Adoption of Innovation in a Community College Environment: User Perceptions of Virtual Reality (VR) Technology among Students Studying Emergency Medical Service (EMS) (open access)

Adoption of Innovation in a Community College Environment: User Perceptions of Virtual Reality (VR) Technology among Students Studying Emergency Medical Service (EMS)

This research study examined the implementation of an extended reality (XR) lab on a community college campus to facilitate student and faculty access to immersive learning resources. The study, conducted during one skills day, involved 46 students and was designed to understand if integrating immersive VR into emergency medical technician (EMT) education could enhance learner confidence and motivation, develop problem-solving and analytical thinking skills, and thus connecting the classroom learning with real-world application. The majority of participants reported increased motivation and engagement, alongside improvements in learning outcomes like knowledge retention and skill development. Applying the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model revealed performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions as key determinants of VR adoption in EMT education. While no significant overall performance enhancement was observed, VR training showed potential to boost motivation, confidence, and specific performance aspects. Furthermore, student perceptions towards VR in EMT education were largely positive, thereby suggesting its utility in immersive scenario training, skill acquisition in a risk-free environment, enhancing learner engagement, and real-world situational preparedness. VR demonstrated promise as a transformative tool in EMT education, necessitating further research to fully exploit its potential in diverse learning environments.
Date: July 2023
Creator: Das, Anila
System: The UNT Digital Library

Adoption of Wearable Devices by Older Adults

This dissertation is organized in a traditional format while including three essays that address specific research questions. Essay 1 examined the relationship between physical activity and community engagement and their effect on mental well-being among older men and women. Data from National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) from 2018 to 2020 were explored and the posited relationships were tested. This essay provides empirical support that older adults who are reasonably active and involved in the community have greater mental well-being than those who isolate themselves. Essay 2 provides insight into older adults' motivation to improve their physical activity through the use of a fitness tracker. The key finding from this study is that wearables, especially fitness trackers, can significantly facilitate increased physical activity. Essay 3 is a mixed-methods study to understand older adults' perception of the usefulness of fitness trackers and interaction with such devices. Findings suggest that to increase the adoption of fitness trackers among older adults, makers could improve the esthetics and quality of the wristband in addition to the battery life of the tracker.
Date: May 2022
Creator: Enamela, Pranathy
System: The UNT Digital Library

Adult Attachment Anxiety and Relationship Satisfaction: The Role of Dedication and Constraint Commitment

Adult attachment has been found to play an important role for romantic relationship satisfaction. Specifically, the existent literature generally suggests that attachment anxiety is negatively related to relationship satisfaction. However, the underlying mechanism for this link still needs further exploration. The present study examined the direct and indirect effect of attachment anxiety on relationship satisfaction via two distinct relationship commitment variables: constraint commitment and dedication commitment. The final sample included 146 unmarried participants who were in a romantic relationship for at least three months. Results of multiple regression analyses on the indirect effect model indicated that attachment anxiety had a significant direct effect on relationship satisfaction as well as a significant indirect effect on relationship satisfaction via constraint commitment. However, the hypothesized indirect effect through dedication commitment was not supported. Findings are discussed from the adult attachment perspective. Counseling implications, limitations, and future research directions are outlined.
Date: May 2021
Creator: Chao, Wan Ju
System: The UNT Digital Library

Adult Attachment, Perceived Social Support, and Problematic Video Gaming Behavior

With the growing popularity in video games, there has been increased concerns over the prolonged exposure to the entertainment medium. Problematic gaming is defined as a pattern of gaming behavior that causes significant impairment in personal, social, other important areas of functioning, often characterized by preoccupation and loss of interest in other areas. This study examined how problematic gaming behaviors may be influenced by insecure adult attachment and perceived social support from differing sources. It was hypothesized that avoidant attachment would have a significant direct and indirect effect (via perceived social support) on problematic gaming. In addition, perceived social support from online friends and from offline friends were hypothesized to moderate the relationship between attachment and problematic gaming, Participants were recruited from both SONA (n = 151) and Amazon's Mturk (n = 264) to complete an online research questionnaire that measured variables of interest. Results indicated that the direct and indirect effects of attachment avoidance on problematic gaming were supported in both subsamples but the moderator effects were not. Further exploratory analysis found that anxious attachment demonstrated a similar pattern as avoidant attachment, but with a significant moderator effect of perceived social support from online friends (enhance) on the attachment …
Date: December 2020
Creator: Gu, Peter
System: The UNT Digital Library

Adult Attachment, Racial-Ethnic Identity, Racial-Ethnic Socialization, and Subjective Wellbeing

The current study aimed to explore the direct effect of insecure adult attachment on subjective wellbeing and its indirect effect via racial-ethnic identity. Additionally, the present study examined the extent to which racial-ethnic socialization practices may moderate adult attachment and racial-ethnic identity link. The final sample included 213 emerging adults (M = 20.94; SD = 2.96) with diverse racial-ethnic backgrounds. PROCESS Model 4 and 1 were used to examine the direct and indirect effect of insecure attachment on subjective wellbeing via racial-ethnic identity variables and the interaction effect between insecure attachment and racial-ethnic socialization on racial-ethnic identity variables. Results indicated the direct effect of insecure attachment on subjective wellbeing but did not support hypotheses for the indirect effect of insecure attachment on subjective wellbeing via the racial-ethnic identity variables. Additionally, results indicated that overt socialization buffered the negative impact of attachment avoidance on racial-ethnic identity exploration. Furthermore, racial-ethnic identity variables and subjective wellbeing significantly differed across racial-ethnic groups and socioeconomic statuses. Findings provide insight on the distinct concepts of attachment and racial-ethnic identity as they highlight inter- and intra-personal components, respectively. Mental health professionals may utilize overt socialization to help clients develop a sense of purpose and meaning related to …
Date: July 2023
Creator: Toyama, Shiho
System: The UNT Digital Library

Advanced Cathodes for High Energy Density Lithium Sulfur Battery

A systematic development of 2D alloy catalyst with synergistic performance of high lithium polysulfide (LiPS) binding energy and efficient Li+ ion/electron conduction is presented. The first section of work found that Li+ ions can flow through the percolated ion transport pathway in polycrystalline MoS2, while Na+ and K+ ions can easily flow through the percolated 1D ion channel near the grain boundaries. An unusually high ionic conductivity of extrinsic Li+, Na+, and K+ ions in 2D MoS2 film exceeding 1 S/cm was measured that is more than two orders of magnitude higher than those of conventional solid ionic materials, including 2D ionic materials. The second section of this dissertation focus on catalyzing the transformation of LiPSs to prevent the shuttle effect during the battery cycling by synthesizing 2H (semiconducting) – 1T (metallic) mixed phase 2D Mo0.5W0.5S2 alloy on CNF paper, using two step sputtering and sulfurization method. The lithium sulfur (Li-S) battery cell assembled with the 2D Mo0.5W0.5S2/CNF/S cathode shows a high specific capacity of 1228 mAh g-1 at 0.1C and much higher cyclic stability over 4 times as compared to the pristine cathodes. The high LiPSs binding energy of catalyst efficiently prevents the shuttling effect and corrosion of Li …
Date: December 2021
Creator: Bhoyate, Sanket
System: The UNT Digital Library

Advanced Distributed Optimization and Control Algorithms: Theory and Applications

Networked multi-agent systems have attracted lots of researchers to develop algorithms, techniques, and applications.A multi-agent networked system consists of more than one subsystem (agent) to cooperately solve a global problem with only local computations and communications in a fully distributed manner. These networked systems have been investigated in various different areas including signal processing, control system, and machine learning. We can see massive applications using networked systems in reality, for example, persistent surveillance, healthcare, factory manufacturing, data mining, machine learning, power system, transportation system, and many other areas. Considering the nature of those mentioned applications, traditional centralized control and optimization algorithms which require both higher communication and computational capacities are not suitable. Additionally, compared to distributed control and optimization approaches, centralized control, and optimization algorithms cannot be scaled into systems with a large number of agents, or guarantee performance and security. All of the limitations of centralized control and optimization algorithms motivate us to investigate and develop new distributed control and optimization algorithms in networked systems. Moreover, convergence rate and analysis are crucial in control and optimization literature, which motivates us to investigate how to analyze and accerlate the convergence of distributed optimization algorithms.
Date: May 2022
Creator: Zhang, Shengjun
System: The UNT Digital Library

Advanced Stochastic Signal Processing and Computational Methods: Theories and Applications

Compressed sensing has been proposed as a computationally efficient method to estimate the finite-dimensional signals. The idea is to develop an undersampling operator that can sample the large but finite-dimensional sparse signals with a rate much below the required Nyquist rate. In other words, considering the sparsity level of the signal, the compressed sensing samples the signal with a rate proportional to the amount of information hidden in the signal. In this dissertation, first, we employ compressed sensing for physical layer signal processing of directional millimeter-wave communication. Second, we go through the theoretical aspect of compressed sensing by running a comprehensive theoretical analysis of compressed sensing to address two main unsolved problems, (1) continuous-extension compressed sensing in locally convex space and (2) computing the optimum subspace and its dimension using the idea of equivalent topologies using Köthe sequence. In the first part of this thesis, we employ compressed sensing to address various problems in directional millimeter-wave communication. In particular, we are focusing on stochastic characteristics of the underlying channel to characterize, detect, estimate, and track angular parameters of doubly directional millimeter-wave communication. For this purpose, we employ compressed sensing in combination with other stochastic methods such as Correlation Matrix Distance …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Robaei, Mohammadreza
System: The UNT Digital Library
Advances to Convolutional Neural Network Architectures for Prediction and Classification with Applications in the First Dimensional Space (open access)

Advances to Convolutional Neural Network Architectures for Prediction and Classification with Applications in the First Dimensional Space

In the vast field of signal processing, machine learning is rapidly expanding its domain into all realms. As a constituent of this expansion, this thesis presents contributive work on advancements in machine learning algorithms by building on the shoulder of giants. The first chapter of this thesis contains enhancements to a CNN (convolutional neural network) for better classification of heartbeat arrhythmia. The network goes through a two stage development, the first being augmentations to the network and the second being the implementation of dropout. Chapter 2 involves the combination of CNN and LSTM (long short term memory) networks for the task of short-term energy use data regression. Exploiting the benefits of two of the most powerful neural networks, a unique, novel neural network is created to effectually predict future energy use. The final section concludes this work with directions for future works.
Date: August 2022
Creator: Kim, Hae Jin
System: The UNT Digital Library

Aerodynamic Optimization of a 2D Airfoil for Rotary-Wing Aircraft at Mars Atmospheric Conditions

The interest toward Mars exploration has been considerably increasing due to also the successful deployment of the Perseverance rover and the continuous tests developed by SpaceX's launch vehicle, Starship. While the Mars 2020 mission is currently in progress, the first controlled flight on another planet have been proven in April 2021 with the vertical take-off and landing of the Ingenuity rotorcraft on Mars. In addition, the rotorcraft Dragonfly is expected to achieve the same endeavor in Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, by 2036. Continuous efforts have been oriented toward the development of new technologies and aircraft configurations to improve the performance of current proposed designs to achieve powered flight in different planetary bodies. This thesis work is a preliminary study to develop a comprehensive analysis over the generation of optimum airfoil geometries to achieve vertical flight in environments where low Reynolds numbers and Mach number equal to 0.2 and 0.5.
Date: December 2021
Creator: Saez, Aleandro G.
System: The UNT Digital Library

After-Sales Service Contracting for Excellence in Life-Cycle Cost Management: Numerical Experiments and Systematic Review of Analytical Models

This research adds to the literature and provides insight to practice via three essays that increase understanding about the applications and consequences of the two new approaches to the after-sales service governance: warranty contract and performance-based contracts. First, we attempted to enhance our knowledge of the modeling of the after-sales service process. In the first essay, the research papers with analytical models of after-sales services to present current trends, issues, and future research directions in the literature are classified. In the second essay, the effect of the warranty contract on the supplier's product quality improvement efforts in the context of capital goods is examined. Three sets of optimization models reveal that the existence of a warranty improves product quality. In the third essay, the performance-based contract is examined in the context of the warranty contract. The numerical experimentations conducted demonstrate that the performance-based contract is superior to the warranty contract in terms of the supplier's product quality efforts and the customer's total cost of after-sales services. The alignment of incentives based on the product performance tackles the issues presented in the traditional after-sales service contracting. Collectively, the three studies presented in this research expand our understanding of after-sales service contracts. …
Date: August 2020
Creator: Küçük, Carullah Yavuz
System: The UNT Digital Library
Air Breathing Fish: Development of Air Breathing in Bristlenose Plecos (Ancistrus cirrhosus) (open access)

Air Breathing Fish: Development of Air Breathing in Bristlenose Plecos (Ancistrus cirrhosus)

The bristlenose pleco (Ancistrus cirrhosus) is a species of armored catfish in the Loricariidae family that breathes air facultatively when the aquatic environment becomes hypoxic. The bristlenose pleco uses its highly vascularized stomach as an air breathing organ. The two main goals of this developmental study were to determine the size of onset of air breathing and to determine the frequency of air breathing behavior in bristlenose plecos from juveniles to adults. Developing juveniles reach functional maturity within four to six months of hatching and grow to an adult size of eight to ten cm in length. To examine the developmental timing for the onset of air breathing, we tested different sized juveniles beginning at one cm up until 8 cm in length. The developmental timing for the onset of air breathing was measured by exposing each fish to a slowly decreasing aquatic oxygen content from 100% air saturation down to 8% air saturation. Fish were first able to breathe air at just over 2 cm and 1 gram in mass. There was a weak negative correlation between fish length and % air saturation at which air breathing began. When exposed to 15% air saturation, frequency of air breathing was …
Date: July 2023
Creator: Crowder, Lauren Whitney
System: The UNT Digital Library
Air Corridors: Concept, Design, Simulation, and Rules of Engagement (open access)

Air Corridors: Concept, Design, Simulation, and Rules of Engagement

Air corridors are an integral part of the advanced air mobility infrastructure. They are the virtual highways in the sky for transportation of people and cargo in the controlled airspace at an altitude of around 1000 ft. to 2000 ft. above the ground level. This paper presents fundamental insights into the design of air corridors with high operational efficiency as well as zero collisions. It begins with the definitions of air cube, skylane or track, intersection, vertiport, gate, and air corridor. Then, a multi-layered air corridor model is proposed. Traffic at intersections is analyzed in detail with examples of vehicles turning in different directions. The concept of capacity of an air corridor is introduced along with the nature of distribution of locations of vehicles in the air corridor and collision probability inside the corridor are discussed. Finally, the results of simulations of traffic flows are presented.
Date: December 2021
Creator: Muna, Sabrina Islam
System: The UNT Digital Library

Alexander Campbell and the Power of Education

This educational biography is a study of Alexander Campbell's (1788-1866) educational activities and educational thinking. These activities included the following: his creation of Buffalo Seminary; advocacy for common schools at the Virginia State Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830; participation in the Western Literary Institute and College of Professional Teachers of Cincinnati, Ohio (an organization for educators); speeches on education and common schools; founding Bethany College in present-day Bethany, West Virginia; and his discussion of educational issues in his journal, the Millennial Harbinger. The study explores how Campbell's unique early-life affected his future educational life. His early-life included intensive study under his highly educated father, home-training in Christian piety, and studying for a time at the University of Glasgow. The study focuses especially upon Campbell's involvement in the College of Teachers, his founding of Bethany College, and his major educational ideas. Some of Campbell's major educational emphases include: the need for public education; human knowledge as a national resource; moral education; lifelong learning; female education; student interest; a broad and holistic conception of education; a focus on early childhood education; utilitarian education; and the power of education. This study concludes that the overarching theme of education as power pervades Campbell's educational thinking.
Date: August 2020
Creator: Colvin, Randall Arthur
System: The UNT Digital Library
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Media Coverage of Age, Gender, and Ethnicity in the 116th Congress (open access)

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Media Coverage of Age, Gender, and Ethnicity in the 116th Congress

This study focuses on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the U.S. Representative for New York's 14th Congressional District, and how news media portray her based on her gender, age, and ethnicity, which still play essential roles in the political system in the United States. The analysis of previous academic research, newspaper articles from the New York Times and the Washington Post (June 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019) and framing and feminist theories are used to evaluate coverage of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The newspaper stories are examined based on the framing of traits including being the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, being Latina, and being one the most progressive politicians in the Congress. The main objective of this study is to shed light on a topic that at this moment in time is more relevant than ever because the 116th Congress has the highest number of women and women of color in U.S. history. I examine media coverage that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez receives for stereotypical frames, so that, overall, all women running or holding public office may receive unbiased and more balanced media coverage. This study also intends to hold media outlets accountable for the way they portray different candidates because it has …
Date: December 2020
Creator: Reyes, Blanca Elena
System: The UNT Digital Library

Algebraic Trait for Structurally Balanced Property of Node and Its Applications in System Behaviors

This thesis targets at providing an algebraic method to indicate network behaviors. Furthermore, for a signed-average consensus problem of the system behaviors, event-triggering signed-average algorithms are designed to reduce the communication overheads. In Chapter 1, the background is introduced, and the problem is formulated. In Chapter 2, notations and basics of graph theory are presented. It is known that the terminal value of the system state is determined by the initial state, left eigenvector and right eigenvector associated with zero eigenvalue of the Laplacian matrix. Since there is no mathematical expression of right eigenvector, in Chapter 3, mathematical expression of right eigenvector is given. In Chapter 4, algebraic trait for structurally balanced property of a node is proposed. In Chapter 5, a method for characterization of collective behaviors under directed signed networks is developed. In Chapter 6, dynamic event-triggering signed-average algorithms are proposed and proved for the purpose of relieving the communication burden between agents. Chapter 7 summarizes the thesis and gives future directions.
Date: December 2021
Creator: Du, Wen (Electrical engineering researcher)
System: The UNT Digital Library
All for the Greater Good: A Strategic, Tactical, and Operational Level Analysis of Supply Chain Goal and Incentive Alignment (open access)

All for the Greater Good: A Strategic, Tactical, and Operational Level Analysis of Supply Chain Goal and Incentive Alignment

Goal and incentive alignment are a means of establishing collaborative behavior in supply chains. Essay 1 examines goal and incentive alignment at the strategic level in the purchasing process. It employs survey research in conjunction with structural equation modelling to examine the source selection strategy as a means of aligning the goals of the offeror with those of the buyer. Essay 2 examines goal and incentive alignment at the tactical level. It uses discrete event simulation to explore how the pursuit of localized profit objectives affects the global profitability of a supply chain. Lastly, Essay 3 examines goal and incentive alignment at the operational level. By employing a hybrid simulation approach to model a complex product refurbishment process, this research demonstrates that evaluating subprocesses based solely on their throughput does not equate to greater cost savings for the company at the focal point of this case study. These essays contribute to the body of knowledge in several ways. To the best of the author's knowledge, Essay 1 demonstrates the first empirical linkage, in the realm of public procurement, between the fear of a bid protest and the appropriateness of the sourcing strategy. Similarly, Essay 2 represents the first adaptation of …
Date: July 2023
Creator: McConville, Sean Cask
System: The UNT Digital Library
"All things at once":  A Retrospective Qualitative Examination of the Parental Racial Ethnic Socialization Practices Experienced by Multiracial/Multiethnic Individuals (open access)

"All things at once": A Retrospective Qualitative Examination of the Parental Racial Ethnic Socialization Practices Experienced by Multiracial/Multiethnic Individuals

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how individuals from different multiracial/multiethnic groups experience and process the phenomenon of parental racial ethnic socialization (RES). Critical multiracial race theory, critical race theory, and bioecological systems theory offered a conceptual framework to how RES is often presented and processed. This study was guided by two research questions: (1) What are the experiences of RES among multiracial individuals? and (2) How do multiracial individuals process the parental racial ethnic socialization they were offered? Nine qualitative, one-on-one, semistructured interviews were conducted with individuals from three different multiracial/multiethnic groups. Results revealed that experiences of RES varied along with how participants processed RES. Three subthemes and one theme emerged related to the RES experiences of participants. For some participants lack of conversations were evident in their RES, which meant that conversations surrounding multiraciality and other racialized topics were not present. Other participants disclosed the subtheme of preparedness as part of their RES experience, while others mentioned the importance of environment to their RES experience. Additionally, the theme of changes over time arose, demonstrating how different life events can impact RES experiences. As for how multiracial/multiethnic individuals process RES experiences, the main theme of identity …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Camacho Taylor, Jennifer
System: The UNT Digital Library

"Allegro de Concert," op. 46, by Frédéric Chopin: A Performance Guide

Frédéric Chopin produced a remarkable body of piano works. Even though most of his works are essential repertoire in piano literature, some of them remain less familiar. One such significant work is the Allegro de Concert in A major, op. 46, which was apparently intended to be the first movement of a third piano concerto. Despite the praise the work has received, it is rarely heard, and references to performance are lacking in the scholarly literature. Some reasons include the substantial technical challenges, such as risky skips, trills in double notes, thick harmonic textures, complex passagework, and the perpetual motion. This study provides a performance guide for the Allegro de Concert, looking at various perspectives of an informed musical performance. The historical backstory of the intended third concerto and a detailed form analysis demonstrate that the work has a combined form, incorporating elements of both concerto and sonata-allegro form. The chapter on performance presents the technical issues and a comparative analysis of various editions and arrangements of this work to inspire musical ideas and suggest appropriate solutions to the musical and technical difficulties.
Date: August 2022
Creator: Jeong, Jiyoon
System: The UNT Digital Library

Alloy Design, Processing and Deformation Behavior of Metastable High Entropy Alloys

This dissertation presents an assortment of research aimed at understanding the composition-dependence of deformation behavior and the response to thermomechanical processing, to enable efficient design and processing of low stacking fault energy (SFE) high entropy alloy (HEAs). The deformation behavior and SFE of four low SFE HEAs were predicted and experimentally verified using electron microscopy and in-situ neutron diffraction. A new approach of employing a minimization function to refine and improve the accuracy of a semi-empirically derived expression relating composition with SFE is demonstrated. Ultimately, by employing the minimization function, the average difference between experimental and predicted SFE was found to be 2.64 mJ m-2. Benchmarking with currently available approaches suggests that integrating minimization functions can substantially improve prediction accuracy and promote efficient HEA design with expansion of databases. Additionally, in-situ neutron diffraction was used to present the first in-situ measurement of the interspacing between stacking faults (SFs) which were correlated with work hardening behavior. Electron transparent specimens (< ~100 nm thick) were used in order to resolve nanoscale planar faults instead of the thicker sub-sized specimens (on the order of millimeters in thickness) which exhibit the classical stages III work hardening behavior characteristic of low SFE metals and alloys. …
Date: May 2021
Creator: Frank, Michael (Materials science researcher)
System: The UNT Digital Library

Alterations in the Expression of Proteins Associated with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Observed in the Liver of the C57Bl/6 Wild-Type Male Mouse in Response to Exposure of Mixed Vehicle Emissions and/or High Fat Diet Consumption

Recent epidemiological studies have demonstrated a correlation between the manifestation of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and ambient air pollution levels, which is exacerbated by the presence of other risk factors, such as diabetes, dyslipidemia, obesity, and hypertension. We investigated the hypothesis that exposure to a mixture of gasoline and diesel engine emissions (MVE) coupled with the concurrent consumption of a high-fat (HF) diet promotes the development of a NAFLD phenotype within the liver. Three-month-old male C57Bl/6 mice were placed on either a low fat or HF diet and exposed via whole-body inhalation to either filtered (FA) air or MVE (30 µg PM/m3 gasoline engine emissions + 70 µg PM/m3 diesel engine emissions) 6 hr/day for 30 days. Histology revealed mild microvesicular steatosis and hepatocyte hypertrophy in response to MVE exposure alone, compared to FA controls, yielding a classification of "borderline NASH" under the criteria of the modified NAFLD active score (NAS) system. As anticipated, animals on a HF diet exhibited moderate steatosis; however, we also observed inflammatory infiltrates, hepatocyte hypertrophy, and increased lipid accumulation, with the combined effect of HF diet and MVE exposure. Immunofluorescence staining and RT-qPCR of the liver revealed the presence of lipid peroxidation, altered expression …
Date: December 2022
Creator: Schneider, Leah Jayne
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Amalgamation of Western and Eastern Influences in Julius Schloss's "First Chinese Rhapsody" (open access)

The Amalgamation of Western and Eastern Influences in Julius Schloss's "First Chinese Rhapsody"

The dissertation seeks to rediscover Julius Schloss, a German Jewish composer victimized by the Nazis. Except for the promising start of his career in his early years, Schloss suffered a hard life as an exiled refugee. However, his unusual experiences inspired him to compose two Chinese Rhapsodies during his last years of exile in Shanghai, in which he synthesized Western composition techniques and Chinese folk materials, amalgamating influences from both Western and Eastern music cultures. Focusing on Schloss's First Chinese Rhapsody, the dissertation explores how Schloss links the new to the old, the West to the East, through an analysis of the way he employs Chinese folk song material and serial polyphonic voice-leading in his post-tonal musical language. Since the Rhapsody has both serial and polyphonic voice-leading aspects, both are analyzed, showing how they are integrated in the form.
Date: August 2021
Creator: Cai, Ying (Pianist)
System: The UNT Digital Library

Ambient Darkness and Consumer Behavior

Ambient lighting has emerged as a key atmospheric factor influencing how consumers process environmental cues and their behaviors. However, surprisingly little research has examined how people think and feel in the dark (lower than 15 lux). This is particularly relevant given that consumers routinely work, pay bills, relax, consume and make purchases in settings with little or no light. My dissertation addresses this gap by examining how consumers regulate their goals and process information when the light is off, and how that impacts their decision making in three substantive domains: risk-taking behavior, decision quality, and persuasion. In Essay 1, I propose darkness enables risk-taking behavior, and this effect happens through the calmness and relaxation induced in the dark. One caveat is that the decisions have to be made in a familiar setting. The effect was reflected in participants' decisions to invest in riskier yet lucrative stocks, to gamble with the riskier choice, to eat at a foreign restaurant, and to choose a supplement that has potential side effects in a field experiment and three lab experiments (pre-registered). In Essay 2, I propose that when the light is off, consumers are indeed induced to adopt an effortful processing mode. Across four …
Date: July 2023
Creator: Vo, Khue Ho Thuc
System: The UNT Digital Library
Analysis of Compressive Sensing and Hardware Implementation of Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (open access)

Analysis of Compressive Sensing and Hardware Implementation of Orthogonal Matching Pursuit

My thesis is to understand the concept of compressive sensing algorithms. Compressive sensing will be a future alternate technique for the Nyquist rate, specific to some applications where sparsity property plays a major role. Software implementation of compressive sensing (CS) takes more time to reconstruct a signal from CS measurements, so we use the orthogonal matching pursuit and basis pursuit algorithms. We have used an image size of 256x256 is used for reconstruction and also implemented a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) of the orthogonal matching pursuit using an image.
Date: December 2022
Creator: Kadiyala, Mani Divya
System: The UNT Digital Library