Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-60). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1992. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-66).

Thesis (Specialist in School Psychology)--Eastern Illinois University, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-49).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2010. / Prepared for: Dept. of Epidemiology and Community Health. Title from resource description page. Includes bibliographical references.

Augsburg, Univ., Diss., 2006.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Benedictine University, 2005. / Chair: Peter Sorensen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 294-298)

No description available.

Master of Science / Department of Physics / Lado Samushia / Part 1: The redshift-space bispectrum (three point statistics) of galaxies can be used to measure key cosmological parameters. In a homogeneous Universe, the bispectrum is a function of five variables and unlike its two point statistics counterpart -- the power spectrum, which is a function of only two variables -- is difficult to analyse unless the information is somehow reduced. The most commonly considered reduction schemes rely on computing angular integrals over possible orientations of the bispectrum triangle thus reducing it to sets of functions of only three variables describing the triangle shape. We use Fisher information formalism to study the information loss associated with this angular integration. We find that most of the information is in the azimuthal averages of the first three even multipoles. This suggests that the bispectrum of every configuration can be reduced to just three numbers (instead of a 2D function) without significant loss of cosmologically relevant information. Part 2: One way of enhancing the cosmological information extracted from the clustering of galaxies is by weighting the galaxy field. The most widely used weighting schemes assign weights to galaxies based on the average local density in the region and their bias with respect to the dark matter field. They are designed to minimize the fractional variance of the galaxy power-spectrum. We demonstrate that the currently used bias dependent weighting scheme can be further optimized for specific cosmological parameters. Part 3: Choice of the box-size of a cosmological simulation involves a crucial trade-off between accuracy and complexity. We use Lagrangian perturbation theory to study the effects of box size on the predicted power spectrum and Baryon Acoustic Oscillation ruler. We find that although the optimal size depends on the final redshift of evolution, in general, the 2-point statistics of relevant scales is fairly accurate for a simulation box-size of length greater than 1000 Mpc.

The primary aim of this study was to develop age-related normative data for the WISC-R Digits Forward, Digits Backward, Digits Difference, Digit Supraspan, and Coding Incidental Recall (Immediate and 30' Delayed) tests for a non-clinical population of South African school children aged 6 and 7. The effects of sex, English versus Xhosa language, and white versus black race groups, were additional investigations. Subjects were randomly selected from three English speaking Grahamstown schools; level of education ranged from pre-school to Sub Standard B; English speaking subjects included predominantly white children, with a small proportion of coloured, Chinese and Indian children; Xhosa speaking children were all black. Interim normative data on all tests across two age groups (6 and 7) are presented, and are considered reliable and diagnostically useful in clinical neuropsychological assessment. There were no significant effects for age, sex, English versus Xhosa language or white versus black race groups, on any of the tests with the exception of Digits Backward which yielded marginally lower scores for black Subjects. Although the mean IQ estimate based on the Draw-A-Person test was equivalent across age, sex, English versus Xhosa language and white versus black race groups, an intelligence rating of subjects by teachers revealed that black subjects were evaluated significantly lower than white subjects. This suggests the presence of prejudicial racial attitudes amongst educators in these predominantly English speaking white schools.

In this era of high-precision cosmology we are able to measure and predict properties of the large-scale structure of our Universe to a fine degree. However we still lack a clear and tested understanding of the effects of the large-scale environments on galaxies and their host halos. This thesis focuses on bettering our understanding of this issue by investigating the dependence of galaxies and halos on their location within the cosmic web. An algorithm based on the tidal tensor prescription is developed and applied to the MDR1 1 (h-1Gpc)3 dark matter simulation to classify the geometric environment of every location in the simulated volume as one of the four components of the cosmic web; voids, sheets, filaments and knots. Conditional halo mass functions are extracted to investigate the influence of tidal forces on the abundances and mass distribution of dark matter halos. A theoretical framework based on Gaussian statistics is presented and used to derive predictions for halo abundances in different geometric environments. The Gaussian theory predicts no coupling of tidal forces and, hence, that the halo mass function is independent of geometric environment for a given local mass density. It is shown that the halo mass functions extracted from the simulation are fully consistent with this picture. It is then shown how this method of classifying geometric environments can be extended to observational datasets. The Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) spectroscopic redshift survey, with its wide field and high completeness, is excellently suited to this study. The geometric environments of the three equatorial GAMA fields are classified, following a thorough analysis of the additional uncertainties introduced when moving to observational datasets. Additionally, the geometric environments of the GAMA galaxies and groups are classified, allowing the influence of the cosmic web on large-scale structure to be investigated. Both the galaxy luminosity function and the group mass function within the observed cosmic web are studied and no evidence of a direct impact of the web is seen. It is found that all modulations can be fully attributed to the indirect dependence of these properties on the local matter overdensity. Whilst these results indicate that there is no strong dependence of the scalar properties of large-scale structure on geometric environment, the final investigation of this thesis presents an attempt to look in more detail at the environmental dependence of stellar properties by investigating stellar-formation histories within the cosmic web.