Digital Commons Network^™

The Distribution Of Plants In Scoska Cave, North Yorkshire, And Their Relationship To Light Intensity, Allan Pentecost, Zhang Zhaohui

International Journal of Speleology

The flora of a small limestone cave was investigated. A total of 59 species was recorded (4 algae, 3 lichens, 47 bryophytes, 4 ferns, 1 angiosperm) making it bryologically the richest cave in Britain and one of the richest in Europe. All but nine of the species had been recorded from other European caves. Species-richness declined irregullarly from the entrance (relative irradiance with respect to open sky 12%) to 34m depth (rel. irradiance 0.004%). Bryophytes were found at 0-16m depth where relative irradiance declined to 0.2% and only algae were encountered at 34m depth. While irradiance, which declined exponentially, was …

Studies On Certain Aspects Of Behaviour In The Blind Catfish Horaglanis Krishnai Menon, T. V. Anna Mercy, N. K. Pillai, N. K. Balasubramanian

International Journal of Speleology

Horaglanis krishnai is a blind catfish inhabiting the dug-out wells at Kottayam, Kerala. This fish has great zoogeographical importance as a similar blind clariid, Uegitglanis zammaroni is found only in the artesian wells of the former Italian Somaliland. Studies on certain behavioural aspects of the fish in captive conditions showed that, this fish even though is blind, exhibited a high degree of thigmotactism. Locomotion, comfort behaviour, feeding and light sensitivity of the fish were studied under laboratory conditions. Though the fish is totally blind and histological study did not reveal the presence of any light sensitive structures, the fish is …

Deposition Of Calcium Carbonate In Karst Caves: Role Of Bacteria In Stiffe's Cave, Claudia Ercole, Paola Cacchio, Giorgio Cappuccio, Aldo Lepidi

International Journal of Speleology

Bacteria make a significant contribution to the accumulation of carbonate in severa! natural habitats where large amounts of carbonates are deposited. However, the role played by microbial communities in speleothem formation (stalactites, stalagmites etc.) in caves is still unclear. In bacteria carbonate is formed by autotrophic pathways, which deplete CO₂ from the environment, and by heterotrophic pathways, leading to active or passive precipitation. We isolated cultivable heterotrophic microbial strains, able to induce CaCO₃ precipitation in vitro, from samples taken from speleothems in the galleries of Stiffe’s cave, L’Aquila, Italy. We found a large number of bacteria in the …

Evaluation Of The Associate Logistics Executive Development Course At The United States Army Logistics Management College, Robert Jones A. Robert Jones Iii

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The Army Logistics Management College (ALMC) has the mission to provide quality training, products, and services in acquisition, logistics, resource management, decision science, management science, environmental management, and related subjects to the United States Army, Department of Defense, and to other eligible organizations. The ALMC opened in 1954 at Ft. Lee, Virginia. The college is a traditional Army school with courses that range from three days to over six months for military, civilian, and international students of all ranks.

Since its inception, ALMC has grown to use eight modes of instruction to deliver its courses. Those modes of instruction include …

Parents In Partnership With Children To Improve Student Readiness Skills, Glenda G. Miller

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

In compliance with Goal 1 of Goals 2000: Educate America Act of 1994 (U.S. Department of Education, 2001), all children should enter school with all developmental skills in place, ready to learn. In the 2000-2001 school year, educators reported that a large majority of kindergartners continued to enter school with less than the expected chronological-age-level skills, and it is their anticipation that this goal will continue to be unmet. Partially due to the lack of agreement on what readiness constitutes and the lack of availability of programs that are designed to focus on appropriate developmental programs for preschoolers, children continue …

Enhancing School Climate To Improve Teacher And Student Morale: An Ethnographic Study, Mark Register

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Through an ethnographic process, the researcher sought an enhanced school climate that would result in improved morale among teachers and students at Sacred Heart School. The opportunity provided was to take the school beyond the level of solid and move it toward the status of being regarded as a major private educational institution.

Data were obtained for this project through surveys and personal interviews of faculty members, parents, students, and alumni in the attempt to describe past and current school climate and culture accurately. School archives were researched to gain further information concerning the philosophical foundation on which this institution …

How Can Increasing Parent Involvement Improve Student Performance In Reading And Math?, Mary O. Jones

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

In 2000, parents were less likely to be involved in school than in the previous decade. Increasing parent involvement may be related to improved student performance and prevention of poor performance in students. This practicum was conducted at 1 elementary school in a small, rural school district to investigate how to increase parent involvement and how that increased involvement would affect student performance in reading and mathematics.

Teachers were surveyed about school needs and identified parent involvement as the needed area of improvement. Parents were surveyed about participation in the school, and a set of strategies was designed to involve …

Unit Sum Numbers Of Abelian Groups And Modules, Christopher Meehan

Doctoral

We discuss some open questions regarding the unit sum numbers of free modules of arbitrary infinite rank over commutative rings and, in particular, over principal ideal domains. The unit sum numbers of rational groups are then investigated: the importance of the rational prime 2 being an automorphism of the rational group is discussed and other results are achieved considering the number and distribution of rational primes which are, or are not, automorphisms of the group. We next prove the existence of rational groups with unit sum numbers greater than 2 but of finite value and we estimate an upper bound …

Relationship Of Academic Performance Of Those Students Who Utilize Peer-Tutoring And Those Who Do Not, Bonnie Higgins Bonnie Higgins

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The problem of this study was the high attrition rate in the Adult Nursing Course. Peer tutoring was a strategy implemented to decrease the attrition rate. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between academic performance and participation in a peer-tutoring program. There was one research question, "Is there a relationship between academic performance and participation in a peer-tutoring program?"

A two by two bivariate frequency distribution was constructed with the variables academic success and participation in the peer-tutoring program. The relationship between the two variables was determined through the use of the Fisher's Exact test. The …

Development Of A Diagnostic Assessment System To Improve The Motn Ation Of Admitted Students To Matriculate Into The Nursing Program At D’Youville College, Melanie S. Macneil

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Enrollment in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program at D'Youville College is below expectations. Although the decline in application rate reflects a national and international trend, the matriculation rate needs to improve. Without adequate numbers of matriculated nursing students at D 'Youville, the nursing program faces closure.

The purpose of this project was to develop a diagnostic assessment system to improve the motivation of admitted students to matriculate into the nursing program at D'Youville College. The research questions concerned information in the literature about motivation to matriculate by students in nursing programs, the specific content and design for …

Student Dress: Does Uniformity Equal Student Achievement?, Aaron G. Turpin

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This report describes a student uniform program that was implemented in a suburban Atlanta Grades 6-8 middle school. The goals of the program were to decrease the number of student disciplinary referrals, increase attendance, and increase academic achievement. Students followed the student uniform policy, or their parents chose to have them opt out of the dress code. Only 3% of parents chose the opt-out option.

This study utilized two control schools for comparison. Questionnaires assessed parent, teacher, and student perceptions on the effectiveness of school uniforms. Quantitative data were compiled on the impact uniforms had on the number of disciplinary …

Development Of A Comprehensive District-Wide Student Service Plan To Enhance Student Success At Tarrant County College, Lonzetta R. Smith-Allen

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Tarrant County College (TCC) is a comprehensive community college dedicated to the mission of providing quality education in response to the expectations of the people of Tarrant County. The institution holds student success and learning as top priorities and is dedicated to providing meaningful educational experiences in support of these priorities (Tarrant County College, 2000a).

In recent years TCC has faced many challenges, including state accrediting agency mandates, changing demographics, technological advances, community demands and increased competition, that have necessitated institutional change. The changes are affecting who is being taught as well as the services that are being required.

Similar …

Development Of A Pediatric Specialization Track In The Occupational Therapy Program At College Misericordia, Lalit J. Shah

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The problem under investigation was that there were no classes offered that culminated into a specialization track in the occupational therapy (OT) curriculum. The purpose of this applied dissertation project was to develop a specialization track in pediatrics in OT curriculum at College Misericordia that would provide students with multiple options to complete their educational requirements and also provide specialized training.

There were four research questions for this study: ''What are the advantages of a specialization in pediatrics at College Misericordia?" "What are appropriate components to be included in the development of a specialization program in pediatrics at College Misericordia?" …

Constraining The Crystallization And Post-Crystallization History Of The Wallamatogus Pluton, Maine, Using Compositional Data From Garnet, Biotite And Muscovite, Joy Kathleen Drake

Masters Theses

"The Wallamatogus Pluton, Maine, exhibits systematic variation in grain size, mineralogy, and phenocryst abundance (alkali-feldspar) from the margin to the center of the pluton. Three facies are recognized: 1) outermost, seriate, coarse-grained (Owe), 2) porphyritic medium- to fine-grained (Dwp ), 3) innermost, fine-grained equigranular (Dwf). These facies are concentrically arranged and their contacts are gradational. Muscovite and biotite occur in all facies; the outer two facies contain garnet, and tourmaline. Muscovite and biotite grains within micaceous enclaves compositionally overlap primary muscovite, suggesting that they are early-crystallized accumulations. Muscovite in multiphase clusters and secondary muscovite compositionally overlap, suggesting formation during post-crystallization …

Evaluation Of The Usage And Effectiveness Of Computer Assisted Instruction In Basic Skills Remediation At The East Los Angeles One Stop Career Center, Rex Steffey

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The problem for investigation encompassed three domains that identified the One Stop Career Center's (OSCC) remedial programs, the ability of its clients to enter federally funded job training programs, and clients' success in the programs they entered. Another facet of the study examined whether OSCC was using its current instructional software effectively in client remediation. The purpose of the project was to evaluate the use and effectiveness of computer assisted instruction (CAI) in basic skills remediation.

Four research questions guided the study. First, "Does the center's basic skills remediation program prepare clients to enter federally funded job training programs?" Second, …

The Long-Period Orbit Of The Dwarf Nova V630 Cassiopeiae, J. A. Orosz, J. R. Thorstensen, R. K. Honeycutt

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present extensive spectroscopy and photometry of the dwarf nova V630 Cassiopeiae. A late-type (K4-5) absorption spectrum is easily detectable, from which we derive the orbital parameters. We find a spectroscopic period of P=2.56387 +/- (4 times 10^{-5}) days and a semiamplitude of K_2=132.9 +/- 4.0 km/s. The resulting mass function, which is a firm lower limit on the mass of the white dwarf, is then f(M)=0.624 +/- 0.056 solar masses. The secondary star is a ``stripped giant'', and using relations between the core mass and the luminosity and the core mass and the radius we derive a lower limit …