Westwood Multimodal Transportation Plan

Westwood is experiencing an industrial regeneration that will change the way the area is utilized by the surrounding communities. To be proactive, Henrico County is planning for the future by creating an overlay zoning district and striving for a multimodal environment to ensure the area grows in a sustainable manner. This plan evaluates the study area, retrieves community engagement, and makes recommendations on streetscape design and public transit improvements to create a multimodal Westwood. Study area observations provided evidence that the streets in Westwood need to be redesigned to accommodate more for pedestrians and cyclists. Community outreach in the form of a survey was conducted to gather input on how the streetscape should be designed and what elements of the study area need the most attention. Results of the surveys and observations were analyzed and used to build the recommendations made for Westwood. Various types of funding options are presented to implement this plan. Sustainable, connected, and integrated transportation is essential to success and livability of the fast-growing study area. The plan aims to supply the knowledge needed to create a livable and thriving Westwood

A Solenoidal Finite Element Approach for Prediction of Radar Cross Sections

This report considers the solution of problems that involve the scattering of plane electromagnetic waves by perfectly conducting obstacles. Such problems are governed by the Maxwell equations. An interesting facet of the solution of Faraday's law and Ampere's law, which on their own form a complete equation set for the determination of the field intensity components, is that there are the additional conservation statements of Coulomb's law and Gauss's law, which appear to be in excess of requirements. Often, these additional constraints are neglected due to an inability to incorporate them into the solution scheme. With the successful development of a solenoidal finite element for the solution of viscous incompressible flows, such a device now offers a practical means for the solution of the full Maxwell equations. To demonstrate the validity of this assertion, a suitable solution scheme is presented, accompanied by sample results for various test problems

Three-dimensional face recognition: An Eigensurface approach

We evaluate a new approach to face recognition using a variety of surface representations of three-dimensional facial structure. Applying principal component analysis (PCA), we show that high levels of recognition accuracy can be achieved on a large database of 3D face models, captured under conditions that present typical difficulties to more conventional two-dimensional approaches. Applying a ran-c of image processing, techniques we identify the most effective surface representation for use in such application areas as security surveillance, data compression and archive searching

America's North Coast: A Benefit-Cost Analysis of a Program to Protect and Restore the Great Lakes

Examines the baseline ecological conditions of the Great Lakes and offers a plan for the area's environmental protection and restoration. Demonstrates how a restoration program can provide economic benefits that substantially exceed its costs

The Problematical, The Cave, and The Maya: A Theoretical Discussion and Ethnoarchaeological Investigation

This project concerns itself with the theoretical framework and application of ethnoarchaeological research methods in the Maya region. Following an in-depth discussion of ethnoarchaeology and its theoretical locus within archaeology as well as the transformations it has seen in recent year, the current work focuses on the following source- and subject-side cultural groups and phenomena: cave use at La Ventana and La Ventana Campana by Maya peoples from the Suchitepéquez and Sololá Department of Guatemala in comparison with Problematical Deposit 21 at Tikal, Petén, Guatemala. The purpose of this work is not only to investigate the case study mentioned above but also to take stock of ethnoarchaeological, ethnographic, and archaeological work in the region and critically assess the potential of ethnoarchaeology in the Maya region

Computer modelling of hydrogenation reactions in the organic solid state

1,4-bis(phenylethynyl)benzene, also known as DEB, is a hydrogen getter molecule that is used in industry to prevent the potential catastrophic build up of hydrogen by removing it from the system. This thesis aimed to computationally study the melting point of the DEB molecule along with its mobility after hydrogenation. Another aim was to compare the DEB molecule against a similar, previously well studied molecule – diphenylacetylene. The technique that was utilised to perform these solid state simulations was molecular dynamics (MD) based on interatomic potentials. The Consistent Valence Forcefield (also known as cvff) was shown to be the most appropriate force field to be used for the calculations in this study. The melting point ‘envelope’ for DEB was calculated to be 400.15 – 473.15 K which was in good agreement with previously published experimental data. Diffusion coefficients were calculated and used to illustrate that the fully hydrogenated DEB molecule (1,4-bis(phenylethyl)benzene) was faster than the virgin DEB molecule when the system consisted of varying concentrations of both molecules. The conclusions drawn from the diphenylacetylene study compared favourably with those drawn from the DEB study. The melting point ‘envelope’ of diphenylacetylene was in good agreement with the literature, whilst the hydrogenated molecule moved faster than its unhydrogenated counterpart. These results advocate cvff as an appropriate force field to be used in the molecular dynamic simulations of DEB for future research. The result of the faster hydrogenated DEB molecule provides a platform for further investigation into the mobility of the system

Suboptimal eye movements for seeing fine details.

Human eyes are never stable, even during attempts of maintaining gaze on a visual target. Considering transient response characteristics of retinal ganglion cells, a certain amount of motion of the eyes is required to efficiently encode information and to prevent neural adaptation. However, excessive motion of the eyes leads to insufficient exposure to the stimuli, which creates blur and reduces visual acuity. Normal miniature eye movements fall in between these extremes, but it is unclear if they are optimally tuned for seeing fine spatial details. We used a state-of-the-art retinal imaging technique with eye tracking to address this question. We sought to determine the optimal gain (stimulus/eye motion ratio) that corresponds to maximum performance in an orientation-discrimination task performed at the fovea. We found that miniature eye movements are tuned but may not be optimal for seeing fine spatial details

The case for new academic workspaces

Executive summary: This report draws upon the combined efforts of a number of estates professionals, architects, academics, designers, and senior managers involved in the planning of new university buildings for the 21st century. Across these perspectives, all would agree – although perhaps for different reasons - that this planning is difficult and that a number of particular considerations apply in the design of academic workspaces. Despite these difficulties, they will also agree that when this planning goes well, ‘good’ buildings are truly transformational – for both the university as a whole and the people who work and study in them. The value of well-designed buildings goes far beyond their material costs, and endures long after those costs have been forgotten ..