Digital Commons Network^™

Physical Analysis Of Vo2 Films Grown By Atomic Layer Deposition And Rf Magnetron Sputtering, Madhavi Tangirala, Kai Zhang, David Nminibapiel, Venkateswara Pallem, Christian Dussarrat, Wei Cao, Thomas N. Adam, Corbet S. Johnson, Hani E. Elsayed-Ali, Helmut Baumgart

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Among the many vanadium suboxides and different stoichiometries, VO₂ has received considerable attention due to its remarkable metal-insulator transition (MIT) behavior, which causes a significant reversible change in its electrical and optical properties occurring across the phase transition at 67°C. The initially amorphous VO₂ thin films were fabricated by the emerging, Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technique with (tetrakis[ethylmethylamino]vanadium) {V(NEtMe)₄} as precursor and H₂O vapor as oxidation agent. For benchmarking we have also used the RF Magnetron Sputtering technique to deposit metallic vanadium thin films, which were later oxidized during furnace annealing. Post annealing of …

Numerical Study Of Lipid Translocation Driven By Nanoporation Due To Multiple High-Intensity, Ultrashort Electrical Pulses, Viswanadham Sridhara, Ravindra P. Joshi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The dynamical translocation of lipids from one leaflet to another due to membrane permeabilization driven by nanosecond, high-intensity (>100 kV/cm) electrical pulses has been probed. Our simulations show that lipid molecules can translocate by diffusion through water-filled nanopores which form following high voltage application. Our focus is on multiple pulsing, and such simulations are relevant to gauge the time duration over which nanopores might remain open, and facilitate continued lipid translocations and membrane transport. Our results are indicative of a N^1/2 scaling with pulse number for the pore radius. These results bode well for the use of pulse …

A Genome-Wide Association Study Of Seed Protein And Oil Content In Soybean, Eun-Young Hwang, Qijian Song, Gaofeng Jia, James E. Specht, David L. Hyten, Jose Costa, Perry B. Cregan

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Background: Association analysis is an alternative to conventional family-based methods to detect the location of gene(s) or quantitative trait loci (QTL) and provides relatively high resolution in terms of defining the genome position of a gene or QTL. Seed protein and oil concentration are quantitative traits which are determined by the interaction among many genes with small to moderate genetic effects and their interaction with the environment. In this study, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling seed protein and oil concentration in 298 soybean germplasm accessions exhibiting a wide range of …

Senescence, Dormancy And Tillering In Perennial C4 Grasses, Gautam Sarath, Lisa Baird, Robert Mitchell

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Perennial, temperate, C4 grasses, such as switchgrass and miscanthus have been tabbed as sources of herbaceous biomass for the production of green fuels and chemicals based on a number of positive agronomic traits. Although there is important literature on the management of these species for biomass production on marginal lands, numerous aspects of their biology are as yet unexplored at the molecular level. Perenniality, a key agronomic trait, is a function of plant dormancy and winter survival of the belowground parts of the plants. These include the crowns, rhizomes and meristems that will produce tillers. Maintaining meristem viability is critical …

Function Over Form: Bringing The Fixation Requirement Into The Modern Era, Megan Carpenter, Steven Hetcher

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the ways that contemporary creativity challenges copyright's fixation requirement. In this Article, we identity concrete problems with the fixation requirement, both practically and in light of the fundamental purpose and policy behind copyright law, and argue for a change that would amend the fixation requirement to better function in the modern era. Specifically, we conclude that a fair appraisal of the justifications for the fixation requirement provides little, if any, rationale for fixation except to the extent that fixation helps to separate idea from expression in determining the "metes and bounds" of creative expression. Recent case law …

Drought-Induced Woody Plant Mortality In An Encroached Semi-Arid Savanna Depends On Topoedaphic Factors And Land Management, Dirac L. Twidwell Jr, Carissa L. Wonkka, Charles A. Taylor, Chris B. Zou, Jeremiah J. Twidwell, William E. Rogers

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Questions: How do recent patterns of drought-induced woody plant mortality in Texas semi-arid savanna compare to the extended drought of the 1950s? Does the relative composition of the woody plant community shift ubiquitously across the landscape following woody plant mortality and dieback or are shifts dependent on differences among species, soils, land use and plant demography?

Location: Texas Agrilife Research Station, Sonora, Texas, USA (30.1° N 100.3° W).

Methods: Following an exceptional drought from 1951 to 1957, a study was conducted to quantify rates of mortality for various woody plant species. In 2011, we repeated this study within three long-term …

Moving Money: International Financial Flows, Taxes, And Money Laundering, Richard Gordon, Andrew P. Morriss

Faculty Scholarship

Allegations by political leaders and others that offshore financial centers enable multinational enterprise to avoid paying a “fair” amount of tax — and that they enable wealthy individuals to evade paying any tax, much of it on ill gotten gains — are once again garnering headlines and inspiring government action. One of the most prominent commentators on these topics, The Tax Justice Network, has recently claimed that thanks to the services of tax havens $21-$32 trillion of wealth of questionable origin remains hidden and untaxed, and that such abuse must be stopped through greater regulation. In this paper we argue …

Hydropower: Time For A Small Makeover, Gina S. Warren

Faculty Scholarship

Over the last several years, hydropower has supplied between 6 and 8 percent of the electricity consumed in the United States. It is the most abundant, most efficient, and least expensive source of renewable electricity generation on earth.Yet, when most people think of hydropower they think of huge dams, dead fish, and a destroyed environment. Unfortunately, this perception has on too many occasions been a reality. Hydropower needs a new PR department. It is time for a "small" makeover.

To embrace the full potential of sustainable hydropower, investors and regulatory agencies must look to develop small, localized facilities on existing …

Intelligent Sensing Based On Low Cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Uav) For Bridge Condition Assessment, Theodore Teates, Austin Boyd, Chung-Hao Chen

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The eventual completion of this project envisions the use of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to inspect bridge infrastructure. This project may also be expanded to encompass general object detection and inspection in order to unburden this technology so that it may reach its fullest potential. The project requires research and development in three distinct areas of image processing, control structures, and integration of systems. Initial undergraduate research sets the base knowledge for the overall project, explores the areas of concentration that are desired to expand upon in the future project, and provides a base UAV model that new researchers …

Hidden Markov Model With Information Criteria Clustering And Extreme Learning Machine Regression For Wind Forecasting, Dao Lam, Shuhui Li, Donald C. Wunsch

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper proposes a procedural pipeline for wind forecasting based on clustering and regression. First, the data are clustered into groups sharing similar dynamic properties. Then, data in the same cluster are used to train the neural network that predicts wind speed. For clustering, a hidden Markov model (HMM) and the modified Bayesian information criteria (BIC) are incorporated in a new method of clustering time series data. to forecast wind, a new method for wind time series data forecasting is developed based on the extreme learning machine (ELM). the clustering results improve the accuracy of the proposed method of wind …

Mathematical Methods Applied To Digital Image Processing, Yi-Hung Liu, Chung Hao Chen, Paul C.P. Chao

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Introduction: Digital image processing (DIP) is an important research area since it spans a variety of applications. Although over the past few decades there has been a rapid rise in this field, there still remain issues to address. Examples include image coding, image restoration, 3D image processing, feature extraction and analysis, moving object detection, and face recognition. To deal with these issues, the use of sophisticated and robust mathematical algorithms plays a crucial role. The aim of this special issue is to provide an opportunity for researchers to publish their latest theoretical and technological achievements in mathematical methods and their …

Stability Of High Band Gap P3ht: Pcbm Organic Solar Cells Using Tiox Interfacial Layer, Kurniawan Foe, Gon Namkoong, Matthew Samson, Enas M. Younes, Ilho Nam, Tarek M. Abdel-Fattah

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We fabricated a poly [3-hexylthiophene] (P3HT) and [6,6] -phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₆₁BM with the TiO_x layer. We found that a solution based TiO_x coated at a spin speed of 3000 rpm improved the photon absorption of the active layer. An optimized TiO_x layer was also used as the interfacial layer to investigate the stability of P3HT: PC₆₁BM OPC. After 70 days of storage, we observed that the short-circuit current density (J_SC) dropped by 16.2%, fill factor (FF) dropped by 10.6%, and power conversion efficiency (PCE) dropped approximately by 25%, while …

Polarization Of Bi2te3 Thin Film In A Floating-Gate Capacitor Structure, Hui Yuan, Kai Zhang, Haitao Li, Hao Zhu, John E. Bonevich, Helmut Baumgart, Curt A. Richter, Qiliang Li

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) capacitors with Bi₂Te₃ thin film sandwiched and embedded inside the oxide layer have been fabricated and studied. The capacitors exhibit ferroelectric-like hysteresis which is a result of the robust, reversible polarization of the Bi₂Te₃ thin film while the gate voltage sweeps. The temperature-dependent capacitance measurement indicates that the activation energy is about 0.33 eV for separating the electron and hole pairs in the bulk of Bi₂Te₃, and driving them to either the top or bottom surface of the thin film. Because of the fast polarization speed, potentially excellent …

Sensor Selection And Integration To Improve Video Segmentation In Complex Environments, Adam R. Reckley, Wei-Wen Hsu, Chung-Hao Chen, Gangfeng Ma, E-Wen Huang

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Background subtraction is often considered to be a required stage of any video surveillance system being used to detect objects in a single frame and/or track objects across multiple frames in a video sequence. Most current state-of-the-art techniques for object detection and tracking utilize some form of background subtraction that involves developing a model of the background at a pixel, region, or frame level and designating any elements that deviate from the background model as foreground. However, most existing approaches are capable of segmenting a number of distinct components but unable to distinguish between the desired object of interest and …

Stm Study Of Pulsed Laser Assisted Growth Of Ge Quantum Dot On Si(1 0 0)-(2 × 1), Ali Orguz Er, Hani E. Elsayed-Ali

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Ge quantum dot formation on Si(1 0 0)-(2 × 1) by nanosecond pulsed laser deposition under laser excitation was investigated. Scanning tunneling microscopy was used to probe the growth mode and morphology. Excitation was performed during deposition using laser energy density of 25-100 mJ/cm ². Faceted islands were achieved at a substrate temperature of ∼250 °C only when using laser excitation. The island morphology changes with increased laser excitation energy density although the faceting of the individual islands remains the same. The size of the major length of islands increases with the excitation laser energy density. A purely electronic …

Grassmann Learning For Recognition And Classification, Sherif Azary

Theses

Computational performance associated with high-dimensional data is a common challenge for real-world classification and recognition systems. Subspace learning has received considerable attention as a means of finding an efficient low-dimensional representation that leads to better classification and efficient processing. A Grassmann manifold is a space that promotes smooth surfaces, where points represent subspaces and the relationship between points is defined by a mapping of an orthogonal matrix. Grassmann learning involves embedding high dimensional subspaces and kernelizing the embedding onto a projection space where distance computations can be effectively performed. In this dissertation, Grassmann learning and its benefits towards action classification …

Minus 25 Betty Tyson, Taunja Isaac

Theses

Betty Tyson was convicted of murder in May 1973 in Rochester, NY. She was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Her trial was hasty and the jury of peers she faced was all white. The evidence against her was tainted yet she was still found guilty. I was 9 years old when I first heard this story. When I decided to pursue my Master in Fine Art, I remembered this story and wanted to use my journalism instincts that I developed during my undergraduate degree at SUNY Brockport. I approached my thesis committee for approval to pursue this …

Parametric Analysis Of Resilient Modulus Modeling For Recycled Asphalt Pavement In Base Layer, Ehab Noureldin, Magdy Abdelrahman

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The resilient modulus (M_R) has been found to be the most important parameter in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) for the base layer. A literature review showed that the use of recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) in the base layer had many economic and structural benefits. The prediction of M_R with the specific MEPDG model for the base layer mixed with RAP was found to be reliable for several field conditions. However, further studies of the MEPDG model are needed for an understanding of the physical meaning of each parameter in the model. The most important factor …

The Impact Of Adaptation Delays On Routing Protocols Formobile Ad-Hoc Networks (Manets), Yamin Al-Mousa

Theses

MANETs are coping with major challenges such as the lack of infrastructure and mobility which causes networks topology to change dynamically. Due to limited resources, nodes have to collaborate and rely packets on the behalf of neighbors to reach their destinations forming multi-hop paths. The selection and maintenance of multi-hop paths is a challenging task as their stability and availability depend on the mobility of participating nodes, where paths used a few moments earlier would be rendered invalid due to ever changing topology. The purpose of a routing protocol is to establish and select valid paths between communicating nodes and …

An Atrial Activity Based Algorithm For The Single-Beat Rate-Independent Detection Of Atrial Fibrillation, Steven J. Ladavich Jr.

Theses

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and is the cause of 15% of all ischemic strokes in the United States. In many cases, AF is episodic and/or asymptomatic and as a result, there is a strong need for algorithms capable of quickly and reliably detecting AF, even in cases where the heart rate is controlled through medication or with a pacemaker. Current RR interval (RRI)-based algorithms do not directly target atrial activity, cannot detect AF when the heart rate is controlled, and analyze relatively long intervals of the electrocardiography (ECG) to make an AF determination. This work …

Server-Based Desktop Virtualization, Anas Raqi Shabaitah

Theses

Virtualization can be accomplished at different layers in the computational stack and with different goals (servers, desktops, applications, storage and network). This research focuses on server-based desktop virtualization. According to the Gartner group, the main business drivers for adopting desktop virtualization are: application compatibility, business continuity, security and compliance, mobility and improved productivity [15]. Despite these business drivers, desktop virtualization has not been widely adopted. According to a survey conducted by Matrix42, only 5% of desktop computers are virtualized [37]. The research deals with the challenges preventing the wider adoption of server-based desktop virtualization while focusing on two of the …

Design Trade-Offs For Reliable On-Chip Wireless Interconnects In Noc Platforms, Manoj Prashanth Yuvaraj

Theses

The massive levels of integration following Moore's Law making modern multi-core chips prevail in various domains ranging from scientific applications to bioinformatics applications for consumer electronics. With higher and higher number of cores on the same die traditional bus based interconnections are no longer a scalable communication infrastructure. On-chip networks were proposed enabled a scalable plug-and-play mechanism for interconnecting hundreds of cores on the same chip. Wired interconnects between the cores in a traditional Network-on-Chip (NoC) system, becomes a bottleneck with increase in the number of cores thereby increasing the latency and energy to transmit signals over them. Hence, there …

Antenna Gain Enhancement And Beamshaping Using A Diffractive Optical Element (Doe) Lens, Christopher Torbitt

Theses

Dielectric and metamaterial lenses have been designed for gain enhancement and beam shaping. The motivation for this work came from a commercially available slotted waveguide antenna with a dielectric lens that shapes the beam and enhances the gain only in the azimuth plane. When two of these antennas, each with a dielectric lens, are stacked as an array to form the sum and difference patterns the elevation plane gain is low and the beam width too wide to be acceptable for radar applications.

The objective of the present work is to design a diffractive optical element (DOE) lens for gain …

Variability In The Phenolic Content Of Invasive And Non-Invasive Emergent Wetland Plants, Melissa M. Maurer

Theses

The colonization of wetlands by invasive plant species negatively impacts vegetation structure, nutrient and organic matter cycling, and ultimately alters native wetland ecosystem functions and services. It is unclear if the spread of invasive species can be attributed to their chemical composition. To further understand mechanisms of plant invasion, it is important to assess secondary chemistry of aggressive invaders. Phenolic compounds are important due to their diverse functionality including pathogen resistance, herbivore deterrence, and allelopathic interference. I conducted a broad field survey and a field experiment to better understand the importance and variability of wetland plant phenolic compounds and the …

Hearing The Child's Voice: Their Lived Experience In The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Andrea Prentiss

All Publications

Background: More than 200,000 children are admitted annually to Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs) in the US. Research has shown young children can provide insight into their hospitalization experiences; child reports rather than parental reports are critical to understanding the child’s experience. Information relating to children’s perceptions while still in the PICU is scarce.

Aims: The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate school age children’s and adolescents’ perceptions of PICU while in the PICU; changes in perceptions after transfer to the General Care Unit (GCU); differences in perceptions of school age children/adolescents and those with more invasive procedures. …

Modern Islamic Motif Design: Developing New Arabesque Motifs By Mixing Styles, Shuruq Nahhas

Theses

"Modern Islamic Motif Design: Developing New Arabesque Motifs by Mixing Styles" focuses on developing modern arabesque motifs that are based on the method of mixing styles. This method is based on mixing the most representational characteristics of two styles from different period of time: modern and historical Islamic styles. The achievement will look modern and Islamic at the same time without losing the elements of the old style. The purpose of this research is to revive historical Islamic motifs and adding a contemporary look to them by keeping the Islamic look, which could be used perfectly in many fields of …

Bike To Basics: A Cargo Bicycle Design For Short-Distance Commuting, Cong Yao

Theses

Cycling plays an important role in our modern transportation system. It is simple, efficient and affordable. Bike is human powered, lightweight and relatively easy to manufacture compared to other vehicles. There are many companies dedicated to producing different types of bicycles for the market and there are many bicycle builders who craft authentic unique bicycles by hand.

For my thesis project, I studied the history of the bicycle in order to understand the philosophy of bicycling. I addressed many types of problems in this field and did field research in bike shops and with bicycle enthusiasts. I learned many techniques …

Invited Speech: Evidence Based Practice: Acuity Based Care And Research Practice Change, Carolyn Lindgren

All Publications

No abstract provided.

Measuring Sense Of Presence And User Characteristics To Predict Effective Training In An Online Simulated Virtual Environment, Gianluca De Leo, Leigh A. Diggs, Elena Radici, Thomas W. Mastaglio

VMASC Publications

Introduction: Virtual-reality solutions have successfully been used to train distributed teams. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between user characteristics and sense of presence in an online virtual-reality environment where distributed teams are trained. A greater sense of presence has the potential to make training in the virtual environment more effective, leading to the formation of teams that perform better in a real environment. Being able to identify, before starting online training, those user characteristics that are predictors of a greater sense of presence can lead to the selection of trainees who would benefit most from the online simulated …

Thermomechanical Modeling Of Cone Sample Of Zrb2-Sic Ceramic Under Arc-Jet Conditions, Lokeswarappa R. Dharani, Jun Wei

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The effects of oxidation on mechanical behavior of a cone sample of ZrB2-SiC ceramic under arc-jet test conditions is studied by a finite element (FE) model. First a steady-state heat transfer FE method was employed to conduct the thermal analysis and obtain the temperature distribution in the inner body of the cone. Then, resulting temperature distribution is applied to the thermomechanical finite element analysis to calculate the thermal stress distribution in the cone body. Due to the mismatch of material properties between the bulk ZrB2-SiC and its new products after oxidation, the outer oxide layers constrain the thermal deformation of …