Digital Commons Network^™

Impact Of Viscoelastic Properties Of Low Loss Printed Circuit Boards (Pcbs) On Reliability Of Wcsp Packages Under Drop Test, Akshay Boovanahally Lakshminarayana

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses

Reliability of electronic packages is a major concern as different failure modes are induced due to factors such as temperature loads, mechanical stresses, humidity, corrosion and so on. Finite element analysis (FEA) is often performed to assess reliability under different loading conditions such as thermal cycling, drop testing, power cycling and vibrational loads. Having accurate material property data is one of the key requirements to perform successful FEA study, and a significant amount of time and money is spent to perform accurate material characterizations. Lump modeling approach, where components are represented by a block and assigned effective properties, is commonly …

Experimental Study Of Dynamic Cooling Of Racks Using Flow Control Devices, Fnu Akash

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses

A data center is a cluster of multiple servers that a company uses to store and process large amounts of data. Due to never-ending demands, the processor densities are increasing every day. A higher processor density would result in the servers heating up more than it would normally creating a need for an efficient cooling system. On an average a water-cooled system would consume up to 40% of the total power required by a data center. Studies are being conducted on improving the overall efficiency of the system by either improving the thermal properties of the system or by improving …

Modeling, Fabrication, And Characterization Of Porous Inconel 718 Structures Using Selective Laser Melting Process, Srihari Srivathsan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses

Bio-inspired cellular structures are of great interest these days for many applications, from engineering research to industries. Honeycomb, Body-Centered Cubic with/without Z-struts (BCC-Z/ BCC), Face Centered Cubic with/without Z-struts (FCC-Z/ FCC), and Triply Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS) such as Gyroid, Diamond, and Schwartz lattices are the most common bio-inspired lattice structures. These structures can be tailored based on their structural organization resulting in superior materials with lightweight properties, adequate strength, and low stiffness. Thankfully, additive manufacturing (AM) has made the fabrication of these complex cellular materials realistic. However, the use of AM could lead to several defects, such as damaged …

Cfd Analysis On Liquid Cooled Cold Plate Using Copper Nanoparticles, Sarthak Agarwal

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses

In today’s world, most data centres have multiple racks with numerous servers in each of them. The high amount of heat dissipation has become the largest server-level cooling problem for the data centres. The higher dissipation required, the higher is the total energy required to run the data centre. Although still the most widely used cooling methodology, air cooling has reached its cooling capabilities especially for High-Performance Computing data centres. Liquid-cooled servers have several advantages over their air-cooled counterparts, primarily of which are high thermal mass, lower maintenance and eventually lower costs by maintenance by labour. Nano-fluids have been used …

Robust, Time-Critical, Evidence-Based Adaptive Data Fusion, Mohammad Amin Javadi

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations

Sensors have become inevitable part of many studies and working areas ranging from navigation, transportation and medical applications. A sensor can help a user in a variety of situations including dangerous, inaccessible, time and money-consuming circumstances. Applying multiple sensors simultaneously allows for improving the accuracy of measurement estimates for system states. As an example, a part of this study uses a GPS sensor to increase the accuracy of the position estimation obtained by an IMU in an indoor environment. The same GPS device with position outputs can also be studied to provide a new measuring dimension such as velocity. This …

Identifying And Addressing Improvement Opportunities In Primary Care Clinics, Mozhdeh Sadighi

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations

ABSTRACT: The main aim of this dissertation is to study how unrecognized opportunities for improving efficiency of in-person patient visits in a primary care clinic can be identified and addressed. To fulfill this goal, the research is divided into three distinct but related sections. Section one, with the most holistic view, uses a combination of scientific and rigorous methods along two research paths and, as a result, explores two opportunities for improvement in the clinic. These opportunities are high patient waiting time and unbalanced workload. Sections two and three each focus on underlying conditions driving one of these two opportunities. …

Mathematical Modeling Approaches In Sustainable Food Supply Chains, Amin Gharehyakheh

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations

Access to high quality and safe food is vital for sustainable development in societies. Perishable foods lose a major portion of their quality after harvesting until the consumption point due to poor storage and distribution conditions. Thus, improvements in food supply chain operations are very critical in the sustainable development of society and the industry. The first part of this dissertation seeks to find a cost-effective and reliable tool to monitor the quality loss and implementation of the least shelf life first-out inventory management policy in food banks. Application of the Gompertz model and Arrhenius equation based on time-temperature data …

International Compensation: An Examination Of The Relationship Between Societal Culture And Preferred Compensation Policies, Divyanshu Vardhan V. Sharma

Management Theses

In my thesis, I review the research literature on the influence of national culture on reward preferences and compensation practices. I first review the major models of culture used to examine reward practices and then detail the convergence and divergence debate in international management by highlighting constraining forces in the host and home business environment that lead to standardization or localization. Finally, I review the research on cultural dimensions and preferred compensation practices and propose an integrative model.I conclude that culture is one of the many macro-variables that influence international compensation decisions and argue that the adaption of compensation practices …

Black Skin, White Money: The Transatlantic Propaganda Campaign To Recolonize West Africa, 1786 - 1863, Daniel Jason Degges

History Dissertations

Previous scholarship has mostly left the story of recolonization of former slaves and Free People of Color to West Africa in the dustbin of history. These studies also have artificially separated the multiple failed attempts into the story of either Sierra Leone or Liberia. This dissertation, for the first time, looks comprehensively and comparatively at the transatlantic propaganda campaign that accompanied each wave of support and resulting failures and the part it played in the success of the abolition movement. Ever marching westward from its London roots, recolonization’s boosters repeatedly tried to build on an imagined community that had little …

The Effect Of Crime On Ridership, An In-Depth Analysis Of How Transit Station Neighborhood Characteristics Prevent Crime And Encourage Ridership, Sahar Esfandyari

Public Affairs Dissertations

Factors influencing public transit ridership have been widely explored in recent decades. While planners believe that density and mixed land use around transit stations will increase public transit ridership, criminology studies claim that transit stations and their surrounding environments are more prone to criminal activities due to high levels of movement and interaction between unknown persons. This study aims to investigate the impact of crime on Light Rail Transit (LRT) ridership. Using the geo-locating technique, this study analyzes the spatial distribution of crimes in the half- mile buffer around stations in six Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs): Dallas, Miami, Salt Lake …

Special Topics In Natural Languague Processing: Mwe Indentification, Opinion Question Answering And Summarization, Aishwarya Ashok

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations

Natural Language Processing (NLP) is the use of computers for the analysis of text. The approaches used to solve problems in NLP has transitioned from human tagging to statistical methods and currently many of the approaches make use of techniques from Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Some of the text-based problems in NLP include question answering, summarization, and text-based recommendation systems. The amount of text data that is available is increasing by the day. With the growing size of text data, the research in NLP needs more sophisticated methods than traditional statistical methods. Current day approaches make use …

Rational Expectations Or Behaviorally Inefficient Markets, Arati Devendra Kale

Finance and Real Estate Dissertations

In this dissertation, I examine the rational investment hypothesis, postulated by classical theories, in mutual fund and portfolio management settings. My first two essays focus on mutual fund investors. I study whether mutual fund investors display racial or ethnic prejudices, which can be observed by mutual fund flows. I hand-collect data on characteristics of mutual fund managers in addition to their names and photographs. I use machine learning algorithms from computer science literature to calculate the probabilistic race from photographs and the probabilistic ethnicity from names. In my third essay, I construct a portfolio comprising of the small growth firms …

The Geography Of Creative Clusters And Firm Productivity: Empirical Evidence From 20 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (Msas) In The United States, Tahereh Granpayehvaghei

Public Affairs Dissertations

The burgeoning research on creative clusters and an increased rate of municipal investment in creative policymaking are becoming dominant global trends. Yet, the factors that help foster creative-friendly communities and how much they relate to creative firm productivity remain insufficiently understood. This dissertation is a step forward in our knowledge of the geography and typology of creative clusters and their association with productivity in the United States. In this research, creative clusters refer to meaningful and statistically significant agglomerations of creative firms. This research demonstrates that creative clusters have an “urban nature” in most cases, meaning that there is a …

Exploring The Determinants Behind The Mode Preference For And Frequency Of Use Of App-Based, On-Demand Ride Services And Fixed-Route Transit Services By Transit-Dependent Populations, Farokh Bagheri

Public Affairs Dissertations

In recent decades, the development of diverse types of transportation systems to meet the needs of people in all parts of a country is a trend in urban development that is in line with interest in the sustainable development of communities. This development has prompted transportation policymakers to adopt policies to improve the transportation conditions of the community, while citizens, in the face of these policies, make decisions in choosing the type of transportation system that is possible, and may be different from the policy makers' management programs. Therefore, paying attention to people's views and their awareness of their preferences …

Food Affordability: Sustainable Food Center Increasing Food Access Through Double Dollars Incentive, Codie Freeman

Public Affairs Theses

Food barriers have become a growing problem for many communities due to lower access to healthy foods. Not having access to healthy foods has been linked to health problems rising in communities. There are several food barriers including affordability of food that causes individuals of low-income groups to struggle to gain access to fruits and vegetables. Communities across the world have been creating and implementing new policies and programs in order to reduce the geographic and monetary barriers to increase food access. The Sustainable Food Center has been utilizing their Double Dollars Program to help lower income families who are …

Distributed Optimal Policies For Multi-Agent Systems Under Uncertainties, Mushuang Liu

Electrical Engineering Dissertations

Multi-agent systems (MAS) have attracted increasing attention in the past years due to their wide applications in mobile robots, sensor networks, autonomous driving systems, etc. Along with this trend, developing distributed optimal policies for MAS under uncertainties has become indispensable. Multi-dimensional uncertainties often modulate system dynamics in a complicated fashion, which leads to computational challenges for real-time control. In many practical MAS, each agent also has its own interest to optimize beyond a global objective. Developing distributed optimal control for agents with self-interests is needed. To address the above challenges, this dissertation contributes in two major directions for MAS: 1) …

Quantification Of Nocturnal Blood Pressure Oscillations In Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patients, Yao Shun Chuang

Bioengineering Theses

An approach to quantifying and analysis of nocturnal blood pressure (BP) variations that are elicited by sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is presented. A sample-by-sample aggregation of the dynamic BP variations during normal breathing and BP oscillations prompted by apnea episodes is performed. This approach facilitates the visualization and analysis of BP oscillations. Nocturnal BP oscillations reflect the cardiovascular stresses that SDB mediates and may be of clinical significance. Preliminary results from an analysis of full night study of 10 SDB subjects (8 Male 2 Female, 53±5.7 yrs., Body Mass Index 34.5±7.8 kg/m2, Apnea-Hypopnea Index 63.5±28.7) are presented. Aggregate trajectory and quantitative …

Study Of Upregulation Of Drug Resistance In H460 Lung Cancer Cells Via Microchannel Device, Nowmi Haider

Bioengineering Theses

Metastasis is the main reason of high mortality rates in cancer patients. Treating these patients becomes difficult once the cancer has metastasized, especially due to their drug resistance. Drug resistance is a common problem that occurs when treating cancer patients, as in most cancer types, the cells are capable of drug efflux. This makes treatments like chemotherapy ineffective. Therefore, it is important to find alternative methods of treatment that can effectively kill drug resistant cancer cells. Lung cancer is one type of cancer that is the second most diagnosed cancer in the U.S. In this study, microchannels were used to …

Examination Of The Effects Of Confined Migration On Androgen Resistant Prostate Cancer And Potential Treatment Option For Drug Resistant Pc3 Cells With Calcitriol, Emily Torrey Ann Hills

Bioengineering Theses

When localized to the prostate, prostate cancer (PCa) has a near 100% 5-year survival rate, however, when prostate cancer metastasizes the survival rate drastically drops to around 30%. The low death rate of primary PCa is due to the wealth of knowledge we have of non-metastatic cancer and the sufficient treatment regimens. However, this understanding does not apply to metastatic cancer, so therapies are greatly lacking. To gain a better understanding of the invasion process for PCa we utilized microchannel technology to uncover the differences between migratory and non-migratory PCa. Specifically, the following study examines the effects of confined migration …

Efficient Network Design For High Dimensional Data, Xin Miao

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations

Due to the powerful feature representation capabilities, deep learning has became a powerful tool in the field of computer vision. Especially in the aspect of high-dimensional images, deep learning can achieve fast inference compared with most traditional methods. This paper focuses on how to design an efficient neural network and apply it to two high-dimensional images application, video facial landmarks detections and compressive imaging system. In this first part of this paper, we focus on landmarks detection for video facial images. Existing methods for facial landmarks detection mainly rely on cascaded regression. It is an indirect method and progressively estimates …

English Proficiency At A Glance: A Literature Review And Qualitative Interview Analysis For First-Time Tesol For First-Time Tesol Volunteers, Molly Bebko

Honors Projects

The purpose of this literature review and these consultations is to present the demands and needs of ESL volunteers in order that they may be effective teachers. These demands of ESL volunteers will be categorized according to the eight domains of the 2008 TESOL International Association Standards for ESL/EFL Teachers of Adults Framework. The literature review comprised of a thematic search of past and current research. The consultation process was semi-structured, phenomenological, and qualitative. The primary investigator interviewed five professionals in the ESL field. After both the literature review and consultation process, themes were identified and results were categorized into …

Studies On Guest/Host Complexes, Liposomal And Other Systems For Potential Chemotherapeutic Drug(S) Delivery, Sherif Ashraf Fahmy

Theses and Dissertations

Following the discovery of cisplatin over 50 years ago, this platinum-based drug (PBD) has been a widely used and effective form of cancer therapy, primarily causing cell death by inducing DNA damage and triggering apoptosis. However, the dose limiting toxicity of cisplatin has led to the development of the newer generations' platinum-based drugs (second and third) that maintain the cytotoxicity of cisplatin but have more acceptable side-effect profiles. In addition to the creation of new analogs, tumor delivery systems such as liposome-encapsulated platinum drugs have been designed and are currently in clinical trials. In this study, we have created and …

Metal-Decorated Carbon Nanotubes For Gas Sensing Applications, Icell Sharafeldin

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reports on the investigation of metal-decorated carbon nanotubes-based sensor arrays with enhanced sensitivity and selectivity toward toxic gases. Ab initio first-principles methods were used to expedite the process of identifying the right materials with the highest potential compared to in-lab trial and error as well as to provide a deeper understanding of the gas adsorption mechanism. The mechanism of NO2 adsorption on Cu-, Pt- and Ti-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) was investigated. Modelling the isolated NO2 molecule indicated the formation of a band gap between the 3Ï€* HOMO and 5σ* LUMO levels, which were found to be the …

Memorial Earth Park © An Environmentally Sustainable Public Space: Synthesizing Burial Mounds, Family Trees And Human Body Composting In North Texas, Gregory A. Craig

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

Over the next 30 years, the population growth in North Texas will place increasing demands on our urban infrastructure and natural resources, while reducing our available public land and open space. Impacts from expanded urban development will decrease our tree canopy coverage, reduce air & water quality and increase impervious surfaces, urban heat island effects and storm water flooding. Environmental sustainability is critical to combat the negative impacts of future growth in North Texas. The memorial landscape is a landscape of tremendous cultural significance in America (Wasserman, 1998) , but the two most traditional means of disposing of human remains …

Recreating A Classical Sleeping Beauty Tutu And Bodice Using Modern Methods, Gennevieve L. Wright

Honors College Theses

Tchaikovsky’s ballet Sleeping Beauty was first produced in the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on January 15, 1890. Since the ballet’s debut, the design and construction of the leading tutus have evolved and spread considerably. In most modern renditions of this particular ballet, the silhouette of the tutu includes a skirt made of net tulle that sticks straight out from either the hip or the waist, depending on the exact style. This silhouette that is so integral to a majority of modern ballets did not appear until the 1870s, just twenty short years before Sleeping Beauty’s debut. This project will …

Gender Is A Drag: A Study Of How Drag Performance Affects Awareness The Communication Of Gender, Kaylee "Artie" Peters

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

After conducting an online open-ended ethnographic survey through Qualtrics in order to assess the relationship between drag performers and gender as a form of communication, an analysis was prepared based on 19 open-ended surveys with an age range of 20-55. The RQ was to find out to what extent drag changes a performers’ awareness of the communicative properties of gender. The study failed to reject the null hypothesis. The findings concluded that performers consistently acknowledged gender and drag as communicative acts, but inconsistently saw their own gender as a communicative act. One limitation is the low response rate resulting in …

Solitary Solidarity: Vignettes Of The Appalachian Trail, Noah L. Booth

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This past Summer, I spent two months solo-hiking the first third of the Appalachian Trail. I completed 737 total miles, starting at Springer Mountain in Georgia and continuing through North Carolina and Tennessee, before finishing my journey in central Virginia. I am no stranger to backpacking, but the rolling Blue Ridge Mountains of the Southeast were completely foreign to me. Throughout this two month excursion I kept a daily journal, logging everything from mileage and geographical features, to encounters with wildlife and humans alike. Over six months have elapsed since I completed my journey and, having had plenty of time …

On Angels’ Wings: Idolatry In Viktoria Tokareva’S “Five Figures On A Pedestal” And Lyudmila Ulitskaya’S “Angel”, Courtney E. Bentz

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

In his essays on Greek deities, Ralph Waldo Emerson declared: “Every man is a divinity in disguise, a god playing the fool.” While the idea of gods taking a corporeal form or angels walking among humans is a common literary trope, seldom do mortal characters find themselves compared to the divine without negative repercussions. Select post-Soviet women writers, however, flip this trope to explore the opposite. They instead embrace the human as holy, restrained by little consequence, as a means to highlight its destructive qualities in the context of an intimate relationship. These contemporary authors, Viktoria Tokareva and Lyudmila Ulitskaya, …

Comparing Water Quality For Aquaponics Systems With Different Solids Removal Methods And Biofilter Media, And Effluent Output To Grow Beds, John W. Cutt, Heather M. Joesting, Brigette A. Brinton

Honors College Theses

Aquaponics is a closed-loop, sustainable method of food production that combines fish and plant production. This method of agriculture has the potential to bring fresh, local food to food-insecure areas, but challenges remain due to high operating costs. In order to develop a strong aquaponics industry, the creation of the most efficient system designs will be critical in optimizing production. This study’s purpose was to compare water quality between two aquaponics system designs that differ in filtration and solid removal methods. System 1 used a sock filter for solid removal and Kaldnes media for biofiltration while System 2 used a …

Virtual Reality Accessibility With Predictive Trails, Dani Paul Hove

Honors Projects

Comfortable locomotion in VR is an evolving problem. Given the high probability of vestibular-visual disconnect, and subsequent simulator sickness, new users face an uphill battle in adjusting to the technology. While natural locomotion offers the least chance of simulator sickness, the space, economic and accessibility barriers to it limit its effectiveness for a wider audience. Software-enabled locomotion circumvents much of these barriers, but has the greatest need for simulator sickness mitigation. This is especially true for standing VR experiences, where sex-biased differences in mitigation effectiveness are amplified (postural instability due to vection disproportionately affects women).

Predictive trails were developed as …