Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of The Avalon And Stone Harbor School Library Media Programs: A Case Study, Roberta A. Dean

Theses and Dissertations

This case study was an attempt to discover the circumstances that prompted the Avalon and Stone Harbor schools to establish school library media centers and how each school district developed its program. The people who were personally involved in establishing the libraries and former students who attended the schools at the time each library was established were interviewed. Questionnaires were designed to collect oral history data. Archival documents, such as school board minutes, annual reports from the Cape May County Free Library, and New Jersey Department of Education records were consulted to verify the oral history information and provide additional …

Teaching Research Skills With Electronic Reference Tools: A Study Of Curriculum Development And Articulation, Johanne Milnes

Theses and Dissertations

Elementary teachers and elementary school library media specialists are expected to prepare students to be able to complete independent research using a variety of print and electronic reference tools. The purpose of this study was to examine what programs are available in elementary schools that prepare students to do independent research. The subjects were library media specialists who taught grades three, four, five, and six in schools in New Jersey. The schools were part of the FG group of the New Jersey District Factor Grouping System. Using a self-administered questionnaire the subjects described the essentials of their library programs, responded …

Strengthening A School-Community Relations Program Through Student Involvement, Karen Warner

Theses and Dissertations

This study's main purpose was to show the logic and benefits of involving students in school-community relations. The data collection consisted of online and library searches for information about schools that include students in their public relations efforts. Award-winning newsletters from 42 school districts were also examined to determine consistent qualities that lead to excellence in communications.

The study showed that while students are directly and indirectly involved in school-community relations on a continuing, daily basis, little has been documented about structured programs or formal involvement. Research supports the effectiveness of student involvement, yet few districts make a conscious effort …

A Comparison Of Burnout Rates Between Inpatient And Outpatient Social Workers Who Serve Mentally Ill Adults, Heather N. Kelly

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to ascertain differences in burnout rates of social workers serving mentally ill adults who are employed in one of two different types of service, inpatient and outpatient. Burnout rates were assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory - Human Services Survey. This 22-item survey contains three subscales measuring: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment.

Data was collected from 19 inpatient and 28 outpatient social workers from four different agencies in southern New Jersey. One large state psychiatric institution was used to derive the inpatient social worker group and three private non-profit agencies were …

Gender Role Stereotyping In Occupational Choices, Paul Michael Rodrigo

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to see if students' occupational career choices were gender role stereotyped. The subjects making up this study were from a middle/upper class suburban area located in southern New Jersey. 192 subjects in fifth grade, 201 subjects in eighth grade, and 280 subjects in twelfth grade participated in this study. The percentage of males and females for each grade was close to a 50% split. This study was conducted using a survey, which asked the subjects what their choice for a career was at that time. Choices were compared to a listing of careers from …

Establishing Validity In The Social Sexual Awareness Scale For Adults With Developmental Disability, Pauline N. Stuempfle

Theses and Dissertations

The present study seeks to establish data supporting convergent and concurrent validity of the Social Sexual Awareness Scale by correlating SSAS score with current status regarding competency to make the decision to engage in high risk sexual behavior as agreed by the IDT. The premise is that capacity to consent to high risk sexual behavior can be measured in a way that would enhance the decision making process of the court without detracting from its authority.

Archival data relating to IQ, adaptive functioning level, guardianship status, absence or presence of a secondary psychiatric diagnosis and previous IDT decisions as to …

How To Use E-Mail Marketing To Build Customer Relationships, Joseph J. Delmar Sr.

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify popular techniques used to create successful e-mail marketing campaigns and how companies can use e-mail marketing to build customer relationships.

Related research indicated e-mail's popularity continues to grow and it is changing how companies market themselves. A content analysis of e-mail newsletters from the top 50 online advertisers was conducted. The research indicated many companies are still learning how to use e-mail marketing. Twenty-one companies failed to respond while others abused the customer relationship by sending unsolicited third party advertising and/or sponsorships with their e-mail.

Research findings also revealed that e-mail marketing …

The Effects Of Peer-Tutoring Learning Disabled Students In A Resource Center Setting On Generalization Of Skills, Patricia L. Grieves

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of peer tutoring on the comprehension of science vocabulary and terms and determine if those study skills methods taught would generalize to the studying of social studies vocabulary and terms. A cross-age peer tutoring program pairing seven seventh grade learning disabled students with seven eighth grade regular education tutors was used. Tutors worked with tutees for an eight week program tutoring in science vocabulary and terms through two study skills methods, Self-testing Techniques and Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review. Two methods were used to determine results. The first was a …

Identified Students With Anger Management Difficulties And Their Locus Of Control, David Andrew Davenport Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to consider whether students who had been identified as having anger management difficulties have a significantly higher degree of External Locus of Control when compared to a random sample of their classmates. The participants included 45 students (18 males and 27 females) from a High School in the Northeast Region of the United States, between the ages of 14 to 19 years old.

The Nowicki-Strickland Internal External Locus of Control Scale for Children was used to assess the Locus of Control orientation in the subjects. The scores from the subject group were then compared …

Gender Differences In Mathematics Anxiety And Achievement: Grades 4-8, Juliet H. Mcginley

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences in mathematics anxiety as it is related to mathematics achievement. It was expected that there would not be a gender difference in mathematics achievement, but that there would be a gender difference in math anxiety. Specifically, it was expected that females would have a higher math anxiety than males, and that this difference would magnify in the higher grades. The participants were 250 students in grades 4-8 from a Catholic elementary school in a middle-class suburb in Southern New Jersey. Prior to their mathematics midterm examination, the participants completed the …

A Reliability Of The Adolescent And Adult Self-Concept Retrospective Scale, Andrea D. Marino

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to establish test-retest reliability coefficients for the Adolescent and Adult Self-Concept Retrospective Scale (AASRS). This study utilized a one-week duration between test administrations for the test instrument. There were thirty-one college students used, ranging in age from eighteen to twenty. The AASRS is an individually administered, interview-type self-concept measure. The version of the test used in this study is designed for older populations. The Pearson product-moment correlation statistical procedure was used to calculate the correlation coefficients for this sample. The correlations for both the Global and Distortion Indexes were calculated. The correlations were found …

Increasing Self-Concept And Developmental Assets In Adolescents Using Behavioral And Psycho-Educational Interventions, Terriana Milne-Beatty

Theses and Dissertations

Adolescent high-risk behaviors such as drug and alcohol use, susceptibility to peer pressure, violence, committing crimes and academic failure are often attributed to low self-concept, resiliency, minimal personal developmental assets, and deficient life skills. Thirty teens (7 males, 23 females) ages 12-15, from diverse cultures, volunteered for 3 groups, and were given a 4-month, 12-session interactive counseling program that incorporated the creative arts, behavioral, and psycho-educational therapy for the purpose of improving teens' self-concept, assets, and life skills. Pre and Posttest measures of The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale-2 showed mean raw scores being statistically significant for improvements within the entire teen …

Development Of A World Wide Web Site For The Occupational Safety And Environment Health Program In The Industrial Technology Department At The University Of North Dakota, Zachary D. Knoop

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

N-3 Essential Fatty Acids Intake And Depressive Symptoms, Nami Matsumura

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine whether N-3 fatty acids intake would correlate with a prevalence of mental distresses. The present study consisted of a comprehensive literature review and analysis of preexisting data that were relevant to this study. Two data were primarily used in the assessment. These were the 1994 study of Media and Markets by Simmons Market Research Bureau, Inc. for food intakes, and the report of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) for the prevalence of Frequent Mental Distress. Due to incompatibility of those two studies additional data- the U.S. population estimates for regions …

Activated Carbon Injection For Mercury Control In Coal-Fired Boilers, Randy Ray Brintnell

Theses and Dissertations

Mercury is a toxic compound causing numerous health problems in humans. One of the ways that mercury is released into the atmosphere is through the burning of coal. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the United States consumes i billion tons of coal per year and coal-fired utilities emit 73 tons of mercury per year. Though there arc currently no regulations on mercury emissions, it will remain an environmental concern.

Activated carbon (AC) injection is a proposed technology for mercury control in coal-fired boilers. We are interested in determining whether the diffusion rate or the absorptive capacity of the sorbent …

The Nonpartisan League Leader's Role In The Development Of The Nonpartisan League, Kim E. Higgs

Theses and Dissertations

This study of the Nonpartisan Leagues (NPL) newspaper, Nonpartisan League Leader, examined the interaction between the social, economic, and political environment of North Dakota at the turn of the century and the founding and growth of the NPL Leader. The impact of mass media, specifically newspapers, on farming communities is a forceful tool in shaping social, economic and political processes of those communities. This impact provides a perspective that news is embedded with values, beliefs, and customs of a specific political, economic and cultural system. The evidence presented in the Letter to the Editor column provided the view that news …

Facing The Monster: Responses Of North Dakota Higher Education Leaders To The Potential Impact Of Declining Public School Enrollment On The State's University System, Jane L. Schulz

Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to examine the perceptions of leaders of higher education in North Dakota regarding declining public school enrollment and its potential impact on higher education in the state. Educational leaders from three higher education institutions of differing types and other state policymakers were interviewed to determine their responses to the phenomenon of enrollment decline, the impact foreseen on higher education, and the planning activities used or being considered for use in preparation for the possible impact.

Data were gathered from open-ended interviews and through examination of planning documents of institutions and the North Dakota University System. A …

Incorporating The Wilson Reading System Into A First Grade Reading Curriculum, Barbara Colton

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the ability of the Wilson Reading System, when incorporated into a regular education inclusion classroom curriculum, to support the reading needs of all learners, particularly special needs students. Subjects for this study were first grade students from two regular education classrooms. The experimental classroom was an inclusion setting containing two students eligible for special education and related services, and two students supported with basic skills for reading. The control classroom had one student supported in basic skills for reading. Results reveal that students in the inclusion or experimental classroom provided with supplemental …

The Effectiveness Of The Peer Mediation Program In Improving The Atmosphere In The School And Reducing Violent Acts In The School Setting, Robert Milavsky

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact mediation has in reducing violence in the school setting. Through the use of survey instrumentation, the researcher will gather feedback from disputants regarding the effectiveness of the program in resolving their problems. Along with a survey instrument, the researcher will conduct monthly mediation meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to gather information from the mediators in regards to both effective and ineffective mediations and ways to improve the total program.

Survey instruments will go out to all individuals participating in a mediation. It will be distributed approximately two weeks …

Should Triton High School Continue Its Study Hall Policies And Procedures?, Bill Westerby

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this study was to determine if Triton High School should continue its current study hall policies and procedures. Conclusions are drawn based upon data collected using action research, which included observations, interviews, and surveys. All study hall periods were observed. Students, teachers, and varying administrative levels were interviewed.

The intern concluded that Triton High School should revise its current policies and procedures regarding study hall. A strong belief that study hall should be available to a student remains, but the perceptions of students, teachers, and administrators is negative. Recommendations to improve the perceptions are to empower the …

Perceived Effectiveness Of Portfolio Assessment For Pre-First And First Grade Teachers In Pemberton Township School District, Ursula M. Csercsevits

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to discover the effects of portfolio assessment as perceived by pre-first and first grade teachers using community based action research. The outcome of this study is data that assists in evaluating the continued use of portfolio assessment as it exists, or determining the need for adjustment to the practice. The sample group consisted of forty-two pre-first and first grade teachers currently using portfolio assessment. Data collection of this action research study began with a questionnaire distributed to all members of the sample. The cycle of research continued with interviews, classroom observations and a review …

A Controlled Investigation Of Female Migraineurs' Psychological And Physiological Reactivity To Stress During Two Phases Of The Menstrual Cycle., Tricia Cook Myers

Theses and Dissertations

Empirical evidence supports the hypothesis that migraine headache activity can covary with psychological stress and often with phases of a woman's menstrual cycle. However, the specific parameters of the relationships between migraines, stress, and menstrual cycle variations are not well understood. It has been suggested that stress may interact with hormonal fluctuations associated with a woman's menstrual cycle to impact her headache activity. The present study examined the physiological and psychological reactivity of 32 female participants (17 controls, 15 migraineurs) in response to a laboratory speech stressor on two separate occasions corresponding to menses and the early luteal phase of …

Effect Of The Large Magnetostriction Of Terfenol -D On Microwave Transmission And Reflection., Phoumyphon Sourivong

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to study certain physical properties of Terfenol-D, a magnetic material which is extremely magnetostrictive. Of particular interest is the magnetoelastic behavior of Terfenol-D when interacting with the microwave radiation in the presence of a static magnetic field. A microwave transmission spectrometer was used to measure transmission and I modified the spectrometer to perform reflection measurements. Experiments were done over a small temperature interval near room temperature using static magnetic fields from 0 kOe to 13 kOe and with microwaves of frequency 16.95 GHz. The results of this study followed from observing at what magnetic …

Electric Dipole Moment Functions Of The Hydrogen Chloride ((1)H(35)Cl) And The Carbon Monoxide ((12)C(16)O) Molecules Using An Anharmonic Potential., Fumika Kiriyama

Theses and Dissertations

In the last two decades precise understanding of the structure of hydrogen chloride (1H35Cl) and carbon monoxide ( 12C16O) molecules has become important in many fields such as astrophysics, meteorology, physical chemistry, and environmental science. In this dissertation the electric dipole moment functions of HCl and CO in the ground electronic state are calculated. The transition frequencies of the vibration-rotation lines in the lowest four bands of CO and the lowest seven bands of HCl were measured by various investigators. From these frequencies potential constants of these two diatomic molecules were determined by solving the time-independent Schrödinger wave equation using …

Children With Special Health Care Needs: An Assessment Of Progress Toward Improved Health And Well Being, Tamara Gallup-Millner

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

How The News Media Tell The Story Of The Yanomami: A Qualitative Study Of Narrative Coherence And The Ideal Audience, Tania H. Cantrell

Theses and Dissertations

The news media link anthropological discovery and the communications discipline. In this study, press stories about the Yanomami Indians of northern Brazil and neighboring Venezuela have been studied and narratively analyzed according to Narrative Paradigm Theory. While not an audience study, plausible interpretations of ideal audience member values and insights into the question of human identity are presented. It is argued that the media are storytellers who tell the audience about itself by telling it about others recursively.

Press coverage of the Yanomami is divided into eight general categories. These include the environment, effects of "civilization," warfare/violence, massacre, gold miners, …

Extracting Mission Semantics From Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Telemetry And Flight Plans, Walter T. Berridge

Theses and Dissertations

With the acceptance of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as a primary platform within the Department of Defense (DOD) for gathering intelligence data, the amount of video information being recorded, analyzed, and archived continues to grow. Mechanisms for quickly locating and retrieving video segments of interest amongst the many hours of recorded video are required to accommodate the rapid turnaround expected in today's wartime planning environments. This research demonstrates that text-based data accompanying UAV video yields sufficient information to identify and create data items that can be indexed to provide for rapid identification and retrieval of video segments of interest. Four …

Investigation Of Laser Beam Combining And Cleanup Via Seeded Stimulated Brillouin Scattering In Multimode Optical Fibers, Bryan J. Choi

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis research was to determine if stimulated Brillouin scattering amplification in multimode optical fibers would exhibit the same laser beam combining and clean-up properties exhibited by SBS oscillation, and to characterize the Brillouin amplification process in a multimode optical fiber. Beam combining in multimode fibers via SBS is being considered as a method of combining low power laser beams into a single beam having higher power and superior spatial coherence for applications such as electro-optic countermeasures. Experimental results demonstrate seeding a 9.5 mm fiber significantly reduced the pump power required to initiate SBS. An amplified Stokes …

Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics For The Compensation Of Amplitude And Phase Distortions, Peter N. Crabtree

Theses and Dissertations

Two deformable mirrors (DMs) with finite conjugate ranges are investigated for compensating amplitude and phase distortions due to laser propagation through turbulent atmospheres. Simulations are performed based on Adaptive Optics (AO) for an Airborne Laser-type scenario. The Strehl ratio, the number of branch points in DM controls, and the number of iterations to convergence are used as figures of merit to evaluate performance of the Sequential Generalized Projection Algorithm that generates mirror commands. The results are ensemble averages over 32 realizations of the scintillated test fields for each value of the Rytov parameter within the test scenario. The Gaussian beam …

An Incentive Model For International Telecommunications, Jeffrey R. Del Vecchio

Theses and Dissertations

This study developed a new defensive model for global voice communications. It uses a n-person, zero-sum, cooperative and non-cooperative game to optimize the coalitions revenue after the possibility of a network service provider being tampered by an adversary. This research optimized two measures of effectiveness (coalition revenue and network provider revenue) of international telecommunications coalitions by hardening network service providers and improving their respective revenue with incentives. A multi-criteria optimization problem was developed to establish the strategic competition between the coalition defender and attacker. Irrespective of the amount of incentives, a applicable hardening and tampering strategy can be obtained. All …