Engineering Commons^™

Successfull Implementation Of The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program In Small Businesses, Valentina Parra

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In recent years, companies have been focused on improving organizational performance and the loyalty of customers to improve sustainability in increasingly complex markets. The Baldrige Performance Excellence framework, generally referred to as the Baldrige criteria, was created to guide professionals in achieving these goals including defining a set of excellence criteria and offering an award program to recognize high-performing organizations. The principles of excellence focus on understanding and working for the stakeholders, improving performance and quality management, and strategically driving continuous improvement. The framework can be used for organizational self-assessments; however, many organizations find it challenging to interpret and apply …

Assessment Of Whole Building Energy Modeling For Use In Building Retrofit, Steven A. Wyss

All ETDs from UAB

With rising energy costs and a move towards more efficient buildings, developing methods to predict energy usage has become more important than in past years. This study delineates a method for creating and verifying a baseline energy model. This baseline energy model is then modified to test various possible retrofits to identify their potential benefits on the building’s energy usage. This baseline is of the Hoehn Engineering Building located at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The building being over 30 years old and having little focus on energy efficient upgrades makes it an excellent candidate for energy modeling. …

The Effect Of Right Ventricular Insertion Cooling On Wavebreak Initiation Following Defibrillation Shocks, Han Yu

All ETDs from UAB

Although strong defibrillation shocks can save patients from life-threating tachyarrhythmias, the function of the heart may be compromised. We found in an earlier study that the right ventricular insertion (RVI) is responsible for most of the initial propagation failure (wavebreak) that drives the transition from ventricular tachycardia (VT) to ventricular fibrillation (VF). To determine whether suppression of wavebreak at the RVI region can decrease VF re-occurrence after defibrillation, thereby decreasing the defibrillation shock strength threshold (DFT), a cooling method was developed to impede waves from propagating between the right ventricle (RV) and the left ventricle (LV) through the RVI. The …

A Deep Learning Framework For Medical Image Segmentation, Zheng Zhang

All ETDs from UAB

Deep Learning (DL) has rapidly become a methodology of choice for analyzing medical images and increasingly attracts researcher’s attention in the medical research community. The brain is one of the most important organs in the human body. Within the context of human brain disease, research and care, accurately detecting, evaluating and segmenting human brain abnormalities play an important role in brain disease diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment planning. A significant challenge in developing good brain abnormalities segmentation methods is the high variation of brain abnormalities such as differences in shape, size, location, appearance, and regularity. Deep Learning approach ad-dresses this challenge …

Wireless Smart Bandage For Real-Time Monitoring And Healing Of Chronic Wounds, Ting Zhang

All ETDs from UAB

Chronic wound recovery time is long and easy to recur, which brings a high burden on the patient's physical and psychological aspects. The increase in the cost of per capita medical services and the increase in the number of people in demand for medical services have led to an increasing requirement for real-time monitoring and healing in patient's health outside of the hospital. For this purpose, the smart bandage is being developed to monitor the real-time situation of the wound. With the development of wireless sensor networks, the increasing number of sensing units has placed a great burden on the …

Performance Analysis Of The Proton-Conducting Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell Coupling With Dry Methane Reforming, Wissawa Chalee

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The proton-conducting solid oxide electrolysis cell (H-SOEC) is a clean technology for syngas production from H2O and CO2 through electrochemical and chemical reactions. However, it gives low CO2 conversion and produces syngas product with high H2O content. Therefore, the H-SOEC coupling with a dry methane reforming process (H-SOEC/DMR) is proposed to improve its performance. The process flowsheet of the H-SOEC/DMR is developed by using Aspen Plus and used to evaluate the performance of H-SOEC/DMR. The performance analysis of the H-SOEC/DMR shows that under the temperature range of 1073-1273 K, the %CO2 and %CH4 conversions of higher than 90% and 80% …

การหาปริมาณของเสียในการก่อสร้างจากภาพถ่ายดิจิตอลและโมเดล 3 มิติ, กาญจนพจน์ ศรีสุขใส

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

การก่อสร้างเป็นงานที่ก่อให้เกิดของเสียจากกระบวนการต่างๆ จำนวนมาก โดยของเสียจากการก่อสร้างจะก่อให้เกิดผลกระทบต่อสิ่งแวดล้อม อีกทั้งการจัดการกับของเสียยังเป็นภาระต่อค่าใช้จ่ายของโครงการ จึงทำให้เกิดการละเลยต่อการจัดการอย่างเหมาะสม โครงการก่อสร้างยังไม่มีวิธีการหรือเครื่องมือที่สะดวกต่อการวัดปริมาณของเสียที่เกิดขึ้นในแต่ละกระบวนการหรือในแต่ละช่วงเวลา งานวิจัยนี้จึงได้นำเสนอระบบหาปริมาณของเสียจากการก่อสร้างโดยใช้ภาพถ่ายดิจิตอลและโมเดล 3 มิติ ระบบในงานวิจัยนี้จะถูกพัฒนาขึ้นโดยใช้วัตถุตัวอย่างที่มีปริมาตรแน่นอน โดยใช้กล้องจากโทรศัพท์มือถือและโปรแกรมในการวิเคราะห์ปริมาตรจากโมเดล 3 มิติ จากนั้นจึงนำระบบไปทดสอบกับของเสียจากการก่อสร้าง ที่นำมาจากโครงการก่อสร้างหมู่บ้านจัดสรร ประกอบไปด้วย อิฐมวลเบา อิฐแดง คอนกรีต กระเบื้องพื้น และกระเบื้องหลังคา งานวิจัยนี้ยังได้มีการพัฒนาเพื่อให้ระบบที่ออกแบบไว้สามารถหาปริมาณของเสียจากการก่อสร้างได้รวดเร็วยิ่งขึ้นโดยใช้ภาพถ่ายจากวิดีโอ จากการวิเคราะห์ผลจากระบบพบว่าผลการทดสอบมีค่าความคลาดเคลื่อนอยู่ในค่าจำกัดของความสอดคล้องที่ 95 เปอร์เซ็นต์ ของผลลัพธ์จากกลุ่มตัวอย่าง อย่างไรก็ตามระบบยังมีข้อจำกัดในการหาปริมาณของเสีย โดยมีหลายขั้นตอนยังต้องใช้ทักษะของคนในการปรับปรุงโมเดล 3 มิติ งานวิจัยนี้เป็นประโยชน์ต่อโครงการก่อสร้างในการหาปริมาณของเสียจากการก่อสร้างเพื่อนำไปสู่การจัดการอย่างเหมาะสมกับชนิดของเสียต่อไป

Low-Cost Wastewater Treatment Using Agricultural Waste Materials, Seyma Demirci

All ETDs from UAB

Wastewater generated from human activities is one of the biggest problems polluting in the world. Currently, in order to reduce pollution and to limit the effects on the environment, researchers are investigating new methods and innovative materials for use in wastewater treatment. A goal of environmental engineers is to lower the coagulant cost and to improve the characteristics of the produced purification. This presented work investigates the role of agricultural materials (woodchips, banana fibers, and straw) to use in the treatment of municipal wastewater and to study their physicochemical characteristics (pH, COD, BOD, TSS, Conductivity, Turbidity, and Fecal Coliforms) of …

Towards Safeguarding Users Against Phishing And Ransomware Attacks, Arsh Arora

All ETDs from UAB

Over the past decade, malicious software (malware) attacks have skyrocketed and increased at a considerably faster pace than predicted. The variety in the number of malware categories is one of the contributing factors to this rapid insurgence. According to Microsoft statistics, a range of 300,000-400,000 malware binaries is observed on average per day. With this increase, there is an unmet need for innovative approaches to detect new malware, as current nomenclature is not equipped to handle the prevention against continuous growth. Developing appropriate preventive measures to stop these malware attacks has been an ongoing struggle for security experts. The most …

Optical Properties Of Polymers And Their Applications, Samiha Hossain

Theses

The last decade has witnessed explosive growth in the world of photoactive polymers for a variety of applications in several sectors of the global economy. The need for efficient, reliable, and low-cost data acquisition, storage, processing, transmission, and display technologies has made it necessary for research aimed at addressing these needs. Recent accomplishments in this materials area represent exciting opportunities for major innovations in various fields. However, further work needs to be done to transfer the technology from fundamental R&D to manufacturing. The goal of this study is to provide a better understanding of the optical properties of polymers and …

Assignment Of E-Commerce Orders To Fulfillment Warehouses, Ahmad Basem Zamka

Theses

For large e-commerce companies such as Amazon, when an order comes, this order might be available at more than one fulfillment centers. Therefore, the question of which fulfillment center this order should be fulfilled from would arise.

In a typical situation, customer demand is fulfilled from the closest fulfillment center. However, this approach does not always provide the optimal solution since there are so many factors that could be involved in making such a decision. These factors might include inventory balance, product correlations, and future demand.

Our decision model focuses on putting future orders in consideration while assigning orders to …

Mechanical Design Automation: A Case Study On Plastic Extrusion Die Tooling, Allen Prasad Varghese

Theses

The Skills Gap in Mechanical Engineering (ME) Design has been widening with the increasing number of baby boomers retiring (Silver Tsunami) and the lack of a new generation to acquire, practice and perfect their knowledge base. This growing problem has been addressed with several initiatives focused on attracting and retaining young talent; however, these types of initiatives may not be timely for this new group to be trained by an established Subject Matter Expert (SME) group. Automated Engineering Design provides a potential pathway to address not only the Skills Gap but also the transfer of information from SMEs to a …

Perceptions Of Vulnerability To Flooding, Hurricanes, And Climate Change On Grand Isle, Louisiana’S Only Inhabited Barrier Island, Lauren Miller

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study used in-depth interviews of permanent residents on Grand Isle, Louisiana, a remote barrier island, to better understand their perceptions of structural flood measures, non-structural responses to flooding and hurricanes, and perceptions of vulnerability to flooding, hurricanes, and climate change on a remote barrier island-Grand Isle, Louisiana. Residents' perceptions regarding the various structural measures implemented by the federal, state, and local government appeared mixed. Non-structural responses to flooding risks implemented at the household, community, state, and federal level continue to strengthen resiliency on Grand Isle. According to interviewees, aspects of environmental, rural, and economic vulnerability on Grand Isle impact …

Thermal Analysis And Design Of Conduction Links For A Superconducting Radio Frequency Resonator, Aaron Mckeown

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The SRF conduction link project at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory aims to develop an SRF particle accelerator design that is more applicable for industrial use. Collaboration between NIU college of engineering and NIU department of physics provided the bulk of design and analysis for this project. Currently, cooling systems, used in SRF particle accelerators, pump liquid helium across the SRF cavity to provide convection based cooling. The goal of this project is to incorporate a conduction based cooling system. In a conduction based cooling system, heat will flow from the SRF cavity into a cryocooler through a conduction link. In …

Improving Link Quality Estimation In Zigbee Networks, Srikar Meka

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Estimation of links in a Wireless Sensor Network and using such estimates to decide between all the multiple paths available in a network is important. There are several link estimation methods available. This thesis evaluates the performance of PRR based method (P-success method), suggested in the ZigBee specification and LQI based method (LQI method) used by different organizations, in various scenarios. The performance of these two link cost estimation methods is also compared under Wi-Fi interference. This comparison is done using a network simulator (NS3). It is observed that, if there is no Wi-Fi interference, both the P-success and LQI …

Magnetotransport In Zrte5 Crystals, Maksim Andreevich Sultanov

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

ZrTe5 is a topological material that is predicted to have a strain or temperature induced phase transition from a topological insulator state into a Weyl/Dirac semimetal state. In this study I find that there is insufficient evidence to support the claims for the existence of such a phase transition. I performed magnetoresistivity measurements using a Quantum Design Physical Properties Measurement System (PPMS) to measure the transverse and longitudinal resistivities at various temperatures and different strengths and orientations of the magnetic field. The measurement results were analyzed using OriginPro to determine the carrier mobility and density and to determine the temperature …

Studies On Semiconductor Gas Sensors Using Nanostructure Growth Employing Ortho-Glancing Angle Deposition, Dean R. Walters

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

A program of research was undertaken to develop the next generation of metal oxide gas sensors, which, for the purpose of this research, were made from materials using a unique approach of glancing angle deposition (GLAD) that is scalable to large scale production. This research seeks to demonstrate that high-sensitivity sensors can be produced. The sensors were examined in a test system of novel design in which the units underwent performance measurements using analyte gases, such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and water.

Gas sensors can be improved by increasing the surface area of the active sensing media, and in this …

Building A Classification Model Using Affinity Propagation, Christopher R. Klecker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Regular classification of data includes a training set and test set. For example for Naïve Bayes, Artificial Neural Networks, and Support Vector Machines, each classifier employs the whole training set to train itself. This thesis will explore the possibility of using a condensed form of the training set in order to get a comparable classification accuracy. The technique explored in this thesis will use a clustering algorithm to explore with data records can be labeled as exemplar, or a quality of multiple records. For example, is it possible to compress say 50 records into one single record? Can a single …

Danger-Aware Resource Management In V2x Network, Tsigigenet Dessalgn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

IEEE 802.11p is one of the key technologies that enable dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) in intelligent transportation system (ITS) for safety on the road. The main challenge in vehicular communication is the large amount of data to be processed. As vehicle density and velocity increases, the data to be transmitted also increases. We proposed a protocol that reduces the number of data to be transmitted at every second according to the level of danger that the transmitter vehicle experiences. The proposed protocol measures inter-vehicle distance, as the representative of the danger of a vehicle, to determine the priority for transmission. …

Modeling Of Magnetic Resonance Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging, Erhuvwu Ayisire

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to the fast-growing market for an electric vehicle, it is necessary that the drawbacks involved in electric vehicle technology should be overcome, therefore introducing a wireless charging technique which is more convenient as battery cost, recharge time and weight has been removed. Different wireless charging techniques for electric vehicles are discussed. This research work investigates the feasibility of wireless power transfer for Electric Vehicles by electromagnetic resonance coupling. Wireless power transfer (WPT) for Electric Vehicles by magnetic resonance coupling is of high priority due to its efficiency, high power transmission, and more considerable charging distance. Simulation results show the …

Development Of An Impedance-Controlled Hot Snare Polypectomy Device To Minimize Tissue Damage, Curtislee Thornton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the ability to measure the changing impedance, ex vivo, of a porcine colon sample while undergoing a high-frequency alternating current from an Olympus PSD-30 electrosurgical unit and stop the applied current before excessive tissue damage ensues. The causes of the thermal damage are first examined, followed by the construction and testing of the impedance-controlled feedback device. Perforation was observed to occur when the impedance of the tissue sample increased by 25% or more. Using this information, the device was tested for five power settings ranging from 10W-50W. In each trial, the feedback device stopped the applied current …

Reinforcement Learning, Intelligent Control And Their Applications In Connected And Autonomous Vehicles, Adedapo O. Odekunle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reinforcement learning (RL) has attracted large attention over the past few years. Recently, we developed a data-driven algorithm to solve predictive cruise control (PCC) and games output regulation problems. This work integrates our recent contributions to the application of RL in game theory, output regulation problems, robust control, small-gain theory and PCC. The algorithm was developed for $H_\infty$ adaptive optimal output regulation of uncertain linear systems, and uncertain partially linear systems to reject disturbance and also force the output of the systems to asymptotically track a reference. In the PCC problem, we determined the reference velocity for each autonomous vehicle …

Antennas And Wave Propagation In Wireless Body Area Networks: Design And Evaluation Techniques, Ala Alemaryeen

Theses and Dissertations

Recently, fabrication of miniature electronic devices that can be used for wireless connectivity becomes of great interest in many applications. This has resulted in many small and compact wireless devices that are either implantable or wearable. As these devices are small, the space for the antenna is limited. An antenna is the part of the wireless device that receives and transmits a wireless signal. Implantable and wearable antennas are very susceptible to harmful performance degradation caused by the human body and very difficult to integrate, if not designed properly. A designer need to minimize unwanted radiation absorption by the human …

Planteamiento De Alternativas Para La Reutilización Del Drywall Como Residuo De Construcción Y Demolición-Rcd En Colombia, Juliana Alejandra Guzmán Cañón

Ingeniería Ambiental y Sanitaria

No abstract provided.

Análisis Y Recomendaciones Sobre Los Resultados De Las Pruebas Saber Pro-2017 Y 2018 En El Programa De Ingeniería Ambiental Y Sanitaria De La Universidad De La Salle, Fabián Esteban Pérez Bravo, Daniel Francisco Niño Sánchez

Ingeniería Ambiental y Sanitaria

El proyecto realizado especificado “Análisis y recomendaciones sobre los resultados de las pruebas sabre pro 2017-2018 en el programa de ingeniería ambiental y sanitaria de la Universidad de La Salle”, se ejecutó con el fin de generar una herramienta de información potencial para el programa de ingeniería ambiental y sanitaria (IAS) de la Universidad de La Salle cuyo objetivo será aplicar estrategias de refuerzo y progreso de cara para mejorar el modelo de educación actual en el programa y sus próximos desempeños en los exámenes nacionales de educación SaberPro. Para lograr estrategias específicas de desarrollo y hacer un análisis profundo …

Análisis De Riesgo Por Inundación Frente A Escenarios De Cambio Climático A Partir De La Modelación Hidrodinámica Y De Calidad De Agua En Iber - 2d De Un Tramo De La Microcuenca Quebrada Resaca - Palestina Del Barrio Duitama, Usme, Jorge Andrés Bolivar Fandiño, Diego Mauricio Pineda Toro, Ingrid Gisela Salcedo Herrera

Ingeniería Ambiental y Sanitaria

Las inundaciones se caracterizan por ser eventos recurrentes que se originan cuando por causas antrópicas o naturales es superada la capacidad de transporte o almacenamiento del flujo dentro de un sistema hídrico; el incremento en la precipitación producto del cambio climático ha incrementado la ocurrencia de fenómenos de inundación. En la microcuenca Quebrada Resaca-Palestina, tramo transcurrido en el barrio Duitama – Usme, se han generado escenarios de riesgo y vulnerabilidad para la comunidad aledaña a la ronda hídrica, debido a fenómenos de inundación por desbordamiento principalmente en temporadas de altas precipitaciones. Esta problemática se ha incrementado debido a la expansión …

Alternativa De Tratamiento De Agua Salobre Para El Mejoramiento Del Suministro Y Calidad De Agua Potable En La Ranchería De Jellusira Del Corregimiento De Musichi, En Manaure Guajira, Colombia, Vivian Melissa Díaz González, July Alejandra Rojas Gutierrez

Ingeniería Ambiental y Sanitaria

En este proyecto se formuló una alternativa de tratamiento de agua salobre para contribuir al mejoramiento del suministro y la calidad del agua potable de la ranchería Jellusira en el corregimiento de Musichi, en la jurisdicción de Manaure (Guajira, Colombia), partiendo de la evaluación de proyectos llevados a cabo en el contexto nacional e internacional. Para tal fin se dividió el proyecto en 3 etapas, la etapa inicial consistió en un análisis cualitativo de las condiciones actuales de la región, teniendo en cuenta los aspectos socioambientales. En la segunda etapa se evaluaron 4 proyectos de tratamiento de agua salobre, a …

Static Evaluation Of Type Inference And Propagation On Global Variables With Varying Context, Ivan Frasure

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Software reverse engineering (SRE) is a broad field with motivations ranging from verifying or documenting gordian source code files to understanding and reimplementing binary object files and executables. SRE of binaries is exceptionally compelling and challenging due to large amounts of information that can be lost in the compilation progress. A central area in SRE is type inference. Type inference is built around a fundamental step in understanding the behavior of a binary, recovering the types of data in the program. Type inference has many unique techniques in both static and dynamic type inference systems that have been implemented in …

Digital Instantaneous Frequency Measurement Receiver For Fine Frequency And High Sensitivity, Bilal Khudhur Abdulhammed Abdulhamed

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Wideband technology has been applied to many wide bandwidth applications when there is a need to send much different information in a short time from one point and received from another point in high precision and accuracy. A wideband receiver reports a signal without tuning if the signal is within the input bandwidth. The analog Instantaneous Frequency Measurement (IFM) receiver has been used for decades to cover a very wide input bandwidth and report one accurate frequency on a short pulse at a time. The digital IFM use a high sampling rate ADC to operate in a wide bandwidth, Hilbert …

Design And Manipulation Of A Power-Generating System With High-Temperature Fuel Cells For Hypersonic Applications, Jack Randolph Chalker

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Current hypersonic vehicles tend to be incapable of producing onboard power with traditional generators due to their use of supersonic combusting ramjets (scramjets). Because of this, they seek additional energy sources for supporting advanced electronics or other auxiliary power-dependent devices while requiring elaborate thermal management systems to combat temperatures exceeding 700ºC. The incorporation of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFCs) stacks is an efficient solution, capable of generating large quantities of power through the use of natural fuel sources at high temperatures. Developments in this thesis include the design, construction, and support of a system operating at hypersonic-environment conditions with a …