Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of A Performance-Based Procedure For Assessment Of Liquefaction-Induced Lateral Spread Displacements Using The Cone Penetration Test, Tyler Blaine Coutu

Theses and Dissertations

Liquefaction-induced lateral spread displacements cause severe damage to infrastructure, resulting in large economic losses in affected regions. Predicting lateral spread displacements is an important aspect in any seismic analysis and design, and many different methods have been developed to accurately estimate these displacements. However, the inherent uncertainty in predicting seismic events, including the extent of liquefaction and its effects, makes it difficult to accurately estimate lateral spread displacements. Current conventional methods of predicting lateral spread displacements do not completely account for uncertainty, unlike a performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) approach that accounts for the all inherent uncertainty in seismic design. The …

Time Reversed Smoke Simulation, Jeremy Michael Oborn

Theses and Dissertations

Physics-based fluid simulation often produces unpredictable behavior that is difficult for artists to control. We present a new method for art directing smoke animation using time reversed simulation. Given a final fluid configuration, our method steps backward in time generating a sequence that, when played forward, is visually similar to traditional forward simulations. This will give artists better control by allowing them to start from any timestep of the simulation. We address a number of challenges associated with time reversal including generating a believable final configuration and reversing entropy.

An Investigation Into Isogeometric Blended Shells, David Scott Willoughby

Theses and Dissertations

Improvements to isogeometric blended shells are introduced which blend traditional Reissner-Mindlin shells, and Kirchhoff-Love shells, with an exact interpolation of the shell director increment. A gradient extraction operator is introduced which allows derivatives of basis functions to be exactly expressed as a linear combination of the basis functions themselves. Several benchmarks are investigated and the new blended shell is compared with different shell elements in ABAQUS and NASTRAN. In addition, the effect of different quadrature schemes is included in the comparisons. The new isogeometric blended shell performs comparably in some benchmarks, and even outperforms commercial shell finite elements in some …

Development And Testing Of The Valence Multipole Model Oh Potential For Use In Molecular Dynamics Simulation, Charles Stephen Andros

Theses and Dissertations

Here we describe the fitting and testing, via molecular dynamics simulation, of a bond-order potential for water with a unique force field parameterization. Most potentials for water, including some bond-order (reactive) potentials, are based on a traditional, many-body decomposition to describe water's structure with bond stretch, angle bend, electrostatics, and non-bonded terms. Our model uses an expanded version of the Bond Valence Model, the Valence Multipole Model, to describe all aspects of molecular structure using multibody, bond-order terms. Prior work successfully related these multibody, bond order terms to energy, provided the structures were close to equilibrium. The success of this …

Considering Manufacturing In The Design Of Thick-Panel Origami Mechanisms, Erica Brunson Crampton

Theses and Dissertations

Origami has been investigated and demonstrated for engineering applications in recent years. Many techniques for accommodating the thickness of most engineering materials have been developed. In this work, tables comparing performance and manufacturing characteristics are presented. These tables can serve as useful design tools for engineers when selecting an appropriate thickness-accommodation technique for their application. The use of bent sheet metal for panels in thick-origami mechanisms shows promise as a panel design approach that mitigates several trade-offs between performance and manufacturing characteristics. A process is described and demonstrated that can be employed to use sheet metal in designs of origami-adapted …

Semiconductor Terahertz Electronics And Novel High-Speed Single-Shot Measurements, Parker Dean Salmans

Theses and Dissertations

Ultrafast spectroscopy is used to study essential characteristics of solid-state materials. We use ultrafast techniques to study semiconductors at THz frequencies, as well as demonstrate new single-shot measurement techniques. The future of electronics is in the THz regime. We study a crucial characteristic of semiconductors used in devices: the critical field at which the material becomes conductive. GaAs is a promising semiconductor for high-speed devices, and we use enhanced THz electric fields to measure the critical fields at 0.7, 0.9, 1.1, and 1.5 THz frequencies. Single-shot spectroscopy is a technique used to measure ultrafast time scale laser pulses. We show …

Evaluating The East Java Tsunami Hazard: What Can Newly-Discovered Imbricate Coastal Boulder Accumulations Near Pacitan And At Pantai Papuma, Indonesia Tell Us?, William Nile Meservy

Theses and Dissertations

Our paleotsunami surveys of the southern Java coast led to the discovery of five imbricate coastal boulder fields near Pacitan, Indonesia that may date to the mid-to-late 19th century or prior and two similar fields at Pantai Papuma and Pantai Pasir Putih that were tsunami-emplaced during the 1994 7.9 Mw event in East Java. Estimated ages for the fields near Pacitan are based on historical records and radiocarbon analyses of coral boulders. The largest imbricated boulders in fields near Pacitan and in East Java are similar in size (approximately 3 m^3) and are primarily composed of platy beachrock dislodged from …

The Effects Of Physical Activity, Sedentary Time, And Atherosclerosison Fluid Flow In The Lumbar Intervertebral Disc, Jennifer Ann Bowden

Theses and Dissertations

Physical activity impacts health and disease in multiple body tissues including the intervertebral discs. Fluid flow within the disc is an indicator of disc health that can be observed using diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging. We monitored activity levels of 26 participants, age 35 to 55 yrs, using Actigraph accelerometers for four days to evaluate vigorous-intensity activity, moderate to vigorous-intensity activity, and sedentary time. Participants underwent structural and diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate intervertebral disc health and fluid flow. They also underwent bone density scans, carotid artery ultrasounds, a treadmill test, and a physical exam for pain, range …

Religion And Esotericism Among Students: A Crosscultural Comparative Study, Franz Höllinger, Timothy B. Smith

Faculty Publications

Analyzing the results of a study on religious and esoteric beliefs and practice among university students from five European and five American countries, we found that the level of religiousness of students depends very much on their cultural environment: the level of religiosity and esoteric beliefs is significantly higher among North- and South-American students than among European students. On the other hand, Asian spiritual techniques and esoteric methods of healing are practiced more frequently by students in North-Western European countries. In the second part of the paper, we examine the relationship between academic discipline and religious worldviews. According to our …

Relationships Between Access To Mobile Devices, Student Self-Directed Learning, And Achievement, Scott R. Bartholomew, Ed Reeve, Raymond Veon, Wade Goodridge, Victor Lee, Louis Nadelson

Faculty Publications

Today’s students are growing up in a world of constant connectivity, instant information, and ever-changing technological advancements. The increasingly ubiquitous nature of mobile devices among K–12 students has led many to argue for and against the inclusion of these devices in K–12 classrooms. Arguments in favor cite instant access to information and collaboration with others as positive affordances that enable student self-directed learning. In this study, 706 middle school students from 18 technology and engineering education classes worked in groups of 2–3 to complete an openended engineering design challenge. Students completed design portfolios and constructed prototypes in response to the …

Relative Target Estimation Using A Cascade Of Extended Kalman Filters, Jerel Nielsen, Randal Beard

Student Works

This paper presents a method of tracking multiple ground targets from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in a 3D reference frame. The tracking method uses a monocular camera and makes no assumptions on the shape of the terrain or the target motion. The UAV runs two cascaded estimators. The first is an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), which is responsible for tracking the UAV’s state, such as position and velocity relative to a fixed frame. The second estimator is an EKF that is responsible for estimating a fixed number of landmarks within the camera’s field of view. Landmarks are parameterized by …

Combined Model Predictive Control And Scheduling With Dominant Time Constant Compensation, Logan Beal, Junho Park, Damon Petersen, Sean C. Warnick, John Hedengren

Faculty Publications

Linear model predictive control is extended to both control and optimize a product grade schedule. The proposed methods are time-scaling of the linear dynamics based on throughput rates and grade-based objectives for product scheduling based on a mathematical program with complementarity constraints. The linear model is adjusted with a residence time approximation to time-scale the dynamics based on throughput. Although nonlinear models directly account for changing dynamics, the model form is restricted to linear differential equations to enable fast online cycle times for large-scale and real-time systems. This method of extending a linear time-invariant model for scheduling is designed for …

Improved Single Molecule Detection Platform Using A Buried Arrow Design, Thomas Allen Wall

Theses and Dissertations

As the microelectronics industry pushes microfabrication processes further, the lab-on-a-chip field has continued to piggy-back off the industry's fabrication capabilities with the goal of producing total chemical and biological systems on small chip-size platforms. One important function of such systems is the ability to perform single molecule detection. There are currently many methods being researched for performing single molecule detection, both macro and micro in scale. This dissertation focuses on an optofluidic, lab-on-a-chip platform called the ARROW biosensor, which possesses several advantages over macro-scale single molecule detection platforms. These advantages include an amplification-free detection scheme, cheap parallel fabrication techniques, rapid …

Deep Visual Gravity Vector Detection For Unmanned Aircraft Attitude Estimation, Gary J. Ellingson, David Wingate, Tim Mclain

Faculty Publications

This paper demonstrates a feasible method for using a deep neural network as a sensor to estimate the attitude of a flying vehicle using only flight video. A dataset of still images and associated gravity vectors was collected and used to perform supervised learning. The network builds on a previously trained network and was trained to be able to approximate the attitude of the camera with an average error of about 8 degrees. Flight test video was recorded and processed with a relatively simple visual odometry method. The aircraft attitude is then estimated with the visual odometry as the state …

The Human Touch: How Non-Expert Users Perceive, Interpret, And Fix Topic Models, Tak Yeon Lee, Alison Smith, Kevin Seppi, Niklas Elmqvist, Jordan Boyd-Graber, Leah Findlater

Faculty Publications

Topic modeling is a common tool for understanding large bodies of text, but is typically provided as a “take it or leave it” proposition. Incorporating human knowledge in unsupervised learning is a promising approach to create high-quality topic models. Existing interactive systems and modeling algorithms support a wide range of refinement operations to express feedback. However, these systems’ interactions are primarily driven by algorithmic convenience, ignoring users who may lack expertise in topic modeling. To better understand how non-expert users understand, assess, and refine topics, we conducted two user studies—an in-person interview study and an online crowdsourced study. These studies …

Observing Kelt Candidate Objects In The Search For Transiting Exoplanets, Maria Martinez

Student Works

The main goal of this project was to learn how to participate and be a part of a real observational team. We worked with the KELT exoplanet search project. While working with the KELT project we hoped to be able to confirm a candidate object as a planet. However, trying to discover a transiting planet was not our main goal for the summer. In addition, we also set out to learn how to work in an observatory, operate telescopes, and process data. The different objects we observed throughout the summer were not all determined to be transiting exoplanets, but we …

Developing Instrumentation For Fabricating And Characterizing Thin Film Aluminum Mirrors, P. Claire Segura

Student Works

The best material for constructing a mirror for a broad-bandwidth telescope that is also capable of reflecting EUV light is pure aluminum. In order to test how the reflectance of aluminum in the EUV range changes as it oxidizes, a system has been constructed that allows a thin aluminum mirror to be constructed inside of a vacuum, where its reflectance can then be tested immediately. Because the experiment must take place in a vacuum, it must also be controlled remotely through a computer program, which manages the mirror fabrication process as well as the collection and analysis of reflectance data. …

Reflectance Of Xuv Light On A Two Dimensional Conducting Rough Surface, Chelsea Thangavelu

Student Works

A Fortran program is set up to solve for the reflectance of XUV light from a rough two dimensional surface, resembling experimental mirrors used to reflect XUV light. Because the roughness of the surface is on the order of magnitude of the wavelength of XUV light, our approach requires a Greene's Function instead of using traditional geometrical optics or physical optics. Our Fortran program calculates the impedance (Z) matrix which requires integration over Greene's Function at non-singular points. The Z matrix helps solve for the induced surface current J(x') at non-singular points. At singular points, the program implements a series …

Exploring The Solvability Of The Jaynes-Cummings And Jaynes-Cummings-Like Models: Implementing Quantum Control, Austen Couvertier

Student Works

In this paper we aim to explore the dynamics and overall solvability of the Jaynes-Cummings \& Jaynes-Cummings-Like models. As a lens to understand these dynamics, we focused on cases where the parameters of the system were made time-dependent. All previous work on solving the dynamics of the Jaynes-Cummings models has relied heavily on the use of differential methods and setting the parameters as time-independent constants which were zero or one. To account for this, we utilized the Wei-Norman method which allowed us to analytical solve the time-dependent Hamiltonian. Through the use of this method, we can understand the more general …

An Exploration Of Crum’S And Algebraic Crum Detection, Shae Machlus, Branton Campbell

Student Works

1. The cooperative rigid unit modes (CRUM's) of cubic perovskite were investigated at non-special k-points using ISODISTORT and Shared Shifts Mathematica code. CRUM's were generated by the T₄ irrep on the T line which confirms previously published results.
2. The solution space of the MtM CRUM detection method was determined and compared to that of the M method. Analysis by example and by theory showed the solution spaces of both methods are identical. MtM was realized to be effectively M with a lower tolerance. An improved row reduction routine is being developed that uses an adaptable ratio-driven tolerance instead of …

Oxidization Of Al And A-Si As A Protective Layer, Yhoshua Wug

Student Works

Arguably, the best chance to produce a IR-optical-UV-EUV mirror for a future space observatory is a multilayer mirror coated by a thin bare aluminum layer. Using an Al layer presents challenges that have to be overcome first. Al oxidizes rapidly as soon as it comes in contact with the atmosphere. One solution is to block the oxidation of Al by covering the mirror with a protective layer and remove it once the mirror is in space. freshly, deposited a-Si would be a good candidate for protecting the mirror. Removing it in space also presents some challenges. The best way to …

Relative Multiplicative Extended Kalman Filter For Observable Gps-Denied Navigation, Daniel P. Koch, David O. Wheeler, Randal Beard, Tim Mclain, Kevin M. Brink

Faculty Publications

This work presents a multiplicative extended Kalman filter for estimating the relative state of a multirotor vehicle operating in a GPS-denied environment. The filter fuses data from an inertial measurement unit and altimeter with relative-pose updates from a keyframe-based visual odometry or laser scan-matching algorithm. Because the global position and heading states of the vehicle are unobservable in the absence of global measurements such as GPS, the filter in this paper estimates the state with respect to a local frame that is colocated with the odometry keyframe. As a result, the odometry update provides nearly-direct measurements of the relative vehicle …

Differential Photometry Of High Mass X-Ray Binaries And Be Stars And Determining Standard Stars, Anne Blackwell

Student Works

Building off of the previously established Hα index (Joner & Hintz 2015), I use differential photometry to study high mass x-ray binaries and Be stars using the Hα index to define their level of activity. Specifically I focused of Cygnus X-1 and X Perseus. I took data on Cygnus X-1 (X Perseus will be studied later in the year) to look at its long and short term activity. Data analyzed using differential photometry is merged with previously collected spectroscopic data to show a seamless flow of results between techniques. I also defined the Hα values of 10 stars in the …

2d Surface Creation Using Intel Mkl, R. Steven Turley

Faculty Publications

This document illustrates how to use the Intel Math Kernel Library (MKL) to create surfaces with a given cut-off spatial frequency and rms surface height. They closely mimic typical surfaces our group has measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM).

Developing A Location Detector Using Acoustical Energy Quantities, Jacey Young

Student Works

In this paper, development through the use of LabVIEW for an acoustical energy quantity detector is discussed. This detector uses the quantity of sound intensity to locate the direction of a sound source in three dimensional space with relation to the center of a spherical microphone probe placed directly under a web camera. The direction and the magnitude of the sound intensity are then used to generate an arrow pointing in the direction of the sound source and position it on top the web camera's image of the surrounding area. These quantities are then also used to highlight an area …

Circular Integration Region, R. Steven Turley

Faculty Publications

This report explains how to transform a singular integration over the an arc of a circle into an integration over a unit square using various coordinate transformations include a Duffy transformation. Fortran code illustrating the algorithms is included along with unit test validations.

Magnetic Domain Morphology In [Co(4a)/Pt(7a] Thin Film, Jeremy Metzner

Student Works

A collection of results for multi-layered thin films and their magnetic domains.

Using Page Method In The Two Point Method To Determine Sound Power, Christopher Reynolds

Student Works

Sound power is the energy emitted by a sound source per unit time. It is commonly used by industries to determine the noise (unwanted sound) of machinery. There are multiple recognized standards for determining the sound power of a source. The requirements for the ISO3741 standard are tedious and strict but can produce a low standard of deviation in the results. There is another method, the Two Point method, which less strict than the standards but the standard of deviation in the results vary. This paper discusses the performance of the PAGE method employed in the Two Point method to …

Three Ways To Stabilize An Injection Lock, Ethan Welch, Dallin Durfee, Jarom Jackson

Student Works

An injection locked laser can jump out of lock if its current or temperature drifts. By monitoring the spectra or the amplitude of the injection locked laser, we have been able to detect drifts and apply feedback to prevent injection lock from breaking.

The Annotation Cost Of Context Switching: How Topic Models And Active Learning [May Not] Work Together, Nozomu Okuda

Theses and Dissertations

The labeling of language resources is a time consuming task, whether aided by machine learning or not. Much of the prior work in this area has focused on accelerating human annotation in the context of machine learning, yielding a variety of active learning approaches. Most of these attempt to lead an annotator to label the items which are most likely to improve the quality of an automated, machine learning-based model. These active learning approaches seek to understand the effect of item selection on the machine learning model, but give significantly less emphasis to the effect of item selection on the …