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This dissertation introduces new hardware architectures for more realistic surface rendering of three dimensional objects and the rendering of volumetric datasets. Surface rendering is dealt with in the first part of the dissertation where the architectures for displacement map rendering in hardware are proposed. This work represents the first to appear in scientific literature on displacement map hardware rendering. Where possible these architectures propose components that integrate into currently available pipelines and make use of existing units in those pipelines. Displacement map renderi...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of clarifying students' misperceptions regarding their peers' consumption of alcohol and feelings of comfort in drinking situations. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to determine if providing students with information would impact on their perceptions. A posttest-only control-group experimental design was employed to investigate the efficacy of clarifying students' misperceptions. The experimental group was provided with information gleaned from the literature regarding students' misperceptions. Participants were administe...

This text marks a little milestone in the understanding of the democratic peace theory in transitional states. It brings in a much needed perspective on the achievements and limitations of democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the role it plays or could play in the search for solutions to conflicts in the sub-region. The author provides a differentiated view of the traditional Western notions of democracy and its role in the search for political stability and nation-building. A series of fragile democratic developments in contemporary politics in the continent have set in processes of change...

There has been a lot of interest among marketing practitioners and researchers in the concept of marketing communications as related to computer-mediated marketing environments as a result of the commercialization of the World Wide Web (WWW) as a marketing and communication medium. Despite growing interest, there is a dearth of research on the processual nature of communication between marketers and consumers. The overall aim of this study, therefore, is to expand our understanding of marketing communication within the computer-mediated marketing environments. This understanding is achieved in...

This dissertation addresses emerging developer communities in a new field of science and technology as well as methods to capture exchange processes between them. It contributes to the discussion about a new mode of knowledge production and a changing division of labour between public research, industry, and government by investigating 'nanotechnology' – an emerging area between science and technology. To explore exchange processes in this field, the study applies various methods. In particular, it uses patent citation analysis. The methodological contribution is a new interpretation...

Modality is a grammatical, or semantic-grammatical, category. It is an important component of human languages. This is at least the case in most European languages. To what extent is it a near-universal? This thesis is to contribute to the question. It focuses on modal verbs in English and Chinese, two genetically and geographically unrelated languages, and analyzes what these two languages have in common and how they differ in their systems of modality. To achieve the aim, the thesis adopts the theoretical framework proposed by van der Auwera (1996, 1998 with Plungian, 2001) for the typol...

The diversity of stellar death is revealed in the energy, velocity and geometry of the explosion debris ("ejecta''). Using multi-wavelength observations of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows I show that GRBs, arising from the death of massive stars, are marked by relativistic, collimated ejecta ("jets'') with a wide range of opening angles. I further show that the jet opening angles are strongly correlated with the isotropic-equivalent kinetic energies, such that the true relativistic energy of GRBs is nearly standard, with a value of few times 10^51 erg. A geometry-independent analysis whic...

This thesis is an interdisciplinary study of the conflicts and tensions in the role of NHS complaints managers. The thesis sets out to explore the contradictions inherent in the role of complaints managers and the ways complaints managers deal with these contradictions. The interdisciplinary theoretical underpinning of the research is informed by conceptualizations of the complaints manager in the specific socio-legal sense of ‘complaints handler’/ third-party dispute handler;’ a broader public administration framework, of ‘administrator’/ bureaucrat, and finally a wide-ranging sociologica...

Software developer turnover can have disastrous effects on an organization due to the loss of business process knowledge, as well as acquired technical skills. Annual rates of turnover in information technology (IT) departments have been estimated at 20% or more with the cost of replacing technology workers ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 times annual salaries. This study purposely focused only on software developers as opposed to IT employees in general due to the critical nature of their work. The factors leading to turnover intention in this field are poorly understood; therefore, this study was d...

The primary objective of this study is to determine whether practicing personnelists and research scholars agree on what constitutes an effective performance appraisal system in public safety organization. If Personnel managers at public safety organization possess knowledge of the characteristics of effective performance appraisal system in public safety organizations, they are more likely to design and/or advocate performance appraisal system in public safety organizations that include these important attributes. In addition, the research is an opportunity for the academic community to learn...