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Kosovo After The Conflict The Influence Of Religion In Politics, Adelina Shabani Aug 2015

Kosovo After The Conflict The Influence Of Religion In Politics, Adelina Shabani

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.


A System Dynamics Approach To The Efficacy Of Oxime Therapy In Sub Lethal Exposure To Sarin Gas, Daniel J. Droste Jun 2015

A System Dynamics Approach To The Efficacy Of Oxime Therapy In Sub Lethal Exposure To Sarin Gas, Daniel J. Droste

Theses and Dissertations

The 2010 National Security Strategy states, The effective dissemination of a lethal agent would endanger the lives of thousands of people and have unprecedented economic, societal, and political consequences. We must continue to work at home with first responders and health officials to reduce the risk associated with high-consequence threats . Nerve agents, such as Sarin gas, are considered high consequence threats. The threat of use of agents such as Sarin is as much a threat today as any other time in our history. However, the suggested treatment protocol is not as precise as it could be. Debate exists over …


Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of The F-15e Risk Management During Peacetime Operations, Elliot B. Vasquez Jun 2015

Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of The F-15e Risk Management During Peacetime Operations, Elliot B. Vasquez

Theses and Dissertations

Human factors are causal or contributory in 80% of Class A mishaps in the Air Force. Risk management tools are used throughout the service in every aircraft to help mitigate the risk of those human factors occurring. The F-15E Strike Eagle community was selected for analysis on the effectiveness of its risk management program but the data was comprised on Class A mishaps from Accident Investigation Boards since 2000 between the F-15 (all models), F-16 (all models), and F-22. Cases were selected if there were human factors root causes or contributory. A fault tree analysis coupled with the Department of …


Using Imprint To Guide Experimental Design With Simulated Task Environments, Gregory W. Dye Jun 2015

Using Imprint To Guide Experimental Design With Simulated Task Environments, Gregory W. Dye

Theses and Dissertations

Experimental Designs involving Simulated Task Environments aim to explore interesting conditions with human subjects. By using activity simulators such as IMPRINT, it may be possible to identify these conditions of interest without the need for human subjects. This thesis presents research that aims to demonstrate that IMPRINT can be used to predict human performance in a task environment representing the task performed by Network Analysts of the 33rd Network Warfare Squadron. The research is done by examining the task performed by the Network Analysts, and then designing a Simulated Task Environment modeled on this task. A model of the task …


Simulation Of Metal Particulates In High Energetic Materials, Eduardo Nieto Jun 2015

Simulation Of Metal Particulates In High Energetic Materials, Eduardo Nieto

Theses and Dissertations

This research focused on analyzing the effects of aluminum in high explosives such as PBX9501 using the MPEXS computational simulation code for a wide range of metalized explosive cases. The varying parameters are aluminum particle diameter and mass fraction of aluminum. The addition of metal particulates in explosive mixtures increases the density of the shock wave, causing a higher pressure in the shock. It was concluded that pressure and density steadily increases as the Al particle diameter increases, and pressure and density decreases when Al mass fraction increases. The concentrated pressures will dissipate quickly due to the high density, providing …


On The Free Surface Skipping Characteristics Of Highly Deformable Elastic Spheres, Randy C. Hurd Jun 2015

On The Free Surface Skipping Characteristics Of Highly Deformable Elastic Spheres, Randy C. Hurd

Theses and Dissertations

When a highly deformable elastic sphere impacts a water surface at an oblique angle it can skip several times in a manner similar to a skipping stone. However, this sphere seems to skip more readily and with more ease than a traditional skipping stone. This thesis examines the improved skipping characteristics of highly deformable elastic spheres made from cured silicone rubber. The effect of impact velocity, impact angle, sphere diamter and material shear modulus on ricochet trajectory is experimentally examined using high speed photography and image processing techniques. Experimental evaluation shows that deformation is the primary contributor to an increased …


A Prince And A Fractured Kingdom: The Case Of The Sudan’S Power Relations, Jihad Salih Mashamoun Jun 2015

A Prince And A Fractured Kingdom: The Case Of The Sudan’S Power Relations, Jihad Salih Mashamoun

Theses and Dissertations

Religion has an important place in Sudanese society, and it has been used as a means of political domination. British colonialism had favored and empowered the Sufi orders of the Mahddiyya and Marghaniyya, with the result that the heads and families of those orders became the hegemonic Sufi establishment who used Sufism as a power capacity tool of political domination in the Sudan. The Sudanese Islamic/Islamist Movement (SIM), which appeared with a different religious ideology from that of the Sufi establishment, wanted to impose its ideology on the Sudanese masses. As the elites in the Sudan were fractured, allowing the …


Interests, Identity, And The Geopolitical Causes For Military Rule In Egypt., William Lamon Jun 2015

Interests, Identity, And The Geopolitical Causes For Military Rule In Egypt., William Lamon

Theses and Dissertations

"Interests, Identity, and the Geopolitical Causes for Military Rule in Egypt." The thesis is an examination of the geopolitics of Egypt, from the Free Officers revolution in 1952, up to the present. The work analyzes the evolution of Egypt's political and economic infrastructure as subsequent military regimes simultaneously pursued state interests and managed internal discontent associated with regional identities. In the work, "identity" refers to ethnic, tribal, and religious affiliations present within populations throughout the Middle East. A population’s loyalty and identification with an alternative community complicates security dynamics in the region, as they undermine the legitimacy of governments and …


Russian Foreign Policy: What Drives Russia's Support For The Al-Assad Regime?, Mary Levocz Jun 2015

Russian Foreign Policy: What Drives Russia's Support For The Al-Assad Regime?, Mary Levocz

Theses and Dissertations

The current crisis in Syria has left the international community divided on solutions regarding the ongoing civil war that has escalated far beyond protests calling for the removal of the al-Assad regime. The events unfolding in Syria have divided the international community into groups that staunchly oppose the al-Assad regime, such as the United States, the European Union, and other countries in the region, such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, and those that oppose any pressure to the regime, such as Russia, China, and Iran. The primary purpose of this thesis is to determine why Russia would support such …


The Limbs Factory: Circuits Of Fear And Hope And The Political Imagination On The Western Sahara, Kenza Yousfi Jun 2015

The Limbs Factory: Circuits Of Fear And Hope And The Political Imagination On The Western Sahara, Kenza Yousfi

Theses and Dissertations

The wall, as a practice and an imagination, involves an engagement with modes of producing fear in the contemporary moment. This research explores the relationships between the walling imagination in the weaponized field of the Moroccan-built wall in the Western Sahara and the political in its making of the present. The question I explore ethnographically is: What are the ways in which the political is perpetually enacted vis-à-vis the walling imagination? From my ethnographic site—the Saharawi refugee camps—I engage with Saharawi everydayness in navigating violent structural confinements: the wall, the camp, the national liberation master plan, and the performances of …


The Threat Of State Sponsored Cyber Attacks In Canada: To Serve And Protect, Andrew Macdougall Jun 2015

The Threat Of State Sponsored Cyber Attacks In Canada: To Serve And Protect, Andrew Macdougall

Theses and Dissertations

This Masters of Global Affairs project has been constructed for the use as a piece contributing to policy recommendations for the Canadian Federal government on their response to handling state-sponsored cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure (CNI) in Canada. Throughout this project an exploration is undertaken to understand the means of attacks that Canada has faced since the millennium, as well as to see what defense and security measures were of use, and what security measures were under-utilized. By exploring these attacks to Canada’s CNI, clarification on improvements for the federal government on its future state of cyber defense become …


Disorderly And Inhumane: The United States And The Expulsion Of Germans After World War Ii, Bradley J. Brewer May 2015

Disorderly And Inhumane: The United States And The Expulsion Of Germans After World War Ii, Bradley J. Brewer

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the role of the United States in the mass expulsion of Germans from East-Central Europe from spring 1945 through 1947. By agreeing to allow Czechoslovakia and Poland to expel their German minority populations in 1943, and again in 1945 under Article XIII of the Potsdam Agreement, the United States permitted approximately 14 million to 16 million Germans to be forcibly relocated into a truncated, war-torn Germany, an incident that is the largest example of ethnic cleansing in world history. Although these expulsions threatened the postwar stability of Europe and were of great concern they were of marginal …


Pesticide Toxicants And Atherosclerosis; Role Of Oxidative Stress And Dysregulated Lipid Metabolism In Human Monocytes And Macrophages, Lee Christopher Mangum May 2015

Pesticide Toxicants And Atherosclerosis; Role Of Oxidative Stress And Dysregulated Lipid Metabolism In Human Monocytes And Macrophages, Lee Christopher Mangum

Theses and Dissertations

Evidence suggests that pesticide exposure is a risk factor for atherosclerosis, a pathology involving oxidative stress and dysregulated cholesterol metabolism in monocytes and macrophages as vital causative factors. This research focused on understanding two different mechanisms by which organochlorine and organophosphate pesticides may contribute to atherogenesis. First, the ability of organochlorine insecticides to contribute to elevated oxidative stress was investigated. Urinary concentrations of F2-isoprostanes (a systemic oxidative stress biomarker) and serum levels of the persistent organochlorine compounds p,p’-DDE, trans-nonachlor and oxychlordane were quantified in human samples and the association of these factors with diagnosis of atherosclerosis was described in a …


Analysis Of Complex Volatile Organic Compound Mixtures Using Active Spme-Gc-Ms, Lord Famiyeh May 2015

Analysis Of Complex Volatile Organic Compound Mixtures Using Active Spme-Gc-Ms, Lord Famiyeh

Theses and Dissertations

The ultimate goal of this research is to develop an efficient, reproducible and low cost method for analysis of VOCs in complex mixtures such as those in exhaled breath and in headspace of fungi cultures. In Chapter I; analytical methods for volatile biomarkers identification is reviewed In Chapter II, active SPME GCMS was employed to analyze VOCs in the breath of a single healthy male and a single female. The goal was to determine the extent of intra-individual variations in the VOC profiles. In Chapter III, a preliminary study was carried out in a greenhouse to determine the pathogenicity of …


Development And Analysis Of A Computational Model For Blast Effects On The Human Lower Extremity, Robbin Elizabeth Bertucci May 2015

Development And Analysis Of A Computational Model For Blast Effects On The Human Lower Extremity, Robbin Elizabeth Bertucci

Theses and Dissertations

Explosives have become increasingly common on the battlefield worldwide. Military personnel and civilians often experience blast loading to the lower extremity due to its direct contact with the ground and floor of vehicles. The pressure and axial loading from these incidents often lead to detrimental injuries. These injuries can be due to a number of mechanisms terming them primary, secondary, tertiary, or quaternary blast injuries. Of these injuries, this study will focus on primary and tertiary injuries, specifically bone fractures, compartment syndrome, and soft tissue disruption which often result from blast loading due to these mechanisms. However, the pressure and …


Count The Rings, Kayla Pearce May 2015

Count The Rings, Kayla Pearce

Theses and Dissertations

Though Sandra Beasley is not generally considered a feminist poet, many of her poems in I Was the Jukebox contain feminist undertones. This critical introduction takes into consideration the implications of these feminist undertones and examines Beasley’s cultural critique of masculinity, violence, and how the two are occasionally interchangeable. Because Beasley uses mythic personae to make these cultural critiques, her poems often work to subvert literary norms and patriarchal narratives. Similar to the way Beasley interrogates masculinity, I use a feminist perspective to interrogate both masculinity as perceived from my own lived experiences as well as my heritage as a …


U.S. Airspace Integration: Perspectives Of The Faa Uas Test Site Program, Marian Laura Courtney May 2015

U.S. Airspace Integration: Perspectives Of The Faa Uas Test Site Program, Marian Laura Courtney

Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to integrate unmanned aircraft into the national airspace system, congress mandated action by the Federal Aviation Administration under the Federal Aviation Administration Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. It required the formation of six test sites that would conduct unmanned aircraft operations in an effort to assist the FAA in its task to form safety regulations regarding unmanned aircraft. The FAA has been heavily criticized for its slow movement and inability to meet deadlines. The purpose of this study is to gather perceptions of the FAA’s unmanned aircraft systems test site program. Using a qualitative approach, interviews …


Polyethylene Glycol Diacrylate (Pegda) Resin Development For 3d-Printed Microfluidic Devices, Kamran Qaderi May 2015

Polyethylene Glycol Diacrylate (Pegda) Resin Development For 3d-Printed Microfluidic Devices, Kamran Qaderi

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, the successful fabrication of 3D-printed microfluidic devices will be discussed. Fabrication is performed with a low-cost commercially available stereolithographic 3D printer utilizing a custom PEGDA resin formulation tailored for low non-specific protein adsorption based on my colleagues' work [Rogers et al., Anal. Chem. 83, 6418 (2011)]. Horizontal microfluidic channels with designed rectangular cross sectional dimensions as small as 300 um wide and 150 um tall are printed with 100% yield, as are cylindrical vertical microfluidic channels with 300 um designed (334 um actual) diameters. Moreover, two different resins developed by our group are utilized in the process …


An Application Of Social Network Analysis On Military Strategy, System Networks And The Phases Of War, Thomas S. Furman Mar 2015

An Application Of Social Network Analysis On Military Strategy, System Networks And The Phases Of War, Thomas S. Furman

Theses and Dissertations

The research developed in this study will utilize Social Network and Graph Theory terminology and methodology applied to groups of systems, rather than individuals within a given system, in order to shape strategic level goals. With regard to military operations, Social Network Analysis has been used to show that enemy networks and relationships can be accurately represented using weighted layers with weighted relationships in order to identify the key player(s) that must be influenced and/or removed so that a particular effect on the enemy might be realized. Social Network Analysis is therefore a significant tool concerning tactical level of operations …


Modeling Attitude Variance In Small Unmanned Aerial Systems For Acoustic Signature Simplification Using Experimental Design In A Hardware-In-The-Loop Simulation, Mitchell N. Gillespie Mar 2015

Modeling Attitude Variance In Small Unmanned Aerial Systems For Acoustic Signature Simplification Using Experimental Design In A Hardware-In-The-Loop Simulation, Mitchell N. Gillespie

Theses and Dissertations

The role and use of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) by the Department of Defense has been on the rise over the past decade. The majority of these systems are being utilized in environments where the UAS's acoustic stealth is frequently of greater importance than radio frequency or visual stealth. Additionally, missions involving these types of systems tend to involve dynamic mission planning requirements rather than preplanned routing. Therefore, an acoustic model capable of providing real-time probability of detection information is desired. However, with present-day technology and existing acoustic models, real-time calculation of the complete acoustic signature for a small UAS …


Cascading Effects Of Fuel Network Interdiction, Jeffrey T. Painter Mar 2015

Cascading Effects Of Fuel Network Interdiction, Jeffrey T. Painter

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis develops the Fuel Interdiction and Resulting Cascading Effects (FI&RCE) model. The study details the development and experimental testing of a framework for assessing the interdiction of a refined petroleum production and distribution network. FI&RCE uses a maximum flow mathematical programming formulation that models the transit of fuels from points of importation and refinement through a polyduct distribution network for delivery across a range of end user locations. The automated model accommodates networks of varying size and complexity. FI&RCE allows for parameters and factor settings that enable robust experimentation through implementation in MATLAB 2014 and the commercial solver CPLEX …


Hyperspectral Imagery For Large Area Survey Of Organophosphate Pesticides, Daniel R. Baseley Mar 2015

Hyperspectral Imagery For Large Area Survey Of Organophosphate Pesticides, Daniel R. Baseley

Theses and Dissertations

Current detection of organophosphate pesticides in residential settings involves taking swipe samples at locations of potential contamination and conducting lab analysis. This method provides results that are applicable only to the points where samples were taken. A standoff detection method utilizing hyperspectral imaging would allow for analysis of a larger area without the need for lab analysis. This report demonstrates a proof of concept experiment that shows the applicability of hyperspectral imaging for the detection of organophosphates. The differences in detection on reflective and non-reflective surfaces are also explored. To the author s knowledge, this research is the first to …


Functionality, Complexity, And Approaches To Assessment Of Resilience Under Constrained Energy And Information, Jason B. Clark Mar 2015

Functionality, Complexity, And Approaches To Assessment Of Resilience Under Constrained Energy And Information, Jason B. Clark

Theses and Dissertations

While system functions, functionality, and complexity are widely used concepts in systems engineering, there is significant diversity in their definitions and no unified approach to measurement. This research establishes a method for measuring impacts to functionality in dynamic engineered systems based on changes in kinetic energy. This metric is applied at particular levels of abstraction and system scales, consistent with the established multiscale nature of systems. By measuring system behavior in context with expected scenarios, it is possible to estimate expected functionality or set bounds on a system's maximum functionality. Functionality and system effectiveness is heavily influenced by the amount …


Detection And Characterization Of Malathion Adherence To Piping Materials Used In Water Distribution Systems, William D. Flemings Mar 2015

Detection And Characterization Of Malathion Adherence To Piping Materials Used In Water Distribution Systems, William D. Flemings

Theses and Dissertations

Protection of the public water supply is a national security priority, and as such, it is important to better understand the fate of a chemical weapons agent injection into a public water distribution system. This study investigated the adherence of malathion to pipe materials that are used in public water distribution systems, with malathion serving as a chemical representative of the organophosphorus nerve agent VX. Copper and iron specimen were exposed to malathion solutions for periods of 4, 8, and 24 hours and then tested for evidence of chemical adherence to the metal surfaces. Nonlinear desiccation profiles revealed total mass …


Implementing Cooperative Behavior & Control Using Open Source Technology Across Heterogeneous Vehicles, Stefan L. Hardy Mar 2015

Implementing Cooperative Behavior & Control Using Open Source Technology Across Heterogeneous Vehicles, Stefan L. Hardy

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the research effort into implementing cooperative behavior and control across heterogeneous vehicles using low cost off-the-shelf technologies and open source software. Current cooperative behavior and control methods are explored and improved upon to build analysis models. These analysis models characterize ideal factor settings for implementation and establish limits of performance for these low cost approaches to cooperative behavior and control. The research focused on latency and position accuracy as the two measures of performance. Three different ground control station (GCS) software applications and two types of vehicles, rover ground vehicles and aerial multi-rotors, were used in this …


The Fate Of Malathion On Copper And Iron Piping Within A Water Distribution System, Walter R. Lee Mar 2015

The Fate Of Malathion On Copper And Iron Piping Within A Water Distribution System, Walter R. Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Thermogravimetry, the study of mass loss as a function of temperature, has been used for oxidation, decomposition, and solid-state studies. This research used a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) coupled with Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy in the study of copper and iron specimens exposed to malathion. Exposure to the malathion solution created a visible silver coating on copper and graphite-flake particles on iron specimens. Thermogravimetric mass loss curves revealed linear and nonlinear decomposition stages associated with mass loss reactions. Copper specimens exposed to malathion exhibited lower activation energy (Ea) values (2.28 to 4.40 kJ mol-1) than for copper specimens exposed to …


The Effect Of Malathion On The Activity And Performance Of Activated Sludge, Erik G. Rauglas Mar 2015

The Effect Of Malathion On The Activity And Performance Of Activated Sludge, Erik G. Rauglas

Theses and Dissertations

Decontamination activities following a chemical weapons incident may generate significant quantities of contaminated wash water that may enter the wastewater collection system either intentionally or accidentally. This raises concerns about the effect of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) on the operation of a biological wastewater treatment plant. The goal of the study was to evaluate the effect of malathion on the activity and performance of activated sludge. Malathion is an organophosphate (OP) and is considered an environmental surrogate for VX. This study employed respirometry, short term batch tests, and long term exposure experiments to investigate the effects of different concentrations of …


Optimized Flight Path For Localization Using Line Of Bearing, Namkyu Kim Mar 2015

Optimized Flight Path For Localization Using Line Of Bearing, Namkyu Kim

Theses and Dissertations

This research develops optimized flight paths for localization of a target using LOB measurements. The target area is expressed as an error ellipse using the measurement errors of the LOBs. The optimization approach is focused on minimizing the size of the error ellipse. The algorithm for the optimized path is generated and compared with typical flight paths. The optimization routine is based on the results revised from previous similar research in the literature. A geometrical method to estimate the error ellipse is combined with optimal control in this research. Each LOB gives a possible target area and this target area …


Tactical Ai In Real Time Strategy Games, Donald A. Gruber Mar 2015

Tactical Ai In Real Time Strategy Games, Donald A. Gruber

Theses and Dissertations

The real time strategy (RTS) tactical decision making problem is a difficult problem. It is generally more complex due to its high degree of time sensitivity. This research effort presents a novel approach to this problem within an educational, teaching objective. Particular decision focus is target selection for a artificial intelligence (AI) RTS game model. The use of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) in this tactical decision making problem allows an AI agent to make fast, effective solutions that do not require modification to the current environment. This approach allows for the creation of a generic solution building tool that is …


Examining The Return On Investment Of Test And Evaluation, Nathan C. Smith Mar 2015

Examining The Return On Investment Of Test And Evaluation, Nathan C. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This research examined the return on investment of Department of Defense test and evaluation. The thesis analyzed the return on investment of the cost avoidance achieved if an issue discovered late in the program had been discovered and corrected during developmental test and evaluation. The methodology utilized two case study examples from the Joint Primary Training Aircraft System to calculate the potential cost avoidance and the potential return on investment if the program had discovered and corrected the issues during developmental test and evaluation. The result of one case was a 9,260% return on investment. The other case results ranged …