2012 MU theses - Access restricted to MU
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Item Experimental evaluation of laminated glass interlayer under high strain rates(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2012) Lafta, Mouhammed Jessam; Salim, Hani A., 1966-[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The use of blast-resistant glazing in buildings subject to exterior hazards can greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the hazard of flying glass shards. When properly designed, framed, and anchored, blast resistant laminates are capable of maintaining the integrity of the building envelope following an explosion or a hurricane and reducing interior damage. Analytical and experimental research exists in the literature in the area of blast-resistant glazing, but few areas of research remain unexplored related to resistance and blast response of the window system. The material response of the laminated glass under high strain rates has not been fully investigated. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to experimentally evaluate the high strain rate effects of PVB and UVEKOL-S polymers alone and laminated glass sheets using impact drop-weight testing. Virgin PVB as well as UVEKOL-S sheets extracted from laminated glass panels will evaluated in this study. The results of this study are expected to enhance the engineering design methods and numerical modeling of laminated glass windows under blast loading. A drop-weight testing apparatus was designed in this thesis for evaluating PVB and UVEKOL-S and laminated glass samples under various loading rates. Quasi-static testing of the materials was also evaluated to assess the effects of dynamic loading on the engineering response and energy-absorption capabilities of the laminated glazing and interlayer materials. The results show that the dynamic loading significantly affects the material response and the energy absorption characteristics of the interlayer materials. The strain rate variation had a more pronounced effect on the energy and impulse characteristics of the material than the ultimate strength of the polymers. Confined polymers inside scored laminated glass samples had lower dynamic strengths than polymers alone. The results of this thesis provide valuable findings regarding the dynamic response of interlayer polymers, but additional tests are still needed to develop statically reliable results. Also, a wider range of strain rates is recommended for future testing to study the effect on the glazing system under extremely high strain rates.Item Design and analysis of miniaturized implantable and wearable microstrip antennas(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2012) Ibrahim, Omar Abdulsamad; Islam, Naz E.[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] There is an increasing effort by hospitals, doctors and healthcare service providers to cut down the ever increasing cost of health care. One area of research in this field is the development of the MBAN system, which enables patient monitoring remotely thus saving costs in hospital stay, doctor visits etc. One area of research is the development of implantable and wearable antennas as a part of MBAN that could be used by saving their collected data in PDAs or any portable device or mainframe computers. In this work, two antenna types, the wearable and the implantable antennas are researched for MBAN applications. The antenna is designed using two different commercial software packages, CST Microwave Studio and HFSS, to validate the results. The first proposed embedded antenna design operates in the WMTS frequency band (608-614 MHz). The antenna performance is tested inside the human body model. The design is later readjusted to get the desired resonant frequency to account for the losses in the body dielectric. The resonant frequency, bandwidth, gain, and radiation pattern of the proposed antenna are provided in this research. In addition, an array of two antennas of the same type has been proposed to increase the system reliability and robustness. The wearable antenna proposed is a Vivaldi shaped Lotus antenna. The antenna was designed using the same software (CST Microwave Studio). The antenna is both multi and broad band. In addition, the antenna can be used for the free allocated band for wide band applications. A flare feeding technique has been used to feed the antenna and meet impedance matching for wide bandwidth. Analysis with bendable materials and different schemes for ground plane, including partial and metamaterials grounds, and flare angles has resulted in an optimized design for the wearable antenna type. Both the antenna design can be used as components for the MBAN systems for medical applications, and can also be used in the commercial and defense sectors.Item Landmine classification using possibilistic K-nearest neighbors with wideband electromagnetic induction data(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2012) Dula, Josephine S.; Zare, Alina[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] In this thesis, a possibilistic K-nearest neighbor classifier is presented to distinguish between and classify mine and non-mine targets on data obtained from wideband electromagnetic induction sensors. The goal of this work is to develop methods for classifying wide-band electromagnetic induction data into one of several target classes or a non-target class. For some landmine detection systems, it could be necessary or helpful to discriminate between the several classes of targets, so that they can be analyzed and processed according to their specific properties. For example, it might be of importance to distinguish mines with high-metal content versus low-metal content or distinguish between anti-personnel versus anti-tank landmines. The proposed classifier achieves this goal using a method that is motivated by the observation that different buried object types often have consistent signatures depending on their metal content, size, shape, and depth. Given a sparse representation obtained using the joint orthogonal matching pursuits algorithm, particular target types consistently selected the same dictionary elements for their sparse representation. The proposed classifier distinguishes between particular target types using the frequency of dictionary elements selected by an alarm. Possibilistic weights are assigned for each alarm for sixteen landmine target classes as well as a false alarm class. The proposed classifier accuracy is compared to several state of the art methods and it shows improvement in discrimination results.Item Synchronization and ovarian development in dairy cows and heifers(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2012) Coral Escalante, Rebecca Linda-Jane; Lucy, Matthew C. (Matthew Christian), 1960-[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Reproductive management is an important factor for improving reproductive efficiency in the dairy industry. Reproductive efficiency affects the profitability of the dairy herd by decreasing days not pregnant and increasing milk produced in a cow's lifetime. There are many reproductive programs used to synchronize the estrous cycle. Prostaglandin F2[alpha] (PGF2[alpha])-based programs synchronize estrus before artificial insemination (AI) after observed estrus. Some disadvantages to PGF2[alpha]-based reproductive programs are time requirements necessary for estrus detection (2 to 3 times/d for about 30 min) and lack of estrus activity observed in dairy cows (only about 40% will show estrus). An advantage to PGF2[alpha]-based reproductive programs is acceptable conception rates (about 45 to 60%) that can surpass timed AI (TAI). Reproductive programs that employ TAI are achieved by synchronization of ovulation with a series of PGF2[alpha] and gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) injections followed by insemination 16 h later. Some of the advantages to synchronization of ovulation followed by TAI are: no estrus detection and acceptable conception rates (40 to 50%). Many reproductive programs include a presynchronization step. The advantage to presynchronization is a tightened synchrony by getting more cows and heifers in the same stage of the estrous cycle before estrous synchronization and AI or TAI. There are a variety of presynchronization methods used in cattle. One of the most common programs is two injections of PGF2[alpha] 14 d apart 12 d before initiation of Ovsynch (d 0 GnRH, 7 d, PGF2[alpha], 56 h, GnRH, 16 h, TAI) (Moreira et al., 2001). Another is double Ovsynch where the Ovsynch program is administered 7 d before another Ovsynch program (Giordano et al., 2012). Long-term progestogens can also be used as a means to presynchronize the estrous cycle and has been successful in beef cows and heifers. Long term progestogens, such as a CIDR (controlled internal drug release) for 14 d, will suppress estrus, inhibit ovulation, and induce the development of a persistent dominant follicle that can ovulate after CIDR removal (Ahmad et al., 1995; Revah and Butler, 1996; Roche et al., 1999). Ovulation of the dominant follicle allows for cows and heifers to be late in the luteal stage of the estrous cycle before PGF2[alpha] and AI or PGF2[alpha], 56 h, GnRH, 16 h, TAI. Presynchronization has shown to decrease the days to pregnancy. This is an advantage because it will directly affect the number of days a cow is not pregnant and the amount of milk she will produce in her lifetime. The objective of this research was to evaluate pregnancies per AI, ovarian follicular and luteal development of postpartum dairy cows and dairy heifers in response to long term progestin-based programs (14dCIDR) compared with PGF2[alpha]-based programs. Experiment 1 (Chapter 2) evaluated the use of a 14dCIDR-PGF2[alpha] program to a PGF2[alpha]-alone program for synchronizing dairy heifers before AI. Heifers were examined by real-time ultrasonography during treatment to assess the ovarian response. Heifers were also monitored for estrus following presynchronization and treatment of PGF2[alpha] to assess ovulation response. The 14dCIDR-PGF2[alpha] system resulted in more heifers with a larger CL at the time of PGF2[alpha]. This is ideal because of the greater luteolytic effects of PGF2[alpha] has on a more mature CL. The 14dCIDR-PGF2[alpha] heifers were AI and became pregnant sooner compared with the PGF2[alpha]-alone heifers. Experiment 2 (Chapter 3) evaluated the use of a 14dCIDR_TAI program compared with a PGF2[alpha]-based program in grazing dairy cows. The 14dCIDR_TAI program employed synchronization of ovulation before TAI and the PGF2[alpha]-based program employed synchronization of estrus with AI after observed estrus. The evaluation of reproductive efficiency for each program was examined. Cows assigned to the 14dCIDR_TAI program were AI early in the breeding season and were all AI by the end the breeding season compared with the PGF2[alpha]-based program. The PGF2[alpha]-based program had a greater first service conception rate (FSCR) compared with the 14dCIDR_TAI program but did not achieve a greater number of pregnancies after two inseminations. Experiment 3 (Chapter 4) evaluated the use of a 14dCIDR_TAI program compared with another common TAI program (Presynch-Oysynch56) in postpartum lactating dairy cows. Follicular dynamics and luteal development were monitored in both programs. Each program was evaluated for effectiveness to presynchronize the estrous cycle and establish pregnancy. The 14dCIDR_TAI and the Presynch-Ovsynch56 programs were comparable in their effectiveness to presynchronize the estrous cycle and establish pregnancy in cows that were cycling. Non-cycling cows treated with the Presynch-Ovsynch56 program had lesser conception rate compared with those that were cycling. There was no difference in conception rate with non-cycling or cycling cows treated with the 14dCIDR_TAI. Experiment 4 (Chapter 5) evaluated the use of the 14dCIDR_TAI program with or without PGF2[alpha] at CIDR removal. It is possible for cows to still have a CL after the end of the 14dCIDR treatment either due to longer estrous cycles or the cow was early in her estrous cycle when the CIDR was inserted. The addition of PGF2[alpha] may help improve the synchrony and conception rates after presynchronization of the estrous cycle before TAI. The addition of the PGF2[alpha] at CIDR removal demonstrated an increase in the number of cows that showed estrus after presynchronization but conception rates were comparable. Overall, the use of the 14dCIDR as means to presynchronize the estrous cycle has been demonstrated as an effective way to enhance the synchrony and decrease the interval to pregnancy in dairy cows and heifers.Item Fractured folk : surfing for folklore frameworks in the face of science, cyber-anxieties and the techno-apocalypse(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2012) Brickley, London E.; Lawless, Elaine J.[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The framework of this thesis breaks down a few specific examples of select paradigm shifts that occur when traditional models of folklore studies are both applied to and reconsidered in tandem with 21st century technologies. The overall encompassing idea that I have laid out here -- to map, question and ultimately embrace the transformative state of folklore and folklife in the wake of the cybernetic future -- is certainly the foundation for a much larger project. However, in the following chapters I have done what I could to tentatively embark and humbly follow the likes of John Foley, Alan Dundes, Trevor Blank, and other folklore scholars who have begun to trail the path of the digital folk through the liminal land of cyberspace: a land of folk and machine, tradition and innovation, legend, lore and binary coding.