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This work attempts to relate global teleconnections, through physical phenomena such as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Artic Oscillation (AO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and the Pacific North American (PNA) pattern to synoptic-scale weather patterns and precipitation in the Roanoke, Virginia region. The first chapter describes the behavior of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) by implementing non-homogeneous and homogeneous Markov Chain models on a monthly time series of the Troup Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), a sea level pressure based index. Meanwhile, in the second chapter the author has related or an attempt has been made to relate global teleconnections (through ENSO and AO) to a synoptic scale, station-centered set of weather types in order to assess trends in precipitation. The final portion of this work describes spatial variability of seasonal precipitation in southwestern Virginia in a context that incorporates global teleconnections (through AO, PNA, NAO, and ENSO) and frontogenesis. It was found that the Markov property can be used to describe and predict the monthly evolution of ENSO. Also evident is an increased probability of a wetter spring in the Roanoke region when El Nino combines with the negative phase of the AO during the previous winter. Meanwhile, Roanoke winters subsequent to a fall season described by this same El Nino-AO condition are predicted to receive more precipitation than average. This work additionally showed possible trends between frontal-precipitation events in the Roanoke region and global teleconnections. / Master of Science

Yes / Objectives: Listening-related fatigue can be a significant problem for adults who struggle to hear and understand, particularly adults with hearing loss. However, valid, sensitive, and clinically useful measures for listening-related fatigue do not currently exist. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a brief clinical tool for measuring listening-related fatigue in adults. Design: The clinical scale was derived from the 40-item version of the Vanderbilt Fatigue Scale for Adults (VFS-A-40), an existing, reliable, and valid research tool for measuring listening9 related fatigue. The study consisted of two phases. Phase 1 (N = 580) and Phase 2 (N = 607) participants consisted of convenience samples of adults recruited via online advertisements, clinical records review, and a pool of prior research participants. In Phase 1, results from item response theory (IRT) analyses of VFS-A-40 items were used to identify high quality items for the brief (10-item) clinical scale: the VFS-A-10. In Phase 2, the characteristics and quality of the VFS-A-10 were evaluated in a separate sample of respondents. Dimensionality was evaluated using exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and item quality and characteristics were evaluated using IRT. VFS-A-10 reliability and validity were assessed multiple ways. IRT reliability analysis was used to examine VFS-A-10 measurement fidelity. In addition, test-retest reliability was assessed in a subset of Phase 2 participants (n = 145) who completed the VFS-A-10 a second time approximately one month after their initial measure (range 5-90 days). IRT differential item functioning (DIF) was used to assess item bias across different age, gender, and hearing loss subgroups. Convergent construct validity was evaluated by comparing VFS-A-10 responses to two other generic fatigue scales and a measure of hearing disability. Known-groups validity was assessed by comparing VFS-A-10 scores between adults with and without self reported hearing loss Results: EFA suggested a unidimensional structure for the VFS-A-10. IRT analyses confirmed all test items were high quality. IRT reliability analysis revealed good measurement fidelity over a wide range of fatigue severities. Test-retest reliability was excellent (rs = .88, collapsed across participants). IRT DIF analyses confirmed the VFS-A-10 provided a valid measure of listening29 related fatigue regardless of respondent age, gender, or hearing status. An examination of associations between VFS-A-10 scores and generic fatigue/vigor measures revealed only weak31 to-moderate correlations (Spearman’s correlation coefficient rs = -.36 to .57). Stronger associations were seen between VFS-A-10 scores and a measure of perceived hearing difficulties (rs = .79 to .81) providing evidence of convergent construct validity. In addition, the VFS-A-10 was more sensitive to fatigue associated with self-reported hearing difficulties than generic measures. It was also more sensitive than generic measures to variations in fatigue as a function of degree of hearing impairment. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the VFS-A-10 is a reliable, valid, and sensitive tool for measuring listening-related fatigue in adults. Its brevity, high sensitivity, and good reliability make it appropriate for clinical use. The scale will be useful for identifying those most affected by listening-related fatigue and for assessing benefits of interventions designed to reduce its negative effects. / Starkey Inc, NIH National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) Grant #R21DC012865, NICHD Grant P30HD15052 to the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research grant (UL1 TR000445 from NCATS/NIH)

No description available.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / abstract / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

2 pp. / Other forest health publications / Pinyon needle scale (Matsucoccus acalyptus) are very small (0.5 mm) sucking insects that feed on pinyon, singleleaf pinyon, and foxtail pines in the southwestern United States. These insects can be effectively controlled using an integrated approach which includes sanitation, supplemental irrigation, and pesticides.

System availability is the probability of the system being operable at instant t. Markov chains are a model used for system availability analysis. The exact analytical solution in terms of component failure rates and repair rates for steady-state system availability is complex to find solving the large numbers of simultaneous linear equations that result from the model. Although exact analytical solutions have been developed for series and parallel systems and for some other small size systems, they have not been developed for large scale general systems with n distinct components. Some methods for approximate analytical solutions have been suggested, but limitations on network types, over simplified states merge conditions and lack of predictions of approximation errors make these methods difficult to use. Markov state transition graphs can be classified as symmetric or asymmetric. A symmetric Markov graph has two-way transitions between each pair of communicating nodes. An asymmetric Markov graph has some pair(s) of communicating nodes with only one-way transitions. In this research, failure rates and repair rates are assumed to be component dependent only. Exact analytical solutions are developed for systems with symmetric Markov graphs. Pure series systems, pure parallel systems and general k out of n systems are examples of systems with symmetric Markov graphs. Instead of solving a large number of linear equations from the Markov model to find the steady-state system availability, it is shown that only algebraic operations on component failure rates and repair rates are necessary. In fact, for the above class of systems, the exact analytical solutions are relatively easy to obtain. Approximate analytical solutions for systems with asymmetric Markov graphs are also developed based on the exact solutions for the corresponding symmetric Markov graphs. The approximate solutions are shown to be close to the exact solutions for large scale and complex systems. Also, they are shown to be lower bounds for the exact solutions. Design principles to improve systems availability are derived from the analytical solutions for systems availability. Important components can be found easily with the iteration procedure and computer programs provided in this research.

Revised; Originally Published: 2003 / 2 pp.