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2012

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Capacitated Transshipment Models For Predicting Signaling Pathways, Ritika Sahni Jan 2012

Capacitated Transshipment Models For Predicting Signaling Pathways, Ritika Sahni

Computer Science

Signal transduction is a process of transmitting signals for controlling biological responses. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) data, containing signal transduction proteins, can be considered as a bi-directional, weighted network with the proteins as nodes, the interactions between them as edges, and the confidence score of the interaction as weights on edges. If the edges of this network are given a capacity of one, and if the starting and ending proteins are the supply and demand nodes, then this problem can be modeled as a capacitated transshipment model with pathways as the solutions. Our application concerns finding the signaling pathways for …

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Modeling Of Consumer Responses To Dynamic Pricing In A Smart Grid, Md Mahbubur Rahman Khan Jan 2012

Modeling Of Consumer Responses To Dynamic Pricing In A Smart Grid, Md Mahbubur Rahman Khan

Computer Science

This paper models the responses of three different types of consumers based on their sensitivity to dynamic price. Simulated household demand data is used to model the dynamic price of electricity. These prices are then used to experiment responses of consumers in a centralized dynamically priced power market. It is taken into consideration that some consumers will only have access to imperfect information but they can still alter their usage and benefit from the associated cost savings. Analysis based on a developed software system found that sensitive consumers, given full information and control with tools such as a Home Area …

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Evaluating The Gap Between The Skills And Abilities Of Senior Undergraduate Computer Science Students And The Expectations Of Industry, Alex Radermacher Jan 2012

Evaluating The Gap Between The Skills And Abilities Of Senior Undergraduate Computer Science Students And The Expectations Of Industry, Alex Radermacher

Computer Science

A large emphasis is placed on improving student education. Every year researchers propose new teaching methods and suggest improvements to existing methods. However, recent computer science and software engineering graduates continue to face difficulties when beginning their professional careers. This thesis reports the results of a systematic literature review that examined the knowledge deficiency among graduating students beginning work in the software industry. Following the literature review, interviews with industry managers and surveys of graduating students were undertaken to examine additional knowledge deficiencies among graduating students. The results from the literature review and the additional studies show that students lack …

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An Immense New Power To Heal: The Promise Of Personalized Medicine, Lee Gutkind, Pagan Kennedy Jan 2012

An Immense New Power To Heal: The Promise Of Personalized Medicine, Lee Gutkind, Pagan Kennedy

Books

There is no denying that new technology, which has triggered an explosion of scientific information, is ushering in a revolution in medicine. Through intimate patient stories as well as profiles of leading-edge doctors and scientists, this clear-eyed, lively, and highly engaging book explores one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of our time: the sequencing of the human genome and the subsequent development of personalized medicine.

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The Association Between Factors Affecting Enrollment Decisions In Manufacturing Occupational Clusters In Two-Year Colleges, Ralph J. Karl Jan 2012

The Association Between Factors Affecting Enrollment Decisions In Manufacturing Occupational Clusters In Two-Year Colleges, Ralph J. Karl

Education

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationships between factors that affect student enrollment decisions in manufacturing occupational programs in two-year colleges and to describe current enrollment status of these programs. This purpose was pursued by five hypotheses and one research question that addressed the categorical factors that affect student enrollment decisions in a diversity of academic programs in higher education. These factors are: awareness; influence; recruitment; and socioeconomic status. Quantitative data were gathered through an online survey instrument. The target populations were full time instructors, academic advisors, and program directors of manufacturing occupational programs in two-year colleges …

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Sustainability Of Professional Development To Enhance Student Achievement: A Shift In The Professional Development Paradigm, Wendi Marie Mizer Stachler Jan 2012

Sustainability Of Professional Development To Enhance Student Achievement: A Shift In The Professional Development Paradigm, Wendi Marie Mizer Stachler

Education

The purpose of this study was to determine the sustainability of professional development--teacher utilization of the Science-in-CTE pedagogical model and science-enhanced CTE lessons--one year following the Science-in-CTE Pilot Study. This study included 27 teachers (15 experimental CTE and 12 science) who participated in the Pilot Study in 2009-2010. This study was a partial replication of the Math-in-CTE Follow-up Study and data were collected using a mixed methods approach. Quantitative data were obtained from online questionnaires and qualitative data were collected from personal and telephone interviews. Data found that a majority of the CTE and science teachers voluntarily incorporated portions of …

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The Effectiveness Of Parental Involvement In Preschool Education Programs On Parent Perceptions Of Their Child’S School Readiness, Judith Ann Konerza Jan 2012

The Effectiveness Of Parental Involvement In Preschool Education Programs On Parent Perceptions Of Their Child’S School Readiness, Judith Ann Konerza

Education

The purpose of this study was to determine if the Gearing Up for Kindergarten program created a significant impact on parent understanding of children's development and aspects of school readiness. Parent perceptions of their child's readiness to make the transition to school were also assessed. The study also measured the Gearing Up for Kindergarten impact on children's scores on selected academic measures. A selected sample of 75 parents were surveyed with pre, post, and post post program assessments using the Practical Parent Assessment of School Readiness survey. The survey used Likert scale measures to assess parent perceptions of readiness in …

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Examining Portfolio-Based Assessment In An Upper-Level Biology Course, Brittany Ziegler Jan 2012

Examining Portfolio-Based Assessment In An Upper-Level Biology Course, Brittany Ziegler

Education

Historically, students have been viewed as empty vessels and passive participants in the learning process but students actually are active forming their own conceptions. One way student learning is impacted is through assessment. Alternative assessment, which contrasts traditional assessment methods, takes into account how students learn by promoting engagement and construction of knowledge. This dissertation explores portfolio-based assessment, a method of alternative assessment, which requires students to compose a purposeful collection of work demonstrating their knowledge in an upper-level biology course. The research objectives include characterizing and contributing to the understanding of portfolio-based assessment in higher education, examining reflection and …

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Motivational And Adaptational Factors Of Successful Women Engineers, Susan Edith Bornsen Jan 2012

Motivational And Adaptational Factors Of Successful Women Engineers, Susan Edith Bornsen

Education

It is no surprise that there is a shortage of women engineers. The reasons for the shortage have been researched and discussed in myriad papers, and suggestions for improvement continue to evolve. However, there are few studies that have specifically identified the positive aspects that attract women to engineering and keep them actively engaged in the field. This paper examines how women engineers view their education, their work, and their motivation to remain in the field. A qualitative research design was used to understand the motivation and adaptability factors women use to support their decision to major in engineering and …

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Novel Hybrid Polymeric Materials For Barrier Coatings, Erin Pavlacky Jan 2012

Novel Hybrid Polymeric Materials For Barrier Coatings, Erin Pavlacky

Coatings and Polymeric Materials

Polymer-clay nanocomposites, described as the inclusion of nanometer-sized layered silicates into polymeric materials, have been widely researched due to significant enhancements in material properties with the incorporation of small levels of filler (1 - 5 wt.%) compared to conventional micro- and macro-composites (20 - 30 wt.%). One of the most promising applications for polymer-clay nanocomposites is in the field of barrier coatings. The development of UV-curable polymer-clay nanocomposite barrier coatings was explored by employing a novel in situ preparation technique. Unsaturated polyesters were synthesized in the presence of organomodified clays by in situ intercalative polymerization to create highly dispersed clays …

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Interaction Of Tackifier Resins With Water-Based And Olefinic Polymers, Puthenkovilakom Rajesh Raja Jan 2012

Interaction Of Tackifier Resins With Water-Based And Olefinic Polymers, Puthenkovilakom Rajesh Raja

Coatings and Polymeric Materials

The objective of this research was to investigate the interaction of tackifier resins in water-based and olefinic polymers for potential pressure sensitive adhesive applications. The first part of this research work was focused on evaluating the usefulness of olefinic block copolymer blends with two amorphous polyolefins (atactic propylene homopolymer and ethylene-propylene copolymer) as potential base polymers for hotmelt pressure-sensitive adhesives. Unsaturated and saturated hydrocarbon resins were studied as potential compatibilizing agents and rheology modifiers. Results show that the chemistry of hydrocarbon resins definitely influence the miscibility of the olefinic block polymer and amorphous polyolefin blends. Ethylene-propylene amorphous copolymer based blends …

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Silicon-Based Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Polymers And Coatings, Hanzhen Bao Jan 2012

Silicon-Based Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Polymers And Coatings, Hanzhen Bao

Coatings and Polymeric Materials

Interest in producing hybrid organic-inorganic (HOI) materials has increased rapidly due to the unique combination of properties from the organic and inorganic components. The goal of the research described is to develop various HOI materials and explore their applications in corrosion protection over aerospace aluminum alloys, impact resistant materials, and surface protection over thermoplastic substrates. As a replacement to toxic chromate inhibitors, enrivonmentally friendly magnesium-rich primers (Mg-rich primers) have been investigated to provide corrosion protection over aerospace aluminum alloys. HOI binders were produced from an alkoxy silane and silica via sol-gel chemistry, where the combined organic and inorganic components provide …

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Embedded Reference Electrodes For Corrosion Potential Monitoring, Electrochemical Characterization, And Controlled-Potential Cathodic Protection, Bobbi Jo Elizabeth Merten Jan 2012

Embedded Reference Electrodes For Corrosion Potential Monitoring, Electrochemical Characterization, And Controlled-Potential Cathodic Protection, Bobbi Jo Elizabeth Merten

Coatings and Polymeric Materials

A thin wire Ag/AgCl reference electrode was prepared using 50 μm Ag wire in dilute FeCl3. The wire was embedded beneath the polyurethane topcoat of two sacrificial coating systems to monitor their corrosion potential. This is the first report of a reference electrode embedded between organic coating layers to monitor substrate health. The embedded reference electrode (ERE) successfully monitored the corrosion potential of Mg primer on AA 2024-T3 for 800 days of constant immersion in dilute Harrison’s solution. Zn primer on steel had low accuracy in comparison. This is in part due to short circuiting by Zn oxidation products, which …

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Amphiphilic Invertible Polymers: Self-Assembly Into Functional Materials Driven By Environment Polarity, Ivan Hevus Jan 2012

Amphiphilic Invertible Polymers: Self-Assembly Into Functional Materials Driven By Environment Polarity, Ivan Hevus

Coatings and Polymeric Materials

Stimuli-responsive polymers adapt to environmental changes by adjusting their chain conformation in a fast and reversible way. Responsive polymeric materials have already found use in electronics, coatings industry, personal care, and bio-related areas. The current work aims at the development of novel responsive functional polymeric materials by manipulating environment-dependent self-assembly of a new class of responsive macromolecules strategically designed in this study, – amphiphilic invertible polymers (AIPs). Environment-dependent micellization and self-assembly of three different synthesized AIP types based on poly(ethylene glycol) as a hydrophilic fragment and varying hydrophobic constituents was demonstrated in polar and nonpolar solvents, as well as on …

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High-Throughput Methods For Characterizing The Mechanical Properties Of Coatings, Chavanin Siripirom Jan 2012

High-Throughput Methods For Characterizing The Mechanical Properties Of Coatings, Chavanin Siripirom

Coatings and Polymeric Materials

The characterization of mechanical properties in a combinatorial and high-throughput workflow has been a bottleneck that reduced the speed of the materials development process. High-throughput characterization of the mechanical properties was applied in this research in order to reduce the amount of sample handling and to accelerate the output. A puncture tester was designed and built to evaluate the toughness of materials using an innovative template design coupled with automation. The test is in the form of a circular free-film indentation. A single template contains 12 samples which are tested in a rapid serial approach. Next, the operational principles of …

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Advanced Electrochemical Methods For Characterizing The Performance Of Organic Coatings, Vinod Upadhyay Jan 2012

Advanced Electrochemical Methods For Characterizing The Performance Of Organic Coatings, Vinod Upadhyay

Coatings and Polymeric Materials

Advanced electrochemical techniques such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), electrochemical noise method (ENM) and coulometry as tools to study and extract information about the coating system is the focus of this thesis. This thesis explored three areas of research. In all the three research areas, advanced electrochemical techniques were used to extract information and understand the coating system. The first area was to use EIS and coulometric technique for extracting information using AC-DC-AC method. It was examined whether the total charge passing through the coating during the DC polarization step of AC-DC-AC determines coating failure. An almost constant total amount …

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Computer-Aided Microwave Design System (Camds): Improvement, Verification, And Device Fabrication, Swetha Somshekar Sharma Jan 2012

Computer-Aided Microwave Design System (Camds): Improvement, Verification, And Device Fabrication, Swetha Somshekar Sharma

Electrical and Computer Engineering

This paper presents a review of the Computer-Aided Microwave Design System (CAMDS) as originally developed by Divya Bais. Its goal was to deal with microwave design and analysis problems presented in standard textbooks such as David Pozar’s Microwave Engineering. This work presents improvements to CAMDS and verifies its performance. The paper focusses on passive devices using microstrip transmission lines such as filters or stub tuners. Designs developed with CAMDS are compared with those reported by Pozar, simulated using the Agilent Advanced Design System (ADS), and then fabricated using an ADS layout. In appropriate cases, device performance is checked using independent …

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Implicit Bias In The Courtroom, David L. Faigman, Jerry Kang, Mark W. Bennett, Devon W. Carbado, Pamela Casey, Nilanjana Dasgupta, Rachel D. Godsil, Anthony G. Greenwarld, Justin D. Levinson, Jennifer Mnookin Jan 2012

Implicit Bias In The Courtroom, David L. Faigman, Jerry Kang, Mark W. Bennett, Devon W. Carbado, Pamela Casey, Nilanjana Dasgupta, Rachel D. Godsil, Anthony G. Greenwarld, Justin D. Levinson, Jennifer Mnookin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

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The Evil Technology Hypothesis: A Deep Ecological Reading Of International Law, Ugo Mattei, Luigi Russi Jan 2012

The Evil Technology Hypothesis: A Deep Ecological Reading Of International Law, Ugo Mattei, Luigi Russi

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

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Examining Portfolio-Based Assessment In An Upper-Level Biology Course, Brittany Ziegler Jan 2012

Examining Portfolio-Based Assessment In An Upper-Level Biology Course, Brittany Ziegler

Education STEM

Historically, students have been viewed as empty vessels and passive participants in the learning process but students actually are active forming their own conceptions. One way student learning is impacted is through assessment. Alternative assessment, which contrasts traditional assessment methods, takes into account how students learn by promoting engagement and construction of knowledge. This dissertation explores portfolio-based assessment, a method of alternative assessment, which requires students to compose a purposeful collection of work demonstrating their knowledge in an upper-level biology course. The research objectives include characterizing and contributing to the understanding of portfolio-based assessment in higher education, examining reflection and …

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Lives At Risk: High School Dropouts In The Northern Plains Region, Bruce Ralph Schumacher Jan 2012

Lives At Risk: High School Dropouts In The Northern Plains Region, Bruce Ralph Schumacher

Education

Education is essential to personal welfare. As educational levels increase, personal income rises, the quality of life improves, and society benefits as criminality declines, tax income increases, and the cost of social programs decreases. Unfortunately, every year thousands of students leave high school without graduating. Various factors place students at-risk of dropping out, but the question remains why some at-risk students drop out while others graduate. This phenomenology investigates dropping out by following the philosophy of Jurgen Habermas, guided by the work of Max van Manen. Participants discussed their lifeworld experiences and explained factors that had caused them to leave …

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A Pmsg-Based Wind Energy Conversion System Assisted By Photovoltaic Power, Abrez Mondal Jan 2012

A Pmsg-Based Wind Energy Conversion System Assisted By Photovoltaic Power, Abrez Mondal

Electrical and Computer Engineering

This work discusses a hybrid power conversion scheme consisting of a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG)-based wind energy system and photovoltaic panels. The two energy sources are integrated with a battery to store extra photovoltaic energy during the day and to meet any additional power requirement in the absence of sunlight. The PV panel is interfaced to the battery through a SEPIC converter for maximum power point tracking. The wind energy from the PMSG is supplied to the battery through a boost converter which regulates the output. The total power obtained from the hybrid system is fed to a three-phase …

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Multisine Excitation Design To Increase The Efficiency Of System Identification Signal Generation And Analysis, Michael J. Schmitz Jan 2012

Multisine Excitation Design To Increase The Efficiency Of System Identification Signal Generation And Analysis, Michael J. Schmitz

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Reducing sample frequencies in measurement systems can save power, but reduction to the point of undersampling results in aliasing and possible signal distortion. Nonlinearities of the system under test can also lead to distortions prior to measurement. In this dissertation, a first algorithm is presented for designing multisine excitation signals that can be undersampled without distortion from the aliasing of excitation frequencies or select harmonics. Next, a second algorithm is presented for designing undersampled distributions that approximate target frequency distributions. Results for pseudo-logarithmically-spaced frequency distributions designed for undersampling without distortion from select harmonics show a considerable decrease in the required …

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Designing Of A Small Wearable Conformal Phased Array Antenna For Wireless Communications, Sayan Roy Jan 2012

Designing Of A Small Wearable Conformal Phased Array Antenna For Wireless Communications, Sayan Roy

Electrical and Computer Engineering

In this thesis, a unique design of a self-adapting conformal phased-array antenna system for wireless communications is presented. The antenna system is comprised of one microstrip antenna array and a sensor circuit. A 1x4 printed microstrip patch antenna array was designed on a flexible substrate with a resonant frequency of 2.47 GHz. However, the performance of the antenna starts to degrade as the curvature of the surface of the substrate changes. To recover the performance of the system, a flexible sensor circuitry was designed. This sensor circuitry uses analog phase shifters, a flexible resistor and operational-amplifier circuitry to compensate the …

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Delineating Sexual Dangerousness, Fredrick E. Vars Jan 2012

Delineating Sexual Dangerousness, Fredrick E. Vars

Articles

Only “dangerous” individuals may be indefinitely detained. Is a one percent chance of a future crime clear and convincing evidence of dangerousness? For sex offenders, fear and uncertainty in case law leave open this passage to limbo. This Article closes it. The due process balancing test used to evaluate standards of proof provides the framework. This Article explains the relationship between the standard of proof and the definition of “dangerous” and argues that only an approach combining the two is consistent with the Constitution. Applying decision theory with assumptions favoring the government, this Article calculates a minimum likelihood of recidivism …

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Bank Capital Regulation By Enforcement: An Empirical Study, Julie Andersen Hill Jan 2012

Bank Capital Regulation By Enforcement: An Empirical Study, Julie Andersen Hill

Articles

Improving commercial bank capital requirements has been a top priority on the regulatory agenda since the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis Unfortunately some of the information necessary to make informed decisions about capital regulation has been missing Existing regulations establish numerical capital requirements Regulators however have significant discretion to set higher capital requirements for individual banks In considering necessary reforms regulators often focus on specific numerical requirements but sometimes ignore the structure of the regulations and discretionary enforcement efforts Without clear information about discretionary capital enforcement actions it is impossible to make informed judgments about the current capital regulation …

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The Fractal Geometry Of Invention, Alan L. Durham Jan 2012

The Fractal Geometry Of Invention, Alan L. Durham

Articles

Fractals are geometric objects of inexhaustible detail. Fractal structures have been found in the contours of mountain ranges, the patterns of veins on a leaf, and the fluctuations of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The endeavor of inventing new technologies, consisting of a hierarchical network of practical inquiries, exhibits fractal properties as well. Among these are multiplicity, latency, and self-similarity. Multiplicity means that a single inventive idea may lead to an immense and diverse array of technological artifacts. Latency means that the potential of an inventive idea to yield practical embodiments only reveals itself in time, and may never be …

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