The primary purposes of this study are to determine the extent to which Appalachian studies courses or units have become part of the middle and secondary public school English curricula in Central Appalachia and, in relation to these courses, to describe content and learning activities, to assess the effectiveness of school library media centers as resources, to identify major institutions and individuals who influence teachers, and to ascertain the extent to which young adult literature is used. Surveys were sent to English teachers and school librarians in 305 schools in 86 counties in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. Response rates were 52% for teachers and 60% for librarians. Frequencies and cross tabulations were computed for variables; the chi-square test for independence was also applied to selected variables. A case study accompanied the statistical data. Major findings include: over a third of the schools include Appalachian studies as part of their English curriculum, though far more as units within other courses than as separate Appalachian studies courses; a vast array of Appalachian authors are represented, many of them very local in nature; most teachers and librarians view the general library collections as adequate, but over half the teachers described the Appalachian collection as inadequate; librarians are viewed more as support staff than as coeducators; several institutions of higher education, public libraries, publishers and bookstores were identified as particularly influential; much confusion exists about what young adult literature is, and it does not appear to be widely used in the curriculum; because of the shared sense of place and culture, a meaningful connection exists between teachers and students. Recommendations for change included strengthening ties between higher education and public school education, implementing telecommunications technology to increase the possibility of greater communication among teachers and access to resources, and establishing an Appalachian resources clearinghouse for teaching materials. Further research should be directed toward surveying a larger geographical area as well as elementary school teachers, and exploring the issue of the effect of Appalachian studies courses on the self-concept of Appalachian students. / Ed. D.

A method is described for implementing group selection regeneration in Appalachian hardwoods. The diverse set of definitions of the method, and the current forest demands are combined to form a flexible system of implementation that can accommodate public as well as private forests. Group selection is used where an uneven-aged silvicultural system is required and multiple objectives demanded. Several types of information are collected in a sample of the forest and then used to make the selection decision of which groups of trees to remove, and which groups to leave. / Master of Science

In order to understand vegetational gradients which develop in response to environmental gradients, the physiological capabilities of each species must be examined in relation to the observed environmental gradient. The distributions of three temperate zone shrub species which occupy different positions on the spur ridges of Brush Mountain may be influenced by their tolerances to light and moisture. Greenhouse studies indicate that <i>R. maximum</i> has a 60 % reduction in photosynthesis at water potentials below -1.0 MPa. <i>R. nudiflorum</i> has only a 30 % reduction and <i>K. latifolia</i> has less than 10 % reduction. Seasonal pressure volume curve determinations, conductance measurements, and water potential measurements of plants in the natural environment indicated that photosynthesis is not affected by water potential in <i>K. latifolia</i>. <i>R. maximum</i> has a significant reduction in conductance during drought which may limit photosynthesis. R. nudiflorum appears to begin senescence prior to severe drought in this area. Greenhouse experiments of adaptability to increasing light intensity show that <i>K. latifolia</i> and <i>R. nudiflorum</i> can significantly increase their light saturation point and maximum rate of photosynthesis in high light environments. <i>R. maximum</i> does not increase its photosynthesis rate in high light environments and appears to undergo chloroplast degradation when grown in high irradiance. Gradient analysis of vegetation on Brush Mountain shows that <i>R. maximum</i> reaches its highest importance in low light, high moisture sites. <i>K. latifolia</i> is most important in low moisture, high irradiance sites. <i>R. nudiflorum</i> is infrequent in the study area but occurs mostly in moderate moisture and irradiance sites. The distributions of <i>R. maximum</i> and <i>K. latifolia</i> appear to match their experimentally determined physiological tolerances. The results for <i>R. nudiflorum</i> are inconclusive. / Master of Science

Many coal mines in southwestern Virginia and West Virginia are plagued with excessive deterioration of roof shales. Shale flakes and sheets spall off the roofs at unpredictable intervals and create hazards in many coal mines (P1.1). The failures are more frequent during the summer months when the incoming air is at a higher temperature than the roofs and walls of the mine. This differences in temperature causes the moisture of the air to condense on the cooler parts of the mine. Prof. C.T. Holland, Department of Mining Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, has suggested that this type of roof failure may depend upon some mineralogical or chemical change caused by the increase in moisture on the rooms of the mine. In addition to the weathering process, some roof shales are notoriously susceptible to failure in those places where ground-water seepage is prevalent. The failures caused by this type of situation at the entry of a mine are usually more predictable than those caused by weathering. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if there were any significant differences in the mineral, chemical, or textural compositions of roof rocks which have failed and those which have not. / Master of Science

This dissertation discusses the intersection of first-year composition instructors and Appalachian language and culture at the two-year college level. Very little of the existing literature discusses pedagogy as it pertains to Appalachian students, and virtually none of the literature focuses on either instructors or the two-year college. This study attempts to address that gap and to explore the attitudes about Appalachia that accompany the teaching of writing in two-year colleges in agricultural (as opposed to coal) Appalachia. This study finds that professors express very negative ideas about Appalachian culture and language, and sometimes about Appalachian students themselves. These attitudes do not, however, contribute dramatically to differences in grades and pass/fail rates for the region as a whole. Appalachian students overall are slightly more likely to fail and less likely to make A grades. The more surprising finding, perhaps, is that students from certain either highly stigmatized or highly isolated communities are far less likely to pass the courses, with failure rates between 50-68%. These rates are far higher than non-Appalachian failure rates, and substantially higher than the rates for non-stigmatized communities and do, perhaps, stem from their instructors' inherent biases. The privileging of standard academic English above other Englishes informs the teaching of every respondent in this study and invites a consideration of how a more rhetorical approach to composition pedagogy might change outcomes for Appalachian students in writing classes and in college itself. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation examines the attitudes of composition professors at the two-year college level toward Appalachian language and culture to determine if there is a correlation between professors' beliefs and students' grades and success rates. First-year composition courses are required of all students at the community college level, and these courses are designed to prepare students for the kinds of writing expected of them in college, both at the two-year level and after they transfer to four-year institutions. The study determined through interviews that professors tend to stigmatize both language and culture, but these attitudes do not necessarily result in a higher failure rate for students. While Appalachian students are 16% more likely to fail and 17% less likely to earn A grades, they still pass first-year composition courses at roughly the same rate as their non-Appalachian peers. The more successful students, however, are those who are willing to code-switch—that is, to exchange their Appalachian English for standard academic English. The study also determined that students who participate in incentivized tuition reimbursement plans (like the Access to Community College Education program) are more likely to be successful in composition courses and in college in general.

M.S.

The Late Silurian-Early Devonian Helderberg Group, Central Appalachians, is a sequence of mixed siliciclastic-carbonate sediments that was deposited during relative tectonic quiescence on a ramp that built out from low-relief tectonic highlands bordering the eastern side of the Appalachian Basin. Three transgressive-regressive sequences are recognized. Each sequence was deposited over 2-3 m.y.; subsidence rates during deposition were 1 to 2 cm/1000 years. Skeletal grainstone/rudstone formed fringing skeletal banks that formed during regression and prograded away from the eastern side of the basin. Thick Middle Devonian siliciclastic sediments buried the Helderberg Group and updip subaerial exposures accompanying the onset of the Acadian Orogeny. Cementation of the Helderberg Group began on the seafloor, but most cements formed under shallow (<300 m depth) to deep burial (300 m to 4 km) conditions. Regional cathodoluminescent zonation patterns in early, clear calcite cements indicate meteoric groundwaters, that become progressively more reducing away from recharge areas, were involved in shallow burial cementation. Progressive downdip reduction of meteoric groundwaters resulted in updip nonluminescent calcite cements that pass downdip into timecorrelative "subzoned" dull cement and finally, nonzoned dull cements. Calculated stable isotopic compositions of Helderberg shallow burial pore fluids are similar to values in modern coastal meteoric groundwaters. Extensive meteoric groundwater systems developed over a 3-4 m. y. period when the Helderberg Group was subaerially exposed along the eastern basin margin and when Helderberg aquifers were confined by fine-grained sediments at <300 m burial depth. Meteoric groundwaters had recharge areas in eastern tectonic highlands which supplied sufficient hydraulic heads to expel connate marine pore fluids and discharge at least 150 km offshore onto the floor of the Appalachian Basin. Void-filling dull calcite cement formed from deep burial (300 m to 4 km) pore fluids with calculated chemical compositions similar to modern oil field brines. Migration of hydrocarbons and high-temperature, high-pressure brines occurred during Late Paleozoic deformation after Helderberg sediments were totally cemented. Brines probably came from eastern overthrusted terranes and migrated through fractures without altering conodont CAI values. Late hydrocarbons probably had several source rocks. / Ph. D.

The increased impact on mine subsidence during the recent years led to the development of two semi-empirical prediction methods for the eastern United States coalfields. The methods are based on an extensive data bank, which includes a total of twenty three panels, from nine case studies, which were instrumented during this research effort. An extensive field monitoring program, utilizing a digital computer tacheometer, was developed and implemented for this purpose. The first prediction method using a profile function, provides a fast and convenient method for prediction of vertical movements above mine panels of uniform geometry. More specifically the hyperbolic tangent function is utilized, as adapted to regional data. The developed model is capable of accurate general predictions for the Eastem U.S. coalfields. The second method is based on the Budryk-Knothe influence function. The parameters used in this method were mainly determined from the monitored case studies. The use of such a method requires primarily a computer, however, it can negotiate mine sections of complex conditions and can calculate subsidence as well as any other mode of deformation on the surface. For the prediction of the parameters required for the application of both methods a number of relationships between mining and subsidence factors were established through the analysis of the collected data. Computer software were developed for the analysis of the data as well as for the application of the prediction methods. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to describe the sources of infant care informational support systems that mothers residing in the Western North Carolina Appalachian region use and prefer in the postpartum period. In addition, the study explored the associations of the sources for informational social support on infant care with personal factors (age, socioeconomic status, parity, race, ethnicity, residence, marital status, education, access to Internet, access to cellular phone, prior attendance in childbirth classes, and other adult infant care assistance in the home) of the mothers. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Text in English / The southern Appalachian mountain region is home to a sincere group of religious fundamentalists. They obey Jesus' last command that serpents should be taken up (Mark 16:17-18). They believe the Holy Ghost anoints them and gives them the power to handle serpents, drink poisons, handle fire, and to heal the sick. Nevertheless, they are fully aware that they may be bitten and may even die. Each church is autonomous. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M.A. (Religious Studies)