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The Mapping, Molecular Characterization, Cellular Localization And Functional Studies Of A Novel Gene With Predominant Muscle And Brain Expression, John Gerard Geisler

Doctoral Dissertations

One of the most frequently asked questions from non-scientists is, "Why do you study mice?". If you respond by saying that you are actually trying to study human diseases using mice as a model organism, they look even more puzzled. Monkeys always seem the only natural, model organism of choice for humans. Probably one of the most fascinating lessons for me in science, besides learning that a nucleus from any cell (even intestinal) is capable of being reprogrammed into becoming an embryo (Gurdon, 1962), is the lesson on evolutionary conservation of genes. At a global level, the conservation can …

Students' With Learning Disabilities Perception Of Mnemonic Strategies In Mathematics Instruction, Susan C. Moore

Theses & Honors Papers

This was a qualitative as well as quantitative study conducted at a middle school in a rural county in Virginia. The researcher examined learning disabled students for their perceptions of mnemonic strategies in mathematics instruction. After direct instruction and instruction involving mnemonics, the seven subjects were tested. The test scores were examined to determine if there was a significant difference between pre and post scores. After interviewing the subjects, the results indicated five themes: unfamiliarity of procedure leads to anxiety, mnemonics improves performance, students desire more mnemonic strategies, division and other multi-step problems are the most difficult, and an increase …

Photochemistry Of Chlorobenzene Interacting With The Surface Of Amorphous Ice, Terry Evans Vaughn

Doctoral Dissertations

The photochemistry of chlorobenzene adsorbed to an amorphous ice surface has been investigated at ultra-high vacuum (UHV). Ultra-thin ice films (< 50 Å) were grown on the surface of a Ni (111) crystal in a vacuum chamber evacuated at a pressure on the order of 10^-10 torr. These thin ice films were determined to be continuous and void of large cracks and fissures which might expose the underlying nickel substrate. Various exposures of chlorobenzene were dosed to the amorphous ice surface at both submonolayer and multilayer coverages. Broad band UV irradiation of this system produced benzene as the primary photolysis product as determined by thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). The chlorine, once photodissociated from the phenyl ring, was determined to diffuse through the ice layers …

Preservice Teachers' Beliefs About Their Future Profession : A Construction In Progress, Duane Allan Whitbeck

Doctoral Dissertations

This study explored the influence of beliefs based on personal history that pre-interns brought to their study of teaching. Specifically the researcher was interested in students' beliefs about the concepts of teaching, learning, and curriculum. This analysis represents an effort to look closely at how pre-interns use the knowledge they bring from their lives to decisions about coursework and the value of ideas they hear in teacher education classes.

Interviews were conducted with thirteen students enrolled in the Holistic Teaching/Learning Unit at The University of Tennessee. The students had identified themselves as interested in teaching in the primary grades, but …

An Analysis Of The Relationship Of Human Sexuality Knowledge, Self-Esteem, And Body Image To Sexual Staisfaction In College And University Students, Rhonda Laurie Walker-Hill

Doctoral Dissertations

Sexual satisfaction is often defined subjectively and researchers have attempted to discover predictor variables that may be common to most individual's conceptions of sexual satisfaction. The purpose of the study was to assess the relationship of sexual satisfaction to level of human sexuality knowledge, level of self-esteem, and perception of body image in college and university students at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The Sex Knowledge and Attitude Test, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, The Body Attitudes Questionnaire, The Sexual Satisfaction Inventory, and a Demographic Questionnaire were administered to volunteers from selected classes.

Descriptive statistics and frequencies described the sample of …

Capillary Electrochromatographic Separations Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Kylen Wade Whitaker

Doctoral Dissertations

One of the limitations of capillary electrophoresis (CE) is the inability to separate neutral analytes. This is particularly significant in environmental analysis since many pollutants and toxins are neutral species. One set of analytes of interest are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). CE can be expanded to separate neutrals in two ways.

The first is to pack the capillaries with a stationary phase. Neutral solutes can then partition between the mobile and stationary phases the same as in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). This technique, dubbed capillary electrochromatography (CEC), is very similar to HPLC except in CEC an electric field is …

Tomographic Applications Of Wavelets In Passive Nondestructive Assay Of Radioactive Waste, Lance David Weems

Doctoral Dissertations

An economically reliable and technologically feasible methodology for assaying radioactive waste is essential for properly disposing of newly generated and legacy radioactive waste. The present research has investigated, developed, and integrated tomographic applications of wavelets into the present segmented gamma scanning (SGS) measurement methodology used for passive nondestructive assay of radioactive waste. The SGS measurement methodology was specifically developed to nondestructively measure the radionuclide content within only low-density, homogeneously drum-packaged scrap and waste using the techniques of gamma-ray spectrometry. A result of this research has been the Tomographic Segmented Gamma Scanner (TSGS) system.

This TSGS system supplements a rotation-averaged SGS …

Contracts For Logistics And Transportation Services : Comparing Contract Content With Strategic Positioning, Jonathan Whittaker

Doctoral Dissertations

Academic and trade literature in the logistics and transportation domain is replete with accounts of the value of partnerships. This literature focuses on the value created by partnering relations and appropriate partnership models. The literature does not discuss the importance of the role the contract has in relationship management nor does it discuss how contracts should be developed to support the relationship. This disconnect represents a measurable knowledge gap. This research examines the content of logistics and transportation contracts in a relational contracting framework. The study examines whether contracts reflect relational or classical contracting and how contracts align with the …

Efficient Limit State Method For Uncertainty Analysis Of Pollutant Transport Models, Loong Kwet Yong

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to improve the computational efficiency of the Limit State method for uncertainty analysis. The viability of using the improved Limit State method with radiological and environmental assessment computer codes is investigated. The uncertainty results are compared against that obtained using Monte Carlo methods.

There are several methods available for evaluating uncertainty using the probability-distribution approach. Of these methods, the more common approaches are to use response surface analysis, differential analysis, and Monte Carlo. The Limit State method has been introduced as an alternative approach for performing uncertainty analysis. One of the problems encountered with …

Reactions Of Unsaturated Carbonyl Compounds With Organoboranes, Su Yu

Doctoral Dissertations

The kinetic data indicate that both the hydroboration of a terminal alkene and the reduction of a carbonyl compound with 9-BBN exhibit first-order kinetics. However, the reactivities of alkenes and ketones toward borane reagents are not equal. Thus, a study of competition reactions between carbon-carbon unsaturated bonds and carbonyl groups toward organoboranes has been carried out. Unhindered borane reagents such as 9-BBN are less chemoselective toward carbon-carbon unsaturated bonds and carbonyl groups than hindered borane reagents, such as dicyclohexylborane. Dicyclohexylborane selectively hydroborates a terminal alkene in the presence of either a ketone or an aldehyde. The hydroborations of olefinic ketones …

The Effects Of Electron Beam Rotation Upon Electron Beam Welded Copper - 304 Couples, Kevin Tacy Zysk

Doctoral Dissertations

The United States Air Force, Arnold Engineering Development Center, has been using copper to 304 stainless steel couples made using the electron beam welding process during the fabrication of intrusive gas-path diagnostic probes for over five years. Only a limited physical analysis of the resulting welds had been done. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects that varying the rotation frequency of the electron beam had upon the mechanical characteristics of the copper to 304 stainless steel couples.

During welding of the samples, all controllable weld process parameters were held constant with the exception of the electron …

State Dependent Polling Models, Mahender Pal Singh

Doctoral Dissertations

We consider a polling model in which a single server serves a number of queues in a cyclic order. Each queue has its own distinct Poisson arrival stream, service time, and switchover time (the server's travel time from that queue to the next) distribution. A setup time is incurred if the polled queue has one or more customers present. This is the polling model with State-Dependent service (the SD model). The SD model is inherently complex; hence, it has often been approximated by the much simpler model with State-Independent service (the SI model) in which the server always sets up …

An Examination Of The Construct Maternal Myth And Its Relationship To Mothering Behavior, Greta Griffith Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

Following a review of the research on inconsistent mothering, attachment theory, social cognition, and narrative theory, maternal myth is proposed as an underlying, unifying construct through which to examine mothering behavior. A community sample of 27 mother-child dyads participated in a study designed to evaluate the construct maternal myth. It was hypothesized that certain characteristics of maternal myth, namely coherence, affect tone, and motivational theme, are interrelated and could be used to predict (1) mother responsiveness to child cues, (2) mother negativity in the mother-child interaction, (3) personality rigidity in mothers, and (4) mother satisfaction with mother-child interaction. A relationship …

Rotational Bands Representing A Multiplicity Of Shapes In ¹²⁷⁻¹³¹Pr, Bradley Hagood Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

High spin states of several isotopes of Praesyodimium (Z = 59) have been studied. Rotational bands representing well deformed shapes (enhanced deformaiton) have been observed in all the nuclei^{127-131Pr. In addition, a set of four new sequences of γ rays has been identified as superdeformed bands and assigned to the odd-A nucleus 131Pr. The observation of enhanced deformed (ED) bands in both 127Pr and 128Pr extends the knowledge of such bands to the lightest isotopes of Pr yet. Significant new extensions to the level schemes of previously known nuclei such as 130Pr …}

Health Care Reform In The Baltic States, Zigrida L. Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to present an overview of health care reform in the Baltic. Latvia was primary focus; the reform process in Estonia and Lithuania was used as a point of comparison. A brief review of the health care in former Soviet Union was presented as a foundation for understanding the reason for reform. The primary data base was published government legislative materials and reports from international sources. Professional medical journals, symposia materials, and relevant newspaper articles also were used. The main constraints influencing health care reform were political and economic factors, and international organizations. State legislators …

A Monte Carlo Investigation Of The Statistical Thermodynamics For Polymers In Various Solvent Types : Simulations Of The Free Chain, The Grafted Chain, And Two Chains Grafted To A Common Wall, Charlene Carpenter Sorensen

Doctoral Dissertations

This study is a Monte Carlo computer simulation of three systems: a free polymer chain in various solution types, a grafted polymer with one end of the chain tethered to a wall of varying attractiveness in various solution types, and two grafted chains connected to a common non-attractive wall in various solution types. The focus of the study was to evaluate the chain dynamics for the various Rouse modes for each of the simulation types mentioned above. The results of each simulation were used to make generalizations about the dynamics of the polymer chains and to assess the differences resulting …

Automatic Identification Of Organ/Tissue Regions In Ct Image Data For The Implementation Of Patient Specific Phantoms For Treatment Planning In Cancer Therapy, Richard Blaine Sparks

Doctoral Dissertations

In vivo targeted radiotherapy has the potential to be an effective treatment for many types of cancer. Agents which show preferred uptake by cancerous tissue are labeled with radio-nuclides and administered to the patient. The preferred uptake by the cancerous tissue allows for the delivery of therapeutically effective radiation absorbed doses to tumors, while sparing normal tissue. Accurate absorbed dose estimation for targeted radiotherapy would be of great clinical value in a patient's treatment planning. One of the problems with calculating absorbed dose involves the use of geometric mathematical models of the human body for the simulation of the radiation …

Organisms And Identities : The Essentiality Of Genetic Constitution At Origin, Carolyn Teresa Szetela

Doctoral Dissertations

The expanding scope of modem genetic theories and technologies have fueled controversies regarding the reducibility of organisms to their genetic properties. This work considers the defensibility of the view that an organism's identity is determined by the identity of its genetic constitution at origin, in an effort to add to the theoretical framework in which these controversies may be understood. I begin the study of identity conditions for individual organisms by considering Saul Kripke's view that a given human organism (i.e., the Queen) necessarily originates from the actual parents who contribute her particular sperm and egg of origin. This view …

Transfer Of Training As Perceived By Trainers And Supervisors In The Workplace, Harold L. Shoemaker

Doctoral Dissertations

When employers have invested in training their employees, and those employees have not performed the tasks back on the job, employers have lost time, money, and confidence in training as a viable business investment. When learners were not able to transfer what was learned, they were less- or non-productive and faced a real danger of pay reduction or job loss.

The purpose of this study was two fold. The first purpose was to develop a comprehensive survey of transfer of training strategies. The second purpose was to measure the perceived importance of these strategies by trainers and supervisors.

Tentative strategies …

Degradation Of Toluene And Trichloroethylene In A Radial Flow Reactor, Justin Thomas Shingleton

Doctoral Dissertations

Microorganisms are capable of degrading organic compounds into carbon dioxide, water, organic acids and salts. Biocatalytic processes can effectively remove volatile organic compounds in hazardous waste gasses. In these processes, waste gasses are fed to a packed bed reactor and are degraded by bacteria. The purpose of this research was to use a previously developed, membrane-based, radial flow, vapor-phase bioreactor (RFR) for the biodegradation of toluene and trichloroethylene (TCE) from a toluene/TCE/air/water system. Pseudomonas putida TVA8 were immobilized on sand within concentric cylindrical porous metal membranes, which were separated by 0.91 cm in the radial direction. A toluene feed stream …

Fusing Traditions : The Epic Conventions Of Anglo-Saxon Poetry And Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, Keith P. Taylor

Doctoral Dissertations

Scholars have embraced a "standard reading" of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in which the constituent elements of the poem have been defined almost exclusively via reference to the conventions of the continental romance. But, such romantic approaches to SGGK are complicated by the presence of the "anti-romantic" features of the poem. The conventions of the romance cannot justify the Gawain-poet’s decision to cast Sir Gawain—who epitomized trecherye in the fourteenth century— as the hero of SGGK; neither can they explain the Gawain-poet's pairing of "challenge" and "temptation" motifs or the thematic significance of the laughter with which Arthur …

Fractal And Rayleigh Particle Scattering For Size Determination, Yuanji Tang

Doctoral Dissertations

An established method for the determination of soot particle size distribution function is the combined use of optical measurements and analytical deconvolution techniques. Two problematical assumptions are commonly used with this approaches. First, the soot particles are assumed to be spherical, and Mie scattering theory is used to describe the particle-radiation interaction. The second assumption is that no small particle size distribution peak exists below the measurement sensitivity limit of Mie scattering and that the number distribution monotonically goes to zero as the size approaches zero.

To investigate the first assumption, the soot particles were assumed to be of fractal …

Making Do : Case Studies Of Disciple Of Christ Congregations In The Great Depression, Donald Wesley Trotter

Doctoral Dissertations

There has been a voluminous amount of study done on the Great Depression of the 1930s, but most of it has dealt with national organizations and with prominent people, leaders, and spokespersons. Besides individual church histories, little study has been done on local congregations. Yet, churches as voluntary social organizations can be vehicles to investigate the responses of groups to socioeconomic stress. Churches were the arbiters of social ethics and the main sources of benevolent assistance before the Depression, but that changed with the New Deal. This study investigates the impact of the Depression on local congregations and their responses …

Synthesis, Characterization And Photophysical Behavior Of A Cr(Iii) Bimetallic System, Yan Chen

Masters Theses

Many binuclear transition metal complexes have been studied to understand the nature of interactions between the metal centers. People have found Simultaneous Pair Excitation phenomenon in some bimetallic system that can serve as a potential source of Non-Linear Optical behavior.

Thus a series of Cr₂ -([14]aneN₄)₂-X₄ⁿ⁺ complexes were synthesized and characterized. Only the cis,cis configuration was found. The results were compared with those of their monomer analogs. The electronic structures are very similar in both monomer and dimer complexes. The quantum yield, UV-Vis absorption and lifetime studies suggested a possible coupling between the …

The Identification Of Domains And Competencies For Community Practice Occupational Therapy, Lisa Anne Werner

Masters Theses

Literature shows evidence of a shift in occupational therapy from traditional institutional settings to community-based settings. As increasing numbers of new and expert occupational therapists enter community-based practice, the need for competency identification for practice, education, and reimbursement becomes paramount. This qualitative research study sought to identify domains and competencies of community-based occupational therapy practice by interviewing three expert occupational therapists using the critical incident method in which each therapist described one therapeutic intervention with a client. This method, as seen in nursing studies (Benner, 1982, 1984), serves to elicit competencies embedded in expert practice. Thirty-nine competencies were described in …

French Influences On The Historical And Nationalist Thought Of Nicolae Balcescu: An Inquiry Into The Structure Of Romanian Nationalism, Ion Matei Costinescu

Masters Theses

In the past decade nationalism has been conceptualized as a cultural artifact, a product of invention and social engineering. Yet despite the flourishing interest in questions of national identity, we still have no theory explaining the reasons why nationalism presents itself in a manifold diversity of forms and aspirations. One way of . accounting for the malleability of modern nationalism is to approach it as a product of dialectical interactions between various national ideals. In this respect, the case of Romanian nationalism is particularly instructive. Its nineteenth-century proponents consciously borrowed and adapted French cultural mores and ideological forms since they …

The Effects Of Early Menarche On Health Risk Behaviors, Phyllis Macdonald Du Mont

Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this research was to explore the effects of early menarche on the psychological development, health, and well-being of young girls. Early menarche has been associated with a variety of undesirable outcomes including early coital debut, low educational attainment, cigarette, alcohol and drug use, and an increased risk of depression. These behaviors have clear social and health costs. The model developed for this research tested a mid-range theory derived from the work of Peplau and King. The theory proposed that individuals who experienced early menarche were at risk due to asynchrony of physiological and psychological development in …

Investigations Into The Modes Of Substrate Binding To Aminoglycoside-Modifying Enzymes, Enrico Leo Digiammarino

Doctoral Dissertations

NMR spectroscopy, combined with molecular modeling was used to determine the conformations of isepamicin and butirosin A in the active site of aminoglycoside 6'-N-acetyltranferase-Ii (AAC(6')-Ii). The results revealed two possible enzyme-bound conformers for isepamicin and one for butirosin A. The dihedral angles that describe the glycosidic linkage between the A and B rings for the two conformers of AAC(6')-Ii-bound isepamicin have been found to be Φ_AB = -7.9° ± 2.0° and Ψ_AB = -46.2° ± 0.6° for conformer 1 and Φ_AB = -69.4° ± 2.0° and Ψ_AB = -57.7° ± 0.5° for conformer 2. …

Molecular Analysis Of The Constitutive And Barbiturate-Induced Expression Of A Drosophila Melanogaster Cytochrome P450 Gene, Cyp6a2, Susan M. Dombrowski

Doctoral Dissertations

Detoxification of endogenous compounds and environmental pollutants is mediated by cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (CYPs). In insects, CYPs may also play a role in the resistance to insecticides because the levels and enzymatic activities are generally higher in resistant strains than in susceptible ones. However, little is known about the regulation of resistance-associated insect CYP genes. Therefore, in the present investigation the Cyp6a2 gene of D. melanogaster was used as a prototype to understand this phenomenon. The 3'-untranslated region of the Cyp6a2 gene of the underproducer 91C strain, but not the overproducer 91R strain, contains the long terminal repeat (LTR) of …

The Multiple Convolution Integral Approach To Uncertainty Analysis In Fate And Transport Models Used In Risk Assessment, Emran A. Dawoud

Doctoral Dissertations

Probabilistic risk estimates are typically not obtained for time-dependent releases of radioactive contaminants to the geosphere when a series of sequentially coupled transport models are required for determining results. This is due, in part, to the geophysical complexity of the site, numerical complexity of the fate and transport models, and a lack of a practical tool for linking the transport components in a fashion that facilitates uncertainty analysis. Using the theory of convolution integration, sequentially coupled submodels can be replaced with an independent system of impulse responses for each submodel. Uncertainties are then propagated independently through each of the submodels …