Digital Commons Network^™

New Reagents And Reactions For Desulfurization Of Coal, Shan Wang

Masters Theses

Searching for new reagents and reactions for pre-combustion desulfurization of coal was the goal of this work. In this study, modifications of mild desulfurization reactions, which were found to work with organosulfur model compounds, have been investigated systemetically for improvements in sulfur removal and reduction of reagent cost. The screening of reagents and new reactions utilized substituted thiophenes plus aryl sulfides as the initial models for organosulfur compounds in coal. Tetrahydrofuran extracts of Illinois Basin Coals were also used as second generation targets for desulfurization reactions.

Dibenzothiophene was converted to biphenyl using potassium metal/tetrahydrofuran without the addition of electron transfer …

The Critical Elements Of Collaborative Consultation, Kurt T. Kruger

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to identify the critical elements necessary for speech-language pathologists to implement an effective collaborative consultation model. A survey was mailed to 300 ISHA member speech-language pathologists working in Illinois schools. The survey contained elements of collaborative consultation originally identified by researchers and professionals in the field of communication disorders and sciences. Those elements identified by the survey respondents as being most critical were, (a) planning time, and (b) acceptance and support of administrators, teachers, and parents. The elements on the survey instrument ranked significantly lower than the rest were, (a) time to observe those …

Parent Involvement And Vocabulary Development In Kindergarten, Carolyn Eckerty

Masters Theses

A kindergarten teacher used action research to determine if the vocabulary growth of kindergarten students was influenced by parents being involved in the Tasks For Talented Parents (TFTP) program. A correlational study was conducted to determine the relationship between parent involvement and student's vocabulary development. Kindergarten students (N=58) were administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test in August and November. Also in August and November each child's parent completed the parent questionnaire from the Tasks For Talented Parents program. The results indicated a moderate correlation between the answers on the parent questionnaire and the results of the PPVT-R. Results of the …

Developing A Code Of Conduct Policy For Hoopeston-East Lynn High School, Mark C. Conolly

Masters Theses

The purpose of this field study was to develop a model code of conduct policy for Hoopeston-East Lynn High School in Hoopeston, Illinois. A survey instrument on school discipline was completed by teachers and students. Results of the survey helped identify discipline problems in the school. Information was obtained pertaining to types of discipline codes used in other schools. These included other school codes as well as prepared codes such as Assertive Discipline, Reality Therapy, and Teacher Effectiveness Training. A committee of faculty members and parents was established to review and discuss types of discipline codes. It was decided that …

The Incidence Of Word Retrieval In Children With Language And/Or Learning Disabilities, Kathleen Nordmann-Ochs

Masters Theses

This study was conducted to determine the percentage of incidence of word-retrieval deficits in three diagnostic groups: language disabled, learning disabled, and language-learning disabled children. Forty-five children between the ages 9 and 12.9 years were chosen from elementary schools in central Illinois, including ten language disabled, fifteen learning disabled and fifteen language-learning disabled subjects. The Test of Word-Finding was administered to determine the presence or absence of a word retrieval deficit. Testing revealed that 90% of the language disordered subjects demonstrated a word-retrieval deficit; 94% of the learning disabled population displayed a word-retrieval deficit; and 100% of the language-learning disabled …

Non-Monetary Effects On Inflation Within The Price-Gap Model, Leonard Loebach

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine some of the various non-monetary effects on inflation within the framework of the price-gap model. Some of the non-monetary shocks that can affect inflation include wage adjustments, changes in basic commodity prices (for example, crude oil), changes in the exchange rates, and shifts in inflationary expectations.

In April of 1989, a study was put out by the Federal Reserve (staff study 157) that examined the relationship between the current price level and an estimate of the long-run equilibrium price level. In the study, an indicator P* (pronounced P-star) was used to estimate …

The Effects Of Closed Head Injury On The Learnability Of Blissymbols, Andrea J. Rabish

Masters Theses

This study attempted to determine the effects of cognitive-communicative functioning in individuals who have sustained closed head injury on learnability of Blissymbols. Two features of Blissymbols, translucency and complexity, were examined to find their effects on Blissymbol learnability. Another focus of the study was to determine the effects of translucency and complexity interaction on learnability. The final research question concerned the relationship of cognitive-communicative functioning and Blissymbol learnability. Nine Subject, each rated with the Ranch Los Amigo Scale of Cognitive Functioning, participated in a task that required learning forty Blissymbols in a paired-associative learning task. The subjects were divided into …

Assessment Of Sex Equity In Athletics In Illinois Educational Service Center #13 Schools, Wayne C. Scarlett

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine sex equity compliance and sex equity achievement in athletic programs in grades 5-8 and 9-12 attendance centers in the eight county area served by Illinois Educational Service Center #13. Champaign, Douglas, Ford, Iroquois, Kankakee, Livingston, Piatt, and Vermilion Counties were included in the study. An 18 question survey instrument, keyed to the 1990 Illinois Sex Equity Rules, was sent to building administrators in all attendance centers in the eight county area that contained grades 5-8 and/or 9-12. The survey asked administrators to provide, by grade and gender, numerical information on student …

Administrative Field Experience Internship In Educational Administration, Gary Zum Mallen

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Development Of A Comprehensive Plan For Gifted Education For Windsor Community Unit #1, Sharon Keck

Masters Theses

One of the responsibilities of educators is to meet the needs of all students. Since these needs vary according to the student, the opportunities afforded to each student must also be varied. Gifted/talented students need special educational opportunities; otherwise, they may not reach their potential. This study developed a plan to meet the needs of gifted/talented students in a small rural setting. This study encompassed a comprehensive plan for differentiated education in grades K-12 involving the six fundamental learning areas for Windsor Community Unit School District Windsor, Illinois. This comprehensive plan includes a needs assessment, a philosophy statement, an identification …

Administrative Supply And Demand, Betty Jeanne Jones

Masters Theses

This study focused on the supply of and demand for educational administrators in Illinois. Practicing administrators and students in educational administration classes in Illinois colleges and universities were surveyed to determine forthcoming retirement patterns and to determine if the pool of potential candidates for positions created by those retirements is adequate. Factors which facilitate change, as well as those that inhibit change, were also assessed for each of the two groups surveyed. Survey results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlational procedures. The findings of the study support references being made to the possibility of an impending shortage of administrators …

An Analysis Of Writing Across The Curriculum, M. Katherine Haight

Masters Theses

Between 1900 and 1925 several changes took place which modernized American universities. One of the most significant involved a different curriculum. The new program was, in part, geared toward preparing students for specialized careers. This approach, however, made it possible for teachers outside of English to eliminate writing from their courses and, more generally, to develop distorted and limited views of the uses of writing. Today, Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs are being incorporated into many colleges and universities across the country in an attempt to correct misperceptions and to bring writing back into non-English courses.

WAC stresses the …

A Study Of The Effectiveness Of Peer Counselors And Computer-Assisted Career Guidance Systems At Eastern Illinois University, Kathleen C. Ritten

Masters Theses

Eastern Illinois University, located in east central Illinois, is dedicated to providing high quality undergraduate and graduate education at an affordable cost for the citizens of the state of Illinois (Eastern Illinois University college catalog). The university's primary mission is to provide its approximately 10,000 students with a comprehensive undergraduate program of liberal studies as they seek degrees in applied sciences, business, education, fine arts, health, physical education and recreation, and liberal arts and sciences (Mission and Goals of Eastern Illinois University). To complement its undergraduate curriculum, Eastern's Graduate School also offers master's and specialist degree programs in various concentrations. …

Tumbleweed, John Fehrmann

Masters Theses

"Tumbleweed" is a short fiction piece depicting the lifestyle of a group of young adults living in Santa Fe, New Mexico during the late 1980's. These people comprise a subculture of wanderers who travel the country on whims and who rely on tourism-related work for their ventures. In the manner of such works as On the Road, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Catcher in the Rye, "Tumbleweed" examines the role of the restless journeyman, a role which has played an important part of the American character.

This picaresque story gives an account of an ordinary …

Adopting An Eight Period Day Schedule: An Analysis Of The Merits For Oakland Community Unit School District #5, Norman L. Tracy

Masters Theses

In coping with financial problems and changing demands on students' course selections, it has become increasingly more difficult to provide secondary school students with the best education possible. This seems to be especially true for the smaller school districts. Many small school districts have reduced their staffs to the "bare bones" due to budget cuts. Such reductions have often resulted in fewer course offerings and a reduced number of section offerings for required classes. When this problem was coupled with the Illinois Board of Higher Education's increased college entrance requirements that high school students must complete, the common result was …

School Consolidation In Perry County, Illinois, Ronald L. O'Daniell

Masters Theses

This is a study of factors relating to school consolidation in Perry County, Illinois. The factors explored in this study are student achievement, student information, per pupil expenditure, and community attitude. An assessment of the perceptions of school board members and superintendents regarding consolidation was conducted through a survey sent to each board member and superintendent in Perry County.

A thorough review of recent literature on consolidation was conducted. Administrators involved in previous consolidation efforts were interviewed. Analysis of the research identifies five specific concerns pertaining to consolidation in Perry County. The concerns are as follows: (a) the maintenance of …

Oedipal Identity And The Freudian Construction Of Orality In Okot P'Bitek's Song Of Lawino And Song Of Ocol, Paul Kent Oakley

Masters Theses

In Okot p’Bitek’s Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol, Ocol and Lawino, presenting themselves as a university-educated man and his non-literate village wife, argue the various merits and failings of traditional, Acholi village life and modern, Westernized life. Accompanying this sociopolitical argument is the personal, emotional conflict between the two: Ocol is rejecting Lawino in favor of a Westernized second-wife, but Lawino refuses to leave him, trying instead to coerce him into returning, body and soul, to her bed. The scenario seems straightforward. But below this superficial reading is a more complex one in which Lawino is Ocol’s …

Letters To Mother: A One-Act Play, Susan R. Brock

Masters Theses

Few graduate students in English elect to write a creative thesis to complete their degrees, their tendency perhaps to believe that a thesis based on research seems a more scholarly endeavor. I do not think one could successfully argue the superiority of one type over the other, simply because the two are quite different. While a research thesis can require the reading and analysis of another author's work, a creative thesis requires the writing, reading, and analysis of one's own work. For that reason, the main body of this thesis consists of an introductory essay in addition to the creative …

An Evaluation Of Educational Indicators In Illinois' New Illinois Accountability Law, Leon Francis Gobczynski

Masters Theses

In the fall of 1992, P.L. 87-559 will change the way schools and districts in Illinois are evaluated for the purpose of recognition. This is commonly known as Illinois' new accountability law. This law shifts recognition from solely legal compliance to include school performance and school improvement.

Five educational indicators were chosen for Illinois' new accountability law by the State Legislature in conjunction with the Illinois State Board of Education. This research study measured administrators perceptions about the five educational indicators used in Illinois' new accountability law. In addition, ten national educational indicators were selected and administrators were requested to …

A Woman's Quest For Happiness: O'Neill's "Private Myth", Andrea Ximena CampañA Garcia

Masters Theses

Following the approach used by James Hurt in his book Catiline's Dream to determine Henrik Ibsen's "private myth" which he retold in play after play, I have delineated O'Neill's "private myth" in a narrower way concentrating on his female characters. Examining parallel motifs in the lives of the dominant women in Desire Under the Elms, Strange Interlude, and Mourning Becomes Electra, I have detected this mythic pattern involving the O'Neillian woman: She goes through an early innocent and submissive state guided by an initial vision of happiness which can be regarded as fairly conventional. But when her …

Effectiveness Of A Truancy Prevention Program In Education Service Regions 15 & 20, Michael W. Harris

Masters Theses

Truancy is a problem that many school districts must address on a daily basis. One method used to address this problem in Education Service Regions 15 & 20 in southeastern Illinois is a truancy prevention program. This program was presented to six randomly selected second grade classes. Each of these six classes was then paired with a similar second grade class in the same county. This second group of classes was the control group in which no truancy prevention program was presented. The six truancy prevention programs were presented in early September. Attendance rate data were collected for all twelve …

Organization Of A K-3 Guidance Program, Gwyneth James Snider

Masters Theses

The field study project was undertaken to study the role of the elementary guidance counselor and to develop a workable K-3 guidance program. Results would show the importance of guidance at the elementary level and the counselor's role within the total program.

The role of the elementary counselor was studied through a review of available literature. In addition, a survey of some central Illinois elementary guidance counselors was conducted to study elementary guidance programs already in existence and the role of the counselor within that program. Goals and a job description for an elementary guidance program were developed and the …

Narrative Perspective In Willa Cather's O Pioneers!, My Antonia And A Lost Lady, Debra L. Will

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Patients, Nurses, And Physicians Regarding Nursing As A Profession, Ann R. Robach

Masters Theses

The United States is facing a critical shortage of nurses. A prevailing societal perception of nursing having a subservient role in health care prevents many recruits from choosing this career, despite efforts by nursing leaders to change this perception (Styles, 1988). The purpose of this study was to determine the current perceptions of patients, nurses, and physicians regarding nursing as a profession.; A 20 item modified version of Valiga's View of Nursing Questionnaire was implemented for this study. The subjects included 102 patients, 126 nurses, and 68 physicians who completed the questionnaire in the fall of 1991.; Statistical analysis revealed …

Positioning Of High Risk Infants: Effects On Oxygen Utilization, Umbilical Artery Catheter Integrity And Activity, Dawn Zuidgeest-Craft

Masters Theses

In a prospective experimental study, 24 high risk infants over 1,000 grams and under 5 days of age were observed and evaluated for the effects of positioning on the umbilical artery catheter, activity, and oxygen utilization. Infants were positioned right lateral, left lateral, supine and prone, for 2 hours in each position. The purpose of the study was to evaluate whether prone position opposed to other positions increased sleep state behaviors, reduced oxygen need, or created any complication for the umbilical artery catheter. Using a repeated measures design and repeated measures analysis of variance, it was found that positioning prone …

The Relationship Between Locus Of Control, Powerlessness, And Job Satisfaction Among Registered Nurses, Evelyn C. Wirsing

Masters Theses

A cross-sectional descriptive correlational design was used to investigate the following research questions: (a) How much variation in nurses' satisfaction can be predicted from locus of control and powerlessness? and (b) are there statistically significant (p {dollar}<{dollar}.05) differences in job satisfaction among nurses based upon their primary area of practice, highest earned degree, length of employment in current position, and employment status? A random sample of 300 staff nurses from a large acute care teaching hospital was surveyed utilizing a four-part questionnaire. The response rate was 51% (N = 152). Powerlessness accounted for 29% of the variance in job satisfaction scores and locus of control accounted for none of the variation in job satisfaction. Secondly, a weekly significant difference (F(5, 146) = 2.29, p {dollar}<{dollar}.05) in job satisfaction scores existed among clinical specialty groups, however no significant differences in job satisfaction were found for the remaining professional characteristics.

Evaluating Family Caregivers' Ability To Select Appropriate Care Techniques Following Discharge Instructions On Post Traumatic Brain Injury Symptoms, Connie J. Pardee

Masters Theses

Post traumatic brain injury symptoms can be very stressful to family caregivers. This study evaluated family caregivers' ability to select appropriate caregiver actions following discharge instructions on post traumatic brain injury symptoms. Subjects in the control group viewed videotaped discharge instructions on physical symptoms post traumatic brain injury. The experimental group viewed videotaped discharge instructions on physical symptoms, cognitive dysfunction and behavioral changes post traumatic brain injury. Both groups were given a written post test after viewing the videotape. Those who received information on physical symptoms, cognitive dysfunction, and behavioral changes had a higher mean score than those who received …

Predictors Of Success On The Nclex-Rn Examination, Kathleen S. Pangle

Masters Theses

This ex post facto study was designed to determine if the scores of advanced standing LPNs' NCLEX-RN scores were significantly different from those of generic students and to identify predictors of success of NCLEX-RN performance. Based on Bandura's theory of self efficacy it was hypothesized that LPNs would score higher on the NCLEX-RN than generic students. The independent variables were final grades in nursing theory courses (Medical-Surgical, Obstetrics, Pediatrics, and Psychiatric Nursing), and NLN Achievement Tests and the Comprehensive Nursing Achievement Test. The study group included 195 graduates from a small, rural Associate Degree in Nursing program between the years …

Aids: Knowledge And Attitudes Among Nurses, Jeanette J. Lochan

Masters Theses

Reports have indicated that nurses have negative and preconceived attitudes concerning persons with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and that these biases may interfere with quality care. The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to identify the relationship between nurses' knowledge about AIDS and their attitudes toward caring for patients who are diagnosed with AIDS and/or who test positive for HIV. Data was gathered by questionnaires from a convenient sample of nurses employed at an area hospital in West Michigan. Of the 500 nurses who received the questionnaire, 208 (41.6%) participated in the study. Knowledge about AIDS was correlated with …

Comparison Of The Efficacy Of Heparinized And Non-Heparinized Normal Saline Solutions In Maintaining Patency Of Arterial Catheters, Juanita K. Bogart

Masters Theses

Although the need for heparin in flush solutions has not been established, the currently accepted standard of practice is to use heparinized solutions in arterial catheter flush devices. Exposure to heparin may place patients at risk for developing heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HITP) and subsequent embolic events. The purpose of the study was to test the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference in patency of arterial catheters maintained with heparinized or non-heparinized normal saline solutions. An experimental design using a convenience sample (N = 31) and random assignment into experimental and control groups was used. There was no statistically significant …