In order to fast effective analysis of large complex systems, high-performance computing is essential. NVIDIA Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA)-assisted central processing unit (CPU) / graphics processing unit (GPU) computing platform has proven its potential to be used in high-performance computing. In CPU/GPU computing, original data and instructions are copied from CPU main memory to GPU global memory. Inside GPU, it would be beneficial to keep the data into shared memory (shared only by the threads of that block) than in the global memory (shared by all threads). However, shared memory is much smaller than global memory (for Fermi Tesla C2075, total shared memory per block is 48 KB and total global memory is 6 GB). In this paper, we introduce a CPU-memory to GPU-global-memory mapping technique to improve GPU and overall system performance by increasing the effectiveness of GPU-shared memory. We use NVIDIA 448-core Fermi and 2496-core Kepler GPU cards in this study. Experimental results, from solving Laplace's equation for 512x512 matrixes using a Fermi GPU card, show that proposed CPU-to-GPU memory mapping technique help decrease the overall execution time by more than 75%. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Emotion may play a critical role in a reader's ability to comprehend text. Past research has shown that happy and sad emotions influence processing, which can impact comprehension. More specific emotions, such as self-conscious emotions, require a reader to allocate more cognitive resources to process those emotions. This study examines the effects of pride, shame, guilt, and neutral emotions on the reader's ability to generate planning knowledge and physical knowledge inferences. After an autobiographical memory task, participants read texts that require a planning knowledge or physical knowledge inference to be generated. Response times and accuracy rates for the inference generation task were examined. Though there was not a statistically significant effect of emotion found when examining accuracy rates for knowledge validating questions, the p-value was less than .10, and demonstrated that pride may facilitate general knowledge activation during reading. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Counseling, Educational Leadership, Educational and School Psychology

Since connecting rods are a major component in the smooth and efficient running of an engine, how they affect the overall performance is important. The durability of connecting rods in repeated and cyclic operations is significant to the health and performance of an engine. The purpose of this research is to determine what effects the vibrations of connecting rods have on the overall performance of Otto cycle engines. Some studies have been conducted on the static vibration of connecting rods as well as connecting rods in dynamic systems, but those studies only considered the connecting rod design. Modeling, dynamic analysis, and vibrational analysis are conducted using two different software programs, MSC Adams/View and FEV Virtual Engine. Two different engine configurations are modeled: inline and vee; the results from the two programs are then compared. The data is also checked against vibrational analysis from literature sources as well as having the general performance of the pistons cross-checked against real engine data. The MSC Adams/ View models are composed of simplified cranktrains and forces; while those of FEV Virtual Engine are modeled after actual dimensions and workings. It is determined that the vibrations of connecting rods, under typical operating conditions and material/geometrical properties, do not greatly affect the overall performance of an engine. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

A variety of therapy tools as well as augmentative alternative communication (AAC) devices and strategies exist to aid in the communication enhancement of persons with aphasia. As technology continues to evolve, personal computing tablets (PCTs) such as the iPad have joined the race in finding the solution to this often devastating communication disorder with the development of apps that address the therapy needs of this population as well as potential AAC strategies. Because of the novelty of this technology, little evidence exists supporting the efficacy of such apps. Additionally, little is known about the decision making process in which speech-language pathologists engage before determining if a given app is an appropriate therapy option for a patient. The purpose of this study is to determine how medically-based speech-language pathologists are making a variety of clinical decisions regarding appropriate iPad applications to be used as therapy tools as well as AAC options for their patients with aphasia. Keywords: augmentative alternative communication, AAC, aphasia, speech-language pathologist, personal computing tablets, apps / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Health Professions, Dept. of Communication Sciences and Disorders

Software change requests, such as bug fixes and new features, are an integral part of software evolution and maintenance. It is not uncommon in open source projects to receive numerous change requests daily, which need to be triaged. Therein, automatically assigning the most appropriate developer(s) to resolve an incoming change request is an important task. The thesis proposes two approaches to address this task. The first approach, namely iA, employs a combination of an information retrieval technique and processing of the source code authorship information. The relevant source code files to the textual description of a change request are first located. The authors listed in the header comments in these files are then analyzed to arrive at a ranked list of the most suitable developers. The approach fundamentally differs from its previously reported counterparts, as it does not require software repository mining. The second approach, namely, iMacPro, amalgamates the textual similarity between the given change request and source code, change proneness information, authors, and maintainers of a software system. Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) and a lightweight analysis of source code, and its commits from the software repository, are used. The basic premise of iMacPro is that the authors and maintainers of the relevant source code, which is change prone, to a given change request are most likely to best assist with its resolution. iMacPro unifies these sources in a unique way to perform its task, which was not investigated in the literature previously. An empirical study to evaluate the effectiveness of the approaches on open source systems, ArgoUML, JabRef, jEdit, and MuCommander, is reported. The iA approach is found to provide recommendation accuracies that are equivalent or better than the two compared approaches. Results also show that iMacPro could provide recall gains from 30% to 180% over its subjected competitor with statistical significance. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

The need of multicore/manycore systems for today's world is significantly increasing. But the multicore system is considered to be power-hungry as well as high latency system. Different researches show that it is possible to increase the performance to power ratio by wisely locking the memory blocks inside the cache memory. But this method introduces cache underutilization problem which reduces the effective cache size and also it is hard to configure. Also depending on the processor type, some processor may not have the option of cache locking. Also cache side channel attack and cache interference become a security threat for the cache design. In this paper, a smart cache technique is proposed which decreases the memory access latency and cache power consumption, as well as increases the overall system security. Propose smart victim cache (SVC) between level-1 cache (CL1) and leve-2 cache (CL2) eliminates the cache locking. SVC holds the higher missing memory blocks and also supports stream buffering. For security improvement for the cache, we randomize the cache mapping between main memory and CL1. The randomized cache mapping makes the attacker fool by showing the false positions of the memory blocks in the cache. In the experiment, a quad-core Intel-type system is used, where CL1 is private and CL2 is shared among the cores. A tree based analyzer HEPTANE (Hades Embedded Processor Timing Analyzer) and a system level simulator VisualSim are used on diverse applications (including MPEG-4 and H.264/AVC). From the simulation results, it is seen that 17% of memory access latency and 21% of total power consumption is reduced using SVC comparing with cache locking without using SVC. For 16-block CL1, it is estimated that the probability of cache side channel attack reduces from 40K to 1. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

This thesis presents the results of chemically treated carbon nanotube (CNT) yarn in a non-stretched or non-compressed condition. Chemical treatment has been proven to increase the tensile strength and conductivity of CNT wire while under tensile load. In this study, chemical treatment was administered to the CNT wire by emersion without stretching it and simultaneously measuring conductivity. Chemical treatment significantly changed the physical dimensions of the CNT wire, including an increase in diameter and a decrease in length. Physical dimensional changes were not measured, but they did result in changes to conductivity, which were recorded as they occurred. It is obvious that after a period of time, the acid treatment caused separation of individual CNT fibers, which resulted in an overall decrease in conductivity. The acid bath created covalent bonds between the carbon nanotubes and oxides and hydroxyls, while ionic bonds, which presented as increased conductivity, were established. In most test cases, the original conductivity was regained, but then appeared as if the CNT wire lost conductivity to the point of an open circuit. While this study seemingly yielded inconsistent conductivity results between different plies tested, it could be assumed that the inconsistent conductivity is the result of varying tension in the test specimen. One conclusion of this study is that in order to make a direct conductivity comparison between different sized CNT yarns there needs to be a definable consistent tension applied to the CNT wire being tested. Another conclusion is that once a higher-ply CNT wire has begun to un-wind, hand spinning the wire will not recover the conductivity. The final conclusion of this study is that the current spinning technology coupled with acid treating will not permit CNT wire to be used as a direct replacement for copper wire. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

This thesis is sequestered till May 2015. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Biological Sciences

German war memorials post-1945 involved a complicated story of commemoration; the complexities ranged from war memorials adapted multiple times to fit contemporary needs, to military cemeteries which became controversial in the wake of World War II. The different memorial practices examined within this project include: Brandenburg Gate, Neue Wache, memorial sculptures by Gerhard Marcks, Bitburg cemetery, a memorial bell dedicated to Hermann Goering, and Neulandhalle (New Land Hall). The individual sites serve as examples of the combination of societal and political factors that influenced the original design and meaning of the locations, as well as the reinterpretations of them. The continually shifting character of German war memorials highlights the constantly evolving perception of German soldiers who participated in World War II. To differentiate between the actions of ordinary soldiers and the Nazi war criminals, Germans citizens attempted to attribute separate functions to these two groups. The result was that German soldiers increasingly began to share a status similar to other war victims. Other factors that influenced the development of war memorials included the different ideologies that dominated in the Soviet versus Western occupation zones, and debates about whether Germany was a defeated nation or a nation of victims liberated from the Nazi regime. Memorials function as a method for society to construct a shared history, educate future generations about their past, and create a common cultural identity. This purpose and significance helps to explain why these monuments can lead to debate and controversy. One of the main issues confronting German citizens in the aftermath of World War II was how to memorialize the soldiers who were killed while fighting for the Nazi regime. / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of History

The Internet, which has had an impact on almost every facet of our lives. It has grown at a rapid pace and devices connecting to in direct proportion, in turn increasing the routing tables. The Location Identifier Separation Protocol (LISP) helps to reduce the burden in both enterprise routers and Internet routers without changing the hardware, which could cost more than implementing a new routing protocol. The LISP helps in reducing Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routes as well as keeping devices connected to the Internet or network with less downtime. Implementation of the LISP in a simulator helps network engineers learn the upcoming protocol and design, and test the network. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science