The purpose of this study was to describe how the doctrine of in loco parentis was operationalized at the University of Tennessee during the early 1920s and 1930s, through analysis of the minutes of the University of Tennessee Administrative Council, the administrative body charged with the major decisions concerning student life for the University. The phenomenon under examination in this single, descriptive, holistic case study design was the operationalization of the concept of in loco parentis, and the case was the University of Tennessee during the early 1920s and 1930s. The study identified the various issues with which the Administrative Council dealt in the early 1920s and 1930s, as well as outcomes of the various issues before the Council. The findings revealed that the University practiced standing in the place of students’ parents in various ways, including: a comprehensive class attendance policy and monitoring of class attendance; substantial monitoring and oversight of academic progress; mandated attendance at a religious chapel program; restrictions on travel outside Knoxville while classes were in session; regulation of social dancing; visitation and curfew restrictions in residential facilities for women; lecturing and verbal reprimanding of students who appeared before the Council; serving as a permission-granting or permission-denying body for various and sundry requests; disciplining of students for vague, non-specific matters of non-academic student misconduct; and extensive use of student probation and the associated restrictions which accompanied probation. As the first study to document the way in which the doctrine of in loco parentis was operationalized from an administrative perspective, the findings add significantly to the existing literature and to our understanding of the relationship between the student and the institution in the early part of the twentieth century.

A study of bilateral variation among individuals from three populations was conducted. One sample consisted of 174 Cashinahua Indians who reside along the Curanja River in the Peruvian rain forest. A second group was composed of 286 students from anthropology classes at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Eighty-six families, including 372 individuals, constituted the third sample. Four laterality traits - handedness, armfolding, handclasping, and mid-phalangeal hair - were analyzed by population and by individual family. The most interesting variation occurred in the frequency of right and left handclasping and in the presence or absence of mid-phalangeal hair. The percentage of left and right armfolders among the populations was fairly stable. Handclasping and armfolding do not seem to be related to handedness, however, conflicting data on the relationship between armfolding and handclasping showed that further study is needed. The Cashinahua differed more from the two Tennessee populations than the latter two did from each other. In particular, the frequency of mid-digital hair among the Cashinahua was very low, which is consistent with data from other American Indian groups. The two Tennessee populations, on the other hand, compared with other Caucasoid samples in hair frequency. Analysis of the family data provided some evidence for the heritable character of the handclasping trait and strong evidence for the heritability of the mid-phalangeal hair trait. Armfolding and handedness, on the other hand, did not seem to reflect a strong genetic character.

Efforts to reduce the United States’ dependence on foreign petroleum encourage the production of fuels from bioenergy crops. Recent energy mandates have therefore “opened doors” for alternative feedstock sources for ethanol production. Switchgrass is a candidate feedstock. Under the University of Tennessee’s Biofuels Initiative, the University of Tennessee, partnering with DuPont-Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC, contracted for the production of switchgrass with local farmers to guarantee biomass feedstock supply for an ethanol conversion research facility. This study used methods borrowed from the social psychology literature in combination with economic theory to analyze factors influencing switchgrass farmers’ intentions to continue growing switchgrass after contracts with the granting agent expired. Understanding what motivates producers to make long term commitments to switchgrass production as an energy crop may be important information for private investors who will rely on a fixed supply of switchgrass. A probit model was used to determine the factors affecting producers’ intentions to continue producing switchgrass after their contract expires. Results suggest that community perceptions about the production of switchgrass as a dedicated energy crop may have an important impact on farmers’ intentions to make a long-term commitment to produce switchgrass. Therefore, educating and involving community and extension personnel may have a positive impact on farmers’ decisions to make long-term commitments to grow switchgrass as a dedicated energy crop.

A study of bilateral variation among individuals from three populations was conducted. One sample consisted of 174 Cashinahua Indians who reside along the Curanja River in the Peruvian rain forest. A second group was composed of 286 students from anthropology classes at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Eighty-six families, including 372 individuals, constituted the third sample.Four laterality traits - handedness, armfolding, handclasping, and mid-phalangeal hair - were analyzed by population and by individual family.The most interesting variation occurred in the frequency of right and left handclasping and in the presence or absence of mid-phalangeal hair. The percentage of left and right armfolders among the populations was fairly stable. Handclasping and armfolding do not seem to be related to handedness, however, conflicting data on the relationship between armfolding and handclasping showed that further study is needed.The Cashinahua differed more from the two Tennessee populations than the latter two did from each other. In particular, the frequency of mid-digital hair among the Cashinahua was very low, which is consistent with data from other American Indian groups. The two Tennessee populations, on the other hand, compared with other Caucasoid samples in hair frequency.Analysis of the family data provided some evidence for the heritable character of the handclasping trait and strong evidence for the heritability of the mid-phalangeal hair trait. Armfolding and handedness, on the other hand, did not seem to reflect a strong genetic character.

Efforts to reduce the United States’ dependence on foreign petroleum encourage the production of fuels from bioenergy crops. Recent energy mandates have therefore “opened doors” for alternative feedstock sources for ethanol production. Switchgrass is a candidate feedstock. Under the University of Tennessee’s Biofuels Initiative, the University of Tennessee, partnering with DuPont-Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC, contracted for the production of switchgrass with local farmers to guarantee biomass feedstock supply for an ethanol conversion research facility. This study used methods borrowed from the social psychology literature in combination with economic theory to analyze factors influencing switchgrass farmers’ intentions to continue growing switchgrass after contracts with the granting agent expired. Understanding what motivates producers to make long term commitments to switchgrass production as an energy crop may be important information for private investors who will rely on a fixed supply of switchgrass.A probit model was used to determine the factors affecting producers’ intentions to continue producing switchgrass after their contract expires. Results suggest that community perceptions about the production of switchgrass as a dedicated energy crop may have an important impact on farmers’ intentions to make a long-term commitment to produce switchgrass. Therefore, educating and involving community and extension personnel may have a positive impact on farmers’ decisions to make long-term commitments to grow switchgrass as a dedicated energy crop.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2003. / Title from title page screen (viewed Sept. 23, 2003). Thesis advisor: Randol G. Waters. Document formatted into pages (ix, 93 p.). Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-72).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2002. / Title from title page screen (viewed Feb. 26, 2003). Thesis advisor: Paris Lambdin. Document formatted into pages (viii, 87 p. : ill. (some col.), 1 col. map). Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-75).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2009. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Oct. 23, 2009). Thesis advisor: Wayne Clatterbuck. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2004. / Title from title page screen (viewed Sept. 20, 2004). Thesis advisor: Mary Jo Reiff. Document formatted into pages (v, 96 p. : ill.). Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-73).

Thesis (M.S.S.W.) -- University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2005. / Title from title page screen (viewed on July 13, 2005). Thesis advisor: Cindy Davis. Document formatted into pages (vii, 67 p.). Vita. Includes bibliographical references ( 46-56 p.).