Digital Commons Network^™

Agents : Concept, Technologies & Applications And Search Engine To Compile Urls Containing Documents Related To Environment Science For Njpies, Dhaval P. Shah

Theses

Agents are emerging technology that is making computer systems easier to use by allowing people (computer users) to delegate work back to the computer. They act on user's behalf and achieve user's goals. The advent of these software agents gave rise to much discussion of just what such an agent is, and of how they differ from programs in general. Agents are in research area for a long time. Earlier they were considered a part of just Artificial Intelligence. Nowadays they are just not in research area anymore. Commercial agent based applications are existing in the market because of the …

Interventions Of Water Jet Technology On Skin Surgery, Kittipat Vichyavichien

Theses

The perfect and precise surgical cut, similar to today's laser one, is very important in many surgeries, especially in dissection and to recanaize arterial occlusive lessions. Causing no coagulation is one of the advantages of water jet because it generates no heat. It also provides omni-directional cutting capabilities at very high speeds, resulting edge quality that is usually superior to other existing conventional cutting processes. Debris is always carried away from incisions by jet stream and less damaged tissue, than mechanical incisions. In addition, water jet exerts minimal contact pressure on the tissue being cut due to the small diameter …

Biomechanical Study Of Performance Of A Plugged Femoral Implant Coupled With A Trochanter Cable System Using Finite Element Analysis, Deanna Yvonne Carstarphen

Theses

A Finite Element Analysis was conducted to determine the effect of a plug on the performance of the critical section of a femoral implant coupled with a trochanter cable grip system. The critical section was defined near the proximal end of the stem where a hole was designed for the purpose of attaching the cable grip system. Two models were generated for the analysis. One consisted of the critical section with the grip cables and a plug filled in the hole and the other was without the plug. The models were based on design specifications provided by Howmedica Incorporated. Two …

Evaluation Of Multimedia Chemistry Courseware, Ryan D. Isahac

Theses

With the every growing costs of running a Chemistry laboratory and the ever-changing needs of today's studenis a logical alternative seems to be a computer based instructional format. When delivering courseware via the Internet, the greatest problem comes in making the interface and applications user-friendly and not jusi attractive. In order to test the utility of such a site, subjects are recruited and asked to evaluate the system. Their responses are essential in designing and improving the program to best meet the needs of students. In order to address student concerns, a Help Page was developed which clarified areas and …

Modeling Of A Permeable Reactive Barrier, Guatam C. Ijoor

Theses

The focus of the presentstudy was centered on the modeling analysis to support the Permeable Reactive Barrier (PRB) design. The flow model formulated to simulate the Permeable Reactive Barrier System integrated the available geologic, hydro geologic and geo-chemical data from numerous recent installations to simulate a subsurface ground water scenario.

Different generic cases that a PRB system would fall into were identified based on its utility and aquifer conditions and then employed to produce different model adaptations. The different simulation codes and interfaces were evaluated, and the most expedient of them was used to simulate the Model.

The simulations were …

Variable Gain Control Of Brushless Dc Motor Control With Low Resolution Sensors, Chung-Hsiang Wang

Theses

In this work, feasibility of using low cost, low resolution sensor for high performance brushless dc (BLDC) motor speed control is investigated. Conventional control, using a tachometer or high resolution encoder, suffers from drawbacks such as high cost, large physical volume, and high sensor processing bandwidth. On the other hand, sensorless BLDC motor, appealing in its hardware simplicity, does not provide sufficient fast performance. Using a standard low resolution sensor, such as a hall sensor or commutation encoder, a compromise between cost and performance can be obtained. However, the use of a low resolution sensor does pose a challenge to …

Computer Automated Experimentation For The Control And Assessment Of The Classically Conditioned Eyeblink Response, Michael Terrence Bergen

Theses

The use of the classically conditioned eyeblink response, a form of associative learning, is a growing method of experimentation in modem science. This type of associative learning, has many features that make it useful for applications in the study of specific neurological functions. The goal of this project was to design and implement a software system for the automated control and on-line evaluation of a classical conditioning experiment for use with human subjects. A program was developed in the LabVIEW programming environment by National Instruments. Basic hardware components produce acoustic signals, deliver airpuffs, and sense and condition physiological responses. Safety …

Transforming Nature Of Place And Route 280, Peteris Ratas

Theses

This thesis studies the nature of place, which is a specific, identified location in space, in the conditions of driving in a car on a highway. This study opposes the common opinion that highways destroy identity of a specific location and they have only utilitarian role. This thesis wants to prove that on Route 280 exist a possibility for an identity of a location and that the highway is a place, but the traditional dimensions of a place are modified by high-speed travel in a car. It will analyze actual observations on Route 280.

Traditionally, space was inhabited at slow …

Chemical Volatilization Of Heavy Metals For Waste Separation And Real Time Metals Analysis, Mohammad Nasr Ul-Alam

Theses

One of the major challenges in environmental analysis concerns the rapid and sensitive detection of metals emitted from combustion stacks. An interesting concept for real time analysis is to convert airborne metal oxide particles in a flow reactor into relatively volatile compounds of a single class, and then analyze in the gas phase. In this project, kinetics of chemical volatilization reaction between Sb₂O₃ and HCl was investigated. To achieve this a laboratory volatilization flow reactor was built and data was collected for the volatilization reaction in terms of conversion, inlet and outlet concentrations and flow rates. A …

Underachieving Women And Girls: A Choice Between Career And Family, Annie Dunavan

Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between gender, self-efficacy and career development. Sixty-three high school freshmen completed questionnaires pertaining to these areas. Results indicated that self-efficacy is related to gender and career development.

The Impact Of An At-Risk Program In An Elementary School, Christine Ann Crawford

Theses

The purpose of this project is to examine the effect:, of an elementary At-Risk Program. Challengers. over a nine month period. The intent of this. program was lo increase student self-concept and academic achievement measured by grade point averages. Identification of students who participated in this study was done by a needs assessment survey completed by the teachers. The needs assessment survey includes identifying characteristics for students "at-risk." The control group consisted of students who were identified as "at-risk", but did not participate in the program. Data collection included scores on the Pier-Harris Self Concept Scale and teacher input on …

Investigation Of A Simultaneous Multithreaded Architecture, Marc Torrant

Theses

Many enhancements have been made to the traditional general purpose load-store computer architectures. Among the enhancements are memory hierarchy improvements, branch prediction, and multiple issue processors. A major problem that exists with current microprocessor design is the disparity in the much larger increase in speed of the CPU versus the moderate increase in speed accessing main memory. The simultaneous multithreaded architecture is an extension of the single-threaded architecture that helps hide the performance penalty created by long-latency instructions, branch mispredictions, and memory accesses. Simultaneous multithreaded architectures use a more flexible parallelism, which takes advantage of both instruction-level, and thread-level parallelism. …

The Effect Of Ethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate And Sodium Lauryl Sulfate Surfactants On Droplet Characteristics In Inkjet Printheads, Dawn Api

Theses

The purpose of the present experimental work is to determine the surface tension of various surfactant solutions using the capillary method and observe droplet ejection behavior for these solutions in order to define the correlation between the two. The present work examines the role of surfactants in inkjet printing. One of the most important properties of inkjet ink is surface tension, and surfactants are used in ink to control this property. Specifically studied in this investigation are different concentrations of the surfactants ethylene glycol dimethacrylate and sodium lauryl sulfate. Surfactants have been ejected using a piezo inkjet printhead, and the …

Signiture Analysis Of Fetal Blood Velocity Waveforms, Ronald Soule

Theses

Doppler blood velocity waveform analysis is conducted to affect clinical diagnosis. Current analysis codes developed at RIT posses the capability to assess gross hemodynamic parameters such as heart rate, mean pulse velocity, peak systolic velocity and also the beat to beat variability of these parameters. These computer algorithms have, however, lacked the ability to determine hemodynamic indices such as the pulsatility and resistance index as well as the AB ratio. This latter deficiency stems from an algorithmic need to accurately determine end diastolic velocity in every cardiac cycle. The current thesis specifically augments current algorithms to accurately compute end diastolic …

Behavior Synthesis For High Speed 3d Color Interpolation Using Vhdl, Thomas Glanville Jr

Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to study the methodology of behavioral synthesis and evaluate its usefulness compared to Register Transfer Level (RTL) synthesis. Custom IC design uses high-powered synthesis tools. Engineers have traditionally used RTL level descriptions of their circuits as input to these synthesis tools. As new Behavioral Synthesis tools are becoming more powerful, the option to describe their circuitry in a higher and more abstract level is becoming a more feasible option. Describing circuitry at a higher level has many advantages. It is easier to make architecture changes and higher level descriptions generally have significantly less lines …

Development And Testing Of Improved Spectral Unmixing Techniques, Daisei Konno

Theses

The tradeoff between spatial and spectral resolution gives rise to a finite ground sample size, which produces data with spectrally mixed pixels in a multispectral and hyperspectral systems. Assuming the mixed pixel to be a linear combination of pure spectra known as endmembers, the fractional abundance of the endmembers can be calculated by linear spectral unmixing. Constraints may be placed to force the unmixed fractions to behave realistically. There are also different methods of selecting these endmember spectra, including scene derived and laboratory measured spectra. The stepwise unmixing uses an iterative regression technique to select the optimal endmembers on a …

Unconstrained Instantaneous Center Integration (Ici) Algorithms, Nathan Eggleton

Theses

This paper presents several unique "instantaneous center integration" (ICI) algorithms for use in studying unconstrained vehicle motion using computer simulations and animations. Specifically, these algorithms are most appropriate for the case when high angular rates are present, such as would occur during tight cornering and/or possibly during an accident. The three ICI algorithms presented are the "pseudo-exact", first order approximation and the second order approximation. These ICI algorithms are capable of producing valid, accurate, and efficient simulation results, which describe the behavior of a vehicle under these conditions. The "pseudo-exact" is the most accurate, yet the most computationally expensive. The …

Smart Decisions, Beatriz Gomez

Theses

It is very often that parents and educators find themselves running out of words when it comes to explaining a sensitive topic to a child. Such topics include but are not limited to sex, abortion, adoption, pregnancy, divorce, drugs, and disease. A computer based game has been designed to help parents and educators address such sensitive topics. This software package consists of a series of two dimensional animations. All of the animations belong to the same story, which as it progress, gives the player the opportunity to make diverse decisions. Each decision leads the player through a different path, hence …

Shades, Lisa Camire

Theses

One of the facets influenced most by subjective reality is in the viewing of the aesthetic. "shades" is intended as a means of evoking the viewers' sense of beauty, "aesthetic pleasure to the mind". This is accomplished by techniques such as pinhole photography and "camera obscura."

Addition Of Chelated Trivalent Cations To Solutions Of The Polymer Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose (Cmc), Deborah Hawkins

Theses

This study was comprised of two related projects: a viscosity variability study and a trivalent cation study. For the first study, the dependence of viscosity of solutions of the polymer sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) on temperature was quantitatively determined so that the viscosity measurements from four sets of viscosity versus age of solution data could be normalized. The four sets of age of solution data were obtained for two solutions containing Al cation and for two solutions containing Mg cation. The temperature normalization procedure proved viable. Factoring out the variability due to temperature led to a decrease in overall variability of …

Careers For Women In Design, Nitza Nater Arvelo

Theses

Careers for Women in Design is an interactive application created in order to help, guide and support women in their search for professional goals towards a career in design or related field. Although this project was especially designed for women, men also can benefit from it.

Drug Use And Pregnancy, Kimberly Klapmust

Theses

Human development is a remarkably complex process whereby the union of two small cells can after a period of time give rise to a new human being, complete with vital organs, bones, muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and much more. Considering the intricacy of the developmental process, it is indeed miraculous that most babies are born healthy. Some children, however, are born with abnormalities. Environmental agents, such as drugs, are responsible for some of these abnormalities. Unfortunately, social and therapeutic drugs are widely used among pregnant women. Many commonly used drugs are known to disrupt the normal developmental process and cause …

Fragmentation And Presence: Direction Of The Emotive Moment, Michelle Mazurek

Theses

Discusses the theme of epiphany in the artist's work.

Explorations In Silk Painting, Kaori Tajima

Theses

Explores the artist's silk painting series. Frogs are used to represent the struggles of people in their late twenties.

A Characterization Of The Impact Of Clouds On Remotely Sensed Water Quality, Ronald Fairbanks

Theses

Atmospheric correction and subsequent chlorophyll detection algorithms via remote sensing means were designed for use over the world's oceans. The algorithms seem to fail when used on data taken over the Laurentian Great Lakes. Two primary reasons for the failure have been identified as higher suspended minerals in the Great Lakes than in the oceans and normally higher cloud cover over the Great Lakes. A characterization of the impact of clouds on the radiance reaching remote sensing platforms has been performed. From this characterization, the impact on the calculated chlorophyll content determined by current algorithms is derived. The work presented …

The Comparison Of Three 3d Graphics Raster Processors And The Design Of Another, Paul Brown

Theses

There are a number of 3D graphics accelerator architectures on the market today. One of the largest issues concerning the design of a 3D accelerator is that of affordability for the home user while still delivering good performance. Three such architectures were analyzed: the Heresy architecture defined by Chiueh [2], the Talisman architecture defined by Torborg [7], and the Tayra architecture's specification by White [9]. Portions of these three architectures were used to create a new architecture taking advantage of as many of their features as possible. The advantage of chunking will be analyzed, along with the advantages of a …

Self-Portrait: The Integrity And Interdependence Of Objective Information And Subjective Experience In The Representation Of Memory, Katherine Hannigan

Theses

This thesis is concerned with the subjective experience and the objective quantifiers of life events. It explores the awareness and the representation of the rational and emotional, the quantitative and qualitative, or the objective and subjective aspects of experience in memory. The works in the thesis are self-portraits.

Parents' Predictions Of Children's Responses On The Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, Sheila J. Murphy

Theses

The Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale was administered to 50 fifth-grade students (30 boys and 20 girls) attending a suburban, middle class public school. Their parents (45 mothers, 3 fathers, 1 mother/father combined, 1 unidentified) responded to the same self-concept measure "as they believed their child would respond." Mean scores for parents were higher than mean scores for students in six of the seven scales, suggesting a tendency for parents to overestimate the self-attitudes of their children. However, two-tailed! tests for paired observations showed significant mean differences for only two scales. Pearson product-moment correlations revealed significant positive relationships between students' scores …

Impact Of Personality Type On Marital Satisfaction, Patricia A. Brown

Theses

Not available.

Removal Of Trace Contaminants From Wastewater Effluents Using Local Adsorbents, Kasim Ghulam Haider Ghulam

Theses

Wastewater reclamation must ensure removal of residual pollutants to a high degree so as to make the water acceptable for the designated reuse. There has been a growing interest worldwide to employ cost-effective treatment methods for polishing secondary treatment wastewater effluents. Carbon adsorption has proved to be an effective method for effluent polishing but treatment costs are relatively high.

AI-Ain wastewater treatment plant at Zakher has a design capacity of 54,000 m³/day and incorporates preliminary treatment, followed by extended aeration and dual-media filtration for effluent polishing before water reuse in irrigation. The chemical quality of the treated effluent …