Digital Commons Network^™

Onboard Visual Tracking With Small Unmanned Aricraft Systesm (Uas), Ashraf Qadir

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Expenditures Per Student On Academic Achievement : North Dakota Juniors On Math, Reading, And Science Proficiency, Josh Lindenberg

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Sound Of Silence: The Continuing Legal Debate Over Class Action Rescission Under Tila, Jo Carrillo, Paul Kofoed

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Response Of River‐Dominated Delta Channel Networks To Permanent Changes In River Discharge, Doug Edmonds, Rudy Slingerland, Jim Best, Dan Parsons, Norman D. Smith

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Using numerical experiments, we investigate how river‐dominated delta channel networks are likely to respond to changes in river discharge predicted to occur over the next century as a result of environmental change. Our results show for a change in discharge up to 60% of the initial value, a decrease results in distributary abandonment in the delta, whereas an increase does not significantly affect the network. However, an increase in discharge beyond a threshold of 60% results in channel creation and an increase in the density of the distributary network. This behavior is predicted by an analysis of an individual bifurcation …

Collapse Of The Maya: Could Deforestation Have Contributed?, Robert J. Oglesby, Thomas L. Sever, William Saturno, David J. Erickson Iii, Jayanthi Srikishen

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The collapse of the Maya civilization during the ninth century A.D. is a major conundrum in the history of mankind. This civilization reached a spectacular peak but then almost completely collapsed in the space of a few decades. While numerous explanations have been put forth to explain this collapse, in recent years, drought has gained favor. This is because water resources were a key for the Maya, especially to ensure their survival during the lengthy dry season that occurs where they lived. Natural drought is a known, recurring feature of this region, as evidenced by observational data, reconstructions of past …

Response Of River‐Dominated Delta Channel Networks To Permanent Changes In River Discharge, Doug Edmonds, Rudy Slingerland, Jim Best, Dan Parsons, Norm Smith

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Using numerical experiments, we investigate how river‐dominated delta channel networks are likely to respond to changes in river discharge predicted to occur over the next century as a result of environmental change. Our results show for a change in discharge up to 60% of the initial value, a decrease results in distributary abandonment in the delta, whereas an increase does not significantly affect the network. However, an increase in discharge beyond a threshold of 60% results in channel creation and an increase in the density of the distributary network. This behavior is predicted by an analysis of an individual bifurcation …

Collapse Of The Maya: Could Deforestation Have Contributed?, Robert Oglesby, Thomas L. Sever, William Saturno, David J. Erickson Iii, Jayanthi Srikishen

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The collapse of the Maya civilization during the ninth century A.D. is a major conundrum in the history of mankind. This civilization reached a spectacular peak but then almost completely collapsed in the space of a few decades. While numerous explanations have been put forth to explain this collapse, in recent years, drought has gained favor. This is because water resources were a key for the Maya, especially to ensure their survival during the lengthy dry season that occurs where they lived. Natural drought is a known, recurring feature of this region, as evidenced by observational data, reconstructions of past …

Preschool Education In Virginia And The Resulting Academic Effects For Third- And Fifth-Grade At-Risk Students, Pamela Perry Randall

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

While there remains little doubt that the "founding" preschool programs in America--the High/Scope Perry Program, the Chicago Child-Parent Centers, and the Abecedarian Project--had a positive academic and social impact on the students they served, such claims are difficult to substantiate for students being served in the Virginia Preschool Initiative Program. This study was designed to investigate the educational impact of the state-funded preschool program on the academic achievement of at-risk students who attended school from 1999-2002. These students' third- and fifth-grade Standards of Learning tests, in the subject areas of mathematics and reading, were compared using T-tests and ANOVA calculations …

Time-Domain Thru-Reflect-Line (Trl) Calibration Error Assessment And Its Mitigation And Modeling Of Multilayer Printed Circuit Boards (Pcb) With Complex Area Fills, Vysakh Sivarajan

Masters Theses

"Part 1 for this thesis is on the error assessment of a time-domain (t-TRL) calibration technique. Application of the "Thru-Reflect-Line" (TRL) calibration to time-domain measurements of S-parameters (t-TRL) can be used for the characterization of the printed circuit boards (PCBs). However, t-TRL calibrated results still have deviations from the reference frequency-domain vector network analyzer (VNA) calibrated results. There are two main sources of errors in the t-TRL calibration. They are random errors, such as an additive noise and jitter, and systematic errors associated with cables, connectors, and port mismatches. This work addresses these two types of errors by proper selection …

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 …

Novel Dynamic Representation And Control Of Power Systems With Facts Devices, Shahab Mehraeen, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Mariesa Crow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

FACTS devices have been shown to be useful in damping power system oscillations. However, in large power systems, the FACTS control design is complex due to the combination of differential and algebraic equations required to model the power system. In this paper, a new method to generate a nonlinear dynamic representation of the power network is introduced to enable more sophisticated control design. Once the new representation is obtained, a back stepping methodology for the UPFC is utilized to mitigate the generator oscillations. Finally, the neural network approximation property is utilized to relax the need for knowledge of the power …

Genome3d: A Viewer-Model Framework For Integrating And Visualizing Multi-Scale Epigenomic Information Within A Three-Dimensional Genome, Thomas M. Asbury, Matt Mitman, Jijun Tang, W. Jim Zheng

Faculty Publications

Background
New technologies are enabling the measurement of many types of genomic and epigenomic information at scales ranging from the atomic to nuclear. Much of this new data is increasingly structural in nature, and is often difficult to coordinate with other data sets. There is a legitimate need for integrating and visualizing these disparate data sets to reveal structural relationships not apparent when looking at these data in isolation.

Results
We have applied object-oriented technology to develop a downloadable visualization tool, Genome3D, for integrating and displaying epigenomic data within a prescribed three-dimensional physical model of the human genome. In order …

Symmetry And Stability Of Homogeneous Flocks, J. J. P. Veerman

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The study of the movement of flocks, whether biological or technological, is motivated by the desire to understand the capability of coherent motion of a large number of agents that only receive very limited information. In a biological flock a large group of animals seek their course while moving in a more or less fixed formation. It seems reasonable that the immediate course is determined by leaders at the boundary of the flock. The others follow: what is their algorithm? The most popular technological application consists of cars on a one-lane road. The light turns green and the lead car …

Mountain-Plains Consortium Annual Report 2010

UGPTI Mountain Plains Consortium Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Save Gas Using Your Office Computer From Home, Steve Duckworth, Damon Armour, Jeff Heck

Georgia Library Quarterly

The article discusses the protocols used to establish remote computer connections from home. The Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) used in Windows 7 connecting to a Windows 2008 server reportedly allows the playing of high-definition video using Media Player. It is stated that commercial product connections which may bypass security infrastructure are risky because of the home computer's possible insecurity and that home devices used for business purposes may be legally searched by the state.

Decentralized Nearly Optimal Control Of A Class Of Interconnected Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems By Using Online Hamilton-Bellman-Jacobi Formulation, S. Mehraeen, Sarangapani Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, the direct neural dynamic programming technique is utilized to solve the Hamilton Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation online and forward-in-time for the decentralized nearly optimal control of nonlinear interconnected discrete-time systems in affine form with unknown internal subsystem and interconnection dynamics. Only the state vector of the local subsystem is considered measurable. the decentralized optimal controller design for each subsystem consists of an action neural network (NN) that is aimed to provide a nearly optimal control signal, and a critic NN which approximates the cost function. the NN weights are tuned online for both the NNs. It is shown …

Optimal Control Of Affine Nonlinear Continuous-Time Systems Using An Online Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs Formulation, T. Dierks, Sarangapani Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Solving the Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs (HJI) equation, commonly used in ℋ∞ optimal control, is often referred to as a two-player differential game where one player tries to minimize the cost function while the other tries to maximize it. in this paper, the HJI equation is formulated online and forward-in-time using a novel single online approximator (SOLA)-Based scheme to achieve optimal regulation and tracking control of affine nonlinear continuous-time systems. the SOLA-Based adaptive approach is designed to learn the infinite horizon HJI equation, the corresponding optimal control input, and the worst-case disturbance. a novel parameter tuning algorithm is derived which not only achieves …

Output Feedback Control Of A Quadrotor Uav Using Neural Networks, Travis Dierks, Sarangapani Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a new nonlinear controller for a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is proposed using neural networks (NNs) and output feedback. the assumption on the availability of UAV dynamics is not always practical, especially in an outdoor environment. Therefore, in this work, an NN is introduced to learn the complete dynamics of the UAV online, including uncertain nonlinear terms like aerodynamic friction and blade flapping. Although a quadrotor UAV is underactuated, a novel NN virtual control input scheme is proposed which allows all six degrees of freedom (DOF) of the UAV to be controlled using only four control …

Inferring Lake Depth Using Diatom Assemblages In The Shallow, Seasonally Variable Lakes Of The Nebraska Sand Hills (Usa): Calibration, Validation, And Application Of A 69-Lake Training Set, Avery L. C. Shinneman, Danuta M. Bennett, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Jens Schmieder, Daniel R. Engstrom, Aris Efting, John Holz

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The Nebraska Sand Hills are a distinctive eco-region in the semi-arid Great Plains of the western United States. The water table underlying the Sand Hills is part of the High Plains/ Ogallala aquifer, an important water resource for the central Great Plains. Lake levels are affected directly by fluctuations in the water table, which is recharged primarily by local precipitation and responds quickly to climatically induced changes in regional water balance. Instrumental records are available for only 50–100 years, and paleolimnological data provide important insights into the extremes and variability in moisture balance over longer time scales. A set of …

A Study Of Fold Characteristics And Deformation Style Using The Evolution Of The Land Surface: Zagros Simply Folded Belt, Iran, Caroline M. Burberry, John W. Cosgrove, Jian-Guo Liu

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Deformation styles within a fold-thrust belt can be understood in terms of the spatial organization and geometry of the fold structures. In young fold-thrust belts such as the Zagros, this geometry is reflected topographically by concordant landform morphology. Thus, the distribution of deformation structures can be characterized using satellite image analysis, digital elevation models, the drainage network and geomorphological indicators. The two distinct fold types considered in this study (fault-bend folds and detachment folds) both trending NW-SE, interact with streams flowing NE-SW from the High Zagros Mountains into the Persian Gulf. Multiple abandoned stream channels cross fault-bend folds related to …

Acceptance, Communication Mode And Use Of Audio Computer- Assisted Self Interview Using Touchscreen To Identify Risk Factors Among Pregnant Minority Women, Jutta S. Thornberry, Kennan B. Murray, M. Nabil El-Khorazaty, Michele Kiely

Publications and Research

This paper evaluates the acceptability, communication mode and use of audio computer-assisted self-interview (A-CASI) among minority pregnant women receiving prenatal care in six Washington, DC sites. A total of 2,913 women were screened for demographic eligibility (18+ years old,gestation, Black/African-American or Hispanic) and risk (smoking, environmental tobacco smoke exposure, depression, intimate partner violence). Questions were displayed on touch screen laptop monitors and heard through earphones. The mean length of time to complete the screener was almost 6 minutes.

A-CASI experience, which included difficulty in using the computer, acceptability (enjoyment), and preferred communication mode, was compared across sites, the eligibility and …

Shutter Speed Deconstructing A Photographic Ideal, Claire Krueger

Theses & ETDs

As the 20th century progressed, the increasing availability of inexpensive photographic technology allowed for a majority of people to document their memories in a tangible form. However, the link between our photographs and our memories is not always concrete. My thesis, a creative studio project, examines this connection between our tangible memories (photographs) and our abstract mental memories. Through the manipulation of found photographs and the documentation of transitory moments, my art challenges the viewer to re-examine the relationship between photographs and our memories. Sculptures, altered prints, and found materials represent passing time, memory and mortality; the concept of time …

A Vortex Pair Near A Density-Gradient Interface, Nicholas S. Jenkins

Master's Theses and Capstones

The dynamics of a vortex pair in a stratified atmosphere near a density gradient interface is considered here using direct numerical simulations. The vortex pair is released below the interface and allowed to propagate vertically toward the interface. The results show that strong vortices propagate through the interface without much change in dynamics. Weaker vortices will dissipate energy when they reach the interface and although a remnant of the vortex pair transits the interface, it does not achieve the same altitude that it would have without the interface. Overall, the interface is not a barrier to vortex pairs, but would …

Development And Validation Of A Robust Model To Predict The Response Of Wave Energy Conversion Devices, James Wright

Master's Theses and Capstones

In this study, a computer model of the dynamics and generator output of a point-absorber-type wave energy converter (WEC) was developed and evaluated against a 1:25 scale prototype in wave tank tests. The WEC consists of a circular wave follower buoy with a central hole which fits over a slender spar buoy that extends up through the follower buoy opening. The wave follower buoy slides axially on the spar, providing relative motion for the power take-off unit consisting of a rack-and-pinion configuration connected through gears to a permanent magnet generator. Linear wave theory is applied to determine the response of …

Impact Of Advanced Pretreatment On The Feasibility Of Uv/Hydrogen Peroxide Treatment For Degradation Of Organic Micropollutants, Ashlee L. Fuller

Master's Theses and Capstones

Research was performed to show the impact of several types of pretreatment at Water Treatment Plant, Andijk, on the Advanced Oxidation Process. The objective was to compare the effect of Ion Exchange with Ultra Filtration (IX-UF) pretreatment to the existing Coagulation, Sedimentation, Filtration (CSF) pretreatment on the effectiveness of the UV/H2O2 process. The micro-pollutants chosen for this study are NDMA, atrazine, 1,4-dioxane and bromacil.

Characterization of the water matrixes for the pretreated waters was completed to determine the impact of background absorption (DOC and nitrate) on micro pollutant degradation and OH· radical production. Collimated beam studies (MP UV) were performed …

Mobile Undersea Routing Protocol, Michael J. Karell

Master's Theses and Capstones

The myriad barriers to underwater communication provide a new set of challenges for network protocols. Routing protocols which operate in underwater ad hoc networks must react quickly to changing conditions without significant increase in packet overhead or congestion. Dynamic Source Routing Protocol provides a framework for accomplishing these goals. In this paper we present the Mobile Undersea Routing Protocol, which implements this framework and enhances upon it. It uses a limited propagating route request which we call a Route Recovery to quickly and inexpensively recover from routing errors. A Java based network simulator was constructed in order to test and …

Sophisticated Credulity: Are Old Beliefs Disguised By New Terminology And Selective Learning?, Matthew A. Ramsey

Doctoral Dissertations

The present research attempted to distinguish between traditional anomalistic belief (TAP) and pseudoscientific anomalistic belief (PSAP). In Study 1, I constructed the PSAP scale and then, to establish construct validity, examined its correlation to other measures related to TAP. In Studies 2 and 3, I examined how high and low TAP and PSAP believers differed in recalling information that either did, or did not support the existence of anomalistic phenomena. Participants read 12 abstracts on paranormal phenomena and were given T/F recall questions either immediately (Study 2) or following a four day delay period (Study 3). As expected, high and …

Food Crises And Global Warming: Critical Realism And The Need To Re-Institutionalize Science, Hugh Lacey, M. I. Lacey

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Appellate Courts And Independent Experts, Douglas H. Ginsburg

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

Yale Medicine : Alumni Bulletin Of The School Of Medicine, Winter 2010, Yale University. School Of Medicine

Yale Medicine Magazine - alumni bulletin and magazine

This is the Winter 2010 issue of Yale Medicine: alumni bulletin of the School of Medicine, v. 44, no. 2. Prepared in cooperation with the alumni and development offices at the School of Medicine. Earlier volumes are called Yale School of Medicine alumni bulletins, dating from v.1 (1953) through v.13 (1965).