Digital Commons Network^™

Safety Data Dissemination Framework For Vehicular Networks, Martin Koubek

Theses

An effective transportation system is essential to modern societies with transportation having a significant influence on economic growth, social development and the environment. But this dependence on road mobility has had serious consequences in terms of rising crash costs that include deaths, injuries, lost productivity, material damage and congestion. The European Union and many other governments worldwide support active safety as being the next logical step in diminishing crash costs after passive safety (safety belt, ABS etc.) where drivers will be warned prior to reaching hazardous situations enabling them to react appropriately. While improving road safety is unanimously considered the …

Water And Nutrient Balances Of Vegetative Treatment Systems For Feedlots In South Dakota, Daniel T. Ostrem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vegetative treatment systems (VTS) are a possible alternative to storage basins for managing feedlot runoff but have not been researched in South Dakota. This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of VTS within South Dakota. The performance was evaluated by determining water and mass balances on each vegetative treatment area (VTA). The balances were determined by measuring all inflow, outflow, evapotranspiration, precipitation, and both soil and water nutrient concentrations within the VTA. Twelve site years have been completed in researching VTS from four feed lots in South Dakota. Seven of the twelve site-years VTS were able to prevent water …

Electroporation-Mediated Delivery Of A Naked Dna Plasmid Expressing Vegf To The Porcine Heart Enhances Protein Expression, W. G. Marshall Jr., B. A. Boone, J. D. Burgos, S. I. Gografe, M. K. Baldwin, M. L. Danielson, M. J. Larson, D. R. Caretto, Y. Cruz, B. Ferraro, L. C. Heller, K. E. Ugen, M. J. Jaroszeski, R. Heller

Bioelectrics Publications

Gene therapy is an attractive method for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. However, using current strategies, induction of gene expression at therapeutic levels is often inefficient. In this study, we show a novel electroporation (EP) method to enhance the delivery of a plasmid expressing an angiogenic growth factor (vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGF), which is a molecule previously documented to stimulate revascularization in coronary artery disease. DNA expression plasmids were delivered in vivo to the porcine heart with or without coadministered EP to determine the potential effect of electrically mediated delivery. The results showed that plasmid delivery through EP significantly …

Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute Annual Technical Report Fy 2009, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

KWRRI Annual Technical Reports (USGS’s 104b Grant Program)

The 2009 Annual Technical Report for Kentucky consolidates reporting requirements of the Section 104(b) base grant award into a single document that includes: 1) a synopsis of each research project conducted with grant funds during the period, 2) citations for related publications, reports, and presentations, 3) a description of information transfer activities, 4) a summary of student support during the reporting period, and 5) notable awards and achievements during the year.

The Journal Of Undergraduate Research: Volume 08

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

This is the complete issue of the South Dakota State University Journal of Undergraduate Research, Volume 8.

E.J. Gallo Winery Spirit-Makers Facility, Aaron Pickar

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

With growing demand for E.J. Gallo spirit brands, the cramped and cluttered facility allocated to the spirit-makers does not provide an adequate work environment to design and test new hard alcohols. E.J. Gallo Winery wants to relocate the spirit-makers to a new facility located near the brandy production floor for under 200,000 dollars. In order to do this, a revised systematic approach to facility design is used.

In this process, the departments are first defined, then the relationships between these departments and the space requirements are documented. Once these planning steps are complete, alternative layouts are constructed and analyzed until …

Design And Manufacture Of Tennis Ball Retriever, Philip Hurst

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

No abstract provided.

Building Occupancy And Energy Conservation In Institutional Buildings Of The University Of Alabama At Birmingham, Atul Nandkumar Kajale

All ETDs from UAB

Building occupancy and lighting surveys were conducted in various campus buildings of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2007 (summer and fall semesters) and 2008 (spring and summer semesters) to investigate their energy performance. The details of the occupancy, lighting, and utility bills of the Business Engineering Complex, Humanities Building, Hill University Center, Ryals School of Public Health, and Sterne Library are discussed in this thesis. The after-hour occupancy was very low in most of the buildings surveyed and, at the same time, there were several unoccupied and fully lit rooms. In order to reduce energy waste, the …

Accidents Will Happen. Do Safety Systems Improve Warehouse Safety Performance?, Rene B. M. De Koster, B. M. Balk, I Davelaar, M. Martens

11th IMHRC Proceedings (Milwaukee, Wisconsin. USA – 2010)

Safety is becoming more and more an issue in warehouses. In the literature, effective measures leading to increased occupational health and safety have hardly been researched. Most research focuses on the impact of perceived safety-related leadership of managers and worker safety consciousness on ‘safety climate’ and workers’ safe behavior. We have carried out exploratory research into which measures really improve the safety performance of a warehouse. We particularly focus on the effects of (1) safety-related work procedures, (2) safety leadership, and (3) workers’ safety consciousness. Based on a survey we show that safety leadership and safety-related work procedures significantly drive …

The Human-Centric Warehouse, Kevin R. Gue

11th IMHRC Proceedings (Milwaukee, Wisconsin. USA – 2010)

In theory and in practice, the objective of warehouse design has long been to meet operational requirements of throughput and service performance at minimum cost. A natural product of this “bottom line” approach has been warehouse buildings and operations ill-suited to the humans who spend their working lives interacting with them. We offer an explanation for the current approach, and argue that a new approach— a new paradigm —is needed. We then describe a comprehensive approach to warehouse design that includes human well-being as a primary goal.

Isolation And Characterization Of Bacteria From Extended Aeration Wastewater Treatment Plants., Randy Chin Kok Fei

Student Works (2010-2019)

In this study, three different wastewater treatment plants (STP1, STP2 and STP3) were sampled in Klang Valley. STP1 exhibited the best activated sludge health with healthy Sludge Volume (SV), Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids (MLSS) and Mixed Liquor Volatile Suspended Solids (MLVSS). STP2 were constantly disrupted by the mechanical failures which caused its dissolved oxygen (DO) to decrease whereas STP3 was troubled by the inadequate alkalinity in its mixed liquor causing acidic condition in aeration tank. The acidic condition resulted in pin-floc problem and contributed to high Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and low SV. Influent at STP3 was also found to …

Digital Human Models Of People With Disabilities, Ron Hamameh

Wayne State University Theses

The current state-of-the-art in Digital Human Modeling (DHM) allows for full simulation and analysis of any task a person is required to perform at home, at work, in the military, in space, in sports, etc. The problem is that the software is missing a very important population: people with physical disabilities. What modifications and enhancements must be made to existing, commercially available DHM software to include this population?

Applying Geographic Information Systems To Support Strategic Environmental Assessment: Opportunities And Limitations In The Context Of Irish Land-Use Plans, Ainhoa Gonzalez, Alan Gilmer, Ronan Foley, John Sweeney, John Fry

Articles

The strengthening of spatial database infrastructures, further promoted by the INSPIRE Directive adopted in 2007, has led to an increased use of spatial data in planning and decision-making. Given that land-use plans are intrinsically spatial, such evidence and approaches can significantly benefit plan-making. A spatial framework could especially support the specific Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) aspects of the plan-making process. Spatial tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are particularly well-placed to support the environmental integration sought in SEA by providing evidence through the spatial assessment of multiple environmental datasets. Moreover, GIS bring the opportunity to augment conventional assessment techniques …

An Investigation Of Semantic Links To Archetypes In An External Clinical Terminology Through The Construction Of Terminological "Shadows", Sheng Yu, Damon Berry, Jesús Bisbal

Conference Papers

The two-level model based specifications for electronic health record communication EHRcom (ISO 13606) and openEHR both support the embedding of terminological references in Archetypes. This terminological binding can be created manually by a health terminology expert during Archetype design, and the binding is assessed during Archetype evaluation. There has also been some recent work on using lexical queries to generate term sets to represent concepts in Archetypes. This work created an information construct which we call a Terminological Shadow that links Archetype nodes to sets of candidate concepts from a terminology system. The coding scheme used for this work is …

Application Of Magnetic Resonance Imaging To Understanding The Pathogenesis Of The X-Linked Leukodystrophy Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease, Jeremy Jerome Laukka

Wayne State University Dissertations

Myelin is a multilamellar membrane structure surrounding axons in both the CNS and PNS that facilitates nerve conduction. In the CNS, myelin is synthesized by oligodendrocytes, while in the PNS, myelin is synthesized by Schwann cells. In the CNS, Proteolipid protein 1 (PLP1), an integral membrane protein, is the major protein component of myelin, constituting ~50% of myelin protein. Mutations of the PLP1 gene in man cause a spectrum of neurological disease, ranging from the severe Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD), that typically begins during infancy with nystagmus, seizures and hypotonia and evolves into spastic quadriparesis, cognitive impairment and ataxia, to ¡¥pure¡¦ …

Effect Of Alternative Fuels On Aftertreatment Device, Bunpreet Singh

Wayne State University Theses

EFFECT OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS ON THE AFTERTREATMENT DEVICE.

by

BUNPREET SINGH

Dec 2010

Advisor: Dr. Dinu Taraza

Major: Mechanical Engineering

Degree: Master of Science

There is no doubt that globally, alternative fuels have attained the center of attention in order to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels. A lot of research has been conducted on the alternative fuels in the automotive industry pertaining to the sustainability, engine performance and the emission characteristics.

The focus of this study is to investigate the effect of alternative fuels (JP8, Soy-based B20, and S8) on the aftertreatment device. Different fuel properties (both physical and …

Program And Proceedings: Nebraska Academy Of Sciences 1880–2010, 130th Anniversary Year, One Hundred-Twentieth Annual Meeting

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

Program

Aeronautics and Space Science

Chemistry and Physics

Collegiate Academy: Biology

Collegiate Academy: Chemistry and Physics

Biological and Medical Sciences

Chemistry and Physics

History and Philosophy of Science

Nebraska Wesleyan University Health and Sciences Graduate School Fair

Junior Academy, Senior High Competition/p>

Aeronautics and Space Science, Poster Session

Teaching of Science and Math

Maiben Memorial Lecture: Mark Greip, Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Aeronautics

Anthropology

Junior Academy, Senior High Competition

Earth Science

Junior Academy, Junior High Competition

Design And Development Of Highly Active, Nanoengineered, Platinum Based Core-Shell Electrodes For Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, Seth Louis Knupp

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Highly active nanoengineered core-shell electrocatalyst have a great potential to be used as fuel cell electrodes. They can alleviate problems related with commercial carbon supported platinum by simultaneously lowering cost while enhancing reaction kinetics and overall performance. More recently, use of nanoengineered core-shell electrode structures have showed their ability to enhance the stability and overall lifetime of the catalyst without sacrificing the electrode's performance. We studied the potential of using highly active core-shell nanoparticles supported on carbon nanomaterials as fuel cell electrodes.

Stochastic Stability Of The Discrete-Time Constrained Extended Kalman Filter, Levent Özbek, Esi̇n Köksal Babacan, Murat Efe

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In this paper, stability of the projection-based constrained discrete-time extended Kalman filter (EKF) as applied to nonlinear systems in a stochastic framework has been studied. It has been shown that like the unconstrained EKF, the estimation error of the EKF with known constraints on the states remains bounded when the initial error and noise terms are small, and the solution of the Riccati difference equation remains positive definite and bounded. Stability results are verified and performance of the constrained EKF is demonstrated through simulations on a nonlinear engineering example.

K-Anonymity Based Framework For Privacy Preserving Data Collection In Wireless Sensor Networks, Hayretdi̇n Bahşi̇, Albert Levi̇

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In this paper, k-anonymity notion is adopted to be used in wireless sensor networks (WSN) as a security framework with two levels of privacy. A base level of privacy is provided for the data shared with semi-trusted sink and a deeper level of privacy is provided against eavesdroppers. In the proposed method, some portions of data are encrypted and the rest is generalized. Generalization shortens the size of the data transmitted in the network causing energy saving at the cost of information loss. On the other hand, encryption provides anonymization with no information loss and without saving energy. Thus, there …

Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis Of Mitral Valve Doppler Signals: Surrogate Data Analysis, Esma Uzunhi̇sarcikli

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In our study, the nonlinear dynamics of mitral valve Doppler signals from 32 healthy and 28 patients with mitral valve stenosis was evaluated using by the computation of Lyapunov exponents, correlation dimension values and surrogate data analysis. Two chaotic features are compared for healthy and patient subjects. It was found that the largest Lyapunov exponent and correlation dimension values derived from patient subjects were larger than that of healthy subjects (\rho < 0.005). Surrogate data analysis was performed to determine the chaotic dynamics of Doppler signals. It was observed that the original and surrogate data have similar spectral features. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the nonlinearity character Area Under the curve (AUC) values were obtained as 0.99 and 0.978 for the largest Lyapunov exponent and correlation dimension values, respectively. According to these results, Doppler signals have a nonlinear dynamic property and the largest Lyapunov exponent. Correlation dimension features can be used to detect the change in blood flow velocity of patients with mitral valve stenosis.

Sdre Optimal Control Of Drug Administration In Cancer Treatment, Mehmet İti̇k, Meti̇n Uymaz Salamci̇, Stephen Paul Banks

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In this study, we apply State Dependent Riccati Equation (SDRE) based optimal control technique to a nonlinear tumor growth model. The model consists of three biological cells which are normal tissue, tumor and immune cells. The effect of chemotherapy treatment is also included in the model. Chemotherapy administration is considered as a control input to the nonlinear cancer dynamics and the amount of administered drug is determined by using SDRE optimal control. The optimal control is applied to the model in order not only to drive the tumor cells to the healthy equilibrium state but also to minimize the amount …

Using Covariates For Improving The Minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance Feature Selection Method, Olcay Kurşun, Cemal Okan Şakar, Oleg Favorov, Ni̇zametti̇n Aydin, Sadik Fi̇kret Gürgen

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Maximizing the joint dependency with a minimum size of variables is generally the main task of feature selection. For obtaining a minimal subset, while trying to maximize the joint dependency with the target variable, the redundancy among selected variables must be reduced to a minimum. In this paper, we propose a method based on recently popular minimum Redundancy-Maximum Relevance} (mRMR) criterion. The experimental results show that instead of feeding the features themselves into mRMR, feeding the covariates improves the feature selection capability and provides more expressive variable subsets.

2010 Nebraska Water Monitoring Programs Report, Marty Link

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality: Reports

The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) is charged with monitoring, assessing, and to the extent possible, managing the state’s water resources. The purpose of this work is to protect and maintain good quality water and encourage or execute activities to improve poor water quality. Monitoring is done on the over 18,000 miles of flowing rivers and streams, our greater than 280,000 acres of surface water in lakes and reservoirs, and the vast storage of groundwater in Nebraska’s aquifers.

Time And Degree Of Glycemic Derangement Are Associated With Increased Mortality In Trauma Patients In The Setting Of Tight Glycemic Control, Michael G. Corneille, Celina Villa, Steven Wolf, Joel E. Michalek, Inkyung Jung, Charles E. Wade, John G. Meyers, Daniel L. Dent, Deborah Mueller, Ronald M. Stewart

United States Army: Publications

BACKGROUND: Tight glucose control (TGC) may reduce mortality in critically ill trauma patients. We hypothesize that euglycemia is beneficial, and a measure considering time and degree of hyperglycemia is most associated with mortality.

METHODS: We performed a review of intensive care unit trauma patients admitted for more than 3 days between January 2005 and December 2007 on a TGC protocol with a goal of 80 to 110 mg/dL. Hyperglycemic, hypoglycemic, and euglycemic time ranges, and area of interpolated curves above and below 80 to 110 mg/dL were assessed. Associations with mortality were based on logistic regression models adjusted for age, …

Activity Of Topical Antimicrobial Agents Against Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria Recovered From Burn Patients, Jessie S. Glasser, Charles H. Guymon, Katrin Mende, Steven E. Wolf, Duane R. Hospenthal, Clinton K. Murray

United States Army: Publications

Background:

Topical antimicrobials are employed for prophylaxis and treatment of burn
wound infections despite no established susceptibility breakpoints, which are becoming vital in an era of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. We compared two methods of determining topical antimicrobial susceptibilities.

Methods:

Isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Acinetobacter baumanii-calcoaceticus (ABC) from burn patients were tested using broth microdilution and agar well diffusion to determine minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and zones of inhibition (ZI). Isolates had systemic antibiotic resistance and clonality determined. MDR included resistance to antibiotics in three or more …

Socio-Demographic And Drug Use Factors Associated With Hiv-1 Recombinants And Dual Infections In Northern Thai Drug Users: Associations Of Risk With Genetic Complexity, G. H. Kijak, C. Beyrer, S. Tovanabutra, T. Sripaipan, V. Suriyanon, N. Moqueet, E. Sanders-Buell, P. Saokhieo, U. Timpan, J. Jittiwutikarn, M. L. Robb, D. L. Birx, D. D. Celentano, F. E. Mccutchan

United States Army: Publications

Background:

Dual infection with diverse HIV strains can foster the emergence of recombinants. The resulting  increase in viral genetic diversity is a major challenge for vaccine development HIV treatment. In this study we aim to investigate the socio demographic factors associated with an increasing level of genetic diversity among HIV strains in a population of drug-users in Northern Thailand.

Methods:

From 1999 through 2000, 2231 volunteers were enrolled in the Opiate- Users Research in Chiang Mai, Thailand. HIV subtype analysis was conducted among those HIV-1 seropositive (n = 347) using a multi-region hybridization assay. Social and demographic variables were assessed …

Toxicity And Bioaccumulation Of Tnt In Marine Fish In Sediment Exposures, Guilherme R. Lotufo, William Blackburn, Sydney J. Marlborough, John W. Fleeger

United States Army: Publications

The bioaccumulation potential and toxicity of 2, 4, 6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) spiked to sediment was evaluated in juvenile sheeps head minnows (JSHM, Cyprinodon variegatus) and adult freckled blennies (FB, Hypsoblennius ionthas). The JSHM were exposed for 4 days in the presence or absence of a mesh separating fish from sediment. FB were exposed to sediment for 7 days. During the 24-day storage period(4 °C), extensive transformation of spiked TNT occurred and concentrations are expressed as the sum of TNT, aminodinitrotoluenes and diaminonitrotoluenes (Sum TNT), on a dry weight basis. Sum TNT in the overlying water, not exchanged during exposure, …

Implementation Of Risk Management In The Medical Device Industry, Rachelo Dumbrique

Master's Theses

This study looks at the implementation and effectiveness of risk management (RM) activities in the medical device industry. An online survey was distributed to medical device professionals who were asked to identify RM-related activities performed during the device life cycle. RM activities and techniques included Establishing Risk Acceptance Criteria, Hazard Identification, Human Factors/Usability, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (DFMEA), Process Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (PFMEA), Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP), Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), Risk Benefit Analysis, and Risk Assessment of Customer Complaint. Devices were identified by type (therapeutic, surgical/clinical tools, …

Characterizing The Controlled Release Of Glial Cell-Line Derived (Gdnf) Neurotrophic Factor From Encapsulated Schwann Cells, Kristy Broadrick

Wayne State University Theses

ABSTRACT

CHARACTERIZING THE CONTROLLED RELEASE OF GDNF IN SCHWANN CELLS

by

KRISTY BROADRICK

May 2010

Advisor: Dr. Pamela VandeVord

Major: Biomedical Engineering

Degree: Masters of Science

Controlled expression of glial cell line derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) can be integrated in the development of a system for repair of injured peripheral nerves. This delivery strategy was demonstrated via inducible GDNF from microencapsulated cells in barium alginate. The Schwann cell line RT4-D6P2T was initially modified utilizing an ecdysone-based stable transfection system to produce RT4-GDNF cells. During construct preparation, it was found that C6 cells (where GDNF cDNA was isolated) make three GDNF …