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The Role Of Automatic Conditioned Reinforcement And Automatic Conditioned Punishment In Infant Vocal Behavior, Rick A. Smith

Masters Theses

Two female children, aged 11 and 14 months, were exposed to a procedure in which an experimenter-emitted vocal response was paired with a reinforcing stimulus (positive condition), a neutral stimulus (neutral condition), or a mild aversive stimulus (negative condition). An AB design was utilized to examine the effects of the pairing procedure on the subjects* vocal responding. Sessions were conducted in each subject’s home. Only one subject was exposed to the pairing with a neutral (control) stimulus, and with the mild aversive verbal stimulus. Responding during the post-pairing period remained constant in the neutral condition, but was markedly reduced in …

Effects Of Perceived Power Of Those Assigning Goals On Goal Attainment, Larry L. Langeland

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to present and test with a field experiment the hypothesis that the perceived power of those assigning goals has a significant effect on goal attainment. A survey was used to determine three levels of the independent variable perceived power of three individuals who assigned tasks to subjects. The dependent variables were the number of responses on the tasks of listing 15 specific responses each for increasing cost-effectiveness, improving morale, and improving communication. Forty-three office and management personnel were randomly assigned to three groups, with each group receiving a all levels of power type and …

Histopathology In Rat Temporal Bones Resulting From Excess Dietary Fluoride In Conjunction With Suspected Water Born Toxins, Donna Lee Healy

Masters Theses

The occurrence of perinatal deaths, bony extoses, and deafness in dog kennels in certain areas of Michigan led The Upjohn Company and Western Michigan University to suspect fluoride toxicity and/or water born toxins. The present project was designed to examine the ability of excess fluoride ingestion and/or the ability of suspected water born toxins to induce histopathology in Sprague-Dawley rats. An otopathological assessment of the rat temporal bones showed no otopathology nor any changes in cochlear dimensions, however, a quantitative assessment of osteoclastic density showed a large increase in the numbers of osteoclasts of spongy bone in the high fluoride …

Melody Plus Rhythm Drill: A Computerized Melodic Dictation Drill Program, Pamela Ann Covert

Masters Theses

The Melody Plus Rhythm Drill is a melodic dictation drill program written for the Apple II microcomputer. It is designed to be used in conjunction with college-level aural comprehension courses. This program is unique in that students must enter both pitch names and rhythm values for all melody notes.

Included in this paper are a discussion on the pedagogical aspects of this type of drill, a user's manual for the program, a breakdown of the actual program into its component subroutines, and a complete listing of the program.

The Cultural Roots Of Behaviorism, Juan Mario Herakovic

Masters Theses

This thesis traces some of the economic, social, religious and political events that played an important role in the development of behaviorism in the United States. The effects of the Enlightenment, the dislocation of moral and social values, the decline of religion, political upheavals and increased immigration, are seen as destabilizing elements in American society. Emphasis is placed upon the specific values of the American society, and the way in which these values remained constant throughout the social history of the United States. As such, behaviorism represents a scientific approach to the historical continuity of ideas within the nation.

Input Frequency And Perceived Impact Of An Interactive Newsletter In A Small Organization, Patricia Calle

Masters Theses

A newsletter, based on the results of two tailor-made self-report questionnaires, was implemented in a vegetable by-product manufacturing company with 83 employees. Need for improvement was detected in the formal communication of organizational policies, projects, goals and events for downward and upward communication relative to performance feedback, non-monetary performance incentives, and response to job-related and personal requests. The newsletter was aimed at facilitating the supply of verbal incentives, performance feedback, formal and informal organizational information and participation in different areas. Prompting procedures were designed to encourage employees' participation in the newsletter. Newsletter impact was analyzed in terms of pre- and …

Distribution Analysis Of The Cultural Materials From The Mushroom Site (20 Ae 88), Allegan County, Michigan, Charles B. Stout

Masters Theses

An analysis of the features, lithics, and spatial distributions of all material culture recovered at the Mushroom site is presented. Based on this analysis and the ceramic analysis done by Mangold (1981:39-67), it is suggested that the major component at the Mushroom site was a warm season encampment, occupied during the late Middle Woodland period. The site appears to have been occupied by a few groups at a time. Comparison between the Mushroom site and the late Middle Woodland component at the Schultz site suggests that fishing may have been an important economic focus at the Mushroom site. Unlike the …

A Magnetic And Resistivity Survey Of Cork Street Landfill, Stanislaw Leja

Masters Theses

Geophysical techniques such as magnetic and electrical resistivity methods are being increasingly applied in investigations of landfills.

For this survey, measurements of the intensity of the earth's magnetic field were taken at regular intervals along traverses. Resistivity readings were taken at selected intervals along the same or very similar traverses. Additional resistivity depth measurements or soundings were obtained at selected points in and around the landfill.

Profiles were analyzed for individual dump structures and for overall magnetic and resistivity response. Contour maps were drawn from the measurements at the site to depict broad trends or patterns. Deeper subsurface geology was …

Two Apparently Effective Strategies For Increasing Employee Compliance, Ann M. Backe

Masters Theses

The present study investigated the controlling aspects of employee participation on compliance to store procedures through the use of a total participative group and a group trained in the technical and beneficial aspects of the procedures. Five grocery store cashiers comprised the Participative Group and six cashiers comprised the Value- and Skill- Trained (VST) Group. The researcher conducted one meeting with the members of the Participative Group to design procedures to decrease the number of checks returned to the stores because of non-sufficient funds. Following the development of the new procedures, the Participative Group received technical training on the procedures. …

An Optimal Design Of Relational Data Model, Pissamai Amatayakul

Masters Theses

The objective of this study was to propose a design methodology to support a designed in mapping a conceptual model to a logical model. The system was created as a semiinteractive software to produce an optimal relational data model for a given database. The software was developed by combining a well known normalization method from a theory of relational data model which was presented by Codd and the ideas of new normal form which were presented recently by many researchers in the field of database design. The complete description of data objects and their associations are initially defined as a …

A Uniform System For Data Base Directories, Karl Chang

Masters Theses

The objective of this study is to provide an efficient uniform system for data base directories, so that every file in the data base will have the same type of efficient directory. Data base directories will then be uniformly generated, updated and maintained.

The uniform system which is developed here can handle not only discrete attributes, but also range attributes. For the range attributes, it provides the uniform ranges (i.e., a set of ranges such that the records are distributed uniformly between ranges.)

In this thesis, the design and implementation of the hybrid B-plus tree and inverted files which is …

Long Slow Distance Running As A Treatment For Moderate Depression Of Outpatients, Dalene Degraaf Vandenhoek

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of "long slow distance" (LSD) running as a treatment for moderate depression. Clients diagnosed with "moderate primary depression" were randomly assigned to one of two treatments. Individuals receiving the running treatment walked and ran slowly for forty minutes three times a week for ten weeks. Those receiving psychotherapy participated in behavior therapy one hour a week for ten weeks. According to biweekly scores on the Symptom Checklist-90 and Beck Depression Inventory, the anxiety and depression of the clients who ran improved as much as those receiving behavior therapy.

A Short Data Based Inservice Program For Teachers Of Direct Instruction, Patricia Mckeen Salvi

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to empirically determine the effectiveness and practical aspects of a researcher developed inservice training program. This training program was used with three middle school teachers to improve theirs kills in Direct Instruction Decoding teaching techniques. The training program utilized verbal instructions, modeling, positive and corrective feedback, and checkouts to determine the teachers' mastery of each skill area trained. The trainer employed a multiple probe design, and the training proved to be effective in improving each teacher's performance across each skill area trained. The inservice program proved to be practical in that it could be …

Behavioral Management Of Multiple Food Aversions Of A Multiply Handicapped Child, Steven A. Stang

Masters Theses

Several behavioral treatments utilizing the delivery of preferred food with praise contingent upon consumption of nonpreferred foods were evaluated with a multiply handicapped child who exhibited multiple food aversions. Behavioral assessments of food preferences were used to identify preferred and nonpreferred foods and to monitor changes in the subject's preferences for nonpreferred target foods relative to other foods.

Following the implementation of treatment contingencies, a modest increase in the consumption of one nonpreferred target food, and substantial increases in consumption of a second nonpreferred target food, milk, other foods appearing on the lunch menu, and essential nutrients were observed. In …

The Effects Of Parent Monitoring On Homework Completion Of Low Performing Students, Maria Del Carmen Barocio

Masters Theses

Four junior high school boys from a Special Education room participated in this study. The purpose was to increase the amount of homework completion having parents as monitors of their own children and minimal teacher intervention. In Condition I, baseline was taken of the percentage of homework assignments completed. During Condition II, parents received a Homework Checklist from the teacher explaining the assignments for the next day. For Condition III parents were given a handout explaining the use of positive statements and prompts, and a guideline for skillful home study was also included. Parents were asked to send a Report …

Coalition Politics In Malaysia, Zakiah Awang

Masters Theses

This thesis has attempted to explain the success and the stability of the coalition party system in Malaysia from 1955 to 1982. This success has been attributed to three factors.

The most important factor is the role played by political elites. Malaysian political elites come from a different racial background. It is their willingness to cooperate, work together in harmony and to find solutions through compromises that helped to hold the coalition party together. Elite cooperation, in turn, has been fostered through similarities in the leaders' socioeducational- linguistic backgrounds.

The success of the coalition party is also closely linked to …

Effects Of Positive, Negative And Balanced Emphases On Perceived Effectiveness Of Performance Appraisal, Joseph Andrew Hammond

Masters Theses

The central theme of the research is the experimental manipulation of three different appraisal processes, namely positive, negative, and balanced appraisals to determine which evaluation tool would be perceived as most useful in motivating and stimulating employees to improve on their performance. Subjects were randomly assigned to groups and presented with scripts exemplifying three appraisal approaches and asked to evaluate the perceived effectiveness of each approach in producing a desired performance outcome. The results showed significant differences between the balanced approach and the other two approaches. However, there was no significant difference between the means of the positive versus negative …

Generalization Of Self-Control For Disruptive Behavior In The Classroom, Darline Haley

Masters Theses

The objective of this study was to produce and evaluate a self-control procedure for disruptive behavior in the classroom which encouraged the generalization of behavior changes to other school settings. The self-control training components of self-recording, self-evaluation, criterion setting, and problem solving were all incorporated into the self-control procedures. This study also controlled for self-recording reactive effects prior to the initiation of the self-control training.

The findings of this study indicate that self-control training may be an effective method for decreasing disruptive behavior in the classroom.

Design, Construction, And Testing Of A Microprocessor-Controlled Interface Between Analog Geophysical Equipment And A Digital Cassette Recorder, Mohd. Nawawi Mohd. Nordin

Masters Theses

A Digital Data Acquisition System (DDAS) microcomputer was designed and constructed to interface between a six-channel analog seismograph and a digital cassette recorder. The DDAS microcomputer is a relatively inexpensive microcomputer built around the popular Z-80 microprocessor chip. It is portable and has 26K bytes of memory. It was designed to convert analog data in to digital with some processing performed before storing on the digital cassette recorder, for later analysis. The same hardware or circuitry of the DDAS microcomputer can perform other functions and work with other geophysical equipment by changing the software of the microcomputer.

The Repeated Acquisition Procedure As A Means Of Analyzing Instructional Stimulus Control And Rule-Directed Behavior, Jeffrey S. Danforth

Masters Theses

Pre-school children were taught to emit four-response chains using the repeated acquisition design. Experiment 1 examined the effect of instructional stimuli. Many errors were made in Control Learning, followed by few errors in Control Relearning. Instructional cues resulted in few errors in the morning learning session, but many relearning errors were made. Experiment 2A determined if two-trial cuing with instructional stimuli would improve relearning performance. The result was fewer relearning errors, but the criterion required more learning trials. In Experiment 2B a rule was taught relevant to two-trial cuing. In Experiment 3 a child was told that the morning and …

Teaching Change Computation To The Developmentally Disabled, Nancy Daeschlein

Masters Theses

This study evaluated a procedure for teaching three developmentally disabled adults to compute monetary change combinations. Also, the procedure assessed generalization to the skills of computing change with bills, verifying the correctness of change received, and computing change with both coins and bills. Subjects were first trained to make change using pennies and then were trained to use each successive denomination in combination with those previously trained. A multipleprobe design was used, including generalization probes of the above-cited skills. Results indicated that each subject acquired the behavior of change computation with coins as a function of the training procedure. Also, …

The Albigensian Heresy And The Gnostic Tradition, John Stine Penman

Masters Theses

That the Albigensian heresy represents a resurgence of early Christian Gnosticism is the thesis of this work. The study defines Gnosticism in terms of its pattern of prevalent characteristics and traces the course of Gnosticism and its emergence as the Albigensianism of the Middle Ages. Using the finding of Hans Soderberg's La Religion des Cathares: Etudes, sur le gnosticisme de la basse antiquite et du moyen age as a point of departure through the analysis of documents discovered since 1949, the study shows that Gnosticism and the Albigensian heresy represent a continued tradition of religious expression as a recognizable alternative …

The Effects Of An Instructional Package On Study Question Completion Skills Of High School Students, Jeffery David Montgomery

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to empirically evaluate the effects of an instructional package on study question behaviors. The instructional package, incorporating contingent reinforcement, modeling, feedback, contingency contracting and a programmed instruction format was implemented to train four study question answering behaviors identified through task analysis. Each subject demonstrated ability to perform the four behaviors with increased accuracy on experimental measures following training. Results indicated that the instructional package was effective in training increased accuracy in each instructional behavior for each subject. Generalized performance of these behaviors in the classroom environment, assessed through comparison of classroom grades and study …

A Microprocessor Controlled Pulsed Hollow Cathode Lamp For An Atomic Absorption Spectrometer, James B. Schilling

Masters Theses

A Jarrell-Ash Atomic Absorption/Flame Emission 82-360 Spectrometer was interfaced to a Heathkit ETA-3400 microprocessor. The microprocessor is used to pulse the hollow cathode lamp from a "steady" current to a "peak " current during the opening of the chopper. The current from the photomultiplier-tube is converted to a proportional voltage which is supplied to a sample-and-hold circuit. A successive approximation routine is used to convert the voltage to a representative digital value. Digital values are obtained for the "blank" and "sample" and are used to calculate percent absorption values. The system can also be used to obtain emission values.

The …

A Hearing Assessment Using Operant Audiological Testing With A Severely Retarded Deaf-Blind Child, Patricia Timpson

Masters Theses

This study assessed the feasibility of teaching a 7-year-old severely retarded, hearing and vision impaired girl to respond consistently to a pure tone stimulus using operant audiometric techniques. The experimenter first shaped a head turn response using the opportunity to rock on a rocking horse as reinforcement. Following response shaping, the experimenter used a bone conduction transducer (BCT) as a tactile stimulus in training the subject to turn her head to the left in a similar fashion to a 500 Hz, 65 dB tone/vibration. After 15 days of transfer training, designed to bring the left head turn response under control …

The Validation Of A Behavioral Programmed Text For Increasing Self-Control Attitudes, Douglas Howard Ruben

Masters Theses

Applied behavior analysis programs designed to reduce attitudes about addictive behavior have been weak as far as overall training results. This research was an alternative training model in that it contained (a) a programmed instructional manual and self-paced homework assignments, and (b) lecture sessions. Selection of subjects from a local prison and private industry was based on indicated needs for substance abuse rehabilitation. Subjects went through a series of 9 programmed instructional units on developing self-control, and met for one weekly session for 9 consecutive weeks. Each instructional unit taught within a cognitive-behavioral model introduced concepts and techniques related to …

A Study Of Financial Management Aspects Of School Business Management, William Paul Le Tarte

Masters Theses

This internship was conducted under the direction of the Associate Superintendent for Administrative Services for Kent Intermediate School District. The scope of the resources available were not restricted to a single school district, but included examples available from the twenty-one districts in Kent County. This provided a composite view of the way districts are managed.

This was further developed by participation at meetings, in-service sessions and conferences of the Grand Valley School District Officials, Southwest Michigan School Business Officials, in meetings with educational lobbyists and leaders of the Michigan School Business Officials, and in meetings with area legislators.

The. experience …

A Report Of An Internship In The St. Joseph Public Schools St. Joseph, Michigan, Richard H. Bartz

Masters Theses

The purpose of this report is to describe a nine-week internship in the St. Joseph Public Schools. The major portion of the internship was devoted to working on a position description project and on computer scheduling at the Upton Junior High School.

Chapter I contains a brief background of the St. Joseph Public Schools and the intern 's prospectus.

Chapter II describes the intern's role in reviewing and developing position descriptions for certified personnel.

Chapter III describes the - intern's experiences in working with the Upton Junior High Principal to build a course master schedule.

Chapter IV contains the intern …

A Biomechanical Analysis Theorizing The Effects Of Long Term Meniscectomy On Q Angles And Pronation/Supination Of The Foot During Running, Richard R. Squires

Masters Theses

The objective of the study was to investigate the relationship of pronation/supination and Q angles of the right and left legs of subjects with meniscectomies. A biomechanical analysis was employed using two high speed camera, digitizing equipment, and a computer. Statistical analysis was performed to determine any significant differences.

Analysis of variance found a difference between medial and lateral, and control and medial groups in the pronation/supination test at heel strike with shoes. A difference among subjects and legs also was found at heel strike without shoes.

Analysis of variance found differences in average Q angles of the medial and …

The Use Of Punishment In Industry, Promise Sibonisiwe Zungu

Masters Theses

This study was aimed at finding out if apparent inadequate use of punishment in industry is a problem of lack of knowledge of appropriate punishment procedures on the part of punishment agents (supervisors/managers) or a problem of execution. Variables that affect the effectiveness of punishment were identified by means of a literature search, as timing, intensity , consistency, appropriateness, providing a ration ale and punishment schedules.

Test items were constructed and administered to two groups to find out if there was any consistency between participants ' recommendations about disciplinary procedures and punishment principles. Results showed that the majority of participants …