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Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

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Passive Wireless Temperature Sensing In Extreme Harsh Environments, Michael R. Comparetto Jan 2018

Passive Wireless Temperature Sensing In Extreme Harsh Environments, Michael R. Comparetto

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As the technology in the elds of aerospace and the US power generation industry advances, there is a critical need for new extreme high temperature sensing / monitoring technologies to replace the current out-of-date sensing systems. As the operating temperatures of these jet and turbine engines continue to rise over 1000 C, it is vitally important to monitor the extreme high temperatures in these engines for system health monitoring and to achieve greater engine eciencies. We propose a new passive wireless temperature sensor capable of sensing these extreme high temperatures. The sensor uses an LC resonance circuit to measure the …

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Efficient Wound Assessment System With An Rgb-D Camera, Xiang Gao Jan 2018

Efficient Wound Assessment System With An Rgb-D Camera, Xiang Gao

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Continuous monitoring of changes in wound size, wound area, and volume, is key to predict whether wounds will heal on time. Wound measurement methods can be subdivided into non- contact and contact methods. Contact methods are prone to errors given the human intervention and it increases the chance of discomfort during measurement. Alternative methods, such as image- based non-contact methods, eliminate any discomfort and have good reliability for measuring a wound. However, existing image-based non-contact methods are expensive. This is because these methods build a 3D model of the wound using expensive devices in order to allow the clinician to …

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Survey For Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials At A Gas Fractionation Plant, Brittany Diane Jones Jan 2018

Survey For Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials At A Gas Fractionation Plant, Brittany Diane Jones

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Marcellus Gas Company (MGC) is a midstream energy company operating natural gas gathering and processing assets in the Marcellus Shale region, primarily in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. At the time of the study, MGC was interested in surveying for naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) at their primary fractionation facility in the region, the Ohio River Fractionation Plant. A NORM survey, consisting of over 300 measurements, was conducted at the site to evaluate the need to implement the company's written NORM program and to assess for additional controls to protect employees against ionizing radiation exposure. Additionally, a qualitative exposure assessment …

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Caregiver Selection Of Treatments For Their Child With Autism, Amy Kurowski-Burt Jan 2018

Caregiver Selection Of Treatments For Their Child With Autism, Amy Kurowski-Burt

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This project was completed to understand what treatments caregivers are selecting for their child with autism and why treatments were selected and discontinued. Caregivers of children with autism participated in a mixed methods study. An online survey was completed (N=127) to identify treatments used for their child. Interviews were completed (n=14) to understand why treatments were selected and discontinued. Selection of medical, dietary, therapeutic, complimentary/ alternative medicine, community-based, behavioral, and educational treatments were mostly influenced by recommendations of others. Caregivers reported discontinuing because relationships and professionalism were lacking between provider and family. Providers must consider all the variables that influence …

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Environmental Controls, Similitude, And Scaling Of Stream Dissolved Oxygen Across The Pacific Coast Of U.S.A, Filmon Araya Jan 2018

Environmental Controls, Similitude, And Scaling Of Stream Dissolved Oxygen Across The Pacific Coast Of U.S.A, Filmon Araya

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a key indicator for water quality and the general health of stream ecosystems. However, the dynamics of stream DO is controlled by myriad interacting environmental drivers. This thesis investigates the major environmental drivers, emergent similitude (similarity leading to parametric reductions), and scaling of stream DO across the Pacific Coast of U.S.A. The research was conducted by assembling a dataset for 1998--2015 at 35 water quality monitoring stations of U.S. Geological Survey and Environmental Protection Agency. Pearson correlation matrix, principal component analysis, and factor analysis were employed to identify the interrelations and groupings of stream DO and …

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The Role Of Kndy Neurons And Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase In The Control Of Reproduction In Female Sheep And Nonhuman Primates, Michelle Nichole Bedenbaugh Jan 2018

The Role Of Kndy Neurons And Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase In The Control Of Reproduction In Female Sheep And Nonhuman Primates, Michelle Nichole Bedenbaugh

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) secretion from the hypothalamus is an important regulator of ovarian function and reproductive cyclicity. During the reproductive cycle, the pattern of GnRH secretion from the hypothalamus, and subsequently luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion from the anterior pituitary, is modulated by ovarian hormones. However, the effects of estradiol (E2) and progesterone cannot be directly communicated to GnRH neurons because these neurons do not express progesterone receptors or estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha), the estrogen receptor that influences estrogenic regulation of GnRH secretion. Thus, neuronal intermediates that do express these receptors must exist to communicate steroidal feedback to GnRH neurons. Kisspeptin, …

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Medicine Bag: An Autoethnographic Account Of Learning To Use Memory And Indigeneity As Resources In College Advising, R. Saya Bobick Jan 2018

Medicine Bag: An Autoethnographic Account Of Learning To Use Memory And Indigeneity As Resources In College Advising, R. Saya Bobick

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Autoethnography was used to investigate lived experiences of self to connect the individual to the cultural (Ellis et al., 2011). My life's recollections were gathered together in a metaphorical personal medicine bag. The use of memory work and storytelling/histories helped to "reframe the old understandings of history and memory" (Clare & Johnson, 2000, p. 210). The conceptual framework was situated within an autoethnographic approach that included three components. The first component was Indigenous ideas, which included memory as a process of decolonization, telling stories past-present-future, and oral traditions/histories. The second included feminist ideas about memory with descriptions of memory work …

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An Examination Of Cyanotoxins And Environmental Estrogens In The Middle And Upper Potomac River Watershed, Usa, Ryan Patrick Braham Jan 2018

An Examination Of Cyanotoxins And Environmental Estrogens In The Middle And Upper Potomac River Watershed, Usa, Ryan Patrick Braham

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The Potomac River is a large tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Large fish die-offs were reported in the Potomac watershed (specifically the South Branch of the Potomac) in 2002 and 2005, as well as smaller episodic events in recent years which have no clear correlation to any one pathogen or contaminant. Although a variety of pathogens have been identified (such as trematodes, myxozoans, Aeromonas hydrophila, A. salmonicida, Flavobacterium columnare , and largemouth bass virus) in recent die-offs of smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu, no clear cause has been derived. Additionally, reproductive endpoints were reported in smallmouth bass and likely associated with …

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Sic Semper Tyrannis Thus, Always To Tyrants, Joseph Gay Jan 2018

Sic Semper Tyrannis Thus, Always To Tyrants, Joseph Gay

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Through the course of this thesis, I will examine the historical context of John Wilkes Booth and his assassination of President Abraham Lincoln as it is related to my performance of the character of Booth in the musical Assassins by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman. Additionally, how the development of this character changed me as a performer, and created substantial growth as a professional. This historical examination of Booth, as well as the examination of text and music, will shed light on how this role came at a crucial point in my training at WVU. Included will be a comprehensive …

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Commodity Feminism Today: An Analysis Of The "Always #Likeagirl" Campaign, Cristina Dans Jan 2018

Commodity Feminism Today: An Analysis Of The "Always #Likeagirl" Campaign, Cristina Dans

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study examined the Procter & Gamble Always #LikeAGirl commercial video for aspects of commodity feminism as defined by Goldman, Heath and Smith in their 1991 journal article "Commodity Feminism." The purpose of this study was to explore the connection between the #LikeAGirl commercial and its viewers. Through this exploration, the study aimed to find any feminist sign values and/or feminine visual signifiers identified in the Goldman et al. (1991) definition of commodity feminism. In addition, this study sought to explore audience connections (positive and/or effective) to identified aspects of commodity feminism in the video. The commercial video was analyzed …

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Dissensual Women: Modernist Women Writers, The Senses, And Technology, Allyson Demaagd Jan 2018

Dissensual Women: Modernist Women Writers, The Senses, And Technology, Allyson Demaagd

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

My project, Dissensual Women: Modernist Women Writers, the Senses, and Technology, analyzes depictions of the senses and technology in modernist women's writing. I argue that modernist women writers challenge traditional sensory hierarchies that value the so-called masculine senses of sight and sound and denigrate the so-called feminine senses of smell, taste, and touch. H.D., Mina Loy, Virginia Woolf, and Elizabeth Bowen revalue the feminine senses, challenge sensory elitism, and advocate for an inclusive sensorium, one that features the perceptions and experiences of women, queer women, the lower classes, the nonhuman, and the differently abled. They wage their dissent through experimentation …

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Predicting Student Success In Online Physical Education, Tyler Goad Jan 2018

Predicting Student Success In Online Physical Education, Tyler Goad

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Background/Purpose: Scholars have posited that the demand for online learning is not going away, and the question is no longer if online physical education (OLPE) is practical but rather, what are the most effective ways of administering OLPE to accommodate students (Daum & Buschner, 2012). Currently, limited data are available on student retention rates and attrition factors in OLPE courses. Several early OLPE studies (Brewer, 2001; Mosier, 2010; Ransdell et al., 2008) as well as the 2007 NASPE Initial Guidelines for Online Physical Education have suggested that certain prescreening efforts be in place prior to student enrollment in OLPE, however, …

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Perceptions Of Students, Faculty, And Staff Concerning Visitation Dogs On College Campuses, Brieanna Hughes Jan 2018

Perceptions Of Students, Faculty, And Staff Concerning Visitation Dogs On College Campuses, Brieanna Hughes

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.

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Two Case Studies Of Middle School Parents And Their Engagement With Schools Who Participate In Positive Behavior Support, Kathryn Work-Poggi Jan 2018

Two Case Studies Of Middle School Parents And Their Engagement With Schools Who Participate In Positive Behavior Support, Kathryn Work-Poggi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Positive Behavior Support (PBS) promotes the importance of all staff, school locations, and instructional settings emulating and purposefully teaching the same targeted behavioral expectations. One way to achieve this is to decisively partner with parents and jointly teach positive behavioral conduct and cultivate consistent behavioral expectations across home and school. The purpose of this study was to determine degrees of parent involvement within the confines of a qualitative case study to assess the perceptual nuances that parents experience with their child's middle school using the PBS process. Six parents across two middle schools employing PBS voluntarily shared their perceptions of …

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Tobacco Use, Number Of Serious Smoking Cessation Attempts, And Interest In Lung Screening In A Sample Of Adult Muslims In The United States, Omar F.S. Attarabeen Jan 2018

Tobacco Use, Number Of Serious Smoking Cessation Attempts, And Interest In Lung Screening In A Sample Of Adult Muslims In The United States, Omar F.S. Attarabeen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Muslims in the United States (US) exhibit higher rates of tobacco use in comparison with rest of the US population. As a result, US Muslims might be at a higher risk for negative health consequences of tobacco use such as lung cancer. Investigating factors that are associated with tobacco use, number of smoking cessation attempts, and interest in lung screening in adult US Muslims can facilitate future efforts aimed at improving health outcomes, essentially through reducing tobacco use rates and promoting preventive lung screening in this population. Therefore, the current dissertation aimed to investigate the association of Social Cognitive Theory …

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Transforming Undergraduate Stem Education: Reforming Classrooms By Training Current And Future Faculty, Karen E. Bailey Jan 2018

Transforming Undergraduate Stem Education: Reforming Classrooms By Training Current And Future Faculty, Karen E. Bailey

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In the absence of formal pedagogical training, educators tend to teach the way they were taught, using traditional lecturing. Numerous studies have shown that engaging students in active learning improves student learning and retention of knowledge. Reforming STEM education has become a national imperative. Since the turn of the millennium, many initiatives have sprung forth in response to a growing awareness of the need for reform in post-secondary biology education. The National Academies Summer Institutes (NASI) is one such initiative. The Summer Institutes provide training in evidence-based strategies for biology educators from primarily research universities where lecture-based teaching in large …

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Using Incidental Teaching To Teach Mands To Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Katherine S. Robinson Jan 2018

Using Incidental Teaching To Teach Mands To Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Katherine S. Robinson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Children with autism display deficits in three core areas; communication, social interaction, and restrictive and repetitive behaviors. Deficits in communication often manifest in the form of maladaptive behaviors that serve to have the individuals needs and wants met. Additionally, children with autism may have difficulty generalizing learned skills to novel environments and with novel items. Naturalistic teaching procedures, such as incidental teaching, can promote generalization through the use of naturally occurring learning opportunities and reinforcers. The purpose of this study is to evaluate an incidental teaching procedure on the acquisition of both rate of manding behavior as well as a …

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To Treat Or To Teach: Comparing Strategies To Reduce Escape-Maintained Behavior, Lucie M. Romano Jan 2018

To Treat Or To Teach: Comparing Strategies To Reduce Escape-Maintained Behavior, Lucie M. Romano

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Differential negative reinforcement of alternative behavior (DNRA) reduces escape-maintained challenging behavior, but can result in lost instructional time. Instructional time could be maintained through interventions like curricular revision (CR), but the efficacy of CR is less established. We compared DNRA and CR for 3 children with age-typical intellectual functioning whose challenging behavior was maintained by escape from academic tasks. During DNRA, we taught the child to appropriately request a different, mastered task. During CR, we broke the original task into simpler components until the child mastered each component, but still permitted escape following challenging behavior. Curricular revision resulted in less …

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A Quality Improvement Project To Increase Hepatitis A And B Vaccination In Adults With Hepatitis C In A Federally Qualified Health Center, Virginia M. Selanik Jan 2018

A Quality Improvement Project To Increase Hepatitis A And B Vaccination In Adults With Hepatitis C In A Federally Qualified Health Center, Virginia M. Selanik

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Problem Statement: Despite long-standing recommendations for vaccination against hepatitis A virus (HAV) and hepatitis B (HBV) in persons with chronic liver disease and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and the life-threatening complications suffered from cirrhosis and hepatocellular cancer (HCC), vaccination rates for HAV and HBV in adults are suboptimal in clinical practice.;Theoretical Framework: Based upon published clinical guidelines and performance measures for optimal care of HCV-infected persons, a quality improvement project was implemented guided by Kotter's eight-step change model. Strategies adopted from the 4 Pillars(TM) Practice Transformation Program, including staff/provider education, standing orders, immunization champions, open access/walk-in vaccination during office …

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A Study Of The Judgment Accuracy Of Repeated /R/ Stimuli By Graduate Clinicians, Lauren Glover Jan 2018

A Study Of The Judgment Accuracy Of Repeated /R/ Stimuli By Graduate Clinicians, Lauren Glover

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.

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Engineering The Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Through Infiltrating The Porous Electrodes, Bryan Jackson Jan 2018

Engineering The Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Through Infiltrating The Porous Electrodes, Bryan Jackson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.

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Social Media Cyberbullying: Bystander Behaviors And Spiral Of Silence, Minying Kong Jan 2018

Social Media Cyberbullying: Bystander Behaviors And Spiral Of Silence, Minying Kong

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.

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Determination Of The Consensus Target Sequences Recognized By Znfo, A Novel Oocyte-Specific Zinc Finger Transcription Factor In Cattle, Mingxiang Zhang Jan 2018

Determination Of The Consensus Target Sequences Recognized By Znfo, A Novel Oocyte-Specific Zinc Finger Transcription Factor In Cattle, Mingxiang Zhang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.

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“Can I Use The Services?”: Coaches’ Use Of Sport Psychology For Their Own Development And Performance, Tammy L Sheehy Jan 2018

“Can I Use The Services?”: Coaches’ Use Of Sport Psychology For Their Own Development And Performance, Tammy L Sheehy

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.

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Audit Quality: Detection Of Material Misstatement, Megan Jones Jan 2018

Audit Quality: Detection Of Material Misstatement, Megan Jones

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation is comprised of three studies that examine characteristics that have the potential to influence auditors' ability to detect material misstatement and therefore, audit quality.;The first study examines the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) inspection process, and its relation to audit quality. This archival study concentrates on the group of companies that hire audit firms after Part II inspection reports containing quality control criticisms are made public. Results suggest that companies that switch to auditors with Part II reports have lower audit quality than companies that switch to auditors without Part II reports. Further, companies that switch to …

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Signal Fusion And Semantic Similarity Evaluation For Social Media Based Adverse Drug Event Detection, Hameeduddin Irfan Khaja Jan 2018

Signal Fusion And Semantic Similarity Evaluation For Social Media Based Adverse Drug Event Detection, Hameeduddin Irfan Khaja

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Recent advancements in pharmacovigilance tasks have shown the usage of social media as a resource to obtain real-time signals for drug surveillance. Researchers demonstrated a good potential for the detection of Adverse Drug Events (ADEs) using social media much earlier than the traditional reporting systems maintained by official regulatory authorities like the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Existing automated drug surveillance systems have used various types of social media channels and search query logs for monitoring ADE signals.;In this thesis, we address two key performance issues related to automated drug surveillance systems. The first is to improve the …

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Constructing A Sense Of Place On Top Of The World, Catherine E. Lovell Jan 2018

Constructing A Sense Of Place On Top Of The World, Catherine E. Lovell

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis examines written texts in summit logs by rock climbers at the peak of Baboquivari, located in southern Arizona. After scaling the mountain, rock climbers complete the ritual of documenting their success in a log located on the summit. Guided by the concepts of sense of place and ritual communication, this study investigated discourses articulated in summit logs in order to understand how rock climbers construct their sense of place for a contested landscape.;Baboquivari is the cosmological home of the Tohono O'odham and their creator I'itoi is believed to reside on the peak today. A good portion of Baboquivari …

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Preference And User Experience With Powered Air- Purifying Respirators In Healthcare Workers In A Simulated Work Environment: A Pilot Study, Lauren Macdowell Jan 2018

Preference And User Experience With Powered Air- Purifying Respirators In Healthcare Workers In A Simulated Work Environment: A Pilot Study, Lauren Macdowell

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) are protective devices commonly utilized by healthcare workers in environments with infectious airborne diseases. A review of the current PAPR literature indicated a shortage of studies that focus on user experience of PAPRs and the types of PAPRs that healthcare workers prefer. This study focused on three different PAPR models: the MAXAIR CAPR RTM 710, the 3M(TM) Versaflo (TM) TR-600-ECK and the 3M(TM) Air-Mate(TM). A typical hospital patient work environment was simulated at the West Virginia Simulation Training and Education for Patient Safety on West Virginia University's Health Sciences Campus. Eight subjects total were recruited and …

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Impact Of A Fruit And Vegetable Diet Intervention In Young Adults With Metabolic Syndrome On Behavior And Gut Microbiome, Rashel L. Clark Jan 2018

Impact Of A Fruit And Vegetable Diet Intervention In Young Adults With Metabolic Syndrome On Behavior And Gut Microbiome, Rashel L. Clark

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Background: Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) is a clustering of factors that increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. The rates of MetS are on the rise, even among young adults. The primary objective of the Fruvedomics phase 2 study was to determine changes in behavior, cardiovascular, and gut microbiome health in a group of young adults with MetS following an 8-week, free-living, dietary intervention.;Methods: The dietary intervention followed the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans and focused on increasing fruit and vegetable intake to equal half their diet. University students (18--30 years old) with MetS were recruited on the West …

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Algorithmic Issues In Some Disjoint Clustering Problems In Combinatorial Circuits, Zola Nailah Donovan Jan 2018

Algorithmic Issues In Some Disjoint Clustering Problems In Combinatorial Circuits, Zola Nailah Donovan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As the modern integrated circuit continues to grow in complexity, the design of very large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuits involves massive teams employing state-of-the-art computer-aided design (CAD) tools. An old, yet significant CAD problem for VLSI circuits is physical design automation. In this problem, one needs to compute the best physical layout of millions to billions of circuit components on a tiny silicon surface. The process of mapping an electronic design to a chip involves several physical design stages, one of which is clustering. Even for combinatorial circuits, there exist several models for the clustering problem. In particular, we consider the …

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