The sprawl of U.S. cities has attracted criticism from many sources in recent years. Among the greatest of the cited harms of sprawl is the alleged travel time burden that it imposes on its residents. Previous research has tested the relationship between the sprawl of business activity and travel times by examining only its effects on commuting times and has concluded that people do not choosing housing and work locations to minimize commutes. This research takes a more comprehensive approach by analyzing the relationship between household travel times and sprawl by testing the relationship between access to economic centers and daily household travel time. The relatively minor increase in household travel times with decrease in access to economic centers found by the analysis shows that people logically reduce trips to centers when choosing housing locations with less access to centers. The ability of people to make these reductions in travel is clearly increased by the dispersal of activity from the central business district and other centers. Comparison of predicted household travel times with an estimated rent gradient show that the increase in housing prices with improved access to subcenters is far less than would be expected given the predicted household travel times, contradicting the relationship between household travel time and housing prices embodied in central place theory and its limited polycentric extensions. An analysis of joined trips suggests that households with less access to economic centers used joined trips, in which multiple destinations are visited on a single trip from the home, to reduce household travel. All of the results suggest that auto use enables households throughout the metropolitan area to reduce travel time. The car has greater flexibility and speed than other modes, particularly in areas of lower density. The travel time savings and flexibility that are provided by the dispersal of economic activity have allowed people to choosing housing that they prefer at lower prices with little added transportation cost. Given these benefits we should carefully consider the manner and method we choose to reduce any negative externalities of sprawl and auto use. / Ph. D.

The premise of this thesis is that architecture indeed superseded the act of ordinary building. Beyond the idea of shelter or utilitarian accommodation, architecture is the art of embedding or encoding substantial humanist values which result in the form of the man-made architectural object. / Master of Architecture

The demand for consumer credit is an area of economics that is of great interest to those in the lending community. While much research has been performed on this topic in the financial industry, the findings have been very closely guarded for competitive reasons. In this study, reduced form equations were derived to form the basis of a 2SLS regression model. This model was used to estimate the demand for consumer credit in the United States over the period 1973 - 2002. Six independent variables were included in the analysis: monetary base, unemployment rate, consumer confidence index, disposable personal income, federal funds interest rate and the price/barrel of oil. The model results concluded that only two of these variables significantly affect the demand for consumer credit – disposable personal income (DPI_t) and the unemployment rate (uet). The error terms were compared against those derived from two alternative models using the same data sets – a trend model and an autoregressive model – AR(1). The root mean square error (RMSE) for the reduced form model was significantly lower then that of the trend model, but slightly higher then the AR(1) model. The objectives of this study are to: (1) produce an accurate model that defines the drivers behind the demand for consumer credit, while (2) producing results consistent with econometric theory. Based on this set of objectives, the reduced form model is the superior of the three models included in this study. / Master of Arts

This thesis seeks to explore how geometry, music, and architecture can all interweave with each other. Music is based on the harmonic ratios of geometry. These relationships can also be used to inform the geometries of architecture. As with the aesthetics of music, architecture, too, is not an exact science that must follow rigid geometric rules. A work of music is made more beautiful when it smartly breaks the rules of order and gracefully bends the rules of harmony. Similarly, architecture can bend and break the rules. This is an academic exploration of creating a building form that starts with the rigid set of rules of harmonic geometry, but bends and breaks them by passing them through a filter of perspective to derive a new set of rules. / Master of Architecture

This thesis is an exploration of the ambiguous form. "Ambiguous" means having multiple interpretations. Usually, a figurative presentation will direct people to a particular thing. On the contrary, if familiarity is provided as the only way, people can find a deceptive scenario, and associate it with the corresponding space in his or her memory. This happens because the images stored in our minds are not very refined, especially the ones we see but do not remember deliberately. So we can say that the ambiguous form triggers our association and thinking. It could give us more affordance about architectural space. In addition, collage, an art of transforming fragments into a whole, is an essential approach for my thesis. The process involves disintegrating something first, analyzing it, then synthesizing the parts together. It is beautiful / Master of Architecture

Allowing the interaction of two dynamic forces that vie for dominance to be a form, a new character emerges. The character of the new form is present in the qualities of its making. / Master of Architecture

Yes / In order to investigate the effect of using different solid state forms and specific surface area (TBET) of active pharmaceutical ingredients on tabletability and dissolution performance, the mono- and dihydrated crystalline forms of chlorothiazide sodium and chlorothiazide potassium (CTZK) salts were compared to alternative anhydrous and amorphous forms, as well as to amorphous microparticles of chlorothiazide sodium and potassium which were produced by spray drying and had a large specific surface area. The tablet hardness and tensile strength, porosity, and specific surface area of single-component, convex tablets prepared at different compression pressures were characterized. Results confirmed the complexity of the compressibility mechanisms. In general it may be concluded that factors such as solid-state form (crystalline vs amorphous), type of hydration (presence of interstitial molecules of water, dehydrates), or specific surface area of the material have a direct impact on the tabletability of the powder. It was observed that, for powders of the same solid state form, those with a larger specific surface area compacted well, and better than powders of a lower surface area, even at relatively low compression pressures. Compacts prepared at lower compression pressures from high surface area porous microparticles presented the shortest times to dissolve, when compared with compacts made of equivalent materials, which had to be compressed at higher compression pressures in order to obtain satisfactory compacts. Therefore, materials composed of nanoparticulate microparticles (NPMPs) may be considered as suitable for direct compaction and possibly for inclusion in tablet formulations as bulking agents, APIs, carriers, or binders due to their good compactibility performance / Solid State Pharmaceutical Cluster (SSPC), supported by Science Foundation Ireland under Grant No. 07/SRC/B1158.

The human form becomes the bearer of my inspiration, revealing a cosmology within itself, appealing to the idea of understanding the body and implementing its essence into architecture. The lessons found in the tectonic of one's body will assist in discovering an integral logic that may translate in the design of the building. Living organisms inspire architectural posture that generate my architectural ideas. Architecture considered, in a very natural way reflects humans. I try to find a methodology inspired by natural organisms, finding the human body the most beautiful and functional of all natural objects. The structure begins to illustrate the innovation of the materials being employed to a different type of solution to a structural problem. The truth of materials, and honesty in the expression of structure reflect the movement of the object. / Master of Architecture

This thesis deals with the relationship between form and strength in architecture. The proposed building is a Kindergarten which unites issues of shape, physics, and habitat. The roof is vaulted and the walls are curved for lateral resistance and in order to make folds scaled to a child. These physical moves work towards the theme of the Kindergarten: a place for the transition between home and school. / Master of Architecture

This thesis argues that the best genre parallel for the Acts of the Apostles is collected biography. This conclusion is reached through an application of ancient and modern genre theory and a detailed comparison of Acts and collected biographies. Chapter 1 offers prolegomena to this study and further delineates the contours of the thesis. Chapter 2 provides an extensive history of research, not only to provide the context and rationale for the present work, but also to indicate some of the shortcomings of previous investigations and the need for this present study. Chapter 3 presents the methodological perspective for this exploration. Making use of ancient and modern genre theory, I propose that scholars need to understand genre as a dynamic and flexible system that is culturally influenced and highly adaptable. In Chapter 4 I trace the diachronic development of ancient biographies, describe different sub-divisions, and note the strong, enduring relationship between biography and history. In evaluating the development of biography as a whole, there appears to be a distinct preference by ancient biographers for collected biographies. Chapters 5 to 7 interpret Acts in light of its possible relationship with collected biographies. Chapter 5 provides a detailed comparison of the structural and content features of history, novels, collected biographies, and Acts. Overall, this chapter argues that the structural and content features of Acts are most strongly related to the genre of biography and, secondarily, to history. Chapters six and seven evaluate Acts as a modified collected biography, identifying notable similarities in content features, structure, and endings. Chapter 8 summarizes and concludes the thesis, along with a brief mention of avenues for future research. Related literary investigations, such as a list of literary topoi references in biographies, biographies referenced by Diogenes Laertius, and a full discussion of biography’s adaptability in the first century (modelled by Plutarch and Philo), are treated in appendices.