Digital Commons Network^™

Power System Basics For Business Professionals In Our Industry, G. Gross, Peter W. Sauer, Mariesa Crow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The rapid changes in the business aspects of the electricity industry are making it necessary for engineers to communicate more frequently and more effectively with nontechnical people. With the heightened interest in electric power and energy systems, a broad range of "nonpower" people has expressed a need for a primer on power engineering fundamentals presented in a nontechnical manner. In response, the IEEE Power Engineering Society sponsored the preparation of such a course targeted towards the "business professional." The first offering of this course was in July 2002 as part of the IEEE PES Summer Meeting in Chicago. Power System …

Rate-Based End-To-End Congestion Control Of Multimedia Traffic In Packet Switched Networks, Mingsheng Peng, S. R. Subramanya, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper proposes an explicit rate-based end-to-end congestion control mechanism to alleviate congestion of multimedia traffic in packet switched networks such as the Internet. The congestion is controlled by adjusting the transmission rates of the sources in response to the feedback information from destination such as the buffer occupancy, packet arrival rate and service rate at the outgoing link, so that a desired quality of service (QoS) can be met. The QoS is defined in terms of packet loss ratio, transmission delay, power, and network utilization. Comparison studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme over New-Reno TCP (a variant …

Moving From Interpretivism To Critical Realism In Is Research: An Exploration And Supporting It Outsourcing Example, Philip J. Dobson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The major contribution of the thesis is to highlight the Importance of philosophical awareness in progressing research. It argues against the use of a priori theory in research and proposes that an understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of particular research approaches can provide the opportunity to be ones own guide and to work out critically one's own conception of the world. It suggests that the adoption of critical realism as the underlying philosophical base can support research in a useful and practical manner. The thesis introduces the philosophy of critical realism and uses its underlabouring role to provide new Insights …

Ellipsis In Science And Technology Textbooks In English: Implications For Thai Students, Sripen Srestasathiern

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This is an analytical study which attempted to investigate Thai students' ability to interpret elliptical sentences and to recover and recognise ellipted elements in a science and technology context in English. Students' awareness, understanding, perceptions, problems and strategies in relation to ellipsis were also examined. The subjects for the study were 60 first year students from King Mongkut's Institute of Technology North Bangkok (KMITNB) who had enrolled in two compulsory English courses in KMITNB, Bangkok, Thailand. The instruments for this study were three 20 item ellipsis tests based on 5 ellipsis types classified by Quirk, et al. (1985). Items of …

Measuring Academic Motivation To Achieve For High School Students Using A Rasch Measurement Model, Joseph Njeru Njiru

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Many models have been offered on students' motivation to achieve academically. However, most studies on motivation of students to achieve academically are called into question because they do not use an interval level scale, based on a good theoretical model, where attitude items are connected to behaviour items, even though motivation is defined as linked to behaviour. On the other hand, many researchers do not use qualitative methodologies as a preferred method to validate and triangulate data obtained from the questionnaire so as to add scope and breadth to the study. Most researchers have only used either qualitative or quantitative …

Secondary Students Beliefs About, Understandings Of, And Intentions To Act Regarding The Greenhouse Effect, Premnadh M. Kurup

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The greenhouse effect (GHE) is a concern to everyone on this planet. To understand the GHE, students and citizens need an understanding of the chemical processes underlying this environmental phenomenon. Citizens need to be scientifically literate in relation to this phenomenon in order to participate in democratic decision-making and to take appropriate actions in their daily lives. As the GHE is a global issue it will require collective and individual actions to prepare for the likely climatic changes and to reduce the further impact of the GHE. This study focused on high school students' beliefs about, understandings of the GHE …

Examination Of The Magnitude And Timing Of Hip Flexion Torque In High Degree Of Difficulty Forward Somersault Dives On The 3m Springboard, Brendon Ferrier

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

While there has been much research published on the kinematics and kinetics of forward dives from a springboard, very little has been done on the effect the timing and magnitude of hip flexion torques has on forward dives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the timing and magnitude of hip flexion torques prior to the take-off and the vertical velocity at take-off in high demand rotational forward dives. Twenty-six elite divers (14 males and 12 females) competing in the United Kingdom leg of the 2001 FINA Diving Grand Prix performed high demand rotational dives. The …

A Deception Based Framework For The Application Of Deceptive Countermeasures In 802.11b Wireless Networks, Suen Yek

Theses : Honours

The advance of 802.11 b wireless networking has been beset by inherent and in-built security problems. Network security tools that are freely available may intercept network transmissions readily and stealthily, making organisations highly vulnerable to attack. Therefore, it is incumbent upon defending organisations to take initiative and implement proactive defences against common network attacks. Deception is an essential element of effective security that has been widely used in networks to understand attack methods and intrusions. However, little thought has been given to the type and the effectiveness of the deception. Deceptions deployed in nature, the military and in cyberspace were …

Wireless Local Area Network Security : An Investigation Into Security Tool Usage In Wireless Networks, Susan Webb

Theses : Honours

Many organisations and individuals installing wireless local area networks (WLANs), which are based on the IEEE 802.11 b standard, have little understanding of the security issues that surround this technology.

This study was initiated to determine how WLAN security issues affect organisations in Perth, Western Australia. The scope of the study was restricted to 802.llb WLANs operating in infrastructure mode, where all traffic is transmitted by wireless access points (APs). This study was conducted in two phases. The general aims of the first phase were to determine the number of detectable WLANs in the Perth Central Business District (CBD) and …

Floristics Of The Banksia Woodlands On The Wallingup Plain In Relation To Environmental Parameters, Claire Mccamish

Theses : Honours

An understanding of the underlying environmental factors contributing to the floristic composition of Banksia woodlands should improve the effective management of Banksia woodland communities of the Swan Coastal Plain. Although a number of studies have examined the vegetation on the Banksia woodlands on detail there have been few studies aimed at identifying the specific environmental parameters influencing the floristic gradients on the Swan Coastal Plain. A comprehensive local scale study was undertaken on the northern Swan Coastal Plain to determine the environmental correlates influencing floristic communities in an area of Banks/a woodland known as the Wallingup Plain. Vegetation communities of …

Device Structure Effects On Electrical Crosstalk In Backwall Illuminated Cmos Compatible Photodiode Arrays, Paul Vernon Jansz

Theses : Honours

This research has made a comparative investigated of crosstalk in backside illuminated and frontside illuminated single junction photodiode and vertical double junction photodiode CMOS compatible pixels, using a commercial 2D device simulation package, SEMICAD DEVICE (1994). Comparison of pixel total, electron and hole quantum efficiency response and Absorption Volume data is undertaken. This is so that the underlying carrier drift-diffusion dynamics responsible for optimal pixel response resolution may be qualitatively understood, allowing prediction of even more optimal photodiode pixel configurations. The effect of varying the double junction and single junction photodiode pixel's geometry on response resolution is considered. Only for …

Measurement Of Proton-Dissociative Diffractive Photoproduction Of Vector Mesons At Large Momentum Transfer At Hera: The Zeus Collaboration, S. Chekanov, D. Krakauer, S. Magill, B. Musgrave, J. Repond, R. Yoshida, Margarita C. K. Mattingly, P. Antonioli, G. Bari, M. Basile, L. Bellagamba, D. Boscherini, A. Bruni, G. Bruni, G. Cara Romeo, L. Cifarelli, F. Cindolo, A. Contin, M. Corradi, S. De Pasquale, P. Giusti, G. Iacobucci, G. Levi, A. Margotti, R. Nania, F. Palmonari, A. Pesci, G. Sartorelli, A. Zichichi, G. Aghuzumtsyan, D. Bartsch

Faculty Publications

Diffractive photoproduction of vector mesons, γp → VY, where Y is a proton-dissociative system, has been measured in e+p interactions with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 25 pb-1. The differential cross section, dσ/dt, is presented for 1.2 < -t < 12 GeV2, where t is the square of the four-momentum transferred to the vector meson. The data span the range in photon-proton centre-of-mass energy, W, from 80 GeV to 120 GeV. The t distributions are well fit by a power law, dσ/dt ∝ (-t)-n. The slope of the effective Pomeron trajectory, measured from the W dependence of the ρ0 and φ cross sections in bins of t, is consistent with zero. The ratios dσγp→φY/dt to dσγp→ρ0Y/dt and dσγp→J/ψY/dt to dσγp→ρ0Y/dt increase with increasing -t. Decay-angle analyses for ρ0, φ and J/ψ mesons have been carried out. For the ρ0 and φ mesons, contributions from single and double helicity flip are observed. The results are compared to expectations of theoretical models.

The Integration Of Si-Based Resonant Interband, Stephen Sudirgo

Theses

eports the first demonstration of the integration of CMOS and Si/SiGe resonant interband tunnel diode (RITD). In Si-based material, recent breakthrough in Si/SiGe RITD grown using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) made the integration with CMOS possible. The resultant devices enabled the realization of RITD CMOS circuitry, and a NMOS-RITD MOBILE latch was demonstrated in Si, all enabling digital and ternary circuit design for density storage

A Computational Approach To Arteriolar Bifurcations: Evaluation Of Factors Influencing Predicted Wall Shear Stress, Charles Robinson

Theses

Recent studies of blood flow regulation at the microcirculatory level have linked the physical characteristics of the arteriolar bifurcations and the physiology of the flow through them to the autoregulatory mechanisms exhibited by the endothelial cell lining. Research in this area is decomposed to the following two components: understanding the biochemical activity that takes place at the cellular level as a result of flow-induced stimulation and characterizing the physical flow behavior causing the stimulation. The following study develops the currently accepted method of characterizing the physical flow behavior, in the form of wall shear stress, through computational analysis. The goal …

Aircraft Landing Gear Simulation And Control, Sanoopkumar Ambalaparambil

Theses

The focus of this work is the development of a Multi-degree Of Freedom (MOF) model for simulation and control of the landing performances of the SAE Heavy Lift Airplane model built by the Aerodynamics design team of RIT. From dynamic considerations, the landing gear performance has two areas of interest: a) behavior during touchdown impact, and b) response to excitation induced by track roughness during taxi, take-off and later part of the landing runs. As the problem at hand is highly nonlinear and complex, initially a simplified 1-dof model of the same aircraft is derived and analyzed using Lagrange's equations …

A Comparison Of Measurement Variations For Selected Probe Head Configurations For Coordinate Measuring Machines, Kevin George Berisso

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In coordinate measuring machine (CMM) research, there is often a need to measure the same feature repeatedly using multiple settings. However, the effects of changing the probe head configuration was previously unknown. The goal of this research was the determination of what effects the selection of the measurement plane, adaptor style, stylus length, and stylus size would have on the CMM's ability to repeatedly measure a single diameter. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) study was conducted using the Brown & Sharpe MicroVal CMM at Indiana State University (ISU). Three measurement planes (XY, XZ, and YZ), two adaptor styles (a star …

Experimental Study Of Heat Transfer From A Moving And Evaporating Meniscus On A Heated Surface, Wai Keat Kuan

Theses

A stable meniscus is formed between a needle dispensing water over a heated circular face of a rotating copper block. The needle is offset from the axis of rotation and thus forms a moving meniscus. The water flow rate, heater surface temperature and the speed of rotation are controlled to provide a stable meniscus with complete evaporation of water without any meniscus break-up. The experimental heat transfer rate is compared with the transient heat conduction model. The results indicate that the transient heat conduction plays a major role in the heat transfer process from a moving meniscus. The study provides …

Search For Resonance Decays To Lepton+Jet At Desy Hera And Limits On Leptoquarks, S. Chekanov, M. Derrick, D. Krakauer, J. H. Loizides, S. Magill, B. Musgrave, J. Repond, R. Yoshida, Margarita C. K. Mattingly, P. Antonioli, G. Bari, M. Basile, L. Bellagamba, D. Boscherini, A. Bruni, G. Bruni, G. Cara Romeo, L. Cifarelli, F. Cindolo, A. Contin, M. Corradi, S. De Pasquale, P. Giusti, G. Iacobucci, A. Margotti, R. Nania, F. Palmonari, A. Pesci, G. Sartorelli, A. Zichichi, G. Aghuzumtsyan

Faculty Publications

A search for narrow-width resonances that decay into electron+jet or neutrino+jet has been performed with the ZEUS detector at the DESY ep collider HERA operating at center-of-mass energies of 300 and 318 GeV. An integrated e+p luminosity of 114.8 pb-1 and e-p luminosity of 16.7 pb-1 were used. No evidence for any resonance was found. Limits were derived on the Yukawa coupling λ as a function of the mass of a hypothetical resonance that has arbitrary decay branching ratios into eq or vq. These limits also apply to squarks predicted by R-parity-violating supersymmetry. Limits for the production of leptoquarks described …

Java Software For Libr-Water Absorption Refrigeration System Evaluation, Indraneel Samanta

Theses

The energy consumption per capita per year throughout the world is increasing. With an increase in standard of living and world population, the demand for total energy is increasing rapidly and it is anticipated that the existing fossil fuels will be exhausted before the end of this century. More attention is being focused by the scientists and engineers throughout the world to develop potential methods that would use waste heat. A significant amount of low temperature (between 60° C and 99° C) heat is wasted annually in industrial process [1]. This waste heat could be used to drive absorption chillers, …

Sliding Mode Control Of An Unmanned Air-Vehicle System, Jayakrishna Vanaparthy

Theses

The objective of this study is to design a Controller that is stable under varying conditions of system parameters from the trim conditions and also robust for parametric variation for an Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) System. The PID and Sliding Mode Controller are the control models for the UAV system that are studied, designed and analyzed. The proposed Sliding Mode Controller was applied to a nonlinear second order system (Single Input Single Output (SISO)) and tested for stability and robustness of the system for parametric variation. The control model indicated chattering effect with switching (signum) function. Therefore, in order to …

Steady State And Transient Analysis Of Thermoelectric Devices Using Finite Element Method, Gurjinder Singh

Theses

Thermoelectric devices offer noiseless and environment friendly operation, which makes them the most suitable devices of the future in their category. However, the performance of these devices is still way below its competitor thermal and electrical systems. The major factor that decides the performance of these devices is the thermoelectric material. Although the use of Silicon as a thermoelectric material greatly improved the performance of new thermoelectric devices over the metal based thermoelectric devices, it is still not close to the performance level of heat engines or refrigerators. With a limit on the material properties, these devices must be optimized …

Comparative Performance Analysis Of Texture Characterization Models In Dirsig, Neil W. Scanlan

Theses

The analysis and quantitative measurement of image texture is a complex and intriguing problem that has recently received a considerable amount of attention from the diverse fields of computer graphics, human vision, biomedical imaging, computer science, and remote sensing. In particular, textural feature quantification and extraction are crucial tasks for each of these disciplines, and as such numerous techniques have been developed in order to effectively segment or classify images based on textures, as well as for synthesizing textures. However, validation and performance analysis of these texture characterization models has been largely qualitative in nature based on conducting visual inspections …

A Drop In The Bucket: Collective Efficacy Perceptions Affect Waste Minimising Behaviours, Leesa N. Bonniface

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The goal of this thesis was to inform a social marketing effort designed to increase environmentally friendly behaviours in an effort to ensure a more sustainable future. This study attempted to gain a better understanding of the discrepancy that exists between pro-environmental concerns and pro-environmental actions by exploring efficacy perceptions. Efficacy beliefs were compared for three groups of individuals: 1) environmentally active/members of an environmental group; 2) environmentally active/not members of an environmental group; 3) environmentally inactive and not members of an environmental group. Six focus groups were conducted and interviewees were recruited from the Earth Carers' organisation and the …

Nature Of Talk And Interaction In The Singapore History Classroom, Pamela Chellappah Thuraisingam

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

History is a complex subject. It is more propositional than procedural in nature (Nichol, 1984), and involves adductive thinking (Booth, 1983), where historical evidence and facts are 'teased out' and a convincing account of the past is then reconstructed through speculation, imagination and empathy (Nichol, 1984; Booth, 1983). The teaching and learning of history should not just be the transmission of knowledge, but rather it should involve a process whereby students and teachers interact in order to analyze evidence, raise questions and hypotheses, synthesize facts, and communicate their ideas, understand others' viewpoints, consider values, reflect and engage in moral reasoning …

An Investigation Into Computer And Network Curricula, David Veal

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis consists of a series of internationally published, peer reviewed, journal and conference research papers that analyse the educational and training needs of undergraduate Information Technology (IT) students within the area of Computer and Network Technology (CNT) Education. Research by Maj et al has found that accredited computing science curricula can fail to meet the expectations of employers in the field of CNT: “It was found that none of these students could perform first line maintenance on a Personal Computer (PC) to a professional standard with due regard to safety, both to themselves and the equipment. Neither could they …

Use Of Multi-Scale Phase-Based Methods To Determine Optical Flow In Dynamic Scene Analysis, Robert Hastings

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Estimates of optical flow in images can be made by applying a complex periodic transform to the images and tracking the movement of points of constant phase in the complex output. This approach however suffers from the problem that filters of large width give information only about broad scale image features, whilst those of small spatial extent (high resolution) cannot track fast motion, which causes a feature to move a distance that is large compared to the filter-size. A method is presented in which the flow is measured at different scales, using a series of complex filters of decreasing width. …

Public Street Surveillance: A Psychometric Study On The Perceived Social Risk, David J. Brooks

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Public street surveillance, a domain of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), has grown enormously and is becoming common place with increasing utilization in society as an all-purpose security tool. Previous authors (Ditton, 1999; Davies, 1998; Horne, 1998; Tomkins, 1998) have raised concern over social, civil and privacy issues, but there has been limited research to quantify these concerns. There are a number of core aspects that could relocate the risk perception and therefore, social support of public street surveillance. This study utilized the psychometric paradigm to quantitatively measure the social risk perception of public street surveillance. The psychometric paradigm is a …

Does The Computer Helpdesk Vocational Training Course Change Attitude About Customer Service?, Anthony Wethereld

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this research was to determine whether The Computer Helpdesk vocational computing course, in conjunction with The Virtual Workplace simulation computer program, changed attitude about customer service. Thirty-seven adult female students at Fujairah Women's College of the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates took part in the study. To assess possible attitude change, a combination of observation, interview and survey techniques were used. The Likert scale customer service attitude survey, which measured beliefs and perceptions about customer service, fanned the primary data gathering instrument. Qualitative and quantitative data were triangulated, and quantitative results were analysed …

Moral Autonomy In Organisational Decisions, Eva Evdokia Tsahuridu

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study to investigate the morality of persons in organisations and especially the effect of organisations on the moral autonomy of persons. In addition to reviewing the literature of moral autonomy in philosophy, psychology, sociology and organisation studies and management, the thesis also examines the ontology of organisations, moral agency and the organisation as a context. Based on this knowledge, a model is developed that addresses the relations of the organisation to society and the person to the organisation in ethical decision making. From this model the thesis develops three moral decision making categories. These are: moral …

A Study Of Company Characteristics Associated With Financial Disclosure Practices In India, Monali Dasgupta

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The objective of the study is to examine firms characteristics associated with aggregate financial disclosure practices of listed Indian manufacturing and trading companies for the financial year 1999-2000. Eight research hypothesis were developed. It is hypothesised that firm size, size of the audit firm, leverage, multinational company influence, and capital increase will be positively associated with disclosure of financial information by Indian companies, while ownership diffusion, liquidity and profitability will have no association with disclosure of financial information by Indian companies. Two types of disclosure indexes (weighted and the unweighted index) were constructed for measuring disclosure. Weights were assigned to …