Engineering Commons^™

An Engineering Approach For The Design Of Archaeological Reburial Systems, Angel Ari Perez Mejia

Theses and Dissertations

Archaeological sites are a non-renewable resource which is often our only link to the past. However, sites are under constant threat of destruction due to construction activities. Civil engineers and archaeologists must the work together to ensure both the continued survival of archaeological sites while allowing for development to continue. Reburial systems, when properly designed and constructed, allow for the protection of archaeological sites while allowing the continued use of the land. However, because reburial as an intentional conservation technique is relatively modern, practice is fragmented and there are no universally accepted guidelines. Current reburial system design relies on prescriptive …

Cost Avoidance Analysis Of Military Aircraft Components Utilizing Condition-Based Maintenance Practices, Erin Ballentine

Theses and Dissertations

This research involves two major case studies. Both look at the current maintenance practices done by the United States Army and propose a solution for improvement utilizing condition-based maintenance (CBM) practices. Each study details a cost avoidance that can be earned by implementing the solutions and the resulting benefits that can be experienced. Case Study I is a return on investment (ROI) that analyzes the benefits of the implementation of elastomeric wedges as vibration control on the Apache (AH-64D) aircraft. Analysis of the material and operational costs shows that the use of self-adhering elastomeric trailing edge wedges on the Apache …

High Level Control Implementation For A Residential Smart Grid Power System, Hang Xu

Theses and Dissertations

With the environment protection and energy usage efficiency promotion issues concerned more and more by governments and industries these days, smart grid technologies have been in rapid development. On this new technology stage, residential site power management system has become a star. This paper introduces the concept, development of two high level control methods for “Smart Green Power Node” (SGPN), solutions of demand side energy management system. One control algorithm is optimal model method which uses the predictive data of a battery model with electrical parameters and pricing methods, to keep scheduling the optimal control input on the receding time …

Piezotransistive Iii-V Nitride Microcantilever Based Mems/Nems Sensor For Photoacoustic Spectroscopy Of Chemicals, Abdul Hafiz Ibne Talukdar

Theses and Dissertations

Microcantilevers are highly attractive as transducers for detecting chemicals, explosives, and biological molecules due to their high sensitivity, micro-scale dimensions, and low power consumption. Though optical transduction of the mechanical movement of the microcantilevers into an electrical signal is widely practiced, there is a continuous thrust to develop alternative transduction methods that are more conducive to the development of compact miniaturized sensors. Piezoelectric and piezoresistive transduction methods are two of the most popular ones that have been utilized to develop miniaturized sensor systems. Piezoelectric cantilevers, which are commonly made of PZT film, have demonstrated very high sensitivity; however, they suffer …

Application Of Various Adsorbents To Remove Micro-Pollutants In Aquatic System, Chanil Jung

Theses and Dissertations

Untreated or insufficiently treated pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) as well as heavy metals have influenced the ecosystem and their exposures in the water system have threatened human health; causing cancers and adverse health effect to immune system. While various water treatment techniques have been applied to solve this problem, adsorption has been considered as one of the most efficient and manageable water purification techniques. Advanced analysis methods for aqueous contaminants have improved comprehension, allowing proficiency about the fate of trace leveled emerging contaminants, thus allowed to reveal the adsorption mechanisms of each pollutant. This dissertation focuses on the …

Advanced Digital Signal Processing Based Redefined Power Quality Indices, And Their Applications To Wind Power, Md Moinul Islam

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation proposes a time-frequency distribution (TFD) based new method to redefine the power quality (PQ) indices for the assessment of PQ disturbances typically present in electric power systems. The redefined PQ indices are applied to various types of synthetic and real-world PQ disturbances in order to verify the efficacy and applicability of the proposed method. The case studies show that the proposed method provides actual results with respect to the existing TFD-based transient PQ indices, and provides much more accurate results than the traditional fast Fourier transform (FFT) based PQ indices under stationary and nonstationary PQ disturbances. In addition, …

Low Reynolds Number Turbulence: Mechanisms And Applications, Wei Zhao

Theses and Dissertations

Turbulence, as one of "the most important unsolved classical problem in physics" (R. Feynman, 1932), has been investigated for more than 130 years. Conventionally, turbulence is believed to be a phenomenon of high Reynolds numbers (Re). However, we find that turbulence can also be achieved at low Re by proper external forcing, either in macroflows or in microflows. In macroflows, the characteristics of high Re turbulence can be achieved in confined flows, when the bulk flow Re is around 400, by external forcing at its optimal frequency (Wang 2003; Wang 2006). Interestingly, the optimal narrow band of frequency is fixed …

Surface Modification Of Nanoplatelets In Polymer Nanocomposites, Shailesh K. Shori

Theses and Dissertations

In polymer nanocomposites (PNCs), it is very important that the nanofiller (typically an inorganic) is well-dispersed in an organic polymer matrix. Optimal compatibility results in end-use products such as packaging materials with enhanced properties. In practice, however, this is challenging to achieve because “ideal” dispersions require the complete uniform separation, termed exfoliation, of the nanofiller within the matrix. As a result, different nanofillers including calcium niobate (CN) and montmorillonite (MMT) are first studied for their ability to exfoliate in aqueous suspensions by measuring the organic cation uptake. The cation exchange capacity, or CEC, determined that CN needs further work before …

Applications Of Advanced Imaging Methods: Macro-Scale Studies Of Woven Composites And Micro-Scale Measurements On Heated Ic Packages, Siming Guo

Theses and Dissertations

As a representative advanced imaging technique, the digital image correlation (DIC) method has been well established and widely used for deformation measurements in experimental mechanics. This methodology, both 2D and 3D, provides qualitative and quantitative information regarding the specimen’s non-uniform deformation response. Its full-field capabilities and non-contacting approach are especially advantageous when applied to heterogeneous material systems such as fiber-reinforced composites and integrated chip (IC) packages. To increase understanding of damage evolution in advanced composite material systems, a series of large deflection bending-compression experiments and model predictions have been performed for a woven glass-epoxy composite material system. Stereo digital image …

A Three-Dimensional-Engineered Matrix To Study The Microenvironment Of Cancer Stem Cells, Samaneh Kamali Sarvestani

Theses and Dissertations

Maintenance of cancer stem cells (CSCs) is regulated by their microenvironment. As cancer cells are affected by many factors in their microenvironment, a major challenge is to isolate the effect of a specific factor on CSCs while keeping other factors unchanged. We developed a synthetic inert 3D Poly Ethylene Glycol Di-Acrylate (PEGDA) gel culture system as a unique tool to study the effect of microenvironmental factors on CSCs response. Synthetic hydrogels provide the flexibility to design three-dimensional (3D) matrices to isolate and study individual factors in the tumor microenvironment. The first objective of this work was to investigate the effect …

Automatic Loop Tuning And Memory Management For Stencil Computations, Fan Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

The Texas Instruments C66x Digital Signal Processor (DSP) is an embedded processor technology that is targeted at real time signal processing. It is also developed with a high potential to become the new generation of coprocessor technology for high performance embedded computing. Of particular interest is its performance for stencil computations, such as those found in signal processing and computer vision tasks. A stencil is a loop in which the output value is updated at each position of an array by taking a weighted function of its neighbors. Efficiently mapping stencil-based kernels to the C66x device presents two challenges. The …

Experimental And Theoretical Studies Of Native And Engineered Vascular Tissue Mechanics, Boran Zhou

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Implantation of vascular grafts provides a means to restore blood flow in compromised regions of the circulatory system, and thus is used to treat a wide range of cardiovascular diseases. Despite significant advancements in autologous grafting strategies as well as the engineering of synthetic alternatives, mechanical, structural, and compositional incongruities between the graft and the host artery remain as contributing factors to graft failure. The typical failure modality manifests as proximal anastomotic intimal hyperplasia, which places restrictions on the host vessel size currently treated with grafting strategies (> 5 mm internal diameter). In order to improve long-term clinical outcomes, …

Bio-Active Degradable Micellar Hydrogels For Osteogenic Differentiation Of Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Seyedsina Moeinzadeh

Theses and Dissertations

A feasible approach to the restoration of injured bone tissue is the use of tissue engineering strategies to deliver mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to the site of regenration in degradable, in-situ gelling, bio-active hydrogels. Although inert Polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels provide flexibility in controlling the cell microenvironment, their use for in vivo applications in tissue regeneration is limited by their persistence (nondegradability) in the site of regeneration. In an attempt to produce inert hydrolytically degradable matrices for encapsulation of MSCs, hydrogels based on star PEG macromonomers chain-extended with short hydroxy acid (HA) segments (SPEXA) were synthesized and characterized with respect …

Benefits Of Video Games In Multidisciplinary Scientific Research, Jeremiah Jeffrey Shepherd

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, computer-based games have been shown to be effective both as a tool for conducting research in a variety of domains and for research on games itself. In this work, we show that implementing games that have a basis in theory and that are combined with the most recent gaming practices result in effective research tools. We demonstrate this via game implementations for three domains. The first implementation is based on new theories in speech pedagogy, and demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach. The second implementation shows that using a game that simulates therapeutic speech practices can aid …

Behavior Of Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensor In Various Media, Tuncay Kamas

Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation addresses structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques using ultrasonic waves generated by piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) with an emphasis on the development of theoretical models of standing harmonic waves and guided waves. The focal objective of the research is to extend the theoretical study of electro-mechanical coupled PWAS as a resonator/transducer that interacts with standing and traveling waves in various media through electro-mechanical impedance spectroscopy (EMIS) method and guided wave propagation. The analytical models are developed and the coupled field finite element analysis (CF-FEA) models are simulated and verified with experiments. The dissertation is divided into two parts …

Context-Sensitive Seismic Strengthening And Repair Of Substandard Confined Masonry, Rahim Ghorbani

Theses and Dissertations

Confined masonry (CM) is a construction system consisting of load-bearing masonry panels that are confined with cast-in-place reinforced concrete tie columns and beams. Due to satisfactory seismic performance, CM has become the predominant low-rise residential construction system in several areas around the world. However, in developing regions, the use of substandard materials, details and construction practices may result in inadequate performance as highlighted in the 2010 earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. In the aftermath of an earthquake, households are often reluctant to reoccupy their dwellings due to concerns about safety of structures. If feasible, preventive (pre-hazard) strengthening or structural repair …

Hydrodynamics Of Dna Confined In Nanoslits And Nanochannels, K. D. Dorfman, D. Gupta, A. Jain, Douglas R. Tree

Faculty Publications

Modeling the dynamics of a confined, semiflexible polymer is a challenging problem, owing to the complicated interplay between the configurations of the chain, which are strongly affected by the length scale for the confinement relative to the persistence length of the chain, and the polymer-wall hydrodynamic interactions. At the same time, understanding these dynamics are crucial to the advancement of emerging genomic technologies that use confinement to stretch out DNA and “read” a genomic signature. In this mini-review, we begin by considering what is known experimentally and theoretically about the friction of a wormlike chain such as DNA confined in …

The Synchronized Filtering Dataflow, Peng Li

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

In the past decade, the world has seen the rise of big data, which calls for a paradigm shift in data processing. Streaming processing, where data are processed in their spatial or temporal order, is increasingly common. Meanwhile, parallel computing has become a household term in the computing world. The combination of streaming processing and parallel computing, streaming computing, has been playing an important role in data processing.

A streaming computing system is a network of nodes connected by unidirectional first-in first-out (FIFO) data channels. When a node has multiple input channels, to ensure the deterministic behavior of the whole …

Real-Time And Energy-Efficient Routing For Industrial Wireless Sensor-Actuator Networks, Chengjie Wu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

With the emergence of industrial standards such as WirelessHART, process industries are adopting Wireless Sensor-Actuator Networks (WSANs) that enable sensors and actuators to communicate through low-power wireless mesh networks. Industrial monitoring and control applications require real-time communication among sensors, controllers and actuators within end-to-end deadlines. Deadline misses may lead to production inefficiency, equipment destruction to irreparable financial and environmental impacts. Moreover, due to the large geographic area and harsh conditions of many industrial plants, it is labor-intensive or dan- gerous to change batteries of field devices. It is therefore important to achieve long network lifetime with battery-powered devices.

This dissertation …

Modeling Algorithm Performance On Highly-Threaded Many-Core Architectures, Lin Ma

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The rapid growth of data processing required in various arenas of computation over the past decades necessitates extensive use of parallel computing engines. Among those, highly-threaded many-core machines, such as GPUs have become increasingly popular for accelerating a diverse range of data-intensive applications. They feature a large number of hardware threads with low-overhead context switches to hide the memory access latencies and therefore provide high computational throughput. However, understanding and harnessing such machines places great challenges on algorithm designers and performance tuners due to the complex interaction of threads and hierarchical memory subsystems of these machines. The achieved performance jointly …

Contextualized Robot Navigation, David Vincent Lu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

In order to improve the interaction between humans and robots, robots need to be able to move about in a way that is appropriate to the complex environments around them. One way to investigate how the robots should move is through the lens of theatre, which provides us with ways to analyze the robot's movements and the motivations for moving in particular ways. In particular, this has proven useful for improving robot navigation. By altering the costmaps used for path planning, robots can navigate around their environment in ways that incorporate additional contexts. Experimental results with user studies have shown …

Coordinated Control And Estimation Of Multiagent Systems With Engineering Applications, Housheng Su, Michael Z.Q. Chen, Qing Hui, Wei Zhang, Fanglai Zhu

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Recently, coordinated control and estimation problems have attracted a great deal of attention in different fields especially in biology, physics, computer science, and control engineering. Coordinated control and estimation problems have prominent characteristics of distributed control, local interaction, and self-organization. Research on multiagent coordinated control and estimation problems not only helps better understand the mechanisms of natural collective phenomena but also benefits the applications of cyberphysical systems.

This special issue focuses on theoretical and technological achievements in cooperative multiagent Systems. It contains twenty-six papers, the contents of which are summarized below.

Privacy-Preserving And Outsourced Multi-User K-Means Clustering, Bharath Samanthula, Fang-Yu Rao, Elisa Bertino, Xun Yi, Dangxi Liu

Cyber Center Publications

Many techniques for privacy-preserving data mining (PPDM) have been investigated over the past decade. Often, the entities involved in the data mining process are end-users or organizations with limited computing and storage resources. As a result, such entities may want to refrain from participating in the PPDM process. To overcome this issue and to take many other benefits of cloud computing, outsourcing PPDM tasks to the cloud environment has recently gained special attention. We consider the scenario where n entities outsource their databases (in encrypted format) to the cloud and ask the cloud to perform the clustering task on their …

Multifunctional Glazing System: Solution For Modern Smart Glazing, Aritra Ghosh, Brian Norton, Aidan Duffy

Conference papers

Multifunctional glazing combines various glazing ,that have potential to control solar heat gain by changing the window transmittance and low heat loss. In autonomous multifunctional glazing it s function will be powered by PV layer attached to the glazing. This glazing obviates the necessity for shading devices to control the glare. Glare control for such a small scale south facing vertical surface multifunctional glazing is discussed.

Installation Of Zentyal; Linux Small Business Server, Olubodunde Agboola

Master of Technology Management Plan II Graduate Projects

This project work is about setting up a server for the Electronics and computer Lab of the ECET department. The current server used in this lab runs OpenBSD 3.3. OpenBSD is a Unix-like operating system which offers services such as mail server, web server, ftp server, DNS server, router, firewall, or NFS file server. However this version of openBSD is obsolete and several versions has been developed over the years, the recent version is openBSD 5.6. Furthermore, openBSD has no graphic user interface (GUI). It accepts and processes command through the command line interface. Hence, it can be defined as …

Applications Of Remote Sensing To The Study Of Estuarine Physics: Suspended Sediment Dynamics In The Columbia River Estuary, Austin Scott Hudson

Dissertations and Theses

Estuarine circulation and its associated transport processes drive the environmental integrity of many near-shore habitats (the coastal ocean, rivers, estuaries and emergent wetlands). A thorough understanding and consideration of this circulation is, therefore, vital in the proper management of these habitats. The aim of this study is to bring together theory and new satellite observations in the Columbia River Estuary to increase our understanding of estuarine circulation and transport. Surface reflectance measurements gathered by the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are first compared to in situ observations to develop an empirical model for remotely derived surface turbidity. Results indicate that MODIS …

Influence Of The Temperature On Flow-Induced Crystallization Of Isotactic Polypropylene And Propylene–Ethylene Random Copolymer, Hugo Boitout

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

When flow is applied on a semi-crystalline polymer melt, it can greatly impact how it crystallizes its final properties. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the basic mechanism of flow induced crystallization (FIC). Only then will it be possible to predict final properties from the type of resin and processing conditions. Polypropylene is one of the most widely used polymers. Its processing generally involves subjecting the melt to intense flow fields, so FIC commonly occurs.

This study investigates the influence of temperature of shear and crystallization on the FIC behavior of isotactic polypropylene (iPP). Temperature is one of the main …

Agenda For Second Meeting Of The Forum For Promotion Of Soil Dynamics In India, Shamsher Prakash

Forum for Promotion of Soil Dynamics in India

No abstract provided.

Membership Of Forum For Promotion Of Soil Dynamics In India, Shamsher Prakash

Forum for Promotion of Soil Dynamics in India

No abstract provided.

Honor Stalwarts, Shamsher Prakash

Forum for Promotion of Soil Dynamics in India

No abstract provided.