Engineering Commons^™

A Correlational Study Of Sansec Sensors’ Electric Field Distribution On Lightning Attachment, Kayla M. Farrow

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Old Dominion University and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) Aviation Safety Program Atmospheric Environmental Safety Technologies Project team conducted research in using SansEC (Sans Electric Connection) sensors to provide lightning strike protection (LSP) and damage mitigation for composite aircraft. SansEC sensors are simplistic devices consisting of an open circuit conductive trace, shaped in a planar geometric spiral [1], [2], [3]. SansEC sensors can be designed in various shapes and sizes depending on the application. For applications on exterior aircraft surfaces, the sensor must be designed to perform the required lightning strike protection [1], [3]. …

Enhancement Of Thermoelectric Properties Of Ald Synthesized Pbte And Pbse By Phonon Engineering, Xin Chen

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Thermoelectrics is a green renewable energy technology that plays an important role in power generation due to its potential in generating electricity out of waste heat. The main challenge for the development of thermoelectrics is its low conversion efficiency. One key strategy to improve conversion efficiency is focused on reducing the thermal conductivity of thermoelectric materials. In this thesis, the novel phononic engineering concept was implemented by conformal ALD deposition of PbTe, PbSe thermoelectric films, and PbTe/PbSe nanolaminates on patterned silicon substrates in order to improve the thermoelectric performance of the thermoelectric films. The silicon substrates were lithographically patterned with …

Emergency Diesel-Electric Generator Set Maintenance And Test Periodicity, Stephen John Fehr

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Manufacturer and industry recommendations vary considerably for maintenance and tests of emergency diesel-electric generator sets in emergency standby duty. There is little consistency among generator sets of similar technology, and manufacturers and their representatives often provide contradictory guidance. As a result, periodicity of emergency diesel-electric generator set maintenance and tests varies considerably in practice. Utilizing the framework proposed and tested by Fehr (2014), this research developed a parametric regression survival model of the reliability of modern diesel-electric generator sets in emergency standby duty as a function of maintenance, age, and cumulative run hours. A survival regression technique leveraging Cox’s (1972) …

Diffusion Modeling Of Impurities Through The Molybdenum Back Contact Of Cigs Solar Cells, Chinedum John Akwari

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

CIGS is a major technology in photovoltaics and depends heavily, as any other PV technology, on the capacity to achieve the highest efficiency possible to compete on the market. Alkaline elements, notably sodium and potassium, play a key role in this matter as they enhance the open circuit voltage and the fill factor of the CIGS solar cells. However, this effect exists only for very specific concentration of sodium and potassium. These impurities typically diffuse through the soda-lime glass substrate.

Via modeling of the SIMS data, we try to understand and predict the diffusion mechanisms of these impurities from the …

Thermally Assisted Pulsed Electric Field Ablation For Cancer Therapy, James Michael Hornef

Biomedical Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) have promised improved treatment results in a variety of cancer types including melanoma, pancreatic and lung squamous cancer. Recent studies show that PEF-based cancer therapy may be improved further with the assistance of moderate heating of the target. Experiments were performed to design, calibrate and implement a feedback-looped infrared laser irradiation system that could maintain specified temperatures during the treatment. The exact treatment area, penetration depth and thermal distribution of a 980-nm laser fiber were quantified using several methods, including the knife-edge technique and a tissue optical property study. In vivo and in vitro experiments using …

Computational Modeling For Abnormal Brain Tissue Segmentation, Brain Tumor Tracking, And Grading, Syed Mohammad Shamin Reza

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation proposes novel texture feature-based computational models for quantitative analysis of abnormal tissues in two neurological disorders: brain tumor and stroke. Brain tumors are the cells with uncontrolled growth in the brain tissues and one of the major causes of death due to cancer. On the other hand, brain strokes occur due to the sudden interruption of the blood supply which damages the normal brain tissues and frequently causes death or persistent disability. Clinical management of these brain tumors and stroke lesions critically depends on robust quantitative analysis using different imaging modalities including Magnetic Resonance (MR) and Digital Pathology …

Development And Validation Of A Hybrid Virtual/Physical Nuss Procedure Surgical Trainer, Mohammad F. Obeid

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

With continuous advancements and adoption of minimally invasive surgery, proficiency with nontrivial surgical skills involved is becoming a greater concern. Consequently, the use of surgical simulation has been increasingly embraced by many for training and skill transfer purposes. Some systems utilize haptic feedback within a high-fidelity anatomically-correct virtual environment whereas others use manikins, synthetic components, or box trainers to mimic primary components of a corresponding procedure.

Surgical simulation development for some minimally invasive procedures is still, however, suboptimal or otherwise embryonic. This is true for the Nuss procedure, which is a minimally invasive surgery for correcting pectus excavatum (PE) – …

Modeling Energy Consumption Of High-Performance Applications On Heterogeneous Computing Platforms, Gary D. Lawson Jr.

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Achieving Exascale computing is one of the current leading challenges in High Performance Computing (HPC). Obtaining this next level of performance will allow more complex simulations to be run on larger datasets and offer researchers better tools for data processing and analysis. In the dawn of Big Data, the need for supercomputers will only increase. However, these systems are costly to maintain because power is expensive. Thus, a better understanding of power and energy consumption is required such that future hardware can benefit.

Available power models accurately capture the relationship to the number of cores and clock-rate, however the relationship …

Holistic Approach In Microalgae Conversion To Bioproducts And Biofuels Through Flash Hydrolysis, Ali Teymouri

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, the demand for renewable energy, mainly biomass has increased. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that more than 13.3% of the total energy production in the first seven months of 2017 was produced from a biomass source. Among all biomass resources, microalgae has brought a lot of attention due to their numerous advantages such as higher growth rate and productivity compared with the conventional energy crops, higher energy conversion efficiency by photosynthesis, and less water requirement than terrestrial crops. However, its development is far behind industrial production. Several research efforts across the globe have been concerned with …

Impact Of Electrospun Conduit Composition And Peritoneal Pre-Conditioning On Patency And Remodeling Of Tissue Engineered Vascular Grafts, Mozhgan Shojaee

Theses and Dissertations

Overall goal of this project was to develop a tissue engineered vascular graft by implanting an electrospun tubular conduit into the peritoneal cavity to recruit autologous cells to it and provide the cells with the components of the hysiological environment prior to grafting the conduit into the artery. This was accomplished through three complimentary studies: finding the best ratio of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and collagen that improves inflammatory response within the peritoneal cavity; determining the effect of peritoneal pre-implantation and the amount of incorporated collagen on graft functionality; and reducing the potential side effect of peritoneal adhesion formation. In the first …

Quantifying Forecast Uncertainty In The Energy Domain, Mohammad Saber

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation focuses on quantifying forecast uncertainties in the energy domain, especially for the electricity and natural gas industry. Accurate forecasts help the energy industry minimize their production costs. However, inaccurate weather forecasts, unusual human behavior, sudden changes in economic conditions, unpredictable availability of renewable sources (wind and solar), etc., represent uncertainties in the energy demand-supply chain. In the current smart grid era, total electricity demand from non-renewable sources influences by the uncertainty of the renewable sources. Thus, quantifying forecast uncertainty has become important to improve the quality of forecasts and decision making. In the natural gas industry, the task …

Muscle Coordination Contributes To Function After Stroke; Proprioception Contributes To Control Of Posture, Movement, Maria Bengtson

Dissertations (1934 -)

More than half of stroke survivors experience persistent upper extremity motor impairments that can negatively impact quality of life and independence. Effective use of the upper extremity requires coordination of agonist/antagonist muscle pairs, as well as coordination of multiple control actions for stabilizing and moving the arm. In this dissertation, I present three studies in which I recorded isometric torque production, single joint movement and stabilization, and clinical measures of function and impairments after stroke to evaluate the extent to which changes in coordination of agonist/antagonist muscles and of sequential control actions contribute to deficits after stroke. In Aim 1, …

Hip Joint Function In People With Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome, Philip Malloy

Dissertations (1934 -)

Femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS) is a clinical hip disorder that represents symptomatic contact between the proximal femur and rim of the acetabulum during normal hip range of motion. FAIS has been described as a precursor to hip joint osteoarthritis (OA), and results in physical impairments and functional limitations in young individuals and active adults. Despite tremendous growth in arthroscopic hip surgery for FAIS, little is known about how this disorder affects dynamic hip joint function. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate hip joint function, during clinical and functional activities, both before and after arthroscopic hip surgery for FAIS. …

Motion Artifact Evaluation Of Coronary Ct Angiography Images, Hongfeng Ma

Dissertations (1934 -)

The objective of this dissertation was to develop and validate an automated algorithm to quantify motion artifact level on coronary CT angiography (CCTA) images. Unlike existing motion artifact reduction techniques that evaluate the relative level of motion artifacts within one exam, this dissertation aims to quantify the absolute level of motion artifacts across exams from varying patients. The ability to quantify absolute motion artifact level enables several potential applications, for example, assessing and comparing two motion artifact reduction techniques. This dissertation includes three specific aims. Aim 1 investigated the absolute motion artifact quantification effectiveness of six motion artifact metrics using …

2017 (Fall) Ensi Informer Magazine, Morehead State University. Engineering Sciences Department

ENSI Informer Magazine Archive

The ENSI Informer Magazine published in the fall of 2017.

Understanding The Determinants Affecting The Continuance Intention To Use Cloud Computing, Shailja Tripathi Dr.

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Cloud computing has been progressively implemented in the organizations. The purpose of the paper is to understand the fundamental factors influencing the senior manager’s continuance intention to use cloud computing in organizations. A conceptual framework was developed by using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as a base theoretical model. A questionnaire was used to collect the data from several companies in IT, manufacturing, finance, pharmaceutical and retail sectors in India. The data analysis was done using structural equation modeling technique. Perceived usefulness and perceived ubiquity are identified as important factors that affect continuance intention to use cloud computing. In addition, …

Table Of Contents Jitim Vol 26 Issue 3, 2017

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Table of Contents

Eulerian-Based Virtual Visual Sensors To Measure Dynamic Displacements Of Structures, Ali Shariati, Thomas Schumacher

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Vibration measurements provide useful information about a structural system's dynamic characteristics and are used in many fields of science and engineering. Here, we present an alternative noncontact approach to measure dynamic displacements of structural systems using digital videos. The concept is that intensity measured at a pixel with a fixed (or Eulerian) coordinate in a digital video can be regarded as a virtual visual sensor. The pixels in the vicinity of the boundary of a vibrating structural element contain useful frequency information, which we have been able to demonstrate in earlier studies. Our ultimate goal, however, is to be able …

Cross-Modal Recipe Retrieval With Rich Food Attributes, Jingjing Chen, Chong-Wah Ngo, Tat-Seng Chua

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Food is rich of visible (e.g., colour, shape) and procedural (e.g., cutting, cooking) attributes. Proper leveraging of these attributes, particularly the interplay among ingredients, cutting and cooking methods, for health-related applications has not been previously explored. This paper investigates cross-modal retrieval of recipes, specifically to retrieve a text-based recipe given a food picture as query. As similar ingredient composition can end up with wildly different dishes depending on the cooking and cutting procedures, the difficulty of retrieval originates from fine-grained recognition of rich attributes from pictures. With a multi-task deep learning model, this paper provides insights on the feasibility of …

Combinatorial Auction For Transportation Matching Service: Formulation And Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search Heuristic, Baoxiang Li, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper considers the problem of matching multiple shippers and multi-transporters for pickups and drop-offs, where the goal is to select a subset of group jobs (shipper bids) that maximizes profit. This is the underlying winner determination problem in an online auction-based vehicle sharing platform that matches transportation demand and supply, particularly in a B2B last-mile setting. Each shipper bid contains multiple jobs, and each job has a weight, volume, pickup location, delivery location and time window. On the other hand, each transporter bid specifies the vehicle capacity, available time periods, and a cost structure. This double-sided auction will be …

Holistic Methodology For Stochastic Space Mission Utility Analysis, Ja'mar Alexander Watson

Theses and Dissertations

Analysis and design mechanisms have a profound effect on space missions; yet, space mission engineering is a discipline without unanimous definition and implementation. Current philosophies are inadequate due to incomplete mission phasespaces, disaggregated design methods, exclusion of constitutive relations, curtailed tradespace exploration, and unsubstantiated mission concept solutions. This dissertation presents a new paradigm for simultaneously developing, exploring, and assessing statistically validated space mission concepts. Stochastic modeling and simulation, providing multivariate mission utility analysis with concurrently integrated tradespace exploration, risk assessment, and holistic design, facilitates the methodology. Backtesting of the Apollo II-17 crewed missions to the Moon and retrodiction of Martian …

Effect Of Bioglass Incorporation Into Electrochemically Aligned Collagen Threads On Mechanical Properties And Cell-Mediated Mineralization, Madhura Nijsure

Theses and Dissertations

Bone related diseases and disorders are a significant socioeconomic burden in the United States. Autografts and allografts are most commonly used for the treatment of bone defects and non-unions; however, they are associated with limitations such as donor site morbidity and immune rejection, respectively. Over the past few decades, bone tissue engineering (BTE) using scaffold and cells has garnered significant interest as an alternative method for the repair and regeneration of bone defects. Recreation of the tissue microenvironment via the development of biomimetic scaffolds that resemble the physicochemical aspects (i.e., composition, topography, stiffness) of native bone is a promising approach …

Dependability Enhancing Mechanisms For Integrated Clinical Environments, Wenbing Zhao, Mary Q. Yang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In this article, we present a set of lightweight mechanisms to enhance the dependability of a safety-critical real-time distributed system referred to as an integrated clinical environment (ICE). In an ICE, medical devices are interconnected and work together with the help of a supervisory computer system to enhance patient safety during clinical operations. Inevitably, there are strong dependability requirements on the ICE. We introduce a set of mechanisms that essentially make the supervisor component a trusted computing base, which can withstand common hardware failures and malicious attacks. The mechanisms rely on the replication of the supervisor component and employ only …

Effects Of Nitrogen And Phosphorus Fertilizer And Topsoil Amendment On Native Plant Cover In Roadside Revegetation Projects, Heidi L. Hillhouse, Walter H. Schacht, Jonathan M. Soper, Carol E. Wienhold

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Establishing vegetation on roadsides following construction can be challenging, especially for relatively slow growing native species. Topsoil is generally removed during construction, and the surface soil following construction (“cut-slope soils”) is often compacted and low in nutrients, providing poor growing conditions for vegetation. Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) protocols have historically called for nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilization when planting roadside vegetation following construction, but these recommendations were developed for cool-season grass plantings and most current plantings use slower-establishing, native warmseason grasses that may benefit less than expected from current planting protocols. We evaluated the effects of nitrogen and …

The Capabilities Of The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-16 (Goes-16), Brandon M. Kane

Student Works

This report investigates the capability of the new Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-16 (GOES-16) satellite to display 16 channels of the electromagnetic spectrum, to produce images at a higher resolution at increased intervals, and to detect and display lightning. This report also discusses the main instrumentation aboard the new geostationary satellite and how it aids in creating accurate data collection, which in turn, produces quicker weather forecasts and warnings. The 16 different channels produced by the Advanced Baseline Imager aboard the new satellite are analyzed in detail as to the functions and wavelengths on which the channels operate. The image resolution …

Simple Implementation Of An Elgamal Digital Signature And A Brute Force Attack On It, Valeriia Laryoshyna

Student Works

This study is an attempt to show a basic mathematical usage of the concepts behind digital signatures and to provide a simple approach and understanding to cracking basic digital signatures. The approach takes on simple C programming of the ElGamal digital signature to identify some limits that can be encountered and provide considerations for making more complex code. Additionally, there is a literature review of the ElGamal digital signature and the brute force attack.

The research component of this project provides a list of possible ways to crack the basic implementations and classifies the different approaches that could be taken …

An Abbreviated Leap: The Geopolitical And Geoeconomic Significance Of The China – Pakistan Economic Corridor To The New Silk Road, Emma Nichols

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The objective of this analysis is to reveal the geopolitical and geoeconomic significance of the China – Pakistan Economic Corridor of the Belt and Road Initiative to its major stakeholders; Pakistan and China. In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled one of the most ambitious international infrastructure plans in modern history. The plan, in its earliest stages, is currently underway with its first portion, the China – Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Through careful preliminary analysis of the greater Belt and Road Initiative, the China – Pakistan Economic Corridor, and history of Sino-Pak relations, the motivations of the collaborating nations are …

Memetic-Based Schedule Synthesis For Communication On Time-Triggered Embedded Systems, Heyuan Shi, Kun Tang, Chengbao Lio, Xiaoyu Song, Chao Hu, Jiaguang Sun

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

ime-triggered systems play an important role in industrial embedded systems. The time-triggered network is deployed on the time-triggered network-on-chip implementation. It ensures the safety-critical industrial communication for real-time embedded multiprocessor systems. To guarantee the safety-critical requirements for communication, each message is transmitted by a predefined static schedule. However, synthesizing a feasible schedule is a challenge because both spatial and temporal constraints should be considered. This article presents a novel memetic-based schedule synthesis algorithm to derive a feasible schedule by determining the offset of messages on the time-triggered network-on-chip. Memetic-based schedule synthesis algorithm is based on memetic algorithm, which incorporates local …

Role Of Surface Factors On Heterogeneous Ice Nucleation, Brittany Glatz

All Dissertations

Heterogeneous ice nucleation is the primary pathway for ice formation. However, the detailed molecular mechanisms by which surfaces promote or hinder ice nucleation are not well understood. We present results from extensive molecular dynamics and forward flux sampling (FFS) simulations of ice nucleation near modified surfaces. The surfaces are modified to investigate the effects of different surface factors on the rate and mechanism of ice nucleation. We find that the surface charge distribution has significant effects on ice nucleation. We also investigate the interplay of surface lattice and hydrogen bonding properties in affecting ice nucleation. We find that lattice matching …

Energy Management Algorithm For Resilient Controlled Delivery Grids, Mahmoud Saleh, Yusef Esa, Ahmed Mohamed, Haim Grebel, Roberto Rojas-Cessa

Publications and Research

Resilience of the power grid is most challenged at power blackouts since the issues that led to it may not be fully resolved by the time the power is back. In this paper, a Real-Time Energy Management Algorithm (RTEMA) has been developed to increase the resilience of power systems based on the controlled delivery grid (CDG) concept. In a CDG, loads communicate with a central controller, periodically sending requests for power. The central controller runs an algorithm, based on which it may decide whether to grant the requested energy fully or partially. Therefore, the CDG limits loads discretionary access to …