Engineering Commons^™

Anti-Bacterial Activity Of Indoor Light Activated Photocatalysts, Suresh Pillai, Michael Seery, Damian W. Synnott, Stephen Hinder, Georg Michlits

Articles

Nanocrystalline photocatalysts, prepared under ambient conditions using a microwave assisted syn-thesis, show indoor light photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The zinc sulphide (ZnS) nanomaterials, prepared by a microwave assisted synthesis, are shown to be cubic blende structure with an average crystallite size of 4–6 nm. The anti-bacterial activ-ity of these nanomaterials is investigated under irradiation from a 60 W light bulb and photocatalytic activity is revealed to be due to the defects present in the crystal structure. The ZnS shows anti-bacterial action as both a bacteriostatic and bacteriocidal (88% reduction in the amount ...

Multi-Channel Audio Information Hiding, Jonathan Blackledge, Abdulrahman Isam Al-Rawi, Ruairi Hickson

Conference papers

We consider a method of hiding many audio channels in one host signal. The purpose of this is to provide a ‘mix’ that incorporates information on all the channels used to produce it, thereby allowing all, or, at least some channels to be stored in the mix for later use. After providing an overview of some recently published audio water marking schemes in the time and transform domains, we present a method that is based on using a four least significant bits scheme to embed five MP3 files into a single 16-bit host stereo WAV file without incurring any perceptual ...

Cable Heating Effects Due To Harmonic Distortion In Electrical Installations, Jonathan Blackledge, Kevin O'Connell, Martin Barrett, Anthony Sung

Conference papers

The increasing use of non-linear loads in electrical installations has exacerbated the problems of harmonic distortion in industrial and commercial electrical systems. In the UK the current practice to determine the cable size for an electric circuit is to use BS7671. However, previously the 16th edition IEE Wiring Regulations only dealt with situations where cables attain the conductor temperature generated by sinusoidal currents at the fundamental power frequency. This paper outlines the methods available to determine the minimum size of line conductors for protection against overload currents, taking into account the harmonic content of the load current, and explains the ...

Surveying First-Year Students Prior Conceptual Understanding Of Direct Current Resistive Electric Circuits: An Update, Aidan O'Dwyer

Conference papers

There is an increasing diversity of educational background of students entering Level 7 and Level 8 programmes in engineering in Irish third level education. Student reasoning about basic electricity concepts often differs from accepted explanations. The paper reports, analyses and reflects on the results of a multiple-choice diagnostic test to assess student understanding of such concepts (developed by Engelhardt and Beichner (2004) for U.S. high school and college students) taken by four cohorts of students, on the same DIT Level 7 engineering programme, from 2008-12 (n=106) and two cohorts of students, on the same DIT Level 8 engineering ...

Dielectric Relaxation In The Dymn1-Xfe Xo3 System, Fang Hong, Zhenxiang Cheng, Shujun Zhang, Xiaolin Wang

Faculty of Engineering - Papers

The dielectric constant and loss of perovskite DyMn1xFexO3 samples show strong dispersion in various frequencies, which is indicative of relaxation. The activation energies were obtained through Arrhenius law fitting and range from 0.213 eV to 0.385 eV. The Fe content dependence of the characteristic frequency f0 and the activation energy Ea shows two transitions that are well consistent with the change in orbital ordering. Meanwhile, different magnetic orderings could affect the relaxation and induce the change in Ea

Dynamics Of Flux-Line Bundles And Voltage-Current Characteristics In A Ba(K)Fe2as2 Single Crystal, K H. Muller, S K. H Lam, X L. Wang, S X. Dou

Faculty of Engineering - Papers

Understanding the flux-line dynamics in layered superconductors is of utmost importance for many superconductor applications, yet extracting from measurements the relevant parameters remains a major challenge. Here we report on measurements and theoretical model calculations of voltage-current (V-I) characteristics of a superconducting Ba0.72K0.28Fe2As2 single crystal slightly below its transition temperature in perpendicular magnetic fields between 0.01 and 7 T. We propose a model that describes the flux-line dynamics above, as well as below, the depinning current. The model fits the experimental V-I characteristics remarkably well and is used to extract from the data the field dependence of ...

Use Of The Soil Modulus For Compaction Control Of Compacted Soils, A Heitor, B Indraratna, C Rujikiatkamjorn

Faculty of Engineering - Papers

Insufficient compaction conditions can cause significant roadway infrastructure maintenance costs. Conventional compaction control, using nuclear methods, is based on the discrete in situ determination of the dry density and moisture content. Recently, there has been an increase interest in alternative methods for compaction control using intelligent compaction technologies. This method enables the continuous measurement of the soil modulus and the degree of compaction on the layer that is being compacted. Thus, the efficiency of the compaction process can be maximized. Although the adoption of this method is very promising, it constitutes a change of project specification for the contractors (i ...

Application Of Main Flow Data In The Determination Of Boundary Shear Stress In Smooth Closed Ducts, Yu Han, Shu-Qing Yang, Nadeesha Dharmasiri

Faculty of Engineering - Papers

Boundary shear stress plays an important role in momentum and mass transfers, but it is very difficult to determine experimentally. This paper develops a new method which can evaluate the boundary shear stress using the main flow data based on Momentum Balance Method (MBM). A theoretical relationship between the boundary shear stress and parameters of main flow region is established. The obtained results from MBM agree well with other methods, indicating that the new method is reasonable and reliable. The significant contribution of MBM is that the local boundary shear stress accurately and quickly can be determined by application of ...

Investigation On Temperature Change Of Cold Magnesium Alloy Strips Rolling Process With Heated Roll, Hia-Liang Yu, Qing-Bo Yu, Jin-Wu Kang, Xiang-Hua Liu

Faculty of Engineering - Papers

Magnesium alloy strips are widely used in aerospace, automotive industry, etc., which are difficult to produce through cold forming process due to their poor deformation ability. In this article, we studied whether the rolling process with heated roll could be used to roll cold magnesium alloy strips. Thermal-mechanical finite element simulation of the rolling process, using heated roll and cold strips to produce the magnesium alloy strips, was carried out. Influences of roll temperature, rolling velocity, rolling reduction ratio, and initial strip thickness on the thermal field and the mean temperature of magnesium alloy strips were analyzed. Both the heated ...

Light And Heat Selective Polymer Nanocomposite Films For Sustainable Greenhouses, Jenna M. Allan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Ontario greenhouse operations offer the ability to provide safe, local produce year-round. However, energy consumption associated with this service, as well as limited light intensity during winter months, is a significant problem. For this reason quantum dot (QD) nanoparticles and silica aerogel (SA) granules were investigated as potential filler materials for the enhancement of the optical and thermal properties of poly (ethylene-vinyl acetate) (EVA), a common greenhouse plastic, for the concurrent goals of increasing biomass production and reducing energy consumption in greenhouses.

The QDs, synthesized by colloidal chemistry using a single-molecular precursor method, along with commercial SA particles were integrated ...

The Analysis Of Ion Flow Between The Human Body And Local Ground, Paul T. Rioux

Honors Theses

The project was designed to get a better sense of the phenomenon referred to as Earthing. Earthing is defined as the process where the human body is in contact with the earth and can freely transfer ions between the Earth and itself. Those promoting the idea of earthing say that this transfer of ions is important in maintaining a healthy immune system, and they claim that the recent increase in autoimmune diseases is the result of humans being insulated from the ground because of the shoes they wear and the places in which they live.

Investigation Of New Hampshire Hydropower Potential, Maxwell Murray

Honors Theses

The popularity of green and renewable energy has risen sharply in recent years, and hydropower has consistently been the most common form of renewable energy in both the US and the state of New Hampshire. As a result of this strong green movement, government organizations have seen increased pressure to produce figures to the public detailing the amount of hydropower potentially available in the country. Often these figures will depict very attractive numbers for the untapped hydropower potential in the country, yet the data do not seem realistic to anyone familiar with hydropower generation. This paper will attempt to de-rate ...

Design And Analysis Of An Efficient And Reliable Mac Protocol For Vanets, Khalid Abdel Hafeez

Theses and dissertations

The increase number of vehicles on roads and the immense number of fatal accidents they cause have driven the research and development of new generation technologies to help drivers travel more safely. One major cause of traffic accidents is that drivers cannot consistently respond to the changing road conditions appropriately. In fact, most accidents could be avoided if drivers could obtain and use relevant information of the traffic that is beyond their vision using wireless communications technology.

Recently, the IEEE community adopted the IEEE 802.11p standard as a main technology for VANETs. To test the feasibility of this technology ...

Novel Silicone-Based Materials To Limit Bacterial Adhesion And Subsequent Proliferation, Madiha F. Khan

Open Access Dissertations and Theses

Bacterial biofilms are problematic in a variety of industries hence strategies for their mitigation have received significant attention. The approach described herein attempts to control bacterial adhesion using silicone-based polymers- (widely used due to their interesting properties)- via manipulation of their surface chemistry to eventually create anti-fouling surfaces. This involved study of the systematic variation of surface wettability and its effect on Escherichia coli (E. coli) adhesion to novel polymers of acrylate-modified silicone surfactant (ACR) with either hydroxyethyl methacrylate (a hydrophilic monomer), or methyl and butyl methacrylate (hydrophobic monomers). It was hypothesized that the systematic variation of ACR would produce ...

Review Of E-Science Portal, Lisa Zilinski

Lisa Zilinski

e-Science is a methodology of scientific research that developed from the convergence of digital technologies and communication. The ubiquitous computer and ease of access to the Internet has allowed for near instantaneous and global distribution of large data sets. This technology, paired with interdisciplinary collaboration, has brought about the need to organize and effectively promote the “tools, knowledge and skills to effectively participate in networked science” and provide tools for effective data curation.

Short Report On: Inquiry Into The Utilisation Of Rail And Infrastructure Corridors. Prepared For The Nsw Legislative Assembly, Committee On Transport And Infrastructure, Andrew Mccusker, Nagesh Shukla

SMART Infrastructure Facility - Papers

This report to the parliamentary inquiry addresses the use of land development for integrated infrastructure corridors and considers improvement to policy development, planning and strategies to achieve greater productivity, enhanced liveability and improved economic benefit through informed decision making. In considering rail corridor usage long term it is essential to support the needs of society through decision making that is underpinned by proper analysis and longer term modelling. In order to ensure any proposed interventions represent a step forward with respect to competiveness of the transport system, the liveability for affected residence and customers and the overall resilience to unexpected ...

Fabrication Of Printed Substrate For Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, Ali Eshkeiti

Masters Theses

A novel surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate was successfully fabricated on a silicon wafer using inkjet printing and on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) using gravure printing. Silver (Ag) nanoparticle (NP) based ink, was used for roughening of the surface of silicon and PET. A thickness of 400 nm was measured for the printed Ag NP printed film on silicon and the thickness of the single and double layered films on PET were measured as 340 nm and 680 nm, respectively by using vertical scanning interferometry. The Ag NP printed SERS substrate was tested for application with heavy metal compounds like ...

The Influence Of Coating Structure On Sheet-Fed Offset Ink Setting Rates, Ting Chen

Masters Theses

Much attention has been paid to the study of quickset ink setting as a complex ink-coating interaction. Offset ink setting rates are typically measured as ink splitting forces versus time and the slope of the regression line obtained from a plot of these measured values is reported, but scant attention has been paid to the deviations from that straight line. An initial slow ink setting rate is desired to minimize back-trap mottle, carryover picking and piling and enhance ink gloss; then a faster ink setting rate during sheet delivery to the pile is desired to reduce the likelihood of ink ...

Hardy, Nathaniel (Sc 524), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 524. Receipt written15 June 1836 by Nathaniel Hardy of Day, Schmitz and Baldwin, Louisville, Kentucky, to Eli McLean, South Union, Kentucky, for payment of $300 on castings for water works for the Shaker Society at South Union.