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Embryo Induction And Plant Regeneration From Cultured Anthers And Pistils Of Orchardgrass (Dactylis Glomerata), David D. Songstad

Doctoral Dissertations

Direct embryogenesis was observed from Dactylis glomerata L. [orchardgrass (2N=4X=28)] anthers incubated at 25 C for 6 weeks on Schenk and Hildebrandt (SH) medium containing 3% sucrose and 30 pM dicamba [SH-30 (3,6 dichloro-o-anisic acid)]. Subsequent experi-ments showed that SH-30 supplemented with up to 5.0 g/1 casein hydro- lysate did not affect and 0.1 to 5.0 mg/1 benzylaminopurine or kinetin hindered the embryogenic response. Furthermore, anther orientation had no significant effect on the embryogenic response and no embryos were obtained from culture of isolated microspores. However, SH-30 containing 94 sucrose promoted embryogenesis and an anther density of 10/ml initiated more …

Effect Of Phenolic Compounds On The Adenosine Triphosphatase Of The Membrane Of Staphylococcus Aureus, Emilia Rico-Munoz

Doctoral Dissertations

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) were found to be effective inhibitors of the growth of Staphylococcus aureus. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were 150 ppm BHA and 25 ppm TBHQ for the four strains tested. When the strains were grown in 250 ppm BHA, strain LP was found to be more resistant than the other three strains studied. Therefore, strain LP was chosen as the more resistant strain and strain A100 as the more sensitive one for the ATPase activity studies. Cytoplasmic membranes of late-exponential phase cells of both strains were isolated after digestion of the cell wall …

Identification And Analysis Of Ichthyofaunal Remains From Late Pleistocene-Holocene Deposits Of Cheek Bend Cave (40mu261), Maury County, Tennessee, William Clark Dickinson

Doctoral Dissertations

Knowledge of the character of the late Pleistocene-Holocene ichthyofauna of the middle Duck River was acquired as a result of identification and biostratigraphic analysis of numerous fish bone fragments from the well-stratified deposits of Cheek Bend Cave, a small rockshelter situated in the limestone bluffs along the Duck River in Maury County, Tennessee. Forty-five unequivocal fish taxa (representing 12 families) were identified, of which 25 taxa occurred in the Late Wisconsin strata, 33 in Holocene strata, and 13 in both depositional sequences. Fifteen of the Late Wisconsin taxa and 18 Holocene taxa appear to represent initial records for these periods, …

Health Promotion Profile Of Beliefs, Attitudes And Activities Of Tennessee Primary Care Physicians, Christine Assmann Collins

Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to develop a profile of selected health promotion beliefs, attitudes and activities of Tennessee primary care physicians. A secondary purpose was to identify physicians’ perceived need for training and support activities in health promotion on selected lifestyle behaviors.

This study was undertaken using a mail survey of 628 randomly selected primary care physicians practicing medicine in Tennessee. The target population was stratified on the basis of the following subgroups: specialty, population size of county, and state grand division in which they practice. Four hundred sixty-one questionnaires were returned resulting in a 73.4% response …

A Study Of Selected Factors To Identify Sixth Grade Students Gifted In Mathematics, Charleen Mitchell Deridder

Doctoral Dissertations

The identification of children who are gifted is common in schools of the United States. High I.Q. and achievement scores are traditionally used. This study explored the adequacy of these variables in mathematics education. Based on the Renzulli model for giftedness, the study assessed problem solving ability, and task commitment. Only students identified as having above average general ability were selected as subjects. Eighty-seven sixth graders were selected from three Knox County, Tennessee, middle schools to form six groups. These groups were stratified as high (128 or above), mid upper(116-127), and average (95-115) I.Q. scores coupled with either a mathematics …

Psychological Factors Associated With Minority And Majority Student Status In University Settings, Julie Elizabeth Williams

Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate whether minority students, regardless of race, experienced more common emotional stressors, and had more similar behavior and attitudes toward integration than their racial counterparts enrolled in institutions where they were in the racial minority. This goal was accomplished by studying 289 subjects from the following student groups: black minority students (48), white minority students (65), black majority students (90), white majority students (86). Minority status was assigned to black and white students who attended a university where students of a different race from their own were predominant; majority status was assigned …

An Evolutionary Approach To The Prehistory Of Upper East Tennessee And Adjacent Areas, C. Clifford Boyd Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Temporal and spatial variation in functional and stylistic attributes of lithic and ceramic artifacts from upper East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and western North Carolina are documented using concepts of an evolutionary theory of cultural selection. In all, 29,098 lithic and 7,625 ceramic artifacts were selected for this study from 164 sites using purposive and random sampling techniques. Chronological ordering of these artifacts and their contexts are based on 43 existing radiocarbon dates for Early Archaic through Protohistoric period contexts, and comparison with radiocarbon dated components outside the study area. Nominal and ratio-level artifact attributes were partitioned into functional and stylistic …

A Study Of Interorganizational Negotiation Of Transportation Service Contracts Using Shippers And Motor Carriers, Lloyd M. Rinehart

Doctoral Dissertations

Since deregulation of the motor carrier industry in 1980, shipper and motor carrier practitioners have gained greater interest in understanding the negotiation process necessary to achieve contacts for motor carrier service. In addition, the marketing discipline has recently show interest in studying the applications of negotiation activities in exchange environments. This study looks at the elements of the negotiation process used by motor carriers and shippers to reach contractual agreements for transportation service. This study assesses the application of the process in different situations. Data was collected in two phases using personal interviews to collect data from case study participants, …

A Study Of The Perception Of Verbal Aggression In Black And White Females, Rosemary E. Phelps

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare black and white females' perceptions of verbal aggression. Eighty black and 80 white female participants read a short dialogue of two female college roommates engaged in a verbal interaction. One of these women was arbitrarily selected as the identified aggressor; the other, the target. Pilot studies had established that participants similar to those used in this study thought that the dialogue contained verbal aggression and that each of the persons was equally verbally aggressive. As the participants read the dialogue, they had access to drawings of the two women. The experimental conditions …

Systematics, Distribution, And Biology Of Fishes Currently Allocated To Erimystax (Jordan), A Subgenus Of Hybopsis (Cyprinidae), John Lowrey Harris

Doctoral Dissertations

Intra- and interspecific variation of species of the subgenus Erimystax, genus Hybopsis, are analyzed using multivariate statistical techniques. Diagnoses, descriptions, figures, supporting tables, and distribution maps are provided to facilitate identification of the subgenus and component species. Results of multivariate analyses support the elevation of the Ozark subspecies of Hybopsis dissimilis to specific standing as Hybopsis i. insignis distributed in the lower Tennessee and Cumberland river drainages and H. insignis eristigma found in eastern tributaries of the upper Tennessee River drainage. Populations interpreted as intergrades occur in the Clinch, Powell, and Holston rivers. Two subspecies of Hybopsis x-punctata are recognized …

Math Anxiety: Relationship With Sex, College Major, Mathematics Background, Mathematics Achievement, Mathematics Performance, Mathematics Avoidance, Self-Rating Of Mathematics Ability, And Self-Rating Of Mathematics Anxiety As Measured By The Revised Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (Rmars), Patricia Ann Preston

Doctoral Dissertations

Mathematics educators and psychologists blame "math anxiety" for affecting mathematics learning, performance, and enrollment, and, subsequently, choice of college major and career. Researchers have yet to agree on prevalence, stability, and effects of math anxiety.

This study (1) investigated the prevalence and intensity of math anxiety in college students (as a whole, by major, and by sex), (2) determined the stability of math anxiety over time, and (3) investigated those background and experimental factors related to its occurrence in college students, using data gathered on 173 college students in mathematics, education, and English classrooms. The data concerned college students' math …

Functional Performance Of Thual Barley Grown In Two Locations As Affected By Salt In Model And Food Systems, Ruthann Burroughs Swanson

Doctoral Dissertations

Functional properties of Thual hull-less whole-grain barley flours milled from barley grown in two locations were studied. Proximate composition of Tennessee-produced barley flour approximated that of whole-wheat flour; flour milled from Alaska-produced barley had reduced protein and increased carbohydrate plus ash levels. Alaska barley flour had higher levels of the amino acids detrimental to loaf volume, whereas higher levels of amino acids related to increased loaf volume were present in the Tennessee barley flour. Photomicrographs of flour components revealed a bimodal starch distribution. Starch granule shapes approximated those of wheat. Adhering matter was present.

Composite flours that were 50% bread …

Modeling The Highway Transportation Of Spent Fuel, Ivor Glen Harrison

Doctoral Dissertations

There will be a substantial increase in the number of spent fuel shipments on the nation's highway system in the next thirty years. Most of the spent fuel will be moving from reactors to a spent fuel repository. This study develops two models which evaluate the risk and cost of moving the spent fuel. The Minimum Total Transport Risk Model (MTTRM) seeks the efficient solution for this problem by finding the minimum risk path through the network and sending all the spent fuel shipments over this one path. The Equilibrium Transport Risk Model (ETRM) finds an equitable solution by distributing …

H. L. Mencken As A Philogist, Roberta Teague Herrin

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines H. L. Mencken's attitudes toward language and the forces that shaped those attitudes. This study also traces the development of The American Language, assesses the influence of this work on language studies in America, and examines Mencken's place in the field of linguistics.

Three types of material are surveyed in this study: the body of H. L. Mencken's writing that reflects his attitudes toward language; the definitive secondary material which focuses on Mencken's interest in American English; and the background material necessary to establish a social, historical, political, and linguistic context for Mencken's ideas.

This study concludes …

The Grotesque In The Poetry Of William Wordsworth, Ernst Derwood Lee Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

The function of the grotesque within William Wordsworth's most important poetry, that written between 1788 and 1805, has not been appreciated. Yet perceptions characterized by the juxtaposition of fearful, unattractive images with images of beauty and harmony appear throughout Wordsworth's youthful poetry and are focused and directed in the Lyrical Ballads volumes and in The Prelude (1805). The few scholars who have discussed the grotesque in Wordsworth's poetry either have not recognized the value of that mode to the development of Wordsworth's poetic idiom or have confused it with the sublime, and thus have misunderstood the nature and function of …

Modulation Of The S-Adenosylmethionine To S-Adensoyhomocyseine Ratio: Effect On Transmethylation, George Loo

Doctoral Dissertations

Regulation of transmethylation by lowering the molar ratio of S-adenosylmethionine to S-sdenosylhomocysteine (SAM: SAH ration) was studied. Reduction of the ration in vitro caused a decrease in the activities of rat liver thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT), thiol methyl-transferase (TMT), and protien(lysine)methyltransferase (PLMT). Furthermore, rats injected with D,L-homocysteine thiolactone had a reduction in the hepatic SAM:SAH ration, as well as a decrease in the activities of TPMT and PLMT, but not TMT, in liver.

Reduction of the hepatic SAM:SAH ratio in rats fed a pyridoxine-deficient diet resulted in a decrease in the activity of PLMT, but not TPMT and TMT, in liver. …

Characterization Of The Rheological, Optical, And Flow-Induced Structural Features Of Polymer Liquid Crystals, David Neal Lewis

Doctoral Dissertations

Two related sets of experiments were conducted to explore the interaction between supramolecular structures, material properties, and flow-induced stresses in selected lyotropic and thermotropic polymers. The first set of experiments focused on the quiescent and rheological characterization of polymers. The objective was to develop a flow-structure model based on the general phenomenological features of the liquid crystalline state. The second set of experiments concerned the characterization of the crystal structure, crystalline orientation, and tensile properties of a model thermotropic polymer, melt spun under varying conditions of extrusion rate, extrusion temperature, drawdown ratio, and die exit conditions. The objective was to …

Audience Perceptions Of Five Types Of Radio Humor, Larry Zane Leslie

Doctoral Dissertations

Humor, a natural part of the human environment, is all around us; from newspaper comics and television sit-coms to popular movies and the latest joke. Yet the phenomenon of humor on radio, i.e., humor used by air personalities, has remained largely unstudied.

Can the variation in listener response to radio humor be accounted for? The relationship of five demographic variables to five types of humor was tested by regression analysis. The intent was to learn the extent to which each variable contributed to appreciation of each type of humor.

One hundred sixty subjects were exposed to fifteen humorous radio segments. …

Decision Making Of Chief Executives In Relation To Strategic Issues: An Empirical Study Of The Impact Of Industry Stability And Industry Complexity Upon The Complexity Of Decision Making Behavior Of Chief Executives Of Manufacturing Firms In The Southeastern United States, Charles Steven Arendall

Doctoral Dissertations

Recent studies on the organizational level of strategy have concluded that environmental factors have a significant impact on the strategic decision processes of organizations, and that the contingent nature of this relationship has implications for the performance of firms operating under various industry conditions. In addition, studies on individual decision making have shown that characteristics of the decision task affect the type of decision making behavior utilized by the individual. This study integrates these two bodies of literature in examining the decision making behavior of chief executives in relation to the strategic issues which face their organizations.

The sample used …

Influence Of Quality Of Worklife Variables On The Retention And Career Satisfaction Of Science And Mathematics Teachers, Jerry D. Barker

Doctoral Dissertations

Teacher shortages are predicted in all areas of public education. These shortages are already a reality for science and mathematics. The overall purpose of this study was to identify major workplace variables that affect job satisfaction within educational organizations. Once identified these variables were utilized to construct an intervention framework grounded in the principles of the Quality of Work-life (QWL) paradigm. The investigation was designed as a descriptive study utilizing a survey instrument and interviews developed around the QWL model of workplace satisfaction.

The study sample included 479 secondary classroom teachers representing a diverse range of school district types from …

A Comparison Of The Effect Of Using Computer Calls And Personal Calls For Improving Public Attendance In The Public High Schools, Maurice M. Mcdonald Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Research supporting a positive correlation between parents awareness of their children’s school absenteeism and improved pupil attendance is limited and studies related to the use of telephone computers as viable alternatives for improving parental notification and reducing pupil absenteeism is non-existent. The primary purposes of the study were (1) to add to the body of research which deals with the relationship between parental awareness and pupil attendance and (2) to provide public school decision makers with data which would assist them in determining if telephone computers are effective, cost-beneficial alternatives to using personnel for notifying parents of their children’s non-attendance. …

The Concept Of The Object Scale And The Assessment Of Object Representation, Larry F. Brown

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined the Developmental Analysis of the Concept of the Object Scale, a measure of object representation based on the Rorschach human response. The general aim of the study was to investigate the scale’s power as a means of assessing two distinct aspects of object-representational functioning, namely, the internal capacity to relate to others and the cognitive-perceptual complexity and organization of images of self and others.

The Rorschach human responses of 29 subjects drawn from both outpatient clinical and nonclinical populations were scored according to the criteria specified by the Concept of the Object Scale. Independent assessments of the …

The Firm's Decision To Issue Debt Privately: Motivations And Costs, David William Blackwell

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the issue cost of public utility debt sold publicly and privately from June 1979 to December 1983 and determines: (1) whether private and public debt have the same issue cost for firms who substitute between private placements and public sales (switch hitters), ceteris paribus; (2) whether issue cost differences between public issues and private placements by switch hitters vary with the degree of market uncertainty; (3) whether firms who do not substitute between private placements and public sales (non-switch hitters) choose to issue debt privately because the agency costs of debt can be resolved less expensively in …

Use Of Eye Movement As An Indicator Of Sensory Components In Thought, Michael Orval Buckner

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate some of the basic tenets of the Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) eye movement model which state that specific eye movements are indicative of when a person is thinking visually, auditorily, and/or kinesthetically. Forty-eight graduate and undergraduate students from educational psychology classes were interviewed and were asked to concentrate on a single thought while their eye movements were videotaped. They were subsequently asked if their thoughts contained visual, auditory, and/or kinesthetic components. Two NLP trained observers independently rated edited silent videotapes of the subjects and reported the presence of eye movements posited by NLP …

Importance Of Teaching Competencies For Secondary Teachers In North Carolina As Perceived By Educational Practitioners And Policy Makers, Colleen K. Cody

Doctoral Dissertations

The purposes of this study were to determine if there were any consensus among superintendents, chairpersons of the boards of education, and principals in North Carolina relative to the perceived importance of teaching competencies for the secondary teacher and to identify the competencies considered most and least critical to secondary teacher job performance. The North Carolina Teacher Performance Appraisal Instrument competencies were used for this study. The 34 competencies were grouped under 10 major functions which were also analyzed for this study.

Data were gathered from 289 respondents who were mailed a questionnaire containing the 34 competency statements in the …

An Epistemological Analysis Of The Economic Writings Of Sir Dudley North, George Dorian Choksy

Doctoral Dissertations

The existing secondary literature on the life and writings of Sir Dudley North is scant and incomplete, and contains substantial factual errors. In this dissertation, North's complete economic principles are reconstructed from primary sources; North invented a price mechanics of markets, a specie-flow mechanics, and a national income mechanics. The epistemological device of the conceptualized reality is used to analyze the sources of North's economic principles; his economics is decomposed into its constituent parts of historical and empirical fact matrix, and hypothetical and theoretical belief system. North's failure to establish a paradigm is explained, in terms of political considerations

The Effect Of Particle Dynamics On Turbulence Measurements With The Laser Doppler Velocimeter, Robert H. Nichols

Doctoral Dissertations

The laser velocimeter (LV) is currently being used by many researchers to nonintrusively obtain velocity data in complex flow fields. The LV measures the velocity of small particles entrained in the flow field of interest. The fluid velocity and turbulent velocity correlations are then inferred from statistical analysis of these particle velocity measurements under the assumption that the particles exactly reproduce the motion of the fluid. This assumption needs careful evaluation since it is fundamental to the application of the LV.

The particle equation of motion was carefully analyzed to determine what form is required for evaluating the turbulence response …

Determination Of Content Of A Surgical Nurse Internship Program, Rosemary R. Fritsch

Doctoral Dissertations

[original is missing page v which contains the end of the abstract]

Descriptions of nurse internships have reflected a broad diversity of schemes in content, objectives and outcomes. The paucity of research about most aspects of the program supported the need to investigate the content. It was vitally important that the curriculum for the internship program be cogent to the developmental needs of the nurse interns.

The primary Purpose of this study was to determine the essential content of a surgical nurse internship program. Five groups of nurses ranked and weighted 68 topics which were organized into five categories: professional, …

Managing Instructional Information: A Decision Support System To Aid In Textbook Selection, Fred B. Wheeler Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of developing a decision support system--a set of computerized information management tools to collect, store, analyze, and report information--to aid in the selection of classroom textbooks. The study was designed to assess the economic, technical, and operational feasibility using a management information systems model. A textbook selection decision was regarded as a combination of both operational control and managerial control decision types, semi-structured in nature, requiring a wide range of data having specific information characteristics.

Working in a rural North Carolina school system, three administrators, twelve special education teachers and …

The Effect Of Job Involvement And Organizational Commitment On The Psychometric Characteristics Of Job Performance Ratings, Steven Ronald Gordon

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine a theoretical model developed to predict the influence of rater job involvement and organizational commitment on the process of appraising employee job performance . The model is based upon Fishbein ' s (1967) theory relating attitudes to behavioral intentions and specific behaviors . Organizational commitment is incorporated as an indication of the subjective norm and the performance -- self-esteem definition of job involvement represents the attitudinal component . Hypotheses proposed to test the model addressed the psychometric characteristics of ratings assigned by individuals with varying levels of a composite measure of job …