The potential for leachate movement out of a sanitary landfill was evaluated and simulated by a computer program model. Landfill operations and geohydrological conditions in the area were investigated in order to develop a conceptual model of the system and to obtain numerical data for the development of the simulation.The landfill is operated in a 20 to 27 foot thick clay till which overlies a 10 foot thick, continuous sand and gravel aquifer. Monitor wells located around the site indicate minimal changes in groundwater quality to this date. This is attributed to the slow movement of leachate through the confining layer which would take at least 5 to 10 years.Numerical parameters not readily determined were varied in 16 simulations. This procedure allowed analysis of the different plumes developed as well as observation of the program’s sensitivity to such changes. In simulations of five years from the time leachate would enter the aquifer, leachate plumes were developed which extended a mile and one half down the hydrologic gradient from the landfill. Varying the parameters led to fairly consistant conclusions regarding the effects of the landfill.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306

During landing, the human body is required to absorb impact forces throughout its tissues. Muscle and connective tissue is able to dissipate much of this force, however, a portion of the impact is delivered to the bones. Forces acting on the human skeleton can cause microscopic fractures which may lead to stress fracture. The present study seeks to calculate changes in the magnitude of strain using noninvasive methods. A musculoskeletal model representing a healthy male subject (22 years, 78.6 kg, 1.85 m) was created. A flexible tibia, created from a computed tomography scan of the subject’s right tibia, was included in the model. Motion capture data were collected while the subject performed drop landings from three separate heights (26, 39, and 52 cm) and used to compute simulations in LifeMOD. Surface electromyography and joint angle data were compared to their simulated counterparts using a cross correlation. Maximum magnitudes of principal and maximum shear strain were computed. The model had reasonable agreement between joint angle curves. A large Cohen’s d effect size showed that our subject had increased tibial strain and strain rate as the drop height increased. This study demonstrates a valid method of simulating tibial strain during landing movements. Future studies should focus on recruiting a larger sample and applying this method. / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

This study presents a comprehensive overview of the current state of the Milne Ice Shelf and how it has changed over the last 59 years. The 205 ±1 km2 ice shelf experienced a 28% (82 ±0.8 km2) reduction in area between 1950 – 2009, and a 20% (2.5 ±0.9km3 water equivalent (w.e.)) reduction in volume between 1981 – 2008/2009, suggesting a long-term state of negative mass balance. Comparison of mean annual specific mass balances (up to -0.34 m w.e. yr-1) with surface mass balance measurements for the nearby Ward Hunt Ice Shelf suggest that basal melt is a key contributor to total ice shelf thinning. The development and expansion of new and existing surface cracks, as well as ice-marginal and epishelf lake development, indicate significant ice shelf weakening. Over the next few decades it is likely that the Milne Ice Shelf will continue to deteriorate.

Horizontal ground loop heat exchangers (GLHE) are widely used in many countries around the world as a heat source/sink for building conditioning systems. In Canada, these systems are most common in residential buildings that do not have access to the natural gas grid or in commercial structures where the heating and cooling loads are well balanced. These horizontal systems are often preferred over vertical systems because of the expense of drilling boreholes for the vertical systems. Current practice when sizing GLHEs is to add a considerable margin of safety. A margin of safety is required because of our poor understanding of in situ GLHE performance. One aspect of this uncertianty is in how these systems interact with heterogeneous soils. To investigate the impact of soil thermal property heterogeneity on GLHE performance, a specialized finite element model was created. This code avoided some of the common, non-physical assumptions made by many horizontal GLHE models by including a representation of the complete geometry of the soil continuum and pipe network. This model was evaluated against a 400 day observation period at a field site in Elora, Ontario and its estimates were found to be capable of reaching a reasonable agreement with observations. Simulations were performed on various heterogeneous conductivity fields created with GSLIB to evaluate the impact of structural heterogeneity. Through a rigorous set of experiments, heterogeneity was found to have little effect on the overall performance of horizontal ground loops over a wide range of soil types and system configurations. Other variables, such as uncertainty of the mean soil thermal conductivity, were shown to have much more impact on the uncertainty of performance than heterogeneity. The negative impact of heterogeneity was shown to be further minimized by: maintaining a 50 cm spacing between pipes in trenches; favouring multiple trenches over a single, extremely long trench; and/or using trenches greater than 1 m deep to avoid surface effects.

This master thesis presents a new technological combination of two environmentally friendly sources of energy in order to provide DHW, and space heating. Solar energy is used for space heating, and DHW production using PV modules which supply direct current directly to electrical heating elements inside a water storage tank. On the other hand a GSHP system as another source of renewable energy provides heat in the water storage tank of the system in order to provide DHW and space heating. These two sources of renewable energy have been combined in this case-study in order to obtain a more efficient system, which will reduce the amount of electricity consumed by the GSHP system.The key aim of this study is to make simulations, and calculations of the amount ofelectrical energy that can be expected to be produced by a certain amount of PV modules that are already assembled on a house in Vantaa, southern Finland. This energy is then intended to be used as a complement to produce hot water in the heating system of the house beside the original GSHP system. Thus the amount of electrical energy purchased from the grid should be reduced and the compressor in the GSHP would need fewer starts which would reduce the heating cost of the GSHP system for space heating and providing hot water.The produced energy by the PV arrays in three different circuits will be charged directly to three electrical heating elements in the water storage tank of the existing system to satisfy the demand of the heating elements. The excess energy can be used to heat the water in the water storage tank to some extent which leads to a reduction of electricity consumption by the different components of the GSHP system.To increase the efficiency of the existing hybrid system, optimization of different PV configurations have been accomplished, and the results are compared. Optimization of the arrays in southern and western walls shows a DC power increase of 298 kWh/year compared with the existing PV configurations. Comparing the results from the optimization of the arrays on the western roof if the intention is to feed AC power to the components of the GSHP system shows a yearly AC power production of 1,646 kWh.This is with the consideration of no overproduction by the PV modules during the summer months. This means the optimized PV systems will be able to cover a larger part of summer demand compared with the existing system.

.El georradar es una herramienta cada vez más utilizada en diferentes ámbitos geológicos, medioambientales y de Ingeniería Civil, así como en estudios de caracterización de yacimientos arqueológicos y de diagnóstico de daños en edificios del patrimonio histórico y cultural.En esta tesis se abordan aspectos metodológicos de calibración de la instrumentación y de caracterización de las propiedades electromagnéticas que rigen la propagación y atenuación de ondas electromagnéticas en los suelos. Por otra parte, se estudian aplicaciones en monumentos históricos, yacimientos arqueológicos y diagnóstico de daños.Concretamente, en esta tesis se calibran cuatro antenas, caracterizadas por su frecuencia central de emisión: 200, 500, 900 y 1000 MHz. En cada caso se obtiene la señal sólo con el ruido interno de la antena (sin reflexiones). De dicho ruido, el de mayor amplitud es la señal inicial; su longitud determina la distancia mínima entre la antena y la primera superficie reflectora del medio para que no se produzca acoplamiento entre la reflexión y la señal inicial. Se analiza también el origen de tiempos de la señal para cada antena (cero de la antena) y se estudia la atenuación producida en la señal durante su propagación por el aire (medio no absorbente), que, por lo tanto, se produce por expansión geométrica, siendo la amplitud inversamente proporcional a la distancia. Se ensaya un procedimiento para caracterizar medios electromagnéticamente, relacionando sus propiedades físicas: granulometría, peso específico, porosidad y saturación, con la conductividad, la permitividad y la frecuencia. Se analizan tres medios formados por un mismo material, modificándose tres propiedades: peso específico aparente, compactación y saturación. En cada caso se obtiene la velocidad de propagación, la permitividad dieléctrica, el espectro de frecuencias y la atenuación. Al aumentar la saturación la velocidad es menor, se produce un desplazamiento hacia las bajas frecuencias, se estrecha el ancho de banda y la atenuación por absorción aumenta. Asimismo se analizan y discuten diferentes métodos para obtener la velocidad: tiempos y espesores conocidos, análisis de hipérbolas, comparación de amplitudes, dromocrónicas de un CMP, modelos geotécnicos, contraste de capacitancias y perfiles de estratigrafía conocida. Los mejores resultados obtenidos son los que proporcionan los ensayos de laboratorio con muestras de espesor conocido y el análisis de reflexiones hiperbólicas. De la comparación de los resultados obtenidos con los que proporciona la literatura se deduce la conveniencia de realizar una caracterización en laboratorio en casos que requieran una resolución fina de las anomalías superficiales o de profundidad intermedia.Relacionados con estas investigaciones (caracterización de medios y calibración de antenas), se han ejecutado y estudiado aplicaciones a casos reales que han permitido resolver problemas prácticos y, al mismo tiempo, han permitido también observar las ventajas de la aplicación de los avances de la investigación, así como avanzar en las técnicas de identificación y cancelación de ruidos introducidos por reflexiones externas o múltiples. Los principales casos resueltos hacen referencia a: control de intervenciones de restauración y rehabilitación en monumentos o en construcciones históricas (casos del teatro romano de Sagunto y de los puentes góticos sobre el río Turia), estudio de daños en edificios del patrimonio cultural (casos de la Catedral de Valencia e Iglesia de San Jorge de Paiporta), caracterización de yacimientos arqueológicos (casos del subsuelo de la Catedral de Valencia, de la Iglesia de San Jorge y de la fortaleza romana y convento en Alcántara).Algunos resultados y casos relevantes se sintetizan en fichas monográficas que presentan en forma esquemática las claves referentes al problema estudiado, lugar y herramienta empleada. Estas fichas serán de gran utilidad en el estudio de casos similares y se espera que constituyan el inicio de un catálogo de casos y soluciones. / The Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a tool more and more used in different geological, Environmental Engineering and Civil Engineering research, as well as in studies of characterisation of archaeological locations and in the diagnosis of the damages in buildings of the historical and cultural heritage. In this thesis, methodological aspects of calibration of the instrumentation are performed. Also, methodological aspects of the soils characterisation by using its electromagnetic properties are analysed. These properties govern the propagation and attenuation of electromagnetic waves in the soils. On the other hand, several applications to the study of historical monuments, archaeological locations and diagnosis of damages are investigated.Particularly, in this thesis four antennae are gauged. These antennae are characterised by their central frequency of emission: 200, 500, 900 and 1000 MHz. For each case, the internal noise of the antenna (radar record without reflections) is obtained;the highest noise is the initial signal (usually the direct wave); its longitude determines the minimum distance between the antenna and the first reflective surface to obtain a radar data where the two events (direct wave and reflected wave) are clearly separated. It is also analysed the time origin of the traces for each antenna (zero of the antenna). The attenuation of the traces during the wave propagation in the air (non-absorbent medium) is also studied. Therefore, in that case, the attenuation is caused by the geometric spreading, and the wave amplitude is inversely proportional to the distance. A procedure is tested to characterise media using its electromagnetic properties: the conductivity, the permitivity and the frequency, relating them with its physical properties: grain size, specific weight, porosity and saturation. Three different media are analysed, formed by the same solid material and modifying three physical properties: the apparent specific weight, the compactation (and, therefore, the porosity) and the saturation. In each case, the wave propagation velocity, the dielectric permitivity, the spectrum of frequencies and the attenuation are obtained. When the saturation increases, the velocity decreases, a displacement takes place toward the low frequencies, the band width is narrowed and the attenuation caused by absorption increases. In addition, different methods to obtain the wave velocity are analysed and discussed: times and well-known thickness, analysis of hyperbolas, comparison of amplitude, radar records obtained in a CMP, geotechnical models, contrast of capacitancy and profiles of well-known stratigraphy. The best results are obtained from the laboratory measurements using samples of well-known thickness and from the analysis of hyperbolic reflections. Comparison of these results and the values provide by the literature is performed. This comparison shows the convenience of carrying out a characterisation of the medium in laboratory in the cases when a fine resolution of the superficial anomalies or of intermediate depth is required. Related with these investigations (characterisation of means and calibration of antennas), several applications to real cases have been performed and studied. These applications have allowed to solve practical problems and, at the same time, to observe the advantages of applying the advances of the investigation, as well as to make progress in the identification techniques and suppression of noise introduced by external or multiple reflections. The main cases resolved make reference to: control of restoration, interventions and rehabilitation in monuments or in historical buildings (cases of the Roman theatre of Sagunto and the Gothic bridges on the river Turia), study of damages in buildings of the cultural heritage (cases of the Cathedral of Valencia and the Church of San Jorge, in Paiporta), characterisation of archaeological locations (cases of the underground of the Cathedral of Valencia, Church of San Jorge and the Roman fortress and the convent in Alcántara). Some results and the best cases cases are synthesised in monographic cards. These cards present, in schematic form, all the information about the studied problem, the emplacement and the used tool. These cards will be very useful in the study of similar cases, and it is expected that they constitute the beginning of a catalogue of cases and solutions.

A compliant mechanism gains its motion from the deflection of flexible members or the deformation of one portion of materials with respect to other portions. Design and operation of compliant mechanisms are very important, as most of the natural objects are made of compliant materials mixed with rigid materials, such as the bird wings. The most serious problem with compliant mechanisms is their fatigue problem due to repeating deformation of materials in compliant mechanisms. This thesis presents a study on the computational framework for designing a compliant mechanism under fatigue strength control. The framework is based on the topology optimization technique especially ground structure approach (GSA) together with the Genetic Algorithm (GA) technique. The study presented in this thesis has led to the following conclusions: (1) It is feasible to incorporate fatigue strength control especially the stress-life method in the computational framework based on the GSA for designing compliant mechanisms and (2) The computer program can well implement the computational framework along with the general optimization model and the GA to solve the model. There are two main contributions resulting from this thesis: First one is provision of a computational model to design compliant mechanisms under fatigue strength control. This model also results in a minimum number of elements of the compliant mechanism in design, which means the least weight of mechanisms and least amount of materials. Second one is an experiment for the feasibility of implementing the model in the MATLAB environment which is widely used for engineering computation, which implies a wide applicability of the design system developed in this thesis.

This thesis condenses open public space on an urban site in order to create an animated environment for public use. Maximizing use of an open lot in Sao Paulo, Brazil, an elevated concrete plate layers the site into a covered plaza below with sport and recreation program above. By lifting a programmable ground surface above street level, the project maintains the ground plane as an extension of the urban surroundings. The underside of the elevated plate becomes a horizontal elevation, or sixth façade, which is the new public interface of the project. Essentially a double-sided surface that is formally manipulated, the elevated structure both defines and unifies the two zones, mediating between them while creating different conditions and atmospheres, each with their own potential to invite public activity.

Part of a cutover bog in Pokesudie Island, New Brunswick, Canada was contaminated with seawater and was still largely devoid of vegetation 5 years after the event and was consequently chosen for study. The study area consisted of rectangular fields with cambered surface that sloped down (2%) to the drainage ditches on both sides. Across this slope zones were created: Up-, Mid- and Low- areas on either side of the centerline of fields. Two field experiments were conducted to determine abiotic stresses to plant re-establishment in terms of hydrology and peat characteristics along this cambered surface. The general objective was to identify microsites or zones that could be suitable to the introduction of wetland halophytes <em>Juncus balticus</em> Willd. and <em>Spartina pectinata</em> Link obtained from nearby salt marshes. <br /><br /> In the first experiment, cylindrical <em>J. balticus</em> sods were transplanted into the Up- and Low- areas, at 1, 3, 5, 10 and 20 d of incubation (in May 2005) with measurements made on the Outer and Inner annular sod sections, replicated over 4 blocks. Moisture (% dry weight basis (dwb)) reached maximum values 1 day after transplantation, 84±0. 05 for Outer and 103±0. 07 for Inner sod section. Salinity (dS m^-1) in sods due to ingress of sodium (Na⁺ ) and chloride (Cl^-) reached values of the surrounding peat 3 days after transplantation, 3. 52±1. 06 for Inner sod section and 4. 11±0. 99 for Outer sod section in Up-areas, and 1. 76±0. 24 for Inner sod section and 2. 57±0. 28 for Outer sod section in Low-areas. Maximum decrease in pH was at 5 days after transplantation, in Outer sod section in the Up-areas (from 5. 89 to 4. 88±0. 14) which was much higher than the pH range of 3-4 of the surrounding peat. This was due to the buffering capacity of calcium (Ca²⁺) and magnesium (Mg²⁺) in sods which did not change in concentration after 20 days of incubation. Therefore, Inner sod sections were less affected by the surrounding peat compared to the Outer sod sections, suggesting that a larger sod volume may alleviate stressful conditions for a longer time at transplantation and consequently allow greater time for adaptation. <br /><br /> In the second experiment, <em>J. balticus</em> and <em>S. pectinata</em> were transplanted on the 3 Locations Up-, Mid- and Low- areas, replicated over 10 blocks; and peat characteristics were measured at Depths 0-5, 5-10, 10-15 and 15-20 cm 5 times during the study period May-August 2005. Survival of <em>J. balticus</em> was poorest (27. 5±8. 3 %) in the Low-areas compared to 68. 5±8. 9 % in the Up- and 58. 5±8. 7% in the Mid- areas. <em>S. pectinata</em> survival was very good at all Locations (89±5. 3, 91. 6±3. 1 and 84. 2±4. 4 for Up-, Mid- and Low- areas, respectively) having better adaptation to early season waterlogged conditions. Waterlogged conditions resulted from a perched water table during the early part of the growing season (May-June) and were alleviated only upon the complete thaw of the frozen peat layer on 8 July. Thereafter, important changes in hydrology and peat characteristics occurred: water table depths decreased from -8. 5±1. 7 and -1. 6±1. 2 cm on 26 May, to -51. 5±2. 5 and -40. 7±2. 4 cm by 9 August in Up- and Low-areas, respectively; redox potentials at 12 cm depth increased from 26 June (190. 9±8, 175±10. 8 and 109. 2±29. 4 mV) to 9 August (282. 8±8, 302. 8±14. 3 and 312. 3±29. 6 mV) in the Up-, Mid- and Low-areas, respectively which showed that anaerobic conditions were maintained throughout the study period; decreased moisture content from 1256. 8±61. 9, 1667. 4±126. 3 and 1728. 6±153 on 30 May, to 851. 7±21. 2, 874. 6±47 and 1008. 2±57. 5 % dwb on 25 July) which caused increased dry bulk density (from 0. 07±0. 002, 0. 06±0. 003 and 0. 07±0. 01 to 0. 09±0. 003, 0. 09±0. 005 and 0. 08±0. 004) in the Up-, Mid- and Low-areas, respectively; and increased electrical conductivity (salinity) especially on the 0-5cm surface (from 1. 9±0. 13, 1. 8±0. 31 and 1. 5±0. 29 to 18±1. 9, 17. 5±1. 1 and 12. 2±1 dS m^-1) which also caused decreased pH (from 3. 5±0. 04, 3. 5±0. 08 and 3. 6±0. 01 to 2. 85±0. 04, 2. 85±0. 01 and 2. 9±0. 03) in the Up-, Mid- and Low-areas, respectively. Therefore, spring flooding followed by high surface salinity in summer precludes plant establishment by seeding and explains the current lack of spontaneous revegetation. Waterlogged conditions were of greater magnitude and duration at lower elevation areas unfavourable to <em>J. balticus</em> survival but salinity levels were high in the Up- and Mid-areas. <br /><br /> In the subsequent part of the second experiment, plants of <em>J. balticus</em> and <em>S. pectinata</em> grown in the study area and those collected from marshes were divided into above- and below- ground parts and accumulation of salt ions in plant tissues were determined to understand the species' salt-tolerance mechanism, as well as the accumulation of potentially toxic levels of iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn). Both plant species had similar accumulations (mmol kg^-1 dry wt,) of Na⁺ (474. 3±41 and 468. 3±31. 7, respectively) and Cl^- (314. 9±21. 9 and 310. 5±27. 5, respectively) in the above-ground parts but differed in how they managed Na⁺. <em>J. balticus</em> accumulated more Na⁺ in below-ground parts (659. 3±88. 7) and had limited transport to the above-ground parts, while <em>S. pectinata</em> accumulated and excreted Na⁺ in the above-ground parts and had less accumulation in the below-ground parts (397. 4±25. 1). <em>S. pectinata</em> maintained (313. 1±23. 8 in marsh <em>vs. </em> 292. 4±26. 2 in bog) and <em>J. balticus</em> increased (84. 2±1. 2 in marsh <em>vs. </em> 531. 2±38. 6 in bog) K⁺-selectivity in the shoots, a key requirement for survival in saline conditions. Compared with their respective marsh plants, <em>S. pectinata</em> had more salinity-tolerance than <em>J. balticus</em> primarily through its maintenance of Ca²⁺ (21. 5±1. 7 in marsh <em>vs. </em> 35. 6±3. 8 in bog) compared to a decrease in <em>J. balticus</em> (144. 7±12. 5 in marsh <em>vs. </em> 41±3. 7 in bog). Furthermore, Fe and Mn uptake in both species decreased but reached critical Fe-deficiency levels (1. 1±0. 1 mmol kg^-1 dry wt,) only in <em>S. pectinata</em> grown in drier areas. <br /><br /> It is concluded that local conditions of waterlogging (especially in lower elevation areas) and high salinity and low pH (notably in the upper elevation areas) were favourable to the survival of <em>S. pectinata</em> in all areas and <em>J. balticus</em> only in upper elevation areas. Sod transplanting may alleviate the acidity problem and depending on sod volume may delay the effects of harsh conditions of the cutover bog. However, long-term survival and growth of both species in drier areas may be constrained by deficiency in calcium in <em>J. balticus</em> and iron in <em>S. pectinata</em>.

My Trip to Notan charts my own journey from the rawness and acceptance of multiple life losses into understanding, and finally, renewal. The key result of this project is a prototype book, a 48-page digital Print-On-Demand (POD) publication, which also includes a DVD that inserts into book’s back and features live demonstrations, interviews and other segments related to the book. Additionally, the body of work from which the book was gleaned was presented at the thesis exhibition. Ultimately, My Trip to Notan is a sketch of my understanding of the framework that threads through design, physics and philosophy, inspired by the simplicity of the ancient art of Notan, and upon my own fragmentary observations gathered from the journey. My hope was to reveal some sense of the pulse that drives the inquiry, rather than the suggestion of any sort of destination.