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Estimates Of Elderly At Nutritional Risk From The Determine Your Nutritional Health Checklist: The 1994 Northeast Florida Nutrition Screening Initiative, Lynn Marie Brokiewicz

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined associations among the nutritional risks, the risk levels, and the ages of independently living elderly. The Checklist of the Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI) was administered to a purposive sample of 1004 Northeast Florida elderly to estimate an age-profile at risk for malnutrition. Checklist nutritional scores (cumulative of ten risks) were grouped into risk levels of low (scores 0-2, 64.3%), moderate (3-5, 29.5%), and high (6 and greater, 24.2%). Within each level, Checklists were grouped by respondents' age into young-old (60-74), old-old (75-79), and fragile-old (80-102). Eight nutritional risks' distribution across risk levels was significantly greater in respondents …

Chief Executive Officer Turnover In U.S. Hospitals, Whittington Lee Bowers

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The annual rates of hospital Chief Executive Officer (CEO) turnover are important to track and evaluate for several reasons. Like other industries, the extent of hospital CEO turnover on an aggregate level is an indicator of the current instability and pace of change within the hospital industry. Sudden large changes in leadership trends can indicate broad changes in the industry, and small changes can indicate a general satisfaction with the status-quo. Since hospitals still dominate and have considerable influence over other sectors of the health care industry, the extent of hospital leadership changes, and the causes of those changes, are …

An Analysis Of Dilemmas In English Composition Among Asian College Students, Shuko Nawa

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined common difficulties in English composition among Asian college students, addressing causal factors from psychological, cultural, and linguistic perspectives. The following factors were investigated: affective filter, puberty period, interlanguage, language transfer, accessibility to a target language, morphological differences, syntactical differences, and cultural thought patterns. The results of analyses of errors in the students' compositions reflected two ESL instructors' observations that Asian college students, whose native languages differ from Indo-European languages, experience difficulty in writing in English. A consistent error frequency which appeared in English article usage prompted the researcher to formulate the rules for articles and to construct …

Use Of The Nurse Entrance Test And Other Factors As Predictors Of Academic Success Of Nursing Students, Linda Rhea Hunter

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Attrition from schools of nursing continues to affect almost one third of students enrolled. Attrition is costly financially and personally to the student, to the educational institution, the health care consumer and the profession.

The purpose of this study was to identify variables measurable at time of admission which might alone or together be predictive of successful persistence until graduation from a nursing program. The variables included cognitive and noncognitive characteristics measured by the Nurse Entrance Test (NET) as well as demographic and other academic achievement measurements.

A convenience sample of associate degree nursing students admitted into two successive classes …

Learning Style, Teaching Style, And Attitude Toward Change As Predictors For The Adoption Of Computer Technology By Elementary School Teachers, Bernadette C. Kelley

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the learning style, teaching style, and attitude toward change of elementary school teachers and the relationship of these variables to the adoption of computer technology into teaching and learning strategies. The researcher used four instruments to gather data about the preferred learning style, teaching style, attitude toward change, and current utilization of computer technology both personally and with students.

Survey forms were delivered to seven selected elementary schools in a Northeast Florida public school district. An educational technology survey was distributed to each of the 200 elementary school teachers in these schools. The return rate of completed …

Professional Socialization And Mentoring Relationships In Beginning Nursing Practice, Barbara Ann Barnaby Darby

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was twofold--to gain understanding of early professional socialization in beginning nursing practice from the beginning practitioner's perspective and to explore the influences of mentoring on the professional socialization of beginning nurses. Participants were thirty-one novice practitioners from an associate in science degree nursing program in the Southeast section of the United States.

The unique perspectives of beginning nurses were gained through the use of focus groups. Data analysis consisted of content analysis, data display and reduction, identification of themes, and conclusion drawing.

Findings supported the notion that professional socialization occurs in phases. Beginners anticipate initial …

A Portable Computer System For Recording Heart Sounds And Data Modeling Using A Backpropagation Neural Network, Erik Mark Hudson

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cardiac auscultation is the primary tool used by cardiologists to diagnose heart problems. Although effective, auscultation is limited by the effectiveness of human hearing. Digital sound technology and the pattern classification ability of neural networks may offer improvements in this area. Digital sound technology is now widely available on personal computers in the form of sound cards. A good deal of research over the last fifteen years has shown that neural networks can excel in diagnostic problem solving. To date, most research involving cardiology and neural networks has focussed on ECG pattern classification. This thesis explores the prospects of recording …

Monte Carlo Methods For Confidence Bands In Nonlinear Regression, Shantonu Mazumdar

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Confidence Bands for Nonlinear Regression Functions can be found analytically for a very limited range of functions with a restrictive parameter space. A computer intensive technique, the Monte Carlo Method will be used to develop an algorithm to find confidence bands for any given nonlinear regression functions with a broader parameter space.

The logistic regression function with one independent variable and two parameters will be used to test the validity and efficiency of the algorithm. The confidence bands for this particular function have been solved for analytically by Khorasani and Milliken (1982). Their derivations will be used to test the …

Interaction And Interdependency Of Software Engineering Methods And Visual Programming, Robert A. Touchton

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Visual Programming Languages and Visual Programming Tools incorporate non-procedural coding mechanisms that may duplicate, or perhaps even conflict with, the analysis and design mechanisms promulgated by the mainstream Software Engineering methodologies. By better understanding such duplication and conflict, software engineers can take proactive measures to accommodate and, ideally, eliminate them. Better still, there may be opportunities for synergy that can be exploited if one is looking for them.

This research explored, documented and classified the interactions and interdependencies, both positive (synergies) and negative (conflicts), between two closely related and rapidly evolving Computer Science subdisciplines: software engineering and visual programming. A …

A Comparative Study Of The Effects Of A Token Economy Program On The Achievement, Behavior, And Attitude Of Middle School Students, Jane Nixon White

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the use of a school-wide token economy program on middle school students' achievement, behavior, and attitudes toward school. This involved the comparison of two similar suburban middle schools, one of which used a school-wide token economy program.

A nonequivalent control-group design was used to examine: (1) the effects on achievement as measured by grades and honor roll status; (2) the effects on behavior as measured by numbers of students attaining perfect attendance, numbers of punches earned, and numbers of detentions and suspensions; and (3) the effects on attitude as …

Religiosity And Aids : The Relationship Between Religious Orientation And Attitudes Toward Aids, Patricia J. Pallay

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It was hypothesized that religious orientation would influence the attitudes that individuals formulated about AIDS and its victims. Specifically, intrinsically oriented subjects were predicted to have more positive attitudes toward AIDS and people with AIDS, and extrinsically oriented subjects were predicted to have more negative attitudes toward AIDS and people with AIDS. Sixty three college students enrolled in social psychology were administered Allport and Ross' Religious Orientation Scale to measure intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation. Three existing measures were used to assess attitudes toward AIDS. Additional instruments were also given to assess the subjects' knowledge about AIDS and attitudes toward …

How Do Actors And Actresses Age?: Self-Monitoring And Aging, Barbara A. Bowman

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the relationship between life events, self-monitoring, and aging. This relationship is explored in the following five areas: religious practices, social networks, intergenerational relationships, retirement, and leisure. It was hypothesized that, compared to low self-monitors, high self-monitors would (a) spend less time in private devotional activities as they age, (b) feel a heavier impact from the reduction in the quantity of social networks, (c) have more distant intergenerational ties, (d) adjust to forced retirement more quickly, and ( e) be less satisfied with leisure time as they age. The 120 volunteer participants ranged in age from 51 through …

The 1795 Rebellion In East Florida, Cormac A. O'Riordan

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The 1795 rebellion in East Florida was a short lived affair, barely extending south of the St. Johns River, and resulting in the deaths of only three Spanish soldiers. Thirty-three of the sixty-seven people identified as rebels by the Spanish escaped across the St. Marys River into Georgia. The remainder were arrested and temporarily imprisoned in the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine. Though harsh sentences were handed down by a Spanish court in 1798, none were ever carried out. Almost all of those implicated in the insurrection were Anglo settlers. Some had been in East Florida since the …

The Effects Of School-Based Management On The Worklife Of Elementary Teachers: A Case Study, Frank R. Brandao

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This case study was a qualitative investigation to describe the nature of teachers' involvement in school based management (SBM), and to describe how this involvement affected teachers' worklives. The review of related literature provided the historical background that led to SBM restructuring, examined what the literature has revealed on SBM, and investigated organizational commitment in the context of SBM.

A semi-structured interview was the instrument used to gather the data. The participants of this case study were a random sample of teachers, a sample of teachers selected by their principals, and the principals currently employed at each of the three …

A Descriptive Study Of Organizational Culture And Climate In Selected Elementary And Secondary Parochial Schools, Maureen C. Thiec

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to collect and interpret base-line data concerning the organizational culture and climate of selected elementary and secondary schools. The sample consisted of 20 parochial schools, 10 elementary and 10 secondary, in the mideast section of the United states. The study focused on three specific questions: 1) What are the cultural values of parochial schools, 2) What is the organizational climate of parochial schools, and 3) Do the cultural values and climate characteristics of parochial elementary schools differ from those of parochial secondary schools? Nelson's (1990) Cultural Value Analysis Tool (CVAT) was used to gather …

The Use Of The Microcomputer By Principals In Their Roles Of Instructional Leader And Manager, David James Mcdonald

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the use of microcomputers by principals in their roles as instructional leaders and managers, and its impact upon the use of microcomputer technology in the school. The research was done by having the randomly stratified selected sample population respond to a survey. The subjects of this study were elementary, middle/junior and high school principals in the Florida Public School System.

Of the responding principals 82.8% reported having access to a microcomputer in their office at school. One-third of the principals reported not having a microcomputer in their own homes. Word processing was …

A General Theory Of Geodesics With Applications To Hyperbolic Geometry, Deborah F. Logan

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, the geometry of curved surfaces is studied using the methods of differential geometry. The introduction of manifolds assists in the study of classical two-dimensional surfaces. To study the geometry of a surface a metric, or way to measure, is needed. By changing the metric on a surface, a new geometric surface can be obtained. On any surface, curves called geodesics play the role of "straight lines" in Euclidean space. These curves minimize distance locally but not necessarily globally. The curvature of a surface at each point p affects the behavior of geodesics and the construction of geometric …

Authentic Assessment: How Do Portfolios Fit The Picture?, Pamela Bryan Bagley

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted in response to the growing need for an alternative to traditional assessment instruments in schools. Standardized tests no longer adequately measure a student's knowledge. Curriculum and teaching methods continue to change, and educators are demanding an assessment method which reflects not only what, but how, a student learns. In response to America 2000, a national plan for school improvement, several states have already adopted more "authentic" methods of assessment, portfolio evaluation being one of the more common. The Florida Department of Education is currently considering various alternative assessment methods, and the implementation of a state portfolio …