Digital Commons Network^™

Kinematic Synthesis Of Adjustable Spatial Four And Five-Bar Mechanisms For Finite And Multiply Separated Positions, Kevin Russell

Dissertations

Although spatial mechanisms are more general in structure than planar mechanisms, their applications are few due to the limited number of practical design tools and the complexity of those available. It is in fact the task of the future to develop effective, but practical design tools for spatial mechanisms.

This research presents several new methods for synthesizing adjustable spatial mechanisms. The first method involves the kinematic synthesis of spatial mechanisms for multiphase motion generation. Using this method, spatial four and five-bar mechanisms can be synthesized to achieve different phases of prescribed rigid body positions. The theory of this approach has …

Analysis And Control Of Monolithic Piezoelectric Nano-Actuator, Xuemei Sun

Dissertations

The study of the monolithic piezoelectric actuator, the dominant type of micropositioner is an attractive and challenging area, where realtime control theory and digital signal processing are effectively applied. The actuator can be applied in precision instruments and precision control, such as microscopes, medical and optics instruments because of the piezoelectric ceramic's high resolution, fast transient response, and potential low cost. However, hysteresis nonlinearity and lightly damped vibration exist in the system, which limit the actuator applications.

This work focuses on the hysteresis characteristics in time and frequency domains along with experimental and simulated results to verify the effectiveness of …

Environmental Science In The New Millennium : A Model To Give Structure And Guidance, James M. Lipuma

Dissertations

This work proposes a template for successful interdisciplinary Environmental Science (EVSQ) programs at four-year American learning institutions. The first conclusion reached is that there is no one "perfect" program. Only by identifying clear goals for EVSC can programs improve. It was determined that a clear definition of EVSC and mission statements related to these definitions are necessary first steps to allow improvement to occur. One major outcome of the work is the educational model built to understand EVSC education. The model identifies methods by which the goals and objectives of EVSC can be identified and accomplished. The research found that …

Multi-Mode Cavity Effects In The Microwave Heating Of A Ceramic Slab, Stuart J. Walker

Dissertations

In order to gain insight into hot spot development in microwave heated ceramics, a partially insulated, two dimensional ceramic slab situated in a TE_M01 cavity is modeled in the small Biot number limit. If the electrical conductivity is an exponential function of temperture and E₀ is the strength of the incident mode, then the relationship between the spatially uniform, steady state leading order temperature, v₈, and E₀¹ is characterized by the well known bi-stable, or S shaped, response curve. The steady state second order temperature, v₁, is described by a boundary …

Numerical Studies Of Newtonian And Viscoelastic Fluids, Felix J. Alcocer

Dissertations

The direct numerical simulation (DNS) approach is used to understand the flow behavior of Newtonian and viscoelastic fluids in porous materials, four-to-one contraction and the flow of a Newtonian fluid past an airfoil.

In simulations the viscoelastic fluid is modeled by the finitely extensible nonlinear elastic (FENE) dumbbell and Oldroyd-B models. The finite element method (FEM) is used to discretize the flow domain. The DNS results show that the permeability of a periodic porous medium depends on the wavelength used for arranging particles in the direction of flow. Specifically, it is shown that for a given particle size and porosity …

Analysis Of Discrete Dynamical System Models For Competing Species, Jerry J. Chen

Dissertations

A discrete version of the Lotka-Volterra (LV) differential equations for competing population species is analyzed in detail, much the same way as the discrete form of the logistic equation has been investigated as a source of bifurcation phenomena and chaotic dynamics. Another related system, namely, the Exponentially Self Regulating (ESR) population model, is also thoroughly analyzed. It is found that in addition to logistic dynamics - ranging from the very simple to manifestly chaotic regimes in terms of the governing parameters - the discrete LV model and the ESR model exhibit their own brands of bifurcation and chaos that are …

A More Efficient Document Retrieval Method For Texpros, Yin Dong

Dissertations

Document processing is a critical element of office automation. Through document classification, extraction and filing, documents are automatically placed into a knowledge base according to certain rules. Document retrieval is a process to get a document back according to a user's requirements and to show the results to the user. Hence, a good user-interface and an efficient retrieval algorithm become core parts of document retrieval.

Unlike previous browsers that have been proposed for this purpose, this dissertation develops a new browser that has a user interface with more tools, and one that has a more efficient retrieval algorithm that can …

Spartan Daily, January 31, 2001, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily (School of Journalism and Mass Communications)

Volume 116, Issue 4

Towards Hypermedia Support In Database Systems, Anirban Bhaumik

Theses

The general goal of our research is to automatically generate links and other hypermedia related services to analytical applications. Using a dynamic hypermedia engine (DHE), the following features have been automated for database systems. Based on the database's relational (physical) schema and its original (non-normalized) entity-relationship specification links are generated, database application developers may also specify the relationship between different classes of database elements. These elements can be controlled by the same or different database application, or even by another software system. A DHE prototype has been developed and illustrates the above for a relational database management system.

The DHE …

An Automated Approach For Comparative Analysis Of Interval And Heart Rate Variability, Taral Oza

Theses

Cardiovascular disease is the primary cause of death in the adult population. Half of these cardiac deaths occur as sudden death. Some of the parameters from the surface ECG recording (a noninvasive technique) carry important information and have special significance in research, as they are good indicators of diseases leading to heart attacks, sudden cardiac death and other similar cardiac problems. Measurement of QT interval variability and heart rate variability are two such parameters, which has received much attention of researchers.

An algorithm has been developed to measure and compare the two significant parameters, the QT interval variability and the …

Visualization Techniques For Routing Protocols And Router Configurations, Vandana Pursnani

Theses

An autonomous system (AS) is a group of routers managed by a particular organization. Exterior gateway protocols (EGP) are used between AS's Internal Gateway Protocols (IGP) is used within an AS. The most common protocols used with TCP/IP are RIP, OSPF (Open Shortest Path First), IGRP / Enhanced IGRP.

The thesis revolves around OSPF protocol OSPF uses flooding to exchange link-state updates between routers. Any change in routing information is flooded to all routers in the network. Areas are introduced to put a boundary on the explosion of link-state updates. Flooding and calculation of the Dijkstra algorithm on a router …

Managing Toxic And Hazardous Substances Of Concern In Manufacturing, Craig Jancerak

Theses

This thesis examined data management from an object relational database perspective. The database used was a product from Cornell University called PREDATOR. The context of the evaluation is the life-cycle of a manufactured product. The manufacturing life-cycle was chosen to correspond to an environmental life-cycle being done at NJIT. However, the goal was to use a generic model that could be applied to many situations.

The first phase developed the conceptual life-cycle model. At a high level, the model was not designed with a programming language in mind. Several questions needed to be answered and the a [sic] model answers …

An Examination Of Discourse Concerned With Pcb Remediation In The Hudson River, Jennifer M. Coffey

Theses

Remediation of PCB contamination in the Hudson River is an issue hotly contested within local communities, the media, and between government agencies and corporate entities. In recent years, the EPA has decided to revisit their 1984 no-action decision for the Hudson River and in December 2000, issued a Feasibility Study recommending partial dredging of the 200 miles of the Hudson floor deemed a Superfund site. The EPA's reevaluation of their 1984 decision has spurred an enormous amount of literature from corporate, non-profit volunteer, and government agencies.

The rhetorical theory of social constructionism and the ethical theory of environmental pragmatism are …

It's Happening At State: January 31, 2001

It's Happening at State

Provides summary information of news and events of interest to the faculty and staff of NDSU.

The Guardian, January 31, 2001, Wright State University Student Body

The Guardian Student Newspaper

Twenty page issue of The Guardian, the official student-run newspaper for Wright State University. The Guardian has been published regularly since March of 1965.

Optimization Of Nitrogen Removal In Sequencing Batch Reactor, Suppakit Poonyachat

Theses

Operating parameters for sequencing batch reactor have the influenceon each substrate concentration. Concentration profile changes as operationparameters are changed. The study was conducted to model the variationin effluent concentration from sequencing batch reactor. MLVSS and cycletime are the parameters that were varied. Concentration in Fill, React,and Settle Period were calculated by using kinetic equations.

The results can show that these parameters have effects on the concentrationprofile. The increase of MLVSS can lower the concentration of BOD andammonium concentration in React period. Increasing MLVSS can show thatmore substrate utilization and nitrification process occur more rapidly.Concentration of nitrate at the end of …

Of What Material Were The Plates?, Journal Of Book Of Mormon Studies

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

Contrary to what some may assume, the plates were most likely made not of pure gold but rather of an alloy termed tumbaga by the Spanish.

How Witnesses Described The Gold Plates, Kirk B. Henrichsen

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

This article contains descriptions of the gold plates quoted directly from individuals who were closely associated with Joseph Smith Jr. Among those quoted are Martin Harris, Orson Pratt, and Emma Smith. The compiler also comments on the material of the plates.

Journal Of Book Of Mormon Studies Volume 10 Issue 1, Neal A. Maxwell Institute For Religious Scholarship

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

No abstract provided.

Montana Kaimin, January 31, 2001, Associated Students Of The University Of Montana

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

Mobile-Agent Versus Client/Server Performance: Scalability In An Information-Retrieval Task, Robert S. Gray, David Kotz, Ronald A. Peterson Jr, Peter Gerken, Martin Hofmann, Daria Chacon, Greg Hill, Niranjan Suri

Computer Science Technical Reports

Mobile agents are programs that can jump from host to host in the network, at times and to places of their own choosing. Many groups have developed mobile-agent software platforms, and several mobile-agent applications. Experiments show that mobile agents can, among other things, lead to faster applications, reduced bandwidth demands, or less dependence on a reliable network connection. There are few if any studies of the scalability of mobile-agent servers, particularly as the number of clients grows. We present some recent performance and scalability experiments that compare three mobile-agent platforms with each other and with a traditional client/server approach. The …

Engineering Faculty Devise Critical Thinking Course For High Schools, Elaine Pugh

University of Mississippi News

UNIVERSITY, Miss. -- Critical thinking. It's the focus of everything from foundations and national centers to children's games, college courses and more.

January 30, 2001, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

Probing The Relative Timing Of Hydrogen Abstraction Steps In The Flavocytochrome B2 Reaction With Primary And Solvent Deuterium Isotope Effects And Mutant Enzymes, P. Sobrado, S. C. Daubner, P. F. Fitzpatrick

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Flavocytochrome b2 catalyzes the oxidation of lactate to pyruvate. Primary deuterium and solvent kinetic isotope effects have been used to determine the relative timing of cleavage of the lactate O - H and C - H bonds by the wild-type enzyme, a mutant protein lacking the heme domain, and the D282N enzyme. The DVmax and D(V/Klactate) values are both 3.0 with the wild-type enzyme at pH 7.5 and 25 °C, increasing to about 3.6 with the flavin domain and increasing further to about 4.5 with the D282N enzyme. Under these conditions, the D20Vmax values are 1.38, 1.18, and 0.98 for …

Topological Conjugacy And Rigidity Of Affine Actions., Siddhartha Bhattacharya Dr.

Doctoral Theses

The main theme of this thesis is topological classiication of aline Hows on homogeneous spaces and rigidity of equivariant continuous maps between such dows. Both these aspects have been extensively studied in the literature for subgroup actions (cf. [Be), [B-Dj and [Wi) and for automorphism flows of the cyclic group (cf. [Ar]. [K-R] and [C-S). We will consider similar questions in more general situations. A detailed outline is given below. For a topological group T, by a r-flow we mean pair (X,p), where X is a opological space and p is a continuous action of I on X. For any …

Fortnightly - January 29, 2001

Fortnightly

No abstract provided.

The Bg News January 29, 2001, Bowling Green State University

BG News (Student Newspaper)

The BGSU campus student newspaper. January 29, 2001. Volume 86-Issue 84.

January 29, 2001 Reporter, University Of Alabama At Birmingham

eReporter (campus newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Faculty Newsnotes 2001 No. 335, Office Of The Provost

Faculty Newsnotes (1972-2010)

No abstract provided.

Laser-Triggered Ion Acceleration And Table Top Isotope Production, K. Nemoto, Anatoly Maksimchuk, Sudeep Banerjee, K. Flippo, G. Mourou, Donald P. Umstadter, B. Yu. Bychenkov

Donald Umstadter Publications

We have observed deuterons accelerated to energies of about 2 MeV in the interaction of relativistically intense 10 TW, 400 fs laser pulse with a thin layer of deuterated polystyrene deposited on Mylar film. These high-energy deuterons were directed to the boron sample, where they produced ~10⁵ atoms of positron active isotope ¹¹C from the reaction ¹⁰B(d,n)¹¹C. The activation results suggest that deuterons were accelerated from the front surface of the target.