Digital Commons Network^™

A Comparison Of The Ways That Teachers, Parents And Preschool Children Classify Toys Into Gender Categories, Linda Schneider

Student Work

This study compared the ways that teachers, parents and children classified toys according to gender categories. Fifty-eight teachers and seventy-eight parents completed a toy survey in which they were to sort a list of 49 preschool classroom toys into gender categories. The six toys most often rated masculine and the six toys most often rated feminine by the teachers were used in a toy sorting task for preschool children. Seventy-four preschool children were asked to sort pictures of the twelve toys into gender categories.

One-way analyses of variance, t-tests, and Least Significant Difference multiple comparison procedures were used to examine …

If Even A Few Are Reclaimed, The Labor Is Not Lost: William Hamilton's Life Among The Iowa And Omaha Indians, 1837-1891, Michelle Cauleen Gullett

Student Work

This is a biography of Reverend William Hamilton, Presbyterian missionary to the American Indians for over fifty years. Bom in Clinton, Pennsylvania, son of a farmer, Hamilton developed an interest in the ministry at an early age. Following graduation from Washington College in Washington, Pennsylvania, and his ordination by the Presbytery of Northumberland, he offered his services to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. As a result, the Board sent Hamilton and his new wife to live and work among the Ioway Indians in the trans-Missouri West. Hamilton labored among the Ioway, Sac and Fox Indians with fellow missionary Samuel …

Changes In Land Cover And Nesting Habitat For The Interior Least Tern And Piping Plover Along The Missouri River: 1983-1991, Todd D. Noble

Student Work

This thesis examines land cover changes that affect shorebird habitat at four sites along the Missouri River using wetland habitat and hydrologic data. Wetland habitat data was aggregated into four land cover categories, including one which corresponded with potential shorebird nesting habitat. Type, location, and quantity of land cover changes at each site were determined between 1983 and 1991. Impacts upon tern and plover nesting habitat were assessed by analyzing changes in the corresponding land cover category. Associated hydrologic information, including gage heights and discharge records, were utilized to help understand local conditions. It was found that there were substantial …

The Economics Of Fertility: The Case Of Norway, Terje Christiansen

Student Work

Economic theories of fertility are tested on Norwegian time series data for the period 1962-1991. The Easterlin hypothesis receives the most attention, and generally little evidence is found to support this hypothesis. Large relative cohort size ratios, however, seem to support the Easterlin hypothesis more than small ones. A New Home Economics model with a special emphasis on male income and female wages is also estimated, and results are obtained favoring this model. Finally, the problem with effective time lags in economic fertility models is tested, and in general an effective time lag of two years is favored. Since women's …

Effectiveness Of A Homophobic Intervention Upon Graduate Counseling Students, Bryce Thull

Student Work

This study compared the homophobic attitudes of graduate level counseling students before and after a presentation exploring homophobia. The attitudinal scores of both the control and experimental groups were pre-tested and post-tested by the Index of Attitudes toward Homosexuals (IAH) and compared by an Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The outcome indicated that the IAH post-test scores of the experimental group receiving the homophobic intervention were significantly reduced (p < .001) compared to the IAH post-test scores of the control group that did not receive the intervention. The results demonstrate that a specific presentation about homophobia may be effective in reducing negative attitudes toward homosexuals.

An Investigation Into The Nature Of Traitlike And Situational Communication Apprehension Of Non-Traditional Undergraduate Students, Janice Gayle Poppenga

Student Work

This thesis investigated the nature of traitlike and situational communication apprehension of non-traditional undergraduate students. Two research questions were posited and tested utilizing the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension instrument (McCroskey, 1982a) and the Situational Communication Apprehension Measure (McCroskey & Richmond, 1982). Results indicated that no significant differences were found between non-traditional and traditional students on traitlike communication apprehension. In addition, significant differences were found between non-traditional and traditional students on situational communication apprehension. Discussion and interpretation of results and future issues for research on non-traditional students are explored.

Norris Alfred: A Voice From The Prairie, Kevin L. Warneke

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to determine how a county editor from Polk, Nebraska, could attract a loyal following of readers scattered throughout the United States and be nominated for one of the highest awards given to journalist. Norris Alfred, editor of the Polk Progress from 1955 to 1964 and from 1966 to 1989, bucked a trend among country editors when he made locally written editorials an integral part of his newspaper. Country editors, unlike their counterparts with daily newspapers, have not always chosen to include their own editorials in their newspapers. They cite, among other reasons, a lack …

Logon To Ai: A Dynamic Supporting Tutorial System., Carole L. Becic

Student Work

This Master’s Thesis presents a computer-aided tutorial system built on the concepts of dynamic support and on-line intelligence. The system was originally aimed at providing an interactive teaching aid for a college level introductory course in Artificial Intelligence (AI). The resulting system can actually be used for many other courses of various disciplines and at different educational levels. This can be done by simply supplying this system with the teaching materials of the particular courses. The system is designed for easy use by both students and teachers. Students are guided by concise and friendly prompts along their journey through the …

Freedom Of Expression On Private College Campuses: An Examination Of The Legal Parameters Of Privately-Owned Public Forums And Their Shared Similarities With Private Campuses, Natalie J. Straight Hadley

Student Work

This thesis addresses the research question of whether a private college campus meets the definition of a privately-owned public forum for First Amendment purposes. It relies on an examination of the body of federal case law related to freedom of expression on other types of private property, which can be broadly categorized into cases on company towns, migrant labor camps, shopping malls and multitenant dwellings. Analogies are then drawn between each type of private property and two hypothetical private campuses, a nonresidential seminary and a urban, residential private university. The result is a list of five factors which have been …

The Issue Doctrine An Examination Of The Impact Of Rosenbloom Versus Metromedia On Constitutional Libel Litigation, Simon Auguste Danigole Jr.

Student Work

This thesis examines the Rosenbloom v. Metromedia, Inc. Supreme Court decision as the source of the public issue doctrine (the application of the actual malice doctrine to private individuals who were involved in controversies over matters of public or general concern). The study uses an historical-legal viewpoint beginning with the Court of Star Chambers in early seventeenth century England. Within the framework of the law of defamation, the evolution of the concepts of public officials, public figures, private individuals and the public issue doctrine are examined in detail. The historical progression of libel litigation is briefly traced through the American …

The Effects Of Reading Books About War On The Attitudes Of Fifth Grade Students Toward War, Letitia A. Green

Student Work

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of reading books that deal with the topic of war on the attitudes of children toward war. At the beginning of the nine week study an attitudinal survey was administered to two groups of fifth grade students as a pretest. Twenty-six students participated in the study. Students in the experimental group then independently read at least two books that dealt with war and listened to nine other war stories. The students kept a journal to record their thoughts and feelings about war and the literature they read and heard. At …

The Relationship Between Mandated Portfolios And Teachers' Attitudes, Beliefs, And Practices, Christi Wise

Student Work

This study examines the relationship between teachers' perceptions and of their practices with mandated portfolios. It analyzes how teachers' attitudes and beliefs may influence the effectiveness of portfolio usage. Six intermediate grade teachers from one Midwestern school district were interviewed to ascertain their background, knowledge about portfolios, attitudes about portfolios, ownership of portfolios, and use of portfolios. In addition, the contents of eighteen randomly selected student portfolios were identified and analyzed to determine the congruency between teachers' stated perceptions and the implementation of portfolio use. The findings imply that changes in school policies regarding portfolios are ineffective unless the changes …

An Empirical Investigation Of Algorithms For The Convex Hull Problems., Sheri Zimmel

Student Work

The objective of this thesis is to implement and empirically evaluate the perfor­mance of serial and parallel algorithms for the multidimensional convex hull problem. In recent years several new serial algorithms and parallel variants thereof have been developed. However, the algorithms were implemented on machines having very dif­ferent architectures with speeds differing by orders of magnitude. As a result, no comparison of the implementations can be done. Inefficiencies, ranging from major to minor in scope, are also inherent in each of these previous implementations. In this study we designed and implemented improved versions of existing serial algorithms for the multidimensional …

H.C. Welker: The Life Of A Presbyterian Minister And His Ministry In Prairie And Great Plains Communities 1886-1964, Patricia Ann Welker

Student Work

The histories of seven western communities and seven churches served by one minister help document the importance of Presbyterianism in western life between 1919 and 1952. H. Clare Welker became a Presbyterian minister in 1918 after having served seven years as a teacher, principal and superintendent in three western Nebraska school systems. School teaching and administration had provided good preparation for his future work in church management. His ministry took place in individually diverse western communities where the church occupied a dominant place. Issues that affected the community also had an impact on the church, and Welker actively took part …

An Investigation Of Parental And Teacher Attitudes Toward Appropriate Activities For Kindergarten, Joyce R. Kinney

Student Work

Children's adjustment to kindergarten is an issue which is of concern to both educators and parents. This study explores three areas which were thought to have a relationship to children's adjustment to school: parents' attitudes toward appropriate activities for preschoolers and kindergarteners; how these attitudes compare between groups of parents based on the preschool that their children attended; and parents' perceptions of continuity between their child's preschool and kindergarten programs. Of particular interest in this study was the relationship between Westside Community School's Early Childhood programs and its kindergartens.

Vocal Works Of Manuel Rosenthal, Wendy Eaton Mandy

Student Work

The body of Vocal Works of Manuel Rosenthal is divided into three parts. In the first part an overview of Rosenthal's life is presented since in the United States biographical information is only available through journal articles and short summaries in reference books about twentieth-century composers. The second part includes information about the songs Rosenthal wrote. The information is compiled in such a way as to help teachers and singers draw on this substantial body of work in twentieth-century French vocal literature for recitals and symphonic programs. The third part consists of translations of twenty-five of the songs from French …

Breaking The Color Barrier: Actors Of Color In Traditionally White Roles, Kenneth Lyles Glenn

Student Work

This thesis equivalent project is concerned with actors of color in traditionally white roles, specifically a black actor playing Fredric Egerman in the UNO production of Stephen Sondheim’s, A Little Night Music. Rarely have black actors been given the opportunity of playing the romantic leading man in films, television or in the theatre. The stigma of color and race has often excluded many talented performers from these roles when the only concern should be an actor’s individual talent. This paper is an attempt to address this dilemma and ask the questions: Do we violate the play and the playwright’s intention …

The Friendship Of Didi And Gogo In Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot, David Lewis Zinck

Student Work

This thesis project examines the theme of friendship in Samuel Beckett’s play, Waiting for Godot. In the introduction, background information is presented with two sources for defining the term “friendship.” Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics offers three different kinds of friendships, and John M. Reisman, a contemporary sociologist, transmutes Aristotle’s theories into the three kinds of friendships as well – the friendships of reciprocity, receptivity, and association.

Determination Of The Transcriptional Start Site And In Vitro Translation Of The A-11 Mrna In Dictyostelium Mucoroides., Weilie Ma

Student Work

Previous studies in Dictyostelium mucoroides have sought to identify genes specific for macrocyst development. A gene named A-11, previously isolated as a cDNA, appears to be one of these genes. The cDNA of A-11 was made from macrocyst (8h) mRNA, and Northern analysis did not detect any A-11 transcript during sorocarp formation. The cDNA sequence for A-11 has been obtained. To determine if the cDNA of A-11 is complete, primer extension and RNA sequencing were performed using an end-labeled oligonucleotide complementary to positions 1221 to 1239 of A-11 cDNA. The two longest extension products were 102 bases in 101 bases. …

A Study Of Depression In Elderly Persons With Low Vision, Barry J. Jose

Student Work

Analysis of 67 elderly persons with low vision to determine if depression existed and to evaluate their social support networks was done by using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Measure. It was found that elderly patients with low vision are no more depressed than other groups provided they have a support network. It was also found that these patients were less depressed as a result of possessing a positive self-evaluation of their health. Finally, a support network will increase the likelihood that a positive self-evaluation of health will occur.

A Metrics Paradigm For Object-Oriented Analysis And Design., Michael F. Bridges

Student Work

For several years, the software industry has been affected by a problem called the software crisis. Many software developers have worked hard to determine remedies for this crisis. The crisis deals with products being produced over costs, behind schedule, with low quality, and not meeting customer satisfaction. Processes are being used which waste resources and build low quality products. In dealing with the software crisis, software practitioners have used many tools, methodologies, and metrics to help produce better products, save resources, and increase productivity. Metrics are meaningful measures used to determine how well software is being produced, where weaknesses are …

Procedural Justice And Voice: Do Individual Differences Moderate The Voice Effect?, Mark N. Van Osdel

Student Work

Previous researchers (see Lind & Tyler, 1988) have reported that persons allowed an opportunity to express their opinions (voice) typically report a heightened level of perceived fairness-labeled as the voice effect. Instrumental and group-value theories have been proposed as explanations for this effect. The present study examined the voice effect in the context of personality theory to explore individual differences in relation to instrumental and group value theories of voice. This study was designed to test the effect of two individual difference components, Locus of Control and Need for Affiliation, across three conditions of voice (predecision, postdecision, and no-voice). Predecision …

Black Children, White Bias, Victoria J. Porter

Student Work

Empirical studies of young children’s racial attitudes and identity extend over more than five decades. The pioneering work of Clark and Clark in the 1930’s involved the use of brown and white dolls to study racial preferences, awareness, and identity o f African American children. On items that were designed to measure racial preferences and attitudes, most African American children attributed the positive characteristics to the white doll and the negative characteristics to the darker skinned doll. The current study investigated the racial identity and attitudes of African American and Caucasian children. The effects of socio-economic status (SES), as well …

Students' Perception Of Teacher Expectation In A Co-Educational Physical Activity Class, Cari Robin Turner

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to determine if a gender difference exists between students1 perception of male and female teacher expectation. Student perceptions were determined by administering the Student Perception Inventory (SPI) developed by McBride (1990). Three high schools and five junior high schools which included 15 teachers participated in the study. All students who participated were enrolled in co-educational physical activity classes. All students were surveyed at the beginning of the class period. There were 363 students surveyed. Of the 363 students surveyed, 342 were considered usable. Analysis of the data included frequency and percentage of response, as …

New Keynesian Economics: Between Equilibrium And Disequilibrium, Adriana Gafencu

Student Work

In an attempt to explain and forecast the behavior of economic variables and of the economy as a whole, each school of economics creates its own system of paradigms, premises and models. The New Keynesian school of thought developed from the traditional Keynesian insights tries to offer additional explanations, based on microeconomic foundations, for such phenomena as economy-wide fluctuations of output and prices and for the persistent high levels of unemployment that economies experience. The task of New Keynesian economics is to explain the rigidities of prices and wages that keep the economy from reaching a full-employment equilibrium. The essential …

Time Series Analysis Of Corporate Quarterly Earnings, Mihaela Babias

Student Work

This paper has examined the time-series properties of the earnings per share series of twenty companies, observed quarterly during the 1977-93 period. The goodness-of-fit properties of five forecasting models for quarterly accounting data was evaluated. Goodness-of-fit was examined by comparing the standard deviations of each series whenusing the five models. The five models are: 1. Foster’s ARIMA(1,0,0)(0,1,0); 2. Griffin’s ARIMA(0,1,1)(0,1,1); 3. Brown-Rozeff ARIMA(1,0,0)(0,1,1); 4. Winter’s seasonal exponential smoothing; 5. Specific ARIMA model, developed on a each firm’s basis. The main results of this study are: a) individual models are in most of the cases the best or the second preferred …

The Reliability Of Self-Reported Drug Use Measured Through The Drug Use Forecasting Program: A Multi-Trait Assessment, Charles M. Katz

Student Work

The majority of drug use data obtained by researchers thus far has been generated through the use of self-reports and urinalyses. In fact, such methods are often the only way to accurately identify individuals who use drugs. There has only been a minimal amount of research concerning the reliability of the self-reported drug use among arrestees in the Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) program. The purpose of this paper is to present initial evidence on the reliability of self-reported interview data when compared to urinalysis, and to give a detailed description of the variables associated with the accuracy of self-reports. The …

The Effect Of Legal And Extralegal Factors On Prosecutors' Charging Decisions In Sexual Assault Cases, Jeffrey W. Spears

Student Work

Most studies of criminal justice decision making have focused on the decision to arrest, the pretrial release decision, the decision to enter a guilty plea, and the sentencing decision. There has been very little research on the prosecutor's decision to file charges against persons suspected of crimes. The present study examined the effect of legal and extralegal variables on the prosecutor's decision to file charges in sexual assault cases. Using a sample of all complaints in sexual assaults received by the Detroit Police Departments in 1989, we tested the hypothesis that prosecutors' charging decisions are related to the strength of …

An Examination And Investigation Of Selection Criteria For Counseling Trainees, Carol L. Frost

Student Work

This study investigated the extent to which various academic measures (MAT/GRE-v, undergraduate GPA, and ethnicity) and non-academic measures (MMPI-2 T scores, references, interview, and work experience) predict interpersonal characteristics and skills and intrapersonal functioning (counseling potential) in a graduate counseling program. Admission screening scores for 146 enrolled students were used to predict counseling potential measured by a thirteen item unifactor criterion developed from interviews with eleven expert faculty members. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that the best predictors were ethnicity, MMPI-2 paranoia scale, references, and interview. Discriminant analyses failed to identify "problem students". The discussion focuses on the need for non-academic …

Students' Perception Of Teacher Expectation In A Co-Educational Physical Activity Class, Cari Robin Turner

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to determine if a gender difference exists between students perception of male and female teacher expectation. Student perceptions were determined by administering the Student Perception Inventory (SPI) developed by McBride (1990). Three high schools and five junior high schools which included 15 teachers participated in the study. All students who participated were enrolled in co-educational physical activity classes. All students were surveyed at the beginning of the class period. There were 363 students surveyed. Of the 363 students surveyed, 342 were considered usable. Analysis of the data included frequency and percentage of response, as …