Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Hiring Practices For Graphic Designers In Utah County, Utah, Landon T. Densley

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to show how hiring standards of evidence for graphic designers in Utah County compared with the national standards of evidence. The four major national standards of evidence for hiring graphic designers, identified by American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and Goldfarb, in order of importance are portfolio, recommendations, personality, and education. The data from this study revealed that Utah County employer's standards of evidence matched up closely to national standards of evidence, but the order of importance was slightly different because personality was ranked ahead of recommendations and education.

Grouping Search-Engine Returned Citations For Person-Name Queries, Reema Al-Kamha

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis we present a technique to group search-engine returned citations for person-name queries, such that the search-engine returned citations in each group belong to the same person. To group the returned citations we use a multi-faceted approach that considers evidence from three facets: (1) attributes, (2) links, and (3) page similarity. For each facet we generate a confidence matrix. Then we construct a final confidence matrix for all facets. Using a threshold, we apply a grouping algorithm on the final confidence matrix. The output is a group of search-engine returned citations, such that the citations in each group …

Psl(2,7)-Extensions With Certain Ramification At Two Primes, Glen E. Simpson

Theses and Dissertations

We conduct a parallel Hunter search in order to find a degree 7 number field K ramified at primes q and p with discriminant d(K)=q^6 p^2 where q=11 and 2

The Occurrence And Control Of Disinfection By-Products (Dbps) In Two Water Treatment Plants Utilizing The Same Source, Sam George Khoury

Theses and Dissertations

The influence of disinfection by-products (DBPs) on the operation and design of water treatment plants has been increasing since the early studies by Rook on trihalomethanes (THMs) (Stevens, 1977). Work conducted in the 1980s identified the existence of nonvolatile halogenated organics (non-THM organics), of which the majority produced by chlorination were haloacetic acids (HAAs), within the HAAs, dichloroacetic acid (DCAA) and trichloroacetic acid (TCAA) were the dominant members. Concern over potential health effect led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to set a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for total THMs and HAAs. The disinfectant/disinfection by-product rule (D-DBP Rule) currently proposed …

A Cost Effective Approach To Taxonomic Resolution For Bioassessment And Monitoring Programs In The State Of Georgia, Jodi Alene Williams

Theses and Dissertations

The Georgia Ecoregions Reference Sites Project has developed biological criteria for streams in Georgia according to the Rapid Bioassessment Protocols For Wadeable Streams and Rivers. Streams will ultimately be classified into categories of impairment so that management decisions can be made in accordance with the Clean Water Act. A cost-effective approach to accomplish mandates set forth by the Clean Water Act must be employed, as state budgets are limited. One means of examining costs is to assess taxonomic resolution. Taxonomic resolution not only assesses the sensitivity of biocriteria, it also allows one to make recommendations to state agencies regarding the …

Improving Tcp Performance By Estimating Errors In A Long Delay, High Error Rate Environment, Stephanie E. Carroll

Theses and Dissertations

Interest in finding methods of improving TCP performance over satellite and wireless networks is high. This has been an active area of research within the networking community. This research develops an algorithm, CETEN-R for TCP to determine if a particular packet is lost due to congestion or corruption and react accordingly. An analysis of the performance of CETEN-R under a variety of conditions is studied and then compared to TCP Reno and TCP New Reno. When delay is high and the error rate is high CETEN-R showed a 77.5% increase in goodput over TCP New Reno and a 33.8% increase …

Reduced Index Sparse Representation In A Parallel Environment, Pedro Alfonso Escallon

Theses and Dissertations

Sparse-matrix/dense-vector multiplication algorithms are not as highly developed as algorithms for dense matrices. Dense matrix multiplication algorithms have been made efficient by exploiting data locality, parallelism, pipelining, and other types of optimization. Sparse matrix algorithms, on the other hand, encounter low or no data locality, indirect addressing, and no easy way to exploit parallelism. In an effort to achieve savings in storage and computational time, the topic of sparse matrix representation is often revisited. The first contribution of this thesis is the introduction of a new representation for sparse matrices. This representation is called here the Reduced Index Sparse (RIS) …

Load Balancing Parallel Explicit State Model Checking, Rahul Kumar

Theses and Dissertations

This research first identifies some of the key concerns about the techniques and algorithms developed for distributed and parallel model checking; specifically, the inherent problem with load balancing and large queue sizes resultant in a static partition algorithm. This research then presents a load balancing algorithm to improve the run time performance in distributed model checking, reduce maximum queue size, and reduce the number of states expanded before error discovery. The load balancing algorithm is based on Generalized Dimension Exchange (GDE). This research presents an empirical analysis of the GDE based load balancing algorithm on three different supercomputing architectures---distributed memory …

Platinum Group Element Mineralization In "Ballrooms" Of The J-M Reef Of The Stillwater Complex, Montana, Matthew P. Harper

Theses and Dissertations

The J-M Reef of the Stillwater Complex, Montana (a large layered mafic intrusion), is one of the highest grade platinum group element (PGE) deposits known in the world, producing primarily palladium and platinum in a 3.4:1 ratio. "Ballrooms" of the Stillwater Complex are anomalously wide areas within or stratigraphically below the J-M Reef that host platinum group element mineralization. Ballrooms have two typical morphologies (type 1 and type 2); the first is an abrupt thickening of the mineralization that extends below the Reef Package and the second is a gentle widening of the Reef Package and associated reef mineralization to …

A New Approach To Lie Symmetry Groups Of Minimal Surfaces, Robert D. Berry

Theses and Dissertations

The Lie symmetry groups of minimal surfaces by way of planar harmonic functions are determined. It is shown that a symmetry group acting on the minimal surfaces is isomorphic with H × H^2 — the analytic functions and the harmonic functions. A subgroup of this gives a generalization of the associated family which is examined.

Solving Large Mdps Quickly With Partitioned Value Iteration, David Wingate

Theses and Dissertations

Value iteration is not typically considered a viable algorithm for solving large-scale MDPs because it converges too slowly. However, its performance can be dramatically improved by eliminating redundant or useless backups, and by backing up states in the right order. We present several methods designed to help structure value dependency, and present a systematic study of companion prioritization techniques which focus computation in useful regions of the state space. In order to scale to solve ever larger problems, we evaluate all enhancements and methods in the context of parallelizability. Using the enhancements, we discover that in many instances the limiting …

Using Time-Resolved Photoluminescence To Measure The Excitation And Temperature Dependence Of Carrier Relaxation In Mid-Wave Infrared Semiconductors, Kevin Cumblidge

Theses and Dissertations

Research in the field of mid-wave infrared (MWIR) semiconductor photonic devices has led to applications in a variety of disciplines including atmospheric monitoring, optical communications, non-invasive glucose testing for diabetics, and infrared (IR) countermeasures. One of the limiting factors for improving the modulation rates of MWIR devices is the carrier relaxation time. This is the time required for energetic carriers to cool to the edge of their respective bands in a bulk semiconductor material, or to the bottom of a well through inter- and intra-sub-band scattering in a quantum well (QW) structure. From these lower energy states, they can then …

Comparative Study On The Use Of Coherent Radar-Derived Electric Fields Vs. Statistical Electric Fields For The Initialization Of A High-Latitude Ionospheric Model, Christopher M. Hogue

Theses and Dissertations

The structure and time development of the magnetosphere-ionosphere system have significant impacts on the Air Force and its mission. Specifically, an accurate knowledge of ionospheric plasma densities is important for the operation of many Air Force systems. This research analyzes plasma density structure development through comparing two distinct electric field models. The two models compared here are a commonly used statistical model created by Heppner and Maynard 1987, and a more recently developed model using real-time coherent radar measurements from the SuperDARN radar network. Ionospheric simulations were run using Utah State University s Time-Dependent Ionospheric Model (TDIM) with the two …

Derivation Of A Self-Consistent Auroral Oval Model Using The Auroral Boundary Index, Keith A. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

The position and intensity of the auroral oval has many implications for the Air Force from determining the effects of incoming electron flux on DoD systems to modeling the ionosphere to exploit current HF communications capabilities. The auroral morphology is a good indicator of the level at which space weather and its near-Earth consequences are occurring, and thus it is important to develop an auroral prediction model. However, since no purely physics-based models exist to describe the temporal and spatial evolution of the auroral zone, space weather practitioners and researchers are forced to produce statistical representations, “organized” by some relevant …

Estimating Equatorial F-Region Daytime Vertical E X B Drift Velocities From Ground-Based Magnetometer Measurements In The Philippine Longitude Sector, Shauna M. Kinkela

Theses and Dissertations

Ionospheric disturbances can severely impact Department of Defense (DoD) systems, such as radar. satellite. and navigation technologies. Forecasting disturbances and describing the Earth's ionosphere, in turn, relies upon innovative computer-based models that gather input parameters from ground and space-borne observations and empirical models for ionospheric drivers. Equatorial E x B drift velocities are significant input parameters that go into many ionospheric models, because they help describe vertical plasma motions near the magnetic equator. Previous work by Anderson, et al 2002 has demonstrated the ability to derive Peruvian longitude sector, daytime vertical E x B drifts from ground-based magnetometer data. The …

On The Effects Of Device Mobility Upon Resource-Sharing In A Simulated Wireless Grid Network, Arris Ray

Theses and Dissertations

The primary aim of modern computer networks is to permit simplified sharing of resources (e.g., files and data) or to provide access to remote resources (e.g., printers or remote file-systems). Grid networks aim to provide a more sophisticated framework for securely sharing, selecting and/or aggregating a wide-variety of remote resources, whether logical (e.g., files and data) or physical (e.g., remote sensors, processing power or disk storage space). Provided that circuit design continues to improve at the relatively steady pace that it has for the past decade, in addition to standard desktop systems, miniature and mobile devices will soon become substantially …

The Impact Of Urbanization On Macroinvertebrate Communities Of Creeks Within Western Georgia, Jeniffer Susan Lang

Theses and Dissertations

Urbanization is a major cause of stream impairment in the United States, altering stream ecological integrity in a variety of ways. While control of point source pollution has largely improved over the last twenty years, the control of non-point source pollution has proved to be more of a challenge. Urbanization in the area surrounding streams has been linked with elevated levels of sediment, heavy metals, organic matter, and nutrients within streams, as well as with other negative effects. Examining the macroinvertebrate communities within streams has proven to be an effective indicator of the effects of urbanization on water quality. This …

Quantifying Software Maintainability On Re-Engineered Translation Of Fortran To C++ Code, Zane Grey Tomlinson Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the expanding existence of old software, legacy systems, and obsolete platforms with many industries, software re-engineering has become a widespread methodology that assists engineers and software practitioners with translating inflexible, unsupportable legacy software into maintainable software. Many companies today are investing in a variety of re-engineering techniques such as translation of source code to new code structures and target platforms to ensure future software maintenance can be performed in an efficient and effective manner. With sound re-engineering principles, the application of these techniques leverage the knowledge and previous engineering endeavors to mitigate risks and provide adequate performance to …

Velocity And Temperature Characterization Of The First Vacuum Stage Expansion In An Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometer, William Neil Radicic

Theses and Dissertations

The inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) is the analytical instrument of choice for trace element detection and quantification. Despite the popularity of ICP-MS, significant degradation in sensitivity and precision occurs as the result of matrix and instrument-induced effects. The sources of these effects are not well understood, characterized, or correlated to particular plasma operating condition settings or matrix compositions and involve both neutral and charged species. The purpose of this study is to characterize the behavior of metastable Ar (I) atom and Ca (II) ion through the measurement of Doppler velocities and fluorescence line width "temperatures."

For the …

N9 Alkylation And Glycosylation Of Purines; A Practical Synthesis Of 2-Chloro-2'-Deoxyadenosine, Minghong Zhong

Theses and Dissertations

(a) The Robins reagent [2-acetamido-6-O-(diphenylcarbamoyl)purine] was utilized for glycosylation under Lewis acid conditions. Regioselectivity of glycosylation depends on the glycosyl donor and its 2-O- or 2-N-protecting group. Regioselective N9 glycosylation of 2-acetamido-6-O-(diphenylcarbamoyl)purine with problematic glucosamine has been accomplished by protecting the amino function as a phthalimido group with consequent stabilization of the oxocarbenium cation, and lowering the activation energy by introduction of trichloroacetimidate at the anomeric carbon.

(b) 6-Heteroaryl functions [6-(1,2,4-triazol-4-yl) and 6-(imidazol-1-yl)] were introduced into purine derivatives for regioselective N9 alkylation. The regiospecificity of alkylation mainly results from steric effects due to the coplanar conformation of the two linked …

Performance Of The Kenward-Project When The Covariance Structure Is Selected Using Aic And Bic, Elisa Valderas Gomez

Theses and Dissertations

Linear mixed models are frequently used to analyze data with random effects and/or repeated measures. A common approach to such analyses requires choosing a covariance structure. Information criteria, such as AIC and BIC, are often used by statisticians to help with this task. However, these criteria do not always point to the true covariance structure and therefore the wrong covariance structure is sometimes chosen. Once this step is complete, Wald statistics are used to test fixed effects. Degrees of freedom for these statistics are not known. However, there are approximation methods, such as Kenward and Roger (KR) and Satterthwaite (SW) …

The "Fair" Triathlon: Equating Standard Deviations Using Non-Linear Bayesian Models, Steven Mckay Curtis

Theses and Dissertations

The Ironman triathlon was created in 1978 by combining events with the longest distances for races then contested in Hawaii in swimming, cycling, and running. The Half Ironman triathlon was formed using half the distances of each of the events in the Ironman. The Olympic distance triathlon was created by combining events with the longest distances for races sanctioned by the major federations for swimming, cycling, and running. The relative importance of each event in overall race outcome was not given consideration when determining the distances of each of the races in modern triathlons. Thus, there is a general belief …

Validation Of Criteria Used To Predict Warfarin Dosing Decisions, Nicole Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

People at risk for blood clots are often treated with anticoagulants, warfarin is such an anticoagulant. The dose's effect is measured by comparing the time for blood to clot to a control time called an INR value. Previous anticoagulant studies have addressed agreement between fingerstick (POC) devices and the standard laboratory, however these studies rely on mathematical formulas as criteria for clinical evaluations, i.e. clinical evaluation vs. precision and bias. Fourteen such criteria were found in the literature. There exists little consistency among these criteria for assessing clinical agreement, furthermore whether these methods of assessing agreement are reasonable estimates of …

Ultraconnected And Critical Graphs, Jason Nicholas Grout

Theses and Dissertations

We investigate the ultraconnectivity condition on graphs, and provide further connections between critical and ultraconnected graphs in the positive definite partial matrix completion problem. We completely characterize when the join of graphs is ultraconnected, and prove that ultraconnectivity is preserved by Cartesian products. We completely characterize when adding a vertex to an ultraconnected graph preserves ultraconnectivity. We also derive bounds on the number of vertices which guarantee ultraconnectivity of certain classes of regular graphs. We give results from our exhaustive enumeration of ultraconnected graphs up to 11 vertices. Using techniques involving the Lovász theta parameter for graphs, we prove certain …

Terrestrial Movements And Habitat Use Of Gopher Frogs (Rana Capito) At Fort Benning, Georgia, Jonathan H. Neufeldt

Theses and Dissertations

Gopher frogs (Rana capito) were radio-tracked between the 2000 and 2001 breeding seasons to study their terrestrial movements and habitat use in a longleaf pine- sandhill area on the Fort Benning Military Reservation, Georgia. The telemetry research was conducted in response to the need for biological data concerning gopher frog terrestrial habits. Ultimately the data could aid biologists and land managers in describing critical habitat and the development of a management or recovery plan. Twelve gopher frogs were caught at a herpetofaunal array surrounding two neighboring breeding ponds during a post breeding migration, implanted with miniature transmitters, released and radio-tracked …

Mool: An Object-Oriented Programming Language With Generics And Modules., María Lucía Barrón Estrada

Theses and Dissertations

Modern object-oriented languages like Java and C# do not support parametric polymorphism and do not have a traditional module system to allow the development of large systems. They overload the class mechanism with several tasks and they use packages and namespaces to organize clusters of classes providing weak control for accessing members. Other languages that support generic programming and objects do not have a simple object model to support object-oriented features. In this thesis the language MOOL is presented. MOOL is a class-based object-oriented language that supports modular programming and genericity. The main goal in the design of MOOL was …

Web-Based Trend Analysis Of Rocket Data Using Xml, Mark Randall Gibson

Theses and Dissertations

This paper will discuss and prove the feasibility of using XML to transfer, compare, and view data created during automated testing of black boxes; stored both in simple text format and relational database format. This system arises from the need for the reliability department to review the test data from the flight hardware at all testing locations. For the purposes of this paper we will refer to this system as the "Test Data Retrieval System" (TDRS). This data review is being done to determine if there are any negative trends in the hardware that may be surfacing. This data resides …

Solving Combinatorial Optimization Problems Using A New Algorithm Based On Gravitational Attraction, Barry Lynn Webster

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation represents the culmination of research into the development of a new algorithm for locating optimal solutions to difficult problems. This new algorithm is founded upon one of the most basic concepts in nature - so basic that it is in fact one of the four primary forces in physics: gravity. It is called the Gravitational Emulation Local Search algorithm, or GELS. Four variants of the algorithm were developed, representing combinations of two basic methods of operation and two modes of search space exploration. Following development, a series of experiments were conducted to assess the capabilities of this new …

Learning States For Detecting Anomalies In Time Series, Stan Weidner Salvador

Theses and Dissertations

The normal operation of a device can be characterized in different operational states. To identify these states, we introduce a segmentation algorithm called Gecko that can determine a reasonable number of segments using our proposed L method. We then use the RIPPER classification algorithm to describe these states in logical rules. Finally, transitional logic between the states is added to create a finite state automation. Multiple time series data may be used for training, by merging several time series into a single representative time series using dynamic time warping. Our empirical results, on data obtained from the NASA shuttle program, …

Fluorescence Detectors For Proteins And Toxic Heavy Metals, Uchenna Prince Paul

Theses and Dissertations

An inexpensive detector for proteins is described. The detection technique was based on two-photon excitation intrinsic protein fluorescence using a visible 532 nm diode-pumped nano laser as the excitation source. Proteins that exhibit intrinsic fluorescence must contain at least one tryptophan, tyrosine, or phenylalanine residue in their amino acid sequences. The detector was characterized and was found to have a detection limit of 4 micro-molar for tryptophan, 22 micro-molar for tyrosine and 500 micro-molar for phenylalanine. Bovine serum albumin, a serum protein with 3 tryptophan residues in its amino acid sequence was also used to characterize the detector. It was …