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2007

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Exploring Tourism Development On Uninhabited Islands, Mohamed Jamal Jan 2007

Exploring Tourism Development On Uninhabited Islands, Mohamed Jamal

Theses

Travel Industry has become the bread winner of many Island destinations across the globe. The practices, policies and institutional forms used in developing tourism on public lands vary from destination to destination. The research aims to identify the practices, policies and institutional forms in development of tourism consisting of resorts or hotels in public lands specifically on uninhabited islands. Public lands referred in this thesis include lands, beaches, sea owned by governments or the 'public sector'. The term 'public sector' covers the whole range of public organizations from national government ministries and departments to government business enterprises and local government …

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Evaluation Of Time Independent Rheological Models Applicable To Fresh Self-Compacting Concrete, Dimitri Feys, Ronny Verhoeven, Geert De Schutter Jan 2007

Evaluation Of Time Independent Rheological Models Applicable To Fresh Self-Compacting Concrete, Dimitri Feys, Ronny Verhoeven, Geert De Schutter

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Self-Compacting Concrete is a New Type of Concrete Which is More Liquid Compared to Traditional Concrete and Which Does Not Need Any Form of External Compaction. as a Result, This Type of Concrete is Suitable for a New Placing Technique: Pumping SCC from the Bottom in the Formwork and Letting It Rise in the Formwork Due to the Applied Pressure. in Order to Understand the Phenomena Occurring during Pumping Operations, the Rheological Properties of SCC Must Be Investigated and Controlled. Tests Have Been Performed with Two Different Rheometers, Which Are Described in This Paper. for the Tattersall MIk-II Rheometer, a …

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Optimal Neuro-Controller Synthesis For Impulse-Driven System, Xiaohua Wang, S. N. Balakrishnan Jan 2007

Optimal Neuro-Controller Synthesis For Impulse-Driven System, Xiaohua Wang, S. N. Balakrishnan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a new controller design technique for systems driven with impulse inputs. Necessary conditions for optimal impulse control are derived. A neural network structure to solve the resulting equations is presented. The solution concepts are illustrated with a few example problems that exhibit increasing levels of difficulty. Two linear problems-one scalar and one vector-and a benchmark nonlinear problem-Van Der Pol oscillator-are used as case studies. Numerical results show the efficacy of the new solution process for impulse driven systems. Since the theoretical development and the design technique are free from restrictive assumptions, this technique is applicable to many …

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How Ehs Managers Can Influence Environmental Excellence Within Their Organization, Joseph Whitaker Jan 2007

How Ehs Managers Can Influence Environmental Excellence Within Their Organization, Joseph Whitaker

Theses

The objective of this work is to evaluate the various management styles and systems applicable to the Environmental, Health, and Safety ('EHS') profession; furthermore, it will present ways in which managers will discover how to understand and evaluate projects from a 'business' point of view, allowing them to compete within their organization for capital and human resources. ... This paper will also discuss various evaluations used to ensure proper buy-in from management -- a process that will facilitate the allocation of human and financial resources to environment, health, and safety projects. The evaluation will focus on two primary elements. The …

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Point Seeking: A Family Of Dynamic Path Finding Algorithms, Andrew Fanton Jan 2007

Point Seeking: A Family Of Dynamic Path Finding Algorithms, Andrew Fanton

Theses

In the field of Artificial Intelligence, calculating the best route from one point to another, known as “path finding,” has become a common problem. If an agent cannot effectively navigate through an environment – be it real or virtual – it will often not be able to perform even the most routine tasks. For example, a Martian rover can't collect samples if it can't get to them; meanwhile, a computer game is not much of a challenge if your opponents can't find their way around. The problem of path finding has three basic aspects: map representation, path generation, and locomotion. …

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Visualization Analysis Of Astrophysics N-Bodied Problem Using Image Morphological Processing Techniques, Thomas J. Borrelli Jan 2007

Visualization Analysis Of Astrophysics N-Bodied Problem Using Image Morphological Processing Techniques, Thomas J. Borrelli

Theses

This project’s primary goal is to detect points of interest within the output data resulting from running a simulation of the Astrophysics N-Bodied problem (GRAPEcluster). Morphological Image Processing techniques will be applied to the visualized data in order to detect areas of interest within the original data. Several Morphological Image Processing techniques will be used and the results compared in the analysis. The final output of the VRAD (Visualization of Raw Astrophysics Data) System will be two-fold: first, the VRAD system will output a text file that contains the x, y and z coordinates of each region of interest in …

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Development Of A Community Sharps Collection Pilot Program For The Town Of Northampton, Massachusetts: A Review Of The Barriers, Carmela (Deb) Laino Jan 2007

Development Of A Community Sharps Collection Pilot Program For The Town Of Northampton, Massachusetts: A Review Of The Barriers, Carmela (Deb) Laino

Theses

Not provided.

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Locally Derived Nonpoint Loading Estimates For The Boeuf River/Bayou Lafourche Watershed, Emerald Purser Roider Jan 2007

Locally Derived Nonpoint Loading Estimates For The Boeuf River/Bayou Lafourche Watershed, Emerald Purser Roider

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

There is currently a great demand for data and models that can be used to quantify nonpoint source pollutant loads from different land-use types. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) is in the process of implementing management programs for impacted water bodies based on the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) of a pollutant. Pollutants of concern include total suspended solids (TSS), nitrogen, and phosphorus. One of the key parameters in determining the TMDL of a water body is the nonpoint source pollutant load from different land-use types. To date, such load estimates in Louisiana are lacking. The primary objective …

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Fever, Firepower, And Flood: The Transformation Of The Missouri River Bottomlands In The Dakotas 1804-2005, Robert A. Dunn Jan 2007

Fever, Firepower, And Flood: The Transformation Of The Missouri River Bottomlands In The Dakotas 1804-2005, Robert A. Dunn

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the indigneous geography of the Missouri River Valley of the Dakotas. Since Lewis and Clark's expedition in 1804, this landscape has been transformed by two externally introduced components, reservations and reservoirs. To move the native tribes out of the way of an expanding American empire in the mid-19th century, the U.S. Government confined the tribes to territories, then to reservations, which grew smaller as each new wave of Euro-American immigration launched more land-taking by the federal government. To ensure military and political control over the tribes, the U.S. government supported the efforts of hide hunters to …

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Factors That Influence Visual Attention And Their Effects On Safety In Driving: An Eye Movement Tracking Approach, Larry Bargola Nabatilan Jan 2007

Factors That Influence Visual Attention And Their Effects On Safety In Driving: An Eye Movement Tracking Approach, Larry Bargola Nabatilan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Statistics show that a high percentage of road related accidents are due to factors that cause impaired driving. Since information extraction in driving is predominantly a visual task, visual distraction and its implications are therefore important safety issues. The main objective of this research is to study some of the implications of demands to human’s attention and perception and how it affects performance of tasks such as driving. Specifically, the study aims to determine the changes that occur in the visual behavior of drivers with different levels of driving experience by tracking the movement of the eye; examine the effects …

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Emerging Commons And Tragic Institutions, Brigham Daniels Jan 2007

Emerging Commons And Tragic Institutions, Brigham Daniels

Faculty Scholarship

For the past forty years, scholars have developed an immense literature devoted to understanding and solving the tragedy of the commons. The most prominent solutions to this tragedy have focused on building and maintaining stable institutions. This Article reexamines this foundational literature by exploring the costs of stability. In many cases, far more than is generally recognized, the way we value the commons changes. When values change, stable institutions that once made perfect sense become rigid institutions that block change. This Article explains how institutions most able to solve the tragedy of the commons often cause a tragedy of another …

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3d Reconstruction From Stereo/Range Images, Qingxiong Yang Jan 2007

3d Reconstruction From Stereo/Range Images, Qingxiong Yang

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

3D reconstruction from stereo/range image is one of the most fundamental and extensively researched topics in computer vision. Stereo research has recently experienced somewhat of a new era, as a result of publically available performance testing such as the Middlebury data set, which has allowed researchers to compare their algorithms against all the state-of-the-art algorithms. This thesis investigates into the general stereo problems in both the two-view stereo and multi-view stereo scopes. In the two-view stereo scope, we formulate an algorithm for the stereo matching problem with careful handling of disparity, discontinuity and occlusion. The algorithm works with a global …

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Power System Fault Detection And Classification By Wavelet Transforms And Adaptive Resonance Theory Neural Networks, Karthikeyan Kasinathan Jan 2007

Power System Fault Detection And Classification By Wavelet Transforms And Adaptive Resonance Theory Neural Networks, Karthikeyan Kasinathan

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

This thesis aims at detecting and classifying the power system transmission line faults. To deal with the problem of an extremely large data set with different fault situations, a three step optimized Neural Network approach has been proposed. The approach utilizes Discrete Wavelet Transform for detection and two different types of self-organized, unsupervised Adaptive Resonance Theory Neural Networks for classification. The fault scenarios are simulated using Alternate Transients Program and the performance of this highly improved scheme is compared with the existing techniques. The simulation results prove that the proposed technique handles large data more efficiently and time of operation …

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Partially Fluorinated Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds: Synthesis And Supramolecular Behavior, Don Mark Cho Jan 2007

Partially Fluorinated Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds: Synthesis And Supramolecular Behavior, Don Mark Cho

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

The field of organic electronics has received much attention over the last few years, and engineering of organic crystals to grow with pi-electron systems arranged in a face-to-face motif has been shown to be beneficial in electronic devices. The effects of combining aromatic and perfluorinated aromatic derivatives have shown that the intramolecular stacking pattern can be changed from an edge-to-face arrangement to that of a face-to-face motif. Before the work described herein, there were no reported studies of the supramolecular behavior of fused polycyclic aromatic compounds with partial peripheral fluorination, inducing the desired face-to-face behavior. This is the main focus …

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Geophysical And Geological Investigation Of Neotectonic Deformation Along The Caborn And Hovey Lake Faults, Wabash Valley Fault System, Central United States, James Whitt Jan 2007

Geophysical And Geological Investigation Of Neotectonic Deformation Along The Caborn And Hovey Lake Faults, Wabash Valley Fault System, Central United States, James Whitt

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Seismic reflection (P- and SH-wave), ground-penetrating radar, correlative drilling, and age dating data provide evidence of neotectonic deformation along the Caborn (CF) and Hovey Lake (HLF) faults, in the Wabash Valley fault system (WVFS). The WVFS is a series of high-angle normal faults located primarily in southern Indiana and Illinois. Since their formation, these faults have likely been transpressionally reactivated in the contemporary E-W-oriented compressive stress state. The WVFS has experienced large prehistoric earthquakes, but only moderate historic and contemporary seismicity; therefore, the seismic potential in this region is poorly defined. The bedrock expressions of the CF and HLF were …

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Analytical Methods For Transport Equations In Similarity Form, Abhishek Tiwari Jan 2007

Analytical Methods For Transport Equations In Similarity Form, Abhishek Tiwari

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

We present a novel approach for deriving analytical solutions to transport equations expressedin similarity variables. We apply a fixed-point iteration procedure to these transformedequations by formally solving for the highest derivative term and then integrating to obtainan expression for the solution in terms of a previous estimate. We are able to analyticallyobtain the Lipschitz condition for this iteration procedure and, from this (via requirements forconvergence given by the contraction mapping principle), deduce a range of values for the outerlimit of the solution domain, for which the fixed-point iteration is guaranteed to converge.

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Rlinks: A Mechanism For Navigating To Related Files, Naveen Akarapu Jan 2007

Rlinks: A Mechanism For Navigating To Related Files, Naveen Akarapu

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

This thesis introduces Relative links or rlinks, which are directed labeled links from one file to another in a file system. Rlinks provide a clean way to build and share related-file information without creating additional files and directories. Rlinks form overlay graphs between files of a file system, thus providing useful alternate views of the file system. This thesis implements rlinks for the Linux kernel and modifies the storage structure of the Ext2 file system to store the rlinks.

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Numerical Simulation Of Two Flow Control Approaches For Low Reynolds Number Applications, Daniel A. Reasor Jr. Jan 2007

Numerical Simulation Of Two Flow Control Approaches For Low Reynolds Number Applications, Daniel A. Reasor Jr.

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Current research in experimental and computational fluid dynamics is focused in the area of flow control. Flow control devices are usually classified as either passive or active. Plasma actuators are active flow control devices that require input from an external power source. Current efforts have modeled the effects of plasma actuators as a body force near the electrode. The research presented herein focuses on modeling the fluid-plasma interaction seen in dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators as a body force vector in the region above the embedded electrode using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This body force is modeled as the product …

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Assessing Product Configurator Capabilities For Successful Mass Customization, Kundana Inala Jan 2007

Assessing Product Configurator Capabilities For Successful Mass Customization, Kundana Inala

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Mass customization is becoming a competitive strategy for companies offering individualized products. Product configurators provide a platform for companies to do interactive product configuration which is essential for mass customization. Companies need to realize the degree of customization appreciated by the customers and the extent of customization that can be offered competitively. This research is an effort to develop an approach to ascertain the product configurator requirements to achieve mass customization. The frameworks developed for this research are validated with a case study.

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Influence Of Surface Roughness Of Copper Substrate On Wetting Behavior Of Molten Solder Alloys, Dinesh Reddy Nalagatla Jan 2007

Influence Of Surface Roughness Of Copper Substrate On Wetting Behavior Of Molten Solder Alloys, Dinesh Reddy Nalagatla

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

The objective of this study is to understand the effect of surface roughness of the Cu substrate on the wetting of molten solder alloys. Eutectic Sn-Pb, pure Sn and eutectic Sn-Cu solder alloys and Cu substrates with different surface finish viz., highly polished surface, polished surface and unpolished surface were used in this work. Highly polished surface was prepared in Metallography lab, University of Kentucky while other two substrates were obtained from a vendor. Surface roughness properties of each substrate were measured using an optical profilometer. Highly polished surface was found to be of least surface roughness, while unpolished surface …

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An Approach To Inverse Modeling Through The Integration Of Artificial Neural Networks And Genetic Algorithms, Kirthi Bedida Jan 2007

An Approach To Inverse Modeling Through The Integration Of Artificial Neural Networks And Genetic Algorithms, Kirthi Bedida

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

A hybrid model integrating predictive capabilities of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and optimization feature of Genetic Algorithm (GA) is developed for the purpose of inverse modeling. The proposed approach is applied to Superplastic forming of materials to predict the material properties which characterize the performance of a material. The study is carried out on two problems. For the first problem, ANN is trained to predict the strain rate sensitivity index m given the temperature and the strain rate. The performance of different gradient search methods used in training the ANN model is demonstrated. Similar approach is used for the second …

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Optimization Of A Dual-Mode Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor, Prasanth Bathae Kumaresh Jan 2007

Optimization Of A Dual-Mode Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor, Prasanth Bathae Kumaresh

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Surface plasmon waves are TM polarized charge density waves that propagate at the interface of two media with real dielectric constants of opposite sign (i.e. liquid dielectric and certain metals). Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors use these waves to detect refractive index changes adjacent to the metal layer. Refractive index changes arise from the binding of an analyte (e.g. a target molecule, protein, or bacterium) to the functionalized metal layer or from interfering effects such as changes in solution index. Standard, single channel SPR sensors cannot differentiate these two effects as their design allows only one mode to be coupled. …

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Faster Dynamic Programming For Markov Decision Processes, Peng Dai Jan 2007

Faster Dynamic Programming For Markov Decision Processes, Peng Dai

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Markov decision processes (MDPs) are a general framework used by Artificial Intelligence (AI) researchers to model decision theoretic planning problems. Solving real world MDPs has been a major and challenging research topic in the AI literature. This paper discusses two main groups of approaches in solving MDPs. The first group of approaches combines the strategies of heuristic search and dynamic programming to expedite the convergence process. The second makes use of graphical structures in MDPs to decrease the effort of classic dynamic programming algorithms. Two new algorithms proposed by the author, MBLAO* and TVI, are described here.

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Rule Extraction To Establish Criteria For Minicell Design In Mass Customization Manufacturing, Smitha Thuramalla Jan 2007

Rule Extraction To Establish Criteria For Minicell Design In Mass Customization Manufacturing, Smitha Thuramalla

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Minicell-based manufacturing system is used in identifying best minicell designs. The existing method of minicell design generates best minicell designs by designing and scheduling minicells simultaneously. While in this research designing of minicells and scheduling of jobs in minicells is done separately. This research evaluates the effectiveness of hierarchical approach and compares with simultaneous method. Minicell designs with respect to average flow times and machine capacities and both are identified in a multi-stage flow shop environment. Rules for the extraction of good minicell designs in mass customization manufacturing systems are also established.

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Effective Approaches To Minimize The Problem Of Pharmaceuticals And Other Personal Care Products In The Environment, Papun Pramanick Jan 2007

Effective Approaches To Minimize The Problem Of Pharmaceuticals And Other Personal Care Products In The Environment, Papun Pramanick

Theses

Studies have shown that pharmaceuticals and other personal care products (PPCPs) are present in the environment, especially in water, due to different human activities. Some of these compounds are toxic to our eco-system. Although there is no evidence of adverse human health effect from the presence of PPCPs in the environment to date , some adverse effects on aquatic life cycle already have been found. Therefore, protecting our environment as well as human health from adverse effect(s) of PPCPs is a growing concern. The objective of this thesis work was to collect information about the principal approaches available to pharmaceutical …

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Alternate Syntax For Xslt, David Love Jan 2007

Alternate Syntax For Xslt, David Love

Theses

XSLT is a transform language for XML that is defined over XML. In other words, XSLT is a language that performs transforms on XML documents, and XSLT programs are themselves XML documents. While XSLT is by nature a functional language, its definition as an XML application obfuscates this fact [15]. Previous research projects have taken the XML-Infoset and provided an alternate syntax in the form of S-expressions, along with providing languages to perform transformations of the new representation in manners similar to that of XSLT. For example, SXML / SXSLT performs this function by embedding said languages in Scheme [9]. …

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In Tension, Alicia Ross Jan 2007

In Tension, Alicia Ross

Theses

The conceptual subject matter of in_tension falls between two major categories: the personification of two conflicting female roles (the need to be a nurturer and the longing to be an object of sexual desire) and the amalgamation of biological and societal foundations in which we see ourselves and others. These two major categories are more principally bound by the larger schema of relations between the sexes and the molding of our desires through social conventions. My artwork tends to explore the conflict many women encounter—including myself—of which roles they wish to partake and the friction between the voyeur or the …

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A Pitch Estimation Algorithm Based On The Smooth Harmonic Average Peak-To-Valley Envelope, Arturo Camacho, John G. Harris Jan 2007

A Pitch Estimation Algorithm Based On The Smooth Harmonic Average Peak-To-Valley Envelope, Arturo Camacho, John G. Harris

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We propose SHAPE, a novel pitch estimation algorithm (PEA) that builds upon previous PEAs, addressing and solving some of their limitations. The SHAPE algorithm estimates the pitch using a smooth function to compute the average peak to valley distance at harmonic locations. This is done by performing an integral transform over the square-root magnitude of the spectrum using a truncated decaying cosine as a kernel. SHAPE was designed to both match human perception particularly for inharmonic sounds and to be competitive with numerous other PEAs as demonstrated on a common database. © 2007 IEEE.

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Assisting Small And Medium Enterprises Establish Procedures For Verification, Management Review And Continual Improvement Of Iso 14001, Parimala Anthony Jan 2007

Assisting Small And Medium Enterprises Establish Procedures For Verification, Management Review And Continual Improvement Of Iso 14001, Parimala Anthony

Theses

This study addresses the issue of reaching small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with appropriate means to help them establish procedures for verification, management review and continual improvement in accordance to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) standard. The relative contribution of SMEs to the total industrial environmental impact is unknown, but it is likely to be considerable, given their contribution to total production and their dominance in sectors such as information technology, electronics, metals, printing, textiles etc. Therefore, the role of SMEs in protecting and improving the environment, through their production and marketing of environmental technologies (for energy efficiency, …

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Anomaly-Based Botnet Detection For 10 Gb/S Networks, Jonathon Donaldson Jan 2007

Anomaly-Based Botnet Detection For 10 Gb/S Networks, Jonathon Donaldson

Theses

Current network data rates have made it increasingly difficult for cyber security specialists to protect the information stored on private systems. Greater throughput not only allows for higher productivity, but also creates a “larger” security hole that may allow numerous malicious applications (e.g. bots) to enter a private network. Software-based intrusion detection/prevention systems are not fast enough for the massive amounts of traffic found on 1 Gb/s and 10 Gb/s networks to be fully effective. Consequently, businesses accept more risk and are forced to make a conscious trade-off between threat and performance. A solution that can handle a much broader …

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