The thesis contains two essays on the economic impacts of high-speed railway (HSR) in China. Utilizing a unique data set of towns in Dongguan, a city in South China, it provides empirical evidence on whether HSR affects economic growth and efficiency or not. The first essay uses the generalized method of moments (GMM) to estimate a dynamic panel data model of the town economies. The empirical results suggest that both HSR and expressway have a positive impact on the general economic development of the towns. However, HSR does not have a significant effect on the development of the manufacturing sector, while expressway does in this regard. These findings lend indirect support to the common argument that HSR can benefit the tertiary sector, but not necessarily other sectors. The second essay investigates the relationship between the advent of HSR and productive efficiency of the manufacturing sector. Using a stochastic frontier approach, it provides empirical evidence that proximity to expressway, rather than to HSR, enhances the efficiency of industrial enterprises.

Cavitation is the formation of vapour filled bubbles in a liquid. They can be generated either by the reduction of the ambient water pressure at constant temperature or by a temperature increase at constant pressure. In the results of the experiments presented in this work a range of different diameter cavitation bubbles were generated by focusing pulses of near IR radiation (le = 1064 nm) from a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser of varying energy in a small water tank. Single exposure high speed shadow photography and Schlieren techniques are used to visualise the oscillating motion of the cavitation bubbles with high temporal and spatial resolution. The optical analysis of the cavitation bubble in free water shows a smooth symmetrical oscillating motion during the first cycle. When the bubble is collapsing near a solid boundary the motion becomes asymmetrical. The Schlieren images in combination with matching plots of a thin film polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) pressure transducer confirm the formation of a liquid jet as well as different shock wave emissions for certain bubble to boundary parameters. They also indicate the importance of the resulting fluid flow to stresses induced in the solid boundary. In an attempt to visualise the fluid flow field around an oscillating cavitation bubble the IR laser radiation is focused in a solution of copper sulphate (CUS04) for contrast enhancement. High speed photography in combination with an accurately positioned Schlieren knife edge displays the heated path of the laser beam and the different shapes of the cavitation bubble. For the case of a bubble in free space the marked laser path indicates radial fluid flow only. For a bubble in front of a solid boundary the marked laser path clearly shows the motion of the fluid into the toroidal shaped bubble during the collapse process. For this case the marked paths are similar to numerically calculated streamline plots. In contrast to the solid boundary a flexible boundary was also used. The interaction of the cavitation bubble with the flexible boundary visualises partially the movement of the water but is found to still destroy some of the symmetry of the bubble.

Master of Science / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering / Anil Pahwa / Electricity generation capacity from different renewable sources has been significantly growing worldwide in recent years, specially wind power. Fast dispatch of wind power provides flexibility for spinning reserve. However, wind is intermittent in nature. Thus, stable grid operations and energy management are becoming more challenging with the increasing penetration of wind in power systems. Efficient forecast methods can help the scenario. Many wind forecast models have been developed over the years. Highly effective models with the combination of numerical weather prediction and statistical models also exist at present. This study intends to develop a model to forecast hourly wind speed using an artificial neural network (ANN) approach for effective and fast operation with minimum data. The procedure is outlined in this work and the performance of the ANN model is compared with the persistence forecast model.

Master of Science / Department of Civil Engineering / Sunanda Dissanayake / In the United States, the mileage of unpaved roads is about 1.6 million miles. Total length of unpaved roads in Kansas is about 98,000 miles, of which about 78,000 miles are gravel roads. Most of the gravel roads are not posted with speed limit signs but regulated with a 55 mph blanket speed limit established by the Kansas Statutes. Surface conditions of gravel roads are very likely to change with time, space, and quality of maintenance work, making it even more necessary to have proper control of speeds on gravel roads. Normally used speed regulations and rules for freeways or other types of paved roadways might not be appropriate for gravel roads, especially for those local gravel roads which usually carry very low traffic in rural areas. Based on an extensive literature search, there was no specific rule or references to provide guidelines on how speed limits on gravel roads could be set. Therefore, an effort was made in this study to evaluate the effects of currently posted lower speed limits in some counties in Kansas, based on traffic characteristics and safety on gravel roads, with the intention of providing proper guidelines for setting speed limits on gravel roads in Kansas. In order to study traffic characteristics on gravel roads, field speed studies were conducted with automatic traffic counters on more than forty gravel road sections in seven counties in Kansas. Important speed measures, such as 85th-percentile speed and mean speed, were obtained from the raw data. A group of other related road characteristics were also recorded at the time of field data collection. Crash data on gravel roads were extracted from the Kansas Accident Recording System (KARS) database. Speed analysis on a number of gravel roads where the statutory imposed, unposted speed limit of 55 mph was utilized indicated that they are functioning at a reasonably acceptable level in terms of actual speeds. In order to evaluate whether there were differences in traffic speeds between two counties or groups which have different speed limit settings on gravel roads, t-test was used. The analysis found that there was no significant difference between the mean speeds in two counties, one of which has 35 mph posted speed limit on gravel roads while the other does not post any speed limits. Moreover, the mean speed on the sections with 35 mph posted speed was a little higher than that on gravel roads without any speed limits. Linear models to predict 85th-percentile speed and mean speed on gravel roads were developed based on speed data. Both models indicated that traffic speeds are not significantly affected by the speed limit, but are related with 90% confidence to road width, surface classification and percentage of large vehicles in traffic. Chi-square tests were conducted with the crash data, and the results indicated that the posted 35 mph speed limit on gravel roads had not resulted in either smaller total number of crashes or decreased proportion of severe crashes, compared to gravel roads where no speed limits were posted. Logistic regression models were also developed on four levels of crash severity, which indicated that gravel roads with higher speed limits are likely to experience higher probability of having injury crashes. Two mail-back surveys were also conducted to gather the opinions of county engineers and road users on the subject of suitable speed limits on gravel roads. The majority of county engineers believed that blanket speed limit should be used for gravel roads and does not need to be posted. Three restrictions: changeful road conditions, unpractical law enforcement, and limited funds, are basic reasons why they do not think that gravel roads should be posted. Besides that, a few respondents said 55 mph is too high for gravel roads and needs to be lowered. Majority of the road users suggested that all gravel roads be posted with lower speed limit signs. However, they were more concerned about law enforcement since they believe that posted speeds won't bring any benefits if no law enforcement patrol gravel roads. Based on all aspects looked into in this study, it does not appear that reducing the speed limits and posting it with signs, is going to improve either traffic operational or safety characteristics on gravel roads in Kansas, and therefore is not recommended for new situations.

M.Ing. / This dissertation documents the stages involved in determining the parameters that define surface integrity. Chapter one gives a basic introduction to the project; the problem statement; scope of work and project obstacles. This chapter laid down the requirements for the literature study in Chapters two and three. The literature study discusses machining, high-speed machining, titanium alloys and high speed machining of titanium alloys. Information from the literature study was used to determine the experimental program presented in Chapter 4. Two materials were investigated in this study: grade 2 titanium (commercially pure) and grade 5 titanium (an alloy containing 6% Aluminium and 4% Vanadium). A fixed feed rate of 0.25mm/rev was selected. Two depths of cut were used: 0.2mm and 1mm. Cuts were performed both lubricated and un-lubricated. Different cutting speeds were used both inside and outside recommended ranges. Surface roughness tests, optical microscopy, scanning-electron microscopy, microhardness tests and x-ray diffraction were used in the experimental program. Results obtained presented trends seen in previous work on surface integrity. Efforts were made to reduce errors in obtaining and examining data. Conclusions were drawn with regards to each surface integrity parameter tested for. It was found that different cutting speeds affect each surface integrity parameter differently.

High speed cornering of an off-road vehicle poses considerable challenges to the development of an autonomous vehicle due to the non-linear dynamics of the tyre road interface as well as those of the vehicle as a whole during high lateral accelerations. Most driver models are developed for low speed applications using linear control methods under the assumption of linear vehicle dy- namics. The dynamics of a vehicle however become highly non-linear as the lateral acceleration increases, thus rendering these linear models unusable during high speed manoeuvres. In this study, two robust driver models for use in an autonomous vehicle capable of path following at both low and high speeds are presented. Both models make use of the relationship between the yaw acceleration and steering rate to control the yaw angle of the vehicle. The first driver model is derived from the simulation of a full non-linear vehicle model in ADAMS. The Magic Tyre Formula is used to model the relationship between the vehicle's yaw acceleration and steer rate as a function of vehicle speed. The second driver model is a mathematical model which incorporates a form of sliding control. The model includes the lateral tyre dynamics as modelled by the Pacejka '89 tyre model. Both driver models are coupled with a gain scheduling proportional derivative controller to reduce the cross-track error. The two driver models were implemented on a Land Rover Defender and experimentally validated by performing a double lane change manoeuvre at speeds up to 80km/h. The vehicle remained stable even though the lateral accelerations experienced were 80% of the vehicle limits. The result is a robust controller capable of path following at various speeds and at high lateral accelerations. Copyright / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / Unrestricted

This thesis explores the use of active inductors as a compact alternative to the bulky passive spiral structures in high-speed I/O circuits. A newly proposed PMOS-based topology is introduced and used in active-inductor terminations. The 1st prototype design fabricated in a 90-nm CMOS process consists of an output driver using active-inductor terminations to provide channel equalization and output impedance matching. From measurement results, the use of active inductors in the termination, as compared to when the active inductor is disabled, increases the vertical eye opening in the receiver side by a factor of two and reduces the jitterp-p by 30% of the transmitted 10 Gb/s (2³¹-1) pseudo-random binary sequence pattern, over a 6-inch FR4 channel. An output impedance matching with S₂₂ less than -10 dB over a bandwidth of 20 GHz is achieved. The pair of active-inductor terminations occupies 17×25 µm² and has a low overhead power consumption of 0.8 mW. In the 2nd prototype design, a 4-stage output buffer with active-inductor loads is designed and implemented in a 65-nm CMOS process. Simulation results verify that when operating at 31.25 Gb/s, the output eye of the active-inductor load buffer compares favorably with that of the passive-inductor load buffer. For a similar eye-height and 78% less timing jitter the active-inductor load design’s speed (31.25 Gb/s) is 25% faster than the passive-resistor load design (25 Gb/s). The active-inductor load output buffer achieves comparable performance in terms of speed, power, and output swing with other reported designs using passive inductors. Its total area is 135×30 µm² (including three differential active inductors) which is comparable to the size of a single passive spiral inductor having a 0.5~1 nH inductance. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of / Graduate

In this study we conduct wind resource assessment to evaluate the annual energy production of a wind turbine. To estimate energy production of a wind turbine over a period of time, the power characteristics of the wind turbine are integrated with the probabilities of the wind speed expected at a chosen site. The first data set was obtained from a wind farm in Denmark. We propose several probability density functions to model the distribution of the wind speed. We use techniques from nonlinear regression analysis to model the power curve of a wind turbine. The best fit distribution model is assessed by performing numeric goodness–of–fit measures and graphical analyses. Johnson’s bounded (SB) distribution provides the best fit model with the smallest Kolmogorov–Smirnov (K-S) test statistic . 15. The four parameter logistic nonlinear regression (4PL) model is determined to provide the best fit to the power curve data, according to the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC). The estimated annual energy yield is compared to the actual production of the wind turbine. Our models underestimate the actual energy production by a 1 difference. In Chapter Six we conduct data processing, analyses and comparison of wind speed distributions using a data set obtained from a measuring wind mast mounted in Humansdorp, Eastern Cape. The expected annual energy production is estimated by using the certified power curve as provided by the manufacturer of the wind turbine under study. The commonly used Weibull distribution is determined to provide the best fit distribution model to our selected models. The annual energy yield is estimated at 7.33 GWh, with a capacity factor of 41.8 percent.

We consider integrodifference equations (IDEs), which are of the form N_{t+1}(x) = \int K(x-y)F(N_t(y))dy, where K is a probability distribution and F is a growth function. It is already known that for monotone growth functions, solutions of the IDE will have spreading speeds and are sometimes in the form of travelling waves. We are interested in the case where F has a stable 2-point cycle, namely for the Ricker function and the logistic function [May, 1975]. It was claimed in [Kot, 1992] that the solution of this IDE alternates between two profiles, all the while moving with a certain speed. However, simulations revealed that not only do the profiles alternate, but the solution is a succession of two travelling objects with different speeds. Using the theory from [Weinberger, 1982], we can prove the existence of two speeds and establish their theoretical formulas. To explain the succession of travelling objects, we relate to the concept of dynamical stabilization [Malchow, 2002].

Variable speed limit (VSL) systems are important active traffic management tools that are being deployed across the U.S. and indeed around the world for relieving congestion and improving safety. Oregon’s first variable advisory speed limit signs were activated along Oregon Highway 217 in the summer of 2014. The variable advisory speed system is responsive to both congestion and weather conditions. This seven-mile corridor stretches around Western Portland and has suffered from high crash rates and peak period congestion in the past. VSL systems are often deployed to address safety, mobility and sustainability related performance. This research seeks to determine whether the newly implemented variable advisory speed limit system has had measurable impacts on traffic safety and what the scale of the impact has been. The research utilizes a before-after crash analysis with three years of data prior to implementation and around 16 months after. Statistical analysis using an Empirical Bayes (EB) approach will aim to separate the direct impacts of the variable advisory speed limit signs from the long term trends on the highway. In addition, the analysis corrects for the changes in traffic volumes over the study period. Three data sources will be utilized including Washington County 911 call data, Oregon incident reports, and official Oregon Department of Transportation crash data reports. The analysis results are compared between data sources to determine the reliability of 911 call data as a proxy for crash statistics. The conclusions should be able to provide an indication of whether variable advisory speed limits can provide increased safety along high crash corridors.