English Identity and Muslim Captivity in the Mediterranean, 1580-1640

This dissertation examines the emergence of English identity that captivity and Muslims challenged from 1580-1640 as expressed captivity narratives. The narratives provide numerous insights into the emerging English identity as Englishmen explored and became captives in the Mediterranean in the late Elizabethan and early Stuart period. The captivity narratives are unique in that they portray Englishmen at their weakest and in the most helpless situations as England attempted to spread its trade relations throughout the Mediterranean. Few other genres of literature provide such insight into English identity through the particular experience as captivity. Overall, this can provide one more step along the path of understanding what it meant to be English in late Elizabethan and early Stuart England

Henry VIII: Supremacy, Religion, and the Anabaptists

In 1534, the English Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy. This effectively stripped all of the authority the Pope held in England and gave it to Henry VIII. Also because of the Act of Supremacy Henry VIII gained a new title: Supreme Head of the Church of England. However, there was a problem. The Act of Supremacy only vaguely defined the new powers that had been given to the King. Consequently, what exactly his new powers were and their limits had to be established. The other issue that had to be dealt with was the establishment of the canons of the Church of England. It was a new church with no canons or rules in place other then the establishment of Henry VIII as Supreme Head of the Church of England The purpose of this thesis is to explore the use of Anabaptists and Sacramentaries in the formulation of the doctrine of the Church of England and the expansion of Henry VIII\u27s power as Supreme Head of the Church of England. Henry was able to use the Anabaptists and Sacramentaries because they posed no real threat to the state but were easy tools to be manipulated. The main documents that will be dealt with are the November 1538 Royal Proclamation Prohibiting Unlicensed Printing of Scripture, Exiling Anabaptists, Depriving Married Clergy, Removing St. Thomas à Becket from Calendar, the trial of John Lambert, and the February 1539 Royal Proclamation Prescribing Rites and Ceremonies, Pardoning Anabaptists

Sergeant Major Ayala Y Escobar and the Threatened St. Augustine Mutiny

On the morning of June 19, 1712, the Spanish presidio of St. Augustine narrowly escaped a mutiny against the crown’s constituted authority in Florida, Governor Francisco de Corcoles y Martinez. The threatened uprising, which involved the governor’s second-in-command, Sergeant Major Juan de Ayala y Escobar, vividly illustrated the principal weakness in the colonial administration of Spanish Florida - the formation of a power structure headed by the sergeant major which continuously threatened to undermine the power and authority of the governor. The development of this extra-legal body, climaxed by the “sordid affair” of June 19, took on added significance when viewed in its broader historical setting

Magnetism and Transport Properties of Transition Metal Oxides and Nanoparticles

This dissertation is devoted to the study of the properties of transition metal oxides in both thin film and nanocrystalline forms. The first section is devoted to the transport properties of manganese oxide thin film samples. The colossal magnetoresistance in these materials is usually explained using double-exchange, but this explanation is only partially correct. Recent theoretical and experimental work has shown that these compounds have a strong tendency towards phase-separation. The impact of strain on phase separation has been investigated by growing films of La5/8-0.3Pr0.3Ca3/8MnO3 on a variety of substrates. Very small changes in the induced strain cause large changes in the magnetic and magnetotransport properties of the film. The second section is devoted to scanning tunneling microscopy studies of these same films at room temperature. In this case, small localized holes are observed at the Mn4+ ion sites. The distribution of holes is non-random and shows strong short range correlation. The final section of this thesis is devoted to small particles of binary transition metal oxides. These oxides are antiferromagnetic in bulk samples, but when the dimensions of the particle are small (\u3c50nm), they show an enhanced magnetic moment. Nanoparticles of a-Fe2O3 have been prepared and their magnetic properties have been measured, and an increase in particle moment versus temperature has been observed using standard analysis techniques. More advanced analysis techniques indicate that this increase is a result of a transition specific to the a-Fe2O3 system, and not the result of thermoinduced magnetizatio

An investigative study of the listening skills of managers, professional technical and clerical employees at Central States Health & Life Co. of Omaha

Effective listening is a skill that needs to be brought to the forefront in staff development programs and confronted by all levels of employees. Many jobs in the service-related industry require listening in order to accurately paraphrase customer demands and requests. Therefore, it is critical that employee listening skills are developed and reinforced as part of on-the-job training. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a significant difference in listening skills among different levels of selected employees at Central States Health & Life Co. of Omaha and to show a need for additional training in effective listening. Three distinct employee groups were chosen: managers, professional/technical, and clerical employees. The employees were randomly selected and invited to attend a listening skills seminar taught by Don Grandgenett, a Senior Professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The Brown-Carlsen listening test was used to investigate the listening skills of all participants. Five different sub-sections of listening were charted by the Brown-Carlsen listening test: immediate recall, following directions, recognizing transitions, recognizing word meanings, and lecture comprehension. After a statistical analysis of the differences in mean scores among managers, professional/technical and clerical employees was run, the principal findings showed the following: (1) Managers showed a significant difference in both projected and actual scores compared to professional/technical and clerical employees as measured by the Brown-Carlsen listening test. (2) Professional/technical employees did not show a significant difference in actual or projected scores compared to clerical employees as measured by the Brown-Carlsen listening test. The conclusions of this study show that there appears to be a need for additional training in all areas of effective listening for clerical employees, perhaps with further investigation warranted on following directions and lecture comprehension. There also seems to be a need for additional training in lecture comprehension for managers and professional/technical employees. This study has shown a significant difference in the listening abilities of managers as compared to professional/technical and clerical employees. If additional training in effective listening can be directly related to job success, and is accepted by upper management, there be unlimited potential for an increase in productivity, customer relations and internal harmony

Assessing Yield Potential of Cowpea Genotypes Grown Under Virus Pressure

Cowpea or Southernpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] is an important grain legume in many parts of the tropics. However, viral diseases, particularly Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and Blackeye cowpea mosaic virus (BlCMV), can be a limiting factor in cowpea production. We evaluated in replicated field plots and under virus pressure nine PIs (441919, 441925, 441917, 147071, 146618, 180014, 180355, 194208, 612607) and three commercial cultivars (Coronet, KnuckleHull-VNR, Pinkeye Purplehull), some of which had shown absence of symptoms for CMV and BlCMV in unreplicated, seed regeneration plots of the U.S. cowpea collection. Only 3% of all plots had plants infected with both CMVand BlCMV in 2003 and 2004. This percentage increased to 47% in 2005. The accession PI 441917 had the highest 3-year mean for grain yield. However, PI 147071, PI 180014, and ‘KnuckleHull-VNR’ had higher seed protein concentration than other genotypes, but their grain yield was significantly lower than that of PI 441917. The cultivar Coronet and PI 180355 attained midbloom and maturity earlier than the other genotypes. Overall, PI 441917 outperformed all other genotypes for grain yield, including virus-resistant PI 612607 and the cultivar KnuckleHull-VNR. This accession is in the process of being released as a virus-tolerant genotype and should be useful in cowpea breeding programs to help control yield losses by CMV and BlCMV

Enhancing Nurse-Led Rapid Response Teams (RRT) to Save Lives

https://digitalcommons.psjhealth.org/summit_all/1022/thumbnail.jp

Ratoon Stunting Disease of Sugarcane: Isolation of the Causal Bacterium

A small coryneform bacterium was consistently isolated from sugarcane with ratoon stunting disease and shown to be the causal agent. A similar bacterium was isolated from Bermuda grass. Both strains multiplied in sugarcane and Bermuda grass, but the Bermuda grass strain did not incite the symptoms of ratoon stunting disease in sugarcane. Shoot growth in Bermuda grass was retarded by both strains