With the capacity to connect millions of singles through the virtual world, online matchmaking has altered the traditional, face-to-face romantic relationship initiation process. Users of online matchmaking sites have easy access to thousands of available singles and can communicate with partners before ever meeting face-to-face. Specific mechanisms by which online matchmaking environments operate are likely to distort both users’ appraisals of other users and users’ appraisals of themselves. This phenomenon in dating has left researchers to speculate about the effectiveness of romantic relationship initiation in such a context, and for relationships that are successfully formed online, whether the effects of online matchmaking extend beyond the relationship initiation process to influence the subsequent progression of romantic relationships. Seventy-five single men and women were recruited and agreed to subscribe to the online matchmaking site Match.com for 30 days. Participants completed measures assessing their individual background characteristics, sociosexual orientation, personality and attachment. In the event that participants scheduled a first date with someone they met through Match.com, they completed pre and post-date measures assessing idealistic distortion of, attention to, and ease of finding alternative dating partners. Upon completion of their 30 days in the study, participants completed a follow-up questionnaire assessing the degree to which they idealistically distorted themselves to other users and their overall satisfaction and experience using Match.com. Logistic regression analyses revealed that the more users’ distorted the vitality and attractiveness of dating partners the less likely users were to experience a second date initiated by the dating partner. Future studies need to consider that traditional models of relationship initiation are out-dated and not applicable to the study of relationship initiation and progression in the context of online matchmaking. Relationship researchers need to investigate: gender differences in filtering potential partners, the function of filtering in such a context, the developmental progression of filtering and the subsequent potential heightened importance of physical attraction verses the importance of compatibility in predicting relationship initiation in the online matchmaking environment. Additionally, future research should involve comparisons of various matchmaking services’, should utilize larger sample sizes and should follow participants for a longer period of time. / text

The timing of motion on thrust faults in the Idaho-Wyoming-Utah (IWU) thrust belt comes from synorogenic sediments, apatite thermochronology and direct dating of fault rocks coupled with good geometrical constraints of the subsurface structure. The thermal history comes from the analyses of apatite thermochronology, thermal maturation of hydrocarbon source rocks and isotope analysis of fluid inclusions from syntectonic veins. New information from zircon fission track and zircon (U-Th)/He analysis provide constraints on the thermal evolution of the IWU thrust belt over geological time. These analyses demonstrate that the time-temperature pathway of the rocks sampled never reached the required conditions to reset the thermochronometers necessary to provide new timing constraints. Previous thermal constraints for maximum temperatures of IWU thrust belt rocks, place the lower limit at ~110°C and the upper limit at ~328°C. New zircon fission track results suggest an upper limit at ~180°C for million year time scales. ID-TIMS and LA-ICPMS of syntectonic calcite veins suggest that new techniques for dating times of active deformation are viable given that radiogenic isotope concentrations occur at sufficient levels within the vein material.

Solitude, a nineteenth century farmhouse and historic landmark, located on the campus of Virginia Tech is currently slated for preservation. The purpose of this study was to trace the architectural history of the farmhouse and adjacent outbuilding through its existing mill work, hardware, and other architectural features. Eighteenth and nineteenth century architectural pattern books and the knowledge of architectural historians were used to date the interior millwork and hardware in this building. The millwork and hardware produced evidence of at least three distinct design periods. To determine if mill work and hardware dates supported the approximate construction dates commonly thought accurate for the three major sections of this building. The 1801 and 1834 sections of the house exhibit Federal style. Greek Revival dominates the 1851 section, as well as the renovated 1801 section, and the later additions exhibit Victorian style details. The adjacent log and frame outbuilding contained mill work that mixed Federal and Greek Revival elements. Using this information, along with information obtained from researchers who previously studied Solitude, a sequence of floor plans was developed. These plans show the evolution of the house through two major additions, as well as three smaller ones. The evolution of the outbuilding was also noted. / Master of Science

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published_or_final_version / Earth Sciences / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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每個女孩都有個夢想，希望某天能成為光鮮亮麗的鎂光燈焦點，擁有美好的物質生活。亞洲社會普遍有這種女子愛慕虛榮的現象，尤其以台灣最為風氣盛行。台灣過去的10年間，電視偶像劇如雨後春筍般地快速成長，儼然成為台灣電視收視群的最大戲劇種類之一。而大部分的這些偶像劇內容不外乎是講述某位平凡小女子與有錢有權的公子哥兒的偶然相遇，燦爛的交集為平凡的女子帶來人生的轉捩點。從無到有，從平凡百姓到坐擁榮華富貴，人見人愛的，已成為時下台灣年輕女性最喜愛的電視橋段，也同時投射出她們幻想成為劇中女主角的渴望。從2001年紅極一時的 『流星花園系列』 到2008年底剛剛落幕且創下台灣電視史上收視率最高的偶像劇 『命中注定我愛你』。這些偶像劇的成功在在顯示出台灣女性心理對平凡女麻雀變鳳凰的遭遇有極大的連結。 只要有需求，供給的市場就會浮現，aSTAR.com名媛網正是以台灣數百萬年輕女性福祉為出發點而創造出來的全新Web2.0 虛擬網路社群新概念。突破市面網路社群框架，開發史無前例的虛擬平台再搭配養成概念的線上社群互動設計，aSTAR.com名媛網將為台灣女性提供獨一無二的虛擬世界新體驗。透過各式機制和會員互動以及打造一間充滿獨特奢華的精緻空間，女性使用者現實社會中得不到的虛榮心和眾人目光將可在aSTAR.com名媛網上得到滿足。 詹宏志:『台灣還有再做100家網路上市公司的機會』。 aSTAR.com名媛網將會在台灣網路社群市場大放光芒，朝上市的終極目標前進。 / Every girl has a very dream, a dream that one day they will live a famously glamorous life with luxurious material-world satisfaction. This phenomenon of females pursuing vanity is especially evident in Asian countries, particularly in Taiwan. In past 10 years, there has been a rapidly growing surge of teen-idol dramas in Taiwan's television-show-making industry. The storyline of the majority of these idol dramas portrays one thing and one thing only and that is the story of a very ordinary girl falling in love with a life-turning rich and handsome young man and live a happily ever after life. From the nearly decade-ago Meteor Garden(流星花園) to the most recent television super hit Destiny Love(命中注定我愛你), they all share this very pattern and both received enormously high viewership from female audience. Where there is demand, there is supply. aSTAR.com is the solution to fulfill this inner wish of Taiwanese females. With an unprecedented Vanity Room Space concept and an interactive social networking platform, aSTAR.com is proud to bringing this brand new online social networking experience to Taiwan's audience. aSTAR.com users will be able to enjoy the fun of building up their very own virtual rooms with precious and exclusive collections for showcase and, at the same time, experiencing a series of interesting networking interaction with other aSTAR users to win the Socialite title. “Taiwan has room for at least a hundred more Internet companies' IPO,” a quote from Taiwan's famous Internet entrepreneur, Hung-Tze Jan(詹宏志). aSTAR.com, with its virtual space and socialite networking experience, will make big presence in Taiwan's Internet market and reach ultimate IPO goal.