Thesis (Ph. D.)--City Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007. / Leigh, Nancey Green, Committee Chair ; Contant, Cheryl, Committee Member ; Meyer, Peter, Committee Member ; Vanegas, Jorge, Committee Member ; Elliott, Michael, Committee Member.

Identification of ignitable liquids in fire debris analysis using pattern recognition is an important step in determining the nature of a suspicious fire. Complex mixtures that make up ignitable liquids are susceptible to microbial degradation when fire debris evidence is presented in the form of soil. Microbial degradation results in a selective metabolism of certain classes of compounds required for identification of an ignitable liquid. Various ignitable liquids that may be used to initiate or propagate a fire contain different classes of organic compounds. These include normal alkanes, branched alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatics, terpenes, and others. In this work, microbial degradation of nine ignitable liquids in soil was evaluated over a period of twenty-six days. The degradation of aromatic compounds in gasoline was faster with toluene and C2-alkylbenzenes than in C3-alkylbenzenes. However, the overall loss of aromatics made gasoline chromatographically unidentifiable. The complete loss of n-alkanes in medium and petroleum distillates resulted in patterns that resembled naphthenic-paraffinic products. Normal alkanes were more susceptible to microbial degradation than isoalkanes, which was specifically demonstrated in medium and heavy petroleum distillates. In diesel, pristane and phytane remained prominent in comparison to the normally prevalent n-alkanes, which could no longer be detected post-degradation. The degradation of isoalkanes and cycloalkanes was evaluated in a naphthenic-paraffinic product. Isoalkanes were degraded significantly faster than cycloalkanes. The remaining peaks in the naphthenic-paraffinic pattern consisted solely of cycloalkane compounds, and could no longer be classified as a naphthenic-paraffinic product. The terpene compounds in turpentine were also observed to be susceptible to degradation by microorganisms. The loss of !-pinene, limonene, and camphene was significantly noticeable in comparison to other terpene compounds, such as 1,4-cineole. Microbial biodegradation in different soil types was investigated. The difference in soil texture can affect the rate of metabolism of ignitable liquids due to the variance of available oxygen, nutrients and mobility of the microbial population. The degradation of isoalkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatics and heavier normal alkanes was faster in clay, whereas normal alkanes of lower molecular weight were degraded more readily in sand. There has been no explanation of this occurrence within the scientific literature, however it could be hypothesized that the difference in microbial flora and water saturation levels could affect the selective degradation between the two soil types. Fire debris evidence is often stored for long periods of time before analysis due to case backlogs. The storage condition of arson-related soil samples is a sensitive subject. If evidence, containing soil, is stored at room temperature, petroleum compounds in any ignitable liquid residues that are present will be degraded within a week. Therefore, it is important to freeze or refrigerate soil samples. The storage of both refrigerated and frozen soil samples containing gasoline were evaluated over six months. Less than 6% of the aromatic compounds distinctive of gasoline remained when stored at 5 °C, while minimal change was observed in the same compounds when stored at -15 °C. Microbial degradation of petroleum-based ignitable liquids is advantageous from the environmental perspective. However, within the forensic community the effect of microbial action could lead to misclassification or inability to identify the presence of an ignitable liquid in fire debris evidence.

Debris disks are a fundamental component of exoplanetary systems. Understanding their relationship with host stars and neighboring planets can help contextualize the evolution of exoplanetary systems. In order to further that goal, this thesis addresses some extreme outlier examples of debris disk systems. First, the highly asymmetric debris disk around HD 111520 is resolved and analyzed at multiple wavelengths to create a self-consistent model of the disk thermal emission and scattered light. The best-fit model is proposed to be an asymmetric disk from a recent collision of large, icy bodies on one side of the disk. In contrast, most debris disks are thought to be in a steady collisional cascade and this disk model could represent a relatively rare event in the creation of debris disks. Secondly, an optical spectroscopic survey of stars is conducted on stars where far-infrared observations exist to detect the presence of debris disks. Specifically, AF-type stars are targeted in order to provide context regarding the Lambda Boo phenomenon, where stars are found to be specifically refractory metal-poor. One mechanism for this was hypothesized to be from planetary scattering of debris disks, causing the accretion of volatiles from comets. The findings were that over the entire unbiased sample, stars which were refractory metal poor tended to be the stars with brightest debris disks. This supports a planet-disk hypothesis underlying the accretion of volatile gases, since debris disks undergoing active planetary stirring are brighter. This would mean about 13\% of stars with debris disk are undergoing strong planetary scattering based on the occurrence rate of Lambda Boo stars relative to debris disk stars. These two tacks in our observational understanding of these extreme examples of debris disks provide constraints on the volatility at work. / Graduate

The extreme flooding event that occurred in 2013 in Alberta, Canada was at time the most costly natural hazard event in the nation’s history with damages exceeding $5 billion. Due to this event, an increased effort for flood mitigation strategies began and resulted in the proposal of the Springbank Off-Stream Storage Reservoir to divert and detain Elbow River flow upstream of the City of Calgary. In order to validate the design of the flow diversion structures, a large (1:16) scale physical model was constructed. The model tested among other things, the impact of large woody debris (LWD) on the flow diversion structures. The LWD modelling included a comparison of LWD manufactured from smooth cylindrical dowels versus natural tree limbs of the same dimensions. The results from the physical model led to a series of design changes for the diversion structures that likely would not have been identified without physical modelling. The LWD material comparison demonstrated significantly different behaviours between LWD types. Specifically, LWD manufactured from natural tree limbs was significantly more likely to accumulate in debris dams on the diversion structures. The impact of root wad was also investigated and proved to play a major role in the damming characteristics and blocking probability of debris. Following the physical model investigations, a numerical simulation was completed in order to examine further the hydrodynamic results obtained from the Springbank project. Using TELEMAC MASCARET’s open source free surface flow program TELEMAC 2D, a two dimensional simulation was completed using data from the physical model. Flowrates and velocities from both models were compared and discrepancies between the two are identified. Reasoning for these differences as well as future works for the numerical model are presented.

Submitted by Jadilene Rodrigues Xavier null (jadilenerx@yahoo.com.br) on 2018-04-05T04:01:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Jadileneversaofinal.pdf: 4294934 bytes, checksum: af360206eed0261ccc4eda9d14f6e781 (MD5) / Rejected by Pamella Benevides Gonçalves null (pamella@feg.unesp.br), reason: Solicitamos que realize uma nova submissão seguindo as orientações abaixo: Solicitar a ficha catalográfica http://www2.feg.unesp.br/#!/biblioteca/trabalho-conclusao-de-curso/ depois acrescentar ao trabalho após a folha de rosto. • A ficha catalográfica vem após a folha de rosto • Colher com a banca assinaturas na folha de aprovação scanner e colocar no trabalho. Veja modelo no template Remover do sumário a Palavra: sumário...........13 As fontes das ilustrações, tabelas e quadros não podem ser links . A referência deve ser informada ao final, seguindo os padrões da ABNT. Para indicar a fonte, deve ser colocada a autoria e o ano entre parênteses. Ex.: Martins (2010). 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Exemplo: a numeração das expressões matemáticas e equações devem ser continuas independente do capitulo. Caso tenha utilizado o LaTeX desconsidere, pois ele ainda não ofereceu um comando que sequencie as equações sem incluir o capitulo. As referencias devem ser justificadas, espaço simples com um espaço simples(enter) entre elas. • Sobre a elaboração das referencias e citações favor solicitar ajuda com a bibliotecária Juciene (juciene@feg.unesp.br) Agradecemos a compreensão. on 2018-04-05T20:23:26Z (GMT) / Submitted by Jadilene Rodrigues Xavier null (jadilenerx@yahoo.com.br) on 2018-04-09T16:17:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 final.pdf: 4373137 bytes, checksum: 74fba28e354b780d913b05be6d6d8380 (MD5) / Rejected by Pamella Benevides Gonçalves null (pamella@feg.unesp.br), reason: Solicitamos que realize uma nova submissão seguindo as orientações abaixo: Realizar correção e verificação das referências bibliográficas As fontes das ilustrações, tabelas e quadros não podem ser links . A referência deve ser informada ao final, seguindo os padrões da ABNT. Para indicar a fonte, deve ser colocada a autoria e o ano entre parênteses. Ex.: Martins (2010). Quando uma referência for retirada de um meio eletrônico deve-se identificar uma autoria para o que é visualizado na página; se não houver título, escrever uma pequena descrição do que foi visto e seguir com os dados: disponível em:<endereço eletronico> . Acesso em: xx mes xxxx. A autoria pode ser uma pessoa física, uma Instituição, uma empresa, uma pessoa jurídica e até o nome do próprio site. Ex.:  ECOVILAS. Condomínios autossustentados e permaculturais. Disponível em: <http://www.ecoovilas.com/projetos/permacultura>. 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No. of bitstreams: 1 xavier_jr_me_guara.pdf: 4376263 bytes, checksum: 5621e66ab7ef541b1bfd222168e65ef8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-07 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Neste trabalho apresentamos uma análise da dinâmica de detritos espaciais na ressonância 14:1. O sistema analisado foi o sistema Terra-detrito considerando a não esfericidade da Terra. Para esta análise foram utilizados dois programas, o Mercury e o Algorítimo de Transformada de Fourier Modificado por Frequência. O desenvolvimento do potencial terrestre foi feito considerando os coeficientes de achatamento J2, J3 e C22, e as equações do movimento foram encontradas. Afim de analisar a evolução temporal dos elementos orbitais as equações do movimento foram inseridas no pacote Mercury e um conjunto de integrações para 1 e 20 dias foi realizado. As integrações mostram que os coeficientes afetam significativamente as trajetórias dos detritos. As regiões de estabilidade, instabilidade e o tempo de difusão para 5000 partículas foram analisadas através do mapa de difusão obtido pelo algorítimo de análise de frequência. Os resultados indicam regiões de estabilidade próximas à ressonância 14:1. / In this work we present an analysis of the dynamics of spatial debris in the 14: 1 resonance. The system analyzed was the Earth-debris system considering the non-sphericity of the Earth. For this analysis, two programs, Mercury and Frequency Modified Fourier Transform Algorithm, were used. The development of the earth potential was made considering the gravity coefficients J2, J3 and C22, and the equations of motion were found. In order to analyze the time evolution of the orbital elements, the equations of motion were inserted in the Mercury package and a set of integrations for 1 and 20 days was performed. The integrations show that the coefficients significantly affect the trajectories of the debris . The regions of stability, instability and diffusion time for 5000 particles were analyzed by the diffusion map obtained by the frequency analysis algorithm. The results indicate stable regions of close to 14: 1

Submitted by Automa??o e Estat?stica (sst@bczm.ufrn.br) on 2018-02-15T11:27:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 FabioCesarMirandaDeOliveira_DISSERT.pdf: 4663495 bytes, checksum: d25a746985d5fd0fbefa23c8820dde9b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Arlan Eloi Leite Silva (eloihistoriador@yahoo.com.br) on 2018-02-16T11:58:03Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 FabioCesarMirandaDeOliveira_DISSERT.pdf: 4663495 bytes, checksum: d25a746985d5fd0fbefa23c8820dde9b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-02-16T11:58:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FabioCesarMirandaDeOliveira_DISSERT.pdf: 4663495 bytes, checksum: d25a746985d5fd0fbefa23c8820dde9b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-10 / Materiais particulados inferiores a 10 e 2,5 ?m, PM10 e PM2,5, respectivamente; emitidos por motores diesel se inalados por seres humanos podem causar disfun??es endoteliais, inflama??es e estresse oxidativo. Em ambientes onde h? uso intenso de motores de combust?o interna, uma parcela do PM ? composta por debris, part?culas met?licas provenientes do desgaste do motor, portanto caracter?sticas tribol?gicas da origem e do padr?o estoc?stico do PM s?o de fundamental import?ncia na preven??o e controle dos problemas associados. Esse trabalho investigou e modelou segundo uma cadeia de Markov os mecanismos de desgaste e o PM emitido por dois motores do ciclo diesel: o primeiro utilizando B6 e o segundo B6 microemulsionado com tensoativo e ?gua. Utilizou-se uma bancada dinamom?trica acoplada a um motor e o PM foi coletado utilizando um novo dispositivo desenvolvido por integrantes do Grupo de Estudos de Tribologia e Integridade Estrutural da UFRN para captura de part?culas. As coletas foram feitas a cada 20 horas dentro de um total de 140 horas, n?o cont?nuas, de funcionamento para cada combust?vel. Posteriormente, realizou-se a an?lise dos debris atrav?s de microscopia eletr?nica de varredura (MEV) e microan?lise qu?mica por energia diepersiva de Raios-x (EDS), os principais mecanismos de desgaste identificados foram fadiga, tribo-corros?o, dano por altas temperaturas e delamina??o; a transi??o entre os mecanismos foi modelada segundo uma cadeia de Markov. A cadeia mostrou que as probabilidades de transi??o entre os mecanismos de desgaste possuem uma distribui??o de equil?brio para longos per?odos e que o dano por fadiga possui o dobro da probabilidade de ocorr?ncia que os demais. A distribui??o de equil?brio ? atingida ap?s 300 horas de funcionamento. / Particulate matter less than 10 and 2.5 ?m, PM10 and PM2,5, respectively; emitted by diesel engines if inhaled by humans can cause endothelial disorders, inflammation and oxidative stress. In environments where there is heavy use of internal combustion engines, a portion of PM is composed of debris, metal particles of engine wear, therefore, tribological characteristics of PM origin and behavior are of fundamental importance in the prevention and control of associated problems. This work investigated the wear mechanisms and PM emitted by two diesel engines: the first use B6 and the second B6 microemulsified with tensoactive and water. A dynamometer coupled to a motor was used and the PM was collected using a new device developed by the Tribology Study Group for capture particles. The collections were done every 20 hours within a total of 140 hours, not continuous, operating for each fuel. Subsequently, an analysis of the debris was carried out by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and chemical microanalysis by X-ray dispersive energy (EDS) spectroscopy. The main wear mechanisms identified were fatigue, tribo-corrosion, damage by high temperatures and delamination; A transition between the mechanisms was modeled by a Markov chain. The chain showns transition probabilities between wear mechanisms, an equilibrium distribution for long periods and that the fatigue damage has twice the probability of occurrence. An equilibrium distribution is active after 300 hours of operation.

Exoplanets and debris disks are examples of solar systems other than our own. As the dusty reservoirs of colliding planetesimals, debris disks provide indicators of planetary system evolution on orbital distance scales beyond those probed by the most prolific exoplanet detection methods, and on timescales $\sim$10 Myr to 10 Gyr. The Solar System possesses both planets and small bodies, and through studying the gravitational interactions between both, we gain insight into the Solar System's past. As we enter the era of resolved observations of debris disks residing around other stars, I add to our theoretical understanding of the dynamical interactions between debris, planets, and combinations thereof. I quantify how single planets clear material in their vicinity and how long this process takes for the entire planetary mass regime. I use these relationships to assess the lowest mass planet that could clear a gap in observed debris disks over the system's lifetime. In the distant outer reaches of gaps in young debris systems, this minimum planet mass can exceed Neptune's. To complement the discoveries of wide-orbit, massive, exoplanets by direct imaging surveys, I assess the dynamical stability of high mass multi-planet systems to estimate how many high mass planets could be packed into young, gapped debris disks. I compare these expectations to the planet detection rates of direct imaging surveys and find that high mass planets are not the primary culprits for forming gaps in young debris disk systems. As an alternative model for forming gaps in planetesimal disks with planets, I assess the efficacy of creating gaps with divergently migrating pairs of planets. I find that migrating planets could produce observed gaps and elude detection. Moreover, the inferred planet masses when neglecting migration for such gaps could be expected to be observable by direct imaging surveys for young, nearby systems. Wide gaps in young systems would likely still require more than two planets even with plantesimal-driven migration. These efforts begin to probe the types of potential planets carving gaps in disks of different evolutionary stages and at wide orbit separations on scales similar to our outer Solar System.

Abstract This study concentrates on developing and tuning various oil analysis methods to meet the requirements of modern industry and environmental analytics. Oil analysis methods form a vital part of techniques used to monitor the condition of machines and may help to improve the overall equipment effectiveness value of a factory in a significant manner. Worm gears are used in various production machines, and their breakdowns may cause significant production losses. Wearing of these gears is relatively difficult to monitor with vibration analysis. Analysis of two indicator metals, copper and iron, may reveal wearing phenomena of worm gears effectively, and savings can be significant. Effective wear metal analysis requires good tools. ICP-OES with kerosene dilution is widely used in wear metal analysis, but purchasing and using of ICP-OES is expensive. A cheaper FAAS technique with similar pre-treatment of oil samples was tested and it proved to be useful especially in analyzing small amounts of samples. The accuracy of FAAS was sufficient for quantitative work in machine diagnostics and waste oil characterization. Solid debris analyses are useful in oil contamination control as well as in detection of wearing mechanisms. Membrane filtration, optical microscopy, SEM and automatic particle counting were applied in analysis of rolling and gear oils. Particle counting is an effective way to detect oil contamination, but in the studied cases even larger particles than those detected in normal ISO classes would be informative. However, membrane filtration and optical microscopy may reveal the wearing machine element exactly. Additives provide oils with desired properties thus they should be monitored intensively. A FTIR method for quantitative analysis of fatty alcohols and fatty acid esters in machinery oils was developed during this work. It has already been used successfully in quantitative and qualitative analysis of machinery oil samples. Various kinds of oils may be spilled into the soil during use and in accident situations, and they can migrate to groundwater layers. Biodegradation of oils can remove them from the soil or water completely or at least diminish the amount of harmful substances. An automatic, respirometric BOD OxiTop method was used to evaluate the biodegradability of various oils in water and soil media. The biodegradation of certain bio and mineral hydraulic oils was evaluated in groundwater, where bio oils usually biodegraded more effectively than mineral oils. The use of oils in machines weakened especially the biodegradability of bio oils. Biodegradability of bio oils was also studied in standard conditions of OECD 301 F and bio oils usually biodegraded moderately good in these conditions. The biodegradation of forestry chain oils and wood preservative oils was evaluated in forest soils. Linseed oil biodegraded moderately, but certain experimental wood preservatives biodegraded more effectively. Widely used creosote oil biodegraded in a lesser degree. Rapeseed oil-based chain oils biodegraded more effectively than corresponding tall oil.

Online Oil Debris Monitors (ODM) provide a direct, effective and reliable approach to machinery condition monitoring. ODM can be used to monitor the condition of complex machines, such as airplane engines, electric generators, wind turbines, or other machines with oil circulation systems. The principle of the sensor is to detect the quantity and the size of metal particles in the flowing oil. The current available ODM sensors suffer from sensitivity to vibrations, as their electromagnetic response is largely affected by interfering vibrations. This thesis presents a novel structure and algorithms to separate and eliminate the vibration interference. In the new structure, a dual channel system is designed as opposed to previous single channel systems. Three signal processing algorithms have been developed and tested using experimental data from a prototype. They have shown to be effective, as detailed in the thesis.

More than 1100 debris flows were mobilized from shallow landslides during a rainstorm from 9 to 13 September 2013 in the Colorado Front Range, with the vast majority initiating on sparsely vegetated, south facing terrain. To investigate the physical processes responsible for the observed aspect control, we made measurements of soil properties on a densely forested north facing hillslope and a grassland-dominated south facing hillslope in the Colorado Front Range and performed numerical modeling of transient changes in soil pore water pressure throughout the rainstorm. Using the numerical model, we quantitatively assessed interactions among vegetation, rainfall interception, subsurface hydrology, and slope stability. Results suggest that apparent cohesion supplied by roots was responsible for the observed connection between debris flow initiation and slope aspect. Results suggest that future climate-driven modifications to forest structure could substantially influence landslide hazards throughout the Front Range and similar water-limited environments where vegetation communities may be more susceptible to small variations in climate.