Digital Commons Network^™

Gaining System Access Through Information Obtained In Web 2.0 Sites, Arsenio Guzmán

Theses

Along with growth of the internet in recent years, a related phenomenon is also growing: the complaints by internet users that their accounts have been hacked by others. What are the reasons behind this? Are those hackers really that good that they can find out our passwords and almost magically gain access to our systems? This project focuses on the ways in which personal information is propagated by users on the Internet by web 2.0 sites like social networks as well as on the problems inherited by password reset methods, which are how we inadvertently provide others with easy access …

Service Level Agreement In Virtualized Environment, Steven Sanchez Fermin

Theses

The Service Level Agreement is a process of negotiation in which the business (Managers, IT staff) and customers establish a common understanding about services, priorities and responsibilities. The purpose of this project is to analyze which metrics of physical environment can be used to recommend optimized Service Level Agreements for virtual environment. For the Analysis of this project, an enterprise-class hypervisor VMware ESXi and the tools VSphere Client, Solarwinds Engineer's Toolset and PRTG Network Monitor are used to make a virtual laboratory. The results showed the aspects to take into consideration to make and guaranty the most favorable Service Level …

Proposed Standards And Best Practices For Technological Infrastructure At Contact Centers In The Dominican Republic, Patricia Ortiz Suárez

Theses

The Contact Center industry in the Dominican Republic has experienced a considerable and fast growth in the last years. The main focus of this industry has been offering services to companies located outside the country. One notorious problem is the lack of written documentation in regards to general requirements needed to set up a Contact Center in the territory. The objective of this research is the presentation of a set of proposed standards and best practices for requirements of Technological Infrastructure for Contact Centers located in the Dominican Republic. These standards and best practices have been developed considering the needs …

Security Practices: A Mixed Approach, Sourabh Dass

Theses

Consistency of information is ideally maintained by adhering to the best practices and policies. However, statistics show trends of rising threats in information security in global landscape. It leads us to believe that there may be scope for improvement in transforming a good policy on paper into a better practice. This thesis research identifies various points of failure that arise out of improper implementation of a good policy. This research provides basic guidelines for implementation of usable security policies.

Efficient Object Tracking In Waas Data Streams, Trevor Clarke

Theses

Wide area airborne surveillance (WAAS) systems are a new class of remote sensing imagers which have many military and civilian applications. These systems are characterized by long loiter times (extended imaging time over fixed target areas) and large footprint target areas. These characteristics complicate moving object detection and tracking due to the large image size and high number of moving objects. This thesis evaluates existing object detection and tracking algorithms with WAAS data and provides enhancements to the processing chain which decrease processing time and increase tracking accuracy. Decreases in processing time are needed to perform real-time or near real-time …

Investigating Attributes - From Technologist To Business Leader, Christopher Kronenthal

Theses

As technology matures, its proliferation within an organization is ever more evident, providing a myriad of opportunities for career advancement and visibility for those specialized in the field. Taking advantage of this environment requires certain skill sets and personality traits. This thesis attempts to synthesize two disparate categories of professional aptitude (technologist and executive/business leader) by utilizing the common psychological profile platform known as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and then, apply that synthesis to an analysis of whether or not a correlation exists between the two groups. The key denoting factor amongst the two demographics in the supporting studies …

The Conserved Deda Family Of E. Coli Membrane Proteins: Genetic And Topological Analysis, Kandi Sheral Thompkins

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Ludox density gradients were used to enrich for Escherichia coli mutants with conditional growth defects and alterations in membrane composition. A temperature-sensitive mutant named Lud135 was isolated with mutations in two related, nonessential genes: yghB and yqjA. yghB harbors a single missense mutation (G203D) and yqjA contains a nonsense mutation (W92TGA) in Lud135. Both mutations are required for the temperature-sensitive phenotype: targeted deletion of both genes in a wild-type background results in a strain with a similar phenotype and expression of either gene from a plasmid restores growth at elevated temperatures. The mutant has altered membrane phospholipid levels, with elevated …

New Binary Ti Vectors With Co-Directional Replicons For Agrobacterium Tumefaciens-Mediated Transformation Of Higher Plants, Seokhyun Lee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Small, high-yielding binary Ti vectors of Agrobacterium tumefaciens were constructed. All four basic components of the vector, ColE1 replicon (715 bp) for Escherichia coli, VS1 replicon (2,659 bp) for A. tumefaciens, a bacterial kanamycin resistance gene (999 bp), and the T-DNA region (170 bp), were modified to reduce the vector size to 4,566 bp and to introduce a number of mutations to increase the copy number and other functionality. The transcriptional direction of VS1 replicon can be the same as that of ColE1 replicon (co-directional transcription), or opposite (head-on transcription) as in the case of widely used vectors (pPZP or …

The Influence Of Computer User Knowledge And Selected Demographic Characteristics The Academic Achievement Of High School Seniors, Michael E. Brown

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to identify the influence of computer user knowledge as measured by the Computer User Knowledge Survey (CUKS), and the personal demographic characteristics of Gender, Age, and Race on academic achievement as measured by the Graduation Exit Examination-21 (GEE-21), among high school seniors in public schools in a parish in South Louisiana. The CUKS and the Gender and Race data were collected from the self-perceived CUKS survey administered to 295 seniors registered in English IV classes at a school in South Louisiana. The academic achievement data and the ages of the student subjects were …

The Impact Of Overfitting And Overgeneralization On The Classification Accuracy In Data Mining, Huy Nguyen Anh Pham

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Current classification approaches usually do not try to achieve a balance between fitting and generalization when they infer models from training data. Such approaches ignore the possibility of different penalty costs for the false-positive, false-negative, and unclassifiable types. Thus, their performances may not be optimal or may even be coincidental. This dissertation analyzes the above issues in depth. It also proposes two new approaches called the Homogeneity-Based Algorithm (HBA) and the Convexity-Based Algorithm (CBA) to address these issues. These new approaches aim at optimally balancing the data fitting and generalization behaviors of models when some traditional classification approaches are used. …

Time-Domain Field Responses Of The Thin, High-Contrast, Finely Layered Structure In Ic Packagings, Adrianus T. De Hoop, Lijun Jiang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The thin, high-contrast, fine layers with dielectric and conductive properties, such as ground planes, are feature structures in IC packagings. Their responses to the pulsed electromagnetic field is important both theoretically and practically. In this paper, a new semi-analytical method is proposed to model the interaction of the layer with an incident electromagnetic field via a boundary condition that expresses the in-plane conduction and contrast electric polarization currents in terms of the exciting incident field by relating the jump in the tangential component of the magnetic field strength across the layer in terms of the (continuous) tangential component of the …

The Relationships Between Obesity, Obstructive Sleep Apnea And Commercial Motor Vehicle Operator Performance, Jennifer Ann O'Neil

Theses

Obesity and Obstructive Sleep Apnea will impair Commercial Motor Vehicle operator performance. Obesity will increase the risk of developing serious medical conditions that may cause harm to human health and wellbeing. One condition that can be associated with obesity is known as Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Various symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea will impair a commercial motor vehicle operator's ability to safely maneuver a vehicle. Many commercial motor vehicle collisions have been caused by operator fatigue and have resulted in serious injury and death. Due to unhealthy lifestyles, commercial motor vehicle operators are at a high risk of being obese. Obesity …

The Development Of A Model Program For The Effective Management Of Biomedical Waste In The Caribbean. A Review Of Barriers Within Public Hospitals In The Caribbean., Andrea Spence

Theses

When biomedical waste is improperly managed it poses a health hazard and risk to healthcare workers, sanitation workers and the general public in contracting infectious/dangerous diseases. Biomedical waste is also generated from individuals in their homes from the use of syringes or diagnostic lancets that are not properly managed. Biomedical waste is considered special waste and has a health and environmental hazard that can result in infections and diseases such as HIV/AIDs. Discarded sharps pose a health risk to the public particularly solid waste workers who may suffer a needle stick injury if they are not properly packaged for disposal. …

Investigation And Modeling Of Viscoelastic Moduli For Multilayered Polymeric Systems Using High Frequency Ultrasonic Waves, Todd Mathew Fernandez

Theses

Mechanical characterization of both the bulk and individual layer properties of layered polymer stacks provides important information for their use in novel applications. A single technique to measure both the bulk and layer properties is atempted. Ultrasonic testing provides an opportunity to determine the mechanical characteristics for layered samples in the form of the complex mechanical moduli. These moduli express the viscoelastic properties of the materials. Using ultrasound, this can be done for the bulk and the layers in a single test. With ultrasound, the ability to determine the complex moduli in single layers has been demonstrated. The moduli were …

Influence Of Interactions Between Turbulence And Radiation On Transmissivities In Hypersonic Turbulent Boundary Layers, A. M. Feldick, L. (Lian) Duan, M. F. Modest, M. P. Martín, D. A. Levin

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In the current paper, a high-fidelity large eddy simulation solver is coupled to our modified line-by-line radiative transport equation solver to study the effects of absorption turbulence-radiation interations in a hypersonic turbulent boundary layer, representative of the Orion CEV entering Earth's atmosphere, at peak heating condition. The turbulent and radiation fields represent extreme conditions typical of Orion, as the simulated boundary layer represents the region of high turbulence coupled to region of highest incident radiation. A simplification in the calculation of molecular spectra with a single temperature property database in allows for tractable calculation of spectral properties. A comparison of …

Dynamic System Eigenvalue Extraction Using A Linear Echo State Network For Small-Signal Stability Analysis - A Novel Application, Jiaqi Liang, Jing Dai, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Ronald G. Harley

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A large nonlinear dynamic system usually has complex dynamic modes corresponding to the system's eigenvalues. These eigenvalues govern the system's local behavior and thus are critical information for designing system operation and control strategies. Without the availability of the system's analytical model, which is often the case for large nonlinear systems, the system's eigenvalues need to be estimated. a linear echo state network (ESN) based method for extracting observable eigenvalues of a dynamic system together with the participation factors of these eigenvalues in the accessible system states is presented in this paper. a linear ESN is first trained to track …

On The Power Allocation For Relay Networks With Finite-Alphabet Constraints, Weiliang Zeng, Mingxi Wang, Chengshan Xiao, Jianhua Lu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, we investigate the optimal power allocation scheme for relay networks with finite-alphabet constraints. It has been shown that the previous work utilizing various design criteria with the Gaussian inputs assumption may lead to significant loss for a practical system with finite constellation set constraint, especially when signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is in medium-to-high regions, or when the channel coding rate is medium to high. an optimal power allocation scheme is proposed to maximize the mutual information for the relay networks under discrete-constellation input constraint. Numerical examples show that significant gain can be obtained compared to the conventional counterpart …

Zero-Sum Two-Player Game Theoretic Formulation Of Affine Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems Using Neural Networks, S. Mehraeen, T. Dierks, S. Jagannathan, M. L. Crow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, the nearly optimal solution for discrete-time (DT) affine nonlinear control systems in the presence of partially unknown internal system dynamics and disturbances is considered. the approach is based on successive approximate solution of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs (HJI) equation, which appears in optimal control. Successive approximation approach for updating control input and disturbance for DT nonlinear affine systems are proposed. Moreover, sufficient conditions for the convergence of the approximate HJI solution to the saddle-point are derived, and an iterative approach to approximate the HJI equation using a neural network (NN) is presented. Then, the requirement of full knowledge of …

George W. Bush's Rhetoric Of Compassionate Conservatism And Its Value As A Tool Of Presidential Politics, Richard Holtzman

History and Social Sciences Faculty Journal Articles

This essay presents a situational analysis of George W. Bush’s rhetoric of compassionate conservatism. It explores Bush’s regular use of this discourse to address a number of political exigencies that confront all presidents, such as displaying personal character, framing issues, and energizing national values. I examine Bush’s public discourse from the declaration of his presidential candidacy in 1999 to his 2002 State of Union address to illuminate the development of this rhetorical construct and identify how it was employed to address shifting rhetorical situations. While the language did not change over time, the purposes and meanings of compassionate conservatism were …

Analysis Of Compression Strength Of Corrugated Shipping Containers With Different Designed Hand Holes, Wonho Kwak

Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the compression strength of the corrugated shipping containers having the conventional purpose hand holes and the arc top hand holes. Generally, the arc top hand hole has stronger tear strength than the conventional purpose hand hole, but the arc top hand hole has a larger opening area than the conventional purpose hand hole, and the larger opening area needs more space of a dispersion of compression stress to increase compression resistance. However, when a hand hole has enough space to distribute compression stress, the only one variable is the width of the …

Benefits Of A Supplier Packaging Guideline, Kristin Waxmonsky

Theses

The purpose of this study was to record and analyze the benefits a company can gain by developing and implementing a Supplier Packaging Guideline. Many of the examples published online are available for evaluation, however there are no recorded results or development methodology for these. Fifty-nine industry professionals were surveyed regarding their current use of Supplier Packaging Guidelines. The following conclusions were made based on all applicable research: 1. Supplier Packaging Guidelines are in use by many companies in the United States. a. Survey shows 73 percent of the population uses this type of reference document. b. Of the documents …

Development Of A Platform For Simulating And Optimizing Thermoelectric Energy Systems, John Kreuder

Theses

Thermoelectrics are solid state devices that can convert thermal energy directly into electrical energy. They have historically been used only in niche applications because of their relatively low efficiencies. With the advent of nanotechnology and improved manufacturing processes thermoelectric materials have become less costly and more efficient As next generation thermoelectric materials become available there is a need for industries to quickly and cost effectively seek out feasible applications for thermoelectric heat recovery platforms. Determining the technical and economic feasibility of such systems requires a model that predicts performance at the system level. Current models focus on specific system applications …

The Effect Of Induction Sealing And Time On Removal Torque Of Continuous-Thread And Child Resistant Plastic Closures, Hoong Say Su

Theses

This thesis investigated the effect of an induction sealing process and time on the removal torque of continuous thread and child resistant plastic closures. An application torque of 19 in-lb was applied to the high density polyethylene (HDPE) bottle/closure systems. After passing the bottle/closures through the induction sealer, the immediate removal torque values were measured and recorded. Additionally, sampled bottles/closures were set aside and removal torques were measured over time.

A statistically significant (P

Integration Of Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide Distresses With Local Performance Indices, Scott Schram, Magdy Abdelrahman

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The pavement management system (PMS) is the organizational entity within a state highway agency responsible for the condition of the pavement network. Visual distress surveys are typically combined into an index to provide an overall measure of performance. Decision makers use these familiar indices in a number of facets. A recent survey suggests every state highway agency has implemented or plans to implement the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG). As they do so, maintaining the role these local indices play is critical for upholding the system's continuity. However, using the MEPDG output directly in calculating performance indices becomes problematic because …

Modeling The Effect Of Moisture On Resilient Modulus Of Untreated Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement, Mohamed Attia, Magdy Abdelrahman

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) as a base layer is increasing as quality aggregate becomes scarcer and more expensive. Moisture content is known to have a great impact on the resilient modulus (M_R) of granular materials, and several researchers have devoted effort to develop and verify analytical models to describe that impact. Limited work has been done to quantify the effect of moisture content on RAP as a base layer. It has not been determined whether the existence of aged binder will allow designers to use the same analytical models developed for granular materials. This study …

Variability In Resilient Modulus Of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement As Base Layer And Its Impact On Flexible Pavement Performance, Mohamed Attia, Magdy Abdelrahman

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) as a base layer is gaining popularity, but there are gaps in the literature about its material performance. One problem not well investigated is the variability in the resilient modulus (M_R) of RAP as a base layer, as compared with typical granular material, and the impact of this variability on pavement performance. Selection of one M_R value has its own variability, beyond the expected variability in the base layer _R that results from the use of aggregates with different qualities. This paper investigates the effect of three sources of variability …

An Adaptive Control Strategy For Dstatcom Applications In An Electric Ship Power System, Pinaki Mitra, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Distribution static compensator (DSTATCOM) is a shunt compensation device that is generally used to solve power quality problems in distribution systems. In an all-electric ship power system, power quality issues arise due to high-energy demand loads such as pulse loads. This paper presents the application of a DSTATCOM to improve the power quality in a ship power system during and after pulse loads. The control strategy of the DSTATCOM plays an important role in maintaining the voltage at the point of common coupling. A novel adaptive control strategy for the DSTATCOM based on artificial immune system (AIS) is presented in …

Security In Ad Hoc Networks And Pervasive Computing, Isaac Z. Wu, X.-Y. Li, M. Song, C.-M. Liu

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Pervasive computing is an exciting and blooming research field, in which innovative techniques and applications are continuously emerging and aim to provide ambient and personalized services to users with high quality. Ad hoc networks are wireless, self-organizing systems formed by cooperating nodes within communication range of each other that form temporary networks. Their topology is dynamic, decentralized, ever changing and the nodes may move around arbitrarily. The last few years have witnessed a wealth of research ideas on ad hoc networking that are moving rapidly into implemented standards. Technology under development for ad hoc networks and pervasive computing is making …

Implementing Tablet Pcs In A Distance Learning Environment, Glenda Scales, Sharon Caraballo, James Groves, Rosalyn Hobson, Linda Vahala, Catherine Amelink

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) The Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program (CGEP) is a collaborative distance education program developed by leading Universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is over 25 years old and its main goal is to deliver graduate engineering courses to qualified professionals located across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Traditionally, the courses delivered to students in this program are done through interactive video conferencing (IVC) technology and most students are required to drive to a physical location. However, an increasing number of working professionals are beginning to want more flexibility with the timing and locations of these classes. With these changes …

Spring Seed Guide 2010: Nebraska Variety And Hybrid Tests -- Soybeans, Teshome Regassa, Robert N. Klein, Bruce Anderson, Charles A. Shapiro, Jim Krall

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

NEBRASKA SOYBEAN VARIETY TESTS 2009

Crop Production Summary: The November 2009 estimated soybean yield for Nebraska was 52 bushels per acre from 4.800 million harvested acres. The total production of soybeans for the state was forecasted at 247 million bushels. These estimates are from the November National Agricultural Statistics Service.