Museums are service-oriented information systems that provide access to information bearing materials contained in the museum's collections. Within museum environments, the primary vehicle for quality assurance and public accountability is the accreditation process of the American Association of Museums (AAM). Norbert Wiener founded the field of cybernetics, employing concepts of information feedback as a mechanism for system modification and control. W. Edwards Deming applied Wiener's principles to management theory, initiating the wave of change in manufacturing industries from production-driven to quality-driven systems. Today, the principles are embodied in the ISO 9000 International Standards for quality management systems (QMS), a globally-recognized set of standards, widely employed as a vehicle of quality management in manufacturing and service industries. The International Organization for Standardization defined a process for QMS registration against ISO 9001 that is similar in purpose to accreditation. This study's goals were to determine the degree of correspondence between elements of ISO 9001 and quality-related activities within museum environments, and to ascertain the relevance of ISO 9001-2000 as a technique of museum evaluation, parallel to accreditation. A content analysis compared museum activities to requirements specified in the ISO 9001-2000 International Standard. The study examined museum environment surrogates which consisted of (a) …

Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) is the internationally recognized measure of a person's cardiorespiratory fitness. Currently the most accurate way of assessing one's true VO2max involves the use of maximal exercise tests, which require the use of specialized equipment, and are time consuming and costly. The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of the submaximal Siconolfi step test to estimate VO2max. A second purpose was to determine if body fat percentage improved the validity. Thirty-six individuals underwent a maximal treadmill test, in which VO2max was directly measured, and the step test. Results indicate that, although VO2max estimates generated by the Siconolfi step test are highly correlated to true VO2max (r =.887; p<.01), the values consistently underestimated a person's aerobic fitness. It was also determined that body fat percentage did not contribute to the prediction of VO2max.

Numerous troponin T (TnT) isoforms are generated by alternative RNA splicing primarily in its NH2-terminal hypervariable region, but the functions of these isoforms are not completely understood. In this dissertation work, calcium and terbium binding behavior of several forms of TnT were investigated by spectroscopic and radioactive techniques. Chicken breast muscle TnT binds calcium and terbium through its NH2-terminal Tx motif (HEEAH)n with high affinity (10-6 mM) and fast on-rate (106 - 107 M-1 s-1). Chicken leg muscle TnT and a human cardiac TnT NH2-terminal fragment, which both lack the Tx motif on their NH2-terminal regions, do not have affinities for calcium in the physiological range. Computational predictions on TnT N47 suggest that the TnT NH2-terminal region might fold into an elongated structure with at least one high affinity metal ion binding pocket comprised primarily of the Tx motif sequence and several lower affinity binding sites. In addition, calcium binding to TnT N47 might alter its conformation and flexibility. Luminescence resonance energy transfer measurements and other experimental observations are consistent with the computational predictions suggesting the computational simulated atomic model is reasonable. TnT mutations are responsible for 15% of familiar hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (FHC) cases with a phenotype of relatively mild …

Meta-parenting, defined as parents thinking about their parenting, has been identified and is a new field of research. The purposes of this study were to add to the existing knowledge of meta-parenting and to compare the influences of gender, work status, and parenting experience on meta-parenting occurring in parents of infants and toddlers. Sixty parents participated either electronically or by completing a written survey and reported engaging from "sometimes" to "usually" in four domains of meta-parenting: anticipating, assessing, reflecting, and problem-solving. Gender, work status, and parenting experience did not significantly influence participants' meta-parenting scores. Parents were found to have a higher sense of satisfaction and overall sense of competence when they engaged in higher levels of meta-parenting.

One of the most neglected areas of criminological and social science research is the police communications or dispatch center. While research projects dealing with stress and job satisfaction are found in abundance for other occupations, studies specific to the police dispatcher are uncommon. The role of the dispatcher has changed significantly in the last few decades. Improvements in technology and changes in public expectations of emergency services have forever altered the communications professional. Dispatchers work in an environment reliant on information. There is tremendous pressure to process the information coming into a communications center quickly and correctly. A mistake could prove fatal. Work pressures, burnout, high employee turnover, low pay, and a lack of respect from police coworkers can easily result in negative emotional and psychological consequences for the dispatcher. An effective manager could reduce the feelings of stress and low job satisfaction this environment can facilitate. The current study utilizes survey data from a sample of police dispatchers and their managers in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area. The purpose of the survey is to identify the level of stress and job satisfaction reported by the dispatchers and their managers. The effects of differing types of stress will be investigated. …

In response to compatible rhizobia, leguminous plants develop unique plant organs, root nodules, in which rhizobia fix nitrogen into ammonia. During nodule invasion, the rhizobia gain access to newly divided cells, the nodule primordia, in the root inner cortex through plant-derived cellulose tubes called infection threads. Infection threads begin in curled root hairs and bring rhizobia into the root crossing several cell layers in the process. Ultimately the rhizobia are deposited within nodule primordium cells through a process resembling endocytosis. Plant host mechanisms underlying the formation and regulation of the invasion process are not understood. To identify and clone plant genes required for nodule invasion, recent efforts have focused on Medicago truncatula. In a collaborative effort the nodulation defect in the lin (lumpy infections) mutant was characterized. From an EMS-mutagenized population of M. truncatula, two non-allelic mutants nip (numerous infections with polyphenolics) and sli (sluggish infections) were identified with defects in nodule invasion. Infection threads were found to proliferate abnormally in the nip mutant nodules with only very rare deposition of rhizobia within plant host cells. nip nodules were found to accumulate polyphenolic compounds, indicative of a host defense response. Interestingly, nip was also found to have defective lateral root …

A well-prepared and qualified special education teacher is crucial to the performance of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The prominent educators and federal government encourage the use of extended field experiences in preparing qualified special education teachers. The study examined the strengths and weaknesses of extended field experience in terms of the perceptions of the prospective teachers and teachers of students with EBD. Both individual interviews and a focus group were used to collect data. The results revealed that extended field experience benefits prospective teachers in showing the reality of the teachers' world, self-motivation assessment, and professional development. However, there were some improvements that could be made, including more placement selections and more practical knowledge.

This thesis describes a study of the production of high transverse momentum direct photons and {pi}{sup 0} mesons by proton beams at 530 and 800 GeV/c and {pi}{sup -} beams at 515 GeV/c incident on beryllium, copper, and liquid hydrogen targets. The data were collected by Fermilab experiment E706 during the 1990 and 1991-92 fixed target runs. The apparatus included a large, finely segmented lead and liquid argon electromagnetic calorimeter and a charged particle spectrometer featuring silicon strip detectors in the target region and proportional wire chambers and drift tubes downstream of a large aperture analysis magnet. The inclusive cross sections are presented as functions of transverse momentum and rapidity. The measurements are compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and to results from previous experiments.

Using data from the fixed target charm-photoproduction experiment, Fermilab FOCUS/E831, they studied the asymmetric production of the mesons: D{sup 0}, D{sup +} y D{sub s}{sup +}. Even when the asymmetry in the production of charm particles, defined as the ratio between particles and antiparticles, at next leading order in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is almost zero, in data we observe asymmetries probably associate dto the fragmentation processes. Since these are the less understood phenomena in QCD, the results in the present work could be of great importance to understand them. We found asymmetries in the production of the mesons D{sup +} and D{sup 0} (statistic significant), for the D{sub s}{sup +} we only observed an asymmetry not conclusive. We also report a study of the production asymmetries vs. the kinematic variables: p{sub T}{sup 2} (square transversal momentum of the particles), p{sub L} or p{sub Z} (longitudinal momentum), x{sub F} (Feynman x) and E{sub {gamma}} (photon beam energy).

The MiniBooNE neutrino beam and detector at Fermilab are used to study the production of neutral current {pi}{sup 0} events. The cross sections for neutrino interactions with mineral oil (CH{sub 2}) are reported for resonantly produced and coherently produced single {pi}{sup 0} events. We measure a resonant single {pi}{sup 0} cross section of {sigma}({nu}{sub {mu}} N {pi}{sup 0}) = (0.0129 {+-} 0.0011(stat.) {+-} 0.0043(syst.)) x 10{sup -36} cm{sup 2}/CH{sub 2} at a mean neutrino energy of 1.26 GeV. We measure a coherent single {pi}{sup 0} cross section of {sigma}({nu}{sub {mu}} A {yields} {nu}{sub {mu}} A {pi}{sup 0}) = (0.00077 {+-} 0.00016 (stat.) {+-} 0.00036 (syst.)) x 10{sup -36} cm{sup 2}/CH{sub 2} at mean neutrino energy 1.12 GeV.

This dissertation describes the measurement of the top quark mass using events recorded during a {approx} 230 pb{sup -1} exposure of the D0 detector to proton-anti-proton (p{bar p}) collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV. The Standard Model of particle physics predicts that the top quark will decay into a bottom quark and a W boson close to 100% of the time. The bottom quark will hadronize (bind with another quark) and produce a jet of hadronic particles. The W bosons can decay either into a charged lepton and a neutrino or a pair of quarks. this dissertation focuses on the top quark (t{bar t}) events in which one W decays hadronically and the other decays leptonically. Two methods of identifying t{bar t} events from the large number of events produced are used. The first is based on the unique topology of the final state particles of a heavy particle. By using the topological information of the event, the t{bar t} events can be efficiently extracted from the background. The second method relies on the identification of the remnants of the long lived bottom quarks that are expected to be produced in the decay of almost every …

Scientific computation is used for the simulation of increasingly complex phenomena, and generates data sets of ever increasing size, often on the order of terabytes. All of this data creates difficulties. Several problems that have been identified are (1) the inability to effectively handle the massive amounts of data created, (2) the inability to get the data off the computer and into storage fast enough, and (3) the inability of a remote user to easily obtain a rendered image of the data resulting from a simulation run. This dissertation presents several techniques that were developed to address these issues. The first is a prototype bin coder based on variable-to-variable length codes. The codes utilized are created through a process of parse tree leaf merging, rather than the common practice of leaf extension. This coder is very fast and its compression efficiency is comparable to other state-of-the-art coders. The second contribution is the Piecewise-Linear Haar (PLHaar) transform, a reversible n-bit to n-bit wavelet-like transform. PLHaar is simple to implement, ideal for environments where transform coefficients must be kept the same size as the original data, and is the only n-bit to n-bit transform suitable for both lossy and lossless coding.

The author reports the first model independent measurement of charged particle multiplicities in quark and gluon jets, N{sub q} and N{sub g}, produced at the Tevatron in p{bar p} collisions with center-of-mass energy 1.8 TeV and recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab. The measurements are made for jets with average energies 41 and 53 GeV by counting charged particle tracks in cones with opening angle of {theta}{sub c} = 0.28, 0.36, and 0.47 rad around the jet axis. The corresponding jet hardness Q = E{sub jet}{theta}{sub c} varies in the range from 12 GeV to 25 GeV. At Q = 19.2 GeV, the ratio of multiplicities r = N{sub g}/N{sub q} is found to be 1.64 {+-} 0.17, where statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature. The results are in agreement with re-summed perturbative QCD calculations and are consistent with recent e{sup +}e{sup -} measurements.

This work presents several observables for the reactions γ<italic> p</italic> → <italic>K</italic><super>+</super>Λ and γ<italic> p</italic> → <italic>K</italic><super>+</super>Σ°. In addition to measuring differential cross sections, we have made first measurements of the double polarization observables <italic>C_x</italic> and <italic> C_z</italic>. <italic>C_x</italic> and <italic>C_z</italic> characterize the transfer of polarization from the incident photon to the produced hyperons. Data were obtained at Jefferson Lab using a circularly polarized photon beam at endpoint energies of 2.4, 2.9, and 3.1 GeV. Events were detected with the CLAS spectrometer. In the Λ channel, the cross sections support the recent observation of new resonant structure at <italic>W</italic> = 1900 MeV. Studies of the invariant cross section, <math> <f> <fr><nu>d<g>s</g></nu><de>dd</de></fr></f> </math> show scaling behavior suggesting that the production mechanism becomes <italic> t</italic>-channel dominated near threshold at forward kaon angles. The double polarization observables show that the recoiling Λ is almost maximally polarized along the direction of the incident photon from mid to forward kaon angles. While Σ<super>o</super> differential cross sections are of the same magnitude as the Λ differential cross sections, there is evidence of different physics dominating the production mechanism. The Σ° invariant cross sections do not show the same <italic>t</italic>-scaling behavior present in the Λ results. …

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CP violation and K{sup 0} charge radius were measured using K{sub L} {yields} {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}e{sup +}e{sup -} decays. Specifically, a unique CP-violating decay-plane asymmetry was measured along with the parameters of individual contributions to the decay invariant amplitude: (1) CP-conserving magnetic dipole direct emission form factor, (2) CP-conserving K{sup 0} charge radius transition amplitude and (3) an upper limit for the CP-violating electric dipole direct emission amplitude. The measurements were obtained from the data sample accumulated by KTeV experiment at Fermilab. KTeV had two major goals: the measurement of direct CP violation parameter Re({var_epsilon}{prime}/{var_epsilon}) and the study of rare kaon decays. The state of the art detector was constructed, commissioned, operated and maintained by an international collaboration of scientists from fourteen institutions. The K{sub L} {yields} {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -} e{sup +}e{sup -} data was accumulated over the 1997 and 1999 running periods. During that time hundreds of billions K{sub L} decays took place in the KTeV fiducial decay region.

Selective catalysis is a field that has been under intense investigation for the last 100 years. The most widely used method involves catalysts with stereochemical selectivity. In this type of catalysis, the catalyst controls which reactants will be transformed into the desired product. The secret to employing this type of catalysis, though, is to design the proper catalyst, which can be difficult. One may spend as much time developing the catalyst as spent separating the various products achieved. Another method of selective catalysis is now being explored. The method involves utilizing a multifunctional mesoporous silica catalyst with a gate-keeping capability. Properly functionalized mesoporous materials with well-defined pore morphology and surface properties can provide an ideal three-dimensional environment for anchoring various homogeneous catalysts. These materials can circumvent the multi-sited two-dimensional nature most heterogeneous systems have without adversely impacting the reactant diffusivity. These single-site nanostructured catalysts with ordered geometrical structure are advantageous in achieving high selectivity and reactivity. Mesoporous materials can be prepared to include pores lined homogeneously with tethered catalysts via co-condensation. Additionally, these materials can be reacted with another (RO){sub 3}Si{approx}Z group by using the traditional grafting method; this group is anchored predominantly at the entrances to the pores rather …

In the field of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) accurate representations of fluid phenomena can be simulated but require large amounts of data to represent the flow domain. Most datasets generated from a CFD simulation can be coarse, {approx} 10,000 nodes or cells, or very fine with node counts on the order of 1,000,000. A typical dataset solution can also contain multiple solutions for each node, pertaining to various properties of the flow at a particular node. Scalar properties such as density, temperature, pressure, and velocity magnitude are properties that are typically calculated and stored in a dataset solution. Solutions are not limited to just scalar properties. Vector quantities, such as velocity, are also often calculated and stored for a CFD simulation. Accessing all of this data efficiently during runtime is a key problem for visualization in an interactive application. Understanding simulation solutions requires a post-processing tool to convert the data into something more meaningful. Ideally, the application would present an interactive visual representation of the numerical data for any dataset that was simulated while maintaining the accuracy of the calculated solution. Most CFD applications currently sacrifice interactivity for accuracy, yielding highly detailed flow descriptions but limiting interaction for investigating the …

Charles I, King of Spain, or Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was the most powerful ruler in Europe since Charlemagne. With a Germanic background, and speaking French, Charles became King of Spain in 1516. Yet secondary sources and available sixteenth century Spanish sources such as Spanish Royal Council records, local records of Castro Urdiales in Castile, and Charles's correspondence show that he continued the policies of his predecessors in Spain, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. He strove to strengthen his power and unify Spain and his empire using Castilian strength, a Castilian model of government, Roman law, religion, his strong personality, and a loyal and talented bureaucracy. Charles desired to be another Charlemagne, but with his base of power in Spain.

A computational chemistry analysis combined with a crystallographic database study of the bonding in late transition metal N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complexes is reported. The results illustrate a metal-carbon bond for these complexes, approximately 4% shorter than that of a M-C single bond found in metal alkyl complexes. As a consequence of this result, two hypotheses are investigated. The first hypothesis explores the possibility of multiple-bond character in the metal-carbon linkage of the NHC complex, and the second, considers the change in the hybridization of the carbenoid carbon to incorporate more p character. The latter hypothesis is supported by the results. Analysis of these complexes using the natural bond orbital method evinces NHC ligands possessing trans influence.

This study was concerned with reducing children's anticipatory anxiety when entering mental health services for the first time. The purpose of this study was to determine whether combining two effective modalities, play therapy and animal-assisted therapy, would be effective in decreasing children's biobehavioral measurements of anxiety. Specifically, this study examined the effects of the presence of a trained therapy dog during one individual 30-minute play therapy session. The experimental group consisted of 26 children who received one individual 30-minute play therapy session with the presence of a trained therapy dog. The comparison group consisted of 25 children who received one individual 30-minute play therapy session without the presence of a trained therapy dog. The SenseWear® PRO 2 armband monitor measured children's biobehavioral measurements such as galvanic skin response, temperature, and activity level (BodyMedia, Inc., Pittsburgh , PA , www.bodymedia.com). The Tanita 6102 Cardio® digital heart rate monitor measured children's pre-treatment and post-treatment heart rates (Tanita Corporation of America, Inc., Arlington Heights , IL , www.tanita.com). Five hypotheses were tested using repeated measures ANOVA with mixed factors and eta squared. All five hypotheses in this study were retained based on statistical significance at the .05 level. The combination of child-centered play …

This thesis explores the evolution plural verbal -s ("People thinks he is guilty") and zero 3rd singular ("He think he is guilty") in data from two sources on Southern English: The Linguistic Atlas of the Gulf States (LAGS) and The Linguistic Atlas of the Middle and South Atlantic States (LAMSAS). The research questions that underlie this study consider (1) the demographic association of plural verbal -s and zero 3rd singular, (2) the maintenance of each form, (3) the constraints on their use, and (4) the origins of -s variability. The atlas data suggest the following for plural verbal -s: (1) it has a British source, (2) it was present in both African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and early Southern White English (SWE), and (3) there were different grammatical constraints on its use in AAVE and SWE. Data for zero 3rd singular -s suggest this form (1) did not have a British source and (2) that it has historically been an AAVE feature.

The purpose of this study was to determine employees' attitudes and perceptions toward the effectiveness of workplace violence prevention training within a U.S. Government service agency with 50 offices located in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Chapter 1 presents an overview of the phenomenon of workplace violence, the movement toward prevention programs and policies and the implementation of prescreening processes during hiring and violence prevention training. Chapter 2 contains a thorough review of pertinent literature related to violence prevention training and the impact of occupational violence on organizations. This topic was worthy of research in an effort to make a significant contribution to training literature involving organizational effectiveness due to the limited amount of research literature covering the area of corporate violence prevention training and its effect on modifying attitudes and behaviors of its customers. The primary methodology involved the assessment of 1000 employees concerning their attitudes and perceptions toward the effectiveness of workplace violence prevention training. The research population were administered a 62 item online assessment with responses being measured, assessed, and compared. Significant differences were found calling for the rejection of the three study hypotheses. Chapter 4 described the findings of the population surveyed and recommendations were identified in Chapter …