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This study introduces a comprehensive taxonomy for categorizing participants in Alternate Reality Games (ARGs). The taxonomy emerges from a meticulous analysis of player motivations and behaviors within a self-designed ARG project. By scrutinizing game website logs, chat group interactions, and employing a player motivation questionnaire, this mixed-method exploration sheds light on player behaviors and motivations, based on dimensions of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Through this inquiry, distinct player typologies within ARGs are unveiled, unveiling behavioral intricacies and motivational drivers. This research contributes to a nuanced comprehension of the unique realm of ARGs, offering insights valuable to both designers and scholars. By enhancing our understanding of ARG dynamics, this study provides a foundational resource for future design endeavors and scholarly pursuits in the realm of alternate reality gaming.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of the Equals mathematics curriculum had any statistically significant impact on the 2012 Florida Alternate Assessment mathematics scores of students with disabilities in six Florida school districts when comparing the scores of those who received mathematics instruction via the curriculum to the scores of students with disabilities in six other Florida school districts who did not receive mathematics instruction via the curriculum. This study further examined the perceptions of and attitudes about the Equals mathematics curriculum that exist among Exceptional Student Education (ESE) teachers who teach mathematics to students with disabilities participating in the Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA). The study utilized a mixed methods approach to research that included both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The quantitative portion of the study was conducted using archival data obtained from the 2012 Florida Alternate Assessment Data Book. A Mann-Whitney U Test was conducted through SPSS at a significance level of α = .05 to test for relative differences in performance between the treatment (Equals) and control (non-Equals) groups. Based on the results, the Equals mathematics curriculum did not have any statistically significant impact on the 2012 FAA mathematics scores for students with disabilities in the treatment school districts at any of the tested grade groupings (elementary, middle, high, and overall). The qualitative method of data collection utilized an online teacher survey. The results were analyzed using the researcher-coded results and assisted through summary iv tables provided by Survey-Monkey. Differences and similarities among the survey question responses were explored. Common terms and themes were noted and compared. Data triangulation was used by surveying teachers from five of the six treatment counties. This promoted generalizability for study replication since the treatment counties train teachers and utilize the curriculum in different manners. The results of the qualitative analysis indicated that many teachers were not satisfied with the training they received and felt overwhelmed by the curriculum itself, specifically in the areas of lesson planning and delivery. Based on the quantitative and qualitative results, it was concluded that further research needs to be completed to determine the effectiveness of the Equals mathematics curriculum when used with true fidelity.

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This thesis project aims to explore the relationship between the players and the fictional worlds of alternate reality games (ARGs), concentrating on the aspects of immersion, player involvement and narrative. It investigates the connection between immersion and narrative, as well as to what extent the applying of narrative to physical environments contribute to the overall immersive experience of the players. The theoretical frame incorporates different aspects of game interaction, concerning game boundaries, game mastering and player experience, and includes an analytical presentation of a number of ARGs, challenging the traditional norms of game design. The theoretical framework is accompanied by a design process exploring game mechanics and player involvement through game testing. The assumptions drawn from the research, in combination with the outcome of the design process, suggest that because narrative utilized within ARGs is interactive it differs massively from traditional narration and the fact that it intersects the physical environment gives it properties that urges its users to dynamically collaborate to unfold its discourse.

<p>Alternate Level of Care, or ALC, is a designation assigned to a patient during an acute care hospital stay when that patient is occupying a bed but no longer requires that intensity of service. A high proportion of beds occupied by patients requiring ALC results in problems in the healthcare system related to patient flow, access, and efficiency. The purpose of this study was to better understand the experience of older patients and family caregivers while the patient is designated as requiring ALC. This study employed the Three-Dimensional Narrative Inquiry Space method of Clandinin and Connelly (2000) to examine the experiences of five patients and four family caregivers. The primary data source for this study was a series of semi-structured interviews with individual participants over time while they were in the midst of the experience of ALC. Data analysis involved a twofold process of restorying all interview transcriptions for a given participant into a single story summarizing his or her experience, and analyzing the content across stories to identify common themes. The major finding of this study was that uncertainty was a significant part of the experience of ALC. This uncertainty was manifest in relation to self-concept, waiting for placement, not knowing about information, not being included in planning, lack of mobility, and lack of meaningful activity. The study findings have implications for strategies to manage uncertainty in the areas of practice, policy, education, and research in order to improve the experience of older patients and their family caregivers.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1985 S335 / Master of Science

In the global, competitive market of energy transformation, increased operational expenses and depletion of raw materials have resulted in companies pursuing alternate materials to reduce consumer costs. In electrical applications, energy is transformed using materials with high electrical conductive properties. The conductive material used to transmit a signal is called conductor wire and is comprised of any material that has the ability to move charged particles from one point to another without propagation or delay. The conductor wire in many applications is encapsulated in epoxy resin called enamel. The enamel is the insulation system that provides necessary dielectric clearances to prevent voltage leakage. The most common form of energy transformation is the electric motor. Both copper and aluminum conductor wire are commonly used in electric motors, but copper is preferred due to thermal and electrical properties. However, there is a significant economic incentive to convert to aluminum conductor wire. Limited white papers are available comparing the performances of the two materials; the research is limited to physical and electrical performances of the raw material and does not take into considering the insulation. The conductor wire, which includes the insulation, is susceptible to damage during the manufacturing process and is an inherent risk if not fully understood. During the blocking process, the conductor wire is pushed and compressed into lamination slots. This process changes the conductor wire outer diameter to accommodate void spaces within the lamination slots. The percentage of slot area occupied by the conductor wire is known as slot fill. The higher the slot fill, the more wire occupying the available space. The higher the slot fill, the more force required to fill the slots. High slot fill motor designs provide a performance advantage with little associated cost. The more wire pressed into the slot, the higher the potential efficiency gains. However, high slot fill motors are more susceptible to damage. The study is designed to evaluate and measure the durability of aluminum and copper conductor wire under simulated compression stresses. Utilizing this information, electric motor manufacturers can push current design limits without affecting conductor wire quality and reliability.

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) crop has an important role to attend the food demand of a growing world population, and the production increment will come not just from increasing efficiency in the current cropland, but also from expansion to new areas. The tropical lowland plains of northern Brazil are already being converted to rice production, although the lack of scientific knowledge and agricultural practices suited local conditions. This region presents soils with weathered clays with distinct properties from those grown in traditional rice regions, and deploying agricultural practices developed to others agroecosystem lead to instable crop yield inadequate uses of agricultural inputs. Water is the greatest resource that rice crop relies on, and worldwide continuous flooding is broadly used. Alternative irrigations regimes with purpose to save water have been proposed due the threatens of water scarcity, and promising results stimulate this approach, despite grain yield penalties due drought stress and/or decrease of soil N availability. The soil moisture and oxygen amount interfere on nitrogen dynamics, thus can enhance loss process and change crop response to N fertilizer. In tropical lowland region of Brazil water and nitrogen are limited and continuous flooding irrigation is not sustainable due huge water amount used associated to low grain yields. Therefore, this research was performed aiming an integrated assessment of irrigation regimes, nitrogen use and crop performance in rice crop in Brazilian tropical lowland. The field experiment was done during three years in a Plinthaquults soil at Tocantins. The first stage was aimed to identify the irrigation regime which provides the best water use efficiency (WUE), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and crop performance with indigenous N soil supply and nitrogen fertilizer. The second stage compared the best observed irrigation regime to continuous flooding, and the nitrogen relationship to crop components along their development and harvest. The first experiment was a split-plot design with 5 irrigation regime (IR) in main plot: alternate wet and dry in short cycle (AWDS); alternate wet and dry in long cycle (AWDL); Continuous flooding (CF); Non-flooding aerobic (NF); saturated soil without ponding water (SS). And subplot was N fertilizer rate: 0 and 150 kg ha-1 of N. Crop performance was affected by IR and N level. In the average of three years nitrogen uptake (NU) was 32% higher in NF than any other irrigation regime. Grain yield across N level was 7.2, 8.8 and 7.5 Mg ha-1 in NF and in CF were 5.6, 8.2 and 6.9 Mg ha-1, respectively in 2014, 2015 and 2016. The isotopic NUE showed total recovery of 81.5 % of 15N in NF and 62, 61, 56, 56% in SS, AWDS, AWDL, CF respectively. The average WUE of delivered water was 0.7 kg grain m-3 in NF, and 0.47, 0.40, 0.35, 0.32 kg grain m-3 water in SS, AWDS, AWDL and CF, respectively. The second experiment was a split-plot design with: continuous flooding (CF) and non- flooding aerobic (NF) in the main plot and fertilizer nitrogen (0, 50, 150 and 250 kg ha-1) in the subplot during the 2014, 2015 and 2016. Biomass (AGB) nitrogen uptake (NU) and leaf area index (LAI) were observed along crop development in the 0 and 150 subplots in 2015 and 2016 growing seasons. As was the relationship between AGB, NU, panicle density (PD), spikelet number (NS) and grain yield (GY) at physiological maturity. The aerobic rice provided higher NU throughout rice development and LAI equal or superior to CF. At harvesting, NU and PD had different relationships to N rates among CF and NF, with NF showing 18% higher NU as 27% PD higher than CF across years and N rate. The grain GY relationship to N rates was also distinct in 2014 and 2015, and GY across N rates in NF was 20% and 12% higher than CF for 2014 and 2015, respectively. This research concludes for such agroecosystem, as long there is no drought stress, rice crop in non-flooding aerobic irrigation regime performs higher efficiency of water and N use, and moreover presents better overall crop performance with less need to nitrogen fertilizer than traditional continuous flooding or any other water saving irrigation regime. / A cultura do arroz (Oryza sativa L.) tem importante papel em fornecer alimento à crescente população mundial, e o incremento da produção virá não só do ganho de eficiência de áreas em uso, mas também da incorporação de novas áreas. As planícies tropicais do norte do Brasil já estão sendo convertidas para cultivo de arroz, apesar da falta de conhecimento científico e práticas agrícolas apropriadas às condições locais. Essa região apresenta solos com minerais de argila intemperizados e propriedades distintas daqueles de regiões tradicionais de cultivo, e a transferência das práticas agrícolas desenvolvidas para outros agroecossistemas têm resultado em produtividades variáveis e uso inadequado de insumos. A água é principal recurso no cultivo do arroz, e a irrigação com inundação constante é largamente disseminada pelo mundo. Regimes alternativos de irrigação a fim de economizar agua tem sido propostos em razão da ameaça de escassez de água, e resultados promissores estimulam a disseminação dessa técnica, apesar de prejuízos à produtividade em razão do estresse por seca e/ou menor disponibilidade de nitrogênio (N) do solo. A umidade do solo e a quantidade de oxigênio interferem na dinâmica de N e podem favorecer processos de perdas e alterar a resposta do cultivo à adubação nitrogenada. Nas planícies tropicais do Brasil a disponibilidade de água e N são limitadas, e a inundação contínua não é sustentável em razão da quantidade de agua requerida associada a baixa produtividade da cultura. Portanto, esta pesquisa foi realizada com o objetivo de estudar de forma integrada o regime de irrigação e o uso de N, e performance da cultura em várzea tropical. O experimento foi realizado durante três anos em Plintossolo no estado do Tocantins. Na primeira etapa da pesquisa procurou-se identificar o regime de irrigação que proporciona maior eficiência de uso da água (WUE), eficiência de uso de nitrogênio (NUE) e performance de cultivo com N nativo do solo e quando aplicado N fertilizante. Na segunda fase comparou-se o regime de irrigação que proporcionou melhores índices de eficiência de água e N ao regime de lâmina contínua com a hipótese que a relação entre aplicação de fertilizante N e componentes de produção seriam diferentes entre os regimes. Na primeira fase adotou-se delineamento de parcela subdividida com 5 regimes de irrigação (IR): lâmina alternada de inundação e drenagem em ciclo curto (AWDS); lâmina alternada de inundação e drenagem em ciclo longo (AWDL); lâmina contínua (CF); sem formação de lâmina e solo aeróbico (NF); e sem formação de lâmina e solo saturado (SS). Nas subparcelas avaliou-se as doses de N fertilizante: 0 e 150 kg ha-1. A performance de cultivo foi afetada pelo IR e dose de N. Na média dos 3 anos, o acúmulo de nitrogênio na parte aérea (NU) foi 32% maior em NF do que em todos os outros regimes de irrigação. A produtividade de grãos média entre as duas doses de N foi 7,2, 8,8 e 7,5 Mg ha-1 em NF e 5,6, 8,2, 6,9 Mg ha-1 in CF, respectivamente em 2014, 2015 e 2016. A NUE foi de 81,5% de recuperação de 15N em NF e 62, 61, 56 e 26% em SS, AWDS, AWDL e CF, respectivamente. A média de WUE em relação a água aplicada foi 0,7 kg grão m-3 em NF e 0,47, 0,40, 0,35, 0,32 kg grão m-3 água em SS, AWDS, AWDL e CF, respectivamente. Na segunda fase adotou-se o delineamento experimental de parcelas subdivididas com inundação contínua (CF) e sem formação de lâmina e solo aeróbico (NF) na parcela principal e aplicação de N fertilizante (0, 50, 150, 250 kg ha-1) nas safras 2014, 2015, 2016. Biomassa (AGB) acúmulo de nitrogênio (NU) e índice de área foliar (LAI) foram avaliados ao longo do desenvolvimento da cultura nas doses de 0 e 150 kg ha-1 nas safras de 2015 e 2016. Assim como a relação entre AGB, NU densidade de panícula (PD), número de espiguetas (NS) e produtividade de grãos (GY) na maturidade fisiológica A condição aeróbica proporcionou maior NU ao longo do desenvolvimento e LAI maior ou igual a CF. Na colheita, NU e PD tiveram diferentes repostas ao nitrogênio fertilizante quando em NF ou CF, mostrando NU 18% maior em NF assim como PD 27%maior em NF do que em CF na média de anos e dose de N. A resposta da GY ao nitrogênio fertilizante também foi diferente quando em NF ou CF, e na médias de dose de N fertilizante, NF proporcionou produtividade 20% e 12% maior do que CF em 2014 e 2015, respectivamente. Conclui-se nessa pesquisa que nesse agroecossistema, desde de que que não ocorra estresse por seca, o arroz cultivado em sistema de irrigação sem formação de lâmina e solo aeróbico é mais eficiente no uso de água e nitrogênio. E ainda, com melhor desempenho de produtividade e menor dependência de N fertilizante em comparação ao cultivado em lâmina contínua ou qualquer outro regime alternativo que economize água.