Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. Elizabeth West, committee chair; Layli Phillips, Kameelah Martin Samuel, committee members. Electronic text (52 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Jan. 30, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-52).

Thesis (M.A.)--Boise State University, 2009. / Title from t.p. of PDF file (viewed April 9, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-75).

Thesis (M.A.)--Boise State University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-75).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, May 2010. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on June 17, 2010). "Department of English." Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-162).

No description available.

This diploma thesis "The effect of CNG fuel combustion on the technical and economic parameters of the vehicle" deals with the use of alternative fuel of compressed natural gas for road vehicles. The thesis is divided into 4 main parts. In the first part there is a literary review, which deals with the history of the use of gaseous fuels in the world and in the Czech lands, as well as the characteristics and construction part of the car modified for CNG operation. The second part is an experimental measurement of performance parameters of two Škoda Octavia Combi III vehicles with a CNG, diesel and petrol engine at dynamometer testing laboratory, which is also described in this chapter. In the third part the results of experimental measurement are processed and commented and both vehicles are compared from the technical and economical point of view. As is evident from the measurement results, in a vehicle that is already equipped with CNG system from manufacturer combustion CNG does not have a negative effect on the engine's performance parameters and even more constant engine operation can be observed. Vehicles with CNG system are also more economical and ecological than vehicles combusting conventional fuels. The last part of this thesis is devoted to a discussion, where the measured results are compared with the results in an expert article dealing with the same topic.

Octavia Butler’s Kindred is often looked at as a historical science fiction novel. While there are critics who have discussed the slave narrative aspects of the novel, the way Butler tackles authorship and what it means to re-write history has been overlooked. By examining the way Butler uses authorship to question authorial authority, one can see the way Butler uses her protagonist to revise history and reclaim historical figures. This process of reclamation and revision enables Butler to examine the historical gaps that have been created and the way enslaved blacks have been caricatured and further dehumanized. Through her protagonist, Butler is able to endow these historical figures with complex identities and emotions and challenges what it means to be a viable authorial voice.

This project argues that Octavia's Butler's construction of the black woman characters is unique within the pantheon of late eighties African-American writers primarily through Butler's celebration of black female physicality and the agency the black body provides. The project is divided into five sections beginning with an intensive examination of Butler's ur-character, Anyanwu. This character is vitally important in discussing Butler's canon because she embodies the attributes and thematic issues that run throughout the author's work, specifically, the author's argument that black woman are provided opportunity through their bodies. Chapter two addresses the way black women's femininity is judged: their sexual activity. In this chapter, I explore one facet of Octavia Butler's narrative examination of sexual co-option and her subsequent implied challenge to definitions of feminine morality through the character Lilith who appears throughout Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy. Specifically, I explore this subject using Harriet Jacobs' seminal autobiography and slave narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl as the prism in which I historically focus the conversation. In chapter three, I move the discussion into an exploration of black motherhood. Much like the aforementioned challenge to femininity vis-à-vis sexual morality, Octavia Butler often challenges and interrogates the traditional definition of motherhood, specifically, the relationship between mother and daughter. I will focus on different aspects of that mother/daughter relationship in two series, the Patternist sequence, which includes, in chronological order, Wild Seed, Mind of my Mind and Patternmaster. Chapter four discusses Butler's final novel, Fledgling, and how the novel's protagonist, Shori not only fits into the matrix of Butler characters but represents the culmination of the privileging of black female physicality that I observe in the author's entire canon. Specifically, while earlier characters are shown to create opportunities and venues of agency through their bodies, in Shori, Butler posits a character whose existence is predicated on its blackness and discusses how that purposeful racial construction leads to freedom. / English

The study examines how narrative aspects change when a story is adapted from one medium to another, focusing on Octavia E. Butler's novel "Kindred" and the graphic novel "Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation" by Damian Duffy and John Jennings. The analysis compares these works based on four aspects: plot, time, narrator, and theme. The results show both similarities and differences between the novel and the graphic novel. While most of the central events in the plot were retained during the adaptation, there are significant differences in the handling of time and narrator, likely due to the requirements of the new medium. The theme shows similar patterns, where differences can be attributed to both the medium and the storyline. Furthermore, the study discusses how these adaptations can be used in education. By analyzing both the novel and the graphic novel, teachers can help students understand how different media-specific narrative elements are used to convey the same story in different ways. This can also contribute to including visual literacy in education, which is important for students' reading skills in today's media landscape.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2011 Aug 15