Staying Alive - The Plight of Our Older Homeless in Syracuse, New York

The purpose of this project is to explore the services needed by elders who first became homeless in later life. The U.S. Census Bureau projects the elderly homeless population will increase by 33 percent by 2020. Compared with younger counterparts, older homeless people are more isolated and refuse to use traditional services. Findings from surveys, observations and interviews suggest mobile outreach is an efficient strategy to reach out to homeless people. For my design, I focused on creating a mobile service system to help later life older homeless persons to connect to the housing and services and then assisting them back to life. A public bus service system I designed called Sunshine” provides service connections to later life older homeless people. Even if some of them refuse to use regular services, Sunshine will help them to live better lives on the street

Double Hopf bifurcation of a diffusive predator–prey system with strong Allee effect and two delays

In this paper, we consider a diffusive predator–prey system with strong Allee effect and two delays. First, we explore the stability region of the positive constant steady state by calculating the stability switching curves. Then we derive the Hopf and double Hopf bifurcation theorem via the crossing directions of the stability switching curves. Moreover, we calculate the normal forms near the double Hopf singularities by taking two delays as parameters. We carry out some numerical simulations for illustrating the theoretical results. Both theoretical analysis and numerical simulation show that the system near double Hopf singularity has rich dynamics, including stable spatially homogeneous and inhomogeneous periodic solutions. Finally, we evaluate the influence of two parameters on the existence of double Hopf bifurcation

Wetting transition energy curves for a droplet on a square-post patterned surface

Due to the property of water repellence, biomimetic superhydrophobic surfaces have been widely applied to green technologies, in turn inducing wider and deeper investigations on superhydrophobic surfaces. Theoretical, experimental and numerical studies on wetting transitions have been carried out by researchers, but the mechanism of wetting transitions between Cassie-Baxter state and Wenzel state, which is crucial to develop a stable superhydrophobic surface, is still not fully understood. In this paper, the free energy curves based on the transition processes are presented and discussed in detail. The existence of energy barriers with or without consideration of the gravity effect, and the irreversibility of wetting transition are discussed based on the presented energy curves. The energy curves show that different routes of the Cassie-to-Wenzel transition and the reverse transition are the main reason for the irreversibility. Numerical simulations are implemented via a phase field lattice Boltzmann method of large density ratio, and the simulation results show good consistency with the theoretical analysis

Performance of steel frames with new lightweight composite infill walls under curvature ground deformation

In this paper, the structural performance of steel frames with novel lightweight composite infill walls is experimentally and numerically investigated under curvature ground deformation, which is a common consequence of ground mining activities that can cause significant effects on structures and buildings in these areas. A new structural form that combines steel frames and lightweight composite infill walls has recently been used; its performance under curvature ground deformation is of great interest but still not entirely clear. This study compares the mechanical behavior of the open-frame, the closed-frame with mudsill, and the closed-frame with infill walls, through experimental testing under positive and negative curvature ground deformations. Structural responses such as basement counterforce, additional strains at different key locations, and effects of mudsill and infill walls are evaluated. In addition, 3D finite element models are established to simulate the performance of the tested samples and are validated by comparing the results against those from experiments. After validation, the numerical model is applied to a few complex structures incorporating the composite infill walls to investigate their structural performance under both positive and negative curvature ground deformation. It has been found that steel frames with the new composite infill walls can considerably increase the stiffness of structures in resisting ground deformation and re-distribute the loads amongst the beam and column members in the frame. Failure modes for the structures can also be changed by shifting the most dangerous ones from the upper part of the frame to the lower part. Moreover, it has been found that the vertical force of the infill walls is more sensitive to curvature ground deformation than the horizontal force. Further, the influence of the infill wall on the column is more significant, in comparison to that on the beam of the frame

A thermal immiscible multiphase flow simulation by lattice Boltzmann method

The lattice Boltzmann (LB) method, as a mesoscopic approach based on the kinetic theory, has been significantly developed and applied in a variety of fields in the recent decades. Among all the LB community members, the pseudopotential LB plays an increasingly important role in multiphase flow and phase change problems simulation. The thermal immiscible multiphase flow simulation using pseudopotential LB method is studied in this work. The results show that it is difficult to achieve multi-bubble/droplet coexistence due to the unphysical mass transfer phenomenon of “the big eat the small” – the small bubbles/droplets disappear and the big ones getting bigger before a physical coalescence when using an internal energy based temperature equation for single-component multiphase (SCMP) pseudopotential models. In addition, this unphysical effect can be effectively impeded by coupling an entropy-based temperature field, and the influence on density fields with different energy equations are discussed. The findings are identified and reported in this paper for the first time. This work gives a significant inspiration for solving the unphysical mass transfer problem, which determines whether the SCMP LB model can be used for multi-bubble/droplet systems

A study on the unphysical mass transfer of SCMP pseudopotential LBM

In general, a multi-bubble/droplet configuration cannot sustain a steady state using single-component multiphase (SCMP) pseudopotential lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). Our study shows that the unachievable multibubble/droplet system is for an unphysical mass transfer, which we call ‘‘the big eat the small” – the smaller bubbles/droplets shrink, and eventually disappear while the bigger ones get bigger without a physical coalescence. In our present study, the unphysical mass transfer phenomenon is investigated, and the possible reason is explored. It is found that there is a spurious flow field formed between two bubbles or droplets with different shapes, and such flow field is exactly the transfer of high-density mass. In addition, it is found that the curvatures of the interfaces determine the direction of the spurious flow field, and for the definition of ‘‘the big eat the small”, ‘‘the big” refers to the interfaces that have larger radii of curvature while ‘‘the small” represents the interfaces with smaller radii of curvature. Multi-component multiphase (MCMP) LBM is also tested in this work and it is found to be free of the unphysical mass transfer. Moreover, all the cases show that the most likely reason for the unphysical mass transfer might be the essential attractive interaction forces of the pseudopotential LBM

Correlation between intercalated magnetic layers and superconductivity in pressurized EuFe2(As0.81P0.19)2

We report comprehensive high pressure studies on correlation between intercalated magnetic layers and superconductivity in EuFe2(As0.81P0.19)2 single crystal through in-situ high pressure resistance, specific heat, X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption measurements. We find that an unconfirmed magnetic order of the intercalated layers coexists with superconductivity in a narrow pressure range 0-0.5GPa, and then it converts to a ferromagnetic (FM) order at pressure above 0.5 GPa, where its superconductivity is absent. The obtained temperature-pressure phase diagram clearly demonstrates that the unconfirmed magnetic order can emerge from the superconducting state. In stark contrast, the superconductivity cannot develop from the FM state that is evolved from the unconfirmed magnetic state. High pressure X-ray absorption (XAS) measurements reveal that the pressure-induced enhancement of Eu's mean valence plays an important role in suppressing the superconductivity and tuning the transition from the unconfirmed magnetic state to a FM state. The unusual interplay among valence state of Eu ions, magnetism and superconductivity under pressure may shed new light on understanding the role of the intercalated magnetic layers in Fe-based superconductors