Engineering Commons^™

Algorithms And Data Structures For Efficient Timing Analysis Of Asynchronous Real-Time Systems, Yingying Zhang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a framework to verify asynchronous real-time systems based on model checking. These systems are modeled by using a common modeling formalism named Labeled Petri-nets(LPNs).

In order to verify the real-time systems algorithmically, the zone-based timing analysis method is used for LPNs. It searches the state space with timing information (represented by zones). When there is a high degree of concurrency in the model, firing concurrent enabled transitions in different order may result in different zones, and these zones may be combined without affecting the verification result. Since the zone-based method could not deal with this problem efficiently, …

Relation Lifting, With An Application To The Many-Valued Cover Modality, Marta Bílková, Alexander Kurz, Daniela Petrişan, Jirí Velebil

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

We introduce basic notions and results about relation liftings on categories enriched in a commutative quantale. We derive two necessary and sufficient conditions for a 2-functor T to admit a functorial relation lifting: one is the existence of a distributive law of T over the “powerset monad” on categories, one is the preservation by T of “exactness” of certain squares. Both characterisations are generalisations of the “classical” results known for set functors: the first characterisation generalises the existence of a distributive law over the genuine powerset monad, the second generalises preservation of weak pullbacks.

The results presented in this paper …

Nominal Coalgebraic Data Types With Applications To Lambda Calculus, Alexander Kurz, Daniela Petrişan, Paula Severi, Fer-Jan De Vries

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

We investigate final coalgebras in nominal sets. This allows us to define types of infinite data with binding for which all constructions automatically respect alpha equivalence. We give applications to the infinitary lambda calculus.

Nominal Computation Theory (Dagstuhl Seminar 13422), Mikołaj Bojanczyk, Bartek Klin, Alexander Kurz, Andrew M. Pitts

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 13422 “Nominal Computation Theory”. The underlying theme of the seminar was nominal sets (also known as sets with atoms or Fraenkel-Mostowski sets) and they role and applications in three distinct research areas: automata over infinite alphabets, program semantics using nominal sets and nominal calculi of concurrent processes.

By Design: Ethics, Theology, And The Practice Of Engineering, Brad Kallenberg

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Both engineering and human living take place in a messy world, one chock full of unknowns and contingencies. "Design reasoning" is the way engineers cope with real-world contingency. Because of the messiness, books about engineering design cannot have "ideal solutions" printed in the back in the same way that mathematics textbooks can. Design reasoning does not produce a single, ideally correct answer to a given problem but rather generates a wide variety of rival solutions that vie against each other for their relative level of "satisfactoriness." A reasoning process analogous to design is needed in ethics. Since the realm of …

Influence Of Stem Education And Technology In Selecting Food And Agriculture Careers, Joan Hegerfeld-Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Currently market forces identify a growing need for professionals in food safety related careers. The investigation studied influential factors guiding students to choose career paths. Careers connected to the safety of the food supply require professionals with undergraduate and graduate degrees related to science, technology, engineering or math (STEM). Preparing and attracting students to post-secondary institutions needs greater attention to meet the demands of the food and agriculture industry. The investigation focused on college students and high school teachers. Students in three colleges (Arts and Sciences, Agriculture and Biological Sciences, and Education and Human Sciences) offering STEM and non-STEM majors …

Phases: Opto-Mechanical Solutions To Perform Absolute Spectrophotometry From Space, Carlos Del Burgo, Dinesh Vather, Niall Murphy

Conference papers

This work provides an update of the current status of PHASES, which is a project aimed at developing a space-borne telescope to perform absolute flux calibrated spectroscopy of bright stars. PHASES will make it possible to measure micromagnitude photometric variations due to, e.g., exo-planet/moon transits. It is designed to obtain 1% RMS flux calibrated low resolution spectra in the wavelength range 370–960 nm with signal-to-noise ratios >100 for stars with V∼1 minute. The strategy to calibrate the system using A-type stars is outlined. PHASES will make possible a complete characterization of stars, some of them hosting planets. From the comparison …

Image Authentication Using Stochastic Diffusion, Abdulrahman I. Al-Rawi, Jonathan Blackledge

Conference papers

This paper considers an approach to encrypted information hiding based on Stochastic Diffusion for encrypting digital images coupled with the application of a Least Significant Bit (LSB) method for information embedding. After providing a brief summary of various information hiding methods based on spatial and transform domain techniques, two new methods are introduced. The first of these considers a binary image watermarking algorithm for hiding an image in a single host image which is based on binarization of the encrypted data. The second method extends this approach to solving the problem of 24-bit image hiding in three host images which …

Community Microgrid Based On Micro-Wind Generation System, Lubna Mariam, Malabika Basu, Michael Conlon

Conference papers

Penetration of renewable energy sources (such as solar/wind) are being explored mostly as micro power generation (μGen) or mega power plant system. In recent years, emphasis has been given on Microgrid (μGrid) systems because of their few advantages over μGen systems in terms of power quality, stability, reliability, economics etc. But the commercial installation of the μGrid system is not yet progressing significantly. This paper presents the techno-economic aspects of μGen and μGrid systems towards the development of grid connected community based μGrid (C-μGrid) system. Emphasis has been given to identify the benefits of the μGrid over the μGen system. …

A New Placement And Integration Method Of Upqc To Improve The Power Quality In Dg Network, Shafiuzzaman K. Khadem, Malabika Basu, Michael Conlon

Conference papers

A new proposal for the placement and integration of UPQC in DG connected microgrid/micro generation (μG) system has been presented here. DG converters (with storage), the load and shunt part of the UPQC will be placed at or after the PCC. The series part of the UPQC will be placed before the PCC and in series with the grid. DC link can be connected to the storage system also. Hence, it is termed UPQCμ_G. The advantages of the proposed UPQCμ_G over the normal UPQC are to compensate voltage interruptions in addition to voltage sags / swells, harmonic …

Reduction Of Circulating Current Flow In Parallel Operation Of Apf Based On Hysteresis Current Control, Shafiuzzaman K. Khadem, Malabika Basu, Michael Conlon

Conference papers

Capacity enhancement and operation flexibility are two of the important limitations of the centralized Shunt Active Power Filter (APF_sh) unit. This can be overcome by multiple and parallel APF_sh units (in distributed mode) with a common DC link. In that case, a circulating current (CC) can flow. In the case of a hysteresis current controller based multiple APF_sh units in load sharing mode, this CC control is not yet achieved. One of the difficulties of this CC flow control or reduction is the variable switching frequency of the APF_sh units. In this paper, the model …

The Guayule Plant: A Renewable, Domestic Source Of Binder Materials For Flexible Pavement Mixtures, David Newton Richardson, Steven Michael Lusher

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Due to the rising price of crude oil, flexible pavement costs have increased significantly. This price pressure has resulted in the increased use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and/or reclaimed asphalt roofing shingles (RAS) because of the binder (asphalt cement) they contain. This has increased demand for recycling (rejuvenating) agents which return the RAP/RAS binders to their original state by 1) restoring maltenes (petroleum oils and resins) that have been depleted due to age-hardening/oxidation, and 2) reducing their viscosity. The project concept was to design a flexible pavement mixture (FPM) produced with little-to-no virgin petroleumbased binder which implied the use …

Review Of Anchorage Systems For Externally Bonded Frp Laminates, Stephen V. Grelle, Lesley Sneed

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

A Closed-Form Solution For The Similarity Transformation Parameters Of Two Planar Point Sets, Shamsul A. Shamsudin, Andrew P. Murray

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Image registration covers the set of techniques used in matching images of the same scene. A subset of the image registration problem, identifying the parameters in a similarity transformation, has emerged as useful in a recently defined area of machine design: designing mechanisms for rigidbody shape-change. First, this brief paper shows a potential use for image registration techniques outside the field of machine vision. Second, it presents a closed-form solution for the similarity transformation parameters when the point sets to be matched are restricted to two-dimensional space as is needed in the aforementioned design problem.

Development Of 15 Psi Safe Haven Polycarbonate Walls For Use In Underground Coal Mines, Rex Allen Meyr Jr.

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Following three major mining accidents in 2006, the MINER Act of 2006 was enacted by MSHA and required every underground coal mine to install refuge alternatives to help prevent future fatalities of trapped miners in the event of a disaster. The following research was performed in response to NIOSH’s call for the investigation into new refuge alternatives. A 15 psi safe haven polycarbonate wall for use in underground coal mines was designed and modeled using finite element modeling in ANSYS Explicit Dynamics. The successful design was tested multiple times in both half-scale and small scale using a high explosive shock …

Quality Modeling And Improvement Of University Facilities Services Using Six-Sigma - A Case Study On Wayne State University Fpm Services, Mohsen F. Mohamed Isa

Wayne State University Dissertations

Literature survey shows that there is no published information concerning the investigation and/or evaluation (by the customer) of the services provided by universities facilities management units, and no previous research was done to measure and evaluate such services to address, identify, and model the critical factors affecting quality.

This research work proposed a service quality model relating factors affecting quality of services provided by facility management units at higher educational institutions to the customer perception of service quality. It also examined the use of the Six-Sigma DMAIC methodology as an improvement strategy for services provided by facility management units at …

Imaging Iron Content In Patients With Multiple Sclerosis Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Charbel Abdo Habib

Wayne State University Dissertations

The importance of iron in maintaining normal physiological processes in the human body has been well emphasized in the literature. However, "when iron behaves badly", its abnormal presence might lead to a spectrum of pathologies depending on what function has been altered. In the brain, for instance, abnormal iron content is thought to be associated with neurodegenerative diseases. In this dissertation, we study iron involvement in one of the most debilitating neurological diseases, multiple sclerosis (MS), using in vivo magnetic resonance imaging. We first test the sensitivity and specificity of the MR method used, known as susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) …

Investigation Of Physiochemical Properties Of A Novel Gradient Calcium Polyphosphate Bone Scaffold And Its Influence On Cellular Behavior, Liang Chen

Wayne State University Theses

A good designed bone scaffold is crucial to bone tissue engineering. We have developed and characterized a novel gradient bone scaffold by combination of Calcium Polyphosphate (CPP) with different size of porogen (stearic acids). Compared with homogenous scaffold, the gradient bone scaffold with different pore size and porosity can better mimic natural bone structure. Directly perfusion flow bioreactor was developed. This 3D dynamic cell culture was better mimic the physiological condition for cell growth. It was beneficial to nutrition and oxygen delivery throughout the whole scaffold and was able to form shear stress. We wanted to investigate the effect of …

The Role Of Tissue Sound Speed As A Surrogate Marker Of Breast Density, Mark Sak

Wayne State University Dissertations

Breast density is one of the strongest predictors of breast cancer risk as women with the densest breasts have a three- to five-fold increase in risk compared to women with the least dense breasts. Breast density is currently measured by using mammography, the current gold standard for breast imaging. There are many shortcomings to using mammography to measure breast density, including the use of ionizing radiation. Ultrasound tomography (UST) does not use ionizing radiation and can create tomographic breast sound speed images. These sound speed images are useful because breast density is proportional to sound speed. The purpose of this …

Microsimulation Evaluation Of Eurocode Load Model For American Long-Span Bridges, Bernard Enright, Colm Carey, Colin Caprani

Articles

The ability to accurately predict traffic loading is essential for cost-effective bridge maintenance and repair programs. The traffic load model currently used in the United States for the design of long-span bridges was developed over three decades ago. In the meantime vehicle characteristics and traffic patterns have changed. The Eurocode for traffic loading is more recent, but was calibrated only for bridges up to 200 m long. In this work, Weigh-In-Motion traffic records from 11 different sites across Alabama are used to establish congested traffic loading. Traffic microsimulation is used to generate the congestion, based on the real traffic data. …

Mathematical Self-Efficacy: Addressing The Declining Interest In Engineering Careers, Eileen Goold

Conference Papers

This paper presents the findings of a study investigating whether there is a relationship between students’ experiences with school mathematics and their choice of engineering as a career. The study was inspired by the observation that there is a lacuna in the scholarly literature concerning the nature of mathematics’ role, if any, as a significant cause of the declining number of students entering professional engineering courses. The population of interest in this study comprises professional engineers practising in Ireland. Engineers’ experiences of school mathematics, factors that contributed to their engagement with school mathematics and the impact of their feelings about …

Superconductivity In An Inhomogeneous Bundle Of Metallic And Semiconducting Nanotubes, Ilya Grigorenko, Anvar Zakhidov

Publications and Research

Using Bogoliubov-de Gennes formalism for inhomogeneous systems, we have studied superconducting properties of a bundle of packed carbon nanotubes, making a triangular lattice in the bundle's transverse cross-section. The bundle consists of a mixture of metallic and doped semiconducting nanotubes, which have different critical transition temperatures. We investigate how a spatially averaged superconducting order parameter and the critical transition temperature depend on the fraction of the doped semiconducting carbon nanotubes in the bundle. Our simulations suggest that the superconductivity in the bundle will be suppressed when the fraction of the doped semiconducting carbon nanotubes will be less than 0.5, which …

Inkjet Based Personalized Screening Platform For Cancer Therapy, Jorge Ivan Rodriguez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The new paradigm of personalized medicine is beginning to affect clinical practice. In particular, many of the advances in genomics and proteomics have made personalized screening and therapeutic inventions possible. On chip, cellomics approaches to screening and intervention are becoming more commonplace. Cancer therapies may benefit from the rise in `-omics' technologies. In addition, the availability of rapid screening data is crucial to mitigate cancer propagation and increase the possibility of patient recovery. This study is an endeavor to develop a cellomic anticancer drug screening process based on inkjet printing. Previous research has demonstrated that inkjet based screening can reliably …

3d Printing For The Rapid Prototyping Of Structural Electronics, Rodolfo Salas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In business, the time required to shepherd a new product through the phases of concept, design, prototypes, through manufacture and finally making the product available for sale (together known as: Time to Market) is critical to the success and profitability of the next generation of products. The use of relatively new technologies, known as 3D Printing, which allow the fabrication of complex tridimensional shapes within hours of a completed CAD design without the need for tooling or molds, has significantly reduced the time required for a designer to physically hold a part designed only hours before and to perform form …

Reduced-Order Modeling Using Orthogonal And Bi-Orthogonal Wavelet Transforms, Miguel Hernandez Iv

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

It is well known that model reduction methods borrow techniques typically found in data compression, and current state-of-the-art techniques for data compression are based on the wavelet transform. Given these facts, it is surprising that model reduction using wavelets has not received much attention and has not been adequately addressed in the literature. This research seeks to determine if wavelets can be used for model reduction and if wavelet model reduction is a viable alternative to existing model reduction methods.

In this work we propose a novel method for model reduction using wavelets. Specifically, we introduce techniques for deriving wavelet …

Structural, Optical And Electrical Properties Of Yttrium-Doped Hafnium Oxide Nanocrystalline Thin Films, Abhilash Kongu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Hafnium oxide (HfO2) has emerged as the most promising high-k dielectric for Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) devices and has been highlighted as the most suitable dielectric materials to replace silicon oxide because of its comprehensive performance. In the present research, yttrium-doped HfO2 (YDH) thin films were fabricated using RF magnetron sputter deposition onto Si (100) and quartz with a variable thickness. Cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy coupled with Filmetrics revealed that film thickness values range from 700 A° to 7500 A°. Electrical properties such as AC Resistivity and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of YDH films were studied. YDH films that were relatively thin (<1500 A°) crystallized in monoclinic phase while thicker films crystallized in cubic phase. The band gap (Eg) of the films was calculated from the optical measurements. The band gap was found to be ∼5.60 eV for monoclinic while it is ∼6.05 eV for cubic phase of YDH films. Frequency dependence of the electrical resistivity (ρac) and the total conductivity of the films were measured. Resistivity decreased (by three orders of magnitude) with increasing frequency from 100 Hz to 1 MHz, attributed due to the hopping mechanism in YDH films. Whereas, while ρac∼1Ω-m at low frequencies (100 Hz), it decreased to ∼ 104 Ω-cm at higher frequencies (1 MHz). Aluminum (Al) metal electrodes were deposited to fabricate a thin film capacitor with YDH layer as dielectric film thereby employing Al-YDH-Si capacitor structure. The results indicate that the capacitance of the films decrease with increasing film thickness. A detailed analysis of the electrical characteristics of YDH films is presented.

Investigation Of The Radiative Heat Release Factor Of Premixed Oxy-Syngas Flames, Martin De La Torre

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A significant part of the United States is being powered by combustion devises relying on coal since it is abundant and is a high emitting source of electricity per unit energy, however; the burning of this fuel is responsible for a significant contribution for the pollutant emissions causing global warming. Because coal is one of the main sources of energy in the U.S. and around the globe, the scientific community has been investigating ways to meet current and future governmental emission requirements. It is now well established that radiating heat from the flame is a major contributor of the heat …

A Case Study Towards Verification Of The Utility Of Analytical Models In Selecting Checkpoint Intervals, Michael Joseph Harney

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As high performance computing (HPC) systems grow larger, with increasing numbers of components, failures become more common. Codes that utilize large numbers of nodes and run for long periods of time must take such failures into account and adopt fault tolerance mechanisms to avoid loss of computation and, thus, system utilization. One of those mechanisms is checkpoint/restart. Although analytical models exist to guide users in the selection of an appropriate checkpoint interval, these models are based on assumptions that may not always be true. This thesis examines some of these assumptions, in particular, the consistency of parameters like Mean Time …

An Investigation Of The Biochemical Properties Of Tetrazines As Potential Coating Additives, Swarna Jaiswal, Brendan Duffy, Luke O'Neill, Patrick Mchale

Articles

1,2,4,5-Tetrazine and its 3,6-disubstituted derivatives are currently used for a range of industrial and medical applications as they exhibit particular coordination chemistries, characterized by electron and charge transfer phenomena. The aim of the present work is to describe the synthesis of two tetrazine derivatives, namely 3,6-dihydrazino-1,2,4,5-tetrazine (DHDTZ) and 1,2,4,5-tetrazine dicarboxylic acid (DCTZ), and determine their antibacterial, antioxidant and anticorrosion characteristics as additives in a sol-gel coating on SS316L steel. The structure of the tetrazines was confirmed by NMR and FTIR while the surface morphology of bacterial cells in their presence was observed by AFM. Their ability to inhibit corrosion on …

The Effect Of Microstructure On The Dynamic Equi-Biaxial Fatigue Behaviour Of Magnetorheological Elastomers, Yanfen Zhou, Stephen Jerrams, Tony Betts, Lin Chen

Conference Papers

Dynamic equi-biaxial fatigue behaviour of isotropic and anisotropic magnetorheological elas-tomers (MREs) based on a silicone rubber matrix was investigated using the bubble inflation method. Con-stant engineering stress amplitude was used as the control mode and samples were fatigued over different stress ranges between 0.75MPa and 1.4MPa. S-N (Wöhler) curves showing plots of stress amplitude (σa) ver-sus cycles to failure (N) are presented. Stress-strain behaviour throughout the fatigue process is described. Elastic modulus (E*) was studied for the specific cycles measured. It was found that anisotropic MREs exhi-bited greater fatigue resistance than isotropic MREs for a given magnetic particle content. Stress …