Digital Commons Network^™

The Design, Test And Evaluation Of A Sensing System For Process Analytical Technology (Pat), Trevor Murphy

Theses

Increased globalisation and competitiveness has given rise to a more dynamic and diverse global market that has begun to place incredible strain on manufacturing supply chains. Conventional manufacturing methods such as the batch manufacturing methods employed largely by the materials processing industries i.e. pharmaceuticals, polymers and magnesium processing plants are ill-suited to cope with the demands of today. As products evolve with technological advancements they become more complex to produce and require alternative approaches to manufacturing to ensure product quality while reducing costs and increasing manufacturing efficiencies.

A potential solution to the growing demands on today's supply chain is process …

Passive Planar Terahertz Retroreflectors, Dhruvkumar Desai

Theses

As the application of the Terahertz (THz) band (0.1 - 10 THz) is investigated in various settings, wireless communication stands out as an important frontier to explore. The benefits of increased bandwidth and data rates it promises will only be realized if new technology is developed to support it. Specifically, since THz wireless communication links are typically line-of-sight (LoS), the LoS can be blocked by moving obstacles, thereby requiring alternative link paths. One proposed solution for indoor wireless communications involves systems of steerable antennas, reflective "wallpaper", and steerable mirrors which would redirect THz beams around a blocking obstacle.

As an …

Sustainability Of Sprinkler- Irrigated Horticulture On Sandy Soils At Binningup - Swan Coastal Plain, W.A., Eric Law

Theses

The sustainability of sprinkler-irrigated vegetable crops in the Binningup–Myalup area of south-western Australia was investigated. The main crops are carrots, potatoes and onions. The crops are grown throughout the year in sandy soils and require large volumes of sprinkler irrigation during the summer growing period and little during winter. The irrigation water is extracted from the underlying superficial aquifer.

The combination of water with a relatively high salt content, evaporation between the sprinkler and the ground, and subsequent high evapotranspiration, leads to escalating soil water salinity during summer. At Binningup, the necessary horticultural practice of daily watering in summer to …

Modeling Of A Dynamic Mckibben Style Muscle System Using Material Properties, Alexander G. Arcus

Theses

The McKibben style artificial muscle is a type of pneumatic artificial muscle. When the muscle is pressurized a length contraction and contractive force occur. Modeling a McKibben style muscle presents many challenges. The physical dynamics of the muscle are highly nonlinear, which makes accurate modeling difficult. Modeling using experimentally determined coefficients enables the creation of an equation that ignores the nonlinear nature of the system, but it can have a limited range or accuracy and cannot adjust for changing system properties. Modeling using the system properties requires the consideration of the nonlinear dynamics of the muscle; however, it provides the …

Sub-Wavelength Gratings For Long Wavelength Sensing, Brian Hogan

Theses

This Ph.D. thesis is concerned with the design and use of guided mode resonance (GMR) reflectors for applications in optical absorption sensing at wavelengths around 10 μm. These grating based reflectors comprise appropriately designed optical nanostructures which resonantly reflect a wide range of incident wavelengths. Because of the periodic modulation of the refractive index in the grating layer, the guided modes which exist in this region leak out of the waveguide and arc more appropriately termed leaky or quasi guided modes. Resonant reflection occurs when phase matching of the incident light and these leaky modes cancels any transmitted light. The …

Predicting Energy And Water Consumption On Dairy Farms Through Statistical Analysis And Machine-Learning Methods, Philip Shine

Theses

With the abolishment of milking quotas across all European Union member states in April 2015, dairy farmers must adjust their farming practises to minimise milk production costs to adequately prepare for potential periods of reduced revenue. Milk production is an intense energy and water consuming process. Coupled with challenging European greenhouse gas reduction targets and legislation regarding the prevention of groundwater pollution and deterioration, increasing the production of milk in Ireland must be met with the sustainable consumption of on-farm energy and direct water resources, to ensure the future monetary and environmental sustainability of Ireland’s dairy industry. Thus, this body …

Development Of Multi-Class Analytical Methods For Agrochemical Contaminants, Sarah Tuck

Theses

In this project, cost-effective multi-class analytical methods were developed to detect a range of antiparasitic, feed additive and pesticide substances in foodstuffs of animal origin. These substances have the potential to enter the food chain through their occurrence as residues either through the animals themselves or other routes e.g. contamination. To ensure the continued safety of food destined for human consumption regulatory control limits have been established for permitted levels of these residues in foods of animal origin. Despite these controls the continued monitoring of foodstuffs is necessary to ensure these limits are not breached and that substances are not …

Perceptions Of Large-Scale, Standardised Testing In Religious Education: How Do Religious Educators Perceive The Bishops’ Religious Literacy Assessment?, Antonella Poncini

Theses

This research provides a Western Australian perspective of teaching and assessing Religious Education (RE) in Catholic schools. The perspective recognises RE as a learning area reserved for classroom instruction. This educational focus aligns RE with other learning areas as well as highlights the important role that RE plays in the evangelising mission of the Catholic Church.

A pragmatic approach to research was implemented to focus on religious educators’ perceptions of a large-scale, standardised assessment in RE called The Bishops’ Religious Literacy Assessment (BRLA). This assessment is developed by the Catholic Education Office of Western Australia. The research surveyed 238 religious …

"Australian Business Individual Decision Styles And Personality.", Christopher Andrew Cook

Theses

Many theories have been advanced as to how human beings make decisions. The rational choice models that dominate management science, operations research, and managerial economics and finance assume that an operational knowledge of all possible options, their probabilities and consequences is pervasive and ignore uncertainty. In business the assumption is that Homo Economicus is a rational maximiser of self-interest, but business managers frequently do not adhere to the normative procedures of rational choice. Consequently, there is a mismatch between management theory, economic theory and decision-making reality. This thesis explores the decision styles exhibited by business decision-makers in Australia, USA, India …

An Approximation To A Bayesian Detection Statistic For Continuous Gravitational Waves., John J. Bero Iv

Theses

This work concerns Bayesian detection statistics in targeted searches for continuous gravitational waves (GWs). The parameter space for continuous GWs can be divided into 2 groups: amplitude parameters which control the signal strength and phase-evolution parameters which determine its time evolution. A common issue in these searches is dealing with these amplitude parameters which do not affect the phase evolution of the system. The F-statistic maximizes the likelihood function of the data analytically over these parameters, while the B-statistic marginalizes over them. The B-statistic, while potentially more powerful and capable of incorporating astrophysical priors, is not used because of the …

An Investigation Into The Impact Of High-Stakes Testing, Through The Naplan Assessment, On The Teaching And Learning Of Mathematics In One Primary School, Linda Cranley

Theses

In 2008, the implementation of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) commenced in all schools across Australia. This assessment of mathematical and literacy standards across Australia raised questions about the impact which high-stakes testing has on teaching and learning. This research specifically focused on the effect NAPLAN has had on the teaching and learning of mathematics. The study explored perspectives about NAPLAN from key participants; students, teachers and parents at one Western Australian Primary School. These perspectives included the potential anxiety experienced by students and how this affected their performance in NAPLAN. According to recent research on …

Modelling Spatial Heterogeneity In The Haemodynamic Response With Implications For Neuroimaging, Russell Gore

Theses

Background: A foundational assumption of neuroimaging is the central volume principle (CVP): the mean transit time of oxygen particles in the brain equals the ratio of blood vessel volume to blood flow. Changes in mean transit time are expected to cause detectable changes in images produced by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The CVP assumes a uniform distribution of transit times, but in fact blood vessel volumes are spatially heterogeneous. This thesis examines the implications of spatial heterogeneity for fMRI research.

Methods: An amended form of the CVP that accounts for spatial heterogeneity is developed and parameterised using empirical data. …

Phase And Gain Margins For A Class Of Nonlinear Systems, Siddharth Sankar Das

Theses

In this thesis, new definitions of Practical Phase and Gain stability margins (PPM/PGM) for a class of nonlinear systems (a single-input-single output linear time invariant (SISO LTI) plant with a nonlinear control), specifically, in systems with common nonlinearities like saturation and relay, are proposed. The practical Gain and Phase stability margins are presented as the maximum increase in the gain and the maximum phase shift that can added to the frequency characteristic of the linear plant such that there are no limit cycles predicted or the sufficient stability condition is satisfied. The stability margins are computed using the Describing-Function-Harmonic-Balance (DF-HB) …

Reconfigurable Displaced Phase Center Antennas With Focal Plane Phased Arrays, Michael Henley

Theses

In this thesis, a novel displaced phase center antenna technique is introduced and demonstrated. A proof of concept study is performed using a three-element linear array, placed in the focal plane of a parabolic reflector antenna. Then, a seven-element circular focal plane phased array as the primary feed for a parabolic reflector antenna will be utilized and further investigated to realize a reconfigurable aperture antenna, capable of electronically displacing the antenna phase center location along any direction with no mechanical means. The proposed technique will be tested using both front-fed and offset parabolic reflector geometries. Results will show that, while …

Exergy Analysis Of The Environmental Control And Life Support System, Raymond Chow

Theses

An exergy based analysis of the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) aboard the International Space Station is conducted. Exergy is chosen as a measure of performance because it enables performance assessment with respect to the First Law and Second Law of Thermodynamics. Exergy destruction incurred during ECLSS operation is quantified through steady state exergy balances, and exergy efficiencies are estimated for the ECLSS, key subsystems, and their constituent components. Exergy balances derived for the ECLSS, its subsystems, and their components are implemented through a MATLAB code. The results of the exergy analysis are presented in this thesis. In …

Using High-Order Prior Belief Predictions In Hierarchical Temporal Memory For Streaming Anomaly Detection, Brody Kutt

Theses

Autonomous streaming anomaly detection can have a significant impact in any domain where continuous, real-time data is common. Often in these domains, datasets are too large or complex to hand label. Algorithms that require expensive global training procedures and large training datasets impose strict demands on data and are accordingly not fit to scale to real-time applications that are noisy and dynamic. Unsupervised algorithms that learn continuously like humans therefore boast increased applicability to these real-world scenarios.

Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM) is a biologically constrained theory of machine intelligence inspired by the structure, activity, organization and interaction of pyramidal neurons …

Contextualized Queries Over Heterogeneous Data With A Property-Graph-Based Knowledge Space, Michael P. Grenon

Theses

Data integration is a problem often solved by imposing a standardized context with which all data sources in the system are mapped. If subgroups in an organization have a different point of view than the standardized context, then they may find usage of this integrated system difficult. Knowledge Spaces (KS) are a recently proposed architecture that allows for multiple, even contradictory, contexts to be built with conceptual graphs (CG). Little guidance exists in regard to constructing a KS that is capable of utilizing the graph operations CGs are able to support. This work introduces an approach to KS construction that …

Method And Results From Characterization Of Atmospheric Properties With Differential Temperature Methods, Alex Clark

Theses

As engineers and scientists work to refine free-space optical systems that operate over long terrestrial ranges, there is a need to better understand, characterize, and quantify the atmospheric properties of the environment. One such atmospheric property of interest is the refractive-index structure coefficient, or 〖Cn〗^2, which describes small changes in the base atmospheric refractive index. Over very short distances, small index of refraction changes usually cause negligible problems to all but the most demanding optical systems, such as interferometric systems, but can have a large effect on Optical Path Length (OPL) as short as 1 km. This thesis presents a …

The Motivation To Learn : Engaging Students In Pre-Modern Western Education, James Putman

Theses

Apathy among learners in secondary education classrooms is a modern problem but it has an interesting past. This paper assumes that unmotivated learners have always been a difficulty and uses a historical analysis to investigate how educators in the pre-modern world effectively motivated and engaged students. Using primary sources from scholars and educators of the pre-modern era a comparison is made to what modern pedagogical experts consider to be effective engagement strategies. Historical context for this comparison is provided within a chronological education narrative of Western civilization beginning with Ancient Greece and concluding with the Early Modern Period. The evidence …

Storytelling Elements In Nasa Case Studies, Giulia E. Palma

Theses

The goal of this thesis is to improve communication in engineering by understanding how storytelling elements are being used in engineering and how they could be used. Storytelling is an effective communication mean since it is a natural way in which humans think and verbalize their thoughts. For this reason, the author explores the possibility of introducing storytelling elements to engineering communication. Storytelling elements are identified to be used as metrics in the analysis of a case studies collection. The case studies collection was studied for patterns in the content. A human experiment was conducted using the backstory structure element …

Is Deliberate Knowledge Sharing Useful? Impacts Of Reflexivity, Diversity, And Motivation On Team Decision Making, Jeffrey Edmund Dyas

Theses

Knowledge sharing has been shown in studies to positively impact team performance. Understanding methods that could lead to deliberate knowledge-sharing could be beneficial for teams. Reflexivity is the degree to which team members communicate the team’s objectives, strategies, and limitations in order to mitigate unexpected situations. Reflexivity was examined with a motivational theory of goal orientation to test how team motivation influenced reflexivity’s impact on knowledge sharing and team performance. Furthermore, diversity in goal orientation was studied to gauge how diverse motives of team members influenced team performance. Results indicated no support for reflexivity improving knowledge sharing; however, the experiment …

Characteristics Of Different Deep Neural Networks And Application Of Pre-Trained Model Without Transfer Learning, Zhiqi Peng

Theses

Deep neural networks have been successful in many areas, some of them even surpass human performances. The goal of this thesis is using data simulations to present different characteristics of three deep neural networks: fully connected deep neural network, convolutional neural network, recurrent neural network, which will perform best when dealing with different feature patterns. By using these characteristics to design a deep neural network on top of an adopted pre-trained model with untrainable layers, achieved an averagely 11.1% improvement than a model with transfer learning method.

Electrical Properties Of Metal Semiconductor Contacts - Metals On Mos2: A Case Study, Xiao Chang

Theses

Properties of monolayer semiconductor, MoS2, are presented in the research. Schottky barrier height and Schottky-Mott rules are discussed. The current-voltage measurement and capacitance-voltage measurement are analyzed considering the role of the work function. We mainly focus on metal semiconductor contacts on molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). The properties of bulk and monolayer molybdenum disulfide are discussed. The differences between the bulk and monolayer, based on band gap structure theory, are presented. Utilizing the data obtained in the literature, the influence of temperature on the electrical properties of monolayer molybdenum disulfide are analyzed. In particular, the electrical properties of metals on MoS2 such …

Looping Predictive Method To Improve Accuracy Of A Machine Learning Model, Subramanyam Reddy Pogili

Theses

The topic of this project is an analysis of drug-related tweets. The goal is to build a Machine Learning Model that can distinguish between tweets that indicate drug abuse and other tweets that also contain the name of a drug but do not describe abuse. Drugs can be illegal, such as heroin, or legal drugs with a potential of abuse, such as painkillers. However, building a good Machine Learning Model requires a large amount of training data. For each training tweet, a human expert has determined whether it indicates drug abuse or not. This is difficult work for humans. …

Investigation Of Thermal Stress Degradation In Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide Tfts, Prashant Ganesh

Theses

The performance of IGZO TFTs has improved significantly in recent years, however device stability still remains a significant issue. Thermal stability of IGZO TFTs be- comes very crucial to ensure desired performance of end-product. Both bottom-gate (BG) and double-gate (DG) TFTs were observed to degrade with hotplate treatments under 200◦C. Such events are rarely reported in the literature, and thus became the primary focus of this work. The mechanism causing the instability is not completely understood, however experimental results indicate the instability occurs either di- rectly or indirectly due to the influence of H2O within the passivation oxide above the …

Experimental Design And Robust Regression, Pranay Kumar

Theses

Design of Experiments (DOE) is a very powerful statistical methodology, especially when used with linear regression analysis. The use of ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation of linear regression parameters requires the errors to have a normal distribution. However, there are numerous situations when the error distribution is non-normal and using OLS can result in inaccurate parameter estimates. Robust regression is a useful and effective way to estimate the parameters of a regression model in the presence of non-normally distributed residuals. An extensive literature review suggests that there are limited studies comparing the performance of different robust estimators in conjunction with …

3d Hybrid Model For New Product Development, Nataraj Munoli

Theses

Peter Thiel, in his book Zero to One, mentioned the importance of going from zero to one over one to infinity. The value of innovation and creating a unique product will always hold a higher value than doing something that has already been done. The author explains how the businesses that are unique or have very few competitors tend to be more successful when compared to businesses that offer similar services or products as offered by numerous other businesses. To achieve this edge over the contemporaries, there is a growing need to introduce new products to the market by exploiting …

A Low, Cost Portable Ground Station To Track And Communicate With Satellites In Vhf Band, Sneha Velayudhan

Theses

In this thesis, we present the architecture and implementation of a low-cost, small, mobile and easily deployable ground station to track and receive signals from satellites that operate on the VHF-band (144 MHz to 147 MHz). The ground station uses a handheld 5-dB gain Yagi-Uda antenna, a low noise amplifier with 23 dB gain and a software defined radio (FUNcube Dongle) to receive the signals. The analog front end’s software-defined nature gives it the flexibility to target satellites with diverse power, modulation and error-correcting schemes. Software for satellite tracking, signal decoding and processing is freely-available.

The low cost of the …

The Infusion Length Of Material Filled Inside Hollow Core Fiber, Omkar Balasaheb Ugale

Theses

We have designed a MATLAB code to perform the simulations on the infusion length of fluid inside the capillary. Previous research work has shown few results but the equation used for plotting the graph of infusion length v/s time has a numerical error. The work we have done has shown the step-by-step procedure to derive the list of forces acting on the capillary getting filled with the material and has also plotted the graph of infusion length v/s time from the equation we get after proof of derivation. The significant changes can be seen in the overall infusion length from …

Comparative Study On Cushion Performance Between 3d Printed Kelvin Structure And 3d Printed Lattice Structure, Lakshmi Priyadarshini

Theses

Frequently transported packaging goods are more prone to damage due to impact, jolting or vibration in transit. Fragile goods, for example, glass, ceramics, porcelain are susceptible to mechanical stresses. Hence ancillary materials like cushions play an important role when utilized within package. In this work, an analytical model of a 3D cellular structure is established based on Kelvin model and lattice structure. The research will provide a comparative study between the 3D printed Kelvin unit structure and 3D printed lattice structure. The comparative investigation is based on parameters defining cushion performance such as cushion creep, indentation, and cushion curve analysis. …