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A Study Of Automatic Detection And Classification Of Eeg Epileptiform Transients, Jing Zhou Aug 2014

A Study Of Automatic Detection And Classification Of Eeg Epileptiform Transients, Jing Zhou

All Dissertations

This Dissertation documents methods for automatic detection and classification of epileptiform transients, which are important clinical issues. There are two main topics: (1) Detection of paroxysmal activities in EEG; and (2) Classification of paroxysmal activities. This machine learning algorithms were trained on expert opinion which was provided as annotations in clinical EEG recordings, which are called 'yellow boxes' (YBs). The Dissertation describes improved wavelet-based features which are used in machine learning algorithms to detect events in clinical EEG. It also reveals the influence of electrode positions and cardinality of datasets on the outcome. Furthermore, it studies the utility of using …

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Integrating Visual Mnemonics And Input Feedback With Passphrases To Improve The Usability And Security Of Digital Authentication, Kevin Juang Aug 2014

Integrating Visual Mnemonics And Input Feedback With Passphrases To Improve The Usability And Security Of Digital Authentication, Kevin Juang

All Dissertations

The need for both usable and secure authentication is more pronounced than ever before. Security researchers and professionals will need to have a deep understanding of human factors to address these issues. Due to their ubiquity, recoverability, and low barrier of entry, passwords remain the most common means of digital authentication. However, fundamental human nature dictates that it is exceedingly difficult for people to generate secure passwords on their own. System-generated random passwords can be secure but are often unusable, which is why most passwords are still created by humans. We developed a simple system for automatically generating mnemonic phrases …

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On Numerical Algorithms For Fluid Flow Regularization Models, Abigail Bowers Aug 2014

On Numerical Algorithms For Fluid Flow Regularization Models, Abigail Bowers

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This thesis studies regularization models as a way to approximate a flow simulation at a lower computational cost. The Leray model is more easily computed than the Navier-Stokes equations (NSE), and it is more computationally attractive than the NS-α regularization because it admits a natural linearization which decouples the mass/momentum system and the filter system, allowing for efficient and stable computations. A major disadvantage of the Leray model lies in its inaccuracy. Thus, we study herein several methods to improve the accuracy of the model, while still retaining many of its attractive properties. This thesis is arranged as follows. Chapter …

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Optical Forces In Nanophotonic Structures, Chenguang Huang Aug 2014

Optical Forces In Nanophotonic Structures, Chenguang Huang

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Nowadays, optical forces are widely used to control or measure the position of micrometer- to nanometer-sized particles, such as living cells, DNA and bacteria. Two major categories of optical forces are discussed here: gradient or dipole force and scattering force. The gradient force is originated from the fact that a polarizable micro-particle placed in a laterally varying optical field will experience different forces in the positively and negatively charged sides. In this thesis, we investigate the optical gradient force in 2D hybrid and plasmonic waveguides. Compared to the conventional dielectric waveguides, we show that the optical force can be enhanced …

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Chiasmic Rhetoric: Alan Turing Between Bodies And Words, Patricia Fancher Aug 2014

Chiasmic Rhetoric: Alan Turing Between Bodies And Words, Patricia Fancher

All Dissertations

This Dissertation analyzes the life and writing of inventor and scientist Alan Turing in order to identify and theorize chiasmic relations between bodies and texts. Chiasmic rhetoric, as I develop throughout the Dissertation, is the dynamic processes between materials and discourses that interact to construct powerful rhetorical effect, shape bodies, and also compose new knowledges. My research here extends our knowledge of the rhetoric of science by demonstrating the ways that Alan Turing's embodied experiences shape his rhetoric. Turing is an unusual figure for research on bodily rhetoric and embodied knowledge. He is often associated with disembodied knowledge and as …

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South Atlantic Stream Fish Assemblages: Multi-Scale Structuring Factors, Trait Associations And Channelization, And Responses To Dam Removal, Cathy Marion Aug 2014

South Atlantic Stream Fish Assemblages: Multi-Scale Structuring Factors, Trait Associations And Channelization, And Responses To Dam Removal, Cathy Marion

All Dissertations

South Atlantic coastal plain wadeable streams are unique and understudied freshwater environments that provide crucial habitats for a wide range of aquatic taxa. In Chapter 1, we investigated patterns in fish assemblages across South Carolina's coastal plain, and developed statistical models to identify the dominant multi-scale abiotic environmental factors that influence assemblage structure. Our analyses indicated the presence of four predominant fish assemblages that commonly occur in the coastal plain, which we termed the: 1) fluvial, 2) eastern mudminnow, 3) centrarchid, and 4) non-fluvial assemblages. Natural geographic gradients and instream habitat parameters associated with velocity, channel form, stream size, and …

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Level Stripping Of Genus 2 Siegel Modular Forms, Rodney Keaton Aug 2014

Level Stripping Of Genus 2 Siegel Modular Forms, Rodney Keaton

All Dissertations

In this Dissertation we consider stripping primes from the level of genus 2 cuspidal Siegel eigenforms. Specifically, given an eigenform of level Nlr which satisfies certain mild conditions, where l is a prime not dividing N, we construct an eigenform of level N which is congruent to our original form. To obtain our results, we use explicit constructions of Eisenstein series and theta functions to adapt ideas from a level stripping result on elliptic modular forms. Furthermore, we give applications of this result to Galois representations and provide evidence for an analog of Serre's conjecture in the genus 2 case.

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Cnt Welding Through Ar Bombardment Using Airebo Potential And Optimization Of An Extensionded Aireo Potential For F Atom To Simulate Hydrofluorocarbons, Mustafa Kucukkal Aug 2014

Cnt Welding Through Ar Bombardment Using Airebo Potential And Optimization Of An Extensionded Aireo Potential For F Atom To Simulate Hydrofluorocarbons, Mustafa Kucukkal

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ABSTRACT Molecular Dynamics (MD) is an effective method to study diverse systems to gain atomistic level details from the trajectories of particles in the system. MD require a potential which describes the interaction of the particles within the system, which is then used to solve Newton's equation of motion to obtain the trajectories of the particles. For an accurate simulation of a system, an appropriate potential should be used for the MD simulations. The Adaptive Interactive Reactive Empirical Bond Order (AIREBO) potential is a promising potential for MD simulations of systems involving bond breakage or formation [1, 2]. The AIREBO …

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Mechanical Properties Of Low Dimensional Materials, Deepika Saini Aug 2014

Mechanical Properties Of Low Dimensional Materials, Deepika Saini

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Recent advances in low dimensional materials (LDMs) have paved the way for unprecedented technological advancements. The drive to reduce the dimensions of electronics has compelled researchers to devise newer techniques to not only synthesize novel materials, but also tailor their properties. Although micro and nanomaterials have shown phenomenal electronic properties, their mechanical robustness and a thorough understanding of their structure-property relationship are critical for their use in practical applications. However, the challenges in probing these mechanical properties dramatically increase as their dimensions shrink, rendering the commonly used techniques inadequate. This Dissertation focuses on developing techniques for accurate determination of elastic …

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Energy Loss Of Ions Implanted In Mos Dielectric Films, Radhey Shyam Aug 2014

Energy Loss Of Ions Implanted In Mos Dielectric Films, Radhey Shyam

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Energy loss measurements of ions in the low kinetic energy regime have been made on as-grown SiO2(170-190nm) targets. Singly charged Na+ ions with kinetic energies of 2-5 keV and highly charged ions Ar+Q (Q=4, 8 and 11) with a kinetic energy of 1 keV were used. Excitations produced by the ion energy loss in the oxides were captured by encapsulating the irradiated oxide under a top metallic contact. The resulting Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) devices were probed with Capacitance-Voltage (C V) measurements and extracted the flatband voltages from the C-V curves. The C-V results for singly charged ion experiments reveal …

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Convergence Of A Reinforcement Learning Algorithm In Continuous Domains, Stephen Carden Aug 2014

Convergence Of A Reinforcement Learning Algorithm In Continuous Domains, Stephen Carden

All Dissertations

In the field of Reinforcement Learning, Markov Decision Processes with a finite number of states and actions have been well studied, and there exist algorithms capable of producing a sequence of policies which converge to an optimal policy with probability one. Convergence guarantees for problems with continuous states also exist. Until recently, no online algorithm for continuous states and continuous actions has been proven to produce optimal policies. This Dissertation contains the results of research into reinforcement learning algorithms for problems in which both the state and action spaces are continuous. The problems to be solved are introduced formally as …

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A Biophysical Understanding Of The Applications And Implications Of Nanomaterials, Nicholas Geitner Aug 2014

A Biophysical Understanding Of The Applications And Implications Of Nanomaterials, Nicholas Geitner

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The last few decades have seen an explosion in the study and application of nanomaterials that continues to grow at a dizzying pace. Despite exciting applications in nano-enabled electronics, materials, medicine, and environmental remediation, an understanding of the interactions of these materials with natural materials and systems and the resulting implications lags severely behind. The purpose of this Dissertation is to illuminate these interactions as well as develop novel environmental applications from a biophysical perspective. Following an introduction and literature review in Chapter 1, Chapters 2-4 will explore the application of dendritic polymers as novel and biocompatible oil dispersants for …

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Grobner Bases: Degree Bounds And Generic Ideals, Juliane Golubinski Capaverde Aug 2014

Grobner Bases: Degree Bounds And Generic Ideals, Juliane Golubinski Capaverde

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In this thesis, we study two problems related to Gröbner basis theory: degree bounds for general ideals and Gröbner bases structure for generic ideals. We start by giving an introduction to Gröbner bases and their basic properties and presenting a recent algorithm by Gao, Volny and Wang. Next, we survey degree bounds for the ideal membership problem, the effective Nullstellensatz, and polynomials in minimal Gröbner bases. We present general upper bounds, and bounds for several classes of special ideals. We provide classical examples showing some of these bounds cannot be improved in general. We present a comprehensive study of a …

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Passivation And Functionalization Of Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles With Head Group Modified Phospholipids And Proteins, Prakash Kandel Aug 2014

Passivation And Functionalization Of Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles With Head Group Modified Phospholipids And Proteins, Prakash Kandel

All Dissertations

Conjugated polymer nanoparticles (CPNs) possess important characteristics such as high fluorescence brightness, reasonable photostability, and non-toxicity. These properties allow the use of CPNs in fluorescence based cellular and biological applications including cellular labeling, imaging, biosensing, and single particle tracking. To realize the broad applications of CPNs, it is required that CPNs possess functionality to conjugate a recognition moiety and maintain colloidal stability in biological media. In the following Dissertation, we have prepared functionalized CPNs by surface passivation with head group- functionalized poly (ethylene glycol) lipids and proteins. We studied the colloidal stability of CPNs in biological media and investigated their …

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Designing For Understanding: Helping Older Adults Understand Over-The-Counter Medication Information, Aqueasha Martin Aug 2014

Designing For Understanding: Helping Older Adults Understand Over-The-Counter Medication Information, Aqueasha Martin

All Dissertations

This research is motivated by some of the challenges faced by the healthcare community in communicating health information to the public and the potential for user-centered technology design to address some of these limitations. Each year, thousands die or are injured due to adverse-drug events due to both prescription and over-the-counter medications. The integration of technology has improved the incidence rate for adverse-drug events due to prescription medications. Similarly, personal health records and other consumer-based health applications have been shown to be beneficial for helping individuals manage their health. Despite this growing body of research, little to no research has …

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Investigation Of Concurrent Energy Harvesting From Ambient Vibrations And Wind, Amin Bibo Aug 2014

Investigation Of Concurrent Energy Harvesting From Ambient Vibrations And Wind, Amin Bibo

All Dissertations

In recent years, many new concepts for micro-power generation have been introduced to harness wasted energy from the environment and maintain low-power electronics including wireless sensors, data transmitters, controllers, and medical implants. Generally, such systems aim to provide a cheap and compact alternative energy source for applications where battery charging or replacement is expensive, time consuming, and/or cumbersome. Within the vast field of micro-power generation, utilizing the piezoelectric effect to generate an electric potential in response to mechanical stimuli has recently flourished as a major thrust area. Based on the nature of the ambient excitation, piezoelectric energy harvesters are divided …

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A Spectroscopic Study Of Anomalous Stellar Populations In M67, Courtney Mcgahee Aug 2014

A Spectroscopic Study Of Anomalous Stellar Populations In M67, Courtney Mcgahee

All Dissertations

A population of stars exists in the old, open cluster M67, whose photometry, color magnitude diagram locations and associated evolutionary states cannot be explained by current, standard single star evolution theory. These stars are often referred to as ``yellow straggler' stars. Yellow stragglers have been identified in multiple star clusters suggesting that these stars constitute a real population. Additionally, according to independent studies, at least some of the yellow straggler stars in M67 are likely cluster members. Therefore, cluster non-membership is not a sufficient explanation for the observed anomalous photometry of these stars. It is possible that the yellow stragglers …

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Fluid Mud Gravity Currents Through Emergent Aquatic Vegetation, Nazli Yilmaz Aug 2014

Fluid Mud Gravity Currents Through Emergent Aquatic Vegetation, Nazli Yilmaz

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In this theoretical and experimental investigation, the propagation dynamics of the fluid-mud underflows form in pipeline dredge disposal operations in the designated areas are studied. These areas such as wetlands, nearshore waters are typically covered with stiff, cylindrical, emergent aquatic vegetation. The main goals of this study are to propose mathematical formulations for the bottom shear force and drag force of emergent stiff aquatic vegetation acting on the gravity current, and to present novel propagation modeling approaches. To be able to predict these forces, a friction coefficient (for the bottom shear force), and a drag coefficient (for vegetation skin friction …

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Two-Stage Methodology For Managing And Controlling Material Flow Between Multiple Construction Projects, Fatmah Almazkoor Aug 2014

Two-Stage Methodology For Managing And Controlling Material Flow Between Multiple Construction Projects, Fatmah Almazkoor

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There is a strong connection between managing and controlling material flow in a supply chain and its performance. While this is true in all supply chains, it is particularly true in the construction supply chain (CSC) where the total demand for parts is finite, the storage space available can be small, and the variability in consumption is high. On the other hand, effectively controlling the CSC can have a significant impact on controlling risk and buffering their impact so that projects stay on schedule and within budget. Currently, a common control of the CSC is with a push-based material ordering …

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A Comparison Of Adolescents' Digital And Print Reading Experiences: Does Mode Matter?, Heather J. Mccrea-Andrews Aug 2014

A Comparison Of Adolescents' Digital And Print Reading Experiences: Does Mode Matter?, Heather J. Mccrea-Andrews

All Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-methods research study was to investigate the comprehension and motivation of 36, sixth-grade students reading moderately challenging text under two conditions: Nook or book. Using a Sequential Explanatory Design model, quantitative data were collected prior to qualitative data collection (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). A Matched Pairs Design model (Hinkle, Wiersma, & Jurs, 2003) was employed for the quantitative portion of the study with 18 participants randomly assigned to the Nook group and 18 participants randomly assigned to the book group. Nook group participants were instructed to use the following electronic features during reading: highlighting, note …

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A Verification Of Steady State Discontinuous Solutions Using The Method Of Manufactured Solutions For Finite Volume Computational Fluid Dynamic Codes, Benjamin Grier Aug 2014

A Verification Of Steady State Discontinuous Solutions Using The Method Of Manufactured Solutions For Finite Volume Computational Fluid Dynamic Codes, Benjamin Grier

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When applying the method of manufactured solutions (MMS) on computational fluid dynamic (CFD) software, it is traditionally a requirement that all solutions be continuous on the computational domain. This stipulation is limiting for the verification and validation of CFD solutions where discontinuities are frequent. This work details the development of a discontinuous MMS method for finite volume codes. The CFD code used throughout this research is a cell centered, finite volume, 1st order, Eulerian scheme within the software AVUS (Air Vehicles Unstructured Solver) which is combined with uniform structured grids. This code is used as a representative testing platform with …

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Integrated Models And Algorithms For Automotive Supply Chain Optimization, Sherif A. Masoud Aug 2014

Integrated Models And Algorithms For Automotive Supply Chain Optimization, Sherif A. Masoud

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The automotive industry is one of the most important economic sectors, and the efficiency of its supply chain is crucial for ensuring its profitability. Developing and applying techniques to optimize automotive supply chains can lead to favorable economic outcomes and customer satisfaction. In this dissertation, we develop integrated models and algorithms for automotive supply chain optimization. Our objective is to explore methods that can increase the competitiveness of the automotive supply chain via maximizing efficiency and service levels. Based on interactions with an automotive industry supplier, we define an automotive supply chain planning problem at a detailed operational level while …

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Incorporating Physics-Based Patterns Into Geophysical And Geostatistical Estimation Algorithms, Erasmus Kofi Oware Aug 2014

Incorporating Physics-Based Patterns Into Geophysical And Geostatistical Estimation Algorithms, Erasmus Kofi Oware

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Geophysical imaging systems are inherently non-linear and plagued with the challenge of limited data. These drawbacks make the solution non-unique and sensitive to small data perturbations; hence, regularization is performed to stabilize the solution. Regularization involves the application of a priori specification of the target to modify the solution space in order to make it tractable. However, the traditionally applied regularization model constraints are independent of the physical mechanisms driving the spatiotemporal evolution of the target parameters. To address this limitation, we introduce an innovative inversion scheme, basis-constrained inversion, which seeks to leverage advances in mechanistic modeling of physical phenomena …

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The Impact Of Block Scheduling And Release Time On Operating Room Efficiency, Rebecca Weiss Aug 2014

The Impact Of Block Scheduling And Release Time On Operating Room Efficiency, Rebecca Weiss

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Planning for sufficient surgical capacity at a hospital requires that many tactical and operational decisions be made before the day of surgery. Typically, blocks of time in operating rooms (ORs) are assigned and specific surgical cases are placed in rooms. The hospital monitors utilization to determine the schedule's effectiveness in balancing the risk of overtime with idle time. In this thesis, we will examine how adjusting schedule risk ratios and penalty values, and providing shared, open posting time affected the hospital's ability to identify an efficient but high quality and low cost block schedule. The proposed schedules were tested by …

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Adhesion Of Liquids To Porous Materials And Fibers, Artem Trofimov Aug 2014

Adhesion Of Liquids To Porous Materials And Fibers, Artem Trofimov

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This research is centered on the analysis of adhesion properties of porous materials and fibers of elliptical shapes. Composites are a unique class of materials having properties, which could not be achieved by either of the constituent materials alone. Composites with porous filler are put into service in buildings, roads, bridges, etc. Fiber-reinforced composites are actively involved in flight vehicles, automobiles, boats, and dozens of other products. In the first part of this study we developed a procedure for evaluation of adhesion of liquids to porous solids, where water, hexadecane and asphalt binder and different rocks were studied to illustrate …

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Development Of An In Vitro System For Evaluation Of Prosthetic Vein Valves, Ross Gorman Aug 2014

Development Of An In Vitro System For Evaluation Of Prosthetic Vein Valves, Ross Gorman

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Chronic venous insufficiency is a chronic disorder where venous pressure is not reduced during exercise. In a healthy individual, the vein valves and muscle pumps of the extremities combine to allow for a reduction in venous pressure during exercise. Consistent high pressure in the leg can lead to disability, pain, and ulcer formation. Typical causes of chronic venous insufficiency are venous reflux and acute venous obstruction. Research is under way to develop a prosthetic vein valve that can easily be implanted with a minimally invasive catheter procedure which addresses chronic venous insufficiency. This thesis discusses development of an in vitro …

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Use Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Uav) For Urban Tree Inventories, Brian Ritter Aug 2014

Use Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Uav) For Urban Tree Inventories, Brian Ritter

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In contrast to standard aerial imagery, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) utilize recent technological advances to provide an affordable alternative for imagery acquisition. Increased value can be realized through clarity and detail providing higher resolution (2-5 cm) over traditional products. Many natural resource disciplines such as urban forestry will benefit from UAS. Tree inventories for risk assessment, biodiversity, planning, and design can be efficiently achieved with the UAS. Recent advances in photogrammetric processing have proved automated methods for three dimensional rendering of aerial imagery. Point clouds can be generated from images providing additional benefits. Association of spatial locational information within the …

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Optimal Design Of Validation Experiments For Calibration And Validation Of Complex Numerical Models, Matthew Egeberg Aug 2014

Optimal Design Of Validation Experiments For Calibration And Validation Of Complex Numerical Models, Matthew Egeberg

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As prediction of the performance and behavior of complex engineering systems shifts from a primarily empirical-based approach to the use of complex physics-based numerical models, the role of experimentation is evolving to calibrate, validate, and quantify uncertainty of the numerical models. Oftentimes, these experiments are expensive, placing importance on selecting experimental settings to efficiently calibrate the numerical model with a limited number of experiments. The aim of this thesis is to reduce the experimental resources required to reach predictive maturity in complex numerical models by (i) aiding experimenters in determining the optimal settings for experiments, and (ii) aiding the model …

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Getting Sandy: Creating Collapsing Sand Effects For An Ode To Love, Pisut Wisessing Aug 2014

Getting Sandy: Creating Collapsing Sand Effects For An Ode To Love, Pisut Wisessing

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This thesis presents an artistic approach of creating collapsing sand effects in Brown Bag Films' animated short, An Ode To Love, directed by Matthew Darragh. A combination of rigid body simulation and fluid simulation tools, which are available in Houdini 3D animation software version 13, was used to successfully complete the task. A detailed design and implementation process to achieve the effects is documented in this work.

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Protein Nano-Object Integrator: Generating Atomic-Style Objects For Use In Molecular Biophysics, Nicholas Smith Aug 2014

Protein Nano-Object Integrator: Generating Atomic-Style Objects For Use In Molecular Biophysics, Nicholas Smith

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As researchers obtain access to greater and greater amounts of computational power, focus has shifted towards modeling macroscopic objects while still maintaining atomic-level details. The Protein Nano-Object Integrator (ProNOI) presented here has been designed to provide a streamlined solution for creating and designing macro-scale objects with atomic-level details to be used in molecular simulations and tools. To accomplish this, two different interfaces were developed: a Protein Data Bank (PDB), PDB-focused interface for generating regularly-shaped three-dimensional atomic objects and a 2D image-based interface for tracing images with irregularly shaped objects and then extracting three-dimensional models from these images. Each interface is …

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