Lake Moomaw, a 1024 ha flood control reservoir in western Virginia, retains sufficient cold, oxygenated water (< 21°C, ≥ 5.0 mg/L) to allow trout survival throughout most of the summer. However, trout habitat declines to an annual minimum in September. vertical gillnets and ultrasonic telemetry were used to determine the horizontal and vertical distribution of two cohorts of brown trout, <i>Salmo trutta</i>, and rainbow trout, <i>Oncorhynchus mykiss</i>, relative to ambient temperature and dissolved oxygen. Capture of trout in gillnets afforded the assessment of condition (K), relative liver weight (HSI), and daily consumption (CD) of age 1+ brown and rainbow trout in relation to habitat dynamics. Most age 1+ brown and rainbow trout were distributed in the metalimnion (12 - 21°C) from July to October, even when dissolved oxygen declined below 5.0 mg/L. Location in the metalimnion placed young trout near optimum temperatures and maximum prey abundance. The growth, condition, relative liver weight, and daily consumption of age 1+ brown and rainbow trout were apparently unaffected by habitat limitations. Age 1+ brown trout preyed almost exclusively on alewives, <i>Alosa pseudoharenqus</i>, whereas aquatic and terrestrial insects constituted a substantial portion of young rainbow trout diet. Age 2+ rainbow trout were distributed in the metalimnion from July to September, but were located in the hypolimnion (<12°C) in October. Adult brown trout were located in the metalimnion during July, but were distributed in the hypolimnion from August to October. Adult trout in the hypolimnion were at low temperature (10°C) and diminished dissolved oxygen concentrations (<5.0 mg/L). Distribution in the hypolimnion also resulted in isolation from primary forage alewives. Age 2+ brown trout effectively were not feeding, as only one of 16 adult brown trout collected in two years of sampling contained food. Adult rainbow trout consumed primarily alewives in August and aquatic insects in September, but were apparently not feeding in October. Small sample size precluded the direct measurement of the effects of this isolation on the growth of age 2+ trout in Lake Moomaw. A bioenergetics model predicted that even brief durations of isolation from prey could severely limit the growth of age 2+ brown and rainbow trout. / Master of Science

Vegetable research was conducted to support the diversification and development of small farms in East Central Virginia. Experiments at 12 sites were successfully conducted over a 2 year period to establish superior production practices for the area’s 2 major commercial vegetable crops, cherry tomato and bell pepper. For cherry tomato production, black plastic and straw mulches significantly increased total yield. Black plastic mulch also significantly increased early yield, but neither of the mulches were cost-effective. String-weave staking generally did not affect yield or net economic returns, and it reduced yield on sandy soils during droughty conditions. Irrigation had a positive, but non-significant impact on yield when tested during a growing season with normal amounts of rainfall. Nitrogen applications of 84 kg/ha were most cost-effective, with higher rates found beneficial for irrigated plantings on lighter soils. Plant populations of 13,450 plants/ha produced similar yield and net economic returns as populations of 17,930 plants/ha. <i>Castlette</i> and <i>Small Fry</i> were superior cultivars. For bell pepper production, steady but non-significant increases in yield and net economic returns were detected as nitrogen rates rose from 79 to 158 to 235 kg/ha. Black plastic mulch significantly increased yield and net economic returns, mostly due to moisture conservation benefits. A single-row pattern with an in-row spacing of 41 cm was the most cost-effective planting scheme. <i>Gator Belle</i>,<i> Keystone Resistant Giant #3</i>, and <i>Giant Ace</i> were superior cultivars. On-farm testing improved researchers’ understanding of farm family needs, accelerated the adoption of new technology, and identified deficiencies of technology which were masked at the field station. Field station research was valuable for screening risky treatments, but yields at the station were uncharacteristically high. Extension staff were valuable in the designing of research, but they selected a disproportionate amount of college-educated, medium- and large-scale farm operators as participants for on-farm testing. Paraprofessionals, female personnel, and social scientists were beneficial in strengthening linkages between project personnel and farm families. Marketing was a major obstacle. / Ph. D.

This study investigated costs of inclusive special education. Specifically, there were three areas of study: a) changes in special education costs in eight school divisions before and after implementing an inclusive special education program (Group A); b) changes in special education costs in two school divisions, one inclusive and one not, when using a more precise calculation (Larson method) of special education costs (Group B); and c) a comparison of total special education costs for all school divisions in the state (where data were reported) before and after a state project to encourage inclusive special education (Group C). All calculations compared 1987-88 costs (pre-inclusion) to 1990-91 costs (post-inclusion), after adjusting 1987-88 costs to 1990-91 values. The study found that in the eight inclusive school divisions, six of the eight reduced the percentage of special education costs when compared to total costs. When looking at reported per pupil costs, only two of these eight divisions reported the cost of elementary special education at a lower level after inclusion. For secondary education, two different divisions of the eight reported the special education costs at a lower level after inclusion. None of the eight reported reduction in both secondary and elementary; half reported no reduction in either level after inclusion. The case study data found that the inclusive school division had an increase in special education costs, while the non-inclusive school division had a reduction in special education costs during the same time period. Recalculation using the Larson method showed that special education costs were approximately one and one-half times those reported by standard reporting procedures. The study also produced a more accurate method for determining regular education costs for special education students by calculating time special education students spent in regular education, using individual student data to determine the percent of time reported in special education. In all school divisions in Virginia reporting data, the study found a reduction of special education expenditures occurred during the three-year period, while the enrollment of special education increased during the same period of time. / Ed. D.

No description available.

This thesis explores the notion of gentility among wealthy women in Virginia from 1750 to 1850 by comparing it to Scottish Enlightenment-inspired codes of politeness practiced among the Scottish gentry residing in Edinburgh, the Highlands, and London in the same era. It analyzes how books that taught the codes of polite morality, here referred to as didactic literature, were read by genteel, young women in Scotland and Virginia and the ways in which this literature was applied to their education, courtship practices, and social behaviors. Scots and Virginians in this era were linked through migration patterns, correspondence between families, and a transatlantic book trade, but they were also linked through the interpretation of politeness. The polite manners of genteel individuals in Britain, instilled as a part of Scottish moral philosophy, were adopted by many who aspired to gentility in America, but original, archival research has indicated that this was especially true among the elites of Virginia society from the middle of the eighteenth to the middle of the nineteenth centuries. This comparison serves to emphasize the connection between Virginian and Scottish standards of politeness, indicating similarities in the interpretation of politeness, but also a divergence over time as a result of the influences of the American Revolution and evangelical religion. It has concluded that, by the middle of the nineteenth century, while the standards of didactic literature did not entirely disappear with regards to shaping Scottish manners, the codes taught in conduct books and instructive novels of an earlier era were more widely regarded in Virginia and came to form a uniquely Virginian interpretation of politeness.

The following is a collection of short stories, set in Florida and Virginia, plus the opening chapters of a novel in progress, set in California.

An eighteenth century Mexican folding screen or biombo is located at Virginia House in Richmond, Virginia. A similar three-paneled screen is also located at this site. Upon seeing the similarities between each screen I concluded that the seven panels were at one point a part of one folding screen. The top sections of these folding screens show emblems that depict images of virtues and vices. The source of the emblems on the Virtue Screen is Otto Van Veen's Homtii Emblemata. The text on the screen is taken from a Spanish translation of the Horatii Emblemata entitled the Theatro Moral de toda la Philosophia de los Antiguos y Modernos. This thesis will examine each emblem in a panel-by-panel discussion as well as the iconography found throughout the screen. It will also provide a brief history of the folding screen with its origins in Asia and a comparison of similar screens that have been discovered in the Western Hemisphere.

The purpose of this research is to examine how Virginia public school superintendents spend their time. The primary goal of this study is to determine the differences in how superintendents allocate their time in regards to their involvement with specific tasks. This descriptive study is designed to determine the level of involvement of superintendents throughout the state of Virginia in the areas of fiscal management, facility management, personnel, student personnel and special services, support services, instruction and curriculum, and community relations. This study investigates how much time is spent by superintendents in specific performance areas as defined by the Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Superintendents. It also examines differences in superintendents’ time and task apportionment related to differences in superintendent experiences, as defined by gender, years in current position, size of school division, and student achievement of the school division. Furthermore, it investigates to what extent the experiences of superintendents as defined by gender, years in current position, size of school division, and student achievement of the school division explain a need for professional development in each of the criteria of the Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Superintendents?

This thesis examines how churches and taverns became sites for political discussion and organizing during the Revolutionary era, 1765-1780. Taverns had long served a role in Virginians’ lives by providing places where news was exchanged and discussed, but with the political upheaval between the colonies and Great Britain many of the activities and discussions that took place there became far more politically charged. Analyzing churches and their role within the revolutionary era demonstrates that Virginia’s revolutionary leaders used an institution deeply rooted in their society to further political activism by Virginians and Virginia’s provisional government. But in several ways the Revolution also wrought profound changes with regard to religious liberty and social hierarchy. Through the study of both churches and taverns this study reveals new insights about how these institutions served overlapping and sometimes parallel roles by providing spaces for meetings, discussions, and the exchange of information—as well as new sources of political debate.

Thesis advisor: John E. Ebel / Studies of aftershock sequences in the Central Virginia Seismic Zone (CVSZ) provide critical details of the subsurface geologic structures responsible for past and (possibly) future earthquakes in an intraplate setting. The 23 August 2011 MW 5.8 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake, the largest magnitude event recorded in the CVSZ, caused widespread damage and generated a lengthy and well-recorded aftershock sequence. Over 1600 aftershocks were recorded using a dense network of seismometers in the four months following the mainshock, offering the unique opportunity to study the fault structure responsible for the post-main event seismicity. Previous work has not accurately determined the geometry of the fault structure or the migration of post-mainshock seismicity and association of the 2011 event with a known fault has been unsuccessful. In this study, relative locations of recorded aftershocks were calculated using a version of the double-difference location method outlined in Ebel et al. (2008) to generate an accurate model of the fault structure. The moment tensor inversion technique of Ebel and Bonjer (1990) was used to generate focal mechanisms of dozens of the aftershocks at various locations on the fault structure. Results from the double-difference and moment tensor inversion methods were used to map the structure responsible for the aftershock sequence in high resolution. The calculated fault structure has planes with similar strikes and dips as known faults and geologic structures in the CVSZ. In-depth analysis of this aftershock sequence provides seismologists with the opportunity to better understand the seismic hazards present in poorly understood intraplate seismic zones. / Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Earth and Environmental Sciences.