Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of Instructional Changes On Student Learning Of Electrochemistry In An Ib Chemistry Course , Deborah Corriveau

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This study investigated the effectiveness of incorporating several new instructional strategies into an International Baccalaureate (IB) chemistry course in terms of how they supported high school seniors’ understanding of electrochemistry. The three new methods used were (a) providing opportunities for visualization of particle movement by student manipulation of physical models and interactive computer simulations, (b) explicitly addressing common misconceptions identified in the literature, and (c) teaching an algorithmic, step-wise approach for determining the products of an aqueous solution electrolysis. Changes in student understanding were assessed through test scores on both internally and externally administered exams over a two-year period. It …

Improving Learning By Connecting Chemistry Curriculum To Students' Experiences , Nicole N. Olszowy

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The purpose of the study was to design, implement, and assess the effects of a teaching unit about fuel sources and chemical energy on students’ learning. The unit was designed to incorporate students’ experiences in a way that was aligned with the Michigan High School Content Expectations.

The study was completed with all of the students taking General Chemistry in a rural Michigan high school in the 2010-11 school year. There were 138 participants total. The participants were mostly Caucasian and the majority were in the 11th grade. Of these, 77 constituted the experimental group and were taught the unit. …

Is Virtuality Close Enough To Reality? A Comparison Of The Effectiveness Of Simulations With Traditional Laboratory Activities In A High School Biology Class , Wendelien K. Benya

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Some schools do not have ideal access to laboratory space and supplies. Computer simulations of laboratory activities can be a cost-effective way of presenting experiences to students, but are those simulations as effective at supplementing content concepts? This study compared the use of traditional lab activities illustrating the principles of cell respiration and photosynthesis in an introductory high school biology class with virtual simulations of the same activities. Additionally student results were analyzed to assess if student conceptual understanding was affected by the complexity of the simulation. Although all student groups posted average gain increases between the pre and post-tests …

Occasional White Boarding : Examining The Effects Of Physics Students' Understanding Of Motion Graphs , Tony Schwaller

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The Modeling method of teaching has demonstrated well--‐documented success in the improvement of student learning. The teacher/researcher in this study was introduced to Modeling through the use of a technique called White Boarding. Without formal training, the researcher began using the White Boarding technique for a limited number of laboratory experiences with his high school physics classes. The question that arose and was investigated in this study is “What specific aspects of the White Boarding process support student understanding?”

For the purposes of this study, the White Boarding process was broken down into three aspects – the Analysis of data …

Studying Students' Opinions : Using Surveys In Writing Program Assessment, Lucus A. Palosaari

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Administrators of writing programs are regularly faced with the problem of assessing the learning that students gain in their coursework. Many methods of assessment exist, but most have some problems associated with them related to the amount of time it takes to perform the study or the scope of the knowledge gained relative to number of participants or volume of information collected. This pilot study investigates the use of surveys of student opinion for their potential to assess composition instruction at Michigan Technological University. The primary goal of this pilot study is to test the effectiveness of using data collected …

Cyclic Automorphic Graph Decompositions , Michael Li Misson

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Chapter 1 introduces the tools and mechanics necessary for this report. Basic definitions and topics of graph theory which pertain to the report and discussion of automorphic decompositions will be covered in brief detail. An automorphic decomposition D of a graph H by a graph G is a G-decomposition of H such that the intersection of graph (D) @H. H is called the automorhpic host, and G is the automorphic divisor. We seek to find classes of graphs that are automorphic divisors, specifically ones generated cyclically.

Chapter 2 discusses the previous work done mainly by Beeler. …

Development Of A Technique For Achieving An Optimum Bsfc For Laf Engine, Shreyash S. Ukidave

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The reserves of gasoline and diesel fuels are ever decreasing, which plays an important role in the technological development of automobiles. Numerous countries, especially the United States, wish to slowly decrease their fuel dependence on other countries by producing in house renewable fuels like biodiesels or ethanol. Therefore, the new automobile engines have to successfully run on a variety of fuels without significant changes to their designs. The current study focuses on assessing the potential of ethanol fuels to improve the performance of 'flex-fuel SI engines,' which literally means 'engines that are flexible in their fuel requirement.'

Another important area …

Characterizing A Single Photon Detector, Paul N. Rojas

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

I will present my work about constructing and characterizing a single photon detector. Using the 1550nm laser and second harmonic light generation, I am able to count single photons on a Multi‐Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC) silicon APD. My results show that upwards of 22% quantum efficiency is achievable with the MPPC. Future work will include coincidence detection of correlated photon‐pair.

Four-Window Technique For Measuring Optical-Phase-Space-Time-Frequency Tomography, Rachel A. Blaser

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

A new approach, the four-window technique, was developed to measure optical phase-space-time-frequency tomography (OPSTFT). The four-window technique is based on balanced heterodyne detection with two local oscillator (LO) fields. This technique can provide independent control of position, momentum, time and frequency resolution. The OPSTFT is a Wigner distribution function of two independent Fourier transform pairs, phase-space and time-frequency. The OPSTFT can be applied for early disease detection.

Detection Of Complex Point Targets With Distributed Assets In A Mimo Radar System, Ishtiaque Amin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The report explores the problem of detecting complex point target models in a MIMO radar system. A complex point target is a mathematical and statistical model for a radar target that is not resolved in space, but exhibits varying complex reflectivity across the different bistatic view angles. The complex reflectivity can be modeled as a complex stochastic process whose index set is the set of all the bistatic view angles, and the parameters of the stochastic process follow from an analysis of a target model comprising a number of ideal point scatterers randomly located within some radius of the targets …

Experimental Method Calibration (Mecr): A New Relative Method For Heat Flux Sensor Calibration, Craig D. Adams, A Jean, M Medina, F Miranville

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Heat flux sensor calibration is often expensive, but it is also a fundamental step to obtain valid results. According to the needs, several calibration procedures could be considered. If experimental interpretations focus on heat flux values comparison rather than true values, a relative calibration with high accuracy can be performed. This paper focuses on a new relative calibration-type method of heat flux sensors (HFSs). In general, the HFSs were originally (even recently) factory and in-house-calibrated, but this method was used to calibrate them to an exact common reading to help in performing accurate experiments and eliminating errors that could result …

Stochastic Generation Of Monthly Streamflows Of Maroon River In Iran

Journal of Spatial Hydrology

River flow forecasting constitutes one of the most important applications in hydrology. Several techniques and methods can be used in planning, design and management of water resources system. A stochastic model is one these techniques that formed based on time series. Maroon River is one of the most important rivers in Iran, therefore estimation of its discharge with appropriate models is important. Idnak Hydrometric station on the Maroon River with 41 years (1967 to 2009) of observed stream flow data was selected to for study. In these research stochastic models is fitted to monthly discharge. After performance of necessary tests, …

You Can Lead Them To Water, But You Can’T Make Them Drink: Using Crowd Sourcing To Lead Library Patrons To Extended Library Services Relevant To Their Search Criteria, William B. Lund, Chad Hansen

Faculty Publications

The Lee Library at Brigham Young University has extensive resources in the forms of highly skilled subject librarians, print resources and digital collections, but getting the students to be aware of and use them effectively is a problem. To help inform library patrons of these resources librarian subject specialists have created over 150 subject guides using LibGuides for subject areas, classes, and some subspecialties, which was an enormous task; but are these resources being used effectively? This paper explores and reports on a subject guide recommender system, which recommends relevant subject guides based on patron searches, using a crowd sourced …

Cover And Contents

Turkish Journal of Zoology

No abstract provided.

Cover And Contents

Turkish Journal of Zoology

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Coursecasting In International Freshman Students' Perceptions Of Marginality And Isolation, Anxiety, And English Language Oral Proficiency And Comprehension, Alberto Fernandez

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

The influx of international students attending American universities has put the U.S. at the forefront of international education, generating over $14.5 billion yearly.

International students often face adjustment issues impacting their level of satisfaction with their experience. These involve oral language proficiency, as well as feelings of anxiety and isolation resulting from language deficiencies, which increase their feelings of marginality. Engaged learning, which is dependent on comprehension, is affected by the anxiety students bring to class. It is believed that coursecasts may alleviate anxiety, thus improving student engagement in learning.

A pre-experimental research design investigates whether coursecasting mitigates feelings of …

A Study On Influence Of Borax To Polyester Insulators, Aysel Ersoy, Ayten Kuntman

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In this study the effect of borax on polyester insulators is investigated by evaluating the tracking and erosion resistance using the inclined plane test. The test procedure follows the ASTM D2303 standard. During the test, 50 Hz current was acquired from the ground electrode allowing a sampling rate of 48000 samples per second. The effect of borax concentration on the glass transition and the degradation temperature is studied by employing differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. The addition of borax to the unsaturated polyester resulted in an increase in the glass transition temperature, while the addition of 0.5% of borax by …

Design Of Cdba-Based Active Polyphase Filter For Low-If Receiver Applications, Mehmet Sağbaş

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

A novel first-order active-RC polyphase filter section, using current differencing buffered amplifiers (CDBAs), is presented. The section uses 6 resistors, 2 capacitors, and 2 CDBAs. The transfer function of the proposed section has a single pole and optionally a single zero. Increasing the number of cascading sections, any higher order polyphase filter can be realized. This paper also introduces the leakage caused by element deviation and the effects of the amplifier in nonideal cases. Furthermore, nonideal performances of the proposed filter section are tested with PSpice simulations.

A Novel Expression For Resonant Length Obtained By Using Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm In Calculating Resonant Frequency Of C-Shaped Compact Microstrip Antennas, Ali̇ Akdağli, Mustafa Berkan Bi̇çer, Seda Ermi̇ş

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

This paper presents a novel and simple expression for resonant length to calculate the resonant frequency of C-shaped compact microstrip antennas operating on UHF band applications. C-shaped compact microstrip antennas with different physical dimensions and electrical parameters were simulated by means of a software package that employs the method of finite difference time domain. With the aid of the artificial bee colony algorithm, an expression for the resonant length depending on physical dimensions was constructed by using simulation data. The resonant length expression provided less than 1.6% error on average over the simulated 144 antennas. A comparison between the results …

Ellipsoid Based L_2 Controller Design For Lpv Systems With Saturating Actuators, İbrahi̇m Beklan Küçükdemi̇ral, Levent Ucun, Yavuz Eren, Haluk Görgün, Gali̇p Cansever

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

This paper addresses the L_2 gain control problem for disturbance attenuation in Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) Systems having saturating actuators when the system is subjected to L_2 disturbances. In the presented method, saturating actuator is expressed analytically with a convex hull of some linear feedback which let us construct L_2 control problem via Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs) which are obtained by some ellipsoids. It is shown that the stability and disturbance rejection capabilities of the control system are all measured by means of these nested ellipsoids where the inner ellipsoid covers the initial conditions for states whereas the outer ellipsoid …

Model Predictive Controller Design Of Hydrocracker Reactors, Di̇la Gökçe

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

This study summarizes the design of a Model Predictive Controller (MPC) in Tüpraş, İzmit Refinery Hydrocracker Unit Reactors. Hydrocracking process, in which heavy vacuum gasoil is converted into lighter and valuable products at high temperature and pressure is described briefly. Controller design description, identification and modeling studies are examined and the model variables are presented. WABT (Weighted Average Bed Temperature) equalization and conversion increase are simulated, results are discussed.

Optimal Predictive Kernel Regression Via Feature Space Principle Components, Ernest Fokoue

Articles

We propose a simple use of principal component analysis in feature space that allows the derivation of optimal predictive kernel regression. The proposed approach is shown to perform well on both artificial and real data. Despite its incredible simplicity, the proposed method is found to compete very well with sophisticated statistical approaches like the Relevance Vector Machine and the Support Vector Machine.

Design And Implementation Of A Voice-Controlled Prosthetic Hand, Musa Hakan Asyali, Mustafa Yilmaz, Mahmut Tokmakçi, Kanber Sedef, Beki̇r Hakan Aksebzeci̇, Rohin Mittal

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Current hand prostheses are mostly driven by electromyography (EMG) signal, and existing experiments have proved that multichannel EMG signal controls are not suitable due to early fatigue problems and high effort requirements to perform even simple activities. Therefore, in this study we present a new voice-controlled active hand prosthesis to perform several basic tasks. We first designed a novel multifingered prosthetic hand with the ability of picking up and releasing objects. The prosthetic hand employs 3 DC motors and gears to transfer motion to the linked iparts of the fingers. We used flexible thin-film resistive force sensors at the fingertips …

Papr Reduction Using Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm In Ofdm Systems, Necmi̇ Taşpinar, Dervi̇ş Karaboğa, Mahmut Yildirim, Bahri̇ye Akay

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Partial transmit sequence (PTS) is an attractive scheme for peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, but its high computational complexity to find optimum phase factors is the main drawback. In this paper, we propose PTS based on an artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm (ABC-PTS) for reducing the computational complexity of the PTS in the OFDM system. The ABC-PTS was compared to conventional PTS using a random search strategy (RS-PTS) and optimum PTS. In addition, the bit error rate (BER) performance of the ABC-PTS was shown when a high power amplifier (HPA) was used for …

Stray Magnetic Field Distributed Around A Pmsm, Ali̇ Ahmed Adam, Kayhan Gülez, Seli̇m Köroğlu

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In this work, the low frequency electromagnetic emission from permanent magnet synchronous motors is studied. The main objective is to provide a safety region for humans in the vicinity of these motors, especially as these motors are now being used widely in inhabited areas, where high flux densities are expected. In this study, a new proposed equivalent magnetic circuit is used to estimate the stray fields at the surface of the motor. The analysis showed that the emission of the stray field in the radial direction depends on the permeability of the stator body. Low values of permeability may result …

New Srco With Explicit Current-Mode Output Using Two Ccs And Grounded Capacitors, D R. Bhaskar, Kasim K. Abdalla, Raj Senani

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

A new Grounded-Capacitor Single Resistance Controlled Sinusoidal Oscillator (SRCO) with explicit current output using two Current Conveyors (CCs) and five passive elements is presented. The proposed circuit offers (i) independent control of condition of oscillation and frequency of oscillation, (ii) low active and passive sensitivities, (iii) use of both the grounded capacitors (suitable for IC implementation) and (iv) reasonably good frequency stability. The workability of the proposed configuration has been confirmed by the PSPICE simulations.

Imitation Of Basic Hand Preshapes By Fluid Based Method: Fluidics Formation Control, Umut Ti̇lki̇, İsmet Erkmen, Aydan Müşerref Erkmen

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In this paper, a new approach is developed, avoiding the correspondence problem caused by the difference in embodiment between imitator and demonstrator in imitation learning. In our work, the imitator is a fluidic system of dynamics totally different than the imitatee, which is a human performing hand gestures. The fluidic system is composed of fluid particles, which are used for the discretization of the problem domain. In this work, we demonstrate the fluidics formation control so as to imitate by observation basic hand preshaping features. Our fluidic formation control is based on setting suitable parameters of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), …

Four Quadrant Fgmos Analog Multiplier, Si̇nem Keleş, Hulusi̇ Hakan Kuntman

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

A novel four-quadrant analog multiplier using floating gate MOS (FGMOS) transistors operating in the saturation region is presented. The drain current is proportional to the square of the weighted sum of the input signals. This square law characteristic of the FGMOS transistor is used to implement the quarter square identity by utilizing only six FGMOS transistors. The main features of this remarkably simple multiplier circuit configuration are the large input signal range equal to 100% of the supply voltage, nonlinearity of 0.0081%, bandwidth of 1.4--1.5 Ghz and THD of maximum 2.67% (while the inputs are at their maximum values).

Recent Advances In The Synthetic And Mechanistic Aspects Of The Ruthenium-Catalyzed Carbon-Heteroatom Bond Forming Reactions Of Alkenes And Alkynes, Chae S. Yi

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

The group’s recent advances in catalytic carbon-to-heteroatom bond forming reactions of alkenes and alkynes are described. For the C–O bond formation reaction, a well-defined bifunctional ruthenium-amido catalyst has been successfully employed for the conjugate addition of alcohols to acrylic compounds. The ruthenium-hydride complex (PCy₃)₂(CO)RuHCl was found to be a highly effective catalyst for the regioselective alkyne-to-carboxylic acid coupling reaction in yielding synthetically useful enol ester products. Cationic ruthenium-hydride catalyst generated in-situ from (PCy₃)₂(CO)RuHCl/HBF₄·OEt₂ was successfully utilized for both the hydroamination and related C–N bond forming reactions of alkenes. For …

The Categories Of Graphs, Demitri Joel Plessas

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In traditional studies of graph theory, the graphs allow only one edge to be incident to any two vertices, not necessarily distinct, and the graph morphisms must map edges to edges and vertices to vertices while preserving incidence. We refer to these restricted morphisms as strict morphisms. We relax the conditions on the graphs by allowing any number of edges to be incident to any two vertices, as well as relaxing the condition on graph morphisms by allowing edges to be mapped to vertices, provided that incidence is still preserved. We call the broader category of these graphs and …