Digital Commons Network^™

Suction Feeding Mechanics, Performance, And Diversity In Fishes, Peter Wainwright, Andrew Carroll, David Collar

Articles

Despite almost 50 years of research on the functional morphology and biomechanics of suction feeding, no consensus has emerged on how to characterize suction-feeding performance, or its morphological basis. We argue that this lack of unity in the literature is due to an unusually indirect and complex linkage between the muscle contractions that power suction feeding, the skeletal movements that underlie buccal expansion, the sharp drop in buccal suction pressure that occurs during expansion, the flow of water that enters the mouth to eliminate the pressure gradient, and the forces that are ultimately exerted on the prey by this flow. …

Effect Of Snr Of Input Signal On The Accuracy Of A Ratiometric Wavelength Measurement System, Ginu Rajan, Qian Wang, Gerald Farrell, Yuliya Semenova, Pengfei Wang

Articles

The impact of a change in SNR of the input signal on the accuracy of a ratiometric wavelength measurement system is studied. The variation of the output ratio of the system due to the change in SNR of the input signal is modeled and the experimental investigation has been carried out, and both indicate that the accuracy is influenced significantly by variations in the SNR of the input signal. The demonstration example shows a wavelength shift of 0.055 nm when the SNR of the input signal varies from 47 dB to 42 dB (the measurable range is from 1500 nm …

Polarization Dependence Of Bend Loss For A Standard Singlemode Fiber, Qian Wang, Ginu Rajan, Pengfei Wang, Gerald Farrell

Articles

Polarization dependence of bend loss caused by the polymer coating layer for a standard singlemode fiber (SMF28) is investigated theoretically and experimentally. Bend loss for SMF28 for both the TE and TM mode is calculated separately. Normalized polarization dependent loss is proposed for the characterization of the polarization sensitivity of bend loss for different bend radii. Corresponding experimental tests are presented, which agree with the theoretical results. Both the theoretical and experimental results show that the polymer coating layer has a significant influence on the polarization dependence of bend loss.

Performance Characteristics Of A Therapeutic Ultrasound Wire Waveguide, Graham Gavin, Garrett Mcguinness, Finbar Dolan, M.S. Hashmi

Articles

Therapeutic ultrasound angioplasty has been investigated, clinically, by a number of researchers and represents a potentially promising therapy for the treatment of atherosclerotic lesions. To date, there has been no detailed analysis of the effect of mechanical design parameters, such as wire geometry or damping characteristics, on wire waveguide performance. An apparatus capable of delivering therapeutic ultrasound down small diameter nickel–titanium (NiTi) wire waveguides is described. The output peak-to-peak (p–p) displacements at the distal tip of a 1.0mm diameter waveguide were measured experimentally, by means of an optical microscope and image analysis software. The output was measured for a range …

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! Overview Of A Digital Project From Start To Finish, Pam Hackbart-Dean, Doug Goans, Lauren Kata

Articles

Rome wasn't built in a day, nor was an online collection of 105 years' worth of association publications. But a team of Georgia librarians had the stamina for a marathon project that lasted 2 years. Members even built their own digital library system along the way, and so far, the finished site has logged more than 65,000 unique visits.

On Logic In The Law: Something, But Not All, Susan Haack

Articles

In 1880, when Oliver Wendell Holmes (later to be a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court) criticized the "logical theology" of law articulated by Christopher Columbus Langdell (the first Dean of Harvard Law School), neither Holmes nor Langdell was aware of the revolution in logic that had begun, the year before, with Frege's Begriffsschrift. But there is an important element of truth in Holmes's insistence that a legal system cannot be adequately understood as a system of "axioms and corollaries"; and this element of truth is not obviated by the more powerful logical techniques that are now available.

A New Application For Displaying And Fusing Multimodal Data Sets, Karl Baum, María Helguera, Andrzej Krol

Articles

A recently developed, freely available, application specifically designed for the visualization of multimodal data sets is presented. The application allows multiple 3D data sets such as CT (x-ray computer tomography), MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), PET (positron emission tomography), and SPECT (single photon emission tomography) of the same subject to be viewed simultaneously. This is done by maintaining synchronization of the spatial location viewed within all modalities, and by providing fused views of the data where multiple data sets are displayed as a single volume. Different options for the fused views are provided by plug-ins. Plug-ins typically used include color-overlays and …

Forward And Backward Compatibility Of Solder Alloys With Component And Board Finishes, Anand Kannabiran, Elavarasan Pannerselvam, S. Manian Ramkumar

Articles

The primary objective of the research presented in this paper is to qualify the reliability of mixed assemblies by comparing them to the conventional Sn–Pb assembly and completely Pb-free assembly. The research investigates both forward and backward compatibility in electronic assemblies using a design of experiments (DOE) approach. The investigation utilized a test vehicle containing an area array component (BGA169) and chip components (0603 resistors). Hot air solder leveling (HASL) and organic solderability preservative (OSP) surface finishes were used on the test vehicles to represent Sn–Pb and Pb-free alternatives, respectively. The assembled test vehicles were cut into two panels—one containing …

Privacy Preserving Telecardiology Sensor Networks: Towards A Low-Cost Portable Wireless Hardware/Software Co-Design, Fei Hu, Meng Jiang, Mark Wagner

Articles

Recently, a remote-sensing platform based on wireless interconnection of tiny ECG sensors called Telecardiology Sensor Networks (TSN) provided a promising approach to perform lowcost real-time cardiac patient monitoring at any time in community areas (such as elder nursing homes or hospitals). The contribution of this research is the design of a practical TSN hardware/software platform for a typical U.S. healthcare community scenario (such as large nursing homes with many elder patients) to perform realtime healthcare data collections. On the other hand, due to the radio broadcasting nature ofMANET, a TSN has the risk of losing the privacy of patients’ data. …

Improving Software Practice Through Education: Challenges And Future Trends, Jorge Diaz-Herrera, Richard Leblanc Jr., Timothy Lethbridge

Articles

We argue that the software engineering (SE) community could have a significant impact on the future of the discipline by focusing its efforts on improving the education of software engineers. There are some bright spots such as the various projects to codify knowledge, and the development of undergraduate SE programs. However, there remain several key challenges, each of which is addressed in this paper: The challenges are 1) making programs attractive to students, 2) focusing education appropriately, 3) communicating industrial reality more effectively, 4) defining curricula that are forward-looking, 5) providing education for existing practitioners, 6) making SE education more …

The Need For A Speech Corpus, Dermot Campbell, Ciaran Mcdonnell, Marty Meinardi, Bunny Richardson

Articles

This paper outlines the ongoing construction of a speech corpus for use by applied linguists and advanced EFL/ESL students. The first section establishes the need for improvements in the teaching of listening skills and pronunciation practice for EFL/ESL students. It argues for the need to use authentic native-to-native speech in the teaching/learning process so as to promote social inclusion and contextualises this within the literature, based mainly on the work of Swan, Brown and McCarthy. The second part addresses features of native speech flow which cause difficulties for EFL/ESL students (Brown, Cauldwell) and establishes the need for improvements in the …

Lifestyle Entrepreneurs And Spheres Of Inter-Firm Relations: The Case Of Westport Co. Mayo, Ireland, Ziene Mottiar

Articles

A relatively small body of literature in tourism which concentrates on the issues of small firms and entrepreneurs and ‘this area of inquiry is vastly under-researched’ (Thomas, 2004, p.1). A key piece of research (Rimmington et al, 1999) classifies entrepreneurs in the tourism sector and one category which has received research attention has been that of lifestyle entrepreneurs. This article outlines the literature on lifestyle entrepreneurs and concludes that much of the focus to date has been on the individual entrepreneur. This current paper investigates how lifestyle entrepreneurs interact with other entrepreneurs in the destination in which they operate, and …

An Optimized Macrobending Fiber Based Edge Filter, Pengfei Wang, Gerald Farrell, Qian Wang, Ginu Rajan

Articles

An optimized all-fiber edge filter is developed, based on a one-turn macrobending bare fiber structure. The discrimination range (DR) is 16.32 dB over a wavelength range from 1500 to 1600 nm, which can be employed for wavelength measurement applications. It offers a simpler structure compared to the previously developed macrobending fiber loss edge filters, without an increase in the polarization dependent loss (PDL).

An Optimized Macrobending Fiber Based Edge Filter, Pengfei Wang, Gerald Farrell, Qian Wang, Ginu Rajan

Articles

An optimized all-fiber edge filter is developed, based on a one-turn macrobending bare fiber structure. The discrimination range is 16.32 dB over a wavelength range from 1500 to 1600 nm, which can be employed for wavelength measurement applications. It offers a simpler structure compared to the previously developed macrobending fiber loss edge filters, without an increase in the polarization-dependent loss.

Exciting Initiatives In Environment And Natural Resources Law At The University Of Idaho College Of Law, Donald L. Burnett Jr.

Articles

No abstract provided.

Exciting Initiatives In Environment And Natural Resources Law At The University Of Idaho College Of Law, Barbara Cosens

Articles

No abstract provided.

E-Mail To Rebecca, Dale Goble

Articles

No abstract provided.

Population Study Of The Variation In Monochromatic Aberrations Of The Normal Human Eye Over The Central Visual Field, Matthew Sheehan, Alexander Goncharov, Veronica O'Dwyer, Vincent Toal, Christopher Dainty

Articles

Abstract

We present data analysis for ocular aberrations of 60 normal eyes measured with a Hartmann-Shack (HS) wavefront sensor (WFS). Aberration measurements were made on-axis and at 5 degree field angles in the nasal, inferior, temporal and superior semi-meridians. Particular attention is given to aberration distributions and possible strategies for aberration correction are discussed. A versatile HS WFS was designed and constructed with features of simultaneous pupil centre determination, off-axis capability, real-time data displays, and efficient lenslet sampling orientation. The subject alignment is achieved by the use of a parallel channel that is recombined with the sensing channel to simultaneously …

An Investigation Into Outsourcing Practice In Ireland: A New Direction In Logistics And Supply Chain Management, Aoife O'Riordan, Edward Sweeney

Articles

Companies are increasingly focusing on the development of core competencies as an integral part of their overall strategy development and implementation. The corollary of this is that functions regarded as being non-core are being outsourced. This paper investigates the case for and against outsourcing and in addition what is happening in Ireland regards outsourcing. Furthermore to analysis of current literature in
the field, an Irish-wide postal and e-mail survey, as well as three case studies revealed many interesting facts. The key findings of the work are manufacturing outsourcing is now the most popular function to be outsourced for both small …

Growth Substrate Induced Functional Changes Elucidated By Ftir And Raman Spectroscopy In In-Vitro Cultured Human Keratinocytes., Aidan Meade, Fiona Lyng, Peter Knief, Hugh Byrne

Articles

Non-invasive measurements of cellular function in in-vitro cultured cell lines using vibrational spectroscopy require the use of spectroscopic substrates such as quartz, ZnSe and MirrIR etc. These substrates are generally dissimilar to the original in-vivo extracellular environment of a given cell line and are often tolerated poorly by cultured cell lines resulting in morphological and functional changes in the cell. The present study demonstrates various correlations between vibrational spectroscopic analyses and biochemical analyses in the evaluation of the interaction of a normal human epithelial keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT) with MirrIR and quartz substrates coated with fibronectin, laminin and gelatin. The …

Spline Based Geometry For Printed Monopole Antennas, Matthias John, Max Ammann

Articles

A novel Bezier spline-based geometry for printed monopole antennas is presented. Quadratic curves are used to describe the outline of the radiating element. The geometry is optimised by a genetic algorithm. A small number of control points are used to define the geometry, ensuring a small search space for the GA. The resulting antenna has an impedance bandwidth from 1.44 to 14.7 GHz

Bringing Deference Back (But For How Long?), Stephen M. Johnson

Articles

For most of the past decade, the Supreme Court seemed to be gradually eroding the deference accorded to administrative agencies. In Christensen v. Harris County and United States v. Mead Corp. the Court refused to accord Chevron deference to agencies' interpretations of statutes when the agencies adopted those interpretations through informal procedures. The trend appeared to continue when the Court refused to accord Chevron deference to tobacco regulations adopted by the Food and Drug Administration in FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. or to controlled substance regulations adopted by the Attorney General in Gonzales v. Oregon. In addition, …

Effect Of Polarisation-Dependent Loss On The Performance Accuracy Of A Ratiometric Wavelength Measurement System, Ginu Rajan, Qian Wang, Yuliya Semenova, Gerald Farrell, Pengfei Wang

Articles

The polarisation-dependent loss (PDL) of a ratiometric wavelength measurement system and its influence on system's accuracy are investigated theoretically and experimentally. The PDL of a ratiometric system and the corresponding power ratio fluctuation is modelled, from which the accuracy of the measured wavelength can be estimated. An all-fibre wavelength measurement system is built to allow comparison of modelled and actual results. The measured ratio variation lies within the estimated limits. The measured wavelength error reaches about 1.41 plusmn 0.09 nm at 1550 nm in the demonstrated example (with an edge filter of average slope 0.22 dB/nm), which indicates the significant …

Small Patch/Slot Antenna With 53% Input Impedance Bandwidth, Xiulong Bao, Max Ammann

Articles

A small microstrip patch/slot antenna, which achieves a very large bandwidth on a relatively thin substrate (about 0.01lambda0), is presented. The performance is achieved by employing a combination of annular-ring loading on the patch radiator and the use of a crossed-slot for miniaturisation. An additional ring-slot in the ground plane is used to produce the wideband characteristics of the antenna. Simulated and measured results indicate that a 53% fractional impedance bandwidth is achieved with respect to the centre frequency of 1.409 GHz and the size of the antenna is reduced by 50% compared to the conventional circular patch antenna with …

What Happened On Deliberation Day, Cass R. Sunstein, Reid Hastie, David Schkade

Articles

What are the effects of deliberation about legal and political issues by like-minded people? This Essay reports the results of an experimental investigation involving sixty-three citizens in Colorado. Groups from Boulder, a predominantly liberal city, met to discuss global warming, affirmative action, and civil unions for same-sex couples. Groups from Colorado Springs, a predominately conservative city, discussed the same issues. The major effect of deliberation was to make group members more extreme in their views than they were before they started to talk. Liberals became more liberal on all three issues; conservatives became more conservative. As a result of intragroup …

In Defense Of Prometheus: Some Ethical, Economic, And Regulatory Issues Of Sports Doping, Richard A. Posner

Articles

No abstract provided.

A Novel Processing Route For The Production Of Nanoparticulate Zinc Oxide, Declan Mccormack, Grainne Duffy, Suresh Pillai

Articles

Zinc oxide nanoparticles have been processed from a novel isophthalate
precursor. In contrast to those processed from an oxalate precursor, this
material exhibits three-dimensional, non-directional aggregation behaviour.
Such non-directional aggregation of uniaxial crystallites may allow for the
production of structures with a higher proportion of catalytically active
surfaces than can be prepared through conventional sol–gel methods. XRD,
FTIR, TEM and SEM were used to characterize the synthesized materials.
Zinc oxide particles synthesized by using isophthalic acid
(C6H4-1,3-(COOH)2) are found to be slightly smaller than the previously
reported materials prepared through chelation with oxalic acid
(H2C2O2·2H2O).

Property Outlaws, Eduardo Peñalver, Sonia Katyal

Articles

Most people do not hold those who intentionally flout property laws in particularly high regard. The overridingly negative view of the property lawbreaker as a "wrongdoer" comports with the status of property rights within our characteristically individualist, capitalist, political culture. This reflexively dim view of property lawbreakers is also shared, to a large degree, by property theorists, many of whom regard property rights as a relatively fixed constellation of entitlements that collectively produce stability and efficiency through an orderly system of ownership. In this Article, Professors Peihalver and Katyal seek partially to rehabilitate the reviled character of the intentional property …

Technology, Information, And Bankruptcy, Douglas G. Baird

Articles

Financial innovations, spurred by the growth of information technology, have transformed the consumer lending industry. Today lenders have unfettered access to a wider spectrum of borrowers and are better able to assess the likelihood that these borrowers will repay the debt they incur. Consequently, the level of consumer household debt has risen dramatically in the past three decades, and will continue to rise, which will lead naturally to an increase in bankruptcy filings. Although our initial intuition tells us that bankruptcies are bad, the author advances the idea that this development is inevitable and that instead of focusing on amending …

The Neoclassical Economics Of Consumer Contracts, Richard A. Epstein

Articles

No abstract provided.