Digital Commons Network^™

Procrastination : Development Of A Scale, Steven E. Newell

Masters Theses

Procrastination is a pervasive and recalcitrant problem. It is especially endemic to academic settings. This research reviews the major findings in the research literature and develops a procrastination scale that addresses some of the limitations found in previous self-report measures of procrastination.

Results support the Procrastination Scale's reliability and validity as a measure of procrastination. Also, the results replicate and extend information about the personality characteristics which appear to accompany and possibly facilitate the development of procrastination. These include social anxiety, public self-consciousness, passive-aggressiveness, and (inversely) self-esteem.

The Investigation Of The Relight Performance Of The Ct-114 Aircraft With Jp-8 Fuel, Darcy Robert Granley

Masters Theses

This thesis investigated the relight performance and defined the relight envelope of the CT-114/J85-CAN-40 engine using JP-8 fuel. This was determined by attempting airstarts at planned combinations of altitude and windmill RPM, and then recording the success or failure of each attempt, A total of 11 aircraft/engine combinations were tested for statistical confidence. The intention was to establish a relight envelope based on cold soaked aircraft because relight performance of cold fuel is poorer than warm fuel. Some of the flight testing was conducted when the ground ambient temperatures were below -20°C and the aircraft and fuel were cold soaked …

Reactive Distillation In Packed Columns, Mohamed A. Abdulla

Doctoral Dissertations

Reactive distillation is becoming a popular technique for chemical separation because it has many advantages over conventional distillation processes. The use of reactive distillation allows one to utilize the heat of reaction to enhance mass transfer, to influence the chemical equilibrium by removing the reaction products, and in some cases to overcome the restrictions of azeotropic mixtures. Although the results of many studies have been published dealing with the simulation of reactive distillation in plate columns, few publications have dealt with the simulation of reactive distillation in packed columns. In this study, a mathematical model was developed to simulate reactive …

Trust In Family Relationships : The Elderly Person And The Female Family Caregiver, Eileen Marie Amari-Vaught

Doctoral Dissertations

Elderly people and their family caregivers lack a much needed ethical framework for working through moral conflicts. Often, moral conflicts that arise in the home care setting center around the tension between respecting the elderly person's autonomy and protecting the family caregiver from harm. The family caregiver, who is most often female, is vulnerable to harm due to the strains of trying to accomplish the tasks from competing responsibilities to her immediate family, her job and her dependent elderly relatives. Additionally, the female family caregiver often feels tension from the societal pressure to assume this role. There are currently no …

Attachment Style Differences In Negative Affect And Cardiovascular Arousal, Richard Scot Adlin

Doctoral Dissertations

This study explored the association between the quality of attachment in close relationships during adulthood and patterns of negative affect. Based on attachment theory and research, it was hypothesized that attachment styles characterized by a negative "working model" of self (preoccupied and fearful avoidant) would be associated greater levels of self-reported negative affect compared with attachment styles defined by positive working models of self (secure and dismissing avoidant). Also, dismissing avoidance was expected to be related to greater cardiovascular activation, in spite of its association with lower levels of self-reported negative affect. A link between security and lower levels of …

Teacher Interns' Perceptions Of The Internship, Susan Yvonne Beisel

Doctoral Dissertations

This is a qualitative study about teaching interns' perceptions of the internship. Interviewing, participant observation, and unobtrusive data collection were the data gathering methods used. Data for the study were collected over a nine month period and included field notes of many observations in eight different classrooms in six different schools. The goal of the study is to provide information about how teaching interns perceived their year-long internship. Their viewpoints are presented in individual accounts along with comparisons on how the study participants were similar and dissimilar, and how these interns might compare to other studies' participants who were interns …

Access To Educational Technology In Tennessee Schools : A Descriptive Study Of The Current Status, Donlad Lynnwood Belvin

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to provide a basis for the formulation of policies and procedures to encourage effective technology utilization in Tennessee Schools. This was accomplished by determining the type and quality of instructional technology equipment in use, the placement of that equipment in the school, the connectivity of that equipment, the status of technology training for teachers, and the provisions for the scheduled repair and replacement of technology inventories. A questionnaire was sent to technology coordinators representing the 139 county and special school districts in the State of Tennessee. The seventy nine respondents were a representative sample …

Structure And Expression Of The 27.7 Kda Protein Of The Transmissible Gastroenteritis Coronavirus, Jennifer E. Black

Doctoral Dissertations

Coronaviruses are important pathogens of wild and domestic mammals and birds, and humans, causing primarily acute infections of the respiratory and gastroenteric systems. To understand its role in the replication of porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus, a detailed study was made of gene 3b, and its product, a protein of 27.7 kilodaltons. In vitro, the 27.7 kilodalton protein expressed from the cloned gene becomes partially translocated into microsomes apparently through the use of a noncleaved hydrophobic N-terminal signal sequence, becomes glycosylated on two of three potential asparagine linkage sites, and remains anchored by a centrally located hydrophobic domain. Immunofluorescence studies show …

A Comparative Study Of Public College And University Presidential Perceptions Of Effective Leadership Practices, Clay Eugene Brown

Doctoral Dissertations

Leadership has evolved through a variety of theories, definitions, and metaphors over the last century. Organizations, such as colleges and universities, have been influential in this leadership evolution. As such, college and university presidents have had significant influence on the phenomenon of leadership. One purpose of this study was to explore variations in public college and university presidential reports of their leadership practices as a function of institutional type and and as a function of the selected personal classification variables of race, age, gender, academic background, and years of experience. A second purpose was to compare public college and university …

The Role Of Platelet-Activating Factor In Alterations Of Amino Acid Transport And Protein Metabolism During Shock, Darunee Buripakdi

Doctoral Dissertations

Platelet-activating factor (PAF), a biologically active phospholipid, has been implicated as an important mediator of endotoxin shock and sepsis. An attenuation of amino acid transport and acceleration of net protein loss from skeletal muscle are major characteristics of the protein catabolic response to septic shock. This dissertation is composed of two parts and is devoted to understanding the role of PAF as a potential mediator of protein catabolism during shock and sepsis. The first part demonstrates that a) PAF attenuates system A amino acid transport in skeletal muscle during endotoxic shock by producing conditions and/or factors in plasma that might …

Child Mental Health And Other Factors Of Children's Time In State Custody : An Evaluation Of The Protectionist/Satisficing Model Using Event-History Analysis, James William Bailey

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the role that children's mental health status and other factors play in determining the time that children spend in state custody. By combining the protectionist judicial model and Simon's (1956) satisficing view of decision making, a theoretical explanation is offered of the mechanisms that link these factors to time in custody. The study uses prospective data on 700 children in Tennessee state custody to test the effect of certain child, family and service variables on the hazard rate for exiting state custody. To test the study hypotheses an event-history model was constructed using Cox regression analysis with …

New Methods For Neutron-Photon Pulse Shape Discrimination, Chong Cao

Doctoral Dissertations

New methods are developed that extend the state-of-art in neutron-photon pulse shape discrimination (PSD) in the neutron low energy region (< 500 keV). These include implementing a time-of-flight selection method for acquisition of "pure" neutron spectra for calibration at low energies, establishing PSD dynamic bias using neural networks, and modifying statistical models for use in evaluating PSD scintillation materials and methods. As a result, the lower energy limit for neutron-photon PSD with commercially available equipment, is reduced to 100 keV neutron energy in this work.

First, a time-of-flight selection method using a Cf-252 neutron source is developed to calibrate the cross talk between neutrons and photons in PSD at low energies. This method permits "pure" photon and "pure" neutron spectra to be obtained, which are used to construct calibration data with known ratios of photons to neutrons. These spectra are subsequently used to construct training and testing data at 15 - 150 keV equivalent electron energies for neural network classifiers. Next, perceptron, back- propagation …

Advanced Technology For Measuring Wool Top Properties, Luo Cheng

Doctoral Dissertations

Wool is an important textile fiber. The price of the wool is largely depending on fiber diameter, with length, vegetable matter and dark fiber content next. Numerous of individual instruments were developed to measure wool fiber properties but until now, there is no integrated fiber information system to measure major fiber properties. Therefore, it is desirable to develop an integrated system to measure wool fiber diameter, length and defects as HVI or AFIS used in cotton textile industry. The feasibility of this approach is discussed in this research project.

Using the latest technologies in digital signal and image processing, a …

Salvaged Cargo : Herman Melville, John Wiley, And The Revised Edition Of Typee, Carl Randall Cluff

Doctoral Dissertations

Herman Melville launched his writing career with his first novel Typee, published in 1846 by John Murray in London and by Wiley & Putnam in New York. Less than five months after Typee was originally published in the United States, it was republished by Wiley & Putnam in a revised, expurgated edition. The expurgations of the American Revised Edition removed the thirty-six pages of material that embodied Melville's critique of the activities of the Protestant missionaries in the South Seas and the detrimental effects of their relations with the natives.

Melville boldly challenged the fervid assumptions of Manifest Destiny and …

The Experience Of Identity Development For Adopted Adolescents : A Phenomenological Investigation, James L. Coffield

Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this study was to describe the thematic structure of identity development for adopted adolescents. Ten participants, who were adopted at birth, were interviewed. The rich descriptions of identity development provided by the participants became the data for an investigative team to analyze. Particular and intense attention was given to those recollections of experiences concerning identity development and shaping events in their lives.

The context for identity development was found to be achievements and relationships. Four themes and an important substructure emerged as descriptive of this experience. The four themes which emerged were: (1) Being Chosen, (2) Faith, …

An Integrated Approach For Plant Monitoring And Diagnosis Using Multiresolution Wavelet Analysis, Aucyone Augusto Da Silva

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to develop a systematic approach for fault monitoring and diagnosis for nuclear power plant systems and rotating machinery using short-time Fourier transform (STFT) and wavelet transform techniques during stationary and transient operating conditions.

This research explored the significant improvements in the signal-to-noise ratio when the original signal was decomposed into different levels using the multiresolution analysis (MRA) technique. The MRA was combined with the standard digital signal processing techniques for diagnostics purposes. A data analysis system, that integrates several MATLAB signal processing tools, was developed and implemented with applications to a commercial pressurized water …

An Analysis Of The Differential Impact The Camp Koinonia Experience Had On University Of Tennessee Students Who Served As Counselors And Activity Staff : 1995-1997, Melissa Ann Edwards

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to analyze the perceived impact persons with multiple disabilities had on university students who served as camp counselors and activity staff at Camp Koinonia during the camp sessions of 1995, 1996, and 1997. A total of 348 student final papers were analyzed in this study which addressed question number six, ‘Describe the experience which happened during the week of camp that had the most impact on you.” Six hypotheses were investigated to determine similarities or differences between the following; (1)1995 and 1996 camp programs; (2) 1995 and 1997 camp programs; (3) 1996 and 1997 …

Volumetric Modeling Through Fusion Of Multiple Range Images With Confidence Estimate, David L. Elsner

Masters Theses

This thesis describes our investigation of creating 3-D models from multiple range images. There are many aspects to this research. We begin with an evaluation of the occupancy grid approach to fusing range data. After our evaluation, we develop a confidence metric that provides additional information about the workspace. Our research in the occupancy grid method shows that it is not ideal for our application using range images. A review of the volumetric modeling literature leads us to believe that we can develop a new technique that has the advantageous properties of the occupancy grid but is designed to be …

Consumer Complaint Behavior : An Empirical Investigation Of Taxonomy, Influencing Factors, And Consumer Attitudes Towards Retailers & Manufacturers In Complaining Behavior, Ronald Howard Tipper

Masters Theses

In the last ten years the focus of consumer complaint behavior research has shifted from the macro-perspective to a micro-perspective. In the 1970's and 1980's research focused on underlying taxonomies of complaint behavior in an effort to lay a foundation for further studies. In the last ten years these studies have focused on complaint behaviors specific to individual product classes and services. The result is a myriad of factors that influence not only the consumer's propensity to complain, but also which complaining activity he will engage in.

This study was instigated to examine the underlying construct of consumer complaint behavior …

The Expression And Sequestering Of Methionine-Rich Storage Hexamerins In A. Polyphemus During Second Pupal Development, Paul Clayton Weaver

Masters Theses

A set of gene expression markers which occurs during larval to pupal metamorphosis in the saturniid moths is the synthesis of a pair of hemolymph methionine-rich hexamerins (M-MtH and V-MtH) and their uptake into the fatbody. These hexamerins were studied in the juvenile hormone induced second pupae using the moth Antheraea polyphemus. Relative concentrations of M-MtH and V-MtH in the hemolymph and soluble fatbody extract were measured with the 5th instar larvae, pharate adults, and second pupae. The ontogeny of the M-MtH and V-MtH in the hemolymph of the second pupae when compared to the normal larvae and normal pharate …

An Analysis Of Early Software Reliability Improvement Techniques, John G. Leonard, Ric K. Nordgren

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores early life cycle software reliability prediction models or techniques to predict the reliability of software prior to writing code, and a method for increasing or improving the reliability of software products early in the development life cycle. Five prediction models and two development techniques are examined. Each model is statically analyzed in terms of availability of data early in the life cycle, ease of data collection, and whether data is currently collected. One model and the two techniques satisfied those requirements and are further analyzed for their ability to predict or improve software reliability. While the researchers …

An Examination Of Multi-Tier Designs For Legacy Data Access, Michael L. Acker

Theses and Dissertations

This work examines the application of Java and the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) to support access to remote databases via the Internet. The research applies these software technologies to assist an Air Force distance learning provider in improving the capabilities of its World Wide Web-based correspondence system. An analysis of the distance learning provider's operation revealed a strong dependency on a non-collocated legacy relational database. This dependency limits the distance learning provider's future web-based capabilities. A recommendation to improve operation by data replication is proposed, and the implementation details are provided for two alternative test systems that support …

An Incompleteness Handling Methodology For Validation Of Bayesian Knowledge Bases, David J. Bawcom

Theses and Dissertations

The PESKI (Probabilities, Expert Systems, Knowledge, and Inference) system attempts to address some of the problems in expert system design through the use of the Bayesian Knowledge Base (BKB) representation. Knowledge gathered from a domain expert is placed into this framework and inferencing is performed over it. However, by the nature of BKBs, not all knowledge is incorporated, i.e. the representation need not be a complete representation of all combinations and possibilities of the knowledge, as this would be impractical in many real-world systems. Therefore, inherent in such a system is the problem of incomplete knowledge, or spaces within the …

Developing A Corpus Specific Stoplist Using Quantitative Comparison, Craig N. Berg

Theses and Dissertations

We have become overwhelmed with electronic information and it seems our situation is not going to improve. It is becoming increasingly common for people to work with information on a daily basis. We seem to spend more and more time looking for information, and it is taking longer because more information is available. This thesis will look at how we can provide faster access to the information we want to find. Today's requirements are closely related to searching for information using queries. At the heart of the query process is the removal of search terms having little or no significance …

Velocity Profiles And Skin Friction On A Ribletted Flat Plate In Adverse Pressure Gradient, Richard D. Branam

Theses and Dissertations

This project investigated the flow field characteristics over a flat, ribletted plate and the effects of an adverse pressure gradient on this flow field. Testing examined the development of the flow over the ribletted plate from laminar through fully turbulent flow fields. The flow field states (laminar, transitional, and turbulent) were determined using local turbulence intensity values and boundary layer profiles. Several parameters were examined to help better describe the flow characteristics, boundary layer profiles, and influence on skin friction drag. The skin friction drag coefficients were calculated using a numerical integration technique to determine an average value and scaled …

An Investigation Of Plume Rise From Titan Iv Rocket Launches, Joseph D. Brands

Theses and Dissertations

Space launches at Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS) and Vandenberg Air Force Base (vAFB) produce exhaust ground clouds from the solid rocket boosters and liquid hypergolic fuels containing several toxic substances. In order to estimate the health effects that would be imposed upon the public by scheduled launches, range safety officials rely on the Rocket Exhaust Effluent Diffusion Model to predict ground level concentrations of these substances. A drawback to the REEDM is its underprediction of the initial ground clouds stabilization height. This underprediction causes an overprediction of the ground level toxic substance concentrations. This thesis focused on increasing the …

Assessing The Social Preference For Historic Preservation Of United States Air Force Facilities, Patrick R. Breaux

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force is required to inform the public and solicit their comments when proposing actions to historic facilities. However, the Department of Defense has been criticized for the lack of consistent and adequate public involvement in this process. This research effort developed a hierarchy to capture public's general preferences for historic preservation treatments. This information could be utilized as an early input to the decision making process. Expert participants provided inputs regarding the building characteristics which influence historic preservation decisions, the objectives of preservation, and the treatments which are applied to historic buildings. Focus group discussions were conducted with …

Applications Of Unsupervised Clustering Algorithms To Aircraft Identification Using High Range Resolution Radar, Dzung Tri Pham

Theses and Dissertations

Identification of aircraft from high range resolution (HRR) radar range profiles requires a database of information capturing the variability of the individual range profiles as a function of viewing aspect. This database can be a collection of individual signatures or a collection of average signatures distributed over the region of viewing aspect of interest. An efficient database is one which captures the intrinsic variability of the HRR signatures without either excessive redundancy typical of single-signature databases, or without the loss of information common when averaging arbitrary groups of signatures. The identification of 'natural' clustering of similar HRR signatures provides a …

An Investigation Of Environmental Paradigms And Organizational Classifications, Marvin T. Ee

Theses and Dissertations

The extent of environmental management in organizations is largely determined by what paradigms are espoused with respect to maintaining both natural resources and raw materials. Environmental management paradigms possibly stem from whether an organization is private or public, producing a product or providing a service. However, no established methods exist for comparing organizations with regard to environmental management approaches and perspectives. The purpose of this thesis is to determine whether particular organizational classifications are linked to specific environmental management paradigms. This study incorporates several environmental management concepts to develop an analytical instrument for observing organizations. Environmental management paradigms provide a …

Photoluminescence Study Of Gan Implanted With Erbium And Erbium-Oxygen, Lori R. Everitt

Theses and Dissertations

Erbium emits at 1540 nm, which propagates well through fiber optic cables. This work studies the photoluminescence (PL) from GaN, GaN implanted with Er alone, and GaN implanted with both Er and O as functions of excitation laser energy and sample temperature. When the exciton bound to a neutral donor recombined, a photon was emitted at 3.47 eV. A photon emitted at 3.457 eV may have been evidence of the recombination of an exciton bound to a neutral acceptor. Second, the Er-ion transitions were observed in two groups around 0.805 and 1.25 eV. The PL intensity was measured at four …