Digital Commons Network^™

High-Order Object Model Based Software Analysis, Xiaoqing Frank Liu, Hungwen Lin

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

The integration of object oriented modeling and structured analysis (SA) for developing a well structured object oriented software system is a challenge for requirements analysts and software designers. Some of the existing object oriented modeling techniques adopt approaches that are very different from SA, and others have clumsily stayed with SA after a few modifications. Our High Order Object Modeling Technique (HOOMT) however, attempts to strike a mean between both extremes while at the same time provides an effective modeling method. HOOMT consists of two models, the High Order Object Model and the Object Information Flow Model. By using the …

Rmesh Algorithms For Parallel String Matching, Hsi-Chieh Lee, Fikret Erçal

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

String matching problem received much attention over the years due to its importance in various applications such as text/file comparison, DNA sequencing, search engines, and spelling correction. Especially with the introduction of search engines dealing with tremendous amount of textual information presented on the world wide web and the research on DNA sequencing, this problem deserves special attention and any algorithmic or hardware improvements to speed up the process will benefit these important applications. In this paper, we present three algorithms for string matching on reconfigurable mesh architectures. Given a text T of length n and a pattern P of …

Timestamp-Based Approach For The Detection And Resolution Of Mutual Conflicts In Distributed Systems, Sanjay Kumar Madria

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present a timestamp based algorithm for the detection of both write-write and read-write conflicts for a single file in distributed systems during network partitions. Our algorithm allows operations to occur in different network partitions simultaneously. When the sites from different partitions merge, the algorithm detects and resolves both read-write and write-write conflicts without taking into account the semantics of the transactions. Once the conflicts have been detected some reconciliation steps for the resolution of conflicts have also been proposed. Our algorithm will be useful in real-time systems where timeliness of operations is more important than response time (delayed commit)

Scaling Parallels In The Non-Debye Dielectric Relaxation Of Ionic Glasses And Dipolar Supercooled Liquids, David L. Sidebottom, Peter F. Green, Richard K. Brow

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We compare the dielectric response of ionic glasses and dipolar liquids near the glass transition. Our work is divided into two parts. In the first section we examine ionic glasses and the two prominent approaches to analyzing the dielectric response. The conductivity of ion-conducting glasses displays a power law dispersion σ(ω)∞ωn, where n≈0.67, but frequently the dielectric response is analyzed using the electrical modulus M*(ω) = 1/ε*(ω), where ε*(ω) = ε(ω) - iσ(ω)/ω is the complex permittivity. We reexamine two specific examples where the shape of M*(ω) changes in response to changes in (a) temperature and (b) ion concentration, to …

A 50 Kilowatt Distributed Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Generation System For The University Of Wyoming, Badrul H. Chowdhury, S. Muknahallipatna, T. Dinwoodie, D. Shugar, J. J. Cupal, J. C. Hamann

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The University of Wyoming (UW) campus (USA) is serving as the site for a 50 kilowatt solar photovoltaic (PV) power system. Three sub-systems were sited and built on the UW campus in 1996. The first sub-system, a 10 kW roof-integrated system of PV roof tiles is located on the roof of the Engineering Building. The second sub-system-a 5 kW rack-mounted, ballasted PV system is on a walkway roof of the Engineering building. The third sub-system is a 35 kW shade structure system and is located adjacent to the parking lot of the University's football stadium. The three sub-systems differ in …

An Efficient Algorithm For Direct Computation Of Adjacent Block Coefficients In The Transformed Domain, Chaman Sabharwal, Brian Quandt

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

The current research in many areas of image processing involves operations performed in the compressed domain [Smith and Rowe 1993, Chang 93]. Compressed domain may be DCT, Wavelet, JPEG or MPEG etc. The algorithms for .these transformations may be used for information filtering such as feature extraction and edge detection. The image transformations such as compositing, occluding, and scaling may also be performed in the compressed domain. It is desirable to perform these operations on compressed data directly because the smaller size of data involves less computational complexity. The computation in the compressed domain eliminates the overhead of decoding the …

A Hypermedia Database To Manage World-Wide-Web Documents, Schubert Shou Boon Foo, Ee Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The surge of interest in the World-Wide-Web (WWW) with its potential commercial payoff has resulted in an explosion of information as organisations join in to publish and do business on the Internet. A related development, Intranet, which basically uses the same technology to build private corporate WWW-based networks, has emerged to provide cost-effective and efficient groupware and information management solutions for organisations. As a result, the Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), used for constructing WWW documents, has become a contender for authoring future office documents. With this scenario, this study examines WWW practices and highlights the inadequacy and drawbacks of …

Low-Degree Graph Partitioning Via Local Search With Applications To Constraint Satisfaction, Max Cut, And Coloring, Magnus M. Halldorsson, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We present practical algorithms for constructing partitions of graphs into a fixed number of vertex-disjoint subgraphs that satisfy particular degree constraints. We use this in particular to find k-cuts of graphs of maximum degree ∆ that cut at least a k - 1/k (1 + 1/2∆+k-1 ) fraction of the edges, improving previous bounds known. The partitions also apply to constraint networks, for which we give a tight analysis of natural local search heuristics for the maximum constraint satisfaction problem. These partitions also imply efficient approximations for several problems on weighted bounded-degree graphs. In particular, we improve the best performance …

The Arts Show Audience: Cultural Confidence And Middlebrow Arts Consumption, Brian O'Neill

Articles

The arts constitute a form of cultural consumption that has been relatively neglected in recent academic discourse in comparison to the burgeoning literature of cultural studies dedicated to popular and mass media forms of culture. This emphasis within cultural studies on popular genres over traditional forms of art, what has been labelled its ‘cultural populism’ (Mc Guigan, 1992), systematically emphasises common, ordinary taste and resistant aesthetic strategies while denigrating ‘high culture’ as an elitist, middle class leisure pursuit that has little relevance to most people (Willis, 1990). Going against this populist tide, this chapter argues that an examination of popular …

Winning The Accreditation Game: The Library As Key Player And Hidden Gold Mine, Antje Mays

Dacus Library Faculty Publications

Libraries are a central hub of information resources supporting college and university curricula. Several library strategies, cross-campus collaborations, and philosophical considerations of electronic and print offerings led to successful accreditations in business and engineering programs.

Breast Cancer, The Genetic "Quickfix," And The Jewish Community: Ethical, Legal, And Social Challenges, Karen H. Rothenberg

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Tactile Sensation Mediated By The Infraorbital Branch Of The Trigeminal Nerve (V) On Sexual Behaviour Of Male And Female Rats, Vlastimil Malinek

School of Psychology Theses

This thesis examines Beach's hypothesis that the sexual behaviour of male rats is under multisensory control and is resistant to the loss of tactile information from the vibrissae. The loss of perioral sensation was found to profoundly disrupt sexual behaviour in sexually inexperienced males tested with females showing five ascending levels of precopulatory behaviour. Males did not copulate with females displaying presenting, presenting and hopping, hopping and darting levels of proceptive behaviour. However, males paired with darting females displaying the highest level level of proceptive behaviour did copulate in the presence of perioral anapsis caused by intramystacial injection of lidocaine. …

Cognitive Appraisals In Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder & Other Anxiety Disorders, Jackie Maccallam

School of Psychology Theses

This research applied ideas from the cognition-emotion literature to some of the theories in the OCD literature, and in so doing took'Va multi-dimensional approach to the understanding of OCD. The aim of the study was to explore the nature of 'emotionalcognitive profiles'^ of people with OCD,. and to compare these 'profiles' with those of people with other anxiety disorders and people from a non-clinical population.. Participants from the three groups i.e. an OCD group, ah anxiety group and a non-clinical group were asked to rate a number of appraisal dimensions, in response to four vignettes. There were 10 participants in …

Keyboardless Visual Programming Using Voice, Handwriting, And Gesture, Jennifer Leopold, A. Ambler

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Visual programming languages have facilitated the application development process, improving our ability to express programs, as well as our ability to view, edit and interact with them. Yet even in programming environments, productivity is restricted by the primary input sources: the mouse and the keyboard. As an alternative, we investigate a program development interface which responds to the most natural human communication technologies: voice, handwriting and gesture. Speech- and pen-based systems have yet to find broad acceptance in everyday life because they are insufficiently advantageous to overcome problems with reliability. However, we believe that a visual programming environment with a …

User Defined Prewrites For Increasing Concurrency In Design Databases, Sanjay Kumar Madria, A. Embong

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

We introduce a prewrite operation before a write operation is performed on design databases, a database that consists of objects as engineering designs. A prewrite operation does not actually make a design but it only makes available the model of the design that the transaction will produce in future. Once the prewrite design by a transaction is announced, the transaction executes a pre-commit operation. After the pre-commit, read operations can access the prewrite design even before the pre-committed transaction has finally made the design and committed. Therefore, our algorithm increases the potential concurrency as compared to the algorithms that permit …

A Concurrency Control Algorithm For An Open And Safe Nested Transaction Model, Sanjay Kumar Madria

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present a concurrency control algorithm for an open and safe nested transaction model. We use prewrite operations in our model to increase the concurrency. Prewrite operations are modeled as subtransactions in the nested transaction tree. The subtransaction which initiates prewrite subtransactions are modelled as recovery point subtransaction. The recovery point subtransaction can release their locks before its ancestors commit. Thus, our model increases the concurrency in comparison to other nested transaction models. Our model is useful an environment of long-running transactions common in object oriented databases, computer aided design and in the software development process

A Middle School Student-Centered Conflict Management Program: Impact On Student Managers' Self-Esteem, Communication Skills, And Approaches To Conflict Resolution, Thomas J. Keller

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to examine self-esteem, communication skills, and approaches to conflict resolution of trained student mediators in a conflict resolution program. This study also assessed the perceived transferability of conflict management information and skills from the school to the home environment. Indicators were the frequency, duration, and intensity of sibling conflicts reported by conflict managers and their parents.

The subjects in this study consisted of 60 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders at two different middle schools in the state of Iowa. Thirty were trained as conflict managers and assigned to the experimental group, and thirty to …

A Design Of A Marine Radar Mast System For Minimum Vibration, Suey-Yueh Hu

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This experimental research focused on four areas: (a) the design of a new procedure for imitating the dynamic behavior of an electronic base plate on a radar mast system; (b) determination of a reasonable oscillation modal state; (c) avoidance of the destruction of the ability of the radar on the mast of a ship to receive and analyze incoming signals; and (d) design of a vibration absorber and vibration isolator based on an oscillation frequency. An adapted design for the vibration absorber and vibration isolator contributed to the prevention of excessive amplitude being produced by random forces acting upon a …

The Student Views The Teacher: Investigating Student Perception In Assessment Of High School Teachers, Richard N. Johns

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to examine student assessment of teachers at the secondary level and to add to the body of knowledge pertaining to the role of student evaluation of teacher performance in the instructional improvement process. The study was designed to determine which teacher behaviors and student/teacher relationship characteristics influenced summative assessments of teachers and if the influence was distorted by certain potentially biasing variables. Student assessments of teachers were compared to principal assessments of teachers to determine whether significant differences in ratings existed between these two evaluative sources.

The research questions focused on the composition of …

Iowa Teachers' Perceptions About Involvement In Decision-Making, Michael S. Jurgensen

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to look at shared decision-making in the public schools of Iowa. Specifically, attention was given to the desire of teachers to be involved in strategic managerial issues that have been the traditional purview of administration. Fourteen decisional areas were selected for the study including organizational managerial, policy development, and resource allocation/utilization issues.

Four research questions were utilized with a quantitative research approach. A survey instrument was mailed to 600 K-12 public school teachers within Iowa. The final sample included 431 responses that represented a return rate of 72.3%

Statistical tests were conducted at the.05 …

Student Perceptions Of General Education At A Comprehensive University And Implications, Kenneth E. Nuss

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Using a case study method, I investigated how students negotiate their way through the general education program at a middle-western comprehensive university, and consequently I increased my understanding of the student perspective of this portion of their undergraduate curriculum. From 34 semistructured qualitative interviews with general education science students, I discovered that they could articulate only a dim notion of the purpose of general education. I also became aware that the university structure failed to clearly communicate to students that the faculty values the general education curriculum.

The following themes for further analysis emerged from the student interviews: the purpose …

An Exploratory Study: Reading And Spatial Visualization Ability As Predictors Of Success For Technical Drawing, Eldon Bruce Swanson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

If one were to open a technical drawing book, the reader could make the observation that the book was "written" and "read" in two languages--the English language and the universal graphic language. The technical drawing is presented in the context of these two languages: written statements accompanied by their graphical translations. The two seemingly symbiotic languages are synergistically integrated in technical drawing.

The problem of this exploratory study was to determine the strength of the bivariate correlational relationships between students' assessed spatial visualization ability and their reading ability to their assessed achievement in technical drawing. Further, the problem of the …

The Peace Process, Phase One: Past Accomplishments, Future Concerns, Stephen C. Pelletiere Dr.

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

As a result of a conference on the peace process in the Middle East, co-hosted by the Strategic Studies Institute and North Georgia College in March 1996, the authors discussed the developing crisis in that area. They have analyzed three crucial areas of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors--Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. In these three essays, the authors analyze several key aspects of what can be considered the first phase of the Mideast Peace Process (the time from the 1991 Madrid Conference to the 1996 Israeli election). They remind us that despite recent renewed progress on the Israeli-Palestinian agenda, …

Managing Change Without Changing Managers: An Investigation Of Influences On Decision Making Performance Of Public Sector Managers Within Novel And Complex Environments, David Clark-Murphy

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study examines relationships between the cognitive and decision making styles of individual managers, and their decision making performance , within public sector environments during structural and cultural reform. The main purpose is to develop a more effective means of matching managers to their novel and complex working environments, to minimise staff turnover and improve productivity.

Errors In Pronunciation Of Consonants By Indonesian, Gayo And Acehnese Learners Of English As A Foreign Language, Ingrid B. Mathew

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis reports on research into consonantal phoneme pronunciation errors in the English of EFL learners from three different first language groups in the province of Aceh, northern Sumatra, Indonesia. It is a qualitative study, describing the errors found for each first language group. Error data was collected from each participant in the language laboratory using an aural discrimination test, a word repetition test and a reading passage test, and also from interviews with each participant which were recorded on audio cassettes. Analysis and explanation of the error data then followed. There were eight participants from each of the three …

Student Violence And School Practice : Experiences Of A Lower Secondary Male Student Using The Methodology Of Participant Observation, Denese Shepherdson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

School experiences are said to be a preparation for life. The experience of violence perpetrated against a male student over a period of years has resulted in wide reaching implications for him, his family, the perpetrators, his peer group and school staff. This case study examines the experiences of a provocative victim and his bullies.

An Investigation Of A Theoretical Model Of Willingness To Donate Blood, Douglas Adam

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The Australian Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service (ARCBTS) in Western Australian faces a major problem with periodic shortages of blood components. These shortages are expected to become more frequent and severe as demand continues to increase at a faster rate than supply. Given that only five percent of the population is registered as blood donors, clearly, the challenge for the ARCBTS is to encourage more people to become regular blood donors. The current study was undertaken to assist the ARCBTS in achieving this goal, by identifying and investigating the factors that influence people's willingness to donate blood. Based on the …

Fractal Relationships And Spatial Distribution Of Ore Body Modelling, D. J. Kentwell

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The nature of spatial distributions of geological variables such as ore grades is of primary concern when modelling ore bodies and mineral resources. The aim of any mineral resource evaluation process is to determine the location, extent, volume and average grade of that resource by a trade off between maximum confidence in the results and minimum sampling effort. The principal aim of almost every geostatistical modelling process is to predict the spatial variation of one or more geological variables in order to estimate values of those variables at locations that have not been sampled. From the spatial analysis of these …

The Influence Of Student Perceptions About School Experience On Non-University Bound Students' Motivation To Succeed, Caroline Mansfield

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In Australiari high schools today there. are increasingly greater numbers of students completing a final two years of post-compulsory secondary schooling Without the intention of progressing to a university tertiary education. Educators acknowledge that the comparative lack of motivation displayed by these students poses problems within the classroom and the educational system and most are concerned about how best to cater for the distinct and unique needs of this group of students. This thesis investigates the influence of student perceptions about school experience on Year 12 non-university bound students' motivation to succeed. The study focuses on the perceptions students hold …

Postmodernism And Children's Picture Books, Jane Siddall

Theses : Honours

No abstract provided.