Subjective Communication: A New Training Method

This project centralizes around the stigma of communicating in the healthcare system, and using policies and procedures as the foundation, when it should be the employees who hold them up. Having worked in healthcare for nearly twelve years, an issue I have always wanted to address is the way we communicate to staff. This translates into training them in a new way as well. While it is important to have rules and protocols are clear as possible, we as leaders must understand that people come from different culture, backgrounds, experiences, generations, etc. So, we need to keep that in mind when training them. While we need to make sure all the basics are taught, it is our duty to find out the strengths of each team member and focus on that when training. A video recording of this presentation is available here

Reduced generalization in autism: An alternative to weak central coherence

This chapter appeared in: "The development of Autism: Perspectives from Theory and Research" (2001) Eds :Jacob A. Burack, Tony Charman, Nurit Yirmiya & Philip R. Zelazo. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc, Publishers. (p 149-169)Copyright 2001 From "The development of Autism: Perspectives from Theory and Research" by Jacob A. Burack, Tony Charman, Nurit Yirmiya & Philip R. Zelazo. Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc

Design Of An Adaptive Autopilot For An Expendable Launch Vehicle

This study investigates the use of a Model Reference Adaptive Control (MRAC) direct approach to solve the attitude control problem of an Expendable Launch Vehicle (ELV) during its boost phase of flight. The adaptive autopilot design is based on Lyapunov Stability Theory and provides a useful means for controlling the ELV in the presence of environmental and dynamical uncertainties. Several different basis functions are employed to approximate the nonlinear parametric uncertainties in the system dynamics. The control system is designed so that the desire dresponse to a reference model would be tracked by the closed-loop system. The reference model is obtained via the feedback linearization technique applied to the nonlinear ELV dynamics. The adaptive control method is then applied to a representative ELV longitudinal motion, specifically the 6th flight of Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle (AC-6) in 1965. The simulation results presented are compared to that of the actual AC-6 post-flight trajectory reconstruction. Recommendations are made for modification and future applications of the method for several other ELV dynamics issues, such as control saturation, engine inertia, flexible body dynamics, and sloshing of liquid fuels

On a graph parameter related to vertex labelings and its application to minimum rank problems in graph theory

This thesis regards the minimum rank and minimum positive semidefinite rank of a simple graph. A graph parameter, called the minimum labeling degree (mld), is defined in terms of the concept of a vertex labeling of a graph, and its value is calculated for a few graph classes. It is proved here that there is a conception of mld that is independent of the notion of vertex labeling. Then, for a few other graph parameters β, including the zero-forcing number, a general inequality between mld and β is shown to hold. Further, it is demonstrated here that a certain upper bound for minimum rank in terms of minimum labeling degree holds for several classes of graphs for which minimum rank is known. Later, graphs whose complements both are K_{3,2}-free and have minimum labeling degree 2 are proved to have minimum positive semidefinite rank at most 4. Finally, two more labeling-independent conceptions of mld are given

A proposal for integrating the principles of body mechanics and posture in advanced nursing curriculum

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Characterization of soil unsaturated flow properties using steady state centrifuge methods

textThree testing procedures were developed in this research to allow expeditious characterization of soil unsaturated flow properties using steady state centrifuge methods. The first testing procedure, referred to as the “instrumented” procedure, focuses on using in-flight measurement of the suction and volumetric water content of soil samples under centrifugation. The measurements are used to calculate the soil water retention curve and hydraulic conductivity function (K-function) of soil samples. A good agreement was found between results determined using the “instrumented” procedure and standard testing methods. Several possible sources of inaccuracy were determined with the “instrumented” procedure. The void ratio, the changes of which were not measured, was found to decrease during centrifugation and the lower boundary condition, which was not accounted for in the evaluation, was found to affect a large portion of the sample. In order to improve the accuracy of results, two additional testing procedures were developed that accounted for these issues and incorporated the void ratio of the soil as an additional variable. The first additional procedure was used to measure the soil water retention surface (SWRS) of soil samples while the second was used to measure the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity surface (K-surface) of soil samples. Both new procedures, referred to as the “hydrostatic” and “imposed flow” procedures, were used to characterize the unsaturated flow properties of a low plasticity clay (“RMA” soil). The unsaturated flow characteristics of the RMA soil were evaluated for a wide range of void ratio and three compaction moisture conditions. As a result, the effects of void ratio and compaction moisture content on the unsaturated flow characteristics could be determined for the RMA soil. The compaction water content was shown to have significant effects on both the retention behavior and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of the RMA soil. In general, increases in compaction water content resulted in a decrease of large pore sizes in the soil, resulting in higher water retention and lower unsaturated hydraulic conductivity. The void ratio was found to have comparatively lesser, but still significant, effects on both retention and conductivity characteristics. Specifically, decreases in void ratio were shown to reduce the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity. In addition, decreases in void ratio were shown to result in either increases or decreases on the soil water retention, depending on the level of suction in the soil. A good agreement was found between results obtained using standard methods and those from the hydrostatic and imposed flow procedures. Accordingly, steady state centrifuge methods were ultimately found to provide a both expeditious and accurate method for characterizing the unsaturated flow properties of soil.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin