Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Other

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type

Articles 20131 - 20160 of 25685

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

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 …

Go to article

The Public's View Of Terrorism In Their Communities As Related To Media-Viewing Habits, Renee Bradshaw Jul 2008

The Public's View Of Terrorism In Their Communities As Related To Media-Viewing Habits, Renee Bradshaw

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

The purpose of this study was to analyze the beliefs and behaviors of criminology and communications students in regards to general media and terrorism media exposure, as well as fear of terrorism. It was conducted using a survey, which concentrated on the participants’ media-viewing habits; perceptions of current terrorism trends; fear of terrorism; viewer characteristics; and demographic information. Results revealed more frequent media exposure among communications students than among criminology students. Criminology students were more likely to believe another terrorist attack is likely in the United States, while being less fearful of such an attack on a personal level; communication …

Go to article

Design Of Analog Correlator For 22-29ghz Uwb Vehicular Radar Systems In Ibm 90nm Cmos Process, Niranjan Karandikar Jul 2008

Design Of Analog Correlator For 22-29ghz Uwb Vehicular Radar Systems In Ibm 90nm Cmos Process, Niranjan Karandikar

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

In this thesis analog correlator is designed for UWB vehicular radar system. Operating frequency of the correlator is 22-29GHz. IBM 90nm CMOS process is used for the design, Simulation are done in CADENCE Spectre and SpectreRF. UWB signal of 22-29GHz is generated in ADS. Gaussian mono-pulse is shaped with band-pass filter to meet FCC mask. Simulations are done by using this signal. Typical receiver of UWB system consists of LNA, analog correlator and ADC. Analog correlator is the matched filter which is a part of receiver. It is used to detect the incoming RF signal by maximizing signal to noise …

Go to article

Simulation Of Tetrahedral Mesh Based Organ Deformation Using Parameter Optimized Spring Constants, Koyel Mukherjee Jul 2008

Simulation Of Tetrahedral Mesh Based Organ Deformation Using Parameter Optimized Spring Constants, Koyel Mukherjee

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

Virtual reality based surgical simulators are becoming increasingly popular for training doctors on minimally invasive surgery. For these simulators, it is necessary to generate 3D organ models and create virtual environments depicting visually realistic deformation response by tissues and organs to manipulations by surgical tools. For creating a 3D model, several different approaches have been used by the computer graphics community, among which polygonal/polyhedral meshes have gained popularity for real time virtual reality applications. This work investigates two problems in 3D organ modeling for virtual reality simulators. Firstly, we consider the use of unstructured 3D meshes for generation of organ …

Go to article

Cracked Foundations: St. Antony, Textual Production, And Genre, William Auther Rogers Jul 2008

Cracked Foundations: St. Antony, Textual Production, And Genre, William Auther Rogers

English Theses - Archive

St. Antony is a saint who defies description. The foundational text about Antony--Athanasius' Life of Antony--is a text that introduces many of the paradigmatic elements of the hagiographic genre yet actually subverts many of the prescriptions it creates and promulgates. This drive toward normativity and non-normativity, a basic characteristic of Antony's textual materials through the centuries, is confirmed by the presence and structure of Vita Antonius, a mid-fifteenth century prose legend featuring Antony found in MS Royal 17.C.XVII. Through examination of these two texts, this thesis argues that St. Antony's long textual presence is born out of the ability to …

Go to article

Implementation And Evaluation Of Residual Color Transform For 4:4:4 Rgb Lossless Coding, Pooja Vasant Agawane Jul 2008

Implementation And Evaluation Of Residual Color Transform For 4:4:4 Rgb Lossless Coding, Pooja Vasant Agawane

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

The 4:4:4 video sampling format promises an excellent quality video. It is gaining a lot of attention due to its significance in the professional applications of multimedia processing. The use of the RGB color space for video processing is attracting, both, the industry and the academia. Extensive research is being undertaken to achieve better compression efficiency and high coding gain in the RGB (red, green, blue) color space. In contrast to typical consumer applications, high quality video is demanded in areas such as professional digital video recording, video post production and digital cinema. These latter applications demand all three color …

Go to article

Diagnosis And Prognosis Of Electrical And Mechanical Faults Using Wireless Sensor Networks And A Two-Stage Neural Network Classifier, Akarsha Ramani Jul 2008

Diagnosis And Prognosis Of Electrical And Mechanical Faults Using Wireless Sensor Networks And A Two-Stage Neural Network Classifier, Akarsha Ramani

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

Diagnosis and isolation of electrical and mechanical problems in induction motors has always been a very challenging task. Some of the common problems in induction motors are: bearing, stator winding, and rotor bar failures. This thesis has three phases: The first one pertains to development of low-cost test-beds for simulating bearing faults and short circuit stator winding faults in a motor. Bearing fault is due to the failure of any of the components of the bearing and the stator winding fault is due to the failure of insulation between the windings. Bearing faults can be identified from the motor vibration …

Go to article

Theoretical And Experimental Study Of Wide-Band Quasi-Planar Conical Antennas, Tsungyin Wu Jul 2008

Theoretical And Experimental Study Of Wide-Band Quasi-Planar Conical Antennas, Tsungyin Wu

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

Conical antennas are widely used in many applications because of their broad input impedance bandwidth and omni-directional radiation pattern. However, conical antennas usually have three-dimensional structures and are, hence, relatively difficult to fabricate and integrate. In this thesis, a quasi-planar conical antenna is proposed, where the simulation and measurement results indicate that dielectric loading could mechanically stabilize the antenna while keeping the input impedance invariant within a broad band. Also, the proposed antenna keeps the original wide-band and omni-directional properties. Specifically, a few configurations of the quasi-planar conical antenna are simulated, fabricated, and tested. The simulation and measurement results show …

Go to article

Eukasimbiosys: A Stochastic Discrete Event-Based Simulation Software For In-Silico Study Of Insulin Signaling And Metabolism In Cardiac Myocytes, Amin Reza Mazloom Jul 2008

Eukasimbiosys: A Stochastic Discrete Event-Based Simulation Software For In-Silico Study Of Insulin Signaling And Metabolism In Cardiac Myocytes, Amin Reza Mazloom

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The advent of human genome annotation in the early years of third millennium has enabled the scientist to interlink the processes of life at the molecular level. The coincidence of this breakthrough along with advances in computational technology and high-throughput experimental techniques has promoted the emergence of numerous -omics data resources. Although for years before such discovery, scientist believed that cellular processes are the product of interaction between genes and gene products; However, any effort to exploit a comprehensive picture of cellular processes had been obscured due to the knowledge gap that avoided to correlate the cellular processes at the …

Go to article

Architectures And Methods For Energy-Efficient Querying And Indexing In Wireless Sensor Networks, Kyungseo Park Jul 2008

Architectures And Methods For Energy-Efficient Querying And Indexing In Wireless Sensor Networks, Kyungseo Park

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Wireless sensor networks have been an active research area for about a decade due to their adaptability to applications involving long-term environmental monitoring. Recent technologies make it possible that a small device equipped with multi-purposed sensors, small CPU and memory, wireless transmitter and receiver, and software can form a network, measure some quantitative phenomena and communicate with each other seamlessly. In wireless sensor networks, one of the basic applications is to monitor events and measure values at places that people cannot reach easily or where a long term sensing task is required. In this case, we need to know the …

Go to article

Biodegradable Fluorescent Polymers, Santosh Gautam Jul 2008

Biodegradable Fluorescent Polymers, Santosh Gautam

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

Most of the works done on fluorescent polymers are focused on their potential applications in lighting industries. Much less interest has been paid for their potential application in the field of biology and biomedical engineering. Although multiple biological uses of green fluorescent proteins (GFPs) have been addressed by different groups, their potential for biomedical applications is hampered by their tendency to photobleach rapidly and their short fluorescence lifetime. Quantum dots have emerged as a potential substitute for those applications, but their cytotoxicity and lack of biodegradability restrict their use in a biological system. An ideal fluorescent material that could be …

Go to article

Effects Of Item Presentation And User Flexibility On Rater Perceptions, Ryan Edward Phillips Jul 2008

Effects Of Item Presentation And User Flexibility On Rater Perceptions, Ryan Edward Phillips

Psychology Theses - Archive

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of item presentation and user flexibility on performance ratings and rater perceptions of the performance rating process. The participants were 252 undergraduate students enrolled in one or more psychology courses at the University of Texas at Arlington. Participants rated the performance of their psychology instructor using four different rating formats: (a) Multiple-item presentation, high user-flexibility, (b) Multiple-item presentation, low user-flexibility, (c) Single-item presentation, high user-flexibility, and (d) Single-item presentation, low user-flexibility. Dependent measures were administered within each performance rating format to obtain ratings of (a) instructor performance, (b) rater confidence …

Go to article

Septal Stimulation Inhibits Spinal Cord Dorsal Horn Neuronal Activity, Christopher E. Hagains Jul 2008

Septal Stimulation Inhibits Spinal Cord Dorsal Horn Neuronal Activity, Christopher E. Hagains

Psychology Theses - Archive

Deep Brain Stimulation is a useful technique for relieving chronic pain in patients that have exhausted their options. The septum has been a target for such treatment. The purpose of this study was to determine if electrical stimulation in the medial septum diagonal band of broca (MSDB) would reduce nociceptive neuronal activity in the spinal cord of rats. This interest was addressed using a Grass Stimulator to stimulate the MSDB on one side of the brain while recording mostly wide dynamic range neurons in the lumbar region of the spinal cord. Neuronal activity was initiated by graded mechanical stimulation of …

Go to article

Equine Assisted Therapy And Exercise With Eating Disorders: A Retrospective Chart Reveiw And Mixed Method Analysis, Carolyn Boyd Lutter Jul 2008

Equine Assisted Therapy And Exercise With Eating Disorders: A Retrospective Chart Reveiw And Mixed Method Analysis, Carolyn Boyd Lutter

Social Work Theses - Archive

Eating disorders are a group of devastating mental illnesses that chronically affect millions of young women and men of all ages and ethnicities in industrialized nations. Mainstream treatment approaches thus far have proven to have variable efficacy and outcomes and new behavioral interventions such as equine assisted therapy and exercise deserve to be considered as a viable intervention with this population. The area of equine assisted therapy in the field of eating disorder research has received disproportionately little attention. Given the number of residential treatment facilities that integrate it into their treatment for eating disorders, evidence of its safety and …

Go to article

Chiral Recognition And Binding Constant Determination In Monovalent And Bivalent Systems Using Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry, Manishkumar Joshi Jul 2008

Chiral Recognition And Binding Constant Determination In Monovalent And Bivalent Systems Using Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry, Manishkumar Joshi

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses - Archive

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) is a soft ionization method which is capable of transferring weakly bound host-guest noncovalent complexes from the solution phase to the gas phase. This capability makes ESI-MS an ideal tool for the quantification of binding affinities of different host-guest noncovalent complexes. There is a growing interest in using ESI-MS for chiral recognition studies. In thiswork ESI-MS was employed to investiga te the binding affinities for cinchona alkaloid chiral selectors binding N-blocked leucine enantiomers, as well as for macrocyclic antibiotics binding a variety of derivatized and underivatized amino acids. The effect of multivalency on binding affinity …

Go to article

Decision And Control In Distributed Cooperative Systems, Prasanna Mohan Ballal Jul 2008

Decision And Control In Distributed Cooperative Systems, Prasanna Mohan Ballal

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation presents novel matrix-based approaches for decision and control in distributed cooperative systems such as wireless sensor networks. A novel matrix-based Discrete Event Controller has been implemented for task planning and resource dispatching in a network consisting of stationary ground sensors and mobile agents also known in the literature as mobile wireless sensor networks. The use of shared resources in such systems can sometimes cause a phenomenon called system deadlock, where all the processes in the system come to a standstill. This work presents a new matrix-based algorithm that has been implemented for deadlock avoidance in a system with …

Go to article

Hardware Platform For Research In Helicopter Uav Control, Petru Emanuel Stingu Jul 2008

Hardware Platform For Research In Helicopter Uav Control, Petru Emanuel Stingu

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

The topic discussed in this work addresses the current research being conducted at the Automation & Robotics Research Institute in the areas of UAV helicopter instrumentation targeted towards aerobatic flight control and heterogenous multi-vehicle cooperation. A modular electronic control system is designed which includes sensors communicating over a CAN bus and an on-board computer that runs a special real-time Linux kernel. The majority the electronics is developed by the author, including the electronic schematics, PCB design, component soldering and the supporting software. Commercially available modules are used for the radio transceivers or the on-board computer. The same control system is …

Go to article

Phylogeography And Geographical Variation Of Behavioral And Morphological Characteristics In Paruroctonus Boreus, Abraham Miller Jul 2008

Phylogeography And Geographical Variation Of Behavioral And Morphological Characteristics In Paruroctonus Boreus, Abraham Miller

Biology Dissertations - Archive

Specimens of Paruroctonus boreus were collected from twenty-four sites to assess the geographic variation in behavioral, morphological and molecular traits. Statistical analyses showed males demonstrated a positive response to females from the same population but not females from different populations, and that males exhibit a negative response to males from the same population. Pectine morphology was measured with SEM and demonstrated sexual dimorphism among and within populations. This difference was most apparent in mature individuals. Sequence data from 16S and COI genes suggest there is structure among the populations but this structure does not support a north and south clades …

Go to article

The Mechnism Of Cbt For Depression Recovery: The Role Of Problem-Solving Appraisal, Szu-Yu Chen Jul 2008

The Mechnism Of Cbt For Depression Recovery: The Role Of Problem-Solving Appraisal, Szu-Yu Chen

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is among the most extensively tested psychotherapies for depression. Although its effect on depression alleviation has been widely recognized, little is known regarding its therapeutic mechanism on depression alleviation. Among empirical explanations about the mechanism of CBT, the cognitive mediation hypothesis has historically dominated the field. Although findings of prior studies support this hypothesis by showing a correlation between cognitive changes and depression changes, there is still an absence of sufficient evidence to support that patients' depression improvements are caused by their cognitive changes. In recent years, several studies further observed that patients' depression was improved …

Go to article

Family Resilience As A Predictor Of Better Adjustment Among International Adoptees, Toby Buchanan Jul 2008

Family Resilience As A Predictor Of Better Adjustment Among International Adoptees, Toby Buchanan

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of family resilience theory in relation to the healthy adjustment of transnationally adopted children. The research was guided by two research questions: 1). What is the relationship between family resilience and the overall adjustment of children adopted from outside of the United States? 2). What family resilience variables are most highly predictive of better adjusted and not as well adjusted adoptees? The investigation also included two research hypotheses: 1). Significant differences exist between families of international adoptees that are better adjusted and those that are not as well adjusted. 2). …

Go to article

The Stress Of Caregiving: Factors Impacting Family Caregivers Following Entry Of The Care Recipient Into A Nursing Home, Rebecca Gean Judd Jul 2008

The Stress Of Caregiving: Factors Impacting Family Caregivers Following Entry Of The Care Recipient Into A Nursing Home, Rebecca Gean Judd

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

The purpose of this study was to identify stressors associated with family caregiving following entry into the nursing home of the care recipient. A cross-sectional, survey design included 129 family caregivers for care recipients located in sixteen long-term care facilities in north central Texas and Southern Oklahoma. Consistent with prior research stress related to the caregiving role did not end with the care recipient's entry into the nursing home. Multiple linear regression with forward entry indicated role captivity accounted for the majority of explained variance in perceived stress by family caregivers, followed by constriction of time for participating in family …

Go to article

Lilith Rising: American Gothic Fiction And The Evolution Of The Female Hero In Sarah Wood's Julia And The Illuminated Baron, E.D.E.N. Southworth's The Hidden Hand, And Joss Whedon's Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Kristie Leigh Musgrove Jul 2008

Lilith Rising: American Gothic Fiction And The Evolution Of The Female Hero In Sarah Wood's Julia And The Illuminated Baron, E.D.E.N. Southworth's The Hidden Hand, And Joss Whedon's Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Kristie Leigh Musgrove

English Theses - Archive

The construction and gendered identity of the female hero has long been a pressing concern of feminist criticism. A female hero capable of sustaining a role as a central protagonist in terms of complexity of character and credibility of action is a character who has evolved in literature over the last two centuries. While many discussions of the female hero have centered around the sentimental heroine within domestic space, more attention is due the unique, and one might argue radical, evolution of the female heroine, specifically in Gothic texts. My thesis considers the role of the central female character in …

Go to article

Performance Differences: A Comparison Between Computer-Based And Paper-Pencil Versions Of A Work Simulation Exercise, Cara L. Fay Jul 2008

Performance Differences: A Comparison Between Computer-Based And Paper-Pencil Versions Of A Work Simulation Exercise, Cara L. Fay

Psychology Theses - Archive

Organizations use Assessment Center methods for selection and development of employees. Many organizations that offer assessment services have already made the transition from paper-pencil to computer-based assessments with little research available to justify the appropriateness of this transition. This study examined the differences in performance on four versions of the same work simulation exercise (i.e., in-basket). The content of the work simulation was not altered from one version to another. The study sought to determine if performance on a work simulation exercise changed due to the form in which it was administered. This was tested using four conditions: Paper-pencil, Computer-based, …

Go to article

The Synthesis And Luminescence Properties Of Lanthanide-Based Nanoparticles For Biological Application, Mingzhen Yao Jul 2008

The Synthesis And Luminescence Properties Of Lanthanide-Based Nanoparticles For Biological Application, Mingzhen Yao

Physics Theses - Archive

Lanthanide-doped nanoparticles have great potential as a new kind of luminescent material. In this thesis, we report the synthesis of Cerium-doped LaF3 nanoparticles in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) using chemical reaction at different temperatures. We found that the emission of nanoparticles in DMSO not only depends on reaction temperature but also reaction time. The emission of DMSO solution can be tuned by reaction time, from 490 nm to 650 nm. The formation of LaF3:Ce3+ nanoparticles has been identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The TEM results show that the average sizes of these nanoparticles are within 10 …

Go to article

Risk Factors For Functional Restoration Non-Completion, Krista J. Howard Jul 2008

Risk Factors For Functional Restoration Non-Completion, Krista J. Howard

Psychology Theses - Archive

Previous studies have shown that the one-year outcomes after an interdisciplinary functional restoration program for patients with chronic disabling occupational disorders vary significantly between those who complete the program and those who prematurely drop-out. Non-completers are 9.7 times less likely to return-to-work at any time, and are 7 times less likely to retain work at one year, relative to those who complete the program. Non-completers are also 7 times more likely to have post-rehabilitation surgery to the original injured area, while also displaying higher levels of healthcare utilization. The present study focuses on identifying the risk factors for non-completion of …

Go to article

The Effects Of Narcissistic Group Identity And Group-Level Provocation On U.S. Citizens' Attitudes And Behavior Toward Arab Immigrants, Patricia A. Lyons Jul 2008

The Effects Of Narcissistic Group Identity And Group-Level Provocation On U.S. Citizens' Attitudes And Behavior Toward Arab Immigrants, Patricia A. Lyons

Psychology Theses - Archive

A measure of Narcissistic Group Identity was developed and tested in a cross-sectional pilot study of 319 university students. Analyses revealed that Narcissistic Group Identity predicted more negative attitudes toward Arab immigrants, compared to Asian, Latino, and European immigrant target groups. A subsequent laboratory study explored the hypotheses that Narcissistic Group Identity would again predict negative attitudes and behavior toward an Arab immigrant target group, and that a group-level provocation would exacerbate the effect. As expected, Narcissistic Group Identity predicted more negative attitudes and higher aggression toward an Arab target group, but did not predict attitudes or behavior toward Latino …

Go to article

The Evolution Of Problem Solving: An Assessment Of Preference In Concurrent Schedules Of Reinforcement, Melissa Roark Jul 2008

The Evolution Of Problem Solving: An Assessment Of Preference In Concurrent Schedules Of Reinforcement, Melissa Roark

Psychology Dissertations - Archive

In personal problem-solving, an organism emits responses that have been useful in the past to alter its personal contingencies and produce a response that "solves" a problem. In verbal behavior, a human organism emits responses that have previously been useful to alter the contingencies of another human, this producing a response that "solves a problem". Additionally, in verbal behavior, an organism is controlled by its current contingencies rather than its history of reinforcement. It is suggested that personal problem-solving resembles a tandem schedule of reinforcement and that verbal behavior, which has evolved in humans, resembles multiple schedule reinforcement. This study …

Go to article

Germanium Based Nanotubes: Fact Or Fiction?, Somilkumar Jagdishchandra Rathi Jul 2008

Germanium Based Nanotubes: Fact Or Fiction?, Somilkumar Jagdishchandra Rathi

Physics Theses - Archive

Unlike carbon nanotubes, nanostructures of Ge, a group IV semiconductor, have not been fully explored. In particular, there is limited data available on Germanium-based nanotubes. The aim of this thesis is to explore the structural and electronic properties of Germanium based nanotubes and their potential future electronic applications. We have thus performed a systematic ab initio study of the electronic and geometric structures of three different types of single-walled SiGe and GeC nanotubes in armchair (n, n) and zigzag (n, 0) (3

Go to article

Cap: A Context-Aware Privacy Protection System For Location-Based Services, Aniket Pingley Jul 2008

Cap: A Context-Aware Privacy Protection System For Location-Based Services, Aniket Pingley

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

Location Based Services (LBS) are information services that provide users with customized contents, such as the nearest restaurants/hotels/clinics, retrieved from a dedicated spatial database. They make use of technologies such as Global Positioning System (GPS), triangulation/triliteration etc. to get the geographical position of the user. Since the queries on spatial database include the user's current location, LBS may raise serious concerns on the user's location privacy. If disclosed, a user's location information may be misused in many ways by a malicious adversary who has access to the LBS server or even by the LBS provider. Therefore, our aim in this …

Go to article

High-Level Constraint Support For Combinatorial Testing, Anthony C. Opara Jul 2008

High-Level Constraint Support For Combinatorial Testing, Anthony C. Opara

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

Combinatorial testing constructs test cases by combining different input parameter values based on some effective combinatorial strategy. This software testing approach has displayed very promising attributes and is rapidly gaining popularity in recent years. However, existing work does not provide adequate support for constraint handling. Constraints are often specified as part of an input parameter model and they may be due to several reasons such as incompatibility between certain hardware and software components. A test generation algorithm needs to take these constraints into account during the test generation process to exclude combinations that are invalid from the domain semantics. In …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last