Sizing A New Bike Sharing System For The University Of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nesley Orochena

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The strategic planning objectives for a novel Bike Sharing Systems (BSS) are to locate the BSS stations, size the stations, and determine the bicycle fleet size, among others. Current guidelines to design BSS programs are tailored to city centers with large coverage areas and high bicycle to population ratios, and thus not directly transferable to a university setting. An ordered probit model was created using data from a university online stated preference survey to determine the key factors that affect the uptake rates for the UNLV BSS program and to estimate the potential demand. The demand analysis was incorporated into …

A Game Modeling Of A Closed-Loop Supply Chain In A Water-Energy Nexus: Technology Advancement, Market Competition And Capacity Limit, Nabeel Hamoud

Theses and Dissertations

Water and energy are two scarce and concerning resources interconnected in the water-energy nexus. In the nexus, production of energy needs water, and production of water needs energy. For better management of these resources in the nexus, this research considers a supply chain that consists of water suppliers, power suppliers, and consumers of these commodities. In the chain, water suppliers purchase power from power suppliers, and power suppliers purchase water from water suppliers. Other consumers can also buy these resources at the water and power markets. Each firm tries to maximize its own profit. The suppliers of water and power …

Potable Water Leakage Prediction And Detection Using Geospatial Analysis, Jacob Tittle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to increasing water treatment costs and conservation needs, traditional water loss analysis and acoustic leak detection methods are becoming heavily scrutinized by water utilities. This study explores water loss in Johnson City, Tennessee and how geospatial data analysis techniques improve water loss mitigation. This project uses sample water system pressure data and ordinary kriging spatial interpolation methods to identify leakage areas for further investigation. Analysis of existing geographic information system (GIS) water utility datasets with interpolated hydraulic grade values at sample water pressure points produce manageable survey areas that pinpoint areas with possible water leakage. Field detection methods, including …

Load Flow Analysis Of 138/69kv Substation Using Electrical Transient & Analysis Program (Etap), Vanessa Abadia Gomez

Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper examines the load flow analysis of a high-voltage substation using ETAP, and explores options for improving the voltage profile of the system. This study yields critical information about the system, such as the voltage drop at each feeder, the voltage at each bus, as well as real and reactive power losses at the different branches and feeders. In this power flow examination, the system’s performance is evaluated for different operating conditions, so that control measurements can be applied if necessary. The experimental results are used for proposing a plan of using fixed and switched shunt capacitor banks to …

Exploratory Learning Activities In The Physics Classroom: Contrasting Cases Versus A Rich Dataset., Campbell Rightmyer Bego

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In exploratory learning, students engage in an exploration activity on a new topic prior to instruction. This inversion of the traditional tell-then-practice order has been shown to benefit learning outcomes, especially conceptual knowledge and preparation for future learning, but not always. In three studies, the current work examines whether the type of exploration activity impacts learning mechanisms and outcomes, on the topic of gravitational field in undergraduate physics classrooms. Activities using either contrasting cases (CC) or a rich dataset (RD) are compared in two instructional orders, explore-first (EF) and instruct-first (IF). Learning outcomes measured procedural knowledge, conceptual knowledge, and performance …

Suitability Assessment For Integrated Urban Development In Makkah City Of Saudi Arabia, Mislat Alotaibi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Makkah – the third most populated city in Saudi Arabia with a population of 1,684,408 according to the 2010 demographic survey conducted by the Saudi General Authority for Statistics – is experiencing urban sprawl, which can be defined as an unplanned urban expansion that might degrade the environment and diminish the aesthetic view. This is a persisting problem in Makkah driven by multitude of processes involving the random expansion in its undeveloped land and the removal of its historic mountains surrounding Al-Masjid Al-Haram (the Holy Mosque) in an attempt to push the city limit of urban capacity within its administrative …

Contributions Of Role-Playing Games: Advantages Of Incorporating Social Media In Disaster Response, Erin Mullin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

After a disaster, emergency managers need to know who needs help, what type of help they need, and how soon they need it. Traditionally, they have relied on 911 calls and ground assessments to collect this information. Because the needs of a population are not able to be identified in a timely manner by ground assessments and because individuals are often unable to get through to 911, many civilians in distress turn to social media outlets as a last-ditch effort to obtain the services they need. Due to the uncertainty concerning the accuracy of social media posts, responding to disaster …

Trajectory Based Traffic Analysis And Control Utilizing Connected Autonomous Vehicles, Yu Wang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent scholars have developed a number of stochastic car-following models that have successfully captured driver behavior uncertainties and reproduced stochastic traffic oscillation propagation. While elegant frequency domain analytical methods are available for stability analysis of classic deterministic linear car-following models, there lacks an analytical method for quantifying the stability performance of their peer stochastic models and theoretically proving oscillation features observed in the real world. To fill this methodological gap, this study proposes a novel analytical method that measures traffic oscillation magnitudes and reveals oscillation characteristics of stochastic linear car-following models. We investigate a general class of stochastic linear car-following …

Dynamic Prediction Of Runway Configuration And Airport Acceptance Rate, Yuan Wang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Automated prediction of runway configuration and airport capacity is critical for the future generation of air traffic management. In the future aviation industry, multi-sources weather forecast information will be available for air traffic decision-making units; how to use these data efficiently is key for overall efficiency of air traffic management. Currently, air traffic management personnel lack tools to assist them to translate weather forecast data into real-time airport capacity. Runway configurations and AARs of airports in a multi-airport system are determined by different air traffic controller personnel. The lack of synchronization may lead to the loss of efficiency of the …

Comparative Assessment Of Downscaling Methods And Application Towards Analysis Of Climate Change Impact On Urban Regions, Markus Eichenbaum

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Global climate models (GCM) are sophisticated numerical models used to make long term climate projections. However, the resolution of their output is too coarse for climate change related local impact studies on urban regional scales. Downscaling efforts are taken to address this and increase GCM projection resolution. Physical Scaling (SP) downscaling methodology attempts to incorporate the physical basis of dynamical downscaling efforts with the computational efficiency of statistical methods. In this study, North American Regional Reanalysis surface skin temperature and precipitation data for a 1°x1° region centered on Houston, TX are downscaled to a resolution of 500m via SP and …

Exploratory Study On Applying Systems Thinking To Examine Safety In Navy / Coast Guard / Commercial Shipping Operations, Seth Anthony Dzakpasu

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of Ammonia Ignition As A Maritime Fuel, Using Engine Experiments And Chemical Kinetic Simulations, Abubakar Mahmud Sheriff, Abdoulaye Tall

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Factors Influencing Retirement Decision Making For Louisiana State Government Employees, Osama A. Amous

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Public pension members continually face factors affecting their decision to retire in the changing American society. Workers are living longer and need more medical care with better retirement benefits. For Louisiana public employees specifically, no prior studies have examined the factors affecting workers’ decision to retire nor evaluated the factors impacting workers’ decision.

This multiphase study aimed to identify factors and evaluate the decision-making process that enables Louisianans to retire happily and satisfied with a guaranteed income, and to examine millennials’ decision-making process. In the initial phase, ten active and retired male and female participants answered questions in-person, leading …

Modeling Social Learning: An Agent-Based Approach, Erika G. Ardiles Cruz

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Learning is the process of acquiring or modifying knowledge, behavior, or skills. The ability to learn is inherent to humans, animals, and plants, and even machines are provided with algorithms that could mimic in a restricted way the processes of learning. Humans learn from the time they are born until they die because of a continuous process of interaction between them and their environment. Behavioral Psychology Theories and Social Learning Theories study behavior learned from the environment and social interactions through stimulus-response. Some computer approaches to modeling human behavior attempted to represent the learning and decision-making processes using agent-based models. …

Research On The Planning Of Ships’ Routeing System In The Eastern Bohai Waters, Wenyu Lyu

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Safety Assessment Based On Fahp For Marine Traffic Of Important Channel Waters, Qiang Liu

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Research On Ship Pilotage Risk Management And Decision Making In Guangzhou Port, Gengshuo Yan

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Research On Optimization Of The Ship Routeing System In Qiongzhou Strait, Qifu Wang

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Study On The Reduction Of Carbon Emission，Results From The Vehicles In The Shanghai Port’S Container Collection And Distribution System, Chaofeng Chen

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Optimization Of The Dedicated Corridor System Connecting Bohai Rim Gateways, Xinyi Shi

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Research On Double-Stack Container Transport Organization In International Multimodal Transport, Xi Zhu

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Equilibrium Modeling And Policy Analysis Of A Biofuel Supply Chain With A Hydroelectric Reservoir, Jinwoo Bae

Theses and Dissertations

This research proposesd a game theoretic model of a biofuel supply chain (BSC) where a utility company supplies reservoir water to two farmers, located in downstream and upstream of a hydropower dam. The decision-making process of the model is formulated as a three-stage Stackelberg game. We analyze the equilibrium of the decentralized systems and the effect of the government subsidy on energy crop (switchgrass) production for cellulosic biofuel industries, with two forms of subsidy: (1) discriminated subsidies and (2) equalized subsidies.

The results show that both forms of subsidy improve social welfare in the BSC unless the amount of subsidy …

Investigation Of The Effect Of Age On Regenerative Outcomes Following Treatment Of Volumetric Muscle Loss Injuries, John Taehwan Kim

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Volumetric muscle loss (VML) is a traumatic injury in skeletal muscle resulting in the bulk loss of more than 20% of the muscle’s volume. Included in the bulk loss of muscle is the skeletal muscle niche comprised of nerve bundles, vasculature, local progenitor cells, basal lamina, and muscle fibers, overwhelming innate repair mechanisms. The hallmark of VML injury is the excessive accumulation of non-contractile, fibrotic tissue and permanent functional deficits. Though predominant in the younger demographic, the elderly population is also captured within VML injuries. There are many factors that change with aging in skeletal muscle that may further hinder …

A Methodology To Measure The Impact Of Diversity On Cybersecurity Team Effectiveness, Caralea May Cornel

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, the definition of cybersecurity professional has been diluted to include more individuals, particularly women, to be included. Depending on the definition used, women currently comprise between 11% and 25% of the cybersecurity workforce. While multiple studies have indicated the benefits to diverse teams, research in the cybersecurity area is lacking.This research proposes a framework that uses a modified escape-the-room gamified scenario to measure the effectiveness of cybersecurity teams in technical problem-solving. The framework presents two routes, incident response and penetration testing, the participants can choose. In a preliminary study, this framework is used to show the combination …

Statistical Learning Of Biomedical Non-Stationary Signals And Quality Of Life Modeling, Mahdi Goudarzi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Statistical learning is a set of tools for modeling and understanding complex datasets. It is a recently developed area in statistics and blends with parallel developments in computer science and, in particular, machine learning.

The classification of biomedical non-stationary signals such as Electroencephalogram (EEG) is always a challenging problem due to their complexity. The low spatial resolution on the scalp, curse of dimensionality, poor signal-to-noise ratio are disadvantages of working with biomedical signals. EEG signals are unstructured data which needs preprocessing steps to extract informative features which are measurable and predictive. In the first two chapters of this dissertation, EEG …

The Resilient City: A Platform For Informed Decision-Making Process, Jarutpong Vasuthanasub

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As over half of the world’s population lives in cities, the rapid growth in urbanization has made cities become more and more exposed and vulnerable to a broad spectrum of threats and hazards. In order to respond to such difficulties, a concept of resilience is considered a significant component for the long-term planning and sustainable development of cities. “Resilient City” is a new paradigm that challenges the idealistic principle of stability and resistance to change implicitly in sustainable development and long-term success. However, building a resilient city requires a holistic approach, as well as the appropriate adoption of knowledge and …

Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach For Lagrangian Control: Improving Freeway Bottleneck Throughput Via Variable Speed Limit, Reza Vatani Nezafat

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Connected vehicles (CVs) will enable new applications to improve traffic flow. The focus of this dissertation is to investigate how reinforcement learning (RL) control for the variable speed limit (VSL) through CVs can be generalized to improve traffic flow at different freeway bottlenecks. Three different bottlenecks are investigated: A sag curve, where the gradient changes from negative to positive values causes a reduction in the roadway capacity and congestion; a lane reduction, where three lanes merge to two lanes and cause congestion, and finally, an on-ramp, where increase in demand on a multilane freeway causes capacity drop. An RL algorithm …

Developing Algorithms To Detect Incidents On Freeways From Loop Detector And Vehicle Re-Identification Data, Biraj Adhikari

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A new approach for testing incident detection algorithms has been developed and is presented in this thesis. Two new algorithms were developed and tested taking California #7, which is the most widely used algorithm to date, and SVM (Support Vector Machine), which is considered one of the best performing classifiers, as the baseline for comparisons. Algorithm #B in this study uses data from Vehicle Re-Identification whereas the other three algorithms (California #7, SVM and Algorithm #A) use data from a double loop detector for detection of an incident. A microscopic traffic simulator is used for modeling three types of incident …

Statistical Anomaly Detection And Mitigation Of Cyber Attacks For Intelligent Transportation Systems, Ammar Haydari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Secure vehicular communication is a critical factor for secure traffic management. Perfect security in intelligent transportation systems (ITS) has solid and efficient intrusion detection systems (IDS). In this paper, we consider false data injection attacks and distributed denial-ofservice attacks (DDoS), especially the stealth low-rate DDoS attacks, targeting the integrity and availability, respectively, in vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANET). Novel statistical intrusion detection and mitigation techniques are proposed for the considered attacks. The performance of the proposed methods are evaluated using a traffic simulator and a real traffic dataset. Comparisons with the state-of-the-art solutions clearly demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed …

Steady State Hydroplaning Risk Analysis And Evaluation Of Unsteady State Effects, Menna Yassin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hydroplaning is a major concern on high speed roadways during heavy rainfall events. Hydroplaning tools are widely used by designers to reduce their roadway’s hydroplaning potential, therefore reducing the possibilities of severe crashes. This dissertation presents two methodologies for improving the prediction of hydroplaning potential.

The first phase focused on improving an existing widely used software called PAVDRN. Using multiple datasets from the Florida Department of Transportation, the author filtered the data using specific criteria to leave only truly dynamic hydroplaning crashes. The author then evaluated PAVDRN’s prediction capabilities and assessed its reliability in predicting a hydroplaning crash. Using past …