Chemical Engineering

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of annealing polyimide-organosilicate hybrid membranes on gas transport. In addition, the effects of carbon dioxide pressure on the gas transport of unannealed polyimide-organosilicate hybrid membranes were evaluated. The membranes in both studies consisted of sol-gel derived organosilicate domains covalently bonded to a 6FDA-6FpDA-DABA polyimide using partially hydrolyzed tetramethoxysilane (TMOS), methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMOS) or phenyltr...

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

The literature available on financial aid addresses how aid promotes access and equal educational opportunity by enabling students to matriculate into college. The literature also discusses how financial aid impacts students ability to persist to degree completion. However, there seems to be little research on how financial aid affects students lives while they are in college. The present study attempted to address this gap in the existing literature by examining the differences in quality of li...

Urban Affairs and Planning

Ecotourism has emerged as one of the fastest- growing sectors of the tourism market, influenced primarily by public demand for more environmentally responsible tourism. When planned properly, it has been asserted that ecotourism can integrate conservation of biodiversity with socio-economic development of local communities. For this reason, many governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are eager to develop ecotourism in protected areas in order to maximize these benefits. However, e...

Psychology

Prenatal sensory stimulation can have facilitative or interfering effects upon subsequent perceptual learning and development in bobwhite quail. Exposure to moderate amounts of unimodal prenatal sensory stimulation has been shown to accelerate early intersensory responsiveness, while exposure to concurrent prenatal bimodal sensory stimulation has been shown to interfere with perceptual learning and development. An immediate mechanism that may underlie this developmental intersensory interference...

Civil Engineering

It is illegal to pass a stopped school bus when the vehicles stop-arm is extended and the red lights are flashing. Public opinion on this issue is very clear. A random phone survey of the public conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that more than 90 percent of respondents rated passing a school bus that has its red lights flashing and the stop arm in full view as a somewhat or extremely dangerous driving behavior (Boyle, Dienstfrey, and Sothoron, 1998)...

Materials Science and Engineering

Iron-cobalt-vanadium alloys can be processed to have excellent soft magnetic properties for use in high performance power generation applications such as the rotors and stators of aircraft integrated power units. These soft magnetic properties are, however, developed at the expense of mechanical strength and toughness. Small additions of niobium are reported to increase the strength of these Fe-Co-V alloys. This study evaluates the effects of heat treatment on the mechanical and magnetic propert...

Finance

This dissertation examines two different topics relatedto the issuance of a convertible debt security. The firstessay addresses the question of how managers set theequity value in a convertible debt issue. A convertibledebt security has value derived from an equitycomponent and a debt component. As a result,managers must decide how much of the convertibledebt s value will be derived from equity at issuance. Iexamine three hypotheses in addressing this question.Empirical evidence is provided supp...

Psychology

This investigation examined the effects of emotion and lateralized presentation of a list of affective words on the learning of that list. This investigation also attempted to assess the separate influences of emotion and arousal on verbal performance. Experiment I was a 2x2 factorial design: two types of pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), negative or neutral and two gender conditions, male and female. Experiment I was used to verify that the IAPS results in an emot...

Biochemistry

Mo-nitrogenase consists of two component proteins, the Fe protein and the MoFe protein. The site of substrate binding and reduction within the Mo-nitrogenase is provided by a metallocluster, the FeMo cofactor, located in the a-subunit of the MoFe protein. The FeMo cofactors polypeptide environment appears to be intimately involved in the delicate control of the MoFe proteins interactions with its substrates and inhibitors (Fisher K et al., 2000c). In this work, the a-subunit 278-serine residue o...

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Multicultural Teaching Competence AsPerceived by Elementary School TeachersSubmitted by Ephraim Gorham(ABSTRACT)The purpose of this study was to (a) explore elementary school teachers perceptions of their strengths and deficiencies for working with, and meeting the need of, students from diverse cultural backgrounds; and (b) assess the relationships between these perceptions and the teachers multicultural background and demographic factors such as age, gender, and ethnicity.The participants were...

Statistics

Adaptive Fourier Analysis For Unequally-Spaced Time Series DatabyHong LiangRobert V. Foutz, ChairmanStatistics(ABSTRACT)Fourier analysis, Walsh-Fourier analysis, and wavelet analysis have often been used in time series analysis. Fourier analysis can be used to detect periodic components that have sinusoidal shape; however, it might be misleading when the periodic components are not sinusoidal. Walsh-Fourier analysis is suitable for revealing the rectangular trends of time series. The flaw of the...

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Emotional Intelligence Among Leaders and Non-Leaders in Campus OrganizationsHeidi K. ScheusnerAbstractThe present study examined emotional intelligence (EQ) levels among student leaders and members of three types of student organizations: governing, service, and special interest. Emotional intelligence refers to ones ability to recognize emotions in oneself and others and the ability to exhibit appropriate responses to environmental stimuli. Participants included 79 students (half of those were ...

Chemistry

Stable suspensions of superparamagnetic cobalt nanoparticles have been prepared in poly(dimethysiloxane) (PDMS) carrier fluids in the presence of poly[dimethylsiloxane-b-(3-cyanopropyl)methylsiloxane-b-dimethylsiloxane] (PDMS-PCPMS-PDMS) triblock copolymers as steric stabilizers. A series of the polysiloxane triblock copolymers with systematically varied molecular weights were prepared via anionic polymerization using LiOH as an initiator. These copolymers formed micelles in toluene or poly(dime...

Industrial and Systems Engineering

Vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of accidental death and injuries in the United States, claiming tens of thousands of lives and injuring millions of people each year. Many of these crashes occur during nighttime, where a variety of modifiers affect the risk of a crash, primarily through the reduction of object visibility. Furthermore, many of these modifiers also affect the nighttime mobility of older drivers, who avoid driving during the nighttime. Thus, a two-fold need exists for new t...

Human Development

This study focuses on the importance of activity as an intervention with persons with dementia. Continuity theory serves as a general guide, along with research on leisure in later life and the theory of personhood in dementia, to explain the importance of engaging persons with dementia in activities. Implementing purposeful activities with persons with dementia has been demonstrated to reduce boredom and agitated behavior and to maximize the functional abilities of the individual. The important...

Human Development

The purpose of this study was to examine older adults perceptions of health by exploring life course factors perceived as shaping the meanings of health in their daily lives. Using life course and life span perspectives as the theoretical framework to guide this mixed method study, I identified the contextual factors that influence older adults health perceptions and behaviors. Through self-report questionnaires from 111 individuals (M age = 74 yrs., S.D. = 5.64) and in-depth interviews with 30 ...

Computer Science

Product quality is directly related to how well that product meets the customers needs and intents. It is paramount, therefore, to capture customer requirements correctly and succinctly. Unfortunately, most development models tend to avoid, or only vaguely define the process by which requirements are generated. Other models rely on formalistic characterizations that require specialized training to understand. To address such drawbacks we introduce the Requirements Generation Model (RGM) that (a)...

Human Development

Using the culturally variant perspective and symbolic interaction theory, I examined the perceptions of Black partnered and nonpartnered mothers toward their children and how these perceptions shaped their views toward single-mother effectiveness. I conducted secondary analysis of National Survey of American Families [NSAF] (1999) with a sample of Black, non-Hispanic mothers with children between the ages of 6 to 17 years old. Black mothers significantly differed on age, education, income, and p...

Science and Technology Studies

Explores the relationship between nontraditional science education practices, structured by campaigns such as Public Understanding of Science (PUS) and Scientific Literacy (SL), and the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS), using ethnographic work with the Choices and Challenges Project at Virginia Tech as a point of entry (Smith 1987) for a broader discussion. It points to the difficulty of doing theory and practice at the same time. While affirming that there is no easy solution to th...

Architecture

I propose to create a building whose formalarchitectural elements; floor, wall, column,and stair, all transform to provide for theneeds of the user. The structure will existas not just a support for an enclosure, but asystem where the furniture, storage, andother systems are integrated parts of thebuilding itself. This is the central idea thatI will use to create a form language thatcan be applied to a building whose partsserve all of the functions of the building.If the building itself changes ...

Psychology

This project attempted to understand better the relationship between social support and womens commitment to an abusive relationship for the purpose of informing social support interventions. This study was not an intervention; instead, it sought to examine the processes linking receipt of helpful forms of social support from naturally occurring sources with womens commitment and stay/leave decisions. Specifically, it was hypothesized that relationship satisfaction and quality alternatives would...

Teaching and Learning

This study examines the theory of social presence and its relevancy to distance learning. Short, William, and Christie (1976) originally designed social presence to evaluate the difference between types of dyads (one-to-one interactions) and the quality of the communication media used for those interactions (Rafaeli, 1988; Rice, 1984; Walther, 1992). However, the theory of social presence was not design to explain mediated communication between multiple individuals. Although studies have investi...

Near Environments

Home Environments and Allergen Avoidance Practicesin a Hot, Humid ClimateBenjamas Kutintara(ABSTRACT)The purpose of the study was to examine home conditions, housing satisfactions, and allergen avoidance practices of people with allergic rhinitis, focusing on female patients who lived in an urban area in a hot, humid climate. The Morris and Winter theory of housing adjustment provides a theoretical base for this study. Nine hypotheses were tested to investigate interrelationships among home cond...

Mechanical Engineering

Design of Total Pressure Distortion Generator for Aircraft Engine TestingbyKevin B. CramerCommittee Co-Chair: W.F. OBrienCommittee Co-Chair: P.S. KingMechanical Engineering(ABSTRACT)A new method and mechanism for generating non-uniform, or distorted, aircraft engine inlet flow is being developed in order to account for dynamic changes during the creation and propagation of the distortion. Total pressure distortions occur in gas turbine engines when the incoming flow is disturbed. Dynamic total p...

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

This study explored the relationship between school building conditions and the academic achievement of twelfth students in selected public high schools in Kuwait. The population of the study was 56 high schools (28 boys schools and 28 girls schools) that offered a Sciences and Arts majors. The major research questions in this study were: (a) is there a relationship between overall, cosmetic, and structural conditions and student achievement; (b) does the relationship between building condition ...

Masters of Human Development

THE POWER OF PETS:HOW ANIMALS AFFECT FAMILY RELATIONSHIPSByKrista Scott GellerKatherine R. Allen, Committee ChairDepartment of Human DevelopmentVirginia polytechnic Instituteand State University(ABSTRACT)This study was designed to explore the importance a pet can have on someones life, including ways a pet affects the relationships an individual has with other family members. This study assessed how pets can be influential in peoples lives, especially with regard to the cultivation of family rel...

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Slightly more than two million teachers will be needed for the nation s classrooms within the next decade. Consequently, some states have begun to look to their ready supply of paraeducators, also known as teacher assistants, as a pipeline for supplying qualified teachers. These paraeducators who make the career change to teachers are more likely to remain in hard-to-supply geographic areas and to increase the diversity of the teaching force. This study explored the lived experiences of five min...

Near Environments

Older people are as diverse a group as they were as younger people. Home environments should reflect these diverse individuals varying interests, preferences, and needs. In spite of efforts to remain independent and at home, some elderly people have to leave conventional housing and move into long-term care facilities because of factors such as mental or physical health problems or the loss of family members. Most elderly people who move into these facilities do not feel "at home" in t...

Science and Technology Studies

In this thesis, I traced the development of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy through the pages of the Journal of Organic Chemistry (JOC) from the year 1956 to 1969 to understand how organic chemists and Varian Associates?the makers of the first commercial NMR spectrometers?negotiated the identity of the NMR spectrometer. The work of the organic chemists was examined through their publications in the JOC. Examining the abstracts from the JOC between the years 1956 and 1969 developed ...

Chemistry

An innovative sampling technique employing extractant impregnated membranes is presented for the selective sorption and stabilization of specific oxidation states of chromium. Polymer-based selective ion traps employing the extractants tricaprylmethylammonium chloride (Aliquat-336) and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (DEHPA) were used for the selective removal and enrichment of the anionic forms of Cr(VI) and cationic forms of Cr(III), respectively. Results show Aliquat-336 and DEHPA effective...

Industrial and Systems Engineering

The ability to effectively match supply and demand can lead to significant revenue benefits in theairline industry. Airline supply management deals with assigning the rightresources (i.e., aircraft and crew) to the right routes in the flight network.Due to certain crew regulations, operating characteristics, and constraints of the airline companies,these supply management decisions need to be made well in advance of departures, at a time when demandis highly uncertain. However, demand forecasts ...

Civil Engineering

The application of Visualization and Simulation technologies to intuitively depict, analyze and execute transportation projects is gaining momentum, as advances in 3-Dimension (3D) Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies are rapidly progressing and there is an increased need for public acceptance of transportation projects.This thesis presents a visualization process framework that is applicable to highway corridor visualization, and the I-77/81 Relocation Study Visualization project i...

Political Science

<p>This thesis will explore how divisions within ethno-nationalist communities affect nationalist/separatist movements. While some scholars characterize ethno-nationalist groups as homogeneous social and political units, through the examination of the Basque community in Spain as a case study, I will show that there exists a considerable plurality of interests within ethno-nationalist movements. This study highlights intra-group divisions based on regionalism, immigration, and ideo...

Veterinary Medical Sciences

Evaluation of pressor sensitivity to norepinephrine infusion in dogs with iatrogenic hyperadrenocorticismNivia I. Martínez(ABSTRACT)Objective: To evaluate pressor sensitivity to catecholamines in dogs after induction of iatrogenic hyperadrenocorticism (I-HAC) by serial arterial blood pressure measurements during infusions of increasing dose rates of norepinephrine.Animals: Eight dogs with I-HAC induced by administration of oral hydrocortisone at a mean dose of 3.3 mg/kg PO TID for 42-49...

Mechanical Engineering

Testing of a Magnetically Levitated Rocket Thrust Measurement SystemDemonstrator for NASAEric J. Blumber(ABSTRACT)Existing thrust measurement systems (TMSs) at NASA Stennis Space Center use strain gauges and flux plates to measure forces produced by a test article. Alignment and calibration can take two weeks or more every time a piece of hardware or test article is changed. Cross axis loading is also problematic because it is impossible to perfectly align the flex plates and strain gauges in th...

Animal and Poultry Sciences

High levels of dietary protein may be detrimental to reproductive performance in cattle. The objective of Exp. 1 was to determine the effects of differences in dietary protein on the production and quality of bovine embryos collected from superovulated donors. Angus cows were randomly assigned to receive one of three experimental diets: a daily ration of 5.7 kg poultry litter,2.0 kg hay, 3.1 kg corn, and 0.5 kg peanut hulls (LITTER; n = 15); a daily ration of 6.2 kg peanut hulls, 2.2 kg soybean ...

Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise

The performance of three different lipid/hydrocolloid coatings was tested on Golden Delicious apples. The coatings consisted of a mixture of lipid, wax, and various gum blends. The three treatments were compared to an uncoated group (control). Both objective and sensory tests were performed to determine the shelf-life stability of the apples. Objective results indicated that all three treatments significantly decreased (P<0.0083) the respiration rates of the apples when compared to the co...

Urban Affairs and Planning

Responses in India towards the Clean Development MechanismAsmita BhardwajRecognizing the grave danger that climate change poses to mankind, the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted in 1992 by 150 nations. Subsequent climate change negotiations were to be guided through the principles of equity, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, while developed countries were to take lead in combating climate change. The Kyoto Protocol am...

Biology

Suppression of canopy tree recruitment beneath rapidly spreading thickets of Rhododendron maximum L. (Ericaceae) in southern Appalachian forests is an issue of major concern because of the potential impacts on forest productivity, hydrology and wildlife habitat. Many studies have investigated the causes of seedling inhibition beneath dense shrub understories, but few have uncovered specific mechanisms leading to seedling decline. In this study, I have examined the influence of the evergreen unde...

Chemistry

Taxol, isolated from the bark of Taxus brevifolia in the late 1960s, and the semisynthetic analog Taxotere have proven clinical importance for the treatment of ovarian and breast cancer. Taxol exerts its biological effect by binding to polymerized tubulin and stabilizing the resulting microtubules. Studies aimed at understanding the biologically active conformation of taxol and its binding environment on b-tubulin are described. This knowledge is important because it could lead to the design of ...

Philosophy

The "argument from species overlap" (abbreviated ASO) claims that some human and nonhuman animals possess similar sets of morally relevant characteristics, and are therefore similarly morally significant. The argument stands as a general challenge to moral theories, because many theories hold that all humans possess greater moral significance than all nonhuman animals. In this thesis I discuss responses to the ASO, primarily those of Peter Carruthers, Tom Regan, Evelyn Pluhar, and Pete...

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Traditionally, and up to this date, Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems have been interconnected via leased lines and microwave links across circuit-switched networks. With the recent deployment of digital LMR standards such as the Association of Public and Communications Officials (APCO) Project 25 and the Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), traffic exchange has become more bursty and non-uniform, and as such, less suitable for circuit-switched networks.This thesis proposes a framework for a packet-...

Industrial and Systems Engineering

(ABSTRACT)Each year there is an increasing incidence of slip and fall accidents, especially among the elderly population. Existing evidence has identified several aging effects related to slip and fall accidents, yet, the causes of these accidents with advancing age are still little known. The objective of this research was to investigate the factors influencing the initial phase of unexpected slips and falls in younger and older individuals. More specifically, the relationship between ankle str...

Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science

Field experiments were conducted in Virginia to evaluate the efficacy of AEF-130060 03 plus AEF-107892 applied postemergence (POST) for the control of Italian ryegrass [<i>Lolium multiflorum </i>(Lam)] in barley [<i>Hordeum vulgare </i>(L.)] in comparison to other herbicides currently registered for use in wheat [<i>Triticum aestivum </i>(L.)] and barley. Laboratory experiments were also conducted to evaluate abs...

Biology

Particularly lacking in the current body of sexual selection literature are studies based on reptile species and intrasexually selected mating systems. Because the life history traits and ecology of reptiles are dramatically different from other animal taxa, current models of sexual selection are insufficient for predicting how sexual selection should influence the behavior and mating systems of lizards. Similarly, intersexually selected mating systems (i.e., based on female choice) are inapprop...

Electrical and Computer Engineering

The security of a radio system hinges on its ability to effectively authenticate a user. This work proposes a two-factor authentication scheme using a token and a biometric. The users access rights are determined during authentication and the users are served only those channels of data that they are privileged to receive. The strengths and the weaknesses of the implementation in reconfigurable hardware are identified. The capabilities of the scheme are put into perspective by comparing it to a ...

Entomology

Plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst), is an endemic pest of stone and pome crops of the eastern United States. Two morphologically identical strains of plum curculio have been described and documented in Virgina: a univoltine strain and a multivoltine strain. Because of the cryptic coloring and behaviours of the plum curculio adults, monitoring in orchards is difficult and often ineffective.RAPD-PCR assay was an effective method for separation of the geographical strains. Of the tested...

Engineering Science and Mechanics

For women of reproductive age, automobile crashes are the leading cause of death worldwide. It has been estimated that 40,000 women in the second half of pregnancy are involved in motor-vehicle crashes each year. It has been estimated that between 300 to 3800 will experience a fetal loss. Placental abruption has been shown to account for 50% to 70% of fetal losses in motor vehicle crashes. While there is a growing database of medical case studies and retrospective studies describing the outcome ...

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Extensions for Multicast in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (XMMAN): The Reduction of Data Overhead in Wireless Multicast TreesMichael Edward ChristmanDr. Scott F. Midkiff, ChairElectrical Engineering(ABSTRACT)Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) routing protocols are designed to provide connectivity between wireless mobile nodes that do not have access to high-speed backbone networks. While many unicast MANET protocols have been explored, research involving multicast protocols has been limited. Existing multic...

Engineering Science and Mechanics

The random discontinuous fiber composite has uniform properties in all directions. The wetlay process is an efficient method to manufacture random discontinuous thermoplastic preform sheets that can be molded into random composite plaques in the hot-press. Investigations were done on the molding parameters that included the set-point mold pressure, set-point mold temperature and cooling methods. The fibers used in the study included glass and carbon fiber. Polypropylene (PP) and Polyethylene Ter...