Search Results

open access

Development and Test of High-Temperature Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring

Description: High-temperature piezoelectric wafer active sensors (HT-PWAS) have been developed for structure health monitoring at hazard environments for decades. Different candidates have previously been tested under 270 °C and a new piezoelectric material langasite (LGS) was chosen here for a pilot study up to 700 °C. A preliminary study was performed to develop a high temperature sensor that utilizes langasite material. The Electromechanical impedance (E/M) method was chosen to detect the piezoelectric p… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Bao, Yuanye
open access

First Movement of the Beethoven Third Piano Concerto: An Argument for the Alkan Cadenza

Description: The goal of this dissertation is not only to introduce the unique cadenza by Alkan but also to offer an argument from the performer’s point of view, for why Alkan’s cadenza should be considered when there exists a cadenza by Beethoven himself, not to mention those by a number of other composers, both contemporaries of Beethoven and later. Information in reference to the brief history of the cadenza and the pianoforte in the time of Mozart and Beethoven is presented in Chapter 2. A brief bibliog… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Ding, Yang
open access

Plebiscites

Description: This study investigates factors that can influence leaders to use plebiscites to settle territorial claims. A quick survey of the plebiscite literature shows that the method has been extensively mentioned in the legal, historical, and philosophical fields (mostly through case studies) but less so in political science. This thesis is the first attempt, to my knowledge, to quantitatively investigate the different factors that can influence a leader to use a plebiscite. Using the latest version of… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Fonseca Acosta, Rosa
open access

Assessing Workplace Design: Applying Anthropology to Assess an Architecture Firm’s Own Headquarters Design

Description: Corporations, design firms, technology, and furniture companies are rethinking the concept of the ‘workplace’ environment and built ‘office’ in an effort to respond to changing characteristics of the workplace. The following report presents a case study, post-occupancy assessment of an architecture firm’s relocation of their corporate headquarters in Dallas, TX. This ethnographic research transpired from September 2013 to February 2014 and included participant observation, employee interviews, … more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Ramer, S. Angela
open access

A History of the Phenomenon of the Maras of El Salvador, 1971- 1992

Description: This thesis grounds its examination of the maras of El Salvador in the historical past (1971-1992) rather than the present, which constitutes a departure from current scholarship on the subject. This thesis revises our current understanding of the emergence and development of maras in El Salvador through the recovery, insertion and examination of key local events, conditions, and historical actors of the 1970s and 1980s. From signifying friendship and camaraderie prior to the late 1980s, the ma… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Castillo, Vogel Vladimir
open access

An Analysis of Du cristal…à la fumée by Kaija Saariaho and Axiom Unearthed, Original Composition

Description: Beginning in the 1970s, and aided by the advancement and an increased prevalence of computers, spectral music emerged as an important development in twentieth century music. Spectral composers, as exemplified by Gérard Grisey and Tristan Murail, took the harmonic spectra of sounds as the fundamental materials of composition. The resulting music placed an emphasis on texture and gradually evolving forms. The generation of composers immediately following the spectralists assimilated their techniq… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Allen, John Clay
open access

Alternative Certification Teaching Programs in Texas: A Historical Analysis

Description: Before 1984, nearly 975 of teachers entered the teaching profession after graduating from a traditional university-based program. However, beginning in the mid-1980s, alternative routes leading to teacher certification began to emerge in the United States. As of 2010, nearly one-third of all new teachers graduated from an alternative preparation program. As alternative certification (AC) routes approach 30 years since establishment, programs continue to evolve and increase in enrollment. This s… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Etheredge, David K.
open access

Surface Topography and Aesthetics of Recycled Cross-Linked Polyethylene Wire and Cable Coatings

Description: Our research focuses on re-using a waste a material, cross-linked polyethylene abbreviated XLPE, which is a widely used coating for wires. XLPE is strong and has excellent thermal properties due to its chemical structure - what leads to the significance of recycling this valuable polymer. Properties of XLPE include good resistance to heat, resistance to chemical corrosion, and high impact strength. A wire is usually composed of a metal core conductor and polymeric coating layers. One creates a … more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Xie, Wa
open access

The Devil and the Details: Negotiating Virtuosity, Agency, and Authenticity in Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Kathinkas Gesang als Luzifers Requiem for Solo Flute

Description: Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Kathinkas Gesang als Luzifers Requiem presents mental, physical, and musical challenges that go beyond the usual expectations of an instrumentalist, extending and redefining the traditional idea of virtuosity. Using firsthand performance experience, score and recording study, and flutist interviews, this document explores the effects of some of these heightened demands and argues that the particular performance situation presented by Kathinkas Gesang brings up critical q… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Chambo, Wayla Joy Ewart
open access

Networks of Social Debt in Early Modern Literature and Culture

Description: This thesis argues that social debt profoundly transformed the environment in which literature was produced and experienced in the early modern period. In each chapter, I examine the various ways in which social debt affected Renaissance writers and the literature they produced. While considering the cultural changes regarding patronage, love, friendship, and debt, I will analyze the poetry and drama of Ben Jonson, Lady Mary Wroth, William Shakespeare, and Thomas Middleton. Each of these writer… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Criswell, Christopher C.
open access

Improving Processing Efficiency for Forensic DNA Samples

Description: The goal of this project was to reduce processing time for forensic DNA testing without incurring significant added costs and/or the need for new instrumentation, while still generating high quality profiles. This was accomplished by: 1) extraction normalization using the ChargeSwitch® Forensic DNA Purification Kit such that a small range of DNA concentrations was consistently obtained, eliminating the need for sample quantification and dilution; 2) developing fast PCR protocols for STR primer … more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Connon, Catherine Cupples
open access

My Brother’s Keeper

Description: My Brother’s Keeper is a Documentary Film developed to explore the life of John Dillinger. It examines the legendary criminal through the memories of Frances Dillinger Thompson, his last remaining sibling. The film attempts to understand John Dillinger by exposing his intimate childhood relationship with his sister, and the burdens his actions left on her.
Date: May 2014
Creator: Greenthaner, Sean
open access

Penumbra

Description: This thesis consists of a collection of poems. The poems entail a discussion of the weight of human decisions with regards to gender, sexuality, music, religion, and environment. A great deal of these pieces are in conversation with a type of death or an eclipsed ending in order to examine the outcome of each varied individual response to mortality.
Date: August 2014
Creator: Brizendine, Elizabeth Katherine
open access

Refining the Definition and Detection of Response Styles: An Initial Examination of Defensiveness and Feigning on the Personality Inventory for DSM-5

Description: The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM 5) presents an alternate model for personality disorders, blending categorical and dimensional assessment into a hybrid diagnostic procedure. Released concurrently, the Personality Inventory for DSM 5 (PID 5) measures the five domains and 25 facets that comprise the trait components of this hybrid model. However, the PID 5 currently lacks validity indicators to capture intentionally distorted responding. The cu… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Fiduccia, Chelsea E.
open access

Through an Open Window

Description: The poems in this collection are elegiac; celebrations of losses and failures, tributes to the daily doldrums that are at the center of human experience. They threaten to expose the uncertainty that exists and refuses to exist in our everyday lives. They explore the otherness associated with the individual and often turn to the universal formulas of music and physics to make order of the world around them. Often times the Speaker finds that the seeming chaos manifests within her already orderly… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Bingham, Christie
open access

Transfer From a UTeach Replication Site to the Classroom: A Study of First and Second Year Instructional Practices

Description: Concerns based adoption model (CBAM) instruments were used to examine instructional practices of six graduates from a highly stylized, inquiry-based secondary math and science preparation program. Teachers were in the first or second years of teaching mathematics in six different secondary settings, ranging from poverty to wealthy schools. CBAM assumptions were tested. The primary assumption about concerns was that new teachers’ highest concerns would be within the self and task dimensions. Acc… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Fields, Melanie
open access

Dismantling the Psychiatric Ghetto: Evaluating a Blended-Clinic Approach to Supportive Housing in Houston, Texas

Description: Locational decisions based on stigma and low funding have handicapped the efficiency of community based mental healthcare in the United States since 1963. However, the pattern of services in the 21st century American South remains largely unknown. This thesis addresses this gap in knowledge by using a mixed methodology including location allocation, descriptive statistics, and qualitative site visits to explore the geography of community clinics offering both physical and mental health services… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Lester, Katherine Ann
open access

The Influence of Psychological Momentum on Basketball Shooting Performance

Description: The purpose of this research was to examine the influence of fictitious scoring updates on psychological momentum (PM) and athletic performance in a competitive basketball setting. The participants included in this study were 50 male undergraduate students who reported having played basketball previously and qualified by being able to make more than 24% (12 out of 50) of their 3-point shots in a pre-trial session. Participants were told that they were competing in a 50 shot, 3-point shooting co… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Harris, Connor
open access

Investigating Teachers’ Backgrounds and Instructional Practices to Improve Mathematics Teacher Training Programs

Description: In recent years, considerable concern has arisen over cross-national student’s math achievement. A number of studies focusing on eighth grade student’s math achievement have been published. However, the most important role we should consider is not only students, but also teachers. A good teaching training program could help teachers improve their teaching expertise and student’s math achievement. Moreover, most studies only focused on explained predictions of the effect between potential facto… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Chung, Chih-Hung
open access

The Effects of Providing a Brief Training Package to Daycare Teachers to Teach a Child a Sign for Social Attention

Description: Behavioral skills training (BST) packages have been successful in increasing change agents’ correct implementation of various procedures. The current study evaluated the effects of a brief BST package to train daycare teachers to implement incidental teaching procedures with toddlers. The brief BST consisted of a set of written instructions, a two-minute video model, rehearsal, and feedback during session. Results demonstrated that teachers increased their correct implementation of incidental t… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Zimmerman, Valerie L. V.
open access

To Weigh or Not to Weigh? Relation to Disordered Eating Attitudes and Behaviors Amongst Female Collegiate Athletes

Description: Collegiate and elite female athletes have been identified as a subpopulation at heightened risk for disordered eating and pathogenic weight management practices. It was hypothesized that this increases risk may be related to sport specific pressures (such as team conducted weigh-ins), or the use and frequency of self-weighing. It appears that mandatory, team conducted weigh-ins are not salient to female athletes in regards to experiencing internalization, body image concerns, dietary restraint,… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Carrigan, Kayla
open access

The State of the Field of Critical Information Literacy in Higher Education

Description: The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the state of critical information literacy (CIL) in higher education as it is enacted and understood by academic librarians. This qualitative study investigated the institutional support, nonsupport, and barriers to CIL programs and the effectiveness of experiential critical pedagogy for information literacy (IL) learning as taught and studied by 19 CIL specialists. Purposeful sampling was used to gather a sample of 17 academic librarians and two … more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Downey, Annie L.
open access

Highly Efficient Single Frequency Blue Laser Generation by Second Harmonic Generation of Infrared Lasers Using Quasi Phase Matching in Periodically Poled Ferroelectric Crystals

Description: Performance and reliability of solid state laser diodes in the IR region exceeds those in the visible and UV part of the light spectrum. Single frequency visible and UV laser diodes with higher than 500 mW power are not available commercially. However we successfully stabilized a multi-longitudinal mode IR laser to 860 mW single frequency. This means high efficiency harmonic generation using this laser can produce visible and UV laser light not available otherwise. In this study we examined… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Khademian, Ali
open access

“The Scherzo for Trombone Quartet” by John La Montaine: A Performer’s Edition

Description: In 1939, during his studies at the Eastman School of Music, John La Montaine (1920-2013) composed a Scherzo for four trombones. The Scherzo was revised more than 60 years later, becoming the third movement of a three-movement trombone quartet completed in 2001. Interestingly, the same Scherzo subsequently appeared in two of his later works: first the final movement of his Piano Concerto No. 4 Op. 59 (1989) and 12 years later as the final movement of a three-movement Trombone Quartet. The thesis… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Begnoche, David J.
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