The Relationships Between Work Sheets, Thinking Styles, Self-Concept and Technological Creativity among Fifth and Sixth Graders Ping-Huang Chen Abstract The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between worksheets, thinking styles, self-concept and technological creativity among fifth and sixth graders. The participants included 19 teachers and 535 pupils (291 fifth graders and 244 sixth graders) in Taipei and kaohsiung city. The employed instruments were Worksheets Appraisal, Self- Concept Appraisal, Thinking Styles Appraisal. The employed analysis methods were Descriptives, Multivariate Analysis of Variance, and Discriminant Analysis. The findings of this study revealed that (a) grade and gender had significant effects on technological creativity among the fifth and sixth Graders; (b) the teachers¡¦ application of worksheets in instruction, especially in teaching activity and evaluation, contributed to their pupils¡¦ development of technological creativity; (c) the legislative and the judicial thinking style had effects on the pupils¡¦ technological creativity; (d) self-concept, especially that about schools, had effects on the pupils¡¦ technological creativity; and (e) the teachers¡¦ use of worksheets and the pupils¡¦ thinking styles as well as self-concept could effectively predict the ability groups of the pupils¡¦ technological creativity. Finally, some suggestions were proposed for educational authorities, schools, teachers, and future studies.

Energy use index (EUI) is an important measure of energy use which normalizes energy use by dividing by building area. Energy use indices and associated coefficients of variation are computed for major industry categories for electricity and natural gas use in small and medium-sized plants in the U.S. The data is very scattered with the coefficients of variation (CoV) often exceeding the average EUI for an energy type. The combined CoV from all of the industries considered, which accounts for 8,200 plants from all areas of the continental U.S., is 290%. This paper discusses EUIs and their variations based on electricity and natural gas consumption. Data from milder climates appears more scattered than that from colder climates. For example, the ratio of the average of coefficient of variations for all industry types in warm versus cold regions of the U.S. varies from 1.1 to 1.7 depending on the energy sources considered. The large data scatter indicates that predictions of energy use obtained by multiplying standard EUI data by plant area may be inaccurate and are less accurate in warmer than colder climates (warmer and colder are determined by annual average temperature weather data). Data scatter may have several explanations, including climate, plant area accounting, the influence of low cost energy and low cost buildings used in the south of the U.S. This analysis uses electricity and natural gas energy consumption and area data of manufacturing plants available in the U.S. Department of Energy's national Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) database. The data there come from Industrial Assessment Centers which employ university engineering students, faculty and staff to perform energy assessments for small to medium-sized manufacturing plants. The nation-wide IAC program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. A collection of six general energy saving recommendations were also written with Texas manufacturing plants in mind. These are meant to provide an easily accessible starting point for facilities that wish to reduce costs and energy consumption, and are based on common recommendations from the Texas A&M University IAC program.

This study involves analyses and experiments of magnesium¡¦s hot extrusion of thin sheets and tubes. At first, hot compression tests are conducted to obtain the magnesium¡¦s plastic flow stresses in high tempearatures, which will be used in the finite element analysis. In the FE simulations of thin sheet extrusion, the flow pattern of the magnesium billet within the die, the temperature history at die exit and the elastic deformation of the die is analyzed. Sound and good thin sheets are obtained by appropriate die design, initial billet temperature and extrusion velocity¡¦s control. The goal of constant temperature extrusion is expected to achieved by controlling the extrusion velocity which will influences the billet temperature at die exit. In FE simulations of thin tube extrusion, the flow pattern of the magnesium billet within the port-holes, welding chamber and die bearing is analyzed. The elastic deformation of the die is dicussed. Extrusion of sound thin tubes is achieved by appropriate extrusion conditions. Finally, hot extrusion experiments are conducted and the experimental values of the extrusion load and dimensions of the products are compared with the analytical values to verify the validity of the analytical models.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-105). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

In this study, a numerical model is used to investigate the evaporation and flow characteristics of heated liquid sheets and films. The liquid is modeled as water and as black liquor, a byproduct produced by paper mills. In the pulping process, black liquor is concentrated in an evaporator as a falling film. The effectiveness of the evaporator is reduced due to fouling on heat transfer surfaces. Two flow arrangements are studied: falling films, where the liquor and steam are separated by a heat transfer surface; and liquid curtains, which is a thin sheet of liquid falling due to gravity surrounded by steam. For the liquid curtain, the liquid and gas come into direct contact, therefore there is no place for fouling to occur allowing for a more consistent operation of the evaporator. This type of arrangement is not currently used in paper mills but is being investigated in this work to determine its feasibility. The fluid system is simulated using the finite volume method with a single-fluid field to capture the liquid-gas interface. This study investigates how the breakup of a liquid curtain is affected by flow parameters and how the breakup into droplets influences the evaporation characteristics of the liquid curtain. It is found that the falling film evaporator has a much higher liquid evaporation rate than evaporating as a liquid curtain. However the falling film evaporator has an entrance length with no evaporation, and liquid curtains allow for evaporation to start occurring very near the inlet. If reducing length of the evaporator is a priority, liquid curtain evaporators can obtain a higher evaporation rate than falling films within the same distance. Falling film evaporation has a higher steam efficiency than a liquid curtain evaporator. However, for short evaporator lengths the rate at which water is removed from a liquid curtain evaporator is much greater, but at the cost of a higher steam consumption rate.

A finite element analysis approach is used to determine the susceptibility to wrinkles for thin sheets with clamped ends when subjected to tensile loading. The model problem chosen to do this analysis is the stretching of a thin sheet with clamped-ends. In the preliminary analysis, a stress analysis of thin sheets is done to study the stresses that develop under these boundary conditions. The analysis shows that there is a stretch-induced compressive stress in the transverse direction to the applied load that causes wrinkles. Then, the parametric study is conducted to determine the effect of aspect ratio and strain on the compressive stress. Based on the results of the parametric study, a critical strain value for each aspect ratio is determined for which the corresponding compressive stress is zero. Further buckling analysis is performed to find the buckling modes of the model problem that shows a limit of aspect ratio below which buckling is not possible under given conditions. Finally, post-buckling analysis shows the nature of wrinkles observed in the model problem for different aspect ratios. / text

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The goal of this thesis is to improve our understanding of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) and how it responds to climate change. This was achieved using ice core records to infer elevation changes of the GrIS during the Holocene (11.7 ka BP to Present). The inferred elevation changes show the response of the ice sheet interior to the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM; 9-5 ka BP) when temperatures across Greenland were warmer than present. These ice-core derived thinning curves act as a new set of key constraints on the deglacial history of the GrIS. Furthermore, a calibration was conducted on a three-dimensional thermomechanical ice sheet, glacial isostatic adjustment, and relative sea-level model of GrIS evolution during the most recent deglaciation (21 ka BP to present). The model was data-constrained to a variety of proxy records from paleoclimate archives and present-day observations of ice thickness and extent.

During the last main phase of glaciations (26-13kaBP) an ice cap developed in south west Ireland and ice, from a dispersal centre in the vicinity of Kenmare, flowed north and diverged on the southern slopes of the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks. On these slopes, a weathering limit separates ice-moulded bedrock, on low ground, from frost-weathered terrain above. Assessment of bedrock dilation joint characteristics, Schmidt hammer R-value data, clay-sized mineral contents and magnetic properties of basal soil samples confirms significant contrasts in the degree of weathering above and below this limit. The weathering limit declines in altitude along former ice flow-lines and is confluent with morainic deposits on the eastern side of the Gap of Dunloe and on the western slopes of Skregbeg. This evidence supports the assertion that the high-level weathering limit is a periglacial trimline that marks the former maximum upper limit of the body of ice, which occupied this area of southwest Ireland during the LGM. This evidence, however, does not confute the notion that cold based, non-erosive plateau ice may have covered some or all of the upland surfaces that occur above the recorded weathering limits. Reconstruction of the former ice surface profile from periglacial trimline limits along three former flow lines yielded mean estimates for basal shear stress that ranged from 104.2 to 125.9 kPa. Although these values are high, they are within the range deemed normal for glaciers and ice sheets. The values suggest that the reconstructed areas of the ice cap were warm based and flowing on a bedrock substrate. This is supported by the geomorphological evidence of these areas, which shows that a landform – sediment association has developed consisting of zones of glacial scour and a thin, discontinuous drift cover. This contrasts with the glacial geomorphology of northern parts of the study area, where drift cover is largely continuous, and extensive in valley bottoms and on surrounding hillsides, and is associated with large lateral moraines.

Abstract The resilience, or sustainability, of an environmental system depends on key factors remaining within critical thresholds. Current approaches to assessing the condition and trend of environmental systems rely on expert knowledge of system performance and subjective interpretation. Computer simulation models of natural resource systems offer a way to integrate system properties, and ecological theory and relationships, with long-term climate and rainfall information to simulate system performance within a consistent framework. Financial accounting methods, such as balance sheets and ratio analysis, have been developed to assess overall businesses viability and offer a potential tool for assessing the sustainability of natural systems, providing key accounting principles and assumptions can be reasonably met. This thesis explores the integration of accounting and ecological theory in a balance sheet framework for sustainability accounting using non-financial terms with a view to contributing to the sustainable management of natural resources within dynamic systems. A generic approach to constructing environmental balance sheets was developed and tested at a range of scales (field to catchment). Sensitivity analysis of the models was used to determine key factors and critical thresholds relating to system resilience. These values were then used to construct the balance sheets. The current ratio was then used to identify if the system was being managed sustainably. A current ratio (assets/liabilities) greater than 1.0, derived from the balance sheet, was shown to denote more resilient, and hence sustainable, systems. Case studies used were wheat cropping in the Maranoa area of Queensland, Australia, and the Bonogin Valley in the Gold Coast, Queensland Australia The same approach to constructing balance sheets worked across all scales from farm to catchment. . The approach was then used to develop a sustainability assessment of the Coomera catchment of the Gold Coast to consider how natural resource management and urbanisation is affecting catchment resilience. A series of models was used to develop the accounts: a grazing systems model – SGS; a cropping systems model - APSIM-sugar; and an existing catchment hydrology and water quality model - EMSS. The approach demonstrated that sugarcane cropping systems within the catchment were not likely to be sustainable without significant input of nitrogen, but that the grazing systems were. Furthermore, the overall catchment was likely to be sustainable (2002). This finding is consistent with an independent field-based assessment of the catchment conducted by the Healthy Waterways Partnership of South East Queensland. The urban development anticipated in the catchment by 2020, did not appear to have a significant affect as measured by long-term trends in flow frequency and water quality. The use of ratio analysis provided a dimensionless variable that related to the resilience of a parcel of land or catchment. These values were able to be spatially integrated, using an area weighted median, to provide an overall estimate of resilience of land use for a farm or a catchment. However, it was considered simpler to model the catchment of interest as a whole rather than to combine ratios from a series of catchment sub-models. The availability of appropriate comprehensive systems models may prove a limitation for application to all land uses especially native bushland systems. However, the approach developed in this thesis provides a robust and consistent framework for exploring system resilience and sustainability in a way that can augment existing approaches to natural resource assessments of condition and trend.