Digital Commons Network^™

Representation And Validation Of Domain And Range Restrictions In A Relational Database Driven Ontology Maintenance System, Patrick Garrett. Edgett

Masters Theses

"An ontology can be used to represent and organize the objects, properties, events, processes, and relations that embody an area of reality [1]. These knowledge bases may be created manually (by individuals or groups), and/or automatically using software tools, such as those developed for information retrieval and data mining. Recently, the National Science Foundation funded a large collaborative development project for the semi-automated construction of an ontology of amphibian anatomy (AmphibAnat [2]). To satisfy the extensive community curation requirements of that project, a generic, Web-based, multi-user, relational database ontology management system (RDBOM [3]) was constructed, based upon a novel theoretical …

Internet-Accessible Hot Cell With Gamma Spectroscopy At The Missouri University Of Science And Technology Research Nuclear Reactor, Edwin Grant

Masters Theses

A dual-chambered internet-accessible heavily shielded facility with pneumatic access to the University of Missouri Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) 200 kW Research Nuclear Reactor (MSTR) core has been built and is currently under low level irradiation testing. The facility allows distance users doing collaborative work with Missouri S&T researchers to manipulate and analyze neutron irradiated samples remotely. The system consists of two shielded compartments, one for multiple sample storage (up to 11 samples), and the other for isolated radiation measurements and spectroscopy. The second chamber has multiple detector ports, graded shielding, and has the capability to support gamma spectroscopy using …

Validation Of Driving Simulator And Driver Perception Of Vehicle Mounted Attenuator Markings In Work Zones, Durga Raj Mathur

Masters Theses

"This research work sought to validate the driving simulator at Missouri University of Science and Technology and to evaluate the vehicle mounted attenuator (VMA) markings for various times of day. For comprehensive validation of the driving simulator, a framework is proposed which is demonstrated using a fixed-base driving simulator. Objective and subjective evaluations were conducted, and validation of the driving simulator was performed at specific locations and along the highway. Field data were collected for a partial lane closure using a global positioning system (GPS) along the work zone and supplemented with video recordings of traffic data at specific locations …

Quantification Of Channel Performance And Development And Characterization Of Small Magnetic Field Probes, Surbhi Mittal

Masters Theses

"This thesis presents a new approach to quantifying channel performance using a transmitter waveform and dispersion penalty (TWDP) with frequency domain S-parameter data. Initially TWDP was defined to characterize the performance of a transmitter in optical links. More recently its use has been extended to include the quantification of channel performance, especially in high-speed copper links. This project focused mainly on channel characterization. Instead of using the time-domain oscilloscope measurements involved in the original approach, it proposes a new method that relies on frequency-domain S-parameter data obtained either from measurements or simulations. It included a parametric study of TWDP with …

Content Based Image Retrieval For Bio-Medical Images, Vikas Nahar

Masters Theses

"Content Based Image Retrieval System (CBIR) is used to retrieve images similar to the query image. These systems have a wide range of applications in various fields. Medical subject headings, key words, and bibliographic references can be augmented with the images present within the articles to help clinicians to potentially improve the relevance of articles found in the querying process. In this research, image feature analysis and classification techniques are explored to differentiate images found in biomedical articles which have been categorized based on modality and utility. Examples of features examined in this research include: features based on different histograms …

Optimization Of Parameters And Study Of Kinetics In Lactulose Production By Lactose Isomerization Using Strong Basic Anion Exchange Resin, Arvind Nanduri

Masters Theses

"In this work, an experimental design was employed to investigate the effects of different operating conditions on the isomerization of lactose to lactulose by using strong basic anion exchange resin (AMBERLITE-IRA 402). Temperature, resin/lactose mass ratio and pH were considered to be the three factors affecting the conversion of lactose. Box-Behnken design was then used to optimize the operating conditions for maximum response and also to study the various interaction and main effects of the factors. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the experimental data showed a high correlation coefficient R² (0.99) and a low root mean square error (2.84) …

Modeling And Analysis Of High-Speed Sources And Serial Links For Signal Integrity, Siming Pan

Masters Theses

"As the computer and electronics industry moves towards higher data rates, signal integrity and electromagnetic interference (EMI) problems always present challenges for designers for high-speed data communication systems. To characterize the entire link path between transmitters and receivers, accurate models for sources, passive link path (such as traces, vias, connectors, etc), and terminations should be built before simulations either in frequency or time domain. Due to the imperfection of model, data corrections are preferred before time-domain simulations to ensure stability. Moreover, data obtained from models should be compared with measurement results to judge the level of agreement for validations. This …

Contribution-Based Priority Assessment In A Web-Based Intelligent Argumentation Network For Collaborative Software Development, Maithili Satyavolu

Masters Theses

"Decision making is an important aspect of the collaborative software development process which usually involves complex process of conflict resolution. Stakeholders approach decision making process from multiple perspectives and their priorities play a vital role in it. The priority assessment methods used in the argumentation process so far are usually static. Priorities remain constant throughout the decision making process. In order to make the collaborative system more closely replicate real-world scenarios, this work incorporates dynamic priority assessment into a web-based collaborative system which is based on intelligent computational argumentation. It evaluates priorities dynamically for each cycle of decision process based …

The Shadow Of State Secrets, Laura K. Donohue

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The shadow of state secrets casts itself longer than previously acknowledged. Between 2001 and 2009 the government asserted state secrets in more than 100 cases, while in scores more litigants appealed to the doctrine in anticipation of government intervention. Contractor cases ranged from breach of contract, patent disputes, and trade secrets, to fraud and employment termination. Wrongful death, personal injury, and negligence suits kept pace, extending beyond product liability to include infrastructure and services, as well as conduct of war. In excess of fifty telecommunications suits linked to the NSA warrantless wiretapping program emerged 2006-2009, with the government acting, variously, …

Determining The R Values For 12 Inch Deep Z-Purlins And Girts With Through-Fastened Panels Under Suction Loading, Kaye Dee Wibbenmeyer

Masters Theses

"Designing purlins for roof systems attached to through-fastened panels has been a subject well researched in the past. The current design specification uses a simplified approach to the designing of these members where the fully braced moment capacity of such members is multiplied by a reduction factor, commonly referred to as the R-value. This value represents the point in between the fully braced and fully unbraced member behavior. However, the current AISI Specification, S100, only contains R-values for purlins and girts up to 11.5 inches in depth. Since manufacturers are now rolling sections up to 12 inches deep, two confirmatory …

Corrosion Resistance Of Enamel-Coated Steel Reinforcement For Concrete, Charles Robert Werner

Masters Theses

"Originally developed to enhance the bond between concrete and steel, reactive enamel coatings have shown great promise in protecting steel from corrosive environments. However, the corrosion resistance of the material has not yet been tested beyond 40 days. Moreover, when the material was tested, it was applied to smooth steel pins, not deformed steel bars which are commonly used in reinforced concrete structures. Therefore, this study focused on the corrosion resistance of three different enamel coatings, along with a standard epoxy coating, each of which were applied to both smooth and deformed steel bars and included both short-term and long-term …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Microspheres For Controlled Release, Gurpartap Singh Sandhu

Masters Theses

"Synthetic hydroxyapatite (HAp, (Ca₁₀(PO₄)₆(OH)₂) has always been of interest in medical applications because of its similarities to inorganic bone matrix. It has been used in biomedical applications for bone repair and substitution due to its biocompatibility. However, there are some differences in the stoichiometry, composition, and mechanical properties of human bone as compared to pure HAP. HAp particles have been successfully used as drug delivery carriers which deliver the drug to the affected part of the body and the remaining apatite gets degraded by the physiological processes in the body. In the present work, emphasis was on developing mechanically stronger …

Nonlinear Finite Element Formulation Of The Soil Structure Interaction Through Two Parameter Foundation Model, Taraka Ravi Shankar Mullapudi

Masters Theses

"The response of shallow and raft foundations is having a significant importance due to its complex behavior because of the semi-infinite soil media. Winkler's model is the simplest model to deal with the structure and soil. The Winkler model represents the foundation reaction as proportional to the soil displacement at a particular point, which results in the elasticity of the soil being the only parameter in consideration. But in reality the soil cohesiveness is having a significant contribution in soil structure interaction, and therefore the consideration of coupling effects of Winkler springs need to be accounted. Most of the existing …

Rising Seas And Common Law Baselines: A Comment On Regulatory Takings Discourse Concerning Climate Change, J. Peter Byrne

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In several recent cases considering claims that regulatory measures addressing rising sea levels violate the Takings Clause, courts have given significant normative weight to traditional common law rules, even when such rules have long been superseded by statutory provisions. This essay argues that giving analytic precedence to such common law baselines lacks justification and can pose serious obstacles to reasonable measures to adapt to climate change.

On The Question Of A Complexity Exception To The Seventh Amendment Guarantee Of Trial By Jury, James Oldham

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In the discussion to follow, I expand my inquiry into what happened in the English courts of the late 18th and early 19th centuries in civil cases when special expertise on the part of the decision-makers was needed. A major source that contributes to this study is the law reporting that appeared in The Times, founded in 1785. I explore three questions: (1) What types of cases in late 18th-century England were considered to be inappropriate for juries? (2) What recourses were available to the late 18th or early 19th-century English judge when the issue in a case was outside …

The Subjects Of The Constitution, Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Two centuries after Marbury v. Madison, there remains a deep confusion about quite what a court is reviewing when it engages in judicial review. Conventional wisdom has it that judicial review is the review of certain legal objects: statutes, regulations. But strictly speaking, this is not quite right. The Constitution prohibits not objects but actions. Judicial review is the review of such actions. And actions require actors: verbs require subjects. So before judicial review focuses on verbs, let alone objects, it should begin at the beginning, with subjects. Every constitutional inquiry should begin with a basic question that has been …

The Conscience Of A Prosecutor, David Luban

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay, a version of the 2010 Tabor Lecture at Valparaiso Law School, examines issues about the role of a prosecutor in the adversary system through the lens of the following question: Should a prosecutor throw a case to avoid keeping men who he thinks are innocent in prison? This issue came to prominence in 2008, when Daniel Bibb, a New York City prosecutor, told newspaper reporters that he had done so in connection with a 1991 murder conviction that he had been assigned to reinvestigate after new evidence emerged that the wrong men had been convicted and were serving …

The Rule Of Law And Human Dignity: Reexamining Fuller’S Canons, David Luban

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Lon Fuller offered an analysis of the rule of law in the form of eight ‘canons’ of lawmaking. He argued (1) that these canons constitute a ‘procedural natural law’, as distinct from traditional ‘substantive’ natural law; but also (2) that lawmaking conforming to the canons will enhance human dignity—a ‘substantive’ result. This paper argues the following points: first, that Fuller mischaracterized his eight canons, which are substantive rather than procedural; second, that there is an important sense in which they enhance human dignity; third, that they fail to enhance human dignity to the fullest extent because they understand it in …

Governing Board Accountability: Competition, Regulation And Accreditation, Judith C. Areen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article examines the three primary ways in which the governing boards of American colleges and universities are held to account: (1) competition; (2) regulation, including state nonprofit corporation laws, tax laws, and licensing laws; and (3) accreditation. It begins by tracing how lay (meaning nonfaculty) governing boards became the dominant form of governance in American higher education. It argues that governing boards provide American institutions of higher education with an exceptional degree of autonomy from state control and that, together with the shared governance approach that gives faculties primary responsibility for academic matters, they have been a vital factor …

Redressing The Unconscionable Health Gap: A Global Plan For Justice, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Consider two children—one born in sub-Saharan Africa and the other in the United States. The African child is twenty-five times more likely to die in the first five years of life; if she lives to child-bearing age, she is a two hundred times more likely to die in labor; and overall, she will die thirty years earlier than the American child. The international community is deeply resistant to taking bold remedial action—more concerned with their geostrategic interests than the health of the poor. The scale of foreign aid is both insufficient and unsustainable and fails to address the key determinants …

The O’Neill Institute For National And Global Health Law: Discovering Innovative Solutions For The Most Pressing Health Problems Facing The Nation And The World, Lawrence O. Gostin, Oscar A. Cabrera, Susan C. Kim

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The connection between health and an individual’s ability to function in society, as well as the importance of health to a society’s economic, political, and social wellbeing necessitates finding innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing health problems. The O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University seeks to demonstrate the role that academia can play in addressing complex national and global health problems in a comprehensive, evidence-based, intellectually-rigorous, and nonpartisan manner. The O’Neill Institute currently has three research programs: global health law, national health law, and the center for disease prevention and outcomes. Projects within these …

Disciplines And Jurisdictions: An Historical Note, Peter Goodrich

Articles

No abstract provided.

Rejecting Refugees: Homeland Security's Administration Of The One-Year Bar To Asylum, Andrew I. Schoenholtz, Philip G. Schrag, Jaya Ramji-Nogales, James P. Dombach

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Since 1980, the Refugee Act has offered asylum to people who flee to the United States to escape persecution in their homeland. In 1996, however, Congress amended the law to bar asylum – regardless of the merit of the underlying claim – for any applicant who fails to apply within one year of entering the United States, unless the applicant qualifies for one of two exceptions to the rule.

In the years since the bar was established, anecdotal reports have suggested that genuine refugees, with strong merits claims to asylum, have been rejected solely because of the deadline. Many scholars …

Family Values In The Jewish Tradition, J. David Bleich

Articles

In Family Values in the Jewish Tradition, Professor J. David Bleich presents Judaism as a religion of law. He describes the family unit, "both as a social unit and as a legal institution," and how it helps to provide comfort, companionship, and stability. He discusses the role of reproduction within the family unit, artificial insemination, and the homosexual act (not the homosexual as a person). Professor Bleich concludes with a discussion of the phrase, "be fruitful and multiply." He notes that this phrase is understood as both a commandment and a blessing.

Trust-Oriented Composite Service Selection With Qos Constraints, Lei Li, Yang Wang, Ee Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In Service-Oriented Computing (SOC) environments, service clients interact with service providers for consuming services. From the viewpoint of service clients, the trust level of a service or a service provider is a critical factor to consider in service selection, particularlywhen a client is looking for a service from a large set of services or service providers. However, a invoked service may be composed of other services. The complex invocations in composite services greatly increase the complexity of trust-oriented service selection. In this paper, we propose novel approaches for composite service representation, trust evaluation and trust-oriented com-posite service selection (with QoS …

Information Integration For Graph Databases, Ee Peng Lim, Aixin Sun, Anwitaman Datta, Chang Kuiyu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With increasing interest in querying and analyzing graph data from multiple sources, algorithms and tools to integrate different graphs become very important. Integration of graphs can take place at the schema and instance levels. While links among graph nodes pose additional challenges to graph information integration, they can also serve as useful features for matching nodes representing real-world entities. This chapter introduces a general framework to perform graph information integration. It then gives an overview of the state-of-the-art research and tools in graph information integration.

Anger, Cognition, Ideology: What Crash Can Show Us About Emotion, Sue J. Kim

College of Arts & Sciences Professional Work

Sue J. Kim’s essay “Anger, Cognition, Ideology: What Crash Can Show Us About Emotion” argues for the relevance and importance of cognitive studies to ethnic and postcolonial literary studies, and vice versa. After surveying recent developments in the field of cognitive studies, the essay combines cultural and cognitive approaches in order to examine anger in and around the 2005 Paul Haggis film Crash.

The Eternal Jew: Jewish Victimization Through Marginalization, Joshua Fishlock

Open Access Master's Theses

This thesis examines the phenomenon of Jewish marginalization in Nazi Germany using the film The Eternal Jew as a representative example. Specifically this study identified sources of guilt in post World War I German culture and the steps taken by the Nazi's to alleviate that guilt through victimization of the Jews. Results show that the Nazi's played upon cultural beliefs of German superiority and antisemitism in order to create a public reality of the Jews as the Other. This disidentification of the Jews from the German population increased the effectiveness of the usage of the Jews as scapegoats for the …

Whose Identity Is It Anyway? A Study Of The Media's Representation Of Iraq Citizens And Their Culture, Joyce L'Heureux

Open Access Master's Theses

What happens to our perceptions when provided with an invitation by news media, specifically print media, to accept what is presented as reality? Does what we read in the news media constrict our thinking and create an acceptance of the words as they are written, a type of cultural blindness to the qualities, the humanness and individuality of other cultures? Or, do we read the words on the paper and open our lens to create a greater understanding of individuals who differ from us in values, attitudes and beliefs? The truth is the same stories which provide us with an …

Synopsis Of The "First 100 Years Of Agricultural Education In North Carolina", North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University

Documents

Synopsis of the "First 100 Years of Agricultural Education in North Carolina," FNSF and NFA mentioned on pg. 2, S. B. Simmons Camp on pg. 4, A. L. Teachey, W. T. Johnson and C. E. Dean listed as State Leaders in Agriculture Education.