Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Survey Of Health Effects Among Residents Adjacent To A National Priority List Site In Ssouthwest Virginia., Danette Haywood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Saltville Waste Disposal Site is a National Priority List site used during the 77- year operation (1895–1972) of an electrolytic chlorine and caustic soda plant. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine disease prevalence among Saltville Medical Center (SMC) patients. Diseases associated with chronic exposures to mercury, arsenic, and lead were reviewed in patient records and these data were analyzed. Ratios of illness observed at the SMC were compared to health studies of similar environmental exposures and disease prevalence among residents of neighboring communities. Prevalence ratios were calculated for residents and non-residents of Saltville who were SMC patients. Saltville …

A Comparative Study Of Photomultiplier Tubes And Charge Coupled Devices In Glow Discharge-Optical Emission Spectrometry, Robert James Broadwater

Masters Theses

This Masters Thesis compared two glow discharge-optical emission spectrometers designed around two different types of detectors: the photomultiplier tube (PMT) and the charge-coupled device (CCD). The two instruments compared were the LECO SA2000 (PMT-based) and the LECO GDS500a (CCD-based). Detection limit, dynamic range, precision, accuracy, and drift were determined to compare the detection systems between 165 and 450nm.

The PMT-based system outperformed the CCD-based system in all five of the categories studied based on the initial protocol. However, it was shown that improvements could be made in four of the five categories studied by exploiting the CCDs ability to monitor …

Laboratory Testing Of Select Geotextiles As Biointrusion Barriers And Sediment Filters, David R. Beck

Masters Theses

It has been proposed that placing a geotextile over sediments with adsorbed contaminants can prevent bioaccumulation of the contaminants in larger animals by isolating the benthic organisms living within these sediments from fish. In conjunction with a field study carried out at Gull Creek, a laboratory study testing two geotextiles as biointrusion barriers and sediment filters was conducted.

Constant-head permeameters were run for seven days using cores from the field study area with a geotextile placed over the cores. For biointrusion barrier tests, medium sand was placed over the geotextile and spiked with nutrients. Following each trial, benthic organisms in …

A Longitudinal Metric Study Of Postgresql Software Archeology In Open Source, Terry Franklin Byrum

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Open source software development is credited as the basic fuel powering much of the Internet, especially the Web. While many organizations rely heavily on open source, few studies have focused on the dynamics of development methodology. This document contains the results of a longitudinal metric study of the open source database PostgreSQL representing an 8 year period of community development. This study is software archeology, excavating bits of an Internet community, a cultural group, for understanding. Longitudinally, McCabe's cyclomatic complexity and Halstead's software science change tempo in accordance with PostgreSQL's maturity, though meritocracy practices of open source might suggest greater …

Flocking Over 3d Terrain, Joel Gompert

School of Computing: Technical Reports

A method is presented for animating herds of animals that can follow terrain while being efficient enough to run in real-time. This method involves making simple modifications to Reynolds’ agent-based flocking algorithm. The modifications use only local properties of the terrain, and thus have low complexity. This method focuses on using terrain that can be described as an elevation grid, but it may be extendible to arbitrary terrain. The flocking algorithm with these modifications produces naturally behaving herds that follow the terrain. They will swerve around hills and attempt to follow paths that reduce energy expenditure. The terrain-following rule added …

Buck Creek Watershed Management Plan, Annis Water Resources Institute

Watershed Management Plans and Reports

The water quality goals are based on improving or restoring the designated uses of the Watershed and attaining compliance with the E. coli TMDL established in Buck Creek. The following long-term goals for the Watershed have been determined:

● Improve or restore the coldwater and coolwater fisheries
● Improve and protect the safety and enjoyment of fishing, canoeing, and swimming
● Improve or restore the warmwater fishery
● Improve and protect the habitats for other indigenous aquatic life and wildlife
The short-term objectives to reduce sediment in the Watershed are:

● Stabilize stream flows to moderate hydrology and increase base …

Preliminary Watershed Assessment: Mona Lake Watershed, Alan Steinman, Rick Rediske, Xuefeng Chu, Rod Denning, Lori Nemeth, Don Uzarski, Bopi Biddanda, Mark Luttenton

Scientific Technical Reports

The Mona Lake watershed, located in Muskegon and Newaygo Counties in west Michigan, is relatively small in area (~ 200 km2 or 48,000 acres), but faces a large number of environmental challenges. An ecological assessment of the watershed was conducted to provide a new baseline of information, in the hope that this effort would catalyze actions to improve the health of the watershed.

The Extratropical Transition Of Tropical Cyclones: Forecast Challenges, Current Understanding, And Future Directions, Sarah C. Jones, Patrick A. Harr, Jim Abraham, Lance F. Bosart, Peter J. Bowyer, Jenni L. Evans, Deborah E. Hanley, Barry N. Hanstrum, Robert E. Hart, Francois Lalaurette, Mark R. Sinclair, Roger K. Smith, Chris Thorncroft

Applied Aviation Sciences - Prescott

A significant number of tropical cyclones move into the midlatitudes and transform into extratropical cyclones. This process is generally referred to as extratropical transition (ET). During ET a cyclone frequently produces intense rainfall and strong winds and has increased forward motion, so that such systems pose a serious threat to land and maritime activities. Changes in the structure of a system as it evolves from a tropical to an extratropical cyclone during ET necessitate changes in forecast strategies. In this paper a brief climatology of ET is given and the challenges associated with forecasting extratropical transition are described in terms …

Energy Scaling Law For Buildings, David W. Hafemeister

Physics

This paper is an ode to my friend Hendrik. We collaborated on hyperfine interactions from 1962 to 1984, when he was colleague and friend. Since then I have been working on the Physics of Societal Issues (Springer Verlag, 2003). The paper below models energy use in buildings, which could save considerable energy with well-designed buildings.

A Modeling Experiment On The Grounding Of An Ice Shelf In The Central Arctic Ocean During Mis 6, Martin Jakobsson, M Siegert, Mark Paton

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

High-resolution chirp sonar subbottom profiles from the Lomonosov Ridge in the central Arctic Ocean, acquired from the Swedish icebreaker Oden in 1996, revealed large-scale erosion of the ridge crest down to depths of 1000 m below present sea level [Jakobsson, 1999]. Subsequent acoustic mapping during the SCICEX nuclear submarine expedition in 1999 showed glacial fluting at the deepest eroded areas and subparallel ice scours from 950 m water depth to the shallowest parts of the ridge crest [Polyak et al., 2001]. The directions of the mapped glaciogenic bed-forms and the redeposition of eroded material on the Amerasian side of the …

Software Development Productivity And Cycle Time Reduction, Victor A. Clincy

Faculty Articles

Increasing software developers' productivity and reducing the software development process' cycle time are key goals for organizations responsible for building software applications. This paper proposes four major areas impacting an organization's ability to increase developer productivity and reduce development cycle time. The four areas are (1) organizational structure and climate, (2) reward system, (3) software development process and (4) the use of software design and testing tools.

Antes: A Web-Based Acanthosis Nigricans And Other Obesity Related Information System, Chunyue Wang

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Acanthosis nigricans is a cutaneous marker associated with systemic disorders and may serve as an indicator for risk of Type 2 diabetes. Acanthosis nigricans screening can help identify children who have high insulin levels and who may be at-risk for developing Type 2 diabetes. The ANTES system is a computerization attempt for acanthosis nigricans control of the student population from elementary schools and secondary schools in Texas. A general description of the system and the medical and history background of the ANTES program is given. The technology applied to the system is demonstrated. An overview of the system operation status …

Modelling Growth And Testing Of Multilayer Cavity Structures Incorporating Birefringent Materials, Nour-Eddine El Khachia

Masters

A simple one-dimensional photonic bandgap structure, which is also known as a Fabry-Perot Microcavity (FPM) structure was studied theoretically and experimentally. In particular this project addressed introducing an optically birefringent material in the cavity. This FPM consists of two grown regular Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) mirrors that can be put together as a sandwich with a space between them, which will lead to the creation of the desired cavity. Each mirror, or one-dimensional dielectric stack structure, was grown using the Vacuum Evaporation Technique and consists of multiple layers of alternating high-and low-refractive index dielectric materials arranged periodically. The project covers …

Development Of A Systems Engineering Model For Chemical Separation Process, Lijian Sun

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis is concerned with the efforts to develop a general-purpose systems engineering model software TRPSEMPro1 that can be used to improve productivity in the design process. Different features of TRPSEMPro will be presented in this thesis. First, Systems Engineering technology is presented, followed by the exposition of different numerical optimization technologies and DOE (Design of Experiments) study technologies. Second, the detailed software process, Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (OOA&D) for the TRPSEMPro is presented. All the design data models are expressed by using Unified Modeling Language (UML).

AMUSESimulator is another software package which has been designed and implemented in order …

The Role Of Facial Pits In The Thermoregulatory Behavior Of Pitvipers (Viperidae: Crotalinae) Behavioral, Ecological And Phylogenetic Perspectives, Aaron R. Krochmal

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pitvipers (Viperidae: Crotalinae) possess unique sensory organs, the facial pits, capable of sensing subtle fluctuations in thermal radiation. Prey acquisition has long been regarded as the sole function of the facial pits. However, the ability to sense thermal radiation could also direct thermoregulatory behavior by remotely sensing nearby surface temperatures. Using a series ofbehavioral arenas of varying spatial complexity and ecological relevance, I surveyed the ability of western diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus atrox) to direct successful thermoregulatory movements with either functional or disabled facial pits. I found that western diamondback rattlesnakes could base thermoregulatory decisions on thermal radiation cues when their …

Probing Scattering Wave Functions Close To The Nucleus, Don H. Madison, Daniel Fischer, Matthew S. Foster, Michael Schulz, Robert Moshammer, Stephenie J. Jones, Joachim Hermann Ullrich

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Recently, three-dimensional imaging of the ejected electrons following 100  MeV/amu C⁶⁺ single ionization of helium led to the observation of a new structure not predicted by theory [M. Schulz et al., Nature (London) 422, 48 (2003)]. Instead of the usual “recoil lobe” centered on the momentum-transfer axis, a ring-shaped structure centered on the beam axis was observed. New measurements at 2  MeV/amu exhibit a similar structure, which is now predicted by theory. We argue that the same theory failed at 100  MeV/amu because the faster projectiles probe distances much closer to the nucleus, where our multiple-scattering model is expected …

Spatial Frequency Response Of Acrylamide Based Holographic Photopolymer, Raghavendra Jallapuram, Izabela Naydenova, Vincent Toal, Suzanne Martin, Robert Howard

Conference Papers

It has been shown that photopolymers are useful in holographic optical elements [1] and holographic interferometry [2]. However, the list of potential applications increases greatly if reflection holography is possible. Reflection holography requires a material that has the potential to record high spatial frequencies. Here we studied the spatial frequency response of an acrylamide based dye sensitized holographic photopolymer. We have investigated the effect of molecular weight of the binder and concentration of crosslinking monomer on diffusion using real time monitoring of the holographic grating formation. The effect of uniform pre-exposure on diffusion was also investigated. We have also demonstrated …

Lamb Shift Of Laser-Dressed Atomic States, Ulrich D. Jentschura, Jorg Evers, Martin K. Haas, Christoph H. Keitel

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We discuss radiative corrections to an atomic two-level system subject to an intense driving laser field. It is shown that the Lamb shift of the laser-dressed states, which are the natural state basis of the combined atom-laser system, cannot be explained in terms of the Lamb shift received by the atomic bare states which is usually observed in spectroscopic experiments. In the final part, we propose an experimental scheme to measure these corrections based on the incoherent resonance fluorescence spectrum of the driven atom.

Charge Transfer In Slow Collisions Of C⁴⁺ With H Below 1 Kev/Amu, Chen-Nan Liu, Anh-Thu Le, C. D. Lin

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We reexamined charge-transfer cross sections for C⁴⁺ + H collisions for energies from 1 meV/amu to 1 keV/amu using the recently developed hyperspherical close-coupling method. Our results agree with several previous theoretical calculations using molecular-orbital expansion. However, these converged theoretical predictions do not agree with total cross sections from the merged-beam experiments.

Objectivity, Information, And Maxwell's Demon, Steven Weinstein

Dartmouth Scholarship

This paper examines some common measures of complexity, structure, and information, with an eye toward understanding the extent to which complexity or information‐content may be regarded as objective properties of individual objects. A form of contextual objectivity is proposed which renders the measures objective, and which largely resolves the puzzle of Maxwell's Demon.

Capillary Electrophoretic Separations Of Metal Ions, Elena Hofman

Masters Theses

Transition-metal (Zn(II), Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II)) ion separation was studied using 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonic acid and 2-methyl-8-hydroxyquinoline ligands with surfactants (cationic and anionic) by capillary electrophoresis under a variety of conditions (like pH, ionic strength, voltage and ion, ligand and surfactant amounts) and has debuted a clear separation mechanism. With cationic surfactants, ligands compete with capillary surface silanols for the metal ions; with anionic surfactants, ligands, silanols and micelles compete.

An empirical parameter, K_e, (electrophoretic-mobilities based) rationalizing the separation was proposed, experimentally analyzed and supported; it provides a silanol group per cm² value of the capillary surface, an equilibrium …

Using Dynamic Optimization For Control Of Real Rate Cpu Resource Management Applications, Varin Vahia, Ashvin Goel, David Steere, Jonathan Walpole, Molly H. Shor

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this paper we design a proportional-period optimal controller for allocating CPU to real rate multimedia applications on a general-purpose computer system. We model this computer system problem in to state space form. We design a controller based on dynamic optimization LQR tracking techniques to minimize short term and long term time deviation from the current time stamp and also CPU usage. Preliminary results on an experimental set up are encouraging.

A Fit-Gap Analysis Of E-Business Curricula Vs. Industry Need, S. Davis, Keng Siau, K. Dhenuvakonda

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The alignment of e-business academic programs with the e-business market is examined using a fit-gap analysis. Two high-end business schools, ranked independently by US News and Business Week, were chosen as sample. A total of 391 different e-commerce courses were identified, which were classified into 24 categories. Out of these, there are two broad and distinct tracks in e-business curricula, with one track paving the way for an e-business career with a prevailing focus on the business aspect and the other track leading to a career focusing on technology and Web-based systems development. Industry demand for e-business professionals and the …

Creating A Virtual Store Image, P. Katerattanakul, Keng Siau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A study was conducted to describe some of the factors that needed to be considered for a virtual store. It was revealed that the growth of e-commerce and online businesses has made it essential to understand the critical attributes of image for a virtual store. Store image was described as the way in which the store was defined by customers and several studies. The study compiled 77 designs and features into a list used to construct a survey. Four hundred and twenty-seven potential customers were requested to rate the significance of each item on the list. The information gathered identified …

Development Of A Framework For Trust In Mobile Commerce, J. Erickson, Keng Siau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Mobile commerce represents a significant development in e-commerce. Despite the potential of mobile commerce, trust is a major obstacle in its adoption and development. The focus of this research is to develop a framework to identify the factors influencing trust in mobile commerce and to explain the development of such trust using a means-ends objective network. We utilized the Value- Focused Thinking approach to interview subjects in order to identify their fundamental and means objectives concerning trust in mobile commerce and to construct a means-ends objective network. A trust framework is developed from the means-ends objective network. As one of …

Structuring Lecture Videos For Distance Learning Applications, Chong-Wah Ngo, Feng Wang, Ting-Chuen Pong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper presents an automatic and novel approach in structuring and indexing lecture videos for distance learning applications. By structuring video content, we can support both topic indexing and semantic querying of multimedia documents. In this paper, our aim is to link the discussion topics extracted from the electronic slides with their associated video and audio segments. Two major techniques in our proposed approach include video text analysis and speech recognition. Initially, a video is partitioned into shots based on slide transitions. For each shot, the embedded video texts are detected, reconstructed and segmented as high-resolution foreground texts for commercial …

Xstamps: A Multiversion Timestamps Concurrency Control Protocol For Xml Data, Khin-Myo Win, Wee-Keong Ng, Ee Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With the tremendous growth of XML data over the Web, efficient management of such data becomes a new challenge for database community. Several data management solutions, proposed in recent years, extend the capability of traditional database systems to meet the needs of XML data while alternative approaches introduce new generation databases, named as native XML database management systems. Although traditional databases have mature transaction management and concurrency control techniques, there is still a need to tailor techniques for native XML databases in order to deal with distinct characteristics of XML. In this paper, we propose XStamps, a multiversion timestamps concurrency …

Predicting Nonlinear Network Traffic Using Fuzzy Neural Network, Zhaoxia Wang, Tingzhu Hao, Zengqiang Chen, Zhuzhi Yuan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Network traffic is a complex and nonlinear process, which is significantly affected by immeasurable parameters and variables. This paper addresses the use of the five-layer fuzzy neural network (FNN) for predicting the nonlinear network traffic. The structure of this system is introduced in detail. Through training the FNN using back-propagation algorithm with inertia] terms the traffic series can be well predicted by this FNN system. We analyze the performance of the FNN in terms of prediction ability as compared with solely neural network. The simulation demonstrates that the proposed FNN is superior to the solely neural network systems. In addition, …

Geophysical Characterization Of A Former Refinery Site, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Baraka Damas Kinabo

Masters Theses

Lakeside, a former refinery site, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is contaminated with hydrocarbon products. The contamination resulted from the refining and storage activities that took place at the site for over 50 years. The contamination is scattered in isolated pockets.

In an attempt to better define the contamination zones and therefore assist the remediation efforts, this study uses shallow geophysical methods including Electromagnetic induction using the EM 31 system, Magnetic, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), and Resistivity methods. The hand auger was used to further characterize some EM 31 anomalies. The EM 31 conductivity results show elevated values resulting from the biodegradation …

Nonlethal Techniques For Managing Predation: Primary And Secondary Repellents, John A. Shivik, Adrian Treves, Peggy Callahan

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Conservation biology requires the development of practical tools and techniques to minimize conflicts arising from human modification of ecosystems. We applied behavioral theory of primary and secondary repellents to predator management by using aversive stimulus devices (electronic training collars) and disruptive stimulus devices (behavior-contingent audio and visual repellents) in a multipredator (Canis lupus, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Ursus spp. ) study in the United States. We examined fladry and a newly developed disruptive stimulus device contingent upon behavior on six wolf territories in Wisconsin, (US.A.) and determined that the disruptive stimulus device gave the greatest degree of protection from predation. We …