Life Sciences Commons^™

The Development And Utilization Of A Survey Instrument To Determine The Acceptance Of National Standards For Technological Literacy, Robert Malcolm Donan

Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past six years, practitioners in the field of technology education within the State of Tennessee have been mandated with nearly constant curricular change with the latest being the implementation of a revised set of content standards for technology education, a major change in programs within the curriculum framework, and most recently a new name for the state-wide program. These programmatic changes, other than the name change, although they addressed the majority of the national content standards for technological literacy, were not correlated with either the programs or grade level content explicit in the national standards developed and published …

Population Genetics And Effective Population Size Of The Brazilian Free-Tailed Bat, Tadarida Brasiliensis (Chiroptera: Molossidae), Amy Louise Russell

Doctoral Dissertations

The Mexican free-tailed bat, Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana, exhibits variation in migratory behavior over its range. Some populations undergo seasonal long-distance migrations to warmer climates in winter, whereas others are resident through the winter in more northern regions and hibernate. Variation is also exhibited among populations in their migratory routes, and long-term banding studies document that populations are largely faithful to a single migratory route. These observations have led to the prediction that behaviorally defined migratory groups make up structured gene pools. Tests of this prediction using allozyme markers have documented high levels of gene flow among migratory groups, with …

Species Diversity And Assembly History In Ecological Communities: Microcosm Experiments And Computer Simulations, Tadashi Fukami

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite its academic and applied importance, it has proven difficult to understand patterns of species diversity. This is in large part because multiple processes operating at various scales interact to influence diversity patterns emerging at different scales. Here I examine how the history of community assembly may interact with other ecological variables to influence species diversity. I consider four variables: the level of productivity, the size of ecosystem, the rate of dispersal, and the size of species pool. These variables have received considerable attention as major determinants of species diversity. However, their joint effects with assembly history remain largely unexplored. …

Factors Related To Condom Use Among Sexually Active African American Females Using Health Belief Model Constructs And Potential Cues To Action With A Mass Communication/Interpersonal Communication Approach, Shiree Monika Southerland

Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the factors that relate to male condom utilization among sexually active African American college women at The University of Tennessee.

College women between the ages of 18 to 24 are the most susceptible to contracting a sexually transmitted disease (STD) as they do not perceive themselves to be at risk. It is estimated that each year 12 million new cases of STDs occur and two thirds of those infected are under the age of 25 (Hale & Trumbetta, 1996). Women are among the fastest growing groups being infected with HIV. In …