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Business Network Information Ecological Chain: A New Tool for Building Ecological Business Environment in IoT Era
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to present a new tool, business network information ecological chain (BNIEC) aiming to solve the current information problems in business network, make more profits to business websites and to maintain the sustainable development of the business network environment in Internet of Things (IoT) era
Framing Political Islam: Media Tropes and Power Struggles in Revolutionary Egypt
No full textThis chapter investigates the political and media contestations over the meaning of two major events. The first was the ousting of President Morsi, and the events that followed, particularly the violent interaction between the Egyptian military and security forces, on the one hand, and Muslim Brotherhood members and their supporters, on the other. The second event was the violent evacuation of the Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda encampments on 14 August 2013. Beginning with a theoretical understanding of the role of framing in political conflict, this chapter examines framing as a process that is highly dependent on the interaction between politicians and the media. The chapter then sheds light on the framing of political Islam in the media, especially as it relates to positive or negative representations of the Muslim Brotherhood and their opposition. The Egyptian media scene and the Arab news media are discussed as the context against which media polarization is apparent in the frames selected by several media channels. Finally, the chapter explores the ways in which the various media reported the events, and examines the efforts exerted by politicians to wield influence over media content in their attempt to win public sympathy and legitimize their actions
Waste Management in the UAE
No full textA poster submitted in ENG 207 taught by Dr. David Prescott for the Fall 2016 semester.Municipal waste is a rapidly growing issue in developing and developed countries. A technology known as Waste to Energy (WTE) Technology is introduced to reduce the amount of municipal waste. Incineration is the combustion of organic materials, which
reduces the volume and weight of the waste. How can Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) materials be utilized in generating energy in the UAE
A Master Planned Fareej Community
No full textAn Urban Planning Research Workshop II (UPL 682) project by Inshirah Shublaq entitled, "A Master Planned Fareej Community", submitted in December 2016. Project supervisor is Prof. Rafael E. Pizarro
Multiple Plants Capacitated Lot Sizing and Scheduling with Sequence-Dependent Setup Costs
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Engineering Systems Management by Sari Hilmi Abdullah entitled, "Multiple Plants Capacitated Lot Sizing and Scheduling with Sequence-Dependent Setup Costs," submitted in November 2016. Thesis advisor is Dr. Abdulrahim Shamayleh and thesis co-advisor is Dr. Malick Ndiaye. Soft and hard copy available.Production planning is a crucial activity for companies to satisfy customers demand while minimizing cost. The objective of this research is to optimize the production planning and scheduling decisions of companies in petrochemical industry field. A Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model is developed for the capacitated lot sizing and scheduling problem with sequence dependent setup costs; that considers the chain of multiple suppliers, affiliates, warehouses and customers. Different grades can be produced by each affiliate, and a changeover cost occurs when changing the production from one grade to another. The model integrates scheduling and lot-sizing decisions with the logistics functions of transportation and warehousing. In particular, it provides answers to questions regarding the amount of each raw material to be purchased from each supplier, sequence of production plans, inventory levels, and warehouse selection to satisfy orders. Petrochemical companies usually own several joint-ventures and centrally prepare the affiliates' production plans for the upcoming periods; their current planning procedures do not consider the overall costs in their supply-chain. The developed model will integrate their raw material costs, production and sequencing costs, inventory costs and transportation costs from the supplier side across the supply-chain to the customer side. The problem under study is considered an NP-Hard problem due to its complexity and size; therefore, a three stage heuristic was developed which provided good quality solutions with an acceptable computational time. The first stage of the heuristic works on reducing the complexity of the model by removing the sequencing decisions; where the resulting model decides only the size of lots for each affiliate. In the second and third stages, an iterative process is done to reduce the total setup and total holding costs while restoring the sequencing decisions. The heuristic was applied on different problem instances of different sizes and the reported results were within a range of 0.09% - 2.0% away from optimality. The development of the Mixed-Integer Linear Programming and the Three Stage Heuristic is the main contribution of this research.College of EngineeringDepartment of Industrial EngineeringMaster of Science in Engineering Systems Management (MSESM
Analysis of Innovative Vapor Compression and Thermal Energy Storage Systems Using Alternative Refrigerants
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Mechanical Engineering by Bahaa Morad entitled, "Analysis of Innovative Vapor Compression and Thermal Energy Storage Systems Using Alternative Refrigerants," submitted in December 2016. Thesis advisor is Dr. Mohamed Gadalla and thesis co-advisor is Dr. Saad A. Ahmed. Soft and hard copy available.This research presents detailed analyses of innovative single and two stages vapor compression refrigeration cycles (VCRCs) as well as a cold thermal energy system (CTES) for residential and commercial cooling applications. Different subcooling systems, such as dedicated mechanical subcooling (DMSC) and liquid-vapor heat exchangers (LVHX) using various refrigerants are investigated and analyzed. Results indicate that subcooling systems have great impacts on increasing the overall energetic and exergetic COPs of VCRC. The energetic and the exergetic COPs of the single stage VCRC with LVHX using R134a are 5.50 and 0.178, respectively. Whereas, for the innovative two stages VCRC with DMSC systems and R134a, energetic end exegetic COPs are found to be 5.83 and 0.189, respectively. A direct contact heat transfer CTES system using R134a-clathrate as a storage medium is investigated experimentally on a single-stage VCRC at different operating conditions. Some of the investigated operating conditions used to evaluate the storage medium behavior (clathrate) and the overall system performance are compressor speed, refrigerant mass flow rate, and different water to refrigerant mass ratios. Using R134a, it is found that at lower refrigerant mass flow rate between 0.5 to 0.8 kg/min, the clathrate is formed at longer durations, and COPs of operating cycles are found to be low compared to VCRCs. At a higher mass flow rate of 1.2 kg/min, the COPs of the CTES systems are found to be between 11.81 and 11.85, which is higher than the corresponding single stage VCRCs with LVHX by 42.5 to 44.5% and higher that the VCRC with DMSC by 41.3% to 43%. Current results show that at lower compressor speed of 2100 rpm and constant R-134a mass flow rate of 1.2 kg/sec, the COP is improved by 17%; whereas, at higher compressor speed of 2900 rpm, the COP is decreased by 23%. At higher water/R134a mass ratios in the crystallizer (storage tank), COPs are found to be decreasing due to the increase in charging times needed to form the clathrate compared to all other cases. Finally, the experimental and simulation results indicate that the CTES systems have higher COPs as compared to innovative VCRCs.College of EngineeringDepartment of Mechanical EngineeringMaster of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME
Strengthening of Reinforced Concrete Columns Using Composite of Near Surface Mounted CFRP Strips and Fabric
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Civil Engineering by Raed Abokwiek entitled, "Strengthening of Reinforced Concrete Columns Using Composite of Near Surface Mounted CFRP Strips and Fabric," submitted in January 2016. Thesis advisor is Dr. Jamal A. Abdalla, thesis co-advisors are Dr. Rami A. Hawileh and Dr. Tamer El Maaddawy. Soft and hard copy available.In this study, the efficiency of using near surface mounted (NSM) carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips with CFRP confinement for strengthening reinforced concrete (RC) columns was investigated. The columns were subjected to concentric load and eccentric load which resulted in uniaxial and biaxial bending. Twenty seven specimens of RC columns with different reinforcement ratios were used. The specimens were divided into three groups; Axial, Uniaxial and Biaxial groups. Each group was subdivided into multiple subgroups with a control un-strengthened specimen. Experimental testing was carried out in order to study the effect of using NSM CFRP strips reinforcement on short columns considering the effect of several parameters. Likewise, the determination of the efficient increase in capacity of the RC columns by varying the number of CFRP strips to be used as reinforcement was studied. Moreover, a comparison was carried out between the efficiency of using NSM CFRP reinforcement with CFRP confinement and without the confinement. Besides, examination of the correlation between the loading pattern, load eccentricity and the effect of NSM CFRP strip on the column capacity was examined. Furthermore, the columns were well instrumented to measure lateral deflection, axial deflection and longitudinal and transverse strains. Failure modes, load-deflections and load-strains relationships were investigated. The strengthened specimens showed a significant increase in the load-carrying capacity and ductility over the control specimens. The increase in the load-carrying capacity for confined columns strengthened with strips in axial, uniaxial and biaxial bending ranged from 36 to 49%, 48 to 95% and 76 to 128%, respectively. The results showed that strengthening RC columns with NSM CFRP composites enhances the capacity and ductility consistently with respect to certain applied eccentricity ratio. In addition, an analytical model to predict the structural behavior of the NSM CFRP strengthened RC columns was developed and presented in this thesis showing fair agreement with the experimental results with deviations ranging from 1 to 18%. Finally, validation of the experimental results against the developed model was done in order to perform future parametric studies and to gain complete understanding of each parameter effect, separately.College of EngineeringDepartment of Civil EngineeringMaster of Science in Civil Engineering (MSCE
Wireless Power Transfer to Mobile Devices
No full textA poster submitted in ENG 207 taught by Dr. David Prescott for the Fall 2016 semester.A device that transmits power to other mobile devices within a wave range limit by using an inductive coil that creates a magnetic field which is received by the device’s inductor coil .Two range limits will be performed [1]: Short range limit: using inductive coupling. Medium range limit: using resonant inductive coupling
Inertial Navigation system of In-pipe Inspection Robot
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Mechatronics Engineering by Wasim Al-Masri entitled, "Inertial Navigation system of In-pipe Inspection Robot," submitted in May 2016. Thesis advisor is Dr. Mamoun Abdel-Hafez and thesis co-advisor is Dr. Mohammad A. Jaradat. Soft and hard copy available.The main goal of this study is to design and implement a robust inertial navigation system (INS) for in-pipe inspection robot. To achieve this goal, different mechanization approaches, that are derived in different frames or have different implementation methods, are investigated. These methods include INS derived in e-frame, INS derived in n-frame and 3D reduced inertial sensor system (RISS). The INS uses the full inertial
measurement unit (IMU) data to calculate the navigation solution, whereas RISS uses encoder, one single-axis gyroscope, and two accelerometers. Advantages and disadvantages are highlighted for each approach. Due to accumulated error in the INS or RISS solution, a sensor fusion based on extended Kalman filter is proposed. The INS is proposed to be fused with encoder's derived velocity with velocity constraints, and with the detected pipe length as measurements to correct INS solution. RISS is proposed
to be fused with the detected pipe length only as measurements to correct its solution. Subsequently, the accuracy of the proposed algorithm is verified experimentally. An experimental setup, with a prototype of the in-pipe robot, is designed and built to test and validate our algorithms in a real pipe. The accuracy of the proposed algorithms was around 3 cm after sensor fusion.College of EngineeringMultidisciplinary ProgramsMaster of Science in Mechatronics Engineering (MSMTR
Emulsification Characteristics Using a Dynamic Woven Metal Microscreen Membrane
No full textAn oscillatory emulsification system for the production of oil in water emulsions using a commercially available low-cost woven metal microscreen (WMMS) is investigated. The system allows for independent control of both the oscillation frequencies and amplitudes such that it provides two degrees of freedom for controlling the emulsion properties. The investigations included the production of both surfactant and particle-stabilized emulsions. The average droplet size was found to decrease when both the oscillation frequency and amplitude was increased. For surfactant-stabilized emulsions, using bi-surfactants in both the continuous and dispersed phases resulted in a smaller droplet size due to lower interfacial tension. For particle-stabilized emulsions, both the hydrodynamics of the system and the hydrophobic and hydrophilic nature of the stabilizing particles influenced the interfacial properties at the oil–water interface, which in turn affected the final droplet size and distribution with potential droplet breakage. In absence of the latter, a simple torque balance model can be used to reasonably predict the average emulsion droplet size