A new methodology has been developed to model the viscoelastic behavior of solids using a general spectrum function. Not all materials can be modeled using simple Kelvin-Voigt (K-V) or Maxwell elements where the viscoelastic parameters are constants. There is a need for a general spectrum function that can be used to model the Lame' functions which constitute all properties of interest. Thus far, there is no method like the one presented in this study that can determine the moduli of viscoelastic materials. This study develops a methodology by which the time dependent properties of homogeneous and non-homogeneous materials may be modeled. Once the Lame' functions are determined, the Principle of Correspondence is applied to the elastic equations to determine the necessary properties. In uniaxial tension the time dependent strain, modulus, Poisson's ratio, and compliance are determined. The time dependent deflection is determined for beams in flexure. Where applicable, parameters determined from the analytical model are compared to the available experimental data. Good agreements are found between the analytical and experimental data sets.

No description available.

No description available.

This study presents the results from the first-ever correspondence test to study hiring discrimination against disabled individuals in the Swedish labor market. Fictitious applications (N = 768) were sent to employers posting cleaner jobs on the Swedish Public Employment Service.The findings in this thesis suggest that disabled applicants are being discriminated against when applying for cleaning jobs in the Swedish labor market. Disabled applicants were less likely to receive a positive employer response than non-disabled applicants, which was evident for both male and female applicants. Moreover, the findings also suggest that non-disabled male applicants were less likely to receive positive employer responses than disabled female applicants, indicating that male applicants are especially subject to discrimination when applying for cleaning jobs in the Swedish labor market. These findings imply that the labor market policy Samhall fail to fulfill its goal of improving the chances of disabled individuals entering the regular labor market.

Since Hecke first proved his correspondence between Dirichlet series with functional equations and automorphic forms, there have been a great number of generalizations. Of particular interest is a generalization due to Bochner that gives a correspondence between Dirichlet series with any finite number of poles that satisfy the classical functional equation and automorphic integrals with (finite) log-polynomial sum period functions. In this dissertation, we extend Bochner's result to Dirichlet series with finitely many essential singularities. With some restrictions on the underlying group and the weight, we also prove a correspondence for Dirichlet series with infinitely many poles. For this second correspondence, we provide a technique to approximate automorphic integrals with infinite log-polynomial sum period functions by automorphic integrals with finite log-polynomial period functions. / Mathematics

No description available.

The concept of efficiency measurement is based on the definition of a frontier that envelopes observed production plans. The effect of pollution on productive efficiency is typically studied by considering pollution as not freely disposable (i.e., there is a cost incurred to dispose of pollution) or by assigning shadow prices to pollution outputs. However, the frontier along with the required technological assumptions (such as convexity) needed for a definition of a frontier may be replaced with the concept of pair-wise dominance. With data from a manufacturing facility, the use of pair-wise dominance allows one to consider a wide spectrum of inputs and outputs. Pair-wise dominance can also be applied to segregate production plans into sets according to their relative environmental performance and productive efficiency. These sets are used to identify reference production plans upon which distance-based measures of performance are defined. This research applies pair-wise dominance to time series data from a printed circuit board manufacturing facility to illustrate the approach. The proposed approach is compared to the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. It was observed that for detailed production data the proposed approach was more informative concerning the measurement of productive efficiency than the standard methods. / Ph. D.

Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) is a new area in modern applied statistics that provides data analysts with an efficient tool for discovering promising models and obtaining esti-mates of their posterior probabilities via Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). These probabilities can be further used as weights for model averaged predictions and estimates of the parameters of interest. As a result, variance components due to model selection are estimated and accounted for, contrary to the practice of conventional data analysis (such as, for example, stepwise model selection). In addition, variable activation probabilities can be obtained for each variable of interest. This dissertation is aimed at connecting BMA and various ramifications of the multivari-ate technique called Reduced-Rank Regression (RRR). In particular, we are concerned with Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) in ecological applications where the data are represented by a site by species abundance matrix with site-specific covariates. Our goal is to incorporate the multivariate techniques, such as Redundancy Analysis and Ca-nonical Correspondence Analysis into the general machinery of BMA, taking into account such complicating phenomena as outliers and clustering of observations within a single data-analysis strategy. Traditional implementations of model averaging are concerned with selection of variables. We extend the methodology of BMA to selection of subgroups of observations and im-plement several approaches to cluster and outlier analysis in the context of the multivari-ate regression model. The proposed algorithm of cluster analysis can accommodate re-strictions on the resulting partition of observations when some of them form sub-clusters that have to be preserved when larger clusters are formed. / Ph. D.

The elements of production typewriting, including production time and production quality, for the first-time typing of business letters originated by machine dictation and longhand and typed on correcting electric and text-editing typewriters, were analyzed. Students typed four business letters, one under each of four conditions: on the correcting electric from machine dictation, on the text-editing from machine dictation, on the correcting electric from longhand, and on· the text-editing from longhand. Analyses were done for the elements of production time and for the elements of production quality. A two-factor ANOVA in a randomized block design was used to analyze the data for types of equipment when methods of origination were pooled and for methods of origination when types of equipment were pooled. When types of equipment and methods of origination were examined separately, the model was a randomized block design. Analyses of the elements of production time showed that (1) students took longer to produce copy when they typed on the text-editing typewriter than when they typed on the correcting electric typewriter and (2) students took longer to produce copy when they transcribed from machine dictation than when they transcribed from longhand. Analyses of the elements of production quality showed that students made more errors when they transcribed from machine dictation than when they transcribed from longhand. / Ed. D.

The study investigated business letter writing problems within the banking profession. It identified difficulties in letter writing aspects that bankers perceive; and it investigated the relationship of those perceived difficulties to assessed deficiency aspects in letters the bankers had written. A literature review revealed studies that addressed origination of business letters. These studies typically utilized either a survey of groups involved with writing or an analysis of completed letters. This raised the question of possible outcomes in combining the two approaches within a work setting. A Q-sort technique was used to determine perceptions of 15 branch location bankers concerning difficulty of 40 composition and 40 technical letter writing aspects. The bankers ranked the following composition aspects highest in difficulty: legalese; persuasion techniques; refusal conveyance; unfavorable news conveyance; conflict resolution; and direct versus indirect approach. They ranked the following technical aspects highest in difficulty: infinitives (split); sentence syntax; antecedents of pronouns; wordiness (excessive); dangling participles; and preposition usage. The bankers answered a survey concerning their access to training and instruction in business letter writing. Each banker submitted four recently originated business letters. Composition aspect deficiencies within bankers' submitted letters were assessed by a panel of post secondary business communication instructors. Combined grammar-checking software and researcher screening determined deficiencies for technical aspects of the letters. A total of 900 non-repetitive deficiencies were assessed in the 60 letters submitted -- an average of 15 per letter. comparative percentile rankings showed that perceived difficulties differed most from existing deficiencies in the following aspects: composition -- (perceived difficulties greater) refusal conveyance and euphemisms, (assessed deficiencies greater) sentence construction and letter organizing/structuring; technical -- (perceived difficulties greater) split infinitives and dangling participles, (assessed deficiencies greater) spelling and pronoun usage. / Ed. D.