Thesis (M.S. in Meteorology)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2010. / Thesis Advisor(s): Durkee, Philip A. Second Reader: Nielsen, Kurt E. "March 2010." Description based on title screen as viewed on April 27, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Lightning, Thunderstorm, GOES, Geostationary, Satellite, Convection, Convective Initiation, Lightning Initiation, Nowcast, Applied Meteorology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-101). Also available in print.

Nowadays, numerous applications of active sound transmission control require lightweight partitions with high transmission loss over a broad frequency range and simple control strategies. In this work an active-passive sound transmission control approach is investigated that potentially addresses these requirements. The approach involves the use of lightweight stiff panels, or tiles, attached to a radiating base structure through active-passive soft mounts and covering the structure surface. The resulting double-partition configuration was shown to have good high frequency passive isolation, but poor low frequency transmission loss due to the coupling of the tiles to the base vibration through the air gap. The low frequency transmission loss performance of the partition was increased by using the active mounts to cancel the local volume velocity of the tiles. The use of a decentralized control approach with independent single channel controllers for each tile facilitates the implementation of a multiple tile system in a large scale application. A coupled structural-acoustic model based on an impedance mobility matrix approach was formulated to investigate the potential performance of active-passive tile approach in controlling sound transmission through plates. The model was initially applied to investigate the sound transmission characteristics of a double-panel partition consisting of a single tile-plate configuration and then extended to model a partition consisting of multiple-tiles mounted on a plate. The system was shown to have significant passive performance above the mass-spring-mass resonance of the double-panel system. Both feedback and feedforward control approaches were simulated and shown to significantly increase the transmission loss of the partition by applying control forces in parallel with the mounts to reduce the tile normal velocity. A correspondent reduction in sound radiated power was obtained over a broad frequency range limited by the tile stiffness. The experimental implementation of the active-passive tile approach for the control of sound transmission through plates was also performed. Two main experimental setups were utilized in the investigations, the first consisting of a single tile mounted on a clamped plate and the other consisting of four active tiles mounted of a simply supported plate. Tile prototypes were implemented with lightweight stiff panels and integrated active-passive mounts were implemented with piezoelectric Thunder actuators. Both analog feedback and digital feedforward control schemes where designed and implemented with the objective of reducing the normal velocity of the tiles. Experimental results have demonstrated significant broad frequency range reductions in the sound transmission through the partition by active attenuation of the tile velocity. In addition, the experiments have shown that decentralized control can be successfully implemented for multiple tiles systems. The active-passive sound transmission control characteristics of the systems experimentally studied were observed to be in accordance with the analytical results. / Ph. D.

Wireless sensors are an emerging technology that has the potential to revolutionize the monitoring of simple and complex physical systems. One of the biggest challenges with wireless sensors technology is power management and hence cost. A wireless sensor system incapable of managing its power consumption either by maintaining long battery life and/or harvesting from its surroundings, is simply not cost effective. Prolonging or eliminating the battery entirely would reduce the cost of battery replacement and maintenance. A viable family of materials for this purpose is piezoelectric materials because of their inherent ability to convert vibrations into electrical energy. Currently, a wide variety of piezoelectric materials are available and the appropriate choice for harvesting energy depends on their characteristics and properties. In addition to the material choice, energy harvesting circuitry is needed to efficiently convert and filter the signal from the piezoelectric device into a form that can be used by a load (battery). This thesis addresses the theoretical and experimental use of a type of pre-stressed PZT-5A Unimorph called a Thunder® to actively convert mechanical vibrations into useable power. Two types of devices of Thunder diaphragms are used: (1) a composite made of stainless steel, plain polyimide, a piezoelectric layer, plain polyimide, and copper; (2) and a second composite made with the same materials except that micro nickel inclusions are suspended into the polyimide layer. The first type produced a maximum average power of 2,585μW (~2.6mW) with a power density of 1411μW/cm2 (~1.4mW). The maximum total energy was 541,114μJ (~0.54J). The second type produced a maximum average power of 3,800μW (~3.8mW) with a power density of 2,073μW/cm2 (~2mW/cm2). The maximum total energy produced 1,187,939μJ (~1.19J). Based on these energy calculations, it was found that a plain polyimide diaphragm could theoretically charge a 1000mA-hr battery in a range from 3.32 hours to 32.32 hours depending on the energy harvesting circuit while nickel polyimide diaphragm could charge it in a range from 3.38 hours to 20.01 hours. These results show that THUNDER can effectively generate power from a steady sinusoidal source at frequencies below 10 Hz for the charging of batteries or for directly powering a device.

Flow control can lead to saving millions of dollars in fuel costs each year by making an aircraft more efficient. Synthetic jets, a device for active flow control, operate by introducing small amounts of energy locally to achieve non-local changes in the flow field with large performance gains. These devices consist of a cavity with an oscillating diaphragm that divides it, into active and passive sides. The active side has a small opening where a jet is formed, whereas and the passive side does not directly participate in the fluidic jet.Research has shown that the synthetic jet behavior is dependent on the diaphragm and the cavity design hence, the focus of this work. The performance of the synthetic jet is studied under various factors related to the diaphragm and the cavity geometry. Four diaphragms, manufactured from piezoelectric composites, were selected for this study, Bimorph, Thunder®, Lipca and RFD. The overall factors considered are the driving signals, voltage, frequency, cavity height, orifice size, and passive cavity pressure. Using the average maximum jet velocity as the response variable, these factors are individually studied for each actuator and statistical analysis tools were used to select the relevant factors in the response variable. For all diaphragms, the driving signal was found to be the most important factor, with the sawtooth signal producing significantly higher velocities than the sine signal. Cavity dimensions also proved to be relevant factors when considering the designing of a synthetic jet actuator. The cavities with the smaller orifice produced lower velocities than those with larger orifices and the cavities with smaller volumes followed the same trend. Although there exist a relationship between cavity height and orifice size, the orifice size appears as the dominant factor.Driving frequency of the diaphragm was the only common factor to all diaphragms studied that was not statistically significant having a small effect on jet velocity. However along with waveform, it had a combined effect on jet velocity for all actuators. With the sawtooth signal, the velocity remained constant after a particular low frequency, thus indicating that the synthetic jet cavity could be saturated and the flow choked. No such saturation point was reached with the sine signal, for the frequencies tested. Passive cavity pressure seemed to have a positive effect on the jet velocity up to a particular pressure characteristic of the diaphragm, beyond which the pressure had an adverse effect. For Thunder® and Lipca, the passive cavity pressure that produced a peak was measured at approximately 20 and 18kPa respectively independent of the waveform utilized. For a Bimorph and RFD, this effect was not observed.Linear models for all actuators with the factors found to be statistically significant were developed. These models should lead to further design improvements of synthetic jets.

This study first examines the effectiveness of stealing thunder in increasing the target’s liking for the discloser. The study further inspects liking relative to the amount of information known about the discloser prior to their initial interaction. Additionally, the target’s perception of the negativity of the information revealed is observed. 120 subjects participated in an experiment during which they were either exposed to the negative information via the confederate or the experimenter or were not exposed at all. Results, although interesting, were largely inconsistent with the hypotheses. This could have been due to several factors namely, poor experimental execution and unreliability of measurement. However, stealing thunder, with further testing, has several implications for the current state of the stealing thunder literature and future research.

Thesis (M.A.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references. Also available via the Internet.

L'objectif est d'étudier la transformation du tonnerre (amplitude, spectre) pendant sa propagation depuis le canal d'éclair jusqu'à un détecteur en se basant sur deux approches complémentaires. Dans un premier temps, l'analyse des enregistrements acoustiques (audibles et infrasons) obtenus par un réseau acoustique de petite taille (50 mètres), durant une campagne d'observations qui s'est déroulée dans le Sud de la France (Automne 2012), nous fournit des cartes 3D des sources infrasonores présentes dans un canal de foudre. Nous montrons qu'elles sont parfaitement corrélées aux résultats fournis par des outils électromagnétiques très précis. Des spectres de tonnerre ont pu être associés aux différentes phases de la décharge. Des caractéristiques acoustiques (fréquence, amplitude) ont pu être précisément reliées aux différentes sources acoustiques identifiées à l'intérieur des éclairs. Il apparaît que la propagation de l'onde acoustique perturbe la localisation pour les distances supérieures à 20km. Dans un second temps le code de calcul Flhoward a été développé pour simuler la propagation non linéaire des ondes de choc acoustiques à travers un modèle de météo réaliste. Il permet d'étudier les formes d'ondes au cours de leur propagation. La simulation numérique avec Flhoward aide à comprendre l'impact des profils météorologiques sur la propagation des signatures de tonnerre. / The goal is to study the transformation of thunder (amplitude, spectrum) during its propagation from to lightning channel towards a detector, based on two complementary approaches.In a first time, the analysis of the acoustic records (audible and infrasounds) obtained with an acoustic network of small size (50 meters), during an observation campaign which took place in South of France (Autumn 2012), produces 3D maps of infrasounds sources present in a lightning channel.We show they are perfectly correlated to results obtained from very precise electromagnetic tools.Frequency contents were successfully associated to the different parts of the discharge.Acoustic parameters (frequency, amplitude) were clearly linked to the different acoustic sources identified inside the lightning channels.It appears that the propagation of the acoustic wave impacts the localization for distances greater than 20km.In a second step, the computing code Flhoward was developed to simulate the nonlinear propagation of acoustic shock waves through a realistic meteorological profile.It allows to study the waveforms during their propagation.The numerical simulation with Flhoward helps to understand the impact of the meteorological profiles on the propagation of the thunder signatures.

The goal of the dissertation Marketing of PC game from the view of Youtuber is to characterize the latest practices in influencing masses of players of War Thunder PC game through video service Youtube and social network Facebook. This is a real project during which author created a large community of fans around the game counting more than 10 000 people on Youtube and almost 4 500 people on Facebook. Author applied the latest trends and the most innovative practices in connection with a traditional promotion of gaming content. This work shows that both channels can have a positive impact on the gaming company revenue from microtransactions based on freemium business model. Author also describes detailed and comprehensive view on one of the biggest gaming phenomenon in history.

Operation Rolling Thunder was a United States led operation, with the political aims of interdicting and preventing the North Vietnamese support of the South Vietnam rebellion, during the later stage of the Vietnam war. Despite being a superpower, Operation Rolling Thunder failed, and the USA lost the war. In this essay, the air power theorists John A. Warden and Robert A. Pape, and their theories regarding how air power should be used to reach success, are used to analyze this failure. The use of these theories in a parallel manner enables to comprehend empirical sources and in turn recognize anomalies in the decision making and missteps of the American leadership. By keeping the case of Rolling Thunder in focus and thereby try and understand what happened, the aim is to create an understanding for why the potent power of the US Air Force made an inadvertent turn despite exercising air superiority throughout most of the operation. This examination concludes that there were three deciding factors in the American failure, which are: (i) absence of efficient attacks against the North Vietnamese leadership, (ii) lack of correlation between strategy and political aim, (iii) lack of experience and communication within the American leadership.

No description available.