Drivers under the influence of alcohol cause nearly one third of all fatal motor vehicle accidents. Ambulatory outpatient alcohol abuse treatment has been clinically shown to increase abstinence, which could decrease the chance of subsequent DWI offences. A barrier to successful completion is extended waiting periods prior to treatment engagement. The theory of patient waiting supports the longer a patient waits to begin treatment the lower the likelihood of successful completion. By exploring the impact of waiting times on DWI court mandated clients, referral courts and treatment facilities can work together to create a successful completion strategy for offenders. The research question focused on if days waiting can predict successful outpatient treatment completion in court mandated adults. The TEDS-D archival data set was used, consisting of data collected between 2006-€”2011 from federally funded substance abuse treatment centers throughout the USA. The variables time awaiting treatment, treatment level, gender, race, employment status, and age were used as controls. A logistic regression using a random sample of 4,947 participants determined days waiting was significant but weak in nature. The variables of employment status and age are stronger predictors of treatment completion. An interaction effect analysis of days waiting and age results in clients over 45 years old being significantly impacted by days waiting while younger clients are not. Court and treatment agencies can use this information to give priority intake appointments to older clients to increase chances of treatment completion.

For years, urban communities and specific ethnic groups within the US (mostly Blacks and Hispanics) have been targeted for racial profiling by our local police. Since the 1990’s, the outcry for justice by our Black and Hispanic communities increased the interests to find ways to address and fight against the act of racial profiling. This phenomenological study used a qualitative approach to collect information and gain the understanding and lived experiences of Black males between the ages of 20 – 49 who experienced racial profiling during routine traffic stops. Twelve Black Males between the ages of 20 to 49 were interviewed for the research study. Everyone was interviewed separately to gather experiences and meanings from their own points of view. In addition, 25 Black males within the same age group participated in a 1 hour focus group discussion. The information gathered from the interviews and focus group sessions were compiled into a Microsoft word transcript and reviewed and analyzed by the researcher to form seven themes. In order to come up with key findings, I isolated similar responses from the experiences shared by the research participants during the interviews and focus group session. In isolating some of the key responses revealed, I dissected racial profiling from a shared experience point of view based on common approaches practiced by law enforcement officers. The research study will contribute to field on conflict resolution through the voices of those who experienced racial profiling, and finding ways to encourage mediation through projecting the underlying concerns or issues to community leaders, government officials, concerned groups, and law enforcement agencies.

Sustainability is an important factor in many different industries and the housing industry is not an exception. Especially when the housing is intended for students, more accurately international students which ads on layers of difficulty in regards to sustainability. Ecological, economic and social sustainability becomes increasingly more difficult to achieve when providing housing for international students. Why can be answered in many different ways such as cultural differences, different way of life or just the question regarding the Ac unit or lack of it in Sweden. Akademiska Hus is a industry leading company in Sweden for providing sustainable housing to international students. They constantly work with question regarding sustainability such as how they can make the housing more sustainable as well as keeping all the involved parties in the process happy. They have therefore been researching new ways to approach this question. This master thesis focuses on evaluating a potential improvement regards to sustainability question as well as keeping all the parties involved happy. The focus is on finding how all matters regarding housing can be integrated into one application. The areas investigated is (1) model of integration, (2) the approach for the system integration, and (3) the user experience of the developed application that is tested. The work in the thesis was divided into three parts. The first part was to find out the problems in the housing today and the goals with the application, this included research into the different fields as well as an external analysis. The second part was gathering data by conducting user interviews with the intended users of the application as well as testing the application on them. Data was also collected by analysing the application and how it works in regards to the system itself. Lastly the data was analyzed several times with the double diamond approach. The results showed that an application such as the one tested could greatly improve sustainability in the housing with the most important functions being messaging, community, making error reports and having access to documentation in the library. However, the application needs to be tested more in larger scale in the form of a pilot test to make a more accurate decision to as if it is worth investing in.

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<p>Cell phone use while driving is one of the commonest distracted driving behaviors that causes fatal crashes, and drivers are more likely to use their cell phones in work zones because of slow-moving traffic. The road safety campaign literature suggests that persuasive messages can positively influence safe driving behaviors leading to a reduction in crashes. Thus, this dissertation, guided by the risk perception attitude (RPA) framework, sought to examine how tailored messaging could serve as an effective communication strategy to promote positive attitudes and behavioral intentions in the context of cell phone use avoidance while driving through highway work zones. Findings from two studies, using a college student sample and a national sample of US young adults between 18 and 24 years old, revealed that the RPA framework likely does not serve as a useful audience segmentation strategy in this context because an overwhelming majority of participants (about 87%) belonged to the responsive group. A tailored messaging approach did not influence cell phone use avoidance while driving attitudes and intentions among the young adults because the majority of participants (70%) felt the messages were not designed uniquely for them and might not be personally relevant to them. However, the majority of participants (62%) reported that highway work zone safety was an important topic they would want to receive future messaging about because messages about this topic would help to save lives and protect public safety, drastically reduce crashes in highway work zones, and promote safe driving behaviors in highway work zones. Participants who were aware of the existence of state laws banning cell phone use while driving reported slightly higher attitudes toward and intentions to engage in safe driving behaviors compared to those who were not aware of the existence of such state laws. This dissertation suggests that instead of creating messages to raise risk perceptions and enhance efficacy perceptions, informing the young adult population in the US about the existence of laws banning cell phone use while driving might be an effective means to discourage them from using their cell phones while driving through highway work zones. By extending the RPA framework as an audience segmentation strategy, this dissertation also proposes a responsive group classification framework which could serve as a useful audience segmentation strategy in this study context to classify audiences into four groups to effectively tailor messages to them.</p>

A multielement brief experimental analysis was used to improve and extend previous research to compare the impact of listening while reading while following along (LWFA) and listening while reading while not following along (LWNFA) interventions on oral reading comprehension rate (ORCR), reading comprehension levels, and reading fluency in students with reading disabilities. The collected data for each of the eight middle school and junior high special education students who were participants in this study included: (a) words read correct per minute (WPM), (b) errors per minute (EPM), (c) comprehension questions answered correct per passage, and (d) ORCR. The students ranged from 11 to 14 years of age and 7 of the students were male and 1 was female. Student?s standard intelligence scores, as obtained from student records of formal assessment for eligibility for special education services, ranged from 66-116. All students were functioning at the fourth grade instructional level. Analysis by individual suggest that both listening while reading treatment conditions enhanced oral reading comprehension rates, reading comprehension levels, and increased reading fluency as compared to the control condition. Students displayed higher ORCR, total comprehension questions answered correctly, answered more factual questions correctly, and WPM under LWFA as compared to LWNFA and the control conditions. However, fewer EPM were reported overall for the LWNFA and higher reading comprehension inference questions answered correctly were also observed. Statistically significant differences were noted in reading fluency measures such that more words were read under LWFA as compared to the control condition and fewer errors were reported under LWFA as compared to the control condition. Methodological limitations associated with te current study,individual student performance difference and procedures for using ORCR are described.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychological Sciences / Laura A. Brannon / The current research investigated strategies to reduce cell phone use while driving. Anti-distracted driving campaigns, which typically communicate risk information and target driver behavior, may produce limited effects because people tend to underestimate their risk from this behavior (e.g., Schlehofer et al., 2010). Study 1 compared the effects of messages targeting drivers to messages targeting non-drivers in order to examine the potential of discouraging people from having cell phone communication with others who are driving. Some anti-distracted driving campaigns have emphasized the potential harm to both the driver and others, but whether one approach (self-oriented or other-oriented messaging) is more persuasive than the other has not been examined empirically. Study 1 compared messages that were self-oriented, other-oriented, or neutral in terms of who could be affected by cell phone use while driving. Although cell phone use while driving generally is perceived as dangerous, people may make justifications for engaging in the behavior on at least some occasions, and these justifications may override the influence of risk knowledge on behavior. Consistent with inoculation theory (McGuire, 1961), if given the opportunity to practice refuting these justifications in a controlled setting, people will be more likely to defend themselves against justifications to engage in cell phone use while driving. Thus, Study 1 tested the prediction that participation in an inoculation task would reduce the likelihood of cell phone use while driving. Results from Study 1 suggested an advantage of targeting non-driving participants of cell phone conversations to enhance efforts for reducing on-the-road cell phone use. Study 1 also demonstrated a positive effect of inoculation, but primarily for behavior of non-driving participants of cell phone conversations. In addition to overconfidence in ability to avoid risk, habitual tendencies also may impede the influence of risk communication campaigns (Bayer & Campbell, 2012). Study 2 investigated the potential of mindfulness-based and implementation intentions techniques for helping people overcome habitual responses to their cell phone when doing so is inappropriate or inconvenient. Results indicated that pairing mindfulness-based training with risk information may be significantly more effective than risk information alone at inhibiting inappropriate cell phone use.

Diesel engines operating the rig pose the problems of low efficiency and large amount of emissions. In addition the rig power requirements vary a lot with time and ongoing operation. Therefore it is in the best interest of operators to research on alternate drilling energy sources which can make entire drilling process economic and environmentally friendly. One of the major ways to reduce the footprint of drilling operations is to provide more efficient power sources for drilling operations. There are various sources of alternate energy storage/reuse. A quantitative comparison of physical size and economics shows that rigs powered by the electrical grid can provide lower cost operations, emit fewer emissions, are quieter, and have a smaller surface footprint than conventional diesel powered drilling. This thesis describes a study to evaluate the feasibility of adopting technology to reduce the size of the power generating equipment on drilling rigs and to provide ?peak shaving? energy through the new energy generating and energy storage devices such as flywheels. An energy audit was conducted on a new generation light weight Huisman LOC 250 rig drilling in South Texas to gather comprehensive time stamped drilling data. A study of emissions while drilling operation was also conducted during the audit. The data was analyzed using MATLAB and compared to a theoretical energy audit. The study showed that it is possible to remove peaks of rig power requirement by a flywheel kinetic energy recovery and storage (KERS) system and that linking to the electrical grid would supply sufficient power to operate the rig normally. Both the link to the grid and the KERS system would fit within a standard ISO container. A cost benefit analysis of the containerized system to transfer grid power to a rig, coupled with the KERS indicated that such a design had the potential to save more than $10,000 per week of drilling operations with significantly lower emissions, quieter operation, and smaller size well pad.

[pt] Dentre os custos considerados na explotação de um campo de petróleo, os de perfuração constituem uma parcela significativa do total. Dentro deste cenário, devemos estar atentos à remoção dos cascalhos gerados pela perfuração, também referido como limpeza de poços. Esta operação é, ainda hoje, um tema crítico na perfuração de poços de alta inclinação, pois os cascalhos que se depositam devido à ação da gravidade, formam um leito no interior do espaço anular formado entre a coluna de perfuração e o revestimento. Quando este leito ocupa grande parte do espaço anular, ele é responsável por diversos problemas na perfuração, como por exemplo, desgaste prematuro da broca, baixas taxas de penetração, fraturamento da formação, torques e arrastes excessivos na coluna de perfuração, prisão da coluna de perfuração, interrupção da circulação de fluido, aumento da pressão no anular, etc. Se esta situação não for tratada adequadamente, o problema pode provocar a perda do poço. A tese propõe uma modelagem para o escoamento multifásico na perfuração de poços de petróleo, capaz de avaliar a formação do leito de cascalhos e prever oscilações de pressões no anular decorrentes do escoamento. O modelo adotado é o de duas camadas, onde o espaço anular é dividido em duas regiões: leito e suspensão. O leito (Região 1) é formado pelos cascalhos que se sedimentam devido ao efeito gravitacional enquanto a suspensão (Região 2) é a porção do anular acima do leito depositado, formada pelo fluido de perfuração e os cascalhos transportados. As equações que constituem o modelo implementado são dadas pelas equações de conservação de massa para os sólidos e para o líquido e as equações de conservação de quantidade de movimento para o leito e para a suspensão. O método dos volumes finitos foi utilizado para a discretização das equações diferenciais juntamente com o método de Newton para a solução do sistema não-linear de equações. A solução é dada através das seguintes variáveis: altura do leito, velocidade dos sólidos no leito e na suspensão, velocidade do fluido no leito e na suspensão, pressão no anular e concentração de sólidos no anular. Exemplos de aplicação da metodologia são apresentados e mostram o comportamento das variáveis envolvidas ao longo do tempo. Os exemplos mostram a eficácia da metodologia para simular operações de perfuração, em especial, a limpeza de poço. / [en] Among the costs considered on an oil field exploration, the drilling process related ones constitute a significant share. Consequently, the focus on the removal of cuttings generated by the drilling process, or the hole cleaning operation, is essential. This operation remains a critical issue in the drilling of high inclination-wells, since the cuttings tend to deposit themselves due to gravity´s action, forming a bed in the annular space formed between the drill string and the casing. When this bed takes a sizable fraction of the annular space, it becomes responsible for many problems that appear on the drilling stage, such as premature bit´s exhaustion, low rates of penetration, formation fracture, excessive torque and drag on the drillstring, stuck pipe, fluid flow interruption, etc. If this situation is not treated properly, it may cause the loss of the well. This present thesis proposes a model for multiphase flow in the wellbore drilling, capable of evaluating the formation of the cuttings´ bed and to predict oscillations of pressures in annulus due to the flow. A two-layer model is adopted, where the annular space is divided in two regions: bed and suspension. The bed (Region 1) is formed by the cuttings, which were deposited due to the action of gravitational force, while the suspension (Region 2) is the portion of the annular above the deposited bed, formed by the drilling fluid and cuttings. The constitutive equations of the aforementioned model are given by the equations of mass conservation for solids and liquids and the momentum conservation equations for the bed and the suspension. The finite volumes method was used to turn the differentials equations into discrete ones, while the Newton´s method was applied for the solution of the nonlinear system of equations. The solution is given through the following variables: bed height, solid velocity and fluid velocity both in bed and suspension, annular pressure and solid concentration in the annular. Examples of application of the methodology are presented, showing the behavior of the involved variables through time. The examples show the efficacy of the methodology to simulate drilling operations, in special hole cleaning ones.

Various forms of multimedia learning have been shown to aid learners time and time again. One form of multimedia learning that has not been thoroughly studied is reading while listening (RWL). This is especially the case when it comes to the immediate impacts on reading comprehension from practising RWL. Furthermore the recent advancements of Text-To-Speech (TTS) have started to challenge the established notion that real human recorded spoken word is always preferable for learning, also known as The Voice Effect. This study looked at Swedish University students with English as their second language (L2) and examined how their reading comprehension in L2 was performing in three different groups. The groups were Reading Only (RO), Reading-While-Listening with spoken word (RWL-SW) and Reading-While-Listening with text-to-speech (RWL-TTS). The RO group was then compared to The RWL groups. The two RWL groups were also compared on test scores as well as perceived enjoyment and aid from the narration as reported by the participants. Our results did not exhibit any statistically significant difference in reading comprehension between the RO group and the RWL groups. When looking at the results of the reading comprehension test the RO and RWL-TTS groups got the exact same number of correct answers. This suggests that RWL did not have any notable impact on reading comprehension. Furthermore no statistical significant difference was found between the two RWL groups in test scores or perceived enjoyment and aid from the narration. What’s interesting to note is that RWL-SW performed slightly worse than RWL-TTS on the comprehension test. The reported perceived enjoyment and aid from the narration was also notably similar to each other. This suggests that The Voice Effect did not have relevance in this test. / Olika former av multimediainlärning har visat sig hjälpa eleverna gång på gång. En form av multimedieinlärning som inte har studerats grundligt är läsning medan man lyssnar (RWL). Detta gäller särskilt när det gäller de omedelbara effekterna på läsförståelsen av att använda på RWL. Dessutom har de senaste framstegen med text till tal (TTS) börjat utmana den etablerade uppfattningen att verkligt mänskligt inspelat talat ord alltid är att föredra vid inlärning, även kallat “Rösteffekten” (The Voice Effect). I den här studien undersöktes svenska universitetsstudenter med engelska som andraspråk (L2) och hur deras läsförståelse i L2 presterade i tre olika grupper. Grupperna var Reading Only (RO), Reading-While-Listening med en mänsklig talare (RWL-SW) och Reading-While-Listening med text-to-speech (RWL-TTS). RO-gruppen jämfördes sedan med RWL-grupperna. De två RWL-grupperna jämfördes också med avseende på testresultat samt upplevd njutning och hjälp från berättandet enligt deltagarnas rapporter. Våra resultat visade ingen statistiskt signifikant skillnad i läsförståelse mellan RO-gruppen och RWL-grupperna. När man tittar på resultaten av läsförståelsetestet fick RO- och RWL-TTS- grupperna exakt lika många korrekta svar. Detta tyder på att RWL inte hade någon anmärkningsvärd inverkan på läsförståelsen. Dessutom hittades ingen statistiskt signifikant skillnad mellan de två RWL-grupperna när det gäller testresultat eller upplevd njutning och hjälp av uppläsningen. Vad som är intressant att notera är att RWL-SW presterade något sämre än RWL-TTS på läsförståelsetestet. Den rapporterade upplevda uppskattningen och hjälp från uppläsning var också anmärkningsvärt likartade. Detta tyder på att “The Voice Effect” inte hade någon betydelse i detta test.