Cotton is a very important economical crop in the U.S. and throughout the world. The developments in molecular biology offer new and innovative approaches toward evaluating and understanding genetic mechanisms of important agronomical traits. Bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries have rapidly become the preferred choice for physical mapping. BAC-derived microsatellite or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers facilitate the integration of physical and genetic recombination maps. The first objective in this research was to identify chromosome locations of a set of BAC-derived SSR markers in tetraploid cotton. A total of 192 SSR primer pairs were derived from BAC clones of an Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) genetic standard line TM-1. Using deletion analysis method, we assigned 39 markers out of the 192 primer pairs to 18 different chromosomes or chromosome arms. Chromosomal assignment of these markers will help to improve the current cotton genetic linkage maps and facilitate positional candidate gene cloning, comparative genome analysis, and the coordination of chromosome-based genome sequencing projects. Wild race stocks (Gossypium spp.) represent valuable resources for genetic improvement. Most primitive accessions are photoperiod sensitive; they do not flower under the long days of the U.S. cotton belt. Molecular markers were used to locate quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for node of first fruiting branch (NFB), node of first open boll (NOB), and fruiting score (FS). An F2 population consisted of 251 plants from the cross of a day neutral cultivar Deltapine 61, and a photoperiod sensitive accession Texas 701, were used in this study. For each trait, three major QTLs were mapped to chromosome 16, 21, and 25. QTL analysis was also conducted in two F2 populations generated from the cross between Deltapine 61 and two photoperiod sensitive accessions (T1107, PI 607174; T1354, PI 530082) of Upland cotton (G. hirsutum L.). QTL analysis indicated that NFB differed between the two F2 populations. Two major QTLs (q-NFB-c21-1 and q-NFB-c25-1) were found in population 1107; whereas, only one (q-NFB-c25-1) was important in population 1354. Discovering QTLs associated with flowering time may have the potential to facilitate day neutral conversion of wild photoperiod sensitive accessions.

No description available.

Tanytrachelos ahynis, a small (21 cm long) aquatic protorosaur from the Upper Triassic sediments in the Cow Branch Formation of the Newark Supergroup, has been briefly described in 1979 by P. E. Olsen. A growing addition of nearly 200 specimens and the availability of CT imaging allow for an extensively detailed redescription. This redescription fills in missing data in cladistic analyses of Protorosauria, allowing for protorosaur monophyly to be retested with a more robust data set. Two hundred and ninety specimens and two CT scans of specimens were examined, with seventy linear measurements, four angular measurements, and five derived variables comprising the quantitative observations. These qualitative and quantitative observations then provided data for Tanytrachelos in two cladistic analyses of Protorosauria. The first analysis included the outgroup Petrolacosaurus, twenty-one protorosaurs, and nine other archosauromorphs. The second analysis included the twenty taxa within this sample that had a data completeness of 50% or higher. Diagnostic qualities of Tanytrachelos include large orbits (11% - 13% the lateral area of the skull), a fused axis and atlas, a tail that spans half the vertebral length, and paired curved heterotopic bones in some specimens (a sign of sexual dimorphism). The disparity of size between the hind and fore limbs, as well as traces of soft tissue, suggest that Tanytrachelos propelled through the water with its back legs. This taxon is similar to Gwyneddosaurus, found in the Lockatong Formation (Newark Supergroup) in Montgomery County, PA, but should maintain its generic name due to lack of diagnostic qualities for Gwyneddosaurus. With the new observations of Tanytrachelos included, each of the two cladistic analyses yielded a single most parsimonious tree presenting a paraphyletic Protorosauria. Both results placed Prolacerta within the confines of Protorosauria, in contrast with the previous suggestion by three publications that Prolacerta was not a true protorosaur. The analysis of all taxa presented Boreopricea as the most basal protorosaur, while the analysis of the twenty most complete taxa presented Protorosaurus as most primitive. Neither tree fully agrees with any previously published data, partly due to differences in taxa sampling between studies. / Ph. D.

<p> The purpose of this quantitative research study is to analyze the relationship between individual cognitive, behavioral, and motivational characteristics and sales quota attainment for three industrial sales organizations in West Virginia. The intent of the study is to learn more about organizational efforts to implement an effective system for hiring to identify top performing talent in order to accomplish sales goals. From a human performance improvement perspective, this research study applies both the Behavior Engineering Model (Gilbert, 1978) and the Human Performance Improvement / HPT Model (Van Tiem, Moseley, &amp; Dessinger, 2012). The Behavior Engineering Model allowed the researcher to determine which individual characteristics are relevant for the purpose of this study. The Human Performance Improvement/HPT Model further allowed the researcher to define the issue of the recruiting approach of sales as a performance gap. Individual cognitive, behavioral, and motivational characteristics of 238 sales representatives were assessed using a psychometric assessment tool, the ProfileXT&copy; (Profiles International, I, 2007). A stepwise multiple regression was conducted to evaluate which ProfileXT&copy; scale scores were most effective at predicting sales performance. The only factor significantly related to sales performance was Independence, F (1,236) = 18.286, p &lt; .001, with a multiple correlation coefficient of .268, indicating that approximately 7.18% of the variance in sales performance could be accounted for by independence alone. Further analysis indicated no other significant predictor variables from the ProfileXT&copy; scales. The researcher concluded with recommendations for future research.</p>

The insufficient amout of research regarding social media use in municipalities was in part why this study was conducted. This study examined how Swedish municipalities interact with its followers through Facebook’s different post types to create engagement. Grunigs excellence theory stood as the base for the theoretical framework. The method used was a quantitative content analysis. Data was collected from 30 different municipalities’ Facebook pages. The study found that municipalities use Facebook to engage their citizens in some ways more than others and that municipalities, in some regards, do not use Facebook to its full potential. To reach the various ways of engagement, municipalities need to be aware of how to achieve that. Such as what format best suits the engagement that the municipalities wish to achieve. Posting a larger variation of formats should be implemented in order to take advantage of all the benefits that the different formats provide.

This small exploratory study was designed to test the hypothesis that thin melanoma lesions contain nuclei of two similar phenotypes, in different proportions. In lesions likely to progress to metastatic disease, one of these phenotypes predominates. Histopathological sections from 18 cases of thin melanomas which did not progress to metastasis, and from 10 cases which did progress were imaged and digitized at high resolution, with a total of 2084 and 1148 nuclei, respectively, recorded. Five karyometric features were used to discriminate between nuclei from indolent and from potentially metastatic lesions. For each case, the percentage of nuclei classified by the discriminant function as having come from a potentially metastatic lesion was determined and termed as case classification criterion. Standard histopathological criteria, such as ulceration and high mitotic index, indicated in this material the need for intensive therapy for only one of the 10 participants, as compared with 7/10 identified correctly by the karyometric measure. Using a case classification criterion threshold of 40%, the overall accuracy was 86% in the test set. The proportion of nuclei of an aggressive phenotype may lend itself as an effective prognostic clue for thin melanoma lesions. The algorithm developed in this training set appears to identify those patients at high risk for metastatic disease, and demonstrates a basis for a further study to assess the utility of prognostic clues for thin melanomas.

<p>Caring relationships established between nurse managers and staff nurses promote positive work environments. However, research about staff nurses&rsquo; perceptions of nurse manager caring behaviors is limited. A 94-item Caring Assessment Tool-Administration (CAT-adm^&copy;) was developed to measure staff nurses&rsquo; perceptions of nurse managers&rsquo; caring behaviors; however, it lacked robust psychometric testing. This study was undertaken to establish the CAT-adm^&copy; survey as a reliable and valid tool to measure staff nurses&rsquo; perceptions of nurse managers&rsquo; caring behaviors. </p><p> The Quality-Caring Model^&reg; (QCM^&reg;) served as the theoretical framework. Specific aims were to 1) evaluate construct validity of the CAT-adm^&copy; survey by describing factors that account for variance in staff nurses' perceptions of nurse manager caring, 2) estimate internal consistency, and 3) conduct item reduction analysis. Four research questions were: 1) Will the factor structure of observed data fit an 8-factor solution? 2) What is the internal consistency reliability of the CAT- adm^&copy;? 3) What items can be reduced while maintaining an acceptable factor structure? and 4) What are staff nurses&rsquo; perceptions of nurse manager caring behaviors? </p><p> A cross-sectional descriptive design was used. A sample of 703 staff nurses from Midwestern, Midatlantic and Southern Regions of the U.S. completed the CAT-adm^&copy; survey electronically. Analysis included Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), univariate analysis, and descriptive statistics. CFA did not support an 8-factor solution. EFA supported a two-factor solution and demonstrated significant shared variance between the two factors. This shared variance supported a one-factor solution that could conceptually be labeled <i>Caring Behaviors</i>. Random selection reduced the scale to 25-items while maintaining a Cronbach&rsquo;s Alpha of .98. Using the new 25-item scale, the composite score mean of staff nurses&rsquo; perceptions of nurse manager caring behaviors indicated a moderately high level of caring. Suggestions for nursing administration, nurse manager practice, leadership, education and for future research were given. </p><p> The new 25-item CAT-adm^&copy; survey has acceptable reliability and validity. The 25-item CAT-adm^&copy; survey provides hospital administrators, nurse managers, and researchers with an instrument to collect valuable information about the caring behaviors used by nurse managers in relationship with staff nurses. </p>

Understanding the maintenance of the variation that is typically observed in natural populations has been a central aim of evolutionary biology. In a feral population of Soay sheep on the island of Hirta, St. Kilda there is a phenotypic polymorphism for horns with males growing either normal or reduced (scurred) horns, and females growing either normal, scurred or no (polled) horns, with further variation in horn size within each of the horn types. This thesis examines the potential factors which maintain these polymorphisms. I first present an overview of the literature relating to the factors that potentially maintain variance in traits in natural populations. In chapter two I present an analysis that suggests that polymorphisms in both horn type and horn size may be maintained by trade-offs between allocation to reproductive success and survival in males, and by sexually antagonistic selection between males and females. In chapter three I test the hypothesis that female weaponry may convey an advantage in intrasexual conflicts over resources, rather than just being expressed as a consequence of genetic associations with the male phenotype. Chapter four examines the environmental factors which create variation between individuals in their horn length, revealing that individuals vary in response to the environment. In chapter five I investigate whether the temporally fluctuating environmental conditions of St. Kilda generate fluctuating selection on the horn length of normal-horned males, revealing that this mechanism constrains the evolution of horn length potentially maintaining variance. In chapter six I examine the genetic relationships between morphological traits, revealing that these relationships are dependent upon the environmental conditions experienced during the first year of life. Finally, I discuss the wider implications of these findings for our understanding of the maintenance of trait variation in the wild.

LibQUAL+TM is a web-administered library service quality assessment protocol that has been used around the world in hundreds of different types of libraries. Data have been collected from almost 500,000 library users. The protocol has been used in several language variations. The purpose of the present study is to characterize the stability of LibQUAL+TM score norms across both time and various user cohorts. Library staff may place more confidence in benchmarking conclusions if the stability of the score norms can be demonstrated.

The overall goal of this research is to characterize the potential-dependent structure and composition of the alcohol-Ag electrochemical interface. The approach involves the use of a variety of electrochemical and spectroscopic tools to arrive at a consistent model for a series of straight-chain alcohols (methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, and 1-pentanol) at Ag electrodes. There are essentially four areas of investigation presented in this dissertation. The first portion of this work has been directed at the development of charge coupled device detection in Raman spectroscopy so that many of the interface investigations could be performed. The advantages and limitations of these detectors in Raman spectroscopy are addressed. The second area involves the characterization of in-situ alcohol-Ag electrochemical interfaces using Raman spectroscopy and associated surface selection rules for the evaluation of solvent orientation and bonding. Since the series of alcohols offers a systematic variation in solvent properties, these studies provide substantial insight regarding some of the chemical interactions which can dictate orientation. The development of emersed electrode technologies is also presented as a means to improve selectivity for surface molecular species over bulk molecular species. The utility of this approach is demonstrated for a variety of straight-chain alcohols at both rough and smooth Ag electrodes. Conditions for emersing the molecular interface, intact, under potential control are presented. Finally, double layer capacitance measurements are performed to offer additional insight regarding alcohol solvent structure and interfacial composition as a function of electrode potential. In addition, capacitance-potential plots are used along with the Hurwitz-Parsons analysis to determine absolute surface coverage of Br⁻ as a function of electrode potential. These results are correlated with the Raman spectroscopic results to obtain a consistent model for the structure and composition of the alcohol-Ag electrochemical interface.