The purpose of the research described herein was to establish the algorithms necessary to perform life-cycle analyses of the solar heat gain through building windows as a function of the ability of the glazing to allow the penetration and utilization within the interior built environment of available sensible radiation from the natural environment. The life-cycle cost model allows evaluations which will influence the glazing selection in response to seasonal changes in insolation and the net energy effect of orientation. The research consisted of two phases. The first included a search of the literature on energy related studies and resulted in a complication of algorithms necessary to determine heat gain through windows, equations required to determine energy cost, and equations necessary to perform life-cycle costing. The second phase of the research was a synthesis process to resolve interfacing problems between unlike calculation systems and units of measure which were encountered. This was accomplished through basic inductive processes familiar to life-cycle costing/value engineering techniques. This resulted in a schematic model to correlate the heat gain calculation with the energy cost calculation to determine the life-cycle cost for the window assembly. The research built upon existing processes to develop a more comprehensive technique for the analysis of window systems to aid in meeting economic specifications during the winter heating months. / Master of Architecture

Trapping was conducted on 12 abandoned contour surface mines in southwestern Virginia during the summer of 1976 to determine relationships between small mammal diversity and abundance and select vegetation and site factors. Eleven species of mammals were captured during four, six-night trapping periods. Peromyscus leucopus noveboracensis and P. maniculatus nubiterrae were the most abundant and widespread mammals encountered on the mines. Other mammalian species were captured infrequently. General habitat types were noted where species other than Peromyscus were most frequently captured. Reforested mine habitats were utilized most heavily by small mammals. Herbaceous areas received little use during the summer, but may be more extensively utilized during the winter when food supplies in the forest are low. Peromyscus abundance, as measured by trapping success, was positively associated with the development of forested habitats possessing a diverse vegetative profile on the mines. Areas where Peromyscus was captured had significantly greater vegetation development and significantly higher soil pH and nutrient levels than areas where these mice were not captured. Peromyscus populations on the mines may be an important source of food for larger mammals and birds. These mice may also be useful as minimum indicators of wildlife habitat quality and hence serve as a criterion in the evaluation of wildlife-oriented surface mine reclamation work. / Master of Science

New and standard pesticides applied to peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.) in Virginia were evaluated for control of the potato leafhopper. Leafhopper populations on test plots were monitored throughout 1975 and 1976 using a 12-inch sweep net. Grade, yield, and value data were collected from all experiments. Significant reductions of leafhopper populations were achieved with a broad range of chemicals. In many instances, the pesticidal activity of the test materials was not significantly affected by reducing their rate of application. Despite heavy leafhopper populations and injury levels during the two seasons, regression analyses demonstrated a lack of association between peanut values (dollars per acre) and potato leafhopper infestations or injury. Controlling the leafhopper did not significantly affect peanut values. / Master of Science

During the refueling of a pressurized water nuclear reactor, a group of operations termed the fuel shuffle is performed. Certain fuel and control components are removed from or inserted into the reactor core. Specific assemblies are transferred to new, predetermined locations within the core. An analysis of the problem of scheduling these fuel-shuffling operations is presented. The objective is to minimize the shuffle completion time in order to ensure that the fuel shuffle does not delay reactor startup. A heuristic scheduling procedure currently employed in industry involves the decomposition of the problem into groups of related operations. A computer program is used for the identification of the groups in a given shuffle and for the application of scheduling rules for the individual groups. To provide improvements over existing techniques, attention is focused on the development of heuristic methods for scheduling these groups of operations. These groups are also combined, and an integer programming model for this integration process is presented. Three sample shuffles are considered, and an analysis of effective scheduling techniques is conducted for a representative set of fuel-handling equipment. Efforts are made to eliminate the unnecessary equipment moves and idle time present in existing schedules. Improved, near-optimal schedules are developed, and the potential benefits gained from future efforts to reduce the shuffling time are shown to be insignificant. / Master of Science

A study of two types of high efficiency gas chromatographic columns was conducted. The first type (micropacked) can be defined as columns having an internal diameter less than 1 mm and a particle/column diameter ratio between 0.1 and O.3 and a packing density comparable to conventional packed columns. The second type, slurry packed gas chromatographic columns can be defined as columns which are prepared by using high liquid pressure to rapidly pass a stable suspension of small diameter packing material into the column. This procedure packs small particles more homogeneously and more efficiently. The standard procedure for preparing micropacked columns was evaluated and modified to increase the reproducibility of the technique. Different methods of preparing the packing materials were investigated. Parameters such as particle size, column length, and sample size were studied. Slurry packing techniques which are commonly used for the preparation of high efficiency LC columns were adapted for preparation of GC columns. A study was made to determine optimum particle size for maximum efficiency in gas chromatographic columns. Columns prepared by conventional diy packing technique were compared to columns packed using the slurry packing technique to determine reproducibility of packing technique and column efficiency. Slurry packed columns were used in both LC and GC modes. A study was made to determine the effect of column diameter, column length, column temperature, and sample capacity on efficiency. Applications for slurry packed gas-solid adsorption columns were studied. This method of slurry packing GC columns increased the efficiency by as much as five-fold over values previously reported. Results of the study indicated that optimum particle diameter was 53 μm - 63 μm with an optimum column diameter of 9.9 mm. The results of column temperature studies indicate the minimum column temperature compatible with the sample being analyzed should be used for maximum efficiency. / Ph. D.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of inland navigation user charges on barge wheat movements on both the entire inland waterway system and on particular segments of the system. In order to accomplish these objectives, transshipment models were constructed, examining three wheat varieties: hard red spring, hard red winter, and soft red winter. The models permitted basically two types of movements from producing to consuming areas: direct movements or movements through river transshipment points. This allowed the models to choose between barge transportation and competitive modes. Consuming regions were comprised of domestic milling points and foreign countries. Exports to any given point were allowed to move through any of several U.S. ports, depending upon relative transport costs. This endowed the models with a great deal of flexibility in the export sector, which is critically important for barge transportation of wheat. Data used in the models included 1970-71 wheat production and consumption, and 1975 barge and rail rates, truck costs, and handling costs for each mode. User charges were based on 1974 operation and maintenance costs of the inland waterway system and 1974 barge ton-miles. Base solutions (i.e. without user charges) were obtained for each of the models, and then each was run with user charges recovering from 25 to 500 percent of annual O & M costs. The effect of uniform charges and charges specific to each waterway were examined. Major results included: (1) few wheat movements were significantly affected by uniform charges recovering 100% of costs, with a moderate reduction in total barge wheat traffic; (2) specific charges seriously reduced wheat traffic on certain high cost rivers (such as the Missouri and the Arkansas), but also only brought about a moderate reduction of wheat movements on the total system. General characteristics of areas susceptible to user charges were pointed out, and an attempt was made to indicate wheat movements potentially to be affected by user charges, if other relevant factors were allowed to change. / Ph. D.

The problem of the study was that of determining parents' opinions regarding the value of homebased programs in which they were taught to teach their preschool handicapped children. The data in the study consisted of responses by forty selected parents on the Value of Program Instrument which was developed for the study using the definition of value as defined by Krathwohl, Bloom and Masia. Parents' acceptance, preference, and commitment to the program were measured in association with the parents' educational levels and their child's type of handicap. All computations were done on an IBM computer using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The data was analyzed using crosstabulations, non-parametric statistical tests of significance, and appropriate descriptive statistics. The following are the conclusions made as a result of the findings: As participants in a parent training program, parents needed information on how to help their children learn and on how to help them to adjust to their children. Parents were pleased with the way the homebased preschool program operated but they also wanted to have the Child Development Specialist visit more frequently than once a week. Parents, to a small degree had initiated contact which led to the placement of their children in the program; the majority of children were placed however through initial action of the Child Development Specialist. Parents were pleased with the Child Development Specialist to the extent that they would choose them if they had a choice of teachers. "Helping my child learn" was chosen as the most important of ten topics for use in a parent training program, while "managing money" was chosen as the least important. Parents overwhelmingly accepted the homebased programs as indicated by their willingness to be associated with it, but there was no relationship between their acceptance and their educational level or their child's type of handicap. Parents preferred the program as indicated by their wanting, seeking, and pursuing it, but there was no relationship between their preference for the program and their educational level or their child's type of handicap. More than one third of the parents were committed to the program as indicated by their acts to further it, but the majority of parents were uncertain about their commitment. There was no association between their feelings of commitment about the program and their educational level or child's type of handicap. Parents and home teachers did not differ in their reporting of the parents' acceptance, preference and commitment to the homebased preschool program. / Ed. D.

The recycle of anaerobic digester supernatant, a low volume, highly concentrated waste stream, to the headworks of a sewage treatment plant has long been suspected and recognized as being detrimental to the wastewater treatment process. This study was concerned with the removal of phosphorus, nitrogenous, and carbonaceous pollutants from the supernatant by use of chemical precipitants. Emphasis was placed on achieving maximum phosphorus removal. Lime, ferric chloride, and alum were the precipitants used in this study. All precipitants effectively reduced the total phosphate concentration by 98.5% or better. For lime an end point pH of 12.3 or greater corresponded to the maximum phosphorus removal. No attempt was made to adjust the sample pH in the experiments employing ferric chloride or alum. Significant suspended solids and chemical oxygen demand removals were observed at the precipitant dosages which resulted in maximum phosphorus removal. Ammonia removal was insignificant. Aeration of a supernatant sample to remove carbon dioxide and raise the initial pH resulted in reducing the amount of lime required to achieve maximum phosphorus removal by approximately 40%. / M.S.

Winston Churchill's active encouragement of close Anglo-American relations during the early phases of the Second World War was an important part of his direction of the British war effort. The relationship between Churchill and Roosevelt grew warmer as the war progressed and affected the outcome of the war. This relationship developed slowly out of the efforts of Churchill to obtain allies to fight against Germany. Churchill was successful in securing evidence of American support early in the war, first in the form of destroyers and Lend-Lease. In 1941 in the Atlantic these two leaders met secretly and produced an eight point plan for the post-war world. Churchill and Roosevelt met several more times during the war, and each time they released reports of the results of the meeting. Churchill was the dominant force in the partnership early in the war. As the war progressed, Roosevelt gradually began to assume leadership, especially after the United States became the dominant military power of the war. At Teheran, Churchill met for the first time with their third major ally, Joseph Stalin. From this time on, Roosevelt was clearly the dominant leader of the allies. The relationship of Roosevelt and Churchill is an important aspect of the Second World War. / M.A.

CNDO/2 molecular orbital calculations were performed on a series of twenty-nine derivatives of methaqualone (2-methyl-3-o-tolyl-4(3H)-quinazoline). The indices which were computed were frontier electron densities, charge densities, E_HOMO, E_LUMO, the difference between E_HOMO and E_LUMO, the electrophilic superdelocalizabillty using only the HOMO and also by summation over the occupied orbitals, and the nucleophilic superdelocalizabilities using only the LUMO and by summation over the unoccupied orbitals. Biological activity data was available from the results of nine testing procedures which examine the compounds' sedative and anticonvulsant activities. Each type of biological data was used to seek correlations with the molecular orbital. indices. Useful equations were calculated for six of the biological tests; these may prove to be useful for the prediction of new active compounds. / M.S.