Engineering Commons^™

Finding The Area Of A Major League Baseball Field, Jacob Courchaine

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

Using a Major League Baseball (MLB) baseball field template for guidelines, we estimate the cost of building the largest possible field accepted under MLB standards. This includes finding the areas of both the clay and grassy regions and determining how many bags of clay and fertilizer are required to cover the field.

Novel Device For Continuous Spatial Control And Temporal Delivery Of Nitric Oxide For In Vitro Cell Culture, Genevieve E. Romanowicz, Weilue He, Matthew Nielsen, Megan C. Frost

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Nitric oxide (NO) is an ubiquitous signaling molecule of intense interest in many physiological processes. Nitric oxide is a highly reactive free radical gas that is difficult to deliver with precise control over the level and timing that cells actually experience. We describe and characterize a device that allows tunable fluxes and patterns of NO to be generated across the surface upon which cells are cultured. The system is based on a quartz microscope slide that allows for controlled light levels to be applied to a previously described photosensitive NO-releasing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Cells are cultured in separate wells that are …

Performance-Based Seismic Design Of Unbonded Precast Post-Tensioned Concrete Filled Gfrp Tube Piers, Haitham M. Dawood, Mohamed Elgawady

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a seismic design procedure for self-centering precast post-tensioned bridge piers. The piers presented in this manuscript consisted of concrete filled fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) tubes. A large set of 84 piers with different design parameters were analyzed using finite element models. The backbone curve of each pier was developed and bilinearized. The idealized backbone curves were used to develop a set of empirical equations that were able to reproduce the bilinearized backbone curve of a given pier. Different performance criteria have been proposed for the system according to the intensity and the frequency of occurrence of a …

Argumentation Theory In Health Care, Luca Longo, Bridget Kane, Lucy Hederman

Books/Book Chapters

Argumentation theory (AT) has been gaining momentum in the health care arena thanks to its intuitive and modular way of aggregating clinical evidence and taking rational decisions. The basic principles of argumentation theory are described and demonstrated in the breast cancer recurrence problem. It is shown how to represent available clinical evidence in arguments, how to define defeat relations among them and how to create a formal argumentation framework. Argumentation semantics are then applied over the built framework to compute arguments justification status. It is demonstrated how this process can enhance the clinician decision-making process. A encouraging predictive capacity is …

Simulation Modeling And Analysis Of Complex Port Operations With Multimodal Transportation, Mariam Kotachi, Ghaith Rabadi, Mohammad F. Obeid

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

World trade has been increasing dramatically in the past two decades, and as a result containers exchange has grown significantly. Accordingly, container terminals are expanding to meet this increase and new container ports have opened. Ports with one or more container terminals are considered complex systems in which many resources, entities and transporters interact to achieve the objective of safely moving containers delivered by ships inland as well as loading containers delivered by trucks and rail onto ships. Ports with multimodal transportation systems are in particular complex as they typically operate with ships arriving to one or more terminals, multiple …

A Theory Of Emergence And Entropy In Systems Of Systems, John J. Johnson Iv, Andreas Tolk, Andres Sousa-Poza

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Systems of Systems (SOS) meet vital needs in our society by providing capabilities that are not possible by their discrete components or subsystems. Some SOS are engineered to produce predictable results, yet they can still display emergent behavior. These behaviors are often considered negative because they are not a function of the design. However, emergent behavior can also be serendipitous and produce unexpected positive results. The authors formalize a theory of emergence based on entropy. The theory has explanatory value for emergence as an ontological and phenomenological concept in systems of systems. © 2013 The Authors.

Determining Stakeholder Influence Using Input-Output Modeling, Patrick T. Hester, Kevin Macg. Adams

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Stakeholders are a vital element in all complex systems problems. They are customers, users, clients, suppliers, employees, and team members. They fund the system, design it, build it, operate it, use it, maintain it, and dispose of it. While many approaches exist for classifying and determining their attitudes, these approaches stop short of evaluating stakeholders in a holistic manner. This paper closes this research gap by developing the metric of stakeholder situation influence, a measure which allows for quantitative evaluation of stakeholder influence on a given problem. This measure is derived from Leontief Input-Output analysis. The developed approach extends previous …

Thinking Systemically About Complex Systems, Patrick T. Hester, Kevin Macg. Adams

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

As machine age problems have given way to systems age messes, the underlying complexity associated with understanding these situations has increased exponentially. Accordingly, the methods we use to address these situations must evolve as well. Unfortunately, many antiquated methods for dealing with situations remain prominent. Systems engineering, traditionally, is the practical application of procedural problem solving, typically geared toward the acquisition of large-scale systems. The underlying paradigm for solving these problems can be characterized as systematic thinking. While quite appropriate for machine age problems, this approach lacks the theoretical rigor to deal with systems age messes. Thus, a new paradigm …

The Role Of Team Preparation Processes And Task Conflict On Virtual Team Performance, Pilar Pazos, Ana María Canto

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of the factors contributing to team performance in global virtual teams. We report on a study on global virtual teams involved on applied projects in industry. Team members differed in location and nationalities. This paper examines the relationships between goal commitment, planning and conflict. Data were collected from 34 teams in an international Master program in Quality Management, Safety and Environmental Impact hosted in Bolivia and Chile. Students were from nine different countries in South America. Students were assigned to teams of size 3 and participated in 15-week project as …

The Role Of Is Infrastructure And Organizational Context On Implementation Of Electronic Health Records Systems, Pilar Pazos, Anjee Gorkhali, Rolando Delaguila

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This research explores the role that Information System (IS) infrastructure and organizational context play on the implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR) Systems. A number of indicators can be used as a proxy for IS infrastructure such as: Information System (IS) Department Budget allocation, percentage of full time IS staff and the number of technical trainings provided by the IS department to the clinical staff. Data was obtained from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) database, a non-for profit organization that evaluates the use of information technology in the health care industry. This paper reports on the development …

Multi-Level Parallelism For Incompressible Flow Computations On Gpu Clusters, Dana A. Jacobsen, Inanc Senocak

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We investigate multi-level parallelism on GPU clusters with MPI-CUDA and hybrid MPI-OpenMP-CUDA parallel implementations, in which all computations are done on the GPU using CUDA. We explore efficiency and scalability of incompressible flow computations using up to 256 GPUs on a problem with approximately 17.2 billion cells. Our work addresses some of the unique issues faced when merging fine-grain parallelism on the GPU using CUDA with coarse-grain parallelism that use either MPI or MPI-OpenMP for communications. We present three different strategies to overlap computations with communications, and systematically assess their impact on parallel performance on two different GPU clusters. Our …

Geospatial Virtual Heritage: A Gesture-Based 3d Gis To Engage The Public With Ancient Maya Archaeology, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Jim Robertsson, Jennifer Von Schwerin, Giorgio Agugario, Fabio Remondino, Gabrio Girardi

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

This paper presents our research to develop a gesture-based 3D GIS system to engage the public in cultural heritage. It compares two types of interaction—device-based vs. natural interaction— and summarizes the beta-testing results of a 3D GIS tool for archaeology, called QueryArch3D, in which participants used device-based interaction (i.e. mouse and keyboard). It follows with a description of the gesture-based system—that we developed in response to these beta-tests. The system uses QueryArch3D and Microsoft’s Kinect to enable people use body movements (in lieu of keyboard or mouse) to navigate a virtual reality landscape, query 3D objects, and call up photos, …

Acuta Enews January 2013 Vol. 42, No. 1

ACUTA Newsletters

In this issue...

1 The ACUTA Conference it Forum: What's in it for You?

2 Ruth A. Michalecki Leadership Award j Developing Funding Model

4 Wi-Fi goes Gigabit-802.1 1AC

5 Add Names from Your Campus to Your ACUTA Roster

5 Revised Webcasting Royalty Rates for 2010-15

6 Why 2013 Career Plans Must Go High-Tech

7 Info Links

7 Windstream Provides Calling Service to ACUTA /

8 Board Report ' Thanks to Event Sponsors for 2012

9 Welcome New Members

9 Check It Out

2013 Acuta/Nacubo State Of Resent Report

ACUTA: Other Publications

In This Issue

Introduction

Methodology

Executive Summary

Findings

Coverage & Bandwidth Demands

ResNet Management & Support

ResNet Costs & Funding

Alternative Models

Substantive Collaboration: Are We Ready To Lead?, Mark Askren

Information Technology Services: Publications

Although MOOCs have received the most attention in higher education this year, another issue is affecting colleges and universities and the IT community on a much broader scale: the perception that the higher education business model is “broken.” This isn’t an IT problem by definition, but IT leaders have not contributed effectively to a solution. At least not yet. So what can we, as IT leaders, do individually and collectively to change the outcome? The answer is clear. We have to collaborate. Substantially. And in ways that are far-reaching and very challenging. We have to change our core processes and …

Partial Oxidation Of Ethane To Acetic Acid On Titania Supported Movnbpd Catalyst, Yousef S. Al-Zeghayer, Abdulrhman S. Al-Awadi, Baba Y. Jibril, Moustafa A. Soliman, Sulaiman Al-Mayman

Chemical Engineering

Partial oxidation of ethane was studied on unsupported and supported Mo-V-Nb oxides. Different grades of titania (Crystal-AF4.60, AF7.70 and AF12.5 and Degussa P25) were explored as supports. Samples of the catalyst were characterized using XRD, SEM and BET surface area. The reaction was carried out at 200-275°C and 200 psi. At ethane conversion (6%), unsupported samples exhibited selectivities to ethylene and acetic acid of 76 and 23%, while for Degussa P25-supported sample, the values were 54 and 35%, respectively. Addition of Pd (0.196%) led to an increase in selectivity to acetic acid of 75%.

Investigation Of Usage Of Velocity And Pressure Data Within A Water Distribution Lab Model For Calibrating Hydraulic Models, Robert Craig Ashby

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Water distribution modeling for hydraulics and water quality is an important tool for managing system performance of water utilities. An important component of a water distribution model is the calibration of a network model with field data in the real world system. The calibration effort requires a protocol or selection criteria for the location of field measurements that best support the calibration effort. A water distribution model was constructed at the University of Kentucky hydraulics lab for the purpose of investigating the performance of water distribution models. The lab model contains numerous hydraulic (pressure, flows) and water quality (concentrations) sensors …

Predicting The Dynamic Behavior Of Coal Mine Tailings Using State-Of-Practice Geotechnical Field Methods, Ali Salehian

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

This study is focused on developing a method to predict the dynamic behavior of mine tailings dams under earthquake loading. Tailings dams are a by-product of coal mining and processing activities. Mine tailings impoundments are prone to instability and failure under seismic loading as a result of the mechanical behavior of the tailings. Due to the existence of potential seismic sources in close proximity to the coal mining regions in the United States, it is necessary to assess the post-earthquake stability of these tailings dams.

To develop the aforementioned methodology, 34 cyclic triaxial tests along with vane shear tests were …

Topics In Voice Echo Cancellation, Pratik Vijay Shah

Doctoral Dissertations

"Acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) is a well studied problem. The underlying assumption in most echo cancellation solutions is that the echo path following the reference signal is completely linear. However, in many handheld devices, the echo path following the reference signal is nonlinear. The reason for this nonlinearity in the echo path is the use of smaller and cheaper loudspeakers. In order to cut the manufacturing cost, device manufactures use cheaper loudspeakers such that they satisfy the carrier specifications. Such loudspeaker can be easily over driven in to their nonlinear region and thus add nonlinearities to the downlink path. This …

Modeling And Analysis Of Dynamic Behavior Of Adsorption Stratified Column Beds Packed With Partially Fractal Porous Adsorbent Particles, Min Li

Doctoral Dissertations

"In this work novel porous adsorbent media having partially fractal structures and stratified packed-beds are constructed and their dynamic performance with respect to their adsorptive capacity through the construction and solution of rigorous models is studied. The results show that conventional columns packed with partially fractal porous adsorbent particles provide larger breakthrough times and dynamic utilization of the adsorptive capacity of the column when compared with those of conventional columns employing conventional adsorbent particles which do not possess a partially fractal structure. Furthermore, stratified column beds exhibit superior species separation performance than conventional columns when they are packed with either …

Increases In Rops Pricing From 2006-2012 And The Impact On Rops Demand, Julie A. Sorensen, Paul L. Jenkins, Barbara Bayes, Erin Madden, Mark Purschwitz, John J. May

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

In 2006, a social marketing campaign was developed to increase the installation of rollover protective structures (ROPS) on unprotected New York tractors. Using data gathered from the program's hotline, the impact of price increases on farmers' interest in ROPS is examined. Pricing data were obtained for all rigid ROPS kits commercially available in the U.S. since 2006. These data were stratified into two groups of ROPS suppliers: (1) tractor manufacturers that sell ROPS for their own tractors, referred to in this study as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and (2) aftermarket (AM) ROPS suppliers. The trend in price increases was contrasted …

Development Of A Semi-Automated Tobacco Stripping Machine Utilizing String Trimmers, Robert George Sperry, John H. Wilhoit, George A. Duncan

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Conventional stripping of burley tobacco is labor intensive and typically requires 50 to 75 worker hours per acre (wkr•h/acre). The goal of the project was to reduce labor by optimizing leaf removal by string trimmer heads using combinations of strings lengths and motor speeds. In tests conducted on a single grade, all leaves outside the grade were removed by hand. Plants were run through the machine for string lengths of 13, 18, and 23 cm (5, 7, and 9 in.) and associated motor speeds which were monitored and recorded. Stripping efficiencies were calculated for each plant and collectively for each …

Designing Contour Weep Berms To Reduce Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution, Richard C. Warner, Carmen T. Agouridis, Ross L. Guffey

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Nonpoint source pollution (NPS) of surface waters is a significant issue in agricultural lands, and best management practices (BMPs) are often used to reduce these impacts. Since the effectiveness of a BMP depends on a large number of widely varying factors, it is important to continue to develop BMPs in order to provide designers with more tools to use to maximize NPS removal. The contour weep berm is a new structural BMP constructed out of earth and subsequently vegetated. It is a linear BMP that is used in combination with a down-gradient vegetated filter strip or forested riparian buffer. Preliminary …

Influence Of Flue Gas Components On The Growth Rate Of Chlorella Vulgaris And Scenedesmus Acutus, Czarena Crofcheck, Aubrey Shea, Michael D. Montross, Mark Crocker, Rodney Andrews

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have increased since the industrial revolution due to the increase in combustion of fossil fuels. One possible alternative strategy is the use of microalgae for CO₂ capture and recycling. Major components in coal-derived flue gas that may accumulate and effect algae growth include both sulfur oxides and fly ash. However, in practical application, sulfur oxides will be converted quickly to the acid product (H₂SO₄) in the aerobic aqueous conditions of algae cultivation. In this article, the influence of elevated H₂SO₄ levels and the presence of coal-derived fly ash …

A Correlation-Based Optical Flowmeter For Enclosed Flows, Naiqian Zhang, Joseph S. Dvorak, Yali Zhang

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

A low-cost flowmeter would be very useful in a wide variety of monitoring situations. This article discusses the development of such a flowmeter based on optical components and its testing with water in an enclosed flow system. The sensor consisted of two sets of LEDs and phototransistors spaced 4 cm apart, monitoring the optical properties of the fluid at upstream and downstream locations, respectively. A small amount of dye was injected into the flow, which caused a change in the optical properties of the fluid at both locations. The time required for this change to move from the upstream to …

Efficient Uncertainty Quantification In Aerospace Analysis And Design, Yi Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

"The main purpose of this study is to apply a computationally efficient uncertainty quantification approach, Non-Intrusive Polynomial Chaos (NIPC) based stochastic expansions, to robust aerospace analysis and design under mixed (aleatory and epistemic) uncertainties and demonstrate this technique on model problems and robust aerodynamic optimization. The proposed optimization approach utilizes stochastic response surfaces obtained with NIPC methods to approximate the objective function and the constraints in the optimization formulation. The objective function includes the stochastic measures which are minimized simultaneously to ensure the robustness of the final design to both aleatory and epistemic uncertainties. For model problems with mixed uncertainties, …

Heat Transfer And Bubble Dynamics In Bubble And Slurry Bubble Columns With Internals For Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis Of Clean Alternative Fuels And Chemicals, Moses Odongo O. Kagumba

Doctoral Dissertations

"Synthesis gas, a mixture of CO and H₂ obtained from coal, natural gas and biomass are increasingly becoming reliable sources of clean synthetic fuels and chemicals and via Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthesis process. Slurry bubble column reactor is the reactor of choice for the commercialization of the F-T synthesis. Even though the slurry bubble column reactors and contactors are simple in structures, their design, scale-up, operation, and performance prediction are still challenging and not well understood due to complex interaction of phases. All the studies of heat transfer have been performed without simultaneously investigating the bubble dynamics adjacent to the heat …

Inverter Design And Analysis Using Multiple Reference Frame Theory, Luke Dale Watson

Doctoral Dissertations

"Multiple reference frame theory allows for periodically time varying signals to be represented as a set of dc signals. In other words, every periodic signal can be expanded into a Fourier series representation. By modeling an inverter connected to a boost maximum power point tracker (MPPT) in this manner, frequency transfer properties can be preserved and harmonics throughout the system can be predicted. A state space model taking into account the dc and fundamental grid frequency is presented and used to optimize the controller gains of the system. Using information from the dq-axis values of the measured grid current and …

An Experimental Study On Shear Strength Of Chemically-Based Self-Consolidating Concrete, Mahdi Arezoumandi, Jeffery S. Volz

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An experimental investigation was conducted to compare the shear strength of full-scale beams constructed with chemically based, self-consolidating concrete (SCC) with conventional concrete (CC). This experimental program consisted of 16 rectangular beams (12 without shear reinforcing and 4 with shear reinforcing in the form of stirrups), 8 beams for each mix design. Additionally, three different longitudinal reinforcement ratios were evaluated within the test matrix. The beam specimens were tested under a simply supported four-point condition. The experimental shear strengths of the beams were compared with both the shear provisions of selected standards (U.S., Australia, Canada, Europe, and Japan) and a …

Associated Risk In Utilizing Controlled Implosion To Securely Seal An Offshore Oil-Leaking Pipeline, Mohammad Alkazimi, Katie Grantham

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper examines the potential risk of using controlled implosions as a new technique to securely seal an offshore leaking oil pipe. Massive amount of toxins and radioactive waste are produced by offshore oil leaks. These leaks can have negative impact on marine life and can threaten the stability of the ocean's ecosystem. In the past few years, there were several oil leak accidents that had left an overwhelming impact. Identifying potential impact and consequences to the proposed risk mitigation technique, to both the environment and the surrounding infra structure, is crucial to emergency response and crisis management teams. In …