Engineering Commons^™

Improving Hyperspectral Subpixel Target Detection Using Hybrid Detection Space, Ruixing Li

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A Hyper-Spectral Image (HSI) has high spectral and low spatial resolution. As a result, most targets exist as subpixels, which pose challenges in target detection. Moreover, limitation of target and background samples always hinders the target detection performance. In this thesis, a hybrid method for subpixel target detection of an HSI using minimal prior knowledge is developed. The Matched Filter (MF) and Adaptive Cosine Estimator (ACE) are two popular algorithms in HSI target detection. They have different advantages in differentiating target from background. In the proposed method, the scores of MF and ACE algorithms are used to construct a hybrid …

Surface Hydrologic Modeling And Analyzing Watershed Hydrologic Response To Landcover Change, Roshan Poudel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Urban flooding is the most frequently occurring disaster in rapidly urbanizing cities. Rapid urbanization in general, is characterized by an increase in the total impervious surface area, which means less soil cover for the stormwater to infiltrate and a greater volume of runoff from the area in case of a storm event. This increased volume of surface runoff, if not drained, results in urban flooding. Urban flooding can cause serious economic and environmental damages by disrupting transportation and spreading pollution. It is therefore, essential to understand the cause, behavior and effects of urban flooding so as to minimize the risks …

The Effects Of Exhaust Vent Location On Thermal Comfort Inside The Residential Buildings Equipped With An Evaporative Cooling System, Armin Saraei

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Inlet and outlet conditions, Including size and location, have significant effects on the air distribution, temperature, humidity and thermal comfort in the buildings. In the current study, various strategies are presented for exhaust air vents and the effects of inlet and outlet vents locations are evaluated on providing thermal comfort in the residential and industrial buildings. To provide thermal comfort, three key factors need to be investigated based on ASHRAE standard 55- 2013 as follows: Comfort Zone, Thermal Sensation and Draft Rate. Flow distribution is studied as well in order to investigate the strategies, which make more vorticity in the …

Investigation Of Setting Time And Compressive Strength Of Ready-Mixed Concrete Blended With Returned Fresh Concrete, Negasi Niguse Gebremichael

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Center for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure (CSTI), in its 2012 study, estimated that out of all the concrete leaving the plant, between 2% and 7% of concrete returns to the plant unused as a returned fresh concrete (RFC). Disposal of both the truck wash water and RFC is a growing concern for the industry. Most industry personnel contacted during the investigation, agree that reusing is superior to recycling of this substantial RFC economically and environmentally. This study will determine if the reuse of RFC in subsequent batches compromises the quality of newly blended concrete.

The effect of RFC on fresh …

Numerical Characterization Of The Flow Field And Heat Transfer Inside The Receiver Of A Parabolic Trough Solar Collector Carrying Supercritical Co2, Samad Gharehdaghimollahajloo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The aim of this research is to provide a detailed numerical analysis of flow field and heat transfer inside the heat collecting element of a parabolic trough collector. The parabolic trough collector is used as the boiler in a direct Super Critical Carbon Dioxide (S-CO2) Brayton cycle.

A single collector is modeled and analyzed with different inlet conditions. The working fluid is supercritical since its pressure is increased to above critical pressure in the compressor while its temperature reaches 300 °C after passing through the recuperators and before entering the solar field. For the first time, this research considers both …

Evaluating The Chemical And Biological Stability Of Finished Waters Blended For Direct Potable Reuse In A Simulated Distribution System, Assumption Grimaldi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This work evaluated the impacts of blending several different high grade recycled waters with conventional source waters for direct potable reuse (DPR) applications. Bench-scale laboratory tests were conducted for recycled water-source water blends from four participating facilities that have either considered adopting DPR or have already implemented DPR as a feasible approach to overcome water scarcity. The chemical and biological stability of the finished waters was investigated after pipe rig incubation to simulate the quality of blended waters that had aged in a potable water distribution system. The effects of blend ratio, reclaimed water treatment, and source water quality were …

Parents' Perceptions Of Smartphone Use And Parenting Practices, David Jackson Johnson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The present study is a qualitative examination aiming to gain insight into parents’ perceptions of their smartphone use and the effects it may be having on their children as well as parenting practices. Participants (N=12) were smartphone using parents that consisted mostly of young college-educated females. Thematic analysis of individual interviews resulted in five primary themes: (1) Disengagement, (2) Concern for Future, (3) Change in Social Norms, (4) Boundaries, and (5) Cognitive Dissonance. These findings indicate significant effects parental smartphone use is having in the lives of study participants. These thematic findings call for additional research examining the impact parental …

Effects Of Contract Procurement Factors On Performance Of Transportation Projects, Ruiko Maharjan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Cost and schedule savings are the main measures of a project’s success. Several factors affect the cost and schedule performances in a construction project, such as design changes, material, labor and equipment shortages, unpredictable weather conditions, and errors & omissions in contract documents.Some studies have shown that either the construction cost or the schedule performance of a project was dependent on the procurement factors, namely: bid cost, number of bidders, the bid cost deviation between the first and second bidder, the liquidated damage rate per day, the type of a contract, and the project location. However, a comprehensive study on …

Simulating Distributed Battery And Solar Array Placement For Voltage Regulation, Michael Misch

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Energy storage has been around for many years in the US, mainly in the form of pumped hydro. However, in recent years, other storage technologies have developed quickly, with lithium ion batteries receiving significant investment and delivering technological and price improvements. Electricity storage has the potential to assist the US in transitioning to a smarter grid, as well as enabling increasing amounts of renewable generation to connect to the grid, without costly reinforcement works. Electricity storage can be co-located with power generation assets, installed along distribution systems for network services, or placed behind the meter, i.e., on the customer’s premises. …

Cost Comparison Of Cement Concrete And Polymer Concrete Manholes In Sewer Systems, Sayan Sakhakarmi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Cement concrete manholes are generally used in sewer networks in the United States. However, these concrete manholes are highly vulnerable to chemical corrosion and require frequent maintenance and replacement. Polymer concrete manholes as a substitute to the cement concrete manholes in water and wastewater pipelines have proved to have longer service life and more resistance to various chemical corrosions than normal concrete manholes. Despite the benefits that polymer concrete manholes offer, the higher initial installation cost has been a barrier to its wide application in public works. This study has been conducted to compare the cost of cement concrete manholes …

Theoretical And Experimental Investigation On The Multiple Shape Memory Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite Actuator, Qi Shen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Development of biomimetic actuators has been an essential motivation in the study of smart materials. However, few materials are capable of controlling complex twisting and bending deformations simultaneously or separately using a dynamic control system. The ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) is an emerging smart material in actuation and sensing applications, such as biomimetic robotics, advanced medical devices and human affinity applications. Here, we report a Multiple Shape Memory Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (MSM-IPMC) actuator having multiple-shape memory effect, and is able to perform complex motion by two external inputs, electrical and thermal. Prior to the development of this type of actuator, …

An Investigation Of Employment And Wage Distribution In The Construction Industry By Race/Ethnicity And Gender, Binit Kumar Shrestha

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

One of the largest job providers in the U.S, is the construction industry, an industry that suffers from critical problems pertaining to a labor shortage. Yet the industry also struggles with insufficient interest and inconsistent participation from underrepresented demographic groups. To address the issue of workforce income inequality and bias, the industry must better understand the current situation regarding inequality; it needs to pinpoint some basic problems. To do so, analysts must scrutinize the following aspects: 1) the current differences within the construction workforce by race/ethnicity and gender with regards to the total employment and 2) the current disparity within …

Cloudskulk: Design Of A Nested Virtual Machine Based Rootkit-In-The-Middle Attack, Joseph Anthony Connelly

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Virtualized cloud computing services are a crucial facet in the software industry today, with clear evidence of its usage quickly accelerating. Market research forecasts an increase in cloud workloads by more than triple, 3.3-fold, from 2014 to 2019 [33]. Integrating system security is then an intrinsic concern of cloud platform system administrators that with the growth of cloud usage, is becoming increasingly relevant. People working in the cloud demand security more than ever. In this paper, we take an offensive, malicious approach at targeting such cloud environments as we hope both cloud platform system administrators and software developers of these …

Thermodynamics And Kinetics Of Dna Origami Cross-Tile Array Formation, Brett Michael Ward

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

As the cost to continue scaling photolithography to pattern smaller semiconducting devices increases exponentially, new materials and fabrication approaches are being sought to extend and enhance current capabilities. DNA nanostructures have been identified as a promising material for patterning nanoscale devices, and several studies have demonstrated the ability to program DNA nanostructures to self-assemble into large scale arrays. These DNA arrays can be designed to create the patterns necessary for fabricating semiconductor device features. However, these structures are far from ideal and contain a number of defects that limit the adoption of this approach for manufacturing. In order to create …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of A Hybrid Geosynthetic Reinforcement System To Mitigate Differential Heave On Flexible Pavement Due To Expansive Subgrades, Mir Md. Tamim

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Transportation industries encounter substantial challenges with respect to ride quality and serviceability when they deal with expansive soils underneath roadway structures. These soils exhibit swell-shrink behavior with moisture variations, which cause surficial heaving on the pavement structure and cost billions of dollars for the maintenance of pavements. For the past four decades, a particular stretch of US-95 (Oregon line to Elephant Butte) exhibited recurrent swelling distresses due to the underlying expansive soils. Despite remedial measures that exhibited satisfactory results for most of the sections, recurrent damage still continued in few sections. Further research indicated that the problematic soils were located …

Portable 6 Lead 4 Electrode Ekg, Cody Magnuson, Wes Archbold

Electrical Engineering

This project focused on designing a small, portable, 6 lead 4 electrode electrocardiogram (EKG) machine with enough accuracy and resolution to successfully diagnose clinical issues. The electrical design used to measure signals originating from the heart can be broken up into three stages. The first stage is the human device interface. Next, is the analog block that filters out common mode noise and conditions the signal for digital encoding using instrumentation amplifiers, a right leg circuit, high pass, low pass, and an amplifier. This circuit filters all frequencies above and below the frequency band of meaningful data (1-160Hz), rejects signals …

Using Historic Pavement Performance Data To Identify And Select Sites For Asphalt Mixture Design Studies, Allyson Richey

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Since 1997 Arkansas asphalt mixtures have been designed using a procedure commonly known as ‘Superpave’. In a traditional Superpave mix design, the design considers only traditional volumetric parameters; however, recent advances in mix design technology emphasize mixture’s ability to perform in its environment. There are numerous factors which affect the performance characteristics of an asphalt mix. Certainly, the asphalt binder’s performance is a critical variable in this system. Asphalt binders are sensitive to temperature, so much so that their primary parameter on which they are recommended is a function of both temperature and the geographic latitude in which the pavement …

Sensitivity Of Facial Organs Of Pythons As Deduced By Radiation Heat Transfer Analysis Under Varying Environmental Conditions, Rama Wairagkar

Theses and Dissertations

Predicting the behavior of snakes has been an interest to several scientists for the last few decades. Even though considerable amount of research has been carried out pertaining to snakes, there remains a degree of curiosity regarding their striking ability, live prey detection at locations where visual clues are unobtainable, thermosensation and the phenomena that drives these conducts. Researches carried out so far have moderately disregarded the perception of sensitivity of facial pits of snakes and its characteristics under contrasting temperature domains. This thesis attempts to undertake a computational analysis of the sensitivity of facial pits of Burmese pythons under …

Model Based Systems Engineering High Level Design Of A Sustainable Electric Vehicle Charging And Swapping Station Using Discrete Event Simulation, Obinna Henry Ginigeme

Theses and Dissertations

In line with the spate of technological advances, the transportation industry has also witnessed an increase in the adoption of Electric Vehicles (E.Vs). However, there has been and are still some underlying negating factors to the wide spread acceptance of these electric vehicles; one of note is the unavailability and inaccessibility of adequate charging infrastructure, long charging times, limited driving ranges, costs of the vehicles etc. These and many more characteristics lead to a trend popularly known as “range anxiety”. One of the major strengths of electric vehicles are their ability to be powered by electric energy via stored chemical …

Investigating The Influence Of Functional And Nonfunctional Requirements On Change And Change Propagation, Nathaniel Conde Voris

Theses and Dissertations

The research presented in this thesis investigates the nature of change and change propagation in requirement documents as they are influenced by requirement type, that is, “Functional” or “NonFunctional,” and how an understanding of these types may refine utilization of the Automated Requirement Change Propagation Prediction (ARCPP) tool when used by design teams. Functionality is determined by asking the question “Does the requirement prescribe something for the project to accomplish?” This question separates the requirements into their requisite types. Using the ARCPP, the relationship and propagation scores were determined for each requirement. Furthermore, the number of relationships were determined for …

Probability Of Success In Program Management, Tejas Pawar

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The field of Program Management is subject to high program failures. The Project Management Institute (PMI) states that 74% of programs are executed unsuccessfully (Mulcahy, Rita). The high rate of program failures is primarily due to inadequate planning before a program begins and inadequate management of a program when it is being executed. To avoid these high failure rates, a Program Manager needs a tool to help him assess the Probability of Success (POS) of fully accomplishing the objectives of his program from the initial planning phase and throughout all phases of program execution. Purpose: The purpose of this research …

System Study Of An On-Orbit Additive Manufacturing Cubesat, Juliette Isabelle Bido

Theses and Dissertations

The AddCube mission aims to demonstrate additive manufacturing technology in microgravity on a CubeSat platform by 3D-printing a 1-meter long rectangular beam on orbit. To accomplish this task, Made In Space Inc. (MIS) will provide the Extended Structure Additive Manufacturing Machine – CubeSat (ESAMM-C) payload. The high power required by the ESAMM-C payload creates a complex thermal problem within the spacecraft due to tight volume constraints associated with CubeSats. To cope with this problem, an in depth worst-case thermal analysis of the integrated spacecraft is conducted and an appropriate thermal management system for the mission is designed. Temperature regulation is …

Flight Testing Angle-Of-Attack Warning Combinations On Part 23 Aircraft, Jennifer Grey Geehan

Theses and Dissertations

The high number of accidents involving General Aviation (GA) aircraft leads to a need for improved methods to warn pilots of high angles of attack (AOA) and impending stall. Such methods must be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under Federal Aviation Regulations Part 23 regarding their effectiveness in preventing departures from controlled flight. Therefore, methods of compliance must be developed to certify Part 23 aircraft equipped with AOA warning or limiting systems. The research objectives were to (a) determine methods for the evaluation of AOA warning and limiting systems and to (b) evaluate the effectiveness of baseline combinations …

Implementation And Verification Of A Synthetic Eddy Method (Sem) In The Eagle3d Compressible Flow Solver, Patrick Kopper

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The objective of this thesis is to implement and evaluate a Synthetic Eddy Method (SEM) into the Eagle3D compressible flow solver. Both the ability of Eagle3D to resolve unsteady turbulent ow field and capability of the SEM to reproduce given Reynolds stress profiles to start realistic turbulent behavior are verified using common academic cases. Eagle3D is a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solver using a novel combination of a Bounded Central Differencing (BCD) scheme with Weighted Essentially Non-Oscillatory (WENO) approximation to reduce numerical dissipation. SEM is a modern synthetic turbulence method able to reproduce an arbitrary Reynolds stresses specification on discretionary …

Development Of A Remotely-Piloted Vehicle Platform To Support Implementation, Verification, And Validation Of Pilot Control Systems, Sean O’Toole

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This thesis presents the development of a research test bed and the use of a set of metrics for evaluating handling qualities with pilot in the loop configuration. The main objective of this study is to provide software and hardware tools to support performance evaluation of control systems designed to compensate for Pilot Induced Oscillations (PIOs). A remotely-piloted vehicle presented in this thesis consists of an RC aircraft modified to be flown from a ground station cockpit. The unmanned aerial system has a high-speed on-board processing system capable of simulating different conditions during flight such as injecting actuator failures and …

Efficiency Analysis And Optimization Of Light Trapping In Amorphous Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cell With Lumerical Fdtd/Device, Muhammad Riaz

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the two-dimensional computer analysis of a tandem solar cell: c-Si/a-Si:H/µc-SiGe, with Lumerical FDTD/DEVICE 4.6. Optical characterization was performed in FDTD and then the total generation rate was transported into DEVICE for electrical characterization. Electrical characterization of the solar cell was carried out in DEVICE. In the first stage, a single junction solar cell was studied with both a-Si and µc-SiGe, respectively, as its absorbing layers. The thickness for both layers was kept the same. For the a-Si absorbing layer Jsc = 10.959 mA/cm2 , Voc = 696.97 mV, FF = 78.985%, and η = 6.033% were achieved. …

A Cfd Study Of A Multi-Element Front Wing For A Formula One Racing Car, Shardul C. Kachare

Masters Theses

Presently, one of the key factors in determining a success of an open wheel racecar such as Formula One or Indy car, is its aerodynamic efficiency. A modern racecar front wing can generate about 30% of the total downforce. The present study focuses on investigating the aerodynamic characteristics of such highly efficient multi-element front wing for a Formula One racecar by conducting a three-dimensional computational analysis using Reynolds Averaged Navier-Strokes model. A three-dimensional computational study is performed investigating predictive capability of the structured trimmer and unstructured polyhedral meshing model to generate a three-dimensional volume mesh for a multi-element front wing. …

Effect Of Arm Motion On Standing Lateral Jump Performance, Arif Ahmed Sohel

Masters Theses

Previous jumping studies have examined the role of arm swing in vertical and horizontal long jump performance, but none have been found which studied the role of arm swing in standing lateral jumps. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of arm motion on standing lateral jump performance and to examine the biomechanical mechanisms that may explain differences in jump distance.

A series of lateral jump experiments was performed for two jump cases (free and restricted arms) in which six participants jumped laterally for maximum distance from two in-ground force platforms. A motion capture system collected 3D …

Query Expansion Techniques For Enterprise Search, Eric M. Domke

Masters Theses

Although web search remains an active research area, interest in enterprise search has waned. This is despite the fact that the market for enterprise search applications is expected to triple within the next six years, and that knowledge workers spend an average of 1.6 to 2.5 hours each day searching for information. To improve search relevancy, and hence reduce this time, an enterprise- focused application must be able to handle the unique queries and constraints of the enterprise environment. The goal of this thesis research was to develop, implement, and study query expansion techniques that are most effective at improving …

Sex Differences In Collateral Remodeling Following Hindlimb Arterial Occlusion, Laura Burckhardt

Master's Theses

Clinical evidence indicates a higher incidence of peripheral arterial occlusive disease and associated likelihood of critical limb ischemia in women, as well as worse prognosis and decreased survival post myocardial infarction. Therefore, understanding the possible differences in underlying vascular compensation mechanisms is crucial. With arterial occlusions, necrosis and tissue injury can be naturally mitigated by the collateral circulation, improving patient prognosis. Previous sex-comparison studies describing differences in vascular remodeling are inconsistent. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe the effect of arterial occlusion on collateral remodeling in healthy male and healthy reproductive-stage female mice. At 7 days following …