Engineering Commons^™

Pegda Pouches To Prevent Adhesions With In Vivo Bioreactor- Based Vascular Graft Strategies, Kranthi Vuppuluri

Theses and Dissertations

Different strategies have been investigated for the fabrication of vascular grafts. Using the peritoneal cavity of the patient as an “in vivo bioreactor” to recruit autologous cells to the implanted vascular conduit is one of the promising options. One of the main drawbacks with this strategy is the potential to form adhesions in the peritoneal cavity. In this project we are trying to address this potential side-effect by using polyethylene (glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) to produce a hydrogel pouch into which the electrospun conduits are placed, with the goal of reducing the potential to form peritoneal adhesion after implantation. PEG is …

Repeatability Of Reference Signal Received Power Measurements In Lte Networks, Hayder A Abdulrasool Khzaali

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Low Complexity Transmission Schemes For Future Wireless Communication Systems, Geamel Alyami

Theses and Dissertations

Future of mobile communication technologies is coupled with multi-antenna systems. Recent research results encourage a massive increase in the number of base station antenna elements in order to meet high data rate demands. However, at the current mobile communication frequencies (< 6 GHz), the amount of spectrum is very limited. Therefore, increase number of antenna elements and higher carrier frequencies in millimeter wavelength range need to be understood and their corresponding potentials need to be identified. Studies proposed in this work aim to identify the degree of orthogonality of millimeter wave massive MIMO channels. For this purpose, various simulation based experiments have been done which are based on the state of the art millimeter channel models. Effect of certain propagation parameters such as the probability of existence of LOS link, number of clusters, inter-antenna elements spacing and number of base station antennas in the array have been investigated. It has been found that probability of LOS link has the highest impact at the multiuser orthogonality of the multiuser channels. In general, millimeter wave massive MIMO channels are found to be low rank. Therefore, in the last part of this work a low complexity user selection algorithm is proposed. Novelty of the work is established by both performance and computational complexity comparison. Computational cost of the proposed algorithm is significantly lower than state of the art user algorithms while the sum rate performance is exactly the same as that of best user selection algorithm

Arabic Speech Recognition Systems, Hamda M. M. Eljagmani

Theses and Dissertations

Arabic automatic speech recognition is one of the difficult topics of current speech recognition research field. Its difficulty lies on rarity of researches related to Arabic speech recognition and the data available to do the experiments. Moreover, to build Arabic speech recognition system with an optimal word error rate (WER), the system has to be completely trained to the individual user. Even though speaker dependent system can effectively achieve this by training it explicitly for this one speaker, it requires a large amount of training data. In addition speaker dependent system requires to be trained to each speaker individually. For …

Hybrid Phonon Polaritons Mimic Te Surface Wave Enhanced Supercoupling, Delroy Dominic Rebello

Theses and Dissertations

The study and excitation of surface plasmon polaritons SPhPs modes in polar dielectrics have attracted the interest of a wide range of research in various fields such as biology, physics and engineering. The excitation of SPhP in optical waveguides is because of TM-component of the incident light. TE-components are usually disbarred because, for TE-polarization component, orthogonal to the TM-polarization components, of the incidence waves, no SPhP mode exists. This thesis presents a novel hybrid TE SPhP mode waveguide in the mid-infrared region. By introducing a thin layer of high index dielectric material on the polar dielectric, where SPhPs are excited, …

Optical Nanoantenna Impedance Matching And Duality And Hybrid Surface Phononic Waveguide, Yuancheng Xu

Theses and Dissertations

This work contributes to critical requirements for optical and infrared nanoantenna and waveguide applications; 1) the impedance of an optical nanoantenna is addressed, and 2) long propagation lengths and high confinement waveguide is designed. Optical nanoantennas have been studied as a means to manipulate nanoscale fields, local field enhancements, radiative rates, and emissive directional control. However, a fundamental function of antennas, the transfer of power between a coupled load and far-field radiation, has seen limited development in optical antennas owing largely to the inherent challenges of extracting impedance parameters from fabricated designs. As the transitional element between radiating fields and …

Dynamics Of Asymmetrical Configurations Of Catamaran Hull Forms, Vaibhav Aribenchi

Theses and Dissertations

It is important to understand asymmetrical catamarans motions since it influences the loads which increases stress on structures while causing discomfort to passengers and crew members. Researchers so far have been mainly focused on motions characteristics of the conventional catamaran hull forms. There is scant literature or research work in the public domain on asymmetrical catamaran hull form, with regards to its seakeeping performance. This thesis undertakes a comparative analysis of the motion characteristics between newly developed alternative catamaran hull forms of different asymmetrical configurations. The asymmetrical catamarans developed from the original NPL round bilge catamaran hull forms have a …

Analysis, A Technique, And Incremental Learning Of Wake-Up-Word Speech Recognition, Ahmad Zuhair S. Hasanain

Theses and Dissertations

Even thought the cutting-edge speaker-independent Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems demand big training data, they barely handle time-varying speaking rates, tolerate various uttering alterations, or are robust to noise. In contrast, our Wake-Up-Word (WUW) technique is tuned to these challenges in the light ASR systems with minimal number of initial training samples. It is crucial that users of ASR systems be capable of rolling out new WUW calls swiftly and modifying ASR vocabulary at any time, such as in the cases of foreign WUW addition and adaptation to phonetic change. We had tested our proposed methodologies in the acoustic WUW-II …

Estimation Of Groundwater Loads Into A Coastal Estuary Using Seawat, Antonio S. Berber Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The research of regional groundwater flow is of vital importance at the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) due to the potential contribution groundwater flow has on nutrients into the IRL. If too many nutrients are introduced into the IRL, algal blooms could occur and impact the health of IRL system. The IRL is a coastal estuary located on the east coast of Florida. Submarine groundwater seepages (SGD) and groundwater loads into the IRL were numerically estimated by using SEAWAT, a program designed to simulate variable-density groundwater flow coupled with multi-species solute transport. Models were completed at three different study transects that …

An Empirical Examination Of Cognitive Chunking And Information Generation In Freehand Sketches During Design Ideation, Omar Magdy Ibrahim Zaki Mohammed Galil

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis proposes a method to measure information content of freehand sketches during design ideation based on the cognitive chunk formation. The research is broken down into two phases. The first is a protocol study to explore chunk formation in freehand sketches by novice designers while generating solutions for a novel design problem. The second is the identification of entities and functional relations explicitly expressed in the designers’ output. Next, a form neutral (F-ER) representation model is formulated, and information metrics are applied to measure the information content. This work is motivated by the notion that engineering design can be …

Dynamic Anchoring In Soft Regolith For Celestial Exploration, Tom Ebert

Theses and Dissertations

Recent exploration missions to celestial bodies have shown an increasing demand for surface based landers and rovers designed to perform experiments on the ground, rather than relying purely on traditional orbiting observatories. Many of the scientifically interesting locations have proven hazardous and difficult to reach and traverse, driving the need for different methods of locomotion. Some of these locations lie in deep, permanently shadowed craters or in rocky, highly uneven landscapes. Various wheeled, flying, jumping and legged rovers have been proposed, some of which have been implemented with success and problems alike. Even though the Curiosity rover has the largest …

Durability Of Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Bars In Seawater-Contaminated Concrete, Abdelrahman A. E. Alsallamin

Theses

This research aims to investigate the durability performance and microstructure characteristics of two different types of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars in severe environment. GFRP bars encased in seawater-contaminated concrete were immersed in tap water for 5, 10, and 15 months at temperatures of 20, 40, and 60°C. Half of the specimens were conditioned under a sustained load of 25% of their ultimate strength whereas the other half was conditioned without load. Following conditioning, the GFRP bars were retrieved then tested to failure under uniaxial tension. Microstructure analysis was performed by employing differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) …

Oil Recovery By Surfactant Flooding; Sensitivity Analysis To Technical Parameters And Economic Analysis, Hadel Mohsen Moustafa

Theses

Various enhanced oil recovery methods including miscible gas injection, chemical, thermal and other methods are applied at the third phase of production after the primary and secondary recovery have been exhausted. Surfactant flooding is one of the chemical methods that is capable of recovering more oil by decreasing the IFT and/or wettability alteration.This piece of work aims to asses and select the development options using surfactant process that maximize oil recovery for a synthetic reservoir model by optimizing technical and economic analysis.

Reservoir simulation study using ECLIPSE 100 was used to study the different development options of surfactant flooding applied …

Numerical Investigation Of A Phase-Change Material Based Photovoltaic Panel Temperature Regulation System, Rohit Gulati

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

As the production of clean electricity has gained importance, photovoltaic (PV) panels have become a widely used technology. But, during operation, PV panels heat up due to the solar insolation and suffer a drop in electrical output. The goal of this investigation is to use phase-change materials (PCM) to passively cool PV panels. The PCM is inside an aluminum container attached to the back surface of the PV panel. Four configurations of the container are investigated. The first configuration is a container with bulk PCM occupying its entire interior volume. The depth of this container is varied. The second configuration …

Implementing Spatial Symmetry In The Tensor Contraction Engine, Kevin Hartline

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Spreadsheet For Estimating Soil Water Characteristic Curves (Swcc), Ghada Ellithy

Publications

SWCC can be measured in the lab; however, due to the cost, time, and high variability in the results, empirical equations were developed using multiple regression approaches on databases consisting of a large number of measured SWCCs. The spreadsheet presented herein utilizes different methods that use basic soil properties, such as grain size distribution and Atterberg limits, to calculate the input parameters for van Genuchten and Fredlund and Xing equations. These parameters are required by numerical models, such as SEEP/W, to perform transient seepage analysis. The spreadsheet allows copying the generated curve data points as well as an input into …

Design Optimization Of A High Power Led Matrix Luminaire, Jose Luiz F. Barbosa, Daniel J. Simon, Wesley P. Calixto

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This work presents a methodology for optimizing the layout and geometry of an m x n high power (HP) light emitting diode (LED) luminaire. Two simulators are used to analyze an LED luminaire model. The first simulator uses the finite element method (FEM) to analyze the thermal dissipation, and the second simulator uses the ray tracing method for lighting analysis. The thermal and lighting analysis of the luminaire model is validated with an error of less than 10%. The goal of the optimization process is to find a solution that satisfies both thermal dissipation and light efficiency. The optimization goal …

Multipath Channel Considerations In Aeronautical Telemetry, Edem Coffie Gagakuma

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the use of scattering functions to characterize time-varying multipath radio channels. Channel Impulse responses were measured at Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB) and scattering functions generated from the impulse response data. From the scattering functions we compute the corresponding Doppler power spectrum and multipath intensity profile. These functions completely characterize the signal delay and the time varying nature of the channel in question and are used by systems engineers to design reliable communications links. We observe from our results that flight paths with ample reflectors exhibit significant multipath events. We also examine the bit error rate (BER) …

Design Of Logan City's Stormwater Conveyance System, Kade Jacob Beck

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This report summarizes 10th West Engineers' (10WE) storm water conveyance design for Logan City. The implementation of the design mitigates flood risk due to storm water discharge , helps improve local water quality, and uses infrastructure that would otherwise be abandoned. The system collects storm water discharged along 1000 West and transports the water to the holding pond located at approximately 2400 West 2200 North, Logan, Utah (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Aerial Photo of the Area of Interest Current Conditions

Logan City is located in northern Utah's Cache County. As development and redevelopment occur, storm water runoff quantities will …

Pairing Of Anaerobic And Aerobic Treatment Of Petroleum Wastewater, Zachary Fica

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The objective of this project was to treat petroleum refinery wastewater using a combination of anaerobic and aerobic processes, namely an Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor paired with a Rotation Algae Biofilm Reactor (RABR), respectively, to produce a treated effluent. The treatment method developed needed to produce a cost-effective and efficient way to decrease nitrogen, phosphorous, total suspended solids (TSS), and COD concentrations to below State of Utah limitations. It was demonstrated that RABR treatment was capable of reducing effluent concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, and TSS to State of Utah limitations. RABR treatment did not significantly reduce COD from …

Reference Evapotranspiration From Coarse-Scale And Dynamically Downscaled Data In Complex Terrain: Sensitivity To Interpolation And Resolution, Courtenay Strong, Krishna B. Khatri, Adam K. Kochanski, Clayton S. Lewis, L. Niel Allen

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The main objective of this study was to investigate whether dynamically downscaled high resolution (4-km) climate data from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model provide physically meaningful additional information for reference evapotranspiration (E) calculation compared to the recently published GridET framework that uses interpolation from coarser-scale simulations run at 32-km resolution. The analysis focuses on complex terrain of Utah in the western United States for years 1985–2010, and comparisons were made statewide with supplemental analyses specifically for regions with irrigated agriculture. E was calculated using the standardized equation and procedures proposed by the American Society of Civil Engineers from …

Design Of Logan City's Storm Water Conveyance System, Megan Gordon

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This report summarizes 10th West Engineers’ (10WE) storm water conveyance design for Logan City. The implementation of the design mitigates flood risk due to storm water discharge, helps improve local water quality, and uses infrastructure that would otherwise be abandoned. The system collects storm water discharged along 1000 West and transports the water to the holding pond located at approximately 2400 West 2200 North, Logan, Utah (see Figure 1).

Logan City is located in northern Utah’s Cache County. As development and redevelopment occur, storm water runoff quantities will decrease due to new regulations. However, Logan City’s storm water system does …

Casimir And Van Der Waals Effects On Electrostatically Actuated Nems Resonator Sensors, Christian Reyes

Theses and Dissertations

The behavior of nano and micro-electromechanical systems (N/MEMS) cantilever beams under electrostatic actuation is studied. The cantilever system is actuated by soft AC voltage that is set to a frequency of near half natural and near natural frequency of the beam. These actuating frequencies result in primary and parametric resonances, respectively. Two methods are used to analytically model the behavior of the cantilever. The first method is Method of Multiple Scales (MMS), which is a perturbation method that works for small parameters. The second method is the Reduced Order Method (ROM), which is a Galerkin method that works for large …

Design And Implementation Of A Pid Controller For The Low-Speed Wind Tunnel, Carlos F. Vasquez

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to investigate the implementation of an external PID controller on an existing variable frequency motor drive (VFD) while using MODBUS communication to read/write data from a LabVIEW station. LabVIEW is the chosen user interface and programming language. It allows human-machine interfacing for the collecting, displaying of information, and automation of the system. The main objective was to develop a new controller to facilitate the operation of the wind tunnel. The current setup makes the operator set the motor frequency manually which then correlates to a test section wind velocity. This involved a calibration period …

Inertial And Time-Of-Arrival Ranging Sensor Fusion, Paul Vasilyeav, Sean Pearson, Mahmoud El-Gohary, Mateo Aboy, James Mcnames

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Wearable devices with embedded kinematic sensors including triaxial accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers are becoming widely used in applications for tracking human movement in domains that include sports, motion gaming, medicine, and wellness. The kinematic sensors can be used to estimate orientation, but can only estimate changes in position over short periods of time. We developed a prototype sensor that includes ultra wideband ranging sensors and kinematic sensors to determine the feasibility of fusing the two sensor technologies to estimate both orientation and position. We used a state space model and applied the unscented Kalman filter to fuse the sensor information. …

Automation In Entertainment: Concept, Design, And Application, Ryan Thally

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The focus of this thesis is to explore the automation technology used in the modern entertainment industry. Upon completion of my thesis, I will deliver a working prototype of the chosen technology and present its capabilities in a choreographed show.

Passive Solar Distillation Of Acid Rock Drainage, Stephanie Shreve, Luke Galuska, Anna Stoller, Alex Raney, Agustin Caceres, Caitlyn Chambers, Chris Graham, Devin Hazlett

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Arkansas Razorback Distillers (A.R.D.) has developed a passive solar distillation system for treating acid rock drainage (ARD) from legacy (i.e., abandoned) mines. The solar still addresses the need to reduce both the metal sulfate contaminants as well as the acidity of acid rock drainage. During the design phase, A.R.D. addressed the need for the system to be low cost, simple, and effective for general use as well as a specified location. To demonstrate the applicability of the solar still, A.R.D. used the Freeport McMoRan Inc. Copper Queen legacy mine in Bisbee, Arizona, as a base case scenario. The mine was …

Proposal To Build Nylon 6,6 Plant: A Grassroots Economic Analysis, Caleb M. Woodall

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This report analyzes the profitability of building a grass roots Nylon 6,6 plant in Calvert City, Kentucky. A rigorous process simulation was produced, equipment prices were estimated, utility usage was assessed, and a plan for the plant organization was developed. The calculations yielded values for fixed capital investment ($10.5 million), working capital ($101 million) and revenue ($114 million). The discounted cash flow rate of return was calculated to be 8.94%. The conclusion drawn from these calculated values is that the current plan for the plant would not be profitable on a 10 year project life basis. However, recommendations are presented …

Life Cycle Assessment Of Sweet Sorghum As Feedstock For Second-Generation Biofuel Production, Karla Morrissey

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

There exist few life cycle assessments (LCAs) in the literature that focus on the second-generation biofuel production from sweet sorghum, a non-food-source feedstock that offers several advantages in terms of farming requirements compared to corn or sugarcane. The objective of this LCA study was to evaluate biofuels produced from sweet sorghum to determine the potential environmental benefits of producing sweet sorghum biofuel compared to conventional fossil fuels. The biofuel production process used for this study differed from other LCAs in that, in parallel to stalk juice extraction and fermentation, residual bagasse and vinasse was pyrolyzed and upgraded to a diesel …

Feasibility Analysis Of Recycled-Paper Fueled Agricultural Desalination Process: Design Of Recycling And Desalination Processes, Sean M. Street

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

While recycled-paper-briquettes have lower BTU ratings than wood, and fresh water is typically a low cost to agricultural entities, situations exist where economic and/or environmental factors may allow a recycled-paper-fueled desalination process to be viable for some specific agricultural entities. This document begins with a discussion of how water is priced throughout India before analyzing trends in the Maize futures market. By tying the two together, an opportunity is created for solution which the remainder of the document presents. Paper waste in India makes-up 50% of its solid waste country-wide; however, only a quarter of that waste is recycled - …