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Determining the Emissivity of Roofing Samples: Asphalt, Ceramic and Coated Cedar (open access)

Determining the Emissivity of Roofing Samples: Asphalt, Ceramic and Coated Cedar

The goal is to perform heat measurements examine of selected roofing material samples. Those roofing materials are asphalt shingles, ceramics, and cedar. It’s important to understand the concept of heat transfer, which consists of conduction, convection, and radiation. Research work was reviewed on different infrared devices to see which one would be suitable for conducting my experiment. In this experiment, the main focus was on a specific property of radiation. That property is the emissivity, which is the amount of heat a material is able to radiate compared to a blackbody. An infrared measuring device, such as the infrared camera was used to determine the emissivity of each sample by using a measurement formula consisting of certain equations. These equations account for the emissivity, transmittance of heat through the atmosphere and temperatures of the samples, atmosphere and background. The experiment verifies how reasonable the data is compared to values in the emissivity table. A blackbody method such as electrical black tape was applied to help generate the correct data. With this data obtained, the emissivity was examined to understand what factors and parameters affect this property of the materials. This experiment was conducted using a suitable heat source to heat …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Adesanya, Oludamilola
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Identification and Characterization of an Arabidopsis thaliana Mutant with Tolerance to N-lauroylethanolamine (open access)

Identification and Characterization of an Arabidopsis thaliana Mutant with Tolerance to N-lauroylethanolamine

N-Acylethanolamines (NAEs) are fatty acid derivatives in plants that negatively influence seedling growth. N-Lauroylethanolamine (NAE 12:0), one type of NAE, inhibits root length, increases radial swelling of root tips and reduces root hair numbers in a dose dependent manner in Arabidopis thaliana L. (ecotype Columbia). A forward genetics approach was employed by screening a population of T-DNA “activation-tagged” developed by the Salk Institute lines for NAE resistance to identify potential genes involved in NAE signaling events in Arabidopsis thaliana L. (ecotype Columbia). Seeds of the activation tagged lines were grown at 0, 25, 30, 50, 75 and 100 µM N-lauroylethanolamime (NAE 12:0). Ten plants which displayed NAE tolerance (NRA) seedling phenotypes, compared with wildtype (Columbia, Col-0) seedlings were identified. I focused on one mutant line, identified as NRA 25, where the tolerance to NAE 12:0 appears to be mediated by a single dominant, nuclear gene. Thermal asymmetric interlaced (TAIL) PCR identified the location of the T-DNA insert as 3.86 kbp upstream of the locus At1g68510. Quantitative PCR indicated that the transcript level corresponding to At1g68510 is upregulated approximately 20 fold in the mutant relative to wildtype. To determine whether the NAE tolerance in NRA 25 is associated with overexpression of …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Adhikari, Bikash
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
“No Paper Cowboys”: Stories (open access)

“No Paper Cowboys”: Stories

Equilibrium is paramount in the crafting of a story, and for every writer this sense of balance is different. The writer must manage a balance of showing and telling, of denotation and connotation, and forever strive to find the perfect word in both the denotative and connotative sense, so that the reader and writer can meeting in a living story—both in the ink on the page and the remaining white space.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Agnew, Bryn
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Determinants of Effort and Associated Cardiovascular Response to a Behavioral Restraint Challenge (open access)

Determinants of Effort and Associated Cardiovascular Response to a Behavioral Restraint Challenge

This study directly tested implications of motivation intensity theory on effort to restrain against a behavioral urge or impulse (i.e. restraint intensity). Two factors were manipulated—magnitude of an urge and the importance of successfully resisting it—with cardiovascular (CV) responses related to active coping measured. Male and female undergraduate students were presented with a mildly- or strongly evocative film clip with instructions to refrain from showing any facial response. Success was made more or less important through coordinated manipulations of outcome expectancy, ego-involvement, and performance assessment. As expected, systolic blood pressure responses assessed during the performance period were proportional to the evocativeness of the clip when importance was high, but low regardless of evocativeness when importance was low. These findings support a new conceptual analysis concerned with the determinants and CV correlates of restraint intensity. Implications of the study and associations with current self-regulatory literature are discussed.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Agtarap, Stephanie
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Expertise Revisited: Reflecting on the Intersection of Science and Democracy in the Case of Fracking (open access)

Expertise Revisited: Reflecting on the Intersection of Science and Democracy in the Case of Fracking

This dissertation aims to explain the conditions under which expertise can undermine democratic decision making. I argue that the root of the conflict between expertise and democracy lies in what I call insufficiently “representative” expertise – that is forms of scientific research that are not relevant to the policy questions at hand and that fail to make visible their hidden values dimensions. I claim that the scholarly literature on the problem of expertise fails to recognize and address the issue correctly, because it does not open the black box of scientific methodologies. I maintain that only by making sense of the methodological choices of experts in the context of policy making can we determine the relevance of research and reveal the hidden socio-political values and consequences. Using the case of natural gas fracking, I demonstrate how expert contributions – even though epistemically sound – can muddle democratic policy processes. I present four case studies from controversies about fracking to show how to contextualize scientific methodologies in the pertinent political process. I argue that the common problem across all case studies is the failure of expertise to sufficiently represent stakeholders’ problems and concerns. In this context, “representation” has three criteria: (1) …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Ahmadi, Mahdi
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Limits of Arbitrage and Stock Mispricing: Evidence from Decomposing the Market to Book Ratio (open access)

The Limits of Arbitrage and Stock Mispricing: Evidence from Decomposing the Market to Book Ratio

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of the "limits of arbitrage" on securities mispricing. Specifically, I investigate the effect of the availability of substitutes and financial constraints on stock mispricing. In addition, this study investigates the difference in the limits of arbitrage, in the sense that it will lead to lower mispricing for these stocks, relative to non-S&P 500 stocks. I also examine if the lower mispricing can be attributed to their lower limits of arbitrage. Modern finance theory and efficient market hypothesis suggest that security prices, at equilibrium, should reflect their fundamental value. If the market price deviates from the intrinsic value, then a risk-free profit opportunity has emerged and arbitrageurs will eliminate mispricing and equilibrium is restored. This arbitrage process is characterized by large number of arbitrageurs which have infinite access to capital. However, a better description of reality is that there are few numbers of arbitrageurs to the extent that they are highly specialized; and they have limited access to capital. Under these condition arbitrage is no more a risk-free activity and can be limited by several factors such as arbitrage risk and transaction costs. Other factors that are discussed in the literature …
Date: December 2015
Creator: AlShammasi, Naji Mohammad
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Regional Water Plan: Region I (East Texas), Volume 1. Main Report (open access)

Regional Water Plan: Region I (East Texas), Volume 1. Main Report

Water plan for Region I (East Texas) describing water sources and suppliers in the area, usage statistics and forecasts, water needs, water management strategies for suppliers and counties, water conservation plans, drought response plans, financing of the plan, and the process of creating the plan.
Date: December 1, 2015
Creator: Alan Plummer and Associates
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Regional Water Plan: Region I (East Texas), Volume 2. Appendixes (open access)

Regional Water Plan: Region I (East Texas), Volume 2. Appendixes

Appendices for the water plan for Region I (East Texas) including water management strategies, water needs, water conservation methods, species of concern in the area, financing methods, and related reports.
Date: December 1, 2015
Creator: Alan Plummer and Associates
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
MAP training: combining meditation and aerobic exercise reduces depression and rumination while enhancing synchronized brain activity (open access)

MAP training: combining meditation and aerobic exercise reduces depression and rumination while enhancing synchronized brain activity

This article discusses the efficacy of mental and physical (MAP) training in improving symptoms of depression and rumination in individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD).
Date: October 5, 2015
Creator: Alderman, Brandon L.; Olson, Ryan L.; Brush, Christopher J. & Shors, Tracey J.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Photo-induced Toxicity of Deepwater Horizon Spill Oil to Four Native Gulf of Mexico Species (open access)

Photo-induced Toxicity of Deepwater Horizon Spill Oil to Four Native Gulf of Mexico Species

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill resulted in the accidental release of millions of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Photo-induced toxicity following co-exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation is one mechanism by which polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from oil spills may exert toxicity. Blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) are an important commercial and ecological resource in the Gulf of Mexico and their largely transparent larvae may make them sensitive to PAH photo-induced toxicity. Mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus), an important fishery resource, have positively buoyant, transparent eggs. These characteristics may result in mahi-mahi embryos being at particular risk from photo-induced toxicity. Red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) and speckled seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) are both important fishery resources in the GoM. They spawn near-shore and produce positively buoyant embryos that hatch into larvae in about 24 h. The goal of this body of work was to determine whether exposure to UV as natural sunlight enhances the toxicity of crude oil to early lifestage GoM species. Larval and embryonic organisms were exposed to several dilutions of water accommodated fractions (WAF) from several different oils collected in the field under chain of custody during the 2010 spill and two to three gradations of natural …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Alloy, Matthew Michael
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Nuestra Voz (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 25, Ed. 1, December 2015 (open access)

Nuestra Voz (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 25, Ed. 1, December 2015

Monthly newspaper providing news and information to the Tarrant, Dallas, and Denton County Latino communities along with advertising.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Alvarado, Felix
Object Type: Newspaper
System: The Portal to Texas History
The Extent of Autism Knowledge of Novice Alternatively Certified Special Education Teachers in Texas (open access)

The Extent of Autism Knowledge of Novice Alternatively Certified Special Education Teachers in Texas

This article assesses the knowledge of novice alternative certification teachers in the area of autism intervention.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Alward Hauber, Jennifer; Mehta, Smita S. & Combes, Bertina H.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Southwest Retort, Volume 68, Number 4, December 2015 (open access)

Southwest Retort, Volume 68, Number 4, December 2015

This publication of the Dallas-Fort Worth Section of the American Chemical Society includes information about research, prominent scientist, organizational business, and various other stories of interest to the community.
Date: December 2015
Creator: American Chemical Society. Dallas/Fort Worth Section.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Newsletter of the Texas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, Volume 41, Number 4, Fall 2015 (open access)

The Newsletter of the Texas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, Volume 41, Number 4, Fall 2015

Newsletter of the Texas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society containing information about the organization, membership, and field of aquaculture and ecosystem management.
Date: December 2015
Creator: American Fisheries Society. Texas Chapter.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Exploring the Dual-natured Impact of Digital Technology on Student-classroom Engagement in a Texas Public High School (open access)

Exploring the Dual-natured Impact of Digital Technology on Student-classroom Engagement in a Texas Public High School

The past decade has become rife with an eagerness to integrate new digital technology into teaching. While there have been decades of research done on the importance of curriculum and pedagogy on student engagement, findings of actual technology integration are scarce. Moreover, what does it take to engage students in classroom activities and lessons when technology is introduced? The purpose of this study was to explore how digital technology, when integrated into classroom teaching and activities, impacted the students-classroom engagement based on the interim-cognitive, meta-cognitive, motivational, and behavioral markers. This was explored in a Texas public high school across the four core classes (English, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Data was collected in the form of observational field notes, transcripts of recorded lessons, and Likert-scaled surveys. Thematic analysis was used in analyzing qualitative data, Pearson’s correlation of those components found by factor analysis verified three of the five themes identified from the thematic analysis with statistical significance. The findings suggest that mere use of technology does not have a profound impact on student engagement. Instead, technology tends to amplify the existing classroom culture and social norms agreed upon between the teacher and their students. Texas teachers and students are also …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Ayers, Joseph J.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Effect of Alloy Composition, Free Volume and Glass Formability on the Corrosion Behavior of Bulk Metallic Glasses (open access)

Effect of Alloy Composition, Free Volume and Glass Formability on the Corrosion Behavior of Bulk Metallic Glasses

Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) have received significant research interest due to their completely amorphous structure which results in unique structural and functional properties. Absence of grain boundaries and secondary phases in BMGs results in high corrosion resistance in many different environments. Understanding and tailoring the corrosion behavior can be significant for various structural applications in bulk form as well as coatings. In this study, the corrosion behavior of several Zr-based and Fe-Co based BMGs was evaluated to understand the effect of chemistry as well as quenched in free volume on corrosion behavior and mechanisms. Presence of Nb in Zr-based alloys was found to significantly improve corrosion resistance due to the formation of a stable passive oxide. Relaxed glasses showed lower rates compared to the as-cast alloys. This was attributed to lowering of chemical potential from the reduced fraction of free volume. Potentiodynamic polarization and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) techniques helped in quantifying the corrosion rate and polarization resistance. The effect of alloy composition was quantified by extensive surface analysis using Raman spectroscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy and auger spectroscopy. Pitting intensity was higher in the as-cast glasses than the relaxed glasses. The electrochemical behavior of a Zr-Ti-Cu-Ni-Be bulk metallic glass …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Ayyagari, Venkata Aditya
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Preliminary Analysis of an Innovative Rotary Displacer Stirling Engine (open access)

Preliminary Analysis of an Innovative Rotary Displacer Stirling Engine

Stirling engines are an external combustion heat engine that converts thermal energy into mechanical work that a closed cycle is run by cyclic compression and expansion of a work fluid (commonly air or Helium) in which, the working fluid interacts with a heat source and a heat sink and produces network. The engine is based on the Stirling cycle which is a subset of the Carnot cycle. The Stirling cycle has recently been receiving renewed interest due to some of its key inherent advantages. In particular, the ability to operate with any form of heat source (including external combustion, flue gases, alternative (biomass, solar, geothermal) energy) provides Stirling engines a great flexibility and potential benefits since it is convinced as engines running with external heat sources. However, several aspects of traditional Stirling engine configurations (namely, the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma), specifically complexity of design, high cost, and relatively low power to size and power to volume ratios, limited their widespread applications to date. This study focuses on an innovative Stirling engine configuration that features a rotary displacer (as opposed to common reciprocating displacers), and aims to utilize analytical and numerical analysis to gain insights on its operation parameters. The results …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Bagheri, Amirhossein
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
No Quarter: the Story of the New Orleans Greys (open access)

No Quarter: the Story of the New Orleans Greys

The purpose of this thesis document is to explain the process of making the documentary film, No Quarter: The Story of the New Orleans Greys. The document is organized by having the prospectus and the film proposal at the beginning, with the body describing how the film was made based on the prospectus. The purpose of the film is to tell the history of a unit of volunteers in the Texas Revolution, the New Orleans Greys. The document describes the methods used to make the film and how it will be distributed to the intended audience. As the thesis explains, the film changed slightly from the prospectus, however the resulting film was successful in telling the history of the little-known New Orleans Greys.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Barnes, Travis S.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Searching for a Savior (open access)

Searching for a Savior

This collection of essays includes a preference that investigates the role and importance of setting and character in a nonfiction narrative. The preface assesses the writings of four great authors, examining how each author use setting and characterization to further the purpose of their story. This collection focuses on four different issues that the author has wrestled with for two decades. While “Desperado” is an investigation into the problems within her own family, “Being Black Me” highlights the authors struggle against the racial inequality her hometown. “Voices In The Dark”, the author analyze how the abuse she suffered as a child has influenced her life and contributed to a drinking problem that is explored in a later essay “Alors On Danse”.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Batch, Julia
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fractional Calculus and Dynamic Approach to Complexity (open access)

Fractional Calculus and Dynamic Approach to Complexity

Fractional calculus enables the possibility of using real number powers or complex number powers of the differentiation operator. The fundamental connection between fractional calculus and subordination processes is explored and affords a physical interpretation for a fractional trajectory, that being an average over an ensemble of stochastic trajectories. With an ensemble average perspective, the explanation of the behavior of fractional chaotic systems changes dramatically. Before now what has been interpreted as intrinsic friction is actually a form of non-Markovian dissipation that automatically arises from adopting the fractional calculus, is shown to be a manifestation of decorrelations between trajectories. Nonlinear Langevin equation describes the mean field of a finite size complex network at criticality. Critical phenomena and temporal complexity are two very important issues of modern nonlinear dynamics and the link between them found by the author can significantly improve the understanding behavior of dynamical systems at criticality. The subject of temporal complexity addresses the challenging and especially helpful in addressing fundamental physical science issues beyond the limits of reductionism.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Beig, Mirza Tanweer Ahmad
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
A High-fat Meal Alters Post-prandial mRNA Expression of SIRT1, SIRT4, and SIRT6 (open access)

A High-fat Meal Alters Post-prandial mRNA Expression of SIRT1, SIRT4, and SIRT6

Sirtuins (SIRT) regulate the transcription of various genes involved in the development of diet-induced obesity and chronic disease; however, it is unknown how they change acutely following a high-fat meal. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a high-fat meal (65% kcals/d; 85% fat recommendation), on SIRT1-7 mRNA expression in blood leukocytes at 1, 3, and 5-h post-prandial. Men and women (N=24) reported to the lab following an overnight fast (>12H). Total RNA was isolated and reverse transcribed prior to using a Taqman qPCR technique with 18S rRNA as a normalizer to determine SIRT1-7 mRNA expression. An additional aliquot of serum was used to measure triglycerides. Data was analyzed using a RM ANOVA with P<0.05. Triglycerides (P<0.001; 124%) peaked at 3-h. SIRT 1 (P=0.004; 70%), and SIRT 6 (P=0.017; 53%) decreased expression at 3-h. SIRT4 (P=0.024) peaked at 5H relative to baseline (70%) and 3-h (68%). To our knowledge, this is the first study to report that consumption of a high-fat meal transiently alters SIRT mRNA expression consistent in a pattern that mirrors changes in serum triglycerides. Decrease in expression of SIRT1 and SIRT6 combined with an increased SIRT4 would be consistent with an increase in …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Best Sampson, Jill Nicole
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Regional Water Plan: Region B (open access)

Regional Water Plan: Region B

Water plan for Region B describing water resources and suppliers in the area, usage statistics and forecasts, water needs, water management strategies, water conservation plans, drought response plans, the process of creating the plan.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Biggs & Mathews, Inc.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Regional Water Plan: Region M (Rio Grande), 2016, Volume 2. Appendices (open access)

Regional Water Plan: Region M (Rio Grande), 2016, Volume 2. Appendices

Appendices for water plan for Region M including recommended and not recommended water management strategies, model drought and water conservation plans, survey data, and related reports on different areas of the water plan.
Date: December 1, 2015
Creator: Black & Veatch
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Regional Water Plan: Region M (Rio Grande), Volume 1. Executive Summary and Regional Water Plan (open access)

Regional Water Plan: Region M (Rio Grande), Volume 1. Executive Summary and Regional Water Plan

Water plan for Region M (Rio Grande) describing water resources and suppliers in the area, usage statistics and forecasts, water needs, water management strategies, drought response plans, financing for the plan, and the process of creating the plan.
Date: December 1, 2015
Creator: Black & Veatch
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History