Blade Optimization for Ground Level Low Speed Wind Turbines

Low speed wind turbines can provide inexpensive and clean energy in areas where large scale wind power generation is impractical. The purpose of this research is to explore factors that affect the efficiency of low speed wind turbines. The factors that were tested are span, chord length, angle of twist, taper ratio, average thickness, and sweep angle. The goal is to determine a combination of these variables to enable maximum power extraction from a low wind speed source.These parameters are optimized for the Southeastern region of the United States. NOAA weather data at ground level are used to determine average wind speeds. The optimized wind turbine will be suitable for residential or small commercial uses. Testing is done using an analytical physics-based model,Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), and wind tunnel testing with 3D printed fan blades.Testing on 3D printed blades was done to validate the accuracy of the analytical physics-based model and Computational Fluid Dynamics testing

A Crisis Management Guide for Ilalko Elementary School

The current building level emergency procedmes manual for Ilalko Elementary School in the Auburn School District in the State of Washington was reviewed and critiqued. The manual contains the school\u27s emergency preparedness policies and procedmes to be implemented in the event of a disaster. The results of the review showed a need for updating policies and practices at the building level as well as creating additional resources to guide the school should other disasters occur which were not addressed in the current manual. A handbook was also created to increase teacher response effectiveness in the event of an emergency situation

Minimizing the Pervasiveness of Women’s Personal Experiences of Gender Discrimination

Given the Rejection-Identification Model (Branscombe, et al., 1999) which shows that perceiving discrimination to be pervasive is a negative experience, it was suggested that there would be conditions under which women would instead minimize the pervasiveness of discrimination. Study 1 (N = 91) showed that when women envisioned themselves in a situation of academic discrimination, they defined it as pervasive but when they experienced a similar laboratory simulation of academic discrimination, its pervasiveness was minimized. Study 2 (N = 159) showed that women who envisioned themselves experiencing discrimination minimized its pervasiveness more so than women reading about discrimination happening to someone else. Further, mediation analysis showed that minimizing the pervasiveness enhanced positive affect about personal discrimination. Implications for minimizing on both an individual and social level are discussed

The Relationships of Streambank Angles and Shapes to Streambank Erosion Rates in the Little River Watershed, TN

Sediment is a leading cause of water quality impairment throughout the United States. In the Little River watershed in eastern Tennessee, several tributaries have been classified as impaired due primarily to sedimentation. Researchers at The University of Tennessee, in collaboration with a group of local and state organizations, began monitoring Little River tributaries to better understand their sources of pollution. To investigate the rates and processes of streambank erosion, erosion-pin monitoring sites were established on 32 banks in the watershed. This thesis complements the erosion-pin monitoring efforts by determining bank characteristics and examining the relationships of streambank angles and shapes to observed erosion rates. The specific objectives of this study were to: (1) characterize streambank angles, (2) describe the relationships between streambank angles and bank erosion rates, (3) characterize bank shape, and (4) determine if bank shapes at erosion-pin monitoring sites are representative of their immediate stream reaches. Streambank angles were measured at erosion pins. Bank angles averaged approximately 55° and varied significantly between tributaries and individual monitoring sites. Bank angle measurements were compared to erosion-pin exposure using correlation analysis. Data were then sorted into subgroups by pin position, soil texture, and bank shape, and further analyses were conducted. Results indicated streambank erosion was significantly, positively associated with bank angle for angles ≥ 30°. Significant, positive relationships were also found low on banks, where soil texture was clay, and where banks were classified as undercut. Bank profiles were documented to classify the bank shapes of erosion-pin monitoring sites and assess how well the banks at those sites represented the immediate reach. In the Little River watershed, bank profile shapes vary, but nearly three-fourths of all documented bank profiles were steeply sloping or undercut. The majority of monitoring sites (78%) were representative of the immediate stream reach with regard to bank shape. However, other factors, including surrounding land use and soil type, may differ within the immediate reach. Thus, data extrapolation from erosion pins to the reach scale should be done cautiously and take into consideration variability of individual site characteristics

Soybean Response to Dicamba: Associated Injury Criteria and Development of a Model to Predict Yield Loss

In research conducted using indeterminate soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], fourteen injury criteria observed following dicamba at 0.6 to 280 g ae ha-1 (1/1000 to ½ of 560 g ha-1 use rate) were rated using a scale of 0= no injury, 1= slight, 2= slight to moderate, 3= moderate, 4= moderate to severe, and 5= severe. Greatest crop injury 15 d after treatment (DAT) was observed following dicamba applied at 0.6 to 4.4 g ha-1 at V3/V4 for upper canopy pale leaf margins (3.8 to 4.2) and at R1/R2 for terminal leaf cupping (4.1 to 5.0) and, following 0.6 to 8.8 g ha-1 dicamba applied at V3/V4 for upper canopy leaf cupping (3.8 to 4.8) and upper canopy leaf surface crinkling (3.4 to 4.4). At 15 DAT, injury was no greater than the nontreated control when dicamba rate was as high as 4.4 g ha-1 for lower stem base swelling (V3/V4 application) and for upper canopy leaf rollover/inversion and terminal leaf necrosis (R1/R2 application) and for rates as high as 8.8 g ha-1 for leaf petiole base swelling and stem epinasty (R1/R2 application) and lower stem base lesions/cracking (V3/V4 and R1/R2 applications). In contrast, overall injury ratings (0 to 100%) showed a steady increase as dicamba rate increased. Injury data were analyzed using multiple regression with a forward selection procedure to develop yield prediction models. Variables included in the V3/V4 15 DAT model were lower stem base lesions/cracking, plant height reduction, terminal leaf epinasty, leaf petiole droop, leaf petiole base swelling, and stem epinasty. For the R1/R2 15 DAT model, variables included lower stem base lesions/cracking, terminal leaf chlorosis, leaf petiole base swelling, stem epinasty, terminal leaf necrosis, and terminal leaf cupping. To validate the models, experiments were conducted at two locations and predicted yield reduction for each dicamba rate was compared with observed yield reduction. For dicamba at 0.6 to 4.4 g ha-1, the V3/V4 15 DAT model either underestimated or overestimated observed yield loss by 1 and 3 percentage points and the R1/R2 15 DAT model overestimated observed yield loss by 3 to 5 percentage points

Semi-Autonomous UAV for Surveillance and Emergency Response (SAUSER)

The SAUSER is a drone system that can provide aerial footage of traffic accidents and other emergency situations. The drone system has mounting docks that can be mounted on traffic lights to allow for rapid deployment. The mounting docks also function as charging stations. Literature review was performed to determine the current status of drones in law enforcement. Review was done on both the technological capabilities of drones as well as the legal requirements for drone operation by law enforcement. Concept alternatives were considered to determine the best solution for this problem. A quadcopter with no landing gear was chosen as the best solution to the problem. Design requirements, performance metrics, and estimated budget were developed. Off the shelf electronics were selected to provide the necessary thrust, charging, video feed, and wireless capabilities necessary for the remote operation of the drones from a 911 dispatching station. Sizing calculations were performed to determine the takeoff weight of the drone. Blade Element Momentum Theory analysis was performed to determine if the blades could provide proper thrust. Computational Fluid Dynamics and Finite Element Analysis was performed to determine if the drone would experience mechanical failure during the lifecycle of the project. Hand calculations were done to verify the validity of these results. Finally, an economic analysis was performed to determine if the drone meet the budgetary requirements established in the previous sections. It was also done to determine the total cost of the system over a ten-year period

A Spitzer Five-Band Analysis of the Jupiter-Sized Planet TrES-1

With an equilibrium temperature of 1200 K, TrES-1 is one of the coolest hot Jupiters observed by {\Spitzer}. It was also the first planet discovered by any transit survey and one of the first exoplanets from which thermal emission was directly observed. We analyzed all {\Spitzer} eclipse and transit data for TrES-1 and obtained its eclipse depths and brightness temperatures in the 3.6 {\micron} (0.083 % {\pm} 0.024 %, 1270 {\pm} 110 K), 4.5 {\micron} (0.094 % {\pm} 0.024 %, 1126 {\pm} 90 K), 5.8 {\micron} (0.162 % {\pm} 0.042 %, 1205 {\pm} 130 K), 8.0 {\micron} (0.213 % {\pm} 0.042 %, 1190 {\pm} 130 K), and 16 {\micron} (0.33 % {\pm} 0.12 %, 1270 {\pm} 310 K) bands. The eclipse depths can be explained, within 1$\sigma$ errors, by a standard atmospheric model with solar abundance composition in chemical equilibrium, with or without a thermal inversion. The combined analysis of the transit, eclipse, and radial-velocity ephemerides gives an eccentricity $e = 0.033^{+0.015}_{-0.031}$, consistent with a circular orbit. Since TrES-1's eclipses have low signal-to-noise ratios, we implemented optimal photometry and differential-evolution Markov-chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms in our Photometry for Orbits, Eclipses, and Transits (POET) pipeline. Benefits include higher photometric precision and \sim10 times faster MCMC convergence, with better exploration of the phase space and no manual parameter tuning.Comment: 17 pages, Accepted for publication in Ap

Comparison of transabdominal ultrasound and electromagnetic transponders for prostate localization.

The aim of this study is to compare two methodologies of prostate localization in a large cohort of patients. Daily prostate localization using B-mode ultrasound has been performed at the Nebraska Medical Center since 2000. More recently, a technology using electromagnetic transponders implanted within the prostate was introduced into our clinic (Calypso(R)). With each technology, patients were localized initially using skin marks. Localization error distributions were determined from offsets between the initial setup positions and those determined by ultrasound or Calypso. Ultrasound localization data was summarized from 16619 imaging sessions spanning 7 years; Calypso localization data consists of 1524 fractions in 41 prostate patients treated in the course of a clinical trial at five institutions and 640 localizations from the first 16 patients treated with our clinical system. Ultrasound and Calypso patients treated between March and September 2007 at the Nebraska Medical Center were analyzed and compared, allowing a single institutional comparison of the two technologies. In this group of patients, the isocenter determined by ultrasound-based localization is on average 5.3 mm posterior to that determined by Calypso, while the systematic and random errors and PTV margins calculated from the ultrasound localizations were 3 - 4 times smaller than those calculated from the Calypso localizations. Our study finds that there are systematic differences between Calypso and ultrasound for prostate localization