Digital Commons Network^™

Design, Modeling And Simulation Of A Thermoelectric Cooling System (Tec), Pooja Iyer Mani

Masters Theses

Thermoelectric Devices are solid state devices which directly convert thermal energy to electrical energy and vice versa. In the recent past, a lot of effort has been made to improve the performance and also the power generated by a thermoelectric device. This is done by attaching heat sinks on either sides of the device. Optimizing heat sinks improves the overall efficiency of it but on the other hand the device also has to be optimized. TECs are mostly used for electronic cooling where the heated electronic devices serve as target that needs to be cooled while air acts as a …

The Use Of Personality Type To Improve Team Collaboration Within Design Studios, Beth Rolston Jarl

Masters Theses

This study surveyed third year interior design students on satisfaction levels after participating in a 7-week team project where the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) personality assessment was used to help inform team formation. The literature review explored all aspects of team collaboration, the difference between group work, team work and collaborative work, common barriers found in team work, team development processes, successful team building strategies, and the design studio collaborative project in regards to student perceptions of learning. The portion of this study explored and measured in-depth is how students perceived their collaborative team experience using the MBTI to inform …

The Effects Of Individual And Social Comparison Graphic Feedback On Incented Performance, Yngvi Freyr Einarsson

Masters Theses

This study examined whether graphic displays of individual performance and graphic displays of the individual performance of each group member would increase performance when individuals were paid monetary incentives. All participants were paid piece-rate pay and there were three conditions: (a) no feedback, (b) graphic display of individual performance, and (c) graphic display of the performance of each group member. Participants were 80 undergraduate students who performed a computerized data entry task. The main dependent variable was the number of correctly completed entries. A monotone ANCOVA was used to detect performance differences, using data from the first session as a …

Application Of Wavelet Transform In Structural Health Monitoring, Yashodhya Swarna Sri Dhanapala Liyana Kankanamge

Masters Theses

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a process of implementing a damage detection strategy in structures to evaluate the condition of existing structures to ensure the safety of users in the future. The changes in the material, geometric and/or structural properties affect structural responses, which can be captured and analyzed for condition assessment. Various vibration-based damage detection algorithms have been developed in the past decades. Among them, the Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) gained popularity as an efficient method of signal processing to build a framework to identify model properties and detect damage in structures. In this study, the application of wavelet …

The Limits Of Isomorphism: Global Investment Law And The Asean Investment Regime, Sungjoon Cho, Jürgen Kurtz

Chicago Journal of International Law

This Article probes the unique ontogenetic path of ASEAN’s regulation of foreign investment by juxtaposing global investment law with the ASEAN investment regime. While the former delivers a powerful heuristic on isomorphism that ASEAN exhibits in its strong reflection of global investment norms, the latter sheds critical light on ideological and analytical blind spots by exploring distinct heterogeneities in ASEAN’s investment regulation. Those heterogeneities, especially preferences towards non-legal forms of cooperation and tailored flexibilities to pursue public and development outcomes, are not simply outliers, but reflect important historical and cultural values inherent to ASEAN and its members. The insights uncovered …

Measuring Organizational Climate At The Abilene-Taylor County Public Health District, Sarah Floyd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study was to answer the question, according to the Competing Values Framework, what is the organizational climate of the Abilene-Taylor County Public Health District (ATCPHD)? Organizational climate for this study refers to the collective perceptions of employees on their interactions with their peers, management, and the organization. This study surveyed the 64 employees at the ATCPHD with the Organizational Climate Measure (OCM). Forty employees participated in the study. The study determined that the climate of the ATCPHD, according to Competing Values Framework (CVF), was the Human Relations organizational climate with a secondary climate of Relational Goals. …

A Study Evaluating If Targeted Training For Startle Effect Can Improve Pilot Reactions In Handling Unexpected Situations In A Flight Simulator, Michael Gillen

Theses and Dissertations

Recent airline accidents point to a crew’s failure to make correct and timely decisions following a sudden and unusual event that startled the crew. This study sought to determine if targeted training could augment decision making during a startle event. Following a startle event cognitive function is impaired for a short duration of time (30-90 seconds). In aviation, critical decisions are often required to be made during this brief, but critical, time frame.

A total of 40 volunteer crews (80 individual pilots) were solicited from a global U.S. passenger airline. Crews were briefed that they would fly a profile in …

An Evaluation Of The Relationships Between Safety Management System Intiatives, Transformational Safety Leadership, Self-Efficacy, Safety Behavior And Safety Related Events Mediated By Safety Motivation In Collegiate Aviation, Daniel Kwasi Adjekum

Theses and Dissertations

The study conceptualized Safety Management System (SMS) initiative, self-efficacy, and transformational safety leadership as constructs that relates to safety behavior (measured by safety compliance and safety participation) when mediated by safety motivation using a concurrent-triangulation approach. The study also evaluated the relationship between safety behavior and safety -related events. Structural equation modeling techniques was used to derive a final measurement model that fit the empirical data and was used to test the study hypotheses. Utilizing a sample of 282 collegiate flight students and instructors from a large public university, a 46-item survey was conducted to measure respondent’s perceptions on the …

The Effects Of Time Of Day And Circadian Rhythm On Performance During Variable Levels Of Cognitive Workload, Kathryn A. Feltman

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the effects of time of day of testing on a simulated aviation task. The tasks required the participants to engage in multitasking while electroencephalogram (EEG) data was collected to objectively measure participants’ workload. Task demands were altered throughout the testing period to expose participants to both high and low workload conditions. Additionally, individual differences in circadian rhythm were explored by assessing participants’ circadian typology. No significant differences in performance were found resulting from time of day differences. However, performance and EEG differences were found based on phase of testing and workload manipulations. Subjective workload measures were …

Minding Ps And Qs: The Political And Policy Questions Framing Health Care Spending, William M. Sage

Faculty Scholarship

Tracing the evolution of political conversations about health care spending and their relationship to the formation of policy is a valuable exercise. Health care spending is about science and ethics, markets and government, freedom and community. By the late 1980s the unique upward trajectory of post-Medicare U.S. health care spending had been established, recessions and tax cuts were eroding federal and state budgets, and efforts to harness market forces to serve policy goals were accelerating. From the initial writings on “managed competition,” through the failed Clinton health reform effort in the early 1990s, to the passage of the Affordable Care …

A Build System For Benchmarking And Comparison Of Competing System Implementations, Anthony J. Bentley

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

When developing a hardware or software system, the problem at hand may lend itself to multiple solutions. During the implementation process for such systems, it can be helpful to prototype multiple versions that use distinct paradigms, and determine the efficiency of each according to some metric, such as execution time. This paper presents a portable, lightweight build system designed for easy benchmarking and verification of competing implementations of an algorithm. Also presented is a sample project that uses this system to compare the performance and correctness of CPU, GPU, and FPGA implementations of a signal recovery algorithm

Harmonizing Multinational Parent Company Liability For Foreign Subsidiary Human Rights Violations, Vivian Grosswald Curran

Chicago Journal of International Law

A notable development in recent years has been the ubiquity of the giant multinational corporation and its ability, through legal structures, to insulate itself from liability for the conduct of its foreign subsidiaries. In effect, multinational corporations simultaneously become legally invisible in their home states while potentially present through subsidiaries in innumerable other states.This Article focuses on multinational corporations whose parent companies are at home in a developed country while their subsidiaries operate in states in the developing world, and specifically where the foreign subsidiaries are alleged to have violated norms of universal human rights. It examines current legal theory …

Unilateral Corporate Regulation, William Magnuson

Chicago Journal of International Law

Corporations today wield unprecedented power in politics and society, and they have a tremendous effect on human welfare around the globe. At the same time, they are increasingly difficult to regulate. Corporations are savvy and mobile, and they can relocate to avoid burdensome domestic regulation with surprising ease. The agility of corporations creates a dilemma for government decisionmakers seeking to balance the need to attract the wealth that corporations create with the desire to pursue other policy priorities. One approach that governments have used to address this dilemma is international cooperation, and a growing number of scholars have argued that …

December 2016 News Releases, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

Meridians 15:1, Karsonya Wise Whitehead

Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism

With the increasingly high stakes nature of teaching and the ongoing push to teach within the adopted Common Core, there appears to be very little room for teachers to incorporate the voices and experiences of anyone whose life is not already embedded within the curriculum....

Ancient Maya Agricultural Resources In The Rio Amarillo Valley Near Copán, Honduras, Bryce Matthew Brown

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to use soil physical and chemical analyses to better understand the ancient agricultural landscape around the ancient Maya cities of Rio Amarillo and Piedras Negras, two tributary sites to Copan, Honduras. Our primary objective was to determine whether a mass erosion event around 800 A.D. occurred which could have caused crop failure and famine or if stable soil conditions persisted during the collapse of these city-states. Stable carbon isotope analysis of the humin fraction of the soils showed that much of this valley was used anciently for agriculture, including hillslopes and hilltops; however, there …

An Investigation Of Ssglux, A Glucosidase Co-Expressed With Cslf6 In Oat (Avena Sativa) And Barley (Hordeum Vulgare), Michael Christopher Gines

Theses and Dissertations

Mixed Linkage Glucan (MLG, or (1,3;1,4)-ß-D glucan) is a component of cell walls for major cereal crops and is significant to food and beverage industries. To better understand genetic factors affecting MLG content in oats, this study investigates the presence of glucosidases likely to participate in MLG production. A glucosidase showing co-expression with CslF6—the primary gene responsible for MLG synthesis—could indicate a hand in MLG production by association. Reference genes for expression analysis as well as glucosidase candidates were first selected using in silico methods. In both cases, barley was used as model species because it has abundant public bioinformatic …

Selecting Cloud Platform Services Based On Application Requirements, Bridger Ronald Larson

Theses and Dissertations

As virtualization platforms or cloud computing have become more of a commodity, many more organizations have been utilizing them. Many organizations and technologies have emerged to fulfill those cloud needs. Cloud vendors provide similar services, but the differences can have significant impact on specific applications. Selecting the right provider is difficult and confusing because of the number of options. It can be difficult to determine which application characteristics will impact the choice of implementation. There has not been a concise process to select which cloud vendor and characteristics are best suited for the application requirements and organization requirements. This thesis …

The Trans-Pacific Partnership And The Construction Of A Syncretic Animal Welfare Norm, Andrew Jensen Kerr

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.

Obergefell’S Legacy, Mark P. Strasser

Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Celluloid And Silicon Ceilings: Underinvestment In Women Directors And Entrepreneurs, Rose Mckinley

Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

“Her Name Was Not Seher, It Was Heranuş…”: Reading Narratives Of Forced Turkification In Twenty-First Century Turkey, T. Elal

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

The process of Turkish state formation coincides with systematic large-scale massacres, persecution and exclusion of certain groups - namely Armenians, Rums, Jews, Assyrians and Kurds. However, accounts of the process of Turkish nation-building which deal with its destructive side often overlook the “Turkification” of many non-Muslim women and children in the wake of the First World War. This study aims to fill this gap by drawing on personal narratives and testimonies of forceful assimilation published in the last decade in Turkey. As any discussion on the Armenian Genocide was one that was silenced until not so long ago in Turkey, …

Accommodating Students Different Learning Styles With The Use Of Technology, Jaime Prieto

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The understanding of different learning styles is crucial for student academic success. The area of concentration pertaining to this topic includes the cognitive development during the adolescent age group selected. To create a good academic foundation, the teacher must exhibit different forms of learning styles to the students to create awareness and a good academic foundation. With the mass inclusion of technology in our society and education system, this research will attempt to understand the positive and negative effects of technology on effecting the students’ ability to use their effective learning style. Through the use of literature reviews and interviews …

It Takes A Village: Identity Through Helping The Community, Kimberly Anne Arias

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

My capstone project is an internship at Legal Services for Seniors in Seaside. Helping senior citizens has enabled me to grow as an individual. I have always wanted to give back to the community. Educating the elderly of their rights and providing the seniors of Monterey County with free legal aid has helped me learn who I am and what I want to be.

The People Who Influence Our Lives, Julie R. Agrimson

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

How our courage, when challenged by tough situations, is influenced by those around us. Our greatest courage and self-­identities come through the strength of others.

Understanding Adolescents' Unique Experience Of Happiness Within The Family: Bridging Multiple Perspectives Of Adolescents, Parents, And Siblings, Marsha Cohen

Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the essence of middle adolescents'; unique experiences of happiness within the family system from the multiple perspectives of adolescents, their parents, and their siblings. Another goal was to make thematic comparisons between and within families in order to better understand the complexity and development of the phenomenon for adolescents. Seven families participated in this study. Each family consisted of a middle adolescent, a parent, and a sibling, yielding a total of 21 participants. A semistructured interview was conducted with each participant. Data were analyzed using Moustakas's (1994) modification of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen …

A Reliability Generalization Of The Parental Authority Questionnaire, Lynn M. Dean

Dissertations

How parents interact with their children impacts many crucial facets of children‟s lives. Over the last 4 decades, researchers have identified four different parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and disengaged. Hundreds of studies conducted all over the world, have identified correlations between parenting style and many different child outcomes (e.g., academic achievement, coping, self-esteem, and decision-making abilities). The interpretability of these results has been limited by the unknown psychometric properties of the instruments used. The building block of any psychometrically sound measure is instrument reliability, which is the degree of non-error variance in the instrument‟s results. Sound estimates of reliability …

Examining Teachers' And College Students' Perspectives Toward E-Textbooks As An Educational Tool, Nariman Ali Alawami

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to understand the perspectives of teachers and students regarding their use of specific e-textbooks in a higher education learning environment. The e-textbooks used by the teachers and students were examined in order to determine functions and features to focus on during the inquiry. This study was particularly interested in the design of e-textbooks and how they are used by both teachers and students in the learning process. The participants in the research were also prompted to suggest improvements to e-textbooks. A case study approach was used as the methodology to examine three teachers represented …

Faculty's Knowledge, Pedagogy, And Integration Levels In The Implementation Of Ipads As An Instructional Tool, Xin Wang

Dissertations

Current literature showed there is a need to help faculty improve their iPad integration practices. Using a sequential mixed-methods design, the researcher explored the relationship among faculty’s iPad integration levels, their teachers’ knowledge (TPACK), and pedagogy among faculty members who had integrated iPads into their teaching for at least two semesters. The data were collected with a cross-section questionnaire, follow-up interviews and artifacts. Responses were collected respectively with the three sections of the questionnaire: iPad Usage (N=160), TPACK (N=151), and demographics (N=147). Eight participants were interviewed after the survey. The results indicated TPACK and learning-centered pedagogy were necessary but insufficient …

Biology Laboratories At A Distance: A Case Study And Experiment Of Ecology And Evolution Labs With Community College Students, Beverly E. Ranney

Dissertations

Community colleges deliver more courses online; laboratory-based courses face challenges in how to do this. This study examined how ecology and evolution laboratories could effectively be delivered in an online biology community college course. Virtual simulations and hands-on, at-home kits were used in two groups. Results showed that students using the virtual simulations had higher learning gains and more positive perceptions towards their laboratory experiences than those students using athome kits. By evaluating learning gains on a pretest/posttest and utilizing interviews and focus groups, this research concluded that virtual simulations offered a superior learning experience for online learners. The results …