The field of design is one that holds the power to empower, bridge gaps, inform, evolve and revolutionize human thoughts. To gain a higher understanding of the correlation of anthropometrics and ergonomics in an embodied space relative to the discipline of dance connecting one’s mind and body. The need for a space that instills a sense of freedom for artists to experience and execute their art and to reside alongside their mentors and traveling artists. The need for a space that can bring the diverse cultures that live in and around Richmond together through an expressive form of art. Providing an educational opportunity for the residents of the space as well as public on the importance of culture preservation and freedom of expression (Iwano, 2003). Research and precedent studies imply that: Design and dance are complementary forms of visual communication that have similar principles of rhythm, balance and contrast. Performative design can create higher levels of interaction between artists, students and public. The expressions and movements used in dance can be used to inform and evolve the architectural experience in the space. This research will support the design of an artists- in- residence space for the dance community in Richmond that will contain: A residential space where the artists can reside amongst faculty, students and travelling artists. Practice rooms where they are at liberty to express, practice, educate and engage amongst other dancers. A performance space where they can execute and showcase their expertise and engage with the public. A public community hall for where there is an opportunity for the diverse cultures and other artist communities to connect through dance. A library and a gallery space that gets integarted into the library that becomes part of the educational opportunity wherein they get a glimpse of the evolution of the various disciplines that dance is a combination of.

DHL, the international air express service provider, set up its first branch in Taiwan in 1973. UPS and FedEx, followed in the forerunner¡¦s footsteps, and joined the market as well. Together with the Chunghwa Post Corporation, these four major international express service providers have made the international express marketplace in Taiwan a very competitive environment. Until now, the competition is pretty much settled with DHL having a majority of the market share in both B2B and B2C markets. The main reason why DHL dominants the industry is due to its cooperative relationship with 7-ELEVEN, the largest convenient chain store in Taiwan. DHL customers can drop-off their shipment or packages at any 7-Eleven in Taiwan. Nevertheless, there are still underlining problems and concerns in regard to the business relationship with 7-Eleven which the company needs to pay attention to. First of all, are the 7-Eleven service personnel receiving professional training needed for DHL distribution channels? Second, is the image of 7-ELEVEN stores consistent with that of DHL? Third, is there strong connections and bonding between DHL express operations and 7-Eleven? These are some questions that are often omitted in the B2C market for the international express enterprises; and yet, these questions are the sources of the company¡¦s internal competitive advantages. This study aims to provide an in-depth interview with international express corporations in the B2C market, channel providers that cooperates with the international express corporations, and the international express customers in Kaohsiung. In terms of international express corporations, the question focuses mostly on the company¡¦s marketing strategies including marketing target, product, price, promotion and channels. In terms of channel providers, the center of attention focuses on marketing channels, cooperation strategies, receiving status, and store locations. In terms of customer impressions, the interview focuses mainly on the issues of user experiences, delivery process, package tracking systems, attitudes of service personnel, prices, service satisfactions and whether recommendations are made to other people. The research findings suggested that DHL is still the leader of the B2C marketplace in Taiwan. Those companies that are closer to their customers win the market share. As for 7-Eleven, by providing product and service diversity, the company actually becomes a concern for DHL for being ¡§unprofessional¡¨. It is found that DHL distribution channels often lose packages during the delivery process. FedEx decided on its distribution channel locations based on the channels¡¦ profit incomes. In terms of employee training for distribution channels, FedEx provides a more complete program than DHL. If a comparison is made with these express companies¡¦ advantages, the Chunghwa Post Corporation provides cheap services; DHL has the most distribution channels in Taiwan; FedEx provides the fastest international express services; and UPS has the most complete distribution channels around the world. The key factor to international express success is the degree of professionalism. The distribution channel personnel must be able to provide clear and precise answers and services in order to gain customer satisfaction or even recommendations to potential new customers. In conclusion, this paper will provide some suggestions and future study suggestions for both the researchers and international express companies. And hopefully provide some valuable information and suggestions to international express companies for their future competitive developments.

Reconfigurable devices are the mainstream in today’s system on chip solutions. Reconfigurable devices have the advantages of reduced cost over their equivalent custom design, quick time to market and the ability to reconfigure the design at will and ease. One such reconfigurable device is an FPGA. In this industrial thesis, the design and implementation of a control process interface using ECP2M FPGA and PCIe communication is accomplished. This control process interface is designed and implemented for a 3-D plotter system called LSC11. In this thesis, the FPGA unit implemented drives the plotter device based on specific timing requirements charted by the customer. The FPGA unit is interfaced to a Host CPU in this thesis (through PCIe communication) for controlling the LSC11 system using a custom software. All the peripherals required for the LSC11 system such as the ADC, DAC, Quadrature decoder and the PWM unit are also implemented as part of this thesis. This thesis also implements an efficient methodology to send all the inputs of the LSC11 system to the Host CPU without the necessity for issuing any cyclic read commands on the Host CPU. The RTL design is synthesised in FPGA and the system is verified for correctness and accuracy. The LSC11 system design consumed 79% of the total FPGA resources and the maximum clock frequency achieved was 130 Mhz. This thesis has been carried out at Abaxor Engineering GmbH, Germany. It is demonstrated in this thesis how FPGA aids in quick designing and implementation of system on chip solutions with PCIe communication.

Work zones are visually and physically complex environments, requiring that drivers maintain control of their vehicle and comprehend atypical and often discontinuous traffic control devices to safely navigate appropriate paths. Freeway diverges represent particularly difficult work zones areas. This thesis investigates current methods of delineating diverges in freeway work zones to determine important characteristics of these methods for future research. A virtual environment was constructed with two ramp geometries: a freeway continuing straight and one curving left. Still images of work zones on these geometries were created using drums spaced 10 ft apart, drums spaced 40 ft apart, drums spaced 40 ± 2 ft apart, and portable concrete barriers. These alternatives were used to construct temporary ramps that were either open or closed. 39 participants were asked to identify whether the ramp was open or closed and their responses were recorded to evaluate the performance of each alternative. Results indicate the importance of the Gestalt principles of closure, proximity, and continuity in perception of temporary exit ramps in work zones. These results will be used to guide future research into methods of delineating diverges in freeway work zones.

Includes vita. / Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 139 pages. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: Non-recurring congestion caused by incidents is a major source of traffic delay in freeway systems. With the objective of reducing these traffic delays, traffic operation managers are focusing on detecting incident conditions and dispatching emergency management teams to the scene quickly. During the past few decades, a few number of conventional algorithms and artificial neural network models were proposed to automate the process of detecting incident conditions on freeways. These algorithms and models, known as automatic incident detection methods (AIDM), have experienced a varying degree of detection capability. Of these AIDMs, artificial neural network-based approaches have illustrated better detection performance than the conventional approaches such as filtering techniques, decision tree method, and catastrophe theory. So far, a few neural network model structures have been tested to detect freeway incidents. / ABSTRACT: Since the freeway incidents directly affect the freeway traffic flow, majority of these models have used only traffic flow variables as model inputs. However, changes in traffic flow may also be stimulated by the other features (e.g., freeway geometry) to a greater extent. Many AIDMs have also used a conventional detection rate as a performance measure to assess the detection capability. Yet the principle function of incident detection model, which is to identify whether an incident condition exists for a given traffic pattern, is not measured in its entirety by this conventional measure. In this study, new input feature sets, including freeway geometry information, were proposed for freeway incident detection. Sixteen different artificial neural network (ANN) models based on feed forward and recurrent architectures with a variety of input feature sets were developed. ANN models with single and double hidden layers were investigated for incident detection performance. / ABSTRACT: A modified form of a conventional detection rate was introduced to capture full capability of AIDMs in detecting incident patterns in the freeway traffic flow. Results of this study suggest that double hidden layer networks are better than single hidden layer networks. The study has demonstrated the potential of ANNs to improve the reliability using double layer networks when freeway geometric information is included in the model. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 300-324).

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 95 p. : ill., maps (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-95).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 189-197). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

The discourse constructing a queer representative with LGBT identity embodies subversive queer rebellion grounding interdependence between advertisers, stars, and audiences in commercial television. Considering her media roles for American Express, CoverGirl, and J.C. Penney, as well as a daytime talk show host, Ellen DeGeneres expresses queerness, queer moments, and space in accordance with anti-heteronormativity described by Alexander Doty in Making Things Perfectly Queer. In the mainstream advertising, using LGBT subculture texts is a strategy for advertisers to target mass heterosexual consumers, while simultaneously not to alienate homosexual communities. In U.S. daytime television programming, The Ellen DeGeneres Show emblematizes identity declaration of Ellen’s coming out episodes in 1997 and embodies entertaining segments in terms of a coming out party through talking, dancing, and liberating. In audience reception, viewers, based on egalitarianism, are empowered by a moment of pleasure, sympathy, and liberation in relation to DeGeneres’ queer performance in the media. Through identifying three main media practices, advertising, broadcasting, and, spectating, I conclude with a discourse that DeGeneres, as a queer representative, signifies a satirical token of homonormativity to negotiate heteronormative media narratives in the mainstream media. / text

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration