Internet-based celebrity gossip blog site, TMZ, is a growing cultural force. Employing critical rhetorical analytics, the author examines the TMZ coverage of Chris Brown's assault on his then-girlfriend, Rihanna. This project explicates TMZ's enthymematic invocation of dominant cultural ideologies surrounding race, sex, and domestic violence. Chapter 1 demonstrates the theoretical importance of both celebrities and gossip blogs, signaling the ideological importance of each. Chapter 2 critiques TMZ's reliance on historic myths regarding sex and race in their reporting on this case. Chapter 3 analyzes TMZ's humorous and affective strategies that bolster broader investments in colorblind ideologies. Chapter 4 concludes by examining the interplay of formal rhetorical elements that inform the project's findings. This research reveals that TMZ utilizes affective, enthymematic strategies that camouflage broader racist and sexist ideological impulses that perpetuate domestic violence myths.

Grapes hold the flavors of the lands where they grow, and when you make wine from them, those flavors of the land come through. Tasting wine from a place you've been can bring you back to that place with aromas and notes indicative of that place. A bottle of wine changes every day, and how it will taste depends on the moment you choose to release it from the glass walls. I have a vested interest in wine, because it is a living thing. I am compelled to make wine because its characteristics are like personality traits. Although some of those characteristics are harsh at times, I appreciate them all. Each trait plays an important role in the balance, the overall personality. Like my own personality flaws, wine's harsh tones can smooth over time. My relationship with wine is constantly evolving, with every new varietal, vintage, batch and blend. Believe me, after some of the jobs I had before my first day at Su Vino, I cherish every moment of my winemaking career. My Whine, Your Wine is the story of how it all started.

Fields and Armor is a comparative study of English feudalism from the Norman Conquest until the reign of King Henry II (1154-1189) and Japan’s first military government, the Kamakura Bakufu (1185- 1333). This thesis was designed to examine the validity of a European-Japanese comparison. Such comparisons have been attempted in the past. However, many historians on both sides of the equation have levied some serious criticism against these endeavors. In light, of these valid criticisms, this thesis has been a comparison of medieval English government and that of the Kamakura-Samurai, because of a variety of geographic, cultural and social similarities that existed in both regions. These similarities include similar military organizations and parallel developments, which resulted in the formation of two of most centralized military governments in either Western Europe or East Asia, and finally, the presence and real enforcement of two forms of unitary inheritance in both locales.

Computer-based, mathematical models have significant value in describing the processes behind urban development and its inhabitants. The following research describes the theories and concepts behind modeling and offers insight into the potential future of the field. First, the research covers a brief history of applicable modeling strategies. This is followed by a summary of current popular approaches. The numerical background of geo-social engineering is developed through mathematical techniques. Geo-social engineering is the integration of modeling into the basic design human civilization. The mathematical models will be incorporated into a design of a computer program. From this, a possible geo-social model structure is presented and its architecture is described.

Rehlet Iraqi was created to depict an Iraqi refugee family’s struggle after fleeing war-torn Iraq. Their struggle is highlighted with hope and high expectations for a better life within the United States. This film emphasizes the toll that emigration has on the life of a family before and after their arrival to Grand Rapids, Michigan.

This thesis describes the creation of the gay and lesbian community in Dallas, the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States. Employing more than seventy-five sources, this work chronicles the important contributions the gay men and lesbians of Dallas have made in the struggle for gay civil rights. This thesis adds to the studies of gay and lesbian history by focusing on a region of the United States that has been underrepresented, the South. In addition, this work addresses the conflicts that arise within the community between men and women.

Coarse-grained fabrics are comprised of multi-bit configurable logic blocks and configurable interconnect. This work is focused on area and energy optimization techniques for coarse-grained reconfigurable fabric architectures. In this work, a variety of design techniques have been explored to improve the utilization of computational resources and increase energy savings. This includes splitting, folding, multi-level vertical interconnect. In addition to this, I have also studied fully connected homogeneous and heterogeneous architectures, and 3D architecture. I have also examined some of the hybrid strategies of computation unit’s arrangements. In order to perform energy and area analysis, I selected a set of signal and image processing benchmarks from MediaBench suite. I implemented various fabric architectures on 90nm ASIC process from Synopsys. Results show area improvement with energy savings as compared to baseline architecture.

This study reviews factors that identify U.S. Hispanics as being an ideal target market for adopting Location Based Services (LBS). By using the diffusion of innovation theory, an observed pattern of Hispanics’ adoption of technology, advertisements, smartphones and various smartphone value-added services reveals U.S. Hispanics to be more likely to adopt LBS than non-Hispanics. The study also identifies the top U.S. cell phone wireless providers and analyzes their marketing position towards U.S. Hispanics. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon are noted as marketing their services to U.S. Hispanics via in-culture messages and campaigns. The four wireless providers also utilize LBS as a profitable tool and market LBS to their customers, regardless of ethnicity.

Exotic invasive aquatic weeds such as alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides) threaten native ecosystems by interfering with native plant communities, disrupting hydrology, and diminishing water quality. Development of new tools to combat invaders is important for the well being of these sensitive areas. Integrated pest management offers managers an approach that combines multiple control methods for better control than any one method used exclusively. In a greenhouse and field study, we tested the effects of selective herbicide application frequency, native competitor plant introduction, and their integration on alligator weed. In the greenhouse study, alligator weed shoot, root, and total biomass were reduced with one herbicide application, and further reduced with two. Alligator weed cumulative stem length and shoot/root ratio was only reduced after two applications. In the greenhouse, introduction of competitors did not affect alligator weed biomass, but did affect shoot/root ratio. The interaction of competitor introduction and herbicide did not significantly influence alligator weed growth in the greenhouse study. In the field, alligator weed cover was reduced after one herbicide application, but not significantly more after a second. Introduction of competitor species had no effect on alligator weed cover, nor did the interaction of competitor species and herbicide application. This …

An economically reliable technique for the synthesis of silicon nanowire was developed using silicon chloride as source material. The 30-40 micron long nanowires were found to have diameters ranging from 40 – 100 nm. An amorphous oxide shell covered the nanowires, post-growth. Raman spectroscopy confirmed the composition of the shell to be silicon-dioxide. Photoluminescence measurements of the as-grown nanowires showed green emission, attributed to the presence of the oxide shell. Etching of the oxide shell was found to decrease the intensity of green emission. n-type doping of the silicon nanowires was achieved using antimony as the dopant. The maximum dopant concentration was achieved by post-growth diffusion. Intrinsic nanowire parameters were determined by implementation of the as-grown and antimony doped silicon nanowires in field effect transistor configuration.

Written in French, this thesis presents a comparative and intertextual study on the theme of « windows » in four poems by Charles Baudelaire, Stéphane Mallarmé, Marie Krysinska and Guillaume Apollinaire. Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 -1898), Marie Krysinska (1857-1908) and Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) use « windows » as a common theme in their poetry. My study compares this common theme found in four poems: (1) “Les fenêtres” by Charles Baudelaire in Spleen de Paris XXXV, 1869. (2) “Les fenêtres” by Stéphane Mallarmé in Le Parnasse Contemporain, 1863/66. (3) “Les fenêtres” by Marie Krysinska in Rythmes pittoresques, 1890. (4) “Les fenêtres” by Guillaume Apollinaire in Calligrammes (1913-1916), 1918. I focus on what distinguishes these fours poems by following the evolution of poetical forms between symbolism and futurism/surrealism. The common theme (“windows”) provides an opportunity to better underline the formal heterogeneity which separates these different “poetical avenues”: with Baudelaire, the newness of prose poetry; with Mallarmé, the symbolist renewal of a more classic form; with Apollinaire, a form of simultaneity inspired by futurism. The comparative analysis brings to light the original value of the poem written by Krysinska, whose works have not greatly captivated the attention of critics.

Functional analysis procedures were used to assess and treat multiple topographies of self-injurious behavior exhibited by an individual. An experimental functional analysis indicated that one topography, hand biting, appeared to be maintained by social positive reinforcement in the form of delivery of tangible items. The analysis also provided evidence that a second form of self-injury, skin picking, was automatically reinforced. To treat positively reinforced hand biting, access to a preferred tangible was arranged contingent on the omission of biting for a prespecified time interval. Hand biting was nearly eliminated, and low rates were maintained as the schedule of reinforcement was thinned to 10 min. Competing stimulus assessments identified that magazines effectively suppressed all occurrences of skin picking; therefore, noncontingent access to magazines was implemented. Using a combination of multielement and multiple baseline designs, we were able to demonstrate that the two topographies of self-injury were maintained by independent reinforcement contingencies and that interventions corresponding to each topography and function effectively treated both behaviors.

This study represents the first shift in multivoltine life history of Cheumatopsyche species from a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in North America. Populations of C. lasia were examined upstream and downstream of the Denton’s Pecan Creek WWTP August 2009 through November 2010. C. lasia is multivoltine in Pecan Creek with three cohorts observed upstream of the WWTP and four possible cohorts downstream. A fourth generation was possible downstream as thermal inputs from WWTP effluent resulted in elevated water temperatures that allowed larval development to progress through the winter producing a cohort ready to emerge in spring. Production of C. lasia was 5 times greater downstream of the WWTP with secondary production estimates of 1.3 g m-2 yr-1 and 4.88- 6.51 g m-2 yr-1, respectively. Differences in abundance were due to increased habitat availability downstream of the WWTP in addition to continuous stream flow from inputs of wastewater effluent. Results also suggest that C. lasia is important for energy transfer in semiarid urban prairie streams and may serve as a potential conduit for the transfer of energy along with emergent contaminants to terrestrial ecosystems. These finding highlight the need for more quantitative accounts of population dynamics (voltinism, development rates, secondary production, …

Examinations of the effects of (a.) alkyl carbon chain length and (b.) perfluorination of acyl chlorides; propionyl chloride, butyryl chloride, valeroyl chloride, and perfluorinated acyl chlorides; perfluoropropionyl chloride and perfluorobutyryl chloride, are reported and compared using CP-FTMW spectroscopy. All of these molecules are already published in various journals except for valeroyl chloride. The chapters are organized by molecule alkyl chain length and include some background theory. Conformational stability, internal rotation, helicity, and ionic character of the C-Cl bond via the nuclear electric quadrupole coupling constant (χzz) are analyzed. Results show syn, syn-anti/syn-gauche, and syn-anti-anti/syn-gauche-anti stable conformations. Internal rotation was only seen in propionyl chloride. Helicity was not observed. (χzz) was observed to be inert to alkyl chain length, ~ 60 MHz and ~ 65 MHz for the nonfluorinated and fluorinated acyl chlorides. Partial fluorination and varying functional groups are recommended.

The aim of the current study was to examine how thinking about qualitatively different social network members may differentially affect cardiovascular reactivity to a subsequent stressor. Eighty-two undergraduates were asked to think and write about different types of relationships preceding a social stressor. No differences between conditions in CVR were found during social support induction phase or the stressor task. Women in the supportive condition were found to have slower SV recovery than those in the ambivalent condition. The results of this study are inconsistent with previous evidence for a relationship between mental representations of social ties and CVR. Future research should seek to rule out confounding variables and clarify this effect.

Positive adaptations experienced in spite of challenges faced is known as resilience. Comparatively little research has focused on in-depth descriptions regarding how resilience is manifested in children. The purpose of this study was to add to previous research in the identification of characteristics of resilience in students, and to determine the extent to which band membership has aided their resilience in other domains. Data was collected from a random sample of band seniors from the class of 2011 (n = 3) who attended a large high school in the South. Specific research questions were: (1) What characteristics of resilience are present in the talk of participants in a high school instrumental music program? (2) To what extent has this population perceived that membership in band aided their resilience in other domains? A descriptive study design was chosen that used qualitative data. Following data analysis that included category matrices, prominent themes emerged from the participants’ responses. These included self-improvement, forward thinking, optimism, inner drive, increased achievement, determination, development of relationships to peers and adult mentors, and development of connectedness to the school. The findings of this study complemented previous research on characteristics of resilient students, and suggested that the participants derived …

Jackson Blue is a first magnitude spring in the karst terrane of northeast Florida. Previous studies have identified inorganic fertilizer as the source of high nitrate levels in the spring. Agricultural land use and karst vulnerability make Jackson Blue a good model for conservation concerns. This work offers an aggregation of studies relating to the springshed, providing a valuable tool for planning and conservation efforts in the region. An analysis of nitrate levels and other water quality parameters within the springshed did not reveal significantly different values between agricultural and forested land use areas. Confounding factors include: high transmissivity in the aquifer, interspersed land use parcels, and fertilizer application in forested areas due to commercial pine stand activity.

Buruli ulcer (BU) is an environmental bacterium caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. Modes of transmission and hosts of the disease remain unknown. The purposes of this study are to explore the environmental factors that are possibly explain the spatial distribution of BU, to predict BU cases by using the environmental factors, and to investigate the impact of land use and land cover change on the BU distribution. The study area covers the southwest portion of Ghana, 74 districts in 6 regions. The results show that the highest endemic areas occur in the center and expand to the southern portion of the study area. Statistically, the incidence rates of BU are positively correlated to the percentage of forest cover and inversely correlated to the percentages of grassland, soil, and urban areas in the study area. That is, forest is the most important environmental risk factor in this study. Model from zero-inflated Poisson regression is used in this paper to explain the impact of each land use and land cover type on the spatial distribution of BU. The results confirm that the changes of land use and land cover affect the spatial distribution of BU in the study area.

The purpose of this thesis is to answer the question, why is there a variation in anti-Muslim sentiments across Western Europe? There is existing literature on individual and country-level variable s to explain why prejudice exists, but this research examines the impact of political institutions on anti-Muslim sentiments. Based on new institutionalism theory, electoral systems can shape public attitudes by providing far-right parties a platform to put their concerns on the agenda, and these parties promote anti-Muslim popular sentiments. The results of this analysis support this argument in that the larger the average district magnitude in a country, the greater the anti-Muslim sentiments. The findings also show that an increase in far-right party vote-share also covaries with an increase in anti-Muslim sentiments.

In today’s fast paced world, as the number of stations of television programming offered is increasing rapidly, time accessible to watch them remains same or decreasing. Sports videos are typically lengthy and they appeal to a massive crowd. Though sports video is lengthy, most of the viewer’s desire to watch specific segments of the video which are fascinating, like a home-run in a baseball or goal in soccer i.e., users prefer to watch highlights to save time. When associated to the entire span of the video, these segments form only a minor share. Hence these videos need to be summarized for effective presentation and data management. This thesis explores the ability to extract highlights automatically using MPEG-7 features and hidden Markov model (HMM), so that viewing time can be reduced. Video is first segmented into scene shots, in which the detection of the shot is the fundamental task. After the video is segmented into shots, extraction of key frames allows a suitable representation of the whole shot. Feature extraction is crucial processing step in the classification, video indexing and retrieval system. Frame features such as color, motion, texture, edges are extracted from the key frames. A baseball highlight contains certain …

Researchers raise concerns that the diagnostic approach can create stigma and lead to clinical inferences that focus on dispositional characteristics at the expense of situational variables. From social cognitive theory to strict behavioral approaches there is broad agreement that situation is at least as important as disposition. The present study examined the clinical inferences of graduate student clinicians randomly presented a diagnosis (borderline PD) or no diagnosis and either randomly given context information or no context information before watching a videotaped clinical interaction of a fabricated client. Responses to a questionnaire assessing dispositional or situational attributions about the client’s behavior indicated a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder did not significantly increase dispositional attributions and did not significantly moderate the importance of contextual factors. A notable difference between the attributions made by psychodynamic and third wave behavioral respondents was observed. Conceptual and experimental limitations as well as future directions are discussed.

In general, Dual-Band technology enables microwave components to work at two different frequencies. This thesis introduces novel dual-band microwave components and their applications. Chapter 2 presents a novel compact dual-band balun (converting unbalanced signals to balanced ones). The ratio between two working frequencies is analyzed. A novel compact microstrip crossover (letting two lines to cross each other with very high isolation) and its dual-band application is the subject of chapter 3. A dual-frequency cloak based on lumped LC-circuits is introduced in chapter 4. In chapter 5, a dual-band RF device to detect dielectric constant changes of liquids in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic channels has been presented. Such a device is very sensitive, and it has significantly improved the stability. Finally, conclusion of this thesis and future works are given in chapter 6.

The recent growth in sensor technology allows easier information gathering in real-time as sensors have grown smaller, more accurate, and less expensive. The resulting data is often in a geo-stream format continuously changing input with a spatial extent. Researchers developing geo-streaming management systems (GSMS) require a benchmark system for evaluation, which is currently lacking. This thesis presents GSMark, a benchmark for evaluating GSMSs. GSMark provides a data generator that creates a combination of synthetic and real geo-streaming data, a workload simulator to present the data to the GSMS as a data stream, and a set of benchmark queries that evaluate typical GSMS functionality and query performance. In particular, GSMark generates both moving points and evolving spatial regions, two fundamental data types for a broad range of geo-stream applications, and the geo-streaming queries on this data.

The thesis describes novel glass micropipette thermal sensor fabricated in cost-effective manner and thermal conductivity measurement of carbon nanotubes (CNT) thin film using the developed sensor. Various micrometer-sized sensors, which range from 2 µm to 30 µm, were produced and tested. The capability of the sensor in measuring thermal fluctuation at micro level with an estimated resolution of ±0.002oC is demonstrated. The sensitivity of sensors was recorded from 3.34 to 8.86 µV/oC, which is independent of tip size and dependent on the coating of Nickel. The detailed experimental setup for thermal conductivity measurement of CNT film is discussed and 73.418 W/moC was determined as the thermal conductivity of the CNT film at room temperature.