Digital Commons Network^™

The Applicability Of Simulated Network Attack Results On Small, Terrorist Networks, Stephanie Young

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

No abstract provided.

Properties Of Neutron Star Critical Collapses, Mew-Bing Wan

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Critical phenomena in gravitational collapse opened a new mathematical vista into the theory of general relativity and may ultimately entail fundamental physical implication in the astrophysical realm, especially in gravitational collapse scenarios. However, at present, the dynamics of critical phenomena in realistic astrophysical gravitational collapse scenarios are still largely unknown. My thesis seeks to understand the properties of the neutron star critical solution, understand the properties of the threshold in the solution space of the Einstein field equations between the black hole and a neutron star phases, and clarify the implication these results on realistic astrophysical scenarios. We develop a …

An Oversampled Analog To Digital Converter For Acquiring Neural Signals, Grant Williams

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

A third order delta-sigma modulator and associated low-pass digital filter is designed for an analog to digital converter: ADC) for sensing bioelectric phenomena. The third order noise shaping reduces the quantization noise in the baseband and the digital lowpass filter greatly attenuates the out of band quantization noise, increasing the effective number of bits. As part of a neural signal acquisition system designed by The BrainScope Company to capture Electro-Encephalogram: EEG) and Automated Brainstem Response: ABR) signals, this paper describes the design of a third order Delta-Sigma modulator which meets or exceeds the low noise specifications mandated by previous BrainScope …

Interval Estimation Of Excess Risk Related Effective Doses In Tobit Models, Jia Wang

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

No abstract provided.

Aerosol Filtration And Separation, Tachih Hsiao

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Aerosol Filtration and Separation by Ta-Chih Hsiao Doctor of Philosophy in Energy, Environmental, & Chemical Engineering Washington University in St. Louis, 2009 Professor Da-Ren Chen, Advisor Particle control technologies are essential in many manufacturing industries: chemical, electronic, mineral, and food and beverages) as well as in pollution abatement and environmental control: for example, clean rooms and post processing of power plant emissions). A variety of particle control technologies using different physical forces and various collection substrates have been developed over the last 100 or so years. Among these technologies, filtration is known as the most economical …

Contributions To The Methodology Of Electrocardiographic Imaging (Ecgi) And Application Of Ecgi To Study Mechanisms Of Atrial Arrhythmia, Post Myocardial Infarction Electrophysiological Substrate, And Ventricular Tachycardia In Patients, Yong Wang

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Contributions to the Methodology of Electrocardiographic Imaging: ECGI) and Application of ECGI to Study Mechanisms of Atrial Arrhythmia, Post Myocardial Infarction Electrophysiological Substrate, and Ventricular Tachycardia in Patients by Yong Wang Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering Washington University in St. Louis, 2009 Professor Yoram Rudy, Chair Electrocardiographic Imaging: ECGI) is a noninvasive imaging modality for cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmia. ECGI reconstructs epicardial potentials, electrograms and isochrones from body-surface electrocardiograms combined with heart-torso geometry from computed tomography: CT). The application of a new meshless method, the Method of Fundamental Solutions: MFS) is introduced to ECGI with …

Statistical Aggregation: Theory And Applications, Ruibin Xi

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Due to their size and complexity, massive data sets bring many computational challenges for statistical analysis, such as overcoming the memory limitation and improving computational efficiency of traditional statistical methods. In the dissertation, I propose the statistical aggregation strategy to conquer such challenges posed by massive data sets. Statistical aggregation partitions the entire data set into smaller subsets, compresses each subset into certain low-dimensional summary statistics and aggregates the summary statistics to approximate the desired computation based on the entire data. Results from statistical aggregation are required to be asymptotically equivalent. Statistical aggregation processes the entire data set part by …

Cedar Rapids Flood Of 2008: Manmade Or Statistical Anomaly?, Beth Kolsrud

Honors Program Theses

One of the main research questions for this thesis is what factors caused the flooding last summer and why was it so extreme? This is an important question to answer because it is vital to understand what causes a flood of this magnitude so communities can take steps to avoid or minimize damage that may result from floods in the future. The second question is what impact does this flood have on flood insurance? Flood insurance is one tool used to protect property owners from substantial loss due to flooding and plays a vital role in recovery after a flood, …

Managing Risk In Life Insurance With Your Genetic Information: The Issues, The Options, And The Speed Of Progress, Michelle Gogerty

Honors Program Theses

legislation is already in place to restrict the use of genetic information in the health insurance industry (Genetics and Public Policy Center 2008) and several states have similar laws restricting its use in the life insurance industry as well (National Conference of State legislatures 2008}. It is only a matter of time before national legislation applicable to life insurance is enacted on the matter and I expect it to come within the next five years. Unless both insurers and consumers actively protect their rights to privacy, equality, and profitability, the result of that legislation may be very harmful to one …

Spatial, Geologic, And Land Use Characteristics Of Sinkholes In A Karst Landscape: Waverly, Iowa, Adam Richard Campbell

Honors Program Theses

The city of Waverly and its surrounding area in the Waverly Quadrangle has the fortune of having a large supply of groundwater that is easily accessible. However, the karst landscape that comprises much of the quadrangle has made the groundwater supply vulnerable to degradation from point and non-point contamination. Thus, it is crucial to explore the properties of sinkholes in the region to determine their threat to groundwater. To determine this threat, it is necessary to examine the characteristics of where and under what circumstances sinkholes develop. The Waverly Quadrangle is located entirely within the Iowan Surface. The bedrock in …

Ambigrams: The Art And The Math, Callie Kronlage

Honors Program Theses

Because ambigrams are a relatively new concept, I found little mathematical research on them. Throughout this paper, I will address the role of ambigrams as a mathematical entity, an artistic outlet, and even an educational tool. Along with ways to use ambigrams, there are also descriptions of the nine different types of ambigrams, and a chart that can be used to create two of the most common types of ambigrams. Mathematically, ambigrams contain many symmetrical aspects, which are important to the study of Geometry. Within this, I have researched mathematical aspects of three of the ambigram types and found some …

Preliminary Development Of Quantitative Immunoassays For Mitochondrial Proteins, Adriann Hovey

Honors Program Theses

Mitochondria are medium-sized organelles in which most cellular metabolic reactions are carried out. In postmitotic cells that are aged or diseased, such as myocardial, skeletal, and brain cells, abnormally large mitochondria ("giant mitochondria") are often observed. Mitochondrial size and shape are controlled by mitochondrial fusion and fission and disruption of this process may lead to their abnormally large size (Nauratil, Terman, Arriaga, 2008). These giant mitochondria exhibit variations from normal metabolism and altered membrane potentials (Nauratil et al., 2008). An increased number of giant mitochondria may therefore disrupt cell function (Nauratil et al., 2008). This accumulation may result either from …

Arrow's Theorem And The Exclusive Shareholder Franchise, Grant M. Hayden, Matthew T. Bodie

All Faculty Scholarship

In this essay, we contest one of the main arguments for restricting corporate board voting to shareholders. In justifying the limitation of the franchise to shareholders, scholars have repeatedly turned to social choice theory—specifically, Arrow’s theorem—to justify the exclusive shareholder franchise. Citing to the theorem, corporate law commentators have argued that lumping different groups of stakeholders together into the electorate would result in a lack of consensus and, ultimately, the lack of coherence that attends intransitive social choices, perhaps even leading the corporation to self-destruct. We contend that this argument is misguided. First, we argue that scholars have greatly overestimated …

Shareholders In The Jury Box: A Populist Check Against Corporate Mismanagement, Ann M. Scarlett

All Faculty Scholarship

The recent subprime mortgage disaster exposed corporate officers and directors who mismanaged their corporations, failed to exercise proper oversight, and acted in their self-interest. Two previous waves of corporate scandals in this decade revealed similar misconduct. After the initial scandals, Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission attempted to prevent the next crisis in corporate governance through legislative and regulatory actions such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Those attempts failed. Shareholder derivative litigation has also failed because judges accord corporate executives great deference and thus rarely impose liability for breaches of fiduciary duties.

To prevent the next crisis in …

Clawbacks: Prospective Contract Measures In An Era Of Excessive Executive Compensation And Ponzi Schemes, Miriam A. Cherry, Jarrod Wong

All Faculty Scholarship

In the spring of 2009, public outcry erupted over the multi-million dollar bonuses paid to AIG executives even as the company was receiving TARP funds. Various measures were proposed in response, including a 90% retroactive tax on the bonuses, which the media described as a "clawback." Separately, the term "clawback" was also used to refer to remedies potentially available to investors defrauded in the multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme run by Bernard Madoff. While the media and legal commentators have used the term "clawback" reflexively, the concept has yet to be fully analyzed. In this article, we propose a doctrine of …

Impacts Of Alterations Of Organic Inputs On The Bacterial Community Within The Sediments Of Wind Cave, South Dakota, Usa, Marisa K. Chelius, Guy Beresford, Howard Horton, Meghan Quirk, Greg Selby, Rodney T. Simpson, Rodney Horrocks, John C. Moore

International Journal of Speleology

Wind Cave (WICA) in the Black Hills of South Dakota, like many mostly dry caves in temperate regions is an energy-starved system. The biotic communities that reside in these systems are low in diversity and simple in structure, and sensitive to changes in external inputs of organic matter. Caves open to tourist traffic offer an opportunity to study the impacts of organic matter amendments in the form of human and rodent hair and dander, clothing lint, material from rodent activity (nesting materials and feces), and algal growth in and around artificial lighting. This study reports on the impacts of carbon …

Productivity-Diversity Relationships From Chemolithoautotrophically Based Sulfidic Karst Systems, Megan L. Porter, Annette Summers Engel, Thomas C. Kane, Brian K. Kinkle

International Journal of Speleology

Although ecosystems thriving in the absence of photosynthetic processes are no longer considered unique phenomena, we have yet to understand how these ecosystems are energetically sustained via chemosynthesis. Ecosystem energetics were measured in microbial mats from active sulfidic caves (Movile Cave, Romania; Frasassi Caves, Italy; Lower Kane Cave, Wyoming, USA; and Cesspool Cave, Virginia, USA) using radiotracer techniques. We also estimated bacterial diversity using 16S rRNA sequences to relate the productivity measurements to the composition of the microbial communities. All of the microbial communities investigated were dominated by chemolithoautotrophic productivity, with the highest rates from Movile Cave at 281 g …

Lights And Shadows On The Conservation Of A Rock Art Cave: The Case Of Lascaux Cave, Fabiola Bastian, Claude Alabouvette

International Journal of Speleology

Lascaux Cave was discovered in 1940. Twenty years after the first microbial contamination signs appeared. In the last forty years the cave suffered different fungal invasions. Here we discuss the past, present and future of the cave and the conservation of its rock art paintings to the light of data obtained using culture-dependent and –independent methods.

Sediment Flushing In Mystic Cave, West Virginia, Usa, In Response To The 1985 Potomac Valley Flood, James J. Van Gundy, William B. White

International Journal of Speleology

The great November 5, 1985 Potomac Valley flood was responsible for the release of 1800 m³ of alluvial and colluvial sediment from the walls of the entrance doline of Mystic Cave. Flood waters were sufficiently powerful to flush the entire mass of sediment not only into the cave but through the cave. Remnants of the sediment mass in the form of sand bars and a few cobbles wedged in speleothems were the only evidence in the cave that the huge mass of sediment had moved through. The sediment moved as a suspended mass in water moving at peak velocities …

Cottonballs, A Unique Subaqeous Moonmilk, And Abundant Subaerial Moonmilk In Cataract Cave, Tongass National Forest, Alaska, Megan D. Curry, Penelope J. Boston, Mike N. Spilde, James F. Baichtal, Andrew R. Campbell

International Journal of Speleology

The Tongass National Forest is known for its world-class karst features and contains the largest concentration of dissolutional caves in Alaska. Within these karst systems exist unusual and possibly unique formations exhibiting possible biological origin or influence. Cataract Cave is an example of such a system. This cave hosts a unique depositional setting in which so-called “cottonballs” line two permanent pools. The cottonballs are a calcitic deposit heavily entwined within a mass of microbial filaments. They are juxtaposed with extensive subaerial calcitic moonmilk wall deposit of a more conventional nature but of an extraordinary thickness and abundance. Both the cottonballs …

The Nonexistence Of Shearlet-Like Scaling Multifunctions That Satisfy Certain Minimally Desirable Properties And Characterizations Of The Reproducing Properties Of The Integer Lattice Translations Of A Countable Collection Of Square Integrable Functions, Robert Houska

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

In Chapter 1, we introduce three varieties of reproducing systems—Bessel systems, frames, and Riesz bases—within the Hilbert space context and prove a number of elementary results, including qualitative characterizations of each and several results regarding the combination and partitioning of reproducing systems.

In Chapter 2, we characterize when the integer lattice translations of a countable collection of square integrable functions forms a Bessel system, a frame, and a Riesz basis.

In Chapter 3, we introduce composite wavelet systems and generalize several well-known classical wavelet system results—including those regarding pointwise values of the Fourier transform of the wavelet and scaling function …

Hart Avec Kant: On The Inseparability Of Law And Morality, David G. Carlson

Articles

The article critiques H.L.A. Hart's The Concept of Law from a Kantian perspective, arguing that Hart's separation thesis between law and morality is untenable. Hart's internal point of view, a cornerstone of his jurisprudence, is revealed to be indistinguishable from morality, undermining his effort to separate law from moral considerations. The analysis contends that Hart's theory ultimately collapses into a Kantian framework, where law and morality share a common form, challenging the foundational principles of legal positivism.

Development Of A Spatial Decision Support Tool For Watershed Critical Area Identification Of Soil Loss And Best Management Practices (Bmps) Evaluation, Luhua Cai

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Soil erosion has been identified as a major contributor to water quality degradation. Agriculture is historically known for accelerating soil erosion. In Iowa, with 88% of land in agriculture use, agricultural practices have became the dominant source of nonpoint source pollution and soil erosion is the leading water problem in Iowa. Controls of soil erosion are needed. Best Management Practices (BMPs) are recognized as the most efficient way to control non-point source pollution, and numerous BMPs have been developed for soil erosion control. Therefore, it is important to have a decision support tool that can identify the soil erosion problem …

Partial Order Reduction For Planning, You Xu

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Partial Order Reduction: POR) is a technique that reduces the search space by recognizing interchangeable orders between actions and expanding only a subset of all possible orders during the search. It has been extensively studied in model checking and has proven to be an enabling technique for reducing the search space and costs. Several POR algorithms have been proposed in planning, including the Expansion Core: EC) and Stratified Planning: SP) algorithms. Being orthogonal to the development of accurate heuristic functions, these reduction methods show great potential to improve the planning efficiency from a new perspective. However, it is unclear how …

Structural Rna Homology Search And Alignment Using Covariance Models, Eric Nawrocki

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Functional RNA elements do not encode proteins, but rather function directly as RNAs. Many different types of RNAs play important roles in a wide range of cellular processes, including protein synthesis, gene regulation, protein transport, splicing, and more. Because important sequence and structural features tend to be evolutionarily conserved, one way to learn about functional RNAs is through comparative sequence analysis - by collecting and aligning examples of homologous RNAs and comparing them. Covariance models: CMs) are powerful computational tools for homology search and alignment that score both the conserved sequence and secondary structure of an RNA family. However, due …

Emerging Workforce Trends And Issues Impacting The Virginia Community College System, Mary Greer Landon

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The mission of the Virginia Community College workforce development leaders is to expand their training and development services to new and emerging high growth occupational areas in support of Virginia's economic growth and changing workforce needs in each of their regions. This research was designed to identify: high demand occupational skill needs; current training services; the shifting and changing trends based on technology, competition, and workforce composition; and the need for partnerships. A survey, based on current and emerging trends and their impact on workforce development training services, was sent to the 22 Virginia Community College workforce development leaders. This …

Interconnections Of Nonlinear Systems Driven By L₂-Itô Stochastic Processes, Luis A. Duffaut Espinosa

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Fliess operators have been an object of study in connection with nonlinear systems acting on deterministic inputs since the early 1970's. They describe a broad class of nonlinear input-output maps using a type of functional series expansion, but in most applications, a system's inputs have noise components. In such circumstances, new mathematical machinery is needed to properly describe the input-output map via the Chen-Fliess algebraic formalism. In this dissertation, a class of L₂-Itô stochastic processes is introduced specifically for this purpose. Then, an extension of the Fliess operator theory is presented and sufficient conditions are given under which …

Spin Structure Of The Deuteron, Nevzat Guler

Physics Theses & Dissertations

Double spin asymmetries for the proton and the deuteron have been measured in the EG1b experiment using the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab. Longitudinally polarized electrons at energies 1.6, 2.5, 4.2 and 5.7 GeV were scattered from longitudinally polarized NH3 and ND3 targets. The double spin asymmetry A|| for the proton and the deuteron has been extracted from these data as a function of W and Q² with unprecedented precision. The virtual photon asymmetry A₁ and the spin structure function g1 can be calculated from these measurements by using parametrization to the world data for the virtual …

The Effectiveness Of Colored Overlays On Reading Achievement And Attitudes Toward Reading For Students With Scotopic Sensitive Syndrome, Hanan Ali Bagabas

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study investigated the effects on students identified with Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome (SSS) or Irlen Syndrome (IS) when using colored overlays as an intervention (immediately and over time) to assess reading performance (rate, accuracy, and comprehension); to measure visual-motor integration; and to assess attitude toward reading. SSS/IS is a visual perceptual problem related to a collection of symptoms that affects an individual's performance when reading. Three participants, all males (one 3rd -grade student, one 4th -grade student, and one 5th -grade student), were identified as having SSS/IS and other learning disabilities.

The study involved five test instruments (Irlen Reading Perceptual …

Secondary Preservice Teachers' Understanding Of Euclidean Geometry, Karen Sabey

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The lack of mathematical understanding of elementary preservice teachers with respect to many mathematical topics has been well documented. Far fewer studies have been conducted on any content area of knowledge of secondary teachers and even less in the mathematics content area. The assumption by the general population is that mathematics majors are adequately prepared to teach the content of secondary mathematics because they major in mathematics. Mathematics educators, however, note the lack of conceptual understandings in many content areas in these mathematics teaching majors. While mathematics educators are aware of this deficiency, there is little research data at the …