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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Events for July 27, 2011
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Meet USC: Admission Presentation, Campus Tour, & Engineering Talk
Wed, Jul 27, 2011
Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission
Receptions & Special Events
This half day program is designed for prospective freshmen and family members. Meet USC includes an information session on the University and the Admission process; a student led walking tour of campus and a meeting with us in the Viterbi School. Meet USC is designed to answer all of your questions about USC, the application process and financial aid. Reservations are required for Meet USC. This program occurs twice, once at 8:30 a.m. and again at 12:30 p.m. Please visit https://esdweb.esd.usc.edu/unresrsvp/MeetUSC.aspx to check availability and make an appointment. Be sure to list an Engineering major as your "intended major" on the webform!
Location: Ronald Tutor Campus Center (TCC) - USC Admission Office
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admission
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Oral Defense: Diffraction of Anti-Plane (SH) Waves by Surface Elliptical Topographies in an Elastic Half-Space
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Alongkorn Amornwongpaibun, CEE Ph.D. Candidate
Abstract: The exact, analytic solutions to various two-dimensional semi-elliptical hill models subjected to incident plane SH waves in an elastic half-space are presented These require the technique of angular half-range expansion in elliptical coordinate to deal with mixed-boundary condition arisen during mathematical implementation of all hill models; the traction-free boundary condition at the surface of the elliptical hill and the continuity of displacement and stress at the interface.
In the study we found out that the existence of a hill results in complex pattern of surface displacement. For nearly grazing angle, a hill shields the propagating waves, resulting in a standing wave pattern in the coming direction and the focusing of the amplitude at the far edge of the hill. In addition the presence of full-elliptical tunnels resulted in more prominent standing waves, and amplitudes of ground motion in the neighborhood of unity or less on the far end may be monitored. We discovered that the presence of a full-elliptical tunnel amplifies maximum displacement by 30%-70% from corresponding value of reference (inexistence of a tunnel) for the horizontal incidence and de-amplifies maximum displacement in the range of 1%-15% for the vertical incidence.
In contrast to the full-elliptical tunnel model, horizontal incidences are able to slip underneath semi-tunnels. The weaker standing waves on the left side and weaker shadow zones associated with high jumps of the displacement amplitude at the far edge of the hill are observed. However, when the incident waves are nearly vertical, the stronger shielding effect due to semi-elliptical tunnels than to full-elliptical ones are detected. It could be said that the hinder efficiency of an elliptical tunnel depends on the direction of wave passage. In general the tunnel becomes better obstruction when the incidence is propagating normal to its major axis.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 345
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Oral Defense Dissertation
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Payam Pakbin, ENE Ph.D. Candidate
Talk Title: Investigation of Physico-Chemical Characteristics of Size-segregated Particulate Matter in a Metropolitan Environment and Their Impact on Air Quality in Southern California
Abstract:
Numerous epidemiological studies have associated the adverse respiratory and cardiovascular effects to atmospheric particulate matter (PM) exposure. There is ample literature providing evidence of adverse effects for all inhalable particle size ranges, however the biological mechanisms responsible for the toxicity of PM are still uncertain. Due to the lack of data about how different PM components act in a complex mixture, it is not possible to precisely quantify the contributions from the main sources and components to the effects on human health.
Thus, PM in health impact assessments is usually regarded as a uniform pollutant, regardless of the contribution from different sources, and assuming the same effect on morality. This is probably not a correct assumption, but is a pragmatic compromise while waiting for sufficient knowledge that will allow the use of indicators other than particle mass. As a result linking the toxicity of PM with several of its chemical components has been the focus of considerable research over the past decade. The associations between health endpoints with the hundreds of potentially toxic chemical species and PM characteristics may be daunting and not cost efficient. Therefore it is desirable to focus on the casualty of the few critical chemical components that current science supports as potentially the most harmful to human health. Such information will allow for more effective regulatory control strategies, more targeted air quality standards, and as a result, reductions in population exposure to the most harmful types of airborne PM.
The current particulate matter emission standards are based on PM mass only. However, the prevailing scientific opinion contends that PM mass is a surrogate measure of other physical and chemical properties of PM that are the actual causes of the observed health effects. In this study we focus on the PM components that are not currently regulated, while there is ample evidence that they can cause hazardous health outcomes.
The effect of the new after-treatment technologies on the composition of the remaining organic compounds, including the semi-volatile organic carbon (SVOC) fraction, is studied. While the association of adverse health effects with SVOC compounds has been reasonably well documented, the exact mechanisms by which SVOC compounds inflict health effects remain largely unknown. Therefore a new technology is developed that makes it possible to conduct toxicity and inhalation exposure studies separately to PM and vapor phase SVOC to investigate the degree to which health effects attributable to these pollutants are affected by their phases. In addition, in regards of PM10 standards, coarse PM emissions are usually from hard to control sources like windblown soil and dust, brake lining abrasion, tire wear and bioaerosols, therefore control of fine PM emissions is easier to achieve in order to meet PM10 standards. Coarse and fine PM have substantially different sources and sinks, and as a result different chemical composition, which would lead to potentially different health outcomes. Moreover, the available CPM mass concentration data is much more limited compared to ambient PM2.5 mass concentration data and hence significantly less is quantitatively known about the characteristics of CPM. In order to study the physical, chemical and toxicological characteristics of CPM in Los Angeles Basin, 10 distinct measurement sites were employed to sample the CPM for an entire year, in order to provide a much needed database of coarse PM characteristics in the Los Angeles basin, providing the seasonal and spatial variations over a variety of urban and semi-rural areas during one year of sampling period.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209 Conference Room
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
