Spooky Action At A Distance

The question posed is “Can I experience remote human intimacy?” This is only posed after a network of computer code, images and entities have worked through the studio apparatus. These objects only materialize after khaos, the gap, the chasm has been recognized and a remote position has been realized. The work is about examining this constellation of objects and processes in their aspiration to answer the stated question in the affirmative. The resulting presentation is an experience of the failures and illuminations of both the material and the work

Support of Rock Cuts at Washington-Dulles International Airport

Expansions at the Washington-Dulles International Airport since 1999 have required extensive vertical, open-cut rock excavations in Triassic age siltstone bedrock. These excavations have extended to depths of up to approximately 65 ft (20 m) adjacent to existing infrastructure for construction of new below-ground stations for the new Automated People Mover (APM) light rail system. The selection of design support pressures for the rock excavations was an important decision, balancing the projects’ risks and construction costs. At the center of this issue was the development of a geotechnical model of the rock mass and its primary failure mechanism. Thus, a comprehensive subsurface characterization was required. The rock mass characterization included observation and mapping of excavation faces, detailed logging of rock cores, use of optical and acoustic televiewer, testing of discontinuity samples for shear strength evaluation, groundwater monitoring, and inclinometer monitoring of supported faces. The televiewer data, combined with site observations, allowed for a more complete understanding of the engineering characteristics of the bedding plane and joint discontinuities within the siltstone rock mass. Based on the pattern of the predominant discontinuities, it was concluded that bedding planes dipping into the excavation at approximately 30 degrees intersecting near-vertical joints would present the greatest risk for rock cut failures. Extensive laboratory testing and field inspections at a variety of exposed cuts with varying bedding plane and joint orientations suggested that the potential for a large slide along a bedding plane was relatively low. This conclusion was based on observations of discontinuous clay seams of limited number, the first- and second-order roughness of joint and bedding plane surfaces, and the limited persistence of joint and bedding plane discontinuities. Previous design lateral pressures for permanent station walls had been based on an assumed potential failure model of a large, excavation-scale block failure. However, using the recent characterization data, the rock mass failure mechanism of a local joint- and bedding-controlled sliding block mechanism was considered more appropriate. The resulting design lateral pressure necessary to support a rock face using this mechanism and the shear strength of discontinuities and intact rock was significantly lower than the initial design values. Construction-phase observations and monitoring, which included detailed field mapping, automated instrumentation monitoring, and groundwater monitoring, have verified the rock characterization and design assumptions. The reduction in design pressures for the permanent below-grade walls for the APM station structures resulted in major cost savings for the projects now in design and construction. Based on the scale of future expansion plans at Dulles, the projected total cost savings resulting from the reduced design lateral rock pressures will be considerable

RAPID HEATING AND CHEMICAL SPECIATION CHARACTERIZATION FOR COMBUSTION PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF METALLIZED, NANOSCALE THERMITES AND PVDF BOUND SOLID PROPELLANT COMPOSITIONS

Energetic materials research focuses on performance analysis of cost-effective solid materials which safely, precisely, and efficiently transitions stored chemical potential energy to kinetic energy at a rate throttled through chemical or architectural means. Heterogenous compositions of metal fuels and solid materials with a high storage capacity of condensed oxidizing elements, such as oxygen and/or fluorine, is a class of energetic material of interest given its relatively high reaction enthalpies and adiabatic flame temperatures. In the wake of the earliest instances of metal fuels being used as a high energy additive during World War II, characterizing the reaction mechanisms of micron and nanoparticle aluminum fuels with various oxidizer sources has been a primary subject of research within the solid energetics community. The advent of nanotechnologies within the past two decades brought with it the promise of a prospective revolution within the energetics community to expand the utility and characterization of metallized energetic materials in solid propellants and pyrotechnics. Significant prior research has mapped reactivity advantages, as well as the many short comings of aluminum-based nanoscale energetic formulations. Examples of short comings include difficulties of materials processing, relative increase in native oxide shell thickness, and particle aggregate sintering before primary reaction. The less than flaw-less promises of nanoscale aluminum fuels have thus become the impetus for the development of novel architectural solutions and material formulations to eliminate drawbacks of nanomaterial energetics while maintaining and improving the benefits. This dissertation focuses on further understanding reaction mechanisms and overall combustion behavior of nanoscale solid energetic composite materials and their potential future applications. My research branches out from the heavy research involved in binary, aluminum centric systems by developing generalized intuition of reaction and combustion behaviors through modeling efforts and coupling time-of-flight mass spectrometry to rapid heating techniques and novel modes of product sampling. The studies emphasize reaction mechanisms and microwave sensitivities of under-utilized compositions using metal fuels such as titanium, generalize the understanding of the interaction of fluoropolymer binders with metal fuels and oxidizer particles, and characterize how multi-scale architectural structure-function relations of materials effect ignition properties and energy release rates

Effects of abandoned underground workings on open pit slope stability

Online access for this thesis was created in part with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) administered by the Nevada State Library, Archives and Public Records through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). To obtain a high quality image or document please contact the DeLaMare Library at https://unr.libanswers.com/ or call: 775-784-6945.Limit equilibrium and stress-strain finite difference methods were used to assess the effect of abandoned underground workings on pit slope stability of the Northern Belle pit, Candelaria mine. Excavation into hillslopes containing networks of drifts, stopes, and adits was simulated for a site specific, as well as generalized, slope analysis. Results indicate that the presence of abandoned workings near slope face contributes to significant tensile and shear stress development within the relatively weak rock units present. Isolated bench failure, rock topples, and raveling of slopes in response to these stresses may be expected during excavation operations. Overall slope instability does not appear to be greatly affected by the known distribution of abandoned workings. Instability of overall slopes was found to be controlled primarily by fault geometry within open pit highwalls

Strategic Audit: Spreetail

This report is an in-depth look at the history and trajectory of Spreetail, an ecommerce company based in Lincoln, Nebraska. As the ecommerce market itself grows rapidly, Spreetail is facing challenges and obstacles to success in the industry, especially since it is competing with Amazon. This report breaks down the factors affecting Spreetail both internally and externally (using SWOT and PEST analyses) and outlines several strategic possibilities for moving forward. The final strategy recommendation for Spreetail is to increase their catalog size and focus on exclusives

INVESTIGATION OF HYDROCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RARE EARTH ELEMENTS IN VARIOUS FORMATION WATER TYPES IN THE PARADOX BASIN

Rare earth elements (REE) are essential to the manufacturing of contemporary technologies. Alloys that contain REE are used in everyday life such as computer memory, DVDs, rechargeable batteries, cell phones, catalytic converters, magnets, fluorescent lighting, and much more. A growing transition towards a carbon-free economy is coincidentally occurring with the use of REE. However, these metals are difficult to mine because it is unusual to find them in concentrations high enough for economical extraction. REE are naturally abundant in sedimentary basin fluids and may be used as natural tracers of fluid sources, pathways, and fluid-rock reactions. This study utilizes recently-collected REE data from formation waters in the Paradox Basin on the Colorado Plateau to investigate concentrations, patterns, and sources of REE. Preliminary results indicate that brines sourced from paleo-evaporated seawater have the highest REE (sum REE values as high as 7.514 ppb), and are particularly enriched in light, more readily-extractable REE. Brines that are sourced from salt dissolution by topographically-driven meteoric recharge that has interacted with siliciclastic rocks have different REE patterns compared to salt- derived brine seeps that have been diluted by snowmelt. REE may be abundant in these brines that have interacted with siliciclastic rocks and/or the salt-derived seeps diluted by snowmelt. The conclusions will convey the possible sources of REE and how REE interacts with these different sources

Creating a Web Application Based Conversational Interface for Modification and Delivery of Information

This document is a reflection on the 2018-2019 Fiserv Design Studio project, written from two perspectives: the development manager and the product manager. It will outline successes and future improvements for the project, both with technical and personal and interpersonal areas of focus

Creating a Web Application Based Conversational Interface for Modification and Delivery of Information

This document is a reflection on the 2018-2019 Fiserv Design Studio project, written from two perspectives: the development manager and the product manager. It will outline successes and future improvements for the project, both with technical and personal and interpersonal areas of focus

Probing the Reaction Zone of Nanolaminates at ∼μs Time and ∼μm Spatial Resolution

International audienceReactive nanolaminates are a high-energy-density configuration for energetics that have been widely studied for their tunable energy release rates. In this study, we characterized Al/CuO nanolaminate reactions with different fuel/oxidizer ratios and bilayer thicknesses using both macro- and microscale high-speed imaging/pyrometry. Under microscopic imaging, we observe significant corrugation (the ratio of the total geometrical length of the flame to the width of the sample in the direction perpendicular to propagation) of the flame, which can increase the reaction surface area by as much as a factor of 3. This in turn manifests itself as an increase in the global burn rate (total nanolaminate film length/total burn time). We find that the global burn rate can be predicted as the product of the microburn rate (local vector burn rate at the microscopic scale) and the corrugation. These corrugation effects primarily impact fuel-rich conditions, resulting in higher global burn rates. We find that the reaction zone has a thickness of ∼150 μm. Finally, we present a 3D rendering of what we believe the reaction zone looks like, based on the results from in-operando observation and SEM cross-sectional imaging