The global sustainable development has been marked by the United Nations plans for more than two decades. These plans have been adopted by most of the developed and developing countries to achieve the 2030 Agenda, currently formed by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Governments and policy-makers cannot make conscious decisions regarding sustainability progress without knowledge about how well the country is performing this path. This study assessed the evolution of each SDG in Spain through their indicators and whether correlation and dependency between the stated targets exist. Goals 1, 2, 6, 8 and 11 were the less evolved, those which were undergoing a slower process or a negative evolution over the years. The correlation analysis delivered a quick guide of relationships amidst targets to help the appropriate ministries to make prompt decisions knowing which fields will be affected largely. Goal 3 (Good health and well-being) was strongly linked with indicators from Goal 4 (Quality education) and also Goal 6 (Clean water and sanitation). Furthermore, indicators from Goal 7 (Affordable and clean energy) shared a high correlation with the ones from Goal 12 (Responsible consumption and production) and Goal 15 (Life on land). All together obtained 60% share of positive interactions and almost 80% of significant interplays between the targets. Correlation does not imply causality, so multiple linear regression analysis set true numerical relationships and revealed how to enhance certain targets by leveraging others. Less developed indicator was taken as dependent variables and the final independent ones were defined using shrinkage methods. The procedure to reach these expressions could be used to establish the dependency between other relevant indicators and getting the assessment of the performance of this country afterwards. / Den globala hållbara utvecklingen har präglats av FN:s planer i mer än två decennier. Dessa planer har antagits av de flesta av de utvecklade länderna och utvecklingsländerna för att uppnå agenda 2030, som för närvarande bildas av de 17 globala målen för hållbar utveckling (SDG). Regeringar och beslutsfattare kan inte fatta medvetna beslut om hållbarhetsframsteg utan kunskap om hur väl landet presterar denna väg. Denna studie undersökte utvecklingen av varje SDG i Spanien genom deras indikatorer och huruvida korrelation och beroende finns mellan de angivna målen. Mål 1, 2, 6, 8 och 11 var de mindre utvecklade. De genomgick en långsammare process eller hade negativ utveckling under åren. Korrelationsanalysen levererade en snabb guide över relationer förhållandet bland mål för att hjälpa de berörda ministerierna att fatta snabba beslut om att veta vilka områden som i hög grad kommer att påverkas. Mål 3 (God hälsa och välbefinnande) var starkt kopplat till indikatorer från mål 4 (Kvalitetsutbildning) och även mål 6 (Rent vatten och sanitet). Dessutom hade indikatorer från mål 7 (prisvärd och ren energi) en hög korrelation med indikatorer från mål 12 (Ansvarsfull konsumtion och produktion) och mål 15 (Liv på land). Tillsammans erhöll 60% positiva interaktioner och nästan 80% betydande samspel mellan målen. Korrelation innebär inte orsakssamband, så flera linjära regressionsanalyser satte riktiga numeriska förhållanden och avslöjade hur man kan förbättra vissa mål genom att utnyttja andra. Mindre utvecklade indikatorer togs som beroende variabler och de slutliga oberoende variablerna definierades med krympningsmetoder. Tillvägagångssättet för att nå dessa uttryck kan användas för att fastställa beroendet mellan andra relevanta indikatorer och få en utvärdering av landets resultat.

The purpose of this study was to survey the levels of job satisfaction among full-time faculty members at a selected Mississippi community college using the constructs of Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory as defined by Wood (1973). The researcher used Wood’s 1976 refined Faculty Job Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction Scale to discover the participants’ levels of total job satisfaction; to discover the participants’ levels of overall job satisfaction; to compare the means of total job satisfaction factors to the mean of total job satisfaction; and to examine the correlation of the faculty’s mean responses to the total job satisfaction individual questions to the mean of the overall job satisfaction. The target population of this study was all full-time faculty at a Mississippi community college. The population consisted of 152 full-time faculty members. The findings of the survey indicated that the 85 participants were moderately satisfied with their jobs. The survey was designed to incorporate 2 treatments to ask the respondents to answer questions about job satisfaction. The participants chose a higher value on the Likert scale when asked the single question relating to overall job satisfaction. When the information was broken down into factors, the participants rated their job satisfaction lower. The Wilcoxon results stated the 2 treatments were significant at alpha level .05, and the null hypothesis was rejected, meaning there was a difference in the responses with two treatments of surveying respondents.

The Wilcox Group includes the most abundant lignite bearing strata in Mississippi. Currently, the only lignite mine in Mississippi is located in Choctaw County with a proposed mine in Kemper County. Six lignite seams are currently mined in Choctaw County. One of those seams is believed to be continuous, from SE Choctaw County through central Winston County, NE Neshoba County into SW Kemper County (roughly 50 miles). Establishing a cross section from Choctaw to Kemper County verifying a continuous lignite seam would provide a stratigraphic marker horizon in correlation along strike, which is uncommon in the Wilcox Group sediments. Through observation of over 60 geophysical logs from test wells along strike, SEM and petrographic microscopy, the lignite seam was verified as being continuous from the mine in Choctaw County to the new proposed site in Kemper County and should be used as stratigraphic marker horizon for correlation along strike.

Wood products tend to have a very large variability resulting in over design of engineered products. A relatively new structural composite wood material, Parallel Strand Lumber (PSL) has been introduced with the expectation to reduce the inherent biological variation wood products tend to have between specimens and species. A probabilistic approach is being taken to model effective properties, strain, and strength of PSL. Biological variation of grain angle, effective properties, biological defects such as voids, strand dimensions, and constitutive species composing each PSL member were taken into account. Methods will be used to verify experimental results for the ultimate stress or maximum stress, modulus of elasticity, lengthwise variability, and stress-strain behavior of Parallel Strand Lumber made from southern yellow pine. Experimental compression data is measured from 64 A specimens with the dimensions 1.10 in x 1.10 in x 3.25 in and 162 B specimens with the dimensions 1.55 in x 1.55 in x 5.00 in. This data yields compression modulus of elasticity values of 1840 ksi with a standard deviation of 300 ksi for the A specimens and 1860 ksi with a standard deviation of 400 ksi for the B specimens. The ultimate stress at failure of the A specimens is 7.71 ksi with a standard deviation of 1.09 ksi and the ultimate stress at failure of the B specimens is 8.97 ksi with a standard deviation of 1.02 ksi. Experimental bending data is measured from 1 A specimen with the dimensions 5.25 in x 5.25 in x 192 in and 9 B specimens with the dimensions 1.55 in x 1.55 in x 96 in. These experiments yield edgewise modulus of elasticity values in bending of 1775 ksi with a standard deviation of 25 ksi for the A specimen and 1648 ksi with a standard deviation of 150 ksi for the B specimens.

No description available.

Better understanding the relationship between the results for the U.S. House of Representatives and for state executive offices could potentially be useful in predicting outcomes if a significant relationship is present and if one has more information about either the election for the U.S. House of Representatives candidate or the state executive office candidate. To better understand this relationship, election results were analyzed using regression models for three upper Midwest states - Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota - to compare the outcomes of the state executive office elections and the U.S. House of Representative elections. Additionally, median income was included in the models to see if this affected the relationship. Each state had a statistically significant relationship between the results of the state executive offices and the U.S. House of Representatives. Median income either was not statistically significant or not practically significant in overall effect on the relationship.

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a type of radar capable of high-resolution coherent imaging. In order to produce coherent imagery from raw SAR data, an image formation algorithm is employed. The various image formation algorithms have strengths and weaknesses. As this work shows, time-domain backprojection is one algorithm whose strengths are particularly well-suited to use at low-altitudes. This work presents novel research in three areas regarding time-domain backprojection. The first key contribution of this work is a detailed analysis of SAR time-domain backprojection. The work derives a general form of backprojection from first principles. It characterizes the sensitivities of backprojection to the various inputs as well as error sources and performance characteristics. This work then shows what situations are particularly well-suited to use of the backprojection algorithm, namely regimes with turbulent motion and wide variation in incidence angle across the range swath (e.g., low-altitude, airborne SAR).The second contribution of this work is an analysis of geometric signal correlation for multi-static, sometimes termed multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO), imaging. Multi-static imaging involves forming multiple images using different combinations of transmitters and receivers. Geometric correlation is a measure of how alike observations of a target are from different aspect angles. This work provides a novel model for geometric correlation which may be used to determine the degree to which multi-static images are correlated. This in turn determines their applicable use: operating in the highly correlated regime is desirable for coherent processing whereas operating in a lower-correlation regime is desirable for obtaining independent looks. The final contribution of this work is a novel algorithm for interferometry based on backprojected data. Because of the way backprojected images are formed, they are less suited to traditional interferometric methods. This work derives backprojection interferometry and compares it to the traditional method of interferometry. The sensitivity and performance of backprojection interferometry are shown, as well as where backprojection interferometry offers superior results. This work finds that backprojection interferometry performs better with longer interferometric baseline lengths or systems with large measurement error in the baseline length or angle (e.g., low-altitude, airborne SAR).

Modeling of plasticity is often hampered by the difficulty in accurately characterizing dislocationdensity on the microscale for real samples. It is particularly difficult to resolve measureddislocation content onto individual dislocation systems at the length scales most commonly of interestin plasticity studies. Traditionally, dislocation content is analyzed at the continuum levelusing the Nye tensor and the fundamental relation of continuum dislocation theory to interpret informationmeasured by diffraction techniques, typically EBSD or High Resolution EBSD. In thiswork the established Nye-Kroner method for resolving measured geometrically necessary dislocationcontent onto individual slip systems is assessed and extended. Two new methods are alsopresented to relieve the ambiguity of the Nye-Kroner method. One of these methods uses modifiedclassical dislocation equations to bypass the Nye-Kroner relation, and the other estimates the bulkdislocation density via the entry-wise one-norm of the Nye tensor. These methods are validatedvia a novel simulation of distortion fields around continuum fields of dislocation density based onclassical lattice mechanics and then applied to actual HR-EBSD scans of a micro-indented singlecrystals of nickel and tantalum. Finally, a detailed analysis of the effect of the spacing betweenpoints in an EBSD scan (which is related to the step size of the numerical derivatives used in EBSDdislocation microscopy) on geometrically necessary dislocation measurements is conducted.

The global positioning system (GPS) makes use of extremely accurate measures of the time to determine position. The times required for electronic signals to travel at the speed of light from at least four orbiting satellites to a receiver on earth is measured precisely and used to calculate the distances from the satellites to the receiver. The calculated distances are used to determine the position of the receiver through triangulation. This research takes an approach opposite the original GPS research, focusing on the use of position to determine the time at which events occur. Specifically, this work addresses the question: Can the information pertaining to position and speed contained in a GPS record be used to autonomously identify the times at which critical events occur within a production cycle? The research question was answered by determining the hardware needs for collecting the desired data in a useable format an developing a unique data collection tool to meet those needs. The tool was field evaluated and the data collected was used to determine the software needs for automated reduction of the data to the times at which key events occurred. The software tools were developed in the form of Time Identification Modules (TIMs). The TIMs were used to reduce data collected from a load and haul earthmoving operation to duration measures for the load, haul, dump, and return activities. The value of the developed system was demonstrated by investigating correlations between performance times in construction operations and by using field data to verify the results obtained from productivity estimating tools. Use of the system was shown to improve knowledge and provide additional insight into operations analysis studies. / Ph. D.

<p> The theory of canonical correlation analysis has been combined with that of trend surface analysis in order to construct a multivariate trend surface which is called a canonical trend surface. </p> <p> A canonical trend surface is a parsimonious summarization of areal variations of a set of geological variates. This trend has a property of maximum correlation between variates and geographic coordinates. It does not show the absolute value of each variate, but it shows the nature of the variation of a linear combination of the variates. The Permian system in western Kansas and eastern Colorado was studied as a numerical example to illustrate the general procedures in solving practical problems and also to demonstrate the validity of this technique. By use of this type of trend it is possible to reveal the underlying pattern of geographic variation common to a set of variates. </p> <p> Other applications of canonical correlation analysis in geology have been explained with illustrative geological examples, namely: the relationships between two sets of variates, matching two factor patterns, Q-technique canonical correlation, and discriminatory analysis. </p> <p> Comparison of canonical correlation analysis and principal factor solution in factor analysis suggests that factor analysis may be more appropriate for suggesting interrelationships among variables, while canonical correlation analysis may be a suitable tool for prediction problems. </p> <p> FORTRAN IV programs for these computations are listed in appendices with instructions for using them. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)