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2008

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

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Articles 1 - 30 of 76

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Study On Methods Of Simultaneous Multi-Component Analysis., Jennifer Bernice Ashie Dec 2008

Study On Methods Of Simultaneous Multi-Component Analysis., Jennifer Bernice Ashie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many new instrumentation and different instrumental techniques have been developed to deal with increasing complexity of samples encountered. Many researchers also have coupled these instrumental techniques with chemometric algorithms to assist in the quantitative analysis of multi-component samples in the hope of alleviating the need of tedious separation and cleanup procedures. These newer chemometric procedures tend to be complex and difficult to understand and implement and are successful under different circumstances and conditions. In this study, we start from the very simple beginning and examine the factors that can present difficulties with obtaining the correct results and observe how the …

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Restrained And Other Domination Parameters In Complementary Prisms., Wyatt Jules Desormeaux Dec 2008

Restrained And Other Domination Parameters In Complementary Prisms., Wyatt Jules Desormeaux

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we will study several domination parameters of a family of graphs known as complementary prisms. We will first present the basic terminology and definitions necessary to understand the topic. Then, we will examine the known results addressing the domination number and the total domination number of complementary prisms. After this, we will present our main results, namely, results on the restrained domination number of complementary prisms. Subsequently results on the distance - k domination number, 2-step domination number and stratification of complementary prisms will be presented. Then, we will characterize when a complementary prism is Eulerian or …

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Studies Of Surfactants Effect On Riboflavin Fluorescence And Its Determination In Commercial Food Products And Vitamin Tablets., William Emmanuel Ghann Dec 2008

Studies Of Surfactants Effect On Riboflavin Fluorescence And Its Determination In Commercial Food Products And Vitamin Tablets., William Emmanuel Ghann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A simple and economical fluorometer using blue LEDs excitation sources and simple PMT detection had been built, assembled, optimized, and employed for measurement of fluorescence from riboflavin (vitamin B2). Surfactants have been known to enhance the intensity of fluorescence of fluorescent compounds. Fluorescence analysis of riboflavin in the presence of various anionic, cationic, and nonionic surfactants was also conducted to determine if they could improve analysis. However, the surfactants employed did not seem to have any meaningful enhancement; in fact, some actually diminished the fluorescence intensity of riboflavin. The procedure was linear for riboflavin from 0.01 to 2.5 …

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Geochemical Impacts From Permanganate Oxidation Based On Field Scale Assessments., Kelly Ann Moore Dec 2008

Geochemical Impacts From Permanganate Oxidation Based On Field Scale Assessments., Kelly Ann Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) using permanganate is a technology for treatment of organic hazardous wastes. This research is a review of 30 permanganate (MnO4-) ISCO sites to determine whether there are long term impacts on groundwater quality due to the introduction of the oxidant into the subsurface. A second objective is to determine if manganese concentration can be predicted by trends in specific pre and postoxidation monitored parameters (i.e., pH and oxidation reduction potential (ORP)). The final objective is to identify the effects of site and design conditions on groundwater conditions postoxidation. Results indicate that (1) …

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Towards The Design And Syntheses Of Novel Triads Comprising Single Robson-Type Macrocyclic Dicopper(Ii) Cores Flanked By Two Terminal Polypyridyl Ruthenium(Ii) Complexes., Leslie Shane Moody Dec 2008

Towards The Design And Syntheses Of Novel Triads Comprising Single Robson-Type Macrocyclic Dicopper(Ii) Cores Flanked By Two Terminal Polypyridyl Ruthenium(Ii) Complexes., Leslie Shane Moody

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Progress toward the syntheses of new tetranuclear bimetallic complexes of copper(II) and ruthenium(II) was realized. The designed triads comprise a central binuclear copper(II) complex with a tetraiminodiphenolate macrocyclic Robson-type compartmental ligand. In the envisioned complexes, the macrocyclic core is further functionalized by attachment of two polypyridyl ruthenium(II) complexes. A novel dibrominated dicopper(II) Robson complex was formed by the 2:2:2 condensation reaction of 4-bromo-2,6-diformylphenol and 1,3- diaminopropane with cupric chloride. Similarly, a new dibrominated dizinc(II) was synthesized from zinc tetrafluoroborate and the same diamine and dialdehyde. The new dicopper(II) complex did not heterocouple with borylated substrates under explored Suzuki reaction conditions. …

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An Assessment Of Alternative Feed Ingredients In Practical Diets For Florida Pompano (Trachinotus Carolinus) Held In Low Salinity Recirculating Systems, Terhea Nichole Williams Dec 2008

An Assessment Of Alternative Feed Ingredients In Practical Diets For Florida Pompano (Trachinotus Carolinus) Held In Low Salinity Recirculating Systems, Terhea Nichole Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The identification of alternative protein sources for partial or whole replacement of fishmeal (FM) is a priority in the development of suitable, low cost feed formulations for the Florida pompano (Trachinotus carolinus). To evaluate alternative feed ingredients for the potential replacement of FM in diets fed to juvenile pompano, a series of four experiments were conducted. The objectives of Experiments 1 and 2 were to determine the apparent digestibility of crude protein (ADCP), energy (ADE), and apparent amino acid availability (AAAA) of three plant based ingredients (soybean meal (SBM), soy protein isolate (SPI), corn gluten meal (CGM)) and three by-product …

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Double Domination Of Complementary Prisms., Lamont D. Vaughan Aug 2008

Double Domination Of Complementary Prisms., Lamont D. Vaughan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The complementary prism of a graph G is obtained from a copy of G and its complement G̅ by adding a perfect matching between the corresponding vertices of G and G̅. For any graph G, a set D ⊆ V (G) is a double dominating set (DDS) if that set dominates every vertex of G twice. The double domination number, denoted γ×2(G), is the cardinality of a minimum double dominating set of G. We have proven results on graphs of small order, specific families and lower bounds on γ×2 …

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Synthesis Towards Fulminic Acid And Its Derivatives In 1, 3-Dipolar Cycloaddition Reactions., Ophilia Ndi Toh Aug 2008

Synthesis Towards Fulminic Acid And Its Derivatives In 1, 3-Dipolar Cycloaddition Reactions., Ophilia Ndi Toh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A new approach to fulminic acid cycloadditions has been developed. At reduced temperatures, fulminic acid is generated in situ and undergoes 1, 3-diploar cycloaddition reactions with dipolarophiles to form isoxazolines and/or its dimers. This procedure represents a novel, safe general method for the one-step generation of fulminic acid, which complements existing potentially explosive protocols.

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Erosion And Trail Building: A Case Study Of The East Tennessee State University Trail System., Joshua Callahan Aug 2008

Erosion And Trail Building: A Case Study Of The East Tennessee State University Trail System., Joshua Callahan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Natural and accelerated erosion from trail users affects the sustainability of trail systems. Designing and building sustainable trail systems will greatly decrease the effect that erosion has on a trail. Trails that allow multiple types of users, such as hiking and mountain biking, must be able to sustain both groups. At East Tennessee State University the trail system was originally designed for hiking. Mountain bikers have become the main user group on the trail system leading to erosion problems on certain areas of the trail due to trail design flaws. The study seeks to identify the problem areas of trail …

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Finding Edge And Vertex Induced Cycles Within Circulants., Trina Marcella Wooten Aug 2008

Finding Edge And Vertex Induced Cycles Within Circulants., Trina Marcella Wooten

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Let H be a graph. G is a subgraph of H if V (G) ⊆ V (H) and E(G) ⊆ E(H). The subgraphs of H can be used to determine whether H is planar, a line graph, and to give information about the chromatic number. In a recent work by Beeler and Jamison [3], it was shown that it is difficult to obtain an automorphic decomposition of a triangle-free graph. As many of their examples involve circulant graphs, it is of particular interest to find triangle-free subgraphs within circulants. As …

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Estimating The Difference Of Percentiles From Two Independent Populations., Romual Eloge Tchouta Aug 2008

Estimating The Difference Of Percentiles From Two Independent Populations., Romual Eloge Tchouta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We first consider confidence intervals for a normal percentile, an exponential percentile and a uniform percentile. Then we develop confidence intervals for a difference of percentiles from two independent normal populations, two independent exponential populations and two independent uniform populations. In our study, we mainly focus on the maximum likelihood to develop our confidence intervals. The efficiency of this method is examined via coverage rates obtained in a simulation study done with the statistical software R.

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Monitoring Metal Containing Particulates Distribution On A College Campus Using Dandelion (Taraxacum Officinale) Leaves As Receptors., Suresh Chandra Regmi Aug 2008

Monitoring Metal Containing Particulates Distribution On A College Campus Using Dandelion (Taraxacum Officinale) Leaves As Receptors., Suresh Chandra Regmi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to determine the distribution of particulates carrying heavy metals at selected sites on a college campus using dandelion leaves as collectors. As a comparison, sites far away from the campus surrounding Bristol Motor Speedway Car Racing Stadium were also monitored. To reduce the probability of memory effects from the long-term atmospheric deposition or absorption of metals from soil a seasonal plant, dandelion, was used to monitor the metal contents. The metals monitored are cadmium, calcium, copper, chromium, iron, lead, and zinc. Fourteen sites were monitored and samples were collected once a week initially (growing time of the …

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Modeling The Progression Of Discrete Paired Longitudinal Data., Jonathan Wesley Hicks Aug 2008

Modeling The Progression Of Discrete Paired Longitudinal Data., Jonathan Wesley Hicks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is our intention to derive a methodology for which to model discrete paired longitudinal data. Through the use of transition matrices and maximum likelihood estimation techniques by means of software, we develop a way to model the progression of such data. We provide an example by applying this method to the Wisconsin Epidemiological Study of Diabetic Retinopathy data set. The data set is comprised of individuals, all diabetics, who have had their eyes examined for diabetic retinopathy. The eyes are treated as paired data, and we have the results of the examination at the four unequally spaced time points …

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Interval Estimation For The Ratio Of Percentiles From Two Independent Populations., Pius Matheka Muindi Aug 2008

Interval Estimation For The Ratio Of Percentiles From Two Independent Populations., Pius Matheka Muindi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Percentiles are used everyday in descriptive statistics and data analysis. In real life, many quantities are normally distributed and normal percentiles are often used to describe those quantities. In life sciences, distributions like exponential, uniform, Weibull and many others are used to model rates, claims, pensions etc. The need to compare two or more independent populations can arise in data analysis. The ratio of percentiles is just one of the many ways of comparing populations. This thesis constructs a large sample confidence interval for the ratio of percentiles whose underlying distributions are known. A simulation study is conducted to evaluate …

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Contraction-Expansion Protocols., Nadine Katia Njoya Aug 2008

Contraction-Expansion Protocols., Nadine Katia Njoya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An approach to a new class of compounds known as bridgehead dienone is described. The route is based on a tandem contraction-expansion event in which the contraction triggers the expansion. The two steps involved are a palladium-catalyzed Favorskii contraction and a cis-divinyl cyclopropanone rearrangement. Progress towards these goals is reported.

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Synthesis And Oxidation Of Lignin-Carbohydrate Model Compounds, Mai Thanh Thi Nguyen Aug 2008

Synthesis And Oxidation Of Lignin-Carbohydrate Model Compounds, Mai Thanh Thi Nguyen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To decrease our dependence on foreign oil supply and in an effort to decrease the amount of green house gases into the atmosphere, researchers are focusing on ways of producing fuels and chemicals from renewable resources. A renewable source such as wood has great potential for the production of biofuels and biochemicals. An integrated biorefinery process that maximizes the usage of wood and complements existing pulp and paper technology was proposed to extract underutilize hemicelluloses and covert them into bioethanol. In this process, not only hemicelluloses are extracted; lignin, since it is covalently bonded to hemicelluloses is extracted as well. …

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Effects Of Fish Introductions On The Geographic Distribution And Native Invertebrate Biodiversity Of Naturally Fishless Lakes In Maine, Emily Gaenzle Schilling Aug 2008

Effects Of Fish Introductions On The Geographic Distribution And Native Invertebrate Biodiversity Of Naturally Fishless Lakes In Maine, Emily Gaenzle Schilling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Widespread fish stocking has led to a worldwide decline in naturally fishless lakes and their associated communities. Little is known about the historical distribution or native communities of these freshwater ecosystems. The objectives of this study were to: 1) develop a quantitative method to remotely detect naturally fishless lakes in Maine, 2) conduct a landscape-scale assessment of unique attributes of fishless lake macroinvertebrate communities, 3) identify macroinvertebrate bioindicators of fish absence, and 4) assess effects of introduced fish on native macroinvertebrates. I identified two physiographic types of naturally fishless lakes in Maine: kettle lakes in the eastern lowlands and foothills …

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Bacterial Source Tracking In The Sinking Creek Watershed Using Antibiotic Resistance Analysis And Ribotyping., Lisa Kathleen Gallagher May 2008

Bacterial Source Tracking In The Sinking Creek Watershed Using Antibiotic Resistance Analysis And Ribotyping., Lisa Kathleen Gallagher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fecal pollution of surface water is a significant environmental health issue. Indicator organisms are used to monitor microbial water quality, but often their presence does not coincide with the presence of pathogens. Bacterial source tracking is a term describing methods to determine the origin of fecal pollution based on bacterial traits. The objective of this research is to evaluate the use of 2 bacterial source tracking techniques, antibiotic resistance analysis (ARA) and ribotyping, to determine the sources of bacteria isolated from Sinking Creek. Based on the results of this study, ARA and ribotyping are not useful techniques for identifying sources …

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Methods For The Analysis Of Developmental Respiration Patterns., Justin Tyler Peyton May 2008

Methods For The Analysis Of Developmental Respiration Patterns., Justin Tyler Peyton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis looks at the problem of developmental respiration in Sarcophaga crassipalpis Macquart from the biological and instrumental points of view and adapts mathematical and statistical tools in order to analyze the data gathered. The biological motivation and current state of research is given as well as instrumental considerations and problems in the measurement of carbon dioxide production. A wide set of mathematical and statistical tools are used to analyze the time series produced in the laboratory. The objective is to assemble a methodology for the production and analysis of data that can be used in further developmental respiration research.

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Characterization Of Commercial Pectin Preparations By Spectroscopic And Chromatographic Techniques., Daniel Wayne Dixon May 2008

Characterization Of Commercial Pectin Preparations By Spectroscopic And Chromatographic Techniques., Daniel Wayne Dixon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pectin has a long history as a food additive. However, elucidation of its fine structural and property relationships remains elusive. Recent research has focused on pectin's ability to complex with divalent heavy metals to aid in characterizing it. Commercial pectins of unknown composition were obtained from local grocers. Purified pectin samples from orange peel, lemon peel, and apple pomace, each of low and high levels of methyl esterification and of unknown distribution pattern were also purchased. Instead of metal complexation, several highly absorbing dyes such as Ruthenium Red, Nile Blue, and Acridine Orange were used to complex with the pectins …

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On The Attainability Of Upper Bounds For The Circular Chromatic Number Of K4-Minor-Free Graphs., Tracy Lance Holt May 2008

On The Attainability Of Upper Bounds For The Circular Chromatic Number Of K4-Minor-Free Graphs., Tracy Lance Holt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Let G be a graph. For k ≥ d ≥ 1, a k/d -coloring of G is a coloring c of vertices of G with colors 0, 1, 2, . . ., k - 1, such that d ≤ | c(x) - c(y) | ≤ k - d, whenever xy is an edge of G. We say that the circular chromatic number of G, denoted χc(G), is equal to the smallest k/d where a k/d -coloring exists. In [6], Pan and …

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A Paleolimnological Assessment Of Three Oligotrophic Watersheds In Maine, Tiffany Ann Wilson May 2008

A Paleolimnological Assessment Of Three Oligotrophic Watersheds In Maine, Tiffany Ann Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Phosphorus (P) is a limiting nutrient in aquatic ecosystems. Its bioavailability determines the trophic status of lakes. The biogeochemistry of P in surface waters can be controlled by a combination of abiotic and biotic factors. Dissolved inorganic aluminum (Al) and iron (Fe) hydrolyze in streams and lakes to produce Al(OH)3 and Fe(OH)3 in the water column. These hydroxides may also form through photo-oxidation of complexes with DOC, liberation of inorganic metal species, and precipitation, followed by sedimentation. These solid phases readily adsorb P from the water column, reducing the amount that is available for biological nutrition (Kopácek et …

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Surface Engineering Of Gold Nanoparticles And Their Applications, Qiu Dai Jan 2008

Surface Engineering Of Gold Nanoparticles And Their Applications, Qiu Dai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with their unique sizes, shapes, and properties have generated much enthusiasm over the last two decades, and have been explored for many potential applications. The successful application of AuNPs depends critically on the ability to modify and functionalize their surface to provide stability, compatibility, and special chemical functionality. This dissertation is aimed at exploring the chemical synthesis and surface modification of AuNPs with the effort to (1) control the number of functional groups on the particle surface, and to (2) increase the colloidal stability at the physiological conditions. To control the functionality on the particle surface, a …

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Automated Regression Testing Approach To Expansion And Refinement Of Speech Recognition Grammars, Raul Dookhoo Jan 2008

Automated Regression Testing Approach To Expansion And Refinement Of Speech Recognition Grammars, Raul Dookhoo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes an approach to automated regression testing for speech recognition grammars. A prototype Audio Regression Tester called ART has been developed using Microsoft's Speech API and C#. ART allows a user to perform any of three tasks: automatically generate a new XML-based grammar file from standardized SQL database entries, record and cross-reference audio files for use by an underlying speech recognition engine, and perform regression tests with the aid of an oracle grammar. ART takes as input a wave sound file containing speech and a newly created XML grammar file. It then simultaneously executes two tests: one with …

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Semantic Video Retrieval Using High Level Context, Yusuf Aytar Jan 2008

Semantic Video Retrieval Using High Level Context, Yusuf Aytar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Video retrieval - searching and retrieving videos relevant to a user defined query - is one of the most popular topics in both real life applications and multimedia research. This thesis employs concepts from Natural Language Understanding in solving the video retrieval problem. Our main contribution is the utilization of the semantic word similarity measures for video retrieval through the trained concept detectors, and the visual co-occurrence relations between such concepts. We propose two methods for content-based retrieval of videos: (1) A method for retrieving a new concept (a concept which is not known to the system and no annotation …

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Phase-Shifting Haar Wavelets For Image-Based Rendering Applications, Mais Alnasser Jan 2008

Phase-Shifting Haar Wavelets For Image-Based Rendering Applications, Mais Alnasser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we establish the underlying research background necessary for tackling the problem of phase-shifting in the wavelet transform domain. Solving this problem is the key to reducing the redundancy and huge storage requirement in Image-Based Rendering (IBR) applications, which utilize wavelets. Image-based methods for rendering of dynamic glossy objects do not truly scale to all possible frequencies and high sampling rates without trading storage, glossiness, or computational time, while varying both lighting and viewpoint. This is due to the fact that current approaches are limited to precomputed radiance transfer (PRT), which is prohibitively expensive in terms of memory …

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Multi-View Approaches To Tracking, 3d Reconstruction And Object Class Detection, Saad Khan Jan 2008

Multi-View Approaches To Tracking, 3d Reconstruction And Object Class Detection, Saad Khan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Multi-camera systems are becoming ubiquitous and have found application in a variety of domains including surveillance, immersive visualization, sports entertainment and movie special effects amongst others. From a computer vision perspective, the challenging task is how to most efficiently fuse information from multiple views in the absence of detailed calibration information and a minimum of human intervention. This thesis presents a new approach to fuse foreground likelihood information from multiple views onto a reference view without explicit processing in 3D space, thereby circumventing the need for complete calibration. Our approach uses a homographic occupancy constraint (HOC), which states that if …

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Appearance-Driven Material Design, Mark Colbert Jan 2008

Appearance-Driven Material Design, Mark Colbert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the computer graphics production environment, artists often must tweak specific lighting and material parameters to match a mind's eye vision of the appearance of a 3D scene. However, the interaction between a material and a lighting environment is often too complex to cognitively predict without visualization. Therefore, artists operate in a design cycle, where they tweak the parameters, wait for a visualization, and repeat, seeking to obtain a desired look. We propose the use of appearance-driven material design. Here, artists directly design the appearance of reflected light for a specific view, surface point, and time. In this thesis, we …

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Taming Crowded Visual Scenes, Saad Ali Jan 2008

Taming Crowded Visual Scenes, Saad Ali

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computer vision algorithms have played a pivotal role in commercial video surveillance systems for a number of years. However, a common weakness among these systems is their inability to handle crowded scenes. In this thesis, we have developed algorithms that overcome some of the challenges encountered in videos of crowded environments such as sporting events, religious festivals, parades, concerts, train stations, airports, and malls. We adopt a top-down approach by first performing a global-level analysis that locates dynamically distinct crowd regions within the video. This knowledge is then employed in the detection of abnormal behaviors and tracking of individual targets …

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Alayzing The Effects Of Modularity On Search Spaces, Ozlem Garibay Jan 2008

Alayzing The Effects Of Modularity On Search Spaces, Ozlem Garibay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We are continuously challenged by ever increasing problem complexity and the need to develop algorithms that can solve complex problems and solve them within a reasonable amount of time. Modularity is thought to reduce problem complexity by decomposing large problems into smaller and less complex subproblems. In practice, introducing modularity into evolutionary algorithm representations appears to improve search performance; however, how and why modularity improves performance is not well understood. In this thesis, we seek to better understand the effects of modularity on search. In particular, what are the effects of module creation on the search space structure and how …

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