Design Simulation for Solar Energy Research and Education

Solar research is primarily conducted in regions with consistent sunlight, severely limiting research opportunities in many areas. Unfortunately, the unreliable weather in Lewisburg, PA, can prove difficult for such testing to be conducted. As such, a solar simulator was developed for educational purposes for the Mechanical Engineering department at Bucknell University. The objective of this work was to first develop a geometric model to evaluate a one sun solar simulator. This was intended to provide a simplified model that could be used without the necessity of expensive software. This model was originally intended to be validated experimentally, but instead was done using a proven ray tracing program, TracePro. Analyses with the geometrical model and TracePro demonstrated the influence the geometrical properties had results, specifically the reflector (aperture) diameter and the rim angle. Subsequently, the two were approaches were consistent with one another for aperture diameters 0.5 m and larger, and for rim angles larger than 45°. The constructed prototype, that is currently untested, was designed from information provided by the geometric model, includes a metal halide lamp with a 9.5 mm arc diameter and parabolic reflector with an aperture diameter of 0.631 meters. The maximum angular divergence from the geometrical model was predicted to be 30 mRadians. The average angular divergence in TraceProof the system was 19.5 mRadians, compared to the sun’s divergence of 9.2 mRadians. Flux mapping in TracePro showed an intensity of 1000 W/m2 over the target plane located 40 meters from the lamp. The error between spectrum of the metal halide lamp and the solar spectrum was 10.9%, which was found by comparing their respective Plank radiation distributions. The project did not satisfy the original goal of matching the angular divergence of sunlight, although the system could still to be used for optical testing. The geometric model indicated performance in this area could be improved by increasing the diameter of the reflector, as well as decreasing the source diameter. Although ray tracing software provides more information to analyze the simulator system, the geometrical model is adequate to provide enough information to design a system.

Does Mental Illness Affect Consumer Direction of Community-Based Care? Lessons From the Arkansas Cash and Counseling Program

Purpose: Previous research from the Cash and Counseling Demonstration and Evaluation (CCDE) in Arkansas, New Jersey, and Florida suggests that giving consumers control over their personal care greatly increases their satisfaction and improves their outlook on life. Still, some argue that consumerdirected care may not be appropriate for consumers with intellectual disabilities or mental health diagnoses. This study examined how Cash and Counseling— a new option allowing consumers to manage an individualized budget equivalent to what agencies would have spent on their care—changes the way consumers with mental health diagnoses meet their personal care needs and how that affects their wellbeing. Design and Methods: Using the Arkansas CCDE baseline and the 9-month follow-up data for individuals in the treatment and control groups, we compared and contrasted the experience of elderly consumers with and without mental health diagnoses utilizing logit regression. Results: After examining several outcome measures, including satisfaction with care arrangements and the paid caregiver’s reliability and schedule, unmet needs, and satisfaction with the relationship with paid caregivers, this study found evidence that, from the perspective of consumers, the Cash and Counseling program works well for participants with mental health diagnoses. Implications: Considering the growing need for long-term-care services and the limited resources available, a consumer-directed option makes sense, and it can be a valuable alternative for persons with mental health needs.

Substance use disorder treatment programs in Switzerland and the USA: Program characteristics and 1-year outcomes

AIM: This study compared matched samples of substance use disorder (SUD) patients in Swiss and United States (US) residential treatment programs and examined the relationship of program characteristics to patients' substance use and psychosocial functioning at a 1-year follow-up. DESIGN AND SETTING: The study used a prospective, naturalistic design and a sample of 10 public programs in the German-speaking part of Switzerland and 15 US public treatment programs. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 358 male patients in Swiss programs were matched on age, marital status and education with 358 male patients in US programs. A total of 160 Swiss and 329 US patient care staff members also participated. MEASUREMENT: Patients completed comparable inventories at admission, discharge and 1-year follow-up to assess their substance use and psychological functioning and receipt of continuing care. Staff members reported on program characteristics and their beliefs about substance use. FINDINGS: Compared to Swiss patients, US patients had more severe substance use and psychological problems at intake and although they did not differ on abstinence and remission at follow-up, had somewhat poorer outcomes in other areas of functioning. Swiss programs were longer and included more individual treatment sessions; US programs included more group sessions and were more oriented toward a disease model of treatment. Overall, length of program, treatment intensity and 12-step orientation were associated with better 1-year outcomes for patients in both Swiss and US programs. CONCLUSIONS: The sample of Swiss and US programs studied here differed in patient and treatment characteristics; however, in general, there were comparable associations between program characteristics and patients' 1-year outcomes. These findings suggest that associations between treatment processes and patients' outcomes may generalize from one cultural context to another.

The development and evaluation of a computer-based program to test and to teach the recognition of facial affect

Autism is a chronic pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by the early onset of social and communicative impairments as well as restricted, ritualized, stereotypic behavior. The endophenotype of autism includes neuropsychological deficits, for instance a lack of "Theory of Mind" and problems recognizing facial affect. In this study, we report the development and evaluation of a computer-based program to teach and test the ability to identify basic facially expressed emotions. 10 adolescent or adult subjects with high-functioning autism or Asperger-syndrome were included in the investigation. A priori the facial affect recognition test had shown good psychometric properties in a normative sample (internal consistency: rtt=.91-.95; retest reliability: rtt=.89-.92). In a prepost design, one half of the sample was randomly assigned to receive computer treatment while the other half of the sample served as control group. The training was conducted for five weeks, consisting of two hours training a week. The trained individuals improved significantly on the affect recognition task, but not on any other measure. Results support the usefulness of the program to teach the detection of facial affect. However, the improvement found is limited to a circumscribed area of social-communicative function and generalization is not ensured.

Postgraduate training program

BACKGROUND: Faculties face the permanent challenge to design training programs with well-balanced educational outcomes, and to offer various organised and individual learning opportunities. AIM: To apply our original model to a postgraduate training program in rheumatology in general, and to various learning experiences in particular, in order to analyse the balance between different educational objectives. METHODS: Learning times of various educational activities were reported by the junior staff as targeted learners. The suitability of different learning experiences to achieve cognitive, affective and psychomotor learning objectives was estimated. Learning points with respect to efficacy were calculated by multiplication of the estimated learning times by the perceived appropriateness of the educational strategies. RESULTS: Out of 780 hours of professional learning per year (17.7 hours/week), 37.7% of the time was spent under individual supervision of senior staff, 24.4% in organised structured learning, 22.6% in self-studies, and 15.3% in organised patient-oriented learning. The balance between the different types of learning objectives was appropriate for the overall program, but not for each particular learning experience. Acquisition of factual knowledge and problem solving was readily aimed for during organised teaching sessions of different formats, and by personal targeted reading. Attitudes, skills and competencies, as well as behavioural and performance changes were mostly learned during caring for patients under interactive supervision by experts. CONCLUSION: We encourage other faculties to apply this approach to any other curriculum of undergraduate education, postgraduate training or continuous professional development in order to foster the development of well-balanced learning experiences.

Hydrologic monitoring of an integrated low impact development (LID) underdrained stormwater management system

In 2005, Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc. (WSSI) installed an extensive Low Impact Development (LID) stormwater management system on their new office site in Gainesville, Virginia. The 4-acre site is serviced by a network of LID components: permeable pavements (two proprietary and one gravel type), bioretention cell / rain garden, green roof, vegetated swale, rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation, and slow-release underground detention. The site consists of heavy clay soils, and the LID components are mostly integrated by a series of underdrain pipes. A comprehensive monitoring system has been designed and installed to measure hydrologic performance throughout the LID, underdrained network. The monitoring system measures flows into and out of each LID component independently while concurrently monitoring rainfall events. A sensitivity analysis and laboratory calibration has been performed on the flow measurement system. Field data has been evaluated to determine the hydrologic performance of the LID features. Finally, hydrologic models amenable to compact, underdrained LID sites have been reviewed and recommended for future modeling and design.

Design and implementation of a 3D computer game controller using inertial MEMS sensors

Though 3D computer graphics has seen tremendous advancement in the past two decades, most available mechanisms for computer interaction in 3D are high cost and targeted for industry and virtual reality applications. Recent advances in Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) devices have brought forth a variety of new low-cost, low-power, miniature sensors with high accuracy, which are well suited for hand-held devices. In this work a novel design for a 3D computer game controller using inertial sensors is proposed, and a prototype device based on this design is implemented. The design incorporates MEMS accelerometers and gyroscopes from Analog Devices to measure the three components of the acceleration and angular velocity. From these sensor readings, the position and orientation of the hand-held compartment can be calculated using numerical methods. The implemented prototype is utilizes a USB 2.0 compliant interface for power and communication with the host system. A Microchip dsPIC microcontroller is used in the design. This microcontroller integrates the analog to digital converters, the program memory flash, as well as the core processor, on a single integrated circuit. A PC running Microsoft Windows operating system is used as the host machine. Prototype firmware for the microcontroller is developed and tested to establish the communication between the design and the host, and perform the data acquisition and initial filtering of the sensor data. A PC front-end application with a graphical interface is developed to communicate with the device, and allow real-time visualization of the acquired data.

Information integration and management through the design and construction phases of a project life cycle

Information management is a key aspect of successful construction projects. Having inaccurate measurements and conflicting data can lead to costly mistakes, and vague quantities can ruin estimates and schedules. Building information modeling (BIM) augments a 3D model with a wide variety of information, which reduces many sources of error and can detect conflicts before they occur. Because new technology is often more complex, it can be difficult to effectively integrate it with existing business practices. In this paper, we will answer two questions: How can BIM add value to construction projects? and What lessons can be learned from other companies that use BIM or other similar technology? Previous research focused on the technology as if it were simply a tool, observing problems that occurred while integrating new technology into existing practices. Our research instead looks at the flow of information through a company and its network, seeing all the actors as part of an ecosystem. Building upon this idea, we proposed the metaphor of an information supply chain to illustrate how BIM can add value to a construction project. This paper then concludes with two case studies. The first case study illustrates a failure in the flow of information that could have prevented by using BIM. The second case study profiles a leading design firm that has used BIM products for many years and shows the real benefits of using this program.

Engineering design motivations : a qualitative and quantitative analysis of university students

What motivates students to perform and pursue engineering design tasks? This study examines this question by way of three Learning Through Service (LTS) programs: 1) an on-going longitudinal study examining the impacts of service on engineering students, 2) an on-going analysis of an international senior design capstone program, and 3) an on-going evaluation of an international graduate-level research program. The evaluation of these programs incorporates both qualitative and quantitative methods, utilizing surveys, questionnaires, and interviews, which help to provide insight on what motivates students to do engineering design work. The quantitative methods were utilized in analyzing various instruments including: a Readiness assessment inventory, Intercultural Development Inventory, Sustainable Engineering through Service Learning survey, the Impacts of Service on Engineering Students’ survey, Motivational narratives, as well as some analysis for interview text. The results of these instruments help to provide some much needed insight on how prepared students are to participate in engineering programs. Additional qualitative methods include: Word clouds, Motivational narratives, as well as interview analysis. This thesis focused on how these instruments help to determine what motivates engineering students to pursue engineering design tasks. These instruments aim to collect some more in-depth information than the quantitative instruments will allow. Preliminary results suggest that of the 120 interviews analyzed Interest/Enjoyment, Application of knowledge and skills, as well as gaining knowledge are key motivating factors regardless of gender or academic level. Together these findings begin to shed light on what motivates students to perform engineering design tasks, which can be applied for better recruitment and retention in university programs.

DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF RESONANT GAS SENSOR FOR HIGH SENSITIVITY IN THE PRESENCE OF AIR DAMPING

Gas sensors have been used widely in different important area including industrial control, environmental monitoring, counter-terrorism and chemical production. Micro-fabrication offers a promising way to achieve sensitive and inexpensive gas sensors. Over the years, various MEMS gas sensors have been investigated and fabricated. One significant type of MEMS gas sensors is based on mass change detection and the integration with specific polymer. This dissertation aims to make contributions to the design and fabrication of MEMS resonant mass sensors with capacitance actuation and sensing that lead to improved sensitivity. To accomplish this goal, the research has several objectives: (1) Define an effective measure for evaluating the sensitivity of resonant mass devices; (2) Model the effects of air damping on microcantilevers and validate models using laser measurement system (3) Develop design guidelines for improving sensitivity in the presence of air damping; (4) Characterize the degree of uncertainty in performance arising from fabrication variation for one or more process sequences, and establish design guidelines for improved robustness. Work has been completed toward these objectives. An evaluation measure has been developed and compared to an RMS based measure. Analytic models of air damping for parallel plate that include holes are compared with a COMSOL model. The models have been used to identify cantilever design parameters that maximize sensitivity. Additional designs have been modeled with COMSOL and the development of an analytical model for Fixed-free cantilever geometries with holes has been developed. Two process flows have been implemented and compared. A number of cantilever designs have been fabricated and the uncertainty in process has been investigated. Variability from processing have been evaluated and characterized.

Looking at the effectiveness of an earth science unit designed using the Understanding by Design process

This report shares my efforts in developing a solid unit of instruction that has a clear focus on student outcomes. I have been a teacher for 20 years and have been writing and revising curricula for much of that time. However, most has been developed without the benefit of current research on how students learn and did not focus on what and how students are learning. My journey as a teacher has involved a lot of trial and error. My traditional method of teaching is to look at the benchmarks (now content expectations) to see what needs to be covered. My unit consists of having students read the appropriate sections in the textbook, complete work sheets, watch a video, and take some notes. I try to include at least one hands-on activity, one or more quizzes, and the traditional end-of-unit test consisting mostly of multiple choice questions I find in the textbook. I try to be engaging, make the lessons fun, and hope that at the end of the unit my students get whatever concepts I‘ve presented so that we can move on to the next topic. I want to increase students‘ understanding of science concepts and their ability to connect understanding to the real-world. However, sometimes I feel that my lessons are missing something. For a long time I have wanted to develop a unit of instruction that I know is an effective tool for the teaching and learning of science. In this report, I describe my efforts to reform my curricula using the “Understanding by Design” process. I want to see if this style of curriculum design will help me be a more effective teacher and if it will lead to an increase in student learning. My hypothesis is that this new (for me) approach to teaching will lead to increased understanding of science concepts among students because it is based on purposefully thinking about learning targets based on “big ideas” in science. For my reformed curricula I incorporate lessons from several outstanding programs I‘ve been involved with including EpiCenter (Purdue University), Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), the Master of Science Program in Applied Science Education at Michigan Technological University, and the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL). In this report, I present the methodology on how I developed a new unit of instruction based on the Understanding by Design process. I present several lessons and learning plans I‘ve developed for the unit that follow the 5E Learning Cycle as appendices at the end of this report. I also include the results of pilot testing of one of lessons. Although the lesson I pilot-tested was not as successful in increasing student learning outcomes as I had anticipated, the development process I followed was helpful in that it required me to focus on important concepts. Conducting the pilot test was also helpful to me because it led me to identify ways in which I could improve upon the lesson in the future.

Inductive-Capacitive Resonant Circuit Sensors for Structural Health and Environmental Monitoring

Inductive-capacitive (LC) resonant circuit sensors are low-cost, wireless, durable, simple to fabricate and battery-less. Consequently, they are well suited to sensing applications in harsh environments or in situations where large numbers of sensors are needed. They are also advantageous in applications where access to the sensor is limited or impossible or when sensors are needed on a disposable basis. Due to their many advantages, LC sensors have been used for sensing a variety of parameters including humidity, temperature, chemical concentrations, pH, stress/pressure, strain, food quality and even biological growth. However, current versions of the LC sensor technology are limited to sensing only one parameter. The purpose of this work is to develop new types of LC sensor systems that are simpler to fabricate (hence lower cost) or capable of monitoring multiple parameters simultaneously. One design presented in this work, referred to as the multi-element LC sensor, is able to measure multiple parameters simultaneously using a second capacitive element. Compared to conventional LC sensors, this design can sense multiple parameters with a higher detection range than two independent sensors while maintaining the same overall sensor footprint. In addition, the two-element sensor does not suffer from interference issues normally encountered while implementing two LC sensors in close proximity. Another design, the single-spiral inductive-capacitive sensor, utilizes the parasitic capacitance of a coil or spring structure to form a single layer LC resonant circuit. Unlike conventional LC sensors, this design is truly planar, thus simplifying its fabrication process and reducing sensor cost. Due to the simplicity of this sensor layout it will be easier and more cost-effective for embedding in common building or packaging materials during manufacturing processes, thereby adding functionality to current products (such as drywall sheets) while having a minor impact on overall unit cost. These modifications to the LC sensor design significantly improve the functionality and commercial feasibility of this technology, especially for applications where a large array of sensors or multiple sensing parameters are required.

Impact of coil position and electrophysiological monitoring on determination of motor thresholds to transcranial magnetic stimulation

OBJECTIVE: We compared motor and movement thresholds to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in healthy subjects and investigated the effect of different coil positions on thresholds and MEP (motor-evoked potential) amplitudes. METHODS: The abductor pollicis brevis (APB) 'hot spot' and a standard scalp position were stimulated. APB resting motor threshold (APB MEP-MT) defined by the '5/10' electrophysiological method was compared with movement threshold (MOV-MT), defined by visualization of movements. Additionally, APB MEP-MTs were evaluated with the '3/6 method,' and MEPs were recorded at a stimulation intensity of 120% APB MEP-MT at each position. RESULTS: APB MEP-MTs were significantly lower by stimulation of the 'hot spot' than of the standard position, and significantly lower than MOV-MTs (n=15). There were no significant differences between the '3/6' and the '5/10' methods, or between APB MEP amplitudes by stimulating each position at 120% APB MEP-MT. CONCLUSIONS: Coil position and electrophysiological monitoring influenced motor threshold determinations. Performing 6 instead of 10 trials did not produce different threshold measurements. Adjustment of intensity according to APB MEP-MT at the stimulated position did not influence APB MEP amplitudes. SIGNIFICANCE: Standardization of stimulation positions, nomenclature and criteria for threshold measurements should be considered in design and comparison of TMS protocols.

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF HOME USE PORTABLE SMART ELECTRONICS

The widespread of low cost embedded electronics makes it easier to implement the smart devices that can understand either the environment or the user behaviors. The main object of this project is to design and implement home use portable smart electronics, including the portable monitoring device for home and office security and the portable 3D mouse for convenient use. Both devices in this project use the MPU6050 which contains a 3 axis accelerometer and a 3 axis gyroscope to sense the inertial motion of the door or the human hands movement. For the portable monitoring device for home and office security, MPU6050 is used to sense the door (either home front door or cabinet door) movement through the gyroscope, and Raspberry Pi is then used to process the data it receives from MPU6050, if the data value exceeds the preset threshold, Raspberry Pi would control the USB Webcam to take a picture and then send out an alert email with the picture to the user. The advantage of this device is that it is a small size portable stand-alone device with its own power source, it is easy to implement, really cheap for residential use, and energy efficient with instantaneous alert. For the 3D mouse, the MPU6050 would use both the accelerometer and gyroscope to sense user hands movement, the data are processed by MSP430G2553 through a digital smooth filter and a complementary filter, and then the filtered data will pass to the personal computer through the serial COM port. By applying the cursor movement equation in the PC driver, this device can work great as a mouse with acceptable accuracy. Compared to the normal optical mouse we are using, this mouse does not need any working surface, with the use of the smooth and complementary filter, it has certain accuracy for normal use, and it is easy to be extended to a portable mouse as small as a finger ring.

MODEL UPDATING AND STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING OF HORIZONTAL AXIS WIND TURBINES VIA ADVANCED SPINNING FINITE ELEMENTS AND STOCHASTIC SUBSPACE IDENTIFICATION METHODS

Wind energy has been one of the most growing sectors of the nation’s renewable energy portfolio for the past decade, and the same tendency is being projected for the upcoming years given the aggressive governmental policies for the reduction of fossil fuel dependency. Great technological expectation and outstanding commercial penetration has shown the so called Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT) technologies. Given its great acceptance, size evolution of wind turbines over time has increased exponentially. However, safety and economical concerns have emerged as a result of the newly design tendencies for massive scale wind turbine structures presenting high slenderness ratios and complex shapes, typically located in remote areas (e.g. offshore wind farms). In this regard, safety operation requires not only having first-hand information regarding actual structural dynamic conditions under aerodynamic action, but also a deep understanding of the environmental factors in which these multibody rotating structures operate. Given the cyclo-stochastic patterns of the wind loading exerting pressure on a HAWT, a probabilistic framework is appropriate to characterize the risk of failure in terms of resistance and serviceability conditions, at any given time. Furthermore, sources of uncertainty such as material imperfections, buffeting and flutter, aeroelastic damping, gyroscopic effects, turbulence, among others, have pleaded for the use of a more sophisticated mathematical framework that could properly handle all these sources of indetermination. The attainable modeling complexity that arises as a result of these characterizations demands a data-driven experimental validation methodology to calibrate and corroborate the model. For this aim, System Identification (SI) techniques offer a spectrum of well-established numerical methods appropriated for stationary, deterministic, and data-driven numerical schemes, capable of predicting actual dynamic states (eigenrealizations) of traditional time-invariant dynamic systems. As a consequence, it is proposed a modified data-driven SI metric based on the so called Subspace Realization Theory, now adapted for stochastic non-stationary and timevarying systems, as is the case of HAWT’s complex aerodynamics. Simultaneously, this investigation explores the characterization of the turbine loading and response envelopes for critical failure modes of the structural components the wind turbine is made of. In the long run, both aerodynamic framework (theoretical model) and system identification (experimental model) will be merged in a numerical engine formulated as a search algorithm for model updating, also known as Adaptive Simulated Annealing (ASA) process. This iterative engine is based on a set of function minimizations computed by a metric called Modal Assurance Criterion (MAC). In summary, the Thesis is composed of four major parts: (1) development of an analytical aerodynamic framework that predicts interacted wind-structure stochastic loads on wind turbine components; (2) development of a novel tapered-swept-corved Spinning Finite Element (SFE) that includes dampedgyroscopic effects and axial-flexural-torsional coupling; (3) a novel data-driven structural health monitoring (SHM) algorithm via stochastic subspace identification methods; and (4) a numerical search (optimization) engine based on ASA and MAC capable of updating the SFE aerodynamic model.