Digital Commons Network^™

Controlling Our Emotion At Work: Implications For Interpersonal And Cognitive Task Performance In A Customer Service Simulation, Moshe Feldman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Display rules are used by organizations to define appropriate behaviors and expressions while interacting with others in the workplace. Emotional labor is a function of the effort required to adhere to these display rules and has been associated with negative outcomes such as stress and burnout which can lead to higher levels of turnover and health care costs for the organization. In addition, evidence suggests that emotional labor may come at a cognitive cost as well. Hence, reducing the amount of emotional labor should be beneficial to both employees and organizations alike. The current study used a customer service simulation …

Food For Thought: The Relationship Between Thought Suppression And Weight Control, Rachel Peterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study assessed the relationship between individuals' tendency to suppress thoughts, particularly related to food and body weight/shape, and outcomes such as weight loss maintenance and diet sabotaging experiences (e.g., binge eating). Community and university individuals (N = 347) who are or previously were overweight completed self-report measures of thought suppression, weight history, and eating behaviors. Suppression of specific thoughts about food/weight/shape was related to weight cycling, binge eating, and food cravings. Participants who believed thoughts of food lead to eating were more likely to attempt suppression of food-related thoughts. Results have implications for improving weight loss maintenance and …

Implementation And Evaluation Of A Classroom-Based Approach To Expectancy Challenge For Reducing Alcohol Use Among First-Year Co, Janani Sivasithamparam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is a pervasive belief in the United States that the college experience typically includes frequent social activities characterized by widespread alcohol use. Unfortunately, awareness of the hundreds of deaths and wide variety of other harms experienced by college students as a result of alcohol use is much less pervasive. In an effort to increase awareness of the negative impact of alcohol use on college campuses, the NIAAA commissioned a panel composed of scientists and college presidents to document alcohol-related harms and identify strategies that have been found to be effective in reducing risky alcohol use based on empirical evidence. …

Distributed Team Training: Effective Team Feedback, Kevin Oden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United States Army currently uses after action reviews (AARs) to give personnel feedback on their performance. However, due to the growing use of geographically distributed teams, the traditional AAR, with participants and a moderator in the same room, is becoming difficult; therefore, distributed AARs are becoming a necessity. However, distributed AARs have not been thoroughly researched. To determine what type of distributed AARs would best facilitate team training in distributed Army operations, feedback media platforms must be compared. This research compared three types of AARs, which are no AAR, teleconference AAR, and teleconference AAR with visual feedback, to determine …

Investigating The Effects Of Tactile Stress On A Military Touniquet Application Task, Razia Nayeem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In combat, soldiers encounter stress from multiple sources including loss of sleep, extremely high levels of physical and psychological discomfort, extended periods of increased vigilance, and intense danger. Therefore, it is imperative to train such personnel on how to cope with these stressors. One way to do this is to include stressors in different forms of training to acclimate soldiers to the subsequent stress of combat. Due to their advantages, tactile trainers are being investigated increasingly for the use of training Army medics in this context. The present work examines how vibrating tactile sensors, or tactors, can be used as …

Game On: The Impact Of Game Features In Computer-Based Training, Renee Derouin-Jessen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The term "serious games" became popularized in 2002 as a result of an initiative to promote the use of games for education, training, and other purposes. Today, many companies are using games for training and development, often with hefty price tags. For example, the development budget for the U.S. Army recruiting game, "America's Army" was estimated at $7 million. Given their increasing use and high costs, it is important to understand whether game-based learning systems perform as billed. Research suggests that games do not always increase learning outcomes over conventional instruction. However, certain game features (e.g., rules/goals, fantasy, challenge) might …

Feedback-Based Alcohol Interventions For Mandated Students: A Comparison Of Individual, Group, And Electronic Formats, Jacqueline Alfonso

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the effectiveness of personalized alcohol feedback interventions in three different delivery formats on alcohol use and related negative consequences in a sample of mandated college students referred for alcohol-related violations. Participants were randomized to one of three conditions: an individually-delivered face-to-face intervention, a group-delivered face-to-face intervention, or a web-based electronically-delivered intervention. Given that the current study sought to modify factors associated with alcohol use, analyses were conducted using only those participants who reported alcohol use at the baseline assessment. The final sample resulted in 173 participants, 18-years-of-age and over, and consisted of 57% males (n = …

Experiences, Attitudes And Beliefs About Interpersonal Violence: A Study On Costa Rican Adolescents, Monica Mendez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research in Latin America regarding interpersonal violence and adolescents is rare if not nonexistent. In a collaborative effort with the Costa Rican Ministry of Education and the National Institute of Women (INAMU), qualitative data were collected from three high schools and one after-school program from rural and urban locations of the Central Valley. The discussion groups/open-ended questionnaires were done with a total of 154 students ranging from ages 14 to 17 and grade levels 8th to 12th. Information was obtained concerning students' perceptions, definitions and opinions on issues relating to interpersonal violence and gender roles and rules. The results show …

Green Chairs, Fictional Phalluses, Infiltration, And Love On The Rocks: Medical Imaging Artifacts Blown Up, Lynn Koller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This text outlines and applies a methodology for deciphering problems and producing new information by analyzing the artifacts produced by medical imaging technologies - text and images - using practices gleaned from Surrealists, semiologists, and visual artists, emphasizing its own form as being the product of the apparatuses that produce it and therefore untrustworthy. Its basic assumption is that every text contains the information necessary to solve problems of all sorts, though because of the limitations of this text in both form and authorial intellect, we may only reach a starting point for a solution herein. In this regard, we …

Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes Induce Indirect Cytotoxicity By Medium Depletion In A549 Lung Cells, Gordon Chambers, Alan Casey, Fiona Lyng, Maria Davoren, Eva Herzog (Thesis), Hugh Byrne

Articles

The ability of two types of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), namely Arc Discharge (AD) and HiPco® single walled carbon nanotubes, to induce an indirect cytotoxicity in A549 lung cells by means of medium depletion was investigated. The nanotubes were dispersed in a commercial cell culture medium and subsequently removed by centrifugation and filtration. Spectroscopic analysis confirmed the removal of the nanotubes and showed differing degrees of alteration of the composition of the medium upon the removal of the nanotubes. The ability to induce an indirect cytotoxic effect by altering the medium was evaluated using two endpoints, namely the Alamar …

Initial Validation Of Novel Performance-Based Measures: Mental Rotation And Psychomotor Ability, Philip Fatolitis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Given the high-risk nature of military flight operations and the significant resources required to train U.S. Naval Aviation personnel, continual improvement is required in the selection process. In addition to general commissioning requirements and aeromedical standards, the U.S. Navy utilizes the Aviation Selection Test Battery (ASTB) to select commissioned aviation students. Although the ASTB has been a good predictor of aviation student performance in training, it was proposed that incremental improvement could be gained with the introduction of novel, computer administered performancebased measures: Block Rotation (BRT) and a Navy-developed Compensatory Tracking task. This work constituted an initial validation of the …

Lidar Based Emissions Measurement At The Whole Facility Scale: Method And Error Analysis, Gail E. Bingham, Christian C. Marchant, Vladimir V. Zavyalov, Douglas J. Ahlstrom, Kori D. Moore, Derek S. Jones, Thomas D. Wilkerson, Lawrence E. Hipps, Randy S. Martin, Jerry L. Hatfield, John H. Prueger, Richard L. Pfeiffer

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Particulate emissions from agricultural sources vary from dust created by operations and animal movement to the fine secondary particulates generated from ammonia and other emitted gases. The development of reliable facility emission data using point sampling methods designed to characterize regional, well-mixed aerosols are challenged by changing wind directions, disrupted flow fields caused by structures, varied surface temperatures, and the episodic nature of the sources found at these facilities. We describe a three-wavelength lidar-based method, which, when added to a standard point sampler array, provides unambiguous measurement and characterization of the particulate emissions from agricultural production operations in near real …

The Timber Sale Contract, Cooperative Extension

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Using Creative Writing Instruction In The Urban High School English Classroom To Promote Writing Skills In Remedial Level Students, Maureen Harrison

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this research is to investigate the value of creative writing instruction for increasing the literacy of remedial students in urban High School English classes. Students who are placed in remedial level classes often have preconceived negative feelings concerning their ability to produce academic writing. As I later discuss through the research of Debra Holmes Matthews, John A. Daly and Michael D. Miller, these preconceived notions impact the motivation and educational experience of remedial level students. In my research I will examine the ability of creative writing to motivate struggling student writers and help to improve specific writing …

Model Abstraction In Dynamical Systems: Application To Mobile Robot Control, Patricia Mellodge, Pushkin Kachroo

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

This book investigates abstraction of dynamical systems for the purpose of designing controllers. Abstraction is a means to reduce a system model's complexity while retaining the important behavior of that system. The motivating example throughout this text is the robotic car. Two topics are introduced in this text: control design using abstraction and propagation of uncertainty in abstracted systems. First, this book investigates the conditions for which controllers can be designed in abstracted systems and then transferred to the original dynamical system, taking advantage of design using the simpler model. This book also studies the relationship between the evolution of …

Knowledge Maps And Their Application To Student And Faculty Assessment, Ricky Castles, V. K. Lohani, Pushkin Kachroo

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

This paper discusses the development of knowledge maps for enhancing engineering learning. These maps are somewhat similar to concept maps, which have been widely used and developed in various areas of study. Knowledge maps, however, extend concept maps in that they not only illustrate the underlying concepts of a discipline, but they actually embed the knowledge in each of those concepts through various multimedia attachments. Knowledge maps also allow reverse mapping so that students can be assessed based upon how many concepts they know and whether they have understood the proper relationships between the concepts. A reverse map can be …

The Effect Of Demand, Tank Parameters, And Pumping Stations On Energy Use In Municipal Drinking Water Distribution Systems, Santosh Raj Ghimire

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Two of the indicators of the UN Millennium Development Goals ensuring environmental sustainability are energy use and per capita carbon dioxide emissions. The increasing urbanization and increasing world population may require increased energy use in order to transport enough safe drinking water to communities. In addition, the increase in water use would result in increased energy consumption, thereby resulting in increased green-house gas emissions that promote global climate change. The study of multiple Municipal Drinking Water Distribution Systems (MDWDSs) that relates various MDWDS aspects--system components and properties--to energy use is strongly desirable. The understanding of the relationship between system aspects …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Room Temperature Operating Single Electron Transistors Using Focused Ion Beam Technologies, Prasanjit Santosh Karre

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The single electron transistor (SET) is a Coulomb blockade device, whose operation is based on the controlled manipulation of individual electrons. Single electron transistors show immense potential to be used in future ultra lowpower devices, high density memory and also in high precision electrometry. Most SET devices operate at cryogenic temperatures, because the charging energy is much smaller than the thermal oscillations. The room temperature operation of these devices is possible with sub- 10nm nano-islands due to the inverse dependance of charging energy on the radius of the conducting nano-island. The fabrication of sub-10nm features with existing lithographic techniques is …

Studies Of Spatial Clustering Of Inertial Particles In Turbulence, Ewe Wei Saw

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

We present studies of the spatial clustering of inertial particles embedded in turbulent flow. A major part of the thesis is experimental, involving the technique of Phase Doppler Interferometry (PDI). The thesis also includes significant amount of simulation studies and some theoretical considerations. We describe the details of PDI and explain why it is suitable for study of particle clustering in turbulent flow with a strong mean velocity. We introduce the concept of the radial distribution function (RDF) as our chosen way of quantifying inertial particle clustering and present some original works on foundational and practical considerations related to it. …

Electronic Properties Of Zig-Zag Carbon Nanotubes : A First-Principles Study, Pavan Kumar Valavala

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Carbon nanotube (CNT) is a one dimensional (1-D) nanostructured material, which has been the focal point of research over the past decade for intriguing applications ranging from nanoelectronics to chemical and biological sensors. Using a first-principles gradient corrected density functional approach, we present a comprehensive study of the geometry and energy band gap in zig-zag semi-conducting (n,0) carbon nanotubes (CNT) to resolve some of the conflicting findings. Our calculations confirm that the single wall (n,0) CNTs fall into two distinct classes depending upon n mod 3 equal to 1 (smaller band gaps) or 2 (larger gaps). …

Towards Greater Accuracy In Individual-Tree Mortality Regression, Clara Antón Fernández

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Background mortality is an essential component of any forest growth and yield model. Forecasts of mortality contribute largely to the variability and accuracy of model predictions at the tree, stand and forest level. In the present study, I implement and evaluate state-of-the-art techniques to increase the accuracy of individual tree mortality models, similar to those used in many of the current variants of the Forest Vegetation Simulator, using data from North Idaho and Montana. The first technique addresses methods to correct for bias induced by measurement error typically present in competition variables. The second implements survival regression and evaluates its …

State V. Raskin, Florida Circuit Court

Historical and Topical Legal Documents

No abstract provided.

Erupted Magma Volume Estimates At Santiaguito And Pacaya Volcanoes, Guatemala Using Digital Elevation Models , Kelly S. Durst

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

High resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) of Santiaguito and Pacaya volcanoes, Guatemala, were used to estimate volume changes and eruption rates between 1954 and 2001. The DEMs were generated from contour maps and aerial photography, which were analyzed in ArcGIS 9.0®. Because both volcanoes were growing substantially over the five decade period, they provide a good data set for exploring effective methodology for estimating volume changes. The analysis shows that the Santiaguito dome complex grew by 0.78 ± 0.07 km³ (0.52 ± 0.05 m³ s^-1) over the 1954-2001 period with nearly all the growth occurring on …

Digital Processing And Data Compilation Approach For Using Remotely Sensed Imagery To Identify Geological Lineaments In Hard-Rock Terrains : An Application For Groundwater Explorations In Nicaragua , Jill N. Bruning

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Sustainable yields from water wells in hard-rock aquifers are achieved when the well bore intersects fracture networks. Fracture networks are often not readily discernable at the surface. Lineament analysis using remotely sensed satellite imagery has been employed to identify surface expressions of fracturing, and a variety of image-analysis techniques have been successfully applied in “ideal” settings. An ideal setting for lineament detection is where the influences of human development, vegetation, and climatic situations are minimal and hydrogeological conditions and geologic structure are known. There is not yet a well-accepted protocol for mapping lineaments nor have different approaches been compared in …

Financial Decision Making About Found Oil And Gas In Ghana : Real Options Vs. Traditional Methods, Isaac Owusu-Ansah

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This research is a study of the use of capital budgeting methods for investment decisions. It uses both the traditional methods and the newly introduced approach called the real options analysis to make a decision. The research elucidates how capital budgeting can be done when analysts encounter projects with high uncertainty and are capital intensive, for example oil and gas production. It then uses the oil and gas find in Ghana as a case study to support its argument.

For a clear understanding a thorough literature review was done, which highlights the advantages and disadvantages of both methods.

The revenue …

Numerical Analysis Of Elliptic Inverse Problems With Interior Data, Mark Gockenbach

Department of Mathematical Sciences Publications

A number of algorithms have been proposed and analyzed for estimating a coefficient in an elliptic boundary value problem when interior data is available. Most of the analysis has been done for the simple scalar BVP

-Δ a Δ u = f in Ω,

a (∂ u / ∂ n) g on ∂ Ω

However, some methods and the associated analysis have been extended to the problem of estimating the Lamé moduli in the system of linear, isotropic elasticity. Under certain idealized conditions, convergence of estimates to the exact Lame moduli has been proved for two techniques, the output …

Mse News 2008, Department Of Materials Science And Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Department of Materials Science and Engineering Annual Reports

Table of Contents

• MSE Department Welcomes New Assistant Professor
• Lee Retires
• Peter Moran
• Michigan Tech Honors Levy for Research Efforts in Magneto-Photonics
• Student Accomplishments
• Awards and Honors
• Alumni News

Electrical And Computer Engineering Research Report 2008, Department Of Electrical And Computer Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Annual Reports

• Department
• Research
• New Chair
• Publications
• Enterprise

Intermittent Water Supplies: Challenges And Opportunities For Residential Water Users In Jordan, David E. Rosenberg, Samer Talozi, Jay Lund

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Intermittent access to improved urban water supplies is a large and expanding global problem. This paper describes 16 supply enhancement and 23 demand management actions available to urban residential water users in Jordan to cope with intermittent supplies. We characterize actions by implementation, costs, and water quantities and qualities acquired or conserved. This effort systematically identifies potential options prior to detailed study and shows that water users have significant capacity to affect demand. We suggest several methods to evaluate options and highlight the need to include local water management decisions in integrated water resources management and planning at utility and …

Water Management With Water Conservation, Infrastructure Expansions, And Source Variability In Jordan, David E. Rosenberg, Richard Howitt, Jay Lund

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

A regional hydroeconomic model is developed to include demand shifts from nonprice water conservation programs as input parameters and decision variables. Stochastic nonlinear programming then jointly identifies the benefit-maximizing portfolio of conservation and leak reduction programs, infrastructure expansions, and operational allocations under variable water availability. We present a detailed application for 12 governorates in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It considers targeted installations of water-efficient appliances, leak reduction in the distribution system, surface and groundwater development, seawater desalination, conveyance, and wastewater treatment projects. Results show that (1) water conservation by urban users generates substantial regional benefits and can delay infrastructure …