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363 Matching Results
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Water systems, water policy, and Karst terrain: An analysis of the complex relationships between geology, economy, public perceptions, and policy in southern Trelawny, Jamaica.
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Jamaica has an abundance of freshwater resources, however, a lack of infrastructure makes treated, piped water inaccessible in many areas. Through literature reviews and site visits, this thesis is an analysis of how the people and land, and money and policy, interact with one another in relation to Jamaica's freshwater resources and water infrastructure. Special attention is given to the island's type-example Cockpit karst geology; tourism, mining, and farming's relation to this karst; types of water delivery systems in rural southern Trelawny's Cockpit Country; southern Trelawny residents' perceptions of the water situation; and policy and development goals in the context of Jamaica and southern Trelawny. I hope to bring attention to the unique social, geologic, and developmental context of water in Jamaica, and more specifically to garner attention for major water infrastructure improvements in south Trelawny. A number of recommendations for improvements with policy and infrastructure are made.
Date:
December 2005
Creator:
McCall, Sarah
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Influence of Cholesterol Import on Aspergillus fumigatus Growth and Antifungal Suscepibility
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Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis is a life-threatening fungal infection commonly observed in immunocompromised patients and has a mortality rate approaching 100% once the disease is disseminated. Aspergillus fumigatus is the most common pathogen. Early diagnosis improves the prognosis but is very difficult since most signs and symptoms are nonspecific. Antifungal therapy, usually based on sterol biosynthesis inhibitors, is also of limited efficacy. In my attempts to discover a diagnostic sterol marker for aspergillosis, I observed that A. fumigatus incorporates large amounts of cholesterol from serum-containing medium. This observation suggested the hypothesis that exogenous cholesterol from the host can be imported by A. fumigatus and used as a substitute for ergosterol in the cell membrane. This proposed mechanism would reduce the efficacy of antifungal drugs that act as sterol biosynthesis inhibitors. Experiments to test this hypothesis were designed to determine the effects of serum-free and serum-containing medium on growth of A. fumigatus in the presence and absence of azole antifungal agents. The results showed a marked increase in growth in the presence of human serum. Cultures in media containing cholesterol but no serum also showed enhanced growth, a result indicating that a non-cholesterol component of serum is not primarily responsible for the …
Date:
December 2003
Creator:
Hassan, Saad A.
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Evaluation of dynamic and static electrical characteristics for the DY8 and YI8 process gallium diodes in comparison to the DI8 process boron diodes.
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A rectifier is an electrical device, comprising one or more semiconductor devices arranged for converting alternating current to direct current by blocking the negative or positive portion of the waveform. The purpose of this study would be to evaluate dynamic and static electrical characteristics of rectifier chips fabricated with (a) DY8 process and (b) YI8 process and compare them with the existing DI8 process rectifiers. These new rectifiers were tested to compare their performance to meet or exceed requirements of lower forward voltages, leakage currents, reverse recovery time, and greater sustainability at higher temperatures compared to diodes manufactured using boron as base (DI8 process diodes) for similar input variables.
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Dhoopati, Swathi
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
The Leadership Path of R. Jan LeCroy
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Recent studies reveal that a considerable number of U.S. community college leaders will be retiring in the next several years. The concern is that with the large turnover, history, culture, and important lessons of leadership will be lost. The current research on the lives of presidents, their career paths, and experiences in community college leadership centers on approaches to the study of leadership at the macro level. Limited research exists in the published literature that reports and analyzes the development of individuals as community college leaders at the micro level. This results in a gap regarding understanding leadership development and strategies to prepare leaders. This study addresses this gap by providing a critical description of the leadership development of one individual who became a community college chancellor and who the literature on the community context indicates contributed to the local and national context for community colleges. Biography is gaining prominence as a legitimate and viable tool in the study of leadership. Few biographical studies currently exist which focus on leadership development in context at the micro level. This dissertation is a biographical, qualitative study of the leadership path and legacy of R. Jan LeCroy, a community college leader. The study …
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Blankenbaker, Zarina A.
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Barrier and Long Term Creep Properties of Polymer Nanocomposites.
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The barrier properties and long term strength retention of polymers are of significant importance in a number of applications. Enhanced lifetime food packaging, substrates for OLED based flexible displays and long duration scientific balloons are among them. Higher material requirements in these applications drive the need for an accurate measurement system. Therefore, a new system was engineered with enhanced sensitivity and accuracy. Permeability of polymers is affected by permeant solubility and diffusion. One effort to decrease diffusion rates is via increasing the transport path length. We explore this through dispersion of layered silicates into polymers. Layered silicates with effective aspect ratio of 1000:1 have shown promise in improving the barrier and mechanical properties of polymers. The surface of these inorganic silicates was modified with surfactants to improve the interaction with organic polymers. The micro and nanoscale dispersion of the layered silicates was probed using optical and transmission microscopy as well as x-ray diffraction. Thermal transitions were analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry. Mechanical and permeability measurements were correlated to the dispersion and increased density. The essential structure-property relationships were established by comparing semicrystalline and amorphous polymers. Semicrystalline polymers selected were nylon-6 and polyethylene terephthalate. The amorphous polymer was polyethylene terphthalate-glycol. Densification …
Date:
December 2004
Creator:
Ranade, Ajit
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Plays of Tennessee Williams as opera: An analysis of the elements of Williams's dramatic style in Lee Hoiby's Summer and Smoke and André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire.
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There are two major, well-known operas based on plays of Tennessee Williams. He refused many times throughout his life to give permission for his play, A Streetcar Named Desire, to be set as an opera. It was not until the 1960s that he granted permission for Lee Hoiby to choose any of his plays as a basis for a new opera. Hoiby chose Summer and Smoke, a play which was written at approximately the same time as Streetcar. Lanford Wilson created the libretto for the opera which was given its premier in 1971 by the St. Paul Opera Association. In 1994 representatives of the Williams estate granted permission to the San Francisco Opera to commission an opera based on A Streetcar Named Desire. With a libretto by Philip Littell, the opera was composed by André Previn and given its premier in 1998. These two plays share common themes, character types, character relationships, and literary symbols due in part to the autobiographical nature of Williams's writings. The plays exhibit a cinematic nature and possess common dramatic elements such as the symbolic use of sets, props, and musical leitmotifs as a result of his attempts to create a new "plastic" style of …
Date:
December 2003
Creator:
Lee, Kenneth Oneal
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Roger Reynolds' Variation (1988): New Concepts of Form and Sound
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American composer Roger Reynolds was born on July 18, 1934, in Detroit, Michigan. At age 14, he determined to study piano after hearing a recording of Chopin's Polonaise in A-flat major, Opus 53 played by Vladimir Horowitz. Even though his piano teacher Kenneth Aiken recommended that he continue his study at the Curtis Institute of Music, Reynolds followed the suggestion from his parents that a musical career was not practical. After receiving a bachelor degree of engineering physics at the University of Michigan, he worked in the industry for a short period of time. In 1957, he returned to Michigan and resumed his study of music by taking a class called Composition for Non-Composers under the instruction of Ross Lee Finney. Reynolds continued his compositional study with Finney and Gerhard who were influenced by the Second Viennese School until he finished the master's degree (B.M. 1960, M.M. 1961). Variation was written under the auspices of The Banff Centre for the Arts in 1988. This piece was dedicated to Peter Serkin and premiered by Alec Karis, a faculty member at UCSD, on December 3, 1991 at Merkin Concert Hall, New York. This large-scale set of variations for piano is one of …
Date:
December 2003
Creator:
Lee, JooHee
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Animals That Die
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The thesis has two parts. Part I is a critical essay entitled "Lessons Under the Amfalula." Part II is the collection of poems entitled "Animals That Die."
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Campbell, Susan Maxwell
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Between the Waves: Truth-Telling, Feminism, and Silence in the Modernist Era Poetics of Laura Riding Jackson and Muriel Rukeyser
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This paper presents the lives and early feminist works of two modernist era poets, Laura Riding Jackson and Muriel Rukeyser. Despite differences of style, the two poets shared a common theme of essentialist feminism before its popularization by 1950s and 60s second wave feminists. The two poets also endured periods of poetic silence or self censorship which can be attributed to modernism, McCarthyism, and rising conservatism. Analysis of their poems helps to remedy their exclusion from the common canon.
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Cain, Christina
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Bank Loans as a Financial Discipline: A Direct Agency Cost of Equity Perspective
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In a 2004 study, Harvey, Lin and Roper argue that debt makers with a commitment to monitoring can create value for outside shareholders whenever information asymmetry and agency costs are pronounced. I investigate Harvey, Lin and Roper's claim for bank loans by empirically testing the effect of information asymmetry and direct agency costs on the abnormal returns of the borrowers' stock around the announcement of bank loans. I divide my study into two main sections. The first section tests whether three proxies of the direct agency costs of equity are equally significant in measuring the direct costs associated with outside equity agency problems. I find that the asset utilization ratio proxy is the most statistically significant proxy of the direct agency costs of equity using a Chow F-test statistic. The second main section of my dissertation includes and event study and a cross-sectional analysis. The event study results document significant and positive average abnormal returns of 1.01% for the borrowers' stock on the announcement day of bank loans. In the cross sectional analysis of the borrowers' average abnormal stock returns, I find that higher quality and more reputable banks/lenders provide a reliable certification to the capital market about the low …
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Hijazi, Bassem
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Neuromotor and Neurocognitive Functioning in the Prediction of Cognition, Behavior Problems, and Symptoms at Two-year Follow-up in Youth with Schizotypal Personality Disorder
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Individuals diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) exhibit patterns of cognitive deficits, neuromotor disturbances, and behavior problems similar to individuals with schizophrenia, and thus SPD is thought to represent one point on the continuum of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs). Deficits in behavior, cognition, and motor functioning have been implicated as childhood precursors of SSDs and appear to also vary as a function of gender and family history of psychopathology. As such, studies of youth may help in further identification of individuals at risk for SSDs. The current study examined the prospective associations between problem behaviors, neuromotor and neurocognitive functioning, as well as SSD symptoms, at baseline and 2-year follow-up in youth meeting criteria for SPD, other personality disorders, or healthy controls. The neuromotor and neurocognitive measures were able to significantly predict SSD symptoms and behavior problems above and beyond baseline predictors. Overall, the findings provide further support for the role of subcortical motor centers operating together with prefrontal cortical areas in the regulation of higher-order cognitive functioning and in producing the psychiatric features of SSDs. Significant correlations between gender, family history of schizophrenia, and history of head injury with symptoms, behavior, cognition, and motor functioning were also found and highlight …
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Greher, Felicia Reynolds
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Performance appraisal impact on employee career development and performance: A longitudinal study.
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The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the implementation of an internally created performance appraisal system as well as the subjects' overall satisfaction with the implementation. The system was implemented at a major technology consulting firm in the US. The subjects of this study were three levels of employees of the firm. An employee survey conducted annually at the firm included questions relating to the implementation of the performance appraisal system. Eight years of employees' responses to three key questions were analyzed. Employees' perceptions of the appraisal feedback aiding increased performance, their belief about the implementation assisting with their career management, satisfaction with the initiative, and their understanding of the requirements for promotion were captured by this survey. Trend analysis indicates that employees at the firm perceived their career path knowledge unimproved, their understanding of promotion criteria unimproved as a result of the implementation. Employees did not indicate overall satisfaction with the implementation and the employee's belief about their skills and abilities utilization did not improve post implementation.
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Bhagwat, Tanya A.
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Current Practices in Working With Special Education Paraeducators.
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With so many paraeducators working in special education, it is important for teachers, administrators, and researchers to know how paraeducators are being utilized, supervised, and managed in order to create the most effective programs for students with special needs. Research is needed regarding current practices in supervising paraeducators. The purposes of this study were to (a) delineate the current practices being utilized by special education teachers of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) who supervise paraeducators that work with students with EBD in the general education classroom and (b) determine how effective the supervised paraeducators perceive those practices to be. Current practices were revealed by answering the following questions: (1) According to special education teachers and paraeducators, what procedures and practices are being utilized to supervise paraeducators who work in the general education environment with students with EBD? (2) In what ways do teachers and paraeducators see these supervision practices as being effective? (3) What is the relationship between actual supervision practices and accepted best practices? There were 60 participants in all, 30 professional teachers and 30 paraeducators. All 60 participants completed a survey; of these 60, 5 teachers and 5 paraeducators were individually interviewed Findings from the study …
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Asel, Crystal S.
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Accuracy Variations in Human Facial Identification Based on Time of Exposure.
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This study examined the relationship between time of exposure to the human face and accurate subsequent photo line-up identification. A volunteer group of 124 undergraduate students was divided into three approximately equal sized subgroups. The three groups were then exposed to a video or a portion of a video depicting a theft. Exposure times ranged from two minutes to 30 seconds. The subjects were then given a questionnaire and shown a photo line-up of the mock perpetrator and five foils. Subjects were asked to identify the perpetrator and mark that identification on the questionnaire. Results of the experiment indicated that the longer a subject was exposed the greater the possibility of an accurate identification.
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Cowle, Kenneth M.
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Memento mori: Concert for Violoncello and Orchestra
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Death, as a subject, has been treated extensively throughout history, both in literature as well as in music. The focus of Memento mori is to portray the inevitability of death through music. The first part of the document is an essay exploring the topic of death, its inevitability, unpredictability and the fragility of life. This section also includes a number of examples of composer's whose works have influenced the composition of the piece. The title of the work is meant to reflect that death catches up with all of us and that humans no matter how invincible they feel at certain stages of life will, eventually, succumb to death. The second part of the document is the notated orchestral score. The work is for full orchestra and solo violoncello. It is in three acts that loosely resemble three stages of life; Youth followed by life in adulthood and finally death. The work is not programmatic and the piece's formal structure varies from a traditional concerto, for although comprised of three distinct acts, there are no pauses between them. The entire work is meant to be dark and morbid and the specter of death looms throughout the piece.
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Fakhouri, Fouad K.
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
A Language and Visual Interface to Specify Complex Spatial Pattern Mining
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The emerging interests in spatial pattern mining leads to the demand for a flexible spatial pattern mining language, on which easy to use and understand visual pattern language could be built. It is worthwhile to define a pattern mining language called LCSPM to allow users to specify complex spatial patterns. I describe a proposed pattern mining language in this paper. A visual interface which allows users to specify the patterns visually is developed. Visual pattern queries are translated into the LCSPM language by a parser and data mining process can be triggered afterwards. The visual language is based on and goes beyond the visual language proposed in literature. I implemented a prototype system based on the open source JUMP framework.
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Li, Xiaohui
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Diphosphine Ligand Substitution in H4Ru4(CO)12: X-ray Diffraction Structures and Reactivity Studies of the Diphosphine Substituted Cluster Products
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The tetraruthenium cluster H4Ru4(CO)12 has been studied for its reactivity with the unsaturated diphosphine ligands (Z)-Ph2PCH=CHPPh2, 4,5-bis (diphenylphosphino)-4-cyclopenten-1,3-dione, bis(diphenyphosphino)benzene and 1,8- bis(diphenyl phosphino)naphthalene under thermal, near-UV photolysis, and Me3NO-assisted activation. All three cluster activation methods promote loss of CO and furnish the anticipated substitution products that possess a chelating diphosphine ligand. Clusters 1, 2, 3 and 4 have been characterized in solution by IR and NMR spectroscopies, and these data are discussed with respect to the crystallographically determined structures for all new cluster compounds. The 31P NMR spectral data and the solid-state structures confirm the presence of a chelating diphosphine ligand in all four new clusters. Sealed NMR tubes containing clusters 1, 2, 3 and 4 were found to be exceeding stable towards near-UV light and temperatures up to ca. 100°C. The surprisingly robust behavior of the new clusters is contrasted with the related cluster Ru3(CO)10(bpcd) that undergoes fragmentation to the donor-acceptor compound Ru2(CO)6(bpcd) and the phosphido-bridged compound Ru2(CO)6 (µ-PPh2)[µ-C=C(PPh2)C(O)CH2C(O)] under mild conditions. The electrochemical properties have been investigated in the case of clusters 1 and 2 by cyclic voltammetry, and the findings are discussed with respect to the reported electrochemical data on the parent cluster H4Ru4(CO)12.
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Kandala, Srikanth
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Comparison and Evaluation of Existing Analog Circuit Simulator using Sigma-Delta Modulator
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In the world of VLSI (very large scale integration) technology, there are many different types of circuit simulators that are used to design and predict the circuit behavior before actual fabrication of the circuit. In this thesis, I compared and evaluated existing circuit simulators by considering standard benchmark circuits. The circuit simulators which I evaluated and explored are Ngspice, Tclspice, Winspice (open source) and Spectre® (commercial). I also tested standard benchmarks using these circuit simulators and compared their outputs. The simulators are evaluated using design metrics in order to quantify their performance and identify efficient circuit simulators. In addition, I designed a sigma-delta modulator and its individual components using the analog behavioral language Verilog-A. Initially, I performed simulations of individual components of the sigma-delta modulator and later of the whole system. Finally, CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) transistor-level circuits were designed for the differential amplifier, operational amplifier and comparator of the modulator.
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Ale, Anil Kumar
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Measures and Correlates of Daily Spiritual Experiences
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Although a change of religious landscape in America in recent years has been suggested and widely accepted in the social sciences, most studies tend to focus on measures of religiosity and how it is changing. The subject of spirituality and its correlates seem to be mostly ignored. This study utilizes nationally representative data generated for the first time in General Social Survey (GSS) on the subject of spirituality to measure Americans' spirituality and daily spiritual experiences and their most significant correlates. In this study, most Americans (89%) showed to have some degree of spirituality and daily spiritual experiences. Moreover, variables of gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, religious origin, and residence in conservative region when growing up shown to be significant predictors of spirituality.
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Mirbaha-Hashemi, Fariba
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Reconciling capital structure theories in predicting the firm's decisions.
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Past literature attempts to resolve the issue of the motivation behind managers' choice of a given capital structure. Despite several decades of intensive research, there is still no consensus about which theory dominates capital structure decisions. The present study empirically investigates the relative importance of two prominent theories of capital structure- the trade-off and the pecking order theories by exploring the conditions under which each theory can explain the financing choices of firms. These conditions are defined along two dimensions: (i) a firm's degree of information asymmetry, and (ii) its observed leverage relative to target leverage. The results show that, in the short-run, pecking order theory has more explanatory power in explaining the financing choices of firms. The target leverage theory assumes limited importance: Over-leveraged firms, when faced with low adverse information, are more inclined to adapt to the trade-off policies. In the presence of high information asymmetry, however, firms appear to be more concerned about adverse selection costs and make financing decisions that are more consistent with the pecking order theory. An analysis of the market reaction to seasoned equity issuances during announcement periods reveals that firms with high information asymmetry are penalized more than firms with low information …
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Palkar, Darshana
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Overview of America's Professional Choirs: Considerations for Establishing, Maintaining and Succeeding in the Creation of a Professional or Community Choir in the United States
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This document chronicles the history, development, process, and impact of three of the United States' first and most successful professional choirs. Representing the impact of these three choirs demonstrates a need for current professional or community choirs today. Four conductors of current professional and community choirs were interviewed and discussed elements for establishing, maintaining and succeeding in creating of a professional or community choir in the United States today. This document impresses the importance and considerations for a successful endeavor when establishing a professional or community choir.
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Oppenheim, Joshua J.
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Adolescent Insomnia as a Predictor of Early Adulthood Outcomes
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Recent research found insomnia is a risk factor for psychiatric disorders in adults. To see if the same would be true in adolescents, the current study re-analyzed data from a national longitudinal study collected by ADDHealth that evaluated health behaviors in 4552 adolescents (mean age 14.9 years [SD 1.7]) at baseline and again 7-8 years later (n = 3489) during young adulthood. Insomnia was reported by 9.2% of the adolescents. Cross-sectionally, adolescent insomnia was associated with alcohol, cannabis, non-cannabis drugs, and tobacco use, and depression after controlling for gender and ethnicity. Prospectively, adolescent insomnia was a significant risk factor for depression diagnosis, suicidal ideation, and the use of depression and stress prescription medications in young adulthood after controlling for gender, ethnicity, and significant baseline variable. In addition, a trend was noted for suicidal attempts.
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Roane, Brandy Michelle
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Descriptive Analysis of the Association for the Study of Higher Education Dissertation of the Year Award Winning Dissertation and Recipients, 1979 - 2004
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This mixed-methodology study examined a set of award winning dissertations to determine what factors may have led to their receiving recognition by the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). The study addressed seven specific research questions which were answered via two different research designs: 1) a survey administered to the 27 recipients of the dissertation award, and 2) through the qualitative assessment of a sample of the winning dissertations. The quantitative survey was distributed to recipients of the Association for the Study of Higher Education Dissertation of the Year award from 1979 through 2004. The survey collected specific information on the personal attributes and characteristics of the award recipients, descriptive information about the award winning dissertations, information concerning the quality of the winner's doctoral experiences, the quality of their relationship with their dissertations advisors and the progression of their careers after winning the award. The qualitative assessment involved applying a set of evaluative questions provided by Gall, Gall and Borg to describe a sample of the award winning documents. The results indicated that recipients of the ASHE award were not representative of education doctoral students as indicated by 2004 data. The results of the study also indicated that, …
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Powell, Monica S.
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
A Multi-Variate Analysis of SMTP Paths and Relays to Restrict Spam and Phishing Attacks in Emails
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The classifier discussed in this thesis considers the path traversed by an email (instead of its content) and reputation of the relays, features inaccessible to spammers. Groups of spammers and individual behaviors of a spammer in a given domain were analyzed to yield association patterns, which were then used to identify similar spammers. Unsolicited and phishing emails were successfully isolated from legitimate emails, using analysis results. Spammers and phishers are also categorized into serial spammers/phishers, recent spammers/phishers, prospective spammers/phishers, and suspects. Legitimate emails and trusted domains are classified into socially close (family members, friends), socially distinct (strangers etc), and opt-outs (resolved false positives and false negatives). Overall this classifier resulted in far less false positives when compared to current filters like SpamAssassin, achieving a 98.65% precision, which is well comparable to the precisions achieved by SPF, DNSRBL blacklists.
Date:
December 2006
Creator:
Palla, Srikanth
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library