Engineering Commons^™

A Novel Multimodal Image Fusion Method Using Hybrid Wavelet-Based Contourlet Transform, Yoonsuk Choi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Various image fusion techniques have been studied to meet the requirements of different applications such as concealed weapon detection, remote sensing, urban mapping, surveillance and medical imaging. Combining two or more images of the same scene or object produces a better application-wise visible image. The conventional wavelet transform (WT) has been widely used in the field of image fusion due to its advantages, including multi-scale framework and capability of isolating discontinuities at object edges. However, the contourlet transform (CT) has been recently adopted and applied to the image fusion process to overcome the drawbacks of WT with its own advantages. …

Feedback Speed Control Of A Small Two-Stroke Internal Combustion Engine That Propels An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Paul D. Fjare

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) require intelligent control of their power source. Small UAV are typically powered by electric motors or small two-stroke internal combustion (IC) engines. Small IC engines allow for longer flight times but are more difficult to control and cause significant ground noise. A hybrid operation that uses the engine at high altitudes and the electric motors at low altitudes is desired. This would allow for extended flight with acceptable ground noise levels. Since the engine can not be restarted in the air it must be able to remain at idle for an extended time without stalling. A …

Modeling And Development Of Human Interface For Pedestrian Simulator, Romesh Khaddar

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

According to Traveler opinion and perception survey of 2005, 107.4 million Americans use walking as regular mode of travel, which amounts to 51% of American population. In 2009, 4092 pedestrian fatalities have been reported nationwide with a fatality rate of 1.33 which totals 59,000 crashes. Also, pedestrians are over represented in crash data by accounting more than 12% of fatalities but on 10.9% of trips. This makes a perfect case for understanding the causes behind such statistics, calling for a continuous research on pedestrians walking behavior and their interactions with surroundings.

Current research in pedestrian simulation focuses on surveys and …

Development Of A Black-Box Transient Thermal Model For Residential Buildings, Andrew Cross

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Heavily populated metropolitan areas located in cooling-dominated climates, as are found in the Desert Southwest, pose a challenge to electrical utilities that service these areas. During the late afternoons of the summer months, residents of these metropolitan areas require larger than normal amounts of power to run their homes' air conditioning systems, at significant expense to the utilities. In the study reported here, interior temperature and power consumption data, accumulated over the course of a year and a half from seven houses within a Las Vegas neighborhood, are used to develop a predictive black-box statistical model for residential thermal transience. …

Cfd Simulation Of The Thermal Performance Of A Parallel Counter-Parallel Flow Heat Exchanger For The Treatment Of Hypothermia, Alex Heller

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Hypothermia is a life-threatening condition. Currently, active warming methods are the most effective treatment for dysthermic patients. The aim of this study is to investigate the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in evaluating the thermal performance of a parallel/counter-parallel flow heat exchanger used as part of a fluid warmer to treat Hypothermia. The 3D model of the heat exchanger is divided into three regions; Infusate (fluid to be heated), Hot Water (heating fluid), and a Solid Region (wall). At the end of the heat exchanger, an elbow section is used to create the counter-parallel flow arrangement specific to this …

A Comparative Study: Utilizing Data Mining Techniques To Classify Traffic Congestion Status, Abbas Mirakhorli

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Performance measure is a process of evaluating and quantifying a system. Performance measure provides us with information about how good a system is working and how well the predefined goals are met. In order to analyze the performance of a transportation system, the traffic data such as speed, volume, occupancy and travel time of the system need to be collected. These data will generate valuable historical database that can be used to develop models to improve the quality of service of transportation system. The performance measures in transportation studies can be categorized to following main groups: Congestion, Mobility, Accessibility, Reliability, …

Evaluation Of Earthquake Hazard For Las Vegas Valley, Nevada Incorporating Probabilistic Hazard Assessment And Non--Linear Site Response, Suchan Lamichhane

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Abstract from Manuscript 1, "An alternative analysis of the probabilistic seismic hazard for Las Vegas Valley, Nevada": Probabilistic seismic hazard calculations relevant for rock-site conditions in the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada (LVV) have been computed that account for seismic sources that are not included in the current (2008) USGS national seismic hazard model (NSHM) because of insufficient knowledge or documentation, using the commercial software package EZ-FRISK. The LVV is underlain by a system of mapped, active normal faults that comprise the Las Vegas Valley Fault System (LVVFS), with maximum potential earthquakes to M6.8. The 2008 NSHM explicitly includes only one …

Transport Properties Of Nano-Silica Contained Self-Consolidating Concrete, Borhan Moradi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this research study, transport properties of various self-consolidating concretes (SCCs) containing nano-particles (SiO2) were investigated. Nano-silica replaced a portion of the cementitious materials at different replacement levels ranging from 1.5 to 7.5% by weight. For the purpose of this investigation, flow, bulk, and transport properties of SCCs were studied. The investigated transport properties were absorption, water penetration, rapid chloride permeability, capillary absorption, rapid migration, and chloride diffusion. Transport properties of nano-silica SCCs were also compared to those of equivalent silica fume (micro silica) contained concretes, as well as those of control mixture (concrete without nano or micro silica).

Test …

Gate Monte Carlo Simulations In A Cloud Computing Environment, Blake Austin Rowedder

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The GEANT4-based GATE is a unique and powerful Monte Carlo (MC) platform, which provides a single code library allowing the simulation of specific medical physics applications, e.g. PET, SPECT, CT, radiotherapy, and hadron therapy. However, this rigorous yet flexible platform is used only sparingly in the clinic due to its lengthy calculation time. By accessing the powerful computational resources of a cloud computing environment, GATE's runtime can be significantly reduced to clinically feasible levels without the sizable investment of a local high performance cluster. This study investigated a reliable and efficient execution of GATE MC simulations using a commercial cloud …

Analytical And Experimental Analysis Of Magnetorheological Elastomers, Sarah Trabia

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Many engineering applications ranging from robotic joints to shock and vibration mitigation can benefit by incorporating components with variable stiffness. In addition, variable stiffness structures can provide haptic feedback (the sense of touch) to the user. In this work, it is proposed to study Magnetorheological Elastomers (MRE), where iron particles within the elastomer compound develop a dipole interaction energy, to be used in a device for haptic feedback. A novel feature of this MRE device is to introduce a field-induced variable shear modulus bias via a permanent magnet and using a current input to the electromagnetic control coil to change …

Mathematical Equations And System Identification Models For A Portable Pneumatic Bladder System Designed To Reduce Human Exposure To Whole Body Shock And Vibration, Ezzat Aziz Ayyad

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A mathematical representation is sought to model the behavior of a portable pneumatic foam bladder designed to mitigate the effects of human exposure to shock and whole body random vibration. Fluid Dynamics principles are used to derive the analytic differential equations used for the physical equations Model. Additionally, combination of Wiener and Hammerstein block oriented representation techniques have been selected to create system identification (SID) block oriented models. A number of algorithms have been iterated to obtain numerical solutions for the system of equations which was found to be coupled and non-linear, with no analytic closed form solution. The purpose …

Neutron Spectroscopy With Scintillation Detectors Using Wavelets, Jessica Hartman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this research was to study neutron spectroscopy using the EJ-299-33A plastic scintillator. This scintillator material provided a novel means of detection for fast neutrons, without the disadvantages of traditional liquid scintillation materials. EJ-299-33A provided a more durable option to these materials, making it less likely to be damaged during handling. Unlike liquid scintillators, this plastic scintillator was manufactured from a non-toxic material, making it safer to use, as well as easier to design detectors. The material was also manufactured with inherent pulse shape discrimination abilities, making it suitable for use in neutron detection.

The neutron spectral unfolding …

Integrating 3d Layered Manufacturing With Photonic Sintering, Precision Machining And Smart Coating Techniques For Rapid Casting Applications, Hemant Bohra

Dissertations

Developments in rapid casting technologies have led to a new era of inclusion of 3D printing. Three-Dimensional (3D) printing provides the flexibility and ease of reproducing a sand mold directly from CAD models, eliminating patterning steps, thus reducing the process time for creating prototypes. In addition to minimizing processing steps, 3D printing provides the advantages of higher precision and the ability to produce complex shaped sand molds, but it simultaneously possesses some limitations and concerns related to throughput, safety and logistics.

This study proposes an alternative method for creating sand molds by introducing a hybrid rapid prototyping approach to overcome …

Dual-State Kalman Filter Forecasting And Control Theory Applications For Proactive Ramp Metering, Brian Richard Portugais

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Deterioration of freeway traffic flow condition due to bottlenecks can be ameliorated with ramp metering. A challenge in ramp metering is that it is not possible to process data in real-time and use the output in a control algorithm. This is due to the fact that by the time processing is completed and a control measure applied, the traffic state will have changed. A solution to this problem is to forecast the traffic state and implement a control measure based on the forecast.

A dual-state Kalman filter was used to forecast traffic data at two locations on a freeway (I-84). …

Sediment Transport Conditions Near Culverts, Kyle Jay Rowley

Theses and Dissertations

Relatively little work has been done to understand how coarse grained sediments behave near culverts. Particularly for embedded culverts, sediment transport must be understood to achieve sustainable culvert designs for aquatic organism passage and peak discharge requirements. Several culvert sites in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah were studied through the spring flood season of 2014. Data obtained from the culvert sites were used to create numerical models with the Sedimentation and River Hydraulics Two-Dimensional model. The field sites and numerical model were used to study deposition of sediments at the entrance to culverts, sediment replenishment inside culverts, and lateral fining …

Power Optimization, Diagnostic Monitoring, And Modeling Of Photovoltaic System, Khalid Hurayb

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Photovoltaic (PV) solar energy has been sustaining a major growth rate over the last decade in many parts of the world. This steep growth has been driven by concern about climate change, the adoption of renewable portfolio standards, government incentives, and reduction in PV system costs. Recently, however, such large PV penetration into the electrical grid is cause a concern that might curb such a growth; namely, the incontrollable intermittency of power generated on cloudy days. Furthermore, conventional PV system configurations often do not harness the maximum power that is available under partial shading caused by clouds or shadows of …

Non-Learning Semantic Analysis For Context Discovery And Sentiment Estimation: Transportation Application, Himanshu Verma

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With enormous amount of linguistic data present on web, text analysis has become one of the major fields of interest today. This field includes sentiment analysis, information retrieval, text document classification, knowledge based modeling, content similarity measure, data clustering, words prediction/correction, decision making etc. Managing and processing such data has vital importance. The field being quite broad, our focus is mainly on transportation related social media(Twitter) data extraction, text categorization/classification which can be further sub-divided into concept discovery, word sense disambiguation and sentiment analysis to analyze performance of existing transportation system worldwide. Concept discovery is the method of extracting the …

A Study Of The Variability Versus The Assumed Constancy Of Manning's N, Tyler G. Allen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Culverts have traditionally been designed to a minimal size to pass a specific design flood. The traditional culvert designs may result in a localized increase in velocity which can result in a blockage of animal or fish movement across a barrier effectively changing the ecosystem surrounding a number of affected species. While hydraulic loss coefficients are relatively well defined for such traditional culverts, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) identified a need for further study of these coefficients for culverts more conducive to fish and animal passage.

A research team headed by Dr. Blake Tullis of Utah State University …

Reducing Carbon Emission Of Ocean Shipments By Optimizing Container Size Selection, Edwin Lik Ming Chong, Nang Laik Ma, Kar Way Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Human’s impact on earth through global warming is more or less an accepted fact. Ocean freight is estimated to contribute 4-5% of global carbon emissions and manufacturing companies can aid in reducing this amount. Many companies that ship goods through full container loads do not have the capabilities to ensure the containers they are using minimizes their carbon footprint. One of the reasons is the choice of non-ideal container sizes for their shipments. This paper provides a mathematical model to minimize companies’ shipping carbon footprints by selecting the ideal container sizes appropriate for their shipment volumes. Using data from a …

Nanoscale Manipulation Of Pristine And Functionalized Freestanding Graphene Using Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, Matthew Ackerman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past ten years the 2D material graphene has attracted an enourmous amount of attention from researchers from across diciplines and all over the world. Many of its outstanding electronic properties are present only when it is not interacting with a substrate but is instead freestanding. In this work I demonstrate that pristine and functionalized freestanding graphene can be imaged using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and that imaging a flexible 2D surface is fundamentally different from imaging a bulk material due to the attraction between the STM tip and the sample. This attraction can be used to manipulate …

A Novel Cell Based Assay For Mmp Inhibitor Screening, Pantrika Krisanarungson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Up to date, a plethora of protein based materials are used as implants to stimulate tissue regeneration or fillers to alleviate tissue or organ impairment. This includes glottal insufficiency, urinary bladder incontinence and especially in cosmetic industrial to improve facial contour. Once in vivo, protein-based materials are decomposed by cell secreted matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) and lose their volume within months. By introducing MMP inhibitor (MMPI), the extent of material degradation over time may be reduced. In this dissertation, the development of cell-based assay capable of identifying MMPI candidates for protein-based implant lifetime prolongation is described. To visualize the degradation, DQ-gelatin, …

Optimum Design Of Spectral Efficient Green Wireless Communications, Gang Wang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the optimum design of spectral efficient green wireless communications. Energy efficiency (EE), which is defined as the inverse of average energy required to successfully deliver one information bit from a source to its destination, and spectral efficiency (SE), which is defined as the average data rate per unit bandwidth, are two fundamental performance metrics of wireless communication systems. We study the optimum designs of a wide range of practical wireless communication systems that can either maximize EE, or SE, or achieve a balanced tradeoff between the two metrics. There are three objectives in this dissertation. First, …

Nanofabrication Of Metallic Nanostructures And Integration With Light Detection Devices, Liang Huang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Metallic nanostructures have been investigated with various applications especially for integration with light detection devices. The incident light can be manipulated by those nanostructures to enhance light absorption therefor improve device performance. However, previous studies focused on optical design. The electrical properties of these integrated light detection devices have not been fully considered. The photon generated carriers transport and collection are critical for light detection devices as well. An optimized device platform considering from both the optical and electrical aspects to fully utilize these nanostructures is highly desired for future light detection devices.

This dissertation targeted on three objectives, beginning …

Unbalanced Current Static Compensator, Manuel Antonio Sanchez Tejada

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this thesis is to present and evaluate a solution to the unbalanced current issue that can be found in three-phase electrical power grids. The solution is named unbalanced current static compensator (UCSC) and has the goal of balancing the currents at the source in order to mitigate adverse issues such as of negative- and zero-sequence currents that are generated by three-phase current unbalances.

The solution topology consists of three single-phase H-bridge converters that are controlled through an algorithm working in the d-q frame of reference. The algorithm is divided in three different stages: the phase synchronization and …

Optimization Of Plasmon Decay Through Scattering And Hot Electron Transfer, Drew Dejarnette

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Light incident on metal nanoparticles induce localized surface oscillations of conductive electrons, called plasmons, which is a means to control and manipulate light. Excited plasmons decay as either thermal energy as absorbed phonons or electromagnetic energy as scattered photons. An additional decay pathway for plasmons can exist for gold nanoparticles situated on graphene. Excited plasmons can decay directly to the graphene as through hot electron transfer. This dissertation begins by computational analysis of plasmon resonance energy and bandwidth as a function of particle size, shape, and dielectric environment in addition to diffractive coupled in lattices creating a Fano resonance. With …

Software Porting Of A 3d Reconstruction Algorithm To Razorcam Embedded System On Chip, Kevin Curtis Gunn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A method is presented to calculate depth information for a UAV navigation system from Keypoints in two consecutive image frames using a monocular camera sensor as input and the OpenCV library. This method was first implemented in software and run on a general-purpose Intel CPU, then ported to the RazorCam Embedded Smart-Camera System and run on an ARM CPU onboard the Xilinx Zynq-7000. The results of performance and accuracy testing of the software implementation are then shown and analyzed, demonstrating a successful port of the software to the RazorCam embedded system on chip that could potentially be used onboard a …

Effects Of Nanoholes Grown By Molecular Beam Droplet Epitaxy On Electrical Properties Of Two Dimensional Electron Gas, Yusuke Hirono

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The effects of nanoholes, grown by molecular beam droplet epitaxy, on the electrical properties of quantum well (QW) heterostructures are reported. To investigate how the depth of nanoholes affect the electrical properties of the QW heterostructures, the growth conditions for nanoholes were optimized with respect to their depth and density. Using the results of the optimization of the nanohole growth, three InGaAs pseudomorphic quantum wells with nanoholes were investigated with varied depth and a constant density. A QW heterostructure without nanoholes was grown as a reference structure. For all the samples, temperature dependent Hall effect measurements, noise studies as a …

Electroencephalography(Eeg) Data Collection And Processing Through Machine Learning, Jayshree Desai

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Machine learning methods are an excellent way for understanding the neural basis of human decision making. Some machine learning systems try to eradicate the need for human intuition in data analysis whereas others embrace a collective approach between humans and machines. The objective of this project is to collect Electroencephalography (EEG) signals through wireless sensors, and the process the collected signals through machine learning methods. The EEG data is collected using three EEG electrodes, each being the positive, negative and ground terminals respectively. Since the signal measures in the unit of micro-volts it needs to be amplified using amplifier circuit. …

Improving Golf Putt Performance With Statistical Learning Of Eeg Signals, Qing Guo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, a machine learning based method is proposed to predict the putt outcomes of golfers based on their electroencephalogram (EEG) data. The method can be used as a core building block of a brain-computer interface, which is designed to provide guidance to golf players based on their EEG patterns. The proposed method includes three steps. First, multi-channel 1-second EEG trials were extracted during golfers' preparation of putting. Second, different features are calculated such as correlation coefficient, power spectrum density and coherence, which are used as features for the classification algorithm. To predict golfers' performance, the support vector machine …

Application Of Membrane Processes For Concentration And Separation Of Sugar Streams In Biofuel Production, Mohammadmahdi Malmali

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The overall objective of this study was identification and development of a sugar concentration/separation membrane filtration unit to improve the bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass into chemicals and fuels. This thesis is divided into three main parts. The first part is about our studies on the use of nanofiltration membranes for concentration of sugars in a lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysate. In addition, the feasibility of simultaneous removal of acetic acid, 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural and furfural from the hydrolysate has also been investigated. The results obtained indicate that both concentration of sugars and removal of hydrolysis degradation products is feasible. However, careful selection of the …