Digital Commons Network^™

Developing A Viable Intranet Site, Wendy C, Glidden

Theses

This thesis will focus on establishing consistent guidelines in developing a successful corporate intranet website.

Office intranets are often neglected due to popularity of electronic commerce, and the company's investment in their public website. Standard instructions on how to develop a viable intranet site are not easily found and not likely taught.

With intranet development being a relatively new field, site expectations are very subjective. A site's perceived correctness largely depends on specific goals an organization has established for its site. There are generally high expectations and low budgets for intranets and if usability goals are not kept close at …

A Directorial View Of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer, John Vullo

Theses

The nucleus of my thesis will be the direction of "Suddenly Last Summer'', by Tennessee Williams. This play will be performed under my direction for The St. Charles Theatre Company on October 27 and 28, November 3 and 4, 2000. "Suddenly Last Summer'' was first introduced to the public at the York Theatre, in New York City, on January 7, 1958.

It is my intent to present my own interpretation of this play and document my process of directing it in a community theatre environment. This becomes even more interesting to me because, although the St. Charles Theatre Company has …

Fitness And The Elderly, David B. Mingo

Theses

Statistics show the American population is aging at an explosive rate. The correlation between fitness and the aging process is once again becoming a ripe area for study. Previous studies show that fitness can improve quality of life and health for the elderly. A new defined category of seniors known as the young-old has emerged. This category is comprised of seniors that range in age from 55- 65. This study focuses on the relationship between routine exercise and quality of life issues for the young-old. Subjects for this study were 15 retired military soldiers. Subjects were asked to complete a …

The Relationship Between Early Adolescent Self-Esteem And Peer Relationship Problems, Nancy L. Woods

Theses

Peer relationships and self-esteem among early adolescents, as well as the relationship between the two, have been studied by various researchers in the past. The purpose of this correlational study was to determine the strength of the relationship between early adolescents' peer relationship problems and self: esteem. Specifically, this research studied early adolescents in grades five through eight in one suburban, White, middle class elementary school and three suburban, White, middle class junior high schools. Students completed the Self-Esteem Index and the Index of Peer Relations. Pearson correlations that were performed to analyze the data suggested a negatively-associated, linear, and …

A Collaboration Between Two Doctors: A Study Of Neil Simon's The Good Doctor, Larry D. Quiggins

Theses

This thesis, titled A Collaboration Between Two Doctors: A Study of Neil Simon's The Good Doctor, explores the creative partnership between Neil Simon and Anton Chekhov through Simon's adaptation of Chekhov's short stories into a theatrical work. Written by Larry D. Quiggins in 2001 as part of an MFA in Theatre: Directing, the study examines the nuances of Simon's play, which combines humor and drama to bring Chekhov's stories to life for contemporary audiences.

The thesis begins by analyzing the nine Chekhov stories Simon adapted, including The Sneeze, The Governess, and Surgery, comparing Simon's modifications to the originals. It highlights …

An Activity Book To Teach Primary Skills To Individuals And Families Through Fun Interventions, Toni D. Cole

Theses

This thesis will focus on a new intervention approach that teaches individuals and families the skills needed to cope with life in appropriate ways.

Throughout history there have been many therapeutic theories and approaches that have clinically addressed the issues facing today's individuals and families. Play therapy and the family preservation model are the two theoretical approaches this thesis explores as key components in the design of a new intervention approach that meets the needs of individuals and families in their own environment.

This thesis proposes play therapy techniques that can be utilized by paraprofessionals, taking the teaching approach to …

Pro-Aging Vs. Anti-Aging: A Comparative Study Of Attitudes Toward Older Adults, Vanessa Lee Benavidez

Theses

A comparative study was conducted on the attitudes toward older adults between Counselors and Non Counselors. The participants included 50 Licensed Professional Counselors from the state of Missouri, who are registered members of the American Counseling Association (ACA), and 33 Graduate students from Lindenwood University in Saint Charles, Missouri, who are enrolled in graduate programs unrelated to professional counseling. The participants completed a demographic questionnaire and the Facts on Aging Quiz' (FAQl). The demographic questionnaire contained personal data, and the FAQ 1 measured attitudes and knowledge in five areas: correct answer, negative bias, positive bias, neutral, and don't know. The …

A Midsummer Night's Dream For Middle School, Diana Nash

Theses

William Shakespeare wrote plays for the masses -- the aristocrats as well as the common people. While his dramas, tragedies, and comedies were controversial, sometimes bawdy, and always physical, in the twentieth century, secondary school educators have come to think of Shakespeare's plays as literature for academic study. Middle schools rarely cover any Shakespearean plays in the classroom. Students traditionally start to study Shakespearean scripts in high school. In high school, freshman usually read Romeo and Juliet; sophomores read Julius Caesar, Macbeth, or Hamlet. Most secondary curriculums do not include a Shakespearean comedy.

While it is true that occasionally a …

Coping Styles Of African American Women Who Have Or Have Not Experienced Physical Abuse, Pamela L. Huntspon

Theses

The purpose of the study was to explore the coping styles of African American women and determine if different coping styles exist between those women who have experienced abuse versus those who have not. In this study, 60 African American women living in St. Louis, Missouri were obtained using a convenience volunteer sample from several sites which included a unisex hair salon, a center for women experiencing physical and sexual abuse and two community agencies serving the needs of low income families. They were administered the Coping Responses Inventory (Actual Form) and a demographic questionnaire.

Results of independent sample t-test …

Contaminated Equipment Packing And Transportation, Vladimir Zado

Theses

The nuclear power plants are significant source of the equipment contamination by radioactive particles. Versatile equipment is used during plant operation and/or maintenance and is contaminated while performing required operations. Usually, the decontamination of used equipment is performed but in many cases the residual level of contamination is still higher than allowed for unconditional release. The usual routine is to apply the same equipment for the maintenance works of other nuclear power plants. Such approach gains the problem of packaging of the contaminated equipment into applicable containers and transportation of these containers to other nuclear facility where equipment is unpacked …

Cleaner Production Among Multinational Corporations In Southeast Asia, Nguyen Phan Duy Nguyen

Theses

Cleaner Production (CP) represents the change from a conventional end-of-pipe treatment attitude to a proactive approach to pollution prevention and increased production efficiency. CP has been successfully implemented in developing countries, including the countries of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN is becoming an economic development center in Asia, attracting a large amount of foreign direct investments from multinational corporations during the last two decades. However, success in economic development has been accompanied by environmental problems. Understanding the level of CP practices among ASEAN's multinational corporations (MNCs) and National Cleaner Production Centers/Cleaner Production (NCPCs/CP) organizations is important to …

Occupational Health & Safety Innovations In The Hazardous Waste Remediation Industry, Brian Hansen

Theses

As the environmental technology aspects of hazardous waste remediation projects are becoming more innovative, the occupational health and safety aspects associated with these projects have not kept pace. This study was designed to examine a single, long-term remediation project's experiences with this dilemma. Although the project employed a number of traditional strategies to abate occupational health and safety hazards through most of its course, innovations concerning chemical protective clothing, air monitoring/sampling equipment, and the management of physical hazards at the last and perhaps most dangerous site lead to some interesting results. These results suggest that innovative yet practical solutions exist …

Uml As A Foundation To Technology, Amy Whiteside

Theses

The UML is becoming the recognized standard for object-oriented modeling. The incorporation of this standard into the curriculum of Information Technology academia appears to be a natural progression. How a course can be implemented and in what force is the primary focus for this thesis. In addition to the academic advantages and necessities of the UML as a foundation course.

International Graduate Student Expectations At Rit, Zeneida Granados

Theses

Information is a key to seeing problems and experiences encountered by international graduate students while studying abroad. Consequent adaptations to new surroundings have been suggested from several perspectives. Services offered on-campus could help international graduate students to achieve their main goal: to be successful in their professional and social life. Success could commence from the initial contemplation or decision of studying abroad and might continue throughout their prolonged stay if continuous support was available from the staff and customized services in the college or university selected. Conducting sixteen face-to-face interviews (using open-ended questions) and two focus groups of four students …

A Research Study To Determine The Student's Views On The Paul Smith's College Experience, Lea-Ann Seymour

Theses

Over the past years, Paul Smith's College has been struggling to reinvent themselves and secure their place in higher education. Discovering the critical incidents which make up the students experience is crucial to the institutions survival. Paul Smith's College must continually listen to the students in order to increase student satisfaction. The critical incidents discovered were, the classes and labs, college food service, student activities, roommates and friends, faculty, staff, location, the resident assistant experience, orientation, and the residence halls. These areas must be continually monitored and restructured to assure student satisfaction. In order for Paul Smith's to move in …

Process Mapping Framework For Small Business Consultants: A Case Study Approach, Nicole Kmicinski

Theses

Objective To develop a Process Mapping Framework for Small Business Consultants and to evaluate its effectiveness on a case study organization. Design Current literature was reviewed to establish protocol for the framework. The framework was followed to test its efficacy. Subject Weight No More, Inc., of Lyndonville, NY, was selected as the case study small business. Results The developed framework proved useful for gathering information, maintaining consistency, and assimilating research into well-versed findings for the case study organization. Applications Small business consultants now have a guiding framework which promotes use of strong customer service skills, consistency, organization, and evaluation of …

Regulatory Distortions Of Local Exchange Telecommunications Infrastructure, Gregg Sayre

Theses

This thesis presents a history of United States telecommunications regulation in the 20th Century with a view toward explaining the economic motivations of the involved parties and exploding economic myths such as "natural monopoly" and "cross subsidization" by the application of common sense. The relative success and failure of antitrust and economic regulation are analyzed on a subjective but quantitative scale, with antitrust regulation as the clear winner in terms of the author's standard of "public interest." The thesis examines specific economic incentives resulting directly from economic regulation, in particular, rate-of- return regulation and the FCC's interpretations of the Telecommunications …

Evaluation Of The Structural Design Of New Liquid Containers, Jadranka Mandic

Theses

GECOS (Global Eco System) bottle with an additional using quality, represents new idea, which is patented innovation. Basic bottle assignment of GECOS bottle is for storage and transportation of the liquids from food domain, such as water, juices or milk. Additional using quality of GECOS bottles comes from unique construction, as well as their closures. When GECOS bottle is empty it can serve as universal building elements, which are connected by closures as connecting elements into new three-dimensional structures. In such a way, the bottles are easier to be kept, collected or used in a game as didactic and creative …

Material Cooperation And Catholic Institutions: An Inquiry Into Traditional Moral Principle And Its Meaning For Catholic Institutions Today, With Reference To Catholic Hospitals In Australia, Joseph C. Parkinson

Theses

This dissertation views the Principle of Legitimate Cooperation as a guiding norm for the activity of Catholic institutions in the world. It samples various expressions of the principle from the seventeenth century to the present day, noting the significance of the central terms ‘intrinsically evil acts’ and ‘sufficiently serious reason’, and suggests that while the principle traditionally applied to individual moral agents, it can also apply to institutions. Taking as starting-points the Second Vatican Council’s call for a renewal of moral theology and the Church’s post-conciliar view of itself as ‘Sacrament of Christ’, the dissertation sketches an essentially Christological and …

Cyclic Olefin Copolymer: An Alternative Plastic Film For Pharmaceutical Blister Packages, Kurt Trombley

Theses

This thesis paper will provide data to show that cyclic olefin copolymer blister film can be used as a beneficial alternative to polyvinyl chloride film which is more commonly used in the pharmaceutical market today. Polyvinyl chloride continues to be a highly controversial packaging material due to potential environmental concerns. Cyclic olefin copolymer is shown to have properties which result in fewer environmental concerns and also can provide the added benefit of an improved barrier to moisture permeation when compared to polyvinyl chloride film. This paper documents a summary of the data on both sides of the polyvinyl chloride environmental …

An Enzymatic Method For The Measurement Of Magnesium, Joseph Murphy

Theses

Magnesium is quantitatively the most important intracellular divalent cation (4), and has been found to serve in a wide range of enzymatic reactions (2). Studies have shown that up to ten percent of hospital patients may have hypomagnesaemia (6).

Atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) under highly specified conditions is the de facto reference method for magnesium measurement but only about ten per cent of laboratories routinely use this method (4). This is because AAS is time-consuming, requires specialised equipment and a certain level of expertise, and may be hazardous due to the use of inflammable gases. Colourimetric methods e.g. calmagite are …

The Capacity Of The Electronics Industry For Closing The Lifecycle Look: Assessing The Infrastucture For The Recovery And Recycling Of Electronics In The Unites States, Patricia Donohue

Theses

This work examined why the electronics industry, specifically producers of commercial and consumer equipment, does not complete the product lifecycle by recapturing valuable materials from products when the products reach the end of their useful life. The electronics industry, it seems, is not capable of fully recovering and recycling its products. It lacks the infrastructure, or the underlying foundation, to enable the industry to take back its products and recycle or reuse the components that make up those products. This research identified and examined the various infrastructure deficiencies, including technical and regulatory factors, causing the recovery and recycling of electronic …

Culinary Arts Competencies In Hospitality Curriculum, Thomas Smyth

Theses

A modified two-round Delphi study of fifteen hospitality educators and fifteen industry managers was used to identify instructional objectives for culinary arts education and to establish the positions of educator and industry relative to these objectives. These professionals confirmed that there does exist a divergent opinion on competencies, while affirming the value of continued dialogue to apprise each other of their needs. Working with culinary arts faculty, the voice of industry speaks to great and immediate challenges, which require an evolving curriculum to prepare future culinarians.

Information Technology Infrastructure Stability, Jeffrey Pankow

Theses

The goal of this thesis is to validate the critical importance of IT infrastructure stability and to determine the factors impacting stability and what IT executives are doing to address these factors.

A Guideline For Initiating An Environmental Management System In Academia, David Turkow

Theses

Managing environmental concerns in an academic environment poses unique challenges to colleges and universities. Many college EHS professionals face an uphill battle to promote environmental improvement in an organized, systematic, and sustainable fashion - an Environmental Management System (EMS) is designed to do just that. Some inherent difficulties encountered in an academic setting include 1) lack of management support and 2) the perception that colleges do not have major environmental compliance issues (contributing factor to #1). By identifying issues unique to academia and differences in perception between EHS professionals and academic senior management, chances for successfully initiating/implementing an EMS are …

Environmental Supply Chain Management Integration Into The Purchase Of Finished Electrical Products, Cavan Kelsey

Theses

Representatives from the electronics equipment industry were surveyed and selected companies were interviewed to determine the current level of environmental supply chain integration into the purchase of finished electrical products. Based on the information gathered, a summary of best practices was defined which included insights into effective buyer/supplier relationships and establishing environmental product requirements. As electronic equipment manufacturers change from a vertically integrated marketing structure to one of a horizontal supply chain, there is an increasing need to outsource manufacturing of or to procure finished products made by another supplier and subsequently branded by the buying manufacturer. The manufacturer's environmental …

Utilizing Re-Engineering Of Competitive Packages To Stimulate Innovative Packaging Development, Jeffrey Gibb

Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate how the tool of re-engineering can successfully be used to dissect competitive packaging and, in turn, stimulate new, innovative packaging developments. The organizational challenges and hurdles in achieving innovation have changed in recent years. Mergers and acquisitions have resulted in the creation of mega-corporations. The result has been a change in business philosophy from generalization to specialization for maximum profitability. The challenge of specialization is that it stifles creativity, and this includes the development of innovative packaging. One of the ways the packaging engineer can overcome these challenges and drive innovation is …

Evaluation And Rationalization Methodology For The Acquisition Of Packaging Capital Equipment And Services, Craig E. Densmore

Theses

The development of proactive methods for the evaluation, selection, standardization, and rationalization of capital equipment and services used in the medical device industry will benefit equipment/process interchangeability and will result in lower costs of goods (COG). Reduced exposures to legal and regulatory issues are also expected. At the time this study began, senior management believed staff should have the latitude to make continuous improvements initiated without the burden of a corporate regulatory, engineering, quality, or procurement oversight, as long as each facility continued to meet or exceed appropriate performance standards and government regulations.

This work seeks to document the technical, …

Drowsy Driver Data Acquisition System, Rafael Norat

Theses

This thesis focuses on detecting the drowsiness of a driver based on differentiation of the EEG signal activity between the eyes open and eyes closed states. Here, it is observed that there is a significant increase 'in a 10 Hz component of the alpha rhythm activity when the subject under test closes his / her eyes. This phenomenon was observed when electrodes were attached to the occipital region. A more desirable approach is to develop a non-intrusive measurement based on a multiturn differential coil combination utilizing a low noise high gain amplifier. The system developed here used an 80,000 turn …

Autonomic Activity In Gulf War Veterans Using Heart Rate And Systolic Blood Pressure Variability, Maryann S. Fam

Theses

Heart rate variability (HRV) describes variations of heart rate and is attributed to cyclic fluctuations in autonomic tone. The different methods of heart rate variability analysis allow for a non-invasive assessment of autonomic activity. This study analyzes the heart rate variability through both frequency domain methods and joint time-frequency domain methods which were executed through the LabVJEW graphical programming language. These algorithms were utilized to assess autonomic nervous system activity in Gulf War veterans with no health complaints versus Gulf War veterans with chronic fatigue syndrome. The heart rate variability analysis was obtained from acquired measurements of heart rate and …