Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Automobile Exhaust Gas Detection Based On Fuzzy Temperature Compensation System, Zhiyong Wang, Hao Ding, Fufei Hao, Zhaoxia Wang, Zhen Sun, Shujin Li

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A temperature compensation scheme of detecting automobile exhaust gas based on fuzzy logic inference is presented in this paper. The principles of the infrared automobile exhaust gas analyzer and the influence of the environmental temperature on analyzer are discussed. A fuzzy inference system is designed to improve the measurement accuracy of the measurement equipment by reducing the measurement errors caused by environmental temperature. The case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The fuzzy compensation scheme is promising as demonstrated by the simulation results in this paper.

Ensemble-Based Method For Task 2: Predicting Traffic Jam, Jingrui He, Qing He, Grzegorz Swirszcz, Yiannis Kamarianakis, Rick Lawrence, Wei Shen, Laura Wynter

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we describe our solution for ICDM 2010 Contest Task 2 (Jams), where the task is to predict future where the next traffic jams will occur in morning rush hour, given data gathered during the initial phase of this peak period. Our solution, which is based on an ensemble approach, finished Second in the final evaluation.

A Test-Bed For Secure Hierarchical Data Aggregation In Wireless Sensor Networks, Vimal Kumar, Joshua Mccarville-Schueths, Sanjay Madria

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Data aggregation is a technique used to conserve battery power in wireless sensor networks (WSN). When securing such a network, it is important that we minimize the number of computationally expensive security operations without compromising on the security. This paper deals with the test-bed implementation of our end-to-end secure data aggregation algorithm. Unlike previous algorithms which required separate phases for secure aggregation and integrity verification, ours does not require an additional phase for verification. This saves energy by avoiding additional transmissions and computation overhead on the sensor nodes. We have implemented our secure data aggregation algorithms on mica2 motes. ©2010 …

Active Bundles For Protecting Confidentiality Of Sensitive Data Throughout Their Lifecycle, Lotfi Ben Othmane

Dissertations

Protecting confidentiality of shared sensitive data requires satisfying conflicting needs for disseminating data and preventing unauthorized data disclosures. We propose a solution named the active bundles scheme for protecting sensitive data from their disclosures to unauthorized parties during their dissemination. The scheme protects data throughout their entire lifecycle, from data creation through their dissemination to their evaporation or apoptosis (a partial or complete self-destruction, respectively).

An active bundle packages together sensitive data, metadata, and a virtual machine (VM) specific to the bundle. Metadata contain information related to the use of data, including data access control and dissemination policies. A VM …

Rare Earth Element Transport In The Yucca Mountain Region, Liqiong Zhang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In sync with environmental pollution of solutes in nature, from source, process to consequence, geochemical processes (leaching and sorption) and hydraulic transportation of the rare earth elements (REEs) have been investigated at Yucca Mountain (YM), Nevada. This research includes the leaching behavior of trace elements (including REEs) from aquifer rocks, the surface complexation reactions of REEs in synthetic groundwater, and transportation of reactive REEs in the local-scale groundwater system of YM. This dissertation includes three projects. These studies indicate that surface complexation reactions may retard the transportation of REEs along groundwater paths in YM, which suggests a similar behavior of …

Spectral Reflectance As An Indicator Of Foliar Concentrations Of Arsenic In Common Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus), Yuridia Patricia Peralta De Gandy

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Studies were conducted to investigate the use of spectral reflectance by foliage of common sunflower as a potential indicator of arsenic contamination of soil. Germination method was developed for sunflower seeds, and cohorts of sunflower seedlings in hydroponic tanks were established. The cohorts were exposed to 0 ppm, 5 ppm, 7.5 ppm, and 10 ppm treatments of As (V) and reflectance measurements of foliage were collected using a spectroradiometer during two experiments.Results demonstrated the feasibility of using spectral reflectance by foliage of common sunflower as a potential indicator of arsenic contamination. In both experiments, arsenic concentrations in leaf tissues were …

High Flow Air Sampling For Field Detection Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, Jacolin Ann Murray

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to rapidly detect and identify hazardous analytes in the field has become increasingly important. One of the most important analytical detection methods in the field is gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In this work, a hand-portable GC-MS system is described that contains a miniature toroidal ion trap mass analyzer and a low thermal mass GC. The system is self-contained within the dimensions of 47 x 36 x 18 cm and weighs less than 13 kg. Because the instrument has a small footprint, it was used as the detector for an automated near-real-time permeation testing system. In permeation testing, materials …

Comparison Of H-Alpha And H-Beta Temperature Indices In The Hyades And Coma Star Clusters And Selected H-Beta Standard Stars, Miriam Anne West

Theses and Dissertations

Using the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory's 1.2-m McKellar Telescope, we have obtained spectra on 81 stars from the Hyades Cluster, the Coma Cluster, and selected H-beta standard stars. These spectra cover from 4500 Å to 6900 Å which includes both the H-β and H-α absorption lines. The H-β absorption line has a long history of being used as a temperature index and more recently, calibration of an H-α index has been established for photometric observations. Through spectrophotometric comparison of temperature indices from the H-α and H-β absorption lines we find the expected strong correlation between photometric indices based on the strength …

Improved Worm Simulator And Simulations, Arnold Suvatne

Master's Projects

According to the latest Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIR), worms were the second most prevalent information security threat detected in the first half of 2010 – the top threat being Trojans. Given the prevalence and damaging effects of worms, research and development of worm counter strategies are garnering an increased level of attention. However, it is extremely risky to test and observe worm spread behavior on a public network. What is needed is a packet level worm simulator that would allow researchers to develop and test counter strategies against rapidly spreading worms in a controlled and isolated environment. Jyotsna Krishnaswamy, …

A Study On Masquerade Detection, Lin Huang

Master's Projects

In modern computer systems, usernames and passwords have been by far the most common forms of authentication. A security system relying only on password protection is defenseless when the passwords of legitimate users are compromised. A masquerader can impersonate a legitimate user by using a compromised password.

An intrusion detection system (IDS) can provide an additional level of protection for a security system by inspecting user behavior. In terms of detection techniques, there are two types of IDSs: signature-based detection and anomaly-based detection. An anomaly-based intrusion detection technique consists of two steps: 1) creating a normal behavior model for legitimate …

The Distribution And Reproductive Success Of The Western Snowy Plover Along The Oregon Coast - 2010, David J. Lauten, Kathleen J. Castelein, J. Daniel Farrar, Adam A. Kotaich, Eleanor P. Gaines

Institute for Natural Resources Publications

From 8 April – 27 September 2010 we monitored the distribution, abundance and productivity of the federally Threatened Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus) along the Oregon coast. From north to south, we surveyed and monitored plover activity at Sutton Beach, Siltcoos River estuary, the Dunes Overlook, North Tahkenitch Creek, Tenmile Creek, Coos Bay North Spit, Bandon Beach, New River, and Floras Lake. Our objectives for the Oregon coastal population in 2010 were to: 1) estimate the size of the adult Snowy Plover population, 2) locate plover nests, 3) continue selective use of mini-exclosures (MEs) to protect nests …

Japanese Kanji Suggestion Tool, Sujata Dongre

Master's Projects

Many times, we can see that if we enter a misspelled search term in any of the search engines like Google, it will provide some help with "Did you mean:...." In my project, I am providing some suggestions for the wrong Japanese text entered by a user.

The Japanese language has three types of writing styles - hiragana, katakana and the most difficult, kanji. A single kanji symbol may be used to write one or more different compound words. From the point of view of the reader, kanji symbols are said to have one or more different "readings." Hence, sometimes …

View Component Of Web-Based Ide To Develop Web Applications In Cakephp, Swathi Vegesna

Master's Projects

The aim of the project is to build a Web-based IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that enables users to create a Web application in PHP on the CakePHP framework. The view component of the IDE allows the users to build the CakePHP view templates, which include the HTML tags which can be properly linked with the controller functions. Users will be able to create the HTML form elements only by performing certain drags, drops and clicks. This project will create dynamic view elements, which is achieved by connecting them to the Controllers components. This IDE helps the users to create dynamic …

Extending Owl With Finite Automata Constraints, Jignesh Borisa

Master's Projects

The Web Ontology Language (OWL) is a markup language for sharing and publishing data using ontologies on the Internet. It belongs to a family of knowledge representation languages for writing ontologies. Answer Set Programming (ASP) is a declarative programming approach to knowledge representation. It is oriented towards difficult search problems. In this project, we developed an extension to OWL add support for collection class constraints. These constraints come in the form of membership checks for sets where these set are computed by finite automata. We developed an inference engine for the resulting language. This engine extends the Java-based Pellet library …

A Comprehensive Uncertainty Analysis And Method Of Geometric Calibration For A Circular Scanning Airborne Lidar, Michael Oliver Gonsalves

Dissertations

This dissertation describes an automated technique for ascertaining the values of the geometric calibration parameters of an airborne lidar. A least squares approach is employed that adjusts the point cloud to a single planar surface which could be either a narrow airport runway or a dynamic sea surface. Going beyond the customary three boresight angles, the proposed adjustment can determine up to eleven calibration parameters to a precision that renders a negligible contribution to the point cloud’s positional uncertainty.

Presently under development is the Coastal Zone Mapping and Imaging Lidar (CZMIL), which, unlike most contemporary systems that use oscillating mirrors …

Seismic Anisotropy Beneath The Afar Depression And Adjacent Areas: Implications For Mantle Flow, Stephen S. Gao, Kelly H. Liu, Mohammed G. Abdel Salam

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Shear wave splitting is a robust tool to infer the direction and strength of seismic anisotropy in the lithosphere and underlying asthenosphere. Previous shear wave splitting studies in the Afar Depression and adjacent areas concluded that either Precambrian sutures or vertical magmatic dikes are mostly responsible for the observed anisotropy. Here we report results of a systematic analysis of teleseismic shear wave splitting using all the available broadband seismic data recorded in the Afar Depression, Main Ethiopian Rift (MER), and Ethiopian Plateau. We found that while the ~450 measurements on the Ethiopian Plateau and in the MER show insignificant azimuthal …

Geophysics At The Interface: Response Of Geophysical Properties To Solid-Fluid, Fluid-Fluid, And Solid-Solid Interfaces, Rosemary Knight, Laura J. Pyrak-Nolte, Lee D. Slater, Estella A. Atekwana, Anthony L. Endres, Jil T. Geller, David P. Lesmes, Seiji Nakagawa, Andre Revil, Mukul M. Sharma, Christian Straley

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Laboratory studies reveal the sensitivity of measured geophysical properties to solid-fluid, fluid-fluid, and solid-solid interfaces in granular and fractured materials. In granular materials, electrical properties and nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation times exhibit a strong dependence on the size and properties of the solid-fluid interface. The electrical and seismic properties of granular materials and the seismic properties of fractured materials reveal a dependence on the size or geometry of fluid-fluid interfaces. Seismic properties of granular and fractured materials are affected by the effective stress and cementing material at solid-solid interfaces. There have been some recent studies demonstrating the use of field-scale …

Proton Capture Reactions And Network Calculations On 46Ti, 64Zn, 114Sn And 116Sn Relevant To The Rp-Process, Ravin S. T. Kodikara

Dissertations

The rp-process makes an important contribution to the stellar nucleosynthesis by producing many of the light proton rich nuclei. Successive proton captures on seed nuclei followed by occasional β-decays and electron captures are the key features of this mechanism. For a detailed rp-process analysis, proton capture cross sections and reaction rates are essential. However, the lack of experimental data forces the researcher to largely depend on statistical model predictions.

This dissertation research is an attempt to investigate the proton captures of four particular nuclides; ⁴⁶Ti, ⁶⁴Zn, ¹¹⁴Sn and ¹¹⁶Sn. At Western Michigan University Van de Graaff …

Debugging Techniques For Locating Defects In Software Architectures, Kyungsoo Im

All Dissertations

The explicit design of the architecture for a software product is a well established part of development projects. As the software architecture descriptions are becoming larger and more complex, there is more likelihood of defects being present in the software architecture. Studies have shown that a defect in the software architecture that has propagated to the development phase is very expensive to fix. To prevent such propagation of defects, this research proposes to provide debugging support for software architecture design.
Debugging is commonly used in programming languages to effectively find the cause of a failure and locate the error to …

Design And Regioselective Synthesis Of Two And Three-Pronged C60 Fullerene Derivatives And Their Applications In Molecular Electronics, Angy Ortiz-Hernandez

All Dissertations

Since the introduction of semiconductors in the second half of the 20th century, advancements in electronics and technology have been tremendous. In particular, the rapid development of silicon-based computer chip technology and miniaturization of electronic components has been tremendous. Since silicon-based materials have a limit in terms of size, scientists proposed that individual molecules could behave as single electronic components for high degree of miniaturization.
Given that the molecules of interest must have dimensions on the nanometer scale, be able to bind to the electrode surface and have electron donor-acceptor properties, C₆₀ fullerene has been a prime candidate for …

Novel Neomycin Conjugates For Multi-Recognition Of Nucleic Acids, Albert Willis

All Dissertations

Neomycin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic known for its high affinity for RNA duplex structures. Recent developments from our labs have indicated that aminoglycoside binding is not limited to RNA, but to nucleic acids that, like RNA, adopt conformations similar to A-form. Our group sought to further expand the utility of aminoglycoside binding to B-DNA structures by conjugating neomycin, an aminoglycoside antibiotic, with the B-DNA minor groove binding ligand Hoechst 33258. Envisioning a dual groove-binding mode, we have extended the potential recognition process to include a third, intercalative moiety. Furthermore, we observe remarkable recognition of such conjugates with RNA duplex. Spectroscopic …

Approximation Algorithms For Network Interdiction And Fortification Problems, Adam Whitley

All Dissertations

This dissertation discusses algorithms and results on several NP–hard graph problems which can all be classified as network interdiction and network fortification problems.
The first problem studied, the multiway cut problem, is a generalization of the well–studied s–t min–cut problem, in which we must remove a minimum–cost subset of edges from a graph so that r > 2 designated terminals become disconnected from each other. We investigate an approximation algorithm for general r with a relatively simple analysis guaranteeing an approximation ratio ≤ 1.4647 − epsilon_r, where epsilon_r is a small constant related to the number of terminals …

Poly (Acrylonitrile-Co-1-Vinylimidazole): A New Melt Processable Carbon Fiber Precursor, Wenjin Deng

All Dissertations

Carbon fiber polymer composites have attracted worldwide interest in sporting goods and aerospace industries due to their excellent specific strength, stiffness and lightweight. The replacement of solution-spinning process by melt-spinning process is one of the major approaches to make cost effective carbon fiber. In recent years, researchers have explored the possibilities to synthesize melt processable carbon fiber precursors, but their thermal stabilization is still a challenge. The goal for this research project is to prepare melt processable carbon fiber precursors which have the capability of thermal stabilization. Acrylonitrile/1-vinylimidazole (AN/VIM) copolymers containing various mol% of VIM were synthesized by free radical …

Modeling The Galactic 511 Kev Positron Annihilation Emission, Production, And Propagation, Bethany Johns

All Dissertations

The Galactic 511 keV positron annihilation emission has a strong bulge component to the emission and a weak disk component. The bulge emission is about 1.4 -- 6 times as the disk emission. The bulge emission is defined to be a diffuse emission centered at the Galactic center and extends to about a FWHM of 8 degrees in Galactic longitude and latitude. An asymmetry has also been observed in the disk emission, where the negative longitudes are brighter than the positive longitudes by a factor of 1.8.
This research examines the morphology of the Galactic 511 keV positron annihilation emission …

A Study Of African American Forest Landowners In South Carolina: Implications For Land Ethic And Forest Stewardship, Keenan Adams

All Dissertations

African Americans account for a significant proportion of South Carolina`s
population but reportedly own a disproportionally smaller amount of land. Research indicates that landowners who hold significant sources of sustainable wealth and power can dramatically increase their quality of life and ultimately that of their communities. Current land loss trends for African Americans are increasing at an alarming rate, which may have larger social implications for this traditionally underserved population. The remaining African American landowners are a rapidly declining group, due to an assortment of factors (e.g., age, heirs property). Understanding the experiences of the residual African American forest landowners …

Uncertainty Of Dimensional Measurments Obtained From Self-Initialized Instruments, Vincent Lee

All Dissertations

Precision dimensional measurement instruments often contain sensors that can only measure displacement of a moving body from some reference position. In order to measure the length of an object they often require a calibrated artifact to initialize their measurement sensors so that they may provide an absolute measurement instead of displacement. Instruments which can realize a null value, i.e. zero length, don't require one; however instruments which can't need to reference an object of known size. These calibration artifacts also serve as part of the chain of metrological traceability.
The group of instruments presented in this dissertation can self-initialize by …

Relationship Between Inflation And Stock Market Returns: Evidence From Nigeria, Omotor G. Douglason

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

The linkage between stock prices and inflation has been subjected to extensive research in the past decades and has arouse the interests of academics, researchers, practitioners and policy makers globally, particularly since the 1990s. The issue has been the apparent anomaly of the negative relationship between inflation and stock market returns as most studies in the industrialized economies have shown. This paper investigates this relationship using monthly and quarterly data of Nigeria for the period 1985 to 2008. The findings of this paper seem to suggest that stock market returns may provide an effective hedge against inflation in Nigeria.

Is The Stock Market A Leading Indicator Of Economic Activity In Nigeria?, Alvan E. Ikoku

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

In an effort to address the lacuna in leading indicator studies of African economies and Nigeria in particular, this paper examines the causal relationships among stock market prices, real GDP and the index of industrial production in Nigeria, using quarterly data from 1984Q1 to 2008Q4. Granger causality tests indicate bidirectional causality between stock prices and GDP but no causality between stock prices and industrial production or between GDP and industrial production. Stock prices and GDP are found to be cointegrated, leading to the estimation of vector error correction models. Out-of-sample forecasts constructed with AR(1), ARIMA, structural ARIMA, and VEC models …

Monetary And Fiscal Policy Interactions In Nigeria: An Application Of A State-Space Model With Markov-Switching, Chuku V. Chuku

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

This paper uses quarterly data to explore the monetary and fiscal policy interactions in Nigeria between 1970 and 2008. As a preliminary exercise, the paper examines the nature of fiscal policies in Nigeria using a vector autoregression (VAR) model. The simulated generalized impulse response graphs generated from the VAR estimation provides evidence of a non-Ricardian fiscal policy in Nigeria. Further, the paper analyzes the interactions between monetary and fiscal policies by applying a State-space model with Markov-switching to estimate the time-varying parameters of the relationship. The evidence indicates that monetary and fiscal policies in Nigeria have interacted in a counteractive …

Optimal Designs Approach To Portfolio Selection, Etukudo A. I.

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

In order to obtain the best tradeoff between risk and return, optimization algorithms are particularly useful in asset allocation in a portfolio mix. Such algorithms and proper solution techniques are very essential to investors in order to circumvent distress in business outfits. In this paper, we show that by minimizing the total variance of the portfolio involving stocks in two Nigerian banks which is a measure of risk, optimal allocation of investible funds to the portfolio mix is obtained. A completely new solution technique – modified super convergent line series algorithm which makes use of the principles of optimal designs …