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2020

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Design And Simulation Of Boost Dc - Dc Pulse Width Modulator (Pwm) Feed-Forward Control Converter, Calenia L. Franklin Jan 2020

Design And Simulation Of Boost Dc - Dc Pulse Width Modulator (Pwm) Feed-Forward Control Converter, Calenia L. Franklin

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Military aircraft systems’ power losses are occurring during the loading operations; loading and unloading causes the aircraft systems to lose power. The primary aircraft power source is provided by a 400Hz Ground Power Units (GPU). This GPU provides power to interior lighting, the aircraft cargo compartment, and other electrical systems (i.e. bus). The issues are during loading and unloading on the aircraft, which causes dropout of aircraft power supplied by the external 400Hz GPU. The majority of the military aircraft require a high voltage and a high current with a 270V power output. This thesis analyzes using Feed-Forward PWM Boost …


Improving Pain Management In Patients With Sickle Cell Disease Using Machine Learning Techniques, Fan Yang Jan 2020

Improving Pain Management In Patients With Sickle Cell Disease Using Machine Learning Techniques, Fan Yang

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Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited red blood cell disorder that can cause a multitude of complications throughout a patient's life. Pain is the most common complication and a significant cause of morbidity. Since pain is a highly subjective experience, both medical providers and patients express difficulty in determining ideal treatment and management strategies for pain. Therefore, the development of objective pain assessment and pain forecasting methods is critical to pain management in SCD. On the other hand, the rapidly increasing use of mobile health (mHealth) technology and wearable devices gives the ability to build a remote health intervention …


Anthrax Event Detection: Analysis Of Public Opinion Using Twitter During Anthrax Scares, The Mueller Investigation, And North Korean Threats, Michele E. Miller Jan 2020

Anthrax Event Detection: Analysis Of Public Opinion Using Twitter During Anthrax Scares, The Mueller Investigation, And North Korean Threats, Michele E. Miller

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When people allow fear to drive their decision making, they often make decisions that do more harm than good. Examples of this include stocking up on ciprofloxacin, flooding doctors’ offices and buying black market antibiotics after the anthrax attacks of 2001. Therefore, it is important to be able to address what people are saying when another anthrax attack occurs. Supervised and unsupervised machine learning methodologies can be utilized to detect an event, classify the tweets by event, and to determine the main topics of discussion. Over the period of data collection, twenty events were detected. Three of these events concerned …


Observing P300 Amplitudes In Multiple Sensory Channels Using Cognitive Probing, Cody Lee Wintermute Jan 2020

Observing P300 Amplitudes In Multiple Sensory Channels Using Cognitive Probing, Cody Lee Wintermute

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High cognitive workload occurs when excessive working memory resources have been deployed to resolve sensory and cognitive processing, resulting in decremented task performance. The P300 event-related potential (ERP) component has shown sensitivity to cognitive load, and it was hypothesized that an attenuated P300 amplitude could be indicative of high cognitive load. We tested this hypothesis by having eight participants complete two continual performance tasks at increasing workload levels while simultaneously performing an oddball task, evoking P300 ERPs in either the auditory or tactile sensory channel. In our experiment, electroencephalographic recordings were collected over the parietal region to observe the P300 …


Mitigating Atmospheric Phase Errors In Sal Data, Randy S. Depoy Jr. Jan 2020

Mitigating Atmospheric Phase Errors In Sal Data, Randy S. Depoy Jr.

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Synthetic aperture ladar (SAL) is an emerging remote sensing technology capable of providing high-resolution, interpretable, and timely imagery. SAL and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) are similar in that they provide high-resolution imagery suitable for a wide-variety of applications beyond the diffraction limit of the real aperture. Several advantages of SAL are; realistic imagery resulting from diffuse scattering of optically-rough objects, fine directionality of laser beam making the technology inherently low probability-of-detect, and shorter synthetic aperture collection times, all of which result from operating at optical as opposed to RF wavelengths. With the dramatic decrease in wavelength, SAL systems become more …


Kv2.1 Channel Clustering In The Sod1-G93a Mouse Model Of Als, Joshua Christopher Harris Jan 2020

Kv2.1 Channel Clustering In The Sod1-G93a Mouse Model Of Als, Joshua Christopher Harris

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Kv2.1 channels mediate slow-activating K+ rectifier current within the membrane of spinal motoneurons (MNs), and they are known to co-localize with other synapses and ion channels. Although Kv2.1 channels are suggested to regulate MN excitability, little research has gone into investigating its potential contribution to MN-altered excitability in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Using the male SOD1-G93A mouse model of ALS, we examined Kv2.1 cluster area and density in lumbar MNs at four key stages of disease progression. In our experiments, MNs were separated by type via SK3 immunoreactivity in order to isolate and compare the responses of disease-resistant (slow; SK3+) …


Extracting Information From Subroutines Using Static Analysis Semantics, Luke A. Burnett Jan 2020

Extracting Information From Subroutines Using Static Analysis Semantics, Luke A. Burnett

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Understanding how a system component can interact with other services can take an immeasurable amount of time. Reverse engineering embedded and large systems can rely on understanding how components interact with one another. This process is time consuming and can sometimes be generalized through certain behavior.We will be explaining two such complicated systems and highlighting similarities between them. We will show that through static analysis you can capture compiler behavior and apply it to the understanding of a function, reducing the total time required to understand a component of whichever system you are learning.


Finding Data Races In Software Binaries With Symbolic Execution, Nathan D. Jackson Jan 2020

Finding Data Races In Software Binaries With Symbolic Execution, Nathan D. Jackson

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Modern software applications frequently make use of multithreading to utilize hardware resources better and promote application responsiveness. In these applications, threads share the program state, and synchronization mechanisms ensure proper ordering of accesses to the program state. When a developer fails to implement synchronization mechanisms, data races may occur. Finding data races in an automated way is an already challenging problem, but often impractical without source code or understanding how to execute the program under analysis. In this thesis, we propose a solution for finding data races on software binaries and present our prototype implementation BINRELAY. Our solution makes use …


Development Of Embedded Atom Method Interatomic Potentials For Ge-Sn-Si Ternary And Constituent Binary Alloys For Modeling Material Crystallization, Sudip Acharya Jan 2020

Development Of Embedded Atom Method Interatomic Potentials For Ge-Sn-Si Ternary And Constituent Binary Alloys For Modeling Material Crystallization, Sudip Acharya

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Group IV elements based nanoelectronics devices (mainly Si and Ge based devices) have been developed and improved over a long period of time and are the most influencing materials of semiconductor electronics, but due to their indirect bandgap their use in optoelectronics is limited. Alternatively, new Group IV alloys comprised of Ge, Si, and Sn semiconductor materials have emerged as attractive options for various electronic and optoelectronic applications. The binary and ternary alloys provide strain and energy bandgap engineering by controlling element content, a route for realizing direct-transition semiconductors, improvement in interface and defect properties, and a reduction of the …


Single-Pixel Camera Based Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging For Non-Contact Tissue Characterization, Alec M. Petrack Jan 2020

Single-Pixel Camera Based Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging For Non-Contact Tissue Characterization, Alec M. Petrack

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Optical imaging has demonstrated potential as a medical imaging modality for measuring tissue functionality. Recently, interest in fluorescence guided surgery has emerged from improvements in optical imaging that have allowed real-time feedback. Of the optical imaging modalities, spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) has gained a lot of interest. Unlike spectroscopic techniques, such as functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and frequency domain spectroscopy that measure bulk tissue properties, SFDI quantifies tissue functionality locally and wide field making it practical for clinical applications. Unfortunately, traditional SFDI systems use multi-pixel detectors, which may not exhibit ideal spectral characteristics, have limited sensitivity, be expensive, …


Chinese Nationalism And The South China Sea, Jordan M. Sandy Jan 2020

Chinese Nationalism And The South China Sea, Jordan M. Sandy

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What role do domestic audiences play in authoritarian policy making? This study examines the relationship between newspapers and assertive foreign policy. Specifically, this study conducts content analyses of state-published newspapers during periods of unprecedented assertiveness in the South China Sea. Borrowing from Galtung’s theory of peace journalism, this study analyzes valence patterns used in 99 separate articles published in Xinhua, China Daily, People’s Daily, and Global Times. Additionally, this study examines the visibility of these articles, to better understand their prominence in national coverage. This study discusses nationalism in the case of China, as well as the overwhelming control that …


Processing And Properties Of Multifunctional Two Dimensional Nanocomposites Based On Graphene Nano-Flakes, Mohammed K. Mohammed Jan 2020

Processing And Properties Of Multifunctional Two Dimensional Nanocomposites Based On Graphene Nano-Flakes, Mohammed K. Mohammed

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The unique properties of graphene have directed researchers to study and characterize this new material. Graphene production and graphene based materials have been widely explored and developed in the past decade. Most research has aimed at developing scalable, environmentally friendly, and cheap procedures to produce defect-free graphene that can be used in various applications such as mechanical properties enhancement and multifunctional material. The challenge is processing such material on a scale suitable for engineering applications such as advanced photonics and advanced electronics. In this study, we investigate a new processing technique based on Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) Technique. We managed to produce …


An Evaluation Of The Montgomery County Reentry Career Alliance Academy, Catherine Marliese Driver Jan 2020

An Evaluation Of The Montgomery County Reentry Career Alliance Academy, Catherine Marliese Driver

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As a result of a deterrence and incapacitation focused criminal justice system in the United States, reentry programming has become integral to both reduce criminal justice spending and mass incarceration. Reentry programming assists those released from prison with reintegration into society to prevent recidivism and allow the returning citizen to become a productive member of society. This study evaluated one such reentry program in Montgomery County Ohio. The Reentry Career Alliance Academy (RCAA) is a career focused work readiness curriculum that also includes workshops with community stakeholders. Evaluation was completed through paired T Test analysis in pre- and post-questionnaire responses. …


A Participatory Action Research Study With One Emancipatory School Garden, Colleen Q. Saxen Jan 2020

A Participatory Action Research Study With One Emancipatory School Garden, Colleen Q. Saxen

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Although school gardens have been increasingly popular in the United States, much existing literature evaluated success of the programs from a limited set of criteria, such as the extent to which gardens reformed student eating habits and nutritional knowledge. Yet, school gardens offered benefits and outcomes not immediately apparent within this reform paradigm. In addition, the attention on forming a particular kind of food consumer ignored the diverse cultural and racial histories related to agriculture and food in the United States. In this participatory action research (PAR) dissertation, participants, including school staff and community partners, explored one school garden program …


Logistic Function Based Nonlinear Modeling And Circuit Analysis Of The Bipolar Vacancy Migration Memristor, Isaac P. Abraham Jan 2020

Logistic Function Based Nonlinear Modeling And Circuit Analysis Of The Bipolar Vacancy Migration Memristor, Isaac P. Abraham

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Memristor is an acronym for memory resistor. Memristors promise to be building blocks for high density memory and analog computation. Hewlett Packard’s announcement in 2008 of having fabricated a memristor on an integrated circuit scale has created a tangible excitement in this field. Understanding and exploiting the full potential of these devices requires good compact models. Symbolic modeling provides a balance between achieving accurate empirical fit and generating closed form expressions. This dissertation simplifies the transport equation into a variable coefficient advection equation, very similar to a Burgers’ equation traditionally used in fluid dynamics. The Burgers’-like model reveals the dual …


Predicting Subjective Sleep Quality Using Objective Measurements In Older Adults, Reza Sadeghi Jan 2020

Predicting Subjective Sleep Quality Using Objective Measurements In Older Adults, Reza Sadeghi

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Humans spend almost a third of their lives asleep. Sleep has a pivotal effect on job performance, memory, fatigue recovery, and both mental and physical health. Sleep quality (SQ) is a subjective experience and reported via patients’ self-reports. Predicting subjective SQ based on objective measurements can enhance diagnosis and treatment of SQ defects, especially in older adults who are subject to poor SQ. In this dissertation, we assessed enhancement of subjective SQ prediction using an easy-to-use E4 wearable device, machine learning techniques and identifying disease-specific risk factors of abnormal SQ in older adults. First, we designed a clinical decision support …


The Hydrostatics And Hydrodynamics Of Prominent Heteromorph Ammonoid Morphotypes And The Functional Morphology Of Ammonitic Septa, David Joseph Peterman Jan 2020

The Hydrostatics And Hydrodynamics Of Prominent Heteromorph Ammonoid Morphotypes And The Functional Morphology Of Ammonitic Septa, David Joseph Peterman

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Ammonoid cephalopods have chambered shells that regulated buoyancy. The morphology of their shells strongly influenced the physical properties acting on these animals during life. Heteromorph ammonoids, which undergo changes in coiling throughout ontogeny, are the focus of this dissertation. The biomechanics of these cephalopods are investigated in a framework involving functional morphology, paleoecology, and possible modes of life. Constructional constraints were investigated for the marginally-corrugated septal walls within the chambered ammonoid shell. These constraints governed the positive relationship between septal complexity and terminal size. Furthermore, increased septal complexity facilitated liquid retention via surface tension. More complex septa would have increased …


The Role Of Igf-1 In Geriatric Skin, Amber Castellanos Jan 2020

The Role Of Igf-1 In Geriatric Skin, Amber Castellanos

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Keratinocytes are cells that largely occupy the epidermis layer of our skin and function to protect against DNA damage induced by ultraviolet radiation. Keratinocytes rely on the activation of the IGF-1 receptor in order to carry out an appropriate response to UV-B radiation. Keratinocytes themselves do not express the IGF-1 ligand; IGF-1 is produced by fibroblasts found in the dermis layer of the skin. With age, fibroblasts become senescent and this interferes with their ability to produce IGF-1 for the epidermal IGF-1R. This occurrence may aid in understanding why geriatric individuals are at greatest risk for developing nonmelanoma skin cancers, …


Thermal Modeling Of Coordinated Multi-Beam Additive Manufacturing, Rachel Elizabeth Evans Jan 2020

Thermal Modeling Of Coordinated Multi-Beam Additive Manufacturing, Rachel Elizabeth Evans

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In additive manufacturing (AM), it is necessary to know the influence of processing parameters in order to have better control over the microstructure and mechanical performance of the part. Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is a metal AM process in which thin layers of powdered material are selectively melted to create a three-dimensional structure. This manufacturing process is beneficial for many reasons; however, it is limited by the thermal solidification conditions achievable in the available processing parameter ranges for single-beam processing methods. Therefore, this work investigates the effect of multiple, coordinated heat sources, which are used to strategically modify the …


Eye-Tracking To Evaluate Trust In Human-Atr Interaction, Samuel Francis Adelman Jan 2020

Eye-Tracking To Evaluate Trust In Human-Atr Interaction, Samuel Francis Adelman

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Human collaboration with targeting aids have allowed analysts to achieve a greater level of coordination and productivity in a variety of fields. This project investigates the impact that an Assisted Target Recognition (ATR) algorithm’s false alarm rate and the task Target of Interest (TOI) level has on user-system trust and use in a targeting decision task. Previous studies suggest that an increased number of false alarms in an ATR task negatively impacts analyst trust in the system. This study will further contribute to this research, aiming to provide a better framework for appropriate tolerance levels within ATR algorithms, utilizing pre-truthed …


How Does Relative Deprivation Cause People To Condone Political Violence? A Case Study Of Bangladesh, Md Mamunur Rashid Jan 2020

How Does Relative Deprivation Cause People To Condone Political Violence? A Case Study Of Bangladesh, Md Mamunur Rashid

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How does relative deprivation cause people to condone political violence? This thesis investigates this question by utilizing survey data conducted in Bangladesh. Scarcity of public resources, lethal political confrontation and poor resource allocation make Bangladesh a fertile ground for violence. Although the survey suggests a relationship exists between relative deprivation and the public attitude toward condoning political violence, the regression analysis reveals that the relationship is imprecise. Small sample size, lack of technical capacity, and limited applicability of the foundational theory may have caused this imprecise outcome. The study concludes by providing recommendations for future research to undertake a mixed …


Hierarchical Hybrid Materials From Flexible Fabric Substrates, Wenhu Wang Jan 2020

Hierarchical Hybrid Materials From Flexible Fabric Substrates, Wenhu Wang

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The goal of this project is to investigate fabrication approaches and structure-property relationships of porous and flexible hierarchical hybrid solids suitable for advanced surface-active devices. Multi-scale hierarchical carbon materials are being fabricated by strong covalent attachment of multiwall carbon nanotube(MWCNTs) arrays on flexible carbon fabric substrates in order to enhance the surface area per unit volume. This was done using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) after functionalizing the surface with a plasma-derived nano-oxide coating. Structural and chemical characterization is performed using scanning electron microscope(SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy(EDS) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). Surface area estimates have been made by building structural models …


The Use Of Womens Grief For Political Purposes In America During World War I, Linda L. Morgan Jan 2020

The Use Of Womens Grief For Political Purposes In America During World War I, Linda L. Morgan

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This study discusses a politically driven change in American women’s public mourning customs over the fallen of World War I. During the war, government officials and politicians sought to transform women’s grief over a fallen loved one into a celebration of an honorable military death. They actively discouraged the wearing of traditional black mourning and instead urged the wearing of a simple black armband with a gold star. This substituted glory for grief and thus made their loved one’s death a mark of distinction by giving their life in the service of their country. The radical change in women’s public …


Topical Photodynamic Therapy Generates Microvesicle Particles, Oladayo Ayobami Oyebanji Jan 2020

Topical Photodynamic Therapy Generates Microvesicle Particles, Oladayo Ayobami Oyebanji

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Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves the use of light at an appropriate wavelength acting on a photosensitizing chemical to cause cell death via generation of reactive oxygen species. PDT has been useful in the management of skin conditions (like acne, psoriasis) and cancers like superficial skin, esophageal and non-small cell lung cancers. In addition to these therapeutic effects, previous murine studies from our group have demonstrated that topical PDT induces immunosuppression in vivo. Thus, topical PDT of skin can generate systemic effects through unknown mechanisms. Our group showed that PDT induces an immunosuppressive effect which occurs partly via Platelet-Activating Factor Receptor …


Extraversion And Emotional Expressiveness: Moderators Of The Relationship Between Curmudgeon Personality And The Quality Of Social Relationships, Md Rashedul Islam Jan 2020

Extraversion And Emotional Expressiveness: Moderators Of The Relationship Between Curmudgeon Personality And The Quality Of Social Relationships, Md Rashedul Islam

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Curmudgeon personality, the extent to which a person dislikes most things, has recently received increased attention from researchers. Existing research has focused on either the relationships between curmudgeon personality and Big Five personality factors (e.g., extraversion, agreeableness) or curmudgeon personality and various workplace outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention). The current research examined whether curmudgeon personality and other personality traits (i.e., extraversion and emotional expressiveness) interact with each other to influence the quality of individuals’ social relationships at work. Analyses using an MTurk dataset (N = 529) showed some evidence of these interaction effects though some directions …


Joint Shelf Design And Shelf Space Allocation Problem For Retailers, Hakan Gecili Jan 2020

Joint Shelf Design And Shelf Space Allocation Problem For Retailers, Hakan Gecili

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Although the retail business has been exploring innovative ways to engage shoppers, the COVID-19 pandemic has sped up their effort. Because of its unique benefits, physical stores will continue to remain an integral part of the overall retail business. However, to stay competitive, retailers will be forced to effectively utilize their available space in physical store (and even reduce it if need be), while offering a reasonably large assortment of products on their shelves. For many such retailers, the design of planograms – visual representation of products on shelves – is still driven by prior experience and intuition. Further, existing …


The Direct And Indirect Effects Of Mathematics Self-Efficacy On Intermediate Students’ Mathematics Growth, Susan Sipniewski Jan 2020

The Direct And Indirect Effects Of Mathematics Self-Efficacy On Intermediate Students’ Mathematics Growth, Susan Sipniewski

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In this study, the investigator sought to determine the extent to which mathematics self-efficacy affects mathematics growth among students in grades four and five. Included in this investigation is a hypothesized structural model that reflects Bandura’s (1977a, 1986, 1989) theory of self-efficacy. In part one of the investigation, each variable in the model (mathematics self-efficacy, self-regulation in mathematics, mathematics avoidance, mathematics anxiety, attitude toward mathematics, and mathematics growth) was analyzed to determine whether there were significant differences between genders in those specified variables. Findings revealed gender differences in two of the six variables, self-regulation in mathematics and mathematics avoidance. Females …


Attitude Strength And Situational Strength As Moderators Of The Job Satisfaction – Job Performance Relationship, Joseph William Dagosta Jan 2020

Attitude Strength And Situational Strength As Moderators Of The Job Satisfaction – Job Performance Relationship, Joseph William Dagosta

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Workers who are satisfied with their jobs are better performers, but prior research has found a plethora of moderating variables between job satisfaction and job performance (Ostroff, 1992, Schleicher, Watt, & Greguras, 2004; Spector, 1997). Prior research has suggested that job attitude strength can strengthen the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance and that the relationships between personality variables and extra-role job performance are stronger in weak rather than strong workplace situations (Meyer et al., 2014; Shleicher et al., 2015). In the current study, I investigated the interaction between job satisfaction, job attitude strength, and situational strength on job …


A Comparative Analysis Of Military And Non-Military Parent Engagement In Public Elementary Schools, Robin G. Fisher Jan 2020

A Comparative Analysis Of Military And Non-Military Parent Engagement In Public Elementary Schools, Robin G. Fisher

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The focus of this study was a comparison of military and non-military parent engagement levels in public elementary schools. A parent survey was used to collect data on the parent engagement levels of military and non-military parents to determine if there was a significant difference between the two populations, while controlling for income and education. In addition, the parent engagement levels of the military parents were analyzed based on the percentage of military students in each school. The objective was to determine if a higher percentage of military students in a school would increase the military parent engagement. Open-ended questions …


The Use Of Performance Measurement And Management In Small Ohio Municipalities, Yvonne M. Christopher Jan 2020

The Use Of Performance Measurement And Management In Small Ohio Municipalities, Yvonne M. Christopher

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As the dominant public management paradigm today, performance measurement and management systems are fundamental to increasing efficiency, accountability, and service quality in the public sector. Research into the practice at all levels of government has been expanding for decades in developed countries. However, the small local governments that comprise most U.S. municipalities are frequently overlooked as a topic of academic inquiry in public administration. This study aims to shed light on the extent to which the performance measurement methods prevalent at the state and federal levels have spread to small municipalities. Using elite interviewing methods and the four-point approach to …