The value of architecture lies in our sensory perception, our experience of the space. If the space creates an awareness of the present through the sensory exchange between our body, mind, and the architecture, then it is committed to memory as a place. The perception of a space cannot be controlled by the architect, it is subjective. The architect can control the idea or philosophy of the design as well as the formal aspects such as structure, materiality, spatial organization and proportion. Through these formal aspects the architect strives to make the intention physical. Successful architecture should facilitate this sensory exchange or communication on many scales. It should speak directly to us through it's immediate physical manifestation and spatial experience as well as through it's ability to make a grander connection to it's situation. As stated in Questions of Perception- Phenomenology of Architecture, "Architecture, more fully than other art forms, engages the immediacy of our sensory perceptions. The passage of time; light, shadow, and transparency; color phenomena, texture, material, and detail all participate in the complete experience of architecture."The essence of a library is a place for introspection and study or even meditation. Therefore silence is a significant aspect of this project in regard to producing a structure that is quiet and subtle in its forms and spaces. / Master of Architecture

Metal building companies commonly use rigid frames to meet the requirement of large, open spaces which are unobstructed by interior columns. These rigid frames are optimally designed and constructed using tapered columns and rafters, connected at the knees and ridge by moment end-plate connections. The purpose of this research was to investigate the accuracy of standard analysis methods when applied to metal building rigid frames. To achieve this goal, the results of two full-scale metal building rigid frame tests were compared to predicted values obtained from typical analysis procedures. Upon completion of the tests, measured dimensions and material properties were used to perform linearly elastic frame analyses and 1993 AISC LRFD Specification strength checks. It was concluded that standard analysis procedures are very accurate when applied to rigid frames such as the ones in this study. The provisions concerning lateral-torsional buckling of singly-tapered segments were found to inappropriately contain AISC ASD factors of safety. New provisions were developed and recommended to correct this problem. The suggested provisions were found to be slightly more conservative than the existing provisions for the frames in this study. / Master of Science

Moisture migration is responsible for much damage in modern buildings. Air infiltrations were almost eliminated because of the use of various qualities of materials and insulation. Water is mainly transferred through building materials by diffusion, under three different phases (vapor, liquid and bound). Most of the time, indoor and outdoor conditions are different and strong gradients of humidity and temperature exist within the building walls. Many models describing moisture diffusion through capillary-porous materials exist, but none of them is universally accepted. The proposed work includes a presentation of these theoretical models which will be implemented and evaluated by a series of experiments. Data is obtained for Oriented Strand Board (OSB). The existing apparatus, developed by Crimm (1992) and Mosier (1994) consists of a wood-based sample, sealed between two environmental chambers. Each chamber has its own humidity and temperature control system. This apparatus is an alternative to the standard “cup” method to determine moisture permeability of wood samples. The relative humidity is not controlled by salt solutions. Forced air circulation at the surface of the specimen results in uniform conditions in the chamber and faster results. The experimental apparatus is upgraded for better control. The relative humidity is controlled in a range of 5- 75 percent, within 0.2 percent of the setpoint, and the temperature can be maintained within 0.05°C, in a range of 15-50°C. The apparatus operation is validated by comparing a series of isothermal data with published results. Good agreement is found between these data and those reported by two different authors. Several nonisothermal experiments are conducted to implement and evaluate the moisture diffusion theory. / Master of Science

A study was conducted in order to evaluate cattle behavior, stream bank erosion and water quality due to the installation of off-stream water sources for grazing cattle as an alternative to stream bank fencing. The study was located on two commercial cow-calf operations in southwest Virginia which utilized rotational grazing. The presence of an off-stream water source for grazing cattle greatly reduced the negative impact which grazing cattle have upon stream bank erosion and water quality. Field observations of cattle behavior indicated that cattle preferred to drink from an off-stream water source over that of an adjacent stream 92% of the time. The installation of an off-stream water source reduced the total time which cattle spend within the stream area by 58% and the amount of stream bank erosion by 76%. Due to the installation of off-stream water sources, concentrations of total suspended solids, total nitrogen, ammonium, sediment-bound nitrogen, total phosphorus and sediment-bound phosphorus, were reduced by 90%, 54%, 70%, 68%, 81% and 75%, respectively. Concentrations of fecal coliform and fecal streptococci decreased by 51% and 77% when an off-stream water source was available for grazing cattle. Lastly, an economic analysis of the data indicated that the cost of developing off-stream water sources was considerably less than that of implementing six fenced stream bank buffer zone scenarios on the two farms. / Master of Science

Bobwhite quail embryos were exposed to 5 or 10 min/hr of either bobwhite chick contentment calls or bobwhite chick distress calls. Results revealed that embryos exposed to 5 or 10 min/hr of distress calls continued to respond to maternal auditory cues into later stages of postnatal development in comparison to controls (Experiments 1A & 2A) and failed to demonstrate species-typical responsiveness to maternal visual cues (Experiments 1B & 2B). In contrast, embryos exposed to 5 min/hr of contentment calls continued to respond to maternal auditory cues into later stages of development (Experiment 2A) and exhibited species-typical patterns of visual responsiveness (Experiment 2B). Embryos exposed to 10 min/hr of contentment calls responded to maternal auditory cues into later stages of postnatal development (Experiment 1A), but showed an accelerated responsiveness to maternal visual cues (Experiment 1B). Behavioral activity measures revealed that augmented auditory stimulation (whether contentment or distress vocalizations) appeared to foster an increase in physical responsiveness when compared to controls (Experiment 3). Taken together, these results suggest that the type and amount of sensory stimulation interact during the prenatal period to influence the course of perceptual development. / Ph. D.

This research presents theoretically an automated vehicle merging control which is an important subsystem of AHS. The goal of the system is to automatically control the vehicle merging from ramp to the AHS lane in an efficient, smooth and safe manner. The entire merging process is divided the a speed adjustment stage and a lane merging stage. Three important parameters; acceptability, availability and pursuability are analyzed to characterize the AHS lane gap features. Three control guidance laws (linear, optimal and parabolic speed profile) are developed to describe the desired behaviors of the merging vehicle based on the merging quality and safety consideration. The desired states of the merging vehicle are generated through the outer loop by specified control guidance law. The tracking errors compared with desired states are eliminated by the proper design of controllers in the inner loop. Both longitudinal and lateral controller are designed using the sliding mode control theory which can handle the model nonlinearities and uncertainties of the vehicle dynamics. Two new sliding mode methods are proposed in the design of the lateral controller. The proposed system is evaluated and validated through computer simulations. The simulation results show that system performance is satisfactory under the various merging conditions for a smooth, efficient and safe merging. The system also supplies a basis for the further research on the multiple merging control system and the lane changing control system. / Ph. D.

This study examines the effect of politicization caused by executive aggrandizement on the regime, policy subsystem, and agency levels. The study finds that most public administration literature on executive supremacy concentrates on the federal government, with little attention paid to state government and the unique constitutional, political cultural, and institutional issues in the states. This study examines the tools for and consequences of executive supremacy at the state level by reviewing the case of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The study finding that efforts to enhance executive control over administration through reorganization, civil service reform, and increased use of political appointees have politicized administration in the state. At the regime level, executive aggrandizement reduces the legislature’s constitutional role in administration. This complicates the application of public administration theories that call upon career administrators to act as constitutional officers, responsive to both the legislature and the executive as well as their own constitutional duties. Executive aggrandizement also invites legislative retaliation, potentially leaving career administrators caught between the chief executive and the legislature. At the policy subsystem level, politicization upsets the equilibrium of policy subsystems by introducing partisan actors and the winner-take-all mentality of political campaigns into the traditionally low-level conflict of policy subsystems. At the agency level, politicization harms institutional capacity and negatively impacts agency morale and employee trust in agency management. The study concludes by proposing public administration appeal to the enlightened self-interest of chief executives by demonstrating that politicization does not make chief executives more effective, in most instances. The tool of cost-benefit analysis is borrowed from policy analysis to offer a method for chief executives to determine when politicization is appropriate. / Ph. D.

Most police administrators assume that the higher level of education a police officer attains, the more effective the officer will become in fulfilling the police role. Based on this assumption, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of level of education on job performance and beliefs toward professionalism within the Virginia State Police. This study analyzed a sample group (n = 150) chosen from the population of the Virginia State Police. The sample was divided into three distinct groups--troopers with a high school/GED, troopers with an associate's degree, and troopers with a bachelor's degree to include graduate work. Data was collected on the study participants by means of a survey instrument and from personnel files located at Virginia State Police Headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. The independent variables for this study were: education level, major in college, and specialized training schools attended by troopers. These variables were examined to determine their influence on job performance and beliefs toward professionalism. The dependent variables were associated with the trooper's orientation toward law enforcement activities by education level. The dependent variables were public service activity, order maintenance activity, crime fighting activity, public and community relations, police ethical conduct, personnel issues, and job performance ratings. College major and specialized training schools attended were primarily examined to determine if any significant differences were evident in relation to job performance evaluation ratings. The results of this study determined that there were significant differences found in the areas of personnel issues, length of service, age, and number of awards and citations. Troopers who had a high school/GED scored significantly different in the areas of length of employment, age, and awards and citations. Measurements for troopers who had college degrees were found to be significantly different in personnel issues, especially in areas involving views on education, promotion, evaluation, and participation by community leaders in organizational development. In relation to beliefs toward professionalism, job performance, college major, or specialized training schools attended, there were no significant differences found among the three levels of education. / Ph. D.

The new modeling method presented here is classified as a substructure synthesis (SS) technique. The distinction between the new SS method and the component mode synthesis formulation is that no transformation between local coordinates and generalized coordinates occurs in the new SS method. The advantage of this is a retention of physical insight into the model and the ability to form equations of motions directly with generalized coordinates. The new formulation differs from other substructure synthesis formulation because it satisfies geometric, natural, displacement and force constraints between substructures into one mathematical process, instead of using both kinematic chains and boundary condition approximation methods. This has the advantage of reducing the complexity of the integrals that are required in the computation. The new formulation also results in global eigenfunction approximations and global generalized coordinates, which eventually satisfies the inclusion principle which means eigenvalue estimates converge from above their actual values. The analysis method also facilitates the examination of boundary conditions in a unique manner. The method is unique because constraints are explicitly examined and selectively satisfied. This allows the identification of extraneous constraints and provides guidance in the selection of admissible functions. The new SS formulation may be divided into two steps. The first step is to satisfy geometric boundary conditions of substructures with appropriate admissible functions. The second step is the modification of these admissible functions to minimally satisfy geometric constraints imposed by the interaction of substructures. Natural constraints can also be satisfied to improve convergence to the exact eigenvalues. The MAF-SS formulation results in explicit knowledge of the constraints coupling substructures. Changing these constraints with active feedback results in a modified structure. The effect of active feedback of terms proportional to the coupling constraints is to lower the stiffness of the structure. This increases the isolation between substructures. The ability to improve isolation using this unique type of feedback is demonstrated. The concept of structural modification through substructure constraint alteration 1s applied to systems using a multivariable feedback method. This is accomplished by combing the MAF-SS method with a standard eigenstructure assignment technique. This method uses the MAF-SS formulation to define a system with substructure constraint eigenstructure properties, the active feedback gain that realizes these systems is calculated with an eigenstructure assignment method. The MAF-SS has application to active control formulation, the result of this control can be an improvement in substructure isolation. / Ph. D.

The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) is changing from traditional training methods to satellite delivery systems. According to the Stages of Concern about the Innovation (SoC), one dimension of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM), individuals experience concerns during the process of adopting an innovation. Research supports that identification of concerns and appropriate interventions facilitate innovation adoption. However, little research has been published with respect to use of SoC other than in education since the conceptualization of CBAM in 1973. The purposes of this study were : 1) identify the Stages of Concern of the civilian managers employed in the five DFAS Centers toward satellite education and training with the use of the SoC Questionnaire (SoCQ) and the Open-Ended Statement of Concern About an Innovation; 2) explore the utility of the SoC to this population; and 3) draw implications from the expressed concerns of the managers to determine appropriate interventions to assist the managers through the change process. The purposes were accomplished through a census survey with a response rate of 55% (N=370). A modified version of the original SoCQ and the Stages of Concern about the Innovation Open-Ended Statement identified both the managers' SoC and specific concerns. Eighty-four percent (84%) of the respondents reported no experience with satellite education. SoC profiles typified a positive "nonuser" with highest Stages in 0 (Awareness), 1 (Informational), and 2 (Personal). A peaked Stage 5 in each SoC profile suggested "Collaboration" concerns, as would be anticipated from a population of managers. Chi-square showed no association between highest SoC and Center. Pearson r correlations showed no relationship between highest SoC and years of employment in the federal government, the financial management career field, or the number of employees within the managers' scope of responsibilities. Correlational analysis showed a weak relationship, r = .24, between highest SoC and number of courses completed by satellite. SoC group profiles by number of courses completed showed similar "nonuser" patterns. Written comments identified competing concerns between training programs and satellite medium. SoC constructs appeared to be operating throughout the findings which supported previous SoC research. / Ph. D.