Thesis (M.S.D.)--Indiana University School of Dentistry, 2009. / Title from PDF t. p. (viewed Feb. 9, 2009) Advisor(s): Jeffrey A. Platt, Chair of the Research Committee, Tien-Min Gabriel Chu, Michael A. Cochran, Bruce A. Matis, Burak Taskonak, B. Keith Moore. Curriculum vitae. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-76).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 2009. / Includes abstract. Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Title from first page of PDF file (viewed March 20, 2010). Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-101). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-101). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Institute of Paper Chemistry, 1968.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Institute of Paper Chemistry, 1959. / Bibliography: leaves 87-92.

One challenge in the Western world is the risk of functional impairmentand chronic disease accompanying older age. In Norway it is expected thatmost chronically ill older persons will continue to live at home and receivehelp from home nursing care. The inner strength of the oldest old, as seenin relation to the help that is given, and whether the help has contributed tostrengthen the will to live has been explored only to a limited extent.Meaning in life and daily routines can be related to the will to live,understood as enjoying life and having the courage to live. The aim of thisstudy is to develop knowledge in regard to chronically ill oldest olderpersons and the possibilities and limitations in their will to live when theyreceive help from home nursing care.This study uses the quantitative method (n=120, Article 1 and Article 2) todescribe the characteristics of inner strength using the questionnairesResilience Scale, Sense of Coherence Scale, Purpose in Life Test, and Self-Transcendence Scale. Inner strength was seen in relation to mental andphysical health using the questionnaire SF-36. The qualitative method wasused to illuminate how the oldest older persons experienced living at homewith chronic illness (n=13, Article 3) and receiving help from home nursingcare (n=11, Article 4). The participants in this study were 80 years old orolder, living at home with chronic illnesses, and receiving help from homenursing care. All participants were determined to have the mental capacityto take part in this study.The analysis showed in Article 1 that the oldest old had an inner strengthexpressed as ”sense of coherence” and ”purpose in life.” Their innerstrength was accompanied by the ability for self-transcendence. Mentalhealth was predicted by self-transcendence (p < 0.001) for the total sampleand for women. Physical health was predicted by self-transcendence (p <0.01) for the total sample. Low resilience contributed to vulnerability for theparticipants. They were vulnerable in terms of limited perseverance, selfreliance,and existential aloneness (Article 2). On the contrary, theyexperienced equanimity and meaning. Meaning in daily life (Article 3)sometimes meant feelings of insufficiency and dependency. In contrast,they also experienced joy in life, gratitude for living at home, and aneagerness to participate in activities that made them feel alive. Theyexperienced both good and bad days, which depended on their illness butwas also based on how their needs for help and support were met. InviiArticle 4, receiving help indicated different experiences. Being ill anddependent on help led to days with illness, treatment, and receiving care. Italso indicated they were in need of professional help. Receiving help couldmean being at the mercy of helpers, which could imply unworthy help, asthey had no influence on the help they got from incompetent nurses whofocused only on tasks, with limited flexibility in their work, using theirhomes as a working place. This situation of receiving help from busynurses caused the old person to feel inferior as a human being. Other timesit meant receiving help from nurses who took care with respect to the oldperson and confirmed him or her as a human being. The older personswanted to be seen, met, and supported to strengthen their courage to meetthe challenges of being old and ill.According to the ethics of caring, human beings are vulnerable andmutually dependent on each other. This influences the possibilities andlimitations of ”the other” in experiencing a will to live. ”Receiving theother” can contribute to the will to live, influenced by the help received inan asymmetric dependency in which the nurses are caught in the tensionbetween suffering and the will to live for the oldest older person in need ofhelp. In this tension, the will to live is dependent on help that is given in arelationship characterized by caring and responsibility for the other.

Throughout the years the mining company Boliden Mineral AB have had difficulties producing a working fine filter for their tailing pond at the Aitik copper mine. The problem with the fine filter occurs when it gets placed on the tailing pond wall. Coarse grains break down into fine grains and the entire composition of the fine filter is changed. The material that is used to produce the fine filter comes from the mine’s own waste rock supply. The primary waste rock in Aitik comprises of heterogeneous gneiss and pegmatite. To determine why the waste rock isn’t holding together well enough the mechanical strength of the rock is investigated. Huge differences for the mechanical strength both exist between the different rock types, but also in the different kinds of the gneiss. The effect of the explosions, used to mine the ore, and the crushing machine also impacts on the mechanical strength of the rock. Good mechanical strength is found in rock that has a high amount of secondary transformation like epidote and bad mechanical strength from foliated rock. To get the best mechanical properties it is suggested to exploit epidote transformed rock found in deformation zones, adjacent to the ore deposit or the pegmatite intrusions. It is also recommended to use less powerful charge when blasting rock material that will be used for production of the fine filter.

Metal-organic framework (MOF) materials are a novel set of porous crystalline materials that have generated great scientific interest within the past two decades due to their attractive properties such as high porosity, surface areas and tunable pore structure. These properties have made them emerge as potential candidates suitable for a broad range of applications such as gas separations and storage, catalysis and drug delivery. Despite their fascinating properties, MOFs are often unsuitable for most industrial applications due to their instability when exposed to mechanical stress. The challenge therefore is to convert the MOFs to high strength materials capable of withstanding such stress while still maintaining their exciting properties. This thesis thus focuses on investigating the effects of different binders on a zirconium based metal-organic-framework, UiO-66, in an attempt to enhance the mechanical strength of the adsorbent samples. Three different binders, kaolinite, polyvinyl alcohol and tartaric acid, are mixed with the parent MOF material in different weight percents, pressed into solid disc pellets at different pressures and calcined at different temperatures. Properties such as changes in structure, density, porosity, surface area, radial crush strength, and the adsorption capacity with CO2 are measured and evaluated. Results gathered from this work reveal that polyvinyl alcohol is the most promising of the three binders due to the increase in the strength of pellets and the slight decrease in CO2 adsorption it offers. Recommendations for future research work aimed at driving these materials towards reaching their maximum application potentials are proposed.

Drilled shafts are cast-in-place concrete, deep foundation elements that require high levels of quality control to ensure the borehole does not become unstable either during excavation or during concreting. Bentonite slurry is a popular choice among state DOT officials nationwide to maintain borehole stability as it has a long history with reasonable load carrying performance. However, specifications developed to replicate successful shaft construction are largely based on empirical data. Further, as slurry construction is a blind process, the final as-built shaft is rarely visually inspected and much of the perceived concrete flow and slurry interaction with rebar and the soil interface are largely unverified. This thesis presents the wide range of nationwide specifications for slurry viscosities (upper and lower) and notes that in only one case out of a hundred (50 states with an upper and lower viscosity limit) is there a rational basis for setting the limit. To this end, the objective of this thesis was to provide compelling evidence to support or dispute present upper viscosity limits. The study was part of a larger scope to show the effects of high viscosity slurry on concrete / soil interface and rebar bond. However, this thesis addresses only the latter via large scale testing to show concrete flow patterns, the build-up of bentonite slurry on rebar, and the degradation of rebar pull-out capacity as a function of bentonite slurry viscosity. Pull-out test results from 126 specimens, comprised of No. 8 rebar embedded in 42in diameter shafts, showed that rebar bond degraded as much as 70%#37; and more when in the presence of bentonite slurry that conformed to most state viscosity specifications (40 to 90 sec/qt). Visual inspection which is rarely possible on drilled shafts showed convincingly that the concrete that flowed through the cage to form the cover concrete does not fully encapsulate the rebar. In most cases a void/crease was formed reflecting the cage grid and which would provide a pathway from the soil pore water directly to the reinforcing steel. While present specifications nationwide dictate bentonite slurry ranges from a minimum of 28 to a maximum of 60 sec/qt, the study findings indicate that only viscosity levels of 30 sec/qt and below are reasonable from both a bond and durability stand point. As pure water has a viscosity of 26 sec/qt, this leaves only a very slight window of acceptability which is unlikely to provide sufficient lateral borehole stability.