Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Recombination In Kr^34+ + H2 And 0^6+ + He Collisions, Konstantinos Zaharakis

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Separation Of Aqueous Iron Species Found In Stepwise Complexation By Capillary Electrophoresis With Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Detection, Robert E. Sutton

Dissertations

A capillary zone electrophoresis system was interfaced to an atomic absorption spectrom eter to permit the separation and detection o f various species of iron found in step wise complexation in aqueous solutions. The samples were introduced at the anodic end of the column employing the electroosmotic flow to drive all the species to the detector at the cathodic end. Aqueous solutions of iron(II) and iron (III) chloride salts were among the compounds studied. The buffer employed w as a 20 millimolar (2-[N-morpholino]ethanesulfonic acid adjusted to a pH of 6 with 6 .6 millimolar potassium hydroxide. The detection limit was …

Automatic Visual Recognition Using Parallel Machines, Yui-Liang Chen

Dissertations

Invariant features and quick matching algorithms are two major concerns in the area of automatic visual recognition. The former reduces the size of an established model database, and the latter shortens the computation time. This dissertation, will discussed both line invariants under perspective projection and parallel implementation of a dynamic programming technique for shape recognition. The feasibility of using parallel machines can be demonstrated through the dramatically reduced time complexity.

In this dissertation, our algorithms are implemented on the AP1000 MIMD parallel machines. For processing an object with a features, the time complexity of the proposed parallel algorithm is O(n) …

Automatic Office Document Classification And Information Extraction, Xiaolong Hao

Dissertations

TEXPR.OS (TEXt PROcessing System) is a document processing system (DPS) to support and assist office workers in their daily work in dealing with information and document management. In this thesis, document classification and information extraction, which are two of the major functional capabilities in TEXPROS, are investigated.

Based on the nature of its content, a document is divided into structured and unstructured (i.e., of free text) parts. The conceptual and content structures are introduced to capture the semantics of the structured and unstructured part of the document respectively. The document is classified and information is extracted based on the analyses …

The Effect Of Sulfur And Phosphorus Compounds On Supported Platinum Catalyst Activity, Yi Wang

Dissertations

The effect of sulfur poisoning on the activity of catalysts containing 1.5% platinum supported on γ-Al₂O₃, TiO₂, ZrO₂, or SiO₂ was investigated in this study. These four catalysts were aged with 100 ppmv H₂S in air at 400°C for 24 hours to determine the effect of sulfur poisoning under oxidizing conditions. In separate experiments, 1.5% Pt/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst was aged in nitrogen containing 100 ppmv H₂S to obtain a frame of reference for non-oxidizing conditions.

The oxidation of 1% CO, 1% methane, and 1% propane …

College Physics Students' Conceptual Understanding Of Area And Volume, And Relationships Between These Concepts And Students' Understanding Of Physics Concepts, Jiang Yu

Dissertations

Concepts such as area and volume are foundational ideas for many concepts introduced in introductory science courses. At the college level, most instructors typically assume that incoming students have already developed an understanding of these underpinning ideas. However, doubt has surfaced in recent years about students' depth of understanding and mastery of these fundamental concepts. Because deficiencies in understanding basic concepts may relate to the learning of subsequent concepts, instructors have expressed concerns about students' understanding of fundamental ideas and if the failure to understand these ideas hinders students' subsequent progress.

This study was designed to (a) investigate the nature …

The Use Of Analogies In An Industrial Environment To Facilitate Status Changes For Radiation Science Concepts, Charles Thomas Lohrke

Dissertations

The focus of this study was the effect of two analogies on the status of industrial technical center employees for three radiation science concept areas. The analogies used were of melting ice and falling tacks. The three radiation concept areas examined were radioactive material decay, radioactive material half-life, and radioactive material activity.

Forty-four adults participated in the study. Thirty-five of these participants took pre- and post-lesson multiple-choice tests to determine the effect that the analogies had on their intelligibility of the three radiation science concept areas. Nine participants also took pre- and post-lesson clinical interviews to assess their intelligibility, plausibility, …

Asymptotic Diagonalizations Of A Linear Ordinary Differential System, Feipeng Xie

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Probability Polynomials For Cubic Graphs In The Framework Of Random Topological Graph Theory, Esther Joy Tesar

Dissertations

Topological graph theorists study the imbeddings of graphs on surfaces (spheres with handles). Some interesting questions in the field are on w hat surfaces can a graph be 2 -cell imbedded and how m any such imbeddings are there on each surface. The study of these and related questions is called Enumerative Topological Graph Theory. Random Topological Graph Theory uses probability models to study the 2-cell imbeddings. It generalizes the results from Enumerative Topological Graph Theory (which is the uniform case, p= 1/2) to an arbitrary probability p.

We study the model where the sample space consists of all labeled, …

Step Domination In Graphs, Kelly Lynne Schultz

Dissertations

One of the major areas in Graph Theory is domination in graphs. It is this area with which this dissertation deals, with the primary emphasis on step domination in graphs.

In Chapter 1 we present some preliminary definitions and examples. In addition, a background of the area of domination is presented. We then introduce the concepts that lead to step domination.

In Chapter II we formally define the concept of step domination and give several examples. We determine the minimum number of vertices needed in a step domination set for many classes of graphs. We then explore step domination for …

A Wellhead Protection Study Of A Small Agricultural Community In Glaciated Terrain, As A Model For Wellhead Protection Efforts By Similar Communities, Cole Kevan Lovett

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to create a wellhead protection approach for a small town in a rural watershed that could be used by other, similar, communities.

Lacustrine clay and melt-out till interbedded in outwash sands and fine gravel, separate an unconfined aquifer from a deeper aquifer. The lower aquifer was determined to be semiconfined due to (a) high vertical conductivity, (b) lack of continuity in the clay/till, (c) absence of significant seasonal water level changes, and (d) tritium levels above 1-2 tritium units in deep wells.

Tritium level falls and water age rises along flowpaths. A low-high-low pattern …

Efficient Dominating Sets In Oriented Trees, Quan Yue

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Mapping Of Portable Parallel Programs, Song Chen

Dissertations

An efficient parallel program designed for a parallel architecture includes a detailed outline of accurate assignments of concurrent computations onto processors, and data transfers onto communication links, such that the overall execution time is minimized. This process may be complex depending on the application task and the target multiprocessor architecture. Furthermore, this process is to be repeated for every different architecture even though the application task may be the same. Consequently, this has a major impact on the ever increasing cost of software development for multiprocessor systems. A remedy for this problem would be to design portable parallel programs which …

Dichloromethane Pyrolysis And Oxidation : Formation Of Chlorinated Aromatic Precursors To Pcdd/F, Hong-Ming Chiang

Dissertations

The pyrolysis and oxidation of dichloromethane is studied in a tubular reactor at 1 atmosphere pressure, residence time between 0.3 to 2.0 seconds and in the temperature range 680 - 840°T. Four reactant concentration ratios are:
I. CH₂Cl₂ : Ar =1 : 99 II. CH₂Cl₂ : CH₄ : Ar = 1 : 1:98
III.CH₂Cl₂ : O₂ : Ar = 1:4 : 95 IV. CH₂Cl₂: CH₄ : O₂ Ar = 1: 4: 94

The degradation of dichloromethane, intermediate product formation and decomposition, and final …

Document Preprocessing And Fuzzy Unsupervised Character Classification, Shy-Shyan Chen

Dissertations

This dissertation presents document preprocessing and fuzzy unsupervised character classification for automatically reading daily-received office documents that have complex layout structures, such as multiple columns and mixed-mode contents of texts, graphics and half-tone pictures. First, the block segmentation algorithm is performed based on a simple two-step run-length smoothing to decompose a document into single-mode blocks. Next, the block classification is performed based on the clustering rules to classify each block into one of the types such as text, horizontal or vertical lines, graphics, and pictures. The mean white-to-black transition is shown as an invariance for textual blocks, and is useful …

Visual Pattern Recognition Using Neural Networks, Jenlong Moh

Dissertations

Neural networks have been widely studied in a number of fields, such as neural architectures, neurobiology, statistics of neural network and pattern classification. In the field of pattern classification, neural network models are applied on numerous applications, for instance, character recognition, speech recognition, and object recognition. Among these, character recognition is commonly used to illustrate the feature and classification characteristics of neural networks.

In this dissertation, the theoretical foundations of artificial neural networks are first reviewed and existing neural models are studied. The Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) model is improved to achieve more reasonable classification results. Experiments in applying the …

Semi-Strongly Regular Graphs And Generalized Cages, Cong Fan

Dissertations

Two well-known classes of graphs, strongly regular graphs and cages, have been studied extensively by many researchers for a long period of time. In this dissertation, we mainly deal with semi-strongly regular graphs, a class of graphs including all strongly regular graphs, and (r, g, t)-cages, a generalization of the usual cage concept.

Chapter I introduces the two new concepts: semi-strongly regular graphs and generalized (r, g, t)-cages, gives necessary conditions for the existence of semi-strongly regular graphs and some interesting properties regarding common neighbors of pairs of vertices, and shows connections between these two new concepts and the old …

Section I: Thermodynamic Properties Of Hydrocarbon Radicals, Peroxy Hydrocarbon And Peroxy Chlorohydrocarbon Molecules And Radicals Section Ii: Kinetics And Reaction Mechanisms For : (1) Chloroform Pyrolysis And Oxidation (2) Benzene And Toluene Oxidation Under Atmospheric Conditions, Tsan-Horng Lay

Dissertations

Alkyl radicals are important active intermediates in gas phase photochemistry and combustion reaction systems. With the exception of a limited number of the most elementary radicals, accurate thermodynamic properties of alkyl radicals are either not available or only rough estimations exist. An H atom Bond Increment approach is developed and a data base [sic] is derived, for accurately estimating thermodynamic properties (ΔH_f°₂₉₈, S°₂₉₈ and Cp(T)) for generic classes of hydrocarbon radical species.

Reactions of alkyl radicals with molecular oxygen are one of the major reaction paths for these radicals in atmospheric photochemistry, oxidation of hydrocarbon …

Effect Of Electrolyte Concentration, Temperature And Clay Type On The Diffusional Properties Of Anions In Clay-Modified Electrodes, Jennifer A. Stein

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

X-Ray Crystallographic Studies On Cross-Linked Hemoglobins, Elias J. Fernandez

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Bootstrap Method To Analyze An Intervention Model With Autoregressive Error Terms, Scott D. Mcknight

Dissertations

The analysis of a particular time-series intervention model involving lag one autoregressive (AR(1)) error terms is the focus of this dissertation. The method of ordinary least squares, and several two stage procedures that are commonly used to analyze this intervention model are examined. The two stage Cochrane-Orcutte, Durbin, and generalized least squares procedures each requires estimation of the AR(1) parameter in stage one before hypothesis testing about the intervention parameters can be performed in stage two. Using Monte Carlo experiments we show that the AR(1) estimates commonly used in these procedures are poor and consequently the stage two hypothesis tests …

High Breakdown Rank-Based Estimates For Linear Models, William H. Chang

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Theory And Applications Of Stratified Graphs, Reza Rashidi

Dissertations

Physical design is one of several stages in the design of a VLSI chip. In this stage, the specifications of an electrical circuit are converted into a geometrical model. Problems concerning the physical design stage can often be studied by means of graphs. The problems encountered here are routing problems and concern placement of vertices, which represent wires, into layers. All this gives rise to a class of graphs whose vertices are partitioned into classes. Such graphs are called stratified graphs. In this dissertation, we formally define stratified graphs, study their properties, and investigate various algorithmic problems related to these …

An Office Document Retrieval System With The Capability Of Processing Incomplete And Vague Queries, Qianhong Liu

Dissertations

TEXPROS (TEXt PROcessing System) is an intelligent document processing system. The system is a combination of filing and retrieval systems, which supports storing, classifying, categorizing, retrieving and reproducing documents, as well as extracting, browsing, retrieving and synthesizing information from a variety of documents. This dissertation presents a retrieval system for TEXPROS, which is capable of processing incomplete or vague queries and providing semantically meaningful responses to the users. The design of the retrieval system is highly integrated with various mechanisms for achieving these goals. First, a system catalog including a thesaurus is used to store the knowledge about the database. …

Isospectral Graphs And The Expander Coefficient, Ian Campbell Walters Jr.

Dissertations

The expander coefficient of a graph is a parameter that is utilized to quantify the rate at which information is spread throughout a graph. The eigenvalues of the Lapladan of a graph provide a bound for the expander coefficient of the graph. In this dissertation, we construct many pairs of isospectral graphs with different expander coefficients.

In Chapter I, we define the problem and present some preliminary definitions. We then introduce two constructions that are related to graph composition and that may be employed to produce cospectral and isospectral graphs.

In Chapter II, we investigate the connectivity of and distance …

Hydrogeology And Hydrogeochemistry Of Government Marsh, North St. Joseph County, Michigan, Michael C. Kasenow

Dissertations

A hydrogeologic and hydrogeochemical investigation was conducted at Government Marsh located in St. Joseph County, Michigan from May, 1988, to November, 1993. Information on glacial geology, topography, drainage patterns, hydraulic conductivity, vegetation, water chemistry, and static water table elevations has been collected and analyzed. Data were collected in order to determine directions of ground water flow and areas of recharge and discharge. Bail-down tests, grain-size analysis, and permeameters were used to determine hydraulic conductivity adjacent to and within the wetland. Water table elevations and chemistry were analyzed from wells adjacent to the wetland perimeter and within the boundaries of the …

Comparisons Of Several Medians In A Lognormal K-Sample Context Where Some Data May Be Left-Censored, Stavros Costa Pouloukas

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Spectroscopic Study Of Nitrogen, Nitrogen/Helium And Fluorobenzenes In A Corona Supersonic Discharge, Jing-Chen Luo

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Synthesis Of Enantioenriched Piperidine-Based, Spirocyclic Analogues Of Af64a And Acetylcholine, Nam Huh

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Chiral Isoparathion Methyl As A Stereospecific Probe Of Phosphorothiolate Mechanism Of Action; Novel Synthetic Approaches Toward Isoquinolone Alkaloids: Pancratistatin Study, Seungmin Ryu

Dissertations

No abstract provided.