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A staff-needs planning system was developed and tested in a Department of Social Services' Family and Children's Services Unit in a medium-sized county where caseworkers used no established strategy or planning method to facilitate accomplishment of all the job requirements. The goal of the study was to implement a planning system based on each caseworker's needs in order to increase his/her organization and the quality of services provided to his/her clients, and to reduce overtime. The results indicated improved handling of caseworker's responsibilities. However, the improvement could be related only indirectly to the planning system. Appendices include sample question and survey forms, planning system forms, implementation plans, and percentage scores. (MSF)

Abstract There is a lack of current research regarding the reasoning behind why preschool teachers are choosing their literature for whole group read-alouds. The primary purpose of this study is to identify why teachers are choosing their literature and what, if any, activities were conducted in addition to reading the story. The research was conducted using 5 Minnesota School Readiness Programs. A survey was electronically distributed to forty-five preschool teachers and 8 surveys were returned. Results of this study indicated over half the participants chose read-alouds to correspond with an overall classroom theme. An overwhelming 94% of surveys indicated that an activity was performed in conjunction with the read-aloud.

Determining storm mode (linear or isolated) is a crucial component of any severe weather forecast. Isolated storms are associated with a greater likelihood of significant (EF2+) tornadoes and very large (2”+) hail, while linear storms are more likely to produce straight-line wind damage. Current operational convection allowing models (CAMs), which are often used to diagnose storm mode, only run up to 48-60 hours into the future and can quickly lose accuracy with increasing lead time. To improve forecast accuracy and messaging on Day 3+ outlooks, a forecast tool was created to predict storm mode using only synoptic-scale variables. The approach uses a blend of theoretical modeling, stochastic modeling, and statistical modeling. The formulation generally performed well with reproducing past events and predicting future events 84+ hours in advance using 0.5° Global Forecasting System (GFS) and 0.5° Global Ensemble Forecasting System (GEFS) outputs.

The main focus of this paper was to identify the impact behavior-specific praise has on students with emotional or behavioral disorders and their engagement in the classroom.

Embedment in bolted joints is defined as the local deformation of surfaces into one another due to uneven contact. Embedment that occurs after the tightening of a bolted joint can cause loss of preload in the joint potentially leading to failure. VDI 2230, a German standard for bolted joint design, is currently the main source for engineers regarding embedment. It related expected embedment to the surface roughness in steel bolted joints. This research expands on the VDI standard by performing tests on a commonly used aluminum alloy and a steel alloy. Both cold rolled 1045 steel and 6061- T6511 aluminum bolted joints preload losses were monitored using M10 class 8.8 and 12.9 stain gauge bolts with joint interfaces having varying surface roughness. The joints were loaded to 75% of their proof load, and shear loaded externally in a sine wave using a universal testing machine. The slip coefficient was also found for each surface roughness. Results showed that as surface roughness increases embedment, and the slip coefficient increases. As the external shear load increased the amount of initial embedment increased. At the same external shear load and roughness T6511 aluminum displayed on average 50% more embedment than 1045 cold rolled steel. The results showed that aluminum will embed more than steel at the same preload and shear load, embedment values are affected by external shear force, material surface roughness, and surface slip coefficient. Embedment was also tested with joints having various clamp lengths and it was determined for the clamp lengths used in this experiment that embedment is not a function of clamp length.

Environmental and safety concerns have necessitated a phase-out of lead-based alloys, which are often used in electronics solder applications. In order to properly assess suitable replacement materials, it is necessary to understand the deformation mechanisms relevant to the application. In the case of electronics solder, creep is an important mechanism that must be considered in the design of reliable devices and systems. In this study, Power-Law and Garofalo constitutive creep models were derived for two medium temperature solder alloys. The first alloy is known by the commercial name Indalloy 236 and is a quaternary alloy of lead, antimony, tin, and silver. The lead-free alternative is a binary alloy of tin and antimony known by the trade name Indalloy 264. Constant strain rate tests were conducted at temperatures from -20 to 175 Celsius using constant strain rate tensile testing in the range of e-5 s-1 to e-1 s-1. Creep constants were defined for use in materials selection and design analysis activities.

Abstract: Reducing the cyclic variability of a gasoline/natural gas dual injection spark ignition engine using minimum variance control is the subject of this thesis. Cylinder pressure is used to calculate four combustion metrics, the standard deviation of which is used as an indicator of cyclic variability. Spark timing, fuel type, and engine speed are varied to characterize the cyclic variability of the engine. Location of peak pressure is found to be the best combustion metric for use as feedback in a closed loop controller. Using the location of peak pressure as an engine output and spark timing as an engine input, system identification is used to develop input-output models. Using the model, a minimum variance controller is developed which is able to reduce the cyclic variability by 1.4\% by changing the spark timing in response to the measured location of peak pressure. A detuned minimum variance tracking controller is designed to produce maximum power in changing operating conditions by using 16 crank angle degrees after top dead center as the location of peak pressure set-point. The detuned minimum variance controller is able to track and maintain the set-point under constant operating conditions and as disturbances such as, changing fuel type, addition of internal exhaust gas recirculation, and changing coolant temperature, are introduced into the system. The detuned minimum variance controller rejects these disturbances when experimentally tested and maintains optimal engine operating conditions.

In 2009, the HITECH Act provided a subsidy for hospitals to adopt Electronic Health Records (EHR). The Act intended to induce implementation by all types of hospitals. Studies prior to the Act found that larger urban hospitals or hospitals in a system were more likely to adopt than other types of hospitals. This study analyzes whether hospitals with those characteristics still have a higher probability of adoption. To examine my hypotheses, we created a novel data set. The new data set merged the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and American Hospital Association data together, which permitted us to analyze which types of hospitals have received an incentive payment. The results show that the pre-HITECH Act patterns do not persist after the Act; the HITECH Act's goal of promoting adoption by all types of hospitals is met.

Petrographic, conglomerate and detrital-zircon analyses of formations in southern California can determine consanguineous petrofacies and lithofacies that help constrain paleotectonic and paleogeographic reconstructions of the southwestern United States. Arkosic sandstone of the lower Middle Miocene Cajon Valley formation is exposed on the southwest edge of the Mojave block and juxtaposed against Mesozoic and Paleozoic rocks by the San Andreas fault (SAf). Early work in Cajon Valley referred to the formation as Punchbowl, due to its similar appearance to the Punchbowl Formation at Devil's Punchbowl (northwest along the SAf). However, paleontological work placed Cajon Valley strata in the Hemingfordian-Barstovian (18-14 Ma), as opposed to the Clarendonian-Hemphillian (13-9 Ma) Punchbowl Formation. Since the Cajon Valley formation was deposited prior to being truncated by the San Andreas fault, the 2400m-thick, laterally extensive subaerial deposits likely were deposited across what is now the fault trace. Restoring 310 km of dextral slip on the SAf system should indicate the location of offset equivalent sandstone. Restoration of slip on the SAf system places Cajon Valley adjacent to the Caliente and La Panza Ranges, east of San Luis Obispo. Although analysis of detrital zircon from Cenozoic sandstone throughout southern California has been crucial in establishing paleodrainage areas, detrital zircon from the Cajon Valley and equivalent formations had not been analyzed prior to this study.Paleocurrents measured throughout the Cajon Valley formation indicate a source to the NE, in the Mojave Desert. Sandstone samples analyzed in thin section using the Gazzi-Dickinson method of point-counting are homogeneously arkosic, with slight compositional variability, making differentiation of the Cajon Valley formation and potential offset equivalents problematic. However, Branch Canyon Sandstone and Santa Margarita Formation samples are compositionally the best match for the Cajon Valley formation. Detrital-zircon ages were determined from the Cajon Valley formation and related strata. These data are slightly more variable than sandstone composition, with distinct age peaks at 85-90 Ma, 150 Ma and 250 Ma. These ages correlate with batholiths in the SW Mojave Desert. Of the nine samples from six formations collected as potential offset equivalents, Branch Canyon and Santa Margarita samples are most similar to Cajon Valley samples, in terms of both detrital-zircon ages and sandstone composition. Based on 310km of post-Miocene offset on the San Andreas fault system, the Cajon Valley formation restores adjacent to shallow-marine sandstone of the Santa Margarita Formation and Branch Canyon Sandstone Member of the Monterey Formation in the Caliente and La Panza ranges. Cajon Valley sandstone is interpreted to represent a Miocene fluvial system on a coastal plain, flowing toward a delta on a narrow continental shelf.