This proposed new method is based on the installation of galvanized tubes outside the shaft across from each inside tube, and performing the CSL test between the inside and outside tubes. From the performed experimental work a model is developed to evaluate the relationship between the thickness of concrete and the ultrasonic wave properties using signal processing. The experimental results show that there is a direct correlation between concrete thicknesses outside the cage and maximum amplitude of the received signal obtained from frequency domain data. This study demonstrates how this new method to measuring the diameter of drilled shafts during construction using a NDT method overcomes the limitations of currently-used methods.

In the other part of study, a new method is proposed to visualize and quantify the extent and location of the defects. It is based on a color change in the frequency amplitude of the signal recorded by the receiver probe in the location of defects and it is called Frequency Tomography Analysis (FTA). Time-domain data is transferred to frequency-domain data of the signals propagated between tubes using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Then, distribution of the FTA will be evaluated. This method is employed after CSL has determined the high probability of an anomaly in a given area and is applied to improve location accuracy and to further characterize the feature. The technique has a very good resolution and clarifies the exact depth location of any void or defect through the length of the drilled shaft for the voids inside the cage.

The last part of study also evaluates the effect of voids inside and outside the reinforcement cage and corrosion in the longitudinal bars on the strength and axial load capacity of drilled shafts. The objective is to quantify the extent of loss in axial strength and stiffness of drilled shafts due to presence of different types of symmetric voids and corrosion throughout their lengths.

In this dissertation, Florida-specific SPFs were developed using the 2008 Roadway Characteristics Inventory (RCI) data and crash and traffic data from 2007-2010 for both total and fatal and injury (FI) crashes. The data were randomly divided into two sets, one for calibration (70% of the data) and another for validation (30% of the data). The negative binomial (NB) model was used to develop the Florida-specific SPFs for each of the subtypes of roadway segments, intersections and ramps, using the calibration data. Statistical goodness-of-fit tests were performed on the calibrated models, which were then validated using the validation data set. The results were compared in order to assess the transferability of the Florida-specific SPF models.

The default SafetyAnalyst SPFs were calibrated to Florida data by adjusting the national default SPFs with local calibration factors. The performance of the Florida-specific SPFs and SafetyAnalyst default SPFs calibrated to Florida data were then compared using a number of methods, including visual plots and statistical goodness-of-fit tests. The plots of SPFs against the observed crash data were used to compare the prediction performance of the two models. Three goodness-of-fit tests, represented by the mean absolute deviance (MAD), the mean square prediction error (MSPE), and Freeman-Tukey R² (R²_FT), were also used for comparison in order to identify the better-fitting model. The results showed that Florida-specific SPFs yielded better prediction performance than the national default SPFs calibrated to Florida data.

The performance of Florida-specific SPFs was further compared with that of the full SPFs, which include both traffic and geometric variables, in two major applications of SPFs, i.e., crash prediction and identification of high crash locations. The results showed that both SPF models yielded very similar performance in both applications. These empirical results support the use of the flow-only SPF models adopted in SafetyAnalyst, which require much less effort to develop compared to full SPFs.

Interview data were analyzed using inductive, deductive, and comparative analyses. Three themes emerged from the inductive analysis of the data: (a) color and/or race does matter, (b) putting on the badge, and (c) too black to be blue and too blue to be black.

The deductive analysis used a priori coding that was based on Super’s (1990) archway model. The deductive analysis revealed the participants’ career exploration was influenced by their knowledge of racial profiling and how others view them. The comparative analysis between the inductive themes and deductive findings found the theme “color and/or race does matter” was present in the relationships between and within all segments of Super’s (1990) model. The comparative analysis also revealed an expanded notion of self-concept for Black males – marginalized and/or oppressed individuals.

Self-concepts, “such as self-efficacy, self-esteem, and role self-concepts, being combinations of traits ascribed to oneself” (Super, 1990, p. 202) do not completely address the self-concept of marginalized and/or oppressed individuals. The self-concept of marginalized and/or oppressed individuals is self-efficacy, self-esteem, traits ascribed to oneself expanded by their awareness of how others view them. (DuBois, 1995; Freire, 1970; Sheared, 1990; Super, 1990; Young, 1990). Ultimately, self-concept is utilized to make career and life decisions.

Current human resource policies and practices do not take into consideration that negative police contact could be the result of racial profiling. Current human resource hiring guidelines penalize individuals who have had negative police contact. Therefore, racial profiling is a discriminatory act that can effectively circumvent U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission laws and serve as a boundary mechanism to employment (Rocco & Gallagher, 2004).

The optimization of wireless power transfer via Strongly Coupled Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) to sensors embedded in concrete is studied here. First, we analytically derive the optimal geometric parameters for transmission of power in the air. This specifically leads to the identification of the local and global optimization parameters and conditions, it was validated through electromagnetic simulations. Second, the optimum conditions were employed in the model for propagation of energy through plain and reinforced concrete at different humidity conditions, and frequencies with extended Debye's model. This analysis leads to the conclusion that SCMR can be used to efficiently power sensors in plain and reinforced concrete at different humidity levels and depth, also validated through electromagnetic simulations.

The optimization of wireless power transmission via SMCR to Wearable and Implantable Medical Device (WIMD) are also explored. The optimum conditions from the analytics were used in the model for propagation of energy through different human tissues. This analysis shows that SCMR can be used to efficiently transfer power to sensors in human tissue without overheating through electromagnetic simulations, as excessive power might result in overheating of the tissue.

Standard SCMR is sensitive to misalignment; both 2-loops and 3-loops SCMR with misalignment-insensitive performances are presented. The power transfer efficiencies above 50% was achieved over the complete misalignment range of 0°-90° and dramatically better than typical SCMR with efficiencies less than 10% in extreme misalignment topologies.

We specifically addressed two crucial data center operations. First, we precisely estimated capacity requirements of client virtual machines (VMs) while renting server space in cloud environment. Second, we proposed a systematic process to efficiently allocate physical resources to hosted VMs in a data center. To realize these dual objectives, accurately capturing the effects of resource allocations on application performance is vital. The benefits of accurate application performance modeling are multifold. Cloud users can size their VMs appropriately and pay only for the resources that they need; service providers can also offer a new charging model based on the VMs performance instead of their configured sizes. As a result, clients will pay exactly for the performance they are actually experiencing; on the other hand, administrators will be able to maximize their total revenue by utilizing application performance models and SLAs.

This thesis made the following contributions. First, we identified resource control parameters crucial for distributing physical resources and characterizing contention for virtualized applications in a shared hosting environment. Second, we explored several modeling techniques and confirmed the suitability of two machine learning tools, Artificial Neural Network and Support Vector Machine, to accurately model the performance of virtualized applications. Moreover, we suggested and evaluated modeling optimizations necessary to improve prediction accuracy when using these modeling tools. Third, we presented an approach to optimal VM sizing by employing the performance models we created. Finally, we proposed a revenue-driven resource allocation algorithm which maximizes the SLA-generated revenue for a data center.

(1) Following HOPE VI, was there a change in socioeconomic status (SES) in the neighborhood public school? The hypothesis is that low SES (measured as the proportion of students qualifying for the Free and Reduced Lunch Program) would reduce.

(2) Following HOPE VI, did the performance of neighborhood public schools change? The hypothesis is that the school performance, measured by the proportion of 5^th grade students proficient in state wide math and reading tests, would increase.

(3) What factors relate to the performance of public schools in HOPE VI communities? The focus is on non-school, neighborhood factors that influence the public school performance.

For answering the first two questions, I used t-tests and regression models to test the hypotheses. The analysis shows that there is no statistically significant change in SES following HOPE VI. However, there are statistically significant increases in performance for reading and math proficiency. The results are interesting in indicating that HOPE VI neighborhood improvement may have some relationship with improving school performance. To answer the third question, I conducted a case study analysis of two HOPE VI neighborhood public schools, one which improved significantly (in Philadelphia) and one which declined the most (in Washington DC). The analysis revealed three insights into neighborhood factors for improved school performance: (i) a strong local community organization; (ii) local community’s commitment (including the middle income families) to send children to the public school; and (iii) ties between housing and education officials to implement the federal housing program. In essence, the study reveals how housing policy is de facto education policy.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain a deeper understanding of quality in teaching by examining the lived experiences of 10 winners or finalists of the Teacher of the Year (ToY) Award. Phenomenology describes individuals’ daily experiences of phenomena, examines how these experiences are structured, and focuses analysis on the perspectives of the persons having the experience (Moustakas, 1994). This inquiry asked two questions: (a) How is teaching experienced by recognized as outstanding Teachers of the Year? and (b) How do ToYs feelings and perceptions about being good teachers provide insight, if any, about concepts such as pedagogical tact, teacher selfhood, and professional dispositions?

Ten participants formed the purposive sample; the major data collection tool was semi-structured interviews (Patton, 1990; Seidman, 2006). Sixty to 90-minute interviews were conducted with each participant. Data also included the participants’ ToY application essays. Data analysis included a three-phase process: description, reduction, interpretation.

Findings revealed that the ToYs are dedicated, hard-working individuals. They exhibit behaviors, such as working beyond the school day, engaging in lifelong learning, and assisting colleagues to improve their practice. Working as teachers is their life’s compass, guiding and wrapping them into meaningful and purposeful lives. Pedagogical tact, teacher selfhood, and professional dispositions were shown to be relevant, offering important insights into good teaching. Results indicate that for these ToYs, good teaching is experienced by getting through to students using effective and moral means; they are emotionally open, have a sense of the sacred, and they operate from a sense of intentionality. The essence of the ToYs teaching experience was their being properly engaged in their craft, embodying logical, psychological, and moral realms.

Findings challenge current teacher effectiveness process-product orthodoxy which makes a causal connection between effective teaching and student test scores, and which assumes that effective teaching arises solely from and because of the actions of the teacher.

In this dissertation, we addressed the power/thermal issues from the system-level perspective. Specifically, we sought to employ real-time scheduling methods to optimize the power/thermal efficiency of the real-time computing systems, with leakage/ temperature dependency taken into consideration. In our research, we first explored the fundamental principles on how to employ dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) techniques to reduce the peak operating temperature when running a real-time application on a single core platform. We further proposed a novel real-time scheduling method, “M-Oscillations” to reduce the peak temperature when scheduling a hard real-time periodic task set. We also developed three checking methods to guarantee the feasibility of a periodic real-time schedule under peak temperature constraint. We further extended our research from single core platform to multi-core platform. We investigated the energy estimation problem on the multi-core platforms and developed a light weight and accurate method to calculate the energy consumption for a given voltage schedule on a multi-core platform. Finally, we concluded the dissertation with elaborated discussions of future extensions of our research.

The study employed a pretest-posttest, non-equivalent groups experimental design. The sample consisted of 226 participants in six sections of a college biology course at a large community college in South Florida with two instructors trained in the use of clickers. Each instructor randomly selected their sections into CPS (treatment) and non-CPS (control) groups. All participants filled out a survey that included demographic data at the beginning of the semester. The treatment group used clicker questions throughout, with discussions as necessary, whereas the control groups answered the same questions as quizzes, similarly engaging in discussion where necessary. The learning gains were assessed on a pre/post-test basis.

The average learning gains, defined as the actual gain divided by the possible gain, were slightly better in the treatment group than in the control group, but the difference was statistically non-significant. An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) statistic with pretest scores as the covariate was conducted to test for significant differences between the treatment and control groups on the posttest. A second ANCOVA was used to determine the significance of differences between the treatment and control groups on the posttest scores, after controlling for sex, GPA, academic status, experience with clickers, and instructional style.

The results indicated a small increase in learning gains but these were not statistically significant. The data did not support an increase in learning based on the use of the CPS technology. This study adds to the body of research that questions whether CPS technology merits classroom adaptation.

This investigation presents an in-depth study of SDR inter-components communications in terms of total link delay related to the number of components and packet sizes in systems based on Software Communication Architecture (SCA). The study is based on the investigation of the controlled environment platform. Results suggest that the total link delay does not linearly increase with the number of components and the packet sizes. The closed form expression of the delay was modeled using a logistic function in terms of the number of components and packet sizes. The model performed well when the number of components was large.

Based upon the mobility applications, energy consumption has become one of the most crucial limitations. SDR will not only provide flexibility of multi-protocol support, but this desirable feature will also bring a choice of mobile protocols. Having such a variety of choices available creates a problem in the selection of the most appropriate protocol to transmit. An investigation in a real-time algorithm to optimize energy efficiency was also performed. Communication energy models were used including switching estimation to develop a waveform selection algorithm. Simulations were performed to validate the concept.

To achieve the findings of this dissertation, an energy system architecture was developed involving AC and DC networks, both with distributed generations and demands. The various components of the DC microgrid were designed and built including DC-DC converters, voltage source inverters (VSI) and AC-DC rectifiers featuring novel designs developed by the candidate. New control techniques were developed and implemented to maximize the operating range of the power conditioning units used for integrating renewable energy into the DC bus. The control and operation of the DC microgrids in the hybrid AC/DC system involve intelligent energy management. Real-time energy management algorithms were developed and experimentally verified. These algorithms are based on intelligent decision-making elements along with an optimization process. This was aimed at enhancing the overall performance of the power system and mitigating the effect of heavy non-linear loads with variable intensity and duration. The developed algorithms were also used for managing the charging/discharging process of plug-in electric vehicle emulators.

The protection of the proposed hybrid AC/DC power system was studied. Fault analysis and protection scheme and coordination, in addition to ideas on how to retrofit currently available protection concepts and devices for AC systems in a DC network, were presented. A study was also conducted on the effect of changing the distribution architecture and distributing the storage assets on the various zones of the network on the system’s dynamic security and stability. A practical shipboard power system was studied as an example of a hybrid AC/DC power system involving pulsed loads. Generally, the proposed hybrid AC/DC power system, besides most of the ideas, controls and algorithms presented in this dissertation, were experimentally verified at the Smart Grid Testbed, Energy Systems Research Laboratory. All the developments in this dissertation were experimentally verified at the Smart Grid Testbed.

In this study, an IPTG-inducible, two-plasmid system was established to study transcription-coupled DNA supercoiling (TCDS) in E. coli topA strains. By performing topology assays, biological studies, and RT-PCR experiments, TCDS in E. coli topA strains was found to be dependent on promoter strength. Expression of a membrane-insertion protein was not needed for strong promoters, although co-transcriptional synthesis of a polypeptide may be required. More importantly, it was demonstrated that the expression of a membrane-insertion tet gene was not sufficient for the production of hypernegatively supercoiled DNA. These phenomenon can be explained by the “twin-supercoiled-domain” model of transcription where the friction force applied to E. coli RNA polymerase plays a critical role in the generation of hypernegatively supercoiled DNA.

Additionally, in order to explore whether TCDS is able to greatly influence a coupled DNA transaction, such as activating a divergently-coupled promoter, an in vivo system was set up to study TCDS and its effects on the supercoiling-sensitive leu-500 promoter. The leu-500 mutation is a single A-to-G point mutation in the -10 region of the promoter controlling the leu operon, and the AT to GC mutation is expected to increase the energy barrier for the formation of a functional transcription open complex. Using luciferase assays and RT-PCR experiments, it was demonstrated that transient TCDS, “confined” within promoter regions, is responsible for activation of the coupled transcription initiation of the leu-500 promoter. Taken together, these results demonstrate that transcription is a major chromosomal remodeling force in E. coli cells.

By using a commercial Agilent open-ended coaxial probe (HP8570B), the measurements of the dielectric permittivity of concrete and grout are performed. Subsequently, the measured complex permittivity is used to formulate analytical Debye models. Also, the transmission and propagation losses of a uniform plane wave inside grout are calculated. Our results show that wireless sensors will perform better in concrete than grout. In addition, the maximum axial and radial ranges for WISP are experimentally determined. Our work illustrates the feasibility of battery-less wireless sensors that are embedded inside concrete and grout. Also, our work provides information that can be used to optimize the power management, sampling rate, and antenna design of such sensors.

We examined whether the eye-tracker could help in the assessment of these children because it does not require the child to point during the test. Four typically developing control children, 14 monolingual English children with moderate/mild autism, and 4 children (2 monolingual English, 2 bilingual Spanish/English) with severe autism were tested and the results of the ROWPVT test were compared to the eye-tracker results. Interestingly, bilingual children with severe autism had better results using eye-tracker than the traditional ROWPVT test. These results suggest that these children know more vocabulary than traditional test measures indicate.