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2004

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Analysis And Modeling Of The Eds Maglev System Based On The Halbach Permanent Magnet Array, Qinghua Han Jan 2004

Analysis And Modeling Of The Eds Maglev System Based On The Halbach Permanent Magnet Array, Qinghua Han

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Electro-dynamic suspension (EDS) Magnetic levitation (Maglev) with its advantage in maintenance, safety, efficiency, speed, and noise is regarded as a leading candidate for the next generation transportation / space launch assist system. The Halbach array due to its unique magnetic field feature has been widely used in various applications. The EDS system using Halbach arrays leads to the potential EDS system without super-conductor (SC) technology. In this thesis, the Halbach array magnetic field and the dynamics of a novel Halbach array EDS Maglev system were considered. The practical Halbach array magnetic field was analyzed using both a Fourier series approach …

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Mitochondrial Dna Analysis By Pyrosequencing, Patsy-Ann Susan Hastings Jan 2004

Mitochondrial Dna Analysis By Pyrosequencing, Patsy-Ann Susan Hastings

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mitochondrial DNA (deoxyribo nucleic acid) is typically used in forensic casework when small quantities of high molecular weight quality DNA is not expected to be present thus negating the chances of obtaining usable nuclear DNA. Typical samples that utilized mitochondrial DNA analysis are: hair, bones, teeth, ancient remains (samples or remains that are at least 100 years old) or very old samples (samples that are less than 100 but greater than 10 years old). The current method used to evaluate mitochondrial DNA is Sanger sequencing. Although robust, it is also time consuming and labor intensive, on the other hand pyrosequencing …

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Cell Phone Distraction Analysis Of Motor Response In A Simulated Driving Environment, Anusha Ravishankar Jan 2004

Cell Phone Distraction Analysis Of Motor Response In A Simulated Driving Environment, Anusha Ravishankar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Does the use of a cell phone while driving influence the driver's ability to execute a proper turn? Is there difference between genders pertaining to motor skill while driving in a simulated driving environment? To accomplish this task, three groups of ten participants (5 women and 5 men) each were tested using a scripted test scenario focusing on left and right turns. The participants were made to drive through a test scenario to get used to the driving simulator. The scenario for the experimental group was an inner-city training scenario with the presence of vehicular traffic and the main focus …

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An Investigation Of The Proficiency Level Of High School Students With Autism And Mental Retardation Within Community-Based Job Settings: The Relationship Between The Use Of A Hand-Held Computer Compared To Staff Modeling For Accurate Novel Job Skill Acquisition And Student Learning, Kimberly Gen Spence-Cochran Jan 2004

An Investigation Of The Proficiency Level Of High School Students With Autism And Mental Retardation Within Community-Based Job Settings: The Relationship Between The Use Of A Hand-Held Computer Compared To Staff Modeling For Accurate Novel Job Skill Acquisition And Student Learning, Kimberly Gen Spence-Cochran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effects and efficacy of two vocational instructional interventions - a Hand-Held Computer intervention versus a Staff Model intervention - as vocational instructional tools for high school students with autism and mental retardation. Specifically, the study analyzed the effects of these two treatments on the completion of authentic novel job tasks within a local department store. This research indicated the provision of specific technology as an instructional model positively influenced participants' ability to: accurately complete tasks, exercise increased independence during task completion, reduce problematic behavior during task completion, and lower necessary staff prompts during task completion. The …

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Improving Project Management With Simulation And Completion Distributi, Grant Cates Jan 2004

Improving Project Management With Simulation And Completion Distributi, Grant Cates

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the critical importance of project completion timeliness, management practices in place today remain inadequate for addressing the persistent problem of project completion tardiness. Uncertainty has been identified as a contributing factor in late projects. This uncertainty resides in activity duration estimates, unplanned upsetting events, and the potential unavailability of critical resources. This research developed a comprehensive simulation based methodology for conducting quantitative project completion-time risk assessments. The methodology enables project stakeholders to visualize uncertainty or risk, i.e. the likelihood of their project completing late and the magnitude of the lateness, by providing them with a completion time distribution function …

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Awareness, Knowledge, And Attitude About Environmental Education: Resp, Rodrigo Melchor Cruz Lasso De La Vega Jan 2004

Awareness, Knowledge, And Attitude About Environmental Education: Resp, Rodrigo Melchor Cruz Lasso De La Vega

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the last 30 years, environmental education has been part of the curriculum in Southwest Florida public schools. Curriculum objectives, such as, environmental attitude, knowledge, and awareness (AKA), have been investigated in the literature as ways to improve the overall behavior of future citizens toward the environment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the aforementioned objectives among the following groups: environmental specialists, high school instructors, high school students, and the parents of the corresponding students in three Southwest Florida counties during the 2003-2004 school year. An instrument was developed to measure the groups' levels of awareness, knowledge, and …

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Effective School Characteristics And Student Achievement Correlates As, James Doran Jan 2004

Effective School Characteristics And Student Achievement Correlates As, James Doran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between effective school characteristics and norm referenced standardized test scores in American-style international schools. In contrast to schools in traditional effective schools research, international schools typically have middle to high SES families, and display average to above average achievement. Eleven effective school characteristics were identified and correlated with standardized test scores for grades 4, 6, and 8 and high school SAT scores. Data was gathered from an online teacher questionnaire designed for this study. All eleven characteristics were present in high performing international schools while frequent analysis of student progress, …

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Habitat Use And Seasonal Activity Of Selected Snakes On John F. Kenned, Karen Dyer Jan 2004

Habitat Use And Seasonal Activity Of Selected Snakes On John F. Kenned, Karen Dyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An intensive, replicated monthly sampling of snake communities inhabiting four habitat types was conducted at John F. Kennedy Space Center, Brevard County, Florida from November 2002 through October 2003. Thirteen species (580 individuals plus 74 recaptures) plus one hybrid were captured. The three most commonly captured species, Coluber constrictor, Thamnophis sirtalis, and Thamnophis sauritus, combined made up 85% of the sample. These three species were active during every month of the year, but showed modal activity patterns typical of Temperate Zone snakes. Monthly snake captures were correlated with monthly captures of potential prey species and with mean monthly temperature. Species …

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Automatic Annotation Of Database Images For Query-By-Concept, Nualsawat Hiransakolwong Jan 2004

Automatic Annotation Of Database Images For Query-By-Concept, Nualsawat Hiransakolwong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As digital images become ubiquitous in many applications, the need for efficient and effective retrieval techniques is more demanding than ever. Query by Example (QBE) and Query by Concept (QBC) are among the most popular query models. The former model accepts example images as queries and searches for similar ones based on low-level features such as colors and textures. The latter model allows queries to be expressed in the form of high-level semantics or concept words, such as "boat" or "car," and finds images that match the specified concepts. Recent research has focused on the connections between these two models …

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Two Dimensional Linear Finite Element Analysis Of Post-Tensioned Beams, Rodolfo Hutchinson Jan 2004

Two Dimensional Linear Finite Element Analysis Of Post-Tensioned Beams, Rodolfo Hutchinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this research project was to create a Finite Element Routine for the Linear Analysis of Post-Tensioned beams using the program CALFEM® [20] developed at the division of Structural Mechanics in Lund University, Sweden. The program CALFEM and our own made files were written in MATLAB, an easy to learn and user-friendly computer language. The approach used in this thesis for analyzing the composite beam consists in embedding the steel tendons at the exact location where they intersect the concrete parent elements, without moving the concrete parent element nodes. The steel tendons are represented as one dimensional bar …

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Evaluation Of Immunogenicity Of Transgenic Chloroplast Derived Protect, Vijay Koya Jan 2004

Evaluation Of Immunogenicity Of Transgenic Chloroplast Derived Protect, Vijay Koya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anthrax, a fatal bacterial infection is caused by Bacillus anthracis, a gram-positive, spore forming, capsulated, rod shaped organism. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) lists anthrax as Category A biological agent due to its severity of impact on human health, high mortality rate, acuteness of the disease and potential for delivery as a biological weapon. The currently available human vaccine in the United States (AVA anthrax vaccine adsorbed) is prepared from Alum adsorbed formalin treated supernatant culture of toxigenic, non-encapsulated strain of Bacillus anthracis with the principle component being protective antigen (PA83). Evaluation of anthrax vaccine given to nearly 400,000 US …

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Fpga-Based Design Of A Maximum-Power-Point Tracking System For Space A, Todd Persen Jan 2004

Fpga-Based Design Of A Maximum-Power-Point Tracking System For Space A, Todd Persen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Satellites need a source of power throughout their missions to help them remain operational for several years. The power supplies of these satellites, provided primarily by solar arrays, must have high efficiencies and low weights in order to meet stringent design constraints. Power conversion from these arrays is required to provide robust and reliable conversion which performs optimally in varying conditions of peak power, solar flux, and occlusion conditions. Since the role of these arrays is to deliver power, one of the principle factors in achieving maximum power output from an array is tracking and holding its maximum-power point. This …

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Low Power Cmos Circuit Design And Reliability Analysis For Wireless Me, Md Anwar Sadat Jan 2004

Low Power Cmos Circuit Design And Reliability Analysis For Wireless Me, Md Anwar Sadat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A sensor node 'AccuMicroMotion' is proposed that has the ability to detect motion in 6 degrees of freedom for the application of physiological activity monitoring. It is expected to be light weight, low power, small and cheap. The sensor node may collect and transmit 3 axes of acceleration and 3 axes of angular rotation signals from MEMS transducers wirelessly to a nearby base station while attached to or implanted in human body. This dissertation proposes a wireless electronic system-on-a-single-chip to implement the sensor in a traditional CMOS process. The system is low power and may operate 50 hours from a …

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Commissioning Of An Arc-Melting/Vacuum Quench Furnace Facility For Fabrication Of Ni-Ti-Fe Shape Memory Alloys, And The Characterization, Jagat Singh Jan 2004

Commissioning Of An Arc-Melting/Vacuum Quench Furnace Facility For Fabrication Of Ni-Ti-Fe Shape Memory Alloys, And The Characterization, Jagat Singh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shape memory alloys when deformed can produce strains as high as 8%. Heating results in a phase transformation and associated recovery of all the accumulated strain, a phenomenon known as shape memory. This strain recovery can occur against large forces, resulting in their use as actuators. The goal of this project is to lower the operating temperature range of shape memory alloys in order for them to be used in cryogenic switches, seals, valves, fluid-line repair and self-healing gaskets for space related technologies. The Ni-Ti-Fe alloy system, previously used in Grumman F-14 aircrafts and activated at 120 K, is further …

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The Effects Of The Teacher's Use Of Guided Inquiry In The Fifth Grade Classroom, Deborah Strickland Spiess Jan 2004

The Effects Of The Teacher's Use Of Guided Inquiry In The Fifth Grade Classroom, Deborah Strickland Spiess

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

THIS STUDY INVESTIGATED THE EFFECTS OF THE TEACHER'S USE OF GUIDED INQUIRY IN A FIFTH GRADE SCIENCE CLASSROOM. INQUIRY IS SUPPORTED BY THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL(2000), AND INDICATES THAT ALL STUDENTS SHOULD DEVELOP THE ABILITIES NECESSARY TO DO SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY AND DEVELOP UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY (P.21). THIS STUDY WAS A QUALITATIVE ACTION RESEARCH DESIGN, FOCUSING ON SEVENTEEN STUDENTS AND THEIR RESPONSES TO A GUIDED INQUIRY METHOD OF SCIENCE INSTRUCTION ON MATTER, ENERGY AND MOTION, AND EARTH AND SPACE. AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS' PERFORMANCE AND STUDENTS' ATTITUDES ABOUT SCIENCE IN THE CLASSROOM WAS CONDUCTED ABOUT EACH UNIT OF INSTRUCTION. THE …

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Characterization Of A Novel Interactor/Substrate For The Pro-Apoptotic Serine Protease Omi/Htra2, Valerie Anne Stratico Jan 2004

Characterization Of A Novel Interactor/Substrate For The Pro-Apoptotic Serine Protease Omi/Htra2, Valerie Anne Stratico

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

OmiHtrA2 is a highly conserved mammalian serine protease that belongs to the HtrA family of proteins. Omi shares homology with the bacterially expressed heat shock protease HtrA, which functions as a protease at higher temperatures and a chaperone at lower temperatures. Additionally, Omi shares sequence similarity with the mammalian homologs L56/HtrA1 and PRSP/HtrA3. Omi was first isolated as an interacting protein of Mxi2, an alternatively spliced form of the p38 stress-activated kinase, using a modified yeast two-hybrid system. Omi localizes in the mitochondria and in response to apoptotic stimuli the mature form of this protein translocates to the cytoplasm. In …

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The Speech Situation Checklist: A Normative And Comparative Investigat, Susha Verghese Jan 2004

The Speech Situation Checklist: A Normative And Comparative Investigat, Susha Verghese

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Studies conducted over the past decades have identified the presence of a greater amount of negative emotional reaction and speech disruption in particular speech situations among children who stutter, compared to those who do not (Brutten & Vanryckeghem, 2003b; Knudson, 1939; Meyers, 1986; Trotter, 1983). Laboratory investigations have been utilized to describe the particular situations that elicit the greatest or least amount of speech concern and fluency failures. More recently, in order to deal with the limitation of laboratory research, the use of self-report tests have gained popularity as a means of exploring the extent of negative emotional reaction and …

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Image Based View Synthesis, Jiangjian Xiao Jan 2004

Image Based View Synthesis, Jiangjian Xiao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation deals with the image-based approach to synthesize a virtual scene using sparse images or a video sequence without the use of 3D models. In our scenario, a real dynamic or static scene is captured by a set of un-calibrated images from different viewpoints. After automatically recovering the geometric transformations between these images, a series of photo-realistic virtual views can be rendered and a virtual environment covered by these several static cameras can be synthesized. This image-based approach has applications in object recognition, object transfer, video synthesis and video compression. In this dissertation, I have contributed to several sub-problems …

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Hybrid And Hierarchical Image Registration Techniques, Dongjiang Xu Jan 2004

Hybrid And Hierarchical Image Registration Techniques, Dongjiang Xu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A large number of image registration techniques have been developed for various types of sensors and applications, with the aim to improve the accuracy, computational complexity, generality, and robustness. They can be broadly classified into two categories: intensity-based and feature-based methods. The primary drawback of the intensity-based approaches is that it may fail unless the two images are misaligned by a moderate difference in scale, rotation, and translation. In addition, intensity-based methods lack the robustness in the presence of non-spatial distortions due to different imaging conditions between images. In this dissertation, the image registration is formulated as a two-stage hybrid …

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Predicting Licensing Examination Performance With Cognitive Style And Reactive Behavior Pattern Assessments, Daniel Paul Combs Jan 2004

Predicting Licensing Examination Performance With Cognitive Style And Reactive Behavior Pattern Assessments, Daniel Paul Combs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Candidates for Florida real estate sales associate licensure responded to a two-part questionnaire based on William A. Long’s Reactive Behavior Patterns Theory and Robert J. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence. Examination scores were converted to a dichotomous pass/fail variable based on the Florida Real Estate Commission-mandated cut-off score of 75 correctly answered questions out of 100. The candidates’ responses to the questionnaire comprising the Long-Dziuban Inventory and the Cognitive Strengths Task List based on Sternberg’s theory, were crosstabulated with pass/fail to identify differential passing proportions, if any, based on reactive behavior pattern and/or cognitive strength. An ANOVA procedure was used …

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Polarimetric Characterization Of Random Electromagnetic Beams And Applications, Mircea Mujat Jan 2004

Polarimetric Characterization Of Random Electromagnetic Beams And Applications, Mircea Mujat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Polarimetry is one of the principal means of investigating the interaction of light with matter. Theoretical models and experimental techniques are presented in this dissertation for polarimetric characterization of random electromagnetic beams and of signatures of random media in different scattering regimes and configurations. The degree of polarization rather than the full description of the state of polarization is of interest in multiple scattering and free space propagation where the statistical nature and not the deterministic component of light bears the relevant information. A new interferometric technique for determining the degree of polarization by measuring the intensity fluctuations in a …

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The New Man And The New Lad: Hegemonic Masculinities In Men's Lifestyle Magazines, Ashley Michelle Elmore Jan 2004

The New Man And The New Lad: Hegemonic Masculinities In Men's Lifestyle Magazines, Ashley Michelle Elmore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Men are bombarded with contradictory masculine imagery in the media. The perfect man must be aggressive but not violent, sensitive but not emotional, healthy, active and smart without being an idealist, overachiever or too bookish. Heterocentric male focused lifestyle magazines rival women’s magazines in number and availability. Some men look to these images as a tool by which to gauge their masculinity and learn their social role performance. This inquiry includes a content analysis of four major men's lifestyle magazines over a 12-month period in which four new masculinities: certitude, irony, new sexism and double voicing were critiqued. Elements of …

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The United Nations Fund For Population Activities: Changing The Direction Of The Total Fertility Rate In Developing Nations, Michaela Fazecas Jan 2004

The United Nations Fund For Population Activities: Changing The Direction Of The Total Fertility Rate In Developing Nations, Michaela Fazecas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis builds on previous United Nations’ research investigating factors affecting the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in six (6) states: Burkina Faso, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, the Philippines, and Uganda. The present research, however, provides a broader assessment of the TFR and the potential causes of its decline by examining countries across nine (9) regions of the world – sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, South Asia, East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific Islands, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, and the former Soviet Socialist Republics of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The present analyses are also conducted over …

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Quadratic Spatial Soliton Interactions, Ladislav Jankovic Jan 2004

Quadratic Spatial Soliton Interactions, Ladislav Jankovic

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Quadratic spatial soliton interactions were investigated in this Dissertation. The first part deals with characterizing the principal features of multi-soliton generation and soliton self-reflection. The second deals with two beam processes leading to soliton interactions and collisions. These subjects were investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The experiments were performed by using potassium niobate (KNBO3) and periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) crystals. These particular crystals were desirable for these experiments because of their large nonlinear coefficients and, more importantly, because the experiments could be performed under non-critical-phase-matching (NCPM) conditions. The single soliton generation measurements, performed on KNBO3 by launching the …

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A Study Of Why Older People 65+ Do Or Do Not Exercise, Nancy Mccoin Williams Jan 2004

A Study Of Why Older People 65+ Do Or Do Not Exercise, Nancy Mccoin Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study uses interviews to examine factors explaining why 20 elderly individuals from a variety of occupations and still living in the community independently did or did not exercise. Within the limits of this qualitative study, the reasons elderly participants gave for avoiding exercise included fear of injury, joint pain, poor health, complications from various degenerative diseases, and a lack of enjoyment of exercise. The reasons for exercising included necessity due to post-heart attack motivation, work-site exercise program or equipment availability, opportunity to habituate work-related tasks, spouse support, history of exercise experience, ability to exercise without injury, enjoyment of …

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Social Underdevelopment In Sub-Saharan Africa, Michelle L. Wingo Jan 2004

Social Underdevelopment In Sub-Saharan Africa, Michelle L. Wingo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For the past thirty years Africa has produced a more noticeably inferior reserve of human capital than other developing regions. This is puzzling because at the inception of independence, the future of Africa looked promising. However, during the 1970s both the political and economic situation in Africa began to deteriorate, and since 1980, the aggregate per capita GDP in sub-Saharan Africa has declined at almost one percent per fiscal year. Thirty-two countries are poorer now than they were twenty years ago, and sub-Saharan Africa is now the lowest-income region in the world despite the fact that during the last two …

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Improving Metacomprehension And Learning Through Graduated Concept Mod, Eleni Kring Jan 2004

Improving Metacomprehension And Learning Through Graduated Concept Mod, Eleni Kring

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mental model development, deeper levels of information processing, and elaboration are critical to learning. More so, individuals' metacomprehension accuracy is integral to making improvements to their knowledge base. In other words, without an accurate perception of their knowledge on a topic, learners may not know that knowledge gaps or misperceptions exist and, thus, would be less likely to correct them. Therefore, this study offered a dual-process approach that aimed at enhancing metacomprehension. One path aimed at advancing knowledge structure development and, thus, mental model development. The other focused on promoting a deeper level of information processing through processes like elaboration. …

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Dispersion-Managed Breathing-Mode Semiconductor Mode-Locked Ring Laser, Bojan Resan Jan 2004

Dispersion-Managed Breathing-Mode Semiconductor Mode-Locked Ring Laser, Bojan Resan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A novel dispersion-managed breathing-mode semiconductor mode-locked ring laser is developed. The "breathing-mode" designation derives from the fact that intracavity pulses are alternately stretched and compressed as they circulate around the ring resonator. The pulses are stretched before entering the semiconductor gain medium to minimize the detrimental strong integrating self-phase modulation and to enable efficient pulse amplification. Subsequently compressed pulses facilitate bleaching the semiconductor saturable absorber. The intracavity pulse compression ratio is higher than 50. Down chirping when compared to up chirping allows broader mode-locked spectra and shorter pulse generation owing to temporal and spectral semiconductor gain dynamics. Pulses as short …

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The Effects Of Stimulus Motion On Contrast Sensitivity: Dynamic Sensi, Merrill Zavod Jan 2004

The Effects Of Stimulus Motion On Contrast Sensitivity: Dynamic Sensi, Merrill Zavod

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Static Visual Acuity (SVA) has been called into question for some time as a measure of overall visual system function and as a predictor of performance on real-life tasks requiring vision (i.e., operating an automobile). Specifically, it has been pointed out that the targets employed in most SVA testing (high contrast, stationary letters) are an insufficient analog to actual targets encountered in everyday activities, which are often in motion and/or of less-than-perfect contrast. In addition, the size-threshold methodology typically used to measure SVA is incongruent with current theories of a multi-channel visual system. Dynamic Visual Acuity (DVA) and Contrast Sensitivity …

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Designing And Implementing A User-Focused Web-Based Database System, Rachel Noiseux Jan 2004

Designing And Implementing A User-Focused Web-Based Database System, Rachel Noiseux

Honors Theses

The goal of this project was to combine two different fields within computer science to produce a system that would be beneficial to a wide variety of people. The first area, user-centered design, studies how users interact with an interface and the motivation behind the decisions they make when interacting with the interface. The second area, databases, explores different techniques for storing and retrieving large amounts of data.

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