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Child Support Enforcement In West Virginia, Amy Ellen Hendershott Aug 2000

Child Support Enforcement In West Virginia, Amy Ellen Hendershott

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The intent of this research is an exploratory examination of trends in child support enforcement before and after the implementation of The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) and to determine whether West Virginia is keeping up with the national average of child support enforcement. Using a time-trend analysis, this study examined five variables that constitute child support enforcement: total money distributed; paternities established; support orders established; absent parents located; and total caseload. This research found that the PRWORA of 1996 significantly improved paternities established and absent parents located in the state of West Virginia. All …

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Dynamical Analysis Of Infant Social Referencing, Melissa Sue Atkins Aug 2000

Dynamical Analysis Of Infant Social Referencing, Melissa Sue Atkins

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of the present study was to examine relations between joint attention, language, maternal sensitivity, and temperament and the emergence of social referencing in infants and to closely observe variability in social referencing. Five infants, 7 months of age, were observed on a weekly basis for a period of four months. All five infants were engaging in social referencing behavior at the beginning of the study, which is much earlier than the literature indicates; therefore, the onset of the behavior was missed. However, results did indicate variability in social referencing behavior, in that infants referenced more in the laboratory …

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Carnivalized Narratives In The Postmodern Long Poem, Joe Wade Moffett Aug 2000

Carnivalized Narratives In The Postmodern Long Poem, Joe Wade Moffett

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As a decidedly American tradition, the long poem has become the premier literary endeavor for poets in the twentieth-century. Writers such as T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and William Carlos Williams have pursued the long poem, but under the auspices of the "modern epic." Three postmodern long poems---Kenneth Koch's Seasons on Earth, Edward Dom's Gunslinger, and James Merrill's The Changing Light at Sandover---illustrate a dramatic rupture with the texts of modernism by introducing comic situations and multi-voiced narration---situations described by Mikhail Bakhtin as "dialogism" and "carnival," receptively---into the canon of American long poems. These innovations allow the postmodern long poem …

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West Virginia State Legislators' Opinions Of Local Mass Media, Timothy Shaw Penn May 2000

West Virginia State Legislators' Opinions Of Local Mass Media, Timothy Shaw Penn

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This survey of members of the West Virginia House of Delegates and Senate regarding their opinions of local mass media found that the majority of lawmakers felt local mass media had little influence on their decision making process. The legislators did not, however, view the media as neutral sources of political information. Self-described "conservative" lawmakers rated media sources described as "liberal" as being less accurate in their coverage of the legislature than did self-described "liberal" or "middle-of-the-road" lawmakers. The thesis used discriminate analysis to develop a statistically significant function able to classify, with high confidence, the political orientation of lawmakers, …

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Review Of The Factors Influencing The Satisfaction Of Learning In Online Courses At Marshall University, Jan Isobel Fox May 2000

Review Of The Factors Influencing The Satisfaction Of Learning In Online Courses At Marshall University, Jan Isobel Fox

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study is to determine what factors influence online course satisfaction. Additionally, the study investigates differences in demographics between traditional student populations and those students attracted to online courses. Research questions were defined for investigating relationship between student satisfaction in the online course with the of the amount of learner interaction and feedback, the reason students enrolled in the course, faculty expertise in online technologies, the course pace, the combination of instructional strategies used in the course, and the students prior experience with the online course product. Additionally, course retention data was calculated as a secondary satisfaction …

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Investigating Spelling Through Generative Instruction, Linda Ross May 2000

Investigating Spelling Through Generative Instruction, Linda Ross

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The present study examined the components of generative instruction through the teaching of spelling rules. In Experiment 1, the effects of direct versus passive instruction and rate building versus equal-time practice were examined. Forty undergraduate students with below average spelling skills participated. Although there were better performances under passive instruction on some aspects of the posttests, and improved performance with rate-building practice on others, these results were not systematic and were contradicted by other results. The effects of rate building versus an equal amount of practice on the training and posttest application of spelling rules were examined in Experiment 2. …

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Youth Leadership Life Skills Development Of Participants In The West Virginia 4-H Camping Program, Rebecca Diane Duncan May 2000

Youth Leadership Life Skills Development Of Participants In The West Virginia 4-H Camping Program, Rebecca Diane Duncan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Although the development of leadership skills through the 4-H camping program is highly valued, measurement of leadership skill development of West Virginia 4-H camping program participants has been lacking. Thirteen to fifteen year old 4-H members were targeted in this study in order to gather data about leadership development among this age group.;Significant relationships were found between the total YLLSDS score and years of participation in county camp and receiving the Spirit of Camp Award. Participants also reported higher leadership scores if they had served as a Chief or Sagamore of their 4-H tribe, if they were female, and if …

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Ab Initio Studies Of Anisotropic Magnetism In Uranium And Cerium Monopnictides And Monochalcogenides, Eric Mason Collins May 2000

Ab Initio Studies Of Anisotropic Magnetism In Uranium And Cerium Monopnictides And Monochalcogenides, Eric Mason Collins

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

We have applied two ab initio based methods to investigate the origin in the electronic structure of the unusual magnetic behavior of the cerium and uranium monopnictides and monochalcogenides. First, we have carried out spin-polarized electronic structure calculations, based on the full potential linear muffin tin (FPLMTO) method, with spin polarization (orbital polarization only via spin-orbit coupling) and also with orbital polarization correction. Second, we have carried out ab initio based calculations synthesizing (1) a phenomenological theory of orbitally driven magnetism based on the Anderson and Kondo, lattice model which incorporates explicitly the hybridization induced and the Coulomb exchange interactions …

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Studies Of The Respiratory Chain Of Methylococcus Capsulatus (Bath), Timothy Brian Miley May 2000

Studies Of The Respiratory Chain Of Methylococcus Capsulatus (Bath), Timothy Brian Miley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The methanotrophic bacterium, Methylococcus capsulatus, is capable of the conversion of methane to methanol at ambient temperature and pressure. In this manuscript, we show that quinols can provide reducing equivalents to the membrane-bound form of methane monooxygenase (pMMO), substituting for NADH in whole cells and membrane fractions. Additionally, quinols are shown to be effective reductants for the detergent-solubilized enzyme, whereas NADH is ineffective. The decyl-analog of plastoquinol and duroquinol provide the greatest MMO activity in whole cells and membrane fractions, as well as detergent-solubilized samples. Lauryl maltoside is by far the best detergent for solubilization of catalytically-active methane monooxygenase. This …

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Inservice And Preservice Teacher Attitudes Toward Creative Writing As A Learning Mechanism, Edwin Davis Greenlee May 2000

Inservice And Preservice Teacher Attitudes Toward Creative Writing As A Learning Mechanism, Edwin Davis Greenlee

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Most of us in the teaching profession are aware by now that writing is inextricably interlocked with learning, thinking, and knowing. The more students write, the more knowledge they acquire. As Janet Emig informs us: "Writing serves learning uniquely because writing as process-and-product possesses a cluster of attributes that correspond uniquely to certain powerful learning strategies" (1983, 34). In other words, Emig (1971) believes that when using writing to learn, students can become involved in learning activities. Writing as learning permits students to integrate, connect, reconsider, evaluate, and personally shape their thoughts and ideas. By writing and rewriting, students can …

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Common Factors Leading To County Boards Of Education Financial Deficits, David L. Stewart May 2000

Common Factors Leading To County Boards Of Education Financial Deficits, David L. Stewart

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study reviewed and analyzed budget deficits incurred by county boards of education in West Virginia and determined why increasing numbers of county boards of education have experienced deficit spending since the enactment of Senate Bill 14.;This study utilized a descriptive research design. The West Virginia Department of Education provided deficit, enrollment, and personnel data; all fifty-five county superintendents and treasurers were surveyed to determine the frequency and cause of budget deficits. One hundred percent of both groups responded to the survey.;In conclusion, factors contributing to county boards of education experiencing financial deficit included: (1) reduction of numbers of employees …

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Factors Found When Integrating Computer Technology In A Small Rural School District, Edward Dale Jeffreys May 2000

Factors Found When Integrating Computer Technology In A Small Rural School District, Edward Dale Jeffreys

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this research study was to provide school board members, school administrators, and teachers with information required in developing a successful plan for the integration of computer technology into the classroom curriculum. The stated problem of this research was to identify and analyze the factors that inhibit and enhance the implementation of computer technology into the classrooms of a small rural school district.;A review of the literature was conducted in the following areas: (a) the use of computer technology in K--12 rural school districts; (b) enhancers to the integration of computer technology into the classroom curriculum in small …

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Porosity Distribution Prediction Using Artificial Neural Networks, Fahad Abdullah Al-Qahtani May 2000

Porosity Distribution Prediction Using Artificial Neural Networks, Fahad Abdullah Al-Qahtani

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Reservoir characterization plays a very important role in the petroleum industry, especially to the economic success of the reservoir development. Heterogeneity can complicate the evaluation of reservoir properties. Porosity is the primary key to a reliable reservoir model.;Several studies in the literature indicated that accurate evaluation of reservoir properties can be made by the analysis of electric logs. Stringtown oil field in Tyler and Wetzel counties in the northwestern part of West Virginia was selected to conduct this study.;Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) is one of the latest technologies available to the petroleum industry. The objective of this study was to …

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Java-Based Midi Interface For Robot Control, Gaurav Subhash Harode May 2000

Java-Based Midi Interface For Robot Control, Gaurav Subhash Harode

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Robot offers an excellent means of utilizing high level technology to make a given manufacturing operation more profitable and competitive. Apart from manufacturing, robots are also being utilized in the areas of medicine and agriculture with great returns. Robotic applications now require multiple robots working in a coordinated manner, something similar to an orchestra. This lead to the concept of a Robotic Instrument Digital Interfacing (RIDI) system for real time coordinated control of robotic devices. It provides a novel runtime environment that supports the building and deployment of distributed robotic devices.;The objective of this research is to design and develop …

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Effect Of Debris-Induced Lift-Off On Magnetic Flux Leakage Inspection Results, Francisco Louis Valentine May 2000

Effect Of Debris-Induced Lift-Off On Magnetic Flux Leakage Inspection Results, Francisco Louis Valentine

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Debris is present in all pipelines and has the potential to cause debris-induced lift-off in magnetic flux leakage inspection tools. A test apparatus was developed to qualitatively examine the effect of debris-induced lift-off.;The results of this research indicate that debris-induced lift-off has a detrimental effect on magnetic flux leakage data. This increases the potential of pipeline defects being either undersized or missed.;To reduce or eliminate the effects of debris-induced lift-off, the pipeline should be regularly cleaned. This minimizes the occurrence of large accumulations of debris. If it is determined that debris is present in a pipeline, even in small quantities, …

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Alloying Effects On High-Temperature Deformation Behavior Of Nickel Aluminide Intermetallics, Robert Adrian Coulter Ii May 2000

Alloying Effects On High-Temperature Deformation Behavior Of Nickel Aluminide Intermetallics, Robert Adrian Coulter Ii

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The objective of this research is to examine the possibility of using nickel aluminide for high temperature structural applications. NiAl is a desirable candidate based on its low density, high thermal conductivity, high melting temperature, and its proven oxidation resistance. Currently, limited ductility at lower temperatures and low creep resistance at high temperatures limit the capabilities of NiAl.;For this research four different alloys were investigated to determine the effects of alloy strengthening. The three elements are next to one another on the periodic table, which will provide the electron number effect (Mo vs. Nb) and the atomic size effect (Cr …

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Developing A Framework For Predicting The Impact Of Its/Cvo Technology In Developing Countries, Mazen Turk May 2000

Developing A Framework For Predicting The Impact Of Its/Cvo Technology In Developing Countries, Mazen Turk

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study focuses on freight mobility in developing countries. System improvements depend on state of the art technologies to be deployed in the Transportation Infrastructure. Intelligent Transportation Systems and Commercial Vehicle Operation technologies (ITS/CVO) although a significant investment, offer many improvement alternatives. This study develops a framework for predicting the impact of new technologies on the global transportation system in developing countries. This is done in an effort to reduce cost and improve safety, efficiency and level of service.;The task will be divided into three sections. The first will entail looking at prediction from a global perspective. This will specify …

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Evaluation Of The International 4-H Youth Exchange (Ifye) Program, Mary Elizabeth Williams May 2000

Evaluation Of The International 4-H Youth Exchange (Ifye) Program, Mary Elizabeth Williams

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which the International 4-H Program achieved its objectives regarding positive cross-cultural attitudes, life leadership skills, and host culture knowledge through the six-month International 4-H Youth Exchange (IFYE) Program. The population consisted of the twenty-one 1999 IFYE six-month representatives. A descriptive census survey was used to collect the data for the study. Each participant completed pre- and post-exchange evaluations while attending the program orientation and debriefing at the National 4-H Center. The major finding of this study was the representative's significant gain in host culture knowledge. The IFYE representatives' positive …

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Web-Based Workflow In Secure Collaborative Telemedicine, Vijayanand Ranganath Bharadwaj May 2000

Web-Based Workflow In Secure Collaborative Telemedicine, Vijayanand Ranganath Bharadwaj

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Workflow involves the automation of a business process in whole or part with movement of information and tasks between parties according to a set of rules. The ubiquitous nature of the Internet and WWW prompts us to investigate how these entities can be fully exploited to improve the efficiency of any workflow process in a reliable, secure fashion.;This research effort alms to investigate the utility of the internet and specifically the WWW in providing a substrate for complex workflow and to demonstrate that workflow with a high degree of automation and ability to interface with disparate data sources can be …

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Sonovoltammetric Detection Of Cadmium (Ii) At Mercury Thin Film Electrodes, Stacey L. Clark May 2000

Sonovoltammetric Detection Of Cadmium (Ii) At Mercury Thin Film Electrodes, Stacey L. Clark

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The application of ultrasound has been used previously in many areas of chemistry. The use of ultrasound to enhance the mass transport of cadmium (II) to a mercury film electrode (MFE) was investigated using square wave stripping voltammety. Both platinum and glassy carbon electrodes were examined as support materials for the mercury film and the results were compared to a dialysis membrane-covered glassy carbon MFE. The platinum electrode behaved in an unusual manner and appeared to be greatly affected by the ultrasound. The glassy carbon MFE also exhibited loss of sensitivity after exposure to ultrasound; however, when the glassy carbon …

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Smart Card-Enabled Security Services To Support Secure Telemedicine Applications, Monoreet Mutsuddi May 2000

Smart Card-Enabled Security Services To Support Secure Telemedicine Applications, Monoreet Mutsuddi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The Internet is quickly evolving into a standard and widely used mode of information transfer. Therefore internet's information transfer capabilities could be exploited by Secure Telemedicine Applications to securely transfer medical information. However the current day internet protocol stack does not provide much in terms of security for the data being transferred across it. In this thesis we explore how Cryptography along with Smart Cards can be used to implement application layer protocols, to enhance the security of data flowing across the internet in a Secure Telemedicine environment. This thesis also discusses the design and implementation of various system software …

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Media Use And Perceptions Of Binge Drinking, Jason L. Price May 2000

Media Use And Perceptions Of Binge Drinking, Jason L. Price

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Examines media use by college students and their perceptions of campus alcohol use; literature review of binge drinking rates and studies, media use studies, and perceptions of alcohol use studies; overview of research methods and findings; analysis of data obtained through questionnaires distributed to undergraduates; conclusions.

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Secure Telemedicine System For Home Health Care, Sridhar Vasudevan May 2000

Secure Telemedicine System For Home Health Care, Sridhar Vasudevan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis describes a low-cost telemedicine system that provides home based patient care by linking patients with skilled nurses at the home care agency. The system employs compact vital signs sensors and a two-way real-time video conference over telephone lines. It stores the patient's medical records, still images and enforces clinical pathways during the televisits. Physicians, paramedics, and nurses can then have access to these records from anywhere, securely, through a Web browser.;This document discusses the underlying technologies, the features implemented in the prototype, and the methodologies used in developing the software. The prototype uses the Enterprise Java Bean [EJB] …

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Pregnancy Intendedness Among A Low Income Population, Amy Nicole Thomas May 2000

Pregnancy Intendedness Among A Low Income Population, Amy Nicole Thomas

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Introduction. In the United States, approximately 3.1 million births per year are classified as unintended. Specific aims. This study will examine the association between pregnancy intendedness and support characteristics, key demographic factors and psychological factors in a low income population. Methods. Three interviews were conducted as part of the intensive evaluation. Questions focused on demographics, prenatal health behaviors and psychosocial factors. Results. Unintended pregnancy resulting in birth was most commonly found among non-White, poorly educated and those living in poverty. The support of the family or friends was not found to be significant when comparing it to the intendedness of …

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Parental Influences On High School Student Achievement And Goals, Richard K. York May 2000

Parental Influences On High School Student Achievement And Goals, Richard K. York

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The present study examined parental influences on educational and career goals of high school students. Data on educational and career goals from the Perceived Life Chances Interview were derived from 124 rural adolescents. One hundred of their mothers and 36 of their fathers completed the Inventory of Parental Influence which consists of five subscales of Parental Involvement/Help, Psychological Support, Parental Pressure, Pressure for Intellectual Development, and Time Management/Monitoring. Responses from the Perceived Life Chances Interview were qualitatively analyzed in order to derive categories that reflected the varying responses from participants. These categories served as dependent variables in a series of …

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Sedimentology Of Historic And Prehistoric Deposits In The Drainage Basin Of Deep River And Muddy Creek On The Piedmont Of North Carolina, Victoria Leanne Spurgeon May 2000

Sedimentology Of Historic And Prehistoric Deposits In The Drainage Basin Of Deep River And Muddy Creek On The Piedmont Of North Carolina, Victoria Leanne Spurgeon

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Deep River and Muddy Creek flow across a granitic and volcanic terrain intruded by diabase dikes in the Piedmont physiographic province of central North Carolina. Geoarchaeological and sedimentological investigation of these Piedmont streams included fourteen trenches dug at four floodplain localities. Soils in these trenches were described using standard soil taxonomy and sampled for particle-size, magnetic susceptibility, and mineralogical analyses.;Increased upland erosion rates, after European settlement, left more than a meter of historic sediments in some areas of the floodplains. A paleosol, indicated by an Ab horizon, records the floodplain surface at the time of European contact. This paleosol, dated …

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Hydrogeologic Analysis Of Streamflow In Relation To Underground Mining In Northern West Virginia, David Robert Gill May 2000

Hydrogeologic Analysis Of Streamflow In Relation To Underground Mining In Northern West Virginia, David Robert Gill

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Land subsidence, caused by longwall mining, has a negative effect on overlying watersheds. Nine streams were monitored from their headwaters to their mouths for discharge, temperature, conductivity, alluvium thickness, and alluvium sediment size. Seven streams are located over undermined longwall panels, with two located over non-undermined areas. Discharge data shows that non-undermined watersheds do not experience stream dewatering, regardless of alluvium thickness or sediment size. Streams located over active or recently mined longwall panels experience water loss that ranges from slight to total. Impacted streams with overall increases in conductivity and decreases in water temperature suggest that lost streamflow travels …

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Predicting Permeability And Flow Capacity Distribution With Back-Propagation Artificial Neural Networks, Alexis Jose Riera May 2000

Predicting Permeability And Flow Capacity Distribution With Back-Propagation Artificial Neural Networks, Alexis Jose Riera

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The prediction of permeability is a critical, key step for reservoir modeling and management of oil recovery operations. Previous studies have successfully demonstrated that the new technology called Artificial Neural Network (ANN), a biologically inspired, massive parallel, distributed information processing system, is an excellent tool for permeability predictions using well log data. This technology overcomes the drawbacks caused by the inherent heterogeneity of the reservoir and lack of sufficient cores or pressure transient tests, allowing to define reservoir characterization within an acceptable accuracy while maintaining costs low. The methodology used in this study takes advantage of this technology to accomplish …

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Perception And Analysis Of Spanish Accents In English Speech, Corinne Ann Kropf May 2000

Perception And Analysis Of Spanish Accents In English Speech, Corinne Ann Kropf

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of the present study was to determine what relates most closely to the degree of perceived foreign accent in the English speech of native Spanish speakers: intonation, vowel length, stress, voice onset time (VOT), or segmental accuracy. Nineteen native English speaking listeners rated speech samples from 7 native English speakers and 15 native Spanish speakers for comprehensibility and degree of foreign accent. The speech samples were analyzed spectrographically and auditorally to obtain numerical values for each variable. These values and the average foreign accent scores were submitted to Pearson correlations. Results show that the average foreign accent scores …

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Increasing Self-Efficacy With Diabetes Cooking Schools, Sheila Rye May 2000

Increasing Self-Efficacy With Diabetes Cooking Schools, Sheila Rye

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Dining with Diabetes, a diabetes cooking school program offered through West Virginia University Extension Service, targets dietary self-management and is guided by Social Cognitive Theory. This study compared two convenience samples of persons with diabetes. One group attended the program, (experimental, n = 34) the other, (comparison, n = 13) did not. The groups were evaluated at baseline and three-month post-test regarding knowledge about dietary management of diabetes, skill and self-efficacy in preparing simple recipes. Four participants in the experimental group (11.4%) and one person from the comparison group (7.7%) had increases in all three areas. The study also assessed …

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