A computer program is developed for the dynamic analysis of a spar platform coupled with mooring lines and risers in waves, winds, and currents. The new multi-contact analysis program is developed for the nonlinear multi-contact coupling between vertical risers and guide frames inside of the spar moon-pool. The program extends capability of the current coupled dynamic analysis program, WINPOST, by adding the capability of analyzing riser effects caused by the contact forces and moments from buoyancy-cans inside the spar moon-pool on the global spar motions. The gap between the buoyancy can and riser guide frames are modeled using three different types of nonlinear gap springs. The new riser model also considers the Coulomb damping between the buoyancy-cans and riser guide frames, and it also calculates the impact force on risers for use in fatigue analysis. The spar platform generally uses vertical risers with dry trees. However, as the water depth increases, the size of the buoyancy-can increases, and it makes installation more difficult. The pneumatic riser support system does not use buoyancy-cans and is an alternative solution to the buoyancy-can approach. The dynamic characteristics of pneumatic riser support system are studied by using the newly developed numerical analysis program. The damped Mathieu instability diagram for the damped Mathieu's equation is developed. Due to spar heave and pitch coupling, Mathieu's instability may become excited in long period waves. In the numerical analysis program, pitch and roll hydrostatic stiffness are recalculated for heave motion in every time step to check Mathieu's instability for the spar platform. Simplified vortex-induced vibration effects on the spar platform are considered in newly developed numerical analysis program, and the results are systematically compared with those of the original program WINPOST. The results in this paper show that the buoyancy-can effect significantly reduces the spar pitch motion, and the Coulomb damping effect also significantly reduces the spar heave motion. The buoyancy-can effect also plays an important role in Mathieu instability. The results also show that a pneumatic riser support system increases the spar heave motion and payload.

Inspection of LCD light-guide plate using digital image processing is proposed. Binary dot-pattern images from SEM observation are obtained by image segmentation. Pattern recognition for the images is then performed using moment invariants, Bayes classifier, and Neural network. The rotation independent classification for the recognition using only one descript shape factor are also proposed to reduce storage space. It is found the method has been applied successfully in inspection of different defects on the plate subject to any rotation angles and image scales.

Liquid crystal display (LCD) has been widely used as an important human interface with typical portable devices such as notebook-type computers, digital camera and cell phones, etc. The LCD panel does not emit light spontaneously, and thus it needs a surface backlight source. The function of light guide plate (LGP) was to guide light from a light source and radiates it homogeneously from all over its output surface. In this thesis, the research object was focused on this optical component. This thesis mainly concludes two major parts. The first part focused on the design of cold fluorescent lamp (CCFL) light source LGP. If the bottom structure of the LGP in a backlight module was made up of V-Cut micro-structures, then conventionally, the shape and spacing between any two adjacent columns of micro-structure should be designed specifically in order to obtain a more uniform illuminance distribution. It was required to apply complicated mathematics and cost a lot of time to design. In this study, a simplified bottom structure of the LGP was proposed. The considered bottom structure of the LGP was proposed to be made up of same shape high energy V-Cut micro-structures, and the spacing between any two adjacent columns of the micro-structure was also the same. The design parameters were determined by using optimization technique. Also, the LCD design time could be reduced. In order to eliminate the dark region phenomenon caused by the proposed simplified bottom structure of the LGP, a simple new type of edge structure of the LGP was proposed also. The proposed simplified LGP design concepy has many merits, such as only three design parameters needed, manufacturing easily, the design time can be reduced, and can prevent the consumption of light source energy between the gaps of CCFL and LGP. The proposed design concept was applied on the design of 7 inches, 15 inches and 20 inches of backlight module (BLM). Through the numerical simulation by utilizing commercial software Light Tools, it can be shown that more than 80% of uniformity can be easily obtained. The second part focused on traditional dot pattern bottom structures. As the same concept mentioned in the first part, the proposed dot pattern was made up of same geometrival shape of dots, and the spacing between any two adjacent columns of the dots was also the same. The design parameters were determined by using optimization technique. The proposed design concept of the dot patten distribution can be applied on the design of LGP with either LED or CCFL light source. Also, the dark phenomenon did not occur, and so the corresponding edge structure did not need either. The proposed design concept was applied on the design of 7 inches, 15 inches and 20 inches of BLM with CCFL light source and on the design of 7 inches of BLM with LED light sources. The optical simulation results showed that about 90% of uniformity can be easily obtained.

This study focuses on the development of a new, formal method for the automated checking of pedestrian circulation rules in Courthouse Design Guide. Automated building rule checking is an automated process of design evaluation against design requirements. Since the early 1970's, when the electronic representation of building design became available, automated building rule checking, a computational process, has been a focus of study, and it continues to be a popular research area because it facilitates the design evaluation process by reducing the checking time and evaluation costs and by increasing the objectivity and the reliability of the evaluation. Thanks to the emergence of BIM (Building Information Model) authoring software, BIM became available to use in real building design, and several automated building code checking systems were developed based on BIM. In practice, the use of a rule checking system in real design evaluation may be influenced by several factors. Among the factors that affect the accuracy and the reliability of automated checking such as checking algorithms and rule interpretation is the level of completeness of the BIM in the design process, which can cause limitations in the application of a rule checking algorithm to the model. Problems caused by the incompleteness of the BIM occurred in CORENET project, a project initiated by the Singapore government in 1999 for automation of building code checking, and GSA Courthouse Design Guide Automation project (GSA), initiated at Georgia Tech in 2007 also faced with the same problems caused by incompleteness of BIM in the development stage. This thesis is a continuing research of GSA-Courthouse Design Guide Automation project (Simply, GSA project). The theoretical goals of this study are to provide a logical foundation upon which one can build an automated checking module for circulation rule checking and that is capable of outlining the rule-validation process independently from its diverse implementation. The theory for circulation rule checking is devised to represent the process of the validation of a building design in the development stage. The theory deals with issues of validation caused by the lack of data in the development of a building design.

No description available.

Ce travail de thèse porte sur l'étude des propriétés de guidage des polaritons-plasmons de surface (vitesse de groupe, couplage radiatif, absorption) dans des cristaux plasmoniques 1D et 2D constitués de films métalliques percés d'ouvertures nanométriques périodiques (fentes ou trous). Nous avons développé un banc de mesures optiques (transmission et réflexion) sur un large domaine angulaire (0 − 60°) et spectral (1-16 μm). Il permet d'obtenir les diagrammes de dispersion des modes de surface avec une haute résolution (±0.3°, 0.5 cm−1). <br /><br />Dans les cristaux plasmoniques 1D, nous montrons une modulation des pertes radiatives due au couplage des plasmons de surface se propageant le long des interfaces air/métal et substrat/métal. Il en résulte deux régimes de propagation : un régime radiatif présentant une absorption négligeable, et un régime faible perte très peu couplé à l'espace libre. De plus nous montrons qu'une faible variation de l'indice du substrat (1%) permet de passer d'un régime de propagation à un autre et ouvre la voie à un contrôle externe des couplages radiatifs et non radiatifs des modes guidés.<br /><br />Nous présentons également les propriétés dispersives des plasmons de surface excités sur les interfaces de cristaux plasmoniques 2D anisotropes ayant des périodes différentes selon ses deux axes de symétrie. Nous montrons l'existence d'une bande interdite loin des bords de la zone de Brillouin, et mettant en jeu un couplage entre trois plasmons de surface se propageant dans des directions quasi-orthogonales. Un des modes couplés présente un fort couplage radiatif et une faible vitesse de groupe.

Bakgrund: En god munhälsa betyder mycket för välbefinnandet och området är sparsamt studerat inom palliativ vård. För att kunna bedöma munstatus på ett strukturerat sätt rekommenderas Revised Oral Assessment Guide (ROAG) att användas i Sverige. Året som studien utfördes gavs en prestationsersättning till alla svenska kommuner som använde ROAG och dokumenterade munhälsa i det nationella kvalitetsregistret senior alert. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka om munhälsobedömningar gjorts enligt ROAG, och om åtgärderna som vidtagits stämmer överens med ROAGs rekommendationer. Det har även studerats om läkare eller tandläkare konsulterats, då allvarliga problem med munhälsan upptäcktes. Metod: En retrospektiv kvantitativ studie ägde rum på en palliativ slutenvårdsavdelning Pappersjournaler av 68 patienter granskades. Patienter som inte var i en palliativ fas eller som hade gått bort inom en vecka efter ankomst exkluderades från studien. En granskningsmall och anteckningsblock användes för att kunna sammanställa all dokumentation från journalerna. Resultat: Resultatet visade brist på dokumentation inom området munvård, och ROAG formuläret hade använts i en av 68 journaler. Det fanns få beskrivna åtgärder. Av 103 identifierade problemområden fanns 8 problemområden där åtgärderna fullständigt stämde överens med ROAG. 29 patienter hade läkemedel mot munsvamp ordinerat av läkare. Av dessa 29 fanns 12 journaler där det inte stod någonting om munvård, utom just i läkemedelslistan. Slutsats: Denna studie tyder på att det finns brister i dokumentationen av munhälsa och munvård. Bristerna skulle kunna leda till ett onödigt vårdlidande för patienten. Orsaken till detta behöver undersökas, och rutiner för munvårdsbedömningar bör säkerställas. / Background: Good oral health is important for general wellbeing and there is a lack of studies within this area.  In Sweden it is recommended that Revised Oral Assessment Guide (ROAG) is used in order to assess oral health in a structured way. The year the study was performed a monetary performance reward was given to all Swedish counties if they used ROAG and documented oral health in a Swedish national register called senior alert. Aim: The aim of this study was to examine if oral health care assessments had been made using ROAG (revised oral assessment guide), and weather the measures that were made coincided with ROAGS recommendations. The aim also included studying if a doctor or dentist were consulted, if serious problems with oral health were discovered. Method: A retrospective study took place at a hospice. The printed journals of 68 patients were studied. Patients who were not in a palliative phase, or had passed away within a week of arrival were excluded from the study. A review template and a notebook were used to compile the documentation from the journals. Result: The result showed a lack of documentation of oral health and that the ROAG form was only used in one of 68 journals. There were few documented actions mentioned to rectify identified problems. Amongst 103 problem areas there were 8 that had actions mentioned that coincided with ROAGs recommendations. 29 patients had an oral antifungal drug prescribed by a doctor. Amongst these 29 patients there were 12 journals that did not mention oral health care in any way, except from on the medical ordination list. Conclusion: This study showed that there was a lack of documentation within the nursing field of oral health care. This could lead to unnecessary suffering for the patient. The reason behind this should be examined, and routines for the use of oral assessment guides should be secured.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a Theatre For Young Audiences (TYA) paper and multimedia study guide and to investigate teachers' perceptions of study guides created for TYA. It used current literature surrounding TYA performances, supplemental materials for the elementary classroom, and multimedia in performance and education, to glean critical elements for creating a useful TYA study guide. These elements provided the framework for creating a rubric to evaluate a TYA study guide's potential success in the classroom. The mixed methods study then used the created rubric to evaluate etc . . .'s (Educational Theatre Company) 2005 Hey Diddle Diddle! The Rhymes and Rhythms of Mother Goose study guide. This data was combined with surveys administered to elementary teachers. The study guide rated high on the rubric and teachers' perceptions were generally positive. Overall the analysis yielded information useful for the creation of future guides and research.

Elastic Wave propagation in structures with irregular boundaries is studied by transforming the plates with irregular surfaces to sinusoidal wave-guides. Guided elastic wave in a two-dimensional periodically corrugated plate is studied analytically. The plate material is considered as homogeneous, isotropic and linearly elastic. In a periodically corrugated wave-guide, all possible spectral orders of wave numbers are considered. The dispersion equation is obtained by applying the traction free boundary conditions at the two surfaces. The analysis is carried out in the wave-number domain for both symmetric and anti-symmetric modes. Non-propagating 'stop bands' and propagating 'pass bands' are investigated. Experimental analyses with two different pairs of transducers are also performed and compared with the results from the mathematical analysis. Newly developed semi-analytical DPSM technique has been also adopted in this dissertation to model the ultrasonic field in sinusoidally corrugated plate. Distributed Point Source Method (DPSM) is gradually gaining popularity in the field of Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE). DPSM can be used to calculate the ultrasonic field (pressure, velocity and displacement in a fluid or stress and displacement in a solid) generated by ultrasonic transducers. So far the technique has been used to model ultrasonic field in homogeneous or multilayered fluid structures. In this dissertation the method is extended to model the ultrasonic field generated in both fluid and solid media. The Prime objective of using DPSM technique in this dissertation is to model the ultrasonic field generated in the corrugated wave guide. This method has never been used to model ultrasonic field in solids. Development of stress and displacement Green's functions in solids are presented. In addition to the wave propagation problem in the sinusoidal wave guide, a few unsolved problems such as ultrasonic field generated by bounded acoustic beams in multilayered fluid structures, near a fluid-solid interface and in flat solid isotropic plates are also presented in this dissertation.