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An Accelerometer-based Gesture Recognition System for a Tactical Communications Application (open access)

An Accelerometer-based Gesture Recognition System for a Tactical Communications Application

In modern society, computers are primarily interacted with via keyboards, touch screens, voice recognition, video analysis, and many others. For certain applications, these methods may be the most efficient interface. However, there are applications that we can conceive where a more natural interface could be convenient and connect humans and computers in a more intuitive and natural way. These applications are gesture recognition systems and range from the interpretation of sign language by a computer to virtual reality control. This Thesis proposes a gesture recognition system that primarily uses accelerometers to capture gestures from a tactical communications application. A segmentation algorithm is developed based on the accelerometer energy to segment these gestures from an input sequence. Using signal processing and machine learning techniques, the segments are reduced to mathematical features and classified with support vector machines. Experimental results show that the system achieves an overall gesture recognition accuracy of 98.9%. Additional methods, such as non-gesture recognition/suppression, are also proposed and tested.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Tidwell, Robert S., Jr.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Acceptance Theories for Behavior in Conducting Research: Instructors in the Rajabhat University System, Thailand (open access)

Acceptance Theories for Behavior in Conducting Research: Instructors in the Rajabhat University System, Thailand

Responding to globalization and its effects on education and research development, the Thai government decided to push all public universities to become autonomous and establish a system of quality assurances. The establishment of quality assurances has had a large impact on many Thai instructors, especially in new public universities. Thai instructors are now forced to more focus on conducting research because the number of research publications is regarded as one of the main criteria for quality universities. The purpose of this study is to investigate the key factors, at the individual and university levels, which impact on the instructors' behavior in conducting research of the full-time instructors in the faculty of Management Science from the Rajabhat Universities in Thailand. The current study will help explain how and why the instructors accept or refuse to conduct research and provide insight into the salient factors motivating the instructors to produce more research by conducting HLM. Data were collected from 694 participants at 37 institutions via a questionnaire survey. The findings revealed that there was no difference among these 37 universities on behavior in conducting research. The key factors statistically influencing behavior in conducting research of the instructors were facilitating conditions, academic degree, …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Laksaniyanon, Benchamat
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accurate Energetics Across the Periodic Table Via Quantum Chemistry (open access)

Accurate Energetics Across the Periodic Table Via Quantum Chemistry

Greater understanding and accurate predictions of structural, thermochemical, and spectroscopic properties of chemical compounds is critical for the advancements of not only basic science, but also in applications needed for the growth and health of the U.S. economy. This dissertation includes new ab initio composite approaches to predict accurate energetics of lanthanide-containing compounds including relativistic effects, and optimization of parameters for semi-empirical methods for transition metals. Studies of properties and energetics of chemical compounds through various computational methods are also the focus of this research, including the C-O bond cleavage of dimethyl ether by transition metal ions, the study of thermochemical and structural properties of small silicon containing compounds with the Multi-Reference correlation consistent Composite Approach, the development of a composite method for heavy element systems, spectroscopic of compounds containing noble gases and metals (ArxZn and ArxAg+ where x = 1, 2), and the effects due to Basis Set Superposition Error (BSSE) on these van der Waals complexes.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Peterson, Charles Campbell
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Addressing Multicultural Issues in the Counselor Education Classroom: a Phenomenological Analysis (open access)

Addressing Multicultural Issues in the Counselor Education Classroom: a Phenomenological Analysis

Multicultural education in counselor education is a popular topic among counselor educators and scholars. To date, scholars have focused on understanding the experiences of counselor educators who teach dedicated multicultural courses. However, less attention has been given to other counselor educators who are required by ethical and training standards to address multicultural issues across the curriculum. The purpose of this study was to understand counselor educators’ experiences addressing multicultural issues in courses that do not have a specific multicultural or diversity focus. I used phenomenological methodology to explore the experiences of counselor educators who hold doctoral degrees in counseling or a related field, have taken a multicultural/diversity course in their graduate training, are full-time clinical or tenure-line faculty members in CACREP-accredited programs, and have never taught courses dedicated to multicultural or diversity issues. Twelve participants (six men and six women), ranging in age ranged from 31 to 65, participated in the study. Ten participants identified as White, one African-American, and one Hispanic. The research team identified eight themes: (1) reasons for avoidance, (2) constraints, (3) qualities and practices, (4) educator as a factor in student development, (5) infusion, (6) personal background, (7) awareness of biases and assumptions, and (8) counselor …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Wagner, Terra M.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Against the Grain: Colonel Henry M. Lazelle and the U.S. Army

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Henry Martyn Lazelle (1832-1917) was the only cadet in the history of the U.S. Military Academy to be suspended and sent back a year (for poor grades and bad behavior) and eventually return as Commandant of the Corps of Cadets. After graduating from West Point in 1855, he scouted with Kit Carson, was wounded by Apaches, and spent nearly a year as a "paroled" prisoner-of-war at the outbreak of the Civil War. Exchanged for a Confederate officer, he took command of a Union cavalry regiment, chasing Mosby's Rangers throughout northern Virginia. Due in part to an ingrained disposition to question the status quo, Lazelle's service as a commander and senior staff officer was punctuated at times with contention and controversy. In charge of the official records of the Civil War in Washington, he was accused of falsifying records, exonerated, but dismissed short of tour. As Commandant of Cadets at West Point, he was a key figure during the infamous court martial of Johnson Whittaker, one of West Point's first African American cadets. Again, he was relieved of duty after a bureaucratic battle with the Academy's Superintendent.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Carson, James O.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Altus Times (Altus, Okla.), Vol. 116, No. 404, Ed. 1 Tuesday, December 1, 2015 (open access)

The Altus Times (Altus, Okla.), Vol. 116, No. 404, Ed. 1 Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.
Date: December 1, 2015
Creator: Bush, Michael
Object Type: Newspaper
System: The Gateway to Oklahoma History
Anger, Forgiveness and Mindfulness: Correlates of Perceived Stress in an LGB Sample (open access)

Anger, Forgiveness and Mindfulness: Correlates of Perceived Stress in an LGB Sample

A sexual minority is someone who identifies as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB). According to the Minority Stress Model (Meyer, 2003), sexual minorities encounter significant levels of stress due to their minority group status, thus they are more likely to experience perceived stress. Our cross-sectional, correlational study aimed to explore the relationships between forgiveness, mindfulness and anger and how they are related to perceived stress in a convenience sample of ethnically diverse LGB adults. We hypothesized that: 1) anger is positively associated with perceived stress; 2) forgiveness is negatively associated with perceived stress; 3) mindfulness is negatively associated with perceived stress; and 4) anger, forgiveness and mindfulness account for a significant proportion of the variance in perceived stress. 5) The relationship between anger and perceived stress is moderated by forgiveness. 6) The relationship between anger and perceived stress is moderated by mindfulness. Among LGB adults, the extant literature does not address these four variables in conjunction and the relationships between anger, forgiveness, mindfulness and stress has yet to be explored. Various statistical analyses were conducted, including a hierarchical linear regression to test our model. We found that our overall model accounted for 36% of the total variance in perceived stress …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Schumacher, Matthew Robert
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Anisotropic Nature of Radially Strained Metal Tubes (open access)

Anisotropic Nature of Radially Strained Metal Tubes

Metal pipes are sometimes swaged by a metal cone to enlarge them, which increases the strain in the material. The amount of strain is important because it affects the burst and collapse strength. Burst strength is the amount of internal pressure that a pipe can withstand before failure, while collapse strength is the amount of external pressure that a pipe can withstand before failure. If the burst or collapse strengths are exceeded, the pipe may fracture, causing critical failure. Such an event could cost the owners and their customers millions of dollars in clean up, repair, and lost time, in addition to the potential environmental damage. Therefore, a reliable way of estimating the burst and collapse strength of strained pipe is desired and valuable. The sponsor currently rates strained pipes using the properties of raw steel, because those properties are easily measured (for example, yield strength). In the past, the engineers assumed that the metal would be work-hardened when swaged, so that yield strength would increase. However, swaging introduces anisotropic strain, which may decrease the yield strength. This study measured the yield strength of strained material in the transverse and axial direction and compared them to raw material, to determine …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Strickland, Julie N.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Áskell Másson’s Solos for Snare Drum: Maximizing Musical Expression Through Varying Compositional Techniques and Experimentation in Timbre (open access)

Áskell Másson’s Solos for Snare Drum: Maximizing Musical Expression Through Varying Compositional Techniques and Experimentation in Timbre

This dissertation and accompanying lecture recital explores the musical elements present in Áskell Másson’s three solos for snare drum, PRÍM (1984), KÍM (2001) and B2B: Back to Basics (2010). Two of the primary challenges for the performer when playing solo literature on a non-pitch oriented instrument are identifying thematic structures and understanding how to interpret all innovative sound production techniques employed within the music. A thematic and compositional analysis, as well as an investigation into the experimentation of timbre found in Másson’s three pieces for solo snare drum will help to clarify the musical complexities that are present throughout.
Date: December 2015
Creator: O’Neal, John Micheal
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Assessment of Hot and Cool Executive Functioning Following Trauma Using the Traditional Stroop Task, Emotional Stroop Task, and a Novel Implicit Association Test (open access)

Assessment of Hot and Cool Executive Functioning Following Trauma Using the Traditional Stroop Task, Emotional Stroop Task, and a Novel Implicit Association Test

Individuals who have experienced a traumatic event and develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) frequently show deficits in both primarily “cool” and “hot” cognitive executive functions (e.g., traditional & emotional Stroop tasks, respectively) that can be impacted by high affective salience. Given the dimensional nature of psychopathology, questions remain about individuals within the general population who have experienced trauma but do not meet full criteria for PTSD and yet may manifest problems in these areas, especially areas of hot and cool executive functioning (EF). Thus, the current project was designed to assess hot and cool EF in a relatively large sample of individuals from the general population who have experienced trauma and currently demonstrate sub-clinical levels of post-traumatic symptoms. The Stroop task, Emotional Stroop task, and a novel modified Implicit Association Test were utilized to assess EF across a spectrum of individuals with varying traumatic histories and level of post-traumatic symptoms. Results suggest that a greater frequency of trauma experiences was moderately associated with worse performance on both hot and cool executive functioning measures. Specifically, females within the sample evidenced a close relationship between traumatic experiences, post-trauma symptoms, and executive functioning. Clinical and theoretical implications are discussed.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Sullivan, Erin
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 229, Ed. 1 Tuesday, December 1, 2015 (open access)

The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 229, Ed. 1 Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.
Date: December 1, 2015
Creator: Bloom, David
Object Type: Newspaper
System: The Portal to Texas History
Best Practices & Key Considerations for Enhancing Federal Facility Security and Resilience to Climate-Related Hazards (open access)

Best Practices & Key Considerations for Enhancing Federal Facility Security and Resilience to Climate-Related Hazards

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance and security planning and climate impact considerations for agencies housed in nonmilitary Federal facilities.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Interagency Security Committee (U.S).
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Biological Applications of a Strongly Luminescent Platinum (II) Complex in Reactive Oxygen Species Scavenging and Hypoxia Imaging in Caenorhabditis elegans (open access)

Biological Applications of a Strongly Luminescent Platinum (II) Complex in Reactive Oxygen Species Scavenging and Hypoxia Imaging in Caenorhabditis elegans

Phosphorescent transition metal complexes make up an important group of compounds that continues to attract intense research owing to their intrinsic bioimaging applications that arise from bright emissions, relatively long excited state lifetimes, and large stokes shifts. Now for biomaging assay a model organism is required which must meet certain criteria for practical applications. The organism needs to be small, with a high turn-over of progeny (high fecundity), a short lifecycle, and low maintenance and assay costs. Our model organism C. elegans met all the criteria. The ideal phosphor has low toxicity in the model organism. In this work the strongly phosphorescent platinum (II) pyrophosphito-complex was tested for biological applications as a potential in vivo hypoxia sensor. The suitability of the phosphor was derived from its water solubility, bright phosphorescence at room temperature, and long excited state lifetime (~ 10 µs). The applications branched off to include testing of C. elegans survival when treated with the phosphor, which included lifespan and fecundity assays, toxicity assays including the determination of the LC50, and recovery after paraquat poisoning. Quenching experiments were performed using some well knows oxygen derivatives, and the quenching mechanisms were derived from Stern-Volmer plots. Reaction stoichiometries were derived from …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Kinyanjui, Sophia Nduta
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Blue Sucker Movement and Habitat Use in the Lower Sabine River, Texas (open access)

Blue Sucker Movement and Habitat Use in the Lower Sabine River, Texas

Report on Blue Sucker fish movements and habitat use in the Lower Sabine River.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Mayes, Kevin B.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute Report of Current Research: 2015 (open access)

Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute Report of Current Research: 2015

A report on wildlife research projects being done by the staff and students of the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A & M University-Kingsvillle for the fiscal year 2015.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Characterization of Ti-6Al-4V Produced Via Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (open access)

Characterization of Ti-6Al-4V Produced Via Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing

In recent years, additive manufacturing (AM) has become an increasingly promising method used for the production of structural metallic components. There are a number of reasons why AM methods are attractive, including the ability to produce complex geometries into a near-net shape and the rapid transition from design to production. Ti-6Al-4V is a titanium alloy frequently used in the aerospace industry which is receiving considerable attention as a good candidate for processing via electron beam additive manufacturing (EBAM). The Sciaky EBAM method combines a high-powered electron beam, weld-wire feedstock, and a large build chamber, enabling the production of large structural components. In order to gain wide acceptance of EBAM of Ti-6Al-4V as a viable manufacturing method, it is important to understand broadly the microstructural features that are present in large-scale depositions, including specifically: the morphology, distribution and texture of the phases present. To achieve such an understanding, stereological methods were used to populate a database quantifying key microstructural features in Ti-6Al-4V including volume fraction of phases, a lath width, colony scale factor, and volume fraction of basket weave type microstructure. Microstructural features unique to AM, such as elongated grains and banded structures, were also characterized. Hardness and tensile testing were …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Hayes, Brian J.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Characterizing the Molecular Changes of Austrofundulus limnaeus As It Develops Towards and Enters Diapause II (open access)

Characterizing the Molecular Changes of Austrofundulus limnaeus As It Develops Towards and Enters Diapause II

Austrofundulus limnaeus is a species of annual killifish which inhabits ephemeral ponds in South America. The species is able to survive seasonally desiccating ponds due to their ability to produce robust embryos. The embryos of this species are capable of entering a developmental arrest, termed diapause II, which precedes the onset of drought. While in this arrested state embryos exhibit the greatest tolerance to anoxia of any characterized vertebrate at 25ºC. Furthermore, when raised at 30ºC, embryos escape the entrance to diapause II and go on to develop directly. Currently, little is known about the molecular mechanisms which induce and maintain this developmentally arrested state. In this study I have developed methods to analyze changes in histone modifications in the context of diapause II. Histone modifications were chosen due to their extreme conservation and well characterized role as modulators of gene expression in other systems. Results utilizing adapted immunobased assays show significant changes in the global amount of H3S10P, H3K27me and H3K4me, as the embryos progress from early embryogenesis through the exit of diapause. Additionally, it is revealed that there exists a degree of phenotypic plasticity with regards to the entrance into diapause II which is modulated by the environment …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Toni, Lee S.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Christian Chronicle (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 72, No. 12, Ed. 1 Tuesday, December 1, 2015 (open access)

The Christian Chronicle (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 72, No. 12, Ed. 1 Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Monthly newspaper from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that includes news and information about the Churches of Christ along with advertising.
Date: December 1, 2015
Creator: Tryggestad, Erik
Object Type: Newspaper
System: The Portal to Texas History
City Mixed Beverage Comparison Summary: Fourth Quarter 2015 (open access)

City Mixed Beverage Comparison Summary: Fourth Quarter 2015

Quarterly report outlining tax revenues and remittances for alcoholic beverages, listed by city, for October-December 2015. It also compares the statistics to the same period for the previous year.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Texas. Comptroller's Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Climate Change, Global Food Security, and the U.S. Food System (open access)

Climate Change, Global Food Security, and the U.S. Food System

This report offers information on climate change as it relates to food security.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Brown, M. E.; Antle, J. M.; Backlund, P.; Carr, E. R.; Easterling, W. E.; Walsh, M. K. et al.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Climate Change, Global Food Security, and the U.S. Food System (open access)

Climate Change, Global Food Security, and the U.S. Food System

Assessment of experts in four countries that identifies climate change effects on global food security through 2100 and analyzes the United States' likely connections with that world.
Date: December 2015
Creator: United States. Department of Agriculture.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library

[Cocktails at the Don Juan Restaurant]

Photograph of a cocktail served with the Mexican food at the restaurant. Don Juan, a Mexican restaurant located at Tyler, Texas was established out of love for tacos and family values. Juan Barron started out as a side business, selling tacos during soccer games on Sundays and now it has grown into three successful restaurants.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Mallory, Randy
Object Type: Photograph
System: The UNT Digital Library
Comparative Analysis and Implementation of High Data Rate Wireless Sensor Network Simulation Frameworks (open access)

Comparative Analysis and Implementation of High Data Rate Wireless Sensor Network Simulation Frameworks

This thesis focuses on developing a high data rate wireless sensor network framework that could be integrated with hardware prototypes to monitor structural health of buildings. In order to better understand the wireless sensor network architecture and its consideration in structural health monitoring, a detailed literature review on wireless sensor networks has been carried out. Through research, it was found that there are numerous simulation software packages available for wireless sensor network simulation. One suitable software was selected for modelling the framework. Research showed that Matlab/Simulink was the most suitable environment, and as a result, a wireless sensor network framework was designed in Matlab/Simulink. Further, the thesis illustrates modeling of a simple accelerometer sensor, such as those used in wireless sensor networks in Matlab/Simulink using a mathematical description. Finally, the framework operation is demonstrated with 10 nodes, and data integrity is analyzed with cyclic redundancy check and transmission error rate calculations.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Laguduva Rajaram, Madhupreetha
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Comparing Three Effect Sizes for Latent Class Analysis (open access)

Comparing Three Effect Sizes for Latent Class Analysis

Traditional latent class analysis (LCA) considers entropy R2 as the only measure of effect size. However, entropy may not always be reliable, a low boundary is not agreed upon, and good separation is limited to values of greater than .80. As applications of LCA grow in popularity, it is imperative to use additional sources to quantify LCA classification accuracy. Greater classification accuracy helps to ensure that the profile of the latent classes reflect the profile of the true underlying subgroups. This Monte Carlo study compared the quantification of classification accuracy and confidence intervals of three effect sizes, entropy R2, I-index, and Cohen’s d. Study conditions included total sample size, number of dichotomous indicators, latent class membership probabilities (γ), conditional item-response probabilities (ρ), variance ratio, sample size ratio, and distribution types for a 2-class model. Overall, entropy R2 and I-index showed the best accuracy and standard error, along with the smallest confidence interval widths. Results showed that I-index only performed well for a few cases.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Granado, Elvalicia A.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library