Browsing by Subject "Quality"
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Item A conceptual model of the roles of price, quality, and intermediary constructs in determining behavioral intention to visit a festival(Texas A&M University, 2006-08-16) Lee, So YonA clear understanding of the relationship among three performance indicators (perceived service quality, perceived service value, and satisfaction) would inform tourism businesses and organizations which of these evaluation measures were the most useful indicators of visitors?? behavioral intentions. Perceived service quality is a user??s judgment about a service??s overall excellence or superiority (Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithaml 1988). Perceived service value has been recognized in the past decade as one of the most salient determinants of purchase intention and repeat visitation (Bolton and Drew 1991; Chang and Wildt 1994; Jayanti and Ghosh 1996). Previous studies (Grewal, Monroe and Krishnan 1998; Jayanti and Ghosh 1996; Oh 1999; Sweeney, Soutar and Johnson 1997; Zeithaml 1988) suggested that perceived service value which is defined as a trade-off between visitors?? perceptions of the ??give?? and ??get?? components of a service (Zeithaml 1988) mediates the influence of perceived price and perceived service quality. Satisfaction is a visitor??s affective and evaluative response to the overall product or service experience (Oliver 1997). What visitors receive from their investment (money, time and other resources) on a tourism trip are psychological benefits. Thus, it is an experience that visitors receive from interacting with the tourism product, and satisfaction is an evaluation of the level to which these psychological benefits are received (Crompton and Love 1995). This study is an examination of the relationships between visitors?? perceived service quality, perceived service value, satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Respondents were visitors who attended the Cajun Catfish Festival in Conroe, Texas and were systematically selected. Findings revealed that: a) a structural model operationalizing perceived service quality as a set of attributes fit the data better than an alternative model that measured quality by using a visitor??s judgment about a service??s overall excellence or superiority; b) among the constructs analyzed perceived service value appeared to be the best predictor of behavioral intentions; and c) of the four dimensions of service quality of a festival, generic features and comfort amenities had the most influence on determining perceived service quality.Item Beef Flavor Attributes and Consumer Perception(2014-01-13) Glascock, Rachel AnnLevels of positive and negative beef flavor attributes were created by identifying beef cuts that varied in quality grade, pH, and amount of connective tissue, then cooked to 58 ?C and 80 ?C utilizing a George Forman grill (GF), food-service grill, or Crock- Pot. Trained descriptive sensory attribute panel, consumer panel, and gas chromatography with dual sniff ports (GC-O) were utilized to measure flavor. Fatty acid composition, non-heme iron and myoglobin content, pH, and fat and moisture analysis were determined. As degree of doneness increased, beef identity increased. High pH M. Longissimus lumborum (LM) steaks had less beef identity than USDA Choice (Ch) LM steaks when cooked on the GF to either internal temperature endpoint or grilled to an internal temperature of 58 ?C. Choice M. Biceps femoris (BF) roasts cooked to 58 ?C had a higher beef identity compared to the Se BF roast cooked to 58 ?C. Brown/roasted was lower and bloody/serumy was higher when steaks or roasts were cooked 58 ?C. No strong correlations for beef flavor and non-heme iron or myoglobin content were present. Fatty acid composition accounted for (P < 0.05) variation in beef flavor. 149 volatile compounds were identified. Fifteen volatiles accounted for 55 percent of consumer overall liking. Principal component analysis showed lower temperatures and/or shorter cooking times favor the generation of lipid-degradation products, while higher temperatures and/or longer cooking times favor production of Maillard reaction products. Regression equations for beef flavor identity, brown/roasted, bloody/serumy, fatlike, metallic, liver, and umami accounted for 36, 32, 32, 31, 31, 24, and 60 (P <0.15) percent of the variability, respectively using volatile aromatic compounds as the independent variables. Overall, grill and beef flavor accounted for 90 percent of the variation in overall consumer liking. Through interviews, consumers indicated that flavor was extremely important to them when eating beef.Item Commenting on "quality" : an analysis of 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation and Parenthood as socially constructed tenants of the “quality tv” discourse(2012-05) Shelton, Brittany Lee; Kearney, Mary Celeste, 1962-; Kackman, MichaelIn order to better understand how viewers, critics, journalists and series producers help shape the “quality TV” discourse and position shows within it, this project uses case studies of 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation and Parenthood to dissect how style, narrative and paratexts influence public discourse about “quality” programs both in print and on the Internet. Using Kristen Marthe Lentz’s theories on “quality TV” and “relevance programming,” I examine how each show uses a cinematic style in combination with various strategies such as special episodes, narrative complexity, intertextuality, patriarchal narrative and feminism to align themselves with other “quality” series more readily found on basic and pay-cable, while also allowing viewers and critics on popular culture sites like the A.V. Club to make “quality” comparisons.Item Comparison of Sensory Characteristics, Fatty Acid Profiles, Proximate Analysis, and Shelf-Life Stability of Akaushi Beef, Commodity Prime Beef, and Top Choice Branded BeefWeinheimer, Lexus Anna; Branham, Loree A; Topliff, Donald R; Runyan, Chase A; Garrison, Kevin GAkaushi, prime and top choice branded beef (TCB) were evaluated for multiple quality attributes. Akaushi had the highest lipid oxidation followed by TCB, and prime (P < 0.0001). Akaushi and prime had similar initial and sustained juiciness; both were juicier than TCB (P < 0.05). Akaushi was more tender than TCB (P ≤ 0.05). Evaluating flavor intensity and overall acceptability, Akaushi and prime were similar, and both more favorable than TCB. Akaushi and prime had lower protein percentage compared to TCB (P < 0.0001). TCB had the highest moisture percentage, followed by Akaushi, and prime (P < 0.0001). Prime had the highest fat and collagen percentages, followed by Akaushi, and TCB (P < 0.0001). TCB had the highest polyunsaturated:saturated fatty acid ratio (P < 0.0001).Akaushi had the highest monounsaturated:saturated fatty acid ratio (P < 0.0001).Item Construction of a diagenetic history and identification with quality ranking of reservoir flow units: Grayson field, Columbia County, Arkansas(Texas A&M University, 2007-04-25) Poole, Kathleen ReneeThe purpose of this study was to describe depositional and diagenetic characteristics of the (Jurassic) Smackover formation and subsequently identify and rank the quality of flow units within Grayson field, Columbia County, Arkansas. The field has production from the Smackover, a reservoir which consists mainly of highly altered peloidal grainstones. This was a four part study including a lithological analysis of ten cores, a petrographical study of 97 thin sections, a petrophysical study of reservoir properties from core analyses and borehole logs, and predictive mapping of quality ranked flow units across the field. Examination of the cores and thin sections revealed H1a as the main pore type in Grayson field, which was a hybrid of both depositional and diagenetic processes with dominantly interparticle pores. The lowest ranked reservoir quality corresponded to intraparticle and intercrystalline pore types, which occurred mainly in the wackestone/mudstone and packstone/wackestone facies. The highest ranked reservoir quality corresponded to the H1a pore type which occurred mainly in the grainestone/packstone facies 1 and 2. The reservoir quality maps identified the spatial distribution of the facies within the field, which could be used to locate zones for possible in-fill drilling. These results should aid in the economical development of Grayson field and other similar fields.Item Determining quality parameters as a foundation for effective ranking of undergraduate hospitality management programs(2005-12) Assante, Lisa M.; Huffman, Lynn; Harp, Shelley S.; Blum, Shane C.Attempts to prepare ratings/rankings of four-year undergraduate hospitality management programs have caused dismay among faculty members in these programs. Efforts to develop rankings, though well intentioned, have not been successful because there is not a clear consensus of what constitutes quality in an undergraduate hospitality program, much less how to quantify it. Consequently, it is important to focus on the dimensions of hospitality programs that are the basis of quality. Educators, administrators, students, and hospitality executives were queried using focus groups and on-line survey techniques to identify primary quality indicators for hospitality management programs. The results of the focus groups (N = 28) provided the constructs for the on-line survey. The participants of the on-line survey were a convenience sample (N = 277) who held a membership in an international hospitality education organization. Factor analysis, cluster analysis, and discriminant analysis were conducted on the data. The results of this study may become foundational in assessing how quality indicators can be incorporated into related areas including academic program improvement and assessment, along with documentation of program success, strategic planning, and with further inquiry, a potential rating/ranking system.Item Development of a Seed Cotton Fiber Quality Sensing System For Cotton Fiber Quality Mapping(2012-02-14) Schielack, Vincent PaulFor precision agriculture to work, an automated process to collect spatial-variability data within a field is necessary. Otherwise, data collection is prohibitively expensive and time consuming. Furthermore, to minimize measurement error due to harvesting method, data-collection processes involving normal cotton harvesting and ginning operations must be used. For the case of cotton, an automated prototype system using image processing to measure the micronaire value of cotton fiber during harvest was designed and built in the laboratory. This system was tested with two image-processing algorithms to identify and remove the effects of objects present in the images that were not cotton fiber, and then measure the reflectivity in three Near-Infrared (NIR) wavebands. Both algorithms yielded similar results when used on seed cotton samples. The reflectivity measurement after removing the effects of foreign matter had a strong relationship to standard micronaire measurements (R^2= 0.73 and 0.74 for the ratio-image and single-image algorithms, respectively) with a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 0.28 and 0.27, respectively. The ratio-image pixel classification method classified an average of 58% of the pixels in an image as "cotton", while the single-image method classified an average of 81% of the pixels in each image as cotton. These results do not show as strong a relationship between micronaire and NIR reflectivity of cotton samples as previous research done with very uniform lint cotton calibration samples. This is attributed to the higher content of foreign matter in seed cotton samples. With higher trash cotton and fiber that has not yet been cleaned, results obviously are not as good as when using calibration cotton samples. These results indicate the system can be adapted to perform in-situ measurement of cotton fiber quality, specifically micronaire, and enable harvesters to create quality maps of a field automatically to allow better crop management.Item Egg quality and salmonella spp. growth in shell eggs packaged in modified atmosphere packaging(2008-05) Aggarwal, Divya; Thompson, Leslie D.; Alvarado, Christine Z.; Brashears, Mindy M.; Brooks, Chance J.; Mann, Karen M. K.The effect of three types of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) on the quality attributes and Salmonella spp. growth in oiled fresh USDA Grade AA shell eggs during storage was investigated. Shell eggs were subjected to one of four packaging treatments: (1) control - air; (2) 20% CO2/0.4% CO/79.6% N2; (3) 20% CO2/80% O2; and (4) 20% CO2/80% N2. Eggs were stored for up to 30 d, in a retail case at a temperature of 6 ± 1 C (refrigerated) or on shelves at 21 ± 1 C (abusive). Eggs were packed 8 to a tray with a tray considered as the experimental unit. Two trays per treatment per temperature per day were prepared in each trial with a total of three trials being conducted. Packages were opened and sampled on days (d) 1, 7, 14, 21, and 30 for determination of pH (yolk, albumen, whole egg), color (L*, a*, b*), TBARS, foam capacity and stability, Haugh units, and yolk index (YI). Data were analyzed by ANOVA in a 2 (temperature) x 4 (packaging treatment) x 5 (time-points) factorial design using programs in SAS. Where appropriate, means were separated by LSMeans. Whole egg pH was lower at both temperatures for the three MAP treatments (P < 0.05). Albumen pH for MAP treatments was significantly lower regardless of temperature as compared to the controls (P < 0.05). MAP treatment was effective at 6 C in maintaining lower yolk pH compared to control. A higher Haugh unit and yolk index throughout the storage at both temperatures was maintained by MAP treatment compared to the control treatment (P < 0.05). TBARS, and foam stability was similar for the MAP treatments and the control. Modified atmosphere packaging maintained higher foam capacity at both temperatures compared to control. Modified atmosphere packaging was effective in reducing egg deterioration and loss of functional quality during storage at refrigerated and abusive storage temperatures. For the effect of three types of MAP treatments on Salmonella spp. growth in shell eggs, sanitized shell eggs, inoculated with 40 ul cocktail of Salmonella Enteritidis phage 13 nalidixic acid resistant, S. Heidelburg/ 3347, S. Typhimurium ATCC 14028 strains and concentration of 1 x 104 cells were subjected to four packaging treatments. Eggs were packed 6 to a tray and sampled on days 1, 7, and 14. Data were analyzed by ANOVA in a 2 (temperature) x 4 (packaging treatment) x 3 (storage time) factorial design using programs in SAS. Where appropriate, means were separated by Duncan’s multiple range test and main effects were studied. MAP treatments were similar in their effect on Salmonella spp. growth at both the storage temperatures in trial 1 and 2. However, in trial 3, at refrigerated temperature, air packed eggs has the lower Salmonella count than the three MAPs. At abusive temperature, high-ox treatment had higher Salmonella count (P < 0.05).Item An empirical study on software quality : developer perception of quality, metrics, and visualizations(2013-05) Wilson, Gary Lynn; Kim, MiryungSoftware tends to decline in quality over time, causing development and maintenance costs to rise. However, by measuring, tracking, and controlling quality during the lifetime of a software product, its technical debt can be held in check, reducing total cost of ownership. The measurement of quality faces challenges due to disagreement in the meaning of software quality, the inability to directly measure quality factors, and the lack of measurement practice in the software industry. This report addresses these challenges through both a literature survey, a metrics derivation process, and a survey of professional software developers. Definitions of software quality from the literature are presented and evaluated with responses from software professionals. A goal, question, metric process is used to derive quality-targeted metrics tracing back to a set of seven code-quality subgoals, while a survey to software professionals shows that despite agreement that metrics and metric visualizations would be useful for improving software quality, the techniques are underutilized in practice.Item Evaluating Quality and Palatability Characteristics of Beef Subprimals Treated with Low-dose Irradiation(2012-02-14) Arnold, JohnThis study was conducted to evaluate the impact of low-dose irradiation on beef quality and sensory attributes. Beef top rounds (n=10), bottom round flats (n=10), and knuckles (n=18) were collected from a commercial meat processing facility. Paired subprimals were randomly assigned to treated (irradiated) and control (non-irradiated) groups. The treated group was irradiated with a surface dose of 1-1.5 kGy. Following treatment, subprimals were fabricated into thirds and randomly assigned to one of three aging days (0, 14, or 21). After the aging period, subprimal pieces were trimmed, cut into 2.54 cm steaks, and the resulting trimmings were ground to produce 0.113 kg patties. Steaks and patties were randomly assigned to one of two shelf-life days (2 or 4). During retail display, L*, a*, and b* measurements were taken for raw steak and patty color (0, 2, and 4 day). Steaks and patties from all treatments were evaluated by a trained sensory panel for flavor, basic taste, mouthfeel, after-taste, and texture attributes. Steaks and patties were cooked on open-faced grills, and used for cooked color analysis. Samples from across treatments were used for TBARS analysis. Differences in raw steak and patty color were seen among samples. No differences were evident between cooked steak samples; however, cooked patty color differences were observed. Further, numerous palatability attributes were impacted by treatment. Additionally, differences in TBARS values were seen. These results suggest that if chilled subprimals or carcasses were treated with low-dose e-beam irradiation, quality and palatability characteristics could be negatively impacted.Item Improving marbling through genetics and feed supplements(Texas Tech University, 2005-12) Anderson, Mark J.; Johnson, Jay W.; Blanton, John R.; Kim, Sung W.Growth and quality are two major concerns to producers of meat animals. Lean growth in meat animal will affect the yield of that animal, and the amount of intramuscular fat will affect the quality of that animal. This thesis contains two studies that involved two different methods of producing an animal with improved growth and meat quality. The first study used animal breeding and genetics to produce a swine line with improved growth, marbling and meat quality. The second study used a feed supplement (Ascophyllum nodosum) to manipulate the processes involved in intramuscular fat deposition to produce greater fat deposition without affecting overall animal performance. Study 1 used two genetic swine lines, a low serum cholesterol (LC) swine line and a modern (M) swine line, that were crossed (LC×LC, LC×M, M×LC, and M×M) to produce a new line with improved weight gain, marbling and overall meat quality. Once weaned animals were penned by cross with three animals per pen. Pigs were weighed every 7 d from birth to end of nursery phase, then every 14 d until harvest at 154 d. Comparison of linear regressions of the LC×M line to the M×M line, and the LC×LC line to the M×LC line found that the LC×M line grew faster (P < 0.05) than the M×M line, and the LC×LC line grew slower (P < 0.05) than the M×LC line. Comparison of linear regressions of the M×M and M×LC lines found that the two lines were not different (P > 0.05) and grew at the same rate. No differences (P > 0.05) were seen in marbling between treatment groups, but LC×LC group tended to have less (P = 0.079) initial juiciness than the M×LC group, and less (P = 0.075) sustained juiciness than both the M×LC and LC×M groups. Offspring from an M line dam had heavier weights at d 14 and from 28-56 d than offspring from LC sows (P < 0.05). Interaction of sire and dam was seen from 0-7 d and from 70-154 d (P < 0.05). From this study two lines were formed with improved growth, but neither had improved marbling and meat quality. Study 2 used English cross steers (n = 32) and heifers (n = 32) that were fed a commercial corn based diet and differentially supplemented with 2% Ascophyllum nodosum to maximized intramuscular fat deposition as determined by quality grade. Cattle were blocked by sex and divided into one control and three treatment groups receiving Ascophyllum nodosum. Treatment 1 (trt 1) received Ascophyllum nodosum from d 36-50 of the feeding period, trt 2 received Ascophyllum nodosum for the last 14 d of the feeding period, and trt 3 which received Ascophyllum nodosum for both d 36-50 and the last 14 d of the feeding period. Cattle were weighted and ultrasounded at the commencement of trial and every 28 d following until they reach an average body weight of 544 kg. No effect for Ascophyllum nodosum supplementation was found on measured performance characteristics. All treatments groups supplemented with Ascophyllum nodosum had higher actual marbling scores (P < 0.05) than controls. Trt 1 was found to have a highest marbling score of 572.5 (P < 0.05) with the control group having the lowest marbling score of 473.75. Trt 1 had a higher (P < 0.05) quality grade than the control group (P < 0.05) and Trt 2 and Trt 3 were not different (P > 0.05) from any other treatment group. Control group had 25% Choice, 62.5% Select; trt 1 had 75% Choice, 18.8% Select; trt 2 had 62.5% Choice, 25% Select and trt 3 had 56.3% Choice and 31.2% Select. Overall, treatment groups had a 39.58 % increase in Choice quality grade and a 37.5 % decrease in Select quality grade when compared to the control group. These two studies revealed that it is difficult to positively affect both lean growth and intramuscular fat. However, through the use of genetic selection and feed supplementation, improvements in lean growth and intramuscular fat deposition can be achieved. Study 1 found that the effect of the dam on growth is often underestimated and more care should be taken when making breeding decisions. Currently many producers are using terminal cross sires to increase the growth of their offspring and the dam lines are bred to have large litters and good mothering ability. Data collected from this trial suggests that the dam also plays an important role in growth, even after lactation. Study two found that the use of Ascophyllum nodosum increases marbling score in English cross cattle without effecting performance. Supplementation from d 36-50 showed the greatest improvement in marbling score. While the mechanism of action for Ascophyllum nodosum as it relates intramuscular fat deposition is unknown the use of Ascophyllum nodosum as a feed supplement can help to improve marbling score in English cross cattle.Item Improving marbling through genetics and feed supplements(2005-12) Anderson, Mark J.; Johnson, Jay W.; Blanton, John R.; Kim, Sung W.Growth and quality are two major concerns to producers of meat animals. Lean growth in meat animal will affect the yield of that animal, and the amount of intramuscular fat will affect the quality of that animal. This thesis contains two studies that involved two different methods of producing an animal with improved growth and meat quality. The first study used animal breeding and genetics to produce a swine line with improved growth, marbling and meat quality. The second study used a feed supplement (Ascophyllum nodosum) to manipulate the processes involved in intramuscular fat deposition to produce greater fat deposition without affecting overall animal performance. Study 1 used two genetic swine lines, a low serum cholesterol (LC) swine line and a modern (M) swine line, that were crossed (LC×LC, LC×M, M×LC, and M×M) to produce a new line with improved weight gain, marbling and overall meat quality. Once weaned animals were penned by cross with three animals per pen. Pigs were weighed every 7 d from birth to end of nursery phase, then every 14 d until harvest at 154 d. Comparison of linear regressions of the LC×M line to the M×M line, and the LC×LC line to the M×LC line found that the LC×M line grew faster (P < 0.05) than the M×M line, and the LC×LC line grew slower (P < 0.05) than the M×LC line. Comparison of linear regressions of the M×M and M×LC lines found that the two lines were not different (P > 0.05) and grew at the same rate. No differences (P > 0.05) were seen in marbling between treatment groups, but LC×LC group tended to have less (P = 0.079) initial juiciness than the M×LC group, and less (P = 0.075) sustained juiciness than both the M×LC and LC×M groups. Offspring from an M line dam had heavier weights at d 14 and from 28-56 d than offspring from LC sows (P < 0.05). Interaction of sire and dam was seen from 0-7 d and from 70-154 d (P < 0.05). From this study two lines were formed with improved growth, but neither had improved marbling and meat quality. Study 2 used English cross steers (n = 32) and heifers (n = 32) that were fed a commercial corn based diet and differentially supplemented with 2% Ascophyllum nodosum to maximized intramuscular fat deposition as determined by quality grade. Cattle were blocked by sex and divided into one control and three treatment groups receiving Ascophyllum nodosum. Treatment 1 (trt 1) received Ascophyllum nodosum from d 36-50 of the feeding period, trt 2 received Ascophyllum nodosum for the last 14 d of the feeding period, and trt 3 which received Ascophyllum nodosum for both d 36-50 and the last 14 d of the feeding period. Cattle were weighted and ultrasounded at the commencement of trial and every 28 d following until they reach an average body weight of 544 kg. No effect for Ascophyllum nodosum supplementation was found on measured performance characteristics. All treatments groups supplemented with Ascophyllum nodosum had higher actual marbling scores (P < 0.05) than controls. Trt 1 was found to have a highest marbling score of 572.5 (P < 0.05) with the control group having the lowest marbling score of 473.75. Trt 1 had a higher (P < 0.05) quality grade than the control group (P < 0.05) and Trt 2 and Trt 3 were not different (P > 0.05) from any other treatment group. Control group had 25% Choice, 62.5% Select; trt 1 had 75% Choice, 18.8% Select; trt 2 had 62.5% Choice, 25% Select and trt 3 had 56.3% Choice and 31.2% Select. Overall, treatment groups had a 39.58 % increase in Choice quality grade and a 37.5 % decrease in Select quality grade when compared to the control group. These two studies revealed that it is difficult to positively affect both lean growth and intramuscular fat. However, through the use of genetic selection and feed supplementation, improvements in lean growth and intramuscular fat deposition can be achieved. Study 1 found that the effect of the dam on growth is often underestimated and more care should be taken when making breeding decisions. Currently many producers are using terminal cross sires to increase the growth of their offspring and the dam lines are bred to have large litters and good mothering ability. Data collected from this trial suggests that the dam also plays an important role in growth, even after lactation. Study two found that the use of Ascophyllum nodosum increases marbling score in English cross cattle without effecting performance. Supplementation from d 36-50 showed the greatest improvement in marbling score. While the mechanism of action for Ascophyllum nodosum as it relates intramuscular fat deposition is unknown the use of Ascophyllum nodosum as a feed supplement can help to improve marbling score in English cross cattle.Item Internet search engine result diversity, relevance, quality and the effects of search engine opitmization(Texas Tech University, 2006-12) Xing, Bo; Lin, Zhangxi; Silva, Dakshina G. De; Jones, Donald R.; Durrett, JohnDuring the last decade, Internet search engines have become a popular and increasingly effective technology both in daily information seeking and in the business world. Nowadays, however, there exists very limited research work in this area. Existing studies have primarily relied upon methods and theories originated from prior research in traditional Information Retrieval Systems. This dissertation is the first in-depth study of Internet search engines with an expanded view of an Information Retrieval System and its applications. On the one hand, it proposes a new framework of relevance assessment. On the other hand, it addresses the online advertising aspect of Internet search engines. Neither expansion has been adequately addressed in existing research in the domain of Internet search engines. The dissertation is composed of three independent studies compiled into chapter 2 through chapter 4, respectively. As the content on Internet continues to grow and new indexing technologies become available, Internet search engines are facing an increasing challenge of ranking search results. The impact of the diversity of search results on the performance of search engines has not been systematically examined. The first study aims to address this research issue by proposing a new framework of relevance assessment base on Information Attributes. With an analytical model, the impacts of both diversity and information seeking method have been identified. The second study empirically tests the findings of the first study. In addition, the study uses search engine quality as the dependent variable. With controlled experiments and a factorial design, the study confirms some of the findings of the first study. Inconsistent findings and implication have been discussed. The third study aims to answer the research question of "What is the impact of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on the online advertising market". This study builds an economic model that reveals the impact of SEO on the market price of paid placement and the sustainability condition of SEO firms. Together, the three studies explore and build theories in several untapped areas of Information Retrieval and the online advertising market. The practical and theoretical implications have been discussed in the concluding chapter.Item Investigation of Data Quality for Wind Tunnel Internal Balance Testing(2013-04-04) Hidore, John PrestonAchieving high quality, consistency, and testing efficiency in wind tunnel tests using internal balances is accomplished through the use of new testing methods, analysis of data output, and standardized documentation of test procedures at the Texas A&M Low Speed Wind Tunnel. The wind tunnel is capable of performing internal balance testing on models that experience less than 500 pounds of normal force. Testing has shown less than a 3% mean flow variation with the sting mount installed and a turbulence intensity of less than 0.25%. Documentation of procedures and check- lists for installation of internal balance testing equipment and test execution provide higher efficiency and consistency during a test. A step-by-step examination of the data analysis routines and associated uncertainty equations show uncertainty in the force and moment coefficients for the Mark XIII internal balance to be approximately ? 0.05 and ? 0.02, respectively. Quantifying the uncertainty of the primary output parameters and showing repeatability of the data within the defined uncertainty limits achieved higher quality results.Item Motivating employees for long term company success(2010-12) Rutkowski, Kevin John; Lewis, Kyle, 1961-; Duvic, Robert C.There have been many recent examples in the news of how employees were motivated by their companies to take actions that were not best for the long term success of the company. Mortgage companies gave financial incentives to brokers for each loan approved regardless of quality, which resulted in a large number of defaults several years later. BP, the oil company, gave financial incentives to employees based on short-term profits, which motivated management to perform cheaper and less frequent maintenance on the Alaskan Pipeline. This led to increased bonuses until a pipeline failure several years later. And numerous financial institutions gave employees big performance bonuses based on short-term profits one year before their institutions failed. Many analysts have stated that lucrative bonuses that did not take into account long-term company performance motivated many employees to take dangerous financial risks. In addition, in my 16 years of software development consulting, I have first-hand experience with seeing how companies' motivation techniques influence people to ignore the long-term success of their company. I have seen incentives for delivering a project on time influence project managers and developers to push low quality software into production in order to meet that deadline. Similarly, I have seen incentives (for meeting budget numbers on a project) influence managers to eliminate planning and quality assurance in order to lower the cost of implementing the project. In each of those cases, the resulting low quality software caused long-term damage to the company that could have been avoided if the project were higher quality but slightly late or over budget. I have also seen that incentives, intended to encourage call center employees to take more calls per hour, ended up motivating employees to hang up on customers without solving their problems. This resulted in low customer satisfaction, which led to a long term reduction in sales. These are only a few of the many examples I have seen in my career of how the wrong motivational techniques can have unintended, negative, long-term results for a company. Regardless of whether the motivational techniques are based on profits, revenues, productivity, stock price, or some other factor, many motivational techniques include financial incentives that are based on monthly, quarterly, or yearly results without regard for longer periods of time. Long term incentives, such as vesting in a 401(k) or increased vacation time, are typically focused solely on retaining employees rather than on long-term company performance. This thesis explores the ways in which companies currently motivate employees. The motivation may be extrinsic, using tools such as financial incentives or it may be intrinsic, using tools such as company culture or hiring practices. This thesis will review both academic research and practical management experience related to employee motivation with a goal of identifying practical recommendations for improving the current, common motivational practices. These improvements should encourage employees to take the best actions for the long-term success of the company.Item Quantifying the impacts of regulatory delay on housing affordability and quality in Austin, Texas(2015-05) Shannon, Megan Elizabeth; Wegmann, Jake; Mitchell, TerryRegulatory delay during site plan review of multifamily projects in Austin has three primary impacts: 1) it generates unexpected development costs which increases housing prices over-time; 2) it stifles innovation and decreases quality of development; and 3) it promotes exurban growth. These impacts reduce affordability and quality of life for all Austinites and thwart the goals of the Imagine Austin comprehensive plan. As regulatory delays have increased remarkably since 2009, strong rent growth has compensated for this growing uncertainty throughout the Austin market. If regulatory delays are eliminated and developers receive approvals for multifamily projects within the 120 day mandate instead of the 223 day average, renters could see relief of 4-5% on their rent, or an average of $60 per month or $720 annually in Central Austin. Interviews with 14 Austin-area residential developers confirm these delays, costs, and impacts on their projects. On average it takes 3.5 additional months to receive site plan approvals in Austin in addition to the code mandated four month cycle. Austin's peer cities fare differently. The average delay in Denver, Colorado is three weeks, and is just several days in Raleigh, North Carolina. Whereas land use regulations theoretically generate positive externalities, delays in administering those regulations generate no benefits to the community. During this unforeseen 3.5 months, developers accrue unexpected costs such as legal fees, and developer overhead which includes the opportunity costs of not pursuing other deals. Construction costs increase during delays, and developers must continue to pay for land options and carry costs. In the short-term, developers pay for these unexpected costs out-of-pocket, and by reducing construction costs, which can result in lower quality materials or amenities. Unexpected costs roll into the project's overall budget, resulting in more expensive development projects. More expensive projects require higher rents in order to maintain the development team's expected yield on cost. Further, interviews with urban designers and civil engineers reveal that regulatory delay stifles private sector innovation in the built environment. Developer interviews and case studies suggest that regulatory delay promotes exurban growth instead of urban infill in the Austin metropolitan area.Item Reframing "quality" in quality rating and improvement systems : a critical analysis(2014-12) Druckenbrod, Amelia Jean; Brown, Christopher P., Ph. D.Quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) are a state-level policy designed to assess and improve quality in early childhood education and care through rating systems and financial incentives. Current research suggests that QRIS are not meeting their stated goals of increasing access to quality care and improving child outcomes. This report investigates concepts of quality in QRIS by critically analyzing their use of standardized quality measurement scales. It uses postmodern perspectives and cultural relativism theory to argue for an alternate conceptualization of quality that incorporate community context and multiple perspectives. Finally, this report proposes alternative policies that could be used to promote ongoing conversations about quality within a community context.Item Structural and process quality in early care and education settings and their relations to self-regulation in three-year olds(2012-08) Bentley, Alison Claire, 1983-; Gershoff, Elizabeth T.; Huston, Aletha C.; Dix, Theodore H.; Anderson, Edward R.; Osborne, CynthiaPrevious research has shown how home and parental characteristics support or hinder the development of children’s self-regulation in the family context. There have only been limited attempts to understand these mechanisms in early childhood education settings. This study used the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (when participating children were 36-months old) to examine the relations among various aspects of the early childhood education setting, the interactions in the setting, and children’s self-regulation in center-based and home-based settings. Structural equation modeling was used to test a model proposing the deconstruction of early childhood education quality into structural (i.e., environmental and caregiver characteristics) and process quality components (i.e., positive and negative interactions) and to examine these as predictors of three-years old children’s self-regulation abilities. A meditational model was tested in which positive and negative interactions in the classroom mediated the relations between the structural characteristics and self-regulation. There were three important findings. First, although there were no consistent patterns of associations between structural features and self-regulation across the two types of care, there were more significant relationships in home-based care compared to center-based care. These findings showed that the home-based caregiver characteristics were more closely tied to the processes in the classroom than those characteristics of caregivers in center care. Second, both positive and negative caregiving were associated with children’s compliance, which suggested that compliance may have been influenced differently by process quality compared to other self-regulation measures, such as self-control and emotion-, behavior-, and attention-regulation. It may be that high rates of compliance may be markers of highly restrictive caregiving rather than the result of good quality caregiving. Third, there were very few significant relationships between process quality measures and children’s self-regulation measures, which suggested that commonly used process quality measures may not be capturing the processes that are most important for the development of self-regulation.Item Tenderness beef strip loin subprimals and USDA quality grades as evaluated by slice shear force and Warner-Bratzler force values and the relationship between slice shear and Warner-Bratzler(2008-12) Derington, Andrew J.; Miller, Markus F.; Brooks, Chance J.; Thompson, Leslie D.Beef tenderness is one of the primary beef quality attributes affecting consumer satisfaction and effects consumer purchasing decisions. Two methods of tenderness analysis are currently being used in both research and the meat industry. The Warner-Bratzler shear (WBS) method of tenderness analysis is the traditional method that utilizes an average of six 1.27 - cm samples from a single steak to generate a tenderness value. The WBS method is accurate but does not provide rapid results that could be utilized in a production setting to allow for tenderness based sorting of carcasses. A more recent method of analysis is the slice shear force (SSF) method which uses a single measurement from each steak and produces rapid results. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of steak location within a strip loin subprimal (IMPS 180) on SSF and WBS values and muscle fiber angles, the effectiveness of USDA quality grades on predicting beef tenderness as well as evaluate the relationship between SSF and WBS values. The study was conducted in two phases, phase one focused on the effect of steak location, the efficacy of USDA quality grades as a predictor of meat tenderness, and muscle fiber angle on SSF and WBS values. Fifteen USDA Top Choice, 15 Choice, 15 Select, and 15 no roll strip loin subprimals were fabricated into 12, 2.54 cm steaks and measured using SSF and WBS methods. Slice shear force measurements were obtained from the lateral and medial portion of each steak. Warner-Bratzler shear force measurements were obtained at the lateral, middle and medial sections. Phase two consisted of the evaluation of 1,538 2.54 - cm USDA Choice and Select strip loin steaks to determine the correlation between SSF and WBS measurements. Slice shear force measurements were obtained from the lateral and medial sections of each steak and WBS values were obtained from the lateral, middle and medial portions of each steak. Steak location within a strip loin subprimal had a significant effect on both SSF and WBS values (P < 0.001) with a linear increase in tenderness values as steak location moved closer toward the posterior end of the strip loin. The SSF method produced similar results in location 1 through 8, and WBS values were similar from steak locations 1 through 5 (P > 0.05). Furthermore, this study shows that USDA quality grade has a significant effect on beef tenderness (P < 0.002) when evaluated using SSF and WBS protocols. This study found that no differences in tenderness exists between USDA Select and no roll quality grades. The muscle fiber angle changes in steaks throughout a strip loin. A significant difference in the lateral muscle fiber angle occurred at steak location 7 indicating that SSF may not produce accurate results at this location. Finally, significant correlations between SSF and WBS values were obtained in this study. Slice shear force from the lateral portion correlated to the averaged WBS values produced a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.636 and a correlation of an averaged SSF value comprised of values obtained from the lateral and medial sections to an averaged WBS value produced a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.704.Item The quality of brailled instructional materials produced in Texas public schools(2009-06-02) Herzberg, Tina SueThis study investigated the quality of braille transcription in public schools in Texas. In the first phase, an electronic survey of 94 school personnel across the state found that instructional materials are often transcribed by a variety of personnel not certified by the Library of Congress. In addition, the majority of survey respondents felt that their initial training had not adequately prepared them. Not surprisingly, transcribers and braillists reported that they spent more time each week transcribing materials than did teachers of the visually impaired. In the second phase, 40 transcriptions prepared by school personnel were examined. The quality of the transcriptions varied greatly. More than 30% (n=13) of the transcriptions contained four or less errors. The other transcriptions (n=27) contained a variety of contraction errors, misspelled words, misformed characters, omission of letters or words, insertion of additional letters, detectable erasures, and formatting errors. Perception of quality by the person transcribing often did not reflect the actual quality of the transcription. The data in this study indicated that neither years of experience nor certification status have a decisive effect on quality. On the other hand, the salient characteristic in predicting the quality of braille produced by the participants was time spent each week transcribing materials, which, in turn, was associated with the job role of the participant. In the third phase, members of a focus group assessed a representative subset of the transcriptions. The findings of the focus group revealed that errors would prevent legibility for some students, and that errors in transcribing negatively affect the academic performance of braille readers. The data in all three phases supported the need for developing a formal definition of quality in braille transcribing and providing ongoing, standardized training for school personnel. Perhaps most importantly, the data gained from this study supported the hypothesis that braille readers receive instructional materials that are not equal in quality to those received by other students.