The purpose of this study was to determine the effect the degree of planfulness of a career transition has on the subsequent job satisfaction in persons seeking or working in temporary employment. The population for this study was 117 individuals seeking or working as a temporary worker in the internal pool of temporary employees at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. One hundred of the individuals in the population completed a survey which provided demographic information such as reasons for seeking temporary work and employment plans. Planfulness of the career transition was measured by the McDaniels Career Transition Considerations (1991). Degree of job satisfaction was measured by the Job Descriptive Index - Revised (Smith, Kendall, & Hulin, 1985). Twenty-nine individuals received personal interviews. These workers were questioned about characteristics of their transition, self, environment, and job satisfaction. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to determine planfulness, jobs satisfaction, and to examine the effect of planfulness of the career transition on job Satisfaction. Financial situation was determined to be the primary consideration of those seeking temporary work followed by work options and family issues. Three factors, quality of supervision, co-workers, and the job in general, were most clearly associated with job satisfaction of the population. Present temporary work and pay were found to provide low levels of satisfaction and promotion opportunity was found not to be a source of satisfaction. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was computed for each scale of job satisfaction and three groups of planfulness. Results suggest that the more planful respondents experienced more satisfaction with three factors of job satisfaction: present work in temporary assignment, coworkers, and the job of temporary work in general. The findings suggest that individuals sought temporary work as a result of a transition as defined by Schlossberg (1984); specifically, in regards to adjusting to role change salience as postulated by Super (1990). Temporary workers were planful in the transition which resulted in experiencing job satisfaction in many facets as described by Hoppock (1935) and Smith, Kendall, and Hulin (1969). These findings have implications for career counselors and individuals seeking temporary work as an adjustment to a career transition. Individuals concerned with their financial situation, work options, and family issues while in a career transition may find satisfaction in temporary work. / Ph. D.

Digital Landsat cover-type classifications have often proved less accurate than hoped for, or have been less detailed than needed. Recent research efforts have used additional data to supplement the four bands of Landsat MSS data in an attempt to increase the accuracies of computer classifications. The goal of this study was to evaluate the use of vegetation-related ancillary variables for improving the performance of a Landsat classification of the Great Dismal Swamp. Ancillary data considered to be related to the distribution of vegetation types in the swamp were registered with Landsat multispectral scanner data to a 50 meter UTM grid. The ancillary variables were peat depths and elevations from field surveys, and spectral texture values from the Landsat data. Discriminant analyses of a sample of pixels were performed to investigate the ability of spectral and ancillary data, separately and in combination, to discriminate between vegetation cover types. A layered classification procedure was developed that used discriminant analysis of ancillary data after a previous unsupervised spectral classification. This was compared to a spectral stratification classification and a straightforward unsupervised classification of spectral data alone. The layered procedure resulted in an accuracy of 21.46% for level III classes and 41.71% for level II classes. The accuracies for level III and level II classifications using the unsupervised procedure were 41.58% and 63.77%, respectively. Some possible explanations of the seemingly contradictory results were posed, and alternative procedures suggested. / Master of Science

This project is an investigation into issues surrounding the placing of a building into the context of a site. The study manifests itself through the design of a museum for Phoenician sailing ships and their artifacts. / Master of Architecture

The primary purpose of the study was to identify the core of agricultural mechanics competencies which should be possessed by all vocational agriculture teachers. Secondary purposes were to determine mechanics competencies appropriate for each vocational agriculture taxonomy area, determine if differences existed by regions in mechanics competencies needed, and determine if differences existed by respondent position category about mechanics competencies needed by vocational agriculture teachers. The population consisted of teacher educators in agriculture, state supervisory staff in agricultural education, teachers of vocational agriculture associated with programs identified as outstanding by head state supervisors and craft committee members associated with the programs identified as outstanding. A total of 258 individuals from the four sub-groups were identified for inclusion in the study sample. A questionnaire listing 90 agricultural mechanics competencies was developed and mailed to the sample. Two follow-up mailings were conducted. Responses were received from 208 respondents representing 80.6 percent of the sample. Five research questions were answered, based on data analysis using group means and/or a one way ANOVA procedure. Findings of the study included: 1. Some agricultural mechanics competencies were needed by teachers of every vocational agriculture taxonomy area. 2. A core of 69 agricultural mechanics competencies needed by all vocational agriculture teachers does exist. 3. Agricultural mechanics competencies needed by vocational agriculture teachers do not differ significantly among regions of the United States with the exception of land measurement competencies. 4. Teacher educators tended to agree with state supervisors about mechanics competencies needed by teachers of vocational agriculture. 5. Teachers tended to agree with craft committee members about mechanics competencies needed by teachers of vocational agriculture. / Ed. D.

Wet pine flats are some of the most productive and intensively-managed wetland forests in the eastern United States. Wet-weather logging of these sites causes extensive rutting and churning of the soil surface and may alter the subsurface flow of soil water. An operational-scale experiment was established in 20-year-old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantations to determine the hydrologic response of wet pine flats to wet- and dry-weather harvesting operations. Three 19-ha treatment blocks were established in the coastal plain near Charleston, South Carolina. Site hydrology was monitored monthly with a 20 x 20 m grid of water table wells for 18 months prior to treatment installation. Three treatments were applied to each block: wet-weather harvesting, dry-weather harvesting, and a control (nonharvested). Prior to harvesting, the water table depths followed a uniform pattern throughout the sites with seasonal fluctuations between 5 and 75 cm below the soil surface. The uniform pattern and poor inherent drainage of the site prior to harvest was due to lack of surface topography and impedance of internal vertical drainage by a restricting Btg soil horizon. After harvesting, the hydrologic pattern changed by the degree of soil disturbance as defined by soil physical properties and microtopographic changes. Such hydrologic changes could influence long-term site productivity and interfere with management of this wetland ecosystem. / Master of Science

A study of the electrochemistry of the PbS-H₂O and PbS-KEX-H₂O systems has been made by carrying out thermodynamic calculations, electrochemical experiments and microflotation tests. Particular attention has been paid to how well this system can be described by equilibrium thermodynamics. The thermodynamic calculations are more comprehensive than previous ones of this type since they are based on a mass balance which includes both insoluble and soluble species. The data they provide include equilibrium concentrations of all dissolved species at any E_h and pH and an E_h-pH stability diagram for each collector addition. Also, two- and three-dimensional plots showing the effect of E_h and pH on xanthate uptake by the galena surface have been presented for the first time. These are particularly useful because they can be directly compared to observed flotation data. The results of voltammetry, IGP and potential-step experiments suggest that the oxidation of galena at pH 6.8 and 9.2 begins at a potential below the value predicted by bulk thermodynamics with the electrosorption of OH⁻ and the formation of a metal-deficient sulfide and a surface lead oxide. When oxidation becomes extensive enough, bulk products, Sº and PbO, begin to nucleate. Thiosulfate is detected at pH 9.2, but only becomes significant at high potentials. The electrochemical experiments indicate that xanthate adsorbs onto galena via a one-electron transfer chemisorption reaction in the first monolayer and via the formation of PbX₂ in subsequent layers. It also appears that galena oxidation and xanthate adsorption are competitive processes that tend to inhibit each other. Ground galena exhibits natural floatability at pH 9.2 as long as oxidation extends to the formation of a metal-deficient sulfide, but not to bulk PbO. When 10⁻⁵ M xanthate is added, the upper potential limit for flotation agrees well with the value predicted from thermodynamics for the decomposition of PbX₂. The lower limit, on the other hand, is at least 200 mv lower than any of the predicted values. PbS dissolves anodically at pH 1.1 and 4.6 to form Pb²⁺ and Sº first by a random surface process and then by a nucleation and growth mechanism once oxidation becomes extensive enough. At pH 0, the relation between the open-circuit potential and mineral solubility, as predicted by the thermodynamic calculations, agrees quantitatively with that determined experimentally. However, as the pH is increased to 1.1 and 4.6, the system becomes increasingly less reversible. / Ph. D.