Browsing ETDs: Virginia Tech Electronic Theses and Dissertations by Author "Abaid, Nicole"
Now showing items 1-20 of 33
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Active Flight Path Control for an Induced Spin Flight Termination System
(Virginia Tech, 2017-09-12)In this thesis, we describe a method for controlling the cycle-averaged velocity direction of a fixed-wing aircraft in an unpowered, helical descent. While the aircraft propulsion system is disabled, either intentionally ... -
Adaptive Predictor-Based Output Feedback Control of Unknown Multi-Input Multi-Output Systems: Theory and Application to Biomedical Inspired Problems
(Virginia Tech, 2016-06-03)Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) is a technique that applies electrical currents to nervous tissue in order to actively induce muscle contraction. Recent research has shown that FES provides a promising treatment ... -
Analysis of Bat Biosonar Beampatterns: Biodiversity and Dynamics
(Virginia Tech, 2017-01-24)Across species, bats exhibit wildly disparate differences in their noseleaf and pinnae shapes. Within Rhinolophid and Hipposiderid families, bats actively deform their pinnae and noseleaf during biosonar operation. Both ... -
Bat swarming as an inspiration for multi-agent systems: predation success, active sensing, and collision avoidance
(Virginia Tech, 2016-02-22)Many species of bats primarily use echolocation, a type of active sensing wherein bats emit ultrasonic pulses and listen to echoes, for guidance and navigation. Swarms of such bats are a unique type of multi-agent systems ... -
Closed Loop Control of Muscle Contraction using Functional Electrical Stimulation
(Virginia Tech, 2016-02-05)A promising approach to treat patients with vocal fold paralysis using electrical stimulation is investigated throughout this research work. Functional Electrical Stimulation works by stimulating the atrophied muscle or ... -
Compressible Lubrication Theory in Pressurized Gases
(Virginia Tech, 2019-04-08)Lubrication theory plays a fundamental role in all mechanical design as well as applications to biomechanics. All machinery are composed of moving parts which must be protected against wear and damage. Without effective ... -
Crossing the Air-Water Interface: Inspiration from Nature
(Virginia Tech, 2018-06-01)This dissertation aims to contribute toward the understanding of water-entry and -exit behaviors in nature. Since water is nearly a thousand times denser than air, transitioning between the two mediums is often associated ... -
Dynamic Emission Baffle Inspired by Horseshoe Bat Noseleaves
(Virginia Tech, 2016-03-04)The evolution of bats is characterized by a combination of two key innovations - powered flight and biosonar - that are unique among mammals. Bats still outperform engineered systems in both capabilities by a large margin. ... -
Dynamical Phase-Change Phenomena
(Virginia Tech, 2019-06-28)Matter on earth exists mostly in three different phases of solid, liquid, and gas. With extreme amounts of energy, temperature, or pressure, a matter can be changed between the phases. Six different types of phase-change ... -
Dynamics of Multi-Agent Systems with Bio-Inspired Active and Passive Sensing
(Virginia Tech, 2020-10-22)Active sensors, such as radar, lidar and sonar, emit a signal into the environment and gather information from its reflection. In contrast, passive sensors such as cameras and microphones rely on the signals emitted from ... -
The Dynamics of Non-Equilibrium Gliding in Flying Snakes
(Virginia Tech, 2018-03-13)This dissertation addresses the question, how and why do 'flying' snakes (Chrysopelea) undulate through the air? Instead of deploying paired wings or wing-like surfaces, flying snakes jump, splay their ribs into a bluff-body ... -
Dynamics of smart materials in high intensity focused ultrasound field
(Virginia Tech, 2020-05-06)Smart materials are intelligent materials that change their structural, chemical, mechanical, or thermal properties in response to an external stimulus such as heat, light, and magnetic and electric fields. With the increase ... -
EEG-Based Control of Working Memory Maintenance Using Closed-Loop Binaural Stimulation
(Virginia Tech, 2018-05-17)The brain is a highly complex network of nonlinear systems with internal dynamic states that are not easily quantified. As a result, it is essential to understand the properties of the connectivity network linking disparate ... -
Effects of Echolocation Calls on the Interactions of Bat Pairs using Transfer Entropy Analysis
(Virginia Tech, 2020-06-02)Many animal species, including many species of bats, exhibit collective behavior where groups of individuals coordinate their motion. Most bats are unique among these animals in that they use the active sensing mechanism ... -
Electroelastic Modeling and Testing of Direct Contact Ultrasonic Clothes Drying Systems
(Virginia Tech, 2020-07-06)Energy efficient appliances and devices are becoming increasingly necessary as emissions from electricity production continue to increase the severity of global warming. Many of such appliances have not been substantially ... -
Evaluation of a Simple Model for the Acoustics of Bat Swarms
(Virginia Tech, 2016-09-15)Bats using their biosonar while flying in dense swarms may face significant bioacoustic challenges, in particular mutual sonar jamming. While possible solutions to the jamming problem have been investigated multiple times ... -
An Exploration of Attunement in Counselor Education
(Virginia Tech, 2018-05-02)Experiences of attunement, a deeply felt and embodied state of consciousness that results from tuning in to oneself, others, events, energies, and the environment, are the basis for realization of innate human capacities ... -
Fluid Dynamics in Liquid Entry and Exit
(Virginia Tech, 2017-10-05)Interaction between a solid body and a liquid-air interface plays an important role in multiphase flows, which includes numerous engineering applications such as mineral flotation, dip coating operations, and air-to-sea ... -
Full Field Reconstruction Enhanced With Operational Modal Analysis and Compressed Sensing for General Dynamic Loading
(Virginia Tech, 2021-06-09)In most applications, the structure components have to be tested under different loading conditions before being placed in operation. A reliable and low cost measuring technique is desirable. However, most currently employed ... -
Geometrical Investigation on Escape Dynamics in the Presence of Dissipative and Gyroscopic Forces
(Virginia Tech, 2020-03-18)This dissertation presents innovative unified approaches to understand and predict the motion between potential wells. The theoretical-computational framework, based on the tube dynamics, will reveal how the dissipative ...
