This thesis examines the transient performance of packed bed heat
regenerators when very large temperature differences are involved. The
effects of gas temperature on the key gas physical properties of velocity,
density and heat capacity were studied via simulation.
Three models were developed and compared. The first model
(HRKDV) considers...
The equation of state for a fluid described by the Weeks-Chandler-Andersen (WCA) potential was solved to determine at what pressures and temperatures the fluid will theoretically freeze. A Monte Carlo (MC) algorithm was used to sample a system of 256 spheres for a set of thermodynamic averages to locate and...
Free / Open Source Software developers come from a myriad of different backgrounds. While some contribute for personal reasons, many become involved because they receive compensation from corporations or foundations. The motivation for participating in a project can have dramatic impacts on how and what contribution an individual makes. These...
There is a growing interest in bringing online and streaming content to the television. Gaming platforms such as the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii are at the center of this digital convergence; platforms for accessing new media services. This presents a number of interface challenges, as controllers designed for gaming...
Free and open source software (FOSS) projects primarily rely on the efforts of volunteer contributors from around the world. For this reason, recruiting and retaining contributor is vital to the sustainability and growth of FOSS projects. This notion became the jumping-off point for this three-part investigation into the cultural structure...
While there are many ways to evaluate a user interface design, the user's mental workload and situation awareness (SA) are particularly important considerations in the supervisory control of safety-critical systems. Typically, operators of these systems must monitor high-volume, time-sensitive status information. Interface design for this domain can be challenging and...
Understanding the relationships between land use, water quality, and groundwater is crucial for ecological, economic, and water management decisions. This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the land use activities and hydrologic processes influencing the water quality of Oak Creek watershed. Objectives of this study were: 1) to...
Monte Carlo (MC) algorithms are widely accepted as the most accurate method to calculate dose in a patient geometry. For this work the EGSnrc MC code was used as a benchmark for the identification of dose calculation errors produced by the widely implemented analytical anisotropic algorithm (AAA). By correlating the...
Monte-Carlo planning algorithms such as UCT make decisions at each step by
intelligently expanding a single search tree given the available time and then
selecting the best root action. Recent work has provided evidence that it can be
advantageous to instead construct an ensemble of search trees and make a...
We identify and develop efficient Monte Carlo methods for determining thermodynamic properties of the square-well fluid in order to test square-well density functional theories near the critical point. Previous works have developed generic so-called histogram methods for collecting statistics on low energy system states, but little or no literature exists...