Thesis (M.S.) in Human Development--University of Maine, 2008. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-48).

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2010. / Directed by Jeffrey Patton; submitted to the Dept. of Geography. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jul. 19, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 177-180).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, March, 2010. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 183-192)

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, August, 2004. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 100-113)

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Context. The approach of developing software systems with the use of third partycomponents i.e. COTS or OSS has increased globally. In this study API product refers toeither a software component or a software service or both packaged together, that can beaccessed through an API. Developers are faced with plethora of alternative choices to selectan API product. With this increase in components adoption, API product providers are facedwith challenge of designing their product to be more attractive than others. This needs theproviders to be educated about the developer behavior when they choose an API product.Understanding the selection practices of developers can help providers to improve thepackaging of API products, making them more suitable for selection. Objectives. The objectives of this study is to investigate the criteria that developers usewhen reasoning about acceptability of a software component. Methods. A background study is performed to identify the evaluation criteria proposed inthe literature. An empirical study using Qualitative content analysis is performed. In the study the 480 reviews of different API products are analyzed to understand the criteria frompractitioners’ perspective. Results. 9 relevant criteria that developer use to reason about accepting or rejecting an APIProduct are identified. 30 sub criteria related to the 9 criteria are described in the study. Conclusions. This study concludes that the identified 9 criteria play an important role indeveloper assessment of the API product. It is also found that the criteria have significantimpact on the ratings of API product. These criteria could guide API product providers tomake better choices when developing the product.

This study explored the guidelines advocated by selected media content analysis with the aim of identifying effective approaches to evaluate audience responses to promotional messages. Drawing from literature and documented deliberations by industry professionals, content-specific analysis protocols were applied and tested using a case study representing topic-specific responses to the Two Oceans Quay 5 product launch. In doing so, a logical observation of the communication in unpaid media placements and relevant discussions distributed in public media channels was completed. It is in this sense that this research enriches the study of public relations with a particular focus on output-driven evaluation. It provides insights into qualitative and quantitative publicity measurement and suggests how these methods can be useful to explicate the impact of media coverage as a public relations element. While it largely focused on discovering improved media content analysis solutions, this study revealed that content-driven analysis can only be useful when its protocols are aligned with the context of the data and if communication practitioners remain aware and transparent of its subjectivity. In this regard, this study helps to generate an understanding of the subjective dynamic of public relations and the importance of in-depth and adaptable publicity assessments to help distinguish public relations as a purposeful branding function next to advertising and marketing.

An assay based on Nile red fluorescence was developed for quantitative analysis of triglycerides, a common cellular component with important biological functions and is routinely analyzed for diagnosis of metabolic disorders and as an important feedstock of food industry and biodiesel production. Based on studies on the Nile red fluorescence of pure, binary, and ternary systems of triglycerides, ethanol, and water, 20% ethanol aqueous solution was determined to be the most suitable solvent for lipid fluorescence measurement. Excellent linearity was established for lipid samples in the range of 0.1- 0.5 mg/ml with several different lipid standards and vegetable oils. Results also suggest that the fluorescence of triglycerides was not sensitive to the fatty acid composition of lipids. This finding is important since it implies that the assay could potentially be used for the measurement of triglyceride content of different oil crops without causing significant variations. The results of this method were then verified by comparing with the results of the conventional gravimetric methods. The results of the fluorescence assay were consistently lower than that of the gravimetric method by approximately 10%. This phenomenon was tentatively attributed to the fact that the gravimetric method measures the total amount of lipophilic materials in samples while the fluorescence assay is selective to glycerides. Attempts were also made to apply this assay to estimate the lipid content of green alga Neochloris oleoabundans. However, the results were less than ideal due to the existence of interfering components in the extract of microalga samples that could significantly repress the fluorescence of lipids.

This dissertation presents an updated content features analysis on high-quality digital book versions of printed books. In a time where mobile devices (i.e., iPad, iPhone, Android phones) are ubiquitous, current research on the quality of digital books read on these devices have been sparse. With children having access to these mobile devices to play games, read digital books, listen to music, and watch shows, an updated study on the quality of digital books read on these devices is needed. Using the considerate/inconsiderate framework, the terms integral (vital or corresponding actions), incidental (additional or plausible actions), and incongruent (disparate and illogical actions) were used to describe whether the interactive media features in the 20 high-quality digital books were supportive in meaning-making. Those designations led to an evaluation of whether each digital books –as a whole—was supportive or nonsupportive of comprehension. Analysis showed that all of the high-quality printed version of digital books produced by Oceanhouse Media and two from Loud Crow Interactive were considerate (i.e., supported meaning-making for young children). Findings from this study confirm the utility of the considerate/inconsiderate framework as an analytic tool for evaluating the potential of using high-quality digital book versions of printed books for instructional practices. Furthermore, the dissertation shows how the findings from this study could inform the development of an evaluative tool for educators and researchers to identify high-quality digital books for classroom use and support the categorization of types of available digital books, respectively. Finally, findings point to the need for further research on whether the considerate/inconsiderate framework holds merit for evaluating digital books from a range of quality levels not just high-quality digital book versions of printed books.