Suppose L is a complete separable metric topological group (ring, field, etc.). L is topologically unique if the Polish topology on L is uniquely determined by its underlying algebraic structure. More specifically, L is topologically unique if an algebraic isomorphism of L with any other complete separable metric topological group (ring, field, etc.) induces a topological isomorphism. A local field is a locally compact topological field with non-discrete topology. The only local fields (up to isomorphism) are the real, complex, and p-adic numbers, finite extensions of the p-adic numbers, and fields of formal power series over finite fields. We establish the topological uniqueness of the special linear Lie algebras over local fields other than the complex numbers (for which this result is not true) in the context of complete separable metric Lie rings. Along the way the topological uniqueness of all local fields other than the field of complex numbers is established, which is derived as a corollary to more general principles which can be applied to a larger class of topological fields. Lastly, also in the context of complete separable metric Lie rings, the topological uniqueness of the special linear Lie algebra over the real division algebra of quaternions, …

Aerogels are highly porous, low dielectric constant (low k) materials being considered by the semiconductor industry as an interlayer dielectric. Low k materials are needed to overcome capacitance problems that limit device feature sizes. Precursors triethoxyfluorosilane (TEFS) and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) were used to prepare bulk aerogels. Samples were prepared by sol-gel methods, and then carbon dioxide supercritically-dried. Effects of varying the water to precursor ratio were studied with respect to aerogel properties and microstructure. Methods of analysis for this study include FTIR-ATR, TEM, RBS, EDS, SEM, dielectric constant determination by impedance and surface area by gas adsorption. Si-F bonds were determined to be present in both acid- and base-catalyzed TEFS as well as HF-catalyzed TEOS. Fluorine promotes a fractal network microstructure as opposed to a particle-like microstructure. Surface area and dielectric constant were determined to increase slightly with increases in the water to precursor ratio.

The purpose of this dissertation was twofold. First, the study sought to determine if the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) Reading score predicts success on the Examination for the Certification of Educators in Texas (ExCET). Second, the study addressed the effect on individuals of color of raising the minimum TASP Reading score entrance requirement for admission to teacher preparation programs. Data were collected from the ExCET Office of a Carnegie I metropolitan university. The defined sample consisted of 961 participants who had a TASP Reading score and had taken an Elementary Comprehensive ExCET, an Elementary Professional Development ExCET or a Secondary Professional ExCET between September 1999 and January 2001. Linear Regression, Box Test, Predictive Discriminate Analysis, and frequency distribution tables were used for analyses. This investigation examined the effects of the independent variable of TASP Reading score on the performance of participants on the dependent variable, the ExCET. Four null hypotheses were tested at the .05 level of significance. The TASP Reading score was a statistically significant predictor for success on the Elementary Comprehensive ExCET, Elementary Professional Development ExCET, and the Secondary Professional Development ExCET. However, the Predictive Discriminate Analysis indicated that a TASP Reading score of 220 predicted that …

With the proliferation of Schenkerian theory in the US, Great Britain, and mainland Europe in the past quarter century, the pedagogy of Schenkerian analysis has become an important issue. Schenker himself was suspicious of textbooks with their tendency for artificial codification and over-simplification; rather, he recognized that his “New Teaching” (“Die neue Lehre”) – as he called it – required a different, more “organic” pedagogical approach that was both personal and yet accessible to a wide audience. New digital technologies and the Internet now have made it possible to disseminate Schenker’s pedagogical approach by adapting interactive techniques of Web-based instruction. Schenker’s “new teaching” was as organic as his theory itself – and as novel in the connections it sought to draw between the individualed disciplines of theory, musicology, composition, and performance. The interactive and multi-media components of Web-based instruction enable us to realize Schenker’s own pedagogical approach to Schenkerian analysis instruction.

Using data from the Household Component of the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the study compares (1) the accessibility, and (2) the predictors of health care services utilization among African American and non-Hispanic White males, 18 to 65 years old in the United States. Using ANOVA procedure in comparing the means for use of physicians, hospitals, doctors, and difficulty obtaining care, seven hypotheses were tested in the study. First, it was hypothesized that African American men of working age will have less access to health care services (physicians, hospitals, and dentists), and be more likely to report having experienced delay or difficulty obtaining care, compared to non-Hispanic white males of working age. Second, it was hypothesized that, controlling for health status, African American men of working age will have less access to health care services (physicians, hospitals, and dentists), and will also be more likely to experience delay or difficulty obtaining care, than non-Hispanic white males. This was followed by the third hypothesis which compared utilization of physicians, hospitals, dentists, and difficulty obtaining care among African American and non-Hispanic white males, controlling for health status and insurance coverage (any insurance, private insurance, any public insurance, and Medicaid). Hypotheses four through …

The principal investigator (PI) for this study analyzed mean scores on the National Counselor Examination (NCE) of students from CACREP accredited and non- CACREP accredited programs. Data was provided by the National Board of Certified Counselors, Inc., for a total of ten examination administrations across six years. The fourteen variables examined in the study consisted of the eight common-core knowledge domains identified in CACREP standards, the five counselor work behavior areas identified by NBCC via periodic job analysis of counseling practice, and one overall or total score on the NCE. NCE mean scores of students from CACREP accredited programs were higher than NCE mean scores of students from non-CACREP accredited programs on all variables across all ten NCE administrations. Data seem to indicate that students from CACREP accredited programs perform significantly better on the NCE than students from non-CACREP accredited programs, in all fourteen variables. Sample size was large, totaling 9707, so the PI calculated effect sizes using Cohen's d for each variable to aid interpretation of statistical significance. Five variables had large effect sizes of .70 or higher. The higher effect size statistics were associated with the counselor work behavior areas, with the highest effect size (.85) associated with …

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) regulates fill of jurisdictional waters of the United States including wetlands. Recent USACE regulations set a threshold of impacts to wetlands at one-half acre. Impact area can be determined by Global Positioning System (GPS) measurement of wetland boundary and Geographic Information System (GIS) calculation of impact area. GPS point selection methods include (1) equal time interval, (2) transect and (3) intuition. Four two-acre shapes were measured with each GPS method and brought into GIS for area calculation. Analysis of variance and Root Mean Square Error analyses determine that the transect method is an inferior point selection method in terms of accuracy and efficiency.

This thesis examines the issue of Texas annexation from the viewpoints of two southern cities: Richmond, Virginia, and New Orleans, Louisiana. It looks primarily at four major newspapers, two in each city: the Richmond Enquirer and the Richmond Whig; and the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the New Orleans Whig. These four newspapers were examined thoroughly from January 1844 to July 1845. In addition to the above newspapers, the Congressional Globe and national voting patterns on Texas annexation were examined. Analysis of the editorial articles in the above newspapers offers the best possibility of understanding public sentiment toward Texas annexation and the presidential election of 1844. The evidence examined in this study indicates that Texas annexation became a decisive issue in the presidential election of 1844. It also shows that, although the press and elements within both Democratic and Whig parties were aware that the slavery question was intricately linked to the Texas annexation issue, slavery and sectional politics were not the primary factors influencing annexation. Ultimately, fundamental concerns regarding western expansion in general, especially for the Whigs, and political party loyalty proved the decisive factors in the presidential election of 1844 and Texas annexation. The evidence gathered in this study …

Several studies have demonstrated that fixed-time (FT) schedules of stimulus delivery can function to reduce a variety of behaviors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the immediate and subsequent effects of FT food deliveries on mouthing. In Phase 1, a preference assessment showed that caramel popcorn, chocolate cookies and pretzels were highly preferred food items. Thus, providing the basis for use of food items during treatment. In Phase 2, a functional analysis showed that mouthing was a nonsocially maintained problem behavior. Phase 3 demonstrated the use of FT schedules of food deliveries as treatment for nonsocially maintained mouthing. Results indicated that FT schedules of food significantly reduced mouthing. In addition, levels of mouthing observed during post-FT observations were reliably lower than pre-FT observations. Treatment effects, operative mechanisms responsible for the treatment effects and the experimental arrangement used to investigate varying FT schedules are discussed.

The first part of this paper describes the Meissner effect in superconductors which serves as the most definitive evidence for superconductivity. It is shown that the microwave perturbation technique may be used to demonstrate this effect. By measuring the changes of resonant frequency and inverse quality factor Q of a microwave cavity with a small volume of sample loading, the Meissner effect can be shown by using the Slater perturbation equation. The experimental system is described with details and the basic principle of each component discussed. The second part of this work describes the technique employed to do the actual measurements. The experiments were conducted on samples of Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) and lead zirconate titanate (PZT) to look for the possible high temperature superconductivity properties. Results of these experiments are presented and discussed. Conclusion and suggestions to future exploration are made.

Many activities are comprised of temporally dependent events that must be executed in a specific chronological order. Supportive software applications must preserve these temporal dependencies. Whenever the processing of this type of an application includes transactions submitted to a database that is shared with other such applications, the transaction concurrency control mechanisms within the database must also preserve the temporal dependencies. A basis for preserving temporal dependencies is established by using (within the applications and databases) real-time timestamps to identify and order events and transactions. The use of optimistic approaches to transaction concurrency control can be undesirable in such situations, as they allow incorrect results for database read operations. Although the incorrectness is detected prior to transaction committal and the corresponding transaction(s) restarted, the impact on the application or entity that submitted the transaction can be too costly. Three transaction concurrency control algorithms are proposed in this dissertation. These algorithms are based on timestamp ordering, and are designed to preserve temporal dependencies existing among data-dependent transactions. The algorithms produce execution schedules that are equivalent to temporally ordered serial schedules, where the temporal order is established by the transactions' start times. The algorithms provide this equivalence while supporting currency to the …

Joseph Paul Vejvanovsky,(composer ca. 1640-1693) - Play ... Sonata XXIX for Trumpets, Trombone, 2 Violins, Viola, and Bass Continuo ...

Pavel Joseph Vejvanovsky,(composer ca. 1640-1693) - Play ... Sonata à 4 in g Minor for Trumpet, Strings, and Bass Continuo ...

Pavel Joseph Vejvanovsky,(composer ca. 1640-1693) - Play ... Sonata Tribus for Trumpet, Trombone, Violin, and Bass Continuo ...

The specific purpose of this study was to try and understand why unique experiences of living with an alcoholic parent could create developmental deficits which emotionally challenge COAs' when faced with the life lessons a college environment offers. This study offered four possible explanations for experiencing challenges in its theoretical background: (1) psychosocial development, (2) the epistemology of alcoholism and its effects on the family, (3) personality development and the concurrence of building resilience, and (4) the college environment itself, with the phenomenon of binge drinking--forcing COAs to confront family alcoholism. A total of 7 participated in this study--4 men and 3 women. Despite the dynamic differences in the answers overall, all 7 participants acknowledged one important concept. When the participants were asked about their own drinking habits, each participant said, though in different ways, they had to be careful with their drinking habits. Participants seemed to be aware that whether alcoholism is genetic or a learned addiction, they were at risk of becoming alcoholics themselves. This study found overall, as previous literature suggests, no matter how COAs are studied, they are found to be a heterogeneous population. Specifically, this study's results points out that they are indeed heterogeneous, yet …

This study examines the relationship between service learning innovations and improved academics, self-concept, and social or personal growth in middle and high school students. Meta-Analysis is employed to arrive at effect-size estimates for each construct. A historical overview of service learning is presented and a detailed description of the study selection process is provided. The data revealed a moderate relationship between service learning participation and academics, self-concept and social or personal growth in middle and high school students. The findings are presented, and some appropriate conclusions are drawn. A discussion of the implications of these findings and recommendations for future research are also provided.

Are computer-administered versions of a multiple choice paper-pencil test equivalent? This study determined whether there were any significant differences between taking a traditional pencil-paper test and taking the same test using a computer. The literature has shown that there are intervening variables that have caused differences when not controlled. To prove equivalency between test modes, scores have to have similar means, dispersions, and shapes; the ranked-order of the scores must also be similar. Four tests were given over the course of a 16-week semester. The sample was divided, half taking paper-pencil tests and half taking the same test administered by a computer. The mode of administration was switched with each test administration. The analysis showed that, when the intervening variables were controlled, the two modes of administration were equivalent. The analysis used a 2x4 ANOVA, which showed no difference between test modes, but showed that each test administration was significantly different. The Levene statistic was used to test whether dispersions were equivalent and confidence intervals were established to test the kurtosis and skewness statistics. Finally, each of the test scores were transformed into their Normal Curve Equivalents so that Pearson's coefficient could be used to determine the equivalency of the …

The transcription is an addition to the repertoire for brass ensemble and bass trombone. Consideration is given to the nineteenth-century orchestration treatises of Berlioz and Strauss as well as the twentieth-century texts of Erik Leidzén, Walter Piston, and Samuel Adler. The transcription process is shaped by the principles of these writers. The score is contained in the appendix.

Change in government has characterized the development of most nations. Sometimes this change has been marked by continued evolution, in a peaceful attempt to move forward. Other times, change has been fraught with violent revolution and terrorism. This process has been the subject of much debate by political scientists and economic philosophers. Today, Turkey suffers from continued threats to its government through violent acts of terrorism conducted by various groups, expressing ideologies of leftist and rightist organizations, as well as ethnic and religious extremists. This thesis examines DHKP/C as the primary leftist revolutionary group effecting Turkey, exploring its historical background in Europe and the Middle East, as well as its philosophical link to Marxism. Further, this treatise discusses the implication of revolution and terrorism expressed by DHKP/C; and explores innovative and peaceful solutions, strategies, and techniques to be used by the police forces of Turkey in combating this group

Implementing a Prolog Runtime System in a language like Java which provides its own automatic memory management and safety features such as built--in index checking and array initialization requires a consistent approach to memory management based on a simple ultimate goal: minimizing total memory management time and extra space involved. The total memory management time for Jinni is made up of garbage collection time both for Java and Jinni itself. Extra space is usually requested at Jinni's garbage collection. This goal motivates us to find a simple and practical garbage collection algorithm and implementation for our Prolog engine. In this thesis we survey various algorithms already proposed and offer our own contribution to the study of garbage collection by improvements and optimizations for some classic algorithms. We implemented these algorithms based on the dynamic array algorithm for an all--dynamic Prolog engine (JINNI 2000). The comparisons of our implementations versus the originally proposed algorithm allow us to draw informative conclusions on their theoretical complexity model and their empirical effectiveness.