Digital Commons Network^™

Enhancing Situational Awareness Through Haptics Interaction In Virtual Environment Training Systmes, Kelly Hale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Virtual environment (VE) technology offers a viable training option for developing knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA) within domains that have limited live training opportunities due to personnel safety and cost (e.g., live fire exercises). However, to ensure these VE training systems provide effective training and transfer, designers of such systems must ensure that training goals and objectives are clearly defined and VEs are designed to support development of KSAs required. Perhaps the greatest benefit of VE training is its ability to provide a multimodal training experience, where trainees can see, hear and feel their surrounding environment, thus engaging them in …

Health Attitudes, Knowledge And Literacy Of Primary Caregivers With Elementary School Children, Susan Stuib

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has indicated that physical activity and healthy eating in elementary school children are the exception rather than the norm. Increased attention to the rising rates of childhood obesity, coupled with the recognition that changes in the school environment are critical to reducing this trend, has intensified the need to adopt better practices in school nutrition, physical activity and physical education. Apart from being physically active, children need to learn fundamental motor skills and develop health related physical fitness (cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and body composition). Primary caregivers play an important part in developing and teaching …

Being Touched By Music: A Phenomenological-Hermeneutical Approach To Understanding Tranformational Musical Experience, Kurt Kumler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigated the lived experience of being personally transformed by listening to music. The investigation started with an exploration of the literature that relates to the phenomenon of musical transformation, including natural-scientific research as well as ideas from musicology, ethnomusicology, psychology, literature, and philosophy. This research was designed to access the nuanced and subjective aspects of the phenomenon by attending to the experience as lived by the experiencer. The method was qualitative in nature, based on a phenomenological-hermeneutical methodology. Throughout the research process, the researcher maintained a reflexive stance, attending to assumptions and preconceptions held about the phenomenon. This …

Teacher Attrition And Retention In Exceptional Student Education: An Evaluation Of The Skills, Tips, And Routines For Teacher Success (Starts) Initiative Of Volusia County, Florida Schools, Mary Speidel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teacher attrition affects the quality of services for students in K-12 education and poses an ongoing challenge for educational leaders, especially in the area of special education. Special educators leave the profession at higher rates than general educators. As a growing state, Florida has identified special education as a critical teacher shortage area. This study evaluated the Skills, Tips, and Routines for Teacher Success (STARTS) initiative of Volusia County Schools, a large district in east central Florida. Implemented in 2001 for new ESE teachers, STARTS offered four days of training in policies and procedures, curriculum, and classroom management. Research questions …

The Impact Of Utilizing High-Fidelity Computer Simulation On Critical Thinking Abilities And Learning Outcomes In Undergraduate Nursing Students, Lori Schumacher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Critical thinking abilities and learning outcomes are major components of nursing education. Initial critical thinking skills are often gained while the nursing student is learning the theoretical nursing principles in the classroom and is further enhanced in the clinical setting where learned knowledge is applied. A variety of instructional strategies are utilized to facilitate learning and promote critical thinking. Through the utilization of three complex and dynamic conceptual models, this study compared critical thinking abilities and learning outcomes of beginning baccalaureate undergraduate nursing students when three instructional strategies were used (classroom, simulation, and a combination of classroom and simulation).

A …

Internet Dwelling, Cyborgs, And The Matrix Of Modernity: An Empirical Inquiry With Critical-Hermeneutic Features, Andrew Felder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Amidst modernity's expanding electronic social matrix, this cultural-historical inquiry explores the technological construction of human being (e.g., cyborgs) and sociality in the America Online cyberscape. A two-tiered critical-hermeneutic method enables exploration of the broad rationalizing historical narrative and the localized play of virtual discursive practices impacting human meaning construction, selfhood, and social practice. A third and fourth tier of inquiry occasions integration of "psychological" meanings found in research participant experiential descriptions and interviews. This four-tier interplay reveals a bodily ethic enabling participants to modify subjectifying Internet practices toward meaningful social ends. Otherwise, eclipsed interpretive bodily powers contribute to "undecidability" about …

Developing Efficient Technique In Beginning Piano Students, Fen-Fang Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Fractal Analysis Of Estrogen, Estrogen-Receptor Interactions And Estrogen Metabolism In Two Related Species Of Catfish, Harshala D. Butala

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Land Use History Of The Holly Springs National Forest, Michelle R. Mcanally

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis details the land use history of the Holly Springs National Forest. A description of the physical environment and a narrative cultural history of the area from the arrival of people into the North Central Hills are included. Archaeological survey data, soils data and witness tree locations were brought together using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology and analyzed in an ecological framework.

An environmental reconstruction using witness tree locations and soil types served as a platform for the delineation of environmental zones in which presettlement tree cover was estimated and compared with previous environmental studies of the area. Prehistoric …

Freshman Academic Performance And Retention (Fapr) Study : An Analysis Of Absences, Grades, And Telephone Intervention / By Sarah Desiree Richie, Sarah Desiree Richie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Static Balance Training On Postural Sway In Chronically Injured Ankles, Claude Edward Livingston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Interpersonal Acceptance And Accuracy Of Judgments Of Control : An Analysis Of The Depressive Realism Phenomenon In Children / By Michelle Erica Rothstein, Michelle Erica Rothstein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Hand And The Spirit, Mary Mallahan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Plasma Pepsinogen Test For Hypobiotic Nematode Larvae In Abomasal Glands Of Sheep, Richard Alex Jensen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists reported that nematodes in sheep represent an unquestionably great production loss, and that the absence of deworming on a routine basis would hamper modern sheep production. After ingestion, the infective third stage larva, or L3, exsheaths and burrows into the digestive glands, and becomes a fourth stage larva, or L4. According to Armour, 18 to 21 days after L3 ingestion occurs, the nematode reaches sexual maturity. However, while in the gastric glands, these L4 invade the parietal, or hydrochloric acid (HCl) secreting cells, damaging them, and replacing them with non-acid secreting cells. This leads …

Physiological Responses And Thermal Comfort Of Subjects In A Tractor Cab, Kenton Richard Kaufman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

P.O. Fanger of Denmark was the first scientist to generalize the physiological basis for predicting human thermal comfort based on activity level, clothing type, air temperature, air velocity, mean radiant temperature, and air humidity. Thus any activity level and clothing type, it is possible to determine combinations of air temperature, mean radiant temperature, air humidity and relative air velocity which would produce optimum thermal comfort. The Fanger approach has been applied successfully to offices and buildings. It would be quite useful to demonstrate that Fanger’s concepts could be applied to tractor cabs. The objectives of this study were as follows: …

Long-Term Retention Of Tritium In Man, Chin-Jen Ou

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

[No abstract provided.]

A Graphic Representation Of Man And His Self Imposed Mechanizedenvironment, Deanna Mae Douglas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Comparison Of South Dakota State University Graduates Of The Home Economics And Of Other Curricula With Respect To Family Living Variables, Janice Hofer Grimm

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Marriage and the family as we have known them in the past are currently undergoing greater change at a more accelerated rate than ever before in history. Many writers concerned with the family and social problems would lead us to wonder if marriage is disappearing. There is an increase in communal living, exchange of marriage partners, and "open" campus dormitories. The divorce rate has been climbing steadily for a number of years. But when one looks more deeply into communal life for example, it is discovered that the duration of communal living is generally about two years. A study done …

The Physiological Effects Of A Season Of Varsity Swimming Competition And Training On Selected Bodily Responses Of Swimmers, William George Cook

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation was to study the physiological-effects of a season of varsity swimming competition and training on selected bodily responses of swimmers. The following hypothesis was investigated: Throughout the competitive swimming and training season, there is no significant trend that can be observed in the selected bodily responses of the varsity swimmers. 1. The eight male subjects for this study were chosen from members of the South Dakota State University varsity swimming team on the basis of individual participation during the previous season and on predicted participation in varsity competition. 2. Only these physiological parameters were measured: …

A Study To Develop Guidelines For The Reservation Of Open Areasfor Recreation Use, James Leroy Catt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Relevance Of The Work Of Suzanne Langer For Philosophy Of Religion : Examination Of The Non-Discursive Nature Of Religious Language / By Vela Willis Shirley, Jr, Vela Willis Shirley Jr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Students' Conceptions Of Dietetics As A Major Field Of Study, Ella Maniza Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Observations For Possible Antigenic Properties Of Certain Protozoa, George Evans Pease

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.