Engineering Commons^™

Cognition-Based Approaches For High-Precision Text Mining, George John Shannon

Doctoral Dissertations

"This research improves the precision of information extraction from free-form text via the use of cognitive-based approaches to natural language processing (NLP). Cognitive-based approaches are an important, and relatively new, area of research in NLP and search, as well as linguistics. Cognitive approaches enable significant improvements in both the breadth and depth of knowledge extracted from text. This research has made contributions in the areas of a cognitive approach to automated concept recognition in.

Cognitive approaches to search, also called concept-based search, have been shown to improve search precision. Given the tremendous amount of electronic text generated in our digital …

Numerical Simulation Of Viscoelastic Buckle Folds: Implications For Stress, Fractures, Porosity And Fluid Flow, Xiaolong Liu

Doctoral Dissertations

"Over the past several decades, buckle folds have been exclusively studied by numerous methods. However, lots of assumptions and simplifications are made, which may not result in realistic in-situ stress conditions leading to rock failure. This study represents the first numerical simulation of folding under the consideration of gravity and pore pressure to simulate the structural development of buckle folds.

The first topic covered in this dissertation is the fracture associated to the single layer fold. It is concluded that burial depth, viscosity, and permeability are critical for the initiation of major fracture sets at the hinge zone with varying …

Dissolution-Enlarged Fractures Imaging Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography (Ert), Elnaz Siami-Irdemoosa

Doctoral Dissertations

"In recent years the electrical imaging techniques have been largely applied to geotechnical and environmental investigations. These techniques have proven to be the best geophysical methods for site investigations in karst terrain, particularly when the overburden soil is clay-dominated. Karst is terrain with a special landscape and distinctive hydrological system developed by dissolution of rocks, particularly carbonate rocks such as limestone and dolomite, made by enlarging fractures into underground conduits that can enlarge into caverns, and in some cases collapse to form sinkholes.

Bedding planes, joints, and faults are the principal structural guides for underground flow and dissolution in almost …

Novel Applications Of Pulse Pre-Pump Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis For Behavior Evaluation Of Structures Under Thermal And Mechanical Loading, Yi Bao

Doctoral Dissertations

"This study aims to: (1) develop an analytical model for the strain transfer effect of distributed fiber optic sensors in a uniform or non-uniform stress field; (2) develop a measurement approach to monitor strains in concrete and detect damage (e.g. crack and delamination) in bonded and unbonded concrete overlays; (3) characterize the strain and temperature sensitivities of distributed fiber optic sensors at elevated temperatures; (4) develop a thermal annealing approach to enhance the thermal stability and temperature sensitivity of the distributed sensors; and (5) apply the distributed sensors to assess structural behaviors of concrete and steel structures exposed to fire. …

High-Volume Recycled Materials For Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure, Seyedhamed Sadati

Doctoral Dissertations

"The objective of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using high performance concrete made with high-volume of recycled materials in transportation infrastructure. The main focus was to develop mixtures for rigid pavement construction. A variety of fine and coarse recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) were investigated. The feasibility of replacing 50% of Portland cement with industrial by-products and supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) was also evaluated. Experimental program was conducted to quantify the effect of concrete mixture design and RCA characteristics on mechanical properties, drying shrinkage, cracking potential, and durability of concrete. The development of a database and analysis using …

Smart Rocks For Bridge Scour Monitoring -- Design And Localization Using Electromagnetic Techniques And Embedded Orientation Sensors, Andro Radchenko

Doctoral Dissertations

"River bridge scour is an erosion process in which flowing water removes sediment materials (such as sand, rocks) from a bridge foundation, river beds and banks. As a result, the level of the river bed near a bridge pier is lowering such that the bridge foundation stability can be compromised, and the bridge can collapse. The scour is a dynamic process, which can accelerate rapidly during a flood event. Thus, regular monitoring of the scour progress is necessary to be performed at most river bridges. Present techniques are usually expensive, require large man/hour efforts, and often lack the real-time monitoring …

The Effect Of Testing Conditions On Lost Circulation Materials' Performance In Simulated Fractures, Montri Jeennakorn

Doctoral Dissertations

"Lost circulation (LOC) problems increase costs of drilling significantly. It is not only the cost of the drilling fluid that is lost into the formation but also the costs of subsequent problems that can be higher than the cost of the drilling fluids. LOC also possibly leads to a serious risk of blowout incident.

Lost circulation materials (LCM) are regularly added to the drilling fluids with an expectation of plugging the flow path. Due to the difficulties of testing and monitoring LCM sealing processes in the field, LCM evaluation in the laboratory is often used to prove and assure successful …

Optimal Design And Freeform Extrusion Fabrication Of Functionally Gradient Smart Parts, Amir Ghazanfari

Doctoral Dissertations

"An extrusion-based additive manufacturing process, called the Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion (CODE) process, for producing three-dimensional ceramic components with near theoretical density was developed. In this process, an aqueous paste of ceramic particles with a very low binder content (<1 vol%) is extruded through a moving nozzle at room temperature. After a layer is deposited, it is surrounded by oil (to a level just below the top surface of most recent layer) to preclude non-uniform evaporation from the sides. Infrared radiation is then used to partially, and uniformly, dry the just-deposited layer so that the yield stress of the paste increases and the part maintains its shape. The same procedure is repeated for every layer until part fabrication is completed. Sample parts made of alumina and fully stabilized zirconia were produced using this process and their mechanical properties including density, strength, Young's modulus, Weibull modulus, toughness, and hardness were examined. Microstructural evaluation was also performed to measure the grain size, and critical flaw sizes were obtained. The results indicate that the proposed method enables fabrication of geometrically complex parts with superior mechanical properties. Furthermore, several methods were developed to increase the productivity of the CODE process and enable manufacturing of functionally graded materials with an optimum distribution of material composition. As an application of the CODE process, advanced ceramic components with embedded sapphire optical fiber sensors were fabricated and properties of parts and sensors were evaluated using standard test methods"--Abstract, page iv.

การพัฒนาโปรแกรมการจัดการซ่อมบำรุงรักษาบนมือถือสำหรับโรงงานผลิตภัณฑ์เคมี, จารุวรรณ แต้มศรี

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยนี้ได้พัฒนาระบบการจัดการซ่อมบำรุงรักษา ด้วยระบบปฏิบัติการแอนดรอยด์บนมือถือ ซึ่งระบบที่พัฒนาขึ้นได้นำไปประยุกต์ใช้กับระบบซ่อมบำรุงรักษาของท่อส่งเคมีภัณฑ์ โดยปัจจุบันการนำระบบการจัดการซ่อมบำรุงรักษาด้วยเครือข่ายคอมพิวเตอร์ที่ใช้ในการจัดการข้อมูลยังไม่สามารถตอบสนองต่อความต้องการได้ ดังนั้นโปรแกรมที่พัฒนาขึ้นจะมีระบบการแจ้งซ่อมบำรุงและสามารถรายงานผลการซ่อมบำรุงได้แบบทันท่วงที เพื่อให้ผู้ปฏิบัติงานสามารถตอบสนองและตรวจสอบเหตุขัดข้องได้ในทันที นอกจากนี้โปรแกรมที่พัฒนาขึ้นยังสามารถช่วยวางแผนการจัดการจัดตารางเวลาซ่อมบำรุงรักษาในอนาคต จากการทดลองโปรแกรมที่พัฒนาขึ้นเพื่อช่วยในการลดความสูญเสียทางด้านเวลาในการดำเนินการส่งเอกสารทางอีเมลตั้งแต่ต้นจนจบกระทวนการ และทำการบันทึกข้อมูลลงในระบบฐานข้อมูล เมื่อนำระบบแอพพลิเคชั่นมาใช้ในการจัดการระบบซ่อมบำรุงรักษามีความเป็นระบบมากขึ้น โดยมีความสะดวกในการบันทึกข้อมูลในขั้นตอนต่างๆ ในการดำเนินงาน พบว่า ระยะเวลาเฉลี่ยก่อนเสียหายแต่ละครั้งเพิ่มขึ้น 11% ระยะเวลาเฉลี่ยตั้งแต่เสียหายจนใช้งานได้แต่ละครั้งลดลง 5%

Developing A General Methodology For Evaluating Composite Action In Insulated Wall Panels, Taylor Sorensen

Faculty Publications

Precast concrete sandwich wall panels (PCSWPs) have been in use for over 60 years. They provide a very efficient building envelope for many buildings. Characteristic PCSWPs comprise an outer and inner layer (or wythe) of concrete separated by an insulating material. To use all of the material as efficiently as possible, the layers are attached by connectors which penetrate through the insulating layer and are embedded in either concrete wythe. These connectors make it possible for both layers of the wall to work together when resisting loads. The connectors are made out of plastic, or FRP, to prevent heat transfer …

Fundamental Principles Of Tremor Propagation In The Upper Limb, Andrew D. Davidson, Steven Knight Charles

Faculty Publications

Although tremor is the most common movement disorder, there exist few effective tremor-suppressing devices, in part because the characteristics of tremor throughout the upper limb are unknown. To clarify, optimally suppressing tremor requires a knowledge of the mechanical origin, propagation, and distribution of tremor throughout the upper limb. Here we present the first systematic investigation of how tremor propagates between the shoulder, elbow, forearm, and wrist. We simulated tremor propagation using a linear, time-invariant, lumped-parameter model relating joint torques and the resulting joint displacements. The model focused on the seven main degrees of freedom from the shoulder to the wrist …

Semi-Empirical Model For Fire Spread In Shrubs With Spatially-Defined Fuel Elements And Flames, Dallan Prince, Chen Shen, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

A semi-empirical model was developed which forms shrub geometries from distinct fuel elements (e.g. leaves) and describes flame spread from element to element. Ignition, flame growth and flame decay patterns were based on combustion data of single leaves. Extension of the model to various heating conditions was achieved by scaling the flame growth parameters using physics-based heat transfer models. The resulting model offers a novel approach to examine fire spread and to explicitly describe both distinct fuel elements and fire behavior. This approach balances computational speed and modeling detail while providing a unique perspective into fire spread phenomena. Comparisons of …

Modeling Soot Oxidation And Gasification With Bayesian Statistics, Alexander Jon Josephson, Neal D. Gaffin, Sean T. Smith, Thomas H. Fletcher, David Lignell

Faculty Publications

This paper presents a statistical method for model calibration using data collected from literature. The method is used to calibrate parameters for global models of soot consumption in combustion systems. This consumption is broken into two different submodels: first for oxidation where soot particles are attacked by certain oxidizing agents; second for gasification where soot particles are attacked by H2O or CO2 molecules. Rate data were collected from 19 studies in the literature and evaluated using Bayesian statistics to calibrate the model parameters. Bayesian statistics are valued in their ability to quantify uncertainty in modeling. The calibrated consumption model with …

Model For The Evolution Of Pore Structure In A Lignite Particle During Pyrolysis. 2. Influence Of Cross-Linking Reactions, Molten Metaplast, And Molten Ash On Particle Surface Area, He Yang, Thomas H. Fletcher, Sufen Li, Haoquan Hu, Lijun Li

Faculty Publications

A model for the evolution of the pore structure in a lignite particle during pyrolysis was established previously based on the chemical percolation devolatilization (CPD) model, using coal polymer network parameters to calculate the surface area and porosity of the particle. In this paper, to get the accurate surface area of coal particle at high pyrolysis temperature, the previous model was improved by considering the effects of cross-linking reactions, molten Metaplast, and ash. The good agreement of the predicted surface area with experiments at temperature below 1200 K in the previous model is maintained, and model accuracy is improved at …

Effects Of Post Eviction Resettlement On Land-Use And Cover Change In Uganda’S Oil Exploration Areas, Joseph Ssekandi, John Mburu, Oliver Wasonga, Laban Macopiyo, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Evaluation of the changes in land use and land cover change (LULCC) in respect to oil exploration across the Albertine region in Uganda has been focused around the exploration areas and protected areas, with no attention to the potential impacts of evictees’ activities on resettled areas. This study used LANDSAT images to analyze the land use and land cover changes (LULCC) among the period before eviction (2002 and 2005) at the climax of eviction and resettlements (2005-2011), and during the post-resettlement period (2011-2015) to quantify the impacts of resettlements on the environment. LANDSAT images were processed using ERDAS IMAGINE software …

Effects Of Titanium Dioxide Structure And Cobalt Addition On The Catalytic Properties Of Ru/Tio2 In The Selective Hydrogenation Of Furfural To Furfuryl Alcohol, Natdanai Nanthasanti

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Furfuryl alcohol, an important intermediate for the production of many fine chemicals, is typically produced by the selective hydrogenation of lignocellulosic biomass-derived furfural using supported metal catalysts. In this research, 1.5%wt Ru catalysts supported on nanocrystalline TiO2 were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation method. The effects of crystallographic of TiO2 and Co addition in the range of 0.2-0.8 wt% on the catalytic properties of Ru/TiO2 were investigated in the selective hydrogenation of furfural to furfural alcohol at 50?C, 20 bar of H2, and 2 h reaction time. It was found that Ru supported on anatase phase TiO2 exhibited the highest …

Space Utilisation Strategy For Thailand Underground Transit Station. A Case Study Of Thailand Cultural Centre Underground Station, Wirasinee Tongsoo

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The ridership of Thailand underground station continuously increases every year. On the other hand, space management of terminal of underground station does not success as expected. The main reason is space does not have strategy to handle. majority of renter rarely stay until the completion of the rental contract, and they prefer to break the contract, pay the fine and move business elsewhere. According to research, there is no research study about this for Thailand underground station. In order to create appreciate plan for Thailand underground station in 2022. The strategy is core to integrate plan. Passengers would be attracted …

Recruitment Strategies For Manufacturers In Northwest Louisiana, Markey W. Pierre

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Acquiring information about successful human resources strategies that help to effectively recruit skilled labor is critical for manufacturers. Manufacturing is the backbone of the United States, yet 6 of 10 skilled labor jobs are unfilled because traditional methods and strategies used by human resource leaders to recruit are inadequate. Guided through the lens of strategic human resource management and using the concepts and views of resource-based theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that manufacturing human resource professionals use to successfully recruit skilled labor in Northwest Louisiana. The data collection for this case study was …

Strategies For Improving Labor Productivity In Construction Companies, Lakew G. Buli

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Even with advanced technology and new project management methodologies, construction company leaders continue to face challenges to improve labor productivity. This multiple case study was an exploration of the strategies that construction company leaders use to improve labor productivity in Doha, Qatar. The case population consisted of 6 construction company leaders operating in Doha, Qatar, who successfully identified and implemented strategies to improve labor productivity. The conceptual framework for this study was the expectancy theory. The data collection process included semistructured interviews and company documentation. Data were compiled and organized, disassembled into fragments, reassembled into a sequence of groups, and …

Project Managers' Strategies For Megaproject Success, Nkenamchi Benedict Oputa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In Africa, most oil and gas megaprojects exceed their original budget and time deadlines despite advancement in project management processes and systems. This study explored strategies project managers used for megaprojects' success in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria, from the perspectives of the owner and contractor organizations. Multiple case study design was utilized to collect data by asking open-ended questions in separate interviews with 4 project managers. Archival project data was also reviewed to eliminate information incongruences. The conceptual framework for the study is the contingency theory that there is no universal management structure for every project. The …

Transitioning Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder From School To Society, Charla Brenta Spurlin Deleo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

High school administrators in a rural school district were providing transition planning to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in order to meet postschool transition goals. Despite these efforts, few students with ASD were employed or enrolled in postsecondary training, and parents reported that they were dissatisfied with the postschool transition process. The purpose of this collective case study was to explore parental and staff perceptions of the postschool transition processes of students with ASD to increase the understanding of the practice related to postschool transitions. Guided by Tinto and Pusser's institutional framework, research questions were focused on the experiences …

A Miniaturized Spectrophotometric In Situ Ph Sensor For Seawater, Reuben C. Darlington

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Since the Industrial Revolution, the world's oceans have absorbed increasing amounts of CO2 and the resultant changes to the marine carbonate chemical system have reduced the pH by > 0.1 units (~ 30%) in surface waters. This acidification of the oceans has many far reaching impacts on marine life and there is great need of quality instrumentation to assess and follow the changing carbonate system. This MIS project aims to develop a low cost pH sensor with high precision and accuracy for open sea measurements with special emphasis on reduced size and cost. Design effort is based on the commercially available …

Real-Time Internal Temperature Estimation And Health Monitoring For Igbt Modules, Ze Wang

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Field experiences have demonstrated that power semiconductor devices, such as insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), are among the most fragile components of power electronic converters. Thermomechanical stresses produced by temperature variations during operational and environmental loads are the major causes of IGBT degradation. As the devices are often operated under complex working conditions, temperature variations and the associated damage are difficult to predict during the converter design stage. A promising approach—online health monitoring and prognosis for power semiconductor devices—that can avoid device failure and effectively schedule maintenance has attracted much interest.

This dissertation research focused on real-time accurate internal temperature estimation …

The Discrete Spring Transform: An Innovative Steganographic Attack, Aaron T. Sharp

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Digital Steganography continues to evolve today, where steganographers are constantly discovering new methodologies to hide information effectively. Despite this, steganographic attacks, which seek to defeat these techniques, have continually lagged behind. The reason for this is simple: it is exceptionally difficult to defeat the unknown. Most attacks require prior knowledge or study of existing techniques in order to defeat them, and are often highly specific to certain cover media. These constraints are impractical and unrealistic to defeat steganography in modern communication networks. It follows, an effective steganographic attack must not require prior knowledge or study of techniques, and must be …

An Operational View In Computational Construction Of Information, Florentin Smarandache, Stefan Vladutescu, Constantin Dima, Valeriu Voinea

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The paper aims to explain the technology of emergence of information. Our research proves that information as communicational product is the result of processing within some operations, actions, mechanisms and strategies of informational material meanings. Are determined eight computational-communicative operations of building information. Information occurs in two communication phases, syncretic and the segregation-synthetic. The syncretic phase consists of four operations: referral of significant field, primary delimitation of information, detection-looking information and an anticipative-draft constitution (feedforward). The segregation-synthetic phase also includes four operations: discrimination, identification, interpretation and confrontation (feedback). In the future we will investigate informational actions, mechanisms and strategies.

A Lattice Theoretic Look: A Negated Approach To Adjectival (Intersective, Neutrosophic And Private) Phrases, Florentin Smarandache, Selcuk Topal

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Computation Of Shortest Path Problem In A Network With Sv-Triangular Neutrosophic Numbers, Florentin Smarandache, Said Broumi, Assia Bakali, Mohamed Talea

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this article, we present an algorithm method for finding the shortest path length between a paired nodes on a network where the edge weights are characterized by single valued triangular neutrosophic numbers. The proposed algorithm gives the shortest shortest path length from source node to destination node based on a ranking method. Finally, a numerical example is also presented to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed approach.

Multicriteria Decision Making Using Double Refined Indeterminacy Neutrosophic Cross Entropy And Indeterminacy Based Cross Entropy, Ilanthenral Kandasamy, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

Double Refined Indeterminacy Neutrosophic Set (DRINS) is an inclusive case of the refined neutrosophic set, defined by Smarandache [1], which provides the additional possibility to represent with sensitivity and accuracy the uncertain, imprecise, incomplete, and inconsistent information which are available in real world.

More precision is provided in handling indeterminacy; by classifying indeterminacy (I) into two, based on membership; as indeterminacy leaning towards truth membership (IT ) and indeterminacy leaning towards false membership (IF ). This kind of classification of indeterminacy is not feasible with the existing Single Valued Neutrosophic Set (SVNS), but it is a particular case of the …

Open-Source Based Testbed For Multioperator 4g/5g Infrastructure Sharing In Virtual Environments, Ricardo Marco Alaez, Jose M. Alcaraz Calero, Qi Wang, Fatna Belqasmi, May El Barachi, Mohamad Badra, Omar Alfandi

All Works

© 2017 Ricardo Marco Alaez et al. Fourth-Generation (4G) mobile networks are based on Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technologies and are being deployed worldwide, while research on further evolution towards the Fifth Generation (5G) has been recently initiated. 5G will be featured with advanced network infrastructure sharing capabilities among different operators. Therefore, an open-source implementation of 4G/5G networks with this capability is crucial to enable early research in this area. The main contribution of this paper is the design and implementation of such a 4G/5G open-source testbed to investigate multioperator infrastructure sharing capabilities executed in virtual architectures. The proposed design and …

Strategically Managing Product Innovation To Create Consumer Value: An Analysis In The Context Of The Australian Electric Vehicle Market, Brendan Koehler

Theses

This thesis encompasses a body of research which looks to explore how strategic management, consumer value and product innovation interrelate. In particular, this research will evaluate such a unilateral relationship in specific reference to product innovations developed as a result of emerging and disruptive technology. Therefore, this research will be conducted in the context of the Australian electric vehicle industry. This industry was selected as it has displayed traits of an industry with companies that have a desire to incorporate electric vehicle product innovations into their portfolio from a strategic perspective; yet these product innovations have no particular consumer demand …