Digital Commons Network^™

Space Range Scheduling And The Lean Aerospace Initiative (Lai), Alan M. Matuszak

Theses and Dissertations

This study describes how lean principles and thinking can be applied to space range operations. The "lean" concepts of the right thing, right place, and the right time are applicable and relevant to this study. The basis for the lean concepts and principles considered is the Lean Aerospace Initiative (LAI). The LAI originated from the International Motor Vehicle Program (IMVP) that was conducted by a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The LAI is a collaborative research program involving government, industry, labor, and academia (primarily MIT). The partnership began in 1993 through support of the U.S. Air Force …

Development Of A Construction Safety Program, Christopher Haux

Theses and Dissertations

In the mid to late 1990's the United States has been experiencing a thriving economy which has spurred increased amounts of construction. During this time of prosperity, the quality of work and the safety of workers can often be forgotten. Each of these areas becomes important to those involved, and to the ability to continue a strong and prosperous economy. Safety to those who produce and those who buy is a sign of a strong economy and a strong community; because construction of communities is what we are really doing.

Operational Risk Management And Military Aviation Safety, Park D. Ashley

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force Class A aviation mishap rate has hovered around 1.5 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours since 1985. Recent attention on Air Force accidents has caused the leadership to seek to reduce its mishap rate. The Army's Class A aviation mishap rate declined after it implemented risk management (RM) principles in 1987. This reduction caught the attention of Air Force leadership who have since stated that the application of operational risk management (ORM) is how the Air Force will reduce, even eliminate, mishaps. With current budget constraints, ORM is considered to be the most cost-effective way the Air Force …

The Red River Flood Of 1997: The Role Of Government Agencies In The Flood Plain, Deborah Marshall Pawley

Theses and Dissertations

This study attempts to identify the roles of three federal agencies in the Grand Forks Flood of 1997. The three agencies were selected for the scope of their impact on the disaster as well as their impact on the community. The United States Army Corps of Engineers, National Weather Service, and Federal Emergency Management Agency contributed either to the the attempts to prevent flooding or flood recovery or both.

It is appropriate to determine both the physical factors that cause flooding and the agency policies that govern the ways in which people cope with disaster because these two are intricately …

Postal Workers And Stress, Bobbie A. Person

Theses and Dissertations

It is suggested that a plausible theoretical link exists between the management of change and recent killings in the United States Postal Service. The degradation of labor associated with the scientific management of technological change produces stress and frustration that weaken employee integration and undermine existing forms of social control. Certain employees reject prevailing definitions of situations provided by those in power and develop alternative meanings and patterns of behavior, including assaultive violence.

To examine this theory in more depth, 120 Occupational Stress questionnaires and rating sheets were randomly distributed to 30 Mailhandlers and 30 Machine Clerks working the "day" …

History Of The Juvenile Court The First Hundred Years, Judy Volk

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Value Focused Approach To Determining The Top Ten Hazards In Army Aviation, Brian K. Sperling

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Army Safety Center is challenged with identifying the top ten most severe hazards in Army Aviation. This research utilizes value-focused thinking and multiattribute preference theory concepts to produce a decision analysis model designed to aid decision-makers in their analysis process. The severity model is based on the Army's Risk Management doctrinal manual and has been tailored specifically for aviation related accidents and hazards. The model determines the severity and risk ranking for 65 categories of accidents and 24 existing hazards. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to examine the effects of variations in the weights of the top-level …

Wellness Program Adherence In Preparation For Future Physical Fitness Mandates In Law Enforcement, Anne M. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Descriptive Study Of The Number Of Patients Who Could Have Been Exclusively Treated By A Family Nurse Practitioner In A Rural Emergency Department, Brian Curtis Twete

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Evaluation Of The City Of Danville-Pittsylvania County Annexation, Gerald A. Craver

Theses and Dissertations

An insufficient amount of evaluation research has been conducted on Virginia's annexations. This study helps to fill that void by evaluating the Danville - Pittsylvania County annexation. The thesis attempts to determine if the city of Danville benefited from the annexation and if Pittsylvania County was able to recover from the loss that it suffered as a result of the annexation.

In order to evaluate the annexation, data was collected and analyzed for seven research categories: urban services, planning, demographics, community leadership, local government cooperation, economic development, and public finance. In addition, government documents were reviewed to collect information that …

County Government 2000, Kevin J. Glatt

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Construct Validation Of An Instrument To Measure Total Quality Management In Higher Education., Kee Kong Tan

Theses and Dissertations

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a continuous process to improve the quality, bureaucracy, and productivity of an organization. TQM in higher education started in the early 1980s and has received attention in improving quality of education. There is a need to construct an instrument to measure TQM in higher education because the instrument would provide an assessment and implementation framework for any institution that wishes to implement or evaluate the quality of its education. Although the process of construction of an instrument is common in many measurement studies, studies regarding the construct validation of an instrument to measure TQM in …

The Politics And Administration Of Privatization Of Residential Solid Waste Collection Operations Bismarck, Nd, Keith Hunke

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify the administrative and political costs associated with providing solid waste collection service to the residents of Bismarck, N.D. The independent study was to also determine whether and at what price the City of Bismarck (the City) should consider the privatization of the City's solid waste collection services.

Internship In Supervision And Curriculum Development In The Millville Public Schools, Millville, New Jersey, 1996-1997, Debra G. Wenrick

Theses and Dissertations

The internship in Supervision and Curriculum Development provided the intern the opportunity to develop and strengthen leadership skills required for educational administrators for the 21st century.

The internship focused on the following projects: 1) the development of a balanced curriculum for the district's bilingual summer enrichment program, 2) the facilitation of a collegial sharing of ideas learned at out-of-district workshops, 3) the piloting of a teacher-centered revision of the district's evaluation system, 4) a teacher-led workshop to encourage the use of CD-ROM technology as an instructional tool and 5) the implementation of cross-age tutoring.

The following recommendations were made: 1) …

Development Of A Fire Science Curriculum Program At The University Of North Dakota, Jamie Lisell

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Seattle Community Network And Its Effect On Community Cohesion, Yvonne Fischer

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Atmospheric Transport And Diffusion Modeling Of Rocket Exhaust, Chad A. Burel

Theses and Dissertations

Space launches at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) and the Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS) produce exhaust from the solid rocket boosters and liquid hypergolic fuels containing several toxic substances including hydrogen chloride and hydrazine. In order to estimate the health risk that would be imposed upon the public by proposed launches, range safety officials rely on the Rocket Exhaust Effluent Diffusion Model to predict where the exhaust chemicals will go after the launch and how strong the concentrations will be. The original REEDM program averaged the meteorological parameters (wind speed, wind direction, shear, etc.) across the entire mixing level …

Media And Corporate Risk Communication In The Schwan's Salmonella Outbreak, Lisa Kersten

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Observations On The Serial Killer Phenomenon: An Examination Of Selected Behaviors Of The Interstate Offender Contrasted With The Intrastate Offender, Eric W. Witzig

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this work was to compare serial homicides committed by interstate and intrastate offenders and to determine differences in behavior between them. Knowledge of such differences would enable the trained homicide detective to structure his investigation according to the killer's inferred range of action.

This study used homicide data collected by the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (VICAP), of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC). VICAP's data was voluntarily submitted by investigators working at the state, local, and federal levels. The VICAP database had information on more than 804 cases of homicides committed by 241 …

Medical Examination Gloves As Barrier Protection For Health Care Workers : A Retesting Of Quality, Debra D. Jellison

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of The Use Of Apologia In Crisis Management, Dana Lynn Bohn

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Mormons In Wilhelmie Germany, 1870-1914: Making A Place For An Unwanted American Religion In A Changing German Society, Michael Mitchell

Theses and Dissertations

Between 1853 and 1914 the kingdom of Prussia and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons, disagreed over the issue of Mormon missionaries proselyting in Prussia. In 1853 royal magistrates banished all Mormon missionaries from the kingdom for advocating emigration. A new church policy of preaching without seeking for official permission, in addition to an improved relationship between the Mormons in Utah and the United States government after the Manifesto of 1890, led to an increase in missionaries sent to Germany, including Prussia. By 1900 mormon success alarmed the Prussian Protestant clergy and a few Prussian governors …

Development Of A Cost-Effectiveness Methodology To Prioritize Environmental Mitigation Projects, Robert E. Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

A cost-effectiveness prioritization methodology was developed using concepts from the cost-effectiveness technique. The new methodology called the Cost-Effectiveness methodology (CEM) allows the prioritization of mitigation projects across broad categories of hazardous sites as would be ranked among the offices of the Environmental Protection Agency. Two performance criteria were incorporated into the process--rank projects that save the most lives per dollar and enhance general applicability across different categories of risk. A metric was developed that represents the ratio of lives saved per dollar spent on mitigation alternatives of contaminated environmental sites. This metric was incorporated into the CEM to distinguish mitigation …

The Development Of An Expert System For Hazardous Cargo Compatibility, Douglas A. Furst, Ronald E. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This research demonstrates the application of expert system technology to automate the aircraft load selection process performed when transporting hazardous cargo. The resulting computer program is an expert system named HAZARD. This system incorporates the regulations governing hazardous cargo compatibility with the heuristics used by experts in loadplanning operations. The impetus to develop such a system is the January 1993 conversion of regulation guidelines for hazardous cargo classification and management in Air Force Regulation 71-4, to a universal international standard. The Cargo Operations Division of Headquarters Air Mobility Command at Scott AFB, was concerned that this change in procedures and …

Public Space Launch Acquisition: A Comparative Case Study, Kenneth R. Leeson, Lee W. Rosen

Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes three commonly practiced approaches to Government acquisition of space launch services. These approaches are employed by The U.S. Air Force, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization. The literature review provides a comprehensive overview of the commercial space launch industry and details critical perspectives on commercial, launch. Launch contracts which were representative of each organization's acquisition procedures were investigated and evaluated along several critical issues and elements of the space launch acquisition process. These issues included payload characteristics, government oversight, contractor incentives, insurance, liability and cost. The critical issues and elements were …

Locus Of Control Orientation Of Male Alcoholics In A Chemical Dependency Treatment Program, Barbara Nelle Vesely

Theses and Dissertations

The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between locus of control and alcoholism. The questions which this study sought to address included a comparison of locus of control in inpatient and outpatient white male treatment groups with a nonalcoholic control group. In addition changes in locus of control during alcohol treatment were also assessed.

A total of 129 white men were placed into one of three groups. Thirty-one men from the community who scored within the nonalcoholic range on the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST) made up the control group. Two groups of men in treatment for alcoholism …

Effect Of Sinkholes On Soil Moisture And Ground Water Recharge At An Abandoned Underground Coal Mine Near Wilton, North Dakota, Michael M. Sonderman

Theses and Dissertations

Subsidence at abandoned underground mines in south-central and southwest North Dakota has produced numerous sinkholes. Previous studies in the Northern Great Plains have suggested depression-focused recharge may be a significant ground water recharge mechanism in this region. Thus, sinkholes may increase soil moisture and ground water recharge. Current reclamation practices include filling sinkholes with non-topsoil fill material. However, the benefits of increases in soil moisture and ground water supplies may outweigh the benefits of expensive reclamation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether soil moisture and, hence, the potential for ground water recharge, was greater in sinkholes than …

Identifying Federal Contracting Policy Changes To Improve Government Acquisition Of Commercial Space-Launch Capacity, Bryan S. Moon

Theses and Dissertations

The study dealt with expressed congressional intent to promote the commercial space-launch industry and defense management emphasis on government use of commercial contracting methods for the purchase of commercial products. The research problem was to determine what contracting policy changes implementing commercial-like practices would benefit the commercial space-launch industry and federal space-launch acquisition. Commercial-like contracting practices include removal of statutory and regulatory barriers to contracting with the government. To accomplish this, the most significant contractual barriers experienced by the industry in doing business with the government were identified. The study hypothesized possible relationships among barriers, acquisition cost variables, industry well-being …

Drug Testing In The Public Sector, James R. Beal

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to assess the nature and extent of drug testing in the public sector. Drug testing of public employees as well as private employees has been on the rise since the later part of the 1980s. This trend may continue into the 1990s and beyond.

Though drug testing may appear to be means to end drug abuse among public employees, it may not be the best means. In order to fully understand the current controversies sur— rounding drug testing, a detailed examination of available literature was conducted. There are many issues that must be considered …

County-Level Land Use Planning Policies And Regulations Impacting The Pattern Of Settlement In Utah County, Utah, Erik A. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Utah County has the second largest county population in the State of Utah and ranks 16th out of 29 in total land area. Over 90% of the County's quarter of a million residents live in the area known as Utah Valley, a relatively narrow strip of land situated between the Wasatch Mountains and Utah Lake. In addition to a large population, most of which was realized during the 1970s, Utah Valley also contains the bulk of the County's important agricultural land. Not surprisingly, the expanding population in Utah Valley has created competition between agricultural and urban uses for limited land …