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We present an implicit approach for constructing smooth isolated or interconnected 3-D inscribed volumes which can be employed for volumetric modeling of various kinds of spongy or porous structures, such as volcanic rocks, pumice stones, Cancellus bones *, liquid or dry foam, radiolarians, cheese, and other similar materials. The inscribed volumes can be represented in their normal or positive forms to model natural pebbles or pearls, or in their inverted or negative forms to be used in porous structures, but regardless of their types, their smoothness and sizes are controlled by the user without losing the consistency of the shapes. We introduce two techniques for blending and creating interconnections between these inscribed volumes to achieve a great flexibility to adapt our approach to different types of porous structures, whether they are regular or irregular. We begin with a set of convex polytopes such as 3-D Voronoi diagram cells and compute inscribed volumes bounded by the cells. The cells can be irregular in shape, scale, and topology, and this irregularity transfers to the inscribed volumes, producing natural-looking spongy structures. Describing the inscribed volumes with implicit functions gives us a freedom to exploit volumetric surface combinations and deformations operations effortlessly / Graduate

Thesis advisor: Karen Arnold / Student engagement has been associated with a range of desirable outcomes in the undergraduate experience (Astin, 1993, Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005) and music participation has been shown to facilitate important personal and social development among its participants (Hallam, 2010). Despite this, no study has been conducted to evaluate the potential benefits of participation in one of the largest and most visible student organizations on campus: the college marching band. The purpose of this quantitative evaluation was to determine whether marching band students express distinctive patterns of engagement within their respective communities as compared with their non-band peers. Items and scales from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) were administered to marching band members (n=1,882) at 20 participating universities with National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division-I football programs. Data were compared with a sample of general undergraduate (non-band) responses (n=6,095) from the same institutions provided by the NSSE Institute. Findings suggested that band students are more engaged with diverse peers along racial, ethnic, political, ideological, and religious lines (p<.01; Cohen’s d=0.26) and they are more reflective in their learning as evident in their willingness to imagine another’s perspective and reevaluate their own views (p<.01; Cohen’s d=0.19). Compared with non-band peers, marching band members indicated greater personal social responsibility on an array of vectors (p<.01; Cohen’s d=0.36) including: developing a personal code of values and ethics, understanding people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds, understanding themselves, learning effectively on their own, voting in local or national elections, contributing to the welfare of their community, and solving complex real-world problems. After controlling for a range of pre-college and co-existing variables, marching band membership remained the strongest predictor of these desirable outcomes (β=0.172, p<.01). / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Imaging modalities such as CT, MRI, and SPECT have had a tremendous impact on diagnosis and treatment planning. These imaging techniques have given doctors the capability to visualize 3D anatomy structures of human body and soft tissues while being non-invasive. Unfortunately, the 3D images produced by these modalities often have boundaries between the organs and soft tissues that are difficult to delineate due to low signal to noise ratios and other factors. Image segmentation is employed as a method for differentiating Regions of Interest in these images by creating artificial contours or boundaries in the images. There are many different techniques for performing segmentation and automating these methods is an active area of research, but currently there are no generalized methods for automatic segmentation due to the complexity of the problem. Therefore hand-segmentation is still widely used in the medical community and is the €œGold standard€� by which all other segmentation methods are measured. However, existing manual segmentation techniques have several drawbacks such as being time consuming, introduce slice interpolation errors when segmenting slice-by-slice, and are generally not reproducible. In this thesis, we present a novel semi-automated method for 3D hand-segmentation that uses mesh extraction and surface parameterization to project several 3D meshes to 2D plane . We hypothesize that allowing the user to better view the relationships between neighboring voxels will aid in delineating Regions of Interest resulting in reduced segmentation time, alleviating slice interpolation artifacts, and be more reproducible.

This thesis provides a historical account of the career of Gary E. Smith, Associate Director of Bands Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Specific attention is given to Mr. Smith’s influences as a collegiate band director and his innovations in the band products industry. This study contributes to the growing scholarship of historical accounts of influential collegiate band directors and is the first to chronicle someone who served as an Associate Director of Bands. Research methods utilized during the writing of this thesis included oral interviews with Mr. Smith, his family, and his former students. Moreover, Mr. Smith’s professional papers were reviewed at the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music. Additional research included reviewing multiple editions of the Syracuse-Wawasee Journal, Indiana Statesman, Daily Illini, and annual yearbooks from the educational institutions where Mr. Smith served on faculty. This study begins by highlighting Smith’s childhood influences and chronicles his career through his retirement at the University of Illinois. Emphasis is given to his influence with the Marching Illini and his commercial ventures, including the Smith Walbridge Clinics, Director’s Showcase International, and his textbook, The System. Thorough examination of Mr. Smith’s career reveals several themes regarding his personality: He is totally dedicated to the success of his students; he tirelessly works to build personal relationships with everyone he encounters; and he has a passion for self-improvement. Gary Smith is known for his many professional impacts, influences, and innovations but is beloved by the profession for his genuine, compassionate, and down-to-earth personality.

This thesis creates a historical perspective of The University of Iowa Marching Band program, now known as the Hawkeye Marching Band (HMB). The HMB is the most visible ensemble in the School of Music, and it is one of the largest student groups at the University, upholding a tradition of excellence and rich history of more than one hundred years. However, very little has been written on its history and development. Therefore, this study fills a significant gap in the understanding of a time-honored organization, and it contributes to the growing scholarship of collegiate marching band programs and their collective evolution. Archival methods employed in the research process for this thesis included oral interviews with former and current University of Iowa band directors and thorough inspection of documents in the Special Collections at The University of Iowa main library. The University of Iowa Band Department records, as well as the personal archives of Lou Crist, Frederick C. Ebbs and David Henning were also inspected. Other materials researched consisted of an online alumni survey, digital and paper editions of The Daily Iowan, Press Citizen and Gazette newspapers, and The University of Iowa annual yearbooks. This study begins by highlighting the early growth of the band program that significantly impacted the future of the marching band. It also profiles each director from 1911 to the present day, and investigates the development of the band through consideration of various factors, including program size, staff structure, performance practices, operational procedures, institutional support, use of auxiliary units and significant performances. Thorough examination of the history of the Hawkeye Marching Band revealed several common themes: dedication to the preservation of tradition, innovations in terms of both style and presentation, and a commitment to student leadership and excellence. The Hawkeye Marching Band is a true symbol of The University of Iowa that has impacted thousands of lives in its 130-plus years of existence.

For effective reservoir management and production optimization, it is important to understand drained volumes, pressure depletion and reservoir well rates at all flow times. For conventional reservoirs, this behavior is based on the concepts of reservoir pressure and energy and convective flow. But, with the development of unconventional reservoirs, there is increased focus on the unsteady state transient flow behavior. For analyzing such flow behaviors, well test analysis concepts are commonly applied, based on the analytical solutions of the diffusivity equation. In this thesis, we have proposed a novel methodology for estimating the drainage volumes and utilizing it to obtain the pressure and flux at any location in the reservoir. The result is a semi-analytic calculation only, with close to the simplicity of an analytic approach, but with significantly more generality. The approach is significantly faster than a conventional finite difference solution, although with some simplifying assumptions. The proposed solution is generalized to handle heterogeneous reservoirs, complex well geometries and bounded and semi-bounded reservoirs. Therefore, this approach is particularly beneficial for unconventional reservoir development with multiple transverse fractured horizontal wells, where limited analytical solutions are available. To estimate the drainage volume, we have applied an asymptotic solution to the diffusivity equation and determined the diffusive time of flight distribution. For the pressure solution, a geometric approximation has been applied within the drainage volume to reduce the full solution of the diffusivity equation to a system of decoupled ordinary differential equations. Besides, this asymptotic expression can also be extended to obtain the well rates, producing under constant bottomhole pressure constraint. In this thesis, we have described the detailed methodology and its validation through various case studies. We have also studied the limits of validity of the approximation to better understand the general applicability. We expect that this approach will enable the inversion of field performance data for improved well and/or fracture characterization, and similarly, the optimization of well trajectories and fracture design, in an analogous manner to how rapid but approximate streamline techniques have been used for improved conventional reservoir management.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-147). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-147). Also available on the Internet.