costs. The risk evaluation result with RPN shows that the critical component that needs to get the main priority in applying maintenance on compresor screw is function disorder on timeworn piston and on the broken outgoing air sponge’s filter that receives RPN 45. The optimum maintenance time calculation is applied on components that undergo scheduled restoration and scheduled discard task …

Software Design Of Mobile Antenna For Auto Satellite Tracking Using Modem Correction And Elevation Azimuth Method, Djamhari Sirat, Muhamad Asvial, Arman Djohan Diponegoro, Himawan Sidharta

Makara Journal of Technology

Software Design of Mobile Antenna for Auto Satellite Tracking Using Modem Correction and Elevation Azimuth Method. Pointing accuracy is important in satellite communication. Because the satellite’s distance to the surface of the earth's satellite is so huge, 1 degree of pointing error will make the antenna unable to send data to satellites. To overcome this, the auto-tracking satellite controller is made. This system uses a microcontroller as the controller, with the GPS as the location indicator of the antenna, a digital compass as the beginning of antenna pointing direction, a rotary encoder as azimuth and elevation censor, and a modem …

Petroleum Degradation In Soil By Thermophilic Bacteria With Biopile Reactor, Astri Nugroho, Edison Effendi, Yulius Karonta

Makara Journal of Technology

Crude oil degradation has been carried out using biopile reactor in total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration of 5%, 10% and 15%. The thermophilic microorganisms used from isolation result and identification are Aeromonas salmonicida, Bacillus pantothenticus, and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. The biodegradation of biopile reactor is done by various concentrations of TPH, total plate count (TPC), and volatile suspended solid (VSS) per day for 30 days. The biodegradation of kinetic parameter calculated consists of μ, μm, Y, Yt, Yobs, Kd, Ks from TPH concentration decision, and TPC and VSS in every microorganism with t (observation time) of 0 hour to 168 hours. …

Ergonomic Analysis Of Ui’S Bicyclesusing Posture Evaluation Index (Pei) Method In Virtual Environment, Erlinda Muslim, Boy Nurtjahyo, Zulkarnain Zulkarnain, Liza Afrinotha

Makara Journal of Technology

Ergonomic Analysis of UI’s Bicycles Using Posture Evaluation Index (PEI) Method in Virtual Environment. This research was conducted to study the ergonomic aspect of University of Indonesia’s bicycles in virtual environment. Software Jack 6.0 was used to analyze it. PEI was used as an approach that integrated the results of three methods: lower back analysis (LBA), ovako working posture analysis (OWAS), and rapid upper limb assessment (RULA). The research objective is to evaluate the existing design of University of Indonesia’s bicycles and to determine the most ergonomic redesign which concerns handlebar height and saddle height modification. The result showed that …

Hrc Enews — 2010 Spring, Megan K. Svarz

Publications (HRC)

This issue contains staff accomplishments and announcements, event listings, a "new faces" listing for new staff, affiliates, and researchers, and an "of interest" section.

Measurement, Analysis And Comparison Of Drops Experienced By Packages In Inter-State And Intra-State Next Day Shipments In United States, K. Saha, Jay A. Singh, S. P. Singh

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Several past studies have been conducted for the purpose of measuring and analyzing the dynamics of single package shipping environment for the next day delivery services provided by companies including DHL, FedEx, UPS and USPS. Over the past few decades increased shipping hazard evaluations using data recorders has influenced protective package designs to offer optimized product protection due to a better understanding of the distribution environment. This study analyzes the drops sustained by packages during next day shipments within California (intra-state) using two different carriers—FedEx and OnTrac andwithin United States for shipments to two different regions in east and west …

Fabrication Of Conductive Interconnects By Ag Migration In Cu-Ag Core-Shell Nanoparticles, Suk Jun Kim, E A. Stach, Carol A. Handwerker

Birck and NCN Publications

Fabrication of conductive nanoparticle films is observed in Cu-Ag core-shell nanoparticles by fast diffusion of Ag at 220 degrees C from particle surfaces, leading to the formation of sintered necks of Ag at the initial particle-particle contacts. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the necks were pure Ag and that particle surfaces away from the contacts were nearly Ag-free. The extent of neck formation is controllable by the choice of initial Ag thickness. Analysis of the thermodynamics of the Ag-Cu system and the relative diffusivities of Ag and Cu provide criteria for fabrication of other core-shell two-phase systems by the same …

Acoustic Emission Fatigue Crack Monitoring Of A Simulated Aircraft Fuselage Structure, Jeremy James Lucas

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this research was to replicate the fatigue cracking that occurs in aircraft placed under loads from cyclical compression and decompression. As a fatigue crack grows, it releases energy in the form of acoustic emissions. These emissions are transmitted through the structure in waves, which can be recorded using acoustic emission (AE) transducers. This research employed a pressure vessel constructed out of aluminum and placed under cyclical loads at 1 Hz in order to simulate the loads placed on an aircraft fuselage in flight. The AE signals were recorded by four resonant AE transducers. These were placed on …

Adaptive Passive Fathometer Processing, Martin Siderius, Heechun Song, Peter Gerstoft, William S. Hodgkiss, Paul Hursky, Chris H. Harrison

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recently, a technique has been developed to image seabed layers using the ocean ambient noise field as the sound source. This so called passive fathometer technique exploits the naturally occurring acoustic sounds generated on the sea-surface, primarily from breaking waves. The method is based on the cross-correlation of noise from the ocean surface with its echo from the seabed, which recovers travel times to significant seabed reflectors. To limit averaging time and make this practical, beamforming is used with a vertical array of hydrophones to reduce interference from horizontally propagating noise. The initial development used conventional beamforming, but significant improvements …

An Experimental Study Of The Near Wake Field Behind A Propeller Aircraft, Hasan Ozgur Yavas

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This thesis presents an experimental study of the wake behind a generic, high wing, half model of a propeller driven aircraft. Wake surveys are performed at a free stream velocity of 9m/s in the Old Dominion University Low-Speed Wind Tunnel. The objective of the study is understanding the general characteristics of development and interaction of tip vortices, flap vortices, and propeller vortices in the wake of a two propeller aircraft. The measurements in the wake were obtained by using hot-wire anemometry. Measurements were made both using single wire and X-wire probes mounted on a traverse mechanism on three planes behind …

Reducing Orbit Covariance For Continuous Thrust Spacecraft Transfers, Scott Zimmer, Oscar Ocampo, Robert H. Bishop

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The calculus of variations is used to develop the necessary theory and derive the optimality conditions for a spacecraft to transfer between a set of initial and final conditions, while minimizing a combination of fuel consumption and a function of the estimation error covariance matrix associated with the spacecraft state. The theory is developed in a general manner that allows for multiple observers, moving observers, covariance associated with an arbitrary frame, a wide variety of observation types, multiple gravity bodies, and uncertainties in the spacecraft equations of motion based on the thrusting status of the engine. A series of example …

Finite Element Analysis And Modeling Of A .38 Lead Round Nose Ballistic Gelatin Test, Danielle Datoc

Master's Theses

Firearms are present in two-thirds of United States households. As of 2003, roughly 500,000 projectile wounds occur annually in the United States. This costs an estimated 2.3 billion dollars of medical spending. The best treatment of gunshot wounds relies heavily on experience, but even with experience the unpredictable nature of ballistics can make treatment difficult.

Wound ballistics studies the injury pattern of a particular bullet. Ballistic gelatin tests are used to analyze this pattern. A block of 10 or 20% ballistic gelatin is set and a bullet is fired through the block. Key characteristics of the wound profile seen in …

Ordinal Logistic Regression Analysis Of Rfid Doorway Portal Performance As A Function Of System Design Parameters, Anton G. Slobodnik

Master's Theses

This research effort examined the read rate differences in a passive ultra high frequency (UHF) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) doorway portal as a function of antenna placement, doorway size and composition, reader manufacturer, tag type, and tag orientation.

In this analysis of a RFID system, the response observations were modeled under an ordinal logistic regression model. The selection of a categorical analysis method was due to the flaws associated with the initial design of the experiment, which resulted in high valued observations which would have skewed the results of a quantitative model.

The ordinal regression analysis of the data indicates …

Space-Time Adaptive Processing With Multi-Staged Wiener Filter And Principal Component Signal Dependent Algorithms, Zheng N. Zhou

Master's Theses

Space-time Adaptive Processing (STAP) is a two-dimensional filtering technique for antenna array with multiple spatial channels. The name "space-time" describes the coupling of these spatial channels with pulse-Doppler waveforms. Applications for STAP includes ground moving target indicator (GMTI) for airborne radar systems.

Today, there are strong interests to develop STAP algorithms for operations in “sample starved” environments, where intense environmental interference can reduce STAP capacity to detect and track ground targets. Careful applications of STAP can effectively overcome these conditions by suppressing these interferences and maximize the signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR). The Multi-stage Wiener filter (MWF) and …

An Investigative Study Into The Relationship Of Bone Morphogenetic Protein Antagonist Expression And Osteocyte Density By Region And Quadrant, Scott C. Mosher

Master's Theses

The role of cytokines and cell behavior and viability with respect to bone remodeling and bone behavior is an exciting area of orthopedic research. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between BMP antagonist expression and osteocyte density, lacunar densities and osteocyte viability in cortical bone. Samples of unloaded tibial bone obtained from six C57Bl/6 mice were immunohistochemically stained for gremlin and noggin expression and also underwent methyl green staining to determine osteocyte presence. Bone sections were divided into four quadrants (cranial, caudal, medial and lateral) and three regions (proximal, mid shaft and distal), followed by analysis …

Biomechanical Comparison Of Wire Circlage And Rigid Plate Fixation For Median Sternotomy Closure In Human Cadaver Specimens, Mark Steven Wong

Master's Theses

Background:

Over 700,000 patients per year undergo open-heart surgery. Healing complication rates can be up to 5% of patients who undergo this procedure, with a morbidity rate of 50% if mediastinitis supervenes. A secure and rigid fixation of surgically divided sternum is critical to avoid healing complications. The purpose of this study was to compare the yield load, construct stiffness, ultimate load, displacement at ultimate load, and post-yield behavior of three sternotomy closure methods (Peristernal wires or Sternalock titanium plates) when stressed in each of three directions: lateral distraction, rostro-caudal (longitudinal) shear distraction, and anterior-posterior (transverse) shear in a cadaveric …

Thermal Models Of Railroad Wheels And Bearings, Kevin D. Cole, Constantine Tarawneh, Arturo A. Fuentes, Brent Wilson, Linda Navarro

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

The rolling surface for railroad wheels can be a heat source that may have an impact on the performance of the wheel bearing. In this study, experimental data from an electrically-heated railroad wheel set is analyzed by constructing thermal models of the wheel set. A steady finite-element model, a steady-analytical model, and a transient lumped-parameter model are discussed. Model parameters are determined from careful comparisons with the experimental data. The lumped-parameter model given here is intended as a simple predictive tool for determining when wheel heating caused by rail operations will have an impact on bearing temperature. The model parameters …

Dc/Dc Converter For A Small Scale Wind Hydrogen System, Joel M. Jacobs

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

An electronic converter is designed for an isolated renewable energy system. In this system, energy produced by a small wind turbine is used to extract hydrogen from water. Unique aspects of this application that affect the performance of the converter will be defined. Design considerations of the individual components will be discussed. Calculations on performance and validation of those calculations are also presented. Lastly, an economic analysis of the produced hydrogen will be performed.

Optical Limiting Study Of Double Wall Carbon Nanotube-Fullerene Hybrids, Kang-Shyang Liao, Jun Wang, Daniel Fruchtl, Nigel Alley, Enrico Andreoli, Eoghan Dillon, Andrew Barron, Hansoo Kim, Hugh Byrne, Werner Blau, Seamus Curran

Articles

In order to merge complementary temporal and spatial nonlinear optical characteristics of Fullerene and carbon nanotubes, synthesis of double wall carbon nanotube-Fullerene hybrid was performed by covalently linking DWNT and C60 by amination reaction with polyethylenimine. DWNT-Fullerene hybrids were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, UV-vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Optical limiting performance of DWNT-Fullerene hybrids is superior to those of Fullerenes and SWNTs at the same level (~ 80%) of transmission. Whereas nonlinear scattering is an evident mechanism, reverse saturable absorption from Fullerene moieties has significant contribution. Charge transfer between the DWNT and Fullerene moieties may play an important role …

Computational And Experimental Characterization Of Bituminous Composites Based On Experimentally Determined Properties Of Constituents, Pravat Karki

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The stiffness of asphalt concrete mixtures is characterized in terms of the dynamic modulus for designing the thickness of flexible pavements. The dynamic modulus value of asphalt concrete is either determined experimentally or predicted by using empirical, semi-empirical, analytical or computational micromechanics models. This study proposes to use a computational micromechanics model to predict the dynamic modulus of asphalt concrete mixtures based on the experimentally determined properties of the constituents in the heterogeneous microstructure. The model defines asphalt concrete mixtures as the composites of two different homogeneous isotropic components – the viscoelastic fine aggregate matrix phase and the elastic aggregate …