Digital Commons Network^™

Parent Involvement In A Year One In-Class Reading Practice Program, Sheelagh Tillotson

Theses : Honours

Parents play a crucial role in their children's literacy development, and their influence on early reading attitudes is profound. Many successful programs have been developed in England, US, Australia and New Zealand to involve parents in assisting their children's reading both at home and at school, but research has also shown that there are a number of difficulties associated with instigating classroom-based programs. The purpose of this study was to investigate an existing, classroom-based reading practice program involving parents and to analyse how and whether it was successful for each participating group: that is parents, students and the teacher. The …

Software Flexibility In A Web Environment, Michael Layng

Theses : Honours

Flexible software systems are designed to be able to adapt to changes in their environment without the need for programmer intervention. This allows companies and institutions to avoid the cost of hiring a programmer every time a business rule changes or a data structure is modified. The techniques of designing and implementing flexible 3GL software systems have been proven as a means of reducing the high cost of software maintenance caused by the changing of systems requirements. Such systems have been in operation in the European finance sector since the early 1980's. Edith Cowan University is participating in current research …

Person-Job Fit In The Changing Work Environment : Models For Office Workers And Teleworkers, Sharon C. Elsley

Theses : Honours

This thesis empirically examined the theoretical domain of Person-Job Fit proposed by Edwards (1991). Two models were tested with data collected from a sample of 101 Office Workers and 101 Teleworkers categorised as professional, managerial, clerical, technical and sales. The adequacy of the two models was tested using Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis. The Person-Job Fit model found that measures of Abilities, Desires, Supplies and Demands were equally predictive of Personal and Organisational Outcomes for both groups. Commensurate measures were employed for Desires and Supplies. The h1ended Person-Job Fit model included the meaning of home (Groves, 1996b), which was hypothesised …

The Expectations And Perceptions Of Incoming Freshmen At Uni, Kristin Michael

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

As colleges and universities have become increasingly competitive in their recruitment and retention of students, they have placed greater emphasis on the quality of the freshman experience. The nature of this experience serves as the focus of this study. This paper draws upon qualitative data about the perceptions and expectations of students beginning their first year of enrollment at the University of Northern Iowa. In doing so, it examines students' expectations and perceptions regarding their (1) prospective academic workload, (2) relationships with faculty, (3) relationships with peers, and ( 4) co-curricular involvements. While this study examines only the University of …

A Tale Of Two Chickens: Exploring The Social And Economic Implications Of Our Food Choices, Laura Bainbridge

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

A century ago chicken was considered a luxury item. In fact, people would eat steak or lobster when they could not afford chicken and ladies' magazines advised on how to substitute veal for chicken in recipes (Gordon, 1996). In 1928, President Hoover promised "a chicken in every pot", but it was not until the 1960's that the poultry industry really took off. Today, there are 15 chickens in every pot; the average American consumes 71.8 pounds of broiler meat annually (Oberholtzer, 1997). Where does all of this chicken come from? Who grows the chicken we eat and how do they …

The Effects Of A Student-Centered Thinking Strategies Approach To Learning Basic Facts, Amber L. Grotjohn

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

Now the question becomes, "Can children learn basic facts even better by using a student-centered approach to helping them learn thinking strategies?" This study is an examination of a thinking strategies approach to teaching basic addition facts.

The Use Of Medication In The Management Of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder, Abigail S. Natvig

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

As Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder is a newly characterized disorder, and only beginning to be fully recognized, there are a multitude of options for its management and treatment. The purpose of this paper is to weigh the benefits and risks of medications and nonpharmacological treatments used for ADHD management.

What Makes An Entrepreneur?, David G. Blanchflower, Andrew J. Oswald

Dartmouth Scholarship

This article uses various micro data sets to study entrepreneurship. Consistent with the existence of capital constraints on potential entrepreneurs, the estimates imply that the probability of self‐employment depends positively upon whether the individual ever received an inheritance or gift. When directly questioned in interview surveys, potential entrepreneurs say that raising capital is their principal problem. Consistent with our theoretical model's predictions, the self‐employed report higher levels of job and life satisfaction than employees. Childhood psychological test scores, however, are not strongly correlated with later self‐employment.

Playing The Game: Female Graduate Students’ Communication Experiences, Jacqueline Marie Brucher

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In this thesis I examine the communication experiences of four female graduate students and the language they use to describe those experiences. Specifically, the women's use of metaphor to describe their academic environments is explored. A qualitative analysis of the linguistic choices of these women is achieved by applying Kenneth Burke's cluster analysis. I attempt to break the boundaries of rhetorical criticism by applying cluster analysis to conversation. Not only does this application open up new uses for the methodology, it also introduces additional means of analyzing various types of communication. All four women describe graduate school as "a game." …

Medication Administration In Schools, Stephanie A. Painter

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to describe current practice of medication administration to children during school attendance in a district in Michigan. Information was collected by an audit of the policy and procedure manuals and medication records to assess a number of variables. It was found that 213 doses of medications were administered in 8 schools (enrollment 6,000) on the day of the study. Most of these were administered by nurses (40.8%) and secretaries (12.2%). While 25 different medications were administered, the medication most frequently administered was methylphenidate (60%). Medications were administered orally, per inhaler, nebulizer, topically or injected. …

Psychiatric Nurses' Perceptions Of Their Social Support, Elizabeth V.L. Howell

Masters Theses

This study investigated psychiatric nurses’ perceptions of their social support while working in a public psychiatric hospital. A descriptive correlational research design using a mailed self-administered questionnaire was employed for this study. Data collection and measurement of the phenomenon of perceived social support was done using the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (Norbeck, Lindsey, & Carrieri, 1995). The sample consisted of 57 registered nurses who had been employed for at least six months.

Data analyses consisted of reporting means, standard deviations, percentages, and range of scores for perceived social support. Results indicated emotional support (affect and affirmation) rated the highest among …

Relationship Between Professional Development And Education, Christine A. Frederick

Masters Theses

Nursing is a profession. It is important for nurses to know what impacts professional development. Educational preparation plays a large role in professional development.

Data were originally collected in 1995 through a survey of nurses from one chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International. The survey was sent to 544 members to determine their scores on professional development. The current study conducted a re-analysis of that data to determine if a relationship existed between professional development and education.

This thesis was based on Leddy and Pepper’s (1993) theory of professional development modified from Eric Erikson’s eight stages of the life cycle. …

Quality Nursing Care: The Nursing Home Residents' Perspective, Brenda L. Larsen

Masters Theses

The purpose of the study was to determine what nursing home residents consider quality nursing care. The information obtained can provide nurses with knowledge about quality care perceptions in this population. Care thus could be planned and provided that would promote resident centered quality.

For this qualitative study a phenomenological approach was used. The investigator collected data via audio-taped interviews and field note observations. A grounded theory approach was used to uncover residents' perceptions of quality nursing care. The meaning was then disclosed by the process of description and thematic interpretation.

The shared experience of living in a nursing home …

Relationship Between Sensibility Loss And Performance On The Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test In Non-Surgical Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Patients, Bethany J. Navarre, Elizabeth A. Ware

Masters Theses

The assumed correlation between sensibility loss in carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and hand function has not been supported by research. The purpose of this study is to examine this relationship. Thirteen subjects with CTS, no previous hand surgeries, hypothyroidism, or diabetes participated. The Weinstein Enhanced Sensory Test was used to assess sensibility and the Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test was used to assess hand function. No correlations were found between sensibility loss and hand function. Despite a small sample, lack of correlation between sensibility loss in CTS and hand function is significant. It suggests that further research is needed.

Post-Pregnancy Functional Ability, Kari J. Dulaney, Dawn M. Hallwood, Kristen Z. Keeter

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine perceived changes in functional ability among three groups of women: women who have never been pregnant, women six to seven weeks postpartum, and women six to eight months postpartum. Secondary to the paucity of literature pertaining to physical therapy and pregnancy, the authors chose a qualitative design for this study. Thirteen Caucasian women participated in open-ended audiotaped interviews. Audiotapes were transcribed, then data was thoroughly analyzed. Responses were organized into categories and themes discovered between different categories were outlined. The major themes impacting functional ability were psychosocial and physical in nature. Although …

Modification Of The Functional Reach Test: Validity & Reliability, Jessica Chesser, Jennifer Werley, Mary Yeager

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of a modified version of the Functional Reach (PR) to more accurately predict falls in elderly women. This modified version, the Lateral Functional Reach (LFR) incorporates dynamic balance testing in the scapular plane.

Fifty female volunteers were recruited from a Senior Center in Holland, Michigan. Each subject completed the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), the FR, and the LFR tests. Prior to testing, each subject was screened for depression, cognition and gross medical history.

Validity and reliability of the LFR was determined through correlational and test-retest analysis. The correlation …

“Just A Drop In The Bucket” : An Analysis Of Child Rescue Efforts On Behalf Of Korean Children, 1951 To 1964, Sydne J. Didier

Dissertations and Theses

From 1951 to 1964, American sponsored relief and adoption agencies evacuated more than two thousand children from the nation of South Korea, adopting these children into American families and inspiring some of the most intensive discussions about international adoption yet to occur in the United States.

Intervention on behalf of Korean children began in the 19.SOs when American Gis sought to aid child victims of war, a relief effort that was carefully documented by American media outlets seeking some means of understanding the U.S. intervention in Korea. When the Korean War ended in stalemate in 1954, many were inspired by …

An Analysis Of Research Article Productivity By Telecommunication Scholars Over The Past Decade, David Atkin, Leo W. Jeffres

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

The article presents a study which assesses scholarly productivity in telecommunication-oriented journals from 1985-1995. Telecommunication can be defined as mediated communication across a distance. Sixteen journals were selected for this analysis. Most were listed among publications with the highest number of telecommunication authorship credits, according to Vincent's study. Some of the differences in journal contributions may be a function of publication frequency and size. For instance, Journal of Media Economics (3.6 percent of articles) offered two issues/year through 1990 before expanding to four issues in 1993. Journalism Quarterly publishes more articles per issue than any of the other criterion journals. …

Course Fee Assessments: Categories And Policies, Lorayne W. Lester

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article provides information on special student fees authorized by the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. These fees are assessments beyond the regular tuition costs paid by all students when departments must purchase markedly unusual, expendable materials or equipment for use by small numbers of students in certain highly specialized courses. Special fees have also been authorized for departments required to provide services, equipment, or facilities for small populations of students when such services, equipment or facilities are clearly beyond those commonly provided for the majority of students on campus. In a few instances, …

New Faculty: Starting Them Off In The Right Direction, Christopher Lynch, Teresa E. Choate

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article focuses on the problems faced by new college professors and the key to their success, which is communication: establishing a network for information, assistance and encouragement. When colleges and universities start new faculty off in the right direction, those faculty members will function better as teachers, as scholars, as committee members, and as long-term members of that academic community. Considering the financial investment a school makes in the interview process and in the hiring of new faculty, a thoroughly considered and well financed orientation program is insurance no college or university should be without.

Bahamian Coral Reefs Yield Evidence Of A Brief Sea-Level Lowstand During The Last Interglacial, Brian White, H. Allen Curran, Mark A. Wilson

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

The growth of large, bank-barrier coral reefs on the Bahamian islands of Great Inagua and San Salvador during the last interglacial was interrupted by at least one major cycle of sea regression and transgression. The fall of sea level resulted in the development of a wave-cut platform that abraded early Sangamon corals in parts of the Devil's Point reef on Great Inagua, and produced erosional breaks in the reefal sequences elsewhere in the Devil's Point reef and in theCockburnTown reef on SanSalvador. Minor red caliche and plant trace fossils formed on earlier interglacial reefal rocks during the low stand. The …

Comparison Of Recent Coral Life And Death Assemblages To Pleistocene Reef Communities: Implications For Rapid Faunal Replacement On Recent Reefs, Benjamin J. Greenstein, Lora A. Harris, H. Allen Curran

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

Marine ecologists and paleoecologists are increasingly recognizing that the Pleistocene and Holocene fossil record of coral reefs is the exclusive database from which an assessment of the long-term responses of reef communities to environmental perturbations may be obtained. The apparent persistence of coral communities in the face of intense fluctuations in sea level and sea surface temperature during glacial and interglacial stages of Pleistocene time is in marked contrast to dramatic fluctuations in reef community structure documented by short-term monitoring studies. We compared the taxonomic structure of live and dead coral communities on a modem patch reef currently undergoing a …

Annual Report 1997-1998, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants. Sec Practice Section. Public Oversight Board

AICPA Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Percutaneous Nephrostomy: A Non-Operative Management Of Urinomas: 2 Case Reports, Tanveer-Ul-Haq, I H. Rizvi, Z A. Khan, A A. Khan

Department of Radiology

No abstract provided.

Auditing Estimates And Other Soft Accounting Information, Michael J. Ramos, Linda C. Delahanty

Guides, Handbooks and Manuals

No abstract provided.

On The Idea Of Reflexive Rhetoric In Homer, Mari Lee Mifsud Jr.

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

When Henry Johnstone and I translated this passage, we wondered to what extent we could say that Odysseus persuades himself to endure. Is Odysseus involved in self-persuasion, what Johnstone has termed reflexive rhetoric, when he deliberates? Answering this question led us to explore related questions such as, does Odysseus have a "self" to which his deliberation/persuasion can be addressed? If so, how do we know that Odysseus actually persuades himself when he deliberates? If Odysseus does persuade himself, can we say he practices rhetoric on himself? Can we even talk of rhetoric in Homer? Through this essay, I wish …

Integrated Marketing Communication, Nareerat Kesaraphong

Theses

This thesis will focus on the Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) in the United States and Thailand.

The new world of IMC provides a radically different way for companies to promote themselves. Throughout marketing history companies promoted a product by advertising. Advertising stated the "reason" people should purchase the product. You advertise it heavily. Consumers buy it. Advertising was king.

Integrated Communication and integrated marketing is good to reach the same amount of consumers that had been reached in the past. The vast amount of media available, such as the World Wide Web, trade shows, television, periodicals and outdoor advertising, make …

An Evaluation Of The Competency Modeling Method Used By A Major Telecommunications Company, Sharon K. Kramer

Theses

This thesis focuses on competency model development methods and evaluating an actual competency model development method used by a consulting company on behalf of its client.

As HRD professionals get down to actually measuring human performance against the model they set forth to specify competency and its associated behaviors, they often find behavioral measurements to be subjective and relative, rather than objective and criterion-based.

The purpose of this study is to review competency model definitions and development methods, as well as the implications for using competency models to improve human performance, business results and competitive advantage.

The competency model development …

The Valuation Of Family Limited Partnership Interests, Steven J. Krekeler

Theses

The focus of this report is on using family limited partnerships to reduce wealth transfer taxes. This report will explain how valuation discounts applicable to family limited partnership interests enable wealth to be transferred which avoids gift and estate tax. Furthermore, the report will discuss why some family partnership valuation discounts are accepted by the IRS and others are rejected, including steps taxpayers and their professional advisors can take to increase their chances of success.

Senior family members throughout the U.S. have a growing interest in preserving their wealth for the next generation. Many are not aware that 55% or …

Impact Of Peer-Tutoring On Rural At-Risk Fourth And Fifth Grade Students, Catherine J. Kremer

Theses

This study was designed to assess the impact of one full semester of peer- tutoring on 30 fourth and fifth grade at-risk students in a rural Midwestern community. A paired t - test was performed on the students' Grade Point Average (G.P.A . ) before and after tutoring. Statistical analysis of t he data revealed that students who received peer tutoring experienced a statistically significant gain in academic achievement as measured by G. P .A. Research leading to this study indicated that at - risk students do benefit from same gender peer assistance in homework, reading and math skills when …