The paper describes for the first time the analysis of the structure of compressed wood using computed tomography. The anatomical structures of Douglas-fir and hybrid poplar before and after densification with the Viscoelastic Thermal Compression (VTC) process were described by pore size distributions and mean pore sizes and compared. The...
In this paper dynamic von Karman equations with localized interior damping supported in a boundary collar are considered. Hadamard well-posedness for von Karman plates with various types of nonlinear damping are well known, and the long-time behavior of nonlinear plates has been a topic of recent interest. Since the von...
We investigated an alternative means for quantifying daytime ecosystem respiration from eddy-covariance data in three forests with different canopy architecture. Our hypothesis was that the turbulent transport by coherent structures is the main pathway for carrying detectable sub-canopy respiration signals through the canopy. The study extends previously published work by...
Organic aerosols are important atmospheric components, and their formation and sources represent important aspects of urban air quality and health effects. Asia, including India, is the largest global source of aerosol particles due to regional natural advection (e.g. desert and soil dust) and anthropogenic activities (e.g. emissions from traffic, industry...
We describe an upper-division experiment in thermal physics where students measure the tension
of a rubber band as a function of temperature and length, and use a Maxwell relation to find the
change in internal energy and entropy for an isothermal stretch. This allows students to experimentally check the predictions...
Describes various varieties of June-bearing, everbearing, and day-neutral strawberries and when they produce crops. Explains where to plant strawberries and how to rotate a strawberry patch to optimize growth and minimize disease. Discusses the matted-row and hill planting systems and the advantages and disadvantages of each. Covers soil preparation, fertilization,...
This dissertation examines properties and representations of several isotropic Gaussian random fields in the unit ball in d-dimensional Euclidean space. First we consider Lévy's Brownian motion. We use an integral representation for the covariance function to find a new expansion for Lévy's Brownian motion as an infinite linear combination of...
In this dissertation, a group of vehicle dynamics simulation tools is developed with two primary goals: to accurately represent vehicle behavior and to provide insight that improves the understanding of vehicle performance. Three tools are developed that focus on tire modeling, vehicle modeling and lap time simulation.
Tire modeling is...
Falls are a common problem among older adults, including those who are relatively healthy and living independently. Exercise has been recommended as an intervention to reduce falls by slowing and/or reversing age-related declines in balance, strength, and mobility. However, it remains unclear which types or combinations of programs are most...
Partial programming is a field of study where users specify an outline or skeleton of a program, but leave various parts undefined. The undefined parts are then completed by an external mechanism to form a complete program. Adaptation-Based Programming (ABP) is a method of partial programming that utilizes techniques from...
We report here on recent developments and advances in pore-scale x-ray tomographic imaging of subsurface porous media. Our particular focus is on immiscible multi-phase fluid flow, i.e., the displacement of one immiscible fluid by another inside a porous material, which is of central importance to many natural and engineered processes....
The development of methods to increase sintered density and improve dimensional tolerances is
a crucial issue in powder metallurgy and ceramic processing. Increasing the packing density of
starting powders is one effective route to achieve high sintered density and dimensional
precision. The current paper presents an in-depth study on the...
The effects of nanoparticle addition on the multi-step debinding of injection molded
aluminum nitride (AlN) samples were studied. Experiments varying the solvent
debinding conditions (time, temperature and aspect ratio) were performed on monomodal,
microscale (μ) and bimodal, micro-nanoscale (μ-n) AlN samples. Variations in the
solvent debinding kinetics as a result...
Emerging evidence suggests that the tumor microenvironment plays a critical role in regulating cancer
stem cells (CSCs) and tumor progression through both autocrine and paracrine signaling. Elevated
production of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) from human ovarian cancer cells and stroma has
been shown to increase CSC proliferation and tumor growth....
This thesis presents a low power DC-DC converter suitable for harvesting energy from high impedance thermoelectric generators (TEGs) for the use in body powered electronics. The chip has been fabricated in a 130nm CMOS technology. To meet the power demands of body powered networks, a novel dual-path architecture capable of...
Hops (Humulus lupulus L.) are primarily used to provide specific characteristics to beer, such as bitterness, aroma, flavor, and microbial stability. The chemical composition of hops, relative to how they are used during the brewing process, dictates the expression of these characteristics. Of the raw ingredients that go into making...
Many theories of human debugging rely on complex mental constructs that offer little practical advice to builders of software engineering tools. Although hypotheses are important in debugging, a theory of navigation adds more practical value to our understanding of how programmers debug. Therefore, in this paper, we reconsider how people...
We consider the well-posedness of a model for a flow-structure interaction. This model describes the dynamics of an elastic flexible plate with clamped boundary conditions immersed in a supersonic flow. A perturbed wave equation describes the flow potential. The plateʼs out-of-plane displacement can be modeled by various nonlinear plate equations...
Acoustic methods are frequently used to monitor endangered marine mammal species. Advantages of acoustic methods over visual ones include the ability to detect submerged animals, to work at night, and to work in any weather conditions. A relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use acoustic float, the QUEphone, was developed by converting a...