Digital Commons Network^™

Breaking Through "The Wall": An Examination Of Elite Rowers And Their Experience Of Conquering Their Mental Boundaries, Nicole Jordens

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Throughout sports, elite athletes have faced mental boundaries in pursuit of their success. These mental boundaries, often referred to as "The Wall", have typically been investigated in endurance sports. Within the sport of rowing, Baltzell (1999) found that elite rowers coped with their mental boundaries by using; mental preparation, goal setting, social support and psychological well-being. However even though rowing is a sport where athletes experience "The Wall" frequently, modest research has been done to further understand this phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experience of elite rowers when challenged with "The Wall". The study …

"Oberon's Henchman; Or The Legend Of The Three Sisters" By Matthew Gregory Lewis: A Critical Edition, Erin Waddell

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis provides a critical edition of M.G. Lewis's "Oberon's Henchman" with an introduction to the text that recontextualizes the poem within its historical milieu. The introduction also presents a critical reading of the text, arguing that Lewis's pastiche is a carefully orchestrated, respectfully playful synthesis of source material which redefines the nature of the spirit world on his own terms. In addition to this background and critical information, this edition provides tools for the reader's comprehension and analysis of the poem: a character guide, synopses presented both chronologically and in order of occurrence within the ballad, extensive notes and …

Reducing Dimensionality Of Hyperspectral Data With Diffusion Maps And Clustering With K-Means And Fuzzy Art, Louis Du Plessis, Rui Xu, Steven Damelin, Michael Sears, Donald C. Wunsch

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

It is very difficult to analyse large amounts of hyperspectral data. Here we present a method based on reducing the dimensionality of the data and clustering the result in moving toward classification of the data. Dimensionality reduction is done with diffusion maps, which interpret the eigenfunctions of Markov matrices as a system of coordinates on the original dataset in order to obtain an efficient representation of data geometric descriptions. Clustering is done using k-means and a neural network clustering theory, Fuzzy ART (FA). The process is done on a subset of core data from AngloGold Ashanti, and compared to results …

Salud Es Vida: Development Of A Cervical Cancer Education Curriculum For Promotora Outreach With Latina Farmworkers In Rural Southern Georgia, Kristen J. Wells, John S. Luque, Branko Miladinovic, Natalia Vargas, Yasmin Asvat, Richard G. Roetzheim, Ambuj Kumar

Community Health: Faculty Publications

Methods: A systematic review was conducted to synthesize evidence from all prospective controlled studies on effectiveness of CHW programs in improving screening mammography rates. Studies reported in English and conducted in the United States were included if they: (i) evaluated a CHW intervention designed to increase screening mammography rates in women 40 years of age or older without a history of breast cancer; (ii) were a randomized controlled trial (RCT), case-controlled study, or quasi-experimental study; and (iii) evaluated a CHW intervention outside of a hospital setting.

Results: Participation in a CHW intervention was associated with a statistically significant …

Automatic Segmentation Of Subfigure Image Panels For Multimodal Biomedical Document Retrieval, Beibei Cheng, Sameer K. Antani, R. Joe Stanley, George R. Thoma

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Biomedical images are often referenced for clinical decision support (CDS), educational purposes, and research. The task of automatically finding the images in a scientific article that are most useful for the purpose of determining relevance to a clinical situation is traditionally done using text and is quite challenging. We propose to improve this by associating image features from the entire image and from relevant regions of interest with biomedical concepts described in the figure caption or discussion in the article. However, images used in scientific article figures are often composed of multiple panels where each sub-figure (panel) is referenced in …

A Semantic Agent Framework For Cyber-Physical Systems, Jing Lin, Sahra Sedigh, Ann K. Miller

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The development of accurate models for cyber-physical systems (CPSs) is hampered by the complexity of these systems, fundamental differences in the operation of cyber and physical components, and significant interdependencies among these components. Agent-based modeling shows promise in overcoming these challenges, due to the flexibility of software agents as autonomous and intelligent decision-making components. Semantic agent systems are even more capable, as the structure they provide facilitates the extraction of meaningful content from the data provided to the software agents. In this book chapter, we present a multi-agent model for a CPS, where the semantic capabilities are underpinned by sensor …

Faculty Senate Librarian's Report-2011, Georgia Southern University

Faculty Senate: Librarian's Reports

No abstract provided.

Faculty Handbook, Georgia Southern University

Faculty Handbooks

Faculty Handbook for Georgia Southern University for the 2011-2012 academic year. The Faculty Handbook is published online by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and archived in Digital Commons@Georgia Southern.

The Meaning Of Mcintyre Our Courts And The World: Transnational Litigation And Civil Procedure: Jurisdiction, Adam N. Steinman

Articles

No abstract provided.

Old Testament Survey, Gerry White

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Predictors Of High School Graduation In Foster Youth, Clifford A. Stewart

Doctoral Dissertations

Academic achievement in foster youth can be influenced by factors related to the foster care experience. The purpose of this study was to determine if gender, ethnicity, time in placement, type of placement, number of placements, and special education status could predict high school graduation in foster youth. To conduct the study a group of foster youth that graduated from high school (n=390) was compared to a group of foster youth that did not graduate from high school (n-400). Sample data were fit to a logistic regression prediction model on the independent variables of gender, ethnicity, time in placement, type …

Assess Commercialization Feasibility Of Algae-Based Bio-Fuel With Dashboard And Scorecard Technologies, Madhur Chopra

Masters Theses

"The growing energy depleting energy supplies and increasing environmental pollution has motivated researchers across the globe to look for alternative energy sources. Various energy sources have been identified but none of them have the capability of realistically replacing the fossil fuels and meeting the current demand. Algae based bio-fuels give some hope but producing them at large scale is a challenge which needs to be overcome.

The underlying objective of this research project is two folds. Firstly, the project aims to assist with the commercialization of algae based bio-fuels by developing Dashboard based and Balanced Scorecard based monitoring prototypes. The …

Improving Student Learning Outcomes Through Personal Response Systems (Clickers), Ran Cai

Masters Theses

"The main purpose of this research was to examine the impact of Personal Response Systems (PRS) or clickers, (as they are commonly called), on student learning outcome. Student learning outcomes as measured by course grades were compared between traditional lecture format and clicker use lecture format. Student perceptions on clicker use were observed in the mean time. Statistical analysis indicated that although student conveyed positive attitude on clicker adoption, there were no significant differences in course scores between students who used clickers and students who did not.

This study also considered the influence of other factors, such as gender, student …

Laboratory Studies Of Compatibility Of Tamper Detection Materials With Improvised Explosive Device Crater Repairs, Levi Anthony Smith

Masters Theses

"Past methods for road repairs of craters caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on main supply routes (MSRs) and alternative supply routes (ASRs) in Iraq and Afghanistan have been problematic. Traditional temporary and permanent solutions have proven deficient by being easily penetrable or by exposing troops for long periods of time. The use of a pre-blended rapid hardening cementitious material for lED crater repair has solved issues such as quick placement of the repair and high strength of the repair within an hour of placement. However, there are still issues with IEDs being hidden in repairs tampered by or replicated …

Analyzing Dashboard Performance In Educational, Non-Profit Sectors, Rutuja B. Honnatti

Masters Theses

"Applications of the performance dashboard in the business sector are well documented, but very little research has been performed on its implementation in higher education. The changing economic scenario has exerted pressure on universities to perform to a new standard and achieve their missions and goals. The objective of this research is to investigate if performance management dashboards can be applied to overcome challenges faced by institutions of higher education, such as lack of access to information, stakeholders not taking advantage of what is being offered, students' anxiety about not being able to find a job and strategic planning. A …

Memristor Based Lookup Table - Novel Testing And Reconfiguration Techniques, Veeresh Anilkumar Hongal

Masters Theses

"Nanotechnology is soon predicted to replace the CMOS technology, as current CMOS lithographic techniques will become void for complex IC designs with smaller feature size, and are hence incapable of keeping up with Moore's law. The devices in nanotechnology are fabricated using bottom up self-assembly. Memristor is one promising nanotech device which can replace the transistor used as a switch or memory device as it is just half the size and uses only fraction of the energy. This work considers Memristor Look Up Table (MLUT) design, which is a building block for asynchronous FPGAs built with memristors. In spite of …

Optimized Testing And Logic Mapping Methodology For Caen-Based Nano-Circuits, Sambhav Kundaikar

Masters Theses

"Nanotechnology has been shown to have the potential to replace the existing CMOS technology in the race to maintain the Moore's Law increases in IC complexity. This work considers the Chemically Assembled Electronic Nanotechnology (CAEN), which fabricates nanofabric using a low cost self-assembly and self-alignment chemical process and provides very high density. However, the main disadvantage of this technology is the inherently high defect rate that hinders the efforts to commercialize such systems. Existing testing and design techniques, for example for FPGAs, are ill suited since they typically assume vary low defect rates.

This thesis is comprised of two papers. …

Bint 4133 Dus Fa11, Michael L. Dusing

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

A Detailed Petrographic Analysis Of The Mt. Sheridan Roosevelt Gabbro And Associated Rock Types, Daniel Russell Lasco

Masters Theses

"The Mt. Sheridan Roosevelt Gabbro of the Wichita Mountains igneous province in Southwestern Oklahoma underwent dynamic crystallization, resulting in three distinct gabbro zones with a range of pegmatite morphologies spread throughout. The three zones are informally named the lower, central, and upper zones. The lower zone consists of a quartz and alkali feldspar poor, plagioclase and pyroxene rich, poorly altered, gabbro cumulate. The central zone is comprised of a heavily altered quartz and alkali feldspar rich gabbro with few cumulate textures. The upper zone is mineralogically and texturally identical to the lower zone, distinguished only by its higher elevation. The …

A Low-Cost Motion Tracking System For Virtual Reality Applications, Abhinav Chadda

Masters Theses

"This thesis provides an insight into the design and development of a highly effective, low-cost motion tracking system comprised of off-the-shelf (OTS) hardware for virtual reality applications. Present-day motion tracking systems usually have a high cost associated with them. A capable yet affordable OTS motion tracking system is a key enabler to make motion controlled virtual reality an accessible and ubiquitous technology.

The motion tracking system developed in this study is used in conjunction with virtual reality software towards simple and natural human-computer interface solutions. It is developed with the budget of $1,000 per system. The cost includes 2 cameras …

Quantitative Oxygen Imaging With A Display Screen And A Color Camera, Sanghan Park

Masters Theses

"Optical oxygen sensing uses luminophores such as metal complex dyes that respond to oxygen when illuminated by their specific excitation wavelengths. Traditional optical instruments are mostly spectrometric instruments based on the measurements of emission, absorption or reflection. There is, however, a great need to develop simple, economical, photometric detection components toward quantitative and two-dimensional imaging instruments.

In this work, familiar optoelectronic devices were utilized to demonstrate a simple determination method of gaseous oxygen both quantitatively and qualitatively. A liquid crystal display (LCD) screen and a color charge-coupled device (CCD) camera were employed as a light source for fluorescence excitation and …

Categorization And Experimental Evaluation Of Anchorage Systems For Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Laminates Bonded To Reinforced Concrete Structures, Stephen V. Grelle

Masters Theses

"While externally-bonded fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are commonly used for the strengthening of structurally deficient reinforced concrete (RC) members, the topic of anchoring FRP to concrete to achieve higher design strengths has not been addressed. Many innovative systems have been developed to anchor FRP to concrete, but the research involving these anchorage systems is not centralized and is therefore difficult to access. Additionally, systematic testing procedures for evaluating the strength of an anchorage system have not been widely used. To aid in the organization of anchorage system research and facilitate a better understanding of anchorage system behavior, a categorization system …

Design Of A Current Probe For Measuring Ball-Grid-Array Packaged Devices, Tianqi Li

Masters Theses

"A current probe to measure BGA ball currents via magnetic induction has been designed. The probe is manufactured on a 4 layer flex circuit and has been validated by full wave simulations and measurements. The feature size of the probe is very tiny that it almost pushes the limit of flex-circuit technology. Several critical manufacturing problems were happened, and they have been solved now. The probe allows measuring currents of a 1 mm pitch BGA ball directly. Its operating frequency stretched from tens of MHz up to 3GHz. The BGA probe's mutual inductance is approximately 11 pH, and with amplifiers …

Phytoforensic Tools: Directional Uptake Of Chlorinated Solvents, Matthew Alan Limmer

Masters Theses

"Trees have been used to locate contaminated soil and groundwater, augmenting traditional methods, such as well drilling, that are time-consuming and expensive. In the past decade, plant sampling has gained acceptance as a reliable method for site screening. In this new field of phytoforensics, research efforts focus on developing quicker, more accurate and more informative sampling and analysis methods for measuring contaminant concentrations in trees. These phytoforensic tools are a novel approach to site assessments, potentially reducing cost while more effectively locating contaminated groundwater. This thesis evolved from field data suggesting azimuthal concentrations in tree trunks may reflect the corresponding …

An Incentive Based Approach To Detect Selfish Nodes In Mobile P2p Network, Hemanth Meka

Masters Theses

"The growth of mobile devices led to the wide use of Mobile P2P networks. These networks are used in a wide variety of areas and hence there is lot of research in the field of mobile networks. Detecting selfish nodes is one of the research topics triggered due to the popularity of mobile P2P networks. It is necessary to detect selfish nodes in such networks to improve the efficiency of the network. In this thesis, an incentive based approach to detect selfish nodes is designed and evaluated. This approach differs from the existing work as it (i) can be used …

Simulation Of The Field Electron Emission Characteristics Of A Flat Panel X-Ray Source, Chrystian Mauricio Posada ArbeláEz

Masters Theses

"A distributed flat panel x-ray source is designed as an alternative for medical and industrial imaging fields. The distributed x-ray source corresponds to a two dimensional array of micro (~100μm) x-ray cells similar in format to a field emission display. In this paper the electron field emission characteristics of a single of the proposed micro-sized x-ray cells are simulated. The field electron emission from the CNTs-based cathode is simulated using the Particle-In-Cell code OOPIC Pro. The electron source is simulated as a triode structure, composed of an emitting cathode, extracting grid and anode. The possibility of using focusing lenses to …

Towards On-Line Voltage Stability Assessment Using Synchrophasors, Himanshu Subandhu Hirlekar

Masters Theses

"Voltage instability has become a growing concern in the operation of power systems in recent years. The reason is that power systems all over are being operated with reduced margins because of increased demand exacerbated by a general reluctance to invest in improvement of the electric grid infrastructure. Until recently it was difficult to predict voltage instability in the on-line environment. However, advances in technology has made possible the on-line monitoring and assessment of voltage stability. Synchrophasors is a relatively new technology in the field of power systems which allows system operators to monitor the system conditions at specific measurement …

Uncertainty Quantification Integrated To Computational Fluid Dynamic Modeling Of Synthetic Jet Actuators, Srikanth Adya

Masters Theses

"The Point Collocation Non-Intrusive Polynomial Chaos (NIPC) method was applied to a stochastic synthetic jet actuator problem to demonstrate the integration of computationally efficient uncertainty quantification to the high-fidelity CFD modeling of Synthetic Jet Actuators. The uncertainty quantification approach was first implemented in two stochastic model problem cases for the prediction of peak exit plane velocity using a Fluid Dynamic Based analytical model of the Synthetic Jet Actuator, which is computationally less expensive than CFD simulations. The NIPC results were compared with direct Monte Carlo sampling results. To demonstrate the efficient uncertainty quantification in CFD modeling of synthetic jet actuators, …

Characterization Of Shielding Effectiveness For Metallic Enclosures, Nicholas Bennett Mentesana

Masters Theses

"This topic discusses and verifies an equation for estimating the shielding effectiveness of metallic enclosures through the use of numerical simulations. Using ideas from Bethe's "Theory of Diffraction by Small Holes", a previous student from the Missouri S&T Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory developed an equation that would yield an envelope prediction for the worst-case EMI from an aperture array backed by an over-moded cavity. Min Li (PhDEE '99) used results from measurements, simulations, and physics-based equations to formulate a simple equation that would predict these EMI levels. The main purpose of this thesis is to revisit this work and determine when …

Mutual Attraction Guided Search: A Novel Solution Method To The Traveling Salesman Problem With Vehicle Dynamics, Jared Adam Nisbett

Masters Theses

"Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) solution techniques are often used for route planning for automated vehicles. Most TSP solution methods focus on path length as the fitness reference, however in many cases, traversal time is of more practical importance. Mutual Attraction Guided Search (MAGS) is a novel solution method that uses an iterative process to simultaneously optimize both angle of travel through each target as well as the ordering of the targets in order to optimize path traversal time. MAGS deterministically locates a locally optimum solution quickly and can optimize for the acceleration limits of a specific vehicle rather than requiring …