Thesis (Ph. D.) University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 7, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 152 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 110-122).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 113 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-118).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 147 p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-137).

This thesis summarizes a series of studies of how image quality is affected by the choice of sampling pattern in 3D. Our comparison includes the Cartesian cubic (CC) lattice, the body-centered cubic (BCC) lattice, and the face-centered cubic (FCC) lattice. Our studies of the lattice Brillouin zones of lattices of equal density show that, while the CC lattice is suitable for functions with elongated spectra, the FCC lattice offers the least variation in resolution with respect to direction. The BCC lattice, however, offers the highest global cutoff frequency. The difference in behavior between the BCC and FCC lattices is negligible for a natural spectrum. We also present a study of pre-aliasing errors on anisotropic versions of the CC, BCC, and FCC sampling lattices, revealing that the optimal choice of sampling lattice is highly dependent on lattice orientation and anisotropy. We suggest a new reference function for studies of aliasing errors on alternative sampling lattices. This function has a spherical spectrum, and a frequency content proportional to the distance from the origin, facilitating studies of pre-aliasing in spatial domain. The accuracy of anti-aliased Euclidean distance transform is improved by application of more sofisticated methods for computing the sub-spel precision term. We find that both accuracy and precision are higher on the BCC and FCC lattices than on the CC lattice. We compare the performance of several intensity-weighted distance transforms on MRI data, and find that the derived segmentation result, with respect to relative error in segmented volume, depends neither on the sampling lattice, nor on the sampling density. Lastly, we present LatticeLibrary, a open source C++ library for processing of sampled data, supporting a number of common image processing methods for CC, BCC, and FCC lattices. We also introduce BccFccRaycaster, a tool for visualizing data sampled on CC, BCC, and FCC lattices. We believe that the work summarized in this thesis provide both the motivation and the tools for continuing research on application of the BCC and FCC lattices in image processing and analysis.

Background: SMEs represent 97% of Swedish companies that have an increase in the Swedish export by 16% in 2017. Furthermore, Sweden is eager to support its companies to lead the service revolution abroad. This expansion creates the need for overcoming international risks of inconstant psychic distance in terms of culture, economy and geography. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the psychic distance and its influence on internationalization. Method: The current study was based on qualitative research to fulfill the purpose, to answer its three research questions and to fit its time frame using semi-structured interviews of a multiple case study with Swedish SMEs within the service industry. The interviews took place with top managers who have broad knowledge and experiences related to this study. Conclusion: Psychic distance is changing in terms of culture, economy and geography as all SMEs have been exposed to its distances differently. A further outcome shows the relevance of business practices, theoretical methods, and models, although none of the interviewed SMEs have used any of these models. This result might show how those models could have solved various issues the interviewees faced. Cultural distance is a permanent distance that exists in all markets. However, economic distance constitutes a challenging factor to face economic costs and institutional differences but simultaneously gaining profits abroad could certify to meet this challenge. Geographic distance is mostly not considered an issue in the service industry. The psychic distance may decrease within the service industry due to international managerial skills and technology. Managerial Contribution: It is hoped that this study will assist SMEs to gain a clear idea about overcoming the psychic distance during internationalization, for instance, by learning from outcomes of the study from meta-analysis or by using relevant theories and models. / Bakgrund: Små och medelstora företag (SMF) representerar 97% av alla svenska företag. Den svenska exportsektorn har även sett en ökning med 16% under 2017. Sverige är dessutom väldigt angeläget om att stödja företagen genom att leda revolutionen inom servicesektorn utomlands. Denna expansion skapar behovet av att minimera de internationella riskerna associerade med psykiskt avstånd gällande kultur, ekonomi och geografi. Syfte: Syftet för denna studie är att undersöka det psykiska avståndet och dess påverkan på internationalisering. Metod: Denna studie använder sig av en kvalitativ metod för att uppfylla sitt syfte, svara på dess tre frågeställningarna och vara inom tidsramen för denna uppsats. En flerfalsstudie har genomförts genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med svenska SMF inom servicesektorn. Intervjuerna genomfördes med chefer som har breda kunskaper och erfarenheter relaterade till denna studie. Konklusion: Det psykiska avståndet gällande kultur, ekonomi och geografi förändras eftersom alla SMF har varit utsatta för dessa avstånden på olika sätt. Ett ytterligare resultat visar relevansen av affärsmetoder, teoretiska metoder och modeller, även om ingen av de intervjuade SMF har använt sig av dessa modeller. Resultatet visar hur dessa modeller kan ha löst olika problem som de intervjuade cheferna har stått inför. Det kulturella avståndet är ett permanent avstånd som existerar i alla marknader. Ekonomiskt avstånd däremot är en utmanade faktor eftersom man måste kombinera ekonomiska kostnader och institutionella skillnader, men genom att samtidigt göra vinst utomlands kan man överkomma denna utmaning. Geografiskt avstånd anses för det mesta inte som ett hinder inom servicesektorn. Det psykiska avståndet inom servicesektorn kan minskas med hjälp av internationella ledaregenskaper och teknologi. Praktiskt bidrag: Denna studie hoppas kunna hjälpa SMF med att få en tydlig uppfattning om hur man kan överkomma det psykiska avståndet under dess internationalisering, till exempel, genom att lära sig av resultaten från denna studiens metaanalys eller genom att använda sig av relevanta teorier och modeller.

The present study attempted to merge classes of Islamic and Christian stimuli. Using a match-to-sample procedure, participants were trained on a series of conditional discriminations that resulted in the formation of one equivalence class containing Islamic stimuli and one class containing Christian stimuli. These classes shared two common members. After demonstrating equivalence, participants were tested for a merger of the two classes. If the classes fail to merge, participants viewed a video outlining the parallels between Islam and Christianity and were subsequently tested for a merger of classes again. For participants still failing to merge the classes, direct training was provided before a final test for a merger of classes was conducted. Accuracy and response latencies on tests for a merger of classes were examined to determine if a nodal distance effect is observed. Six participants merged the classes following conditional discrimination training. An additional five participants were exposed to video training and direct training after which four participants still failed to merge the classes.

I studied translocation of Texas horned lizards on Tinker Air Force Base, Midwest City, Oklahoma, using correlative and mechanistic habitat suitability models. My goals were broadly classified into two categories: first, to determine if the addition of mechanistic data layers (i.e., habitat-niche models) in a correlative model improved the overall accuracy of model predictions, and second, to apply the best model produced from my dataset to a planned translocation event on Tinker Air Force Base. Correlative data layers (i.e., habitat models) included typically applied datasets such as vegetative components, Euclidean distance statistics, neighborhood analyses, and topographically-derived information. Mechanistic data layers were estimates of thermal suitability derived from field-collected datasets and biophysical calculations, and estimates of prey availability taken from interpolated datasets. I estimated habitat suitability using the partitioned Mahalanobis distance statistic, which is a suitable model technique for presence-only data. Translocated and resident lizards were monitored via radiotelemetry and using fluorescent powder trails. Telemetry locations and powder trails were overlaid onto habitat suitability models to provide the datasets used to quantify interaction between site occupancy and habitat model predictions. Lizard paths were tested against random walk models to determine efficiency of travel, and site occupancy metrics (powder track and telemetry Mahalanobis distance values) were tested using parametric (repeated-measures ANOVA) and nonparametric (Wilcoxon rank-sum and signed-rank tests) tests. Mechanistic data layers did not substantially improve model accuracy over correlative-only layers, and data layers taken from mixed bare soil-vegetation, shrub, and grassland habitat types dominated important eigenvector weights. Analyses of fluorescent powder track data suggested that lizards did not move through habitat differently from a random walk model, potentially due to neighborhood factor loadings strongly influencing the area in which entire trails traveled. Wilcoxon tests and repeated-measures ANOVA results suggested that although lizards experienced different median Mahalanobis distance values by group (translocated, resident), there appeared to be an overall decrease in distance scores for translocated individuals over time. In this context, translocated individuals seemed to acclimate their behavior to areas that were predicted to be more suitable by Mahalanobis classifiers. Although survival results were not encouraging and habitat models did not suggest that my translocation site was ideal, my data supports the idea that translocations may be aided in the future by modeling efforts. My models suggest that mechanistic data layers may not improve classification accuracy over correlative processes, but this may be due to inaccurate representation of specific mechanisms over spatial and temporal scales. Future work should focus on including more explicit measures of mechanisms, as well as broadening biotic influences on species distributions (i.e., predator distribution, intra- and interspecific competition).

Ever since the pioneering work of Parzen the mean square error( MSE) and its integrated form (MISE) have been used as the error criteria in choosing the bandwidth matrix for multivariate kernel density estimation. More recently other criteria have been advocated as competitors to the MISE, such as the mean absolute error. In this study we define a weighted version of the Hellinger distance for multivariate densities and show that it has an asymptotic form, which is one-fourth the asymptotic MISE under weak smoothness conditions on the multivariate density f. In addition the proposed criteria give rise to a new data-dependent bandwidth matrix selector. The performance of the new data-dependent bandwidth matrix selector is compared with other well known bandwidth matrix selectors such as the least squared cross validation (LSCV) and the plug-in (HPI) through simulation. We derived a closed form formula for the mean Hellinger distance (MHD) in the univariate case. We also compared via simulation mean weighted Hellinger distance (MWHD) and the asymptotic MWHD, and the MISE and the asymptotic MISE for both univariate and bivariate cases for various densities and sample sizes.