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Scope of Study: This dissertation explores what motivates not-for-profit social service agencies to merge and whether the merger achieves what was intended. It also looks at unanticipated problems and changes to mission statements as a result of the merger. A triangulation methodology incorporated a quantitative survey instrument and case studies to conduct the research. The agencies included in the study have experienced a merger since 1988 and are members of the Alliance for Children and Families, a national organization of family and child-serving agencies. Findings and Conclusions: Th...

Alcohol use continues to be one of the most serious and complex social and health-related problems affecting the African American community today. A review of the literature suggested that African American drink less but suffer from more negative consequences of drinking. Although African Americans are only 14% of the population, they are reported to consume 30% of malt liquor beers. Most surveys which seek to measure alcohol consumption patterns for African American men refer to questions related to mainstream alcohol types. For African American men, the literature has not addressed these...

In this thesis we advance the state-of the practice in the Space Mission Operations domain by leveraging single spacecraft technologies along with classical scheduling frameworks and notation to create a scheduler for a constellation of spacecraft. We define a scheduling product that is focused on the problem of scheduling networked groups of spacecraft, called constellations. Within this thesis we show that the constellation schedule problem is a very complex problem, and the application of heuristics is one approach that allow us to schedule successfully. Our first objective, comprising chap...

Coalitions of developing countries at the WTO typically have a short life and do not produce results. Nonetheless, a specific coalition of developing countries named the G-20 seems to have a different destiny. Even though it focuses on agriculture, which is certainly the most difficult sector in which one can obtain concessions from developed countries, the G-20 has been able not only to survive but also to solidify its influence. This paper examines the consequences of G-20 actions. Moreover, it considers three separate questions. First, how has the G-20 been able to maintain its unity despit...

We present results from an adaptive optics survey conducted with the Palomar and Keck telescopes over 3 years, which measured the frequency of stellar and sub-stellar companions to Sun-like stars. The survey sample contains 266 stars in the 3-10000 million year age range at heliocentric distances between 8 and 200 parsecs and with spectral types between F5-K5. A sub-sample of 101 stars, between 3-500 million years old, were observed in deep exposures with a coronagraph to search for faint sub-stellar companions. A total of 288 candidate companions were discovered around the sample st...

This ex post facto study was used to compare community college transcripts of African American students who participated in a developmental reading course at a multi-campus, urban community college and those who declined to participate in the developmental reading program. The study examined 513 records to determine if participation in a developmental reading course in a community college improved achievement and persistence for African American college students. Results discuss the positive relationship of overall and third semester achievement to enrollment in a developmental reading cours...

The management of hazardous and toxic waste projects in Asia (especially that related to intractable chemicals) has had a less than acceptable performance profile during the last 20 years. There have been numerous documented cases of management and systems failures in intractable chemical recovery projects, despite the establishment of global conventions designed to avoid such problems. A research programme was undertaken with the aim of producing a management model for companies to help prevent such failures in the future. The research began in the field with an exploration of management ...

This study analyzes experimental data generated by human subjects using the Perspecta 3D Volumetric Display and a 2D flat screen liquid crystal display (LCD). The analysis reveals differences in how experiment participants used the display technologies.

Frontline employees represent the bloodline of an organization. This applied dissertation focused on development of a training program to improve skills necessary for quality student-customer service. Six research questions were answered. First, what skills are required to enhance customer service satisfaction? Second, what are employees' perception of attitudes and expectations relative to delivery of goods and services? Third, what action is required to improve employees' performance to effect customer satisfaction? Fourth, what content-- knowledge, skills, and procedures--are necessary f...

(Dissertation is written in Spanish.) Using PSpice of MiscroSim to simulate power converters sometimes brings awkward complications such as the simulation of real magnetic components. It deals a little bit of work to bring a good agreement between experimental and simulated results. Simulation with linear inductors or transformers does not produce good results. The reason is that real magnetic components present saturation and hysteresis, a phenomenon that characterises magnetic materials. The hysteresis or B-H loop of a magnetic component is highly dependent on frequency, waveform (not very ...