Digital Commons Network^™

Community Ecology, Robert K. Rose, Elmer C. Birney

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

COMMUNITIES with Microtus tend to be structurally simple, usually grasslands or tundra, and to have no more than two species of Microtus and rarely more than six species of small mammals. Microtus often dominates both numerically and in total small mammal biomass, especially at higher latitudes. The small mammal community is most influenced by Microtus through its fluctuations in density, and thus also in biomass, by its relatively high level of diurnal activity, and by its year-round activity. Other species of small mammals may be adversely affected because Microtus usually is larger and behaviorally dominant and also because the mere …

Fault Movements And Tectonics Of Eastern Iran: Boundaries Of The Lut Plate, Ali A. Nowroozi, A. Mohajer-Ashjai

OES Faculty Publications

Summary. From 1977 March 21 to 1981 July 28, about 15 earthquakes with M_s ≥6.0 and many earthquakes with M_s≥4.5 have occurred in Iran. The upsurge of seismic activity started following the Khorqu earthquake of 1977 March 21, M,=7.0, south-east of the Fars folded series of Zagros. This shock had a thrust focal mechanism solution indicating the general northward movement of the Arabian plate with respect to the Iranian landmass. It was followed by six major damaging earthquakes in eastern Iran. The earthquakes are associated with extensive faulting which surrounds the Lut plate. (1) The Zarand earthquake …

An Evaluation Of The Competency-Based Industrial Arts Workshops Sponsored By Old Dominion University Conducted Under Vocational Education Amendments Of 1976 Public Law 94-482 From The Virginia Department Of Education, Cuthrell Brockington

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

Research goals of this study were: 1. To evaluate the effectiveness of the competency-based industrial arts workshops as viewed by the participants; 2. To assess competency-based industrial arts workshop participant attitudes; 3. To restructure workshop course if necessary.

A Study To Identify The Communication Technology Competencies Needed By Secondary Level Industrial Arts Students For A Successful Life In Today's Technological Society, Dallas Evans O'Neal Jr.

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

This study has been undertaken to achieve the following goals: 1. Identify content appropriate for secondary education industrial arts communication programs; 2. Structure this content into competencies for program planning; 3. Identify basic technical jobs and job skills required in communication companies.

A Study To Determine If Economically Disadvantaged Adults Improved Their Reading And Math Scores After Utilizing Plato, Robert Allan Teravainen

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the following questions: 1. Did the clients of the Learning center increase their scores in reading and math after completion of the PLATO program? 2. What percentage of students who completed the PLATO program were placed into either employment training program or directly into employment? 3. What percentage of students dropped out of the program after their start with the PLATO system? 4. Were the grade equivalencies (4.0 to 5.9) too narrow to allow maximum participation in the PLATO program by the clients of JTPA?

The Introduction And Teaching Of Drafting Through Cai To Students With Potential Vocational Talent, R. Chengiah

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a CAI program in drafting could be designed and used to motivate underachieving vocationally talented students.

Effects Of El Nino On Local Hydrography And Growth Of The Giant Kelp, Macrocystis Pyrifera, At Santa Catalina Island, California, Richard C. Zimmerman, Deborah L. Robertson

OES Faculty Publications

Deepened isotherms associated with El Niño resulted in severe nutrient limitation and very low kelp productivity during the last half of 1983. Frond growth rates were so low that terminal blades formed before reaching the surface, eliminating the canopy. Frond initiation rates were also extremely low, resulting in significant reductions in mean plant size. Plants growing above 10m were more severely affected than plants at 20m. Nutrient pulses associated with internal waves are thus critical for survival of Macrocystis pyrifera in nutritionally marginal habitats in Southern California.

Microbial Manganese Reduction By Enrichment Cultures From Coastal Marine Sediments, David J. Burdige, Kenneth H. Nealson

OES Faculty Publications

Manganese reduction was catalyzed by enrichment cultures of anaerobic bacteria obtained from coastal marine sediments. In the absence of oxygen, these enrichment cultures reduced manganates when grown on either lactate, succinate, or acetate in both sulfate-free and sulfate-containing artificial seawaters. Sodium azide as well as oxygen completely inhibited microbial manganese reduction by these enrichment cultures, whereas molybdate had no effect on them. The addition of nitrate to the medium slightly decreased the rate of Mn²⁺ production by these enrichment cultures. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the manganese-reducing organisms in these enrichment cultures use manganates as terminal …

Computer Aided Simulation Of A Heating, Ventilating, And Air Conditioning System In A Building, Sunil Shrikrishna Kulkarni

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The Godwin Life Science Building on the Old Dominion University campus presents an interesting problem in terms of energy conservation. The building is the maximum energy resource consumer on the campus, having a criterion value of 234 KBtu/sq.ft-year (2657 MJoules/sq. rneter-year). A Simplified Energy Analysis Method (ASEAM) loads and systems computer program was used to simulate the building and its heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) plant in order to understand the building's high annual energy resource consumption rate, and to devise ways to overcome it. The main goal was to assess and propose energy conservation improvements to the existing …

Sedimentologic And Stratigraphic Significance Of Boulder Layers In The Outer Coastal Plain Of Southeastern Virginia, Robert C. Mcdaniel

OES Theses and Dissertations

In southeastern Virginia one to two discontinuous boulder layers occur at the base of the Pleistocene Norfolk Formation. The sediments, heavy minerals and microfossils within the boulder layers in addition to boulder lithologies, dimensions and orientations were studied to determine the origin of these layers. These data indicate the boulder layers were separated into two similar yet distinct layers.

The ancestral James River with sea-level 100 meters lower than today probably had the capacity to entrain 70-80 percent of the clasts in the boulder layers, but probably not the capacity to entrain the larger cobbles and boulders in the boulder …

The Use Of Ilmenite Element Composition For The Determination Of Provenance, Yu W. Tsang

OES Theses and Dissertations

Fifty three samples were taken from three major rivers and their tributaries in Virginia: the James, Roanoke. and Potomac-Shenandoah Rivers. Samples were obtained from the Valley and Ridge. Blue Ridge and Piedmont provinces. The possible source rock types for these samples were determined by comparison of tributary ilmenite composition with drainage basin rock types. Ilmenite element concentration varied with different rock types. Ti was usually high for the ilmenite derived from non-mafic igneous rocks. Mg and Cr were high for the ilmenite from mafic igneous rocks. Zn was low for metamorphic ilmenite. The ilmenite from sedimentary rocks tended to have …

Design Of Infrasound-Detection System Via Adaptive Lmstde Algorithm, Camille S. Khalaf

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A proposed solution to an aviation safety problem is based on passive detection of turbulent weather phenomena through their infrasonic emission. This thesis describes a system design that is adequate for detection and bearing evaluation of infrasounds. An array of four sensors, with the appropriate hardware, is used for the detection part. Bearing evaluation is based on estimates of time delays between sensor outputs. The generalized cross correlation (GCC), as the conventional time-delay estimation (TOE) method, is first reviewed. An adaptive TUt approach, using the least mean square (LMS) algorithm, is then discussed. A comparison between the two techniques is …

Numerical Experiments With The Quasigeostrophic Potential-Vorticity Equation, Peter L. Spence

OES Theses and Dissertations

A method is developed to model the circulation of a barotropic, 8-plane ocean under an imposed steady wind stress. The model includes the effect of both horizontal and vertical friction along with nonlinear advection of vorticity. Implementing the method involves solving the unsteady quasigeostrophic potential-vorticity equation using a compact finite difference scheme (Gatski, Grosch, and Rose, 1982).

Once developed, this model is used in four separate numerical experiments. In each experiment, a model ocean with an initial flow field is driven to a steady state solution. Vertical viscosity is held constant in the first three experiments while lateral viscosity is …

Tectonic Implications Of Late Tertiary Strata Exposed Along The Piankatank River, Eastern Virginia, Daniel Stephen Lane

OES Theses and Dissertations

Biostratigraphic analysis of Late Miocene and Pliocene strata along the Piankatank River in eastern Virginia exposes a juxtaposition of the Eastover and Yorktown Formations. This structure is situated on a NE trending alignment of geological, geomorphic, and geophysical features which run from southern Virginia to northern Delaware. Tectonic jointing in isolated sandstone bodies and fracture controlled drainage patterns provide further evidence of post-middle Pliocene tectonism in the region. The lateral spacing of this structure from the Stafford and Brandywine fault zones and other linear features on the Coastal Plain strongly implies that a structural similarity exists between the Piankatank structure …

Stratigraphy And Textural Analyses Of A Beach Ridge Complex, Cape Henry, Virginia, Daniel Leland Oyler

OES Theses and Dissertations

Eight lithological units, documented from the analyses of 26 boreholes, comprise five laterally extensive horizons in the subsurface of Cape Henry, Virginia. Interpretations of the environments of deposition for those units are based upon textural and compositional features, fossils, thickness and distribution of strata, and previous reports about late Tertiary and Quaternary deposits in nearby areas. The incised, Pliocene Chowan River Formation (Unit H) underlies Pleistocene Units F and G which are concentrated in a buried river valley beneath Cape Henry. Estuarine Units D and E resulted from a marine transgression of the study area during the early Holocene. The …

Groundwater Management By Linear Programming, Seungho Song

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Three hydraulic optimization models are developed. These models combine the finite difference equations of two-dimensional groundwater flow in composite aquifers with various linear programming techniques. The hydraulic submodel employed in these hydraulic optimization models is so versatile that it accounts for time varying pumpage, leaky artesian conditions, a variety of boundary conditions, induced infiltrations from streams or rivers, and conversion from artesian to water table conditions. The objective of submodel 1 is to maximize the total hydraulic head from pumping wells at the end of a study period. The objective of submodel 2 is the same as submodel 1, but …

The Effects Of X-Irradiation On The Metamorphosis And Budding Of Aurelia Aurita, Michael John Prokopchak

OES Theses and Dissertations

With the aid of the Aurelia Metamorphosis Test System, the acute or subtle morphological and behavioral effects of irradiation on the Norfolk Aurelia aurita were described and the sensitivity to X-irradiation of those organisms receiving thyroxine and those not receiving thyroxine was compared. Levels of radiation were 0 (control), 5,000, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 and 40,000 rads. Morphology of the ephyrae, statolith and rhopalia numbers were recorded using the light microscope, Developmental abnormalities of the scyphistomae and ephyrae were recorded with the scanning electron microscope and light microscope. Two major findings from this investigation were the absence of rhopalia and statoliths …

Block Encoding Of Speech Spectral Principal Components, James R. Holland Jr.

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A Karhunen-Loeve series expansion was used to block encode speech spectral principal components as a function of time. Each of ten principal components was first obtained as a linear combination of 2© speech spectral band energies. Using a fixed block length of 10 frames (0.128 s), the K-L basis vectors were computed separately for various speakers for each principal component. In all cases the resulting basis vectors were essentially a set of discrete cosine basis vectors. Synthesis of speech from the block encoded parameters showed that very little information is lost with up to 70% data reduction. The block encoding …

Suboptimal Algorithms For Improvement Of Pipeline Through Insertion Of Delays, Sukhamoy Som

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Pipelining is now widely used in the design of high speed processors in order to overcome the intrinsic speed limitations imposed by the technology. For a good performance and avoidance of internal conflicts, the concurrent operations within different subunits of a pipeline architecture should be properly scheduled This scheduling problem is known to be intrinsically difficult" and a member of the "NP complete class of problems. The aim of this thesis is to develop heuristic suboptimal algorithms whose execution time is a polynomial function of the number of items to be scheduled. Insertion of delay is used as a basic …

Task Performances As Functions Of Level Of Processing, Morningness-Eveningness, Time Of Day, And Gender, Georgia Kathryn Green

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study was undertaken to examine the relations between human circadian activity patterns and information processing. Eighty subjects selected on the basis of gender and circadian type performed a digit-sequence task and an analogies task in either a morning or an afternoon condition, having previously completed the Horne and Ostberg (1976) circadian type questionnaire and the Schmeck (1983) Inventory of Learning Processes. A significant Gender x Circadian Type x Time-of-Day Condition interaction was found for digit-sequence task performance, with female subjects' performances exhibiting morning condition superiority for morning types but evening condition superiority for evening types. Time and gender effects …

Triple Trigonometric Series And Their Application To Mixed Boundary Value Problems, Gordon Melrose

Mathematics & Statistics Theses & Dissertations

In this dissertation the author investigates some triple trigonometric series which occur in the solution of mixed boundary value problems in elasticity and potential theory. By choosing a suitable integral representation for the sequence of unknown constants, the problem is reduced to solving a singular integral equation of the first kind. Twenty four cases in which the integral equation can be solved in closed form are discussed in detail.

In later chapters, the application of triple trigonometric series to problems in physics and engineering is demonstrated and closed form solutions for the physical parameters of interest are obtained.

Studies On The Interference Of Wings And Propeller Slipstreams, Ramadas K. Prabhu

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The small disturbance potential flow theory is applied to determine the lift of an airfoil in a nonuniform parallel stream. The given stream is replaced by an equivalent stream with a certain number of velocity discontinuities, and the influence of these discontinuities is obtained by the method of images. Next, this method is extended to the problem of an airfoil in a nonuniform stream of smooth velocity profile. This model allows perturbation velocity potential in a rotational undisturbed stream. A comparison of these results with numerical solutions of Euler equations indicates that, although approximate, the present method provides useful information …

An Experimental And Analytical Investigation Of Friction Factors For Fully Developed Flow In Internally Finned Triangular Ducts, Hoshang Chegini

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Friction factors for fully-developed flow in triangular ducts with fins of various sizes are investigated for Reynolds numbers ranging from 150 to 90,000. Two triangular ducts having apex angles of 60 and 38.8 degrees are studied. Results are presented in the form of standard plots of friction factor as a function of Reynolds number. Friction factor values for the smooth triangular-duct cases are in good agreement with the existing results. For the finned-duct cases, the fully developed axial-velocity profiles in laminar flow are determined by solving the x-momentum equation iteratively by the Gauss-Seidel finite difference technique. The theoretically determined friction …

Combined Forced And Free Convection In The Trombe Wall Channel, Jim Ginchaun Huang

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A vertical channel connected by horizontal exit and entrance segments is simulated and represents a flow passage for a Trombe wall solar collector. The two-dimensional combined forced and free convection mode is investigated for the laminar regime. The vertical walls of the channel are maintained at a constant but different temperature while horizontal walls are insulated. A finite difference method using up-wind differencing for the non-linear convective terms and central differencing for the second order derivatives is employed to solve the governing differential equations for mass, momentum, and energy balances. The solution is obtained for stream function, vorticity, and temperature …

Estimating The Parameters Of Truncated Distributions, Mukul Mohan Mittal

Mathematics & Statistics Theses & Dissertations

The problem considered here is the estimation of the parameters of some special truncated distributions. If the sample observations are restricted to the interval {O, T} with T known, then it is well known in the literature that the method of maximum likelihood fails to provide a finite estimate, for the mean of an exponential distribution, whenever the sample mean is greater than T/2 (Deemer and Votaw, 1955, Ann. Math. Statist. 26, 498-504). Not so well known is the nonexistence of the maximum likelihood estimator (m.l.e.), under certain conditions, for the scale parameter of a gamma distribution from a truncated …

An Experimental And Analytical Investigation Of The Iosipescu Shear Test For Composite Materials, Barry Stuart Spigel

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Mechanical properties of composite materials under shear loading are difficult to determine. The Iosipescu Shear test, originally proposed for metals, has in recent years been applied to composites. It has the advantages of small specimen size, simple loading and a reasonably uniform shear stress in the test section.

The purpose of this work is to study the validity of the Iosipescu test method for measuring the shear modulus and shear strength of composites. Finite element analyses indicate that optimum specimen geometry and load locations depend upon the degree of orthotropy of the composite. Test results for a quasi-isotropic graphite/epoxy laminate …

Determination Of The Internal Rotational Energy Of Gaseous 1,2-Dichloroethane In An Argon Matrix Using Fourier Transform Spectroscopy, Susan Lynn Clarke

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

A sample cell and delivery system for rapid matrix isolation of gas mixtures at constant gas temperature was designed and evaluated. The rotational energy differences of 1,2-dichlorosthane and of its deuterium compound wars then determined to test this technique.

The rotational energy barriers calculated from Boltzman plots of ths gases at different temperatures were; 1.21 + 0.38 keel/mole, 1.33 + 0.70 Real/mole, and 1.12 + 0.45 kcal/mole for the CH2 wagging„ C-Cl stretching and CD₂ wagging modes respectively. These values were in good agreement with previously published values.

These results allowed evaluation of this apparatus and experimental design and …

Characterization Of Trihalomethane Formation From Proteins In Chlorinated Water, Robert Aaron Kravitz

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Traditionally humates have been considered the most significant precursor in the formation of trihalomethanes in finished drinking water. This study investigates another potential precursor, namely proteins. The chlorination of aqueous protein solutions yields significant levels of trihalomethanes in terms of the maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 0.100 mg/L imposed by the USEPA. Molar yields for several proteins were determined. The average yield per unit of organic carbon was 0.5% as compared to 0.8% for a humic acid studied. A model protein, bovine serum albumin, was studied extensively to ascertain the effects of total organic carbon, chlorine dose, and time on …

Fourier Series Analysis Of The Relationship Of Morphologic Variations And Bathymetry In Recent Bolivina (Foraminiferida) From The Northwestern Gulf Of Mexico, Anthony Cavedo Gary

OES Theses and Dissertations

Automated video digitization and closed-form Fourier series analysis were used to investigate the applicability of benthic foraminiferal test morphology for paleo-bathymetric/paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Sample relationships and harmonics with the greatest power for discriminating between samples were determined using canonical discriminant analysis. Samples were eleven short cores obtained from the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. Three species of Bolivina were analyzed, B. albatrossi, B. lowmani, and B. subspinescens.

Results show populations of Bolivina albatrossi from the upper bathyal and upper-middle bathyal zones to have more triangular tests and lobulate chambers than lower-middle and lower bathyal zone populations. Specimens of Bolivina subspinescens …

The Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of The Larvae Of Sympatric Pagurid Hermit Crabs (Decapoda, Anomura) In Virginian Estaurine And Coastal Waters, Philip Wesley Sadler

OES Theses and Dissertations

Thirteen stations were occupied at two - week intervals from May through September 1980 within the York River, lower Chesapeake Bay depths encompassing the entire water column.

Three species of pagurids were identified: Pagurus longicarpus, P. pollicaris, and P. annulipes. The larvae of P. annulipes had not been previously identified from Virginian waters. The shapes of the antennae of P. pollicaris and P. annulipes weredistinctive, allowing rapid identification of these larvae. The shapes of the uropods were found to be useful in distinguishingthe glaucothoe· of P. longicarpus from P. annulipes. The larvae of these species …