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Sub-Orbital Spaceflight – An Addition To Our Multi-Modal Transportation System, Scott Haeffelin

Space Traffic Management Conference

The number of commercial spaceflights will be increasing by orders of magnitude over the next several decades. The current volume of space traffic can be managed on a case-by-case basis and there is little impact to the National Airspace System (NAS). This will change as more spaceports become operational, commercial sub-orbital flight companies begin serving their customers and as the cost of these flights begin to decrease. Current regulatory paths seek to allow the flexibility in the regulations for this industry to flourish while also maintaining a high standard of safety. There are, however, many nearsighted and old fashioned assumptions …

Improving The Integration Of Launch And Reentry Operations Into The National Airspace System, Gwendolyn Mazzotta, Daniel P. Murray

Space Traffic Management Conference

With increasing commercial space activities occurring in the National Airspace System, the FAA has identified a need for more efficient management of the NAS with respect to commercial space operations. Current methods for integration of aviation and space activities employ a segregation approach, in which hazard areas are constructed around launch and reentry operations and sections of airspace are closed to other users. Mission objectives and vehicle characteristics dictate the extent of the closure in terms of location, duration, and volume of airspace affected. Launches, reentries, and other operations have an effect on other NAS stakeholders, causing delays, changes to …

Flight Physician - November, 2015, Civil Aviation Medical Association

Browse all Civil Aviation Medical Association Newsletters

A twenty-one page newsletter of the Civil Aviation Medical Association. The newsletter provided news about civil aviation medicine and information related to the organization.

Mems 411 Final Report - Plate Pourer Ii, Minsoo Ha, Patrick Champlin, Timothy Young

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The objective of this project is to create a machine that has the capability to pour Petri dishes. The usage of this machine must be easier than simply performing the task by hand, be automated, capable of producing 120 plates per hour, be sterile, prevent the plates from sloshing, fit in a fume hood, and stack the plates while they are cooling so that they may cool properly. This all was accomplished with a device that drops the plates vertically down, fills them, and then lowers them into storage thanks to their now increased mass and a spring-loaded platform.

Work Vehicle Warning Lights: Color Options And Effectiveness, Brian K. Howell, Jerry G. Pigman, Kenneth R. Agent

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

KTC reviewed existing regulations, guidance, and practices to assess the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s warning lights program on highway work vehicles. The Kentucky Revised Statutes categorizes KYTC vehicles as “public safety vehicles” and requires their use of amber lights. Because the use of red can be confused with emergency vehicles, KYTC prohibits the use of red on work vehicles. At the national level, standards for warning light colors do not exist. Rather, AASHTO provides guidance on roadway operations equipment and recommends the use of amber and white lights as the primary warning light colors for highway vehicles. AASHTO guidance also prescribes …

14-01 Exploring The Equity Dimensions Of Us Bicycle Sharing Systems, C. Scott Smith, Jun-Seok Oh, Cheyenne Lei

Transportation Research Center Reports

Research over the past several decades has made it increasingly clear that livable communities are inextricably linked with the provision of opportunities for active and/or non-motorized transportation; i.e., walking, cycling and their variants. An emerging phenomena that is working within the broader movement of active transportation is public bicycle sharing systems (BSS). Such systems have grown considerably in the US in recent years and, in some cases, are dramatically changing the ecology of urban transport. Alongside celebrations of the early successes of US BSS, have been criticisms that these systems have not been adequately integrated into lower-income communities; a pattern …

Research On Prevention Of Ship-Induced Pollution To Drinking Water Source In The Yangtze Estuary Of Shanghai Sector, Detong Zhu

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Technology Assessment Of Waste Disposal Technologies For Tillamook County, Jing Jiang, Abhishek Jain, Jonathan Lui, Jorge Garcia, Standley Limarta

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

We propose a two-level filter system to evaluate the potential for alternative waste management practices by conversion of locally-generated waste products such as animal mortality, manure, and wood waste into beneficial products such as energy in Tillamook county of Oregon. At the first level - coarse grained filter, three basic factors, technical readiness level (TRL), scaling capacity, and feedstock, are used to initially filter out the scanned technologies which can be potentially used in waste management. At the secondary level filter - fine grained filter, a numeric scoring model is created to evaluate technologies from the output of the first …

An Evaluation Of The Neighborhood Traffic Management Program Of Centennial, Colorado, Rolando Gabriel Melgoza

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

Residential neighborhoods throughout the United States seek to maintain a quality of life where residents can live free of traffic factors adversely affecting their safety. Many communities have adopted a Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP) to address concerns over cut-through traffic, speeding, and safety. The City of Centennial, Colorado, incorporated in 2001, is a young city and has its own NTMP. Four traffic mitigation projects have been implemented. The objective of this research is to conduct a before and after comparison study of each Centennial NTMP project, to review the NTMP policies of American cities with similar suburban characteristics to …

Use Of Roadway Attributes In Hot Spot Identification And Analysis, David R. Bassett

Theses and Dissertations

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) Traffic and Safety Division continues to advance the safety of roadway sections throughout the state. In an effort to aid UDOT in meeting their goal, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Brigham Young University (BYU) has worked with the Statistics Department in developing analysis tools for safety. The most recent of these tools has been the development of a hierarchical Bayesian Poisson Mixture Model (PMM) of traffic crashes known as the Utah Crash Prediction Model (UCPM), a hierarchical Bayesian Binomial statistical model known as the Utah Crash Severity Model (UCSM), and a …

Detection Of Small-Scale Rockfall Incidents Using Their Seismic Signature, Achilleas Tripolitsiotis, Antonis Daskalakis, Stelios Mertikas, Dionysios Hristopulos, Zacharias Agioutantis, Panagiotis Partsinevelos

Mining Engineering Faculty Publications

Several algorithms have been effectively used to identify the seismic signature of rockfall incidents, which constitute a significant threat for human lives and infrastructure especially when occurring along transportation networks. These algorithms have been mostly evaluated using data from large scale rockfall events that release a large amount of energy. However, low-energy rockfall events (< 100 Joules) triggered by small-sized individual rocks falling from small heights can be severely destructive. In this study, a three-parameter algorithm has been developed to identify low-energy rockfall events. An experimental setup was implemented to 1) validate the results obtained by this algorithm against visual inspection of seismic signals records, 2) define the optimal algorithm parameterization to minimize false alarms, and 3) investigate whether tri-axial vibration monitoring can be replaced by a uniaxial device in order to reduce the installation cost of a real-time rockfall monitoring system. It was found that the success rate of the proposed algorithm exceeds 80% independently of the parameters used, while event identification at a maximum distance with minimal false alarms was achieved when using mean ± 3σ as the threshold criterion and 6 ms and 4 ms as the trigger and event window parameters respectively. Finally, it was found that for the specific experimental setup, a uniaxial device could be used for rockfall event identification.

Uavino, Matthew Belesiu, Aaron Chung, Kirby Linvill, Nathan Carlson, Phillip Coyle, Megan Peekema

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

UAVino is a drone solution that uses aerial imagery to determine the overall plant health and water content of vineyards. In general, the system focuses on automating crop inspection by taking aerial imagery of a vineyard, conducting post-processing, and outputting an easily interpreted map of the vineyard's overall health. The project's key innovation is an auto-docking system that allows the drone to automatically return to its launch point and recharge in order to extend mission duration. Long term, UAVino is envisioned as a multi-year, interdisciplinary project involving both the Santa Clara University Robotics Systems Laboratory and local wineries in order …

Department Of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015, Dante C. Carrillo, Dion A. Celebrado, Jenna I. Denhaan, Christian F. Ferrer, Simon D. Hauser, Audrey L. Rempher, Joseph H. Rohrer, Casey S. Smith

Electrical Engineering

The goal of the Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon 2015 project is to design, build, and operate a zero-net energy solar-photovoltaic (solar-PV) powered residence. It is an international competition taking place in the fall of 2015 in Irvine, California. The design needs to be attractive, energy-efficient, innovative, and affordable. The Cal Poly team includes students from a variety of majors, including Architecture, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and many more. The different disciplines need to work together to create a functional and cohesive design. For our senior project, we have designed the electrical systems in the home, including the power, …

Tadpole Tandem Electrically Assisted Tricycle, Austin Frederickson, Anthony Jacques, Kris Lawrence, Preston Mcelroy

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this senior project was to investigate the possibility of making bikes (as a regular mode of transportation) look much more appealing to the general public. To that end, an electric motor assist system was added to make it easier for the operators of the vehicle. A fairing was added to protect the rider from wind and rain, and an electrical subsystem consisting of a microcontroller and many other components was also added. The electrical subsystem was meant to store the information of different riders, calculate calories burned using a heart beat sensor, and increase visibility using strategically-placed …

Locating Optimal Water Quality Monitoring Locations Using Demand Coverage Index Method, Jeffrey Scott Brake

Master's Theses

Water quality regulations are always expanding especially in the field of water quality monitoring; however, threats to our water distribution systems still remain. Components of water distribution systems are susceptible to intentional and accidental contamination; therefore, they represent highly vulnerable aspects of our vital infrastructure.

An analysis was performed on a city in California with a population of 30,000 to 40,000 residents. The analysis is performed to determine the optimal locations of monitoring stations throughout the water distribution system. The method presented by Liu and colleagues (Liu et al, 2012) selects the optimal monitoring locations for the virtual California city …

An Iris Authentication System Based On Artificial Neural Networks, Brenden Velu

Electrical Engineering

An iris authentication system verifies the authenticity of a person based on their iris features. The iris features are extracted through wavelet transform of the isolated iris from modified iris images. A level 5 wavelet decomposition is performed on the images, and the resulting low-frequency wavelet coefficients represent the inputs to the artificial neural network. The artificial neural network reads these features as inputs, and classifies each set of inputs according to their target identity. This authentication system currently classifies up to 10 people. The irises used for classification represent ideal situations with minimum eyelash and eyelid interference.

Influencing Factors For Use Of Unmanned Aerial Systems In Support Of Aviation Accident And Emergency Response, Brent Terwilliger, Dennis Vincenzi, David Ison, Kenneth Witcher, David Thirtyacre, Adeel Khalid

Applied Aerospace Science

"The purpose of this research paper was to examine the influencing factors associated with the use of unmanned aerial system (UAS) technology to support aviation accident and emergency response. The ability of first responders to react to an emergency is dependent on the quality, accuracy, timeliness, and usability of information. With aviation accidents such as the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash at San Francisco International Airport, the ability to sense and communicate the location of victims may reduce the potential for accidental passenger death. Furthermore, the ability to obtain information en-route to an accident may also to assist to reduce …

Assessing The Repercussions Of A Mass Departure Of Building Inspectors From The Code Professional Industry In Utah, George Reese Williams

Theses and Dissertations

National studies suggest that eighty percent of existing code professionals are expected to retire within the next fifteen years. As part of this research, it was determined that approximately half of all licensed building inspectors in the State of Utah will reach retirement age within the next ten years. As building inspectors make up a large part of the Code Professional Industry this demographic was selected as the focus of this research. The purpose of this research project was to assess the urgent need for new entrants into the Code Professional Industry in Utah. As part of this research, trends …

Sense And Avoid Uas Project Final Design Report, Katie Peticolas, Cesia Cazares, Trevor Elsbree, Courtney Smith, Herberth Elie Navas

Biomedical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Structural Health Monitoring Of Bridges Using Wireless Sensor Networks, Seyed Behrad Ghazi Sharyatpanahi

Theses

Structural Health Monitoring, damage detection and localization of bridges using Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are studied in this thesis. The continuous monitoring of bridges to detect damage is a very useful tools for preventing unnecessary costly and emergent maintenance. The optimal design aims to maximize the lifetime of the system, the accuracy of the sensed data, and the system reliability, and to minimize the system cost and complexity

Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is carried out using LUSAS Bridge Plus software to determine sensor locations and measurement types and effectively minimize the number of sensors, data for transmission, and volume of …

Provisioning Rural Wireless Broadband: A Prototype Implementation With Cognitive Radio Technology, Babajide Mandela Adejumobi

Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive radio technology, a revolutionary communication paradigm that can utilize the existing wireless spectrum resources more efficiently, has been receiving a growing attention in recent years. Our study is motivated by the fact that researchers are beginning to unveil different obstacles in the practicability of cognitive radio (CR) and, consequently, an urgent need has arisen to demonstrate practical implementations of CR technology. Specifically, this study seeks to implement a scenario in which two mobile phones communicate with each other using CR technology. Since commercially available mobile phones do not have the capability to dynamically adapt the operating parameters to function …

Reducing Coastal Risk – Structural Protection Around Greater New Orleans, Rick Luettich

May 22, 2015: Megaproject Protective Structures for Hampton Roads

No abstract provided.

Development Of Optimal Experimental Design Parameters For Pseudo Ambient Vibration Testing Of Bridges, David Samudio Castillo

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The United States of America is facing an infrastructure crisis that is characterized by aging and deteriorating structures, a significant backlog of maintenance and upgrades for existing infrastructure, limited funding and lack of practical and effective tools for identifying and prioritizing the most pressing infrastructure needs. The American Association of Civil Engineers (ASCE) qualifies America’s infrastructure with a D+(ASCE Report Card). This rating reflects the general state of infrastructure that is unlikely to improve dramatically in the short-term, yet the situation costs the nation billions of dollars annually due to losses in economic efficiency and productivity, and in some cases …

Right Hand Fork Pedestrian Bridge Final Report, Ren Gibbons

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Right Hand Fork is a tributary canyon whose stream enters the Logan River nine miles east of the mouth of Logan Canyon near Logan, Utah. The access bridge to a popular recreational area, the Hobbit Caves, was damaged in 2011 by flooding. We propose that a new bridge be designed and constructed for the Forest Service to replace the current structure to ensure public safety and minimize environmental impact. We plan to use a longer bridge span that will situate the abutments higher on the stream bank and reduce possible water damage during flood events. Bridge costs will be minimized …

Laboratory Study On The Effects Of Exit Face Inclination Of Critical Gradients, Richard Allen Keizer Jr.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The objective of this research is to help better understand the effects of exit face inclinations on critical gradients. This will lead to more practical ways to predict critical hydraulic gradients and slope stability using soil properties and exit face conditions. Current geotechnical engineering does not consider these factors because they are not thoroughly understood. Despite the attempts to better predict critical gradients, methods developed over 70 years ago to model the heave mechanism are used to model failure mechanisms such as backward erosion (or piping). This critical hydraulic gradient is only calculated by means of the buoyant unit weight …

Experimental Validation Data For Cfd Of Steady And Transient Mixed Convection On A Vertical Flat Plate, Blake W. Lance

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In this computer age, simulations are becoming common in science and engineering. One category of simulation, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), begins with physical equations but adds approximations and calibrations in order to complete solutions. Translating these equations into computer languages may cause unintended errors. If simulation results are to be used for decision making, their accuracy needs to be assessed. This accuracy assessment is the theory behind the field of Verification & Validation.

Verification involves confirming the translation of physical equations to computer language was per- formed correctly. It also features methods to detect many types of code errors. Validation …

Semi-Annual Program Progress Performance Report For The Electric Vehicle Transportation Center Pppr#3, Florida Solar Energy Center, David L. Block

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This document covers the program activities of the University of Central Florida's Electric Vehicle Transportation Center (EVTC) for the 6 month period of October 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015. The Electric Vehicle Transportation Center supports the U.S. Department of Transportation's strategic goal of planning for near-term integration of alternative fuel vehicles as a means to build a sustainable transportation system. The project objectives are to evaluate technologies, standards and policies to ensure seamless integration of electric vehicles (EVs) into a complex transportation network and electricity grid. The EVTC will bridge the gap between deployment of electric vehicles and the …

Modeling Safety Performance Functions On Urban And Suburban Arterials In Alabama, Jaehoon Kim

Research Horizons Day Posters

No abstract provided.

An Operational Performance And Safety Comparison Of Roundabouts Vs. Traditional Intersections, Vincent Spahr

Honors Theses

As the modern roundabout becomes a more popular intersection alternative in the United States, the ability of the roundabout to effectively manage traffic and to do so safely is on the forefront of engineering concerns. Despite decades of international success and credibility, regions throughout the U.S. have been hesitant to implement roundabouts in place of more traditional intersections. This case study of a series of intersections in Dublin, OH assesses the operational performance of roundabouts as it compares to that of their stop-controlled and signalized counterparts and analyzes historical crash data to evaluate the safety of the various intersection types. …

A Risk Based Approach To Node Insertion Within Social Networks, Chancellor A. J. Johnstone

Theses and Dissertations

Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a primary tool for counter-terrorism operations, ranging from resiliency and influence to interdiction on threats stemming from illicit overt and clandestine network operations. In an ideal world, SNA would provide a perfect course of action to eliminate dangerous situations that terrorist organizations bring. Unfortunately, the covert nature of terrorist networks makes the effects of these techniques unknown and possibly detrimental. To avoid potentially harmful changes to enemy networks, tactical involvement must evolve, beginning with the intelligent use of network in filtration through the application of the node insertion problem. The framework for the node insertion …