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High Speed Crack Propagation And Branching Under Uniaxial And Biaxial, S Anand

Open Access Master's Theses

A photoelastic investigation of high speed crack propagation and branching in a brittle polyester material called Homalite 100 was conducted for both uniaxial and biaxial loading conditions. Cross type specimens were loaded in a specially designed loading fixture where loads perpendicular and parallel to the crack could be controlled independently.

The photoelastic data obtained were analyzed to get the stress intensity factor K, the crack tip position a, the crack velocity a and other non-singular stress field coefficients including the stress acting parallel to the crack, a . ox

It was observed that K showed an increasing trend as the …

Race, Gender, Socioeconomic Status And Self-Disclosure, Stanley Gene Cosby

Open Access Master's Theses

An experiment was performed to assess how gender, race, and socioeconomic status influence self-disclosure. These three factors were investigated by having the participants rate their degree of self-disclosure to each parent and to a male friend and female friend. The Jourard Self-Disclosure Questionaire was used.

The subjects consisted of eighty college students: twenty white males, twenty while females, twenty black males, and twenty black females. All subjects were enrolled at two Rhode Island College and were tested in a group by an examiner of the same sex and race.

The results were analyzed using a 2 x 2 x 2 …

Resistivity Methods Applied To Pollution Detection In A Crystalline Bedrock Aquifer At Little Compton, R.I., David Patrick Sanders

Open Access Master's Theses

Surface methods of electrical resistivity measurement are used to detect a layer of salt-polluted groundwater within a crystalline bedrock aquifer. Fractured, schistose bedrock overlain by a 15 ft (4.6m) thickness of jointed till has been polluted by runoff from a storage facility for road salt in Little Compton, Rhode Island. Conductivity measurements in two bedrock monitoring wells on the site confirm the existence of highly mineralized groundwater in the bedrock aquifer. Interpretations of two vertical electrical sounding (VEST) curves obtained slightly up-gradient topographically from the pollution source show that a 160-177 ft (49-54 m) thickness of bedrock is polluted while …

Environmental Site Analysis Of Industrial Park Areas - Cumberland, Rhode Island, William Robert Lepak

Open Access Master's Theses

With a 1980 population of 27,069, the Town of Cumberland contains 28 square miles (17,856 acres) in area. The triangular-shaped town is located in the extreme northeast corner of the state and is bordered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to the north and east; the Cities of Central Falls and Woonsocket to the south and northwest, respectively; and by the Blackstone River which forms the town's western border (see Figure 1) .

Land use in Cumberland can be classified as relatively undeveloped in the north, moderately developed along state highways in central portions of the town, and heavily urbanized in …

Oilspill Hindcast Simulation Of The Ixtoc 1 Gulf Of Mexico Spill, Eric L. Anderson

Open Access Master's Theses

An oil spill model developed at the University of Rhode Island was used to hindcast the Ixtoc 1 oil well blowout using three pairs of wind and current field inputs. The sensitivity of the model trajectory predictions to these environmental inputs is discussed and comparisons made to overflight field data collected by the United States Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Oil mass balance model predictions and field data derived mass balance estimates are compared for sea surface, water column, and atmospheric partitions. Surface oil trajectory and subsurface elevated hydrocarbon water masses are mapped using the best of …

Some Aspects Of The Effects Of Heavy Metal Pollution On Microbal Sediment Populations, Steven Arcidiacono

Open Access Master's Theses

Sediment populations were tested for metal resistance by the spread plate method on Trypticase Soy Agar (TSA) amended with 50 ug/ml of Hg, Cd, Pb, Sn, or Zn. Those metals that were found in high concentration in Pawtuxet River sediment (i.e., Pb, Sn, and Zn) were less inhibitory to the sediment population than either Hg or Cd, present only in low amounts. Metal content of the Pawtuxet River sediment was determined by atomic absorbtion spectrophotometry. Several sediment isolates were selected and resistance patterns to the five metals were determined by the replicate method. A wide range of resistance was found …

Structural And Systemic Change In Norms And Roles: An Eskimo Example, Marianne Frances Mcnabb

Open Access Master's Theses

This thesis examines the integration of Eskimo norms and roles in Northwest Alaska, with particular emphasis on the changing roles of women. The hypothesis states that changes in Eskimo norms and role relations are influenced by Western social factors that impede traditional Eskimo adaptive processes. The principal methodology utilized was participant observation, which involved observation and participation in the full range of summer subsistence fishing, hunting and gathering activities and other elements of women's daily social and economic life in a small Eskimo village, Kiana, during the summer of 1976. Additional data were collected during subsequent visits in 1980 and …

Narrative Understanding And The Interpretation Of Human Action, John Vaillancourt Connelly

Open Access Master's Theses

The ultimate aim of this thesis is to articulate and defend the following four hypotheses, each of which logically follows from the former hypothesis and/or hypotheses. First, that the structure of human action is intentional, teleological and historicity-laden. Second, based upon the ontological structure of human action, understanding human action takes the form of a narrative description (interpretation). Third, because understanding human action takes the form of a narrative descripti6n (which is a specific literary genre), it follows that the process of understanding human action is modelled or best typified by the process of interpreting a narrative text. Fourth, because …

The Impact Of Beltways Upon Selected Central City Characteristics: A Social And Economic Indicator Analysis, Deborah M. Kupa

Open Access Master's Theses

The focus of this research project is on the development and testing of a methodology to assess the impacts of a beltway upon the central city it surrounds.

The analytic method employed in this study is social and economic indicator analysis. It is intended to provide the evaluator of highway impacts with a framework through which specific cases can be applied. The information system which is developed can then be employed in making policy decisions concerning the highway's impact upon its central city.

The methodology used in the project is tested through an application to a specific beltway and the …

Land Values And Development Patterns In An Urban Fringe Community : East Greenwich, Rhode Island, Sarah Elizabeth Hughes

Open Access Master's Theses

Small towns on the urban fringe have experienced many changes over the past fifty years. With advancing technology, their effective distance from the urban center has been shortened. Improved transportation and communication systems have made the city much more accessible. People can now work in the city, yet live in the country. This reduces the strength of the local economic base, but increases residentially oriented activity.

The exodus to the country resulted in widespread land speculation and hundreds of new suburban communities. Large tracts of land, previously vacant or sometimes farmed, at the fringes of urban areas were subdivided and …

Binding Affinity Of Beta-Adrenoceptors In Atria Of Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic And Normal Rats, Edward James Mckenna

Open Access Master's Theses

Diabetes mellitus is associated with a reduced responsiveness to catecholamines. The reduced responsiveness may be attributable to a reduction in beta-adrenoceptor sensitivity to catecholamines. Radioligand binding studies demonstrate that chemically-induced diabetes reduces beta-adrenoceptor number without altering betaadrenoceptor drug binding affinities. The present study re-examines the effect of chronic (10 weeks) streptozotocin-induced diabetes in the rat on beta-adrenoceptor drug binding affinity, using pharmacological techniques, to test the results of the binding studies. The study employed two different methods: partial irreversible receptor blockade and the use of a partial agonist, to determine betaadrenoceptor agonist binding affinity and the method of competitive antagonism …

An Investigation Of The Costs Of Municipal Services To Tax-Exempt Institutions Using Brown University As A Case Study, Laura Harbottle

Open Access Master's Theses

Granting exemptions from the property tax has been criticized because it eliminates a source of municipal revenue. Exempt properties appear to be concentrated in urban areas, so this effect is especially problematic for cities because of the existence of urban fiscal stress. Recent writers have indicated that exempt institutions may provide valuable services to their communities, but the cost of municipal services to their properties represents a significant fiscal impact on local governments.

This paper investigates the fiscal impact of a single exempt institution, Brown University, on the City of Providence, R.I. Fiscal impact analyses were used to measure the …

The Nature Of Pentecostal Religious Commitment: Views From The Outside And The Inside, Robin Louise Gavitt

Open Access Master's Theses

This study is an ethnosemantic investigation of a local Pentecostal church. The investigation focused on how the members of the congregation view the nature of their religious commitment. This insider's perception , otherwise referred to as the private face of religiosity, was preserved by employing a research tool known as the ethnosemantic interview. The ethnosemantic approach was especially suited here since its main objective was to discover and describe a cultural system in terms which preserved the insider's point of view. The method avoided the assumption of what was to be considered relevant by making a verbatim record of what …

Acoustic Transients In Ultrasonic Pulse-Echo Sytstems, Glenn A. Andrew

Open Access Master's Theses

The transient behavior of an ultrasonic transducer operating in a pulse-echo system is studied both analytically and experimentally. Mathematically, the acoustic field is described using an impulse response approach, while a distributed parameter model is used to represent the transducer dynamics. The harmonic pressure field from a circular piston is first presented using a Fourier integral representation of the impulse response. A pulse-echo model for an ultrasonic system is then developed and used to evaluate the pulsed acoustic field response from a transducer for a variety of field points and electrical excitations. A multipulse structure is clearly observed in both …

Effect Of Horizontal Shear Transfer On Stresses Beneath Steel Bearing Plates, Hasan S. Arouri

Open Access Master's Theses

In practice, the design of pot bearing steel plates is usually based on assuming that stresses beneath the plate are uniformly distributed. There is also no consideration given to the effect of shear stresses transmitted through the interface between the surfaces of the Plates and the supporting concrete abutment.

However, in this analytical investigation, the behavior of pot bearing steel plates supported by concrete abutment was studied using finite elements analysis. There were no special assumptions made concerning stresses beneath the plate. Nevertheless, the interface between the surf aces of the steel plate and the concrete abutment was simulated using …

Interfacial Area Analysis Of A Non-Newtonian Liquid And Air Flowing Cocurrently Up In A Bubble Column, Carlos E. Trigueros

Open Access Master's Theses

Gas holdup, bubble size and specific interfacial area studies were made in a 33cm inside diameter bubble column with air-carboxymethyl cellulose aqueous solution as the system. Experiments were performed with a fixed porous plate gas distributor by varying superficial gas velocity The flow patterns of interest were bubble and bubble-slug patterns. Gas holdup data was obtained by the bed expansion method and bubble size distribution by taking photographs with a boroscope at different radial and axial positions.

Gas holdup decreased with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) concentration and exhibits a maximum with superficial gas velocity. This maximum also diminishes with gas CMC …

John Henry Newman And The Significance Of Theistic Proof, Mary Susan Glasson

Open Access Master's Theses

The central problem of this paper is to decide the significance of formal argument for God's existence, in light of John Henry Newman's distinction between notional and real assent. If God in fact exists, then only real assent to the proposition asserting his existence is adequate. Notional assent is inadequate because it is assent to a notion or abstraction, and not to a present reality. But on Newman's view it is notional assent which normally follows on a formal inference, therefore the significance of traditional formal arguments is thrown into question.

Newman has claimed that our attitude toward a proposition …

A Critical Analysis Of The Design Features Supported By The Systems With Ada, Sunil Agarwal

Open Access Master's Theses

Certain Simplifications in the programming language ADA are suggested. The simplifications include the removal of derived types and minimization of intertask comminication in multicomputer like environments to simplify the language design. Suggestions are also made to improve the espressiveness and capabilities of Ada by introducing subprogram types, association of implicit queues with entry points of a task, redefinition of the assignment operator and a mechanism for descheduling tasks. These could lead to improve run-time efficiency, exception handling mechanism and to achieve simplicity in the language design.

Separation And Determination Of Arsenic (V) And Arsenic (Iii) In Sea Water By Solvent Extraction And Atomic Absorbtion Spectrophotography Via The Hydride Generation Technique, Samuel Asare Amankwah

Open Access Master's Theses

Arsenic(III) and arsenic(V) species exist in sea water at concentration levels of less than 0.2 ng/ml to greater than 50 ng/ml. The concentration levels of these species in sea water are currently questionable due mostly to possible interferences.

A reliable analytical method has been developed to separate and determine these species in sea water. The method involves the extraction of APDC-As(III) complex into a chloroform layer at a pH range of 4.0- 4.5. Wet ashing of the chloroform layer followed by reduction of arsenic(V) to arsenic(III) by potassium iodide makes it possible to determine arsenic by the atomic absorption spectrometry-hydride …

The Effect Of Chronically Administered Lsd On The Serotonergic Nervous System Of The Rat, Bruce E. Fishman

Open Access Master's Theses

Legitimate and illegitimate use of lysergic acid diethylanide (LSD) increased dramatically in the 1960s. Since then, a number of studies have shown that LSD induces psychotic symptoms in the user, suggesting a possible correlation between exposure to LSD and certain psychoses. This hypothesis is supported by repeated observations that LSD inhibits 5-HT systems in the brain and that central 5-HT systems may be implicated in certain psychoses. The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that chronic administration of LSD to rats has an observable effect on 5-HT neuronal functioning in the brain. Rats were exposed to varying doses …

Collagenase And Elastase Activities In Human And Murine Cancer Cells And Their Modulation By Dimethylformamide, David Ray Olsen

Open Access Master's Theses

The transformation from carcinoma in situ to invasive carcinoma occurs when tumor cells traverse extracellular matracies allowing them to move into parenchymal tissues. Tumor invasion may be aided by the secretion of collagen and elastin degrading proteases from tumor and tumor-associated cells. In this study ~ the production of Type I and Type V collagen degrading activities and elastolytic activities by DLD-1 human colon carcinoma cells, B16-F10 murine melanoma cells, and normal human dermal fibroblasts was examined. DLD-1 cells and normal fibroblasts produced similarly high levels of collagenolytic activity. DLD-1 cells also produced high levels of elastinolytic activity; this activity …

The Use Of Isolate Children As Peer Modifiers In The Treatment Of Social Skills Deficits, Diane Marques

Open Access Master's Theses

Increasing amounts of attention have been paid in recent years to the effects of peer interaction on healthy development in children. The present study taught isolate children to act as peer modifiers in a semi-structured play group, delivering reinforcement for two classes of play initiations. Frequency of the two classes of play initiations, amount of positive reinforcement delivered, negative behavior and hovering emitted by isolates was recorded on a daily basis in a free play session preceding treatment.

Five isolate children were selected using the standardized criteria in the Social Assessment Manual for Preschool Level. Using a multiple base line …

The Effect Of A Hypocaloric Diet On The Body Weight, Body Composition And Serum Hdl Levels Of Male Endurance Athletes, Ellen Carol Alina

Open Access Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a hypocaloric diet on the serum HDL levels and body composition of endurance athletes. Sixteen male athletes, 20 - 45 years of age, volunteered to run 10 miles daily during this 18 day study. For the first 7 days of the study, the subjects consumed a baseline diet and a supplement (muffin) to maintain body weight. The experimental period included a hypocaloric diet which the runner consumed from days 8 - 18. Phlebotomy occurred on days 1, 8, 10, 12, 15, and 18. The blood samples were analyzed for …