Digital Commons Network^™

Near Room Temperature Self-Assembly Of Nanostructures By Reaction Of Gallium With Metal Thin Films., Mehdi M. Yazdanpanah 1975-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Liquid gallium (Ga) spontaneously alloys with thin films of metals such as Ag, Au, Pt Al, and Cu at near or even below room temperature resulting in rapid self-assembly of nanostructures. In this dissertation, studies of the formation of these nanostructures are reported together with application of the processes towards device fabrication. Ag 2 Ga needles, CoGa 3 rods, and Ga 6 Pt plates self-assemble at room temperature at the interface of Ga and thin films of Ag Co, and Pt. The Ag 2 Ga needles orient nearly vertical to the interface which suggests that an individual needle can be …

Multiobjective Simulation-Based Methodologies For Medical Decision Making., Ahmed Hassan Youssefagha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A variety of methodologies have been employed for decision making related to the treatment of diseases/injury. Decision trees are a functional way in which to examine problems under uncertainty by providing a method to analyze decisions under risk (Detsky, 1996, 97). However, conventional decision trees do not completely represent "the real world" since they cannot investigate problems that are cyclic in nature (Jaafari, 2003). The stochastic tree that developed Hazen during 1992-to-1996 is one of the most relevant methods and techniques related to decision analyses that append more incorporation for medical intervention related to recurring diseases/injuries. "The approach combines features …

Evolution Or Revolution In The Labor Movement : Business Unionism Versus Social Unionism., Jo Ann Shumate 1958-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This is a study of the American labor movement, particularly how national labor policy is enacted at the local level. Specific differences between business unionism and social movement unionism, as defined in the literature, are combined and analyzed. Local unions are compared and contrasted in order to explore which will be more effective in the growth of the labor movement of the 21st century. This is a case study of three different types of local unions: craft, service sector, and public sector. In-depth interviews were conducted with two to three officials from each union. The questions covered five topics which …

Sliding Mode Control Of Robotics Systems Actuated By Pneumatic Muscles., Liang Yang 1975-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is concerned with investigating robust approaches for the control of pneumatic muscle systems. Pneumatic muscle is a novel type of actuator. Besides having a high ratio of power to weight and flexible control of movement, it also exhibits many analogical behaviors to natural skeletal muscle, which makes them the ideal candidate for applications of anthropomorphic robotic systems. In this dissertation, a new phenomenological model of pneumatic muscle developed in the Human Sensory Feedback Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base is investigated. The closed loop stability of a one-link planar arm actuated by two pneumatic muscles using linear …

The Application Of Maxwell Elements For Modeling, Identification And Analysis Of Passive And Semi-Active Vibration Systems., Jie Zhang 1959-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dynamic analysis and parameter identification of a single mass elastomeric isolation system represented by Maxwell model is examined using both analytical and experimental approaches in this dissertation. Influences that the stiffness and damping values of the Maxwell element have on natural frequency, damping ratio and frequency response are uncovered and three unique categories of Maxwell-type elements are defined. It is revealed through analytical examples that Maxwell models consisting of two Maxwell elements can accurately replicate the dynamic behavior of Maxwell systems having two or more Maxwell elements. Two parameter identification methods are developed for identifying Maxwell models from measured frequency …

Immigration, Assimilation, And Language : A Case Study Of Esl Programs In Louisville, Kentucky., Korey David Mcmurtrey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined the structure and processes of several different organizations that offer English as a Second Language (ESL) classes in one Kentucky county. The purpose of the study was to analyze the structure of the organizations, and then analyze how the structure affects their approach to teaching ESL. There were three expectations going into this study: the ESL programs would be segregated and distinct from one another, they would be challenged to teach a diverse clientele, and the services would be strongly student-oriented. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six program coordinators and two teachers across six different organizations. The …

Computer Forensics Methodology And Praxis., Robin Cincinnatis Morrison 1975-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis lays the groundwork for creation of a graduate-level computer forensics course. It begins with an introduction explaining how computing has invaded modern life and explains what computer forensics is and its necessity. The thesis then argues why universities need to be at the forefront of educating students in the science of computer forensics as opposed to proprietary education courses and the benefits to law enforcement agencies of having a computer scientist perform forensic analyses. It continues to detail what computer forensics is and is not. The thesis then addresses legal issues and the motivation for the topic. Following …

Regulation Of Angiogenic Factors By Pituitary Tumor Transforming Gene (Pttg) In Tumorigenesis., Mohammad Tariq Malik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pituitary tumor transforming gene ( PTTG ), also known as securing, is a novel oncogene that is expressed at high levels in most of the tumors analyzed to date. Overexpression of PTTG in mouse fibroblast(NIH 3T3) cells increases cell proliferation, induces cellular transformation and promotes tumor formation in nude mice. PTTG is a multi-domain and multifunction protein. Some functions of PTTG include inhibition of pre-mature sister chromatid separation, activation of transcription of c-myc oncogene, cell cycle regulation, and DNA repair. In some cancers such as thyroid, pituitary, esophageal, and colorectal tumors, high PTTG expression correlates with metastasis and poor prognosis. …

Analysis And Experiments On Flow-Induced Hemolysis., Yangsheng Chen 1969-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hemolysis (red cells lysis) caused by fluid stresses in flows within hypodermic needles, blood pumps, artificial hearts and other cardiovascular devices, is one of the major concerns during the design and use of cardiovascular or blood-processing extracorporeal devices. A non-invasive experimental method which does not interfere directly with red blood cells was designed to investigate the red cells' deformations in response to a range of flow conditions. The designed flow chamber and pump system provided a controlled two-dimensional Poiseuille flow with average velocity of up to 4 m/s and a range of fluid stresses up to 5000 dyn/cm 2 . …

An Examination Of Social Presence In An Online Learning Environment., Susan J. Crim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The distance education literature is lacking studies investigating the construct of social presence, the value placed on it by online learners, and whether its existence in text-based environments is necessary for learning, satisfaction, and contributing to course retention. The purpose of this study was to explore learner perceptions and experiences of the learning process within the Web-based online learning medium in terms of social presence. More specifically, it examines the relationship among learners' perceptions of social presence in asynchronous online courses and how it relates to satisfaction with learning, whether course activities perceived as having high levels of social presence …

Connecting Health Concepts And Health Behavior : The Construction Of Health Identity., Valerie French

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an historical, theoretical and empirical examination of women's health concepts and health behavior in contemporary consumer-oriented American society. It begins with an historical overview of social health movements to illustrate how health concepts are shaped by cultural, social, political, and moral beliefs and practices. It then traces the socio-cultural construction of "health" to understand how this concept is shaped by various social and individual factors. The qualitative methodology of grounded theory was used to examine empirically how a sample of women defines "health" and what behaviors they engage in related to "health." Non-random convenience sampling was employed …

Positioning Guglielmo Marconi's Wireless : A Rhetorical Analysis Of An Early Twentieth-Century Technology., Aaron Antonio Toscano 1976-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a rhetorical analysis of Guglielmo Marconi's wireless. Texts surrounding the invention reveal intersections between technology and society and communicate information about the wireless through tropes of progress. The wireless was seen as a monumental early twentieth-century technology that would change the world by extending communication potential. This dissertation demonstrates that the wireless was created rhetorically before it existed as a black-box technology. Marconi's technical texts, popular press articles, and F. T. Marinetti's reinscriptions are discourses where the wireless existed rhetorically. To borrow Charles Bazerman's definition, the rhetoric of technology deals with the ideology surrounding "objects of the …

Kinetics Of Sulfur And Peroxide Cured Epdm Rubber Aging In Chloraminated Water., Jahnavi Valleru 1982-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Elastomer degradation when exposed to chloraminated potable water is dependent on a number of poorly understood factors. Temperature and chloramine concentration are both believed to play roles, however, they have not been adequately defined. In order to estimate the material performance and predict the service life of elastomeric parts, knowledge of degradation modes, rate constants of the aging process and their activation energies is useful. EPDM elastomers are used in numerous applications which require resistance to ozone attack and weather due to their stable, saturated polymer backbone structure. Accelerated aging experiments were conducted on both EPDM - S and EPDM …

Significance Of Orientation And Determination Of Cummulative Damage Measures During Cyclic Testing Of Human Thoracolumbar Spine., Sai Yalla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Determining the mechanical properties of the spine is a significant step in understanding the behavior of the spine under normal conditions. Although a limited amount of data for cyclic loading is currently available, the tests are not completely documented and the loads, spine segment positioning, and frequency are not representative of those typically found during normal activities. The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of the relationship between loads and the development of fatigue failure in thoracolumbar motion segments. Motion segments separated from human cadaveric spine were tested in two series. Compression series applied a pure compression …

Screening Guide For Critical River Crossing Structures With Earthquake Disruption Risks., Lindsay M. Ivey 1983-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis examines the relationship between site geology and ground motion amplification for medium sized earthquake events in the Ohio Valley area. This thesis also includes a Rapid Screening Guide that can be used to estimate earthquake effects for sites located along the Ohio River. Thirteen typical soil columns at locations along the river were subjected to six earthquake events using the response modeling program Shake91 (University of California, 1991). The response modeling was used to determine initial amplification factors and to examine the relationship between site geology and ground motion effects for each of the different soil columns. …

"Doing The Right Thing": A Study Of Cross-Generational Eldercare Decision-Making In Community And Disease Context, Jeannie Baron-Yenerall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Utilizing the sociology of knowledge perspective, as well as elements of structural-functional theory this study examined the decision-making process as it relates to eldercare. Specifically, how does the knowledge of available resources, community context, and caregiving beliefs affect the caregiving alternative one chooses? Furthermore, what role does family social milieus play in the decision-making process? This research used a 20-item interview schedule developed specifically for this study; and the unit of analysis was the individual responsible for making decisions about the care received by an elder. The survey used both closed and open-ended questions, designed to capture data related to …

Advancements In Frameworks For Educational Games Through Sound Software Engineering Principles., Christy M. Bogard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Educational games have steadily entered classrooms as a means of challenging advanced students and tutoring those lacking comprehension. However, without adequate educational benefits, instructors are struggling to continually justify the marginal value added of using these programs. It is the intent of this thesis to demonstrate that sound software engineering principles can improve the framework of educational games. First, the core framework requirements of computer-based educational games are outlined. Current educational games are then evaluated based on their ability to meet these requirements. From this analysis, necessary architectural changes are recommended to best facilitate future game advancements. Finally, to demonstrate …

Evaluation Of Mils And Reduced Kernel Security Concepts For Scada Remote Terminal Units., Brent L. Guffey 1982-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project is to study the benefits that the Multiple Independent Levels of Security (MILS) approach can provide to Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) remote terminal units. This is accomplished through a heavy focus on MILS concepts such as resource separation, verification, and kernel minimization and reduction. Two architectures are leveraged to study the application of reduced kernel concepts for a remote terminal unit (RTU). The first is the LynxOS embedded operating system, which is used to create a bootable image of a working RTU. The second is the Pistachio microkernel, the features and development environment …

Software Based Deployment Of Encryption Keys In Wireless Sensor Networks., Timothy William Hnat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sensor networks are just in their infancy. Their use will continue to grow as the technology becomes cheaper and more efficient. A current shortcoming with sensor networks is the inability to efficiently provide secure communications. As sensor networks are deployed to monitor and control systems, the security of communications will become a more important. This thesis proposes a new approach to key establishment and renewal through the use of point-to-point keys and software verification and validation to ensure the integrity of two nodes. Sensor networks exist on limited resources, so power efficiency is a concern. The proposed protocol allows for …

The Character Of God In The Speeches Of Yahweh In The Book Of Job, John David Telgren

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Considering Job in its canonical form with special attention to the lawsuit and the mythopoeic features, this thesis investigates the portrayal of God in his speeches as a corrective to Job and his friends' erroneous view of God. Their erroneous view is based on the concept of violent and militant divine power that defeated a rival chaos deity before the foundation of the world and established order, justice, and community. Job and his friends believed that just rule, which is to preserve community order, is naturally based on the same violent power with which the world was created. Therefore, any …

A Behavior Analytic Contribution To Theories Of Social Categorization, Jonathan H. Weinstein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine whether it was possible to condition arbitrary stimuli to obese and thin stimuli, and to see if this conditioning history would result in a transfer of bias functions to arbitrarily related stimuli. Specifically, participants were conditioned to pair obese and thin stimuli to two additional sets of arbitrary stimulus classes via a Matching-to-sample preparation. Results of these conditioning processes were tested on the Implicit Association Test. These results showed that when participants met the training criterion, the bias functions of obese/thin stimuli successfully transferred to the arbitrary stimuli. The magnitude of the …

Laughing In The Shadow: The Role Of Humor In Ghost Story Telling., Melissa Ann Bentley-Edwards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ghost story concert is a popular modern form of presenting ghost stories to ticket buying audiences and is one of the last stomping grounds of the oral tradition. Attendees come to be scared but not terrified. Tellers employ humor to release tension during the tale. When does humor release tension while maintaining the momentum of the story? When does the humor employed deflate it into a comical tale and diffuse suspense altogether?

In an effort to answer these questions, four variants of a single story, Tailypo, were analyzed for the presence of tension and humor inducing stimuli employing …

The Narrative Lens: Understanding Eudora Welty's Fiction Through Her Photography., Brandon Clarke Ballentine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Eudora Welty's brief photographic career offers valuable insight into the development of her literary voice. She discovers many of the distinguishing characters of her fiction during the 1930s while traveling through Mississippi writing articles for the Works Progress Administration and taking pictures of the people and places she encountered. Analyzing the connections between her first collection of photographs, One Time, One Place: Mississippi during the Depression: A Snapshot Album, and her first collection of short stories, A Curtain of Green, and Other Stories, reveals the writer's sympathetic attitude towards her characters, the prominence of place in her fiction, and her …

Father Absence And Early Family Composition As A Predictor Of Menarcheal Onset: Psychosocial And Familial Factors That Are Associated With Pubertal Timing., Amanda Christel Healey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Father absence and the introduction of a stepfather before menarche have been shown to contribute to the early onset of menarche. The present study analyzes the effects of father absence situations that tend to result on the onset of menarche. Presence of a related male in a father-absent homes is also considered as a protective factor for menarcheal onset. Participants consisted of 342 female students enrolled in undergraduate work at a southeastern university. The mean age of participants was 20.7 years. Participants completed a survey consisting of 12 questions pertaining to their family environment before menarche. Participants were asked to …

Fluctuating Asymmetry And Its Relationship To Established Indicators Of Environmental Stress., Matthew Stephen Shotwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) is commonly thought to be a predictor of environmental stress. However, the relationship between FA and established indicators for environmental stress has received little attention. In this study, 10-38 specimens of the freshwater fish Rhinichthys atratulus were collected from 15 natural populations under varying amounts of environmental stress. Asymmetry measurements in three bilateral characters of the specimens were used to investigate the relationship between FA and established indicators of environmental stress. Significant differences in the magnitude of FA were observed between sampling locations. However, the relationship between estimates of FA and established indicators produced varying results. The …

An Analysis Of Financial Planning For Employees Of East Tennessee State University., Steven Roy Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if East Tennessee State University provides its employees appropriate financial planning services. In particular, it is unknown to what degree employees of East Tennessee State University have actively engaged in financial planning.

The research was conducted during June and July, 2005. Data were gathered by surveying faculty, staff, and retirees of the university. Ten percent of the population responded to the study. The survey instrument covered the areas of retirement, other financial planning services, and attitudes toward financial planning.

The results of the data analysis gave insight into what degree employees of …

The Relationship Between Tobacco, Alcohol, And Marijuana Use Among Teenagers., John Donald Rose

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use among teenagers. This study examined three research questions: (1) Is there a relationship between demographic characteristics (i.e., sex and race), the attitudinal variable (attachment to family), and the admitted use of marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco among teenagers? (2) Is there a relationship between the use of marijuana by teenagers and the use of tobacco by teenagers? (3) Is there a relationship between the use of marijuana by teenagers and the use of alcohol by teenagers?

The data used for this paper were from the …

Dynamic Force, Motion, And Life In Digital Design., James Michael Livingston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to explore specific works that I have created as it relates to digital art and design. My works include abstract, organic objects that exist within surrealistic environments. First, I explain the dynamics of the imagery that has emerged from my career in broadcast television, my coursework in the Department of Art and Design at East Tennessee State University, and the works of fantasy, surreal, and abstract artists. In conclusion, the images discussed impose an idea of abstraction and surrealism with a sense of force, motion, life, and dynamic action.

Training For Diversity In Journalism: Tracking The Columbia Summer Program Graduates, 1968-1974., Mary Alice Basconi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Columbia University's Summer Program, created by Fred Friendly, was the first enduring effort to prepare non-whites for jobs in the news media. It operated from 1968 to 1974 at the Graduate School of Journalism, training 223 journalists for print and broadcast jobs. Three decades after the closing of this elite program, 110 graduates responded to a telephone survey on attitudes toward first employers, careers, and their experiences at Columbia. Results from this exploratory study show respondents spent an average 17.6 years in news media after the Summer Program, and 30.9 percent of respondents spent thirty years or more in journalism. …

Romantic Attachment Styles, Gender, And Reasons For Living., Niles Adrian Cruz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine reasons for living in people with secure, avoidant, and anxious/ambivalent romantic attachment styles. Romantic attachment style was assessed by use of the Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ). Reasons for living were assessed using the Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL). The independent variables were gender and romantic attachment style. The dependent variable was the RFL score.

Participants included 235 male and female students from a southeastern university. A brief demographic questionnaire, the RFL (Linehan,M., Goodstein, J., Neilson, S., & Chiles J., 1983), and the AAQ (Hazan & Shaver, 1987), were administered in electronic format …