Nanoporous (NP) metals are a unique class of materials that are characterized by extremely high surface-to-volume ratios and possess such desirable properties of metals as high electrical conductivity, catalytic activity, and mechanical strength. At the same time, understanding of their physical properties is often lacking, especially for hierarchical NP metals where individual struts and joints that make up open cell 3D network are nanocrystalline. The aim of this work is to employ a dedicated experimental campaign to understand the structure property relation of nanostructured nanoporous metals. Towards this goal, NP Pt and NP Cu have been synthesized for a range of strut sizes and their mechanical properties have been investigated via ex-situ and in-situ nanoindentation experiments. Both NP Pt and NP Cu exhibit relatively high hardness in the range of 0.2 to 1.3 GPa. The relative role of material effects arising from small dimensions of the struts/joints and the geometrical features of NP metals are discussed. Selected applications of the systems synthesized during this work in electrochemistry and catalysis are demonstrated. In the examined applications the NP metals exhibited catalytic activity comparable to or significantly exceeding the best available alternative systems, while offering superior stability.

published_or_final_version / Dentistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Hydraulic fracturing is an indispensable technique for developing unconventional resources such as shale gas and tight oil. When hydraulic fractures interact with pre-existing natural fractures, it can result in a complex fracture network. The interaction depends on in-situ stresses, rock and natural fracture mechanical properties, approach angle and hydraulic fracture treatment parameters. Most simulation studies treat natural fractures as frictional interfaces with cohesive properties. However, from core observation, partially cemented and fully cemented natural fractures are widely present and it is not clear whether they would fit the common description. In this study, semi-circular bending test is utilized to examine the propagation paths and strength of samples with pre-existing cemented fractures. Synthetic hydrostone samples are used to represent the rock and different inclusion slices with different mechanical properties are used to mimic cemented natural fractures. In a series of experiments, we assess the influence of the fracture approach angle, inclusion strength, and inclusion thickness on fracture propagation. Current results show that fractures tend to cross the inclusion when the approach angle is high and divert into the inclusion when the approach angle is low. The crossing surface is not a clean cut, but often has a jog distance. The thickness of the inclusion does not change the crossing/diverting behavior for orthogonal approaching samples, however it does change the jog distance along the interface. Preliminary simulation results using finite element software, ABAQUS, are presented better to analyze the experimental observations. The assessments of fracture interaction in this study are in good agreement with previous work and theories. / text

This research investigated the fire performance of unprotected timber floors, focussing on composite joist floors, composite box floors and timber-concrete composite floors. The study of these floors was conducted using the finite element software ABAQUS using a thermo-stress analysis in three dimensions, and with experimental fire tests of floor assemblies. The major goal of this research was to develop a simplified design approach for timber floors, validated against the numerical and experimental work. Four furnace tests were conducted on unprotected timber floor systems in the full-scale furnace at the BRANZ facilities in New Zealand. The tested floors were one-way strip floors with pinned support conditions exposed to the ISO 834 standard fire for varying durations of 30 – 105 minutes. The floors were loaded under standard office loading conditions of 3.0kPa live and 1.0kPa superimposed dead loading. The charring rates of the LVL timber members were found to range from 0.66 – 0.86 mm/min across all specimens. When designed to resist a similar load level both the composite joist and box floor types had a similar response to the fire loads, however the joist floors exhibited increased upward burning through the beam members in the latter stages of testing which may contribute to earlier failure times for smaller floor geometries. A sequentially coupled thermal-stress analysis was conducted to determine the effects of a fire on floor assemblies under load. Firstly a thermal analysis was performed to determine the temperature profile of the floor assemblies for the duration of modelling, and then a stress analysis was performed using the temperature profile as input into the structural model. With regards to the thermal modelling, a proposed set of effective values was used to account for the mass transfer processes occurring in the timber. The thermal modelling predicted the charring damage of the floors tested in the experiments to within a few millimetres of precision, and the simplified assumptions made in relation to fire inputs, boundary conditions, mesh refinement and effective material parameters were accurate to the desired level of precision. A sensitivity study was conducted comparing different mesh sizes, time step sizes, material model approaches and software suites to determine any shortfalls which may be encountered in the analysis. It was found that a material model adopting a latent heat approach was the most adequate for modelling timber in fires using these effective values, and mesh sizes of up to 6 mm produced relatively precise results. The structural modelling predicted the displacement response and failure times of the floors to within 20% of the experimental data, and the simplified assumptions made in relation to fire inputs, boundary conditions, mesh refinement and effective material properties were once again accurate to the desired level of precision. A modification to the reduction in tension strength at elevated temperatures was proposed to better predict the observed behaviour. A sensitivity study concluded that the material model definition plays a vital role in the output of the modelling. Non-standard fire exposures were also modelled for completeness. A simplified design method to estimate the fire resistance of unprotected floor assemblies was also developed. The method uses a bi-linear charring rate the assumption of a zero strength layer in the timber. The method was compared to the experimental data from this research and others around the world. The results were also compared to other charring rate methodologies from around the world.

Due to their efficient heat and mass transfer potential, impinging jets have received attention in various applications. Heat transfer and flow characteristics of rectangular turbulent impinging jets issued from a 24:1 aspect ratio and 24:1 contraction ratio nozzle were investigated experimentally and numerically. In the heat transfer measurements; a thin stainless-steel foil was utilized to obtain iso-flux boundary conditions on the impingement surface. The target plate was free to translate in the lateral direction and the heat transfer distributions were determined at 0 ≤ x/W ≤ 20 with the micro-thermocouples placed underneath the foil. The measurements were conducted for Re(j) = 8900 − 48600 at nozzle-to-target spacing of 0.5 ≤ H/W ≤ 12.0. Both semi and fully confined jets were investigated. Heat transfer coefficients at Re(j) = 28100, 36800, 45600 and H/W = 4.0 were determined by using adiabatic-wall temperatures and the distributions were compared with those of the wall shear stress. Off-center peaks were observed at high Re(j) and low H/W. Since the wall distributions are susceptible to nozzle-exit conditions, velocity and turbulence profiles at the nozzle-exit were measured for the velocity range of interest. Additionally, near-wall mean velocity and turbulence profiles were determined at Re(j) = 21500 and 36800 at H/W = 4.0 to have a better understanding of the secondary peaks in the wall distributions. Numerical computations were performed by using several different turbulence models (k − ω, k − ε, V 2F and Reynolds stress models). In wall-bounded turbulent flows, near-wall modeling is crucial. Therefore, the turbulence models eliminating wall functions such as the k − ω and V 2F models may be superior for modeling impingement flows. The numerical results showed reasonable agreement with the experimental data for local heat transfer and skin friction coefficient distributions. The occurrence of the secondary peaks was predicted by the k − ω and V 2F models, and for a few cases with the low-Re-k − ε models. Near-wall measurements along with the computed profiles were used to describe the “secondary peak” phenomena. It was shown that the increase in turbulence production in the wall-streamwise direction enhances turbulent momentum and heat transport in the wall-normal direction which lead to secondary peaks in the wall distributions. The possibility of improving surface heat transfer with fully-developed jets was also explored numerically as a case study.

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In this dissertation, I study the impact of behavioral influences on strategic economic decision making in three essays.The first essay explores the interpersonal implications of guilt aversion in strategic settings. In doing so, I first introduce a stylized 2-player game where one players has an opportunity to induce guilt upon the other player in a manner derived from findings in the psychology literature. I then develop an experimental design, centered around this game, that allows me to test (i) whether agents attempt to induce guilt upon others in self-serving ways, (ii) whether agents are susceptible to the guilt induction of others, and (iii) whether agents are more trusting when they have an opportunity to induce guilt upon others. Furthermore, I theoretically show, via an application of the Battigalli and Dufwenberg (2007) model of simple guilt, that effective guilt induction can be supported as an equilibrium of the game considered.In the second essay, I explore the influence of posted price fairness concerns in bilateral negotiation settings. In doing so, I propose a price fairness model where, in addition to their material payoff, buyers receive disutility from engaging in negotiations, and aggressively negotiating, when the price is fair. As a result, the model predicts that buyers will negotiate less aggressively and possibly even forgo profitable negotiations when the posted price is fair, which is consistent with prior survey evidence on negotiation behavior. I also include a thorough discussion of the differences between the price fairness model and main alternative approaches to modeling fairness that exists in the literature.In the third essay, I experimentally investigate how the decision making quality of an agent's opponent influences learning in strategic games. In particular, I test whether learning-by-doing and learning-by-observing become more effective in games when agents face an optimal decision making opponent. To test these hypotheses, I propose a novel experimental design that enables me to measure strategic decision making quality and control the decision making quality of the opponent.

A total of 200 Rhizobium meliloti isolates were sampled from alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) nodules in five uninoculated fields throughout Arizona. Dominant strains (≥ 20% nodule occupancy at each site) were identified using plasmid profile analysis and intrinsic antibiotic resistance patterns. The major dominant strains and a commercial strain (102F77b) were evaluated for their N fixing effectiveness in a Leonard jar study. All strains were highly effective, and no significant differences were found (p ≥ 0.05) in shoot weight, root weight, nodule weight, acetylene reduction and total N content among the strain treatments. These effective dominant R. meliloti strains indigenous to Arizona soil probably contribute to the state's high alfalfa yield. Furthermore, indigenous strains AZTCYJ, AZSC, and AZY have potential as inoculants for arid lands due to their high effectiveness and unique resistances to extreme abiotic stresses present in arid land soils.

Human operant studies frequently use points exchangeable for money as reinforcers. Some studies employ more immediately consumable reinforcers to emulate properties of food reinforcers. This study examined demand for points/money and for sound-clips to compare their economic characteristics. Across four participants, demand was often higher and less elastic for points/money than for sounds. During subsequent exposures at each response requirement, demand for sounds often decreased to a greater degree than demand for points/money. Thus, sound-clips seem less durable than points/money across prices and across repeated exposure to the same price. Response rates for points/money were often higher than for sounds, suggesting that reinforcers that generate higher response rates may be less elastic than reinforcers that generate lower response rates.

The Barren River was sampled twice monthly for one year to obtain data on aquatic yeasts. Sites upstream and downstream of the Bowling Green sewage plant, as well as the sewage effluent, were sampled to ascertain if the effluent had any effect on the yeast population of the river. Sporadic yeast counts were obtained which averaged 40 CFU/ml for the effluent, while the river averaged 15 CFU/ml. A total of 318 yeasts were isolated and identified during the study, including 16 different genera with Cryptococcus being the most common. Cryptococcus laurentii occurred most frequently of the 67 different species identified. The sewage effluent was not found to contribute significantly, either in number or in particular species, to the river yeast flora, although the effluent flora differed from the yeast flora in the river. Statistical analysis suggested relationships between yeast counts and several environmental parameters, particularly chlorine, turbidity, nitrate and phosphate levels. Some yeast pathogens of low virulence were isolated, but the probability of the river being a vector of mycotic disease was not found to be great. No seasonal variation was noted in yeast counts. The pathogenic yeast, Candida albicans, was not isolated. Two commercial yeast identification systems were tested. Neither system could be recommended for identifying aquatic yeasts.