Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Investigations Of Poly[(Styrene-Co-P-Methylstyrene)-Risobutylene- R-(Styrene-Co-P-Methylstyrene)] And Poly[(Acrylic Acid)-5-Styrene-Jb-Is0butylene-5-Styrene-Jb-(Acrylic Acid)], James Grabill Kopchick

Dissertations

The pMe study was conducted to understand the morphological and physical property changes that occur as the ratio of pMe to styrene is increased, effectively increasing the aliphatic units. By the introduction of pMe, the interface region becomes more blended/compatible as the pMe migrates to the interface. These pMe groups are theorized in effect to create multiple ‘anchors’ to distribute the loads experienced at the interface more effectively creating a synergistic effect on the final properties of the copolymers. The primary goals of the pentablock study were the characterization of unique membranes as related to …

Nilpotent Orbits On Infinitesimal Symmetric Spaces, Joseph A. Fox

Dissertations

Let G be a reductive linear algebraic group defined over an algebraically closed field k whose characteristic is good for G. Let [straight theta] be an involution defined on G, and let K be the subgroup of G consisting of elements fixed by [straight theta]. The differential of [straight theta], also denoted [straight theta], is an involution of the Lie algebra [Special characters omitted.] = Lie (G ), and it decomposes [Special characters omitted.] into +1- and -1-eigenspaces, [Special characters omitted.] and [Special characters omitted.] , respectively. The space [Special characters omitted.] identifies with the tangent space at the …

Synthetic Studies Of 1,10-Phenanthroline Derivatives As Novel Catalysis Ligands And Their Application In Transition Metals Catalyzed Reactions, Son Duc Tran

Dissertations

The preparation of 1,10-phenanthroline derivatives entailed ring opening reactions of 1,10-phenanthroline epoxide as a key transformation, affording novelbidentate nitrogen ligands with new stereogenic centers in the 5- and 6-position. This research was concerned with (i) the epoxidation of 1,10-phen, (ii) epoxide ring opening reactions, (iii) the formation of trans -5,6-disubstituted-1,10-phenanthroline metal complexes, and (iv) application of 1,10-phenanthroline derivatives in metal-catalyze reactions such as palladium-catalyzed allylic substitution and aminohalogenation reactions; Zinc-catalyzed direct aldolreaction, and acetophenone reduction; Nickel-catalyzed Michael addition reaction.

New Estimators Of A Circular Median, Sauwanit Ratanaruamkarn

Dissertations

The specific properties of probability distributions on a circle require different definitions of several statistical concepts. For example, a median that can always be found for linear data not always exists on the circle. Several estimators of a circular median were proposed, lately by Otieno (2002), Otieno and Anderson - Cook (2003). Their work is, however, focused on the "preferred direction" which coincides with the median, mean and mode in the case of symmetric, unimodal distributions. This dissertation is focused on the estimators of a population median in a wider range of population distributions on a circle including distributions with …

Localization In Wireless Sensor Networks, Mark Terwilliger

Dissertations

With the proliferation of wireless sensor networks, providing location-aware technology and services to new applications have become important for developers. Localization is the problem of determining the positions of nodes in an ad hoc network. With the constrained resources of network sensors, providing robust localization services remains a fundamental research challenge facing the entire sensor network development community.

The initial localization problem that we addressed was to design and develop a working system that could locate equipment, such as a laptop or video projector. Ferret, the localization system developed, uses two different ranging techniques to help locate an object to …

Testing Procedures For Group Sequential Clinical Trials With Multiple Survival Endpoints, Rebecca C. Scherzer

Dissertations

This research gives methods for sequential monitoring of survival data in clinical trials with multiple endpoints. We illustrate the use of marginal proportional hazards models and other survival models with various group sequential methods to test multiple survival endpoints at K interim analyses. To adjust for multiplicity at each interim analysis, we consider and extend methods developed by Tang and Geller (1999), Follmann, et al. (1994), and others. These methods are motivated, compared, and evaluated using survival data from a clinical study and using simulation studies.

Text Mining With Exploitation Of User's Background Knowledge : Discovering Novel Association Rules From Text, Xin Chen

Dissertations

The goal of text mining is to find interesting and non-trivial patterns or knowledge from unstructured documents. Both objective and subjective measures have been proposed in the literature to evaluate the interestingness of discovered patterns. However, objective measures alone are insufficient because such measures do not consider knowledge and interests of the users. Subjective measures require explicit input of user expectations which is difficult or even impossible to obtain in text mining environments.

This study proposes a user-oriented text-mining framework and applies it to the problem of discovering novel association rules from documents. The developed system, uMining, consists of two …

Facial Feature Representation And Recognition, Chao-Fa Chuang

Dissertations

Facial expression provides an important behavioral measure for studies of emotion, cognitive processes, and social interaction. Facial expression representation and recognition have become a promising research area during recent years. Its applications include human-computer interfaces, human emotion analysis, and medical care and cure.

In this dissertation, the fundamental techniques will be first reviewed, and the developments of the novel algorithms and theorems will be presented later. The objective of the proposed algorithm is to provide a reliable, fast, and integrated procedure to recognize either seven prototypical, emotion-specified expressions (e.g., happy, neutral, angry, disgust, fear, sad, and surprise in JAFFE database) …

Color Image Quality Measures And Retrieval, Yan-Yu Fu

Dissertations

The focus of this dissertation is mainly on color image, especially on the images with lossy compression. Issues related to color quantization, color correction, color image retrieval and color image quality evaluation are addressed. A no-reference color image quality index is proposed. A novel color correction method applied to low bit-rate JPEG image is developed. A novel method for content-based image retrieval based upon combined feature vectors of shape, texture, and color similarities has been suggested. In addition, an image specific color reduction method has been introduced, which allows a 24-bit JPEG image to be shown in the 8-bit color …

Ligand-Based Design Of Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitors : Fuzzy Relational Clustering And 2-D And 3-D Qsar Modleing, Milind Misra

Dissertations

As the three-dimensional structure of the dopamine transporter (DAT) remains undiscovered, any attempt to model the binding of drug-like ligands to this protein must necessarily include strategies that use ligand information. For flexible ligands that bind to the DAT, the identification of the binding conformation becomes an important but challenging task. In the first part of this work, the selection of a few representative structures as putative binding conformations from a large collection of conformations of a flexible GBR 12909 analogue was demonstrated by cluster analysis. Novel structurebased features that can be easily generalized to other molecules were developed and …

Dynamic Measuring Tools For Online Discourse, Jeffrey S. Saltz

Dissertations

When evaluating participation within an Asynchronous Learning Network (ALN), current best practices include counting messages and reviewing participant surveys. To understand the impact of more advanced dynamic measurement tools for use within an ALN, a web-based tool, known as iPET (the integrated Participation Evaluation Tool), was created. iPET, which leverages Social Network Analysis and Information Visualization techniques, was then evaluated via an empirical study. This research demonstrates that using a tool such as iPET increases participation within an ALN without increasing facilitator workload. Due to the fact that active online discussion is a key factor in the success of an …

Study Of Organic Reactions In Pyridinium-Based Ionic Liquids, Ying Xiao

Dissertations

Recently, ionic liquids have attracted a lot of attention as novel materials for organic transformations. This is due to their unique properties, which make them suitable substitutes for organic solvents. Most of the available literature is focused on the application of imidazolium-based ionic liquids for organic reactions, while very limited information is available on the application of pyridinium-based ionic liquids.

In this study, two different ionic liquids, 1 -ethyl-pyridinium tetrafluoroborate ([EtPy]⁺[BF₄]^-) and 1 -ethyl-pyridinium trifluoroacetate ([EtPy]⁺[CF₃COO]^-) have been investigated. Compared to previous reports, the synthetic technique for preparation …

Development Of Environmentally Benign Microencapsulation With Polymer Microspheres And Liposomes, Baohua Yue

Dissertations

Microencapsulation means applying a shell-like coating to encapsulate the contents of interest in a particle form with a size range of few micrometers or below. In this work, aqueous liposome systems and polymer based encapsulation of fine particles in supercritical CO₂ were studied. Compared to many other microencapsulation methods, these two methodologies feature reduction/prevention of using organic solvents, making them particularly attractive as green technology.

For polymer microencapsulation, a novel in situ polymerization based process to encapsulate various types of fine particles, include drugs, fire retardant, inorganic nanoparticles, and carbon nanotubes, was developed. In the process, host particles, monomers …

Bioinformatics Framework For Genotyping Microarray Data Analysis, Kai Zhang

Dissertations

Functional genomics is a flourishing science enabled by recent technological breakthroughs in high-throughput instrumentation and microarray data analysis. Genotyping microarrays establish the genotypes of DNA sequences containing single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and can help biologists probe the functions of different genes and/or construct complex gene interaction networks. The enormous amount of data from these experiments makes it infeasible to perform manual processing to obtain accurate and reliable results in daily routines. Advanced algorithms as well as an integrated software toolkit are needed to help perform reliable and fast data analysis.

The author developed a Matlab_TM based software package, called …

Environmental Justice Education And Atmospheric Particulate Analysis In Urban Environmental Health Policy Development : Indoor Airborne Particulate Concentrations In Preschools Of Asthmatic Children In Newark, Rita L. Thornton

Dissertations

Analysis suggests that several residential areas in Newark, New Jersey (USA) have Black/African-American and Hispanic populations, which may be "at high risk" with respect to the adverse health effects of particulate air pollution. This study analyzes the community locations and evaluates literature and other available air pollution data for the target communities in the city of Newark. The study focuses on asthma or reactive airway diseases as a target health risk. It also performs data collection on particulate pollutants and levels of trace metals in particulate matter in target communities and schools of preschool children in two of the five …

Using Content And Process Scaffolds For Collaborative Discourse In Asynchronous Learning Networks, Irene Wong-Bushby

Dissertations

Discourse, a form of collaborative learning, is one of the most widely used methods of teaching and learning in the online environment. Particularly, in large courses, discourse needs to be 'structured' to be effective. Historically, technology-mediated learning (TML) research has been inconclusive with often conflicting results. To address this issue, TML research needs greater breadth and depth in pedagogical grounding. The purpose of this research is to build and test an original, technology-mediated, discourse-centered model called the Asynchronous Learning Network Cognitive Discourse Model (ALNCDM) grounded in pedagogy. Cognitive discourse is defined as discourse on conceptual subject matter. The model is …

Image Segmentation And Pattern Classification Using Support Vector Machines, Shouxian Cheng

Dissertations

Image segmentation and pattern classification have long been important topics in computer science research. Image segmentation is one of the basic and challenging lower-level image processing tasks. Feature extraction, feature reduction, and classifier design based on selected features are the three essential issues for the pattern classification problem.

In this dissertation, an automatic Seeded Region Growing (SRG) algorithm for color image segmentation is developed. In the SRG algorithm, the initial seeds are automatically determined. An adaptive morphological edge-linking algorithm to fill in the gaps between edge segments is designed. Broken edges are extended along their slope directions by using the …

Automatic Solar Feature Detection Using Image Processing And Pattern Recognition Techniques, Ming Qu

Dissertations

The objective of the research in this dissertation is to develop a software system to automatically detect and characterize solar flares, filaments and Corona Mass Ejections (CMEs), the core of so-called solar activity. These tools will assist us to predict space weather caused by violent solar activity. Image processing and pattern recognition techniques are applied to this system.

For automatic flare detection, the advanced pattern recognition techniques such as Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), Radial Basis Function (RBF), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) are used. By tracking the entire process of flares, the motion properties of two-ribbon flares are derived automatically. In …

Quantifying Software Architecture Attributes, Bo Yu

Dissertations

Software architecture holds the promise of advancing the state of the art in software engineering. The architecture is emerging as the focal point of many modem reuse/evolutionary paradigms, such as Product Line Engineering, Component Based Software Engineering, and COTS-based software development.

The author focuses his research work on characterizing some properties of a software architecture. He tries to use software metrics to represent the error propagation probabilities, change propagation probabilities, and requirements change propagation probabilities of a software architecture. Error propagation probability reflects the probability that an error that arises in one component of the architecture will propagate to other …

Online Support For Multivariate Integration, Shujun Li

Dissertations

In this dissertation, we present an online problem solving environment for multivariate numerical integration. To build an environment for users with various backgrounds, we address issues of Web interface support for end-users, remote application programming interfaces for distributed system programmers, visualization of multivariate integrand functions for problem analysis, and highly efficient integration methods. Compared to previous implementations, our new load balancing schemes increase the scalability of parallel integration and hence are suitable for large scale computations. A parallel integration service, called PI service, was implemented based on Web services technologies to support both remote integration and remote visualization. The multivariate …

A Study Of How Precursor Key Concepts For Organic Chemistry Success Are Understood By General Chemistry Students, Patrick Gerard Meyer

Dissertations

This study examines college student understanding of key concepts that will support future organic chemistry success as determined by university instructors. During four one-hour individual interviews the sixteen subjects attempted to solve general chemistry problems. A think-aloud protocol was used along with a whiteboard where the students could draw and illustrate their ideas. The protocols for the interviews were adapted from the Covalent Structure and Bonding two-tiered multiple choice diagnostic instrument (Peterson, Treagust, & Garnett, 1989) and augmented by the Geometry and Polarity of Moleculessingle-tiered multiple choice instrument (Furió & Calatayud, 1996). The interviews were videotaped, transcribed, and coded …

Photoexcitation And Photoionization Of The Argon Atom And The Hydrogen Bromide Molecule, Ximao Feng

Dissertations

Interaction between synchrotron radiation with inner-shell electrons is a fundamental method to study the structure and dynamics of atoms and molecules. This thesis, under the guidance of Dr. Nora Berrah, concentrates on the study of the interaction between soft x-ray photons with Ar atoms and HBr moleculeswith time-of-flight (TOF) electron spectrometers and two-dimensional photoelectron spectroscopy (2DPES). Both of the experiments were performed on theAtomic, Molecular and Optical Physics undulator beamline at the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The argon study focused on photoelectron recapture when the 2p electrons are ionized just above the thresholds of the two …

An Automata-Based Automatic Verification Environment, Yi Meng

Dissertations

With the continuing growth of computer systems including safety-critical computer control systems, the need for reliable tools to help construct, analyze, and verify such systems also continues to grow. The basic motivation of this work is to build such a formal verification environment for computer-based systems.

An example of such a tool is the Design Oriented Verification and Evaluation (DOVE) created by Australian Defense Science and Technology Organization. One of the advantages of DOVE is that it combines ease of use provided by a graphical user interface for describing specifications in the form of extended state machines with the rigor …

Development Of Micro-Scale And Automated Membrane Extraction Systems For Water Analysis, Xiaoyan Wang

Dissertations

Monitoring of trace level contaminants in water involves the extraction and enrichment of analytes. Over the years several techniques have been developed for this purpose. Currently there is an urgent need for the development of micro-scale extraction techniques that can lead to simple, fast trace analysis. Automated instruments that can be used for continuous, on-line analysis are also important. Membrane extraction can address both these needs, because it can be carried out in a continuous fashion and can also be miniaturized. This research addresses these two aspects of membrane extraction for the next generation of sample preparation.

Micro-Scale Membrane Extraction: …

Effect Of Heavy Metals On Salt March Biota, Kallaya Suntornvongsagul

Dissertations

Environmental restoration of disturbed, degraded and potentially contaminated wetland sites aims for the persistent and sustainable re-establishment of biological communities and important wetland functions. An ecologically informed restoration strategy presupposes some understanding of these system processes, but also of potential impacts on contaminants in the environment for risk assessment, long-term management, and potential cost-effective mitigative measures. In this study, potential effects of moderate heavy metal contamination in sediments of the urban salt marsh Harrier Meadow, NJ, were evaluated on growth performance of the common salt marsh plant S. patens and associated arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonizing its roots. Growth performance …

Functionalization, Growth And Applications Of Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes, Yubing Wang

Dissertations

Because of their remarkable structural, mechanical and electrical properties, carbon nanotubes, and especially single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), represent one of the most widely investigated materials today in the emerging field of nanotechnology. The development of oriented growth of SWNTs critical for applications, novel approaches for the creation of functional SWNTs, and applications of both as-prepared and chemically functionalized SWNTs for electrochemically-induced hydrogen storage, in-situ formation of new polymer and ceramic nanocomposites with SWNTs, and the fabrication and study for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, of a SWNT-based biofuel cell and self-powered biosensor, are the thrusts …

A Bayesian Approach To Wireless Location Problems, Ivan Zorych

Dissertations

Several approaches for indoor location estimation in wireless networks are proposed. We explore non-hierarchical and hierarchical Bayesian graphical models that use prior knowledge about physics of signal propagation, as well as different modifications of Bayesian bivariate spline models. The hierarchical Bayesian model that incorporates information about locations of access points achieves accuracy that is similar to other published models and algorithms, but by using prior knowledge, this model drastically reduces the requirement for training data when compared to existing approaches. Proposed Bayesian bivariate spline models for location surpass predictive accuracy of existing methods. It has been shown that different versions …

Studies Of Solar White-Light Flares And Small-Scale Magnetic Structures Observed In The Near Infrared, Yan Xu

Dissertations

Using the most advanced infrared imaging technology as developed by NJIT, detailed study of solar white-light flares and small magnetic structures, such as faculae and pores, are presented in this dissertation. The investigations focus on near-infrared observations at 1.56 μm, which are good proxy of the deepest layer of the solar photosphere.

I made fundamental contributions in two areas of near infrared (NIR) solar physics: (1) the first detection and understanding of white-light flares in the NIR and (2) clearly demonstrated non-existence of "dark faculae". Several high-resolution observations have been carried out at BBSO and National Solar Observatory/Sacramento Peak. The …

Supporting Individual Time Management Through The Capture And Display Of Temporal Structures, Dezhi Wu

Dissertations

This thesis work examines the time management strategies of individuals in an academic institution and gathers information on the complex temporal structures they experience and manage. Its focus is on understanding the relationship between the quality of individual time management and an individual's understanding and use of temporal structures. This work consists of an exploratory field study to gather data on how people use temporal structures with electronic tools. It is followed by a survey that is given to a larger group of respondents in the same subject population examined with the field study. The survey examines the hypotheses developed …

Rna Structure Analysis : Algorithms And Applications, Jianghui Liu

Dissertations

In this doctoral thesis, efficient algorithms for aligning RNA secondary structures and mining unknown RNA motifs are presented. As the major contribution, a structure alignment algorithm, which combines both primary and secondary structure information, can find the optimal alignment between two given structures where one of them could be either a pattern structure of a known motif or a real query structure and the other be a subject structure.

Motivated by widely used algorithms for RNA folding, the proposed algorithm decomposes an RNA secondary structure into a set of atomic structural components that can be further organized in a tree …