Engineering Commons^™

An Analysis Of The Best Practices Of Cooperative Education In The Us With The Purpose Of Addressing Various Armenian Engineering Education Problems, Sona White

Theses and Dissertations

This research shows that the expansion of cooperative education programs and university-industry partnerships can help to address some of the problems that engineering education in Armenia is facing today. These problems include lack of connections between universities and industry, outdated curricula, shortages of funding for university staff and facilities, and limited success in helping students qualify for job-related demands of the global economy. In order to identify requirements for developing effective cooperative education programs in Armenia, this study analyzes the characteristics and features of highly successful cooperative education programs in the United States that might be applicable to the requirements …

Ceas E-News 03.14.2012, College Of Engineering And Applied Sciences

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences News

Sunseeker Trip, Golden Key Award, Armstrong Scholarship, Eweek Scholarships, Prefabricated Bridge Elements, Upcoming Senior Engineering Design

Estimated Instability And Breaking Of Internal Waves Due To Time-Dependent Shear, Leonardo A. Latorre

Theses and Dissertations

The effects of propagation of a short internal gravity wave through an inertia wave on internal wave stability is analyzed and parameterized. The interactions are specifically between a short wave packet and a large inertia wave packet. The short wave packet is a wave bounded with a Gaussian envelope with high frequencies and scales in the hundreds of meters horizontally and tens of meters vertically. The inertia wave packet is also an enveloped wave but with frequencies close to the rotation of the earth and scales in the thousands of meters in the horizontal and hundreds of meters in the …

Numerical Investigation Of Internal Wave-Vortex Dipole Interactions, Tyler D. Blackhurst

Theses and Dissertations

Three-dimensional linear ray theory is used to investigate internal waves interacting with a Lamb-Chaplygin pancake vortex dipole. These interactions involve waves propagating in the same (co-propagating) and opposite (counter-propagating) horizontal directions as the dipole translation. Co-propagating internal waves in the vertical symmetry plane between the vortices of the dipole can approach critical levels where the wave energy is absorbed by the dipole or where the waves are overturned and possibly break. As wave breaking cannot be simulated with this linear model, changes in wave steepness are calculated to aid in estimating the onset of breaking. Counter-propagating internal waves in the …

The Uconn Vpc: A Collaborative Story About Desktop Virtualization, Tony Molloy, Jeremy Pollack, Ed Swindelles

UConn Library Presentations

The UConn vPC is a collaborative IT project among the UConn School of Business, the School of Engineering, and the University Libraries. The project delivered virtual desktops to UConn students beginning the fall semester of 2011. Students now have access to UConn-licensed applications from their PCs, Macs, and mobile devices from anywhere in the world where they have Internet access. This session discusses both the technology behind the service and the collaboration between the academic units that built a scalable, centralized service. An overview of the service can be found at http://vpc.uconn.edu.

Buckling Failure Boundary For Cylindrical Tubes In Pure Bending, Daniel Peter Miller

Theses and Dissertations

Bending of thin-walled tubing to a prescribed bend radius is typically performed by bending it around a mandrel of the desired bend radius, corrected for spring back. By eliminating the mandrel, costly setup time would be reduced, permitting multiple change of radius during a production run, and even intermixing different products on the same line. The principal challenge is to avoid buckling, as the mandrel and shoe are generally shaped to enclose the tube while bending. Without the shaped mandrel, buckling will likely occur sooner, that is, at larger bend radii. A test apparatus has been built for arborless bending. …

Application Of High Resolution Electron Backscatter Diffraction(Hr-Ebsd) Techniques To Twinning Deformation Mechanism In Az31 Magnesium Alloy, Ali Khosravani

Theses and Dissertations

The application of high resolution electron backscatter diffraction (HR-EBSD) techniques has been used in order to study the evolution of geometrically necessary dislocation (GND). The tested materials were taken from AZ31 magnesium sheet which had strong basal texture. Because of low symmetry of the magnesium crystal lattice, the von Mises criteria cannot be satisfied by the three independent, easily activated, basal slips. The strain along the c-axis of the crystal must be accommodated by either twinning and/or slip systems. HR-EBSD data was taken in order to investigate these phenomena. The HR-EBSD results were post processed in order to resolve total …

Failure Mechanisms And Texture Evolution Of Wrought Az31b Magnesium At Temperatures Ranging From 25 C To 125 C, Jonathan Michael Scott

Theses and Dissertations

Failure mechanisms were studied in wrought AZ31B magnesium alloy under different strain paths and various temperatures. Optical micrographs were used to observe the formation of shear bands and regions of high twin density in samples strained under uniaxial, biaxial and plane strain conditions. Interrupted testing at 4% effective strain increments until failure was used to observe the evolution of the microstructure. Results showed that shear bands with a high percentage of twinned grains appeared early in the samples strained under biaxial or plane strain tension. These bands are similar to the failure region in uniaxial tension specimens. A forming limit …

Damage Tolerance Of Unidirectional Carbon And Fiberglass Composites With Aramid Sleeves, Charles Andrew Sika

Theses and Dissertations

Unidirectional carbon fiber and fiberglass epoxy composite elements consolidated with aramid sleeves were radially impacted at 5 J (3.7 ft-lbs) and 10 J (7.4 ft-lbs), tested under compression, and compared to undamaged control specimens. These structural elements represent local members of open three-dimensional composite lattice structures (e.g., based on isogrid or IsoTruss® technologies). Advanced three-dimensional braiding techniques were used to continuously fabricate these specimens. The unidirectional core specimens, 8 mm (5/16 in) in diameter, were manufactured with various sleeve patterns. Bi-directional braided sleeves and unidirectional spiral sleeves ranged from a nominal full to half coverage. These specimens were tested for …

Evaluating Climate Change Effects In Two Contrasting Reservoirs Using Two-Dimensional Water Quality And Hydrodynamic Models, Oliver Obregon

Theses and Dissertations

I analyzed and compared impacts from global climate change (GCC) and land use change to Deer Creek (United States) a temperate reservoir and Aguamilpa (Mexico), a tropical reservoir by using calibrated CE-QUAL-W2 (W2) water quality and hydrodynamic models based on field data over an extended time period. I evaluated and compared the sensitivity to predicted GCC and land use changes. I individually evaluated changes to air temperature (TAIR), inflow rates (Q), and nutrient loads (PO4-P and NO3-NO2-N) followed by analysis of worst case scenarios. I developed analysis methods using indexes to represent the total …

A Methodology For Strategically Designing Physical Products That Are Naturally Resistant To Reverse Engineering, Stephen P. Harston

Theses and Dissertations

Reverse engineering - defined as extracting information about a product from the product itself - is a design tactic commonly used in industry from competitive benchmarking to product imitation. While reverse engineering is a legitimate practice - as long as the product was legally obtained - innovative products are often reverse engineered at the expense of the pioneering company. However, by designing products with built-in barriers to reverse engineering, competitors are no longer able to effectively extract critical information from the product of interest. Enabling the quantification of barriers to reverse engineering, this dissertation presents a set of metrics and …

Study Of Water Quality Of Utah Lake Tributaries And The Jordan River Outlet For The Calibration Of The Utah Lake Water Salinity Model (Lksim), Gordon Killarney Liljenquist

Theses and Dissertations

The water quality of Utah Lake is of great importance to agriculture, recreation, and wildlife. The Utah Lake Simulation Model (LKSIM) was created to accurately predict changes in water quality parameters. However, a potential limitation of LKSIM is the age of the underlying data which was gathered from 1930 to 1980. New sample data were collected from March 2009 through May 2011. Samples were taken from 13 tributaries, the Jordan River Outlet, and various wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). Upon dividing the collected data points into seasons and plotting them in Microsoft Excel, trendline equations were produced. These equations correlated TDS …

Smart Phone-Based Indoor Guidance System For The Visually Impaired, Brandon Lee Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

A smart phone camera based indoor guidance system to aid the visually impaired is presented. Most proposed systems for aiding the visually impaired with indoor navigation are not feasible for widespread use due to cost, usability, or portability. We use a smart phone vision based system to create an indoor guidance system that is simple, accessible, inexpensive, and discrete to aid the visually impaired to navigate unfamiliar environments such as public buildings. The system consists of a smart phone and a server. The smart phone transmits pictures of the user's location to the server. The server processes the images and …

An Milp-Based Aging-Aware Routing Algorithm For Nocs, Kshitij Bhardwaj, Koushik Chakraborty, Sanghamitra Roy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Network-on-Chip (NoC) architectures have emerged as a better replacement of the traditional bus-based communication in the many-core era. However, continuous technology scaling has made aging mechanisms such as Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) and electromigration primary concerns in NoC design. In this paper1, we propose a novel system-level aging model to model the effects of asymmetric aging in NoCs. We observe a critical need of a holistic aging analysis, which when combined with power-performance optimization, poses a multi-objective design challenge. To solve this problem, we propose a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP)-based aging-aware routing algorithm that optimizes the various design …

High Speed Friction Stir Spot Welding On Dp 980 Steel:Joint Properties And Tool Wear, Nathan David Saunders

Theses and Dissertations

With the desire to improve passenger safety and fuel efficiency, Ultra High Strength Steels (UHSS) have been developed for use in the automotive industry. UHSS are high strength steels with high ductility and strength. DP 980 is one of these UHSS being applied in automobile manufacturing. DP 980 is difficult to join with Resistance Spot Welding (RSW) because of the high carbon content and alloying in this material. The weld becomes brittle when it solidifies during the welding process. With the desire and motivation of widely using UHSS, new welding processes are needed to be developed in order to effectively …

Losing The Lake: Development And Deployment Of An Educational Game, Joseph M. Vesco, Katie Gilgen, Anne Paine, Marissa Owens, Michael Nussbaum, Gale M. Sinatra, Sajjad Ahmad, Kent J. Crippen, Sergiu Dascalu, Frederick C. Harris

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

When asked what the top three issues of the Las Vegas region were, the reply was “water, water, water!" This was the result of a survey done a few years ago of Las Vegas Valley TV anchors. The reason for this response is that sustainability of the urban environments requires sufficient water resources as does population growth. With the advent of global climate change, this resource is in danger. Water flow and mountainous ice packs are impacted by this change in climate there by impacting the amount of water the the region. This is compounded over time as the population …

The Effects Of Micro- And Macro-Scale Geometric Parameters On Performance Of The Pleated Aerosol Filters, Shahryar Fotovati

Theses and Dissertations

While most filters are made of pleated fibrous media, almost all existing theories of aerosol filtration are developed for flat media placed perpendicular to the air flow. Expressions developed for flat sheet media do not provide accurate information directly useful for designing a pleated filter, and therefore, most progress made in developing pleated filters is based on empiricism. This study is aimed at establishing an enabling knowledge that allows for a better design and optimization of pleated aerosol filters. This study is focused on developing a predictive simulation method that accounts for the influence of a filter’s micro-scale geometric parameters, …

Mitigation Of Sea Ice Contamination In Quikscat Wind Retrieval, Weston Jay Hullinger

Theses and Dissertations

Satellite borne radar scatterometers provide frequent estimates of near surface wind vectors over the Earth's oceans. However in the polar oceans, the presence of sea ice in or near the measurement footprint can adversely a ect scatterometer measurements resulting in inaccurate wind estimates. Currently, such ice contamination is mitigated by discarding measurements within 50 km of detected sea ice. This approach is imperfect and causes loss of coverage. This thesis presents a new algorithm which detects ice-contaminated measurements based on a metric called the Ice Contribution Ratio (ICR) which measures the spatial ice contribution for each measurement. The ICR calculation …

The Effect Of The Engineering Design Process On The Critical Thinking Skills Of High School Students, Heather Ure

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the research reported here was to determine the impact learning the engineering design process (EDP) would have on the critical thinking skills of high school physics students. An EDP unit was conducted with 5 classes of high school physics students in grades 10-12 over 1 month. The EDP unit's curriculum allowed for the gradual release of responsibility as students became more familiar with the EDP and more consistent in using it. The six steps used in this EDP unit were Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Test, and Improve. The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal was given as a pre- …

Three-Dimensional Phase Step Profilometry With A Multicore Optical Fiber, Ari Jason Novack , '12, David Joseph D'Annunzio , '12, Ekin Dogus Çubuk , '10, N. Inci, Lynne Molter , '79

Engineering Faculty Works

This paper demonstrates the feasibility of using phase stepping and a multicore optical fiber to calculate an object's depth profile. An interference pattern is projected by an optical fiber onto the object. The distorted interference pattern containing the object information is captured by a CCD camera and processed using a phase step interferometry method. The phase step method is less computationally intensive compared to two-dimensional Fourier transform profilometry and provides more accuracy when measuring objects of high frequency spatial variations. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America

Respiratory Monitoring System Based On The Thoracic Expansion Measurement, Fabiola Araujo Cespedes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this reasearch was to develop a respiratory monitoring system using a reflective object sensor based belt to measure the thoracic expansion of a neonatal for future application at the medical center of the Universidad Evangelica Boliviana (UEB). This medical center, being founded by the UEB University, is dedicated to help and serve the poor and currently has no respiratory monitoring system.

The methodology used was first to build and test the respiratory sensor belt and test the relationship between the blet expansion and the voltage generated. The, to incorporate the respiratory sensor belt in a system that …

Maintenance Operations Degradation Of Airfield Pavement Markings, John C. Jaszkowiak

Theses and Dissertations

Pavement markings are an essential element in the navigational aids subsystem for any airfield. Most airfields still use waterborne paint as the primary marking material, although there are other materials in use on roadways that airfield managers could use to save time and money. An airfield experiences a host of maintenance operations that cause degradation of the pavement markings. Of particular concern are rubber removal operations, sweeping operations, and snowplowing operations. This research focuses on chemical rubber removal operations and sweeping operations. The study evaluates waterborne paint markings and thermoplastic marking strips to determine if these marking materials perform differently …

Plume Characterization Of Busek 600w Hall Thruster, Duc Minh Bui

Theses and Dissertations

The BHT-600W thruster has a high potential to place on various commercial and military satellites as a main propulsion system for orbit maintenance and orbit maneuvering. Therefore, the thruster's performance characteristics and parameters were evaluated for various operating conditions. These parameters include thrust, power consumption, mass flow rate, and efficiencies. Various plume properties were measured and characterized for the thruster to include exhaust beam profile and ion species distribution. The faraday probe was used to examine the thruster plume current density while the ion species fractions were determined by the ExB probe. The inverted pendulum thrust stand was also utilized …

Civil Engineering And Construction News, Georgia Southern University

Civil Engineering & Construction: News & Publications (2011-2022)

• New Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Information Technology Announced

Partnership For High Performance Housing Final Report, Florida Solar Energy Center, Janet Mcilvaine

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This report describes research conducted by the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) under funding from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This work falls under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America program. High performance goals were set for renovation of existing housing and construction of new affordable housing. Both efforts included monitoring the energy use of several homes.

Application Of Subjective Logic To Vortex Core Line Extraction And Tracking From Unsteady Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations, Ryan Phillip Shaw

Theses and Dissertations

Presented here is a novel tool to extract and track believable vortex core lines from unsteady Computational Fluid Dynamics data sets using multiple feature extraction algorithms. Existing work explored the possibility of extracting features concurrent with a running simulation using intelligent software agents, combining multiple algorithms' capabilities using subjective logic. This work modifies the steady-state approach to work with unsteady fluid dynamics and is designed to work within the Concurrent Agent-enabled Feature Extraction concept. Each agent's belief tuple is quantified using a predefined set of information. The information and functions necessary to set each component in each agent's belief tuple …

Mathematical Framework For Early System Design Validation Using Multidisciplinary System Models, Bradley Jared Larson

Theses and Dissertations

A significant challenge in the design of multidisciplinary systems (e.g., airplanes, robots, cell phones) is to predict the effects of design decisions at the time these decisions are being made early in the design process. These predictions are used to choose among design options and to validate design decisions. System behavioral models, which predict a system's response to stimulus, provide an analytical method for evaluating a system's behavior. Because multidisciplinary systems contain many different types of components that have diverse interactions, system behavioral models are difficult to develop early in system design and are challenging to maintain as designs are …

Overcoming Limitations Of Serial Audio Search, Isabela Cordeiro Ribeiro Moura Hidalgo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The typical approach for finding audio recordings, such as music and sound effects, in a database is to enter some textual information into a search field. The results appear summarized in a list of textual descriptions of the audio files along with a function for playing back the recordings. Exploring such a list sequentially is a time-consuming and tedious way to search for sounds. This research evaluates whether searching for audio information can become more effective with a user interface capable of presenting multiple audio streams simultaneously.

A prototype audio player was developed with a user interface suitable for both …

Technical And Economic Assessment Of Adobe As The Primary Building Material On The Water Yield Of A Single Basin Solar Still, Nathan Daniel Manser

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is estimated that only one percent of global freshwater is available to humans, with nearly three billion people living in water scarce conditions. Populations living in impoverished settings are particularly vulnerable to water related illnesses, with approximately 2.2 million people dying each year from to waterborne illnesses. This research uses modeling and field studies to assess the quantity, quality, and economics of distillate produced for drinking water from a brackish water source using two single-sloped, single-basin distillation reactors. The reactors were constructed from adobe and concrete in an arid rural community in San Luis Potosí, Mexico and tested from …

Information Technology News, Georgia Southern University

Information Technology: News & Publications (2012-2023)

• Georgia Southern University Establishes the Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Information Technology