Det här projektet har utförts i samarbete med företaget Eskilstuna Elektronikpartner AB (EEPAB). Företaget arbetar med tillverkning av kretskort där de använder sig av ytmontering och hålmontering. Vissa mönsterkort kan vara böjda och kan därmed orsaka problem i Surface Mount Device (SMD)-linan. Syftet med projektet var att ta fram en fixtur som gör mönsterkorten planare vilket innebär att minska höjdskillnaden mellan högsta och lägsta punkten på korten. Detta för att effektivisera och förhindra stopp i produktionen. Två forskningsfrågor togs fram som fungerade som ett stöd under projektets gång: F1:Hur förbättras produktionen i en SMD-lina när mönsterkorten hålls plana? F2:Vilka faktorer bör beaktas när en fixtur tas fram för en SMD-lina? Projektet har följt en produktutvecklingsprocess där fokuset har legat på konceptstadiet. Data har samlats in genomen litteraturstudie, intervjuer samt ett formulär. Projektet resulterade i ett slutgiltigt koncept i form av en fixtur. Resultatet i projektet visar att genom att spänna fast mönsterkortets kortsidor så minskas nedböjningen. Genom planare mönsterkort minskas risken för fel mängdapplicering av lödpasta som i sin tur kan orsaka kortslutning eller en öppen slutning. Att problemen med fel mängd lödpasta minskas leder även till att manuellt arbete som tvättning och applicering av lödpasta kan reduceras. När lödpasta appliceras för hand är det även svårt att veta om rätt mängd har applicerats, detta kan även leda till problem under lödningen. Sedan kan det konstateras att designen av fixturen måste samspela med alla maskiner i SMD-linan för att inte orsaka problem eller hindra maskinerna från att utföra dess arbete. Utifrån ett koncepttest visade det sig att det framtagna konceptet gör mönsterkorten cirka 42% planare. Detta bör kunna minska problemen i SMD-linan och spara in tiden det tar att åtgärda dessa problem. Koncepttestet utfördes inte i den rätta maskinen och måste därmed undersökas ordentligt. Det var endast ett sorts mönsterkort som testades, dessa faktorer är exempel på felkällor. I framtiden bör ett flertal olika mönsterkort testas för att få en högre reliabilitet. Det behövs även tas fram en exakt tolerans för när mönsterkorten är för böjda och problem uppstår. I dagsläget finns endast maskinens egentolerans som inte stämmer särskilt bra och en generell tolerans för SMD-linor.

This research documents the Holocene glacial history of Mount Hood, Cascade Mountains, Oregon by analyzing a set of three lateral moraines abutting Eliot Glacier, the largest glacier on the mountain. This study seeks to: 1) establish the relative ages of these lateral moraines and 2) determine if these features represent distinct glacial advances. The hypothesis is that the lateral moraines for Eliot Glacier represent three distinct periods of glacial advance based on their position relative to the current glacier and other diagnostic indicators. Soil profiles of three positions (shoulder, backslope, and footslope) on the distal side of each lateral moraine were described in the field and samples were taken from each horizon for laboratory analyses of pH and particle size. The results of the soil analysis show that the soils developing on the moraine closest to the current glacier are poorly developed and significantly younger than the other two features. The closest moraine likely dates to the Little Ice Age (600-150 YBP) and has soils with an A/C profile and a classification of Andic Cryopsamment. The soils on the middle and furthest moraines from the glacier are similar in the profile sequence (Andic Haplocryepts). Silt bulges were noted in the mid-slope pits. The furthest moraine has deeper horizons and more color development than the middle moraine. Ash layers were found in the backslope soil profile (36-51cm deep) on the middle moraine. Additional lab testing confirms the ash layers originated from Mount Hood, but no date can be assigned. The eruptive history of Mount Hood points to the Timberline eruptive period (1,500 YBP) as a likely candidate for one of the ash deposits. This evidence suggests the middle moraine was actively forming during this period and is intermediate in age between the furthest moraine and the Little Ice Age Moraine; hence, this sequence of moraines indicates three distinct periods of glacial advance in the Neoglacial.

Conflict among recreationists in natural resource settings is a long-term problem that continues to grow in many areas. This study was conducted to provide an assessment of conflict between hikers and horseback riders in the Mount Rogers High Country of Virginia. Conflict was examined using three separate measures: crowding, impacts and interference. Examination of an index measure of conflict revealed that 64% of hikers experienced conflict toward horseback riders, while only 3% of horseback riders reported conflict due to hikers. Because of the clearly asymmetric nature of the conflict, the conflict predictor variables (past experience, wilderness involvement, place attachment and perceived similarity) were examined for the hiker population in the study. Discriminant analysis revealed that the model tested can predict with more than 68% success whether hikers will experience conflict due to horses. The perceived similarity of values variable was shown to be the most important and perceived similarity of socio-economic status the second in importance in explaining conflict. Hikers that perceived horseback riders to be different from themselves in how they value the High Country and in their socio-economic status were more likely to experience conflict with horseback riders than hikers that perceived horseback riders as similar to themselves. Measures of past experience and wilderness involvement were also significant predictors of conflict. However, relative to the perceived similarity items, these variables did not contribute much information or "predictive power" to the model. The two place attachment factors, place identity and place dependence, were not significant in the model. / Master of Science

This study of adaptable vibration isolating mounts sets out to capture the uniqueness of magnetorheological (MR) fluid's variable viscosity rate, and to physically alter the damping and stiffness when used inside an elastomeric mount. Apparent variable viscosity or rheology of the MR fluid has dependency on the application of a magnetic field. Therefore, this study also intends to look at the design of a compact magnetic field generator which magnetizes the MR fluid to activate different stiffness and damping levels within the isolator to create an adaptable and tunable feature. To achieve this adaptable isolator mount, a mold will be fabricated to construct the mounts. A process will then be devised to manufacture the mounts and place MR fluid inside the mount for later compatibility with the magnetic field generator. This process will then produce an MR fluid-elastic mount. Additionally for comparative purposes, passive mounts will be manufactured with a soft rubber casing and an assortment of metal and non-metal inserts. Next, the design of the magnetic field generator will be modeled using FEA magnetic software and then constructed. Stiffness or force/displacement measurements will then be analyzed from testing the isolator mount and magnetic field generator on a state-of-the-art vibration dynamometer. To vary the magnetic flux through the mount, an electro-magnet is used. To analyze the results, a frequency method of the stiffness will be used to show the isolators adaptation to various increments of magnetic flux over the sinusoidal input displacement frequencies. This frequency response of the stiffness will then be converted into a modeling technique to capture the essence of the dynamics from activating the MR fluid within the isolator mount. With this methodology for studying the adaptability of an MR fluid-elastic mount, the stiffness increases are dependent on the level of magnetic field intensity provided from the supplied electro-magnet. When the electro-magnet current supply is increased from 0.0 to 2.0 Amps, the mount stiffness magnitude increase is 78% in one of the MR fluid-elastic mounts. Through comparison, this MR fluid-elastic mount at off-state with zero magnetic field is similar to a mount made of solid rubber with a hardness of 30 Shore A. With 2 Amps of current, however, the MR fluid-elastic mount has a higher stiffness magnitude than a rubber mount and resembles a rubber casing with a steel insert. Moreover, when the current in the electro-magnet is increased from 0.0 to 2.0 Amps the equivalent damping coefficient in a MR fluid-elastic mount increases over 500% of the value at 0 Amps at low frequency. Through damping comparisons, the MR fluid-elastic mount with no current is similar to that of a mount made of solid rubber with a hardness of 30 Shore A. At full current in the electromagnet, however, the damping in the MR fluid-elastic mount is greater than any of the comparative mounts in this study. Therefore, the results show that the MR fluid-elastic mount can provide a wide range of stiffness and damping variation for real-time embedded applications. Since many aerospace and automotive applications use passive isolators as engine mounts in secondary suspensions to reduce transmitted forces at cruise speed, the MR fluid-elastic mount could be substituted to reduce transmitted forces over a wider range of speeds. Additionally, this compact MR fluid-elastic mount system could be easily adapted to many packaging constraints in those applications. / Master of Science

published_or_final_version / abstract / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

Multivariate statistical techniques were applied to the development of habitat suitability models for the Mt. Graham red squirrel, an endangered species. A digital map data base and a geographic information system (GIS) were used to support the analysis and provide input for two logistic multiple regression models. Squirrel presence/absence is the dichotomous dependent variable whose probability the models pretend to predict. Independent variables are a set of environmental factors in the first model, and locational variables in the second case, where a logistic trend surface was developed. Bayesian statistics were then used to integrate the models into a combined model. Potential habitat losses resulting from the development of an astronomical observatory were assessed using the environmental model and are found to represent about 3% of currently available habitat.

This study examines the natural history of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Senegal, West Africa. This western form of chimpanzee is the least studied of the three geographical races. Ecological studies of chimpanzees have been neglected in favour of behavioural investigations. Those studies which have focussed on ecology have often been distorted by unnatural human intervention. Field studies of chimpanzees are reviewed in terms of their length, the extent of disturbance at the site, and the methods involved. The study area is described: its hot, arid climate and undisturbed state are emphasised. Methods were devised to gain knowledge of the chimpanzees' ecology without interfering with their behaviour or habitat. A detailed description of the types of vegetation is given, and their proportional distribution reveals that there is less forest and woodland at Mt. Assirik than at any other site where chimpanzees have been studied. Chimpanzees use the types of vegetation differentially and this shows seasonal variation. Forest is most used at the end of the dry season. At other times of the year, extensive use is made of woodland. Grassland is used during the wet season. Data from observations of chimpanzees and their nests is used to estimate the population size, range and density. The total number of chimpanzees at Mt. Assirik is estimated as about 25 to 30, density is reckoned as 0.1/km² and their home range as 250 to 300km². The chimpanzees appear to be healthy. Many features of social behaviour, described elsewhere, were confirmed for this subspecies. A high proportion of mixed parties was discovered. This is thought to be an adaptation to an area of open vegetation: its distribution of food, water, and the presence of large carnivores. The chimpanzees are omnivorous. Although mainly frugivorous, they also eat leaves, flowers, seeds, bark, honey, insects and meat. Two species of insect are eaten seasonally, and two types of tool are used to obtain termites and driver ants respectively. Chimpanzees appear to specialise in nocturnal prosimians as mammalian prey. Nests are examined in detail and found to be similar to those made elsewhere. Preferences, for certain species are demonstrated for the first time. Finally, the results of the study are compared with the cultural ecology of a human hunter-gatherer society, the !Kung San of Southern Africa. The comparison is used as a basis for speculation on the behaviour of the ancestral hominids.

In this project I argue that trauma is a major component of society. Rather than positioning trauma as an event, I contend that it should be understood as an environmental force. To form this reorientation I look to an actual environment and the ways in which it remembers and responds to systemic violence. Specifically, I track the colonization and exploitation of Mount Baldy, and how natural occurrences such as floods and fires have consistently threatened human development on the mountain. If trauma is both monumentally impactful and an environmental force, then it merits a major rethinking of many of the aspects of human existence that are assumed to be stable. In chapter 1, I move trauma outside of the psychological definitions of the DSM and into a communal and systemic framework. In chapter 2, I use a case study of Mount Baldy to understand how environmental forces react to trauma, which provides a way to imagine how a society or community might collectively operate as a traumatized being. In chapter 3, I undertake a material research process using clay harvested from Mount Baldy. Clay, which mimics characteristics of the human body and is literally a part of the natural environment, connects the embodied nature of trauma for human to the ecological manifestations of trauma. This allows a glimpse at what it might mean to acknowledge trauma as a major component of the human experience.

The vulnerability of communities at risk from volcanic activity at Volcan Tungurahua, Ecuador and Mount Rainier in the USA provided the focus for this thesis. The research aimed to develop an integrated approach to risk assessments that combined both hazard and vulnerability analysis. In phase one, the study developed a novel methodology to assess volcanic threat that utilised previously published data. This semi-quantitative approach integrated measures of both hazard and exposure factors, allowing the relative threat to different communities to be ranked. By avoiding the complex quantitative analysis associated with traditional risk assessments of the multiple hazards associated with volcanic activity, this methodology may be applied where comprehensive historic and geological data may be lacking, as well as facilitating understanding amongst non-specialists and members of the public. The second phase of the research investigated human vulnerability, with an exploratory study carried out in Ecuador. This utilised a questionnaire survey aimed at eliciting an individual’s beliefs and attitudes towards volcanic risk, which provided the basis for a more comprehensive exploration of social vulnerability conducted in the USA. This investigated further the role of socio-economic features and psychological characteristics, such as risk perception, hazard salience and self-efficacy, in promoting self-protective behaviour, and examined the relative importance of these factors in determining vulnerability. The theoretical underpinnings of this research suggest that individuals with certain socio-economic characteristics may incur greater losses during a disaster, whilst perceptual processes may influence how an individual responds to a hazardous event. Little evidence was found to support the socio-economic model of vulnerability, which prevented the integration of the two research phases. However, perceptual factors were found to be significant predictors in the adoption of protective hazard adaption. This suggests that targeting risk mitigation and communication strategies to address these psychological constructs may be more important for reducing overall vulnerability than focusing efforts towards specific socio-economic groups.

M.A. / We live in a world, that is basically spiritually and morally bankrupt. The tidal wave of crime and thorny issues like aids and abortion, are only some of the consequences of this moral decay. Even the Church has not been able to avoid this decay and the very high divorce rate amongst Christians is proof of this moral regression. Pastoral counsellors are often stunned and amazed by the immorality that oftentimes occurs in Christian circles. Is there an answer? The ethical guidelines as found in the Sermon on the Mount, offers a solution. Can ethical guidelines, pronounced 2000 years ago, offer any solutions in this post-modern century? Are these not outdated norms, applicable in an ancient milieu, offering no solution for today? Can it still have any hermeneutical value? These are the questions addressed in this research. The ethical guidelines, as offered by the Sermon on the Mount, can be approached in two different ways. It can be viewed as an outdated ancient principle, with no normative value in a post-modern century, or as a guideline that withstood the test of time and still counts as the will of God, for every believer in his ethos. To maintain standards at the centre of God’s will, is an exalted ideal for every believer that earnestly views his Christianity. The ethical guidelines in the Sermon on the Mount, puts the standards of God in a practical manner, but in such a way that it brings every Christian to the realisation of his incapacity, to live it in practice. The result of this study has shown that the living of the Sermon on the Mount (especially the figurative language components contained in it) in a Christian ethos, is not a utopian dream, but relevant guidelines, that with the assistance of the residing Holy Spirit, can be lived as normative ethical principles in a Christian ethos.