We formulate an integro-difference model to predict the growth and spatial
spread of a perennial plant population with an age-structured seed bank. We allow
the seeds in the bank to be of any age, producing an infinite system of equations.
The...
This dissertation is concerned with investigating robust approaches for the control of pneumatic muscle systems. Pneumatic muscle is a novel type of actuator. Besides having a high ratio of power to weight and flexible control of movement, it also...
Solar energy--Technological innovations; Electric current rectifiers
Solar energy offers a large potential as a source of energy and in light of financial
and ethical reasons, people are looking to harvest it for their energy needs. The
conversion of solar energy to electricity is performed by solar cells. There...
A k-term quasi-progression of diameter d is a sequence {Xl,... ,xk} for which there exists a positive integer l such that l < Xi-Xi-1 < l+d, for all i = 2, ... ,k. Quasi-progressions may be thought of as arithmetic progressions with a certain...
Given a metric space (K, d), the hyperspace of K is defined by H(K) = {F c K: F is compact, F ≠ 0}. H(K) is itself a metric space under the Hausdorff metric dH. Hyperspaces have been extensively studied by topologists since the 1970's, but the...
Phase II clinical trial are generally single arm trial where a homogeneity assumption is placed on the response. In practice, this assumption may be violated resulting in a heterogeneous response. This heterogeneous or overdispersed response can be...
Many important applications require the discovery of items which have occurred frequently. Knowledge of these items is commonly used in anomaly detection and network monitoring tasks. Effective solutions for this problem focus mainly on reducing...
A hyper basis function network (HyperBF) is a generalized radial basis function network (RBF) where the activation function is a radial function of a weighted distance. The local weighting of the distance accounts for the variation in local scaling...
The field of graph theory has been indubitably influenced by the study of planar graphs. This thesis, consisting of five chapters, is a historical account of the origins and development of concepts pertaining to planar graphs and their...
III-nitrides (InN, GaN, AlN) are some of the most promising materials for making blue light emitting diodes (LED), blue laser diodes (LD) and high power, high temperature field effect transistors (FET). Current techniques produce GaN films with...
In a nonlocally compact Polish abelian group G, we will consider two notions of smallness of subsets of G. Those subsets of G which are topologically small are said to be meager, and those which are measure-theoretically small are Haar null. We...
The game of Snake has been selected to provide a unique application of the
TD( ) algorithm as proposed by Sutton. A reinforcement learning technique for
producing computer controlled players is documented. Using value function
approximation with...
Emotions (Philosophy); Literature--Philosophy; Ethics; Philosophy of mind
This dissertation offers a brief survey of the rise of reason and the tum to the self at the expense of emotion in Western thought. This marginalization of emotion has had deleterious effects on two areas: the cultivation of virtue and the...
Guthrie, James, 1792-1869; Kentucky--Officials and employees; Kentucky--Politics and government--19th century
James Guthrie, like any man, may be considered as a private individual, as a participant in the economic activities of his time, and as a citizen. Of Guthrie’s personal life little is known besides the barest biographical outline. His business...
In July 1995, National Science Foundation Award # 9551869 funded the development of a new inter-disciplinary microfabrication course under the primary leadership of Dr. Kevin Walsh at the University of Louisville. Along with this award, the...
Edgard Varese began composing "Deserts" in 1949 and completed it late in 1954. Scored for fifteen instruments, five percussionists and two tapes of organized sounds, "Deserts" comprises acoustic instrumental music and sections...
Understanding the nucleation and early stage growth of crystals from the vapor phase is important for realizing large-area single-crystal quality films, controlled synthesis of nanocrystals, and the possible discovery of new phases of materials....
Science teachers--Certification; Science--Study and teaching (Elementary)
The purpose of this study was to discern what differences exist between the science inquiry learning environments created by National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) and non-NBCTs. Four research questions organized the data collection and...
Mathematical imaging consists of many different applications including image segmentation, image classification, and inpainting. This work deals more specifically with image segmentation: the partition of an image into the background and the...
