Engineering Commons^™

The Weather Forecast Fortoday In Space! Exploring Our Space Environment & Satellite Orbits, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs titled "The Weather Forecast forToday in Space! Exploring our space environment & satellite orbits" from November 17, 2010.

An Onboard Vision System For Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Guidance, Barrett Bruce Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

The viability of small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as a stable platform for specific application use has been significantly advanced in recent years. Initial focus of lightweight UAV development was to create a craft capable of stable and controllable flight. This is largely a solved problem. Currently, the field has progressed to the point that unmanned aircraft can be carried in a backpack, launched by hand, weigh only a few pounds and be capable of navigating through unrestricted airspace. The most basic use of a UAV is to visually observe the environment and use that information to influence decision making. …

Using Performance Measures To Improve Signal System Performance, Ross Haseman, Christopher Day, Darcy Bullock

Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Technical Reports

Recent emphasis on improving signal system performance has prompted research on the collection of enhanced quantitative data for making operational decisions, the development of a systematic method for monitoring and recording system performance and the definition of quantitative performance measures to identify opportunities to improve corridor traffic operations. This document summarizes the highlights from several publications which document the motivation, theory and application of traffic signal performance measures. Topics discussed include the advantages of monitoring signal system performance without labor intensive field observations. The benefits of real time monitoring and evaluation of signal system performance as well as system troubleshooting. …

The Investment Comparison Tool (Ict): A Method To Assess Research And Development Investments, Tiffany A. Sargent, Robert G. Sargent

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - All Scholarship

This paper presents a software tool (the Investment Comparison Tool), a methodology (the Investment Comparison Methodology), and a decision support system (the Investment Comparison System) to aid decision makers with Research and Development Investment allocations. The Investment Comparison System (ICS) can be used vertically within an organization and horizontally across organizations at multiple portfolio investment levels. The ICS is applicable to any R&D environment ranging from Industry Research Environments to Federal Agencies. The ICS described in this paper is comprised of a system architecture, databases, Group Decision Making (GDM) methods, an Investment Comparison Tool (ICT) that includes various algorithms, and …

Microstructural Evolution During Fatigue Of Ultrafine Grained Aluminum Alloy, P. S. De, Rajiv S. Mishra

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A comparative study of the surface microstructural changes during fatigue of a precipitation hardened (PH) aluminum alloy in ultrafine grained (UFG) and microcrystalline conditions was done using orientation imaging microscopy (OIM). with increase in applied stress amplitude, the fatigue life of fine-grained PH alloy deteriorated. on the other hand, at lower stress amplitudes an improvement in fatigue life was noted. This trend was reversed for the coarse-grained PH alloy. in UFG alloy, the fatigue life improved at all stress amplitudes. the variation in fatigue life response between coarse, fine and ultrafine grain PH alloy was due to the increased interaction …

Nonlinear Observability Analysis Of Bearing-Only Cooperative Localization Using Graph Theory, Rajnikant Sharma

Faculty Publications

In this report we investigate the nonlinear observability properties of bearing-only cooperative localization. We establish a link between observability and a graph representing measurements and communication between the robots.

A Quiet Success Story In The Laboratory: Survey Of 30 Implementations Of The Astm 1394 Standard For Analyser Interfaces, Brian Markey, Damon Berry

Conference Papers

In 1991 the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) introduced the first version of a standard called ASTM E1394-91 for communication between centralised clinical analysers and host systems. For nearly 20 years this low key standard has been used as the basis for analyser host communications. A minor revision of the standard (ASTM1394-97) was published in 1998. This work gives a brief summary of the development of lab messages that led to the introduction and continued use of the standard. The authors also present a review and preliminary analysis of 30 implementations of ASTM E1394. The authors investigated 30 …

Pooling For Horizontal Wells: Can They Teach An Old Dog New Tricks?, Bruce M. Kramer

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

74 pages.

This paper was originally published as:

Bruce M. Kramer, “Pooling for Horizontal Wells: Can They Teach an Old Dog New Tricks?,” 55 Rocky Mt. Min. L. Inst. 8-1, § 8.05 (2009).

Slides: Shale Drilling And Completions, William Fleckenstein

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: William Fleckenstein, BP Adjunct Professor in the Petroleum Department and Director of PERFORM Research, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, and Managing Partner of Fleckenstein, Eustes & Associates

20 slides

Slides: Transforming And Disrupting: Shale Gas And Oil In U.S. Energy Supply, Richard Nehring

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Richard Nehring, Nehring Associates, Colorado Springs, CO

15 slides

Agenda: Shale Plays In The Intermountain West: Legal And Policy Issues, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

This one-day symposium to be held at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Denver will address the technology, economics, environmental impacts, and regulatory issues associated with shale gas development in the Rocky Mountain region. The purpose of this event is to facilitate productive dialogue among a wide range of stakeholders and interested parties to guide policy decisions.

Slides: Development Of Shale: Water Resource Concerns And Policy Considerations, Katy Dunlap

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Katy Dunlap, Eastern Water Project Director, Trout Unlimited, Inc., Burdett, NY

24 slides

Slides: The Here And Now Of U.S. Nat Gas, Michelle Michot Foss

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Michelle Michot Foss, Chief Energy Economist, Center for Energy Economics, Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas, Austin, TX

12 slides

Slides: Water And Development Of Unconventional Oil And Gas Resources, Judy Jordan

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Judy Jordan, Oil & Gas Liaison, Garfield County, Rifle, CO

21 slides

Slides: Shale And Air Quality: The View From The Other Side, Jeremy Nichols

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Jeremy Nichols, Climate & Energy Program Director, WildEarth Guardians, Denver, CO

18 slides

Slides: U.S. Shale Gas: Resources, Reserves And $$$, John B. Curtis

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: John B. Curtis, Professor of Geology and Geological Engineering and Director of the Potential Gas Agency, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO

17 slides

Slides: Evolving Policy On Shale Plays, John Martin

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: John Martin, Crowell & Moring, LLP, Washington, DC

17 slides

A Numerical Methodology To Fully Elucidate The Altered Wall Shear Stress In A Stented Coronary Artery, Jonathan Murphy, Fergal Boyle

Articles

Arterial restenosis after coronary stenting is caused by excessive tissue growth which is stimulated by arterial injury and alterations to the hemodynamic wall shear stress (WSS). Recent numerical studies have predicted only minor differences in the altered WSS between different stent designs using a commonly employed threshold assessment technique. While it is possible that there are only minor differences, it is more likely that this assessment technique is incapable of fully elucidating the alterations to the WSS created by stent implantation. This paper proposes a methodology that involves a more complete investigation into the stentinduced alterations of WSS by incorporating …

Importance Of Phase Unwrapping For The Reconstruction Of Microwave Tomographic Images, Tomasz M. Grzegorczyk, Paul M. Meaney, Soon Ik Jeon, Shireen D. Geimer, Keith D. Paulsen

Dartmouth Scholarship

Microwave image reconstruction is typically based on a regularized least-square minimization of either the complex-valued field difference between recorded and modeled data or the logarithmic transformation of these field differences. Prior work has shown anecdotally that the latter outperforms the former in limited surveys of simulated and experimental phantom results. In this paper, we provide a theoretical explanation of these empirical findings by developing closed form solutions for the fie

Nanoindentation And Plasticity In Nanocrystalline Ni Nanowires: A Case Study In Size Effect Mitigation, F. Sansoz, Virginie Rollin

Publications

We examine the processes of spherical indentation and tension in Ni nanowires and thin films containing random distributions of nanoscale grains by molecular dynamics simulations. It is shown that the resistance to nanoindentation of nanocrystalline Ni nanowires with diameters of 12 and 30 nm tends not to depend on the wire diameter and free surfaces, contrary to nanoindentation in single-crystalline nanowires. Accommodation of plastic deformation by grain boundary sliding suggests a mitigation strategy for sample boundary effects in nanoscale plasticity.

The Relationship Between Induced Fluid Structure And Boundary Slip In Nanoscale Polymer Films, Nikolai V. Priezjev

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

The molecular mechanism of slip at the interface between polymer melts and weakly attractive smooth surfaces is investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. In agreement with our previous studies on slip flow of shear-thinning fluids, it is shown that the slip length passes through a local minimum at low shear rates and then increases rapidly at higher shear rates. We found that at sufficiently high shear rates, the slip flow over atomically flat crystalline surfaces is anisotropic. It is demonstrated numerically that the friction coefficient at the liquid-solid interface (the ratio of viscosity and slip length) undergoes a transition from a …

The U2 Spy Plane Crisis: Turning Point In The Cold War, William Weiss

ERAU Prescott Aviation History Program

When the Soviets shot down Francis Gary Powers’ U2 spy plane in 1960, it caused an international crisis. Thanks to recently declassified US and former Soviet archives, we can now hear the inside story of what really happened as told by an American History writer & lecturer.

The Influence Of Different European Cements On The Transport And Early-Age Properties Of Concrete In The Cover-Zone, Niall Holmes, L. Basheer, S. Nanukuttan, Pam. Basheer, W. J. Carter, T. M. Chrisp, G. Starrs

Conference papers

The use of in situ tests for performance based specification would require demonstration of their suitability to distinguish the quality of concrete. With the introduction of new European Standards for cements, this would mean concretes produced with these new cements should be classified for their quality using the performance tests. It is generally believed that transport properties of concrete are related to their durability and hence the measurement of these properties can form the basis of performance based specifications. This paper reports data indicating that transport properties measured at 28-days for concretes manufactured with different European cements and water-binder ratios …

Observability Analysis Of Bearing-Only Cooperative Localization, Rajnikant Sharma

Faculty Publications

In this report we investigate the nonlinear observability properties of bearing-only cooperative localization. We establish a link between observability and a graph representing measurements and communication between the robots. It is shown that graph theoretic properties like the connectivity and the existence of a path between two nodes can be used to explain the observability of the system.

The Conversion Of Low-Grade Heat Into Power Using Supercritical Rankine Cycles, Huijuan Chen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Low-grade heat sources, here defined as below 300 ºC, are abundantly available as industrial waste heat, solar thermal, and geothermal, to name a few. However, they are under-exploited for conversion to power because of the low efficiency of conversion. The utilization of low-grade heat is advantageous for many reasons. Technologies that allow the efficient conversion of low-grade heat into mechanical or electrical power are very important to develop.

This work investigates the potential of supercritical Rankine cycles in the conversion of low-grade heat into power. The performance of supercritical Rankine cycles is studied using ChemCAD linked with customized excel macros …

Regeneration Of Exhausted Carbon Nano-Foam Used In Desalination Of Brackish Water, Sanjay Tewari, Bill Batchelor

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Carbon Nano-Foam (CNF) has been used electrochemically for water desalination. CNF electrodes attract oppositely charged ions flowing in between them and this process is known as Capacitive De-Ionization (CDI). Once saturated these electrodes lose electrochemical adsorption and need to be replaced, this increases the cost of the treatment process as CNF is expensive. The goal of this study is to obtain optimal regeneration and predictive capability by examining CNF electrodes during regeneration and developing a model to describe desorption behavior. Various experiments were conducted to explore the effect of shorting, changing polarity of electrodes, flow velocity of water over CNF …

Effectiveness Of Compacted Fill And Rammed Aggregate Piers For Increasing Lateral Resistance Of Pile Foundations, Nathan A. Lemme

Theses and Dissertations

Compacted fill and rammed aggregate piers (RAPs) were separately installed adjacent to a 9-ft by 9-ft by 2.5-ft driven pile foundation founded in soft clay. The compacted fill used to laterally reinforce an area of 11 ft by 5 ft by 6 ft deep adjacent to the pile cap was clean concrete sand. The thirty-inch diameter RAPs were installed in three staggered rows to a depth of 12.5 ft below the ground surface adjacent to the pile cap to test the increase in lateral resistance afforded by their installation. The foundation was laterally loaded and load, displacement, and strain readings …

Experimental Evaluation Of Transmission Link Characteristics In Body Area Networks, Apoorva Kiran Pandya

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Recent advances in digital electronics, embedded systems, and wireless communications have led the way to a new class of distributed Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). A Body Area Network (BAN) is a WSN consisting of miniaturized, low-power, autonomous, wireless biosensors, which are seamlessly placed or implanted in the human body to provide an adaptable and smart health care system. The possible applications of BAN are in health care services and medicine, assisting persons with disabilities, and entertainment and sports. The nodes in a BAN generally use IEEE 802.15.4 radios which have low- power consumption and are relatively immune to interference. In …

Long Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment – Model Builder Approach, Cibin Raj

GIS Day

Climate change has significant impact on hydrology and water quality. A simple Long Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment tool has been developed using model builder in ArcGIS 9.3 to simulate hydrology and water quality. The model developed to read precipitation data from netCDF format to simulate runoff. The tool box developed to simulate hydrology based on the widely used USDA Curve Number method and water quality using EMC (event mean concentration) of pollutant. The model in GIS allows easier management of input and output data and allows critical spatial and visual interpretation. The model developed for Wisconsin State, where the precipitation …

A New Ac-Dc Converter Using Bridgeless Sepic, M. R. Sahid, A. H. M. Yatim, Taufik

Electrical Engineering

A new bridgeless power factor correction circuit (PFC) based on single ended primary inductance converter (SEPIC) is proposed. The number of component conducted at each subinterval mode is reduced compared to the existing topologies. Analysis of the converter operated in discontinuous-conduction mode (DCM) is discussed. Experimental circuit for the proposed converter is developed with universal input voltage capability for 50V DC output voltage connected to 100W load. The simulation and experimental results are presented to show the performances of the proposed circuit.