Engineering Commons^™

Multiple Order Dispersive Optics System And Method Of Use, Blaine D. Johs, Ping He, Steven E. Green, Shakil A. Pittal, John A. Woollam

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Disclosed is a dispersive optics system, in the context of ellipsometer or polarimeter and the like systems. which, in use. produces a plurality of "Orders" of essentially single wavelength beams of light from a polychromatic beam of light. In use the availability of more than one "Order" of essentially single wavelength beams of light allows simultaneous measurement of more essentially single wavelength beams of light than would be possible were only one "Order" of essentially single wavelength beams of light present. Filters are present to reduce the effects of stray light on detector elements and to allow separating the wavelengths …

Optically Transparent Composite Material And Process For Preparing Same, D. E. Day, James O. Stoffer, John M. Barr

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Glass ribbon-reinforced transparent polymer composites which provide excellent optical transparency and a low distortion level over a wide temperature range while exhibiting superior mechanical properties as compared to non- reinforced polymer counterparts, and equivalent properties as compared to glass fiber-reinforced counterparts.

Acuta Enews September 1997, Vol. 26, No. 9

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

Telecom Goes Marketing

Board Report

President's Message

Marketing Telecom

Thanks to Sprint for Sponsoring Directory

User Groups Meet in Atlanta and Online

Resource Library Update

Last Call for Directory Updates!

On the Move....

Guide to Distance Learning Available

Internet Call Manager

Spotlight

DC at a Glance

Welcome New Members

ACUTA Event Calendar

Identification And Classification Of Inconsistency In Relationship To Software Maintenance, Daniel Cooke, Luqi, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

This paper provides an overview of the relationship between recent work in logic programming and recent developments in software engineering. The relationship to software engineering is more specifically concerned with how formal specifications can be used to explain and represent the basis of software maintenance and evolution. Some of the results reviewed here have appeared in our previous papers. These previous results are summarized, extended, and made more general in this paper.

Wright State University College Of Engineering And Computer Science Bits And Pcs Newsletter, Volume 13, Number 7, September 1997, College Of Engineering And Computer Science, Wright State University

BITs and PCs Newsletter

A ten page newsletter created by the Wright State University College of Engineering and Computer Science that addresses the current affairs of the college.

Time Enough - Consequences Of Human Microchip Implantation, Elaine M. Ramesh

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Dr. Ramesh argues that microchip implantation is both possible and, for some purposes, desirable and suggests that now is the time to consider strategies for preventing potentially grievous intrusion into personal privacy.

Strict Achimedean T-Norms And T-Conorms As Universal Approximators, Hung T. Nguyen, Vladik Kreinovich, Piotr Wojciechowski

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In knowledge representation, when we have to use logical connectives, various continuous t-norms and t-conorms are used. In this paper, we show that every continuous t-norm and t-conorm can be approximated, to an arbitrary degree of accuracy, by a strict Archimedean t-norm (t-conorm).

Computational Geometry And Artifical Neural Networks: A Hybrid Approach To Optimal Sensor Placement For Aerospace Nde, Roberto A. Osegueda, Carlos M. Ferregut, Mary J. George, Jose M. Gutierrez, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

The ideal design of an airplane should include built-in sensors that are pre-blended in the perfect aerodynamic shape. Each built-in sensor is expensive to blend in and requires continuous maintenance and data processing, so we would like to use as few sensors as possible. The ideal formulation of the corresponding optimization problem is, e.g., to minimize the average detection error for fault locations. However, there are two obstacles to this ideal formulation:

--First, this ideal formulation requires that we know the probabilities of different fault locations etc., and there are usually not enough statistics to determine these probabilities.

--Second, even …

The Challenge Of Hyper-Spectral Satellite Imaging And Integer-Valued Fuzzy Sets, Maria Beltran, Vladik Kreinovich, Scott A. Starks

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Satellite images already produce huge amounts of data, which makes their processing a serious computational challenge. This problem will become even more complicated with the launch of multi-spectral Earth-imaging satellites that will increase the amount of information by at least two orders of magnitude. With such a huge amount of information, it is necessary to come up with data processing methods that are as fast as possible. In particular, we show that for fuzzy processing techniques, this leads to the necessity to use integer-valued fuzzy sets.

Sensor Placement For Aerospace Non-Destructive Evaluation (Nde): Optimization Under Fuzzy Uncertainty, Roberto A. Osegueda, Carlos M. Ferregut, Mary J. George, Jose M. Gutierrez, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

No abstract provided.

Which Algorithms Are Feasible? Maxent Approach, Daniel E. Cooke, Vladik Kreinovich, Luc Longpre

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

It is well known that not all algorithms are feasible; whether an algorithm is feasible or not depends on how many computational steps this algorithm requires. The problem with the existing definitions of feasibility is that they are rather ad hoc. Our goal is to use the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) approach and get more motivated definitions.

If an algorithm is feasible, then, intuitively, we would expect the following to be true:

If we have a flow of problems with finite average length L, then we expect the average time T to be finite as well.

Thus, we can say …

We Must Choose The Simplest Physical Theory: Levin-Li-Vitanyi Theorem And Its Potential Physical Applications, Dirk Fox, Martin Schmidt, Misha Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich, Luc Longpre, Jeff Kuhn

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

If several physical theories are consistent with the same experimental data, which theory should we choose? Physicists often choose the simplest theory; this principle (explicitly formulated by Occam) is one of the basic principles of physical reasoning. However, until recently, this principle was mainly a heuristic because it uses the informal notion of simplicity.

With the explicit notion of simplicity coming from the Algorithmic Information theory, it is possible not only to formalize this principle in a way that is consistent with its traditional usage in physics, but also to prove this principle, or, to be more precise, deduce it …

Environmentally-Oriented Processing Of Multi-Spectral Satellite Images: New Challenges For Bayesian Methods, Scott A. Starks, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Remotely sensed images from new generation satellites present an opportunity for scientists to investigate problems in environmental and earth science which have been previously intractable. The magnitude of data that will arise from these hyperspectral instruments create the need for innovative techniques to accomplish data reduction. This paper presents an algorithm which shows promise as a tool for reducing the dimensionality of data resulting from remote sensing. The optimality criteria for the algorithm is the Bayes Risk in the reduced dimension space.

The Conference Proceedings Of The 1997 Air Transport Research Group (Atrg) Of The Wctr Society, Vol. 1, No. 1, Tae Hoon Oum, Brent Bowen, Uno Aviation Institute

Faculty Books and Monographs

UNOAI Report 97-2

Optimization Of Microstructure Development During Hot Working Using Control Theory, James C. Malas Iii, W. Garth Frazier, S. Venugopal, Enrique A. Medina, Steven Madeiros, Raghavan Srinivasan, R. Dennis Irwin, W. M. Mullins, Anil Chaudhary

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

A new approach for controlling microstructure development during hot working processes is proposed. This approach is based on optimal control theory and involves state-space type models for describing the material behavior and the mechanics of the process. The effect of process control parameters such as strain, strain rate, and temperature on important microstructural features can be systematically formulated and then solved as an optimal control problem. This method has been applied to the optimization of grain size and process parameters such as die geometry and ram velocity during the extrusion of plain carbon steel. Experimental results of this investigation show …

Maximum Entropy Approach To Optimal Sensor Placement For Aerospace Non-Destructive Testing, Roberto A. Osegueda, Carlos M. Ferregut, Mary J. George, Jose M. Gutierrez, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

The ideal design of an airplane should include built-in sensors that are pre-blended in the perfect aerodynamic shape. Each built-in sensor is expensive to blend in and requires continuous maintenance and data processing, so we would like to use as few sensors as possible. The ideal formulation of the corresponding optimization problem is, e.g., to minimize the average detection error for fault locations. However, there are two obstacles to this ideal formulation:

--First, this ideal formulation requires that we know the probabilities of different fault locations and the probabilities of different aircraft exploitation regimes. In reality, especially for a …

Runoff, Erosion, And Soil Quality Characteristics Of A Former Conservation Reserve Program Site In Southwestern Oklahoma, John E. Gilley, John W. Doran, Thanh H. Dao

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

This study was conducted to measure runoff, erosion, and soil quality characteristics of a site in southwestern Oklahoma the first year following conversion from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Treatments included undisturbed CRP, Old World bluestem (Bothriochlora ischaemum L.), no-till wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and conservation-till wheat. Significant differences in surface cover were found between each of the experimental treatments, with values ranging from 100% on the undisturbed CRP site to 42% for the conservation-till treatment. No significant difference in runoff was found among the various experimental treatments. The Old World bluestem and winter wheat treatments had only …

Color Image Filters: The Vector Directional Approach, Konstantinos N. Kostas Plataniotis, Dimitrios Androutsos

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

Processing of color image data using directional information has received increased attention lately due to the introduction of the vector directional filters. These rank-ordered type filters utilize the direction of color vectors to enhance, restore and segment color images. First, the different vector directional filters already in use are presented, focusing on their similarities and differences and, second, new adaptive vector directional filters are introduced. Fuzzy as well as nearest neighbor structures are utilized to determine the weights in the proposed adaptive filters. Simulation studies involving color images are used to assess the performance of the different vector directional filters …

1997 Safety Belt Usage Survey And Evaluation Of Effectiveness In Kentucky, Kenneth R. Agent

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objective of this study was to establish 1997 safety belt and child safety seat usage rates in Kentucky. The 1997 survey documents the continuing results from enacting a statewide mandatory safety belt law in 1994. Data were collected at 100 sites and combined based on vehicle miles traveled for a given type of highway, rural or urban location, and county population category. Also included in the report is an analysis of accident records evaluating the effectiveness of safety belts.

The data show that the usage rate has stabilized at a level slightly below the high value which occurred in …

Effect Of Bmp Implementation On Storm Flow Quality Of Two Northwestern Arkansas Streams, Dwayne R. Edwards, Tommy C. Daniel, H. Don Scott, Phillip A. Moore Jr., John F. Murdoch, Paul F. Vendrell

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The effectiveness of management practices in improving quality of runoff from agricultural land areas has been reported based primarily on results from plot- and field-scale studies. There is limited information available on watershed scales, particularly when the dominant agricultural land use is pasture. The objective of this study was to determine whether a program of Best Management Practice (BMP) implementation in the Lincoln Lake watershed of northwestern Arkansas was effective in reducing storm stream flow concentrations and mass transport of nitrate nitrogen (NO₃-N), ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), ortho-phosphorus (PO₄-P), total phosphorus …

Controlling Ventilation And Space Depressurization In Restaurants In Hot And Humid Climates, Florida Solar Energy Center, Charles Withers, Jr.

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Testing was performed in 9 restaurants to identify uncontrolled air flows and pressure imbalances, building and duct system airtightness, building air barrier location, pressure differentials, building air flow balance, and ventilation rates. All restaurants are depressurized under normal operating conditions, ranging from -1.0 to -43 pascals. Space depressurization is a function of exhaust fan flow rates, missing or undersized make-up air, intermittent outdoor air caused by the cycling of air handlers, dirty outdoor air and make-up air filters, and building airtightness. Ventilation rates were found to be high, generally exceeding ASHRAE 62-1989 minimum recommended levels. Pressure imbalances and excessive ventilation …

Reducing Cannon Plug Connector Pin Selection Time And Errors Through Enhanced Data Presentation Methods, Robert R. Webb

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of data presentation methods on technician performance when the procedures are presented on a monocular, head mounted display (HMD) in a static maintenance environment. This research used two different methods to present the maintenance task data to the technicians. The first method showed the task as it is typically described in standard technical manuals. It described the task to perform and provided a basic picture of the cannon plug to be tested (unenhanced). The second method provided the same information as the first, but it also modified the information by …

Case Studies In The Analysis Of The Dod Migration System Selection Process, Paul E. Boley Ii

Theses and Dissertations

One of the focuses of Corporate Information Management (CIM) initiative in the Department of Defense is the elimination of duplicate automated information systems. This thesis is a case study examination of the selection process in the logistics, transportation, and health functional areas. The case studies were performed through a one-time review of documents relating to system selections in each functional area. A review of strategic information systems planning and systems implementation literature is used to examine the results in the three areas. The thesis concludes with three suggestions for improving the selection process with an emphasis on systems implementation.

Economic Analysis For An F-22 Organic Vs. Contractor Aircraft Battle Damage Repair Ownership Decision, John A. Kitchens

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) is a viable alternative to Combat Logistics Support Squadrons (CLSSs) for providing F-22 Aircraft Battle Damage Repair (ABDR). Legalities, practicalities, and cost-effectiveness were key ownership concerns. United States Code, Office of Management and Budget, Department of Defense (DoD), and United States Air Force (USAF) requirements were reviewed to address legal and policy issues and whether F-22 ABDR is military essential. The Army's Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOCCAP) award fee history was used to assess the potential performance of F-22 ABDR CLS personnel. F-117 ABDR team requirements and …

How The Presence Of A Risk Ladder, Time Interval Comparison, And Smoking Comparison Affect Risk Perception, Steve A. Dinzart

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study is to increase the knowledge available on the relative effectiveness of risk ladders as a presentation format for explaining risk magnitudes to the public. An experiment was conducted to test the hypotheses that an individual's risk perception varies with the presence of a risk ladder, time interval comparison, and smoking comparison. Subjects were AFIT Professional Continuing Education students, asked to assume a particular level of a health hazard in their homes, to read a brochure explaining the hazard, and then to complete a questionnaire. Results demonstrated that subjects exposed to a graphical risk ladder perceived …

The Effects Of Extraneous Presentation Graphics On Decision Making, Thomas S. Tingley

Theses and Dissertations

Almost every professional presentation includes some form of graphics. Many previous researchers have analyzed the relative effectiveness of graphical decision aids, such as pie charts or bar graphs. Very little research, however, has been conducted to determine the effects of extraneous graphics, such as pictures and logos, on decision making. This study employed an experiment to determine whether extraneous graphics hinder or enhance a decision maker's ability to obtain the pertinent information from a professional presentation. Other factors such as gender and graphics training were also analyzed for any influence on the results obtained. The results of the study indicated …

Aerial Port Location Study, Levenchi L. Dingle

Theses and Dissertations

This study performed an investigation on determining the appropriate number and locations of continental United States aerial ports. To accomplish this a linear programming formulation was adapted with the optimizing function based on trading off the cost of shipping cargo against port operating costs. Cargo would travel from CONUS origin, through aerial port of embarkation (APOE), to aerial port of debarkation (APOD) at minimum cost to the DoD. The need for the study was precipitated by continued reductions in the military budget, consolidation of defense depots, and the reduction in the number of personnel stationed overseas. Cargo movement data was …

Predicting Mishap Rates At Closing Usaf Maintenance Depots, Douglas E. Mcclain

Theses and Dissertations

It is clear that the Department of Defense and the USAF, in an effort to cut costs, will continue to reduce infrastructure through base closures. This has particular implications to the civilian employee who will likely lose his or her job. The purpose of this study was to review the most recent literature relating to safety and industrial facility closures and develop a theoretical model for predicting accident or mishap rates. From the literature reviewed, a theoretical model is proposed containing five candidate variables intended to measure; perceived adequacy of employee safety training, perceived safety culture, perceived safety climate, self-reported …

Cost Per Flying Hour Analysis Of The C-141, Christopher J. Omlor

Theses and Dissertations

This paper sought to examine if DoD's current transfer pricing method places AMC in a price competitive position with the government commercial rates and promotes managers to make the best decisions. Attention was paid to the stated customer concerns that current transfer pricing methods incorporate overhead and sunk costs that are not attributable to routine movement of peacetime cargo and could make AMC non price competitive with commercial vendors. The findings are that AMC currently uses full cost transfer pricing, as required by DoD policy, that includes significant overhead and sunk costs associated with its wartime responsibilities. The full cost …

Comparison Of Effects Of Change From 8 To 12 Hour Shifts On Air Force Aircraft Maintenance Workers, Daniel W. Overland

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effects of converting from an 8 hour shift system to a 12 hour system on aircraft maintenance personnel. The squadron had converted its 24 hour operations from an 8 hour shift schedule to a 12 hour shift schedule in stages, changing one group first and then another. A smaller third group of workers remained on 8 hour shifts. Individual differences in job related outcomes and situational constraints were measured for all three groups. Results showed that changing from 8 to 12 hour shifts affected worker well-being and morale, as indicated by an increase in hospital visits …