Managers of historic sites need to understand their exposure to climatic and environmental change, which varies widely by property type and location. A large and evolving body of science and climate modeling identifies ongoing and future changes with increasing specificity. Changes range from the predictable, like mean temperature and sea-level rise, to the erratic, like storms and wildfires, and may include human adaptive measures like floodwalls and migration. These data can be cross-referenced against site attributes to evaluate risk. Relevant site attributes include location and topography, materials, character-defining features, landscape species, surrounding land uses, and operational needs. This work presents a vulnerability assessment protocol that serves to identify and rank risk in order to inform decision-making about adaptive measures, which can range from choice of repair materials to landscaping to relocation. When applied to a fleet of sites, the protocol can inform policy- and grant-making. / 1 / SPK / archives@tulane.edu

The immunologic relatedness of various cofactor-binding sites of enzymes requiring different nucleotide cofactors was examined. Chicken antibodies specific for NADPH- or CoA-binding domains were raised using an NADPH- or CoA-requiring enzyme as an immunogen. Antibodies specific for either NADPH- or CoA-binding domains were isolated by immunoaffinity chromatography of the respective antisera using unrelated NADPH- or CoA-requiring enzymes as affinity ligands. The reactivities of the NADPH- and CoA-binding-site-specific antibodies with a variety of enzymes that required different cofactors was shown on Western blots of SDS-PAGE of the enzymes. Variable cross-reactivities were observed among all nucleotide-cofactor requiring enzymes with each specific cofactor-domain-antibody population. Numerous proteins not physiologically associated with nucleotide cofactors, including acyl carrier protein, were completely unreactive. Proteins that bound phosphoryl compounds either as substrates or cofactors showed varying degrees of reactivity with each population of specific antibodies. These included aldolase, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, ribonuclease A, carbonic anhydrase and triosephosphate isomerase. The immunologic cross-reactivity suggested that these proteins share a common structural feature, probably a primary structure epitope, since the proteins had been subjected to denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. A candidate for this common structural feature is a glycine-rich sequence comprising a phosphate binding loop.

There has been limited research regarding teachers' opinions about their involvement in school decision making. A critical step missing in the research is the development of instruments to assess teachers' perceptions of their actual and desired levels of involvement. With the wide spread use of site-based management, shared decision making, participatory management and teacher empowerment, it is important to study teachers' involvement. The purpose of this study was to design an instrument to measure teachers' satisfaction with their involvement in school decision making. A review of the literature was used to identify issues to be considered for instrument development. Four domains were formulated for the Satisfaction with Participation in Decision Making Questionnaire (SPDMQ): (1) Involvement in the Operation of the School; (2) Involvement in Establishing Curriculum and Instructional Techniques; (3) Teacher Development, Evaluation, and Work Allocation, and (4) Involvement in Establishing Student Teacher Relationships. There are five questions included in each domain, for a total of 20 questions. Each question measures a desired level of involvement and a perceived actual level of involvement in school decision making. To measure content and construct validity, a total of three draft instruments were administered to doctoral students, school administrators, teachers, and other educators. The population selected to validate the instrument consisted of all teachers in five elementary schools from two different school districts in the Hampton Roads area. Two schools were selected from a district that currently implements site-based management programs, and three schools were selected from a district that implements little or no site- based management. A total of 168 teachers completed the SPDMQ. The treatment of data included several statistical routines including chi-square, Cronbach's alpha, t-tests, and correlations. The results of administration of the SPDMQ indicated that teachers in site-based schools reported more involvement in decision making but were not significantly more satisfied with their involvement. This instrument may be used by principals as a needs assessment to determine how much and in what areas teachers want to be involved in school decision making. / Ed. D.

Rocky Mount is a 35-acre State Historic Site in Washington County, TN dating to the late 1700s when it served as the First Capitol of the Southwest Territory of the United States. In Fall 2021, Rocky Mount acquired an adjacent tract which includes several water sources: an artesian spring, a ditch with running water, and a cattle pond. A residential spring located on a neighboring property flows along an eastern property line. The purpose of this research was to assess the hydrologic resources of Rocky Mount’s new addition to 1) determine compliance with state water quality standards; and 2) identify subsurface hydrologic connections between water sources. In winter 2022, we sampled the four water sources for pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen (DO), electrical conductivity (EC), temperature, fecal coliform and E. coli bacteria during five site visits. Mean values for each parameter at each site were compared to state water quality standards and sites were assessed for similarity using the Kruskal Wallis non-parametric Analysis of Variance. In this study, none of the four sites met the state standard for drinking water due to presence of E. coli (drinking water limits E. coli to <1 CFU/100mL). However, all sites were well below the E. coli threshold for recreational water (<126 CFU/100mL). Only one site, the residential spring, was found to meet standards for recreational use for all water quality parameters. All other sites exceeded recreational use limits for pH (high alkalinity). Two sites, the cattle pond and the ditch, also exceeded recreational limits for turbidity. Kruskal Wallis test results indicated significant differences in water chemistry between sites for all parameters. Pairwise comparisons revealed differences between the residential spring and all other sites, suggesting different groundwater sources. The water quality findings will be helpful in future land use planning at the Rocky Mount Historic Site.

Archaeological sites are not static records of the past. They exist within a dynamic environment, and, as part of this environment, they undergo changes upon deposition. In order to make confident interpretations of past human behavior based on patterns observed in the archaeological record, it is first necessary to determine if these patterns were produced by human behavior or if they are the result of geogenic or biogenic process following burial. This investigation of site formation processes of farm middens at three Viking Age farms (Reynistaður, Stóra-Seyla and Syðra Skörðugil) in Skagafjörður, Northern Iceland, uses micromorphological analysis of thin sections to discern between cultural and natural processes which have contributed to the formation and preservation of the middens. My interpretations of the depositional and post-depositional processes of these three middens is based on micromorphological analysis of thin sections of 11 resin-impregnated intact sediment samples.

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Researchers have demonstrated the impact that SSIs have on the healthcare system and the need to improve patient outcomes. The purpose of this project was to develop an educational program for the 8-member nursing staff of an outpatient vascular surgical office to help reduce the occurrence of SSI rates for patients seen pre and postoperatively after a noted increase in SSI rates at this clinical setting. Guided by the Fitzpatrick model, a group of 6 health care providers comprising 3 surgeons and 3 nurse practitioners served as content experts to conduct formative evaluation during development of the educational program. Members of the surgical office nursing staff completed a questionnaire; results were analyzed using descriptive analysis. Findings indicated that 100% of nursing staff had no on-site work training on basic signs and symptoms of infection and infection control; 100% of staff were not confident in assessment of the surgical site and addressing patient issues; and at least 50% reported that they lacked knowledge of proper wound care including bathing, dressing changes, and expected symptoms for healing and/or complications postoperatively. Educational materials were designed to address these gaps. This project might benefit the surgical center nursing staff by providing education to help reduce surgical site infection in vascular patients, and bring about positive social change by improving quality of life and patient outcomes for the vascular surgery patient through a reduction in the occurrence of SSIs.

The United States Department of Defense tests its weapons systems to many different real as well as man-made environments prior to deploying the systems to the troops. The intent of testing is to insure the systems function as they are intended without adverse reactions. One of the required tests is a Radiation Hazards test to insure that non-ionizing radio frequency waves generated by transmitters, such as radios and jammers, do not cause harm to personnel, ordnance or fuel. This test is typically performed at a DoD test lab and data taken at the lab is used to determine safe operating parameters for a particular piece of equipment. This thesis presents measurements as well as mathematical models to demonstrate methods that can be employed to take more relevant Radiation Hazards data.

Artificial reefs are important management tools for red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, fisheries in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. I deployed fish traps (0.97 m long; 0.64 m height; 175 x 115 mm funnel mouth size) to collect red snapper < 406 mm total length (TL) associated with pyramid-shaped artificial reef structures (3.7 m triangular base; 2.4 m height; 3.2 metric tons) to evaluate two reef distribution designs: (1) five closely-spaced pyramid units, and (2) five closely-spaced pyramids with two sets of two pyramids at 30.5, 61.0, and 91.5 m from the five pyramids. In 26 sampling trips, 927 red snapper were captured. Catch per unit effort (fish/hour) did not differ significantly among patterns (P= 0.396). Red snapper lengths differed significantly among patterns (P= 0.005), with the largest mean total length (235 mm, SE= 5.14) occurring at the pattern with 61.0-m spacing.

This project focused on aluminum precipitation within the Caustic Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX) process at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The CSSX process uses a solvent to separate cesium. In the scrubbing section, the solvent containing cesium is scrubbed with 0.05 M nitric acid to remove soluble sodium and potassium ions. During scrubbing, aluminum precipitation has been observed. Solids precipitation is of concern as solids might erode centrifugal contactor internals and/or plug transfer pipelines. Hence, it is important to identify conditions under which solids precipitation may occur and identify an operating region where solids precipitation is minimized. Room temperature experiments on the CSSX scrubbing process were conducted. Experimental results were compared with predictions from ESP (Environmental Simulation Program). The order and specific rate for the reversible aluminum precipitation reaction were obtained as a function of initial stream dilution and % carryover. The reaction was first order based on regression results.

Cricetidae, which includes a wide range of mice and rats, is the second-most diverse and abundant family of mammals. Though presently distributed across the Americas and Eurasia and also known from many fossil sites in western North America, few records have been studied from the east prior to the Pleistocene. This study has identified seven species of cricetids from the Gray Fossil Site (GFS), an early Pliocene site located in the northeast corner of Tennessee well-known for preserving fossils of many large mammals. While a few studies had previously noted the occurrence of cricetids at GFS, this study provides a detailed description of the cricetid assemblage and helps expand our understanding of small mammals from this site. Specimens were examined under stereomicroscope and DinoLite digital microscope camera, allowing qualitative assessment of occlusal morphology and quantitative comparison to modern cricetids and published fossil records from across North America. The most common taxa at the site included the deer mouse Peromyscus, which is currently the most abundant and widely distributed mammal in North America, deer mouse-like Postcopemys, and the woodrat Neotoma, which is larger rat with high-crowned molars that still lives in the region today. Other less common ones, like Sigmodon, Repomys, and Neotomodon, are also present. While most of the GFS specimens can be categorized into known genera, distinctive morphological features suggest the presence of new species. This assemblage of cricetids differs from those found at contemporaneous sites, emphasizing the spatial and temporal uniqueness of GFS. The Pliocene cricetid taxa at GFS exhibit diverse body sizes and dietary preferences, providing insights into the paleoecology of the region. As a biodiversity hotspot in the Appalachian region today, GFS was likely an important habitat for cricetid evolution during the Pliocene.