Engineering Commons^™

Analog Spiking Neuromorphic Circuits And Systems For Brain- And Nanotechnology-Inspired Cognitive Computing, Xinyu Wu

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Human society is now facing grand challenges to satisfy the growing demand for computing power, at the same time, sustain energy consumption. By the end of CMOS technology scaling, innovations are required to tackle the challenges in a radically different way. Inspired by the emerging understanding of the computing occurring in a brain and nanotechnology-enabled biological plausible synaptic plasticity, neuromorphic computing architectures are being investigated. Such a neuromorphic chip that combines CMOS analog spiking neurons and nanoscale resistive random-access memory (RRAM) using as electronics synapses can provide massive neural network parallelism, high density and online learning capability, and hence, paves …

Coupled Numerical Analysis Of Variations In The Capacity Of An Energy Pile In Clay Soil, Daniel Patrick Zimmerman

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Energy piles are an emerging alternative for the reduction of energy consumption to heat and cool buildings. The majority of the research to date focuses on thermodynamic properties or axial strain of piles. This paper concerns the effects of temperature fluctuation on the capacity of driven energy piles in clayey soils. Consolidation of clay (due to the dissipation of excess pore-water pressure in clay) surrounding piles affects the capacity of the pile (pile setup in clay). Reciprocally, it is reasonable to assume that heating and cooling periods will create or relax the excess pore-water pressure (EPWP) in clayey soils (due …

The Feasibility Of Using A Markerless Motion Capture Sensor (Leap MotionTm Controller) Forquantitative Motor Assessment Intended For A Clinical Setting, Clay Jordan Kincaid

Theses and Dissertations

Although upper limb motor impairments are common, the primary tools for assessing and tracking these impairments in a clinical setting are subjective, qualitative rating scales that lack resolution and repeatability. Markerless motion capture technology has the potential to greatly improve clinical assessment by providing quick, low-cost, and accurate tools to objectively quantify motor deficits. Here we lay some of the groundwork necessary to enable markerless motion capture systems to be used in clinical settings. First, we adapted five motor tests common in clinical assessments so they can be administered via markerless motion capture. We implemented these modified tests using a …

Recognition Of Infrastructure Events Using Principal Component Analysis, Lane David Broadbent

Theses and Dissertations

Information Technology systems generate system log messages to allow for the monitoring of the system. In increasingly large and complex systems the volume of log data can overwhelm the analysts tasked with monitoring these systems. A system was developed that utilizes Principal Component Analysis to assist the analyst in the characterization of system health and events. Once trained, the system was able to accurately identify a state of heavy load on a device with a low false positive rate. The system was also able to accurately identify an error condition when trained on a single event. The method employed is …

Real Time Implementation Of An Inertial Measurement Unit Based On Fiber-Bragg Sensor Array Using Legendre Polynomial, Taher Saifee Parekh

Theses and Dissertations

Missiles and launch vehicle are trending towards becoming more slender in shape to reduce aerodynamic drag. Bending vibrations of the rocket body occur when a flying object with a large slenderness performs pitch or yaw command. The onboard Inertia Measurement Unit (IMU) measures the attitude and the angular velocities of the deflected body as well as the rigid body motion and in turn feeds these signals back to the control loop. Feedback of the vibrating information degrades the control system stability and in the worst case makes the system unstable. These effects become more significant when the slenderness ratio of …

Electrostatic Nanosmearing Architecture Of Additive Functional Groups During High Shear Mixing Of Pharmaceutical Blends, Sajan Kumar Chatarla

Masters Theses

The main objective of the research project is to detect and quantify the rate and extent of nanosmearing of hydrophobic functional groups of additives on multiple pharmaceutical particles during high shear mixing of formulations due to electrostatics affecting critical blend properties on the bulk scale. We accomplished this task by systematically detecting the electrostatics during powder flow and its consequence on the nanosmearing distribution of additives during mixing. In the first stage, the electrostatic behavior of particles was correlated to the powder flow. Secondly, its relative influence on nanosmearing of additives during mixing was determined by developing a methodology to …

The Influence Of Resin Rich Volumes On The Mechanical Properties Of Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites, Grant Lewin

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Glass fibre composite plates were manufactured using several methods to promote increasing levels of fibre volume fraction (Vf), inversely leading to a lower residual resin content and theoretically smaller resin rich volumes (RRV). The aim of this project is to determine the effect of resin rich volumes on the mechanical properties tested and whether they scale with the increase in Vf. Five test plates were manufactured, the first using hand-lamination (HL) with three further plates produced using resin infusion (RI), with infusion occurring under consolidation pressures of 300, 600 and 900mbar. The fifth plate was infused under full vacuum, ~1000mbar …

Low Temperature Flexible Perovskite Solar Cell With Mesoporous Tio2 Electron Transport Layer In High Humidity Environment, Felipe De La Torre

Theses and Dissertations

Perovskite solar cells are the fastest advancing solar technology to date with efficiencies increasing from 3.9% to more than 21% within a few years. They have emerged as a possible alternative to silicon photovoltaics due to their exceptional photovoltaic performance, light absorbing properties, and low-cost fabrication with methylammonium lead iodide (CH3NH 3PbI3) getting considerable interest in research and development. However, there are still many challenges that must be addressed for perovskite solar cells to replace contemporary solar cells, such as improving their stability, making them nonhazardous, further increasing their efficiency, and developing better techniques for large scale fabrication. In this …

Forcespinning®: An Alternative Method To Fabricate Metal Oxide/Carbon Composite Nanofiber Anodes For Li-Ion Batteries, Luis Zuniga

Theses and Dissertations

Metals and their respective oxides have been highly regarded as next generation anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In this research work the electrochemical performance of Sn, SnO2, and TiO2. With the advantages of nanotechnology and the Forcespinning® method of fabricating micro and nanofibers, binder-free anodes are produced from metal or metal oxide/carbon composite microfibers. Through these microfibers the electrochemical performance of the above mentioned materials are significantly improved due to the increased surface area per volume providing a large number of reaction sites for the anode materials. Further performance enhancement was achieved by also modifying the fiber microstructure to …

Wettability Of Nonwoven Polymeric Nanofiber Mats, Edgar Munoz

Theses and Dissertations

The wettability of heterogeneous materials has been attracting special interest by academia and industrial sector given the need to development self-cleaning Nonwoven nanofiber mats have demonstrated potential given its hydrophobicity granted by the ultimate structure of the system, small fiber diameter and small pores giving rise to effects such as the Cassie-Baxter. This thesis analyzed the wettability of a wide range of polymeric systems. Nanofiber mats were manufactured using the Forcespinning® technology. Samples were prepared at different polymeric concentrations and rotational speeds to alter fiber size; density of the mat was also altered to evaluate the effect of porosity on …

Optimizing Border Security With Stochastic And Deterministic Strategies, Gabriel A. Rueda

Theses and Dissertations

International trade and border security have always been linked together, and so has the need to find ways to improve security decisions. The United States and bordering countries benefit from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but amongst the positive effects of NAFTA there is a looming drug threat that effects the bi-national supply chains. In 2015 Customs and Border Protections (CBP) processed over 72,000 trucks, rail, and sea containers a day. CBP also seized 3.4 million pounds of narcotics, the majority of them at the ports of entry. With unknown threats using commercial vehicles to transport their illicit …

Knee Joint Internal Forces During Squat Jump Exercise, Ricardo Moreno

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to investigate muscular ligament and joint contact forces produced during squat jump exercise. An inverse dynamics, two dimensional, leg model is used to describe the motion in the sagittal plane. The lower extremity model includes two bones, tibia and femur, tibio-femoral ligaments, and muscles such as quadriceps, hamstrings, and gastrocnemius. The ligaments are anatomically modeled as nonlinear strings, but the femoral condyle is modeled as a circle and the tibial plateau as a straight line. Experimental squat jump exercises are conducted to obtain the ground reaction forces, the angular accelerations, and centroid linear acceleration …

Study Of Selective Laser Remelting Of 316l S.S. To Reduce Roughness On Inclined Surface, Jafar Ghorbani

Theses and Dissertations

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies are increasingly competing with subtractive methods, and there are promising applications for additive technologies that are hybrid with traditional manufacturing methods. Poor surface roughness of additive manufactured parts continues to be a major challenge especially for advanced functional parts. In this study, effect of processing parameters are evaluated, optimized and verified by using the Box–Behnken design of experiment method. The results, for the first time, reveal that surface remelting has the potential to become a high speed approach for improving the roughness of non-horizontal surface of additive manufactured parts.

Kihefo Vocational Center: Kabale, Uganda, Jason Matthew Angerer

Construction Management

Journeyman International (JI) is a non-profit organization which acts as a platform for bringing together volunteer Architects, Designers, Engineers, and Construction Managers with humanitarian projects around the world. Kigezi Healthcare Foundation (KIHEFO) a non-profit NGO located in Kabale, Uganda is a client seeking to build a vocational center to educate the workforce of Uganda. The center will include multi-purpose class rooms, a dining hall, rabbit farm, carpentry shop, and living complex. The Architect on the project was Courtney Wedel from Cal Poly. As the Construction Manager on the project my responsibilities include; Design Assist, Feasibility Analysis, Scheduling, Estimating, and Managing …

An Equivalent Plate Model With Orthotropic Material Properties For Adjacent Box-Beam Bridge Superstructure, Timothy Alexander Schnell

Masters Theses

Reflective cracking over the longitudinal joints of adjacent box-beam bridges is a welldocumented and recurrent problem; it is a concern because it leads to poor durability performance. These cracks develop during early stages of bridge construction and have not been eliminate by the design revisions implemented so far.

This study is aimed at developing a rational load demand analysis model for calculating the moment acting at the longitudinal joints in order to determine the impact of post-tensioning on mitigating reflective cracking.

The scope of the study includes calculating moment demand at the shear keys using a rational analysis model based …

Analysis Of Transit Accessibility For People With Disabilities, Rostam Khalid Mohammed Ameen Qatra

Masters Theses

The inconvenience of public transit systems and unavailability of bus stops in the United States has resulted in a heavy reliance on the private automobile. One of the main issues in transit services is accessibility, particularly for people with disabilities. This research is intended to compare estimated job accessibility measures by transit in Kalamazoo county for workers with reduced physical mobility and without. Using OpenTripPlanner (OTP) software, General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), Open Street Map (OSM) and Longitudinal Employer-Housing Dynamics (LODES) data were analyzed to estimate job accessibility for people with mobility constraints. By using the shortest tree path method, …

A Genetic Algorithm Incorporating Design Choice For The Preliminary Design Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Kenneth Michael Mull

Masters Theses

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are currently at the forefront of aerospace technologies. The design of these aircraft is complex and often performance characteristics are coupled to multiple design attributes. At the early design phase both discrete and continuous design choices are present limiting the feasibility of traditional derivative based optimization techniques. In place of these methods, the design space can be explored using a genetic algorithm that mimics the process of natural selection, providing a capable and reliable base airframe constructed from the required performance metrics. By incorporating a genetic multidisciplinary optimization algorithm early in the conceptual design phase, aircraft …

Design, Modeling And Simulation Of A Thermoelectric Cooling System (Tec), Pooja Iyer Mani

Masters Theses

Thermoelectric Devices are solid state devices which directly convert thermal energy to electrical energy and vice versa. In the recent past, a lot of effort has been made to improve the performance and also the power generated by a thermoelectric device. This is done by attaching heat sinks on either sides of the device. Optimizing heat sinks improves the overall efficiency of it but on the other hand the device also has to be optimized. TECs are mostly used for electronic cooling where the heated electronic devices serve as target that needs to be cooled while air acts as a …

Modeling, Optimizing And Testing Thermoelectric Generators For Liquid-To-Liquid Low Grade Waste Heat Recovery, Ali Eyddan Hamil

Masters Theses

The use of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) for producing electricity from low grade waste heat is thought to be a great solution in the future to reduce the power generation cost because of their advantages of reliability and environmental friendliness. Therefore, the current project aims to study thermoelectric generators for low grade waste heat recovery. In this work, a single unit cell of liquid to liquid thermoelectric generator attached with heat exchangers (heat sinks) is modeled using an internal flow. Its optimum design is obtained based on heat sink optimization and the optimal design method. An analytical model of four unit …

Analytical Study Of Miniature Thermoelectric Device, Mohammed Dhannoon

Masters Theses

Miniature thermoelectric devices (TE) have been regarded as hopeful devices to attain efficient cooling in microprocessors and other small-scale devices. To recognize the performances of miniature thermoelectric coolers, a thermoelectric cooling module is theoretically analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the impact of the thermoelectric element length effect and the substrate material type influence on the cooling performance. The electrical contact resistance and thermal contact are taken into account.

Furthermore, miniature thermoelectric is compared with large thermoelectric, and effective material properties of miniature thermoelectric are studied. The obtained results also demonstrate power density (cooling/heating power per unit area of the …

Optimal Design Of Automotive Exhaust Thermoelectric Generator (Aeteg), Hassan Fagehi

Masters Theses

A consumption of energy continues to increase at an exponential rate, especially in terms of automotive spark ignitions vehicles. About 40% of the applied fuel into a vehicle is lost as waste exhaust to the environment. The desire for improved fuel efficiency by recovering the exhaust waste heat in automobiles has become an important subject. The thermoelectric generator (TEG) has the potential to convert exhaust waste heat into electricity as long as it is improving fuel economy. The remarkable amount of research being conducted on TEGs indicates that this technology will have a bright future in terms of power generation. …

Application Of Wavelet Transform In Structural Health Monitoring, Yashodhya Swarna Sri Dhanapala Liyana Kankanamge

Masters Theses

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a process of implementing a damage detection strategy in structures to evaluate the condition of existing structures to ensure the safety of users in the future. The changes in the material, geometric and/or structural properties affect structural responses, which can be captured and analyzed for condition assessment. Various vibration-based damage detection algorithms have been developed in the past decades. Among them, the Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) gained popularity as an efficient method of signal processing to build a framework to identify model properties and detect damage in structures. In this study, the application of wavelet …

A Build System For Benchmarking And Comparison Of Competing System Implementations, Anthony J. Bentley

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

When developing a hardware or software system, the problem at hand may lend itself to multiple solutions. During the implementation process for such systems, it can be helpful to prototype multiple versions that use distinct paradigms, and determine the efficiency of each according to some metric, such as execution time. This paper presents a portable, lightweight build system designed for easy benchmarking and verification of competing implementations of an algorithm. Also presented is a sample project that uses this system to compare the performance and correctness of CPU, GPU, and FPGA implementations of a signal recovery algorithm

How A Systematic Approach To Uncertainty Quantification Renders Molecular Simulation A Quantitative Tool In Predicting The Critical Constants For Large N-Alkanes, Richard Alma Messerly

Theses and Dissertations

Accurate thermophysical property data are crucial for designing efficient chemical processes. For this reason, the Design Institute for Physical Properties (DIPPR 801) provides evaluated experimental data and prediction of various thermophysical properties. The critical temperature (T_c), critical density (ρ_c), critical pressure (P_c), critical compressibility factor (Z_c), and normal boiling point (T_b) are important constants to check for thermodynamic consistency and to estimate other properties. The n-alkane family is of primary interest because it is generally assumed that other families of compounds behave similarly to …

Selecting Cloud Platform Services Based On Application Requirements, Bridger Ronald Larson

Theses and Dissertations

As virtualization platforms or cloud computing have become more of a commodity, many more organizations have been utilizing them. Many organizations and technologies have emerged to fulfill those cloud needs. Cloud vendors provide similar services, but the differences can have significant impact on specific applications. Selecting the right provider is difficult and confusing because of the number of options. It can be difficult to determine which application characteristics will impact the choice of implementation. There has not been a concise process to select which cloud vendor and characteristics are best suited for the application requirements and organization requirements. This thesis …

An All-In-One Debugging Approach: Java Debugging, Execution Visualization And Verification, Beinan Wang

Dissertations - ALL

We devise a widely applicable debugging approach to deal with the prevailing issue that bugs cannot be precisely reproduced in nondeterministic complex concurrent programs. A distinct efficient record-and-playback mechanism is designed to record all the internal states of execution including intermediate results by injecting our own bytecode, which does not affect the source code, and, through a two-step data processing mechanism, these data will be aggregated, structured and parallel processed for the purpose of replay in high fidelity while keeping the overhead at a satisfactory level. Docker and Git are employed to create a clean environment such that the execution …

Aluminum Is More Tightly Bound In Soil After Wollastonite Treatment To A Forest Watershed, Weiyao Gu

Dissertations - ALL

Aluminum concentrations decreased on soil exchange sites and in soil solutions after a whole-watershed wollastonite (CaSiO3) treatment at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire. This study was conducted to determine whether these decreases could be explained by changes in organically bound Al (Alorg) in soils. The concentrations of Alorg, exchangeable Al (AlKCl) and other chemical properties in organic (Oi + Oe, Oa) and 0-10 cm mineral soil layers were measured using samples collected prior to treatment (1998) and afterwards (2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014). Compared to pre-treatment values, Alorg concentrations in the Oa horizon and the 0-10 cm …

The Economy Of Preventive Maintenance Of Concrete Bridges Due To Corrosion, Haotian Zhang

Dissertations - ALL

The current practice for physical evaluation and delayed maintenance of deteriorated concrete bridge is fundamentally wrong. This research presents a new approach for the evaluation of the condition states of steel reinforced concrete bridge members, which is based on their chemical conditions instead of the physical deficiencies such as cracks and delamination. Using the proposed chemical based inspection approach, a more effective and economic preventive maintenance plan could be achieved. The available non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods and preventive maintenance measure are identified. Since the chloride induced corrosion is the major factor that dictates the service life of the steel reinforced …

Router Security Effect On Performance Of A Network, David L. Leal

Theses and Dissertations

Recently many of the devices that create a computer network offer security to help protect networks from hackers, such as computers, servers, firewalls and even routers. In most cases when protecting a network from hackers having more security is not always the best, because the more resources of the device is used by the security in inspecting connections, and it can compromise performance of the network.

This thesis investigates performance benefit of having security on a router and its impact on the connection rate of the network when it is under security attacks. In this thesis, different security features and …

Assessment Of Asymmetric Flight On Solar Uas, Eric Belfield

Master's Theses

An investigation was conducted into the feasibility of using an unconventional flight technique, asymmetric flight, to improve overall efficiency of solar aircraft. In this study, asymmetric flight is defined as steady level flight in a non-wings-level state in- tended to improve solar incidence angle. By manipulating aircraft orientation through roll angle, solar energy collection is improved but aerodynamic efficiency is worsened due to the introduction of additional trim drag. A point performance model was devel- oped to investigate the trade-off between improvement in solar energy collection and additional drag associated with asymmetric flight. A mission model with a focus on …