Digital Commons Network^™

Biomechanical Evaluation Of An Optical System For Quantitative Human Motion Analysis, Jeffrey D. Kertis

Master's Theses (2009 -)

An eight-camera Optitrack motion capture system was evaluated by performing static, linear dynamic, and angular dynamic calibrations using marker distances associated with upper and lower extremity gait and wheelchair models. Data were analyzed to determine accuracy and resolution within a defined capture volume using a standard Cartesian reference system. Two additional cameras along with AMASS and Visual3D (C-Motion, Inc., Germantown, MD) biomechanical modeling software were used to determine joint kinematics at the pelvis, hip, knee, and ankle of ten control subjects (mean age 21.5 ± 1.65 years). The same data were processed through Nexus (Vicon Motion Systems, Oxford, England) modeling …

Biomechanical Model Of Pediatric Upper Extremity Dynamics During Wheelchair Mobility, Alyssa J. Paul

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Biomechanical analysis has been used by many to evaluate upper extremity (UE) motion during human movement, including during the use of assistive devices such as crutches and walkers. However, few studies have been conducted to examine the upper extremity kinetics during wheelchair mobility, specifically within the pediatric population. In 2000, 90% of wheelchair users (1.5 million people) in the United States were manual wheelchair users, requiring the use of their upper body to maneuver the wheelchair as well as perform other activities of daily living. Among children under the age of 18, the wheelchair was the most used assistive mobility …

Analysis Of The Detection Of Organophosphate Pesticides In Aqueous Solutions Using Polymer-Coated Sh-Saw Sensor Arrays, Tian Newman

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The shear horizontal surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW) device was investigated as a micro-chemical sensor for the direct, rapid and in-situ monitoring of chemical contaminants in groundwater and wastewater. The chemical contaminants of interest are organo-phosphate-based compounds (parathion, parathion-methyl, and paraoxon). The polymers used as partially chemically selective coatings are 2,2’-diallylbisphenol A - 1,1,3,3,5,5-hexamethyltrisiloxane (BPA-HMTS), and 2,2’-diallylbisphenol A- polydimethylsiloxane (BPA-PDMS), polyepichlorohydrin (PECH). The experimental results indicate that the analyte/polymer interaction is a result of mass loading and viscoelastic changes in the polymer. BPA-HMTS, BPA-PDMS, and PECH have the highest to lowest sensitivity towards parathion, parathion-methyl, and paraoxon respectively. The polymers tested …

Modeling And Control Of A Doubly-Fed Induction Generator For Wind Turbine-Generator Systems, Xin Jing

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Wind energy plays an increasingly important role in the world because it is friendly to the environment. During the last decades, the concept of a variable-speed wind turbine (WT) has been receiving increasing attention due to the fact that it is more controllable and efficient, and has good power quality. As the demand of controllability of variable speed WTs increases, it is therefore important and necessary to investigate the modeling for wind turbine-generator systems (WTGS) that are capable of accurately simulating the behavior of each component in the WTGS. Therefore, this thesis will provide detailed models of a grid-connected wind …

Investigating A Horizontal Helical Antenna For Use In The Phantom Monopole Configuration, Mattison Lemieux

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Recently, the phantom monopole configuration was successfully simulated using wire loop antennas. The wire loop antennas have an undesirable input impedance, making them difficult to match and implement. A new type of antenna that has a more desirable impedance while still maintaining the same near magnetic field and far field radiation pattern is investigated in this work. The research done focuses on a horizontally placed helical antenna. There is little research done on a horizontally placed helical antenna so several different parameters of this antenna were investigated. A normal mode helical antenna was chosen because of its size and impedance. …

Development And Performance Of A Sparsity-Exploiting Algorithm For Few-View Single Photon Emission Computed Tomogrpahy (Spect) Reconstruction, Paul Arthur Wolf

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) provides noninvasive images of the distribution of radiotracer molecules. Dynamic Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography provides information about tracer uptake and washout from a series of time-sequence images. Stationary ring-like multi-camera systems are being developed to provide rapid dynamic acquisitions with high temporal sampling. Reducing the number of cameras reduces the cost of such systems but also reduces the number of views acquired, limiting the angular sampling of the system. Novel few-view image reconstruction methods may be beneficial and are being investigated for the application of dynamic SPECT. A sparsity-exploiting algorithm intended for few-view …

Quantitative Analysis Of Methangenic Community In Anaerobic Digesters And Its Response To Freeze Drying And Exposure To Oxygen, Keerthi Cherukuri

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Methanogens are integral to carbon cycling, catalyzing the production of methane and carbon dioxide, both potent greenhouse gases. Methane is produced in a wide variety of highly reduced anaerobic environments, as well as by degradation of organic compounds in industrial and municipal wastewater. This process is carried out by the concerted activity of an interdependent microbial community, composed of Bacteria and Archaea, the later including methanogens which complete the final step and produce methane and carbon dioxide. Methanogenesis is often the rate limiting step and is sensitive to processing imbalances. Therefore, an understanding of the microbial community structure and dynamics …

Hybrid Coupler Implemented As A Phase Shifter, John P. Vitale

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Phase shifters are two-port microwave devices which take an input signal and output a phase shifted version of the signal. These devices can be used in phased antenna arrays, frequency translators, and IQ modulator/demodulator systems. The goal for this work is to construct a hybrid coupler phase shifter which will provide a 90 degree phase shift to a signal with a center frequency of 1800 MHz over a 5% bandwidth. This work is novel because the hybrid coupler phase shifter has not been extensively studied. Some papers have provided rough guidelines for constructing these shifters, but there is little exploration …

Simulator Centered Design: Abstracting The Operating Environment On Radio Controlled Airplane Autopilot Development, David A. Vankampen

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Software development for applications used in high-risk and high-reliability environments is a difficult task. Testing in areas where failure could mean loss of equipment or damage to the environment becomes an implausible option. Testing in a simulated environment presents itself as a viable solution to this problem. One issue found when using simulators is they often have complex communication interfaces. After the simulator is no longer needed, the time spent developing the interface is lost. Simulator Centered Design addresses this by re-using simulator interfaces to make the real environment appear the same to the application as the simulator makes the …

Including Social Service Clients In The Organizational Decision Making Process, Josie De Hartog

Professional Projects

Empowerment of clients is a goal of many social service organizations and yet a concept that is hard to define and often complicated to implement. This professional project looks at the importance and practice of empowering parents in a teenage pregnancy prevention program through a case study. A survey of parents supported the idea of empowering practices leading to parents becoming partners with the organization in the education of the community. In a qualitative study, this researcher offers the practice of taking empowerment a step further in asking participants of the program to take part in the decision of what …

Roles And Responsibilities Of Nonprofit Boards: The Peace Case, Patrick Kennelly

Professional Projects

This exploratory study identifies the levels of importance and fulfillment of board roles and responsibilities by nonprofit peacemaking organization board members and executive directors. It suggests a three-component framework for understanding board governance. By employing purposive non-probability sampling, this study used board governance instruments, developed by Inglis, Alexander, and Weaver’s (1999), to identify a three-component framework: strategic activities, resource planning, and evaluations for nonprofit organizations whose mission is peacemaking. It examines the relevance of the framework suggested by Inglis, Alexander, and Weaver’s (1999) for nonprofit peacemaking organizations. The results of this study can be used by nonprofit peacemaking organizations to …

The National School Lunch Program: Local Implementation Of Federal Reform, Shannon Cagney

Professional Projects

This research study examined the National School Lunch Program and local implementation of federal reform in public and private schools in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. The survey participants were selected by the way of purposeful sampling; interviews were conducted over the telephone; and a 90-minute focus group was held. Major themes from the study consist of the need for well-balanced meals in schools, concern regarding childhood obesity, and barriers of local implementation of federal guidelines. Many advocates expressed their concern regarding the calorie restrictions, specifically to the 850 kcal maximum for physically active students. This study provides insight on how the …

Inspiring The Wonderment: Emotional Intelligence In Higher Education, Kurt H. Gering

Professional Projects

The purpose of this research was to shed insight on the degree to which instructor Emotional Intelligence (EI) may moderate the student/teacher relationship. Interviews were conducted to gather qualitative data on the experience of several students at a private university in the Midwest. The findings suggest that there appears to be a positive relationship between instructor EI and a positive academic experience by the student. Further research on this topic may indicate that institutions may also benefit from incorporating the tracking and evaluating of EI in their faculty body to enhance academic success student.

The Effectiveness Of The Holton Youth And Family Center (Hyfc) Community Investment Program (Cip), Tara R. Tompkins

Professional Projects

This qualitative study examines Holton Youth and Family Center Community Investment Program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Community Investment Program uses intensive mentoring as a way to prevent young people from choosing a life of crime and/or to interrupt the path of crime for youth involved in negative activity. Based on mentor/mentee interviews, the findings indicate that the program has had an overall positive impact on the mentee participants in the areas of academic participation, skills and interest development, improved parental relationships and feelings of self-worth.

The Dual Basis For Subordinate's Perception Of Change, Anthony Senger

Professional Projects

Psychological research has shown that perception often works in a dual-basis in which a person examines a subject and weighs the subject against an ideal and non-ideal scale, independently. There have been few studies though, that have tried to apply this mechanism as a component of the dynamics involved in Leadership Studies, Organizational Behavior, or Change Management. If the mechanism is active in subordinates, then leaders can make better-informed decisions regarding their organizations, based on an understanding that reaction to both their actions and to changes that they enact are based not only on perceived ideal characteristics, but also non-ideal …

The Peers Intervention: Social Anxiety, Physiological Regulation, And Core Autistic Symptoms In Adolescents With Autism, Kirsten A. Schohl

Master's Theses (2009 -)

There have been very few effective interventions developed that have focused on improving social skills in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), however, the need is persistent. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Program for the Enrichment and Education of Relational Skills (PEERS: Laugeson, Frankel, Mogil, & Dillon, 2009). PEERS focuses on improving friendship quality and social skills among adolescents, ages 11-15 years, with higher-functioning ASD. This study included 47 participants, who were randomly assigned to two groups. Assessment measures utilized parent report and adolescent self-report at pre- and post-treatment. In addition, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was …

Electroluminescence From Zno Nanostructure Synthesizes Between Nanogap, Cheng Jiang

Master's Theses (2009 -)

This thesis presents the investigation of a nanoscale light-emitting diode (LED) device. The nanoscale LED has a great potential to be used as a light source for biomedical screening and fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy. It can also be developed to a single photon emitter for the application of quantum computing. The nano-LED has the electrical structure of a metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) junction. The MSM junction has been formed on the nanogap device that is fabricated on a SOI wafer by optical lithography and KOH solution silicon etching. The Ni evaporated on the surface of the nanogap device performs the metal contact for …

Three-Dimensional Biomechanical Model Of Wrist Dynamics During Tasks Of Daily Living, Patrick Roscher

Master's Theses (2009 -)

An understanding of wrist dynamics during functional movements is required to better diagnose and treat wrist injury and disease. Currently, there is a lack of upper extremity (UE) models that combine both the motions and resulting forces that occur in the wrist during daily activities. The purpose of this study is to create a three-dimensional (3D) model of the upper extremity that describes kinematics and wrist kinetics during functional activities. A model of this type could benefit clinical diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care of orthopaedic and neurological disorders of the wrist. The created dynamic wrist model was used to test …

Manna From The Glossy Pulpit: Food Advertising In Women's Magazines, Kira-Lynn Reeves

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Women’s magazines reach millions of readers each month, and have been the subject of many academic inquires from media effects studies to feminist analyses. While many studies have investigated female readers’ experience with these texts, or examined the advertising content of women’s magazines, little research to date has focused on food advertising. This liberal feminist critique explores the experience of reading the 2011 issues of the three popular women’s magazines, Glamour, SELF, and Family Circle. Using Stern’s (1996) textual analysis method for advertisements, this study examines how food advertisements in women’s magazines encourage women to think about …

Real Time Control Framework Using Android, Aaron Pittenger

Master's Theses (2009 -)

One potential application for a smartphone-type device is a flight management and control computer for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The hardware employed in most smartphones and tablets has the capabilities necessary to fly an air vehicle without user interaction. The user can pre-program in a flight plan and the smartphone will do the rest. In the past, this real time control application has been done using many separate sensor packages and processors, but never on a single, stand-alone device. Also, capabilities such as the high definition camera present on most smartphones can take photographs and store them on the …

Powered Transtibial Prosthetic Device Control System Design, Implementation And Testing, Jinming Sun

Master's Theses (2009 -)

A powered lower limb prosthesis, which consists of a four bar mechanism, a torsional spring and a brushed DC motor, was previously designed and fabricated. To regulate the motor power input, a two level controller was proposed and built. The control algorithm includes a higher level finite state controller and lower level PID controllers. To implement the control system, a digital signal processor (DSP) control board and MATLAB Simulink were used to realize the higher level control and a DC motor controller was used to realize the lower level PID control. Sensors were selected to provide the required feedback. The …

Repair And Strengthening Of Bridge Substructures, Steven W. Ainge

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Deterioration of bridge substructures has been a serious concern throughout Wisconsin. Concrete, steel and timber members all require distinct repair methods which not only address the true causes of deterioration, but protect the member from future damage. Utilizing repair techniques that merely address the effect of the deterioration has proven costly and unreliable. Understanding the relationship between cost and service life of modern repair methods can help maintenance engineers make informed decisions that will maximize efficacy. A survey was sent to 90 maintenance engineers throughout the United States to determine the efficacy and cost of common repair methods. Unique repair …

The Effect Of Primary Air Distribution On Emissions From A Natural Gas Water Heater, Hao Wang

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The NOx emissions of a 40,000 BTU/hr (11.7kW) natural gas water heater are studied at different primary equivalence ratios (Φ). CO emission, O2 content in the flue gas and other related parameters are measured to assess the potential for NOx emission reductions with relatively modest changes in current burner and combustion chamber designs. In addition, N2 is introduced into the primary fuel and air flow to simulate flue gas recirculation (FGR) in order to estimate what benefit such a strategy might provide. NOx concentration in the exhaust decreases from 84 ppm to 34 ppm (at 3% dry O2) when the …

Myosin Isoforms And Regulation Of Tonic And Phasic Contraction In Smooth Muscle, Qian Huang

Dissertations (1934 -)

The contractile properties of smooth muscle (SM) are broadly classified as tonic and phasic. Among the hypothesized underlying regulatory mechanisms for this difference is the different actomyosin ATPase kinetic properties of SM SMA/SMB myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms and the preferential expression of SMA and SMB MHC isoforms in tonic and phasic SM respectively. Thus, we hypothesized that SM SMA/B MHC expression determines tonic and phasic contractile patterns in SM.

To test the this hypothesis, the role of SMA and SMB MHC isoforms in tonic and phasic contractions was studied in phasic (longitudinal ileum and stomach circular antrum) and tonic …

Spectral Characterization Of Cytochromes P450 Active Site And Catalytic Intermediates, Daniel Kaluka

Dissertations (1934 -)

Cytochromes P450 (P450s) have been the subject of intense research for over six decades. Though it is widely accepted that a highly reactive Fe(IV)=O π-cation radical, or the so called compound I, facilitates the oxidation of relatively inert hydrocarbons, spectroscopic characterization of this putative intermediate has eluded detection under turnover conditions, presumably due to its very short lifetime. In this work, chemically inert substrates of P450s have been utilized in a new approach to capture and stabilize this transient intermediate and characterize it with resonance Raman (RR) spectroscopy, which is a well established tool for studying heme proteins. Specifically, perfluorodecanoic …

Successful Schools For African American Children: A Case Study Of Franklin Elementary School, Staci Lynn Kimmons

Dissertations (1934 -)

The goal of this study was to contribute to a better understanding of what makes a successful school for African American children. Theresa Perry's (2010) Theory of Practice for African American School Achievement provided the framework for my study. Perry states that schools need to have two characteristics for African American students to be successful. First African American students must be members of a community of practice, which normalizes achievement. Second, schools must offer a broad range of supports that allow students to learn, to practice, and to receive reinforcement with regard to the behaviors and practices that are necessary …

Girls "In Trouble": A History Of Female Adolescent Sexuality In The Midwest, 1946-1964, Charissa Keup

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation attempts to show how Americans reacted to adolescent female sexuality, looking specifically at unwed school-age pregnancy in the post-World War Two decades. It documents the origins of the transition of the conversation about unwed teens from caring for them in maternity homes and boarding houses to discussing their problems on television shows and in popular magazines. Teenage sexual delinquency and pregnancy have always raised innumerable questions about American culture and values. Because they challenged the traditional concept of motherhood, they offer a lens through which to study American sexuality and reveal that an alternate 1950s existed beyond the …

Regulation Of System Xc- And Its Contribution To Cell Death, Xiaoqian Liu

Dissertations (1934 -)

The main focus of the studies in this thesis involves examining the role of cystine/glutamate exchange (system xC-) in neuronal death in primary cortical cell culture, with an emphasis on how glial function affects neuronal cell death. System xC- is a sodium-independent transporter that mediates cystine uptake and glutamate release. It accounts for most of the cystine uptake in astrocytes in mature cultures, providing the rate limiting substrate for synthesis of the main endogenous antioxidant glutathione. The glutamate released by system xC- may lead to excessive extracellular glutamate and cause excitotoxicity.

β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) is a non-protein amino acid that may …

The Church And The Mediation Of Grace: A Reformed Perspective On Ordained Ministry And The Threefold Office Of Christ, Michael Joe Matossian

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation explores the relationship between grace, the church, ordained church offices, and the threefold office of Christ (munus triplex). The goal is to discern, in what ways and in what senses, we can speak of the mediation of grace through the church while maintaining a Reformed theological commitment to the principle that Christ alone is Mediator. Chapter one seeks to establish that Reformed doctrine regards the church both as locus and instrument of grace including the fact that the ordained offices are instruments of grace. Chapter two offers a definition of the concept of mediator, introduces categories of mediation, …

Online Education: The Impact Of Economics And Politics On Teacher's Situationally Constrained Choice, Rhianan Elizabeth Smith

Dissertations (1934 -)

Online education has been increasing at an astounding rate, and advocates contend this trend will transform schooling as we know it. The current research has been centered on the student outcomes in online education. However, this myopic focus on outcomes underestimates the broader systemic factors that may be driving the implementation and everyday practices which impact student outcomes.

This study investigates the economic, political, and organizational factors that influence the situationally constrained choices of an online teacher. This study identifies the ways in which higher education budgets, policies, and technological resources impact what teachers do in the classroom while investigating …