Engineering Commons^™

Comparative Efficiency And Driving Range Of Light- And Heavy-Duty Vehicles Powered With Biomass Energy Stored In Liquid Fuels Or Batteries, Mark Laser, Lee R. R. Lynd

Dartmouth Scholarship

This study addresses the question, "When using cellulosic biomass for vehicular transportation, which field-to-wheels pathway is more efficient: that using biofuels or that using bioelectricity?" In considering the question, the level of assumed technological maturity significantly affects the comparison, as does the intended transportation application. Results from the analysis indicate that for light-duty vehicles, over ranges typical in the United States today (e.g., 560-820 miles), field-to-wheels performance is similar, with some scenarios showing biofuel to be more efficient, and others indicating the two pathways to be essentially the same. Over the current range of heavy-duty vehicles, the field-to-wheels efficiency is …

Cds Quantum Dot-Sensitized Solar Cells Based On Nano-Branched Tio2 Arrays, Chang Liu, Yitan Li, Lin Wei, Cuncun Wu, Yanxue Chen, Liangmo Mei, Jun Jiao

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nano-branched rutile TiO2 nanorod arrays were grown on F:SnO2 conductive glass (FTO) by a facile, two-step wet chemical synthesis process at low temperature. The length of the nanobranches was tailored by controlling the growth time, after which CdS quantum dots were deposited on the nano-branched TiO2 arrays using the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method to make a photoanode for quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). The photovoltaic properties of the CdS-sensitized nano-branched TiO2 solar cells were studied systematically. A short-circuit current intensity of approximately 7 mA/cm2 and a light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 0.95% were recorded for cells based on …

Multi Sensor System For Pedestrian Tracking And Activity Recognition In Indoor Environments, Juan Jose Marron Monteserin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The widespread use of mobile devices and the rise of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) have allowed mobile tracking applications to become very popular and valuable in outdoor environments. However, tracking pedestrians in indoor environments with Global Positioning System (GPS)-based schemes is still very challenging given the lack of enough

signals to locate the user. Along with indoor tracking, the ability to recognize pedestrian behavior and activities can lead to considerable growth in location-based applications including

pervasive healthcare, leisure and guide services (such as, museum, airports, stores, etc.), and emergency services, among the most important ones.

This thesis presents a …

Comm-Processing Data, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint Presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs on "Comm-Processing Data" from March 3, 2014.

Bicycle Facilities And The Uptake Of Air Pollution By Active Travelers, Alexander Y. Bigazzi, Miguel A. Figliozzi, James F. Pankow, Wentai Luo, Lorne M. Isabelle

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Outlines the research of urban bicyclists' facilities and the uptake of air pollution by active travelers in urban Portland, OR. Outlines the research goals, beginning data collection methods, intake/uptake, modeling results, conclusions and the next steps for future work with the collected data set of direct uptake measurements.

Antennas - Loose Slides, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint Presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs on "Antennas" from March 2, 2014.

Acuta Enews March 2014 Vol. 43, No. 3

ACUTA Newsletters

In this Issue...

1 Board of Directors 2014-15

2 Learning Analytics

3 Annual Conference 2014

4 Members Celebrate Anniversaries

6 WebRTC: DTMF and 911

7 Board Report

7 lt's a Girl!

8 lnfo Links

9 Welcome New Members

9 Check lt Out

Assessing Visual Perception Using Behaviour Conditioning In The Rat Model, Patricia Bacala

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

Neural prosthetics aim to restore function to sensory deficits. In the same sense that cochlear implants can restore auditory function, visual neural prosthetics aim to restore visual function. A strain of rats with retinal degeneration are subjects of great interest when exploring the effect of a visual neural prosthetics on visual perception. In this study we explore the rat response to a visual stimulus in normal vision rats through behavior conditioning in the development of a training protocol that will be used to assess visual perception in retinal degenerative rats. We found that autoshaping was a successful method in training …

Hydrogen Fueling Stations Infrastructure, Florida Solar Energy Center, Nan Qin

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) can provide customers with the benefits of low to zero greenhouse gas emissions, high performance, and comfort without compromising range and refill time. With three major automakers (Honda, Hyundai, and Toyota) planning to introduce consumer FCEVs by the end of 2015, FCEVs will play an increasingly important role in the electric vehicle arena. Building hydrogen fueling infrastructure has been identified as a major obstacle in FCEV commercialization. This report is part of an ongoing effort within an Electric Vehicle Transportation Center (EVTC) project: "Fuel Cell Vehicle Technologies, Infrastructure and Requirements." This report is based on …

A Framework For The Analysis And User-Driven Evaluation Of Trust On The Semantic Web, Peter Clarke

Dissertations

This project will examine the area of trust on the Semantic Web and develop a framework for publishing and verifying trusted Linked Data. Linked Data describes a method of publishing structured data, automatically readable by computers, which can linked to other heterogeneous data with the purpose of becoming more useful. Trust plays a significant role in the adoption of new technologies and even more so in a sphere with such vast amounts of publicly-created data. Trust is paramount to the effective sharing and communication of tacit knowledge (Hislop, 2013). Up to now, the area of trust in Linked Data has …

Parameter Identification Of Micro-Grid Control System, Ning Gao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Micro-grid provides an effective means of integrating distributed energy resource (DER) units into the power systems. A micro-grid is defined as an independent low- or medium-voltage distribution network comprising various DER units, power-electronic interfaces, controllable loads, and monitoring and protection devices. Following the development of the renewable energy, micro-grid has attracted much attention.

This thesis emphasizes on the parameter identification of the control system of the micro-grid. The control system plays an important role in the stable operation of the micro-grid. The micro-grid has two operation modes, which are grid-connected operation mode and islanded operation mode. The transition between two …

A Control-Chart Based Method For Solder Joint Crack Detection - Conference Proceeding, Jianbiao Pan

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Many researchers have used different failure criteria in the published solder joint reliability studies. Since the reported time-to-failure would be different if different failure criteria were used, it would be difficult to compare the reported reliability life of solder joints from one study to another. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of failure criteria on the reported thermal fatigue life and find out which failure criterion can detect failure sooner. First, the application of the control-chart based method in a thermal cycling reliability study is described. The reported time-to-failure data were then compared based on four …

Numerical Analysis Of First-Order Acousto-Optic Bragg Diffraction Of Profiled Optical Beams Using Open-Loop Transfer Functions, Monish Ranjan Chatterjee, Fares S. Almehmadi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In standard acousto-optic Bragg analysis, the incident light and sound beams are assumed to be uniform plane waves (with constant profiles) leading to the results based on standard weak interaction theory. As a follow-up to earlier work dealing with nonuniform incident optical beams, we revisit the problem of Bragg diffraction under nonuniform profiles, and include Gaussian, third-order Hermite–Gaussian, and zeroth-order Bessel profiles in our investigation, along with a few others. The first-order diffracted beam is examined (using a transfer function formalism based on angular spectra) under several parametric limits [such as the Klein–Cook parameter Q, the effective profile width, and …

Shakers - South Union, Kentucky (Sc 1328), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1328. Letters, written by South Union, Kentucky Shaker leaders, to leaders of the Hancock Shaker Society, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, discussing the building of mills and dam, economic conditions, and religious affairs. The original letters are in the Library of Congress.

Task-Value, Self-Regulated Learning, And Performance In A Web-Intensive Undergraduate Engineering Course: How Are They Related?, Oenardi Lawanto, Harry B. Santoso, Wade H. Goodridge, Kevin N. Lawanto

Engineering Education Faculty Publications

In this paper, the authors report on how students' perception of course material in terms of importance, utility, and interest is related to their self-regulated learning (SRL) skills and project performance in a web-intensive undergraduate learning environment. The data from 57 students were analyzed. Data sources included survey instruments, ranking questions, and project grades. The research highlights important components of online education by evaluating the connections between students' perceptions of webintensive course value, SRL, and project performance. Findings show a significant positive relationship between task value and performance, specifically between importance of the activity and performance. From a SRL perspective, …

Waste Heat Reclamation For Commercial Use, Andrew Webber

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

The purpose of this project was to capture waste heat to raise the temperature of groundwater for commercial applications.

Design Of Transportation Process For Band Equipment, Marissa N. Blustein, Chris M. Kaye

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The following report documents the attempt to design a safe and reliable process for transporting Louder Space’s musical gear that requires minimal physical demand. Design specifications were derived from customer requirements as well as human factors principles. The transportation process was broken down into systematic process steps and standardized, making use of lean methodologies in order to reduce the number of non-value steps involved. Furthermore, a model portable storage unit for miscellaneous gear was developed to the specifications determined by the band using 3D modeling, as well as certain limiting constraints. Once the customer approved the prototype, the product was …

Ua66 Ogden College Of Science & Engineering Newsletter, Cheryl Stevens, Dean

Ogden College of Science & Engineering Publications

No abstract provided.

Is Horizon Sampling More Powerful Than Depth Sampling?, Chris E. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Orangeburg Assembly Hall Of Jehovah's Witnesses- Fire Protection And Life Safety Design Analysis, Justin B. Biller

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Science in Fire Protection Engineering, a prescriptive and performance-based engineering analysis was performed on the Orangeburg Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The building was recently constructed and completed in 2013 in Orangeburg, South Carolina to serve as a center for education of Jehovah’s Witnesses on Biblical principles for daily life. More than 300 congregations throughout Georgia and the Carolinas will use the Assembly Hall for their semi-annual assemblies and conventions, with an estimated annual attendance of 190,000 per year. Prescriptive analyses were conducted based primarily upon the provisions …

A Comparative Study Of The Mechanical Properties, Fracture Behavior, Creep, And Shrinkage Of Chemically Based Self-Consolidating Concrete, Mahdi Arezoumandi, Mark Ezzell, Jeffery S. Volz

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study presents the results of an experimental investigation that compares the mechanical properties, fracture behavior, creep, and shrinkage of a chemically based self-consolidating concrete (SCC) mix with that of a corresponding conventional concrete (CC) mix. The CC and SCC mix designs followed conventional proportioning in terms of aggregate type and content, cement content, air content, water-cementitious materials (w/cm) ratio, and workability. Then, using only chemical admixtures, the authors converted the CC mix to an SCC mix with all of the necessary passing, filling, flowability, and stability requirements typically found in SCC. The high fluidity was achieved with a polycarboxylate-based …

Quantitative Relaxometry And Diffusion Mri For Lateralization In Mts And Non-Mts Temporal Lobe Epilepsy., Ali R Khan, Maged Goubran, Sandrine De Ribaupierre, Robert R Hammond, Jorge G Burneo, Andrew G Parrent, Terry M Peters

Robarts Imaging Publications

We developed novel methodology for investigating the use of quantitative relaxometry (T1 and T2) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) for lateralization in temporal lobe epilepsy. Patients with mesial temporal sclerosis confirmed by pathology (N=8) and non-MTS unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy (N=6) were compared against healthy controls (N=19) using voxel-based analysis restricted to the anterior temporal lobes, and laterality indices for each MRI metric (T1, T2, fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity, axial and radial diffusivities) were computed based on the proportion of significant voxels on each side. The diffusivity metrics were the most lateralizing MRI metrics in MTS and non-MTS subsets, …

Addressing User Requirements In Open Source Software: The Role Of Online Forums, Arif Raza, Luiz Fernando Capretz

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

User satisfaction has always been important in the success of software, regardless of whether it is closed and proprietary or open source software (OSS). OSS users are geographically distributed and include technical as well as novice users. However, it is generally believed that if OSS was more usable, its popularity would increase tremendously. Hence, users and their requirements need to be addressed in the priorities of an OSS environment. Online public forums are a major medium of communication for the OSS community. The research model of this work studies the relationship between user requirements in open source software and online …

Identification Of Silver And Palladium In Irradiated Triso Coated Particles Of The Agr-1 Experiment, I. J. Van Rooyen, T. M. Lillo, Y. Q. Wu

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Evidence of the release of certain metallic fission products through intact tristructural isotropic (TRISO) particles has been seen for decades around the world, as well as in the recent AGR-1 experiment at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). However, understanding the basic mechanism of transport is still lacking. This understanding is important because the TRISO coating is part of the high temperature gas-cooled reactor functional containment and critical for the safety strategy for licensing purposes.

Our approach to identify fission products in irradiated AGR-1 TRISO fuel using scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) and Energy Filtered TEM (EFTEM), …

Cal Poly Library Of Pyroprints: Quality Control Analysis And Web Development, Chase Ricketts

Computer Science and Software Engineering

No abstract provided.

Could We Colonize Venus?, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Gas Mixing System For Imaging Of Nanomaterials Under Dynamic Environments By Environmental Transmission Electron Microscopy, M. Cem Akatay, Yury Zvinevich, Philipp Baumann, Fabio H. Ribeiro, Eric A. Stach

Birck and NCN Publications

A gas mixing manifold system that is capable of delivering a stable pressure stream of a desired composition of gases into an environmental transmission electron microscope has been developed. The system is designed to provide a stable imaging environment upon changes of either the composition of the gas mixture or upon switching from one gas to another. The design of the system is described and the response of the pressure inside the microscope, the sample temperature, and sample drift in response to flow and composition changes of the system are reported. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Development And Regional Application Of Sub-Seasonal Remote- Sensing Chlorophyll Detection Models, Carly Adeline Hyatt

Theses and Dissertations

Remote sensing has been used as an effective chlorophyll-a detection method in inland lakes and reservoirs. Concentration estimates of chlorophyll-a approximate the amounts of algae and phytoplankton in a body of water, can indicate the existence of large blooms and high nutrient loading, and can be used as an indicator of water quality. These biomasses pose potential threats to the quality of the water and the local environment by depleting oxygen, influencing the taste of the drinking water and detrimentally affecting aesthetics and recreation. Deer Creek Reservoir exhibited eutrophic tendencies in the early 1990's, caused by phosphorus pollution. This was …

Security Of Graph Data: Hashing Schemes And Definitions, Muhammad U. Arshad, Ashish Kundu, Elisa Bertino, Krishna Madhavan, Arif Ghafoor

Cyber Center Publications

Use of graph-structured data models is on the rise - in graph databases, in representing biological and healthcare data as well as geographical data. In order to secure graph-structured data, and develop cryptographically secure schemes for graph databases, it is essential to formally define and develop suitable collision resistant one-way hashing schemes and show them they are efficient. The widely used Merkle hash technique is not suitable as it is, because graphs may be directed acyclic ones or cyclic ones. In this paper, we are addressing this problem. Our contributions are: (1) define the practical and formal security model of …

Characterizing Phantom Arteries With Multi-Channel Laser Ultrasonics And Photo-Acoustics, Jami L. Johnson, Kasper Van Wijk, Michelle Sabick

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Multi-channel photo-acoustic and laser ultrasonic waves are used to sense the characteristics of proxies for healthy and diseased vessels. The acquisition system is non-contacting and non-invasive with a pulsed laser source and a laser vibrometer detector. As the wave signatures of our targets are typically low in amplitude, we exploit multi-channel acquisition and processing techniques. These are commonly used in seismology to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of data. We identify vessel proxies with a diameter on the order of 1 mm, at a depth of 18 mm. Variations in scattered and photo-acoustic signatures are related to differences in vessel wall …