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A Multimetric Benthic Index For Georgia's Wadeable Streams, Amanda Lynn Middleton Jun 2006

A Multimetric Benthic Index For Georgia's Wadeable Streams, Amanda Lynn Middleton

Theses and Dissertations

Using an ecoregional approach, multimetric indices were developed to describe stream condition in each geographically distinct region of Georgia. Collected from predetermined reference and impaired condition streams, macroinvertebrate data were used to develop multimetric indices. Multimetric indices identified a range of stream conditions, as well as, the overall health of aquatic ecosystems. Based on multimetric indices, the Multimetric Rating System grouped streams according to overall stream condition. The Multimetric Rating System used multiple indices to describe various facets of stream condition. Therefore, it may be concluded that the Multimetric Rating System is a robust water management tool that may be …

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Molecular Characterization Of Wetland Soil Bacterial Community In Constructed Mesocosms, Ethan C. Bishop Jun 2006

Molecular Characterization Of Wetland Soil Bacterial Community In Constructed Mesocosms, Ethan C. Bishop

Theses and Dissertations

The use of wetlands to effectively remediate aquifers contaminated with chlorinated solvents is an emerging technique, which shows high promise. In order to better understand this process and test its legitimacy, a treatment wetland was constructed at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio and, in a joint effort with Wright State University (WSU), has previously shown the effective removal of PCE. The purpose of this research was to characterize the soil bacterial community, pre-PCE injection, among three wetland plant species from the sedge family (Cyperaceae) within constructed wetland mesocosms and to identify any bacterial dominance. Carex comosa, Scirpus atrovirens, and Eleocharis erythropoda …

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Afit Uav Swarm Mission Planning And Simulation System, James N. Slear Jun 2006

Afit Uav Swarm Mission Planning And Simulation System, James N. Slear

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to design and implement a comprehensive mission planning system for swarms of autonomous aerial vehicles. The system integrates several problem domains including path planning, vehicle routing, and swarm behavior. The developed system consists of a parallel, multi-objective evolutionary algorithm-based path planner, a genetic algorithm-based vehicle router, and a parallel UAV swarm simulator. Each of the system's three primary components are developed on AFIT's Beowulf parallel computer clusters. Novel aspects of this research include: integrating terrain following technology into a swarm model as a means of detection avoidance, combining practical problems of path planning and …

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Forecasting Mental Health Care Cost For Oif And Oef Veterans, Phil Andrew L. Bernal Jun 2006

Forecasting Mental Health Care Cost For Oif And Oef Veterans, Phil Andrew L. Bernal

Theses and Dissertations

The war in Iraq has been the longest sustained ground combat that the US military has engaged since the Vietnam War. With the ongoing battle against the global war on terrorism, many military personnel will be deployed to hostile areas in support of these operations. The effects of multiple deployment and combat engagement on the mental health of military personnel have been extensively studied. The impacts of mental illnesses, such as PTSD, are tied to longer period in the combat zone. Meeting the psychiatric needs of these veterans will be costly: rehabilitation, retraining, post combat counseling, long-term medical treatment, and …

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Internalized Shame As A Moderating Variable For Inhibited Sexual Difficulties In Adult Women Resulting From Childhood Sexual Abuse, Kristine Robinson May 2006

Internalized Shame As A Moderating Variable For Inhibited Sexual Difficulties In Adult Women Resulting From Childhood Sexual Abuse, Kristine Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

An adult female sample of childhood sexual abuse survivors (N=467) were surveyed to determine whether internalized shame moderated the effects of sexual inhibited difficulties. Other variables such as severity, duration, and frequency of sexual abuse, as well as whether physical abuse was also part of their experience, were examined to determine their role in later sexual inhibition. It was predicted that there would be a significant positive relationship between 1) Scores on variables of physical abuse, severity of abuse, frequency of abuse, duration of abuse, identity of the perpetrator and scores on the variable of inhibited sexual difficulties; 2) Scores …

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The Efficacy Of Cbt In Treating Co-Morbid Anxiety And Depression In An Adolescent Client, Ryan J. Fischer May 2006

The Efficacy Of Cbt In Treating Co-Morbid Anxiety And Depression In An Adolescent Client, Ryan J. Fischer

Theses and Dissertations

The goals of this exploratory investigation were to, (a) determine the efficacy of CBT in treating an adolescent client (n = 1) with co-morbid anxiety and depression, and (b) to examine whether or not the treatment of the anxiety disorder had an impact on the co-morbid depressive disorder. The investigation implemented quantitative measures such as the OQ-45.2, Y-OQ 2.0 and the WAI to evaluate the client's symptom impairment and the strength of the therapeutic alliance throughout treatment. The data indicated that the client's anxiety decreased over the course of treatment. In addition, the data indicated that the client's depressive symptoms …

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Factors To Consider When Evaluating Horizontal Rotor Aerator Performance, Gregory Allen Brown May 2006

Factors To Consider When Evaluating Horizontal Rotor Aerator Performance, Gregory Allen Brown

Theses and Dissertations

When evaluating the performance of horizontal rotor mechanical surface aeration equipment in accordance with the ASCE Standard for Measurement of Oxygen Transfer in Clean Water, several factors should be considered with regard to their impact on the reported performance. These include basin geometry and testing volume, source water quality, dissolved oxygen measurement location, and external environmental factors including air temperature and humidity. Each of these factors may influence the reported performance of mechanical surface aeration equipment, specifically horizontal rotor aeration devices, resulting in an inaccurate estimation of the true equipment performance that should be expected in practical applications.

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A Study Of Genetic Representation Schemes For Scheduling Soft Real-Time Systems, Amit Bugde May 2006

A Study Of Genetic Representation Schemes For Scheduling Soft Real-Time Systems, Amit Bugde

Theses and Dissertations

This research presents a hybrid algorithm that combines List Scheduling (LS) with a Genetic Algorithm (GA) for constructing non-preemptive schedules for soft real-time parallel applications represented as directed acyclic graphs (DAGs). The execution time requirements of the applications' tasks are assumed to be stochastic and are represented as probability distribution functions. The performance in terms of schedule lengths for three different genetic representation schemes are evaluated and compared for a number of different DAGs. The approaches presented in this research produce shorter schedules than HLFET, a popular LS approach for all of the sample problems. Of the three genetic representation …

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A Landscape Preference Study Of Campus Open Space, Ying Zhang May 2006

A Landscape Preference Study Of Campus Open Space, Ying Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

The current study is an empirical study of preference for campus open space around the drill field on Mississippi State University (MSU) campus. 83 students at Mississippi State University were selected as research objects. Based on the literature review, a research process was designed to employ VEP, content analysis and multivariate analysis---Biplot to explore the interested research problems. The study identified two most preferred landscape scene types - "Legibility" and "Coherence" using Kaplan?s "information processing model". A statistical analysis tool for multivariate analysis-Biplot was used to reveal the landscape preference patterns for campus open space as well as how certain …

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Elucidation Of Key Interactions Between In Situ Chemical Oxidation Reagents And Soil Systems, John Michael Harden May 2006

Elucidation Of Key Interactions Between In Situ Chemical Oxidation Reagents And Soil Systems, John Michael Harden

Theses and Dissertations

Many soil and aquifer systems in the United States have been subjected to chemical contamination from past industrial and military activities. While many remediation technologies are currently being applied, in situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) is one option that is often favored because of its potential for fast remediation times and high user control. This technology involves the direct injection of chemical oxidizers (e.g. hydrogen peroxide, ozone, or permanganate) into targeted contaminant zones within the subsurface, and it has been proven to be amenable to both BTEX compounds and other volatile organic compounds such as chlorinated solvents. This study had several …

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Conservation Of Waste Rice And Estimates Of Moist-Soil Seed Abundance For Wintering Waterfowl In The Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Jennifer Kross May 2006

Conservation Of Waste Rice And Estimates Of Moist-Soil Seed Abundance For Wintering Waterfowl In The Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Jennifer Kross

Theses and Dissertations

Waste rice in harvested fields and natural seeds in moist-soil wetlands are important foods for waterfowl in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV). Waste rice declines significantly between harvest and late autumn. I conducted experiments in 19 rice fields in Arkansas and Mississippi during autumns 2003 and 2004 to evaluate the ability of common post-harvest practices to conserve waste rice between harvest and late autumn. Greatest mean abundance of waste rice in late autumn occurred in standing stubble (x&95 = 105 kg/ha; CL = 72.84, 150.16 kg/ha) followed by burned (x&95 = 72 kg/ha; 49.57, 105.81 kg/ha), mowed (x&95 = 67 …

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Dissolution Caves Of Mississippi, Christopher Michael Moore May 2006

Dissolution Caves Of Mississippi, Christopher Michael Moore

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to distinguish between the karst and pseudokarst caves throughout Mississippi, create an inventory and survey of representative caves and karst features, identify the geology of the rocks hosting the caves, and produce a GIS-based digital karst map. The State of Mississippi is not known for its karst features, yet there are three distinct limestone units that contain dissolution caves: 1) Paleozoic (Mississippian) Tuscumbia Formation limestone; 2) Mesozoic carbonate units; and 3) Cenozoic limestone, Marianna Formation. There are a total of 44 caves known within the state based on past documentation, however the caves listed …

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Diversity In Action: Protesting Abortion In Mississippi, Jonelle Henry Husain May 2006

Diversity In Action: Protesting Abortion In Mississippi, Jonelle Henry Husain

Theses and Dissertations

Abortion remains a controversial contemporary social issue, spawning disparate and strongly held opinions among the American public. Pro-life activists play a central role in opposing abortion, mobilizing a disinterested public to public activism, and collectively working to restrict abortion access. This study focused on pro-life activism in Mississippi, the state with the most restrictive laws governing abortion, abortion clinics, and abortion doctors. Contrary to previous studies and media portrayals that homogenize pro-life activists and public pro-life activism, I find that diversity, rather than consensus, characterizes Mississippi pro-life activists who engage in public activism and direct action to stop abortion. Specifically, …

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Defining An Alternative Typology For Early Holocene Projectile Points From The Hester Site (22mo569), Northeast Mississippi: A Systematic Approach, Agnes Burris May 2006

Defining An Alternative Typology For Early Holocene Projectile Points From The Hester Site (22mo569), Northeast Mississippi: A Systematic Approach, Agnes Burris

Theses and Dissertations

There is a universally recognized need for a more refined chronological understanding of the Early Holocene in the Southeast. The Paleoindian/Early Archaic period deposits at the Hester site provide an opportunity to refine the local chronology for northeast Mississippi. Three-dimensional spatial analysis of these deposits revealed the presence of at least four distinct occupations. Attribute-level morphological analysis of projectile points excavated from these occupations indicated that base width, shoulder width, and basal indentation ratio, changed significantly through time. A paradigmatic classification system employing these attributes was used to classify the projectile points from Hester. These classes were successfully seriated indicating …

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Case Studies Of Women In Academia: Challenges, Accomplishments, And Attributions To Success, Anna Tiffany Tindall May 2006

Case Studies Of Women In Academia: Challenges, Accomplishments, And Attributions To Success, Anna Tiffany Tindall

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors in the life histories of women in academia in science and engineering that they perceive to have influenced their success and how these factors have influenced their success. Three broad areas were addressed: challenges, accomplishments, and attributions to success. This study employed a multiple-case design, and purposive sampling was used to select the participants in this study. Each of the seven participants held a Ph.D. and was employed at a doctoral-degree granting institution in a science or engineering field. Four major themes emerged from the data with respect to challenges …

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Are Mississippi Students Achieving At A Higher Rate As A Result Of National Board Certified Teachers?, Jeanne Williams Holland May 2006

Are Mississippi Students Achieving At A Higher Rate As A Result Of National Board Certified Teachers?, Jeanne Williams Holland

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a statistically significant difference between the MCT scores (reading, math, and language arts) of two groups of students (those taught by a NBCT and those who were not), and if there was a difference, how those differences can be explained based on selected teacher demographic data (endorsement area of certification, sex, age, race, highest degree received, years of experience, and National Board Certification status). Teachers? National Board Certification (NBC) status and age were identified as variables that contribute to the difference in the reading, language arts, and math Mississippi …

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Survival, Habitat Use, And Nest-Site Characteristics Of Wild Turkeys In Central Mississippi, Brad Douglas Holder May 2006

Survival, Habitat Use, And Nest-Site Characteristics Of Wild Turkeys In Central Mississippi, Brad Douglas Holder

Theses and Dissertations

Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) survival, habitat use, and nest-site characteristics were studied on Malmaison Wildlife Management Area, Mississippi, 2003-2004. Survival rates were 0.55, 0.0004, 0.26, and 0.30 for jakes, adult gobblers, juvenile hens, and adult hens, respectively for the entire study. Spring survival for all groups was 0.51 (95% CI 0.36, 0.65) and was least among seasons. Predation (65%) and harvest (21%) were major causes of mortality. Brood hens used bottomland hardwood stands, pine plantations, and old fields more than expected during the post-nesting period. Non-brood hens used bottomland hardwood stands more than expected during the pre- and post-nesting periods. …

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Red-Tailed Hawk Home Range, Habitat Use, And Activity Patterns In North-Central Puerto Rico, Ivan C. Llerandi-Roman May 2006

Red-Tailed Hawk Home Range, Habitat Use, And Activity Patterns In North-Central Puerto Rico, Ivan C. Llerandi-Roman

Theses and Dissertations

I determined abundance, movement and activity patterns of the Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis jamaicensis, RTHA) in Río Abajo Forest, Puerto Rico and surrounding lands during 2003-2004. Captive-reared Puerto Rican Parrots (Amazona vittata, PRPA) are scheduled for release in Rio Abajo Forest in 2006. Annual density of RTHAs (0.90 RTHAs/km2) was similar to the Caribbean National Forest (CNF; 1.29 RTHAs/ km2). RTHAs annual survival was high (0.89), and birds maintained compressed territories around the Rio Abajo Forest. Home ranges were 91% smaller than estimates reported for CNF, yet similar to those in North America. Approximately 98.3% of RTHA locations occurred outside …

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Identification, Characterization And Anti-Fungal Activities Of Silk Proteins In Aspergillus Flavus Resistant And Susceptible Maize Inbreds, Bela Peethambaran May 2006

Identification, Characterization And Anti-Fungal Activities Of Silk Proteins In Aspergillus Flavus Resistant And Susceptible Maize Inbreds, Bela Peethambaran

Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to understand the mechanism of maize inbreds resistance to A. flavus by exploring the proteins that are differentially regulated in presence of pathogen. Silk has been hypothesized as one of the entry routes of fungal growth and so the proteome of silks was investigated by 1) performing a comparative proteomic study to identify silk proteins that are abundant in resistant maize inbreds and down-regulated or absent in susceptible inbreds, 2) identifying the up-regulated proteins in maize resistant and susceptible inbreds when challenged by A. flavus 3) by mapping the proteome of silk proteins in a A. flavus …

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An Empirical Investigation Of The Influence Of Fear Appeals On Attitudes And Behavioral Intentions Associated With Recommended Individual Computer Security Actions, Allen C. Johnston May 2006

An Empirical Investigation Of The Influence Of Fear Appeals On Attitudes And Behavioral Intentions Associated With Recommended Individual Computer Security Actions, Allen C. Johnston

Theses and Dissertations

Through persuasive communication, IT executives strive to align the actions of end users with the desired security posture of management and of the firm. In many cases, the element of fear is incorporated within these communications. However, within the context of computer security and information assurance, it is not yet clear how these fear-inducing arguments, known as fear appeals, will ultimately impact the actions of end users. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of fear appeals on the compliance of end users with recommendations to enact specific individual computer security actions toward the amelioration of threats. …

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The Caves, Karst, And Geology Of Abaco Island, Bahamas, Lindsay N. Walker May 2006

The Caves, Karst, And Geology Of Abaco Island, Bahamas, Lindsay N. Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Abaco Island is located on Little Bahama Bank at the northwestern extent of the Bahamian Archipelago. Karst features on Abaco include: flank margin caves, karren, blue holes, pit caves, banana holes, and cone karst. As part of this study all known flank margin caves on Abaco were GPS located and surveyed. The presence and locations of the other karst features were recorded as part of the karst inventory of Abaco. The cone karst is of particular interest because cone karst has not been documented on other Bahamian islands. These cones form from the dissection of an eolianite ridge due to …

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The Experiences Of A Rural Mississippi Mathematics Teacher: A Case Study, John Hamilton Lamb May 2006

The Experiences Of A Rural Mississippi Mathematics Teacher: A Case Study, John Hamilton Lamb

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates my experiences as a rural Mississippi secondary mathematics teacher. The culture surrounding accountability testing and rural education as well as student perceptions of my mathematics instruction and classroom management were investigated. With recent educational legislation such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, teachers and students are experiencing education differently than teachers and students of the past. Through this basic interpretive case study, I sought to increase the limited research surrounding student perceptions of rural mathematics instruction and accountability testing and to provide a descriptive image of teaching in this rural school. The students, administrators, …

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The Relationship Between Counseling Supervisee Attachment Orientation And Supervision Working Alliance Rapport, Edina Lynn Renfro-Michel May 2006

The Relationship Between Counseling Supervisee Attachment Orientation And Supervision Working Alliance Rapport, Edina Lynn Renfro-Michel

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between supervisee attachment orientation, rapport of the supervision working alliance over time, the change of supervisee attachment orientation, and the perceived impact of supervision on the lives of the supervisees. Participants were 117 master?s level counseling student at the entry (34), practicum (45), and internship (38) levels, counseling clients with supervision. This study used the Relationship Questionnaire and the Rapport score from the Supervision Working Alliance Inventory. Data was collected via e-mail at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester. Data was examined using Two-Way Factorial ANOVAs, Bowker Tests, and Chi-Square Tests. There were …

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Water Quality, Modeling, And Land Use Investigations In The Upper Pearl River Basin Of East-Central Mississippi, Mary Love Mortimer Tagert May 2006

Water Quality, Modeling, And Land Use Investigations In The Upper Pearl River Basin Of East-Central Mississippi, Mary Love Mortimer Tagert

Theses and Dissertations

Little historical water quality data is available for the Upper Pearl River Basin (UPRB), yet there are UPRB waters listed as impaired. Objectives of this research were to measure pesticide and sediment concentrations in UPRB surface waters and validate the Annualized Agricultural Nonpoint-Source (AnnAGNPS) runoff model with the measured data for a portion of the UPRB. An additional objective was to quantify effects of land use changes on UPRB surface waters from 1987 to 2002 using AnnAGNPS. Of the fifteen compounds analyzed, hexazinone was most frequently detected, in 94% of samples, followed by metolachlor, tebuthiuron, and atrazine. Metribuzin was detected …

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The Effects Of Psychological Birth Order On Goldberg's "Big 5" Personality Traits, Carol S. Kiedaisch May 2006

The Effects Of Psychological Birth Order On Goldberg's "Big 5" Personality Traits, Carol S. Kiedaisch

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore whether or not birth order had any influence on personality traits. Based on the theories of Alfred Adler, that position in the family effects our perceptions and roles within the family, we surveyed seventy-two undergraduate students at Rowan University using two questionnaires. The first questionnaire was the Campbell-White PBOI which looks at the relationship between birth order and psychological birth order. The results of the questionnaire, using Pearson Chi Square, showed no significance between birth order and psychological birth order. The second questionnaire looked at birth order and the five personality traits …

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Effects Of Implementing Kinesthetic Activities In The Classroom, Amanda R. Coppola May 2006

Effects Of Implementing Kinesthetic Activities In The Classroom, Amanda R. Coppola

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects kinesthetic lessons could have on academic achievement as well as learner attitudes. Subjects included 72 fifth grade science students from a suburban elementary school in Southern New Jersey. There were two control groups and two experimental groups. Throughout the three-week study, the experimental groups were presented with kinesthetic lessons, visual instruction and auditory instruction. The control groups received only visual and auditory instruction. Students completed one quiz and one test during the study, along with two Likert-type attitudinal questionnaires, which were completed both before and after the study. Independent samples …

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The Effects Of Learning Goals On Self-Concept And Intrinsic Motivation In The Learning Disabled Student: A Case Study, Lindsay S. Reed May 2006

The Effects Of Learning Goals On Self-Concept And Intrinsic Motivation In The Learning Disabled Student: A Case Study, Lindsay S. Reed

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to increase levels of self-concept and intrinsic motivation in a 9th grade student with a specific learning disability in mathematics through the use of weekly learning goals and the introduction of problem-solving strategies. Over the course of the six week study, the student experienced a significant rise in overall self-concept and intrinsic motivation as indicated by the results of two, One-Way ANOVA's from two self-report scales completed by the student. Implications for generalization of this study's results should include sample size, degree of learning disability, and administration of intervention techniques.

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Gender Role Development In Early Versus Late Adolescence, Andrea Buchma May 2006

Gender Role Development In Early Versus Late Adolescence, Andrea Buchma

Theses and Dissertations

Gender roles have been a subject that has been explored through the years. Previous research looked mainly on gender roles and childhood. In the present research, a different outlook of gender roles in adolescence was investigated. This research looked at a sample of 126 middle school and high school students. The students were each given a survey comprised of the Bem Sex Role Inventory and a simple gender recognition test. Test scores were compared with the variables of sex and age (early or late adolescent) through univariate analyses of variance, or ANOVA. The research found an association between gender recognition …

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Early Intervention And Applied Behavior Analysis: A Case Study, Kathleen I. Westcott May 2006

Early Intervention And Applied Behavior Analysis: A Case Study, Kathleen I. Westcott

Theses and Dissertations

This is a case study that examines the effectiveness of early intervention and applied behavior analysis. The subject was a two year old male diagnosed with Autism. The subject received applied behavior analysis in his home for a period of two months at a rate of four hours per week. The goal of this study was determine whether or not early intervention and applied behavior analysis increase the cognitive and behavioral functioning of the subject. The effectiveness was measured by the subject's ability to complete three goals set by the family and the early intervention program at Rowan University. The …

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Piloting The Implementation And Assessment Of A New First Year Experience At Rowan University, Stephen A. Bonora May 2006

Piloting The Implementation And Assessment Of A New First Year Experience At Rowan University, Stephen A. Bonora

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of freshmen residents of Evergreen Hall at Rowan University during the 2005/2006 school year. The purpose of the FYI program in Evergreen Hall was to increase student retention. Half of the residents in Evergreen Hall were full participants (FP) in the program, meaning that they had a connected experience where their orientation leader for the summer before the freshmen year was also the RA the student had in the fall semester. The other half involved were non-full participants (NFP) the students had a different orientation leader and RA. This study …

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