The Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) process is one of the most common and economical processes which has been adapted by many wind blade manufacturers. The significant advantages for this process primarily owed to its simplicity as well as its lower cost of operation. Nevertheless, there are several potential drawbacks from this process such as the delamination and the dryspot issues. The dryspot issue will be the main focus in this thesis. In this thesis, the methodology includes 3-D solid modeling, finite element modeling and injection simulations. Throughout the framework of this thesis, 3-D non-isothermal conditions would be implemented and double core framework will be incorporated within the sectional blade shells. The standard design of the blade is directly adapted from the Wind PACT Blade Designs. [1] The modeling work involves the use of CATIA V5 CAD modeling software to create a single full half wind blade shell which later sectioned to two sections. The sectional wind blade shells were equally divided right at the mid-span of the full blade namely, the root section and the tip section of the wind blade shells. Finite element modeling was also incorporated through the use of PATRAN 2008 r2 while the injection simulation is directly simulated through ESI Group of PAM RTM software. The results from the simulation were discussed and analyzed. Post analysis involves recommended solutions toward the issues found throughout the manufacturing process. Future works were also discussed in the final conclusions to provide potential future development study in the VARTM process. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

US logistics cost of 1.397 trillion dollars in 2007, which stands for more that 10 percent of the total GDP of the country justifies any attempt of reducing it. Transportation followed by inventory-carrying and logistics administration has the greatest cost share in logistics. A tool which is very critical in transportation planning and can contribute to huge savings if used properly is Vehicle Routing Problem. Near optimum vehicle routs which are designed by outstanding heuristics and experts could contribute significantly to cost saving. Another important issue which directly affects logistics and transportation is energy consumption. Energy consumption and energy saving plans are hot topics everywhere nowadays. Issues such as green house effect, global warming effect and oil resources termination are great global concerns. This research tries to modify vehicle routing problem heuristics and make them sensitive to the issue of energy consumption. Traditional VRP heuristics and solution methods have tried to minimize total distance traveled of vehicles as the main objective function, while energy consumption minimization is the objective function of energy efficient VRP heuristics in this research. Two heuristics are modified in an “Energy Efficient” manner, nearest neighbor algorithm and saving algorithm. The proposed heuristics are examined with several benchmark problems from literature and are found to be efficient and effective both in terms of total distance travelled and energy consumption. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Multicore systems provide a high performance/power ratio by dividing the large jobs into smaller tasks and executing the tasks concurrently using multiple cores at a lower frequency. New software applications are written to generate more threads to take advantage of this multicore architecture. Contemporary multicore architectures have multilevel cache memory configurations and each core in a multicore system has its own private cache, Therefore multicore architectures suffer from high core-to-core communication latency due to the caches dynamic behavior. Studies suggest that a directory can be used to reduce communication latency by storing the information about the cache blocks. Recent studies also suggest that a wireless router has the potential to decrease communication latency in multicore architectures. In this work, we propose a directory based mechanism to minimize communication latency in a multicore architecture by using wireless routers. We model a 2D mesh, a newly introduced wireless NoC (WNoC), and our proposed directory-based architectures. According to the experimental results obtained using synthetic workloads, the proposed architecture outperforms the 2D mesh and WNoC. It is observed that the proposed architecture decreases the communication delay by up to 63% and the total power consumption by up to 33%. This is due to the fact that the proposed directory-based architecture helps reduce the total number of hops. This work can be extended to explore the impact of a directory on various concurrent/parallel techniques in multicore systems including data-level-parallelism and memory-level-parallelism. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

This research performed Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations for the flow past an aircraft protrusion mounted on a flat surface. The major factor in this research is the investigation of shock-wave/boundary-layer interactions (SWBLIs). RANS computations were performed using the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model and a second-order Navier-Stokes solver. The two complex three-dimensional geometries primarily focused on in this research were the circular-arc bump antenna and the TT-5006A antenna. Numerical results were in good agreement with the wind tunnel experimental results; however, some discrepancies in the flow properties occurred at the shock-interaction region. Computations were performed using the commercial software computation fluid dynamics (CFD) tool FLUENT in the High Performance Computing Center (HiPeCC) at Wichita State University. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Aerospace Engineering

The spelling abilities of older students with atypical spelling were compared to younger spelling-age matched students with typical spelling. The purpose was to determine if older students performed similarly to the younger students when spelling errors were analyzed according to four spelling components (phonological, orthographic, morphological, and mental orthographic images). Students’ errors were also analyzed based on specific orthographic spelling patterns. Fourteen students with atypical spelling (6th through 9th grades) were matched with 14 students with typical spelling (1st through 4th grades) based on their raw scores from the Test of Written Spelling-4 (TWS-4). Spelling error analysis of the 14 matched pairs was conducted by administering the Spelling Performance Evaluation of Language and Literacy (SPELL). The SPELL is a computerized program that incorporates algorithms to analyze spelling errors based on four spelling components and also 120 specific orthographic spelling patterns. A one way MANOVA was conducted with group as the independent variable and the number of intervention recommendations for each spelling component entered as the multiple dependent variables. Differences regarding the number of recommendations for each linguistic component were not significant. Although not significant, the students with atypical spelling performed better in the phonological component, while the students with typical spelling performed better in the remaining components. Regarding the broad spelling categories, a two (group) x eleven (consonants, consonant digraphs, short vowels, long vowels, other vowels, within word doubling, clusters, vocalic /r/ and /l/, silent letters, schwas, and inflected words) ANCOVA was conducted. Differences for age were significant in the consonant group. Other differences for group based on the 11 categories were not significant. Differences for group concerning the total number of possible spellings within each broad spelling category were not significant. Also, age as the covariate was not significant / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Health Professions, Dept. of Communication Sciences and Disorders

Three studies investigated the perception of onscreen typefaces. In the first study, 379 people rated the perception of 40 typefaces’ personalities using 15 semantic differential scales. The results of a factor analysis revealed 3 correlated factors (Potency, Evaluative, and Activity) that explain the perception of onscreen typeface personalities. Participants also rated each typeface on perceived legibility. Results indicated that serif and sans serif typefaces are perceived as more legible than display and script/hand writing type faces. Study 1 also explored the common uses of typefaces and attitudes regarding type faces. Participants reported changing the typeface often in programs like Word and PowerPoint but seldom in email, instant messaging, and spreadsheets. Participant attitudes about typefaces were positive with most indicating a belief that typefaces are an important part of document design and should be use appropriately. In Study 2, participants used a paired comparison methodology to determine the appropriateness of typefaces on a variety of onscreen documents. The results of this study were Thurstone Scale Scores that indicate the position of several typefaces on appropriateness continuums. General results imply that for documents such as website ads, the most appropriate typefaces have personalities that are somewhat congruent with the featured product’s personality. For all other onscreen documents (assignments, email, resume , spreadsheet, and website text) the most appropriate typefaces were those that were also high in perceived legibility (serif and sans serifs). Study 3 examined three aspects of six onscreen documents (website ads, Assignments, email, resumes, spreadsheets, and website text): personality of the document, perception of the author’s ethos, and participant’s typeface preferences. The personality of the typeface was found to influence the Potency and Activity scores of the document’s perception. The level of typeface appropriateness was more likely to affect the document’s score on the Evaluative factor. The ethos of the author was negatively affected by using an in appropriate type face. For the website text and resume, the perception of the author was negatively affected by both the neutral and the inappropriate typeface. On the website ad, participants preferred both the neutral and appropriate typeface almost equally. On the other 5 documents, the appropriate typeface was most preferred. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Psychology

A mixed-method research design was used to identify the components of professional development in two high achieving, high poverty K-12 Missouri public school districts, that most contributed to improved student achievement. A rigorous quantitative site selection process that incorporated five variables was developed and used. Seventy-eight percent of teachers at one district and 61% of teachers at the other district participated in an online survey that collected their perceptions on their district’s professional development. Sixteen teachers at one district and 18 at the other district were purposively sampled and interviewed to develop a graphical model of their respective professional development process and to gain additional insight into their professional development processes that they perceived contributed to improved student achievement. Six conclusions were drawn from a combination of quantifiable data sources and the sum of teacher perceptions as systematically interpreted from all qualitative data sources. The study conclusions focused on (a) collaboration as a key professional development process, (b) leadership as an important element of effective professional development, (c) the relationship of professional development to student achievement, (d) the importance of technology and curriculum alignment, (e) evaluation as an essential element of improved teaching and learning, and (f) the continuous acquisition of new learning and skills development. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Educational Leadership

A number of studies have developed various models to account for the speed/accuracy tradeoff in aimed movements. Reductions in performance are believed to be associated with the modifications of the visual and motor scale, demonstrating limits on visual and kinesthetic resolution, respectively. Alternatively, the visually displayed speed of the movement may impair performance by reducing the ability of the visual system to discern and correct for small trajectory errors in the fast moving cursor; while conversely, the speed of the hand could deteriorate functioning by increasing the neuron motor noise and subsequent movement variability. The index of difficulty predicts the difficulty of a task by simultaneously capturing the effects of visual scale, physical scale, or some combination of both. In a series of three studies, visual and motor scale were either held proportional to each other, or varied independent of one another via manipulations of the control-display ratio (gain), across four experimental sessions in four different directions of approach (left-right, up-down). Performance was assessed on several temporal, distance, kinematic, and error measures. In terms of the speed/accuracy tradeoff, the results indicate that overall movement time varied as a function of both visual and motor scale, in which amplitude affected the time in the primary phase, and perceived visual tolerance affect the timing of the secondary phase of the movements. Constant, variable, and root mean square error all increased with physical velocity and motor scale; while, angle of approach exhibited a biomechanical effect on error and movement time. As the mass of the limb increased with movements performed in depth, the error and movement time both decreased. Implications for movement control theory and human factors are discussed. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Psychology

In this research work two contributions to the area of analog to digital data converters have been discussed. The area of focus is the RSD-Cyclic and sigma-delta ADC. First a novel hybrid RSD-Cyclic-sigma-delta architecture is introduced which is a combination of the RSDCyclic ADC and sigma-delta ADC architectures. The resolution obtained with this hybrid architecture is n = n1 + n2 , where n1 = MSBrsd stands for the most significant bits obtained from the RSD-architecture and n2 = LSBsdl stands for the least significant bits obtained from the sigma-delta architecture. Since the sigma-delta block is required to achieve only an n2-bit resolution (n2, n1 < n ) the over-sampling ratio required for the sigma-delta is not as high as the over-sampling ratio required to achieve n-bit resolution. Also the requirements on the RSD-Cyclic block are only the requirements to achieve n1-bit resolution, which means that the requirements on the analog building blocks for the RSD-Cyclic part are more relaxed. Secondly, in the RSD-Cyclic area we have introduced a circuit technique that allows an entire ADC system to run on one operational amplifier without any loss of functionality. Therefore we will be saving power and area, both very desirable features for mobile applications. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering / "July 2007."

This study investigated the relationship of family contextual risk factors to the occurrence of victimization of children by peers, as mediated by parental warmth and communication. Family risk factors were derived from parent reports of socio-economic status and family configuration. Parental warmth and communication was derived from observations of parent-child interactions. Victimization was estimated by observed rates at which children were victims of peer verbal and physical aggression at school. The contribution of family risk factors to victimization by peers was examined in an aggregated and disaggregated manner, and as moderated by gender. Neither family risk factors nor parental warmth and communication placed children at a greater risk of victimization. Family contextual risk was negatively associated with parent warmth and communication. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Psychology / "August 2007."