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The following report chronicles the University of North Texas Wind Turbine Project at Apogee Stadium. The timeline of events will include the feasibility study conducted by and for the university, grant awards from the Texas State Energy Conservation Office to fund the project, and a three-year sample of real time performance data since installation. The purpose of this case study is to compare the energy generation estimates by various stakeholders to the measured energy generation using a new but uniform performance relationship. In order to optimize energy generation in wind turbine generator systems, the most common wind speeds measured at the site should also be the most efficient wind speeds at which the wind turbine can convert the kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical energy and ultimately electrical energy. The tool used to convey this relationship will be a figure plotting the wind speed profile against the efficiency curve of the wind turbine. Applying this relationship tool to the UNT Apogee Stadium wind turbines provided valuable results. The most common wind speeds at Apogee Stadium are not the most efficient wind speed for the turbine. Also, the most common wind speeds were near the lower limit of the wind turbine’s performance parameters. This scenario was evident in both the energy generation predictions as well as the real-time recorded data. This case study will also present the economic analysis of the Apogee Stadium wind turbines using another tool that was not previously used in the feasibility study. The case study concludes with future steps to improve wind turbine performance, and to budget future cost using past, present and future energy savings.

Reservoir release patterns are determined by a number of purposes, the most fundamental of which is to manage water resources for human use. Managing our water resources means not only controlling the water in reservoirs but also determining the optimum release rate taking into account factors such as reservoir stability, power generation, water supply for domestic, industrial, and agricultural uses, and the river ecosystem. However, riverbank stability has generally not been considered as a factor, even though release rates may have a significant effect on downstream riverbank stability. Riverbank retreat not only impacts land properties but also damages structures along the river such as roads, bridges and even buildings. Thus, reservoir releases need to also take into account the downstream riverbank stability and erosion issues. The study presented here investigates the riverbank stability and erosion at five study sites representing straight as well as inside and outside channel meander bends located on the lower Roanoke River near Scotland Neck, North Carolina. Extensive laboratory and field experiments were performed to define the hydraulic and geotechnical properties of the riverbank soils at each site. Specifically, soil water characteristic curves were determined using six different techniques and the results compared to existing mathematical models. Hydraulic conductivity was estimated using both laboratory and in situ tests. Due to the wide range of experimentally obtained values, the values determined by each of the methods was used for transient seepage modeling and the modeling results compared to the actual ground water table measured in the field. The results indicate that although the hydraulic conductivities determined by in situ tests were much larger than those typically reported for the soils by lab tests, numerical predictions of the ground water table using the in situ values provided a good fit for the measured ground water table elevation. Shear strengths of unsaturated soils were determined using multistage suction controlled direct shear tests. The test method was validated, and saturated and unsaturated shear strength parameters determined. These parameters, which were determined on the basis of results from both laboratory and field measurements, and the associated boundary conditions, which took into account representative flow rates and patterns including peaking, drawdown and step-down scenarios, were then utilized for transient seepage analyses and slope stability analyses performed using SLIDE, a software package developed by Rocscience. The analyses confirmed that the riverbanks are stable for all flow conditions, although the presence of lower permeability soils in some areas may create excess pore water pressures, especially during drawdown and step-down events, that result in the slope becoming unstable in those locations. These findings indicate that overall, the current reservoir release patterns do not cause adverse impacts on the downstream riverbanks, although a gradual drawdown after a prolonged high flow event during the wet season would reduce unfavorable conditions that threaten riverbank stability. / Ph. D.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the performance of the monothermal caloric screening test in a large sample of patients. Design: A retrospective analysis of the medical records of 1002 consecutive patients who had undergone vestibular assessment at the Mayo Clinic during the years 1989 and 1990 was conducted. Patients with incomplete alternate binaural bithermal (ABB) caloric testing, congenital or periodic alternating nystagmus, or bilateral vestibular loss were excluded from the study. Clinical decision theory analyses (relative operating characteristic curves) were used to determine the accuracy with which the monothermal warm (MWST) and monothermal cool (MCST) caloric screening tests predicted the results of the ABB caloric test. Cumulative distributions were constructed as a function of the cutoff points for monothermal interear difference (IED) to select the cutoff point associated with any combination of true-positive and false-positive rates. Results: Both MWST and MCST performed well above chance level. The test performance for the MWST was significantly better than that of the MCST for three of the four ABB gold standards. A 10% IED cutoff point for the MWST yielded a false-negative rate of either 1% (UW ≥25%) or 3% (UW ≥20%). The use of a 10% IED (UW ≥25%) for the MWST would have resulted in a 40% reduction (N = 294) in the number of ABB caloric tests performed on patients without a unilateral weakness. Conclusions: The results of this study indicated that the MWST decreases test time without sacrificing the sensitivity of the ABB caloric test.

A particulate model is developed to analyze the effects of steady state and transient seepage of water through a randomly-packed coarse-grained soil as an improvement to conventional seepage analysis based on continuum models. In the new model the soil skeleton and pore water are volumetrically coupled. In the first phase of the study, the concept of relative density has been used to define different compaction levels of the soil layers of a completely saturated pavement filter system and observe the seepage response to compaction. First, Monte-Carlo simulation is used to randomly pack discrete spherical particles from a specified Particle Size Distribution (PSD) to achieve a desired relative density based on the theoretical minimum and maximum void ratios. Then, a water pressure gradient is applied across one two-layer filter unit to trigger water seepage. The pore water motion is idealized using Navier Stokes (NS) equations which also incorporate drag forces acting between the water and soil particles. The NS equations are discretized using finite differences and applied to discrete elements in a staggered, structured grid. The model predicted hydraulic conductivities are validated using widely used equations. The critical water velocities, hydraulic gradients and flow within the xi saturated soil layers are identified under both steady state and transient conditions. Significantly critical transient conditions seem to develop. In the second phase of the study the model is extended to analyze the confined flow through a partly saturated pavement layer and unconfined flow from a retention pond into the surrounding saturated granular soil medium. In partly saturated soil, the water porosity changes resulting from water flow is updated using the Soil Water Characteristics Curve (SWCC) of the soil. The results show how complete saturation develops due to water flow following the water porosity Vs pressure trend defined by the SWCC. Finally, the model is used to predict the gradual reduction in the water level of a retention pond and the location of the free-surface. The free-surface is determined by differentiating the wet and dry zones based on the Heaviside step function modified NS equations.

Στην εργασία χρησιμοποιούνται σήματα καρδιακού ρυθμού, τα οποία αντιστοιχούν σε φυσιολογικές και οξαιμικές περιπτώσεις.Στην συνέχεια αυτά τα σήματα τα επεξεργαζόμαστε με διάφορες τεχνικές. Στόχος της εργασίας αυτής είναι ο διαχωρισμός των δυο αυτών ομάδων. / In this thesis are used signals of cardiac rythm, that correspond in physiologic and oxidemic cases.Then we processed these signals with various techniques.Target of this thesis is the segregation of this two teams.

Steered Response Power based algorithms are widely used for finding sound source location using microphone array systems. SRCP-PHAT is one such algorithm that has a robust performance under noisy and reverberant conditions. The algorithm creates a likelihood function over the field of view. This thesis employs image processing methods on SRCP-PHAT images, to exploit the difference in power levels and pixel patterns to discriminate between sound source and background pixels. Hough Transform based ellipse detection is used to identify the sound source locations by finding the centers of elliptical edge pixel regions typical of source patterns. Monte Carlo simulations of an eight microphone perimeter array with single and multiple sound sources are used to simulate the test environment and area under receiver operating characteristic (ROCA) curve is used to analyze the algorithm performance. Performance was compared to a simpler algorithm involving Canny edge detection and image averaging and an algorithms based simply on the magnitude of local maxima in the SRCP image. Analysis shows that Canny edge detection based method performed better in the presence of coherent noise sources.

[pt] A determinação dos parâmetros hidráulicos não saturados em laboratório nem sempre representa efetivamente as situações observadas em campo, principalmente devido ao erro causado pelo efeito de escala. Nesse sentido, inúmeros ensaios de campo vêm sendo desenvolvidos, fazendo o uso de medidas de carga de pressão no tempo, para a determinação das propriedades hidráulicas não saturadas. No presente estudo, foi utilizado o ensaio de campo proposto por Velloso (2000), denominado Ensaio de Infiltração Monitorada (EIM). Neste ensaio é mantida uma carga constante, utilizando um permeâmetro tipo Gueplh, sendo monitorada, com o auxílio de um tensiômetro, a variação da sucção ocasionada pela frente de infiltração. Quando a variação da sucção no solo torna-se constante e próxima a zero, o ensaio atingiu, portanto, a condição de fluxo permanente, podendo-se assim finalizar o teste. Os parâmetros do solo e os respectivos parâmetros do modelo de Van Genuchten (1980), os quais descrevem a curva de saturação versus o potencial mátrico, são obtidos matematicamente, através da resolução do problema inverso. Nesse sentido, o objetivo principal do presente trabalho é realizar uma avaliação detalhada dos procedimentos numéricos e experimentais para uso no Ensaio de Infiltração Monitorada (EIM), seguindo as diretrizes e recomendações apontadas nos estudos anteriormente realizados. Desta forma, buscou-se um melhor entendimento do EIM, e para isto, foram realizadas: análises comparativas com resultados de ensaio de laboratório do tipo papel filtro; foi adicionado o monitoramento de umidade de solo durante o EIM; e foram utilizados diferentes métodos de estimativa de parâmetros. Os ensaios apresentados no presente estudo foram realizados em cinco áreas do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. / [en] The determination of unsaturated hydraulic parameters in laboratory tests is not always represents as observed on the field, especially because of the presence of errors caused by the scale factor. So, several field tests have been developed using suction measures with time for a determination of the unsaturated hydraulic properties. This research aims to use the field test proposed by Velloso (2000), called Monitored Infiltration Test (EIM) to determine the Soil Water Characteristic Curve. In this test the constant head is maintained, using a constant head permeameter and, at the same time, monitoring a variation of the suction caused by the infiltration front with a tensiometer. When a variation of the suction in the soil becomes constant and close to zero, then, the test reached a condition of permanent flow, being possible to finalize the procedure. In addition, the soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) and the respective Van Genuchten parameters, that describes a saturation curve versus the matric potential, are obtained mathematically by solving the inverse problem. In this context, the main objective of this research is to develop a detailed evaluation of the numerical and experimental procedures to use it in the Monitored Infiltration Test (EIM), following the guidelines and recommendations pointed out in previous studies in the area. Moreover, was sought a better understanding of EIM, and for this, comparative analyzes were performed with laboratory test results of the filter paper type. In addition, it was added the soil moisture monitoring during the EIM. Finally, was used many optimization methods for parameter estimation. The tests developed and presented in this research, were performed in five areas around the State of Rio de Janeiro.

Em vista das mudanças ambientais em nível global, disponibilizar informações ecológicas e buscar uma melhor compreensão dos fatores e processos que moldam a distribuição de espécies, é uma iniciativa importante para o planejamento de ações de conservação. Neste contexto, a importância e carência de informações sobre a distribuição geográficas das espécies nos motivaram a predizer a distribuição potencial de arbustos e árvores das famílias Lauraceae e Myrtaceae na Floresta Atlântica, no sul do Brasil. Modelos lineares generalizados (GLM) foram usados para ajustar modelos preditivos com os registros de ocorrência de 88 espécies em função de variáveis ambientais. As variáveis preditoras foram selecionadas com base no menor critério de informação de Akaike corrigido. Nós avaliamos o desempenho dos modelos usando o método de validação cruzada (10-fold) para calcular a habilidade estatística verdadeira (TSS) e a área sob a curva característica do operador receptor (AUC). Nós usamos GLM para testar a influência da área de ocorrência estimada, do número de registros das espécies e da complexidade dos modelos sobre a TSS e a AUC. Nossos resultados mostraram que as variáveis climáticas governam amplamente a distribuição de espécies, mas as variáveis que captam as variações ambientais locais são relativamente importantes na área de estudo. A TSS foi significativamente influenciada pelo número de registros e complexidade dos modelos, enquanto a AUC sofreu com o efeito de todos os três fatores avaliados. A interação entre estes fatores é uma questão importante e a ser considerada em novas avaliações sobre ambas medidas e com diferentes técnicas de modelagem. Nossos resultados também mostraram que as distribuições de algumas espécies foram superestimadas e outras corresponderam bem com a ocorrência por nós conhecida. Efetivamente nossos resultados têm fundamentos para embasar novos levantamentos de campo, a avaliação de áreas prioritárias e planos de conservação, além de inferências dos efeitos de mudanças ambientais sobre as espécies da Mata Atlântica. / In view of environmental change on a global level, providing ecological information and getting a better understanding of the factors and processes that shape species distribution is an important initiative for planning conservation actions. In this context, the importance and lack of information about the geographical distribution of species motivated us to predict the potential species distribution of shrubs and trees of the family Lauraceae and Myrtaceae, in the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil. Generalized linear models (GLM) were used to fit predictive models with records of occurrence of 88 species according to environmental variables. Predictor variables were selected based on the lowest corrected Akaike information criterion. We evaluate the performance of the models using the method of cross-validation (10-fold) to calculate the true skill statistic (TSS) and area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC). We used GLM to test the influence of the area of occurrence estimated, the number of records of the species and the complexity of the models on the TSS and AUC. Our results show that climatic variables largely govern the distribution of species, but the variables that capture the local environmental variations are relatively important in the study area. The TSS was significantly influenced by the number of records and complexity of models while the AUC suffered from the effect of all three evaluated factors. The interaction between these factors is an important issue and be considered for new reviews on both measures and with different modeling techniques. Our results also showed that the distributions of some species were overestimated and other corresponded well with the occurrence known to us. Indeed our results have foundations to support new field surveys, assessment of priority areas and conservation plans, and inferences of the effects of environmental change on species of the Atlantic Forest.