Engineering Commons^™

Regulatory Barriers To Approval Of New Technologies For Small Drinking Water Systems, Deanna T. Ringenberg

Department of Environmental Engineering: Theses and Other Student Research

Small drinking water systems face different challenges than large drinking water systems. Innovative technologies can provide cost and reliability benefits to small systems, but new technologies are not frequently considered. One important barrier to the implementation of new technologies is obtaining state drinking water agency approval.

To identify specific state regulatory barriers, a survey including sixteen questions was sent to the 49 state agencies. The survey included questions regarding their acceptance programs, experiences with new technologies, barriers, data needs for technology approval, and interest in a shared approach for acceptance of new technologies. The survey was sent in 2015 and …

Optimizing Cloud-Service Performance: Efficient Resource Provisioning Via Optimal Workload Allocation, Zhuoyao Wang, Majeed M. Hayat, Nasir Ghani, Khaled B. Shaban

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Cloud computing is being widely accepted and utilized in the business world. From the perspective of businesses utilizing the cloud, it is critical to meet their customers' requirements by achieving service-level-objectives. Hence, the ability to accurately characterize and optimize cloud-service performance is of great importance. In this paper a stochastic multi-tenant framework is proposed to model the service of customer requests in a cloud infrastructure composed of heterogeneous virtual machines. Two cloud-service performance metrics are mathematically characterized, namely the percentile and the mean of the stochastic response time of a customer request, in closed form. Based upon the proposed multi-tenant …

Land Use And Active Travel: A Complex Relationship, Steven R. Gehrke

TREC Project Briefs

While it’s accepted that mixed-use development promotes active travel, researchers don’t have a consensus on exactly how land use determines people’s travel patterns.

Improving Quality Of Patient Care Through Automated Nerve Segmentation, Madisen D. Phillips

Maseeh Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

A continuous peripheral nerve block cPNB is most commonly used in patients during the post-operative period, with documented benefits that include a decrease in reported pain, a decrease of opioid related side effects, and an increase in patient satisfaction. Accurately identifying nerve structures for cPNB placement is a critical step for proper insertion. The aim of this research is to use supervised learning techniques (least squares regression and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis) to build a model that can segment and annotate a bundle of nerves known as the brachial plexus (BP) while minimizing segmentation error. Dependent on large …

Metallization Of Self-Assembled Dna Templates For Electronic Circuit Fabrication, Bibek Uprety

Theses and Dissertations

This work examines the deposition of metallic and semiconductor elements onto self-assembled DNA templates for the fabrication of nanodevices. Biological molecules like DNA can self-assemble into a variety of complex 2-D and 3-D architectures without the need for expensive patterning tools. In addition, self-assembled DNA templates can be designed to controllably place functional nanomaterials with molecular precision. These characteristics make DNA an attractive template for fabricating electronic circuits from biological molecules. However, electrically conductive structures are required for electronic applications. While metallized DNA nanostructures have been demonstrated, the ability to make thin, continuous wires that are electrically conductive still represents …

The Application Of Artificial Neural Networks For Prioritization Of Independent Variables Of A Discrete Event Simulation Model In A Manufacturing Environment, Rebecca Pires Dos Santos

Theses and Dissertations

The high complexity existent in businesses has required managers to rely on accurate and up to date information. Over the years, many tools have been created to give support to decision makers, such as discrete event simulation and artificial neural networks. Both tools have been applied to improve business performance; however, most of the time they are used separately. This research aims to interpret artificial neural network models that are applied to the data generated by a simulation model and determine which inputs have the most impact on the output of a business. This would allow prioritization of the variables …

Development Of A Performance-Based Procedure To Predict Liquefaction-Induced Free-Field Settlements For The Cone Penetration Test, Mikayla Son Hatch

Theses and Dissertations

Liquefaction-induced settlements can cause a large economic toll on a region, from severe infrastructural damage, after an earthquake occurs. The ability to predict, and design for, these settlements is crucial to prevent extensive damage. However, the inherent uncertainty involved in predicting seismic events and hazards makes calculating accurate settlement estimations difficult. Currently there are several seismic hazard analysis methods, however, the performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) method is becoming the most promising. The PBEE framework was presented by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center. The PEER PBEE framework is a more comprehensive seismic analysis than any past seismic hazard analysis …

Measuring The Robustness Of Forensic Tools' Ability To Detect Data Hiding Techniques, Samuel Isaiah Moses

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research is to create a methodology that measures the robustness and effectiveness of forensic tools' ability to detect data hiding. First, an extensive search for any existing guidelines testing against data hiding was performed. After finding none, existing guidelines and frameworks in cybersecurity and cyber forensics were reviewed. Next, I created the methodology in this thesis. This methodology includes a set of steps that a user should take to evaluate a forensic tool. The methodology has been designed to be flexible and scalable so as new anti-forensic data hiding methods are discovered and developed, they can …

A Lightweight Message Authentication Framework In The Intelligent Vehicles System, Mostafa El-Said, Alexander Arendsen, Samah Mansour

College of Computing Peer-Reviewed Articles

Intelligent Vehicles System (IVS) supports a wide variety of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) services such as vehicle visibility detection. In implementing this service, the message authentication is a vital design parameter that protects victim vehicles from being tricked into accepting false messages as legitimate ones and make a false decision based on the incoming message. However, implementing message authentication service is too expensive especially if vehicles, initially, don’t trust each others or there is no certificate of authority in place.

In this research, we investigate the use of the Basic Safety Message (BSM) behavior over time as a metric …

Shalom Seeking: Foundations Of Flourishing, Kevin Timmer

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Jesus instructs us to seek first the Kingdom of God. Seeking first the Kingdom of God is no small task. It is a process of striving to show God’s love in every situation by showing love to our neighbors and to the rest of the creation. It is serving in a way that enables them to flourish. Seeking first the Kingdom of God is striving for true progress in all its wholeness; it is seeking shalom [1]. Shalom is an Old Testament word which refers to the restfulness, contentment, beauty, and harmony of a life lived in perfect obedience to …

A Solution To Low Read Rate Problem In Rfid Scattering Networks, Shadi Ebrahimi-Asl, Mohammad Tayeb Ahmad Ghasr, Maciej J. Zawodniok

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

High interference and low read rate have repeatedly been reported by radio frequency identification (RFID) consumers as the main drawback of passive RFID technology. We investigate a solution to this problem by employing low scattering antennas. We propose a new state of scattering state for RFID tags in that tags will switch to low scattering states to suppress their interference to an established and ongoing backscattering link between an RFID reader and a target tag. We evaluate the efficiency of our proposed solution by random deployment of tags in a network of ten antennas. We show that by using our …

Antenna Design For Small Uav Locator Applications, Randall L. Musselman, Steve Eugene Watkins

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An antenna design problem is presented for a small UAV application. A UAV locator system must include an on-board transmitter with the capability to provide a beacon signal, in the event of a crash, and a receiver that is tailored for a transmitter hunt. This specific context for applying antenna theory allows a variety of design constraints, technical approaches, performance measures, and required results. The paper provides a structure for organizing the material, example approaches that illustrate possible design choices, and recommendations on educational implementation.

Is The Whole Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts?, Liangyue Li, Hanghang Tong, Yong Wang, Conglei Shi, Nan Cao, Norbou Buchler

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The PART-WHOLE relationship routinely finds itself in many disciplines, ranging from collaborative teams, crowdsourcing, autonomous systems to networked systems. From the algorithmic perspective, the existing work has primarily focused on predicting the outcomes of the whole and parts, by either separate models or linear joint models, which assume the outcome of the parts has a linear and independent effect on the outcome of the whole. In this paper, we propose a joint predictive method named PAROLE to simultaneously and mutually predict the part and whole outcomes. The proposed method offers two distinct advantages over the existing work. First (Model Generality), …

Scalable And Fully Distributed Localization In Large-Scale Sensor Networks, Miao Jin, Su Xia, Hongyi Wu, Xianfeng David Gu

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This work proposes a novel connectivity-based localization algorithm, well suitable for large-scale sensor networks with complex shapes and a non-uniform nodal distribution. In contrast to current state-of-the-art connectivity-based localization methods, the proposed algorithm is highly scalable with linear computation and communication costs with respect to the size of the network; and fully distributed where each node only needs the information of its neighbors without cumbersome partitioning and merging process. The algorithm is theoretically guaranteed and numerically stable. Moreover, the algorithm can be readily extended to the localization of networks with a one-hop transmission range distance measurement, and the propagation of …

Fate Of Conductive Ink Pigments During Recycling And Landfill Deposition Of Paper-Based Printed Electronics, James Edward Atkinson

Dissertations

Printed electronics (PE) are being developed as an alternative to traditional electronics, due to the more efficient use of materials and lower cost of production. The overall goal of this study was to understand how metallic pigments in conductive inks in PE are partitioned during landfill disposal and paper recycling conditions. The purpose is to assess the potential environmental impacts of PE landfilling in terms of metal leaching and to help develop new strategies for sequestering metallic ink components while paper-based PE are subjected to conventional paper recycling methods. The objective of this research is to study the fate of …

Airspace Analysis For Greener Operations: Towards More Adoptability And Predictability Of Continuous Descent Approach (Cda), Emad Ali Alharbi

Dissertations

Continuous Descent Approach (CDA), also known as Optimized Profile Descent (OPD), is the advanced flight technique for commercial aircraft to descend continuously from cruise altitude to Final Approach Fix (FAF) or touchdown without level-offs and with- or near-idle thrust setting. Descending using CDA, aircraft stays as high as possible for longer time thereby expanding the vertical distance between aircraft's sources of noise and ground, and thus significantly reducing the noise levels for populated areas around airports. Also, descending with idle engines, fuel burn is reduced resulting in reduction of harmful emissions to the environment and fuel consumption to air carriers. …

A Novel Approach To Increase Upper Extremity Active Range Of Motion For Individuals With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Using Admittance Control, Madeline Catherine Corrigan

Dissertations

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a neuromuscular disease with a prevalence of 1 in 3,500-5,000 male births, results in progressive muscle weakness causing loss of independence and imposing the demands of costly and intrusive assistive support and personal care for daily living tasks. Upper extremity function begins to decline while ambulation is still possible and gradually progresses with time, playing a prominent role in loss of independence. Importantly, upper extremity functional limitations exist despite residual muscle strength that is insufficient to lift the arms against gravity. Presently, there exist a number of commercially available assistive devices aimed at augmenting upper extremity …

Prediction Of Electric Vehicle Penetration, Florida Solar Energy Center, David L. Block

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The object of this report is to present the current market status of plug-in-electric vehicles (PEVs) and to predict their future penetration within the world and U.S. markets. The sales values for 2016 show a strong year of PEV sales both in the world and the U.S. China leads in yearly sales at 316,800 (a 53% increase for 2016 from 2015) followed by Western Europe at 209,300 vehicles sold. The U.S. is third at 159,600. These three regions comprise 91% of the global sales market. The world total of PEV sales for 2016 is estimated to be 756,000 up from …

Pvdf-Trfe Electroactive Polymer Mechanical-To-Electrical Energy Harvesting Experimental Bimorph Structure, William G. Kaval, Robert A. Lake, Ronald A. Coutu Jr.

Faculty Publications

Research of electrostrictive polymers has generated new opportunities for harvesting energy from the surrounding environment and converting it into usable electrical energy. Electroactive polymer (EAP) research is one of the new opportunities for harvesting energy from the natural environment and converting it into usable electrical energy. Piezoelectric ceramic based energy harvesting devices tend to be unsuitable for low-frequency mechanical excitations such as human movement. Organic polymers are typically softer and more flexible therefore translated electrical energy output is considerably higher under the same mechanical force. In addition, cantilever geometry is one of the most used structures in piezoelectric energy harvesters, …

Introductory Chapter: Recent Advances, Adel El-Shahat

Electrical & Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Chapter Excerpt: This book proposes the most important researches in electrical resistivity and conductivity modeling, measurement, estimation and sensing methods, and implications. Electrical conductivity and electrical resistivity are very important properties for different materials. The goal of the book achieved via presenting new and modern case studies for sensing methods of electrical resistivity, resistivity modeling of frozen soil, measurement of the electrical resistivity for unconventional structures, estimation of hydrological parameters from geoelectric measurements, and assessment of cryoprotectant concentration by electrical conductivity measurement. It presents different methods to measure resistivity for both liquid and solid materials by explaining two, three, and …

Off-Line Handwritten Signature Recognition By Wavelet Entropy And Neural Network, Khaled Daqrouq, Husam Sweidan, Ahmad Balamesh, Mohammed N. Ajour

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Handwritten signatures are widely utilized as a form of personal recognition. However, they have the unfortunate shortcoming of being easily abused by those who would fake the identification or intent of an individual which might be very harmful. Therefore, the need for an automatic signature recognition system is crucial. In this paper, a signature recognition approach based on a probabilistic neural network (PNN) and wavelet transform average framing entropy (AFE) is proposed. The system was tested with a wavelet packet (WP) entropy denoted as a WP entropy neural network system (WPENN) and with a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) entropy denoted …

Preemptive Efficient Queueing For Scheduling Deadline-Bound Data Center Flows, Vinaykrishna Gopalakrishna

Theses

This thesis introduces a new deadline aware flow scheduling scheme called Preemptive Efficient Queuing (PEQ). Unlike other schemes which use policies like EDF, SJF or fair share, this scheme aims to procrastinate flows as much as they can afford to, while keeping with their deadlines. Thereby, PEQ prioritizes more urgent flows that have shorter time to procrastinate, or cushion time. Results of PEQ are compared with state-of-the-art schemes for the transport of data-center flows, such as Preemptive Distributed Quick (PDQ) and Deadline-Driven Delivery (D³). The results show that PEQ outperforms D³ and PDQ. We identify results …

Thermal Swing Membrane Based Method For Co2 Capture From Flue Gas, Mukesh Kumar Kamad

Theses

Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas and a major contributor to global warming, is released in large amounts by flue gases. To limit climate change, such CO₂ emissions have to be reduced, CO₂ captured and sequestered. Conventional monoethanolamine (MEA)-based absorption techniques are costly due to high capital cost and high energy consumption since the absorbent has to be regenerated at a high temperature ~ 120°C. A temperature swing membrane absorption (TSMAB) process was described by Mulukutla et al. (2015) using a novel membrane contactor, novel absorbents and a cyclic process. In this device, the absorbent is on the shell …

Memorizing Chromic Response To Pressure, Maulik Kiritkumar Padh

Theses

Almost all appliances are prone to mechanical stress in one form or the other. An increasing dependence on machines in daily life calls for a need to increase their maintenance quality. Various materials, methods and configurations to observe mechanical pressure have been devised and this paper discusses one such technique. The use of gold nanoparticles in its one dimensional array causes plasmonic coupling between the nanoparticles, which when disrupted creates a plasmonic shift in its assembly. Such a film, when casted on a polymer with a known elastic limit, causes deformation by an application of stress. This forces the film …

Walking Behavior Of Individuals With And Without Disabilities At Right-Angle Turning Facility, Nirdosh Gaire, Mohammad Sadra Sharifi, Keith M. Christensen, Anthony Chen, Ziqi Song

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

To accommodate the needs of pedestrians, urban designers need to carefully consider pedestrian walking behavior in different walking environments. Detailed studies of the walking behavior of pedestrians have been conducted and used for pedestrian simulation models. A right-angle turning facility (RATF) is found in many built environments. Hence the study of pedestrians' walking behavior in RATFs is important to build pedestrian simulation models. Previous studies have failed to address the walking behavior of individuals with visual and mobility disabilities even though they comprise a significant portion of the population in the United States. The purpose of this paper is to …

Cell Attachment To Alginate Hydrogel Structures, Sarah Livingston, Dr. Alonzo Cook

Journal of Undergraduate Research

One of the most pressing needs within the medical community is the demand for transplantable organs. On average, 22 people per day on average die waiting for a transplant. Even if a patient receives an organ, the risks associated with the transplant are high, from the immunosuppressant drugs required to the risk of Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). If organs could be engineered using a patient’s own cellular material, transplants could take place without the risk of GvHD or the need for immunosuppressants. One of the keys to creating any organ is first building a vascular network that could provide vital nutrients …

Transportation Planning For Electric Vehicles And Associated Infrastructure, Florida Solar Energy Center, David L. Block

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Planning is the key to successful adoption and deployment of any new technology, and it is particularly important when that advancement involves a paradigm shift such as electrified transportation. At its core, electric transportation is largely a technology deployment. The vehicles and supporting infrastructure are unique to this mode of transportation; requiring new and specific planning and policies to support their deployment. This EVTC project brings together these planning elements and their role in the future U.S. transportation network. The project results are presented in five planning related subject areas: (1) Identification of 14 of the 22 EVTC program topics …

Undersampling Ga-Svm For Network Intrusion Detection, Zhenyu He

Theses

Network intrusion detection is one of the hottest issues in the world. An increasing number of researchers and engineers deal with this problem by using machine learning methods. However, how to improve the identification accuracy of all the attack classes remains unsolved since the dataset is an imbalanced one with high imbalance ratio. This thesis work intends to build a classifier to achieve high classification accuracy. It proposes an undersampling Genetic Algorithm-Support Vector Machine (GA-SVM) method to handle this problem. It applies an undersampling method in GA-SVM. To solve the multiclassification problem with a binary classifier, this work proposes to …

Rca: Use And Future Possibilities, Bushra Marium Islam

Theses

Reuse and recycling of concrete is essential for construction purposes. There has been progressive development in construction projects but at the same time it has an inverse effect on the environment. Concrete structures are built and demolished continuously all over the world, generating tons of waste materials which are actually reusable in concrete production itself. This paper emphasis on recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) and many characteristics of RCA. This paper studies RCA’s different properties. RCA’s replacement in the place of natural aggregate is discussed. The proper amount and researches done on RCA improvement have also been discussed for further in …

High Performance Lattice Boltzmann Method Yield-Stress Calculations Based On Intravital Images Of Clot Formation In Live Mice, Vishnu Deep Chandran

Theses

Thrombo-embolic infarction is the major cause of mortality and morbidity in the United States, causing over 1 million strokes, heart attacks and other life-threatening thrombotic events each year in the United States. Conversely, deficiencies in these processes result in severe bleeding risks. The ability to access hydrodynamics stresses at which thrombus structure is likely to embolize can provide insight into the thrombogenesis process. Interestingly, the viscoelastic behavior exhibited by the thrombus resembles that of a Bingham fluid - a material that behaves as a rigid body at low stresses but flows as a viscous fluid when the stress exceeds critical …