Digital Commons Network^™

Implementing Energy Release Rate Calculations Into The Lamodel Program, Morgan M. Sears

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Mining activity at increasingly greater depths and the tragedy at Crandall Canyon that claimed the lives of nine miners have forced coal bump research to the forefront of mining engineering research. Near the end of the last century, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the former U.S. Bureau of Mines investigated the mechanics, conditions, and mitigation of coal bumps. Unfortunately, the exact mechanics of coal bumps is still not fully understood. Following this period, research into coal bumps in the United States has been limited.;The Energy Release Rate (ERR) calculation quantifies the dissipation ("release") of the …

Modeling Of Jet Engine Abnormal Conditions And Detection Using The Artificial Immune System Paradigm, Jaclyn Marie Porter

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Previous research at WVU has yielded promising results in the detection of aircraft sub-systems malfunctions using the artificial immune system (AIS) paradigm. However, one aircraft component that requires improvement is the aircraft propulsion system. In this research effort, MAPSS, a non-real time low-bypass turbofan engine model distributed by NASA, has been linearized and interfaced with the WVU F-15 model and the WVU 6 degrees-of-freedom flight simulator to provide a more complex engine model and create more options for engine failure modeling and engine failure detection. A variety of engine actuator and sensor failures were modeled and implemented into the simulation …

Open Access Fiber To The Home Networking, Roger E. Timmerman

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of open-access networks appeals to communities that want to invest in and improve their access to modern telecommunications services. By investing in, or building their own open-access telecommunications networks, communities can create an environment where several telecommunications service providers can co-exist on a common open-access infrastructure. This model promotes innovation and competition among several smaller service providers rather than having a monopoly or oligopoly from those companies that can afford the investment of infrastructure in the community. This research provides an analysis of two large open-access fiber-to-the-home networks in Utah to determine a set of recommendations and best-practices …

Artificial Intelligence And Personal Identity, Alexander R. Pruss

Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers

No abstract provided.

Sensitivity Comparisons And Average Run Lengths Of The Mewms And Mewmv Control Charts Using Individual Observations With Singular Mean Shifts And Variance Changes, Chad Edgar Eshelman

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Improved Hydrogeophysical Parameter Estimation From Empirical Mode Decomposition Processed Ground Penetrating Radar Data, Adrian Addison, Bradley M. Battista, Camelia C. Knapp

Faculty Publications

Various techniques have been designed to maximize the use of ground penetrating radar (GPR) as an exploration tool. Improvements in signal processing are expected to further facilitate the accuracy of parameters derived from using GPR in certain geologic environments. Common-offset GPR data were collected at the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) in Beaufort, South Carolina, and dielectric constants were calculated following the application of the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) for dewowing GPR traces. Conventional signal processing is applied to the GPR traces to provide hydrogeophysical parameter estimates such as volumetric water content, porosity, and hydraulic conductivity. The results are validated …

Evaluating Head Gestures For Panning 2-D Spatial Information, Matthew O. Derry

Master's Theses

New, often free, spatial information applications such as mapping tools, topological imaging, and geographic information systems are becoming increasingly available to the average computer user. These systems, which were once available only to government, scholastic, and corporate institutions with highly skilled operators, are driving a need for new and innovative ways for the average user to navigate and control spatial information intuitively, accurately, and efficiently. Gestures provide a method of control that is well suited to navigating the large datasets often associated with spatial information applications. Several different types of gestures and different applications that navigate spatial data are examined. …

Development Of An Air-Cycle Environmental Control System For Automotive Applications, Christopher James Forster

Master's Theses

An air‐cycle air conditioning system, using a typical automotive turbocharger as the core of the system, was designed and tested. Effects on engine performance were kept to a minimum while providing the maximum amount of cooling possible and minimizing weight and space requirements. A test stand utilizing shop compressed air was developed to measure component performance. An unmodified automotive turbocharger was tested initially as a baseline in a Reversed‐Brayton Cycle air cooling system. Once the baseline was established, another aircycle machine, assembled from commercial turbocharger components chosen individually to optimize their performance for cooling purposes, was tested to improve the …

Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy (Lscm): An Application For The Detection Of Morphological Alterations In Skin Structure, Shea C. Smith

Master's Theses

Laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) is an optical imaging technique that provides improved resolution and sensitivity over conventional methods of optical microscopy. However, the cost of most commercial LSCM systems exceeds the financial limitations of many smaller laboratories. The design of a custom LSCM created at a fraction of the cost of a commercial model is discussed in this paper.

The increase in the incidence rate of skin cancer in the world today is alarming, as such, it is essential to provide an early, rapid and effective method for in vivo diagnostics of human skin tissue. LSCM is capable of …

The Electrical Properties Of Human Tissue For The Diagnosis And Treatment Of Melanoma Skin Cancer, Glenn Cameron Stante

Master's Theses

This thesis discusses the research, experimental methods, and data gathered for the investigation of a novel method for the diagnosis of melanoma skin cancer. First, a background about human skin tissue is presented. Then, a detailed description of melanoma along with current diagnosis techniques and treatment options are presented. In the experimental methods, the electrical properties of several types of tissue were analyzed, the purpose of which was to discover if a tissue type can be distinguished by its electrical properties alone. This would allow for the diagnosis of melanoma to be done by examining the electrical properties of the …

Latent Semantic Web Service Discovery And Composition Framework, (Winnie) Yuki Yick

Master's Theses

A web service is a software system that supports interoperable machine to machine interaction over the network. It can be any kind of service provided on the web that can exchange data between applications. In simple terms, it is any program that is callable by another program across the web using standard protocols. Web services are special because they are independent of the platform, programming language, and model design. In current web applications, more businesses are gradually publishing their business as services over the web. This growing number of web services available within an organization and on the Web raises …

Arroyo Toad (Anaxyrus Californicus) Life History, Population Status, Population Threats, And Habitat Assessment Of Conditions At Fort Hunter Liggett, Monterey County, California, Jacquelyn Petrasich Hancock

Master's Theses

The arroyo toad (Anaxyrus californicus) is a federally endangered species found on Fort Hunter Liggett, Monterey County, California. The species was discovered in 1996 and was determined to occupy 26.7 km of the San Antonio River from approximately 2.4 km northwest of the San Antonio Mission de Padua, to the river delta above the San Antonio Reservoir. The construction of the San Antonio Reservoir dam in 1963 isolated this northern population of arroyo toads. Through time, the Fort Hunter Liggett landscape has changed drastically. The land was heavily grazed by cattle until 1991, which considerably reduced vegetation in riparian areas. …

A Computational Model Of Apoptotic Osteocyte Correlation To Cortical Bone Remodeling Parameters, Michael Stephen Alexander

Master's Theses

The onset of osteoporosis caused by aging, disease states, and post-menopausal conditions significantly impacts patient quality of life, required healthcare funding, personal autonomy losses from increased fracture risk and the subsequent corrective surgery. Research has indicated that osteocyte apoptosis may be a key parameter in bone remodeling, raising the possibility of remodeling rate modulation for the mitigation of bone mass resorption. By developing therapies that target osteocyte apoptosis, it may be possible to prevent undesired bone remodeling activity while maintaining a healthy balance between damage formation in the form of microcracks induced by the strain environment and the removal of …

An Assessment Of Indoor Infiltration Parameters For Black Carbon From Residential Wood Combustion And The Spectral Dependence Of Light Absorption For Organic Carbon, Christopher John Malejan

Master's Theses

Black carbon, a proxy for woodsmoke was measured indoors and outdoors for an occupied residence in Cambria, CA during the winter months of 2009. The purpose was to investigate the infiltration parameters: air exchange rate, deposition rate, and penetration factor. The second part of this study investigated the light absorption properties of organic carbon from residential wood combustion, the dominant fraction of woodsmoke.

To assess woodsmoke variation, a study conducted parallel to the one presented in this thesis (Ward, 2009), a grid array of personal emission monitors (PEMS) and aethalometers were placed in a small area, approximately one square kilometer, …

Drain Diverter, Hyung Joon Kim

Master's Theses

The DI water is commonly used to rinse production wafers to remove mechanical and chemical residue without any problematic chemical reaction in rinse process. The semiconductor industry wants to save their manufacture cost and reduce the industrial residue by recycling the deionized water during CPM process. The conductivity in recycled DI water is integrated over the time period.

The Drain Diverter, deionized wafer filtering system, is the automated system that detects the level of ions and controls the drain system by using conductive probes. The system contains hysteresis loop, valve feedback, relay circuit, and facility interlock. The recycled water valve …

A Neural Network Approach To Border Gateway Protocol Peer Failure Detection And Prediction, Cory B. White

Master's Theses

The size and speed of computer networks continue to expand at a rapid pace, as do the corresponding errors, failures, and faults inherent within such extensive networks. This thesis introduces a novel approach to interface Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) computer networks with neural networks to learn the precursor connectivity patterns that emerge prior to a node failure. Details of the design and construction of a framework that utilizes neural networks to learn and monitor BGP connection states as a means of detecting and predicting BGP peer node failure are presented. Moreover, this framework is used to monitor a BGP network …

Design And Performance Of Load Bearing Shear Walls Made From Composite Rice Straw Blocks, Kevin Robert Camann

Master's Theses

Although rice straw and other grains have been used in building since pre-history, in the past two decades, there has been a move to utilize this rapidly renewable, locally available, agricultural byproduct as part of the sustainable construction movement. Up to this point, this has been done by simply stacking up the full straw bales. Stak Block, invented by Oryzatech, Inc., is a modular, interlocking block made of a composite of rice straw and binding agent that serves as an evolution in straw construction. This study investigates the feasibility of using these Stak Blocks as a structural system. The report …

Swept-Frequency Sampled Grating Distributed Bragg Reflector Lasers Optimized For Optical Coherence Tomography Applications, Brandon J. George

Master's Theses

Swept Frequency Source Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) requires high repetition rate and wide spectral width wavelength tunable sources at a low cost. The sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector (SG-DBR) laser provides wide wavelength tuning range while exhibiting a wavelength switching speed that is among the fastest currently available. The SG-DBR laser is used to generate linear frequency ramps with high repetition rates. Since the SG-DBR laser is currently used for the telecommunications industry in high volume, the price of the system is much lower than current OCT sources. Therefore the SG-DBR laser provides a practical solution for Swept Source OCT. …

Effects Of Delamination On Composite Sandwich Structures Under Static And Fatigue Loading, Eugene Everett Eswonia

Master's Theses

This thesis will present the experimental and numerical analysis of composite sandwich structures under monotonic and fatigue loading. The sandwich skins were made of fiberglass and the core used was a closed cell PVC foam. Initial delaminations were introduced into the sandwich structures during manufacturing to see the effect of delamination size on the ultimate strength and monotonic fracture. Fiberglass rods, called shear keys, added to the foam core to determine whether or not they increased the strength of the test specimens. Furthermore, shear key locations were also varied and their effects noted. The fixed rate static behavior for all …

Water Conservation's Role In California Water Transfers, Charles M. Burt

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This paper describes various irrigation district water transfer projects. Water transfers have been of many types, including agriculture to agriculture, agriculture to urban, and agriculture to environment. In each case that will be described, the unique circumstances of each district will be described. Typical actions include developing a water balance to determine if “wet water” truly exists for conservation, then identifying the sources of that wet water. Subsequent actions include developing designs that will conserve the water, achieving board approval, and constructing and implementing the conservation measures.

Vaccination Nation: A Bioethical Feminist Inquiry Into The Political, Social And Ethical Controversy Surrounding The Human Papillomavirus Vaccine, Kirsten Keller Morin

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This theoretical inquiry has explored the political, social, and ethical controversy surrounding the government's push to mandate the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for adolescent girls. This vaccine has the potential of preventing cancer, specifically cervical cancer. There is a growing debate in this country whether this new HPV vaccine, Gardasil®, should be added to the list of school-mandated vaccines. Karen Houppert (2007) has stated that this particular "vaccine protects girls and women from cervical cancer and genital warts caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV)" (p. 17). So, what is the controversy? It all started with the fact that this vaccine …

Kernel-Based Interior-Point Algorithms For The Linear Complementarity Problem, Jason N. Brandies

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis, we consider the Linear Complementarity Problem (LCP), which is a well-known mathematical problem with many practical applications. The objective of the LCP is to find a certain vector that will satisfy a set of linear inequalities and (non-linear) complementary equation. A kernel-based primal-dual Interior-Point Method (IPM) for solving LCP was introduced and analyzed. The class of kernel functions used in this thesis is a class of so-called eligible kernel functions that are fairly general. We have shown for a positive semi-definite matrix M, that the algorithm is globally convergent and has very good convergence properties. For some …

An Assessment Of Perceived Crop Damage In A Tanzanian Village Impacted By Human-Elephant Conflict And An Investigation Of Deterrent Properties Of African Elephant (Loxodonta Africana) Exudates Using Bioassays, Rebekah R. Karimi

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Human-elephant conflict (HEC) is on the rise in East Africa as habitat that was formerly occupied by elephants and other wildlife is being converted to farmland. African elephants (Loxodonta africana) will raid agricultural fields to feed on crops, and many agriculturalists attribute the majority of their crop damage to elephants. The first two objectives of this study were to evaluate the accuracy of this perception by comparing perceived crop damage by elephants and other factors to the actual, quantified crop damage, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of deterrent methods against wildlife used by local farmers in a Tanzanian …

An Analysis Of Participation In Servant Leadership As Self Reported By Elementary School Principals In Southwest Georgia, Barbara Perryman Williams

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Servant leadership is an approach to leadership that holds promise in the school setting because of the nature of the principalship. The current educational climate created by the No Child Left Behind Act, funding cuts, and principal shortages increases the importance of leadership within the schools. Utilization of the approach has been reported in business, but it was less clear if school leaders by practice model servant leadership in elementary schools. The purpose of this mixed methods research study was to determine the extent that elementary school principals in Southwest Georgia participated in the servant leadership model. The researcher administered …

User Study Of Information Extracted From Engineering Representations, Rachel Hannah

All Theses

It is important for designers to understand the usefulness of different engineering representations in order to save time and money throughout a project. Designers often rely on past experience to decide which model to construct; yet students without this experience have no help. Interestingly there are noticeable gaps in the research literature with respect to how and when to select representations and modeling approaches for engineering designs. This thesis examines the differences between three types of engineering representations, specifically sketches, drawing packages, and physical prototypes. The amount of information designers can extract from these representations and also the correctness and …

The Development Of A Mechatronics And Material Handling Course: Laboratory Experiments And Projects, James Shirley

All Theses

Mechatronic systems integrate technologies from a variety of engineering disciplines to create solutions to challenging industrial problems. The material handling industry utilizes mechatronics to move, track, and manipulate items in factories and distribution centers. Material handling systems, because of their use of programmable logic controllers (PLC), PLC networks, industrial robotics, and other mechatronic elements, are a natural choice for a college instructional environment. This thesis offers insight and guidance for mechatronic activities introduced in a laboratory setting. A series of eight laboratory experiments have been created to introduce PLCs, robotics, electric circuits, and data acquisition fundamentals. In-depth case studies synthesize …

Linguistic Analysis Of Natural Language Engineering Requirements, Carl Lamar

All Theses

In engineering design, the needs of the customer are expressed through engineering requirement statements. These requirement statements are often expressed using natural language because they are easily created and read. However, there are several problems associated with natural language requirements including but not limited to ambiguity, incompleteness, understandability, testability and over specificity. Several representation and analysis tools have been proposed to address these problems within a requirement statement. These tools include formal languages, such as UML and SysML, requirement management tools, such as IBM Telelogic Doors, and natural language processors such as QuARS. These tools assist in the systematic elicitation …

Using Artificial Neural Network Models For Forecasting & Comparison, Ivan Alaa Nadhim

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

The Artificial Neural Network methodology is a very important & new subjects that build's the models for Analyzing, Data Evaluation, Forecasting & Controlling without depending on an old model or classic statistic method that describe the behavior of statistic phenomenon, the methodology works by simulating the data to reach a robust optimum model that represent the statistic phenomenon & we can use the model in any time & states, we used the Box-Jenkins (ARMAX) approach for comparing, in this paper depends on the received power to build a robust model for forecasting, analyzing & controlling in the sod power, the …

Pic Controlled Two-Band Stereo Audio Equalizer, Tim Brown

Electrical Engineering

The purpose of this project is to build a PIC (Peripheral Interface Controlled) controlled two-band stereo audio equalizer. The input audio from each stereo channel is separated into four different analog filters. The PIC has been programmed in BASIC and is used to route the audio signal to one of the four analog filters. Three of the filters have been preset to a certain frequency response (Jazz, Natural, and Bass), and the fourth filter has the unique ability to be controlled manually. Stereo potentiometers have been installed on the “Manual” filter to allow the user to change the frequency response …

Counting Girls In - Gender Issues In Science And Mathematics: An Examination Of The Research Concerning Innate And Socio-Cultural Gender Differences In The Fields Of Science And Mathematics In An Effort To Promote More Female Participation, Valerie R. Mackin

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

In today's world, there is an increasing demand for people in the technological fields. Fewer females than males pursue careers in physical sciences, engineering, and computer science in the United States presenting a loss of needed mathematicians and scientists. Gender differences related to mathematics and science is a complex arena of study, involving both innate biological differences combined with socially constructed ideas about gender in society. Through an in-depth investigation from educational, cognitive, and social psychology perspectives one will be able to determine how innate and socio-cultural factors contribute to the shortage of needed mathematicians and scientists in the United …