This dissertation is composed of a critical preface, "Reconciling Art and Account in the Creative Essay," and the essay collection Resurrection Attempts: Essays. The preface situates the following essay collection within the genre of contemporary creative nonfiction. Specifically, it argues that genre-bending or genre hybridity are inherent and unavoidable features of creative nonfiction writing and should be celebrated, rather than denied or lamented. It points to other writers who deliberately challenge the bounds of genre, and discusses some of the collection's innovations in form and other ways it offers experimentation, such as use of unusual or borrowed points of view, disruption of chronology, and adoption of elements from other genres of writing, including fiction, poetry, and academic. Ultimately, embracing the artistic side of creative nonfiction (as opposed to its "purely" journalistic side) allows for heightened intimacy with the reader, a much wider breadth of storytelling, and a more vulnerable—and therefore more truthful—interrogation of legacy and the human experience. Resurrection Attempts is a collection of essays exploring the writer's rural Texas childhood and the early and tragic losses of her parents, including the effect of those experiences on her adult life and performance of motherhood. The voices of the writer's sisters sometimes intertwine with hers, especially as she examines the converging and diverging lenses of their shared experience. She works throughout to "resurrect" her parents and even to resurrect earlier versions of other family members, including herself. The collection is particularly fascinated with dreams, drawing a parallel between the subconscious lives of the dreamer and their waking constructions of their memories and experiences.

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Masters of Science / Observations that push the boundaries have historically fuelled scientific breakthroughs, and these observations frequently involve phenomena that were previously unseen and unidentified. Data sets have increased in size and quality as modern technology advances at a record pace. Finding these elusive phenomena within these large data sets becomes a tougher challenge with each advancement made. Fortunately, machine learning techniques have proven to be extremely valuable in detecting outliers within data sets. Astronomaly is a framework that utilises machine learning techniques for anomaly detection in astronomy and incorporates active learning to provide target specific results. It is used here to evaluate whether machine learning techniques are suitable to detect anomalies within the optical astronomical data obtained from the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey. Using the machine learning algorithm isolation forest, Astronomaly is applied on subsets of the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS) data set. The pre-processing stage of Astronomaly had to be significantly extended to handle real survey data from DECaLS, with the changes made resulting in up to 10% more sources having their features extracted successfully. For the top 500 sources returned, 292 were ordinary sources, 86 artefacts and masked sources and 122 were interesting anomalous sources. A supplementary machine learning algorithm known as active learning enhances the identification probability of outliers in data sets by making it easier to identify target specific sources. The addition of active learning further increases the amount of interesting sources returned by almost 40%, with 273 ordinary sources, 56 artefacts and 171 interesting anomalous sources returned. Among the anomalies discovered are some merger events that have been successfully identified in known catalogues and several candidate merger events that have not yet been identified in the literature. The results indicate that machine learning, in combination with active learning, can be effective in detecting anomalies in actual data sets. The extensions integrated into Astronomaly pave the way for its application on future surveys like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Disk Recorders now represent a high performance, low cost and reliable alternative to traditional tape recorders for a wide range of platform data recording applications. This paper discusses the latest advances in disk-based recording technology in the context of multi-channel Telemetry applications, showing the degree of flexibility that is now possible in terms of both channel count and the ability to record synchronous and asynchronous digital data streams alongside multiple wideband analog channels. The techniques described are equally applicable to Acoustic, SIGINT and Telecommunications data capture and analysis applications aboard static, airborne and maritime platforms. Topics covered include how new disk-based data capture technologies have been able to extend bandwidth, storage capacity, signal fidelity and the overall capability of mission recorders. Advanced operational issues, including true ‘read-after-write’, data security, portability and archiving, enhanced data management and analysis strategies are also covered. The Paper includes detailed test results from COTS Disk Recorders already in service as well as an informative Road Map for this exciting new technology.

This dissertation concerns the legacy of the Nazi forced enlistment during World War II and focuses more precisely on the case of Alsace/Moselle. Many of these French men, enlisted by force from 1942 in the German army, were sent to the Eastern Front and experienced Soviet prison camps. The aim of this thesis is to examine how knowledge and memories about forced enlistment and Soviet captivity have been remembered, commemorated, communicated and passed on since the Alsatian/Mosellan POWs (Prisoners of War) carried the tokens of enemies or traitors when reintegrating their motherland, France. Four strategies dealing with the experiences of forced enlistment and of internment in Soviet prison camps are examined. I present how the first and most common strategy, i.e. avoidance, is contributing to an individual and collective construction of silence. Then I argue that a second strategy, the constitution of families of remembrance, is helping them to articulate and narrate their experiences (third strategy). The fourth strategy is the organisation of pilgrimages (emic term) to the former prison camp of Tambov, where the majority of the Alsatian/Mosellan POWs were gathered during the war. This last strategy actualises the issue of the transmission of the war experiences given that pilgrimages bring together three to four generations. Through fieldwork observations of the journeys I show how the pilgrims engage with a sense of the past. They remember and reassess the meaning of the past in terms of the social, cultural and political needs of the present. The importance of place and the aspect of self-in-place are thoughtfully analysed in order to highlight the process of passing on the memory of Tambov. I conclude by arguing that the agents of remembrance interviewed for the purpose of this thesis are engaged in turning the tangible and intangible legacies of World War II into heritage. This is done by releasing the legacy of forced enlistment and internment in Soviet prison camp from the private/familial sphere and inscribing it in the public sphere. Yet, the agency of the former POWs and their descendants shows how to let pass a past “that does not want to pass” in a contemporary European context.

This study used a comparison of one hundred and forty-eight historical (1888-1913) and current (2008-2014) oblique photographs from thirty-two stations to identify land cover changes that have occurred in portions of the Bow and Elbow valleys as well as surrounding Kananaskis Country region. Implications of these changes for flooding and flood management were explored. Forest cover was found to have drastically increased over the past century, particularly in the Bow valley, as did areas of direct human development. In the same time period, grasslands increased in the Elbow valley but decreased in the Bow, while regenerating areas decreased uniformly throughout both valleys. An analysis of pre (2008)-and-post (2014) flood conditions demonstrated no change in coniferous forest cover in both valleys over the 6-year period, but uncovered a decline of 20% in the Elbow and 3% in the Bow in the broadleaf/mixedwood category. The Elbow’s channel zone was larger in 2014 compared to 2008, whereas the extent of the Bow’s channel zone remained constant. However, both the Bow and Elbow’s bare exposed bars increased substantially, most likely as a result of the 2013 flood. The major source of water flows that contributed to the 2013 flood event originated in high elevation rock and scree areas, which, unlike floodplains, are elements of the watershed that cannot be manipulated over time. It is now recognized that forest cover should act as a buffer to floods. Nevertheless, the 2013 flood event occurred despite the massive buffering effect of a huge increase in older forest stands across the study area. The final discussion includes recommendations for improving flood management in the area. / Graduate / 0329, 0768, 0478 / tanya.taggarthodge@gmail.com

"Because many software systems used for business today are considered legacy systems, the need for software evolution techniques has never been greater. We propose a novel evolution methodology for legacy systems that integrates the concepts of features, regression testing, and Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE). Regression test suites are untapped resources that contain important information about the features of a software system. By exercising each feature with its associated test cases using code profilers and similar tools, code can be located and refactored to create components. The unique combination of Feature Engineering and CBSE makes it possible for a legacy system to be modernized quickly and affordably. We develop a new framework to evolve legacy software that maps the features to software components refactored from their feature implementation. In this dissertation, we make the following contributions: First, a new methodology to evolve legacy code is developed that improves the maintainability of evolved legacy systems. Second, the technique describes a clear understanding between features and functionality, and relationships among features using our feature model. Third, the methodology provides guidelines to construct feature-based reusable components using our fine-grained component model. Fourth, we bridge the complexity gap by identifying feature-based test cases and developing feature-based reusable components. We show how to reuse existing tools to aid the evolution of legacy systems rather than re-writing special purpose tools for program slicing and requirement management. We have validated our approach on the evolution of a real-world legacy system. By applying this methodology, American Financial Systems, Inc. (AFS), has successfully restructured its enterprise legacy system and reduced the costs of future maintenance. "

Submitted by Natalie Mendes (nataliermendes@gmail.com) on 2015-07-25T01:26:05Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Disserta??o de Eduardo O MIranda.pdf: 3983498 bytes, checksum: 9f4b8c2b28cd1c0e3cc1e804b85f84e1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-25T01:26:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Disserta??o de Eduardo O MIranda.pdf: 3983498 bytes, checksum: 9f4b8c2b28cd1c0e3cc1e804b85f84e1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-20 / This work aims to analyze the graph-visual elements outlined by bodies-territories Afox? Pomba de Mal?, with emphasis on parades during Micareta of Feira de Santana, Bahia. To do this, have made every effort to answer the following problem: How does the design of the bodies-territories evidenced by Afox? Pomba de Mal?? In this scenario, we resorted to the Design, Planning and Territory Body-category associated with methodological crossroads between the Hermeneutics of Visuality with Oral History. Weaving the historical trajectory of Afox? Pomba de Mal? entailed analyzing the constitution of New Street, city originally occupied by black populations derived from Reconcavo Baiano, under the permission of Mrs. Pomba, who held possession of the land district. The participation of blacks in that area provided an opportunity to ritualize the African Legacy, identified during this research as one of the factors responsible for the founding of Afox? in vogue. In the quest for understanding of the visual elements scrawled by bodies-found territories of pombalenses to setup Projetual design, with leads in design-to-artifact and design-for-communication. Desenh?sticos such aspects, they provide the dimensions outlined in the Quilombo territorialities Area as well as the appropriation of the public space of the larger party Feirense street. Develop this work with looks of Geography becomes an embryonic action, since the category of analysis-Body Territory, until the ending of this thesis, has received contributions from other geographers. Thus, I see this as an important starting point in provocative tessitura as well as collaboratively to Cultural Geography. Moreover, African ancestry brought valuable in terms of the perception of immaterial energy potential motivators contributions, which, at various times, were found in the surveyed areas. / Este trabalho prop?e analisar os elementos gr?fico-visuais tra?ados pelos corpos-territ?rios do Afox? Pomba de Mal?, com ?nfase nos desfiles durante as Micaretas de Feira de Santana, Bahia. Para tal, intentamos responder a seguinte problem?tica: Como se d? o desenho dos corpos-territ?rios evidenciados pelo Afox? Pomba de Mal?? Nesse cen?rio, recorreu-se as categoria Desenho, Territ?rio e Corpo-Territ?rio associadas ? encruzilhada metodol?gica entre a Hermen?utica da Visualidade com a Hist?ria Oral. Tecer a trajet?ria hist?rica do Afox? Pomba de Mal? implicou analisar a constitui??o do bairro da Rua Nova, localidade inicialmente ocupada pelas popula??es negras oriundas do Rec?ncavo Baiano, sob a permiss?o de Dona Pomba, a qual detinha a posse das terras. A participa??o das popula??es negras nesse espa?o oportunizou a ritualiza??o do Legado Africano, identificado durante essa pesquisa como um dos fatores respons?veis pela funda??o do Afox? em voga. Na busca pela compreens?o acercados elementos visuais rabiscados pelos corpos-territ?rios dos pombalenses verificou-se a configura??o do Desenho Projetual, com as deriva??es em desenho-de-artefato e desenho-de-comunica??o. Tais aspectos desenh?sticos, aportam dimens?es nas territorialidades delineadas no Espa?o Quilombola, assim como, na apropria??o do espa?o p?blico da maior festa de rua feirense. Desenvolver esse trabalho com olhares da Geografia torna-se uma a??o embrion?ria, posto que a categoria de an?lise Corpo-Territ?rio, at? o findar desta disserta??o, n?o recebeu contribui??es de outros ge?grafos. Destarte, entendo esse ponto de partida como relevante na tessitura provocativa, bem como colaborativa para a Geografia Cultural. Ademais, a ancestralidade africana trouxe contribui??es valorosas no que tange a percep??o das potencias dinamizadoras das energias imateriais, as quais, em diversos momentos, foram verificadas nos espa?os pesquisados.

Le présent travail met en lumière la dialectique des relations entre mémoire et politique par l’étude des processus de construction, négociation, diffusion, adoption et reproduction des représentations du passé soviétique dans la Russie postsoviétique. S’appuyant sur la multitude de sources hétérogènes véhiculant les représentations du passé soviétique, le travail révèle les raisons et les mécanismes de l’évolution de la mémoire du passé soviétique en Russie, ainsi que son rôle politique et social. Le travail démontre que la mémoire du passé soviétique a joué un rôle important dans la légitimation symbolique du pouvoir de Boris Eltsine et de Vladimir Poutine et dans la construction identitaire de la société russe postcommuniste, tout en soutenant le glissement progressif de la Russie vers un régime autoritaire. En effet, malgré des oppositions marquées entre les différents régimes politiques qui se sont succédé, la tradition d’un usage politique du passé perdure, le passé soviétique restant un enjeu de pouvoir majeur en Russie. Aussi bien à la fin de l’époque soviétique qu’au début des années 2000, le passé national a été entièrement réinterprété et reconstruit. Toutefois, la mémoire collective du passé soviétique représente également un cadre contraignant qui limite les choix institutionnels et les décisions du pouvoir. Dans la mesure où la mémoire est porteuse de références politiques, économiques et sociales, elle crée des effets de dépendance au sentier, favorisant la reproduction de schémas de fonctionnement politiques, économiques et sociaux hérités du passé soviétique. / The present work lays the emphasis on the dialectic relations between memory and politics by studying the processes of construction, negotiation, broadcasting, adoption and reproduction of the representations of the Soviet past in post-Soviet Russia. Based on various and heterogeneous sources conveying the images of the Soviet past, this work throws light upon the reasons and the mechanisms of the evolution of collective memory in the Soviet past as well as its political and social role. This work argues that the memory of the Soviet past played an important role in symbolically legitimating Boris Yeltsin's and Vladimir Putin's regimes as well as in forging post-Soviet identity, while strengthening the gradual shift toward an authoritarian regime. Despite numerous oppositions between the successive political regimes, making a political use of the past is an enduring tradition, the Soviet past remaining a major issue for those in office in Russia. Both in the late Soviet era and the early years 2000, the national past was entirely reinterpreted and reconstructed. However the collective memory of the Soviet past is also a binding framework restricting the institutional choices and the political decisions of political actors. Since collective memory is the expression of political, economic and social references, it produces path dependency effects, thereby fostering the reproduction of political, economic and social frameworks deep-rooted in the Soviet past.

Organizations experience challenges despite efforts to increase productivity through implementing large-scale enterprise systems. Leaders of local government institutions do not understand how to achieve expected and desired benefits from the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Lack of alignment between social and technical elements in ERP implementation depresses organizational productivity. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine whether social and technical elements increase use and productivity in ERP implementation. The research questions addressed the relationship between ERP and organizational efficiency, cross-functional communication, information sharing, ease of ERP use, and ERP usefulness. Sociotechnical systems theory provided the theoretical basis for the study. Data were collected from online surveys completed by 61 ERP users and analyzed using Wilcoxon matched pairs statistics and Spearman's correlation coefficient. Findings indicated a positive significant relationship between ERP and information sharing, a positive significant relationship between ERP system quality and ease of ERP use, and a positive significant relationship between ERP system quality and organizational productivity. Findings may be used by local government leaders, technology managers, and chief information officers to ensure ERP sustainability and increase productivity.