Digital Commons Network^™

Providing Real-Time Traffic Advisory And Route Guidance To Manage Borman Incidents On-Line Using The Hoosier Helper Program, Srinivas Peeta, Jorge L. Ramos, Shyam Gedela

JTRP Technical Reports

This study addresses the issue of whether the message content of variable message signs (VMS) can be used as a control variable to favorably influence traffic conditions in real-time. The focus is on the level of detail of information displayed on the VMS, and not human factor issues. It implies an understanding of driver sensitivity to information content. Also, for real-time implementation, the displayed information should be consistent, timely, and reliable. A framework is developed for optimizing system performance under incidents using the VMS message content as the primary control parameter. It consists of: (i) an efficient control strategy to …

Second Phase Study Of Changes In In-Service Asphalt (Vol 1: Main Report), Khaled A. Galal, Thomas D. White, Adam J. Hand

JTRP Technical Reports

In response to the need to improve asphalt pavement performance, the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) was initiated in 1987. Products from SHRP included performance-based specifications for asphalt binders and performance-based mix design tests and criteria for asphalt mixtures. The Superpave asphalt binder specification addresses performance of in-service pavements for given environmental and traffic conditions. During the 1985 paving season in Indiana, the original asphalt binder and HMA (truck mix samples) from a number of pavements were sampled and retained. Cores were also taken from these pavements after seven or eight years of service. Condition surveys were performed on these …

Second Phase Study Of Changes In In-Service Asphalt (Vol 2: Appendices), Khaled A. Galal, Thomas D. White, Adam J. Hand

JTRP Technical Reports

In response to the need to improve asphalt pavement performance, the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) was initiated in 1987. Products from SHRP included performance-based specifications for asphalt binders and performance-based mix design tests and criteria for asphalt mixtures. The superpave asphalt binder specification addresses performance of in-service pavements for given environmental and traffic conditions. During the 1985 paving season in Indiana, the original asphalt binder and HMA (truck mix samples) from a number of pavements were sampled and retained. Cores were also taken from these pavements after seven or eight years of service. Conditions surveys were performed on these …

The Construction Of A Diasporic Tradition: Indo-Caribbean "Local Classical Music", Peter L. Manuel

Publications and Research

A historical and stylistic survey of Indo-Caribbean local-classical music, an idiosyncratic form of North Indian song created by indentured immigrants and their descendants, primarily in Trinidad and Guyana.

"Merciless Indian Savages" And The Declaration Of Independence: Native Americans Translate The Ecunnaunuxulgee Document, John R. Wunder

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Multi-Board Concept - A Scenario Based Approach For Supporting Product Quality And Life Cycle Oriented Design, Aj Robotham, M Hertzum

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

This paper will describe the multi-board concept, which is a working approach for supporting life cycle oriented design and product quality. Aspects of this concept include construction of a common working environment where multiple display boards depict scenarios of the product life cycle, creating a shared quality mindset amongst designers, and developing creativity and synthesis in product design. The appropriateness of scenarios for supporting life cycle oriented design will be ar-gued and preliminary results from early experimentation will be presented. Initial results lead us to believe that the multi-board concept promises to be a useful means of communication amongst the …

Genes, Genesis, And God: Values And Their Origins In Natural And Human History [Review] / Holmes Rolston Iii., Timothy G. Standish

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

No abstract provided.

Analogue-To-Digital Conversion And Image Enhancement Using Neuron-Mos Technology, Joseph W. Austin-Crowe

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis describes the development of two novel circuits that use a newly developed technology, that of neuron-MOS, for the purposes of analogue-to-digital conversion and image enhancement. Neuron-MOS has the potential to reduce both the complexity and number of transistors required for analogue and digital circuits. A reduced area, low transistor-count- analogue-to-digital converter that is suitable for inclusion in a massively parallel array of identical image processing elements is developed. Supporting the function of the array some fundamental image enhancement operations, such as edge enhancement, are examined exploiting the unique features of neuron-MOS technology.

Managing The Acidity Of Abandoned Water Filled Coal Mining Voids In Collie (Western Australia) Using Organic Matter, Scott A. Thompson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The effectiveness of using organic matter additions to increase pH in abandoned water filled coal mining voids in Collie was investigated. Previous studies have demonstrated that passing acidic drainage through organic matter increased the waters pH. Laboratory trials using intact sediment cores (collected from Ewington, Collie, Western Australia) were used to assess the effects of additions of hay, manure and mulched vegetation on pH, nutrients an sulphate levels. In a series of experiments the effect of different quantities of organic material, sulphate reducing bacterial inoculations and alkalinity generation were measured. A subsequent field experiment was conducted to examine the impact …

An Investigation Of The Relationship Between Organisational Size And Industry Type With The Development And Use Of Executive Information Systems In The Manufacturing Sector, Nigel Warne

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this investigative research is to provide quantitative detail to better understand the development and use of Executive Information Sysytems (EIS) in the Australian Manufacturing sector. This investigation is an extension of previous research done on EIS in Australia (Prevan, 1992; Pervan and Phua, 1997) and looks more closely at the independent variables of organisation size and industry type in their relationaship with the development and use of EIS. A broad literature review provides a descriptive model that gives some insight into the development and use of EIS over more than fifteen years. Over eighty per cent of …

University Baccalaureate Curriculum Analysis For Safety And Health In The United States Of America (Usa) Toward A Model University Baccalaureate Curriculum, Margie L. Kolbe-Mims

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The goal of this research was to determine a model safety and health baccalaureate curriculum. A secondary target was to ascertain if safety and health practitioners and safety and health educators would concur on course offerings. To simplify this study effort, a search of literature was conducted on the Occupational Safety and Health field. There were no in-depth studies of this type for such a general population; therefore no instrument was available for this study. The perusal of literature indicated that most such studies had been conducted using a more specific target group of subjects. That is, faculties or former …

Tracing Image And Bodily Displacement In Modern And Postmodern Dance, Carolyn Margaret Griffiths

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Through time the dancer has been both celebrated and disadvantaged by antithetical ideas: the division of soul and body, form and matter, life and death, artist and audience. For the romantics, the dancing body stood in a relationship to poetic thought in much the same way as the dancer stood to the body. Notions of the body in early modernism arose from cultural and political constructs through which poets and writers examined the nature of truth. These poets, Yeats in particular, hinted at a premise that a whole history of culture may be necessary to explain why women and art …

The Potential Use Of Smart Cards In Vehicle Management With Particular Reference To The Situation In Western Australia, Harry W. Jones

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Vehicle management may be considered to consist of traffic management, usage control, maintenance, and security. Various regulatory authorities undertake the first aspect, fleet managers will be concerned with all aspects, and owner-drivers will be interested mainly in maintenance and security. Car theft poses a universal security problem. Personalisation, including navigational assistance, might be achieved as a by-product of an improved management system. Authorities and fleet managers may find smartcards to be key components of an improved system, but owners may feel that the need for improved security does not justify its cost. This thesis seeks to determine whether smartcards may …

Intelligent Approaches To Vlsi Routing, Maolin Tang

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Very Large Scale Integrated-circuit (VLSI) routing involves many large-size and complex problems and most of them have been shown to be NP-hard or NP-complete. As a result, conventional approaches, which have been successfully used to handle relatively small-size routing problems, are not suitable to be used in tackling large-size routing problems because they lead to 'combinatorial explosion' in search space. Hence, there is a need for exploring more efficient routing approaches to be incorporated into today's VLSI routing system. This thesis strives to use intelligent approaches, including symbolic intelligence and computational intelligence, to solve three VLSI routing problems: Three-Dimensional (3-D) …

Influence Of Home And School Environments On The Academic Performance Of Chinese-Australian And Anglo-Australian Students Studying At An Academically-Oriented High School In Perth, Western Australia, Ranbir Singh Malik

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Although minority status has been associated with low academic achievement, the “high Asian achieving syndrome" remains as one of the unresolved sociological puzzles. Consistent evidence suggests that regardless of the family status, children from the Asian migrant families, settled in the industrialised countries, tend to perform academically better than their counterparts from the dominant group. This disparity is attributed to a number of factors, which taken separately, do not address this complex issue. In Australia little research has been done to compare the home environment and school experiences of children coming from Chinese-Australian and Anglo-Australian families even though the number …

Target Language Avoidance By Thai Teachers Of English: Thai Teachers' Beliefs, Sasithorn Vacharaskunee

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Interactionist theories of second language acquisition (SLA) claim that both comprehensible input and modified interaction in the target language are necessary for language learning. In the foreign language context, little opportunity exists for such input simply through exposure to the target language outside the classroom. Therefore, the quantity as well as quality of input within classrooms is especially important. However in spite of this fact many non-native teachers of second language, including English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers, tend to avoid using the target language in their classrooms. This has serious pedagogic implications. Thai teachers are typical of many …

Development Of Self-Adaptive Back Propagation And Derivative Free Training Algorithms In Artificial Neural Networks, Shamsuddin Ahmed

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Three new iterative, dynamically self-adaptive, derivative-free and training parameter free artificial neural network (ANN) training algorithms are developed. They are defined as self-adaptive back propagation, multi-directional and restart ANN training algorithms. The descent direction in self-adaptive back propagation training is determined implicitly by a central difference approximation scheme, which chooses its step size according to the convergence behavior of the error function. This approach trains an ANN when the gradient information of the corresponding error function is not readily available. The self- adaptive variable learning rates per epoch are determined dynamically using a constrained interpolation search. As a result, appropriate …

Bandwidth Management And Quality Of Service, Adalbert Engel

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

With the advent of bandwidth-hungry video and audio applications, demand for bandwidth is expected to exceed supply. Users will require more bandwidth and, as always, there are likely to be more users. As the Internet user base becomes more diverse, there is an increasing perception that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should be able to differentiate between users, so that the specific needs of different types of users can be met. Differentiated services is seen as a possible solution to the bandwidth problem. Currently, however, the technology used on the Internet differentiates neither between users, nor between applications. The thesis focuses …

The Ideal Homeworkers: An Investigation Of Personal & Job Characteristic Requirements For Successful Home Based Work, Maryam Omari

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Global competition, societal changes and other environmental influences have forced organisations to review existing work arrangements. Flexible work practices have been identified as one mechanism for the alignment of organisational and individual goals. Homebased work or telecommuting, which involves working at a remote site, is an example of such a practice. Working from home can have advantages for the organisation in terms of savings in infrastructure costs. Individual employees would also potentially benefit through reduced costs associated with work (e.g. travel and food), and the ability to better manage their work and home life. However, since 25 years ago when …

Aboriginal Students Perceptions Of The Effect Of Vocational Education And Training On Post School Experiences, Steven J. Florisson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Over the past decade there have been dramatic and unprecedented changes in post compulsory education, with an increase of over 40% for year 12 retention rates to 76.6% in 1992 and huge expansion of year 11 and 12 vocational education and training programs. However, for Aboriginal past compulsory age students, the picture is very different. In 1993 the year 12 Aboriginal retention rate was only 24.48% or 982 students (Australia wide), and by 1996 only 10% of the indigenous 15 and older population had any post school qualification, compared to 35% of the total population. Only 34% of West Australian …

The Application Of Object-Oriented Techniques To Preliminary Design Problems, Patrick S. Mackessy

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Preliminary structural design is an early stage in building design during which the engineer formulates and assesses a number of different structural schemes. It is conceptual in nature and involves decision making, which relies on heuristics. Whilst preliminary structural design has not been well supported by PC software, recent research has indicated the potential for knowledge-based, object-oriented systems to assist in the area. This thesis explores the issues that arise when object-oriented techniques arc used to develop knowledge-based software. lt reviews certain basic principles of structural design, methods of representing structural design knowledge and earlier approaches to the design of …

The 2-Way Thrashing-Avoidance Cache (Tac): An Efficient Instruction Cache Scheme For Object-Oriented Languages, Yul Chu, M. R. Ito

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents a new instruction cache scheme: the TAC (Thrashing-Avoidance Cache). A 2-way TAC scheme employs 2-way banks and XOR mapping functions. The main function of the TAC is to place a group of instructions separated by a call instruction into a bank according to the Bank Selection Logic (BSL) and Bank-originated Pseudo-LRU replacement policies (BoPLRU). After the BSL initially selects a bank on an instruction cache miss, the BoPLRU will determine the final bank for updating a cache line as a correction mechanism. These two mechanisms can guarantee that recent groups of instructions exist in each bank safely. …

Why Communication Is Important: A Rationale For The Centrality Of The Study Of Communication, Sherwyn P. Morreale, Michael M. Osborn, Judy C. Pearson

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article defends the importance of studying communication. Academic disciplines in higher education are routinely called upon to explain and justify their role in the educational enterprise. Some academic fields such as history and philosophy are more central in the pursuits of liberal arts, while others such as business administration and engineering are more related to career development. The discipline of communication is fairly unique as it crosses these boundaries. As a result, a need exists to provide a rationale for the study of communication. The National Communication Association, in response to requests from communication departments and administrators for evidence …

What Is Good Communication?, Brian H. Spitzberg

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This articles examines the question: What is good communication? The nature of good communication is both ambiguous and ambivalent. This claim can be taken as a reference to the characteristics that defame good communication, or as a reference to the state of scholarly knowledge about the concept of good communication. On its face, the statement seems clear, and yet, in claiming ambiguity and ambivalence, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Such are some of the subtleties of communication itself, and it is such subtleties that require a re-examination of the composition of good communication. The qualifier "good" suggests a nexus of …

Relationships Among Central Administrators, Chairs, And Faculty: Academic Change Agents In Theory And Practice, Mark Hickson Iii

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article explores the impact of the academic changes in the higher education in the U.S. on the relationship among administrators, chairs and faculty. Times have changed in higher education in the U.S. In the 1960s and 1970s higher education grew rapidly. State and local governments, as well as private donors, willingly and enthusiastically supported higher education. But the Vietnam conflict brought changes in that colleges were often considered the training grounds for protesters as well as escape routes from military conscription. Today it appears that most of heard are requests for raising money not at the president's level nor …

Multimedia As Persuasive Agent: Using Visual Metaphors To Establish The Rhetorical Agenda In A Communication Department Video, Sarah R. Stein

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article emphasizes the significance of computer-mediated communication technologies to communication studies based on a video document made by the communication department of North Carolina State University. The goals for the production of a video included promoting the Communication Department within and outside the university, educating viewers' as to the study of communication and its role in an information society, and advocating implicitly for the benefits of umbrella departments. The development of visual metaphors came as an unexpected by-product of grappling with those three challenges. Making the video highlighted the tension that exists between technological demand and communication imperatives.

An Analysis Of Manufacturing Facility Characteristics And Four-Year Manufacturing Engineering Technology Competencies For Abet Accredited Programs In North Carolina, Richard Eugene Temple

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of correlation between four-year ABET/MET competencies and company demographics of plant location and plant size and usage of manufacturing technologies, and to determine the overall rating per SIC classification of validated MET competencies. This purpose is reflective of the literature, which indicated that there is a need for further development of manufacturing engineering technology competencies to meet the industry needs of a region or state.

A questionnaire was used to collect data. It was mailed to 440 randomly selected practicing manufacturing engineers in North Carolina. The sample size was 50. …

Tools And Techniques For Effective Benchmarking Studies; Strategic Cost Management; Strategic Management Guidelines, Society Of Management Accountants Of Canada, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants (Aicpa), Australian Society Of Certified Practising Accountants

Guides, Handbooks and Manuals

No abstract provided.

Adopting And Implementing Shared Services; Strategic Cost Management; Strategic Management Guidelines, Society Of Management Accountants Of Canada, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants (Aicpa), Australian Society Of Certified Practising Accountants

Guides, Handbooks and Manuals

No abstract provided.

Cover And Contents

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

No abstract provided.