Engineering Commons^™

Llogaritja E Aftësisë Mbajtëse E Objektit Afaristbanesor B+P+10 Në Gjilan, Endrit Muçiqi

Theses and Dissertations

Kjo temë paraqet matjen e aftësisë mbajtëse të tokës në objektin afaristë në Gjilan. Në këtë temë janë paraqitur shpimet në tokë sipas dimensioni mit të objektit , ku janë marr mostrat e dheut për nxjerrjen e parametrave fiziko-mekanik, që janë të domosdoshëm për llogaritjen e aftësisë mbajtës të tokës, Llogaritjet janë kryer sipas thellësive prej 0.5-5.0m me anë të dy metodave metoda sipas Terzak-ut dhe metoda sipas Meyerhof-it të paraqitur si me poshtë në tabelën nr (25,26,27)

Impact Of Surface Ozone Interactions On Indoor Air Chemistry: A Modeling Study, M. Kruza, A. C. Lewis, G. C. Morrison, N. Carslaw

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An INdoor air Detailed Chemical Model was developed to investigate the impact of ozone reactions with indoor surfaces (including occupants), on indoor air chemistry in simulated apartments subject to ambient air pollution. The results are consistent with experimental studies showing that approximately 80% of ozone indoors is lost through deposition to surfaces. The human body removes ozone most effectively from indoor air per square meter of surface, but the most significant surfaces for C6-C10 aldehyde formation are soft furniture and painted walls owing to their large internal surfaces. Mixing ratios of between 8 and 11 ppb of C6-C10 aldehydes are …

Effects Of Loading Rate On Gas Seepage And Temperature In Coal And Its Potential For Coal-Gas Disaster Early-Warning, Chong Zhang, Xiaofei Liu, Guang Xu, Xiaoran Wang

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The seepage velocity and temperature externally manifest the changing structure, gas desorption and energy release that occurs in coal containing gas failure under loading. By using the system of coal containing gas failure under loading, this paper studies the law of seepage velocity and temperature under different loading rates and at 1.0 MPa confining pressure and 0.5 MPa gas pressure, and combined the on-site results of gas pressure and temperature. The results show that the stress directly affects the seepage velocity and temperature of coal containing gas, and the pressure and content of gas have the most sensitivity to mining …

Cfrp Strengthening Of Ky 583 Over The Bluegrass Parkway Bridge In Hardin Country, Abheetha Peiris, Issam E. Harik

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The report details the planning, design, and construction of the retrofit measure on the KY 583 Bridge (047B00072N), which traverses the Bluegrass Parkway in Hardin County, Kentucky. Reinforced concrete girders within the span over the eastbound Bluegrass Parkway of the bridge had cracks that led to concrete delamination and deterioration of the girders.

To remedy the problem, triaxial carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) fabric sheets were selected to perform a retrofit due to their strength, conformability, and flexibility. The concrete surface, over which the fabric sheets were applied, were first prepared by removing all spalling and deteriorated concrete, which exposed …

Kytc Maintenance Overview And Budget Analysis, Nancy Albright, Bryan Gibson, Steven Douglas Kreis

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) manages over 27,500 miles of the state’s roadways and is responsible for preserving many assets in a good state of repair, including bridges, traffic signals, lighting features, traffic signs, and guardrails. The Cabinet’s Maintenance function, which encompasses maintenance (e.g., patching potholes, repainting roadway lines and markings, cleaning bridges, mowing) and operations (e.g., plowing and salting roadways; keeping signs, traffic signals, and roadway signals functional), had a budget in FY 2018 of roughly $350 million. This report describes core maintenance functions and reviews their importance for preserving Kentucky’s roadway network and analyzes trends in KYTC’s maintenance …

Early Empirical Evidence For The Effects Of Adaptive Ramp Metering On Measures Of Travel Time Reliability, Travis Charles Low

Master's Theses

Adaptive ramp metering (ARM) is a critical component of smart freeway corridors under an active traffic management portfolio. While improving capacity through smart corridors and application of proactive traffic management solutions is less costly and easier to deploy than freeway widening, conversion to smart corridors still represents a sizable investment for a state department of transportation. Early evidence of improvements following these projects can be valuable to agencies. However, in the U.S. there have been limited evaluations, of smart corridors in general and ARM in particular, based on real operational data. This thesis explores travel time reliability measures for the …

Damage-Free Peripheral Nerve Stimulation By 12-Ns Pulsed Electric Field, Maura Casciola, Shu Xiao, Andrei G. Pakhomov

Bioelectrics Publications

Modern technologies enable deep tissue focusing of nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) for non-invasive nerve and muscle stimulation. However, it is not known if PEF orders of magnitude shorter than the activation time of voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSC) would evoke action potentials (APs). One plausible scenario requires the loss of membrane integrity (electroporation) and resulting depolarization as an intermediate step. We report, for the first time, that the excitation of a peripheral nerve can be accomplished by 12-ns PEF without electroporation. 12-ns stimuli at 4.1-11 kV (3.3-8.8 kV/cm) evoked APs similarly to conventional stimuli (100-250 mus, 1-5 V, 103-515 V/m), …

Quantifying Roadside Assessment For Highway Safety, Reginald R. Souleyrette, Michael A. Fields, Heather Hunt

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Many of Kentucky’s two-lane rural roads pose an above average risk for fixed object crashes. In Kentucky, run-off-road (ROR) collisions with fixed objects account for 18.9% of all crashes and 41.6% of fatal crashes. Accordingly, ROR crashes are a significant public safety hazard that must be addressed through judicious investments in safety improvements. Until recently, transportation engineers and planners have mostly leveraged qualitative metrics to prioritize safety investments, however, qualitative methodologies are problematic because they may rely excessively on subjective opinion and intuition. This study applied methodologies and software from the U.S. Road Assessment Program (usRAP) to develop quantitative, objective …

Long-Term Corrosion Protection Of Bridge Elements Reinforcing Materials In Concrete, Christopher W. Van Dyke, Bobby W. Meade, Danny Wells, Sudhir Palle, Theodore Hopwood Ii

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Preventing or mitigating the corrosion of reinforcing steel in bridge decks is a major challenge for state transportation agencies. With agency budgets stretched thinner every year, they must implement strategies to extend the service lives of bridges and other critical structures. As such, it is imperative for them to adopt cost effective materials and maintenance practices to delay the onset of bridge corrosion. To assist the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) in its efforts to improve the condition of its bridges as well as its construction and maintenance practices, researchers at the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) investigated the use and performance …

Large-Scale Testing Of Low-Strength Cellular Concrete For Skewed Bridge Abutments, Tyler Kirk Remund

Theses and Dissertations

Low-strength cellular concrete consists of a cement slurry that is aerated prior to placement. It remains a largely untested material with properties somewhere between those of soil, geofoam, and typical controlled low-strength material (CLSM). The benefits of using this material include its low density, ease of placement, and ability to self-compact. Although the basic laboratory properties of this material have been investigated, little information exists about the performance of this material in the field, much less the passive resistance behavior of this material in the field.In order to evaluate the use of cellular concrete as a backfill material behind bridge …

Teaching Professional Skills In Engineering Programmes: The Academic Perspective, Una Beagon

Other resources

My interest in preparing engineering students for a successful career in industry stems from personal experience of recruiting, mentoring and managing graduates in civil and structural engineering consultancies. The range of skills, abilities and values of each graduate was varied, and it became apparent that academic achievement, whilst important, was not the defining skill for achieving early responsibility or promotion within the company. More often, the graduate who could communicate well and self-direct his/her work was given more responsibility and opportunity.

The intent in this paper is to present a plan for a PhD research study in order to elicit …

Kytc Sidewalk And Curb Ramp Inventory For Ada Compliance, Reginald R. Souleyrette, Brian K. Howell, William Nicholas Staats

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) requires that all public and private organizations providing services to the public ensure their facilities and infrastructure comply with regulations set forth therein. The ADA requires that a transition plan “identify physical obstacles in the public entity’s facilities that limit the accessibility of its programs or activities to individuals with disabilities.” In the first phase of Kentucky’s transition plan to become ADA compliant, KTC researchers inventoried sidewalks along all state-maintained roads in Kentucky to determine the presence or absence of pedestrian facilities. This sidewalk inventory was used to query Kentucky’s intersection database …

Analysis Of Traffic Crash Data In Kentucky (2012-2016), Eric R. Green, Kenneth R. Agent, Jerry G. Pigman, Paul A. Ross

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This report documents an analysis of traffic crash data in Kentucky for the years of 2012 through 2016. A primary objective of this study was to determine average crash statistics for Kentucky highways. Rates were calculated for various types of highways and for counties and cities. Difference criteria were used for exposure.

The other primary objective of this study was to provide data that can be used in the preparation of the problem identification portion of Kentucky’s Annual Highway Safety Plan. County and city crash statistics were analyzed. A summary of results and recommendations in several problem identification areas is …

Feature Extraction And Parallel Visualization For Large-Scale Scientific Data, Lina Yu

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Advanced computing and sensing technologies enable scientists to study natural and physical phenomena with unprecedented precision, resulting in an explosive growth of data. The unprecedented amounts of data generated from large scientific simulations impose a grand challenge in data analytics and visualization due to the fact that data are too massive for transferring, storing, and processing.

This dissertation makes the first contribution to the design of novel transfer functions and application-aware data replacement policy to facilitate feature classification on highly parallel distributed systems. We design novel transfer functions that advance the classification of continuously changed volume data by combining the …

A Fast Fpga Implementation For Triple Des Encryption Scheme, Edni Del Rosal, Sanjeev Kumar

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In cryptography, the Triple DES (3DES, TDES or officially TDEA) is a symmetric-key block cipher which applies the Data Encryption Standard (DES) cipher algorithm three times to each data block. Electronic payment systems are known to use the TDES scheme for the encryption/decryption of data, and hence faster implementations are of great significance. Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) offer a new solution for optimizing the performance of applications meanwhile the Triple Data Encryption Standard (TDES) offers a mean to secure information. In this paper we present a pipelined implementation in VHDL, in Electronic Code Book (EBC) mode, of this commonly …

A Hierarchical Modelling Approach For Assessing The Impact Factors Of The Measured Of Mobility And Safety At Intersections, Hiba Eyesha Abou-Kassem

Civil and Environmental Theses

Measuring safety and mobility for various types of intersections is crucial in any transportation study. Many factors contribute to changing the effectiveness of the different types of intersections on mobility and safety. Deciding which type of intersection is most suitable in a particular environ and prevailing traffic conditions depends on the number of crashes, injuries, delay time, etc. This study focuses on two intersection types; signalized intersections and non-signalized intersections (only roundabouts). The aim of this research is to devise a theoretical modeling framework and hence a statistical-based methodology that can be used to assess the safety and mobility measures …

Discontinuous Galerkin Time-Domain Analysis Of Power-Ground Planes Taking Into Account Decoupling Capacitors, Ping Li, Li (Lijun) Jun Jiang, Hakan Bagci

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a discontinuous Galerkin time-domain (DGTD) method is developed to analyze the power-ground planes taking into account the decoupling capacitors. In the presence of decoupling capacitors, the whole physical system can be split into two subsystems: 1) the field subsystem that is governed by Maxwell's equations that will be solved by the DGTD method, and 2) the circuit subsystem including the capacitor and its parasitic inductor and resistor, which is going to be characterized by the modified nodal analysis algorithm constructed circuit equations. With the aim to couple the two subsystems together, a lumped port is defined over …

In Search Of Homo Sociologicus, Yunqi Xue

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The subject of this dissertation is to build an epistemic logic system that is able to show the spreading of knowledge and beliefs in a social network that contains multiple subgroups. Epistemic logic is the study of logical systems that express mathematical properties of knowledge and belief. In recent years, there have been increasing number of new epistemic logic systems that are focused on community properties such as knowledge and belief adoption among friends.

We are interested in revisable and actionable social knowledge/belief that leads to a large group action. Instead of centralized coordination, bottom-up approach is our focus. We …

Nonlinear Optical Studies Of Defects And Domain Structures In Perovskite-Type Dielectric Ceramics, David J. Ascienzo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In order to improve future generations of dielectric capacitors a deeper understanding of voltage-induced dielectric breakdown and electrical energy storage limitations is required. This dissertation presents the use of far-field optical second harmonic generation (SHG) polarimetry for probing structural defects and polar domains in linear and nonlinear perovskite dielectric ceramics. We investigated the formation of electric field-induced structural distortions at pristine Fe-doped SrTiO₃ (Fe:STO) electrode interfaces, structural defect and strain formation due to oxygen vacancy migration in electrodegraded Fe:STO single crystals, and mixed tetragonal and rhombohedral phase domains in ferroelectric Zr-doped BaTiO₃ (BZT) films exhibiting excellent …

Solar Powered Single-Axis Heliostat Active Solar Tracking Device, Mason Kyle Roberts

Physics

As a means of cooking food, the burning of biomass accounts for over 4 million premature deaths in third world countries (“Household Air Pollution and Health”). The focus of this project was to explore an alternative that could utilize focused sunlight to cook food. A solar tracker was designed to be affixed to a parabolic, reflective, tilted single axis heliostat to follow the sun throughout the day and focus the reflected light to the bottom of a cooking surface. This surface became hot enough to for the preparation of food or boiling/sterilization of water.

A goal for each project was …

Acid: Anti-Jam Cots Infiltrator Drone, Scott Anderson

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

Anticipating the adversaries’ next move

Next-generation improvised, RF-silent drone:

• No GPS and no RF link in or out
• Passive sensor navigation (inertial, vision, etc.)
• Impervious to electronic countermeasures
• Renders electronic attack devices obsolete
• Freely operates in GPS-denied/EW areas

Low-cost, fire-and-forget, improvised weapon

Red team test asset

Deployable system in its own right

Kinetic/directed energy is the only way to defeat

Deep Visual Gravity Vector Detection For Unmanned Aircraft Attitude Estimation, Gary J. Ellingson, David Wingate, Tim Mclain

Faculty Publications

This paper demonstrates a feasible method for using a deep neural network as a sensor to estimate the attitude of a flying vehicle using only flight video. A dataset of still images and associated gravity vectors was collected and used to perform supervised learning. The network builds on a previously trained network and was trained to be able to approximate the attitude of the camera with an average error of about 8 degrees. Flight test video was recorded and processed with a relatively simple visual odometry method. The aircraft attitude is then estimated with the visual odometry as the state …

Impact Of Coalbed Incidence Angle On Methane Enrichment Zone In Longwall Gob, Shengyong Hu, Ao Zhang, Guorui Feng, Shuwen Guan, Xiangqian Guo, Chao Li, Guang Xu

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

To control methane emissions in gob into longwall working faces, it is necessary to understand the distributions of methane enrichment zones (MEZ) around mined coal seams with different incidence angles. In this paper, FLAC^3D software is used to calculate the three-dimensional stress distributions in MEZ in gobs with coalbed incidence angles ranging from 0° to 50°. The results show that MEZ consistently exhibit a "hexagon" shape, and rotate in a clockwise direction as the coalbed angle increases. The MEZ range above the mined seam is larger than that below the mined seam. As the coalbed angle increases, the MEZ …

Degradation Of 2-Nitrophenol By Dielectric Barrier Discharge System: The Influence Of Carbon Doped Tio2 Photocatalyst Supported On Stainless Steel Mesh, J. O. Tijani, M. E.S. Mouele, T. C. Tottito, O. O. Fatoba, L. F. Petrik

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study investigated the degradation of 2-nitrophenol (2-NP) in aqueous solution by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) system alone and its combination with supported TiO₂ photocatalysts. The TiO₂ photocatalyst supported on a stainless-steel mesh was synthesized using sol–gel solution of 8% polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/dimethylformamide/TiCl4 followed by pyrolysis in the furnace under N2 atmosphere at temperatures of 300, 350, or 400 °C for 3 h holding time. The supported catalysts were characterized for their morphologies, functional groups, crystallinity, surface areas and elemental chemical states by high resolution scanning electron microscope (HRSEM), Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area, …

Spiraling Light With Magnetic Metamaterial Quarter-Wave Turbines, J. Zeng, T. S. Luk, Jie Gao, Xiaodong Yang

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Application Of Ihsdm: Ky 30 Case Study, William Nicholas Staats, Adam J. Kirk

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

A section of KY 30 in Jackson and Owsley Counties is targeted for redesign to provide a safer and more efficient corridor that will support economic activity in eastern Kentucky. Data for the existing KY 30 alignment and eight alternative alignments developed by HMB Professional Engineers Inc. were provided to researchers at the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC). KTC researchers also developed a new alternative that modified the existing alignment to improve the safety of various locations. Researchers applied safety analysis procedures from Part C of the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) to the existing and alternative alignments of KY 30 using …

Ns-K-Nn: Neutrosophic Set-Based K-Nearest Neighbors Classifier, Florentin Smarandache, Yaman Akbulut, Abdulkadir Sengur, Yanhui Guo

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

k-nearest neighbors (k-NN), which is known to be a simple and efficient approach, is a non-parametric supervised classifier. It aims to determine the class label of an unknown sample by its k-nearest neighbors that are stored in a training set. The k-nearest neighbors are determined based on some distance functions. Although k-NN produces successful results, there have been some extensions for improving its precision. The neutrosophic set (NS) defines three memberships namely T, I and F. T, I, and F shows the truth membership degree, the false membership degree, and the indeterminacy membership degree, respectively. In this paper, the NS …

An Application Of Box-Jenkins Approach In Forecasting Nigerian Crude Oil Prices., Bashir Umar Faruk

Bullion

Nigerian government has been adopting Moving Average (MA) method in pegging crude oil price benchmark. However, large discrepancy between the projected oil price benchmark and the actual international crude oil prices is observed over time. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to investigate whether Box-Jenkins approach could provide a lasting solution to the problem of inefficient oil price forecast in the Nigerian budgeting process. In our quest for an appropriate oil benchmark, monthly bonny light crude oil prices for the period of April 1986 to December 2015 are used.

Transforming The Insurance Sector In Nigeriain Using The Fss 2020 Platform, Chris O. Muo

Bullion

The National lnsurance Commission (NAICOM) is the statutory Regulatory body of insurance business created to ensure the effective administration, supervision and regulation of insurance business and regulate transactions between insurers and reinsurers within and outside Nigeria. FSS 2020 Insurance Sector, in collaboration with NAICOM aims to deepen the insurance market; ensure lnsurance credibility and protect policy holders; Embed governance and risk management framework for the lnsurance Companies; Enhance access to finance (financial inclusion) with business development support and new products; and risk-based capitalization of lnsurance Companies.

Nigeria's Power Sector Roadmap: Policy Perspectives And Prospects, Bandele A. G. Amoo, O. M. Adebayo, Derek Ibeagha

Bullion

Various strategies have been employed over the years by the Government to boost power in the country. These strategies have been hinged on policies, reforms and roadmaps, including the 2005 Electric Power Sector Reform Act, the Roadmap for Power Sector Reform 2010 and the current Roadmap for Change. A perfunctory look at previous reforms has resulted in significant progress, including unbundling and privatizing the long-standing government-owned monopoly in the power sector. This paper takes a comprehensive assessment of the Roadmap of Change comparing it to previous policies, isolating policy perspectives, prospects and challenges facing it. It also gleans lessons from …