The success of the internet over last few decades has mainly depended on various infrastructure technologies to run distributed applications. Due to diversification and multi-provider nature of the internet, radical architectural improvements which require mutual agreement between infrastructure providers have become highly impractical. This escalating resistance towards the further growth has created a rising demand for new approaches to address this challenge. Network virtualization is regarded as a prominent solution to surmount these limitations. It decouples the conventional Internet service provider’s role into infrastructure provider (InP) and service provider (SP) and introduce a third player known as virtual network Provider (VNP) which creates virtual networks (VNs). Resource discovery aims to assist the VNP in selecting the best InP that has the best matching resources for a particular VN request. In the current literature, resource discovery focuses mainly on static attributes of network resources highlighting the fact that utilization on dynamic attributes imposes significant overhead on the network itself. In this thesis we propose a resource discovery approach that is capable of utilizing the dynamic resource attributes to enhance the resource discovery and increase the overall efficiency of VN creation. We realize that recourse discovery techniques should be fast and cost efficient, enough to not to impose any significant load. Hence our proposed scheme calculates aggregation values of the dynamic attributes of the substrate resources. By comparing aggregation values to VN requirements, a set of potential InPs is selected. The potential InPs satisfy basic VN embedding requirements. Moreover, we propose further enhancements to the dynamic attribute monitoring process using a vector based aggregation approach.

The growth of fast fashion retailers, availability of knockoff fashion apparel, and proposed apparel copyright law prompted this study. Fast fashion retailers are expanding rapidly and producing knockoffs fashion apparel in a matter of weeks, but current U.S. copyright laws do not protect apparel. The primary purpose of this study was to identify prominent visual fashion apparel attributes that could determine perceived copyright infringement. A secondary purpose was to examine the effects of fashion apparel attributes on perceived copyright infringement, perceived risk, and purchase intention. A sequential exploratory mixed method approach was used to explore the relationship between: Attributes, perceived copyright infringement, perceived risk, and purchase intention. This study consisted of a: Study one, study two, and study three. Twelve hypotheses were proposed, and five were supported. Quality significantly affected both perceived copyright infringement and purchase intention. Performance, social, and asset significantly affected purchase intention of knockoff fashion apparel.

Slides of TAT cards 1 and 2 were shown to 87 college students asked to write stories about them. Subjects also ranked the importance of 5 attributes in understanding their personalities. Attribute scores from projections and centrality scores from rankings, for achievement and autonomy, were regressed onto college GPA, trail-making, and autonomy by life history. Predictions failed to reach suitably low significance levels. Subscaling the life history questionnaire by factor analysis and subsequently regressing toward subscales resulted in multiple correlation significant at p < .01. Important to the model was the significant (p < .02) improvement in using the attribute by centrality interaction over either variable alone. Results were discussed in terms of a cognitive model for projectives.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of facial convexity on the perception of social attributes in a young adult population. Nine models were asked to pose for a 3 dimensional photograph that was then modified to represent ideal, retrognathic, and prognathic facial convexity angles. Survey evaluators were shown digital videos of models with ideal and non-ideal profiles and asked to rate their perception of the following 4 social attributes: intelligence, athleticism, popularity, and leadership ability using a visual analog scale. Results gathered from 271 evaluators showed that the model images with ideal facial convexity angles were rated higher on average than the same model images with retrognathic and prognathic profiles. The differences in ratings between ideal and non-ideal profiles were significant for intelligence (P = 0.0009), athleticism (P = 0.0002), and leadership ability (P = 0.0008). Differences in perceived popularity (P = 0.2169) showed no significant differences among facial convexities.

Master of Science / Department of Geology / Matthew W. Totten / A 3D seismic survey was conducted on Beauchamp, Beauchamp North and Beauchamp Northwest fields, which are located in Stanton County, southwest Kansas, by Berexco, Inc. Stanton County is situated on the Hugoton embayment which is the shelf of the Anadarko basin. The producing formation in this area is the Morrow formation, which is the lower Pennsylvanian period. The Morrow formation is mostly a clastic unit and its base was transgressive marine. It is considered an unconformity lying on the Mississippian rocks. Wide geologists agreed with the name of Morrow as name in the rock stratigraphic sequence in the study area (Forgotson, et al., 1966). "The Morrowan series is defined as the interval between the base of the Atokan Thirteen finger limestones and the top of the pre-Pennsylvanian unconformity" (Puckette, et al., 1996). The depositional environment of upper Morrow Formation in western Kansas, according to Sonnenberg (1985), Krystinik et al (1990), was a valley-fill deposit. The purpose of this study is to focus on detecting valley-fill sandstone in the study area by using appropriate seismic attributes. Coherence and discontinuity along dip succeeded to map incised valley-fill sandstone width. On another hand, spectral decomposition displayed subtle changes in incised valley thickness. Positive curvature shows valley edges in moderate resolution, but the most negative curvature wasn't clear enough to display the valley-fill sand. The result of RMS amplitude and average energy attributes results were almost the same. They exhibited four areas of high amplitude and energy in the valley which may indicate the presence of hydrocarbon. Sweetness and envelope amplitude both detected the valley in the study area. A gamma ray cross section shows that there are sequences of incised valley-fill sandstone which are sandstone A, B, C and D of the upper Morrow formation. Johns 2-12 well is producing oil from lower Morrow and sandstone A, thus the valley in the study area may produce oil from Sandstone A or B as RMS amplitude and average energy showing high amplitude in four areas in the valley.

Master of Science / Department of Geology / Matthew W. Totten / 3D seismic surveys have become the backbone of many exploration programs because of their high resolution and subsequent success for wildcat test wells. There are occasions when the predicted subsurface geology does not agree with the actual geology encountered in the drilled well. A case in point occurred during the drilling of several wells based upon a 3D seismic survey in Ness County, Kansas, where the predicted Cherokee Sand did not meet the expectations. By better understanding the subsurface geologic features in the subject area, this study will attempt to answer the question “what went wrong?” Seismic attribute analysis workflow was carried out and the results were correlated to the available geological and borehole data within the survey boundaries. The objective of running this workflow was to describe facies variations within the Cherokee Sandstone. Correlations between seismic attributes and physical properties from well data were used to define these variations. Finally, Distributions of the seismic facies were mapped to predict the distribution of potential reservoir rocks within the prospect area.

By applying the Kano Model on mobile payment, the paper aims at giving an overview on thebasic, performance and excitement requirements that affect customer satisfaction. In this paper,mobile payment customer requirements are compared to former research conducted onpayment methods in general. Furthermore, each requirement is divided into two parts focusingon Business-to-Customer and Business-to-Business aspects. The findings of the paper werethat while there is still some overlapping between general payment method and mobile paymentmethod requirements, some requirements such as security, fake-proof nature, reputation andreliability of the method has transformed and became more important. Furthermore, due totechnological advancements new customer requirements occur.

O manguezal, definido como um ecossistema costeiro de transição entre os ambientes terrestres e marinhos caracteriza-se por ambiente salinizado e pela constante inundação causada por marés. Com destaque na área do Sistema Costeiro Cananéia Iguape, sua importância está relacionada à produção de biomassa, inserida no sistema bioenergético natural, aumentando a produtividade da zona costeira com a introdução de particulados orgânicos. Representam comunidades vegetais adaptadas a várias condicionantes físicas atuantes nas zonas costeiras, entre elas, as climáticas. Essa pesquisa objetivou analisar as variações dos atributos climáticos (temperatura do ar, umidade relativa do ar, radiação solar global, vento e pluviosidade) no manguezal, localizado na Barra do Ribeira- Iguape/SP, verificando se a variação existente está relacionada com as principais características da vegetação, mais especificamente pela presença de dossel no ambiente. Instalou-se uma torre microclimática contendo duas estações meteorológicas de forma a obter uma análise da variação dos atributos climáticos acima e abaixo do dossel de manguezal. Analisaram-se ainda as características estruturais do manguezal, visando comparar com os atributos climáticos. A presente pesquisa contribuiu para entender a variação dos atributos climáticos e sua influência na vegetação do manguezal. Verificou-se que, na escala de trabalho microclimática, os atributos do clima apresentam influência direta na distribuição espacial dessa vegetação. Além disso, as características do dossel é o principal controle para essa variação, principalmente na distribuição pluviométrica abaixo desse dossel, bem como na quantidade de radiação solar, que, consequentemente, influencia na distribuição das espécies vegetais do ambiente. / The mangrove is defined as a coastal ecosystem of transition between terrestrial and marine environments and is characterized by salinized environment and the constant flooding caused by tides. With emphasis in the area of coastal systems Cananéia - Iguape, its importance is more related to the production of biomass, inserted in the natural bioenergy system, that increases the productivity of the coastal zone with the introduction of organic particles. Represent plant communities adapted to different physical conditions in coastal areas, including the weather. This study aimed to analyze the changes of the attributes climate (air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind and rainfall) in the mangrove at the barra of Ribeira-Iguape/SP, checking if the variation is related to the main characteristics of vegetation, more specifically with the presence of the canopy at the environment. Was installed a tower containing two microclimatic weather stations to obtain an analysis of changes in climatic attributes above and below the canopy of mangrove. It was also analyzed the structural characteristics of mangrove, aiming to compare with the attributes climate. This research contributed to understanding the variation on the attributes of climate and its influence in the mangrove vegetation. It was found that, on the scale of work microclimatic, the attributes of climate have a direct influence on the spatial distribution of vegetation. Furthermore, the characteristics of the canopy are the main control for this variation, mainly in distribution of rainfall below the canopy and the amount of solar radiation, which consequently influences the distribution of plant species of the environment.

Sendo o corpo e a mente, respectivamente, modos dos atributos pensamento e extensão, a experiência mental e a corpórea devem desenvolver-se tal como estes atributos constituem e exprimem a natureza da substância única, ou seja, sem qualquer relação causal entre eles e seguindo uma mesma ordem de sucessão e conexão de causas e coisas. Na ausência de um mecanismo que explique a relação entre mente e corpo por qualquer tipo de interação direta, a questão reside em como compreendermos a unidade de uma essência expressa em duas realidades diferentes, no caso do homem, e em infinitas, no caso de Deus, sem estarem estas apartadas, mas reunidas na atualidade autoprodutora da substância. Esta dissertação visa, enfim, tratar da unidade da mente e do corpo em Espinosa e da maneira como ela pode ser melhor compreendido através da ciência espinosana dos sentimentos humanos. Com isto, pretendendo ir além da unidade em termos ontológicos, visaremos investigá-la na igualdade entre mente e corpo tal como eles se mostram em uma experiência afetiva determinada. / If are body and mind, respectively, modes of thought attributes and extension, the mental and the body experience must be developed as these attributes are and express the nature of the one substance, ie without any causal relationship between them and following the same order of succession and connection of causes and things. In the absence of a mechanism to explain the relationship between mind and body for any kind of direct interaction, the question is how to understand the unity of a essence expressed in two different realities, in the case of man, and endless, in the case of God, without being separated from them, but reunited in the self- producing actuality of substance. This text aims at last deal with the mind and body unity in Espinosa and how it can best be understood through it to Spinoza science of human feelings. With this, intending to go beyond the unit in ontological terms, we will target investigate it on equality between mind and body as they are shown in a certain affective experience.

The major purpose of this investigation was to study the structure, attributes , and supplemental aspects of equivalence classifying of words and pictures made by sixth graders, freshmen college students and junior and senior college students . A particular point of interest was whether or not increasing or decreasing the size of the groups results in different types of equivalence classifying. Other minor goals were to determine the effects of direction of grouping, type of stimuli, and class level on unique reasons produced and recall of stimuli. The results of the study support the thesis that there is a cognitive developmental progression which supports the works of Piaget, Bruner, Vinacke and others. Children, compared to college levels, use a less efficient grouping structure, lower level simple association and concrete and perceptual grouping attributes, lower quality responses, and more specific reasons for grouping. College levels, compared to six grade, use more representational grouping attributes, have higher quality responses, and have a more general level of specificity. In addition, decreasing grouping structure results in a high level of cognitive performance in all aspects of grouping. There were no main effect differences between the words and pictures. However, there were significant interaction effects involving directions, stimuli, and class levels. There were more stimuli recalled and unique reasons produced by the college students. More pictures than words were recalled by all groups. One implication of the results is that decreasing the size of groupings apparently results in a higher level of cognitive functioning. One reason ventured for this result is that decreasing group size results in more divergent thinking and allows the individual to contemplate more possibilities for his groupings. Increasing group size is related to convergent thinking in which the subject is hindered by a previous set. Another implication is that there is a cognitive development a l progression which results in an increasingly more sophisticated ability to deal with the complex stimuli of the environment. Also, there is some evidence that different grade levels handle pictures differently than they do words. More study is needed to clarify the role of different forms of stimuli in classifying. From this study it is clear that there are no main effect differences between words and pictures. However, there certainly appear to be some interaction effects, and these need further clarification.