Digital Commons Network^™

The Efficacy Of Relaxation Training On The Affective Behavior Of Early Elementary Minority Students, Mary L. Veele

Dissertations

The relationship between affective behavior and academic achievement has been addressed by a community based education program for minority student achievement in a southwestern Michigan school district. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the effectiveness of selected components of the intervention program whose design or goal was to change the affective behavior of early elementary Black students enrolled in the community based education program. It was hypothesized that there would be a difference in affective behavior between groups of children who received regular training or intensive relaxation training; between boys and girls; and among Grades 1, 2, …

Recidivism Of 17-21 Year-Old Misdemeanants Participating In A Prosecution Diversion Program, Gerald D. Snodgrass

Dissertations

Criminal activity involving the youthful offender is a serious problem in law enforcement. The monetary considerations of processing a criminal case in the established criminal justice system are not declining. Youthful crime, like all forms of criminal activity, is a considerable drain on the resources of this country. The personal costs to the 17-21 year-old offender may include curtailment of employment opportunities, limited educational prospects, and the establishment of adverse life patterns, leading to further criminal involvement. The youthful offender who resorts to crime again and is arrested because of such criminal activity adds additional costs to the criminal justice …

The Identification And Assessment Of Interaction In Educational Microcomputer Software, Pamela J. Zeller

Dissertations

Many professionals involved with the educational use of microcomputers have indicated that criteria for evaluating software are often based on speculation and intuition and that there is a need to establish valid evaluative criteria. Among the elements comprising most evaluation schemes is interaction. The literature suggests that both an operational definition for the term interaction as applied to educational microcomputer software and a means to validly assess such interaction are necessary. The purpose of the study was to systematically develop such an operational definition and to develop and validate an instrument and a procedure to assess this interaction. Using a …

An Assessment Of The Counseling Services Provided To Juvenile Delinquents In Jordan Through The Perceptions Of Juvenile Probation Officers And Administrators, Ahmad Suleiman Zaghalil

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the present status of counseling services provided to juvenile delinquents in Jordan. More specifically, this study focused on the characteristics, priorities, major strengths and weaknesses, problems of counseling services provided to juvenile delinquents, portion of time spent in counseling juvenile delinquents individually and in groups, as perceived by juvenile probation officers and administrators in Jordan, and the academic courses studied by both groups which helped them to practice the profession of counseling with juvenile delinquents.

The subjects for this study consisted of 28 juvenile probation officers and 10 administrators. A questionnaire developed …

Treatment Of Spasticity Via Transcranial Electrical Stimulation In Persons With Cerebral Palsy And Severe Mental Retardation, George A. Thompson Jr.

Dissertations

Although the clinical manifestations of cerebral palsy are many and varied, spasticity is a common aspect of the disorder, observed in as many as 75% of all cases (Paneth & Kiely, 1984). A double-blind and placebo-controlled and counter balanced reversal design was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of transcranial electrical stimulation (TCS) in the treatment of spastic cerebral palsy in six severely mentally impaired individuals. Although there appeared to be some improvement from pre to post measures, a comparison of the placebo and treatment conditions yielded results indicating that transcranial electrical stimulation did not increase the passive range of motion …

A Study Of A Prekindergarten Screening Test: The Project Intercept Inventory, Francis J. Rutowski

Dissertations

The emphasis on the importance of early childhood education has brought attention to techniques used in determining the readiness of young children to successfully undertake kindergarten programs.

The Project Intercept Inventory is a criterion-referenced prekindergarten screening test that has been used in the Grand Rapids, Michigan public schools for 12 years. The test consists of 21 items distributed among seven developmental areas. The test was locally developed and no previous analyses had been done to determine the reliability and validity of the test.

The information gained from the use of this test has been used in making educational programming recommendations …

Leadership In A Juvenile Detention Facility: Portrait Of An Effective Youth Management Program, D. John Morris Jr.

Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to expose administrators and teachers to an institutional system of leadership and youth management that emphasizes the positive: a system that is founded on consistency and based on solid research.

The program, known as the Intensive Learning Program (ILP), is presently used in the Calhoun County Juvenile Home in Marshall, Michigan. It was established as a result of a philosophy of developing community based treatment for juvenile offenders.

Through the use of portraiture the researcher presents a detailed description of the program and a description of the leadership style of the program's director. Also …

Alcoholism Treatment And Its Effect On Subsequent Health Care Costs: A Medicaid Study Of Cost Differences By Treatment Setting, Edmund Paul Kemp

Dissertations

In an attempt to slow and reduce this nation's costs for alcoholism services under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, the Health Care Financing Administration and the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse in 1981 collaborated and jointly developed the Alcoholism Services Demonstration (ASD). The major project goal of the Alcoholism Services Demonstration was to demonstrate that cost savings could be derived by providing alcoholism services to Medicare- and Medicaid-eligible recipients in freestanding alcohol treatment centers.

The purpose of this research was to evaluate Michigan's experience under the national demonstration project with a major focus on the following questions: (a) …

From Manpower To Mindfulness: The High Tech Culture Of Emergence And Its Implications For Education, Gordon F. Dveirin

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Ideal And Real Performance Expectations Of Baccalaureate Nursing Graduates As Perceived By Graduates, Nurse Educators, And Nurse Administrators, Maureen Martin Fochtman

Dissertations

Nurse educators and nursing service administrators have different expectations for the baccalaureate graduate nurse. The difference in expectations has made the transition from student to practitioner difficult for the new graduate.

The purpose of this study was to identify the ideal and real expectations regarding entry level performance as perceived by nurses who graduated in 1985 from 17 of 31 baccalaureate programs represented in the Consensus on Entry project. The ideal and real expectations of the graduates were compared to the nurse educators' and the nursing service administrators' results from the consensus on Entry project.

One hundred fifty-four baccalaureate graduates …

American Indian Perception Of Counselor Characteristics In A Counseling Interview, Francis Donald Mcleod

Dissertations

This investigation of Native Americans determined to what extent counselor expertness, effectiveness and trustworthiness affect their perception of the counseling interview. The study was specifically designed to assess Native American attitudes as they relate to situational counselor characteristics and behavior. The attitudinal preferences investigated were: (a) racial characteristics of counselor, (b) personal attractiveness of counselor, (c) expertness of counselor, and (d) trustworthiness of counselor.

The sample for the study was composed of 60 Native American students randomly selected through Project M.A.I.S.S. (Making American Indians Self-Sufficient), an academic remedial program for American Indian students from the area around Kalamazoo, Michigan. The …

Guilt, Ego Development, And Christian Faith, Dane Ver Merris

Dissertations

This research addressed the problem of whether a relationship exists between a particular level of ego development and guilt engendered by a rigid conscience based upon orthodox Christian beliefs. It was anticipated that forty-five graduate students at a conservative midwestern seminary who experienced higher levels of guilt and demonstrated a more rigid conscience/superego would score at the Conscientious stage of ego development measured by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test. Guilt and rigidity of conscience were measured by the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire.

Object relations theories of the origins of guilt were examined along with the relationship between object relations …

Production Of Thymine Dimer In Dna From Mesophilic And Thermophilic Bacteria By Uv Irradiation, F Redrick Shu-Chung Yein

Dissertations

The in vitro production of thymine dimer (TT) in DNA, isolated from the mesophile (B. licheniformis) and the thermophile (B. stearothermophilus), was carried out by UV irradiation (254 nm) at three different temperatures (35, 45, and 55(DEGREES)C). The production of TT from the thermophilic DNA was significantly higher than that from the mesophilic DNA. This was the case at all three irradiation temperatures. The increase in TT production per 10(DEGREES)C increase in irradiation temperature was four times higher for the thermophile than that for the mesophile. It was concluded that the DNA from the thermophile was photochemically less stable than …

Depression And Anxiety In Postmenopausal Women: A Study Of Black, White, And Hispanic Women, Patricia Groessl

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate depression and anxiety in postmenopausal women. The study examined four areas: race, hormone state, number of menopause symptoms, and demographic data.

The sample consisted of 90 women between the ages of 45 and 65. All subjects had completed either natural or surgical menopause by a minimum of one year. The subjects were volunteers from the West Michigan area.

There were 30 subjects from each of the following race categories: black, white, and Hispanic. On the basis of self reports, the subjects were assigned to one of the following hormone state groups: (a) …

Differential Response Latencies Using Auditory Stimuli, Albert Edward Neal

Dissertations

Previous research has identified and isolated the elicited (autoshaped) control of pigeons' response latencies. The present research, using auditory frequencies as discriminative stimuli, was designed to eliminate the intrusion of this elicited control.

Two experiments are presented, both using a discrete-trial, two-component multiple schedule. In Experiment 1, in which a two-key arrangement was used, pigeons were required to peck a continuously-illuminated left key when one of two different frequencies, each correlated with a different amount of reinforcement, was presented behind the illuminated right key. In Experiment 2, in which a three-key arrangement was used, pigeons were required to peck either …

A Study Of Variables Related To Teacher Absenteeism In A K-12 School District, Dale F. Martin

Dissertations

Teacher absenteeism is a serious problem in school administration. The costs of teach absenteeism were estimated at two billion dollars per annum, according to a report published in 1981. Teacher absenteeism, like all forms of employee absenteeism, is a source of reduced productivity. Despite the seriousness and costs of teacher absenteeism, few studies of this problem have been completed.

In this study, reasons for teacher absenteeism in a K-12 school district were studied. Data from this study were compared to selective data from five medium sized school districts, with student population ranging from 3,350 to 22,845 students, located in Michigan. …

The Effects Of Computer Assisted Instruction In Basic Skills Courses On High-Risk Ninth Grade Students, Thomas E. Dellario

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine the effects of computer assisted instruction (CAI) in basic skills English and mathematics courses on high-risk ninth grade students. Utilizing an ex post facto design, the study was undertaken to determine if CAI courses make any measurable difference in students' academic achievement. The study also examines three nonacademic concerns relating to the school-imposed, high-risk, label carried by these students: attendance, student behavior, and dropouts.

Data were collected from school personnel offices on 384 ninth grade students enrolled in four high schools of two urban school districts. Because of student drops from school, …

Effects Of Training On Measures Of Productivity: A Meta-Analysis Of The Findings Of Forty-Eight Experiments, Alice Susan Leddick

Dissertations

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of training on three employee productivity measures: output, withdrawal, and disruption.

A meta-analysis of forty-eight field experiments published in the United States between 1971 and 1981, inclusive, was conducted to explore differences in training effectiveness associated with eight substantive training variables (five design variables and three contextual variables) and two study design variables.

Across all studies, training programs contributed to overall improvement of experimental groups over control groups of 0.67 standard deviation. Training interventions were most successful applied to disruption; however, a shortage of data cast doubt on the reliability …

A Study Of The Commonalities And Differences Of Male And Female Spiritual Leaders, Alex Kodiath Edd

Dissertations

This study examines the commonalities and differences of male and female spiritual leaders. The research methodology is based on grounded theory. The objectives of this study were: 1. To examine the commonalities of attitude and behavior of selected male and female spiritual leaders. 2. To explore the differences of attitude and behavior of the selected male and female spiritual leaders. 3. To study the perception of God, church, and ministry of the selected male and female spiritual leaders, and to examine the impact of these perceptions on the behavior of the male and female spiritual leaders. 4. To illustrate the …

The Heart And Spirit Of Transformational Leadership A Qualitative Case Study Of Herb Kelleher’S Passion For Southwest Airlines, Kevin L. Freiberg Edd

Dissertations

The notion of transformational leadership as developed by James MacGregor Burns has contributed significantly to a new consensus in the literature regarding the nature of leadership. Burns introduced the concept of transformational leadership, suggesting that leaders are individuals who transform their institutions by embracing competition and conflict, meeting the mutual goals of both leader and followers, successfully articulating their values to followers and drawing them into a common purpose and a shared vision, using power resources and politics to satisfy their followers’ needs and wants, and raising the moral aspirations of both leaders and led. While the contemporary literature on …

A Study Of Feminine Role Models Selected By Catholic Women, Miriam F. Kaeser Edd

Dissertations

Women are being challenged to greater levels of growth and self-development because of the expanding opportunities and options available to them in nearly ever facet of society today. Most women need the support and inspiration of other women as role models in order to respond to these challenges. In living out their faith commitment in the present culture, Catholic women also need role models. The Catholic Church has long presented its members with a variety of saints, and with Mary, the mother of Jesus, as role models. Are Mary and women saints viable role models for Catholic women today? If …

The Long Term Consequences Of Specific Language Disabilities: The Secondary School Years, Nancy Le Sanders Royal Edd

Dissertations

This research was directed toward the consequences of specific language disabilities on students during their secondary school years. The subjects were secondary students who had been identified as having the characteristics of specific language disabilities (SLD or developmental dyslexia) and who received remedial instruction while in elementary school. Remedial treatment utilized the Slingerland Adaptation of the Orton-Gillingham MultiSensory Approach to Language Arts with instruction given within regular education classrooms. These students were compared with a randomly selected cohort comparison group who were not known to have language learning problems. Major findings included: A higher percentage of the SLD group (81.4%) …

Tryptidase: A Novel Trypsin-Like Enzyme From Rat Skin. Isolation And Characterization, Vincent J. Braganza

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Physically Disabled Women: A Study Of Perceptions Of Social Support And Experiences Affecting The Transition Through Parenthood, Beverly Kopala

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Thomas Hobbes' Theory Of Obligation: A Modern Interpretation, Ralph P. Forsberg

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Unspeakable Rich Mercy: Text And Audience In Three Puritan Sermons : John Cotton's The Covenant Of God's Free Grace, Thomas Hooker's The Christian's Two Chiefe Lessons, And Thomas Shepard's The Saint's Jewel, Parley Ann Boswell

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Counselor And Black Student Perceptions Of The Skills, Knowledge And Practical Experiences Needed By Counselors Who Advise Black College Students, Richard L. Pullin

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Decision Making In Long-Term Health Care Planning, Frances M. Weaver

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Two Educational Comparisons Of Linear And Circular Statistics, Robert E. Watson

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Physiological And Psychological Variables Contributing To Sexual Dysfunction In Female Insulin Dependent Diabetic Patients, Linda D. Rice

Dissertations

No abstract provided.