A Range Error Reduction Technique For Positioning Applications In Sports, Adnan Waqar, Iftekhar Ahmad, Daryoush Habibi, Quoc V. Phung

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

In recent times, ultra-wideband (UWB)-based positioning systems have become popular in sport performance monitoring. UWB positioning system uses time of arrival to calculate the range data between devices (i.e. anchors, tags), and then use trilateration algorithms to estimate position coordinates. In practical applications, non-line-of-sight transmissions and multipath propagations lead to inaccurate range data and lower positioning accuracy. This paper introduces a range error minimisation algorithm to address this limitation of error in range data in UWB-based positioning system. The proposed solution analyses the range error for each anchor and sequentially reduces this error based on the distance between each anchor …

Physicochemical Characterisation Of Zirconia Nanoparticles Based Sodium Alginate Polymer Suspension For Enhanced Oil Recovery, Udit S. Mohanty, Faisal Ur Rahman Awan, Muhammad Ali, Adnan Aftab, Alireza Keshavarz, Sefan Iglauer

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Biopolymers have been employed in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) due to their high viscosity and significant effects on waterflooding performance. Sodium alginate (NaAlg) is an excellent biopolymer that is extracted primarily from brown algae. It has been used in the biotechnology industry as a thickening agent, colloidal stabilizer, and oil recovery application. In the present study, a series of sodium alginate/zirconium oxide nanoparticle suspensions were prepared via solution mixing, and the effect of nanoparticle content, polymer concentration, temperature, salinity was investigated on the rheological behavior using a concentric cylinder dynamic rheometer. The rheology results revealed that the lower concentration of …

Influence Of Diagenetic Features On Petrophysical Properties Of Fine-Grained Rocks Of Oligocene Strata In The Lower Indus Basin, Pakistan, Abdul Majeed Shar, Aftab Ahmed Mahesar, Ghazanfer Raza Abbasi, Asad Ali Narejo, Asghar Ali Alias Daahar Hakro

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Nari Formation is considered as one of the most important oil and gas exploration targets. These fine-grained tight sandstone reservoirs face enormous challenges due to their extremely low matrix porosity and permeability. Hence, in this regard, the study was carried out to collect the high-quality data on petrophysical properties along with mineralogy and microstructural characteristics and diagenesis. The experiments performed includes the petrographic study and scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction analyses. Besides, the measurement of petrophysical properties was carried out to assess the likely influence of the reservoir quality. The petrographic analysis shows predominantly fine- to medium-grained grey samples …

Physical Vapor-Deposited Silver (Ag)-Based Metal-Dielectric Nanocomposites For Thin-Film And Coating Applications, Mohammad Nur-E-Alam, Mohammad Kairul Basher, Mikhail Vasiliev, Narottam Das

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Metallic thin-film materials and nanoparticles (mainly silver (Ag)-based) are recently being used in many nano-technological applications, including sensors, reflective heat-mirror coatings, and antibacterial coatings. The physical vapor deposition technique has attracted significant attention for Ag-based nanocomposites with tailoring of the structural and optical properties of metallic thin films, thus allowing for further improvements and application possibilities in various existing fields, namely electronics, catalysis, magnetics, and optics, alongside the environment and health and new emergent fields, particularly thin-film coatings. This study highlights the preparation, characterization, properties, and possible future application directions of several types of silver (Ag)-based nanocomposite thin films prepared …

Detection And Recognition Of Moving Video Objects: Kalman Filtering With Deep Learning, Hind Rustum Mohammed, Zahir M. Hussain

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2021. All rights reserved. Research in object recognition has lately found that Deep Convolutional Neuronal Networks (CNN) provide a breakthrough in detection scores, especially in video applications. This paper presents an approach for object recognition in videos by combining Kalman filter with CNN. Kalman filter is first applied for detection, removing the background and then cropping object. Kalman filtering achieves three important functions: predicting the future location of the object, reducing noise and interference from incorrect detections, and associating multi-objects to tracks. After detection and cropping the moving object, a CNN model will predict the category of object. The …

Position-Scanning Peptide Libraries As Particle Immunogens For Improving Cd8+ T-Cell Responses, Michael C. Vega

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

Short peptides reflecting major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I (MHC-I) epitopes frequently lack sufficient immunogenicity to induce robust antigen (Ag)-specific CD8⁺ T cell responses. In the current work, it is demonstrated that position-scanning peptide libraries themselves can serve as improved immunogens, inducing Ag-specific CD8⁺ T cells with greater frequency and function than the wild-type epitope. The approach involves displaying the entire position-scanning library onto immunogenic nanoliposomes. Each library contains the MHC-I epitope with a single randomized position. When a recently identified MHC-I epitope in the glycoprotein gp70 envelope protein of murine leukemia virus (MuLV) is assessed, only one …

Spatial Accessibility And Equity Analysis Of Amazon Parcel Lockers Facilities, Jaclyn S. Schaefer, Miguel Figliozzi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the growth of e-commerce and home 32 deliveries. Automated parcel lockers are a way to improve delivery efficiency, but despite their 33 rapid growth, little is known about their accessibility and equity impacts. Among e-commerce 34 players in the U.S., Amazon stands out by its large market share. This research studies the 35 location of Amazon lockers in Portland, Oregon utilizing highway, land use, employment, and 36 sociodemographic datasets. Geographical tools and cluster analysis are utilized to estimate 37 accessibility and equity metrics. Lockers tend to be located in mixed-use areas and …

Best Used-Car Selling Service In Us, Sirisha Pola, Jennifer Wagner, Fenny Jin, Pallavi Gusain, Alfonso Herrero

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

During the Covid-19 pandemic, a shift in the way people do things has been seen across many different industries, the automobile industry is not the exception, new car production and distribution has decreased based on the restrictions placed by many countries to ensure the safety of its citizens, this has made it quite difficult on the new car dealerships, in addition, people are seeing that the need for a car has gone down significantly since working from home has become a more and more common. However, there is a sector of the automotive industry that is having a boom, used …

Wavefront-Selective Fano Resonant Metasurface, Adam C. Overvig, Andrea Alù

Publications and Research

Fano resonances are conventionally understood as sharp spectral features with selectivity in the momentum-frequency domain, implying that they can be excited only by plane waves with specific frequencies and incident angles. We demonstrate that Fano resonances can be made generally selective in the space-frequency domain. They can be tailored to resonate only when excited by a frequency, polarization, and wavefront of choice. This generalization reveals that Fano systems are characterized by eigenwaves that scatter to their time-reversed image upon reflection. Although in conventional Fano systems this trivially occurs for normally incident plane waves, we show that, in general, the selected …

Detection Of Subsurface, Nanometer-Scale Crystallographic Defects By Nonlinear Light Scattering And Localization, Farbod Shafiei, Tommaso Orzali, Alexey Vert, Mohammad-Ali Miri, Pui Yee Hung, Man Hoi Wong, Andrea Alù, Gennadi Bersuker, Michael C. Downer

Publications and Research

Heteroepitaxial crystalline films underlie many electronic and optical technologies but are prone to forming defects at their heterointerfaces. Atomic-scale defects such as threading dislocations that propagate into a film impede the flow of charge carriers and light degrading electrical/optical performance of devices. Diagnosis of subsurface defects traditionally requires time-consuming invasive techniques such as cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. Using III–V films grown on Si, noninvasive, bench-top diagnosis of subsurface defects have been demonstrated by optical second-harmonic scanning probe microscope. A high-contrast pattern is observed of subwavelength “hot spots” caused by scattering and localization of fundamental light by defect scattering sites. Size …

Gamification Of Icebreaking Activities For Mechanical Engineering Students Embarking On A Problem Based Learning Module, Kevin Delaney, Gerard Nagle, Mingzhu Chen

Conference papers

When they enter the workforce engineering graduates must be able to engage collaboratively with others to find solutions to complex engineering challenges. This involves a great deal more than simply solving technical problems traditionally taught in engineering school. The Mechanical Engineering Discipline in Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) has helped students develop real-world engineering skills through a team based Problem Based Learning (PBL) module since 2005. This module, involving third year students, can be particularly challenging since participants can join the third year of the program from other programs or universities and many will not have known each other prior …

Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Engineering Education: An Exploration Of European Higher Education Institutions’ Strategic Frameworks, Resources, And Initiatives, I. Direto, Shannon Chance, L. Clemmensen, S. Craps, S.B. Economides, S.R. Isaac, A.M. Jolly, F.R. Truscott, N. Wint

Conference papers

Significant efforts have been made to promote gender equality in higher education (HE) in Europe. Examples include the establishment of the Athena Swan Charter in the UK in 2005 and the 2019 launch of the Irène Curie Fellowship scheme by Eindhoven University of Technology. But which initiatives address broader diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) challenges in HE? And which are specifically focused on engineering education? This exploratory study aims to improve our understanding of the ways in which a set of European HE Institutions engaged in engineering education address DEI at an organisation level, and how this is communicated within …

Feature Fusion Of Raman Chemical Imaging And Digital Histopathology Using Machine Learning For Prostate Cancer Detection, Trevor Doherty, Susan Mckeever, Nebras Al-Attar, Tiarnán Murphy, Claudia Aura, Arman Rahman, Amanda O'Neill,, Stephen P. Finn, Elaine Kay, William M. Gallagher, William G. Watson, Aoife Gowen, Patrick Jackman

Articles

The diagnosis of prostate cancer is challenging due to the heterogeneity of its presentations, leading to the over diagnosis and treatment of non-clinically important disease. Accurate diagnosis can directly benefit a patient’s quality of life and prognosis. Towards addressing this issue, we present a learning model for the automatic identification of prostate cancer. While many prostate cancer studies have adopted Raman spectroscopy approaches, none have utilised the combination of Raman Chemical Imaging (RCI) and other imaging modalities. This study uses multimodal images formed from stained Digital Histopathology (DP) and unstained RCI. The approach was developed and tested on a set …

Above And Beyond: Ethics And Responsibility In Civil Engineering, Shannon Chance, Rob Lawlor, Inês Direito Direito, John Mitchell

Articles

This exploratory study investigates how nine London-based civil engineers have enacted ‘global responsibility’ and how their efforts involve ethics and professionalism. The study assesses moral philosophies related to ethics, as well as professional engineering bodies’ visions, accreditation standards, and requirements for continuing professional development. Regarding ethics, the study questions where the line falls between what an engineer ‘must do’ and what ‘would be good to do’. Although the term ethics did not spring to mind when participants were asked about making decisions related to global responsibility, participants’ concern for protecting the environment and making life better for people did, nonetheless, …

Exploring The Impact Of Composite Material Fires And Associated Response Protocol On The Material Analysis During An Aircraft Accident Investigation, Flavio A. C. Mendonca, Natalie Zimmermann, Peng Hao Wang, Julius Keller

Publications

Metals, beginning in the 1930s, have been frequently used as the material of choice for aircraft construction (Hallion, 1978; Jakab, 1999). Common metals used in the aviation industry range from alloyed and heat-treated aluminum to titanium, magnesium, and superalloys, the latter used in specialized applications (Hallion, 1978; Mouritz, 2012). Nevertheless, a shift in aircraft construction – specifically in terms of the materials used – began in the 1970s, as composite materials were introduced into commercial aircraft (Mouritz, 2012). Among others, the increased use of composited materials was – and still is – propelled by the ability to manufacture comparative lightweight …

Synthetic Approach Of Ternary Magnesium Niobate (Mg–Nb–O) Compounds, Md. Wasikur Rahman

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Magnesium based niobium oxides (Mg–Nb–O) were prepared by solid-state reactions owing to understand the function of transition metal oxides as promoters/catalysts for practical application. Magnesium niobate (Mg3Nb6O11) was synthesized for the first time in nearly pure form reported in this context. MgNb2O6 and Mg4Nb2O9 were prepared in oxidizing conditions; on the contrary, Mg3Nb6O11 preferred reducing environment. Stoichiometric mixtures of the precursor materials MgO, Nb2O5 and/or metallic Nb were annealed for the syntheses which revealed the effect of temperature on phase formation, reaction kinetics and heat of reaction. The products were examined by ex-situ, in-situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning …

Impact Of Hemodynamic Vortex Spatial And Temporal Characteristics On Analysis Of Intracranial Aneurysms, Kevin W. Sunderland

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Subarachnoid hemorrhage is a potentially devastating pathological condition in which bleeding occurs into the space surrounding the brain. One of the prominent sources of subarachnoid hemorrhage are intracranial aneurysms (IA): degenerative, irregular expansions of area(s) of the cerebral vasculature. In the event of IA rupture, the resultant subarachnoid hemorrhage ends in patient mortality occurring in ~50% of cases, with survivors enduring significant neurological damage with physical or cognitive impairment. The seriousness of IA rupture drives a degree of clinical interest in understanding these conditions that promote both the development and possible rupture of the vascular malformations. Current metrics for the …

Powertrain Fuel Consumption Modeling And Benchmark Analysis Of A Parallel P4 Hybrid Electric Vehicle Using Dynamic Programming, Aaron Robert Mull

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As regulations on the emission of greenhouse gasses continue to tighten on the automotive industry, the production of hybrid electric vehicles has gained significant popularity in recent years. With the increase in production, there has been a parallel demand in the advancement of both mechanical hardware and control system implementation used in these vehicles. A critical factor in the efficient operation of a hybrid electric vehicle is the energy management strategy where the goal is to maximize the efficient use of fuel energy to propel the vehicle. Designing a fuel-efficient control system is a complex challenge due to the degrees …

Interoperability Of Contact And Contactless Fingerprints Across Multiple Fingerprint Sensors, Brady M. Williams

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Contactless fingerprinting devices have grown in popularity in recent years due to speed and convenience of capture. Also, due to the global COID-19 pandemic, the need for safe and hygienic options for fingerprint capture are more pressing than ever. However, contactless systems face challenges in the areas of interoperability and matching performance as shown in other works. In this paper, we present a contactless vs. contact interoperability assessment of several contactless devices, including cellphone fingerphoto capture. During the interoperability assessment, the quality of the fingerprints was considered using the NBIS NFIQ software with the contact-based fingerprint performing the best overall …

A Solution For Overcoming Transradial Prosthetic Control Limitations With Additive Manufacturing And Modeling Techniques, Olivia Layne Santee

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Prosthetic limbs have aided in the restoration of both cosmetic and functional capabilities of the human hand; however, structural and control limitations hinder widespread adoption. One example of these limitations addressed in this study is the lack of wrist degrees of freedom (DOF) in robotic hands. Using the mechanical model-driven design, I developed a hand with cable-driven actuation of fingers and direct actuation of the wrist pronation-supination and flexion-extension DOFs. An inverse dynamic simulation determined torque requirements in common tasks manipulating a 1 kg mass with rotational speeds up to 60 deg/s, setting a minimum limitation of 0.76 Nm on …

Mental Health And The Covid-19 Pandemic: Analysis Of Twitter Discourse, Omar El-Gayar, Abdullah Wahbeh, Tareq Nasralah, Ahmed El Noshokaty, Mohammad A. Al-Ramahi

Computer Information Systems Faculty Publications (Archived)

This study analyzed Twitter discourse to understand the association of the COVID-19 pandemic with mental health. The study compared tweets’ volume over time, tweets’ volume per mental health category, emotions, and the top hashtags on mental health before and after November 2019, the month on which the first COVID-19 case was reported. We analyzed a total of 273 million English tweets on mental health collected from 56 million unique users. Results and analysis showed a significant shift in trend for the volume of tweets on mental health over time. There was also a notable increase in the volume of tweets …

Developments Of Advanced Cathodes And Stabilized Zinc Anodes For High-Performance Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries, Xiujuan Chen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Aqueous rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have attracted considerable attention as one of the most promising energy storage systems for the grid-scale application owing to the natural merits of metallic Zn, including a high theoretical capacity, suitable redox potential, low cost, high safety, and eco-friendliness. However, the existing aqueous ZIBs are far from satisfying the requirements of practical applications. Significant challenges hindering the further development of ZIBs come from the low utilization and poor cycling stability of cathodes and limited reversibility of Zn anodes associated with dendrite growth, corrosion, and passivation. To date, enormous efforts have been devoted to developing high-performance …

Application Of Fiber Optics Das On Completion Design Optimization, Aliou Sylla

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Interstage communication during well stimulation reducing the effectivity of the well completion is known to be a concern in the oil and gas industry. The leading cause of this is fracture communication due to the presence of natural fractures where the formation is being hydraulically fractured. In this study, a technique was developed to map natural fractures, on a larger scale, underground to be able to avoid the high fracture intensity zones when hydraulically fracturing. This study developed a technique to optimize well completion designs by introducing the ability of locating natural fractures zones in the formation (Marcellus Shale) which …

Investigation Of Foundation Failures, Ali Buabbas

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

ABSTRACT

Investigation of Foundation Failures

Ali Buabbas

Foundations form a very critical component of any structure. The integrity and lifespan of the structure are dependent on the strength and durability of the foundation. Under ideal conditions, immediately after the structure is constructed, the foundation meets all the requirements of the structure. However, after a while, due to the action of many other factors, the structure’s foundation may no longer satisfy the needs of the structure.

Some of the factors contributing to the failure of the foundation can be due to natural events. Construction engineers should anticipate these factors to minimize …

Development Of Synthetic Coal Char Simulant For Microwave Conversion Studies: A Computationally-Driven Approach, Kevin A. Hager

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Recent experimental demonstration of new reaction windows for coal char/methane reactions that are less energy-intensive, provides innovation for modular reactors. However, the correlation of the exact mechanism for the enhancement of these reaction windows is not certain. This study investigates the simplification of these experimental studies by developing a well-characterized coal char simulant. The approach involves using a computational approach to screen macroscopic composition to replicate the dielectric and compositional response of actual char. This study is focused on PRB coal char. A discrete element method (DEM) technique was used to simulate the packing of coal chars to give the …

Analyzing And Measuring Petrophysical Properties Of Marcellus Shale, Yahia Mustafa Yassin Mustafa

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Unconventional oil and natural gas play a key role in our nation's future. The U.S. has vast reserves of such resources that are commercially viable as a result of advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technology. These technologies enable greater access to oil and natural gas in shale formations. Responsible development of America's shale gas resources offers important economic, energy security, and environmental benefits. Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling apply the latest technologies and make it commercially viable to recover shale gas and oil.

In order to estimate the original gas-in-place, predict the production rates, and optimize the hydraulic …

The Impact Of Driver Reaction In Cooperative Vehicle Safety Systems, Elwarfalli Ibrahim

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Cooperative Vehicular Safety (CVS) has recently been widely studied in the field of automated vehicular systems. CVS systems help decrease the rates of accidents. However, implementing and testing CVS applications in real world is very costly and risky. Hence, most of the related research studies on CVS applications have relied mainly on simulations. In simulated CVS systems, it is important to consider all critical aspects of used models, and how these models affect one another.

The movement model is a key component in the simulation study of CVS systems, which controls the mobility of vehicles (nodes) and responses to the …

Implementation Of Fuzzy Logic Control Into An Equivalent Minimization Strategy For Adaptive Energy Management Of A Parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicle, Jared Alexander Diethorn

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As government agencies continue to tighten emissions regulations due to the continued increase in greenhouse gas production, automotive industries are seeking to produce increasingly efficient vehicle technology. Electric vehicles have been introduced by the industry, showing promising signs of reducing emissions production in the automotive sector. However, many consumers may be hesitant to purchase fully electric vehicles due to several uncertainty variables including available charging stations. Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) have been introduced to reduce problems while improving fuel economy. HEVs have led to the demand of creating more advanced controls software to consider multiple components for propulsive power in …

Dry Reforming Of Methane Using Microwave Irradiated Metal Oxide/Coal Char Catalysts, Anthony Carter

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research focuses on the synthesis of both shaped and amorphous powder materials, the combination of these materials with dried Powder River Basin (PRB) coal char, and their reactionary properties with methane and carbon dioxide gasses with conventional and microwave (MW) heating. The first goal of this project was to synthesize shaped micro and nano sized particles with ideal dielectric properties for converting electromagnetic energy into heat and proven capabilities of activating methane. These particles were synthesized via solvothermal, hydrothermal, and co-preceptory treatments alone and onto the surface of dried PRB coal char. PRB is a sub-bituminous, low-ranking coal (LRC) …

Mitigating Insider Threats In A Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control System Using Local Intra-Vehicle Data, Alexander Francis Colon

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

With the rise of Connected-and-Automated-Vehicle (CAV) technologies on roadways, transportation networks have become increasingly connected through Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) systems. With access to the additional data from V2X, modern cruise control systems like Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) are further improved upon to develop systems like Cooperative ACC (CACC) which reduces traffic congestion and increases driver safety and energy efficiency. With that increased connectivity, previously closed vehicle systems are now vulnerable to new security threats which pose new technical challenges. Significant research has been done to strengthen the network against external threats such as denial-of-service attacks (DoS) or passive eavesdropping attacks using …