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Neural Networks For Control Signal Reconstruction In Non-Linear Systems With An Application To Aircraft Dynamics., Stelios Pantelis Pispitsos

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In recent years, general, commercial and military aviation has been plagued by the occurrence of several crashes, in which faulty control surfaces appeared to be the cause, or one of the possible causes. Typically, the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) begins its investigation by analyzing the wreckage along with the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR). In most instances this combination of information is enough for the NTSB to discover the cause of the crash, but unfortunately this is not always the case. From this the argument can be made that there is a need for …

The Evolution Of Adult Literacy For Learners With Special Needs., Susie A. Huggins

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis looks at the evolution of adult education over the last 340 years and includes a discussion on Moonlight Schools and Operation Alphabet. The educational abilities of men and women are discussed. The evolution of adult education is reviewed through the legislation that effected the school system. The history of Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA) and the role of the Monongalia County LVA affiliate are reviewed. A survey of the MCLVA is conducted to research educational attainment of parents, adult learners and children of adult learners. Finally, the WV driver’s license exam process is reviewed. Many adult learners have …

The Relative Efficacy Of Computer Assisted Instruction., Dane Edward Huxford

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This manuscript examines the relative efficacy of computer assisted instruction (CAI). A review of literature is examined with regard to the positive and negative aspects of the use of CAI in the university classroom. An experimental design was outlined incorporating the use of 3 teachers instructing 3 separate sections of volunteer students on a topic. The design measured the differences between affective learning, cognitive learning and student perceptions of teacher nonverbal immediacy. Participants were randomly assigned to a class, which utilized either: lecture, handout or the use of CAI. Results showed significant differences between teachers and a slight difference in …

The Agglomeration Of Cement To Facilitate Transportation., Huma E. Hakim

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The objective of this research was to develop a technique to agglomerate cement powder. This was done to facilitate its transportation and to prevent problems faced in conveying cement powder such as cement dusting as well as respiratory problems for workers coming in contact with cement dust. The final agglomerates formed were required to produce concrete with properties as close as possible to that of concrete formed from untreated cement. The agglomeration was carried out in a blender by adding a binder solution. A number of binder-solvent combinations were tested. Successful formation of granules was achieved and subsequently these were …

An Applied Market Area Study Of The Harley-Davidson Motor Company In The New York City Region., Harry O. Nichols

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study evaluates Harley-Davidson dealer market areas based on motorcycle sales and profiles market area ZIP codes base on their demographic make-up. There are three research objectives addressed. Objectives one and two utilize Arc View® geographical information system (GIS) to display ZIP code referenced sales data. The first objective is to map and compare 14 Harley-Davidson dealer defined market area boundaries using motorcycle sales data. In mapping motorcycle sales it was found that certain dealer sales fit their defined market area boundaries better than others did. The average percent of motorcycles being sold by dealers within their home market area …

Apology Excepted: Incorporating A Feminist Analysis Into Evidence Policy Where You Would Least Expect It, Aviva A. Orenstein

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Which Cases Go To Trial?: An Empirical Study Of Predictors Of Failure To Settle, Leandra Lederman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

When Is Command-And-Control Efficient? Institutions, Technology, And The Comparative Efficiency Of Alternative Regulatory Regimes For Environmental Protection, Daniel H. Cole, Peter Z. Grossman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Contrary to the conventional wisdom among economists and legal scholars, command-and-control (CAC) environmental regulations are not inherently inefficient or invariably less efficient than alternative "economic" instruments (EI). In fact, CAC regimes can be and have been efficient (producing net social benefits), even more efficient in some cases that alternative EI regimes.

Standard economic accounts of CAC are insensitive to the historical, technological, and institutional contexts that can influence (and sometimes determine) the efficiency of alternative regulatory regimes. A regime that is nominally or relatively efficient in one set of circumstances may be nominally or relatively inefficient in another. In some …

Performance Surface Prediction For Wan-Based Clusters, Mark J. Clement, J. Kelly Flanagan, Glenn M. Judd, Bryan S. Morse, Joy L. Peterson

Faculty Publications

The last five years have been a period of exponential growth in the number of machines connected to the Internet and the speed at which these machines communicate. The infrastructure is now in place to consider a nationwide cluster of workstations as a viable parallel processing platform. In order to achieve acceptable performance on this kind of a machine, performance prediction tools must provide information on where to place computational objects. Incorrect object placement can result in poor performance and congestion in the network. This research develops a new paradigm for predicting performance in the Wide Area Network (WAN) based …

Suffolk University Academic Catalog And Handbooks, College Of Arts And Sciences And School Of Management, 1999-2000, Suffolk University

College of Arts and Sciences and Sawyer Business School Academic Catalogs

This catalog contains information for the day, evening, and graduate programs

The Effects Of Learning Geometry Using A Computer-Generated Automatic Draw Tool On The Levels Of Reasoning Of College Developmental Students., Lalah W. Larew

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The following study investigated the cognitive growth of college developmental geometry students enrolled in a one-semester course in introductory Euclidean Geometry. A quasi-experimental research design was used to determine if changes in cognitive growth occurred when students used a computer-generated automatic draw tool as an instructional aid. The subjects were a control group of 36 community-college students who learned geometry in a lecture-based formal and 27 students from the same college who learned geometry by using the automatic draw tool, GeoExplorer , for one-third of their instructional time. The van Hiele Theory of levels of thought in geometry was used …

The Effect Of Postorganizers On Mathematics Achievement Following Lectures., Karen E. Mitchell

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This experiment examined the impact of an enhanced graphic postorganizer on the amount of learning and retention college students realized from mathematics lectures given during a full semester. The study was a quasi-experiment in which intact classes of intermediate algebra students with similar mathematical backgrounds either completed the written postorganizer developed for the experiment after each lecture or took a quiz over the same lecture. The postorganizer emphasized concepts, definitions, relationships and student-developed explanations rather than procedures. The planned difference among the groups was the amount of involvement that the students had with the postorganizer. Students in the four groups …

Photoluminescence Investigation Of Compensation In Nitrogen Doped Zinc Selenide., Monica Moldovan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A detailed liquid-helium-temperature photoluminescence study has been performed on a series of ZnSe epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The samples were grown at West Virginia University and include undoped and nitrogen-doped epilayers (with different levels of doping). The PL has been studied as a function of excitation wavelength, power, temperature and time. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) and Photoluminescence Excitation (PLE) were also performed. An ionization energy of 50 meV for the “deep” donor in a lightly doped ZnSe:N sample is determined using power dependence data. Heavily nitrogen-doped samples (≥8 x 1018 cm−3 ) provided evidence for a second deeper …

Effects Of Mutations On The Function And Assembly Of The Iron-Sulfur Protein Into The Cytochrome Bc(1) Complex Of Yeast Mitochondria., Victor Hosea Obungu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The iron-sulfur protein, a subunit of the bc1 complex, is encoded in the nucleus and subsequently imported into the mitochondria where it is assembled with the rest of the subunits into a functional cytochrome bc1 complex. The assembly of deletion mutants of the iron-sulfur protein into the bc1 complex has been investigated by immunoprecipitation by specific antisera against either the iron-sulfur protein or the intact bc1 complex. These studies have suggested that the iron-sulfur protein may be integrated into the bc1 complex of mitochondria through multiple interactions of different regions of the protein with other subunits of the bc1 complex …

A Neural Network-Based Bottom-Up Approach For Building A Software Reuse Economic Model., Gary Dawson Boetticher

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This work describes and presents a process for building a neural network-based reuse economic model. This study adopts a bottom-up perspective where granularity moves from the developer (software program) level to the enterprise level. The goal of the proposed process is to create a model which provides accurate and reliable results which can be applied to various forms of software reuse in various programming paradigms. The current state-of-practice for measuring effort and reuse effort is extended, leading to improvements in accuracy. Furthermore, in order to accomplish this goal, it becomes necessary to address different forms of reuse: black-box and white-box …

The Effect Of Plant Uv-B Absorbing Compounds On Life History Traits And Reproductive Performance In Variable Uv-B Environments., Susan Jill Cooke

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Plants often respond to elevated UV-B by increasing the concentration of UV-B absorbing compounds in their tissues. However, evidence that UV-B absorbing compounds confer an adaptive advantage to plants in elevated UV-B environments has not been produced. Three of four experiments utilized an Arabidopsis mutant deficient in the ability to produce flavonoids (a set of UV-B absorbing compounds) to address this question. Results from a life history experiment showed that the wild type out-performed the mutant plants under both UV-B environments, indicating that flavonoids may confer an adaptive advantage across UV-B environments. Germination results were the exception with UV-B initially …

The Influence Of Racial Identity Development And Locus Of Control On The Career Self-Efficacy Of African-American Adolescents., Melanie Coleman Cosby

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Racial identity and locus of control are two constructs likely to have a significant impact on career self-efficacy (beliefs about one's ability to successfully perform in a given career). This study examines the influence of racial identity attitudes (as measured by the Racial Identity Attitude Scale-B) and locus of control (as measured by the Internal, Powerful Others, and Chance scales) on the career choice patterns and aspirations of African American adolescents (N = 101). It was predicted that gender differences would emerge in the expression of racial identity attitudes, locus of control, and career self-efficacy (as measured by the Career …

Risk Based Capital Requirements And The United States Loan Market., Sudip Ghosh

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation examines the effect of risk-based capital (RBC) requirements were introduced to the U.S. banking industry in the early 1990s and its influence on bank loans. A great deal of work has been spent on issues surrounding the credit crunch. Now the question is whether it is a coincidence of some kind that implementation of RBC requirements and the credit crunch happened around the same time or whether RBC requirements resulted in the credit crunch. Another issue is whether the impact of RBC requirements on U.S. bank lending behavior is permanent or temporary. The research focuses on the theoretical …

Safety By Design: An Expert Systems Approach., Magdy Akladios

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Industries may require the application of new technologies. In recent years, these technologies have undergone rapid development. Intensely scrutinized in terms of design, new technologies surprisingly receive little attention when assessing the hazards they might pose to worker health and safety. These technologies are usually designed by experts who know very little about safety and health issues. A user-friendly, easily accessible system that is devised to assist designers during the design phase by pointing out the different downfalls of their design with respect to safety and health issues and impacts, can dramatically improve safety, reduce costs, and most importantly, reduce …

A Comparison Of The Personalized System Of Instruction To Direct Instruction In The Training Of Direct-Care Residential Staff In The Use Of Social Attention And Planned Ignoring., Byron Michael-Carrick Doom

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The study compared the Personalized System of Instruction to Direct Instruction in the training of direct-care staff from community residential facilities. There were a total of 51 direct-care staff participating in the study. The experimental design was a pretest-posttest design. Experimental Group I received PSI training, Experimental Group II received Direct Instruction, and Experimental Group III was a control group. Participants in Experimental Groups I and II received the same training content, with only the method of instruction varied. Phase one of the study was the pre-training observation phase during which participants pre-training use of the content areas was evaluated. …

The Immunology And Infection Of The Cystic Fibrosis Lung., Andrea Rene Drummond Massengale

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The leading cause of death among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients is progressive lung disease characterized by an early, sustained inflammation, chronic infection by mucoid strains of P. aeruginosa, and subsequent bronchiectasis. The connection between defective CFTR and the apparent pathophysiology of the CF lung remains unclear. Understanding this connection is of critical importance in developing strategies that temper the respiratory inflammation in CF and prevent P. aeruginosa colonization of the airways. The goal of this dissertation was to provide new insight concerning the immunology and infection of the CF lung by investigating the following: (1) the effect of alginate on …

The Effect Of Graphing Calculators On College Students' Ability To Solve Procedural And Conceptual Problems In Developmental Algebra., Mark Andrew Shore

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the graphing calculator (namely the Casio 9850 or the TI-85) on college students' procedural skills and conceptual understanding in two different developmental mathematics courses. The developmental mathematics college courses that were used in this study were Elementary Algebra and Intermediate Algebra. For this study, both the non-graphing calculator group and the graphing calculator group were taught with the same goals. The students in the graphing calculator groups were allowed to use the graphing calculator in place of performing paper and pencil procedures in class and on all tests. Students …

The Utilization Of Electronically Disseminated Research In Academic Personnel Decisions., Sylvia Anne Hawranick

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study examined the current status and use of electronically disseminated research (EDR) in academic personnel decisions. The population included 236 institutions classified as Research 1 or 2, or Doctoral 1 or 2, according to the Carnegie Foundation's Classification. The Chief Academic Officer of each institution was identified as the contact person. A cover letter and survey were sent to each institution, and 100 institutions (44.1%) responded.

The data was analyzed by institution type, and the results were reported based on responses to each survey question. Key findings included:

1. Technology Usage: Over 97% of respondents had access to a …

Gerald Finzi's Songs For Baritone On Texts By Thomas Hardy: An Historical And Literary Analysis And Its Effect On Their Interpretation., Curtis Alan Scheib

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research document examines twenty-six of the forty-nine songs composed by Gerald Finzi (1901–1956) to texts by Thomas Hardy (1840–1928). The songs were written for baritone and are found in the sets; Earth and Air and Rain, Before and After Summer, and I Said to Love. The study views the songs within the context of Finzi's life and compositional style as well as in relation to his affinity with the poetry and outlook of Thomas Hardy. It examines in some detail the lives of both composer and poet, and also looks at song composition in Britain during the first half …

Korean Child-Rearing Practices In The United States: An Ethnographic Study On Korean Immigrants In The Cultural Transition, Yoon Sun Lee

Master's Theses

Digitized thesis

The Impact Of Sexual Orientation On The Process Of Identity Formation In Adolescence As Measured Through Imaginary Audience And Personal Fable Ideation, William Wasko Macatee

Master's Theses

Digitized thesis

A Comparative Study Of The Writing Component Of The Language Arts Curricula In Japan And In California's Secondary Schools, Nelly Mcfeely

Master's Theses

Digitized thesis

A Comparison Of Problem-Centered Learning Model And Guided-Practice Model On High-School Students' Mathematics Performance And Attitude, Samer G. Malouf

Master's Theses

Digitized thesis

Was South Dakota Deprived Of $3.2 Million - Intestacy, Escheat, And The Statutory Power To Disinherit In The Estate Of Jetter, Julia M. Melius

South Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews, John F. Hagemann, Rena M. Atchison

South Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.