Digital Commons Network^™

Transformative Technology & The Creative Process: Employing A Website As A Vehicle For Literary Work, Baer William Bradford

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

An Introduction To Magnetic Resonance Imaging Physics, Douglas Wayne Adkisson

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Logging On The Hydrologic Properties Of Small Watersheds, Preston Edward Breeding

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Mexico's Transition To Neo-Liberalism, Richard Jeremy Brame

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Development Of An Autonomous Robotic Car, Melissa Gail Meyer

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

A Cost-Benefit Analysis Of Knoxville's Waterfront, Lisa Jennison Wilson

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Valuation In The New Economy, Chase Elizabeth Lindsey

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Predicting Relationship Quality And Longevity From Patterns Of Interaction In Adolescent Romantic Relationships, Renee Vickerman Galliher

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined the association between adolescent romantic couple members' interaction with each other and both their overall relationship quality and the stability of their relationships over time. Males', females', and trained observers' perceptions of couple interaction were used to predict couple members' commitment, intimacy, support, depth, and conflict. Both positive and negative behaviors effectively predicted several indices of relationship quality, with different patterns of association emerging for the different raters. Also, sequential patterns of interaction were associated with relationship quality. Couples who were able to manage low-intensity conflict in a reciprocal, mutually involved manner and in which males were …

Investigating Variation Among Arikara Crania Using Geometric Morphometry, Ashley H. Mckeown

Doctoral Dissertations

Geometric morphometry has seen minimal application in studies of biological variability among subpopulations of humans. However, as landmark coordinates are highly effective for capturing information regarding size and shape variation, the tools of geometric morphometry are appropriate for investigating such questions. This research utilizes landmark coordinate data to quantify morphological variation among Arikara crania to evaluate the biological relationships between skeletal samples from late prehistoric, protohistoric and historic sites. These samples are derived from well documented archaeological contexts, and the presence of biological variability among them has been reported in previous studies. These factors make these samples appropriate for assessing …

Tennessee Performance Funding And The University Of Tennessee, Knoxville: A Case Study, Kimberely B. Hall

Doctoral Dissertations

This case study was undertaken to provide a description of the Tennessee Performance Funding Policy's impact on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville over the past twenty years. Answers to three research questions were sought:

1. How has the Tennessee Performance Funding Policy impacted the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with regard to (a) awareness of the policy and its purposes and (b) the activities of the institution in relation to the policy?

2. How has educational decision making been affected by the Tennessee Performance Funding Policy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville?

3. Based on professional experience and opinion, are strengths/liabilities …

An Examination Of Upland South Farmsteads Using An Evolutionary Ecology Methodology, Todd Michael Ahlman

Doctoral Dissertations

The study of historic farmsteads in the Upland South has generally taken a normative approach that compared archaeologically recorded farmsteads to an idealized Upland South farmstead. This approach tends to avoid the issue of variation that is inherent among farmsteads within the region. To address this variation, a Darwinian evolutionary theoretical perspective is proposed. Of the different evolutionary perspectives in archaeology today, including selectionism, evolutionary psychology, and evolutionary ecology, it is proposed that an evolutionary ecological theoretical perspective is the best for examining and explaining the variation among Upland South farmsteads.

In employing an evolutionary ecology theoretical perspective, a resource …

Secretory Immunoglobulin A And Heart Rate Reactions To Mental Arithmetic And Hypnotic Suggestions, Grant Benham

Doctoral Dissertations

The current study replicates and extends previous research on the effects of both specific hypnotic suggestions and a mental arithmetic task on secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA). Participants (14 males, 16 females) were shown a short video on immune functioning and then sat quietly for 8 minutes in order to obtain an initial baseline measure of sIgA. Participants were then administered an 8-min mental arithmetic (stress) task and a 16-min hypnosis task in a counterbalanced order and separated by a second 8-min baseline period. During the hypnosis condition, participants received a taped hypnotic induction followed by specific suggestions for increasing immune …

Instrument Performance Enhancement And Modification Through An Extended Instrument Paradigm, Stephen L. Mahan

Doctoral Dissertations

An extended instrument paradigm is proposed, developed and shown in various applications. The CBM (Chin, Blass, Mahan) method is an extension to the linear systems model of observing systems. In the most obvious and practical application of image enhancement of an instrument characterized by a time-invariant instrumental response function, CBM can be used to enhance images or spectra through a simple convolution application of the CBM filter for a resolution improvement of as much as a factor of two. The CBM method can be used in many applications. We discuss several within this work including imaging through turbulent atmospheres, or …

Questing For The Grail: Core Collapse Supernova Simulations With Boltzmann Neutrino Transport, Otis Earl Messer

Doctoral Dissertations

The importance of exact neutrino transport in spherically symmetric core collapse supernova simulations is explored in this dissertation. The primary tool for these studies is the neutrino radiation hydrodynamics code AGILE-BOLTZTRAN (Mezzacappa & Bruenn 1993a,b,c; Mezzacappa & Messer 1998; Liebendörfer 2000). AGILE-BOLTZTRAN couples the solution of the Boltzmann equation for all three flavors of neutrinos and antineutrinos to a one-dimensional, implicit, adaptive grid hydrodynamics code. Emission, absorption, and scattering of neutrinos from nucleons and nuclei, neutrino-electron scattering, and pair production and annihilation are included as neutrino-matter couplings. Details of the code are described, including the equations solved and their finite …

Electronic Excitations In Metals And Semiconductors: Ab Initio Studies Of Realistic Many-Particle Systems, Wei Ku

Doctoral Dissertations

Electronic excitations in metals and semiconductors, measured through inelastic x-ray scattering, electronic energy-loss spectroscopy, and angle-resolved photoemission, provide valuable information about the intrinsic many-body interactions between electrons in the crystal environment. These dynamical interactions are usually analyzed with intuitive simple models. With the problems studied, which correspond to linear response and quasi-particle excitation, it will be shown that ab initio approaches not only can provide more realistic understanding of microscopic processes and mechanisms, but also result in new theoretical interpretations that resolve a number of remarkable "anomalies." Specifically, these problems include the dispersion of the plasmon lifetime in potassium, the …

Fatigue Behavior Of Ultimet Alloy: Experiment And Theoretical Modeling, Liang Jiang

Doctoral Dissertations

ULTIMET® alloy is a commercial Co-26Cr-9Ni (weight percent) superalloy, which possesses excellent resistance to both wear and corrosion. In order to extend the structural applications of this alloy and improve the fundamental understanding of the fatigue damage mechanisms, stress- and strain-controlled fatigue tests were performed at various temperatures and in different environments. The stress- and strain-life data were developed for the structural design and engineering applications of this material. Fractographic studies characterized the crack-initiation and propagation behavior of the alloy. Microstructure evolution during fatigue was revealed by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Specifically, it was found …

Potassium Dynamics And Exchange Equilibria In Loess-Derived Soils, Sloane Alicia Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

A lack of cotton response to the recommended application of fertilizer potassium (K) has been well documented, prompting a renewed interest in the evaluation of soil and plant analysis. A study was conducted to evaluate varying rates and residual effects of fertilizer K on no-till cotton, in conjunction with the evaluation of cation exchange studies to establish the dynamics of K behavior in the loess-derived soils of west Tennessee. The soils were comprised of kaolinite, mica, and HIV-vermiculite. The effect of four rates of fertilizer K (0, 67, 134, and 269 kg K ha^-1) , on yield and …

Molecular Mechanisms Of Zearalenone-Induced G1/S Phase Transition In Mcf-7 Breast Carcinoma Cells, Shamila Ahamed

Doctoral Dissertations

Zearalenone is a naturally occurring estrogenic contaminant of moldy feeds and is present in high concentrations m dairy products and cereals Zearalenone has been postulated to contribute to the overall estrogen load of women,however,the mechanisms of its action are not known We demonstrate the ability of zearalenone to stimulate growth of the estrogen-receptor positive human breast carcinoma cell line, MCF-7 Zearalenone has multiple effects in the regulation of the MCF-7 cell cycle Treatment of these cells with zearalenone induced cell cycle transit following increases in expression of Myc and the cyclins D1,A,and Bl,as well as downregulation of p27G1/G2 phase kmase …

Leader Decision Making Quality And Subordinate Performance, Steven M. Barnard

Doctoral Dissertations

In the recent past, the study of transformational leaders has been the most predominant leadership research conducted. There have been strong linkages found between these behaviors and subordinate outcomes such as motivation and performance. For this reason, it was used as a base comparison for the addition of manager decision making quality. It was hypothesized that managers who make higher quality decisions will be able to guide subordinates in a more strategic fashion, ultimately increasing their motivation and performance. In addition, it was hypothesized that this effect of better decisions would be over and above that associated with transformational leader …

Maternal Age At Transition To Parenthood : Prediction Of Children's Perceptions Of Well-Being, Denise Judd Brandon

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to investigate maternal age at the transition to parenthood as a predictor of children’s perceptions of educational and socioemotional well-being. Parenting attributes were studied for their relationships to maternal age at the transition to parenthood and its associated demographic variables and as predictors of children’s well-being. Data were obtained through interviews of 250 first born children ages 10 to 17 from. Wave 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households. Data regressions with a .05 alpha level as the criterion for significance.

Maternal age at the transition to parenthood was predictive of educational …

The Three Ring Self : Robert Penn Warren's Circus Aesthetic And Southern Intertextuality, Patricia Anne Lankford Bradley

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the extent to which Robert Penn Warren’s 1947 novella “The Circus in the Attic” and his use there in of the circus trope establish a matrix for his fiction, poetry, essays, and literary criticism and align his canon with the selected works of several authors of the Southern Renaissance, including William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, Katherine Anne Porter, Eudora Welty, and Ralph Ellison. All of these authors observed the American circus in its heyday during the beginning of the twentieth century. Yet, by the end of World War I, the process of the circus’s cultural rehabilitation had begun; …

The Functional Capacity Of Differentiated K-562 Leukemia Cells, Erich Jonathan Baker

Doctoral Dissertations

K-562 cells are undifferentiated blast cells developed from the pleural effusion ofa patient with chronic myelogenous leukemia(CML) The properties ofthepleiotropically diverse K-562 cell line mimic the hematopoietic divergence of malignant blast cells found in CML cell populations Subclones of the original passage maintain the potential to differentiate along early erythrocytic, myelocytic, lymphocytic,megakaryocytic and monocytic lineages This dissertation provides evidence that K-562 sublmes can be induced to acquire characteristics of monocytic, megakaryocytic orgranulocytic differentiation, rendering them functionally competent mediators of several immune processes K-562 cells co-cultured with the tumor promoter phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) presented properties ofthe megakaryoblastic and monocytic lineages …

Posthuman Podiums : The Technological Life-History Narratives Of Elite Track And Field Athletes, Ted M. Butryn

Doctoral Dissertations

Narrative research has emerged as a powerful means of exploring athletes’ lives through the stones they tell about themselves (Duncan, 1998, Foley, 1992, McDonald & Birrell, 1999, Sparkes, 1999, 2000). In this study I examined the technological life-histories of seven elite track and field athletes using a narrative analysis (Polkinghome, 1997). As Haraway (1985) points out, the "cyborg era" has ushered in multiple modes of subjectivity which are best understood through narratives, the stories we tell within the context of an early 21st century technoculture. Through an analysis of in-depth interviews, observational data, personal photographs, and the application of theoretical …

Finite Element Model For Segmented Active Constrained Layer Damping Treatments That Includes Bonding Layer Strain Energy, Peter Francis Cento

Doctoral Dissertations

The primary objective of this study is to develop a more accurate research and design tool than those in the currently available literature for active constrained layer treatments applied in bending. A finite element model is presented that extends current finite element model for Euler-Bernoulli beams with segmented active constrained layer damping treatments towards a more physically motivated model. Active Constrained layer damping utilizes modern piezoelectric materials as the constraining layer for these types of damping treatments. Preliminary studies have confirmed that strains in the bonding layers can have a significant effect on damping ratios at modal frequencies, especially when …

The Ghosts That Haunt Us : Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Stories Of The Supernatural, Sally E. Corran

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's short stories of the supernatural in which he emphasizes the presence of forces beyond human knowledge and control. Using Todorov's notion of the fantastic and Freud's notion of the uncanny,I Argue that Le Fanu presents spiritual, historical, and psychological forces as supernatural in order to warn his readers that there are powers in the material world working in ways that cannot be explained by science or rationalism.Le Fanu challenges the increasing rationalism and materialism of the nineteenth century by creating stories that leave readers questioning the veracity of events depicted,the reliability of …

Characteristics Of Foster Family Applicants Willing To Accept Hard To Place Foster Children, Mary Ellen Cox

Doctoral Dissertations

In addition to a shortage of foster homes,the unwillingness of many licensed fosterparents to accept the growing number of hard to place foster children has jeopardized the quality of care provided to children in state custody.The purpose of this study was to determine the number of foster family applicants willing to foster different types of hard to place children and the types of foster families willing to foster such children.Resource theory guided this study. Data were collected from 153 foster family applicants during preservice training. The following foster parent resources were measured: income,education, race, marital status, parenting experience,fostering experience, employed …

Attributions Of School Children And Their Relationship To Depression, Janette A. Doucette

Doctoral Dissertations

Hypothesized relationships between students' attributions for academic and social success and failure on two newly developed attribution scales were examined and compared to students' general attributions for success and failure on an established attribution scale, the Children's Attribution Style Questionnaire (CASQ). The newly developed scales were used to assess students' academic attributions (Student Academic Attribution Scale, SAAS) and social attributions (Student Social Attribution Scale, SSAS)The SAAS and SSAS were developed to allow students to rate success and failure due to internal causes, ability and effort, or external causes, chance and task difficulty, for typical school situations; also, optimism and pessimism …

The Question Of Gender Discrimination In Mortgage Lending : A Cross Regional Analysis, Amatta Sangho Diabate

Doctoral Dissertations

This study analyses the question of gender discrimination in mortgage lending. The federal fair lending regulations prohibit discrimination in granting credit with respect to race, gender, marital status, color, religion, age or receipt of public assistance. If discrimination exists in the mortgage market, it will keep creditworthy applicants from accessing home ownership, which represents the principal mean of capital and wealth accumulation.

During the last two decades, studies regarding the problem of discrimination in mortgage credit have principally focused on the race issue. Race appeared to have, in most empirical studies, a significant impact on the outcome of mortgage application, …

Surface Phases Of Transition Metal Oxides, Hani Dulli

Doctoral Dissertations

A signature of transition metal oxides is the ability to accommodate stoichiometry variations by forming thermodynamically stable structures. This means that the overall composition is sensitive to thermochemical history and composition gradients near surfaces and interfaces can exist at equilibrium. Since the phase diagram of most transition metal oxides is critically dependent upon the chemical composition, the surface should be a 'different material'. Thus a thorough knowledge of the surface composition and structure is of primary importance for understanding the electronic and magnetic properties of transition metal oxides surfaces and interfaces. Here, differences in the chemical composition, lattice structure, and …

Assessing Forgiveness : Development And Validation Of The Act Of Forgiveness Scale, Joy Rogers Drinnon

Doctoral Dissertations

Recently, considerable research attention has been devoted to the process of forgiving interpersonal transgressions. An unresolved issue in this literature concerns the measurement of the construct of forgiveness. The primary purpose of this research project was to develop a valid and reliable measure of state forgiveness, that is, the degree to which a respondent has forgiven a specific person or a specific instance of betrayal or hurt. Three separate phases of research were conducted.

In Phase 1, an initial pool of items were written and subsequently refined using both traditional Likert analyses and itemmetric analyses. Initial estimates of reliability were …