John Daniel Tate in a Senior Composition Recital

This is the program for the senior composition recital of John Daniel Tate. The OBU Singers, the OBU Brass Ensemble, the Woodwind Trio, the OBU Brass Quintet, the OBU Singers, the OBU Percussion Ensemble, organist Russel Hodges, and tenor Marc Bremer performed the pieces. The recital took place on March 28, 1978, in the Mabee Fine Arts Center Recital Hall

Technology Acceptance and Use in a Knowledge Management Support System: An Exploratory Case Study of Air Force Knowledge Now Communities of Practice

Over the past five to seven years, the United States Air Force has begun to employ online Communities of Practice (CoP) as a means to collaborate virtually. During this time, there have been several studies of these online communities to better understand their use, as well as their lack of use. The primary goal of this research is to apply the theories of Davis\u27 (1989) technology acceptance model to identify the factors that affect the acceptance and use of CoPs. These findings are then used to provide suggestions on how to improve the acceptance and use of CoPs for CoP administrators and, ultimately, the Air Force Knowledge Now (AFKN), the managerial owners of all CoPs. This research used a mixed method strategy to collect data. Data were gathered from a previous research study on AFKN CoPs, a pre-interview survey, and an interview that included both open- and close-ended questions. This method allowed the researcher to converge on the broad results in order to focus on detailed views from the participants. The findings from this research suggest differences in users\u27 perceptions based on functional makeup, formality, access, length of use, and user\u27s grade/position. In addition, the factors of social influence, facilitating conditions, and user acceptance enablers strongly influenced the usage behavior of CoP users. Finally, the interview process exposed numerous factors that encouraged and discouraged use of the CoPs

Differential Gene Expression in a Louisiana Strain of Microalgae

Considerable interest in alternative energy has stimulated research in biofuels, particularly microalgal biofuels. In particular, strains of algae that accumulate lipids to be used for biofuels must be adapted to outdoor growth and resistant to invasive species. Differential gene expression in a Louisiana algae/cyanobacteria co-culture consisting of approximately 97% Chlorella vulgaris and 3% Leptolyngbya sp. possessing these traits was examined. Possible reasons for the enhanced growth of the co-culture relative to a Chlorella monoculture were reviewed, including cyanobacterial symbiosis and chemicals produced by cyanobacteria or bacteria that could influence the growth of Chlorella. The co-culture and Chlorella monoculture were cultivated at scalar irradiance levels of 180 and 400 µmol/m2-sec and nitrate levels corresponding to 50% and 100% of the nitrate levels of Bold’s Basal Medium. Dry biomass and cell counts were measured for the cultures initially, in the early exponential phase, in the late exponential phase, and at the end of the growth period. Lipid content was measured in the late exponential phase and at the end of the growth period. Total RNA was extracted and suppression subtractive hybridization was performed. Expressed sequence tags corresponding to putatively differentially expressed genes were sequenced, yielding one-hundred and five putatively differentially expressed genes. Quantitative PCR was performed on nine genes to compare gene expression in Chlorella in the co-culture and monoculture. All nine genes showed statistically significant expression level differences between the Chlorella vulgaris in the co-culture and in the monoculture for cultures grown at the same irradiance and nitrate levels. Evidence from the gene expression experiments, combined with observations in the literature, suggest the possible effect of a cyanobacteria-produced substance such as microcystins by the Leptolyngbya sp. Second, two Photosystem II genes were upregulated in the Chlorella monocultures, and one Photosystem I gene was upregulated in the co-cultures. Finally, the upregulation of a gene for an oil globule associated protein was found in the co-culture Chlorella. A homologous protein has been found in similar green algae, and further study of it in Chlorella is expected

Organotin polymers as components for marine anti-fouling paints

The work described in this thesis is concerned with the synthesis of di-n-alkyl bis(hydroxy carboxylate)tin monomers and their reactions with several di- and poly-functional isocyanates to give polyurethanes with tin carboxylate units in the polymer backbone. These polymers were prepared for evaluation as components of marine anti-fouling paints. The first chapter reviews the causes of marine fouling and the methods currently used to reduce corrosion and fouling. The synthesis and characterisation of the di-n-alkyl bis(hydroxy carboxylate)tin monomers required for this work are described in Chapter Two; their polymerisation with commercial di- or poly-functional isocyanates being described in Chapter Three. The polymers prepared by the methods described in Chapter Three were tested using an apparatus designed by the author which simulated a ship's passage through the water, this work is discussed in Chapter Four. The first set of polymers prepared (Chapter Three) were unable to withstand the physical stresses to which they were subjected and so a new set of co-polymers was synthesised using the organotin diols and commercially available diols as comonomers. The synthesis and testing of these copolymers is described in Chapter Five. The polymers prepared in Chapter Five were generally good film forming materials, their hardness being easily controlled, however their inclusion into paint systems was impracticable due to the ease of their hydrolysis and subsequent loss of film integrity

Piezo-optical study of the behaviour of short chain liquid polymers

The molecules of short chain liquid polymers exist in a dynamic mixture of conformations. Intermolecular interactions are important, rendering statistical mechanical models inappropriate: instead, free volume concepts are used. Evidence of an ordered liquid state in the n-alkanes is disputed, and high-pressure Raman spectroscopy has shown the shorter homologues to become more globular with increasing pressure. Brillouin laser light scattering is a powerful probe of molecular dynamics, and has been shown to be applicable to liquid polymers at high pressures. The present work has been concerned with relating molecular parameters, obtained by light scattering, to bulk properties of short chain homologous liquid series. To avoid thermal effects, pressure has been used to obtain pure volume-changes. Brillouin scattering, refractive index, density and viscosity data have been obtained at high pressure (up to 240 MPa) for members of four related homologous series, including some n-alkanes. Refractive index and density-cell piston movement were measured interferometrically; viscosity by falling ball and falling slug methods. The refractive index, and density, data, both fit cubic polynomials in pressure, and the Lorentz-Lorenz equation applies with constant molar refractivity. Viscosity is exponentially, and hypersonic phonon velocity linearly, dependent on density, though Schaaff's equation is incorrect. A relaxation of 10(to the power of -11) was observed for the polyisobutenes. In all cases, the important parameter is the density. A model of specific volume comprising contributions from chain segment- and chain end- volumes is proposed. This shows that packing is principally achieved by loss of free volume associated with chain ends for n-alkanes and polyisobutenes, and with chain segments for polyethylene glycols and polypropylene glycols, consistent with the freezing behaviour. The n-alkane data may be interpreted as showing some degree of molecular ordering above 150 MPa, analogous to the thermal observations of a mesomorphic liquid state

Becoming His Work By Hearing His Word: A Gospel Communication Plan For Bellwether Church

The goal of this study is to develop a communication plan for Bellwether Community Church. It is argued throughout the paper that this church, located in the Bible Belt, needs a comprehensive program to assist its congregation in living out the gospel through discipleship, apologetics, and evangelism. This program is implemented in Bellwether Community Church over a two–year timeframe. This program emphasizes preaching as the primary means of communication and the overall plan focuses on the preaching series. However, preaching is only one means of the plan, as it also includes intentional equipping classes, small group curriculum, written devotions, and creative works of writing. All these forms emphasize an increased aptitude for the congregation in apologetics, evangelism, and discipleship. The goals for the church are to have a unity of communication over the course of the program, the congregation to be unified in its participation, individual participants to grow in the areas of apologetics, discipleship, and evangelism, and the church to grow in greater knowledge of Scripture and outreach into its local community. Prior to the program’s launch, time is given for prayer and planning, engaging staff, leaders, and members in discussion, and preparing small group leaders to facilitate curriculum. Upon its launch, there is a centralized focus on the program’s teaching and consistent encouragement for the church to engage in all its aspects. There are assessments of the program where participants give feedback and church leaders can see its effectiveness. Upon completion, this overarching program can impact discipleship within any church community. It can also be modified for this church in its next season and offered to other churches for use

Exploring the maintenance of plumage polymorphism in the Black Sparrowhawk

Animals often display striking variation with respect to their phenotype. Intraspecific and interspecific variation in body colour represents one of the most well studied forms of phenotypic variation. For decades evolutionary biologists have been fascinated by the mechanisms that maintain colour variation in species and traditional explanations for this diversity of colour in nature often invoke an interaction between selection for conspicuous signals and natural selection for crypsis. Colour polymorphic species have frequently been used to explore the evolutionary processes that lead to colour variation in species. Geographic variation in colour morph ratios also occurs frequently in polymorphic species and is often considered an ideal model system to examine the interplay of gene flow and local adaptation in populations. This thesis aims to explore the role and maintenance of plumage colour polymorphism in a raptor, the black sparrowhawk. The black sparrowhawk exhibits discrete colour polymorphism, with adults occurring as either white or dark morphs. Within South Africa, the species has undergone a recent range expansion, successfully colonising the Cape Peninsula in the Western Cape. As winter breeders, black sparrowhawks in South Africa now experience two contrasting climatic regimes; dry winters in their historical north-eastern range, and wet winters in the recently colonised Western Cape region. Within this newly colonised region, the dark morph occurs in greatest frequency. Across South Africa, the species displays clinal variation, with the frequency of dark morphs declining from > 75 % in the far south-west on the Cape Peninsula, to < 20 % in the north-east of the country. Two contrasting hypotheses have been proposed for the high frequency of dark morph birds in the Cape Peninsula population; (1) that colour variation is non-adaptive and is simply due to a chance founder effect and strong genetic drift and (2) this is reflective of local adaptation and that irrespective of the founding morph ratios, dark morphs have a selective advantage in this newly colonised environment with its novel winter rainfall regime. The main aims of this study were to determine the (i) ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that influence the maintenance of colour polymorphism in the species and (ii) to establish explanations for the unusually high proportion of dark morphs on the Cape Peninsula. In this thesis I have used a range of ecological and genetic approaches to explore both neutral and adaptationist explanations for the high frequency of dark morphs in my study population. Data from the mitochondrial control region was used to examine the distribution of genetic diversity in several geographic populations of black sparrowhawks across South Africa, allowing the exploration of trait divergence under neutrality. Using a phylogeographic framework, genetic variation was used to (i) quantify the extent to which population structure and gene flow may influence the observed pattern of colour morphs in the focal study population on the Cape Peninsula, and (ii) explore how selection and gene flow may interact to explain the patterns of morph frequencies in my study system. I found very low genetic differentiation between sample sites across South Africa suggesting that substantial gene flow occurs among populations, supporting the hypothesis that selection, and thus local adaptation, is the primary force maintaining colour variation on the Peninsula

Gauge Field Preheating at the End of Inflation

Here we consider the possibility of preheating the Universe via the parametric amplification of a massless, U(1) abelian gauge field. We assume that the gauge field is coupled to the inflaton via a conformal factor with one free parameter. We present the results of high-resolution three-dimensional simulations of this model and show this mechanism efficiently preheats the Universe to a radiation-dominated final state.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure