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Modeling the fire response of concrete beams reinforced with GFRP beams
No full textIn the last two decades, researchers and engineers studied the possibility of reinforcing slabs and beams with fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) bars instead of the conventionally used steel reinforcement. Such FRP bars have high strength and corrosion resistance properties. However, the fire resistance of reinforced concrete (RC) members is still a concern when reinforced with such materials. The major objective of this paper is to develop a 3D finite element (FE) model and perform nonlinear thermal-stress analysis to predict the fire performance and time to failure of concrete beams reinforced with GFRP bars. The developed model includes temperature-dependent thermal and mechanical material properties. The predicted fire resistance of the beam specimen is compared with published experimental data. The numerically predicted and measured experimental results are in close agreement. The developed FE model would be used as a valid tool to study the effect of key parameters on the fire performance of RC beams reinforced with FRP bars
Exploring Washback Effects on IELTS Teachers' Cognition and Teaching Practices
No full textA Master of Arts thesis in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) by Sobia Afzal entitled, "Exploring Washback Effects on IELTS Teachers' Cognition and Teaching Practices," submitted December 2016. Thesis advisor is Dr. Betty Lanteigne. Soft and hard copy available.Examining the washback effects of high-stakes tests, such as the IELTS, on teachers' cognition and their teaching practices could provide deeper insight into the process of teaching and learning in test preparation courses. Moreover, understanding IELTS teachers' cognition and their teaching practices in relation to washback effects of the IELTS test is significant in examining the success of IELTS preparation courses. This research explores the effects of the IELTS test on IELTS teachers' cognition (knowledge, beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes) and, in turn, on their teaching practices in IELTS preparation courses in the UAE. The study highlights the factors that contribute to the negative or positive influences of the IELTS test on IELTS teachers' cognition as well as on their teaching practices in IELTS classes. In this research, 42 IELTS teachers were surveyed to gain insight into their knowledge, beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes about the IELTS test, in addition to their teaching practices in IELTS preparation courses. Out of the 42 survey participants, six teachers were observed in their IELTS classes, and later interviewed using stimulated recall through semi-structured interviews to evaluate the washback effects of the IELTS test on teachers' cognition and their teaching practices in IELTS preparation courses. In addition, the study examined the accuracy of teachers' cognition (specifically their knowledge) about the IELTS test, and explored congruency between teachers' cognition and their teaching practices in IELTS courses. The findings revealed both positive (teaching of language elements and the use of communicative activities) and negative washback effects of the IELTS test on teachers' cognition and their teaching practices. The findings also reported the inaccuracy of some teachers' cognition (knowledge) about the IELTS and incongruence between their cognition and teaching practices in IELTS classes. Furthermore, the findings highlighted the different teacher variables and contextual factors that play a significant role in having positive and negative washback effects of the IELTS test on teachers' cognition and their teaching practices. The study suggests the value of more professional training of IELTS teachers for self-exploration of their cognition to enhance the positive washback effects of the IELTS test and minimize its negative effects.College of Arts and SciencesDepartment of EnglishMaster of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MA TESOL
Arts: Fiction and Fiction Writers: United States
No full textArab and Arab American women writers today are embedded in a political, social, and ethical complex that, whether explicitly or not, affects their writing. Using the metaphor of invisibility to describe the state of their existence and that of their work, their efforts are directed toward writing themselves and their experiences into visibility. Uniquely positioned as transnational subjects, their subjectivities are forged across multiple, often global vectors of identification, providing them with multiple consciousness. Their writing thus not only to attests to their presence, but also critiques and questions what exactly it means to be Arab, American, and Arab American. The works and experiences of Laila Lalami, Samia Serageldin, Suheir Hammad, Dima Hilal, Nathalie Handal, Mohja Kahf, Diana Abu-Jaber, and Susan Abulhawa can serve as examples of how Arab American women explore the multiplicity of subjectivity as they are uniquely formed in the U.S. landscape
Translating Political Discourse King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein's Papers
No full textA Master of Arts thesis in Translation and Interpreting MATI (English/Arabic/English) by Mu'tasam Ali Al-Dunaibat entitled, "Translating Political Discourse King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein's Papers," submitted in May 2016. Thesis advisor is Dr. Ahmed Ali. Soft and hard copy available.When researchers discuss the translation of political discourse they usually refer to the ideology of the translators in its negative meaning. This is because the term ideology as a concept involves manipulation of the original message to affect the intended readers. However, in translating the Discussion Papers of King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein the main concentration is on the function and the purpose of the translation. The Discussion Papers have the determination of telling the world that Jordan is willing to change into a democratic country. Translators in their process of translating tend to change, delete, tone down, substitute, and add what suits the purpose and the function of the translation. In addition, translators produce texts that suit the target readers' language. To pursue this aim several examples are chosen from the Discussion Papers of Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein. This thesis examines two major issues. First, it examines the translation of the political messages. Second, it examines the translation strategies used in translating religious references, metaphors and the term democracy and its collocations. By incorporating a critical discourse analysis, the Source Text (ST) and the Target Text (TT) are compared to determine the micro-translation strategies opted for by the translators. It is concluded that despite the multiplicity of translation strategies opted for in the translation, the concentration is to produce texts that serve the purpose and the function of the Source Text and to produce a Target Text that matches the linguistic norms of the TT readers' language. Furthermore, Skopos Theory is valid for translating political discourse.College of Arts and SciencesDepartment of Arabic and Translation StudiesMaster of Arts in English/Arabic/English Translation and Interpreting (MATI
Effects of habitat complexity on the abundance, species richness and size of darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae) in artificial vegetation
No full textWe deployed artificial vegetation with 4 different interstructural space widths (complexities): 6, 10, 14 and 27 mm. At the high levels of habitat complexity used in this study, the main effect of increasing complexity was excluding beetles from higher complexity treatments, particularly larger beetle species. The 6 mm (highest complexity) treatment had significantly lower abundance than the other three treatments. The treatments also had significantly different beetle widths (sizes), and the 27 mm (lowest complexity) treatment appeared to have slightly wider beetles than the other three treatments. Increasing complexity appeared to lead to decreasing beetle widths. 9 beetle species were relatively rare in, or absent from, the higher complexity treatments, including 5 of the 6 largest species. 2 rare, small beetle species were only found in higher complexity treatments. There were no apparent differences in beetle species richness between treatments, due to these conflicting results. This experiment highlights the importance of using complexity indices that measure interstructural space sizes, and scale the complexity measurement to the size of the organism, in order to better understand how habitat complexity can affect faunal abundance, average size and species richness
Geothermal Energy Use in Hydrogen Production
No full textWe propose the use of geothermal energy for hydrogen production and liquefaction, and investigate six possible models for accomplishing such a task. The models are studied thermodynamically in order to assess their performance for maximizing hydrogen production rate while minimizing the used geothermal energy. The effect of geothermal water temperature on various thermodynamic performance of the models is investigated. The models include using geothermal work output as the work input for an electrolysis process (Model 1); using part of geothermal heat to produce work for electrolysis process and part of geothermal heat in an electrolysis process to preheat the electrolysis water (Model 2); using geothermal heat in an absorption refrigeration process to precool the gas before the gas is liquefied in a liquefaction cycle (Model 3); using part of the geothermal heat for absorption refrigeration to precool the hydrogen gas and part of the geothermal heat to produce work with a binary geothermal cycle and use it in a liquefaction cycle (Model 4); using geothermal work output as the electricity input for a liquefaction cycle (Model 5); and using part of geothermal work for electrolysis and the remaining part for liquefaction (Model 6)
Trans-Eurasian energy transportation networks and the necessity of regional cooperation
No full textThe Central Asia-Transcaspian region is rich in energy resources. However, these resources cannot be fully developed without fostering international cooperation. The ‘pipeline wars’ between competing consortia is not conducive to profit maximization. A cooperative regional regime for oil and gas exploration, extraction, and transportation could help improve the business climate and international security. The existing regional integration organizations with a degree of sway in the area the Eurasian Economic Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization still have some way to go to prove their usefulness as true promoters of multilateralism. Regional countries that do not belong to either of the two organizations prefer to cooperate on a bilateral basis and this is also true of member states. Regional coordination is necessary to overcome self-interested, beggar-thy-neighbor behavior by business players and states alike in order to maximize regional welfare
A Navigation and Control System for a Robot in Indoor/Outdoor Environments
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Mechatronics Engineering by Ehab Al Khatib entitled, "A Navigation and Control System for a Robot in Indoor/Outdoor Environments," submitted in May 2016. Thesis advisor is Dr. Mohammad A. Jaradat and thesis co-advisor is Dr. Mamoun Abdel-Hafez. Soft and hard copy available.This thesis presents an approach to solving the global navigation problem of wheeled mobile robots in indoor and outdoor environments. The presented solutions are based on probabilistic approaches. In outdoor environment, the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is used to estimate the robot position and orientation based on wheel encoders, inertial measurement unit (IMU) and Global Positioning System (GPS) utilizing three different approaches. The three approaches are tested in a simulation environment, and one of them is verified in an experimental test. For indoor environment, where GPS signals are blocked, three different algorithms, which are based on Microsoft Kinect depth stream are proposed and tested in occupancy grid and feature-based maps both in simulation and experimental environments. First, the Particle Filter (PF) uses the raw depth data to localize the robot inside a pre-defined map. Second, EKF indoor localization based on landmarks extracted from the depth measurements, is utilized. In case the robot enters an unknown map, the third algorithm is used to estimate the robot pose as well as the landmark position based on EKF. This is known as simultaneous localization and mapping (EKF SLAM). Subsequently, an input-output state feedback linearization (I-O SFL) method is used to control the robot along the desired robot trajectory. Finally, a hybrid navigation system for indoor and outdoor environments is proposed and tested in both simulation and experimental environments. Simulation and experimental testing is performed to validate the proposed methods. It is observed that the EKF based techniques show better results than PF technique both in indoor and outdoor environments.College of EngineeringMultidisciplinary ProgramsMaster of Science in Mechatronics Engineering (MSMTR
Integrated Power Amplifier Design with Built-in Analog Pre-Distortion
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Electrical Engineering by Seyed Mohammad Kashfi entitled, "Integrated Power Amplifier Design with Built-in Analog Pre-Distortion," submitted in May 2016. Thesis advisor is Dr. Lutfi Albasha. Soft and hard copy available.The fifth generation of mobile communication (5G) is aiming for higher frequency bands, so it can be capable of delivering faster communication and higher data rate. One of the most challenging parts of power amplifier design with complex modulation scheme is to perform more efficiently at high frequency bands. Power amplifiers lay an important role in creating the possibility of total on-chip radio systems. Low voltage supplies for Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology and linear power amplifier operation make the design more challenging .In this work, a 28 GHz two stages power amplifier with built-in passive analog pre-distortion is designed and simulated using global Foundries (GF) 65 nm CMOS technology. The target and aim of this design is to develop a linear lower amplifier with the maximum possible gain and optimum efficiency. This work will investigate high frequency power amplifier architectures to find out the best alternative for linearity and efficiency performance. Two stages of a common source structure have been designed and lumped elements are used for input, output and inter-stage matching. Supply voltage of 2.5 V is used for this topology. The design and simulation are based on the available models from GF. The design shows +19.84dBm of linear output power and17.1 %of power added efficiency at proposed 3GPP 5thgeneration frequencies from 27.5 GHz to 29.5 GHz)with the power gain of 20.11dB.The designs showed1.21 d Bm as input referred 1-dB compression point .Improvement of 1.46 d Bm in the output power has been achieved from built-in linearizer. Overall DC power consumption is almost 520mW and the output saturated power is 21.5dBm with an input lower range from -30 d Bm to 10 d Bm. In comparison with other designs in available literature, this power amplifier provides better and higher overall gain and linearity.College of EngineeringDepartment of Electrical EngineeringMaster of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE
Converting Low Level Nuclear Waste to Fuel
No full textA poster submitted in ENG 207 taught by Dr. David Prescott for the Fall 2016 semester.In modern times, the use of nuclear energy has increased due to the depletion of petroleum and fossil fuels. However, the nuclear power plants produce hazardous nuclear waste that adversely affects the environment.These wastes are classified by their radioactive contamination level: High level Waste (HLW), Intermediate-Level Waste (ILW), Low-level Waste (LLW). HLW and ILW are efficiently stored in deep grounds; however, LLW is stored in shallow landfills which is risky. Therefore, only LLW is used in this project