Digital Commons Network^™

Experimental And Theoretical Analyses Of Instructional Tasks: Reading, Discrimination, And Construction, Satoru Shimamune

Dissertations

The effectiveness and efficiency of three kinds of workbooks were compared in teaching behavioral systems analysis to college students. Each workbook contained the same content but utilized different types of instructional tasks. The reading workbook had the definitions, and examples and nonexamples of the concepts to be taught, and the subjects were asked to read them. The discrimination workbook had the same definitions, examples and nonexamples, but the subjects were asked to work on discriminating the examples from the nonexamples. Feedback was given with regard to the correctness of the subjects' responses. The construction workbook had the same definitions of …

Multivariate Quadrature On Mimd Machines With Shared Or Distributed Memory, Ignatios E. Vakalis

Dissertations

For a procedure as numerical integration, of high computational expense which is used extensively in large-scale computations, it is natural to aim at the design of algorithms which can be used on parallel computes. This work deeds with the design of efficient and portable parallel algorithms on MIMD (Multiple Instruction Multiple Data) architectures with shared memory, and on distributed memory systems.

A parallel global adaptive algorithm is presented for multivariate integration over simplex type regions. Process synchronization is achieved through the use of monitors. Macros were developed, for managing the task pool with a heap data structure. Layered over the …

Identifying A 9-12 Curriculum For High Schools In The Upper Peninsula Of Michigan, Patrick Manning

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify high school graduation standards for high schools in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The standards should meet the state of Michigan recommendations or standards for high school graduation. In addition, recommendations of local, state , and national studies and commission reports were included. A comparison was made between a ll Upper Peninsula high schools' graduation requirements for both non-college-bound and college-bound students and the Michigan State Board of Education recommended graduation requirements and those of the Michigan College Presidents Council.

Inquiry was made into course cred it requirements for graduation, recommended curriculum …

A Longitudinal Study Of The Developmental Kindergarten Program In The Troy Schools, Troy, Michigan, Dennis H. Raetzke

Dissertations

This study evaluated the long-term effects of developmental kindergarten on reading achievement, grade retention, and special education services. Data were collected for 84 subjects from 12 participating elementary schools in Troy, Michigan. Forty-two subjects in the experimental group were matched with 42 subjects from the control group. Pairs were matched according to age within 6 months, gender, and to ta l score on the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning-Revised (DIAL-R, Mardel1-Czudnowski & Goldenberg, 1983) screening test.

Multivariate analysis of covariance, used to analyze the effects of developmental kindergarten participation on reading achievement over time, indicated no significant results …

Characteristics Of Community Foundations At Different Ages And Asset Sizes, Kathryn Ann Agard

Dissertations

This dissertation identifies a growth pattern for community foundations. The study is based on a comparative review of 89 community foundations selected on a stratified random sample basis from the membership of the Council on Foundations. Changes in the administrative , social, strategic, and technical systems were studied. Measurements were taken on 35 indicators and analyzed through descriptive and correlational statistics .

The findings of this study indicate that there is a pattern to the change in each of the administrative, social, strategic, and technical systems in the foundations studied. The pattern of change is correlated to the two independent …

An Analysis Of Student Math Scores Based Upon Teacher Training In The Instructional Theory Into Practice Model, Martha O'Kray

Dissertations

The main purpose of this study was to determine if teacher participation in Instructional Theory Into Practice (ITIP , Hunter, 1978) training resulted in any difference in student achievement. Student outcomes were measured by scores received on the district's Exit Level Mathematics Test (Roseville Community Schools, 1986).

The study took place in Roseville Community Schools. Six hundred forty-nine students and 32 teachers in Grades 3, 4, and 5 participated.

Fourteen teacher observations were included to confirm the appropriateness and frequency of ITIP strategies in classroom instruction. Observers using the Instructional S kills Observation Instrument (ISOI, Wolfe, 1984) scored non-ITIP-trained teachers …

A Critical Examination Of The Use Of Preliminary Tests In Two-Sample Tests Of Location, Kimberly Tucker Perry

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the appropriateness of testing the equality of two means using either a t test, the Welch test, or the Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test for two independent samples based on the results of using two classes of preliminary tests. One class of preliminary tests determines whether the population variances differ, and the other class ascertains if the underlying distributions are symmetric or skewed. The F-ratio test and the Levene test (using the median) were compared as preliminary tests for variance homogeneity; and the DAgostino Sy and the Triples tests were also compared as preliminary tests …

The Influence Of Pore Fluids On Shear Strength And Stress-Strain Behavior Of Granular Soils, Prasanna Ratnaweera

Dissertations

When a dry granular soil is subjected to an external load, the stresses are transferred through mineral to mineral contacts. The shear strength of such a soil is governed by its contact properties. Presence of a thin layer of fluid between mineral to mineral contacts in a saturated soil will alter its contact properties. Therefore any change in the physical properties of pore fluid can logically be reasoned to influence the deformation characteristics of granular soils.

To investigate the influence of pore fluid viscosity on shear strength and stress-strain behavior of a soil, a series of consolidated drained triaxial tests …

Expert System For The Injection Molding Of Engineering Thermoplastics, Tzy-Cherng Jan

Dissertations

Injection molding of engineering thermoplastics is the most widely used manufacturing method in industry. It is a priority to maintain a deviation-free operating environment to ensure high quality, low cost manufacture. An expert system for the injection molding of engineering thermoplastics has been investigated. The system can be used to attenuate the deviations experienced during the injection molding of engineering thermoplastics. The system is coded in C programming language.

The resolution procedures of this system include two stages such as the definition of declarative knowledge and the procedure of corrective actions. In the definition of declarative knowledge, all of the …

Factors Influencing Persistence Of Adult Students In High School Completion Programs, Joan E. Garbarino

Dissertations

This research was conducted to contrast adult persisters' and dropouts' perceptions of the importance of institutional, situational, and dispositional barriers to high school completion.

Institutional factors included staff support, curriculum , student services, and logistical considerations. Situational factors were family and friend support, time, employment, and health. Dispositional factors included attitudes toward education, academic preparedness plus expectations, and satisfaction.

Completers who graduated and noncompleters who dropped out before graduation were surveyed. Statistical analysis allowed the researcher to test differences between the perceptions of persisters and dropouts in regard to eleven factors found in the three major barriers. It also revealed …

Juvenile Justice: An Examination Of Disparities In Dispositions, Michael P. Brown

Dissertations

The present study tests the utility of status characteristics and expectation states theory in the context of the juvenile court. The theory contends that there is dispositional certainty when case related factors are consistently rated serious or nonserious; the severity of the sanction will reflect the seriousness of the case. However, the likelihood of sentencing disparities based on individual characteristics (e.g., race and SES) increases as case related factors become increasingly inconsistent, with some rated serious and others rated nonserious.

Data to test this theory were collected from the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Court, Kalamazoo, Michigan in June and July, 1990. …

A Study Of Cooperative Learning At The High School Level, Lisabeth S. Margulus

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to answer the following research questions:

1. Which teacher skills are necessary to implement effective teamwork in a classroom?

2. What kind of learning environment is optimal for implementing effective teamwork in a classroom?

3. In classrooms using teamwork, does greater student achievement occur than in classrooms not using teamwork?

The study outlined the specific teacher skills and described the optimal learning environment for implementing cooperative strategies in high school classrooms. To address the third question , an experimental study was conducted in which sixty-four 10th-,11th-, and 12th-grade Business Applications and Technology students in …

Common Moment Sets Of Complementary Graphs, Hang Chen

Dissertations

Two sequences of nonnegative integers have the k^th common moment if they have equal sums of k^th powers. We intend to study common moment sets of the degree sequences of complementary graphs, and similarly, of the score sequences of complementary tournaments.

In Chapter I, we first study common moment sets of arbitrary sequences of nonnegative integers. Some basic concepts are introduced. The relations between characteristic functions and initial common moments are discovered. We extend Hua’s discussion of the Tarry-Escott problem. We conclude that any finite subset of nonnegative integers can be a common moment set of some sequences, and conversely, …

The Effect Of Associative Distance On The Formation Of Transitive Relations, Robert G. Brown Jr.

Dissertations

Three children, aged eight to eleven years, were taught a series of conditional discriminations using two classes of 26 abstract visual stimuli. The conditional relations were ordered such that the correct comparison stimuli of one relation served as the sample stimuli for the next relation. This allowed for the formation of a series of derived relations (both transitive and equivalence) that differed in terms of the number of intervening nodes. At regular intervals, the subjects' performances on the different transitive relations were tested using unreinforced probe trials.

All three subjects made virtually no errors on transitive relations containing up to …

Career Dynamics Of Counselor Trainee Stereotyping: Bias Toward Physical Ability, Social Class, Gender, And Race Of Clients, J. Stephen Neynaber

Dissertations

Three different attitude surveys, developed by the researcher, were administered to counselor trainees (N =200) at Western Michigan University: The Attitudes of Counselor Trainees (A.C.T.) Survey, Multicultural Beliefs Inhibiting Appropriate Support (M-B.I.A.S.) Survey, and Career Beliefs Inhibiting Appropriate Support (CB. LA.S.) Survey. A 24-item demographics questionnaire was administered to trainees (n =124) who completed the A.C.T. Survey. A six-items Likert scale produced significant effect (p < .05) on counselor trainees' ratings of clients' potential for career success: (1) Awareness of Personal Strengths and Weaknesses, (2) Goal Orientation, (3) Self-esteem, (4) Energy Level, (5) Participation in Extracurricular Activities, and (6) Level of Honesty.

Five client demographic oppression variables, which the review of literature documented to evince negative bias from counselors, were included in 16 hypothetical client scenarios: physical handicaps (viz., hearing impairment and paraplegia), female sex, African-Americans, low …

The Extent To Which The Career Guidance And Counseling Component Is Addressed In The Administration Of Tech Prep Programs, Linda Joan Kwasny

Dissertations

This study examined the career guidance and counseling component of tech prep projects that were being planned and implemented in Michigan during the 1990-91 school year. A survey was conducted of all eleven consortia operating funded tech prep projects to determine the involvement of secondary and post-secondary guidance professionals in tech prep planning, the extent of articulation of guidance services for regular and special populations tech prep students, and the nature and extent of the career guidance and counseling programs that were being planned for regular and special populations students.

The findings from this study indicate that for secondary and …

Maximal And Maximum Independent Sets In Graphs, Jiuqiang Liu

Dissertations

A maximal independent set of a graph G is an independent set which is not contained properly in any other independent set of G. An independent set is called maximum if it is of largest cardinality. Denote i(G) to be the number of maximal independent sets of G. These special sets and the parameter i(G) have interested many researchers leading to a number of properties and results. One of these is the determination of the maximum number of maximal independent sets among all graphs of order n, and the external graphs. In this investigation,we develop new properties for …

Self-Efficacy And Academic Success Of Integrated And Segregated Emotionally Impaired Adolescents, Jerry William Davisson

Dissertations

In this study, levels of self-efficacy and levels of academic success of emotionally impaired adolescents in both integrated and segregated settings were analyzed. The data were analyzed to determine if placement setting (integrated or segregated) impact: self-efficiency levels, academic success levels, and the relationship between self-efficiency and academic success.

Subjects were selected from two junior high schools within Macomb County, Michigan. The integrated junior high educated emotionally impaired students with nonimpaired students and the segregated junior high educated emotionally impaired students with only other emotionally impaired students. Eleven students from the integrated junior high and 28 students from the segregated …

Investigation Of Waterjet-Workpiece Interaction, Hung-Yuan Li

Dissertations

The objective of this research is to develop new knowledge related to the fundamental physical phenomena of waterjet machining of ductile materials, and to use this knowledge to construct a numerical analysis model. The resulting knowledge will enable enhancement of waterjet cutting efficiency.

Experimental study of fundamental mechanisms and the acquisition of the data detailing micro and macro scale phenomena which occur during the machining process is carried out. It is shown that the material damage mechanism associated with waterjet machining is erosion cavitation which initiates ultrasonic stress wave propagation in the workpiece. Fatigue, an important element in producing material …

Development Of Prediction Technique For The Geometry Of The Abrasive Waterjet Generated Kerf, Yichung Chung

Dissertations

This study is concerned with the development of a practical and accurate technique for off-line determination of the variables characterizing the macro-geometry of the kerf generated in the course of abrasive waterjet (AWJ) machining of ductile materials. The study involved generation and processing of a database relating operational conditions with kerf dimensions. The total number of generated samples exceeded 1500.

A physical model relating the process results with operational conditions was constructed and used for the selection of a statistical technique for analysis of the acquired experimental information. The semiempirical model developed here is based on a simple theoretical model …

Performance Evaluation Of Spread Spectrum System With Cochannel Interference Through A Nonlinear Channel, Yong H. Kim

Dissertations

This thesis deals with the problem of more than one subscriber transmitting data signals through a common satellite repeater using code division multiplexing to separate the signals. We are concerned with the problem of amplifying two DS spread spectrum signals, both QPSK or BPSK modulated, in a common device in which limiting occurs. One signal is considered the signal we desire to receive, and the other, having the same nominal carrier frequency with a small random offset, is considered to be a cochannel interferer. The case of a cochannel interferer on the uplink and downlink in QPSK signalling and BPSK …

Structural Reliability Using Finite Element Method, Che-Chen Liou

Dissertations

During the last decade, structural reliability theory has been treated in a large number of research papers; therefore, from being a subject only well known by a relatively small number of researchers, it has become an important engineering discipline. From the application point of view, many practical applications have been made successfully.

In this dissertation some important fundamental concepts in statistics and in reliability theory are presented. The concept of failure mode can be defined as: A set of failed elements turn a structure into a mechanism. Usually, a structure has many possible failure modes; therefore, it will be necessary …

A Modified Approach To Flood Prediction In Urban Watersheds, Joseph Ofungwu

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to develop a better method for dealing with the problems of flood prediction in Urban Watersheds. It has long been realized that urbanization activity such as increased imperviousness, drainage improvements, etc. increases runoff volumes. Therefore, traditional flood prediction methods using the Log Pearson III distribution underestimate flood frequencies when applied to urban watersheds without modification.

In attempt to compensate for the effects of urbanization on streamflow, previous workers usually employed regional analysis techniques involving a number of different watersheds at various degrees of urbanization. Results obtained by this approach leave room for improvement primarily …

Thermal Desorption And Decomposition Of Hazardous Organic Compound I: Mass Transfer Of Benzene And Chlorobenzene In Soil Matrices Ii: Oxidation And Pyrolysis Of 1,1,1-Trichloroethane In Methane/Oxygen/Argon, Yo-Ping Wu

Dissertations

I: Mass Transfer of Benzene and Chlorobenzene in Soil Matrices

Experimental measurements on several apparatus were used in conjunction with chromatographic theory to study the thermal adsorption and desorption of organic vapors on soil with different particle sizes for analysis mass transfer parameters and heat of adsorption. Benzene (C₆H₆) and chlorobenzene (C₆H₅Cl) were tested on soil with 0.55, 0.46, 0.36, and 0.225 mm average particle sizes. Sample injection volumes for organic compounds were studied to ensure linearity of gas chromatography. Equilibrium constants were strongly dependent on temperature but not on particle size. …

A Comparison Of Four Methods To Teach Complex Verbal Concepts Using A Computer-Assisted Instruction Program, John Byron Connors

Dissertations

This study compared four instructional programs which taught terminology in behavioral psychology using computer-assisted instruction (CAD with college students. The independent variable was the type of instruction presented by one of four CAI programs: (a) Rules Only, (b) Rules Plus Positive Examples, (c) Rules Plus Negative Examples, and (d) Rules Plus Positive and Negative Examples. The dependent variables were the: (a) pretest scores, (b) posttest scores, (c) 1-week delayed posttest scores, and (d) preference questionnaire scores. Using the pretest as a covariate, results approached significance (p=.07) on posttest scores only for the Rules Only and Rules Plus Positive Examples over …

A Progressive Disease Model For Doubly-Censred Bivariate Survival Data That Accommodates Covariate Information, Hilmi F. Yahya

Dissertations

A model for the natural history of a progressive disease is developed. The model has three disease states and can be expressed as the joint distribution of two survival random variables.

Covariate information is incorporated into the model using the proportional hazards model for the marginal distributions. The model will also accommodate data with observations which are censored on one or both of the survival random variables.

The likelihood function for censored data is exhibited for finding the maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters and their standard errors for testing the effects of the covariates. The method used to obtain …

A Comparison Of Junior High Schools To Middle Schools With Respect To Achievement And Attendance, Darrell Clay

Dissertations

During the past 30 years, the middle school movement has been a comprehensive effort to restructure middle level education. Literally thousands of school districts have chosen to change from junior high schools to middle schools for a variety of reasons. Research to support this massive reorganization of American schools has not been evident. The early research did not provide consistent evidence of improvement for middle school students. Most of this early research was based solely on the grade configuration of the schools being compared rather than the conceptual framework of the school.

The purpose of this study was to compare …

A Comparative Study Of High And Low Achieving Inner-City African-American Sophomore Males’ Expectations Of Self, In-School And Out-Of-School Support, John L. Jackson Sr.

Dissertations

Academic and personal successes and failures of young inner-city African- American males are invariably linked to the dynamics of family life, societal acceptance, economic and political opportunities and participation, and cultural expressions and peculiarities. Additionally, there may be other important factors, such as personal meanings, present and projected insecurities, differing values, hopes, and so forth, which may be highly contributive to determining the extent to which these youngsters perceive their chances of succeeding in the larger society. The implication here is that academic and other life successes are not only depended on individual responsibility and commitment, but also the supportive …

Spatial Visualization And Leadership In Teaching Multiview Orthographic Projection: An Alternative To The Glass Box, Mark A. Curtis

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of using one instructional method versus another in teaching multi view orthographic projection to college students possessing varied spatial visualization abilities. Two instructional methods were used: (1) the traditional hinged glass box method and (2) an unconventional method in which an object is placed in the middle of a bowl/ hemispheric shape where the front view of the object is seen by looking directly into the bowl. Other views are developed by sliding the object along the surface of the bowl until they are at right angle to the viewer's …

The Relationship Between The Styles Of Leadership Of Superintendents And The Effectiveness Of School Districts In Puerto Rico, Carlos Jose Cortes

Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship between a superintendent's style of leadership and the effectiveness of the school district as measured in the Education Department of Puerto Rico.

The style of leadership of the superintendents was analyzed using the Leader Behavior Analysis II-Self (LBAII, Blanchard, Hambleton> Zigarmi, & Forsyth, 1990) questionnaire. The effectiveness of the school districts was measured using students' dropout rate, 12th grade students' graduation rate, and students' scores on three standardized tests (mathematics, English, and Spanish). The data for measuring district effectiveness were correspondent to the 1988-89 school year.

The Education Department of Puerto Rico has 100 superintendents. …