Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

Feasibility Study Of Using Energy Extracted From The Process Of Electrochemically Consumed Of Al 2024 For Powering Daily Used Electric Car, Yanuar Mohamad Marda, Rini Riastuti, Muhammad Hamka Ibrahim

Journal of Materials Exploration and Findings

Usage of green energy for transportation has become important due to the contribution of transportation activity to climate change. Electrochemical energy has been used as a source of green energy. The objective of this work is to evaluate sufficiency of energy provided by electrochemically consumed Al 2024 for supplying energy to daily used PHEV electric car. Study of previous articles, observation of typical amount of energy required, electrochemical galvanic cell experiments, and simple calculations have been conducted to determine produced energy feasibility. Electrical energy produced by consuming 340 gr of Al 2024 in galvanic cells has the total lifetime of …

Degradation Study Of Single Crystal Barium Titanate Capacitors Under Harsh Environment, Menglin Wang

Electrical Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Capacitors are critical for voltage source converter functionality. DC-link capacitors are known to have reliability issues. Resistance degradation at high temperatures is one of the primary failure modes in capacitors. The overall goal of this program is to improve the understanding of high voltage breakdown and resistance degradation in high dielectric constant inorganic ceramic capacitors, using single crystal BaTiO₃ as a model system to understand the impact and control of oxygen vacancy migration to maximize the long-term reliability of high voltage inorganic multi-layer ceramic capacitors, which allows higher frequency operation, reducing the size and cost of passive components in …

Empty State Electronics, Reza Farsad Asadi

Electrical Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Field emitter arrays (FEAs) have the potential to operate at high frequencies and withstand harsh environments, such as radiation and high temperatures. However, they are sensitive to gaseous environments. This study examines the impact of different gas environments on silicon (Si) and gallium nitride (GaN) FEAs. To investigate the failure mechanisms, a vacuum system was designed and fabricated to monitor emission uniformity using a phosphor screen. Additionally, a vacuum system was created to introduce high-purity gases into the chamber while operating the devices. The results indicate that both types of FEAs are susceptible to oxidizing environments. Argon (Ar) did not …

Development Of A Nephelometer For Characterization Of Calcium Oxalate Crystal Concentrations Within Solution, Conrad Small

Electrical Engineering Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of kidney stones has been steadily increasing over the last 30 years, affecting both men and women across all age groups. This rise is largely attributed to lifestyle changes associated with technological advancements, such as more sedentary lifestyles, dietary shifts towards more processed foods, and an increased incidence of metabolic diseases like diabetes. Despite the growing prevalence of kidney stones, the methods for early detection have remained relatively unchanged. Current testing involves collecting urine samples over a 24-hour period and sending them to a lab for microscopic and dipstick analysis. This process provides a comprehensive overview of urine …

Enhancing Fundraising Strategies In Higher Education Through Machine Learning, Laith Alatwah

Electrical Engineering Theses

This thesis presents a comprehensive application of machine learning techniques, namely Fine Gaussian SVM and RUS Boosted Trees, to enhance fundraising strategies in higher education institutions. Analyzing a rich dataset from Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT, spanning 2012 to 2022, the study focuses on donor profiles, including demographics, donation history, and engagement patterns. Key demographic insights include the increasing engagement of younger donors (20-29 age group) and significant contributions from older donors (70-99 age group). Geographical trends are also examined, revealing distinct patterns based on donors' city, state, and ZIP code. The Fine Gaussian SVM model demonstrates moderate discriminatory power, with …

Assessment Of Economic Viability Of Direct Current Fast Charging Infrastructure Investments For Electric Vehicles In The United States, Daniel Bernal, Adeeba A. Raheem, Sundeep Inti, Hongjie Wang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

As the global transportation sector increasingly adopts electric vehicles, the demand for advanced and accessible charging infrastructure is rising. In addition to at-home electric vehicle (EV) charging, there is a growing need for the swift development of commercial direct current fast charging (DCFC) stations to meet on-the-go EV charging demands. While government funds are available to support the expansion of the EV charging network in the United States, the establishment of a robust nationwide EV charging infrastructure requires significant private sector investment. This study was conducted to assess the economic feasibility of various business models for fast charging stations in …

Design Of A Portable Fast Scan Cyclic Voltammetry Device Utilizing Pulse Width Modulation For Waveform Generation, Nora Szymkowski

Masters Theses

Fast Scan Cyclic Voltammetry (FSCV) is a widely used electrochemical technique for real-time measurement of the brain’s chemical messengers, including the molecule dopamine, with high temporal resolution. Currently the financial burden of performing FSCV is quite high, ranging from $8,000 to $20,000+ making the barrier to entry nearly insurmountable for laboratories and classrooms at small institutions. The purpose of this project was to develop a Do-It-Yourself (DIY), portable, and cost-effective FSCV system for use in laboratory and classroom settings. The project aimed to create a compact and cost-effective system that could be used by researchers and educators to study dopamine …

Multivariate Analysis Of The Temporal And Spatial Correlations Of The Global Human Rights Dataset, Amanda Goodrick, Skip Mark, Mikhail G. Filippov, David Cingranelli, Hiroki Sayama

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

We propose an extension of a previously proposed method for lead-lag analysis of multivariate time series to include the analysis of spatial correlations. We applied the extended spatial and temporal method to CIRIGHTS, a large global human rights dataset, in order to determine the most influential and most influenced indicators of human rights, freedoms, and atrocities over time. We consider four target countries, each from a different continent. The previously proposed method used a weighted directed network with several lags of each variable as nodes and with edges weighted by transfer entropy. In this study, that method is extended to …

Evaluating The Role Of Data Enrichment Approaches Towards Rare Event Analysis In Manufacturing, Chathurangi Shyalika, Ruwan Wickramarachchi, Fadi El Kalach, Ramy Harik, Amit P. Sheth

Publications

Rare events are occurrences that take place with a significantly lower frequency than more common, regular events. These events can be categorized into distinct categories, from frequently rare to extremely rare, based on factors like the distribution of data and significant differences in rarity levels. In manufacturing domains, predicting such events is particularly important, as they lead to unplanned downtime, a shortening of equipment lifespans, and high energy consumption. Usually, the rarity of events is inversely correlated with the maturity of a manufacturing industry. Typically, the rarity of events affects the multivariate data generated within a manufacturing process to be …

Novel Sensors, Algorithms And Metrics For Human-Robot Interaction., Henry Lee Reynolds

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The increased presence and deployment of robotics in sectors such as the medical field results in the demand for robots to, directly and indirectly, interface with people and their environment, making human-robot interaction (HRI) a vital thrust of robotics research. Assistive robots, for example, aid humans in accomplishing tasks or by providing support in the workforce. As the demand for nurses and the aging population increases, the assistive robots deployed will be deeply rooted in environments that require constant interaction with humans. This work contributed to improving aspects of HRI through 1) Expanding accessibility of the methods used for interfacing …

Reinforcement Learning Assisted Communication Resources Optimization In Advanced Air Mobility., Ruixuan Han

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Advanced air mobility (AAM), which envisages a safe and efficient aviation transportation system, has drawn significant attention to support the increasing mobility demand in metropolitan areas. Communication services for AAM aerial vehicles (AVs) are crucial for ensuring flight safety. This dissertation explores three research topics on communication resource allocation problems in AAM applications. The first topic, addressed in Chapter II, investigates the joint velocity selection and spectrum allocation problem for AAM applications to enhance spectrum utilization efficiency (SUE). In the AAM scenario, multiple AVs travel along predefined paths for passenger and cargo deliveries. Given that AAM aims to provide fast …

A Broadband, Dual Polarized Antenna For The Radio Neutrino Observatory In Greenland, Danny Maas

Master's Theses

The Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G) is a multidisciplinary, multinational collaboration which uses antennas to detect neutrino interactions with arctic ice sheets. Neutrinos are formed from nuclear reactions; predominant sources include nuclear reactors, stars, supernovae, and the big bang. They rarely interact with normal matter and thus travel from origin to destination relatively unimpeded, with applications including tracking nuclear weapons tests and supernovae. Measurements of galactic neutrino flux can provide information about how the universe developed and its current evolution. Neutrino interactions produce signals from 100 to 1000MHz. Current RNO-G antennas operate over only a portion of this band; …

Fault Detection And Location In Renewable-Fed Distribution Systems Using Low Voltage Sensors, Bushra Farhat

All Theses

The penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) into the Electric Power System (EPS) is increasing. These (DERs) are mostly inverter-based resources (IBRs) that are integrated into (EPS) at the distribution level. Therefore, it has become necessary to leverage the integration of (IBRs) for both commercial and residential distribution systems through the deployment of Microgrid (MG). However, existing distribution systems that use fuses for sensing and isolating faults are not equipped to handle protection of microgrids where fault currents are fed from multiple sources and can flow downstream or upstream. Bulk of the protection schemes proposed in literature are heavily dependent …

Training Uav Teams With Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Towards Fully 3d Autonomous Wildfire Response, Bryce Hopkins

All Theses

As climate-exacerbated wildfires increasingly threaten landscapes and communities, there is an urgent and pressing need for sophisticated fire management technologies. Coordinated teams of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) present a promising solution for detection, assessment, and even incipient-stage suppression – especially when integrated into a multi-layered approach with other recent wildfire management technologies such as geostationary/polar-orbiting satellites and CCTV detection networks. However, there remains significant challenges in developing the necessary sensing, navigation, coordination, and communication subsystems that enable intelligent UAV teams. Further, federal regulations governing UAV deployment and autonomy pose constraints on real-world aerial testing, creating a disconnect between theoretical research …

Using Efficient Vision Transformers To Improve Perception Systems In Autonomous Off-Road Vehicles, Adam S. Pickeral

All Theses

The development of autonomous vehicles has become one of the greatest research endeavors in recent years. These vehicles rely on many complex systems working in tandem to make decisions. For practical use and safety reasons, these systems must not only be accurate, but also be quick to make decisions. In Autonomous Vehicle research, the environment perception system is one of the key com- ponents of development. The environment perception system allows the vehicle to understand its surroundings using cameras, light detection and ranging (LiDAR), and other sensor systems or modalities. Deep learning computer vision algorithms have shown to be the …

Modeling, Optimization, And Characterization For Choke Horn Antennas, Ibrahim Nasser I Alquaydheb

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a comprehensive study focusing on the modeling, optimization, and characterization of choke horn antennas (CHAs). An analytical model designed to capture the parameters of CHA and derive the total radiated fields from the choke and waveguide elements is primarily focused on in this work. Compared to the use of simulation software, such as ANSYS HFSS (High Frequency Structure Simulator) or CST Studio, which employs numerical methods to simulate and calculate antenna performance, numerous advantages are offered by the analytical model. Analytical models provide deeper insight into electromagnetic interactions and the principles governing antenna behavior, leading to a …

Applying Circuit Theory To Describe Changes In Structural Landscape Connectivity In Response To Wildfire, Christian Ross Nielsen

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Understanding and conserving ecological connectivity is critical to the preservation of vulnerable landscapes. Circuit theory, in which landscapes are imagined as circuit boards with varying resistances to the flow of current, is being increasingly used to model spatially explicit connectivity of landscapes and to inform land management and conservation decision-making. Utilizing continuous, quantitative estimates of percent cover by five land cover functional groups to create a conductance surface, this study expanded upon an established application of circuit theory that used the open-source software Circuitscape to model species-agnostic, omnidirectional connectivity. This model was automated using Python to create time-series connectivity maps …

Power Controller For Insulated Solar Electric Cooker, Ryan Koshy, Justin Tae-Hoon Kim

Electrical Engineering

Insulated Solar Electric Cookers, or ISECookers, are devices created to aid those in impoverished regions improve safety, sustainability, and quality of life regarding their cooking practices. ISECookers present an alternative to traditional biofuel/biomass energy sources and provide a closed-loop, self-sustaining system that can be used in a variety of environments. These devices present solutions to widespread issues such as pollution, deforestation, and hazardous emissions as a result of traditional cooking in developing regions around the world. A notable obstacle of these devices is power delivery. Given the varying conditions experienced by a solar panel (inclement weather, irradiance irregularities, etc.), it …

Image Processing Techniques For Water Droplet Penetration Time And Contact Angle Estimation, Sai Balaji Jai Kumar

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Water droplet behavior on soil surfaces plays a critical role in numerous environmental processes, including soil erosion, hydrological dynamics, and ecosystem health. Accurate characterization of soil water repellency, quantified by parameters such as water droplet penetration time (WDPT) and contact angles (WDCA), is essential for informed decision-making in agricultural management, forestry practices, and land-use planning. Despite the significance of these parameters, challenges exist in reliably estimating them due to the complex and dynamic nature of soil-water interactions. This thesis address challenges in estimating WDPT and WDCA, by leveraging state-of-the-art image processing techniques and machine learning algorithms. The research focuses on …

A Heuristic Approach To Operations And Control Of Btm-Ders For Bill Management And Grid Services, Md Arshad Rashid Shaon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Behind-The-Meter (BTM) distributed energy resources (DERs) have emerged as a critical and transformative force within the energy sector. These decentralized energy assets, which include solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, battery energy storage systems (BESS), and thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs), are increasingly essential for empowering customers by granting them greater control over their energy production and consumption, thereby reducing reliance on centralized power sources. Additionally, they have the potential to play a pivotal role in enhancing grid resilience by providing grid services. This study investigates the management of customer electricity bills and grid services through the integration of various BTM-DERs, particularly solar …

Automated Measurement Of The Water Drop Penetration Time For The Analysis Of Soil Water Repellency, Danxu Wang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this work, we develop an innovative system for the automated measurement of Water Drop Penetration Time (WDPT) - a parameter that is conventionally used for evaluating soil water repellency (SWR). Increased SWR can be a reason for plant stress and poor crop yields, create a risk of potential water runoff and floods and thus can pose risks to life and property loss. Timely evaluation of soil conditions can save resources and win time for responding to environmental disasters. Manual measurements of WDPT are labor-intensive, subjective, tend to produce variability of outcomes, and also not always available in remote or …

Denoising And Super-Resolution Of In-Vitro 4e Flow Mri In A Stenotic Phantom Model Using Physics-Informed Neural Networks., Shrouk M. Wally

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, the use of 4D flow MRI has revolutionized cardiovascular imag- ing by providing comprehensive data on blood flow dynamics over time. However, the limited spatial and temporal resolution of this imaging modality can hinder the accurate assessment of complex hemodynamic phenomena. This thesis explores the application of Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) to enhance the resolution of 4D flow MRI data, thereby improving its clinical utility. PINNs are a class of neural networks that integrate physical laws into their training process. By embedding these physics equations, PINNs can discover the underlying physics of fluid dynamics to produce more …

Time-Domain Line Protection In Presence Of Renewables, Prabin Adhikari

All Dissertations

Inverter based resources (IBRs) are crucial in integrating renewable energy sources into the power grid. However, their unique fault characteristics, significantly different from synchronous generators (SGs), present several challenges for existing line protection schemes at both transmission and distribution levels. These schemes, reliant on distance and directional relays designed in phasor domain, are not well-suited for IBRs. Most published literature addressing this problem concentrates on altering the control design of inverters. However, this approach faces practical limitations. Inverter controls, often proprietary, are not readily accessible to utilities, rendering the control-based solutions impractical for widespread implementation.

To address this challenge, this …

Development Of 3d Human Cardiovascular And Cancer Tissue Model Within A Self-Driven Microfluidic Platform For Preclinical Drug Screening, Aibhlin Alexis Esparza

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

According to the American Heart Association and World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide. Monolayer cell culture (2D) and animal models are conventional methods to study CVDs, however, they limit researcherâ??s ability to simulate the human cardiovascular cellular microenvironments and accurate predication of pharmaceutical drug responses. Human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs), biomaterials, and microfluidic technologies can be combined to create a controlled, reproducible 3D platform to study physiologically-relevant cellular responses to biochemical and physical changes in the microenvironment. My dissertation work demonstrates the development of novel self-driven microfluidic devices designed with …

A Real-Time Iot-Based Data Acquisition And Monitoring System For Photovoltaic Applications, Adam Barbosa, Hamza Mubarak, Fazel Mohammadi, Mohammad J. Sanjari, Mehrdad Saif

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

The transition to low-carbon energy systems, driven by climate change and fossil fuel scarcity, highlights technologies, such as Photovoltaic (PV) technology, for sustainable energy generation. This paper focuses on enhancing the efficiency of PV monitoring systems by leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) technology for accurate and real-time monitoring of essential parameters, such as voltage, current, and output power. Significant gaps in cost-effective and reliable IoT integration for PV monitoring are addressed, with an emphasis on predictive modeling. In this regard, a low-cost real-time IoT-based data acquisition and monitoring system for PV systems, as a proof of concept for future endeavors …

Data-Driven Enhanced Energy Management System Applications For Energy Control Centers, Dulip Madurasinghe

All Dissertations

This dissertation explores the pressing needs of modern bulk power system operation and control and delves into enhancements to EMS applications with minimal infrastructure development. The dissertation investigates three main EMS application enhancements. The transmission network topology processing (TNTP) is a foundational application of the EMS. A physics-based hierarchical transmission network topology processing (H-TNTP), including substation configuration identification, to improve efficiency and reliability is proposed. Secondly, a multi-level distributed linear state estimation (D-LSE) approach solely based on PMUs is proposed utilizing H-TNTP as the network modeling tool. The D-LSE can conduct linear state estimation (LSE) at either substation, area or …

Hardware-Oriented Protection And Acceleration For Machine Learning Application, Antian Wang

All Dissertations

The security of Machine Learning (ML) grows along with the development of high-performance models and expanding application scenarios. Numerous users are benefiting from the convenience brought by transformative ML applications. In the meantime, various attackers are trying to find vulnerabilities within ML deployment service models, thereby undermining the performance of ML and jeopardizing stakeholders’ interests. The dissertation focuses on the two aspects of secure ML applications: acceleration and protection. Homomorphic Encryption (HE) emerges as a widely recognized security primitive suitable for the cloud computing service model, where the computation can be performed over ciphertext without decryption. However, evaluations in the …

Computer Vision Algorithms For Assessment Of Surgical Suturing Skill Using Hand And Needle Motion, Jianxin Gao

All Dissertations

Surgical suturing skill assessment is a crucial part of surgical education. Vascular surgery educators have developed a simulation-based examination called Fundamentals of Vascular Surgery, which includes a clock-face model for assessing open surgical suturing skills. The clock-face model, however, requires the valuable time of expert surgeons to determine examinees' skills. Moreover, expert surgeons have different judgments for appropriate sutures, which leads to inconsistent grading. These limitations motivate us to use sensors to measure examinees' needle motions and hand motions during the clock-face suturing exercises, and then use the measurements for objective suturing skill assessment.

To assess suturing skills based on …

Convex Approach To Data-Driven Optimal Control With Safety Constraints Using Linear Transfer Operator, Joseph Raphel Moyalan

All Dissertations

This thesis is concerned with the data-driven solution to the optimal control problem with safety constraints for a class of control-affine nonlinear systems. Designing optimal control satisfying safety constraints is a problem of interest in various applications, including robotics, power systems, transportation networks, and manufacturing. This problem is known to be non-convex. One of this thesis's main contributions is providing a convex formulation to this non-convex problem. The second main contribution is providing a data-driven framework for solving the control problem with safety constraints. The linear operator theoretic framework involving Perron-Frobenius and Koopman operators provides the convex formulation and associated …

Deep Reinforcement Learning-Based Dynamic Routing And Spectrum Access In Aeronautical Networks., Zhe Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the airspace is experiencing an increasing number of aircraft, spectrum sharing among Air Vehicles (AVs) and Terrestrial Users (TUs) emerges as a compelling solution to improve spectrum utilization efficiency. I investigated three types of aeronautical communication including the single-hop Air-Air Communication Network (AACN), the multi-hop Air-Air Ad-hoc Network (AAAN), and the Aerial and Terrestrial Hybrid Network (ATHN). I assume a spectrum-limited scenario through all communication networks. Thus, the number of communication pairs is greater than that of the available channels, resulting in co-channel interference due to the reuse of the same channel among communication links. In a single-hop AACN, …