Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Motivational Independent Reading Programs On Elementary At-Risk Students’ Reading Skills, Kathleeen J. Trueb

Dissertations

Teaching literacy is a challenging process that incorporates the functional and structural aspects of language with the comprehension of its content. Educators are often unable to successfully identify the appropriate strategies that are best-suited to communicate these distinctive components of literacy to students. Students from backgrounds of low socio-economic status are more likely to face challenges in acquiring literacy due to the cultural exceptions attached to their community and to the lack of resources available to them in the home and in schools that have less funding. The research study seeks to investigate these issues through comparing and contrasting the …

Transcript Analysis Of The Cso Operon And Characterization Of Two Sets Of Conserved Bacterial Microcompartment Genes In The Model Organism Halothiobacillus Neapolitanus, Fei Cai

Dissertations

This study was designed to achieve better understanding of (1) how carboxysome genes are regulated and expressed to yield with precise relative ratios and (2) the in vivo roles of two sets of conserved bacterial microcompartment genes, namely the three csoSl and two csoS4 genes of H. neapolitanus, in the biogenesis and function of the carboxysome. For the first goal, a detailed transcriptional profile of carboxysomal genes in H. neapolitanus was established using absolute quantification real-time RT-PCR and transcript ends analysis. This transcriptional profile revealed that a single promoter, denoted cso promoter, was located upstream from the clustered carboxysomal genes. …

In Quest Of Walter Smith: The Past, Present, And Future Impact Of Visual Art In Adult Education, Meredith Amanda Cole

Dissertations

Walter Smith is a relatively unknown historical figure in the art world, but he is essential to defining adult education's past, present, and future in the area of visual art. His artistic endeavors in America sparked facets of the way art education is practiced today. However, along the way we have lost the tenets of social change which he sought but never accomplished. In chapter one, I introduce the purpose of the research. In chapter two, I explain the position Walter Smith entered when coming to America. I also detail Smith's Herculean social reform efforts for adult education and why …

Principal Efficacy: An Investigation Of School Principals' Sense Of Efficacy And Indicators Of School Effectiveness, Charles Wayne Lovell

Dissertations

At the individual school level, the responsibility for demonstrating school effectiveness lies on the shoulders of the building administrator. In fact, "it is widely accepted that good principals are the cornerstones of good schools and that, without a principal's leadership efforts to raise student achievement, schools cannot succeed" (Tschannen-Moran & Gareis, 2004, p. 573). However, federal, state, and local mandates have increased the pressure on school administrators to demonstrate effectiveness. As a result, the work of school administrators has changed. Furthermore, Fullan (2003) identifies a trend that demonstrates a dramatic decrease in the principal's perceptions of effectiveness, authority, trust, and …

Mathematics Achievement Of Regular Education Students By Placement In Inclusion And Non-Inclusion Classrooms And Their Principals' Perceptions Of Inclusion, Loretta Rodgers Hartfield

Dissertations

This study examined mathematics achievement of fourth and fifth grade students in Mississippi and principals' perceptions of inclusion.

A sample of 462 students from eight separate elementary schools was selected for this study. Fifteen principals completed the Principal and Inclusion Survey regarding inclusion education. Eight of the 15 principals were interviewed with 10 open-ended questions regarding their perceptions of inclusion.

Data were analyzed using an independent two-tailed t test and Pearson product moment correlation. The independent two-tailed / test was used to determine differences in mathematics achievement for fourth and fifth grade students in inclusion classrooms compared to non-inclusion classrooms …

Entropy And Certainty In Lossless Data Compression, James Jay Jacobs

Dissertations

Data compression is the art of using encoding techniques to represent data symbols using less storage space compared to the original data representation. The encoding process builds a relationship between the entropy of the data and the certainty of the system. The theoretical limits of this relationship are defined by the theory of entropy in information that was proposed by Claude Shannon. Lossless data compression is uniquely tied to entropy theory as the data and the system have a static definition. The static nature of the two requires a mechanism to reduce the entropy without the ability to alter either …

The Relationship Between Leadership Behaviors, Teacher Collaboration, And Student Achievement, Angela Nix Mchenry

Dissertations

Educational administrators face the unprecedented challenge of increasing student achievement for all students. One response to this challenge has been to increase and improve teacher collaboration. This study analyzed the relationship between elementary principals' leadership behaviors, teacher collaboration, and student achievement. The relationship between the variables of teacher age, years of experience, and years working with the current principal were also analyzed using multiple regression.

A random sample of 161 Mississippi elementary teachers in 15 schools were surveyed, using the researcher-designed questionnaire, Leadership for Collaboration. These responses measured the teachers' perception of their elementary principals' leadership behaviors and the level …

The Effect Of The Alabama Mathematics, Science, And Technology Initiative (Amsti) On Middle School Students' Scores In Mathematics And Science, Toni Boyd Ramey

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the application of the Alabama Mathematics, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) program in middle schools reduced the gaps found between students' CRT scores; specifically, did the gaps found in the CRT scores within the respective subgroups race, gender, SES, and special/regular education narrow? The subject areas considered by this study were mathematics and science. Student-level data were collected and examined for longitudinal changes over a three year period in which the AMSTI program was implemented at two participating public middle schools. The dependent variables used were mathematics and science CRT scores …

Study Of Thermal Frontal Polymerization Utilizing Reactive And Non-Reactive Additives, Veronika Grace Viner

Dissertations

Thermal frontal polymerization is a process that involves a propagating front travelling through a monomer/initiator solution and converting monomer into polymer. The effects of different reactive and non-reactive additives on front temperature, front velocity, and pot life were studied in a thermal frontal polymerization system of multifunctional acrylates. One issue with thermal frontal polymerization of acrylate monomers is the amount of smoke and fumes produced due to high front temperatures. The effect of thermally-expandable microspheres was studied utilizing a variety of monomers. Solid additives including fillers, inert phase changer materials, and high thermal conductive fillers were investigated. The addition of …

Tuning Pig Liver Esterase Enantioselectivity For The Synthesis Of Unnatural Serine And Tyrosine Analogues, Dale Anthony Rosado Jr.

Dissertations

The synthesis of disubstituted and homologated unnatural amino acids and the development of a mass spectrometry based assay for enantioselectivity are presented here. Disubstituted and homologated unnatural amino acids have proven to be effective for the treatment of diseases and for use as imaging agents. Peptides that contain unnatural amino acids have also proven to be effective treatments for various disease states including cancer. The potential to evaluate such unnatural amino acids for pharmaceutical properties is limited by the available syntheses. No method currently exists that will allow for the synthesis of homochirally similar unnatural amino acids from a common …

Teaching Science In Light Of World View: The Effect Of Contextualized Instruction On The Scientific Compatibility Of Religious College Students' World Views, Paula Rae Gossard

Dissertations

Authors of recent science reform documents promote the goal of scientific literacy for all Americans (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1989, 1993). Some students, however, feel apprehensive about learning science due to perceptions that science is antagonistic to their world views (Alters, 2005; Esbenshade, 1993). This study investigated the effect of an introductory science course taught in the context of a Christian, theistic world view on the scientific compatibility of religious college students' world views. For the purposes of this study, students' understanding of the nature of science, affective attitudes toward science, and beliefs regarding creation were used …

Teacher Education Preparation Assessment System And The National Council For Accreditation Of Teacher Education Accreditation, Deborah Lynn Vaughan Stoulig

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the assessment systems of teacher preparation programs have changed since the new NCATE Standards were implemented in 2004, what methods of data collections are being used, and to measure coordinators' perceptions of the assessment systems. An electronic survey was developed by the researcher based upon a review of related literature, the researcher's personal experience, and years of reviewing data collection software. An invitation to the survey was emailed to 631 NCATE Coordinators or equivalent as identified from their institution's website with 221 participants completing the survey for a return rate of …

Impact Of Preschool Education On Reading Achievement Of Kindergarten Through Fifth Grade Students, Melissa Harvey Clark

Dissertations

This study examines the impact of various types of preschool care and education on the reading achievement of children, kindergarten through fifth grade, who participated in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K). The participants in this study are located throughout the United States of America. These students attend public and private schools.

The data for this study were provided by the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES), a division of the U.S. Department of Education. The researcher utilized ECLS-K's Public Use Data File and Electronic Codebook to create an SPSS syntax file in order to determine if …

Reactor R&D: Synthesis And Optimization Of Metallic Nitride Fullerenes And The Introduction Of Two New Classes Of Endohedral Metallofullerenes, Metallic Nitride Azafullerenes And Oxo-Metallic Fullerenes, Curtis Earl Coumbe

Dissertations

Metallic nitride fullerenes (MNFs) were discovered in 1999. This class of endohedral fullerenes show promise in a new diverse range of useful applications. Since then, focus has shifted to the selective synthesis of these molecules with yields that would accommodate adequate sample distribution. Using the electric arc method, the traditional yield of these molecules has been very low (i.e. < 5 mg), and only a small percentage of the fullerene products (i.e. < 5%). This dissertation introduces the novel CAPTEAR (Chemically Adjusting Plasma Temperature, Energy, And Reactivity) method that allows the targeted synthesis of MNFs in high purity and yield. This method utilizes a nontraditional oxidizing method for fullerene synthesis that has not only provided optimization of MNFs, but also resulted in the discovery of two new classes of fullerenes: metallic nitride azafullerenes (MNAFs) and oxo-metallic fullerenes (OMFs). Evidence suggests that the nitrogen of the MNAF cage provides stability for the trimetallic nitride clusters, while the OMFs are the first fullerenes to encapsulate oxygen and incorporate a seven atom cluster inside a Cgo cage.

Other efforts to increase yields resulted from scaling up production of fullerenes by using larger quantities of starting materials. These larger quantities required energy (electrical current) beyond the capacity of the traditional electric arc generator. Therefore, a new electric arc generator …

Exploring The Efficiency And Effectiveness Of Teacher Selection Tools: The Effects On The Total Group With A Focus On The Experience Sub-Groups, Kimberly Joyce Mckinley

Dissertations

As schools struggle to meet federal testing requirements, the importance of having highly effective teachers in every classroom has never been greater, and, given the downward trend in the economy, there are more teaching applicants than ever. School districts would benefit from a streamlined process to interview and select only the most effective and highly-qualified teachers. The researcher’s purpose was to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of a unique and specific teacher selection process which included three Ventures for Excellence screening tools and one innovative instrument designed for this study, the performance rating scale. A collaborative correlational study involving three …

Neon Allegiance, Jason Paul Olsen

Dissertations

This collection of thirty-one poems is built around my personal search for place, the idea of "home," and how it is relationship more than mere geography that defines the places one encounters in a life. In these poems, that idea of "home" ties back to intimate relationships with family and friends, but also with relationships involving culture—both historical and popular—as a whole.

The collection itself is a pastiche of strategies and stylizations, united by a defined and consistent voice. The geographic locations vary—from Las Vegas (where the largest number of poems and energy are focused) to stops in points across …

Metaevaluation Of Hiv/Aids Prevention Intervention Evaluations In Sub Saharan Africa With A Specific Emphasis On Implications For Women And Girls, Tererai Mafukidze Trent

Dissertations

Despite numerous attempts by international agencies to halt the spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), nowhere has the impact of HIV/AIDS been felt more acutely than among women and girls in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). SSA women account for 59% of adults over the age of 15 living with HIV/AIDS and 76% of those 15-24 who are infected (United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS [UNAIDS], 2007).

The evidence on gender disparities in infection rates is indisputable; there is an urgent need to identify what is missing in HIV/AIDS prevention interventions: What is the evidence based upon …

Source-Message-Receiver In Integrated Marketing Communication: A Study Of U.S. Institutional Advancement, Sharee Leblanc Broussard

Dissertations

Because integrated marketing communication (IMC) research has traditionally been problematic, this study used an existing scale to determine that higher educational institutional advancement (alumni, marketing-communications, development) is an appropriate venue to study the process model. Responses from practitioners representing every department within advancement, every regional accrediting body and each of the baccalaureate to doctoral Carnegie Classification levels indicated the IMC process model is both understood and its tenets practiced by practitioners at all sizes and levels of institution. The study was of interest to the practitioners as more than half of the respondents requested a copy of the results. Additionally, …

The Functioning Of Global Fit Statistics In Latent Growth Curve Modeling, Kathryn K. Deroche

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Sensitivity Comparisons And Average Run Lengths Of The Mewms And Mewmv Control Charts Using Individual Observations With Singular Mean Shifts And Variance Changes, Chad Edgar Eshelman

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Voices Of Striving Elementary Readers: An Exploration Of The Enhancement Of Struggling Reader Research Through Portraiture Methodology, Roland Kerry Schendel

Dissertations

This investigation was conducted to determine the value of using self-reports to elicit participant views of their reading struggles and to explore the potential benefits of using portraiture methodology as a means for illuminating the goodness inherent to struggling reader experiences in school. Three fourth grade participants were purposefully selected from one public and two charter elementary schools. Approximately three hours of interviews and 20 hours of observations were completed to collect data from each student over a 20 week period. With the participating students' teachers, approximately two hours of interview data were collected. Artifact gathering and the researcher journal …

The Use Of Classroom Walk-Through Observations As A Strategy For Improving Teaching And Learning: Teacher Perspective, Leslie Mcentire, Mark Weller, Thomas R. Sorensen

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of classroom walk-through observations and their effect on Communication Arts and Mathematics Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) scores, summer school placement, discipline referrals, and retention. This study was conducted in three Midwestern Middle Schools. This study focused on classroom walk-through observations. If the principal increased the number of classroom walk-through observations, would it have an impact on Communication Arts and Mathematics MAP scores, summer school placement, discipline referrals and retention? This study will attempt to determine if classroom walk-through observations had an impact on Communication Arts MAP scores, Mathematics MAP scores, …

Mechanics Of Stimulus & Response Generalization In Signal Detection & Psychophysics: Adaptation Of Static Theory To Dynamic Performance., Blake Allen Hutsell

Dissertations

The area of perceptual decision-making research seeks to understand how our perception of the world affects our judgment. Laboratory investigations of perceptual decision-making concentrate on observers' ability to discriminate among stimuli and their biases towards reporting one stimulus more frequently than others. Choice theories assume that these performance measures are determined by generalization of reinforcement along both stimulus and response dimensions. Historically the majority of research has addressed situations in which the difference among stimuli and resulting consequences of a perceptual decision are static. Consequently, little is known about the dynamics of stimulus and response generalization. The present research investigated …

First-Principles Density Functional Theory Studies Of Reactivities Of Heterogeneous Catalysts Determined By Structure And Substrate, Lei Cheng

Dissertations

In this dissertation, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to investigate (1)NO₂ adsorption on BaO in NO_x Storage Reduction (NSR) catalyst affected by the morphology of BaO and the γ-Al₂O₃ support, (2) energy barrier of H₂ dissociative adsorption over Mg clusters affected by its electronic structure, and (3) comparison of the activities of CeO₂ clusters affected by two different supports--monoclinic ZrO₂ and non-spinel γ-Al₂O₃. Our results showed that the electronic effect caused by the non-stoichiometry of the bare BaO clusters and surfaces improves their reactivities toward NO …

A Case Study Of How A Large Multilevel Efl Writing Class Experiences And Perceives Multiple Interaction Activities, Hsien-Chuan Lin

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine students' experiences and perceptions of multiple interaction activities (self-directed, peer, and teacher feedback) implemented in a large multilevel EFL writing class in one private technological university in the southern part of Taiwan. Large size writing classes, quite common in private institutions of higher education in Taiwan, cannot be effectively operated to meet individual students' needs in improving their writing performance. Low achievers have difficulties in keeping up with competent writers in learning writing skills while advanced students complain of their learning too little from the class. This research, based on the activity …

A Critical Analysis Of Rural Teachers' Usage Of Online Communities, Sherri A. Snider

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to analyze data related to rural teachers' use of online communities. Rural teachers are often isolated in their practice and sometimes have difficulty connecting with other teachers with their same assignments or needs due to their professional setting. As Internet availability increases and online communities proliferate, teachers have more opportunity than ever to seek personal and professional support in virtual relationships when face-to-face ones are not easily available. In small schools such as the ones included in this study, teachers can become burned out as they perform the difficult task of teaching with few …

The Impact Of Training And Its Integration In The Firm's Business Strategies On The Firm's Competitiveness, Vichet Sum

Dissertations

The problem of the present study was to determine training professionals' perceptions of their awareness of and involvement in the integration of training in the firm's business strategies and the impact of training on the firm's competitiveness. The analysis of data obtained from the online survey of 111 participants who were training professionals employed in small, medium, and large firms across three different industries - service, retailing, and manufacturing - revealed that more than 50% of the participants indicated that they either had some understanding of or understood in depth the integration of training in their firms' business strategies. And …

On The Construct Validity Of Stereotype Threat Measures: Some Possible Boundary Conditions, Andrea Jane Marsden

Dissertations

Since 1995, much research has focused on the negative effects that stereotype threat (ST) may have on task and test performance (e.g., Nguyen & Ryan, 2008). To date, however, no research has examined the underlying meaning of this construct in a manner precise enough to determine if it is indeed a unique and meaningful concept and any potential boundaries. Therefore, the main goal of the current research was to obtain a better understanding of what distinctions, if any, exist between ST and similar constructs. Using a factorial design and examining correlations among variables, measures of ST were compared to measures …

The Multilevel Structures Of Nurbs And Nurblets On Intervals, Weiwei Zhu

Dissertations

This dissertation is concerned with the problem of constructing biorthogonal wavelets based on non-uniform rational cubic B-Splines on intervals. We call non-uniform rational B-Splines ``NURBs", and such biorthogonal wavelets ``NURBlets". Constructing NURBlets is useful in designing and representing an arbitrary shape of an object in the industry, especially when exactness of the shape is critical such as the shape of an aircraft. As we know presently most popular wavelet models in the industry are approximated at boundaries. In this dissertation a new model is presented that is well suited for generating arbitrary shapes in the industry with mathematical exactness throughout …

Black Female Student's Experiences In A Predominantly White High Achieving Suburban School: Implications For Theory And Practice, Erika Raissa Nash

Dissertations

Previous literature states that Black females experience cultural discontinuity, academic and social stressors, and inequities that are associated with psychological distress and risky behaviors as a result of not fitting into the school environment. These patterns have been found to exist in low-income, underachieving, urban schools, but middle class, high-achieving, suburban, and predominantly White schools have not been examined. Primarily through semi-structured interviews, this qualitative study investigated the experiences of 12 Black females who attend a predominantly White, high achieving suburban school in a Midwestern state. Utilizing a grounded theory approach, the data collected suggests that there are two groups …