Digital Commons Network^™

Cases And Materials On American Property Law, 6th Edition, Carol N. Brown

Law Faculty Publications

This casebook continues its traditional approach to the teaching of property law. The new edition features a number of new cases inserted into almost every chapter of the book. The notes and comments have been appropriately updated. The opening chapter continues to include a section of cases designed to hone a student's skill in close case analysis. The book in its entirety introduces students to a broad spectrum of material traditionally covered in a first-year property course.

5-Axis Tool Path Generation With Collision Detection For Finish Machining Of Freeform Surfaces, Jomy Francis

Masters Theses

"Research in the field of Tool path generation for freeform surfaces has been done intensively in the past. However, the main challenge that still exists is the computational efficiency related to the tool path generation. Tool path generation for freeform surface involves instantaneous calculation of new tool orientations which does not collide with the neighboring surfaces. Since the collision check of tool and neighboring surface is done repetitively at every instant of the tool, the calculations at every instant are to be computationally as easy as possible.

This thesis is composed of one paper. Paper I presents a novel extension …

Forward Converter For Solar Power Applications, Nickolas Arthur Mcfowland

Masters Theses

"Most solar arrays used today are connected in series and have tremendous power losses in partially shaded conditions. This document explores photovoltaic arrays in a parallel connection to reduce the power losses in other solar cell connected applications. The two main issues with any photovoltaic arrays are solar modules being shaded and the efficiency of the power converters used within the solar array. This thesis concentrates on alleviating these problems with the development of a two phase dc to dc forward converter with a snubber circuit as well as connecting a solar array in parallel to increase the performance in …

Formation Of Amyloid Fibrils By Diblock Peptides, Kunal Mukesh Naik

Masters Theses

"The objective of this study was to identify and then synthesize a series of peptides which were able to form fibrils rich in ß-sheet structure and to study the effect of the presence of surfaces on their formation. We decided to focus our experimental work on a family of peptides containing one "beta-sheet forming amino acid" and one 'alpha-helix forming amino acid'. This selection covers a wide range of hydrophillicites and charges and, by avoiding highly hydrophobic amino acids we can assure that the diblock peptides are soluble in a wide range of concentrations and solvent conditions. Three different diblocks …

Behavior Of Staged Externally Bonded Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Sheets For Improved Ductility, Laura Marie Rathe

Masters Theses

"Fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) has become increasingly used for the retrofit of aging structures for increased lifespans and for the rapid repair of damaged structures. It has many advantageous such as ease in rapid installation, high strength-to-weight ratio, and corrosion resistance. The main disadvantage of the material is brittle behavior with little warning of impending failures. The main objective of this study is to develop a new system of FRP that exhibits a more ductile behavior. To achieve this objective, separate sheets of FRP were applied at various staged levels and thus engaged at different loads. Ductile behavior was evaluated …

Field Coupled Electrostatic Discharge Sensitivity Database, Zhen Li

Masters Theses

"Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) can disrupt the performance of an electronic system, like an MP3 player either by injected currents or by transient fields. It is possible to predict at least the approximate transient field levels inside a system, but it is difficult to determine the response of ICs subjected to these fields, as no IC specific data is available, and as it is often too involved to measure the sensitivity of every IC possibly used in a product. As deterministic solutions are difficult to achieve, a statistical approach has been selected in this research. The goal of this database for …

The Use Of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (Ert) To Delineate Water-Filled Vugs Near A Bridge Foundation, Jeremiah Chukwunonso Obi

Masters Theses

"A structural support was needed to strengthen the load-bearing capacity of an unnamed bridge foundation in Laclede County in South-Central Missouri due to increasing traffic volume and age of the bridge. This area is characterized by karstic features such as losing streams, underground caves and sinkholes. During the construction of a drilled shaft for the substructure, a few feet north of the north footing of the pier, voids were noted beneath a roughly 2 foot thick cap of dolomite rock. Because of this, there were concerns about the integrity of the rock beneath the existing bridge foundation. Consequently, subsurface investigation …

Dynamic Model-Based Systems Engineering Using Xml Metadata Interchange, Dustin Scott Nottage

Masters Theses

"Designing systems presents an engineer with numerous design choices based on multiple conditions and constraints. Base camp planning must take into account the number of soldiers, the permanency of the base, the location of the base, etc. To help alleviate the complexity of constructing a base camp, a model-based systems engineering approach is used. This method creates and integrates models for all of the facilities that can make a base camp, as well as interactions between facilities and required utilities for each. The goal is to have a camp design, and then solve a system of equations to solve for …

Robust Evolutionary Algorithms, Brian Wesley Goldman

Masters Theses

"Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) have shown great potential to solve complex real world problems, but their dependence on problem specific configuration in order to obtain high quality performance prevents EAs from achieving widespread use. While it is widely accepted that statically configuring an EA is already a complex problem, dynamic configuration of an EA is a combinatorially harder problem. Evidence provided here supports the claim that EAs achieve the best results when using dynamic configurations. By designing methods that automatically configure parts of an EA or by changing how EAs work to avoid configurable aspects, EAs can be made more robust, …

Design And Development Of Ionic Liquid Dual-Mode Spacecraft Propellants, Steven P. Berg

Masters Theses

"Energetic ionic liquids capable of dual-mode chemical monopropellant or bipropellant and electric electrospray rocket propulsion are investigated. Following an extensive literature review, ionic liquids [Bmim][dca], [Bmim][NO₃], and [Emim][EtSO₄] are selected for study since their physical properties align well with the current state-of-the-art in chemical and electrospray propellants. Simulations show that these liquids will not be useful for monopropellant propulsion due to the prediction of solid carbon formation in the exhaust and performance 13-23% below that of hydrazine. Considering these ionic liquids as a fuel component in a binary monopropellant mixture with hydroxyl ammonium nitrate shows 1-4% improved specific impulse over …

Investigation Of Drillstring Vibration Reduction Tools, Mohammed Fayez Al Dushaishi

Masters Theses

"Drilling related problems such as drillstring vibration is an important cause of premature failure of drillstring components and drilling inefficiency. The vibration of drillstring interferes with measurement collected while drilling. In severe cases, drillstring vibration will lead to wellbore instability that will result in an increase in the operation cost. In the late 1980's, a lot of studies and techniques were developed to mitigate drillstring vibration and downhole vibration measurements were introduced to the industry in two forms; real time measurements and memory devices measurements

A study of drillstring vibration of three different wells located in the Norwegian North Sea …

Numerical Investigation Of Plasma Actuator Configurations For Flow Separation Control At Multiple Angles Of Attack, Thomas Kelsey West Iv

Masters Theses

"The primary objective of the study presented in this thesis was to analyze the effectiveness of aerodynamic plasma actuators as a means of active flow control over a low speed airfoil at multiple angles of attack each corresponding to two different flow separation mechanisms (i.e., laminar separation bubble and turbulent flow separation at stall conditions). Detailed parametric studies based on steady and unsteady Navier-Stokes simulations, modified to include the body force term created by the plasma actuator, were performed for a NACA 0012 airfoil at a chord Reynolds number of 10⁵. In particular, parametric studies were performed to investigate the …

Structural Analysis Of Microsatellites, Yezad H. Anklesaria

Masters Theses

"Satellite design, development, fabrication, testing and entry into service is a complex process. Each step of this process involves intricate steps to achieve the desired objective. This thesis summarizes a study relating to the area of development and testing of microsatellites to support qualification and eventually preparing a spacecraft for spaceflight. Students in the Space Systems Engineering laboratory (SSE Lab) in the Aerospace Engineering Program are in the process of developing a pair of microsatellites for a technology demonstration in space.

After the initial design of the spacecraft is completed in the design phase a significant amount of time is …

Gray Gas Analysis Of Radiative Preheating Effects On Shock Induced Combustion, Pratibha Raghunandan

Masters Theses

"The use of detonations in combustors has been receiving increased attention in recent times. The presence of shock waves in such combustors invariably poses the existence of two domains that present different physics for the flow processes. The variation of upstream temperature due to radiative heating by the products of combustion was given particular attention in the present study. The modeling of heat transfer across a normal shock wave of negligible thickness was done by considering the reactants and the products of combustion to be in radiative equilibrium with each other. The quantification of emissivity of the products of combustion …

Palynomorph And Palynofacies Assemblages Of Neutral-Alkaline And Acid Lakes South Of Norseman, Southern Western Australia, Lutfia Grabel

Masters Theses

"The Yilgarn Craton in Western Australia hosts hundreds of shallow ephemeral hypersaline lakes, the majority of which have acid to neutral pH values. As part of a multidisciplinary study of the evolution of hypersalinity and acidity in the region, three drill cores were studied for their palynofacies and palynomorph contents in order to characterize palynofloral response to environmental changes. Drill cores from two acid lakes, Prado Lake (PL1-09 and PL2-09) and Twin Lake West (TLW1-09), and the neutral-alkaline Gastropod Lake (GLE1-09) south of Norseman recovered Miocene to Holocene sediments of the Revenge and Polar Bear formations. Transmitted light microscopy was …

Multiple-Input Multiple-Output System On A Spinning Vehicle With Unknown Channel State Information, Aditya Muralidhar

Masters Theses

"This thesis work presents the investigations into the performance of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system with its transmitters on a spinning vehicle and no available channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter or the receiver. The linear least squares approach is used to estimate the channel and the estimation error is measured. The spinning is simulated based on a sample radiation pattern of a patch antenna. The antenna gains at different angles are obtained from this pattern and are used to model spinning. Spinning gives rise to a periodic component in the channel which can be estimated based on the …

A Study Of Wavelet-Based Noise Reduction Techniques In Mammograms, Varun Shah

Masters Theses

"Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers and claims over one thousand lives every day. Breast cancer turns fatal only when diagnosed in late stages, but can be cured when diagnosed in its early stages. Over the last two decades, Digital Mammography has served the diagnosis of breast cancer. It is a very powerful aid for early detection of breast cancer. However, the images produced by mammography typically contain a great amount noise from the inherent characteristics of the imaging system and the radiation involved. Shot noise or quantum noise is the most significant noise which emerges as …

Optimization Of Process Planning For Focused Ion Beam Machine In Nano-Manufacturing, Sushrut Shekhar Naik

Masters Theses

"The current revolution witnessed by nanotechnology is facing several challenges such as manufacturing of nano sized devices economically on a large scale. Focused ion beam (FIB) technology is one of the widely used approaches for nano-manufacturing due to its versatile nature. It provides accurate machining and process repeatability and has a range of applications. Major challenges for the current FIB process are the tradeoffs between quality, the processing time, and the long planning time. This research provides a pathway to eliminate the current problems facing nanotechnology. Using MATLAB and the Helios 600 FIB/SEM instrument available, modeling and analyses are carried …

Effects Of Coal Comminution In Relation To Waterjet And Selected Feed Properties, Yaqing Li

Masters Theses

"The necessity to develop a viable alternative to oil means that the development of coal-water fuels (CWF) has become increasingly important. However, the existing methods of comminution to prepare ultrafine particles for CWF are very inefficient. Consequently, a number of novel methods of comminution have been investigated in order to increase the efficiency of the process.

In this research, a new method of comminution using a high-pressure waterjet has been tested to produce ultrafine particle sizes necessary for efficient CWF process. To establish the fundamental performance of the waterjet mill, the influence of the operational pressure, standoff distance, feed size, …

Direct Shear Testing Of Fractured Rocks From Missouri Used To Evaluate Potential Fault Reactivation Induced By Carbon Dioxide Sequestration, Ishan Kumar

Masters Theses

"Geological storage projects of CO₂ are designed to maintain secure storage for thousands of years. Carbon Capture and Storage has been identified as one of the methods which is used to reduce global emission of CO₂ and achieve lower concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere by capturing the CO₂ from the flue gases and storing it in underground formations. Potential leakage of injected CO₂ from the reservoir to the surface is caused by the reactivation of pre-existing faults and fractures which is caused by the change in the state of stresses and the pore pressure. To avoid damage to the …

Sputter Deposition Of Thin-Film Capacitors Onto Low Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic Substrates, Jack Murray

Masters Theses

"Single layer thin film capacitor structures were fabricated on the surface of low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) substrates using sputter deposition. The capacitor structures had areas between ~10⁴ µm² to ~10⁶ µm² and featured ~200 nm Al or Pt electrodes with 150-1500 nm Al₂O₃ dielectric layers. Impedance analysis and current-voltage testing were carried out to determine the effect of electrode material and dielectric thickness upon capacitor performance. Capacitance values for devices with Al electrodes ranged from ~10 to ~700 pF, depending on capacitor area and dielectric thickness, and the fit to expected values was better than devices with Pt or …

3d Spatio-Temporal Analysis For Compressive Sensing In Magnetic Resonance Imaging Of The Murine Cardiac Cycle, Brice Aaron Hirst

Masters Theses

"This thesis consists of two major contributions, each of which has been prepared in a conference paper. These papers will be submitted for publication in the SPIE 2013 Medical Imaging Conference and the ASEE 2013 Annual Conference.

The first paper explores a three-dimensional compressive sensing (CS) technique for reducing measurement time in MR imaging of the murine (mouse) cardiac cycle. By randomly undersampling a single 2D slice of a mouse heart at regular time intervals as it expands and contracts through the stages of a heartbeat, a CS reconstruction algorithm can be made to exploit transform sparsity in time as …

Cooperative Power Control Approaches Towards Fair Radio Resource Allocation For Wireless Network, Liuju Wu

Masters Theses

"Performance optimization in wireless networks is a complex problem due to variability and dynamics in network topology and density, traffic patterns, mutual interference, channel uncertainties, etc. Opportunistic or selfish approaches may result in unbalanced allocation of channel capacity where particular links are overshadowed. This degrades overall network fairness and hinders a multi-hop communication by creating bottlenecks. A desired approach should allocate channel capacity proportionally to traffic priority in a cooperative manner. This work consists of two chapters that address the fairness share problem in wireless ad hoc, peer-to-peer networks and resource allocation within Cognitive Radio network. In the first paper, …

Fabrication Of Complex Ceramic Parts With Sacrificial Material Using Freeze-Form Extrusion Fabrication, Diego Armando Garcia MontañO

Masters Theses

"An additive manufacturing process called Freeze-form Extrusion Fabrication (FEF) was developed in this study to fabricate complex ceramic parts that require the use of sacrificial materials. The aqueous paste of alumina (Al₂O₃) was used as the main material, with solids loadings as high as 50 vol. % and water as the main liquid medium. Methyl cellulose, with a 10 vol. % solids loading and 90 vol. % water content, was used as the sacrificial material. The freeze-form extrusion machine has multiple extruders (extrusion devices) capable of fabricating parts from multiple materials without mixing them. The dynamic process of extruding alumina …

Using Lidar As A Monitoring Device To Calculate Volume Of Rockfall Over Time, Travis James Kassebaum

Masters Theses

"There are many natural hazards which threaten the stability of highway infrastructure and the safety of motoring public. Rockfall and unstable slopes are one of the major concerns. This thesis describes a method which safely and accurately evaluates rockfall on rock outcrops through the use of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data. LiDAR is an imaging technology which can be used to measure and evaluate possible rock outcrop hazards such as: rockfall, rock-avalanches, debris flows, and landslides. LiDAR produces a three dimensional point cloud of millions of points which gives spatial data on the scanned object, accurate to millimeters, in …

Parametric Moment Closure For Non-Linear State Dependent Stochastic Systems, Ritesh Arora

Masters Theses

"This research highlights the use of moment closure approximation techniques to provide analytical approximations to nonlinear state dependent systems. Nonlinear systems are often difficult to solve and often approximated through the use of simulation. However, Moment Closure has the capability to derive an approximate solution by making a closed form solution out of open set of differential equations representing nonlinear system behavior in both transient and equilibrium state. It is this capability of approximating the closed form solution to complex systems that draws interest in the use of this method within systems engineering. This research further extends to the stability …

Generic Kinematic Simulation For Verification Of Laser Deposition Tool Paths, Sweta Dhaveji Chakravadhanula

Masters Theses

"The development of 3D visual simulation tool for machine simulation is a key approach in saving time and reducing cost. It is an important step before a manufacturing operation is performed on a part, as a tool to detect collision and validate the operation results. There are several kinds of manufacturing equipment being used and hence there is a need for the development of a generalized method to visually simulate a variety of machines. This paper presents the research conducted on describing machine configuration in a generic format which not only gives useful information, but can also be used as …

A Feasibility Analysis Of Retrofitting Existing Roadway Lighting Infrastructure With Led Technology, Sean Michael Schmidt

Masters Theses

LED technology has advanced towards use in high intensity lighting purposes. LED luminaires have a significantly longer expected lifetime than traditional high-intensity discharge lighting systems. Due to these recent improvements in LED technology, there is a growing need for a comprehensive method to analyze the applicability of LED luminaires for use on major routes and roadways. This research investigates the acceptability of LED luminaires for use on major roadways through a feasibility analysis using data collected at various LED street light testing sites. Nine distinct LED luminaires were analyzed in field testing. The field data was then analyzed and compared …

Effects Of High Volume Fly Ash And Powder Activators On Plastic And Hardened Concrete Properties, Drew Alexander Davis

Masters Theses

This study was performed to examine the effects of high volumes of Class C fly ash modified by powder activators upon the plastic and hardened properties of concrete. In a companion study, five Missouri area cements and five Class C fly ashes were examined for incompatibilities, with the most and least reactive combinations being scaled up to full scale concrete testing. Two baseline concrete mixtures were examined, the only difference in mixtures being the sources of portland cement and fly ash. Fly ash replacement was examined at 50% and 70% replacement (by total cementitious mass). Three powder activators were used …

Prévention De L'Exposition Des Travailleurs À La Silice À L'Intention Des Entreprises Du Secteur De La Transformation Du Granit Et Autres Matériaux Contenant Du Quartz : Guide Des Bonnes Pratiques, Nicole Goyer, Ali Bahloul, Carole Veillette

Guides

No abstract provided.