Digital Commons Network^™

Engineering Analysis Of A Packed-Bed Biofilter For Removal Of Volatile Organic Compound (Voc) Emissions, Zarook M. Shareefdeen

Dissertations

This study dealt with removal of VOC emissions from airstreams using an evolving new technology which is known as biofiltration. The basis of this technology is biodegradation of VOCs in biofilms formed around porous solids which are placed in packed-bed reactors.

A detailed model describing steady state biofiltration of single and mixed VOCs was developed, and experimentally validated. The model takes into account biodegradation kinetics, the effect of oxygen, kinetic interactions among structurally similar compounds, and mass transfer from the gas phase to the biolayer. It was found that oxygen (a factor neglected in all previous studies) plays a very …

Biological Denitrification : Fundamental Kinetic Studies, And Process Analysis For Sequencing Batch Reactor Operation, Jun-Hsien Wang

Dissertations

This study dealt with a detailed investigation of biological denitrification of nitrate and nitrite by a pure culture of Pseudomonas denitrificans (ATCC 13867), under anaerobic conditions.

In the first part of the study, the kinetics of denitrification were studied in serum-bottle experiments. It was found that reduction of both nitrate and nitrite follows inhibitory expressions of the Andrews type. It was also found that when nitrite is present at levels above 15 mg/L, nitrite and nitrate are involved in a cross-inhibitory, non-competitive, interaction pattern. Analysis of the kinetic data has shown that the culture used has severe maintenance requirements, which …

Heart Rate Variability Study Using Phase Response Curve, Peizhuan Zhang

Dissertations

A noninvasive phase resetting experiment on human subjects was investigated. The phase response curve was estimated and was used to demonstrate cardiac phase resetting due to a vagal input. The estimated running phase response curve showed that the cardiac cycle resetting depended on the time and the amplitude of the vagal stimulation. The phase response curve was then studied using time circle analysis, topological analysis and nonlinear dynamics analysis. Also phase entrainment and stimulus frequency dependence of the phase response were evaluated. Further, the Van Der Pol model, Generalized Additive model and Knight and Peskin's model were used to simulate …

Blind Detection In Channels With Intersymbol Interference, Raafat Edward Kamel

Dissertations

In high speed digital transmission over bandlimited channels, one of the principal impairments, besides additive white Gaussian noise, is intersymbol interference. For unknown channels, adaptive equalization is used to mitigate the interference. Different types of equalizers were proposed in the literature such as linear, decision feedback equalizers and maximum likelihood sequence estimation. The transmitter embeds sequences with the data regularly to help the equalizer adapt to the unknown channel parameters.

It is not always appropriate or feasible to send training sequences; in such cases, self adaptive or blind equalizers are used. The past ten years have witnessed an interest in …

Effects Of Family Stress, Family Social Support, And Family Balance On Maternal Adaptation In Post Birth Families, Constance H. Blake Hansen Dnsc, Mn, Rn

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe the effects of perinatal family stress, family social support, and family balance on post birth maternal adaptation. The birth of a new infant is a transitional event that causes stress to the individuals within the family and the family as a unit. The childbearing woman has been identified as the core of the expanding family. Her adaptive level is critical to the integration of the new infant into the family unit. Stress and support are important variables in maternal adaptation, yet the specific relationship of these variables as they relate to the …

Spirituality And Leadership, Dana M. Walling Edd

Dissertations

The language of leadership is becoming increasingly spiritualized. Terms more often found in the sanctuary are now being applied to the leadership domain. Without a clear understanding of each, confusion results. This research explored the common boundaries between spirituality and leadership. Ten persons with leadership experiences were interviewed with regard to what relationships existed between their leadership and their spirituality. There were five women and five men in the study who also reflected diverse ethnic and spiritual perspectives. The researcher used a qualitative interview methodology. Each person was given the chance to review and edit the transcript of the interview. …

Motion Synthesis Of Mechanisms Using Constraint Manifolds In Image Space, Yeou-Kai Wu

Dissertations

Kinematic mappings, quaternion algebra, and constraint manifolds in the algebraic image space are applied to the problems of the dimensional synthesis of mechanisms. Dimensions of a mechanism are determined such that a tracer frame fixed on the coupler will pass through or at least as close as possible to the desired positions and orientations in the physical space as the input link rotates about its fixed joint. First, using kinematic mappings, the desired positions and orientations of the tracer frame of the mechanism can be mapped onto points in a hyperspace in which the motion of the tracer frame can …

Behavior Of Biaxially Loaded Concrete-Encased Composite Columns, Pedro Ricardo Munoz

Dissertations

The theory of nonlinear behavior of biaxially loaded short and slender composite columns is used to study the load-deformation and moment-curvature of four pin-ended composite column specimens tested under axial compressive load and biaxial bending moments in a single curvature. The accuracy of the test results is verified by comparison with analytical results obtained by a method of analysis that includes the nonlinear material properties of concrete and steel and covers the ascending and descending branches of the linear segmented column specimen. A computational method is presented to model the analytical behavior of the biaxially loaded composite column. Its validity …

The Role Of Administrators And Teachers In The Selection And Implementation Of Computer Technology In The "Classroom Of Tomorrow" Program, Ahmad Al-Obiedat

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of administrators and teachers in the selection and implementation of computer technology in Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS). Recently, KPS participated in Michigan's "Classroom of Tomorrow" program. They received 170 computers of various types (i.e., Apple, IBM, etc.). Elementary teachers received 126, middle school teachers received 16, high school teachers received 26, and 2 computers were awarded to personnel at the community education center. To date, there are no reports or research studies on the success or lack of success of the processes used to select and implement the computers in …

The Effects Of Organizational Culture On Quality Of Life For Older Veterans, Michelle Diane Stone

Dissertations

The organizational culture in a Veteran's Administration Medical Center (VAMC) was described using triangulated methods which included both secondary quantitative survey data, and internal documentary data sources. The initial survey data collected, from staff and elder veterans revealed an overall positive perception from both samples regarding the quality of life for elder veterans living on extended care wards. The study investigated the extent to which the VAMC's organizational culture affected these perceptions of quality of life.

Documentary data were collected from a variety of VAMC sources regarding behaviors, ideologies, leadership trends, mechanisms of control, and the formal organizational structure. A …

Guiding The Wild Heart: Steering The State Safely Between Scylla And Charybdis, Robert P. Brown

Dissertations

Organizational life and social culture compel individuals toward more radical manifestations of individualism as bureaucracy and society increasingly define personal relationships by rules, regulations and rights. Otherwise incompatible with individualism, this actually contributes to individual and group differentiation when individuals function simply as technicians without the opportunity to gain fulfillment, and they experience existential isolation, becoming detached from their moral and spiritual side. For identity in and control over their own lives, people engage in even more individualistic behavior: working, planning, attaining, or rebelling. The true meanings of freedom and individual rights are perverted and trivialized by this radical individualism …

Mystical And Out-Of-Body Experiences As Perceived By Counselors: Difference In Attitude Toward Self And Client, Douglas W. Bentley

Dissertations

The major purpose of this three-part study was to contribute to the body of knowledge concerned with mystical and out-of-body experiences (OBE) in the counselor relationship. The first part of the study was descriptive in nature. The study evaluated through a survey, designed by the researcher, the likelihood of client reporting to a counselor having had a mystical or out-of-body experience. Additionally, the descriptive part of the study asked counselors to report their own personal mystical and out-of-body experiences. Next, the study counted important demographic variables of both the counselor and the clients of the counselor.

The second part of …

Profiles Of Promise: Students With Learning Difference Prepare For Optimal Foreign Language Learning, Ludmilla Coven

Dissertations

Many secondary school counselors discourage students with diagnosed native language deficits from foreign language studies. They hold the unsubstantiated belief that these studies would jeopardize their hard-earned gains in native language learning. Research disproves that position, and some writers advocate foreign language study to improve language learning and enhance cognitive strategies. Improvement occurs more readily when the instructor has the expertise to choose from a repertoire of teaching styles the one most compatible with the learning style of the student. With the full inclusion promised by the regular education initiative becoming a reality, this study explores research, design, and team-teaching …

Interim Summative Evaluation: Assessing The Value Of A Long Term Or Ongoing Program During Its Operation, Sharon Craven Dodson

Dissertations

Evaluation conducted for the purpose of certifying a program's utility or summarizing its value is summative in nature. Most commonly, summative evaluations are conducted retrospectively to provide a record for program accountability. In the case of long term programs that may run ten or twenty years, however, there is often a need to conduct summative evaluations while the program is operating, so that value and utility can be assessed at various stages of the program's development. This study was designed to develop the concept and methodology for conducting these interim summative evaluations.

Through a review of research, characteristics of interim …

A Descriptive Study Of The Physical Education Programs For Kindergarten Through Third Grade Students In Michigan, Allison Ann Hammond

Dissertations

‘The period of early childhood is a crucial time for the balanced, optimal development of the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains of human behavior” (McClenahan & Gallahue, 1978, p. 5) According to noted authorities in the field of physical education such as Cratty (1979), and Roach and Kephart (1966), who have conducted large scale investigations of normal motor development of children, early elementary students are at a crucial point in motor development. When discussing the interaction between physical activity and growth, Shepherd (1982) stated that preschool and early elementary school students should develop basic motor skills which are prerequisite to …

The Relationships Among One's Beliefs Regarding Divine Sovereignty Versus Human Freedom, Procedures For Discerning The Will Of God, And Internal-External Locus Of Control, Timothy M. Robinson

Dissertations

Using the Category and Regression Trees (CART) analysis, some correlative distinctions were detected, but there were no significant differences found in the hypothesized directions concerning the relationships among the three main variables of the study.

For the validation, the DGW instrument was field tested with mature Christian leaders, students from a community college, a Christian liberal arts college, and an Evangelical seminary. The items on mature discernment scale of the DGW were validated, and using multiple comparisons, expected significant differences were found between the two college groups and the seminary students on both the mature discernment subscale and the supernatural …

"I’Ll Do It Tomorrow." A Radical Behavioral Analysis Of Procrastination, Cassandra Ann Braam

Dissertations

This study examined the problem of procrastination or the failure to complete tasks. Five similar rules were presented to five, four-year-old children, using a multielement design. The rules described contingencies varying in the specification of delays in the delivery of consequences and deadlines. In addition, a general statement of disapproval of procrastination was presented one time, in addition to a rule specifying a delayed consequence with no deadline, to determine its effect on an established pattern of procrastination. The results showed (a) rules specifying delayed consequences (indirect-acting contingencies) with no deadlines did not reliably control behavior, (b) rules specifying immediate …

The Effects Of A Therapy Review Board Procedure On Denial And Self-Disclosure Of Incarcerated Sex Offenders, Richard Martin Happel

Dissertations

The clinical practice of assessing sex offenders was the focus of this study. Using a pretest-posttest, nonrandomized control-group design, the research compared two groups of incarcerated sex offenders. The study investigated whether or not a one-hour assessment inter— view, conducted by prison psychologists, reduced denial and increased self-disclosure. Also the study investigated whether both groups differed on the basis of the sex deviance patterns of rape, pedophilia, and exhibitionism .

The study's independent variable was the one-hour interview. The dependent variable was the Multiphasic Sex Inventory (MSI): a 300-item true/false inventory administered to sex offenders after discovery (Nichols and Molinder, …

The Effects Of Utilitarianism On Performance Appraisal And Selected Output Measures In A Weberian Bureaucracy, Donald Wayne Wright

Dissertations

The research explored whether or not a relationship existed between the performance appraisal criteria used by the Social Security Administration and actual performance between 1984 and 1990. The issue was whether or not either of the diverse sets of performance appraisal criteria was more effective in improving performance than the other and whether or not base pay should be tied to the results of the performance appraisal system.

The methodology for this study was both quantitative and qualitative. The qualitative technique of content analysis was done on the sets of performance appraisal criteria to assess the extent to which each …

Numerical Investigation Of Flow Through Wide Angle Diffusers, Moududur Rahman

Dissertations

This study is aimed at the development of a computational technique for the prediction of the flow field in wide angle diffusers. The finite element technique is used for the solution of the governing equations. A commercial software package, NISA/3DFlUID, modified for this specific application was used. The parameters affecting the flow field have been identified. For a wide range of variation of these parameters, the effects on the flow field have been examined. This investigation is an exhaustive and comprehensive numerical study of diffuser flows. Such a study will result in substantial improvement in the understanding of the anatomy …

Aqueous Absorption Of Nitrogen Oxides Induced By Oxychlorine Compounds : A Process Development Study For Flue Gas Treatment, Chen-Lu Yang

Dissertations

The use of chlorine (Cl₂), sodium hypochlorite (NaClO), and sodium chlorite (NaClO₂) as oxidizing agents to promote the absorption of nitric oxide (NO) from gas streams has been investigated in the Gas Scrubbing Laboratory of New Jersey Institute of Technology since 1988. The first step of this project had been to screen out the best scrubbing medium for nitric oxide removal from flue gases. The most successful oxidizing agent was found to be sodium chlorite in acidic aqueous solution. The screening results have been accepted for publication in Chemical Engineering Communications. A sodium chlorite containing aqueous …

An Investigation Of The Formation Of Turbulent Water And Abrasive Water Jets, Md. Ekramul Hasan Khan

Dissertations

This study is concerned with the development of a knowledge base for the selection of nozzle geometry by investigating the mechanism of formation and behaviors of water and abrasive water jets. A numerical prediction of turbulent water flow inside various nozzles is developed. The analysis is based on the numerical solution of conservation equations of continuity and momentum as well as equations of turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation for 2-dimensional axisymmetric flow by using a finite element package, FIDAP.

The technique for determining velocities and forces of water jet and abrasive water jet with the Laser Transit Anemometer and Piezoelectric …

Human Visual System Modelling : Analysis Of Evoked Potential Dynamics, Zongqi Hu

Dissertations

The visual evoked potential (VEP) reflects the electrical activity in the cerebral cortex due to visual stimulation. It contains information on signal processing in the visual pathways from the retina, through the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) to the cortical level. Although the VEP is generated by various sources in the multi-layer neural network, the functions of some neuronal mechanisms and the transfer characteristics of particular pathways can be revealed and analyzed by use of carefully designed stimuli (Zemon & Ratliff, 1984; Zemon, Victor & Ratliff, 1986). This dissertation focuses on studies of the visual evoked potential as a composite of …

Computer Aided Stress Analysis Of The Femur With Prosthetic Hip Stem Utilizing Computed Tomography, Wei-Chun Chang

Dissertations

A computer aided design and analysis method, utilizing computed tomography (CT) is developed, which together with a finite element program determines the stress and deformation patterns in the femur with hip prosthesis. The CT scan data file provides the geometry and the material parameters for the generated finite element model. The three-dimensional finite element model of the femur with hip prosthesis is automatically generated from the CT data file by a preprocessing procedure. The preprocessor includes a CT image display, edge detector, nodes generation, prosthesis simulator, mesh generator and model display. The loading conditions applied on the finite element model …

Development Of The Concept Of Salvation In The Argentinean And Paraguayan Seventh-Day Adventist Children And Adolescents From Ages 6 To 17 Years, Victor Andrés Korniejczuk

Dissertations

Problem. Research is lacking on how the concept of salvation develops in children and adolescents from Christian religious populations. the purpose of this study was to explore how the concept of salvation develops in Argentinean and Paraguayan Seventh-day Adventist children and adolescents, from a psychological perspective.

Method. Using a developmental, cross-sectional design, semiclinical interviews were conducted with 120 Argentinean and Paraguayan children, ages 6 to 17, to assess the development of the concept and assurance of salvation. Subjects also completed (1) a semantic differential scale, which measured their attitudes toward salvation (ATS), (2) a demographic and religious practices information survey, …

Stages Of Deliberate Teacher Integration Of Faith And Learning : The Development And Empirical Validation Of A Model For Christian Education, Raquel Bouvet Korniejczuk

Dissertations

Problem. Research is lacking on the many ways the integration of faith and learning is accomplished by teachers. The purpose of this study was to develop a model of the process by which teachers integrate faith and learning in the formal curriculum. The model was validated by investigating to what extent the integration of faith and learning was deliberately accomplished by teachers in six Seventh-day Adventist secondary schools located in three South American countries.

Method. A multi-method approach involving questionnaire, interviews, and document analysis was used in order to study the process teachers experience in implementing integration of faith and …

Efficacy Of Addiction Treatment In A Correctional Setting For Female Offenders As Measured By The Addiction Severity Index, Paul Robert Wiese

Dissertations

Problem. This study was designed to determine to what extent improvement following treatment for addiction was evident, and if treatment seemed causative in that outcome, for incarcerated female addicts. This study also explored the question of which treatment modality seemed most effective-- an education-only group, a comprehensive long-term treatment group, or a waiting-list control group. -- Method. The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) furnished scores on seven psychosocial areas for subjects. Hypotheses were tested with paired t tests. The means of the pre- and post-tests for the three groups were compared, as well as between group mean scores. Second, a …

A Study Of The Attitudes Of Seventh-Day Adventist Parents Toward The Support Of Seventh-Day Adventist Church Schools In British Columbia, Johan Haakmat

Dissertations

Problem. Despite the numerical growth of Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) membership and the number of private and parochial schools, there has not been a corresponding increase in student enrollment in Adventist church schools in British Columbia, Canada. This study investigated possible reasons for this trend through a study of the attitudes of church members toward the support of Adventist education in the province.

Method. The data for this study were gathered using the Adventist Education Opinion Survey (Naden, 1987). The sample was SDA church members in British Columbia who provided 498 usable responses that were analyzed by the use of item …

The Sodom/Egypt/Babylon Motif In The Book Of Revelation, Edwin Earl Reynolds

Dissertations

This study observes in the book of Revelation the motif of a Great City which was variously characterized as Sodom, Egypt, and Babylon. It sets out to determine the significance of this characterization by tracing the Sodom, Egypt, and Babylon traditions in the OT, the NT, and the relevant extrabiblical literature. Then it seeks to learn how John used the motif throughout the book of Revelation and to understand the implications of the motif for John's theology.

Chapter 1 is an introduction to the dissertation, to the book of Revelation, and to the literature relevant to the dissertation.

Chapter 2 …

Relationships Among Selected Internal/External Variables Affecting Decision Making In The Roles/Functions Of Research University Provosts, Haldane F. Davies

Dissertations

Problem

In the business and corporate world, there exists a unique collection of proven decision-making tools, techniques, and management ideas. There is, however, no clear definition and empirical analysis relative to the nature of the relationships among internal/external variables as they influence decision-making in the research university provosts' roles and functions. It was the purpose of this study to investigate the effects of selected variables on provost decision-making within their many functions.

Method

The survey research method was used to study the relationships among selected variables affecting decision-making in the functions of research university provosts. An instrument was designed and …