abstract: The temperature of a planet's surface depends on numerous physical factors, including thermal inertia, albedo and the degree of insolation. Mars is a good target for thermal measurements because the low atmospheric pressure combined with the extreme dryness results in a surface dominated by large differences in thermal inertia, minimizing the effect of other physical properties. Since heat is propagated into the surface during the day and re-radiated at night, surface temperatures are affected by sub-surface properties down to several thermal skin depths. Because of this, orbital surface temperature measurements combined with a computational thermal model can be used to determine sub-surface structure. This technique has previously been applied to estimate the thickness and thermal inertia of soil layers on Mars on a regional scale, but the Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System "THEMIS" instrument allows much higher-resolution thermal imagery to be obtained. Using archived THEMIS data and the KRC thermal model, a process has been developed for creating high-resolution maps of Martian soil layer thickness and thermal inertia, allowing investigation of the distribution of dust and sand at a scale of 100 m/pixel. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Geological Sciences 2013

The various topics investigated in the course of the preparation of this thesis can by unified under the common theme of fibrous fIltration enhancement from both experimental and theoretical perspectives. Fibrous filtration is by far the most common method of gas pUrification in use today and further improvements will require a better understanding of the various mechanisms contributing to the collection of particles. The lack of agreement between experimental results and the latest theoretical models found in the literature which have been put forward to predict fIlter efficiency led to the development of a complex computer simulation of a fIltration process. The model simultaneously accounts for particle collection in the inertial impaction, interception and Brownian diffusion regimes and also recognizes that real fIlters do not consist of a simple array of fibres, but are a complex mixture of fibres positioned randomly in space. Test fIlters carefully manufactured from well characterized glass fibre components were used to challenge monosize sodium chloride aerosols. Since most of the filtration parameters are known, our model was used and directly compared with the leading theoretical models and our experimental results. The enhancement of fibrous filters by gradual clogging was investigated. The filtration characteristics; pressure drop and upstream & downstream concentrations were monitored as loading progressed. A discussion of the changes in the quality factor which was found to be dependent upon aerosol size is given. The fractal dimension of the particle deposits on individual fibres was measured and found to be dependent on the fIltration dynamics present. The fundamental forces of electrostatic filtration (Coulomb, image and polarization forces) were clearly demonstrated in a system of test aerosols and fibrous fIlters which were identical except for the amount of charges the particles and fibres contained. The size ranges in which these forces are effective were accurately measured.

Variations in the electricity consumption and production connected to the power system have to be balanced by active control. Hydropower is the most important balancing resource in the Nordic system, and will become even more important as the share of variable renewable energy sources increases. This thesis concerns balancing of active power, especially the real-time balancing called frequency control. The thesis starts in a description of the situation today, setting up models for the behaviour of hydropower units and the power system relevant to frequency control, and comparing the models with experiments on several hydropower units and on the response of the Nordic grid. It is found that backlash in the regulating mechanisms in hydropower units have a strong impact on the quality of the delivered frequency control. Then, an analysis of what can be done right now to improve frequency control and decrease its costs is made, discussing governor tuning, filters and strategies for allocation of frequency control reserves. The results show that grid frequency quality could be improved considerably by retuning of hydropower governors. However, clear technical requirements and incentives for good frequency control performance are needed. The last part of the thesis concerns the impact from increased electricity production from variable renewable energy sources. The induced balancing need in terms of energy storage volume and balancing power is quantified, and it is found that with large shares of wind power in the system, the energy storage need over the intra-week time horizon is drastically increased. Reduced system inertia due to higher shares of inverter connected production is identified as a problem for the frequency control of the system. A new, linear synthetic inertia concept is suggested to replace the lost inertia and damping. It is shown that continuously active, linear synthetic inertia can improve the frequency quality in normal operation and decrease wear and tear of hydropower units delivering frequency control.

La localisation de la déformation dans un milieu ductile déformé est le mécanisme d’instabilité qui provoque la défaillance finale. Ce phénomène se produit sous charge statique ainsi que dynamique. Elle peut se trouver au sein des matériaux, dans lequel cas elle porte le nom l’instabilité matérielle, ou sur la structure entière, dans lequel cas l’on parle de l’instabilité géométrique. Cette thèse étude le phénomène de localisation de déformation dans des contextes matériaux ou géométriques et avec des conditions de charge statique ou dynamique. Dans tous les cas, un outil unifié est utilisé : l’évolution de la perturbation à support localisé.Le premier chapitre serve comme une introduction au problème de localisation de déformation en mécanique des solides. Le deuxième chapitre est consacré à l’aspect de l’instabilité matérielle de la localisation de déformation dans des milieux à microstructure sous compression quasi-statique, ainsi que sa connexion à l’ellipticité macroscopique (le continuum critère de la présence d’un champ de déformation discontinue). Dans ce chapitre nous démontrons la connexion entre la solution de post-bifurcation homogénéisée et la présence ou l’absence d’un champ de déformation localisé dans un domaine de composites renforcées de fibres infiniment large sous compression. Le troisième chapitre est consacré à l’aspect de l’instabilité matérielle de la localisation de déformation sous charge dynamique, où l’effet d’inertie devient non négligeable. Dans ce chapitre nous étudions une perturbation singulière sur une plaque infiniment large sous tension biaxiale et ses cônes d’influence, avec une loi de comportement qui perd l’ellipticité. Le quatrième chapitre est consacré à l’aspect de l’instabilité géométrique de la localisation de déformation sous charge dynamique, dans lequel nous étudions la compression dynamique d’un anneau métallique sous charge électromagnétique. Contrairement au cas quasi-statique, des domaines de déformation localisée sont observés dans le mode de défaillance de l’anneau. / Localization of deformation in finitely strained ductile solids is the instability mechanism leading to their failure by rupture. This phenomenon occurs under static and dynamic loading conditions. It can appear in the bulk of solids, in which case it is referred to as a material instability phenomenon or in a structure, in which case one talks about a structural instability problem. The thesis at hand studies localization in the material and structural context, both under static and dynamic conditions, using a common tool: the evolution of a geometrically localized perturbation.An introduction to the localization of deformation problem in solid mechanics is presented in Chapter 1. The material instability aspect of localization of deformation in microstructured solids under quasistatic loading and its connection to macroscopic ellipticity – the continuum criterion for the presence of a discontinuous strain field – are addressed in Chapter 2. In this part we show the connection of the homogenized post-bifurcation response to the presence or absence of a localized deformation field in an infinite, fiber-reinforced composite under plane strain compression. The material instability aspect of localization of deformation under dynamic loading, i.e. where inertia becomes important, is addressed in Chapter 3. In this part we study the influence cones for the wave propagation emerging from a point perturbation in an infinite, biaxially strained plate whose constitutive response loses ellipticity at finite level of strain. The structural instability aspect of localization of deformation is investigated under dynamic loading conditions in Chapter 4 by studying the dynamic compression on an electromagnetically loaded metallic ring. In contrast to the quasistatic case, where a global failure mode is observed, the failure pattern for the rapidly compressed ring shows highly localized deformation areas.

The vibrational entropy calculated by applying the harmonic oscillator approximation to all vibrational degrees of freedom is inherently inaccurate. One major reason is because low frequency modes such as internal rotations are not properly described by this approximation. Various techniques were developed in the past to overcome this problem. The hindered rotor potential can be approximated by a series of cosine functions, and the relevant coe cients can be determined by tting to a calculated potential energy surface. However, such a method is di cult and time consuming. Therefore, in this dissertation we propose and describe two less tedious approaches to determine entropy of internal rotational modes. The rst approximation is to express the barrier height in terms of the harmonic oscillator frequency, the local periodicity, and the reduced moment of inertia of the rotation and to approximate the torsional potential by a single cosine function. Thus, the 1D Schr odinger equation for internal rotations can be solved without nding the torsional potential, transition states, or barrier heights. We propose a further simpli cation to this approach, achieved through a simple mathematical formula, that interpolates the hindered rotor entropy between the free rotor and harmonic oscillator limits. We also propose a procedure to automatically determine the axis of rotation for any hindered rotor. The proposed methods were applied to determine the torsional entropy of n- alkanes from ethane to hexane. The entropies calculated from the proposed methods give good agreement with the experimental and accurately calculated values and have a signi cantly better accuracy than the harmonic oscillator approximation. Furthermore, we performed approximate and full hindered rotor treatments to nd the corrected vibrational entropy of bis(chromiumtricarbonyl) dibenzo[a,e]cyclooctatetraene (DBCOT). The eighth chapter of this dissertation is an independent molecular dynamics (MD) project to study how ethanol interacts with human and mouse Toll-Like- Receptor3 (TLR3) monomers and a TLR3-dsRNA complex. No major structural changes were observed during the ethanol docking and subsequent MD simulations, but the MD simulations revealed a reduction in the proportion of alpha helix present during a 1000 ns MD simulation on the h-TLR3 monomer in 0.5 percent ethanol.

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For a graph G we define S(G) to be the set of all real symmetric n by n matrices whose off-diagonal zero/nonzero pattern is described by G. We show how to compute the minimum rank of all matrices in S(G) for a class of graphs called outerplanar graphs. In addition, we obtain results on the possible eigenvalues and possible inertias of matrices in S(G) for certain classes of graph G. We also obtain results concerning the relationship between two graph parameters, the zero forcing number and the path cover number, related to the minimum rank problem.

<p>The notion of momentum has received significant attention from sports psychologists. Recently, however, some researchers have introduced it to educational contexts and developed a psychological momentum perspective toward academic motivations. Different from other motivation theories, the psychological momentum theory mainly builds on Newtonian physics. It stresses the analogy between physical concepts (mass, inertia, and momentum) and psychological processes. While such a background brings several novel and appealing insights into academic motivations, as the theory is still new to the field, more validation work, such as those exploring its convergence and divergence with other established theories, is needed. Using self-determination theory as a complementary theory, the current study explored the convergence between the two theories by examining the association between self-determined motivations and two states of academic inertia (i.e., low-momentum state inertia [LMSI] and high momentum state inertia [HMSI]). The study also examined the two theories’ divergence by investigating how the two states of inertia predict academic engagement over and above self-determined motivations. </p> <p>Two hundred and six undergraduate students from a Midwestern university participated in this study. Regarding convergence, results provided mixed support for the hypothesis. No significant association was obtained between HMSI and all motivations; however, LMSI was negatively associated with intrinsic motivation and the relatively autonomy index but positively associated with amotivation (all to a weak-to-moderate extent). Regarding divergence, results demonstrated that inertia explained a moderate-yet-meaningful amount of variation in academic engagement, even after self-determined motivations are controlled for. Taken together, the results suggested the promise of PMT as a motivation theory. Based on the findings, implications and limitations of the study were further discussed.<b><br> </b></p>

<p> The research reported in this thesis concentrated on experimentally investigating and theoretically modelling self-excited valve vibrations. In particular the jet-flow inertia mechanism has been studied. Experimentally, this has been achieved by allowing water to discharge from a constant head tank into a pipeline through a simple plug valve. The plug valve was restrained so that axial vibrations of the plug valve could occur. Using this equipment the conditions for which the valve was stable and unstable was obtained. Further experimental investigation using a Laser Doppler Anemometer allowed for recording of instantaneous fluid discharge during the valve limit cycles. In addition the records of the instantaneous pressure difference and valve opening allowed for instantaneous discharge coefficient calculations. Although no trends in these instantaneous discharge coefficients were apparent, these particular experiments allowed for improved modelling of the valve vibration. </p> <p> Dimensionless nonlinear differential equations were derived to describe general flow control devices. A stability analysis of these differential equations showed that at large fluid inertias that the instability that arises is one of divergence, hence a quasistatic stability analysis is valid. Numerical integration of the differential equations of motion was used to predict limit cycles as well as valve stability. </p> <p> The divergence formula derived for large fluid inertia was found to coincide with the corresponding experimental results. Other predictions were found to generally agree with experimental results. Discrepancies which did arise were attributed to waterhammer. Hence the theory derived was concluded to be fundamentally correct. Recommendations for further research include inclusion of waterhammer in the model and investigation of local flow effects. </p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)