Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Processing Different Mixtures Of Regionally Available Resources To Create Pellets That Meet A Minimum Standard, Jacob Hixson

Masters Theses

There are several ways to produce energy today, one of the oldest is the gasification of biomass. This process uses a fire to heat the material until it starts to produce gasses that are used as fuel. There are several types of biomass that can be used, many of which have large pieces with low bulk densities. By pelletizing the biomass bulk density increases and allows the opportunity to add in other biomass materials.

There are standards for condensing large pieces of biomass to smaller pelletized materials. Pellet Fuels Institute has set minimum standards for pellets used in the different …

Co-Product Potential Of Algae Biocake, Elizabeth J. Nixon

Masters Theses

Society needs to find replacements for fossil fuels, which are finite resources that may be fully depleted within a few generations. While solar and wind have great potential as alternative energy sources, they are unlikely to completely replace all of the current fuel sources, particularly liquid fuels. Plant biomass has great potential for this market, and is already used in many forms for heat energy (e.g. direct combustion). However, the bulk density of important bioenergy crops, particularly grasses, is often low, which necessitates the use of binders in densification strategies. In the present study, waste algae biocake from a proprietary …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Biomimetic Dinuclear And Tetranuclear Copper Complexes, Syed Rahmath Ullah Joy

Masters Theses

Seven new copper(II) complexes were prepared from the condensation reaction of 4-tert-butyl-2,6-diformylphenol with two equivalents of bis(pyrazolyl)ethanamine or 3,5-dimethyl-bis(pyrazolyl)ethanamine moieties in the presence of two equivalents of various copper(II) starting materials having different counter ions (i.e. acetate - AcO^-, perchlorate - CIO₄^-, tetrafluoroborate - BF₄^-, nitrate - NO₃^-, and chloride - Cl^-). The resulting copper(II) complexes were characterized in solid state by single crystal X-ray crystallography, and in solution by UV-Vis and ESI/MS spectroscopies.

X-ray crystallographic studies showed that in solid state two types of …

Pd-Based Photocatalysts For Sonogashira C-C Cross-Coupling Reactions, Komadhie Charuka Dissanayake

Masters Theses

Sonogashira C-C cross-coupling reaction has been heavily used for its simplicity, flexibility and value. Although the original Sonogashira C-C cross coupling reaction conditions entail the use of 0.5 mol% of Pd catalyst, 2 mol% of Cul as co-catalyst at room temperature, the experimental conditions used in laboratories to prepare some compounds vary substantially, especially with respect to the reaction time, temperature and loading amount of the catalysts. The most significant drawback of the conventional Sonogashira reaction is the use of Cul as it leads to the formation of homocoupling product when the reaction is exposed to air or oxidizing agents. …

Analyzing Sensor Based Human Activity Data Using Time Series Segmentation To Determine Sleep Duration, Yogesh Deepak Lad

Masters Theses

"Sleep is the most important thing to rest our brain and body. A lack of sleep has adverse effects on overall personal health and may lead to a variety of health disorders. According to Data from the Center for disease control and prevention in the United States of America, there is a formidable increase in the number of people suffering from sleep disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea, hypersomnia and many more. Sleep disorders can be avoided by assessing an individual's activity over a period of time to determine the sleep pattern and duration. The sleep pattern and duration can be …

Salt Mobility Under Different Geological Regimes, Oznur Surek

Masters Theses

"This study investigates the evolution of Dan Salt Structure in the southern salt dome province, Danish Central Graben and Mars-Ursa Basin in the Northern Gulf of Mexico to understand salt and sediment interaction over time under different geologic regimes. An integration of structural and stratigraphic analyses is conducted to understand the relationship between halokinesis and sedimentation.

Interpretation of the seismic data in Dan Salt Structure shows that the structure has a complex geometry, which is divided into upper and lower parts. The evolutionary stage of both the upper and lower parts of the structure has been influenced by salt. The …

Reputation And Credit Based Incentive Mechanism For Data-Centric Message Delivery In Delay Tolerant Networks, Himanshu Jethawa

Masters Theses

"In a Data-centric Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs), it is essential for nodes to cooperate in message forwarding in order to enable successful delivery of a message in an opportunistic fashion with nodes having their social interests defined. In the data-centric dissemination protocol proposed here, a source annotates messages (images) with keywords, and then intermediate nodes are presented with an option of adding keyword-based annotations in order to create higher content strength messages on path toward the destination. Hence, contents like images get enriched as there is situation evolution or learned by these intermediate nodes, such as in a battlefield, or …

Multiscale Approaches Toward Advanced Lithium-Ion Battery: From Nano To Meso Scale, Susmita Sarkar

Masters Theses

“Battery performance and its degradation are determined by various aspects such as the transport of ions and electrons through heterogeneous internal structures composed of constituent particles, kinetic reactions at the interfaces, and a corresponding interplay between mechanical, chemical, and thermal responses. Further, modern battery materials require a variety of engineering processes such as coating, doping and mixing. As a result, in order to fully understand the behavior of the battery material and improve battery performance, it is necessary to understand and control the individual particle behavior and then connect it to the electrode. This study elucidated the physical phenomena associated …

Universal Wavefront Transmission Through Disordered Media, Jayson Robert Summers

Masters Theses

”When electromagnetic waves propagate through random dielectric media, they scatter in a predictable, deterministic way. The process is also fully reversible. If one sends an exiting wave backward through the same material, it will converge back to its original form and location in the same amount of time it took to originally propagate through the material. Due to this predictability, a great deal of research has went into studying these scattering processes in multimode fibers, diffusers, biological tissues, and other media. Scientists have turned random scattering material into focusing lenses, image transmitters, and highly transmitting media by controlling the impinging …

Solidification Rate Detection Through Solid-Liquid Interface Tracking, Wei Luo

Masters Theses

”Studying the melt pool dynamics in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing is vital to predict the microstructure of the built part. High-speed synchrotron hard X-ray imaging is an advanced technique to monitor the LPBF process in situ and in real time. However, it is very challenging to track the solid-liquid interface due to the low image contrast, high image noise and unstable intensity of the image sequences.

In this paper, we propose an solid-liquid interface detector with human interaction to track the interface to compute the solidification rate of the melt pool. The proposed method includes six independent …

Reprocessing Of The 2 Hz P-P Data From The Blackfoot 3c-2d Survey With Special Reference To Multicomponent Seismic Processing, Onur Akturk

Masters Theses

"The 3C-2D multicomponent seismic survey was acquired in the Blackfoot Field, which is located 15 km southeast of Strathmore, Alberta. The 2 Hz vertical component data were reprocessed to better image the target reservoir, the Glauconitic sand formation at approximately 1150 ms. The zone of the major reflector at about 1550 ms was also taken into consideration to determine the better seismic section for further processing. The main characteristics of the converted wave processing, such as common conversion point (CCP), asymptotic binning, gamma ratios, receiver statics, rotation of the data, positive/negative offsets, and anisotropy, were also summarized in this study. …

Multiple Security Domain Non Deducibility In The Freedm Smart Grid Infrastructure, Manish Jaisinghani

Masters Theses

"The building block of today's world are not materials, but, computers and algorithms with communication networks between physical entities. A cyber physical system (CPS) is a system in which the cyber and physical entities of the system work together towards a common goal, for example a water treatment facility or an electricity distribution system. These cyber physical infrastructures affect day to day lives of people and hence become target point for the attackers to disrupt normal daily life. Owing to the complexity of a cyber physical system, the attacks have themselves become sophisticated and harder to detect. These sophisticated attacks …

Cloud Transactions And Caching For Improved Performance In Clouds And Dtns, Dileep Mardham

Masters Theses

"In distributed transactional systems deployed over some massively decentralized cloud servers, access policies are typically replicated. Interdependencies ad inconsistencies among policies need to be addressed as they can affect performance, throughput and accuracy. Several stringent levels of policy consistency constraints and enforcement approaches to guarantee the trustworthiness of transactions on cloud servers are proposed. We define a look-up table to store policy versions and the concept of "Tree-Based Consistency" approach to maintain a tree structure of the servers. By integrating look-up table and the consistency tree based approach, we propose an enhanced version of Two-phase validation commit (2PVC) protocol integrated …

Models For High Dimensional Spatially Correlated Risks And Application To Thunderstorm Loss Data In Texas, Tobias Merk

Masters Theses

"Insurance claims caused by natural disasters exhibit spatial dependence with the strength of dependence being based on factors such as physical distance and population density, to name a few. Accounting for spatial dependence is therefore of crucial importance when modeling these types of claims. In this work, we present an approach to assess spatially dependent insurance risks using a combination of linear regression and factor copula models. Specifically, in loss modeling, observed dependence patterns are highly nonlinear, thus copula-based models seem appropriate since they can handle both linear and nonlinear dependence. The factor copula approach for estimating the spatial dependence …

Cyber-Physical Security Of An Electric Microgrid, Prashanth Palaniswamy

Masters Theses

"Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are physical systems that are controlled or monitored by computer-based systems. CPSs are a combination of computation, networking, and physical processes. As CPSs are a combination of various diverse components, they are vulnerable to several security threats. Moreover, there are many different security domains (not just high/low, nor necessarily hierarchical). This paper utilizes previously developed multiple security domain nondeducibility (MSDND) to uncover potential integrity vulnerabilities in an electric microgrid. Invariants are manually generated using the insights obtained through MSDND analysis and use linear regression to automate the generation of invariants. The vulnerabilities are then mitigated, to the …

An Approach For Formal Analysis Of The Security Of A Water Treatment Testbed, Sai Sidharth Patlolla

Masters Theses

"This thesis focuses on securing critical infrastructures such as chemical plants, manufacturing units, and power generating plants against attacks that disrupt the information flow from one component to another. Such systems are controlled by an Industrial Control System (ICS) that includes controllers communicating with each other, and with physical sensors and actuators, using a communications network.

Traditional security models partition the security universe into two worlds, secure and insecure, but in the real world the partitions often overlap and information is leaked even through the physical observation which makes it much harder to analyze a Cyber physical system (CPS). To …

An Investigation Of The Influence Of The 2007-2009 Recession On The Day Of The Week Effect For The S&P 500 And Its Sectors, Marcel Alwin Trick

Masters Theses

"Several studies have shown that the mean returns and the volatility structure of stock markets change seasonally or by day of the week. For instance, some authors found out that Monday returns are lower compared to Friday returns or that volatility on Wednesdays are lower compared to the rest of the week. Other researchers showed that these effects have changed after certain periods of economic stress. This led to the question, whether the day of the week effects in returns and volatility are in the US stock market and if patterns have changed from pre-recession through the 2007-2009 recession into …

A Network Tomography Approach For Traffic Monitoring In Smart Cities, Ruoxi Zhang

Masters Theses

"Various urban planning and managing activities required by a Smart City are feasible because of traffic monitoring. As such, the thesis proposes a network tomography-based approach that can be applied to road networks to achieve a cost-efficient, flexible, and scalable monitor deployment. Due to the algebraic approach of network tomography, the selection of monitoring intersections can be solved through the use of matrices, with its rows representing paths between two intersections, and its columns representing links in the road network. Because the goal of the algorithm is to provide a cost-efficient, minimum error, and high coverage monitor set, this problem …

Numerical Modeling Of Capillary-Driven Flow In Open Microchannels: An Implication Of Optimized Wicking Fabric Design, Mehrad Gholizadeh Ansari

Masters Theses

"The use of microfluidics to transfer fluids without applying any exterior energy source is a promising technology in different fields of science and engineering due to their compactness, simplicity and cost-effective design. In geotechnical engineering, to increase the soil's strength, hydrophilic wicking fibers as type of microfluidics have been employed to transport and drain water out of soil spontaneously by taking advantage of natural capillary force without using any pumps or other auxiliary devices. The objective of this study is to understand the scientific mechanisms of the capability for wicking fiber to drain both gravity and capillary water out of …

Card: Concealed And Remote Discovery Of Iot Devices In Victims' Home Networks, Sammie Lee Bush

Masters Theses

"Smart devices are becoming more common in the standard households. They range from lights to refrigerators and their functionality and applications continues to grow with consumer demand. This increase in networked, complex devices has also brought an increase in vulnerabilities in the average consumer's home. There now exists an Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem that creates new attack vectors for adversaries to spread malware, build botnets, and participate in other malicious activities. We will overview some of these new attack vectors as well as go over a framework that would allow an adversary to target a user's home network and …

3d Seismic Imaging Of Submarine Stratovolcanic And Salt Structures Beneath The Taranaki Basin, New Zealand And The Gulf Of Mexico, Ersin Erdem Unkaracalar

Masters Theses

"The relationship of submarine stratovolcanic and salt structures with overlying sediments creates a significant role in the petroleum system due to the emplacement and burial of volcano and salt. This study characterizes the spatial and temporal distribution of structural and stratigraphic features associated with submarine stratovolcano and salt body to provide insights for elements and processes of petroleum geology related to regional tectonics.

The stratovolcanic and salt structures are clearly identified on seismic sections. However, distortion of ray paths passing through the salt and turning seismic waves prevents accurate identification of steep flanks of salt. The seismic response to a …

Reprocessing Of 3c-2d Seismic Reflection Data From The Spring Coulee Field, Alberta, Yasin Demir

Masters Theses

"The 3C-2D seismic datasets were acquired in 2008 in the Spring Coulee Field, Alberta, which is located in Township 4, Range 23, and west of the 4th Meridian in the Alberta Basin. Line 2008-SC-01 was reprocessed to obtain better image of the formation targeted at between 1300 ms and 1400 ms. The depositional settings of the Madison Formation consist of shallow and carbonate shelf deposits. The processing workflow was designed by testing several methods, algorithms, and parameters, and finding the optimal processing solution. The processing steps included elevation statics, noise suppression, deconvolution operator, and 2D Kirchhoff poststack time migration. In …

Evaluating Microgrid Effectiveness In Transitioning Energy Portfolios, Jacob Marshal Hale

Masters Theses

"Microgrid energy systems have emerged as a potential solution to rising greenhouse gas emissions from dependence on fossil fuels. This research provides a framework for evaluating the utility of microgrids. Three key findings are presented: use of a state-of-the-art matrix (SAM) analysis to identify gaps in key research areas that inhibit wide-spread microgrid adoption, development of a system dynamics (SD) model, and a cost benefit analysis case study to evaluate microgrid feasibility in partially meeting the energy demand of a building. Governments play a central role in developing clean energy strategies. A SAM was developed to determine if key microgrid …

Research And Development Of Optically Transparent Join With Low Processing Temperatures, Eric Kevin Muskovin

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate durable solar cell cover glass joins produced by diffusion bonding with deep eutectic solvents (DES) and to develop a novel process of joining optically transparent materials at low temperatures. A joined PV cell-glass specimen was characterized using Raman, μ-FTIR, SEM-EDS, and thin-film XRD. DESs were created with malonic acid (MAL) and choline chloride (ChCl) of varying composition factors (CF; CF=MAL/ChCl). Joining borosilicate glass coupons was attempted using DESs with CF = 0.65 and 1 at temperatures between 100-150 °C for 20 hours. Joining the glass coupons failed at all temperatures and oxygen …

Analyzing Large Scale Trajectory Data To Identify Users With Similar Behavior, Tyler Clark Percy

Masters Theses

"In today's society, social networks are a popular way to connect with friends and family and share what's going on in your life. With the Internet connecting us all closer than ever before, it is increasingly common to use social networks to meet new friends online that share similar interests instead of only connecting with those you already know. For the problem of attempting to connect people with similar interests, this paper proposes the foundation for a Geo-social network that aims to extract the semantic meaning from users' location history and use this information to find the similarity between users. …

Precise Energy Efficient Scheduling Of Mixed-Criticality Tasks & Sustainable Mixed-Criticality Scheduling, Sai Sruti

Masters Theses

"In this thesis, the imprecise mixed-criticality model (IMC) is extended to precise scheduling of tasks, and integrated with the dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) technique to enable energy minimization. The challenge in precise scheduling of MC systems is to simultaneously guarantee the timing correctness for all tasks, hi and lo, under both pessimistic and optimistic (less pessimistic) assumptions. To the best of knowledge this is the first work to address the integration of DVFS energy conserving techniques with precise scheduling of lo-tasks of the MC model.

In this thesis, the utilization based schedulability tests and sufficient conditions for such …

Customized Multi-Group Cross Section Generation With Njoy For Discrete Ordinates Computed Tomography And Radiography Simulation, Steven Michael Wagstaff

Masters Theses

"The purpose of this work was to explore the creation of photoatomic multi-group cross section libraries to be used with a software package DOCTORS (Discrete Ordinates Computed TOmography and Radiography Simulator). This software solves the linear Boltzmann equation using the discrete ordinates method [1]. To create these libraries, NJOY2016 was used, creating both fine and broad energy multi-group cross section files. The cross section's accuracy was tested against an equivalent Monte Carlo simulation using MCNP6.

Two simulation geometries were used. The first, a cylindrical water phantom with a single source projection placed in front, simulating an X-ray radiography. The second …

Bridge Deck Assessment Using Visual Inspection, Ground Penetrating Radar, Portable Seismic Property Analyzer-Ultrasonic Surface Wave, Hammer Sounding And Chain Drag, Abdullah Hadi Zaid Alhaj

Masters Theses

"Integrated non-destructive techniques were utilized to assess the condition of a reinforced concrete bridge deck. There were two main objectives accomplished.

The first objective was to assess the integrity of the reinforced concrete bridge deck using four non-destructive techniques, namely visual inspection, ground penetrating radar, portable seismic property analyzer-ultrasonic surface wave, and hammer sounding and chain drag. Visual inspection data were used to identify signs of deterioration on surface of the bridge deck such as cracking, concrete leaching, and reinforcement corrosion. Ground penetrating radar data were used to determine the relative condition of the bridge deck. However, due to the …

Developing Computational Models For Pulsed-Inductive Plasma Formation, Zachary Aaron Gill

Masters Theses

"Pulsed-inductive discharges are a common method of producing a plasma. They provide a mechanism for quickly and efficiently generating a large volume of plasma for rapid use and are seen in applications including propulsion, fusion power, and high-power lasers. However, some common designs see a delayed response time due to the plasma forming when the magnitude of the magnetic field in the device is at a minimum. New designs are difficult to evaluate due to the amount of time needed to construct a new geometry and the high monetary cost of changing the power generation circuit. To more quickly evaluate …

Application Of Seismic Attributes For 3-D Seismic Visualization Contributed In Structural And Stratigraphic Interpretation Of The Tangahoe And Farewell Formations In The Kupe Field, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand, Housam Hussein Grabeel

Masters Theses

"Taranaki Basin is a mainly offshore basin covering an area of approximately 100,000 km², elongated across the western margin of New Zealand's north island. However, the modern limit of the basin is extended toward the deep water to cover about 330,000 km². The basin is divided by tectonic activities into northern and southern grabens. The southern region has become the most extensively researched district in recent years as its prime lithology and structural trap distributions provide numerous hydrocarbon fields. One such field is the Kupe Field (256 km²), which lies on a northerly-plunging, reverse-faulted, …