In monopolizing political power, the state claims to possess the best idea towards leading a society and solving its problems. While these claims may vary according to regime, all face the eventual failure of expectation on the part of its subjects. No regime can master all the variables in running the country, and so it must convince their subjects otherwise of its legitimacy, despite the reality of their failure. The apparatchiks discourse is the interaction of the states discourse and that of its institutions. This discourse is used to uphold the states legitimacy through the expertise of its institutions. The most insidious application of this involves attacking dissidents who point out the states failure. Paul Ricoeur, in his work on character and identity, demonstrated the tension between two halves of human personality, the ipse, which is initiated by the self, and the idem, by society. The apparatchiks discourse can attack this ipse and try to reduce the dissident to a state derived idem. Thus the discourse becomes a weapon in the struggle between the state and the dissident. This dissertation examines the apparatchiks discourse through the works of four authors, Victor Serges Ville Conquise, Sil est minuit dans le siècle, and Laffaire Toulaév, Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae, Denis Diderots Essai sur la vie de Sénèque and Essai sur les règnes de Claude et de Néron, and George Orwells Burmese Days, Homage to Catalonia, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Despite the differences in time and culture, a thread runs through their works that reveals a continuous form in this discourse in political activity and, more importantly, in the lives of individual people. Despite this similarity, there is an important degree of difference between these works. Some texts explore the discourse as a means of understanding political activity and its role in human lives, while others use it both to destroy and uphold specific people. Lastly, some try to banish the discourse completely. Through these similarities and differences, this study will explore the use, abuse, and impact of the apparatchiks discourse on representations of the individual.

Software testing is a process to detect faults in the completeness and quality of developed computer software. Testing is a key process in assuring quality by identifying defects in software, and possibly fixing them, before it is delivered to end-users. A major decision to make during this software testing is, to determine whether to continue testing and eventually releasing the software, or when to stop the test and crash it. Such a decision needs to be made to optimally balance the tradeoff between the cost of development and the reliability of the software. In this paper, a new optimal strategy is developed based on a conditional non-homogeneous Poisson process (Conditional-NHPP) on a continuous time horizon to determine when the optimal time is to release or crash the software.

The electrodeposition of novel materials such as multilayer nanotubes for giant magneto resistance (GMR) applications and bismuth telluride nanotubes for thermoelectric applications are presented in this dissertation. The motivation for the multilayer electrodeposition is the investigation of giant magnetoresistance (GMR), a change in the material resistance in an applied magnetic field as a consequence of antiferromagnetic coupling. The nanowire high aspect ratio geometry allows the measurement of GMR with the current applied perpendicular to the plane (CPP) of the multilayers, which has been theoretically identified as being larger than the GMR in the (CIP) configuration (current in plane of multilayers). The current perpendicular to the plane giant magneto-resistance (CPP)-(GMR) effect makes multilayered nanowires of huge interest as magnetic sensor materials. Electrodeposition is the most efficient method for fabricating magnetic nanowires. In addition to the cost-effectiveness, electrodeposition is one of the few methods that can overcome the geometrical restrictions of inserting metals into very deep nanometric recesses, making it the favored method for nanowire and nanotube fabrication. In this dissertation, the quaternary CoNiFeCu alloy system was investigated in order to electrodeposit multilayered nanowires/nanotubes for GMR effect. Electrodeposited multilayer CoNiFeCu/Cu nanowires and nanotubes were fabricated by pulsed applied electric potential and their giant magnetoresistance (GMR) behavior characterized. The effect of electrolyte concentration on the GMR was investigated. The FeSO₄, CoSO₄ and NiSO₄ concentrations were varied to optimize the GMR and the saturation field of the multilayered nanowires. Nanolayer thicknesses were controlled and varied for commercially viable GMR results. Furthermore, the influence of electrolyte temperature on nanotube formation and the resulting GMR was explored. Micro fluidic magnetic nanoparticles sensors based on CoNiFeCu/Cu GMR nanowires were fabricated for the first time. The test results show that the sensors are highly sensitive to small nanoparticle concentrations. Employing the potentiostatic electrodeposition, nanotubes of bismuth-telluride (Bi₂Te₃) were obtained. The electrolyte concentration was varied and affected the nanotube formation and the resulting Seebeck coefficients.

During the time President Truman authorized the use of the atomic bomb against Japan, the United States was preparing to invade the Japanese homeland. The brutality and the suicidal defenses of the Japanese military had shown American planners that there was plenty of fight left in a supposedly defeated enemy. Senior military and civilian leaders presented Truman with several options to force the surrender of Japan. The options included the tightening of the naval blockade and aerial bombardment of Japan, invasion, a negotiated peace settlement, and the atomic bomb became an option, once bomb became operational. Truman received recommendations, advice and proposals from civilian and military leaders within the first two months of taking office after President Roosevelt died. Only after meeting with the senior leadership to discuss the various options did Truman authorize the planning and execution of the invasion of Japan. However, the extremely large casualty estimates presented by the Chiefs of Staff remained a concern for Truman, especially in the wake of the bloody battles on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. These estimates became the driving factor for Trumans ultimate decision to use the new weapon against Japan and to end the war before anymore Americans service members died unnecessarily. The decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan was only Trumans decision to make. All the other leaders provided their recommendations and advice based on the events that shaped the brutalities of the war in the pacific. At no time did Truman receive advice on not using the atomic bomb. Critics and military leaders disapproval of his decision came after the war had ended. To this day, Trumans decision remains a controversial topic among scholars and will continue to be a source of debate well into the future.

Presented within this thesis, I have analyzed a particular TV broadcast news discourse called Korean Hurricane Media Discourse (KHMD), which was presented online from YTN, a Korean cable TV news station. The data presents the topic of the Korean refugees who were forced to evacuate to Baton Rouge from New Orleans, after facing the destructions of Hurricane Katrina on August 2005. The methods are Ron Scollons TV news frames (1998), van Dijks superstructure (1988a and 1988b) and macrostructure (1980), Allan Bells news structure (1991), Dell Hymess SPEAKING model (1974), and Erving Goffmans frameworks (1986). Since KHMD is a spoken, plannable TV news discourse along with written text presented on the Internet, chapter two discusses the relationships between spoken and written discourse, and between planned and unplanned discourse. In addition, the relationship between discourse and culture is manifested because of Korean cultural concepts in the data. Chapter three discusses media culture in Korea and the relationship between media and discourse. KHMD is analyzed by Scollons three frames. Chapter four shows a comparison of Bells with van Dijks news schema and macro-analysis in translation. KHMD is contextualized in terms of Dell Hymess SPEAKING model in chapter five. Finally, chapter six demonstrates that Goffmans frame analysis helps to understand particular events. As a result, he provides two frameworks. Hurricane Katrina can be interpreted as a natural framework; and can also be represented as a social (cultural) framework, otherwise know as Dong-po-ae (Brotherhood), a topic presented by KHMD.

This dissertation is a study of how some displaced Caribbean and Italian American women examine identity within a literary tradition that considers them "Other." I have chosen four culturally diverse novels to explore, each one written by a different female author: Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea, Maryse Condé's La migration des curs, Rosario Ferré's The House on the Lagoon, and Tina De Rosa's Paper Fish. I identify the causes of the protagonists' displacement, and analyze the actions they take to make themselves heard in a tradition that has formerly silenced them. The role of the mother is especially important in these novels, for the unstable relationship each protagonist has with her mother parallels her uncertainty with regard to her mother country and her mother language. All of the protagonists, with one exception, enter an unhealthy marriage which further pushes them into a marginalized space. Ultimately, they are not only labeled "Other" because of their ethnicity, but also because of their gender. I argue that through the text, the protagonists carve out an identity they were previously denied. In Western literature, there has been little authentic representation of characters considered "Other." In authoring her own text, however, the "Other" writes for herself. The appropriation and revision of the Western canonical text, the usurpation of power through writing, and the determination to reveal the ethnic experience are all strategies these authors employ to establish their presence within the dominant literary tradition.

Cold front passage impacts on sediment transport on the inner continental shelf near Atchafalaya Bay were studied, combining satellite imagery and in-situ meteorological and oceanographic measurements. An empirical model relating atmospherically corrected MODIS imagery reflectance to surface measurements of suspended sediment concentration was developed and successfully applied to the coastal waters. An equation for predicting total suspended sediment from Nephelometric Turbidity Units was also applied to the water column at 1, 2, and 3 meters from the seabed. Five case study weeks were selected to examine the dynamics of pre-frontal and post-front forcing mechanisms on sediment transport in a fine-grained sediment environment, with the major objective to determine whether changes in surface sediment concentration revealed characteristics of sediment transport in the vertical structure of the water column. Remote-sensing data showed that great spatial variation occurred in the surface mud-plume during pre-frontal, post-front and inter-frontal conditions. Southeasterly winds confined the plume nearer shore and often within the bays during pre-frontal conditions. Post-frontal northwesterly and northerly winds increased plume area by 3 to 4 times, extending past the 10 meter isobath and reversing the dominant transport direction from westward to southeastward. A comparison of the surface sediment concentrations at WAVCIS station CSI-3 (seaward of Marsh Island) to simultaneous maxima elsewhere in the mud-plume revealed that the main plume sediment concentrations were often an order of magnitude greater south of the Atchafalaya River mouth. The presence or absence of the plume over the CSI-3 site was not indicative of the level of sediment flux throughout the water column at CSI-3. High rates of surface and upper water column sediment transport were primarily in response to strong currents from wind-forcing. In contrast, the dynamics of near-bottom transport at CSI-3 showed high rates of sediment flux in the post-front period attributed to high sediment concentrations. Total suspended sediment in the bottom meter sustained peaks which were 2 - 10 times that of the surface and mid-depth concentrations, reaching maxima of 1,100 mg/l due to resuspension and/or the advection of fluid mud from the Chenier Plain coast.

Statistics show that a high percentage of road related accidents are due to factors that cause impaired driving. Since information extraction in driving is predominantly a visual task, visual distraction and its implications are therefore important safety issues. The main objective of this research is to study some of the implications of demands to humans attention and perception and how it affects performance of tasks such as driving. Specifically, the study aims to determine the changes that occur in the visual behavior of drivers with different levels of driving experience by tracking the movement of the eye; examine the effects of different levels of task complexity on visual fixation strategies and visual stimulus recognition; investigate the effects of secondary task on attentional and visual focus and its impact on driving performance; and evaluate the implications of the use of information technology device (cellular phone) while driving on road safety. Thirty-eight students participated in the study consisting of two experiments. In the first experiment, the participants performed two driving sessions while wearing a head mounted eye tracking device. The second experiment involved driving while engaging in a cellular phone conversation. Fixation location, frequency, duration and saccadic path, were used to analyze eye movements. The study shows that differences in visual behavior of drivers exist; wherein drivers with infrequent driving per week fixated more on the dashboard area than on the front view (F(3,26) = 3.53, p<0.05), in contrast to the driver with more frequent use of vehicle per week where higher fixations were recorded in the front/center view (F(3,26) = 4.26). The degree of visual distraction contributes to the deterioration of driving resulting to 55% more driving errors committed. Higher time where no fixation was detected was observed when driving with distraction (from 96% to 91% for drivers with less frequency of vehicle use and 55% to 44% for drivers with more frequent use of vehicle). The number of pre-identified errors committed increased from 64 to 81, due to the effect of visual tunneling. This research presents objective data that strengthens the argument on the detrimental effects of distraction in driving.

Due to the recent improvements in digital photography and storage capacity, storing large amounts of images has been made possible, and efficient means to retrieve images matching a users query are needed. Content-based Image Retrieval (CBIR) systems automatically extract image contents based on image features, i.e. color, texture, and shape. Relevance feedback methods are applied to CBIR to integrate users perceptions and reduce the gap between high-level image semantics and low-level image features. The precision of a CBIR system in retrieving semantically rich (complex) images is improved in this dissertation work by making advancements in three areas of a CBIR system: input, process, and output. The input of the system includes a mechanism that provides the user with required tools to build and modify her query through feedbacks. Users behavioral in CBIR environments are studied, and a new feedback methodology is presented to efficiently capture users image perceptions. The process element includes image learning and retrieval algorithms. A Long-term image retrieval algorithm (LTL), which learns image semantics from prior search results available in the systems transaction history, is developed using Factor Analysis. Another algorithm, a short-term learner (STL) that captures users image perceptions based on image features and users feedbacks in the on-going transaction, is developed based on Linear Discriminant Analysis. Then, a mechanism is introduced to integrate these two algorithms to one retrieval procedure. Finally, a retrieval strategy that includes learning and searching phases is defined for arranging images in the output of the system. The developed relevance feedback methodology proved to reduce the effect of human subjectivity in providing feedbacks for complex images. Retrieval algorithms were applied to images with different degrees of complexity. LTL is efficient in extracting the semantics of complex images that have a history in the system. STL is suitable for query and images that can be effectively represented by their image features. Therefore, the performance of the system in retrieving images with visual and conceptual complexities was improved when both algorithms were applied simultaneously. Finally, the strategy of retrieval phases demonstrated promising results when the query complexity increases.

An experiment with 421 participants aged 18-45 was conducted to measure the effects of interactivity in an online movie advertising setting, and the effects of interactivity on consumer engagement and other brand metrics. Results from a post-test survey revealed insight into participants perceived level of interactivity, and reflected varying levels of attitude towards ad messages, ad recall, mood, and factors in purchasing habits. Results suggested that while interactivity can sometimes hinder advertising recall rates, it can also increase positive attitudes toward the advertisement, click-through rate, intent to purchase, and mood. Practical implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.