Digital Commons Network^™

Identifying At-Risk Students And Providing Them With Leadership Opportunities To Create A Bullying Prevention Program, Jennifer R. Baldwin

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop a bullying prevention program within Oakcrest High School. The bullying prevention program was established in accordance with the New Jersey State laws on bullying in schools. It was also created to be in accordance with regulations that determine whether or not schools qualify as a safe school.

The program identified at-risk 10^th grade girls who have had a history of discipline issues and bullying type activity during their freshman year. The program provided these students with the opportunity to be leaders within their school community and in our sending districts. In …

The Implementation Of A School-Wide Anti-Bullying Program, Toni Anne Conoshenti-Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

A safe and civil environment in school is necessary in order for students to learn and achieve high academic standards. Conversely, harassment, intimidation and/or bullying, disrupts both a student's ability to learn and a school's ability to educate its students in a safe environment. Students learn by example, therefore, school administrators, faculty, staff and volunteers are encouraged and commended for demonstrating appropriate behavior, treating others with civility and respect, and for refusing to tolerate harassment, intimidation or bullying. Through on-site research and review of current literature, I was interested in finding out students' perceptions about bullying. The thesis was designed …

The Rhetoric Of The Frontier And The Frontier Of Rhetoric, Carly Kay Paul

Theses and Dissertations

The definition of rhetoric has recently been expanded to include elements of experience, particularly the experiences that landscape provides. One landscape that has rhetorical significance is the American frontier, both in Colonial times and in the nineteenth century. The frontier had a rhetorical impact on women, in particular, giving them freedom to change their roles and achieve economic, political, and social success. Because of the tremendous significance of the frontier in women's lives, a new definition of frontiers emphasizes conditions such as opportunity for change, a dangerous and uncertain atmosphere, a freedom of thought and action, and an ability to …

Retaining Students: Is It For Gaining Or Restraining?, Terence Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate students in Grades 6-8 who were retained in Elementary School and tracked their academic progress since the retention. This study was conducted to determine whether retaining students benefits or hinders their chances of academic success. Once the retained students in Grades 6-8 were identified, the reasons for their retentions (located in the student's personal files) were investigated and recorded. Questionnaires for selected educational professionals in the district revealed whether their opinions on student retentions were unbiased or not. Student questionnaires revealed the retained student's personal perspective on being retained. Student pre and …

The United States Marine Corps Data Collaboration Requirements: Retrieving And Integrating Data From Multiple Databases, Pamela J. Cole

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research is to develop an information sharing and database integration model and suggest a framework to fully satisfy the United States Marine Corps collaboration requirements as well as its information sharing and database integration needs. This research is exploratory; it focuses on only one initiative: the IT-21 initiative. The IT-21 initiative dictates The Technology for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, 2000-2035: Becoming a 21st Century Force. The IT-21 initiative states that Navy and Marine Corps information infrastructure will be based largely on commercial systems and services, and the Department of the Navy must ensure …

Analysis And Forecasting Of U.S. Navy Operating And Support (O&S) Costs For Rotary Aircraft, Christopher J. Wilkes

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores forecasting techniques to estimate the Cost per Flying Hour (CPFH) for Navy rotary aircraft. Three separate forecasting techniques were evaluated to better predict the CPFH for better estimating and budgeting by the U.S. Navy. The process begins by empirically analyzing Operating & Support cost categories for each helicopter. Trends were examined in CPFH. For forecasting purposes, actual CPFH figures were compiled from 1997 to 2003 for the CH-46D, the CH-53D, the MH-53E, the SH-60F, the UH-1N, and the UH-3H helicopters. The forecasting techniques explored were the 3-year moving average, the single exponential smoothing method, and Holt's linear …

Body Image And Beliefs About Appearance: Maternal Influences And Resulting Constraints On Leisure Of College-Age Women, Toni Liechty

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between body image, attitudes about appearance, and levels of constrained leisure for college-age women and their mothers. It also examined how the body image concerns of young women are influenced by their mothers'. Thompson and Gray's Body-Image Assessment Scale (BIAS) was used to assess body image while Spangler's Beliefs About Appearance Scale (BAAS) was used to assess the participants' beliefs about appearance. Raymore's hierarchical leisure constraints scale was used to measure levels of leisure constraints. The sample was taken from female students at a private western American university and consisted …

The Effect Of Wearing Mouthguards On Vo2, Ventilation, And Perceived Exertion At Two Different Exercise Intensities, Jeffrey Scott Hurst

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: To assess the effects of wearing a protective mouthguard during exercise on ventilation and oxygen consumption.
Design and Setting: All participants performed a graded maximal exercise test on a cycle ergometer to determine peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak). Each participant also performed 6 submaximal exercise tests while wearing one of two facemasks (nasal or non-nasal breathing) and one of three mouthguard conditions (no mouthguard, boil and bite, custom-fit). Steady-state VO2, rate of perceived exertion (RPE), and other ventilatory values were measured at 60% and 80% of VO2max during each submaximal exercise test. All 6 submaximal exercise tests were completed within …

Effects Of A Tape Cast, Air-Stirrup, And An Air-Stirrup Applied Over A Taped Ankle On Dynamic Ankle Inversion, Justin K. Freeman

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: To compare the tape cast, and an Air-Stirrup/closed basketweave combination to the Air-Stirrup alone with respect to their effects on dynamic ankle inversion.

Design and Setting: This study used a repeated measures design with the independent variables being the exercise bout and the ankle support method (4 levels: no support, Air-Stirrup only, Air-Stirrup/closed basketweave, and tape cast). The 2 dependent variables were total inversion and maximum inversion velocity. Measurements were taken before and after an exercise bout, and all trials were conducted in the university's human performance laboratory.

Subjects: 16 subjects (11 male, 5 female, age 24.3 ± 1.8 …

Active Minimization Of Acoustic Energy Density In A Mock Tractor Cab, Benjamin Mahonri Faber

Theses and Dissertations

An active noise control (ANC) system has been applied to the problem of attenuating low-frequency tonal noise inside small enclosures. The intended target application of the system was the reduction of the engine firing frequency inside heavy equipment cabins. The ANC system was based on a version of the filtered-x LMS adaptive algorithm, modified for the minimization of acoustic energy density (ED), rather than the more traditional minimization of squared acoustic pressure (SP). Three loudspeakers produced control signals within a mock cabin composed of a steel frame with plywood sides and a Plexiglas® front. An energy density sensor, capable of …

Examination Of Adolescent Physical Activity And Overweight Levels , Maika Elizabeth Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests declines in physical activity may occur after age 12. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between adolescent physical activity, BMI, and nutrition. Adolescents, ages 12-17 (N = 223), wore pedometers for 11 consecutive days and completed a nutrition survey, the Youth Adolescent Questionnaire. Activity levels did not differ among the ages of 12-17 year old adolescents, and boys were more active than girls. There was a low, but significant relationship between BMI and physical activity levels for both boys and girls. Energy intake was not related to BMI or physical activity levels in boys …

An Exploratory Study Of The Effectiveness Of The Cpj In Defending Journalists And Press Freedom Ideals In Latin America: Transnational Advocacy In The International Sphere, Leticia A. Adams

Theses and Dissertations

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is one of many nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations that work to defend press freedom and the safety of journalists in Latin America. Based on qualitative interviews with employees at the CPJ, open surveys with journalists who have been helped by the CPJ, historical archive research, and informal participant observation, this study shows that organized domestic and international nongovernmental groups can and do make improvements on behalf of journalists and press freedom in Latin America. The CPJ's activities raise issues and place them on the agenda, and they influence discourse, policy, institutional procedures, and state behavior. …

Air Force Materiel Command: A Survey Of Performance Measures, Marcia Leonard

Theses and Dissertations

Performance measurement has long been a matter of debate in logistics. However, in the recent past, there has been a renewed emphasis as AF leaders continue to seek funding for weapon system spares despite marginal improvements in mission capability. The Chief's Logistics Review, Logistics Transformation Program, AFMC Constraints Assessment Program, the Spares Requirement Review Board, the Spares Campaign, and the Depot Maintenance Reengineering and Transformation all represent efforts to find and implement effective answers (RAND, 2003:ix). And, while there appears to be a consensus that better performance measures are needed, there is little agreement on exactly what should be measured, …

The Operational Impact Of Mobility Readiness Spares Package Configuration During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Dianna Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Utilizing the Aircraft Sustainability Model (ASM), Air Force logisticians must determine the best possible number and mix of spares and repair parts for each deployable readiness spares package, better known as a mobility readiness spares package (MRSP). By analyzing MRSP support for Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF), Air Force leadership can have a current picture of MRSP operational effectiveness and mission support capabilities. This research focused on determining the current configuration of MRSPs for OIF by selecting a representative array of MRSPs and supported weapon systems actively involved in OIF, and obtaining relevant support effectiveness measures. Measures selected for analysis were …

An Analysis Of Electromagnetic Interference (Emi) Of Ultra Wideband(Uwb) And Ieee 802.11a Wireless Local Area Network (Wlan) Employing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (Ofdm), Juan Lopez Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Military communications require the rapid deployment of mobile, high-bandwidth systems. These systems must provide anytime, anywhere capabilities with minimal interference to existing military, private, and commercial communications. Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology is being advanced as the next generation radio technology and has the potential to revolutionize indoor wireless communications. The ability of UWB to mitigate multipath fading, provide high-throughput data rates (e.g., greater than 100 Mbps), provide excellent signal penetration (e.g., through walls), and low implementation costs makes it an ideal technology for a wide range of private and public sector applications. Preliminary UWB studies conducted by The Institute for …

Investigating The Optimal Management Strategy For A Healthcare Facility Maintenance Program, Daria J. Gaillard

Theses and Dissertations

Reacting to the need to transform and the increasing pressure to outsource all non-core activities, Air Force Material Command Surgeon General discontinued its previous use of full service contracts with original equipment manufacturers and adopted a relatively new maintenance outsourcing strategy: strategic partnering with an equipment management firm. The objective of this study is to create a decision-model for selecting the optimal management strategy for a healthcare organization's facility maintenance program. This study used personal interviews with facility management personnel from MAJCOMs to collect and analyze data. This study offers a re-conceptualized framework for viewing and understanding the various maintenance …

Keys To Successful Implementation And Sustainment Of Managed Maintenance For Healthcare Facilities, Elizabeth A. Waggoner

Theses and Dissertations

Health care providers are faced with two critical issues in today's evolving marketplace: lowering operational costs and achieving more efficient, cost-effective methods to deliver high quality patient care. The rising costs of healthcare and decreasing budgets have placed additional strain on the United States Air Force Medical Service to aggressively lower its facilities' costs. With fewer funds and less personnel, the Air Force medical service is re-evaluating its current maintenance outsourcing implementation practices and reexamining how these strategies might be implemented and sustained more successfully. This research offers some of the foundational needs for designing, implementing and sustaining any type …

Decision Analysis With Value Focused Thinking As A Methodology To Assess Air Force Officer Retention Alternatives, Sang-Ho Moon

Theses and Dissertations

Many countries realize the importance of the retention of qualified military personnel, and have tried to solve this problem using various methods. Nevertheless, the effects of those methods have not been determined or proven yet. The military retention problem is closely related to each individual's separation decision from the military. The characteristics of this decision are multi-objective and highly subjective. Accordingly, the effectiveness of various methods is heavily dependant on the value set of each individual. Decision Analysis (DA) using Value Focused Thinking (VFT) can be an excellent process to deal with this decision. Also, the data can reflect the …

Dust Storm Forecasting For Al Udeid Ab, Qatar: An Empirical Analysis, Kevin S. Bartlett

Theses and Dissertations

Dust storms are extreme weather events that have strong winds laden with visibility reducing and operations limiting dust, The Central Command Air Forces (CENTAF) 28th Operational Weather Squadron (OWS) is ultimately responsible for forecasting weather in the vast, data denied region of Southwest Asia in support of daily military and humanitarian operations. As a result, the 28th OWS requests a simplified forecasting tool to help predict mesoscale dust events that affect coalition operations at Al Udeid AB, Qatar. This research satisfies the 28th OWS request through an extensive statistical analysis of observational data depicting seasonal dust events over the past …

Experimental And Computational Analysis Of Modes In A Partially Constrained Plate, Robert M. Vandawaker

Theses and Dissertations

The field of structural health monitoring (SHM) attempts to reduce labor and cost by allowing technicians to monitor selected properties of an aircraft's structure to detect impending failure. This research examines methods to detect damage to a thermal protection system (TPS) tile using representative 2024-T3 aluminum plates. Plates are subjected to modal analysis in single and joined conditions in an attempt to provide the capability of sensing damage to a tile on the surface of a vehicle while the sensors remain on the superstructure of the airframe. Jointly, the development of a means to model the system using finite element …

Vibrometric Detection Of Beam Damage Due To Inclusions, Aaron J. Reifsnyder

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force Institute of Technology, in conjunction with the Structural Health Monitoring branch of the Air Force Research Laboratory, is researching methods of determining effects of notch location and size on beam structures using modal frequency analysis. This thesis explores the ability to detect included notches of varying magnitudes and locations within the frequency domain of an isotropic cantilever beam. A series of experiments employing centerline-notched 2024 T3 and 2024 0 aluminum beams was used to determine whether natural frequency measurement in beam structures is a valid mechanism for damage detection. Each specimen was excited by a strain actuator …

A Cost Analysis Of The Military Retirement System, Kyle R. Martin

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores possible changes to the current military retirement system. The research contains a detailed explanation of the current military retirement system and its objectives; a summary of the history and past legislation affecting private sector pension plans and the military retirement system; and a discussion of major analytic studies of the military retirement system since 1969 and their impact on the current system. The costs and benefits of three alternatives to the current system are analyzed using a deterministic and stochastic analysis. These alternatives are based on benefit structure changes not explicitly reducing costs. System restructuring would change …

Software Development Outsourcing Decision Support Tool With Neural Network Learning, James D. Newberry

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force (AF) needs an evolving software tool for guiding decision makers through the complexities of software outsourcing. Previous research identified specific outsourcing strategies and linked them to goals and consequences through a variety of relationship rules. These strategies and relationship rules were inserted into a decision support tool. Since that time, more historical data and outsourcing literature has been collected thus necessitating an update to such a tool. As the number of software outsourcing projects are completed, the AF must capture the outsourcing decision experiences which guided the projects and their outcomes. In order to efficiently incorporate this …

Measuring The Risk Of Shortfalls In Air Force Capabilities, William E. Woodward

Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. Air Force seeks to measure and prioritize risk as part of its Capabilities Review and Risk Assessment (CRRA) process. The goal of the CRRA is to identify capability shortfalls, and the risks associated with those shortfalls, to influence future systems acquisition. Many fields, including engineering, medicine and finance, seek to model and measure risks. This research utilizes various risk measurement approaches to propose appropriate risk measures for a military context. Specifically, risk is modeled as a non-negative random variable of severity. Four measures are examined: simple expectation, a risk-value measure, tail conditional expectation, and distorted expectation. Risk measures …

Characterization Of Microbial Processes That Degrade Chlorinated Solvents In A Constructed Wetland Using Organic Acid And Inorganic Anion Concentration Profiles, Chad B. Bondurant

Theses and Dissertations

Chlorinated solvents have been used in industrial cleaning and degreasing processes in the United States since the early 1900s, and their induction into the environment increased significantly with the growth of industrial processes over the past century. PCE, TCE and their daughter products have been associated with a number of human health concerns and are currently the most common contaminants found in groundwater in the United States. Wetlands possess characteristics necessary for the complete degradation of chlorinated ethenes by microorganisms via anaerobic and aerobic regions that foster the necessary oxidation-reduction conditions. Organic acid and inorganic anion concentrations were evaluated in …

Making The Business Case For Sustainable Design In The Department Of Defense, David M. Warnke

Theses and Dissertations

Buildings are one of the largest consumers of natural resources, a major source of ecological pollution, and occasionally toxic to human health. Sustainable design is the common term associated with buildings which, during their construction, use, and eventual disposal, seek to minimize their negative impact on the environment and human health. The U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system helps to assess a building's sustainability level. In the Federal Government's push to set the example for the rest of the nation, nearly every Federal Agency has chosen to adopt the LEED assessment tool. Each …

Establishing A Framework For The Oversight Of Major Defense Acquisition Programs - A Historical Analysis, Diane I. K. Kuderik

Theses and Dissertations

The Department of Defense (DoD) has budgeted over $134.5 billion for Fiscal Year 2004 for Acquisition, yet little is written about the personnel responsible for managing and evaluating Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) -- those who perform Acquisition Oversight (AO). The AO process has not been studied in a disciplined manner during its 40-year history. Congress, past Administrations, and the DoD Inspector General have commissioned several studies on the AO Process. Recommendations were considered and implemented such that the process evolved to where it stands today. Over 40 years separate the first iteration with the latest version. Commission reports, countless …

Analysis And Forecasting Of Air Force Operating And Support Cost For Rotary Aircraft, Matthew E. Laubacher

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores forecasting techniques to estimate the Cost per Flying Hour (CPFH) for Air Force Helicopters. Specifically, this research evaluates three separate forecasting techniques to predict the CPFH for better estimating and budgeting by the U.S. Air Force. It starts by empirically analyzing the Operating and Support cost by CAIG categories for each helicopter. For forecasting purposes, the actual CPFH figures were compiled from FY96 to FY03 for a total of eight MAJCOMs flying the MH-53J/M, the HH-60G, or the UH-1N helicopters. The research explores the use of a 3-year moving average, the single exponential smoothing method, and Holt's …

Analysis And Forecasting Of Army Operating And Support Cost For Rotary Aircraft, John C. Hawkins

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores forecasting techniques to estimate the Cost per Flying Hour (CPFH) for Army Helicopters. Specifically, three separate forecasting techniques were evaluated to better predict the CPFH for better estimating and budgeting by the U.S. Army. For forecasting purposes, actual CPFH figures were compiled from 1995 to 2003 for all MACOMs flying the AH-64A, the CH-47D, and the UH-60A helicopters. The number of MACOMs was then reduced to the top three with regard to total CPFH expenditure. The use of a 3-year moving average, the single exponential smoothing method, and Holt's linear method were explored for each helicopter's data. …

An Analysis Of Generational Differences Among Active Duty Members, Stephanie M. Skibo

Theses and Dissertations

There seems to be a widely held belief that different generations have different attitudes toward work, organizations, and co-workers. Clearly, these observed differences have implications for managers and leaders. Actions taken by leaders might be misunderstood by junior organizational members, leading to undesirable outcomes. Considering that many generational groups are represented within the Air Force, there is a need to analyze and understand potential generational differences. With the exception of the Smola and Sutton (2002) study, little empirical research has explored the extent to which these differences actually exist and whether differences exist among Air Force members. This research explores …