Digital Commons Network^™

Characterizing And Optimizing The Performance Of The Maestro 49-Core Processor, Eric W. Mote

Theses and Dissertations

As space-based imagery-intelligence systems become increasingly complex, processing units are needed that can process the extra data these systems seek to collect. However, the space environment presents a number of threats, such as ambient or malicious radiation, that can damage and otherwise interfere with electronic systems. There is a need, then, for processors that can tolerate radiation-induced faults, and that also have sufficient computational power to handle the large flow of data they encounter. This research investigates one potential solution: a multi-core processor that is radiation-hardened and designed to provide highly parallelized MIMD execution of applicable workloads. A variety of …

A Methodology For Measuring Resilience In A Satellite-Based Communication Network, Jonathan S. Turner

Theses and Dissertations

According to Presidential Policy Directive 21, increasing resilience of critical infrastructures is not only desired, but United States policy. Communications infrastructures are one such critical infrastructure. The purpose of this research is to develop a methodology for measuring resilience in satellite communication systems for use as a key criterion in the selection and acquisition of new satellite architectures, in accordance with the National Security Space Strategy. The base methodology utilized in this thesis is Extreme Event Modeling implemented through the use of Bi-Level Programming with monotonically nonlinear continuous and mixed integer variables. This model differs from previous efforts applied to …

A Recommender System In The Cyber Defense Domain, Katherine B. Lyons

Theses and Dissertations

In the cyber domain, network defenders have traditionally been placed in a reactionary role. Before a defender can act they must wait for an attack to occur and identify the attack. This places the defender at a disadvantage in a cyber attack situation and it is certainly desirable that the defender out maneuver the attacker before the network has been compromised. The goal of this research is to determine the value of employing a recommender system as an attack predictor, and determine the best configuration of a recommender system for the cyber defense domain. The most important contribution of this …

Empirical Analysis Of Human Capital, Learning Culture, And Knowledge Management As Antecedents To Organizational Performance: Theoretical And Practical Implications For Logistics Readiness Officer Force Development, Matt J. Cherry

Theses and Dissertations

The ubiquitous nature of economic uncertainty that has plagued the Department of Defense has necessitated the relentless pursuit of cost savings and efficiency improvements. Under the auspices of force development, drawing on resource-based theory, this research analyzed the impact of Logistics Readiness Officer (LRO) human capital, learning culture, and knowledge management on organizational performance as a means to increase competitive advantage. Survey methodology was utilized to garner data with both theoretical and practical implications on LRO force development practices. Solicitation of information regarding LRO competencies, the utility of logistics courses, and the latent construct was conducted via a web-based self-reporting …

Towards Reengineering The United States Department Of Defense: A Financial Case For A Functionally-Aligned, Unified Military Structure, Luke R. Stover

Theses and Dissertations

This research examined the potential financial and non-financial benefits of working towards reengineering the Department of Defense (DoD) through the adaptation of a functionally-aligned, unified organizational structure. Based on historical analysis of the DoD's current structure, a proposed DoD structure is presented that aligns operational functions under functional corps and support functions under existing defense-wide agencies and field activities. An analysis of overlapping functionality between services provided the basis for quantitative analysis of size-of-force and budget request data for Fiscal Year 2013 (FY2013). This analysis enabled the comparison of operational efficiency between services. These rates were used to benchmark operational …

Gas Phase Organophosphate Detection Using Enzymes Encapsulated Within Peptide Nanotubes, Christopher W. Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

Previous work to develop biosensors that can be used to detect organophosphorus compounds (OPCs) has successfully demonstrated the potential application of enzymes encapsulated in peptide-nanotubes (PNTs) enhanced with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) to detect the presence of OPCs in the aqueous and gas phases. In this research, a standardized test method that was applied to evaluate a biosensor fabricated with a single-use electrode, was refined to accommodate a reusable screen printed electrode. Also in this study, butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzyme was used in lieu of the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme applied in earlier studies in an effort to enhance biosensor performance. Biosensor operation …

United States Women Marines’ Experiences And Perspectives About Coping With Service Life: A Phenomenological Study, Beth-Ann Vealey

Theses and Dissertations

Women are expanding their numbers and roles in the United States military. This new generation of military women is exposed to unique factors related to their gender that contribute to challenges for psychosocial well-being and optimal performance. In support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), researchers have identified unique factors for military women, including increased combat exposure, continued military sexual trauma and harassment, and conflicting dual roles. These factors may create obstacles that inhibit help-seeking behaviors and support for military women, and remain an under-researched topic of study. Gender-specific research on military women is limited; current …

Band Gap Transition Studies Of U:Tho2 Using Cathodoluminescence, Joshua D. Reding

Theses and Dissertations

The Department of Defense has expressed interest in thorium dioxide (ThO₂) and uranium dioxide (UO₂) as possible candidates for use as special nuclear material in designing neutron detectors. Both materials have large neutron interaction cross sections. Uranium dioxide is particularly attractive due to its semiconducting properties and a relatively small band gap of 2 eV. Both materials fluoresce under ionizing radiation making them candidates for scintillating detectors. Three U_x:Th_1-xO₂ (x= 0.00, 0.01, 0.22) hydrothermally grown single crystals were examined using cathodoluminescence to interrogate the changing electronic properties of ThO₂ as …

The Unlawful Combatant: Humanitarian Law's Other, Hussein Salama

Theses and Dissertations

The war on terror triggered a debate over the treatment of members of Al Qaeda captured by US forces. The central point of the paper is that this debate is merely the most recent iteration of a dialectic constitutive of international humanitarian law. Non-state combatants in warfare have always been the object of conflicting desires. The history of international humanitarian law could be seen as the history of different attempts to engage (by excluding or including) with an other, outside the combatant/civilian distinction. The Paper focuses on two contrasting approaches to engaging with this other, namely, the inclusive approach of …

An Analysis Of The Strategic, Operational, And Organizational Differences Between The Islamic State And Al-Qa'ida, Jacob Greene

Theses and Dissertations

This project provides a comprehensive examination of the strategic, operational and organizational character of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Sham (ISIS). The purpose of the project is two fold: first, to challenge the perception that ISIS and al-Qā’ida are fundamentally “one and the same;” and, second, to offer policy makers a systematic and detailed description of ISIS on its own merits. Drawing on variables pertaining to three dimensions—strategy, operations, and organizational characteristics—and informed by both primary sources and secondary analyses, I investigate the qualitative differences between the two organizations. I find that, despite some similarities, ISIS and al-Qā’ida …

Competing Models Of The Modern Islamic State: Wahhabi Vs. Muslim Brotherhood Ideologies, Mohammad Affan

Theses and Dissertations

n the aftermath of the Arab Spring, with the success of the Political Islam movements to seize power in some countries, such as Egypt and Tunisia, the problematic of the Islamic state was raised and ignited serious conflict between Islamists and seculars. Nevertheless, another hidden conflict seems to begin simultaneously in the camp of the Islamists itself between the Wahhabism and the Muslim Brotherhood, the two major Sunni Islamic movements. Each of them calls for a different model of the Islamic state. The Wahhabi ideology adopts a traditional state model, based on traditional legitimacy, centralized hierarchical power, and patriarchal form …

The White Women's Experience In Arkansas During The American Civil War, Ellen M. Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

When war came to Arkansas there were few, if any, troops left in the state. As a result the women were left to defend themselves. While economics and geographic location were responsible for the culture of the women, it was the individual fortitude that made survivors of the female population. Arkansas was very diversified and so were the women. When Union soldiers occupied the state they interacted with the women in many different ways, from pleasant social activities to barbaric terrorism. When Confederates occupied regions of the state, they also met a variety of women and had just as varied …

'Whence This Evil?' A Critical Assessment Of (Anti)Theodicy And Innocent Suffering In Lamentations 3, Mark P. Stone

Theses and Dissertations

Recent scholarship on Lamentations has focused on the voice of Daughter Zion in chapters 1-2. Arguing that the frank protests constitute an antitheodicy, interpreters have placed these poems in opposition to the voice of the man in Lam 3, specifically 3:21-42. This Wisdom-like, paraenetic section is seen to put forth a theodicy, counseling penitent acceptance of God's righteous judgment. The present study argues instead that, when incorporated into the rhetorical movement of Lam 3 as a whole, 3:21-42 instead constitutes an antitheodicy consonant with Lam 1-2. It is proposed that Lamentations manipulates the expected theodicy solution until it has been …

Examining The Role Of Unit Cohesion As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Warfare Exposure And Ptsd, Shaina Gulin

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of warfare exposure and unit cohesion on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology among male and female National Guard and Reserve service members deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. National Guard and Reserve soldiers and female service members have been shown to be at greatest risk of psychological distress, and thus identification of resiliency factors among this population is worthy of further study. An emerging body of research has identified unit cohesion as a potentially modifiable protective factor against the deleterious effects of warfare exposure; however, such research is in its …

Bluefield, Jennifer Sharain Bartell

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses poetry to explore the history of my childhood neighborhood Bluefield, which lies outside of the city of Johnsonville. Several factors have gone into the writing of this manuscript: interviewing elders of the neighborhood; researching land deeds; conducting water and soil samples to explore the possibility of environmental causes of high cancer rates; and exploring my individual grief and the collective grief of an aging and dying community. Bluefield is a community that is Southern, predominately Black, and low income; the voices of its residences, along with my poetic voice, pervade the manuscript, which includes elegies for the …

Advances In The Electrodeposition Of Aluminum From Ionic Liquid Based Electrolytes, Kirt Leadbetter

Theses and Dissertations

Aluminum plating is of considerable technical and economic interest because it provides an eco-friendly substitute for cadmium coatings used on many military systems. However, cadmium has been determined to be a significant environmental safety and occupational health (ESOH) hazard because of its toxicity and carcinogenic nature. Furthermore, the cost of treating and disposing of generated wastes, which often contain cyanide, is costly and is becoming prohibitive in the face of increasingly stringent regulatory standards. The non-toxic alternative aluminum is equivalent or superior in performance to cadmium. In addition, it could serve to provide an alternative to hexavalent chromium coatings used …

The Triumphs Of Alexander Farnese: A Contextual Analysis Of The Series Of Paintings In Santiago, Chile, Michael J. Panbehchi

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines a series of nine paintings depicting the battles of Alexander Farnese in Flanders created by the Cuzco School of Painters in eighteenth-century Peru. This research asks why and how paintings depicting sixteenth-century European battles were meaningful in the eighteenth century. Due to an absence of archival documentation on the authorship, production and patronage of the series, the research method is contextual. Starting with a formal and iconographic analysis of the paintings centered on a comparison between the paintings and the engravings upon which they are based, differences in the use of space and the conspicuousness of individual …

Experimental Development Of Advanced Air Filtration Media Based On Electrospun Polymer Fibers, Negar Ghochaghi

Theses and Dissertations

Electrospinning is a process by which polymer fibers can be produced using an electrostatically driven fluid jet. Electrospun fibers can be produced at the micro- or nano-scale and are, therefore, very promising for air filtration applications. However, because electrospun fibers are electrically charged, it is difficult to control the morphology of filtration media. Fiber size, alignment and uniformity are very important factors that affect filter performance. The focus of this project is to understand the relationship between filter morphology and performance and to develop new methods to create filtration media with optimum morphology.

This study is divided into three focus …

Why Female Suicide Bombers? A Closer Look At The Liberation Tigers Of Tamil Eelam And Chechen Separatists, Latisha T. Campbell

Theses and Dissertations

The central hypothesis of this study is that terrorist organizations choose to use females as suicide bombers not only as tactical innovation but also to “signal” or send a message to various audiences. In order to meet the research objectives of this study, two terrorist organizations—the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Chechen Separatists or those individuals associated with the Chechen Resistance—are examined in detail from their inception through 2013 using a structured focused comparison methodology.

Evidence is found to support both of the studies’ main hypotheses. First, female suicide bombers are used by terrorist organizations because they are …

The Role Of Microrna In Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B-Induced Inflammation And Acute Lung Injury, Roshni Rao

Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) is a potent activator of the Vβ8+T-cells leading to the proliferation of nearly 30% of the T-cell pool. As a consequence, excessive amounts of cytokine mediators are released leading to extensive tissue damage and sometimes toxic shock and death. Due to the ease with which SEB can be aerosolized anddisseminated, it is considered a biological weapon. In the current study, we investigated the pro-inflammatory effects of SEB in two mouse models of acute inflammatory lung injury. Specifically, while inflammatory cues are known to elicit changes in key transcriptional factors and gene expression, we explored for the …

Playing At History: Resurrection Man And Historiographic Game Design, Jessica Ethel Tompkins

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates historical representation in video games and argues that two types dominate: 1) a semantic approach that engages players with the past via visual expressions; and 2) a cause and effect simulation approach that positions players in the context of historically situated possibilities. However, The author posits that the expressive power of video game worlds and mechanics afford deeper potentials for historical engagements. The author pursues a game design approach that takes seriously representations of the past and player inquiry at the forefront of the experience.

The historically contextualized video game is frequently discussed in the context of …

The Contribution Of Status Lineages In The Rise Of The State: A New Theory Of State Formation, Yamilette Chacon

Theses and Dissertations

In social theory, ancient societies are frequently seen as `traditional' in the sense of being static. If static, there is a problem for theory for we know that, over time, societies have evolved to become more complex. This dissertation proposes a dynamic model for the social structure of the chiefdom based in a synthesis of anthropological and experimentally grounded sociological theory. Its purpose is to explain 1) why the chiefdom is an effective social structure in that it promotes collective action and 2) why the chiefdom becomes increasingly unstable over time. Because of that instability, the chiefdom may stand at …

The Delage-Sumter Family In The Nineteenth Century Atlantic World, Mitchell Oxford

Theses and Dissertations

Thomas Sumter Jr. (1768-1840) and Natalie Delage's (1782-1841) marriage in 1802 joined prominent families from the United States and France. Although both families enjoyed an elite status in their societies, they had sharply divergent political ideologies and commitments in a revolutionary era shaped by ideological conflict. The South Carolinian Sumter family was as steadfastly republican as the French de Lage family was royalist. Despite holding to these dichotomous ideologies, this emergent Atlantic family pursued vigorous transatlantic and transnational strategies in the effort to uphold their status, and ensure the financial and social stability of future generations. This essay examines these …

Rhetorical Ripples: The Church Of The Subgenius, Kenneth Burke & Comic, Symbolic Tinkering, Lee A. Carleton

Theses and Dissertations

Humor has long been an effective way to engage difficult sociopolitical topics in a way that avoids polemical confrontation and provides opportunity for pleasure, catharsis and self-knowledge. In the context of today’s polarized politics and protest, creative satirical performance that deploys “symbolic tinkering” can provide a “comic frame of reference” that, according to Kenneth Burke, more effectively conveys its message while providing reflexive insight. The satirical Church of the SubGenius naturally practices this rhetorical frame in their multimedia creations. Using the lens of Burke’s Attitudes Toward History, this essay is an analysis of SubGenius rhetoric with a focus on …

Liquid Core Waveguide Sensors With Single And Multi-Spot Excitation, Lynnell Uilani Wai Yee Zempoaltecatl

Theses and Dissertations

Using silicon based microfabrication and materials, a photonic platform, capable of single bioparticle analysis, has been developed. This platform combines liquid and hollow core waveguides on the micron-scale (5 µm x 12 µm) to isolate femtoliter sized sample volumes. Fluorescence excitation and signals in the visible range are directed into and out of the sample volume at an orthogonal angle to maximize signal-to-noise. In order to guide light in a low-index material antiresonant reflecting optical waveguides (ARROWs) were incorporated into the platform. This thesis reveals the development path of these structures over several device generations including innovations in material, geometries, …

Fundamental Experimental Studies In Scaling, Blast Mitigation And Material Processing, Xing Zhao

Theses and Dissertations

In this work, two separate research efforts are discussed. They include experimental studies in (1) Scaling and Blast Mitigation and (2) Scaling in Friction Stir Extrusion. In both studies, the primary experimental measurement method is three-dimensional digital image correlation (3D-DIC), a non-contacting full-field measurement method that is applicable for both high-rate loading and quasi-static loading conditions.

Scaling and Blast Mitigation Studies:

A series of properly scaled structures was subjected to buried blast loading conditions via detonation of a small explosive buried in saturated sand. Using high speed stereo-vision systems to record the deformations of selected regions on the upper surface …

Characterization Of A Test Stand For Evaluating Performance And Qualifying Metal Media Filters Under Asme Ag-1, John Andrew Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

The Institute of Clean Energy Technology (ICET) at Mississippi State University was awarded a contract by the DOE to design, fabricate, assemble, and characterize a research grade test stand to assist in the development of ASME AG-1 Section FI Metal Media Filters. The major barriers to completing the code section is development of a test stand for collecting data necessary to specify performance requirements for use and for filter qualification. Currently there is not a test stand capable of performing this testing. Performance criteria for the FI test stand were developed by the Section FI project team and ICET. These …

Dead Virginians: The Corpse And Its Uses In Early Virginia, David Roettger

Theses and Dissertations

The thesis traces the history of colonial Virginia in an attempt to uncover the origins of several peculiarities in Virginia death-ways. Elite Virginians buried at home more often than not (where they could protect the dead from animal desecration), while avoided death’s heads, reapers, and bone based tomb and mourning jewelry iconography even though such was popular throughout the British Atlantic. Research done for this thesis reveals a fear on the part of elite Virginias regarding questions of both corpse desecration and natural putrefaction. The cause of this cultural obsession lie in two facts: The blackening of the early colony’s …

Aerodynamic Performance And Particle Image Velocimetery Of Piezo Actuated Biomimetic Manduca Sexta Engineered Wings Towards The Design And Application Of A Flapping Wing Flight Vehicle, Anthony M. Deluca

Theses and Dissertations

Considerable research and investigation has been conducted on the aerodynamic performance, and the predominate flow physics of the Manduca sexta size of biomimetically designed and fabricated wings as part of the AFIT FWMAV design project. Despite a burgeoning interest and research into the diverse field of flapping wing flight and biomimicry, the aerodynamics of flapping wing flight remains a nebulous field of science with considerable variance into the theoretical abstractions surrounding aerodynamic mechanisms responsible for aerial performance. Traditional FWMAV flight models assume a form of a quasi-steady approximation of wing aerodynamics based on an infinite wing element model (BEM). An …

Trajectory Generation And Optimization For Experimental Investigation Of Flapping Flight, Michael Schnebly Wilcox

Theses and Dissertations

Though still in relative infancy, the field of flapping flight has potential to have a far-reaching impact on human life. Nature presents a myriad of examples of successful uses of this locomotion. Human efforts in flapping flight have seen substantial improvement in recent times. Wing kinematics are a key aspect of this study. This study summarizes previous wing trajectory generators and presents a new trajectory generation method built upon previous methods. This includes a novel means of commanding unequal half-stroke durations subject to robotic trajectory continuity requirements. Additionally, previous optimization methods are improved upon. Experimental optimization is performed using the …