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Design And Validation Of An Experimental Setup To Study Single Phase Heat Transfer Enhancement Of Femtosecond Laser Processed Metallic Surfaces, Sarah Jane Wallis

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In the present work, a single phase flow heat transfer experimental loop was designed with the intention of studying the effects of femtosecond laser surface processing (FLSP) on metallic surfaces with the specific goal of enhancing heat transfer in compact heat exchangers currently in use by NASA. This experimental setup went through two major design iterations which are detailed in this thesis. The first iteration consisted of a counterflow fluid-to-fluid heat exchanger, which measured overall heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops, where the overall heat transfer coefficient is defined in terms of the total thermal resistance to heat transfer between …

Design And Implementation Of A Stand-Alone Tool For Metabolic Simulations, Milad Ghiasi Rad

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this thesis, we present the design and implementation of a stand-alone tool for metabolic simulations. This system is able to integrate custom-built SBML models along with external user’s input information and produces the estimation of any reactants participating in the chain of the reactions in the provided model, e.g., ATP, Glucose, Insulin, for the given duration using numerical analysis and simulations. This tool offers the food intake arguments in the calculations to consider the personalized metabolic characteristics in the simulations. The tool has also been generalized to take into consideration of temporal genomic information and be flexible for simulation …

An Unmanned Aerial System For Prescribed Fires, Evan M. Beachly

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Prescribed fires can lessen wildfire severity and control invasive species, but some terrains may be difficult, dangerous, or costly to burn with existing tools. This thesis presents the design of an unmanned aerial system that can ignite prescribed fires from the air, with less cost and risk than with aerial ignition from a manned aircraft. The prototype was evaluated in-lab and successfully used to ignite interior areas of two prescribed fires. Additionally, we introduce an approach that integrates a lightweight fire simulation to autonomously plan safe flight trajectories and suggest effective fire lines. Both components are unique in that they …

The Humility And Glory Of The Lamb: Toward A Robust Apocalyptic Christology, Jeffrey Dickson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

There exists a conspicuous void in Christological scholarship both historically and more recently as it pertains to interest in what the Revelation of John has to offer one’s understanding of the God-Man. Furthermore, those works that do investigate the Apocalypse for its Christological content fail to appreciate how its central character is portrayed. In so doing, these settle for overly simplistic interpretations of unique verbiage John employs to describe Christ—particularly the Lamb (ἀρνίον). Therefore, in an effort to cultivate the clearing that exists in the Christological forest, this dissertation will endeavor to reach a robust understanding of Revelation’s Lamb. Ultimately, …

Justin Martyr, Irenaeus Of Lyons, And Cyprian Of Carthage On Suffering: A Comparative And Critical Study Of Their Works That Concern The Apologetic Uses Of Suffering In Early Christianity, Aaron Kilbourn

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Suffering in Early Christianity has often been highlighted in martyrdom and the stories surrounding the persecution of the Early Church. The biblical idea of redemptive suffering was not an afterthought to the Christian community or part of what Joyce Salisbury calls, “the unintended consequences of ancient violence,” but it appears to be part and parcel of the Early Christian community as they sought to live faithfully to Christ’s teachings. As the Early Church lived out redemptive suffering, it became apparent to the surrounding culture and critics of Christianity that their suffering was different and it pointed to something else. Through …

The Effects Of Equine Assisted Leadership Programs On Perceived Professional Development Outcomes, Leighanne Pentecost

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this causal-comparative study was to compare the mean scores of the survey instrument to determine if there were statistically significant differences between the mean pre-test and post-test scores of perceived professional development obtained by participants of the Equine Assisted Learning leadership programs. The participants in the study were chosen by a convenience sampling method. The sample in the study is comprised of 36 members from three (3) EAL leadership programs selected from North Carolina, Ohio, and California. The Leader Attributes Inventory was used to collect pre-test and post-test data from each participant in the study. The paired …

Resuscitated Indeed: Paul And The Resurrection Age, Christopher Paul Davis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study seeks to uncover a link between the Second Temple and patristic material as it relates to the resurrection. The methodology employed here is a diachronic interconceptual analysis. After surveying this material Paul's discussion of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 is then addressed. Given the surrounding milieu in which Paul was operating and the way some Fathers understood the resurrection (via Paul's writings), it is possible that Paul was not trying to discuss an individual resurrection. Instead, he was speaking of a resurrection in which the physical raising of the body is but one step. The terminology utilized …

Revenue Accrual Quality As An Indicator Of Financial Statement Fraud, Meredith Potts Jackson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study was conducted to address the need for additional financial statement fraud detection techniques. Accruals were chosen as the focus of this study due to the high likelihood of financial statement manipulation using accruals. Using the Dechow/Dichev accrual quality model, this study tested whether or not accrual quality can be used as an indicator of financial statement fraud. The study concluded that the Dechow/Dichev model found non-fraudulent financial statements to have higher quality accruals than fraudulent financial statements. In addition, accrual quality of non-fraudulent financial statements was found to be significantly different from the accrual quality of fraudulent financial …

A Quantitative Examination Of The Relationship Between Perceived Burnout And Job Satisfaction In Certified Public Accountants, Tanya Haddad

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Burnout in accounting is a significant problem that has numerous impacts on organizational effectiveness. Job burnout is the result of prolonged exposure to workload pressure and excessive job demands. As accounting professionals work in a fast-paced and regulated environment, it is important to better understand whether burnout is related to job dissatisfaction within the industry. Employee dissatisfaction can adversely affect organizational change, impacting job performance, turnover intentions, and work attitudes. Organizations need to recognize the negative impacts of burnout in accounting and address ways to increase job satisfaction and workplace productivity. The purpose of this quantitative research was to investigate …

A Study Of Fatherlessness In The African-American Community In Relationship To The Positive Role Of Christianity, Kevin Smith

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The following study is a qualitative investigation into the issue of fatherlessness among African Americans and its relation to the positive role of Christianity. The primary objective of the study is to determine, understand, and describe the circumstances that brought about fatherlessness and what role Christians may play to help address the problem. Also, the study focuses on developing a deep understanding of the consequences of fatherlessness and what role Christians may play to help mitigate these consequences. The results of this research will reconnect, revitalize, recover trust, ease the pain, and implement healing for fathers, children, and all involved. …

The Effectiveness Of High Frequency Word List Instruction On Star Reading Test Scores, Michael Foster

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to test the theory of using high frequency word list (HFWL)-based instruction when teaching beginning reading instruction. This study compared the reading fluency changes of eight classes across three different grades containing 115 students over 5 months as measured by the Standardized Test for the Assessment in Reading (STAR) when intervention students are given identical instruction using different popular HFWLs. One control group received no such intervention. The Fry HFWL was used. The resulting scores were analyzed using an independent-samples t test. The comparisons determined the effectiveness of teaching beginning reading using …

Improving Service Delivery Through Provider Training: A Process Evaluation Of The Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System “Commitment To Serve” Workshop, Ismael Barrera

Master's Projects

As the customer-focused management strategies gradually advances into all of the VISNs [Veterans Integrated Service Networks], the Veterans Health Administration in Palo Alto, California implemented a customer service training program for employees to meet the diverse and complex needs of its customers. This research will analyze whether participants in this training, known as Commitment to SERVE, believe that it is achieving its goal. In other words, does the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS) staff perceive the Commitment to SERVE workshop as a beneficial customer service training program?

Law Enforcement Resource Optimization With Response Time Guarantees, Jonathan Chase, Jiali Du, Na Fu, Truc Viet Le, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In a security-conscious world, and with the rapid increase in the global urbanized population, there is a growing challenge for law enforcement agencies to efficiently respond to emergency calls. We consider the problem of spatially and temporally optimizing the allocation of law enforcement resources such that the quality of service (QoS) in terms of emergency response time can be guaranteed. To solve this problem, we provide a spatio-temporal MILP optimization model, which we learn from a real-world dataset of incidents and dispatching records, and solve by existing solvers. One key feature of our proposed model is the introduction of risk …

Eacsip: Extendable Access Control System With Integrity Protection For Enhancing Collaboration In The Cloud, Willy Susilo, Peng Jiang, Fuchun Guo, Guomin Yang, Yong Yu, Yi Mu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

It is widely acknowledged that the collaborations with more users increase productivity. Secure cloud storage is a promising tool to enhance such a collaboration. Access control system can be enabled with attribute-based encryption. In this system, a user encrypts and uploads his/her data to the cloud with an access policy, such that only people who satisfy that access policy can decrypt the data. When a recipient would like to enable another person who is originally unauthorized by the original access policy, this recipient will need to extend the access policy by adding a new policy that includes the new person …

Experimental Design And Data Analysis In Computer Simulation Studies In The Behavioral Sciences, Michael Harwell, Nidhi Kohli, Yadira Peralta

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Treating computer simulation studies as statistical sampling experiments subject to established principles of experimental design and data analysis should further enhance their ability to inform statistical practice and a program of statistical research. Latin hypercube designs to enhance generalizability and meta-analytic methods to analyze simulation results are presented.

Performance Evaluation Of Confidence Intervals For Ordinal Coefficient Alpha, Heather J. Turner, Prathiba Natesan, Robin K. Henson

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of the Fisher, Feldt, Bonner, and Hakstian and Whalen (HW) confidence intervals methods for the non-parametric reliability estimate, ordinal alpha. All methods yielded unacceptably low coverage rates and potentially increased Type-I error rates.

A Monte Carlo Study Of The Effects Of Variability And Outliers On The Linear Correlation Coefficient, Hussein Yousif Eledum

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Monte Carlo simulations are used to investigate the effect of two factors, the amount of variability and an outlier, on the size of the Pearson correlation coefficient. Some simulation algorithms are developed, and two theorems for increasing or decreasing the amount of variability are suggested.

Bayesian Hypothesis Testing Of Two Normal Samples Using Bootstrap Prior Technique, Oyebayo Ridwan Olaniran, Waheed Babatunde Yahya

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The most important ingredient in Bayesian analysis is prior or prior distribution. A new prior determination method was developed under the framework of parametric empirical Bayes using bootstrap technique. By way of example, Bayesian estimations of the parameters of a normal distribution with unknown mean and unknown variance conditions were considered, as well as its application in comparing the means of two independent normal samples with several scenarios. A Monte Carlo study was conducted to illustrate the proposed procedure in estimation and hypothesis testing. Results from Monte Carlo studies showed that the bootstrap prior proposed is more efficient than the …

Criminal Law, Bernadette C. Crucilla

Mercer Law Review

The adversarial nature between prosecutors and those charged with crimes makes criminal law, in particular, be in a constant state of transformation. Thus, as in prior years, this year's survey of criminal law will include only a few of the most significant cases and statutory amendments. Due to this constant evolution, it is simply not practical to attempt to make note of every single legal development. Therefore, the discussion this period has been limited to the changes that will have the widest application or interest to criminal law practitioners from June 1, 2016 through May 31, 2017.

Insurance, Bradley S. Wolff, Maren R. Cave, Stephen M. Schatz

Mercer Law Review

During this survey period, the Georgia state and federal courts decided questions of first impression related to uninsured motorist (UM) coverage holding that, although umbrella policies are no longer required to provide UM coverage, the statutory notice requirements must be strictly followed before such coverage can be dropped in a renewal and that the "vertical exhaustion requirements" contained in excess policies do not violate the UM statute. Another first impression decision involved the correct interpretation of the statute providing for pre-suit offers in motor vehicle injury cases and whether timely payment may be a condition of acceptance. Other cases decided …

Trial Practice And Procedure, Brandon L. Peak, Tedra L. Cannella, Robert H. Snyder, David T. Rohwedder, Joseph M. Colwell, Christopher B. Mcdaniel, Rory A. Weeks, Ramsey B. Prather

Mercer Law Review

This Article addresses several significant opinions and legislation of interest to the Georgia civil trial practitioner issued during the June 1, 2016 to May 31, 2017 survey period.

Zoning And Land Use Law, Newton M. Galloway, Steven L. Jones

Mercer Law Review

This year and volume, the sixty-ninth, mark the phoenix flight of the Zoning and Land Use Law survey. The survey last appeared in the sixty-first volume of the Mercer Law Review, just as the Great Recession was taking its toll on real estate development. The Great Recession shifted development activity away from constructing new buildings to protecting the value of investment in existing structures from the ravages of the landslide of foreclosures. At the height of the Great Recession, there was virtually no demand for new residential or commercial construction, and new construction and development ground to a halt. …

Learning To Pray The Lord’S Prayer For Spiritual Transformation At Tachikawa Church Of Christ, Naoyoshi Fukushima

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This thesis describes a project to lead the members of Tachikawa Church of Christ to learn and experience the power and blessings of praying the Lord’s Prayer for spiritual edification and maturity. The program consisted of eight weeks of learning the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer and doing spiritual exercises. To provide a theological foundation for this project, I delivered eight sermons on the Lord’s Prayer with strong emphasis on the relational nature of the prayer.

Those who engaged in the spiritual exercises were given opportunities to experience joy, peace, and correction as they tried to live in harmony …

Fake News: Potential Solutions To The Online Epidemic, Lee K. Royster

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Puerto Rico V. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust: Congressional Intent Interpreted Through A Plain Reading Of The Federal Bankruptcy Code, Timothy R. Powell

Journal of Business & Technology Law

In Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust, the Supreme Court held that Puerto Rico’s Recovery Act was pre-empted by federal law. While the Majority’s method of interpreting the plain language of the Bankruptcy Code was the correct course of action, additional notable interpretations and policy arguments were raised in regards to the Bankruptcy Code itself as well as this holding’s implications on the citizens of Puerto Rico. However, while Puerto Rico and the Dissent may not have found solace through the judiciary’s resolution in this matter, Congress’ swift passing of PROMESA has provided Puerto Rico with an initial opportunity …

A Tidy Data Model For Natural Language Processing Using Cleannlp, Taylor B. Arnold

Department of Math & Statistics Faculty Publications

Recent advances in natural language processing have produced libraries that extract low level features from a collection of raw texts. These features, known as annotations, are usually stored internally in hierarchical, tree-based data structures. This paper proposes a data model to represent annotations as a collection of normalized relational data tables optimized for exploratory data analysis and predictive modeling. The R package cleanNLP, which calls one of two state of the art NLP libraries (CoreNLP or spaCy), is presented as an implementation of this data model. It takes raw text as an input and returns a list of normalized tables. …

An Examination Of Factors Influencing Persistence At Columbus State University, Varonika Brown Hardman

Theses and Dissertations

The researcher designed the mixed method study to contribute to the field of study on persistence and provide information to CSU leadership, faculty and staff that may benefit efforts to reach and retain students. A better understanding of the factors influencing persistence may become vital for funding. Some form of performance-based funding is in place in 32 states. Georgia policymakers are considering factors such as student progression and degree completion.

For the study, the researcher asked:

1. What are the reasons graduating CSU students give for persisting at CSU? 2. What are the reasons incoming CSU students give for choosing …

An Examination Of First Generation Students And Program Administrators' Perceptions Regarding Academic And Social Support Offered At Albany Technical College, Wendy Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the perceptions of first generation students and program administrators regarding the academic and social support offered at Albany Technical College(ATC). This is a mixed-methods study that offered insight into the programmatic practices designed to improve the retention and graduation outcomes of first generation (first gen) students at ATC. This study complements the current body of literature about the challenges and conditions that influence the matriculation and graduation of the underserved population. Post-secondary institutions that enroll first generation students can benefit from learning about the experiences shared by student and program administrator participants.

Prospective participants were identified with …

Science Georgia Standards Of Excellence In Southwest Georgia: A Mixed Method Study Of Science Teachers' Perceptions Of Science And Engineering Practices And Administrative Support, Shereca R. Harvey

Theses and Dissertations

With the publication of A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (National Research Council, 2012), the dominant instructional approach for science education in the United States changed from teaching science as a process of inquiry to teaching science as a practice, using science and engineering practices. Middle and high school science teachers in the State of Georgia implemented the practices for the first time during 2017-2018 school year while teaching the new Science Georgia Standards of Excellence. Teachers who have been successful at making such instructional changes have done so with the support of their …

Performance Of Statistical Arbitrage In Future Markets, Shijie Sheng

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This paper is the replication of Alizadeh and Nomikos (2008) Performance of Statistical Arbitrage in Petroleum Futures Markets. Cited methodology from the original paper, this paper investigates the linkages between commodities in the future markets and apply trading strategy based on statistical analysis. The trading strategy is established based on cointegration relationships between commodities and execute trading rules to determine long-short positions. The robustness of trading result will be implemented by using stationary bootstrap approach. From the result, we can see the trading strategy based on cointegration relationship analysis is efficient to set up trading strategies in given datasets.