Digital Commons Network^™

Acculturation Of The Vietnamese Refugees And Immigrants In St. Louis, Missouri. Exploratory Study, Maria Ratuszynska

Theses

The purpose of this research was to study the acculturation of Vietnamese refugees and immigrants . 44 refugees and 19 immigrants residing in St . Louis, Missouri (city and county) participated in the study. Subjects were administered the Cultural Identity Questionnaire and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 . Demographic information was obtained using a data sheet.

The obtained scores were analyzed using the t-test statistic for equality of means . The independent variables were political status (refugee or immigrant) . The dependent variables were scores on the Cultural Identity Questionnaire for acculturation, and anxiety, depression and total score of the Hopkins …

Bullies And Victims: How Pervasive Is The Problem In American Schools?, Gail L. Riebling

Theses

Since the topic of bullying has been given little professional attention in the United States, this study examined the Incidence of buIlies and victims in an elementary school In Illinois. Also examined were students' perceptions of how teachers respond to bullying and if males and females appear to be equally victimized. The average age of the students responding was 10.9 years. The gender composition of the sample was 54% female and 45% male. Al I of the children were white. The "Set Straight on BulIies Student Survey" was mailed to 87 students who had completed fifth grade in spring of …

A Study And Comparison Of The Ericksonian Strategic Style Versus The Medical Model Of Herbert And David Spiegel As An Approach To Hypnotherapy, Walter E. Roberson

Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to compare and contrast two models of hypnotherapeutic technique. The first model is the strategic therapy of Milton H. Erickson, and the second is the medical model approach of Herbert and David Spiegel. A description of hypnosis is given by several researchers as well as a history of hypnosis as a psychotherapeutic tool. Each of the two models are discussed then noting structure, and use in clinical settings. Results of the study indicated that both models were effective modes of treatment, but the medical model had more of scientific orientation and so is better …

A Correlational Study Between Psycho-Social Variables And Successful Drug Abuse Treatment, Paul L. Susic

Theses

Many studies have been performed to clarify variables associated with successful treatment for drug abuse with very confusing, ambiguous results. Based upon this premise this study will attempt to contribute toward the illumination of factors, having therapeutic value, which facilitate recovery.

This thesis was a study of whether there was specific psycho-social treatment outcome. any relationship between variables and successful Assessment information used to derive data for this study were intake assessment data used in the normal operations of a successful outpatient drug treatment program. Subjects were patients entering treatment for recovery from numerous drugs including alcohol, heroin, crack, and …

Spectrum Communications: The Beginning Of A Two-Way Radio Service Company, Joseph A. Voyles

Theses

The purpose of this study is to investigate the revenue and expense associated with a two-way communication company called Spectrum Communications. This study will examine the issues of planning, organization, funding and marketing, which are essential to a business plan.

The planning and controlling functions often get very little attention from owners of small businesses. The way to strengthen both of these functions is through an effective business plan. Only through an effective business plan can long range goals be established for sales, profits, competitive position and industrial relations. The information gleaned from this study will be used to compile …

The Importance Of Trade Promotions In The Marketing Mix: Effectively Managing Retail Promotional Allowances And Rebates, Barbara Van Fleet

Theses

This study, The Importance of Trade Promotions in the Marketing Mix: Effectively Managing Retail Promotional Allowances and Rebates, explores the critical role trade promotions play in contemporary marketing strategies, particularly within consumer packaged goods industries. Authored by Barbara van Fleet, the research delves into the historical evolution, strategic objectives, and challenges associated with trade promotions such as retail allowances and rebates.

The paper begins by contextualizing the emergence of promotions within the marketing mix, examining how early 20th-century manufacturers engaged retailers through incentives and in-store marketing to influence consumer purchasing. As the marketing mix evolved, trade promotions became vital …

As American Companies Approach The 21st Century, They Should Begin To Recognize Employee Empowerment As A Key Motivator To Increase Worker Productivity In A Highly Competitive Global Economy, Sherry L. Valliere

Theses

This thesis will focus on the study of the effectiveness of previous efforts by American companies to create a truly empowered workplace.

Employee empowerment is when employees are given the necessary authority to make decisions and initiate improvement actions within their own work areas and expertise. Employees are encouraged, through respect and trust, to exercise self-direction and self-discipline.

American companies are facing the prospect of massive changes in the basic culture that underlies how they do business. Their markets are changing and global competitors have caught them off guard, forcing them to change the way they do business to survive. …

A Training Model In Customer Service For The West County Ymca: A Not For Profit Organization In St. Louis, Missouri, Carlos Arturo Vanegas

Theses

In today's increasingly competitive business environment, many firms are overlooking a basic function that could potentially be turned into a strategic weapon: customer service. Customer service is a vital function of a company's operations, not only because it is the vehicle to fulfill the company's obligations to its customers.

Customer service is extremely important in service organizations. Services have unique characteristics that are different from products and require unique managing. For one thing, a service is an intangible.

The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) is a service organization. Due to the nature of the YMCA programs, it is extremely important …

Investigation Of A Program That Manages Cultural Diversity To Determine Its Relationship To A Profitable And Efficient Business Operation, Joan M. Hubbard

Theses

This thesis begins with the purpose of investigating a program that recognizes, accepts, values and manages cultural diversity in the workplace to determine its relationship to a profitable and efficient business operation.

Significant demographic changes are expected to occur by the year 2000 resulting in a more culturally diverse labor force. In addition to a labor force wherein "white males" become the minority, this labor force will be more resistant to shedding ethnic and sexual distinctions.

In the past, managers have achieved high-level mastery over physical production . However, as labor constitutes the greatest single cost component of output, the …

Personal Sketches: The Experience Of Role Strain For Fifteen Married, Full-Time Employed Women With Children, Monika Bilger

Theses

Not available.

Fixtures- "Personality" Or "Reality?" Who Knows?, Larry L. Perdue

Theses

This thesis by Larry L. Perdue examines the legal classification of property, specifically focusing on fixtures and trade fixtures within valuation sciences. It delves into the complexities of distinguishing between real and personal property, especially in cases where items such as machinery or attachments are integrated into real estate but retain some characteristics of personal property. The author highlights the potential financial and legal implications of misclassification, including issues related to taxes, valuation in business appraisals, and lender security. Drawing from historical legal principles in English Common Law and American Common Law, Perdue discusses key tests used in property law …

Atomic Force Microscope: System And Applications, Yue Chen

Theses

The Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) has demonstrated its usefulness on a nanometer scale surpassing the resolution of conventional profilometers and optical microscopes. The principle of operation and the instrumentation design of the AFM, as well as some application aspects, are described. Emphasis is placed on the imaging mode of the force microscopy in the regime of attractive forces. A new method which is capable of stabilizing attractive mode operation is introduced, along with analysis of the detection mechanism and evaluation of the system performance. Numerous examples illustrate the applicability of attractive mode AFM to a wide variety of samples. The …

Silent Walkie-Talkie: A Toy For Deaf Children, Roberto P. Acosta

Theses

Not Included

Points Of Departure: The Transformation Of Historic Furniture Into A Modern Vernacular, Stacey L. Smith

Theses

Not Included

Green Design: A Guide To Environmentally Responsible Graphic Design, Jitinan Paisansathan

Theses

Not Included

Functional Teapots, Michael R. Hughes

Theses

My thesis project was about teapots and the various ways they can be used. I choose three different settings in which people use teapots. I attempted to alter the character of the pot to be appropriate for the situation in which it was intended. In simple terms, the three kinds of teapots were: a large teapot for a group of people, a teapot for a single person for private time, and a breakfast teapot.

Damping Of Elastic-Viscoelastic Beams, Ray A. West

Theses

The subject of this investigation is the dynamic behavior of a composite beam consisting of a main elastic core and two viscoelastic layers. The viscoelastic layers provide increased damping of vibrations. When the beam vibrates, damping is caused by energy dissipation in the viscoelastic layers due to their shear deformations. Thus, the goal of this investigation is the development of a method to assess the dynamic characteristics, including the effectiveness of damping, in the layered elastic-viscoelastic beam. Analysis of the resulting sixth-order partial differential equation along with the appropriate boundary conditions is the key to the dynamic characterization of the …

Steady-State Oscillations Of Linear And Nonlinear Systems, Christopher A. Tucher

Theses

In this paper, an efficient algorithm is developed for the identification of stable steady-state solutions to periodically forced linear and nonlinear dynamical systems. The developed method is based on mapping techniques introduced by Henri Poincare' and the theory of one-parameter transformation groups. The algorithm successfully identifies initial conditions which give rise to strictly periodic orbits. The technique is demonstrated on selected problems associated with linear as well as nonlinear systems.

Context Sensitive Optical Character Recognition Using Neural Networks And Hidden Markov Models, Steven C. Elliott

Theses

This thesis investigates a method for using contextual information in text recognition. This is based on the premise that, while reading, humans recognize words with missing or garbled characters by examining the surrounding characters and then selecting the appropriate character. The correct character is chosen based on an inherent knowledge of the language and spelling techniques. We can then model this statistically. The approach taken by this Thesis is to combine feature extraction techniques, Neural Networks and Hidden Markov Modeling. This method of character recognition involves a three step process: pixel image preprocessing, neural network classification and context interpretation. Pixel …

A Simplified Drive-Reinforcement Model For Unsupervised Learning In Artificial Neural Networks, David B. Suits

Theses

Partly in response to the apparent limitations of explicit symbol processing used by traditional artificial intelligence research, there has been, within the last decade, a growing interest in artificial neural networks. This thesis focuses on the development and testing of a model for describing certain kinds of biological phenomena. The many artificial neural networks available may be classified into three types: (1) self-organizing networks, which have input but no feedback; (2) unsupervised networks, requiring minimal feedback (perhaps a signal indicating success or failure); and (3) supervised models, which employ far more extensive (and, I think, biologically implausible) feedback mechanisms. In …

User Characteristics In Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Michelle Buckenmeyer

Theses

The development of individualized educational environments, to facilitate learning for the diverse population of students in today's secondary school system, has become more prevalent with the increased ease of access to computers that many schools are now enjoying. The use of Computer Aided Instruction is becoming more common as a means for individual tutoring. This thesis explores the problem of individualizing this instruction by analyzing the relationship between preferred teaching methods and computer users" personality types, as defined by the Myers-Briggs type indicator and two other "unscientific" user characteristics. The preferred teaching method was analyzed using various criteria, including user …

Automated Knowledge Acquisition For Knowledge-Based Systems: Ke-Kit, John Parsons Scott

Theses

Despite recent progress, knowledge acquisition remains a central problem for the development of intelligent systems. There are many people throughout the world doing studies in this area. However, very few automated techniques have made it to the market place. In this light, the idea of automating the knowledge acquisition process is very appealing and may lead to a break through. Most (if not all) of the approaches and techniques concerning intelligent, expert systems and specifically knowledge-based systems can still be considered in their infancy and definitely do not subscribe to any kind of standards. Many things have yet to be …

Computational Techniques In Turan Problems, Jing Zou

Theses

A Turan set system, T(n, I, k), is a k -uniform hypergraph on n points, such that any subset of / vertices contains at least one edge. The Turan number T{n, l, k) is the minimal number of edges in any Turan set system T(n,l,k). The known nontrivial values of Turan numbers are rare. Using the algorithm turexp for extending T(n, I, k) systems to 7(n+1, I, k) systems and procedures nauty for determining the automorphism group of a graph, the new Turan numbers 7(13, 4, 3), 7(11, 5, 3), 7(12, 5, 3), 7(13, 5, 3) are determined, a new …

Application Of Substructuring Methods To The Dynamic Finite Element Analysis Of A Container Refrigeration Unit Frame Structure, Chung-Kang Chen

Theses

Substructuring is a technique in finite element analysis for solving mechanical engineering problems involving large structures which are too enormous for existing computer hardware and software to handle. This technique involves breaking the system into parts, analyzing the parts, and then re-assembling the total system using selected degrees of freedom from the parts. This thesis also provides a review of substructure theory as a background. The state-of-art involving different approaches of the method is presented . The ANSYS finite element analysis program is used for the case studies of analyzing a container refrigeration unit frame structure. The experimental vibration test …

Technical Skills For Packaging Sales, Duane P. Beck

Theses

This study addresses technical skills for packaging sales. Based on the results of the study, a training manual and course of instruction have been developed to introduce an innovative approach to packaging sales. "Technical Skills for Packaging Sales" defines the packaging sales professional, or PSP, a new kind of professional combining the skills of the salesperson with expertise of an engineer. Firmly grounded in the customer-- comes-first philosophy, the PSP is a problem solver, able to evaluate any packaging application to satisfy the customer's needs. "Technical Skills for Packaging Sales" explains an engineer's approach to packaging, including analyzing details, writing …

Computational Analysis Of Boundary Layer Control By Suction In A Space Transfer Vehicle Engine Turbopump Diffuser, Brian Richard Yoshida

Theses

Future space missions planned by NASA will be more complex in nature than current missions scheduled as part of the Space Shuttle Program. Examples of future missions include the construction and inhabitance of space stations, orbital transfers, and Lunar/Mars transfers and descents. The Space Transfer Vehicles (STV's) that will perform these missions must have the capability to provide deep-engine throttling thrust. To accomplish this, the turbopumps used to propel the STV's in space must operate at off-design flow rates to provide a wide range of flow outputs. Current state-of-the-art cryogenic fuel and oxidizer turbopump designs can not perform efficiently at …

Two New Ramsey Numbers, James N. Mcnamara

Theses

A graph with many vertices cannot be homogeneous, i.e., for any pair of integers (i,j) all large graphs must contain either a complete subgraph on i vertices or an independent set of size j. The Ramsey number for (i,j) is the smallest integer R such that all graphs with at least R vertices have this property. For example, the (3,3) Ramsey number is 6; if a graph has 6 or more vertices, then is must contain a triangle or an independent set of size 3. The (4,4) Ramsey number is 18, found in 1954 [GG] . The (5,5) Ramsey number …

Computer Improvisation Of Jazz Solos, Daniel Chen

Theses

This thesis discusses the possibilities of using a computer to create Jazz solos. Various implementations using stochastic and rule based approaches were created and applied to analyze the original melody as well as the chord progressions. Based on the melodies generated, a rule-based approach that considered the original melody and the chord progression was found to produce the most "musical"

Senior Japanese Tourists To Taiwan And Their Marketing Potential: A Case Study, Nai-Chieh Jessie Chen

Theses

For decades, Taiwan's tourism industry enjoyed the great number of Japanese visitors until a few years ago, when the growth rate slowed and even declined. This decline was caused by several factors such as rising price, high appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar, inconvenient visa application procedures, limited airline seats, rising public disorder, and strong competition from neighboring countries. With much money to spend the Japanese tourists were the most welcome group to the world tourism industry. The senior (50 years and older) members among them, in increasing quantity and good financial ability, have become even more desirable among the …

Analysis Of Power Factor Correction Converters, Thomas Yeh

Theses

Power Converter with capacitive input filter is a non-linear load to the Utility AC power lines. There are widely used as Switch-Mode Power Supplies in office equipment applications ranging from Personal Computers to Office Printers and Copiers. The distorted input current waveform extracted by the capacitive input filter of the power converters produces unwanted harmonics which propagates to other line powered equipments. The harmonic pollutes the AC lines and interferes with the operations of sensitive line powered equipments. The distorted current waveform also leads to inefficient utilization of the available power from the AC outlet. This is because the AC …