2010 MU dissertations - Access restricted to MU
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Item In the permanent collection : poems(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010) Wortman, Stefanie; Cairns, Scott[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] In the Permanent Collection is a collection of lyric poetry that turns a careful and sometimes ironic eye to high and low art -- from modern abstract paintings and casts of antique statuary to reality television and mass-produced souvenirs. These objects of vision provide points of contact between subjective acts of looking and the broader conversations the poems engage, conversations about mourning customs, political discourse, and the rhetoric of romantic love. The critical introduction, entitled "Talking Back to the Masters," provides scholarly context for the poems by exploring how Elizabeth Bishop, Anne Carson, and Kevin Young use ekphrasis to reflect on artistic processes and to critique systems of representation. Their poems are best described by a new set of terms, one that deemphasizes the contest between visual and verbal arts, which has been central to previous criticism of ekphrastic literature.Item Numerical solutions to the Poisson equation in media surrounding multiple arbitrarily shaped bodies(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010) Smith, Zebadiah M., 1979-; Loyalka, S. K.[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The dissertation describes a general, efficient, and parallelized approach to solving the Poisson equation in the volume surrounding multiple, arbitrarily shaped bodies. Green's function method is applied and a quadrature technique approximates the resulting integrals from which singularities are subtracted-yielding a large set of equations. The solution is implemented with a general, parallelized, functional program; the input of which are parametric equations defining the surfaces of multiple, arbitrarily shaped bodies and a number of possible boundary conditions. Taking full advantage of available computational resources, the method can be very efficient. The utility, generality, and efficiency of the approach is demonstrated by application to various problems in electrostatics and diffusion; both to validate its accuracy, and in specific cases, to elucidate the phenomena of interest. As the motivation for this research stems from aerosol science and specifically, the critical need for accurate source term modeling for gas-cooled, graphite-moderated nuclear reactors, discussion of the results is done in light of these topics. However, the approach is applicable to any phenomena governed by the Poisson equation-these phenomena are numerous and have implications in nearly all areas of science and engineering.Item Large-scale fabrication of SiC nanofibers and plasma interface engineering of polymer nanocomposites and dental composite restoration(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010) Ritts, Andrew Charles, 1984-; Lombardo, Stephen J. (Stephen John); Yu, Qingsong, 1963-[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] SiC nanofibers in gram-scale per batch were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition. A systematic comparison of different sized graphite and multi-walled carbon nanotubes as carbon precursors of SiC nanofibers revealed Ni catalyst concentration significantly affected the quality of growth. The size of the carbon precursor affected the kinetics and diffusion, which effect the SiC nanofiber growth as observed in electron microscopy. Allylamine plasma surface treated MWNTs and SiC nanofibers enhanced dispersion and interfacial adhesion in an epoxy matrix. All composite samples without plasma treatment lowered in tensile strength, but after plasma treatment all samples increased the tensile strength by 40%. Nanomaterial settling and aggregation were observed with composites using untreated samples and was believed to negatively affect the mechanical properties. The increase in strength of plasma treated samples was attributed to enhanced dispersion and interfacial adhesion observed visually and by electron microscopy. A non-thermal argon plasma brush treatment increased the micro-tensile strength of dental composite restorations. FTIR observed an increase in carbonyl groups on the surface of plasma treated demineralized dentin. The increase in tensile strength was attributed to improved adhesive penetration into collagen fibrils and increased hydrogen bonding between dental adhesive and dental collagenItem Proactive environmental risk communication : multiple publics' evaluation of for-profit corporations' sustainability communication(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010) Park, Sun A., 1981-; Cameron, Glen T.[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This research expands understanding of corporate environmental communication beyond green advertising and environment responsibility reports of CSR into the more developed and accurate sustainability technology solutions called Corporate Sustainability Communication (CSC). By conducting a 2 (Group: students vs. science reporters) x 2 (Corporate discourse: corporate sustainability communication vs. denial) mixed-design experiment, this study showed that corporate sustainability communication (CSC) is more effective in receiving multiple publics' (both students and science reporters) positive evaluations than a denial discourse on potential environmental risk issues that have not yet escalated into a crisis. Regarding the interactions between corporate discourse and group factors, this study also specifically examined the perceived estimation of an organization's environmental legitimacy, stance, and reputation by students and science reporters would differ at each corporate discourse, CSC and denial. The results of this study suggests public relation practitioners adopt CSC as an important risk management tool that can be used at the pre-crisis stage if a potential environmental risk issue arises in relation to its industry sector or products.Item Three essays on the competitiveness of the US corn seed industry(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010) Magnier de Maisonneuve, Alexandre, 1976-; Kalaitzandonakes, Nicholas G., 1960-[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This dissertation provides an analysis of various aspects of the competitivity of the US corn seed industry. In the first essay I develop a price depend model of seed demand which provides a measure of the degree of market power in the corn seed industry. The degree of market power is moderate given the large fixed cost that seed production and the development of biotechnologies necessitates. In the second essay I provide an analysis of the determinants and implications of shortening life cycles of corn hybrids varieties over the last ten years. I use duration analysis to show that the shortening of the life cycles of hybrids is linked to successive waves of introduction of biotech traits. The last essay addresses the issue of product proliferation. I develop a theoretical model to analyze the implications of proliferation for seed demand and cost. The empirical model that I subsequently specify supports the hypothesis that proliferation, which have been observed in the last ten years, occurred because of the introduction of biotech traits.