Digital Commons Network^™

Implementing A Mastery Model Through Self Quizzing In An Online Learning Environment, Amy E. Scrima

Dissertations

Mastery learning has an extensive and long-standing research base as an efficacious instructional methodology. The use of mastery learning with current technological advances, however, is a new endeavor. The current study evaluated the effects of adding a mastery learning component to an introductory college course by using an online course management system to facilitate frequent, self-given, chapter review quizzes. Thirty-two first- and second-year college students of similar demographic makeup at a midsize community college were the participants for this study. An alternating treatment design was used to assign students to mastery and nonmastery conditions in two sections of an introductory …

Test Procedures For Equality Of Two Variances In Delta Distributions, Jezaniah Kira Sarion Tena

Dissertations

Statistical literature on testing equality of variances is very broad, encompassing a great number of distributional variations. However, the case of a zero-inflated nonnegative continuous random variable has not yet been considered. Such distribution is specified by a positive probability that the variable assumes a true zero value, together with a conditional distribution for the positive values of the variable.

This study considers the special case, delta distribution, where the positive values come from the lognormal distribution. Test procedures were developed using a statistic based on Gini's Mean Difference. Since the asymptotic distribution of the test statistic was shown to …

The Effects Of Multiple Exemplar Instruction On Generating Functional Interdependence Between Listener And Intraverbal Categorization Repertoires, Sarah A. Lechago

Dissertations

The results of the present study extend the literature on multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) by demonstrating that MEI was ineffective in producing functional interdependence between listener and intraverbal categorization repertoires. Four typically developing children between the ages of 3 years 11 months and 4 years 7 months participated in the study in which two categorization types (listener and intraverbal) were targeted. Previous research has demonstrated functional independence between these two categorization response forms (Petursdottir, Carr, Lechago, & Almason, 2008). The present study examined the efficacy of MEI in the form of alternating categorization response forms (listener and intraverbal) during training …

Relationships Associated With Long-Term Stepgrandmother Role Behavior, Role Meaning, And Satisfaction, Mary-Catherine. Kane

Dissertations

Remarriage from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s has resulted in a stepgrandmother role behavior and role meaning, satisfaction with the stepgrandchild relationship, custody arrangements of minor stepchildren, and demographic information. Multiple linear regression revealed significant associations between several dyadic relationships (stepgrandmother-adult stepchild closeness and biological grandmotheradult child closeness) and stepgrandmother role behavior, role meaning and relationship satisfaction. One-way ANOVA revealed a significant difference on stepgrandmother role meaning for stepgrandmothers who lived in shared residential arrangements with the middle generation as minors. Implications for clinical practice, policy, and research are offered. growing cohort of stepmothers transitioning into stepgrandmotherhood. The complexity of …

When Self-Pacing Goes Wrong: A Comparison Of Two Methods For Reducing Computer-Based Racing, Douglas A. Johnson

Dissertations

Self-pacing, although often seen as one of the primary benefits of computer-based instruction (CBI), can also result in an important problem, namely, computer-based racing. Computer-based racing is when learners respond so quickly within CBI that mistakes are made, even on well-known material. This study compared traditional CBI with two forms of CBI designed to reduce computer-based racing: incentives/disincentives and postfeedback delays. All three formats were evaluated in terms of both performance and satisfaction using a between group repeated measures design with pretest and posttest. Dependent measures included posttest scores, satisfaction questionnaire ratings, percentage correct during learning, and total training time. …

Statistical Procedures For Bioequivalence Analysis, Srinand Ponnathapura Nandakumar

Dissertations

Applicants submitting a new drug application (NDA) or new animal drug application (NADA) under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDC Act) are required to document bioavailability (BA). A sponsor of an abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) or abbreviated new animal drug application (ANADA) must document first pharmaceutical equivalence and then bioequivalence (BE) to be deemed therapeutically equivalent to a reference listed drug (RLD). The Average (ABE), Population (PBE) and Individual (IBE) bioequivalence have been used to establish the equivalence in the pharmaco-kinetics of drugs.

The current procedure of PBE uses Cornish Fisher's (CF) expansion on small samples. Since …

The Comparative Efficacy Of Dosed, Enhanced Dosed, Prolonged Exposure, And Mindfulness In The Reduction Of Anxiety, Sophie Rubin

Dissertations

Exposure-based treatments have proven effective in treating a range of fears and phobias and can be accounted for by mechanisms described in behavioral theory. Enhanced dosed and dosed-only exposure are promising new behavioral approaches for treating fears and phobias. Fifty participants with speech anxiety were randomly assigned to a prolonged exposure condition (PE), a dosed-only exposure condition (DE), a positively enhanced dosed exposure condition (PDE), a negatively-supplemented dosed exposure condition (NDE), or a mindfulness enhanced dosed exposure condition (MDE). End of session results for all of the enhanced groups resulted in significantly lower subjective ratings of discomfort than the non-enhanced …

Characteristics Of Alternative Public High Schools: A National Study Using The 2003-04 Schools And Staffing Survey, Lisa Ryan

Dissertations

Decreasing the high school dropout rate in the United States is gaining a great deal of national attention. One of the key strategies that has been identified to decrease dropout rate is to offer at-risk students alternatives to traditional school. This study contributed to our knowledge about alternative high schools for at-risk students by using data from the large-scale, nationally representative 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Public School Survey. Using an effective schools conceptual framework, the author used logistic regression analyses to compare the characteristics of regular and alternative public high schools. An overall model was created that could predict two …

Technical Adequacy Of Curriculum-Based Measures Of Vocabulary Growth For Preschool English Language Learners, Kathleen M. Vantol

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to design and establish the technical adequacy of curriculum-based measures (CBMs) of vocabulary acquisition for use with preschool children. This study sought to establish the technical adequacy of two tools that can be used for measuring benchmarks of vocabulary acquisition for both native English speakers and for English language learners (ELLs) who are native Spanish speakers. In order to address the instructional needs for students who are Spanish speakers, a Spanish version of the CBM expressive language measure was created.

In this study, CBMs of expressive and receptive vocabulary were developed based upon the …

Curriculum-Based Measures In Writing: A School-Based Evaluation Of Predictive Validity, Christina M. Terenzi

Dissertations

Recent research in the area of Curriculum-Based Measures (CBM) in writing has shown that traditionally used metrics, such as total words written and total words correct, may not be the best tools for measuring writing performance, for both secondary and elementary aged children (e.g., Gansle, Noell, VanDerHeyden, Naquin, & Slider, 2002; Tindal & Parker, 1989a; Watkinson & Lee, 1992). Evidence suggests that more advanced measures, such as production-independent measures (e.g., percentage of correct word sequences) may be stronger predictors of student skill level in the area of writing. The present study replicated portions of a recent seminal study and investigated …

Gender Differences In Depression And Immune Response In Colorectal Cancer, Barbara Anne Rose Phd, Msn, Rn

Dissertations

The focus of this descriptive comparative study was to examine the relationship between gender and depression and immune system function in patients with colorectal cancer. The research questions were answered through secondary analysis, using data obtained from the answers of 117 men and women (71 men and 46 women) enrolled in a colorectal cancer study conducted between 1990 and 1991 in Pennsylvania. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the sample, and general estimating equations were used to analyze depression and immune system function between men and women. Depression was measured by the Beck Depression Inventory, and immune system function was …

The Effects Of Reading Nonfiction Aloud On The Vocabulary Acquisition Of Middle-School Students, Patricia Ann Braun

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if eighth-graders could acquire vocabulary incidentally while listening to nonfiction read-alouds connected to the physical sciences curriculum. In this quasi-experimental study 3 of 6 intact eighth-grade science classes listened to 14 nonfiction read-aloud selections of nonfiction passages selected from books not commonly found in schools but which related to the curriculum which the students would be experiencing in eighth grade. Pretests and posttests were administered to all 6 classes comprising 154 students. Reading ability was included as a variable. Target words comprised of technical and nontechnical words. Assessments included a vocabulary matching …

I/Q Imbalance Mitigation For Space-Time Block Coded Communication Systems, Mingzheng Cao

Dissertations

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) space-time block coded (STBC) wireless communication systems provide reliable data transmissions by exploiting the spatial diversity in fading channels. However, due to component imperfections, the in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) imbalance caused by the non-ideal matching between the relative amplitudes and phases of the I and Q branches always exists in the practical implementation of MIMO STBC communication systems. Such distortion results in a complex conjugate term of the intended signal in the time domain, hence a mirror-image term in the frequency domain, in the data structure. Consequently, I/Q imbalance increases the symbol error rate (SER) drastically in MIMO STBC …

Self Similar Flows In Finite Or Infinite Two Dimensional Geometries, Leonardo Xavier Espin Estevez

Dissertations

This study is concerned with several problems related to self-similar flows in pulsating channels. Exact or similarity solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations are of practical and theoretical importance in fluid mechanics. The assumption of self-similarity of the solutions is a very attractive one from both a theoretical and a practical point of view. It allows us to greatly simplify the Navier-Stokes equations into a single nonlinear one-dimensional partial differential equation (or ordinary differential equation in the case of steady flow) whose solutions are also exact solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations in the sense that no approximations are required in order …

Predictive Decoding Of Neural Data, Yaroslav O. Halchenko

Dissertations

In the last five decades the number of techniques available for non-invasive functional imaging has increased dramatically. Researchers today can choose from a variety of imaging modalities that include EEG, MEG, PET, SPECT, MRI, and fMRI.

This doctoral dissertation offers a methodology for the reliable analysis of neural data at different levels of investigation. By using statistical learning algorithms the proposed approach allows single-trial analysis of various neural data by decoding them into variables of interest. Unbiased testing of the decoder on new samples of the data provides a generalization assessment of decoding performance reliability. Through consecutive analysis of the …

Road-Based Routing In Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks, Josiane Nzouonta-Domgang

Dissertations

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) can provide scalable and cost-effective solutions for applications such as traffic safety, dynamic route planning, and context-aware advertisement using short-range wireless communication. To function properly, these applications require efficient routing protocols. However, existing mobile ad hoc network routing and forwarding approaches have limited performance in VANETs. This dissertation shows that routing protocols which account for VANET-specific characteristics in their designs, such as high density and constrained mobility, can provide good performance for a large spectrum of applications.

This work proposes a novel class of routing protocols as well as three forwarding optimizations for VANETs. The …

Heterogeneous Flow Structure And Gas-Solid Transport Of Riser, Jun You

Dissertations

This study aims to understand physical mechanisms of gas-solid transport and riser flow, investigate heterogeneous flow structures of gas-solid transport and their formation mechanism of the in riser flows, both in axial and radial directions. It provides sound interpretation for the experimental observation and valuable suggestion to riser reactor design. Chemical reaction is also coupled with flow hydrodynamics to board the industrial applications. This study mainly focuses on mathematical modeling approach based upon physical mechanism, and endeavor to validate model prediction against available experimental data.

First of all, most important physical mechanisms including inter-particle collision force, gas/solid interfacial force and …

On Modeling And Mitigating New Breed Of Dos Attacks, Amey Bhaskar Shevtekar

Dissertations

Denial of Service (DoS) attacks pose serious threats to the Internet, exerting in tremendous impact on our daily lives that are heavily dependent on the good health of the Internet. This dissertation aims to achieve two objectives:1) to model new possibilities of the low rate DoS attacks; 2) to develop effective mitigation mechanisms to counter the threat from low rate DoS attacks.

A new stealthy DDoS attack model referred to as the "quiet" attack is proposed in this dissertation. The attack traffic consists of TCP traffic only. Widely used botnets in today's various attacks and newly introduced network feedback control …

Sensorimotor Experience In Virtual Environments, Katherine Grace August

Dissertations

The goal of rehabilitation is to reduce impairment and provide functional improvements resulting in quality participation in activities of life, Plasticity and motor learning principles provide inspiration for therapeutic interventions including movement repetition in a virtual reality environment, The objective of this research work was to investigate functional specific measurements (kinematic, behavioral) and neural correlates of motor experience of hand gesture activities in virtual environments stimulating sensory experience (VE) using a hand agent model. The fMRI compatible Virtual Environment Sign Language Instruction (VESLI) System was designed and developed to provide a number of rehabilitation and measurement features, to identify optimal …

Clustered Wireless Sensor Networks, Renita Margaret Machado

Dissertations

The study of topology in randomly deployed wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is important in addressing the fundamental issue of stochastic coverage resulting from randomness in the deployment procedure and power management algorithms. This dissertation defines and studies clustered WSNs, WSNs whose topology due to the deployment procedure and the application requirements results in the phenomenon of clustering or clumping of nodes. The first part of this dissertation analyzes a range of topologies of clustered WSNs and their impact on the primary sensing objectives of coverage and connectivity. By exploiting the inherent advantages of clustered topologies of nodes, this dissertation presents …

Block And Traditional School Schedules: Comparison Of Student Achievement By Msat Scores And High School Science Teachers' Views, Robert Decker Smith

Dissertations

This study attempts to compare schools that are using a traditional scheduling format to a block scheduling format. Both critics and proponents acknowledge that the block schedule can provide more benefits than just student achievement. This study also attempts to address the perceptions of current Mississippi high school science teachers about the advantages and disadvantages to the block schedule as compared to the traditional schedule.

This study utilized MSAT test scores from 69 (34 block and 35 traditional) public schools throughout the state of Mississippi. This data was used to test 10 hypotheses. Student achievement was measured using both the …

For The Stadium Vendor, Richard Andrew Boada

Dissertations

FOR THE STADIUM VENDOR is an original collection of fifty poems accompanied by a preface.

Medical Negligence And Mrsa Claims:Is The Law Of Tort Efficient Enough?, Bridget Kelleher

Dissertations

In the last number of years, the Irish Health Service has come under major criticism. The emergence of Hospital Acquired Infections has sent the Health sector in to a state of disarray. The most common of these infections is Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) which has now become a term of everyday language. By 1960, the United Kingdom (U.K) discovered that methicillin could combat this staphylococcus (staph) aureus infections. However by 1961,the staph aureus strain had evolved and created a new resistance to methicillin which became known as MRSA. The law of medical negligence, has devised it's own rules to …

"The Mirror Turn Lamp": Natural-Supernatural In Yeats, Cleston Lee Armstrong Iii

Dissertations

The supernatural portrayed in Yeats represents a carefully constructed convergence of all major themes in his canon. Yeats's first exposure to myth, the supernatural, and magic occurs in the 1890s when he worked as an editor of William Blake and Irish fairy lore. This experience at once inspired Yeats to explore mysticism and to shroud his own collected works in mystery. With the onset of modernity and the age of criticism this period ushered in, however, he was unable to capitalize on the spiritual as first imagined. As mere aesthetic, peculiar illuminations of the immaterial world Yeats so intensely sought …

A Case Study Analysis Of Organizational Crisis Communication During Hurricane Katrina, Rebecca Nell Woodrick

Dissertations

This study analyzed an educational organization's crisis communication with its employees regarding the devastation caused to the organization and to employees by hurricane Katrina in 2005. This study drew upon literature regarding communication in crisis and in particular, natural disaster crisis, to ascertain to what degree employees felt the organization engaged in characteristics of High Reliability Organizations. A case study approach employing both qualitative and quantitative data was utilized.

The data revealed that the organization was perceived by employees has having adequately communicated before and after Katrina. Data further revealed that the organization engages in behaviors consistent with practices of …

Form Blindness Testing: Assessing The Ability To Perform Latent Print Examination By Traditional Versus Nontraditional Students, Dean James Bertram

Dissertations

This study examined form blindness testing as a predictor of latent print examination success among traditional and nontraditional college students. A correlational analysis of traditional versus nontraditional students was also assessed. Data were collected for two groups: trained and untrained. The untrained group (n = 167) consisted of students enrolled in courses within the field of forensic science at a university in the southeastern United States during the spring 2009 academic term. Students retained within the untrained group were those with no fingerprint training. The trained group (n = 160) consisted of students who completed a science of fingerprinting course …

The Impact Of Fast Forword On Mct Scores And Student Achievement, Michael Harvey Van Winkle

Dissertations

Educators today were concerned with how the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 dealt with the improvement of education throughout the United States. Schools should have put forth a greater effort and reduced the achievement gap between different groups of students based on race, gender, special education status, and if that student was economically disadvantaged. A problem was identified as low student MCT scores in the state of Mississippi. A tutorial method that claimed to help improve students in the areas of reading and language was identified as Fast ForWord.

This study set out to find if there was …

The Relationship Of Principal Leadership Behaviors With School Climate, Teacher Job Satisfaction, And Student Achievement, Maurice Demond Williams

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine how leadership behaviors of principals relate to school climate, teachers' job satisfaction, and student achievement. The relationship of leadership to student achievement was measured by the school levels based on the administration of the 2006-2007 Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT). Leadership and teacher job satisfaction was determined by Paul Specter's Job Satisfaction Survey, and school climate was indicated by use of the School Climate Inventory (SCI).

Eleven schools in an east Mississippi school district were selected to participate in the research during the spring of 2008. Of the 129 randomly selected participants, 71% …

An Assessment Of The Impact Of A Science Outreach Program, Science In Motion, On Student Achievement, Teacher Efficacy, And Teacher Perception, Phillip Allen Herring

Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to analyze the science outreach program, Science In Motion (SIM), located in Mobile, Alabama. This research investigated what impact the SIM program has on student cognitive functioning and teacher efficacy and also investigated teacher perceptions and attitudes regarding the program.

To investigate student cognitive functioning, data were collected from the Mobile County Public School System based upon student performance on Criterion Referenced Tests (CRT's), consisting of the students' average score, percent of students passing the test (students scoring 60 percent or above), and the percent of students who were considered proficient, (students scoring 70 …

Motivated By Money: Students With Academic Scholarships Versus Those Without And Their Emotional Intelligence, Elizabeth Marie Elbert Giroir

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the retention rate of students who had received academic scholarships versus students who had not received academic scholarships but met the qualifications to receive the scholarships and the effects of emotional intelligence on these students. The data collection mechanisms for this study included the student information system at The University of Southern Mississippi and the EQi: Short survey administered to students during the orientation week activities at The University of Southern Mississippi prior to the beginning of the fall 2004 semester. There were 667 students who participated in the EQi: Short survey …