Digital Commons Network^™

Towards Structuring Smart Grid: Energy Scheduling, Parking Lot Allocation, And Charging Management, Mehdi Rahmani-Andebili

All Dissertations

Nowadays, the conventional power systems are being restructured and changed into smart grids to improve their reliability and efficiency, which brings about better social, economic, and environmental benefits. To build a smart grid, energy scheduling, energy management, parking lot allocation, and charging management of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are important subjects that must be considered. Accordingly, in this dissertation, three problems in structuring a smart grid are investigated.

The first problem investigates energy scheduling of smart homes (SHs) to minimize daily energy consumption cost. The challenges of the problem include modeling the technical and economic constraints of the sources and …

Radiative Transfer Using Path Integrals For Multiple Scattering In Participating Media, Paul Michael Kilgo

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The theory of light transport forms the basis by which many computer graphic renderers are implemented. The more general theory of radiative transfer has applications in the wider scientific community, including ocean and atmospheric science, medicine, and even geophysics. Accurately capturing multiple scattering physics of light transport is an issue of great concern. Multiple scattering is responsible for indirect lighting, which is desired for images where high realism is the goal. Additionally, multiple scattering is quite important for scientific applications as it is a routine phenomenon. Computationally, it is a difficult process to model. Many have developed solutions for hard …

Complex Network Analysis And The Applications In Vehicle Delay-Tolerant Networks, Bo Wu

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Vehicle Delay Tolerant Networks (VDTNs) is a particular kind of Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs), where vehicles equipped with transmission capabilities are interconnected to form Vehicle NETworks (VNETs). Some applications and services on the top of VDTNs have raised a lot of attention, especially by providing information about weather conditions, road safety, traffic jams, speed limit, and even video streamings without the need of infrastructures. However, due to features such as high vehicle mobility, dynamic scenarios, sparsity of vehicles, short contact durations, disruption and intermittent connectivity and strict requirements for latency, many VDTNs do not present satisfactory performance, because no path …

The Bg News December 01, 2016, Bowling Green State University

BG News (Student Newspaper)

The BGSU campus student newspaper. December 01, 2016. Volume 96-Issue 30.

A Multi-Model Approach To Design A Robust Fixed-Order Controller To Improve Power System Stability, Abdlmnam Abdlrahem Abdlrahem

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The rapid increase in power system grid has resulted in additional challenges to reliable power transfer between interconnected systems of a large power network. Large-scale penetration of intermittent renewable energy increases uncertainty and variability in power systems operation. For secure operation of power systems under conditions of variability, it is imperative that power system damping controllers are robust. Electromechanical oscillations in the range of 0.2 Hz to 1 Hz are categorized as inter-area modes. These modes arise due primarily to the weak interconnections characterized by long transmission lines between different operating areas of an interconnected power system. One of the …

Characterizing The Performance Of A Ferrofluid-Based Electromagnetic Energy Harvester Under Direct And Parametric Excitations, Saad F. Alazemi

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When a container carrying a magnetized ferrofluid is subjected to external mechanical stimuli, the sloshing motion of the magnetized ferrofluid generates a time-varying magnetic flux, which can be used to induce an electromotive force in a coil placed adjacent to the container. This process generates an electric current in the coil, and therewith, can be used to transduce external vibrations into electric energy providing a unique approach for vibration energy harvesting using liquid-state transduction materials. As compared to traditional vibratory energy harvesters that employ soli transduction elements, this approach offers several advantages including, but not limited to, conformability to different …

Using Soil Conditioners To Improve Soil Physiochemical Properties And Agricultural Productivity In Libya, Gandura Abagandura

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The results of Libyan agricultural review confirmed that soil degradation and limited freshwater resources are the primary causes of the country’s dependence on food imports. The intrusion of the seawater into the groundwater is causing soils to become salt-affected. In addition, many crops in the country are susceptible to pests. The spatial distribution of soil degradation occurrence and type were predicted using regression models, estimating that 666 882 km2 (53.5 %) of Libyan soils are degraded with 46.4 % due to salinization, 6.4 % water erosion and 0.66 % wind erosion.

The majority of the soils in Libya are sandy …

Accelerating Big Data Analytics On Traditional High-Performance Computing Systems Using Two-Level Storage, Pengfei Xuan

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High-performance Computing (HPC) clusters, which consist of a large number of compute nodes, have traditionally been widely employed in industry and academia to run diverse compute-intensive applications. In recent years, the revolution in data-driven science results in large volumes of data, often size in terabytes or petabytes, and makes data-intensive applications getting exponential growth. The data-intensive computing presents new challenges to HPC clusters due to the different workload characteristics and optimization objectives. One of those challenges is how to efficiently integrate software frameworks developed for big data analytics, such as Hadoop and Spark, with traditional HPC systems to support both …

Effects Of Mismatched Math Self-Efficacy And Performance On Behaviors And Attitudes Of Engineering Students With Poor Math Preparation, Gustavo Moran

All Dissertations

This research is a sequential explanatory mixed methods study seeking to understand the influences of mathematics self-efficacy (math SE) on the behavior and attitudes of engineering students with poor math preparation behavior and attitudes in their first college math courses.

The quantitative phase of this research assessed the math SE of engineering students placed in non-college-level math courses at Clemson University. A total of 408 students completed a survey to classify their math SE level; based on the results of the quantitative data analysis, 11 engineering students were selected from different semesters between the Spring 2014 and Spring 2016 to …

Optimal Design Of Process Parameters During Laser Direct Metal Deposition Of Multi-Material Parts, Jingyuan Yan

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During the past few years, the need for multi-material parts or heterogeneous objects (HOs) has surfaced with the rapid growth of laser technology, material science and additive manufacturing techniques. Direct Metal Deposition (DMD) process, a metal based additive manufacturing technique, can locally deposit dissimilar metal powders to produce HOs as needed. While some theoretical and experimental studies have been conducted to investigate the DMD process, there are still some challenges such as the process parameters design, optimization, and adjustment during the fabrication of HOs that have not been well elucidated. This dissertation aims at developing the manufacturing science needed to …

Traffic Surveillance And Automated Data Extraction From Aerial Video Using Computer Vision, Artificial Intelligence, And Probabilistic Approaches, Xi Zhao

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In transportation engineering, sufficient, reliable, and diverse traffic data is necessary for effective planning, operations, research, and professional practice. Using aerial imagery to achieve traffic surveillance and collect traffic data is one of the feasible ways that is facilitated by the advances of technologies in many related areas. A great deal of aerial imagery datasets are currently available and more datasets are collected every day for various applications. It will be beneficial to make full and efficient use of the attribute rich imagery as a resource for valid and useful traffic data for many applications in transportation research and practice. …

Kernel Smoothing And Tolerance Intervals For Hierarchical Data, Christopher Wilson

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Multistage sampling is a common sampling technique in many studies. A challenge presented by multistage sampling schemes is that an additional random term should be introduced to the linear model. Observations are identically distributed but not independent, thus many traditional kernel smoothing techniques, which assume that the data is independent and identically distributed, may not produce reasonable estimates for the marginal density. Breunig (2001) proposed a method to account for the intra-class correlation leading to a complex bandwidth involving high order derivatives for bivariate kernel density estimate. We consider an alternative approach where the data are grouped into multiple random …

Instructional Coaches And The Development Of Relational Trust, Kristin Adams Schulze

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The position of instructional coach has become common in elementary schools, arising from calls for increased student achievement that originate from education policy and changing curriculum standards. Research in regards to the effectiveness of instructional coaches positively impacting classroom teaching is abundant. A key factor in the coach's ability to positively impact classroom instruction is the coach's interpersonal skills and ability to establish relational trust with classroom teachers. This trust is necessary to make changes in teachers' practice, yet little is known about how coaches establish this trust with teachers. Therefore, this study will extend the literature by filling in …

Formulation Of An Interactive Ruled-Based Design Envelope For Ensuring Aftermarket Vehicle Dynamics Compliance, Xianjie Zhou

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The objective of this research is to develop an integrated system engineering methodology for the customization design to maximize vehicle performance upgrade freedom while ensuring vehicle dynamics compliance. A post-delivery modification framework, which is led by an aftermarket umbrella organization and involve various stakeholders has been established. The umbrella organization will be in charge of developing the design envelope and distribute to various aftermarket kit suppliers to generate specific products according to their brand essence. A generic mathematical representation of a (proprietary) ESC system has been developed for virtual certification purposes. This approach is a cost-effective alternative to physical on-road …

Efficient Analytics For Large Implicit Correlation Networks, Raghuveer Mohan

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Large “correlation”-type networks have applications in machine learning, data mining and analysis of large biological networks. These networks contain short length-k (on the order of thousands) feature vectors for every node in the network that describe the characteristic or behavior of that node. Edges between nodes are expressed as correlations, partial correlations or coherence between the corresponding feature vectors. If the number of nodes n is too large (on the order of millions), then the dense correlation network with size n×n is computationally infeasible even to explicitly store in memory, let alone to use for computation of standard network analytics …

Characterization And Modeling Of Bond-Loss Behavior In Pretensioned Concrete I-Girders, Behnam Naji

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Bond-loss failures have been widely observed in load tests of precast-pretensioned concrete I-girders. This type of failure is associated with shear cracking near the support that interrupts anchorage of the strands, leading to loss of bond and slipping of the strands relative to the concrete. It has been experimentally demonstrated that this failure type can occur at load levels that are lower than the nominal shear and flexural capacities. Because bond loss can be the controlling factor for structural capacity, it is critical that strand anchorage be considered when detailing and calculating the capacity of I-girder end regions. This dissertation …

Conjugated Polymers Under Confinement: Molecular Dynamics Simulations Study, Sabina Maskey

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The conformations and dynamics of luminescent polymers, polymeric nanoparticles or polydots and polymers grafted onto inorganic nanoparticles using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation have been studied. Rigidity of the backbones of polymers effects their properties. Model polymer, dialkyl poly para phenylene ethynylene (PPE), comprises rigid backbones substituted by flexible side chains. The degree of conjugation of these polymers depends on the conformation of their backbones, which in turn affects their electronic and luminescence characteristics. The results of single chain of PPEs followed by polydots and polymers grafted onto inorganic nanoparticles. PPEs as a function of molecular weight and the nature of …

Tunable Copper Microstructures In Blanket Films And Trenches Using Pulsed Electrodeposition, James Marro

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Copper interconnects in microelectronics have long been plagued with thermo-mechanical reliability issues. Control over the copper deposition process and resulting microstructure can dictate its material properties and reduce stresses as well as defects that form in the copper. In this thesis, pulse electrodeposition processing parameters were evaluated for their impact on the copper microstructure (grain size, texture, and twin density and stress state) through electron backscattering diffraction and wafer curvature measurements. Varying levels of constraint were also investigated for their effect on the copper microstructure to better understand the microstructures of more complex three-dimensional interconnects. Highly texture blanket copper films …

Fluorescent Methods For Investigating Metabolic Processes In Trypanosoma Brucei, Sheng Lin

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Trypanosoma brucei is a unicellular kinetoplastid protozoan that is the causative agent of Human African Trypanosomiasis, or Sleeping Sickness. Combating these protozoan pathogens presents an ongoing challenge due to their efficient immune evasion strategies, lack of effective vaccines, poor drugs and emerging drug resistance, and the general lack of knowledge of their unique biological processes. Among one of the most important biological pathways for kinetoplastid protozoans is the synthesis of ATP from glucose within glycosome organelles. Glycosomes are related to mammalian peroxisomes, but differ in having a fully compartmentalized glycolysis pathway in addition to basic peroxisomal functions. While equivalent processes …

The Intentionality Of Coaching Responses: Connecting Stances To Practices, Leigh Martin

All Dissertations

Limited research exists that highlights instructional coaching practices associated with teacher learning, practice, and student learning (McGatha, Davis, & Stokes, 2015; Gibbons & Cobb, 2011). This study investigates coaching as a high-leverage strategy for mathematics teacher learning as a way to contribute to this research base. My study examines one coach's practices with two different teachers in order to respond to questions in the field about the decision-making processes of coaches. More specifically, this study examines how one coach determined which practices to use and the ways in which one coach adapted her practices with teachers. This dissertation seeks to …

Me Of The Lowercase Variety: Reflections On The American Dream, Power, Privilege, And Self, Jared M. Halter

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This critical qualitative, autoethnographic research project explored how i came to understand the American dream through stories shared with me during semi-structured interviews, scholarly literature, and my own lived experience. i utilized critical reflexivity to examine the ways in which race, gender, and class appear in a person's understanding of their life and the American dream. Critical whiteness theory, critical race theory and critical race feminism, and structuralist constructivism guided my understanding of the American dream and how it influences the ways in which individuals and i understand our lives. Through what i learned, i discuss how the American dream …

Solution Processed Solar Cells, Yi Jin

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Photovoltaics have experienced a rapid development in the device structure, material process and efficiency in the past decade. Here, uniform, fully converted CH₃NH₃PbI₃ films were synthesized at room temperature by converting PbI₂ in a saturated solution of CH₃NH₃I in 2-propanol/hexane (cyclohexane). Solar cells with a structure of ITO/ZnO/CH₃NH₃PbI₃/graphite/carbon black electrode were fabricated by spin coating at ambient conditions. The best device yielded 10.2% power conversion efficiency. PbI₂-based photovoltaic devices having ITO/ZnO (or WO₃) /PbI₂/graphite (or without graphite) /carbon …

Characterization And Modeling Of Deformation, Springback, And Failure In Advanced High Strength Steels (Ahsss), Jun Hu

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New generations of advanced high strength steels (AHSSs), expected with tension strength exceeding 1000 MPa, sufficient cold-stamping ductility, and low-alloyed microstructure, are being highly sought for automotive lightweighting applications without compromising on neither performance nor cost standards. From the standpoint of metallurgy, the most straightforward solution is to realize complex microstructures in the new AHSSs with significant fractions of the strongest ferrous phase, martensite, in combination with the most ductile phase, austenite. Nevertheless, the preliminary-developed new AHSSs exhibit unique and complex deformation, failure, and springback characteristics compared with the conventional steel grades, which thereby bring significant challenges to the current …

Release And Degradation Of Microcystin-Lr Following Exposures Of Microcystis To Copper-Based Algaecides, Kyla Iwinski

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Microcystins (MCs) are hepatotoxic endotoxins produced by cyanobacteria such as Microcystis that can cause both ecological and human health risks, as well as economic losses in freshwater resources. The use of copper-based algaecides to manage MC-producing cyanobacteria is sometimes limited due to perceived risks of MC release from cyanobacterial cells and persistence of toxins in water resources. The aim of this research was to investigate the influence of copper concentration and form on MC release and persistence, as well as potential consequences of “no-action” management decisions (i.e. no treatment). To achieve these objectives, a tiered approach was employed utilizing both …

Solutions To Spatial And Computational Challenges For Large-Landscape Conservation Planning, Paul Leonard

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Systematic conservation planning is a fertile scientific discipline capable of examining global natural resource threats including land cover conversion, habitat fragmentation, biodiversity loss, and climate change. Many of these threats are acting in concert to accelerate the rate of change which increases the urgency of action. The scale of these changes creates unique spatial analysis and computational challenges. This study was designed to address several of these challenges pertaining to the analyses of publically protected areas, habitat connectivity, and private lands conservation. I examine how using high-throughput and high-performance computing helps conservation practitioners ask and solve larger ecological questions. I …

Understanding The Transcriptional Landscape Of Chinese Hamster Ovary (Cho) Cell Lines Using Next-Generation Sequencing Technology, Rna-Seq, Under Industrially Relevant Conditions, Yogender Kumar Gowtham

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Recombinant therapeutic proteins are widely used to treat life-threatening diseases including cancer. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells have been used for over 25 years in the biopharmaceutical industry to produce recombinant therapeutics, where CHO cells produce almost one in three of the manufactured recombinant therapeutics. CHO cell lines are the preferred host for protein expression due to their ability to produce human-compatible protein glycosylation, mediate protein folding, ease of culturing in large-scale bioreactors and protein expression stability. However, several limitations exist in CHO cell bioprocessing, including low protein yields, resulting in high market prices of the biopharmaceuticals. Understanding of CHO …

Ceramic Thin Films With Embedded Magnetic Nanofibers Or Nanorods Of Controlled Orientations, Zhaoxi Chen

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Ceramic thin films embedded with oriented magnetic nanofibers or nanorods are highly demanded for the applications in remote sensing, electromagnetic shielding, and thermal management at high temperatures. The general strategy for developing ceramic composite thin films with aligned magnetic nanorods or nanofibers has not been developed yet. This dissertation is centered on fundamentally understanding a sol-gel and polymer-based route towards creation of ceramic thin films with aligned magnetic nanostructures. The topics cover fabrication and properties of ceramic and ceramic-based nanofibers, precipitating magnetic nanoparticles within ceramic fibers, aligning and embedding nanofibers or nanorods within ceramic films, and preventing cracking during the …

On The Modal Effective Nonlinearity Of A Class Of Tapered-Cantilever Beams, Clodoaldo Jose Da Silva

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The objective of this dissertation is to investigate the influence of i) higher-order nonlinearities, and ii) assumed mode discretization on the approximate modal effective nonlinearity associated with the flexural response of thin metallic cantilever beams of a constant thickness and a linearly-varying width. To this end, in the first part of this dissertation, a nonlinear model of an Euler-Bernoulli metallic cantilever beam with an arbitrarily variable cross-section is derived. Unlike the common literature wherein the Lagrangian is truncated using a fourth-order Taylor series; here the series is truncated at the eighth order to study the influence of higher-order nonlinearities on …

Where Cultures Collide: Hispanic Family Involvement In Education Among Different Socioeconomic Groups, Holly M. Grover

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This dissertation explores from a cultural perspective how socioeconomic status influences Hispanic family involvement in a student's education. Specifically, the study examined types of family involvement practices common to Hispanic families in high and low socioeconomic groups, how much these practices influence student outcomes, and the mechanisms through which involvement is related to student outcomes. Information for a nationally representative stratified probability sample of more than 1600 Hispanic students and their families was obtained from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, utilizing information from waves in 2002, 2004, and 2006. A Structural Equation Model evaluated the relationship between family involvement …

Glycosome Heterogeneity, Dynamics, And Er Association In Trypanosoma Brucei, Sarah Twitty Bauer

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Trypanosomatid parasites, including Trypanosoma and Leishmania, are the causative agents of lethal diseases threatening millions of people around the world. These organisms compartmentalize glycolysis in essential, specialized peroxisomes called glycosomes. Peroxisome proliferation can occur through growth and division of existing organelles and de novo biogenesis from the endoplasmic reticulum. The level that each pathway contributes is debated. Current evidence supports the concerted contribution of both mechanisms in an equilibrium that can vary depending on environmental conditions and metabolic requirements of the cell. Homologs of a number of peroxins, the proteins involved in peroxisome biogenesis and matrix protein import, have …