In 2009 the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released two Public Service Advertisements regarding health initiatives entitled ‘Pouring on the Pounds’ and ‘Quit Smoking Today’ (New York Times, 2009). Both campaigns were documented by news media as “controversial” and “graphic” in nature, even “shocking” (New York Times, 2009, p. 2; New York Daily News, 2010, p. 1). An expert in advertising techniques, Dr. Steven Dahl contends that shock methods of advertising are comprised of three components; information, fear and surprise (Dahl 2003). The framework of this study is set first by analyzing the campaigns as shock according to Dahl’s components, then using a triangulated system of data analysis to assess the efficacy of applying the shock framework to these campaigns. Data analysis involves evaluating the visual components of the campaigns as shock and assessing the reactions of media and consumers to these government endorsed public service announcements. Textual Analysis (Hart & Daughton, 2005) of the campaign posters, which was deductively framed by Althusser’s (1971) Subject Positioning Theory and Dahl’s (2003) shock components revealed numerous condensations, tensions and ideological values represented in the posters. A Thematic Analysis (Boyatzis, 1998) of news articles and consumer commentary revealed twenty-five themes across the campaigns. The results support that Dahl’s shock components were strongly imbedded in the ‘Quit Smoking Today’ advertisements which displayed high levels of information, fear and surprise across all three data sets. The ‘Pouring on the Pounds’ campaign showed only minimal ratings of fear, while levels of information and surprise were high in the analyzed data sets. Conclusively both campaigns may be labeled as shocking and controversial but the minimal use of fear appeals in the ‘Pouring on the Pounds’ campaign illuminates possibilities for the expansion of Dahl’s shock advertising framework. / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Elliot School of Communication.

Surveys are an effective way of collecting customer feedback. Open-ended survey questions capture important dimensions of the respondent’s experience. The purpose of this study was to compare the critical incident technique (CIT) and the concept mapping approach (CMA) with respect to their ability to identify major customer requirements and the time required to complete each analysis. A case study was performed to identify students’ requirements of in class presentation. Answers to the open ended questions were analyzed using the two techniques. Results of this case study indicated that the CIT appears to be more appropriate for scenarios where continual participation from members of the survey population is not feasible. Otherwise, the CMA would be chosen for analyzing written comments. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.

In last few decades much research work has been conducted on the development of most efficient crashworthy structures which can protect vehicle drivers, passengers or at least reduce the severity of the accident by absorbing kinetic impact energy in the event of an accident. Thin-walled tubes are most commonly used members as crashworthy structures. It has been shown that thin walled tubes, filled with foam materials, possess efficient energy-absorbing capability than the empty crashworthy structure. This characteristic of foam materials has led to the development of different new foam materials, which can absorb more impact energy. Nanotechnology is one of the emerging techniques used in development of advanced materials for engineering and other applications. One such application is in developing energy absorbing materials, which can be used in automotive and aerospace industry. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze properties of the thin walled tubes with respect to energy absorption capacity, when filled with carbon nano-foam. The application of such carbon nano foam in the bumper area of a particular vehicle model namely Dodge Caravan is analyzed at different speeds. To accomplish this study, the Ls-Dyna code, a non-linear dynamic finite element solver is utilized. First, experiment using compression tests are carried out to obtain the behavior of the foam material by adding different weight percentages of carbon nano fibers. Next, the axial crushing behavior of thin walled steel tube was observed. The energy absorption capabilities of this crashworthy tube are tabulated and results are compared with rigid polyurethane foam under similar conditions. Finally carbon nano foam is applied in the bumper area of a vehicle model to study its crashworthy behavior in frontal impact at different speeds of the vehicle. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

The curing process of carbon fiber/epoxy composite parts has always been a challenging task. One of the major concerns is that the final part geometry deviates from the desired, nominal geometry due to the process-induced residual stresses. The consequent distortion may add an extra process for repair or may lead to part rejection; in either case, the extra cost is an important concern. In addition to conventional remedies, which are usually not efficient or capable of addressing the problem completely, many studies have used finite element analysis to predict the final geometry of composite parts. However, shortcomings of such studies limited the use of finite element modeling to only simple shapes. In this study, a methodology was introduced to take into account several mechanisms of residual stress induction during cure in a fully 3-D coupled thermal-curing-mechanical finite element analysis and accurately estimate the final geometry of laminated composite parts. Different modules were developed in Fortran for different mechanisms and material properties. A ply-property approach was utilized in which experimentally measured ply properties were modeled and used. Due to the limitations of current available techniques to obtain pure thermal strain and cure shrinkage during cure, a method was developed and a series of tests were conducted to decouple such parameters during the cure process. To validate the simulation results, a flat square panel was cured experimentally as well as using simulation, a laser scanner was used to obtain the 3-D distortion pattern of the fabricated panel, and a Python code was written to obtain the estimated distortion from the nodal information. Good agreement was observed between maximum distortions as well as 3-D patterns of distortion estimated by simulation and measured experimentally. Finally, 94% reduction in computational costs was achieved using different hardware and software techniques. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

This study used the 2006 through 2008 American Time Use Survey (ATUS) to empirically examine factors that influenced the consumption of men and women in the United States. Three sets of independent variables were used to construct a model and test hypotheses about whether or not respondents had shopped during the week in which the survey was administered. One set of independent variables was derived from a theory made popular by Juliet Schor (1992), which asserts that additional work in one‟s job results in additional consumption, a cycle of “work and spend.” Another set of independent variables was selected on the basis of theories that argued that exposure to mass media, with its marketing and advertising content, influenced people to consume. The third set of variables related to gender and was derived from theories that explained women‟s higher levels of consumption, relative to men‟s, as a consequence of their gendered work, family, household, and leisure roles. A sample t-test, ANOVA and a Logistic regression were used to analyze the ATUS data. Results indicated that for each hour an individual worked, they were 0.8% less likely to have shopped in the last week, net of all other factors. Exposure to media did not influence whether an individual shopped or not. Being female increased the odds of shopping in the last week by 20.7%. A surprising finding was that women‟s traditional roles (caring for young children and performing household work) not only affected women‟s consumption, but similarly affected a surprisingly large proportion of men in the sample who also performed these traditionally feminine roles / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Sociology.

This study evaluated the effects of technology on the performance of high school students with learning disabilities in a resource room to increase skills of learning new vocabulary that is linked to standards within reading. The study included participants from four special education classes. The participants in the study were given in a 2-week intervention utilizing an adaptive version of the Frayer Model (direct instruction) or Quizlet (use of computer-aided/technology instruction, an interactive education game) to determine comparative difference of skill level achievement. The context factors included students in the special education program at a high school in an urban city located in a mid-west state. All participants completed a pre/post survey and pre/post vocabulary exams. Descriptive statistics, using SPSS, provided the methods for analyzing the data. Results showed that both the preference of learning styles by these participants and effectiveness of the computer-aided instruction (Quizlet) yielded better scores over teacher-student direct instruction (Adaptive Frayer Model). / Thesis (M.Ed.)--Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept.of Curriculum and Instruction.

Vehicle occupants involved in automobile side impact crashes are three times more likely to experience head injuries than occupants involved in frontal or other types of collisions. The most frequent contact source for an occupant in side impact crashes is the side window. In side impacts, failure of the side window glass affects the potential for the occupant head injury. Tempered glass in side window is easily shattered by exposing the occupant head into environment, where it can be directly impacted by the intruding or striking vehicle. In order to reduce the injury potential for occupant head in a collision, windows with laminated glass have been developed, which are gradually replacing the tempered glass. This study is mainly focused on understanding the dynamic response of the human head in side impact scenarios, when the tempered glass in the side windows is replaced with laminated glass. Quasi-static experiments are performed in this study with a free-motion headform impacting a laminated glass. The laminated glass is composed of two layers of glass separated by Polyvinyl Butyral (PVB) interlayer. A Finite Element (FE) model of the laminated glass window is created and impacted with the FE headform at the same velocity as in the experiment, and the model is validated against experimental results. The properties of validated glass model are implemented into the side windows of a small car model to determine the performance of laminated glass in a typical side impact scenario. The responses of the occupant with the tempered and laminated glazing with and without restraints are compared. Based on the performance of the laminated glazing in side impact scenario, the laminated glass has shown to reduce the possibility of failure of the glass and thus contains the occupant from ejecting with virtually no change in injury potential values. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

A numerical analysis of flow maldistribution and shell side flow on heat in a shell and tube heat exchanger is presented. The flow field at the inlet and in the headers was obtained by solving conservation equations of mass and momentum by employing k-ε turbulence model. As the flow maldistribution in the header affects the heat transfer performance of the STHE, pressure drop and velocity distribution of the fluid inside the header were analyzed. Two types of headers were considered with varying header length for a Reynolds number range of 1000 to 3000. As the header length was increased to 1500 mm the flow maldistribution decreased and the static pressure was almost equal for all the tubes in case of a conical header. Also, the numerical simulations show that the conical header with 1500 mm header length has less flow maldistribution when compared to other models. The Shell side flow was modeled as a flow along a twisted tube with a diameter D and a length 30D using Catia V519. Four different models of the twisted tube with pitch varying between 4D and 5.5D were studied for a range of Reynolds number Re = 75-750. The analysis was carried out for three different wall temperatures of the twisted tube such as 343 K, 363 K and 383 K. The pressure drop increased with increase in Reynolds number, while the pressure drop and outlet fluid temperature increased with decrease in the pitch of the tube. But the convective heat transfer decreased with reduction in pitch. With a decrease in pitch, the energy transfer between the fluid and the adjacent tubes increases resulting in increased outlet fluid temperature. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

The purpose of this study is to determine the presence/degree of sexual dimorphism of the 12th thoracic vertebra through a quantitative analysis and to further examine its potential and reliability in the sex estimation of human skeletal remains. This study also explores the age-related changes of human skeletal remains and how these affect morphological variation conducive to sex estimation. In order to assess this, the 12th thoracic vertebrae, femur and sacrum of 168 mature skeletal remains (94 males and 74 females) from the Raymond Dart Collection in Johannesburg, South Africa and 407 (205 males and 202 females) mature skeletal remains from the Hamann-Todd Collection in Cleveland, Ohio were analyzed. Only individuals whose group affiliation was designated as “South African Black” from the Raymond Dart Collection and “African American” from the Hamann-Todd Collection were measured. This was done to permit the examination of geographical variance within and between the two samples. The morphology of the 12th thoracic vertebra was examined by means of univariate and multivariate analyses to better assess each effect. These analyses resulted in relatively high correct classifications of males and females in all samples, with mean measurement values being larger in males in all measurements. While age-related changes have little effect on the high reliability of sex estimation in the African American sample, age-related changes decreases the reliability of sex estimation in the South African sample. Overall, this study reveals that the 12th thoracic vertebra has potential for use in sex estimation as a result of the skeletal morphological variation between males and females both documented in the Raymond A. Dart Collection of Human Skeletons and the Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection. / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Anthropology.

Student retention studies is an ever-growing field of interest as educational institutions of both secondary and post-secondary levels try to find ways to increase their enrollment numbers while decreasing drop-out rates. For over 40 years, research has been done in order to identify different subgroups at-risk of dropping out or „stopping‟ out of college (Hansmeier, 1965; Astin, 1975; and Tinto, 1975). Some of the commonly identified risk factors include being a first-generation student—neither parents graduated with a bachelor degree, coming from a low-income household, and being a nontraditionally aged student upon entering college (Choy & Premo, 1995; Hansmeier, 1965; Horn, 1996; Nunez & Cuccaro-Alamin, 1998; Shield, 1994). Although retention studies have been conducted since the 1960‟s, Asian/Asian-American students have only been examined for about 15 years. The purpose of this study is to assess the retention rates of Asian-American students at a mid-sized university. Risk factors for dropping out for Asian and other ethnic groups will be discussed. The study also discusses an assessment tool designed for instructors to help identify characteristics that can be seen as risk factors in this student population as well as utilized for identifying risk factors for all student populations in general. / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences