Dynamic vibration absorber Patent

Tuned damped vibration absorber for mass vibrating in more than one degree of freedom for use with wind tunnel model

The Effect of Substrate on Quartz Precipitation Rates

The role of substrate on the precipitation of quartz from solution is a confused subject based on past research. The two types of surfaces examined in this project, weathered surfaces and freshly fractured surfaces, may or may not influence the rate of precipitation of quartz from aqueous solution. Precipitation rates on these surfaces are compared via \u27sandwich\u27 type experiments, where both naturally weathered quartz grains and freshly fractured synthetic quartz grains are placed in weld-sealed gold tubes, separated by a cement source of amorphous silica. The experiments were run at 450 degrees Celsius and about 150 MPa for varying amounts of time. Three experiments were performed under these conditions, run for one week, two weeks, and four weeks. The samples were then removed, embedded in epoxy, polished, and images were taken using cathodoluminescence. The amounts of cement were then found using point counting and compared between the two different surfaces and between different run times. In this way, the effect of substrate on cementation may be examined

Pulling up the Drawbridge: From Vote Leave to the Brexit White Paper

On 23th June 2016 the United Kingdom held a referendum on whether or not to leave the European Union. The results were 52% to 48% in favour of leaving. This was accomplished by Vote Leave, the designated campaign group in favour of leaving the European Union, convincing enough citizens to vote in their favour. This thesis examines how much of the Leave campaign’s rhetoric has permeated the White Paper with regards to immigration which Prime Minister Theresa May has published as the basis of the Brexit negotiations. This has been done through the use of critical discourse analysis. The theory of Border Politics and David Harvey’s matrix of time and space are utilised to gain a deeper understanding of the different strategies Vote Leave used to convince the British people to vote in favour of leaving. Due to this being such a historically defining moment in British and European history, and due to the amount of people who will be affected by this, Vote Leave’s rhetoric has not had an overwhelming impact on Theresa May’s White Paper

The Nature of the Spectacle

Today crisis appears to be the normal order of things. We seem to be turning in widening gyres of economic failure, species extinction, resource scarcity, war, and climate change. These crises are interconnected ecologically, economically, and politically. Just as importantly, they are connected—and disconnected—in our imaginations. Public imaginations are possibly the most important stage on which crises are played out, for these views determine how the problems are perceived and what solutions are offered. In The Nature of Spectacle, Jim Igoe embarks on multifaceted explorations of how we imagine nature and how nature shapes our imaginations. The book traces spectacular productions of imagined nature across time and space—from African nature tourism to transnational policy events to green consumer appeals in which the push of a virtual button appears to initiate a chain of events resulting in the protection of polar bears in the Arctic or jaguars in the Amazon rainforest. These explorations illuminate the often surprising intersections of consumerism, entertainment, and environmental policy. They show how these intersections figure in a strengthening and problematic policy consensus in which economic growth and ecosystem health are cast as mutually necessitating conditions. They also take seriously the potential of these intersections and how they may facilitate other alignments and imaginings that may become the basis of alternatives to our current socioecological predicaments

Aerodynamic characteristics at low Reynolds numbers of several heat-exchanger configurations for wind-tunnel use

In response to design requirements of the National Transonic Facility, aerodynamic tests were conducted to determine the pressure-drop, flow-uniformity, and turbulence characteristics of various heat-exchanger configurations as a function of Reynolds number. Data were obtained in air with an indraft flow apparatus operated at ambient temperature and pressure. The unit Reynolds number of the tests varied from about 0.06 x 10 to 6th power to about 1.3 x 10 to 6th power per meter. The test models were designed to represent segments of full-scale tube bundles and included bundles of round tubes with plate fins in both staggered and inline tube arrays, round tubes with spiral fins, elliptical tubes with plate fins, and an inline grouping of tubes with segmented fins

Development and characterisation of a modified smartphone camera for determining UVA aerosol optical depth

This research evaluates a specifically-written, calibrated and validated Android app installed on an inexpensive smartphone with bandpass and neutral density filters attached for measuring and quantifying direct solar UVA irradiances and aerosol optical depth. Currently, the equipment normally used to perform these observations is specialised, expensive and is available at a relatively small number of sites. The continuing proliferation of and the increasing number and type of sensors included in smartphones makes feasible the use of specifically designed apps as a cost effective supplementary means of monitoring direct ultraviolet A solar irradiance and air quality for research, education and community outreach purposes. Most aerosols from both human and natural sources attenuate the UV wavebands; this has far reaching implications for UV irradiance studies and by extension, important public awareness metrics such as the UV index (UVI). Combined, closer observations and subsequent studies of aerosol optical depth and UVA irradiance are critical given that in recent studies, UVA irradiances have been found to be a major agent in skin cancer, photoaging and eye conditions. Therefore, this research involved the development, calibration and validation of a specifically written Android app on a smartphone in separate environments and across different seasons. The smartphone camera image sensor’s response to UVA was first tested in the laboratory using a monochromator. Once it was shown that the response could be characterised, calibration and validation tests of the response to solar UVA and aerosol optical depth (AOD) were performed, with correlations of over 99% and a maximum discrepancy of 10% observed respectively. Android automation was then developed, calibrated and validated with similar results. The results obtained in this research show that a consumer smartphone image sensor, fitted with narrow bandpass and neutral density filters, automated using a specifically written app that uses the camera input produces direct UVA irradiances and aerosol optical depth data with comparable accuracy to that obtained from more expensive and specialised equipment, with correlations of over 0.98 and discrepancies only up to 4%. Such an outcome can promote a greater spatial resolution in monitoring UVA irradiance and air quality, allowing a greater awareness of individual UVA exposure and local air quality

SUPPORTING TRANSITIONS TO RESILIENT IRRIGATION SYSTEMS: FINDINGS FROM SOUTHERN KYRGYZSTAN

This thesis presents findings from research conducted in Southern Kyrgyzstan, which followed nongovernmental organization (NGO) efforts to support climate change adaptation, and to support more “resilient” community-managed irrigation systems. Findings suggest that current NGO partnerships with Water User Associations (WUAs) frequently amount to financial and technical transactions, to preserve inherited infrastructure and resist disturbance. “Enhancing resilience” is pursued in an effort to maintain existing technical configurations of canals and water resources, despite altered socio-political and environmental conditions. Findings suggest increasing disassociation between irrigation constituents and the institutions and managers that are supposed to direct their grievances through legitimate democratic channels. Instead of being based on current irrigation practices and needs, decisions about allocating resources to technical components of the irrigation system seem to be based on desires to maintain past dynamics of resource access and distribution. The irrigation infrastructure and policies that were inherited from the Soviet era inherently favor those who were well-positioned after independence, while often disenfranchising others. Allocating resources to WUAs for technical projects to repair or maintain these configurations serves, at the same time, to maintain or even exacerbate existing local power and resource-access inequalities. The research project presented here has sought to provide NGOs operating in this arena with some actionable recommendations, for how they might conceptualize and focus their efforts to “enhance resilience” for community-managed irrigation systems. The research finds the absence of locally-specific knowledge and information concerning current irrigation practice from decision-making represents a critical barrier and potential opportunity to fostering effective deliberation and supporting transitions to more resilient systems. Do to their ostensibly impartial status, technical experience, and cross-community interactions, NGOs could play an important role in helping co-create and aggregate locally-specific knowledge about post-independence water use and access, which has gone hitherto ignored to the detriment of equitable and forward-looking management opportunities. In this way, NGOs who partner with WUAs for irrigation projects should increasingly base that partnership on the collection and management of information about irrigation practice, land-use, water availability and other parameters, in order to help establish WUAs as local institutions grounded in responsiveness to local conditions

Gas Turbine Fuel and Fuel Quality Requirements for use in Industrial Gas Turbine Combustion

TutorialFor economic and environmental reasons, it is important that gas turbines used in Oil & Gas applications can burn a wide variety of fuels with the minimum impact on the environment. This workshop will examine the types of gaseous and liquid fuels that can be used in Industrial Gas Turbines, and discuss the two basic types of combustion system employed – ‘conventional’ and ‘Dry Low Emissions’ – and the flexibility of these systems to accept different types of fuel. It will also look at common contaminants found in fuels and the impact these contaminants can have on the operability and maintenance of an industrial gas turbine

The Effectiveness of Drone Strikes in Counterinsurgency and Counterterrorism Campaigns

View the Executive SummaryThe United States increasingly relies on unmanned aerial vehicles to target insurgent and terrorist groups around the world. This monograph analyzes the available research and evidence that assesses the political and military consequences of drone strikes. It is not clear if drone strikes have degraded their targets, or that they kill enough civilians to create sizable public backlashes against the United States. Drones are a politically and militarily attractive way to counter insurgents and terrorists, but, paradoxically, this may lead to their use in situations where they are less likely to be effective and where they are difficult to predict consequences.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1519/thumbnail.jp