Mechanical Engineering

This research presents improvements to the velocity field reconstructionprocess achieved through computer vision. The first improvement ofthe velocity reconstruction process is theautomation of the scanning laser Doppler vibrometer (SLDV) poseprocedure. This automated process results in superior estimates of the positionand orientation of the SLDV. The second improvement is the refinementof the formulation for reconstruction of the velocity field. The refinedformulation permits faster computatio...

Architecture

Housing...the HillsideLos Angeles, CaliforniabyMichael VallenGregory Hunt, ChairmanCollege of Architecture and Urban Planning(ABSTRACT)This Thesis is a proposal for a prototypical hillsidehousing community in Los Angeles, California. As aprototype it is responsible for setting an architecturalprecedent. In this effort, the Thesis continues withfocus on issues of construction methodology, urbanplanning, and land use relationships concerning thepresent city.Being clear and uncomplicated is the dri...

Architecture

Only with the language of the present can we get the past to speak. Sverre FehnA poet doesnt produce a different language for each poem. Thats not necessary; he uses the same language, he uses even the same words. In music it is always the same instruments most of the time. I think that is the same in Architecture. Mies van der Rohe...within this structure,... the elements keep one another in a state of equilibrium in accordance with fixed rules, and a language is a system in which the value of ...

Architecture

ABSTRACTThe following project involves the design of a series of row houses at Broce street in the townof Blacksburg. The proposed scheme can be described as a line of units that are parallel to thestreet. Though the project deals with issues that are related to housing at the scale of theunit as well as at the scale of the collective whole, the underlying concern is the issue ofhabitation in architecture. With this project I will propose architecture that encourages theindividual to participate...

Statistics

Impaired reproduction studies with Poisson responses are among a growing class of toxicity studies in the biological and medical realm. In recent years, little effort has been focused on the development of efficient experimental designs for impaired reproduction studies. This research concentrates on two areas: 1) the use of Bayesian techniques to make single regressor designs robust to parameter misspecification and 2) the extension of design optimality methods to the k-regressor model. The sta...

Dairy Science

<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The role of endogenous dopamine, utilizing a dopamine antagonist (fluphenazine; FLU), in modulation of gonadotropin, growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PRL) secretion during the early postpartum period and various stages of the estrous cycle was investigated in Holstein cows. Experiment 1 was conducted in anovulatory early postpartum cows. Fluphenazine caused a decrease (<I>P</I> < .05) in mean serum LH concentrati...

Instructional Technology

<center><H1><B>Content Management on the Internet</h1></B><p><i><h3>a look at K-12 schools access to resources</i></h3><p><B>John R. Wenrich</B><BR>(Abstract)</center><BR>          The Internet presents a new ph...

Wood Science and Forest Products

<p>Secondary hardwood products manufacturers have been placing heavy emphasis on lumber yield improvements in recent years. More attention has been on lumber grade and cutting technology rather than cutting bill design. However, understanding the underlying physical phenomena of cutting bill requirements and yield is essential to improve lumber yield in rough mills. This understanding could also be helpful in constructing a novel lumber yield estimation model.<p>&...

Chemistry

High molecular weight poly(phenylene sulfide sulfone) (PPSS) homo- and statistical copolymers have been reproducably synthesized using a known, but complex procedure utilizing 4,4 -dichlorodiphenyl sulfone (DCDPS), sodium hydrosulfide, sodium hydroxide, sodium acetate, and deionized water, in NMP at elevated reaction temperatures and pressure. The effect of these variations, e.g., reaction temperatures and times, molar ratios of H2O-to-NaSH, NMP-to-H2O, etc. were investigated. Optimized conditio...

Dairy Science

Basic research into the histology, endocrine control, and local regulation of prepuberal ruminant mammogenesis was conducted to provide a better understanding of this important developmental period. Histologic features of prepuberal ruminant mammary parenchymal morphogenesis were examined in tissue samples taken from ewe lambs at 2 (n = 5), 3 (n = 15), 6 (n = 26), 9 (n = 7), 12 (n = 5), and 13 wk (n = 20), and from Holstein heifers at 4 (n = 1) and 6 mo (n = 2). Examination of approximately 8000...

Mechanical Engineering

An Experimental Study of Soot Formation in Dual ModeLaminar Wolfhard-Parker Flames<p>by Joell R. Hibshman IIDr. U. Vandsburger, ChairmanMechanical Engineering(ABSTRACT)An experimental study of sooting characteristics oflaminar underventillated ethylene non-premixed flamesin hot vitiated environments was performed using amodified Wolfhard-Parker co-flowing slot burner. Theburner could be operated in "single mode" with a coldair/oxygen mixture as the oxidizer for the non-pr...

Teaching and Learning

Twenty Virginia Tech varsity football players, age 18-24, volunteered as subjects to examine the effects of wearing prophylatic knee sleeves/ braces on selected isokinetic measures (i.e. strength, power and endurance). Each subject performed the Biodex (Multi-Joint System 2AP) knee extension test in each of three experimental conditions: sleeved with the Don Joy Knee support (S-DJ); braced with the McDavid lateral knee support (B-MD); and the control, unsupported condition (C-UN). The order of e...

Chemical Engineering

Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer death of women in the U.S. today. Members of the family of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are proposed to play a major role in the development and subsequent uncontrolled proliferation of breast cancer cells. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is known to be a potent mitogen for mammary epithelial cells. IGF-I acts by binding to cell surface receptors, thereby stimulating a cascade of events leading to cell division. In the interest of interruptin...

Food Science and Technology

The Effect of Thermal Processing Schedules and Unit Operations on the Quality of Blue Crab (Callinectes sapudis) MeatABSTRACTThe effects of initial thermal processing, plant sanitation, and employee habits on the microbiological quality of blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) meat were determined in a commercial crab processing facility. Thermal processing was evaluated at 5, 7, and 8 minutes at 250F for the destruction of microorganisms, including Listeria monocytogenes. F-values calcula...

Veterinary Medical Sciences

<P>Lipooligosaccharide (LOS) is the major outer membrane component of many Gram-negative bacteria inhabiting the mucosal membranes, including pathogenic species of <I>Haemophilus</I> and <I>Neisseria</I>. LOS phase variation is one mechanism by which some of these bacteria avoid the host immune response. To better understand LOS phase variation as a virulence mechanism of <I>H. somnus</I>, knowledge...

Biology

<p>The ability of Cytisus scoparius L. and Spartium junceum L. to acclimate to different levels of light and water stress was studied to understand ecological constraints on distributions of these plants. A reaction norm experimental design was used to determine growth and physiological responses of each to imposed conditions.<p>Light treatments were stressful for both species. Increases in shade led to decreases in relative growth rates (RGR); however, light was more...

Electrical and Computer Engineering

<p>This dissertation covers three levels of issues and solutions dealing with unbalanced and/or nonlinear situations in power electronic systems, namely power converter level, power converter system level, and large-scale power electronics system level.<p>At power converter level, after review of traditional PWM methods, especially two-dimensional space vector modulation schemes, three-dimensional space vector modulation schemes are proposed for four-legged voltage so...

Science and Technology Studies

This dissertation examines the structure of epistemological claims made about science within thefield of science and technology studies (STS). The social constructivist invocation to put science incontext necessarily implies a logic of justification. Made explicit, this logic of justificationprovides a basis on which to adjudicate meta-scientific claims. The appeal to context blursinternal and external references, offers an ontological starting point for STS accounts of science,serves as the bas...

Architecture

As a young student, I enjoyed a passion for thestudio arts and an interest in art history.I ardently pursued these areas in college,continuing their exploration in graduate schoolin the field of Industrial Design. For the thesisproject, my objective is to foster in children anappreciation for art and, possibly, to help themdevelop a critical and appreciative eye towardtheir environment. In my research, I findinspiration in child psychology and the toys ofchilds play, in 15th-century Islamic art ...

Science and Technology Studies

Sport/utility vehicles as technologies of the suburban self: <br>the only civilized way to leave civilization.AbstractThe purpose of this thesis is to explore the transactional and transformative relationships between automobiles and their owners/drivers. Using the sport/utility vehicle as a case study, I show how both the automobile and its user go through transformations of meaning. These transformations take place on a number of levels. The one that I am most concerned with is h...

Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology

APOPTOSIS AS A MECHANISM OF 2,3,7,8-TETRACHLORODIBENZO-P-DIOXIN (TCDD)-INDUCED IMMUNOTOXICITYbyArati B. KamathMitzi Nagarkatti, ChairpersonDepartment of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology(ABSTRACT)2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is a highly toxic environmental pollutant and is well known for its immunotoxic effects, particularly on the thymus. The exact mechanism by which TCDD induces thymic atrophy is not known. In the current study, we investigated whether TCDD triggers apoptosis ...

Architecture

This thesis investigates the relationships between projects inthe form of resistance. The thesis is accompanied by a seriesof projects that investigate a number of resistances. Theseresistances spur relationships to other works in progress;descendents. The projects are a testing ground for the ideo-logicalcontent in an architects work.Each project we undertake is a part of a muchlarger whole that may or may not be a lifes work,but is, certainly, an influence in the creation ofcoherence as we mov...

Civil Engineering

The patterns, stoichiometry, and kinetics of microbial benzene, toluene, p-xylene, m-xylene, and o-xylene degradation by a denitrifying activated sludge consortium was investigated in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) receiving a mixed waste. After six months of acclimation, toluene and m-xylene were routinely degraded to below detection. Both toluene and m-xylene could serve as sole carbon and energy sources. The removal of o-xylene was also possible; however, its transformation was dependent up...

Teaching and Learning

This study was designed to determine if college students performdifferently when they are tested more frequently than less frequently. Thepurpose of this research study was: (a) to determine if there is a difference inachievement between students given weekly tests (experimental group) andstudents given monthly tests (control group), (b) to determine if there is adifference in knowledge retention between students given weekly tests andstudents given monthly tests, and (c) to determine if there i...

Dairy Science

Development of the mammary gland is likely mediated by locally produced growth factors acting in concert with circulating mitogens. To investigate the importance of mammary synthesis of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGF-binding proteins (IGFBP), the initial objective was to evaluate the physiological effects of recombinant IGF-I synthesis in the mouse mammary gland. Expression of recombinant IGF-I was targeted by the mouse mammary tumor virus - long terminal repeat (MMTV-LTR) to the m...

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Many different types of features can appear on the surface of wooden boards, lineals or parts. Some of these features should not appear on the surfaces of wood products. These features then become undesirable or removable defects for those products. To manufacture these products boards are cutup in such a way that these undesirable defects will not appear in the final product. Studies have shown that manual cutup of boards does not produce the highest possible yield of final product from rough l...

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Experts have suggested that the primary purposes of teacher evaluation systems are to promote the professional development of teachers and to provide information on their strengths and weaknesses so that appropriate training might be planned. It is important for teachers to have ownership in such planning and to be provided options for their professional development. The primary focus of this study is a professional growth plan which includes options that are designed to provide opportunities fo...

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

THE DESEGREGATION OF SOUTHAMPTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA SCHOOLS1954-1970ByCarolyn C. ModlinCommittee Chairpersons: Dr. Thomas C. Hunt and Dr. Robert R. Richards(ABSTRACT)The struggle to achieve integration of public schools in Southampton County, Virginia, has been an ongoing process that has occurred through the years since the Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 493, 74 S.Ct. 686, 691 (1954) and Brown v. Board of Education, 349 U.S. 294, 75 S.Ciit. 753 (1955), and Green v. County School Board...

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

The purpose of this study was to develop an explanation for the volatile behavior of the Local Composite Index, Virginia s measure of public school division fiscal capacity. This study documented and analyzed the behavior of the mathematical and structural components of the current formula over the period inclusive of Biennia 1984-86 through 1996-98. It was implemented in five phases:1. Literature Review. Literature related to public school division fiscal capacity was reviewed:a) To identify no...

Sociology

At-Risk, First-Year Students Patterns of Perceptions of Their Academic Performance Activities and Grades EarnedSharon Paterson McGuireAbstractResearchers and practitioners in an attempt to understand academic performance, and thus reduce academic failure, have identified variables associated with academic performance. Although this research has been useful, there are limitations and critiques: 1) findings are often inconsistent; 2) student experiences and perceptions tend to be constructed as di...

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

LEARNING HOW TO GROW: A CASE STUDY OF SCHOOL RENEWALIN ONE ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLByBrenda F. HessDr. Jerome A. Niles, Co-ChairDr. David J. Parks, Co-ChairEducational Administration(ABSTRACT)School Renewal is a broadly defined process used as an alternative route to schoolimprovement and regional accreditation. However, there is no direct evidence to supportits use. To date, there have been no systematic inquiries to document the regionalaccrediation process of improving an elementary and m...

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. Cold soak (prefermentation skin contact) at two temperatures and alcohol content (%, v/v) at dejuicing were monitored to determine effects on Cabernet Sauvignon glycoside concentration. Total, phenolic-free, and red-free glycoside concentrations were estimated by the quantification of glycosyl-glucose....

Biology

Streams are constantly subject to downstream movement of materials. The role of fallen leaves in resisting downstream transport of particulates is largely unquantified. The litter exclusion study at Coweeta presented the opportunity to study a stream without litter input. I expected removal of leaf litter to reduce the capacity of the stream to retain fine particulate organic matter, FPOM. However, leaves are also a major source of FPOM. I studied the effect of leaf exclusion on FPOM transport b...

Human Development

This study explored informal conversations between parents and me at the Virginia Tech Child Development Lab School during transition times, or arrival and departure of the child. An ethnography was used for this study. I, as the participant observer, recorded the natural interactions and comments between 28 parents and myself during the transition times. I analyzed the data using a coding procedure that uncovered four main themes: (1) Opening Communication, (2) Communication Focused on the Chil...

Materials Science and Engineering

Effects of Long-chain Surfactants, Short-chain Alcohols andHydrolizable Cations on the Hydrophobic and Hydration ForcesVivek Subramanian(ABSTRACT)The DLVO theory states that the interaction between two lyophobic particles in aqueous media can be predicted by the sum of two surface forces, i.e., the electrical double-layer and van der Waals forces. This theory, which was developed 50 years ago, served as a backbone for colloid chemistry. However, various experiments conducted in recent years show...

Architecture

Working as an architect means being able to see the main issues of a design, examining with objectivity the possible solutions and finally grasp the technical means necessary to accomplish the project. I think that it is important for an architect to be involved in the entire course of a project, since the process of building is a simultaneous rather than a sequential one. My architectural education and my work experience as an intern in architecture firms in Germany prepared me well for practic...

Science and Technology Studies

The American system of nuclear weapons research and development was conceived and developed not as a result of technological determinism, but by a number of individual architects who promoted the growth of this large technologically-based complex. While some of the technological artifacts of this system, such as the fission weapons used in World War II, have been the subject of many historical studies, their technical successors -- fusion (or hydrogen) devices -- are representative of the largel...

Architecture

Abstract<p>Within this Book is a glimpse of the world that was brought forth from my thesis work. When beginning to find the place of the thesis work, I assumed that I should be making an architectural construction at the scale of building, the scale in which I then believed architecture existed. Knowing that I wanted to find a way of making where I could physically construct every thing I was to make in a careful architectural manner, I hoped that this consideration would lend its...

Near Environments

South Korea is a country that is poor in natural resources and capital and remains behind many other nations in technological development; however, South Korea s unique development strategy has led its economy to high growth over the last three decades. During 1997, South Korea began to experience a serious financial crisis, including bankruptcies of many of its conglomerates, a drastic depreciation in the international exchange rate of the South Korean currency, and an increasing foreign debt. ...

Chemistry

Semicrystalline thermoplastic polyimides based upon bis(4-aminophenoxy)benzene and related "triphenyl ether" diamines were synthesized via the classical two step amic acid route. More specifically, polyimides were derived from para linked 1,4-bis(4-aminophenoxy)benzene, or TPEQ (triphenyl ether diamine- hydroquinone) and its meta isomer 1,3-bis(4-aminophenoxy)benzene, or TPER (triphenyl ether diamine-resorcinol). The reaction of these diamines with rigid or semi-rigid dianhydrides such...

Architecture

This thesis began with research in the rural areas of Zimbabwe, in southern Africa. I began with a little background knowledge and a great desire to learn. I took my research to the rural areas to try to understand the roots of traditional architecture and the why s of building methods in Zimbabwe. My thesis project grew out of a desire to give something back to the people that had so generously opened up an opportunity for me to learn about their culture and traditions.My cultural center was an...

Chemical Engineering

Mechanical properties of (woven carbon fiber / vinyl ester matrix) composites can be greatly improved if the interphase between the reinforcing high-strength low-weight fiber and the thermoset resin is made more compliant. In order to improve the adhesion of the vinyl ester matrix to the carbon fiber, a thermoplastic coating such as poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) can be used as an intermediate between the matrix and the fiber. The extent of mutual diffusion at the (sizing material / polymer matri...

Chemical Engineering

The primary aim of this text is to gain insight on howcellular activation by a insulin-like growth factor(IGF-I), in the presence of insulin-like growth factorbinding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), is influenced byheparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPG). Initialresearch will be presented, assumptions andhypotheses that were included in the development ofmathematical models will be discussed, and thefuture enhancements of the models will be explored.There are many potential scenarios for how eachcomponent mig...

Computer Science

<p>Accelerating the convergence rate of Krylov subspace methods withparallelizable preconditioners is essential for obtaining effectiveiterative solvers for very large linear systems of equations.Substructuring provides a framework for constructing robust andparallel preconditioners for linear systems arising from thediscretization of boundary value problems. Although collocation is avery general and effective discretization technique for many PDEproblems, there has been relatively...

Computer Science

<p>This dissertation analyzes the usefulness of existing``conventional <b>collaboration-transparency</b> systems, which permit the shared use oflegacy, single-user applications. I find thatconventional collaboration-transparency systems do not use network resources efficiently,and they impose an inflexible, tightly coupled style ofcollaboration because they do not adequately support importantgroupware principles: concurrent work, relaxed WYSIWIS, groupaw...

Industrial and Systems Engineering

Enabled by advanced information technologies, the distributed work environment has become a choice of organizations. When employees and supervisors work in geographically separate locations, management challenges emerge. Performance improvement may become an issue.<p>Performance may be improved by identifying, studying, and improving factors that affect work performance. Two factorsfeedback and goal settingwere chosen for this study because of the strong evidence of the effects of ...

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Significant effort has recently been directed towards thedevelopment of numerically efficient iterative techniques for the solution ofboundary integral equation formulations of time harmonic scattering problems.The primary result of this effort has beenthe development of several advanced numerical techniques which enable the dense matrix-vectorproducts associated with the iterative solution of boundary integral equations tobe rapidly computed.However, an important aspect of this problem which ha...

Mechanical Engineering

Development of a Standardized method for Actuator Characterization usingActive Control of ImpedancebyJean-Marc F. BrasChris R. Fuller, Chairman(ABSTRACT)Presently, there is no standard testing procedure for piezoelectric actuators. It is then very difficult for a very specific given application to design the most efficientactuator in terms of blocked force, displacement, power consumption, weight, cost, etc.Piezoelectric actuator suppliers would like to have the possibility to fully characterize...

Civil Engineering

In this study, two hydrologic models were applied to the mountainous Back Creek catchment, located in the headwaters of the Roanoke River in Southwest Virginia. The two models employed were HEC-1, an event based lumped model, and TOPMODEL, a continuous semi-distributed model. These models were used to investigate (a) the issue of spatial scale in hydrologic modeling, and (b) two approaches to modeling, continuous versus event based. Two HEC-1 models were developed with a different number of suba...

Management

Bureaucracy is being seriously challenged today by other organizational designs because its rigidity is being viewed as a detriment to organizational survival in the hypercompetitive marketplace of global business. Standardization, homogeneity, and hierarchy are not conducive to meeting the changing demands of a turbulent business environment. As a result, new organization forms based on flexibility and adaptibility are gaining prominence in the business literature and in managerial practice. Th...