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Ultrafast Laser Sampling of a Plant Tissue and ion Conductivity Measurement for Investigation of Light Stress Generation Mechanisms (open access)

Ultrafast Laser Sampling of a Plant Tissue and ion Conductivity Measurement for Investigation of Light Stress Generation Mechanisms

In this study we applied ultra-short laser pulses on a biological sample (Arabidopsis), in order to cut it precisely in a square pattern and subsequently use it for studying stress generation mechanisms. For this purpose, we utilized femtosecond laser pulses at 100 fs pulse width and 80 MHz repetition rate. We took two processing parameters into consideration such as laser power, laser exposure time which is related to the stage speed. Therefore, we were able to find the laser optimum conditions for ablation of biological tissues. The mutant and wildtype (control) obtained from laser cutting with a size of 500 µm × 500 µm were directly transferred (in-situ with laser cutting) into a microfabricated chamber containing ~500 nanoliters deionized water for measuring ion conductivity. The ion conductivity is a signature of cell-death mechanisms caused by various stresses. A light with intensity of 100 µmol was exposed to the samples for 2 hours and 20 minutes as a source of stress. A quantitative electrical analysis with high accuracy was assured by utilizing a microchamber, which enables a measurement in nanoliter volume. We measured the impedance which is reciprocal of conductivity using a lock-in amplifier and a precise current source at frequency …
Date: August 2010
Creator: Abtahi, Seyed Ali
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Green Jobs Training: A Catalog of Training Opportunities for Green Infrastructure Training (open access)

Green Jobs Training: A Catalog of Training Opportunities for Green Infrastructure Training

This catalog provides information on training and certification opportunities for jobs and careers categorized as part of the "green economy." The catalog includes federal and state listings.
Date: September 2010
Creator: United States. Environmental Protection Agency.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Short-Term Energy and Winter Fuels Outlook (open access)

Short-Term Energy and Winter Fuels Outlook

This report discusses likely energy prices and weather over the winter of 2010-2011.
Date: October 13, 2010
Creator: United States. Energy Information Administration.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Resident Rights and Electronic Monitoring (open access)

Resident Rights and Electronic Monitoring

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine resident, family member and staff perceptions of electronic monitoring and their effect on resident rights. The sample consisted of 53 nursing home residents, 104 staff and 25 family members, in the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex, from a nursing facility in which residents utilize video cameras in their rooms (Nursing Facility 1), two nursing facilities that have video cameras in their common rooms areas (Nursing Facility 2 and 3) and a nursing facility that does not utilize video cameras (Nursing Facility 4). The interview questions and self-administered surveys were in regard to the participant's perceptions of electronic monitoring, perceived risks and benefits of video cameras, awareness of resident rights and consciousness of potential risks to resident rights. Data were analyzed using a mixed methods approach using both ATLAS t.i and SAS. Study findings revealed that residents, family members and staff are aware of the potential benefits of electronic monitoring in nursing facilities. While respondents are hesitant to have electronic monitoring in resident rooms, they are interested in utilizing electronic monitoring in common areas. While residents and staff believe that electronic monitoring compromises resident rights, family members believe resident rights are protected. Different …
Date: August 2010
Creator: Shashidhara, Shilpa
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Determination of the Fine Structure Constant Using Precision Measurements of Helium Fine Structure (open access)

A Determination of the Fine Structure Constant Using Precision Measurements of Helium Fine Structure

Spectroscopic measurements of the helium atom are performed to high precision using an atomic beam apparatus and electro-optic laser techniques. These measurements, in addition to serving as a test of helium theory, also provide a new determination of the fine structure constant α. An apparatus was designed and built to overcome limitations encountered in a previous experiment. Not only did this allow an improved level of precision but also enabled new consistency checks, including an extremely useful measurement in 3He. I discuss the details of the experimental setup along with the major changes and improvements. A new value for the J = 0 to 2 fine structure interval in the 23P state of 4He is measured to be 31 908 131.25(30) kHz. The 300 Hz precision of this result represents an improvement over previous results by more than a factor of three. Combined with the latest theoretical calculations, this yields a new determination of α with better than 5 ppb uncertainty, α-1 = 137.035 999 55(64).
Date: August 2010
Creator: Smiciklas, Marc
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Perspectives on Cultural Context: The Use of an Online Participatory Learning Environment as an Expansion of the Museum Visit (open access)

Perspectives on Cultural Context: The Use of an Online Participatory Learning Environment as an Expansion of the Museum Visit

Technology offers opportunities for museums to expand the ways in which cultural perspectives relevant to objects on display can be exchanged and understood. Multimedia content offered online in an environment with user input capabilities can encourage dialogue and enrich visitor experiences of museums. This action research project using narrative analysis was an effort to develop the use of web technology in museum education practice, with an emphasis on constructivist learning. Concepts including the visitor-centered museum and multiple narratives led the researcher to collaborate with a pre-service art teacher education classroom and a local Hindu community to create content that might better develop understandings of one museum's Hindu sculpture collection that are personal, cultural, and complex.
Date: August 2010
Creator: Sreenan, Patrick N.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
"I Speak, Therefore I Am:" Identity and Self-Construction as Motivation to Engage in Electronic Word of Mouth (open access)

"I Speak, Therefore I Am:" Identity and Self-Construction as Motivation to Engage in Electronic Word of Mouth

To paraphrase an old bromide, "you are what you consume." Consumers derive their sense of self through products, brands, performances and a host of other meaning-laden materials that they consume. The marketing literature has long recognized possessions as an extension of the self-concept. Although hundreds of studies have examined the linkage between consumption and the self, surprisingly few have examined a related phenomenon - the relationship between the self-concept and word of mouth (WOM). A handful of studies have demonstrated the use of WOM to enhance the consumer's self-image, but most extant research focuses on how the act of engaging in WOM is used to build the self-concept. To date there has not been an extensive examination of the process by which WOM transfers the meaning of a product, brand, advertisement or narrative from one consumer to another as part of identity construction. This dissertation attempts to answer the following research questions: 1. Do self-concept and identity motivate consumers to engage in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM)? 2. Is there a conceptual model to represent the effects of message characteristics, product/brand characteristics and individual personality differences on the self-enhancement value of eWOM and resulting eWOM behaviors? A conceptual model was proposed and, …
Date: August 2010
Creator: Taylor, David George
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Information Censorship: A Comparative Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of the Jyllands-Posten Editorial Caricatures in Cross-Cultural Settings (open access)

Information Censorship: A Comparative Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of the Jyllands-Posten Editorial Caricatures in Cross-Cultural Settings

The identification and examination of cultural information strategies and censorship patterns used to propagate the controversial issue of the caricatures in two separate cultural contexts was the aim of this dissertation. It explored discourse used for the coverage of this topic by one newspaper in a restrictive information context and two newspapers in a liberal information context. Message propagation in a restrictive information environment was analyzed using the English daily Kuwait Times from the Middle East; the liberal information environment of the US was analyzed using two major dailies, the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer. The study also concurrently identifies and elaborates on the themes and frames through which discourse was presented exposing the cultural ideologies and premises they represent. The topic was approached with an interdisciplinary position with the support and applicability testing of Chatman's insider-outsider theory within information science and Noelle-Neumann's spiral of silence theory and Herman and Chomsky's propaganda model based in the area of mass communication. The study has also presented a new model of information censorship - circle of information censorship, emphasizing conceptual issues that influence the selection and censorship of information.
Date: August 2010
Creator: Thomas, Julie George
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Perceptions of Disaster Professionalism in Mexico: Adding a New Public Management Perspective to Emergency Management (open access)

Perceptions of Disaster Professionalism in Mexico: Adding a New Public Management Perspective to Emergency Management

This study investigated the perceptions of emergency managers regarding the degree of emergency management professionalism in Mexico and how it can be improved. The disaster of the Mexico City earthquake of 1985 was used as the starting point for this case study, as the prospects for more-frequent and more-intense disasters lend credence to the need for improved professionalism and, thus, effectiveness among emergency managers in the future. An expansive framework of emergency management professionalism mechanisms (or characteristics) and an additional compilation of new public management components (or values) were devised from the extant literatures found within the respective emergency management and public administration fields. The theory advanced by this study is that by integrating new public management components with emergency management mechanisms, professionalism in Mexico will improve and, thus, emergency managers will become more effective. ualitative field research was the methodology employed and it included interviews with 35 emergency managers in Mexico in corroboration with documentary evidence, to ascertain emergency managers' perceptions of professionalism in Mexico. The findings of this study determined that emergency managers in Mexico are implementing many of the mechanisms of professionalism but fewer new public management components. This study posits that by integrating new public management …
Date: August 2010
Creator: Urby, Heriberto, Jr.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Free Radical Chemistries at the Surface of Electronic Materials (open access)

Free Radical Chemistries at the Surface of Electronic Materials

The focus of the following research was to (1) understand the chemistry involved in nitriding an organosilicate glass substrate prior to tantalum deposition, as well as the effect nitrogen incorporation plays on subsequent tantalum deposition and (2) the reduction of a native oxide, the removal of surface contaminants, and the etching of a HgCdTe surface utilizing atomic hydrogen. These studies were investigated utilizing XPS, TEM and AFM. XPS data show that bombardment of an OSG substrate with NH3 and Ar ions results in the removal of carbon species and the incorporation of nitrogen into the surface. Tantalum deposition onto a nitrided OSG surface results in the initial formation of tantalum nitride with continued deposition resulting in the formation of tantalum. This process is a direct method for forming a thin TaN/Ta bilayer for use in micro- and nanoelectronic devices. Exposure to atomic hydrogen is shown to increase the surface roughness of both air exposed and etched samples. XPS results indicate that atomic hydrogen reduces tellurium oxide observed on air exposed samples via first-order kinetics. The removal of surface contaminants is an important step prior to continued device fabrication for optimum device performance. It is shown here that atomic hydrogen effectively …
Date: August 2010
Creator: Wilks, Justin
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Southern Promise and Necessity:  Texas, Regional Identity, and the National Woman Suffrage Movement, 1868-1920 (open access)

Southern Promise and Necessity: Texas, Regional Identity, and the National Woman Suffrage Movement, 1868-1920

This study offers a concentrated view of how a national movement developed networks from the grassroots up and how regional identity can influence national campaign strategies by examining the roles Texas and Texans played in the woman suffrage movement in the United States. The interest that multiple generations of national woman suffrage leaders showed in Texas, from Reconstruction through the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, provides new insights into the reciprocal nature of national movements. Increasingly, from 1868 to 1920, a bilateral flow of resources existed between national women's rights leaders and woman suffrage activists in Texas. Additionally, this study nationalizes the woman suffrage movement earlier than previously thought. Cross-regional woman suffrage activity has been marginalized by the belief that campaigning in the South did not exist or had not connected with the national associations until the 1890s. This closer examination provides a different view. Early woman's rights leaders aimed at a nationwide movement from the beginning. This national goal included the South, and woman suffrage interest soon spread to the region. One of the major factors in this relationship was that the primarily northeastern-based national leadership desperately needed southern support to aid in their larger goals. Texas' ability to …
Date: August 2010
Creator: Brannon-Wranosky, Jessica S.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Final Recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force (open access)

Final Recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force

This report provides recommendations for a strengthened governance structure to provide sustained, high-level, and coordinated attention to ocean, coastal, and Great Lake issues with a framework that addresses conservation, economic activity, user conflict, and sustainable use of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources.
Date: July 19, 2010
Creator: United States. Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Executive Order - Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes (open access)

Executive Order - Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes

This order establishes a national policy to ensure the protection, maintenance, and restoration of the health of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems and resources, enhance the sustainability of ocean and coastal economies, preserve maritime heritage, support sustainable uses and access, provide for adaptive management to enhance understanding of and capacity to respond to climate change and ocean acidification, and coordinate with national security and foreign policy interests. This order also provides for the development of coastal and marine spatial plans that build upon and improve existing Federal, State, tribal, local, and regional decision making and planning processes.
Date: July 19, 2010
Creator: United States. President (2009- : Obama)
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) (open access)

Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE)

This map shows states using property-assessed clean energy (PACE) programs to finance renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.
Date: 2010
Creator: Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Plug-in Electric Vehicles (open access)

Plug-in Electric Vehicles

This map shows states that have laws and regulations that incentivize the use of plug-in electric passenger vehicles. Policies include mandates for states to acquire plug-in electric vehicles for state fleets, access to High Occupancy Vehicle lanes or designated parking for plug-in electric vehicles, and financial incentives to private owners of such vehicles.
Date: 2010
Creator: Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Public Benefit Funds (open access)

Public Benefit Funds

This map shows states with funds dedicated to supporting energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
Date: 2010
Creator: Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Regional Initiatives (open access)

Regional Initiatives

This map shows states that participate in regional initiatives to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and increase generation of renewable energy.
Date: 2010
Creator: Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Renewable & Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (open access)

Renewable & Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards

This map shows states with standards requiring electric utilities to generate a percentage of electricity from renewable energy sources.
Date: 2010
Creator: Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
State Adaptation Plans (open access)

State Adaptation Plans

This map shows states with plans for adapting to global climate change.
Date: 2010
Creator: Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
VMT-Related Policies and Incentives (open access)

VMT-Related Policies and Incentives

This map shows states with policies to curb the climb of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by encouraging carpooling, alternative transportation, and compact land development.
Date: 2010
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Policies (open access)

Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Policies

This map shows state laws and regulations that affect medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. The policies include tax incentives, fines, guidelines, and grants.
Date: 2010
Creator: Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards (open access)

Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards

This map shows states that have adopted or are planning to adopt California's vehicle standards.
Date: 2010
Creator: Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Green Infrastructure in Arid and Semi-Arid Climates (open access)

Green Infrastructure in Arid and Semi-Arid Climates

This brochure describes the benefits of adopting "green infrastructure" design principles to communities in arid and semi-arid regions.
Date: May 2010
Creator: United States. Environmental Protection Agency.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Impacts of Comprehensive Climate and Energy Policy Options on the U.S. Economy (open access)

Impacts of Comprehensive Climate and Energy Policy Options on the U.S. Economy

This study compiles and updates the findings of 16 comprehensive state climate action plans and extrapolates the results to the nation. The study then takes those results and using a widely accepted econometric model projects the national impact of these policies on employment, incomes, gross domestic product (GDP) and consumer energy prices. Finally, using the bottom-up data developed by the states and aggregated here, the study models the national impact of major features of the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill under consideration in Congress in 2010. These state action plans and supporting assessments were proposed by over 1,500 stakeholders and technical work group experts appointed by 16 governors and state legislatures to address climate, energy and economic needs through comprehensive, fact-based, consensus-driven, climate action planning processes conducted over the past five years with facilitative and technical assistance by the Center for Climate Strategies. Findings show potential national improvements from implementation of a top set of 23 major sector-based policies and measures drawn from state plans.
Date: July 2010
Creator: Center for Climate Strategies
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library