Thesis (Ed. D.)--Lehigh University, 2001. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 180-198).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 229-240). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Computer Science, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-69).

Zugl.: Karlsruhe, Univ., Diss., 2009

Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xvii, 172 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-131).

<p> This dissertation represents an in depth examination of the cultural practices, technological affordances and political economic forces that inform the publics and counterpublics formed on the website reddit. Through interpretivist netnography, textual analysis and document analysis, the research presented here establishes a variety of different events (both historical and contemporary) and discourses that have taken place on the site and shows how these events and discourses are emblematic of contemporary neoliberal ideologies. Drawing on the theoretical tradition of the &ldquo;public sphere&rdquo; established by J&uuml;rgen Habermas, this research concludes that reddit shows the potential for an effective public sphere through digital technology. However, despite this potential, much of the discourse on reddit reinforces traditional neoliberal ideologies; furthermore, actions on behalf of the administration, moderators and users on the sites also indicate that while reddit has afforded individuals the opportunity to change federal political policy, these events do not translate into an inclusive public sphere that escapes the neoliberal trappings of technological fetishism.</p>

The shear capacity of a post-tensioned, concrete I-girder may be influenced if the crushing capacity of the web is reduced by ducts for the tendons. An experimental investigation was conducted on compressively-loaded, high-strength concrete panels with embedded post-tensioning ducts to better understand the parameters influencing girder web crushing behavior. The panels were intended to represent portions of a girder web subjected to shear-induced, principal compressive stresses. Material properties and construction procedures utilized in the fabrication and erection of bridge members in the field were considered. The primary goal of this study was to assess the impacts of various parameters on web crushing capacity. The results were needed to determine which variables should be considered for shear testing of full-scale girders. The parameters considered in the panel test program were duct type, grouting, member thickness, and the inclusion of confining reinforcement near the ducts. Notable findings from this study indicate that 1) elements with plastic ducts exhibit lower capacities than those with steel ducts, 2) a significant size effect exists when determining crushing capacity, and 3) the presence of a small amount of reinforcement placed near a duct through a member’s thickness can greatly improve its capacity. Results indicated that American design codes may be severely unconservative in their handling of ducts when designing for shear. Recommendations to refine and expand the standard approach for reducing web crushing capacity were developed. Additionally, a new means of estimating web crushing capacity was introduced. / text

This dissertation reports an eight-month case study of design, development and evaluation of a collaborative glossary plugin in an online learning environment (OLE) for a university postgraduate course. The research aims to identify the jobs of different roles during this pedagogical-integrated development by a qualitative analysis on the development documents and communications, and then find methods to evaluate the finished features effectively. The dissertation concludes that a design coordinator is necessary between the course instructor and the programmer in the development and test to summarize the pedagogical requirements, redesign features in a software perspective, etc. It also tested pedagogical efficacy of the plugin by reporting the result of four methods of test and evaluation. The research suggest more case studies of OLE features development in higher education to be conducted to better define different roles and borders of roles and their responsibilities. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

published_or_final_version / Computer Science and Information Systems / Master / Master of Philosophy

The article has been reviewed and accepted for publication in Knowledge Organization 33 (2006) / This is a preprint of a paper to be published in Knowledge Organization. The paper gives a short overview of the history of use of UDC in Internet subject gateways (SGs) with an English interface, from 1993 to 2006. There were in total, nine quality controlled SGs that were functional for shorter or longer periods of time. Their typology and functionality is described. Quality SGs have evolved and the role of classification has changed accordingly from supporting subject organization on the interface and automatic categorization of resources, towards supporting a semantic linking, control and vocabulary mapping between different indexing systems in subject hubs and federated SGs. In this period, many SGs ceased to exist and little information remains available regarding their status. SGs currently using UDC, for some part of their resource organization, do not use a UDC subject hierarchy at the interface and its role in resource indexing has become more difficult to observe. Since 2000, UDC has become more prevalent in East European SGs, portals and hubs, which are outside the scope of this research. This paper is an attempt to provide a record on this particular application of UDC and to offer some consideration of the changes in requirements when it comes to the use of library classification in resource discovery.