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Number Estimation And Feedback, Lindsey M. Clement Jan 2012

Number Estimation And Feedback, Lindsey M. Clement

Theses

No abstract provided.

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A Sound For Recognition: Blues Music And The African American Community, Remy Corbet Dec 2011

A Sound For Recognition: Blues Music And The African American Community, Remy Corbet

Theses

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Remy Corbet for the Masters in History degree in American History, presented on August 3, 2011, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: A SOUND FOR RECOGNITION: BLUES MUSIC AND THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Robbie Lieberman Blues music is a reflection of all the changes that shaped the African American experience. It is an affirmation of the African American identity, looking forward to the future with one eye glancing at the past. It is a reminder of the tragedies and inequalities that accompanied African Americans from slavery to official freedom, then from …

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Police Programs, Canines, And Contingency Theory: An Explanation Of Canine Numbers Among Large Police Departments, David Wayne Welker Dec 2011

Police Programs, Canines, And Contingency Theory: An Explanation Of Canine Numbers Among Large Police Departments, David Wayne Welker

Theses

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF DAVID WELKER, for the Master of Arts degree in CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE, presented on OCTOBER 18, 2011, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: POLICE PROGRAMS, CANINES, AND CONTINGENCY THEORY: AN EXPLANATION OF CANINE NUMBERS AMONG LARGE POLICE DEPARTMENTS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Joseph Schafer Canines have provided services for humans over many centuries. More recently, they have been used for police work. Canines are used to apprehend suspects, track people, and find drugs. They are also seen as a less-than-lethal weapon and can be used in a number of different programs such as D.A.R.E./crime …

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Mechanics Of Interaction, Ryota Takemura Dec 2011

Mechanics Of Interaction, Ryota Takemura

Theses

My work focuses on the senses that we take for granted when we experience art. We often disregard how our bodies work in relation to living our daily lives. In my piece, the Mechanics of Interaction, I highlight the experience of intertwined senses, in particular sight, touch, and sound. My thesis sculpture, the Mechanics of Interaction, is based on an attempt to avoid a purely visual experience of art. I try to redirect the audience away from the hierarchy of senses where sight is privileged. Many artworks tend to accentuate the combination of vision and thought as an "expression." Sight …

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Determining A Relationship Between Design Characteristics And The End-Of-Life Disposition Of Cellular Phones, Ashley Devierno Dec 2011

Determining A Relationship Between Design Characteristics And The End-Of-Life Disposition Of Cellular Phones, Ashley Devierno

Theses

In recent years, the consumption of consumer electronics has increased rapidly in the United States and across the world. As the consumer electronics industry continues to innovate and turn over new products, older products become obsolete and enter the ever growing electronics waste stream, which was 2.3 million tons in 2007.The increasing volume of electronic waste (e-Waste) has gained the attention of consumers, media outlets, and policy makers across the world. This has put pressure on original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of consumer electronics to manage their products in an environmentally responsible way at the end of their product lifetimes. It …

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Common Crowd Dynamics: Shaping Behavioral Intention Models, Marcel Bouchard Dec 2011

Common Crowd Dynamics: Shaping Behavioral Intention Models, Marcel Bouchard

Theses

As the human population grows, so too does the need to understand human behavior. One particularly important aspect of human behavior is how it changes within conglomerations of people, i.e. crowds. In this thesis, a method for modeling crowd behavior is proposed. This method draws inspiration from the concept of behavioral intention and the related forces of attitudes, influences, and social norms. These topics are first defined and detailed, followed by a survey of related research. Next, the model is presented and adapted to three common crowd dynamics, each stressing a different component of behavioral intention. Observations are made about …

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Probabilistic Framework For Image Understanding Applications Using Bayesian Networks, Mustafa Jaber Dec 2011

Probabilistic Framework For Image Understanding Applications Using Bayesian Networks, Mustafa Jaber

Theses

Machine learning algorithms have been successfully utilized in various systems/devices. They have the ability to improve the usability/quality of such systems in terms of intelligent user interface, fast performance, and more importantly, high accuracy. In this research, machine learning techniques are used in the field of image understanding, which is a common research area between image analysis and computer vision, to involve higher processing level of a target image to "make sense" of the scene captured in it. A general probabilistic framework for image understanding where topics associated with (i) collection of images to generate a comprehensive and valid database, …

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Optimal Economic Planning And Control For The Management Of Ecosystems, Kevin Macksamie Dec 2011

Optimal Economic Planning And Control For The Management Of Ecosystems, Kevin Macksamie

Theses

In recent years the interest on sustainable systems has increased significantly. Among the many interested problems, creating and restoring sustainable ecosystems is a challenging and complex problem. One of the fundamental problems within this area is the imbalance between species that have a predator-prey relationship. Solutions involving management have become an integral player in many environments. Management systems typically use ad hoc methods to develop harvesting policies to control the populations of species to desired numbers. In order to amalgamate intelligence and structure, ecological systems require a diverse research effort from three primary fields: ecology, economics, and control theory. In …

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Endemic Top Predator Response To Goat Eradication On Santiago Island: The Galapagos Hawk And Its Diet., Jaramillo Cruz Mari Nov 2011

Endemic Top Predator Response To Goat Eradication On Santiago Island: The Galapagos Hawk And Its Diet., Jaramillo Cruz Mari

Theses

The eradication of invasive species is becoming a common approach for the conservation of native communities around the world. The current study is one component of a long-term monitoring of the Galapagos Hawk (Buteo galapagoensis) before, during and after the eradication of goats (Capra hircus) on Santiago Island. As the herbivory pressure was released, we foresaw that the rapid vegetation recovery would affect the hunting success of the Galapagos Hawk on its preferred terrestrial prey. We performed a comparative study on the feeding ecology of the hawk by direct observation of prey delivered to nests pre- (1999-2000) and post-goat eradication …

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[ ], Megan Metté Nov 2011

[ ], Megan Metté

Theses

[ ] explores the socially constructed notions surrounding a house and a home and those things that are necessary in order to feel at home in the world. As a way to process the feelings associated with being the child of a broken home, I reconfigure the rooms of various houses in an attempt to escape my reality, and enter into an ideal dream space. Both my photographic and video works explore how utopian architecture and the American dream have in some ways influenced my concept of the ideal and my process of making these dreams. In the end, the …

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Hypothetical Thermodynamic Properties: Application Of Correlation Gas-Chromatography To The Evaluation Of The Vaporization Enthalpies Of Fluorinated Compounds, Darrell Wayne Hasty Nov 2011

Hypothetical Thermodynamic Properties: Application Of Correlation Gas-Chromatography To The Evaluation Of The Vaporization Enthalpies Of Fluorinated Compounds, Darrell Wayne Hasty

Theses

Relatively little vaporization enthalpy data has been published for fluorinated compounds. The increasing commercial use of fluorinated chemicals and their rapid spreading within our biosphere necessitates a better understanding of their thermodynamic properties and long-term stability. This paper presents an initial attempt at applying correlation gas chromatography (C-GC) to investigate its possible use in deriving the enthalpy of vaporization at 298 K for twenty-seven partially or fully fluorinated compounds. Additionally, the behavior of the n-perfluoroalkanes are examined and compared to their hydrocarbon analogues. Although published data for the n-perfluoroalkanes as a function of the number of carbons appears to be …

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Bitter Tea, Caicai Liu Nov 2011

Bitter Tea, Caicai Liu

Theses

Bitter Tea is a 23 minute short fiction film made by CaiCai Liu in April 2010. The film shows a Chinese photography student's life in the U.S. This paper discusses the issues of Asian identity, cultural changes and the philosophy of illusion symbolized by the perception of the photographer. It also represents the processes of making the film from pre-production, production, to post-production and explains the workflow and technical issues of how this project was made.

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The Crooked Frame, John Sabbath Nov 2011

The Crooked Frame, John Sabbath

Theses

Every weekend when I was growing up, I could be found glued to the television set in my Spider-Man pajamas, inhaling my favorite frosted covered cereal, basking in the glow of the Saturday morning cartoons. My favorites were the reruns of the classic Looney Tunes shorts, featuring the famous chases between that long eared hare Bugs Bunny and the egg-headed hunter, Elmer Fudd. Even as a child I was in awe of their timeless sense of humor and their limitless ability to parody any subject matter. Twenty years later, I strove to capture the same style and spirit that the …

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Relics, Rex Kalehoff Nov 2011

Relics, Rex Kalehoff

Theses

RELICS is a group of familiar, yet evocative objects, handcrafted in wood. Inspired by first-hand experiences living abroad, each sculpture aims to represent the physical remains and ideologies of past cultures around the world. The work reflects gently on universal themes of cultural persistence and survival, and presents a thoughtful investigation into our current patterns of living. My message is in support of a sustainable future, celebrating diversity, and nurturing nature.

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Let’S Go Viral ! Bye-Bye Graffiti Vandalism : Using Outdoor Building Projection To Secure Attention About Scribbling Habits On Public Properties, Jae Yeon Song Nov 2011

Let’S Go Viral ! Bye-Bye Graffiti Vandalism : Using Outdoor Building Projection To Secure Attention About Scribbling Habits On Public Properties, Jae Yeon Song

Theses

The synthesis of design with human behavior in everyday life is a designer's fate. Overall, designers have been seeking the most effective approaches to communicate with humans. As a designer, observing human behavior and finding relationships between patterns of human behavior and my current design field is the most significant concern. In my thesis project, I pointed out one of the human behaviors that has an immoral and careless aspect such as scribbling habits on public properties. Additionally, I tested how I could bring and spread this issue more effectively by utilizing computer graphic design discipline. "Bye-Bye Graffiti Vandalism" is …

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Water Availability, Carbon-Based Plant Defenses, And The Outcome Of Tritrophic Interactions In An Ant-Plant Mutualism, John Craft Flunker Nov 2011

Water Availability, Carbon-Based Plant Defenses, And The Outcome Of Tritrophic Interactions In An Ant-Plant Mutualism, John Craft Flunker

Theses

There have been few studies that examine the influence of soil water content on the outcome of interactions between ants, insect herbivores, and extrafloral nectary (EFN)-producing plants despite the potential of soil water to alter such interactions. Here I asked two questions: 1) Does water availability mediate the phenotypic expression of EFN, chemical and physical defenses? 2) Does water availability influence the outcome of tritrophic interactions between ants, herbivores, and EFN producing plants? Plants of Chamaecrista fasciculata (Fabaceae) growing naturally in a remnant prairie were randomly assigned to water addition or control and ant removal or control in a two …

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Feasibility Of Integrating Multiple Types Of Electroactive Polymers To Develop A Biomimetic Inspired Muscle Actuator, William Spath Nov 2011

Feasibility Of Integrating Multiple Types Of Electroactive Polymers To Develop A Biomimetic Inspired Muscle Actuator, William Spath

Theses

The focus of this project is to see if it is possible to integrate multiple EAP materials in an electro- mechanical system to produce a closer representation of a biological muscle with smooth varying motion. In this preliminary study, two common types of EAPs, ionic and dielectric, were investigated to determine their mechanical and electrical properties in order to assess their potential to be combined into a working artificial electromechanical muscle prototype at a later time. A conceptual design for an artificial electromechanical muscle was created with biomimetic relationships between EAP materials and the human bicep muscle. With the assistance …

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Life Force Of Nature, Sooyoung Kim Nov 2011

Life Force Of Nature, Sooyoung Kim

Theses

My work strives to illustrate the bond between Mother Nature and human beings. Primarily, I seek the harmony created by balanced compositions of natural and man-made objects. Any accidental visual conflict arising from this pairing is also a subject matter I find myself exploring within the execution my pieces. In our high-speed daily lives, we often find ourselves unsettlingly disconnected from nature. Stephen Harrod Buhner describes this feeling as "a loss of connection to plants, to the land, to Earth, [that] leaves the holes with which we are naturally born unfilled," and proposes that "the solution is reconnection to the …

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Parallel Implementation Of Maximum Parsimony Search Algorithm On Multicore Cpus, Andrew Darling Nov 2011

Parallel Implementation Of Maximum Parsimony Search Algorithm On Multicore Cpus, Andrew Darling

Theses

Phylogenetics is the study of the evolutionary relationships among species. It is derived from the ancient greek words, phylon meaning "race", and genetikos, meaning "relative to birth". An important methodology in phylogenetics is a cladistics methodology (parsimony) applied to the study of taxonomic classification. Modern study includes as source data aspects of molecular biology, such as the DNA sequence of homologous (orthologous) genes. The algorithms used attempt to reconstruct evolutionary relationships in the form of phylogenetic trees, based on the available morphological data, behavioral data, and usually DNA sequence data (Fitch W. M., 1971). The topic of this thesis is …

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Unhinged, Gayane Bagdasaryan Nov 2011

Unhinged, Gayane Bagdasaryan

Theses

"Unhinged" is an animated graduate thesis film 7 minutes, 30 seconds long, which was originally conceived as a story about decision making, and it turned into a story about loneliness and an acceptance of it. It tells a story of a troll, Lancelot, who carries on a lonely life in a neglected cabin in the middle of a desert. He entertains himself by playing masquerade with his friends, mannequins-hat-holders. One day he hears a knock on the door and struggles with fear to open the door. This film is a hand-drawn animation that was mostly produced in TVPaint Animation Software. …

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Puffery, Whitney Warne Nov 2011

Puffery, Whitney Warne

Theses

The external body is a place to perform a version of ourselves, rather than be ourselves. To perform is to strike a balance between the self and the rules, between individual action and gesture and the script--between what you know and what other people tell you to know. Puffery explores the culturally constructed performance and expected behaviors of the modern female. I have created video and photography documented durational performances that question a female's relationship with exterior presentation. Viewers watch as she exposes her façade--examining it and breaking it down in an effort to negotiate self, power, and control.

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Creating Animation For A Video Game Opening - The War Of Water, Yen-Chin Wu Nov 2011

Creating Animation For A Video Game Opening - The War Of Water, Yen-Chin Wu

Theses

The project creates 3D animation for a video game opening. The main idea of this animation is to ask people to save the water. The designer created the characters, the story, and the animation. The main stage is set in 2116 AD. The world has no clean water, and the main character, Taimei, is a twenty-year-old girl, who is going to find a new source of water for all of humanity. On the other hand, the R.O.C. Robot Army is doing everything they can to stop her. This game will adapt Japanese cartoon style with Toon Shader and Toon Outlines …

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Disengagement, Petra Tuns Oct 2011

Disengagement, Petra Tuns

Theses

Disengagement is a body of photographic work that recounts my memories of suffering from depression. My aesthetic is directly influenced by the pathology of the illness. My thesis aims to let the viewer witness how depression has impacted me, so they can understand the disease on a more personal level rather than a stereotypical image, such as TV commercials for anti-depression medication. I analyze both depression in art and the history of depression through the writings of Christine Ross, and Michel Foucault. Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalytic theory also inform my work. They are also the foundation from which I defend …

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Immanent Beauty, Jenamarie Bacot Oct 2011

Immanent Beauty, Jenamarie Bacot

Theses

This document defends a creative process that is driven by emotion and faith, within which the impulsive, improvisational, and expressive act exists. It is a spiritual act because of the belief that I am creating through the work something honest and therefore important. This defense will be supported by analysis of me and my work, evaluation of artists and artwork created throughout history that have inspired me, as well as philosophical, theological, and critical thoughts towards creative experiences inspired by beauty defending truth.

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How To Use Computer Graphics Popularize Tai Chi, Tao Zou Oct 2011

How To Use Computer Graphics Popularize Tai Chi, Tao Zou

Theses

TAIMIC is a visual interactive exploration application involving motion capture and 3D animation. It introduces Tai Chi to young generations and could be accessed through the Internet from anywhere in the world. Tai Chi, a division of Chinese Kong Fu, has been popular in China for hundreds of years. Today Tai Chi has been spreading worldwide. Thousands of people in the world practice Tai Chi every day. However, most of the participants are senior people. As a result, I am creating a way to popularize Tai Chi among young people. My goal for this project is to use computer graphics …

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A Vision Of Sound: A 3d Visualization Of Pipe Organ Music, Donna Schichler Oct 2011

A Vision Of Sound: A 3d Visualization Of Pipe Organ Music, Donna Schichler

Theses

My goal is to create a 3D animation that illustrates the movements and patterns produced in the air when Bach's Chromatic Fugue is played on a pipe organ. By combining the visual element of swirling patterns inspired by pipe organ acoustics simulation with imagery that the music evokes in the mind, I aim to present a surrealistic soundscape that visually depicts the boundless creative energy and freedom of music and mind combined. I hope to create an animation that is aesthetically interesting and to inspire imagination in viewer.

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A Search For Mri Diffusion Coefficient Standards, Hongmei Yuan Oct 2011

A Search For Mri Diffusion Coefficient Standards, Hongmei Yuan

Theses

Diffusion coefficients (D) can be readily measured by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) instruments. Operators of these instruments often utilize standards with known diffusion coefficients to rapidly and conveniently test the performance of the NMR or MRI system to measure diffusion. A variety of these standards have been proposed in the scientific literature. This thesis describes a diffusion standard based on water constrained by container geometry, specifically water between tightly packed, parallel glass fiber filaments. The restricted diffusion of water in this environment gives a diffusion coefficient which is selectable by the choice of data …

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Wireless Body Area Network Platform Utilizing Energy-Efficient Routing Of Physiological Data, Alvaro Prieto Sep 2011

Wireless Body Area Network Platform Utilizing Energy-Efficient Routing Of Physiological Data, Alvaro Prieto

Theses

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) consist of several wireless sensors located around a human body. These sensors may measure several biological signals, movement, and temperature. Due to major improvements in power consumption and constantly shrinking devices, WBANs are becoming ubiquitous. As a side effect present because of the small form factor of these devices, the battery size is limited. While the sensors themselves may be extremely power efficient, all of the measured data must be transmitted over a much less efficient wireless link. One benefit of WBANs is that they rarely include more than a dozen wireless devices over a …

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Current, Virginia Pfau Sep 2011

Current, Virginia Pfau

Theses

I am fascinated by the relationship of modern humans to the natural world, and the ways in which the technology we produce has both positive and negative impacts on it. I want to use my work to create a non-biased, beautiful environment in which others can also contemplate this subject. Clay is an important material not only for its elemental symbolism of earth, but also for its long ties to human craft and culture. Plastics are advanced synthetic materials with various ecologically constructive and destructive aspects in a field with increasing emphasis on environmental sustainability. The synthesis of these two …

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Kikimasu (Listen), Andrew Frueh Sep 2011

Kikimasu (Listen), Andrew Frueh

Theses

Why do we create art? It is a profound question, and not one I ever intended to explore in the creation of my thesis film. However, coming to a better understanding of what the answer is for me was perhaps the most valuable lesson I learned from the entire project. Kikimasu was not a film that followed a linear progression from start to finish. In many ways, its conception was every bit as amorphous as the shifting void in the film. It began as a vastly larger project in scope, with primarily commercial goals in mind. But it ended as …

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