Hosford-Abernethy Bicycle and Pedestrian Connections: An Alternative Routes Analysis Linking SE Clinton Street and the Eastbank Esplanade

SE Clinton is a popular bicycle route for commuter, utilitarian and recreational bicyclists that fails to provide a safe and direct connection to the Eastbank Esplanade and downtown Portland. Furthermore, residents in the Hosford-Abernethy and Brooklyn neighborhoods do not have a safe bicycle and pedestrian connection to access the Eastbank Esplanade. This gap in the bicycle and pedestrian network must be removed to serve the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians. This project presents four alternative bicycle and pedestrian routes that connect the Eastbank Esplanade and the SE Clinton bikeway through the Central Eastside Industrial District. Each alternative, with improvements, is evaluated based on five criteria, and a preferred route is recommended. This area is dominated by industrial land uses. Particular hazards to bicyclists and pedestrians include an active main line railroad corridor, a high volume of heavy truck traffic, and wide intersections designed to accommodate trucks. Recent literature and technical documents were reviewed to guide our assessment of the study area and formulation of five evaluation criteria. Existing conditions were documented, and four route alternatives were identified. Each route is described in full detail in the study. A preferred route was selected based on the evaluation criteria. The preferred route utilizes existing bicycle routes, wide sidewalks and signalized intersections, and avoids the most hazardous streets and intersections. A long term recommendation is made as well, which is largely dependent on changing land uses and the introduction of light rail in the railroad corridor. This project was conducted under the supervision of Connie Ozawa and Deborah Howe

A Review of the Rubicon Space Systems 5N Low Throughput ASCENT Thruster Development

The Propulsion division of Plasma Processes LLC was relaunched as Rubicon Space Systems with a mission to commercialize its line of thrusters and develop a line of propulsion systems for the small satellite industry. Rubicon\u27s thrusters and propulsion systems use ASCENT monopropellant, also known as AF-M315E, developed by AFRL enabling high performance and safer chemical propulsion technology alternative to hydrazine and other green propellants. With more than 30 years of combined experience in green propulsion and thousands of hours of thruster testing experience, Rubicon leads the world in the development and commercialization of ASCENT propulsion technology

Sprite, A Modular Template of In-Space Propulsion

Huntsville, AL is home to Plasma Processes, a materials company that creates high temperature material solutions for aerospace and defense applications. Their capabilities include several thermal spray coating techniques, near-net shape refractory metal fabrication, and an array of government and commercial customer entities. A Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract received in 2016 pushed the development of Plasma\u27s first fully integrated thruster assembly using component processes for thrust chambers, injector heads, and high temperature parts that Plasma creates daily for various entities. The thruster assembly used the ASCENT, or AF-M315E, propellant, which was first demonstrated on the Green Propulsion Infusion Mission (GPIM) that featured thrust chambers made by Plasma Processes. Plasma\u27s SBIR thruster assembly gained the attention of a NASA flight project after demonstrating the viability of the thruster. In 2021, twelve thrusters were delivered to the Lunar Flashlight mission, of which four thrusters launched in December 2022. The successful development of the 0.1N thruster thruster was a catalyst for new developments and growth. Rubicon Space Systems, a division of Plasma Processes LLC, was formed in mid-2022 to become the premiere manufacturer of ASCENT thrusters and propulsion systems. In development since early 2022, the Sprite propulsion system is a 1.5U fully enclosed, plug-and-play solution for SmallSats. Sprite targets missions in need of space propulsion collision avoidance, and de-orbit capabilities while providing over 1200 Ns of total impulse, the equivalent of 100 m/s of delta V to a 12U CubeSat. The system utillizes the green monopropellant ASCENT, or AF-M315E, to improve system performance and reduce propellant handling costs when compared to other industry-standard monopropellants. Sprite features a flight qualified 0.1N with space heritage, a fully integrated flight controller, heritage components such as valves that have been demonstrated on previous missions, and a fully additively manufactured structure. Commands and telemetry are transmitted over RS-422 to the spacecraft, and RS-485 communication allows up to 8 modules to be networked together for systems that require multiple thrusters. The Sprite propulsion system passed its Critical Design Review (CDR) in December 2022 and its first four engineering development units (EDUs) are expected to complete qualification efforts in Q3 2023. A Protoflight article will be delivered to NASA in Q1 of 2024

Development of a hybrid ion exchange-catalyst system to denitrify ion exchange waste brine

Nitrate is the most common groundwater contaminant in the United States and is regulated in drinking water by the EPA due to its harmful health impacts. Ion exchange (IX) is frequently used to treat nitrate and is very effective, but suffers from inefficiencies associated with the regeneration process. When the IX resin is saturated, it requires regeneration, which is accomplished through back-washing with a high-salt brine, which treatment plants use only one time prior to disposal. The cost of salt to make fresh brine and disposal requirements of waste brine are expensive processes for the water treatment plant. Additionally, this process merely transfers the nitrate to another phase (from resin to brine) rather than destroying it, leading to significant environmental impacts of the brine disposal process. Recently, a hybrid system that incorporates catalytic denitrification of IX waste brine has been shown to be technically feasible. Using a bimetallic palladium-indium on activated carbon catalyst, nitrate in waste brine can be selectively reduced to inert dinitrogen gas. This technology has the potential to significantly reduce the cost and environmental burden of the convention IX process for nitrate treatment. In order to improve the hybrid-IX system, the following research objectives were pursued: (1) Using an experimental and modeling approach, determine whether the accumulation of bicarbonate and sulfate in reused waste brine will negatively impact the hybrid system performance and model key IX system variables using a case-study approach, (2) Evaluate reactor performance in continuously stirred and fixed bed reactors; and optimize a fixed bed reactor to reduce hydrogen mass transfer limitations to the catalyst surface, and (3) Evaluate selectivity of Pd-In/AC catalyst using different reactor types and matrix conditions. A model of the IX-catalyst system was developed, calibrated and validated using experimental data. Results from modeling simulations show that concentrations of non-target ions like sulfate and bicarbonate will buildup in waste brines over repeated cycles of reuse, but this buildup will not negatively impact IX performance or lead to permanent deactivation of the Pd metal catalyst. IX columns were tested experimentally to verify the modeling results. The key IX variables evaluated using the model and case study approach based on data from Chino, CA were resin regeneration length, treatment time, and addition of make-up salt. Overall, salt costs and waste brine volumes can be decreased by up to 80% with the hybrid system. A fixed-bed catalytic reactor was used to evaluate a real brine from Chino, CA and demonstrated consistent reduction, however the overall activity was very low due to hydrogen mass transfer limitations. This led to prohibitively high predicted catalyst costs for a commercial-scale hybrid system, leading to a focus on reactor design in an attempt to reduce mass transfer limitations. Based on its significant use in industrial catalytic applications and the known ability to facilitate high mass transfer rates, a trickle bed reactor (TBR) was chosen as the new reactor design for use in the hybrid IX-catalyst system. The 2” ID TBR with two 10” beds of catalyst and recycling flow was designed in accordance with reactor design guidelines and evaluated across a range of liquid and gas superficial velocities. Synthetic waste brines were treated with two Pd-In/AC catalysts that had different support sizes. In comparison to a previously tested up-flow fixed-bed reactor, the same catalyst in the TBR demonstrated c. 300% higher activity. While the results showed a major step forward in reactor performance, the TBR activity was only 8.3% of the activity found in batch, indicating significant mass transfer limitations remained. The impact of catalyst dilution was evaluated in the TBR and had been previously shown to improve reactor performance. The catalyst was diluted at a ratio of 1 part catalyst : 2 parts inert support. Continuous flow experiments using the diluted TBR did not demonstrate better performance and, to the contrary, showed a significant decrease in selectivity of catalyst. The TBR with non-diluted catalyst resulted in c. 50% selectivity towards N2, which is the desired end product due to its inert nature. The TBR with 1:2 diluted catalyst resulted in selectivity of nearly 100% towards NH4+. To better understand reduction mechanisms and selectivity, a series of experiments were performed and it was found the support had no direct role in selectivity. Rather, the change in selectivity was due to high hydrogen concentrations on the catalyst surface. In the diluted catalyst bed, reactive metal surfaces were geographically dispersed, allowing more time for hydrogen mass transfer from the gas to liquid phase. This led to higher hydrogen concentrations on the catalyst surface, which altered the N:H ratio and shifted selectivity towards NH4+. In contrast, in the non-diluted catalyst bed, reactive metal surfaces are found throughout the reactor, leaving less time for hydrogen mass transfer and resulting in a lower concentration of hydrogen on each metal surface. Overall, this thesis advanced the state of the art for a hybrid IX-catalyst system and brought the system closer to economic feasibility. The modeling and experimental approaches served to more thoroughly evaluate the system and provide focus on the remaining barriers to increased improvement. This thesis also highlighted the critical role hydrogen mass transfer played as a barrier to a significant step forward in technology development. Reactor design contributed to improvements in the catalytic system, but were unable to completely overcome mass transfer limitations thus far. The findings from this thesis supported additional research directions regarding hydrogen delivery, reactor design and techno-economic analysis

Formidable Rivals: Canada, Australia, and the Pursuit of British Agricultural Migrants, 1896-1914

This thesis examines relations between Canadian and Australian colonial and federal governments between 1896 and 1914 when these governments formally pursued British agricultural migrants to satisfy their respective population and land settlement needs. It asks to what extent their concurrent initiatives to attract and secure this group meant that Canadian and Australian government representatives possessed an informed appreciation of each other’s policies and practices. It evaluates the impact of this circulation of idea and charts when and how this information was used by Canadian and Australian officials as they assiduously debated the shape and scope of their own internal operations. This thesis argues that the timing and scale of Canada and Australia’s efforts to secure British agricultural migrants, coupled with their shared position and participation within the British Empire during this period, encouraged interactions and connections between their representatives working in this space. Far from quiet reconnaissance, this highly mobile and connected network of government officials actively and willingly sought and shared information in a spirit of colonial comradery as they attempted to work out the best means for capturing this highly desired group of skilled migrants. Here the bonds of Empire could simultaneously and often paradoxically create moments of cooperation and competition between dominion representatives, reinforcing a relationship based on friendly rivalry. I demonstrate that Canada’s expansive federal campaign to attract British agricultural migrants from the mid-1890s onwards weighed heavily on the minds of Australian state and Commonwealth representatives, and in many ways informed and influenced the shape of their recruitment programmes nearly a decade later. Further to this, I show that Canadian representatives were willing to share their experiences with their Australian contemporaries, in part out of a common sense of Britishness but also because of a perceived lack of threat. It will be contended that by the second decade of the twentieth century when Australian programmes had developed into a highly coordinated and sophisticated campaign, some Canadian officials began to express quiet concern that Australia’s ‘emulation’ of Canadian methods could potentially threaten their own continued success in this space. This thesis is innovative in showing how ideas and information concerning government-led efforts to attract and secure British agricultural migrants for land settlement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries flowed within this network of dominion personnel and also across the British Empire, and the effect of this exchange of knowledge and experiences at a time when Britain’s dominions were beginning to assert greater internal control over this space than previously seen. In doing so, this thesis offers both comparisons and connections between Canada and Australia’s government-led activities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and contributes to the understanding of the dominions’ official encouragement of immigration and land settlement in this period.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 201

Mass of the B_c Meson in Three-Flavor Lattice QCD

We use lattice QCD to predict the mass of the $B_c$ meson. We use the MILC Collaboration's ensembles of lattice gauge fields, which have a quark sea with two flavors much lighter than a third. Our final result is $m_{B_c}=6304\pm12^{+18}_{- 0} MeV$. The first error bar is a sum in quadrature of statistical and systematic uncertainties, and the second is an estimate of heavy-quark discretization effects.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; shorten to fit in PRL; published versio

Catalytic leadership: How a president\u27s language influences national outcomes

This study investigated the extent to which potential-focused leader language (inclusive, future-focused, and honest) is catalytic. An analysis of US presidential speeches found language was related to historian ratings, unskilled worker wages, and an enduring legacy (internet and book references), but unrelated to social (e.g., patents) and societal (e.g., prison population) outcomes

Peer-Facilitated Cognitive Dissonance versus Healthy Weight Eating Disorders Prevention: A Randomized Comparison

Research supports the efficacy of both cognitive dissonance (CD) and healthy weight (HW) eating disorders prevention, and indicates that CD can be delivered by peer-facilitators, which facilitates dissemination. This study investigated if peer-facilitators can deliver HW when it is modified for their use and extended follow-up of peer-facilitated CD as compared to previous trials. Based on pilot data, we modified HW (MHW) to facilitate peer delivery, elaborate benefits of the healthy-ideal, and place greater emphasis on consuming nutrient dense foods. Female sorority members (N=106) were randomized to either two 2-hour sessions of CD or MHW. Participants completed assessment pre- and post-intervention, and at 8-week, 8-month, and 14-month follow-up. Consistent with hypotheses, CD decreased negative affect, thin-ideal internalization, and bulimic pathology to a greater degree post-intervention. Both CD and MHW reduced negative affect, internalization, body dissatisfaction, dietary restraint, and bulimic pathology at 14 months

A precise determination of the Bc mass from dynamical lattice QCD

We perform a precise calculation of the mass of the B_c meson using unquenched configurations from the MILC collaboration including 2+1 flavours of improved staggered quarks. Lattice NRQCD and the Fermilab formalism are used to describe the b and c quarks respectively. We find the mass of the B_c meson to be 6.304(16) GeVComment: Talk presented at Lattice2004(heavy), Fermilab, June 21-26. 3 pages, 2 figure

Design as conversation with digital materials

This paper explores Donald Schön's concept of design as a conversation with materials, in the context of designing digital systems. It proposes material utterance as a central event in designing. A material utterance is a situated communication act that depends on the particularities of speaker, audience, material and genre. The paper argues that, if digital designing differs from other forms of designing, then accounts for such differences must be sought by understanding the material properties of digital systems and the genres of practice that surround their use. Perspectives from human-computer interaction (HCI) and the psychology of programming are used to examine how such an understanding might be constructed.</p