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Pages
- Title
- Aqua Hawk
- Date
- 1977
- Description
-
Aqua Hawk documents the creation of a concrete canoe by Civil Engineering students at Illinois Institute of Technology for a race sponsored by...
Show moreAqua Hawk documents the creation of a concrete canoe by Civil Engineering students at Illinois Institute of Technology for a race sponsored by the American Concrete Institute. The film shows the different stages of the construction of the canoe, named the Aqua Hawk, and its eventual competition at a regional race held near Champaign, Illinois on April 24, 1976. Directed by Illinois Tech student Keith Keller, the film was narrated by Institute of Design instructor Charles Dee Sharp.
Show less - Collection
- Office of Marketing and Communications films, 1958-1988
- Title
- My IIT
- Date
- 2024
- Description
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Master's Project focused on developing a user-friendly mobile application for Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).
- Title
- Adaptive Learning Approach of a Domain-Aware CNN-Based Model Observer
- Creator
- Bogdanovic, Nebojsa
- Date
- 2023
- Description
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Application of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for performing defect detection tasks and their use as model observers (MO) has become...
Show moreApplication of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for performing defect detection tasks and their use as model observers (MO) has become increasingly popular in the medical imaging field. Building upon this use of CNN MOs, we have trained the CNNs to discern between the data it was trained on, and the previously unseen images. We termed this ability domain awareness. To achieve domain awareness, we are simultaneously training a new variation of U-Net CNN to perform defect detection task, as well as to reconstruct a noisy input image. We have shown that the values of the reconstruction mean squared error can be used as a good indicator of how well the algorithm performs in the defect localization task, making a big step towards developing a domain aware CNN MO. Additionally, we have proposed an adaptive learning approach for training these algorithms, and compared them to the non-adaptive learning approach. The main results that we achieved were for the ideal observers, but we also extended these results to human observer data. We have compared different architectures of CNNs with different numbers and sizes of layers, as well as introduced data augmentation to further improve upon our results. Finally, our results show that the proposed adaptive learning approach with introduced data augmentation drastically improves upon the results of a non-adaptive approach in both human and ideal observer cases.
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- Title
- Examination of Listeria monocytogenes survival in refrigerated chopped hard-boiled eggs and deli salads containing this ingredient
- Creator
- Marathe, Aishwarya Nagesh
- Date
- 2024
- Description
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Peeled hard-boiled eggs (HBEs) are widely favored by both consumers and food services due to their convenience. These HBEs are often chopped...
Show morePeeled hard-boiled eggs (HBEs) are widely favored by both consumers and food services due to their convenience. These HBEs are often chopped and incorporated into various dishes such as deli salads. However, recent recalls of hard-boiled eggs have brought attention to the risk of contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. Prepared HBEs are typically subjected to antibacterial treatment to maintain product safety and quality. Citric acid is a common antibacterial used in the food industry to treat the HBEs. Previous research has determined that 2% citric acid treatment is effective against L. monocytogenes on whole HBEs. This study examined the efficacy of citric acid on the reduction of L. monocytogenes on chopped HBEs and in deli salads containing chopped HBEs. HBEs were treated with 2% citric acid or water (untreated) by submersion for 24 h at 5°C. HBEs were dried for 10 min, inoculated with a 4-strain cocktail of rifampicin-resistant L. monocytogenes, at 1 (low-level inoculation) or 4 log CFU/HBE (high level-inoculation), and allowed to dry for 10 min. Low-level inoculated HBEs were chopped and stored at 5, 10, or 15°C for 28 d. High-level inoculated HBEs were chopped and stored at 5, 10, and 25°C for 14 d. Low-level inoculated HBEs were also chopped and incorporated into potato, tuna, chicken, or macaroni salad at a 1:6 ratio (HBE to other ingredients), or into egg salad at a 7:1 ratio. Salads were stored at 5, 10, or 15°C for 28 d. The presence of L. monocytogenes was determined at intervals during storage by enrichment with BLEB and/or enumerated on BHIArif throughout storage. Triplicate samples were assessed for each time point, and three independent trials were conducted. Data was analyzed by Student’s T-test, ANOVA, and Fisher’s exact test, p≤0.05. For low-level inoculated chopped HBEs, the L. monocytogenes population was significantly higher in untreated chopped HBEs (1.86±0.33 log CFU/g) as compared to treated chopped HBEs (1.47±0.27 log CFU/g) on day 14 at 15°C. On both untreated and treated chopped HBEs, there was no significant difference in the population of L. monocytogenes up to 7 d. However, from 14 d, there was a significant increase in the growth of L. monocytogenes (1.86±0.33 to 2.18±0.35 log CFU/g on untreated chopped HBEs and 1.47±0.27 to 1.94±0.47 log CFU/g for treated, respectively). For high-level inoculated HBEs, a higher L. monocytogenes growth rate was observed on untreated chopped HBEs as compared to treated chopped HBEs at 10 and 25°C. It was observed that treated chopped HBEs at 5°C took the longest to reach 1 log CFU/g increase in the L. monocytogenes population (50 d) whereas, untreated chopped HBEs at 25°C took the shortest (0.22 d). Untreated chopped HBEs showed a significantly higher population of L. monocytogenes as compared to treated chopped HBEs on 14 d at all storage temperatures. In deli salads containing chopped HBEs, potato salad showed the highest growth of L. monocytogenes after 14 d, followed by macaroni, egg, chicken, and tuna salad. The population of L. monocytogenes was the lowest in tuna salad. L. monocytogenes was present throughout the storage period at all storage temperatures. It was observed that 2% citric acid is more efficient in controlling the growth of L. monocytogenes in chopped HBEs as compared to when those HBEs are incorporated into deli salads. The findings contribute to the formulation of preventive measures and standards aimed at guaranteeing the safety of HBEs.
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- Title
- Resolvent analysis of turbulent flows: Extensions, improvements and applications
- Creator
- Lopez-Doriga Costales, Barbara
- Date
- 2024
- Description
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This thesis presents several advances in both physics-based and data-driven modeling of turbulent fluid flows. In particular, the present...
Show moreThis thesis presents several advances in both physics-based and data-driven modeling of turbulent fluid flows. In particular, the present thesis focuses on resolvent analysis, a physics-based framework that identifies the coherent structures that are most amplified by the Navier-Stokes equations when they are linearized about a known turbulent mean flow via a singular value decomposition (SVD) of a discretized operator. This method has proven to effectively capture energetically-relevant features observed in various flows. However, it has some shortcomings that the present work intends to alleviate. First, the original formulation of resolvent analysis is restricted to statistically-stationary or time-periodic mean flows. To expand the applicability of this framework, this thesis presents a spatiotemporal variant of resolvent analysis that is able to account for time-varying systems. Moreover, sparsity (which manifests in localization) is also incorporated to the analysis through the addition of an l1-norm penalization term to the optimization associated with the SVD. This allows for the identification of energetically-relevant coherent structures that correspond to spatio-temporally localized amplification mechanisms, for flows with either a time-varying or stationary mean. The high computational cost associated with the discretization and analysis of a large discretized of the mean-linearized Navier-Stokes operator represents the second drawback of resolvent analysis. As a second contribution, this thesis provides an analytic form of resolvent analysis for planar flows based on wavepacket pseudomode theory, avoiding the numerical computations required in the original framework. The third contribution focuses on the characterization of the energetically-dominant coherent structures that arise in turbulent flow traveling through straight ducts with square and rectangular cross-sections. First, resolvent analysis is applied to predict the coherent structures that arise in this flow, and to study the sensitivity of this methodology to the secondary mean flow components that display a distinct pattern near the duct corners. Next, a data-driven causality analysis is performed to understand the physical mechanisms involved in the evolution of coherent structures near the duct corners. To do this, a nonlinear Granger causality analysis method is developed and applied to proper orthogonal decomposition coefficients of direct numerical simulation data, revealing that the structures associated with the secondary velocity components are behind the formation and translation of the near-wall and near-corner streamwise structures. A general discussion and future prospects are discussed at the end of this thesis.
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- Title
- Resolvent Analysis of Turbulent Flow over Compliant Surfaces: Optimization Methods and Stability Considerations.
- Creator
- Lapanderie, Kilian Pierre Lucien
- Date
- 2024
- Description
-
This thesis delves into the manipulation of turbulence properties through innovative compliant surface designs. Turbulence, known for its...
Show moreThis thesis delves into the manipulation of turbulence properties through innovative compliant surface designs. Turbulence, known for its unpredictable fluid movements, presents substantial challenges across engineering disciplines, particularly in optimizing system efficiency and minimizing energy losses. This research explores the potential of compliant surfaces to control and mitigate the adverse effects of turbulent flow, thereby enhancing the performance and reliability of engineering systems.Employing the resolvent analysis method, this work investigates the interaction between turbulent flows and surfaces capable of dynamic adaptation. The study evaluates the impact of these surfaces on turbulence suppression through the application of both space-dependent and independent compliance models, where the compliance model is characterised by an admittance, which represents the relationship between the instantaneous surface pressure and surface velocity. This approach allows for a nuanced understanding of how different surface properties can influence the behavior of turbulent flows.A significant contribution of this thesis is the comprehensive stability analysis conducted to assess the implications of compliant surfaces on the linear stability of the dynamical system. By examining the eigenvalues of the mean-linearized system, the research identifies the conditions under which compliant surfaces may induce or mitigate instabilities within turbulent flows. This analysis is pivotal in developing compliant surface designs that not only reduce turbulence-induced energy losses but also ensure the stability of the flow, a critical consideration for practical engineering applications.The findings of this thesis offer valuable insights into the role of surface compliance in turbulence control, paving the way for further research and the development of advanced engineering solutions. Through a detailed investigation of the interactions between compliant surfaces and turbulent flows, this work contributes to the broader field of fluid dynamics and underscores the potential of innovative surface designs in achieving more efficient and sustainable engineering systems.
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- Title
- Health and Well-Being Benefits of Different Types of Urban Green Spaces (UGS): A Cross-Sectional Study of Communities in Chicago, U.S.
- Creator
- Kang, Liwen
- Date
- 2023
- Description
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There are three main interrelated areas of focus in this doctoral research related tourban green spaces (UGS): general well-being, mental and...
Show moreThere are three main interrelated areas of focus in this doctoral research related tourban green spaces (UGS): general well-being, mental and physical health. In this study, these three different health aspects were analyzed separately. The data of these three health outcomes were collected from the Healthy Chicago Survey (HCS), an annual telephone survey that interviewed adults in Chicago, U.S., based on the randomly selected addresses.Urban green spaces have been associated with better health and well-being. Theyprovide sites for physical activity, buffer air and noise pollution, and alleviate thermal discomfort. Urban green spaces also promote social interaction and increase social cohesion. However, research is limited on the health benefits of different types of UGS exposure. This research aimed to reveal the associations between the provision of different UGS types and urban residents’ general, mental, and physical health in Chicago, the third-largest city in the U.S.Urban green spaces data were collected from the National Land Cover Database(NLCD), the Meter-Scale Urban Land Cover (MULC), and the Chicago Park District (CPD). Different types of UGS were obtained, namely 1) the percent tree canopy cover (TCC) from the first database; 2) the percentage of trees and the percentage of grass from the second database; and 3) the number of parks, park areas, percentage of park areas from the third database. Using hierarchical and logistic regression models that controlled for a range of confounding factors (age, gender, race, education level, employment status, and poverty level), this study assessed which type of UGS affects general well-being, mental health, and physical health, respectively. The results indicated that increased park area was significantly associated with better perceived general health; higher percent of TCC was significantly associated with a lower level of psychological distress (PD); and increased percentage of park areas and increased number of parks were associated with lower odds of being obese. Two micro-scaled on-site observations were conducted in the Avalon Park community and the Loop community to analyze some other UGS characteristics besides quantity and availability. Other characteristics of UGS, such as quality of facilities, attractiveness, and maintenance, are suggested to be taken into consideration for future studies. The study highlights that different UGS types have various impacts on general, mental, and physical health of urban residents. By providing scientific evidence, this study may help policymakers, urban planners, landscape architects, and other related professionals to make informed decisions on maximizing the health benefits of UGS and to achieve social equity. The findings of this study may be applied to other metropolitan cities.
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- Title
- Utility of a Low-Coverage Genome Assembly for Discovery of Genes Associated with Pyrethroid Resistance in Smicronyx Fulvus LeConte
- Creator
- Markiv, Paulina Patrycja
- Date
- 2023
- Description
-
Red sunflower seed weevil (RSSW) is a major insect pest of cultivated and wild common sunflowers in the Great Plains of North America. The...
Show moreRed sunflower seed weevil (RSSW) is a major insect pest of cultivated and wild common sunflowers in the Great Plains of North America. The extent of the sunflower damage due to RSSW infestation is too great for the natural sunflower defense mechanisms to protect the agriculture industry from losses. Pyrethroids are the only type of insecticide designated for the control of RSSW; however, instances of pyrethroid insecticide ineffectiveness against RSSW have been annually reported to entomologists at South Dakota State University since 2017. The biological bases of insecticide resistance are unknown but common mechanisms associated with pyrethroid resistance include general detoxification mechanism driven by cytochrome P450s (CYP450s) as well as mutations in the pyrethroid target, voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs). The goal of this study was to determine if the computational analysis of a low-coverage genome assembly is sufficient to identify and characterize genes associated with insecticide resistance which could contribute to pest control research efforts. By using a low-coverage genome assembly, RNA-Seq data, and bioinformatic tools, 40 complete and 33 partial gene models coding for CYP450 as well as a partial gene model coding for VGSC have been identified in the genome of RSSW. Twenty-seven mutation sites, previously associated with the pyrethroid resistance in other insects, have been identified in the VGSC gene of RSSW. The low-coverage genome proved to be a sufficient resource for preliminary studies of gene identification which could bring significant knowledge to subsequent research focusing on insecticide resistance and pest control.
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- Title
- LOW-COVERAGE GENOMES AS AN EFFECTIVE AND ECONOMICAL APPROACH FOR LEPIDOPTERAN MICROSATELLITE ISOLATION
- Creator
- Liang, Huijia
- Date
- 2020
- Description
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This study aimed to verify that whether a low-coverage genome can work as an effective approach to isolate Lepidopteran microsatellites. As...
Show moreThis study aimed to verify that whether a low-coverage genome can work as an effective approach to isolate Lepidopteran microsatellites. As microsatellites are useful tool to study population genetics, and there are many Lepidopteran agriculture pests which can cause huge economic damages every year, additionally, Lepidoptera have abundant similar flanking sequences making it difficult to develop reliable microsatellites. However, there are not enough published genomes of Lepidoptera species. If low-coverage Lepidopteran genomes can be used to isolate reliable microsatellites, the low-coverage genomes would be an effective and economical approach for microsatellites isolation, because low-coverage genome sequencing is much cheaper and less time-consuming than the published genome sequencing.
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- Title
- DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF A NATIONALLY REPRESENTATIVE MODEL SET TO PREDICT THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND INDOOR AIR QUALITY (IAQ) IN U.S. RESIDENCES
- Creator
- Fazli, Torkan
- Date
- 2020
- Description
-
Americans spend most of their time inside residences where they are exposed to a number of pollutants of both indoor and outdoor origin....
Show moreAmericans spend most of their time inside residences where they are exposed to a number of pollutants of both indoor and outdoor origin. Residential buildings also account for over 20% of total primary energy consumption in the U.S. and a similar proportion of greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, climate change is expected to affect building energy use and indoor air quality (IAQ) through both building design (i.e., via our societal responses to climate change) and building operation (i.e., via changing meteorological and ambient air quality conditions). The overarching objectives of this work are to develop a set of combined building energy and indoor air mass balance models that are generally representative of both the current (i.e., ~2010s) and future (i.e., ~2050s) U.S. residential building stock and to apply them using both current and future climate scenarios to estimate the impacts of climate change and climate change policies on building energy use, IAQ, and the prevalence of chronic health hazards in U.S. homes. The developed model set includes over 4000 individual building models with detailed characteristics of both building operation and indoor pollutant physics/chemistry, and is linked to a disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) approach for estimating chronic health outcomes associated with indoor pollutant exposure. The future building stock model incorporates a combination of predicted changes in future meteorological conditions, ambient air quality, the U.S. housing stock, and population demographics. Using the model set, we estimate the total site and source energy consumption for space conditioning in U.S. residences is predicted to decrease by ~37% and ~20% by mid-century (~2050s) compared to 2012, respectively, driven by decreases in heating energy use across the building stock that are larger than coincident increases in cooling energy use in warmer climates. Indoor concentrations of most pollutants of ambient origin are expected to decrease, driven by predicted reductions in ambient concentrations due to tighter emissions controls, with one notable exception of ozone, which is expected to increase in future climate scenarios. This work provides the first known estimates of the potential magnitude of impacts of expected climate changes on building energy use, IAQ, and the prevalence of chronic health hazards in U.S. homes.
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- Title
- Colored Pencil Drawings, undated
- Description
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Untitled colored pencil drawings by Mary Henry, date unknown. Inscription on verso: "William Winter Comments, PO Box 817, Sausalito"
- Collection
- Mary Dill Henry Papers, 1913-2021
- Title
- Computational Genomics of Human-Infecting Microsporidia Species from the Genus Encephalitozoon
- Creator
- Mascarenhas dos Santos, Anne Caroline
- Date
- 2023
- Description
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Microsporidia are obligate intracellular pathogens classified as category B priority pathogens by the National Institute of Allergy and...
Show moreMicrosporidia are obligate intracellular pathogens classified as category B priority pathogens by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Microsporidian species from the genus Encephalitozoon infect humans and can cause encephalitis, keratoconjunctivitis or enteric diseases in both immunocompromised and immunocompetent individuals. The main treatment for disseminated microsporidiosis available in the United States is albendazole, an anthelmintic benzimidazole that is also used to treat fungal infections, but species from the Encephalitozoonidae have already shown signs of resistance against this drug. The Encephalitozoonidae harbors highly specialized pathogens with the smallest known eukaryote genomes, with Encephalitozoon cuniculi featuring a genome of only 2.9 Mbp and coding for a proteome of roughly 2,000 proteins. Pathogens are in an everlasting race to quicken their adaptation pace against host defenses. This adaptation is often driven by gene duplication, recombination and/or mutation, and due to the potentially disruptive nature of duplication and recombination processes, many of these evolutions in pathogens are taking place outside conserved genomic loci. As such, genes involved in virulence and drug resistance in pathogens are often localized in the (sub)telomeres rather than in chromosome cores. The small and streamlined nature of microsporidian genomes makes them excellent candidates to investigate the adaptation of pathogens to host defenses, the evolution of their virulence, and the development of their resistance to drugs from a genomic perspective. However, microsporidian genomes are highly divergent at the DNA sequence level and the ones that have been sequenced so far are incomplete and are lacking the telomeres. This high level of sequence divergence hinders standard sequence homology-based functional annotations, blurring our understanding of what these organisms are capable of from a metabolic perspective. The gap in our knowledge of what is encoded in the microsporidia telomeres could lead to an underestimation of their pathogenic capabilities. Therefore, deciphering the functions of unknown proteins in microsporidia genomes and unraveling the content of their telomeres is important to fully assess their potential for adaptability to host defenses and predisposition to drug resistance. Likewise, a better understanding of the genetic diversity in microsporidia will help assess the extent by which host-pathogen interactions are shaping the adaptation of these parasites to humans. As observed in the COVID-19 pandemic, genetic diversity can influence the speed at which pathogens adapt to host defenses and thus can pose a big challenge to disease control. The development of strategies for controlling microsporidiosis outbreaks will likely benefit from the work performed in this thesis. As part of my PhD work, I investigated the virulence and host-adaptation capabilities of human-infecting microsporidia species from the genus Encephalitozoon with computational genomic approaches. This work included: 1) using structural homology to infer the functions of unknown proteins from the microsporidia proteome; 2) sequencing the complete genomes from telomere-to-telomere of three distinct Encephalitozoon spp. (E. cuniculi, E. hellem and E. intestinalis) to determine the genetic makeup of their telomeres and better understand the extent of their diversity; and 3) assessing the intraspecies genetic diversity that exists between Encephalitozoon species.
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- Title
- Eating disorder support group utilization: Associations with psychological health and eating disorder psychopathology among support group attendees
- Creator
- Murray, Matthew F.
- Date
- 2023
- Description
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Individuals with eating disorders (EDs) report psychosocial impairments that may persist beyond ED symptom remission, suggesting a need to...
Show moreIndividuals with eating disorders (EDs) report psychosocial impairments that may persist beyond ED symptom remission, suggesting a need to examine ED treatment-adjunctive services that foster psychosocial health. One promising resource is support groups, as evidence across medical and psychiatric illnesses shows associations between group utilization and wellbeing. However, virtually no literature has examined ED-specific support groups and psychosocial health, and it is also unknown how use of supportive services relates to ED symptoms. The present study examined associations between past-month ED support group attendance and participation frequency, psychosocial health indices, and ED symptoms. A total of 215 participants who attended weekly virtual clinician-moderated ED support groups completed measures of psychosocial health, internalized stigma of mental illness, psychosocial impairment from an ED, specific types of social support elicited in group, and ED psychopathology. Adjusting for past-month ED treatment, Benjamini-Hochberg-corrected partial correlation analyses indicated that more frequent attendance was negatively related to body dissatisfaction, purging, excessive exercise, and negative attitudes toward obesity, and positively related to social support. More frequent verbal and chat participation were positively related to emotional and informational support and social companionship. Chat participation was additionally negatively related to excessive exercise and negative attitudes toward obesity. Results suggest that utilizing and participating in clinician-moderated ED support groups could provide an outlet for ED symptom management and solicitation of social support. Findings highlight areas for further consideration in the delivery of and future research on ED support groups.
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- Title
- Optimization methods and machine learning model for improved projection of energy market dynamics
- Creator
- Saafi, Mohamed Ali
- Date
- 2023
- Description
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Since signing the legally binding Paris agreement, governments have been striving to fulfill the decarbonization mission. To reduce carbon...
Show moreSince signing the legally binding Paris agreement, governments have been striving to fulfill the decarbonization mission. To reduce carbon emissions from the transportation sector, countries around the world have created a well-defined new energy vehicle development strategy that is further expanding into hydrogen vehicle technologies. In this study, we develop the Transportation Energy Analysis Model (TEAM) to investigate the impact of the CO2 emissions policies on the future of the automotive industries. On the demand side, TEAM models the consumer choice considering the impacts of technology cost, energy cost, refueling/charging availability, consumer travel pattern. On the supply side, the module simulates the technology supply by the auto-industry with the objective of maximizing industry profit under the constraints of government policies. Therefore, we apply different optimization methods to guarantee reaching the optimal automotive industry response each year up to 2050. From developing an upgraded differential evolution algorithm, to applying response surface methodology to simply the objective function, the goal is to enhance the optimization performance and efficiency compared to adopting the standard genetic algorithm. Moreover, we investigate TEAM’s robustness by applying a sensitivity analysis to find the key parameters of the model. Finally based on the key sensitive parameters that drive the automotive industry, we develop a neural network to learn the market penetration model and predict the market shares in a competitive time by bypassing the total cost of ownership analysis and profit optimization. The central motivating hypothesis of this thesis is that modern optimization and modeling methods can be applied to obtain a computationally-efficient, industry-relevant model to predict optimal market sales shares for light-duty vehicle technologies. In fact, developing a robust market penetration model that is optimized using sophisticated methods is a crucial tool to automotive companies, as it quantifies consumer’s behavior and delivers the optimal way to maximize their profits by highlighting the vehicles technologies that they could invest in. In this work, we prove that TEAM reaches the global solution to optimize not only the industry profits but also the alternative fuels optimized blends such as synthetic fuels. The time complexity of the model has been substantially improved to decrease from hours using the genetic algorithm, to minutes using differential evolution, to milliseconds using neural network.
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- Title
- Factor Analysis of the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory in Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
- Creator
- Scimeca, Lauren
- Date
- 2020
- Description
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The Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) is a widely used measure of postconcussive symptoms in veteran populations. Previous psychometric...
Show moreThe Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) is a widely used measure of postconcussive symptoms in veteran populations. Previous psychometric studies used samples of veterans with mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) and high rates of comorbid Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The present study aims to determine the best-fitting factor structure of the NSI in veterans with PTSD and to evaluate the relationship between the best-fitting factor structure and the symptom clusters of PTSD. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) found that 4-factors had the best overall fit in veterans with PTSD. Correlational analyses found high rates of correspondence between the cognitive and affective factors of the NSI and the alterations in cognition and mood and hyperarousal symptom clusters of PTSD. The analyses reveal that symptoms of the NSI cluster in the same way in a sample of veterans with PTSD as they do in veterans with mTBI, suggesting that lingering postconcussive symptoms in veterans with PTSD are better characterized as non-specific generalized health symptoms on the NSI.
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- Title
- PTSD Symptoms as a Potential Link Between Military Sexual Assault and Disordered Eating
- Creator
- Sandhu, Danielle
- Date
- 2020
- Description
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Despite increasing rates of sexual assault in the military and high rates of disordered eating and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among...
Show moreDespite increasing rates of sexual assault in the military and high rates of disordered eating and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans, little is known about how these constructs are related. The present study examined whether PTSD symptoms mediate the relation between military sexual assault and disordered eating among female veterans. Prolific Academic was used to recruit 98 United States female veterans as participants for the study. Participants completed an online questionnaire of self-report measures assessing demographic characteristics, military sexual assault, PTSD symptoms, and disordered eating. Mediational analyses were conducted using the PROCESS v3 macro in IBM SPSS Statistics. Within the sample, 61% of female veterans reported being sexually assaulted while serving in the military. Military sexual assault was associated with higher levels of PTSD symptoms and disordered eating. Findings did not support the hypothesis that PTSD symptoms would mediate the relation between military sexual assault and disordered eating among women veterans. Given the heterogeneous nature of disordered eating, post-hoc mediational analyses were conducted to examine specific facets of eating pathology. Results indicated that PTSD symptoms fully mediated the relation between military sexual assault and bulimia and food preoccupation. Awareness of these psychopathological sequelae following military sexual assault may improve screening and intervention efforts at Veteran Affairs (VA) medical centers. The present study highlights the importance of future longitudinal studies that can establish temporal precedence in order to better understand the pathways leading to disordered eating in female veterans.
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- Title
- Advertisement for Saturday Morning Children's Club at Chicago School of Design, 1944
- Date
- 1944
- Description
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Advertisement for Saturday Morning Children's Club, a multidisciplinary children's art workshop offered by the Chicago School of Design,...
Show moreAdvertisement for Saturday Morning Children's Club, a multidisciplinary children's art workshop offered by the Chicago School of Design, featuring artwork by two local children. The date listed is uncertain, but inferred from the pencil notation on recto.
Show less - Collection
- Institute of Design records, 1937-ca. 1962
- Title
- Large-Signal Transient Stability and Control of Inverter-Based Resources
- Creator
- Wang, Duo
- Date
- 2024
- Description
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Renewable generation, including solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, type 3 and 4 wind turbine generation systems (WTG), battery energy storage...
Show moreRenewable generation, including solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, type 3 and 4 wind turbine generation systems (WTG), battery energy storage systems (BESS), as well as high voltage direct current (HVDC) and flexible alternating current (FACT) transmission system devices with increasing penetration level are being connected to the bulk power systems (BPS) via power electronic (PE) converters as the interface, referred to as the inverter-based resources (IBRs) on the transmission and sub-transmission levels or distributed energy resources (DERs) located on the distribution level. The IBR is almost entirely defined by the control algorithms and found to be more prone to experiencing large disturbances due to the lack of the conventional synchronous machine (SM) intrinsic synchronous characteristics and mechanical inertia, as well as being in smaller capacity sizes. Thus, these reasons motivate this dissertation to study the large-signal transient stability and control of IBRs for reliable grid integration and rapid grid transformation. For large-signal stability analysis methods, Lyapunov-based methods are the fundamental theory used to characterize the stability issues with analytical solutions, although other non-Lyapunov methods could also be very helpful. A main difficulty hindering the widespread adoption of the Lyapunov stability analysis method is the difficulty of finding the proper Lyapunov function candidate for a higher dimensional nonlinear system. The Port-Hamiltonian (PH) nonlinear control theory is explored in this dissertation as a promising theoretical framework solution addressing this challenging issue. A PH-based tracking and robust control method is proposed to facilitate the practical application of the PH framework in IBR controls. In addition, considering the typical grid-forming (GFM) IBR control with a first-order low pass filter (LPF) block is usually involved with control saturation function for protection purposes under abnormal operating conditions with anti-windup issue in practical implementation, a PH-based bounded LPF (PH-BLPF) control is proposed to incorporate this in the large-signal PH interconnection modeling framework while preserving the robust tracking Lyapunov stability with improved transient dynamic performance and stability margin.Moreover, specific real-world transient synchronization stability issues, such as the grid voltage large fault disturbance case, are studied. In addition, to meet the recent emerging IBR grid code requirements, such as the current magnitude limitation, grid support function, and fault recovery capability of GFM-VSCs, a virtual impedance-based current-limiting GFM control with enhanced transient stability and grid support is proposed.
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- Title
- BAYESIAN MOMENTUM STRATEGY OF EXCHANGE RATES
- Creator
- Lee, Namhoon
- Date
- 2011-11, 2011-12
- Description
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A disagreement has existed between the foreign currency trading community and academic researchers relating to the time series properties of...
Show moreA disagreement has existed between the foreign currency trading community and academic researchers relating to the time series properties of exchange rates. Traders typically view exchange rates as strongly trending prices and suggest that simple rules, based solely on past prices, have generated predictable profits with acceptable risk over most of the floating-rate period. However, many surveys presenting controversial results. This research identifies the non-linear trend momentum in monthly exchange rate and examines the profitability of momentum trading model within exchange rate returns in the context of Bayesian econometrics. A development of Bayesian momentum trading strategy based on trend component of the spot exchange rate is established. First, parameters of momentum model for each main currency are estimated. The momentum is defined as a simple nonlinear function of return series and the model is designed to estimate the expected conditional mean and associated conditional volatilities simultaneously. The empirical results reported several notable confirmation and findings; first, predictability of momentum model with Bayesian approach show better accuracy than model with maximum likelihood estimation or moving average rule in terms of directionality and model fitting. Second, parameters are restricted to be same across the currencies with the assumption that currencies share some degree of commonality within the system. The result confirms that the restricted model work as well as the unrestricted model within the currency model in terms of model fitting and directional accuracy. Third, principal component analysis is used to analyze the exchange rate movements. PCA found that the first principal component shows parallel shift of all currencies and second principal component tilt shift where high yield currencies move down and low yield currencies move up. Fourth, the parameter estimates from the models are used for portfolio allocation ix applying Bayesian Principal Component(PC) GARCH(1,1) model and the portfolio performance is compared with the performance with classical maximum likelihood approach and other benchmarks. The results show that the Bayesian PC-GARCH(1,1) performs better than classical PC-GARCH(1,1) in terms of Sharpe ratio, Value at Risk, Expected shortfall, maximum drawdown and other statistical criteria. Sixth, the GARCH parameter space is found to be non-symmetric confirming that maximum likelihood estimation would have over or under estimated the parameter causing misspecifying the model parameters. The result from this research confirms simple nonlinear momentum model combined with Bayesian approach can be a good forecasting tool, and restricted model can simplify the complexity of parameter space of exchange rate movement. In addition, by correctly detecting the parameter space, Bayesian approach outperforms the classical maximum likelihood approach. Keywords : Bayesian framework, Momentum, Moving Average rules, Carry trade strategy, Mean-variance Optimization, Trading strategy, Metropolis-Hastings Algorithm, Gibbs Sampler
Ph.D. in Management Science, December 2011
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- Title
- IMPROVEMENT OF VERTICAL-AXIS WIND TURBINE PERFORMANCE VIA TURBINE COUPLING
- Creator
- Mehrpooya, Payam
- Date
- 2014, 2014-07
- Description
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While vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) have a simpler design than the horizontal-axis wind turbines, their development has been hindered...
Show moreWhile vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) have a simpler design than the horizontal-axis wind turbines, their development has been hindered due to their unsteady aerodynamics and complex flow field. In this thesis, a parameterized study is conducted to simulate a baseline VAWT using STAR-CCM+, a commercial finite volume code. A hybrid grid scheme, with structured prism layer mesh at the surface of the blades, is used to properly resolve the turbulent boundary layers on the blades. The flow was highly unsteady due to the rotating geometries. Thus, a sliding mesh technique is implemented at the interface of rotating and stationary zones. The dominant factors limiting the performance of the VAWTs are investigated for a range of moderate tip speed ratios, by visualizing the flow field and modeling the individual blade aerodynamics. The VAWT aerodynamics is shown to be dominated by the dynamic stall, at low tip speed ratios, and by the blade-wake interactions and the wake blockage effects, at high tip speed ratios. The concept of turbine coupling is used to improve the performance of the VAWTs by their internal aerodynamic interactions. Two counter-rotating turbines are placed in close proximity, and simulated over the same range of tip speed ratios as before, and for a set of different spacing between them. The effects of spacing and the tip speed ratio on their overall power output and their wake recovery characteristics are then investigated. A cluster of turbines with spacing equal to 1.50 turbine diameters and tip speed ratio of three is shown to have the quickest wake recovery and highest power enhancement, increasing the turbine average power coefficient by 22%.
M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, July 2014
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