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Physical And Chemical Climate In The Nepal Himalaya, Arun Bhakta Shrestha

Doctoral Dissertations

The physical climate of the Himalaya is governed by monsoon circulation, a primary source of moisture to the region. To date, little research has focused on the physical and chemical climate in the Himalaya, while not much is known about the chemical climate there. This dissertation is a first attempt to investigate both the physical and chemical aspects of climate in the Nepal Himalaya with the objective of documenting current conditions and past trends as well as laying the foundation for investigations of their inter-relationship in the future.

Temperature and precipitation records from a network of meteorological station in Nepal …

Differentiation And Composition On The Hardy And Bergman Spaces, Neil Portnoy

Doctoral Dissertations

Banach spaces of analytic functions are defined by norming a collection of these functions defined on a set X. Among the most studied are the Hardy and Bergman spaces of analytic functions on the unit disc in the complex plane. This is likely due to the richness of these spaces.

An analytic self-map of the unit disc induces a composition operator on these spaces in the natural way. Beginning with independent papers by E. Nordgren and J. V. Ryff in the 1960's, much work has been done to relate the properties of the composition operator to the characteristics of the …

Turning To Earth: Paths To An Ecological Practice, Florence Marina Schauffler

Doctoral Dissertations

In highly developed countries like the United States, conventional approaches to environmental change emphasize systemic measures such as policies and regulations. Yet many intractable environmental problems appear to be rooted in the perspectives and practices of individual citizens. Efforts to restore 'outer ecology' may depend, therefore, on transforming 'inner ecology'--the constellation of spiritual and moral values that guide action. This dissertation examines the inner dimensions of ecological change, demonstrating how individuals redefine their relation to earth through a process of 'ecological conversion.'.

In assessing the dynamics of conversion, this work relies primarily on the testimony of six 20th-century American writers: …

The Role Of Industrial Innovation In Growth And Convergence Across The United States States, Norman Henry Sedgley Iii.

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is concerned with testing economic growth theory using data from US States. Work on endogenous growth has recently been extended to determine the rate of technological change across economies where the incentive to innovate is linked to economic rewards. These models of endogenous innovation are on the cutting edge of theoretical advances in economic growth.

I extend the endogenous innovation literature to study the consequences of knowledge spillovers and the different industrial concentrations that clearly exist across states. This extension of the theory suggests it is reasonable to expect rates of innovation to differ across states if knowledge …

The Influence Of Chloride On Interface Kinetics And Morphology Of Copper Electrodeposits On Copper Single Crystals, Qunwei Wu

Doctoral Dissertations

The influence of chloride on the kinetics and morphology of copper electrodeposition on copper single crystal in acidified copper sulfate solution was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and by electro-analytical methods. AFM was employed to image deposits on low-index single crystal copper surface formed under potential control in a fluid electrolyte. The kinetic parameters for cathodic deposition of copper on the same surface from acid sulfate and chloride solution were measured by galvanostatic polarization.

Chloride has a great influence on the morphology of copper deposits Isotropic structures were obtained only in high purity sulfate solution, whereas anisotropic structures emerged …

Some Observations Of Magnetic Clouds And Simulations Of A Normal Fast Shock Interaction With An Idealized Magnetic Cloud, Laurence X. Janoo

Doctoral Dissertations

We looked at three magnetic clouds observed by the WIND satellite and find that though they are temporally the same, their effects on the Earth were different. The magnetopause is slightly expanded for all the three clouds from its average position during the Bz<0 phase of the clouds and in the Bz<0 phase there was a compression of the magnetopause taking place. During the Bz<0 phase of the October 1995 cloud the bow shock expanded from its average position much more then the January 1997 but the May 1996 cloud hardly affected the Earth's bow shock position during this phase. For the later Bz<0 phase, we find that all three clouds compressed the bow shock closer to the Earth from its average position. We studied a number of discontinuities in the field and plasma observations for the October 18--19, 1995 magnetic cloud. Except for the front cloud boundary, which was a tangential discontinuity, all other discontinuities were rotational. We also could identify 3 different coherent structures within the October 18--19, 1995 cloud. We also found regions for which no coherent structure existed.

From our simulations of a shock with a static force-free Lundquist flux tube, we find that the width of the tube will decrease but the boundaries of the tube were still clearly defined. The magnetic field components retain their original orientation but with an increased amplitude. Depending on the density ratio's between the tube and surrounding …

A Very High Level Logic Synthesis, Norbert Ange Valverde

Doctoral Dissertations

The evolution of Computer Aided Design (CAD) calls for the incorporation of design specifications into a microelectronics system development cycle. This expansion requires the establishment of a new generation of CAD procedures, defined as Very High Level Logic Synthesis (VHLLS). The fundamental characteristics of open-ended VHLLS are: (1) front-end graphical interface; (2) time encapsulation; and (3) automatic translation into a behavioral description. Consequently, the VHLLS paradigm represents an advanced category of CAD-based microelectronics system design, built on a deep usage of expert systems and intelligent methods. Artificial Intelligence (AI) formalisms such as Knowledge Representation System (KRS) are necessary to model …

The Sexual Harassment Paradox In Graduate School: Experiences And Answers, Kimberly Ann Smirles

Doctoral Dissertations

Sexual harassment is a pervasive problem in higher education (Truax, 1996). Graduate students occupy a unique power position in academia as both students and teachers. As such, they are potentially victims and perpetrators of sexual harassment. The purpose of the current research was to (a) understand the dynamics of sexual harassment by examining the experiences and perceptions of graduate students and (b) assess whether a commonly utilized education program was effective in raising awareness and changing the attitudes of graduate students. Graduate students from both the University of New Hampshire (Study 1) and around the country (Study 2) were asked …

Effects Of Non-Maxwellian Auroral Source Electrons, Eric Edward Dors

Doctoral Dissertations

The auroral current density-voltage and energy flux density-voltage relationships are derived under the assumption that magnetospheric electrons above the auroral acceleration region are described by the $\kappa$ distribution function. To illustrate the effects of this boundary condition on auroral precipitation, a two dimensional model of auroral electrodynamics similar to that of Lyons (1980) has been developed by imposing current continuity in the auroral zone. The current carried by precipitating magnetospheric electrons inside auroral arcs connects to return current regions at the arc edges via ionospheric Pedersen currents. A key feature is the ability to parameterize the magnetospheric boundary electron population …

The Field Of Meanings Of Childlessness In Contemporary Film Culture, Susan Marie Ross

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine contemporary cultural meanings of female childlessness and come to understand these meanings in relation to historical meanings of childlessness. The contemporary shifts in the meaning of childlessness reflect America's struggle with women's changing social roles, particularly since the mid-1960s. As more women are stepping outside of the domestic sphere and forging new nondomestic pathways, the meaning of childlessness is undergoing changes and reflects our culture's ambiguity about women's new roles.

In order to examine the shifts in themes regarding childlessness, this study focuses on the thematic analysis of 67 films released by …

The Role Of Shame In Writing: How Lived Experience Affects The Writing Process, Carol Kountz

Doctoral Dissertations

Writing fluently without disabling apprehension requires an ability to control ideas despite the occurrence of censoring thoughts or shameful sensations. Such ability is characteristically lacking in apprehensive or blocking writers, who, therefore, have difficulty in composing. To understand the psychological and social factors that impede the writing process, and to give writers and compositionists insight into the features of writing that result in "writer's block," I held conversational interviews with twenty-four people who designate themselves as apprehensive writers about their literacy experiences and writing behavior. Analysis of these interviews shows that these people, in anticipation of a real or inward, …

Fixation And Incubation Effects In Problem-Solving, Marie Theresa Hansberry

Doctoral Dissertations

In four experiments, the effects of fixation and suppression processes in problem solving ability were investigated. Previous research has shown that efficient suppression mechanisms are integral to verbal ability (e.g., Gernsbacher & Faust, 1991; Gernsbacher, Varner, & Faust, 1990; Hartman & Hasher, 1991). The present set of experiments demonstrated that such a mechanism is also a component of problem solving ability. The efficiency with which participants were able to suppress inappropriate meanings of ambiguous words was used as a measure of suppression skill. Experiment I established that participants who were able to make use of previously-presented information to solve difficult …

The Teaching Portfolio As A Vehicle For Professional Growth, John James Freeman

Doctoral Dissertations

This study considered the utility of the teaching portfolio as a structure which might enhance the professional growth of public school teachers. The study was guided by the question: Does the development of individual teaching portfolios support reflection, self-assessment, and professional development on the part of teachers who develop portfolios? Other issues considered were reasons for developing portfolios, the nature of artifacts included in portfolios, structures which support teachers in the development of their portfolios, changes in classroom practice which may result from portfolio development, plans for future portfolio use, and suggestions which portfolio developers might have for others considering …

Skillful Women And Jurymen: Gender And Authority In Seventeenth-Century Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Edith Murphy

Doctoral Dissertations

Through analysis of about one thousand cases that appeared before the Middlesex County, Massachusetts, court between 1649 and 1679, this dissertation asks how authority, derived from patriarchal power, operated on the day-to-day level in colonial New England society. It argues that women were integral to colonial communities and to the effective maintenance of social order. While gender determined the roles people played in colonial society, and women were subordinate to their husbands and fathers, women and men shared agency in efforts to maintain social order.

The dissertation begins by tracing the process by which cases came to the county court, …

Stability And Weight Smoothing In Cmac Neural Networks, David Paul Campagna

Doctoral Dissertations

Although the CMAC (Cerebellar Model Articulation Controller) neural network has been successfully used in control systems for many years, its property of local generalization, the availability of trained information for network responses at adjacent untrained locations, although responsible for the networks rapid learning and efficient implementation, results in network responses that is, when trained with sparse or widely spaced training data, spiky in nature even when the underlying function being learned is quite smooth. Since the derivative of such a network response can vary widely, the CMAC's usefulness for solving optimization problems as well as for certain other control system …

Does The Going Concern Explanatory Paragraph Have Information Content As Perceived By Bank Loan Officers?, Rafik Zakaria Elias

Doctoral Dissertations

Reporting going concern uncertainty has always been a controversial issue for standard-setters, auditors and users of the financial statements. Current standards require the auditor to include an explanatory paragraph in an unqualified audit opinion to report going concern uncertainty. This research investigated the information content attributed to this additional paragraph as viewed by users.

Two groups of commercial loan officers were presented with the same information for an actual case company exhibiting going concern uncertainty. One group received a modified report and a footnote disclosure of the going concern situation while the other group received an unqualified report and the …

Union Commitment: A Two-Sample Multivariate Analysis Of A Professional White-Collar Union Local And A Typical Blue-Collar Manufacturing Union Local, Arthur Lee Pevahouse

Doctoral Dissertations

This study assesses union commitment using a quasi-experimental methodology to determine and test the hypothesis that there is no difference in commitment levels of white-collar and blue-collar union workers. A self reporting pencil and paper survey instrument was used to gather the data. Two specific union locals in the same area were chosen to participate in the survey. One local was a white-collar, engineering local and the other was a tire manufacturing local. These two locals were chosen on the basis of location and attributes that met the research requirements.

There were ten hypotheses formulated that contended that the level …

The Relationship Between Specified Dispositional And Cognitive Variables And Aids Related Health Behaviors, Robert Joseph Pellegrino

Doctoral Dissertations

The research presented here provides evidence for the use of dispositional psychological states within the Ordered Protection Motivation model. Specifically, the use of dispositional variables is supported when the threat is one related to health (such as AIDS). The study examined a sample of undergraduate students from Louisiana Tech University. Regression was used to determine if four dispositional variables (Health Locus of Control, Sexual Locus of Control, Narcissism, and Sociosexual Orientation) added explanatory power to the ordered protection motivation model.

This study is of particular interest to marketers who produce public service announcements. The objective of any public service campaign …

Investigation Of The Effects Of Nosetip Shape In Terminal Ballistics Using A Wave Mechanics Model, Jack Scott Mcmurtry

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this work is to delineate some of the physical mechanisms which govern the effect of nosetip shape on terminal ballistics phenomenology. A principal goal in the study of terminal ballistics has been the prediction of depth of penetration and crater diameter for penetrators and targets of various geometries, sizes, and materials. The model developed here is based on a "quasi-steady wave" mechanics approach to the problem with a 1-D model for the penetrator and a 2-D model for the target. The model is based on the application of the conservation of momentum equation to a control volume …

Myoglobin-Facilitated Oxygen Diffusion In The Heart: A Mathematical Assessment, Jason D. Gardner

Doctoral Dissertations

Myoglobin facilitated oxygen diffusion and Michaelis-Menten kinetics are added to an experimentally-validated cardiac tissue model to determine the steady-state function of myoglobin in working heart tissue. Previous modeling of tissue oxygen partial pressure (pO$\sb2)$ data suggests that the oxygen diffusion coefficient in working heart tissue is greater than expected. To fit the pO$\sb2$ data, the tissue oxygen diffusion coefficient in the model must be elevated to 8 to 12 times reported values. These elevated values of the tissue oxygen diffusion coefficient are not acceptable based upon the current understanding of cardiac muscle physiology. In this dissertation the effect of including …

The Role Of Perceived Social Norms On Attitudes And Behavior: An Examination Of The False Consensus Effect, Kathleen Patricia Bauman

Doctoral Dissertations

This paper examined the role of perceived social norms in relation to people's attitudes and behavioral intentions, specifically in regards to the false consensus effect (FCE). People are prone to numerous biases in judgments about peers' beliefs, including overestimating support for their own position (i.e., false consensus). These misperceptions can then shape people's beliefs and guide their behavior. This series of studies assessed the influence of this type of misperception on attitudes and behavioral intentions regarding controversial social issues. Study 1 demonstrated that people displayed false consensus for current social issues. Alterations in wording and order of presentation did not …

The Effects Of Actual And Perceived Parental Characteristics On Partner Selection And Perception, Glenn Gehar

Doctoral Dissertations

The present studies were designed to examine the template matching hypothesis, a prediction based on Freud's (1927) psychoanalytic theory which proposes that people choose romantic partners who are similar to their opposite-sex parents. While some research has demonstrated that such a phenomenon does exist for physical characteristics (e.g., Jedlicka, 1984), research on this phenomenon in regards to personality dimensions has been relatively inconclusive. The primary objectives of the present studies were to determine (a) the extent to which people choose partners with personalities similar to their opposite-sex parents, (b) the extent to which people perceive that their romantic partners have …

Dynamic Response Of Poroelastic Materials Containing Bingham Fluid: Application To Electrorheological Fluids, Mete Kesan

Doctoral Dissertations

This work examines the dynamic response to harmonic loading of a disk of poroelastic material containing non-Newtonian Bingham fluid which exhibits a yield stress. Biot's poroelasticity equations and modified Darcy's law for non-Newtonian fluids exhibiting a yield stress are combined together to obtain the governing equations of the system for quasi-static case. Dissipation due to friction arising from the flow of fluid relative to the solid is taken into account but inertia effects are neglected. The response and the complex modulus of the system are calculated using the finite element method taking into account the nonlinear nature of Bingham fluid. …

Perceived Versus Actual Attitude Similarity As Predictors Of Change In Interpersonal Attraction, Andrew Robert Mcgarva

Doctoral Dissertations

The present investigation was intended to identify factors that affect the degree to which interpersonal attraction changes over the course of face-to-face interaction. Participants completed a modified version of Byrne's (1971) attitude questionnaire, the Crowne-Marlowe Social Desirability Scale (1964), and Snyder's Self-Monitoring Scale and were then paired into attitudinally similar, dissimilar, or neutral dyads. Both before and after interacting for 40-minutes, dyads were asked to rate their interpersonal attraction toward their partner. Attitude similarity better predicted post-conversation interpersonal attraction when controlling for pre-conversation attraction than when not controlling for pre-conversation attraction. Social desirability, self-monitoring, and the coordination of vocal activity …

The Multidimensionality Of Illusory Judgments: Reexamination Of Illusion Of Control Research, Paul Keith Presson

Doctoral Dissertations

The present dissertation examines the well-established research paradigm known as the illusion of control. Until now, researchers have employed one basic paradigm which has addressed the illusion of control as a unidimensional phenomenon. In Study 1, 91 female undergraduates were presented with three induction conditions used by previous researchers. Factor analyses showed that judgments from these tasks did not tap into a single process, but rather fell into two types of illusory judgments--belief- and contingency-based. In Study 2, 182 female undergraduates were exposed to the same three induction conditions used in Study 1 plus two additional contingency tasks. As in …

Psychosocial And Sociostructural Determinants Of Mastery: The Context Of Age And Disability, Scott David Schieman

Doctoral Dissertations

The "active" and "potent" self has held a special interest to philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists since the inception of those disciplines. The present research uses sociological perspectives on social comparison and reference group theory to provide a framework for understanding the various dimensions of self-process in the context of age and disability. Specifically, this research examines associations between age, disability, and social status indicators as they impress upon personal agency or mastery.

This study uses secondary data that includes respondents aged 18 and over who resided in any of ten counties in Southwestern Ontario and were part of a two-wave …

Impact Of Land-Use And Climatic Changes On Hydrology Of The Himalayan Basin: A Case Study Of The Kosi Basin, Keshav Prasad Sharma

Doctoral Dissertations

Land-use and climatic changes are of major concern in the Himalayan region because of their potential impacts on a predominantly agriculture-based economy and a regional hydrology dominated by strong seasonality. Such concerns are not limited to any particular basin but exist throughout the region including the downstream plain areas. As a representative basin of the Himalayas, we studied the Kosi basin (54,000 km$\sp2)$ located in the mountainous area of the central Himalayan region. We analyzed climatic and hydrologic information to assess the impacts of existing and potential future land-use and climatic changes over the basin.

The assessment of anthropogenic inputs …

Molecular Characterization Of A Cytotoxic Porin Protein From Campylobacter Jejuni And Its Role In Campylobacteriosis, David John Bacon

Doctoral Dissertations

Campylobacter jejuni is a major cause of enteritis in developed and developing countries. A cytotoxic complex was isolated from organism-free filtrates of broth grown organisms by screening for activity in HEp-2 cells following high performance liquid chromatography using a combination of size exclusion and DEAE column chromatography. The toxin was found to coincide with a 45 kDa protein possessing an N-terminus sequence indicative of a bacterial outer membrane porin protein together with a high molecular weight carbohydrate which was determined to be lipopolysaccharide (LPS).

The carbohydrate portion of the LPS had reactivity for the lectins Galanthus nivalis agglutinin, Maakia amurensis …

Modeling Of The Electromagnetic Radiation From Shielded Enclosures With Apertures And Attached Wires In A Real-World Environment, Bruce Roy Archambeault

Doctoral Dissertations

A hybrid modeling technique using the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) approach in conjunction with the Method of Moments (MoM) approach was developed to allow simulation of electromagnetic interference (EMI) emissions through apertures due to sources within a shielded enclosure. These apertures can include air ventilation openings, option card slots, mating cover seams, or any other opening in the metal shielded enclosure. Modeled emission results can now be directly compared to U.S. and other countries' regulations to allow engineers to predict compliance before hardware prototypes are built. The effects of the test environment, including ground plane and specified measurement distance, as well …

Absorption And Fluorescence Spectra Of Sodium In An Argon Matrix, Alan Bruce Tutein

Doctoral Dissertations

A computer simulation of the formation of trapping sites for sodium atoms trapped in a solid argon matrix has been performed, using experimentally determined argon-argon and sodium-argon potentials available in the literature. The simulation method is a greatly simplified version of the more time-consuming molecular dynamics approach. Optical absorption and emission spectra corresponding to the matrix-perturbed 3s-3p sodium transition were calculated for each simulated trapping site, using first-order perturbation theory and the available sodium-argon dimer potentials. Two of the three requisite sodium-argon dimer potentials, the X$\sp2\Sigma$ and the A$\sp2\Pi,$ have been determined experimentally, but for the B$\sp2\Sigma$ potential, only a …