Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2009. / Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 136 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Tesis--Madrid. / "Las Costumbres o Constituciones de Miravet estaban inéditas hasta ahora. La presente edición contiene el texto latino, según el manuscrito del Archivo histórico nacional, con las variantes de la parte latina del de la Biblioteca Colombina."--P. xviii. "Durante la dominación de los templarios, regían en Miravet, en parte, las Consuetudines ilerdenses y, en parte, el derecho consuetudinario local ... El Privilegium de Miravet es, en lo fundamental, el cruce jurícico de las Consuetudines ilerdenses con el derecho consuetudinario de la bailia."--Historia y fuentes de estas constituciones, p. [xi]-xiv.

This paper examines the impact of traditional Chechen culture, especially the continued practice of blood feuds, on violence in the republic. First, an in depth discussion of clannish society is used to show how and why such traditional characteristics and ancient customs have been allowed to thrive among the Chechen people, especially those living in the highlands. The focus then turns to the strong concept of honor that flourishes in Chechen society as the main motivator of blood feuds. The more detailed discussion of blood feud itself and its ancient and modern practice show the potential for and realization of widespread violence in Chechnya. The Chechens are a people with deep historical roots and a strong collective memory. The events of the past, especially conflict with Russia, greatly influence the events of the present and future. The modern Chechen identity is a unique mentality, which combines role of teip and its strong influence on society with the rise of nationalism, and later Islamic nationalism. The recent wars in Chechnya have also had a defining characteristic on the Chechen people and their psyche. When this kind of crisis is combined with the traditional Chechen culture and a propensity for violence, the outcome can be devastating, especially when violence is radicalized and...

Allocation of expensive resources, (such as Multiplier) onto the CGRA has been of interest from quite some time. For these architectural solutions to fulfill the designers' requirements, it is of utmost importance that the design offers high performance, low power consumption, and effective area utilization. The allocation problem is studied using the UntangledII gaming environment, which has been developed at the Reconfigurable Computing Lab at UNT to discover the design of custom domain-specific architectures. This thesis explores several case-studies to investigate the arrangement of functional units and interconnects to achieve a low power, high performance, and flexible heterogeneous designs that can fit for a suite of applications. In the later part, several human mapping strategies of top and bottom players to design a custom domain-specific architecture are presented. Some common trends that were examined while analyzing the mapping strategies of the players are also discussed.

New types of laboratory reactors that are highly customizable, low-cost and easy to produce are needed to investigate low-temperature geochemical processes. We recently showed that desktop 3D printing stereolithography (SLA) can be used to efficiently fabricate a mixed flow reactor (MFR) with high dimensional accuracy comparable to traditional machining methods (Michel et al., 2018). We also showed that the SLA method allowed for the addition of complex features that are often beyond the capabilities of traditional methods. However, the stability of 3D printed parts at low-temperature geochemical conditions has not been fully evaluated. The objectives of this work were twofold: 1) to provide a framework for assessing the stability and compatibility of SLA printed materials at geochemically relevant conditions, and 2) to show how 3D printed specialty devices can enable new laboratory geochemical experiments. Part 1 of this Master's thesis presents findings for enhancing mechanical and solvent resistance properties of a commercial 3D printing material (Formlabs Clear) by UV post-curing procedures and also provide data showing its stability in aqueous solutions at pH 0, 5.7, and 12 for periods of up to 18 days. Thermal degradation patterns, mechanical analysis, and leachable fraction data are provided. Part 2 shows experiments coupling 3D printed reactors and flow devices for in situ small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). Schwertmannite (pH 2.7) and goethite (6.2) are precipitated from solution using various setups and observed differences in growth rates are discussed. The data show the potential of 3D printing for enabling novel laboratory geochemical experiments. / MS

This thesis presents an engineering approach to the modeling and analysis of custom foot orthotics. Although orthotics are widely used and accepted as devices for the prevention of and recovery from injuries, the design process continues to be based on empirical means. There have been many clinical studies investigating the various effects that the orthotics can have on the kinematics and kinetics of human locomotion. The results from these studies are not always consistent, primarily due to subject variability and experimental nature of the design. Alternatively, a better understanding of the therapeutic effects of custom foot orthotics, as well as designing for optimal performance, can be achieved through simulation-based engineering modeling and analysis studies. Such an approach will pave the way to clarify some of the ambiguous findings found in the clinical studies-based literature. Towards this goal, this research presents a methodical process for the replication of the orthotics’ complex three-dimensional geometry and for the construction of finite element analysis models using estimated nonlinear material properties. As part of this research, laser scanning techniques are used to capture the objects’ details and geometry through generation of point cloud surface images by taking multiple scans from all angles. Material testing and Mooney-Rivlin equations were used to construct the hyperelastic nonlinear material properties. Using the mid-stance phase of gait for loading conditions, the ANSYS finite element package was utilized to run analyses on three different load classifications and the corresponding maximum stresses and deflection results were generated. The results indicate that the simulated models can augment and validate the use of empirical tables for designing custom foot orthotics. They can also provide the basis for the optimal design thicknesses of custom foot orthotics based on an end-users’ weight and activities. From a practical perspective, they can also be useful in further exploring different orthotics, loading conditions, material properties, as well as the effectiveness of orthotics for different foot and lower extremity deformities.

The automotive industry's search for stronger lighter materials has been hampered in its desire to make greater use of Magnesium alloys by their poor formability below 150°C. One current challenge is to identify the complex structure and deformation mechanisms at work and determine which of these are primary contributors to the nucleation of defects. Orientation Imaging Microscopy has been the most accessible tool for microstructural analysis over the past 15 years. However, using OIM to analyze defect nucleation sites requires prior knowledge of where the defects will occur because once the defects nucleate the majority of microstructural information is destroyed. This thesis seeks to contribute to the early detection of nucleation sites via three mechanisms: 1. Detection of cracks that have already nucleated, 2. Detection of surface topography changes that may indicate imminent nucleation and 3. Beam control strategies for efficiently finding areas of interest in a scan. Successive in-situ OIM scans of a consistent sample region while strain is increased, while using the three techniques developed in this thesis, will be employed in future work to provide a powerful defect analysis tool. By analyzing retrieved EBSD patterns we are able to locate defect / crack sites via shadowing on the EBSD patterns. Furthermore, topographical features (and potentially regions of surface roughening) can be detected via changes in intensity metrics and image quality. Topographical gradients are currently only detectable in line with the beam incidence. It is therefore suggested that the tensile specimens to be examined are orientated such that the resulting shear bands occur preferentially to this direction. The ability to refine the scan around these areas of interest has been demonstrated via an off-line adaptive scan routine that is implemented via the custom scan tool. A first attempt at a defect detection framework has been outlined and coded into MATLAB. These tools offer a first step to accessing the information about defect nucleation that researchers are currently seeking.

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The purpose of this research is to see how Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) principles and practices can be used on high end custom residential construction projects to increase the collaboration and efficiency of the project team. A case study was conducted on a custom home project to observe how and what IPD principles were used. Observations, interviews and a survey were used as part of that case study to gain insights. This research found that IPD principles and practices could be used on residential projects. In addition, the research found that those involved found the experience positive and beneficial to their success on the project.

<p> This thesis details the application of computational methods to the problem of determining custom data representations when building hardware accelerators for numerical computations. A majority of scientific applications which require hardware acceleration are implemented in IEEE-754 double precision. However, in many cases the error tolerance requirements of the application are much less than the accuracy which IEEE-754 double precision provides. By leveraging custom data representations, a more resource efficient hardware implementation arises thereby enabling greater parallelism and thus higher performance of the accelerator. </p> <p> The existing custom representation methods are unable to guarantee robust representations while at the same time adequately supporting ill-conditioned operators. Support for both of these scenarios is necessary for accelerating scientific calculations. To address this, we propose the use of a computational method based on Satisfiability-Modulo Theory (SMT). By capturing a calculation as a set of constraints, an SMT instance can be formulated which provides meaningful bounds even in the presence of ill-conditioned operators. At the same time, the analytical nature of SMT satisfies the need for robustness. Utilizing block vector arithmetic, our SMT approach is extended to provide scalability to large instances involving vector calculus which arise in scientific calculations. Atop this foundation, a unified error model is proposed which deals simultaneously with absolute and relative error, thereby providing the means of supporting both fixed-point and custom floating-point data types. Iterative algorithm analysis is leveraged to derive constraints for the SMT method. The application of the method to several scientific algorithms is discussed by way of case studies. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)