Online distribution management framework by incorporating wind generation

In distribution system operations, dispatchers at control center closely monitor system operating limits to ensure system reliability and adequacy. This reliability is partly due to the provision of remote controllable tie and sectionalizing switches. While the stochastic nature of wind generation can impact the level of wind energy penetration in the network, an estimate of the output from wind on hourly basis can be extremely useful. Under any operating conditions, the switching actions require human intervention and can be an extremely stressful task. Currently, handling a set of switching combinations with the uncertainty of distributed wind generation as part of the decision variables has been nonexistent. This thesis proposes a three-fold online management framework: (1) prediction of wind speed, (2) estimation of wind generation capacity, and (3) enumeration of feasible switching combinations. The proposed methodology is evaluated on 29-node test system with 8 remote controllable switches and two wind farms of 18MW and 9MW nameplate capacities respectively for generating the sequence of system reconfiguration states during normal and emergency conditions.

Considering sustainability factors in the development project life-cycle : a framework for increasing successful adoption of improved stoves

Indoor air pollution from combustion of solid fuels is the fifth leading contributor to disease burden in low-income countries. This, and potential to reduce environmental impacts, has resulted in emphasis on use of improved stoves. However, many efforts have failed to meet expectations and effective coverage remains limited. A disconnect exists between technologies, delivery methods, and long-term adoption. The purpose of this research is to develop a framework to increase long-term success of improved stove projects. The framework integrates sustainability factors into the project life-cycle. It is represented as a matrix and checklist which encourages consideration of social, economic, and environmental issues in projects. A case study was conducted in which an improved stove project in Honduras was evaluated using the framework. Results indicated areas of strength and weakness in project execution and highlighted potential improvements for future projects. The framework is also useful as a guide during project planning.

Place for video games : a theoretical and pedagogical framework for multiliteracies learning in English studies

Students are now involved in a vastly different textual landscape than many English scholars, one that relies on the “reading” and interpretation of multiple channels of simultaneous information. As a response to these new kinds of literate practices, my dissertation adds to the growing body of research on multimodal literacies, narratology in new media, and rhetoric through an examination of the place of video games in English teaching and research. I describe in this dissertation a hybridized theoretical basis for incorporating video games in English classrooms. This framework for textual analysis includes elements from narrative theory in literary study, rhetorical theory, and literacy theory, and when combined to account for the multiple modalities and complexities of gaming, can provide new insights about those theories and practices across all kinds of media, whether in written texts, films, or video games. In creating this framework, I hope to encourage students to view texts from a meta-level perspective, encompassing textual construction, use, and interpretation. In order to foster meta-level learning in an English course, I use specific theoretical frameworks from the fields of literary studies, narratology, film theory, aural theory, reader-response criticism, game studies, and multiliteracies theory to analyze a particular video game: World of Goo. These theoretical frameworks inform pedagogical practices used in the classroom for textual analysis of multiple media. Examining a video game from these perspectives, I use analytical methods from each, including close reading, explication, textual analysis, and individual elements of multiliteracies theory and pedagogy. In undertaking an in-depth analysis of World of Goo, I demonstrate the possibilities for classroom instruction with a complex blend of theories and pedagogies in English courses. This blend of theories and practices is meant to foster literacy learning across media, helping students develop metaknowledge of their own literate practices in multiple modes. Finally, I outline a design for a multiliteracies course that would allow English scholars to use video games along with other texts to interrogate texts as systems of information. In doing so, students can hopefully view and transform systems in their own lives as audiences, citizens, and workers.

Assessing Decision Making Strategies In Construction Management By Using A Schedule-Based Simulation Framework

During the project, managers encounter numerous contingencies and are faced with the challenging task of making decisions that will effectively keep the project on track. This task is very challenging because construction projects are non-prototypical and the processes are irreversible. Therefore, it is critical to apply a methodological approach to develop a few alternative management decision strategies during the planning phase, which can be deployed to manage alternative scenarios resulting from expected and unexpected disruptions in the as-planned schedule. Such a methodology should have the following features but are missing in the existing research: (1) looking at the effects of local decisions on the global project outcomes, (2) studying how a schedule responds to decisions and disruptive events because the risk in a schedule is a function of the decisions made, (3) establishing a method to assess and improve the management decision strategies, and (4) developing project specific decision strategies because each construction project is unique and the lessons from a particular project cannot be easily applied to projects that have different contexts. The objective of this dissertation is to develop a schedule-based simulation framework to design, assess, and improve sequences of decisions for the execution stage. The contribution of this research is the introduction of applying decision strategies to manage a project and the establishment of iterative methodology to continuously assess and improve decision strategies and schedules. The project managers or schedulers can implement the methodology to develop and identify schedules accompanied by suitable decision strategies to manage a project at the planning stage. The developed methodology also lays the foundation for an algorithm towards continuously automatically generating satisfactory schedule and strategies through the construction life of a project. Different from studying isolated daily decisions, the proposed framework introduces the notion of {em decision strategies} to manage construction process. A decision strategy is a sequence of interdependent decisions determined by resource allocation policies such as labor, material, equipment, and space policies. The schedule-based simulation framework consists of two parts, experiment design and result assessment. The core of the experiment design is the establishment of an iterative method to test and improve decision strategies and schedules, which is based on the introduction of decision strategies and the development of a schedule-based simulation testbed. The simulation testbed used is Interactive Construction Decision Making Aid (ICDMA). ICDMA has an emulator to duplicate the construction process that has been previously developed and a random event generator that allows the decision-maker to respond to disruptions in the emulation. It is used to study how the schedule responds to these disruptions and the corresponding decisions made over the duration of the project while accounting for cascading impacts and dependencies between activities. The dissertation is organized into two parts. The first part presents the existing research, identifies the departure points of this work, and develops a schedule-based simulation framework to design, assess, and improve decision strategies. In the second part, the proposed schedule-based simulation framework is applied to investigate specific research problems.

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT IN REMOTE SENSING AND INNOVATIVE APPLICATION TO VOLCANOLOGY

The integration of remote monitoring techniques at different scales is of crucial importance for monitoring of volcanoes and assessment of the associated hazard. In this optic, technological advancement and collaboration between research groups also play a key role. Vhub is a community cyberinfrastructure platform designed for collaboration in volcanology research. Within the Vhub framework, this dissertation focuses on two research themes, both representing novel applications of remotely sensed data in volcanology: advancement in the acquisition of topographic data via active techniques and application of passive multi-spectral satellite data to monitoring of vegetated volcanoes. Measuring surface deformation is a critical issue in analogue modelling of Earth science phenomena. I present a novel application of the Microsoft Kinect sensor to measurement of vertical and horizontal displacements in analogue models. Specifically, I quantified vertical displacement in a scaled analogue model of Nisyros volcano, Greece, simulating magmatic deflation and inflation and related surface deformation, and included the horizontal component to reconstruct 3D models of pit crater formation. The detection of active faults around volcanoes is of importance for seismic and volcanic hazard assessment, but not a simple task to be achieved using analogue models. I present new evidence of neotectonic deformation along a north-south trending fault from the Mt Shasta debris avalanche deposit (DAD), northern California. The fault was identified on an airborne LiDAR campaign of part of the region interested by the DAD and then confirmed in the field. High resolution LiDAR can be utilized also for geomorphological assessment of DADs, and I describe a size-distance analysis to document geomorphological aspects of hummock in the Shasta DAD. Relating the remote observations of volcanic passive degassing to conditions and impacts on the ground provides an increased understanding of volcanic degassing and how satellite-based monitoring can be used to inform hazard management strategies in nearreal time. Combining a variety of satellite-based spectral time series I aim to perform the first space-based assessment of the impacts of sulfur dioxide emissions from Turrialba volcano, Costa Rica, on vegetation in the surrounding environment, and establish whether vegetation indices could be used more broadly to detect volcanic unrest.

Performance-Based Engineering Framework for Earthquake and Fire Following Earthquake

The objective for this thesis is to outline a Performance-Based Engineering (PBE) framework to address the multiple hazards of Earthquake (EQ) and subsequent Fire Following Earthquake (FFE). Currently, fire codes for the United States are largely empirical and prescriptive in nature. The reliance on prescriptive requirements makes quantifying sustained damage due to fire difficult. Additionally, the empirical standards have resulted from individual member or individual assembly furnace testing, which have been shown to differ greatly from full structural system behavior. The very nature of fire behavior (ignition, growth, suppression, and spread) is fundamentally difficult to quantify due to the inherent randomness present in each stage of fire development. The study of interactions between earthquake damage and fire behavior is also in its infancy with essentially no available empirical testing results. This thesis will present a literature review, a discussion, and critique of the state-of-the-art, and a summary of software currently being used to estimate loss due to EQ and FFE. A generalized PBE framework for EQ and subsequent FFE is presented along with a combined hazard probability to performance objective matrix and a table of variables necessary to fully implement the proposed framework. Future research requirements and summary are also provided with discussions of the difficulties inherent in adequately describing the multiple hazards of EQ and FFE.