Digital Commons Network^™

Discussion And Analysis Of Missile Igc Design, Michael W. Dancer, S. N. Balakrishnan, Ernest J. Ohlmeyer

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Missile intercept systems used in the next generation missile defense system will require extremely accurate performance of all component systems. Such systems will need to guarantee successful intercept of highly maneuvering targets. as a result, such interceptor systems require much greater performance in its guidance, control, and estimation subsystems. in order to develop systems that meet the required accuracies, integrated guidance and control (IGC) systems are currently being studied. These IGC architectures infuse the guidance and control systems into a single framework thereby promoting natural synergy among the missile subsystems. Previous work in this area has relied on missile body-Based …

Noise Coupling Between Signal And Power/Ground Nets Due To Signal Vias Transitioning Through Power/Ground Plane Pair, Jun Fan, Matteo Cocchini, Bruce Archambeault, James L. Knighten, James L. Drewniak, Samuel Connor

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Signal vias are often used to move a signal from one PCB layer to another. as a result, these vias can penetrate power/ground plane pair and cause noise coupling (crosstalk) between signal and power/ground nets. This paper studies the noise coupling mechanism using a segmentation approach combined with a via capacitance model and a plane-pair cavity model. Noise coupling from signal to power/ground, and vice versa, is demonstrated in the modeling results.

Perceptions Of Advertising In Online Social Networks: In-Depth Interviews, Zeljka Hadija

Theses

Advertising in online social networks is a major unexplored advertising area. However, interactivity on the Internet shifts the ways in which users perceive advertising, and whether they perceive it at all. This research study focuses on college students, users of online social networks, as main sources of information that helps advertisers understand the ways in which advertisements are perceived online. Through the personal in-depth interviews, using Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique, it has been revealed that only 20% of online social network users notice advertisements while using online social networks. The content found in online social networks inhibits viewing advertisements. This …

A Follow-Up Study Of Technology Education Graduates From Old Dominion University 2002-2006, Johnny F. Mack

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

Through this follow-up study, survey data were collected toward fulfilling the following objectives: Determine whether graduates of Old Dominion University's Technology Education undergraduate program were adequately prepared to assume teaching positions; Determine what improvements can be made to the undergraduate curriculum at Old Dominion University based upon graduate's feedback; and Determine whether the standards established through the Standards of Technological Literacy framework were being attained.

Establishing Universal Screening Risk Indicators Using Reading Curriculum-Based Measurement And The Developmental Reading Assessment, Adrienne M. Zonneville

Theses

The current study examined the abilities of Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy Skills Oral Reading Fluency (DORF) and the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) to be used as screening measures for predicting performance on the yearly state reading assessment in New York. Data from 194 students’ performance on DORF, DRA, and the English Language Arts (ELA) assessment were examined from an existing data base. Participants’ scores on the DORF and the DRA in third grade were compared to their performance on the fourth grade ELA. Screening cut scores were developed for each benchmarking period to assist in identifying students who …

The Use Of Career Assessments In Transition Planning: An Exploratory Study, Annmarie J. Schimmel

Theses

The Self Directed Search (SDS) and the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) were administered to a group of college age students who were either School Psychology graduate students or undergraduate students enrolled in a Career Exploration course at a local, private university. It was hypothesized that the SDS and the 16PF profiles for the students would differ between the two groups, showing that the profiles for those enrolled as School Psychology graduate students would be similar to the career summary codes previously identified for their chosen careers. Independent t-tests showed that on the SDS the School Psychology graduate students scored …

Hidden Structure Revealed, Minkyu Lee

Theses

This MFA Thesis is based on the aesthetic philosophy that all forms and structures are essentially made from cubes. This premise has inspired and shaped my explorations over the last two years of graduate study. Shape and meaning of ‘cubes’ can be simplified to the smallest molecular units of objects. The geometric forms I construct reflect this. I have mostly created vessel-oriented forms, but now I find that I can also make sculptures that reflect the same point of view. The shape of the earth is a theme and inspiration for this thesis project. Craters, which show their inner side, …

Kentucky Traffic Collision Facts 2008 Report, Kentucky Transportation Center, Kentucky State Police

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

KENTUCKY’S TRAFFIC COLLISION FACTS report for 2008 is based on collision reports submitted to the Kentucky State Police Records Branch. As required by Kentucky Revised Statutes 189.635, “every law enforcement agency whose officers investigate a vehicle accident of which a report must be made...shall file a report of the accident...within ten days after investigation of the accident upon forms supplied by the bureau.” The stated purpose of this requirement is to utilize data on traffic collisions for such purposes as will improve the traffic safety program in the Commonwealth. Data contained in this report are based solely on the observations …

Muir Studies Of Nonlinear Ionospheric Interactions At Haarp, Margaret Eileen Bacon

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Studies of nonlinear ionospheric interactions were undertaken at the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) site in Alaska using the co-located Modular UHF Incoherent scatter Radar (MUIR). High frequency heating of the ionosphere produced plasma wave decay processes, the signatures of which were received by MUIR and interpreted with spectral analysis in MATLAB. The most commonly observed decay scheme was that of the Parametric Decay Instability, producing the distinct multifrequency cascade feature in the HF backscatter. The results presented here are intended to contribute to the understanding of HF heating facility capabilities, plasma wave decay processes, and diagnostic instrument …

Application Of Project Management Methodology From Idea Generation To New Bundle Development In Personal Care Packaging Projects, Fikri Bilir

Theses

The purpose of this study was to conduct an analysis of the current packaging development process used by Colgate-Palmolive sub-country teams and to provide suggestions for implementing an improved process. The analysis of the current approach to packaging development and project management in the personal care business category was done using a shampoo packaging change case study. A new Stage-Gate approach, which used project management methodologies, was proposed for packaging development projects. Additionally, a series of project management template documents (such as project charter, scope of work, work breakdown structure, responsibility matrix, and project timeline) applicable to other packaging development …

Guidelines For Material Selection For Sustainable Packaging Solutions, Susan Parra

Theses

With the growing concern on environmental issues, many companies are developing research studies to reduce its negative effects on the environment and become more sustainable. Packaging has been one of the most significant issues of concern because of its environmental impact and end-of-life cycle. The overall goal of this project is to quantify how packaging material selection plays a key role in developing sustainable practices in industry. This study will evaluate the importance of the selection of materials during the packaging design process and focus on the effects of material decisions in the life cycle of the package. In particular, …

Assessment Of Practitioner Intervention In Physical Activity, Kristin Thea Schley

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Lack of physical activity is a serious epidemic that affects one’s health. Primary care physicians can play a key role in influencing and changing people’s behaviors. The objective of this study was to assess primary care physicians’ role in physical activity counseling and what if any guidelines they use. One hundred and forty-seven primary care physicians completed and returned the 23-item Physical Activity Counseling Questionnaire. Most of the respondents were over the age of 50 (58.5%), group practitioners (60.5%), male (59.9%), and have been practicing more than 20 years (50.3%). The majority of physicians “almost always” (47.6%) counseled their patients …

The Meaning Of Natural Environment Occupations: Exploring The Experiences Of Sierra Club Members, Tulin Roselynn Ture

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Poets and writers have long lauded the beauty and necessity of nature. More recent literature and research has provided support for the healthful benefits of the natural environment. This literature spans the breadth of many disciplines. Yet, very little occupational therapy literature focuses on the natural environment. This is somewhat surprising given occupational therapy’s focus on space and place.

This thesis explores the experience of participation in natural environment occupations by adult members of the Sierra Club. Five Sierra Club members were interviewed and two local Sierra Club outings were observed. Qualitative data analysis revealed two major themes: childhood beginnings …

Laser Surface Thermal Lensing (Stl): An Optical Method For Surface Analysis Of Glass Transition Effects In Transparent Polymers, Nandita Prasad

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Absorption of energy from a modulated laser beam by a transparent substrate leads to cyclic thermal expansion and contraction of the surface at the pump beam focus. This minute distortion of the surface forms a transient optical lens structure, which can be monitored by the changes it induces in a second laser beam reflected at an angle off the same focal point. The Surface Thermal Lensing (STL) technique is based on detecting the modulated interference pattern that results from interaction of the probe beam wavefront as it reflects from both the flat surface surrounding the transient lens and the curved …

Application Of Surface Thermal Lens Technology Combined With Polarization To The Study Of Polymers, Daeha Joung

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

A new approach was attempted to investigate the characteristics of polymers by using photothermal technology. The Surface Thermal Lens (STL) technique was employed to study polymers because of its higher spatial resolution and greater sensitivity than the classical photothermal detection techniques (PDT). Zeonex [Cyclo-Olefin-Polymer] and acrylic [Poly–Methyl- Meth-Acrylate] were used as the samples. Polarization was applied to the STL technique. The signals of Zeonex were different from those of acrylic when the STL probe beam was polarized. Two different polarizer orientations for the probe beam, crossed and parallel, were used to observe the STL signal response to the samples. No …

Dysphagic Patient Compliance With Thickened Liquid Recommendations, Carrie Potts

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In light of the growing prevalence of dysphagic patients on Speech-Language Pathologists’ caseloads and the frequent prescription of thickened liquids as a treatment strategy (Garcia, Chambers & Molander, 2005; Low, Wyles, Wilkinson & Sainsbury, 2001; Robbins, Nicosia, Hind, Gill, Blanco, & Logemann, 2002), our limited understanding of the factors that contribute to patient adherence presents a significant challenge to the management of dysphagia. The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the decisions patients make regarding dysphagia recommendations. Drawing upon adherence/compliance research from the field of behavioral medicine, the results of this study revealed a complex interplay of …

Towards A Metric For The Assessment Of Safety Critical Control Systems, Oscar R. Gonzalez, Jorge R. Chavez-Fuentes, W. Steven Gray

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

There is a need for better integration of the fault tolerant and the control designs for safety critical systems such as aircraft. The dependability of current designs is assessed primarily with measures of the interconnection of fault tolerant components: the reliability function and the mean time to failure. These measures do not directly take into account the interaction of the fault tolerant components with the dynamics of the aircraft. In this paper, a first step to better integrate these designs is made. It is based on the observation that unstable systems are intrinsically unreliable and that a necessary condition for …

Bare Justice: A Feminist Theory Of Justice And Its Potential Application To Crimes Of Sexual Violence In Post-Genocide Rwanda, Megan M. Carpenter

Faculty Scholarship

Within this Article I seek to develop a feminist legal theory of justice, by questioning the ability of traditional legal strategies to facilitate justice and identifying underlying principles that contribute to a more inclusive and holistic form of justice. Secondly, I apply this theory to the situation of women victims of sexual violence in post-genocide Rwanda, in an effort to explore how these principles can contribute to a realization of justice that empowers women.

In Part II of this Article, I seek to develop a set of principles underlying a feminist reconceptualization of justice. This endeavour is a three-step process: …

Quantitative Trait Locus Mapping For Seed Mineral Concentrations In Two Arabidopsis Thaliana Recombinant Inbred Populations, Brian M. Waters, Michael A. Grusak

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Biofortification of foods, achieved by increasing the concentrations of minerals such as iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn), is a goal of plant scientists. Understanding genes that influence seed mineral concentration in a model plant such as Arabidopsis could help in the development of nutritionally enhanced crop cultivars. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping for seed concentrations of calcium (Ca), copper (Cu), Fe, potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), phosphorus (P), sulfur (S), and Zn was performed using two recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations, Columbia (Col) × Landsberg erecta (Ler) and Cape Verde Islands (Cvi) × Ler, grown …

Effect Of Sorghum Seedlings, And Previous Crop, On Soil Fluorescent Pseudomonas Spp., Deanna L. Funnell-Harris, Jeffrey Pedersen, David B. Marx

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Hypotheses in which sorghum seedlings [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] of different genotypes will differentially modify soil microorganisms and will affect subsequent planting of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seedlings, were tested. Wheat cultivar Lewjain, and sorghum genotypes Redlan and RTx433, were planted into soils previously planted with wheat or sorghum in growth chamber experiments. Total culturable fungi and oomycetes, and fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. numbers (cfu) were determined. Pseudomonads were screened for hydrogen cyanide (HCN) production, for the presence of the phlD gene for 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol production (Phl) and for a region of the operon involved in phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA) production. …

A Stabilized Rbf Collocation Scheme For Neumann Type Boundary Value Problems, Nicolas Ali Libre, Arezoo Emdadi, Edward J. Kansa, Mohammad Rahimian, Mohammad Shekarchi

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The numerical solution of partial differential equations (PDEs) with Neumann boundary conditions (BCs) resulted from strong form collocation scheme are typically much poorer in accuracy compared to those with pure Dirichlet BCs. In this paper, we show numerically that the reason of the reduced accuracy is that Neumann BC requires the approximation of the spatial derivatives at Neumann boundaries which are significantly less accurate than approximation of main function. Therefore, we utilize boundary treatment schemes that based upon increasing the accuracy of spatial derivatives at boundaries. Increased accuracy of the spatial derivative approximation can be achieved by h-refmement reducing the …

Vegetation Identification Based On Satellite Imagery, Vamsi K.R. Mantena, Ramu Pedada, Srinivas Jakkula, Yuzhong Shen, Jiang Li, Hamid R. Arabnia (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Automatic vegetation identification plays an important role in many applications including remote sensing and high performance flight simulations. This paper presents a method to automatically identify vegetation based upon satellite imagery. First, we utilize the ISODATA algorithm to cluster pixels in the images where the number of clusters is determined by the algorithm. We then apply morphological operations to the clustered images to smooth the boundaries between clusters and to fill holes inside clusters. After that, we compute six features for each cluster. These six features then go through a feature selection algorithm and three of them are determined to …

Improved Bdfe Using A Priori Information For Turbo Equalization, Jingxian Wu, Sang-Yick Leong, Kah-Ping Lee, Chengshan Xiao, Jan C. Olivier

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Turbo equalization improves communication system performance by iteratively exchanging information between soft-input soft-output (SISO) equalizer and SISO channel decoder. The trellis-based maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) algorithm serves as the optimum SISO equalizer for turbo equalization. However, MAP algorithm is unsuitable for systems with large modulation constellation size and severe inter-symbol interference (ISI) due to its prohibitively high computational complexity. In this paper, an improved SISO block decision feedback equalizer (BDFE) is proposed for low complexity turbo equalization. Unlike other sub-optimum equalizers which perform symbol by symbol detection, the proposed equalizer generates the soft output for each data bit by …

The Use Or Non-Use Of Calculators Affects On Student's Ability To Perform Basic Mathematics Problems, Christina Miles

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The purpose of this study was to determine if the use or non-use of calculators in eighth grade mathematics classes affects a student's ability to solve basic mathematics equations in the Teen living (family and Consumer Science) class when working with simplistic life skill problems.

Using Brain Compatible Assessment To Obtain Higher Test Scores As Compared To Multiple Choice Tests, Raena Weimer

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The purpose of this study was to determine whether high school students enrolled in Resource Management for Independent Living obtained higher test scores when evaluated using brain-compatible assessments.

Follow-Up Of Danville Community College Networking Track Iii Graduates Form 2005-2007, Steven Carrigan

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The focus of this study was to determine the graduate job placement rate of the Networking Track III curriculum offered at Danville Community College and what impact did obtaining this training have on their success.

Methods Development In Qualitative And Quantitative Proteomics, Ting Liu

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Proteomics based on liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry has developed rapidly in the last decade and become a powerful tool for protein mixtures analysis. LC-MS based proteomics involves four steps, sample preparation, liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and bioinformatics. Improvements in each step have extended its applications to new biological research areas. This dissertation mainly focuses on method developments in both qualitative and quantitative proteomics.

The first part of this dissertation focuses on qualitative analysis of T. gondii Parasitophorous Vacuole Membrane (PVM) proteins, which is very important for T. gondii’s survival. The hypothesis of this study is that proteomic …

An Examination On The Impact Of School Grade Configuration On Eighth Grade Student Academic Achievement In Reading, Writing, And Math, Joyce Lutrey

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research effort was to examine the impact of grade configuration on eighth grade student achievement in Math, Reading, and Writing. The quantitative research design used publicly available data and studied the 2000 through 2007 Arizona standards-based, eighth grade student test results across six grade configurations for all Arizona eighth grade students. Additional variables included student gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and charter versus public schools.

Chi-square testing showed there were student achievement differences in Math, Reading, and Writing across grade configuration, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and between charters and public schools. These differences were likely due to the …

An Examination Of The Relationship Of Six Risk Factors Associated With Dropping Out Of High School For Students With Disabilities In South Central Michigan, Dawn Gallup

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative, retrospective (ex post facto), research in south central Michigan was to determine the relationship of six risk factors associated with dropping out of high school to students with disabilities (SWDs). The six risk factors were (a) grade retention (never held back or held back one or more times), (b) age compared to peers (same age as peers or one year or older than peers), (c) limited English proficiency (English speaking or English as a second language), (d) category of disability (learning disabled/emotionally impaired or cognitively impaired/other), (e) mobility (the number of school districts or …

The Monroe County Intermediate School District: A Case Study, Donald A. Spencer

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Background: Throughout the history of public education in Michigan, there has been an intermediate unit of educational government. This unit of educational government exists between the State Department of Education and the local school districts. Currently, there are fifty-seven intermediate school districts in Michigan providing educational services and governance functions.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand the Monroe County Intermediate School District in order to inform educational leadership.

Research Design: This study was an interpretive, historical case study. The study explored the manner in which culture was perpetuated via the system of education in Monroe, Michigan, throughout …