Modal analysis on slabs, thin section petrography, microprobe analyses, and geological mapping have been performed on the Mount Airy granite and enclosing country rock. The pluton.is unzoned, simply intruded, and composed of a medium-grained, white granite, containing 33-41% plagioclase (An₁₀₋₂₀), 27-35% quartz, 20-28% alkali feldspar (Or₉₀), and 3-13% color index minerals, primarily biotite, muscovite, and epidote. A more granodiorite aplite phase intrudes the granite and is composed of An₉₋₃ plagioclase, Or₉₅ alkali feldspar, quartz, apatite, muscovite, biotite, and traces of epidote and zircon, and garnet. Aplite is a late segregation of granite and is associated with pegmatite. The enclosing country rock is amphibolite, pelitic schist, and pin-striped gneiss of the Alligator Back Formation. The pelites in contact with the granite on the southeast side have the assemblage garnet + biotite + staurolite consistent with the albite-epidote amphibolite facies metamorphism of the region. The granite has deformed the prior Ordovician foliation of the country rock and is itself cut by shears and folds close to the Brevard Zone. These are the result of Devonian-Mississippian movement on the Brevard. Some of the muscovite is primary in the granite, and epidote is not. Most of the muscovite, sphene, and low-An plagioclase are subsolidus. Alteration of biotite and plagioclase show an early, water-rich fluid evolving into a more CO₂-rich fluid as the rocks cooled. An injection temperature of 700-750°C and pressure of at least 5.5-7 Kbar is consistent with the mineral assemblages seen in the granite, xenoliths, and contact country rocks. The notable lack of hydrothermal activity at the granite margins is attributed to low H₂O content of the original magma and hydration reactions within the granite below the solidus. / Master of Science

The computer simulation language written in Fortran was used to model the Navy's PHALANX Mount and Antenna Compensation Network. This network is a feedback control system that filters out the effects of surface ship motion on a weapon's response to commands from the ship's fire control center. The network includes a number of non-standard elements that prevent mathematical prediction of its closed-loop response; therefore, a computer model was required to predict the network's output. The computer models were developed, validated and tested with a number of different inputs. The resultant outputs were compared with actual test data taken from a functional PHALANX mount compensation network. / Master of Science

The esterification of amino acids to the tRNA-like structures of viral genomic RNA was studied as catalyzed by amino acyl tRNA synthetases from E. coli, yeast, bean and rat. Peanut stunt virus RNA was esterified with tyrosine in the presence of bean tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase to a maximum of 22 mole percent (average MW = 1 x 10⁶ ). The rate of TYMV-RNA aminoacylation was extensively studied. In the presence of enzymes from E. coli, yeast and bean, the rate of aminoacylation was inhibited 4 fold by 47.5 mM KCl. In the presence of rat enzyme a 1.5 fold increase in rate was observed. In identical studies using tRNA, added KCl generally favored aminoacylation of tRNA by the homologous enzyme but disfavored heterologous reactions. The kinetic parameters (K_m and V_max of TYMV-RNA aminoacylation in the presence of valyl-tRNA synthetases from the four sources were determined and compared to results obtained for yeast and E. coli tRNA controls. TYMV-RNA was found to be a uniquely competent and versatile substrate as compared to tRNA. The K_m of yeast valyl-tRNA synthetase for TYMV-RNA (7 nM) is the second lowest K_m reported for any aminoacyl tRNA synthetase. Kinetic studies using TYMV-RNA with or without the 3' terminal AMP indicate that this AMP is involved in the binding of TYMV-RNA to yeast valyl-tRNA synthetase. / Master of Science

An evaluation was made of the performance of 48 11 x 63 11 , reversible, doubleface, wing-type, two-way entry, nailed red-oak, stevedore pallets of two designs assembled with four different nails. Special consideration was given to Brazilian situations in the light of the interest of the author in the industrial potential of Brazil. The pallets of improved design had their top and bottom leading-edge deckboards backed up by follow-up deckboards. Furthermore, four nails, instead of three, were used for fastening the leading-edge deckboards and three nai Is, instead of two, were used for fastening the inner deckboards to each stringer. The sequence of tests on each pallet started with the initial stiffness test, followed by the rigidity test, the impact-incline deckboard-stringer separation test, and the follow-up static stiff,!'1ess and load-carrying capacity tests. The pallets of improved design were better than those of conventional design during all tests performed. The influence of the nails on pallet performance was significantly different only during the performance of the rigidity and impact-incline tests. During the latter test, the pallets of improved design assembled with 311 helically threaded hardened-steel nails were, on the average, 66 times better than the conventional pallets assembled with the Brazilian 2 ½” helically fluted nails. Recommendations were advanced, suggesting that the study be continued and that special consideration be given to the wood species available in Brazil for pallet assembly, to the use of improved nails, and to the environmental conditions under which stevedore pallets are exposed. / Master of Science

An experimental study of the ignition of liquid fuels injected transverse to a hot supersonic (M=1.65) air stream was conducted. The liquids considered were kerosene, CS₂ and water as an inert control. The major variables were: air stagnation temperature in the range 1500 to 2300ºF, injectant flow rate and injection angles from 90º to 45º upstream. The experimental observations were: temperature measurements on the wall near the injector and in the flow downstream of injection self-luminosity photographs and infrared photographs taken with a Thermographic camera. Special attention was directed at the behavior of the liquid layer that had previously been found to form near the injector. No unequivocal evidence of ignition of either fuel was found for normal injection at these conditions. However, clear evidence of ignition of CS₂ was found for the upstream injection angle for T_o ≥ 2030°F and 80 ≤ P_j ≤ 135 psi. Higher injection pressures and thus high flow rates failed to produce ignition at any temperature tested. Evidence of CS₂ ignition was found in the infrared photographs and wall and in-stream temperature measurements simultaneously. The infrared photograph indicated possible ignition of the kerosene for upstream injection, but this could not be corroborated with the temperature measurements. / Master of Science

This study includes an examination of the attitudes which have shaped American domestic architecture, and an explanation of how the symbolic language of American suburban areas is important to the design of suburban residential development. A design case study is included, which illustrates how a concern for the preservation of the symbolic content of suburban form can be integrated with a desire to reduce the wasteful land coverage of the typical suburban settlement, in order to produce a new suburban pattern. Selected drawings and tables are used to illustrate the text, and to help explain the rationale behind the design case study. / Master of Architecture

An LSI-11 micro-processor and a Spectra-Physics model 3500B gradient elution liquid chromatography were interfaced for the purpose of automating the chromatograph, incorporating it into the laboratory data network system and collecting data for Michael Starlings' project. The automation involved the construction of hardware for the control of the chromatograph and for data acquisition and display and the writing of software to operate the interface. The LSI-11 collects data by clock interrupts while displaying the current data buffer on the oscilloscope. It stores all data files on a floppy disk storage device, accessed through the main host computer. An analysis of the data is performed by a peak processing routine, calculating peak area and retention time. The network is the DEC Rr-11/REMOTE system. It operates on a PDP-11-03 with a floppy disk system for mass storage. The laboratory system has three satellites operating under it. They can utilize all of the facilities of the main computer while maintaining a minimal operational configuration. The project also had the purpose of being assimilated into Michael Starlings' data correlation system. The LSI-11 will collect data and send it to the NOVA computer system where it will be stored. The system was tested with several mixtures and the results were found to be accurate and easily obtainable, / Master of Science

The objective of this study was to investigate what effect the concentration of microorganisms would have on substrate removal, microbial substrate storage, and oxygen utilization at a constant food-to-microorganism ratio. Batch experiments were conducted, under aerated and completely mixed conditions, using a domestic wastewater, a paper mill wastewater, and a food processing wastewater. A series of three batch experiments were run for each of these wastes. The food-to-microorganism ratio for each series was kept constant while the mixed liquor suspended solids concentration was varied for each of the experiments within the series. The following analyses were conducted on samples that were withdrawn at specified time intervals: filtered and settled COD, oxygen uptake, mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS), pH, protein concentration and carbohydrate concentration. No significant uptake and subsequent release of organic substrate was observed for any of the wastewaters studied. For the same F/M ratio, the rate of removal of organic substrate and the degree to which it was removed in the activated sludge system was found to be a direct function of the MLVSS concentration. The change in the cellular carbohydrate to cellular protein ratio in the activated sludge during substrate metabolism was a function of the MLVSS concentration. As the MLVSS concentration increased, the carbohydrate to protein ratio, which is an indicator of substrate storage, also increased, even though the F/M ratio was held constant. / Master of Science

Some alarming trends in commercial forest acreage and pine growing stocks have been developing over the course of four Forest Surveys in eastern Virginia; Forest Survey Unit 1. The importance of the timber resource to the region's economy has brought about a need for research into the long-run timber prospects. Long-run timber output potentials in eastern Virginia are primarily dependent upon two factors: Prospective changes in commercial forest acreage and the intensity with which the forest acreage is managed. An analysis of past trends and a study of the opinions of knowledgeable persons in eastern Virginia lead to the estimate that commercial forest acreage will dec~ease approximately 9 percent by 2020. As for timber management intensity, the study commences with data on cubic-foot yields for the five major forest types, as related to stand age and stocking. From these data, potential yield, per acre and total, is estimated for each class of forest owner. The study finds that in eastern Virginia, nonindustrial private owners are managing their timber much more intensively than generally supposed. In fact, their timber output per acre is on a par with that of public and forest industry owners. If pine timber output is to be increased in the long run, apparently conversion of hardwood stands to pine, not more intensive management of existing stands, will be the means. / Master of Science

Because of a prevalent concern that feeder heifer prices are often bid below their true value, particularly in Virginia, a study was made of factors affecting price differentials between steers and heifers, and of variations in these differentials across regions and over time. The fall market sex price differential for feeder calves in Virginia (1964 through 1976) was compared to the differential in five other regions: the Corn Belt, the Southeast, the Plains, the Mountain States, and California. A cross-section time-series model was designed in which sex price differentials across years and regions were regressed against hay prices, short-term feeder cattle price expectations, the corn price, the fed cattle sex price differential, and the heifer-steer proportion on feed. In addition to these economic variables, five regional zero-one intercept shifters were included; all explanatory variables accounted for 84.8 percent of the variation in the feeder sex price differential, while the economic variables alone accounted for 71.6 percent of the variation across regions and over time. Based upon this research, the steer-heifer feeder price differential in Virginia may be expected in most years to exceed the sex price spread in other markets; however, the estimated effect of the economic variables was not sufficient to entirely account for the higher Virginia sex price differential. One possible reason is that some relevant economic variable(s) were excluded; or pricing distortions may exist due to a lack of price information or due to imperfections in the grading system. / Master of Science