Engineering Commons^™

An Investigation Of Service Quality Within Irish Franchised Motor Dealerships, Clive Atkinson

Theses

This study investigates service quality within franchised motor dealerships from the perspective of thirty-eight persons working in the roles of Dealer Principal, After-Sales Manager or Service Manager in dealerships operating under the Volkswagen group of brands in Ireland (VW, Audi, SEAT and Skoda). With approximately 2.3 million cars on Irish roads, more than two thirds of the Irish adult population encounter car service experiences on a regular basis. Regardless of brand or dealership type, the quality of vehicle service experience is paramount for customer retention. Despite this, however, service quality within Irish motor dealerships remains an under-explored area. Qualitative analysis …

Quality Assessment Of Adhesive Bond Based On Dielectric Properties, Muthu Ram Prabhu Elenchezhian, Vamsee Vadlamudi, Priyanshu Kumar Banerjee, Chaitanya Dave, Anik Mahmood, Rassel Raihan

Institute of Predictive Performance Methodologies (IPPM-UTARI)-Archive

Composite materials are widely used in Aerospace, Marine and Automotive structures to reduce weight and increase performance. Adhesive bonding improves the stress distribution between the composite materials / dissimilar materials and ensures a lighter structure than conventional fastener joints. But still there is not much research on the Non-Destructive strength estimation and life prediction, or the damage prognosis of the adhesive bond. One of the main problems when using adhesive bonding is a "kissing bond" which is a weak adhesion bond alternatively called zero volume disbond. Typically, convectional non-destructive methods cannot detect this kissing bond. Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy, BbDS, is …

Diffusion Maps And Transfer Subspace Learning, Olga L. Mendoza-Schrock

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Transfer Subspace Learning has recently gained popularity for its ability to perform cross-dataset and cross-domain object recognition. The ability to leverage existing data without the need for additional data collections is attractive for Aided Target Recognition applications. For Aided Target Recognition (or object assessment) applications, Transfer Subspace Learning is particularly useful, as it enables the incorporation of sparse and dynamically collected data into existing systems that utilize large databases. In this dissertation, Manifold Learning and Transfer Subspace Learning are combined to create new Aided Target Recognition systems capable of achieving high target recognition rates for cross-dataset conditions and cross-domain applications. …

Processing Of Ultra-Thin Film Of Un Modified C60 Fullerene Using The Langmuir-Blodgett Technique. Effect Of Structure On Stiffness And Optoelectric Properties, Hasanain Basim Altalebi

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Monolayer films of C60 fullerene were for the first time produced successfully by using the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. The processing parameters were optimized and the structure of these films has been investigated using Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Film stiffness was measured to be in the range of 15 MPa to 32 MPa depending on the nature of the solvent used to process the films. Optical transparency and electrical performance have been measured and correlated to the film structure. While 100% transparent, the film measured conductivity was in the range of 1013 S/m, that is orders of …

Optimal Feature Selection For Spatial Histogram Classifiers, Mandira Thapa

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Point set classification methods are used to identify targets described by a spatial collection of points, each represented by a set of attributes. Relative to traditional classification methods based on fixed and ordered feature vectors, point set methods require additional robustness to obscured and missing features, thus necessitating a complex correspondence process between testing and training data. The correspondence problem is efficiently solved via spatial pyramid histograms and associated matching algorithms, however the storage requirements and classification complexity grow linearly with the number of training data points. In this thesis, we develop optimal methods of identifying salient point-features that are …

An Experimental Investigation Of Residual Stress Development During Selective Laser Melting Of Ti-6al-4v, Nathan Charles Levkulich

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Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing (AM) process that gives rise to large thermal gradients and rapid cooling rates that lead to the development of undesirable residual stress and distortion. In this work, a number of different techniques (i.e., x-ray-diffraction, hole-drilling, layer-removal, and contour) were utilized to establish the effect of process parameters on residual stress development during SLM of Ti-6Al-4V. The measurements indicated that higher laser power, slower scan speed, smaller stripe width, reduced substrate overhang, and reduced build plan area each reduce the level of residual stress. In addition, the correlation between microstructure, crystallographic texture, and …

Settings Protection Add-On: A User-Interactive Browser Extension To Prevent The Exploitation Of Preferences, Venkata Naga Siva Seelam

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The abuse of browser preferences is a significant application security issue, despite numerous protections against automated software changing these preferences. Browser hijackers modify user’s desired preferences by injecting malicious software into the browser. Users are not aware of these modifications, and the unwanted changes can annoy the user and circumvent security preferences. Reverting these changes is not easy, and users often have to go through complicated sequences of steps to restore their preferences to the previous values. Tasks to resolve this issue include uninstalling and re-installing the browser, resetting browser preferences, and installing malware removal tools. This thesis describes a …

Exploiting Alignments In Linked Data For Compression And Query Answering, Amit Krishna Joshi

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Linked data has experienced accelerated growth in recent years due to its interlinking ability across disparate sources, made possible via machine-processable RDF data. Today, a large number of organizations, including governments and news providers, publish data in RDF format, inviting developers to build useful applications through reuse and integration of structured data. This has led to tremendous increase in the amount of RDF data on the web. Although the growth of RDF data can be viewed as a positive sign for semantic web initiatives, it causes performance bottlenecks for RDF data management systems that store and provide access to data. …

Bistatic Sar Polar Format Image Formation: Distortion Correction And Scene Size Limits, Davin Mao

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The polar format algorithm (PFA) for bistatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image formation offers the compromise between image quality and computational complexity afforded by PFA, while enabling the geometric flexibility of a bistatic collection scenario. The use of the far-field approximation (FFA), which enables the use of the two-dimensional (2D) fast Fourier transform (FFT) in PFA, introduces spatially-varying distortion and defocus effects causing geometric warping and blurring in the resulting image. In this thesis, the residual phase errors due to the FFA are analyzed by decomposing the residual phase errors in the time dimension into their constant, linear, and quadratic …

An Engage Or Retreat Differential Game With Two Targets, Bikash Shrestha

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This thesis develops the equilibrium solution for a two-target engage or retreat differential game. In this game, the attacking player is modeled as a massless particle moving with simple motion about an infinite, obstacle-free plane. The opposing player, referred to as the defender, is tasked with the protection of two high-value targets. The mobile attacker must choose to either engage one of the high-value targets or retreat across a predefined boundary. Simultaneously, the defensive player must choose whether to minimize or maximize the attacker's integral utility in an effort to persuade the attacker to choose retreat from certain initial conditions. …

Efficacy Of Real-Time Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Neurofeedback Training (Fmri-Nft) In The Treatment Of Tinnitus, Matthew S. Sherwood

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There is a growing interest in the application of real-time (fMRI) with neurofeedback training (NFT) to the treatment of disorders associated with abnormal brain function. Chronic tinnitus is one such disorder that is often characterized by hyperactivity of the primary auditory cortex (A1) and decreased activity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). In this work, we investigated the use of fMRI-NFT to teach self-regulation of A1 using directed attention strategies. The overall objective of the proposed study is to determine the efficacy of fMRI-NFT for potential treatment of tinnitus. Healthy participants were separated into two groups: the experimental group received …

Extreme Weather Disaster Resilient Port And Waterway Infrastructure For Sustainable Global Supply Chain, Quang Van Nguyen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Global supply chain is largely dependent on seaports and marine terminals. Ports serve international cargo traffic for imports and exports. About 90% of the world’s goods are transported by sea and over 70% as containerized cargo ships. Coastal hurricanes/cyclones and rainfall flood disasters cause major disruptions for sea shipping traffic, disruptions of port infrastructure, and adverse impacts on coastal communities each year. Additionally, these weather related disasters threaten millions of people, damage infrastructure, and cost billions of dollars in global supply chain disruptions. Sustainable global supply chains, port infrastructure, and coastal community impact by these extreme weather disasters are the …

Geospatial Assessment Of Port Infrastructure And Computational Modeling Of Coastal Disasters, William Tucker Stafford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The research began with a review of recent natural disasters in the U.S. that shothere was an average of 121 federally declared disasters per year. Ports are critical to every country because they allow for the transport of commodities through that country and even internationally. If a natural disaster were to strike a port that was not properly prepared, the port would not only suffer, but the commodities that transported through there would be affected as well. The major motivation for this thesis was to address the risk of coastal disasters posed to people and critical infrastructure for port cities. …

Effect Of Vibration Of Unconsolidated Sand On The Performance Of Interferometric Vibration Sensors, Cody Berrey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interferometric vibration sensors are widely used for ground vibration measurements where traditional contact sensors are not desired. Laser Doppler vibrometers (LDV) and digital speckle pattern interferometers are studied in this thesis. The working principle of laser Doppler vibrometry and digital shearography is described. The effect of vibration of the unconsolidated sand on the performance of both sensors is experimentally investigated.

The vibration of unconsolidated sand can cause an increase of noise in the laser Doppler vibrometer output and cause speckle decorrelation in digital speckle pattern interferometry (referred to as digital shearography). An experimental investigation of the effect of varying the …

Implementing Peer-Review Activities For Engineering Writing Assignments, Stacie I. Ringleb, Orlando M. Ayala, Jennifer Kidd

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Professional engineers spend a considerable portion of their day writing, yet disciplinary writing skills are not addressed in many engineering courses. This study investigates peer review as a mean to enhance student writing in engineering courses. Students completed formative peer reviews using an online peer review system for a group project in a fluid mechanics course (with online and face-to-face sections) and for an individual writing assignment in a senior capstone class in mechanical engineering. A university-wide rubric for disciplinary writing was used to assess student writing performance on interim and final assignments completed over the course of a semester. …

Wip: Introducing Engineering Principles Into Prek-6 Through A Service Learning Partnership, Stacie Ringleb, Jennifer Kidd, Pilar Pazos

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

We report on an interdisciplinary projet in which pre-service teachers and engineering students worked collaboratively to design and deliver engineering lessons for elementary school students. We describe the approach and preliminary results for two participating populations: Freshmen engineering students and pre-service teachers. Specifically, we explored the following research questions 1) Does the development and implementation of engineering lessons for elementary students affect education students' a) knowledge of engineering; b) beliefs about the incorporation of engineering in elementary school instruction; and c) comfort and motivation teach engineering? 2) What do education and engineering students perceive as the benefits and challenges of …

Coupling Infrastructure Resilience And Flood Risk Assessment For A Coastal Urban Watershed, Justin Joyce

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis sheds light on coupling potential flood risk and drainage infrastructure resilience of low-lying areas of a coastal urban watershed to flood hazards and subsequent multi-scale impacts of those hazards via detailed modeling frameworks. Physically based models along with statistical models are employed to highlight the complexity for characterizing flood risk while evaluating such risk under various levels of adaptive capacity from traditional flood management techniques to low impact development (LID), as a first step to conduct resilience assessment. Findings indicate that the coupling flood risk and infrastructure resilience is achievable by the careful formulation of flood risk associated …

Local Transient Characterization Of Thermofluid Heat Transfer Coefficient At Solid-Liquid Nano-Interfaces, Mehrdad Mehrvand

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The demands for increasingly smaller, more capable, and higher power density technologies in microelectronics, energy, or aerospace systems have heightened the need for new methods to manage and characterize extreme heat fluxes (EHF). Microscale liquid cooling techniques are viewed as a promising solution for removing heat from high heat flux (HHF) systems. However, there have been challenges in physical understanding and predicting local thermal transport at the interface of micro and nanoscale structures/devices due to ballistic effects and complex coupling of mass, momentum, and energy transport at the solid-liquid-vapor interfaces over multiple time and length scales. Moreover, it's challenging to …

A Flexible Physics-Based Lifing Method For Metals Under Creep And Thermomechanical Fatigue, Firat Irmak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the development of a flexible, physics-based life prediction approach for steels under complex conditions. Low alloy steels continue to be the materials of choice for large turbomachinery structures experiencing high temperatures for long durations. There has been significant advancement in the research of modern alloys; furthermore, these materials are continue to be utilized in boilers, heat exchanger tubes, and throttle valve bodies in both turbomachinery and pressure-vessel/piping applications. The material 2.25Cr-1Mo is studied in the present work. The resistance of this alloy to deformation and damage under creep and/or fatigue at elevated temperatures make it appropriate …

Quality By Design Procedure For Continuous Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: An Integrated Flowsheet Model Approach, Ashley Vezina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pharmaceutical manufacturing is crucial to global healthcare and requires a higher, more consistent level of quality than any other industry. Yet, the traditional pharmaceutical batch manufacturing has remained largely unchanged in the last fifty years due to high R&D costs, shorter patent durations, and regulatory uncertainty. This has led regulatory bodies to promote modernization of manufacturing process to continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing (CPM) by introducing new methodologies including quality by design, design space, and process analytical technology (PAT). This represents a shift away from the traditional pharmaceutical manufacturing way of thinking towards a risk based approach that promotes increased product and …

Advanced Liquid Crystal Displays With Supreme Image Qualities, Haiwei Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Several metrics are commonly used to evaluate the performance of display devices. In this dissertation, we analyze three key parameters: fast response time, wide color gamut, and high contrast ratio, which affect the final perceived image quality. Firstly, we investigate how response time affects the motion blur, and then discover the 2-ms rule. With advanced low-viscosity materials, new operation modes, and backlight modulation technique, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) with an unnoticeable image blur can be realized. Its performance is comparable to an impulse-type display, like cathode ray tube (CRT). Next, we propose two novel backlight configurations to improve an LCD's …

Fire Safety And Emergency Evacuation Training For Occupants Of Building Using 3d Virtual Simulation, Sayli Bhide

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With advancement in technology, building structures are becoming bigger and more complex. Incidences of horrifying fires that occur in such complex structures resulting in loss of property as well as lives are recorded worldwide. Emergency evacuation training can play a crucial role in mitigating damage not only in cases of fire, explosion or chemical spill but also in cases of natural calamities like floods and hurricanes. Conventional safety training provided in industries mostly comprises of unidirectional flow of information. Due to this passive learning style, response of employees in real life emergency situations is known to be ineffective. The proposed …

Enhanced Ablation By Femtosecond And Nanoseond Pulses, Haley Kerrigan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Laser ablation of GaAs by a combination of femtosecond and nanosecond pulses is investigated as a means of enhancing material removal by a femtosecond pulse in the filamentation intensity regime. We demonstrate for the first time increased ablation of GaAs by ultrafast laser pulse plasmas augmented by nanosecond pulse radiation from a secondary laser. Material removal during laser ablation is a complex process that occurs via multiple mechanisms over several timescales. Due to different pulse durations, ablation by femtosecond and nanosecond pulses are dominated by different mechanisms. Ablation can be enhanced by optimally combining a femtosecond and nanosecond pulse in …

Laser-Induced Crystallization Mechanisms In Chalcogenide Glass Materials For Advanced Optical Functionality, Laura Sisken

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Glass-ceramics (GC) are promising candidates for gradient refractive index (GRIN) optics. These multi-phase, composite materials also exhibit improved physical properties as compared to the parent base glass resulting from the formation of a secondary crystalline phase(s). Nanocrystal phase formation in a multi-component chalcogenide glass (ChG), (GeSe2-3As2Se3)(1-x)-(PbSe)x glass where x = 0-40 has been investigated, and the role of the starting material morphology has been correlated to the resulting composite's optical properties including refractive index, transmission, dispersion, and thermo-optic coefficient. Optical property evolution was related to the type and amount of the crystal phases formed, since through control of the local …

Reducing Side-Sweep Accidents With Vehicle-To-Vehicle Communications, Gamini Bulumulle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation present contributions to the understanding of the causes of a side-sweep accidents on multi-lane highways using computer simulation. Side-sweep accidents are one of the major causes of loss of life and property damage on highways. This type of accident is caused by a driver initiating a lane change while another vehicle is blocking the road in the target lane. Our objective in the research described in this dissertation was to understand and simulate the different factors which affect the likelihood of side sweep accidents. For instance, we know that blind spots, parts of the road that are not …

Carbon Nanotube (Cnt) Metallic Composite With Focus On Processing And The Resultant Properties, Md Muktadir Billah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Metal-carbon nanotubes (CNTs) composites are the promising advanced materials that are being developed to take the advantage of the exceptional properties of CNTs. Because of the intrinsically strong in-plane atomic SP2 bonding CNTs offer high young's modulus (1.0–1.8 TPa), high tensile strength (30–200 GPa) and high elongation at break (10–30%). The thermal conductivity of individual single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) are about 6000 W/m-K and 3000 W/m-K, respectively. Therefore it is expected that by incorporation of CNTs in metal matrices multi-functional composites can be used ideally as thermal interface materials, light-weight high-strength structural materials, electric components, …

Combustion Of 1,3-Butadiene Behind Reflected Shocks, Joseph Lopez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The chemical kinetics of 1,3-butadiene (1,3-C4H6) are important because 1,3-butadiene is a major intermediate during the combustion of real fuels. However, there is only limited information on the chemical kinetics of 1,3-butadiene combustion, which has applications in several combustion schemes that are currently being developed, including spark-assisted homogeneous charge compression ignition and fuel reformate exhaust gas recirculation. In the present work, the ignition delay times of 1,3-butadiene mixtures has been investigated using pressure data. Oxidation of 1,3-butadiene/oxygen mixtures diluted in argon or nitrogen at equivalence ratios (Φ) of 0.3 behind reflected shock waves has been studied at temperatures ranging from …

Augmenting Bottom-Up Metamodels With Predicates, Ross J. Gore, Saikou Diallo, Christopher Lynch, Jose Padilla

VMASC Publications

Metamodeling refers to modeling a model. There are two metamodeling approaches for ABMs: (1) top-down and (2) bottom-up. The top down approach enables users to decompose high-level mental models into behaviors and interactions of agents. In contrast, the bottom-up approach constructs a relatively small, simple model that approximates the structure and outcomes of a dataset gathered fromthe runs of an ABM. The bottom-up metamodel makes behavior of the ABM comprehensible and exploratory analyses feasible. Formost users the construction of a bottom-up metamodel entails: (1) creating an experimental design, (2) running the simulation for all cases specified by the design, (3) …

Overview Of Metrics, Models, And Simulation For Cyber-Physical Systems, Barry C. Ezell, Luanne Burns Chamberland

VMASC Publications

The metric, models, and simulation for Cyber-Physical Systems focuses on the different frameworks that have been operationalized so that cyber-physical systems can be baselined in security. In addition, the minitrack is interest in innovations in decision support such as cost effective means to decide what metrics should be addressed to get the best value in cybersecurity. There are many challenges to overcome in cyber-physical systems. We ask: How should frameworks be operationalized? What methodologies are available to quantify cybersecurity frameworks while accounting for cyber-physical interactions into account.

A Method For Key Performance Indicator Assessment In Manufacturing Organizations, Patrick Hester, Barry Ezell, Andrew Collins, John Horst, Kaleen Lawsure

VMASC Publications

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are an essential element of an organization’s ability to monitor its strategic health, helping to ensure the strategic goals of the organization are achieved. However, KPI assessment and improvement is often an ad hoc and consultant-driven process rather than one undertaken using scientific principles. This paper outlines the development and subsequent deployment of a method for KPI assessment founded in scholarly literature and balancing practitioner concerns for ease of use. The proposed method draws heavily on organizational stakeholder involvement at varying levels throughout the KPI assessment process, improving current methods by introducing a mathematical foundation based …