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Desktop-based Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointers (WIMP) interfaces have changed very little in the last 30 years, and are still limited by a lack of powerful and expressive input devices and interactions. In order to make desktop interactions more expressive and controllable, expressive input mechanisms like pressure input must be made available to desktop users. One way to provide pressure input to these users is through a pressure-augmented computer mouse; however, before pressure-augmented mice can be developed, design information must be provided to mouse developers. The problem we address in this thesis is that there is a lack of ergonomics and performance information for the design of pressure-augmented mice. Our solution was to provide empirical performance and ergonomics information for pressure-augmented mice by performing five experiments. With the results of our experiments we were able to identify the optimal design parameters for pressure-augmented mice and provide a set of recommendations for future pressure-augmented mouse designs.

In this dissertation, a two-moment bulk microphysical scheme with aerosol effects is developed and implemented into the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to investigate the aerosol-cloud interaction. Sensitivities of cloud properties to the representation of aerosol size distributions are first evaluated using a simple box model and a cloud resolving model with a detailed spectral-bin microphysics, indicating that the three-moment method generally exhibits better performance in modeling cloud properties than the two-moment method against the sectional approach. A convective cloud event occurring on August 24, 2000 in Houston, Texas is investigated using the WRF model, and the simulation results are qualitatively in agreement with the measurements. Simulations with various aerosol profiles demonstrate that the response of precipitation to the increase of aerosol concentrations is non-monotonic. The maximal cloud cover, core updraft, and maximal vertical velocity exhibit similar responses as precipitation. The WRF model with the two-moment microphysical scheme successfully simulates the development of a squall line that occurred in the south plains of the U.S. Model experiments varying aerosol concentrations from the clean background case to the polluted continental case show that the aerosol concentrations insignificantly influence the rainfall pattern/distribution, but can remarkably alter the precipitation intensity. The WRF experiment with polluted aerosols predicts 12.8% more precipitation than that with clean aerosols, as well as more intensive rainfall locally. Using the monthly mean cloudiness from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP), a trend of increasing deep convective clouds over the north Pacific in winter from 1984 to 2005 is detected. Additionally, through analyzing the results from the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) version 2, we also show a trend of increasing wintertime precipitation over the north Pacific from 1984 to 2005. Simulations with the WRF model reveal that the increased deep convective clouds and precipitation are reproduced when accounting for the aerosol effect from the increasing Asian pollution outflow.

The first-principles calculation method has been used to calculate the total energy and the dipole moment per disk of an array of four-atomic-layers thick GaN nanodisks as functions of their separation. The dipole moment per disk is found to increase with the separation of the disks and saturates at a separation between the edges of neighboring disks of about 11Å. This trend indicates that there exists a charge transfer effect, which gives rise to a dipole moment in opposite direction to the dipole moment associated with the two Ga-N bilayers when disks are close enough. The approximate total energy after the adjustment of the charge transfer effect is found to decrease with the increase of the separation of disks, which indicates that the intrinsic dipoles of the nanodisks gives rise to repulsive interactions among them.

As the whole environment is changing dramatically and competition is globalizing, corporations face a future hard to predict and control and have a strong desire for more help from outside. Therefore, the consulting industry which satisfies corporations¡¦ demand to solve their problems is growing faster and faster. With the suggestions and recommendations from consulting firms, some corporations really have better performance and become more competitive; however, others do not benefit but get big losses from consulting forms. So we can have a conclusion that solving corporations¡¦ problems from consulting firms is not the only way to choose. Nevertheless, this research hopes to provide corporations and consulting firms with some efficient methods when they are involved in consulting projects. According to the case study and integrating analysis, the main conclusions of this research are as following: 1. Corporations must understand what they need and measure they own capability before planning to have consulting, and then be able to evaluate if they need to have consulting. 2. When corporations plan and choose consulting firms, they can benefit more by starting from staffs with interpersonal relationship and other corporations¡¦ experiences. 3. In the beginning, corporations and consulting firms should communicate completely with each other. Corporations should insist on their core value and culture and take it as the base of changing to get rid of missing their directions. 4. When facing resistance, corporations should solve problems positively and rely on the consulting firms¡¦ distinctive experiences and competencies of resolving conflicts. 5. Corporations usually find it difficult to evaluate consulting firms¡¦ performances; therefore they often spend more making a decision about consulting firms. But what is important for corporations is taking the results of evaluating consulting projects as the basis of improving to enhance the success of next project. Consequently, corporations should complete performance evaluating of consulting projects in detail; continue using a good model and correct failures and mistakes to promote the performance and value of consulting projects.

The purpose of this study was to identify ways in which students interact with faculty members outside of the classroom and learn what students believe makes for high quality interaction. Additionally, this study sought to identify successful out-of-classroom facultystudent interaction strategies from the student perspective. This knowledge can aid colleges and universities in promoting more formal and informal faculty-student out-of-classroom interaction, thereby increasing the overall quality of the undergraduate student experience. The study employed a naturalistic inquiry paradigm of research. The author interviewed 25 students at a Hispanic Serving institution (HSI) in San Antonio, Texas. All students interviewed had interacted with faculty outside of the classroom. Six themes emerged in terms of types of interaction: course-related activities; traveling for conferences or study abroad; casual interactions around campus; career and graduate school focused interaction; visiting faculty in their offices (most common); and participating together in campus clubs or athletic activities. High quality out-of-classroom interactions had four characteristics: faculty members were approachable and personable; faculty members had enthusiasm and passion for their work; faculty members cared about students personally; and faculty members served as role models and mentors. The most powerful element of high-quality faculty-student out-of-classroom interaction is that of relationship. The most pronounced differences between underclassmen and upperclassmen were in the areas of going to faculty offices and speaking with faculty about career and graduate school plans. Juniors and seniors proportionately had more interaction with faculty on these themes. Students offered suggestions on how the University could encourage more facultystudent out-of-classroom interaction. Students' ideas revolved around three themes: promoting social events and interaction; stressing the importance of office hours; and suggestions directed at faculty members. Students can also serve as ambassadors to other students by encouraging them to engage in faculty-student out-of-classroom interaction. To continue improving the undergraduate collegiate experience, colleges and universities should strengthen and refine institutional commitment to practices that foster the undergraduate experience, including that of faculty-student interaction. Finally, institutions must remember to keep students at the center of their purpose and find ways to regularly solicit qualitative feedback from students of all segments of the campus environment.

The coupling and interactions between ship motion and inner-tank sloshing are investigated by a potential-viscous hybrid method in time domain. For the time domain simulation of vessel motion, the hydrodynamic coefficients and wave forces are obtained by a potential-theory-based 3D diffraction/radiation panel program in frequency domain. Then, the corresponding simulations of motions in time domain are carried out using the convolution-integral method. The liquid sloshing in a tank is simulated in time domain by a Navier-Stokes solver. A finite difference method with SURF scheme, assuming a singlevalued free surface profile, is applied for the direct simulation of liquid sloshing. The computed sloshing forces and moments are then applied as external excitations to the ship motion. The calculated ship motion is in turn inputted as the excitation for liquid sloshing, which is repeated for the ensuing time steps. For comparison, linear inner-fluid motion was calculated using a 3D panel program and it is coupled with the vessel motion program in the frequency domain. The developed computer programs are applied to a barge-type FPSO hull equipped with two partially filled tanks. The time domain simulation results show reasonably good agreement when compared with MARIN's experimental results. The frequency domain results qualitatively reproduce the trend of coupling effects but the peaks are usually over-predicted. It is seen that the coupling effects on roll motions appreciably change with filling level. The most pronounced coupling effects on roll motions are the shift or split of peak frequencies. The pitch motions are much less influenced by the inner-fluid motion compared to roll motions. A developed program is also applied to a more realistic offloading configuration where a LNG-carrier is moored with a floating terminal in a side-by-side configuration. First, a hydrodynamic interaction problem between two bodies is solved successfully in frequency and time domain. A realistic mooring system, including fender, hawser, and simplified mooring system, is also developed to calculate the nonlinear behavior of two bodies in time domain simulation. Then, the LNG-carrier and sloshing problem are coupled in frequency and time domain, similar to the method in the MARIN-FPSO case. Sloshing effect on LNG-carrier motion is investigated with respect to different tank filling levels including various conditions such as gap distance between two bodies, selection of dolphin mooring system, and different cases of environmental conditions using wave, wind, and current.

Diss.--Frankfurt am Main Universität, 2004. / Bibibliogr. p. 213-225.

Reproduction de : Thèse de doctorat : Dynamique des fluides : Toulouse, INPT : 2006. / Texte en anglais ou en français. Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. 213 réf.

Reproduction de : Thèse de doctorat : informatique : Grenoble 1 : 1989. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. p. 338-349.