Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
Browse
3 results
Search Results
Item Detailed Measurements of Fire-Induced Mixing Phenomena(2014) Layton, Thomas George; Marshall, Andre W; Fire Protection Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study successfully validated the use of salt-water analog modeling as an effective diagnostic tool for predicting fire-induced flows. A technique was developed for taking measurements using combined Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), and results were analyzed with respect to smoke filling as well as transient ceiling layer dynamics, and turbulent mixing intensity. Data was shown to be in good agreement with theory, further validating the salt-water analogy as a tool for diagnostics, prediction, and scaling of fire phenomena.Item An Analysis of Vehicle Fires and Potential Methods to Reduce Their Severity Through More Stringent Material Standards(2008-06-17) Patronik, Evan; Mowrer, Frederick; Fire Protection Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In the United States, more than 1 in every 12 fire fatalities occurs in a passenger road vehicle; vehicle fires claim roughly 1200 injuries, $1.3 billion in property loss, and 490 lives annually. Very little progress has been made over the last several decades to confront the hazards of vehicle fires, but recently researchers and standards organizations have begun addressing these challenges. A literature review of the progress made and methods of reducing fire severity through technologies and standards was conducted. NFPA 556 is one proposed standard aimed at mitigating the hazards to occupants of vehicle fires; it was used to analyze the fire retardancy of a new, fire-resistant acoustic insulation material through small, bench, and large-scale testing. The feasibility of the use of this material in new vehicles for the reduction of losses was assessed through a cost-benefit analysis. Upon review of the results, it was determined that the new insulation did not pass all the requirements of NFPA 556. However, the standard does include stringent requirements, so the improved performance of the material should not be underappreciated. Based on the literature search and experiments, this standard, in combination with other fire protection technologies, provides a basis for improved vehicle fire safety.Item THE EFFECTS OF LOSS AVERSION ON TRADE POLICY: THEORY AND EVIDENCE(2005-05-25) Tovar Rodriguez, Patricia; Limao, Nuno; Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)We study the implications of loss aversion for trade policy determination and show how it allows us to explain a number of important and puzzling features of trade policy. An important question concerning trade policy is why a disproportionate share of protection goes to declining industries. We show that if individuals' preferences exhibit loss aversion, higher protection will be given to sectors in which profitability is declining. In addition, by making lobby formation endogenous, we show that an industry will be more likely to become organized and lobby for protection if it has a loss. We also show that if the coefficient of loss aversion is large enough, there will be an anti-trade bias in trade policy. The anti-trade bias refers to the fact that trade policy tends to favor import-competing sectors and thus restricts rather than expands trade, and is considered an important puzzle in the literature. Our lobby formation predictions also reinforce the anti-trade bias result. We use a nonlinear regression procedure to estimate the parameters of the model and test its predictions. We find support for the model and the estimates of the loss aversion parameters are very close to those obtained by Kahneman and Tversky (1992) using experimental data. Protection is found to be more responsive to losses than to gains, and the estimates of the coefficient of loss aversion are about 2. The results are also consistent with diminishing sensitivity to income changes for both gains and losses, a prediction that distinguishes loss aversion from risk aversion. In order to test some predictions on the lobbying side, we estimate an equation on political organization and find evidence of loss aversion in lobby formation. Finally, but importantly, we find that the data favors our model over the current leading political economy model of trade protection, due to Grossman and Helpman (1994).