[pt] A busca por maior eficiência, sistemas confiáveis e redução da pegada de carbono é uma tendência na indústria de Petróleo e Gás (OeG). A Completação Inteligente de Poços (IWC) tornou-se amplamente adotada, e a Válvula de Controlede Influxo/Intervalo (ICV) desempenha um papel significativo no controle da vazão de produção e injeção. A eletrificação dos ativos de OeG, incluindo as ferramentas de IWC, oferece um benefício duplo de aumento dos fatores de recuperação e alinhamento com os esforços globais de descarbonização. Para desenvolver uma ICV Elétrica, é necessário projetar um atuador eletromecânico capaz de operar sob condições desafiadoras e limitações de energia elétrica. Esta dissertação apresenta o projeto e os testes de um atuador eletromecânico em um protótipo de ICV Elétrica em escala real. O desempenho do atuador foi avaliado por meio de uma combinação de modelagem matemática e testes empíricos sob várias condições operacionais, incluindo alta e baixa temperaturas e pressões diferenciais. Os principais resultados desta pesquisa demonstraram que o modelo matemático apoiou efetivamente o design do atuador, com os resultados calculados alinhando-se com os testes funcionais em temperatura ambiente e pressão diferencial zero. / [en] The seek for higher efficiency, reliable systems, and carbon footprint reduction is a trend in the Oil and Gas (OandG) industry. Intelligent Well Completion (IWC) has become a widely adopted and the Inflow/Interval Control Valve (ICV) plays a significant role in controlling production and injection flow rates. Electrification of OandG assets, including the IWC tools, offers a dual benefit of increased recovery factors and alignment with global decarbonization efforts. To develop an Electric ICV, the design of an electromechanical actuator capable of operating under challenging conditions and electrical power limitations is required. This dissertation presents the design and testing of an electromechanical actuator in a full-scale prototype Electric ICV. The actuator s performance was assessed through a combination of mathematical modeling and empirical testing under various operational conditions, including high and low temperatures and differential pressures. Key findings from this research demonstrated that the mathematical model effectively supported the actuator s design, with calculated results aligning closely with functional tests at room temperature and zero differential pressure.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the problem of defaulting of tuberculosis (TB) treatment in the Khomas region of Namibia. A quantitative, descriptive research approach was used to investigate the reasons for defaulting of TB treatment under the DOTS strategy in Khomas Region of Namibia. Data was collected by using a structured interview schedule with 54 participants who were on DOTS strategy and defaulted. Data were analysed by using the Epi info computer program. The major findings from the data obtained, revealed that the respondents did not have an in-depth knowledge of TB and the health education was not successful. This contributed to the defaulting of their treatment. Based on the study findings nurses should improve health education to TB patients on DOTS and also educate members of the community to address the stigmatisation of TB. Recommendations for further improvement in the compliance of TB treatment were made. / Public Health / M.A. (Public Health)

<p>Scheduling a set of jobs over a collection of machines to optimize a certain quality-of-service measure is one of the most important research topics in both computer science theory and practice. In this thesis, we design algorithms that optimize {\em flow-time} (or delay) of jobs for scheduling problems that arise in a wide range of applications. We consider the classical model of unrelated machine scheduling and resolve several long standing open problems; we introduce new models that capture the novel algorithmic challenges in scheduling jobs in data centers or large clusters; we study the effect of selfish behavior in distributed and decentralized environments; we design algorithms that strive to balance the energy consumption and performance. </p><p>The technically interesting aspect of our work is the surprising connections we establish between approximation and online algorithms, economics, game theory, and queuing theory. It is the interplay of ideas from these different areas that lies at the heart of most of the algorithms presented in this thesis.</p><p>The main contributions of the thesis can be placed in one of the following categories.</p><p>1. Classical Unrelated Machine Scheduling: We give the first polygorithmic approximation algorithms for minimizing the average flow-time and minimizing the maximum flow-time in the offline setting. In the online and non-clairvoyant setting, we design the first non-clairvoyant algorithm for minimizing the weighted flow-time in the resource augmentation model. Our work introduces iterated rounding technique for the offline flow-time optimization, and gives the first framework to analyze non-clairvoyant algorithms for unrelated machines.</p><p>2. Polytope Scheduling Problem: To capture the multidimensional nature of the scheduling problems that arise in practice, we introduce Polytope Scheduling Problem (\psp). The \psp problem generalizes almost all classical scheduling models, and also captures hitherto unstudied scheduling problems such as routing multi-commodity flows, routing multicast (video-on-demand) trees, and multi-dimensional resource allocation. We design several competitive algorithms for the \psp problem and its variants for the objectives of minimizing the flow-time and completion time. Our work establishes many interesting connections between scheduling and market equilibrium concepts, fairness and non-clairvoyant scheduling, and queuing theoretic notion of stability and resource augmentation analysis.</p><p>3. Energy Efficient Scheduling: We give the first non-clairvoyant algorithm for minimizing the total flow-time + energy in the online and resource augmentation model for the most general setting of unrelated machines.</p><p>4. Selfish Scheduling: We study the effect of selfish behavior in scheduling and routing problems. We define a fairness index for scheduling policies called {\em bounded stretch}, and show that for the objective of minimizing the average (weighted) completion time, policies with small stretch lead to equilibrium outcomes with small price of anarchy. Our work gives the first linear/ convex programming duality based framework to bound the price of anarchy for general equilibrium concepts such as coarse correlated equilibrium.</p> / Dissertation

This study is a comparison of the verification sales of a self-rating sentence completion method for evaluating marital difficulties and the MMPI validity scales.

To assess psychologically unhealthy Protestant beliefs a Religious Sentence Completion Inventory (RSCI), and scoring Manual, were developed from a pilot study. In the main study 103 undergraduate students were subjects. Interscorer reliability for the RSCI was .83. Results revealed significant positive correlations between the RSCI, and maladjustment validity criteria: a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) total weighted score; and MPI clinical scales 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8; but not validity scale F; for females. Only MMPI scale 6 correlated with the RSCI for males. These data appear to partially support the proposition that whether Protestant beliefs hinder or do not hinder mental health depends upon the particular kind of beliefs a Protestant holds.

College completion is an issue of great concern in the United States, where only 50% of students who start college as freshmen complete a bachelor's degree at that institution within six years. Researchers have studied a variety of factors to understand their relationship to student persistence. Not surprisingly, student characteristics, particularly their academic background prior to entering college, have a tremendous influence on college success. Colleges and universities have little control over student characteristics unless they screen out lesser qualified students during the admissions process, but selectivity is contrary to the push for increased accessibility for under-served groups. As a result, institutions need to better understand the factors that they can control. High-impact educational practices have been shown to improve retention and persistence through increased student engagement. Service-learning, a pedagogical approach that blends meaningful community service and reflection with course content, is a practice that is increasing in popularity, and it has proven beneficial at increasing student learning and engagement. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether participation in service-learning has any influence in the likelihood of degree completion or time to degree and, secondarily, to compare different methods of analysis to determine whether use of more complex models provides better information or more accurate prediction. The population for this study was a large public urban research institution in the mid-Atlantic region, and the sample was the cohort of students who started as first-time, full-time, bachelor's degree-seeking undergraduates in the fall of 2005. Data included demographic and academic characteristics upon matriculation, as well as financial need and aid, academic major, and progress indicators for each of the first six years of enrollment. Cumulative data were analyzed using logistic regression, and year-to-year data were analyzed using discrete-time survival analysis in a structural equation modeling (SEM) framework. Parameter estimates and odds ratios for the predictors in each model were compared. Some similarities were found in the variables that predict degree completion, but there were also some striking differences. The strongest predictors for degree completion were pre-college academic characteristics and strength of academic progress while in college (credits earned and GPA). When analyzed using logistic regression and cross-sectional data, service-learning participation was not a significant predictor for completion, but it did have an effect on completion time for those students who earned a degree within six years. When analyzed longitudinally using discrete-time survival analysis, however, service-learning participation is strongly predictive of degree completion, particularly when credits are earned in the third, fourth, and sixth years of enrollment. In the survival analysis model, service-learning credits earned were also more significant for predicting degree completion than other credits earned. In terms of data analysis, logistic regression was effective at predicting completion, but survival analysis seems to provide a more robust method for studying specific variables that may vary by time.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the problem of defaulting of tuberculosis (TB) treatment in the Khomas region of Namibia. A quantitative, descriptive research approach was used to investigate the reasons for defaulting of TB treatment under the DOTS strategy in Khomas Region of Namibia. Data was collected by using a structured interview schedule with 54 participants who were on DOTS strategy and defaulted. Data were analysed by using the Epi info computer program. The major findings from the data obtained, revealed that the respondents did not have an in-depth knowledge of TB and the health education was not successful. This contributed to the defaulting of their treatment. Based on the study findings nurses should improve health education to TB patients on DOTS and also educate members of the community to address the stigmatisation of TB. Recommendations for further improvement in the compliance of TB treatment were made. / Public Health / M.A. (Public Health)

This work focuses on construction contracts under IFRS and US GAAP. The objective of this work is to outline the basic principles of accounting treatment of revenue and costs associated with construction contracts and presentation of such contracts in financial statements. Practical part of this work evaluates information on construction contracts in annual reports of companies reporting in compliance with IFRS.

n previous work, the author and his collaborators developed a relationship in the SL(2,C) representation theories of two finitely generated groups with isomorphicprofinite completions assuming a certain strong representation rigidity for one of thegroups. This was then exploited as one part of producing examples of lattices in SL(2,C) which are profinitely rigid. In this article, the relationship is extended to representations in any connected reductive algebraic groups under a weaker representation rigidity hypothesis. The results are applied to lattices in higher rank Liegroups where we show that for some such groups, including SL(n,Z) forn≥3, they are either profinitely rigid, or they contain a proper Grothendieck subgroup.

Thesis advisor: Laura M. O'Dwyer / Students who take postsecondary remedial courses graduate from college at lower rates than other students, but the relationship between remedial education and college outcomes is not well understood. This study analyzes the association between remediation and the odds of degree attainment in two- and four-year colleges, after controlling for other student and institutional factors related to persistence. Using generalized multilevel mixed modeling, it examines variation in these relationships across institutional contexts. Data are drawn from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (2004/2009), a nationally representative sample that tracked students through interviews and transcript data for six years from their first enrollment. Additional institutional variables are incorporated from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Comparisons are made among remedial course subjects, higher and lower numbers of remedial courses taken, and different postsecondary credentials. For students who first enroll at a four-year college, this analysis finds that remediation has a negative association with completing a Bachelor's degree or higher, particularly among students who take remedial Mathematics or three or more remedial classes. While students at two-year institutions who take three or more remedial courses have lower odds of completing a certificate or Bachelor's degree, English as a Second Language coursework emerges as a positive factor for Bachelor's attainment in this population. By contrast, remediation has a positive relationship with attaining an Associate's degree but no higher for two-year college students. This relationship varies significantly across two-year institutions, but institutional factors are not predictive of the variation. No other significant cross-college variation is found in the relationships between remedial variables and outcomes. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation.