Engineering Commons^™

Comment On "On The Fractal Dimension Of Stream Networks" By Paolo La Barbera And Renzo Rosso, David G. Tarboton, Rafael L. Bras, Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Pesticide Use On Utah's Crops, Howard M. Deer, Richard C. Peralta, Majid Ehteshami

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Utah State University's Cooperative Extension Service has placed high priority on a Water Quality Initiative for Utah. As a part of that emphasis, a research project was initiated to analyze the hazards that agricultural chemicals pose to Utah's ground water. The initial phase of this research was to determine those locations in Utah that are at greatest risk of ground water contamination by pesticides. This was accomplished by interfacing data on pesticide usage with soil and hydrologic factors. The results identified specific areas in the state where potential hazards exist. This report summarizes data on the use of pesticides on …

Analysis Of Traffic Accident Data In Kentucky (1985-1989), Kenneth R. Agent, Jerry G. Pigman

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This report includes an analysis of traffic accident data in Kentucky for the years of 1985 through 1989. A primary objective of this study was to determine average accident statistics for Kentucky highways. Average and critical number and rates of accidents were calculated for various types of highways in rural and urban areas. These data can be used in Kentucky's procedure to identify locations that have abnormal rates or numbers of accidents.

Another objective of this study was to provide data which can be used in the preparation of the problem identification portion of Kentucky's Annual Highway Safety Plan. County …

1990 Safety Belt Usage Survey And Evaluation Of Effectiveness In Kentucky, Kenneth R. Agent

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objective of the survey was to establish 1990 safety belt and child safety seat usage rates in Kentucky. Data were collected at 100 sites and combined based on vehicle miles travelled for a given type of highway, rural or urban location, and county population category. Also included in this report is an analysis of accident records evaluating the effectiveness of safety belts.

Statewide usage rates were 32 percent for drivers and front-seat passengers (over 19 years of age) and 57 percent for children under four years of age (front and rear seats). Usage rates had increased significantly in 1990 …

Road Rater Correlation, R. Clark Graves, David L. Allen

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

In this study, a correlation has been conducted between the Model 400B and the Model 2000 Road Rater. Also contained in this study, is a study of the linearity of the Road Rater measurements. Information gained from this study will provide better understanding of Road Rater measurements.

Irish Building Services News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Comparative Analysis Of Single And Double Dwell Acquisition Schemes, Gurinder Singh Ahluwalia

Theses

Single and double dwell pseudonoise (PN) acquisition systems are described, explained and analyzed. These systems are designed to synchronize a locally generated PN signal with a received PN signal of unknown phase in the presence of noise. The mean, variance and an approximate probability distribution function (PDF) of the acquisition time for the single and double dwell PN acquisition schemes is developed. Intuitively, the double dwell acquisition system should be superior to the single dwell system because of the ability to quickly dismiss incorrect cells and further verify probable hits. It is shown analytically that this is in fact true …

Design Of A Microengineered Pressure Sensor, Ranjeet Alexis

Theses

A new family of microengineered vacuum ionization gauges of an approximate volume of 200µ³ has been designed. These devices can he fabricated using existing semiconductor processing capabilities. The focus of this thesis is to scale down the current state-of-the-art for ionization sensors to micron dimensions. These gauges can be manufactured economically and potentially will be integrated with more complex structures and circuitry. In these devices an active ionization volume of micron dimensions is used for launching ions in a trajectory towards a collection electrode. Ionization of gas species is accomplished by an electron flux of sufficient energy. Analysis of …

Improving The Throughput Of Plasticating Extruders : Measurement Of The Interparticulate Friction Coefficient For Polymeric Particulates With Circular And Profiled Cross Sections, Aiping Chen

Theses

This thesis deals with the coefficient of friction between individual polymeric pellets, the interparticulate friction coefficient (IPFC). It has been measured using a shear cell for a wide variety of circular and profiled cross?section pellets for a variery of polymeric materials. First, the thesis explains the reasons why it is desirable to enhance the IPFC based on the melting mechanisms in a single screw plasticating extruder. By making pellets with profiled cross?section pellets, the IPFC is greater than for pellets of circular cross?section. Second, it describes the test apparatus for measuring the IPFC and the method for calculating the IPFC. …

Point Pattern Matching By A Genetic Algroithm, Minghwang Chen

Theses

The problem we consider is to find a subset of points in a pattern that best match to a subset of points in another pattern through a transformation in a least squares sense. Exhaustive search to find the best assignment mapping one set of points to another set is, if the number of points that are to be matched is large, computationally expensive. We develop a genetic algorithm which searches for the best ("almost the best") assignment efficiently. To map the point pattern matching into the framework of a genetic algorithm, we use a fitness function which inversely proportional to …

A Critical Analysis On Cogeneration Policy, R. Tjahjokartiko Gondokusumo

Theses

It could be difficult to understand electricity problems without knowing its history; how a combine of legal, administration, and financial means effects electricity in the development. The recent public law on energy-related issues traceable by this study is the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Technology Competitiveness Act of 1989.

In short, cogeneration was proposed to utility (as public property) from industry (as private property) under PURPA (of which National Energy Act is the legislative history). Thus, it should be clear that the problems of cogeneration is not pro or contra issues. It is a national issue. Then, a cogeneration planner …

Decomposing Non-Product Form Queuing Lattices Through Genetic Algorithm, Wei Han

Theses

In this paper, a Genetic Algorithm technique is adapted to decompose the state transition lattice of a class of non-product form queueing models. Genetic Algorithms are search algorithms based upon the mechanics of natural genetics. They combine a survival-of-the-fittest among string structures with a structured, yet randomized, information exchange to form a search algorithm with some of the innovative flair of human search. While randomized, genetic algorithms are no simple random walk. They efficiently exploit historical information to speculate on new search points with improved performance. Here genetic algorithms is applied to a non-product queueing lattices optimization problem. Only the …

Performance Evaluation Of Consumer Electronic Bus, Sairaj R. Pakkam

Theses

This thesis describes the performance evaluation of the Consumer Electronic Bus proposed by the Electronic Industries Association. To study the behaviour of CEBUS under different traffic conditions, a simulation program was developed modelling the layer architecture of CEBUS. The CEBUS is based on the ISO/OSI model of layered architecture. The simulation results have shown that, when the throughput of the network is small, the delay is bounded for all messages of all priorities. As the throughput of the network increases, under the presence of more high priority messages, the lower priority messages get queued at their nodes. It is also …

Conditional Artificial Dielectric Waveguide, Hsien-Wen Ho

Theses

A thin layer of semiconductor ( the guest material ) is sandwiched between two polymeric films ( the host material ) to form an artificial dielectric waveguide. An artificial dielectric is a composite material consisting of a dielectric with a large number of conducting particles arranged in a three-dimensional pattern. The particle dimensions are smaller than the optical wavelength of interest. A beam of light with a photon energy above the band-gap of the semiconductor ( pump light ) induces electric and magnetic dipoles which affect the propagation of light with a photon energy below the band-gap ( probe light …

Hardware Algorithms For Computing Transcendental Functions, Xin-Pei Gong

Theses

The COordinate Rotation Digital Computer(CORDIC) is a special-purpose digital computer for real-time airborne computation. In this computer, a unique computing technique is employed which is especially suitable for solving the trigonometric relationships. A new computing technique based on the CORDIC algorithm is developed to reduce the number of iterations by one half for each input angle. This improvement is accomplished. by scanning multiple bits of the input angle(in our case, two) at a time. The CORDIC equations are rewritten accordingly and a hardware implementation structure is also presented. The results of the software simulation of the new algorithm are as …

Density Currents In Circular Wastewater Treatment Tanks, David M. Laliberte

Dissertations and Theses

Deviations from ideal flow and settling occur in circular wastewater treatment tanks because of tank geometry, flow conditions, and density currents caused by variations in suspended solids concentration and temperature distributions. Thermally induced density currents were investigated in this study. Under winter, low flow conditions, measurements were made of vertical and radial temperature distributions in the circular chlorination tank at Lake Oswego, Or., and in the circular primary and secondary clarifiers at Bend, Or. Thermistor arrays were used to collect the data which exhibited both vertically well-mixed and a two-layer flow regime. Inlet geometry and suspended solids in the secondary …

Gis Address-Matching And Transportation Analysis, James D. Orrell

Dissertations and Theses

Geographic Information System (GIS) address-matching combined with other GIS processing offers new analytical opportunities in the area of transportation planning and analysis. Address-matching, an automated method for generating geographically-referenced (geocoded) point locations on a map from common tabular databases, can facilitate transportation analysis by providing a planning tool based on individual rather than aggregated spatial distributions more common to transportation issues.

This thesis presents a case study in which GIS address-matching was I applied to a transportation problem at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon. The transportation problem at OHSU is common to major employment centers in urban …

Real-Time, In-Situ Measurement Of Film Thickness And Uniformity During Plasma Ashing Of Photoresist, Richard N. Savage, Horace Simmons, John T. Davies, Thomas Metz

Materials Engineering

This paper will discuss the performance of equipment which monitors and so controls photoresist thickness and uniformity during plasma ashing without interfering with the process. Practical monitoring of a subtractive process of this type is significantly more complex than monitoring deposition processes. An initial absolute thickness measurement is needed. In addition the device must view the layer through a luminous medium and cannot rely on simple optical interference fringe counting. The equipment is self-calibrating and sensitive to layers dnm thick. An application to partial plasma resist ashing in high uniformity equipment will be described. Application to other films (e. g. …

Puffing Biological Material, Frederick A. Payne

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Patents

A method and apparatus for puffing biological material such as fruits and vegetables are provided. The method includes the steps of: (a) placing the material in a pressure chamber; (b) subjecting the material to a puffing gas such as carbon dioxide at an increased pressure between substantially 400 and 1200 psi; (c) quickly releasing the puffing gas pressure in less than 1 second to puff the material; and (d) drying the material after puffing to set it in the puffed state. The material is prepared for puffing by sizing so as to include at least one dimension of between substantially …

Nondestructive Detection Of An Undeserable Metallic Phase, T1, During Processing Of Alumnum-L Thumalloys, Otto Buck, David J. Bracci, David C. Jiles, Lisa J.H. Brasche, Jeffrey E. Shield, Leonard S. Chumbley

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A method is disclosed for detecting the T1 phase in aluminum-lithium alloys through simultaneous measurement of conductivity and hardness. In employing eddy current to measure conductivity, when the eddy current decreases with aging of the alloy, while the hardness of the material continues to increase, the presence of the T1 phase may be detected.

Method For Fabricating Or Modifying An Article Comprising The Removal Of A Polymer Coating, Bonnie Bachman, Elizabeth A. Hofstatter, Joan M. Ritter, Jerry J. Rubin

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Disclosed is a method for removing poly-para-xylylene, its derivatives, and copolymers (collectively called "parylene") from bodies, including relatively large bodies such as printed circuit (PC) boards, that is capable of yielding relatively high removal rates. A body such as a PC board coated with parylene is placed into a reaction chamber downstream from a microwave plasma such that plasma discharge products generated by the microwave plasma react with the parylene, etching the parylene without exposing the body to bombardment by energetic ions and/or electrons. The plasma is generated from a gas mixture containing oxygen, a second gas, and optional additives …

Recent Applications Of Glass Science, Norbert J. Kreidl

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Recent, often exciting, applications of glass science include solid state batteries, electronic switches and memories, electrophotography, solar cells, microspheres for optical strengthening and medical uses, novel glass ceramics such as machinable and bioactive materials, solder glasses, composites, sol-gel glasses, gradient index optics, communication fibers, sensors, non-linear and active optics, and, perhaps, digital optics. The large field of special coatings is not covered in this review. © 1990.

Acuta Enews August 1990, Vol. 19, No. 8

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

New President's column

Conference gets high marks

Regions consolidated

Birds of a Feather

Party Line

Summer-time Blues

The Development And Application Of A Trapezoidal Shear Panel For Use In Finite Element Codes, Glenn P. Greiner

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

This thesis documents the efforts of the writer and his colleagues over the past several years to improve the theoretical foundation of the arbitrary quadrilateral shear panel used in structural analysis codes to model aircraft structures. An equilibrium stress-based element with pure shear resultants on its sides was developed using the principle of complementary virtual work. The internal stress field was derived from a complete polynomial Airy stress function. The element was numerically tested as a pure stress element and a hybrid element to assess the deflection properties for highly distorted planar panels. Linear-stress and quadratic-displacement rods were used, as …

Monte Carlo Simulation Of Atmospheric Neutron Transport At High Altitudes Using Mcnp, Donald R. Culp, David L. Monti, James R. Shoemaker, David Wesley, Kirk A. Mathews

AFIT Documents

Neutron transport calculations were performed using the Monte Carol code, MCNP. The transport problem considered has a point source at high altitude (40 km). Since atmospheric density decreases with altitude, two-dimensional effects (cylindrical coordinates) can be important. Results were compared to those obtained with the SMAUG-II computer code, which performs mass-integral scaling of approximate fits to one-dimensional spherical discrete ordinates solutions. These comparisons show the importance of two-dimensional computations. The report discusses practical issues of applying MCNP to this problem, without code modifications and includes example input files for MCNP and for SMAUG-II. Computational modelling of neutron transport in the …

Electrical Use, Efficiency, And Peak Demand Of Electric Resistance, Heat Pump, Desuperheater, And Solar Hot Water Systems, Florida Solar Energy Center, Timothy Merrigan

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Eighty single family residences in Florida were monitored for two years in order to collect data on water heating electrical energy consumption, efficiency, and time-of-day demand. The homes were divided into equally sized samples of four different water heating systems: conventional electric resistance, heat pump, desuperheater and solar hot water systems. Electrical consumption for electric resistance water heaters averaged 8.3 kWh per day in Florida with an average water heating system efficiency of 82%. Desuperheaters used an annual average of 7.4 kWh per day at an annual system efficiency of 110% and heat pump water heaters used 6.1 kWh per …

Usair: Balancing Terminal Facilities And Runway Capacity At Pittsburgh, Edward J. Mattern

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

As a result of expansion and acquisition, USAir has experienced major growth in flight operations. In an effort to accommodate this expansion, a major construction project, called the Midfield Terminal project, is underway at USAir's major hub, Greater Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT). The Midfield Terminal will result in a 60 percent increase in gate capacity for USAir and lower operating costs due to its location. However, increased gates infer increased flight frequencies. PIT already operates near capacity during peak periods and runway expansion has only been discussed. This paper evaluates the conditions of USAir at PIT with regard to the …

Condensed Silica Fume Concrete, Mohamed Nagib Abou Zaid

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Bulietin - August 1990, Civil Aviation Medical Association

Browse all Civil Aviation Medical Association Newsletters

A four page newsletter of the Civil Aviation Medical Association. The newsletter provided news about civil aviation medicine and information related to the organization.

Load And Resistance Factor Design Of Cold-Formed Steel Reliability Based Criteria For Cold-Formed Steel Members, Ling-En Hsiao, Wei-Wen Yu, Theodore V. Galambos

CCFSS Library (1939 - present)

In the design of steel buildings, the "Allowable Stress Design (ASD)" method has long been used for cold-formed steel structural members in the United States and other countries. In this approach, member forces, or moments, determined on the basis of working loads should not exceed the allowable values. The allowable value is used to prevent the possible structural failure by using an appropriate factor of safety selected primarily on the basis of engineering judgment and long-time experience. Recently, in the United States, the concepts of risk and reliability analysis have been successfully applied to the Load and Resistance Factor Design …