Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University. / The purpose of this dissertation is (1) to offer a redefinition of the psychology of religion in light of its historic and contemporary status; (2) to discover the flaccid aspects traditionally present in the psychology of religion and invigorate these aspects with contemporary psychological theories, especially certain theories emphasized by Gordon W. Allport; and (3) to present various illustrative hypotheses to be tested in view of the understanding of what is meant by the psychology of religion as developed in this study, thus indicating special factors to be considered in designing future research in the psychology of religion. [TRUNCATED]

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / This dissertation is a prolegomenon to the study of (1) the early philosophy of Horatio Willis Dresser (1866-1954) as it relates to New Thought and (2) the philosophical foundations of New Thought as they relate to Dresser. New Thought is a philosophical-religious movement which originated in the United States in the nineteenth century. While it seeks to provide a complete approach to life, its primary field of emphasis has been healing by nonphysical means. New Thought's background is provided by the ancient tradition tradition of religious healing, American philosophy largely of the nineteenth century, and speculation inspired by phenomena produced by mesmerism, also known as animal magnetism [TRUNCATED]

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to determine Tennessee superintendents' perceptions of the educational application of the W. Edwards Deming Total Quality Management Model. The Total Quality Management Model was divided into four parts for the purpose of this study based on review of the literature. The parts are eight selected underlying principles, Deming's 14 points, Deming's deadly diseases, and process improvement tools. A survey instrument developed by the investigator was sent to all 139 Tennessee superintendents. A total of 112 of the superintendents responded representing 81% of the population. Fifty-one percent of the respondents are using some of the Total Quality Management concepts in their school district. Twenty percent have adopted a form of the Total Quality Management System in their district. Seventy-six percent indicated they would be interested in adopting some form of the Total Quality Management System if the State Department of Education offered assistance and training in methodology. A correlation analysis revealed significant relationships in superintendents' beliefs concerning the four parts of the Total Quality Management concepts and selected demographics. Certain conclusions were based on the findings in this study. It was concluded that Tennessee superintendents favor all of the educational applications of the industrial model of the W. Edwards Deming Total Quality Management theory. Their beliefs concerning the four parts of the Total Quality Management Model used in the study were significantly different at the.05 level. Superintendents' beliefs relative to the educational application of the four parts ranked in the following order: 14 points, eight underlying principles, seven diseases, process improvement tools. There was no significant difference in superintendent beliefs concerning the four parts of the total quality management model and selected demographics at the.05 level. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

No description available.

Hardwood timber is a substantial economic staple in the eastern U.S., where primary hardwood processors produce more than 10 billion board feet of sawn hardwoods annually. There are over 3,500 sawmills producing hardwood lumber in the Southeastern portion of the United States. Present trends such as increasing labor costs and limited supplies of high quality logs have forced hardwood lumber manufacturers to increase their efforts to maximize the utilization of this raw material. In order to make money in such a competitive business, these sawmills must produce the highest possible grade of lumber from each saw log they process. Of all the primary and secondary processing procedures that are used to transform round wood into a final product, the sawmill edging and trimming operations have the most substantial effect on the grade and, hence, the value of the material produced. Currently, the grading of rough hardwood lumber is done manually by human inspectors according to standardized grading rules developed by the National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA, 1994). Standard hardwood edging and trimming operations are less than optimum because of the complexity of the grading rules, the complexity of the decision making processes involved, possible operator fatigue, and the imprecision with which lumber can be sawn by the available equipment. Studies have shown that there is a potential to increase hardwood lumber value by over 20 percent if optimum edging and trimming could be performed in hardwood sawmills. Even a small portion of this percentage would substantially increase the profit of hardwood lumber manufacturers. And this can be achieved just by utilizing some degree of automation. That is, some type of system must be designed that can scan a board to sense important hardwood features, make correct edging and trimming decisions, and then control down stream edgers and trimmers with minimal operator intervention. The most difficult part in the development of this automatic edging and trimming system is to get enough major defect information to make very good edging and trimming decisions. This thesis describes the research that was performed to build a prototype system that can collect images of boards and extract major defect information for making good edging and trimming decisions. The images that are collected include Black/White and laser profile images. Necessary defect information to be extracted for making edging and trimming decisions includes the location and size of large grading defects and areas of the board that are too thin. This thesis talks about the hardware that was used for collecting the needed board images. This includes a discussion of both the Black/White and laser profile imaging systems. The data collection boards that were used for transferring images from these imaging systems to computer memory are also described. This thesis also describes the computer vision algorithms that were developed to extract defect information needed for making improved edging and trimming decisions. Some of the processing steps involved include background extraction, both global and local segmentation, connected component labeling and small area elimination and merging. Processing results obtained of green red oak samples show that both hardware and software of the prototype system seem to work well. However, since the program needed to actually create the edging and trimming solution based on defect information found by the computer vision system was not available it was impossible to quantitatively determine the value improvement to proposed system might offer. / Master of Science

In this thesis we examine the vector boson scattering (VBS) process \(\mathrm p \mathrm p \to \mathrm e^+ \nu_\mathrm e\mu^-\bar\nu_\mu\mathrm j\mathrm j +X\) (short: \(\mathrm W^+\mathrm W^-\) scattering) at NLO accuracy in two experimental setups by performing a Monte Carlo analysis of a \(13\,\mathrm{TeV}\) LHC run. \(\mathrm W^+\mathrm W^-\) scattering shows similarities and differences compared to the scattering of other vector bosons. We present a detailed description of the types of appearing subprocesses and background processes. We give insight into our code which solves the problems we are faced within \(\mathrm W^+\mathrm W^-\) scattering. This is especially the presence of the Higgs-boson resonance in the fiducial phase-space region. Particular attention is dedicated to the permutation of resonances. The integrated signal cross section at LO \(\mathcal O(\alpha^6)\) amounts to \(2.6988(3)\,\mathrm{fb}\) and \(1.5322(2)\,\mathrm{fb}\), respectively, in the two experimental setups. The LO QCD-induced background of \(\mathcal O(\alpha_\mathrm s^2\alpha^4)\) amounts to \(6.9115(9)\,\mathrm{fb}\) and \(1.6923(3)\,\mathrm{fb}\). The EW corrections to the signal are \(-11.4\%\) and \(-6.7\%\), the QCD corrections amount to \(-5.2\%\) and \(-23.0\%\). The EW corrections to the background are \(-8.3\%\) and \(-5.3\%\), the QCD corrections amount to \(-30.3\%\) and \(-77.6\%\). Our results for the QCD corrections and the QCD-induced background include a large uncertainty from varying the renormalisation and factorisation scale, and we discuss improvements for future calculations. We show the differential cross sections with unique features of \(\mathrm W^+\mathrm W^-\) scattering compared to other VBS processes and investigate in particular the subprocess of Higgs-boson production by using a modified version of our setups. / In dieser Arbeit untersuchen wir den Vektorboson-Streuprozess (VBS-Prozess) \(\mathrm p\mathrm p \to \mathrm e^+\nu_\mathrm e\mu^-\bar\nu_\mu\mathrm j\mathrm j + X\) (kurz: \(\mathrm W^+\mathrm W^-\)-Streuung) auf nächstführender Ordnung in zwei Versuchsanordnungen, indem wir eine Monte-Carlo-Analyse des LHC-Betriebs bei \(13\,\mathrm{TeV}\) durchführen. \(\mathrm W^+\mathrm W^-\)-Streuung zeigt Gemeinsamkeiten mit der und Unterschiede zur Streuung anderer Vektorbosonen. Wir stellen eine detaillierte Beschreibung der Arten auftauchender Subprozesse und Hintergrundprozesse vor und geben Einsicht in unseren Code, der die Probleme löst, vor die wir im Rahmen der \(\mathrm W^+\mathrm W^-\)-Streuung gestellt wurden. Dies ist insbesondere die Präsenz der Higgs-Boson-Resonanz im Bezugsphasenraum. Besonderes Augenmerk wird auf die Permutation der Resonanzen gelegt. Wir präsentieren den integrierten Wirkungsquerschnitt. Der integrierte Wirkungsquerschnitt des Signals beträgt \(2{,}6988(3)\,\mathrm{fb}\) beziehungsweise \(1{,}5322(2)\,\mathrm{fb}\) auf führender Ordnung \(\mathcal O(\alpha^6)\) in den beiden experimentellen Setups. Der QCD-Hintergrund auf führender Ordnung \(\mathcal O(\alpha_\mathrm s^2\alpha^4)\) beträgt \(6{,}9115(9)\,\mathrm{fb}\) bzw. \(1{,}6923(3)\,\mathrm{fb}\). Die elektroschwachen Korrekturen zum Signal belaufen sich auf \(-11{,}4\%\) bzw. \(-6{,}7\%\), die QCD-Korrekturen auf \(-5{,}2\%\) bzw. \(-23{,}0\%\). Die elektroschwachen Korrekturen zum Hintergrund sind \(-8{,}3\%\) bzw. \(-5{,}3\%\), die QCD-Korrekturen \(-30{,}3\%\) bzw. \(-77{,}6\%\). Unsere Ergebnisse für die QCD-Korrekturen und den QCD-induzierten Hintergrund enthalten eine große Unsicherheit durch die Variation der Renormierungs- und Faktorisierungsskala und wir diskutieren Verbesserungen für zukünftige Rechnungen. Wir zeigen die differentiellen Wirkungsquerschnitte mit Eigenheiten von \(\mathrm W^+\mathrm W^-\)-Streuung verglichen mit anderen VBS-Prozessen und betrachten insbesondere den Subprozess der Higgs-Boson-Produktion, indem wir eine modifizierte Version unserer Versuchsanordnungen verwenden.

No description available.

This study concerns a comparison and contrast of two development approaches to determine their applicability in dealing with the global problem of unequal development. Chapter I introduces the purpose and the significance of the study, and the selection of one representative model for each approach. They are W. W. Rostow's model and Samir Amin's model. Chapter II elucidates Rostow's model. Chapter III explains Amin's model. Chapter IV presents a comparison and contrast of the two models both methodologically and conceptually. Chapter V contains the conclusion that Rostow' s model cannot be a universal development model due to its methodological shortcomings, whereas Amin's model should be accepted for its analysis in explaining the reasons' for today's unequal development on a world scale.

Le LHC est un collisionneur de protons, situé 100 mètres sous la frontière franco-suisse, conçu pour fonctionner à sqrt(s) = 14 TeV. Les premières collisions à sqrt(s) = 7 TeV ont eu lieu au début de l'année 2010, ouvrant la chasse aux nouvelles particules telles le boson de Higgs, les partenaires supersymétriques... Ces premières données ont permis aussi de faire des mesures de précisions afin de vérifier le fonctionnement du détecteur et de contraindre certains paramètre du Modèle Standard. C'est dans ce cadre que s'inscrit cette thèse. Le travail présenté dans ce manuscrit s'articule en deux parties distinctes dont le but est de contraindre d'éventuels biais et sources d'erreurs systématiques pour permettre une première mesure précise de la masse du boson W au LHC. D'un point de vue technique, une analyse consistant à étudier les variations de température de l'argon liquide, dans lequel sont immergés les calorimètres a été menée afin de comprendre leur origine et de limiter leur contribution à l'incertitude sur l'échelle d'énergie des électrons. D'autre part, le travail a été focalisé sur les effets de polarisation, en développant et proposant trois mesures originales : la quantification de leur influence sur la détermination directe de MW au LHC, les mesures de fractions d'hélicité dans les données 2010 et une mesure de l'asymétrie de charge permettant de découpler les effets de PDFs des effets de polarisation, appliquée aux données 2010. / The LHC is a proton collider, buried 100 meters below the franco-swiss border, built to work at sqrt(s) = 14 TeV. First collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV occurred in the beginning of 2010, starting officially new particles hunting, like Higgs boson, supersymmetric partner... First data have also been used to do precision measurements in order to check detector performances and constrain many Standard Model parameters. The latter will be the main topic of this thesis.The work presented within this manuscript can be split in two different parts aiming to a common goal: reduce possible bias and systematic errors to provide a first precise W boson mass measurement at the LHC. On a technical aspect, an analysis has been done on the liquid argon that lies within calorimeter's cryostat, in order to understand temperature fluctuation and quantify its effect on the electron energy scale. On the other hand, attention has been focused on polarization effects, by developping and proposing three new measurements: quantification of their influence on MW measurement at the LHC, helicity fractions measurement in 2010 data and a charge asymmetry measurement that decouples PDF and polarization effects, on 2010 data.