Digital Commons Network^™

Pace V. Swerdlow: Can Expert Witnesses Face Liability For Changing Their Minds - The Tenth Circuit Weighs In On The Element Of Proximate Clause In A Claim Of Expert Negligence, Michael T. Nelson

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Danger - Bombs May Be Present - Cannon V. Gates: A Jammed Cannon Preempts Citizen Suit Indefinitely, Theresa Sauer

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Against The Right To Bodily Integrity: Of Cyborgs And Human Rights, Gowri Ramachandran

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Certification After Arizonans For Official English V. Arizona: A Survey Of Federal Appellate Courts' Practices, Molly Thomas-Jensen

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Arizona V. Gant: Rethinking The Evidence-Gathering Justification For The Search Incident To Arrest Exception, And Testing A New Approach, Jason Hermele

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Winter V. National Resources Defense Council: Enabling The Military's Ongoing Rollback Of Environmental Legislation, Ian K. London

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Vol. 87, No. 1: Full Issue, Denver University Law Review

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Project Collaboration In A Distributed Environment, Shriroopa Prabhakar Deshpande

Masters Theses

"This thesis investigates methods of managing projects in an environment where project team members are in different locations. Today, large scale projects undertaken by firms that have a global presence are successfully developed across time, distance, and geographic boundaries. In order to survive in this environment, firms face many project challenges, including diverse employees, various work practices, and communication issues. Many communication issues can be minimized by the proper use of collaborative tools as well as by sharing expertise, coordinating activities, and managing relationships. Web-enabled project management tools have enhanced efforts to increase the quality, competitiveness, and profitability of these …

Emi Chip-To-Tem Cell Coupling For A Microcontroller And Emi Coupling Resulting From Via Transition And Reference Plane Change, Hemant Bishnoi

Masters Theses

"The work presented in this thesis can be broadly categorized under two main headings, estimation of electromagnetic interference (EMI) performance and characterization of EMI performance.

A numerical model of capacitive coupling between two orthogonally crossing double stripline was developed earlier by Kenji Araki and Yoshio Kami at the University of Electro-Communications, Japan. Their model was shown to be accurate up to 3GHz. A verification of their numerical model with full wave simulations is presented here.

In another work done by Shaohua Li, dynamic currents in the power pins of a microcontroller were predicted by using an IC model. The ultimate …

Environmental Geochemistry Of Metal Contaminated Sediments From The Big River System Of Southeastern Missouri, Helen Carrie Bender

Masters Theses

"Geochemical analysis of stream sediments from the Big River Watershed of southeastern Missouri indicates that they contain elevated concentrations of contaminant metals such as Pb. Zn, Cu. Co, Ni and Cd. The elevated concentrations are derived from natural exposures of metal enriched strata and the numerous mine tailings piles and water seeps created as a result of about 300 years of lead-zinc mining in the “Old Lead Belt”. Galena (PbS), sphalerite (ZnS), and pyrite (FeS₂) are the primary sulfides found in the tailings piles and Scanning Electron Microscopy analysis of individual metallic sediment particles collected at intervals downstream …

Nano-Structure Formation Driven By Local Protonation Of Polymer Thin Films, Carsten Maedler, Harald Graaf, Mingdi Yan, Andres H. La Rosa

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We report the creation of nano-structures via Dip Pen Nanolithography by locally exploiting the mechanical response of polymer thin films to an acidic environment. Protonation of cross linked poly(4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) leads to a swelling of the polymer. We studied this process by using an AFM tip coated with a pH 4 buffer. Protons migrate through a water meniscus between tip and sample into the polymer matrix and interact with the nitrogen of the pyridyl group forming a pyridinium cation. The increase in film thickness, which is due to Coulomb repulsion between the charged centers, was investigated using Atomic Force Microscopy. …

Crystallography Open Database – An Open-Access Collection Of Crystal Structures, Saulius Grazulis, Daniel Chateigner, Robert T. Downs, A. F. T. Yokochi, Miguel Quirós, Luca Lutterotti, Elena Manakova, Justas Butkus, Peter Moeck, Armel Le Bail

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Crystallography Open Database (COD), which is a project that aims to gather all available inorganic, metal–organic and small organic molecule structural data in one database, is described. The database adopts an openaccess model. The COD currently contains 80,000 entries in crystallographic information file format, with nearly full coverage of the International Union of Crystallography publications, and is growing in size and quality.

Surgical Smoke Evacuation Guidelines: Compliance Among Perioperative Nurses, Kay A. Ball

Theses and Dissertations

Smoke (plume) is produced when tissue is cut or coagulated with lasers or electrosurgery devices during surgery. Research has documented that surgical smoke creates a serious workplace hazard for over 500,000 healthcare workers. Toxic gases create an offensive odor, small particulate matter causes respiratory complications, and pathogens may be transmitted within the surgical smoke to the surgical team. Previous research notes that smoke evacuation recommendations are not being consistently followed by perioperative nurses.

The purpose of this study is to determine key indicators that are associated with compliance with smoke evacuation recommendations by perioperative nurses. The Diffusion of Innovation theory …

The Influence Of Familism On Descriptive And Injunctive Norms In Predicting The Intention To Eat A Vegetarian Diet Among Chinese Seventh-Day Adventists, See Wei Toh

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

According to the theory of planned behavior (TpB), one determinant of intention to engage in a behavior is the subjective norm. Various studies have found that subjective norm is often the weaker predictor of intention compared to perceived behavioral control and attitude. This study examined whether familism (emphasis on the family rather than the individual) would contribute positively to the predictive power of the TpB model through interactions with the family portion of descriptive and injunctive norms. Descriptive and injunctive norms are component variables of the subjective norm. A sample of 284 adult Chinese Seventh-day Adventists 18 years and older …

Applications Of Swarm, Evolutionary And Quantum Algorithms In System Identification And Digital Filter Design, Bipul Luitel

Masters Theses

"The thesis focuses on the application of computational intelligence (CI) techniques for two problems - system identification and digital filter design. In system identification, different case studies have been carried out with equal or reduced number of orders as the original system and also in identifying a blackbox model. Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass and Bandstop FIR and Lowpass IIR filters have been designed using three algorithms using two different fitness functions. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Differential Evolution based PSO (DEPSO) and PSO with Quantum Infusion (PSO-QI) algorithms have been applied in this work"--Abstract, page iii.

Hydrogen Applications For Lambert - St. Louis International Airport, Mathew Thomas

Masters Theses

"Today, major airports are facing challenges related to pollution, energy efficiency, and safety and security. Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, regarded as one of the key energy solutions of the 21st century are more energy efficient and reliable than conventional systems and have the potential to diminish these challenges. These technologies can also play a significant role in reducing the noise, air, and water pollution and enhancing energy security. This paper presents the design of a set of hydrogen technologies and systems that are commercially available and are ready for practical, real-world use. The hydrogen applications selected for Lambert-St. Louis …

Functional Testing Of Faults In Asynchronous Crossbar Architecture, Sriram Venkateswaran

Masters Theses

"The challenge of extending Moore's Law past the physical limits of the present semiconductor technology calls for novel innovations. Several novel nanotechnologies are being proposed as an alternative to their CMOS counterparts, with nanowire crossbar being one of the most promising paradigms. Quite recently, a new promising clock-free architecture, called the Asynchronous Crossbar Architecture has been proposed to enhance the manufacturability and to improve the robustness of digital circuits by removing various timing related failure modes. Even though the proposed clock-free architecture offers several merits, it is not free from the high defect rates induced due to nondeterministic nanoscale assembly. …

Information Flow Properties For Cyber-Physical Systems, Rav Akella

Masters Theses

"In cyber-physical systems, which are the integrations of computational and physical processes, security properties are difficult to enforce. Fundamentally, physically observable behavior leads to violations of confidentiality. This work analyzes certain noninterference based security properties to ensure that interactions between the cyber and physical processes preserve confidentiality. A considerable barrier to this analysis is the representation of physical system interactions at the cyber-level. This thesis presents encoding of these physical system properties into a discrete event system and represents the cyber-physical system using Security Process Algebra (SPA). The model checker, Checker of Persistent Security (CoPS) shows Bisimulation based NonDeducibility on …

Development Of A One Dimensional Subsurface Contaminant Transport Model With Stochastic Applications, Benjamin Waldon Johnson

Masters Theses

"Contaminant source release history is a necessary element of contaminant mass transport simulation in the saturated zone. The source release history is unknown at many sites, and many inverse models have been developed to define finite release histories. To define a likely domain of three source history parameters, a mass balancebased one dimensional approach is developed and tested by discretizing the spatial domain into bands. By incorporating the approach in a spreadsheet model, observed data is represented by both variable length and constant length bands of analysis. Each representation of observed data was tested to determine the most appropriate band …

Exploring The Use Of A Commercial Game Engine For The Development Of Educational Software, Hussain Alafaireet

Masters Theses

"Three-dimensional visualization and simulation environments are becoming increasingly important in both industrial and educational environments. However, developing these simulations can be a difficult and expensive task. Herein we explore the use of a commercial game engine to develop a 3-D, interactive computer game designed to teach players about the anatomy of a frog. The goal of this project is threefold: 1) to develop high-fidelity virtual reality educational software with a limited budget and limited personnel, 2) to define a software development process by which similar simulations can be developed, and 3) to explore the benefits that these simulations provide to …

Localization Of Nodes In Wired And Wireless Networks, Hindu Kothapalli

Masters Theses

"This thesis focuses on the implementation of algorithms for localization of nodes in wired and wireless networks. The thesis is organized into two papers. The first paper presents the localization algorithms based on time of arrival (TOA) and time difference of arrival (TDOA) techniques for computer networks such as the Internet by using round-trip-time (RTT) measurements obtained from known positions of the gateway nodes. The RTT values provide an approximate measure of distance between the gateway nodes and an unknown node. The least squares technique is then used to obtain an estimated position of the unknown node. The second paper …

Preventing Chemical Product Failure, Kenneth Ombete

Masters Theses

"The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate a research methodology to prevent chemical product failures. This methodology extends the risk in early design (RED) method for prevention of failure in electromechanical products to include products with chemical subsystems. Inclusion of this domain is demanded by the ever-growing semiconductor and energy industries. The RED method was extended by first identifying principal chemical failure modes and adding them to the failure mode taxonomy. The RED database was then augmented with historical failures of products that included chemical subsystems. Finally, the extension was validated with a case study of a fuel cell"--Abstract, …

Reliability-Based Design With System Reliability And Design Improvement, Gagandeep Singh Saini

Masters Theses

"This thesis focuses on developing a methodology for accurately estimating series system probability of failure. Existing methods for series system based design optimization are not that accurate because they assign reliability to each failure mode; as a result complete system reliability goes down. According to method proposed in this work, the user will assign required system reliability at the start and then optimizer will apportion reliability to every failure mode in order to meet required system reliability level. Detlevson second order upper bounds are used to estimate system probability of failure. Several examples have been shown to verify the results …

Fault Detection And Prediction With Application To Rotating Machinery, Gary R. Halligan

Masters Theses

"In this thesis, the detection and prediction of faults in rotating machinery is undertaken and presented in two papers. In the first paper, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), a well known data-driven dimension reduction technique, is applied to data for normal operation and four fault conditions from a one-half horsepower centrifugal water pump. Fault isolation in this scheme is done by observing the location of the data points in the Principal Component domain, and the time to failure (TTF) is calculated by applying statistical regression on the resulting PC scores. The application of the proposed scheme demonstrated that PCA was able …

Feasibility Of A Human Performance Model In Consequence Management, Kashmeera Ghosh

Masters Theses

"Human civilization has always encountered unpredictable disasters as a result of natural events. Now it also faces the disasters caused by terrorist attacks. Governments must have consequence management plans in place to protect public health and safety, restore essential services, and provide emergency relief to affected businesses and individuals. Human performance models predict outcomes in complex dynamic situations. Such models can simulate disaster management procedures under varying circumstances. This work applies human performance modeling in a terrorist situation and evaluates possible uses of such models by first responders in practical consequence management applications. It includes a case study of an …

Friction Stir Processing Of Magnesium Alloys, Gaurav Bhargava

Masters Theses

"Magnesium alloys have been fast catching up their attention in applications where both lightweight and exceptional strength is desired. But magnesium alloys suffer formability issues which limit their use to cast applications when designing complicated shapes. Friction stir processing (FSP) is technique for, imparting a fine-grained, homogeneous microstructure by which both strength and ductility can be enhanced. The results from the first part of present work showed that AZ31 alloy when employed the use of FSP, yielded significant strength and ductility gains but on the cost of anisotropy. The cause of anisotropy was investigated to be correlated to texture evolution …

Synthesis Of Surface Composites Using Friction Stir Processing, Bharat Gattu

Masters Theses

"Composite materials have an edge over monolithic materials due to higher strength/stiffness - to - density ratios, improved fatigue and wear resistance and better high temperature properties. Surface composites provide improved tribological properties such as wear resistance, friction coefficient and corrosion resistance. Friction stir processing (FSP) which originated from friction stir welding (FSW - a method for joining aluminum alloys) is a solid state technique to modify the microstructure of the alloys. During FSP the frictional heat generated at the tool - work piece interface plasticizes the material allowing it to flow around the pin. The combined effect of the …

Development And Use Of Computer Aided Tools To Enhance Team Dynamics With Role Play Simulations, Vachaspathy Kuntamukkala

Masters Theses

"This thesis proposes a methodology for the development and use of computer based tools to enhance student team dynamics. Working effectively in groups cannot be taught in class room environment. Students often encounter conflicts during team meetings. Although some conflicts are resolved by the efforts of team members, an unbiased facilitator who is not a member of the team is often needed to help. This work proposes a tool that uses role play simulations to engage students in real-life scenarios so that they gain a practical, as well as a theoretical, understanding of how to work effectively as a team. …

In-Plane Behavior Of Strengthened Unreinforced Masonry Infill Walls With Alternative Wood-Fiber Fly Ash Material, Yosuke Tanizawa

Masters Theses

"This research investigates the potential for an alternative masonry product to use in masonry infill wall systems. The study also investigates the effects of an external fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) strengthening system on in-plane behavior of the alternative unreinforced masonry (URM) walls. The alternative masonry product is produced in a solid unit configuration and utilizes recycled white oak wood-fibers and an ASTM Class-C fly ash as its raw materials. The external strengthening system investigated consists of an elastomeric polyurea surface coating with and without integrated discrete chopped E-glass fibers which is directly sprayed on the URM wall surfaces. The alternative …

The Development And Application Of The Complete Time-Domain Trl Calibration Technique, Hongxia Ning

Masters Theses

"The first paper in the thesis discussed the development of a complete time-domain THRU-REFLECT-LINE (t-TRL) calibration technique. To validate the error correction technique, two stripline TRL test fixtures are designed and measured by two TDR instruments respectively. The t-TRL calibration is implemented to the recorded TDR/TDT waveforms and the comparison of the magnitude and phase results of S-parameters obtained by t-TRL and VNA TRL shows excellent agreement up to 25GHz.

In the second paper, the application of t-TRL calibration technique to the Root Impulse Energy (RIE) loss calculation is discussed. The RIE loss is theoretically derived for the matched network …