Engineering Commons^™

Models And Solution Algorithms For Asymmetric Traffic And Transit Assignment Problems, Donghyung Yook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Generally, modeling is a simplified representation of the real world; however, this research adds value to the modeling practice by investigating the asymmetric interactions observed in the real world in order to explore potential improvements of the transportation modeling. The enhanced representation of the transportation system by the asymmetric transportation equilibrium problem is promising because there are various asymmetric interactions in real transportation such as intersections, highway ramps, toll roads and in the structure of the transit fares.

The dissertation considers the asymmetric interactions of flows in the traffic and transit assignment problems with an efficient solution algorithm. The study …

A Computational Fluid Dynamics Validation Experiment For Forced And Mixed Convection On A Vertical Heated Plate, Jeff Robert Harris

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) validation experiment is conducted for flow over a heated vertical plate. The design of the experiment to meet CFD validation standards is described. Many experiments and simulations have been completed in past studies, but none measure or present the necessary boundary conditions to define the simulation. Experimental measurements of heated flow are presented, along with corresponding boundary conditions sufficient to define the simulation's boundary conditions. Some simulation results are described, but a complete validation study is not included. The simulations are conducted by the experimentalist to ensure all necessary boundary conditions are being measured. This …

Convex Model-Based Synthetic Aperture Radar Processing, Chad P. Knight

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The use of radar often conjures up images of small blobs on a screen. But current synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems are able to generate near-optical quality images with amazing benefits compared to optical sensors. These SAR sensors work in all weather conditions, day or night, and provide many advanced capabilities to detect and identify targets of interest.

These amazing abilities have made SAR sensors a work-horse in remote sensing, and military applications. SAR sensors are ranging instruments that operate in a 3D environment, but unfortunately the results and interpretation of SAR images have traditionally been done in 2D. Three-dimensional …

On The Database Lookup Problem Of Approximate Matching, Frank Breitinger, Harald Baier, Douglas White

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

Investigating seized devices within digital forensics gets more and more difficult due to the increasing amount of data. Hence, a common procedure uses automated file identification which reduces the amount of data an investigator has to look at by hand. Besides identifying exact duplicates, which is mostly solved using cryptographic hash functions, it is also helpful to detect similar data by applying approximate matching.

Let x denote the number of digests in a database, then the lookup for a single similarity digest has the complexity of O(x). In other words, the digest has to be compared against …

Structural, Magnetic And Microstructural Studies Of Composition-Modified Sm–Co Ribbons, Xiujuan Jiang

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

There is an increasing interest in developing desirable microstructures in hard magnetic materials. Sm-Co-based magnets, bearing superior intrinsic magnetic properties, are good candidates for further development. Two Sm-Co-based alloys, (Sm₁₂Co₈₈)_100-x-yCr_yC_x (taking SmCo₇ phase) and SmCo_4-xFe_xB (a derivative of SmCo₅ phase), were produced using melt-spinning technique. The magnetic properties are correlated to the structural and microstructural properties.

Within the SmCo₇ stoichiometry, cumulative effects of Cr and C additions on the structural and magnetic properties have been investigated. Experimental results have shown that these additions along …

Design And Assembly Of Parabolic Flight Payload To Evaluate Miniature In Vivo Surgical Robots In Microgravity, Kearney M. Lackas

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

Laparoscopic surgery, also known as minimally invasive surgery (MIS), changed the face of surgery in the 1990s. With these procedures, surgeons use long, slender tools which pass through several small incisions. Performing surgery in this fashion has shown many benefits including reduced pain and recovery times, lower costs, and less scarring post-recovery.

The use of surgical robotics has shown several key advantages over MIS techniques. Minimally invasive surgeries typically require unnatural movements, have limited visibility, greatly reduce dexterity, and provide little tactile feedback. Through robot kinematics and specialized sensors, surgical robots can resolve many of these limitations, especially in terms …

Inferring Gene Regulatory Networks From Expression Data Using Ensemble Methods, Janusz Slawek

Theses and Dissertations

High-throughput technologies for measuring gene expression made inferring of the genome-wide Gene Regulatory Networks an active field of research. Reverse-engineering of systems of transcriptional regulations became an important challenge in molecular and computational biology. Because such systems model dependencies between genes, they are important in understanding of cell behavior, and can potentially turn observed expression data into the new biological knowledge and practical applications. In this dissertation we introduce a set of algorithms, which infer networks of transcriptional regulations from variety of expression profiles with superior accuracy compared to the state-of-the-art techniques. The proposed methods make use of ensembles of …

Inkjet Printing Of Three-Dimensional Vascular-Like Constructs From Cell Suspensions, Changxue Xu

All Dissertations

Inkjet printing has found an increasing number of biofabrication applications, specifically organ printing, which has been emerging as a promising solution to the organ donor shortage. While some studies have been conducted to investigate various engineering problems associated with DOD inkjet printing of biological material-based fluids, the pinch-off, the cell-laden droplet formation, the effects of electric field on droplet formation, and challenges in 3D vascular-like construct fabrication haven't been systematically investigated. The objective of this study is to investigate the pinch-off, the cell-laden droplet formation, the effects of electric field on droplet formation, and manufacturing challenges during fabrication using DOD …

Adaptive And Robust Braking-Traction Control Systems, John Adcox

All Dissertations

The designs of commercial Anti-Lock Braking Systems often rely on assumptions of a torsionally rigid tire-wheel system and heavily rely on hub-mounted wheel speed sensors to manage tire-road slip conditions. However, advancements in high-bandwidth braking systems, in-wheel motors, variations in tire/wheel designs, and loss of inflation pressure, have produced scenarios where the tire's torsional dynamics could be easily excited by the braking system actuator. In these scenarios, the slip conditions for the tire-belt/ring will be dynamically different from what can be inferred from the wheel speed sensors. This dissertation investigates the interaction of tire torsional dynamics with ABS & traction …

Strategies To Improve The Efficiency Of Emergency Medical Service (Ems) Systems Under More Realistic Conditions, Kanchala Sudtachat

All Dissertations

Emergency medical service (EMS) systems provide medical care to pre-hospital patients who need rapid response and transportation. This dissertation proposes a new realistic approach for EMS systems in two major focuses: multiple unit dispatching and relocation strategies. This work makes recommendations for multiple-unit dispatch to multiple call priorities based on simulation optimization and heuristics. The objective is to maximize the expected survival rate. Simulation models are proposed to determine the optimization. A heuristic algorithm is developed for large-scale problems. Numerical results show that dispatching while considering call priorities, rather than always dispatching the closest medical units, could improve the effectiveness …

Numerical Investigation Of One-Dimensional Shallow Water Flow And Sediment Transport Model Using Discontinouous Galerkin Method, Farzam Safarzadeh Maleki

All Dissertations

A one-dimensional shallow water flow and sediment transport model is developed using a discontinuous Galerkin finite element scheme. As a first step, four different time marching schemes as well as three different slope limiters have been investigated to find the optimum modeling combination. The efficiency and accuracy of the time marching schemes and slope limiters are quantitatively examined using CPU runtime and comparison between the simulated results and theoretical/experimental data. It is found that using the second order Adam-Bashforth time marching scheme and Monotonized Central method leads to most efficient and accurate results. As the second part of this research, …

Minimizing Bridge And Pavement Deterioration From Large Trucks: A Policy Analysis For Damage Recovery, Kakan Dey

All Dissertations

Facing an exceptional challenge of maintaining state roadways with ever-shrinking financial resources, this research examined multiple facets of the impact of overweight trucks. The objectives of this research were to investigate the impact of overweight trucks on pavements and bridges, and develop policy recommendations based on technical analysis and the modern political and institutional environment in South Carolina. To achieve the objectives, this research modeled pavement and bridge deterioration, investigated the adequacy of standard practices in state agencies, examined how trucking industry perceives those practices, and developed policy analysis models. Pavement and bridge deterioration analysis revealed that pavement and bridge …

A Novel On-Chip Three-Dimensional Micromachined Calorimeter With Fully Enclosed And Suspended Thin-Film Chamber For Thermal Characterization Of Liquid Samples, Benyamin Davaji, Hye Jeong Bak, Woo-Jin Chang, Chung-Hoon Lee

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

A microfabricated calorimeter (μ-calorimeter) with an enclosed reaction chamber is presented. The 3D micromachined reaction chamber is capable of analyzing liquid samples with volume of 200 nl. The thin film low-stress silicon nitride membrane is used to reduce thermal mass of the calorimeter and increase the sensitivity of system. The μ-calorimeter has been designed to perform DC and AC calorimetry, thermal wave analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry. The μ-calorimeter fabricated with an integrated heater and a temperature sensor on opposite sides of the reaction chamber allows to perform thermal diffusivity and specific heat measurements on liquid samples with same device. …

Evaluation Of The Importance Of Time-Frequency Contributions To Speech Intelligibility In Noise, Chengzhu Yu, Kamil K. Wójcicki, Philipos C. Loizou, John H. L. Hansen, Michael T. Johnson

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Recent studies on binary masking techniques make the assumption that each time-frequency (T-F) unit contributes an equal amount to the overall intelligibility of speech. The present study demonstrated that the importance of each T-F unit to speech intelligibility varies in accordance with speech content. Specifically, T-F units are categorized into two classes, speech-present T-F units and speech-absent T-F units. Results indicate that the importance of each speech-present T-F unit to speech intelligibility is highly related to the loudness of its target component, while the importance of each speech-absent T-F unit varies according to the loudness of its masker component. Two …

Selection Of The Process Parameters For The Mass Plating Of Discrete Electronic Components, Ann Hopper

Articles

The miniaturisation of electronic components coupled with requirements for high temperature lead free soldering has forced the improvement of the termination finish of surface mount components to meet the critical demands of the electronic industry. In the present work the processing parameters necessary to plate miniature multilayer varistors (MLV’s) have been explored. The tooling selected was a “Rotary flow-thru’ plater” which achieved high volume plating with

Asymmetric Unilateral Transfemoral Prosthetic Simulator, Tyagi Ramakrishnan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

amputation, which includes reduced force generation at the knee and ankle, reduced control of the leg, and different mass properties relative to their intact leg. The physical change in the prosthetic leg leads to gait asymmetries that include spatial, temporal, or force differences. This altered gait can lead to an increase in energy consumption and pain due to compensating forces and torques. The asymmetric prosthesis demonstrated in this research aims to find a balance between the different types of asymmetries to provide a gait that is more symmetric and to make it overall easier for an amputee to walk.

Previous …

Drinking Water In The Developing World: Sources Of Fecal Contamination In Pitcher Pump Systems And Measurement Alternatives, Meghan Wahlstrom

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It has been reported that globally we have achieved Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Target 7C, to halve the proportion of the population without access to safe drinking water; however, there is a major flaw with this statement. While Target 7C calls for access to `safe' drinking water, what is actually being measured and reported is access to an `improved' water source. The World Health Organization (WHO) maintains that they must use this proxy measure because the methods for water quality testing are too expensive and logistically complicated, but by doing so, they may be over reporting safe water coverage.

This …

Selected Topics In Foundation Design, Quality Assurance, And Remediation, Danny Winters

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are over 602,000 bridges in the United States, of which 12.5% are classified as functionally obsolete and 11.2% are structurally deficient. The functionally obsolete bridges will require expansion or replacement to increase the service capacity of the bridge. The structurally deficient bridges will either need remediation of the load carrying elements which are damaged or deteriorated or will need to be replaced completely. Replacement of the bridges means new construction; new construction means better design and quality assurance to meet the 100+ year service life requirement in place now. Rehabilitation of bridges will require better design and quality assurance …

Nanodiamond Based Composite Structures For Biosensing Applications, Pedro Javier Villalba

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the synthesis and application of nanodiamond based materials for electrochemical biosensors. In this research work, nanodiamond particles have been used to prepare doped and undoped nanocrystalline diamond films, and conducting polymer composites for enhanced biosensing. The performance of the synthetized materials towards sensing applications was evaluated against glucose amperometric biosensing. Besides, cholesterol biosensing was attempted to prove the capabilities of the platform as a generic biosensing substrate.

Biosensors have been proved to provide reliable detection and quantification of biological compounds. The detection of biological markers plays a key factor in the diagnosis of many diseases and, even …

Investigation Of Energy Alignment Models At Polymer Interfaces, Wenfeng Wang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The presented study investigated the Induced Density of Interface States (IDIS) model at different polymer interfaces by using photoemission spectroscopy in combination with electrospray deposition.

In recent years, organic electronics have attracted considerable attention due to their advantages of low-cost and easy-fabrication. The performance of such devices crucially depends on the energy barrier that controls the interface charge transfer. A significant effort has been made to explore the mechanisms that determine the direction and magnitude of charge transfer barriers in these devices. As a result of this effort, the IDIS model was developed to predict the energy alignment at metal/organic …

A System Dynamics Approach To Integrated Water And Energy Resources Management, Yilin Zhuang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water and energy are two of the most important resources for societal prosperity and economic development. It is clear that water and energy are intrinsically linked together and depend on one another in modern society. To date, however, efforts on water-energy nexus concentrate on quantifying the energy use in water cycle or the water use in energy production. From management perspective, water and energy are still managed separately. Little work has been done to investigate the impacts of the management options associated with one resource on the other and examine the integrated water and energy management options. Accordingly, the overall …

Homochiral Metal-Organic Materials: Design, Synthetic And Enantioseletive Separation, Shi-Yuan Zhang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Owing to the growing demand for enantiopurity in biological and chemical processes, tremendous efforts have been devoted to the synthesis of homochiral metal-organic materials (MOMs) because of their potential applications in chiral separation and asymmetric catalysis. In this dissertation, the synthetic strategies for homochiral MOMs are discussed keeping the focus on their applications. Two distinct approaches have been taken to synthesize chiral structures with different topologies and accessible cavities. The chiral MOMs have been utilized in enantioselective separation of racemates.

Chiral variants of the prototypal metal-organic framework MOF-5, δ-CMOF-5 and [lambda]-CMOF-5, have been synthesized by preparing MOF-5 in the presence …

Numerical Simulation Of Flow In Ozonation Process, Jie Zhang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the last two decades, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has shown great potential as a powerful and cost-efficient tool to troubleshoot existing disinfection contactors and improve future designs for the water and wastewater treatment utilities.

In the first part of this dissertation two CFD simulation methodologies or strategies for computing turbulent flow are evaluated in terms of the predicted hydraulic performance of contactors. In the LES (large eddy simulation) methodology, the more energetic, larger scales of the turbulence are explicitly computed or resolved by the grid. In the less computationally intensive RANS (Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes) methodology, only the mean component of …

An Assessment Of The Emas Pump And Its Potential For Use In Household Water Systems In Uganda, Jacob Daniel Carpenter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rural improved water supply coverage in Uganda has stagnated around 64% for a number of years and at this point more than 10 million rural people do not have access to an improved drinking water source. It has been recognized that progress toward improved water supply coverage and increased service levels may be gained through Government and nongovernmental organization (NGO) support of private investment in household and shared water supplies, commonly known as Self-supply. Self-supply can be promoted by introducing and building local capacity in appropriate and affordable water supply technologies such as hand-dug wells, manually drilled boreholes, low-cost pumps, …

Occurrence And Removal Of Ultra-Low Level Hexavalent Chromium In Drinking Water, Christel Olsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This project provides insight for drinking water utilities to better understand chromium behavior in their own waters. Seven full-scale treatment plants developed a snapshot profile of chromium behavior and treatability. If ultra-low level Cr6 is to be controlled, the key treatment processes in need of further investigation are lime softening, oxidation by chlorine, chloramines, or permanganate, and reduction-coupled coagulation using ferrous iron.

Chlorine was shown to oxidize ultra-low levels of Cr3 to Cr6 in less than seven hours. The distribution system investigations showed the concentration of Cr6 could change between the point of entry and the tap. It is therefore …

Statistical Models Of The Lambert Road Bridge: Changes In Natural Frequencies Due To Temperature, Nickolas Ryan Foust

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems have become tools for understanding how a civil structure truly behaves. In bridge structures, vibration-based SHM systems can be used to monitor the bridge’s modal parameters. Changes in modal parameters may indicate a change in the structure itself, boundary conditions, or damage. These modal parameters also vary with environmental factors, mainly temperature. Statistical models help show the correlation between modal parameters and temperature and can be used to filter out unimportant temperature effects. If done successfully, physical changes can be indicated and further inspection can be accomplished to minimize further damage.

The bridge structure utilized …

On Uniformly Most Powerful Decentralized Detection, Uri Rogers

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The theory behind Uniformly Most Powerful (UMP) composite binary hypothesis testing is mature and well defined in centralized detection where all observations are directly accessible at one central node. However, within the area of decentralized detection, UMP tests have not been researched, even though tests of this nature have properties that are highly desirable. The purpose of this research is to extend the UMP concept into decentralized detection, which we define as UMP decentralized detection (UMP-DD). First, the standard parallel decentralized detection model with conditionally independent observations will be explored. This section will introduce theorems and corollaries that define when …

Simulation Of A Magnetron Using Discrete Modulated Current Sources, Sulmer A. Fernández Gutierrez

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Magnetrons are microwave oscillators and are extensively used for commercial and military applications requiring power levels from the kilowatt to the megawatt range. It has been proposed that the use of gated field emitters with a faceted cathode in place of the conventional thermionic cathode could be used to control the current injection in a magnetron, both temporally and spatially. In this research, this concept is studied using the 2-D particle trajectory simulation Lorentz2E and the 3-D particle-in-cell (PIC) code VORPAL. The magnetron studied is a ten cavity, rising sun magnetron, which can be modeled easily using a 2-D simulation. …

Nano-Ionic Radiation Sensor: Materials Engineering, Device Design, And Testing, Mahesh Satyanarayana Ailavajhala

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

For decades, various radiation-detecting materials have been extensively researched, to find a better material or mechanism. Recently, there has been a growing need for smaller, and more effective materials or devices that are Integrated Circuits (IC) compatible, and can perform similar functions as bulkier Geiger counters, and other measurement options, which fail the requirement for easy, cheap, and accurate radiation dose measurements. Here arises the use of thin films of chalcogenide glasses, which have unique properties of high thermal stability along with high sensitivity towards short wavelength radiation.

In this work, the effect of γ-rays, generated from a ⁶⁰Co …

Seeking Cleaner Air - Accessible Air Quality Monitoring And Event Diagnosis, James Allen Hall Jr.

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Airborne particulate matter has been shown to be associated with morbidity and mortality, and can have a detrimental impact on sensitive materials and processes. Understanding the levels and movements of particulate matter in an enclosed space can lead to a reduction in the negative consequences of poor air quality. A system of environmental sensors including particulate matter, selected gases, and other atmospheric factors can be used to provide a real-time assessment of air quality. This assessment can be used to assist in the diagnosis of the source of particulate matter. This dissertation describes the creation of a framework for the …