Digital Commons Network^™

Heating Methods And Detection Limits For Infrared Thermography Inspection Of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites, Jeff R. Brown, H. R. Hamilton

Publications

The use of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites to strengthen existing civil infrastructure is expanding rapidly. Many FRP systems used to strengthen reinforced concrete are applied using a wet lay-up method in which dry fibers are saturated on site and then applied to the surface. This research investigated using infrared thermography (IRT) as a nondestructive evaluation (NDE) tool for detecting air voids and epoxy-filled holes in FRP systems bonded to a concrete substrate. Four small-scale specimens with FRP thicknesses ranging from 1 to 4 mm (0.04 to 0.16 in.) containing fabricated defects were constructed and inspected in a laboratory setting. Three …

Cultural Values Reflected In Arab And American Television Advertising, Morris Kalliny, Lance Gentry

Business and Information Technology Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study examines cultural values as reflected in U.S. And the Arab world television advertising. A total of 866 television commercials from Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the United States were analyzed. Contrary to the common notion that the U.S. culture and the Arabic culture are vastly different, we found many similarities between the two cultures regarding TV advertising content and appeal. The findings contribute to the debate of standardization versus adaptation of international advertising.

Forecasting Consumer Adoption Of Technological Innovation: Choosing The Appropriate Diffusion Models For New Products And Services Before Launch, Roger Calantone, Lance Gentry

Business and Information Technology Faculty Research & Creative Works

There are many good articles on various forecasting models. There is consensus that no single diffusion model is best for every situation. Experts in the field have asked for studies to provide empirical-based guidelines for recommending when various models should be used. This research investigates multiple diffusion models and provides recommendations for which diffusion models are appropriate for radical and really new products and services before the launch of the innovation.

Greedy Population Sizing For Evolutionary Algorithms, Ekaterina Smorodkina, Daniel R. Tauritz

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

The number of parameters that need to be man ually tuned to achieve good performance of Evolutionary Algorithms and the dependency of the parameters on each other make this potentially robust and efficient computational method very time consuming and difficult to use. This paper introduces a Greedy Population Sizing method for Evolutionary Algo rithms (GPS-EA), an automated population size tuning method that does not require any population size related parameters to be specified or manually tuned a priori. Theoretical analysis of the number of function evaluations needed by the GPS EA to produce good solutions is provided. We also perform …

The Forum Defendant Rule In Arkansas, Scott Dodson

Faculty Publications

Section 1441(b) of the removal statute prohibits removal of a diversity case if a defendant is a citizen of the state in which the case was originally filed. The bar to removal is known as the Forum Defendant Rule. Is removal in violation of the Forum Defendant Rule a jurisdictional or nonjurisdictional defect? The characterization matters because a jurisdictional defect can be raised at any time, while a nonjurisdictional defect must be raised within a specific period of time or is waived. The Supreme Court has not resolved the characterization, but a number of circuit courts, including the Eighth Circuit, …

Nonlinear Optimization Approach For Upfc Power Flow Control And Voltage Security: Sufficient System Constraints For Optimality, Radha P. Kalyani

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation provides a nonlinear optimization algorithm for the long term control of Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) to remove overloads and voltage violations by optimized control of power flows and voltages in the power network. It provides a control strategy for finding the long term control settings of one or more UPFCs by considering all the possible settings and all the (N-1) topologies of a power network. Also, a simple evolutionary algorithm (EA) has been proposed for the placement of more than one UPFC in large power systems"--Abstract, page iv.

Control Of Nonholonomic Mobile Robot Formations: Backstepping Kinematics Into Dynamics, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Travis Alan Dierks

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, we seek to expand framework developed to control a single nonholonomic mobile robot to include the control of formations of multiple nonholonomic mobile robots. A combined kinematic/torque control law is developed for leader-follower based formation control using backstepping in order to accommodate the dynamics of the robots and the formation in contrast with kinematic-based formation controllers. The asymptotic stability of the entire formation is guaranteed using Lyapunov theory, and numerical results are provided The kinematic controller is developed around control strategies for single mobile robots and the idea of virtual leaders. The virtual leader is replaced with …

Crosslinking 3d Assemblies Of Silica Nanoparticles (Aerogels) By Surface-Initiated Free Radical Polymerization Of Styrene And Methylmethacrylate, Nicholas Leventis, Chariklia Sotiriou-Leventis, Sudhir Mulik

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Quasi-stable, ultra-low density, three-dimensional assemblies of nanoparticles are referred to as aerogels. Aerogels are open-cell foams derived from supercritical fluid (SCF) drying of wet gels. Their large internal void space is responsible for low dielectric constants, low thermal conductivities and high acoustic impedance. At the same time though those materials are fragile and impractical for high load applications. The fragility problem has been addressed by casting a thin conformal polymer coating over the entire internal porous surface of the nanostructure.1 That process is referred to as crosslinking. The coating connects chemically skeletal nanoparticles and renders interparticle necks wider. Thus, the …

A Mössbauer Spectral Study Of The Gdco₄₋ₓfeₓb Compounds, Fernande Grandjean, Raphäel P. Hermann, Eustachy S. Popiel, Gary J. Long

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

The iron-57 Mössbauer spectra of the GdCo_4-xFe_xB compounds, where x is 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 1, 2, 2.5, and 2.6, have been measured at room temperature and reveal relatively small iron hyperfine fields of approximately 12-18 T, relatively large quadrupole interactions of approximately +0.9 and -1 mm/s, and three very different types of spectra for x=0.10 and 0.15, x=0.25, 1, and 2, and x=2.5 and 2.6. The differences result from both the different easy magnetization directions in these compounds and the different cobalt and/or iron occupancies of the crystallographic 2c and 6i sites. The spectra have …

Irradiation And Metal-Containing Conjugated-Polymer Nanocomposites, Frank D. Blum, Zhe-Fei Li, Sunil K. Pillalamarri, Massimo F. Bertino

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

In recent years, there has been considerable interest in inorganic/organic hybrid materials that combine the desirable properties of both classes. These composite materials may find significant application in a variety of applications such as sensors, memory and energy conversion, to name just a few. In our laboratories, we have recently made a series of studies on the production of polymer nanofibers and their composites with nanometals. Much of this work has focused on the production of polyaniline (PANI) nanofibers that have been made from one-pot syntheses in aqueous solutions where the polymerization was influenced by -radiation1 or UV-radiation.2 in the …

Performance, Placement, And Persistence: An Exploratory Study Of The First Year Math Experience At The University Of Montana, Sharon Beth O'Hare

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This quantitative study investigates a number of parameters associated with the first-year student’s math experience at The University of Montana: performance in the course and mathematics placement in the fall of 2005. The study sample is comprised of 1,044 first-year students who enroll in one of six selected 100-level math courses offered by the Department of Mathematical Sciences, ranging from intermediate algebra to calculus. Average grade earned by first-year students varies from a low of 1.72 in intermediate algebra to a high of 3.37 in applied calculus. The study finds that a first-year student’s ACT or SAT math score is …

Modeling The Cumulative Effects Of Forest Fire On Watershed Hydrology: A Post-Fire Application Of The Distributed Hydrology-Soil-Vegetation Model (Dhsvm), Crystal S. Stonesifer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Distributed Hydrology-Soil-Vegetation Model (DHSVM) was applied to the Eightmile Creek watershed in western Montana. The purpose of this research was primarily to assess the applicability of the model as a cumulative effects assessment tool in the post-fire landscape of a forested watershed in this region. The model was first calibrated to the pre-fire watershed conditions using six years of historic streamflow data. DHSVM was able to accurately simulate the general shape of the measured hydrograph for each of the six simulated water years, and the normalized median absolute error statistics were below the target threshold of 50% for each …

Kinetic Studies Of The Hydrolysis Reactions Of Ruthenium (Iii) Complexes Him Trans-[Rucl₄(Im)₂] And Hind Trans-[Rucl₄(Ind)₂] By Uv-Visible Spectrophotometry, Pramod K. Nangunuri

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The ruthenium complexes have gained importance in cancer research in recent times, as several cancers have developed resistance towards platinum compounds. Platinum compounds have severe adverse effects that limited their use towards a wide range of tumors.

Ruthenium complexes are considered as pro-drugs, as they transform into antitumor active species in the body by hydrolysis, redox reactions, and reactions with biologically occurring nucleophiles. My project involved the synthesis of two ruthenium complexes with different ligands and the study of the hydrolysis reactions under different pH at room temperature using UV-visible spectrophotometry.

These studies will enable us to understand how structural …

Grade Retention In High Stakes And Low Stakes Testing Years, Anna Elizabeth Ball

LSU Master's Theses

Recent political calls for an end to social promotion have led to an era in which many states are using high stakes tests to make retention decisions. Several decades of research have shown that retention is not an effective practice academically or socially. Louisiana is one state that has adopted a high stakes testing policy. This study examines a state-wide database to examine the predictors of retention in high stakes and low stakes testing years. Multiple regression analyses, discriminant analyses, and logistic regression analyses were run on data from students in grade 4 through grade 8 in Louisiana. The results …

Sediment Flux And Fate In The Mississippi River Diversion At West Bay: Observation Study, Thomas Mitchell Andrus

LSU Master's Theses

Land-building sediment diversions, such as the Mississippi River Diversion at West Bay, can be used as important building blocks in the conservation and restoration of Mississippi Delta wetlands. Sediment deposition and retention patterns were studied in the West Bay diversion outfall area through analyses of sediment cores, hydrodynamics, and bathymetry. Cores and x-ray samples were collected at twenty stations in March 2004, August 2004, November 2005, and April 2006. Cores were analyzed for grain-size distributions and ⁷Be activities, in order to examine patterns of recent sediment deposition. In comparing ratios of total ⁷Be inventory to atmospheric ⁷Be …

2007-2008 Undergraduate Catalog, Morehead State University

Morehead State Catalog Archive

2007-2008 undergraduate catalog for Morehead State University.

Electrostatic Charge Polarity Effect On Respiratory Deposition In The Glass Bead Tracheobronchial Airways Model, Mohammed Ali, Malay K. Mazumder, Rama N. Reddy, Mariofanna Milanova, Jing Zhang, Alexandru S. Biris

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

The effects of unipolar and bipolar electrostatic charges on the deposition efficiency of therapeutic aerosols in the physical model of human tracheobronchial (TB) airways have been investigated. Respirable size aerosol particles were generated by a commonly prescribed and commercially available nebulizer and charged by a corona charger and then their size and charge distributions were characterized by an Electronic Single Particle Aerodynamic Relaxation Time analyzer to study the drug aerosol particles' deposition pattern. The experiments were performed with a glass bead tracheobronchial model (GBTBM) (physical model) which was designed and developed based upon widely used and adopted dichotomous lung morphometric …

Connecting To Students: Launching Instant Messaging Reference At Binghamton University., Sarah Maximiek, Elizabeth Brown, Erin Rushton

Library Scholarship

Binghamton University Libraries implemented an IM reference service using the Trillian client to monitor multiple IM accounts at two distinct reference service points. This paper addresses the process and practical considerations of implementing the service including selection of the appropriate software, creation of IM accounts for each service, development of a staffing schedule, and training of reference staff. Also included is an outline of future plans for improving IM services for students and academic library users.

Efficient Routing Of Snow Removal Vehicles, Masoud Omer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research addresses the problem of finding a minimum cost set of routes for vehicles in a road network subject to some constraints. Extensions, such as multiple service requirements, and mixed networks have been considered. Variations of this problem exist in many practical applications such as snow removal, refuse collection, mail delivery, etc. An exact algorithm was developed using integer programming to solve small size problems. Since the problem is NP-hard, a heuristic algorithm needs to be developed. An algorithm was developed based on the Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP) heuristic, in which each replication consists of applying a …

Wherry Revisited: An Empirical Examination Of The Nonperformance Factors That Influence Variation In A Performance Rating, Raymond B. Roll Edd

Dissertations

In a perfect performance rating system, both the recall and rating of an individual's behavior would precisely mirror the performance of that ratee. However, the reality of performance rating systems is that often times the rater's recall and subsequent rating fails to reflect the true performance of the individual. The difference between actual and perceived performance has been attributed in the literature to conscious or unconscious rater bias. In 1952, Wherry developed a rating theory based on a series of mathematical equations that precisely defined the relationship between the performance of the ratee and the recall of that observation. Key …

Random Forests For Classification In Ecology, D. R. Cutler, Thomas C. Edwards Jr., Karen H. Beard, A. Cutler, K. T. Hess, J. C. Gibson, J. J. Lawler

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Classification procedures are some of the most widely used statistical methods in ecology. Random forests (RF) is a new and powerful statistical classifier that is well established in other disciplines but is relatively unknown in ecology. Advantages of RF compared to other statistical classifiers include (1) very high classification accuracy; (2) a novel method of determining variable importance; (3) ability to model complex interactions among predictor variables; (4) flexibility to perform several types of statistical data analysis, including regression, classification, survival analysis, and unsupervised learning; and (5) an algorithm for imputing missing values. We compared the accuracies of RF and …

Blackthink's™ Acting White Stigma In Education And How It Fosters Academic Paralysis In Black Youth, Kimberly Jade Norwood

Scholarship@WashULaw

Black students who attend school regularly, participate in the classroom experience — by either participating in class and/or turning in homework, take “AP” classes, and who perform well on tests are, not uncommonly, accused of “acting white.” This happened to me as a child, it has happened to my children and it has happened to black youth I have interviewed throughout the country. This Article explores the practice within the black community of blacks who attack — verbally and sometimes physically — other blacks simply because the latter perform well in school. The Article explores the ironies of this attack …

Measuring The Impact Of The Self-Image Reformation Program On Women Pastors Of Manchu Autonomous Counties (In China), Jessie Yim Han Ng

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Quantifying Students' Scientific Problem Solving Efficiency And Effectiveness, Ronald H. Stevens, Vandana Thadani

Psychological Science Faculty Works

Using online problem-solving tasks and machine learning tools, a measure has been developed to quantify the effectiveness and efficiency of students’ problem solving strategies. This measure can be normalized across problem solving tasks allowing the efficiency of problem solving to be measured across individuals, classes, schools and science domains. This extensible approach has relevance for helping teachers to teach, students to learn, and administrators to make intelligent, data-driven decisions via documentation of students’ problem solving progress.

An Introduction To Virtual Spatial Graph Theory, Thomas Fleming, Blake Mellor

Mathematics, Statistics and Data Science Faculty Works

Two natural generalizations of knot theory are the study of spatial graphs and virtual knots. Our goal is to unify these two approaches into the study of virtual spatial graphs. We state the definitions, provide some examples, and survey the known results. We hope that this paper will help lead to rapid development of the area.

Boundary Slopes Of 2-Bridge Links Determine The Crossing Number, Jim Hoste, Patrick D. Shanahan

Mathematics, Statistics and Data Science Faculty Works

A diagonal surface in a link exterior M is a properly embedded, incompressible, boundary incompressible surface which furthermore has the same number of boundary components and the same slope on each component of the boundary of M. We derive a formula for the boundary slope of a diagonal surface in the exterior of a 2-bridge link which is analogous to the formula for the boundary slope of a 2-bridge knot found by Hatcher and Thurston. Using this formula we show that the diameter of a 2-bridge link, that is, the difference between the smallest and largest finite slopes of …

Dissociation Of Eif1 From The 40s Ribosomal Subunit Is A Key Step In Start Codon Selection In Vivo, Sarah F. Mitchell

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Works

Selection of the AUG start codon is a key step in translation initiation requiring hydrolysis of GTP in the eIF2·GTP·Met-tRNA iMet ternary complex (TC) and subsequent Pi release from eIF2·GDP·Pi. It is thought that eIF1 prevents recognition of non-AUGs by promoting scanning and blocking P i release at non-AUG codons. We show that Sui? mutations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae eIF1, which increase initiation at UUG codons, reduce interaction of eIF1 with 40S subunits in vitro and in vivo, and both defects are diminished in cells by overexpressing the mutant proteins. Remarkably, Sui? mutation ISQLG93-97ASQAA (abbreviated 93-97) accelerates eIF1 dissociation and Pi …

Regional Climate Modeling For The Developing World: The Ictp Regcm3 And Regcnet, Jeremy S. Pal, Filippo Giorgi, Xunqiang Bi, Nellie Elguindi, Fabien Solmon, Xuejie Gao, Sara A. Rauscher, Raquel Francisco, Ashraf Zakey, Jonathan Winter, Moetasim Ashfaq, Faisal S. Syed, Jason L. Bell, Noah S. Diffenbaugh, Jagadish Karmacharya, Abourahamane Konaré, Daniel Martinez, Rosmeri P. Da Rocha, Lisa C. Sloan, Allison L. Steiner

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Works

Regional climate models are important research tools available to scientists around the world, including in economically developing nations (EDNs). The Earth Systems Physics (ESP) group of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) maintains and distributes a state-of-the-science regional climate model called the ICTP Regional Climate Model version 3 (RegCM3), which is currently being used by a large research community for a diverse range of climate-related studies. The RegCM3 is the central, but not only, tool of the ICTP-maintained Regional Climate Research Network (RegCNET) aimed at creating south–south and north–south scientific interactions on the topic of climate and …

Opensourcepacs: An Extensible Infrastructure For Medical Image Management, John David N. Dionisio, Alex A T Bui, Craig Morioka, David B. Johnson, Usha Sinha, Siamak Ardekani, Ricky K. Taira, Denise R. Aberle, Suzie El-Saden, Hooshang Kangarloo

Computer Science Faculty Works

The development of comprehensive picture archive and communication systems (PACS) has mainly been limited to proprietary developments by vendors, though a number of freely available software projects have addressed specific image management tasks. The openSourcePACS project aims to provide an open source, common foundation upon which not only can a basic PACS be readily implemented, but to also support the evolution of new PACS functionality through the development of novel imaging applications and services. openSourcePACS consists of four main software modules: 1) image order entry, which enables the ordering and tracking of structured image requisitions; 2) an agent-based image server …

Computing Boundary Slopes Of 2-Bridge Links, Jim Hoste, Patrick Shanahan

Mathematics, Statistics and Data Science Faculty Works

We describe an algorithm for computing boundary slopes of 2-bridge links. As an example, we work out the slopes of the links obtained by 1/k surgery on one component of the Borromean rings. A table of all boundary slopes of all 2-bridge links with 10 or less crossings is also included.