Digital Commons Network^™

The Motivations For Meaning: A Study Of Persuasive Appeals In Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, Lawrence Arthur Lannoo

Theses and Dissertations

In 1976, one of the most violent and controversial films of that decade was released in American movie theaters. The film, Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, was heralded by some film scholars as a masterpiece.

However, others criticized the film for its graphic presentation of urban violence. This criticism intensified when John Hinckley, Jr. attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, apparently motivated by his love for a character in the film, played by Jodie Foster.

The director of Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese, responded to the criticisms of the violence in his film. He suggested that he was not trying …

Development Of A Visual System Interface To Support A Domain-Oriented Application Composition System, Timothy L. Weide

Theses and Dissertations

This research designed and prototyped a visual system interface to generate, display, and modify domain-oriented application specifications. A visual system interface, called the Architect Visual System Interface (AVSI), supplements a text-based environment, called Architect, previously developed by two other students. Using canonical formal specifications of domain objects, Architect rapidly composes these specifications into a software application and executes a prototype of that application as a means to demonstrate its correctness before any programming language specific code is generated. This thesis investigates visual techniques for populating, manipulating, viewing, and composing these software application specifications within the formal object base scheme required …

A Distributed Object-Oriented Database Application Design, Hsin-Feng Edward Wu

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to analyze and develop a distributed object-oriented database management system (DOODBMS) application to support parallel software development of the Parallel Algorithms and Applications Group (PAAG) at AFIT. By following the software lifecycle of object-oriented paradigm, this thesis investigation is intended to generate requirements analysis, design, implementation, user interface design and implementation, and integration of the database application with the user interface. ITASCA, an existing DOODBMS platform, has been chosen to prototype the application for its distribution functionalities and object-oriented modeling power. The user interface of the database application is based on X-window OSF/Motif front-end …

Characterization Of Laboratory Generated Turbulence By Optical Phase Measurements, Eric P. Magee

Theses and Dissertations

The resolution achieved by an optical imaging system in the presence of the random effects of the atmosphere is severely degraded from the theoretical diffraction limit. Techniques exist for recovering near diffraction limited performance of an imaging system in the presence of atmospheric turbulence. As opposed to laboratory testing, testing image enhancement techniques in the Earth's atmosphere imposes many limitations. Unfavorable weather conditions could result in the loss of time and money invested in conducting the experiments. With a properly characterized turbulence generator, with statistics that match those of the atmosphere, experimental testing of image enhancement techniques can be conducted …

Integrating Psychological Operations Into The Joint Theater Level Simulation (Jtls), C. Matthew Pecot Iii

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a prototype and methodology for integrating psychological operations (PSYOP) into the Joint Theater Level Simulation (JTLS) combat model. The requirement rose out of the need for aggregate-level training models to reflect the role of PSYOP so that commanders and their staffs can learn how to manage plan for, and conduct PSYOP within the context of AirLand battle doctrine. As the JTLS model currently exists, there is no representation of psychological operations whatsoever. This thesis outlines a methodology for incorporating the PSYOP analysis process (including the target audience analysis), the PSYOP product development and production process, the PSYOP …

The Hakluyt Stage: Travel, Narcissism, And The Narrative., Thomas Palakeel

Theses and Dissertations

In this quincentenary year of the Columbus landfall, as the theorists debate the limitations of Western civilization, my dissertation critiques the narratives collected by Richard Hakluyt (1552-1616) who sought to enter the geographical and ethnographic discourse of the late Renaissance by inscribing the emergent English nation as the custodian of modern civilization. The English rhetoric of civility in the New World has taken the form of a series of monologic narratives, forced inscriptions that seek to normalize the history of colonization, slavery, and imperialism.My study of the narratives in Hakluyt's Principal Navigations (1598) reveals the cultural narcissism of the English …

Electrochemical And Mechanistic Studies Of Alkyl Aryl Ethers And The 1-Methyl-5-Hexenyl Radical Probe., Joseph Schmit

Theses and Dissertations

This study centered on two specific goals. The first goal of this research was to conduct a detailed investigation of the electrochemical reduction of 6-bromo-1-heptene (1) including the fate of the reduction intermediate, the 1-methyl-5-hexenyl fragment. In the process, the use of this intermediate as a radical probe was validated. The second goal of this research was to conduct a comprehensive electrochemical investigation of the reductive mechanisms of the three alkyl naphthyl ethers, 1-methoxynaphthalene (2), 2-methoxynaphthalene (3), and 6-(1$\sp\prime$-naphthoxy)hept-1-ene (4).6-Bromo-1-heptene was reduced on platinum, mercury, and vitreous carbon electrodes to yield the bromide ion and a heptenyl radical also known …

Student Attitudes Toward The Threat Of Nuclear War: Friends As Influential Reference Persons., Milton Marasch

Theses and Dissertations

A renewed interest in research into the psychology of the threat of nuclear war occurred in the past decade as national attention focused increasingly on the arms race between the US and the USSR. Some of this research began the task of exploring the social influences upon attitudes and responses to the nuclear threat. Research on friends as potential influences upon nuclear attitudes was minimal. The present study investigated the role of college friends as potential reference persons in the formation of nuclear attitudes. A battery of questionnaires addressing various nuclear war and non-nuclear war attitudes was completed by 200 …

Measuring Press Release Placement From Brigham Young University's Public Communications Office To Utah's Newspapers, Gregory T. Kunde

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a replication of a study conducted at Oklahoma State University in 1986. This study measures the percentage of Brigham Young University press releases published in Utah newspapers during a four month period in 1989. The results of the two studies are analyzed and compared.

Additionally, personal interviews were conducted with thirty Utah newspaper editors to help determine any additional factors that may affect publishing decisions among Utah's newspaper editors.

Staff Development Needs Of Public School Speech-Language Pathologists In North Dakota, Susan Backes

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Anatomical, Mechanical And Baroreceptor Responses Of Chronic Sympathetic Denervated Rabbit Carotid Sinuses, Steven T. Oncay

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Communicative Competence Of Individuals Diagnosed With Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Sandra D. Carr

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Veratridine And Tetrodotoxin On Acetylcholine Receptor Expression In Cultured Mouse Muscle Cells, Abul Kalam Hasan

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Weapon System Integration For The Afit Virtual Cockpit, William E. Gerhard Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force Institute of Technology is continuing research in the Virtual Cockpit. The Virtual Cockpit makes use of high performance graphics workstations, Virtual Environment technology, and Distributed Interactive Simulation network protocols to create a flight simulator based on the capabilities of the McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle. The work presented in this thesis focuses on the design and implementation issues for integrating a weapons delivery capability. Weapons simulated include: RADAR and IR guided air- to-air missiles, gravity and precision guided bombs, and a 20mm cannon. Virtual Environment displays used include: color NTSC and monochrome high resolution helmet mounted displays …

Mechanisms Of Complement Resistance By Pathogenic Naegleria Fowleri Amoebae, Denise Marie Toney

Theses and Dissertations

The genus Naegleria is composed of a distinct group of free-living amoeboflagellates that include both pathogenic and nonpathogenic species. N. fowleri, the only pathogenic species of Naegleria to be isolated from humans, is the etiological agent of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, a rare but rapidly fatal disease of the central nervous system in humans and in laboratory animals. The mechanisms of pathogenicity and the determinants of virulence of N. fowleri are unknown. Both pathogenic and nonpathogenic Naegleria activate the alternative complement pathway, however pathogenic N. fowleri are complement-resistant and nonpathogenic N. gruberi are complement-sensitive. The ability to resist complement-mediated lysis …

Identification Of Regulatory Mechanisms Of Genes Encoding Citrate Synthase In The Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Christine Smith Kell

Theses and Dissertations

The major aim of this research was to investigate the molecular mechanisms of regulation of transcription of CIT1 and CIT2, the genes encoding citrate synthase in yeast. Specifically addressed are the questions of (1) localization of cis-acting sites required for expression or regulation, (2) the roles of HAP1 and HAP2,3,4 in expression of both genes, (3) identification of other trans-acting factors involved in expression of either gene, (4) localization of cis-acting sites involved in up regulation of CIT2 in response to disruption of CIT1 or rho° status (Liao et al., 1991; Liao and Butow, 1993).

I show here that mutations …

Investigation Of A Second Simian Virus 40 Enhancer Element, Gregory S. Hyland

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Floyd B. Olson : His Social Philosophy, Douglas H. Holden

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Protection Of Aldehydes And Ketones Using Silylated Protective Groups, Brett M. Lillie

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Parental Attitudes, Knowledge, And Behaviors And Childhood Injury In North Dakota, Elizabeth Ann Keene

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Identification Of Elder Abuse In Hospital Emergency Departments In North And South Dakota, Nina C. Weyers

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

American Magazine Reporting On The Swedish Welfare State : From The Depression Through The Cold War, Joel C. Wright

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Two Worlds Of Garp : A Novel To Film Adaptation Study, David C. Bailey

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Multimedia Module Design And Module Development Guidelines, Lisa L. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Media Maintenance Of The Status Quo : A Comparative Analysis Of Indian Today (Formerly Lakota Times) And Newsweek, La Royce Batchelor

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Passive Cigarette Smoke On Selected Vocal Characteristics Of Adult Females, Lisa M. Dickas

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Interactive Television In Graduate Business Classes : A Comparison Study, Robyn Bergstrom

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Fields Of Dreams : The Language And Imagery Of Baseball And Football, Gerald J. Bodine

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Geographical Bias In The Newspaper Coverage Of Baseball In North Dakota, 1890-1920, Scott C. Roper

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

From Personal Trouble To Public Issue : A Test Of Blumer's Natural History Model, Tricia Lynn Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.