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Articles 20101 - 20130 of 25685

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Congestion Control For Networks In Challenged Environments, Guohua Zhang Aug 2008

Congestion Control For Networks In Challenged Environments, Guohua Zhang

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Congestion occurs when resource demands exceed the capacity of a network. The goal of congestion control is to use the network as efficiently as possible. While extensive efforts have been devoted to providing optimization based, distributed congestion control schemes for efficient bandwidth utilization and fair allocation in the Internet and wireless networks, little consideration was given to congestion control for networks in challenged environments, specifically for networks with time-varying link capacities and networks that intermittently communicate. In this dissertation, we explore optimal congestion control strategies for such networks based on optimization techniques and repeated game theory. For networks with time …

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High Performance Cluster And Grid Computing Solutions For Science, Umeshkumar Ashok Keswani Aug 2008

High Performance Cluster And Grid Computing Solutions For Science, Umeshkumar Ashok Keswani

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

Computing for science has very peculiar requirements. There is an enormous amount of data to analyze to get useful information. This requires greater computing power, huge data storage and high-capacity network. High Performance Computing (HPC) is the perfect solution that satisfies these requirements. Here, we look at two high performance implementations that provide useful solutions to computing problems in science, making possible scientific experiments and discoveries that otherwise would not have been possible.

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Computational Analysis Of Variability Of Recombination In Mice, Vishnukumar Galigekere Nagabhushana Aug 2008

Computational Analysis Of Variability Of Recombination In Mice, Vishnukumar Galigekere Nagabhushana

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

Rapid advances in engineering and technology have fueled research in areas such as molecular biology and genetics to a new level and thus have given birth to multidisciplinary fields like bioinformatics and computational biology. These fields involve the application of one's expertise in one or more areas including computer science, information science, statistics, chemistry and mathematics to solve problems related to biology in general and molecular biology and genetics in particular. It is a challenging research area which requires one to grasp diverse fields at almost equal rigor and at the same time provides new insights into the fascinating field …

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The Dynamics Of Salsa: A Structured Approach To Large-Scale Anonymity, Safwan Mahmud Khan Aug 2008

The Dynamics Of Salsa: A Structured Approach To Large-Scale Anonymity, Safwan Mahmud Khan

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

Anonymity provides a technical solution for protecting one's online privacy. Highly distributed peer-to-peer (P2P) anonymous systems should have better distribution of trust and more scalability than centralized approaches, but existing systems are vulnerable to attacks as they require nodes to have global knowledge of the system. To overcome these problems and to provide more secure, distributed organization for P2P anonymity systems, prior work proposed the Salsa system. Salsa is designed to select nodes to be used in anonymous circuits randomly from the full set of nodes, even though each node has knowledge of only a small subset of the network. …

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The Effects Of An Artifically Elevated Thermal Environment And Seasonal Acclimatization On The Thermal Tolerance Of The Western Mosquitofish, Gambusia Affinis, Rebbekah Watson Aug 2008

The Effects Of An Artifically Elevated Thermal Environment And Seasonal Acclimatization On The Thermal Tolerance Of The Western Mosquitofish, Gambusia Affinis, Rebbekah Watson

Biology Theses - Archive

Gambusia affinis, the western mosquitofish, is a very hardy, live-bearing fish that has invaded freshwater habitats worldwide. The success of the western mosquitofishs' invasion is due to its reproductive capabilities and ability to tolerate a wide range of temperatures. The mosquitofish can inhabit waters as low as 0°C and higher than 40°C. Because of this species' eurythermicity, questions have been raised regarding the impact of artificially heated environments on its thermal tolerance limits and whether its thermal tolerance limits are consistent across seasons. Past studies have shown that mosquitofish populations inhabiting hot ponds receiving thermal effluents at steam-electric power stations …

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Kachin Refugee Women's Work Identity: Narratives In Transition, Christie Ann Wright Aug 2008

Kachin Refugee Women's Work Identity: Narratives In Transition, Christie Ann Wright

Sociology & Anthropology Theses - Archive

My work focuses on the Kachin women's experiences of work in the American workforce in comparison to their experience of work in Burma. Through in-depth interviews with twelve Kachin women in the North Texas area, I analyze the dynamics of migration and work at the intersection of gender and class. Their experiences are both shaped by their prior middle-class status of gendered spheres of paid and unpaid work and their work experiences and expectations in America. Subsequently, they mostly draw from homeland ideas of gendered ideologies because these ideals create and enhance both women's gender and class-statuses in Burma. The …

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Comparative Thermal Biology And Associated Niche Differentiation Among The Five-Lined Skinks, Charles Matthew Watson Aug 2008

Comparative Thermal Biology And Associated Niche Differentiation Among The Five-Lined Skinks, Charles Matthew Watson

Biology Dissertations - Archive

Three species of five-lined skinks (Plestiodon fasciatus, P. laticeps, and P. inexpectatus) occur in regional sympatry across much of the Southeastern United States. These closely-related species, at one or more levels of development, all exhibit a like phenotype and a high amount of prey resource overlap as documented by published data. Under competitive exclusion hypotheses, these species should therefore not locally co-occur. This study confirms, through analysis of habitat type and canopy cover at the point of capture, that P. inexpectatus and P. fasciatus do not typically inhabit the same forest habitat. In fact, where their ranges overlap, P. fasciatus …

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Mutual Information Based Non-Rigid Image Registration Using Adaptive Grid Generation: Gpu Implementation And Application To Breast Mri, Mei Yi Chu Aug 2008

Mutual Information Based Non-Rigid Image Registration Using Adaptive Grid Generation: Gpu Implementation And Application To Breast Mri, Mei Yi Chu

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

In this dissertation a new approach for non-rigid image registration using mutual information is introduced. A fast method for non-rigid registration is developed by adjusting divergence and curl of an intermediate vector field from which the deformation field is computed using finite difference method. The similarity measure mutual information is employed in the gradient-based cost minimization (or mutual information maximization) of the registration. The huge amount of data associated with MRI is handled by fully automated algorithm optimized with a multi-resolution topology preserving regridding scheme. The adaptive grid system naturally distributes more grids to deprived areas. The positive monitor function …

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Naked And Alone In A Strange New World: Early Modern Captivity And Its Mythos In Ibero-American Consciousness, Benjamin Mark Allen Aug 2008

Naked And Alone In A Strange New World: Early Modern Captivity And Its Mythos In Ibero-American Consciousness, Benjamin Mark Allen

History Dissertations - Archive

This study compares and contrasts early modern (1500 - 1650) American captivity narratives of Jerónimo de Aguilar, Gonzalo Guerrero, Juan Ortiz, Cabeza de Vaca, Hans Stade, Hernando d'Escalante Fontaneda, Fray Francisco de Avila, and Francisco Núñez de Pineda y Bascuñán. Although originally touted as "true histories," they should be seen primarily as literary works imitative of popular heroic lore that suffused 16th-century Iberia and Europe. Because the chroniclers penned the narratives years after the experience, subjective memory supplanted objective empiricism. The narrators employed acceptable literary conventions highly imbued with Christian and medieval ritual and imagery to express physical and mental …

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Life Cycle Assessment Of Bio-Material Stabilized Expansive Soils, Ranjith Samuel Rosenberk Aug 2008

Life Cycle Assessment Of Bio-Material Stabilized Expansive Soils, Ranjith Samuel Rosenberk

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Pavement cracking is one of the major maintenance works that requires millions of dollars in repair costs annually. Pavement cracks are formed due to moisture and temperature fluctuations in the soil. Stabilization of pavement shoulder subsoil with the addition of compost material was studied for preventing pavement cracks. Eight different compost materials with three major feed stock sources such as biosolids, wood waste, and animal manure were investigated in this research. Compost treatment studies were performed at four different test sites located in various regions of the state of Texas. Laboratory experiments were conducted completed compost manufactured topsoil's (CMTs) to …

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Distribution Of Tetranychus Evansi And Its Predator Phytoseiulus Longipes (Acari: Tetranychidae, Phytoseiidae) In Southern Brazil, Fernando R. Da Silva, Gilberto J. De Moraes, Markus Knapp Aug 2008

Distribution Of Tetranychus Evansi And Its Predator Phytoseiulus Longipes (Acari: Tetranychidae, Phytoseiidae) In Southern Brazil, Fernando R. Da Silva, Gilberto J. De Moraes, Markus Knapp

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Tetranychus evansi is an important pest of tomato in several countries. The predatory mite Phytoseiulus longipes has been found in association with it in Uruguaiana, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The objective of this study was to evaluate the distribution of those two species in Uruguaiana region. Bi-weekly samples of plant parts were taken between January 28 and April 30, 2007 in Uruguaiana and five neighboring counties. Tetranychus evansi was found in all counties, but P. longipes was only found in Uruguaiana, mainly in the urban area. It is conceivable that such restricted distribution of P. longipes is …

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Effects Of Calcium-Based Treatment On Organic Soil Behavior, Srujan Rao Chikyala Aug 2008

Effects Of Calcium-Based Treatment On Organic Soil Behavior, Srujan Rao Chikyala

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Organic soils are found in many places around the world. Organic soils undergo large secondary settlements depending on the amount of organic matter present in the soil Organic soil is a mixture of finely divided particles of organic matter, in some instances visible fragments of partly decayed vegetable matter and shells are also present in the organic matter. In order to reduce the secondary settlements caused by organic matter, soil is treated with different stabilizing agents. The difficulties associated with organic soils arise when they are treated with cement or lime stabilizers, as organic matter inhibits cementitious reactions responsible for …

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An Examination Of The Tone System Of Fur And Its Function In Grammar, Georgianna Noel Aug 2008

An Examination Of The Tone System Of Fur And Its Function In Grammar, Georgianna Noel

Linguistics & TESOL Theses - Archive

This research into the tonal system of Fur and its grammatical functions began with several basic assumptions. These assumptions were based on the excellent prior research by Jakobi (1989), and Kutsch Lojenga and Waag(2000). These assumptions were: 1. Fur is a register tone language with two tones L and H. Contours on LH and HL are possible. 2. Tone makes lexical distinctions in Fur as exemplified by examples such as: 'desert' úrì 'sheep' úri 3. Tone also functions in the grammar of Fur. Tone is used to differentiate the nominative and locative forms of nouns and the attributive and predicate …

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Influence Of Hypoxia, Hypercapnia And Inspiratory Efforts On Sympathoexcitation During Apnea, Vikram Rao Aug 2008

Influence Of Hypoxia, Hypercapnia And Inspiratory Efforts On Sympathoexcitation During Apnea, Vikram Rao

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is characterized by frequent periods of apnea resulting in hypoxia, hypercapnia and fluctuations of intrathoracic pressure (inspiratory efforts). Hypoxia, hypercapnia and inspiratory efforts lead to stimulation of peripheral chemoreceptors, central chemoreceptors and baroreceptors, respectively, which in turn influence Muscle Sympathetic Nerve Activity (MSNA). We hypothesized that hypoxia and hypercapnia result in an elevated MSNA response, while inspiratory efforts result in a reduced MSNA response during apnea. To test the hypothesis, we determined the contributions of hypoxia (at 12% O2), hypercapnia (at 3% CO2) and inspiratory efforts (mueller maneuvers at 20 mmHg) to MSNA (using microneurographic techniques) …

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A Novel Approach For Mri Image Classification And Image Retrieval, Ankit Vinod Master Aug 2008

A Novel Approach For Mri Image Classification And Image Retrieval, Ankit Vinod Master

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

OBJECTIVE: Classification of MRI image data based on its attribute characteristics is very important for storing the image data and its efficient retrieval. This project aims to find a solution to the problem of classification of the images that are stored on a hard drive and image retrieval from the image database with optimum automation in a user friendly way. METHOD: Matlab was used to create a software tool for image classification and, Java and SQL were used to create a software tool for image retrieval. RESULTS: Image classification tool could read multiple files, extract attribute values from the files …

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Plasmonic Nanostructures: Fabrication And Optical Characterization, Sarath Chandra Samudrala Aug 2008

Plasmonic Nanostructures: Fabrication And Optical Characterization, Sarath Chandra Samudrala

Physics Theses - Archive

Resonant light localization by metal nanostructures has potential for applications in cavity quantum electrodynamics (e.g. single-photon sources, quantum gates etc) and nonlinear optics. In this thesis we present the fabrication details of metal nanocavities in silver films deposited on glass substrates. We discuss the details of the thin film deposition techniques which we used as well as the focused ion beam milling method for drawing nanopatterns on silver films. We also present our studies on optical characterization of gold nano particles on glass substrate showing surface plasmon resonance. We present our theoretical model of this phenomenon using Mie theory and …

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Semi-Empirical Studies Of Solar Supergranulation And Related Phenomena, Peter Edward Williams Aug 2008

Semi-Empirical Studies Of Solar Supergranulation And Related Phenomena, Peter Edward Williams

Physics Dissertations - Archive

In recent years, solar observations have moved from ground-based telescopes to observatories on Earth orbiting satellites, such as SOHO. They provide us with a clear and uninterrupted view of the solar disk. One instrument upon SOHO, the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI), has proved fruitful in providing not only important information of the solar photosphere but, in combination with helioseismic methods, a method for probing the solar interior. This dissertation discusses current investigations by myself and my collaborators into surface manifestations of convection phenomena, using Doppler velocity data from MDI and produced from computer simulations. The Doppler data reveal convection cells …

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Effect Of Emulsifiers On Shortenings, Silvana Martini, Maria Lidia Herrera Aug 2008

Effect Of Emulsifiers On Shortenings, Silvana Martini, Maria Lidia Herrera

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

The quality of a shortening depends on its physicochemical characteristics. These include amount of solids, texture and melting behavior, among others. The type of shortening, the processing and storage conditions strongly affect these characteristics. Different strategies can be used to formulate shortenings with low trans fatty acids content while maintaining their physicochemical characteristics. This article describes some of these strategies and aims to provide information about the different variables that need to be controlled to obtain a high quality shortening.

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Resource Allocation And Bionomics Of Indigenous And Exotic Cotesia (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) Species Reared On Sesamia Calamistis, Y. Hailemichael, F. Schulthess, J. Smith, W. Overholt, A. Chabi-Olaye Aug 2008

Resource Allocation And Bionomics Of Indigenous And Exotic Cotesia (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) Species Reared On Sesamia Calamistis, Y. Hailemichael, F. Schulthess, J. Smith, W. Overholt, A. Chabi-Olaye

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The braconid larval parasitoids Cotesia chilonis (Matsumura), C. flavipes Cameron and a strain of Cotesia sesamiae (Cameron) from coastal Kenya, reared at the International Centre of Insect Ecology and Physiology, were introduced at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in the Republic of Benin for suitability testing on West African stemborers prior to release. C. chilonis was originally collected in Japan while C. flavipes was imported into Kenya from Pakistan. The host species used was the noctuid Sesamia calamistis (Hampson), the most important noctuid maize pest in the region. All three Cotesia species attacked and successfully developed in 2nd to …

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Role Of Native Bees And Natural Habitats In Eggplant (Solanum Melongena) Pollination In Kenya, Barbara Gemmill-Herren, Alfred O. Ochieng' Aug 2008

Role Of Native Bees And Natural Habitats In Eggplant (Solanum Melongena) Pollination In Kenya, Barbara Gemmill-Herren, Alfred O. Ochieng'

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The pollination requirements of eggplant (Solanum melongena) were investigated. One variety of eggplant exhibited a significantly reduced seed set in absence of pollinators, and two varieties significantly increased seed numbers when pollen deposition was enhanced. Two solitary bee species, Xylocopa caffra and Macronomia rufipes, were identified as effective pollinators of the crop. The visitation rates of these pollinators to eggplant flowers declined significantly with distance from the wild habitat. The importance of wild plants as alternative forage source for pollinators was assessed by a survey of the flowering plants in different habitats surrounding eggplant fields. While ruderal farm weeds provide …

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The Impact Of The Ferst Foundation For Childhood Literacy On The Home Literacy Environment, Gina Bennett Thomason Aug 2008

The Impact Of The Ferst Foundation For Childhood Literacy On The Home Literacy Environment, Gina Bennett Thomason

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examined if, among families whose children were enrolled in the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy, there was a relationship between the home literacy environment, measured by a scale survey, and the length of time enrolled in the program. Participants were a stratified random sampling from the population of parents in the State of Georgia whose children were enrolled in the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy program. Using a pilot-tested original survey instrument, 2,100 survey packets were mailed to participants. Valid returned surveys totaled 1,082. Valid surveys were analyzed to determine if a relationship existed between the home literacy …

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Energy Conservation For Content-Based Image Retrieval On Mobile Devices, Karthik Kumar Jul 2008

Energy Conservation For Content-Based Image Retrieval On Mobile Devices, Karthik Kumar

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Masters Theses

Battery-powered mobile systems such as PDAs (personal digital assistants) and mobile phones play an increasing role in handling visual contents such as images. Thousands of images can be stored in a mobile system with the advances in memory technology; this creates the need for better organization and retrieval of the images. Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) provides a method to retrieve images based on their contents. In CBIR, images are represented and compared by high-dimensional vectors called features. Loading these features into memory and comparing them consumes a significant amount of energy. In this thesis, we present the first study …

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Revisiting State Failure: Developing A Causal Model Of State Failure Based Upon Theoretical Insight, Tiffiany O. Howard Jul 2008

Revisiting State Failure: Developing A Causal Model Of State Failure Based Upon Theoretical Insight, Tiffiany O. Howard

Political Science Faculty Research

Developing a theoretically driven causal model of state failure is necessary if scholars are committed to improving the predictive power and forecasting ability of early warning models of state failure. Building upon the work of the State Failure Project(1) and earlier statistical models of state failure(2), this study develops a causal model of state failure that is based upon a theoretical foundation that satisfies the parsimonious condition that policy forecasting models typically rely upon. The statistical model of state failure developed for this analysis extends the work of previous models by developing an alternative definition and measurement of state failure …

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Analyzing Best Practices In Technology Education, Dan L. Householder Jul 2008

Analyzing Best Practices In Technology Education, Dan L. Householder

Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Innovation in technology education is at an all-time high in school programs around the world. Yet creative teachers rarely have an opportunity, even in their local settings, to elucidate the goals and outcomes of their programs, to explain why specific activities are chosen, and to point out the specific student outcomes accomplished in the technology classroom. In this volume, 12 technology educators describe eight unique approaches to introducing learners to intrinsically interesting learning opportunities in their classrooms. These compelling accounts communicate the excitement of student exploration of topics ranging from puppetry to biotechnology, from reverse engineering to the history of …

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Ua7 Ored Quarterly Newsletter, Sadiq Shah Jul 2008

Ua7 Ored Quarterly Newsletter, Sadiq Shah

ORED Quarterly Newsletter

Connecting Knowledge with Businesses and Society to Promote Economic Growth and to Enhance the Quality of Life

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Selected Correspondence From The Horton Foote Collection, 1912-1991, Susan Christensen Jul 2008

Selected Correspondence From The Horton Foote Collection, 1912-1991, Susan Christensen

English Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation includes a discussion of archival research and editorial procedures employed in the study, introductory essays on the private correspondence of the family of Horton Foote, and transcriptions of one hundred letters selected from the personal correspondence in the Horton Foote Collection reposited in the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, with extensive annotations and ancillary materials. In the first chapter, I explain the archival research procedures and editorial methods employed in the study. I also provide physical descriptions of the archived correspondence and present an overview of the contents of the letters, examining many of …

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Comparison Of Cooling Performance Of Overhead And Underfloor Supply With Rear Door Heat Exchanger In High Density Data Center Clusters, Ravi K. Udakeri Jul 2008

Comparison Of Cooling Performance Of Overhead And Underfloor Supply With Rear Door Heat Exchanger In High Density Data Center Clusters, Ravi K. Udakeri

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

The power trend for server systems continues to grow thereby making thermal management of Data centers a very challenging task. Although various configurations exist, the raised floor plenum with Computer Room Air Conditioners (CRACs) providing cold air is a popular operating strategy. In prior work, numerous data center layouts employing raised floor plenum and the impact of design parameters such as plenum depth, ceiling height, cold isle location, tile openings and others on thermal performance of data center was presented. The air cooling of data center however, may not address the situation where more energy is expended in cooling infrastructure …

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Thermo-Mechanical Solutions In Electronic Packaging: Component To System Level, Aalok Trivedi Jul 2008

Thermo-Mechanical Solutions In Electronic Packaging: Component To System Level, Aalok Trivedi

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Since the advent of the transistor and integrated circuit, the performance of electronic equipment has increased significantly while footprint of systems at all levels continues to decrease. Recently, the number of transistors on a high end microprocessor has exceeded a billion. All of the above has necessitated considerable improvement in cooling technology and associated reliability. In this era of high heat fluxes, air cooling still remains the primary cooling solution mainly due to its cost and ease of installation and operation. The primary goal of a good thermal design is to ensure that the chip can function at its rated …

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Structural Optimization Using Matlab Partial Differential Equation Toolbox And Radial Basis Function Based Response Surface Model, Faisal Tanveer Mosharrof Jul 2008

Structural Optimization Using Matlab Partial Differential Equation Toolbox And Radial Basis Function Based Response Surface Model, Faisal Tanveer Mosharrof

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

As a decision making tool, optimization has become an inseparable part of the modern design process. However, in spite of the advances in computer capacity and speed, the computational time for some complex problems is too high to use conventional solution approach. In order to reduce the computational effort and the cost associated with such type of problems, approximation methods such as response surface methodology (RSM) along with design of experiments (DOE) are used in engineering design optimization. The main idea involves replacing the expensive simulation model during the design and optimization process with a simplified mathematical approximation of the …

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Working Librarians' Perceptions Of The Role Of The Public Library In The 21st Century, Susan Smith Jul 2008

Working Librarians' Perceptions Of The Role Of The Public Library In The 21st Century, Susan Smith

Public Affairs Dissertations - Archive

Tax-supported public institutions with often-insufficient resources, public libraries in America can only provide a limited array of programs, services and materials. Recent surveys of the public show libraries are important, but there is a lack of understanding and awareness about what the library does and the source of library funding. Librarians have long known that they do a bad job of telling others about the library. An unclear mission would make communicating difficult, as it is hard to communicate what the library does if there is no clear role or purpose for the library. Examining current professional literatures shows little …

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