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At the end of her shift, Madchen, a young diner waitress, waits for a ride home. But on this particular afternoon, Madchen’s encounters with three everyday people in her life – Leonard: a regular at her diner; Beth: a fellow waitress; and Davis: her boyfriend – shed harsh light on her troubled and restless state. Each meeting magnifies her heartaches as well as her hopes, forcing Madchen to face the conflicting and confining truths of her life. Stranded on a two-lane highway, caught in the gloaming, Madchen teeters between the small-town world she knows and the greater world that is beginning to beckon.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Horticulture, Forestry, and Recreation Resources / Rhonda R. Janke / The goal of this study is to clarify the influence of organic fertilizer sources on vegetable crop yield under different production systems. This research hypothesized that organic soil amendments will produce healthy and vigorous plants with similar or higher yields while improving soil organic matter levels compared to conventional amendments. Applying organic fertilizer sources can be cost-prohibitive; moreover, synchronizing timing of crop nitrogen demand with soil plant available nitrogen is essential to maximizing yield and reducing nitrogen pollution to the environment. The objectives of this study are to evaluate yield in relation to soil fertility status at different fertility rates for organic and conventional management in field and high tunnel production systems, to measure plant nutrient status in crop petioles and compare it to available mineral N levels in soil at different growing stages, and to determine the effect of nitrogen availability of organic compared to conventional fertilization on plant available nitrogen and crop yield under both systems. A latin square experimental design was conducted from 2008 to 2010 at Kansas State University Research Center in Olathe KS to evaluate an organically managed vegetable rotation of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. ‘Bush Celebrity’) and pac choi (Brassica rapa L. ‘Mei Qing’) under three fertility rates; control, low (composted poultry manure), and high (composted poultry manure and fish hydrolyzate) in contrast with conventionally managed soils under two production systems (field and high tunnel). The effect of these four contrasting systems was measured on plant and soil nutrient status. All plots had cover crops of rye during the winter and buckwheat in the summer between pac choi crops. Soil nitrate-N (NO₃-N) and ammonium-N (NH₄-N) were measured, as well as petiole sap nitrate (NO₃⁻). In tomato, additional soluble fertilizers had no direct effect on yield in both field and high tunnel. Compost application had a positive effect on organic matter. In pac choi, additional liquid fertilizer helped organic field plots obtain maximum yield. Soil mineral nitrogen were affected by production system and fertility source, but statistical significance varied by crop and stage. Petiole sap reflected treatment regimens but not necessarily soil N status at each plant stage. The study also addressed long term management practices on organic and conventional available nitrogen. An incubation study on the soil at the conclusion of the field experiment explored the relationship between N mineralization from potentially mineralizable nitrogen (PMN) compared to Illinois Soil Nitrogen Test (ISNT) in control and pre-plant application fertility treatment for both field and high tunnel systems. The results indicated that ISNT concentration values for all soils were below the proposed value for corn crop suggested by (Khan, 2001). ISNT correlated with PMN with the stronger correlation being in field plots. ISNT also correlated with OM in field. Fertility rate showed a significant effect on total carbon and total nitrogen in organic systems of both field and high tunnel plots. This study supports composted poultry manure to improve the fertility status of the soil and to obtain a yield equal to that of conventionally managed soil.

This thesis considers the star careers of four performers in Hong Kong, Leslie Cheung, Ekin Cheng, Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung. Each of these stars have had successful careers in film and music, Cheung and Cheng as solo performers and Choi and Chung as the group, Twins. This study investigates similarities between these performers' careers and the state of the industry during their time as stars. / text

Conformationally constrained bicyclic amino acids are invaluable in the synthesis of natural products and peptidomimetics. Aeruginosins contain novel bicyclic amino acid, 2--‐carboxy--‐6--‐hydroxyl octahydrindole (Choi) as the core structure. Aeruginosins are tetra peptide serine protease inhibitors isolated from marine sponges and cyanobacterial water blooms. Rigid bicyclic amino acid(Choi)is an essential core structure, which strongly influences biological activity of aeruginosin family members. Aeruginosins showed promising inhibitory activity against thrombin, trypsin, and factor VIIa. Thrombin and factor VIIa play a major role in blood clotting cascade; excessive coagulation leads to thrombosis and other cardiovascular diseases. Several research groups have reported a number of synthetic aeruginosin analogs. In this thesis, some of the synthetic methodologies of bicyclic amino acid core of aeruginosins are presented. Importance of bicyclic amino acids in peptidomimetic synthesis and drug designing is presented. Mainly, syntheses of ring oxygenated Choi analogs starting from glucose and mannose are presented.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Human Nutrition / Delores H. Chambers / Vegetables are popular among consumers because of their versatility of preparation, unique sensory characteristics, and exceptional health benefits. Trends such as organic farming and breeding to increase nutrition and functional health components have increased interest in understanding the flavor of vegetables, such as leafy greens. A lexicon of thirty-two flavor attributes was created to help describe the flavor of fresh leafy vegetables. This lexicon includes five “green” attributes; mouth feel characteristics such as pungent, bite, tooth-etch, and heat/burn; fundamental tastes including bitter and umami; seven terms that describe unique flavors related to specific vegetables such as cabbage, celery, lettuce, spinach, parsley, beet, and radish leaves; and a group of other terms including citrus, piney, woody, water-like, musty/earthy, floral, sulfur, metallic, soapy, petroleum-like, and overall sweet. In addition, our study encompassed a series of sensory tests which will aid in better understanding the effects of several production variables on the sensory characteristics of pac choi and tomato. Variables evaluated were production systems (i.e. organic and conventional), fertilizer amount (i.e. high, low, and no fertilizer), environment (i.e. field and high tunnel), maturity level (i.e. 2.5, 4.5, and 6.5-week old plants at the time of harvest), and shelf life (i.e. 1, 4, 9, 18 days of refrigerated storage). Samples were grown at the Kansas State University Horticulture Research Center located in Olathe, Kansas. Highly trained descriptive panelists from the Sensory Analysis Center at Kansas State University evaluated the samples. There do not appear to be major sensory differences between organic and conventional products specific to the crops and seasons studied. Furthermore, when differences were present, they generally were quite small and showed no clear trends or patterns favoring one production system over the other even after refrigerated storage. However, it is suggested that differences in flavor and volatile composition between organic and conventional pac choi may be more evident at early stages of growth.

This thesis is my directorial narrative of a production of A Princess' Drum performed the Newdick Theatre in Shafer Street Playhouse at Virginia Commonwealth University on May 5-7, 2006. This thesis is the exploration of physical non-verbal theatre through adapting and directing Korean playwright, In-Hun Choi's Doong-Doong-Nangrang-Doong. Chapter one of this .thesis examines shamanistic ritual in the pre-production. Chapter two explores movement and voice centered physical work in the production process. Chapter three covers reflections of the process after the performance.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-193). Also available in print.

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Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Entomology / Raymond A. Cloyd / James R. Nechols / Raymond A. Cloyd / James R. Nechols / Greenhouse studies were conducted to examine direct effects of light intensity and nitrogen source on primary and secondary metabolism of pac choi (Brassica rapa L. var. chinensis cv. ‘Mei Qing Choi’) and indirect effects on diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella L.)(DBM). In the first study, plants were exposed to high and low light intensities during different times of the year, resulting in a range of light intensities. From four experiments, plants exhibited higher phenolic content, greater shoot biomass, and higher C:N ratios under high light intensity, whereas plants under low light intensity contained higher protein. Ferulic acid increased under high light intensity, and this increase was negatively correlated with male DBM body weights. However, DBM developed faster on plants in the August experiment (high light), compared to the July experiment (lower light). This implies that light intensity may not be affecting DBM through plant-mediated changes unless reduced male weights confer a reduction in larval consumption. In the nitrogen source study, application of an organic source of nitrogen (fish hydrolysate fertilizer) was compared to a conventional fertilizer to determine whether nitrogen source directly impacts pac choi chemistry and biomass, thus indirectly impacting DBM fitness. In two experiments, there was no significant effect of fertility treatment on pac choi nutrients or biomass, with the exception of percent leaf phosphorus, which was significantly higher in the conventional fertility treatment. For DBM, percent survival and cohort development were significantly reduced on pac choi receiving the organic fertilizer. Calcium and magnesium were significantly higher in pac choi infested with DBM larvae than plants without DBM. In addition, calcium was negatively correlated with female DBM body weights in one experiment for the organic treatment. Overall, this study demonstrated that pac choi plants that received the organic fertilizer were similar to pac choi plants that received a conventional fertilizer with the exception of phosphorus. Furthermore, female DBM body weights were negatively impacted by calcium in the organic treatment. As multiple fitness traits for DBM were negatively affected in the organic treatment, pac choi crops grown with fish hydrolysate fertilizer may experience less feeding from DBM.