Digital Commons Network^™

Data Fusion Based Optimal Eeg Electrode Selection For Early Diagnosis Of Alzheimer's Disease, Brian Balut

Theses and Dissertations

As medicinal and technological advances lengthen the average human life span, diseases affecting the elderly such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease are seeing increasingly growing numbers, especially in developed countries. As a result, the necessity for an accurate, inexpensive, noninvasive means of diagnosis becomes particularly important, since such a method is not readily available to the general population. One biomarker that has recently showed promise is the analysis of the electroencephalogram (EEG).

Over the course of two studies, more than 130 subjects have been recruited providing information from 16-19 EEG electrodes for each subject. These signals have been decomposed …

Use Of Linear Predictive Features And Pattern Recognition Techniques To Develop A Vector Quantization Based Blind Snr Estimation System, Russell Paul Ondusko Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Signal-to-noise ratio is defined as the ratio of a given transmitted signal to the background noise of the transmission medium. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is a common concept found in all forms of electrical communications. The easiest way to measure the signal-to-noise ratio is through intrusive means in which a corrupt signal is compared to its original signal. This technique is inefficient and impractical because it requires the original signal and can only be used to theoretically test the noise properties of a channel rather than estimate the SNR of a communicated signal. Characteristics of speech signals can be used to …

Ensemble Of Classifiers Based Data Fusion Of Eeg And Mri For Diagnosis Of Neurodegenerative Disorders, Tejash Patel

Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are rising at an alarming rate as the average age of the population increases, especially in developing nations. The efficacy of the new medical treatments critically depends on the ability to diagnose these diseases at the earliest stages. To facilitate the availability of early diagnosis in community hospitals, an accurate, inexpensive, and noninvasive diagnostic tool must be made available. As biomarkers, the event related potentials (ERP) of the electroencephalogram (EEG) - which has previously shown promise in automated diagnosis - in addition to volumetric magnetic resonance …

Exploration Of Multiple Pathways For The Development Of Immersive Virtual Reality Environments, Kevin Laurence Garrison

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this thesis is the study and recommendation of optimal techniques for developing immersive virtual environments for generic applications. The overarching objective is to ensure that virtual environments can be created and deployed, rapidly and accurately, using commercial off-the-shelf software. Specific subjective and objective criteria have been employed to determine trade-offs between multiple pathways for designing such environments and specific recommendations are made for the applicability of each. The efficacy of the techniques developed as part of this research work has been demonstrated by applying them to three widely differing areas - visualizing arbitrary 2D surface data, synthesis …

Quad General Tree Drawing Algorithm And General Trees Characterization: Towards An Environment For The Experimental Study On General Tree Drawing Algorithms, Chu Yao

Theses and Dissertations

Information visualization produces (interactive) visual representations of abstract data to reinforce human cognition and perception; thus enabling the viewer to gain knowledge about the internal structure of the data and causal relationships in it. The visualization of information hierarchies is concerned with the presentation of abstract hierarchical information about relationships between various entities. It has many applications in diverse domains such as software engineering, information systems, biology, and chemistry. Information hierarchies are typically modeled by an abstract tree, where vertices are entities and edges represent relationships between entities. The aim of visualizing tree drawings is to automatically produce drawings of …

Investigation Of The Performance Of Flexible Pavement Systems Under Moving Loads Using Finite Element Analyses, Dona Jacqueline Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The introduction of larger and heavier aircraft with more complex wheel configurations is making the current design methods inadequate for airfield pavements. In addition, airport pavements experience significant wander. However, the effect of wander on airport pavement performance has not been evaluated. In previous studies, the stress interactions between each tire of a triple-dual-tandem (TDT) axle used on B-777 and A380 aircraft cannot be captured using a two-dimensional model. In addition, many of these studies have assumed a linear-elastic material behavior of the pavement layers.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a three-dimensional finite element analysis to quantify …

The Relationship Between Nonword Repetition Performance And Social Behaviors In 7- To 11-Year-Old Children With Language Impairment, Bethany Lynne Hillary

Theses and Dissertations

Recent literature has suggested a link between verbal working memory and language impairment (LI) in children. There is limited research, however, about the link between verbal working memory and social behaviors in children with LI. This study was designed to explore the relationship between social behaviors (measured by the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale; Hart & Robinson, 1996) and verbal working memory abilities (measured by a 3-, 4-, and 5-syllable nonword repetition task) in children with LI. Thirty-six children (18 with LI and 18 typically developing) aged 7 to 11 years participated in the study. Children with LI were rated by …

Parentage Statements And Paired Stelae: Signs Of Dynastic Succession For The Classic Maya, Daniel Moroni Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to describe and document parentage statements and paired stela found on Maya monuments or portable objects. While the existence of parentage statements, within the Maya text, has been known since the late 1970s, no thesis or major research project has ever been published pertaining to this class of glyphs within the Maya script. In 1977 Christopher Jones is credited with the discovery of parentage statements in Maya hieroglyphic texts (Jones 1977). His discovery was followed by a detailed analysis of parentage statements by Floyd Lounsbury, Peter Mathews, and Linda Schele (1977). They introduced most …

Attitude Estimation And Maneuvering For Autonomous Obstacle Avoidance By Miniature Air Vehicles, James K. Hall

Theses and Dissertations

Utilizing the Euler-Rodrigues symmetric parameters (attitude quaternion) to describe vehicle orientation, we develop a multiplicative, nonlinear (extended) variation of the Kalman filter (MEKF) to fuse data from low-cost sensors. The sensor suite is comprised of gyroscopes, accelerometers, and a GPS receiver. In contrast to the common approach of using the complete vehicle attitude as the quantities to be estimated, our filter states consist of the three components of an attitude error vector. In parallel with the time update of the attitude error estimate, we utilize the gyroscope measurements for the time propagation of the attitude quaternion. The accelerometer and the …

Towards The Total Synthesis Of Thioviridamide: Thiyl Radical Approach To The Beta-Thioenamide Linkage Formation, Jung-Hoon Kang

Theses and Dissertations

We developed an approach to the β-thioenamide linkage contained in the S-(2-aminovinyl)cysteine (avCys) residue of thioviridamide.1,2 Kinetic and thermodynamic control of radical additions of thiols to ynamides were studied for the formation of β-thioenamide linkage. Thiyl radicals are electrophilic and ynamides are electron-rich alkynes. This complementary polarity of the radical and acceptor increases the likelihood of a successful radical addition reaction. Because little is known about these types of compounds (β-thioenamides), we were unsure what kinds of yields and stereoselectivities (cis vs. trans) to expect. The adduct stability is another issue to consider. Fortunately, under typical radical addition conditions, the …

Utilitizing And Moving Beyond A Constructionist Approach To Trace The Emergence Of Racial And Ethnic Identities Among Pre-Mexican, Mexican And Americans Of Mexican Descent, Owen Williamson

Theses and Dissertations

Cornell and Hartmann (2007) developed a constructionist framework that can describe the development of racial and ethnic identities. Yet this framework has greater utility than its authors have intended as it also provides the best rubric to date for comprehending the transitions between collective identity group types. This study engages in a thorough investigation of the development of racial and ethnic identities within the context of those that precede it via an ethnohistorical analysis. It also demonstrates that this framework is capable of describing pre-modern religious and national identity types in addition to racial and ethnic identity types. This permits …

Flexible Screw Design For Bone Implant Application, Seule Kabir

Theses and Dissertations

Disruption of the scapholunate ligament can result in significant immediate and long-term disability. Of the available current acute and subacute treatment strategies for this disorder, the use of a solid screw to stabilize the scapholunate relationship has been proposed. However, subsequent carpal bone loss is an inherent risk to this technique. The goal of this study was to design a flexible orthopedic screw that can be placed between the scaphoid and lunate to restore more normal biomechanics without the risk of osteolysis. Several ideas were generated during the course of the study to create a moveable section in a bone …

Developing Writing Fluency Through Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication, Rossana Camacho

Theses and Dissertations

Drawing from sociocultural theory, this research investigated the effects of synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) in the development of writing fluency. Likewise, the study aimed at confirming previously cited affective benefits linked to SCMC. Measuring fluency in words per 30 minutes, the study compared pre and post-test essay scores of two groups of ESL learners (a control group and a SCMC group) in two intermediate levels. Two evaluation questionnaires were also administered to the SCMC group in order to obtain students' opinions of this technology-based medium, and to analyze change in their perceptions. The SCMC group outperformed the control group in …

Cyber Power In The 21st Century, Joseph M. Elbaum

Theses and Dissertations

Historically, the United States Congress has acknowledged that a separate branch of military service is required to exert supremacy over each of the recognized Domains of Operation. Throughout the evolution of modern warfare, leading minds in military theory have come to the conclusion that due to fundamental differences inherent in the theory and tactics that must be employed in order to successfully wage war within a domain’s associated environment, a specialized force was needed - until now. With the recent inclusion of Cyberspace as an operational domain by the Department of Defense, the case should be made that it, too, …

Improving Library Searches Using Word-Correlation Factors And Folksonomies, Maria Soledad Pera

Theses and Dissertations

Libraries, private and public, offer valuable resources to library patrons; however, formulating library queries to retrieve relevant results can be difficult. This occurs because when using a library catalog for library searches, patrons often do not know the exact keywords to be included in a query that match the rigid subject terms (chosen by the Library of Congress) or terms in other fields of a desired library catalog record. These improperly formulated queries often translate into a high percentage of failed searches that retrieve irrelevant results or no results at all. This explains why frustrated library patrons nowadays rely on …

Characterization Of The Thermal Transport Through A Temporally-Varying Ash Layer, Darron Palmer Cundick

Theses and Dissertations

Ash deposits in commercial coal-fired boilers frequently pose serious maintenance challenges and decrease thermal efficiency. A better understanding of fundamental thermal transport properties in ash deposits can help mitigate their negative effects. In order to characterize the thermal properties of boiler-side deposits, this work presents a thermal transport model and in-situ measurements of effective thermal conductivity in coal ash deposits. A simple model of the thermal transport through an ash deposit, with and with out slagging, was developed. The model approximates the deposit by dividing it into four regimes: particulate, sintered, solidified slag, and molten slag. The development of this …

Ontology Generation, Information Harvesting And Semantic Annotation For Machine-Generated Web Pages, Cui Tao

Theses and Dissertations

The current World Wide Web is a web of pages. Users have to guess possible keywords that might lead through search engines to the pages that contain information of interest and browse hundreds or even thousands of the returned pages in order to obtain what they want. This frustrating problem motivates an approach to turn the web of pages into a web of knowledge, so that web users can query the information of interest directly. This dissertation provides a step in this direction and a way to partially overcome the challenges. Specifically, this dissertation shows how to turn machine-generated web …

Integrated Approach To Airborne Laser Communication, James A. Louthain

Theses and Dissertations

Lasers offer tremendous advantages over RF communication systems in bandwidth and security, due to their ultra-high frequency and narrow spatial beamwidth. Atmospheric turbulence causes severe received power variations and high bit error rates (BERs) in airborne laser communication. Airborne optical communication systems require special considerations in size, complexity, power, and weight. Conventional adaptive optics systems correct for the phase only and cannot correct for strong scintillation, but here the two transmission paths are separated sufficiently so that the strong scintillation is \averaged out" by incoherently summing up the two beams in the receiver. This requisite separation distance is derived for …

Sub-Circuit Selection And Replacement Algorithms Modeled As Term Rewriting Systems, Eric D. Simonaire

Theses and Dissertations

Intent protection is a model of software obfuscation which, among other criteria, prevents an adversary from understanding the program’s function for use with contextual information. Relating this framework for obfuscation to malware detection, if a malware detector can perfectly normalize a program P and any obfuscation (variant) of the program O(P), the program is not intent protected. The problem of intent protection on programs can also be modeled as intent protection on combinational logic circuits. If a malware detector can perfectly normalize a circuit C and any obfuscation (variant) O(C) of the circuit, the circuit is not intent protected. In …

Comparison Of Two Training Programs On Acceleration Out Of The Break In American Football, Micah Adam Alba

Theses and Dissertations

Athletes of American football need the ability to stop, start, and reach top speed in an efficient manner. Football players on the defensive side of the ball require the skill of stopping a backward run and accelerating to a forward run. This action is termed the break. Football players receive year-round training in an effort to improve performance. Yet, many times, these athletes may not focus specifically on the muscular systems that are unique to the position they play. The law of specificity states that the more specific the training is for the action required, the more beneficial the outcome. …

Client Change In Multi-Model Treatment: A Comparison Of Change Trajectories In Group, Individual, And Conjoint Formats In A Counseling Center, Bryan K. Mickelson

Theses and Dissertations

Providing clinicians with a clearer understanding of how clients' recover over the entire course of therapy has important implications for referral and treatment strategies. The present study compares rates of change in 160 clients in group therapy with 6632 clients in individual therapy and 864 clients receiving both individual therapy and group therapy. Therapeutic outcomes were measured using the Outcome Questionnaire-45. Data was analyzed using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM), also called Multi-Level Modeling (MLM), to produce recovery curves for clients in each group. Recovery curves showed that most change occurred in the early part of group therapy and slowed near …

Hierarchical Geographical Identifiers As An Indexing Technique For Geographic Information Retrieval, John Christopher Lakey

Theses and Dissertations

Location plays an ever increasing role in modern web-based applications. Many of these applications leverage off-the-shelf search engine technology to provide interactive access to large collections of data. Unfortunately, these commodity search engines do not provide special support for location-based indexing and retrieval. Many applications overcome this constraint by applying geographic bounding boxes in conjunction with range queries. We propose an alternative technique based on geographic identifiers and suggest it will yield faster query evaluation and provide higher search precision. Our experiment compared the two approaches by executing thousands of unique queries on a dataset with 1.8 million records. Based …

On A Slow Boat To Democracy: The Democratization Of Hong Kong And The Factors Hindering It, James Clapper

Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes political, cultural, and social factors that influence democratization using Hong Kong as a case study. Hong Kong is a transitional society which provides a unique set of political and social characteristics for which to study democratic transition. Additionally, reports of political repression from the 2004 Legislative Council election have possibly created a crisis for the democratization process. Drawing from existing literature in theories of democratization, political repression and Hong Kong politics several hypotheses were developed. It was hypothesized that unchecked hegemonic deterrence, antidemocratic elites, and a weak political culture have contributed to a lack of democratization. Furthermore, …

Enhanced Models For Mixtures Of Fluids In Chemical Equilibrium At High Pressures, Pietro Gaiaschi

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is concerned with the numerical simulation of mixtures of chemically reacting fluids at high pressures. Mixture rules are established, accommodating components that do not follow the thermally perfect Equation of State (EoS), and including formulas for the fugacities. Particular attention has been given to the species EoS originally developed by Hirschfelder, Buehler, McGee and Sutton. The Law of Mass Action that governs chemical equilibrium of mixtures of fluids is presented. The common assumption of neglecting fugacities contributions when calculating the equilibrium composition is assessed by comparing complete thermochemical predictions with those obtained by reduced models. For air mixtures …

Quantifying Cognitive Workload And Defining Training Time Requirements Using Thermography, Jihun Kang

Theses and Dissertations

Effective mental workload measurement is critical because mental workload significantly affects human performance. A non-invasive and objective workload measurement tool is needed to overcome limitations of current mental workload measures. Further, training/learning increases mental workload during skill or knowledge acquisition, followed by a decreased mental workload, though sufficient training times are unknown. The objectives of this study were to: (1) investigate the efficacy of using thermography as a non-contact physiological measure to quantify mental workload, (2) quantify and describe the relationship between mental workload and learning/training, and, (3) introduce a method to determine a sufficient training time and an optimal …

Nutrient Digestibility And Utilization By Cattle Consuming Cotton Gin Mote As A Replacement For Forage, Cassie Marie Welch

Theses and Dissertations

Two studies were conducted to evaluate cotton gin mote as a forage replacement by determining nutrient digestibility and nitrogen and energy retention. Three diets were used: 0%, 50%, and 100% mote. Dry matter intake was greatest for steers consuming 100% mote. Digestibility of DM, OM, CP, and energy was least for steers consuming 50% mote and greatest for those consuming 0% mote. Digestibility of NDF and ADF was greatest for steers consuming 0% mote. Fat digestibility was greatest by steers consuming 0% mote and least by steers consuming 100% mote, with those consuming 50% mote being intermediate. Steers consuming 0 …

A Case Study Examining Teachers' Beliefs Toward In-Grade Retention In A K-2 School, Charles Edward Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-methods case study was to examine teachers’ beliefs toward in-grade retention in a K-2 school. This study focused on how teachers acquire beliefs regarding grade retention, and their knowledge of research regarding the effectiveness of retention. Witmer, Hoffman and Nottis (2004) contend that teacher beliefs toward grade retention may not be based on research, but on peer influence, past practice, or administrative policy. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected to examine teacher beliefs in a K- 2 school. Quantitative data were collected through the Teacher Opinion Survey (TOS) and Personal Experiences and Retention Practices (PERP). A …

Epidemiologic And Economic Study Of Hyperelastosis Cutis/Herda In The Quarter Horse Cutting Industry, Sally Grant Tipton

Theses and Dissertations

Hyperelastosis Cutis (HC) is an autosomal recessive disorder in Quarter Horses. Homozygous (Hr/Hr) horses are affected with fragile, hyperextensible skin that sloughs and scars easily following minor trauma. Heterozygous (N/Hr) horses appear normal, but carry one copy of the gene. Objectives were to determine inbreeding coefficients of affected (Hr/Hr), carrier (N/Hr), and normal (N/N) Quarter Horses, compared to Thoroughbreds, and evaluate economic effects of HC within the cutting horse industry. Of the top cutting horses from 1985 through 2006, 35 were confirmed carriers by either DNA analysis or production of affected offspring. Although 23% of the earnings from the leading …

Marital Instability In East Asian Societies: A Comparative Study Of China, Taiwan, And South Korea, Susan Lynne Rich

Theses and Dissertations

The rising trend in marital instability and divorce is a topic of discussion nearly world-wide. While divorce affects considerably fewer people in non-Western societies, its rising trend and impact are quite alarming. Given the well established findings in the West, it is useful to study divorce and marital instability in non-Western societies so that prior findings from the West can be scrutinized and validated cross-culturally. This study is necessary because the theories developed in the West may not be entirely applicable to non-Western societies and cultural factors may in some cases be more important than socio-economic factors. By using the …

The Spatial Demography Of Reported Crime: An Examination Of Urban-Rural Crime Articulation And Associated Spatio-Temporal Diffusion Processes, U.S. 1990 - 2000, Jeremy Reed Porter

Theses and Dissertations

Recently, increased attention has been given to the social and environmental context in which crimes occur (Wells & Weisheit 2004). This new interest in the human ecology of crime is largely demographic, both in terms of subject matter and increasingly in terms of the analytic methods used. Building on existing literature on the social ecology of crime, this study introduces a new approach to studying sub-county geographies of reported crime using existing census place and county definitions coupled with spatial demographic methods. Spatially decomposing counties into Census places and what Esselstyn (1953) earlier called “open country,” or non-places, allows for …