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.
Browse
5 results
Search Results
Item Observing and Improving the Reliability of Internet Last-mile Links(2013) Schulman, Aaron David; Spring, Neil; Computer Science; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)People rely on having persistent Internet connectivity from their homes and mobile devices. However, unlike links in the core of the Internet, the links that connect people's homes and mobile devices, known as "last-mile" links, are not redundant. As a result, the reliability of any given link is of paramount concern: when last-mile links fail, people can be completely disconnected from the Internet. In addition to lacking redundancy, Internet last-mile links are vulnerable to failure. Such links can fail because the cables and equipment that make up last-mile links are exposed to the elements; for example, weather can cause tree limbs to fall on overhead cables, and flooding can destroy underground equipment. They can also fail, eventually, because cellular last-mile links can drain a smartphone's battery if an application tries to communicate when signal strength is weak. In this dissertation, I defend the following thesis: By building on existing infrastructure, it is possible to (1) observe the reliability of Internet last-mile links across different weather conditions and link types; (2) improve the energy efficiency of cellular Internet last-mile links; and (3) provide an incrementally deployable, energy-efficient Internet last-mile downlink that is highly resilient to weather-related failures. I defend this thesis by designing, implementing, and evaluating systems.Item Virtual Legacies: Genealogy, the Internet, and Jewish Identity(2012) Jablon, Rachel Leah; Jelen, Sheila; Comparative Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)As Jewish identities become more hybridized in what Manuel Castells calls a "network society," genealogical research intensifies the questioning of how Jews identify and who identifies as Jewish. Jewish identities based on relation, location, and devastation develop out of genealogical research, especially when networks such as the internet increase access to information and communities of other researchers. Mining the internet for genealogical information and searching for heritage only add to the possibilities of Jewish identity, revealing Jewish kin, connections to a particular place, or the tragedy of the Holocaust--evidence of the ways in which the World Wide Web changes Jewish identity formation. The internet is a virtual gathering place for the commemoration and study of Jewish life and culture, even as its use challenges conventional modes of Jewish community and identity formation. Through its treatment of the internet and Jewish identity, this dissertation explores new media and their cultural impact, arguing that new media enable penetrable and osmotic identities instead of reifying delimited parameters. Using Marianne Hirsch's "postmemory," Hayden White's "emplotment," Vivian M. Patraka's "goneness," and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett's "hereness" as critical lenses through which to view Jewish genealogical Web sites, I show how the narratives on Jewish genealogical research Web sites, cyber-shtetls, and personal genealogy Web sites and blogs reveal constructions of Jewish identity that have never before been articulated as viable options for forming Jewish communities. Jewish communities of relation, location, and devastation may resemble other Jewish communities, but they are unique in that they are virtual--their homes are online. The narratives found on each genre of Web site are functions of postmemory, in that they are the results of family lore, emplotted in order to tell coherent family histories. The "hereness" of postmemory confronts the "goneness" of much of the lives and times that compose Jewish culture, allowing for the creativity that emplotment requires. When Jewish genealogists search for their heritage online, they encounter communities of other genealogists who are just as eagerly emplotting their own genealogical narratives.Item Investigating the Investigators: Examining the Attitudes, Perceptions, and Experiences of Investigative Journalists in the Internet Age(2008-10-23) Kaplan, Andrew David; Heider, Don; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examines how ownership type affects newsroom support, job satisfaction, and commitment to field by investigative journalists. It also explores agenda-building theory, asking if journalists' belief in their ability to reform the system through their work is a major predictor of job satisfaction. More broadly, the study examines the state of investigative journalism today by probing the attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of investigative journalists working for newspapers, and how these have changed compared with two decades ago. The study found that ownership type does not seem to affect newsroom support, job satisfaction, or commitment to field. Whether at public, private, or family newspapers, journalists across the board expressed great job satisfaction, fierce devotion to their field, and high levels of support in their own newsrooms, irrespective of ownership type. Regarding agenda-building, most watchdog reporters believe their work has substantial influence on reforming policy. Belief that one's work has significant impact has some predictive value for job satisfaction, but not for commitment to field. Investigative journalists today are more likely to contact policymakers to follow up the impact of their stories than journalists were two decades ago, yet still strongly believe the public plays a crucial role in changing policy--despite most empirical studies casting strong doubts on that. This research project found deep ambivalence about the Internet and its impact on the field. Highly experienced journalists tend to worry about the Internet and its effects on the journalistic process. Considerable skepticism exists among reporters concerning the role nonprofits may play in future investigative journalism. This dissertation uncovered a sharp dichotomy between how journalists view their own newsrooms versus how they view the industry at large. It also found that watchdog reporters today estimate they devote more time to investigative journalism than five years ago. Today's journalists still cite the very same factors that motivated journalists to excel almost 20 years ago.Item Pre-Internet Versus Post-Internet News Content: The Case of the Chattanooga Times and Times Free Press(2008-04-22) Wilson, Matthew David; Stepp, Carl S.; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examines the case of the 1986 Chattanooga Times and the 2006 Chattanooga Times Free Press, and aims to determine, through systematic research, how the content of that newspaper has changed between the pre-Internet and post-Internet eras. To answer those questions, the study measures six indicators of content: story length, links, graphical space, local coverage, types of stories and sectionalization. The data show that all those indicators have changed over the course of 20 years - some more dramatically than others - but generally in favor of busier, more "reader-friendly" content and less breaking news. In some cases the study suggests these changes tend to distinguish newspaper content from Internet content, while in others the change seems to make print news more like Internet news products.Item The effect of life-cycle cost disclosure on consumer behavior(2007-04-25) Deutsch, Matthias; Ruth, Matthias; Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)For more than 20 years, analysts have reported on the so-called "energy paradox" or the "energy efficiency gap", referring to the fact that economic agents could in principle lower their total cost at current prices by using more energy-efficient technology but, nevertheless, often decide not to do so. Theory suggests that providing information in a simplified way could potentially reduce this "efficiency gap". Such simplification may be achieved by providing the estimated monetary operating cost and life-cycle cost (LCC) of a given appliance--which has been a recurring theme within the energy policy and efficiency labeling community. Yet, little is known so far about the causal effects of LCC disclosure on consumer action because of the gap between the acquisition of efficiency information and consumer purchasing behavior in the real marketplace. This dissertation bridges the gap by experimentally integrating LCC disclosure into two major German commercial websites--a price comparison engine for cooling appliances, and an online shop for washing machines. Internet users arriving on these websites were randomly assigned to two experimental groups, and the groups were exposed to different visual stimuli. The control group received regular product price information, whereas the treatment group was, in addition, offered information about operating cost and total LCC. Click-stream data of consumers' shopping behavior was evaluated with multiple regression analysis by controlling for several product characteristics. This dissertation finds that LCC disclosure reduces the mean energy use of chosen cooling appliances by 2.5% (p<0.01), and the energy use of chosen washing machines by 0.8% (p<0.001). For the latter, it also reduces the mean water use by 0.7% (p<0.05). These effects suggest a potential role for public policy in promoting LCC disclosure. While I do not attempt to estimate the costs of such a policy, a simple quantification shows that the benefits amount to 100 to 200 thousand Euros per year for Germany, given current predictions regarding the price of tradable permits for CO2, and not counting other potential benefits. Future research should strive for increasing external validity, using better instruments, and evaluating the effectiveness of different information formats for LCC disclosure.