Engineering Commons^™

Ibeacon Based Proximity And Indoor Localization System, Faheem Faheem

Open Access Theses

User location can be leveraged to provide a wide range of services in a variety of indoor locations including retails stores, hospitals, airports, museums and libraries etc. The widescale proliferation of user devices such as smart phones and the interconnectivity among different entities, powered by Internet of Things (IoT), makes user device-based localization a viable approach to provide Location Based Services (LBS). Location based services can be broadly classified into 1) Proximity based services that provides services based on a rough estimate of users distance to any entity, and 2) Indoor localization that locates a user's exact location in the …

Planning For Climate Change: The Need For Mechanistic Systems-Based Approaches To Study Climate Change Impacts On Diarrheal Diseases, Jonathan E. Mellor, Karen Levy, Julie Zimmerman, Mark Elliott, Jamie Bartram, Elizabeth Carlton, Thomas Clasen, Rebecca Dilingham, Joseph Eisenberg, Richard Guerrant, Daniele Lantagne, James Mihelcic, Kara Nelson

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Increased precipitation and temperature variability as well as extreme events related to climate change are predicted to affect the availability and quality of water globally. Already heavily burdened with diarrheal diseases due to poor access to water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, communities throughout the developing world lack the adaptive capacity to sufficiently respond to the additional adversity caused by climate change. Studies suggest that diarrhea rates are positively correlated with increased temperature, and show a complex relationship with precipitation. Although climate change will likely increase rates of diarrheal diseases on average, there is a poor mechanistic understanding of the underlying …

Cosmic Ray Muons For Spent Nuclear Fuel Monitoring, Stylianos Chatzidakis

Open Access Dissertations

There is a steady increase in the volume of spent nuclear fuel stored on-site (at reactor) as currently there is no permanent disposal option. No alternative disposal path is available and storage of spent nuclear fuel in dry storage containers is anticipated for the near future. In this dissertation, a capability to monitor spent nuclear fuel stored within dry casks using cosmic ray muons is developed. The motivation stems from the need to investigate whether the stored content agrees with facility declarations to allow proliferation detection and international treaty verification. Cosmic ray muons are charged particles generated naturally in the …

Learning From Minimally Labeled Data With Accelerated Convolutional Neural Networks, Aysegul Dundar

Open Access Dissertations

The main objective of an Artificial Vision Algorithm is to design a mapping function that takes an image as an input and correctly classifies it into one of the user-determined categories. There are several important properties to be satisfied by the mapping function for visual understanding. First, the function should produce good representations of the visual world, which will be able to recognize images independently of pose, scale and illumination. Furthermore, the designed artificial vision system has to learn these representations by itself. Recent studies on Convolutional Neural Networks (ConvNets) produced promising advancements in visual understanding. These networks attain significant …

Effect Of Bioenergy Crops And Fast Growing Trees On Hydrology And Water Quality In The Little Vermilion River Watershed, Tian Guo

Open Access Dissertations

Energy security and sustainability require a suite of biomass crops, including woody species. Short rotation woody crops (SRWCs) such as Populus have great potential as biofuel feedstocks. Quantifying biomass yields of bioenergy crop and hydrologic and water quality responses to growth is important should it be widely planted in the Midwestern U.S. Subsurface tile drainage systems enable the Midwest area to become highly productive agricultural lands, but also create environmental problems like nitrate-N contamination of the water it drains. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) has been used to model watersheds with tile drainage, but the new tile drainage …

Representation And Control Of Coordinated-Motion Tasks For Human-Robot Systems, Hyungju Andy Park

Open Access Dissertations

It is challenging for robots to perform various tasks in a human environment. This is because many human-centered tasks require coordination in both hands and may often involve cooperation with another human. Although human-centered tasks require different types of coordinated movements, most of the existing methodologies have focused only on specific types of coordination. This thesis aims at the description and control of coordinated-motion tasks for human-robot systems; i.e., humanoid robots as well as multi-robot and human-robot systems.

First, for bimanually coordinated-motion tasks in dual-manipulator systems, we propose the Extended-Cooperative-Task-Space (ECTS) representation, which extends the existing Cooperative-Task-Space (CTS) representation based …

Utilization Of Trss To Assist Pilot’S Decision Making Process During Critical Runway Operations., Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

The Decomposition Of Hydroxylammonium Nitrate Under Vacuum Conditions, Gregory A. Neff

Masters Theses

This research investigates the decomposition of the ionic liquid: hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN), under vacuum conditions. All research was conducted at the Aerospace Laboratory for Plasma Experiments (ALPE) at Western Michigan University. Hydroxylammonium nitrate solution 24% wt. in H2O was used consistently throughout this research. A variety of temperatures and pressures ranging from 23°C to 645°C and 6E-3 Torr to 4 Torr, respectively, were used to decompose HAN. The primary gaseous species resulting from these decomposition conditions are N2O, NO, and trace amounts of NO2. The formation of H2O, and N2 is conditional on the experimental conditions, and the formation of …

A Comparison Of American, Norwegian, And Russian Standards In Calculating The Wall Thickness Of Submarine Gas Pipeline, Cindy Dianita, Tatyana Vladimirovna Dmitrieva

Makara Journal of Technology

One of the key issues in the pipeline design is wall thickness calculation. This paper highlights a comparison of wall thickness calculation methods of submarine gas pipeline based on Norwegian Standard (DNV-OS-F101), Indonesian Standard SNI 3474 which refers to American Standard (ASME B31.8), and Russian Standard (VN39-1.9-005-98). A calculation of wall thickness for a submarine gas pipeline in Indonesia (pressure 12 MPa, external diameter 668 mm) gives the results of 18.2 mm (VN39-1.9-005-98), 16 mm (ASME B31.8), and 13.5 mm (DNV-OS-F101).The design formula of hoop stress due to internal pressure is interpreted in different ways for every standard. Only Norwegian …

Impulse, Dave Graves, Karissa Kuhle, Madelin Mack, Emily Weber

Impulse (Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering Publication)

Features:
[Page] 2 Time for Crothers Renovations [Page] 2
[Page] 6 Fall Commencement
[Page] 8 Celebration of Faculty Excellence Honors
[Page] 10 An Institution within the College
[Page] 13 Engineering Week
[Page] 14 Bob the Builder
[Page] 16 Outstanding Educator
[Page] 17 Scholarship Winners
[Page] 20 By the Numbers
[Page] 22 Alumni News
[Page] 24 Building a Better State
[Page] 26 Is There a Doctor in the House?
[Page] 28 Jammin' Away
[Page] 30 Distinguished Engineers
[Page] 32 High-grade products from Hygrade
[Page] 34 Dean's Club
[Page] 36 Development Director's Column

Stiffness Reduction Strategies For Additively Manufactured Compliant Mechanisms, Ezekiel G. Merriam

Theses and Dissertations

This work develops and examines design strategies for reducing the stiffness of 3D-printed compliant mechanisms. The three aspects of a flexure that determine its stiffness are well known: material, boundary conditions, and geometry. In a highly constrained design space however, flexure stiffness may remain unacceptably high even while arriving at the limits of design constraints. In this work, changes to geometry and boundary conditions are examined that lead to drastically reduced stiffness behavior without changing flexure thickness, width, or length. Changes to geometry can result in very complex mechanisms. However, 3D printing enables almost arbitrarily complex geometries. This dissertation presents …

Determine The Potential Drill Utilization Improvements And Rock Fragmentation Requirements Using Directional Drilling In A Coal Mining Overburden Highwall Application, Kevin Dill

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

This project analyzed the efficiency of incorporating the use of directional drilling technology into coal overburden blasting. Directional drilling is currently in use in the petroleum industry and it is believed that it will be a valuable asset in the mining industry. This project has shown that directional drilling can be a viable technology for use in the coal overburden removal process resulting in increased drill utilization and potential for cost savings. Future work regarding blasting and geotechnical evaluation should be performed to solidify the concept.

Vacuum Brazing Of Diamond To Tungsten Carbide, Zhiyong Yin

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Diamond tools are increasingly gaining importance as cutting and drilling materials for a wide variety of industrial applications. Polycrystalline diamond (PCD) is the main ultrahard material commercially used in the oil and gas drilling industry. In this study, a reactive brazing process was developed to join polycrystalline diamond (PCD) to WC-13 wt% Co, to form the cutter for fixed-cutter drill bit applications.

Most nonmetals including polycrystalline diamond are not wet by and cannot easily be joined with conventional brazing alloys due to their chemical stability. The experimental approach was first to analyze the effect of adding an active metal (Ti, …

Procedural Treatment Options To Address Intermittent Pentachlorophenol Effluent Exceedances At A Former Wood-Treatment Site In Butte, Montana, Travis Dunkle

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

The Montana Pole and Treating Plant in Butte, Montana treated wood with preservatives, mainly pentachlorophenol (PCP), which had been dissolved in a carrier fluid. Accidents and careless handling spilled large quantities of the fluid on the site, contaminating the vadose zone and groundwater. This site has been undergoing remediation since it was added to the CERCLA National Priorities List in 1987. Pentachlorophenol and dioxin are the contaminants of concern. Remediation technologies have included soil removal and installation of two water recovery trenches that collect groundwater, which is then pumped through a granular activated carbon (GAC) water treatment system. There were …

Application Of Qual2k Model To Macrophyte Rich Silver Bow Creek, Dylan Uecker

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Silver Bow Creek (SBC, Blacktail Creek to Warm Springs Creek) is a small urbanized stream in western Montana (MT) identified as impaired for nitrate, total nitrogen and total phosphorus on the 2014 303(d) list. Enrichment of SBC occurs primarily from a single municipal point source that results in excessive primary production, macrophyte growth, large diel waterquality swings, and nightly hypoxic conditions that likely impair aquatic life uses. The objective of this study is to apply QUAL2K (a surface water-quality model) to a 5.6 km long reach of SBC to predict in-stream dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations under different nutrient loading scenarios. …

Chlorination And Selective Vaporization Of Rare Earth Elements, Daniel Gaede

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

No abstract provided.

Characterization Of Heavy Metal Removal From Aqueous Solutions Using Natural Fiber Impregnated With Metallic Nanoparticles, Samantha Hutchenson

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Heavy metals are found in varying concentrations in anthropogenically influenced water sources including waste water discharge from mining operations. The heavy metals need to be removed to meet applicable discharge standards and to eliminate potential health effects. There has been substantial research recently in the field of water treatment technologies to produce low-cost materials that have metal-binding capabilities. The goal of this research is to characterize the toxic metal removal capabilities of a novel, low cost water treatment system.

This research uses a natural fiber substrate and incorporates specific nanometallic particles to remove toxic heavy metals from water. Natural fiber …

A Life Cycle Assessment Of A Diesel Generator Set, Kelly Benton

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Today, nearly every industry needs a continuous power supply, as data loss can be more expensive than the capital expenditure for the backup power equipment. The demand for emergency standby power (ESP) generator sets is on the rise because of increasing industrialization. With increased industrialization comes a societal concern about the issue of natural resource depletion and environmental degradation. In response, manufacturing companies are providing more sustainable solutions in their products and processes. In this work, the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology has been applied to quantify the energy demands of each life cycle stage of an ESP generator set …

Processing And Interpretation Of Three-Component Vertical Seismic Profile Data, Ross Sea, Antarctica, Meltem Akan

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

The Antarctic Geological Drilling Program (ANDRILL) AND-2A drill hole was drilled, cored and logged in southern McMurdo Sound (SMS) in the western Ross Sea, Antarctica during the austral summer of 2007. A single near-offset, over-sea ice vertical seismic profile (VSP) was collected in the AND-2A drill hole as a part of the logging program. The source for VSP data collection was a Generator Injector (GI) air-gun which was suspended by a cable through a hole made in the sea ice. The reason for selecting a GI air gun was the minimization of the bubble pulse effects which are prevalent in …

Characterizing Sources Of Nutrient Loading And Heavy Metals And Developing Best Management Practices For Grove Gulch In Butte, Mt, Garrett Craig

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Silver Bow Creek (SBC) – the headwaters for the Clark Fork River – is impaired for total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), as well as several heavy metals, including arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, and mercury. Blacktail Creek (BTC) is the main tributary of SBC, with Grove Gulch entering BTC before it discharges into SBC. Grove Gulch flows approximately six miles before entering BTC approximately 75 feet upstream of Lexington Avenue, and the stream drains primarily open, rolling range, a historic metal milling site (Timber Butte zinc mill) and a reclaimed mine waste repository that is now Copper Mountain Recreation …

Electrochemical Characterization Of Xanthate Chemisorption On Copper And Enargite, Tyler Broden

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

The electrochemical reactions of copper and enargite (Cu₃AsS₄) were studied in the absence and presence of xanthate by cyclic voltammetry (C.V.) using electrodes fashioned from pure copper wire obtained from the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department, and an enargite mineral sample obtained from the Orphan Girl mine in Butte, MT. Voltammograms were produced in buffer solutions of pH values ranging from 7-12. Electrochemical reactions were discerned by comparing E_H-pH diagrams calculated from thermodynamics using StabCal, a computer program developed by Dr. Huang at Montana Tech. The chemisorption of xanthate on the surface of copper …

Power System Simulation Using An Adaptive Modeling Framework, Matthew Stajcar

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Power system operation has changed significantly in the last several decades. Factors such as renewable energy integration and deregulation are major contributors to this change. In response, today’s power grid requires supplemental simulation techniques to ensure stable and reliable operation. One supplemental simulation technique includes a simulation tool that encompasses system dynamics of multiple time frames. This thesis proposes initial research of a power system simulation tool, Adaptive Modeling Framework (AMF), capable of modeling multiple dynamic characteristics including slow dynamics, such as transient stability, as well as long term dynamics (LTD), such as frequency regulation or voltage stability. Each power …

Traffic Study Using A Video Camera And An Image Processing Software Lessons Learned, Sanjay Tewari, Nazimuddin Wasiuddin, Marissa K. Orr

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Highway Engineering I – CVEN332, is a junior-level course in civil engineering that covers primarily traffic engineering and transportation planning. Traffic engineering topics include isolated intersection signal timing design, intersection capacity analysis and freeway capacity analysis. In fall 2015, students collected real life and local field data in two design modules and used a traffic camera compatible with the video processing software in one design module. The objective of this study is to assess if the usage of local, real life field data and introduction of a traffic camera have any impact on increasing learning, increasing feeling of preparedness and …

Energy Harvesting Using Photovoltaic And Betavoltaic Devices, Ashish Sharma

Doctoral Dissertations

There is an important need for improvement in both cost and efficiency of photovoltaic cells. For improved efficiency, a better understanding of solar cell performance is required. An analytical model of thin-film silicon solar cell, which can provide an intuitive understanding of the effect of illumination on its charge carriers and electric current, is proposed. The separate cases of homogeneous and inhomogeneous charge carrier generation rates across the device are investigated. This model also provides for the study of the charge carrier transport within the quasi-neutral and depletion regions of the device, which is of an importance for thin-film solar …

Tunable Controlled Release Of Molecular Species From Halloysite Nanotubes, Divya Narayan Elumalai

Doctoral Dissertations

Encouraged by potential applications in rust coatings, self-healing composites, selective delivery of drugs, and catalysis, the transport of molecular species through Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs), specifically the storage and controlled release of these molecules, has attracted strong interest in recent years. HNTs are a naturally occurring biocompatible nanomaterial that are abundantly and readily available. They are alumosilicate based tubular clay nanotubes with an inner lumen of 15 nm and a length of 600-900 nm. The size of the inner lumen of HNTs may be adjusted by etching. The lumen can be loaded with functional agents like antioxidants, anticorrosion agents, flame-retardant agents, …

Mutlifunctional Platforms For Gene And Drug Delivery For Cancer Therapy, Jeffery J. Ambrose Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

The National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society estimate that 1.6 million new cancer incidences and over half a million cancer related deaths occur annually [1][2]. Cancer the second most common cause of death in the United States [1], [2]. Although the causes of cancer can vary depending on cell type, all or almost all instances of cancer arise from a mutation or from an abnormal activation of the cellular genes that control cell growth and mitosis [3].

Treatment of a given cancer type depends on the subtype, stage and progression of the cancer. Varieties of cancer therapy include …

Manufacturing Polyacrylonitrile Nanowires And Nanofibers For Sensing And Energy Storage Applications, Juan Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

A novel flow guided assembly approach is presented to well align and accurately position nanowire arrays in pre-defined locations with high throughput and large scale manufacturing capability. In this approach, polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) solution is first filled in an array of microfluidic channels. Then a gas flow is introduced to blow out most solutions while pushing a little leftover against the channel wall to assemble into polymer nanowires. In this way, highly-ordered nanowires are conveniently aligned in the flow direction and patterned along both sides of the microchannels. In this study, we demonstrated this flow-guided assembly process by producing …

Section Abstracts: Biomedical And General Engineering

Virginia Journal of Science

Abstracts of the Biomedical and General Engineering Section for the 94th Annual Virginia Academy of Science Meeting, May 18-20, 2016, at University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA.

Learning In Vision And Robotics, Daniel P. Barrett

Open Access Dissertations

I present my work on learning from video and robotic input. This is an important problem, with numerous potential applications. The use of machine learning makes it possible to obtain models which can handle noise and variation without explicitly programming them. It also raises the possibility of robots which can interact more seamlessly with humans rather than only exhibiting hard-coded behaviors. I will present my work in two areas: video action recognition, and robot navigation. First, I present a video action recognition method which represents actions in video by sequences of retinotopic appearance and motion detectors, learns such models automatically …

A Frequency-Independent Method For Computing The Physical Optics-Based Electromagnetic Fields Scattered From A Hyperbolic Surface, Yu Mao Wu, Weng Cho Chew, Ya Qiu Jin, Li (Lijun) Jun Jiang, Hongxia Ye, Wei E.I. Sha

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this communication, we propose a frequency-independent approach, the numerical steepest descent path (NSDP) method, for computing the physical optics scattered electromagnetic field on the quadratic hyperbolic surface. Due to the highly oscillatory nature of the physical optics integral, the proposed method relies on deforming the integration path of the integral into the NSDP on the complex plane. Numerical results for the PO-based EM fields from the hyperbolic surface illustrate that the proposed NSDP method is frequency independent in computational cost and error controllable in accuracy.