Digital Commons Network^™

Finite-Horizon Operations Planning For A Lean Supply Chain System, Ahmad Diponegoro

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation studies an operational policy for a lean supply chain system consisting of a manufacturer, multiple suppliers and multiple buyers. The manufacturer procures raw materials from the suppliers and converts them into finished products, which are then shipped in batches to the buyers at certain intervals of times. Three distinct but inseparable problems are addressed: single supplier and single buyer with fixed delivery size (FD), multiple suppliers and multiple buyers with individual delivery schedule (MD), and time dependent delivery quantity with trend demand (TD). The mathematical formulations of these supply systems are categorized as mixed-integer, nonlinear programming problems (MINLAP) …

Toward A Global Microscopic Theory For Nuclear Structure: Mean Field Plus Random Phase Approximation Vs. Shell Model, Ionel Stetcu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Our understanding of nuclear structure is built upon mean-field theories such as Hartree-Fock and time-dependent Hartree-Fock. The small-amplitude limit of the latter is the random phase approximation (RPA), which is widely used to model giant resonances in nuclei. Despite this popularity, RPA has been mostly validated against toy models; tests against complex models are scarce in the literature. We perform a thorough test of the RPA against full 0hw shell model (SM) calculations, including in our investigation binding energies, scalar ground-state observables, for which we develop a new method, and transition strengths. We allow deformed Hartree-Fock solutions and compare results …

Boys' Perceptions And Experiences Of Their Placement In A Secondary School Remedial Program : An Examination Of Self-Esteem, Attitude, Motivation And Reading Achievement, Angela Milmoe

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Remedial EngIish education has long focused on the development of students reading and writing skills, but research suggests that greater emphasis may need to be placed on affective factors such as self-esteem, motivation, attitude and perception. The influence of such 'non-cognitive' factors on any adolescent student's literacy development is often underestimated. For students experiencing difficulties in literacy, the interaction between perceived ability of degree of success in literacy and the affective factors often impact negatively on self-esteem, attitude and motivation. The relationship between self-esteem, attitude, perception, motivation and literacy needs to be explored, especially when dealing with students with literacy …

Developing A Catalogue Of Errors And Evaluating Its Impact On Software Development, Indrit Troshani

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The development of quality software is of paramount importance, yet this has been and continues to be an elusive goal for software engineers. Delivered software often fails due to errors that are injected during its development. Correcting these errors early in the development or preventing them altogether can, therefore, be considered as one way to improve software quality. In this thesis, the development of a Catalogue of Errors is described. Field studies with senior software engineering students are used to confirm that developers using the Catalogue of Errors commit fewer errors in their development artifacts. The impact of the Catalogue …

Database Development And Intranet Based Image Included Database Management System For Ballistic Firearm Identification System, Toni C. Jiao

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The process of imaging, collecting and searching a cartridge case to identifying its suspected firearm is a time consuming procedure. Within this study, a cartridge case identification database management system in an Intranet environment is designed and implemented, thus enabling firearm examiners from different forensic laboratories to engage firearm identification without the constraints of time and location. Specifically, the study investigates appropriate database management system for image involved and Intranet secured ballistics firearm identification database. The results demonstrated that a computerized firearm identification system could be implemented in Intranet with a secure, scalable, performable Intranet database management system.

Geostatistical Optimisation Of Sampling And Estimation In A Nickel Laterite Deposit, Mark P. Murphy

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Nickel and cobalt are key additives to metal alloys in modem industry. The largest worldwide nickel-cobalt resources occur in nickel laterite deposits that have formed during the chemical weathering of ultramafic rocks at the Earth's surface. At the Murrin Murrin mine in Western Australia, the nickel laterite deposits occur as laterally extensive, undulating blankets of mineralisation with strong vertical anisotropy, near normal nickel distributions, and positively skewed cobalt distributions. The mineral resources in nickel laterite deposits in Murrin Murrin are usually estimated from drilling and sampling on relatively wide-spaced drill patterns that are supported by local clusters of close-spaced sampling. …

Development, Implementation And Evaluation Of An Interactive Multimedia Instructional Model : A Teaching And Learning Programming Approach, Kacha Chansilp

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study sought to explore the outcomes from the use of a dynamic interactive visualisation tool among novice programmers in an introductory computer programming course. The proposed model, Dynamic Interactive Visualisation Tool in Teaching C (DIVTIC), was designed to use multimedia and visual imagery to provide learners with a step-by-step representation of program execution in the C language as a means of enhancing their understanding of programming structures and concepts. DIVTIC was designed to support constructivist learning principles and combined collaborative and visualisation learning strategies with use of the Internet and the World Wide Web to support the learning of …

Children's Attitudes To A Hospital Familiarisation Programme, Lis Mathiasen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Many young children are admitted to the emergency departments of our childrens hospitals without the opportunity to receive any preparation in terms of what to expect and what to do or not to do (Health Department of W A, 2000). Surrounded by strange people, environment, smells, sounds and medical equipment, and confronted with possibly painful and invasive procedures, many young children become stressed and anxious. Negative psychological effects may have immediate and/or long lasting psychological consequences (Zuckerberg, 1994; 0 Byrne, Peterson & Saldana, 1997). It is important to protect young childrens rights and to minimise upset and trauma whenever possible. …

Reading Comprehension, And Attitude And Behaviour, Of Students Taught Esl By Cooperative Learning In Prathom (Grade)6 Classrooms In Thailand, Sutaporn Chayarathee

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

A system-wide educational change has been implemented in primary, secondary and tertiary education in Thailand. One major aspect of the change was the requirement for all students from grade I onwards to study English as a second language (ESL). The change requires new methods of teaching and learning, such as cooperative learning, to be introduced in Thai ESL classrooms. This study aims to determine if cooperative learning improves English reading comprehension, and attitude and behaviour to learning ESL, compared to a Thai communicative methodology. The study was conducted in three phases. Phase 1 involved creating a linear scale of English …

Fall Risk Assessment : A Prospective Investigation Of Nurses' Clinical Judgement And Risk Assessment Tools In Predicting Patient Falls In An Acute Care Setting, Helen Myers

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Falls are a significant problem in acute care, hospital settings, and can have serious consequences, especially for older patients. Fall prevention has therefore been recognised as an important area for research and intervention. In order to target interventions and use resources effectively, a major strategy of many fall prevention programmes has been the development and/or use of risk assessment tools to identify patients who are at high risk of falling. Although many tools have been developed, few have been rigorously tested, and there is currently no evidence to support the clinical utility of fall risk assessment tools. There is a …

Caves And Karsts Of Northeast Africa, William R. Halliday

International Journal of Speleology

At least potentially karstifiable rocks cover much of the surface of Egypt and northern Libya. Study of caves and other karstic features of this region has been hampered by lack of roads, rapid disintegration of the surface of friable, poorly consolidated limestone, wind-blown sand and other factors. Interbedding with marly aquicludes hampers speleogenesis locally. Calcareous and evaporite karsts are present, however, and their waters are important albeit generally limited resources. Large quantities of fresh water are lost through submarine springs downslope from Libya’s Gebel al Akhdar range; the caves and karst of that range may be among the world’s greatest. …

Martel's Routes In Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, 1912, Trevor R. Shaw

International Journal of Speleology

Martel’s own copy of the Hovey 1912 guidebook to Mammoth Cave has his routes marked faintly in pencil on the printed cave plans. These plans are reproduced here, with his routes indicated on them. He generally followed the four standard tourist routes which now included Kaemper’s 1908 discoveries to Violet City, but instead of visiting the Maelstrom he went to Hovey’s Cathedral and Gerta’s Grotto.

Littoral Dripstone And Flowstone--Non-Spelean Carbonate Secondary Deposits, Danko Taborosi, Kevin Stafford

International Journal of Speleology

Speleothem-like dripstone and flowstone deposits can form in the non-spelean environments of marine notches on tropical carbonate coastlines. Hereby termed “littoral dripstone” and “littoral flowstone” to distinguish them from genuine cave deposits, they reflect the basic speleothem types: draperies, stalactites, stalagmites, and columns. Nevertheless, these formations lack the luster and crystallinity of cave analogues, and are not nearly as well-developed, dense, and massive. They are composed of layered microcrystalline aragonite and calcite, are generally highly porous, and invariably overlie dissolutional and bioerosional karren. Because true speleothems, often found in the remnants of solution voids breached by coastal erosion, are also …

Resiliency Training Of Sixth-Grade Students In An Educational Setting, Matthew K. Boggan

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This study was designed to investigate the effects that resiliency training had upon a selected group of students in a rural school with a student population of approximately 600. Planned solution strategies included staff development training and implementing activities to establish the school climate and student readiness.

Resiliency Skills and Abilities Scale was used as a pretest, a 45-item survey to determine resiliency scores, before implementing resiliency skills. Training from The Resiliency Training Program, a Training of Trainers by Nan Henderson, M.S.W. was used as an intervention strategy. The intervention strategies involved a section of sixth-grade students, teachers, counselor, administrators, …

Closing The Achievement Gap One School At A Time: Reading Achievement And Hispanic Children, Nereida Inocencia Santa-Cruz

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Research indicates that the importance of learning to read is critical. An inability to read stands as an enormous barrier to one’s potential knowledge and social participation. Florida’s System of School Improvement and Accountability Act (1999, F.S.) also known as Florida’s High-Quality Education System rates schools in terms of performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). Reading is the focal point of this accountability system. In Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS), 29 elementary schools have been designated grade category F since the inception of the Florida’s High-Quality Education System. James H. Bright Elementary School was one of the originally …

The Effect Of Three Variables On The Academic Performance Of Elementary Students, Teresa F. Mccorry

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The major purpose of this study was to determine the extent that 3 variables influence the student achievement of 3rd-grade students in this elementary school setting. More specifically, the researcher was concerned with the extent to which the independent and combined effects of the variables parental involvement, attendance, and reduced class size had on the academic performance of 3rd-grade students on the reading and mathematics section of the Ohio Off-Year Proficiency Test (Ohio Department of Education, 1997).

The design that was most conducive for this applied research is a descriptive design. An experimental design was not feasible because control groups …

School Resource Officers: Effective Or Ineffective In Reducing Discipline Referrals And Increasing School Safety?, Cornelius B. Leach

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This report describes a program for reducing the number of discipline referrals for fighting, threats, and possession or use of weapons. The total school population was involved in this intervention program. All middle schools in the school district had 2 School Resource Officers (SRO) on campus to produce a safer school environment. The problem with the discipline referrals was documented through the archival data of discipline referrals from the 2000-2001 school year.

An analysis of probable cause data gathered indicated that low or moderate supervision, lack of parental involvement, and lack of knowledge about writing discipline referrals were factors leading …

Is Enrollment In Algebra An Effective Strategy For Helping African American Students Pass The Mathematics Section Of The California High School Exit Exam?, Deborah Bradshaw

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Beginning with the class of 2004, all students in the state of California must pass the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) to graduate from high school with a diploma. This study sought to determine if a statistically significant difference existed between the mean score of 10th-grade African American students who took an algebra class prior to taking the CAHSEE and the mean score of a matched group of their peers who did not take algebra prior to taking the exam.

Results provided by the California Department of Education showed that at both the state and district level, passing the …

Achieving School Literacy: The Davis Elementary School Reading Initiative, Emily Walker

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation focused on a schoolwide program of reading interventions that was implemented to increase the reading ability of elementary school students at Edward T. Davis Elementary School in Montgomery, Alabama. These interventions included (a) teacher training in research based reading instruction; (b) the implementation of Direct Instruction (Englemann, 1996); (c) the implementation of additional reading time, (d) a student reward program, and (e) a home-school literacy connection.

The school is a public school with a population of 697 students in Grades Kindergarten through 6. An analysis of formal and informal data such as the Stanford Achievement Test (American …

Improving Behavior And Academic Achievement For Students At Sandersville Elementary School, Fate R. Simmons

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to improve discipline and academic achievement at Sandersville Elementary School. This school, located in the Washington County School System, serves students in Grades 3-5. An analysis of data collected in the 2001-2002 school year revealed that 53% of the teachers were dissatisfied with student discipline, and 55% were dissatisfied with the academic climate at Sandersville Elementary School.

Planned solution strategies included a 2-part discipline and academic achievement improvement program. The program focused on helping teachers to understand and address the needs of Early Intervention Program students. The program included in-service training for teachers on specific …

Development Of A Web-Based Community For The Business Internship Program At Franklin Pierce College, Jason C. Little

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The problem is that up-to-date and efficient communication and information sharing among stakeholders including students, faculty advisors, employer supervisors, and alumni are necessary for the internship program to meet its goals.

The following six research questions were included in this study:

1. What are the characteristics of a successful web-based learning community?

2. What specific content should be included in the internship web-based learning community?

3. What are the appropriate design elements for an internship web-based learning community?

4. What specific elements should guide the development of an internship webbased learning community?

5. What elements should be included in the …

Assessing The Kids’ Breakfast Club Nutrition Program At John Muir Elementary School, Marlena E. Uhrik

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to assess The Kids’ Breakfast Club nutrition program and how it has impacted the lives of participating families. The results of a parent survey were used to help guide The Kids’ Breakfast Club in evaluating the effectiveness of the program and to assist the organization in providing the most appropriate educational experiences for the participants.

The Kids’ Breakfast Club is a nonprofit organization designed to improve the quality of life for children and their families. The organization is dedicated to the empowerment of young children and their families through nutrition, education, positive educational and social …

Transition Of Ninth-Grade Students To Tenth Grade Using A Mentorship Program, Maryann Joanna Giacchino

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Falcon Family was a peer mentoring project implemented at Dunedin High School in the 2001-2002 school year as one method of improving academic performance by ninth-grade students. The project was based, in part, on research showing that ninth-grade students are frequently unprepared for high school and that teachers generally prefer not to teach ninth-grade classes. The literature showed that peer mentorship can act as a deterrent that might result in reducing the retention rate.

As part of the Falcon Family project, an upper-class student was assigned to a ninth grader to assist in developing strategies for completing the ninth grade …

Improving Science Education For Middle-School Students By Integrating Mathematics Into The Scientific Method Process, Robert L. Wells

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to improve student success in science by integrating mathematics into the scientific method process. Students were routinely asked to perform experiments that required mathematical computations in measurement, numeration, geometry, and statistics; however, they were largely unable to perform these calculations because of their inability to apply mathematical concepts outside the mathematics classroom. The mathematics curriculum did not afford the student the opportunity to apply mathematics to real-life situations, nor did the science curriculum consistently apply mathematics to experiments.

The writer developed a series of science experiments that incorporated these four mathematical concepts into earth science …

Estrategias De Aprendizaje Y Desempeño Académico En Estudiantes Del Primer Año Universitario, Alicia Cardozo Hernández

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

El propósito del estudio fue determinar la posible relación entre el desempeño de los estudiantes del Ciclo Básico (CB) de la Universidad Simón Bolívar y el uso que ellos hagan de estrategias motivacionales y de aprendizaje. Las metas fueron: a) identificar las estrategias utilizadas por los estudiantes del CB, b) determinar posibles relaciones entre estrategias motivacionales y de aprendizaje y el desempeño académico, c) precisar si existen diferencias significativas en el uso de estrategias entre los estudiantes con mayor y menor desempeño y, d) determinar si existen cambios importantes en la aplicación de estrategias de motivacionales y aprendizaje como consecuencia …

Development Of A Retention Plan To Monitor African American Student Withdrawals At A Public School For The Performing Arts, Cody L. Clark

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to establish a retention plan useful for retaining African American students in an arts magnet school. The implementation phase of this report is referred to as Project REACH (Representing Ethnic Artists for Cross-Cultural Harmony). It features a core arts learning style, including volunteer mentorship teams, a modified version of a career-day fair, and academic tutorials monitored by the arts faculty. The emphasis was on the reciprocal responsibilities of both the African American students and the arts faculty and staff. The ability of the arts magnet school to both attract African American students and provide a …

Rekindling The Flame: Avoiding Teacher Burnout And Stress, John White

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation describes a program that targeted the teachers at Carver Elementary School. Teachers have indicated through informal interviews and a formal survey that they are burned out. Attendance and sick leave records show that teacher absenteeism reached 319 days in 2002.

The school is a public school with a population of 680 students in Grades Kindergarten through 6. Implemented solution strategies included (a) a beginning teacher program, (b) a teacher incentive and rewards program, (c) a teacher resource plan, (d) a professional development plan, (e) a time management course, and (f) a leadership training for the researcher.

The …

Improving The Academic Achievement Of Sixth-Grade Students Who Do Not Perform At Grade Level In Mathematics, Eileen M. Bond

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to assist 6th-grade students who were not performing at grade level in mathematics. Students entered the 6th grade with a great disparity of skills and abilities in mathematics and then progressed through the middle school grades unable to complete tasks appropriate to their grade level as outlined by the state-mandated mathematics curriculum. These findings were documented both by report card grades and by standardized test scores.

The writer developed a cross-age tutoring program that paired 6th-grade students with 8th-grade students who were trained as tutors. The program was executed as an extra-subject period to provide …

Reducing Male Student Discipline Referral Rates At Westview Elementary School, Virginia Glass Berry

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to determine if the use of male mentors would measurably decrease male student discipline referrals at Westview Elementary School. Referral data indicated a high number of discipline actions that impacted student and school performance. Student social records revealed that most male students attending Westview Elementary School were from homes headed by single mothers. The principal’s observations and parent conferences evidenced a lack of respect for female authority. Prior to this study, the majority of instructors at Westview Elementary School were female. The male discipline factor had created a frustration level among the faculty that had …

Integrating Socioemotional And Moral Education Within Early Childhood Teacher Preparation, Dianne K. Alexander

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to prepare early childhood student teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, and skills of a peacemaker to manage classroom aggression with competence and confidence. During field placements student teachers reported frustration in their ability to manage the increasingly aggressive and disruptive socioemotional behaviors of their young students. Recurring patterns of anti-social behavior became a daily challenge, exacting a toll not only on instructional time, but also on student teacher attention, patience, and, over time, efficacy. An in-depth study of the university nursery through third grade early childhood teacher preparation program revealed little or no violence prevention …