Digital Commons Network^™

Pulsed Melodic Affective Processing: Musical Structures For Increasing Transparency In Emotional Computation, Alexis Kirke, Eduardo Miranda

School of Art, Design and Architecture

No abstract provided.

Do Muscle Synergies Reduce The Dimensionality Of Behavior?, N Kuppuswamy, Cm Harris

School of Psychology

The muscle synergy hypothesis is an archetype of the notion of Dimensionality Reduction (DR) occurring in the central nervous system due to modular organization. Toward validating this hypothesis, it is important to understand if muscle synergies can reduce the state-space dimensionality while maintaining task control. In this paper we present a scheme for investigating this reduction utilizing the temporal muscle synergy formulation. Our approach is based on the observation that constraining the control input to a weighted combination of temporal muscle synergies also constrains the dynamic behavior of a system in a trajectory-specific manner. We compute this constrained reformulation of …

Is Neolithic Land Use Correlated With Demography? An Evaluation Of Pollen-Derived Land Cover And Radiocarbon-Inferred Demographic Change From Central Europe, Jutta Lechterbeck, Kevan Edinborough, Tim Kerig, Ralph Fyfe, Neil Roberts, Stephen Shennan

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Green Economy: Functional Domains And Theoretical Directions Of Enquiry, Ian Bailey, Federico Caprotti

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Cross-Shelf Exchange In The Northwestern Black Sea, Feng Zhou, Georgy Shapiro, Fred Wobus

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

A Mathematical Model Of Collagen Lattice Contraction, J. C. Dallon, Emily J. Evans, H Paul Erhlich

Faculty Publications

Two mathematical models for fibroblast-collagen interaction are proposed which reproduce qualitative features of fibroblast populated collagen lattice contraction in time. Both models are force based and model the cells as individual entities with discrete attachment sites however the collagen lattice is modeled differently for each model. In the collagen lattice model the lattice is more interconnected and formed by triangulating nodes to form the fibrous structure. In the collagen fiber model the nodes are not triangulated, are less interconnected, and the collagen fibers are modeled as a string of nodes. Both models suggest that the overall increase in stress of …

Looking Forward Through The Past. Identification Of Fifty Priority Research Questions In Palaeoecology., A Seddon, A Mackay, A Baker, Et Al

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Priority question exercises are becoming an increasingly common tool to frame future agendas in conservation and ecological science. They are an effective way to identify research foci that advance the field and that also have high policy and conservation relevance. To date, there has been no coherent synthesis of key questions and priority research areas for palaeoecology, which combines biological, geochemical and molecular techniques in order to reconstruct past ecological and environmental systems on time-scales from decades to millions of years. We adapted a well-established methodology to identify 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology. Using a set of criteria designed …

Community Resilience, Transitional Corridors And Macro‐Scalar Lock‐In Effects, Ga Wilson

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

This article analyses interlinkages between community resilience, transitional corridors and macro-scalar lock-in effects, with specific emphasis on exogenous drivers. Transition theory is used as an approach to analyse resilience pathways. The article suggests that transitional corridors shape decision-making opportunities, which are ultimately mediated by the individual/household within a community and turned into action with tangible effects on resilience/vulnerability ‘on the ground’. The importance of macro-structural ‘lock-ins’ for understanding constraints and opportunities for raising community resilience is highlighted, including in particular political and policy-based decision-making pathways, macro-structural lock-ins, ideological lock-in effects and macro-economic lock-ins. The article concludes by arguing that transitional …

Functional Diversity Of Marine Ecosystems After The Late Permian Mass Extinction Event, Wj Foster, Rj Twitchett

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The Late Permian mass extinction event was the most severe such crisis of the past 500 million years and occurred during an episode of global warming. It is assumed to have had significant ecological impact, but its effects on marine ecosystem functioning are unknown and the patterns of marine recovery are debated. We analysed the fossil occurrences of all known Permian-Triassic benthic marine genera and assigned each to a functional group based on their inferred life habit. We show that despite the selective extinction of 62-74% of marine genera there was no significant loss of functional diversity at the global …

Parameterization Of Pharmaceutical Emissions And Removal Rates For Use In Uk Predictive Exposure Models: Steroid Estrogens As A Case Study, Jd Heffley, Sdw Comber, Bw Wheeler, Ch Redshaw

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Using local population characteristics and prescription data to predict pharmaceutical concentrations in sewage influent and effluent.

Development Of Joint Stiffness And Learnability, N Kuppuswamy, Cm Harris

School of Psychology

No abstract provided.

Creative Music Neurotechnology With Symphony Of Minds Listening, E Miranda, D Lloyd, Z Josipovic, D Williams

School of Art, Design and Architecture

No abstract provided.

Thermography Methodologies For Detecting Energy Related Building Defects, Matthew Fox, David Coley, Steve Goodhew, Wilde P De

School of Art, Design and Architecture

No abstract provided.

From Services To Civilian: The Geographies Of Veterans' Post-Military Lives, Agatha Herman, Richard Yarwood

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Artificial Soil Formation And Stabilization Of Material Cycles In Closed Ecological Systems For Mars Habitats, Joshua D. Borchardt

Theses and Dissertations

Scientists are increasingly pressured to investigate novel ways in which to feed astronauts for the first mission to Mars in the 2030s. It is the aim of this thesis to conduct a preliminary investigation for soil formation of NASA JSC Mars-1A Regolith Simulant in an environmentally closed ecosystem to simulate plant growth within these initial habitats, and the prospect of soil formation from a Mars parent material for agricultural purposes. The rhizosphere and plant stress will be the main regions of research focus. It is hypothesized rhizosphere activity will determine the rate of stable soil formation adequate to support the …

Using Reanalysis Data For The Prediction Of Seasonal Wind Turbine Power Losses Due To Icing, Daniel Burtch

Theses and Dissertations

The Northern Plains region of the United States is home to a significant amount of potential wind energy. However, in winter months capturing this potential power is severely impacted by the meteorological conditions, in the form of icing. Predicting the expected loss in power production due to icing is a valuable parameter that can be used in wind turbine operations, determination of wind turbine site locations and long-term energy estimates which are used for financing purposes. Currently, losses due to icing must be estimated when developing predictions for turbine feasibility and financing studies, while icing maps, a tool commonly used …

Application Of Method Developed For The Identification And Quantification Of Polar Components In Organic Liquid Products Of Selected Crop Oils And Deciphering The Mechanistic Aspects Of Cracking, Ashwini Geetla

Theses and Dissertations

Pyrolysis is a fundamental thermochemical process that can be used to convert triacylglycerides (TGs) in crop oils into valuable chemicals that may replace petroleum products. Biofuels, complex mixtures containing hundreds of species, are generated by the pyrolysis of crop oils. Presence of fatty acids (FAs) will limit the applicability of plant oils as biofuels since they are corrosive and form wax-like crystals at a cloud point that would plug filters. However, short chain FAs have a high commercial value as byproducts of biofuel production. The understanding of mechanism of pyrolysis may reveal pathways for production of favorable products. These pathways …

Software Documentation Guidelines For Maintainability, Justin Roger Huber

Theses and Dissertations

Software maintenance is the final stage in the software engineering process; and can also be the longest and most costly. The ability of, and ease in which software upkeep and change is performed is an important software quality attribute called maintainability. Software maintenance however is an expensive process in both time and financial cost and can account for a majority of a system's overall lifetime cost. It would be beneficial then to have a set of guidelines for obtaining a higher degree of maintainability in software before and after its release and evolution stage in order to limit the cost …

Space Tourism Law: Lessons From Aviation, Antarctica, And The International Space Station, Denise Meeks

Theses and Dissertations

Space tourism has economic, social, and educational benefits, however, unresolved legal issues remain that need to be addressed on state and international levels in order for space tourism to succeed and for these benefits to be realized. Space treaties do not address and federal laws have impeded space tourism efforts. Aviation industry regulations, Antarctic treaties, and International Space Station agreements serve as models to guide the space tourism. In the future, however, the space tourism industry will create its own legal regime based on the technical expertise of its practitioners and the social mores of its participants.

A Study Of Bench Scale, Pressurized, Continuous Flow Thermal Cracking Of Crop Oil, Blake Sander

Theses and Dissertations

This study builds upon previous research at UND which demonstrated that crop oils are a potential renewable alternative to select petroleum based products. The crop oils investigated for this study include soybean, canola, and jojoba oil. The processing method utilized was a non-catalytic cracking process.

The goal of this work was to build a new bench-scale continuous flow thermal cracking reactor system capable of being operated under high pressure, and also to use this reactor to explore the effects of pressure, temperature, and feed rate during non-catalytic cracking on the yield and composition of the liquid and gas products produced …

Analysis Of Multi-Platform Mobile Application Development, Courtney B. Thaden

Theses and Dissertations

The variety of mobile devices and their operating platforms has rapidly increased. With this increase come separate standards, programming languages, and distribution markets. Typically developers want to deliver their products to a variety of users encompassing various platforms; however choosing to develop using a native program for a platform can delay the development and release on another platform. Multi-platform development applications were created in order to deploy applications to various platforms in a more timely and cost efficient manner by using a single code base.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the multi-platform development applications MoSync, Appcelerator, and …

Miniaturized Antenna Design For Wireless Biomedical Sensors, Mohannad M. Alharbi

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is focused on the design and simulation of miniaturized antennas for wireless biomedical sensors. The motivation of the work was to provide a solution for wireless systems that are embedded or placed on the body. Currently, small antennas are on demand to be implanted inside the body or placed closely to the body. The performance of such antennas, gain and efficiency, is affected by the lossy tissues that surround them. The goal of this work was to design antennas that are placed on a living body and integrated with a sensor system implanted in living tissue, to measure …

A Comparative Study Of Spectrum Sensing Methods For Cognitive Radio Systems, Mohammad Shakib Apu

Theses and Dissertations

With the increase of portable devices utilization and ever-growing demand for greater data rates in wireless transmission, an increasing demand for spectrum channels was observed since last decade. Conventionally, licensed spectrum channels are assigned for comparatively long time spans to the license holders who may not over time continuously use these channels, which creates an under-utilized spectrum. The inefficient utilization of inadequate wireless spectrum resources has motivated researchers to look for advanced and innovative technologies that enable an efficient use of the spectrum resources in a smart and efficient manner.

The notion of Cognitive Radio technology was proposed to address …

Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Factors That Affect The Acceptance Of Unmanned Aircraft Usage Within The United States National Airspace System, Eric Cameron

Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned aircraft have been around since before the Wright brothers took flight in 1903. Even though unmanned aircraft have had a history that well exceeds the century of manned aviation, they were primarily used by the military, and were mostly outside the public's purview. In recent years unmanned aircraft have made a giant leap from military use to commercial use within the United States and around the world. While pilots and operators flying these aircraft may have accepted the technology and its future potential; the public might have a different point of view on utilization over their home, town, state, …

Optimal Allocation Of Distributed Renewable Energy Sources In Power Distribution Networks, Samir Dahal

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation study, various methods for optimum allocation of renewable distributed generators (DGs) in both balanced and unbalanced distribution networks have been proposed, developed, and tested. These methods were developed with an objective of maximizing several advantages of DG integration into the current distribution system infrastructure.

The first method addressed the optimal sitting and sizing of DGs for minimum distribution power losses and maximum voltage profile improvement of distribution feeders. The proposed method was validated by comparing the results of a balanced distribution system with those reported in the literature. This method was then implemented in a co-simulation environment …

Therapeutic Igy: Safe, Diverse, And Effective For Use Against Viral Targets, Nicole Noel Haese

Theses and Dissertations

Passive antibody treatments are used to target infectious disease, toxins, venoms, and cancer antigens. Recently, there has been an increased interest in the use of avian-derived antibody treatments such as IgY. IgY is the primary serum antibody isotype present in the avian system, and IgY treatments have already been demonstrated to be effective against a variety of bacterial and viral infectious agents. There are two forms of IgY expressed in anseriformes birds, a full length IgY that is functionally similar to mammalian IgG, and an alternatively spliced IgY, IgY(ÄFc), that is comparable to the mammalian F(ab')2 fragment. The difference in …

Development Of Novel Max Phase Composites, Thomas Jacob Hammann

Theses and Dissertations

The Mn+1AXn (MAX) phases are thermodynamically stable nanolaminates which display

unusual, and in some cases unique, properties. There currently exist over 60 MAX phases

in the literature. These phases are named because they possess a Mn+1AXn chemistry,

where n is equal to 1, 2, or 3, M is an early transition metal element, A is an A-group

element, and X is carbon and/or nitrogen. MAX phases are layered hexagonal (space

group D4 6h-P63/mmc) with two formula units per unit cell. The MAX phase material

group has high damage tolerance, thermal shock resistance, resistant to creep, lubricious,

readily machinable, and has …

Multiple Baseline Study Of The Effects Of Left Visual Field Stimulation During Emotion Recognition Training Among Four Male Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Rachelle Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are characterized by social deficits in emotional comprehension. Research has demonstrated that for the neurotypical population, recognizing, and reacting to facial emotions improve when using the left visual field by employing the right brain hemisphere's configural processes. Behavioral, physiological, and neuroimaging findings suggest an opposite pattern within the autistic population - left hemisphere activation contributing to a right visual field preference for analyzing and assessing facial affect. The present study attempted to activate and strengthen the right hemispheric neural pathway responsible for emotion recognition using modified eyewear to contrive left visual field stimulation during an empirically …

Development Of A Prototype Movement Assistance System For Extravehicular Activity Gloves, Tyler Hill

Theses and Dissertations

Spacesuits utilized a rubberized layer of material to contain a pressurized atmosphere to facilitate respiration and maintain the physiologic functions of the astronaut residing within. However, the elasticity of the material makes it resistant to deformation increasing the amount of work required during movement. This becomes particularly fatiguing for the muscle groups controlling the motion of the hands and fingers. To mitigate this a robotic system was proposed and developed. The system built upon previous concepts and prototypes discovered through research efforts. It utilized electric motors to pull the index, ring, and middle fingers of the right hand closed, ideally …

Theoretical And Experimental Investigation Of Water And Nanofluid Flow In Channels With Sudden Area Change, Emmanuel Hitimana

Theses and Dissertations

Sudden area expansions and contractions in channels are encountered in numerous engineering applications such as pipeline, cooling systems, and heat exchangers. Over the last several decades, numerous studies have been done on this subject. However, there is still a lack of proper investigations, especially on quantifying the viscous pressure loss at the singularity as a function of flow rate along the channel with abrupt area expansion or contraction.

In this study, the investigation was done on the behavior of static pressure of water and 9.58% volume concentration silicon dioxide nanofluid in channels with sudden area expansion and contraction. The main …