..."there was less similarity between the response pairs comprising the PA list than there was between the response alternatives presented during the practice trial. Consequently, the anticipation of control developed from experience with the practice trial could have been reduced when the subjects chose the response words for the PA trials. It is this reduction in perceived control which is assumed to be responsible for the failure to obtain the predicted differences in PA performance between Choice and Force subjects. One method of testing the above explanation would be to introduce the experimenter's request to choose only preselected response words during the practice trial, thereby reducing the possibility of subjects experiencing a reduction in perceived control later in the experiment." / Master of Science

The Commission on State Governmental Management has nearly completed a five-year study of the executive branch of Virginia government and has developed a number of recommendations which have been implemented to varying degrees at this time. The reorganization efforts of this Commission have resulted in the initiation of a more integrated management and decision-making system--a system that promises to improve procedures for allocating resources and encourage increased accountability for performance in state government. The degree of success and also the particular failures that the Commission has experienced are explained through examination of previous reorganization efforts and the problems in state governmental management which prompted its formation--providing an outline of the historical and contemporary constraints and opportunities influencing the reform process. The Commission's approach and procedures, its specific proposals and the present status of these proposals are discussed. Special emphasis is placed on evaluating the management, planning, and budgeting systems developed as a result of Commission recommendations. This analysis is intended to provide a background for suggesting the difficulties that Commission reforms face in implementation and for preliminarily assessing the impact of the Commission's work on Virginia government. / Master of Urban Affairs

The problem considered here is one of finding the minimal Hamiltonian chain of a graph. A single chain must traverse all 𝑛 vertices of a graph with the minimal distance. The proposed procedure reduces a large problem into several smaller problems and uses a branch and bound algorithm to find the minimal Hamiltonian chain of each partitioned subproblem. The graph is decomposed and partitioned into subproblems with the use of necessary conditions for the existence of a Hamiltonian chain. This process is only applicable to graphs with relatively few incident edges per vertex. The branch and bound algorithm makes use of concepts developed by Nicos Christofides. Hamiltonian chains are derived by using minimal spanning trees. / Master of Science

Ninety 12 month old female rats were used to determine a protein requirement for tissue maintenance. Diets contained 0.84 to 4.69 percent protein and were fed for 28 days. Liver composition, carcass composition and serum protein levels were determined, and a protein requirement level was also predicted. Rats fed 0.84 and 1.86 percent protein had significantly lower serum protein values than a baseline group of rats sacrificed at the beginning of the study. Rats fed the two highest levels of dietary protein had serum protein values which were significantly higher than the baseline group and that of rats fed 2.81 percent protein was not significantly different from that of the baseline group. Rats fed 0.84, 1.86 and 2.81 percent protein had excessive liver fat, indicative of protein deficiency. No group was found to have liver nitrogen values comparable to that of the baseline group. All rats except those fed 0.84 percent protein had significantly more carcass fat than the baseline group. Total carcass nitrogen of rats fed 2.81, 3.77 and 4.69 percent protein were not significantly different from the baseline group indicating a general state of nitrogen equilibrium in these animals. Using linear regression, a protein requirement of 4.07 percent of the diet was predicted. Comparison of this value with other literature values was difficult due to differences in experimental design. It was suggested that in further research of this kind a longer study should be conducted and a concurrent baseline group should be used. / Master of Science

This article is concerned with the reapplication of procedures used by Mr. Wade D. Burns in his West End Restoration Project in other inner-city reviving and borderline neighborhoods. Besides a basic historical account, it includes an article written by Sheila Ochner about West End for publication, a descriptive outline requested by the mayor's office and a paper dealing with gentrification, a controversial evolution brought on by the revitalization process. / Master of Architecture

A project located at the VPI & SU Swine Center was used to investigate the utilization of a waste treatment lagoon as an energy source to heat swine housing. The investigation test procedure consisted of two main components: (1) the design and testing of a heating system using a solar assisted heat pump and (2) the development of a computer model to simulate lagoon response to energy gains and losses. The energy lost by the lagoon was considered to occur by conduction, convection, evaporation and radiation. Under natural weather conditions, the losses due to these factors become gains when the lagoon temperature is less than the temperature of the surrounding earth and air. Energy gain by the lagoon under most operating conditions was due to solar insolation. By using the information generated by the computer model and data collected during the testing of the system, it was concluded that there is low level energy available in the waste treatment lagoon. Also, the removal of the low level energy for heating swine housing has little effect upon the thermal stability of the lagoon. / Master of Science

The objective of this research was to determine the optimal number, size, and location of fluid bottling and manufacturing plants, under a totally coordinated marketing system, in the southeastern United States. A transshipment model was developed through which economies of size in processing were taken into consideration. Sources of Grade A and B raw milk, fluid consumption centers, each a potential fluid processing site, and potential manufacturing sites were delineated. Quantities supplied or demanded at 1976 levels were estimated for each location. Consumption centers were given the option of being served from distant plants. Transportation costs were calculated from raw sources to processing sites and from processing sites to final demand points. Processing cost functions for both types of plants were specified. The results indicated that, given the data and assumptions, the economies of size in processing are not great enough to offset the diseconomies in transportation to the extent that fluid consumption centers can be served from plants in other locations at a lower total cost. The number of manufacturing plants operated was limited to the number of plants necessary to provide sufficient total processing capacity to manufacture the regional manufactured product requirement. It was concluded that considerable adjustment in the fluid processing sector has taken place with respect to location and number of plants. It was further concluded that once fluid processing locations and quantities are known, that an organization may coordinate only the assembly and manufacturing functions in a manner approaching optimal. / Master of Science

A study was conducted of the corticolous lichen community of Q. rubra on the southeast face of Salt Pond Mountain, Giles County, Virginia. These communities were examined according to altitude, vertical level on the tree, total lichen cover, lichen growth form composition, and the presence and abundance of foliose and fruticose species. Moss percentage cover was also estimated in situ as an indicator of available moisture trends. The results of this study indicate that, with the exception of fruticose lichens, the character and species composition of this lichen community does not vary directly in accordance with altitude. Most of the 48 fruticose and foliose lichen species examined exhibited their greatest frequency and abundance at a preferred vertical height above the ground. These lichen communities appear to lack the characteristics of those disturbed by atmospheric sulfur dioxide. / Master of Science

No description available.

No description available.