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Design during a pandemic: application of the WELL Building Standard to historic Engel Stadium
Get PDFCan buildings prevent the spread of disease through their design? This study argues that by employing the WELL Building Standard to an adaptive reuse project during the COVID-19 pandemic, human health and wellbeing is increased. Research shows that adapting existing buildings to the WELL Building Standard improves air quality, promotes clean contact, and strengthens immune systems (The International WELL Building Institute, 2020). Additionally, adapting existing historic structures maintains cultural significance within the community. This thesis creates a hypothetical adaptive reuse plan for adapting Engel Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee into Engel Concourse, a gathering place for students, UTC faculty, and community members to eat, work, and learn. This project will use the WELL v2 rating system in order to document WELL certification for this building in its current state. Showing that existing historic buildings can be adapted to the WELL Building Standard will help pave the way for design that increases human health and prevents the spread of diseases such as COVID-19
Race, sex, exoneration, & compensation: how do they relate? what is done? and what needs to be done?
Get PDFPrevious literature has noted multiple causes of wrongful conviction including mistaken eyewitness identification, false confessions, ineffective assistance of counsel, crime lab error, and prosecutorial misconduct. Over time, more wrongful convictions caused by these factors are overturned through the help of organizations such as the Innocence Project. With these increasing exonerations comes the increased needs of exonerated people. The previous literature has exemplified that exonerees have unique needs (Simms, 2016), but these needs are often not met by the compensation that is available (Chunias & Aufgang, 2008; Mandery et. al, 2013). This occurrence is problematic given that exonerees had to lose time (sometimes years or decades) behind bars and endure the pains of imprisonment all while knowing they were innocent and having to cope with that dichotomy. Prior research also recognizes the stigma that exonerees face: however, there are gaps in the research when determining the relationship between race and wrongful conviction (Smith & Hattery, 2011) as well as sex and wrongful conviction. The current study seeks to help fill those gaps and answer other questions regarding exonerations by assessing characteristics of exonerees including the following: race, sex, offense type, time spent incarcerated, whether or not DNA evidence helped to accomplish exoneration, and the location of the exoneree’s incarceration
Numerical investigation of time-integration schemes applicable to fluid-structure interaction
Get PDFIn many civil engineering applications the interaction between fluid and structures represents a crucial aspect for analysis and proper design. The simulation of this phenomenon requires the application of high-fidelity numerical methods. In the current work, the fluid and structural equations both utilize the same multistep or multistage schemes for temporal advancement. This requires the structural equations to be recast in state-space form. The implicit time-marching schemes studied in this thesis are limited to the Backward Differentiation Formula (BDF) schemes, Modified Extended-BDF schemes, and a Singly-Diagonal Implicit Runge-Kutta (SDIRK) method. Verification and validation of temporal and spatial order of accuracy are performed using a one-dimensional entropy wave for the fluid dynamics solution algorithm. Several benchmark problems are studied in detail, and results are tabulated and compared. Benchmark examples include the Sod\u27s shock tube problem, a moving cylinder piston configuration, and a fully coupled fluid-structure interaction problem in a mass-spring-damper system
Locating herbarium specimens in online digital repositories to be used in future retrospective analysis of metal pollutants from pre- and post-1960s in the most polluted city in the United States, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Get PDFHere we find and analyze herbarium specimens collected throughout the last 100 years from the greater Chattanooga area to future screen them for the presence and concentration of metals. Chattanooga was declared the most polluted city in America in 1969 from the years 1961-1965 due to unchecked industrial emissions. Factories, railroads, coal furnaces, and iron making were only a few of many industrial operations releasing metal particulates and toxicants into the atmosphere. Metals can be deposited atop plant surfaces or soil when they find a sink there. Living plants have been used to assess metal pollution concentrations, though assessing historical pollution concentrations with herbarium specimens has recently been shown to be a valuable tool to science as well. The aim of this study is to use online digital repositories (SERNEC portal link) of herbarium specimens to identify candidate specimens that may be used in the future to chronicle airborne metal concentrations in the greater Chattanooga area: Hamilton County, Tennessee (TN) as well as Walker, Dade, and Catoosa Counties, Georgia (GA). To be useful to a potential study of this kind, these specimens must meet the following parameters: there must be multiple specimens of each species from pre-, during, and post- 1960s; each specimen must have enough biological plant material to remove some without destroying the integrity of the specimen; and the species must be one with metal-accumulating properties or morphological characteristics that increase the chances of deposition upon the leaf surface
Digital twin model of two-arm collaborative robot for human arms motion simulation using reverse engineering
Get PDFThis study proposes a digital twin (DT) model for a two-arm collaborative robot that can be deployed to simulate human arm motions using the reverse engineering process. A collaborative robot named ABB Yumi – IRB14000 was considered for this study. The purpose of the experiment was to find the best version of the digital twin model by applying translation and rotation constraints in every part of the CAD model of the robot. After adding features to the robot part files, Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) format files were being created to assemble it in 3D world Editor for DT formation and a grid layout was created that contained the control panel of the collaborative model digital twin to connect it with the real world. Finally, a cyber-physical system (CPS) interface was built to replicate human motion. Deep reinforcement learning will be implemented using these two models for human motion simulation
Precursors and outcomes: A look at mental health in relation to homelessness
Get PDFThe homeless epidemic has reached new heights with over half a million individuals reporting experiencing homelessness in the past year alone. Mental health problems such as bipolar/mood disorders, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been found as predictors of homelessness. Mental health problems such as fear, anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideations have been identified as outcomes of experiencing homelessness. Treatment options follow either the housing-first or treatment-first model. Housing-first treatments yield better and longer-lasting results of housing stability and improved mental health than treatment-first services. A lack of proper funding and mental health problems were found to be barriers to treatment for homeless individuals. More focus on mental health problems as outcomes of homelessness, mixed-measure studies that include observations, and possible relationships between traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and assault experienced during homelessness are suggested for topics of future research
Corrosion modeling of magnesium-based medical implants
Get PDFBiodegradable metals have been under significant research as alternatives to the nonbiodegradable materials in the field of medical implants. In this scope, magnesium and its alloys were widely investigated due to their superior biocompatibility. However, magnesium is a highly active metal and has a high corrosion rate in aqueous environments especially body fluids. Considerable research was done to develop numerical models towards an inexpensive designing tool to assess the change of the implant’s geometry and mechanical strength during degradation. To the best of our knowledge, the effect of coating was not investigated before in the literature in terms of modeling the corrosion behavior. In this work, a 2D finite element model is introduced to calibrate a diffusion-controlled corrosion model in high purity magnesium whilst investigating the effect of adding the coating layer numerically. In vitro corrosion tests and solubility tests, were conducted to calibrate the model for the first time
Third person narrator for reader engagement craft paper with Courtesan witches creative writing
No full textThis creative writing thesis has two parts. Part 1 is a 10-page craft paper, “Third Person Narrator Craft Techniques for Reader Engagement: Kresley Cole versus George R.R. Martin.” The craft paper analyzes third person close narratives and the effect of craft techniques on reader engagement. It also compares and contrasts internal dialogue, close narrative and reliable versus unreliable narrators in Cole’s Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night and Martin’s Game of Thrones. By using a close narrative Cole creates an intimate paranormal romance where the reader becomes a character and narrator while Martin writes an epic fantasy where the reader watches a character developing into a narrator. Part 2 is a creative writing sample that includes 50-pages from Courtesan Witches, an alternative historical fiction about a female courtesan, whose mother burned at the stake and who thwarts King James I of England, an infamous witch hunter
Triptych 1
Get PDFThe goal of these three stories is to bear witness to American Christian life in the 21st century, to give weight and texture to the virtues and contradictions of what Cornel West called the most absurd and alluring mode of being in the world. Borrowing from the traditions of psychological realism, Christian existentialism, and American minimalism, these stories attempt to craft credible accounts of Christian belief and doubt. The stories follow a woman estranged from her family who begins caring for her ailing pastor; a young couple as they try to get back to the basics of their faith; and an older man who travels to Mexico in search of catharsis. Organized as a triptych, each story attempts to depict the tension embodied by the prayer, ”Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!
Improvement of pavement mechanistic-empirical design (PMED) virtual weather station interpolation model using radial basis function - Tennessee case study
Get PDFPavement Mechanistic Empirical Design (PMED) allows users to create Virtual Weather Stations (VWS) in locations where no nearby weather stations exist. VWS quality has faced several critiques through its implementations in PMED. PMED adopts the gravity model in its VWS creation process. MATLAB codes were used in comparing the error convergence of the gravity model interpolation technique and that by a Radial Basis Function (RBF). RBF interpolation showed very fast error convergence with the increase in number of interpolation data as compared to the gravity model. Contour plots emphasized the quality of interpolation where the RBF model produced well defined contours with a wider range of output than the gravity model. PMED software was used for further assessments of the quality of its VWS and RBF VWS considering climatic summary and pavement predicted distresses outputs. In most cases, the RBF VWS outperformed the current PMED VWS outputs