Engineering Commons^™

Cost-Effective Prosthetic Hand Controlled By Emg, Mohammad Yahya Almuhanna

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A cost-effective five-finger prosthetic hand is designed from aluminum, modeled and controlled using surface Electromyography (EMG) signals, which are obtained from the human body. Force sensors are used to control required forces needed to grasp and pick objects. A prototype hand is developed and it is experimentally tested to reproduce a wide spectrum of human hand motions. The size of the five-finger hand is similar to an adult male human hand, and it is capable of reproducing most of movements. Each finger has the same number of links as the real/human hand. Each finger also has a force sensor used …

Integrated Phev Charging Loads Forecasting Model And Optimization Strategies, Yin Yao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, an integrated Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PHEV) charging loads forecasting model is developed for regular distribution level system and microgrid system. For regular distribution system, charging schedule optimization is followed up. The objectives are 1. Better cooperation with renewable energy sources (especially wind). 2. Relieving the pressure of current distribution transformers in condition of high penetration level PHEVs. As for microgrid, renewable energy power plants (wind, solar) plays a more important role than regular system. Due to the fluctuation of solar and wind plants' output, an empirical probabilistic model is developed to predict their hourly output. On the …

A Reserve-Based Method For Mitigating The Impact Of Renewable Energy, Ibrahim Krad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The fundamental operating paradigm of today's power systems is undergoing a significant shift. This is partially motivated by the increased desire for incorporating variable renewable energy resources into generation portfolios. While these generating technologies offer clean energy at zero marginal cost, i.e. no fuel costs, they also offer unique operating challenges for system operators. Perhaps the biggest operating challenge these resources introduce is accommodating their intermittent fuel source availability. For this reason, these generators increase the system-wide variability and uncertainty. As a result, system operators are revisiting traditional operating strategies to more efficiently incorporate these generation resources to maximize the …

Modeling And Simulation Of Optical Properties Of Noble Metals Triangular Nanoprisms, Soad Zahir Alsheheri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gold and silver has gained huge attention across the scientific community for its applications arising from its plasmonic properties. The optical properties achieved by these materials via excitation of plasmons is very unique to these materials and used as diagnostic and therapeutic agents in the field of medicine, and as sensors in a gamut of disciplines such as energy and environmental protection to name a few. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) properties of the gold and silver are size and shape dependent. Of the various shapes reported in literature, triangular nanoprisms has tunable optical properties in the visible and near IR …

Autonomous Collision Avoidance For A Teleoperated Uav Based On A Super-Ellipsoidal Potential Function, Mohammed Salim Qasim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the design of a super-ellipsoidal potential function (SEPF) that can be used, in a static and dynamic environment, for autonomous collision avoidance of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in a 3-dimensional space. In the design of the SEPF, we have the full control over the shape and size of the potential function. In our proposed approach, a teleoperated UAV can not only autonomously avoid collision with surrounding objects but also track the operator' control input as closely as possible. As a result, an operator can always be in control of the UAV for his/her high-level guidance and …

Ex-Vivo Slaughterhouse Porcine Crystalloid-Perfused Beating Heart Via Langendorff Method, Rahiemin Talukder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to resuscitate isolated beating porcine hearts obtained from slaughterhouse swine for a minimum of 1 hour with a crystalloid buffer reperfusion instead of blood via an extracorporeal Langendorff apparatus. The isolated beating heart functions outside of the body under simulated physiologic conditions. Live functional anatomy was controlled under benchtop experimental settings. Porcine hearts (26 total) were topically cooled with saline. 300mL of 25°C cardioplegia with 20KU Streptokinase was preflushed via aortic root. WIT was less than 5 minutes. 1L 4°C cardioplegia was flushed antegrade with aortic cannula (Group 1) or coronary catheterization (Group 2). …

Aging Assessment Of High Voltage Single Component Room Temperature Vulcanized Silicone Rubber (Rtv-1) Subjected To Aqueous Salt, Monika Bleszynski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Single component room temperature vulcanized (RTV-1) silicone based caulk used in high voltage insulators and other applications is frequently subjected to environmental pollutants. Aging of RTV-1 silicone rubber is the result of various stressors, including environmental aging conditions such as UV, acid, and salt exposure from ocean mist. Loss of hydrophobicity due to damage of the hydrophobic methyl groups, as well as loss of mechanical strength due to depolymerization via hydrolysis as a result of aqueous salt exposure were the two main factors of material aging assessed in this work. Multiple RTV-1 formulations were initially assessed for resistance to aging …

Ultra-Wideband Antennas, Max Ammann, Matthias John, Giuseppe Ruvio

Books/Book chapters

The focus of UWB antenna research activity has matured in recent years and currently mainly concentrates on applications such as biomedicine and security. Early UWB antenna designs were driven by the FCC allocation of spectrum in 2002 and focussed on obtaining wide impedance bandwidths with reasonable group delay characteristics. Many of these were simple planar monopoles antennas with canonical geometries. The emergence of new applications channelled the emphasis towards miniaturisation and integration into devices. This required optimisation of the antenna geometries to ensure that good system performance is achieved from the integrated antenna. Many optimisation techniques are available including the …

Properties Of Partially Stabilized Zirconia Components Fabricated By The Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion Process, Wenbin Li, Amir Ghazanfari, Devin Mcmillen, Ming Leu, Gregory Hilmas, Jeremy Watts

Faculty Publications, Mechanical Engineering

The Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion (CODE) process is a novel additive manufacturing process for fabricating dense ceramic components from aqueous pastes of high solids loading. In this study, 3 mol% Y2O3 stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (3Y-TZP) parts were fabricated using the CODE process. The parts were then dried in a humidity controlled environmental chamber and sintered under atmospheric pressure. Mechanical properties of the sintered parts were examined using ASTM standard test techniques, including density, Young’s modulus, flexural strength, Weibull modulus, fracture toughness and Vickers hardness. The microstructure was analyzed, and grain size was measured using scanning electron microscopy. The results compared …

Temporal Logic For System Safety Properties And Hazard Monitoring, Francesca Favaro, J. Saleh

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Development Of Cloud-Based Uav Monitoring And Management System, Mason Itkin, Mihui Kim, Younghee Park

Faculty Publications

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are an emerging technology with the potential to revolutionize commercial industries and the public domain outside of the military. UAVs would be able to speed up rescue and recovery operations from natural disasters and can be used for autonomous delivery systems (e.g., Amazon Prime Air). An increase in the number of active UAV systems in dense urban areas is attributed to an influx of UAV hobbyists and commercial multi-UAV systems. As airspace for UAV flight becomes more limited, it is important to monitor and manage many UAV systems using modern collision avoidance techniques. In this paper, …

Aerodynamic Modeling Of Nrel 5-Mw Wind Turbine For Nonlinear Control System Design: A Case Study Based On Real-Time Nonlinear Receding Horizon Control, Pedro A. Galvani, Fei Sun, Kamran Turkoglu

Faculty Publications

The work presented in this paper has two major aspects: (i) investigation of a simple, yet efficient model of the NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) 5-MW reference wind turbine; (ii) nonlinear control system development through a real-time nonlinear receding horizon control methodology with application to wind turbine control dynamics. In this paper, the results of our simple wind turbine model and a real-time nonlinear control system implementation are shown in comparison with conventional control methods. For this purpose, the wind turbine control problem is converted into an optimization problem and is directly solved by the nonlinear backwards sweep Riccati method …

Reduced Haemodynamic Coupling And Exercise Are Associated With Vascular Stiffening In Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, Alessandro Bellofiore, Eric Dinges, Robert Naeije, Hamorabi Mkrdichian, Lauren Beussink-Nelson, Melissa Bailey, Michael Cuttica, Ranya Sweis, James Runo, Jon Keevil, Christopher Francois, Sanjiv Shah, Naomi Chesler

Faculty Publications

Inadequate right ventricular (RV) and pulmonary arterial (PA) functional responses to exercise are important yet poorly understood features of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). This study combined invasive catheterisation with echocardiography to assess RV afterload, RV function and ventricular–vascular coupling in subjects with PAH.

Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery Intake Improvements, Chelsea M. Mcneil

Projects

The Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery located in Warm Springs Oregon, is hampered with many issues that impact its effectiveness. In an effort to improve the effectiveness of the hatchery, United States Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS) has expressed interest in modifying the existing intake to address a number of specific concerns. Five specific objectives have been identified to define the overall project scope. USFWS desires to provide a means to prevent frazil ice from forming on and around the hatchery intake screens, prevent sediment from collecting behind the weir and entering the hatchery intake, provide effective hatchery screening to …

Water Quality Evaluation Of Tire Derived Aggregate, Richela K. Maeda

Projects

The primary objective of this study is to investigate the rate that potential water quality contaminants leach from tire-derived aggregate (TDA) as a function of time. A laboratory and field experiment is conducted to provide insight into both controlled and field settings. The laboratory portion of this study also provides a basis for evaluating the effect that alternating periods of wet and dry weather have on the potential water quality impacts of the leachate as compared to the worst-case operating condition, when TDA is constantly submerged (i.e., when placed below the permanent groundwater table). The field experiment is used to …

Engineering Research Review 2016, Office Of Engineering Research

Engineering Research Review

Contents:
[Page] 2 Plasma processing decreases cost, improves biochar activation.
[Page] 4 Satellite calibration crucial to world’s scientists.
[Page] 8 Worldwide seaarch identifies new calibration sites.
[Page] 10 Precision ag group to develop predictive model for white mold in soybeans.
[Page] 14 Computer scientists develop software for new tumor imaging technology
[Page] 15 Decision-making analytics help business developers, customers and data centers
[Page] 16 Awards

Super-Resolution Reconstruction Of Mri, Sara Gharabaghi, Thomas Wischgoll, Nasser H. Kashou

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive technique that is used in clinical applications such as diseases diagnosis and monitoring and treatment progress. Although, MRI scans typically have high in-plane resolution but they have very poor resolution in slice direction. Furthermore, in some applications with limited acquisition time or where the subject is moving, increased slice thickness or inter-slice space (slice gaps) may be used which results in poor resolution MRI.

In this research, we propose a novel Super Resolution (SR) technique for reconstructing High-Resolution (HR) MRI using a sequence of orthogonal Low-Resolution (LR) MRI scans.

The resolution of this …

A High Performance Ceramic-Polymer Separator For Lithium Batteries, Jitendra Kumar, Padmakar Kichambare, Amarendra K. Rai, Rabi Bhattacharya, Stanley J. Rodrigues, Guru Subramanyam

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A three-layered (ceramic-polymer-ceramic) hybrid separator was prepared by coating ceramic electrolyte [lithium aluminum germanium phosphate (LAGP)] over both sides of polyethylene (PE) polymer membrane using electron beam physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD) technique. Ionic conductivities of membranes were evaluated after soaking PE and LAGP/PE/LAGP membranes in a 1 Molar (1M) lithium hexafluroarsenate (LiAsF₆) electrolyte in ethylene carbonate (EC), dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and ethylmethyl carbonate (EMC) in volume ratio (1:1:1). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were employed to evaluate morphology and structure of the separators before and after cycling performance tests to better understand structure-property correlation. …

Uncertainty-Awareness In Open Source Visualization Solutions, Christina Gillmann, Thomas Wischgoll, Hans Hagen

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

The popularity of open source tools is constantly increasing, as they offer the possibility to quickly create and use visualizations of arbitrary data sources. As the positive effects of uncertainty communication to all kinds of visualizations were discussed over the past years in the academic world, this work examines the uncertaintyawareness of open source solutions. Through a categorization and classification of available tools, this paper identifies the problems in uncertainty-awareness of available open source solutions. To solve this problem, a new paradigm of data handling that extends raw datasets by its uncertainty is suggested

Ms-Reduce: An Ultrafast Technique For Reduction Of Big Mass Spectrometry Data For High-Throughput Processing, Muaaz Gul Awan, Fahad Saeed

Parallel Computing and Data Science Lab Technical Reports

Modern proteomics studies utilize high-throughput mass spectrometers which can produce data at an astonishing rate. These big Mass Spectrometry (MS) datasets can easily reach peta-scale level creating storage and analytic problems for large-scale systems biology studies. Each spectrum consists of thousands of peaks which have to be processed to deduce the peptide. However, only a small percentage of peaks in a spectrum are useful for peptide deduction as most of the peaks are either noise or not useful for a given spectrum. This redundant processing of non-useful peaks is a bottleneck for streaming high-throughput processing of big MS data. One …

Impedance-Based Water-Quality Monitoring Using The Parallel-Plate Method, Ali Nazari, Arvin Farid, Ken Cornell

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The application of electromagnetic (EM) waves to measure the electrical properties (dielectric constant and loss tangent) of materials is a well-known approach. The electrical properties can be used to indirectly measure several physical properties of solutions in water such as the concentration and chemical composition of contaminants in water, as a representative of the liquid phase in soil. A capacitive method of measuring dielectric properties of solutions is proposed to detect and determine low-concentration chemical and biological contaminations in water. The primary objective of this project is to design a low-cost sensor that would require small volumes of samples to …

Effect Of Fiber Reinforcement On Cbr Behavior Of Lime Blended Expansive Soils: Reliability Approach, Arif Ali Baig Moghal, B. Munwar Basha, Bhaskar Chittoori, Mosleh Ali Al-Shamrani

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Use of synthetic fibers as reinforcement to stabilize expansive soils is gaining momentum. As a contribution towards this growing field of research two different types of synthetic fibers, Fiber Mesh® and Fiber Cast®, were evaluated as a stabilization alternative for expansive soils in the presence of lime. California Bearing Ratio (CBR) is chosen as a performance indicator as it is a good pointer towards pavement effectiveness. Variables such as length and amount of the fibers as well as curing period were studied. Both deterministic and probabilistic (or reliability) analysis is presented in this paper. While the deterministic analysis helps in …

Performance Of Aggregate Subgrade Layers In Low Volume Roads Constructed With Unconventional Recycled Aggregates, Hasan Kazmee, Erol Tutumluer, Debakanta Mishra

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

With transportation sector accounting for approximately 27% of total greenhouse gas emissions, transportation agencies all over United States have made sincere efforts to reduce such carbon footprint by incorporating more recycled materials in design mixes. In Illinois, recycled materials commonly include large sized unconventional aggregates used to stabilize weak subgrade soils that are abundantly found in wet of optimum conditions and prone to frost effects. To facilitate increased use of such “aggregate subgrade” materials, IDOT has recently introduced new gradation bands. However, performance of such recycled aggregate subgrade materials within the bounds of current design framework is largely unknown. To …

Knowledge Driven Search Intent Mining, Ashutosh Jadhav

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Understanding users' latent intents behind search queries is essential for satisfying a user's search needs. Search intent mining can help search engines to enhance its ranking of search results, enabling new search features like instant answers, personalization, search result diversification, and the recommendation of more relevant ads. Hence, there has been increasing attention on studying how to effectively mine search intents by analyzing search engine query logs. While state-of-the-art techniques can identify the domain of the queries (e.g. sports, movies, health), identifying domain-specific intent is still an open problem. Among all the topics available on the Internet, health is one …

Rf Cmos Band Pass Filters With Wide Tuning Frequency, Controllable Pass Band And High Stopband Rejection: Using Passive And Active Inductors, Jian Chen

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

With the increasing demand for high performance RF front-end modules, like multimedia handset and base station devices accommodating multiple wireless standards (2G, 2.5G, 3G, WiMAX, and LTE). Multiple IF amplifiers, mixers, RF band pass filters (BPFs), modulators and demodulators are desired to be tunable to meet dynamic standards with different frequency bands. Tunable devices with wide tuning frequency range, tuning speed, high linearity, energy conservative, high pass band gain, high stop band rejection are the paramount components in the reconfigurable RF front-end systems. In this dissertation, first a wide tuning passive inductor band pass filter (BPF) with steep roll-off high …

Tunable C Band Coupled-C Bpf With Resonators Using Active Capacitor And Inductor, Yu Wang

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, a classic second-order coupled-capacitor Chebyshev bandpass filter with resonators using active capacitor and inductor is presented. The low cost and small size of CMOS active components makes the band pass filter (BPF) attractive in fully-integrated CMOS applications. The active capacitor is designed to compensate active inductor's resistance for resistive match in the resonator. Meanwhile, adjusting design parameter of the active component provides BPF tunability in center frequency, pass band and pass band gain. Designed in 1.8V 180 nanometer CMOS process, the BPF has a tuning frequency range of 758-864 MHz, a controllable pass band of 7.1-65.9 MHz, …

Asme Mini Rc Baja: Drivetrain, Jason M. Moore

All Undergraduate Projects

Title and author: ASME mini RC Baja Drivetrain by Jason Moore; partner Mike Cox. (Engineering Technologies, Safety, and Construction)

Abstract/Artists Statement: The issue that this project is concerned with is how to design and build a drivetrain, steering and suspension systems for an RC car. The systems must be simple and functional. Furthermore, these systems will be designed to fit on a small chassis and not interfere with each other. They also need to be strong and durable enough to propel the car forward and maneuver through various obstacles and be built in a way that is easy to take …

Truss Alignment Tool, Jason Hedin

All Undergraduate Projects

The purpose of this project is to follow the engineering process from start to finish, and create a fully functioning truss alignment tool that has been designed, constructed, and tested successfully. The first phase involves the design of the truss alignment tool. The main design requirements of the tool includes taking an input force of 60 pounds and outputting the 630 pounds of clamping force needed to realign a set of two stacked trusses and pull their bottom edges flush. The second phase involves the construction of the tool. This involves all machining processes associated with the cutting, shaping, and …

Paper Airplane Building Machine: Paper Airplane Launcher, Hassan A. Bujayli

All Undergraduate Projects

The project was motivated by an ASME 2016 design challenge. The challenge was to design and manufacture a device that would turn a single sheet of paper into a paper airplane and launch it. The project is divided into three portions. The three portions are the frame and paper loading, folding mechanism, and launching. The circumference equation is used, to determine what is the proper speed of the paper loading motor. Notably, a slow rpm motor is needed for the loading mechanism to prevent the paper from being damaged. To avoid any deflection in the frame, the total weight of …

Laboratory Evaluation Of A Real-Time Coaxial Cable Casing Imager For Wellbore Integrity Monitoring, Yurong Li, Runar Nygaard, Baokai Cheng, Wenge Zhu, Hai Xiao

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Leakage is one of the major concerns in a geological carbon sequestration project due to the adverse environmental consequences. The main leakage risk of CO₂ through a thick, low permeable cap rock is identified to be along wells, especially in sedimentary basins that have a history of oil and gas exploration and production. To pursue a robust and cost-effective real-time monitoring technology for CO₂ leakage risk detection along the wellbore, a permanently downhole deployed coaxial cable casing imaging system is developed and tested for various deformation modes in laboratory in this paper. The casing imager consists of a …