Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-184). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

<p> Since the majority of Arabic language institutes teach Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), studies of the speech act performance of learners of Arabic as a second/foreign language compare learners&rsquo; productions made in MSA with the productions of native Arabic speakers. However, MSA is not spoken natively, and Arabic speech acts are performed orally. Therefore, individuals in the sample group either use their own dialect or they consciously code-switch to MSA, which leads to artificial production, especially when those productions are elicited via a written DCT. The present study, however, used the closed role-play data collection method so as to investigate the development of refusals to invitations made by L2 learners of Emirati Arabic at two levels of ability, low-intermediate and advanced, and to compare their production with the production of native Emirati Arabic speakers. The goal here is to determine whether there is a positive correlation between the learners&rsquo; language proficiency and their pragmatic development. Further, the study seeks to determine whether length of residence in the target community plays a significant role in acquiring Emirati Arabic refusals to invitations. The goal of the study&rsquo;s second objective is to determine whether there is a positive correlation between length of residence in the target community and pragmatic development. Regarding both objectives, the current study is interested in revealing whether or not the status of interlocutors (higher, equal, or lower) modifies the degree of directness, semantic formulas, and content of NSs and NNS&rsquo;s refusals to invitations in the same way. The study used the same classification scheme of refusal strategies that was proposed by Beebe et al. (1990) but with different situations and scenarios. Findings showed differences between the NS and NNSs of Emirati Arabic in the frequency, content, and order of the semantic formulas used as well as the effect of interlocutors&rsquo; social statuses on these variables. Further, findings revealed that learners of Emirati Arabic were remarkably more direct than the Emirati Arabic NSs, while the former learners who remained longer in the target community produced refusal patterns similar to those the Emirati Arabic NSs produced.</p><p>

Previous studies on gambling behavior have identified the phenomenon known as a `near miss.' This phenomenon has been shown to increase gambling behavior while engage in various gambling scenarios like blackjack and slot machine play. The current study sought to show a correlation between social contingencies and verbalized near miss ratings between two players. One participant in the study served as a confederate and was aware of all experimental variables. Three other participants engaged in the study. Following each hand of play both the confederate and the participant verbalized a rating of how closely they felt they were to winning from 1 to 9. Results from the study were erratic and inconclusive. Despite getting unanticipated results, merit to the study still exists in paving the way to study the social effects of verbalizing near miss ratings.

Introduction: Process analytical technologies are systems for the analysis and control of manufacturing processes to assure acceptable end-product quality. This is achieved by timely measurements of critical parameters and performance attributes of raw material and in-process material and processes. The introduction of process analytical technology using near infrared analysis was investigated in three areas, namely incoming raw material analysis, blend uniformity analysis and moisture determination in the fluid bed dryer. Methodology: Incoming raw material identification - The FOSS XDS rapid content analyzer was used for the development of a NIR method for the identification and material qualification of starch maize and lactose monohydrate. Blend uniformity analysis – The SP15 Laboratory Blender fitted with near infrared probe was utilized for the study. Two types of blend experiments were designed to monitor the distribution of magnesium stearate (lubricant) in the blend, namely, a powder blend utilizing lactose monohydrate and a granule blend utilizing Ridaq® granule. Software methods were developed to monitor the standard deviation of the absorbance at the wavelengths that were specific for lactose monohydrate, Ridaq® granule and magnesium stearate. To confirm the prediction of end-point using near infrared, results were verified using an atomic absorption method for magnesium stearate. The blends were sampled at the selected time intervals corresponding to three states of the blend, namely, before end-point, at end-point and after end-point using a sampling plan. An additional six blends were conducted for the granule blend and sampled when the standard deviation had reached a value below 3 x 10-6 at the magnesium stearate wavelength at four consecutive data points (standard deviation value extrapolated from blends carried out to predetermined time intervals). Moisture determination in the fluid bed dryer – Moisture values for two products (Product A and Product B) were retrospectively collected from past production batches. A process capability study was conducted on the moisture values to determine if the current process was in a state of control. Results and Discussion: Incoming raw material identification – The algorithms used for the spectral library were able to distinguish between the raw materials selected. The spectral library positively identified the starch maize and lactose monohydrate samples that were not present in the library. The negative challenge with pregelatinised starch and tablettose demonstrated that the spectral library was able to differentiate between closely related compounds. Blend uniformity analysis – Blends sampled at the predetermined time intervals demonstrated a homogeneous state when the standard deviation of the absorbance was low and a non-homogeneous state when the standard deviation of the absorbance was high, thus near infrared prediction on the state of the blend was confirmed by the standard analytical methods. The series of Ridaq® granule and magnesium stearate blends sampled when the standard deviation was below 3 x 10-6 were homogeneous with the exception of one blend that was marginally out of specification. Blend durations were significantly lower than the standard blend durations used in the facility and ranged from 112 to 198 seconds. Moisture determination in the fluid bed dryer – From the process capability study of the two products it was noted that Product A is stable but can still be optimized while Product B is at a desirable state. The statistical evaluation of the moisture values for Product A and Product B demonstrated that the use of the product temperature to monitor the moisture gave consistent results. The current process is stable and capable of producing repeatable results although near infrared provides a means for continuously monitoring the product moisture and allows one to take action to prevent over-drying or under-drying. Conclusion: From the investigations conducted, it can be seen that there is definitely a niche for process analytical technology at this pharmaceutical company. The implementation is a gradual process of change, which may take time, probably several years (Heinze & Hansen 2005).

Over the last several years questions about the strength of structural lumber have been raised. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between physically measured wood properties using Near Infrared spectroscopy. Physical properties were determined from (2 x 4 x 2 in.) cut samples. Destructive mechanical testing was performed on 744; 8 feet long, No.2 grade 2x4’s. Diffuse reflectance NIR spectra was collected from the cross-sectional face of each block using FOSS NIR Systems Inc. Model 5000 scanning spectrometer. Calibrations were then created between measured properties and NIR estimates. Density, specific gravity, latewood percentage, MOE and MOR had coefficient of determinations of 0.78, 0.56, 0.02, 0.56, and 0.48 respectively. The low correlation is likely caused by the grade of lumber. Because No.2 lumber has considerable knots, they were the determining factor in strength and stiffness; these results would likely not be similar in a higher grade lumber.

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Yes

It has been shown that the energy exchange between two objects can be greatly enhanced when the separation between the objects is on the order of the wavelength of thermal emission. The earliest theoretical and computational work focused on simple planar and spherical geometries, or they resorted to approximations that separated the object to outside of the thermal wavelength \(\lambda_T = hc/(k_BT)\). Since those original works, the study of near-field energy exchange has expanded to object shapes that can be described by a separable coordinate system using a spectral expansion of the dyadic Green function of the system. The boundary element method has also been used to study arbitrary shapes in thermal equilibrium. Application of these new expansion methods to general shapes out of thermal equilibrium will facilitate in the optimization of nanoscale structures. A three step process is used to investigate the effects of object shape on the total and directionality of the energy exchange between objects. First, a general expression for the energy flux between the objects will be formulated. Second, a computational method to evaluate the expression will be implemented. Finally, the effects of varying the surface geometry will be explored. The computational results demonstrate that the total energy exchange between two bodies is influenced by the surface shape of the objects even when the surface areas are held constant. While the primary increase over the classical blackbody energy exchange \(\sigma T^4 A\) is primarily governed by separation of the surfaces, we show that the view factors from classical far-field radiative transfer can be used to predict the change in the total energy exchange from a reference configuration at the same separation when the surface area of the two objects is comparable. Additionally, we demonstrate that the spatial distribution of the energy exchange can be localized into small spatial region with a peak value increased over \SI{30}{\percent} by using two objects with dramatically different projected areas.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 18-21, 2004 / Town & Country Resort, San Diego, California / The decorrelating detector can afford good data estimates because it does not need to know many parameters of the received signal. However, it shows great performance deprivation when the background noise is high. On the other hand, partial parallel interference canceller(PPIC) has the potential to combat the near-far problem and have much lower computation complexity. But its performance depends on the initial data estimate. An improved PPIC scheme is proposed in this paper to combat the near-far problem. It utilizes the advantages of the two detectors by combining them. The focus of this paper is on the BER performance and the near-far resistance capability of the proposed scheme. Computer simulations demonstrate that the proposed detector has good BER performance and near-far resistance capability.

The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) is a global network of coherent high frequency (HF) radars located in the polar, high- and mid-latitudes of both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. This thesis deals with close-range SuperDARN echoes (oblique HF backscatter from the lower part of the ionosphere). The aim of this thesis is to shed light on the origin of these echoes. Previous studies have been content to propose explanations for the origin of these echoes without thorough checking of the proposed mechanisms against constraints available from various radars and other important information. For the purpose of clarifying the situation, a chain of SuperDARN radars in the Northern and Southern hemispheres and several years of daily statistics have been used. This has allowed for several findings. Notably, the close-range SuperDARN echoes show diurnal and seasonal variations and their properties with respect to signal-to-noise-ratio, Doppler velocity and Doppler width vary. Three distinct populations of close-range HF backscatter have been established: (1) a morning population (0400-0700 LT), (2) a midday summer population (0800-1300 LT) and (3) a pre-midnight (2100-2300 LT) population. The morning population is associated with meteor trails which are observed to be peaking near local dawn as expected, and already suggested by previous research. High latitude SuperDARN radars also had echoes (pre-midnight population) with higher Doppler velocities than the others yet the Doppler velocities are smaller than that expected from auroral E region echoes. Given the time and location of this population of echoes, it has been concluded that they are a special class of high latitude E region echoes at high aspect angle which have been termed ``high aspect irregularity region" echoes in the past. Lastly, the midday summer population was found to be too high for polar mesosphere summer echoes and too early for plasma instabilities. It is proposed that these SuperDARN echoes are produced either from contribution from meteors trails or by neutral turbulence which is suspected (from other work) to be present near 100 km. The properties of the midday summer population resembles those of meteor trails as they have the same power, and the same altitude and have high summer occurrence as expected for meteors. Their late morning occurrence could be due to particular look direction of individual radars which may change the occurrence statistics in the presence of meteor showers. With respect to neutral turbulence, the drift of the midday summer population is similar to that of neutral wind.