Revision of author's doctoral thesis, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, March, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-76)

Thesis (M. Div.)--Grace Theological Seminary, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-53).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2005. / Vita. Thesis advisor: J. M. Xu. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-121). Also available online.

Thesis (M. Div.)--Columbia Biblical Seminary, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-87).

Thesis (M. Div.)--Columbia Biblical Seminary, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-87).

Dissertation (Ph.D.) -- The Institute for Clinical Social Work, 2003. / A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Institute of Clinical Social Work in partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

<p> The purpose of this research is to determine whether speech shadowing influences the values of voice onset time (VOT) of word-initial consonants, /b/, /p/, /t/, /d/, and /k/ in reading and speaking conditions after a four-week training period. Twenty participants separated into two groups from a learning center in Taipei, Taiwan were recruited for this experiment. Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted to compare the values of VOT of five word-initial consonants in reading and speaking conditions, and narrative analyses were conducted to distinguish the differences among reading, speaking, and shadowing conditions. The results indicate that after the training period, the pronunciations of the consonants /b/, /p/, and /d/ had changed in reading and speaking conditions. The teaching of English pronunciation in Taiwan elementary schools was discussed and speech shadowing was recommended as one pedagogical method for improving the acquisition of English pronunciation.</p><p>

Hydrogen is considered a possible alternative to fossil fuels. Hydrogen can be produced through dark fermentation with 1 mol hexose yielding a maximum of 4 mol hydrogen in association with acetate production, and 2 mol hydrogen in association with butyrate production. However, an economically and technically feasible process is yet to be established. So far research into fermentative hydrogen production has focused on pure and soluble carbohydrates, particularly glucose. To reduce substrate costs, use of more complex low-cost co- and waste products of the food industry or biomass crops which have undergone minimum pre-treatment would be desirable. Also, whilst much research to date has focused on use of pure bacterial strains, an easily obtainable mixed microflora would be preferable to avoid costs of substrate sterilisation. Therefore this research project focused on fermentative hydrogen production from three abundant (in the UK) low cost substrates, namely a wheat starch co-product, sugarbeet and perennial ryegrass. Anaerobic digester sludge obtained from the local sewage works was used as inoculum in a continuously stirred tank reactor. Production of hydrogen and other fermentation products was measured to gain information about the main metabolic pathways used. To lower hydrogen partial pressure the reactor was sparged with nitrogen and the effect on hydrogen production observed. It was demonstrated that stable fermentative hydrogen production from the wheat starch co-product and sugarbeet water extract was possible in continuous operation. Hydrogen production from grass extract was demonstrated in batch mode. Sparging with nitrogen significantly increased hydrogen yields, by 46% for the wheat starch co-product, by 67% for sugarbeet water extract, and by 184% for ryegrass extract. Maximum yields achieved were 1.9 mol hydrogen per mol hexose converted for 16 days on starch, 1.7 mol per mol hexose converted for 5 days on sugarbeet water extract and 0.8 mol hydrogen per mol hexose converted in batch from grass extract. Therefore up to 48% of the maximum theoretical hydrogen yield was produced. Various factors were identified as preventing higher hydrogen yields. Hydrogen production was more closely related to butyrate than acetate concentration. Also, lactate, ethanol and propionate, which are products of carbohydrate fermenting metabolic pathways that do not produce hydrogen, were detected, as were signs of hydrogen consuming homoacetogenesis in continuous operation.

The work presented in this thesis includes experimental investigation using a basic fluidised bed to gasify woodchips and cold modelling studies to improve the fluid bed reactor dynamics incorporating bed internals, such as draft tubes and jets. Low grade fuel gas was produced from woodchips as feedstock, in a 154 mm i/d fluidised bed as the main experimental part of the project using air as the gasifying medium. The influence of a number of process variables on the gasification process were studied including fuel feedrates, temperatures and bed heights, with respect to their effects on quality and quantity of the fuel gas produced. It was found that fuel gas of about 6 MJ/Nm3 can be obtained with temperatures in excess of 700 °c and with fuel feedrates in excess of 3.5 times stoichiometric. The process also benefitted from increasing the static bed heights of the fluidised bed, which was due to the better separation of the combustion and gasification zones. The cold modelling studies coducted using a 2-D glass model employing a draft tube a nd jet system, and using a novel photographic technique produced more realistic data. This showed that both the systems in question produced induced recirculation rates which can be controlled by the process variables such as bed height, bed and jet velocities. Further studies employing these systems for biomass conversion should prove that a better fuel gas quality and quantity can be achieved. In addition a variety of feedstocks can be utilised using the same reactor configuration.