An eight week controlled feeding study was conducted to determine the effects of dietary zinc and copper on plasma zinc, copper, total cholesterol (TC), and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels in young adult males receiving two levels of zinc. Source of dietary calcium was also varied, however possible interactions or effects of calcium were not determined in this study. Subjects consumed zinc supplements of 10 mg/day, in combination with 1 of 3 diets, resulting in zinc:copper ratios of 30: 1 (Dairy Calcium, or DC group), 20:1 (Control or CO group), and 20:1 (Calcium Carbonate or CC group). Copper content of all diets was approximately 1 mg/day. Plasma levels of zinc, copper, TC, and HDL-C did not differ significantly between the groups. However, plasma levels of copper, zinc, and HDL-C, were found to be significantly affected by the specific week of controlled feeding across all 3 groups (p<.05). Plasma copper at baseline was significantly lower than at weeks 2,4,6, 8, and post treatment. Plasma zinc at baseline, and weeks 2 and 4, was found to be significantly lower than at weeks 6, 8, and post treatment. At week 6, plasma HDL-C was noted to be significantly higher than at baseline, weeks 2, 4, 8, and post treatment. Spearman correlation coefficients determined negative correlations between plasma copper and TC (r=-0.39, p<0.04), and plasma copper and zinc (r=-0.43, p<0.02) in the DC group. A positive correlation was also noted between plasma zinc and TC (r=0.32, p<0.10) in the DC group. Plasma copper and HDL-C were determined to be negatively correlated in the CO group (r=-0.48, p<0.005). Plasma zinc and HDL-C were found to be negatively correlated in the CC group (r=-0.58, p<0.001). / Master of Science

Lignans are a structurally diverse group of phenylpropanoid metabolites widely distributed throughout the plant kingdom. Their biogenetic pathway has generally been viewed to occur via coupling of two monomeric moieties, with subsequent modifications as required to afford the various Iignan skeleton structures. Podophyllotoxin is a tetrahydronaphthalene lignan found in Podophyllum species, and its derivative etoposide is widely used medicinally for skin cancer and venereal warts (Condyloma acuminatum). In this investigation, the biogenetic pathway to podophyllotoxin was investigated using whole plants, as well as callus and rhizome tissue. In contrast to previous claims in the literature, no active metabolism leading to podophyllotoxin formation in vivo in callus culture was observed. Similar findings were also noted for rhizome tissue. With whole plants, experiments investigating podophyllotoxin formation have been limited to employing lignan substrates, labeled specifically with carbon-14 and tritium. No stable isotopes, e.g carbon-13 or deuterium, have been used because of low incorporations. / Master of Science

The objective of this study is to assess the effects of several variables, identified by research on Western, industrialized countries, on the occurrence of wife abuse in a developing Asian society, Thailand. The following variables are organized in two path analysis models: social isolation of the wife, socio-economic status, duration of the marriage, number of children, wife's employment status, husband's level of stress, severity of his drinking problem, and marital conflict. Two separate measures of socioeconomic status are tested, one using traditional items--income, occupational prestige, and education, and another measure incorporating several possessions, such as automobiles, appliances, and entertainment items. While the bivariate analysis showed little correlation among the independent variables and wife abuse, the intervening variables--stress, drinking, and marital conflict--were highly related. The results of the multiple regression and path analyses revealed that marital conflict had the strongest effect and was the best predictor of wife abuse. Stress and drinking also had a significant effect on wife abuse. While number of children, years married, social isolation of the wife, and her employment status appeared to have little impact on wife abuse, socio-economic status (both measures) is consistently related with wife abuse, and with all the intervening variables. The combination of the variables in the models explain approximately 15% to 20% of the variance in wife abuse in Thailand. / Master of Science

A wideband microwave balun is designed to adapt unbalanced to balanced transmission line networks. The balun is realized by a planar microstrip line configuration on a double copper c1added teflon-ceramic C0I11posite board. The microstrip line conductor pattern was formed on the board using the chemical etching process. The fabricated balun is measured and evaluated in both the time domain and frequency domain, indicating a 5 GHz bandwidth. The time domain modeling technique is used to characterize the balun's performance. Based on physical analysis of the balun's configuration, the discontinuities through the transmission paths are modeled as distributed and lumped elements, resulting in an equivalent network model for the balun structure. The obtained model successfully simulates the balun's performance. / Master of Science

There are algorithms for finding zeros or fixed points of nonlinear systems of equations that are globally convergent for almost all starting points, i.e., with probability one. The essence of all such algorithms is the construction of an appropriate homotopy map and then tracking some smooth curve in the zero set of this homotopy map. HOMPACK is a mathematical software package implementing globally convergent homotopy algorithms with three different techniques for tracking a homotopy zero curve, and has separate routines for dense and sparse Jacobian matrices. The HOMPACK algorithms for sparse Jacobian matrices use a preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm for the computation of the kernel of the homotopy Jacobian matrix, a required linear algebra step for homotopy curve tracking. Variants of the conjugate gradient algorithm along with different preconditioners are implemented in the context of homotopy curve tracking and compared with Craig's preconditioned conjugate gradient method used in HOMPACK. In addition, a parallel version of Craig's method with incomplete LU factorization preconditioning is implemented on a shared memory parallel computer with various levels and degrees of parallelism (e.g., linear algebra, function and Jacobian matrix evaluation, etc.). An in-depth study is presented for each of these levels with respect to the speedup in execution time obtained with the parallelism, the time spent implementing the parallel code and the extra memory allocated by the parallel algorithm. / Master of Science

The development and evaluation of the pest management program involved many different aspects of urban pest control and urban pest management. The program consisted of individual pest management programs for the primary urban pests in prison environments. Each program involved resource manuals, training programs, monitoring methods, decision-making strategies, and methods of recording and reporting pest levels and control strategies. The programs were designed to be administered by a technician using the resource manuals as a basic guideline. A supervisor position was also created as a source of continuous monitoring of the program’s progress. The evaluation of the overall pest management program concentrated on the program’s effectiveness through; its ability to reduce pest levels, its ability to reduce pesticide use, its ability to reduce the relative toxicity of the pesticide applications, its cost-effectiveness, the attitudes of all people directly affected by the program, and the knowledge of the individuals responsible for administering the program. The cockroach and house fly pest management programs were evaluated concerning their ability to effectively reduce pest levels. The cockroach program achieved a 68% reduction over the initial German cockroach populations within the first month. By the fourth month, 95% control was achieved and maintained through the program and the entire evaluation period. The house fly program received an average of 79% reduction from the previous year after one month of operations. The program’s ability to optimize pesticide use and minimize pesticide exposure was demonstrated in a 97% reduction in the actual amount of pesticides used with the pest management program compared to the previous pest control program. In addition to reducing the actual volume of pesticides used, the pest management program also provided a 93 - 99% reduction in relative toxicity compared to the previous program. The relative toxicity of the two programs was determined by factoring the amount of active ingredients applied with the programs and accounting for each pesticide’s toxicity level. The evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of the program demonstrated an increase of $0.59 per inmate per year in materials costs. However, the pest management program also resulted in a reduction in the amount of time required to treat each of the three prisons by 60% each month. The reduction of time required to treat the prison facilities accounted for an overall 52% reduction in costs. The analysis of attitudes of the inmates, technicians, supervisors, and administration personnel demonstrated that, overall, all groups of individuals involved with the program preferred the use of the pest management program over the previous program. The general preference of the program resulted in most individuals preferring the program ‘somewhat better’ than the previous program. / Master of Science

The temporal organization underlying durational components of naturally occurring infant cries was examined in 46 1-month-old infants, half of whom had been diagnosed as having colic. In a standard 90-sec crying bout for each infant, the presence or absence of expired cry sound was determined at .05-sec intervals. Binary spectrum analysis of the data detected between 8 and 23 reliable cycles in the expiration of sound in the cries of all infants. The data were characterized by a wide range of individual differences in the frequencies at which these cycles occurred and in other characteristics of the spectra. Although infants with and without colic did not reliably differ in the mean, variability, or range of the durations of expirations or bursts, the two groups were distinguished by their distributions of the total number of peaks in the power spectrum and by the frequencies at which the highest power peak, slowest cycle, and fastest cycle occurred. This study provides the first known systematic examination of the rhythmicities underlying infant crying. / Master of Science

Research has shown that many antihistamines produce sedative effects as well as impair psychomotor performance. Performance testing of antihistamines, however, has not produced reliable evidence that there are behavioral effects at therapeutic dose levels. Therefore, the objective of this research was to determine whether a complex cognitive and motor task (memory search and tracking combination) showed a performance deterioration under the influence of two antihistamines (benadry| and hismanal) and to determine if the chosen task was of sufficient sensitivity to register decrements in performance at therapeutic dose levels of either of these two antihistamines. Thirty male subjects were divided into five groups of six subjects each. Each of the five groups was tested one day per week for three consecutive weeks. All Subjects received all three treatments (two antihistamines and a placebo) over the course of the test sessions. Order effect of the drug administration was counterbalanced. Analyses of variance showed that benadryl impaired performance on both components of the task as expected. Performance under hismanal did not vary significantly from the placebo. Post hoc testing further revealed an expected significant effect of benadryl three hours following ingestion for three out of four dependent variables. Again, hismanal effects did not vary significantly from those of the placebo. Hence, the memory/tracking combination task registered an expected performance impairment by benadryl which implies sufficient sensitivity of the task to register decrements. Also, hismanal displayed an expected lower incidence of behavioral effects as measured by response time and tracking error, which implies hismanal's usefulness in facilitating normal performance. / Master of Science

The contributions of Gaston Bachelard to the history and philosophy of science are not very well known in the United States. This thesis traces the particular characteristics of Bachelard's epistemology within the context of early twentieth century French culture and science. Bachelard began his career in philosophy comparatively late in life and although his background in mathematics and physics was reflected in his philosophical approach to science, he belonged more to the French intellectual avant-garde than to the traditional philosophies of positivism and pragmatism defended by the Third Republic. Bachelard's writings represent an important contribution to a new vocabulary in epistemology, and they influenced scholars such as Georges Canguilhen, Alexandre Koyré, Louis Althusser and Michel Foucault. His works definitely deserve wider exposure, as they easily connect with problems that American scholars pursue today in Science Studies. / Master of Science

In this thesis, we consider the identification of continuous-time multivariable systems. Direct methods of identification, i.e. identifying a continuous-time model directly from samples of input-output data, are considered briefly. Of primary consideration is the indirect method of identification, which can be considered as a two stage method. First, a discrete system model is identified from samples of input-output data. The next step is to transform this discrete time model to an equivalent continuous-time representation. The classical ZeroOrder hold (ZOH) transformation is presented primarily for comparison with the derived First-Order hold (FOH) technique. Involved in both of these methods is the transformation of the discrete-time state transition matrix to the continuous time system matrix. A new method for this transformation is presented also. This method along with the presented FOH transformation method have been published in Electronics Letters and another paper on this FOH method has been submitted as an invited paper at the 1991 IFAC Symposium on Identification. / Master of Science