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Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2006. / Title from title screen (site viewed on Mar. 13, 2007). PDF text: xxi, 171, p. : col. ill. UMI publication number: AAT 3225793. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche format.

The set of compact connected metric spaces (continua) can be divided into classes according to the complexity of their descriptions as inverse limits of polyhedra. The simplest such class is the collection of chainable continua, i.e. those which are inverse limits of arcs. In 1964, A. Lelek introduced a notion which is related to chainability, called span zero. A continuum X has span zero if any two continuous maps from any other continuum to X with identical ranges have a coincidence point. Lelek observed that every chainable continuum has span zero; he later asked whether span zero is in fact a characterization of chainability. In this thesis, we construct a non-chainable continuum in the plane which has span zero, thus providing a counterexample for what is now known as Lelek's Problem in continuum theory. Moreover, we show that the plane contains an uncountable family of pairwise disjoint copies of this continuum. We discuss connections with the classical problem of determining up to homeomorphism all the homogeneous continua in the plane.

The set of compact connected metric spaces (continua) can be divided into classes according to the complexity of their descriptions as inverse limits of polyhedra. The simplest such class is the collection of chainable continua, i.e. those which are inverse limits of arcs. In 1964, A. Lelek introduced a notion which is related to chainability, called span zero. A continuum X has span zero if any two continuous maps from any other continuum to X with identical ranges have a coincidence point. Lelek observed that every chainable continuum has span zero; he later asked whether span zero is in fact a characterization of chainability. In this thesis, we construct a non-chainable continuum in the plane which has span zero, thus providing a counterexample for what is now known as Lelek's Problem in continuum theory. Moreover, we show that the plane contains an uncountable family of pairwise disjoint copies of this continuum. We discuss connections with the classical problem of determining up to homeomorphism all the homogeneous continua in the plane.

In this dissertation, we present the Slattery-Oh-Fu theory extending continuum mechanics to the nanoscale and its applications. We begin with an analysis of supercritical adsorption of argon, krypton, and methane on Graphon before we fully develop the theory. We compare our results both with existing experimental data and with prior molecular-based theories. Then, we present the general theory, which is based upon a long history of important developments beginning with Hamaker (1937). In the context of continuum mechanics, nanoscale problems always involve the immediate neighborhood of a phase interface or the immediate neighborhood of a three-phase line of contact or common line. We test this theory by using it to predict both the surface tensions of the n-alkanes and the static contact angles for the n-alkanes on PTFE and for several liquids on PDMS. For the contact angle predictions, the results are compatible with previously published experimental data. The results for the contact angle analysis also provide a successful test of a previously derived form of Young??s equation for the true, rather than apparent, common line. We also studied Mode I fracture at nanoscale. While we don??t have experimental data to compare, we get reasonable crack configuration and avoid stress singularity at the crack tip. Coalescence problems are revisited to explore the retardation effects in the computation of intermolecular forces. We get good agreement with experimental results. We conclude with a confidence that this theory can be used as a bridge between continuum mechanics and other molecular-based methods.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 60 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-60).

The aesthetics of contemporary short fiction have been shaped by its ability to engage with time as a boundless process of becoming. Historically and philosophically, the emergence of the short story as a specific genre may be related to modernist concepts of time and subjectivity. 'Real' time, as it is experienced by the subject, is a flux, in which past and present co-mingle. In Bergsonian terms, an unquantifiable 'duration' 1S contrasted with Newtonian concepts of absolute time as a succession of discrete units. As Hanson has argued, narrative in the short story 1S structured by a seemingly random association of 1mages rather than linear causality. I contextualize the short story genre, historically and culturally, examining texts by George Egerton and Katherine Mansfield before moving on to the main focus of my thesis, which is texts by Alice Munro and Grace Paley. These also present a dynamic reality, within time as a continuum. However, while utilizing modernist techniques, they also subvert them, problematizing concepts of transcendence. The blurring of the boundaries between autobiographical discourse, orality and fiction is used to destabilize notions of a unified subjectivity and of fixed truth. My analysis applies Bakhtinian theories on language and subject formation to investigate this presentation of time as endless self-renewal. I also draw on Genette's narrative theory and introduce Kristevan theory to investigate the speaking subject from a psychoanalytical viewpoint, with particular reference to the gendered subject. The Bakhtinian concept of the chronotope enables the theorization of the space-time nexus as the foundation of generic specificity; I offer a generic chronotope for the short story, which is grounded in the present moment. An examination of the fiction-making process, through a discussion of my own short stories, concludes this discussion of the short story as a form of contact with undefinable reality.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 1998. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 28 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 28).

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.45).