Global ETD Search
Search theses and dissertations gathered from participating repositories worldwide. Every result links back to the library that holds it. No account is needed.
Results
Showing 1 to 20 of 67 for “"rules of thumb"”.
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Environmental Virtue Education: Ancient Wisdom Applied
The focus of environmental philosophy has thus far heavily depended on the extension of rights to nonhuman nature. Due to inherent difficulties with this approach to environmental problems, I propose a shift from the contemporary language of rights and duties to the concept of character …
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Patterns for responding to climate in shared-wall housing
Out of the inescapables of building come inspiration for architectural design. Decisions which respond to climate make their mark in design, just as structural requirements, lighting provisions, and the limitations of a site do. Presented here are "patterns" which have been developed to illustrate …
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Heuristics in Construction Project Management
… decision makers typically employ heuristics, or rules of thumb to arrive at relatively quick answers. Heuristics are cognitive shortcuts that an individual employs to arrive at quick decisions (Goodwin et al., 2004). These heuristics are used in a variety of ways, ranging from using the process …
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An experimental comparison of partitioning strategies in distributed graph processing
In this thesis, we study the problem of choosing among partitioning strategies in distributed graph processing systems. To this end, we evaluate and characterize both the performance and resource usage of different partitioning strategies under various popular distributed graph processing systems, …
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Benefits of branches in sparsely connected networks
… are most commonly implemented in computer software; however, real time processing and energy efficiency demands require faster and lower power alternatives. Neuromorphic engineering promises speed and energy efficiency, yet these devices can have unique constraints making them difficult to …
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Fourier-based optical analysis of a membrane mirror spatial light modulator
… engineering numerical models for the operation of a schlieren-like Fourier optical system, used to read out a phase-only spatial light modulator (SLM) for phase to intensity conversion. The computational model, based on discrete cosine transforms, is lightweight enough to be run on standard …
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The development and validation of effect size measures for IRT and CFA studies of measurement equivalence
… in the literature. Given the many benefits of these approaches, measurement equivalence is most appropriately assessed using item response theory (IRT) or confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) techniques. For both methods, the identification of biased items typically involves statistical …
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Linear Modeling and Prediction in Diabetes Physiology
… a chronic disease characterized by the inability of the organism to autonomously regulate the blood glucose level due to insulin deficiency or resistance, leading to serious health damages. The therapy is essentially based on insulin injections and depends strongly on patient daily decisions, …
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Predictive Control of Diabetic Glycemia
… disease, where the blood glucose concentration of the patient is elevated. This is either because of missing insulin production due to failure of the β-cells in the pancreas (Type 1) or because of reduced sensitivity of the cells in the body to insulin (Type 2). The therapy for Type 1 diabetic …
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Clustering strategies for object databases
… improvements and it is the general area of concern for this thesis. Clustering is one fruitful design technique which can provide improvements in performance. However, clustering in object databases has not been explored in depth and so has not been truly exploited. Further, clustering, …
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Design of a low-cost high-performance flexural six degree-of-freedom positioning stage
This thesis introduces a new family of high-performance, low-cost, six-degree-of-freedom positioning systems for high-dynamic, high-accuracy applications. This machine is designed to achieve sub-micron (~~ 50nm) accuracy with meso-scale (~~ 1mm) motions with simple machine elements and commercially …
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Designing for upper seam stability in multi-seam mining
The problem of interaction resulting from mining seams above a previously mined seam has been thoroughly investigated in order to develop and evaluate methods of improving upper seam ground conditions when mining through either active or passive subsidence waves. Design criteria have been developed …
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System-level design of low-carbon structures
… from structural systems during early stages of design, it is difficult to answer these types of questions in current paradigms of performance-driven design. This dissertation makes several original contributions to the system-level design of low-carbon structures. First, a …
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El Serafy User costs and their implications for macroeconomic policy in Africa's mineral rich economies
Many of Africa’s economies are mineral based. Their sustainability and their macroeconomic vulnerability to market fluctuations are accordingly matters of direct concern. This thesis asks how much of the proceeds of mining in such countries can be safely spent each year. Using El Serafy’s approach …
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A generic approach to environmental assessment of microbial bioprocesses through life cycle assessment (LCA)
The intrinsic environmental advantages of industrial scale bioprocesses over chemical processes remain a discussion point owing to limited objective analysis. Studies to date are often limited to energy or global warming considerations with little regard for full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) …
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Performance evaluation of spanning systems
The design of spanning systems is a common task that structural engineers perform, and beam theory is one of the first things taught in a mechanics course. This thesis studies a range of spanning systems, and evaluates their performance in a systematic way. The systems considered are beams, …
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The Impact of “Multiple Looks” when Performing Survival Analysis
… and disease progression. Another critical area of statistical methodology in health care is the practice of adaptive designs. Adaptive designs allow for interim analyses to take place during a study and various decisions and actions can take place more ethically. This is beneficial for studies …
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Application of Agent Based Modeling to Insurance Cycles
Traditional models of analyzing the general insurance market often focus on the behavior of a single insurer in a competitive market. They assume that the major players in this market are homogeneous and have a common goal to achieve a same long-term business objective, such as solving profit (or …
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Modeling and analysis of hybrid geothermal-solar thermal energy conversion systems
… hybrid power cycles that take advantage of the potential synergies of solar thermal and geothermal resources. One aspect is to determine the hybrid configuration that yields the highest annualized electricity generation. The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is estimated using …
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Using linear programming to improve unit planning on the Appalachian National Forests
… use was developed for the High Knob Unit of the Jefferson National Forest. The model was intended to be a pilot study for the development of similar models for other units in the Appalachians. The model was developed to provide information about trade-offs between timber, recreational …
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