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Addressing Computational Complexity Of Electromagnetic Systems Using Parameterized Model Order Reduction, Majid Ahmadloo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

As operating frequencies increase, full wave numerical techniques such as the finite element method (FEM) become necessary for the analysis of high-frequency and microwave circuit structures. However, the FEM formulation of microwave circuits often results in very large systems of equations which are computationally expensive to solve. The objective of this thesis is to develop new parameterized model order eduction (MOR) techniques to minimize the computational complexity of microwave circuits. MOR techniques provide a mechanism to generate reduced order models from the detailed description of the original FEM formulation. The following contributions are made in this thesis:

1. The first …

The Development And Validation Of An Expertise Development Model For Sport Coaches, Melissa L. Wiman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The objective of this dissertation was to develop and validate a model for coaching expertise development using semi-structured interviews. The aim of Study One was twofold: first, to examine how coaching expertise is defined and second, to investigate how this expertise develops over time. Interviews were completed with elite athletes and elite coaches and were done in the tradition of grounded theory. Results suggested that there is a need to go beyond identifying a coach as an expert based on the performance of his/her athletes. Some of the additional criteria suggested included: be recognized by peers (other coaches) as experts; …

Controlled Delivery Of Serp-1 Protein From Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Hydrogel, Karen L. Kennedy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) was selected and evaluated as a controlled drug delivery matrix for Serp-1, a potential new therapeutic with anti-inflammatory properties for control of restenosis. PVA hydrogels, containing a high water content, can be formed by physical crosslinking via a process involving freezing and thawing the material in multiple cycles. PVA, being a well known biomaterial, is suited for biomedical applications and the high water content and hydrophilicity provides a friendly environment for the delivery of large protein based drugs. Using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a model protein, the controlled release properties of PVA were investigated. Release profiles …

The Holocene Paleolimnology Of Lake Superior, Ayumi Hyodo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study describes contributions of glacial meltwater to Lake Superior over the last ~11,000 cal BP (calibrated years before 1950 AD). This research has been motivated by a desire to understand whether glacial meltwater discharge via the Great Lakes into the North Atlantic played a role in Holocene cooling events, such as the Younger Dryas. Rhythmites (interpreted as varves), lithological, mineralogical and grain-size variations, and radiocarbon dating were used to establish chronostratigraphic correlation among four sediment cores from Lake Superior (Duluth, Caribou and Ile Parisienne basins, Thunder Bay Trough). Glacial sediments were deposited between ~10,850 and ~8,800 cal BP. The …

Kant And The Fact Of Reason, Kenneth Kh Chung

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

It is often thought that Kant abandoned his argument for the justification of morality in the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals for a radically different argument in the Critique of Practical Reason. In the Groundwork, Kant appears to try to justify our commitment to the moral law on the basis of our freedom, but in the Critique, he tries to justify that commitment on the basis of what he calls the fact of reason. I assess and reject influential interpretations of both arguments as being philosophically unsound, and I propose, what I take to be, a …

Virtual And Augmented Reality Techniques For Minimally Invasive Cardiac Interventions: Concept, Design, Evaluation And Pre-Clinical Implementation, Cristian A. Linte

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

While less invasive techniques have been employed for some procedures, most intracardiac interventions are still performed under cardiopulmonary bypass, on the drained, arrested heart. The progress toward off-pump intracardiac interventions has been hampered by the lack of adequate visualization inside the beating heart.

This thesis describes the development, assessment, and pre-clinical implementation of a mixed reality environment that integrates pre-operative imaging and modeling with surgical tracking technologies and real-time ultrasound imaging. The intra-operative echo images are augmented with pre-operative representations of the cardiac anatomy and virtual models of the delivery instruments tracked in real time using magnetic tracking technologies. As …

Cross-Sector Models Of Collaboration For Social Innovation, Marlene J. Le Ber

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation consists of three studies that collectively examine the genesis and dynamics of collaborative cross-sector partnerships between nonprofit and for-profit organizations. The overarching question that frames the papers is how cross-sector partnerships organize across sectoral interfaces to advance social innovation. This thesis makes three contributions: 1) the standpoint of the beneficiaries needs to be explicitly discussed when exploring social innovation in cross-sector partnerships; 2) neither success nor failure are absolute but rather cross-sector partners deliberately and iteratively adjust their roles to sustain momentum towards success or rebound from temporary failure in pursuit of social innovation; and 3) despite largely …

Holomorphic K-Differentials And Holomorphic Approximation On Open Riemann Surfaces, Nadya Askaripour

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis is of two parts: At the first part (Chapters 1 and 2) we study some spaces of holomorphic k-differentials on open Riemann surfaces, and obtain some observations about these spaces, then we obtain two main theorems about the kernel of Poincar\'e series map. In the second part (Chapters 3 and 4), we study holomorphic approximation on closed subsets of non-compact Riemann surfaces. We add a condition to the Extension Theorem and fixing its proof. Extension Theorem was first stated and proved by G. Schmieder, but there are few examples, where the theorem fails. That is slightly effecting a …

Regulation Of Dna Damage Processing By Covalent Modification Of Thymine Dna Glycosylase, Ryan D. Mohan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thymine DNA glycosylase (TDG) is an essential DNA repair enzyme mediating excision of uracil and thymine mispaired with guanine within CpG contexts. Unrepaired, these lesions result in G:C to A:T transitions which are major contributors to genome instability. Interestingly, TDG interacts functionally with transcriptional regulators and participates in directed cytosine demethylation at promoters. TDG is subject to multiple post-translational modifications (PTM) and we undertook an analysis of how these regulate TDG function. Initially, we examined TDG regulation by small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) and identified a novel SUMO binding motif (SBM1, residues 144-148). We hypothesized that SBM1, along with SBM2 (319-322), …

The Effect Of Particle Size On Hydrolysis And Modeling Of Anaerobic Digestion, Saad Aldin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Batch experiments were performed to investigate the effect of particulate protein particle size on the hydrolysis of casein in anaerobic degradation. While particle size did not affect the ultimate protein degradation efficiency, the hydrolysis rate coefficient increased from 0.034 to 0.298 d-1 with the change in specific surface area from 0.01 to 0.192 m2/g. The maximum methane production rate was affected by the particle size change, although the ultimate amount of methane produced was approximately the same despite the change in specific surface area. A mathematical relationship between the hydrolysis rate coefficient and specific surface area was developed and a …

Physical Function During Performance-Based Tasks And Throughout Daily Life. Is It Different Across Levels Of Frailty?, Olga Theou

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The overall aim of this thesis was to provide a more focused understanding about the physical function of older women across levels of frailty. The specific aims were: 1) Examine the physical function of older women across levels of frailty during performance-based tasks and throughout their normal daily life; and 2) Review the effectiveness of current exercise interventions for the management of frailty. To answer these aims an observational study of community-dwelling older women (63-100 years) from rural Greece and a comprehensive systematic review on the impact of exercise on frail older adults were conducted. The performance-based measures that had …

Options Under Uncertainty: An Empirical Investigation Of Patterns Of Commitment In Display Technologies In The Flat Panel Tv Set Industry, Derek Lehmberg

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation considers fundamental questions about real options reasoning and its application in the face of uncertainty: do firms behave as real options reasoning predicts, and are there performance benefits from its application? The concept of uncertainty is further developed by considering two primary types: technological uncertainty and market needs uncertainty. A qualitative industry level historical case study is performed on the flat panel TV industry, chosen because it exhibits high technological uncertainty and low market needs uncertainty. Real options logic predicts, in such an industry, that firms will develop and maintain technology options until uncertainty is resolved. Firm level …

Catalytic Steam Gasification Of Biomass Surrogates: A Thermodynamic And Kinetic Approach, Enrique Salaices

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Gasification of biomass is an environmentally important technology that offers an alternative to the direct use of fossil fuel energy. Steam gasification is getting increased attention as a potential source of renewable energy since it produces a gaseous fuel suitable for industrial applications in highly efficiently power/heat energy production, transport fuel, and as a feedstock for chemical synthesis. Furthermore, catalytic steam gasification has other advantages hence (i) it produces a gas with higher heating value; (ii) it reduces the diluting effect of N2 from air; (iii) it eliminates the need of cleaning, upgrading and/or conditioning the product gas for certain …

The Burdens Of Body's Beauty: Pre-Raphaelite Representations Of The Body In William Morris's The Defence Of Guenevere And Other Poems (1858) And Algernon Swinburne's Poems, Thomas A. Steffler

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation studies representations of the body in the first two published volumes of Pre-Raphaelite poetry, William Morris’s The Defence of Guenevere, and Other Poems (1858) and Algernon Charles Swinburne’s Poems and Ballads, First Series (1866). These two volumes (along with Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s 1870 Poems) were disparaged as the work of the “Fleshly School of Poetry” by the critic Robert Buchanan in 1871, and this dissertation seeks to understand through close reading how the depiction of the body in the poetry of Morris and Swinburne so perturbed their contemporaries and why it continues to elude modern readers. Particularly, this …

The Professional Master's Occupational Therapist: Developing An Emerging Professional Identity, Bonny F. Jung

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this study is to explore the emerging professional identity of the professional master’s entry-level occupational therapist. The questions are: 1) What does it mean to be a professional as an occupational therapist? 2) How do professional identities emerge for the professional master’s entry-level occupational therapist? From a professional perspective as an occupational therapist and educator, helping clients and students find meaning in their occupations is an integral part of my ontology of practice. To conduct this study, I used a constructivist paradigm within qualitative research as my primary lens and constructivist grounded theory as my methodology to …

Asbestos, Quebec: The Town, The Mineral, And The Local-Global Balance Between The Two, Jessica J. Van Horssen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

From the late 19th to the late 20th century, the cities and industries of the world became increasingly reliant on fireproof materials made from asbestos. As asbestos was used more and more in building materials and household appliances, its harmful effect on human health, such as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, became apparent. The dangers surrounding the mineral led to the collapse of the industry in the 1980s. While the market demand and medical rejection of asbestos were international, they were also experienced in the mining and processing communities at the core of the global industry. In the town of …