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.

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.

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.

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, …

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.

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.

This research investigated high-school journalism educators’ use and teaching of convergence technology, as well as their self-efficacy, job satisfaction, job dissatisfaction, and burnout. In general, instructions and uses of multimedia tools were not as prevalent as traditional-journalism instructions and tools. One-third of the teachers expressed moderate or strong levels of burnout in terms of their emotional exhaustion. Although both job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction were strong predictors of burnout, self-efficacy was not. Job dissatisfaction was the strongest predictor of burnout, but contrary to the past research, gender turned out to be the second strongest predictor. Qualitative in-depth interviews with a controlled random sampling of survey respondents revealed that maternal mindset and gender roles strongly contribute to female high-school journalism teachers’ expressed burnout and emotional exhaustion.

This thesis investigates the similarities in the study of time and space in literature and science during the modern period. Specifically, it focuses on the portrayal of time and space within Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) and Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim (1899-1900), and compares the ideas presented with those later scientifically formulated by Albert Einstein in his special and general theories of relativity (1905-1915). Although both novels precede Einstein’s theories, they reveal advanced complex ideas of time and space very similar to those later argued by the iconic physicist. These ideas follow a linear progression including a sense of temporal dissonance, the search for a communal sense of the present, the awareness and expansion of the individual’s sense of the present, and the effect of mass on surrounding space. This approach enhances readings of Dracula and Lord Jim, illuminating the fascination with highly refined notions of time and space within modern European culture.

For decades nations have debated how to successfully employ air power. In 1943 the United States and Great Britain launched a massive strategic bombing campaign against Germany. The two sides agreed to a flawed plan due to the fundamental differences on bombing doctrine. As a result, the campaign was fraught with issues that remained largely unresolved in 1943. Without a clearly defined plan, the Allies were unable to determine which commands or targets received priority throughout the offensive. This ultimately led to a confused and unfocused campaign. High losses and inconclusive results derailed the American bombing effort. By November, the two sides agreed that the entire bombing offensive was either behind schedule or had failed entirely.

Two applications of a binary tree data type based on a simple pairing function (a bijection between natural numbers and pairs of natural numbers) are explored. First, the tree is used to encode natural numbers, and algorithms that perform basic arithmetic computations are presented along with formal proofs of their correctness. Second, using this "canonical" representation as a base type, algorithms for encoding and decoding additional isomorphic data types of other mathematical constructs (sets, sequences, etc.) are also developed. An experimental application to a memory management system is constructed and explored using these isomorphic types. A practical analysis of this system's runtime complexity and space savings are provided, along with a proof of concept framework for both applications of the binary tree type, in the Java programming language.

The political ideologies that Martí envisioned of an America free from the inherited yoke of European ideals were taken by Fidel Castro as an anti-imperialist discourse. Therefore, Marti’s political vision on the power that the United States began to carry out at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century was an excellent strategy to establish the anti-imperialist character of the Cuban revolution. Since 1961, Castro set Martí as the face of his Marxist-Leninist ideology to institute his anti-American philosophy; Castro created a myth of Marti’s persona, and converted him into the bastion of his political ideology. As a result, Castro distorted the revolutionary ideas of Marti’s. Castro proposed his ideas out of context and portrayed the incorrect idea of this great thinker and poet. Martí’s human ethic and love for the independence of Cuba placed Martí as a liberator of revolutionary and progressive ideas of his generation. Martí was not thought as a dictator and never was a man who lacked democratic values. The expressed analytical assimilation of Martí on his sociopolitical and economic juncture that was presented in America and Cuba was used to trace the political anti-imperialist propaganda by the dictatorial regime …

QQ China features interactive and connective online channels that generate social relational resources, encourage individual engagement, and facilitate embedded economic potential. The objectives of this research are to describe QQ users’ demographics and virtual behavior characteristics, to identify the underlying dimensions of relational social capital and virtual engagement, and to investigate the impacts of social capital and virtual engagement on purchase intention. Results from an analysis of data (n = 216) from China reveal the significant impacts of relational social capital and virtual engagement on purchase intention. First, functional purchase motivations, channel usage, and purchasing behaviors are captured to portray characteristics among QQ’s users. Second, trust, identification, and norm of reciprocity are primary antecedents to predict purchase intention in QQ. Third, three dimensions of relational social capital facilitate QQ users’ virtual engagements. Finally, information seeking and knowledge creation leads to product purchase intention.

Copepods in high elevation lakes and ponds in Colorado are exposed to significant levels of ultraviolet radiation (UV), necessitating development of UV avoidance behavior and photoprotective physiological adaptations. The copepods are brightly pigmented due to accumulation of astaxanthin, a carotenoid which has photoprotective and antioxidant properties. Astaxanthin interacts with a crustacyanin-like protein, shifting its absorbance from 473 nm (hydrophobic free form, appears red) to 632 nm (protein-bound complex, appears blue). In six sites in Colorado, habitat-specific coloration patterns related to carotenoprotein complex have been observed. The objective of this study was to determine whether pigment accumulation or carotenoprotein expression has a greater effect on resistance to UV exposure. For each site, copepod tolerance to UV was assessed by survivorship during UV exposure trials. Average UV exposure was determined for each habitat. Astaxanthin profiles were generated for copepods in each site. Ability to withstand UV exposure during exposure trials was significantly different between color morphs (p < 0.0001). Red copepods were found to tolerate 2-fold greater levels of UVB than blue or mixed copepods. Additionally, red copepods have much higher levels of total astaxanthin than blue or mixed copepods (p < 0.0001) and receive a higher daily UV dose (p < …

Trance and house music are sub-genres within the genre of electronic dance music. The form of breakdown, buildup and anthem is the main driving force behind trance and house music. This thesis analyzes transcriptions from 22 trance and house songs in order to establish and define new terminology for formal devices used within the breakdown, buildup and anthem sections of the music.