Academic literature on the topic 'US Engineering and Housing Support Center'

The Chilean earthquake and tsunami disaster of 27 February 2010 impacted 12 million people in 900 cities and towns, causing more than US$30 billion in losses. This paper considers how the national government responded to the challenges of coastal and urban reconstruction, and examines the actions taken in the housing, land use mitigation planning, insurance, and risk reduction management sectors. The Chilean government utilized a mixed decentralized model for recovery management with strong direction from the national-level ministries and subnational planning and housing efforts at the regional and municipal levels. The national recovery plan guiding principles are used in this paper as a framework for progress. In 12 months, a series of temporary shelter villages and a system of recovery housing subsidies were established; risk-based land use plans were conducted in various coastal areas; a finance plan was adopted; changes to the national emergency management agency were made; and rapid payment of insurance claims were completed. Conflicts did arise related to the speed of housing recovery support, expropriation of land sites as future tsunami protection barriers, and extent of public participation in recovery plan making.

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the vulnerability of disaster victims from the perspective of immobility, in contrast to the conventional perspective of mobility. What causes immobility in Japan? And how have immobile people been treated? In this article, I will attempt to answer these questions using some concrete examples. Immobile people have been recognized as “people requiring assistance during a disaster” (PRADD). This term helps us understand immobility in Japan. The Sanjou flood (2004) prompted the formulation of the “Guidelines for Evacuation Support of People Requiring Assistance during a Disaster.” The national government has encouraged local governments and residents to be prepared for a disaster using the guidelines. Nevertheless, preparations for disasters have not progressed very well. It was in this context that the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) occurred. During the GEJE, immobility raised the risk of death for PRADD due to the tsunami. After the tsunami, there were also PRADD who could not evacuate to shelters because they were anxious about how life would be there. Now many victims live in temporary housing. There will be people who cannot move to temporary housing in the future. It is likely that they will be mainly PRADD. These cases make it clear that immobility causes vulnerability to disasters. I will also provide an example of how mobility causes vulnerability in a disaster – a stranded commuter or person during the GEJE.

Executive Summary 1 This report analyzes the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), leveraging data from a national survey of resettlement stakeholders conducted in 2020. 2 The survey examined USRAP from the time that refugees arrive in the United States. Its design and questionnaire were informed by three community gatherings organized by Refugee Council USA in the fall and winter of 2019, extensive input from an expert advisory group, and a literature review. This study finds that USRAP serves important purposes, enjoys extensive community support, and offers a variety of effective services. Overall, the survey finds a high degree of consensus on the US resettlement program’s strengths and objectives, and close alignment between its services and the needs of refugees at different stages of their settlement and integration. Because its infrastructure and community-based resettlement networks have been decimated in recent years, the main challenges of subsequent administrations, Congresses, and USRAP stakeholders will be to rebuild, revitalize, and regain broad and bipartisan support for the program. This article also recommends specific ways that USRAP’s programs and services can be strengthened. Among the study’s findings: 3 Most refugee respondents identified USRAP’s main purpose(s) as giving refugees new opportunities, helping them to integrate, offering hope to refugees living in difficult circumstances abroad, and saving lives. High percentages of refugees reported that the program allowed them to support themselves soon after arrival (92 percent), helped them to integrate (77 percent), and has a positive economic impact on local communities (71 percent). Refugee respondents also reported that the program encourages them to work in jobs that do not match their skills and credentials (56 percent), does not provide enough integration support after three months (54 percent), does not offer sufficient financial help during their first three months (49 percent), and reunites families too slowly (47 percent). Respondents identified the following main false ideas about the program: refugees pose a security risk (84 percent), use too many benefits and drain public finances (83 percent), and take the jobs of the native-born (74 percent). Refugee respondents reported using public benefits to meet basic needs, such as medical care, food, and housing. Non-refugee survey respondents believed at high rates that former refugees (69 percent) and refugee community advocate groups (64 percent) should be afforded a voice in the resettlement process. Non-refugee respondents indicated at high rates that the program’s employment requirements limit the time needed for refugees to learn English (65 percent) and limit their ability to pursue higher education (59 percent). Eighty-six percent of non-refugee respondents indicated that the Reception and Placement program is much too short (56 percent) or a little too short (30 percent). Respondents identified a wide range of persons and institutions as being very helpful to refugees in settling into their new communities: these included resettlement staff, friends, and acquaintances from refugees’ country of origin, members of places of worship, community organizations led by refugees or former refugees, and family members. Refugee respondents identified finding medical care (61 percent), housing (52 percent), and a job (49 percent) as the most helpful services in their first three months in the country. Refugees reported that the biggest challenge in their first year was to find employment that matched their educational or skill levels or backgrounds. The needs of refugees and the main obstacles to their successful integration differ by gender, reflecting at least in part the greater childcare responsibilities borne by refugee women. Refugee men reported needing assistance during their first three months in finding employment (68 percent), English Language Learning (ELL) courses (59 percent), and orientation services (56 percent), while refugee women reported needing orientation services (81 percent) and assistance in securing childcare (64 percent), finding ELL courses (53 percent), and enrolling children in school (49 percent). To open-response questions, non-refugee respondents identified as obstacles to the integration of men: digital literacy, (lack of) anti–domestic violence training, the need for more training to improve their jobs, the new public benefit rule, transportation to work, low wages, the need for more mental health services, cultural role adjustment, and lack of motivation. Non-refugee respondents identified as obstacles to the integration of women: lack of childcare and affordable housing, the different cultural roles of women in the United States, lack of affordable driver’s education classes, a shortage of ELL classes for those with low literacy or the illiterate, digital literacy challenges, difficulty navigating their children’s education and school systems, transportation problems, poorly paying jobs, and lack of friendships with US residents. Non-refugee respondents report that refugee children also face unique obstacles to integration, including limited funding or capacity to engage refugee parents in their children’s education, difficulties communicating with refugee families, and the unfamiliarity of teachers and school staff with the cultures and backgrounds of refugee children and families. LGBTQ refugees have many of the same basic needs as other refugees — education, housing, employment, transportation, psychosocial, and others — but face unique challenges in meeting these needs due to possible rejection by refugees and immigrants from their own countries and by other residents of their new communities. Since 2017, the number of resettlement agencies has fallen sharply, and large numbers of staff at the remaining agencies have been laid off. As a result, the program has suffered a loss in expertise, institutional knowledge, language diversity, and resettlement capacity. Resettlement agencies and community-based organizations (CBOs) reported at high rates that to accommodate pre-2017 numbers of refugees, they would need higher staffing levels in employment services (66 percent), general integration and adjustment services (62 percent), mental health care (44 percent) and medical case management (44 percent). Resettlement agencies indicated that they face immense operational and financial challenges, some of them longstanding (like per capita funding and secondary migration), and some related to the Trump administration’s hostility to the program. Section I introduces the article and provides historic context on the US refugee program. Section II outlines the resettlement process and its constituent programs. Section III describes the CMS Refugee Resettlement Survey: 2020. Section IV sets forth the study’s main findings, with subsections covering USRAP’s purpose and overall strengths and weaknesses; critiques of the program; the importance of receiving communities to resettlement and integration; the effectiveness of select USRAP programs and services; integration metrics; and obstacles to integration. The article ends with a series of recommendations to rebuild and strengthen this program.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has committed significant resources toward eliminating homelessness among veterans as part of its health care mission. The VA Grant and Per Diem (GPD) program funds non-VA, community-based organizations to provide transitional housing and support services to veterans experiencing homelessness. During a disaster, GPD grantee organizations will be especially critical in ensuring the well-being of veterans residing in their programs. Recognizing the need to ensure continued access to this residential care, the VA GPD program implemented a disaster preparedness plan requirement for its grantee organizations in 2013. This study conducted semistructured interviews with leaders of 5 GPD grantee organizations, exploring their perceptions of the preparedness requirement, the assistance they would need to achieve desired preparedness outcomes, and their motivations toward preparedness. Organizations reported being extremely motivated toward improving their disaster preparedness, albeit often for reasons other than the new preparedness requirement, such as disaster risk or partnerships with local government. Two dominant themes in organizations’ identified needs were (1) the need to make preparedness seem as “easy and doable” as possible and (2) the desire to be more thoroughly integrated with partners. These themes suggest the need to develop materials specifically tailored to facilitate preparedness within the GPD nonprofit grantees, an effort currently being led by the VA’s Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center (VEMEC).

In urban planning, housing evaluation of residential areas plays a critical role in promoting economic efficiency. This study produced an evolutionary-based map through the combination of hybrid Multicriteria Decision Making (MCDM) and Geographical Information System (GIS) by assessing suitability of housing location. Suitable locations were modelled and determined with the present study from very low suitability to very high suitability. In the first stage, Fuzzy DEMATEL (the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) and Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolutionary Strategy (CMA-ES) under fuzzy conditions as a subjective and an objective (model-based) technique, respectively, were employed to find the weights of criteria which are critical part of decision making. In the second stage, housing evaluation map for these two approaches was drawn and their performances were classified and measured with WLC (Weighted Linear Combination) method. 29 criteria determined were prioritized as per judgment of urban planning and real estate experts for Fuzzy DEMATEL and CMA-ES. After having been coded to MATLAB for obtaining optimum weights in CMA-ES, all collected data for 160 houses were mapped as vectorial (positional) and transformed to raster (pixel) data by getting entered in ArcGIS 10.4 software. We achieved CMA-ES-WLC maximization values for 104 alternatives with (positive value) 65% performance, but we obtained FDEMATEL-WLC maximization values for 56 alternatives with (negative value) 35% performance. WLC values calculated with CMA-ES and FDEMATEL weights allowed us to conclude that the houses with the highest suitability in terms of investment are in Alpaslan, Köşk, and Melikgazi streets. The result shows that the methodology used in the application of this study performed in Turkey is an important and powerful technology in providing decision support for spatial planning.

A cleaner production demonstration study was developed in 1998 for the chemical industry by the Mexican Center for Cleaner Production with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project's objective was to develop cleaner production assessments for chemical plants by identifying and evaluating process and energy cleaner production opportunities for technical feasibility, economic benefit and environmental impact. Four plants in the chemical industry groups of inorganic and organic chemicals and plastic materials and synthetic resins were involved. The main results are: (1) a reduction of solid toxic residues in the organic chemicals plant of 3,474 kg/year with after-tax savings of US$ 318,304/year; (2) an increase in plant capacity of 56%, and 10% reduction in VOCs emissions in the plasticizers and epoxidated soybean oil plant with after-tax savings of US$ 2,356,000/year; (3) a reduction of 31,150 kg/year of ethylene oxide emissions with after-tax savings of US$ 17,750/year in the polyethylene glycol plant and (4) a reduction of CO2 emissions of 9.21% with after-tax savings of US$ 44,281/year in the inorganic chemicals plant. The principal areas for improvement in the chemical industry are process control and instrumentation, process design, maintenance programs and providing adequate utilities for the plants.

Using newspaper articles, government and charity reports and other secondary sources, this paper looks at the new problem of widespread homelessness brought about by the UK austerity economic policy after 2010. It assesse the growth of the problem due in particular to the re-engineering of welfare benefits. Looking at those who have fallen through the net, the paper focuses on the ability of local authorities to use the law to decline to support those presenting as homeless, including those released from prison. Addressing punitive measures taken by local authorities and law enforcement agencies, it highlights the difficulties faced by those targeted by such agencies. In the final section I look at two contrasting models of policy vis-à-vis homeless people – those in use in the United States and in Finland. The UK neither officially countenances homeless camps, as in the US, nor offers housing as a right, as in Finland. Drawing on an accusation made by Chris Glover in a December 2018 academic paper, I conclude that Friedrich Engels 1844 concept of social murder has been committed against thousands of people in an act of a term I coin as ‘Classism’. This act of class war against the most vulnerable has made many thousands more homeless and in precarious housing.

The paper reports on two results issued from a multidisciplinary research action exploring the motor synergies of anthropomorphic walking. By combining the biomechanical, neurophysiology, and robotics perspectives, it is intended to better understand human locomotion with the ambition to better design bipedal robot architectures. The motivation of the research starts from the simple observation that humans may stumble when following a simple reflex-based locomotion on uneven terrains. The rationale combines two well established results in robotics and neuroscience, respectively: passive robot walkers, which are very efficient in terms of energy consumption, can be modeled by a simple rotating rimless wheel; humans and animals stabilize their head when moving. The seminal hypothesis is then to consider a wheel equipped with a stabilized mass on top of it as a plausible model of bipedal walking. The two results presented in the paper support the hypothesis. From a motion capture data basis of twelve human walkers, we show that the motions of the feet are organized around a geometric center, which is the center of mass, and is surprisingly not at the hip. After introducing a ground texture model that allows us to quantify the stability performance of walker control schemes, we show how compass-like passive walkers are better controlled when equipped with a stabilized 2-degree-of-freedom moving mass on top of them. The center of mass and head then play complementary roles that define what we call the Yoyo-Man. Beyond the two results presented in the paper, the Yoyo-Man model opens new perspectives to explore the computational foundations of anthropomorphic walking.

Formulation of the problem. Prydniprovska State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture is a recognized educational and scientific center in the field of architecture and construction, which has outstanding traditions and achievements, realizes its mission in ensuring innovative development of Ukraine through infrastructure projects and programs, creation of fixed assets, housing and public construction. In 2020 Prydniprovska State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture celebrated its 90th anniversary. However, higher engineering and construction education in Yekaterinoslav − Dnipropetrovsk − Dnipro has more than 100 years: Yekaterinoslav Polytechnic Institute (1916−1921); Yekaterinoslav Evening Workers' Construction Technical School (1921−1930); Dnipropetrovsk Construction Institute (DCI, 1930−1935); Dnipropetrovsk Civil Engineering Institute (DCEI, 1935-1994); Prydniprovska State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture (PSACEA since 1994). The history of PSACEA is inextricably linked with the historical events in the country, as well as with the personalities - the rectors who headed the institution and directed its activities. The 30−60's – are the years of formation of the institution due to the hard work of DCI-DCEI and their leaders. In 1964, Reznichenko P.T. was appointed Rector of DCEI. The years of his leadership of the university (1964−1987) can be called the years of development during which the construction of infrastructure facilities was carried out – educational buildings, dormitories, swimming pool, scientific landfill and much more. Rector Bolshakov V.I., who headed DCEI − PSACEA for 31 years (from 1987 to 2018) is associated with the formation of PSACEA as a powerful scientific center of construction science. New socio-economic conditions require the modernization of all areas of PSACEA. The purpose of the article is to explore the ways of transformation of PSACEA into a center of modern architecture, science and technology, a green university. Conclusions. Further development of PSACEA should take place through the application and dissemination through engineering and research creative work of new knowledge, techniques and technologies, education of the younger generation in the spirit of humanism, promoting education, science and production with the support of government and civil society. The strategic goal of the academy is to become the leading architectural and construction university of Ukraine of European level of innovative type due to integration into the international scientific and educational space, preservation and development of traditions and achievements of DCEI−PSACEA school, creative application of world heritage in basic and applied research; to transform the academy into a “green” University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, the activities of which are based on the principles of sustainable development

Executive Summary1 This paper provides a statistical portrait of the US undocumented population, with an emphasis on the social and economic condition of mixed-status households - that is, households that contain a US citizen and an undocumented resident. It is based primarily on data compiled by the Center for Migration Studies (CMS). Major findings include the following: • There were 3.3 million mixed-status households in the United States in 2014. • 6.6 million US-born citizens share 3 million households with undocumented residents (mostly their parents). Of these US-born citizens, 5.7 million are children (under age 18). • 2.9 million undocumented residents were 14 years old or younger when they were brought to the United States. • Three-quarters of a million undocumented residents are self-employed, having created their own jobs and in the process, creating jobs for many others. • A total of 1.3 million, or 13 percent of the undocumented over age 18, have college degrees. • Of those with college degrees, two-thirds, or 855,000, have degrees in four fields: engineering, business, communications, and social sciences. • Six million undocumented residents, or 55 percent of the total, speak English well, very well, or only English. • The unemployment rate for the undocumented was 6.6 percent, the same as the national rate in January 2014.2 • Seventy-three percent had incomes at or above the poverty level. • Sixty-two percent have lived in the United States for 10 years or more. • Their median household income was $41,000, about $12,700 lower than the national figure of $53,700 in 2014 (US Census Bureau 2015). Based on this profile, a massive deportation program can be expected to have the following major consequences: • Removing undocumented residents from mixed-status households would reduce median household income from $41,300 to $22,000, a drop of $19,300, or 47 percent, which would plunge millions of US families into poverty. • If just one-third of the US-born children of undocumented residents remained in the United States following a mass deportation program, which is a very low estimate, the cost of raising those children through their minority would total $118 billion. • The nation's housing market would be jeopardized because a high percentage of the 1.2 million mortgages held by households with undocumented immigrants would be in peril. • Gross domestic product (GDP) would be reduced by 1.4 percent in the first year, and cumulative GDP would be reduced by $4.7 trillion over 10 years. CMS derived its population estimates for 2014 using a series of statistical procedures that involved the analysis of data collected by the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS). The privacy of all respondents in the survey is legally mandated, and, for the reasons listed in the Appendix, the identity of undocumented residents cannot be derived from the data. A detailed description of the methodology used to develop the estimates is available at the CMS website.3

The most common surgical procedure used to treat right ventricular heart failure is the Fontan procedure, which connects the superior vena cava and the inferior vena cava directly to the left and right pulmonary arteries bypassing the right atrium. Many studies have been performed to improve the Fontan procedure. Research has been done on a four-way connector that can both passively and actively improve flow characteristics of the junction between the Superior Vena Cava (SVC), Inferior Vena Cava (IVC), Left Pulmonary Artery (LPA) and Right Pulmonary Artery (RPA), using an optimized connector and dual propeller system. However, the configuration of these devices do not specify propeller motor placement and has a stagnation point in the center of the connector. This study focuses on creating a housing for the motor in the center of the connector to reduce the stagnation area and further stabilize the propellers. To do this, we created a program in ANSYS that utilizes the design-of-experiment (DOE) function to minimize power-loss and stagnation points in the connector for a given geometry. First, a CFD model is created to simulate the blood flow inside the connector with different housing geometries. The shape and size of the housing are used as parameters for the DOE process. In this study, an enhanced central composite design technique is used to discretize the design space. The objective functions in the DOE are red blood cell residence time and power loss. It was confirmed that the addition of the housing did decrease the size of the stagnation point. In fact, the housing added in stabilizing the flow through the connector by creating a more defined flow path. Because the flowrates from the IVC and SVC are not the same, the best configuration for the housing was found to be asymmetric along the axis of the pulmonary artery. While this is a continuation of previous studies, the creation of an optimized housing for the motors for the propellers makes implementation of the propeller idea more viable in a real life situation. The added stability of the propellers provided by the housing can also decrease the risk of propeller failure due to rotordynamic instability.

With the ever increasing heat dissipated by IT equipment housed in data centers it is becoming more important to project the changes that can occur in the data center as the newer higher powered hardware is installed. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software that is available has improved over the years and some CFD software specific to data center thermal analysis has been developed. This has improved the timeliness of providing some quick analysis of the effects of new hardware into the data center. But it is critically important that this software provide a good report to the user of the effects of adding this new hardware. And it is the purpose of this paper to examine a large cluster installation and compare the CFD analysis with environmental measurements obtained from the same site. This paper shows measurements and CFD analysis of high powered racks as high as 27 kW clustered such that heat fluxes in some regions of the data center exceeded 700 Watts/ft2 (7535 W/m2). This paper describes the thermal profile of a high performance computing cluster located in an IBM data center and a comparison of that cluster modeled with CFD software. The high performance Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) cluster, developed and manufactured by IBM, is code named ASC Purple. It is the World’s 3rd fastest supercomputer [1], operating at a peak performance of 77.8 TFlop/s. ASC Purple, which employs IBM pSeries p575, Model 9118, contains more than 12,000 processors, 50 terabytes of memory, and 2 petabytes of globally accessible disk space. The cluster was first tested in the IBM development lab in Poughkeepsie, NY and then shipped to Lawrence Livermore National Labs in Livermore, California where it was installed to support our national security mission. Detailed measurements were taken in both data centers of electronic equipment power usage, perforated floor tile airflow, cable cutout airflow, computer room air conditioning (CRAC) airflow, and electronic equipment inlet air temperatures and were report in Schmidt [2], but only the IBM Poughkeepsie results will be reported here along with a comparison to CFD modeling results. In some areas of the Poughkeepsie data center there were regions that did exceed the equipment inlet air temperature specifications by a significant amount. These areas will be highlighted and reasons given on why these areas failed to meet the criteria. The modeling results by region showed trends that compared somewhat favorably but some rack thermal profiles deviated quite significantly from measurements.

A typical industrial application of high temperature pumps involves handling of fluids up to 400 °C. This is critical for pump bearing housing, where thermal dissipation is not effective due to geometric configuration. Therefore, without any external cooling system, bearings and lubricating oil temperatures can exceed allowable values prescribed by both API 610 Reference Standard [1] and bearing manufacturer [2]. Particularly, for a overhung pump, when pumped fluid temperature is above 200 °C, external cooling system is necessary and water is usually used for this purpose. Consequently, water availability must be taken into account when considering pump’s location, which is particularly difficult in desert areas. From these considerations was the idea to enhance the heat transfer of the pump support, in order to avoid any need of cooling water. The problem has been dealt with numerical analysis and experimental tests. First, we have considered the original support in the most critical situation, the stand-by condition, where no forced convection (fan) is effective. From the results pertaining to currently used support, we have got the hints to improve heat transfer by a full redesign. Finally an experimental validation has been set up. The measures gained allow us to validate hypothesis taken into consideration in the numerical simulation.

This paper presents the follow-up work of research conducted by Milwaukee School of Engineering senior undergraduate students in South Africa under the second year of the Research Experiences for Undergraduates grant EEC-1460183 sponsored by the National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator Dr. Kumpaty). Elizabeth Paoli and Arianna Ziemer conducted research in summer of 2016 under advisement of Dr. Kumpaty and his South African collaborators, Dr. Esther Akinlabi and Dr. Sisa Pityana. Arianna extended the work of Mueller (reported in IMECE2016-65094), with 10% Mo in the combination of Ti64-Mo deposited on Ti64 substrate at a laser power of 1700 W for five scan speeds ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 m/min. It was observed that lower scan speeds produced elongated grains. Hardness and corrosion tests were also completed in her study. Elizabeth worked on varying the percent of Mo from layer to layer deposited (5%, 10%, 15%) and characterized these functionally graded samples for biomedical applications. Laser metal deposition was completed at the CSIR – National Laser Center, in Pretoria, South Africa and the material characterization was performed at the University of Johannesburg as in the previous year. An alumnus of MSOE, Peter Spyres was an important liaison for our international REU participants as he engaged them during the weekends in a cultural immersion which otherwise would not have been possible. While the research collaborators have generously provided support, it is the care taken by Peter’s remarkable household, which enhanced the beneficial value of this global research enterprise. The paper addresses yet another successful completion of the international Research Experiences for Undergraduates.

This paper details the ongoing research conducted by Milwaukee School of Engineering senior undergraduate students in South Africa under the third year of the Research Experiences for Undergraduates grant EEC-1460183 sponsored by the National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator Dr. Kumpaty). Andrew Gray and Kevin Sivak conducted research in summer of 2017 under advisement of Dr. Kumpaty and his South African collaborators, Dr. Esther Akinlabi, Dr. Mutiu Erinosho and Dr. Sisa Pityana. They extended the work of Paoli (reported in IMECE2017-71037), with varying percent of Mo (0–15%) in the combination of Ti64-Mo deposited on Ti64 substrate at laser powers of 1500 and 1700 W for a select scan speed. Laser metal deposition was completed at the CSIR – National Laser Center, in Pretoria, South Africa and the material characterization was performed at the University of Johannesburg as in the previous year. Hardness decreased with addition of Mo. Lowest hardness was observed in 10% Mo layers, and greater percent of Mo led some agglomeration issues due to its melting temperature being much higher than that of Ti64. Corrosion tests were also attempted. Etching challenges were present as percent of Mo varied in the same sample. Results are directly applicable to biomedical industry in evaluating functionally graded materials. An alumnus of MSOE, Peter Spyres served as a liaison for our international REU participants as he engaged them during the weekends in a cultural immersion which otherwise would not have been possible. Gray and Sivak were able to spend July 4th at the U.S. Consulate in Pretoria. While the research collaborators have generously provided support, it is the care taken by Peter’s remarkable household, which enhanced the beneficial value of this international research enterprise.

Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome is a type of congenital heart defect where the right ventricle is underdeveloped in an infant to pump blood from the body to the lungs. The three-staged surgical Fontan procedure provides a temporary treatment; however, in most of the cases, a heart transplantation is required due to postoperative complications. Currently, there are no devices commercially available in the market to provide a therapeutic assistance to these patients until a donor heart is available. Thus, a novel dual propeller pump concept is developed to provide cavopulmonary assistance to these patients. The designed blood pump would be percutaneously inserted via the Femoral vein and deployed at the center of the Total Cavopulmonary Connection (TCPC). The two propellers, each placed in the Superior Vena Cava (SVC) and the Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) are connected by a single shaft and rotating at same speed. The device is supported with the help of a self-expanding stent whose outer walls are anchored to the inner walls of the IVC and the SVC. Each of the IVC and the SVC propeller without the stent provides a modest pressure augmentation of 5–6 mm Hg. To expand on this, the current study focusses on studying the effect of the introduction of stent around the propeller on the hemodynamic performance of the pump. Five different stent design parameters, viz. the strut thickness, width, number, the stent length and number of strut columns were selected for a range of values. Each of the design parameters was varied by keeping all others constant and equal to the base stent design. All the stent models were analysed to see their effect on pressure rise, flow pattern and blood damage using 3D CFD analysis. The blood damage potential for different studied designs was predicted using a non-linear mathematical power law model along with Lagrangian particle tracking to predict the blood flow path. The introduction of stent resulted in pressure reduction of around 0.4 and 0.2 mm Hg around the IVC and SVC propeller with an increase in blood damage index (BDI) by almost 2 times for the final dual propeller pump assembly. It was observed that the blood damage potential was directly related to the amount of pressure rise where the stent length, stent column number, strut width, and strut thickness had a converse effect showing a reduction in pressure rise and blood damage with their increment. While the number of struts gave a desirable effect of increasing pressure rise and reducing blood damage with its increment. The study also demonstrated that the introduction of stent around a circulatory pump increases the Wall Shear Stress (WSS) value at the stent-artery wall interface thereby preventing the occurrence of restenosis and thrombosis initiating due to very low WSS (< 0.5 Pa). Thus, this study acts as an initial step to design a protective stent support around a percutaneous assist device by analysing the sensitivity of stent design parameters on the hemodynamic performance of the pump.

With the rapid advancement of computing technology, the paradigm of learning has been changed from the classroom environment to the web environment. The support software for e-learning is key to implementing such a web-based learning paradigm. In this paper, a general approach to construct an elearning software system is proposed and described. The approach is based on an analogy between e-learning and mass customization product design. In the case of mass customization product design, customers can participate in a product design and realization process regardless of temporal and spatial restrictions. In the case of e-learning, learners can access a virtual teaching center at any time and at any place. This analogy has further led us to exploit fruitful developments in computer software for mass customization, in particular, a so called web-based configuration design system through the constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) approach. This paper discusses both conceptual development and implementation. An illustration is given for implementation.

The EcoCAR 3 competition is the latest iteration of the Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions sponsored by General Motors (GM) and the Department of Energy (DOE). The competition involves 16 universities from the US and Canada and requires the teams to design, develop, and implement a hybrid Chevrolet Camaro from the platform of GM’s choosing. The Colorado State University (CSU) team is a unique participant in this competition because it implements the program as a subset of the Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering senior capstone courses. The advantages of this arrangement are that EcoCAR 3 can leverage course deliverables to achieve EcoCAR 3 objectives, and that students can receive credit for their efforts in support of the EcoCAR 3 program. The challenges with this approach center around having two sets of deliverables (competition and academic) on overlapping timelines with shared resources. These challenges must be resolved through project management activities to successfully meet all of the deadlines and requirements of each program.

Pressure ulcers are a serious reoccurring complication among wheelchair users with impaired mobility and sensation. It is postulated that external mechanical loading, specifically on bony prominences, is a major contributing factor in pressure ulcer formation. Prevention strategies mainly center on reducing the magnitude and duration of external forces acting upon the body. Seat cushion technologies for reducing pressure ulcer prevalence often employ soft materials and customized cushion geometries. Air cell arrays used in time-based pressure modulation techniques are seen as a promising alternative; however, this approach could be further enhanced by adding real-time pressure profile mapping to enable automated pressure modulation customizable for each user’s condition. The work presented here describes the development of a prototype support surface and pressure modulation algorithm which can monitor interface pressure as well as automatically offload and redistribute concentrated pressure. This prototype is comprised of arrays of sensorized polymeric soft air cell actuators which are modulated by a pneumatic controller. Each actuator’s pressure can be changed independently which results in a change to the interface pressure allowing us to offload targeted regions and provide local adjustment for redistribution. The pressure mapping, redistribution, and offloading capabilities of the prototype are demonstrated using pressure modulation algorithms described here.

The performance of military ground vehicle systems is being degraded due to high operation tempo and exposure to extreme environments while performing in-theater service. To address this issue, the US Army is implementing a policy of Condition Based Maintenance which is supported by the Army Material System Analysis Activity (AMSAA). The vision of this policy is to base the maintenance of systems upon the actual condition of the system and not upon time- or distance-based schedules. This capability will be enabled by the application of usage, diagnostic and prognostic processes executed on a Health and Usage Monitoring System (HUMS) installed on these vehicle systems. A thorough understanding of the ways in which the system condition is degenerated and the ability of the HUMS to detect, identify, and communicate all conditions that require maintenance in a timely manner are key requirements of these processes. Seeded Fault Testing is the critical means of fulfilling these requirements. A joint Seeded Fault Testing project between AMSAA and the US Army Aberdeen Test Center (ATC) has been initiated to gain a thorough understanding of ground vehicle system condition degeneration and HUMS implementation of products and processes that can accurately identify and communicate it. A military vehicle underwent exhaustive testing in support of this project. The vehicle was subjected to specific use scenarios while carefully controlled faults are induced in engine, transmission, and other key mechanical subsystems that would degrade vehicle performance and degenerate system condition. The vehicle’s induced faults included lowered coolant levels to simulate leakage, restriction of air flow across radiators and filters to simulate dust and debris accumulation, and lowered transmission and engine oil levels to simulate leakage and usage. The objective of this project was to use the results from the seeded fault tests to establish critical thresholds, trends, and patterns that will be the basis of the creation and implementation of real-time HUMS-based algorithms that predict faults, warn operators and maintainers of imminent failures, and provide a sound foundation for Condition Based Maintenance.

Calculating scour potential in a stream or river is as much a geomorphological art as it is an exact science. The complexity of stream hydraulics and heterogeneity of river-bed materials makes scour predictions in natural channels uncertain. Uncertain scour depths near high-hazard flood-risk zones and flood-risk management structures lead to over-designed projects and difficult flood-risk management decisions. This Regional Sediment Management technical report presents an approach for estimating scour by providing a decision framework that future practitioners can use to compute scour potential within a riverine environment. This methodology was developed through a partnership with the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Hydrologic Engineering Center, and St. Paul District in support of the Lower American River Contract 3 project in Sacramento, CA.