Economics (Arts and Sciences)

This study examines the significance of quality when included in the specification of a hospital cost function. Also, this research estimates a value for scale economies in order to determine if the average hospital experiences increasing returns to scale in the production of hospital care, verifying such findings in previous econometric studies. Furthermore, two functional forms are compared: the Cobb-Douglas and the translog.<p>The results of this study demonstrate that quality h...

Chemistry

The morphology, crystallization and melting behaviors of a series of ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymers were investigated as a function of comonomer content, comonomer type and processing conditions, including crystallization temperature and time. This was achieved by using a combination of techniques such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR).<p>The r...

Architecture

I believe that there are certain forces, I call them rhythms, which exist in the urban environment. They are rhythms because they are both physically and perceptually dynamic. These rhythms shape the city, and give character to the different neighborhoods in the city. They help organize the sites in those neighborhoods; they influence the designs of the buildings on those sites, the rooms within the buildings and even the buildings smallest details.Rhythms are found at every scale of design. The...

Philosophy

Many bodies of modern scientific theory (such as both Newtonian and relativistic physics) have proven to be remarkably successful at predicting future observable phenomena. Some philosophers have seen this success as calling for deeper explanation: what is it about these theories that makes them so predictively reliable, when, presumably, not just any theory would enjoy such success? This question has often motivated philosophers (such as Richard Boyd) to adopt a realist stance towards scientifi...

Human Development

This study compares three groups of undergraduate college males in heterosexual dating relationships: those who are physically and psychologically abusive (n=39), those who are solely psychologically abusive (n=44), and those who are non-abusive (n=34). These three groups are compared along the following variables: self-reported history of experiencing family of origin violence; self-reported history of witnessing family of origin violence; level of self-reported impulsivity; level of self-repor...

Civil Engineering

During the 1950 s and 1960 s a railroad yard located in Oneida, Tennessee, was used as a creosote treatment facility for railroad ties. After the cross-ties were treated with creosote, the excess creosote was stored in an holding pond located about 100 feet north of Pine Creek (Fetterolf 1998). In 1990, during a creek modification project, creosote was discovered seeping through the banks of Pine Creek. The creosote had leached through the bottom of the pond and migrated towards the creek.In 199...

Materials Science and Engineering

Effects of dislocation emission from a mode I crack and of pinning distances on the behavior of the crack and on fracture toughness in aluminum were studied by using the Molecular Statics Technique with atomic interactions described in terms of the Embedded Atom Method.It was found that aluminum is a ductile material in which the cracks generate dislocations, blunting the cracks. The blunting and the dislocation shielding reduce the local stress intensity factor. Also, twinning, which has not be...

Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise

The existence of a glycogen-sarcoplasmic reticulum has been demonstrated by a number of researchers. This complex is suspected to participate in the calcium uptake activities of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Removal of glycogen particles associated with this complex may alter the calcium handling abilities of the SR. This experiment sought to determine what effect exercise and treatment with a-amylase had on the abilities of the SR to regulate intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i). Rats were either...

Philosophy

Karl Popper s philosophy of science includes both falsificationism and realism. I explore the relationship between these two positions in his philosophy and find a strong tension between them. Drawing upon this tension in Popper s philosophy, I explore the general relationship between falsificationism and realism in an effort to determine whether or not the two positions can be successfully combined. Rather than criticizing falsificationism, I focus instead on the realist side of the tension and...

Veterinary Medical Sciences

The effects of vitamin E supplementation during late gestation were evaluated in dairy or beef cattle in three experiments. Dairy cows were injected with vitamin E and selenium (Se) in one study; beef cows were offered oral vitamin E supplementation via a free-choice vitamin-mineral mix in two studies. Breed-related effects were also evaluated. Jerseys had higher blood Se and lower serum vitamin E concentrations than Holsteins at dry-off and higher blood Se concentrations than Holsteins 3-4 week...

Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise

MEASURING CHANGE IN KEY HRQL OUTCOMES USING MOS SF-36 SUBSCALES VS VSAQ AND BDI WITH PATIENTSUNDERGOING CABG SURGERYbySharon Y. MaloDr. William G. Herbert, ChairmanDepartment of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise(ABSTRACT)Health-related quality of life (HRQL) measures taken before and after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) aid in determining meaningful patient-perceived outcomes associated with alternative clinical interventions. This study compared performance of the Medical Outcomes St...

Architecture

-Libraries are institutions of learning -They represent the cultural heritage and values of a society.Public libraries are often located at places of urban significance or, in the course of time help to establish the latter. They may be landmarks in the urban landscape and help to orient oneself. A public library serves the people, and its spirit should be truly public.A City and University Library in particular, is a highly frequented place where students and citizens meet. It can therefore eas...

Finance

Theoretical models suggest that ownership structure may be an important determinant of securities market characteristics. For example, the presence of informed traders leads to greater bid-ask spreads (Copeland and Galai (1983), and Glosten and Milgrom (1985)), and strategic trading of informed and discretionary liquidity traders leads to intertemporal variation in both trading volume and trading costs (Admati and Pfleiderer (1988), and Foster and Viswanathan (1990)). However, the empirical stud...

Architecture

AbstractThe thesis project was the vehicle for an investigation of prefabrication,assembly, and the design of a lived space. Elements are separated fromthe building and from each other. This separation is both physically andfunctionally significant. This separation of elements is presented as thearchitecture of a joint. The wall is divided into two parts: exterior andinterior; creating a wall that is analogous to a double wall system. Theexterior wall is the weather barrier, while the interior w...

Animal and Poultry Sciences

Experiments were conducted to determine the effects of a treatment used to dilate thecervix for transcervical AI and embryo transfer on pregnancy or fertilization rates in sheep.Experiment 1 was conducted as a 2 x 2 factorial, with the main effects of estradiol-17b (E2) andoxytocin (OT). On d 6 of pregnancy, ewes received (i.v.) 100 mg of estradiol-17b, or saline; 10 hlater, ewes received (i.v.) 400 USP units (20 mL) or saline. Blood samples were collected forprogesterone analysis. Transrectal u...

Chemistry

Phenylindane monomers 5(6)-amino-1-(4-aminophenyl)-1,3,3-trimethylindane (DAPI), 5,6-diamino-1-(4-aminophenyl)-1,3,3-trimethylindane (TAPI) and 6-hydroxy-1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1,3,3-trimethylindane (DHPI) were synthesized and characterized. DAPI, as well as other diamines, were then utilized in solution step polycondensation with a number of commercially available dianhydrides using either the two-step ester-acid solution imidization or the high temperature solution imidization routes. High molecu...

Physics

Using data recorded by the CLEO II detector operating at theUpsilon(4S) resonance at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring,several properties of B mesons are measured using a partiallyreconstructed tag of the decay mode bar{B0} ->D*+ l- bar{nu}. Using 2.38 fb**{-1} of on-resonancedata and the averaged B meson semileptonic branching fractionthrough inclusive lepton momentum spectrum obtained by previousCLEO analysis, we measure the B0 and B- semileptonicbranching fraction to be (10.78 +/- 0.60...

Architecture

A:Architecture is a world of making.B:Architecture is a world of making the thinking.A:In my world of architecture, the thinking-of-making is a conscious mental development, while the thinking generated afterwards is autonomous. Hitherto in the design process, I am free from any burdens of the unpredictable and uncontrollable afterward thinking.B:In my world of architecture, the making-of-thinking is structurally dependent on the thinking-of-making. Moreover, I want to direct the thinking of the...

Electrical and Computer Engineering

The objective of this research is to develop time-varying signal processing methods for rapidly varyingnon-stationary signals based on time-varying autoregressive (TVAR) modeling, and to apply such methods tofrequency-modulated (FM) interference rejection in direct-sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) communications.For fast varying non-stationary signal processing, such as the task to reject an FM interference that could chirp overthe entire DSSS bandwidth in a symbol interval, an explicit descripti...

Food Science and Technology

Grape-derived aroma and flavor precursors exist partially as non-volatile, sugar-bound glycosides. Hydrolysis of these compounds may modify sensory attributes and potentially enhance wine quality. In the first study, four levels of shoot thinning (control, 20, 25, and 30 shoots per meter) with and without basal leaf removal (2-4 leaves per shoot) were established on mid-wire (90 cm), bilateral cordon-trained, mature Cabernet Sauvignon (Vitis vinifera L.) grapevines in eastern Virginia in 1996 to...

Economics (Arts and Sciences)

This paper examines the extent to which thin markets in conjunction with tax induced kinks in the budget constraint cause consumer demand to be skewed. To illustrate the principles I focus on the demand for owner-occupied housing. Housing units are indivisible and heterogeneous while tastes for housing are at least partly idiosyncratic, causing housing markets to be thin. In addition, prior to 1998, capital gains tax provisions introduced a sharp kink in the budget constraint of existing owner-o...

Economics (Arts and Sciences)

This collection of papers originates from myinterest in the reform efforts in transitionaleconomies. Each of the chapters is self-contained.Chapter one presents a brief literature surveyof those schools of thought that have contributedto our knowledge about privatization.In chapter two, a public firm model and a privatefirm model are compared based on agency approach,assuming that the owner of a firm has costinformation but also bears the cost of production.I find that the question which type of...

Civil Engineering

Contaminant fate and transport are two of the most important issues project officers have to deal with when developing a sound remediation strategy for a subsurface contamination site. To accurately assess these issues, knowledge of possible pathways, travel times and groundwater receptors are required. A groundwater flow model of a site facilitates the assessment process by determining flow paths, discharge areas and travel time from a contaminant source to a potential receptor. The resulting m...

Adult Education

Employees who have had a traumatic life experience (TLE) and are returning to the workplace face a difficult road to recovery. The workplace as it exists today is not well equipped to handle such individuals. Managers and co-workers lack knowledge of a recovery framework to facilitate and support the survivor-employee s re-entry.This research addressed the development of a cost-free short-term adult educational intervention called Study Circles to assist both managers and co-workers in understan...

Chemical Engineering

A nearly stoichiometric, (1x1) Cr<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> (10<u>1</u>2) surfacewas prepared from a single crystal of alpha-Cr<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>.The five-coordinate cations exposed at the stoichiometricsurface dissociatively adsorb molecular oxygen toform a (1x1), terminating chromyl (Cr=O) layerthat is stable to >1100 K. TDS and AES were usedt...

Entomology

A decision support system for preventive integrated pest management (IPM) and nonpoint source (NPS) pollution control was designed, implemented and evaluated. The objective of the system was to generate plans at the farm level to satisfy economic and production goals while limiting risks of insect pest outbreaks, nitrate and pesticide leaching and runoff, and soil erosion.<p>The system is composed of a constraint satisfaction planner (CROPS-LT), a modified version of CROPS (Stone, ...

Electrical Engineering

In order to meet demands for faster and more efficient data processing, modern microprocessors are being designed with lower voltage implementations. The processor voltage supply in future generation processors will decrease to 1.1 V ~ 1.8V. More devices will be packed on a single processor chip, and processors will operate at higher frequencies, beyond 1GHz. Therefore, microprocessors need aggressive power management. Future generation processors will draw current up to 50 A ~ 100 A [2]. These ...

Teaching and Learning

Clinical Experiences for Agricultural Teacher Education Programs inNorth Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to build a task list for the clinical experience program, both early field and student teaching, for the agricultural teacher education programs in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The objectives were: (1) compile a list of clinical experiences, both early field and student teaching, that currently are provided in the clinical experien...

Chemistry

The focus of the following research was to use the self-assembly process to create rotaxanes between several large bisphenylene crown ethers (> 22 atoms) with secondary ammonium salts. Also of great interest was to understand the complexation behavior of the crown ethers with the salts, with emphasis on determining the stoichiometries and association constants of the complexations in solution using NMR spectroscopy.The stoichiometry of the complexes was determined by the mole ratio method...

Teaching and Learning

A Formative Evaluation of Franklin School(Abstract)This formative evaluation of Franklin School was shaped around the implicit and explicit goals of the school and those school practices that are recognized as being effective in schools for students at-risk of dropping out of school. The study served four purposes: (1) to determine how the teachers, parents, and students viewed the school and their experiences with it, (2) to determine what program improvements were needed, (3) to provide a base...

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

The purpose of this study is to identify critical elements that impact the transition of students who return from an alternative program back into their high school. In order to address the purpose of this study the following research questions have been investigated:a. What are the critical elements that are reported as having impacted students success or failure in making the transition from an alternative program back into high school?b. What types of intervention strategies occur when studen...

Civil Engineering

Calibration of Snowmaking Equipment for Efficient Use on Virginia s Smart RoadEdward J. Shea(ABSTRACT)Virginia s Smart Road, to be completed by early 2000, is a test bed for numerous research activities including snow and ice control, remote sensor testing, snow removal management, safety and human factors, and vehicle dynamics. An all-weather testing system will feature 75 automated snowmaking towers. In order to provide timely and repeatable weather scenarios, equipment operators will need to ...

Biology

DNA similarity studies were used to determine the species of thirty-one strains of bacteria isolated from the hemolymph of infected larvae from Mexico and throughout Central and South America. Twenty-one of the strains were determined to be <I>Paenibacillus popilliae</I> and ten were found to be more closely related to <I>Paenibacillus lentimorbus</I>. Only one of the <I>P. popilliae</I> strains, an isolate from ...

Philosophy

The following is a study of what may be the most puzzling and yet, at the same time, most significant aspect of Kants system: his theory of schemata. I will argue that Kants commentators have failed to make sense of this aspect of Kants philosophy. A host of questions have been left unanswered, and the doctrine remains a puzzle. While this study is not an attempt to construct a complete, satisfying account of the doctrine, it should be seen as a step somewhere on the road of doing so, leaving mu...

Biochemistry and Anaerobic Microbiology

I evaluated the potential of isomers of the low molecular weight phosphomonoester naphthyl phosphate as general diagnostic substrates for differentiating between two families of protein phosphatases: the protein-tyrosine phosphatases [PTPs] and the dual-specificity protein phosphatases [DSPs]. Three PTPs, PTP-1B, Tc-PTPa, and PTP-H1, and three DSPs, Cdc-14, VHR, and IphP, were challenged in vitro with alpha-naphthyl phosphate and beta-naphthyl phosphate. Both the DSPs and PTPs readily hydrolyzed...

Teaching and Learning

The educational disenfranchisement of many urban,African American male adolescents aggravates thecomplex social and economic issues which Americamust reconcile. Two significant behaviors resultingfrom young Black men s disaffection are school failureand violence against the community. The sense offutility in these youth can nullify the possibility of theirpositive contributions to society. Many of the socialstructures that were once in place to provide supportfor the African American community w...

Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences

Durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) is produced primarily in the Northern Great Plains and the Pacific Southwest of the United States. Current germplasm is predominantly of the spring growth habit. The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of winter durum production in Virginia based upon both yield and quality parameters. Adaptation and yield potential of available winter durum lines were assessed from 1993-1998, in three physiographic regions in Virginia. The highest average ...

Architecture

This is my agenda. My "code of ethics". A structure of intentions. I think it s why I m here. I m not serious but take me seriously.Cheez Whiz and potted meat, fluorescent lights and vinyl siding. I m not laughing at it. I fall for the hype. I m down with the bonus buys. I don t get anywhere pretending I m above all that. I m just having fun with it. Siphoning off some of its energy. Borrowing it indefinitely. Everybody does it. It s best when it s an unlikely source. Metallica borrows...

Teaching and Learning

The research described in this dissertation has its antecedents in my own experiences as a student and teacher of history in both England and the USA. Reflecting back on such experiences as a teacher educator in the US has led to a hypothesis that history teaching is conceptualized and performed differently by teachers in England and the US. This study used contrasting case studies of two English and two American preservice history teachers to illuminate and compare how the development of their ...

Electrical Engineering

In digital communication systems, several types of impairments may be introducedto the signal. These impairments result in degraded system performance; for example,high bit-error-rate or power penalty. For optical communication systems, in this thesis,these impairments are categorized into four types; that is, thermal noise, shot noise,signal-dependent noise, and intersymbol interference (ISI). By using a Gaussian approximation,effects of the first three impairments are analyzed. It is shown tha...

Civil Engineering

Investigation of the Resistance of Pile Caps to Lateral Loadingby Robert L. MokwaDr. J. Michael Duncan, ChairmanCharles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental EngineeringABSTRACTBridges and buildings are often supported on deep foundations. These foundations consist of groups of piles coupled together by concrete pile caps. These pile caps, which are often massive and deeply buried, would be expected to provide significant resistance to lateral loads. However, practical procedures for...

Industrial and Systems Engineering

Decreasing the cycle time of panels in the printed circuit card manufacturing processhas been a significant research topic over the past decade. The research objective in suchliterature has been to reduce the placement machine cycle times by finding the optimalplacement sequences and component-feeder allocation for a given, fixed, panel componentlayout for a given machine type. Until now, no research has been found which allows thealteration of the panel configuration itself, when panelization i...

Electrical and Computer Engineering

During the last decade, the wireless communications industry has grown rapidly. Driven by market demand, service providers are continuously looking for better systems. The main focus of continued research has been to increase the quality of services and system capacity. The Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) cellular system had been proposed for use as a new standard for cellular telephone systems.A great deal of research has been conducted to develop receiver structures useful for CDMA system...

Statistics

<P>There is a growing interest in robust and nonparametric methods with engineering applications, due to the nature of the data. Here, we study two power systems engineering applications that employ or recommend robust and nonparametric methods; topology error identification and voltage calibration.</P><P>Topology errors are a well-known, well-documented problem for utility companies. A topology error occurs when a line s status in a power network, wheth...

Food Science and Technology

The growth and survival of the psychrotroph Penicillium spinulosum in paperboard was studied along with the wicking characteristics of ultra-pasteurized milk to understand sporadic fungal contamination of ultra-pasteurized, extended shelf life milk products. Previous research has indicated paperboard packaging as a potential source for the fungal contamination. Migration from paperboard to ultra-pasteurized skim milk during a 60-day shelf life, was investigated by inoculating condia (spores) int...

Mechanical Engineering

Geometric trimming of surfaces results in a newmathematical description of the matching surface.This matching surface is required to closelyresemble the remaining portion of the originalsurface. Typically, the approximation error insuch cases is measured with a view to minimize it.The data associated with the error between twomatching surfaces is large and needs to befiltered into meaningful information.This researchlooks at suitable norms for achieving this datareduction or abstraction with a v...

Electrical and Computer Engineering

In order to meet the high demand for power transmission capacity, some power companies have installed series capacitors on power transmission lines. This allows the impedance of the line to be lowered, thus yielding increased transmission capability. The series capacitor makes sense because it s simple and could be installed for 15 to 30% of the cost of installing a new line, and it can provide the benefits of increased system stability, reduced system losses, and better voltage regulation.1Prot...

Animal and Poultry Sciences

Increasing feed efficiency and early body weight gain hasalways been a top priority in the poultry industry. Thisexperiment was designed to study the effects of feedsources differing in energy and protein levels as well asyolk removal on behavior, feed efficiency, energy intake,body weight and GIT growth in newly hatched chicks.Chicks in Experiment 1, Trial 1, were White PlymouthRock chicks from the 40th generation of a line selected forhigh body weight, fed either freeze dried unincubated yolk(...

CROP AND SOIL ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Sucrose content is one of the important seed quality traits in soybean, especially for oriental soyfood production. However, little genetic information is available on this quantitative trait yet.A previous study was conducted on seed sucrose content of soybean using a population of F2-derived lines from an interspecific cross between an adapted high-sucrose (8.3%) G. max breeding line (V71-370) and a low sucrose (1.6%) G. soja plant introduction (PI407162). Nineteen marker loci, mapping to seve...

Biology

Dispersal is a critical life-history component; it determines gene flow and hasprofound effects on population structure, demography, social systems, and populationviability. To add to our knowledge of dispersal and, in particular, our understanding ofthe relationship between dispersal and inbreeding, I studied three aspects of the biology ofthe red-cockaded woodpecker: dispersal of breeding females; the costs, benefits, andfrequency of inbreeding; and the effect of inbreeding on natal dispersal....