Digital Commons Network^™

Numerical Analysis For Blood Distribution In Complete Flow Cross-Section Microvascular Networks, Jewen Xiao

Doctoral Dissertations

As the blood flows through a bifurcation, the axisymmetric red blood cell concentration profile is skewed by plasma skimming. In the downstream segment of the bifurcation the concentration profile of red blood cells recovers symmetry by the red blood cell dispersion process.

In this study, the concentration convective equation, which models the red blood cell dispersion process, is solved with the method of finite differences in cylindrical coordinates. In the computation, a shear-induced diffusivity coefficient is used. The computed hematocrit ratios at the second bifurcation are compared with in vitro experimental data obtained from 50 $\mu$m serial trees with two …

An Analysis Of High Frequency Methane Measurements In Central New England, Mark Charles Shipham

Doctoral Dissertations

A unique high resolution ambient air methane data set consisting of approximately 125,000 independently measured data points for the years 1991-1995 has been collected at a site in the northeastern United States. This data base is used to examine the long term trend, seasonal and diurnal cycles, and the frequent pollution events that affect the site on a year round basis.

The annual median mixing ratio of methane for all measurements was 1808 ppbv in 1992, increasing at a variable rate to 1837 ppbv in 1995. The lower 10-30% of the data from each month was defined as representative of …

Sharing Reality: The Construction Of Professional Knowledge In A Middle School Team Setting, Carol Walker Mulligan

Doctoral Dissertations

In this case study of a middle school team of teachers, I describe and interpret daily meeting conversations among one group of practitioners over the course of one school year. Through the lens of the social construction of reality, I examine processes of sharing and co-constructing aspects of professional knowledge in this setting.

To conduct the study, I collected data from the regularly scheduled daily team meetings of my own interdisciplinary middle school team. The result is an insider view of the conversations of a group of practitioners who share the same population of students. For purposes of elaboration and …

Relativistic Thinking And Identity Development In College Students, Rebecca Anne Regeth

Doctoral Dissertations

The relationship between relativistic thinking and identity formation was examined. Relativistic thinking is the ability to accept the subjective nature of knowledge and values and has been shown to develop during college. It was predicted that as students become more relativistic in their thinking, they also realize that their own perception of reality is relative too. This causes an identity crisis, resulting in a mature identity. A one-year longitudinal study showed that changes in identity (increased moratorium) were related to changes in thinking (increased relativism). Students in different college majors were shown to think differently about the nature of knowledge …

The Female Coach In The World Of Collegiate Sport: Accommodation And Resistance To The Dominant Sport Culture, Nita Marie Lamborghini

Doctoral Dissertations

This research explores the nature and meaning of collegiate coaching as an occupation for women and the extent to which women coaches accommodate to and resist the dominant sport culture. This study includes a brief historical analysis of the roots of coaching as an occupation for women and the emergence and nature of the "female model" of sport. To further explore the nature and meaning of coaching and the extent of accommodation and resistance to the dominant sport culture, forty-six (46) in-depth interviews were conducted with women collegiate coaches currently employed at an NCAA affiliated institution. A brief survey and …

Power Play: Sexual Harassment In The Middle School, Elizabeth M Allard Chamberlain

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation addresses male to female student to student sexual harassment in public middle schools, arguing that this issue is not merely a legal one, but an educational issue with legal components which demands the attention and intervention of educators. I argue that no legal policy, regardless of how explicitly it is written, or how expertly administered, can, by itself, adequately address student to student sexual harassment. This is not a fault within the legal system: it is a recognition that the law cannot do the work of education. We need to acknowledge the complexity of sexual harassment and its …

The Effects Of Age And Expertise On Discourse Processing, Lisa Marie Soederberg

Doctoral Dissertations

The paradoxical nature of adult development is that it is marked by a decline in processing capacity but an increase in knowledge. A specialized formulation of increased knowledge that can occur throughout the lifespan is expertise. Because discourse processing is both a method of acquiring domain expertise and is facilitated by domain expertise, the nature of this interrelationship is central to successful aging. However, the processes through which expertise facilitates discourse processing are virtually unexplored within the cognitive aging literature. Four experiments investigating this issue are presented. The first experiment investigated age differences in on-line reading strategies of readers with …

Response Of Outer Radiation Belt Electrons To A Magnetic Storm, Donald Hugh Brautigam

Doctoral Dissertations

To advance our understanding of the magnetic storm dynamics of the outer radiation belt relativistic electrons, the magnetic storm which commenced on 9 October 1990 was analyzed in detail using data from the Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory geosynchronous satellite 1989enspace 046. Electron differential flux was transformed into phase space density as a function of the three adiabatic invariants. The invariants were determined by magnetic field data from CRRES and the Tsyganenko 1989 Kp driven model. The unique work of this thesis is the storm time radial diffusion modeling performed using time …

Composition As A Mode Of Being: Politics, Ethics, And History In The Writing Classrooms Of Postmodernity, Lance Michael Svehla

Doctoral Dissertations

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. once commented that while he did not "deny the importance, on the level of theory, of the (postmodern) project," such a project did not help him when he was "trying to get a taxi on the corner of 125th and Lenox Avenue" (Loose Canons 37-38). The postmodern project lacked what Gates calls "practical performative force." The purpose of this dissertation is to establish postmodernity's practical performative force for the composition classroom. It addresses four central questions: What is postmodernity? What is its relationship to composition? Why should composition teachers and students care about this relationship? How …

"A City Of Vivid Contrasts": Antimodernity And Modernity At The Poland Spring Resort, 1860-1900, David Lee Richards

Doctoral Dissertations

This cultural history examines the interplay between antimodernity and modernity that transformed a country inn located in Poland Spring, Maine, into a world-renowned "summer city" during the late nineteenth century. Part exclusive club, colonial homestead, social mecca, therapeutic spa, pastoral farm, natural Eden, recreational playground, and cultured city, the site combined the nostalgia and natural beauty associated with traditional rural society and the affluence and amenities expected of contemporary urban society. The "city of vivid contrasts" created at Poland Spring typified the power of Gilded-Age culture to pave the way for the transition to modernity by appealing to the ameliorative …

Foraging Strategies Of Two Sympatric Lagomorphs: Implications Of Habitat Fragmentation, Douglas Foxall Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

I studied the effects of variation in food patch quality and predation risk on the foraging patterns and measures of foraging behavior of New England (S. transitionalis) and eastern (S. floridanus) cottontails, and their survivorship and weight change during these experiments. I then superimposed the results of these experiments onto real habitat patches to determine the amount of habitat each species could occupy and maintain similar survivorship. Finally, I measured an adaptation (eye size), and predator detection of both species in an effort to explain the difference in survival between S. floridanus and S. transitionalis.

In outdoor enclosures (5.7 x …

Preparing The Way Of The Lord: Three Case Studies Of Ministerial Preconditioning In Congregations Before The Great Awakening, 1675-1750, Douglas Kevin Fidler

Doctoral Dissertations

This study demonstrates that ministerial predecessors in three northern New England communities actually preconditioned community reactions to the Great Awakening during the years preceding the revival itself. "Preconditioning" is not the ordinary "influence" of pastors within their churches and professional circles suggested in other works. This kind of influence might cause parishioners to consider various behavioral alternatives when confronted by spiritual circumstances. Preconditioned congregations would already have established paradigms for responding to spiritual stimulus. While individual parishioners might act in ways consistent with their own personalities, psychological needs, and spiritual sensitivities, congregations as a whole would apply a predetermined set …

American Business Women, 1890-1930: Creating An Identity, Candace A. Kanes

Doctoral Dissertations

Between 1890 and 1930, many thousands of women in fields ranging from millinery, corset making and dressmaking trades to medicine, social work, and advertising called themselves "business women." Organizations of business women and publications aimed at them helped create an identity for "business women" that served to acknowledge and inspire such women. Business women saw themselves as serious, ambitious, competitive, economically independent, career-oriented, and successful. They focused on gaining recognition for women's achievements, opening new opportunities for women, and instilling high ethical values into business. These self-defined business women, most of whom were single, looked to like-minded women for economic, …

A Poetics Of Reconciliation: The Aesthetic Mediation Of Conflict, Cynthia Eames Cohen

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation, a philosophical inquiry into the significance of the aesthetic domain for reconciliation, addresses the following question: What is the nature of reconciliation, and what is the nature of the aesthetic domain, that aesthetic forms and processes should be uniquely well-suited to the educational tasks and challenges inherent in the work of reconciliation? The question is answered through the methods of conceptual analysis, with examples from the author's practice of conflict resolution, oral history and cultural work.

The first section of the dissertation identifies 'reconciliation' as an ethical and educational concept. The educational tasks of reconciliation--through which former enemies …

The Chemistry And Dry Deposition Of Atmospheric Nitrogen At A Rural Site In The Northeastern United States, Barry Lee Lefer

Doctoral Dissertations

Measurements of N gas (HNO$\sb3$, NH$\sb3$) and aerosol (NO$\sb3\sp-,$ NH$\sb4\sp+$) species were made between 1991-1995 to examine the nature of atmospheric N chemistry and to estimate the importance of N dry deposition to the Harvard Forest (Petersham, MA). This U.S. site was influenced by aged rural air masses advected from the northwest (NW) and fresh industrial emissions from the southwest (SW). Mean midday HNO$\sb3$ and aerosol N mixing ratios were four times higher in SW surface winds.

Diel cycles provided evidence of the entrainment of HNO$\sb3$ and aerosol NO$\sb3\sp-$ from aloft as the nocturnal inversion broke down. HNO$\sb3$ made up …

Bodily Discourses: When Students Write About Sexual Abuse, Physical Abuse, And Eating Disorders In The Composition Classroom, Michelle Marie Payne

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes student texts about bodily violence written for Freshman English and advanced writing courses at the University of New Hampshire between 1994 and 1996. All the volunteers were white women, most aged 18-21. The project addresses four central questions: Why are students writing about these experiences? How are they writing about them? What assumptions inform teachers' responses to such essays? What larger cultural contexts shape how such experiences are represented and understood by students and teachers?

The primary materials are twenty-five student essays; interviews with students, teachers, and campus personnel; and observations of classrooms and staff meetings. Information …

This Is Gonna Hurt Like Hell: A Pentecostal Student Enters The Academy, Stephen R. Barrett

Doctoral Dissertations

The little that has been written about expressions of religious experience in the field of Composition Studies focuses on the many ways religious belief places its adherents at a disadvantage in writing classrooms. We discuss in our journals and staffrooms only those religious conservatives who are most expressive of their beliefs. Many others sit in silence during discussions that may reveal anything of their beliefs, fearing to offend teachers and peers or to expose themselves to offenses from others. Unfortunately, these silent students contribute little or nothing to our understanding of the abilities of faith-centered students. Many are writing with …

Investigation Of The Mechanism Of Adr1 Mediated Transcriptional Activation, Philip B. Komarnitsky

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of these studies was to examine the mechanism of function of the transcriptional activator ADR1 of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. ADR1 is required for the activation of the ADH2 gene, as well as genes involved in glycerol metabolism and peroxisome biogenesis. ADR1 is a DNA-binding protein. It binds to a 22 bp palindromic upstream activating sequence 1 (UAS1) element located 215 bp 5$\sp\prime$ to the transcription start site of ADH2. Elements similar to UAS 1 are found in promoters of all ADR1-dependent genes. ADR1 was shown previously to contain three transcriptional activation domains (TADs): TADI (amino acids 76-172), TADII …

Public Poetry, Memory, And The Historical Present: 1660-1745, Paul H. Mccallum

Doctoral Dissertations

"Public Poetry, Memory, and the Historical Present: 1660-1745" examines the role public poetry played in the fashioning of social memory during the so-called Augustan age of English literature; further, it traces in the rise and decline of public poetry during this period the emergence and subsequent estrangement of two distinctive modes of public memory: one highly emblematic and allusive in nature, fostering and indeed dependent upon a well-endowed collective sense of historical and literary tradition; the other far more literal and individualistic, fashioning social memory of the historical present--the present moment set against the backdrop of historical consciousness--by encouraging a …

Ecological Database Development And Analyses Of Soil Variability In Northern New England, Michael Anayo Okoye

Doctoral Dissertations

The 1983 Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data of the states of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont (the study area) contain large amounts of field-measurements of many ecologically important variables. Despite the vast potential usefulness of the FIA data for scientific research, the data were until now, literally unused except for a few administrative purposes, because of problems in the way the data were organized, summarized, and coded for storage. The primary objective of this research was to solve the problems that had thus precluded these FIA data from use in scientific applications, and present the data in a form …

A Metric-Based Scientific Data Model For Knowledge Discovery, David T. Kao

Doctoral Dissertations

Scientific data, which include multimedia (e.g., images, audio, and video) and non-standard data (e.g., finger prints and DNA sequences), is characterized by rich and complex inter-instance relationships in addition to the inter-entity relationships found in traditional data. Conventional data models are insufficient for modeling such inter-instance relationships. This thesis proposes a metric-based scientific data model from the notions of data-as-functions and pseudo-quasimetrics, which are used to model inter-entity and inter-instance relationships respectively. Compared to other scientific data models, the metric-based conceptual model can be applied to many data sets where geometric views might not otherwise be available.

A detailed approach …

Ruminally Undegraded Protein And Ruminally Protected Amino Acids For Dairy Heifers, Brian David Garthwaite

Doctoral Dissertations

A series of growth experiments was conducted to evaluate the feeding of ruminally undegraded protein alone, or in combination with ruminally protected lysine and methionine. Eighty Holstein heifer calves were blocked by date of birth as they became available at 6 wk of age and assigned to a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. Main effects of the 2 x 2 factorial were amount of ruminally undegraded protein in diet dry matter and whether ruminally protected lysine arid methionine were supplemented to diets. Four phases of growth were evaluated: Phase (1) 6 wk to 100 kg; Phase (2) 100 …

A Creative Thinking And Writing Analysis Workshop As An Alternative Detention Activity To Silence And Work Interventions Used For Behavioral Change In High School, George J. Matranga

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research project was to investigate the effectiveness of after school detention as a disciplinary tool for handling student misbehavior at school. Detention is defined as holding a student during their own free time, such as after school. The subjects of the study were problematic students assigned to detention for inappropriate behavior, i.e. violating a school rule or regulation.

As a school practitioner conducted this research the study highlights the practitioner's perspective for effective student discipline management in developing and maintaining a positive school climate. In many regards, the study was meant to provide information to the …

An Experimental Investigation Of Thermally-Induced Deformation Of 1 Micron Thick Copper/Tantalum/Polymide High-Density Interconnect Structures, Dmitry V. Zhmurkin

Doctoral Dissertations

A new technique to estimate the out-of-plane thermal expansion coefficient (CTE) of several 1 $\mu$m thick, spin-coated polyimides is introduced. Arrays of parallel copper and polyimide lines of various aspect ratios on Si substrate were imaged in air at room temperature and at 97$\sp\circ$C using an atomic force microscope (AFM). The out-of-plane CTE of the polyimides was estimated by matching the experimental results with the predictions of finite element models with different out-of-plane parameters. For FPI-135 (6FCDA-TMOB) polyimide the out-of-plane CTE was found to be $\approx$260 ppm/$\sp\circ$C, for FPI-136 (PMDA-6FDA-TFMOB) polyimide $\approx$120 ppm/$\sp\circ$C. Polyimide lines with widths equal to or …

Vehicle Performance Optimization Utilizing The Air Turbo-Ramjet Propulsion System; Methodology Development And Applications, Kirk Christensen

Doctoral Dissertations

"The ATR (Air TurboRocket) is an air breathing propulsion system in which the turbocompressor turbine is powered by a hot drive gas which is generated independently of the air flow through the compressor. The ATR has a lower specific impulse (Isp) and higher thrust compared to a similar size turbojet but a lower thrust and higher Isp compared to similar size solid rocket motor (SRM). This work defines the benefits of ATR propulsion for tactical vehicles.

ATR simulation codes were developed to support analysis of hypothetical ATR powered vehicles. Both turbojet powered and SRM powered vehicles were also evaluated against …

Immobilization Of Radioactive Materials In Iron Phosphate Glass, Melissa G. Mesko

Doctoral Dissertations

"The current study investigates the feasibility of using iron phosphate glass for the immobilization of radioactive wastes considered incompatible with borosilicate glass. Wastes may be incompatible with borosilicate glass due to high phosphorus content (Hanford tank sludges), the presence of halides (CsCl and SrF₂ capsules), or large amounts of uranium (SNF).

Between 20 and 60 wt% Hanford tank sludge was vitrified with an iron phosphate glass at ≤ 1200°C in 1 hour. The chemical durability of iron phosphate glassy wasteforms was as good as, or better than a reference borosilicate glass (10^-9 g/cm²/min) in distilled water …

Service Quality Using The Deviation-Score Approach To Fit In Contingency Theory In A U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers Setting, Donald Robert Groh

Doctoral Dissertations

"The purpose of this study is to learn how organizational work unit context, structure, and processes relate to service quality. The theoretical basis for the research is that organizational work units should be structured based on the work that they perform. If the work that a unit performs is highly variable, then the work unit should be structured in such a way as to provide flexibility, that is, few rules and procedures and highly decentralized decision making. If the work that a unit performs is not variable, then the work unit should be structured to provide a non-varying product or …

Heat Transfer In Microchannels, Xianming Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this research was to develop an analytical solution to the heat transfer problem in microchannels with slip-flow--a heat transfer problem for gases at low pressures or in extremely small geometries, and to verify this solution experimentally. In this investigation, an analytical expression for the velocity distribution with slip-flow was obtained which involved the Knudsen (Kn) number in an infinite series form. The result showed that the velocity always increased as the Knudsen number was increased. The Knudsen number for extremely small channels may become large enough to affect significantly the velocity distribution and consequently affect the heat …

The Use Of Prior Knowledge In Learning From Examples, Stephen B. Blessing '89

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the way people acquire procedures from examples, and provides a computational model of the results. In four experiments, people learned an analog of algebra. For each experiment, the initial know ledge that people had of the task was varied. In two experiments (Experiments 1 and 3), the syntactic know ledge that people had concerning the task w as manipulated. The knowledge of syntax that participants had, particularly the ability to correctly parse the character string, was found to be a major determiner in the way participants acquired the rules. Experiment 2 explicitly manipulated participant's awareness as to …

Effects Of Cultural Factors On Mental Health Care For American Indians Living In New York State, Kathleen Alison Earle

Doctoral Dissertations

The literature suggests that American Indians need a unique mental health approach based on different cultural norms. Yet research supporting the existence of cultural differences among American Indian mental health clients is rare.

The hypothesis of this study was that American Indian and White, non-Hispanic mental health care recipients have differences in demographic characteristics, services received, and attitudes which may necessitate an alternative therapeutic approach for American Indians. Research methods were an analysis of a secondary data base and a field study using a questionnaire.

Preliminary analysis identified a difference in rate of mental health services received between all American …