Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 30 of 37

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Structural Model Checking, Radu Siminiceanu Jan 2004

Structural Model Checking, Radu Siminiceanu

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The introduction of symbolic approaches, based on Binary Decision Diagrams (BDD), to Model Checking has led to significant improvements in Formal Verification, by allowing the analysis of very large systems, such as complex circuit designs. These were previously beyond the reach of traditional, explicit methods, due to the state space explosion phenomenon. However, after the initial success, the BDD technology has peaked, due to a similar problem, the BDD explosion.;We present a new approach to symbolic Model Checking that is based on exploiting the system structure. This technique is characterized by several unique features, including an encoding of states with …


A Study Of The Eastern Oyster, Crassostrea Virginica: (1) Dermo Tolerance, Survival, Growth, Condition And Hsp70 Expression In Different Geographic Stocks; (2) Heat Tolerance And Effects Of Sublethal Heat Shock On Survival And Hsp70 Expression Of Infected And Uninfected Oysters, Vincent G. Encomio Jan 2004

A Study Of The Eastern Oyster, Crassostrea Virginica: (1) Dermo Tolerance, Survival, Growth, Condition And Hsp70 Expression In Different Geographic Stocks; (2) Heat Tolerance And Effects Of Sublethal Heat Shock On Survival And Hsp70 Expression Of Infected And Uninfected Oysters, Vincent G. Encomio

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The diseases Dermo and MSX have devastated Chesapeake Bay populations of the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica. The protozoan Perkinsus marinus, which causes Dermo, is particularly problematic since it persists over a wide range of salinities and temperatures. An objective of this dissertation was to determine whether specific wild oyster stocks had developed natural resistance to Dermo and if several parameters (survival, growth, condition and energy reserves) were associated with resistance. Another objective was to characterize heat shock protein (hsp70) expression in the eastern oyster. Heat shock proteins such as hsp70 protect organisms from thermal stress and other stressors, and this …


Pathobiology Of Mycobacteria In Striped Bass (Morone Saxatilis), David T. Gauthier Jan 2004

Pathobiology Of Mycobacteria In Striped Bass (Morone Saxatilis), David T. Gauthier

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Striped bass (Morone saxatilis) in Chesapeake Bay, USA, are experiencing an epizootic of mycobacteriosis. This disease, caused by bacteria in the genus Mycobacterium, causes granulomatous lesions of the skin and viscera. Diseased fish are often emaciated, and fish with skin lesions may be significantly disfigured. The overall goal of this work was to examine aspects of the pathobiology of mycobacteria in striped bass via laboratory exposure studies and cellular assays. Striped bass were injected intraperitoneally with a sublethal dose of Mycobacterium marinum, M. shottsii, or M. gordonae and sampled for histology and bacteriology at regular intervals to 45 weeks post-injection …


Studies Of Pentaquarks And Of Noncommutative Field Theory, Vahagn Nazaryan Jan 2004

Studies Of Pentaquarks And Of Noncommutative Field Theory, Vahagn Nazaryan

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Several experiments reported seeing evidence in their data of a new particle, the strangeness +1 Theta+ pentaquark made of four quarks and an antiquark. In the first few chapters of this dissertation we study four-quark-antiquark systems within the framework of a constituent quark model. We describe the Theta+ as a member of a spin-½ pentaquark antidecuplet. For both parity-odd, and parity-even antidecuplets we derive useful decompositions of the quark model wave functions that allow for easy computation of color-flavor-spin-orbital matrix elements, and we compute mass splittings within the antidecuplet. We study parity-even antidecuplet in an effective theory with dominant flavor-spin …


An Economic Assessment Of Reducing Incidental Capture Of Sea Turtles In The Northwest Atlantic Pelagic Longline Fishery, Tara L. Scott Jan 2004

An Economic Assessment Of Reducing Incidental Capture Of Sea Turtles In The Northwest Atlantic Pelagic Longline Fishery, Tara L. Scott

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.


Optimizing Combat Capabilities By Modeling Combat As A Complex Adaptive System, Steven Mains Jan 2004

Optimizing Combat Capabilities By Modeling Combat As A Complex Adaptive System, Steven Mains

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Procuring combat systems in the Department of Defense is a balancing act where many variables, only some under control of the department, shift simultaneously. Technology changes non-linearly, providing new opportunities and new challenges to the existing and potential force. Money available changes year over year to fit into the overall US Government budget. Numbers of employees change through political demands rather than by cost-effectiveness considerations. The intent is to provide the best mix of equipment to field the best force against an expected enemy while maintaining adequate capability against the unexpected. Confounding this desire is the inability of current simulations …


Dual Energy Scanning Beam X -Radiography, Randolph Frank Wojcik Jan 2004

Dual Energy Scanning Beam X -Radiography, Randolph Frank Wojcik

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Dual energy X-radiography is a method first developed in the mid-1970's by which one uses the information contained in the energy spectrum of the transmitted X-ray flux through an object. With this information one can distinguish the types of materials present in a radiograph and thus allow a computer to subtract them from the image enhancing the contrast of the remaining materials. Using this method, one can see details, which would have been hidden by overlying structures of other materials such as seen in radiographs of parts, made up of mixtures of metals and composites. There is also great interest …


Bird Conservation Value Of Golf Courses, Joshua Elliott Leclerc Jan 2004

Bird Conservation Value Of Golf Courses, Joshua Elliott Leclerc

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.


Parasitism In Deep-Sea Chemosynthetic Mussels: Parasitism In Bathymodiolus Mussels From Deep-Sea Seep And Hydrothermal Vents, Megan E. Ward Jan 2004

Parasitism In Deep-Sea Chemosynthetic Mussels: Parasitism In Bathymodiolus Mussels From Deep-Sea Seep And Hydrothermal Vents, Megan E. Ward

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.


Files As First-Class Objects In Fault -Tolerant Concurrent Systems, Robert Edwin Matthews Jan 2004

Files As First-Class Objects In Fault -Tolerant Concurrent Systems, Robert Edwin Matthews

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Concurrent systems are used in applications where multiple processors are needed to complete tasks within a reasonable amount of time, or where the data sets involved will not fit within the main memory of a single computer. Because of their reliance on multiple machines, such systems are proportionally more vulnerable to both hardware and software induced failures. Fault-tolerance schemes are used to recover some earlier consistent state of the system after such a failure.;One important technique used to achieve fault-tolerance is checkpointing and rollback-recovery. In this thesis, we present a method for efficiently and transparently incorporating the part of the …


Natural Dermo Resistance And Related Defense Mechanisms In Eastern Oysters, Crassostrea Virginica, With Implications For Restoration, Shawn Michael Stickler Jan 2004

Natural Dermo Resistance And Related Defense Mechanisms In Eastern Oysters, Crassostrea Virginica, With Implications For Restoration, Shawn Michael Stickler

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

American oyster (Crassostrea virginica) stocks on the East Coast in general, and in Chesapeake Bay in particular, have been in decline over the past half-century in large part due to Dermo disease, caused by the protist parasite Perkinsus marinus. Efforts to restore oysters for their ecological and economic value have centered on the development and use of hatchery-based seed selectively bred for disease resistance. Selective breeding could benefit from the incorporation of oysters from wild stocks that have developed "natural Dermo resistance", but few such stocks have been identified and verified. This dissertation describes reciprocal common-garden experiments carried out at …


Metapopulation Dynamics, Habitat Quality, And Spatial Scale: Variation In Reproductive Output Of The Baltic Clam, Macoma Balthica, In Shallow Systems Of The Chesapeake Bay, Kristen Adams Delano Jan 2004

Metapopulation Dynamics, Habitat Quality, And Spatial Scale: Variation In Reproductive Output Of The Baltic Clam, Macoma Balthica, In Shallow Systems Of The Chesapeake Bay, Kristen Adams Delano

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.


Spontaneous Pulse Formation In Bistable Systems, George A. Andrews Jan 2004

Spontaneous Pulse Formation In Bistable Systems, George A. Andrews

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This thesis considers localized spontaneous pulse formation in nonlinear, dissipative systems that are far from equilibrium and which exhibit bistability. It is shown that such pulses can form in systems that are dominated by the combined effects of: (1) a saturable amplifying or gain region, (2) a saturable absorbing or loss region, and (3) cavity effects. Analysis is based upon novel models for both an inertialess material in which the absorber responds instantaneously and inertial material in which there is temporal delay in the response. Additionally, we include the situation where the material does not fully relax between pulses, i.e. …


On Certain Sets Of Matrices: Euclidean Squared Distance Matrices, Ray-Nonsingular Matrices And Matrices Generated By Reflections, Thomas W. Milligan Jan 2004

On Certain Sets Of Matrices: Euclidean Squared Distance Matrices, Ray-Nonsingular Matrices And Matrices Generated By Reflections, Thomas W. Milligan

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

In this dissertation, we study three different sets of matrices. First, we consider Euclidean distance squared matrices. Given n points in Euclidean space, we construct an n x n Euclidean squared distance matrix by assigning to each entry the square of the pairwise interpoint Euclidean distance. The study of distance matrices is useful in computational chemistry and structural molecular biology. The purpose of the first part of the thesis is to better understand this set of matrices and its different characterizations so that a number of open problems might be answered and known results improved. We look at geometrical properties …


Control Of Integrable Hamiltonian Systems And Degenerate Bifurcations, Christopher W. Kulp Jan 2004

Control Of Integrable Hamiltonian Systems And Degenerate Bifurcations, Christopher W. Kulp

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

In this dissertation, we study the control of near-integrable systems. A near-integrable system is one whose phase space has a similar structure to an integrable system during short time periods and for some parameter regime. We begin by studying the control of integrable Hamiltonian systems. The controller targets an exact solution to the integrable system using dissipative and conservative terms. We find that a Takens-Bogdanov bifurcation occurs in the limit of no dissipative control. The presence of a Takens-Bogdanov bifurcation implies that the control is highly susceptible to noise. We illustrate our results using a two- and four-dimensional integrable systems …


Synthesis And Characterization Of Polyimide Residuum, Friable Balloons, Microspheres And Foams, Erik Saul Weiser Jan 2004

Synthesis And Characterization Of Polyimide Residuum, Friable Balloons, Microspheres And Foams, Erik Saul Weiser

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

In order to meet requirements of future NASA systems for advanced polymeric cellular materials, research was undertaken to develop the next generation of polyimide foams which could be utilized as a reusable structural insulation on future Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Programs. This research activity focused on developing polyimide foam and foam structures which were made using monomeric solutions or salt solutions formed from the reaction of a dianhydride and diamine dissolved in a mixture of foaming agents and alkyl alcohols. This process produced a precursor solid residuum which could then be manufactured into foams, friable balloons and microspheres. Polyimide foams …


Binding Studies On Molecularly Imprinted Polymers, Lucy Yue Hu Jan 2004

Binding Studies On Molecularly Imprinted Polymers, Lucy Yue Hu

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Molecular imprinting is a rapidly developing technique for preparation of polymeric materials that are capable of molecular recognition for selective separation and chemical identification. to prepare molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), a functional monomer and a crosslinker are polymerized in the presence of a template molecule. Then the template is extracted leaving sites which are complementary in both shape and chemical functionality to those of the template. This resin then becomes capable of selectively absorbing the template species. Because of MIPs' stability, predesigned selectivity, and easy preparation, they have been used for separation, sensor, drug development and directed synthesis.;In this study, …


Assessing Anthropogenic And Natural Impacts On Ghost Crab ( Ocypode Quadrata) Populations At Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina, Cynthia B. Landry Jan 2004

Assessing Anthropogenic And Natural Impacts On Ghost Crab ( Ocypode Quadrata) Populations At Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina, Cynthia B. Landry

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.


Ichthyofaunal And Dietary Analysis Of Sympatric Piscivores In A Chesapeake Bay Littoral Zone: Including Bioenergetic Models Of Growth And Diel Temperature Sanctuary Use, Christian Harding Hager Jan 2004

Ichthyofaunal And Dietary Analysis Of Sympatric Piscivores In A Chesapeake Bay Littoral Zone: Including Bioenergetic Models Of Growth And Diel Temperature Sanctuary Use, Christian Harding Hager

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The first section of this dissertation describes the ichthyofaunal community of a mesohaline Chesapeake Bay April--November. Fish assemblages were sampled using two seine gears, a small seine that sampled 352 m 2 and a 914m haul-seine that sampled 144,473 m2. The small seine collected 32 finfish species. The larger gear captured 31 finfish species, including 17 that were not sampled by small gear. Sampled diversity was greater but density estimates were similar to those determined previously by other investigators using flume-net, drop-ring, and otter trawl techniques. Nocturnal abundance of larger fishes far exceeded daylight. Fish abundance and size distribution varied …


Evaluating Restored Oyster Reefs In Chesapeake Bay: How Habitat Structure Influences Ecological Function, Janet A. Nestlerode Jan 2004

Evaluating Restored Oyster Reefs In Chesapeake Bay: How Habitat Structure Influences Ecological Function, Janet A. Nestlerode

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

A shortage of shell resources for restoring reefs of the Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, has led to widespread use of substitute materials. The effectiveness of such alternative substrates as habitat for reef-associated fauna other than oysters is largely unresolved. I investigated the habitat value of oyster shell, surf clam (Spisula solidissima) shell, and pelletized coal ash reefs for benthic and nektonic communities. Oyster recruitment, survival, and growth were monitored on reefs of oyster and surf clam shell near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay and York River, USA. Oyster shell supported greater oyster growth and survival and offered the highest degree …


Complex Inner Shelf Environments: Observations And Modeling Of Morphodynamics And Scour Processes, Arthur C. Trembanis Jan 2004

Complex Inner Shelf Environments: Observations And Modeling Of Morphodynamics And Scour Processes, Arthur C. Trembanis

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The inner continental shelf is a complex environmental system marked by sharp variations in bed roughness. Such heterogeneous systems account for 80% of the non-rocky inner shelves worldwide. Interactions among forces (waves, tides, turbulence, and bioturbation) and roughness elements (bed forms, rocks, and anthropogenic objects) exert major controls on sedimentary processes. This study attempts to advance the knowledge and understanding of the morphodynamics of the inner shelf. This study investigates scour and morphodynamic processes at Tairua, New Zealand; Cedar Island, Virginia; Indian Rocks Beach, Florida; and Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. Using data from the field, the study develops new conceptual …


Runtime Support For Load Balancing Of Parallel Adaptive And Irregular Applications, Kevin James Barker Jan 2004

Runtime Support For Load Balancing Of Parallel Adaptive And Irregular Applications, Kevin James Barker

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Applications critical to today's engineering research often must make use of the increased memory and processing power of a parallel machine. While advances in architecture design are leading to more and more powerful parallel systems, the software tools needed to realize their full potential are in a much less advanced state. In particular, efficient, robust, and high-performance runtime support software is critical in the area of dynamic load balancing. While the load balancing of loosely synchronous codes, such as field solvers, has been studied extensively for the past 15 years, there exists a class of problems, known as asynchronous and …


Solid State Nmr Characterization Of Conductive Polyanilines, Yanina Anatolievna Goddard Jan 2004

Solid State Nmr Characterization Of Conductive Polyanilines, Yanina Anatolievna Goddard

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Different forms of ring deuterated polyaniline with different conductivity have been characterized by solid state deuteron nuclear magnetic resonance.;Quadrupole echo (QE) spectra of all forms of polyaniline consist of a superposition of lineshapes for nearly rigid aromatic rings and a small fraction of rings which undergo fast 180?? flips. The intensity of the fast flipping component is temperature dependent and different for conductive emeraldine salt (ES) and non-conductive emeraldine base (EB). This is a manifestation of the different structure and morphology of these polymers.;Simultaneous measurements of QE lineshapes and the relaxation time anisotropies allowed an accurate description of motion in …


Building Internet Caching Systems For Streaming Media Delivery, Songqing Chen Jan 2004

Building Internet Caching Systems For Streaming Media Delivery, Songqing Chen

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The proxy has been widely and successfully used to cache the static Web objects fetched by a client so that the subsequent clients requesting the same Web objects can be served directly from the proxy instead of other sources faraway, thus reducing the server's load, the network traffic and the client response time. However, with the dramatic increase of streaming media objects emerging on the Internet, the existing proxy cannot efficiently deliver them due to their large sizes and client real time requirements.;In this dissertation, we design, implement, and evaluate cost-effective and high performance proxy-based Internet caching systems for streaming …


Efficient Caching Algorithms For Memory Management In Computer Systems, Song Jiang Jan 2004

Efficient Caching Algorithms For Memory Management In Computer Systems, Song Jiang

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

As disk performance continues to lag behind that of memory systems and processors, fully utilizing memory to reduce disk accesses is a highly effective effort to improve the entire system performance. Furthermore, to serve the applications running on a computer in distributed systems, not only the local memory but also the memory on remote servers must be effectively managed to minimize I/O operations. The critical challenges in an effective memory cache management include: (1) Insightfully understanding and quantifying the locality inherent in the memory access requests; (2) Effectively utilizing the locality information in replacement algorithms; (3) Intelligently placing and replacing …


Measurement Of The Branching Fraction For Neutral Kaon(Long) Decaying To Muon-Electron-Positron, Andrew J. Norman Jan 2004

Measurement Of The Branching Fraction For Neutral Kaon(Long) Decaying To Muon-Electron-Positron, Andrew J. Norman

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This dissertation describes the measurement of the decay of the long lived neutral kaon into two muons and two electrons. The measurement was performed using the data taken during experiment E871 which was performed on the B5 beamline at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) of the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The branching ratio B( K0L → mu+mu-e +e-) is sensitive to the absorptive portion of the long distance amplitude for decays of the form K0L → ℓ+ℓ- and can be used to properly extract the short distance weak interaction amplitudes from the dileptonic events.;Measurement of K0L → mu+mu-e +e- additionally …


Characterization Of Transient Behaviors In A Colliding Pulse Mode-Locked (Cpm) Laser, Wei Yang Jan 2004

Characterization Of Transient Behaviors In A Colliding Pulse Mode-Locked (Cpm) Laser, Wei Yang

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

A colliding pulse mode-locked (CPM) laser achieves sub-picosecond operation by synchronizing two counter-propagating pulse trains to form a standing wave in a thin absorber jet. When properly aligned, these lasers maintain mode-locking for more than 100 seconds (1010 pulses), but eventually cease mode-locking for short periods of time. This thesis examines the characteristics of these transient events, when CPM mode-locking ceases (dropout) and when it resumes (dropin). The dropout is an apparently rapid event, typically lasting no longer than 5 microseconds or less than 500 pulses. The dropin takes significantly longer time, often has structure, and has a clear power …


Status And Demographic Analysis Of The Dusky Shark, Carcharhinus Obscurus, In The Northwest Atlantic, Jason G. Romine Jan 2004

Status And Demographic Analysis Of The Dusky Shark, Carcharhinus Obscurus, In The Northwest Atlantic, Jason G. Romine

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.


Documenting The Suspended And Bottom Sediment Dynamics Of A Two Estuarine Turbidity Maximum System Using 7be And 234th, Heidi M. Romine Jan 2004

Documenting The Suspended And Bottom Sediment Dynamics Of A Two Estuarine Turbidity Maximum System Using 7be And 234th, Heidi M. Romine

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.


Survival And Habitat Preferences Of White Marlin (Tetrapturus Albidus) Released From The Western North Atlantic Recreational Fishery, Andrij Z. Horodysky Jan 2004

Survival And Habitat Preferences Of White Marlin (Tetrapturus Albidus) Released From The Western North Atlantic Recreational Fishery, Andrij Z. Horodysky

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.