Digital Commons Network^™

Anthropometric Analysis Of The Cervical Spine, Susan Hueston

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

An understanding of the dimensional anatomy of the cervical spine is necessary in order to help diagnose disease, deformity, injury, and device development. Previous investigation has been completed utilizing cadavers, X-rays and other imaging techniques. This research utilized computer tomography images from the trauma registry at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio to complete an anthropometric study of the cervical spine. Linear mathematical models were developed to investigate the relationships present in the dimensional anatomy of the cervical spine. New measurements were completed on subjects of both Caucasian and African American descent and of both genders. An approximation of the …

Investigation Of Variability In Cognitive State Assessment Based On Electroencephalogram-Derived Features, Samantha Lokelani Crossen

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

To implement adaptive aiding in modern aviation systems there is a need for accurate and reliable classification of cognitive workload. Using electroencephalogram (EEG)-derived features, it has been reported that an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) can achieve 95% or higher classification accuracy on the same day for an individual operator, but only 70% or less on a different day. To gain a further insight into this discrepancy, data from a previous study was utilized to study the classification variability. The EEG-derived features were first calculated by spectral power estimation. The variability was then analyzed by performing cognitive workload classification in which …

Large Scale Distributed Semantic N-Gram Language Model, Yuandong Jiang

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Language model is a crucial component in statistical machine translation system. The basic language model is N-gram which predicts the next word based on previous N-1 words. It has been used in the state-of-the-art commercial machine translation systems over years. However, the N-gram model ignores the rich syntactic and semantic structure in natural languages. We propose a composite semantic N-gram language model which combines probabilistic latent semantic analysis model with N-gram as a generative model. We have implemented the proposed composite language model in a super-computer with thousand processors that is trained by 1.3 billion tokens corpus. Comparing with simple …

Effect Of Material Anomalies On Fatigue Life Of Turbine Disks, Jace A. Carter

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

There is an economic need to extend the fatigue life of turbine engine rotor disks. The probability of failure during the operation life must be quantified as components remain in service beyond their traditional safe-life limit. Fracture mechanics based probabilistic methods are utilized to predict the probability of failure of components containing manufacturing and fatigue anomalies. Total fatigue life is defined in terms of crack initiation and propagation phases. A micromechanical initiation model uses material properties at the micro-scale to characterize the initiation phase, while short and long fatigue-crack growth models predict the crack propagation phase. A Monte Carlo simulation …

Semi-Supervised Contrafold For Rna Secondary Structure Prediction: A Maximum Entropy Approach, Jianping Feng

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

A novel probabilistic discriminative model based on conditional random fields, CONTRAfold, has recently been proposed for single sequence RNA secondary structure prediction. By incorporating most of the features which closely mirror the local interaction terms of thermodynamics-based models, the CONTRAfold model has outperformed both probabilistic and physics-based techniques, and received the highest single sequence prediction accuracies. CONTRAfold, like most other RNA secondary structure prediction techniques, requires a collection of RNA sequences with known secondary structure to serve as training data for the algorithm. Manual annotation of RNA sequences is both expensive and time-consuming, and there remains a great deal more …

Niyama Based Taper Optimizations In Steel Alloy Castings, Daniel A. Gorsky

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In the casting process, regions of shrinkage porosity can be reduced or eliminated through the implementation of taper, or small angled additions of mass on the boundaries of the part design, before risers are placed on the casting. Taper supplements the effect of risers so that a smaller riser volume is necessary to make a casting sound. Typically, taper is determined for a casting by using industry guidelines that were developed for simple two-dimensional simplifications of a complex casting. There is no accepted method of defining taper directly on part geometry aside from using expert opinions to make final decisions …

Optimizing Memory Cost With Loop Transformations, Hailong Shi

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Embedded systems are usually constrained in terms of timing, power, and memory. Many embedded applications, especially in the multi-media and telecom domains, are inherently data dominant. These embedded DSP applications usually exhibit intensive computations in the form of multi-level loops. The performance of these embedded DSP applications mainly depends on the code quality of the loops and the memory hierarchy design. During the design phase of the embedded system, it is important to estimate the overall storage requirement to guide the memory system design and take advantage of the memory system by program transformations and loop transformations.

Loop transformations including …

Methylmercury In Mosquitoes: Impact Of A Large Coal-Fired Power Station In Central Ohio, Matthew J. Konkler

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Emissions from coal-fired utilities are the major anthropogenic source of mercury (Hg) to the atmosphere. Because emitted Hg may be deposited near the source, there are concerns on levels of toxic monomethylmercury (MeHg) in local biota. We investigated the potential impact of a large Hg-emitting (> 500 kg Hg y-1) coal-fired power station on MeHg levels in mosquitoes near the Conesville power station in central Ohio. Mosquitoes were sampled with CO2-baited traps at 23 locations within a 60 km radius of the utility and at three reference sites distant from Hg combustion sources. MeHg in mosquitoes within a 30-km radius …

Near Equilibrium Dissolution Of Calcite Using A Flow-Through Reactor (Ftr), Michael Mante

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In mineral dissolution reactions, surface morphologies play important roles particularly in near equilibrium fluids where generation of new sites of reactivity (e.g., pit nuclei) is thermodynamically disfavored. Following CO₂ injection in geologic formations, dissolution of primary carbonate minerals and crack-sealing cements will occur. The impact of these reactions on fluid chemistry requires better understanding of the reaction kinetics of major minerals at close-to-equilibrium conditions. Initial investigations have focused on quantifying calcite dissolution using short residence time (~ 10 min) flow through reactors to obtain dissolution rates at 60°C, pH = 8.33 and Pco₂ = 3.8 x 10^{-4 …}

An Exploratory Study Of Mixed-Width Aisle Layouts For Order Picking In Distribution Centers, Corinne H. Mowrey

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Order picking is arguably the most expensive operational activity for a distribution center (DC), constituting upwards of 50% of total operating costs. Designing an optimum order picking system (OPS) for a DC depends on several system parameters, such as aisle layout, storage system configuration, storage policy, picking method, and picking strategy. From an aisle layout standpoint, traditional DCs utilize either entirely wide or entirely narrow aisles in their picking systems. Wide aisles allow pickers to pass each other, reducing blocking and requiring fewer pickers. However, the space required for wide-aisle systems is high. Narrow aisles utilize less space than wide …

Synaptic Contact Localization In Three Dimensional Space Using A Center Distance Algorithm, Benjamin D. Ausdenmoore

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Spatial distribution of synaptic inputs on the dendritic tree of a neuron can have significant influence on neuronal function. Consequently, accurate anatomical reconstructions of neuron morphology and synaptic localization are critical when modeling and predicting physiological responses of individual neurons. Historically, generation of three-dimensional (3D) neuronal reconstructions together with comprehensive mapping of synaptic inputs has been an extensive task requiring manual identification of putative synaptic contacts directly from tissue samples or digital images. Recent developments in neuronal tracing software applications have improved the speed and accuracy of 3D reconstructions, but localization of synaptic sites through the use of pre- and/or …

Towards Optimal Resource Provisioning For Running Mapreduce Programs In Public Clouds, Fengguang Tian

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Running MapReduce programs in the public cloud introduces the important problem: how to optimize resource provisioning to minimize the financial charge for a specific job? In this thesis, We study the whole process of MapReduce processing and build up a cost function that explicitly models the relationship between the amount of input data, the available system resources (Map and Reduce slots), and the complexity of the Reduce function for the target MapReduce job. The model parameters can be learned from test runs with a small number of nodes on a small amount of data. Based on this cost model, we …

Synthesis Of Isatin Derivatives Used For The Inhibition Of Pro-Apoptotic Jurkat T Cells, Charles Michael Clay

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

A range of substituted 1H-indole-2,3-diones (isatins) was synthesized to assess their capability to inhibit caspases and prevent apoptosis in Jurkat T cells. The key steps in the synthesis of such molecules involved electrophilic substitution of the C-5 position of the isatin nucleus (if necessary), N-alkylation, Wolff-Kishner reduction of the C-3 carbonyl group and finally, Knoevenagel condensation. The design and synthesis of such potential inhibitors was guided by SAR studies of peptide based inhibitors such as "Q-VD-O-Ph", as well as small-molecule inhibitors based upon the isatins scaffold. Previously, 3-(2,6-difluorobenzylidene)-5-nitroindolin-2-one has been shown to inhibit apoptosis in human Jurkat T cells at …

Graphene Based Rf/Microwave Impedance Sensing And Low Loss Conductor For Rf Applications, Iramnaaz Iramnaaz

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Biosensors are becoming more popular recently and expanding due to their broad applications in detecting disease and infectious agents, monitoring of environmental toxins, etc. Recognition and quantification of biochemical molecules and molecular interactions present great challenges in biosensing [38]. Impedance sensing at radio frequency (RF) /microwave frequency becomes very attractive as bio-molecules exhibits large distinct dielectric properties, and also because the ionic conductivity of water in most physiological systems is greatly diminished. For example, it has been reported that tumoral cells exhibits large value of electrical conductivity and permittivity which can result in significant variation of the impedance when compared …

3-D Model Characterization And Identification From Intrinsic Landmarks, John L. Camp

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

A method to automatically characterize and identify 3-D range scans based on intrinsic landmarks is presented. Intrinsic landmarks represent locally unique, intrinsic properties of a scanned surface, regardless of scale or rotation. The number, location, and characteristics of landmarks are used to characterize the scanned models. This method contains a selection process to identify stable, intrinsic landmarks for range scans as well as the identification of those scans. The selection process requires no user interaction or surface assumptions. It uses the principal curvatures at the range points to select the landmarks. First, a large number of landmarks are generated by …

Cetyltrimethylammonium Halide-Coated Electrodes For The Detection Of Dopamine In The Presence Of Interferents, Amber J. Yeary

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Specially constructed carbon paste electrodes were coated with 10 mM cetyltrimethylammonium halide (CTAX) solutions, bromide and chloride being the counter anions. These surfactant modified electrodes were used to detect the catecholamine neurotransmitter dopamine using cyclic voltammetry. The coated electrodes gave reproducible quasi-reversible behavior for the analyte dopamine over a range of concentrations from 1 mM to 200 mM. When combined in solution with common interferents ascorbic acid (1 mM) and uric acid (300 μM), all cathodic and anodic current peaks maintained resolution at the biological pH of 7.4. When the coating solutions were below the critical micelle concentration (0.5 mM), …

Distribution Of Cellular Interferon Beta (Ifn-Β) In Murine Fibroblast Cell Lines Upon Infection Of Hsv-1, Rachael E. Curtis

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The hypothesis for this study was: IFN-β expression differs between murine fibroblasts (A2R1 and L929) of different mouse strains upon infection of HSV-1. Fluorescent microscopy was used to examine localization of IFN-β in the different murine fibroblast and keratinocyte cell lines after 6 hours of infection with herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1). Because keratinocytes cell lines HEL-30 and PAM-212 grew in clusters, staining patterns in individual cells could not be determined. A notable difference in localization of IFN-β immune staining was seen between the two cell lines when infected with HSV-1. The A2R1 cell line showed perinuclear (PN) localization, while …

Multi-Locus Evidence Of A Late Pleistocene Divergence And Sex-Biased Dispersal In The North American Wood Duck (Aix Sponsa), Christopher T. Bigley

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The Pleistocene was characterized by fluctuations in climate causing repeated advances and retreats of glacial ice. The advancing ice sheets caused habitat fragmentation which initiated population divergence and speciation events between eastern and western avian populations within northern temperate forests. Based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences, North American Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) populations fit this model of divergence. However, mtDNA is maternally inherited, and thus may not reflect the genomic history of this species, because of male biased-dispersal, selection, or stochastic lineage sorting. To test the "Late Pleistocene divergence" hypothesis, I sequenced 11 independent nuclear introns (nuDNA) for …

Real Time Semantic Analysis Of Streaming Sensor Data, Harshal Kamlesh Patni

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The emergence of dynamic information sources - like social, mobile and sensors, has led to ginormous streams of real time data on the web also called, the era of Big Data [1]. Research studies suggest, these dynamic networks have created more data in the last three years than in the entire history of civilization, and this trend will only increase in the coming years [1]. Gigaom article on Big data shows, how the total information generated by these dynamic information sources has completely surpassed the total storage capacity. Thus keeping in mind the problem of ever-increasing data, this thesis focuses …

Commercial Program Development For A Ground Loop Geothermal System: Energy Loads, Gui, Turbulent Flow, Heat Pump Model And Grid Study, Paul A. Gross Ii

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The use of the earth's thermal energy to heat and cool building space is nothing new; however, the heat transfer approximations used in modeling geothermal systems, leave uncertainty and lead to over sizing. The present work is part of a Wright State effort to improve the computer modeling tools used to simulate ground loop geothermal heating and cooling systems. The modern computer processor has equipped us with the computation speed to use a finite volume technique to solve the unsteady heat equation with hourly time steps for multi-year analyses in multiple spatial dimensions. Thus we feel there is more need …

Commercial Program Development For A Ground Loop Geothermal System: G-Functions, Commercial Codes And 3d Grid, Boundary And Property Extension, Kyle L. Hughes

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The rise in fossil fuel consumption and green house gas emissions has driven the need for alternative energy and energy efficiency. At the same time, ground loop heat exchangers (GLHE) have proven capable of producing large reductions in energy use while meeting peak demands. However, the initial cost of GLHEs sometimes makes this alternative energy source unattractive to the costumer. GLHE installers use commercial programs to determine the length of pipe needed for the system, which is a large fraction of the initial cost. These commercial programs use approximate methods to determine the length of pipe mainly due to their …

Routes To Acylated Sydnone Esters, Amanda Marie Balaguer

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Various 4-acyl-3-[2'-(carboalkoxy)phenyl]sydnones were synthesized by reaction of the parent sydnone with the corresponding anhydrides and Montmorillonite K-10. In the Q-tube, the acylation using acetic anhydride, which normally took 1.5 days for complete conversion thermally, was complete in 8.5 hours. Use of bismuth triflate as catalyst reduced the reaction time to 5 hours and, in the microwave, reactions were complete in 30 minutes and provided comparable yields. New sydnones were synthesized with acetic, propionic, butyric, and isobutyric anhydrides. Extension to various homogeneous metal triflates (lanthanum, yttrium, scandium, hafnium, gadolinium, and indium) was explored. Reactions were performed with 3-phenylsydnone as reactant, initially …

Soil Moisture, Fire, And Tree Community Structure, William Patrick White

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

My study was conducted to understand tree community structure and how soil moisture and fire frequency influence them. Eighteen plots were placed in the Edge of Appalachia Nature Preserve of unglaciated southern Ohio: nine within a prescribed burn site and nine control sites outside the burn. Sites were stratified in triplicate across GIS-derived integrated soil moisture index (IMI) classes. Burning was done in 1996. Overstory species dbh and sapling species were sampled 1997, 2001, and 2008. Overstory stems were located in 2009 using range finders. Stem locations were loaded into GIS using novel techniques to quantify individual stem IMI values. …

Computational Modeling And Analysis Of Heavy Fuel Feasibility In Direct Injection Spark Ignition Engine, Suniludaya Simha Moda

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Direct Injection spark ignition (DISI) technology is helpful for the present day engine to increase the fuel efficiency. Power output and the choice of fuel as the demand and scarcity for fossil fuels are increasing. As a new technology DISI engines are employed in some commercial cars like the Pontiac Solstice using gasoline fuel. The advantages of DISI engines like use of different fuels, reduced compression ratio, reduced injection pressure and reduced operating pressures in DISI engines has not been widely tested. As a new technology DISI engines lack experimental results and combustion co-relations that can be directly used as …

Analysis And Comparison Of Popular Models For Current-Mode Control Of Switch Mode Power Supplies, Ramchandra M. Kotecha

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Current-mode control is the most popular scheme used for the operation of SMPS (Switch Mode Power Supplies). Current-mode control, also known as current-programmed mode or current-injected control is a multi-loop control scheme that has an inner loop and an outer voltage loop. The current loop controls the inductor peak current while the voltage loop controls the output voltage. The inner loop follows a set program by the outer loop. Some of the most popular small-signal models that predict the small-signal characteristics of current-mode control scheme have been analyzed and compared in this thesis. A PWM dc-dc buck converter in CCM(Continuous …

Drop-Shipping At A Promotional Products Distributor, Ramanan Veeraragavan

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

During the current economic times, companies are trying to reduce costs by incorporating new strategies into their business plan. Supply chain, in particular the distribution network is one area where an improvement can bring in a healthy return on investment to a company. Drop-shipping is a distribution strategy whereby customer orders are fulfilled by directly delivering products from manufacturer's facility, instead of storing these products at the warehouse. Drop-shipping helps in reducing inventory and material handling costs at the warehouse, but may increase transportation costs due to frequent shipments. This research was motivated by the current operations at a promotional …

Scheduling Surgical Cases In A Constrained Environment, Bharathwaj Vijayakumar

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This research examines a complex surgical case scheduling problem for a publicly-funded hospital in the Midwest United States. Publicly-funded hospitals are typically under tight budget constraints and these hospitals strive to maximize the utilization of their resources such as beds, staff, equipment, operating rooms, etc. These resources are relatively fixed for a publically funded hospital. A manual scheduling approach followed by this hospital does not guarantee optimal solutions and consequently has led to large variation in the utilization of resources. This real-world problem is described in this research as a multi-day, multi-resource, and patient-priority-based surgical case scheduling problem with the …

Strategies For Long-Term Renal Allograft Survival In Iga Nephropathy Patients, Erin E. Lintz

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

IgA nephropathy is one of the most common kidney diseases worldwide. Most IgA nephropathy patients will undergo a kidney transplant as a treatment. Treatment currently includes the use of immunosuppressants which are necessary to prevent graft rejection but present harmful side-effects when taken long-term. This review focuses on strategies which have the ability to promote tolerance of both donor and recipient cells within a transplant recipient. Such strategies allow development of mixed chimerism and thereby alleviate the need for long-term immunosuppressant usage in allograft recipients. These strategies could be applied to IgA nephropathy patients to allow kidney allograft acceptance without …

The Development Of Silver Nanoparticles As Antiviral Agents, John Christopher Trefry

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have received tremendous attention for their antimicrobial properties; however, many gaps in knowledge exist. To address these issues, three research objectives were examined. The first objective hypothesized AgNPs can be size selected and concentrated via tangential flow ultrafiltration. The second objective hypothesized a high-throughput method could be developed to screen nanoparticle antiviral-activity and cytotoxicity simultaneously. The third objective hypothesized AgNPs inhibit viruses by preventing viral entry.

For objective one, a tangential flow ultrafiltration scheme was tested on AgNPs synthesized via the Creighton Colloid method. AgNPs were analyzed via transmission electron microscopy. In objective two, an HIV-1 vector …

The Effects Of Forest Fragmentation On The Reproductive Success Of Spring Ephemeral Wildflowers And Their Pollinators, Holly Lynn Schlotman

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Low reproductive output has been shown in small, isolated populations of plants, and spring wildflowers in forest fragments may show a similar pattern. The goal of this study is to determine the impact of forest fragmentation on the reproductive success of three wildflowers: Cardamine concatenata, Delphinium tricorne, and Dicentra cucullaria. A secondary goal was to determine the impact of forest fragmentation on bumblebees (Bombus spp.) since they are important spring pollinators. Correlations and stepwise regression were used to determine the effects of forest fragment size on the reproductive success of each wildflower species, and also on the abundance and diversity …