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Design, Synthesis And Characterization Of Nanosensors For Nerve Gas Agents, Thushara Gunasinghe

Masters Theses

This research is focused on the design synthesis and characterization of nanosensors to detect the nerve gas agents such as sarin at very low concentration levels (parts per billion and lower) which is very important to combat terrorism. Nanosensors constructed by the bottom up approach could provide the low sensitivity levels and high selectivity required for nerve gas detection. The sensing mechanism exploits the inherent properties of nanomaterials and signal amplification by signal transduction. The components of a nanoparticle-fluorescent monomer-nanomolecule-receptor (NMNR) sensor have been designed, synthesized, and characterized successfully. Interaction of the components of NMNR sensor with a model nerve …

A Preliminary Study Of The Kaogong Ji (The Book Of Artificers), Hanmo Zhang

Masters Theses

The focus of this paper is on the ancient Chinese text of the Kaogong ji, which is now included in the Zhouli as one of its chapters. Through a careful comparison between the Kaogong ji and the rest of the Zhouli and through a synthetic analysis of academic discussions of the completion date and authorship of the Kaogong ji, this paper attempts to show that the Kaogong ji had been an independent text before its inclusion. It goes on to disprove the argument that the Kaogong ji was forged by the Han scholar Liu Xin as political propaganda. …

Cultural And Individual Influences On Foreign Policy, Emine Sunduz Demir

Masters Theses

The principle aim of this thesis is to examine how strategic culture affects foreign policy decision-making, as contrasted to the particular decree of influence the individuals have on the foreign policy process in the concept of an immediate extended deterrence. This thesis is based on three case studies that are tested separately using both Cha's notion of strategic culture and Allison's Bureaucratic Politics Model in order to find which model (if any) best explains foreign policy decision making. Cases are: The SemiVietnamese War in 1979 and Deng Xiaoping, the Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996 and Jiang Zemin, and the Kosovo …

Ethnicity And Religion: An Inquiry Into The Origin And Nature Of Conflicts In Nigeria, Ugochukwu Chrys. Nwabueze

Masters Theses

The policy goal of a Pax Nigeriana in the African continent is hardly realizable without a focused confrontation by Nigeria of its own security deficits. A security and politically deficient Nigeria will have nothing to offer the African continent in terms of peace and political stability if it cannot by example overcome its own accidental and structural flaws.

With this in mind, the work sets out to address the origin, nature and resolution of conflict in Nigeria. Before adequate resolution therapy could be recommended for violent conflicts in Nigeria, any intending researcher must of necessity address the origin and nature …

Great Expectations: An Examination Of The Defense Spending And Military Modernization Of Poland, Hungary, And The Czech Republic Form 2002-2004, Kyle Raney

Masters Theses

In 1999 at the Madrid Summit, NATO officially opened its doors to three new states. Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic were the first states to enter NATO since the end of the Cold War. The idea of NATO expansion has been heavily contested and critics argue that these new members do not have the capabilities to be strong contributors to the alliance and are unable to produce modern defense systems. Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic have all taken unique paths on the way into the alliance and all three states since their induction have in some form attempted …

Tinners And The Stannaries: Law, Life, And Labor In Fourteenth-Century Cornwall, Michael Kurt Deen

Masters Theses

Based on extensive archival research, this thesis analyzes the socio-economic position occupied by fourteenth-century tinners in Cornwall, England. The tinners represented a privileged group of laborers in the later Middle Ages, and the records of their stannary courts provide a unique glimpse into their lives. the evidence from these records show that the stannaries of Cornwall experienced a transformation of the structure of labor after the Black Death out of tin production and into agriculture. The result was a shift from a system overwhelmingly dominated by independent prospectors, dependant on credit for survival, to one which included large-scale operations owned …

Hybrid Or Counterpoise? A Study Of Transitional Trebuchets, Michael J. Basista

Masters Theses

This study investigates the engineering and use of a proposed type of trebuchet in the Middle Ages. A study by a prominent historian has suggested the existence of a type of siege weapon that made use of both human and gravitational forces to fire its projectile. My research will investigate this claim by examining select sources, reviewing the engineering principles involved, and determining the viability of such a machine.

After dealing with this theory I will offer my own new interpretation made from the sources. This interpretation will center on the application of ancient technology to make trebuchets more efficient. …

Castles In The Crusader Kingdom Of Valencia, 1257-1276, Marius Nielsen

Masters Theses

For my thesis I proposed to study the registered charters of James I (1208-1276), King of Aragon, to examine how castles were distributed and utilized in the Crusader Kingdom of Valencia for the period 1257-1276. A little over two thousand register charters were issued for Valencia during this period. Around 250 of the two thousand charters mention castles indicating the importance of castles in the administration of the Crusader Kingdom of Valencia. Although there are many works on Western European castles the majority focus on castles in France, Britain and the Crusader States in the Middle East and rely on …

Eating Ethnicity: Examining 18th Century French Colonial Identity Through Selective Consumption Of Animal Resources In The North American Interior, Rory J. Becker

Masters Theses

Cultural identities can be created and maintained through daily practice and food consum.ption is one such practice. People need food in order to survive, but the types of food they eat are largely determined by the interaction of culture and their environment. By approaching the topic of subsistence practices as being culturally constituted, the study of foodways provides an avenue to examine issues of cultural identity through selective consumption. Eating certain foods to the exclusion of others is one method for establishing social distance between peoples and is simultaneously a reflection of this relationship and the types of interactions that …

Understanding Ethno-Nationalism: Sikh Diasporic Imaginings In Southwest Michigan, Rory G. Mccarthy

Masters Theses

Diaspora as a category is both useful and troublesome for researchers in the discipline of anthropology. It is useful, for it allows anthropologists to approach cultural studies from a position that recognizes flaws in the conception of culture as geographically bounded. Studying diasporic populations, therefore, enables anthropologists to apply new theoretical approaches to culture, without reifying and essentializing social practices. Conversely, using diaspora as a category can homogenize groups by glossing over differences in ethnicity, religion, and migratory expenence.

This study aims at bettering the understanding of diversity within a diasporic population by examining the role that religion plays in …

The International Criminal Court: A Sociological History, Dawn Rothe

Masters Theses

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been touted as a new international response to the worst atrocities of mankind: crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. Indeed, the implementation of a permanent international court is a historical tum. However, the course to which an international criminal court transpired dates back to the late 1800's. One hundred years of political, economic, and social contradictions have aided and abated the process of what is now the International Criminal Court. However, the dialectics between actors and institutions has been neglected in historical and legal analysis. The purpose of this thesis is …

An Intensive Surface Collection And Intrasite Spatial Analysis Of The Archaeological Materials From The Coy Mound Site (3ln20), Central Arkansas, William Glenn Hill

Masters Theses

Surface collected materials from the Coy Mound site (3LN20), Lonoke County, Arkansas, are utilized in order to address questions regarding site temporal occupations, resource utilization, internal site configuration, and the socio-political organization of the Baytown-Coles Creek period Plum Bayou culture. Artifact distribution plots revealed the presence of a mound and plaza site configuration in addition to potential domestic and off-mound midden deposits. While the site organizational plan has implications for a hierarchical socio-political organization, the absence of inter- and intrasite variability in ceramic types and lithic materials support the hypothesis that limited social differentiation was present in Plum Bayou culture …

Small-State Foreign Policy: An Analysis Of Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Tonga, Tuvalu And Mauritius, Thomas M. Ethridge

Masters Theses

Small-state foreign policy is often characterized by the types of alliances that form between small and large states. It is rarely disputed that small states fend for themselves in the global milieu that creates today's societies. Rather, the debate usually begins as to why small states seek strategic alliances with large states.

This thesis, on the other hand, questions the very existence of small-state alliances by examining the foreign policy behavior of six small island states. The analysis begins with a quantitative breakdown of United Nation voting behaviors by five Pacific states — Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Tonga, and Tuvalu. Next, …

Evicting A Neighbor: Health, Power And Discourse In Vieques, Puerto Rico, Nelson Class-Meléndez

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the two years that followed the death of a civilian, David Sanes on April 1999, when a Marine Corps F-18 pilot accidentally dropped two 500- pound bombs on an observation post on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. Following the death of Sanes and for the first time in contemporary history, all competing political parties, the Viequenses, and religious leaders apparently reached an initial consensus that resulted in a series of efforts to evict the Navy from Vieques.

Importantly, this coalition adopted an environmental discourse that is essentially anti-Navy. This thesis draws upon this anti-Navy discourse to …

Technology And Time, Jon Vanwieren

Masters Theses

This thesis sets out to further reveal the technology and time interrelationship in human society. It is through an investigation of an array of sociological, theoretical, philosophical, historical and artistic responses to modernity that this relationship is explored. Primary analytic focus is placed on two contemporary authors who have addressed the technology and time relationship. These authors are Manuel Castells and Paul Virilio. Castells and Virilio offer two distinct portraits of the modem-technological world. By contrasting these authors' projects, methods and intellectual heritage, the question of technology and time is further scrutinized. Advanced here is an argument that time is …

African American Single Mother - An In-Depth Study, Donna Jean Russau

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates the life and role of the African American Single Mother (AASM) in America as the topic of this study. The AASM in this study will voice her experiences. The point of view of this thesis is that the AASM is in the unique position of being the only person able to convey facts about her life from her personal perspective. Through the voice of the AASM, this researcher will develop a written document which describes her life experiences and roles in which she operates in her family. This study will give the view of life of AASM's …

The Soldier's Strife: An Introspective View Through The Work Of Tim O'Brien, Mandy Solomon

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Mermaid's Dress: Marriage And Empire In The Voyage Out And Mrs Dalloway, Melissa Wharton-Smith

Masters Theses

This thesis examines how socio-historical influences shape the protagonists of Virginia Woolf’s The Voyage Out (1915) and Mrs. Dalloway (1925)-- Rachel Vinrace and Clarissa Dalloway. During the writing of these two novels, attitudes about roles for women before and after World War I shifted as pre-war domestic strife was replaced by a post-war push to return to normalcy. Throughout the period, imperialist ideology demanded that women conform to traditional gender roles by marrying and reproducing. Woolf depicts this pressure as it affects her two protagonists.

In The Voyage Out, the British Empire's imposing presence is exhibited through the setting of …

Love, Violence, And Creation: Modernist Mediums Of Transcendence In Sylvia Plath's Poetry And Prose, Autumn Williams

Masters Theses

Many critics who study Sylvia Plath's works discuss the autobiographical significance of her poetry and prose, labeling her art as primarily confessional. My research shows that Sylvia Plath's awareness of and sensitivity to contemporary and historical cultural events, along with her acute sense of literary tradition, shape her art and widen the scope of critical interpretation. My study, although conceding that aspects of her writing are autobiographical, focuses on the modernist elements in her poetry and prose. By identifying her writing through the lens of modernism, I view her art in terms of its cultural, historical, political, and aesthetic qualities. …

Facade Of A Romantic: Benjamin Disraeli And Coningsby Or The New Generation, Sybil Or The Two Nations, And Tancred Or The New Crusade, Peggy Pope

Masters Theses

Dismissed by contemporary critics as a second-rate writer, Benjamin Disraeli has been undervalued for over a hundred and fifty years. Writing in 1979, D.R. Schwarz rued that no recent full-length study of his novels had been undertaken, while other, even more minor novelists have been regularly exhumed. A substantial reassessment may be underway, as Paul Smith notes, particularly in the area of Disraeli's Jewishness. Bernard Glassman's volume, Benjamin Disraeli: The Fabricated Jew in Myth and Memory (2003), and Disraeli's Jewishness (2002), by Todd Endelman and Tony Kushner, attest to this new interest. A recent general study, Disraeli (2000), by Edgar …

The Social Roles Of The Early Irish Monastery Of Kildare And Its Paruchia Within The Kingdom Of Leinster, Bridgette K. Slavin

Masters Theses

Monastic settlements in early medieval Ireland were active: politically, socially, economically, and spiritually. While an ascetic life was ideal, these communities were in fact often lively participants in the secular affairs around them. Yet, detailed studies of ecclesiastical social structure and its economic and political influence on early Irish society have been, for the most part, not attempted while disagreements concerning organization continue to haunt scholars of the early Irish church. Moreover, as Colman Etchingham aptly points out in his recent publication, Church Organisation in Ireland, AD 650 to 1000, detailed studies of individual religious communities will bring to …

Saxo Grammaticus: History And The Rise Of National Identity In Medieval Denmark, Christopher L. Bailey

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Analyses Of Prairie Restorations At Rock Springs Environmental Center, Decatur, Illinois, Jennifer A. Ward

Masters Theses

Rock Springs Environmental Center was acquired in 1969 by the Macon County Conservation District. Several tracts totaling 1.6 hectares were developed as prairie restorations of varying ages on former farmland starting in 1977. During the summers of 1999 to 2001, 123 species were collected at Rock Springs. Of these, 56 species were collected within the sampling transects. The largest number of species (36 out of 56) was collected in the 1983 tract. The highest importance value of all tracts for any species was 42.6 for Andropogon gerardii. Sorensen's Index of Similarity between tracts ranged from 53.97- 72.97. The coefficient …

This Man's Heart: Masculinity In The Poetry Of E.E. Cummings, Willis John Whitesell Iii

Masters Theses

"This Man's Heart: Masculinity in the Poetry of E.E. Cummings" explores changing masculinity in the life and poetry of E.E. Cummings. The relationship between Cummings and his father, his first male role model, became strained when Cummings was a teenager finding his own male identity. As he rebelled against his father, a Unitarian minister, he began writing poetry in a modernist style under the direction of a new mentor, Ezra Pound.

Cummings' early modernist poems criticize conventional male roles and configurations of masculinity as outdated. As Cummings continued to grow as a man and writer, he confronted new realities which …

Framing The War: Government Strategies Used During The Kosovo Conflict, Jocelyn Tipton

Masters Theses

NATO's success in Kosovo ultimately depended upon each member's ability to carefully balance national interest and opposing viewpoints against international pressures from the Alliance. In reconciling these factors, each country created framing strategies designed to garner public support for its involvement in the military operations. Indigenous public support was integral to each country's participation in these efforts and in NATO's ability to maintain a sustained campaign.

This thesis focuses specifically on the strategies used by the government leaders in the United States, Italy and Germany, to influence public opinion and gain national support for military involvement during NATO's operations in …

Exploring The Social Dimensions Of Grog-Temper Use At The Ink Bayou Site (3pu252): A Plum Bayou Culture Site In Central Arkansas, Eric Chadwick Drake

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the social implications involved with the technological decision to use grog (crushed potsherds) as a ceramic tempering agent by potters affiliated with the Plum Bayou culture of central Arkansas. The analytical technique of point-counting ceramic thin sections is used to search for patterns of grog-temper use at a single Plum Bayou culture site, the Ink Bayou site (3PU252). While the thermal properties of grog-temper may help to explain the variability of use observed at the Ink Bayou site, the social implications of producing grog-tempered pots are best illuminated by the sequence of productive operations employed by the …

Toward A Provident Working Class: French And English Social Reform Rhetoric, 1880-1914, James R. Gavan

Masters Theses

This research examines the rhetoric of belle epoque English and French middle class social observers. Addressing the "social question," they engaged in a debate on how best to appease an impoverished, alienated, and increasingly militant working class. Historians cite this discourse, and the meager legislation it fostered, as a transition from the unbridled nineteenth century laissez-faire to the welfare democracy characteristic of the twentieth century.

Central to the "social question" was the issue of improving social relations without altering existing class hierarchies (which favored the middle classes). Many social commentators shunned the passage of legislative safety nets in favor of …

Social And Political Violence In The Medieval Rhineland, Matthew Bryan Gillis

Masters Theses

This study is concerned with violence, attitudes toward violence, and how they affected society and politics in the Rhineland during the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. It maintains that, through the careful analysis of narrative sources, such as the Dialogus Miraculorum of Caesarius of Heisterbach, and legal sources known as Landfrieden, the attitudes of medieval people toward different forms of violence can be reconstructed, enabling one to understand and to categorize violence from a medieval perspective.

The results of the examination reveal that certain kinds of violence, including feuds, were legally acceptable, while acts of violence outside of …

African American Poets Of The Vietnam War, Megan Guernsey

Masters Theses

Almost 6000 African American men gave their lives in the Vietnam War. While peaceful protests, voter registration drives, and racial confrontations occurred throughout the United States, the government continued to send young Black men to Southeast Asia to preserve the "freedom" of the Vietnamese people. The irony of this situation lies in the fact that these soldiers were asked to fight a War in the name of democracy, to kill in order to secure rights that they themselves were being denied. Although many Black Americans saw military service as a means of escaping poor ghetto life, they often were confronted …

Cellular Automata Study Of The Feasibility Of A Parallel Optical Computer, Jason Robert Lane

Masters Theses

"The speed of modern electronic computers has inherent design limitations which will soon be reached. A possible substitute is the optical computer. In this project, the feasibility of the optical computer is explored by designing and building a parallel optical system. This system is used to test the basic principles that would govern a parallel optical computer. The system is based on the principle of cellular automata, which is a simulation technique used to study interactions of objects in a system. The following goals were set. The system would be based on cellular automata. A one-dimensional array with nine cells, …