Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating Summer School Programs And The Effect On Student Achievement: The Correlation Between Stanford-10 Standardized Test Scores And Two Different Summer Programs, Alicia Kaye Bottorff

Dissertations

Educators have been looking for a solution to increasing yearly student achievement while at the same time ensuring that the achievement gap between students of high and low socioeconomic status does not continue to widen each year. Many studies examined show that students experience summer learning loss if not in school during the months of June through September. Because of this research, the district being studied extended their summer school program format from four-weeks to six-weeks. This collaborative, quantitative study examined assessment data from the SAT 10 to explore the correlation between middle school math and language arts test data …

Rational Ligand Design For Potential Applications In Transition Metal Catalysis, Sergey L. Sedinkin

Dissertations

Strategies to influence the steric and electronic properties of three classes of ligands were investigated. First, a compound class known as amino-dithiaphospholanes was studied. It is structurally related to phosphoramidites, which have been successfully applied in catalysis. The synthesis of amino-dithiaphospholanes was envisaged as an approach to electronically tuned phosphoramidites. General access to a variety of structurally modified amino-dithiaphospholanes from commercially available starting materials was developed. The electron donating properties of the new ligands were characterized by NMR. They were found to be more electron-donating than the corresponding phosphoramidites. The coordination chemistry of amino-dithiaphospholanes was investigated by synthesis of a …

School-Within-A-School And Its Effectiveness As Measured By Improved Grades, Increased Attendance, And Student Satisfaction, Amanda E. Shelmire

Dissertations

Although the number of high school students not graduating is alarming, a successful transition from middle school to high school can place students on the path toward graduation. In 2009, a large, suburban high school implemented a school-within-a-school program to help ease this difficult transition for incoming, at-risk freshmen students. The school-within-a-school program assists students before they begin to struggle while providing them with a team teaching approach within the traditional high school setting. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the school-within-a-school program on student success, using the school district‘s outcome measures of grades and …

Elementary Students’ Perceptions Of Teachers: Factors That Influence Achievement, Susan Hladky

Dissertations

This quantitative study a) examined third grade students’ perceptions of teachers in relation to care, respect, help, and motivation to succeed; b) examined relationships among achievement, gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity and students’ perceptions of their teachers, and c) identified the relationship of students’ perceptions as they relate to higher levels of achievement. The research question that formed the basis of this study was: What is the relationship among student achievement, gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and third grade students’ perceptions of their teachers? A correlational research design was used to identify relationships among students’ perceptions of teachers, gender, socioeconomic status, …

Theoretical Prediction Of Drug Release In Gi Tract From Spherical Matrix Systems, Naga Lakshmi Ramana Susarla

Dissertations

The significance of controlled release drug delivery systems (CRDDS) lies in their ability to deliver the drug at a steady rate thus reducing the dosage interval and providing a prolonged pharmacodynamic effect. But despite the steadily increasing practical importance of these devices, little is known regarding their underlying drug release mechanisms. Mathematical modeling of these drug delivery systems could help us understand the underlying mass transport mechanisms involved in the control of drug release. Mathematical modeling also plays an important role in providing us with valuable information such as the amount of drug released during a certain period of time …

Dispersion Of Particles On Liquid Surfaces, Sathishkumar Gurupatham

Dissertations

When small particles (e.g., flour, pollen, etc.) come in contact with a liquid surface, they immediately disperse. The dispersion can occur so quickly that it appears explosive, especially for small particles on the surface of mobile liquids like water. This explosive dispersion is the consequence of capillary force pulling particles into the interface causing them to accelerate to a relatively large velocity. The maximum velocity increases with decreasing particle size; for nanometer-sized particles (e.g., viruses and proteins), the velocity on an air-water interface can be as large as 47 m/s. They also oscillate at a relatively high frequency about their …

Extensions Of Snomed Taxonomy Abstraction Networks Supporting Auditing And Complexity Analysis, Duo Wei

Dissertations

The Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine – Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) has been widely used as a standard terminology in various biomedical domains. The enhancement of the quality of SNOMED contributes to the improvement of the medical systems that it supports.

In previous work, the Structural Analysis of Biomedical Ontologies Center (SABOC) team has defined the partial-area taxonomy, a hierarchical abstraction network consisting of units called partial-areas. Each partial-area comprises a set of SNOMED concepts exhibiting a particular relationship structure and being distinguished by a unique root concept. In this dissertation, some extensions and applications of the taxonomy framework are considered. …

Security Systems Based On Gaussian Integers : Analysis Of Basic Operations And Time Complexity Of Secret Transformations, Aleksey Koval

Dissertations

Many security algorithms currently in use rely heavily on integer arithmetic modulo prime numbers. Gaussian integers can be used with most security algorithms that are formulated for real integers. The aim of this work is to study the benefits of common security protocols with Gaussian integers. Although the main contribution of this work is to analyze and improve the application of Gaussian integers for various public key (PK) algorithms, Gaussian integers were studied in the context of image watermarking as well.

The significant benefits of the application of Gaussian integers become apparent when they are used with Discrete Logarithm Problem …

From "The Projects" To Houses : Physical Redevelopment, Poverty Deconcentration, And Resident Self-Sufficiency Impacts On Public Housing Residents At Hope Iv Developments In Camden, New Jersey, Michael C. Brown

Dissertations

Since 1992, public housing authorities (PHAs) throughout the United States have been building public housing rental and owner-occupied housing in place of demolished or rehabilitated distressed public housing and simultaneously attempting to deconcentrate poverty and improve self-sufficiency among the affected residents. The distressed housing is usually dilapidated, poorly designed, poorly constructed, poorly maintained, and poorly managed; the residents are very poor, are in constant fear of crime and violence, and have little hope. Previous attempts to address these problems have been piecemeal and often inadequate.

Based on recommendations by the National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing in 1992, the …

The Effects Of Periodic And Non-Periodic Inputs On The Dynamics Of A Medial Entorhinal Cortex Layer Ii Stellate Cell Model, Dongwook Kim

Dissertations

Various neuron types exhibit sub-threshold and firing frequency resonance in which the sub-threshold membrane potential or firing frequency responses to periodic inputs peak at a preferred frequency (or frequencies). Previous experimental work has shown that medial entorhinal cortex layer II stellate cells (SCs) exhibit sub-threshold and firing frequency resonance in the theta frequency band (4 - 10 Hz). In this thesis we seek to understand the biophysical and dynamic mechanism underlying these phenomena and how they are related. We studied the effects of sinusoidal current and synaptic conductance inputs at various frequencies, with and without noise, on the supra-threshold dynamics …

Energy Propagation In Jammed Granular Matter, Xiaoni Fang

Dissertations

The systems built from dense granular materials are very important due to their relevance to a number of technological and other fields. However, they are difficult to study in particular due to a lack of accurate continuum description. In this work, studies on these systems are presented using discrete element simulations that model the granular particles as soft, elastic, and frictional disks which interact when in contact. These simulations are used for the purpose of analyzing a few granular systems with the main emphasis on understanding phenomena of energy and force propagation.

Analysis of energy propagation in a two-dimensional disordered …

Investigation On Advanced Image Search Techniques, Abhishek Verma

Dissertations

Content-based image search for retrieval of images based on the similarity in their visual contents, such as color, texture, and shape, to a query image is an active research area due to its broad applications. Color, for example, provides powerful information for image search and classification. This dissertation investigates advanced image search techniques and presents new color descriptors for image search and classification and robust image enhancement and segmentation methods for iris recognition.

First, several new color descriptors have been developed for color image search. Specifically, a new oRGB-SIFT descriptor, which integrates the oRGB color space and the Scale-Invariant Feature …

Synthesis Of (±)-Cyclophostin, (±)-Cyclipostin P, Their Phosphonate Analogs And New Chemistry Of Vinyl Phosphonates, Raj Kumar Malla

Dissertations

This work is divided into 2 parts: a) total synthesis of (±)-cyclophostin, (±)-cyclipostin P and their monocyclic analogs b) development of a metathesis based methodology for transformation of vinyl phosphonates. Cyclophostin (1) and cyclipostins (2) are bioactive natural bicyclic organophosphates. Cyclophostin is a powerful inhibitor of acetyl cholinesterase (AChE), whereas members of the cyclipostins are potent inhibitors of hormone sensitive lipase (HSL). Cyclophostin (1) and cyclipostin (2) have the same structural core unit, but different phosphate ester substituents. While cyclophostin is a methyl ester, the members of the cyclipostins are phosphate esters of different alkyl groups of various length and …

Exploring The Direct And Indirect Effects Of School Leadership On Student Achievement In Kentucky High Schools, Sheri Roberts Mcguffin

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Does The Biofuel Industry, With The Aid Of Certification Programs, Contribute To Sustainable Development?, James Michael Kierulff

Dissertations

Despite being a source of alternative energy and an avenue for broad economic development, a number of biofuel producers have demonstrated that the biofuel industry has significant potential for unleashing social, environmental and economic harm. To largely avoid such perils, the industry must demonstrate that it is operating in a sustainable manner, contributing to the sustainable development of all stakeholders who rely upon the industry‘s responsible operation. Recently minted, internationally developed certification programs have been developed to move the industry into sustainable compliance and to offer a means by which stakeholders can incentivize the industry toward greater levels of sustainability …

The Effects Of Backward-Designed Curriculum And Instruction On Classroom Management, Tyrone Burson

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the link between interesting, purposeful work and positive classroom behavior. The backward design model proposed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe was the foundation for establishing interesting, purposeful work. Their curriculum and instruction model termed Backward Design is a three-stage approach to curriculum design consisting of determining the desired results, acceptable evidence, and the instruction to bring about the desired results. In the review of literature, the researcher was unable to find a study specifically investigating the relationship between classroom behavior, classroom management, and the employment of backward-designed curriculum and instruction. However, …

A Descriptive Study Of The Relationship Between Teacher Mentoring Programs And Retention Rates, Lisa D. Anderson

Dissertations

The design of this descriptive study is to identify those factors contributing to the high rate of early career teacher attrition and to identify a means for its reduction. The subjects for this study were limited to teachers from the southwest section of a Midwestern state. Five school districts were randomly selected based upon the researcher having previously met school district personnel in various professional settings and request letters were sent to superintendents and building principals. Voluntary teacher participation in completing a short, internet-based survey served as the basis with five districts responding. These districts, while confined to a southwest …

Power Dynamics And Questioning In Elementary Science Lessons, Lori Ann Reinsvold

Dissertations

Discourse interactions between a teacher and students in an inquiry-based fourth-grade science classroom were analyzed to investigate how power dynamics and questioning strategies within elementary science lessons help support students in building their science understanding. Five inquiry-based classroom sessions were observed; verbal interactions were audio- and video-recorded. Research data consisted of observation transcripts, teacher interviews, student work, and instructional materials. Analyses were conducted on the frequencies of utterances, participation roles, power categories, and questioning categories. Results revealed that when students used more frequent power, (a) no significant differences were noted between frequencies of teacher and student talk, (b) the teacher …

Undergraduate Elementary Teacher Education Program And Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Deborah A. O'Connor

Dissertations

This study examined an undergraduate elementary teacher education program that had been redesigned based on outcomes of a Teacher Quality Education grant and research on culturally responsive pedagogy. This research study was a program evaluation based on data gathered from the alumni of the program using classroom observations, surveys, and focus groups as data collection methods. Focusing on the concepts of equity, inquiry, and culturally responsive pedagogy, this study indicates program graduates did practice these concepts in their classrooms well, but with superficial understanding of the theory. The study suggests that in order for teachers to be agents of change …

The Evolution And Development Of Wing Form, Body Size And Flight In Large- And Small-Bodied Fruit Bats (Artibeus Jamaicensis And Carollia Perspiciillata), Jason B. Shaw

Dissertations

Differences in developmental patterns important to diversification are produced through heritable variation of the onset/offset and timing of juvenile growth. As the size and shape of an organism changes during ontogeny, morphological, and behavioral components must adjust to accommodate proper function. This study explored the ontogenetic pathways of two closely related Phyllostomids differing in flight ability, body size, life history strategies, and developmental state at birth. We hypothesized that Artibeus jamaicensis and Carollia perspicillata will show ontogenetic differences that account for the diversification of morphological, body size, and behavioral patterns. Comparisons between the two species‟ flight development, growth rates, and …

Multi-Language Education For Indigenous Children In Taiwan, Cheng-Kan Chen

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Teacher And Principal Beliefs About Principal Leadership Behavior, Mary Beth Morris

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not there is a difference between teacher and principal beliefs about principal leadership behavior using a 360- degree evaluation tool. The study also examined whether the difference between teacher and principal beliefs was related to the status of a school relative to the state growth target each school was expected to meet. The study also examined the effects of gender of administrator, number of years of administrator experience, and the performance status of the school that could be discerned through the use of a 360-degree evaluation tool.

Significant research points …

Is There A Relationship Between Positive Behavior Supports And Student Achievement?, Todd Edward Boucher

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between a school’s behavior program and student achievement. This study explored the many facets of school behavior plans from across the state of Mississippi and compared the responses of high school principals to the schools’ U.S. history standardized test scores.

School discipline has become an issue that schools find themselves dealing with on a daily basis. While school discipline issues are not new to the educational arena, the way in which some schools are handling them is changing. Some of the changes are as a result of changes …

The Relationship Between Inquiry-Based Science Instruction And Student Achievement, Michael Louis Suarez

Dissertations

Teaching science through inquiry has become a focus of recent educational reform in Mississippi and other states. Based on the Constructivist learning theory, inquiry instruction can take many forms, but generally follows the scientific method by requiring students to learn concepts through experimentation and real-world, hands-on experiences.

This dissertation examines the relationship between the amounts of time spent using inquiry-based science instruction and student achievement as measured by the Mississippi State Science Assessment. The study also identifies teacher perceptions of inquiry and the amount of professional development received by participants on using inquiry-based instructional techniques. Finally, this study identifies factors …

Latent Growth Modeling Of A Nutrition And Physical Activity Intervention, Alicia Dea Sample

Dissertations

The health, economic, and social impacts of physical inactivity and unhealthy dietary patterns are quite significant and evidenced by the fact that only 3-4% of American adults follow all the dietary advice recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA; Kohatsu, Robinson, & Torner, 2004), and specific subpopulations, including the rural South, are affected even more drastically (McCabe-Sellers et al., 2007). Furthermore, the majority of the people in the United States do not currently meet recommended amounts of physical activity (PA) and have not since the mid 1980s (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2008). To address the …

Self-Repairable Polymeric Networks: Synthesis And Network Design, Biswajit Ghosh

Dissertations

This dissertation describes the design, synthesis and development of a new class of polymeric networks that exhibit self-repairing properties under UV exposure. It consists of two parts: (a) modification and synthesis of oxetane (OXE), and oxolane (OXO) substituted chitosan (CHI) macromonomer, and (b) design, and synthesis of self-repairing polyurethane (PUR) networks consisting of modified chitosan. Unmodified CHI consisting of acetamide (-NHCOCH₃), primary hydroxyl (-OH), and amine (-NH₂) functional groups were reacted with OXE or OXO compounds under basic conditions in order to substitute the 1° –OH groups, and at the same time, convert -NHCOCH₃ functionalities …

Monte Carlo Simulation Of Electron-Induced Air Fluorescence Utilizing Mobile Agents: A New Paradigm For Collaborative Scientific Simulation, Christopher Daniel Walker

Dissertations

A new paradigm for utilization of mobile agents in a modular architecture for scientific simulation is demonstrated through a case study involving Monte Carlo simulation of low energy electron interactions with molecular nitrogen gas. Design and development of Monte Carlo simulations for physical systems of moderate complexity can present a seemingly overwhelming endeavor. The researcher must possess or otherwise develop a thorough understanding the physical system, create mathematical and computational models of the physical system’s components, and forge a simulation utilizing those models. While there is no single route between a collection of physical concepts and a Monte Carlo simulation …

Investigating Macroscopic, Submicroscopic, And Symbolic Connections In A College-Level General Chemistry Laboratory, Felicia Culver Thadison

Dissertations

Explanations of chemical phenomena rely on understanding the behavior of submicroscopic particles. Because this level is “invisible,” it is described using symbols such as models, diagrams and equations. For this reason, students often view chemistry as a “difficult” subject. The laboratory offers a unique opportunity for the students to experience chemistry macroscopically as well as symbolically. The purpose of this investigation was to determine how chemistry lab students explained chemical phenomenon on the macroscopic, submicroscopic, and representational/symbolic level. The participants were undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory level general chemistry lab course. Students’ background information (gender, the number of previous …

Circadian Rhythm And Vigorous Activity: Do They Make A Difference In Executive Function?, Janie Sue Ryland

Dissertations

PL 107-110, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, a federally mandated accountability system based on standards, attendance, and dropout rates has forced educational leaders to explore new avenues of student improvement. Research suggests that all three factors are impacted by scheduling preferences that are relative to time of day. The aim of this study was to extend evidence of executive function as it is impacted by time of day and diurnal preference when exposed to vigorous exercise conditions. Data were collected from a sample that included 100 sixth graders (60 females and 40 males) during the spring semester …

The Relationship Between Response To Intervention Implementation And Student Achievement, Carla Moran Mccaleb

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between Response to Intervention (RTI) implementation and student achievement in reading. The study used primary data derived from the winter STAR reading diagnostic screener collected from third, fourth and fifth grade students in the RTI process. These scores were then compared to the archival data collected in the fall STAR reading diagnostic screener from the same students.

Paired-tests were performed in order to determine if there was a relationship between RTI implementation and student achievement in reading. The study sample represented in this investigation was 125 students …