Experiments were conducted to determine the palatability and digestibility of corn oil by ponies. A 15-day palatability trial established 20% as the maximum level of corn oil readily consumed by the ponies. Three digestion trials were conducted with eight mature gelding ponies weighing about 225 kg (incomplete Latin squares). A 7-day preliminary period preceded each 7-day collection period. Canvass collection bags and harnesses were used to collect total fecal excreta. In each trial, two ponies were fed each of four rations. The basal ration was composed of chopped alfalfa hay, cracked corn and crimped oats. In the experimental rations, corn oil was substituted for 5, 10 and 20% of the basal ration. At the end of each trial blood samples were taken. Addition of oil to the ration did not affect the apparent digestibility of crude protein. Apparent digestibility of fatty acids increased linearly with the level of corn oil. Values were 43, 62, 70 and 85% for rations containing 0, 5, 10 and 20% corn oil, respectively. Apparent digestibility of fatty acids in the corn oil, calculated by difference increased with level of corn oil. The value was 94% for the oil when substituted for 20% of the basal ration. Blood hemoglobin and hematocrit were normal and were not affected by feeding corn oil. Serum cholesterol increased from the addition of corn oil (122, 144, 148, 155 mg/100 ml for rations containing 0, 5, 10 and 20% oil, respectively). Serum triglyceride levels were not affected by ration fed. Serum calcium and magnesium levels remained in the normal range, and were not consistently affected by the corn oil level in the ration. / Master of Science

This study investigated the effect of sex of stimulus upon perception of violent themes in binocular rivalry by males and females. In binocular rivalry, two non-identical stimuli are presented to the subject, one to each eye. The subject then reports his perception of the stimuli shown. Previous research has shown that the familiar is reported more often than the unfamiliar, and that use of violent stimuli elicit more violent responses in certain classes of subject. This study introduced female stimuli in the same number, violent and non-violent, as male stimuli to assess any effect such a modification might have. The results showed that in both males and females, male stimuli were interpreted violently more often then female stimuli. This seems to be the result of the visual inputs that the subjects are confronted with in real life. Males are portrayed as more physically violent than females, and the results are a reflection of what the subjects expected to see, that is, what was more familiar. The topics of subject reliability, eye dominance, and perceptual versus response bias were also addressed. It was suggested that binocular rivalry research be conducted in the direction of its use as a projective technique and its relation to such concepts as psychological androgyny. / Master of Science

In 1860, Lynchburg was a thriving tobacco town. The "golden leaf" had stimulated the economy and made the city financially sound. When civil war erupted, Lynchburg cast her fate with Virginia and the Confederacy. Mobilization began at a rapid rate. Men flocked to the ranks, industries geared to war production and women began making clothing for the soldiers. Located on three railroad lines and a canal, Lynchburg became an important transportation link for the Confederacy. Soldiers poured into the city during the first year of war. The city established two camps accommodating over 10,000 soldiers. A military hospital came into being shortly thereafter. As the war progressed, sick and wounded men poured into Lynchburg in such a stream that three general military hospitals and three independent hospitals were ultimately established. The general hospitals were divided into divisions and extended even into various tobacco factories. Lynchburg constantly faced inflation and scarcity during the war. Sometimes action from local authorities aided the problem, but many times Lynchburg citizens lived in fear of privation. With the city full of transit soldiers, crime became an almost insurmountable problem. The end finally came on April 12, 1865, when Mayor Branch surrendered the city to Federal troops. / Master of Arts

Many years of continuous collections of deer kill data on state game management areas have largely been poorly utilized by deer biologists. Recent computer modeling developments have provided a vehicle for the examination of these collections of data. This thesis represents an attempt to demonstrate the usefulness of minimum population reconstruction in defining those populations that best contrast different harvest strategies. Buck-only deer hunting is compared to either-sex hunting on two similar areas. To determine if variables such as weather are acting to alter hunter participation and harvest in southeastern deer herds, 25 independent variables were tested. Correlation coefficients and maximum R² improvements provided the statistical basis for drawing conclusions concerning the relative "strength" of these variables. Higher than normal temperatures before and during the hunt were found to be positive contributors to harvest, as was precipitation before the hunt. Hunt days that followed nights of full moon also demonstrated a positive, but generally weak association with kill. The size of the deer population on an area, and the number of hunters that participate in a hunt were found to be the most powerful contributors to overall deer harvest. An evaluation of vegetative density indicated that buck hunting is most successful on areas that are more open, whereas doe harvest was related more to a denser vegetative classification. Buck-only hunting, when promoted over long periods of time, was found to drastically distort male age structure in favor of young age classes. Heavy either-sex harvests, however, provided not only a greater harvest of deer, but sex and age classes remained relatively stable in the herd. Continual monitoring of deer kill and careful analysis of reliable data through modeling is a most efficient method for not only detecting potential problems in herd welfare, but also in the establishment of forthcoming hunt regulations. / Master of Science

Three problems associated with the taxonomy and growth of anaerobic cocci belonging to the genera Peptococcus and Peptostreptococcus were studied. One study involved the designation of the neotype strain of Peptococcus niger, the type species of the genus Peptococcus. The type strain had been lost, and there were no extant ·strains of this taxonomically important species. Several strains of anaerobic cocci isolated from the navels of several human subjects were found to be identical with the original description of Peptococcus niger. Therefore, an amended description of this species was published. Another study involved the taxonomic status of Peptococcus anaerobius. A search of the early descriptions of Peptococcus anaerobius revealed that the original description of the species was probably based on descriptions of several different anaerobic cocci. Consequently, a request has been made of the Judicial Commission of the International Committee on Systematic Bacteriology to reject the name Peptococcus anaerobius as a nomen confusum. A third study involved the inhibition of growth of Peptostreptococcus anaerobius by sodium polyanethol sulfonate (SPS). Gelatin and protease peptone were found to protect Peptostreptococcus anaerobius from inhibition of growth by SPS, and, therefore, are useful additions to blood culture media for the purpose of enhancing isolation of Peptostreptococcus anaerobius from blood cultures. Numerous strains of other anaerobic cocci were also tested for sensitivity to SPS. / Master of Science

Containerized Virginia pine seedlings were inoculated with Pisolithus tinctorius and grown monoxenically in various substrates consisting of peat:vermiculite amended by mine spoil. Significantly better seedling growth and ectomycorrhizal development occurred when substrates were inoculated three weeks before or at seeding, rather than three weeks after seeding or not at all. Low levels of mine spoil substrate amendments did not affect seedling growth, but did result in significantly lower ectomycorrhizal development. A concurrent open-air greenhouse study showed that mine spoil amendments aided seedling growth more than inoculation did. Mycorrhizal infection was not affected by spoil substrate. Recommendations for the production of mycorrhizal container stock were presented. / Master of Science

The feasibility of a geographical information base for supporting industrial forestry operations decisions was investigated by identifying the data needs of the industry, the sources of the data with the data's availability, cost, and media, and the available software which could be used in developing the system. The major data needs are a description of an area by terrain, soils, forest type with growth and removal data, and climatic data. Information on the micro-terrain encountered in an area was often requested by equipment companies. Land and mill managing firms requested soils data of a site quality nature while equipment companies wanted trafficability measurements. Both wanted information describing the local wood using industry by type and size of firm, the raw material{s) procured, production capacity, and product(s). The sources of the data are numerous, and much of the data can be acquired in machine readable form. Soils data presents the largest problem of high cost and time to gather and input, and is not available for many areas. Work on extraction and interpolation of forest survey data is necessary to meet equipment engineering needs. The system is best developed in a modular fashion. Much of the software can be directly purchased. Conscientious efforts must be made to include input from potential users in the development and implementation of the system if it is to succeed. It was concluded that further development should be aimed at the equipment companies where the information base appeared most needed and wanted. / Master of Science

The purpose of this research was the development of a vocational interest inventory for the child development and family relationships areas. Three broad occupational areas covering the field - child development, family service, and teaching/extension - were identified. Responses of professionals concerning characteristics of their vocation were utilized to develop thirty questions for each area. Items were randomly arranged into a questionnaire which was administered to a sample of 462 undergraduates whose responses underwent principal components factor analysis followed by orthogonal rotation. Six factors - Teaching/Extension, Child Development, Family Service, Work with Handicapped, Group Child Care, Child Service Organizational Activities - were identified and factor-related scores were generated for each respondent. All MHFD junior/senior scores (N = 91) underwent pattern analysis which revealed three groups whose probability of chance occurrence was S .03. Occupational profiles generated from each group represent minimum and maximum response levels obtained by group members for each of the six factors. Two Child Development and Family Service profile were generated. These three profiles do not represent all junior/senior respondents. Only 27% and 18% of the Child Development and Family Service respondents, respectively, contributed to profile development. When all freshman/sophomore scores were compared with the identified profiles, approximately 20% of the respondents had occupationally interpretable patterns. Thus, many individuals cannot be counseled positively on the basis of inventory results. Results should be considered tentative and should be used as a guide in conjunction with other vocational guidance techniques. Administration to a large professional sample is recommended. / M. S.

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived skills and knowledge levels that were being taught in the Cooperative Office Education programs in the state of Virginia and to determine if those skills and knowledge competency levels are accurately meeting the needs as perceived by the graduates who are employed in office occupations. The population for the study consisted of all the secondary Cooperative Office Education teacher-coordinators in the state of Virginia who conducted programs during the 1974-1975 school year and who continued in that same capacity in the 1975-1976 school year, and their 1974-1975 graduates who were employed in office occupations. Instruments were mailed to graduates employed in office occupations upon return of the teacher-coordinator responses. The data were processed at the Computing Center, Virginia Polytechnic Institute University, Blacksburg, Virginia. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was the computer program that was used. A t-Test was used to determine if there were significant differences in the level taught by teacher-coordinators and the perceived level of use by graduates for each of the forty-two items of skill and knowledge. The differences were considered significant at the .01 level. Teacher-coordinators of the Cooperative Office Education programs taught skills and knowledge at a significantly different level than graduates employed in office occupations used them in nineteen of the forty-two skills and knowledge items listed on the questionnaire. The items are as follows: alphabetic filing, oral and written reports, business ethics, addressing machine skill, rotary calculator, banking procedures, standard electric typewriting, geographic filing, carbon paper process, applying for a job, full-key adding machine, bookkeeping/ accounting machines, ten-key adding machine, manual typewriting, Gregg shorthand, electronic calculator, transcribing machine, stencil process, and fluid process. Seventeen of these nineteen items were perceived to have been taught at a significantly higher level than graduates perceived these items to be used in office occupations. Only two of these nineteen items; bookkeeping/accounting machines, and addressing machine skill, were perceived to have been used by graduates at a higher level than teachers attempted to teach that skill or knowledge. The data indicated that teacher-coordinators were setting high standards in the Cooperative Office Education programs of Virginia. A significant difference did not exist between the perceived levels of teaching skills and knowledge and the perceived levels of their use for twenty-three of the forty-two items listed on the questionnaire. The items are as follows: numeric filing, subject filing, recordkeeping, automatic typewriting, proportional space typewriting, machine shorthand, composing letters, telephone training, receptionist duties, use of reference materials, simulated keypunch, keypunch, appearance, attitude, travel and transportation, office supplies, parliamentary procedure, offset printing process, photocopier, key-driven calculator, business math, personal money management, and consumer education. / ED. D.

The purpose of this exploratory research study was to investigate, both theoretically and experimentally, the hypothesis that the manipulation of concrete materials can contribute substantively to the learning of the operation of multiplication of polynomials and its inverse, factorization, in children who are in eighth-grade pre-algebra mathematics classes. The study involved a comparison of the achievement of students who used manipulatives to learn how to multiply and factor polynomials with the achievement of those who did not use manipulatives to learn to operate on the polynomials. The instructional material designed for use by both treatment groups was based on the theory of learning developed by this writer. It was theorized that as students use manipulatives to learn mathematical concepts the actions performed upon the concrete materials would be abstracted or internalized in the mind as operations. The study involved four teachers and 173 students from two middle schools in the Pulaski County School System, Pulaski, Virginia. The means and standard deviations of the students' scores on both the immediate posttest and retention test were compared as well as inferences made from the data using several analyses of covariance. The Orleans-Hanna Algebra Prognosis Test served as the pretest for this study. The F ratios from the analyses of covariance conducted on the immediate posttest scores from Experiment I indicated that (1) using the total population of students, there was no statistical difference in mean scores between the manipulative and nonmanipulative groups (p = 0.385); (2) using only Teacher A's students, there was no statistical difference in mean scores between the manipulative and nonmanipulative groups (p = 0.609); and (3) using only Teacher B's students, there was a marginal difference in mean scores between the manipulative and nonmanipulative groups (p = 0.071), favoring the nonmanipulative group. The F ratios from analyses of covariance conducted on the retention test scores from Experiment I indicated that (1) using the total population of students, there was a statistical difference in mean scores between the manipulative and nonmanipulative groups (p < 0.005), favoring the manipulative groups; (2) using only Teacher A's students, there was a statistical difference in mean scores between the manipulative and nonmanipulative groups (p < 0.009), favoring the manipulative group; (3) using only Teacher B's students there was no statistical difference in mean scores between the manipulative and the nonmanipulative groups (p = 0.241). However, the mean score of Teacher B's manipulative group was higher than the mean score of his nonmanipulative group. The study was replicated (Experiment II) immediately following Experiment I in two classes taught by Teacher D.* The F ratio from an analysis of covariance conducted on the immediate posttest scores indicated that there was no statistical difference in mean scores between the manipulative and nonmanipulative groups (p = 0.762). The F ratio from an analysis of covariance conducted on the retention test scores indicated that there was no statistical difference in mean scores between the manipulative and nonmanipulative groups (p = 0.143). However, the mean score of the manipulative group was higher than the mean score of the nonmanipulative group. In summary, there are implications from these findings that the manipulation of concrete materials by students does aid the learning of the mathematical transformation of multiplication of polynomials and its inverse, factorization. This was especially evident for retention of the operations. These findings support the theory of learning conceptualized for this study. *Teacher C was omitted from the analyses of the data since she taught only a manipulative group. / ED. D.