Past use of trichloroethylene (TCE) as a degreasing solvent for aircraft maintenance has resulted in widespread groundwater contamination at Air Force Bases around the world. Travis AFB in California and Fairchild AFB in Washington are evaluating phytoremediation as a treatment option, since trees have been reported to take up dissolved TCE from shallow groundwater and volatilize it to the atmosphere while enhancing the volatilization of TCE from surrounding soil. Previous studies generally focused on the identification of removal mechanisms. The emphasis of this research was to quantify total TCE removal from phytoremediation demonstration plots at Travis and Fairchild AFBs. Tree cores, collected using an increment borer and analyzed using headspace GC/MS, were used to determine the relative TCE concentrations within the plume beneath the trees and to estimate the mass of TCE in each tree. To estimate the volatilization of TCE from leaves, a small section of tree branch was placed inside a flow-through glass chamber. Continuous air flow through the chamber maintained normal transpiration and temperature. Air exiting the chamber was sampled for TCE using Tenax® tubes. Humidity probes placed at the chamber entry and exit were used to estimate transpiration. Volatilization of TCE from tree trunk and soil surfaces was measured by enclosing a section of trunk or ground surface within a small stainless steel chamber. Fans in the chamber mixed the air that was recirculated through Tenax® tubes to continuously remove TCE. After a measured time interval, the Tenax® tubes were analyzed for TCE by thermal desorption GC/MS. By using a Thiessen polygon method, the removal of TCE was estimated to be 839 g/yr at Travis and 18 g/yr at Fairchild with the majority from leaf and soil volatilization. Soil surface volatilization of TCE was greater inside the planted areas than outside the planted areas, indicating that the trees enhance this removal by this mechanism. Based on these estimates phytoremediation removed 5 and 50% of the mass of TCE in the groundwater at Fairchild and Travis Air Force sites, respectively.

Archaeological investigations at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) have been ongoing for more than 40 years. Yet the findings from the vast majority of those efforts are available only as grey literature that is known only to a relative few. The primary purpose of this thesis was to investigate a late Holocene decline in obsidian frequency reported by researchers working in the Bissell Basin and Rosamond Dry Lake region of Edwards AFB near the turn of the 21st century. A secondary purpose of this thesis was to shine a light on an area of the western Mojave Desert that is not widely known despite more than four decades of research. In order to explore the reported decline in obsidian frequency, I created an obsidian database using data gleaned from nearly 50 cultural resources management reports and supplemented those data with sourcing and hydration information for 39 additional obsidian artifacts. Those data were organized into tables, charts, and histograms to look for patterns that would support or refute the claim that obsidian use decreased significantly after the Gypsum time period (4000 to 1500 Before Present [B.P.]). Two patterns emerged from my analysis. The first was one where the overall abundance of obsidian at Edwards AFB did not decrease during the late Holocene, thus contradicting the conclusions made in the previous research. The second was one where the obsidian abundance shifted among the various regions of the installation. Yet these shifts are nowhere near as significant as the previously reported decline. Therefore, while the total amount of obsidian that entered the archaeological record at Edwards remained relatively stable from 1500 to 100 B.P., the amount of obsidian decreased in certain regions and increased in others. Although not within the scope of my original intent, my research also identified two areas for future research. The first involves an apparent pattern where the number of archaeological sites from which obsidian was recovered gradually decreases during the middle-Holocene even as the overall quantity of obsidian remains essentially unchanged. The second relates to the lack of a well-established hydration rate formula for obsidian recovered from archaeological sites on Edwards AFB. Ultimately, I concluded that the previous findings that obsidian declined during the late Holocene were affected by sampling bias and faulty data organization. Most archaeologists understand that poorly implemented sampling can lead to poorly derived findings and conclusions. What may not be as well understood is that a perfectly appropriate sample where the data are not organized well can also lead to flawed results and conclusions. It is hoped that this thesis will inform archaeologists not only about how the manner in which they organize their data can affect their interpretation of past human behavior, but also about additional research opportunities at Edwards AFB.

This thesis focused on using microcosms to better understand the aerobic cometabolic processes of TCE and cis-DCE transformation that occurred during a Cometabolic Air Sparging (CAS) demonstration at McClellan Air Force Base. The microcosms were created with groundwater and aquifer materials from the demonstration site. Concentrations of compounds in the microcosms were maintained to mimic conditions where the demonstration was performed. Propane was used as the primary substrate to stimulate indigenous propane-utilizers present in the McClellan subsurface. The microcosms were used to test the potential of the propane-utilizers to transform the CAHs of interest, and determine their nutrient requirements while transforming these compounds. Vadose zone microcosms were also created and used to compare the cometabolic processes and nutrient requirements of the propane-utilizers under these different conditions. After the addition of propane a ten-day lag period was observed before the propane-utilizers were stimulated in all the microcosms. The presence of CAHs and excess nitrogen did not have any effect on the lag period required to stimulate these microorganisms. Microcosms that received nitrogen amendments maintained effective transformation of TCE and c-DCE with successive additions. The rate of c-DCE transformation was observed to be faster than TCE transformation. Complete removal of the CAHs occurred in these microcosms. No other nutrients, such as phosphorous, were observed to cause any nutrient limitations. However, the microcosms that only had limited amounts of nitrogen present were only able to maintain transformation ability for a short time. Propane utilization rates gradually decreased with each addition, and CAH transformation eventually ceased. This was also observed during the CAS field demonstration after successive additions of propane. Ammonia gas was added to the sparge gas in the field and propane utilization and CAH transformation resumed. Ammonia gas was added to the nitrogen-limited microcosms, and like the field demonstration, propane utilization and CAH transformation resumed. Nitrogen was found to be a critical nutrient for effective cometabolism of CAHs. Nitrogen supplied either as ammonia or nitrate was required for the propane-utilizers to maintain effective rates of propane utilization and CAH transformation ability. By comparing different sets of microcosms under different conditions, estimates were made to the amount of nitrogen required by the propane-utilizers with and without CAHs transformed. The transformation of CAHs significantly increased the propane-utilizers requirements for nitrogen. A 2.0-3.8-fold increase in was observed for nitrogen consumption when CAHs were transformed, possibly resulting from toxic effects caused by the transformations. The sparge gas used at the CAS demonstration also contained ethylene at a low concentration (1% vol/vol). The microcosm experiments with this concentration of ethylene were found not to have any negative effects on CAH transformation. The propane-utilizers were also able to maintain propane utilization and CAH transformation at high CAH concentrations. The vadose zone microcosms showed that propane utilization in the vadose zone was an order of magnitude lower than what was observed in the saturated microcosms. Also bioavailable nitrogen was required to maintain propane utilization rates. However, higher CAH concentrations were found to inhibit the stimulation of the propane-utilizers under these conditions. / Graduation date: 2002

Graduation date: 1997

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1975. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--International Baptist Graduate School, 1995. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 228-235).

This investigation sought to describe the organization, function, and scope of the internal public affairs program of Carswell Air Force Base, Texas. Data came from in-depth interviews, office files, and military publications. The Carswell Air Force Base internal public affairs program appeared to be without direction and reactive in nature. Personnel had little or no formal journalism or public relations training and demonstrated only a vague awareness of the relationships between publics, tools, and activities. Still, the job seemed to get done, although perhaps not as well or as efficiently as possible. This raises the question: Where does formal journalism or public relations training fit into the running of a public affairs/relations office?

This collection of essays addresses the history of Numic-speaking American Indians of the Great Basin–Colorado Plateau–Mohave Desert area since these lands passed into the sovereign control of the United States after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. The goal of this study is to revisit historical processes and events that transformed the lives of these Americans so profoundly that their effects are still being felt today. The perspective of contemporary Indians who shared their views with the authors, wrote portions of this history, advised on its production, and reviewed its contents, informed the versions of history relayed throughout this book. The themes explored in this collection interweave oral histories, collected by the authors through interviews with Indian people, and data from primary archival sources and publications. The essays that follow represent a small sample of themes that concern Indian people, who believe that their values, opinions, and version of historical processes and events are seldom portrayed fairly, if at all, in Western literature. This preoccupation with telling their history is all the more relevant in the context of government–to–government consultation between American Indian tribes and federal agencies, wherein productive debates about land management and resource preservation issues hinge on a shared understanding of why the land and its resources are important to Indian people and how Indian people lost control over them. It is precisely under the auspices of such a shared understanding between the Nevada Test Site and Nellis Air Force Base and several Indian tribes and organizations from Nevada, California, Arizona, and Utah that this historical study was conducted.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 17-20, 1994 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / A demonstration of near real-time performance assessment for the Program Executive Officer for Cruise Missiles Project and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Cruise Test Directorate, PEO(CU)-CT, was conducted between 22 March 1994 through 4 May 1994. The demonstration involved the temporary installation of a portable TOMAHAWK telemetry recording and telecommunications capability at the Air Force Development Test Center range at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida and a receiving telecommunications capability at the Naval Warfare Assessment Division (NWAD), Corona, California. The system was successfully used on 4 May 1994 to record TOMAHAWK missile telemetry data in real-time in support of Operational Test Launch (OTL)-163 and to transfer that data to the weapons system performance analysts at NWAD in near real-time. The one hour and three minutes of flight data was compressed in real-time as it was recorded, then, after completion of the flight, the data was transferred to NWAD in about 12 minutes using the switched 56 kbps network. Additional transfers using the Defense Commercial Telecommunications Network (DCTN) were also conducted. All transfers were secured using ethernet encryptors. The data was processed by both the NWAD telemetry ground station and the TOMAHAWK workstation complex. This paper quantifies the results and documents the lessons learned from this demonstration and proposes a standardized system design for possible implementation at TOMAHAWK test range sites in the future. A position is taken that for situations where the remote site (e.g. other range or data analysis site) does not exercise direct operational control over the test/host range, near real-time data relay solutions are not only as adequate, but in many cases are preferable to real-time solutions.

The purpose of this study was to compare two types of flyers used in the promotion of a recreational special event by a nonprofit agency. Informational and persuasive flyers were developed for an audience participation murder mystery play presented at Carswell Air Force Base near Fort Worth, Texas. Flyers were distributed throughout this military community. Only those individuals interested in attending a theatrical production registered for this program. A pretest and posttest were administered. Data were analyzed using Chi square goodness of fit tests, tests of proportions, and t-tests. Findings were: (a) persuasive flyers were more effective than the informational type in attracting potential patrons to register for an audience participation murder mystery play, (b) persuasive flyers were also more effective in attracting potential patrons to actually attend a murder mystery production, (c) however, persuasive flyers were not more effective in influencing the expectation or satisfaction of the patrons with the murder mystery production, and (d) neither type of flyer attracted patrons with any different demographic profiles who registered for or who attended this murder mystery production. In view of the findings of this study, the following recommendations for further study appear to be warranted: (a) further research on the use of flyers for advertising and marketing of recreational and leisure activities, programs and special events might be beneficial; (b) further research is also needed to validate that persuasive flyers are more effective in enticing the potential patron to register for and attend a recreation activity; and (c) more study is also required to see whether it is possible for flyers to influence patron expectation and satisfaction with a recreational program.