Engineering Commons^™

Improving The Implementation Of Pavement Preservation Strategies In South Carolina, Franklin Reed

All Theses

With compounding budget constraints on infrastructure, cost effective solutions to maintain roadways are becoming increasingly important. Pavement preservation provides a cost effective option to keep the roadway network at an acceptable level. However, pavement preservation is a relatively new concept that many states have not fully implemented successfully. This research supports efforts to improve the pavement preservation practices in the state of South Carolina. It analyzes the current pavement preservation practices in South Carolina as well as other states to identify where improvements could be made. The research also outlines a treatment tracking program for the state of South Carolina …

Design Of A Web Application To Improve The Efficiency Of Crnas., Venkatramanan Chanchapalli Madhavan

All Theses

Physical artifacts such as whiteboards have been successfully used in healthcare facilities to keep track of dynamic changes in information and to manage work schedules. Since these whiteboards are easy- to- use and do not require any technical expertise, they have been easy- to-adopt. Additionally, they act as memory aids for the users by capturing transient information. However, they have their own limitations, the primary ones being the lack of mobility and real-time updates, both of which are crucial in a high consequence environment such as a healthcare facility. These whiteboards are usually kept in a central location with the …

Phasor Measurement Unit Deployment Approach For Maximum Observability Considering Vulnerability Analysis, Jyoti Paudel

All Theses

In recent years, there has been growing interest of synchrophasor measurements like Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) Power systems are now being gradually populated by PMU since they provide significant phasor information for the protection and control of power systems during normal and abnormal situations. There are several applications of PMUs, out of which state estimation is a widely used. To improve the robustness of state estimation, different approaches for placement of PMUs have been studied. This thesis introduces an approach for deployment the PMUs considering its vulnerability. Two different analysis have been considered to solve the problem of locating PMUs …

Operational Analysis Of Traditional Access Management Strategies & Demand-Responsive Access Control On Arterials, Joshua Mitchell

All Theses

Arterials are typically characterized by closely-spaced signalized intersections, high driveway density, and high traffic volumes. These characteristics contribute to congestion, as well as crashes. Access management strategies can address both operational and safety issues on urban arterials. This research focuses on the operational impacts of access management with two objectives: (1) quantify the impacts of ‘traditional’ access management strategies and (2) quantify the impacts of demand-responsive access control. To satisfy Objective 1, four traditional access management strategies were tested – (i) access spacing, (ii) corner clearance, (iii) access restriction, and (iv) raised median implementation. These were analyzed in four respective …

Detection And Recovery From Camera Bump During Automated Inspection Of Automobiles On An Assembly Line, Shawn Mathew

All Theses

This thesis details the steps taken to detect and compensate for camera bumps while per- forming part identification using VI at the BMW manufacturing plant and on the simulation testbed. For the system presented here to work, the user is required to record a video from the camera before the camera is bumped and one after the camera has been bumped. The premise behind the method suggested here is that the transformation between the background in the pre- and post-bump video will be equal to the transformation in the foreground. A Background extraction program is used to generate a background …

A Novel Approach To Evaluating Compact Finite Differences And Similar Tridiagonal Schemes On Gpu-Accelerated Clusters, Ashwin Trikuta Srinath

All Theses

Compact finite difference schemes are widely used in the direct numerical simulation of fluid flows for their ability to better resolve the small scales of turbulence. However, they can be expensive to evaluate and difficult to parallelize. In this work, we present an approach for the computation of compact finite differences and similar tridiagonal schemes on graphics processing units (GPUs). We present a variant of the cyclic reduction algorithm for solving the tridiagonal linear systems that arise in such numerical schemes. We study the impact of the matrix structure on the cyclic reduction algorithm and show that precomputing forward reduction …

A Training Assistant Tool For The Automated Visual Inspection System, Mohan Karthik Ramaraj

All Theses

This thesis considers the problem of assisting a human user setting up an automated Visual Inspection (VI) system. The VI system uses a stationary camera on an automobile assembly line to inspect cars as they pass by. The inspection process is intended to identify when parts have been missed or incorrect parts have been assembled. The result is reported to a human working on the assembly line who then can take corrective actions. As originally developed, the system requires a setup phase in which the human user places the camera and records a video of at least 30 minutes length …

Characterization Of A Multi-Laminate Angle-Ply Af Patch For Annulus Fibrosus Repair, Ryan Borem

All Theses

Annually, over 5.7 million Americans are diagnosed with two IVD-associated pathologies: IVD herniation (IVDH- a mechanical disruption of the concentric fibrous layers of the annulus fibrosus (AF))) and degeneration (IVDD- a multifactorial process which initiates within the inner gelatinous core (NP), and results in a biochemical degradation of NP tissue), with over 2.7 million requiring surgical inteventions.1,2 Although both underlying pathologies are different, quite often they both lead to a decrease in IVD height, impaired mechanical function, and increased pain and disability. These pain symptoms affect approximately 80% of the adult population during their lifetime with estimated expenditures exceeding $85.9 …

Analysis And Synthesis Of Effective Human-Robot Interaction At Varying Levels In Control Hierarchy, David Spencer

All Theses

Robot controller design is usually hierarchical with both high-level task and motion planning and low-level control law design. In the presented works, we investigate methods for low-level and high-level control designs to guarantee joint performance of human-robot interaction (HRI). In the first work, a low-level method using the switched linear quadratic regulator (SLQR), an optimal control policy based on a quadratic cost function, is used. By incorporating measures of robot performance and human workload, it can be determined when to utilize the human operator in a method that improves overall task performance while reducing operator workload. This method is demonstrated …

Control Of Cation Ordering In Zinc Tin Nitride And In-Situ Monitoring Of Growth, Brian Christopher Durant

Masters Theses

Semiconducting materials with a band gap around 1.5 eV are very much sought after due to their close match to the solar spectrum. However, some compounds that have shown promise for highly efficient solar cells contain rare, expensive, and sometimes toxic elements, such as indium and gallium. As such, a search for earth abundant materials has become more prominent recently. One such earth abundant semiconducting material that has garnered interest is ZnSnN₂. It has been shown through previous studies that there is the possibility of continuously tuning the band gap between 1.0 and 2.0 eV by controlling the …

Effects Of Expected Service Life Exposures On The Functional Properties And Impact Performance Of An American Football Helmet Outer Shell Material, David E. Krzeminski

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to gain a greater scientific understanding of the changes in functional material properties and impact performance of an American football helmet outer shell material under expected service life exposures. The research goals are to (i) quantify chemical, physical, thermal, and mechanical degradation of an American football outer shell material under expected environmental conditions and (ii) develop a linear drop test impact protocol to employ expected on-field impact conditions to American football helmet components and a plaque-foam (i.e., shell-liner) surrogate. Overall, a step-wise progression of analysis was demonstrated to concurrently quantify and understand changes in …

Midfield Rf Signal Detector, Dawei Zhang

Electrical Engineering

This project is part of a Master’s thesis which looks at alternative ways to measure blood glucose. The Master’s thesis uses mid-field signals in order to match impedance and therefore lose less power as they travel through flesh. The goal of this senior project is to build a receiver for those signals and give accurate RSSI (received signal strength indicator) measurements. Mid-fields were originally explored by Stanford professor Dr. Ada Poon [3] who used the signaling technique to recharge the batteries of deeply implanted devices. Devices implanted near the surface of the skin were able to have their batteries recharged …

Epitaxial Growth Of Si-Ge-Sn Alloys For Optoelectronic Device Application, Aboozar Mosleh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microelectronics industry has experienced a tremendous change over the last few decades and has shown that Moore’s law has been followed by doubling the number of transistors on the chip every 18 months. However, continuous scaling down of the transistors size is reaching the physical limits and data transfer through metal interconnects will not be able to catch up with the increasing data processing speed in the future. Therefore, optical data transfer between chips and on-chip has been widely investigated. Silicon based optoelectronics has received phenomenal attention since Si has been the core material on which microelectronic industry has been …

Field Amplified Sample Stacking On Amyloid Beta (1-42) Oligomers Using Capillary Electrophoresis, Sadia Ali Paracha

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to recent literature, it is believed that the oligomeric form of amyloid beta (Aβ) is the leading cause of Alzheimer’s disease (1; 8; 10; 12-18). Additionally, recent studies have eluded to the impact of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) both economically and Socially in today’s society where an increase of about 71% of AD related deaths were recorded between 2000 and 2013 (7). Since the oligomeric forms of Aβ vary in size, shape and some believe conformation, it is vital to utilize a separation technique, such as capilllary electrophoresis (CE) to further understand Aβ aggregation. By understanding Aβ aggregation, treatment of …

High Temperature Silicon Carbide Mixed-Signal Circuits For Integrated Control And Data Acquisition, Ashfaqur Rahman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Wide bandgap semiconductor materials such as gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide have grown in popularity as a substrate for power devices for high temperature and high voltage applications over the last two decades. Recent research has been focused on the design of integrated circuits for protection and control in these wide bandgap materials. The ICs developed in SiC and GaN can not only complement the power devices in high voltage and high frequency applications, but can also be used for standalone high temperature control and data acquisition circuitry.

This dissertation work aims to explore the possibilities in high temperature …

Model Development And Validation For Wind Generation Transmission Systems, Mahmood Shihadeh Saadeh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this research a new benchmark system is proposed for wind energy transmission systems. New model development, validation, and calibration methods for power transmission systems are proposed and implemented as well. First, a model reduction criteria is chosen based on electrical interconnection and geographical information. Model development is then done using reduction techniques on an operation model provided by a transmission operator based on the chosen criteria. Then model validation is performed using actual PMU synchrophasor measurements provided by a utility company. The model development and validation process ensures the accuracy of the developed model and makes for a realistic …

Design And Development Of A Wearable Wireless Health Monitoring System: A Smart Watch Approach, Keerthi Paranikumar

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to Statistics, every year, about 610,000 people die because of heart disease in United States of America. (i.e. 1 in every 4 deaths.*) Heart disease is common for both men and women. Annually, about 370,000 people die because of coronary heart disease, which is the most common type of heart disease [1]. About 735,000 Americans have heart attack every year. In this, 210,000 people gets heart attack who already has heart problems and 525,000 people get heart attack for the first time [2]. Not many people know that they have heart problems. Around 47% of the people in United …

Production Of Ethanol From Cereal Food Fines Using Dilute-Acid Hydrolysis, Andrew Edward Arnett

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cereal food fines are a leftover by-product from breakfast cereal processing that is typically sold as animal feed or used as a pet food ingredient; however this product could be of greater value as a feedstock for the production of fuel ethanol via fermentation. In order for this material to be fermented it has to be broken down in to simple sugars using hydrolysis. One method of hydrolysis is called dilute-acid hydrolysis, whereby low concentrations of acid are added to the feedstock to facilitate the breaking of chemical bonds. This study investigates the effect of different concentrations of acid to …

Evaluation Of Thermal Imaging Technology For Commercial Vehicle Screening, Jennifer R. Walton, Mark S. Spellman, Joseph D. Crabtree

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Brake and tire violations are common problems identified through commercial vehicle inspections. Identifying and correcting these types of problems before a crash occurs can produce significant safety benefits. Thermal imaging technology can be used by commercial vehicle enforcement to screen vehicles as they approach a weigh station to determine if they may have flat tires and inoperable brakes. The vehicles do not have to be stopped at a weigh station to be screened. Kentucky currently has three stations outfitted with thermal imaging technology. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the benefits of using the thermal imaging cameras to …

Automatic License Plate Recognition Using Deep Learning Techniques, Naga Surya Sandeep Angara

Electrical Engineering Theses

Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) systems capture a vehicles license plate and recognize the license number and other required information from the captured image. ALPR systems have number of significant applications: law enforcement, public safety agencies, toll gate systems, etc. The goal of these systems is to recognize the characters and state on the license plate with high accuracy. ALPR has been implemented using various techniques. Traditional recognition methods use handcrafted features for obtaining features from the image. Unlike conventional methods, deep learning techniques automatically select features and are one of the game changing technologies in the field of computer …

Virtual Electronics Laboratory For Visualized Education And Training, Sreelatha Aihloor Subramanyam

Electrical Engineering Theses

On-line education is utilized extensively and has been found to be effective in a multitude of subject areas, including engineering education. However, for on-line education to be fully effective in engineering education, a means must be developed to provide on-line students with laboratory experiences that achieve the same learning outcomes as face-to-face laboratories. To address this need, a pilot computer program, Project VELVET (Virtual Electronics Laboratory for Visualized Education and Training), for a virtual electronics laboratory is being developed. VELVET operates on Windows-based computers in a real-time environment. It presents to its user a virtual breadboard into which components may …

Identification Of Color Properties Of Mangos Using Image Analysis, Md Towfqur Rahman

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this project work carried out the application of a simple machine vision system was used to measure the different color properties of mango fruit surface for grading operation. In the context of agricultural post-harvest activity, labor shortage and timeliness of operation, manual grading of fruits and other agricultural products are laborious and costly. Now-a-days non-destructive machine vision technology is used to process various post harvest operation of biological products according size, shape, defects, etc. A CCD camera with fluorescent lighting system is used to capture the mango images into the visible light region. Then the images were analyzed by …

A Study On Evaporative Cooling For Data Centers & Artificial Neural Network Modeling, Pritam Karmokar

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

This study mainly aims at exploring how, one of the best “Green” solutions for IT equipment cooling aka Evaporative Cooling, can be optimized for better future deployment. Also, this study focuses on ways to deploy Artificial Neural Network models to Dynamic Systems. Today, SERVERS are one of most important devices that our technology driven world cannot do without. Efficiently cooling these delicate yet highly power dense beasts, while being environment friendly is one of our prime concerns. This study is a combination of two deceptively divergent works. First, on exploring the workings of this technique by investigating one such Evaporative …

Cae Analysis On A Ford Ecoboost Mustang Connecting Rod For Forged Steel, Aluminum 7075, Shiva Prasad Keralapura Basavaraju

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Connecting rod is high volume production critical component in an automobile engine. Every Internal combustion engine uses a connecting rod. Connecting rod must have highest possible rigidity with lowest possible weight. The major stress developed in the connecting rod are axial stress, due to combustion chamber pressure, and bending stress, due to centrifugal effect. Connecting rod mainly fails due to fatigue; according to survey, about 90% of the time the failure is due to fatigue. CAE analysis on Ford Eco boost Mustang connecting rod is carried out to validate the life of the connecting rod for forged steel and Aluminium7075. …

Computational Model For Steady State Simulation Of A Plate-Fin Heat Exchanger, Ajit Rajesh Desai

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

High performance heat transfer devices are critical components in hybrid power generation systems. The design of a Recuperator for 'waste heat recovery' is crucial for reducing the operating cost of a hybrid system. Plate-fin heat exchangers occupy a special position among high performance heat exchangers because of the compactness, efficiency and flexibility they offer. The performance of these heat exchange devices is typically very sensitive to fluid property variations, axial conduction and heat losses to environment. This thesis presents a numerical model of a plate fin heat exchanger in which fluid property variations including temperature driven changes in specific heat …

Study Of Homogeneous Mineral Acid Dehydration Of Monosaccharides In A Cstr, Siddharth Sharad Bhat

Dissertations - ALL

Simple sugars (Aldohexoses/pentoses), (Ketohexoses/pentose) when subjected to a dehydration reaction, produce various compounds. An example of one such compound is 5-hydroxymethyl furfural. Such chemical products may be used in subsequent processing steps (hydrolysis, aldol condensation, hydrogenation and dehydration) to produce similarly structured condensed compounds that form the basis of complex molecules used in various industries such as production of fuels, chemical reagents and fertilizers. Most studies focus on heterogeneous packed beds and batch reactors to carry out dehydration reactions. This study illustrates use of a Continuous Stirred-Tank reactor to carry out such dehydration reactions. In order to maintain the homogenous …

An Experimental Study On Thermal Stability Of Faee Biodiesel Fuel With Ethanol, Yujie Shen

Dissertations - ALL

Biodiesel fuel is usually synthesized from vegetable oil and animal fat, and now it has been widely used in tractors, trucks, buses and ships. Unlike traditional fossil fuels, biodiesel is more environment-friendly and it is renewable, which can help people solve the energy crisis to some extent.

Nowadays, supercritical esterification has become a novel way to produce biodiesel, but high temperature may cause the decomposition of biodiesel. Researchers mainly focus on studying the properties of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), however, fatty acid ethyl ester (FAEE) biodiesel has only been slightly explored. So in this study, ethanol was used to …

Controlling Biofilm And Persister Cells By Targeting Cell Membranes, Ali Adem Bahar

Dissertations - ALL

The rapid increase in antibiotic resistant infections and the slowing pace of antibiotic development emphasize the need for alternative therapeutic agents to cure infectious diseases especially those caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains. Bacteria obtain resistance to antibiotics through multiple mechanisms. One of intrinsic mechanisms of drug resistance is persister formation, by which bacterial cells enter a metabolically inactive stage and become highly tolerant to essentially all antibiotics, even at the concentrations that are hundreds of times higher than the lethal dose required to kill normal planktonic cells of the same strain. Persister cells in biofilms are even more difficult to …

Shape Memory Polymers As 2d Substrates And 3d Scaffolds For The Study Of Cell Mechanobiology And Tissue Engineering, Richard Mcclary Baker

Dissertations - ALL

Tissue engineering is a promising, fast-growing field that combines cells, signals, and scaffolds to regenerate damaged tissues. To develop new, functional, engineered tissues, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how cell-material interactions affect the cell mechanobiological response. As a result, recent efforts have focused on developing complex synthetic materials that can mimic the dynamic in vivo cell environment. In this work, shape memory polymers (SMPs) were employed to develop dynamic 2D substrates and 3D scaffolds that undergo programmed changes in shape under cell compatible conditions. These substrates and scaffolds were applied in vitro and in vivo to demonstrate their …

Characterization And Chemical Kinetic Analysis Of The Ignition Of Representative Conventional And Bio-Derived Fuels, Mazen Eldeeb

Dissertations - ALL

Fossil fuels are the main energy source in the world. However, they are responsible for negative environmental impacts, such as global climate change and rising sea levels. Biofuels are an environmentally friendly alternative which can substitute fossil fuels without major engine modications, especially in the transportation sector. Furans, a class of biofuels, are considered as possible alternative fuels for SI engines. They can be produced from sugars, derived from non-food biomass sources. This thesis is a contribution to fundamental characterization of their combustion properties.

Reactivity trends in furan combustion are established through ignition delay measurements of selected furans; 2,5-dimethyl furan …