North Old Town in Alexandria, Virginia currently has two abandoned parcels, the 500 and 501 North Union Parcels. 500 Parcel is well under the planning stage to be rede- veloped into a new hotel. This leaves 501 Parcel as a perfect opportunity for a thesis project location. This site is relatively flat. It is located between Oronoco Bay Park and Founders Park with no safe way to walk or bike from one park to the other. The site breaks a contentious walking path along the Potomac River Waterfront. The 1960s the warehouse on the site was demolished last year down to the concrete slab which is currently fenced off from the public. The site also includes a large concrete dock, railroad spur, and three underground storage tanks. The site is screaming for help! The project's goals are to provide (1) a waterfront connection between the two parks, and (2) an educational experience about the plastic recycling program to local residents and youth groups. The design pushes local recycling solutions with a small production warehouse space. It promotes recycling plastic materials into construction materials like lumber and blocks. In this design, the building includes two main sections which are the production ware- house space and the civic educational space. The warehouse space receives recycled plastic materials that have been crushed into cubes by the baler at the recycling center. The major issue the US is dealing with is that plastics are sorted and crushed at the recycling centers, where they remain unused. No one is willing to buy crushed plastics to convert them into new products. The plastics are either contaminated from not being properly being cleaned or the cost to melt and mold the plastics is not profitable for resale. The warehouse space will turn the recycled plastics into new construction materials like lumber and blocks. The civic educational space will educate kids and adults about the plastic recycling process through experiences like exhibits tours, artwork, training and being part of the process. / Master of Architecture / Just north of Old Town Alexandria in Virginia, this vacant warehouse and pier property sits on the waterfront of the Potomac River. The property sits between Oronoco Bay Park and Founders Parks so it disrupts a continuous waterfront path ending into Old Town Alexandria. This thesis design, Tomorrow's Bottle, attempts to connect the two parks along the waterfront with an active public pier. The major issue the US is dealing with is that plastics are sorted and crushed at the recycling centers, where they remain unused. No one is willing to buy crushed plastics to convert them into new products. This thesis design includes two main programs which are the production warehouse space and the civic educational space. The warehouse space will turn the recycled plastics into new construction materials for local builders. The civic educational space will educate local residents and large youth groups about the plastic recycling process through experiences in the building.

Through a ramp circulation system connect each floor of the building and horizontally link inside and outside the gym with an urban environment. People experiencing continuing from in/out, enclose/opening, artificial/nature, green/gray, void/solid from beginning to "begin". / Master of Architecture

Lower-extremity amputees face numerous challenges when returning to daily activities. Amongst these challenges is the ability to safely and dynamically transition from one locomotor state to another. Switching between level-ground, ramp, and stair locomotion poses an increased risk as lower-extremity functionality is compromised. Powered prosthetics have been proposed as a solution to this problem. Hypothetically, powered prosthetics would be able to return full functional to the amputated limb. The most common and successful source of information used in algorithms for lower-extremity prosthetics has been electromyography. However, in practice, amputees remain unable to easily actuate the mechanized joints of powered prostheses. Therefore, the current project aimed to identify myoelectric activation differences in lower-extremity musculature during the gait cycles preceding locomotor transition in able-bodied, trans-tibial, and trans-femoral subjects to assist efforts in developing robust classification algorithms for locomotor transitions. Analysis of electromyography was completed to determine if there were periods of activation where classification algorithms could utilize differences in myoelectric activation to appropriately control joint actuation in a subset of eight transitions that included level-ground locomotion and switching to either ramp or stair locomotion and vice versa. Ramp transitions were fundamentally similar to level-ground locomotion and elicited no differences in myoelectric activation. Stair transitions were found to alter muscle activation patterns in able-body and trans-tibial subjects. Trans-femoral subjects differentiated from able-bodied and trans-tibial subjects due to increased recruitment pattern variability. These patterns are distinct and may suggest individual learning patterns within the trans-femoral amputee population. Further investigation of these patterns may be warranted. Findings within able-bodied and trans-tibial subjects suggest common transition based differences within each respective population. Trans-tibial classification algorithms may be developed to utilize this information, using schemes that are focused on important areas during the gait cycle.

When photographed at night these spaces float between necessity and abandonment; reminding us that all we have built could very easily be taken away leaving us with these quiet relics of a time that use to be, but no longer is. In a not-so-distant future these ramps stand as monumental representations of what is to come, soon to exist as monuments to the past. These will be the relics we leave behind, totems of an automotive culture.

Actualmente, existe un incremento vehicular en Lima Metropolitana que perjudica la eficacia de las vías de comunicación terrestres. Por tal motivo, el presente tema de investigación tiene como finalidad reducir el grado de saturación en las intersecciones urbanas de la Av. Angamos Este con Av. Aviación, Av. Tomás Marsano y Av. República de Panamá ubicadas en Lima Metropolitana a través de la metodología Ramp Metering que considera desarrollar el algoritmo ALINEA. En primera instancia, se describió la situación actual de los cruces viales previamente mencionados, a partir del reconocimiento en campo. Posteriormente, se recopilaron los tiempos de verde efectivo vehicular y el ciclo semafórico peatonal. De igual manera, se contabilizó presencialmente el flujo de automóviles durante 13 horas continuas y el número de transeúntes en las intersecciones durante el mismo periodo. Subsiguientemente, se evaluaron las condiciones de circulación existente, donde el principal objetivo es determinar el grado de saturación por medio de flujogramas que permiten una mejor visualización del estado actual. Luego de lo mencionado, se empleó la estrategia ALINEA para diseñar una propuesta de mejora a partir los tiempos de verde efectivo calculados el algoritmo mencionado. Siguiendo con el procedimiento, se evaluó el diseño con el software PTV VISSIM 9.0, un programa de micro simulación acorde con los lineamientos planteados del proyecto, con la finalidad de verificar si existe una mejora relacionada al grado de saturación. Por último, se compararon las dos situaciones previstas, calculando el parámetro indicado con el programa VISSIM. / Currently, there is an exponential growth in the number of vehicles in Metropolitan Lima that harms the efficiency of the vehicle flow on the roads and highways of this city. For this reason, the present research topic aims to reduce the degree of saturation at the urban intersections of Av. Angamos Este with Av. Aviación, Av. Tomás Marsano and Av. República de Panamá located in Metropolitan Lima through the methodology of Ramp Metering that considers developing the ALINEA algorithm. In the first instance, the current situation of the previously mentioned crosses was described based on the recognition carried out in the field. Subsequently, the effective vehicular green times and the pedestrian traffic light cycle will be collected. In the same way, the traffic flow was collected for 13 consecutive hours and the number of passers-by at the intersections during the same period. Subsequently, the existing circulation conditions were evaluated, where the main objective is to determine the degree of saturation throughout flow charts that allow a better visualization of the current state. After the aforementioned, ALINEA strategy was used to design a proposal that improves the vehicle flow of the intersections based on the effective green times calculated by the algorithm mentioned. Following the procedure, the design is evaluated with the PTV VISSIM 9.0 software, a micro simulation program in accordance with the guidelines outlined in the project, with the purpose of verifying if there is an improvement related to the degree of saturation. Finally, the two situations foreseen were compared, calculating the indicated parameter with the arithmetic process of the micro simulator VISSIM. / Tesis

Over the past ten years, the ramp, a traditional Appalachian food, has invaded elite culinary circles outside its native culinary region of Appalachia. Ramps (Allium tricoccum) are wild leeks traditionally foraged for in the spring, and are known for their pungent smell. This unique vegetable is traditionally celebrated in Appalachia through dinners and festivals that have been widely attended by members of the community and recently, outsiders. Similarly, outside the region, the ramp has been featured on fine dining menus and has been sold in farmer's markets and grocery stores for the first time across the country. This study aims to understand not only this recent popularity, but why the ramp has emerged as representative of traditional Appalachian culture. Qualitative interviews with experts in the ramp industry, patrons of ramp festivals, and those outside of Appalachia yet involved with ramps were conducted. Participant observation at ramp festivals and analysis of questions posted on a ramp-based Facebook page corroborate our interview data set. Analysis of these data has uncovered the impact sense of place and rootedness in the Appalachian mountains has on identity creation through festival performance. / Master of Science

Intense competitive pressures have led to compressed product life cycles and frequent introduction of new products. This creates demand volatility and a consequent pressure on manufacturing to meet this variable demand. In this paper we model the manpower planning issues for a computer manufacturer during the product introduction phase when a quick ramp-up of production to meet rapidly increasing demand is a key requirement. A mix of permanent and contingent workers with different skill sets is considered. Some important issues addressed in this research are (a) how to assign workers with different skills to maximize production (b) what is the induction rate of contingent workers to achieve the desired ramp-up and (c) what are the key decision factors that impact manufacturing performance An LP model is proposed to minimize overall costs subject to complex scheduling, skills, and learning rate requirements. Our analysis indicates that cost of induction of contingent workers, overtime cost premium, and the amount of overtime have significant impact on performance. The findings of the study will be useful to managers in planning and allocation of workers of different skills to various manufacturing processes and to determine the optimal number of contingent workers to induct. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Diamond interchanges and their associated ramps are where the surface street arterial system and the freeway system interface. Historically, these two elements of the system have been operated with little or no coordination between the two. Therefore, there is a lack of both analysis tools and operational strategies for considering them as an integrated system. One drawback of operating the ramp-metering system and the diamond interchange system in isolation is that traffic from the ramp, particularly if it is metered, can spill back into the diamond interchange, causing both congestion and safety concerns at the diamond interchange. While flushing the ramp queues by temporarily suspending ramp metering has been the primary strategy for preventing queue spillback, it can result in freeway system breakdown, which would affect the entire system's efficiency. The aim of this research was to develop operational strategies for managing an integrated diamond interchange ramp-metering system (IDIRMS). Enhanced modeling methodologies were developed for an IDIRMS. A computer model named DRIVE (Diamond Interchange and Ramp Metering Integration Via Evaluation) was developed, which was characterized as a mesoscopic simulation and analysis model. DRIVE incorporated the enhanced modeling methodologies developed in this study and could be used to perform system analysis for an IDIRMS given a set of system input parameters and variables. DRIVE was validated against a VISSIM microscopic simulation model, and general agreement was found between the two models. System operational characteristics were investigated using DRIVE to gain a better understanding of the system features. Integrated control strategies (ICS) were developed based on the two commonly used diamond interchange phasing schemes, basic three-phase and TTI four-phase. The ICS were evaluated using VISSIM microscopic simulation under three general traffic demand scenarios: low, medium, and high, as characterized by the volume-to-capacity ratios at the metered ramps. The results of the evaluation indicate that the integrated operations through an adaptive signal control system were most effective under the medium traffic demand scenario by preventing or delaying the onset of ramp-metering queue flush, thereby minimizing freeway breakdown and system delays.

Production ramp up corresponds to « the period between the end of the production development and the full capacity utilization ». The manufacturing process often does not work perfectly during this early time of the new product production and some adjustments are necessary to obtain full capacity utilization. In order to assess the assembly process during this period, the train manufacturer Bombardier Transportation has created an improvement process called “VPI” (which stands for “Validation du Processus Industriel” or “Validation of the manufacturing process” in English). Its purpose is to “validate the material and the documentation for every movement independently” in order to ensure quality of final product and safety of the workers. It aims at detecting and solving rapidly safety problems and deviation from the normal process. This thesis is a case study of VPI during MI09 contract (new trains for ¨Paris subway). It aims at assessing VPI framework and identifies possible causes of the delay in validation of MI09 production process. Four main MI09 production line specificities have been identified: long assembly time, low production volume, system complexity and process variability. VPI framework meets partially these production line prerequisites. VPI is a process that allows systematizing problems detection, formalizing the improvement process and managing a high number of problems with a clear view of the VPI validation. The most important drawbacks of the VPI seem to be the lack of problems detection after the initial observation, problem definition framework and root cause analysis. Four reasons could explain the delays during the realization of VPI on MI09 contract: undetected problems, normal treatment timeframe for the improvements, inadequate objectives and lack of framework to select the best solution to solve problems. VPI may be improved by including root cause analysis, better problem definition and knowledge management between contracts. However, these methods are time consuming and a prioritization of the problem should be made. FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) methodology may help to identify the problem on which the VPI should focus on.

Diamond interchanges and their associated ramps are where the surface street arterial system and the freeway system interface. Historically, these two elements of the system have been operated with little or no coordination between the two. Therefore, there is a lack of both analysis tools and operational strategies for considering them as an integrated system. One drawback of operating the ramp-metering system and the diamond interchange system in isolation is that traffic from the ramp, particularly if it is metered, can spill back into the diamond interchange, causing both congestion and safety concerns at the diamond interchange. While flushing the ramp queues by temporarily suspending ramp metering has been the primary strategy for preventing queue spillback, it can result in freeway system breakdown, which would affect the entire system's efficiency. The aim of this research was to develop operational strategies for managing an integrated diamond interchange ramp-metering system (IDIRMS). Enhanced modeling methodologies were developed for an IDIRMS. A computer model named DRIVE (Diamond Interchange and Ramp Metering Integration Via Evaluation) was developed, which was characterized as a mesoscopic simulation and analysis model. DRIVE incorporated the enhanced modeling methodologies developed in this study and could be used to perform system analysis for an IDIRMS given a set of system input parameters and variables. DRIVE was validated against a VISSIM microscopic simulation model, and general agreement was found between the two models. System operational characteristics were investigated using DRIVE to gain a better understanding of the system features. Integrated control strategies (ICS) were developed based on the two commonly used diamond interchange phasing schemes, basic three-phase and TTI four-phase. The ICS were evaluated using VISSIM microscopic simulation under three general traffic demand scenarios: low, medium, and high, as characterized by the volume-to-capacity ratios at the metered ramps. The results of the evaluation indicate that the integrated operations through an adaptive signal control system were most effective under the medium traffic demand scenario by preventing or delaying the onset of ramp-metering queue flush, thereby minimizing freeway breakdown and system delays.