Sweetpotato is an important staple crop, and a supplementary source of nutrients; minerals, carbohydrates, and vitamins, for the food industry. Quality of sweetpotatoes depends on cultivar, preharvest management practices, and harvest equipment causing skinning. Information on morph-physiological characteristics of storage roots is needed for preharvest management decisions, cultivar selection, and application of harvest aids and harvesting procedures for postharvest storage durability of sweetpotatoes. Also, devices to measure skinning properties of storage roots are needed. This research was conducted to measure skin toughness of various sweetpotato cultivars. The number of skin layers was determined using fluorescent microscopy, and lignin content was determined with the Near Infrared System. Preharvest cultural practices, such as devining to enhance skin set and lignin content, were applied 1, 3, 7 days preharvest, and Ethephon at the rate of 1.68 ha-and 0.84 kg ha-1 applied at 1, 3, and 7 days preharvest. In addition, curing to enhance skin healing and lignin content was evaluated. This research was conducted in the field and in the greenhouse environments. The force gauge and the torquometer were the most accurate and precise devices to measure the force needed to break the skin of the various sweetpotato cultivars. The cultivars, “L07-6R”, “L07-146”, and “Beauregard-14” had the toughest skin compared to the other cultivars. However, “Covington” and “Hatteras” had the highest lignin content. Fluorescent microscopy showed that the cultivars “L07-6R” and “L07-146” had 12 and 10 cell layers, respectively, and the treatment of Ethephon at 1.68 Kg∙ha-1 3 days and 7 days before harvest resulted in the highest lignin content in the skin. Divining 3 days preharvest, and applying Ethephon at 0.84 kg∙ha-1 at 1day and 3days preharvest resulted in the highest lignin content. In addition, the treatments with Ethephon at 1.68 Kg∙ha-1 applied at 3 days and 7 days preharvest resulted in the hardest skin as indicated by torquometer and the force gauge. Curing for 7 days resulted in higher lignin content compared to the others pretreatments. When wounded and cured for 7 days, the healing process was enhanced greatly, resulting in rapid skin set of sweetpotato storage roots.

Significance and integrity are key concepts for archaeology, and how they are judged is determined by an archaeologist’s perceptions of disturbance. This thesis explicitly considers these concepts and how they relate to evolutionary theory and National Register eligibility. A site with known disturbance was chosen to determine whether it could be judged significant assuming that there was no disturbance. Controlled surface collection, magnetometer survey, excavation and landowner interview data were used to determine whether what made the site significant had been lost due to disturbance. The results indicate that the co-mingling of occupations in the plow zone normally would have prevented the site from being determined eligible. However, because of the clusters of Gulf Formational-period diagnostics and intact Early Archaic midden, the site was determined significant. If future work were to be performed, occupation-based work focusing on the artifact clusters and the Archaic midden is recommended.

Poverty and underdevelopment plague millions of people in the world today. Interestingly, the 800 million people that are currently living on less than a dollar a day correlate very closely with the 750 million people who were under colonial subjugation in 1945. In an effort to understand how the disparities in development came about, the theory of self-determination will be defined and historically assessed. Through qualitative evaluation of the principle and history of self-determination and case studies on three key regions that have never known genuine self-rule, it will become clear that the doctrine of self-determination only ever existed in rhetoric. Resource trap theory will be applied to those who have been plagued by outside rule and a general assessment of the state of self-determination in the world will be given. Lastly, an argument for what right transcendently will be given based on the current state of affairs and on Kantian ethics.

A new methodology is proposed to obtain the forming limit diagram (or FLD) of sheet materials by utilizing routinely obtained experimental load versus displacement traces and incorporating finite element (FE) analysis of strain history to extract the characteristic points of diffuse and localized necking and further the limit strains. The experimental data from hemispherical punch stretching test such as limit dome height, maximum load and location of inflection point are utilized to adjust the load curves in the FE simulations. An optimization procedure to obtain various parameters in material definition has been established to obtain a good agreement between the FE-based and experimental punch load versus displacement curves. An analysis of FE model based strain history is then carried out to determine the limit strains. This approach avoids using experimental strain measurement in the vicinity of the neck on the dome specimens. The materials tested with the new methodology include automotive sheets AA6111-T4, AA6181-T4 and DP600. The one utilized for optimization of FE inputs was AA6111-T4. The proposed method for FLD determination considers out-of-plane displacement, punch-sheet contact and friction, and avoids the use of a rather arbitrary inhomogeneity factor to trigger localization such as in the Marciniak-Kuczynski method. A new criterion to determine the localized necking is proposed by seeking an inflection point m the major strain rate curve, or, maximum point in the second order of derivative of major strain, (ε1)max. The proposed localized necking criterion is compared with other two methods to determine the onset of localized necking. These are (i) Bragard criterion for post-test of deformation, and (ii) critical major strain (ε1)cr based on comparison of strain of material inside the localized site and its vicinity in the un-necked site. The new criterion of (ε1)max exhibits a more definite physical meaning towards developing an understanding of flow localization, formability and fracture. This new approach for obtaining FLDs is rapid and accurate and could be implemented easily for routine FLO generation in a lab setting with little user input and subjectivity. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p> Turbidity over Hamilton is determined using direct beam radiation in two manners for the summer period of 1975. These turbidities are then studies with respect to local regional and continental synoptic air masses.</p> <p> The results of the study show a high correlation between the actinometric and residual methods of determining direct beam radiation. This allows turbidity to be easily evaluated at radiation measurement sites.</p> <p> The most significant influence on the amount of particulate matter over Hamilton is the continental scale synoptic patterns.</p. / Thesis / Bachelor of Science (BSc)

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore self-determination in daily life and external programs for youth with visual impairments. To achieve this, the researcher explored three areas that contribute to the development of self-determination based on Wehmeyer’s Functional Theory of Self-determination: capacity, opportunities, and support. All participants in this study participated in Cane Quest, an external program specifically designed for youth with visual impairments. Cane Quest is a long cane competition for youth with visual impairments. These youth independently complete on a route using their orientation and mobility skills while navigating through complex environments such as residential areas, commercial areas, stores, buses, and a college campus. Data were collected through individual interviews, focus group sessions, and document collection. The phenomenological approach was used to analyze the data. Results suggest that youth with visual impairments are facing barriers to capacity, opportunities, and appropriate support in their daily lives. The finding also identified that external programs, like Cane Quest, can provide opportunities and appropriate support for youth with visual impairments to practice and develop self-determination skills. External programs, such as Cane Quest, can be beneficial for youth with visual impairments by filling in some of the gaps that may be occurring in their daily lives.

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No description available.