Digital Commons Network^™

Interaction Of Beta-Adrenergic Receptors, Nnk, And Ethanol In Selected Pancreatic Carcinoma Cell Lines, Diann Lynn Weddle

Doctoral Dissertations

Pancreatic carcinoma is the leading cause of cancer death in people although it ranks 11th in overall cancer incidence. The most common primary malignancy of the pancreas is ductal adenocarcinoma which represents 75% of all exocrine pancreatic neoplasms. The pathophysiology of pancreatic carcinoma remains unclear, if not controversial. Tobacco and alcohol are risk factors. Ki-ras and p53 commonly occur in genetic mutations, 75% and 50% respectively. However, the interconnection between these risk factors and genetic mutations and their role in pancreatic carcinogenesis has not been consistent. It has been reported that patients who smoke and drank had a lower incidence …

Removal Period Cherokee Households In Southwestern North Carolina: Material Perspectives On Ethnicity And Cultural Differentiation, Brett High Riggs

Doctoral Dissertations

Nineteenth century accounts of Cherokee Indian society consistently refer to the existence of two classes among the Cherokees: the acculturated "mixed blood[s], who speak English and are considered the intelligent and wealthy class" and the culturally conservative fullbloods, whom white observers denigrated as "backward," "indolent," and "ignorant" pagans. This perceived dichotomy reflected the poles of a socioeconomic and cultural continuum that developed as a result of the differential Westernization of Cherokee individuals and households during the post-Revolutionary War era. As these socioeconomic classes diverged, they developed as the primary axis of competition and conflict within Cherokee society. Because these groups …

Personality As A Predictor Of Reading Comprehension Skills, Victoria Jacobs-Gray

Doctoral Dissertations

In an attempt to reduce the number of students who begin their college careers with a year of remedial and developmental reading courses. This study was designed to search for a method of early detection of possible reading comprehension skill problems. Early identification of students who may be predisposed to problems with particular reading comprehension skills could lead to earlier intervention.

To accomplish this the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) score of 400 college bound high school students were paired and analyzed. The thirteen reading comprehension skills showed a statistical difference in the mastery …

Quaternary Vertebrate Paleoecology Of The Central Mississippi Alluvial Valley; Implications For The Initial Human Occupation, Michael William Ruddell

Doctoral Dissertations

This study is based upon a Quaternary vertebrate assemblage from the Central Mississippi Alluvial Valley donated to the Memphis Pink Palace Museum, the Connaway Collection. A total of 2288 skeletal elements were analyzed. Of the 2288 analyzed, 1097 were identified minimally to the generic level. Significantly, 610 (NISP) of the elements identified were attributed to animals with a grazing or open grassland adaptation and 431 (NISP) adapted to a woodland or forest edge adaptation. Paleoecological analysis of this fauna along with nearby river valley assemblages, paleovegetation, geomorphology and microvertebrates assemblages of the Midsouth were analyzed in an attempt to understand …

Theoretical Understanding Of Female Intercollegiate Athletes' Perceptions On Career Development, Kyung-Hoon Lee

Doctoral Dissertations

There are rapidly rising numbers of female athletes who enter and graduate from colleges and universities in the United States. Among those who graduate from colleges/universities, there are significant numbers of female athletes who have to encounter and overcome various types of social barriers as they pursue athletic career opportunities in American society. Under the influence of male-dominated social orders, female athletes may have limited opportunities in their chosen sports careers when compared to their male counterparts. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore how female intercollegiate athletes understand their athletic and academic experiences and their perceptions of …

Molecular And Genetic Analysis Of The Orpk Mouse Model Of Polycystic Kidney Disease : Searching For Treatments And Modifer Genes, Carla S. Sommardahl

Doctoral Dissertations

The orpk line of mice was previously identified as a unique model for human polycystic kidney disease. The most prominent phenotype is the invariable development of bilateral polycystic kidneys and abnormalities in the intrahepatic biliary tract and pancreas.

Taxol has been reported to be of therapeutic benefit in the cpk mouse model of polycystic kidney disease. The effects of taxol treatment on the development of renal cysts and biliary dysplasia/hyperplasia in the orpk mouse mutant were studied. There were no significant differences between the treatment and control groups with respect to weight gain, survival, urine to serum osmolality ratio, and …

Venturi Drift Reduction Nozzles : Spray Pattern Characteristics, Efficacy Of Postemergence Herbicides, And Accuracy Of Herbicide Placement, Robert E. Etheridge

Doctoral Dissertations

Laboratory and field studies were conducted to evaluate the drift potential and efficacy of commonly used postemergence herbicides applied through venturi-type drift reduction nozzles as compared to a standard flat fan nozzle. Laboratory studies were conducted utilizing a Malvem laser droplet/particle size analyzer to determine the droplet spectra produced by a given nozzle. Spray solutions of glufosinate, glyphosate, and paraquat were applied through all combinations of five nozzle types (four venturi), three tip sizes, and four application pressures. Nozzles were also evaluated for pattern uniformity utilizing water plus surfactant at one pressure. When averaged over herbicide, tip size, and pressure …

Application Of Municipal Biosolids For Production Of Tomatoes And Snap Beans, Rebecca Aynn Gilfillen

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined the use of biosolid materials as a fertilizer in the production of tomatoes and snap beans. Biosolid materials are being produced at an ever increasing rate and land application of these materials is potentially one of the best economic and environmental options. Treatments for tomatoes were established as a control, inorganic fertilizer, liquid-slurry applied at N or P rate and co-compost municipal solid waste applied at N or P rate. Snap bean treatments were a control, inorganic fertilizer, liquid slurry and co-compost applied at P rate. Data was collected on yields of tomato and snap beans. Fruit …

Flavor And Storage Stability Of Potato Chips Fried In Cottonseed And Sunflower Oils And Sunflower:Palm Olein Oil Blends, Philipus Pangloli

Doctoral Dissertations

To increase stability of sunflower oil (SFO) during frying and of potato chips during storage, 20 and 40% palm oil olein (POO) were added to SFO and compared to cottonseed oil (CSO). The oils/blends were sampled fresh, after break-in heating and at 2 5- and 5-hr frying. Oils were analyzed for of fatty acid composition, C18:2/C16:0 ratio, total polar compounds (TPO), free fatty acids (FFA), conjugated dienoic acids (ODA), and color. Moisture and fat levels and Agtron color of fresh chips were determined. Potato chips from each oil/blend were stored for 0 wk and 3 or 6 wk in dark …

A Post Hoc Study Of Young Motherhood, Diane Long Joines

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was a phenomenological description of the experience of young women who became teenage mothers and went on to complete their high school education. Using the dialogic interview, six women were asked to talk about the experience of being pregnant and being a mother while they were in school. Thenarratives, though different in content, were rich in detail and depth and revealed a structure consistent across all interviews.The method of analysis in phenomenological studies is the hermeneutic circle. In This tradition, data was analyzed with my major professor, an interpretive group, and a fellow group member. …

The Beauties And Beasts Of Nineteenth-Century French Fiction, Patricia Ann Mccoy

Doctoral Dissertations

For a number of years prior to commencing the research for this dissertation, the author of this study worked with ethnographic appropriations of popular motifs from fairy tales and myths. It was here that she first discovered the unique renderings of certain themes from one generation to the other and from one century into another. The investigation described in the pages that follow are but one facet of the author's interest in textual poachings, reader response, and horizons of expectation in literature, film, theater, and the fine arts applied to certain works of nineteenth-century French fiction.In this study of "The …

The Deterministic Repeatable Inventory Routing Problem, Anurag Agarwal

Doctoral Dissertations

The Deterministic Repeatable Inventory Routing Problem (DRIRP) is a combination of a Vehicle Routing Problem and an Inventory ManagementProblem. It is the problem of finding a set of vehicle routes and delivery/pickup amounts servicing customers with deterministic production rates. The customers have limited local storage and thus a visit must be scheduled before the stockout or overflow level is reached. The objective of the problem is to minimize the per unit cost of picking up the product.Moreover, the problem is constrained to finding solutions that are repeatable in a cyclic fashion. This means that, once established, an optimal routingstrategy can …

Aspects Of The Biology Of Daphnia Lumhotzi (Sars) In Ft. Loudoun Reservoir, Tennessee, Rebecca S. Brown

Doctoral Dissertations

The introduction of a species generates interest in its life history, ecosystem impacts,and reasons for successful colonization. Daphnia lumholtzi is an introduced zooplankton species native to Africa, Australia, and Asia. The first report of D. lumholtzi was in 1991 in Fairfield Lake, Texas. Since 1991, D. lumholtzi has become widespread throughout the southwest and south central states and as far north as Ohio. In Tennessee, D.lumholtzi has dispersed throughout many of the Tennessee Valley Authority reservoirs.To study the dynamics of D. lumholtzi in a local aquatic system. Ft. Loudoun Reservoir,a riverine reservoir in the Tennessee Valley Authority system, was chosen …

Solventless Suzuki-Coupling Reactions On Palladium Doped Potassium Fluoride Alumina, Clayton Maxwell Hair

Doctoral Dissertations

Reactions of boronic acids with organic halides in the presence of palladium catalysts, the Suzuki Reaction, play an important role in modern organic chemistry. Numerous organic syntheses performed in the presence of alumina, Al₂O₃, exist in the literature. It has been found that the Suzuki-Coupling reaction can be carried out on commercially available alumina doped with potassium fluoride, 40% by weight, in the complete absence of organic solvents. This new solid phase synthesis is convenient, efficient, and environmentally friendly. The effects of substrate, temperature, reactant ratio, base, catalyst concentration, and the unique character of the KF/Al …

Living As Subject : The Stories Of Five Women With Disabilities, Lois M. Symington

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of the processes by which a select group of women with disabilities have reached a position of subjectivity. Subjectivity is defined as a process of becoming—a process in which women placed on the margin of society define themselves and use power and agency to effect personal change as well as change in others. Women with disabilities are oppressed, perceived and portrayed as roleless, and considered objects of pity and sympathy.

The five women participating in this study have developed critical consciousness about their status in our society, and in …

Understanding Isothermal Crystallization And Subsequent Melting Behavior Of Syndiotactic Polypropylene, Pitt Supaphol

Doctoral Dissertations

Various issues related to isothermal quiescent crystallization and subsequent melting behavior of syndiotactic polypropylene (sPP) were investigated in this dissertation. On the study of isothermal melt- and cold-crystallization kinetics and subsequent melting behavior of sPP, the overall crystallization rate parameters for melt-crystallization process, when plotted as a function of crystallization temperature, exhibited an unmistakable double bell-shaped curve; whereas, those for cold-crystallization process showed the typical bell-shaped curve. Comparison of the overall crystallization rate parameters obtained for both melt- and cold-crystallization processes indicate that crystallization from the glassy state proceeds at a much greater rate than from the melt state. The …

A Study Of The Variational Aspects For The Fock Expansion Of The Solution Of Hydrogenic Atoms In Constant Magnetic Fields, James B. Sternberg

Doctoral Dissertations

The study of hydrogen in a constant magnetic field has been one of the most persistent problems in non-relativistic quantum mechanics. Although it is conceptually one of the simplest problems that one can think of, the non-separability of the Schrodinger Equation containing both a Coulombic term and a constant magnetic term in theHamiltonian has made the problem especially difficult. In this dissertation, we apply a solution in the form of the Fock expansion to this problem. It is shown that the logarithmic terms which are associated with the Fock expansion vanish. We then derive and solve a three term recurrence …

A History Of The 1970x Office Of Women's Programs At The University Of Tennessee : A Forerunner To Change, Lin Stepp

Doctoral Dissertations

This study has documented the history of the Office of Women'sPrograms at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and described the experiences of participants who helped to begin or worked with theUniversity office. Records and information regarding the Office ofWomen's Programs had not been retained, and its history, contributions,and leaders were being forgotten.Information for the descriptive history and participant themes,and the answers to the research questions, were found by (1) studying related literature, (2) interviewing participants, (3) analyzing written documents and archival records, and (4) looking for artifacts to provide visual evidence. The cumulative data were analyzed and synthesized into a …

Betting The Farm : The Effect Of Prior Performance On The Framing Of Strategic Risk Decisions, Craig A. Turner

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to address the effects of prior performance on strategic risk decisions of the firm. Strategy researchers have traditionally sought to focus on the impacts of strategic risk decisions. such asResearch and Development, Diversification, Credit Risk,and Financial Risk, on performance. The findings have been inconclusive and many times contradictory. Thisresearch is based on the premise that the prior performance of the firm and the outcomes associated with the risk decision involved will effect decisions related to the risk. Therefore, this dissertation seeks to provide insight into the question what is the nature of the relationship …

The Experience Of Religious Serpent Handling : A Phenomenological Study, William Paul Williamson

Doctoral Dissertations

An interesting practice among certain Holiness-Pentecostal sects of Appalachia is the religious taking up of venomous serpents in obedience to a perceived mandate of scripture-Mark 16:17-18. The purpose of the present study was to describe the first person experience of this practice through use of a phenomenological method involving dialogic interviews and hermeneutic interpretation. In the course of this investigation, 17 participants, 5 of them women, were engaged in open-ended dialogue in which they described various personal experiences of handling poisonous serpents. From a hermeneutic analysis of the transcribed texts, a consistent pattern of four major themes emerged to characterize …

Stability Analysis Of Rock Blocks Around Tunnels, Yan Wu

Doctoral Dissertations

The mechanical response of rock blocks around tunnels is affected by factors such as the orientation and shear strength of the rock joints, the redistributed stresses, supportforces and other applied loads, and the shape and size of the tunnel. The safety of rock blocks can be studied by means of block theory. Since block theory ignores surface tractions arising from redistributed stresses, it tends to be over-conservative and may lead to uneconomical designs. When redistributed stresses are considered, however, the system of forces governing block safety becomes statically indeterminate. Indeterminacy in the mechanical response leads to uncertainty in determination of …

Pedagogy And Power Relations In English Studies ; Insights From Literary And Rhetorical Theory, Jeffrey Walter Walkington

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I examine, against a history of current literature and composition teaching, the question of teacher authority versus student freedom in four different sites: the writing conference, especially as it takes place in writing centers; the“open” class discussion, particularly the issue of whether it encourages dissent or defusesit; non authoritarian strategies such as teaching in a circle and all they signify about classroom hierarchies; and the use of networked computers in the reading and writing course, which has been both endorsed and excoriated by leaders in the discipline.Chapter two draws heavily on recent social constructionist theories of composition …

Ruminant Respiratory Syncytial Virus Subgroup Distinction Using Synthetic Peptides From The Extracellular Central Region Of The Attachment Protein-G, Steven Timothy Grubbs

Doctoral Dissertations

Subgroup specific, peptide-based, enzyme immunoassays were developed from the unique extracellular, central region (residues 158-189) located between two mucin-like regions of the attachment protein-G from ovine and bovine respiratory syncytial viruses. Antigenic peptides [ovine (residues 173-189) and bovine (residues 171-187)] used to develop the enzyme immunoassays were identified by a combination of algorithms and epitope mapping from each G-glycoprotein. The negative threshold for each enzyme immunoassay was established as the mean optical density of indirect immunofluorescent antibody-negative bovine sera plus three standard deviations. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of each enzyme immunoassay was determined by comparison with …

Evaluation Of Nitric Oxide Production By Bovine Alveolar Macrophages, Gary L. Mason

Doctoral Dissertations

Bovine respiratory disease complex (BRD) is the most costly disease problem of cattle in North America. BRD is multifactorial with contributions from management practices, environmental factors, and infectious agents including Pasteurella haemolytica A1, bovine herpes virus type 1 (BHV), parainfluenza type3 (PIS), and bovine virus diarrhea virus (BVD). Alveolar macrophages are intimately involved in defense of the lower respiratory tract against infectious agents. Expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and production of nitric oxide (NO ) is a key defensive response of rodent macrophages.Microbicidal activity of rodent macrophage derived-NO- has been demonstrated against many taxonomically diverse infectious agents in …

Separation Of Selected Flavor Compound Enantiomers By Simulated Moving Bed Chromatography : Screening Of 1-Phenyl-1-Propanol For Antimicrobial Activity, Saad Khattabi

Doctoral Dissertations

While the concept of simulated moving bed technology (SMB) has been known for almost forty years, its application to fine chemistry, and chiral separations in particular, did not really develop until recently. SMB is a continuous countercurrent chromatographic technique geared mainly toward production, limited to binary mixture separations. Such limitation becomes of no concern, when chiral separations are considered.

In the first phase of this study our objectives were to use SMB to separate enantiomers of selected flavor compounds under both linear and non-linear conditions. In the linear case, we confirmed that determining operating conditions for an SMB separation, is …

The Relationship Of Parents'/Guardians' Self-Management To Their Children's Self-Management, Academic Performance, And Health, Nan Mccammon Gaylord

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined parents'/guardians' self-management and its relationship to their children's self-management, academic performance, and health. It also examined the relationship between these children's self-management and their own health and academic performance. The sample consisted of 94 seventh grade student and parent/guardian pairs from an inner city school in the southeast. A parental consent form, student assent form, consent form for the release of academic records, the Lifestyle Approaches Inventory (Williams, Moore, Pettibone, & Thomas, 1992) and the Lifestyle Approaches Inventory- Revised were sent home with every seventh grade student in the school. Participation was encouraged by offering incentives to …

Tungsten Fluorides : Synthesis And Characterization, And Electrochemical Investigations In The Flinak Molten Salt Eutectic, Sven Erik Eklund

Doctoral Dissertations

An improved method over a previous technique has been developed to determine the ppm oxide concentration of fluoride salts. The oxide is released as oxygen gas by the reaction of the test salt with potassium bromotetrafluoride at 450° C. The molecular oxygen released is then passed through a zirconia oxygen pump which selectively removes the oxygen. The current response is recorded as a chronoamperogram, from which the ppm oxide content of the salt can be obtained. Oxygen recovery from an yttrium oxide standard was better than 99%. The precision of analysis of FLINAK was better than 13% for samples containing …

Caregiver Personal Narrative As Guidance In Children's Socialization, Frank D. Castlebury

Doctoral Dissertations

Twenty-seven elementary aged children drawn from a community population were paired with their mothers and teachers in a study designed to assess adult caregiver's personal narratives. Personal narrative is defined as a caregiver's abstract summary of the social domain including rules for social interaction. For this study, personal narrative was solicited through a semi-structured interview that asked six questions about life at home for mothers and life at school for teachers. These narratives were coded along structural and thematic dimensions and included measures for coherence, narrative richness, and relationship quality. In separately scheduled one-hour observation sessions, mother-child and teacher-child behaviors …

Spontaneous Production Of Figurative Language And Gesture In College Lectures : A Comparison Across Disciplines, Daniel Paul Corts

Doctoral Dissertations

Previous figurative language research has focused primarily on theories of comprehension and word meaning and has been conducted in highly controlled experimental situations. As a result, little is known about the spontaneous production of figurative language in ongoing discourse, how it functions in various contexts, and how it relates to the production of gestures. Corts and Pollio (1999) addressed these issues by examining of figurative language and gesture production in college lectures. Their results indicated that figurative language was often produced in bursts of novel, coherent figures and concerned the primary topics of the lecture. Figurative language outside of the …

Investigation Of Band Dispersion In A Liquid Chromatography Column Using A Novel Visualization Technique, Brian Scott Broyles

Doctoral Dissertations

Direct on-column detection is a beneficial method to study the performance of liquid chromatography columns. Extra column contributions from column tubing,column end fittings, and detector effects are eliminated. The research presented here presents a novel detection method for making direct on-column measurement of column performance. By matching the refractive indices of the mobile phase,the stationary phase and the material of the bed enclosure, one can render transparent to the eye the chromatographic column which is normally opaque in nature. As a result, band visualization is readily obtained. High definition oncidium detection becomes feasible by using a photographic detector instead of …