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Title: A Q-study of the image of public education and one local school district
Creator: Winegar, Lois Hicks
Date: 1973
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: A Q-study in role identification using a sample of advertising photographs
Creator: Koch-Weser, Elke
Date: 1961
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: A Phenomenological Inquiry of the Holistic Nonmedical Lived Training Experiences of End-of-Life Doulas (EOLDs)
Creator: Rozeboom, Angela M.
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: A new generation of aging United States (U.S.) citizens seems to be challenging cultural attitudes toward death and dying. The members of the senior baby-boom cohort are demanding more nonmedical end-of-life (EOL) home care, the right to experience a dignified and peaceful death, and the option of environmentally friendly burials. Subsequently, the field of end-of-life doulas (EOLDs) or death doula care is also emerging. As these practitioners raise awareness and claim to contribute to a...
Show moreA new generation of aging United States (U.S.) citizens seems to be challenging cultural attitudes toward death and dying. The members of the senior baby-boom cohort are demanding more nonmedical end-of-life (EOL) home care, the right to experience a dignified and peaceful death, and the option of environmentally friendly burials. Subsequently, the field of end-of-life doulas (EOLDs) or death doula care is also emerging. As these practitioners raise awareness and claim to contribute to a better quality of EOL care, they add a new dimension to the EOL field. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to understand the lived training experiences of prospective EOLDs as they sought to aid the dying and their grieving families. Individual interviews with seven trained EOLDs who completed a training program were analyzed. The results showed that those who attended the EOLD training felt strongly “called” to do EOL work. After confronting and accepting their fears and anxieties about their future dying and death experiences, they reported feeling empowered to come alongside EOL individuals and offer genuine comfort on their dying journey and postmortem care to the family.
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Title: A PILOT STUDY OF WEB-BASED INFORMATION BOTTLENECK IDENTIFICATION IN AEC PROJECTS
Creator: Pandey, Nishchhal Nihal
Date: 2022
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The success of the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) project relies heavily on the effective communication and information exchange between project team members. A prominent reason for delays and progress shortcomings in AEC project teams is information bottlenecks, defined as missing project information bits which can be due to large influx of information or inadvertent withholding of information at a particular time. Information bottlenecks both in planning and execution...
Show moreThe success of the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) project relies heavily on the effective communication and information exchange between project team members. A prominent reason for delays and progress shortcomings in AEC project teams is information bottlenecks, defined as missing project information bits which can be due to large influx of information or inadvertent withholding of information at a particular time. Information bottlenecks both in planning and execution phases of the project tend to cause schedule delays and cost overruns. Information and communication exchange patterns between project team members shed a light on the possible occurrence of information bottlenecks. Recent literature efforts have focused on use of software programming and key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify which phases of project are prone to occurrence of bottlenecks. One of the roadblocks in implementing majority of bottleneck identification techniques in AEC projects is the difficulty in execution. Some of the metrics defined are too complex and require rigorous manual calculations. Given the complexity and feasibility difficulties of the present methodologies for identification of bottleneck, this study aims to contribute to the body of knowledge by providing an adaptable tool that aims to improve the accuracy and practicality for predicting bottlenecks. Therefore, the research question this research aims to answer is “Can the usability and adaptability of information bottleneck prediction in AEC projects be improved through a web-based tool?”Expanding on Lean Construction concepts, key performance indicators (KPIs), efficiency, quantification metrics are developed to study the trends of information shared between AEC project team members. The developed model is semi-automated and reads data by importing the Microsoft Excel sheet which has all the raw project documentation data. A Python code developed by the researcher is used to extract information from the excel, create a dashboard, and publish information bottleneck calculations through a web-based tool. Statistical inferences drawn from the model are then be used to identify occurrence of project bottlenecks. The web-based platform is designed to cater the specific information exchange trends in a typical project. Providing visual representations, and explanations further ease the understanding of the root issue. Finally, through two expert interviews, the web tool is revised, and final tool is presented, and future directions of work are discussed.
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Title: A PERMIAN ACTINOPTERYGIAN FROM THE MINNEKAHTA LIMESTONE OF SOUTH DAKOTA, USA
Creator: Stack, Jack Reza
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The interrelationships and phylogenetics of extinct Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii) are obscured by a low-quality fossil record and understudy of Late Paleozoic (Permo-Carboniferous) actinopterygians. To help address this issue, I describe a new species of ray-finned fish from the late Early Permian Minnekahta Limestone of South Dakota. This taxon is represented by two specimens, Field Museum of Natural History PF 3721 and Yale Peabody Museum 18649. PF 3721 is...
Show moreThe interrelationships and phylogenetics of extinct Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii) are obscured by a low-quality fossil record and understudy of Late Paleozoic (Permo-Carboniferous) actinopterygians. To help address this issue, I describe a new species of ray-finned fish from the late Early Permian Minnekahta Limestone of South Dakota. This taxon is represented by two specimens, Field Museum of Natural History PF 3721 and Yale Peabody Museum 18649. PF 3721 is an exceptionally well-preserved partial three-dimensional head and trunk preserving the external anatomy of and some internal elements from the skull, paired fins, and scale cover. YPM 18649 is a partially articulated, laterally compressed individual with a heavily disarticulated skull. This fish has features of the paraphyletic "paleoniscoid" group, including an immobile maxilla with a narrow suborbital process and a broad postorbital expansion, a heterocercal caudal fin, and rhombic ganoid scales. I conducted an equally weighted maximum parsimony analysis in PAUP and a Bayesian analysis with the Mkv model of morphological evolution in MrBayes with 73 other taxa and 222 characters that placed this taxon in a polytomy with other Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic "paleoniscoids" in the respective consensus trees. I recommend the application of parsimony and Bayesian inference techniques in tandem to the problem of early actinopterygian interrelationships to provide necessary caution and direction to future work.
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Title: A Novel, Algal-based Chemical Absorption System for Post-combustion Carbon Dioxide Capture
Creator: Smerigan, Adam John
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Post-combustion carbon dioxide capture using amine solutions is an integral technology for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector. However, environmental impacts and economic costs are restricting the implementation of amine absorbents. This study investigated the development of a sustainable algal based chemical absorption process to capture post-combustion carbon dioxide efficiently. Microalgal biomass was hydrolyzed to amino acids under basic conditions at 134oC. The...
Show morePost-combustion carbon dioxide capture using amine solutions is an integral technology for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector. However, environmental impacts and economic costs are restricting the implementation of amine absorbents. This study investigated the development of a sustainable algal based chemical absorption process to capture post-combustion carbon dioxide efficiently. Microalgal biomass was hydrolyzed to amino acids under basic conditions at 134oC. The supernatant of the hydrolysate was purged with carbon dioxide following centrifugation, and then underwent a desorption process to regenerate a chemical absorption algae-based solvent. A mass balance of the process showed that 31% of the mass into the process was recovered as an algal amino acid product. Another 30% exited the process as wet potassium carbonate which could be recovered as potassium hydroxide. The algal amino acid absorbent product contained 0.592 mol amino acid/L composed primarily of alanine, glutamic acid, glycine, aspartic acid, leucine, lysine, and proline. A trickling filter absorption column was built to determine the absorption capacity of the algal amino acid solution. The algal absorbent (0.731 ± 0.037 mol CO2/mol amine) had a higher absorption capacity than a synthetic amino acid absorbent (0.512 ± 0.014mol CO2/mol amine) composed of glycine, alanine, proline, and lysine. Both solutions were highly regenerable showing no signs (p<0.05) of deterioration after multiple absorption and desorption cycles based on the pH of the solution, absorption capacity, and ATR-FTIR spectra. Using algal biomass as a cheap and sustainable source of amino acids is a viable alternative to synthetic amino acid absorbents.
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Title: A NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF A SUBSURFACE STEP USING FLASH THERMOGRAPHY
Creator: Nejdl, David
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Flash thermography (FT) is a well-established non-destructive testing (NDT) technique that uses a short (~msec) pulse from a flashlamp to uniformly heat the surface of a sample and interrogate its subsurface structure based on the surface temperature response, measured with an infrared (IR) camera. Heat flow into a defect-free sample is described by a 1-D diffusion model, which transitions to higher dimensions due to subsurface discontinuities. 1-D approaches can be unreliable in the vicinity...
Show moreFlash thermography (FT) is a well-established non-destructive testing (NDT) technique that uses a short (~msec) pulse from a flashlamp to uniformly heat the surface of a sample and interrogate its subsurface structure based on the surface temperature response, measured with an infrared (IR) camera. Heat flow into a defect-free sample is described by a 1-D diffusion model, which transitions to higher dimensions due to subsurface discontinuities. 1-D approaches can be unreliable in the vicinity of abrupt thickness change, termed as the ‘transition zone,’ where lateral heat flow from the thin to thick region may mask surface temperature changes due to heat flowing into the part. In this work, we quantify the uncertainty in a “subsurface step,” of a steel sample heated on its front flat and smooth surface, while the thickness (L) of the plate changes with a known step size (dL) on the backside. Finite element models simulating the FT process were developed to understand the effect of sub-surface steps on the thermal diffusion and compared with experiments for 12 varying step (dL/L) combinations. The width of the transition zone was measured using the Thermographic Signal Reconstruction (TSR) method. Results indicate that the transition zone can be defined simply as a function of its geometry. Experiments confirmed that the model predictions work well under the assumption that the steps are properly distinguishable from each other. Lastly, equations to estimate the detectability of a step were developed to be used in addition to the camera’s detection limits. Overall, the approach used can be extended to anisotropic materials such as composites and bonded joints to enable efficient NDT of structural components.
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Title: A NARR derived low-level jet climatology over North America
Creator: Doubler, Dana L.
Date: 2013
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Previous climatological studies of low-level jets (LLJs) have been restricted to individual geographic regions. In this study, an expanded climatology of the characteristics of northerly low-level jets (N-LLJs) and southerly low-level jets (S-LLJs) is provided for North America and nearby coastal areas to better document the spatial variations of these important mesoscale circulation features. In addition, time of initiation and persistence of S-LLJ events in central North America and over...
Show morePrevious climatological studies of low-level jets (LLJs) have been restricted to individual geographic regions. In this study, an expanded climatology of the characteristics of northerly low-level jets (N-LLJs) and southerly low-level jets (S-LLJs) is provided for North America and nearby coastal areas to better document the spatial variations of these important mesoscale circulation features. In addition, time of initiation and persistence of S-LLJ events in central North America and over the Gulf of Mexico are analyzed. The North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR), with a 32-km horizontal resolution and a 3-hourly temporal resolution, was used to analyze (by time of day, month, season and year) the frequency, height above ground level, and wind speed of LLJs, and, for S-LLJs in central North America only, diurnal and seasonal variations in the time of initiation and duration jet events. The spatial analyses highlight well-known wind maxima but also point to previously-unknown locations that experience frequent jet-like wind maxima. The analyses also suggest that boundary-layer forcing is important for S-LLJ occurrence, including S-LLJs that form at high latitudes in summer and those that form in the central and southern plains in winter. The NARR-derived analyses supplement and enhance the understanding of the climatological characteristics of low-level wind maxima across North America and coastal environs. The findings also highlight that many aspects of low-level wind maxima remain incompletely understood and point to the need for considerable further research on the processes contributing to jet formation.
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Title: A Monte Carlo study of different detector geometries for HAWC
Creator: Gebauer, Iris
Date: 2005
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: A Monte Carlo evaluation of ridge regression as an alternative to ordinary least squares
Creator: Coyle, Bryan Walter
Date: 1979
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: A Molded Paper Pulp Packaging Design Using Topology Optimization Method
Creator: Bahlau, Jacob
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Molded Paper Pulp (MPP) is a form of packaging that has become widely used because of the environmental and economic benefits. The most common MPP design method would be creating different prototypes based on the engineer’s knowledge and experience and analyzing each model to determine which model has the best design. However, this trial-and-error design method is a costly and time-consuming process. To overcome these drawbacks, topology optimization will be looked at being incorporated into...
Show moreMolded Paper Pulp (MPP) is a form of packaging that has become widely used because of the environmental and economic benefits. The most common MPP design method would be creating different prototypes based on the engineer’s knowledge and experience and analyzing each model to determine which model has the best design. However, this trial-and-error design method is a costly and time-consuming process. To overcome these drawbacks, topology optimization will be looked at being incorporated into the MPP design process. Topology optimization is a structure optimization method based on a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and a sensitivity analysis. It has been widely used in various industries because of the design efficiency. However, the topology optimization method has not been applied into the packaging industry. The main reason is because of the limited design space of packaging and manufacturability. This thesis presents a methodology to find the optimal design of the MPP using the topology optimization method and post processing. First, the critical area is defined using a topology optimization result under a given boundary condition. Second, the topology optimization results will be superimposed to the MPP design space again. Lastly, the supporting rib structure will be added to finalize the MPP design process. Once the design is completed, the optimal design is compared to the original design to evaluate the improvement. In this thesis, MPP wine shipper is used as an example. The proposed method was able to present a new design using the topology optimization method. To demonstrate the efficiency of the new design, FEA results are presented, and the new design shows a lower stress concentration compared to the typical MPP wine shipper design in the market.
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Title: A Modified Barriered Landscape Water Renovation System for treating human wastewater
Creator: Rueckert, William A.
Date: 1979
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: A Miniaturized Multi-Modality imaging system for Dielectric Materials Evaluation
Creator: Probst, Paul
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: With a rapidly decaying infrastructure, the need for improved and more efficientstructural health monitoring and nondestructive evaluation (NDE) only grows with each passing day. Without comprehensive evaluation of structural issues, repairs tend to be temporary and haphazard. The quality of repairs utilizing composite materials cannot be adequately inspected, as there exists a gap within the material coverage in NDE methods caused by the unique anisotropic dielectric characteristics of...
Show moreWith a rapidly decaying infrastructure, the need for improved and more efficientstructural health monitoring and nondestructive evaluation (NDE) only grows with each passing day. Without comprehensive evaluation of structural issues, repairs tend to be temporary and haphazard. The quality of repairs utilizing composite materials cannot be adequately inspected, as there exists a gap within the material coverage in NDE methods caused by the unique anisotropic dielectric characteristics of composite materials. Due to the inherent relationship of dielectric permittivity to electromagnetic theory, and the lack of compact and accurate imaging systems that are not prohibitively expensive for the frequency range (10 KHz to 9 GHz), low frequency capacitive imaging and high frequency microwave imaging have been chosen as the modalities for the system presented in this thesis. First, the governing theory behind low frequency imaging is detailed, with an emphasis on the capacitive imaging for dielectric characterization of composites. A miniaturized low frequency capacitive imaging system is designed to operate at a frequency range from 10 kHz to 200 MHz with a dynamic range of 113 dB. Additionally, high-Q capacitive resonance probes are designed to be used with the miniaturized imaging system and the results are compared with the preexisting table-top system. Second, general electromagnetic theory is explained and a miniaturized near-field microwave imaging system is designed for dielectric evaluation. The microwave system operates from 1 GHz to 9 GHz and has the ability to work with various probes. Third, both low and high frequency systems are integrated together to provide a wideband multi-modality imaging system. The system demonstrates comparatively accurate results for a fraction of the price of existing systems. The compact and practical nature of this system makes it an optimal tool that can be utilized not only in the lab, but implemented in field conditions as well
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Title: A Michigan Department of Transportation : implications for comprehensive state level planning
Creator: Bailey, Edgerton Warren
Date: 1972
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: A MULTILINGUAL ANALYSIS OF YOUTUBE COMMENTS ON SCIENCE COMMUNICATION VIDEOS
Creator: Cottrell, Jonus
Date: 2022
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This thesis aimed to fill a gap in the literature regarding the consumption of YouTube science videos as a form of science communication and engagement. This was done by conducting an automated sentiment analysis of comments posted to YouTube videos published by popular science communication channel, Kurzgesagt. The two videos used for analysis covered the production and consumption of meat and the production and consumption of dairy and were published in English, Spanish, and German, which...
Show moreThis thesis aimed to fill a gap in the literature regarding the consumption of YouTube science videos as a form of science communication and engagement. This was done by conducting an automated sentiment analysis of comments posted to YouTube videos published by popular science communication channel, Kurzgesagt. The two videos used for analysis covered the production and consumption of meat and the production and consumption of dairy and were published in English, Spanish, and German, which provided an opportunity to compare expressed sentiment for identical content across three different target audiences. Results showed that for English and German audiences, expressed sentiment was higher for the video covering the production and consumption of meat. There were no statistically significant differences in expressed sentiment for the two videos published in Spanish. For the video covering the production and consumption of meat, the most negative expressed sentiment was found in the English-speaking audience. For the video covering the production and consumption of milk, the most positive expressed sentiment was found in the Spanish-speaking audience. Findings suggest that there are some differences in engagement across publication languages, but further research needs to be done to account for the effect of exogenous variables. Results align with previous research that suggests YouTube is a useful platform to facilitate audience engagement.
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Title: A MORAL PERSPECTIVE ON GUILT APPEALS : EXAMINING THE MORAL MATCHING EFFECT
Creator: Ye, Qijia
Date: 2022
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: As a moral emotion, guilt can serve as a mechanism in social influence. However, literature showed that the effects of guilt appeals were mixed. This indicates that scholars scarcely understand the conditions under which guilt appeals work effectively. Drawing from Moral Foundation Theory (Graham et al., 2013), this study investigated the moderating role of moral foundations in guilt appeals. I argued that the match between the transgression focus of a guilt appeal and an endorsed moral...
Show moreAs a moral emotion, guilt can serve as a mechanism in social influence. However, literature showed that the effects of guilt appeals were mixed. This indicates that scholars scarcely understand the conditions under which guilt appeals work effectively. Drawing from Moral Foundation Theory (Graham et al., 2013), this study investigated the moderating role of moral foundations in guilt appeals. I argued that the match between the transgression focus of a guilt appeal and an endorsed moral foundation would increase the intensity of perceived guilt and reduce psychological reactance, thereby leading to a more positive attitude and stronger behavioral intention. A single factorial (care/harm guilt appeal vs. purity/degradation guilt appeal vs. liberty/oppression guilt appeal vs. control message) between-subject experiment was conducted to test the moral matching effect in the context of reducing children’s consumption of sugary drinks. Results showed that care-focused guilt appeal elicited more guilt and less psychological reactance than purity-focused and liberty-focused guilt appeals. More importantly, the purity foundation mitigated the negative effect of purity-focused guilt appeal on psychological reactance, particularly on anger. The explanations for the findings, theoretical and practical implications, limitations of the study, and future research directions were discussed.
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Title: A Little Peace of Mind an original ninety minute drama for television
Creator: Sternberg, Joel Barry
Date: 1967
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: A LONGITUDINAL EXAMINATION OF IMITATION RECOGNITION IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER
Creator: Pomales Ramos, Anamiguel
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have significant difficulties engaging in imitative behaviors, which can have cascading developmental effects on subsequent social communication skills. Although there is a substantial body of research on imitation in children, research on imitation recognition is extremely limited, despite its theoretical significance. The current study examined the longitudinal trajectory of imitation recognition during a period of contingent imitation by an...
Show moreChildren with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have significant difficulties engaging in imitative behaviors, which can have cascading developmental effects on subsequent social communication skills. Although there is a substantial body of research on imitation in children, research on imitation recognition is extremely limited, despite its theoretical significance. The current study examined the longitudinal trajectory of imitation recognition during a period of contingent imitation by an adult in a sample of 51 children with ASD over a 9-month period. Results indicated that rates of implicit and explicit imitation recognition as well as the proportion of explicit imitation increased over time, consistent with their developmental emergence in children without ASD. Multilevel modeling indicated a main effect of implicit imitation recognition on receptive language and expressive vocabulary, suggesting the relationship between these skills in children with ASD. In addition, there was a marginally significant time by explicit imitation recognition interaction in predicting receptive language, indicating that children who demonstrated higher rates of explicit imitation recognition at baseline made greater gains in receptive language over time than those with lower rates of explicit imitation recognition. The clinical implications of these results suggest that early interventions that target imitation recognition may support the development of language skills in children with ASD.
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Title: A LL grammar analyzer
Creator: Motteler, Zane C.
Date: 1981
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: A Kellerized course in introductory astronomy for liberal arts majors
Creator: Pond, John Robert
Date: 1973
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

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