Larger foraminiferal biostratigraphy, systematics and paleoenvironments of the Avon Park Formation and Ocala Limestone, Highlands County, Florida

This study investigates the use of larger foraminifera in determining the biostratigraphy of the Avon Park Formation and the Ocala Limestone in central Florida. Sedimentary rocks of the Avon Park Formation are the oldest exposed deposits in the state of Florida, and together with the Ocala Limestone comprise a part of the confining unit of the Floridan Aquifer, a major source of Florida's water supply. ^ Material from the ROMP 29A core collected by the U.S. Geological Survey was evaluated and compared to previous studies of the biostratigraphy of the formations. The larger foraminifera of the Avon Park Formation were examined in thin section, and those of the Ocala Limestone were free specimens. The larger foraminifera from both units were described and identified, and the biostratigraphy determined. The morphological features of the larger foraminifera of the Ocala Limestone were measured and analyzed at various depths within the ROMP 29A core.^ The Avon Park Formation contains predominantly the shallow-water, conical foraminifera Fallotella cookei, Fallotella floridana, Pseudochrysalidina floridana, Coleiconus christianaensis, Coleiconus sp. A, Coskinolina sp. A, Coskinolina sp. B, Fallotella sp. A, Fallotella sp. B, Fabularia vaughani and larger miliolids. ^ The Ocala Limestone contains a different, deeper water assemblage that included the larger foraminifera Heterostegina ocalana, Lepidocyclina ocalana varieties, Lepidocyclina chaperi, Lepidocyclina pustulosa, Nummulites willcoxi, Nummulites striatoreticulatus, Nummulites floridensis and Pseudophragmina spp. A, B, and C. The age of the Avon Park Formation was corroborated by the occurrence of the biomarker echinoid Neolaganum dalli as Eocene, and the Ocala Limestone also contained Eocene larger foraminifera with Eocene to possibly Oligocene calcareous nannofossils. The distribution of the larger foraminifera of the Avon Park Formation was correlated with the subtidal and peritidal zones of the continental shelf. Analyses of variance showed that the changes in measurements of the morphology in Heterostegina ocalana, Lepidocyclina spp. and Nummulites spp. were correlated with change in the depositional environments.^

Gimme' A Break: Offering Sabbaticals as an Optional Leave Benefit in the Lodging Industry

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to investigate the extended leave programs offered by lodging companies in the United States and to suggest a model that could be used in the lodging industry. This model mirrors successful sabbatical leave programs offered by leading companies featured in the annual report, 100 Best Companies to Work For (from this point forward, referred to as 100 Best), published on-line by Fortune Magazine, 2013 (CNN, 2013). While extended leave programs are not entirely lacking in the industry, our research discovered that such leave systems are rare. According to the companies investigated that offer a sabbatical leave program, this benefit offers highly sought after time away from work for top performing employees at the management and higher levels. The benefits reported include happier employees who have increased feelings of company loyalty, job satisfaction, and overall better attitudes. The sponsoring companies stated that those who take part in such leave contribute at a higher level upon their return, bringing fresh ideas and a renewed commitment to the company’s success.

Experimental and Analytical Methodologies for Predicting Peak Loads on Building Envelopes and Roofing Systems

The performance of building envelopes and roofing systems significantly depends on accurate knowledge of wind loads and the response of envelope components under realistic wind conditions. Wind tunnel testing is a well-established practice to determine wind loads on structures. For small structures much larger model scales are needed than for large structures, to maintain modeling accuracy and minimize Reynolds number effects. In these circumstances the ability to obtain a large enough turbulence integral scale is usually compromised by the limited dimensions of the wind tunnel meaning that it is not possible to simulate the low frequency end of the turbulence spectrum. Such flows are called flows with Partial Turbulence Simulation. In this dissertation, the test procedure and scaling requirements for tests in partial turbulence simulation are discussed. A theoretical method is proposed for including the effects of low-frequency turbulences in the post-test analysis. In this theory the turbulence spectrum is divided into two distinct statistical processes, one at high frequencies which can be simulated in the wind tunnel, and one at low frequencies which can be treated in a quasi-steady manner. The joint probability of load resulting from the two processes is derived from which full-scale equivalent peak pressure coefficients can be obtained. The efficacy of the method is proved by comparing predicted data derived from tests on large-scale models of the Silsoe Cube and Texas-Tech University buildings in Wall of Wind facility at Florida International University with the available full-scale data. For multi-layer building envelopes such as rain-screen walls, roof pavers, and vented energy efficient walls not only peak wind loads but also their spatial gradients are important. Wind permeable roof claddings like roof pavers are not well dealt with in many existing building codes and standards. Large-scale experiments were carried out to investigate the wind loading on concrete pavers including wind blow-off tests and pressure measurements. Simplified guidelines were developed for design of loose-laid roof pavers against wind uplift. The guidelines are formatted so that use can be made of the existing information in codes and standards such as ASCE 7-10 on pressure coefficients on components and cladding.

Apple

Apple is a collection of poems that explores the connection between human relationships and the evolution of an identity. Multiple speakers investigate gender and sexuality, plentitude and poverty, atheism and Christianity in order to better understand some of the forces that affect a woman's consciousness. An awareness of perceived dualities, such as self and other, reason and faith, nature and technology, socialization and loneliness are central to this exploration. The poems employ various forms, such as ultra-talk narratives, lyrical meditations, prose poetry, epistolary poems and hypertext. The variety of structure and form in the collection mirrors the variety of approaches the speakers employ to move closer and further away from the subjects at hand. The rhetorical posture employed in each poem is directly linked to the speaker's relationship with the audience, which is an excellent example of a human relationship affecting the evolution of an identity.

Performance analysis of disk mirroring techniques

Unequaled improvements in processor and I/O speeds make many applications such as databases and operating systems to be increasingly I/O bound. Many schemes such as disk caching and disk mirroring have been proposed to address the problem. In this thesis we focus only on disk mirroring. In disk mirroring, a logical disk image is maintained on two physical disks allowing a single disk failure to be transparent to application programs. Although disk mirroring improves data availability and reliability, it has two major drawbacks. First, writes are expensive because both disks must be updated. Second, load balancing during failure mode operation is poor because all requests are serviced by the surviving disk. Distorted mirrors was proposed to address the write problem and interleaved declustering to address the load balancing problem. In this thesis we perform a comparative study of these two schemes under various operating modes. In addition we also study traditional mirroring to provide a common basis for comparison.