Digital Commons Network^™

Vision-Based Detection, Tracking And Classification Of Vehicles Using Stable Features With Automatic Camera Calibration, Neeraj Kanhere

All Dissertations

A method is presented for segmenting and tracking vehicles on highways using a camera that is relatively low to the ground. At such low angles, 3D perspective effects cause significant appearance changes over time, as well as severe occlusions by vehicles in neighboring lanes. Traditional approaches to occlusion reasoning assume that the vehicles initially appear well-separated in the image, but in our sequences it is not uncommon for vehicles to enter the scene partially occluded and remain so throughout. By utilizing a 3D perspective mapping from the scene to the image, along with a plumb line projection, a subset of …

Recombinant G3 Domain Protein Of The Rat Laminin-5 Α3 Chain Binds To Integrins On Tumorogenic Breast Cancer Cells To Induce Apoptosis, Brittany Turner

All Dissertations

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a network of proteins for holding tissues and cells together. Among the constituents of the ECM is the large molecular weight glycoprotein laminin. Laminin is predominately found in the basement membrane of tissues. Laminins are composed of α, β, and γ chains with 5 globular (G) subdomains at the carboxyl (C) terminal end of the α chain. Of the 12 different laminin isoforms, laminin-5 has been targeted for cancer research. Specifically, the G3 domain has been studied as the specific binding domain. Cells are able to migrate through cell surface adhesion receptors known as integrins. …

Exploratory Synthesis Of New Open-Framework Iron (Ii,Iii)-Containing Polyanion Systems Targeted For Lithium-Ion Battery Applications, Gregory Becht

All Dissertations

The chemistry demonstrated in this dissertation is concerned with the synthesis, structure, properties and applications of inorganic solids containing iron(II,II) redox centers. The endeavor in exploratory synthesis is due largely to the employment of molten salt fluxes such as alkali metal chloride. These halide-fluxes act in two parts; 1) as a solvent to lower the reaction temperature and 2) as an in situ source of unavailable alkali oxides through metathesis reactions. Using these halide fluxes has allowed for the discovery of several new transition metal-containing phosphates, arsenates, and vanadates for a structure/property correlation study. From this study the selected compounds …

Effects Of Polyphenol Compounds On Iron-And Copper-Mediated Dna Damage: Mechanisms And Predictive Models, Nathan Perron

All Dissertations

Polyphenol compounds are widely recognized for their antioxidant activity; however, under some conditions these compounds can also exhibit prooxidant activity. This work examined the interactions of polyphenols with iron and copper to improve understanding of both their antioxidant and prooxidant effects. Polyphenols with catechol and gallol groups effectively inhibit iron-mediated oxidative DNA damage by chelating iron, with IC₅₀ values ranging from 1-59 µM. Gallate compounds are more potent than their catecholate analogues in every instance, and their antioxidant potencies correlate to pK_a values for the most acidic phenolic hydrogen. This correlation represents the first predictive model of …

A Comprehensive Multiphysics, Multiscale Modeling Framework For Carbon Nanotube Fabrication Process By Chemical Vapor Deposition, Mahmoud Reza Hosseini

All Dissertations

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are among the most promising nanosize materials as evidenced by the attention they have received since their discovery in 1991 and a wide range of scientific and industrial applications. Each of these applications requires unique CNTs with specific length, diameter and chirality. However, control of these parameters is considered as one of the main challenges for large scale production of CNTs. Furthermore, these processes are not well designed so as to limit the number of CNT defect sites or the production of unwanted byproducts such as amorphous carbon. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a controlled CNTs …

The Spaceflight Environment And The Skeletal System, Eric Bandstra

All Dissertations

The spaceflight environment presents many challenges to the human body. Bone loss in astronauts is a well known consequence of reduced loading in the weightless environment of low-earth orbit. Recent studies have also indicated that spaceflight relevant types of radiation (at relatively high doses) have deleterious effects on trabecular bone. Both of these represent potential skeletal challenges during long-duration spaceflight. The objective of these studies is to examine the response of bone to models of the spaceflight environment.
Astronauts will likely absorb doses of protons and heavy ions during lengthy missions outside the Earth's magnetosphere. Following exposure to a range …

Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes For Biological Applications, Lingrong Gu

All Dissertations

Carbon nanotubes with their unique pseudo-one-dimensional nanostructures and related electronic, optical, and mechanical properties have been attracting much attention for potential biological applications, such as biosensors, bio-delivery, bioimaging and so on. In this dissertation, recent studies and advances toward bioapplications of carbon nanotubes are critically reviewed, followed by detailed reports on my research projects concerning the use of carbon nanotubes as unique scaffolds for multivalent display of sugars and the relevant results from bio-evaluation of these novel nanomaterials.
Single-walled (SWNTs) and multiple-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were functionalized with amine-derivatived monosaccharides (galactoses and mannoses) and their dendritic constructs. These sugar-functionalized carbon …

The Role Of Metal Coordnation In The Inhibition Of Iron(Ii)- And Copper(I)-Mediated Dna Damage By Organoselenium And Organosulfur Compounds, Erin Battin

All Dissertations

Copper and iron are two widely-studied transition metals associated with hydroxyl radical (OH) generation: Fe2+/Cu+ + H2O2 = Fe3+/Cu2+ + OH + OH-. Metal-mediated oxidative damage is a major cause of cellular DNA damage and death, and has been implicated in cancer, neurodegenerative, and cardiovascular diseases. Because sulfur and selenium antioxidants ameliorate oxidative damage, the ability of twenty biological sulfur- and selenium-containing compounds to inhibit metal-mediated DNA damage caused by hydroxyl radical has been quantified. In the Cu+/H2O2 system, six sulfur compounds and three selenium compounds inhibited DNA damage with IC50 values ranging from 3.3 to 25.5 μM. Several sulfur …

Opening Session With Remarks, Bill Clinton

National Clean Energy Summit

Moderator: John Podesta, Center for American Progress Action Fund

Quantum Nondemolition-Like, Fast Measurement Scheme For A Superconducting Qubit, Britton Plourde, I. Serban, F. K. Wilhelm

Physics - All Scholarship

We present a measurement protocol for a flux qubit coupled to a dc-Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID), representative of any two-state system with a controllable coupling to an harmonic oscillator quadrature, which consists of two steps. First, the qubit state is imprinted onto the SQUID via a very short and strong interaction. We show that at the end of this step the qubit dephases completely, although the perturbation of the measured qubit observable during this step is weak. In the second step, information about the qubit is extracted by measuring the SQUID. This step can have arbitrarily long duration, since …

2008 Convocation, Mamatha Challa '09, Max Mcgee, Eric Mclaren, Jay Budzik '95

Convocation

• Prelude Music: Megan Hodge, 2002 IMSA Graduate
• Pledge of Allegiance and Welcome: Mamatha Challa, Student Council President; Dr. Max McGee, President; Dr. Eric McLaren, Principal
• Musical Selection: Megan Hodge, 2002 IMSA Graduate
  
• Keynote Speaker: Dr. Jay Budzik, 1995 IMSA Graduate
  

Beckmann Rearrangement Of Cyclotriveratrylene (Ctv) Oxime: Tandem Beckmann-Electrophilic Aromatic Addition, Marlon R. Lutz Jr., Matthias Zeller, Daniel P. Becker

Chemistry: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Beckmann rearrangement has been performed on the oxime of cyclotriveratrylene (CTV) with thionyl chloride affording the ring-expanded 10-membered ring amide exclusively in high yield. Modified conditions afford a helical pentacycle derived from an unusual tandem Beckmann rearrangement and electrophilic aromatic addition followed by demethylation and tautomerization.

Becoming A Chemist: Graduate Students' Perspectives On Chemists And Chemistry, Bethany Walls

All Theses

In order to better understand the development of chemistry graduate students throughout the research phase of their Ph.D. degrees, we conducted a study on graduate students' self-concept of being chemists. This research is motivated by our previous results that forming identities as chemists is a key step in the transformation of organic chemistry graduate students from laboratory technicians into practicing chemists. In this research study, analytical, inorganic, and physical chemistry graduate students participated in a single, semi-structured interview designed to probe how their beliefs on what it means to know and practice chemistry affect their graduate training. Results from these …

Evaluating The Efficacy Of The Developing Algebraic Literacy Model: Preparing Special Educators To Implement Effective Mathematics Practices, Sharon N. E. Ray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For students with learning disabilities, positive academic achievement outcomes are a chief area of concern for educators across the country. This achievement emphasis has become particularly important over the last several years because of the No Child Left Behind legislation. The content area of mathematics, especially in the higher order thinking arena of algebra, has been of particular concern for student progress. While most educational research in algebra has been targeted towards remedial efforts at the high school level, early intervention in the foundational skills of algebraic thinking at the elementary level needs consideration for students who would benefit from …

Zach's News, Georgia Southern University, Zach S. Henderson Library

Library Publications (1999-2023)

• New Additions and Changes: Research Databases from Henderson Library
• Case Law wants to be free

Threshold Effects On Plateau Electron Angular Distributions In Above-Threshold Detachment, Katarzyna Krajewska, Ilya I. Fabrikant, Anthony F. Starace

Anthony F. Starace Publications

Rates of above-threshold detachment (ATD) of H⁻ (s-electron) and F⁻ (p-electron) ions, calculated using the Sturmian-Floquet quasienergy approach, are investigated as a function of intensity for the case that the laser field intensity passes across ponderomotively shifted detachment thresholds. Pronounced enhancements of both detached electron angular distributions and fixed-angle ATD spectra in the low- and mid-energy plateau region are found at near-threshold laser intensities. These enhancements are sensitive to the initial state symmetry (i.e., the s or p symmetry) of the valence electron and occur in a narrow angular interval that is far from …

Deafdigest: Gold Edition, August 17, 2008, Barry Strassler

DeafDigest Gold 2008

No abstract provided.

Evolutionary Ecological Genetics Of Some Neotropical Birds, Matthew J. Miller

Biological Sciences

Most of the current models to explain the diversification of Neotropical birds focus on physical barriers to gene flow. However, for any species the geographic structuring of populations is caused by an interaction between physical barriers to gene flow and a species' propensity to overcome those barriers. The three chapters presented in this dissertation provide three perspectives on this interaction and how it has shaped the diversification of some Neotropical birds. First, the widespread Neotropical lowland forest flycatcher Mionectes oleagineus had three phylogeographic splits across the Andes, resulting in four geographically structured lineages west of the Andes. At least two …

Phylogeography Of Three Widespread Neotropical Avian Taxa: Rufous-Tailed Hummingbird, White-Breasted Wood-Wren, And Anthracothorax Mangos, Michael J. Lelevier

Biological Sciences

The three chapters presented in this thesis use molecular markers to examine the evolutionary history of three groups of widespread Neotropical birds. In chapter one, I found that Amazilia tzacatl forms a monophyletic clade and exhibits four genetic clades: Atlantic and Pacific slopes of Middle America, South America, and Isla Coiba. The Escudo Hummingbird (A. t. handleyi) is probably not a full biological species. Specimens from the eastern Darien province of Panama suggest that individuals from Middle and South America colonized this area within the past 25 years. In chapter two, I recovered an unresolved polytomy between Henicorhina leucosticta and …

Linking Proteomics To Microbial Kinetics, Suraj Cherian

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Oligobacterial physiology is mostly unstudied due to cultivation difficulty. New isolation techniques such as extinction culture have produced cultivable representatives of the aquatic environment namely Sphingopyxis alaskensis. Attempts were made to grow the bacterium in batch cultures using glucose and tyrosine as ideal substrates as determined from growth studies. Differential protein expression from cytoplasmic and membrane fractions of the putative culture were compared so as to identify key proteins involved in substrate uptake and metabolism followed by incorporation of protein quantities into mathematical models of oligotroph growth. However artifactual results from two dimensional gel electrophoresis led to the question of …

Characterization Of Reproductive Cyclicity Of Sex Steroids By Fecal Analysis In Steller Sea Lions (Eumetopias Jubatus), Beate Litz

Marine Biology

"Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) have experienced a drastic population decline in the past several decades. Among hypotheses for the decline and failure of the population to recover is decreased reproductive success. Harsh environmental conditions within the species range and the large body size of the animals can limit sampling efforts to investigate these hypotheses. Three captive Steller sea lions were used as models to validate the use of fecal steroid analysis for this species. Their annual endocrine fluctuations were monitored over four years to gain a better understanding of their reproductive endocrinology and overcome sampling challenges typically associated with …

Molecular Basis Of Mitochondrial Form And Function In The Hearts Of Antarctic Notothenioids That Vary In The Expression Of Hemoglobin And Myoglobin, Matthew R. Urschel

Biological Sciences

Antarctic icefish (suborder Notothenioidei, family Channichthyidae) do not express hemoglobin (Hb), and 6 of the 16 members of this family do not express myoglobin (Mb) in their cardiac muscle. The loss of Hb and Mb correlates with an increase in mitochondrial volume density, a decrease in the mitochondrial surface-to-volume ratio and a decrease in the surface density of inner mitochondria) membranes in the hearts of icefishes compared to red-blooded notothenioids. We sought to understand the molecular mechanisms that regulate differences in mitochondrial density and morphology among the hearts of the notothenioids Notothenia coriiceps (+Hb/+Mb), Gobionotothen gibberifrons (+Hb/+Mb), Chaenocephalus aceratus ( …

Lung Breathing In The Bullfrog: Generating Respiratory Rhythm And Pattern, Brittany L. Davies

Biological Sciences

This research investigated location of the lung respiratory rhythm generator (RRG) in the bullfrog brainstem using neurokinin-1 (NK1R) and [mu]opioid ([mu]OR) receptor colocalization and characterized the role of these receptors in breathing pattern formation. colocalization was distinct near the facial nucleus in juvenile bullfrogs but not in tadpoles. NK1R intensity exhibited no developmental change, while [mu]OR intensity increased from late-stage tadpoles to juvenile frogs. Substance P (NK1R agonist; bath applied) increased lung burst frequency, lung burst cycle frequency (BCF), episode frequency, lung burst amplitude and area, but decreased number of lung bursts per episode and lung burst duration. Antagonist D …

Direct Evidence From Anisotropy Of Magnetic Susceptibility For Lateral Melt Migration At Superfast Spreading Centers, R. J. Varga, Andrew J. Horst, J. S. Gee, J. A. Karson

Natural Resources and Earth Sciences Faculty Research

Rare, fault‐bounded escarpments expose natural cross sections of ocean crust in several areas and provide an unparalleled opportunity to study the end products of tectonic and magmatic processes that operated at depth beneath oceanic spreading centers. We mapped the geologic structure of ocean crust produced at the East Pacific Rise (EPR) and now exposed along steep cliffs of the Pito Deep Rift near the northern edge of the Easter microplate. The upper oceanic crust in this area is typified by basaltic lavas underlain by a sheeted dike complex comprising northeast striking, moderately to steeply southeast dipping dikes. Paleomagnetic remanence of …

University News

Cal Poly Magazine

No abstract provided.

Knowledge Work, Craft Work, And Calling, Robert Daniel Austin , '84, Lee Devin

Theater Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

A New Community College Concept Paper Executive Summary, Cuny Guttman Community College

New Community College

No abstract provided.

2008-2009, Collin College

Course Catalogs

Contains information on courses and class descriptions as well as campus resources at Collin College.

The Urysohn Space Embeds In Banach Spaces In Just One Way, M. Randall Holmes

Mathematics Faculty Publications and Presentations

In a Master's thesis in 1985 and a subsequent paper published in 1992, the author discovered that the universal separable metric space (up to isometry) discovered by Urysohn in 1925 has a uniquely determined linear closure (up to linear isometry) when isometrically embedded in a Banach space so as to include the zero of the Banach space. The proof of this result is given in this note and the current status of some related questions is discussed.

Recombination Fluorescence In Ultracold Neutral Plasmas, Scott D. Bergeson, F. Robicheaux

Faculty Publications

We present the first measurements and simulations of recombination fluorescence from ultracold neutral calcium plasmas. This method probes three-body recombination at times less than 1 µs, shorter than previously published time scales. For the lowest initial electron temperatures, the recombination rate scales with the density as n22, significantly slower than the predicted n3. Recombination fluorescence opens a new diagnostic window in ultracold plasmas. In most cases it probes deeply bound level populations that depend critically on electron energetics. However, a perturbation in the calcium 4snd Rydberg series allows our fluorescence measurements to probe the population in weakly bound levels that …