DigitalCommons@WayneState

Response of the lower vertebral column to caudocephalad acceleration

A. Peter Vulcan — Fri, 30 Jun 2017 10:52:09 PDT

This dissertation is concerned with the measurement of the response, in those areas of the vertebral column where fractures are most common, when the seated human is subjected to caudocephalad acceleration. Such accelerations and consequent vertebral fractures are experienced not only in ejection from aircraft, but also in survivable helicopter and aircraft crashes, and in certain types of falls. It is intended that the measurements should provide a better understanding of the mechanisms of vertebral fracture and data for the formulation of an appropriate mathematical model.

Implementation of Viterbi decoder on Xilinx XC4005XL FPGA

Nabil Abu-Khader — Fri, 30 Jun 2017 10:21:48 PDT

The Viterbi decoding algorithm is used to decode convolutional codes and is found in many systems that receive digital data that might contain errors. The use of error-correcting codes has proven tobe an effective way to overcome data corruption in digital communication channels. In previous works, researchers describe the Viterbi Algorithm, but the accuracy does not exceed 10% of data points. Also, a lot of previous works do not follow IEEE 802.16 new specifications. Viterbi decoders are generally implemented using programmable digital signal processors (DSPs) or special purpose chip sets and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Here, we aim to implement such decoder on an FPGA. In This paper, we provide a more accurate Viterbi decoder according to IEEE 802.16 specifications. We used VHDL hardware description language to implement the algorithm. We also used OrCAD Capture V9.1 to compile, synthesize, and simulate our code. IEEE 802.16 standard specifies the air interface of fixed point-to-multipoint broadband wireless access (BWA) systems providing multiple services. This standard is intended to enable rapid worldwide deployment of broadband wireless access products. The new IEEE 802.16 specifications require a Viterbi block decoder with constraint length of 3, traceback length of 32, and minimum throughput requirement of 44.8 Mbps. The Implementation parameters for the decoder have been determined through simulation and the decoder has been implemented on a Xilinx XC4005XL FPGA.

Markov Modeling of Breast Cancer

Chunling Cong et al. — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 13:40:59 PDT

Previous work with respect to the treatments and relapse time for breast cancer patients is extended by applying a Markov chain to model three different types of breast cancer patients: alive without ever having relapse, alive with relapse, and deceased. It is shown that combined treatment of tamoxifen and radiation is more effective than single treatment of tamoxifen in preventing the recurrence of breast cancer. However, if the patient has already relapsed from breast cancer, single treatment of tamoxifen would be more appropriate with respect to survival time after relapse. Transition probabilities between three stages during different time periods, 2-year, 4-year, 5-year, and 10-year, are also calculated to provide information on how likely one stage moves to another stage within a specific time period.

On the BLUE of the Population Mean for Location and Scale Parameters of Distributions Based on Moving Extreme Ranked Set Sampling

Walid A. Abu-Dayyeh et al. — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 13:40:24 PDT

The best linear unbiased estimator (BLUE) for the population mean under moving extreme ranked set sampling (MERSS) is derived for general location and scale parameters of distributions which generalizes Al-Odat and Al-Saleh (2001). It is compared with the sample mean of simple random sampling (SRS). The efficient sample size under the MERSS for which the BLUE estimator dominates the usual sample mean under SRS for estimating the population mean is also computed for several distributions.

Spatially Explicit Life Cycle Assessment: Opportunities and challenges of wastewater-based algal biofuels in the United States

Javad Roostaei et al. — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 10:40:43 PDT

This work presented a Spatially-Explicit-High-Resolution Life Cycle Assessment (SEHR-LCA) model for wastewater-based algal biofuel production, by integrating life cycle assessment, GIS analysis, and site-specific Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) data analysis. Wastewater resources, land availability, and meteorological variation were analyzed for algae cultivation. Three pathways, Microwave Pyrolysis, hydrothermal liquefaction, and lipid extraction were modeled for bio-oil conversion. This model enables the assessment of seasonal and site-specific variations in productivity and environmental impacts of wastewater-based algal bio-oil across the whole U.S. Model results indicate that wastewater-based algal bio-oil can provide an opportunity to increase national biofuel output. The potential production of algal bio-oil can reach to 0.98 billion gallon/yr, nearly 20% of advanced biofuel projection as outlined in the U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007. LCA results shows significant variations among different locations, WWTPs, and operational seasons. Although not competitive to conventional fossil fuel in energy efficiency, wastewater-based algal biofuel could offer significant benefit in controlling GHG emissions. However, spatial analysis shows that only 61% of the total wastewater could be used, based on current land use efficiency for algae cultivation and land availability around each WWTP in a radius where algal biofuel production is energy positive (energy output N energy input). These results indicate that land availability could be a significant challenge for wastewater-based algal biofuels that have not been considered in previous studies. They also suggest that improvement should be made in technological development and system design to increase energy and land use efficiency for full potential of wastewater as a promising resource for algal biofuel production. Although focusing on the U.S. as the case study, the developed methodology could be used for spatially explicit analysis of algal biofuel integrated with wastewater on macro-scale in other regions as well.

Vol. 16, No. 1 (Full Issue)

JMASM Editors — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 12:53:13 PDT

End Matter

JMASM Editors — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 12:53:09 PDT