Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-01, Section: B, page: 0333. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Abstract Not Available. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-02, Section: A, page: 0741. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-01, Section: B, page: 0037. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

While Markan scholarship has paid attention to certain geographical features, Markan spatial references as a whole have not been systematically investigated. This study considers all the spatial designations of the Markan gospel in their interrelations and proposes a pattern of their narrative presentation. The approach taken is based on an adaptation of the methodology of French structural anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss for analyzing myth as the progressive mediation of a fundamental opposition. A Levi-Straussian model of myth conceives of a mythic text as comprised of various levels, or "orders," which are transformations of each other and of the underlying structure common to them all. This study assumes that a mythic structure may also be operative in a text like Mark which is not, strictly speaking, a myth and seeks to elucidate the mythic structure underlying one of the "orders" of the Gospel of Mark--the spatial order. / After a brief look at other approaches to "space" in the Gospel of Mark (chapter II), attention is given to both the chronological sequence and the theoretical schema of each suborder--geopolitical, topographical, architectural (chapters III, IV, V) and of the integrated spatial order (chapter VI). The relationship of structural exegesis to traditional exegesis is suggested in general terms (chapter I), and specific comments on the relation of the present structural exegesis to redaction critical, literary, or structuralist criticism of Mark are offered (chapter VII). In seeking to locate within a spatial system the action reported and projected in the Markan narrative, the reader may be better able to locate within a theological system the meaning manifested in the Markan gospel. / The fundamental opposition presupposed by the spatial order of the Gospel of Mark, order vs. chaos, is narratively manifest in a series of oppositions moving toward mediation: heaven vs. earth, land vs. sea, Jewish homeland vs. foreign lands, Galilee vs. Judea, isolated areas vs. inhabited areas, house vs. synagogue, environs of Jerusalem vs. Jerusalem proper, Mount of Olives vs. Temple, tomb vs. mountain, the "way." Geopolitically, the opposition Galilee vs. Judea is pivotal, for the traditional values which are assumed up to this point are reversed in the Markan association of Judea, home of the Jewish capital and the Jewish temple, with chaos and Galilee with order. Architecturally, by the close of the gospel no space functions as expected: a house is no longer a family dwelling but has become a gathering place for the new community, replacing the rejected and rejecting synagogue; the temple is no longer a space separating sacred and profane and will become but a rubble of stones not one on another; the tomb is no longer the prison of the dead--dark and closed, but--empty and open--the threshold of renewed life. Topographically, the way or road (hodos) provides both a unifying framework and the key mediation. The threat of the sea, the threat of miracle-seeking crowds and of inflexible religious leaders from inhabited areas, the threat of the tomb--all are met in Jesus by the promise of renewed communication between heaven and earth in the wilderness, on the mountain, and on the way. Hodos signals not so much another place as movement itself. The mediation of chaos and order is a dynamic process, not a static state; it is known in the experience of being on the way. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: A, page: 1088. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

Pilumnus sayi (Crustacea, Brachyura, Xanthidae) occupied heads, i.e., colonies, of Schizoporella pungens (Bryozoa, Cheilostomata) on seagrass beds located along a barrier shoals in the northern Gulf of Mexico. In a collection from 23 m('2), 94 adult crabs were found among 369 colonies. Sex ratio for adults was significantly skewed at 1:1.85 males to females. Schizoporella heads were significantly clumped according to nearest neighbor analyses, and were renewable within 6 1/2 months. Heads differed in size, presence or absence of cavities, and state of attachment to the substrate. Adult crabs were seen foraging on and around heads. Observed predators included the wrasse Halichoeres radiatus and the box crab Hepatus epheliticus. / Laboratory experiments tested predictions of consumer behavior deduced from characteristics of the heads and possible selective pressures for this association, i.e., predation, trophic pressures, and sexual selection. Adult P. sayi preferred heads larger than a 17 ml threshold, attached heads, and heads with cavities, contrary to predictions derived from trophic pressures and consistent with those from predation. Crab preferences for clumped heads was sex dependent, thus implicating sexual selection, used in a broad sense pertaining to mate acquisition. Movement to heads was quick and direct as expected from predatory pressures; and males moved between heads more often than did females, again implicating sexual selection. Crab size was not a factor in either movement or preferences when crabs were tested individually. However, larger crabs dominated smaller crabs in agonistic contests for individual heads, regardless of the sex or residency of participants. An ethogram of 6 modal action patterns (MAPs) and 5 non-MAP acts was compiled, and the structure of contests was analyzed. Escalation of violence was likely to be initiated by either crab, but was more readily continued by the larger one. In group experiments, the location of larger and smaller males was independent of either the location of females or the spatial pattern of heads. However, in group experiments, larger males moved between heads significantly more often than did smaller males, which moved at the same frequency as females. / Ecological patterns of head use by P. sayi were consistent with expectations derived from consumer behavior and population descriptions. The number of adult crabs equaled the number of preferred heads. Adults occupied significantly more heads with cavities than heads without cavities. They also occupied significantly larger than average heads, but not necessarily heads larger than their preferred threshold. Consequently, there was a slight but significant correlation between crab size and the size of heads occupied. Furthermore, males and females did not differ in the types of heads occupied. Adults occupied heads individually except for occasional double occupancy by a male and female. In such cases, the male tended to be larger. Further spatial pattern among crags was revealed by an analysis that incorporated head patterns; among adults, there were fewer heterosexual nearest-neighbor pairs than expected by chance alone. / The combination of behavioral experiments and ecological sampling suggested that a relative shortage of this resource existed for the population of P. sayi under study. Furthermore, behavior of crabs in experimental situations and their spatial pattern in nature was consistent with resource defense polygyny, although a capacity for male dominance polygyny was indicated. Behavioral scaling that incorporates resource structure and risk of predation is hypothesized as a determinant of this crab's mating system. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: B, page: 0786. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

Joseph Conrad's political novels, Nostromo, The Secret Agent, and Under Western Eyes, are examined in a new critical study. Each novel has a distinctive method of narration which is explored in and of itself. The study finds its unity in the discovery of ironic affirmation broadly underlying the more obvious themes of each novel. Authorial intrusion and direct commentary are attributed to the narrators of each novel rather than to Conrad and are seen as the primary loci of assertion of affirmation. / Nostromo is narrated by a divided consciousness: a narrative voice which essentially carries out the storytelling functions and an intrusive voice which corrects and defines reader perceptions, calling the reader to distanced participation in the life of the novel. The Secret Agent is narrated by a voice which gives clues to its own personality while adding its own valuation and which ranges from grimly comic in its early perceptions to transcendently tragic in its concluding views. The narrator of Under Western Eyes fails in deluding the reader about his character but succeeds in becoming a symbolical figure in the dialectic of the novel. / All three novels develop the idea of the failure of political solutions in modern civilization. This failure added to the failure of traditional absolutes is countered by the tenuous assertion, arising from the narrative techniques of the novels, of a belief in human community. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-01, Section: A, page: 0202. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-10, Section: A, page: 5429. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

This investigation was undertaken to document the origin, development, and demise of the Southern Intercollegiate Gymnastic League. From 1949 through 1977, the League was the initial, prime, and most often sole, developmental and organizational body for all southeastern intercollegiate gymnastics. / The account was sub-divided into five chapters. The birth of the dream of three men and the difficult struggle to keep that dream alive was discussed in the first chapter. The second chapter dealt with the rapid growth of collegiate gymnastics in the southeastern United States and the direct effect of the Southern Intercollegiate Gymnastic League upon that growth. Chapter three concerned itself with the League's coming of age and its reaching out for recognition at the national level. The fourth chapter saw the original dream fulfilled with full recognition at the national level and documented the rich success of southeastern intercollegiate gymnastics. The final chapter discussed the implications and events leading to the death of the Southern Intercollegiate Gymnastic League. / Original competitive statistical records were critically compared with original newspaper accounts, questionnaires mailed to, and interviews conducted with, competitors, judges, and coaches of the League. Original business meeting minutes were compared with interview accounts and examined for accuracy. Personal letters and other official documents pertaining to League affairs were verified for authenticity through interview and other personal communication. In so far as possible, a complete factual account of athletic performance was developed from League championship competitive records and other collected data including location of competition, League administrative officers, elected coach of the year, order of team finish, and the results of individual performance by event. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: A, page: 1167. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

The study sought to determine whether an experimental remote delivery methodology could provide instruction in certain medical laboratory analysis skills, while reducing the expenditure of time and funds associated with conventional instruction. Hypotheses were derived from the thesis that remotely located subjects would perform at a level equal to or higher than conventionally trained counterparts. / The study was designed as a Workshop in Recognition and Quantitation of Tubercle Bacilli in the Level I Laboratory. The experimental methodology of remote delivery (teleconferencing) was compared with conventional instruction administered to subjects (medical technicians) in Georgia, Florida, Illinois, and Iowa. In the experimental methodology, subjects were remotely located from instructors. In conventional instruction, subjects were co-located with instructors. / Terminal Learning Objective tests were scored on a pass-fail basis. A Chi-square one sample test was applied to the data. Values of computed scores showed no statistically significant difference. / The conclusion reached is that no measurable difference exists between scores of subjects receiving instruction through teleconferencing and those to whom conventional instruction was administered. Cost factors and limited availability of qualified faculty suggest increased use of teleconferencing for instruction in skills similar to those employed in the study. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2632. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

More than 450 ventricles, isolated from 51 species of bivalve molluscs, were surveyed for their responses to the molluscan cardioactive neuropeptide FMRFamide (Phe-Met-Arg-Phe-NH(,2)). The responses were diverse, ranging from excitation to inhibition, but over half of the species were only excited by the peptide, and only two were exclusively inhibited. Oysters were notably insensitive. FMRFamide also caused catch contractures of the anterior byssus retractor muscle (ABRM) of Geukensia demissa which were indistinguishable from those of acetylcholine (ACh). Nevertheless, their mechanisms of action differed. FMRFamide contractures were less Na-dependent, although extracellular Na was necessary for catch. FMRFamide caused a larger influx of Ca than did ACh, but, in Ca-free ASW, FMRFamide also had access to intracellular Ca that could not be released by ACh. Neither agent affected cyclic nucleotide levels in the muscle. The specificity of the FMRFamide response in the ABRM and two hearts (Macrocallista nimbosa which is excited by the peptide, and Lampsilis claibornensis which is inhibited) were examined in detail. The C-terminal amide and Arg('3) residue are critical to FMRFamide-like activity on all three preparations; extensions or substitutions at the N-terminal are less deleterious. The three preparations differ in specificity, however. Lampsilis hearts are the least restrictive, especially with respect to the Arg('3) residue. The ABRMs are consistently more sensitive to analogs with extensions at the N-terminal, but the increase in sensitivity is relatively small compared to other preparations. The effects of FMRFamide on cAMP levels in hearts of Lampsilis claibornensis were also examined. FMRFamide inhibition is accompanied by a dose-dependent and time-dependent increase in cAMP. But the increase follows the change in mechanical activity, indicating that / cAMP does not cause the early inhibitory effects of the peptide. It is not clear whether the cAMP is elevated as a direct result of FMRFamide-receptor interaction, or whether it is elevated indirectly, as a result of the inhibition. In either case, it might serve a homeostatic function. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-07, Section: B, page: 2661. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.