Digital Commons Network^™

Data Mining With Newton's Method., James Dale Cloyd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Capable and well-organized data mining algorithms are essential and fundamental to helpful, useful, and successful knowledge discovery in databases. We discuss several data mining algorithms including genetic algorithms (GAs). In addition, we propose a modified multivariate Newton's method (NM) approach to data mining of technical data. Several strategies are employed to stabilize Newton's method to pathological function behavior. NM is compared to GAs and to the simplex evolutionary operation algorithm (EVOP). We find that GAs, NM, and EVOP all perform efficiently for well-behaved global optimization functions with NM providing an exponential improvement in convergence rate. For local optimization problems, we …

The Effects Of Cycling Shoe Outsole Material On Plantar Stress., Nathan Edward Jarboe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if cycling shoes made with stiff material cause an increase in peak plantar stress over shoes with less stiff material. Shoe stiffness measurements were collected under controlled conditions and in two different configurations using a dynamic hydraulic tensile testing machine. Measurements of plantar stress were taken while subjects pedaled in a seated position at a controlled power output of 400 Watts. Capacitive-based sensor insoles were placed in the shoes to measure the peak stress under each foot during pedaling. The shoes made with carbon fiber produced peak plantar stresses 18% higher than …

Waiting For Mary Jane: A Collection Of Modern Appalachian Short Stories In The Joycean Tradition., Lorie Ann Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis consists of a collection of short stories stylistically reminiscent of the works of James Joyce yet with an Appalachian and feminist voice. Waiting for Mary Jane should appeal to readers interested in experimental styles as well as feminist and Appalachian literature. The protagonist of the collection is Mary Jane, a female from present day East Tennessee. The reader experiences her life from age three to thirty. The introduction to the collection explores the link between James Joyce, Appalachia, Feminist writing, and the short stories. Structurally and thematically the collection reflects the works of James Joyce by using the …

On The Construction Of Linear Prewavelets Over A Regular Triangulation., Qingbo Xue

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, all the possible semi-prewavelets over uniform refinements of regular triangulations have been studied. A corresponding theorem is given to ensure the linear independence of a set of different pre-wavelets obtained by summing pairs of these semi-prewavelets. This provides efficient multiresolutions of the spaces of functions over various regular triangulation domains since the bases of the orthogonal complements of the coarse spaces can be constructed very easily.

A Comparison Of Strength And Resistance Curves For The Internal And External Rotators Of The Shoulder., Daniel Cason Hannah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Progressive overload through the range of motion (ROM) is important for proper rehabilitation of muscle strength, yet varies across types of resistance for a given exercise. The purpose of this study was to compare strength curves (SC) for shoulder internal (IR) and external rotation (ER) with resistance curves (RC) for two application angles (A and B) of Thera-Band® resistance to determine which application angle best overloads IR and ER through the ROM. Thirty volunteer subjects participated in this study. SCs were obtained experimentally by measuring maximal isometric torque for IR and ER from 30° to 135°. RCs were calculated using …

An Evaluation Of The Using Information Technology Program At East Tennessee State University., John Dalton Chenoweth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents information gathered and analyzed during an evaluation study of the Using Information Technology (UIT) program at East Tennessee State University. The UIT program, which all undergraduate students must complete before graduation, consists of satisfying a computer literacy foundation requirement and a two course UIT-intensive requirement. The foundation requirement is satisfied by completing a two credit hour course or a challenge exam. Students then take two courses that have been designated as UIT-intensive. One of these courses must be completed in the major.

The study, which used a responsive evaluation methodology, involved generating a list of evaluation questions …

Troubled Trinity: Love, Religion And Patriotism In Liam O'Flaherty's First Novel, Thy Neighbour's Wife., Robin Heavner Jackson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this research is a detailed analysis of Liam O'Flaherty's first published novel, Thy Neighbour's Wife, as an underlying autobiographical portrait depicted in the main character, Fr. Hugh McMahon. Although never touted as an autobiography, this study shows O'Flaherty drew upon his early cultural, historical, religious, and political influences in creating his main character. Primary and secondary sources, an ethnographic trip to Ireland, and a content analysis of the novel determined the findings.

The fictional McMahon faced difficult personal choices, subsequently coming to terms with past decisions. McMahon's foibles reflect O'Flaherty's early years. O'Flaherty wrote two acclaimed …

The Signaling Pathway Of Oxysterol Induced Apoptosis In Chinese Hamster Ovary (Cho)-K1 Cells., Lin Yang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Apoptosis, a form of genetically programmed cell death, plays a key role in regulation of cellularity of the arterial wall. During atherogenesis, improper apoptosis may cause abnormalities of arterial morphogenesis, wall structural stability, and metabolisms. It has been well established that vascular cells undergo apoptosis after uptake of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL). Thus, an analysis of the signaling pathway of apoptotic induction by oxLDL is of value in understanding the development of atherosclerotic plaque. In order to elucidate the signaling pathway of apoptosis induced by oxLDL, we have used Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 cells treated with a potent oxysterol, 25-hydroxycholesterol …

Hiv Tat Protein Activates Endothelial Cells Through Nfκb And Map Kinase Pathways., Jason L. Henry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

HIV infection has been shown to predispose patients to accelerated development of heart disease. One mechanism for this pathology may involve endothelial activation either by HIV itself or by its secreted proteins, gp120 (a viral envelope protein) and tat (a protein that upregulates transcription of viral genes). We have studied the effects of gp120 and tat on signaling and production of inflammatory cytokines by Human Pulmonary Artery Endothelial Cells (HPAEC). HPAEC were stimulated at varying time points with combinations of gp120, tat, and monokines (IL-1β and TNFα). Cell lysate fractions were analyzed for MAP Kinase activity and NFκB activation, and …

Effectiveness Of Pre-Baccalaureate Health Careers Opportunity Programs (Hcop) For Disadvantaged Students In Three Southern States., Virloy Elizabeth Lewin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated three HCOP projects to determine, describe, and assess their overall effectiveness and identify successful strategies used by these projects to reach their specific objectives. Demographic and scholastic data were collected about 393 HCOP participants at the three HCOP projects in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia during the years 1990-1999. Detailed information about the activities used to incorporate the HCOP legislative purposes into the programs was also collected.

Sixty-seven percent of HCOP participants were Caucasian and 78% were female. Scholastic data was limited to data from the EKU and ETSU HCOP programs. The average high school GPA score for …

Ishmael: The Dissolution Of A Romantic And The Emergence Of A Poet., Allison M. Pepper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although Ishmael does not appear to be a main character in Moby Dick, his narration is integral to the text. Only through telling the story is Ishmael able to give himself a concrete identity, which is reflected not only through himself, but through the thoughts, speeches, and actions of the other characters, specifically Ahab and the shipmates. Ishmael represents the fragmented Romantic of nineteenth century American society. He is bound by a traditional patriarchal world where he must break away from the father to establish his own identity. He has lost his connection to nature, the primal source of his …

Construction Of Piecewise Linear Wavelets., Jiansheng Cao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is well known that in many areas of computational mathematics, wavelet based algorithms are becoming popular for modeling and analyzing data and for providing efficient means for hierarchical data decomposition of function spaces into mutually orthogonal wavelet spaces. Wavelet construction in more than one-dimensional setting is a very challenging and important research topic. In this thesis, we first introduce the method of construction wavelets by using semi-wavelets. Second, we construct piecewise linear wavelets with smaller support over type-2 triangulations. Then, parameterized wavelets are constructed using the orthogonality conditions.

Models And Graphics In The Analysis Of Categorical Variables: The Case Of The Youth Tobacco Survey., Deborah Susan Hosler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Youth Tobacco Surveys have been conducted in several states in the U.S. in recent years, in order to design policies with the goal of reducing tobacco use among young people. Some primary analysis of those surveys has been done, but few analyses include modeling, and the study of independence has been addressed, mainly, in the bivariate context.

In this work contemporary methods, which are of relative recent appearance in categorical data analysis, will be examined, including logistic and log-linear modeling as well as graphical displays and correspondence analysis. These methods will be applied to data from the 2000 Tennessee Youth …

Coverage Properties Of The Inverse Sinh Transformation And The Adjusted Wald Confidence Intervals For The Odds Ratio And The Relative Risk., Troy Allen Bowman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The inverse sinh transformation on the Woolf interval is used to calculate the confidence interval for the odds ratio and the relative risk in a 2 x 2 table. According to Robert Newcombe, the new interval should improve the coverage probabilities and shorten the width of the confidence interval for these ratios, but the new interval requires evaluation of coverage properties. In this thesis, we will evaluate the exact coverage properties of this modified interval in extreme cases. Also, we will compare the coverage properties of this new interval to other widely-used adjusted intervals. Through comparisons of exact coverage probabilities …

The Roles Of Patrician And Plebeian Women In Their Religion In The Republic Of Rome., Lesa A. Young

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper looks at the roles of patrician and plebeian Roman women in their religion. It investigates the topic during the period of the Republic (509-30 BCE) and pulls the information together in a concise manner.

The primary sources used were narrative histories and literature from the late Republic, as well as from the Imperial period up through the second century, that reflect the opinions of the Imperial period. The secondary sources precipitated further research into primary sources and comparisons of these studies.

It was found that women played private and secondary roles in their religion. Due to changes in …

Analysis And Design Of Coplanar Waveguide Fed Bow-Tie Aperture Antennas, Guiping Zheng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Differing Death Scenarios: Self Esteem And Death Anxiety., Kenneth Grant Brewer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has found a correlation between death anxiety and self esteem. Researchers have found that both self-esteem and death anxiety play a significant role in an individual's behavior.

The purpose of this study was to investigate a correlation, if any, between death anxiety and self esteem using death related scenarios. It was hypothesized the high death anxiety groups will have lower self-esteem than the low death anxiety group, and that the low self-esteem group will have higher death anxiety than the high self-esteem group.

Results of an ANOVA indicate that there is a significant difference between the high death …

An Introduction To The Vocal Works Of American Composer Rosemary Silversteen With An Emphasis On Pedagogical Issues, Calista Jane Sprague

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Land Use History Of The Holly Springs National Forest, Michelle R. Mcanally

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis details the land use history of the Holly Springs National Forest. A description of the physical environment and a narrative cultural history of the area from the arrival of people into the North Central Hills are included. Archaeological survey data, soils data and witness tree locations were brought together using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology and analyzed in an ecological framework.

An environmental reconstruction using witness tree locations and soil types served as a platform for the delineation of environmental zones in which presettlement tree cover was estimated and compared with previous environmental studies of the area. Prehistoric …

Unconventional Therapies : Individual Factors Associated With Use, Perceptions Of Function And Efficacy., Kenneth George Lombart 1954-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There has been an increasing use of Unconventional Therapies in the past decade. These refer to healthcare interventions representing either a compliment or alternative to traditional medicine to which many people have turned in hope of attaining a fuller, more healthy life. Previous research has focused on overall use, or use of general types, of these therapies. Research has also started delving into mechanisms of change and physical and psychological effects of some specific therapies. The present study examined individual factors of personality, locus of control, health values, desirable responding, age, medical conditions, and transformational events to determine associations with …

Proteomics And Morphology Demonstrate Mitochondrial Changes In Diabetic Cardiomyopathy., Xia Shen 1976-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a common complication leading to accelerated cardiovascular failure in diabetic patients. Even though the exact mechanism(s) behind this disease still remain unclear, research from several laboratories including our own suggests that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a very important role in the development of DCM. In our lab, we have developed and characterized a diabetic transgenic mice line, designated OVE26, which clearly develops diabetic cardiomyopathy. Comparison of protein expression patterns in the hearts of 120-day-old control and diabetic mice reveals 22 proteins that are differentially expressed in OVE26 mice hearts, most of which are involved in …

Structure-Function Studies Of The Vaccinia Virus Complement Control Protein., Scott Alan Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The vaccinia virus complement control protein (VCP) is involved in the modulation of the host inflammatory response during vaccinia virus infection. It possesses the ability to inhibit both classical and alternative pathways of complement activation, as well as bind to heparin or heparan sulfate proteoglycans, making it a unique multifunctional protein with therapeutic potential. VCP is able to block complement activity through its ability to bind C3b and C4b. Other very novel activities arise from VCP's ability to bind heparin and heparan sulfate proteoglycans, allowing the protein to attach itself to cell surfaces. The goal of this research was to …

Scalable And Reliable File Transfer For Clusters Using Multicast., Hardik Dikpal Shukla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A cluster is a group of computing resources that are connected by a single computer network and are managed as a single system. Clusters potentially have three key advantages over workstations operated in isolation—fault tolerance, load balancing and support for distributed computing.

Information sharing among the cluster’s resources affects all phases of cluster administration. The thesis describes a new tool for distributing files within clusters. This tool, the Scalable and Reliable File Transfer Tool (SRFTT), uses Forward Error Correction (FEC) and multiple multicast channels to achieve an efficient reliable file transfer, relative to heterogeneous clusters. SRFTT achieves scalability …

Temporal Trends In Party Affect, Justin Paul Wedeking

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There has been an enormous amount of research on declining partisanship (or dealignment) in the American electorate. The leading view of declining partisanship, promoted by Wattenberg among others, is that the public has become more neutral toward the political parties. According to Wattenberg, this neutrality is a consequence of declining regionalism in party identification and the rise of candidate-centered elections.

An alternative perspective is that negativity underlies the temporal decline in partisanship. In this paper, I will draw upon various strands of the literature to develop a negativity theory of declining partisanship. Using National Election Studies data, I conduct a …

Prevailing Winds: Radical Activism And The American Indian Movement., David Kent Calfee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1968 a number of Chippewa Indians met in Minneapolis, Minnesota to discuss some of the problems they faced in their communities. This meeting gave birth to the American Indian Movement. From 1968 to 1974, the American Indian Movement embarked on a series of radical protests designed to draw attention to the concerns of American Indians and force the Federal government into acting on their behalf. Unfortunately, these protests brought about a backlash from Federal law enforcement agencies that destroyed the American Indian Movement's national power structure.

A Study Of Former Negro High School Students, Teachers, And Administrators In The Piedmont Area Of North Carolina., Carrie Smith Washington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This is a qualitative study of the perceptions of a purposeful sample of 27 individuals who were students, teachers, or administrators in North Carolina Negro high schools in the period from 1934 to 1966. I interviewed all of them personally or by telephone. All interviews were tape recorded, and the tapes were later transcribed by an individual who was familiar with the speech patterns of the interviewees. A commercial software program was used to help me identify any themes that emerged from the interviews.

One main theme was that the conditions of buildings and equipment varied with the particular high …

Creating A New Genre: Mary Rowlandson And Hher Narrative Of Indian Captivity., Rachel Bailey De Luise

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the aftermath of King Philip's War, Puritan Mary Rowlandson recorded her experiences as an Indian captive. In a vivid story that recollects the details of these events, Rowlandson attempts to impart a message to her community through the use of a variety of literary techniques. The genre of the Indian captivity narrative is a literary construct that she develops out of the following literary forms that existed at the time of her writing. These are the spiritual autobiography, a documentary method meant to archive spiritual and emotional growth through a record of daily activities; the conversion narrative, which made …

Integrated Software System For The Collection And Evaluation Of Wellness Information., Rebecca Elizabeth Sweeney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is an absence of a complete, easy to use, software system that can evaluate all areas of wellness. Although there are software programs and equipment available to examine certain aspects of wellness, they are incomplete. The solution to the difficulties of assessing wellness is the design and development of a software system that can be used to collect and evaluate wellness information. The system allows for complete reporting as it entails the six major components to wellness: demographics, body composition, lab work, nutritional intake, physical activity, and body measures. The system allows for ease of use by providing a …

A Historical Overview Of The Bumpass Cove Landfill Controversy, 1972-2002., Robert Clinton Marsh Iii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the assistance of information collected by residents of Bumpass Cove, Tennessee Department of Public Health records, and interviews with residents and local health officials, this study provides a historical overview of the inception of Bumpass Cove Landfill, the resulting problems stemming from its misuse, and the reaction of a persistent community during the 1970s and early 1980s. In its early days, Bumpass Cove was an active and productive mining site; however, the area would become a threat to the local residents’ safety with the opening of Bumpass Cove Sanitary Landfill. Years of illegal hazardous waste land filling wreaked havoc …

A Comparative Study Of Vocal Dysfunction Of Kindergarten Through Sixth Grade Music And Non-Music Teachers Of Selected Northern Mississippi Schools, Thelma Lorraine Rozukalns

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.