This thesis introduces a power electronic interface for a kinetic hydropower generation platform that enables extraction of electric power from a free-flowing water source such as a river or a stream. The implemented system transfers power from a high-frequency permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) to a 60-Hz load. Special configurations and control techniques were developed to cater for the long distance between the generator and the power interface; and also to address the wide range of the PMSG frequency and voltage variations. The proposed power-electronic interface was constructed and tested in the laboratory as well as in the field. The thesis also introduces two feasible methods for controlling a hydrokinetic plant to supply islanded loads or to deliver the maximum power available from the turbine-generator to the utility network. Application of multiple turbines in a kinetic farm was also investigated, and different approaches to controlling hydrokinetic turbines were developed.

This thesis introduces a power electronic interface for a kinetic hydropower generation platform that enables extraction of electric power from a free-flowing water source such as a river or a stream. The implemented system transfers power from a high-frequency permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) to a 60-Hz load. Special configurations and control techniques were developed to cater for the long distance between the generator and the power interface; and also to address the wide range of the PMSG frequency and voltage variations. The proposed power-electronic interface was constructed and tested in the laboratory as well as in the field. The thesis also introduces two feasible methods for controlling a hydrokinetic plant to supply islanded loads or to deliver the maximum power available from the turbine-generator to the utility network. Application of multiple turbines in a kinetic farm was also investigated, and different approaches to controlling hydrokinetic turbines were developed.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / In traffic engineering, the assessment of capacity in basic segment of freeway is a critical factor for planning, design and operational analysis of the freeway facilities. Thereby, the Highway Capacity Manual - HCM is the main guide used in many countries of the world including Perú that contain the methodology to estimate freeway capacity in traffic studies. Nevertheless, the information of vehicular traffic used for the construction of the models proposed by the HCM, reflect the characteristics of North American features. Therefore, its application in other traffic conditions, must be backed by studies of the local conditions and calibrations of the models proposed, hereby, adjusting to each city. The objetive of this research, is calibrate and compare of the HCM 2010 and HCM 2016 models, starting off the traffic engineering study in Panamericana Sur freeway located in Lima, Perú. The report will recommended the application of a calibrated model that best represents the local Peruvian conditions. The results of this study suggest that the model of calibrated capacity HCM2016, is the best representation, with a reliability of 97%, the local behavior of the basic freeway segments in function of the speed and the flow intensity. After applying the calibrated model into basic freeway segments concessioned by Rutas de Lima SAC, it was reflected that the use of the HCM2000, employed by this Company, show flow intensities within a level of service - LOS D, while, the calibrated HCM2016 shows us that those values are found, in reality, within a level of service - LOS E.

The research presented in this thesis attempts to investigate the impact of detector failure frequency and failure duration on the accuracy of loop detector speed, flow, and density measurements using a Monte Carlo simulation approach. The inputs to the model are the frequency of failures and failure duration. Several regression models were developed to relate loop detector accuracy to detector failure data. The results showed that the models were consistent and similar for the same location with an R square that ranged between 86% and 94% for all models and in comparing two locations, the differences between the regression models were minor except for the flow model errors, the location had the same trend but the magnitude of the flow RMSE increased by 7.5 to 15%. The second part of the research effort attempts to quantify the impact of inclement weather (precipitation and visibility) on traffic stream free-flow speeds along freeway sections. The analysis is conducted using weather (precipitation and visibility) and loop detector data (speed) obtained from Baltimore, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Seattle, US. The results demonstrate that visibility alone has a minimum impact on free-flow speed with reductions in the range of 1 to 3%. These reductions only appear as the visibility level falls below 1.2 km. The study demonstrates that the impact of snow is more significant than that of rain for similar intensity levels. Reductions caused by rain are in the neighborhood of 2 to 5% depending on the precipitation intensity while reductions caused by snow are in the neighborhood of 6 to 20%. With regards to freezing rain, higher reductions in free-flow speed were observed when compared to rain and snow. Specifically, the free-flow speed was reduced by 14% at the onset of freezing rain precipitation with a maximum decrease of 27% at freezing rain intensity of about 0.53 cm/h for Baltimore and as the case of Seattle the reduction was found to be constant with 31%. Finally, the paper derives free-flow speed reduction factors that vary as a function of the precipitation type and intensity level. These reduction factors can be incorporated within the Highway Capacity Manual's procedures. / Master of Science

With the increased demands of therapeutic proteins, there is going to be a need for new purification technologies which have high throughput, high yield and high resolution. Three purification technologies were explored as potential new technology to isolate recombinant and endogenous milk proteins: Expanded bed adsorption chromatography(EBAC) combined with hydrophobic interaction chromatography(HIC), Recycle continuous flow electrophoresis(RCFE) and Free flow isoelectric focusing(FFIEF). The first process(EBAC/HIC) used with Zn2+ as a selective precipitating agent, purified recombinant human protein C(rhPC) and IgG(contaminated with less than 1% IgA) from swine milk with high resolution and high yield while processing about 10-20 grams in a single operation. The second process(RCFE) was able to isolate the active sub-populations of rhPC from major milk contaminants( - and -pig casein) as wells as from the inactive sub-populations of rhPC. RCFE was able to process 1.5g total protein per hour on a small scale and is currently being researched to process 1kg total protein per hour. The third and final purification process(FFIEF) sub-fractionated 100mg of immuno-purified rhPC into 50 fractions. The FFIEF was able to produce a linear pH gradient over the range of 3-10 using 2% ampholytes. The fractionated rhPC showed differing degrees of activity that resulted from the -carboxylated glutamic acids and the sialic acids. / Ph. D.

Probe speed data are widely used to calculate performance measures for quantifying state-wide traffic conditions. Estimation of the accurate performance measures requires adequate speed data observations. However, probe vehicles reporting the speed data may not be available all the time on each road segment. Agencies need to develop a good understanding of the adequacy of these reported data before using them in different transportation applications. This study attempts to systematically assess the quality of the probe data by proposing a method, which determines the minimum sample rate for checking data adequacy. The minimum sample rate is defined as the minimum required speed data for a segment ensuring the speed estimates within a defined error range. The proposed method adopts a bootstrapping approach to determine the minimum sample rate within a pre-defined acceptance level. After applying the method to the speed data, the results from the analysis show a minimum sample rate of 10% for Kentucky’s roads. This cut-off value for Kentucky’s roads helps to identify the segments where the availability is greater than the minimum sample rate. This study also shows two applications of the minimum sample rates resulted from the bootstrapping. Firstly, the results are utilized to identify the geometric and operational factors that contribute to the minimum sample rate of a facility. Using random forests regression model as a tool, functional class, section length, and speed limit are found to be the significant variables for uninterrupted facility. Contrarily, for interrupted facility, signal density, section length, speed limit, and intersection density are the significant variables. Lastly, the speed data associated with the segments are applied to improve Free Flow Speed estimation by the traditional model.

Sixteeen sets of original laboratory data collected by many investigators for various Cutthroat flume sizes are thoroughly reviewed and organized. Best-fit discharge parameters are obtained by performing the free-flow analysis and the submerged-flow analysis. Then, the transition submergence can be calculated. Afterwards, the unified free-flow and submerged-flow discharge parameter s are developed for each flume size in order to generalize the calibrations for Cutthroat flumes. This is a very tedious process requiring a trial-and-error approach. Finally, comparisons are made of the measured laboratory discharges with the predicted discharges for both free flow and submerged flow using both the best-fit and the unified discharge parameters. The results proved quite good as measured by the standard deviation for each flume size. In most cases, the average standard deviation using the unified discharge parameters was only slightly greater than when using the best-fit discharge parameters. However, there is a significant difference in the accuracy of free-flow measurements compared with submerged-flow measurements. Using the unified discharge parameters, the mean standard deviation for all of the flumes was 2.1 percent for free flow and 6.5 percent for submerged flow.

Thesis (MPhil (Information Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Rural communities depend on the use of natural resources surrounding them for their daily livelihoods. These communities have in the past lived off these resources amid the day-to-day natural threats that pose a threat to their environmental resources. These communities depend on tending the land and rearing livestock to provide for their day-to-day needs. The only period when these communities decide to sell what they have produced is when they have unexpected surpluses that were neither planned for and these are normally sold to derive extra income. Given the total dependence on the use of their natural resources as a means of their survival one would expect this group to be provided with relevant information and be kept abreast of developments in the sector to enable them to produce better and derive surpluses that will generate extra income. This is unfortunately not the prevailing arrangement, very often these communities are left on their own to fend for themselves using knowledge and practical experience that has been gained over the years. In other instances the nature of the information provided is in most cases such that it does not lend itself for easy use by a person who is either semi-literate or illiterate. For those who can read the information it is not always forthcoming or does not deal with the relevant local issues, and lack of supportive infrastructure also adds to the farmers ailing conditions. The kind of agricultural research as well as extension services provided to these farming communities is still lagging behind due to a number of factors, these include: poor interaction with the farmers in an effort to identify and prioritize their needs, high level of illiteracy, insufficient resources, low levels of income and a host of other related problems. Adomi et.al. (2003), in their study on crop farmers’ access to agricultural information in rural areas of Delta State Nigeria, also stress the importance of farmers having access to agricultural information if their agricultural efforts are to succeed. They further emphasize that farmers need to share knowledge and experience with farmers who operate under similar conditions, this will enable them to adapt and replicate experiences learnt from other farmers. Most importantly farmers need to be provided with information on access to credit and information from research institutions. The paper intends to look at challenges facing small-scale farmers in as far as information dissemination is concerned, appropriate techniques that can be applied to overcome these challenges and use lessons that have proved to work for countries operating under similar conditions. It is important to remember that farmers irrespective of their scale of operation, are managers in their own right, they are constantly facing challenges, are forced to make choices and decisions that will determine the future of their farming enterprise in the cut-throat competitive environment. The livelihoods of their families depend on these very decisions. Therefore providing timely, accurate, reliable and user-friendly information at affordable prices is their only hope for survival in the present free- market economy.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第19292号 / 工博第4089号 / 新制||工||1630(附属図書館) / 32294 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科都市社会工学専攻 / (主査)教授 角 哲也, 准教授 竹門 康弘, 准教授 KANTOUSH Sameh Ahmed / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

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