This thesis is about so-­‐called consensual exploitative transactions: transactions to which all parties agree voluntarily, and which are beneficial for all parties, but which are still widely considered exploitative, and for that reason legally restricted in many countries. The thesis asks two main questions: 1. What is wrong with consensual exploitation? 2.What implications does the answer to this question have for the legal restriction of consensual transactions that are regarded exploitative in modern liberal societies? In answer to the first research question, the thesis starts by distinguishing and analysing five competing views of the wrong in consensual exploitation that exist in the present-­‐day philosophical debate on exploitation; and rejects all five answers. Next, the thesis offers an alternative answer, which is that the wrong in consensual exploitation can best be understood as a matter of greediness—a failure of the virtue of generosity. The thesis then turns to the second research question: what understanding exploitation as greediness implies for the legal restriction of exploitative transactions. It discusses and rejects the view that law ought only to be used to regulate ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ behaviour, and not to promote virtues or discourage vices, such as generosity and greediness. The thesis argues that legal restrictions on consensual exploitative transactions can be justified as a means to prevent greediness, and to promote a certain other-­‐regardingness, and illustrates this argument with two examples of laws that regulate consensual transactions which are widely regarded exploitative: minimum wage laws and payday loan laws.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen M. Featherstone / In the United States, accurately predicting the agricultural industry’s future demand for new farm machinery is a complicated, challenging and ever-changing issue. To compound the matter; as the size of large farm machinery continues to increase, the annualized sales volume is decreasing over time. This thesis also finds that recent mandates applicable to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) diesel engine emission compliance and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Section 179 tax code may help with forecasting the demand for farm machinery on an annual basis. This thesis evaluates factors that affect the annual unit demand of combines in the United States. Due to the lack of published literature on this specific topic, a survey of John Deere dealership sales professionals who have had recent experience selling new combines to farmers was used. This perspective brings to light factors that impact industry demand for new combines. This study results in an empirical regression model with independent variables based on the survey results. A thorough understanding of the independent variables can aid in predicting the future demand for combines. This work indicates that forty years of historical data proves to provide enough variability such that statistically significant variables are identified to accurately predict future sales. Statistically significant factors that affect the annual unit sales volume of combines in the United States include: Interest Rate, Net Cash Income, IRS Section 179 Tax Code, Planted Acres and Combine Capacity. Future industry demand is predicted by applying forecasted estimates to the model’s applicable independent variables.

[by] R.D. Maurer [and] Melvin A. Herlin. / Bibliography: p. 6. / Army Signal Corps Contract No. W-36-039 sc-32037, Project no. 102B. Dept. of the Army Project No. 3-99-10-022.

In the development of engineering products, it is necessary to predict dynamic properties of the modified structures. Achieving such predictions by using the structural properties of the original structure and information on the modifications is commonly referred to as structural modification analysis. In this thesis, &Ouml / zg&uuml / ven&rsquo / s Structural Modification Method and Sherman-Morrison Method are selected as exact methods for structural modifications to predict the dynamics of a locally modified structure. Also, a new structural modification method named as &ldquo / Extended Successive Matrix Inversion Method&rdquo / is developed in this study. These three methods are implemented in a software developed herein, called &ldquo / Structural Modification Toolbox&rdquo / . The software uses modal analysis results of MSC Nastran&copy / for the original structure and calculates the modified frequency response functions by any of the methods above. In order to validate the software, direct modal analysis results of MSC Nastran&copy / for the frequency response functions of the modified structure are used. The methods are compared in terms of computational time, and the effectivity of each method is studied as a function of modification size to determine which of these methods is more suitable. In order to investigate the application of the methods and compare their results with experimental ones, modal tests are conducted on a scaled aircraft structure. The solutions are compared with test results obtained from modified test structure. Additionally, the software is used for comparison of real aircraft test results and frequency response functions of the modified structure.

Gait analysis is one of the primary applications of biomechanics and deals with scientific description of human locomotion, which is a qualitative concept as observed through the human eye. METU Gait Analysis Laboratory has been operating in various fields of gait and motion analyses since 1999. Although several studies have previously been undertaken about METU Gait Analysis System, until now, the effects of methodology and protocol related system parameters on kinematic analysis results have not been fully and exhaustively investigated. This thesis presents an assessment on sensitivity and compatibility of METU Gait Analysis Protocol to variations in experimental methodology and implementation of various joint center estimation methods, performed through investigation of the resulting joint kinematics. It is believed that the performance and reliability of METU Gait Analysis System will be improved based on the findings of this study.

The METU Gait Analysis System employs a computer program called Kiss-GAIT for the calculation of joint angles, moments and powers using force plate data and marker trajectories as input. Kiss-GAIT was developed using Delphi and is confined to calculations related to the standard gait protocol. Because the code lacks the flexibility required to carry out various test cases, the inverse dynamics formulation being used could not be verified and the extent of the error propagation problem could not be determined so far. The first aim of this study was to develop a code for the inverse dynamics model of the METU Gait Analysis System making use of the flexible programming environment provided by MATLAB. Verified and more reliable analysis results, obtained by reformulating the inverse dynamics algorithm in a new code, are presented. Secondly, data smoothing and differentiation techniques conventionally used in gait analysis were critically reviewed. A common tool used for filtering marker trajectories is the Butterworth digital filter. This thesis presents a modified, adaptive version of this classical tool that can handle non-stationary signals owing to its coefficients which are functions of local signal structure. The results of this thesis indicate the dominancy of ground reactions as compared to inertial effects in normal human gait. This implies that the accuracy needed in body segment inertial parameter estimation is not a critical factor. On the other hand, marker trajectories must be as accurate as possible for meaningful kinetic patterns. While any smoothing and differentiation routine that produces reasonable estimates is sufficient for joint moment calculation purposes, the estimation performance becomes a key requirement for the calculation of joint powers.

ABSTRACT DESIGN OF A MECHANISM FOR OPENING HACTHBACK CAR BAGGAGE DOOR Duran, Yusuf M.S., Department of Mechanical Engineering Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Eres S&ouml / ylemez September 2009, 65 Pages In this thesis, a new mechanism design for opening hatchback-car baggage door is introduced. Unlike the classical hinged doors used, this new design will include a mechanism so that the door will be opened vertically and thus occupy less space behind the car during the opening. In this fashion even the hatchback doors of closely parked cars may be opened. First, considering type synthesis, different mechanism types are investigated. In dimensional synthesis, with the help of Burmester theory, motion generation is applied. Using the circle and center point curves, considering link dimensions, transmission angle characteristics, branching and some order issues possible solutions that satisfy the position requirements are found. To actuate the mechanism, an appropriate gas-spring is sought. As a case study a prototype is manufactured and mounted on a sample hatchback car to check the mechanism performance.

The objective of this study is to present a dynamic model of a backhoe-loader including cab dynamics in order to simulate the vibration levels transmitted to the operator. For this purpose, analytical solutions of the cab and the machine are developed by deriving the equations of motion of the system and the state space forms of the solution are implemented in the commercially available simulation software, MATLAB/Simulink. In addition to the analytical solution, a model is developed using the physical modeling toolboxes of MATLAB/SimMechanics. Cab model developed in SimMechanics is extended to simulate whole machine dynamics by inserting machine body and tire parameters. Vibration data is acquired from the machine for experimental validation of the models. Analytical and SimMechanics solution are evaluated by comparing the seat acceleration results for the same inputs. Furthermore, simulation results obtained from the models and the measurement results are found to be in agreement in both time and frequency domain.

Texte remanié de: Thèse de doctorat--Histoire moderne--Poitiers, 2002. / Bibliogr. p. 487-509. Index. Résumé en français et en anglais.

The methods of analysis used to determine ultimate bearing capacity of piles are applied to a field case in Turkey. During the pile driving works of the Atat&uuml / rk Culture Center in Samsun, Delmag D22-13 and Delmag D-15 diesel pile driving hammers have been used. The ultimate bearing capacity and skin friction values calculated using static formulas have been given as input to the wave equation pile analysis program FADWAVE written by J.E.Bowles. The analytical method used in this program was based on the wave propagation in solids originated in 1962 by E.A.L.Smith. The results obtained from the program are compared with each other.