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Thermoelectric Study Of Insb Secondary Phase Based Nano Composite Materials, Song Zhu May 2013

Thermoelectric Study Of Insb Secondary Phase Based Nano Composite Materials, Song Zhu

All Dissertations

In the past several decades there has been an intensive study in the field of thermoelectric study that is basically materials driven. As the simplest technology applicable in direct heat-electricity energy conversion, thermoelectricity utilizes the Seebeck effect to generate electricity from heat or conversely achieve the solid-state cooling via the Peltier effect. With many technical merits, thermoelectric devices can be used as spot-size generators or distributed refrigerators, however, their applications are restricted by the energy conversion efficiency, which is mainly determined by the figure of merit ZT of the thermoelectric materials that these devices are made of.
A higher ZT …

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Bombardment Of Graphite And Amorphous Carbon Surfaces Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations: Toward A More Realistic Experimental Model, Marcel Fallet May 2013

Bombardment Of Graphite And Amorphous Carbon Surfaces Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations: Toward A More Realistic Experimental Model, Marcel Fallet

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Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are a useful computational tool in fields such as fusion research. Small but vital portions of fusion reactors are essential to their correct operation and longevity. Using the reactive bond order (REBO) and adaptive intermolecular REBO potentials, it is possible to model carbon-based systems, such as graphite diverter plates, under simulated bombardment. The degradation of these plates due to random bombardments from plasma can eventually incur costly shut downs. To gain a better understanding of the atomic-level dynamics that occur when a graphite and amorphous carbon surface undergo energetic, serial bombardment by atoms such as hydrogen, …

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Integrating A Lighting System With Objective Light Movement, Kiel Pease May 2013

Integrating A Lighting System With Objective Light Movement, Kiel Pease

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When applying a light design within computer graphics software, there is no clear-cut way to achieve accurate and noticeable light movement without rigorous work animating the lighting tools by hand. This task can be arduous and involve constant test renders throughout a single frame range. This project strives to explain the production of a short animated feature, by incorporating a video-based lighting system, which is intended to assist with scenes that require objective light movement. The video-based lighting method will strive to minimize (not eliminate) the need to animate by hand light motion from environment lighting. Since lighting design is …

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Laser-Assisted Printing Of Alginate And Cellular Tubes, Jingyuan Yan May 2013

Laser-Assisted Printing Of Alginate And Cellular Tubes, Jingyuan Yan

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Laser-assisted printing such as laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) has found increasing biofabrication applications as an orifice-free cell/organ printing approach. Unfortunately, there have been very few studies on its efficacy of three-dimensional (3D) printing performance. In addition, the effects of printing parameters on jet/droplet formation during the printing of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids are lacking. Therefore, it is important to investigate its printing process and quality. The resulting knowledge will help to better control the resulting printing quality and feature resolution.
The objective of this study is to investigate the feasibility of laser-assisted 3D printing process and its applicability in making …

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Creating Dynamic Grass For Tartan Troubles, Nicholas Mcelveen May 2013

Creating Dynamic Grass For Tartan Troubles, Nicholas Mcelveen

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In computer animated movies, the setting and its environmental elements aid in storytelling. In Tartan Troubles, dynamic grass was created as a part of the highlands of Scotland set. This thesis discusses the importance of environmental elements in animation as well as the terminology, procedures, and techniques used to produce dynamic grass as seen in the animated short, Tartan Troubles. The scalability, control, and flexibility of the dynamic grass pipeline make this effect applicable for various solutions in computer animation.

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Vibration And Acoustic Properties Of Honeycomb Sandwich Structures Subject To Variable Incident Plane-Wave Angle Pressure Loads, Jiaxue Yan May 2013

Vibration And Acoustic Properties Of Honeycomb Sandwich Structures Subject To Variable Incident Plane-Wave Angle Pressure Loads, Jiaxue Yan

All Theses

Honeycomb structures are widely used in many areas for their material characteristics such as high strength-to-weight ratio, stiffness-to-weight, sound transmission, and other properties. Honeycomb structures are generally constructed from periodically spaced tessellations of unit cells. It can be shown that the effective stiffness and mass properties of honeycomb are controlled by the local geometry and wall thickness of the particular unit cells used. Of particular interest are regular hexagonal (6-sided) honeycomb unit cell geometries which exhibit positive effective Poisson's ratio, and modified 6-sided auxetic honeycomb unit cells with Poisson's ratio which is effectively negative; a property not found in natural …

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College Level Residential Building Code Education: Current Status And Best Practice, Earl Shealy May 2013

College Level Residential Building Code Education: Current Status And Best Practice, Earl Shealy

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Community destruction and loss of life due to residential building code (RBC) violations still occur too frequently. Increasing RBC enforcement is often not possible due to lack of funds and resources. Teaching RBC to college-level construction students is another way to encourage greater code compliance and enhanced community resilience. This research assesses the current status of RBC education in accredited construction programs, identifies academic and industry perspectives of RBC education, and constructs 'best practice' RBC teaching strategies.
A mix method, exploratory approach including three distinct phases explains the current phenomenon - RBC education emphasis within university curriculums. My research found …

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Exploring Doctoral Student Experiences From The Perspectives Of Mid-Career Professionals In Educational Leadership Using Photo-Elicitation, Kenyae L. Reese May 2013

Exploring Doctoral Student Experiences From The Perspectives Of Mid-Career Professionals In Educational Leadership Using Photo-Elicitation, Kenyae L. Reese

All Dissertations

Recent literature cites a growing population of students who wait several years post-baccalaureate and into their careers before entering a PhD program. Such population includes doctoral students in education. Despite repeated calls from scholars of higher education, few empirical studies investigate mid-career students’ experiences in doctoral programs. Existing literature consists of anecdotal reports, demographic accounts in which mid-career is a data point among many variables, or empirical studies of international students. Theoretical models describing student experiences of mid-career professionals in doctoral programs are particularly absent. A handful of studies have explored doctoral student experiences of mid-career professionals through traditional interviewing …

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Automated Cnc Tool Path Planning And Machining Simulation On Highly Parallel Computing Architectures, Dmytro Konobrytskyi May 2013

Automated Cnc Tool Path Planning And Machining Simulation On Highly Parallel Computing Architectures, Dmytro Konobrytskyi

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This work has created a completely new geometry representation for the CAD/CAM area that was initially designed for highly parallel scalable environment. A methodology was also created for designing highly parallel and scalable algorithms that can use the developed geometry representation. The approach used in this work is to move parallel algorithm design complexity from an algorithm level to a data representation level. As a result the developed methodology allows an easy algorithm design without worrying too much about the underlying hardware. However, the developed algorithms are still highly parallel because the underlying geometry model is highly parallel. For validation …

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Integrating Spatial Modeling Into Recreational Planning In Parks And Protected Areas, John Beeco May 2013

Integrating Spatial Modeling Into Recreational Planning In Parks And Protected Areas, John Beeco

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Understanding the utility of space in natural area resources is of growing importance as recreation in these areas increases and availability of land remains stagnant. Space utility is of particular importance to multiple use forests which may have multiple recreation demands, minimum acceptable levels of biophysical impacts, sensitive ecological areas, and/or timber harvesting and mineral extraction strategies for the generation of revenue. In order to holistically consider space and protected area management, three factors must be better understood: a) methods and spatial analysis tools that can help with managerial and planning decisions, b) how space affects the relationship between use …

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The Application Of Embodied Conversational Agents For Mentoring African American Stem Doctoral Students, Kinnis Gosha May 2013

The Application Of Embodied Conversational Agents For Mentoring African American Stem Doctoral Students, Kinnis Gosha

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This dissertation presents the design, development and short-term evaluation of an embodied conversational agent designed to mentor human users. An embodied conversational agent (ECA) was created and programmed to mentor African American computer science majors on their decision to pursue graduate study in computing. Before constructing the ECA, previous research in the fields of embodied conversational agents, relational agents, mentorship, telementorship and successful mentoring programs and practices for African American graduate students were reviewed. A survey used to find areas of interest of the sample population. Experts were then interviewed to collect information on those areas of interest and a …

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Synthesis And Characterization Of Chromophores And Semiconducting Polymers Incorporating A 1,4-Fluorenylene Scaffold, Brynna Laughlin May 2013

Synthesis And Characterization Of Chromophores And Semiconducting Polymers Incorporating A 1,4-Fluorenylene Scaffold, Brynna Laughlin

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Research on conjugated chromophores and polymers has been a lucrative and highly active area for over a quarter-century. These pursuits have been driven by the unique properties of conjugated systems that allow their application in myriad fields including photonics (e.g. non-linear optics), and especially optoelectronics (e.g. organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and photovoltaic (PV) cells). Despite the years of dedicated research, there is still much work to be done in developing better materials for these types of applications. The full range of available molecular architecture and functionalization that are yet to be explored is still an untapped well of research. …

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In Silico Modeling The Effect Of Single Point Mutations And Rescuing The Effect By Small Molecules Binding, Zhe Zhang May 2013

In Silico Modeling The Effect Of Single Point Mutations And Rescuing The Effect By Small Molecules Binding, Zhe Zhang

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Single-point mutation in genome, for example, single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) or rare genetic mutation, is the change of a single nucleotide for another in the genome sequence. Some of them will result in an amino acid substitution in the corresponding protein sequence (missense mutations); others will not. This investigation focuses on genetic mutations resulting in a change in the amino acid sequence of the corresponding protein. This choice is motivated by the fact that missense mutations are frequently found to affect the native function of proteins by altering their structure, interaction and other properties and cause diseases. A particular disease is …

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Understanding The Role Of Nonlinearities In The Transduction Of Vibratory Energy Harvesters, Ravindra Masana May 2013

Understanding The Role Of Nonlinearities In The Transduction Of Vibratory Energy Harvesters, Ravindra Masana

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The last two decades have witnessed several advances in micro-fabrication technologies and electronics, leading to the development of small, low-power devices for wireless sensing, data transmission, actuation, and medical implants. Unfortunately, the actual implementation of such devices in their respective environment has been hindered by the lack of scalable energy sources that are necessary to power and maintain them. Batteries, which remain the most commonly used power source, have not kept pace with the demands of these devices, especially in terms of energy density. In light of this challenge, the concept of vibratory energy harvesting has flourished in recent years …

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Robust Parameter Design In Complex Engineering Systems:, Gregory Boylan May 2013

Robust Parameter Design In Complex Engineering Systems:, Gregory Boylan

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Many industrial firms seek the systematic reduction of variability as a primary means for reducing production cost and material waste without sacrificing product quality or process efficiency. Despite notable advancements in quality-based estimation and optimization approaches aimed at achieving this goal, various gaps remain between current methodologies and observed in modern industrial environments. In many cases, models rely on assumptions that either limit their usefulness or diminish the reliability of the estimated results. This includes instances where models are generalized to a specific set of assumed process conditions, which constrains their applicability against a wider array of industrial problems. However, …

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Teaching And Assessment Of Mathematical Principles For Software Correctness Using A Reasoning Concept Inventory, Svetlana Drachova-Strang May 2013

Teaching And Assessment Of Mathematical Principles For Software Correctness Using A Reasoning Concept Inventory, Svetlana Drachova-Strang

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As computing becomes ubiquitous, software correctness has a fundamental role in ensuring the safety and security of the systems we build. To design and develop software correctly according to their formal contracts, CS students, the future software practitioners, need to learn a critical set of skills that are necessary and sufficient for reasoning about software correctness.
This dissertation presents a systematic approach to both introducing these reasoning skills into the curriculum, and assessing how well the students have learned them. Specifically, it introduces a comprehensive Reasoning Concept Inventory (RCI) that captures the fine details of basic reasoning skills that are …

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Robust And Efficient Regression, Qi Zheng May 2013

Robust And Efficient Regression, Qi Zheng

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This dissertation aims to address two problems in regression
analysis. One problem is the model selection and robust parameter estimation in high dimensional linear regressions. The other is concerning developing a robust and efficient estimator in nonparametric regressions.
In Chapter 1, we introduce the robust and efficient regression analysis, discuss those two interesting problems and our motivations, and present several exciting results.
We propose a novel robust penalized method for high dimensional linear regression in Chapter 2. Asymptotic properties are established and a data-driven procedure is developed to select adaptive penalties. We show it is the very first estimator to …

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Bayesian Hypothesis Testing And Variable Selection In High Dimensional Regression, Min Wang May 2013

Bayesian Hypothesis Testing And Variable Selection In High Dimensional Regression, Min Wang

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This dissertation consists of three distinct but related research projects. First of all, we study the Bayesian approach to model selection in the class of normal regression models. We propose an explicit closed-form expression of the Bayes factor with the use of Zellner's g-prior and the beta-prime prior for g. Noting that linear models with a growing number of unknown parameters have recently gained increasing popularity in practice, such as the spline problem, we shall thus be particularly interested in studying the model selection consistency of the Bayes factor under the scenario in which the dimension of the parameter space …

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Attaining Sustainable Behavior Among Non-Environmentally-Motivated Individuals: A Formative Experiment, Brooklynn Wynveen May 2013

Attaining Sustainable Behavior Among Non-Environmentally-Motivated Individuals: A Formative Experiment, Brooklynn Wynveen

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Experts agree that overconsumption is a major problem in Western culture today, particularly in the United States. Thus, it is important to promote sustainable behavior among the general public. And yet, existing educational programming geared toward promoting such behavior changes remains appealing largely to environmentally-motivated audiences, as opposed to individuals with alternative (i.e., social and economic) motivations. In response to this discrepancy, I conducted a formative experiment with the goals of: 1) fostering participation among non-environmentally-motivated individuals in sustainable living educational programming; and 2) obtaining behavior change commitments, in the direction of more sustainable lifestyles, from those participants.
As part …

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Adaptation Of Regional Representative Soil Project And Soil Judging For Cameroon, Celestine Che May 2013

Adaptation Of Regional Representative Soil Project And Soil Judging For Cameroon, Celestine Che

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Representative regional soils have agricultural, cultural, economic, environmental, and historical importance to Cameroon. Twenty seven regional representative soils have been identified in Cameroon. A set of laboratory exercises, assignments and exam questions have been developed utilizing the Regional Representative Soil Project (RRSP) that gives students an opportunity to practice interpretation of soil series descriptions, taxonomic classes, soil forming factors, and soil physical and chemical properties. The RRSP can be further enhanced and complemented with Soil Judging. Conventional soil judging as practiced in the United States has been adapted for Cameroon by a graduate student from that country using an undergraduate-level …

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Nest Success And Habitat Choice Of Wilson's Plovers In Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center Heritage Preserve, South Carolina, Elizabeth Zinsser May 2013

Nest Success And Habitat Choice Of Wilson's Plovers In Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center Heritage Preserve, South Carolina, Elizabeth Zinsser

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Little is known about the reproductive ecology of Wilson's Plover (Charadrius wilsonia). I conducted a study of nest site selection and nest success at a critical breeding area in South Carolina, USA. Data from other coastal nesting birds in the region suggest that a suite of environmental factors including flooding and predation may limit nest success in this region. To assess nest success rates of Wilson's Plovers in an area with limited human disturbance I monitored 72 nests during 2012 and 2013 on South Island and Sand Island located in Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center and Heritage Preserve. I measured environmental …

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Evaluating Mechanical Performance Of Hydrogel-Based Adhesives For Soft Tissue Applications, Nitin Balakrishnan May 2013

Evaluating Mechanical Performance Of Hydrogel-Based Adhesives For Soft Tissue Applications, Nitin Balakrishnan

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According to the National Center for Health Statistics, an estimated 22 million women have undergone a hysterectomy procedure in the United States. The most common complication during hysterectomies is accidental laceration of the urinary bladder during the surgery with incidence between 0.2-8.3% with the current gold standard wound repair method being sutures. Yet, sutures come with their own limitations in that they necessitate use of a catheter and collection bag during healing due to preventing proper distention of the bladder tissue at normal pressures. The long-term goal of our study is to eliminate the need for suturing by creating a …

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Development Of An Ex Vivo Tissue Testing System For Three Dimensional Biomechanical Analysis Of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, Bradley Johns May 2013

Development Of An Ex Vivo Tissue Testing System For Three Dimensional Biomechanical Analysis Of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, Bradley Johns

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Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) are localized, progressive dilations of the aortic wall and are the 13th most common cause of death in the United States (~15,000 per year) and surgery is usually recommended when the aneurysm is 5 cm or larger in diameter. Because of this clinical parameter, previous studies of AAA biomechanics have utilized a one-dimensional analysis that focuses solely on changes in wall diameter and have attempted to model geometric changes with mathematical formulas, generally based on the LaPlace equation. This is not sufficient however, as the mechanical behavior of the tissue at sites of aneurysm have been …

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Error Covariance Matrix Estimation In High Dimensional Approximate Factor Models Using Adaptive Thresholding: A Simulation Study, Paul Chimenti May 2013

Error Covariance Matrix Estimation In High Dimensional Approximate Factor Models Using Adaptive Thresholding: A Simulation Study, Paul Chimenti

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Approximate factor models are popular in finance and economics. A key to effectively utilizing such a model is to accurately estimate the error covariance matrix. Errors related to certain predictors are expected to be correlated and this must be modeled effectively. Adaptive thresholding is a method for estimating the error covariance matrix of such a model. This method is described in detail and a simulation study sheds light on the behavior of this method under different sample sizes and parameterizations.

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The Effects Of Physicochemical Properties Of Ceo2 Nanoparticles On Toxicity To Soil Denitrification Processes, Jessica Dahle May 2013

The Effects Of Physicochemical Properties Of Ceo2 Nanoparticles On Toxicity To Soil Denitrification Processes, Jessica Dahle

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Due to the rise of nanotechnology in industry, the concentrations of engineered metal oxide nanoparticles being released to the environment are increasing daily. Cerium-based compounds such as nanoparticulate ceria (NP CeO2) have received much attention in the last several years due to their popular applications (e.g., mischmetal, pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology) in industrial and commercial uses. Like many emerging pollutants, NP CeO2 is often released to the environment, where its toxicological effects are not well known. Though several environmental exposure pathways have been identified for CeO2 NPs, a major route of NP introduction to the environment is via biosolids application to agricultural …

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Computational Modeling Of The Friction Stir Welding (Fsw) Process And Of The Performance Of Fsw Joints, Ajay Prasad Arakere May 2013

Computational Modeling Of The Friction Stir Welding (Fsw) Process And Of The Performance Of Fsw Joints, Ajay Prasad Arakere

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Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid-state metal-joining process. Within FSW, a (typically) cylindrical tool-pin (threaded at the bottom and terminated with a circular-plate shape shoulder, at the top) is driven between two firmly-clamped plates (placed on a rigid backing support). Due to a high normal downward pressure applied to the shoulder and due to frictional sliding and plastic-deformation, substantial amount of heat is generated at the tool/work-piece interface and in the region underneath the tool shoulder. Thermally plasticized work-piece material is then extruded around the traveling tool and forged into a welding-joint behind the tool. Due to its solid-state …

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Longitudinally Graded Optical Fibers, Alexander Evert May 2013

Longitudinally Graded Optical Fibers, Alexander Evert

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Described herein, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, are optical fibers possessing significant compositional gradations along their length due to longitudinal control of the core glass composition. More specifically, MCVD-derived germanosilicate fibers were fabricated that exhibited a gradient of up to about 0.55 weight percent GeO2 per meter. These gradients are about 1900 times greater than previously reported for fibers possessing longitudinal changes in composition. The refractive index difference is shown to change by about 0.001, representing a numerical aperture change of about 10%, over a fiber length of less than 20 m. The lowest …

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Noise-Insensitive Prognostic Evaluation Of Historic Masonry Structures, Ashley Haydock May 2013

Noise-Insensitive Prognostic Evaluation Of Historic Masonry Structures, Ashley Haydock

All Theses

In recent years, a significant amount of research has been directed towards the development of prognostic methodologies to forecast the future health state of an engineering system assisting condition based maintenance. These prognostic methods, having furthered the maintenance practices for mechanical systems, have yet to be applied to historic masonry structures, many of which stand in an aged and degraded state. Implementation of prognostic methodologies to historic masonry structures can advance the planning of successful conservation and restoration efforts, ultimately prolonging the life of these heritage structures. This thesis presents a review of prognostic concepts and techniques available in the …

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Evaluation Of Angular Velocity Data From Inertial Measurement Units For Use In Clinical Settings, Chelsea Ex-Lubeskie May 2013

Evaluation Of Angular Velocity Data From Inertial Measurement Units For Use In Clinical Settings, Chelsea Ex-Lubeskie

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Evaluating the human gait cycle with inertial measurement units (IMU) may prove beneficial for applications such as diagnoses of musculoskeletal diseases and assessment of rehabilitation regimes. An IMU system is potentially applicable for diagnosing and assessing rehabilitation outcomes for a variety of neuromuscular diseases since it is small, portable, and less expensive than a camera system. IMUs directly measure angular velocity, whereas position data from a camera system must be processed twice to obtain this information. The purpose of this research is to determine repeatability of IMU angular velocity data, and agreement between angular velocity data from an IMU system …

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Pair Production By Primordial Black Hole Evaporation, Shaun Hampton May 2013

Pair Production By Primordial Black Hole Evaporation, Shaun Hampton

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Here we investigate the evaporation of a 8.2 _ 1010 kg primordial black hole. This mass is shown to
satifisfy the compactness parameter constraint L/R ≥ 1031 ergscm−1s−1. We assume only photon-photon
production according to a Planck distribution. We calculate the distance from the black hole at which the
optical depth due to photon-photon collisions to produce positron/electron pairs becomes unity in which a
pair plasma is produced within a volume of inner radius of 90RS and outer radius 123000RS respectively.
We then calculate corresponding positron/electron production rates, production rate densities, and optical
depth rates due to subsequent Compton …

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