Digital Commons Network^™

Beyond Economics: A Behavioural Approach To Energy Efficiency In Domestic Buildings, Marius Claudy, Aidan O'Driscoll

Articles

This paper argues that the moderate success of policies aiming to stimulate the uptake of Sustainable Energy Systems (SES) in the domestic sector is grounded in a poor understanding of the ‘consumer’. The predominant economic approach behind most policies assumes that improving the cost-benefit ratio of technologies via grants and subsidies and providing sufficient information will automatically incentivise householders’ to invest into SES. Yet, policymakers often neglect behavioural determinants such as attitudes, social norms or personal capabilities. Drawing on key findings from the economics, technology and behavioural literature, this paper proposes an integrated model to identify behavioural and contextual influences …

Rational Best-Value Model Based On Expected Performance, Magdy Abdelrahman, Tarek Zayed, Jay Hietpas, Ahmed Elwakil

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The best-value procurement strategy is gaining the interest of federal and state agencies. The strategy increases the value added to a project for each dollar added. A new concept of best value, that is, a rational and flexible model based on expected performance, is presented. The model's flexibility is obvious in the selection of parameters to be included in the contractor selection process and in the determination of their weights. The model's rationality will be achieved through relating all awarded scores to the agency's expected performance. The establishment of the best-value model relies on the past record of the contractor's …

Implementing An Architectural Framework To Define And Deliver Net-Centric Capability To Legacy Military Air Assets Operating Within A System Of Systems, Mark S. Anderson, S. M. Martin, Cihan H. Dagli, Ann K. Miller

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The United States Air Force (USAF) is implementing an integrated net-centric system of systems for airborne operations in support of the global war on terror (GWOT). The GWOT demands that a successful architecture framework transforms and delivers net-centric assets to the war-fighter in a timely manner. A critical component of this implementation is the transformation of legacy strategic air platforms into net-centric air power assets operating within a system of systems. The System Architectural (SA) framework, and the Department of Defense Architectural Framework (DoDAF) are ways of managing complexity and organizing information within a system of systems network. This paper …

Generalized Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman Formulation-Based Neural Network Control Of Affine Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems, Zheng Chen, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, we consider the use of nonlinear networks towards obtaining nearly optimal solutions to the control of nonlinear discrete-time (DT) systems. The method is based on least squares successive approximation solution of the generalized Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (GHJB) equation which appears in optimization problems. Successive approximation using the GHJB has not been applied for nonlinear DT systems. The proposed recursive method solves the GHJB equation in DT on a well-defined region of attraction. The definition of GHJB, pre-Hamiltonian function, HJB equation, and method of updating the control function for the affine nonlinear DT systems under small perturbation assumption are proposed. …

Improved Bdfe Using A Priori Information For Turbo Equalization, Jingxian Wu, Sang-Yick Leong, Kah-Ping Lee, Chengshan Xiao, Jan C. Olivier

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Turbo equalization improves communication system performance by iteratively exchanging information between soft-input soft-output (SISO) equalizer and SISO channel decoder. The trellis-based maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) algorithm serves as the optimum SISO equalizer for turbo equalization. However, MAP algorithm is unsuitable for systems with large modulation constellation size and severe inter-symbol interference (ISI) due to its prohibitively high computational complexity. In this paper, an improved SISO block decision feedback equalizer (BDFE) is proposed for low complexity turbo equalization. Unlike other sub-optimum equalizers which perform symbol by symbol detection, the proposed equalizer generates the soft output for each data bit by …

Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Rayleigh Flat Fading Outage Capacity Using Channel Estimation, Chris G. Potter, Kurt Louis Kosbar, Adam Panagos

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Upper and lower bounds on the outage capacity for a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Rayleigh flat fading wireless baseband communication environment are derived for the case when the channel is completely unknown at the transmitter and the receiver has access to channel state information (CSI) via pilot estimation. The bounds show that the channel estimation error significantly impacts the outage capacity. A change in the outage probability is also shown to have a larger impact on the outage capacity when the channel estimation error is small. To get an idea of how these bounds are affected by a temporally correlated channel, …

Development Of Ballistic Limit Equations For Dual-Wall Spacecraft Shielding: A Concise History And Suggestions For Future Development, William P. Schonberg

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

All earth-orbiting spacecraft are susceptible to impacts by orbital debris particles, which can occur at extremely high speeds and can damage flight- and mission-critical systems. The traditional damage mitigating shield design for this threat consists of a “bumper” that is placed at a relatively small distance away from the main “inner wall” of the spacecraft. The performance of a hypervelocity impact shield is typically characterized by its ballistic limit equation, which is typically drawn as a line of demarcation between regions of rear-wall perforation and no perforation; when graphically represented, it is often referred to as a ballistic limit curve. …

Estimation Of Earthquake Loss Due To Bridge Damage In The St. Louis Metropolitan Area: Part I - Direct Losses, Ronaldo Luna, David J. Hoffman, William T. Lawrence

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The risk associated with earthquake hazards on highway systems is dependent on the complexity of a network and its redundancy in providing traffic flow. Earthquake loss estimation studies can provide decision makers with an appreciation of the importance of having a highway network resistant to earthquakes and information to make the network resistant to these events. The direct economic loss was estimated for a major metropolitan area, St. Louis, for a series of earthquake scenarios. The primary component of the study was damage to bridges within the highway system. The study zone covers the St. Louis metropolitan area and its …

Perspectives Of Change: Municipal Park And Recreation Directors Perceptions Of The Importance Of Specified Organizational Goals 1983–2008, Daniel Archie Wheeler

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study examines specified goals park and recreation directors have previously determined are important for their organizations, and how those goals rank in importance in their present estimations, and how those goals rank in future importance. It compares a similar study of goals from 1983, and reports on changes in levels of importance from 1983 to 2008.

Directors' perceptions of goal importance of 2008 present levels and 2008 future levels were determined to be significantly different in 23 of 26 cases. Goals were grouped in four categories, (a) management/adaptation,/positional, having to do with management tasks, (b) groups served, those targeted …

Disability And Difference: Adolescents' Interpretations Based On Television Viewing, Paula Anne Schmidt

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study was conducted in order to decipher adolescent interpretations of disability that were portrayed on television. Employing qualitative methodology and methods, I conducted focus groups with adolescents during which they viewed television programs containing portrayals of characters with disabilities, or otherwise defining differences. The sixth grade participants freely shared their perspectives of the programs and characters in addition to their thoughts about the nature of difference in general.

Although I originally intended to interpret adolescents' reactions toward characters with disabilities, I found that it was not only characters with disabilities that they viewed in a judgmental manner. As the …

Integrating Eastern Philosophy Into Western Psychology: A Primer For Students Of Applied Psychology, Erica Hurley, Jennifer L. Callahan

Modern Psychological Studies

A review of undergraduate texts marketed as providing an introduction to clinical psychology located no chapters devoted to the emerging practice of integrating Eastern philosophy with Western psychological practices. Thus, this paper provides students with a primer of this important emerging area by reviewing cultural differences that challenge the successful integration of Eastern philosophy with Western psychology, before focusing specifically on Taoist philosophy and its implications for Western psychotherapy. The congruence of Taoism with the "common" factors of Western psychotherapy (i.e., those mechanisms of change thought to transcend theoretical psychotherapy orientation) will be discussed, as will congruence with "specific" cognitive …

Laboratory Schools Annual Report, 2007-2008, Laboratory Schools, Illinois State University

Annual Reports – Laboratory Schools

Illinois State University Laboratory Schools annual report

The Relationships Between Cyber And Non-Cyber Bullying And Depressive Symptoms Among Adolescents In Western Australia, Mitch J. Read

Theses : Honours

Much research has explored the nature, prevalence and impact that bullying behaviours have on children and adolescents. Correlations have been found between bullying behaviours and depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, loneliness, psychosomatic symptoms and conduct disorders. With a rapid increase in the availability and use of information and communication technologies young people are now able to bully others in a relatively anonymous, removed fashion, often referred to as cyber bullying. This paper provides a review of the research that has investigated the nature, prevalence and impact of cyber and non-cyber bullying. The bullying literature highlights the negative consequences this behaviour often …

I Think My Mother Would Have Put Me Off Women For Life'; John Osborne And The Construction Of The Maternal Female In Four Of His Plays: Look Back In Anger, The Entertainer, Time Present And The Hotel In Amsterdam, Dierdre Mangan

Theses : Honours

The following thesis aims to provide an insight into the life of British playwright, John Osborne and to examine his relationship with both his mother and other significant females present in his life. In addition, the following document aims to consider the subsequent effect Osborne's relationships may have had upon both the construction and depiction of the maternal role in four of his plays: Look Back in Anger (1956), The Entertainer (1957), Time Present (1968) and The Hotel in Amsterdam (1968). Evidence to support the thesis was obtained from a wide variety of sources: autobiographies, biographies, plays, film, critical theory, …

Case Analysis Of Information Security Risk Perceptions, Alexis Guillot

Theses : Honours

The scientific rationality used by experts towards risk evaluation is expressed as the product of its likelihood of occurrence with its consequences or impacts (ENISA, 2006a). This directly opposes the subjective nature of risk perception, often appearing as inconsistent if not completely irrational (Byrne, 2003). Risk perception theories are a pathway to explain the subjective nature of risk and a deeper insight into the human's cognitive system. Those theories may help to explain why people see, act and plan for risks in the way that they do, the weaknesses that exist in the human decision mechanisms and their impact on …

Unmasking Albany : Addressing Social Issues Through Mask-Work With Young People In A Western Australian Regional Centre, Fleur Hockey

Theses : Honours

My research looked at whether mask-work could be used to address social issues affecting young people in a Western Australian regional centre. It consisted of a case study, where I ran a six day workshop series in two Albany primary schools, with students who had been selected by their school to participate. Throughout the workshops, the young participants each made a full expressive mask, learnt how to perform in different mask styles, developed a character and took part in a small performance at their school. I employed a performance ethnography methodology and utilised methods such as participant observation, structured interviews …

Performing The Keyboard Percussion Works Of Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic, Joshua James Webster

Theses : Honours

This study deals with the keyboard percussion works of Serbian composer, Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic, with a special focus on understanding and interpreting two of his concert works: Ultimatum I and Ultimatum II. Part one contextualises these two works by offering the most complete life and works study of the composer to date. This section concludes with some observations regarding Zivkovic's compositional style and musical background. Part two focuses on two of Zivkovic's best-known works, Ultimatum I & II, and offers a descriptive analysis of the music and a guide to performance. This study is informed not only by recourse to …

Advanced Accounting Ii, Ed Plastow

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Advanced Accounting Ii, Ed Plastow

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Forensic Accounting, William Hahn

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Bible, Camilla Belfon

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Biblical Hermeneutics, Glenn Pearl

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Biblical Hermeneutics, Robby Waddell Dr.

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Biblical Exposition & Faith Integration, Robby Waddell Dr.

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

New Testament Survey, Gerry White

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Life Of Christ, William Hackett

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Romans, Robby Waddell Dr.

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Revelation, Robby Waddell Dr.

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Biol 333l Histology Lab, Steelman Library, Todd D. Schraw Dr.

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Biol 4013 Microbiology Syllabus, Steelman Library, B W. Mcconchie Dr.

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.