Engineering Commons^™

Multisensory Integration For Adaptive Physical Human-Robot Interaction, Isura Ranatunga

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Automated systems and have become increasingly prevalent in the 21st century. With their increased processing power, personal and home robotics has finally come within reach of the public. For robots to finally work with and around humans there are some challenges to be overcome. Some of these include complex social interaction, safety, identifying human intent, unpredictable physical interaction, and uncertain dynamic environments. This research focuses on safe, robust, and intuitive physical interaction with humans utilizing multiple sensor modalities.In this thesis a solution for adaptive physical human-robot interaction is proposed. The proposed framework consists of three parts. Dynamics compensation: adaptive dynamics …

Optimal Tracking Control Of Uncertain Systems: On-Policy And Off-Policy Reinforcement Learning Approaches, Hamidreza Modares

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Over the last few decades, strong connections between reinforcement learning (RL) and optimal control have prompted a major effort towards developing online and model-free RL algorithms to learn the solution to optimal control problems. Although RL algorithms have been widely used to solve the optimal regulation problems, few results considered solving the optimal tracking control problem (OTCP), despite the fact that most real-world control applications are tracking problems. On the other hand, existing methods for solving OTCP require complete knowledge of the system dynamics. This research begins with developing an adaptive optimal algorithm for linear quadratic tracking problem (LQT). A …

Design And Fabrication Of Guided-Mode Resonance Devices, Guoliang Chen

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Guided-mode resonance (GMR) effect based on waveguide grating structure has been attracting plenty of attention in recent years due to its abundant application in energy, information technology, and sensors. This dissertation aims to develop new GMR devices and apply them in the above fields. Initially thermoelectric devices integrated with optical resonance absorbers are demonstrated. We design the absorbers with rigorous numerical methods and fashion experimental prototypes by thin-film deposition, patterning, and etching. A ~2.5-?m-thick p-type heavily doped polysilicon film on a ~2-?m layer of thermally grown SiO2 enables guided-mode resonance. The SiO2 layer additionally serves to thermally insulate the polysilicon …

Revisiting Control Establishments For Emerging Energy Hubs, Vahidreza Nasirian

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Emerging small-scale energy systems, i.e., microgrids and smartgrids, rely on centralized controllers for voltage regulation, load sharing, and economic dispatch. However, the central controller is a single-point-of-failure in such a design as either the controller or attached communication links failure can render the entire system inoperable. This work seeks for alternative distributed control structures to improve system reliability and help to the scalability of the system. A cooperative distributed controller is proposed that uses a noise-resilient voltage estimator and handles global voltage regulation and load sharing across a DC microgrid. Distributed adaptive droop control is also investigated as an alternative …

Design And Fabrication Of Iridium Oxide-Based Multi-Electrode Array For Biomedical Applications, Cuong Manh Nguyen

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Multi-electrode array (MEA) has emerged as one of the most important and common tools to monitor physiological and biological signals. Advanced micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and innovative nanofabrication technologies provide means to fabricate micro-scale MEAs for implantable bio-applications. One of the prominent advantages of such miniature electrodes is to minimize tissue damage or injuries during surgical implantation. The micro-scale electrodes are normally coated with materials or functionalized with proteins and enzymes to sense different analyates. Iridium oxide (IrOx) owning with many important traits such as biocompatibility, high corrosion resistance in electrolyte materials, pH-sensitivity, large surface-to-volume ratio, and high charge storage has …

A Lidar-Based Auto Hydro Breakline Generation Algorithm For Standing Water Bodies, George John Toscano

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is a sensor that can generate terrain elevation and intensity data of very large areas with high precision and dense resolution. The intensity and elevation are co-registered, which eliminates the need for tedious registration after the fact. This combined LiDAR data can be used to classify different topographic features. Given the enormous amount of such data generated all over the world, total automation in these classification processes in a batch process is highly desired if not a critical need. In this dissertation, a novel LiDAR-based automated standing waterbody extraction (LASWE) algorithm is presented. The …

Embedding Integrated Rfid Sensors Into Fiber Reinforced Plastics During The Manufacturing Process, Billy Joe Gray

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This research evaluates the impact of embedding a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag into the structure of a fiber reinforced polymer (FRP). The first portion of the research evaluates the mechanical impacts of embedding the tag through simulation of the stresses that the polymer will be exposed to and then comparing with compression and shear testing of the polymer parts. The second portion of the research evaluates the impact of the reinforcement materials on the transmission of radio frequency to and from the tag. The last portion of the research looks at how the costs of RFID compare to the …

Surface Engineered Biosensors For The Early Detection Of Cancer, Muhymin Islam

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Cancer commences in the building block of human body which is cells and in most of the cases remains silent at early stage. Diseases are only expressed at molecular and cellular level at primary stages. Recognition of diseases at this micro and nano level might reduce the mortality rate of cancer significantly. This research work aimed to introduce novel electronic biosensors for for identification of cancer at cellular level. The dissertation study focuses on 1) Label-Free Isolation of Metastatic Tumor Cells Using Filter Based Microfluidic device; 2) Nanotextured Polymer Substrates for Enhanced Cancer Cell Isolation and Cell Growth; 3) Nanotextured …

Forecasting Of Wind, Pv Generation, And Market Price For The Optimal Operations Of The Regional Pev Charging Stations, Piampoom Sarikprueck

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The transition from the conventional spark ignition engine vehicles to the electric vehicular technologies helps reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as improve the energy efficiency in the transportation sector. In the transformation of the electric vehicle, the hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) has evolved into the plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) due to the advancement in battery technologies that extend the electric driving distance of vehicles; however, this trend also creates concern among PEV users about how long or how far they might travel per battery charge. A well-planned charging infrastructure with a fast (level 3) charging station is critical …

Sparse Sampling And Array For Wireless Communications, Qiong Wu

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

In recent years, sparse sampling and array, such as coprime sampling, nested sampling, nested array, attract attention for their potential to estimate autocorrelation coefficients with all lags, and to calculate the power spectrum density. But this theoretical merit is based on the premise that the input signals are wide-sense stationary. This dissertation first implements the coprime sampling for non-stationary signal, which still decreases the computational complexity but suffers from high variances due to lack of observations. Then, this algorithm is extended to calculate ambiguity function in the radar system, and several practical guidelines are concluded in order to conduct the …

Arc Flash Hazards Analysis, Zhenyuan Zhang

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Annually more than 2000 workers are admitted to hospital burn centers for extensive injuries caused by arc flash accidents. Arc flash incidents occur when unintended electric current flows through air, superheating the air and causes an explosion. Recognizing the significant threat posed by arc flash hazards, IEEE and NFPA have joined forces on an initiative to support research and additional testing to increase the understanding of the arc flash phenomena. Accurately represent all the real applications for arc flash events are very difficult, not only because of their random complex nature, but also because a large number of uncertain variables …

Virtual And Hardware Prototyping Of A Modular Multilevel Inverter For Photovoltaics, Shweta Hardas

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

This thesis details the idea of virtual and hardware prototyping of a distributed controlled multilevel inverter used as a grid-tie interface for photovoltaic. The system framework consists of multilevel inverters composed of solar panel array connected in series with the inverter module, enabling the use of renewable energy resources. The inverter module is built of buck-boost converter and a cascaded h-bridge inverter, which converts the obtained independent DC voltage source from each of the solar array to AC. With the increasing convenience of using a small photovoltaic grid for residential purposes, this system can be used to facilitate various DC …

Model-Based Design And Analysis Of Automotive Systems Using Time-Triggered Controller Area Networks, Ruoshi Zhang

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

As the numbers of electrical and electronics (E/E) components vastly increases in modern motor vehicles, vehicle safety risks and recalls due to E/E problems have become issues for both auto manufactures and customers. This thesis describes methods to assist designers to analyze legacy designs incorporating the Time-Triggered Controller Area Network (TTCAN) bus in a post-design phase. We present a case study for the UT-Arlington Formula SAE all-electric race car, which has 18 controller area network (CAN) PIC microcontroller nodes using the TTCAN protocol. The contributions include the general approach to re-using legacy software in MBD processes, the automotive case study …

Effect Of Fly Ash Replacement Level On The Bond Strength Of Reinforcing Steel In Concrete Beams, Mahdi Arezoumandi, Trevor J. Looney, Jeffery S. Volz

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study compares the bond strength of reinforcing steel in high-volume fly ash concrete (HVFAC) mixes. Three mixes with 0% (conventional concrete), 50%, and 70% replacement of Portland cement with a Class C fly ash investigated in this study. Three beams (simply supported four-point loading condition) as well as three pull-out specimens (based on RILEM recommendations) were tested for each mix. Test results evaluated based on different codes as well as a bond database of conventional concrete specimens. These comparisons indicate that with increasing replacement level of fly ash in concrete the bond strength of reinforcing steel in concrete increases. …

Du06, Center For Orthopaedic Biomechanics, Michael D. Harris, Phd, Kevin Shelburne, Phd

Natural Knee Data

No abstract provided.

Semantic Shift To Pragmatic Meaning In Shared Decision Making: Situation Theory Perspective, M. Canan, A. Sousa-Poza, S. F. Kovacic

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The way humans establish communication depends on the generation and conveyance of meaning. Linguistically, meaning in information is dependent on the meaning that is ascribed to signifiers in the context of the communication. These signifiers can include items such as words, phrases, signs, and symbols. Conveyance of meaning may, however, imprecise and prone to error. The meaning of information in communication may arise from a change in the context in which a signifier is placed (intrinsic), or a change in the paradigm with which the signifier and context are perceived (extrinsic). In simple situations, where paradigms are reconcilable, semantic shift …

Analyzing Stakeholders Using Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping, Patrick T. Hester

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Stakeholder analysis was first explored as a methodology to assist business leaders with their strategic management functions. Stakeholder analysis has since expanded beyond the corporate arena. Stakeholders are a vital element in all complex systems problems; they are the customers, users, clients, suppliers, employees, regulators, and team members of a system. They fund a system, design it, build it, operate it, maintain it, and dispose of it. Each stakeholder contributes their own value-added perspective, as described by the systems principle known as complementarity. While many approaches exist for classifying and determining their attitudes, these approaches stop short of evaluating stakeholders …

Key Factors Driving Personnel Downsizing In Multinational Military Organizations, Ilksen Gorkem, Resit Unal, Pilar Pazos

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Although downsizing has long been a topic of research in traditional organizations, there are very few studies of this phenomenon in military contexts. As a result, we have little understanding of the key factors that drive personnel downsizing in military setting. This study contributes to our understanding of key factors that drive personnel downsizing in military organizations and whether those factors may differ across NATO nations’ cultural clusters. The theoretical framework for this study was built from studies in non-military contexts and adapted to fit the military environment.

This research relies on historical data from one of the largest multinational …

Accounting For The Short Term Substitution Effects Of Walking And Cycling In Sustainable Transportation, Daniel P. Piatkowski, Kevin J. Krizek, Susan L. Handy

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

The environmental benefits of bicycling and walking depend on the degree to which their use substitutes for car driving. Assuming that every walking and bicycling trip replaces a driving trip is likely to produce overestimates of the potential for such modes to reduce vehicle travel and city-scale greenhouse gas emissions. Measuring this ‘‘substitution effect’’ is not straightforward. There are many dimensions of the substitution effect, including trip type, substituting mode, extent, time horizon, and activity patterns. Previously used approaches to measure substitution include indirect inference and direct questioning. This study piloted an intercept survey using the direct questioning approach at …

Alumina Supported Iron Catalyst For Hydrogen Production: Calcination Study, Anis H. Fakeeha, Wasim Ullah Khan, Ahmed A. Ibrahim, Raja L. Al-Otaibi, Ahmed S. Al-Fatesh, Moustafa A. Soliman, Ahmed E. Abasaeed

Chemical Engineering

Production of clean hydrogen from thermal decomposition of methane was studied over impregnated 30%Fe/Al2O3 catalysts in a micro-activity fixed-bed reactor. The reactant gases comprising CH4 and N2 in the ratio of 1.5 to 1 were passed through reactor at a flow rate of 25 mL/min. Moreover, effect of calcination was investigated as well. The catalytic activity results indicated that calcination temperature had a significant impact on the performance of 30%Fe/Al2O3 catalyst. The catalyst calcined at 450°C, having CH4 conversion as well as H2 yield over 70%, showed better activity as compared to all other calcination temperatures.

Approximate Analytical Solution For The Isothermal Lane-Emden Equation In A Spherical Geometry, Moustafa A. Soliman, Yousef S. Al-Zeghayer

Chemical Engineering

This paper obtains an approximate analytical solution for the isothermal Lane-Emden equation that models a self-gravitating isothermal sphere. The approximate solution is obtained by perturbation methods in terms of small and large distance parameters. The approximate solution is compared with the numerical solution. The approximate solution obtained is valid for all values of the distance parameter.

Fe Supported Alumina Catalyst For Methane Decomposition: Effect Of Co Coupling, Anis H. Fakeeha, Ahmed A. Ibrahim, Ahmed S. Al-Fatesh, Wasim Ullah Khan, Yahya A. Mohammed, Ahmed E. Abasaeed, Moustafa A. Soliman, Raja L. Al-Otaibi

Chemical Engineering

In recent years hydrogen production received enormous attention, since it is an environmentally friendly, energy source. The aim of this research was to examine the hydrogen production with the help of methane’s catalytic decomposition. 30% Fe coupled with different % of Co over alumina support, were examined by catalytic decomposition of methane for the production of hydrogen. The catalysts were prepared by impregnation method. The catalytic activity results revealed that the catalysts, coupled 15%Co gave the highest conversion of 72.5% as depicted by the three hour time on stream profile. The fresh and spent catalysts were characterized using different techniques …

Sediment Organic Carbon Fate And Transport In A Fluviokarst Watershed In The Bluegrass Region, Admin Husic

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Mature karst topography is well recognized within the hydrology and geology communities to include subterranean fluid pathways that act as turbulent conduits conveying fluid from surface stream sinks called swallets to sources called springs. However, we find that little knowledge has been reported with regards to the transport and fate of terrestrially-derived sediment organic carbon (SOC) within karst watersheds. This study investigated the hypothesis that karst pathways could act as biologically active conveyors of SOC that temporarily store sediment, turnover carbon at higher rates than otherwise considered, and recharge depleted SOC back to the surface stream within the fluvial system. …

Computational Fluid Dynamics (Cfd) Modeling And Validation Of Dust Capture By A Novel Flooded Bed Dust Scrubber Incorporated Into A Longwall Shearer Operating In A Us Coal Seam, Ashish R. Kumar

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Dust is a detrimental, but unavoidable, consequence of any mining process. It is particularly problematic in underground coal mining, where respirable coal dust poses the potential health risk of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP). Float dust, if not adequately diluted with rock dust, also creates the potential for a dust explosion initiated by a methane ignition. Furthermore, recently promulgated dust regulations for lowering a miner’s exposure to respirable coal dust will soon call for dramatic improvements in dust suppression and capture.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results are presented for a research project with the primary goal of applying a flooded-bed dust …

Experimental-Computational Analysis Of Vigilance Dynamics For Applications In Sleep And Epilepsy, Farid Yaghouby

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures. Sleep problems can cooccur with epilepsy, and adversely affect seizure diagnosis and treatment. In fact, the relationship between sleep and seizures in individuals with epilepsy is a complex one. Seizures disturb sleep and sleep deprivation aggravates seizures. Antiepileptic drugs may also impair sleep quality at the cost of controlling seizures. In general, particular vigilance states may inhibit or facilitate seizure generation, and changes in vigilance state can affect the predictability of seizures. A clear understanding of sleep-seizure interactions will therefore benefit epilepsy care providers and improve quality of life in patients. …

A Local, Sustained Delivery System For Zoledronic Acid And Rankl-Inhibitory Antibody As A Potential Treatment For Metastatic Bone Disease, Rohith Jayaram

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Cancerous solid tumors can migrate and lead to metastatic bone disease. Drugs prescribed to reduce bone resorption from metastasis, such as zoledronic acid and the RANKL-inhibitory antibody Denosumab, cause side effects such as osteonecrosis of the jaw when delivered systemically. This project used two biocompatible materials, acrylic bone cement (PMMA) and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), to incorporate and sustain release of anti-resorptive agents. Results showed similar mechanical properties for acrylic bone cements loaded up to 6.6% drug by weight. Results showed sustained zoledronic acid release for 8 weeks from both systems, with PMMA releasing up to 22% of loaded drug and …

Understanding The Dynamic Behaviour Of Three Echelon Retail Supply Chain Disruptions, John Crowe, Mohammed Mesabbah, Amr Arisha

Conference papers

It is often taken for granted that the right products will be available to buy in retail outlets 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Challenges in achieving this continued on-shelf availability range from recession hit demand patterns to cost reduction driven strategies. Irish government initiatives to brand the country as a sustainable, reliable provider of food retail supply chains has resulted in increased importance on decision maker accuracy. The vulnerability of retail supply chain’s (RSC) to disruption is another catalyst in the complexity of the decision making process and a more robust understanding of disruption behavior is needed. …

On The Design Of A Nearly Constant-Force Modular Device Based On A Compliant Slider Mechanism, Krutika Karthik

Masters Theses

"Compliant mechanisms derive some or all of their mobility from the deflection of their flexible members. A pseudo-rigid-body model (PRBM) provides a simple and efficient way of modeling and analyzing large deflections in compliant mechanisms. In this work, a partially compliant slider mechanism, composed of rigid and compliant segments as well as rigid-body revolute and prismatic pairs, is considered. In recent works, such mechanisms have been dimensionally synthesized to produce substantially constant-force output over a finite range of input link displacement in an in-line PRBM of a compliant slider mechanism. In this thesis, the current practice of using partially compliant …

On The Dynamic Analysis Of Compliant Mechanisms Based On The Pseudo-Rigid-Body Model, Andrew Christian

Masters Theses

"Compliant mechanisms derive some or all of their mobility from the deflection of flexible members. A pseudo-rigid-body model (PRBM) provides an elegant and simple way of modeling and analyzing traditionally nonlinear large-deflection problems pertaining to compliant mechanisms. In this work, several aspects pertainting to the dynamics of compliant mechanisms are considered. First, dynamic models are derived to predict not only the natural frequency of the large-deflection systems, but also the transient response, using the PRBM approach. A unique multi-stage damping model is developed to determine the transient response in free vibration. Recent works have neglected to consider the transient response …

The Relative Effect Of Charge Dimensions On Elastic Vibration Attenuation And Blast-Induced Seismic Energy Concepts, Nathan Thomas Rouse

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation focuses on expanding the blasting industry's current understanding of the effect of charge geometry on blast vibration attenuation. The work includes a multiple regression analysis of a sample population of signature hole blast vibration data. The regression analysis is used to identify the relative effect of the variables that affect blast vibrations at various distances from the charge. The study suggests that the most common vibration models used in the blasting industry do not use all of the statistically significant variables. Therefore, the models neglect to fully describe the relationship between the significant variables and the blast vibration. …