This study explored the relationship of epistemological beliefs, academic self-efficacy, and passage comprehension. Seventy-five community college students were asked to complete a series of in-class questionnaires, these students were asked to be as honest as possible to enhance future teaching styles. The final sample consisted of fifty three students. Nothing of statically significance was found. Student participation and cooperation are in question, as well as the psychometricity of the measures themselves. Thus, the results are inconclusive and do not give support for the hypotheses. It is advised for future research that the sample size be enlarged, a longer reading passage be selected and a other measures be utilized. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Counseling, Educational and School Psychology. / "December 2006."

Adhesively bonded composite joints are widely used in modern lightweight flight and space vehicle structures and will be widely used in the next generation aircrafts such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Joint Strike Fighters (JSF). Designing of adhesively bonded composite joints is a challenging task as the characteristics of the composite laminate adherends have an effect on their performance. Wide use of composite materials is attributed to their superior properties such as high specific stiffness, excellent fatigue properties as well as resistance to environmental conditions. Although they possess such superior properties, their relatively low through thickness strength and susceptibility to impact have a significant concernpreventing designer from using in areas which are prone to impact damage. In this experimental study, impact testing was done on adhesively bonded composite laminates. Hysol EA 9394 was the adhesive used for bonding the composite laminates. Glass/Epoxy, Carbon Plain Weave/Epoxy and Carbon Unitape/Epoxy were the composite laminate adherends used for the formation of the lap joint. Quasi-isotropic laypup sequence was used for manufacture of the composite adherends. Lap joints formed using the above said adherends were impacted at the center of the joint using an Instron Dynatup drop tower with impactors of different diameters as well as with different energy levels. The impacted specimens were then non-destructively inspected using through transmission ultrasonic C-scan. Residual indendation on the impacted specimen is also recorded. Impact force, total energy absorbed, duration of impact and impactor displacement were the important parameters which were used to quantify impact response of the adhesively bonded composite joints. In addition to the above said parameters, damage area obtained from through transmission ultrasonic C-scanning was also used to quantify the impact response of the adhesively bonded composite joints. Residual indentation measurement combining with visual inspection was made use for preliminary damage detection. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering / "December 2006."

Unmanned aerial vehicles are high in demand for various purposes such as surveillance and reconnaissance in military applications. They are also widely used for civilian applications in fire monitoring and analysis, coffee harvest optimization, irrigation, crop management and other applications. Damage to UAVs is common due to the absence of an onboard pilot. One of the steps involved in reducing damage to UAVs is protecting the rotors from damage during collision with obstacles. In this thesis the design and development of a protective shroud for a quadrotor vehicle which will enable it to continue flight even after collisions with obstacles has been achieved .The shroud will protect the rotors from any kind of damage during collisions with obstacles during flight. Work has been done on the development of Differential Global Positioning System for position control of the quadrotor vehicle. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering / "December 2006."

Osteoarthritis is a common type of arthritis that breaks down the joint tissue, known as cartilage. This causes the bones to rub against each other, causing pain and loss of movement especially in weight-bearing joints in the knees, hips, feet and the back. In recent years, synovial fluid therapy is often used in patients with Osteoarthritis, where the fluid is directly injected into the tissue which acts as a lubricant in the joint. The fluid is based on Hyaluronan (HA), a pure solution of sodium hyaluronate and is a natural constituent of the human body. This study deals with the simulation and analysis of the Fluid Therapy and an aim to optimize the procedure as a function of characteristics and also disease stage. The tissue or cartilage has been modeled as biphasic and the simulation has been done using Fluid-Structure interaction using Sysnoise, commercially available FEM software. Different case studies related to cartilage damage have been analyzed and the results have been compared with the actual therapeutic procedure of fluid therapy. The results are provided in terms of the fluid velocity that helps the fluid to void the space inside the cartilage or the synovial joint. During actual fluid therapy, the fluid is expected to void between a period of 7 – 14 days, which is why the injections are give either weekly or biweekly. Results show that few patients, suffering from arthritis, can experience relief for a period of up to six months with the help of fluid therapy, with appropriate quantity of fluid and the concentration of HA in the fluid among other conditions. The present work provides an opportunity to optimize the fluid therapy procedure based on parameters, such as fluid volume and its thermophysical properties. Results from the study indicate that treatment can be custom designed by considering the concentration of HA in the synovial fluid injection, its viscosity, the weight and condition of the patient and the stage of the disease. With fluid therapy being considered increasingly, optimization procedure would be of valuable medical help and of substantial economic benefit to patients. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering / "December 2006."

In many practical manufacturing environments, setups consume a significant amount of industrial resources. Therefore, reducing setups in a non-identical parallel machine environment will significantly enhance a company's performance level. In this thesis, the problem of minimizing total completion time with load balancing and sequence-dependent setups in a non-identical parallel machine environment was studied. A mathematical model for minimizing total completion time with a workload-balancing constraint is presented. Since this problem is an NP-hard problem, some simple heuristics and a genetic algorithm were developed for efficient scheduling of resources. Both were tested on random data. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering / "December 2006."

This thesis involves proposing an efficient algorithm, which takes into consideration the NALU (Network abstraction Layer Unit) and tries to improve the H.264 codec performance over a network. Along with the bandwidth instabilities in the Internet and other issues like the packet drop cause the video frames to be dropped, which makes the video, appear distorted. The main idea behind the algorithm is to vary the bitrate by varying the Quantization parameter, both of which are stored in the reference table. The reference table is calculated based on the analysis of the sequences of different video clips. By changing the bitrate based on the bandwidth available the codec performs better and produces good results of (Signal to Noise Ratio)SNR. The research is based on the development of the reference table which when referred helps to change the quantization parameter of the codec for coding a Group of Frames in a video by periodically checking the network statistics. At the cost of reduction in the resolution due to the network conditions the video frame drop is avoided which helps improve the video quality at the decoder.. The entire simulations for this research were carried out using the JM Reference Software H.264 Encoder and decoder Version JM 10.2. Packet drop was simulated by dropping the individual NAL units from the video stream. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering / "December 2006."

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of dents on the fatigue properties of 0.04 inch thick 2024-T3 bare aluminum sheet, which is the most widely used material for aircraft skin. The study is divided into two parts. The first part (Part I) is a study on the effect of dents on the fatigue life of the material, while the second part (Part II) is a study on the effect of dents on crack growth in the material. The test specimens were either pristine (no dents), dented or reworked. For Part I, the dented and reworked specimens were divided into two groups, depending on the dent depth ranges. The dent depths for each of these two groups ranged from 0.030” to 0.0335” and 0.0605” to 0.065”. Dents were produced with a drop tower having a 0.5 inch spherical hardened steel indenter head. The fatigue life of the material in these three conditions was determined experimentally. Constant amplitude fatigue tests were conducted according to ASTM-466 with a single stress level and a single frequency for the fatigue cycle. The results were then compared to determine the effect of dents and the reworking of dents on the fatigue life of the material. Results of the study indicate that the fatigue life of a dented specimen is significantly less than that of the pristine and the reworked specimens. The study also showed that the fatigue life decreases as the dent depth increases in the dented specimens. Statistical analysis of the results showed that there is no significant difference in the fatigue life between the reworked population and the pristine population of specimens, while reworking considerably improves the fatigue life of the dented material. For Part II, the specimens are again either pristine dented or reworked. The edgecracked pin-loaded specimens of 8” in width were tested at constant amplitude loading with a stress ratio of 0.2 producing stable crack growth of close to 4 inches completely through two dents on the crack line. Dents were produced the same as described for Part I. Dent depths ranged from 0.03” to 0.0325” measured on the convex side of the specimen. A starter notch of 0.3” was produced at the edge of the specimen with a jeweler’s saw blade. The specimen was fatigue loaded under constant amplitude loading to produce an initial crack length of 0.37” t which time readings of crack length vs. cycles began. The same constant amplitude cyclic loading used to produce the initial crack length was used during the testing. The crack lengths were measured with an optical microscope at 160X magnification. Nine specimens were tested including three replications for each of the three conditions. Crack growth data is given in both tabular and graphical form for all specimens. Crack growth rate data is also presented in graphical form. The overall crack growth in the dented specimens was significantly greater than in the pristine specimens. It was also, on the average, faster in the reworked specimens however, reworking, in general, did not recapture the life displayed by the pristine specimens. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering / "December 2006."

The gender pay-gap in the government sector was investigated in this paper using the March 2006 Current Population Survey (CPS), Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASES). The data was analyzed using statistical techniques of a comparison of group means using a 2-tailed t-test, an analysis of variance, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, and partitioning of variance. The main findings from this study are that individual’s income increases with age, education, working in occupations with high prestige, and working at the federal level. The findings also showed that women are sorted into lower paying occupations and earn less income than men. It was concluded that women are not financial equals to men at any level of the government: federal, state, or local. / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Sociology / "December 2006."

Polymer matrix composites were coated with metals, alloys and intermetallic compounds using the thermal spray coating technology. Air plasma spraying and flame spraying were the two spraying techniques primarily used during this entire study. Coatings were sprayed with two configuration; coatings with bond coating and coating without bond coating. Pilot runs were conducted to develop thermal spray process parameters for a two factor study, namely torch power and torch-substrate standoff distance, with other process parameters kept constant. Eventually a process window was established to carry out the final coating runs. Scanning electron microscopy was carried out to determine coating porosity and evaluate the microstructures and mechanical testing was performed to determine the bond strength and the erosion resistance of the coatings due to sand blasting. It is seen that the nickel aluminum intermetallic compound has better erosion resistance and bond strength than the nickel aluminum alloy. It is also seen that the process parameters, torch power and torch-substrate standoff distance do not significantly affect the coating properties. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering / "December 2006."

This study was designed to examine the rates of employment among displaced workers. The model used for this study looked at individual, structural, and gender segment variables that affect employment. The data came from the 2000 Displaced Worker Survey, a supplement of the Current Population Survey. This study found that displaced workers with a college degree were more likely to be employed net of other factors at the individual level. At the structural level, it was found that net of other factors those displaced from a whitecollar high-skill position were almost 60% more likely to be employed than those displaced from blue-collar low-skill position. Women, net of other factors, were found to be less likely compared men to find employment post-displacement. Overall, this study shows a need for increased education and job training among workers. Also, the difference in the rate of employment between men and women show possible discrimination in hiring practices. / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Sociology. / "December 2005."