Digital Commons Network^™

Accelerated Destructive Degradation Test Planning, Ying Shi, Luis A. Escobar, William Q. Meeker

Faculty Publications

Accelerated destructive degradation tests (ADDTs) provide reliability information quickly. An ADDT plan specifies factor-level combinations of an accelerating variable (e.g., temperature) and evaluation time and the allocations of test units to these combinations. This article describes methods for finding good ADDT plans for an important class of destructive degradation models. First, a collection of optimum plans is derived. These plans minimize the large sample approximate variance of the maximum likelihood (ML) estimator of a specified quantile of the failure-time distribution. The general equivalence theorem is used to verify the optimality of these plans. Because an optimum plan is not robust …

Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln And The Great Secession Winter, 1860-1861, Harold Holzer

Civil War Book Review

Interview with Harold Holzer

Interviewed by Christopher Childers

The Origins Of Proslavery Christianity: White And Black Evangelicals In Colonial And Antebellum Virginia, Eva Sheppard Wolf

Civil War Book Review

Christianity and the Defense of Slavery

Rediscovering Civil War Classics:Rediscovering Lincoln The Writer, David Madden

Civil War Book Review

Abraham Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer By Fred Kaplan New York: HarperCollins, 2008. Among the many titles and sub-titles of biographies of Lincoln, Fred Kaplan’s Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer, serves to remind us that Lincoln was a writer. In my column this time, I am not redi....

A Southern Moderate In Radical Times: Henry Washington Hilliard, 1808-1892, Robert Tinkler

Civil War Book Review

An Alabamian’s Life During the Civil War and Reconstruction

Artisans In The Upper South: Petersburg, Virginia 1820-1865, Frank J. Byrne

Civil War Book Review

Labor History and the Upper South

Saving Savannah: The City In The Civil War, Mary A. Decredico

Civil War Book Review

The City of Savannah and the Hard War

Slavery On Trial: Race, Class, And Criminal Justice In Antebellum Richmond, Virginia, David Silkenat

Civil War Book Review

The Law and Slavery in Richmond

Civil War Treasures: Lincolniana In The Lsu Libraries: Special Collections Houses A Variety Of Materials, Leah Wood Jewett

Civil War Book Review

LSU Libraries’ Special Collections houses items in several collections pertaining directly, and indirectly, to Abraham Lincoln. The sources listed in this column represent a sampling of the library’s holdings. Researchers can find a complete listing of materials – both manuscript items and publicati....

Allele Frequencies Of The Human Platelet Antigen-1 In The Egyptian Population, Abdel Halim Salem, Kyudong Han, Mark A. Batzer

Faculty Publications

Background. The human platelet alloantigen system HPA-1 in the Egyptian population was examined by polymerase chain reaction using sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP). The objectives of this study were to evaluate the allele frequency of HPA-1a and -1b in healthy Egyptian individuals and compare these with the international literature. Human platelet antigen (HPA) systems are associated with alloimmunization and organ transplantation rejection as well as the development of cardiovascular disease. Of the various HPA systems, HPA-1 specifically has been considered to be the most important antigenic system implicated in the Caucasian population. No study has yet examined this system in the Egyptian …

Staggered T-Structures On Derived Categories Of Equivariant Coherent Sheaves, Pramod N. Achar

Faculty Publications

Let X be a scheme, and let G be an affine group scheme acting on X. Under reasonable hypotheses on X and G, we construct a t-structure on the derived category of G-equivariant coherent sheaves that in many ways resembles the perverse coherent t-structure, but which incorporates additional information from the G-action. Under certain circumstances, the heart of this t-structure, called the "staggered t-structure," is a finite-length category, and its simple objects are particularly easy to describe. We also exhibit two small examples in which the staggered t-structure is better-behaved than the perverse coherent t-structure. © The Author 2009. Published …

Optimal Partitions For Eigenvalues, Blaise Bourdin, Dorin Bucur, Édouard Oudet

Faculty Publications

We introduce a new numerical method for approximating partitions of a domain minimizing the sum of Dirichlet-Laplacian eigenvalues of any order. First we prove the equivalence of the original problem and a relaxed formulation based on measures. Using this result, we build a numerical algorithm to approximate optimal configurations. We describe numerical experiments aimed at studying the asymptotic behavior of optimal partitions with large numbers of cells. © 2009 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Chemically Striking Regions On Mars And Stealth Revisited, Suniti Karunatillake, James J. Wray, Steven W. Squyres, G. Jeffrey Taylor, Olivier Gasnault, Scott M. Mclennan, William Boynton, M. R.El Maarry, James M. Dohm

Faculty Publications

The Mars Odyssey Gamma Ray Spectrometer Suite has yielded global chemical information for Mars. In this work, we establish regions of unusual chemical composition relative to average Mars primarily on the basis of Ca, Cl, Fe, H, K, Si, and Th. Using data from Mars Odyssey; the Mars Exploration Rovers; the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Imaging; and 3.5 cm and 1.35 cm radar observations from Earth, we examine a chemically striking ≈2.E6 km2 region and find it to overlap significantly with a radar Stealth region on Mars. It is remarkably enriched in Cl and depleted in Fe and Si (along with …

Three-Way Tiling Sets In Two Dimensions, David R. Larson, Peter Massopust, Gestur Ólafsson

Faculty Publications

In this article we show that there exist measurable sets W⊂ℝ2 with finite measure that tile ℝ2 in a measurable way under the action of a expansive matrix A, an affine Weyl group W ̃ and a full rank lattice Γ⊂ ℝ 2 . This note is follow-up research to the earlier article "Coxeter groups and wavelet sets" by the first and second authors, and is also relevant to the earlier article "Coxeter groups, wavelets, multiresolution and sampling" by M. Dobrescu and the third author. After writing these two articles, the three authors participated in a workshop at the Banff …

Estimation Of Cardiac Respiratory-Motion By Semi-Automatic Segmentation And Registration Of Non-Contrast-Enhanced 4d-Ct Cardiac Datasets, Joyoni Dey, Tinsu Pan, David J. Choi, Dennis Robotis, Mark S. Smyczynski, P. Hendrik Pretorius, Michael A. King

Faculty Publications

The goal of this work is to investigate, for a large set of patients, the motion of the heart with respiration during free-breathing supine medical imaging. For this purpose we analyzed the motion of the heart in 32 non-contrast enhanced respiratory-gated 4D-CT datasets acquired during quiet unconstrained breathing. The respiratory-gated CT images covered the cardiac region and were acquired at each of 10 stages of the respiratory cycle, with the first stage being end-inspiration. We devised a 3-D semi-automated segmentation algorithm that segments the heart in the 4D-CT datasets acquired without contrast enhancement for use in estimating respiratory motion of …

Creation And Implementation Plan For A Sales Engineering Minor At California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, Joshua M. Checkis

Biomedical Engineering

The profession of Sales Engineering (S.E.) offers engineers a unique opportunity to fuse their technical background with communication and business skills in order to seek a rewarding alternative to the typical engineering career path. The shortfall of this niche industry is the lack of formal academic programs that seek to develop the skills necessary to prepare engineers for the field. At this time only two sales engineering minors exist in the nation, one at Iowa State University and the other at the University of Florida. The process for this senior project was to clearly identify the scope of a competitive …

The Behavior Of Novae Light Curves Before Eruption, Andrew C. Collazzi, Bradley E. Schaefer, Limin Xiao, Ashley Pagnotta, Peter Kroll, Klaus Löchel, Arne A. Henden

Faculty Publications

In 1975, E. R. Robinson conducted the hallmark study of the behavior of classical nova light curves before eruption, and this work has now become part of the standard knowledge of novae. He made three points: 5 out of 11 novae showed pre-eruption rises in the years before eruption, one nova (V446 Her) showed drastic changes in the variability across eruptions, and all but one of the novae (excepting BT Mon) have the same quiescent magnitudes before and after the outburst. This work has not been tested since it came out. We have now tested these results by going back …

Secondary Tracheoesophageal Puncture With In-Office Transnasal Esophagoscopy, Brad Lebert, Andrew J. Mcwhorter, Melda Kunduk, Rohan R. Walvekar, Jan S. Lewin, Katherine A. Hutcheson, Denise A. Barringer, Amy C. Hessel, F. Christopher Holsinger

Faculty Publications

Objective: To evaluate the outcomes of voice restoration using office-based transnasal esophagoscopy (TNE) to guide placement of the secondary tracheoesophageal puncture (TEP). Design: Retrospective chart review. Setting: Two tertiary care medical centers. Patients: The study included 39 patients who underwent the TNE-TEP procedure from January 2004 to December 2008. Main Outcome Measures: Clinical, demographic, and TE speech-related data were recorded to examine the ease, efficiency, complications, and speech-related outcomes. Results: Among 39 patients identified, the average age was 65 years (age range, 47-83 years), with 32 male (82%) and 7 female (16%) patients. Twenty-five patients (64%) underwent total laryngectomy; 8 …

Impact Of Reproductive Effort On Survival Of Rio Grande Wild Turkey Meleagris Gallop Intermedia Hens In Texas, Bret A. Collier, Kyle B. Melton, Jason B. Hardin, Nova J. Silvy, Markus J. Peterson

Faculty Publications

The southeastern portion of the Edwards Plateau of Texas, historically a stronghold of Rio Grande wild turkeys Meleagris gallopavo intermedia, has seen the numbers of turkeys declining since the 1970s. Because hen survival is a key parameter affecting turkey population dynamics, we monitored radio-tagged Rio Grande wild turkey hens on the Edwards Plateau during 2001-2007 to compare survival during the breeding season in areas where turkey abundance has declined vs areas with stable populations. Breeding season survival was best predicted by a model that allowed variation during different periods of the reproductive season (initial nesting during 25 March 21 April, …

Existing Biomass Infrastructure And Theoretical Potential Biomass Production In The U.S, Jeremy R. Porter, Frank M. Howell, Philip B. Mason, Troy C. Blanchard

Faculty Publications

The recent and projected status of energy production and consumption in the U.S., resulting in substantial dependencies upon foreign oil, has continued to provide pressure on domestic energy security. All told, bio-energy systems, and biomass crop production in particular, will be important elements of national security, economic vitality, and public policy. Using biomass crop estimates based upon models developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, we identify potential biomass crop production zones within the contiguous 48 states of the United States using spatially centered analytic methods. The Midwest and the South regions of the United States are, by far, the …

Field Sensitivity To Lp Variations Of A Scatterer, Stephen P. Shipman

Faculty Publications

For the problem of diffraction of harmonic scalar waves by a lossless periodic slab scatterer, we analyze field sensitivity with respect to the material coefficients of the slab. The governing equation is the Helmholtz equation, which describes acoustic or electromagnetic fields. The main theorem establishes the variational (Fréchet) derivative of the scattered field measured in the H¹ (root-mean-square-gradient) norm as a function of the material coefficients measured in an L^p (p-power integral) norm, with 2 < p < ∞, as long as these coefficients are bounded above and below by positive constants and do not admit resonance. The derivative is Lipschitz continuous. We also establish the variational derivative of the transmitted energy with respect to the material coefficients in L^p. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

With The Sweat Of Our Brows: A Qualitative Interview Study On The Meaning Of Work For Illinois And Nebraska Family Farming Couples With Long Careers, Sheri J. Hink

Master's Theses - Sociology and Anthropology

This thesis explores the social identities and the work and business strategies of five farming couples who had long farming careers in the Midwest. Much of the literature presented within this thesis discusses the hardships that family farmers face in today’s economy. However, the research also points to a strong attachment to farming and the farming lifestyle despite its many challenges. Using a qualitative interviewing method, I was interested in studying what meaning these farming couples attached to their work, including any gendered division of labor, and what survival techniques they had employed. I found that the five family farming …

Faculty Perceptions Of Faculty Evaluation Programs At Selected Private Colleges/Universities In The Southeast United States, Jeffrey L. Rector

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the faculty performance appraisal programs at the participating institutions. Faculty perception, regarding the effectiveness of the faculty evaluation appraisal program at their institution can be an important part of assessing the program itself. The study attempted to identify whether or not faculty members perceive that faculty performance appraisal is effective? Institutions continue to have difficulty in implementing a successful faculty performance appraisal program (Cashin, 1978). This difficulty and the need for institutions to implement effective faculty performance appraisal programs were the rationale for this study. Through analysis of the appraisal programs …

A Drama Of Discourse: Competing Narratives In The Book Of Job, Hannah Louise Coffey

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study engages the biblical Book of Job, subsequent medieval commentaries, and literary sources from the 15 through 20 centuries that use the language and motifs canonized in the Book of Job. This thesis is primarily concerned with the multiple stylistic elements used in the work and how they constitute a discourse of their own, or as has been sometimes asserted by critics, “competing narratives.” This discourse then finds voice in the usage of the Joban motif by other authors in works of ambiguous genre, lending credence to the complicated and multifaceted nature of the Book of Job’s genre and …

Sonic Boom Prediction Methods Using Feature-Based Adaptation Of Unstructured Meshes, Jacob Chackasseril Varghese

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the improvement of near-field sonic boom prediction of an inviscid supersonic configuration using two grid generation refinement procedures. The first method uses P_HUGG, a parallel hierarchical Cartesian mesh generation algorithm to generate a volume mesh, with the solution-based mesh adaptation capability of P_HUGG being exploited. The mesh quality was improved using P_OPT, a parallel optimization-based mesh-smoothing program. In the second method, the commercially-available software POINTWISE™ is used for volume mesh generation. Then, P_REFINE, a parallel subdivision refinement code, is used t o adaptively refine the mesh. The effectiveness of capturing far field shocks was examined using TENASI, …

The Role Of Is Project Critical Success Factors: A Revelatory Case, Cecil Eng Huang Chua, Wee-Kiat Lim

CCX Research

Research in Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of Enterprise Systems (ES) projects has identified numerous practitioner governance mechanisms for ensuring project success. However, such research has not developed a theory of why certain critical success factors encourage project success. Our research develops such theory on a case study where even though the levels of several critical success factors were weak, the project nevertheless succeeded. Specifically, the logistics ES project succeeded even though there was (1) only marginal top management support, (2) low key user commitment, and (3) change management, training and other critical aspects of user management and communication were not …

Looking At 2010, Robert T. Howell

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

No abstract provided.

Automotive Technology Student Learning Styles And Their Implications For Faculty, Mark D. Threeton, Richard A. Walter

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

In an effort to provide Career and Technical Education (CTE) professionals with additional insight on how to better meet the educational needs of the learner, this study sought to identify the preference for learning of postsecondary automotive technology students. While it might appear logical to naturally classify auto-tech students as primarily hands-on-learners, the results suggested that the sample was a diverse group of learners with specific educational preferences within the automotive technology program. With a lack of learning style research within the trade and industry sector of CTE, findings may be useful to trade and industry teachers and or teacher …

Complete Issue

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

No abstract provided.