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A Measure Of Entrepreneurial Risk Preference And Optimism Using Field Experiments, Mark Schneider Jan 2005

A Measure Of Entrepreneurial Risk Preference And Optimism Using Field Experiments, Mark Schneider

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies have underscored the economic importance of the role of the entrepreneur, and empirical studies testing the nature of the entrepreneur are notably lacking. This study directly addresses this issue by examining newly gathered field data which captures the decision making and risk behaviors for a group of high-technology entrepreneurs. Two decision making tasks were used to elicit risk aversion measures and to test for any 'joy of winning' or judgmental errors, possibly in the form of over optimistic behavior. These elicitations were made with the use of multiple price formats and winner's curse experiments. 62 responses were collected …

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Students With Either Specific Learning Disabilities Or With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Perceptions Of Self As Learner In Online Courses At Florida Virtual School And In The Traditional Learning Environment, Theresa Smouse Jan 2005

Students With Either Specific Learning Disabilities Or With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Perceptions Of Self As Learner In Online Courses At Florida Virtual School And In The Traditional Learning Environment, Theresa Smouse

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research study was to investigate the perception of self as learner for students with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) or with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Students who had completed at least one mathematics or science course at Florida Virtual School, an online learning environment, were surveyed concerning their perception of self as learner in the online learning environment and in the traditional learning environment in 6 basic areas: feelings of success; level of comfort; relationship with teachers; and access to, communication with and feedback from teachers; and advantages and disadvantages of each learning environment. Results of …

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An Investigation Of Implementations Of Smaller Learning Communities In Florida High Schools, Todd James Bondurant Sparger Jan 2005

An Investigation Of Implementations Of Smaller Learning Communities In Florida High Schools, Todd James Bondurant Sparger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The issue of high school reform has received national attention during the first part of the 21st century. One idea brought forth in this restructuring effort has been the desire to create high schools with smaller student populations. However, in an era of tight budgets, where resources are not always available to build more schools, educators have explored the possibility of dividing existing large high schools into smaller units. This restructuring approach has many titles, but is frequently referred to as a Smaller Learning Community (SLC). Since 2000, the federal government has pledged $245 million to schools willing to create …

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Compressed Pattern Matching For Text And Images, Tao Tao Jan 2005

Compressed Pattern Matching For Text And Images, Tao Tao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The amount of information that we are dealing with today is being generated at an ever-increasing rate. On one hand, data compression is needed to efficiently store, organize the data and transport the data over the limited-bandwidth network. On the other hand, efficient information retrieval is needed to speedily find the relevant information from this huge mass of data using available resources. The compressed pattern matching problem can be stated as: given the compressed format of a text or an image and a pattern string or a pattern image, report the occurrence(s) of the pattern in the text or image …

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Effects Of A Mathematics Curriculum Rich In Spatial Reasoning Activities On Fifth Grade Students' Abilities To Spatially Reason: An Action Research Project, Theresa Varn Jan 2005

Effects Of A Mathematics Curriculum Rich In Spatial Reasoning Activities On Fifth Grade Students' Abilities To Spatially Reason: An Action Research Project, Theresa Varn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to describe the effect of a curriculum rich in spatial reasoning activities and experiences on the ability of my fifth grade students to spatially reason. The study was conducted to examine 1) the effects of my practice of incorporating spatial reasoning lessons and activities in my fifth-grade mathematics classroom on the students' ability to spatially reason and 2) the effects of my practice of incorporating spatial reasoning lessons and activities on my students' ability to problem solve. Data were collected over a ten-week period through the use of student interviews, anecdotal records, photos of …

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The Effects Of Literature On Student Motivation And Connections In Mathematics, Arnita Washington Jan 2005

The Effects Of Literature On Student Motivation And Connections In Mathematics, Arnita Washington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of literature use in the middle grades mathematics curriculum on student motivation and connections. This study involved collecting several types of data regarding students' attitudes, motivation, and their abilities to make real-world connections. Findings from pre and post attitude surveys indicated that literature use in the mathematics curriculum has no effect on students' attitudes towards mathematics. Furthermore, findings from journal entries, students' work, and interview responses indicate that although students find storybooks fun and interesting, their use does not seem to lead to increases in students' understanding of mathematics. However, …

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What Instructional Modification Implementations Bring Adult Education Learners To Success And Retention? Analysis Of An Online Adult Basic Education Program, Bernadette Ann Propst Jan 2005

What Instructional Modification Implementations Bring Adult Education Learners To Success And Retention? Analysis Of An Online Adult Basic Education Program, Bernadette Ann Propst

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

What Instructional Modification Implementations Bring Adult Education Learners to Success and Retention? Analysis of an Online Adult Basic Education Program. Adult learners enrolled in my online Adult Basic Education program showed low completion rates for the course. This study's purpose was to discover what instructional modifications would bring these learners to a successful outcome in the program. I implemented the following instructional modifications: asynchronous email communication, weekly progress reports emailed to each participant and a minimum requirement of 10 assignment completions on a weekly basis. Teacher-student interaction increased because of these implementations. I reviewed literature that discussed distance education, adult …

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The Effect Of Technology Acceptance On Post Secondary African- American Students Achievement In Mathematics: A Path Analytic Inquiry, Sulakshana Sen Jan 2005

The Effect Of Technology Acceptance On Post Secondary African- American Students Achievement In Mathematics: A Path Analytic Inquiry, Sulakshana Sen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of technology acceptance on post secondary African American students' achievement in Mathematics. The study was conducted in a historically Black four-year college in Daytona Beach, Florida on students using the computer to enhance their mathematics performance in an introductory algebra mathematics course. By using Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) developed by F. Davis (1989), this study focused on variables such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, computer self-efficacy, subjective norms, attitude and actual use of the computer to account the effect towards the achievement in the final exam which is …

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Measurement And Characterization Of Microwave Transient Electromagnetic Fields Generated From Laser/Matter Interaction, Nicholas Barbieri Jan 2005

Measurement And Characterization Of Microwave Transient Electromagnetic Fields Generated From Laser/Matter Interaction, Nicholas Barbieri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

From past experiments conducted with high intensity lasers, it has been known for some time that laser matter interactions result in the emission of short, transient electromagnetic pulses. Previous investigations into laser generated electromagnetic pulses provide basic information regarding frequencies where such pulses may be present, along with the time duration of the pulses. Such investigations have also demonstrated a number of measurement techniques in which basic information on the pulses may be obtained. The purpose of this current investigation is to obtain a more thorough description and understands of electromagnetic pulses generated for laser matter interaction. To this end, …

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Decision Theory Classification Of High-Dimensional Vectors Based On Small Samples, David Bradshaw Jan 2005

Decision Theory Classification Of High-Dimensional Vectors Based On Small Samples, David Bradshaw

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, we review existing classification techniques and suggest an entirely new procedure for the classification of high-dimensional vectors on the basis of a few training samples. The proposed method is based on the Bayesian paradigm and provides posterior probabilities that a new vector belongs to each of the classes, therefore it adapts naturally to any number of classes. Our classification technique is based on a small vector which is related to the projection of the observation onto the space spanned by the training samples. This is achieved by employing matrix-variate distributions in classification, which is an entirely new …

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The Development Of A Fuzzy Model To Quantify Training Andeducational Factors And The Resulting Impact On Student Successand Lear, Chandre Butler Jan 2005

The Development Of A Fuzzy Model To Quantify Training Andeducational Factors And The Resulting Impact On Student Successand Lear, Chandre Butler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The utilization of fuzzy mathematical modeling for quantification of the quality of training and educational delivery is an innovative application that can result in measurable and repeatable results. This research was designed to apply proven quantification techniques and Industrial Engineering methodologies to a nontraditional environment. The outcomes of this research provide the foundation, initial steps and preliminary validation for the development of a systematic fuzzy theoretical model to be applied for the quantification of various areas within training and education delivery. The test bed for this methodology is Orange County Public School system, the twelfth largest school district in the …

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Application Of Statistical Methods In Risk And Reliability, Astrid Heard Jan 2005

Application Of Statistical Methods In Risk And Reliability, Astrid Heard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation considers construction of confidence intervals for a cumulative distribution function F(z) and its inverse at some fixed points z and u on the basis of an i.i.d. sample where the sample size is relatively small. The sample is modeled as having the flexible Generalized Gamma distribution with all three parameters being unknown. This approach can be viewed as an alternative to nonparametric techniques which do not specify distribution of X and lead to less efficient procedures. The confidence intervals are constructed by objective Bayesian methods and use the Jeffreys noninformative prior. Performance of the resulting confidence intervals is …

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Insulator-Insulator Contact Charging As A Function Of Pressure, Michael Hogue Jan 2005

Insulator-Insulator Contact Charging As A Function Of Pressure, Michael Hogue

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Metal - metal and to an extent metal - insulator contact or triboelectric charging are well known phenomena with good theoretical understanding of the charge exchange mechanism. However, insulator – insulator charging is not as well understood. Theoretical and experimental research has been performed that shows that the surface charge on an insulator after triboelectric charging with another insulator is rapidly dissipated with lowered atmospheric pressure. This pressure discharge is consistent with surface ions being evaporated off the surface once their vapor pressure falls below the saturation vapor pressure. A two-phase equilibrium model based on an ideal gas of singly …

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Messenger Rna Profiling: A Prototype Method For Body Fluidand Tissue Identification, Jane Juusola Jan 2005

Messenger Rna Profiling: A Prototype Method For Body Fluidand Tissue Identification, Jane Juusola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conventional methods of body fluid identification use labor-intensive, technologically diverse techniques that are performed in a series, not parallel, manner and are costly in terms of time and sample. Furthermore, for some frequently encountered body fluids, such as saliva or vaginal secretions, no confirmatory technique exists. Terminally differentiated cells, such as blood lymphocytes or epithelial cells lining the oral cavity, have a unique pattern of gene expression, which is evinced by the presence and relative abundance of specific mRNA species. If the type and abundance of mRNAs can be determined in a stain or tissue sample recovered at the crime …

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Selected School Characteristics And Their Relationshipto High School Teacher Retention, Jhunu Mohapatra Jan 2005

Selected School Characteristics And Their Relationshipto High School Teacher Retention, Jhunu Mohapatra

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to examine the perceptions of Orange County high school teachers and administrators regarding selected school characteristics and their relationship to teacher retention. The study was based on another investigation conducted by the Charlotte Advocates of Education (2004) inquiring into the working conditions in schools and their impact on teacher retention. A total of 292 teachers with less than 4 years of experience and 14 administrators with more than 1 year of experience responded to 25 survey items related to the 6 factors comprising positive school characteristics. Factors such as School Facility, Resources, and Professional Development contributed …

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The Effects Of Integrating Technologyinto An 8th Grade Science Curriculum, Gregory Brunton Jan 2005

The Effects Of Integrating Technologyinto An 8th Grade Science Curriculum, Gregory Brunton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The growing need for technological literacy has increased its presence in public classrooms more than ever before. The purpose of this research study was to study the effects of technology integration on student achievement and attitudes toward science and technology. The participants in this 18-week study involved the 86 8th grade students at Winding Hills School in Orlando, Florida. Data were collected using a pre and post vocabulary assessment, weekly vocabulary quizzes, student attitude surveys, student and parent correspondence as it relates to the study such as parent notes and e-mails, and classroom observation notes. Several conclusions were made. The …

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Effects Of Integrating Writing Activities On Students' Attitudes And Achievement In Problem Solving: An Action Research Study, Kelly Culbert Jan 2005

Effects Of Integrating Writing Activities On Students' Attitudes And Achievement In Problem Solving: An Action Research Study, Kelly Culbert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This action research study investigated my practice of using writing activities in the mathematics classroom. The study was conducted to determine the effect of integrating writing with mathematics on students' achievement in, and attitudes towards problem solving, and the relationship between students' attitudes and their achievement in problem solving. The study was conducted over a six-week period. Students participated in daily problem solving activities. Data were collected using a problem solving themed writing rubric for evaluating student journal responses, anecdotal records, and using a pre- and posttest problem solving attitude inventory. In this study, students demonstrated overall increased mathematical knowledge, …

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An Investigation Of Student Success Between Associate Of Arts And Non Associate Of Arts Transfer Students, Leeann Davis Jan 2005

An Investigation Of Student Success Between Associate Of Arts And Non Associate Of Arts Transfer Students, Leeann Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the possible association between admission with an Associate of Arts (AA) degree or no-AA degree, gender, and ethnicity with graduation GPA, probation, and persistence of community college transfer students admitted to the University of Central Florida in the 2001-2002 academic year (N = 5283). The literature review found that the majority of studies related to transfer student success compared transfer students to native university students. Little evidence of an association between success rates of transfer students as compared to native university students was indicated in the literature. The literature also did not indicate an association between gender …

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Synthesis, Characterizations, And Evaluation Of New Reactive Two-Photon Absorbing Dyes For Two-Photon Excited Fluorescence Imaging Applications, Katherine J. Hales Jan 2005

Synthesis, Characterizations, And Evaluation Of New Reactive Two-Photon Absorbing Dyes For Two-Photon Excited Fluorescence Imaging Applications, Katherine J. Hales

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent, cooperative advances in chemistry, biology, computing, photophysics, optics, and microelectronics have resulted in extraordinary developments in the biological sciences, resulting in the emergence of a novel area termed 'biophotonics'. The integrative and interdisciplinary nature of biophotonics cuts across virtually all disciplines, extending the frontiers of basic cellular, molecular, and biology research through the clinical and pharmaceutical industries. This holds true for the development and application of the novel imaging modality utilizing multiphoton absorption and its extraordinary contribution to recent advances in bioimaging. Intimately involved in the revolution of nonlinear bioimaging has been the development of optical probes for probing …

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Sounding Rocket Redesign And Optimization For Payload Expansion And In Flight Telemetry Transmittal, Matthew Huffman Jan 2005

Sounding Rocket Redesign And Optimization For Payload Expansion And In Flight Telemetry Transmittal, Matthew Huffman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to renewed interest in the sub orbital rocket program of the Florida Space Authority and a surplus of Super Loki Sounding Rockets, an effort to improve the usefulness of this surplus is herein undertaken. Currently, the capacity of the payload compartment in the upper stage of the Super Loki system is very limited. A redesign of the upper stage will allow larger and more versatile payloads to be carried, assuming the appropriate design parameters are met. It has therefore been undertaken to create a design procedure that is comprehensive in scope in order to affect this redesign. This procedure …

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A Framework To Model Complex Systems Via Distributed Simulation: A Case Study Of The Virtual Test Bed Simulation System Using The High Level Architecture, Jaebok Park Jan 2005

A Framework To Model Complex Systems Via Distributed Simulation: A Case Study Of The Virtual Test Bed Simulation System Using The High Level Architecture, Jaebok Park

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the size, complexity, and functionality of systems we need to model and simulate con-tinue to increase, benefits such as interoperability and reusability enabled by distributed discrete-event simulation are becoming extremely important in many disciplines, not only military but also many engineering disciplines such as distributed manufacturing, supply chain management, and enterprise engineering, etc. In this dissertation we propose a distributed simulation framework for the development of modeling and the simulation of complex systems. The framework is based on the interoperability of a simulation system enabled by distributed simulation and the gateways which enable Com-mercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) simulation packages to …

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Implementation Strategies For Real-Time Traffic Safety Improvements On Urban Freeways, Jeremy Harvey Dilmore Jan 2005

Implementation Strategies For Real-Time Traffic Safety Improvements On Urban Freeways, Jeremy Harvey Dilmore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research evaluates Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) implementation strategies to improve the safety of a freeway once a potential of a crash is detected. Among these strategies are Variable Speed Limit (VSL) and ramp metering. VSL are ITS devices that are commonly used to calm traffic in an attempt to relieve congestion and enhance throughput. With proper use, VSL can be more cost effective than adding more lanes. In addition to maximizing the capacity of a roadway, a different aspect of VSL can be realized by the potential of improving traffic safety. Through the use of multiple microscopic traffic simulations, …

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Stabilization And Tracking Of The Van Der Pol Oscillator, Xin Zhao Jan 2005

Stabilization And Tracking Of The Van Der Pol Oscillator, Xin Zhao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, the stabilization and tracking problem of the Van der Pol oscillator is studied by using advanced control techniques. First, the linear state feedback and linear adaptive state feedback controllers for the stabilization problem are designed. Then, non-linear state feedback and output feedback controllers are proposed for the tracking problem with known parameters. Finally, a dynamic output feedback controller based on adaptive backstepping technique is introduced for the tracking problem when all parameters of the Van der Pol system are unknown.

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Autonomous Repair Of Optical Character Recognition Data Through Simple Voting And Multi-Dimensional Indexing Techniques, Christopher Sprague Jan 2005

Autonomous Repair Of Optical Character Recognition Data Through Simple Voting And Multi-Dimensional Indexing Techniques, Christopher Sprague

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The three major optical character recognition (OCR) engines (ExperVision, Scansoft OCR, and Abby OCR) in use today are all capable of recognizing text at near perfect percentages. The remaining errors however have proven very difficult to identify within a single engine. Recent research has shown that a comparison between the errors of the three engines proved to have very little correlation, and thus, when used in conjunction, may be useful to increase accuracy of the final result. This document discusses the implementation and results of a simple voting system designed to prove the hypothesis and show a statistical improvement in …

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Transmission Electron Microscopy Studies In Shape Memory Alloys, Madhavi Tiyyagura Jan 2005

Transmission Electron Microscopy Studies In Shape Memory Alloys, Madhavi Tiyyagura

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In NiTi, a reversible thermoelastic martensitic transformation can be induced by temperature or stress between a cubic (B2) austenite phase and a monoclinic (B19') martensite phase. Ni-rich binary compositions are cubic at room temperature (requiring stress or cooling to transform to the monoclinic phase), while Ti-rich binary compositions are monoclinic at room temperature (requiring heating to transform to the cubic phase). The stress induced transformation results in the superelastic effect, while the thermally induced transformation is associated with strain recovery that results in the shape memory effect. Ternary elemental additions such as Fe can additionally introduce an intermediate rhombohedral (R) …

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Numerical Modeling Of Dissimilatory Iron Reduction In Sediments At A Field Site, Chun-Wen Chen Jan 2005

Numerical Modeling Of Dissimilatory Iron Reduction In Sediments At A Field Site, Chun-Wen Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study is to identify the 'universal' rate formulations with scaled-dependent parameters for the biological reduction of hematite. Three possible rate formulations were proposed to describe the bioreduction rate of hematite, and two kinds of simulation were conducted to validate the formulations and parameters with both batch and column experimental data: a reaction-based biogeochemical (batch) modeling with BIOGEOCHEM 1.0 and a reactive biogeochemical transport (column) modeling via HYDROGEOCHEM 4.0. Based on the results of simulations, only the dual Monod kinetic with inhibition rate formulation with respect to the concentrations of lactate, ßFeOOH, and Fe2+ under certain …

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A Comparative Analysis Between Context-Based Reasoning (Cxbr) And Contextual Graphs (Cxgs)., Peterson Marthen Lorins Jan 2005

A Comparative Analysis Between Context-Based Reasoning (Cxbr) And Contextual Graphs (Cxgs)., Peterson Marthen Lorins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Context-based Reasoning (CxBR) and Contextual Graphs (CxGs) involve the modeling of human behavior in autonomous and decision-support situations in which optimal human decision-making is of utmost importance. Both formalisms use the notion of contexts to allow the implementation of intelligent agents equipped with a context sensitive knowledge base. However, CxBR uses a set of discrete contexts, implying that models created using CxBR operate within one context at a given time interval. CxGs use a continuous context-based representation for a given problem-solving scenario for decision-support processes. Both formalisms use contexts dynamically by continuously changing between necessary contexts as needed in appropriate …

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In Situ Remediation Of Heavy Metal Contaminated Sediments Using Emulsified Zero-Valent Metal Particles, Kristen Marie Milum Jan 2005

In Situ Remediation Of Heavy Metal Contaminated Sediments Using Emulsified Zero-Valent Metal Particles, Kristen Marie Milum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sediments can act as both a sink for pollutants and a source for aquatic contaminants. Natural and human disturbances of the sediments can release the contaminants to the overlying water where bottom dwelling, or benthic, organisms may be exposed through direct contact, ingestion of sediment particles, or uptake of dissolved contaminants present in the water. Dredging, the most common remediation technology for heavy metals, exacerbates this process. The in situ use of emulsified metal has been studied for its ability to pull heavy metals from aqueous solution and from saturated soils. It has proven successful in the laboratory with removal …

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An Interactive Distributed Simulation Framework With Application To Wireless Networks And Intrusion Detection, Oleg Kachirski Jan 2005

An Interactive Distributed Simulation Framework With Application To Wireless Networks And Intrusion Detection, Oleg Kachirski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we describe the portable, open-source distributed simulation framework (WINDS) targeting simulations of wireless network infrastructures that we have developed. We present the simulation framework which uses modular architecture and apply the framework to studies of mobility pattern effects, routing and intrusion detection mechanisms in simulations of large-scale wireless ad hoc, infrastructure, and totally mobile networks. The distributed simulations within the framework execute seamlessly and transparently to the user on a symmetric multiprocessor cluster computer or a network of computers with no modifications to the code or user objects. A visual graphical interface precisely depicts simulation object states …

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Three Dimensional Modeling Of Wekiva Springshed With Wash123d, Sandeep Paladagu Jan 2005

Three Dimensional Modeling Of Wekiva Springshed With Wash123d, Sandeep Paladagu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a three-dimensional groundwater modeling of Wekia springshed in central Florida using a numerical model, WASH123D. Springs have historically played an important role in Florida's history. The Wekiva River is a spring-fed system associated with about 19 springs connected to the Floridan aquifer. With increased urbanization and population growth in this region, there has been an increased strain on the water levels of Floridan aquifer which is a major source of potable water. Maintaining groundwater recharge to the aquifer is a key factor of the viability of the regional water supply as well as Wekiva ecosystem. Hence, the …

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