Digital Commons Network^™

Trade-Off Analysis Methodology For Asset Management, Qiang Bai, Samuel Labi, Zongzhi Li

JTRP Technical Reports

In an era that is characterized by funding limitations, increased stakeholder participation, and the need for increased accountability and transparency, transportation agencies seek to ensure that comprehensive evaluation processes are identified and used for decision-making. Consistent with such processes is the incorporation of multiple performance criteria from different program areas, optimization of decisions under constrained budgets, and investigation of trade-offs between program areas, performance measures, budgetary levels, risk levels, and performance thresholds. To help INDOT carry out these processes, this study developed theoretical constructs for scaling and amalgamation of the different performance measures, and for analyzing the different kinds of …

Safety And Operational Impacts Of Alternative Intersections, Andrew P. Tarko, Mike Inerowicz, Brandon Lang

JTRP Technical Reports

As the degradation of service at some conventional intersections increases, there becomes a need for alternative solutions other than expensive interchanges. Many alternative intersections have been proposed in the past. Under certain traffic and local conditions some solutions are more promising than other. In some cases, the conventional intersection may still be the optimal choice. The presented research focused on developing guidelines that would help planners and designers identify the most promising solutions for further analysis. This objective has been addresses in two ways. Firstly, the existing knowledge on alternative intersections has been identified. Secondly, the performance of conventional and …

Alternative Land Use Patterns To Minimize Congestion (Volume 1: Comparative Analysis Of Mixed Land Use And Separated Land Use Neighborhoods), Amica Bose, Jon D. Fricker

JTRP Technical Reports

Urban sprawl creates serious traffic congestion. Alternative land use patterns may be the best solution. New Urbanists claim that, by placing frequently-visited sites within walking distance of homes and creating a pleasant walking environment, people are more willing to choose non-motorized transportation mode to do such activities.

Part I of this study investigated the ability of travel demand models to estimate the impacts of alternative land use patterns. Part II conducted an economic viability analysis for a mixed land use neighborhood and collected land use preferences at meetings of neighborhood associations. The objective in Part III was to evaluate the …

Alternative Land Use Patterns To Minimize Congestion (Volume 3: Empirical Study Of Mixed Land Use Traditional Neighborhoods), Li Jin, Jon D. Fricker

JTRP Technical Reports

Urban sprawl creates serious traffic congestion. Alternative land use patterns may be the best solution. New Urbanists claim that, by placing frequently-visited sites within walking distance of homes and creating a pleasant walking environment, people are more willing to choose non-motorized transportation mode to do such activities.

Part I of this study investigated the ability of travel demand models to estimate the impacts of alternative land use patterns. Part II conducted an economic viability analysis for a mixed land use neighborhood and collected land use preferences at meetings of neighborhood associations. The objective in Part III was to evaluate the …

High-Performance Concrete Bridge Decks: A Fast-Track Implementation Study, Volume 1: Structural Behavior, Robert J. Frosch, Timothy S. Aldridge

JTRP Technical Reports

Transverse cracking of concrete bridge decks is problematic in numerous states. Cracking has been identified in the negative and positive moment regions of bridges and can appear shortly after opening the structure to live loads. To improve the service life of the bridge deck as well as decrease maintenance costs, changes to current construction practices in Indiana are being considered. A typical bridge deck was instrumented which incorporated the following: increased reinforcement amounts, decreasing reinforcement spacing, and high-performance, low-shrinkage concrete. The low shrinkage concrete was achieved using a ternary concrete mix. The objective of this research was to determine the …

Use Of Micropiles For Foundations Of Transportation Structures Final Report, Hoyoung Seo, Monica Prezzi

JTRP Technical Reports

In pile design, piles must be able to sustain axial loads from the superstructure without bearing capacity failure or structural damage. In addition, piles must not settle or deflect excessively in order for the serviceability of the superstructures to be maintained. In general, settlement controls the design of piles in most cases because, by the time a pile has failed in terms of bearing capacity, it is very likely that serviceability will have already been compromised. Therefore, realistic estimation of settlement for a given load is very important in design of axially loaded piles. This notwithstanding, pile design has relied …

Alternative Land Use Patterns To Minimize Congestion (Volume 2: Evaluating The Feasibility Of New Urbanism In An Existing Neighborhood), Huei Koh, Jon D. Fricker

JTRP Technical Reports

Urban sprawl creates serious traffic congestion. Alternative land use patterns may be the best solution. New Urbanists claim that, by placing frequently-visited sites within walking distance of homes and creating a pleasant walking environment, people are more willing to choose non-motorized transportation mode to do such activities.

Part I of this study investigated the ability of travel demand models to estimate the impacts of alternative land use patterns. Part II conducted an economic viability analysis for a mixed land use neighborhood and collected land use preferences at meetings of neighborhood associations. The objective in Part III was to evaluate the …

Methods Of Safety Improvements At Coordinated Signals, Wei Li, Andrew P. Tarko

JTRP Technical Reports

In this research, the safety impact of arterial signal coordination is investigated. Based on the findings, procedures are proposed to incorporate safety considerations into signal coordination design. In addition, a software tool is developed to facilitate the use of the research findings. Signal coordination has been extensively employed as a tool to optimize an arterial system’s mobility performance, commonly measured by the total number of vehicle stops and the time of delays. Although vehicle crashes at signalized intersections have long been recognized as a major safety threat, studies to date have been limited locally to non-coordinated signals or the noncoordinated …

Why Are Women With Leadership Certification Not Pursuing School-Level Leadership Positions, Daphney Denise Ivery

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to understand why women with leadership certification do not seek formal administrative roles. More specifically, the study examined why women with leadership certification choose to pursue a program in administrative preparation; assessed the reasons certified women educators are not moving into formal administrative roles; and identified conditions and structural support systems that these women need in order to help them transition to formal administrative roles. In order to answer the study's major questions, the researcher employed a qualitative research approach with thematic analysis as a major strategy. The researcher then conducted an in-depth …

Race And Gender In The Leadership Experiences Of Three Female African American High School Principals: A Multiple Case Study, Angela Mosley Smith

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this multiple case study was to describe how three female African American high school principals understand the influence of race and gender on their educational leadership experiences. The study focused on the professional background, barriers each informant encountered in her pursuit of a principalship, strategies utilized to facilitate attainment of a principalship, and leadership conceptualization. Through indepth interviews, rich narratives revealed how the duel oppressions of race and gender intersected the professional lives of the three principals involved in the study. The theoretical foundation for the study was black feminist thought as defined by Patricia Hill Collins. …

Effect Of Interface Fields On The Piezoelectric Response Of Aluminum Nitride Thin Films, John P. Harman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Group III-Nitride wide bandgap semiconductors have attracted much attention in the optoelectronic and electronic research areas recently. III-Nitride semiconductor materials are attractive materials for use in optoelectronic and high speed electronics devices because they are direct bandgap semiconductors and the bandgap can be varied over a wide range. It has also been shown that the III-Nitride group of materials function exceptionally well in harsh environments. The piezoelectric properties of the III-Nitride material system have been studied and several of the III-Nitride compounds have been found to have non zero piezoelectric coefficients. This work shows that the observed piezoelectric coefficient of …

Design And Implementation Of A Multithreaded Softcore Processor With Tightly Coupled Hardware Real-Time Operating System, Terance Prabhasara Wijesinghe

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The objective of this thesis is to design and implement an FPGA-based softcore processor with hardware Real Time Operating System (RTOS).;RTOSs provide an abstracted environment on top of the hardware with different mechanisms to simplify and coordinate the behavior of the system. Software mechanisms including multithreading, semaphores, timers, interrupts, etc. consume large amounts of CPU time which increases overhead and contributes to the degradation of the performance. In order to offload this overhead, RTOSs with hardware acceleration have been a research topic with considerable interest. Most research works are focused on the design of a hardware RTOS external to the …

An Introduction To Agile Development The Outdoors Edge: Case Study, Christopher D. Thames Iv

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

This project contains a well rounded overview of Microsoft .NET agile development to solve the problem of unsuccessful software development projects. Not only do we look at what was wrong with the traditional plan-driven style of software development, but also how we can mitigate that with agile software development and agile project management methodologies. The main focus initially is to define what agile is and what the principle concepts that are the driving force behind it. Some of these concepts are about shaping the mentality of a developer so that a developer can be the most efficient and effective developer. …

Project Management Tool, Karteek Boyanapalli

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

In an organization there are many issues regarding project management. Managing the projects and the human resource is becoming difficult day by day. This 'Project Management Tool' is an attempt to solve those issues. It mainly helps project managers to monitor and control projects in an organization effectively. Using this tool superiors can assign projects, modules, tasks to their sub-ordinates and can monitor the status. They can also send E-Mails to their sub-ordinates using the E-Mail generation feature. This project also enables the employees to submit their day-to-day work. This project generates three different reports namely project reports which gives …

Development Of Regression Tree For Processing Satellite Images, Indrani Kommareddy

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

Satellite images are used more and more to analyze global tree and forest cover change. It is also extensively used in modeling the climatic change. These are becoming very important tools for the policy makers to discuss treaties and policies for global climatic change. Geographic Information System Center of Excellence (GIScCE) at South Dakota State University has become leader in development of such information (products). It extensive contracts with various world organizations is a testament to their work in this area. Hence it has become imperative that they would be able to analyze satellite images and provide the products in …

Controlled Release Of Insulin And Modified Insulin From A Novel Injectable Biodegradable Gel, Om Anand

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

The objective of the study was to develop a controlled release dosage form of
insulin, which can provide basal concentrations of insulin in diabetic rats for 1 to 2 weeks after a single subcutaneous injection.
A biodegradable injectable drug delivery gel was prepared by dissolving a
biodegradable polymer, polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), in biocompatible
plasticizer(s), triethyl citrate (TEC) and/or acetyl triethyl citrate (ATEC). Insulin was
then loaded into the blank gel to form an insulin suspension in the polymer solution.
After the insulin-loaded gel was injected subcutaneously, the plasticizer(s) dissolved in the aqueous media and were gradually taken away from the …

Development Of An Open Loop Fuzzy Logic Urea Dosage Controller For Use With An Scr Equipped Hdd Engine, Theodore R. Adams

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) has been shown to be the most promising exhaust aftertreatment system for reducing oxides of nitrogen in near term in-use applications. SCRs use the ammonia containing compound urea, as a reducing agent. In order to control the urea dosage during transient operation of the engine, sophisticated control strategies are needed. The goal of this study was to design a controller to achieve the maximum NO x emission reduction possible in the transient mode of engine operation, without causing ammonia slip. The development of an open loop, non-sensor based fuzzy logic urea dosage controller is discussed in …

Program-Assisted Analysis Of The Transverse Pressure Capacity Of Block Stoppings For Mine Ventilation Control, Timothy J. Batchler

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Previously a new test procedure, based on rigid arching, had been developed to determine the true transverse pressure capacity of mine ventilation block stoppings. Using this test procedure, a parametric study of the design parameters was tested to determine the arching capability in block stoppings. Theoretical assessments of arching and design equations were developed creating design guidelines based on the physical properties of the block stoppings. Based on these design guidelines, a computer program was developed to simulate the transverse pressure capacity of mine ventilation block stoppings. Inputs from users will generate a set of representative scenarios simulating a particular …

Characterization Of Nickel-Substituted Hexaaluminate Catalysts, Jason C. Hissam

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A characterization study was performed on two series of hexaaluminate catalysts of the form MI(MII)xAl12-x O19-delta; where MI refers to the mirror cation (MI = Ba, Sr, La) and MII to the cation (MII = Ni) substituted into the lattice. The first series was synthesized for comparison of different mirror cations while holding the Ni substitution level constant at x = 0.4. The second series was developed with the same mirror cation of Ba, but varied x, the level of Ni substitution. Experiments were conducted by means of the following characterization techniques: scanning electron microscopy (SEM), unit-cell refinement (UCR), in …

Evaluation Of Frp Composite Panels Manufactured By High Temperature Varim Process, Manab Medhi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Design and manufacturing of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite panels using high temperature vacuum assisted resin infusion molding (HT-VARIM) and evaluation of their mechanical properties were carried out through this research effort. The two major process parameters, temperature and percentage of catalyst mixed with resin, were optimized to obtain superior quality composites through in-situ curing under vacuum pressure of 13 to 14 psi.;Initially, composite specimens with glass fabrics and vinyl ester resin were manufactured with 1.5% and 2% catalyst by weight and cured at four different curing temperatures: room temperature, 120°F, 150°F, and 200°F. The specimens were preliminarily tested under …

Modeling Of Particle Trajectories Of Coal Size And Density Fractions In A Gasifier, Andrew A. Slezak Jr.

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A computational model of a generic commercial two-stage entrained-flow up-flow coal gasifier has been used in the present work to aid the researchers of the coal partitioning project at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). Specifically, the level of variation in the predicted performance in a generic entrained-flow gasifier if both coal slurry density fractions as well as diameter fractions are properly modeled in the CFD simulation was determined.;Simulations were performed using the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software Fluent for a Pittsburgh #8 Bailey coal to analyze fixed carbon conversion, exit gas volume fractions, and particle trajectory patterns. The …

A Fundamental Study Of The Pcr Amplification Of Gc-Rich Dna Templates, T. G. Mamedov, Elsje Pienaar, Scott E. Whitney, Joel R. Termaat, G. Carvill, R. Goliath, Anuradha Subramanian, Hendrik J. Viljoen

Hendrik J. Viljoen Publications

A theoretical analysis is presented with experimental confirmation to conclusively demonstrate the critical role that annealing plays in efficient PCR amplification of GC-rich templates. The analysis is focused on the annealing of primers at alternative binding sites (competitive annealing) and the main result is a quantitative expression of the efficiency (η) of annealing as a function of temperature (T_A), annealing period (t_A), and template composition. The optimal efficiency lies in a narrow region of T_A and t_A for GC-rich templates and a much broader region for normal GC templates. To confirm the …

Characterizing Forest Fragments In Boreal, Temperate, And Tropical Ecosystems, Arjan J. H. Meddens, Andrew T. Hudak, Jeffrey S. Evans, William A. Gould, Grizelle Gonzalez

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

An increased ability to analyze landscapes in a spatial manner through the use of remote sensing leads to improved capabilities for quantifying human-induced forest fragmentation. Developments of spatially explicit methods in landscape analyses are emerging. In this paper, the image delineation software program eCognition and the spatial pattern analysis program FRAGSTATS were used to quantify patterns of forest fragments on six landscapes across three different climatic regions characterized by different moisture regimes and different influences of human pressure. Our results support the idea that landscapes with higher road and population density are more fragmented; however, there are other, equally influential …

Decay Of Aspen (Populus Tremuloides Michx.) Wood In Moist And Dry Boreal, Temperate, And Tropical Forest Fragments, Grizelle Gonzalez, William A. Gould, Andrew T. Hudak, Teresa Nettleton-Hollingsworth

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

In this study, we set up a wood decomposition experiment to i) quantify the percent of mass remaining, decay constant and performance strength of aspen stakes (Populus tremuloides) in dry and moist boreal (Alaska and Minnesota, USA), temperate (Washington and Idaho, USA), and tropical (Puerto Rico) forest types, and ii) determine the effects of fragmentation on wood decomposition rates as related to fragment size, forest age (and/ or structure) and climate at the macro- and meso-scales. Fragment sizes represented the landscape variability within a climatic region. Overall, the mean small fragments area ranged from 10–14 ha, …

Experiments And Models For The Thermal Response Of Railroad Tapered-Roller Bearings, Constantine M. Tarawneh, Kevin D. Cole, Brent M. Wilson, Fadi Alnaimat

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The need to understand and quantify the heat transfer paths within tapered-roller bearings is of great importance in the railroad industry since bearing cup temperature measurement is the primary tool utilized in the removal of distressed bearings from service. Experiments were performed to acquire temperature histories at several locations on a stationary bearing subjected to heat sources imbedded in two rollers. The experimental results were compared to zero- and first-order thermal models to estimate overall heat transfer coefficients from the bearing. The results presented here can be used to explain some of the mechanisms that lead to overheating of tapered-roller …

Quantitative Rrna-Targeted Solution-Based Hybridization Assay Using Peptide Nucleic Acid Molecular Beacons, Xu Li, Eberhard Morgenroth, Lutgarde Raskin

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

The potential of a solution-based hybridization assay using peptide nucleic acid (PNA) molecular beacon (MB) probes to quantify 16S rRNA of specific populations in RNA extracts of environmental samples was evaluated by designing PNA MB probes for the genera Dechloromonas and Dechlorosoma. In a kinetic study with 16S rRNA from pure cultures, the hybridization of PNA MB to target 16S rRNA exhibited a higher final hybridization signal and a lower apparent rate constant than the hybridizations to nontarget 16S rRNAs. A concentration of 10 mM NaCl in the hybridization buffer was found to be optimal for maximizing the difference between …

Road To The Green Seal, Milos Cerovic

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Green Seal is one of the most recognized non profit organizations that work closely with companies from all over the country to provide certification of environmentally friendly products used by employees. There are many reasons for product certification process. The most obvious one is to preserve the environment and energy efficiency. Another important reason is to reduce the cost and increase the profit by using products with higher durability and less expensive packaging. Of equal importance is participation in green initiatives which allows hotels and other organizations to capture additional businesses, media exposure etc. InterContinental Chicago is the largest and …

Hydro-Nexrad: An Updated Overview And Metadata Analysis, Witold F. Krajewski, Anton Kruger, Piotr Domaszczynski, Charles Gunyon, Bong Chul Seo, Radosław Goska, James A. Smith, Mary Lynn Beack, Matthias Steiner

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Hydro-NEXRAD is a prototype system that allows hydrologists to obtain user-specified rainfall data for their research. These data are based on observations collected by the national network of WSR-88D radars, known as NEXRAD. Users interact with Hydro-NEXRAD through a web-based interface that has map-based components for spatial navigation, calendar- and time series plot components for temporal navigation and a menu-based component for selection of processing options. Through the interface, users browse the Hydro-NEXRAD metadata and select data of interest. As the system is approaching the point of being fully operational, the authors and a group of test users have evaluated …

Multiple Radar Data Merging In Hydro-Nexrad, Witold F. Krajewski, Bong Chul Seo, Anton Kruger, Piotr Domaszczynski, Gabriele Villarini, James A. Smith

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Hydro-NEXRAD merging algorithms include two options: (1) data-based merging; and (2) product-based merging. Data-based merging algorithm takes volume scan reflectivity data from all radars involved through preprocessing algorithm that performs volume data quality control, interpolates data to synchronize temporal scale between individual radars, and finally combines data onto a common geographic grid. Reflectivity values for a given location are assigned by a weighting function with respect to the distance from the radar. This single reflectivity field is then converted to rainfall amounts using a user-requested standard approach. In product-based merging algorithm reflectivity data from multiple radars are all converted …

Modeling Solutions And Simulations For Advanced Iii-V Photovoltaics Based On Nanostructures, Ryan Aguinaldo

Theses

It is the purpose of the work to develop methods for and present on the computational analyses of advanced III-V photovoltaic devices and their enhancement by the incorporation of semiconductor nanostructures. Such devices are currently being fabricated as part of the research efforts at the Nanopower Research Laboratories; therefore, this work aims to supplement and ground the experimental undertakings with a strong theoretical basis. This is accomplished by numerical calculations based on the detailed balance model and by physicsbased device simulation. The specific materials focus of this work is on the enhancement of the GaAs solar cell. The aforementioned methodologies …