The elastic and inelastic responses of the force-excited single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) systems are investigated from the gross characteristics of forcing functions such as the frequency content, the integrals and the amplitudes. The studies are carried out initially with simple version of force-excitation and then, using progressively complicated ...

This thesis deals with the effects of soil-structure interaction, both kinematic and inertial, on the responses of seismically excited rectangular foundations and simple structures supported on such foundations. The ground motion considered is defined stochastically by a local power spectral density function and a spatial incoherence function. The ...

The settling velocity of aggregates found in engineered water and wastewater treatment facilities are usually assumed to follow Stokes' law. These particles, however, are typically porous and may be fractal in nature. As a result, they have very different sedimentation characteristics. This study focuses on the comparison of several techniques used ...

Many finite-dimensional minimization problems and nonlinear equations can be solved using Secant Methods. In this thesis, we present a historical development of the (n + 1)-point Secant Method tracing its evolution back before Newton's Method. Many believe the Secant Method arose out of the finite difference approximation of the derivative in Newton's ...

A high-resolution 3D P-wave velocity model of the mantle beneath eastern Asia was obtained through performing seismic travel-time tomography by using recently emerging new datasets. An improved relocation method that accounts for correlated travel-time errors among similar ray paths was applied to reduce location bias caused by unmodeled heterogeneities. ...

We present the methods used to add continuum element functionality to the structure side of our Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) solver. The FSI solver, already capable of handling the interaction between membrane structure elements and fluid elements, can now accurately simulate fully 3D structure models as well. A few simple test calculations are ...

This thesis studies the performance of multistage interconnection networks (MINs) using execution-driven simulation. The networks were studied with varying network configurations, numbers of inputs and outputs of the network switches, sizes of the switch buffers, switch transmission and arbitration delays, bus sizes in the case of a hybrid switch-bus ...

Using immunocytochemical and electrophysiological methods, the effects of mutations in the structural gene for a calcium activated potassium channel, slowpoke (slo), in Drosophila melanogaster were studied. Anti-horseradish peroxidase was used to visualize the branching of the nerves innervating the body wall muscles. No differences are observed ...

As previously shown in many other photoreceptors, during prolonged exposure to light, receptor sensitivity (mv/photon catch) declines and the speed of the response (rate of depolarization and rate of repolarization) increases. The functional significance of internal and external calcium in these changes were examined in the crayfish. We show that the ...

A model for simulation of laser produced plasmas that couples absorbed energy, plasma dynamics and radiation pressure was developed. The unusual experimental result of spectral narrowing of reflected laser pulses was attributed to deceleration of the critical (reflective) electron density surface due to the radiation pressure. A mechanism different ...