Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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    Science in the Public Eye: Communicating and Selling Science Through Images
    (2012) Gigante, Maria Elena; Fahnestock, Jeanne; English Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Scientific visuals designed to capture the attention of nonscientist audiences appear everywhere — from magazine covers to Internet blogs, from billboards to the Discovery Channel — and yet they have not received the critical attention they deserve. Situated at the crossroads of the rhetoric of science, communication studies, visual design theory, and the still emerging field of visual rhetoric, this dissertation seeks to shed light on the persuasive function of visuals in communicating science to non-experts. Occupying a grey area between scientific visualizations and art, the visuals used to communicate science to nonscientists should be classified, I argue, as scientific advertisements. Their purpose is to sell a positive and supportive attitude toward science, and since this need for support has existed since the scientific revolution, scientific advertisements have existed in different guises at least since the seventeenth century. Their form, however, differs, depending on the available technology and modes of representation. In this dissertation I explore how such images as frontispieces, portraits, magazine covers, and aestheticized visualizations have contributed to the legitimization of science across temporal and cultural boundaries by influencing public attitudes towards scientists and their research. This project addresses the concern surrounding the public's current disengagement from science by considering whether science can be sold visually in a more responsible way.
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    The Impact of Thermal Imaging Camera Display Quality on Fire Fighter Task Performance
    (2008) Rowe, Justin Lawrence; Mowrer, Frederick W.; Fire Protection Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Thermal imaging cameras (TIC) have become a vital fire fighting tool for the first responder community but there are currently no standardized quality control regulations. The purpose of the study was to understand the impact of TIC display image quality on a fire fighter's ability to perform a hazard recognition task. Test subjects were asked to identify a fire hazard by observing infrared images. The image matrix considered the interactions of several image characteristics including contrast, brightness, spatial resolution, and noise. The results were used to create a model function to predict the effect of image quality on user performance. This model was recommended to be incorporated in image quality test methods in development at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. These recommendations will also be provided to the National Fire Protection Association for use in an upcoming standard on fire fighting TIC.