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Quality Control: A Behavioral Perspective, Cathy L. Thorne

Masters Theses

Because of the high costs of quality, many disciplines have developed techniques to assist in its control. This paper examines quality control from a behavioral perspective by analyzing how behaviors affecting may be acquired and maintained and examining some common quality interventions. It is concluded that the application of the principles of behavior analysis can assist in providing an effective quality control technology which can benefit individual employees and the organization as a whole.

The Differential Effects Of Three Job-Related Manipulations On The Task Performance Of Movie Theatre Employees, Raymond Douglas Bennett

Masters Theses

This study examined task checklist use (self-recording with accuracy monitoring and performance standards with performance monitoring) in a program designed to increase task performance of movie theatre employees. A multiple baseline design across tasks was employed. Accuracy of self-recording averaged 68% when the checklists were first introduced alone and increased to an average of 93% when feedback for task performance and recording accuracy was implemented. Employee task performance averaged 48% for Baseline and 92% for the final condition. The introduction of task checklists alone was followed by a mean performance increase of 18%. The introduction of self-recording and supervisory comments …

Increasing The Work Rates Of Visually-Impaired, Mentally Retarded Adults Through The Treatment And Prevention Of Overselectivity (Overshadowing) And Masking, John Schwade

Masters Theses

In Experiment 1, three legally-blind, mentally retarded adults were given 10 to 12 applications of discrimination training between pairs of sequential compound stimuli with immediate tactile and delayed (3- 3.5 sec) visual elements. Sorting responses were brought under the control of these stimuli. In 29 of 33 applications, discrimination training resulted in reduced sorting rates concommittant to overselectivity (overshadowing), such that stimulus control was acquired by only delayed visual elements. Single-stimulus discrimination training (SSDT) between the previously-overshadowed immediate tactile elements produced expression of stimulus control by those elements of compound stimuli in 5 of 6 cases. SSDT with novel stimuli …

Pennsylvanian Deltaic Sedimentation In Grand Ledge, Michigan, Jeffrey R. Martin

Masters Theses

Pennsylvanian outcrops along the Michigan Basin's southern/margin are composed of fluvial-deltaic and marine shelf sediments. Constructive deltaic facies include point-bar sandstones displaying erosional bases, channel lag, and upward decreasing grain size and sedimentary structures. Cross-stratification data indicate a unimodal, highly variant, northward-trending, paleocurrent pattern that deviates from regional paleoslope. Point-bar sandstones record delta plain deposition by meandering distributary channels. Channel margin facies include Lingula-bearing, interdistributary bay shales; overlain gradationally by laminated, flaser-bedded and rooted marsh shales and siltstones; and subbituminous swamp coal. Bay-fill facies are interrupted by lens-shaped, quartz-poor, fine-grained, crevasse-- splay sandstones.

Delta destructive facies--quartz -rich bioturbated sandstone-- suggest …

The Teaching Of Music Theory In The Piano Lesson: A Survey Of Methods, Donna R. Hood

Masters Theses

"The Teaching of Music Theory in the Piano Lesson: A Survey of Methods" is a functional study for piano teachers designed to demonstrate that most instruction books do not contain enough music theory. Methods included were selected on popularity and availability to piano teachers of beginning students.

Each of the sixty-six methods reviewed are listed with a general description, the intended age level, and the purpose of the course. A list of the theoretical strengths and weaknesses follows . The theoretical areas considered for the survey include rhythm/meter, melody/intervals, harmony, tonality/scales/keys, analysis, ear training, composition, and improvisation.

No single method …

The Effects Of A Cumulative Review Procedure Upon The Acquisition And Retention Of Basic Addition Facts Under Mastery Learning Conditions, Michael Jeffrey Harshman

Masters Theses

The effects of cumulative review upon the acquisition and retention of basic addition facts were examined within a modified multielement baseline design. Subjects were two second graders enrolled in a tutorial program. After training (memorization to specific criteria) involving drill with flashcards, facts were practiced according to one of two procedures. One procedure (Interspersal Only) involved practice of newly trained facts mixed with facts known on a pretest. The other procedure (Cumulative Review) involved practice of newly trained facts mixed with facts learned during prior training sessions. The Cumulative Review condition was found to be more effective in terms of …

The Use Of A Job Model With Self-Recording And Performance Information As An Alternative To On-Site Supervision, Mark Kevin Forbes

Masters Theses

The action goal of the study was to reduce performance deficits of relief employees who operated a Group Home, though use of a Job Model, self-recording, and performance information. The research goal was to ascertain if generalization occurred from performance accomplishments targeted by the intervention to accomplishments not targeted. Overall performance means increased over 34 percentage points for subjects following the Job model intervention and rose further after self-recording and feedback were introduced. The use of a partial Job Model resulted in performance improving or maintaining in five of six nontargeted accomplishments. When Subject A received the Job Model, self-recording, …

The Perceived Effectiveness Of The Borgess Human Assistance Program As Measured By A Checklist Of Key Components, Kevin G. Clark

Masters Theses

This study investigated the success and perceived effectiveness of an employee assistance program. Phase I consisted of interviewing representatives of the ten companies that were the most frequent users of the program. Phase II examined the program's annual report. The results were tabulated and compared to a checklist of key components which gauge the effectiveness of a successful employee assistance program (Egdahl and Walsh, 1980). The evidence indicated that the program operates in accord with Egdahl and Walsh's checklist.

Analysis Of The Prehistoric Settlement Pattern Survey Project In The Lower Kalamazoo River Valley: The 1978 And 1979 Field Seasons, Deborah K. Rhead

Masters Theses

Western Michigan University's Settlement Pattern Survey, Implemented in the Spring of 1978 under the direction of Or. Elizabeth Garland, is an intensive problem-oriented survey aimed at discerning patterns of prehistoric settlement in Allegan County, Michigan. This thesis is based on the analysis of the Settlement Pattern Survey data for the 1978 and 1979 seasons. The use of sampling strategies in archaeology and corresponding problems with analytical statistics is examined with particular reference to the Settlement Pattern Survey Project. The application of cluster analysis to the Settlement Pattern Survey project 1s also discussed. As a result of this analysis, distinct patterns …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Training, Internships, And Job Opportunities For Clinical And Counseling Psychologists, Mary Theresa Zirpoli

Masters Theses

Recent literature indicates that clinical and counseling psychologists are trained in very different ways, work with very different populations, and perform different skills. The literature also shows this traditional exclusivity to be vanishing. Three studies were conducted to determine similarities and differences in the training, internships, and types of jobs that clinical and counseling psychologists obtain. Data for the three studies were obtained from the curricula of 7k American Psychological Association approved graduate programs, six job opening lists from the American Psychological Association Monitor, and the American Psychological Internship Centers Manual. Variables included specific types of coursework, settings, patient population, …

An Investigation Of The Instructional Communicator Style Expectations Of Nontraditional And Traditional Male And Female Undergraduate Students, Chryl Irvine Snyder

Masters Theses

Increasing numbers of nontraditional students, many of them women, are enrolling in college and university classes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the instructional communicator style expectations of nontraditional and traditional male and female undergraduate students. Students were asked to rate their own preferences on a variety of items designed to reflect instructional communicator styles. The researcher looked for differences in student expectations of their "ideal teachers" based on age and sex.

Nontraditional students rated the precise style of instructional communication higher than the traditional students who gave higher ratings to the friendly, open, dominant, and contentious styles. …

Vantage Level Analysis: A Potential Tool For Reducing Conflict In A Labor Union, Pamela S.F. Shevchik

Masters Theses

Intra-group conflict among employees can cause a break in the organizational communication which could affect productivity. A major problem is locating the specific disagreements among the coworkers to find the source of conflict and increase the likelihood that a basis for reducing conflict can be found.

This study used the Gilbert (1978) vantage level analysis as a method of sorting agreements and disagreements in a conflicting labor union. The setting was a clerical union in a public school system which was subdivided into three conflicting subgroups. There were 70 female support personnel involved. Data collected demonstrated that it is possible …

The Support And Maintenance Of A Behavioral Teaching Methodology In The Public Schools, Sheryl M. Rippee

Masters Theses

A contract study center was the site for two experiments involving the modification of teacher behavior. The Center was located in a rural high school of 300 students and 15 staff members. The Center was school-wide and utilized contingency contracting and peer tutoring in order to help students on individual academic assignments. Experiment I was conducted to examine the effects of using teachers to support and maintain the behavioral teaching methodology used in the Center. Results of Experiment I indicated that teachers were not as effective in supporting and maintaining the Center on a half time basis as University Personnel. …

A Comparison Of The Effects Of Participation, Expected Payment, And No Expected Payment On Clerical Performance, James Theodore Austin

Masters Theses

Seventeen psychology students participated in a group comparison of the effects of participative decision making, defined as subject decision making in three areas of the experiment, expected payment, and no expected payment on performance of a repetitive scanning task. Measures of performance quantity and quality were assessed directly, while satisfaction and manipulation checks were evaluated via selfreport. Clerical pretest scores were used as covariates in an analysis of covariance, which revealed no significant differences on the quantity dimension but-highly significant differences (p = .03) for quality (error) performance. The findings, which may have been biased by an experimenter "instruction" effect, …

Performance Feedback And Its Relationship To Goal Setting, Douglas A. Nicola

Masters Theses

This study illustrated the effect of information feedback and goal setting on production efficiency. Two male machine operators (ages 29 and 54) working on a low efficiency press were selected for the study. Operators were initially given efficiency information following individual production runs. The next phase involved providing efficiency information and a request that they set efficiency goals for each run. These goals were noted by the researcher and compared with the actual results. In a final phase, high efficiency goals were prompted by the researcher, compared to actual results, and shown to the subjects following each run. Results showed …

The Design And Evaluation Of An Information System For Assessing Performance Appraisal Practices, James Michael Naughton

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

A History Of Bronson Park, Kalamazoo, Michigan From 1829 To 1940, Carol Knauss

Masters Theses

Bronson Park is a 3.6-acre tract of land in the center of downtown Kalamazoo. For over 130 years the city has used this land for a public park. The land originally was donated to the county for a school and a jail by the men who owned and platted the area. Interested citizens converted the two squares into a park which, in the following years, was improved with trees, walks, and a fountain. This park became an important meeting place for the villagers who held political rallies and celebrations there. From 1829 to 1940 both the appearance and the way …

The Origin Of Carbonate Cements In Bahama Escarpment Limestones, Katharine D. Fulker

Masters Theses

Limestones recovered from Bahama Escarpment dives (DSRV Alvin, 1978) were expected to contain shallow marine, freshwater, and deep marine cementation since the limestones had been fractured, bored, and cemented at depth. Magnesium and trace element concentrations, carbon-oxygen composition, cathodoluminescence, and petrographic study indicated the presence of all three cement types.

Lithification may have proceeded by allochem deposition, major shallow marine cementation, sparse freshwater cementation leaving porosity, fracturing, and final deep marine cementation leaving minor porosity. According to this interpretation, the pore space remained open for an unlikely 75-115 million years. In an alternative interpretation, pore space is occluded after freshwater …

The Development Of A Curriculum Model For Undergraduate Education Of Manufacturing Engineers, Mark Allen Curtis

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research was to identify course work that could be used to develop a specific unified undergraduate curriculum in manufacturing engineering technology, that both satisfies existing academic constraints and thinking, as well as industry's desire for a practical, yet highly qualified engineer.

The population surveyed was a combination of educators and industrial people with a vested interest in manufacturing engineering, from across the United States. The survey results, rating the relative importance of ninety seven different courses, were used to develop a model undergraduate curriculum in manufacturing engineering.

The findings supported the original hypothesis by showing that …

Research In The Use Of State Diagramming As A Communication, Diagnostic, And Descriptive Tool In Applied Educational Programs, Roger S. Coates

Masters Theses

State diagramming is a schematic communication tool used to present experimental designs or educationally-significant conditions in applied settings. In applied situations, public school teachers and students, and college students used state diagramming as an effective communication and diagnostic tool for educational programming. Four of five teachers showed rapid comprehension of classroom programs when the use of diagramming was compared to written narratives. College students described antecedent events present in familiar educational systems at a higher percentage of accuracy and total information presented almost doubled when diagrams were utilized. Training public school students in drawing state diagrams was initially successful. This …

Parental Foraging In Chipping Sparrows (Spizella Passerina), Dora Elisa Perez

Masters Theses

During the breeding season of 1982, the population of Chipping Sparrows ( Spizella passerina) that inhabits the Western Michigan University's campus was chosen to study the use of foliage and other foraging sites. Three pairs were selected to be observed intensively.

During the time the female is foraging and when the male is either foraging or in territorial advertisement activities both sexes choose needleleaf trees out of proportion to their availability.

It is also likely that in the later stages of caring for young, when food demands were highest, the birds become less selective and forage on needleleaf trees as …

A Study Of Flow Languages, Vector Machines, Petri Nets And Convex Languages, Shyam Kishore Bajpai

Masters Theses

In this work, relations have been established among vector machines and augmented vector machines, vector machines and Petri nets, and augmented vector machines and generalized Petri nets. At each stage, number of examples are given to illustrate the theory of Petri nets, vector machines and augmented vector machines.

A Computer Assisted Instruction Package For Computer Graphics, Robert Normand Dutilly

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to:

(1) Present the concepts and significance of Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI).

(2) Demonstrate the usefulness of CAI by the implementation of a system to instruct in the fundamentals of Computer Graphics.

(3) Describe methods used for implementing a large CAI package on a microcomputer.

(4) Development of software tools to assist in the creation of CAI programs.

The paper will also cover the historical perspectives on the growth of CAI, its impact on the educational field and the proper construction of CAI materials. The system is written in the UCSD Pascal computer programming …

A Survey Of Graduates Of A One-Year Clerical Office Block Class —1976-1981— With Recommendations For Curriculum And Course Content Revision, Audrey Lee Watson

Masters Theses

Data were collected by means of a questionnaire sent to 92 Maple Valley Office Block students who graduated in the years 1976-1981 to determine if students are adequately prepared to acquire entry-level clerical/secretarial positions and to adjust to positions in business. Sixty-five questionnaires were returned for a 70% return.

Over 70% of the respondents were employed at the time the survey was conducted. Over 90% indicated the use of keyboarding equipment on the job. Almost 60% of the respondents used shorthand or machine transcription on the job. Frequent job responsibilities included filing, business machine usaqe, telephone usage, receiving visitors, and …

Religious Education In South Australian Public Schools, David I. Kumnick

Masters Theses

In 1972 the Education Act of South Australia was revised so as to make compulsory the teaching of religion in public schools. The major church leaders in South Australia held pro-Christian views about the form the new religious education should assume. Certain factors, most obviously a vigorous humanist campaign conducted during 1974 and 1975, wrought a dramatically different religious education syllabus. Convinced that the Christian religion was not being accorded its proper place, the church leaders finally lodged a united complaint with the Education Department of South Australia in 1979. The problem confronting all concerned South Australian Christians in 1982 …

The Effects Of Intermittent Schedules Of Reinforcement On The Generation Of Adjunctive Behavior In Humans, Kenneth L. Hearn

Masters Theses

The primary goals of this study were: (1) to determine if interim behaviors occur with humans responding under intermittent schedules of reinforcement; -and, (2) if interim behaviors do occur, to compare the characteristics of those behaviors with the characteristics of adjunctive behavior in nonhumans. Two developmentally disabled males, ages 15 and 19, served as subjects. The subjects pressed a white panel for food, tokens and plastic objects under several schedules of reinforcement. The response rate on the white panel and the duration of interim behaviors that occurred during the inter-reinforcement intervals was measured using standard electro-mechanical equipment. All behaviors were …

A Report Of An Internship In The St. Joseph Public Schools St. Joseph, Michigan, Dennis David Lundgren

Masters Theses

The purpose of this report is to describe a six week internship completed in the St. Joseph Public School System. The intern worked in the area of curriculum and personnel and became familiar with the role of Director of Curriculum and Personnel. Several major tasks related to that role were completed during the internship.

Chapter I contains a brief description of St. Joseph Public Schools. The chapter includes the intern's prospectus, including a description of the internship. The chapter also contains the intern's projected nature of internship experience.

Chapter II describes the experiences and major tasks completed during the internship. …

A Histopathological Study Of The Effect Of Ethylnitrosourea On Ha(Icr) Mice Testes, Mildred Rodriguez

Masters Theses

Ethylnitrosourea (ENU) is very strongly mutagenic, carcinogenic and teratogenic in mice. In the present study ENU was used to induce germ cell damage in the mouse testis. Mice were given single injections of vehicle, 50, 100, or 200 milligrams of ENU per kilogram of body weight and killed at various times over a fifteen week period. Microscopic examination of the testes showed that extensive killing of spermatogonial cells and therefore maturation depletion had occurred in the seminiferous tubules. The histopathology was dose dependent and the testicular weight decreased with an increasing ENU concentration.

Hemispheric Perception Of Modulated Rhythmic Patterns In A Dichotic Listening Task, Belinda Sue Ford Murray

Masters Theses

This study attempted to determine ear advantage in a dichotic listening task involving perception of tempo modulation (decrease.or increase) within repeating rhythmic patterns at initial tempi of 80 mm or 160 mm. Ear advantage was measured by reaction times to and accuracy of modulation detection.

The subjects were thirty right-handed nonmusicians with normal hearing. The rhythms were pure tones generated in real time on an Apple II computer and presented through headphones. The subjects' task was to depress a designated computer key as soon as the modulation was detected. The computer recorded each subject's response and reaction time.

Reaction time …

A Staff Training Program To Change Target Behaviors: Acquisition, Transfer, And Effects Of Behavior Management Training With Paraprofessionals, Patricia D. Foster

Masters Theses

This study assessed the direct and transferred effects of a training package consisting of written rules, modeling, role playing, and vocal verbal feedback on the behavior management skills of three paraprofessional staff and evaluated the resulting impact o f these techniques on the maladaptive behaviors of severely multiply impaired adults. A multiple baseline across three instructional situation types (a transition period in which staff were not assigned to a particular pupil, a group instructional session in which one staff was assigned to three pupils, and an individual instructional session in which each staff was assigned to one pupil) was utilized. …