Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Characterization And Design Of A Molecular Imprinted Polymer For Cinchona Alkaloids, William P. Fish

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Gender Differences In Reading And Math Scores On The Pennsylvania System Of School Assessment Grade Five And Grade Eight Tests, Steven J. Rush

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Protecting The Communication Structure In Sensor Networks, S. Olariu, Q. Xu, M. Eltoweissy, A. Wadaa

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In the near future wireless sensor networks will be employed in a wide variety of applications establishing ubiquitous networks that will pervade society. The inherent vulnerability of these massively deployed networks to a multitude of threats, including physical tampering with nodes exacerbates concerns about privacy and security. For example, denial of service attacks (DoS) that compromise or disrupt communications or target nodes serving key roles in the network, e.g. sink nodes, can easily undermine the functionality as well as the performance delivered by the network. Particularly vulnerable are the components of the communications or operation infrastructure. Although, by construction, most …

Hydrogeology Of Hanging Bog State Preserve: The Role Of Hillside Seeps In Draining The Iowan Surface, William L. Niemann

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Along the margin of the Cedar River Valley, groundwater discharges from eroded and weathered glacial materials of the Iowan Surface to modern alluvial deposits of the valley floor. Hanging Bog State Preserve, located along this topographic, geologic, and hydrologic boundary, represents one such groundwater discharge location, in the form of a perennial hillside seep. Based on detailed monitoring of surface water and groundwater levels within the preserve for a one-year period, it is shown that a significant quantity of groundwater, collected from a disproportionately large recharge area, is funneled to the valley wall at this site and subsequently carried to …

Editorial Board & Iowa Academy Of Science Officers And Directors

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Back Cover

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Final Report For The Development Of The Nasa Technical Report Server (Ntrs), Michael L. Nelson

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The author performed a variety of research, development and consulting tasks for NASA Langley Research Center in the area of digital libraries (DLs) and supporting technologies, such as the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). In particular, the development focused on the NASA Technical Report Server (NTRS) and its transition from a distributed searching model to one that uses the OAI-PMH. The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) is an international consortium focused on furthering the interoperability of DLs through the use of "metadata harvesting". The OAI-PMH version of NTRS went into public production on April 28, 2003. Since that …

Archive Ingest And Handling Test, Michael L. Nelson, Johan Bollen, Giridhar Manepalli, Rabia Haq

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The Archive Ingest and Handling Test (AIHT) was a Library of Congress (LC) sponsored research project administered by Information Systems and Support Inc. (ISS). The project featured five participants: Old Dominion University Computer Science Department; Harvard University Library; Johns Hopkins University Library; Stanford University Library; Library of Congress. All five participants received identical disk drives containing copies of the 911.gmu.edu web site, a collection of 9/11 materials maintained by George Mason University (GMU). The purpose of the AIHT experiment was to perform archival forensics to determine the nature of the archive, ingest it, simulate at least one of the file …

Introduction: Data Communication And Topology Algorithms For Sensor Networks, Stephan Olariu, David Simplot-Ryl, Ivan Stojmenovic

Computer Science Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) We are very proud and honored to have been entrusted to be Guest Editors for this special issue. Papers were sought to comprehensively cover the algorithmic issues in the “hot” area of sensor networking. The concentration was on network layer problems, which can be divided into two groups: data communication problems and topology control problems. We wish to briefly introduce the five papers appearing in this special issue. They cover specific problems such as time division for reduced collision, fault tolerant clustering, self-stabilizing graph optimization algorithms, key pre-distribution for secure communication, and distributed storage based on spanning trees …

Computer Security: Investigating The Impact That Security Specific Education Has On Users’ Behaviour, Samuel David Jones

Theses : Honours

A lack in end-user awareness in computer security issues provides the rationale for this investigation. The research considers whether or not the provision of an educational package addressing computer security issues will improve awareness and transform behaviour of end-users in assessing and enacting appropriate responses in computer security situations. A group of twenty participants was studied in detail using a mixed methods research approach. The participants were drawn from a cross section of computer end-users, from elementary to advanced levels of computer literacy. Outcomes include a positive response to the provision of material, however human factors were found to be …

Artificial Neural Networks : A Comparative Study Of Implementations For Human Chromosome Classification, Nancy Akl

Theses : Honours

Artificial neural networks are a popular field of artificial intelligence and have commonly been applied to solve many prediction, classification and diagnostic tasks. One such task is the analysis of human chromosomes. This thesis investigates the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs) as automated chromosome classifiers. The investigation involves the thorough analysis of seven different implementation techniques. These include three techniques using artificial neural networks, two techniques using ANN s supported by another method and two techniques not using ANNs. These seven implementations are evaluated according to the classification accuracy achieved and according to their support of important system measures, …

End User Preference Of Customisable Features Within A Course Management System, Diana Taylor

Theses : Honours

Customisation is the means by which people alter and change various elements of their environment with the purpose of making it more suited to their immediate needs. This aids in creating a more personalised experience. People are extremely diverse in terms of age, gender, nationality, and with the dominant presence of technology people also have various levels of computer skills and experience. In the context of computer environments, customisation provides the ability to cater for a diverse user group, providing tools and options that assist with specific tasks, improve accessibility and achieve greater user satisfaction. Carter, MacLean, Lovstard & Moran …

A Study Of The Effects Of Probait On Chuditch, Dasyurus Geoffroii, Within The Julimar Conservation Park With Notes On The General Ecology, Melissa York

Theses : Honours

Broad scale fox baiting programs have been underway in Western Australia since 1996 when the Western Shield fauna recovery program commenced with the aim of recovering many fauna species that are under threat of extinction. Until recently, effective fox control for fauna recovery has been achieved with dried meat baits impregnated with the poison 1080. The Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) has developed more readily available and cost effective sausage meat baits, termed Probait. As bait acceptability trials in the laboratory indicated a potential risk from Pro bait ingestion by chuditch (Dasyurus geoffroii), assessment of the likely risk …

Towards Persistent Resource Identification With The Uniform Resource Name, Luke Brown

Theses : Honours

The exponential growth of the Internet, and the subsequent reliance on the resources it connects, has exposed a clear need for an Internet identifier which remains accessible over time. Such identifiers have been dubbed persistent identifiers owing to the promise of reliability they imply. Persistent naming systems exist at present, however it is the resolution of these systems into what Kunze, (2003) calls "persistent actionable identifiers" which is the focus of this work. Actionable identifiers can be thought of as identifiers which are accessible in a simple fashion such as through a web browser or through a specific application. This …

An Investigation Of Network Security Management Methods, Shamila Anuranga Ratnayake

Theses : Honours

Network Management (NM) is concerned with reducing complexity and managing cost. The traditional NM tools and techniques are based on the Open System Interconnection (OSI) NM model. However, several drawbacks have been identified when managing a network using traditional NM tools (Sarkar & Verma, 2001). Network security is a major issue when managing a network. Even though the technology assists to reduce security risks, unless properly managed, the security measures may not do the job as expected. The State Model (SM) diagram is a new method, which may assists in managing the network. This new method may provide functionality not …

2d-Barcode For Mobile Devices, Hiroko Kato

Theses : Honours

2D-barcodes were designed to carry significantly more data than its 1D counterpart. These codes are often used in industrial information tagging applications where high data capacity, mobility, and data robustness are required. Wireless mobile devices such as camera phones and Portable Digital Assistants (PDAs) have evolved from just a mobile voice communication device to what is now a mobile multimedia computing platform. Recent integration of these two mobile technologies has sparked some interesting applications where 2D-barcodes work as visual tags and/or information source and camera phones performs image processing tasks on the device itself. One of such applications is hyperlink …

View Space Linking, Solid Node Compression And Binary Space Partitioning For Visibility Determination In 3d Walk-Throughs, Joel Anderson

Theses : Honours

Today's 3D games consumers are expecting more and more quality in their games. To enable high quality graphics at interactive rates, games programmers employ a technique known as hidden surface removal (HSR) or polygon culling. HSR is not just applicable to games; it may also be applied to any application that requires quality and interactive rates, including medical, military and building applications. One such commonly used technique for HSR is the binary space partition (BSP) tree, which is used for 3D ‘walk-throughs’, otherwise known as 3D static environments or first person shooters. Recent developments in 3D accelerated hardware technology do …

Predicting The Spatial Distribution Of Organic Rich Sediments On The Swan Coastal Plain, Western Australia, David Blake

Theses : Honours

The Organic Rich Sediments (ORS) of the Swan Coastal Plain (SCP) are an important component of the ecosystem, an important source of habitat and refuge for many species of fauna and act as natural fire control mechanisms through edaphic measures within the landscape. There have been numerous impacts on ORS, with fire now rated as one of the imminent threats to the continued existence and functioning of these entities. Conversely fire is an important tool for land mangers in their efforts to promote biodiversity and manage fuel loads to prevent wildfires, at present many of these ORS are becoming victim …

Impact Of Fire On Geophyte Abundance, Diversity And Composition In The Jarrah Forests Of South-West Western Australia, Jeffry Cargill

Theses : Honours

Within fire-prone environments, such as the dry sclerophyll forests of south-west Western Australia, species morphology and distributions have established and maintained long-term dynamic relationships with fire regimes. These fire regimes can alter ecosystems, creating spatial and temporal changes in species composition, structure and fuel accumulation at both local and landscape scales. The cessation of Indigenous fire regimes and the establishment and expansion of a fire vulnerable European society produced the need for fire management strategies such as prescribed burning to be implemented to ensure protection of life, property and other values. Concurrent with these human-focused objectives has been the ever-increasing …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Membrane Anchored Peptides, Eugenia Christine Tsamis

Honors Program Theses

ln KW ALP23 peptides containing Lysine and Trp, as the Trps were moved further in towards the center of the bilayer, Lys became the dominant anchoring residue (1). The goal of this project was to determine whether Arg exhibits snorkeling behavior similar to Lys, and is able to anchor the peptide in the membrane despite the repositioning of Trp in the RWALP peptides. Several candidate R W ALP23 peptides containing Tryptophan and Arginine with an alternating LeucineAlanine backbone were synthesized successfully. They were then studied by HPLC, CD, and MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry to investigate the anchoring roles of Arg and …

Synthesis Of Nanomaterials: Magnesium Hydroxide Nanoparticles And Applications For The Catalyzed Decomposition Of Toxins, Travis Witte

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

Utilizing a modified sol-gel process, a series of Mg(OH)2 nanoparticles will be produced. Each series synthesized will utilize six different toluene/methanol solvent ratios to yield six samples of nanoparticles. each with a different surface area. The surface area is expected to increase as the toluene/methanol ratio is increased. After preparation is completed, the nanoparticles will be characterized by BET method nitrogen adsorption measurement, IR spectroscopy and thermal gravimetric analysis. The Mg(OH)2 will then be utilized in a simple photocatalysis experiment to determine its possible use as catalyst for the degradation of toxic substances.

117th Annual Meeting Of The Iowa Academy Of Science [Program, 2005], Iowa Academy Of Science

Iowa Academy of Science Documents

Contents:

Program Summary --- 4
General Session Presentations --- 6
Symposia Programs --- 9
General Poster Session Program --- 10
Cellular, Molecular and Microbiology Special Poster Session Program --- 12
Section Meeting Programs (Alphabetical by Section) --- 13
2005 IAS Awards and Recognition --- 18
Geology Field Trip Details --- 19
Section Meeting Abstracts (by Section) --- 20
Symposia Abstracts --- 64
Author Index --- 68

Lessons Learned With Arc, An Oai-Pmh Service Provider, Xiaoming Liu, Kurt Maly, Michael L. Nelson

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Web-based digital libraries have historically been built in isolation utilizing different technologies, protocols, and metadata. These differences hindered the development of digital library services that enable users to discover information from multiple libraries through a single unified interface. The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) is a major, international effort to address technical interoperability among distributed repositories. Arc debuted in 2000 as the first end-user OAI-PMH service provider. Since that time, Arc has grown to include nearly 7,000,000 metadata records. Arc has been deployed in a number of environments and has served as the basis for many other …

Pervasiveness Of Phytoliths In Prehistoric Southwestern Diet And Implications For Regional And Temporal Trends For Dental Microwear, Karl J. Reinhard, Dennis R. Danielson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Our previous analysis of phytolith content of coprolites showed that calcium oxalate phytoliths from desert food plants caused dental microwear among prehistoric Texas hunter-gatherers. We demonstrated that phytoliths from desert succulents were ubiquitous and abundant in hunter-gatherer coprolites. We found that calcium oxalate phytoliths were harder than human dental enamel. We concluded that phytoliths from desert succulent plants caused dental microwear and hypothesized that such dental microwear would be common in other desert hunter-gatherer and horticultural peoples. Presented here are further analyses of phytoliths from coprolites. Two additional hunter-gatherer sites and three Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) horticultural sites are included in …

Weak Factorizations, Fractions And Homotopies, Alexander Kurz, Jiří Rosický

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

We show that the homotopy category can be assigned to any category equipped with a weak factorization system. A classical example of this construction is the stable category of modules. We discuss a connection with the open map approach to bisimulations proposed by Joyal, Nielsen and Winskel.

Positive Solutions For A Fourth Order Boundary Value Problem, Bo Yang

Faculty Articles

We consider a boundary value problem for the beam equation, in which the boundary conditions mean that the beam is embedded at one end and free at the other end. Some new estimates to the positive solutions to the boundary value problem are obtained. Some sufficient conditions for the existence of at least one positive solution for the boundary value problem are established. An example is given at the end of the paper to illustrate the main results.

Predatory Mites Associated With Tetranychus Evansi Baker & Pritchard (Acari: Tetranychidae) On Native Solanaceous Plants Of Coastal Pernambuco State, Brazil, Alexsandra A. Rosa, Manoel G.C. Gondim, Komi K.M. Fiaboe, Gilberto J. De Moraes, Knapp Markus

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The occurrence of the tomato red spider mite (Tetranychus evansi Baker & Pritchard) and predatory mites on four of the most abundant native solanaceous plants in coastal Pernambuco, Brazil, was evaluated. Monthly samples were collected from mid September 2002 to late May 2003 in Aliança, Carpina, Camaragibe, Goiana, Igarassu and Recife. A total of 5,485 mites of more than 27 species were found, of which the most common were the phytophagous species T. evansi and Brevipalpus phoenicis (Geijskes) (Tenuipalpidae), and the predaceous species Asca sp. (Ascidae), Phytoseius guianensis De Leon and Paraphytoseius orientalis (Narayanan, Kaur & Ghai) (both Phytoseiidae). Negative …

Room-Temperature Atmospheric Pressure Plasma For Biomedical Applications, Mounir Laroussi, Xinpei Lu

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

As low-temperature non-equilibrium plasmas come to play an increasing role in biomedical applications, reliable and user-friendly sources need to be developed. These plasma sources have to meet stringent requirements such as low temperature (at or near room temperature), no risk of arcing, operation at atmospheric pressure, preferably hand-held operation, low concentration of ozone generation, etc. In this letter, we present a device that meets exactly such requirements. This device is capable of generating a cold plasma plume several centimeters in length. It exhibits low power requirements as shown by its current-voltage characteristics. Using helium as a carrier gas, very little …

Performance Analysis And Validation Of A Recoverable Flight Control System In A Simulated Neutron Environment, Hong Zhang, W. Steven Gray, Oscar R. Gonzalez

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper introduces a class of stochastic hybrid models for the analysis of closed-loop control systems implemented with NASA's Recoverable Computer System. Such Recoverable Computer Systems have been proposed to insure reliable control performance in harsh environments. The stochastic hybrid models consist of either a stochastic finite-state automaton or a finite-state machine driven by a Markov input, which in turn drives a switched linear discrete-time dynamical system. Their stability and output tracking performance are analyzed using an extension of the existing theory for Markov jump-linear systems. For illustration, a stochastic hybrid model is used to calculate the tracking error performance …

(Μ-Diazenediyldiphenyl-Κ2c2, N2: Κ2c2′, N1) Bis [(3, 5-Dimethylphenyl) Tellurium (Ii)]., Prabodhika R. Mallikaratchy, Richard E. Norman, Frank R. Fronczek, Thomas Junk

Publications and Research

The title compound, C28H26N2Te2, prepared by reduction of (3,5-dimethylphenyl)(2-nitrophenyl)tellurium(II), is the first structurally characterized example of an azo group bridging two TeII centers. The compound is centrosymmetric and the Te—N distance [2.6916 (19) A ° ] is longer than in non-bridging azo compounds.