Digital Commons Network^™

Weighted Inverse Weibull And Beta-Inverse Weibull Distribution, Jing Xiong Kersey

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The weighted inverse Weibull distribution and the beta-inverse Weibull distribution are considered. Theoretical properties of the inverse Weibull model, weighted inverse Weibull distribution including the hazard function, reverse hazard function, moments, moment generating function, coefficient of variation, coefficient of skewness, coefficient of kurtosis, Fisher information and Shanon entropy are studied. The estimation for the parameters of the length-biased inverse Weibull distribution via maximum likelihood estimation and method of moment estimation techniques are presented, as well as a test for the detection of length-biasedness in the inverse Weibull model. Furthermore, the beta-inverse Weibull distribution which is a weighted distribution is presented, …

A Review Of Bast Fibres And Their Composites. Part 1 - Fibres As Reinforcements, John Summerscales, Nilmini P.J. Dissanayake, Amandeep S. Virk, Wayne Hall

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Bast fibres are defined as those obtained from the outer cell layers of the stems of various plants. The fibres find use in textile applications and are increasingly being considered as reinforcements for polymer-matrix composites as they are perceived to be "sustainable". The fibres are composed primarily of cellulose which potentially has a Young's modulus of similar to 140 GPa (being a value comparable with man-made aramid [Kevlar/Twaron] fibres). The plants which are currently attracting most interest are flax and hemp (in temperate climates) or jute and kenaf (in tropical climates). This review paper will consider the growth, harvesting and …

A Review Of Bast Fibres And Their Composites. Part 2 - Composites, John Summerscales, Nilmini Dissanayake, Amandeep Virk, Wayne Hall

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Bast fibres are defined as those obtained from the outer cell layers of the stems of various plants. The fibres find use in textile applications and are increasingly being considered as reinforcements for polymer matrix composites as they are perceived to be "sustainable". The fibres are composed primarily of cellulose which potentially has a Young's modulus of similar to 140 GPa (being a value comparable with man-made aramid [Kevlar/Twaron] fibres). The plants which are currently attracting most interest are flax and hemp (in temperate climates) or jute and kenaf (in tropical climates). Part 2 of this review will consider the …

In The News, Joe N. Caudell

Human–Wildlife Interactions

No abstract provided.

Commentary Euthanasia Methods In Field Settings For Wildlife Damage Management, Timothy J. Julien, Stephen M. Vantassel, Scott R. Groepper, Scott E. Hygnstrom

Human–Wildlife Interactions

No abstract provided.

Improved Methods For Deterring Cliff Swallow Nesting On Highway Structures, Michael Delwiche, Robert W. Coates, W. Paul Gorenzel, Terrell P. Salmon

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) are migratory birds that frequently nest on highway structures, such as bridges. Because cliff swallows are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, nesting control methods must not harm cliff swallows or disturb active nests. This can cause delays for maintenance divisions of state departments of transportation, resulting in additional cost. In a multiyear project, we evaluated the effects of bioacoustic deterrents and bridge surface modifications on nesting behavior of cliff swallows. We used cliff swallow alarm and distress calls as bioacoustic deterrents (hereafter, broadcast calls [BC]) because they previously had been …

Nucleon Matrix Elements With Nf = 2 + 1 + 1 Maximally Twisted Fermions, S Dinter, C Alexandrou, M Constantinou, V Drach, K Jansen, D Renner

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

We present the first lattice calculation of nucleon matrix elements using four dynamical flavors. We use the Nf = 2+1+1 maximally twisted mass formulation. The renormalization is performed non-perturbatively in the RI0-MOM scheme and results are given for the vector and axial vector operators with up to one-derivative. Our calculation of the average momentum of the unpolarized non-singlet parton distribution is presented and compared to our previous results obtained from the Nf = 2 case.

Strange And Charmed Baryons Using Nf = 2 Twisted Mass Qcd, M Papinutto, J Carbonell, V Drach, C Alexandrou

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

We compute the mass spectrum for strange/charmed baryons in the partially quenched approach using Nf = 2 twisted mass QCD configurations. We investigate two main issues: the size of lattice artefacts using three values of the lattice spacing (the smallest of which is approximately 0.05 fm) and the dependence of baryon masses on meson (or quark) masses. We thus perform a global fit in order to extrapolate simultaneously to the continuum limit and to the physical point. We estimate the masses of Ωsss, Ξdss, Λuds, Ωccc, Ξdcc, Λudc

Workspace Comparisons Of Setup Configurations For Human-Robot Interaction, Franziska Zacharias, Ian S. Howard, Thomas Hulin, Gerd Hirzinger

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Advanced Control Of Large Scale Wind Turbines, Jacob Aho

Master's Theses and Capstones

Wind turbines have experienced an economy of scale that caused them to become larger, more expensive and provided the challenge to protect the components, particularly the failure-prone gearboxes. This thesis focused on new control systems for wind turbines in above-rated, or Region 3, wind regimes. The control goals were to regulate the generator speed and protect the gearbox by mitigating drivetrain torque variations.

This thesis included the development of a linear wind turbine model based on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's FAST 5MW model. A magnetic continuously variable transmission (CVT) was included in the model. A multi-input linear quadratic regulator …

Digital Image Correlation Application To Structural Health Monitoring, Philip A. Brogan

Master's Theses and Capstones

Bridge inspectors have historically relied on previous inspection reports and photographs to assess bridge health. The inclusion of instrumentation including sensors such as strain gauges, tilt sensors, LVDTs, or accelerometers can greatly enhance bridge management. This instrumentation and data interpretation is classified under a new field of study called Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). A relatively new application called Digital Image Correlation (DIC) can be deployed for SHM of civil structures. DIC uses multiple digital cameras to capture sequenced images of a target object and provide displacement information. This research has sought to incorporate DIC systems into bridge inspection and eventually …

A Micro-Transponder For Precision Tracking Of Underwater Targets, Albert Whitaker Franzheim Iii.

Master's Theses and Capstones

A prototype micro-transponder has been designed and built to track, in real-time, the positions of objects or animals within the water column. Commercially available data storage tags, which help monitor the behavior of underwater animals, do not provide real-time interrogation and data dissemination capabilities in a form factor and acoustic frequency band acceptable for active tracking applications.

This prototype is 18.5 cm3 and weighs 43.7 g in air. It operates at an acoustic frequency of 160 kHz and uses a mixed-signal topology with low-power components and a microcontroller, which allows for firmware updates and addition of external sensors. It is …

Examination Of Thermal Impacts From Stormwater Bmps, Nicholas P. Digennaro

Master's Theses and Capstones

This study presents the examination of 4 years of monitoring of runoff temperature for a range of stormwater best management practices (BMPs) in relation to established environmental indicators for a study in Durham, NH. Stormwater BMPs examined include conventional, Low Impact Development, and manufactured treatment designs. Surface systems that are exposed to direct sunlight have been shown to increase already elevated summer runoff temperatures, while other systems that provide treatment by infiltration and filtration can moderate runoff temperatures by thermal exchange with cool subsurface materials. The storm sewer system saw an annual average event mean temperature (EMT) greater than the …

Exploration Of A Free Space Optical Telemetry System For Formation Flying Sounding Rocket Sub-Payloads, James Gealy

Master's Theses and Capstones

The results of an exploration regarding the novel use of free-space optics (FSO) between sounding rockets and their sub-payloads are presented. This includes an evaluation of optoelectronic and optical devices against environmental and system level criteria. A preliminary test using available in-house components and bench-top equipment was also performed to determine potential distances and data rates of FSO in this environment. Using a light emitting diode with an optical power output of approximately six milliwatts, and a photomultiplier tube originally purposed for use on the Compton GRO, a pulse rate of ten kilohertz was transmitted over a distance of four-hundred …

Optimization Studies On The Ducted Wind Turbine, Srinivas Guntur

Master's Theses and Capstones

The concept of the Ducted Wind Turbine (DWT) has received significant research interest over the last fifty years. Several attempts to commercialize the DWT have been made in the past, but a commercial version does not exist at present. One of the primary concerns has been the size of the duct of the DWT and the economical and structural challenges relative to its design. It has been observed, both from existing as well as new experimental results at UNH, that significant reductions in the size of the duct can be achieved by better modeling the three dimensional flow in the …

The Instrumentation, Testing, And Structural Modeling Of A Steel Girder Bridge For Long-Term Structural Health Monitoring, Paul J. Lefebvre

Master's Theses and Capstones

The currently accepted bridge design practice is individual element design through approximate "worst-case" loading scenarios and distribution with appropriate safety factors. The resulting design is not necessarily representative of the true behavior of a bridge. Computer structural modeling advancements have made it practical to improve the design process by capturing the design intelligence in the bridge model for use in bridge management and condition assessment. Nearly 1/3 of U.S. bridges are nearing the end of their design life and the design of the next generation of highway bridges has begun. The time is optimum to consider advancements in bridge design …

Urban To Urban-Green Development: An Experimental And Modeling Study In Vegetated Roofs For Stormwater Reduction, James A. Sherrard Jr.

Master's Theses and Capstones

The incorporation of vegetated roofs into a region's stormwater management plan may be an efficient method of managing flooding issues and combined sewer outflow system maximum loads. Currently, vegetated roofs are not widely used within New England as a common stormwater Best Management Practice. My research explores vegetated roof stormwater retention performance in the Seacoast New Hampshire region. This research experimentally quantified the complete water balance of a vegetated roof system in an outdoor, rooftop setting, developed a predictive vegetated roof stormwater retention model and modeled retention for an eight year period from 2002 to 2009. This eight year model …

Assessing The Accuracy Of Passive Microwave Estimates Of Snow Water Equivalent In Data-Scarce Regions For Use In Water Resource Applications, Carrie M. Vuyovich

Master's Theses and Capstones

Winter snowpack is a significant contributor to water supply in many regions of the world and accurate estimates of the snow water equivalent (SWE) are necessary for water resource planning. Satellite data is an attractive source of snow information in remote regions with limited ground data. The objective of this study is to assess passive microwave SWE in the Upper Helmand Watershed in Afghanistan where snowmelt is a primary source of water. Passive microwave SWE data were compared over 6 winter seasons, 2004-2009, to an independent estimate of SWE using a snow hydrology model. The snow hydrology model was calibrated …

Error-Driven Adaptive Resolutions For Large Scientific Data Sets, Samuel H. Vohr

Master's Theses and Capstones

The process of making observations and drawing conclusions from large data sets is an essential part of modern scientific research. However, the size of these data sets can easily exceed the available resources of a typical workstation, making visualization and analysis a formidable challenge. Many solutions, including multiresolution and adaptive resolution representations, have been proposed and implemented to address these problems.

This thesis describes an error model for calculating and representing localized error from data reduction and a process for constructing error-driven adaptive resolutions from this data, allowing fully-renderable error driven adaptive resolutions to be constructed from a single, high-resolution …

Determination Of Hydraulic Conductivity Using The Permeafor, Amy C. Larrabee

Master's Theses and Capstones

Hydraulic conductivity is a soil characteristic that describes the flow of water through soil due to the presence of interconnected voids. This property is difficult to accurately and rapidly evaluate in the laboratory and in the field. A device known as the Permeafor has been developed in Strasbourg, France aimed at evaluating hydraulic conductivity in situ. The tool is approximately 80 centimeters in length, and is specially designed to test lateral hydraulic conductivity. A half-scale of the Permeafor was constructed at the University of New Hampshire in order to test soils at shallow depth using a portable penetration system. The …

Langmuir Circulation In The Presence Of Lateral Density Gradients, Ke Li

Master's Theses and Capstones

Comparably little is known about the impact of lateral density gradients associated with, e.g., submesoscale fronts on Langmuir circulation in the ocean surface mixed layer. In this investigation, two-dimensional pseudospectral numerical simulations of the laterally stratified Craik--Leibovich (CL) equations are performed to elucidate the effect of an imposed horizontal density gradient on Langmuir cells. The dominant instability mode is found to consist of counter-rotating cells with up- and downwelling jets inclined to the vertical. Linear stability analysis confirms that, although no instability occurs in the absence of the CL vortex torque, the dominant instability mode exhibits growth rates exceeding those …

Using Voice To Tag Digital Photographs On The Spot, Michael A. Farrar

Master's Theses and Capstones

Tagging of media, particularly digital photographs, has become a very popular and efficient means of organizing material on the internet and on personal computers. Tagging, though, is normally accomplished long after the images have been captured, possibly at the expense of in-the-moment information. Although some digital cameras have begun to automatically populate the various fields of a photograph's metadata, these generic labels often lack in the descriptiveness presented through user-observed annotations and therefore stress the necessity of a user-driven input method. However, most mobile annotation applications demand a great number of keystrokes in order for users to tag photographs and …

Sensor Installation For The Local Calibration Of The Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide In New Hampshire, Matthew L. Steele

Master's Theses and Capstones

Efficient and accurate pavement design is critical to control the costs of new roadway construction and maintenance. The Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) is the most current pavement design procedure used to predict pavement damage and distress. It was calibrated using a national data set that includes data from instrumented pavement sections. The national calibration can be further refined to account for local conditions.

In this research a weather monitoring station and a set of pavement and base layer monitoring sensors were installed and baseline data from these sensors were collected. The measured structural response data from calibrated truck passes …

Deep Ocean Delivery System, Carin Campbell

Master's Theses and Capstones

The goal of this project was to explore the design and deployment of a deep ocean delivery system to the seafloor. The overall system configuration included a cylindrical shell, a hemisphere nose cone, pressure tolerant batteries, and a pressure vessel to the house the electronics. As part of the design specifications, the system was to land within a 100 meter target radius directly below the location where the system entered the water. An approach was developed to determine the horizontal displacement for a given current profile and the system's interactions with the seafloor. The horizontal displacement was investigated for a …

Real Property, J. Richard White, G. Roland Love

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Toxic Torts And Mass Torts, Brent M. Rosenthal

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Zoning And Land Use, Arthur J. Anderson, Thomas Mann

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Seismic Interpretation And Reservoir Characterization Of The Middle Frio Formation In The Stratton Field Gulf Coast Basin Of South Texas Using Three-Dimensional Seismic And Well Log Data, Uchenna H. Aboaja

Masters Theses

"The Stratton field is a large mature gas field located between Nueces County and Kleberg County in the northwest Gulf Coast Basin of south Texas. The Oligocene middle Frio Formation is one of the major progradational units within the Stratton field. It is characterized by rapid deposition and high subsidence rates that create complex internal facies architecture. The reservoir facies architecture of the middle Frio Formation is described as channel-fill deposits, crevasses-splay deposits, and floodplain mudstones. Previous two-dimensional seismic studies indicate some level of compartmentalization. Three-dimensional seismic and well log data provided by the Bureau of Economic Geology at the …

Social Networking In The Workplace: Are Private Employers Prepared To Comply With Discovery Requests For Posts And Tweets, Lisa Thomas

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Stability, Creation And Annihilation Of Charges In Gauge Theories, Anton Ilderton, Martin Lavelle, David Mcmullan

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

We show how to construct physical, minimal energy states for systems of static and moving charges. These states are manifestly gauge invariant. For charge–anticharge systems we also construct states in which the gauge fields are restricted to a finite volume around the location of the matter fields. Although this is an excited state, it is not singular, unlike all previous finite volume descriptions. We use our states to model the processes of pair creation and annihilation.