Engineering Commons^™

A Case Study Of Bioengineering In America: Profits, Risks And Standards Of Value In The Commercialization Of Monsanto Company's Newleaf Potato, Bridget Lyons, Teresa Ralabate, Nadhim Frangul

WCBT Faculty Publications

Last year, approximately 45 million acres of American farmland were planted with crops that had been genetically engineered to either produce their own pesticides, or withstand herbicides. The long and short-term effects of this biotechnology on humans and the environment, are being studied, but remain unknown. Leading the way in the field of bioengineered crops is the Missouri-based Monsanto Company. Monsanto believes that current agricultural practices are inconsistent with sustainable development. The NewLeaf potato is one of three products Monsanto has created to feed the growing world population. The genetically engineered crop produces, in every cell of the plant, a …

Material Balance Modification In One-Dimensional Modeling Of Porous Electrodes, Mukul Jain, John W. Weidner

Faculty Publications

The material balance used previously in one-dimensional mathematical models of porous electrodes is invalid when there is a non-zero volume change associated with the reaction. It is shown here how the material balance should be modified either to account for a loss in volume, or to account for an inflow of electrolyte from the header into the active pores. A one-dimensional mathematical model is used to illustrate the effect of this correction on the prediction of the delivered capacity and the electrolyte concentration in a lithium/thionyl chloride primary battery.

A Mathematical Model Of An Electrochemical Capacitor With Double-Layer And Faradaic Processes, Chuan Lin, James A. Ritter, Branko N. Popov, Ralph E. White

Faculty Publications

A mathematical model of an electrochemical capacitor with hydrous ruthenium oxide (RuO₂·xH₂O) electrodes including both double-layer and surface faradaic processes is developed to predict the behavior of the capacitor under conditions of galvanostatic charge and discharge. The effect of RuO₂·xH₂O particle size is studied and shows that the smaller the particles the better the performance because of the increased surface area per unit volume or mass. The model also predicts that the faradaic process increases significantly the energy per unit volume of the capacitor for power densities of …

Mathematical Modeling Of The Lithium Deposition Overcharge Reaction In Lithium‐Ion Batteries Using Carbon‐Based Negative Electrodes, Pankaj Arora, Marc Doyle, Ralph E. White

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Influence Of Some Design Variables On The Thermal Behavior Of A Lithium‐Ion Cell, Gerardine G. Botte, Bradley A. Johnson, Ralph E. White

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Simple Method For Determining Differential Diffusion Coefficients From Aqueous Electrolyte Diaphragm Cell Data At Temperatures Below 0°C, D. M. See, Ralph E. White

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Methanol Fuel Cell Model: Anode, S. F. Baxter, V. S. Battaglia, Ralph E. White

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Mathematical Modeling Of Electrochemical Capacitors, Venkat Srinivasan, John W. Weidner

Faculty Publications

Analytic solutions to the mathematical model of an electrochemical capacitor (EC) are used to study cell performance under two types of operating conditions: (i) constant current and (ii) electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The analytic solution under constant-current operation is used to investigate the relative importance of ionic resistance in the separator, and ionic and electronic resistances in the porous electrode in the design and operation of an EC. Model results are presented that show the trade-off between energy and power density, as the physical properties of the cell components are varied (e.g., electrode thickness). The analytic solution …

Remedy Selection For Cleanup Of Uncontrolled Waste Sites, Paul D. Bennett, Brad Brumbach, Tyrone W. Farmer, Preston L. Funkhouser Iv, Allen W. Hatheway

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Selection of remedy for uncontrolled hazardous waste sites involves comparisons of various technological approaches for minimization of threats and achievement of cleanup action levels. Approaches specified in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (SUPERFUND Law) National Contingency Plan (40 CFR 300) are broadly labeled as actions, alternatives, and technologies. We have found considerable perplexity in denoting the rank-hierarchy of these approaches and have developed a classification system for dealing with the totality of available measures for consideration in selection of remedy.

Computation Of Flame Base Height Of A Turbulent Diffusion Flame Resulting From A Methane Jet, A. S. Kheireddine, S. K. Chaturvedi, T. O. Mohieldin

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

This work summarizes numerical results for a diffusion flame formed from a cylindrical tube fuel injector, issuing a gaseous methane jet vertically in a quiescent atmosphere. The primary objective is to predict the flame base height and other flame characteristics as a function of the fuel jet velocity. A finite volume scheme is used to discretize the time-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for the reacting flow resulting from the turbulent fuel jet motion. The turbulent stresses, and heat and mass fluxes are computed from a Reynolds stress turbulence model. A chemical kinetics model involving two-step chemistry is employed for the oxidation of …

Reduction Of Quantum Noise In Transmittance Estimation Using Photonecorrelated Beams, Majeed M. Hayat, Adel Joobeur, Bahaa E.A. Saleh

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The accuracy of optical measurements at low light levels is limited by the quantum noise of the source and by the random nature of the interaction with the measured object. The source noise may be reduced by use of nonclassical photon-number squeezed light. This paper considers the use of two photon-correlated beams (generated, for example, by spontaneous parametric downconversion) to measure the optical transmittance of an object. The photons of each beam obey a random Poisson process, but are synchronized in time. One beam is used to probe the object while the other is used as a reference providing information …

Experimental Investigation Of The Performance Of A Solar Crop Dryer, Sherif Nabil Abd

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Analytical Appraisal Of The Egyptian Privatization Experience, Hanaa Mossad El Habrouk

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Potential For Aquifer Storage And Recovery In Box Elder And Cache Counties, Mariush Kemblowski, Tom Lachmar, Richard Peralta

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Groundwater artificial storage and recovery (ASR) has become a favorable means in the arid west to store water produced in excess of need during winter months for use in drier times of the year. ASR may be accomplished by injection of suitable water into the groundwater system via wells to be pumped out later, or by recovery of seepage via wells from surface water impoundments or infiltration networks. This report will present pertinent hydrogeologic information for the location of an artificial groundwater storage and recovery project in Utah's northeastern Box Elder County.

Feedback Control Theory For Dynamic Traffic Assignment, Pushkin Kachroo, Kaan Ozbay

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

Traditionally, traffic assignment and traffic control in general have mostly been performed using optimisation techniques which do not lend themselves to real-time control. This volume presents feedback control techniques for performing traffic assignment in real-time, where traffic diversion control variables are instantaneous functions of sensed traffic variables. The authors outline the whole theory behind Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) which allows traffic variables to be sensed in real time and microprocessors to use the sensed traffic variable input to perform the traffic actuation tasks. They show h ow to design feedback controllers to perform dynamic traffic routing and assignment, and present …

Sinmap 2.0 - A Stability Index Approach To Terrain Stability Hazard Mapping, User's Manual, Robert T. Pack, David G. Tarboton, C. N. Goodwin

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

SINMAP 2.0 (Stability Index MAPping) is an ArcGIS 9.0 plug-in that implements the computation and mapping of a slope stability index based upon geographic information, primarily digital elevation data. This report describes the theoretical basis for the calculation of the stability index, describes the implementation, presents several case studies and describes use of the accompanying software. SINMAP has its theoretical basis in the infinite plane slope stability model with wetness (pore pressures) obtained from a topographically based steady state model of hydrology. Digital elevation model (DEM) methods are used to obtain the necessary input information (slope and specific catchment area). …

Potential For Aquifer Storage And Recovery In Box Elder And Cache Counties, Richard C. Peralta, Tom Lachmar, Mariush Kemblowski

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Groundwater artificial storage and recovery (ASR) has become a favorable means in the arid west to store water produced in excess of need during winter months for use in drier times of the year. ASR may be accomplished by injection of suitable water into the groundwater system via wells to be pumped out later, or by recovery of seepage via wells from surface water impoundments or infiltration networks. This report will present pertinent hydrogeologic information for the location of an artificial groundwater storage and recovery project in Utah's northeastern Box Elder County.

Exclusive Disjunctions In Indefinite And Maybe Information In Relational Databases, Taflan İ. Gündem

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Incorporating indefinite information into databases has been studied extensively. In this paper, we propose a structure called an E-table to represent maybe information and inclusive and exclusive disjunctions. We define the type of redundancies in E-tables and show how to eliminate them. Also we present an extended relational algebra to operate on E-tables. In this paper we expand the concepts and operations defined by Lin and Sunderraman [1] in order to accommodate exclusive disjunctions in relational databases.

Enterprise Business Objects : Design And Implementation Of A Business Object Framework, Kai-Uwe Schafer

Theses

Software components representing business entities like customer or purchase order introduce a new way of Online Transaction Processing to business applications. Collaborating business objects allow to complete whole business processes as a single distributed transaction, instead of dividing it into queued steps, which sometimes even require user intervention. This IS due to the fact that business objects contain both business data and logic and that they incorporate multiple databases from different vendors and different geographic locations in a single transaction.

Business objects cannot be used as stand-alone components, but require a framework of services that manage persistence, concurrent transactions, and …

Conjunctive Use Of Surface Water And Groundwater For Sustainable Agricultural Production, Richard C. Peralta

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This report is a guide to aid conjunctive water use in stream-aquifer systems. Conjunctive use refers to coordinated use of groundwater and surface water resources. This document discusses principles useful for field engineers and agricultural experts. It presents hydrologic and hydraulic principles and quantitative and qualitative parameters relating to sustainable conjunctive use. It provides tools and software.

Nonlinear Constrained Optimizer And Parallel Processing For Golden Block Line Search, Duc T. Nguyen, Wilson H. Tang, Yeou K. Tung, Hakizumwami B. Runesha

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Generalized exponential penalty functions are constructed for the multiplier methods in solving nonlinear programming problems. The non-smooth extreme constraint Gext is replaced by a single smooth constraint Gs by using the generalized exponential function (base a>1). The well-known K.S. function is found to be a special case of our proposed formulation. Parallel processing for Golden block line search algorithm is then summarized, which can also be integrated into our formulation. Both small and large-scale nonlinear programming problems (up to 2000 variables and 2000 nonlinear constraints) have been solved to validate the proposed algorithms.

Natural Treatment And On-Site Processes, Kevin D. White, Joel Gerard Burken

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Natural Treatment Systems, Which is Divided into Land-Treatment, Wetland, Aquatic, Onsite and Small Community, and Phytoremediation Systems, Are Discussed. This Include the Free Water Surface Constructed Wetlands, Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands, Vertical Flow Constructed Wetlands,ponds, Floating Aquatic Plant Systems, Solar Aquatic Systems, Small Treatment Systems, and In-Ground Disposals.

The Appearance Of Ferrielectric Phases In Confined Liquid Crystal Studied By Photon Correlation Spectroscopy, Yuri Panarin, Fouad M. Aliev, Charles Rosenblatt

Articles

The influence of confinement on the dynamic properties and appearance of ferrielectric phases has been investigated by dynamic light scattering, performed in the bulk AFLC as well as confined in 200 8, and 2000 8, cylindrical pores. The analysis of the experimental results shows that the ferrielectric phases are not formed in 200 A pores, while they appear in 2000 8, pores as well as in bulk.

Application Of Pvd Coatings To Enhance The Wear Life Of Needles Used In The Textile Industry, Neil Donnelly

Masters

Needles are used in the textile industry for weaving. In high volume textile production a problem is wear of the needle eyelet as the threat is pulled through. This wear results in a cost to the textile manufacturer both in needle replacement, but in many cases more importantly, lost production during needle substitution The objective of this study was to examine the potential of wear resistant coatings deposited using the magnetron sputtering technique to increase the life-time of textile needles. Four coatings were evaluated, titanium nitride, titanium carbonitride, titanium diamond-like carbon and a novel coating titanium nitride/molybdenum disulphide. These coatings …

Modeling Nitrogen Release During Devolatilization On The Basis Of Chemical Structure Of Coal, Dominic Genetti, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

A model that predicts the amount and distribution between tar and light gas of nitrogen released during devolatilization has been developed and incorporated into the chemical percolation devolatilization (CPD) model. This work represents the first volatile nitrogen release model developed on the basis of ¹³C NMR measurements of coal structure. This work also represents the first volatile nitrogen release model evaluated by comparing model predictions with chemical structural features of the char (determined by ¹³C NMR spectral analyses). The model is limited to nitrogen release during primary pyrolysis, and assumes that all light-gas nitrogen is HCN. Model predictions …

Spin-Up In A Tank Induced By A Rotating Bluff Body, R. Daniel Maynes, J. Klewicki, P. Mcmurty

Faculty Publications

Spin-up of a turbulent flow in a cylindrical tank caused by a rotating bluff body has been investigated using flow visualization, fluid velocity measurements, and hydrodynamic torque measurements. During the spin-up process three distinct temporal regimes exist. These regimes are: (i) a build-up regime where the torque and the tangential velocity fluctuations in the close proximity of the body remain constant; (ii) a decay regime where these quantities decay with power-law relations; and (iii) a mean flow steady state where these values remain relatively constant. Experiments were conducted in two tanks differing in volume by a factor of 80 and …

Grazing Reflection Of Gaussian Beams, Lee W. Casperson

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The reflectivities of most surfaces are higher for grazing or near-90-deg angles of incidence than for more perpendicular or near-zero-deg angles. Grazing-incidence configurations are especially important in the development of lasers and optical systems that operate in the far-ultraviolet and soft-x-ray regions of the spectrum, where transparent or highly reflecting media are almost unknown. Analytical solutions of the paraxial wave equation are obtained for the grazing reflection and complex interference effects that take place when a Gaussian beam interacts at shallow angles with a reflecting surface.

Constructive Induction Machines For Data Mining, Marek Perkowski, Stanislaw Grygiel, Qihong Chen, Dave Mattson

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

"Learning Hardware" approach involves creating a computational network based on feedback from the environment (for instance, positive and negative examples from the trainer), and realizing this network in an array of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). Computational networks can be built based on incremental supervised learning (Neural Net training) or global construction (Decision Tree design). Here we advocate the approach to Learning Hardware based on Constructive Induction methods of Machine Learning (ML) using multivalued functions. This is contrasted with the Evolvable Hardware (EHW) approach in which learning/evolution is based on the genetic algorithm only. Various approaches to supervised inductive learning …

Logic Synthesis For A Regular Layout, Marek Perkowski, Yang Xu, Malgorzata Chrzanowska-Jeske

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

New algorithms for generating a regular two-dimensional layout representation for multi-output, incompletely specified Boolean functions, called, Pseudo-Symmetric Binary Decision Diagrams (PSBDDs), are presented. The regular structure of the function representation allows accurate prediction of post-layout areas and delays before the layout is physically generated. It simplifies power estimation on the gate level and allows for more accurate power optimization. The theoretical background of the new diagrams, which are based on ideas from contact networks, and the form of decision diagrams for symmetric functions is discussed. PSBDDs are especially well suited for deep sub-micron technologies where the delay of interconnections limits …

Trace: A Visual Software System To Explore Properties Of Reed-Muller Movement Functions, Marek Perkowski, Alan Mishchenko

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present new experimental Windows 95/98/NT software for investigation of graph properties of boolean (in particular, Reed-Muller) logic with an equal number n of inputs and outputs (called movement functions). Realized at the input of an n-bit register, such functions create autonomous Finite State Machines (FSMs). TRACE software system allows the user to visualize State Transition Graphs (STGs) of the autonomous FSMs. Other features of TRACE help explore graph properties of function families. These families are produced by a generic function, differing from it only in the order of components, one operation, or one literal (this literal is complemented or …