Engineering Commons^™

Pandemic Restrictions In Kosova As Indicator To Reduction Of Air Pollution, Afete-Shala Musliu

UBT International Conference

The chaotic situation of industrial and transportation grow around the globe is a situation that left substantial traces, both in the environment and in everyday life. With the introduction of the Pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO) of Covid19 in March 2020, many countries in the world imposed numerous instructions including the restriction of movement, both national and international, which also affected the use of motor vehicles thus, having direct impact on reduction of air pollution caused by motor vehicle’s emission. On 15th of March 2020 Kosova’s government also introduced numerous instructions including restriction of movement. The aim of this …

Sustainability Of Energy Production From Fossils And Reversible Energy In Kosovo, Djellza Perbeza, Ines Bula

UBT International Conference

Over the years Renewable Sources are the focus in terms of Energy. Renewable energy replaces traditional fuels in four different areas: electricity generation, water and space heating, motor fuels, and rural energy services. The development of the energy market and especially renewable energy is playing a key role in Kosovo, this can simultaneously lead to the stabilization of the new economy of the country. Only a sustainable, efficient and modern energy supply can ensure the rapid development of new industries. Energy production in Kosovo is currently supported by fossil fuels, mainly coal, while a small amount of energy is obtained …

The Production Of Biodiesel Using Waste Cooking Oil In Kosovo, Laura Nushi, Sami Makolli, Agron Millaku

UBT International Conference

The need for energy, fossil fuels and the emissions generated from these fuels are increasing daily. In recent years, biodiesel has attracted significant attention from worldwide researchers, governments, and industries as a renewable, biodegradable, and non-toxic fuel. Its production from waste cooking oil (WCO) provides an alternative energy means of producing liquid fuels from biomass for transport uses. Biodiesel production by recycling WCO and methanol in the presence of kaliumhydroxide (KOH), offers several benefits such as economic, environmental and waste management. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the pre-treatment and the usage of WCO for the production of biodiesel …

Industrial Archeology In The City Of Gjirokastra Seen From A Structural Perspective, Egla Luca

UBT International Conference

The industrial development in Albania arrived late. On the eve of independence, back in the early 1900s, the country was essentially an agricultural economy. The industrialization of the country span a period of almost 150 years starting from the earlier industrial traces to the end of the communist era. The industry helped to form the country's modern image, awareness, and understanding about the role of industrialization; and monuments that it left behind and the communities it has managed to build, and created opportunities to better known themselves/ourselves. (Luca, 2017) This paper is focused on the Industrial Archeology of the City …

Minlp Optimization Of Structures, Stojan Kravanja, Tomaž Žula

UBT International Conference

The paper discusses the mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) approach to the optimization of structures. The MINLP is an optimization technique which is able to solve non-linear and discrete optimization problems. It calculates continuous variables (loads, dimensions, stresses, deflections, costs) and discrete variables (topology, standard sections, material grades). The MINLP optimization model of a structure should be developed. In the model, an objective function is subjected to structural analysis and dimensioning constraints in order to satisfied ultimate and serviceability limit states according to Eurocodes. Appropriate MINLP algorithms and strategies are used to solve the defined MINLP problem. Two numerical examples are …

Differences Of Lateral Behavior Of Buildings With Rc Slabs Without Beams Vs. Rc Slabs With Beams, Ilir Hetemi, Arbnor Hetemi

UBT International Conference

Lateral behavior of RC Buildings is a great importance when it is in question the earthquake happening, so in this paper are presented the differences between buildings which have slabs without beams compared with those that in their slabs have included beams. Analysis is done for low and middle rise building, because these buildings are predominant in our region. The reason why we have analyzed here the lateral behavior of such cases is due to the fact that nowadays around us are used so many building using slabs without beams because they represent a flexible solution in functional organizing the …

Experimental And Numerical Characterization Of Ultralow-Cycle Fatigue Behavior Of Slit Dampers, Ferit Gashi, Fransesco Petrini, Franco Bontempi

UBT International Conference

Slit Damper devices (SDs) have been increasingly studied in last years for they implementation in building constructions to enhance the seismic resistance of structures. SDs are designed as yielding fuses that dissipate energy through large inelastic deformations, while the rest of the structure remains mainly elastic. They are mainly implemented in structural connections at pre-identified locations along the structure and should be able to sustain as much hysteretic cycles as possible before material collapse or fatigue failure in order to prevent local collapses and consequent loss of dissipative capacity. In this paper, finite element (FE) detailed models of single SD …

Design Upgrade For The Hybrid Glulam-Steel Roof Structure Of The Sports Hall For The New High School In Graçanica, Bledian Nela

UBT International Conference

This paper presents the design upgrade of the roof structure for a sports hall which consists of coupled glulam beams with steel substructure. The initial design has foreseen main glulam beams which are coupled with steel trusses and strengthened with rigid steel bars over the entire length. Due to some construction issues and design misinterpretation, the as-built structure did not follow completely the design and reinforcement rebars have been used instead of steel bars intended to be acting as steel ties. A design upgrade was required to preserve the main structure of the roof established with glulam beams, purlins and …

Design Optimization Of Steel Building Using Minlp, Tomaž Žula

UBT International Conference

The paper presents the design optimization of the steel building. The structure consists of the main portal frames, which are mutually connected with the purlins. It is proposed that all structural elements are constructed from standard hot rolled IPE sections. The structural optimization is calculated by the mixed-integer non-linear programming approach, MINLP. The dimensioning of steel members is carried out in accordance with the design specifications of Eurocode 3. The Modified Outer-Approximation/Equality-Relaxation (OA/ER) algorithm, a three-phase MINLP strategy and a special prescreening procedure of discrete alternatives are used for the optimization. In addition to the optimal structural mass, the optimal …

Passive Control Of Structures – The Dynamic Case, F. H. Selmani

UBT International Conference

Lately, powerful earthquakes stroke some parts of the world, while the Balkan peninsula was hit by moderate ones. During a powerful earthquake, a building structure is invaded by an enormous quantity of kinetic energy . From the manner this energy is, first absorbed, then dissipated throughout building structure depends, not only the reaction of structure as a whole, or structural elements in particular, but the nature, the distribution and the quantity of the damages also. As Nikola Tesla once quoted: “If you want to find the secrets of universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration”. In order to …

Damage Observed In Structures Of Different Types During The Inspection After The Durrës Earthquake Of 26.11.2019 And Proposals For Their Repair, Arsim Rapuca, Naim Mushi

UBT International Conference

During the inspection of various construction structures such as: school buildings, houses, multi-storey buildings, etc. of different structural systems after the Durrës earthquake of 26.11.2019, various damages were observed in structural and non-structural elements. Damages were of various natures such as: defects during the implementation of structures, defects in the quality of materials, construction of additional floors on existing ones, use of structures with poor ductility such as massive masonry systems, negligence of supervision or construction without supervision, etc. In reinforced concrete structures, damage to the ground floor columns (mainly in plastic hinge regions), damage to the protective layers of …

9th International Conference On Business, Technology And Innovation 2020, University For Business And Technology - Ubt

UBT International Conference

Welcome to IC – UBT 2020

UBT Annual International Conference is the 9th international interdisciplinary peer reviewed conference which publishes works of the scientists as well as practitioners in the area where UBT is active in Education, Research and Development. The UBT aims to implement an integrated strategy to establish itself as an internationally competitive, research-intensive university, committed to the transfer of knowledge and the provision of a world-class education to the most talented students from all background. The main perspective of the conference is to connect the scientists and practitioners from different disciplines in the same place and make …

Failure Sampling With Optimized Ensemble Approach For The Structural Reliability Analysis Of Complex Problems, Christopher Eamon, Kapil Patki, Ahmad Alsendi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research Publications

Failure sampling is a structural reliability method based on modified conditional expectation suitable for complex problems for which reliability index-based approaches are inapplicable and simulation is needed. Such problems tend to have non-smooth limit state boundaries or are otherwise highly nonlinear. Previous studies recommended implementation of failure sampling with an extrapolation technique using Johnson's distribution or the generalized lambda distribution. However, what implementation method works best is problem dependent. The uncertainty of which approach provides best results for a particular problem limits the potential effectiveness of the method. In this study, a solution is proposed to this issue that eliminates …

A Simplified Accuracy Enhancement To The Saleh Am/Am Modeling And Linearization Of Solid-State Rf Power Amplifiers, Haider Al-Kanan, Fu Li

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Saleh behavioral model exhibits high prediction accuracy for nonlinearity of traveling-wave tube power amplifiers (TWT-PAs). However, the accuracy of the Saleh model degrades when modeling solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs) technology. In addition, the polynomial expansion of the Saleh model consists of only odd-order terms as analyzed in this work. This paper proposes a novel model accuracy enhancement for the Saleh amplitude-to-amplitude (AM/AM) model when applied to radio frequency (RF) SSPAs. The proposed model enhancement accounts for the second-order intermodulation distortion, which is an important nonlinearity challenge in wideband wireless communications. The proposed static AM/AM model is a three-parameter rational …

Coal Exploration Using Electrical Resistivity Method In Some Parts Of Benue Trough, Nigeria, Saminu Olatunji, Abdulgafar T. Jimoh

Tanzania Journal of Science

Geoelectrical resistivity sounding technique was used to delineate the occurrence and extents of coal seam. Fifteen points were sounded with Schlumberger configuration in the suspected coal deposit site bounded by longitudes 7.344° E and 7.366° E, and latitudes 7.318° N and 7.33° N. The vertical electrical sounding (VES) data were analyzed and the corresponding geo-electric parameters at various depths were modeled. The earth model within the study area was correlated with available lithology of a nearby mine site. The sounding signatures are KQHK and KHK curve types which revealed five to six distinct geo-electrical equivalent layers. The wet to dry …

Performance Evaluation Of Aspect Dependent-Based Ghost Suppression Methods For Through-The-Wall Radar Imaging, Mugundu Rambika, Abdi T. Abdalla, Baraka J. Maiseli, Alfred J. Mwambela

Tanzania Journal of Science

There are many approaches which address multipath ghost challenges in Through-the-Wall Radar Imaging (TWRI) under Compressive Sensing (CS) framework. One of the approaches, which exploits ghosts’ locations in the images, termed as Aspect Dependent (AD), does not require prior knowledge of the reflecting geometry making it superior over multipath exploitation based approaches. However, which method is superior within the AD based category is still unknown. Therefore, their performance comparison becomes inevitable, and hence this paper presents their performance evaluation in view of target reconstruction. At first, the methods were grouped based on how the subarrays were applied: multiple subarray, hybrid …

A Framework For Augmenting Building Performance Models Using Machine Learning And Immersive Virtual Environment, Chanachok Chokwitthaya

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Building performance models (BPMs), such as building energy simulation models, have been widely used in building design. Existing BPMs are mainly derived using data from existing buildings. They may not be able to effectively address human-building interactions and lack the capability to address specific contextual factors in buildings under design. The lack of such capability often contributes to the existence of building performance discrepancies, i.e., differences between predicted performance during design and the actual performance.

To improve the prediction accuracy of existing BPMs, a computational framework is developed in this dissertation. It combines an existing BPM with context-aware design-specific …

Study Of Control Schemes For Series Hybrid-Electric Powertrain For Unmanned Aerial Systems, Darren A. Dehesa Jr

LSU Master's Theses

Hybrid-Electric aircraft powertrain modeling for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) is a useful tool for predicting powertrain performance of the UAS aircraft. However, for small UAS, potential gains in range and endurance can depend significantly on the aircraft flight profile and powertrain control logic in addition to the subsequent impact on the performance of powertrain components. Small UAS aircraft utilize small-displacement engines with poor thermal efficiency and, therefore, could benefit from a hybridized powertrain by reducing fuel consumption. This study uses a dynamic simulation of a UAS, representative flight profiles, and powertrain control logic approaches to evaluate the performance of a …

International Conference On Energy Efficiency Engineering, University For Business And Technology - Ubt

UBT International Conference

UBT Annual International Conference is the 9th international interdisciplinary peer reviewed conference which publishes works of the scientists as well as practitioners in the area where UBT is active in Education, Research and Development. The UBT aims to implement an integrated strategy to establish itself as an internationally competitive, research-intensive university, committed to the transfer of knowledge and the provision of a world-class education to the most talented students from all background. The main perspective of the conference is to connect the scientists and practitioners from different disciplines in the same place and make them be aware of the recent …

International Conference On Civil Engineering, Infrastructure And Environment, University For Business And Technology - Ubt

UBT International Conference

UBT Annual International Conference is the 9th international interdisciplinary peer reviewed conference which publishes works of the scientists as well as practitioners in the area where UBT is active in Education, Research and Development. The UBT aims to implement an integrated strategy to establish itself as an internationally competitive, research-intensive university, committed to the transfer of knowledge and the provision of a world-class education to the most talented students from all background. The main perspective of the conference is to connect the scientists and practitioners from different disciplines in the same place and make them be aware of the recent …

Semi-Annual Progress Report #7, Missouri University Of Science And Technology. Inspire - University Transportation Center

Semi-Annual Progress Reports

No abstract provided.

Edge Computing For Deep Learning-Based Distributed Real-Time Object Detection On Iot Constrained Platforms At Low Frame Rate, Lakshmikavya Kalyanam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the era of IoT (Internet of Things) and edge computing, there is a rising need for real-time applications in the domain of computer vision. The increase in hardware computing capabilities gave rise to applications of neural networks in various fields. Implementing IoT with neural networks in domains such as image and video recognition has shown promising performance when deployed in complex environments. There is an emerging demand for applications that require data computation in real-time with low latency. In an effort to address these issues, while keeping in mind the computing capabilities of IoT devices, we seek to develop …

Spatial Stereo Sound Source Localization Optimization And Cnn Based Source Feature Recognition, Cong Xu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the process of propagating as a carrier of information in space, in addition to transmitting the information itself, the acoustic signal also contains the position information of the sound source itself and its related physical characteristics. Acoustic signal uses the medium (such as air, water, steel, etc.) in the space to transmit mechanical vibration and longitudinal waves from the sound source to the outside world. The traditional single audio collection device cannot collect position information and sound source characteristic information. Therefore, the signals processed in the audio signal processing process are all mixed source acoustic signals after spatial reverberation. …

Architecture Design And Optimization Of Edge-Enabled Smart Grids, Adetola B. Adeniran

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The emergence of modern monitoring, communication, computation, and controlequipment into power systems has made them evolve into smart grids that can be thought of as the electric grid of things. This evolution has enhanced the efficiency of the power systems through the availability of a large volume of system data that can help with system functions, nevertheless, it has intensified the communication and computation burden on these systems. While many of such computations were traditionally deployed in central servers, new technologies such as edge computing can provide unique opportunities to address some of the computational challenges and improve the responsiveness …

Roboat - Rescue Operations Bot Operating In All Terrains, Akshay Gulhane

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Natural calamities are on a rise with each passing year. Disasters like floods and fire take many lives all around the world, especially in remote areas or less developed countries. One such incident was the Kerala Floods in India where rescue services had difficulty reaching to all the people on time since a huge landmass (more than 9 districts) was flooded and hence villagers or other people risked their lives to save others in danger without proper safety equipment. Amazon Rainforest Fires was another example for a major destruction of an ecosystem. The main reason for lack of facilities in …

Mitigation Of Electromigration In Metal Interconnects Passivated By Ångstrom-Thin 2d Materials, Yunjo Jeong

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Electromigration in metal interconnects remains one of the most prominent challenges in the state-of-the-art semiconductor industry. A phenomenon defined as the momentum transfer from electrons in an electric current to the metal atoms in a conductor, electromigration creates voids and hillocks that ultimately cause failures in nanoelectronics due to short or open circuits. Additionally, electromigration induces undesirable diffusion of metal atoms into the dielectric material, forcing the need for a barrier material that can mitigate such adverse effects of the phenomenon. However, extremely tight dimensional control of modern transistor designs imposes reduced dimensions of the interconnects in order to accommodate …

Strength Restoration Of Corrosion Damaged Piles Repaired With Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Systems, Jethro Clarke

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Of the 12,741 bridges accounted for by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), approximately 50% were built between the 1950s and 1960s. During this period, bridges were typically constructed in coastal environments using pile bents. Now, the main threat to bridges in these environments is corrosion, which occurs in the splash zones of most bridge piles. These zones contain high concentrations of chlorides, oxygen and moisture, the corner stones of a highly corrosive environment. Corrosion compromises steel reinforcement in these areas leading to cracking, spalling and an inevitable loss of capacity.

In recent years, significant strides have been made in …

Use Of Sugarcane Bagasse Ash As Partial Cement Replacement In Interlocking Stabilized Soil Blocks (Issbs), Adah Shair

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Global infrastructure needs for adequate housing, water provision and improved sanitation are on the rise. UN-Water estimates that 1 in 3 people still lack access to safe drinking water and about 4.2 billion people across the globe lack access to safely managed sanitation services. Rapid urbanization and the global refugee crisis have also increased the demand for adequate and efficient housing. UN Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved until these needs are met. Given the high environmental impact and cost of cement-heavy construction, alternate construction techniques like appropriate earth technologies need to be adopted. Interlocking stabilized soil blocks (ISSBs), a …

Communicating Uncertain Information From Deep Learning Models In Human Machine Teams, Harishankar V. Subramanian, Casey I. Canfield, Daniel Burton Shank, Luke Andrews, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The role of human-machine teams in society is increasing, as big data and computing power explode. One popular approach to AI is deep learning, which is useful for classification, feature identification, and predictive modeling. However, deep learning models often suffer from inadequate transparency and poor explainability. One aspect of human systems integration is the design of interfaces that support human decision-making. AI models have multiple types of uncertainty embedded, which may be difficult for users to understand. Humans that use these tools need to understand how much they should trust the AI. This study evaluates one simple approach for communicating …

Modeling The Load Of Sars-Cov-2 Virus In Human Expelled Particles During Coughing And Speaking, Yang Wang, Guang Xu, Yue-Wern Huang

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Particle size is an essential factor when considering the fate and transport of virus-containing droplets expelled by human, because it determines the deposition pattern in the human respiratory system and the evolution of droplets by evaporation and gravitational settling. However, the evolution of virus-containing droplets and the size-dependent viral load have not been studied in detail. The lack of this information leads to uncertainties in understanding the airborne transmission of respiratory diseases, such as the COVID-19. In this study, through a set of differential equations describing the evolution of respiratory droplets and by using the SARS-CoV-2 virus as an example, …