Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Theses and Dissertations

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication Year

Articles 7531 - 7560 of 8852

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Terrain And Spatial Effects On Hazard Prediction And Assessment Capability (Hpac) Software Dose-Rate Contour Plot Predictions As Compared To A Sample Of Local Fallout Data From Test Detonations In The Continental United States, 1945-1962, Kevin D. Pace Mar 2006

Terrain And Spatial Effects On Hazard Prediction And Assessment Capability (Hpac) Software Dose-Rate Contour Plot Predictions As Compared To A Sample Of Local Fallout Data From Test Detonations In The Continental United States, 1945-1962, Kevin D. Pace

Theses and Dissertations

Hazard Prediction and Capability (HPAC) Software is validated by comparing modeled predictions to historical test data. Reanalysis weather data is acquired and reformatted for use in HPAC. Simulations are made using various amounts of weather data by use of a spatial domain. Simulations are also varied by levels of terrain resolution. The predicted output of the software is numerically compared to historical test data. The result of this research culminated in the knowledge that HPAC prediction accuracy is improved by using terrain resolutions beyond the flat earth assumption. Furthermore, this research establishes that domain size variation produces no significant advantage …

Go to article

Quantitative Analysis Of A Turbulent Wind Tunnel With Obstructions For Use In Liquid Flame Spread Experiments, Beau M. Brantley Mar 2006

Quantitative Analysis Of A Turbulent Wind Tunnel With Obstructions For Use In Liquid Flame Spread Experiments, Beau M. Brantley

Theses and Dissertations

The research was done as part of an effort to develop alternative fire suppressant technologies for aircraft engine nacelles. The turbulent shear flow behind a surface mounted fence inside an open circuit wind tunnel was investigated experimentally. The tunnel test section was designed to be 2-D and exhibit flow qualities similar to those found in a typical engine nacelle. A 279 mm wide fuel pan was inserted approximately four fence heights downstream of the fence location. The fuel pan was filled using water to simulate fuel with a depth of 32 mm. Cold flow tests were done on different fence …

Go to article

Building A Consensus Forecast For Crude Oil Prices, Kenneth W. Burke Mar 2006

Building A Consensus Forecast For Crude Oil Prices, Kenneth W. Burke

Theses and Dissertations

Skyrocketing fuel prices have stressed the Department of Defense's budget in recent years. In 2001 the DoD spent $4.7 Billion on fuel with the Air Force consuming $2.7 Billion. These figures have grown over due to these increases as well as the increased flying ours to support the Global War On Terror. In fact, the Fiscal Year 2007 budget has already been increased by $1.1 billion, or 1% of the total budget, to accommodate the increased price of fuel. Current forecasts of this resource have yielded poor results, impairing the DoD's ability to budget this critical expense. Further because the …

Go to article

Influence Of Organizational Culture On The Relationship Between Psychological Contracts And Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Jennifer M. Carbajal Mar 2006

Influence Of Organizational Culture On The Relationship Between Psychological Contracts And Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Jennifer M. Carbajal

Theses and Dissertations

The issue of what antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and psychological contracts (PC) employees form with their organization has also been of interest as they have many implications on an employee's extra-role behavior, specifically OCBs. This research investigates the relationship between types of PCs (a) relational and (b) transactional and the propensity to perform (a) altruism and (b) compliance OCB. Furthermore, the influence of organizational culture (OC) dimensions (a) internal orientation and (b) external orientation on this relationship was explored. The results show that transactional PCs were negatively related to both dimensions of OCB. Relational PCs were positively related …

Go to article

Bda Enhancement Methodology Using Situational Parameter Adjustments, Michael V. Carras Jr. Mar 2006

Bda Enhancement Methodology Using Situational Parameter Adjustments, Michael V. Carras Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

In the context of close ground combat, the perception of Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) is closely linked with a soldier’s engagement decisions and has significant effects on the battlefield. Perceived BDA is also one of the most complex and uncertain processes facing the soldier in live combat. As a result, the modeling and simulation community has yet to adequately model the perceived BDA process in combat models. This research effort examines the BDA process from a perception standpoint and proposes a methodology to collect the pertinent data and model this perception in the Army’s current force-on-force model, CASTFOREM. A subject …

Go to article

Challenges Facing Military Organizational Cultural Reform: A Study Of The 2004 Air Force Materiel Command Reorganization, Joy D. Mikulcik Mar 2006

Challenges Facing Military Organizational Cultural Reform: A Study Of The 2004 Air Force Materiel Command Reorganization, Joy D. Mikulcik

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to measure the success of the Product Center (PC) portion of the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) reorganization initiated in 2004. The purpose of this study is threefold, 1) to determine if the 2004 AFMC Product Center reorganization has met General Martin's four intended objectives, (2) the reorganizations effects on AFMC employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment and (3) to gather some general opinions about the reorganization overall. The literature review consisted of a detailed look at the history of AFMC, areas of organizational culture, and gathering detailed information regarding the 2004 reorganization itself. …

Go to article

A Methodology For Performing Effects-Based Assessments, Benjamin A. Thoele Mar 2006

A Methodology For Performing Effects-Based Assessments, Benjamin A. Thoele

Theses and Dissertations

In order to bring the doctrine of Effects-Based Operations (EBO) into a fully operational capability, Effects-Based Assessment (EBA) must provide relevant insight to the commander and his planning staff. Assessments of an effects-based plan and execution must include an assessment of the effects of a campaign on the enemy in addition to an assessment of the accomplishment of friendly actions taken to achieve the desired effects. Determining the effects of a campaign requires an analysis of the dynamics of the enemy systems. EBA must be able to recognize the states of the enemy's systems as the system states change over …

Go to article

Gauging The Commitment Of Clandestine Group Members, Doneda D. Downs Mar 2006

Gauging The Commitment Of Clandestine Group Members, Doneda D. Downs

Theses and Dissertations

Since the attacks of September 11th, 2001, there has been a great deal of attention given to understanding the inner workings of terrorist organizations in order for the United States to be successful in the Global War on Terrorism. Group dynamics has been one area of interest pursued to gain more insight into a terrorist's cognitive battlespace. Until a few years ago, most research on individual commitment and organizational cohesion has been based primarily on questionnaires and open observations on groups that desire to be understood. However, terrorist organizations are clandestine; they constantly employ operations security (OPSEC) to ensure protection …

Go to article

Speech Recognition Using The Mellin Transform, Jesse R. Hornback Mar 2006

Speech Recognition Using The Mellin Transform, Jesse R. Hornback

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to improve performance in speech recognition. Specifically, a new approach was investigating by applying an integral transform known as the Mellin transform (MT) on the output of an auditory model to improve the recognition rate of phonemes through the scale-invariance property of the Mellin transform. Scale-invariance means that as a time-domain signal is subjected to dilations, the distribution of the signal in the MT domain remains unaffected. An auditory model was used to transform speech waveforms into images representing how the brain "sees" a sound. The MT was applied and features were extracted. The …

Go to article

Hazardous Materials Transportation: A Meta-Analysis Of State Level Policy And Regulations, David J. Pastika Mar 2006

Hazardous Materials Transportation: A Meta-Analysis Of State Level Policy And Regulations, David J. Pastika

Theses and Dissertations

Every day, over 800,000 hazmat transactions take place across the United States. This segment of transportation is expected to grow at a modest two percent a year for the foreseeable future but differences of regulations between the state and Federal level have been a growing concern for both the government and members of the hazmat industry. A patchwork of often inconsistent permits, registration requirements, and hazmat organizational structures at the state level often create barriers to the efficient means of commerce for hazmat carriers and shippers. This thesis explores the history of hazardous regulations since de-regulation of the trucking industry …

Go to article

Strategic Airlift En Route Analysis To Support The Global War On Terrorism Using A Value Focused Thinking Approach, Marykathryn W. Tharaldson Mar 2006

Strategic Airlift En Route Analysis To Support The Global War On Terrorism Using A Value Focused Thinking Approach, Marykathryn W. Tharaldson

Theses and Dissertations

The Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) has yielded new challenges to the United States' strategic airlift infrastructure. The network of en-route airfields that serve as refueling and maintenance stops were designed primarily to service relatively static Cold War requirements. However, the GWOT has resulted in the need for an infrastructure that is responsive to a highly dynamic environment. This research uses a "value focused" methodology to identify en-route airfield locations that simultaneously maximize cargo throughput capability while possessing a high degree of adaptability to volatile cargo delivery requirements.

Go to article

Developing An Aggregate Marginal Cost Per Flying Hour Model For The U.S. Air Force's F-15 Fighter Aircraft, Patrick D. Armstrong Mar 2006

Developing An Aggregate Marginal Cost Per Flying Hour Model For The U.S. Air Force's F-15 Fighter Aircraft, Patrick D. Armstrong

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis applies econometric techniques to build a "marginal" cost per flying hour model for the U.S. Air Force's F-15CD and E fleets. It used monthly economic, programmatic, operational, and climatology data from FY01-FY04 to construct Depot Level Reparable (DLR) and Consumable (CONS) models on the aggregate level. It incorporated the use of panel data analysis to explore the effect each of the independent variables had on the CPFH rate by time and by base. This allowed it to capture not only the temporal (time) interactions, but also the spatial (cross-sectional) interactions, providing a more robust analysis of the dynamics …

Go to article

An Epidemiological Approach To Terrorism, Kjirstin A. Bentson Mar 2006

An Epidemiological Approach To Terrorism, Kjirstin A. Bentson

Theses and Dissertations

There are many types of models for counterterrorism, explaining different problems that the military faces in the fight against terrorism. This thesis proposes that one of the fundamental assumptions underlying existing models of counterterrorism is that the struggle with terrorists can be understood as a war in the traditional sense of the term. We propose to rethink the struggle against terrorism as a fight against an infection. The epidemic of terrorist ideology within part of the world is a result, from this perspective, of the infectiousness of that ideology. Using the insights of the field of the epidemiology of ideas, …

Go to article

An Estimation Theory Approach To Detection And Ranging Of Obscured Targets In 3-D Ladar Data, Charles R. Burris Mar 2006

An Estimation Theory Approach To Detection And Ranging Of Obscured Targets In 3-D Ladar Data, Charles R. Burris

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to develop an algorithm to detect obscured images in 3-D LADAR data. The real data used for this research was gathered using a FLASH LADAR system under development at AFRL/SNJM. The system transmits light with a wavelength of 1.55 micrometers and produces 20 128 X 128 temporally resolved images from the return pulse separated by less than 2 nanoseconds in time. New algorithms for estimating the range to a target in 3-D FLASH LADAR data were developed. Results from processing real data are presented and compared to the traditional correlation receiver for extracting ranges …

Go to article

Perceptions Of Parents, Self, And God As Predictive Of Sympton Severity Among Women Beginning Inpatient Treatment For Eating Disorders, Melissa H. Smith Feb 2006

Perceptions Of Parents, Self, And God As Predictive Of Sympton Severity Among Women Beginning Inpatient Treatment For Eating Disorders, Melissa H. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The present investigation examined whether perceptions of parents, self, and God among women beginning inpatient treatment for eating disorders was predictive of symptom severity. The sample included 464 women (ages 12 to 56 years) beginning inpatient treatment for eating disorders at a private treatment facility, with the majority being Caucasian. Participants completed study measures as part of an initial battery of assessment measures, and included indices of eating disorder symptomology, parental relationships, self-esteem, and religious well-being. Multiple regression analysis showed perceptions of self and parents to be significant predictors, however perceptions of God failed to predict eating disorder symptom severity. …

Go to article

Vulnerabilities To Depression, Anxiety And Interpersonal Problems: The Role Of Parental Styles, Schemas And Coping Styles, Daniel Kennedy Feb 2006

Vulnerabilities To Depression, Anxiety And Interpersonal Problems: The Role Of Parental Styles, Schemas And Coping Styles, Daniel Kennedy

Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive theory proposes that maladaptive schemas influence the development of anxious and depressive symptoms and early parental experiences have been proposed to influence schema development. In this current study, measures of depressive and anxious pathology, parenting styles, coping styles and interpersonal problems were administered to 224 undergraduate students. The main purpose the study was to test the cognitive model and the hypothesis that early maladaptive schemas (EMS) as defined by Young (1994) mediate the relationship between parenting styles and anxious and depressive pathology. Results indicated that EMSs do play an important mediational role in relationship to both anxious and depressive …

Go to article

The Journey Home: A Root-Metaphor Analysis Of The 1840 Mormon Manchester Hymn Book, James N. Arrington Feb 2006

The Journey Home: A Root-Metaphor Analysis Of The 1840 Mormon Manchester Hymn Book, James N. Arrington

Theses and Dissertations

In 1840, apostle missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints compiled, printed, and began distributing a hymnbook that eventually would become the basis for all subsequent LDS hymnbooks published in English in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This thesis, as a contribution to the literature of communication, book history, and hymnology, as well as the intellectual and cultural history of the early years of the LDS Church, focuses on analyzing the poetry of the 1840 Mormon Manchester hymnbook. Using qualitative root-metaphor analysis, the author identified and analyzed expressions, supporting an emergent journey root-metaphor. He then divided the …

Go to article

A Qualitative Study Of The Supports Women Find Most Beneficial When Dealing With A Spouse's Sexually Addictive Or Compulsive Behaviors, Jill Christine Manning Feb 2006

A Qualitative Study Of The Supports Women Find Most Beneficial When Dealing With A Spouse's Sexually Addictive Or Compulsive Behaviors, Jill Christine Manning

Theses and Dissertations

While not included in the diagnostic classifications of sexual disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), sexual addictions and compulsivities are increasingly being encountered by mental health professionals, and the field of sexual addictions is gaining wider acceptance (Delmonico & Carnes, 1999; Garos, 1997). Research shows the majority of people struggling with sexual addictions and compulsivities involving the Internet are married, heterosexual males (Cooper, Delmonico, & Burg, 2000), and that women who are married to these men are directly impacted by this problem (Schneider, 2000b). Although there is research on many issues relating to wives of …

Go to article

Feng Shui And Neighborhood Development, Kevin Allen Walters Jan 2006

Feng Shui And Neighborhood Development, Kevin Allen Walters

Theses and Dissertations

Planning is a rational process where we rely on training and our five senses, but not so much on our instincts. How can we reclaim this missing element and balance the rational with the intuitive? Feng Shui provides a method for enhancing the current planning process by evaluating the physical form through observation and management of the movement of ch'i energy. The Feng Shui Neighborhood Evaluation checklist, created in Excel, allows the planner to examine the form of a neighborhood to assess the quality of the ch'i. Individual ratings are input for each evaluation point within a category. The Bagua …

Go to article

Models Of Forgiveness And Adult Romantic Attachment In Ended Relationships: Forgiveness Over Time, Kathryn Louise Cooke Jan 2006

Models Of Forgiveness And Adult Romantic Attachment In Ended Relationships: Forgiveness Over Time, Kathryn Louise Cooke

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined models of self and other as they relate to attachment, forgiveness, emotional and cognitive reactions to a breakup, relationship variables, and positive and negative feelings toward the self and former partner after a romantic relationship is ended. This study also tested how these variables change over time. Data were collected over a period of five weeks from 130 undergraduates who had experienced a breakup within the two weeks prior to beginning the study. Data were analyzed with a series of univariate and multivariate analyses of variance. Results found that there were differences in how participants reacted to …

Go to article

Social Capital, Health And Mental Health In African American Women, Cheryl Lynn Bennett Jan 2006

Social Capital, Health And Mental Health In African American Women, Cheryl Lynn Bennett

Theses and Dissertations

Cultural and social influences on mental and physical health are increasingly recognized by social science researchers. Researchers have found that specific, Afrocultural factors are related to the functioning of African Americans. The current research considered whether interdependence is especially salient for African American women since women and African Americans tend to define themselves within the context of social relationships. The study outlines processes affecting the mental and physical health of African American women including communalism, collective efficacy, and social capital. The also study examined the relationship between socioeconomic status and both mental and physical health among African American women in …

Go to article

The Effect And Chronic Acute Pre-Treatment With Methylphenidate On Recovery Of Cognitive Function Following Experimental Traumatic Brain Injury In Rats, Katharine Coryell Eakin Jan 2006

The Effect And Chronic Acute Pre-Treatment With Methylphenidate On Recovery Of Cognitive Function Following Experimental Traumatic Brain Injury In Rats, Katharine Coryell Eakin

Theses and Dissertations

Adolescent and young adult males are at a higher risk for traumatic brain injury (TBI) compared to the general population. Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is also more prevalent for males in these age groups. The most commonly prescribed medication for ADHD is methylphenidate (MPH). Based on the increase in the number of new diagnoses of ADHD and the number of children who continue taking MPH into adulthood, it is important to evaluate how chronic or acute MPH administered prior to injury may influence recovery following TBI. In both studies, cognitive abilities of male Sprague-Dawley rats were assessed …

Go to article

How Promotions Effect Consumer Purchases, Justin D. White Jan 2006

How Promotions Effect Consumer Purchases, Justin D. White

Theses and Dissertations

Rational choice theory provides a blueprint for predicting individual behavior under the assumption that objectives and decisions are rationally identified and executed. Under certain conditions, actions reveal preferences and the ability to observe these preferences allows for the possibility to study the effects of subtle changes in individual constraints such as price and wealth affect preferences. For instance, recent work by Eckel and Grossman (2003), Davis, Millner and Reilly (2003), and Davis and Millner (2004) observe a preference for matching promotions over coupon rebates even when the two promotions types are strictly equivalent. An important question remaining is whether this …

Go to article

Psychological Symptoms, Marital Quality, And Environmental Stress In Newly-Married Couples, Constance B. Sharp Jan 2006

Psychological Symptoms, Marital Quality, And Environmental Stress In Newly-Married Couples, Constance B. Sharp

Theses and Dissertations

Cross-sectional relationships between psychological symptoms, marital quality, and stress experienced over the past week were explored using data from 310 newly married couples. Couples were recruited through newspaper ads and paid to participate. Couples were eligible if they had been married for less than six months and were not receiving therapy when they contacted the researcher. The Global Severity Index (GSI) of the Brief Symptom Inventory measured psychological symptoms. The Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) measured marital quality, and scaled ratings of 11 types of stressors experienced over the previous week measured stress. Husband and wife measures were taken of each …

Go to article

Social Emotional Development In School: The Anatomy Of One School's Role In Adolescent Female Development, Tanya Elizabeth Forneris Jan 2006

Social Emotional Development In School: The Anatomy Of One School's Role In Adolescent Female Development, Tanya Elizabeth Forneris

Theses and Dissertations

Social and emotional learning enables individuals to recognize and manage emotions, develop caring and concern for others, make responsible decisions, establish and maintain positive relationships, handle challenging situations effectively, achieve academically, and lead a healthy lifestyle. Research has shown that competent young people who are socially and emotionally competent are more likely to succeed both academically and personally and have strong personal and interpersonal skills. The purpose of this study was to examine one school's process in helping its students develop both socially and emotionally. For this study social-emotional learning was examined using the individual competencies and guidelines for schools …

Go to article

The Predictive Relationship Of Inhibitory Control, Emotion Regulation, Moral Emotions, And Life Stressors On Behavior Problems In School-Aged Children Of Incarcerated Mothers, Geraldine M. Lotze Jan 2006

The Predictive Relationship Of Inhibitory Control, Emotion Regulation, Moral Emotions, And Life Stressors On Behavior Problems In School-Aged Children Of Incarcerated Mothers, Geraldine M. Lotze

Theses and Dissertations

Children whose mothers go to prison are at high risk for poor outcomes of many kinds,including externalizing behaviors, internalizing disorders, school dropout, and eventual criminal activity. Inhibitory control, moral emotions, emotion regulation, and stressful life events were examined as predictors of externalizing and internalizing behaviors in children of incarcerated mothers. Participants were 50 children age 6 to 12 years (M = 9.77 y, SD = 1.54) with mothers currently in prison who attended a faith-based recreational summer camp. Inhibitory control was not impaired in these children, showing that their brains were functioning appropriately in this area of executive functioning. Inhibitory …

Go to article

Is Safe Haven Legislation An Efficacious Policy Response To Infant Abandonment: A Biopsychosocial Profile Of The Target Population, Stephanie Mayes Gruss Jan 2006

Is Safe Haven Legislation An Efficacious Policy Response To Infant Abandonment: A Biopsychosocial Profile Of The Target Population, Stephanie Mayes Gruss

Theses and Dissertations

This study represents an attempt to describe the extent and features of safe haven legislation in the United States, discuss implementation issues, and to examine if the legislation is reaching its intended target audience in order to answer the question, "Is safe haven legislation an efficacious response to infant abandonment?" Safe havens are designated locations where infants can be anonymously abandoned without fear of prosecution or incarceration. As of May of 2006, forty-seven states have passed such legislation, citing the need for an alternative to unsafe infant abandonment leading to an infant's death, and an alternative to infanticide (the killing …

Go to article

Children's Coping With Peer Rejection Experiences: The Regulating Role Of Emotion, Kimberly L. Goodman Jan 2006

Children's Coping With Peer Rejection Experiences: The Regulating Role Of Emotion, Kimberly L. Goodman

Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this investigation was to examine the role of emotions as predictors of children's coping responses to peer rejection experiences. This study also explored how children's emotional experience and coping behaviors were related to gender, peer socialization (i.e., receiving prosocial acts by peers and previous victimization experiences), and indices of psychopathology. Children ages 7-12 (N=53) completed questionnaires to assess emotional and coping responses to hypothetical peer rejection scenarios, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and peer experiences. Overall, findings suggested that emotion-related factors (emotion states and more stable "emotional tendencies" such as psychological symptoms) and social context (i.e., …

Go to article

The Post-9/11 Federal Homeland Security Paradigm And The Adoptive Capacity Of Public Administration Theory And Practice, Chaya Rani Jain Jan 2006

The Post-9/11 Federal Homeland Security Paradigm And The Adoptive Capacity Of Public Administration Theory And Practice, Chaya Rani Jain

Theses and Dissertations

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks redefined the federal approach to disaster planning. Prior to 9/11, disaster and emergency management meant preparedness for and response to natural and man-made emergencies such as floods, hurricanes, fires, and civil discord. The post-9/11 paradigm shift, a multi-pronged approach called "homeland security" strategy, now incorporates a multitude of man- and nature-made disasters to include border and transportation security; emergency preparedness, response and recovery against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats; as well as information analysis and infrastructure protection. These new priorities were communicated to the state and local governments. The purpose of this descriptive, …

Go to article

Relationships Between Dimensions Of Religiosity And Internalizing And Externalizing Psychiatric Disorders: A Twin Study, Gilbert Todd Vance Jan 2006

Relationships Between Dimensions Of Religiosity And Internalizing And Externalizing Psychiatric Disorders: A Twin Study, Gilbert Todd Vance

Theses and Dissertations

The present study estimated the genetic and environmental effects on different dimensions of religiosity, explored how genetic and environmental effects covary across different dimensions of religiosity, and decomposed the covariance of genetic and environmental effects between different dimensions of religiosity and internalizing and externalizing psychiatric disorders. Dimensions of religiosity were found to be largely influenced by additive genetic and unique environmental effects, with little influence observed from common enviromental effects. Multidimensional analyses found that the seven religiosity factors observed in the present study were influenced by one common additive genetic factor, three common unique environmental factors, and unique environmental effects …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last