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2015

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Registration Of ‘Newell’ Smooth Bromegrass, Kenneth P. Vogel, R. B. Mitchell, B. L. Waldron, M. R. Haferkamp, J. D. Berdahl, D. D. Baltensperger, Galen E. Erickson, Terry J. Klopfenstein Jan 2015

Registration Of ‘Newell’ Smooth Bromegrass, Kenneth P. Vogel, R. B. Mitchell, B. L. Waldron, M. R. Haferkamp, J. D. Berdahl, D. D. Baltensperger, Galen E. Erickson, Terry J. Klopfenstein

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

‘Newell’ (Reg. No. CV-275, PI 671851) smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss.) is a steppe or southern type cultivar that is primarily adapted in the United States to areas north of 40° N and east of 100° W that have 500 mm or more annual precipitation or in areas that have similar climatic conditions because of elevation or latitude. It was developed to replace ‘Lincoln’, which is the most widely used smooth bromegrass cultivar in the region, by improving its forage digestibility. Newell bromegrass was developed by four generations of population improvement breeding for in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) …

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Seasonal Variation In Vitamin D Status Of Beef Cattle Reared In The Central United States, E Casas, J D. Lippolis, L A. Kuehn, T A. Reinhardt Jan 2015

Seasonal Variation In Vitamin D Status Of Beef Cattle Reared In The Central United States, E Casas, J D. Lippolis, L A. Kuehn, T A. Reinhardt

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The objective was to retrospectively measure seasonal sunlight-associated variation in serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) in beef cattle. The concentration of 25OHD was measured in crossbred animals born from March to May in 2011 and 2012. Vitamin D status 2 to 3 mo after birth (period 1) was only available for 2012 calves and was measured in June 2012. Period 1 animals had serum 25OHD concentrations of 26.3 +- 1.5 ng/mL. The 25OHD concentrations for late summer (period 2) were 46.6 +- 1.4 and 51.0 +- 1.5 ng/mL for 2011 and 2012, respectively. Serum concentration of 25OHD in early …

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Non Destructive Testing Of Soft Body Armor, Karan Bhise Jan 2015

Non Destructive Testing Of Soft Body Armor, Karan Bhise

Open Access Theses

Pristine bullet proof vests are extremely effective at halting pre-determined projectile threats and have saved over 3000 lives. However, the effectiveness of these vests to halt a bullet is seen to decrease over time.Owing to the importance of bullet proof vests over a period of time, tests to determine their effectiveness have been carried out on every batch of vests at the time of inception and at certain time intervals by shooting a bullet through them. A few vests from every batch are picked up and shot at to check for bullet penetration during this process while these results are …

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Arabidopsis Myosin Is Involved In The Distribution And Dynamic Behavior Of The Cellulose Synthase Complex, Chao Cai Jan 2015

Arabidopsis Myosin Is Involved In The Distribution And Dynamic Behavior Of The Cellulose Synthase Complex, Chao Cai

Open Access Theses

Plant cells are encased in cell walls which are important for the growth and development of the organism. Primary cell wall consists mainly of polysaccharides with cellulose as the most abundant component. In plant cells, cellulose is synthesized by a plasma membrane (PM) localized protein complex called the cellulose synthase complex (CSC). It was previously reported that disrupting normal actin organization resulted in a reduction of cellulose content in Arabidopsis dark-grown seedlings. Furthermore, actin was found to facilitate the delivery of CSC into the PM, and inferred to be involved in endocytosis. As a motor protein that translocates cargo along …

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Estimating Phosphorus Removal By Steel Slag In A Flume Experiment: Effects Of Phosphorus Concentration And Subsurface Hydrological Condition, Isis Stacanelli Pires Chagas Jan 2015

Estimating Phosphorus Removal By Steel Slag In A Flume Experiment: Effects Of Phosphorus Concentration And Subsurface Hydrological Condition, Isis Stacanelli Pires Chagas

Open Access Theses

Excessive phosphorus (P) in water bodies is one of the most concerning water quality issues in the U.S., impacting public health, the environment and the economy. Managing excessive P is essential to reduce the incidence of environmental quality issues, such as eutrophication and harmful algal blooms. One potential strategy that is being developed for this purpose is the use of P sorption materials (PSMs) to sequester P from water systems, which is the objective of this study.

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Non Destructive Testing Of Soft Body Armor, Karan Bhise Jan 2015

Non Destructive Testing Of Soft Body Armor, Karan Bhise

Open Access Theses

Pristine bullet proof vests are extremely effective at halting pre-determined projectile threats and have saved over 3000 lives. However, the effectiveness of these vests to halt a bullet is seen to decrease over time.Owing to the importance of bullet proof vests over a period of time, tests to determine their effectiveness have been carried out on every batch of vests at the time of inception and at certain time intervals by shooting a bullet through them. A few vests from every batch are picked up and shot at to check for bullet penetration during this process while these results are …

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Estimating Phosphorus Removal By Steel Slag In A Flume Experiment: Effects Of Phosphorus Concentration And Subsurface Hydrological Condition, Isis Stacanelli Pires Chagas Jan 2015

Estimating Phosphorus Removal By Steel Slag In A Flume Experiment: Effects Of Phosphorus Concentration And Subsurface Hydrological Condition, Isis Stacanelli Pires Chagas

Open Access Theses

Excessive phosphorus (P) in water bodies is one of the most concerning water quality issues in the U.S., impacting public health, the environment and the economy. Managing excessive P is essential to reduce the incidence of environmental quality issues, such as eutrophication and harmful algal blooms. One potential strategy that is being developed for this purpose is the use of P sorption materials (PSMs) to sequester P from water systems, which is the objective of this study.

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Cover Crop Impacts On Soil Health Properties In Indiana, Holland Hauenstein Jan 2015

Cover Crop Impacts On Soil Health Properties In Indiana, Holland Hauenstein

Open Access Theses

Across the Midwestern United States, an increasing number of agricultural producers are recognizing the importance of a healthy soil to profitable, sustainable cropping systems. In contrast to conventional tillage, no-tillage management has been shown to increase soil organic matter and build soil structure over time. Cover crops have shown promise as favorable additions to no-tillage systems. The use of cover crops can benefit soil health by enhancing soil organic matter, scavenging nutrients, building soil structure, and reducing the potential for soil erosion. Common concerns regarding the use of cover crops include N immobilization, prohibitive establishment costs, and lack of knowledge …

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Mapping And Identification Of Increased Protein Digestibility In Sorghum, Moriah Massafaro Jan 2015

Mapping And Identification Of Increased Protein Digestibility In Sorghum, Moriah Massafaro

Open Access Theses

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench) is the world’s fifth most important cereal crop and a dietary staple for approximately 500 million people in over 30 countries of the Semi-Arid Tropics. Unlike other major cereals such as maize, sorghum becomes much less digestible after it is cooked in the presence of water, often providing as little as 20% of the available protein to the consumer. Digestibility appears to be under genetic control, although the specific details remain unclear. The goals of these studies were to identify sorghum cultivars that do not show this large decrease in digestibility after cooking and to …

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Effects Of Organic And Inorganic Selenium Supplementation During Late Gestation And Early Lactation On Beef Cow-Calf Performance, Christopher Robert Muegge Jan 2015

Effects Of Organic And Inorganic Selenium Supplementation During Late Gestation And Early Lactation On Beef Cow-Calf Performance, Christopher Robert Muegge

Open Access Theses

Angus x Simmental cows (n = 48, BW = 594 kg, BCS = 5.26, Age = 2.7), pregnant with male fetuses, were used to determine the effect selenium (Se) source during the last 80 d of gestation and first 108 d of lactation on progeny feedlot performance. At 203 d in gestation, cows were blocked by body weight, age, breed composition, and calf sire, and allotted to 1 of 3 treatments: no Se, inorganic Se, or organic Se. Maternal diets were formulated to contain 10.4% CP and 0.90 Mcal/kg NEg during gestation and 12.1% CP and 1.01 Mcal/kg NEg during …

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Constructing Action-Oriented Organizations: Examining The Relationship Between Individual And Organizational Identity, Virginia Sanchez Jan 2015

Constructing Action-Oriented Organizations: Examining The Relationship Between Individual And Organizational Identity, Virginia Sanchez

Open Access Theses

A majority of the research on social entrepreneurship focuses on stories about individual entrepreneurs (Bornstein & Davis, 2010) and the characteristics that make entrepreneurs and their nascent organizations successful (Renko, 2012); this study instead puts the focus on organizational founders and members in an attempt to analyze how they made sense of critical moments in the organization’s early history and stories that helped to shape the organization’s identity and individual members’ identities. A total of 8 interviews were conducted with members of two organizations. Cultivadores (pseudonym) is an organization focused on the creation of psychosocial processes within the rural community …

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Restricted Internalist Reliabilism, Hamed Tabatabaei Ghomi Jan 2015

Restricted Internalist Reliabilism, Hamed Tabatabaei Ghomi

Open Access Theses

I this paper, I introduce an internalist theory of justification which I call restricted internalist reliabilism. The main concern of the theory is to explain when a belief source, particularly perceptual experiences, can be a source of justification. I will discuss three alternative internalist theories: dogmatism, conservatism and internalist reliabilism and discuss objections and difficulties associated with each. I will then argue how restricted internalist reliabilism can address many of those objections. Also I present the response that each of these theories provide against the skeptic and argue for superiority of restricted internalist reliabilism’s response compared to the other three …

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From Traditional To Performance-Based Assessment: Student Perceptions And Implications Of A New Achievement Assessment In Introductory Japanese Courses, Namiko Uchida Jan 2015

From Traditional To Performance-Based Assessment: Student Perceptions And Implications Of A New Achievement Assessment In Introductory Japanese Courses, Namiko Uchida

Open Access Theses

Communicative language teaching in the early 1980s led to greater emphasis on the development of communicative ability and also increased interactive practice in classroom learning. However, in many communicative language programs today, large portions of periodic assessment do not necessarily reflect this pedagogical focus; instead, the traditional pencil-and-paper format is still in common use. Traditional written tests typically emphasize grammar and written language, and multiple-choice and cloze test items are often employed. In such formats, students are not required to demonstrate the oral skills they have acquired in the classroom; therefore, traditional written tests are not appropriate indicators of the …

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Assessing Public Attitudes Toward Endangered Freshwater Mussels, Belyna Marie Bentlage Jan 2015

Assessing Public Attitudes Toward Endangered Freshwater Mussels, Belyna Marie Bentlage

Open Access Theses

The Tippecanoe River, situated in northcentral Indiana, supports five federally endangered and one federally threatened species of freshwater mussels. Past overharvesting and present water quality degradation threaten the survivorship of these mussels. To increase awareness about the imperilment of the mussels, we are designing an outreach and education campaign. The first step of the campaign is to collect baseline data about riparian landowner attitudes toward the federally listed mussels. We surveyed 1804 landowners who own property along the Tippecanoe River. We found significant differences in attitudes among landowners based on their awareness of a conflict that occurred as a result …

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Press A To Retry: Teaching And Motivating Players Through Failure In Difficult Games, Anthony Bushner Jan 2015

Press A To Retry: Teaching And Motivating Players Through Failure In Difficult Games, Anthony Bushner

Open Access Theses

As video games have gained greater mainstream popularity over the last couple decades, the utility of difficulty and failure in games has shifted. In an effort to create games that are accessible to an ever-increasing population of potential customers, games have trended toward lower difficulty to accommodate new players. In response to this, independent designers have created games that return to the harsh difficulty of the arcade and console games of the 1980s which also include mechanics that maintain mainstream accessibility through alternative failure punishments. This thesis analyzes the design of commercially successful hyper-difficult games to determine how their mechanics …

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Evaluating The Walking Ability Of Pekin Ducks Using A Treadmill Performance Test, Christopher James Byrd Jan 2015

Evaluating The Walking Ability Of Pekin Ducks Using A Treadmill Performance Test, Christopher James Byrd

Open Access Theses

Reduced walking ability is one of the most important welfare concerns facing the commercial duck industry. This is due to the likelihood that impaired walking is associated with pain, and may inhibit a duck’s ability to reach needed resources, such as food and water. Additionally, ducks with severe walking impairments are culled from the flock, which poses an economic challenge for the producer. Therefore, strategies for evaluating reduced walking ability are important for monitoring the prevalence of affected ducks within a flock. Currently, gait scoring is the most popular method for assessing walking ability on-farm. Gait scoring requires an observer …

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Food Safety Research For Fresh Produce, Jun Won Chang Jan 2015

Food Safety Research For Fresh Produce, Jun Won Chang

Open Access Theses

Recent outbreaks and recalls associated with cantaloupe contaminated with Salmonella s.v. Typhimurium and Listeria monocytogenes have led to an increasing need for methods consumers can use at home to clean and sanitize cantaloupe before consumption. Hot water (82°C) and household chemicals, such as bleach, vinegar, iodine, salt and hydrogen peroxide, were tested to determine their efficacy for the reduction of S. Typhimurium and L. monocytogenes inoculated on cantaloupe surfaces. The hot water treatment was the most effective at reducing S. Typhimurium (3.8 log reduction) and L. monocytogenes (2.5 log reduction) on the cantaloupe surface.

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Impact Of Processing On Potato Phytochemicals, Amber Nicole Furrer Jan 2015

Impact Of Processing On Potato Phytochemicals, Amber Nicole Furrer

Open Access Theses

Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) are an important staple crop in both developed and developing countries around the world. These tubers offer an important source of nutrients, micronutrients, and health-promoting phytochemicals to the diet. However, reported content and process stability of phytochemicals in commercial potatoes and potato products is inconsistent. The objectives of this research were to compare phytochemical content in white/yellow and pigmented commercially relevant varieties, determine changes in phytochemical content of select potato varieties through commercial processing, and assess differences in phytochemical content between freshly “home” prepared and reconstituted, commercially processed white and sweet potato products. To carry out the …

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Non-Destructive Testing Of Defects In The Welds With Infrared Camera, Pu Wang Jan 2015

Non-Destructive Testing Of Defects In The Welds With Infrared Camera, Pu Wang

Open Access Theses

Non-destructive testing (NDT) is a challenging area of study in testing and quality control. Different from destructive testing, this new method can reduced scrap costs and testing procedures while increasing detection speed of a flaw.

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Evidence For A Mnemonic Benefit Of Animate-Object Interaction: Enhanced Retention From Animate Contact, Mindi Hope Cogdill Jan 2015

Evidence For A Mnemonic Benefit Of Animate-Object Interaction: Enhanced Retention From Animate Contact, Mindi Hope Cogdill

Open Access Theses

The importance of animacy has been discovered in the perception literature, the neuroscience literature, and most recently in the memory literature. However, little is known about the extent to which we track the things that agents come into contact with in the environment, and its implications for human memory. Our memory system has been shaped by natural selection to assist in our ability to survive long enough to reproduce our genes. One of the major evolutionary influences on our survival would have been our ability to track, monitor, and predict the behavior of other agents because an agent can be …

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The Effects Of Ozone Gas On The Common Bed Bug (Cimex Lectularius L.), James C. Feston Jan 2015

The Effects Of Ozone Gas On The Common Bed Bug (Cimex Lectularius L.), James C. Feston

Open Access Theses

Ozone gas is a strong oxidizing agent that is a naturally occurring component

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Estrogen, Muscle Damage, And The Repeated Bout Effect, Jennifer Hockemeyer Jan 2015

Estrogen, Muscle Damage, And The Repeated Bout Effect, Jennifer Hockemeyer

Open Access Theses

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate estrogen’s effect on markers of muscle damage and the repeated bout effect in women following multiple downhill runs. METHODS: Thirteen moderately trained females (VO2 max: 36-47 ml/kg/min), 18-35 years old, and who used hormonal contraception participated in the study. They completed two 40 min downhill runs (-10% grade) at 65-70% VO2 max during either the third week of hormone use (low estrogen group (LE), n=7) or the placebo week (high estrogen group (HE), n=6). Trials were separated by four weeks. Creatine kinase (CK) activity, pressure tolerance (front thigh, shin, and calf), …

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A Tread/Limb/Serpentine Hybrid Robot: Toward Hypermobility In Deconstructed Environments, Joshua Lane Jan 2015

A Tread/Limb/Serpentine Hybrid Robot: Toward Hypermobility In Deconstructed Environments, Joshua Lane

Open Access Theses

According to the Red Cross, an average of over 600 disasters and 100,000 associated deaths occur annually throughout the world. This frequency of disasters strains an already overburdened disaster response effort. In the first 48 hours of a rescue operation, it is estimated that a responder will get less than three hours of continuous sleep as they need to work at full force to set up the operation and begin work in the field. This leads to sleep deprivation during the most critical time for search and rescue of victims. Therefore, robots are greatly needed as a force multiplier in …

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Temporal Changes In Routine Health Markers And Their Association With Illness And Mortality Rates In Cats Naturally Infected With Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, Jamieson Nichols Jan 2015

Temporal Changes In Routine Health Markers And Their Association With Illness And Mortality Rates In Cats Naturally Infected With Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, Jamieson Nichols

Open Access Theses

Feline immunodeficiency virus is an important lentiviral infection in cats. Infection is life-long and results in immune compromise, increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections and early mortality. Infection is commonly referred to in three stages: acute, (asymptomatic) and end stage (symptomatic); although not all cats will progress to end stage disease. Acute infection lasts several months during which cats may have mild, transient anorexia, lethargy, fever, lymphadenomegaly and diarrhea. There is loss of mucosal and peripheral CD4 T cells, expansion of a subset of CD8 T cells, CD8βlow, and establishment of viremia during this period. Asymptomatic infection lasts a variable period …

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Investigating The Impact Of Visuohaptic Simulations For The Conceptual Understanding Of Electric Field For Distributed Charges, Uzma Abdul Sattar Shaikh Jan 2015

Investigating The Impact Of Visuohaptic Simulations For The Conceptual Understanding Of Electric Field For Distributed Charges, Uzma Abdul Sattar Shaikh

Open Access Theses

The present study assessed the benefits of a multisensory intervention on the conceptual understanding of electric field for distributed charges in engineering and technology undergraduate students. A novel visuohaptic intervention was proposed, which focused on exploring the forces around the different electric field configurations for distributed charges namely point, infinitely long line and uniformly charged ring. The before and after effects of the visuohaptic intervention are compared, wherein the intervention includes instructional scaffolding. Three single-group studies were conducted to investigate the effect among three different populations: (a) Undergraduate engineering students, (b) Undergraduate technology students and (c) Undergraduate engineering technology students …

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Augmenting Design Learning Through Computer-Aided Exploration, Anirudh Roshan Sriram Jan 2015

Augmenting Design Learning Through Computer-Aided Exploration, Anirudh Roshan Sriram

Open Access Theses

Much of engineering design courses are taught through the use of standard and simplified textbook problems that typically have a “correct” answer. In helping undergraduate students learn engineering design, it is very important that they explore scenarios that are realistic. A majority of the current educational methods and computer-based tools do not bridge the gap between the textbook problems and the real world and also lack affordances for design exploration. Although computational methods such as Finite Element Analysis (FEA) have this potential, they are hard to use and require the users to spend a significant effort in learning to use …

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Evaluating Engineering Learning And Gender Neutrality For The Product Design Of A Modular Robotic Kit, Ansh Verma Jan 2015

Evaluating Engineering Learning And Gender Neutrality For The Product Design Of A Modular Robotic Kit, Ansh Verma

Open Access Theses

The development of a system is informed from design factors in order to success- fully support the intended usability from the perceived affordances [1]. The theory of ‘Human Centered Design’ champions that these factors be derived from the user itself. It is based on exploiting these affordances that the boundary of technology is pushed to sometimes invent new methods or sometimes approach a problem from newer perspectives. This thesis is an example where we inform our design rationales from children in order to develop a gender neutral modular robotic toy kit.

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An Exploratory Study Of Client Culture, Meat Perceptions, Social Climate, And Information Preferences In Northwest Indiana Food Pantries, Amanda C. Gee Jan 2015

An Exploratory Study Of Client Culture, Meat Perceptions, Social Climate, And Information Preferences In Northwest Indiana Food Pantries, Amanda C. Gee

Open Access Theses

Food insecurity has been an increasingly important, and troubling, issue across the nation and world in the last 20 years. Definitions of food insecurity vary, but the core idea is that food insecure people are unable to acquire enough food to have a healthy life. Lack of dependable access to healthy food can lead to additional concerns. Visiting hunger-relief organizations is one of the primary coping strategies used by the food insecure. In the U.S., approximately 46.5 million individuals, or 17.5 million households – more than 14 percent of the population – used the hunger-relief network Feeding America in 2013. …

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The Impact Of Visual Style On User Experience In Games, Stephen A. Garver Jan 2015

The Impact Of Visual Style On User Experience In Games, Stephen A. Garver

Open Access Theses

The visual style in a game is an aspect of user experience that is often neglected in user experience studies in games. Visual style is often reflective of the tone that a game designer intends to convey or the assumption of what the intended audience would prefer, and it is an important aspect of how a player experiences a game. This thesis investigated how visual style impacts user experience, by observing user experience from two different approaches, moment and memory-based experiences (engagement and enjoyment), through the manipulation of style in a game. The manipulated aspects of visual style were color …

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Design And Evaluation Of A Primary / Secondary Pumping System For A Heat Pump Assisted Solar Thermal Loop, Kyle Gene Krockenberger Jan 2015

Design And Evaluation Of A Primary / Secondary Pumping System For A Heat Pump Assisted Solar Thermal Loop, Kyle Gene Krockenberger

Open Access Theses

A heat pump assisted solar thermal system was designed, commissioned, tested and analyzed over a period of two years. The unique system uses solar energy whenever it is available, but switches to heat pump mode at night or whenever there is a lack of solar energy. The solar thermal energy is added by a variety of flat plat solar collectors and an evacuated tube heat pipe solar collector. The working medium in the entire system is a 50% mixture of propylene glycol and water for freeze protection. During the design and evaluation the primary / secondary pumping system was the …

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