A study was undertaken to describe the patterns of hardwood lumber production, distribution, and consumption in the Southeast. Current distribution patterns were compared with theoretically optimal patterns in an attempt to estimate the efficiency of the current distribution system. A combination mail questionnaire and telephone survey was used to gather data for the study. The linear programming transportation model was employed to develop the optimal lumber distribution patterns. It was concluded that some inefficiencies exist in the current hardwood lumber distribution patterns. Possible explanations for some of the differences between current and optimal distribution patterns were discussed. Suggestions were made to reduce some of the differences attributable to system inefficiencies. Although the study results indicated that total transportation costs could be reduced by restructuring the current distribution patterns, no conclusions regarding benefits from the cost reductions could be drawn. It was concluded that beneficiaries depend upon existing pricing policy and market structure. / M.S.

Theoretical analysis and comparison of three basic digital data communication systems, namely, amplitude-shift keying (ASK), frequency-shift keying (FSK), and phase-shift keying (PSK), for both binary coded and M-ary coded transmissions are presented in this paper. The analysis is limited to only nonfading received signal in additive Gaussian noise. Both coherent and noncoherent detection schemes are considered. A symbol error-rate or probability of error is used as the performance criterion for comparison purpose. / Master of Science

General histories give little credence to the utopian side of Lenin's revolutionary thought, especially in relation to his only formal utopian work, State and Revolution. Standard interpretations pass off that work as an "intellectual deviation” resulting from Lenin's "revolutionary fever” of 1917, while offering What Is To Be Done? as the statement of orthodox Leninism. Lenin's utopianism was not, in fact, a temporary aberration but a very real part of his intellectual outlook which had its origins in the simplistic atmosphere of the Ulyanov household. The harsh, uncompromising attitudes expressed in What Is To Be Done? were developed during his brother's trial and execution and during his own arrest and exile. Lenin was attracted to Chernyshevsky and Marx because both expressed his own two-pronged outlook: utopian goals and pragmatic methods. This outlook is revealed in his two best known works What Is To Be Done and State Revolution. The actual role of Lenin's 1917 "revolutionary fever" was not to motivate the writing of State and Revolution but to prompt him to attempt a socialist revolution. It was his ingrained utopianism that caused him to interpret the events of 1917 as a mandate for the ideals expressed in State and Revolution. That utopianism was always a part of Lenin's intellectual outlook, but it was only in 1917 that he found the confidence to give it priority over “pragmatic methods." / Master of Arts

Throughout the career of E. E. Cummings critics maintained that the poet displayed a lack of growth in his vision. Such a criticism fails in an analysis of the development of specific themes in the love poetry of Cummings. This thesis investigates two major themes from the early love poetry (the volumes of 1923 - c. 1938) and two from the later love poetry (the volumes of c. 1940 - 1963) and proposes a movement of the themes toward affirmation and movement from the concrete to the abstract. Chapter II clarifies the first early theme, the celebration of a specific lover or love experience and presents those poems which define the speaker's response to the lady's presence, delight in her body, and express the joy of intercourse with her. Chapter III considers the second early theme, the unachievable and temporal nature of love. Death as thief, the fleeting nature of love, the distance of the lady, the persuasion, the sordid love affairs, the sexual jokes, and the satirical tone emerge as variations of this theme. Chapter IV deals with the first later theme, the affirmation that love is possible and enduring. Emphasized are discussions of love as a concept, celebrations of highest love, and the transcending power of love. Chapter V in explaining the second later theme, the celebration of love as a force within itself, displays poems which define love, dismiss it as a mystery, theorize about love, arrange hyperbolisms to praise the lady, and glorify the lovers' spiritual union. / Master of Arts

The Marion-Rural Retreat area of Smyth and Wythe counties, Virginia, contains the “missing link” to the long assumed, but heretofore unproven, continuation of the Pulaski fault trace southwestward around the structurally complex Marion dome area. The Seven Springs fault of Cooper (1936) has long been assumed to be the southwestward continuation of the extensive Pulaski fault; however, the linkage of these two faults was not established or understood. · Through detailed field mapping of mainly the Elbrook Dolomite, which is not known to exist northwest of the Pulaski fault block, and the time equivalent Honaker-Nolichucky succession, which is not known to exist southeast of the Saltville fault block, the writer has been able to delineate the trace of the Pulaski fault in this area. The fault shown on Butts' (1933) ”Valley Map” as extending east along the southeast base of Little Brushy Mountain from Marion to a point north of Groseclose, is not the Pulaski fault but instead a separate and distinct, high angle reverse fault called by Cooper (1936) the Hungry Mother fault. Near the center of the area, the Pulaski fault passes over the Hungry Mother fault and veers south away from the base of Little Brushy Mountain toward Atkins, Smyth County, Virginia, where careful mapping of the formations along the Valley of the Middle Fork of the Holston River affords a reliable criterion for joining the trace of the Pulaski fault with that of the Seven Springs fault. / Master of Science

This thesis is a socio-military history of a Confederate infantry regiment. Formed principally of Lynchburg City and Campbell County men, the Regiment fought in the Civil War as part of Kemper's Brigade, Pickett's Division, Longstreet's Corps, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Through diaries, letters, memoirs and contemporary newspapers, the writer has traced the Regiment from its inception as individual companies formed in reaction to John Brown's Raid until its surrender at Appomattox. The entire effort focuses, whenever possible, upon the officers and men of the Regiment. Thus, little attention is paid to grand strategy or national politics. Instead, drum rolls call the Regiment into formation for marches to unknown fields. The men fight in battles that later give the fields a place in history: First Manassas, Seven Pines, Frayser's Farm, Second Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Suffolk, Gettysburg, Plymouth, Drewry's Bluff, Cold Harbor, Bermuda Hundred, Five Forks and Sayler's Creek. Even in battle, the emphasis remains on the Regiment. Success or failure is measured by how the men felt they had performed, rather than whether or not the army achieved victory. The final result for the men of the 11th Virginia was defeat and surrender; yet, having suffered incredible hardship and having faced overwhelming odds, they emerged as rather heroic individuals. The thesis treats neither victory nor defeat, but men who gave their best for a cause in which they had complete faith. / Master of Arts

A single-degree of freedom rigid framed structure with variable loading is studied under the influence of five artificial earthquakes applied directly by use of the lumped-impulse numerical integration method and indirectly by converting the psuedo-accelero-grams of the artificial earthquakes into a half range sine expansion of the Fourier series by harmonic analysis. A comparison of the results obtained by each method is made for (a) an elastic system with no damping, (b) an elastic system with ten per cent of critical damping, and (c) an elasto-plastic system with ten per cent of critical damping. The objective of this study was to find through harmonic analysis a method to predict the approximate deflections of structures that might be caused by major earthquakes. It was found that the randomness of motion expressed by the psuedo-accelerograms does not permit generalizing the results of the harmonic analysis. / Master of Science

The creativity of 68 middle- and lower-class Caucasian preschool children attending a nursery school, kindergarten, or day-care center in Southwestern Virginia was measured by an object-identification originality test developed by Elizabeth K. Starkweather at the Oklahoma State University. Each child was tested individually by the investigator in an isolated room or special testing room. The Mann-Whitney U Test was employed to analyze differences, with a confidence level of .05. First born and only children were significantly more creative than later-born children. Middle-class children were significantly more creative than lower-class children. It was concluded that enrollment in a preschool program alone is not sufficient to increase the creativity of lower-class children to the level of their middle-class peers. It was also pointed out that some lower-class children were exceptionally creative and that further research into the home environments of these preschoolers might provide the answer to this puzzle. Experimental programs designed to increase creativity are needed to determine whether or not divergent thinking can be taught. / Master of Science

Master of Science

The design, fabrication and operation of a split Hopkinson bar apparatus is described. The theoretical basis for the experimental determination of material properties for materials subjected to high compressive strain rates using the split Hopkinson bar is discussed along with the assumptions made and their meanings. Some preliminary results for a lucite material are used to illustrate the type of information obtained from using the method. Limitations of the method and conclusions are discussed and recommendations are made. / Master of Science