Digital Commons Network^™

Dynamic Endothelialization Of Aortic Heart Valve Scaffolds, Richard Pascal

All Theses

Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer worldwide affecting both the heart and blood vessels. Valvular heart disease can arise from calcification, and structural deterioration resulting in a stenotic or regurgitant valve incapable of proper function. With approximately 275,000 valve replacements performed annually worldwide, the need for replacement heart valves is well established. Currently, treatment of valvular heart disease is limited to two options (mechanical and bioprosthetic). Both replacement valves have their own drawbacks, which have driven research in the bioengineering field to focus on the development of a tissue engineered heart valve (TEHV) capable of growth and self-repair.
A …

Force Sensing Of An Asymmetric Dielectric Barrier Discharge Using Mechanical Resonators, Mark Dawson Emanuel

Masters Theses

"Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuators are of great interest in flow control research and application. DBD plasma actuators are low-cost, lightweight, high voltage devices that have the capability of generating small amounts of thrust on the order of a few tenths of a gram. The thrust is created by rapidly pulsing plasma discharges which correlate to the frequency of the applied alternating current waveform, in the low kilohertz range.

Plasma actuators experience a reactant force generated by the pulsed plasma charging and then expelling air away from the charged surface. This force fluctuates with time as the plasma is …

Process Planning And Control Of Functionally Graded Parts Using Freeze-Form Extrusion Fabrication, Bradley Kenneth Deuser

Masters Theses

"Freeze-form Extrusion Fabrication (FEF) is an additive manufacturing technology that is capable of fabricating complex three-dimensional parts. FEF works by depositing an aqueous-based colloidal ceramic or metal paste in a layer-by-layer fashion below the freezing point of the aqueous medium as to rapidly freeze the paste. The FEF machine in the present study is equipped with three syringes and is capable of mixing each paste in a desired composition ratio by using an inline static mixer. Compensation for the transport delay caused by the static mixer is necessary; therefore, an algorithm was developed to apply a one-dimensional (1D) composition gradient …

Blast And Impact Resistance Of "Long" Carbon Fiber Reinforced Concrete, Darwin Ishmael Keener

Masters Theses

"Traditional reinforced concrete is one of the most commonly used materials for protective structures. However, conventional reinforced concrete (RC) is susceptible to significant spalling (small to medium sized chunks of concrete detaching from the original member) during blast events. The force of the blast turns spalled concrete into projectiles, resulting in secondary fragmentation. Furthermore, the concrete debris makes for difficult and uncertain footing. Both phenomena endanger personnel and complicate post-blast recovery efforts. Changes need to be made to conventional reinforced concrete structures to improve their blast and impact survivability and fragmentation resistance in order to protect personnel and facilitate post-blast …

Methods Of Optimizing The Gas Exchange Process To Improve Fuel Efficiency Of Small Carbureted Spark Ignition Engines, Cory Hannibal Huck

Masters Theses

"Fuel efficiency of internal combustion engines long has been a topic of concern. Much effort has been made to optimize the fuel efficiency of large automotive type engines. However, for small engine manufactures subject to tight cost constraints, this has only recently become an area of great focus. A method by which the fuel efficiency of an engine can be improved is through optimization of the intake process. Specifically, reductions in flow losses and the choice of appropriate valve event timings can provide ways to make gains towards more fuel efficient operation. The challenge arises when the focus is on …

On The Design Partitioning Of 3d Monolithic Circuits, Luke Maresca

Masters Theses

"Conventional three-dimensional integrated circuits (3D ICs) stack multiple dies vertically for higher integration density, shorter wirelength, smaller footprint, faster speed and lower power consumption. Due to the large through-silicon-via (TSV) sizes, 3D design partitioning is typically done at the architecture-level With the emerging monolithic 3D technology, TSVs can be made much smaller, which enables potential block-level partitioning. However, it is still unclear how much benefit can be obtained by block-level partitioning, which is affected by the number of tiers and the sizes of TSVs. In this thesis, an 8-bit ripple carry adder was used as an example to explore the …

Advanced Moisture Modeling Of Polymer Composites, Nathan Robert Roe

Masters Theses

"Composite materials absorb moisture from the environment and over time this moisture absorption affects the mechanical performance of the material. In order to determine the long-term moisture effects on the component, representative parts must be tested after having been exposed to an accelerated moisture-conditioning environment. This accelerated environment simulates the worst-case exposure conditions that a part might experience. Currently accepted methodologies for analyzing the time required to condition specimens are limited, only allowing simple geometry and an assumption that diffusivity rates are independent of the flow path or direction. Therefore, a more advanced finite element method is desired. In the …

A Novel Cantilever For Bi-Harmonic Atomic Force Microscopy, Muthukumaran Loganathan

Masters Theses

"Tapping mode (TM) AFM is a popularly used AFM technique in which an oscillating sharp tip mounted on a micro cantilever is used to probe the surface of interest with nanoscale resolution by making intermittent (tapping) contact with the surface. Any change in surface profile affects the tip amplitude, and is detectable only if it results in an amplitude change that is significant enough to be measured by the laser detector. Hence, it is desirable to have a micro cantilever that is sensitive to surface changes so as to provide sharper images and better surface resolution.

In the first part …

Driver Mandatory Lane Change Behavior: Use Of Governing Gap In Critical Gap Estimation, Srinadh Kandada

Masters Theses

"This study analyzed the driver gap acceptance and rejection behavior during mandatory lane changes on a multilane freeway in congested and uncongested traffic conditions. During a lane change, drivers were more receptive to either the leading or the trailing gaps with vehicles in the target lane which governed the drivers' lane change and is termed as the governing gap. Drivers maneuvered till the governing gap was greater than the critical gap, accepted the gap and made a lane change. In this process, drivers reduced the non-governing gap to increase the length of the governing gap. The drivers as a result …

Experimental Feasibility Study Of A Passive Radio Frequency Identification-Based Distributed Beamforming Framework And Radio Frequency Tag Design For Achieving Dynamic Beamforming, Pratim Shah

Masters Theses

"Passive UHF RFID tags works on the principle of backscattering mechanism. In realistic environment, there are multiple objects and tags that create complex, multipath propagation scenarios with numerous null-points, reduced read range and read rate.

In general, the RF frontend of tags could be controlled such that the negative effects of multipath propagation are reduced or even inverted thus implementing a virtual beamforming. The theoretical framework of beamforming in RFID system, using additional tags as virtual antenna arrays, has been discussed before. The presented study evaluates the feasibility of such beamforming in passive RFID systems. Moreover, it synthesizes an appropriate …

The Effect Of Sulfur On Structure And Conversion Of Bioactive Borate Glasses, Ali Mohammadkhah

Masters Theses

"The effect of sulfur on glass structure and the conversion process of bioactive CaO-LI₂O-B₂O₃ glasses were studied. One glass without and two glasses with different amounts of sulfur were made using conventional melting and dry quenching techniques. These glasses reacted with a phosphate solution and converted to hydroxyapatite. Particles (150-355µm) were reacted in 0.25 and 0.5 molar K₂HPO₄ solutions at 37⁰C for 2 to 96 hours. The weight loss of the particles and the final pH of the solution were measured. The weight loss measurements indicated that the reaction rate increases with …

Transient Growth And Instability Control Using Iteration-Varying Filter Ilc In Flexible Dual Flywheel System, Tong Mu

Masters Theses

"In the field of precision motion control, many industrial systems have flexible modes. This is especially true for very high performance nanopositioning systems where traditional bearing systems are replaced with flexible structures in order to eliminate sliding friction. The precision motion control is difficult in flexible systems because the rapid phase transition around the resonant frequency must be accurately modeled in order to actively control the resonant motion. In order to experimentally study the effectiveness of various control algorithms on flexible systems, a dual-flywheel flexible system is constructed. The mechatronics system design strategy is presented in this thesis. The control …

Synthesis Of Nickel Nanoparticles By Gamma-Radiation And Femtosecond Laser Ablation, Vivek Murlidhar Rao

Masters Theses

"Nickel nanoparticles were synthesized by gamma-radiation and femtosecond laser ablation. Aqueous precursors were prepared by uniformly dispersing nickel chloride in a 2:1 ratio of water and isopropanol. Stabilizers employed were Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) and Poly Vinyl Pyrrolidone (PVP). Gamma-ray radiolysis of aqueous nickel precursors was investigated as a reducing agent for nickel cations to form atomic seeds for nucleation on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). 30-60kGy was the dosage used in increments of 10kGy, at a rate of 10kGy/hr. Isopropanol was added to consume the excess of oxidizing species produced by irradiation and form stable secondary radicals. The influence of …

Use Of High Volume Fly Ash-Wood Fiber And Polyurea Layers For Blast Mitigation, Anthony Francis Wulfers

Masters Theses

"This project is a continuation of research done by Natalia Carey and John Myers. The first part of Natalia's research was to develop and characterize an e-glass discrete fiber-reinforced polyurea (DFRP) system for infrastructure applications. She then recommended two polyurea systems (A and B) be further examined. These polyurea systems were then applied to plain reinforced concrete and steel fiber reinforced concrete panels (SFRC). Carey found that the SFRC panels sustained less overall damage. For this project SFRC was used as the base layer in combination with the DFRP systems. In addition to the DFRP and SFRC a high-volume fly …

A Novel Membrane Bioreactor Configuration For Nitrogen Removal, Timothy Harrison Canter

Masters Theses

"Population growth in the U.S. and abroad has led to a need for increased treatment of wastewater to limit the effects of additional pollution loadings on bodies of water. Additionally, this need is complicated by limitation on energy inputs. The solution is treatment reactors that are robust, simple to operate, effective in treatment, and energy efficient. This research will compare a traditional membrane bioreactor configuration with a design meant to address these issues.

The proposed configuration used differences in hydraulic head to move liquor from a pre-anoxic zone to the aerobic zone and return a portion of it to the …

Combined Inclusive Diffractive Cross Sections Measured With Forward Proton Spectrometers In Deep Inelastic Ep Scattering At Hera, F. D. Aaron, H. Abramowicz, I. Abt, L. Adamczyk, M. Adamus, R. Aggarwal, C. Alexa, V. Andreev, S. Antonelli, P. Antonioli, A. Antonov, M. Arneodo, O. Arslan, V. Aushev, Y. Aushev, O. Bachynska, S. Backovic, A. Baghdasaryan, S. Baghdasaryan, A. Bamberger, A. N. Barakbaev, G. Barbagli, G. Bari, F. Barreiro, E. Barrelet, W. Bartel, N. Bartosik, D. Bartsch, M. Basile, K. Begzsuren, O. Behnke, Margarita C. K. Mattingly

Faculty Publications

A combination of the inclusive diffractive cross section measurements made by the H1 and ZEUS Collaborations at HERA is presented. The analysis uses samples of diffractive deep inelastic ep scattering data at a centre-of-mass energy √s= 318 Gev where leading protons are detected by dedicated spectrometers. Correlations of systematic uncertainties are taken into account, resulting in an improved precision of the cross section measurement which reaches 6 % for the most precise points. The combined data cover the range 2.5 < Q2 < 200 GeV2 in photon virtuality, 0.00035 < xP < 0.09 in proton fractional momentum loss, 0.09 <{pipe}t{pipe}< 0.55 GeV2 in squared four-momentum transfer at the proton vertex and 0.0018 < β

Exclusive Electroproduction Of Two Pions At Hera, H. Abramowicz, I. Abt, L. Adamczyk, M. Adamus, R. Aggarwal, S. Antonelli, P. Antonioli, A. Antonov, M. Arneodo, D. Ashery, V. Aushev, Y. Aushev, O. Bachynska, A. Bamberger, A. N. Barakbaev, G. Barbagli, G. Bari, F. Barreiro, N. Bartosik, D. Bartsch, M. Basile, O. Behnke, J. Behr, U. Behrens, L. Bellagamba, A. Bertolin, S. Bhadra, M. Bindi, C. Blohm, V. Bokhonov, T. Bołd, Margarita C. K. Mattingly

Faculty Publications

The exclusive electroproduction of two pions in the mass range 0.4

Logistics Modeling And Project Management Practices For Contingency Basing, Amanda Jo Gealy

Masters Theses

"Contingency basing is a critical factor in mission success but requires significant logistical and commander support. Designing and constructing a camp that is safe, secure, and self-sustaining can be a difficult task for a Contingency Basing engineering manager. The infrastructure for basic needs such as electricity, fuel, water, food, and waste management is critical and needs to be flexible.

This research focuses on assisting the Contingency Basing engineering manager in designing and constructing a feasible base camp using project management and modeling tools. Measuring scalability and resiliency with in the contingency base was studied as well. The methodology concentrates on …

Hot Channel Determination And Burnup Analysis Of Missouri University Of Science And Technology Research Nuclear Reactor, Kelly Christopher Rogers O'Bryant

Masters Theses

"A burnup analysis has been performed on the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) Research Nuclear Reactor (MSTR). With use of the Monte Carlo neutronics depletion code MCNPX, burned material was input into a neutronics model (burned model) in order better simulate MSTR core characteristics. Simulated burnup values of ²³⁵U for the past twenty years of MSTR operations totaled 14.266 grams, slightly less than the 14.527 grams reported by the reactor staff. A distribution of ²³⁵U was simulated and a burnup map was developed.

Using the updated fuel material, the hot channel of the current configuration of the …

Distributed And Collaborative Watermarking In Relational Data, Prakash Kumar

Masters Theses

"Watermarking relational data is an important topic in the field of copyright protection, given the increasing prevalence of piracy and illegal duplication of databases. While there exists solutions for watermarking relational data, the problems that arise due to multiple ownership (two or more) of databases have not been acknowledged. This research focuses on developing a novel watermarking scheme to counter the problems. The watermarking scheme proposed necessitates the owners of the database in consideration to come together to perform the watermarking process. The scheme can be applied to insert watermarks in both numerical and categorical data. The watermarking scheme is …

Displacement Of Heavy Oil By Carbon Dioxide In A Tube, Mohammed Almabrouk Ali Ahmad

Masters Theses

"After using primary and secondary oil recovery methods, about two third of the original oil in place is left behind in the reservoir. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods are being used to recover that oil. CO₂ flooding is one of the EOR methods that is used to recover the oil. The interest here lies in recovery of heavy oils. The dissolution of CO₂ in oil reduces oil viscosity and swells it, making it easier to displace the oil. FLUENT is used to solve the problem of CO₂ displacing heavy oil in a tube. Different velocities/capillary numbers (Ca) and …

Integration Of Multiple Vision Systems And Toolbox Development, Rohit Vijay Bapat

Masters Theses

"Depending on the required coverage, multiple cameras with different fields of view, positions and orientations can be employed to form a motion tracking system. Correctly and efficiently designing and setting up a multi-camera vision system presents a technical challenge. This thesis describes the development and application of a toolbox that can help the user to design a multi-camera vision system. Using the parameters of cameras, including their positions and orientations, the toolbox can calculate the volume covered by the system and generate its visualization for a given tracking area. The cameras can be repositioned and reoriented using toolbox to generate …

Fire Losses And Conflicting Judicial Rulings Over Whether Property Insurers Must Indemnify Insureds And Pay Third-Party Claims - Some Implications For Wildfire Litigation In Texas's Courts, Willy E. Rice

Faculty Articles

Wildfires in Texas have generated two interrelated questions: (1) whether insurers have a duty to indemnify residential and commercial property owners if a wild forest, brush, grass, or prairie fire destroys homeowners' property in Texas, and (2) whether insurers have a duty to pay or settle third-party claims in Texas if a property owner starts a fire on her property, which evolves into a wildfire and destroys a third party's residential or commercial property.

Restitution In Texas: Civil Liability For Unjust Enrichment, David A. Dittfurth

Faculty Articles

The Texas Supreme Court must clarify the law of restitution. The law of restitution regulates a major area of litigation in Texas and suffers from a significant degree of confusion. The Texas Supreme Court has adopted the modern view of restitution, but its rulings lack the detailed guidance needed by lower courts. The Texas Supreme Court should establish an independent and generally applicable cause of action for unjust enrichment, describe clearly the elements of that cause of action, and lend its authority to the modern terms that describe the law of restitution.

The Texas Supreme Court’s rulings on restitution describe …

A Theoretical Case For Standardized Vesting Documents, Chad J. Pomeroy

Faculty Articles

Practitioners, real estate professionals, and lay people throughout the country rely on the recording system to provide critical information regarding ownership rights and claims. Indeed, the recording system acts as a virtually mandatory repository and disseminator of all potential parties’ claims. This system, in turn, relies on these claimants and their agents to publicize their claims: property purchasers, lenders, lien-claimants, title companies, attorneys - these parties interact, make deals, make claims, order their affairs, and then record. The information system available to us, then, is only as good as what we make of it and what we put into it. …

The Separation Of Higher Powers, Richard Albert

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Commercial Transactions, John Krahmer

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Conflict Of Laws, James P. George, Stephanie K. Marshall, Lisa A. Goodman

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Antitrust And Consumer Protection, Michael Ferrill, Leslie Sara Hyman, Soledad Valenciano

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Crosstalk Between Lysophospatidic Acid (Lpa) And Transforming Growth Factor Beta (Tgfβ) In Breast And Ovarian Cancer Cells, Jinhua Wu

Theses and Dissertations

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) are platelet-derived intercellular mediators of cell proliferation and motility. LPA is a general growth, survival and motility-stimulating factor in mammalian cells. TGFβ prevents proliferation of normal epithelial cells. However, the growth-inhibitory effect of TGFβ is lost or reduced in most malignant cells. Instead, TGFβ promotes migration and invasion of advanced cancer cells. Since LPA and TGFβ are both present in the blood and tumor microenvironments, we were interested in signal integration and functional outcomes in malignant epithelial cells in an LPA and TGFβ co-stimulatory context. In a subset of breast and …