Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Melanoma And Seborrheic Keratosis Differentiation Using Texture Features, Srinivas V. Deshabhoina, Scott E. Umbaugh, William V. Stoecker, Randy Hays Moss, Subhashini K. Srinivasan

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Purpose: To explore texture features in two-dimensional images to differentiate seborrheic keratosis from melanoma.

Methods: A systematic approach to consistent classification of skin tumors is described. Texture features, based on the second-order histogram, were used to identify the features or a combination of features that could consistently differentiate a malignant skin tumor (melanoma) from a benign one (seborrheic keratosis). Two hundred and seventy-one skin tumor images were separated into training and test sets for accuracy and consistency. Automatic induction was applied to generate classification rules. Data analysis and modeling tools were used to gain further insight into the feature space. …

One-Layer Neural-Network Controller With Preprocessed Inputs For Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, Sarangapani Jagannathan, Gustavo Galan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Navigating, guiding, and controlling autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are challenging and difficult tasks compared to the autonomous surface-level operations. Controlling the motion of such vehicles require the estimation of unknown hydrodynamic forces and moments and disturbances acting on these vehicles in the underwater environment. in this paper, a one-layer neural-network (NN) controller with preprocessed input signals is designed to control the vehicle track along a desired trajectory, which is specified in terms of desired position and attitude. in the absence of unknown disturbances and modeling errors, it is shown that the tracking error system is asymptotically stable. in the presence …

Modeling And Control Of Vinyl Chloride In Drinking Water Distribution Systems, Michael Beardsley, Craig D. Adams

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In water distribution systems containing PVC pipe manufactured in the "early era" (prior to 1977), vinyl chloride can leach into drinking water resulting in vinyl chloride concentrations exceeding the 2 μg·L-1 maximum contaminant level. Field testing of dead-end segments of water distribution systems consisting of early-era PVC pipe was conducted to examine their initial intrapipe vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) concentrations based on a Fickian-diffusion-Based leaching model. the experiments showed a wide range of VCM concentrations within early-era PVC pipe ranging from less than 50 to more than 600 mg·kg-1. based on the diffusion modeling approach, a protocol was designed that …

Solvent And Method For Extraction Of Triglyceride Rich Oil, Shubhender Kapila, Paul Ki-Souk Nam, V. J. Flanigan

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

The present invention relates to a solvent for use in extracting oil from an oil bearing material, such as soybeans, with the solvent resulting in the selective extraction of a triglyceride rich oil, which contains 95% or greater triglycerides and non-polar constituents, with the solvent comprised of a hydrocarbon, preferably hexane, and a fluorocarbon, so that the solvent has a viscosity less than 2.6 centipoise and a polarity of less than 0.1. The present invention also relates to a method of using the solvent to extract the triglyceride rich oil, with the method including preferably extracting the oil at a …

Dynamics Of Adsorbed Poly(Methyl Acrylate) And Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) On Silica, Frank D. Blum, Wuu-Yung Lin, Crystal E. Porter

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Deuterium NMR and modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC) were used to probe the behavior of ultrathin adsorbed poly(methyl acrylate) (PMA). The spectra for the bulk methyl-labeled PMA-d3 were consistent with the motions of the polymer segments being spatially homogeneous. For the polymers adsorbed on silica, multicomponent line shapes were observed. The segmental mobility of the surface polymers increased with increased adsorbed amounts. In contrast to the behavior of the polymers in bulk, the adsorbed lower-molecular-mass PMA-d3 was less mobile than the adsorbed high-molecular-mass polymer. The presence of a polymer overlayer was sufficient to suppress the enhanced mobility of the more-mobile …

How To Establish Successful Cooperative Student Learning Centers For Stem Courses, Ronald James Bieniek, Douglas R. Carroll, Cesar Mendoza, Oran Allan Pringle, Ekkehard Sinn, Kai-Tak Wan, Donald C. Wunsch

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Students learn more if they are actively involved in the learning process, particularly in a cooperative manner. Several UMR faculty have operated course-based learning centers (LCs) as part of the campus-wide Learning Enhancement Across Disciplines (LEAD) Program of student learning assistance and enhancement. LCs are designed to assist large numbers of students in a cost- and time-efficient manner that promotes student engagement without requiring undue amounts of faculty time. Course instructors spend time in the open learning environment of the LC, in lieu of office hours, guiding students to master course material and skills in their evolution from novice to …

Million City Traveling Salesman Problem Solution By Divide And Conquer Clustering With Adaptive Resonance Neural Networks, Samuel A. Mulder, Donald C. Wunsch

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a very hard optimization problem in the field of operations research. It has been shown to be NP-complete and is an often-used benchmark for new optimization techniques. One of the main challenges with this problem is that standard, non-AI heuristic approaches such as the Lin-Kernighan algorithm (LK) and the chained LK variant are currently very effective and in wide use for the common fully connected, Euclidean variant that is considered here. This paper presents an algorithm that uses adaptive resonance theory (ART) in combination with a variation of the Lin-Kernighan local optimization algorithm to …

Rate-Based End-To-End Congestion Control Of Multimedia Traffic In Packet Switched Networks, Mingsheng Peng, S. R. Subramanya, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper proposes an explicit rate-based end-to-end congestion control mechanism to alleviate congestion of multimedia traffic in packet switched networks such as the Internet. The congestion is controlled by adjusting the transmission rates of the sources in response to the feedback information from destination such as the buffer occupancy, packet arrival rate and service rate at the outgoing link, so that a desired quality of service (QoS) can be met. The QoS is defined in terms of packet loss ratio, transmission delay, power, and network utilization. Comparison studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme over New-Reno TCP (a variant …

Ft-Ir Studies Of Stereo Regular Pmma On Silica: Drying Effects, Bing Zhang, Suntree Kulkeratiyut, Suriyaphongse Kulkeratiyut, Frank D. Blum

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

A great amount of work has been done on the configuration of surface adsorbed poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), especially on surfaces to which they have a strong attraction. Some studies have been make on the relationships between configuration and tacticity, molecular weight, adsorbed amount, and density of surface hydroxyl groups. The effect of tacticity on the conformation of alumina-adsorbed PMMA in solution and dry spin-coated films were studied by Grohen et al. Their results showed that surface-adsorbed PMMA chains adopted a relatively flat configuration, but iso-PMMA (isotactic) adsorbed on aluminum, with a much larger fraction of the bound carbonyl groups, had …

Dynamics Of Bulk And Adsorbed Poly(Vinyl Acetate), Frank D. Blum, Robert D. O'Connor

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We have recently completed a series of experiments on methyl-labeled poly(vinyl acetate)-d3, (PVAc-d3)1 and poly(methyl acrylate)-d3 (PMA-d3).234 the systems have been studied as a function of the adsorbed amount, molecular weight, and presence of a protonated overlayer. Using deuterium line shape analysis, we have found that around the glass transition temperature, the adsorbed polymers show the presence of a motional gradient. Polymer segments near the silica-polymer interface have less mobility than the bulk polymer and those near the polymer-air interface are more mobile than those of the bulk polymer. A schematic representation of the motional gradient is shown in Figure …

Adaptive Critic Neural Network-Based Controller For Nonlinear Systems With Input Constraints, Pingan He, Sarangapani Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A novel adaptive critic-Based multilayer neural network (NN) controller in discrete-time is designed to deliver a desired tracking performance for a class of nonlinear systems in the presence of magnitude constraints on the input. Reinforcement learning scheme in discrete time is proposed for the NN controller, where the action generating NN learning is performed based on a certain performance measure, which is supplied from a critic. using the Lyapunov approach and with a novel weight update, the uniform ultimately boundedness (UUB) of the closed loop tracking error and weight estimates are shown. the adaptive critic NN does not require an …

Deuterium Nmr Studies Of Bulk And Silica-Absorbed Polystyrene, Macduff O. Okuom, Jinhua Yang, Frank D. Blum

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Thin polymer films are used in applications such as electronics, biomedical devices and coatings. As the trend to make the devices smaller continues, a film's influence on a material's overall properties becomes more prominent. Previous studies have shown that thin polymer films have characteristics slightly different from those of bulk polymers. Film behavior has been characterized by examining thermal expansion, diffusion, conformation, density and glass transitions. The dynamics of glassy polystyrene has been investigated using a wide variety of theoretical and experimental methods. Schaefer et al., using 13C NMR, reported that ~7% of phenyl rings in polystyrene undergo -flips. Using …

Molecular Mass And Dynamics In Pma-D₃ In The Glass Transition Region, Burak Metin, Frank D. Blum

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

The segmental dynamics through the glass transition region, by which the glassy polymer becomes rubbery, are not well understood. Free volume, thermodynamic and kinetic theories have been used to describe the phenomenon behind the glass transition and some of those theories were tested with computer simulations. Different experimental techniques, such as NMR, thermo-mechanical analysis (TMA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dilatometry and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) have all been also used to probe this important phenomena. Deuterium (2H) NMR has been a valuable tool for the investigation of the dynamics of macromolecules. Deuteration of macromolecules at specific locations on the chains …

Welcome To The Special Issue: The Best Of The Best, Donald C. Wunsch, Mike Hasselmo, De Liang Wang, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Neuro Emission Controller For Minimizing Cyclic Dispersion In Spark Ignition Engines, Pingan He, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A novel neural network (NN) controller is developed to control spark ignition (SI) engines at extreme lean conditions. The purpose of neurocontroller is to reduce the cyclic dispersion at lean operation even when the engine dynamics are unknown. The stability analysis of the closed-loop control system is given and the boundedness of all signals is ensured. Results demonstrate that the cyclic dispersion is reduced significantly using the proposed controller. The neuro controller can also be extended to minimize engine emissions with high EGR levels, where similar complex cyclic dynamics are observed. Further, the proposed approach can be applied to control …