Michael Allard, Bassoon

Sonatine (1957) / Alexandre Tansman; Concerto in C Major RV 477 / Antonio Vivaldi; Tango Suite (1984) / Astor Piazzolla; arr. By Fraser Jackson; Concerto in Bb K. 191 / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozar

Interdependence of Flow and Shape Morphological Dynamics For Flow-Induced Erosion of Bluff Bodies

Flow-induced erosion encompasses all processes in which fluid-solid interactions result in the removal and transport of material from the solid. The removed material may change its physical state and/or chemical composition and may be redeposited onto the solid body or advected away by the fluid and deposited elsewhere. Common to all flow induced erosion processes is that they involve an eroding surface, and eroding agent, and a fluid flow which delivers the eroding agent to the eroding surface. Consequently, the study of erosion is difficult as it requires detailed knowledge of the material, mechanical, and/or thermophysical properties of the eroding surface; the transport mechanisms that deliver the eroding agent to the eroding surface; and the transport mechanisms that entrain and advect the eroded material into and within the fluid flow. This difficulty is compounded by the fact that that there is a feedback coupling between the eroding surface and the fluid dynamics that control the transport mechanisms important to erosion. Specifically, during erosion, surface morphological changes to the eroding surface will alter the flow field thereby increasing or decreasing the rate at which the eroding agent is delivered to the eroding surface. This in turn alters the surface morphology. Thus a complex feedback cycle exists between the fluid and surface dynamics. The study of this feedback cycle has received little attention in the fluid mechanics community. This relative neglect is understandable due to its non-equilibrium nature, yet surprising when one considers how much erosion by the action of a flow is an integral part of major scientific and engineering fields, for example geophysics, environmental, manufacturing, and aerospace. The underlying research objective of this dissertation is to better understand the two-way coupling between an eroding body and the surface flux of the eroding agent by evaluating the shape dynamics of eroding bluff bodies through the erosion process. The problem is challenging since, as described above, the surface flux of the eroding agent will vary as the surface morphology of the eroding body evolves. In order to investigate the complex interdependence between the flow and surface morphology of an eroding body during flow-induced erosion, physical ablation and dissolution experiments will be performed and existing numerical datasets will be analyzed to: (i) re-evaluate existing scaling laws regarding geometric properties (cross-sectional area, wetted perimeter, and curvature) of bluff bodies undergoing erosion in (a) uniform, unidirectional flow, (b) in spatially and temporally varying flow, and (c) in convectively driven flow; (ii) identify a shape parameter of the eroding surface that is well-correlated with local evolutional changes to the eroding agent surface flux; and (iii) develop a simple feedback erosion model that bypasses the fluid dynamics and adjusts the local eroding agent surface flux based on the evaluation of the identified shape parameter. The focus on the erosion of bluff bodies was chosen because, in principle, it is more amenable to the study of the erosion feedback cycle as the evolution of the shape dynamics and morphological changes to the surface of the eroding bluff body are a direct result of the, unknown, instantaneous magnitude of the local eroding agent surface flux. Since the evolution of the local eroding agent surface flux is a direct consequence of the feedback from the eroding surface on the flow dynamics, an improved understanding of the erosion feedback cycle is possible by evaluating only the morphological changes to the surface of the eroding bluff body

Speaker Sex Influences Processing of Grammatical Gender

A grant from the One-University Open Access Fund at the University of Kansas was used to defray the author’s publication fees in this Open Access journal. The Open Access Fund, administered by librarians from the KU, KU Law, and KUMC libraries, is made possible by contributions from the offices of KU Provost, KU Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Studies, and KUMC Vice Chancellor for Research. For more information about the Open Access Fund, please see http://library.kumc.edu/authors-fund.xml.Spoken words carry linguistic and indexical information to listeners. Abstractionist models of spoken word recognition suggest that indexical information is stripped away in a process called normalization to allow processing of the linguistic message to proceed. In contrast, exemplar models of the lexicon suggest that indexical information is retained in memory, and influences the process of spoken word recognition. In the present study native Spanish listeners heard Spanish words that varied in grammatical gender (masculine, ending in -o, or feminine, ending in -a) produced by either a male or a female speaker. When asked to indicate the grammatical gender of the words, listeners were faster and more accurate when the sex of the speaker “matched” the grammatical gender than when the sex of the speaker and the grammatical gender “mismatched.” No such interference was observed when listeners heard the same stimuli, but identified whether the speaker was male or female. This finding suggests that indexical information, in this case the sex of the speaker, influences not just processes associated with word recognition, but also higher-level processes associated with grammatical processing. This result also raises questions regarding the widespread assumption about the cognitive independence and automatic nature of grammatical processes

Web-Based Customizable Viewer for Mars Network Overflight Opportunities

This software displays a full summary of information regarding the overflight opportunities between any set of lander and orbiter pairs that the user has access to view. The information display can be customized, allowing the user to choose which fields to view/hide and filter. The software works from a Web browser on any modern operating system. A full summary of information pertaining to an overflight is available, including the proposed, tentative, requested, planned, and implemented. This gives the user a chance to quickly check for inconsistencies and fix any problems. Overflights from multiple lander/ orbiter pairs can be compared instantly, and information can be filtered through the query and shown/hidden, giving the user a customizable view of the data. The information can be exported to a CSV (comma separated value) or XML (extensible markup language) file. The software only grants access to users who are authorized to view the information. This application is an addition to the MaROS Web suite. Prior to this addition, information pertaining to overflight opportunities would have a limited amount of data (displayed graphically) and could only be shown in strict temporal ordering. This new display shows more information, allows direct comparisons between overflights, and allows the data to be manipulated in ways that it was unable to be done in the past. The current software solution is to use CSV files to view the overflight opportunities

Submanifolds, Isoperimetric Inequalities and Optimal Transportation

The aim of this paper is to prove isoperimetric inequalities on submanifolds of the Euclidean space using mass transportation methods. We obtain a sharp ?weighted isoperimetric inequality? and a nonsharp classical inequality similar to the one obtained by J. Michael and L. Simon. The proof relies on the description of a solution of the problem of Monge when the initial measure is supported in a submanifold and the final one supported in a linear subspace of the same dimension

Measurement errors in body size of sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) and their effect on stock assessment models

Body-size measurement errors are usually ignored in stock assessments, but may be important when body-size data (e.g., from visual sur veys) are imprecise. We used experiments and models to quantify measurement errors and their effects on assessment models for sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus). Errors in size data obscured modes from strong year classes and increased frequency and size of the largest and smallest sizes, potentially biasing growth, mortality, and biomass estimates. Modeling techniques for errors in age data proved useful for errors in size data. In terms of a goodness of model fit to the assessment data, it was more important to accommodate variance than bias. Models that accommodated size errors fitted size data substantially better. We recommend experimental quantification of errors along with a modeling approach that accommodates measurement errors because a direct algebraic approach was not robust and because error parameters were diff icult to estimate in our assessment model. The importance of measurement errors depends on many factors and should be evaluated on a case by case basis

Mars Express Forward Link Capabilities for the Mars Relay Operations Service (MaROS)

This software provides a new capability for landed Mars assets to perform forward link relay through the Mars Express (MEX) European Union orbital spacecraft. It solves the problem of standardizing the relay interface between lander missions and MEX. The Mars Operations Relay Service (MaROS) is intended as a central point for relay planning and post-pass analysis for all Mars landed and orbital assets. Through the first two phases of implementation, MaROS supports relay coordination through the Odyssey orbiter and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). With this new software, MaROS now fully integrates the Mars Express spacecraft into the relay picture. This new software generates and manages a new set of file formats that allows for relay request to MEX for forward and return link relay, including the parameters specific to MEX. Existing MEX relay planning interactions were performed via email exchanges and point-to-point file transfers. By integrating MEX into MaROS, all transactions are managed by a centralized service for tracking and analysis. Additionally, all lander missions have a single, shared interface with MEX and do not have to integrate on a mission-by mission basis. Relay is a critical element of Mars lander data management. Landed assets depend largely upon orbital relay for data delivery, which can be impacted by the availability and health of each orbiter in the network. At any time, an issue may occur to prevent relay. For this reason, it is imperative that all possible orbital assets be integrated into the overall relay picture

Mars Relay Lander and Orbiter Overflight Profile Estimation

This software allows science and mission operations to view graphs of geometric overflights of satellites and landers within the Mars (or other planetary) networks. It improves on the MaROS Web interface within any modern Web browser, in that it adds new capabilities to the MaROS suite. The profile for an overflight is an important element for selecting communication/ overflight opportunities between the landers and orbiters within the Mars network. Unfortunately, determining these estimates is very computationally expensive and difficult to compute by hand. This software allows the user to select different overflights (via the existing MaROS Web interface) and specify the smoothness of the estimation. Estimates for the geometric relationship between a lander and an orbiter are determined based upon the orbital conditions of the orbiter at the moment the orbiter rises above the horizon from the perspective of the lander. It utilizes 2-body orbital equations to propagate the trajectory through the duration of the view period, and returns profiles that represent the range between the two vehicles, and the elevation and azimuth angles of the orbiter as measured from the lander s position. The algorithms assume a 2-body relationship with an ideal, spherical planetary body, so therefore can see errors less than 2% at polar landing sites on Mars. These algorithms are being implemented to provide rough estimates rapidly for the geometry of a geometric view period where more complete data is unavailable, such as for planning purposes. While other software for this task exists, each at the time of this reporting has been contained within a much more complicated package. This tool allows science and mission operations to view the estimates with a few clicks of the mouse

Relay Forward-Link File Management Services (MaROS Phase 2)

This software provides the service-level functionality to manage the delivery of files from a lander mission repository to an orbiter mission repository for eventual spacelink relay by the orbiter asset on a specific communications pass. It provides further functions to deliver and track a set of mission-defined messages detailing lander authorization instructions and orbiter data delivery state. All of the information concerning these transactions is persisted in a database providing a high level of accountability of the forward-link relay process