VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Size exclusion chromatography of polyolefins and evaluating local polydispersity

This thesis focuses upon two current problem areas in size exclusion chromatography (SEC): (1) the high temperature (145$\sp\circ$C) required to analyze polyolefins and, (2) the failure of the assumption that size separation is molecular weight separation (the presence of local polydispersity). A new mobile phase, methyl cyclohexane, permitted analysis at 90$\sp\circ$C with improved refractometer (DRI) sensitivity, lower toxicity than traditional solvents and simultaneous UV-DRI analysis of grafted polyethylenes. Solutions to the increased flammability and the tendency for some materials to adsorb to the column packing were proposed. Of three new methods for detecting the presence of local polydispersity, only one based upon the comparison of "reconstructed" and the experimental DRI chromatograms was shown to be both practical and general. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of two new polymer blends and local polydispersity became undetectable when one of the components in the blends examined was less than 5 to 10 wt%. Finally, inter-detector volume was shown to have a major influence on the "reconstructed" chromatogram.
Effects of false weight feedback on self-esteem, mood, and food intake in restrained and unrestrained eaters, is there evidence for weight-related self-evaluation in restrained eaters?

It has been suggested that eating disorder patents derive personal worth from their weight and shape. Because people with eating disorders are usually dissatisfied with this aspect of their selves, they constantly see themselves in a negative light. Their devaluation of their body generalizes and detracts from their evaluation of other aspects of the self. This process is referred to as weight- and shape-related self-evaluation (WSRSE). This thesis proposes that restrained eaters also engage in WSRSE, but only when their weight and shape concerns are salient. A series of four studies was conducted, exposing restrained and unrestrained eaters to conditions intended to increase the salience of weight and shape concerns by providing information about their weight. Self-esteem, mood and food intake were measured. In Study 1 participants were asked to step on an accurate scale. This manipulation did not affect self-esteem or mood in restrained eaters. Participants in Study 2 were weighed as either five pounds heavier or lighter than their actual weight. Restrained eaters who were weighed heavier demonstrated WSRSE by reporting a lowering of self-esteem and a worsening of mood. These restrained eaters also ate more than participants in any of the other groups. Study 3 attempted to measure the extent to which the process of WSRSE generalized to other aspects of self-evaluation. The results did not generalize nor did they replicate the findings of Study 2. A closer examination of Studies 2 and 3 revealed a major procedural difference. Only in Study 2 were participants exposed to threatening body shape-related words in a task that took about 20 minutes to complete. In Study 4 all participants were weighed heavy and some were exposed to the same body shape words from Study 2. The restrained eaters who were exposed to the body shape words did not demonstrate WSRSE with respect to the self-esteem and mood measures, but they did engage in overeating. It is proposed that the overeating in Study 4 represents WSRSE, and that it was not detected by the self-report measures because either self-esteem and mood impairments are weak and require more statistical power, or time to process the weight gain is required before WSRSE can be detected.
Multiple simultaneous specification control problem and its application to robot trajectory tracking systems

A practical robot control design problem typically consists of several performance requirements. The control designer may need to take into account a few of different design specifications together. Therefore, there exists a need for a methodology to address the design of a controller to satisfy multiple specifications. The objective of this thesis is to develop a controller design method to meet multiple simultaneous specifications (MSS), and apply it to robot trajectory tracking systems. Also called 'convex combination ' design method is proposed to solve the MSS control problem. Through a linear system framework, the design specifications are described and considered uniformly. When the specifications have this convex property, the proposed method offers a two-stage strategy that can effectively design the controller to meet multiple specifications at the same time. The design strategy is straightforward and easily implemented. Further, through feedback linearization, this proposed linear design method is applied to nonlinear robot tracking systems to solve the MSS problem. Under imperfect linearization conditions due to system uncertainties, system robustness is viewed as one of multiple specifications to be met, and the convex combination method can also be validated. The application is conducted through simulation and experimentation on one commercial robot, and the proposed design method is verified to be effective in practice. By arriving at the thesis objective, industry will have at its disposal, a performance oriented automated control design procedure. The further impact of this thesis is that new tasks that have never been done before may be automated.
Religion and the demise of liberal rationalism

The liberal separation of church and state was a product of the Age of Reason, or the Enlightenment. Today Enlightenment rationalism is almost universally disparaged by political theorists, and few hope that any comprehensive philosophical doctrine can replace it. Yet, despite the centrality of the question of religion for the political philosophy of the Enlightenment, there has been an astounding silence on the part of political theorists regarding the consequences of the demise of liberal rationalism for the separation of church and state. This thesis addresses this issue by focusing on two leading critics of liberal rationalism: Richard Rorty and Stanley Fish. Starting from a common epistemological critique, they draw vastly different conclusions regarding the consequences of that critique for both liberalism and the political meaning of religious conviction. Rorty understands his critique of rationalism (what I refer to in the thesis as "anti-foundationalism") to be an extension or deepening of the Enlightenment's critique of religion. Rorty claims that the "standard bourgeois freedoms," including religious freedom, will remain intact in a post-rational liberalism. Yet in his "liberal utopia" Rorty hopes there will remain "no trace of divinity." I argue that this goal, combined with Rorty's diminution of human rights, suggests that religious freedom would be less secure in a Rortian regime. Fish's is the more penetrating analysis. Fish sees rationalism as the failed attempt to transcend the need for faith, originally and most importantly religious faith. Fish's anti-foundationalism does not necessarily revive religious faith, for we are not in control of what we believe. Yet it can help free religious conviction from its self-subordination before a supposedly objective reason, in both its modern scientific and liberal adjudicative form. This means that the liberal separation of church and state loses its decisive justification with the demise of liberal rationalism. Even Fish's critique, however, is fundamentally shaped by liberal rationalism in a way he fails to acknowledge. Fish represents the simple negation of liberalism, which is not a genuine transcendence of liberalism. I conclude by offering a limited defense of Enlightenment liberalism, which is not decisively repudiated on the basis of Rorty's and Fish's critiques.
An experimental study of falling liquid films in countercurrent annular flow in a vertical tube

The hydrodynamic characteristics of a counter-current annular flow with a falling liquid film inside a vertical pipe (50.8 mm ID, 244 cm length) have been studied experimentally over the film Reynolds number (ReL= 4ã/[mu]) range of 1358 to 7845 using kerosene and air as the working fluids. A laser induced photochromic dye tracer technique was used to measure the instantaneous velocity profiles in freely falling liquid films (no gas flow case) and falling films at the onset of flooding with significant interfacial shear. A laser displacement sensor and high speed video photography were also utilized to measure the film thickness fluctuations at two different positions along the test section. Time-averaged film thickness data were in good agreement with Nusselt's theory in laminar region and other experimental data from the literature in turbulent region. However, the flow visualization work indicated significant differences between the measured velocity profiles and Nusselt's predictions in wavy turbulent films. The wave-induced turbulence produced flat velocity profiles within the large disturbance waves and also affected the flow even in the substrate film depending on the wave amplitude. The large disturbance waves were seen not to transport large fractions of the liquid mass as previously believed. Measurements at the onset of flooding indicated neither the interfacial wave growth nor reversal in the direction of wave propagation could be responsible for the initiation of flooding. Furthermore, the measured velocity profiles showed only a slight reduction in liquid velocity within a narrow region close to the gas-liquid interface, and no flow reversal in the liquid film was observed at the measurement location for all flooding conditions studied. Thus, flooding in counter-current annular flow is believed to be caused by the gas-liquid interactions and resulting instabilities in the liquid film flow in the liquid inlet or outlet sections, and not in the vertical tube itself. Flow visualization experiments also revealed the occurrence of circulatory motions with significant velocities normal to the tube wall under the large waves, which may be the dominant mechanism for enhanced wall-to-liquid and interfacial transport phenomena in wavy films.
The relationship between the sorption of organic contaminants and the structure of activated sludge floc material

The objective of this study was to examine the fate of organic contaminants in activated sludge processes. Two issues were addressed: (1) the sorption of selected hydrophobic contaminants to fresh floc material and (2) the influences of floc properties on contaminant sorption to biomass. Four organics of varying hydrophobicities were studied. They were pyrene, phenanthrene, 1,1,2-trichloroethane and 1,2-dichloroethane. Floc material was characterized by measuring the concentration of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), extracted from the floc matrix by an ion exchange method. Protein, carbohydrate, DNA and acidic polysaccharide concentrations were measured. Floc settling and size were also measured, and statistically compared between samples. Correlative microscopy was used to observe floc structure. Sorption of contaminants to floc material occurred, without causing any significant changes in floc properties. Two methods were used to alter floc properties. A polyvalent metal, chromium(III), was added to activated sludge, which decreased the sorption of ruthenium red. Chromium(III) concentrations as low as 1.1 x 10$\sp{-3}$ mg/mg VSS corresponded to increased sorption of contaminants. Sludge age was also varied and EPS content and settling velocity changed with sludge age. At a sludge age of 6 days, no significant sorption of 1,2-trichloroethane occurred while at a 16 day sludge age, 24 $\pm$ 11 mg/L of 1,2-trichloroethane was sorbed, demonstrating that sorption increased with increasing sludge age. The results showed that floc properties influence the sorption of contaminants.
Effect of hyperthermia on the transcription rate of heat shock genes in regions of the rabbit nervous system

This thesis examines the transcriptional response of heat shock genes in the hyperthermic rabbit brain. Using nuclear run-on transcription assays, a major up-regulation in the transcription rate of hsp70 was observed after hyperthermia while transcription of hsp90$\alpha$ and hsp90$\beta$ were not induced to the same extent. Region-specific differences in both the magnitude and time course of the response were apparent. Gel mobility shift assays revealed that activation of heat shock transcription factor, HSF1, to a DNA-binding form paralleled the transcriptional induction profile of hsp70. The transcription rate of several non-heat shock genes showed little change relative to hsp70 induction. Western blot analysis demonstrated region-specific differences in the level of HSF1 which correlated with the level of HSE-binding activity. High levels of hsc70 and hsp90 protein were expressed in all regions while differences were apparent in the basal and induced levels of hsp70 protein.
The relationship between firm investment and financial slack

This thesis examines the relationship between investment and financial factors, with particular emphasis on the role of 'financing constraints' in determining investment. Fazzari, Hubbard and Petersen (1988) and several subsequent authors provide strong support for the significance of financial factors among firms that have been identified as facing a high level of financial constraints. Their results suggest investment decisions of firms that are more financially constrained are more sensitive to firm liquidity than those of less constrained firms. Debate over the nature of the relationship between investment decisions and financial constraints has been fueled by the recent work of Kaplan and Zingales (1997) who challenge the generality of the conclusions above. They classify firms according to their degree of financial constraint, based on quantitative and qualitative information obtained from company annual reports. Contrary to previous evidence, they find that investment decisions of the least financially constrained firms are the most sensitive to the availability of cash flow. Kaplan and Zingales are criticized for the use of a small, homogeneous sample, as well as for the subjectivity associated with their classification scheme. This thesis examines the generality of the Kaplan and Zingales conclusions using a large, diversified sample and an objective classification scheme of firm financial status. Firms are classified using financial variables that are related to financial constraint. Firm financial status is determined using multiple discriminant analysis, similar to Altman's Z factor for predicting bankruptcy. This multivariate classification scheme effectively captures desired cross-sectional properties of firms. In addition, it allows reclassification of firm financial status every period and group composition is allowed to vary over time to reflect changing levels of financial constraints at the level of the firm. The results demonstrate that firm investment decisions are directly related to financial factors. Investment decisions of firms with high creditworthiness (according to traditional financial ratios) are extremely sensitive to the availability of internal funds while less creditworthy firms are much less sensitive to internal fund availability. This evidence supports the conclusions of Kaplan and Zingales (1997) using an objective classification scheme and a large, diversified sample of 1080 U.S. firms.
Measurements of line mixing in the Raman Q branch of deuterium and hydrogen deuteride

We have measured the Raman Q branch lines of pure D 2 and D2-He mixtures over a range of densities at 305.2 Kelvin and 100.7 Kelvin. Fitting the profiles to the line mixing theory of Rosenkranz (1975) yielded line mixing parameters. These were analyzed as a function of density to give line mixing coefficients. At each temperature, the line mixing coefficients were extrapolated to the case of infinite dilution, and compared with the calculated values of Brezina 'et al'. (1995). The measurements are consistent with the calculation. The Q branch lines of pure HD were measured at densities ranging from 1 to 7 Amagat at 304.6 K. Line mixing and line broadening coefficients were determined by fitting the mixing parameters and widths as a function of gas density. The broadening coefficients agree with previous measurements, and are an order of magnitude more precise. The Q(0) line mixing coefficient is in agreement with a previous measurement. The Q(1) through Q(3) mixing coefficients have not been measured previously. We have fitted our HD broadening coefficients to a variety of empirical energy gap laws. Our findings are that neither the exponential gap law (EGL), the modified exponential gap (MEG) law, nor the statistical power gap (SPG) law successfully models our broadening coefficients. We present a modified version of the EGL and the MEG law, which is successful. Using the parameters of the successful gap law fit, we have calculated the relaxation matrix of HD at room temperature. With the relaxation matrix, we have simulated the Q branch spectrum at a number of densities between 49.1 and 490 Amagat. These simulated spectra were compared to the high-density measurements of Witkowicz and May (1976). The simulated spectra and measurements were found to agree within about 5 percent of the peak of the spectra at all densities. This level of agreement is superior to that of the semi-classical calculation of Bonamy 'et al'. (1977). In the process of comparing the calculation to experiment, we have observed evidence of a non-linear vibrational dephasing shift in HD.
Creating team-based pay, current issues in compensation design

The wage relation has historically been controlled by organizational managers in that they have designed the terms of how much and under what circumstances employees will be paid. This situation has created a source of contention between employees and managers. Self-managing teams represent an opportunity to change the balance of the wage relation and thus help to reduce this source of conflict. Using research from the fields of reward theory and organizational development, the study proposes that organizations design team-based compensation plans with the input of team members. By providing team members this opportunity, the controlling nature of extrinsic incentives and rewards will be minimized.
Spark plug based diagnostics for fuel-air ratio determination

Experiments were performed in a simulated combustion chamber with non-combustible and combustible mixtures to study the feasibility of spark plug based diagnostics for fuel-air ratio determination in the spark plug gap of a Spark Ignition (SI) engine at ignition. During the experiments, the breakdown voltage (V$\rm\sb{s}$) as well as the spark light emission were measured to correlate to the characteristics of the gas mixture. A simulated combustion chamber was used rather than an actual engine to obtain better control of mixture composition and other experimental parameters. The dependence of V$\rm\sb{s}$ on the pressure, the temperature, the gas composition and the gap size was tested in non-combustible mixtures by measuring the true values of V$\rm\sb{s}$ and the agreement between the experimental results and Paschen's Law was studied. In addition, the correlation between V$\rm\sb{s}$ and the fuel-air equivalence ratio ($\phi$), as well as the residual gas fraction (RGF) was tested in combustible mixtures. In the measurements of spark light intensities, relative intensity (the spectral intensity of a particular molecule normalized by the shot or broadband intensity) was studied to reduce the effect of the variations of orientation of the spark initiation. The relative intensity of the CN radical, centered at 385 nm, was tested to have the strongest intensity 5 $\mu$s after the spark ignition compared to those of the other radicals, such as CH and NH. It has also been found that the relative intensity of CN has great dependence on $\phi$ as well as RGF. The study of this spark plug based diagnostics provides a feasible method for determination of mixture composition in the spark plug gap at ignition.
Forever different, siblings' experiences of living with a brother or sister who has a traumatic brain injury

Studies of parents who have a child with a brain injury suggested that living with a person who has a brain injury can be a difficult experience. Few studies, however, have described the experience of living with a sibling who has a brain injury. This qualitative exploratory study was undertaken to examine the experiences of siblings living with a brother or sister who had a traumatic brain injury. Eight siblings between the ages of 14 and 30 years were interviewed. The verbatim interview data were analyzed revealing several themes. The overarching theme was that well siblings' lives were Forever Different after their siblings' injuries. Their lives were different than they had been, different than they had expected them to be, different than those of their friends, and continually changing. The overarching theme was supported by four themes. Well siblings described the Change in Sibling as the impetus for change and Mixed Emotions as their reactions to their experiences. Different Life Rhythm highlighted changes in the way they went about day-to-day life, while Change in Self acknowledged how they were different as people. The results of the study have implications for Family Systems Theory, research and the type of care rehabilitation providers give to siblings.
La Sagrada familia, a singular portrait of women's suffering; the explanatory models of depression in Latin American women

In this dissertation I describe two intimately interwoven processes: the study of the explanatory models (EM) of depressed Latin American women and a study about myself. The major focus of this thesis is the singular way that a group of Latin American women express their suffering when they are distressed. They conspicuously did not express depression in a somatic way as characterized in the cross-cultural literature. Instead, they strongly stressed interpersonal rather than intrapersonal issues in their narratives. What surprised me were their particular responses to the Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue (EMIC), which elicits the EM of an illness. The EMIC, heavily based on the medical model, became not useful in exploring these women's interpersonal responses. Furthermore, the EMIC was unable to provide a complete picture of their suffering. For that reason, life history interviews were able to better capture their particular expressions of suffering. This study is rooted in a constructivistic assumption that supports a belief in a reality that is multiply constructed and rooted in an emic perspective. It also considers that reality is shaped by the values and rules in which each human being is located historically, politically, economically and socially. The particular socialization of Latin American women in countries where traditional views of the role of women compounded with strong Catholic religious views, seems to be the reason for their specific expression of their distress. In this study, I approached my methodological questions not as an outsider. My thesis is also a faithful reflection of myself throughout the journey of elaborating the thesis. The whole process gently nudged me to question who I was as a researcher, a clinician and as an Argentinian woman living in an adoptive country. My self-study led me to re-examine and understand in-depth the personal, historical and contextual reasons why I initially developed my doctoral dissertation following the assumptions of the positivistic paradigm My transformation substantiates once again the closeness that exists between the research and the researcher.