Electronic Theses and Dissertations

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This collection holds electronic theses and dissertations of masters and doctoral students submitted to the Graduate School.

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A Diplomatic History of the Acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone
(1925) Handley, Frank McDonald
The Control of Renin Release From Isolated Renal Cortical Cells and the Presence of Renin in Subcellular Fractions In Vitro.
(1975-12) Dew, Margaret Eleanor
Obedience scanted : women and authority in Renaissance drama
(1987) Allen, Rosemary Alice
Wyclif's Doctrine of Scripture Within The Context of His Doctrinal and Social Ideas
(1991-05) Oey, Thomas Geoffrey
Intelligent Agents for On-line Learning
(1999-04-07) Thaiupathump, Choonhapong; Prof. John R. Bourne; Prof. Arthur J. Brodersen; Prof. Richard G. Shiavi; Prof. Donald Z. Spicer; Prof. Gautam Biswas
This work offers a new paradigm for building intelligent software systems that facilitate on-line learning. The research investigated effects of adopting intelligent agent techniques to an on-line learning environment. KnowBots (or Knowledge Robots) are intelligent agents created specifically for this research. These KnowBots employed intelligent agent techniques to provide assistance to learners and facilitators who participated in a series of on-line workshops. The KnowBot architecture created was based on a study of repetitive tasks of human workshop facilitators. KnowBots automated and reduced the number of these routine tasks. The study specifically captured experimental results of using KnowBots in two sessions of the ALN on-line workshop, Getting Started Creating On-line Courses. Using two experimental groups, the effect of the use of KnowBots on workshop completion was examined as well as the effects of KnowBots on other factors such as facilitation time and learner satisfaction. The findings showed that intelligent agent technology holds promise for application to on-line learning and indicated that the use of KnowBots was positively associated with higher learner completion rates in the workshops. In addition, KnowBots implemented a learning-support tool that reminded learners about deadlines. The support KnowBots were found to be effective autonomous motivators. In sum, the results of this research suggest that the application of agent technology to on-line learning holds great promise.
A Peculiar Synergy: Matriarchy and the Church of God in Christ
(2001-05) Butler, Anthea D.; Lewis V. Baldwin; Eugene TeSelle; Darren E. Sherkat; Victor Anderson; Sheila Smith McKoy
The dissertation is a history covering the years from 1912-1963 of the Women's Department of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). COGIC, the largest African American Pentecostal denomination, founded in 1897, has a Women's Department established by denominational head C.H. Mason that centers around the Church Mother. The Church Mother in the African American religious tradition is an older woman of the congregation, with exemplary spiritual and organizational skills, who acts, as sociologist Cheryl Townsend Gilkes terms " as a counterfoil to the Pastor". The office of Church Mother, an unordained leadership role, has extraordinary temporal and spiritual power within the congregation. Within COGIC, the role of Church Mother has been institutionalized, and has been used as an organizational tool to build the denomination, transmit doctrine, and shape behavioral and belief patterns by using a fictive family structure to achieve cohesion throughout the denomination. The Church Mother in COGIC operates parallel to, and in tandem with the exclusively male episcopate. The goal of this work will be to substantiate that although the ordained leadership roles were exclusively male, COGIC Church mothers were and are the teachers, enforcers, modelers and re-definers of Holiness-Pentecostal beliefs in COGIC, through their organization and participation in what is termed the "sanctified life". The dissertation chronicles the lives of three integral Church Mothers in the COGIC Women's Department, and their roles in shaping the policies and the theology of the denomination and the female members.
Global Economics, Domestic Politics, and Reforms of Social Insurance Programs in Advanced Capitalist Countries
(2002-04-29) Ammon, Stephen Craig; Donna L. Bahry; M. Donald Hancock; Kurt G. Weyland; Bruce I. Oppenheimer; Robert A. Margo
The effects of global market integration on the economies of advanced capitalist countries have revived a debate in the comparative literature over the relationship between income redistribution and economic growth. Despite the attention that the issue has received, disagreement persists within the literature. Those countries that integrate their economies should achieve greater efficiency in production and stronger economic growth than they would otherwise. The ‘compensation’ thesis claims that, as domestic labor markets adjust to market openness, dislocated workers will secure generous welfare benefits in exchange for their support of continued market integration. Conversely, the ‘efficiency’ thesis claims that competition in open markets will force policymakers to cut welfare benefits in order to reduce the tax burden on owners of capital. Thus far, evidence to support either thesis has been contradictory. This dissertation puts forth a third thesis. Lack of competitiveness in open markets – which leads to trade and investment deficits – should result in high unemployment rates and slow economic growth. Policymakers should increase benefits for dislocated workers to a point. However, as financial pressures on social insurance programs grow, policymakers should adopt reforms that reduce aggregate expenditures and forestall increases in employer payroll taxes that exacerbate waning competitiveness. Therefore, the relationship between these economic trends and the generosity of social insurance programs should be curvilinear. However, adopting such reforms should prove difficult for policymakers unless political institutions provide the right incentives to sacrifice short-term benefits for long-term gains. Political institutions that allow for ‘blame avoidance’ and encourage cooperative policymaking will increase the likelihood of adopting reforms. Further, government partisanship should influence the character of reforms, ensuring that policy outcomes preserve traditional party values. Using an index of adjusted replacement rates that incorporates benefits and eligibility criteria for social insurance programs in fourteen advanced capitalist countries through 1995, this dissertation produces evidence in support of these arguments.
Sown for peace? International organizations and interstate conflict
(2002-04-29) Leskiw, Christopher Scott; John Vasquez; William Smith; Brad Palmquist; Katherine Barbieri; James Lee Ray
A factor that has long been identified as promoting peace between states is intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). From Kantian musings to Wilsonian idealism, international organizations have been seen as mechanisms for states to reach out of their inherent confines of self-interest and militant propensities to realize peace. The extant literature paints IGOs with a broad brush, and treats IGOs as if they all have the same ability to impact states’ conflict propensities. This analysis, however, posits that the type of IGO has a significant relationship with the prevention and de-escalation of militarized conflict. Through the conduct of this research, I uncover a number of substantive findings. First, I have upheld and extended the finding that shared memberships reduce chances of militarized disputes. Second, I have shown that universal economic IGOs are especially well positioned to keep dyads out of conflicts. On the systems level, I have discovered evidence that supports the theory that IGOs construct a normative context of peace. As the rules of the game of international politics become increasingly institutionalized in the form of more shared IGO memberships, the norm of peace becomes stronger. I explore new depths to the relationship between IGOs and peace. I find that regional military, political and economic IGOs significantly reduce the chances of a dyad already in a militarized dispute from escalating to war. Moreover, I find these same organizations reduce the likelihood of dyads having successively more severe conflict as time passes. These IGOs not only have the mechanisms for conflict resolution, but they maintain the norm of peaceful state relations. Regional and universal economic organizations are found to be especially effective in ending a dispute peacefully. Regional political IGOs shorten the duration of disputes, while regional economic institutions tend to lengthen the duration of the peace that follows disputes. Thus, merely counting the sheer number of memberships, and not implementing an IGO typology, at best misses out on the relationships of most interest and at worst mischaracterizes the impact of IGOs on peace.
Weak enough to lead: Paul’s response to criticism and rivals in 2 Corinthians 10–13: a rhetorical reading
(2002-04-29) Roberts, Mark Edward; Professor Daniel M. Patte; Professor Laurence L. Welborn; Professor Walter Harrelson; Professor Kathy L. Gaca; Professor Amy-Jill Levine; Professor Fernando F. Segovia
This examination of the rhetorical form and logic of 2 Corinthians 10–13 accounts for the macro-rhetoric of the discourse, showing how it responds coherently and potentially effectively to the criticism that Paul is a weak leader and to the effect of rival ministers at Corinth. The discourse both denies and agrees with the criticism: Paul is not weak in any way that prevents his performing his apostolic commission; but Paul is weak in ways essential to his re-presenting Christ to the Corinthians (e.g., he is weak rhetorically, in his humble and low-status presence, and in his avoiding severity and embracing “the meekness and gentleness of Christ” as he expresses authority). In this positive weakness lies Paul’s conflict with his sophistic rivals, whose hubristic manner of leadership has de facto imported another Jesus, spirit, and gospel into the church. The discourse begins forcefully with appeal to believers and the threat of divine war against the rivals (10.1–6). It calls the Corinthians to examine the evidence regarding the criticisms, which it rebuts with three claims (10.7–11). A first section of rhetorical proof (10.12–11.21a) supports those claims and proves why Paul cannot compare his ministry with the rivals, through an ongoing synkrisis that rehearses Paul’s history with the Corinthians and contrasts his ministry against the rivals’ activities. The Fool’s Speech (11.21b–12.10) proves both that Paul is not weak (through a hardship list that boasts, foolishly and kata sarka, that he is a better servant of Christ, 11.21b–11.29) but simultaneously divinely weak (boasting of his weaknesses, en kyrio, with a climactic divine oracle that valorizes the weakness critics disdain, 11.29–12.10). Rivals now forgotten, the remainder of the discourse resumes the opening appeal that the Corinthians mend their ways, allowing Paul to continue to be weak—exercising his authority without severity, for their upbuilding, not their destruction. Throughout, the study also supports other pertinent topical theses.
Relative left frontal hypoactivation in adolescents at risk for depression
(2002-04-29) Dichter, Gabriel Sviatoslav; Andrew J. Tomarken; Steven D. Hollen
We tested the prediction that resting frontal brain asymmetry would be a marker of vulnerability for depression among adolescents. Baseline electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded from 12-14 year-old adolescent children whose mothers had a history of depression (high-risk group) and whose mothers were lifetime-free of Axis I psychopathology (low-risk group). Across all three reference montages derived, high-risk adolescents demonstrated the hypothesized pattern of relative left frontal hypoactivation on alpha band measures. Unexpectedly, we found that socioeconomic status (SES) also predicted alpha asymmetry. When the effects of SES and risk status were jointly assessed, only SES contributed unique variance to the prediction of frontal brain asymmetry. Significant effects were also observed in other bands but all effects were confined to the mid-frontal region. The implications of the observed relations among maternal depression, SES, and frontal brain asymmetry are discussed.
Design of the peer agent for multi-robot communication in an agent-based robot control architecture
(2002-04-29) Bijayendrayodhin, Anak; K. Kawamura, Ph.D.; D. Mitch Wilkes, Ph. D.
The role of communication among mobile robots remains one of the most important issues in multi-agent robotics system design. There are many research groups currently working on communication and cooperation among robots. Cooperation requires communication whenever one’s actions depend critically on the knowledge that is accessible only from others. In the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Vanderbilt University, we are currently developing a method for robots to communicate and share knowledge with each other. We have developed the concept of the Peer Agent that will enable robots to exchange information between one another. The research experiment, described in this thesis, involved two mobile robots; Skeeter, a Pioneer 2-AT robot and Scooter, an ATRV-Jr robot. We will show that knowledge sharing through Peer Agents can lead to a more stable, robust and efficient cooperation between robots.
Carrier Dynamics at Si-Dielectric Interfaces Studied by Second-Harmonic-Generation
(2002-11-03) Wang, Wei; Norman Tolk; Royal Albridge; Jim Davidson; Tom Weiler; Sokrates Pantelides
This dissertation describes research on the application of intense, tunable, ultrafast lasers to studies of the silicon-dielectric system. Recently developed and now commercially available ultra-fast lasers are excellent tools for studying nonlinear optical effects in materials. Second-harmonic-generation (SHG) has come to be recognized as a uniquely useful nonlinear optical effect. For reasons of symmetry, SHG is sensitive to interfaces between materials with inversion symmetry. This technique yields rich information on electronic structure, local fields, symmetry and carrier dynamics at interfaces. It also has the advantages of being contactless and non-intrusive. It is therefore a promising tool for the investigation of mature Si-dielectric interfaces. In this thesis, we present first SHG measurements of the Si-high-k dielectric material system. Our data show features that are drastically different from the Si-SiO2 system. Unlike the Si-SiO2 system, where a rapid initial rise in SHG intensity is followed by a gradual increase until saturation, SHG from Si/ZrSiOx gradually decreases to a stable level after an initial quick rise. We attribute this difference to different carrier dynamics in these two systems. While in the SiO2 system, electron injection dominates the process, holes and electrons have a much more equal role in ZrSiOx. This arises from characteristically different band offset relationships in these two systems. Wavelength-dependent SHG measurements reveal a threshold of about 1.4 eV. A band diagram at the Si/ZrSiOx interface is then constructed with a conduction band offset of about 2.8 eV, which is well above the minimum 1 eV value determined by many calculations to prevent carrier tunneling. This lends strong support to ZrSiOx as a candidate for gate oxide in future generation semiconductor devices.
Haptic Interface Control Design for Performance and Stability Robustness
(2002-11-03) Sirithanapipat, Taweedej; Prof. Michael Goldfarb; Prof. Nilanjan Sarkar; Prof. Kenneth D. Frampton; Prof. Alvin M. Strauss; Prof. George E. Cook
A method to enhance the performance and stability of haptic interfaces is addressed. This research approaches the control of haptic interfaces using classical control techniques, addressing both the performance and stability from a frequency domain perspective. Using linear time invariant models for the human and haptic interfaces, a controller is designed to enhance both the performance and stability robustness of the system. By approaching the control design in the frequency domain, stability can be addressed at the gain crossover frequency only and the rest of the frequency space can be used to address performance. The proposed approach is experimentally compared to other approaches on a 3 DOF haptic interface.
Transfer Appropriate Processing (TAP), The Semantic Differential and Meaning Priming
(2002-11-03) Xiong, Maggie Jinghua; Gordon D. Logan; Jeffery J. Franks; Woo-kyoung Ahn; Marvin Chun
The current study used the semantic differential as a guiding tool to investigate the transfer pattern between judgment tasks. Subjects judged the meaning of words on semantic scales such as pleasant/unpleasant and strong/weak. In accordance with TAP, transfer was task specific. Maximum transfer was found when the test task scale was the same as the acquisition task scale. When the task scales represented orthogonal semantic dimensions, no significant transfer was found. When the task scales differed but involved common semantic dimensions, transfer pattern could be either relatively symmetrical or not. With an instance approach, modeling of experimental data suggested that two important variables underlying the transfer pattern were distance/dissimilarity between scales and spread/variability of the scales. Transfer was inversely related to distance between scales; while the smaller the spread, the more likely for a scale to get transfer from others and less likely to prime other scales.
Intraoperative identification and display of cortical brain function
(2002-11-03) Hartmann, Steven L; Robert L. Galloway; Benoit M. Dawant; Peter E. Konrad; J. Michael Fitzpatrick; Michael I. Miga
The objective of this research was to design and develop a system capable of displaying cortical brain function during image-guided neurosurgery. Brain function was determined using a cortical stimulator, classified according to function type, and displayed along with pre-operative tomographic and rendered images of the brain. In addition to displaying brain function acquired from the patient undergoing surgery, a probabilistic map of functional information acquired from a database or previous patients may also be displayed. This information is stored in an atlas coordinate system and can be mapped to the patient's coordinate system for display during surgery. The entire system was tested and evaluated during three human neurosurgery procedures. Functional information corresponding to speech, motor, and sensory regions was identified and displayed during surgery. This data was then mapped to a common reference database using a non-linear registration algorithm to evaluate the feasibility of using this system to create a functional atlas of the human brain.
Search for the Familon in Two-Body B Meson Decays
(2002-11-03) Danko, Istvan Zsolt; Steven E. Csorna; Thomas W. Kephart; Paul D. Sheldon; Norman H. Tolk; Thomas J. Weiler
A tremendous effort has been devoted to finding the deep physical reason for the existence of the mass hierarchy and weak mixing among the quarks and leptons. Despite the enormous amount of data accumulated during the past three decades we still appear to be far from the true understanding of the family structure of fermions and the origin of particle generations (families). A possible explanation based on a spontaneously broken continuous global family symmetry was suggested some time ago. One of the most important consequence of the spontaneous breakdown of this family symmetry is the existence of neutral massless Nambu-Goldstone bosons, called familons. Familons can have flavor-conserving as well as flavor-changing couplings with the fermions and the coupling strength is suppressed by the energy scale at which the flavor symmetry is broken. In contrast to the first two generations, experimental constraints on familons coupled to the third generation of fermions are quite modest, the only weak constraint is in the leptonic sector from tau->e/mu X0 decay. Flavor-changing couplings between the b quark and the familon (f) would lead to the decay B->hf (h=pi,K) through vector coupling and B->Vf (V=rho,K*) through axial coupling. We have searched for the two-body decay of the B meson to a light pseudoscalar meson h=pi,K,K0-short and a massless neutral weakly-interacting particle X0 such as the familon. We find no significant signal by analyzing a data sample containing 9.7 million BB mesons collected with the CLEO detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, and set a 90% C.L. upper limit of 4.9x10^{-5} and 5.3x10^{-5} on the branching fraction for the decays B+->h+X^0$ and B0->K0S X0, respectively. These upper limits correspond to a lower bound of approximately 10^8 GeV on the family symmetry breaking scale (with vector coupling) for the third generation of quarks.
Single event effects in commercial microprocessors using dynamic circuitry
(2002-11-03) Zhu, Xiaowei; Lloyd Massengill; Bharat Bhuva; Daniel Fleetwood; Ronald Schrimpf; J. Fritz Barnes
In this work the impact of technology trends on alpha particle induced soft error rates in state-of-the-art commercial microprocessors has been investigated. At the device level, both critical charge and charge collection efficiency decreases as technologies move to the next generation. For the two technology nodes studied in this work, process improvements outpace the reduction of supply voltage and capacitance. At the circuit level, latch design has a profound impact on the SER contribution from the core logic part of the microprocessor. Elimination of floating nodes is the key to improving the SER susceptibility of the chip. At the system level, the contribution from the cache dominates the overall chip level SER. However, with ECC protection the SER contribution from the core logic is becoming more important to chip level SER. The SER frequency trend is determined by its circuit topology. SER contribution from the core logic decreases with clock frequency when transmission-gate latches are heavily used, and an opposite frequency trend is observed when differential sense amplifier latches are used.
Masochism, Sexual Freedom, and Radical Democracy: A Hermeneutic Study of Sadomasochism in Psychoanalytic, Sociological, and Contemporary Texts
(2002-11-03) Ramsour, Paul J.; Victor Anderson; Howard L. Harrod; Volney P. Gay; Sheila Smith McKoy; James A. Epstein
This dissertation is a genealogical examination of the construction, representation, and disputation surrounding the meaning of sexual acts identified under the rubric of sadomasochism. I argue for an enlargement and expansion of the question, "What is masochism and what it means" and suggest that the polysemic text of contemporary S/M be accorded a measure of interpretive understanding in the light of a liberal, humanistic, and democratic notion of sexual freedom. The analysis begins with the descriptions of masochistic and sadistic behaviors initially identified and portrayed within the discourses of psychoanalysis and criminology. I argue that the disparate and distinct literatures and behaviors of masochism and sadism make the struggle for consensus about meaning nearly impossible. The study therefore proceeds with the analysis focussing primarily on texts (both literary and social) in which the operative category is masochism. The genealogy then advances to evaluation of mid 20th century attempts by various sociologists to establish the meaning of masochism, concentrating chiefly on the practice of S/M among gay men. Social science begins to direct attention away from exclusively pathological behavior, instead investigating those who incorporate S/M practice into well-adjusted personality patterns. Through participation in safe, non-coercive, mutually satisfying S/M practice, the complementary goals of social affiliation and erotic pleasure are shown to be achieved. In the final section I analyze and critique descriptions of the progression of masochism into a fully realized, though fragmented and decentralized assemblage of movements in the contemporary gay male milieu. Finally, I suggest that this search for affiliation and transcendence within contracted limits be granted as much tolerance and understanding within the tradition of radical democratic freedom as are other more traditional forms of sexual expression.
Surface Registration Using Textured Point Clouds and Mutual Information
(2002-12-11) Sinha, Tuhin Kumar; Robert L. Galloway; Michael I. Miga
A new inter-modality surface registration algorithm that uses textured point clouds and mutual information is presented within the context of model-updated image guided procedures. The algorithm has been developed to capitalize on the information generated by a laser range scanner. The current iteration of the algorithm is optimized for cortical surface registration. Intra-modality validation for the algorithm is provided in both physical and imaging phantoms. The physical phantom is generated using a laser range scanner that reports texture coordinates. The imaging phantom is generated from gadolinium enhanced MR volumes of the brain. Simulated inter-modality registration experiments on a cortical surface are also presented. Results of the experiments show successful registration accuracies on the order of the resolution of the surfaces (i.e. submillimetric). The results demonstrate that the registration algorithm and laser range scanner have potential application in deformation tracking during surgery and model-updated image-guided procedures.
The Role of Social Integration in Students' Psychosocial Development
(2002-12-11) Lien, Leigh A.; John M. Braxton; Michael McLendon; Leonard Baird; Berta V. Laden; Shozo Kawaguchi
The increasing demands of modern society and the modern workforce has resulted in added importance being placed on graduating students' psychosocial development. One well-established comprehensive theory, Chickering's theory of psychosocial development (1969, 1993), defines seven "vectors" of development in a student's personal growth. He has also emphasized the importance of freshman year in establishing patterns for subsequent personal growth. Consequently for educators to strive for "optimal" development for the students, it is especially important for them to examine factors during freshman year which may encourage students' psychosocial development. This study examines the role of social integration in students' psychosocial development. Using a longitudinal research design and gathering data collected from a private southern research university at four different time points during the students' freshman and senior years, this study analyzes the effect of social integration as it relates to Chickering's theory of psychosocial development. The study focused on three of the seven vectors: Developing Autonomy, Clarifying Purpose, and Mature Interpersonal Relationships. Multiple regression analysis is used to measure the effects of social integration on the students' psychosocial development. The results of the study indicated that social integration has a significant influence on Clarifying Purpose and Academic Autonomy, but no influence on Mature Interpersonal Relationships. It also showed that Greek affiliation has a significant influence on Clarifying Purpose and Academic Autonomy as well. The results of the research are discussed with respect to the parameters of Chickering's theory. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

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