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Statistical Analysis And Comparison Of Optical Classification Of Atmospheric Aerosol Lidar Data, Kwasi Gyening Afrifa

Electrical & Computer Engineering Projects for D. Eng. Degree

This dissertation presents a new study for the analysis and classification of atmospheric aerosols in remote sensing LIDAR data. Information on particle size and associated properties are extracted from these remote sensing atmospheric data which are collected by a ground-based LIDAR system. This study first considers optical LIDAR parameter-based classification methods for clustering and classification of different types of harmful aerosol particles in the atmosphere. Since accurate methods for aerosol prediction behaviors are based upon observed data, computational approaches must overcome design limitations, and also consider appropriate calibration and estimation accuracy. Consequently, two statistical methods based on generalized linear models …

Seasonality Of Tides In Southeast Asian Waters, Adam T. Devlin, Edward Zaron, David A. Jay, Stefan Talke

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

An analysis of water level time series from 20 tide gauges in Southeast Asia finds that diurnal and semidiurnal astronomical tides exhibit strong seasonal variability of both amplitude and phase, which is not caused by known modulations of the astronomical tide-generating forces. Instead, it is found that the tidal properties are coherent with the western North Pacific monsoon index (WNPMI), indicating that monsoonal mechanisms are the likely cause. The study domain includes the Malacca Strait, Gulf of Thailand, the southern South China Sea, and Java Sea. The character of the geography and the tidal variability is different in each of …

Assessment Of The Evolving Low-Cost Business Model For The Future Importance Of U.S. Secondary Airports, Nurettin Dinler

Theses and Dissertations

Airline deregulation caused a profound reshape in the aviation industry. The liberalization of the aviation sector resulted in a favorable environment for the emergence of low-cost carriers (LCCs). Following deregulation, airlines saw many attempts at their business strategies to gain more passengers in air transportation market. To capture additional market shares of passenger traffic, the business models of LCCs have evolved to mirror the more common business models employed by the traditional legacy airlines. The purpose of this study was to examine what effect, if any, exists between LCCs’ market share of passenger enplanements at secondary airports and their business …

A Systems Analysis Of Factors Influencing Household Solar Pv Adoption In Santiago, Chile, Jeffrey P. Walters, Jessica Kaminsky, Lawrence Gottschamer

Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering

Societal uptake of household solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is the result of a complex and interdependent array of technical, social, political and economic factors. This novel study employs a systems lens to examine both technical and non-technical barriers to renewables, with a focus on interactions that are empirically influential on PV uptake. Using local solar expert stakeholder input into a participatory systems approach, this study provides a structural analysis of factors influencing household solar adoption. The approach is applied and assessed for household solar PV systems in Santiago, Chile, to gain insight into the interconnected factors driving technology adoption. Barriers …

Assessing Land Deformation And Sea Encroachment In The Nile Delta, Egypt, Esayas Gebremichael

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Persistent scatterer interferometric analyses were conducted on a stack of 84 Envisat ASAR scenes spanning 7 years (2004 to 2010) over the entire Nile Delta of Egypt and surroundings to monitor the ongoing spatial and temporal land deformation, identify the factors controlling the deformation, and model the interplay between sea level rise and land subsidence to identify areas and populations threatened by sea encroachment by the end of the 21st century. Findings include: (1) general patterns of subsidence in the northern delta, near-steady (none) subsidence in the southern delta, separated by a previously mapped flexure zone undergoing uplift; (2) high …

Management Of An Urban Stormwater System Using Projected Future Scenarios Of Climate Models: A Watershed-Based Modeling Approach, Ranjeet Thakali, Ajay Kalra, Sajjad Ahmad, Kamal Qaiser

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Anticipating a proper management needs for urban stormwater due to climate change is becoming a critical concern to water resources managers. In an effort to identify best management practices and understand the probable future climate scenarios, this study used high-resolution climate model data in conjunction with advanced statistical methods and computer simulation. Climate model data from the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) were used to calculate the design storm depths for the Gowan Watershed of Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. The Storm Water Management Model (SWMM), developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was used for hydrological modeling. …

1979 - The California Water Atlas

Miscellaneous Documents and Reports

The atlas was developed as an attempt to provide the average citizen with a single-volume point of access to understanding how water works in the State of California. It addressed treatments of every aspect of water supply, delivery, and use in California, the nature of the water environment, the changes mankind has made in that environment, the history of water development, the operation of the major natural and artificial water systems, the relationship of water pricing to water consumption, the uses of water in industry, recreation, and energy development, the problems of water quality, and the current (1979) and emerging …

Development Of Stable Cell Lines For The Production Of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Targeted Exosomes, Anja Beard, Zach Ehlinger

Bioengineering Senior Theses

Exosomes represent a promising new approach to targeted drug delivery. Current research explores the ability of these naturally occurring nanoparticles to transport therapeutic cargo to specific tissues of the body and to subsequently enter the cells of those tissues. Human cells act as an efficient source of these nano-vesicles. Our project ultimately focuses on the establishment of a cell line that produces exosomes tagged with the RD114 protein, which allows for the targeting of hematopoietic stem cells. With the ability to deliver therapeutic cargo to these specific cells, exosomes can serve as a vehicle for many effective hematopoietic stem cell …

Strategic Audit Of National Instruments, Grant Fishburn

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The research and analyses compiled in this paper provide a holistic view into the current situation that National Instruments faces as a company and what strategies it can take to overcome current and pressing issues. The goal of the audit is to determine a strategic recommendation for National Instruments that will achieve any number of goals and objectives set by the auditor in accordance to the situation at hand. In addition to this strategic recommendation, an implementation and contingency plan are developed to further expand upon how such a strategy would be created in the real world. The strategic recommendation …

Predicting Effects Of Climate Change And Sea Level Rise On Hydrologic Processes In A Mid-Atlantic Coastal Watershed, Rui Li

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation assessed impacts of Climate Change (CC) and Sea Level Rise (SLR) on coastal hydrologic processes using the Lynnhaven River watershed as a test bed. The watershed is part of Chesapeake Bay Watershed and hydraulically connected with mid-Atlantic Ocean. Six CC scenarios were considered in terms of eight Regional Climate Models’ predictions for three Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emission assumptions, namely, B1, A1B, and A2, for two future periods, namely 2046 to 2065 and 2081 to 2099. The ensemble means of downscaling results from four methods were used to represent the future climates. On the other hand, …

The Skilled Framing Carpenter Shortage On The Central Coast Of California: A Focus On Residential Construction, Trevor John Nally

Construction Management

The residential construction industry has many critical components. When one of these components is not operating optimally, it can be detrimental to the system as a whole. A critical component to residential construction is skilled craftspeople. Without them, there can be no significant physical work completed on any residential project. Currently the component of skilled craftspeople in residential construction is in a state of short supply. Throughout the United States, there is an inadequate amount of craftspeople to fill the demand for their skills. The Central Coast of California is experiencing this issue much like the rest of the nation …

Exploring Possible Humanoids On Mars: A Lesson Designed For Twice-Exceptional Gifted Students, Younis Al-Hassan, Marie Adebiyi, Shehreen Iqtadar, Dana L. Atwood-Blaine

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

This practical article presents a classroom-tested pedagogical plan to assist instructors in teaching thinking skills to gifted students with disabilities in the context of science. The lesson, which focused on using Edward de Bono thinking skills to explore humanoid images that appear in NASA photos, provided accommodations for students with hearing impairment, along with disabilities associated with short and long-term memory. The instructional design team presented the arts-integrated activity of drawing scenes showing possible ways the anomalies could have been generated, and an interactive electronic game using iPads that asked participants to gather needed items for a trip to Mars. …

Operational Impact Of Shadow Evacuation On Regional Road Networks During Short-Notice Emergency Evacuations, Efe Emre Tuncer

LSU Master's Theses

As part of evacuation planning, development of effective tactical and operational strategies are essential to safely and efficiently mobilize the public away from the threat. Evacuations are classified by the time between notification and the anticipated arrival of the threat which can be categorized as short, or no-notice emergencies. Emergencies involve the computation of the time required to evacuate the area of risk, which is the time to clear a radius of up to about 10-miles around the nuclear power plant, known as the emergency planning zone (EPZ). These evacuation time estimates (ETE) also account for the evacuation of the …

High-Resolution Water Footprints Of Production Of The United States

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The United States is the largest producer of goods and services in the world. Rainfall, surface water supplies, and groundwater aquifers represent a fundamental input to economic production. Despite the importance of water resources to economic activity, we do not have consistent information on water use for specific locations and economic sectors. A national, spatially detailed database of water use by sector would provide insight into U.S. utilization and dependence on water resources for economic production. To this end, we calculate the water footprint of over 500 food, energy, mining, services, and manufacturing industries and goods produced in the United …

The Challenges Of Processing Kite Aerial Photography Imagery With Modern Photogrammetry Techniques, Jeremy W. Aber, Tyler A. Babb

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) is a traditional method of collecting small-format aerial photography used for work in a variety of fields. This research explored techniques for processing KAP imagery with a focus on some of the challenges specific to photo processing. The performance of multiple automated image compositing programs was compared using a common set of 29 images. Those packages that were based on a photogrammetry approach outperformed the non-photogrammetric software, and generated similar levels of quality to one another. While all three photogrammetric packages produced satisfactory output, each had unique challenges.

Special Perturbations On The Jetson Tx1 And Tx2 Computers, Tyler M. Moore

Theses and Dissertations

Simplified General Perturbations Number 4 (SGP4) has been the traditional algorithm for performing Orbit Determination (OD) onboard orbiting spacecraft. However, the recent rise of high-performance computers with low Size, Weight, and Power (SWAP) factors has provided the opportunity to use Special Perturbations (SP), a more accurate algorithm to perform onboard OD. This research evaluates the most efficient way to implement SP on NVIDIA’s Jetson TX series of integrated Graphical Processing Units (GPUs). An initial serial version was implemented on the Jetson TX1 and TX2's Central Processing Units (CPUs). The runtimes of the initial version are the benchmark that the runtimes …

Assessment Of Drinking Water Quality Management And A Treatment Feasibility Study For Brick By Brick Water Storage Tanks In Rakai Uganda, James V. Murduca

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reliable access to safe drinking water is one necessity for humans to live without concern for major health risks. The overall goal of this research is to improve the public health, through improved drinking water, for communities in the Rakai District in Uganda, directly, and other communities in the world, indirectly, via dissemination of knowledge. This study specifically assessed the knowledge of drinking water quality in regards to public health, their sanitation measures, and water treatment methods for users of Brick by Brick rainwater harvesting tanks in the Rakai District (N = 28) by using a knowledge, attitudes, and practice …

Poster Session 2, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

1. Kentucky Lake Undergoing a “Change of State”: Trend Analyses Indicate Potential Tipping Points are Being Reached for Several Limnological Variables
2. Investigating Preferential Sewer Pathways: Geospatial Screening and Field Sampling to Reduce Inhalation Exposure Risks
3. Fate and Transport of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in a Sewer System: Numerical Model and Field Study
4. Soil Moisture Conditions and Yield Across Fragic Soils Under Irrigated Management in Western Kentucky
5. Nutrient Contamination from an Agricultural Non-Point Source and its Mitigation: A Case Study of EKU Meadowbrook Farm, Madison County, KY
6. Characterization of Groundwater and Surface Water Geochemistry in an Agricultural Setting at EKU Meadowbrook Farm, …

Proceedings Of 2018 Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

This symposium was planned and conducted as a part of the state water resources research institute annual program that is supported by Grant/Cooperative Agreement Number G16AP00055 from the United States Geological Survey. The contents of this proceedings document and the views and conclusions presented at the symposium are solely the responsibility of the individual authors and presenters and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USGS or of the symposium organizers and sponsors. This publication is produced with the understanding that the United States Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for government purposes. Mention of trade …

2018 Oklahoma Research Day Guide Book, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Oklahoma Research Day Abstracts

This is the 2018 Oklahoma Research Day Guide Book. This book does not contain abstracts.

Inspire E-News 03 2018, College Of Engineering And Applied Sciences

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences News

• Give a Slice on Pi Day -- March 14
• WMU to host regional steel bridge, concrete canoe competitions
• Saeed honored with distinguished research award
• MVP Award goes to Engelmann
• Save the date: Custer Talk March 20
• College Snapshot: Give A Slice on Pi Day

Comparative Analysis Of Designing Solar And Geothermal Power Plants: A Case Study, Roberto Venegas, Sarada Kuravi, Krishna Kota, Mary Helen Mccay

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Geothermal and solar thermal are renewable, clean energy sources with immense potential for electricity generation. Concentrating Solar Power can achieve very high temperatures and high efficiencies compared to geothermal power plants. However, it is intermittent and must be coupled with thermal storage or another source for continuous power generation. Geothermal resources exist in varying temperatures but are too small for economic power production; however, it is not intermittent. This paper briefly summarizes the location-specific design considerations for geothermal and solar thermal plants. The performance of both these types of power plants is analysed in terms of capacity factor, thermal energy …

Sentiment Analysis Of Twitter Data, Evan L. Munson

Theses and Dissertations

The rapid expansion and acceptance of social media has opened doors into users’ opinions and perceptions that were never as accessible as they are with today's prevalence of mobile technology. Harvested data, analyzed for opinions and sentiment can provide powerful insight into a population. This research utilizes Twitter data due to its widespread global use, in order to examine the sentiment associated with tweets. An approach utilizing Twitter #hashtags and Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling were utilized to differentiate between tweet topics. A lexicographical dictionary was then utilized to classify sentiment. This method provides a framework for an analyst to …

Advancing Distributed Data Management For The Hydroshare Hydrologic Information System, Hong Yi, Ray Idaszak, Michael Stealey, Chris Calloway, Alva L. Couch, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

HydroShare (https://www.hydroshare.org) is an online collaborative system to support the open sharing of hydrologic data, analytical tools, and computer models. Hydrologic data and models are often large, extending to multi-gigabyte or terabyte scale, and as a result, the scalability of centralized data management poses challenges for a system such as HydroShare. A distributed data management framework that enables distributed physical data storage and management in multiple locations thus becomes a necessity. We use the iRODS (Integrated Rule-Oriented Data System) data grid middleware as the distributed data storage and management back end in HydroShare. iRODS provides a unified virtual file system …

A Detailed Hydrodynamic Study To Help Community Based Resiliency Planning Under Extreme Climatic And Weather Events, Md Golam Rabbani Fahad

Theses and Dissertations

The State of New Jersey is particularly vulnerable to extreme weather and climatic events. This study concentrates on spatial and temporal vulnerability of these events using climate and hydrodynamic modelling. The first chapter focuses on historical climatic trend of temperature and precipitation as well as the future scenarios using 10 bias corrected climate model output considering high end emission scenario derived from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). In the second chapter a coastal hydrodynamic model called ADCIRC-2DDI was implemented to assess the impact of hurricanes in the Western North Atlantic (WNAT) model domain. The efficiency of the model …

Systematic Approach To Identifying Deeply Buried Archeological Deposits, Anthony L. Layzell, Rolfe D. Mandel, Courtney L. Ziska, John R. Bozell

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

This project is designed to assist cultural resource specialists involved in Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) project planning and development. The goal was to develop Geographic Information System (GIS) data layers that spatially delineate different landform-sediment assemblages (LSAs) and depict the associated geologic potential for buried cultural deposits in select watersheds in Nebraska. The Nebraska Buried Sites GIS resource will allow planners and cultural resource specialists to determine whether future project areas are likely to be free of deeply buried sites or whether subsurface exploration is necessary.

Electric Vehicle Interaction At The Electrical Circuit Level, Florida Solar Energy Center, Shawyun Sariri

FSEC Energy Research Center®

A large growth in energy demand has increased renewable energy penetration into existing power grid infrastructures, as well as spurring increased research into demand response programs. But before implementing an efficient demand response program, it is first necessary to understand the power usage behaviors of a consumer. This paper presents a real-time data acquisition system for the collection and storage of power data that will allow the study of demand response in an urban area, which can be applied to the efficient use of electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE). Demand response programs are an ideal alternative to costly energy storage …

Investigation Of Morphological Changes In Small Coastal Rivers During Flood, Tanzina Afrin

LSU Master's Theses

The delivery of fluvial sediment to coastal margins is one of the major concerns for river and coastal morphodynamics. Relevant research has primarily focused on large rivers that transport substantial sediment load and thus are responsible for building deltaic landscapes. However, less research is concentrated on small coastal rivers. A need exists to better understand the sediment dynamics in small coastal rivers that have different backwater regimes than their larger counterparts. The main objective of this research was to examine the influence of backwater on the morphodynamics of a small coastal meandering river during a large flood event. The investigation …

Unmanned Aerial Systems: Research, Development, Education & Training At Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Michael P. Hickey

Publications

With technological breakthroughs in miniaturized aircraft-related components, including but not limited to communications, computer systems and sensors, state-of-the-art unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have become a reality. This fast-growing industry is anticipating and responding to a myriad of societal applications that will provide new and more cost-effective solutions that previous technologies could not, or will replace activities that involved humans in flight with associated risks.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has a long history of aviation-related research and education, and is heavily engaged in UAS activities. This document provides a summary of these activities, and is divided into two parts. The first part …

Automating The Crowd-Mapping Workflow With Deep Learning, Lasith Niroshan

Theses

Maintaining updated maps in an ever-changing built environment is important for supporting modern society in many ways. The usage of online crowdsourced maps in particular has gained importance in a wide range of recent location-based applications (route planning/navigation, urban planning, real estate, tourism, etc). However, both traditional map production methods and updating today’s online maps suffer from early obsolescence due to their largely manual map production/update workflows. Significant research efforts have focused on refining techniques to identify changes in raster satellite images, aiming to improve and streamline map production processes. Concurrently, the surge in Internet usage has led to a …