Master of Science / Department of Communications and Agricultural Education / Lauri M. Baker / The purpose of this study was to identify the needs of Kansas' agricultural producers in relation to financial and legal matters at a local level. The following research questions guided this study: 1) what services, identified by local producers, are needed in communities across Kansas to assist producers in times of financial and legal distress; 2) what are the perceptions among producers of the Kansas Agricultural Mediation Services (KAMS); 3) what brand attributes, names, and taglines would appeal to producers for an organization addressing their financial and legal distress; 4) how can organizations effectively market financial and legal services to producers? A qualitative study design was used in order to assess the research questions. Six focus groups were performed throughout the state in three different geographic locations. Participants were selected using purposive sampling in order to have one group of people familiar with the organization (KAMS) currently helping producers with their legal and financial issues and one unfamiliar group in each location. Grunig’s excellence in public relations model served as the conceptual framework for this study. Results of this study concluded that rural Kansas’ communities see a need for service organizations similar to KAMS. Participants value assistance with family farm transition planning as well as financial assistance. Participants saw marketing and promotion of the current services offered just as critical as having the services themselves. Participants felt these services should be marketed through two-way communication channels, such as social media, an organizational representative for face-to-face interaction, and collaboration with extension. Additionally, participants voiced strong opinions about various brand attributes.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemical Engineering / Keith L. Hohn / Extensive research has gone into developing and modeling the three-way catalyst (TWC) to reduce the emissions of hydrocarbons, NOx and CO from gasoline-fueled engines level. However, much less has been done to model the use of the three-way catalyst to treat exhaust from natural gas-fueled engines. Our research address this gap in the literature by developing a detailed surface reaction mechanism for platinum based on elementary-step reactions. A reaction mechanism consisting of 24 species and 115 elementary reactions was constructed from literature values. All reaction parameters were used as found in the literature sources except for steps modified to improve the model fit to the experimental data. The TWC was simulated as a one-dimension, isothermal plug flow reactor (PFR) for the steady state condition and a continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) for the dithering condition. This work describes a method to quantitatively simulate the natural gas engine TWC converter performance, providing a deep understanding of the surface chemistry in the converter. Due to the depletion of petroleum oil and recent volatility in price, synthesizing value-added chemicals from biomass-derived materials has attracted extensive attention. 1, 3-butadiene (BD), an important intermediate to produce rubber, is conventionally produced from petroleum. Recently, one potential route is to produce BD by dehydration of 2, 3-butanediol (BDO), which is produced at high yield from biomass. This reaction was studied over two commercial forms of alumina. Our results indicate acid/base properties greatly impact the BD selectivity. Trimethylamine can also modify the acid/base properties on alumina surface and affect the BD selectivity. Scandium oxide, acidic oxide or zirconia dual bed systems are also studied and our results show that acidic oxide used as the second bed catalyst can promote the formation of BD, while 2,5-dimethylphenol is found when the zirconia is used as the second bed catalyst which is due to the strong basic sites.

This thesis aims at revealing the fundamental guiding and coupling properties of nonreciprocal electromagnetic surface waves on magneto-optical or gyromagnetic media and designing novel applications based on the properties. We introduce the background in the first chapter. We then describe the concept of nonreciprocity and the main calculation method in the second chapter. In the third chapter, we show that one-way waves can be sustained at the edge of a gyromagnetic photonic crystal slab under an external magnetic field. We also investigate the coupling between two parallel one-way waveguides. We reveal the condition for effective co-directional and contra-directional coupling. We also notice that the contra-directional coupling is related to the concept of a “trapped rainbow”. In the fourth chapter, we address the concept of a “trapped rainbow”. It aims at trapping different frequency components of the electromagnetic wave packet at different positions in space permanently. In previous structures, the entire incident wave is reflected due to the strong contra-directional coupling between forward and backward modes. To overcome this difficulty, we show that utilizing nonreciprocal waveguides under a tapered external magnetic field can achieve a truly “trapped rainbow” effect at microwave frequencies. We observe hot spots and relatively long duration times around critical positions through simulations and find that such a trapping effect is robust against disorders. Lastly, in the fifth chapter, we study the one-way waves in a surface magnetoplasmon cavity. We find that the external magnetic field can separate the clockwise and anti-clockwise cavity modes into two totally different frequency ranges. This offers us more choices, both in the frequency ranges and in the one-way directions, for realizing one-way components. We also show the waveguide-cavity coupling by designing a circulator, which establishes the foundation for potential applications. / <p>QC 20160816</p><p></p>

The purpose of this thesis is to enlighten Boetten Bygg ABconcerning Lean Construction and its methods, which can benefittheir work towards reduction of non-valuable activities during theproduction phase. The examination took place at two projects thatBoetten is working with in Sigtuna and Sollentuna. Both projectswere in the same phase. The method used were to visit the projectsand get an overview of how they’re working today. This was done byattending weekly meetings between the leading parties from Boettenas well as the leading persons from each of the contractors, wealso handed out a survey where the participants evaluate theproblems that can occur. The literature study lifts the basic principles of LeanConstruction, where we have chosen to focus on three differentLean methods that may help Boetten to decrease the wastingactivities in their future projects. We adressed the procurementof a project to lift the pros and cons that this contributes. Byusing this theory, we have discussed the subject round thequestion formulation: •Where in the production process is the biggest potential fordecreasing wasting activities? •Which Lean methods would generate the most valuable improvementadjusted to their organization? •How can Boetten go through with a change in the productionprocess? The gathered result shows the three dominating problem areas werewaiting, the arrangement on the construction site and thecommunication between involved parties. Based on the result wediscussed Boettens way of working to narrate, with grounds fromthe literature study, how an improvement may be carried out. Thestudy shows that an implementation of Lean Construction has thepossibility to minimize the wastage. The methods which wereconsidered to make the biggest change concerning wastingactivities were 5S, Just-In-Time and Last Planner. In order forthis to be possible, a strategy decision is required at amanagement level

A one dimensional discretized model of a two brick three way catalyst (TWC) system was developed and implemented in MATLAB, Simulink and TargetLink in collaboration with Volvo Cars and Linköpings Universitet - ISY. The purpose of this thesis was to increase system understanding and create a model based TWC control for further development at Volvo Cars. A total of 50 states were modelled, including emission concentrations (O2, CO, C3H6, C3H8, H2, NOx, CO2, H2O), temperature and oxygen buffer level (OBL). A model based control structure was implemented in the form of five separate PID-controllers enabling possibilities to control the OBL of each separate slice of each brick individually and through simple reference handling. The control structures includes anti-windup, feedforward control and feedback safety for model reset during sensor indication of leakage. Specific equipment and software used included MATLAB, Simulink, TargetLink, Volvo SULEV30 TWC and testing rigs. Overall increase in system understanding was achieved in comparison with contemporary TWC modelling and control, as well as sufficient system performance in regard to estimate emissions, simulation duration and pedagogical value. Concluding thoughts of the thesis revolve the complexity of the actual TWC modelling, parameter estimation as well as control. The model presented in this thesis has great potential of describing TWC systems but with great effort during parameter estimation. With ECU performance available in temporary vehicle production year 2019, a complex model may be combined with a simple control strategy whilst a simple model may be combined with a complex control strategy.

Trådlös kommunikation mellan noder sker genom att skicka data över det trådlösa mediet, för att få kommunikationen att samspela har flertalet standarder utvecklats. En av dessa standarder är 802.15.4 med UWB PHY vars utformning är av en sådan karaktär att signalöverföringen blir störningstålig och osynlig för andra standarder. UWB används ofta till lokalisering och positionering, men kan även användas till en samtida dataöverföring då standardens utformning tillåter detta. Det var dock oklart med vilken prestanda detta kunde genomföras. Därför har den datakommunikationsprestandan undersöks. Den hypotes som följdes under arbetet var att ''genom att skicka data mellan positioneringsimpulserna möjliggörs användandet av samma enhet för positionering och datakommunikation, systemets prestanda påverkas då av MAC-metoden''. Ur hypotesen kom det tre frågeställningar: Vilken MAC-metod är lämplig för både positionering och dataöverföring? Är det möjligt att använda systemet för både positionering och dataöverföring genom att skicka data mellan positioneringsimpulserna? Vilken kommunikationsprestanda kan uppnås när systemet används för både postionering och dataöverföring? I arbetet bevisas hypotesen samt frågeställningarna med syftet att detta kunde komma att hjälpa till inom exempelvis robotiken, men även som ett alternativ till WiFi då UWB är både störningståligt och osynligt för andra standarder. Den iterativa metoden användes för att utveckla ett system som kunde lösa den kombinerade positioneringen och datakommunikationen. I prestandatesterna gick det att utläsa att hypotesen stämde förutsatt att parametrarna är korrekt. / Wireless communication between nodes is achieved by sending data over the wireless medium. In order to have communications interact different standards have been developed. One such standard is 802.15.4 with UWB PHY, designed such that the signal transmission becomes interference-resistant and invisible to other standards. UWB is often used for location and positioning, but the standard design also allows for a contemporary data transfer. However, it was unclear with what performance this could be implemented. Therefore, the data communication performance has been investigated. The hypothesis that was followed during the work posits that ''by sending data between the positioning pulses, the use of the same unit for positioning and data communication is made possible, and that the system's performance is then affected by the MAC method.'' Three questions arose from this hypothesis. Which MAC method is suitable for both positioning and data transfer? Is it possible to use the system for both positioning and data transmission by sending data between the positioning pulses? What communication performance can be achieved when the system is used for both positioning and data transfer? In this work the hypothesis and the research questions are verified with the intended purpose that it could be of help in the field of robotics and also as an alternative to WiFi, due to UWBs robustness and invisibility characteristics. An iterative process has been utilized throughout this work to build a system which could solve the combined positioning and data communication. In the following performance tests the hypothesis is verified, provided that the parameters used are correct.

Le projet Filière Bilingue (FiBi), qui a débuté à Bienne (Suisse) en août 2010, est un programme réciproque-immersif destiné aux élèves à partir de lʼécole enfantine. Cet enseignement leur permet de se plonger dans un monde bilingue (suisse-allemand et français), puis plurilingue (allemand, suisse-allemand et français). Ayant donc à se mouvoir dans des situations exolingues, les enfants doivent sʼappuyer sur des stratégies communicatives pour pouvoir interagir avec leurs interlocuteurs tout au long de la journée. Dans le cadre dʼun enseignement réciproque-immersif, ces stratégies communicatives vont constituer un élément fixe lors des interactions entre enfants et enseignants d’une part, et entre les enfants eux-mêmes d’autre part. Notre travail de recherche a pour objectif de mettre en évidence le développement de ces outils communicatifs de huit sujets de sexe féminin pendant les quatre ans entre l'école enfantine et la 2ème année d'école primaire. Les interviews guidées, qui constituent notre corpus, ont toutes été filmées, puis transcrites avec EXMARaLDA. Les stratégies communicatives observées dans les interviews guidées ont ensuite été codées au moyen du logiciel MAXQDA. Elles peuvent être classifiées en dix catégories principales : les stratégies d'évitement, d'alternance linguistique, d'imitation, d'exploration, de coopération, d'appel, de compensation, de transfert, ainsi que non verbales et paraverbales et paraphrastiques. Nous avons pu mettre en évidence des changements dans l’utilisation des stratégies communicatives au fil du processus d'apprentissage de la langue cible dans la complexité, la variété, la combinaison (utilisation simultanée) de plusieurs stratégies communicatives, l'utilisation consciente, ainsi que dans la fonction. / The project Filière bilingue (FiBi), which has been running since 2010, is a two-way immersion program by way of Swiss German, German and French starting at kindergarten in the city of Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. In these bilingual classes are both German and French speaking pupils confronted with both languages from the beginning of their schooling. Therefore, communication strategies are developed, not only between pupils, but also between the pupils and the teacher. The following research study focuses on various communication strategies utilised by eight female pupils over a period of four years, namely from kindergarten to the end of Year 2 of primary school. Through the FiBi project, five semi-structured interviews were taken and then transcribed with the software EXMARaLDA. Subsequently, these transcriptions were coded according to the communication strategy used via the software MAXQDA. From the analysed data, ten types of observed communication strategies were categorised: avoidance/omission, code switching, imitation, guessing, appeal for assistance, retrieval, nonverbal and para-verbal communication, paraphrasing, approximation, and transferring. The research has shown that as the pupils’ competence in the target language increases, so does the complexity, frequency, function, intertwining, and the consciousness use of the communication strategies.

Background: Based upon two important phenomena within the manufacturing industry an upcoming agile era is being proposed within this thesis, those phenomena have shown a shift in the focus of attention for companies within the manufacturing industry in the past. The first phenomenon is being referred to as “physical product development saturation” and the second phenomenon is “lean saturation”, which are introduced in order to give importance to the aspiration for a new emphasis to remain competitiveness and create more value within the manufacturing industry. Where in the past the focus was on physical product development, this in order to enhance and or invent new products. This was followed by the need for a more efficient way of working by eliminating wastes (Lean), although both phenomena are about to reach their limits with respect to the extra value they (can) create. The forthcoming agile era allows for a new way of value creation, this by adaptivity. This introduces the potential of a new way to create value, this being done by the agile way of working. Purpose: The research in this thesis aimed to find an answer to the question of how companies within the manufacturing industry could adopt an agile way of working in order to allow for a new way of value creation. Method: This research was approached by conducting a qualitative study. Eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted, with companies from the manufacturing, IT and consultancy industries. The collected data was then sorted and analysed systematically to generate knowledge and draw upon conclusions to answer the proposed research questions. Conclusion: In order to successfully adopt the agile way of working, within an organization in the manufacturing industry, the challenge is to create awareness and an understanding of the value and benefits an agile way of working could create, especially for the middle-management. This could be done by explaining an agile way of working as an extension to Lean. Furthermore, the tools &amp; processes of the agile way of working could be experimented with in order to start “doing agile”, this finally resulting in creating an understanding of the potential power of an agile way of working. Whereas, an agile way of working is being characterized by an encouraging, transparent culture led by a servant leadership style by making use of empowerment to stimulate value creation. Ultimately, resulting in adopting an agile way of working and achieving “becoming agile”. / <p>Thesis written in the  context of the study program “Engineering Management”.</p>

Entende-se que a reprodução física e cultural dos povos indígenas em seus territórios, em grande parte está condicionada à demarcação de territórios indígenas, que considere a territorialidade e o modo de vida indígena. No entanto não foi o caso do território Xavante. A demarcação do território indígena Xavante em diversas terras indígenas ilhadas e, portanto, separadas entre si, causou inúmeros conflitos socioambientais alterando seu modo de vida. Reconstruir o território indígena que foi erroneamente e intencionalmente fragmentado e demarcado em ilhas é um grande desafio político para o povo Xavante. O território indígena compreende as relações de apropriação do espaço que possui diversas dimensões como política, cultural, simbólica, e cosmológica de um determinado povo indígena. Por outro lado, Terra indígena é uma categoria produzida no processo político-jurídico do Estado. Assim, a partir do contato entre os povos indígenas e a sociedade envolvente, há um conflito, pois existem distintas lógicas espaciais em confronto. O recorte geográfico desta pesquisa são as terras indígenas Xavante no leste matogrossense, com destaque para a bacia hidrográfica do rio das Mortes (MT). Este recorte deve-se a importância geográfica desta unidade territorial para se discutir o território indígena e principalmente pela importância cultural, simbólica e ambiental deste rio para o povo Xavante. Considera-se a importância do contínuo para analisar as terras Xavante, Sangradouro, São Marcos, Areões e Pimentel Barbosa, nessa bacia que tem como eixo de ligação o rio das Mortes, denominado Öwawe (rio Grande) pelos Xavante. A pesquisa trata, portanto, da fragmentação do território indígena, demarcado em ilhas e a (re) construção da territorialidade por meio do Marãnã Bödödi, o caminho das matas. O conceito de Marãnã Bödödi contempla várias dimensões entre elas a relação Xavante com os cerrados e sua espiritualidade, a sua territorialidade nos caminhos do Ró (cerrados, mundo). / This research deals with the Xavante territory and territoriality. Is well known that physical and cultural reproduction of the indigenous people is mostly conditioned to their territory delimitation, which contemplates the territoriality and the indigenous way of life. That was not the case when it comes to the Xavante\'s territory. The delimitation of the Xavante\'s indigenous territory in many patchy lands caused various social and environmental problems changing their way of life. To rebuild the indigenous territory that was wrongly and intentionally fragmented and divided in islands is a great political challenge for the Xavante people. The indigenous territory regards the relations of the space appropriation which has different aspects such as politics, symbology and cosmology of a certain indian tribe. On the other hand, the indigenous land is a category created in the legal-political process of the State. Therefore, from the contact between the indigenous people and the surrounding society, there\'s a conflict, once there are different spacial logical in the confrontation. The geographical approach of this research are the Xavante\'s indigenous land in the east of Mato Grosso state, specially the Mortes River basin (MT). This cut is due to the geographical importance of this territorial unity to discuss the indigenous territory and mainly for its cultural, symbolic and environmental importance of this river to the Xavante people. The importance of the continuum Xavante, Sangradouro, São Marcos, Areões and Pimentel Barbosa, in this basin which has as a connection axis the Mortes River, named Öwawe (the big river) by the Xavante. Therefore, the research deals with the fragmentation of the indigenous territory, set in islands and the territory (re)construction through the Marãnã Bödödi concept, which regards many dimensions, such as the relation between the Xavante and the brazilian savanna and their spirituality. Finally, is discussed the Xavante territoriality on the way of Ró (savannas, the world) in a historical and environmental approach.

As profundas transformações econômicas, sociais e tecnológicas ocorridas a partir da década de 1950 mudaram substancialmente a maneira de viver e de enxergar a vida, alteraram também as formas tradicionais de reprodução social. O eixo central do capitalismo, ocupado pela indústria, se desloca para o consumo. O protagonismo deste é fundamental para o entendimento das transformações impostas pelo capital à sociedade. A necessidade de controlar o que é consumido, para sustentar a reprodução ampliada do capital, se materializa nos câmbios da forma de viver, se manifestam no cotidiano. Entretanto, práticas sociais e representações tradicionais, emergem como resistência às incursões capitalistas no universo camponês. Para entendê-las, o modo de vida se apresenta como uma categoria substancial, devendo ser entendida, a partir de uma perspectiva ampla, em seu conjunto de relações que lhe confere sentido. Nesta pesquisa, temos por objetivo redefinir o conceito de modo de vida, aplicando-o aos camponeses, tendo como meta entendê-los para além da classe social, como um modo de vida, composto pela tensão constante entre os efeitos e consequências da expansão das relações capitalistas no campo e a resistência dos costumes e práticas que hora estão subordinados à lógica hegemônica e hora a subverte. Para isso, partimos de uma minuciosa pesquisa sobre as definições de modo de vida no pensamento social moderno. Em seguida, analisamos as principais referências analíticas sobre o campesinato no pensamento marxista, produzidas entre o final do século XIX até hoje, buscando identificar as contribuições e limites das mesmas para pensar os processos de permanência e (re)produção do campesinato atual / The profound economic, social and technological changes that occurred from the 1950s substantially changed the way of living and seeing life also changed the traditional forms of social reproduction. The central axis of capitalism, occupied by industry shifts to consumption. The role is fundamental in understanding the transformations imposed by capital to society. The need to control what is consumed to sustain the reproduction of capital, exchange materializes in the form of live, manifest in everyday life. However, social and traditional representations, practices emerge as resistance to capitalist inroads into peasant universe. To understand this phenomenon, way of life presents itself as a substantial category, and should be understood, from a broad perspective, in their set of relations that gives it meaning. In this research, we aim to redefine the concept of mode of life, applying to farmers, aiming to understand them beyond social class, as a way of life, made up of the constant tension between the effects and consequences of the expansion of relations capitalists and resistance in the field of customs and practices that time are subject to the hegemonic logic and time subverts. For this, we start from a thorough research on the mode settings of life in the modern social thought. Then we analyze the main analytical results for the peasantry in Marxist thought, produced between the late nineteenth century until today, seeking to identify the contributions and limits of the same thinking to the process of permanent and (re)production of the current peasantry