Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Xpath-Based Template Language For Describing The Placement Of Metadata Within A Document, Vijay Kumar Musham

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

In the recent years, there has been a tremendous growth in Internet and online resources that had previously been restricted to paper archives. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tools can be used for digitalizing an existing corpus and making it available online. A number of federal agencies, universities, laboratories, and companies are placing their collections online and making them searchable via metadata fields such as author, title, and publishing organization. Manually creating metadata for a large collection is an extremely time-consuming task, and is difficult to automate, particularly for collections consisting of documents with diverse layout and structure. The Extract project …

Characterization Of Metastasis-Associated Cell Surface Glycoproteins In Prostate Cancer, Lifang Yang

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a major health problem in males in the United States. Its lethality is mostly attributed to the primary tumor metastasizing to distant sites that are highly resistant to conventional therapies. Serum Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) is the only protein biomarker used in clinic for prediction of prostate cancer recurrence following local therapies. Nonetheless, PSA lacks the ability to predict the behavior of an individual tumor in an individual patient. Therefore, development of reliable biomarkers for detection of metastatic potential in primary tumors, as well as discovery of new therapeutic targets, is in a great need for …

Application Of The Coastal Storm Impulse (Cosi) Parameter To Predict Coastal Erosion, Robert Aaron Walker

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A new coastal storm-strength parameter, the Coastal Storm Impulse (COSI) parameter, was introduced at the 2006 International Conference of Coastal Engineering (ICCE) in San Diego and further discussed at the ICCE 2008 in Hamburg. COSI is based on the conservation of linear, horizontal momentum to combine storm surge, wave dynamics, and currents over the storm duration. Both tropical storms (hurricanes) and extra-tropical storms (northeasters) can produce similar COSI parameters. Potential implications of such a storm classification system include the evaluation of potential coastal erosion and coastal infrastructure, as well as providing a universal storm strength indicator that is directly tied …

A Virtual Infrastructure For Mitigating Typical Challenges In Sensor Networks, Hady S. Abdel Salam

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Sensor networks have their own distinguishing characteristics that set them apart from other types of networks. Typically, the sensors are deployed in large numbers and in random fashion and the resulting sensor network is expected to self-organize in support of the mission for which it was deployed. Because of the random deployment of sensors that are often scattered from an overflying aircraft, the resulting network is not easy to manage since the sensors do not know their location, do not know how to aggregate their sensory data and where and how to route the aggregated data. The limited energy budget …

Comparison Of Ice Core Dissolved Organic Matter From A Greenland Ice Core By Nanospray Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry, Joshua Jeremiah Shiloh Marsh

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Recent studies of ice cores have embarked on the task of determining the classes of dissolved organic matter (DOM) present in melt-water from the cores collected in numerous locations in the northern and southern hemispheres. This DOM originally derives from wet precipitation and is thought to reflect atmospheric organic matter derived from anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic sources. Because the amount of DOM is so low, previous studies have necessarily used large sample volumes (greater than 500 mL) to concentrate sufficient ice core DOM necessary for mass spectral analysis. Solid phase extraction (SPE) with C₁₈ resins was followed by evaporative concentration …

Phosphorus Uptake In Rhodomonas Salina (Wislouch) And Its Effect On Allocation And Elimination In Acartia Tonsa (Dana), Danna Palladino

OES Theses and Dissertations

Phosphorus is a key element in important biochemical compounds, such as RNA and phospholipids, and can become limiting in a variety of marine systems. The uptake of phosphorus into biochemical fractions (protein, low molecular weight (LMW) compounds, lipid, polysaccharide and nucleic acid) in Acartia tonsa fed ³³P -labeled Rhodomonas salina was examined. R. salina was cultured on two variations of one media that in one case contained phosphorus in balance and the other out of balance with relation to other standard f/2 components. The P-balanced (PB) media had a N:P ratio of 24.5, which is higher than that found …

Merging Schemas In A Collaborative Faceted Classification System, Jianxiang Li

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

We have developed a system that improves access to a large, growing image collection by allowing users to collaboratively build a global faceted (multi-perspective) classification schema. We are extending our system to support both global and local schemas, where global schema provides a complete and uniform view of the collection whereas local schema provides a personal, possibly incomplete and idiosyncratic view of the collection. We argue that although users usually focus on their personal schemas, it is still desirable to have a global schema for the entire collection even if such local schemas are available. In order to keep the …

Experimental Investigation Of A Non-Thermal Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet, Asma Begum

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The main objective of this dissertation is to understand the formation of the plasma jet from the plasma pencil, and the propagation of the plasma jet in the ambient atmosphere where the effect of the external electric field is almost zero. Before investigating the formation and propagation phenomenon of the plasma jet, common physical properties of plasma jets are determined by using the imaging technique and optical emission spectroscopy. The first goal of this dissertation is to establish the laminar helium gas flow channel through a plasma pencil.

The formation position, formation time, and the criterion of the plasma jet …

A Study Of Relationships Between Family Members Using Familial Correlations, Corinne Wilson

Mathematics & Statistics Theses & Dissertations

Familial correlations measure the resemblance between family members and are used in many fields of study including epidemiology, genetics, heredity, and psychology. Here, an analysis of familial correlations where male and female children of the same family can have different correlations in the unequal family size case is presented. First, three likelihood based tests, namely the likelihood ratio test, Rao score test, and Wald test, and two more asymptotic tests which use Srivastava's estimator of the intraclass correlation coefficient are considered to test the null hypothesis of equality of the intraclass correlation coefficients when families have unequal numbers of children. …

Spectroscopic Study Of Ultracold Rubidium Atoms In An Optical Dipole Force Trap, Eman Mohammed Ahmed

Physics Theses & Dissertations

The interaction of light with atoms and molecules is of fundamental interest in many branches of science. In atomic physics, this interaction can be used to cool and spatially confine (trap) atoms. These traps can be used as the starting point for other experiments, but the dynamics of the cooling and trapping processes is itself of interest. In order to better understand the physics of trapping atoms in an optical dipole force trap, we have conducted a series of spectroscopic measurements of ultracold rubidium atoms in such a trap. The trap was created at the focus of a Nd:YAG laser …

Feasibility And Conceptual Design Of A C.W. Positron Source At Cebaf, Serkan Golge

Physics Theses & Dissertations

A feasibility study of a CW positron source for the 12 GeV upgrade at Jefferson Lab (JLAB) is provided. The proposed ≥ 100 nA Continuous Wave (CW) positron source at JLAB has several unique and challenging characteristics: high current incident electron beam at 126 MeV with a high beam power (up to a MW); CW e−beam and CW e+ production. The multiple scattering is a dominant process when creating e+ in a target, which results a large phase space area of the emitted positrons. An admittance study was done at CEBAF to find the maximum phase space area, which is …

The Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Fauna Of The Blackwater Ecological Preserve: Effects Of Prescribed Burns And Habitat Type On Mosquito Abundance And Distribution, Norman A. Grefe Lll

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

While mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are among the most studied of insect groups, much remains unknown about their distribution and response to environmental impacts such as prescribed burns. Blackwater Ecological Preserve, located near Zuni, Virginia, is a relict long leaf pine barren, parts of which undergo periodic prescribed burns to maintain and restore this fire-dependent ecosystem. To assess the impact of prescribed burns on mosquito activity and to determine associations between seasonal patterns of adult mosquito activity and habitat type, CDC light traps baited with dry ice were set (rom late April through October at Blackwater Ecological Preserve during the 2005 …

Post-Processing Techniques And Wavelet Applications For Hammerstein Integral Equations, Khomsan Neamprem

Mathematics & Statistics Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation is focused on the varieties of numerical solutions of nonlinear Hammerstein integral equations. In the first part of this dissertation, several acceleration techniques for post-processed solutions of the Hammerstein equation are discussed. The post-processing techniques are implemented based on interpolation and extrapolation. In this connection, we generalize the results in [29] and [28] to nonlinear integral equations of the Hammerstein type. Post-processed collocation solutions are shown to exhibit better accuracy. Moreover, an extrapolation technique for the Galerkin solution of Hammerstein equation is also obtained. This result appears new even in the setting of the linear Fredholm equation.

In …

Simultaneous Higher Harmonic Detection And Extraction Of Information From Oxygen Spectra, Karan Dineshchandra Mohan

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Wavelength Modulation Spectroscopy (WMS) is a highly sensitive technique that utilizes synchronous detection at the N-th harmonics of a modulating frequency, by modulating the laser beam used to probe a gaseous species. The advantage of this technique lies in the greater effective signal-to-noise ratio one obtains as a direct consequence of the larger amount of structure present in the higher harmonics, and thus a greater amount of information that can be obtained from that structure. We present the development of a novel technique where data at multiple harmonics is obtained simultaneously, rather than sequentially. This removes the susceptibility of the …

Oxygen Isotopes As A Tracer Of Dom Processes In River-Estuary Systems, Joy Ashley Matthews

OES Theses and Dissertations

In the biogeochemical study of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in natural waters, stable isotopes are used to provide insight into both the sources of DOM and the processes affecting its alteration. Through the research presented here, oxygen isotopes are incorporated into the study of DOM through the adaptation of a pyrolysis elemental analysis isotope ratio mass spectrometer method, and sample preparation using two-stage ultrafiltration.

The application of oxygen isotopes to the study of DOM is demonstrated in two studies. First, natural abundance of δ¹⁸O in DOM is explored in the Delaware estuary. Using a two end-member mixing model, …

Analytic Construction Of Periodic Orbits In The Restricted Three-Body Problem, Mohammed A. Ghazy

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the analytical solution properties surrounding a nominal periodic orbit in two different planes, the plane of motion of the two primaries and a plane perpendicular to the line joining the two primaries, in the circular restricted three-body problem. Assuming motion can be maintained in the plane and motion of the third body is circular, Jacobi's integral equation can be analytically integrated, yielding a closed-form expression for the period and path expressed with elliptic integral and elliptic function theory. In this case, the third body traverses a circular path with nonuniform speed. In a strict sense, the in-plane …

A Solution Of The Heat Equation With The Discontinuous Galerkin Method Using A Multilivel Calculation Method That Utilizes A Multiresolution Wavelet Basis, Robert Gregory Brown

Mathematics & Statistics Theses & Dissertations

A numerical method to solve the parabolic problem is developed that utilizes the Discontinuous Galerkin Method for space and time discretization. A multilevel method is employed in the space variable. It is shown that use of this process yields the same level of accuracy as the standard Discontinuous Galerkin Method for the heat equation, but with cheaper computational cost. The results are demonstrated using a standard one-dimensional homogeneous heat problem.

Semi-Parametric Likelihood Functions For Bivariate Survival Data, S. H. Sathish Indika

Mathematics & Statistics Theses & Dissertations

Because of the numerous applications, characterization of multivariate survival distributions is still a growing area of research. The aim of this thesis is to investigate a joint probability distribution that can be derived for modeling nonnegative related random variables. We restrict the marginals to a specified lifetime distribution, while proposing a linear relationship between them with an unknown (error) random variable that we completely characterize. The distributions are all of positive supports, but one class has a positive probability of simultaneous occurrence. In that sense, we capture the absolutely continuous case, and the Marshall-Olkin type with a positive probability of …

Integrated Water Resources Management: A Theoretical Exploration Of The Implementation Gap Between The Developed And Developing Worlds, Jennifer S. Schiff

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

As part of its Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations acknowledges that solving the world's water woes requires giving one billion additional people access to safe and affordable drinking water, while also noting that this is a difficult goal to achieve considering present environmental challenges. Amidst this atmosphere of vanishing freshwater, the legislative policy community has begun to encourage diverse discourse on the topic of efficient resource management, but the form and function of such a solution present unique political and theoretical challenges for policymakers and scholars alike. The current consensus among water managers is that a multifaceted policy framework …

Rao's Quadratic Entropy And Some New Applications, Yueqin Zhao

Mathematics & Statistics Theses & Dissertations

Many problems in statistical inference are formulated as testing the diversity of populations. The entropy functions measure the similarity of a distribution function to the uniform distribution and hence can be used as a measure of diversity. Rao (1982a) proposed the concept of quadratic entropy. Its concavity property makes the decomposition similar to ANOVA for categorical data feasible. In this thesis, after reviewing the properties and providing a modification to quadratic entropy, various applications of quadratic entropy are explored. First, analysis of quadratic entropy with the suggested modification to analyze the contingency table data is explored. Then its application to …

Beyond The Born Approximation: A Precise Comparison Of E+P And E-P Elastic Scattering In The Cebaf Large Acceptance Spectrometer (Clas), Megh Raj Niroula

Physics Theses & Dissertations

How well we know the structure of the proton depends on our knowledge of the form factors of the proton. The ratio of the electromagnetic form factors of the proton measured by the Rosenbluth and the polarization transfer methods differ by a factor of 3 at four momentum transfer squared (Q²)=5.6 GeV². The two photon exchange (TPE) effect is the leading candidate to explain this discrepancy. The theoretical estimates of the TPE effect are model dependent so precise measurement is required to resolve this problem. The TPE effect can be measured in a model independent way by measuring …

Nuclear Electromagnetic Currents In Chiral Effective Field Theory, Saori Pastore

Physics Theses & Dissertations

A nucleon-nucleon potential and consistent nuclear electromagnetic currents are derived in chiral effective field theory retaining pions and nucleons as explicit degrees of freedom. The calculation of the potential is carried out up to next-to-next-to leading order (N²LO), while the currents include up to N³LO corrections. The potential at N² LO and currents at N³LO consist of two-pion-exchange and contact contributions. The currents are then utilized to study a number of low-energy electromagnetic observables induced by magnetic dipole transitions, such as the deuteron and trinucleon magnetic moments and the np, nd and n …

How To Improve Project Management For Agile Federation Development, Priyanka Kotikalpudi

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Developing a simulation federation out of a variety of heterogeneous simulation solutions is a complex task requiring very effective project management support in order to accomplish the common objectives and goals of this M&S federation. This thesis study conducts a detailed survey of available literature to identify the project management methods that can be extended to be applied to manage the development of simulation systems. The literature review led to the following two main results: (a) in general, there is insufficient literature dealing with M&S challenges for project management, (b) in particular, the two challenges of often changing requirements leading …

Towards A Formal Theory Of Interoperability, Saikou Y. Diallo

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation proposes a formal theory of interoperability that explains 1) what interoperability is as opposed to how it works, 2) how to tell whether two or more systems can interoperate and 3) how to identify whether systems are interoperating or merely exchanging bits and bytes. The research provides a formal model of data in M&S that captures all possible representations of a real or imagined thing and distinguishes between existential dependencies and transformational dependencies. Existential dependencies capture the relationships within a model while transformational dependencies capture the relationships between interactions with a model. These definitions are used to formally …

The Influence Of Mechanical Circulation On Water Column Stability And Dissolved Oxygen In Stratified Lakes, Paal Engebrigtsen

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Surface circulators have been used in wastewater and industrial lagoons for many years, but only recently have they been designed for lakes and reservoirs as a water quality management tool. Their relatively low capital investment and operational costs make them an attractive chemical free option for ameliorating the symptoms of eutrophication. Little research has been conducted on their effectiveness in impacting water quality. Today many lake managers are waiting for independent research on surface circulators' performance before installing such systems.

The Occoquan Reservoir was the primary site for a study conducted to examine the influence of surface circulation on water …

Exclusive Π- Electro-Production From The Neutron In The Resonance Region, Jixie Zhang

Physics Theses & Dissertations

The study of baryon resonances is crucial to our understanding of nucleon structure. Although the excited states of the proton have been studied in great detail, there are very few data available for the neutron resonances because of the difficulty inherent in obtaining a free neutron target. To overcome this limitation, the spectator tagging technique was used in one of the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) collaboration experiments, Barely off-shell Nuclear Structure (BoNuS), in Hall-B at Jefferson Lab. We have constructed a radial time projection chamber (RTPC) based on the gaseous electron multiplier (GEM) technology to detect low momentum …

Urban Elementary Students' Views Of Environmental Scientists, Environmental Caretakers And Environmentally Responsible Behaviors, Patricia Lynne Horne

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine the nature of the relationship between urban elementary fifth graders, environmental workers, and the environment. The study examined 320 urban fifth grade elementary students' drawings of environmental scientists (DAEST) and environmental caretakers (DAECT). Additionally, semi-structured interviews were included to elucidate student illustrations. The study's sample represented one-third of all fifth graders in the mid-Atlantic school district selected for this research. Approximately 5% of participants were chosen for follow-up semi-structured interviews based on their illustrations.

A general conclusion is some of the stereotypes, particularly related to gender, revealed in prior research (Barman, 1999, …

Providing Location Security In Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks, Gongjun Yan

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Location is fundamental information in Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs). Almost all VANET applications rely on location information. Therefore it is of importance to ensure location information integrity, meaning that location information is original (from the generator), correct (not bogus or fabricated) and unmodified (value not changed). We present validation mechanisms to provide location integrity for VANETs. In the initial mechanism, we assume that all vehicles are equipped with a radar, a GPS receiver, and a transceiver. Since radar has a limited radar range and transceiver has a limited transmission range, we build network cells as a security unit as well …

A Test Of The Area Of Refuge Hypothesis In Indo-Pacific Marine Biogeography, Jonnell C. Sanciangco

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain the marine biogeographic patterns of species richness of the Indo-Pacific. One of these hypotheses suggests that available habitat area is the main predictor of species richness. This is the basis for the area of refuge hypothesis that attempts to explain the global maxima of species richness found in the Coral Triangle, the area encompassing mostly the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. This species-area effect also has habitat heterogeneity as a potential component. The purpose of this study is to test the effects of habitat availability predictors, such as shallow water area and coastline length …

Ecological And Genetic Status Of The Purple Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia Purpurea L., In Maryland And Virginia, Philip M. Sheridan

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Sarracenia purpurea is a rare wetland plant in Virginia and a threatened species in Maryland, with two potential subspecies in the region. I utilized restriction fragments from the intron of the chalcone synthase gene to compare S. purpurea populations and determine whether the subspecies concept was supported. I performed a census of existing populations, compiled all known historical data on the species, and investigated the reasons for the species demise and predicted dates of extinction. Bloom phenology was examined to see if climate change may have influenced bloom period. Soil, vegetation, and climatic information was obtained to determine if taxonomic …