Digital Commons Network^™

Multidisciplinary Collaborative Model For Complex, Angel Ernesto Delgado

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Nowadays, most devices with advanced technology require the development of embedded systems with mechanical and electrical components as well as software including more than one discipline. These are devices that are usually complex in terms of composition and functionality and that design must follow a methodology in order to successfully design and launch a device of this nature. Hence, the assembly of a multidisciplinary engineering group is required to carry out such complex devices and develop a fully functional product. The group may also need an expert on the field that can provide guidance and knowledge where needed. This is …

Ganglioside-Cytokine Interaction In The Induction Of Primary Brain Cell Death, John Charles Gorbet

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Gangliosides have been implicated in multiple pathologies affecting the central nervous system (CNS) and recent research has implicated them in playing an active role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. Empirical studies and theoretical considerations have suggested the possibility of interactions between gangliosides, like GD3, and pro-inflammatory cytokines present in the nervous system. This study sought to investigate the possibility that either individual gangliosides acting alone or complexed with other species interact with the known immune response factor TNF&alpha to initiate or facilitate cell death in the CNS. I examined the cellular viability and gene expression in primary brain cell …

Optimization Models For The Economic And Non-Economic Level Of Repair Analysis, Carlos Marco Ituarte-Villarreal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Every component, equipment or system will eventually fail. All failures produce a maintenance cost and, repair costs are especially hard to estimate ahead of time. Research shows that maintenance costs are the most substantial costs of development and use of equipment, reason why the cost of the product or equipment through its life is a major concern. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is to provide a new optimization model to determine the minimum cost maintenance policy for complex systems.

Modeling Geographic Awareness Of Road Networks For Consistency Verification, Ari Kassin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Problems related to transportation and inspection of valuable or sensitive assets such as commercial products and materials, cultural items and works of art, and hazardous materials share similarities and can be modeled by a core set of abstract entities including a payload, a vehicle, a driver, and an inspector. To make the load handling capabilities of security monitoring and inspection systems more scalable, security can be increased by reducing the variability of transportation routes to a finite set of authorized routes between trip origin and destination locations. Then trip anomalies, which are unexpected trip variations, can be used in inspection …

Microstructure And Property Evaluation Of Lifepo4 Thin Films For Application In Microbatteries, Jose Marcos Mares

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The shortage of fossil fuels and the requirements to produce clean, environmental friendly, efficient, and economical energy are the principal problems in the context of energy technology for current and future generations. Therefore, advanced energy storage and conversion capabilities with higher capacity and efficiency are desired. Currently, there is an enormous interest in the development of high energy density rechargeable batteries for use in domestic applications, automotive industries and portable electronic applications. The present research focuses on the development of LiFePO4 thin films for solid-state thin-film microbatteries. The present effort was performed with a specific purpose of understanding the effect …

12 Bit Charge Redistribution Digital To Analog Converter For The Residence Time Fluxgate Magnetometer, Miguel Angel Alamillo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The continuous advances in CMOS VLSI technology have culminated in high speed, low voltage CMOS digital circuits with gate delays below 50 ps at 1.5 V supply. At the same time, high voltage analog signal processing has fallen behind to the high flexibility and high reliability of DSP. However, the main drawback of DSP is the need for high accuracy low distortion data converters and as a consequence of the persistent efforts of reducing size, cost and power of solid-state components the field of CMOS Mixed-Signal circuit design has become of the utmost importance.

The obvious functionality of data converters …

Construction Innovator, Summer 2010, Construction Management Department

Construction Innovator

No abstract provided.

Major Depressive Disorder Among Individuals Who Are Deaf: Implications For Rehabilitation Professionals, Sandra Hansmann, Shawn P. Saladin, Diana M. Fraser-Mendez

School of Rehabilitation Services & Counseling Faculty Publications

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a potentially disabling condition which adversely affects psychosocial functioning in the lives of many people. Individuals who are prelingually and/or profoundly Deaf are especially at risk of misdiagnoses, which in turn may prevent them from receiving the treatment needed to reach their full potential in independent living or vocational rehabilitation. This article reviews general depressive symptomology, followed by a discussion of challenges associated with diagnosing MDD in individuals who are Deaf. Suggestions for therapeutic interventions are also included. The article concludes with a summary of the implications of Deafness and MDD for independent living and …

Haima In Hebrews, Hermann V. Kuma

Dissertations

Problem. The focus of the dissertation is the significance of the term αἷμα (“blood”) in the Epistle to the Hebrews and how the author of Hebrews uses the term to formulate the argument and message of the Epistle. The dissertation traces the scholarly blood debate involving blood as life or death which began in the last decade of the nineteenth century and eventually fizzled out in the mid-1950s. Recognition of the ambivalence of blood, symbolizing both life and death, is necessary to understand the message of Hebrews.

Method. The dissertation provides a discussion of the concept of blood in the …

The Origin, Development, And History Of The Norwegian Seventh-Day Adventist Church From The 1840s To 1889, Bjorgvin Martin Hjelvik Snorrason

Dissertations

This dissertation reconstructs chronologically the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Norway from the Haugian Pietist revival in the early 1800s to the establishment of the first Seventh-day Adventist Conference in Norway in 1887.

The present study has been based as far as possible on primary sources such as protocols, letters, legal documents, and articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers from the nineteenth century. A contextual-comparative approach was employed to evaluate the objectivity of a given source. Secondary sources have also been consulted for interpretation and as corroborating evidence, especially when no primary sources were available.

The study concludes …

A Comparison Of Computer-Based Training And Traditional Classroom Training For The Sad Corporation Job Placement Team, Janice Brown Adams

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this research study was to compare the effectiveness of computer-based training with traditional classroom training; both instructional delivery methods utilized the traditional classroom curriculum as a means of delivery for an on-the-job company-sponsored program. The JAW-SAD Human Resource Center (HRC) is a training facility for the SAD Corporation, a major international manufacturing company. The HRC is responsible for conducting continuous training and certification of SAD employees. Historically, training has been provided through conference workshops with a traditional classroom training format. The motivation and importance for this study was influenced by an administrative requirement to determine the …

Technology And Religion: Remaining Human In A Co-Created World (Book Review), Kristina M. Kays

Faculty Publications - Psychology Department

Reviews the book, "Technology and religion: Remaining human in a co-created world" by Noreen Herzfeld (see record 2009-04118-000). In this book, the author urges laypersons and professionals to consider the complexities of moral decision making about technology. Herzfeld explores how Christian, Jewish, and Islamic thinkers evaluate three categories of new technologies: “technologies of the human body, technologies of the human mind, and technologies of the external environment” (p. viii). This text is part of the Templeton Science and Religion series, which addresses the intersection between science and religion. While all books in this series are authored by specialists in the …

Steps For Prioritizing Academic Advising: A Small-School Case Study, Chris Koch, Kristina M. Kays

Faculty Publications - Psychology Department

This paper presents a case study of the steps taken to prioritize academic advising at a small, four-year, liberal arts university. Assessment data from several sources and an advising task force shaped the plan for changing the importance and culture of academic advising within the institution.

Social Transmission Of Fear In Rats: The Role Of 22-Khz Ultrasonic Distress Vocalization, Eun Joo Kim, Earnest S. Kim, Ellen Covey, Jeansok J. Kim

Faculty Publications - Psychology Department

Background

Social alarm calls alert animals to potential danger and thereby promote group survival. Adult laboratory rats in distress emit 22-kHz ultrasonic vocalization (USV) calls, but the question of whether these USV calls directly elicit defensive behavior in conspecifics is unresolved.

Methodology/Principal Findings

The present study investigated, in pair-housed male rats, whether and how the conditioned fear-induced 22-kHz USVs emitted by the ‘sender’ animal affect the behavior of its partner, the ‘receiver’ animal, when both are placed together in a novel chamber. The sender rats’ conditioned fear responses evoked significant freezing (an overt evidence of fear) in receiver rats that …

Bio-Inspired Log-Polar Based Color Image Pattern Analysis In Multiple Frequency Channels, Xiaolu Li

Master's Theses and Capstones

The main topic addressed in this thesis is to implement color image pattern recognition based on the lateral inhibition subtraction phenomenon combined with a complex log-polar mapping in multiple spatial frequency channels. It is shown that the individual red, green and blue channels have different recognition performances when put in the context of former work done by Dragan Vidacic. It is observed that the green channel performs better than the other two channels, with the blue channel having the poorest performance. Following the application of a contrast stretching function the object recognition performance is improved in all channels. Multiple spatial …

Linearity Tests Of A Multibeam Echosounder, Samuel F. Greenaway

Master's Theses and Capstones

The backscatter information available from many modern multibeam echosounder systems (MBES) has been shown to be useful for a number of purposes such as habitat classification and bottom type classification. Linearity of the system response is posited to be an important requirement for many backscatter processing techniques. A procedure to measure the system linearity is developed for the Reson 7125. These measurements are performed both in a controlled test tank environment and with systems installed on operational platforms. The linearity of the system with respect to power, gain, and the returned signal level is evaluated. It is possible to drive …

Seasonal Movement Of The American Horseshoe Crab Limulus Polyphemus In A Semi-Enclosed Bay On Cape Cod, Massachusetts (Usa) As Determined By Acoustic Telemetry, Mary-Jane James-Pirri

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

American horseshoe crabs Limulus polyphemus were tracked using acoustic telemetry and traditional tagging in a semi-enclosed bay on Cape Cod (Pleasant Bay), Massachusetts, USA, to determine seasonal movement patterns. Fifty-five actively spawning females were fitted with transmitters in 2008 and 2009 and were tracked using acoustic telemetry from May 2008 through July 2010. Fifteen crabs with transmitters also had archive depth-temperature tags attached. In addition, over 2000 spawning crabs (males and females) were tagged with US Fish and Wildlife (USFWS) button tags over the same period. Ninety-one percent of the crabs with transmitters were detected during this study. In the …

The Influence Of Treatment Team Cohesion In The Success Of In-Home Mental Health Treatment For Children And Adolescents With Emotional And Behavioral Disorders, Jaimie C. Orndorff

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Background: The author pursued this area of interest due to having had a positive experience working as a therapist within a high cohesion treatment team in an in-home setting. This experience with a high cohesion team seemed to lead to more successful results than other teams that were deemed low cohesion, in the same format. This experience led to a general curiosity about why the team this author was on was more effective. Additional research allowed this author to determine the possible link between cohesion, success of treatment and reduced risk for burnout, defined as a response to chronic job …

Forest Edge Effects On The Behavioral Ecology Of L'Hoest's Monkey (Cercopithecus Lhoesti) In Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, Tharcisse Ukizintambara

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Forest edges are associated with forest edge effects that result from changes in physical features of the habitat, predator species and number, and prominence of human activities and other disturbances that can have direct or indirect impact on the distribution, ecology, and fitness of forest plant and animal species. I conducted a literature review on edge effects on primate species and came up with a classification of primate species in three general categories " thriving, sensitive and resilient species to edge effects " based on behavioral and demographic responses.

In Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, edge effects followed non-monotonic patterns (wave-like) …

Rare's Implementation Strategies Of Environmental Conservation In Indonesia, Alvaro Arvizo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Like most developing nations, Indonesia is at a crucial stage in its modern political and economic history. Opposing forces are constantly at work, a government struggling to make Indonesia a modern nation and the economic demands of a growing population. This presents the country with a multitude of problems. One of several is that nature's resources are exploited for personal economic gain with no regard for the long-term effects. This is a major concern for environmental conservation and non-profit government organizations (NGOs) worldwide. The American NGO Rare is at the forefront of this issue. Its aim is to meet community …

Sastrería, Laura Cesarco Eglin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Book of poems

Breaking The Silence: A Health Narratives Approach To Understanding Tuberculosis In El Paso, Texas, Angelica Forero-Quintana

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Tuberculosis is a chronic illness affecting people in El Paso, Texas. TB continues to be a disease of great concern along the US-México border. The TB rates in El Paso for 2008 and 2009 were 5.4 and 8.9 per 100,000 and 13.5 and 13.3 per 100,000 in Ciudad Juárez. The number of new TB cases in 2008 and 2009 for El Paso were 40 and 67 cases and in Ciudad Juárez, they were 311 and 306 cases (Moya, 2010). This study relied on interviews with fifteen people undergoing treatment for TB (and three of their children) using a health narratives …

Investigations Of Grade Control, Macarthur Mine, Yerington, Nevada: An Oxidized Porphyry Copper System, Joseph Daniel Louis Lori

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Supergene enriched, low-grade oxidized porphyry copper deposits are of great economic value. Oxidized porphyry sections are economic targets because even low-grade prospects have the potential to produce low-cost copper in an environmentally friendly fashion due to easy leachability and high recovery rates of the oxide mineralization. The MacArthur Mine, in the historic Yerington mining district of Nevada, is the focus of this study. The MacArthur is a tilted oxidized porphyry deposit, partially mined by open pit methods, hosted in the Jurassic Bear Quartz Monzonite of the Yerington batholith. The objective of the study is to define controls of copper oxide …

Sensor Interpolation And Super Resolution Image Reconstruction Using The Optimal Recovery Framework, Veenarai Moram

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Wireless sensor networks have the potential to benefit society in a myriad of ways, but due to constraints of sensor placement, obtaining the desired signals is not an easy problem. Retrieving the information accurately from sensors placed randomly is a challenging problem of sensor communication and signal interpolation. In this research the optimal recovery (OR) method, a deterministic framework that can use a priori bandwidth or spectral shape information, is used to interpolate from the given samples produced by sensors. In the reconstruction formulation, a worst case error signal occurs. To minimize this error, the OR method uses a norm …

School And Campus Characteristics Of Non-Graduating Seniors Due To Failure Of Taks Tests In The Western Independent School District, Patricia Silva

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study examined TAKS test scores of seniors that did not graduate with their cohort group due to failure of TAKS test. The data was for the 2007-2008, 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years and included students from ten traditional high schools. This researched focused on the relation between this senior cohort group and student and campus factors. The student characteristics included gender, ethnicity, at-risk status and students identified as economically disadvantaged and Limited English Proficient. The school characteristics included campus size, longevity of campus principal, teachers' classroom years of experience, and state and federal accountability factors. Through an observational and …

A Deadline-Driven Epidemic Data Collection Protocol Suitable For Tracking Interpersonnel Rendezvous, Avranil Tah

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis describes a peer-to-peer wireless data collection algorithm that uses epidemic communication to propagate time-sensitive sequentially sampled data records from sensors toward infrastructure connected upload stations via mobile data mules. These records are labeled with sequence numbers and delivery deadlines, and are transmitted in sequential order. Delivery deadlines enable transmission prioritization and trigger alarms warning of violations.

The sequential ordering of records simplifies the protocols transmission-control and garbage collection mechanisms: only two monotonically increasing scalar sequence indices associated with a particular sensor must be exchanged between peers prior to selecting which records need to be communicated. One of these …

Preliminary Archaeological Investigations At The Sierra Diablo Cave Site: Paleoindian And Archaic Occupations In Hudspeth County, Texas, Jose Javier Vasquez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

It is generally rare to find archaeological sites in the Southwest that retain the type of contextual integrity that the Sierra Diablo Cave exhibits. Often times, cave sites such as the one currently studied offer excellent preservation of cultural materials due to the general lack of moisture and isolation from wind and water erosion. The research aimed to determine when the site was occupied as well as the types of activities that were occurring during those occupations. It exhibits an extensive stratigraphic sequence that contains a well pronounced Late Archaic Period assemblage (Strata A and B) and a Late Pleistocene/Early …

Beyond "Infinite Jest": Post-Postmodern Solidarity In 9/11 Narratives, Najwa Heather Al-Tabaa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

My thesis interrogates the postmodern view of popular culture as being banal and questions Theodore Adorno's view of postmodern consumer culture as ultimately anti- human(istic). My re-reading of postmodern popular culture finds that there is potential for meaningful human interaction through popular culture. My re-reading asserts that popular culture is capable of being a vehicle for solidarity. In my analysis I locate a postmodern paradigm shift in which human solidarity becomes a necessary consideration and focus of postmodern narratives and art forms. I term this shift "post-postmodernism" which is marked by a focus on solidarity.1 While the shift to the …

Closing The Achievement Gap: Impact Of Inclusion Upon Achievement Rates Of Students With Special Needs, Kathleen Black

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to examine the relationship between the amount of time a student with special needs spends in the inclusive classroom and their achievement passing rates in mathematics and reading. TAKS passing rates for mathematics and reading for third graders in 2007-2008, and the same cohort of fourth graders in 2008-2009 were analyzed to determine the strength of relationship between the predictor variable of TAKS achievement passing rates, and the independent variables of amount of time included (PEIMS Instructional Setting) and socioeconomic status.

Logistic regression was utilized to analyze the relationship between amount of time …

Recasting The Role Of Memory In The History Of Rhetoric: The Case Of Nineteenth And Twentieth Century Autobiographies By Rhetors Of Color, Hector Carbajal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The primary object of study in this dissertation is memory within autobiographical writing among writers of color. Specifically, this project uses autobiographies by Gloria E. Anzaldúa and Frederick Douglass as case studies for how minority writers of color remember within the act of writing. Memory is an important object of study because it is partially the medium by which knowledge is reproduced, reconstructed, and invented. Autobiographical writing is significant because it is a genre that has enabled individuals to write themselves as part of history. Being a part of history is important because it allows a subject to change the …