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An Examination of the Behavior of a Giant Hail-Producing Supercell in Oklahoma on 23 May 2011 Using Data from Five Doppler Radars
Get PDFDual-polarization radar observations are valuable for identifying the location and evolution of hail in supercells. This study presents an analysis of a supercell that produced remarkably large hail [6 inches (15.24 cm) in diameter, setting a state record for Oklahoma at the time] on 23 May 2011 in the southwestern part of the state. This analysis uses data from three X-band, ground-based, mobile Doppler radars – RaXPol, MWR-05XP, and NOXP – each positioned generally to the southeast of the storm’s updraft in close proximity to each other, in addition to observations from two WSR-88Ds, KFDR located in Frederick, Oklahoma and KOUN located in Norman, Oklahoma. Of the five radars, all but the MWR-05XP and KFDR had polarimetric capabilities; the MWR-05XP, however, had rapid-scan, hybrid, phased-array technology.
The investigation provides an in-depth examination of the storm's evolution, combining data analyses from all three mobile radars and the two stationary WSR-88D radars. The results of polarimetric variable comparisons, multi-Doppler wind analyses, and dual-frequency analyses will be presented. The main goal of this study is to contribute to an improved understanding of the transformation of hydrometeors, particularly hail, from their initial generation within the updraft to their eventual descent to the ground in a historic storm. A secondary goal is to document a failed attempt at tornadogenesis which was associated with a funnel cloud and examine why a tornado did not form
A Catalog of Early Cycladic Zoomorphic Objects: Symbolism and Function
No full textDuring the Early Cycladic period of the Aegean Bronze Age (ca. 3200-2000 BCE), the inhabitants of the Cycladic islands produced three-dimensional zoomorphic objects, many of which survive today. This study cataloged 128 known zoomorphic objects from the Early Cycladic culture. Additionally, the materials and techniques believed to have been used to create the objects were analyzed. The objects were also analyzed and interpreted based on types of object and animal representations. Five object categories were identified: beads, vessels, protomes, figurines, and pins. The zoomorphic representations are distributed among these object categories. To arrive at the conclusions of symbolism and function of the objects from an art historical perspective, archaeological, anthropological, and iconographic evidence was closely examined. It was also necessary to research the Neolithic origins of the Early Cycladic peoples to make cultural comparisons. The resulting conclusions are that the objects were multifunctional and polyvalent, according to the individual making use of the object
Stretching It: Exploring food security status, food insecurity coping strategies, and mental health among single female caregivers
No full textBackground: Food insecurity is an ongoing problem in the United States. Certain groups, such as single females heading a household tend to be disproportionately impacted. This study examines food security status among single female caregivers of children and investigates the relationships between food security status, depression, and various food insecurity coping strategies.
Methods: Survey data was collected among a convenience sample of single female caregivers (n=94). The survey included measurements assessing food security status, various food insecurity coping strategies, depression, and sociodemographic variables. We examined the relationships between key variables using a series of linear and logistic regressions.
Results: Depressive symptoms were high among our sample, with over 70% of participants surpassing the scale’s cutoff for likely depression. There was a significant relationship between higher levels of food insecurity and increased depressive symptomology after controlling for sociodemographic controls (p = .004). We also found that higher levels of food insecurity were associated with use of more community, interpersonal, and intrapersonal coping strategies (p- values < .05). Greater use of community coping, interpersonal coping, and shopping and tradeoffs (intrapersonal) coping strategies were associated with increased depressive symptoms (p-values < .05).
Conclusion: The high rates of food insecurity and depression among our sample reiterates the need for further study and intentional interventions among single female caregivers. Examining food insecurity coping strategies may provide deeper insight into understanding food insecurity as well as help to clarify the relationship between food insecurity and depression.Study conducted by the Stress & Health Disparities Lab at the University of OklahomaN
Working students and major intention: Considering proximal contextual influences and entrance into STEM fields
Get PDFHigh demand for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) knowledge and expertise continues in the U.S. workforce, and the shortages of workers in many STEM positions persist. Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) proposes that in addition to the core SCCT predictors (i.e., self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and interests), proximal influences (i.e., external factors) will influence undergraduates’ intention to declare a STEM major. College costs are on the rise and many students feel compelled to work to mitigate these costs. Two proximal contextual influences that have not been adequately explored are students’ working hours and financial stress. Participants included 496 undergraduate students from a southcentral university with a substantial population identifying as Native American. Structural equation modeling and factor score regression were used across three time points to investigate the relative effect core SCCT predictors and students’ working hours have on intention to declare a STEM major and examine the moderating role of financial stress in these relationships. Results highlight the importance of making adequate financial resources available to students and augmenting their science identity, as both can impact entrance into STEM fields. The number of hours a student worked was not a significant predictor of STEM major intention but financial stress did moderate the relationship between science identity and STEM major intention. Theoretical and practical implications are given along with several future research directions.
Keywords: Social Cognitive Career Theory, Proximal Contextual Influences, Science Identity, Working Hours, Financial Stress, STE
Making the Business of Death, Business-As-Usual: The Commerce-Care Dialectic in Funeral Planning
Get PDFThis dissertation, grounded in relational dialectics theory 2.0 (RDT; Baxter, 2011), aims to illustrate what meanings emerge from the commerce-care dialectic when engaging in funeral planning. The contrapuntal analysis of interviews with funeral directors reveals that the discourse of commerce and the discourse of care are central to the meaning-making of the commerce-care dialectic when engaging in funeral planning. Also, the two discourses interpenetrate synchronically and diachronically. The diachronic interplay manifests in spiraling inversion and segmentation. The synchronic interplay is shown in negating and countering, ambiguating (a new form of synchronic interplay), and entertaining. Moreover, hybridization and aesthetic moment are identified for discursive transformative interplay. This dissertation contributes to RDT by aligning the discursive synchronic markers, including negating, countering, ambiguating (a new marker proposed), and entertaining, with four features of utterance chains. The alignment provides an additional guideline to help researchers identify discursive synchronic interplay. Additionally, the dissertation provides empirical evidence for Mumby’s (2005) theorizing regarding (a) the mutual constitution of control and resistance by identifying the hybridization of the discourse of commerce and the discourse of care as the double nature (i.e., commerce and care) of funeral services and (b) the control-resistance dialectic transformation as a routine social production of daily organizational life by proposing the discourse of mundanity, which is “a system of meaning in which the gravity of life and death is made to be experienced as ordinary and beautiful.” Moreover, the dissertation proposes a perspective of acknowledging human life, which is the complex interpenetration and constitutive process of the costed life and/or the sacred life, labeled as the commerce-care dialectic perspective, defined as "Humans make meanings of unresolvable life events or struggles, which have two core attributes of money and humanity, and transform those struggles into mundane aesthetic moments by enacting behaviors and actions." This commerce-care dialectic perspective requires further validation across other occupational interaction types to understand the concept’s degree of transferability. Lastly, the dissertation offers practical implications for facilitating future funeral planning for funeral professionals, clients, and governmental agencies
Vividness of visual imagery and false memory creation
Get PDFResearch has established that encouraging people to visually imagine events through guided imagery can induce false memories (Muschella & Schonborn, 2021; Paddock et al., 1998) through imagination inflation (Loftus et al., 1996). Much of the previous research has focused solely on situations where people are formally asked to visualize events. This study experimentally investigated the role of prompting visualization on false memory creation while testing for vividness of a person’s visual imagery as a possible moderator. The first hypothesis was that those who were given the visualization prompt would have more false memories than those with no prompt. The second hypothesis was that there would be a positive correlation between vividness of visual imagery and false memory creation; the more vivid a person’s visual imagery, the more susceptible they would be to false memories. The third and final hypothesis was that the vividness of a person’s visual imagery would moderate the effect of the visualization prompt; when prompted to visualize, those with especially vivid visual imagery would be more prone to false memory than those with less vivid visual imagery. In session 1, participants watched a video of a local arts festival and were asked questions over the video. The experimental group was asked to visualize the events from the videos that were being asked about. This ‘interview’ included subtle pieces of misinformation about the events in the video (e.g., referring to a red golf cart that was actually blue). In session 2, after a three-day delay, they were given a recognition task in which they selected the events they remembered from the video from a provided list, which included some correct and some incorrect details. They also completed the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ; Marks, 1973). Results indicated no significant difference in the use of a visualization prompt. Vividness of visual imagery did not significantly moderate the formation of false memories. There was no significant relationship between vividness of visual imagery and false memory formation. The major limitations of the current study are limited sample size and the resulting low statistical power. The results of the current study may be beneficial in the context of police interviewing using visualization to induce context-reinstatement. This area of research may benefit from further investigation to more conclusively close the door on the relationship between false memory creation and vividness of visual imagery, especially if we consider a person’s natural tendency to visualize. In other words, the prompt may not matter because people are naturally inclined to automatically visualize when recalling a memory
Object detection and image reconstruction using microwave technology
Get PDFMicrowave imaging holds significant potential in the medical field, offering advantages over traditional methods like X-rays and MRI. It is both cost-effective and uses non-ionizing radiation, making it a safer option. Although microwave tomography is complex, it shows promise for imaging soft tissues. The longer wavelengths used are more affected by diffraction, meaning that the assumption of straight-line propagation in a dielectric medium is generally valid only at higher frequencies, such as in the ultraviolet or gamma ray range. Using a circular radar aperture for imaging, combined with advanced post-processing reconstruction techniques, can enhance the overall performance of the imaging system. Simulations demonstrate that employing an ultrawide band (UWB) increases depth resolution, while improved angular resolution enhances cross-range accuracy, making it possible to pinpoint the location and range of targets. However, there's a tradeoff between attenuation and resolution that varies with frequency, especially in materials that absorb energy. A stable imaging system is essential for consistent measurements, particularly when removing artifacts. My attempt at reconstructing an image from measured data was semi-successful due to a high margin of phase error, which led to inconsistencies in the results. Future research has substantial potential to improve image reconstruction quality further. MATLAB’s extensive library resources make it a valuable tool for advancing these enhancements
On Dynamic Management of Lead Times
No full textDefense supply networks support the timely provision of resources in high-stakes and uniquely complex environments involving multiple stakeholders, including government entities, suppliers, and users. The unique complexity of defense supply networks stems from their role in maintaining national security, supporting military readiness, and ensuring that resources are reliably delivered under high-stakes, contested environments. These networks must also navigate conflicting goals, such as balancing cost efficiency, security, and mission readiness, while contending with unpredictable global environments. Due to these unique features, defense supply networks are typically designed to be resilient, lean, and efficient. However, resilience-based system design results in fragile networks that are vulnerable to disruptions potentially jeopardizing mission-critical operations. Since all defense supply networks operate within a landscape of both anticipated and unanticipated variations and disruptions, systems that go beyond resilience towards fail-safe must be developed. In this thesis, analyzing lead time management techniques as a feature of fail-safe system design presents a unique opportunity to identify gaps and a way forward for additional research. Identifying gaps in defense lead time management frameworks is a step towards determining principles for designing fail-safe defense supply networks.In this context, defense supply networks designed for resilience are typically based on cyber-physical systems (CPS). CPS-based design often overlooks the social elements due to their qualitative nature. However, including social components in system design is hypothesized as more comprehensive perspective in cyber-physical-social systems (CPSS). These social components such as trust, leadership, and team cohesion are essential in modern defense contexts. In this thesis, CPSS principles are hypothesized to provide a robust perspective for developing adaptable, fail-safe systems that incorporate both technological and social dimensions for enhanced decision-making and operational readiness. In this thesis, a comprehensive literature review on current practices in both generalized and defense-specific supply network design is conducted with a focus on their responses to variations and disruptions. To identify constraints among stakeholders in a multi-stakeholder defense supply network, the Nested Function-Behavior-Structure Dilemma Triangle Method (F-B-S DTM) is used to develop a Requirements List based in Dilemma resolutions. Defense sustainment is further examined as a defense supply network using the Business Model Canvas to identify key network components. Next, defense sustainment as a defense supply network is analyzed using the Air Force Sustainment Center's Art of the Possible framework to reveal gaps in lead time management. These gaps are further explored using System Archetypes to contextualize patterns of Behavior and Structure, enabling a deeper understanding of constraints within defense supply networks. The findings within this thesis include the hypothesis that fail-safe defense supply networks within contested logistics environments should include adaptability and robust decision-making strategies to counter disruptions. By integrating CPSS perspectives that include comprehensive human factors that include the worker and the stakeholders, defense supply networks can operate in and prepare for environments where social dynamics like trust and collaboration significantly impact operations. Designing fail-safe systems is hypothesized to require policies that shift from rigid resilience-based paradigms toward systems of flexibility, through an incorporation of real-time data, predictive analytics, and cross-functional collaboration. The way forward for policy recommendations include a design for dynamic system reconfiguration, decentralized governance, and adaptive feedback loops. These policies must include advocacy for networks that enable localized autonomy, foster public-private partnerships, and allow for effective cross-organizational collaboration among government, suppliers, and users. The way forward identified in this thesis culminated into potential research avenues for designing fail-safe systems based in satisficing decision frameworks, modular redundancy, and scalable dynamic reconfiguration strategies in a Ph.D. These research avenues include a prioritization of adaptability over strict efficiency and include supporting continuous improvement and proactive responses to complex, multidimensional threats
The Victorian Frontier: A Comparative Analysis of Artifacts From Fort Gibson Historic Site And Their Implications In Relation To 19th Century American Social Order
No full textThis thesis is a comparative analysis of two collections from Fort Gibson, Oklahoma that date to the Antebellum and American Civil War periods. Fort Gibson marked the start of the western frontier and the end destination for the Trail of Tears. Its soldiers served as tools for US imperialism into the West but lived different lives depending on their social status within the fort. This project compares ceramic, glass, and metal artifacts recovered from an area associated with enlisted men to artifacts excavated from the commissioned officers' quarters at Fort Gibson. I will argue that the difference in the two collections reflects the social standing of their original owners at the Fort by representing aspects of their daily lives such as dining, drinking, and occupation