Tailoring Plate Thickness of a Helmholtz Resonator for Improved Sound Attenuation

A Helmholtz resonator with flexible plate attenuates noise in exhaust ducts, and the transmission loss function quantifies the amount of filtered noise at a desired frequency. In this work the transmission loss is maximized (optimized) by allowing the resonator end plate thickness to vary for two cases: 1) a nonoptimized baseline resonator, and 2) a resonator with a uniform flexible endplate that was previously optimized for transmission loss and resonator size. To accomplish this, receptance coupling techniques were used to couple a finite element model of a varying thickness resonator end plate to a mass-spring-damper model of the vibrating air mass in the resonator. Sequential quadratic programming was employed to complete a gradient based optimization search. By allowing the end plate thickness to vary, the transmission loss of the non-optimized baseline resonator was improved significantly, 28 percent. However, the transmission loss of the previously optimized resonator for transmission loss and resonator size showed minimal improvement

An integrated Bayesian model for estimating the long-term health effects of air pollution by fusing modelled and measured pollution data: a case study of nitrogen dioxide concentrations in Scotland

The long-term health effects of air pollution can be estimated using a spatio-temporal ecological study, where the disease data are counts of hospital admissions from populations in small areal units at yearly intervals. Spatially representative pollution concentrations for each areal unit are typically estimated by applying Kriging to data from a sparse monitoring network, or by computing averages over grid level concentrations from an atmospheric dispersion model. We propose a novel fusion model for estimating spatially aggregated pollution concentrations using both the modelled and monitored data, and relate these concentrations to respiratory disease in a new study in Scotland between 2007 and 2011

Lawyer Advertising and Specialization in Montana: An Alternative Approach

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Unsolvable? Assessing the Accuracy of Missing Person Case Data

Annually, about 100,000 individuals are reported missing to authorities in the US. Fortunately, the majority of these investigations are resolved quickly with the persons being accounted for and reunited with loved ones. Conversely, the number of cases that remain open represent dilemmas for police as the incidents could be connected to unsolved homicides, other violent crimes, or endangered persons. Despite the commonality of missing persons, research on the topic is scant. Predominantly, published studies on missing persons focus on investigations from European countries. In 2008, the US Department of Justice launched the National Missing and Unidentified Person System (NamUs), a publicly accessible repository, to promote sharing of information in these investigations between law enforcement, medical authorities, and the public. The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of missing person records from the NamUs database by comparing characteristics to those compiled in arrest reports. The researcher hypothesized that NamUs records contained inaccuracies, and that these mistakes would be more prevalent for incidents involving persons considered as having low socioeconomic status. Theoretically grounded in Black’s Behavior of Law and social exclusion theory, a non-experimental research design was employed using purposive sampling to collect 161 records of missing persons listed in NamUs who had also been previously arrested. From the two sets of data, the heights, ages, hair and eye colors were compared, and an accuracy score was assigned for each case. These scores were then statistically assessed using the variables of SES and the difference in days between date missing and date reported as missing to authorities. Consistent with previous research that found inconsistencies contained in other large criminal justice data, discrepancies in NamUs case listings were noted as well. Specifically, 23.0% of the total cases (n = 37) contained a least one discrepancy. Of these 37 records, 17 (46.0%) contained a very minor conflict between arrest and missing person reports (e.g. a difference of 2+ inches in recorded height). Further, only one record contained conflicts in two of the assessed categories, and no record contained discrepancies in more than two characteristics. Despite these record peculiarities, 6 statistical tests (e.g., t-test, Chi-Square, ANOVA, and regression) determined that the noted discrepancies were not statistically significant. Further, the results of a factor analysis using variables strengthened by linear interpolation to account for missing values produced low Eigenvalues and was unable to explain the variability in the noted discrepancies. This research represents a first empirical look at the NamUs system’s data, as well as one of the few studies to examine missing persons in the US. In addition, this work employed an obscure federal government tool to assign SES based on residential address. Weaknesses of the study included that cases from Southern states were overrepresented, there was a lack of publicly available arrest records, and an unintended recency bias was present in that the cases sampled consisted primarily of missing person records from the past 7 years. Limitations of this research were that the sample consisted exclusively of adults, examined cases involving those with criminal histories only, and the study was hindered by the lack of availability of arrest records to review. Recommendations for future academic research and practitioners were also discussed

Paving the way : the second generation of e-patients, their experiences, actions and driving forces

Background: E-patients are described as patients and informal caregivers who are empowered, equipped, enabled and engaged, and use digital solutions for their self-care and in healthcare contexts. Self-care can be understood as health related activities and behaviors regarding life styles and environmental aspects. The self-determination theory can be used to understand aspects of motivation and to provide an understanding for the basic psychological needs of persons, and how their autonomy, competence and relatedness are supported. Understanding e-patients also includes understanding their use of different consumer health informatics applications. These are digital solutions where patients and informal caregivers as citizens are the end-users. In the beginning of this century, e-patients were described as persons using the Internet to find information about their condition or to prepare for clinical encounters, as well as engaging in online communities. They were called the first generation of e-patients. Today there is a broader use of and an increased access to better digital solutions. Therefore, the first generation of e-patients has evolved largely in tandem with the evolving environment. The overall aim for this thesis is to examine the experiences, actions and driving forces of the second generation of e-patients, and their applicability to a broader group of patients with chronic conditions and their informal caregivers. Methods: Three studies were performed. Study I consisted of a qualitative approach conducting semi-structured interviews with 15 e-patients. Deductive framework analysis was used, with the self-determination theory as an initial framework. Study II was a mixed method study with seven semi-structured interviews and a survey with 180 included respondents having Parkinson disease and self-tracking experience. Inductive conventional content analysis was applied for the interviews and statistical analysis for the survey. In study III the 15 semi-structured interviews from study 1 were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis resulting in 12 key concepts. These concepts were tested in six focus groups with 33 patients with chronic conditions and their informal caregivers. An abductive direct content analysis was used for the focus groups. Results: The second generation of e-patients generate their own data, are early adopters or innovators of new solutions for themselves as well as for other peers. They are characterize by relatedness towards others, autonomy concerning themselves, as well as increased competence. Learning aspects seem to generate from self-generated data, and self-tracking provides persons with Parkinson’s disease with tools to improve their decision making as well as more active communication with healthcare professionals. To track one’s health and medication can be time consuming, and it is consider important to find the right balance between tracking efforts and expected outcomes. When comparing activities and behaviors of e-patients to other active patients and informal caregivers, some variations seem to exist between the two groups. Therefore two different frameworks regarding role specific competencies emerged. Conclusion: This thesis shows different levels of being an e-patient. The e-patient movement is thriving towards generating own data, being early adopters of new solutions, and evolves as innovators, as in contrast to other active patients and informal caregivers. In tandem with the progressing digital environment the second generation of e-patients has the possibility to influence the future of participatory design within healthcare contexts as well as consumer health informatics applications. It is therefore important to follow and understand this development

Abducted by Reading Machines: Pragmatism and the Discourse of Distant Reading

This project begins with an investigation of a case study in literary analysis that attempts to bring together close and distant reading techniques to enhance the output of both methods. The investigation reveals not only a breakdown in the attempted corroboration of truth claims and evidence across methods, but a tension felt more broadly in the discourse surrounding distant reading as a methodological and disciplinary position. In response to this problematic, I access C.S. Peirce and John Dewey to construct an argument for a pragmatic model for mediating between the more traditional methods employed in literary studies and the computational tools explored and used by scholars of distant methods. This discussion is foregrounded in the hermeneutic response of Julie Orlemanski to the discursive gap between methods. Taking the notion of scales of reading as a starting point, the pragmatic approach offers to place the output of close and distant methods within Dewey\u27s pattern of inquiry and accounts for the potential disciplinary conflict with Peirce\u27s logic of abduction. The former stands as a metaphorical interlocutor between computational models and the more heuristic approaches often found in literary analysis while the latter is placed into conversation with Ariana Ciula and Cristina Marras\u27s Circling Around Texts and Language: Towards Pragmatic Modelling to reveal that pragmatism contains a viable set of analytical tools for creating and interpreting evidence in literary studies using digital methods. I conclude by looking towards applying the pragmatic tools used to analyze this case study to a larger discussion of the discursive unease unearthed in the examination of the scholarship of digital method

Patients' self-empowerment : patients and informal caregivers taking the lead

Background: It is rather common for patients and informal caregivers affected by chronic conditions to experience aspects of disempowerment being in a paternalistic structure. Patient empowerment is often understood as a power to achieve control over the determinants of a person’s quality of life, as well as being authorized by healthcare professionals and steered from a healthcare perspective on self-management and care. Patient self-empowerment, on the other hand, describes patients’ and informal caregivers’ power to perform activities that are not mandated by health care and to take control over their own lives and self-management with increased self-efficacy and confidence. Self-empowered patients and informal caregivers are described in the literature by many different concepts and can be the key to future development of health care and diffusion of innovation solutions for themselves and their peers. Knowledge about self-empowering behaviors and motivation of patients and informal caregivers is scarce. Further, the perspective of healthcare professionals and their attitudes, experiences, and workplace support when working with self-empowered patients and informal caregivers has not been researched extensively. Aim: To further understand how patients and informal caregivers can take the lead in their own care and self-management, the overall aim of this thesis is to study the driving forces and self-empowering behaviors of patients and informal caregivers affected by chronic conditions, and how healthcare professionals and the healthcare systems meet these behaviors. Methods: This is a mixed methods thesis with four studies deriving from two projects. Qualitative data collection was done through semi-structured interviews (study I-III) and focus groups (study III), and quantitative data was collected through surveys (study II & IV). Patients and informal caregivers affected by chronic conditions and with self-empowering behaviors participated in study I (n=15) and study III (n=48), and persons with Parkinson Disease performing self-tracking participated in study II (n=187). Healthcare professionals were respondents in study IV (n=279). The data were analyzed using five different approaches: Framework analysis (study I), Conventional content analysis (study II), Thematic analysis (study III), Direct content analysis (study III), and Descriptive analysis (study II & IV). Inductive, deductive, and abductive reasonings were used to process the data to draw conclusions. Results: As self-empowered patients and informal caregivers, the second generation of e-patients generated health data and learned how to handle their situation from it. Further, they invented self-management solutions for themselves and their peers, as well as innovations to co-operate with healthcare professionals. This was done in line with support for their psychological needs; relatedness, competence, and autonomy. Still, to generate own data through self-tacking always came with the risk of being obsessed of their own condition. Other behaviors were experienced as forced upon the patients and informal caregivers and not completely voluntary, whereas some behaviors were wished to be expanded. This might lead to difficult situations with healthcare professionals, not having the time or understanding of these self-empowering behaviors. Still, there were overall positive attitudes from healthcare professionals, even though they lacked experiences of working together with self-empowered patients and especially informal caregivers. There were no existing workplace support or guidelines for meeting patients and informal caregivers with self-empowering behaviors. Conclusion: This thesis makes a unique contribution by analyzing patient self-empowerment as well as healthcare professionals’ attitudes towards self-empowering behaviors. With a rather limited understanding of self-management tasks, healthcare professionals are here provided with a better understanding of self-empowering behaviors and needs among patients and informal caregivers. Self-empowerment will continue to influence the development of participatory healthcare. Hence, to understand the behaviors of the users of health care are essential to further develop towards experienced-based participatory design, person-centered health care, and support for healthcare professionals to partner with patients and informal caregivers in a joint empowerment

The relevant forecast of variance of income for marketing decisions under uncertainty

This dissertation simulated spring and fall soybean marketing decisions with historical prices in order to investigate the economic significance of incorrectly measuring the variance of the return from a marketing alternative. Some authors have suggested that the variance of the forecasted mean price describes the distribution of prices that is relevant for within-year marketing decisions. This dissertation maintained that the variance of the momentary prices is the relevant variance for these marketing decisions. The concept of a momentary variance is important in more than just the future month but is also important in the current or decision month. Comparisons were made between the decisions made using one of two irrelevant variances and the decisions made using the momentary variance. As one measure of closeness of two decision rules, these comparisons identified the probability that using the irrelevant variance would yield the same decision as using the momentary variance. As a second measure of closeness, these comparisons identified the probability that the income received from using an irrelevant variance would be, at worst, only some small amount less than the income received from using the momentary variance

Variation of tow force with velocity during offshore ploughing in granular materials

Pipeline plough behaviour has been investigated by means of reduced scale physical model testing. A testing programme was devised to investigate the influence of permeability, relative density, and plough depth on the associated tow force measured during ploughing over a range of velocities in saturated granular material. An increase in tow force with velocity was found during all of the tests and the results have been compared to previously developed analytical models. A new empirical equation has been developed to describe the change in tow force with velocity for a variety of model siliceous sand conditions. Application of this new approach to full-scale ploughing requires consideration of scaling effects and the use of appropriate input parameters determined to replicate field conditions. </jats:p