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2006

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Student's Experience Of Learning Caring In A College Of Nursing Grounded In A Caring Philosophy, Judith T. Drumm Jan 2006

Student's Experience Of Learning Caring In A College Of Nursing Grounded In A Caring Philosophy, Judith T. Drumm

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Caring has been identified as an essential value for baccalaureate education across all programs of study. The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to investigate the lived experience of students learning caring in a college of nursing grounded in a caring philosophy. The question guiding the research was: "What is the student's experience of learning caring in a college of nursing that has caring as a central tenet in its philosophy?" This study was guided by the caring theories of Boykin and Schoenhofer (2001), Roach (2002), and the philosopher Mayeroff (1971). The researcher interviewed seven senior baccalaureate student nurses …


The Comprehensive Evaluation Of Performance And Environmental Influence On Mpsk Modulated High-Speed Acoustic Communications In Shallow Water, Joshua C. Proteau Jan 2006

The Comprehensive Evaluation Of Performance And Environmental Influence On Mpsk Modulated High-Speed Acoustic Communications In Shallow Water, Joshua C. Proteau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

A daily study spanning a month of the shallow water acoustic channel was conducted to estimate the environmental influence on performance of an underwater acoustic communications system. An automated acoustic modem transmitted phase-coherent modulated sequences of identical data with 186 dB re IpPa source level, at coded rates from 4000 to 16000 bits/s with 4 or 8 kHz symbol bandwidth, three times daily for a month. A 64 channel Mills-Cross receiver array was used with horizontal and vertical beams each containing 32 and 33 elements respectively, spaced 0.03 meters apart, with a sampling frequency of 72 kHz. Source and receiver …


Study Of Transformational Leadership And Student Achievement In Inner-City Elementary Schools, Demetrios James Bonaros Jan 2006

Study Of Transformational Leadership And Student Achievement In Inner-City Elementary Schools, Demetrios James Bonaros

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The purpose of this study was to establish an empirical link between transformational leadership and student achievement measured by the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test. In addition, the relationship between transformational leadership and increased levels of teacher satisfaction, willingness to give extra effort, perceptions of principal effectiveness were examined. This study took place in 21 elementary inner-city schools of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools district. Two hundred ten personalized packets were delivered to the teachers of the selected schools. Two hundred and three answer sheets were returned to the researcher for a return rate of 97 percent. Data were collected from …


The Effectiveness Of The American Association Of Cheerleading Coaches & Advisors Certification Program In Reducing The Number Of Injuries Among High School Cheerleaders, Sandra C. Seufert Jan 2006

The Effectiveness Of The American Association Of Cheerleading Coaches & Advisors Certification Program In Reducing The Number Of Injuries Among High School Cheerleaders, Sandra C. Seufert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Advisors (AACCA) certification in reducing injuries associated with cheerleading. Participants were selected from a list of AACCA certified coaches in the state of Florida and through state, county, and district cheerleading coach directories in Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. A total of approximately 575 questionnaires asking about number and types of injuries in 2003 -2004, certifications held and other relevant information were distributed. One hundred and two questionnaires were returned for a response rate of 16.5%. Contrary …


Terpene Biosynthesis In The Octocorals Erythropodium Caribaeorum And Plexaurella Spp., Jamie L. Frenz Jan 2006

Terpene Biosynthesis In The Octocorals Erythropodium Caribaeorum And Plexaurella Spp., Jamie L. Frenz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The marine environment is a prolific source of novel compounds for therapeutic use due to the complex biological and chemical diversity. Throughout the past 30-40 years, over 15,000 natural products have been discovered from the oceans, many of which display a broad range of potential clinical and commercial applications. Many marine invertebrates are sessile organisms that lack physical protection, and which chemical defense may be a possible explanation for these secondary metabolites. Despite the promise marine natural products have as potent pharmaceutical agents, one of the major factors delaying clinical use is the supply issue. These bioactive compounds are often …


The Lived Experience Of Health Among Older Guatemalan Women, Maria De Los Angeles Ordonez Jan 2006

The Lived Experience Of Health Among Older Guatemalan Women, Maria De Los Angeles Ordonez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Older Guatemalan women living in farmworking communities represent a vulnerable population enduring extreme poverty, leading to decline of their health. A phenomenological approach was selected as the qualitative research methodology to describe their lived experience of health. Pender's (2002) Health Promotion Model was used as the conceptual framework guiding the inquiry. Nine women, living in South Florida, were interviewed using their secondary language, Spanish. The interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. A synthesized list of descriptive expressions emerged with seven themes. These were analyzed and a structural definition of the lived experience of health was formulated and compared …


System Level Modeling And Simulation With Mldesigner, Fabiano Kovalski Jan 2006

System Level Modeling And Simulation With Mldesigner, Fabiano Kovalski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

System modeling has the potential to enhance system design productivity by providing a platform for system performance evaluations. This model must be designed at an abstract level, hiding system details. However, it must represent any subsystem or its components at any level of specification details. In order to model such a system, we will need to combine various models-of-computation (MOC). MOC provide a framework to model various algorithms and activities, while accounting for and exploiting concurrency and synchronization aspects. Along with supporting various MOC, a modeling environment should also support a well developed library. In this thesis, we have explored …


The Relationship Between Item Difficulty And Discrimination Indices In Multiple-Choice Tests In A Physical Science Course, Angelica Hotiu Jan 2006

The Relationship Between Item Difficulty And Discrimination Indices In Multiple-Choice Tests In A Physical Science Course, Angelica Hotiu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

We have developed a method of quantifying multiple-choice test items in an introductory physical science course in terms of the various tasks required to solve the problem. We assign a numerical level of difficulty to each task so that any question can be assigned a degree of difficulty, which is the sum of the individual levels of difficulty associated in each steps. Using the questions and results from the tests we have investigated the relationship between the degree of difficulty of each question and the corresponding discrimination index. Our results indicate that as the degree of difficulty increases so does …


Theories Of Domestic Violence: Towards A Holistic Perspective, Linda Andersson Jan 2006

Theories Of Domestic Violence: Towards A Holistic Perspective, Linda Andersson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The issue of domestic violence, referring to violence between intimate partners, has been extensively studied the last two decades and has, much thanks to the women's movement, also become a public awareness issue. Several different theories and perspectives have attempted to explain the occurrence of domestic violence and although they have greatly contributed to our understanding, there is an articulated need for a more comprehensive model. Thus study provides a cross-disciplinary review of existing research as well as creates an outline for a holistic model connecting different theories and levels of analyses. This study also demonstrates the importance of incorporating …


Unveiling The Mystery Of Covenantal Trust: The Theory Of The Social Process Between The Nurse Manager And The Chief Nursing Officer, Julie R. Hilsenbeck Jan 2006

Unveiling The Mystery Of Covenantal Trust: The Theory Of The Social Process Between The Nurse Manager And The Chief Nursing Officer, Julie R. Hilsenbeck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The purpose of the research was to explore the social process of trust between the chief nursing officer and the nurse manager in the hospital setting. The researcher used the grounded theory method to analyze the nurse manager-chief nursing officer relationship from the perspective of the nurse manager. A total of 12 participants were interviewed by the researcher. The sample consisted of nurse managers employed in hospitals in the southeastern United States. Data analysis consisted of open coding and constant comparative analysis. Resulting categories consisted of preparing to trust, co-creating trust and co-creating the trusting environment. The basic social process …


Ubiquitous Entropy And Heat Death In Philip K. Dick And Pamela Zoline, Krista. Kasdorf Jan 2006

Ubiquitous Entropy And Heat Death In Philip K. Dick And Pamela Zoline, Krista. Kasdorf

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

My scientifically informed readings of Philip K. Dick's Ubik (1969) and Pamela Zoline's "The Heat Death of the Universe" (1967) consider entropy's multifarious meanings from both thermodynamics and information theory. Additionally, rather than relying upon overarching assumptions about the texts' cultural moment, I explore each fiction's presentation of entropy as negative or positive. For Dick, the loss of female mothering accelerates the heat death of late-capitalistic society, with entropy a negative, destructive force. Zoline, however, recognizes the injurious ramifications of entrapping women within the gender role of self-sacrificing wife/mother; her protagonist purposefully accelerates entropy production to destroy such a closed …


Why Rush Growing Up? A Test Of The Cognitive Immaturity Hypothesis, Justin S. Rosenberg Jan 2006

Why Rush Growing Up? A Test Of The Cognitive Immaturity Hypothesis, Justin S. Rosenberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This study examined the hypothesis that cognitive immaturity may serve an adaptive purpose for children at a time in ontogeny when they are not capable of ensuring their own survival. Participants were presented pairs of scenarios of 3- and 9-year-old children expressing either immature or mature cognition. Participants were asked to select the child (immature vs. mature) which best reflected each of 11 different psychological traits that were ultimately grouped into 3 trait dimensions: cute, deceptive, and smart. Participants received one of 6 pairs of scenarios reflecting examples of either intuitive cognition or nonintuitive cognition. Participants selected the immature child …


Validity Of The Bod Pod(Reg) For Assessing Body Composition In Male High School Athletes, Jordan R. Moon Jan 2006

Validity Of The Bod Pod(Reg) For Assessing Body Composition In Male High School Athletes, Jordan R. Moon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The purpose of the present study was to cross-validate the BOD POD (BP) measurements of male high school athletes with those obtained from hydrostatic weighing (HW). Additionally, the percent body fat values measured via near-infrared interactance (NIR), bioelectrical impedance (BIA) and skinfold (SF) were compared to HW to determine the validity of these measures. Thirty male, high school athletes (mean age +/- SD = 15.8 +/- 1.0 yrs) volunteered to have their % fat estimated. The findings from the present study indicated that the NIR and BIA instruments resulted in total error values that were too large to be of …


Vibration Tailoring Of Inhomogeneous Beams And Circular Plates, Demetris. Pentaras Jan 2006

Vibration Tailoring Of Inhomogeneous Beams And Circular Plates, Demetris. Pentaras

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The vibrational behavior of inhomogeneous beams and circular plates is studied, utilizing the semi-inverse method developed by I. Elishakoff and extensively discussed in his recent monograph (2005). The main thread of his methodology is that the knowledge of the mode shape is postulated. The candidate mode shapes can be adopted from relevant static, dynamic or buckling problems. In this study, the exact mode shapes are sought as polynomial functions, in the context of vibration tailoring, i.e. designing the structure that possesses the pre-specified value. Apparently for the first time in the literature, several closed-form solutions for vibration tailoring have been …


Development Of An Intelligent Fuzzy Obstacle Avoidance System Using Sonar Modeling And Simulation, Philip A. Bouxsein Jan 2006

Development Of An Intelligent Fuzzy Obstacle Avoidance System Using Sonar Modeling And Simulation, Philip A. Bouxsein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Response time to a threat or incident for coastline security is an area needing improvement. Currently, the U.S. Coast Guard is tasked with monitoring and responding to threats in coastal and port environments using boats or planes, and SCUBA divers. This can significantly hinder the response time to an incident. A solution to this problem is to use autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to continuously monitor a port. The AUV must be able to navigate the environment without colliding into objects for it to operate effectively. Therefore, an obstacle avoidance system (OAS) is essential to the activity of the AUV. This …


Cultural Role Of The Court Interpeter: Factors Affecting Bilingual Communication In The Judiciary, Katsiaryna. Buhayeva Jan 2006

Cultural Role Of The Court Interpeter: Factors Affecting Bilingual Communication In The Judiciary, Katsiaryna. Buhayeva

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This study investigates the court interpreter's cultural role and factors affecting bilingual communication in judicial settings. It examines court interpreting as communicative activity and as a challenging type of intercultural communication. Locating the study between prescribed standards of conduct and their practical applications in the courtroom, this thesis features the interpreter's performed role and its impact in bilingual interactions. Offering a dynamic perspective on intercultural challenges, the study investigates judicial interpreters' practice in relation to linguistic foundations, communicative strategies, and dual standards toward their performance. For exemplification purposes, the study includes a series of arguments and counterarguments posted on the …


Development Of An Undergraduate Preceptor Model Of Practice Education For Nursing Students Utilizing Participatory Action Research, Cynthia Ann Blum Jan 2006

Development Of An Undergraduate Preceptor Model Of Practice Education For Nursing Students Utilizing Participatory Action Research, Cynthia Ann Blum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

In the nursing education practice setting, preceptors are a valuable link to assist students in making the connection between nursing theory and its application to patient care. Usually used in the final semester of study, nurse preceptors could be utilized throughout all nursing practice experiences. Nurse preceptors provide a reality based experience for the student caring for patients. Yet, little is known about what is important to the preceptor in this role. The purpose of this study was to generate a new model of nursing practice education reflecting the voice of the participants in the research. Using participatory action research …


Determining Vegetative Complexity, Biodiversity And Species Richness On Tree Islands Of The Northern Everglades, Irving M Iv Day Jan 2006

Determining Vegetative Complexity, Biodiversity And Species Richness On Tree Islands Of The Northern Everglades, Irving M Iv Day

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Loss of species richness and vegetative biodiversity in the Greater Everglades Area is in large part due to human encroachment and compartmentalization causing altered hydroperiods, water levels and surface sheet flow. This study quantifies vegetative complexity, biodiversity and species richness on four tree islands within a near pristine area of the historical northern Everglades ecosystem. A Complexity Index (CI) was formulated by assessing multiple variables; high CI and low herbaceous species richness values are attributed to mature, late successional stage forests. There are structural and population differences on each of the tree islands studied with the more mature tree islands …


Does A Lack Of Formal Training In Exercise Prescription Influence The Dieticians' Decision To Recommend Exercise, Mari J. Gross Jan 2006

Does A Lack Of Formal Training In Exercise Prescription Influence The Dieticians' Decision To Recommend Exercise, Mari J. Gross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The purpose of this study was (1) to get a sense of how many dietitians have formal training in exercise prescription or a "certification" in fitness, and (2) to determine if having formal training and/or a fitness certification influenced the dietitians to recommend exercise as part of a nutritional intervention. The names and addresses of 2,000 registered dietitians were purchased from the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR). The survey contained 20 questions with a cover letter explaining the purpose of the study and an Internet address to access the survey on line. Chi square analysis revealed that dietitians without an …


Course Scheduling Support System, Jawad Ahmed Khan Jan 2006

Course Scheduling Support System, Jawad Ahmed Khan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The Course Scheduling Support System is designed to facilitate manual generation of the faculty course scheduling process. It aids in assigning faculty to courses and assigning each course section to their time block. It captures historic and current scheduling information in an organized manner making information needed to create new schedules more readily and quickly available. The interaction between user and database is made as friendly as possible so that managing, manipulating, populating and retrieving scheduling data is simple and efficient. We have implemented an open source web-based prototype of the proposed system using PHP, MySQL, and the Apache Web …


Developing A Relationship Between Nexrad Generated Rainfall Values And Rain Gauge Measurements In South Florida, Courtney L. Skinner Jan 2006

Developing A Relationship Between Nexrad Generated Rainfall Values And Rain Gauge Measurements In South Florida, Courtney L. Skinner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) is an agency which relies on a network of nearly 300 rain gauges in order to provide rainfall data for use in operations, modeling, water supply planning, and environmental projects. However, the prevalence of convective and tropical rain events in South Florida during the wet season presents a challenge in that the current rain gauge network may not fully capture rainfall demonstrating high spatial variability. NEXRAD (Next Generation Radar) technology offers water management officials the advantage of providing a spatial account of rainfall, although the relative quality of radar rainfall measurements remains largely …


Dynamic Analysis Of Single- And Multi-Module Platforms In Waves, Kaylie Ann Kling Jan 2006

Dynamic Analysis Of Single- And Multi-Module Platforms In Waves, Kaylie Ann Kling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The response of single- and multi-module floating platforms to surface waves is investigated theoretically. Wave exciting forces are computed using methods based on the Morrison equation and Froude-Krylov hypothesis. The radiation forces are obtained from experimental results of Vugt and where possible diffraction forces using the Haskind reciprocity relation. Heave and pitch response of a one-module platform and hinge-connected two-module platform are determined by integrating the corresponding equations of rigid-body motion. A structural dynamic analysis is also carried out using the Green's function method to determine the elastic flexural response of the platform to waves. The results are compared with …


Dynamical Perception: Modeling Framework, Model And Experiment, Felix Almonte Jan 2006

Dynamical Perception: Modeling Framework, Model And Experiment, Felix Almonte

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Can a distributed anatomical and functional architecture serve as the basis for sufficiently complex perceptual phenomena? In addressing this question, the conceptual notion of dynamical system and its relation to other paradigms is considered including its definition. The principal goal is to develop a dynamical framework on which to ground the theoretical study of perception and other physical phenomena. As an entry point, the perceptual dynamics of auditory streaming are modeled using a neurally inspired dynamical model of auditory processing. Traditional approaches view streaming as a competition of streams, realized within a tonotopically organized neural network. In contrast, streaming can …


Enduring Relationship With The Dead: The Corpse, The Feminine And Popular Culture, Suzanne M. Kelly Jan 2006

Enduring Relationship With The Dead: The Corpse, The Feminine And Popular Culture, Suzanne M. Kelly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Feminist theory has long criticized the hierarchical and oppositional thinking responsible for creating the basis of what counts as real knowledge. In questioning how and why the experience of enduring relationship with the dead is not imagined as real, this dissertation will draw from this theoretical tradition. This analysis involves a paradigm shift in thinking about the nature of relationship---one that posits these kinds of experiences as something other than either a psychological remedy to our grief or the requisite belief in the survival of the self. Feminist critiques of dualistic thinking become the cornerstone of Chapter One in order …


Effect Of Hydroperiod On The Growth Of The Crayfish Species Procambarus Alleni And Procambarus Fallax: Two Keystone Species In The Florida Everglades, Matthew D. Gardner Jan 2006

Effect Of Hydroperiod On The Growth Of The Crayfish Species Procambarus Alleni And Procambarus Fallax: Two Keystone Species In The Florida Everglades, Matthew D. Gardner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The Everglades ecosystem is home to two species of freshwater crayfish: the Everglades crayfish Procambarus alleni and the slough crayfish Procambarus fallax. These species play a key ecological role by transporting energy from primary producers to higher trophic levels. Understanding the factors that regulate crayfish growth is an essential step in restoring their productivity in the Everglades ecosystem. In order to determine the effect of hydroperiod on crayfish growth, I collected crayfish from the Florida Everglades and subjected them to one of three hydroperiod treatments. The growth of both crayfish species in reduced hydroperiod treatments was significantly less than those …


Effect Of Self-Efficacy On The Decisions To Enroll And Succeed In Internet Accounting Courses, Abdullah I. Al-Moshaigeh Jan 2006

Effect Of Self-Efficacy On The Decisions To Enroll And Succeed In Internet Accounting Courses, Abdullah I. Al-Moshaigeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This study examines whether there are any significant differences between accounting students enrolled in Internet-based courses and accounting students attending campus-based courses in terms of self-efficacy, academic goal, anxiety, gender, and self-assessment of performance. The study is motivated by the many calls for research to apply social cognitive theory to determine factors of motivation and consequently success of accounting students in an online education environment. Social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986) is used to develop the hypotheses tested in the current study. Three groups of hypotheses were developed. The first group of hypotheses tests the relationships among academic self-efficacy, computer self-efficacy, …


Efficient And Effective Searching M Unstructured Filesharing Peer-To-Peer Networks, Xiuqi Li Jan 2006

Efficient And Effective Searching M Unstructured Filesharing Peer-To-Peer Networks, Xiuqi Li

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Peer-to-peer (P2P) networking has been receiving increasing attention from the research community recently. How to conduct efficient and effective searching in such networks has been a challenging research topic. This dissertation focuses on unstructured file-sharing peer-to-peer networks. Three novel searching schemes are proposed, implemented, and evaluated. In the first scheme named ISRL (Intelligent Search by Reinforcement Learning), we propose to systematically learn the best route to desired files through reinforcement learning when topology adaptation is impossible or infeasible. To discover the best path to desired files, ISRL not only explores new paths by forwarding queries to randomly chosen neighbors, but …


Effects Of High Alkalinity Cements On The Control Of Alkali-Silica Reaction For Reinforced Concrete, Jorge Alejandro Suarez Jan 2006

Effects Of High Alkalinity Cements On The Control Of Alkali-Silica Reaction For Reinforced Concrete, Jorge Alejandro Suarez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

In previous research, cements with high alkali content (EqA 1.0-1.2 percent) extended the corrosion initiation time of reinforcing steel in concrete. During this study, laboratory tests were performed to determine the suitability of high alkalinity cements to improve concrete durability without modifying physical properties and to control the risk of alkali-aggregate reaction (AAR). A mix design for the FOOT-Class V concrete served as base material for this study. On a cubic meter basis the cementitious material in this concrete included 363 kg of Type l/ll Portland cement and 83 kg of Class F fly ash. The water-to-cementitious material ratio of …


Energy-Efficient Target Coverage In Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks, Wael Awada Jan 2006

Energy-Efficient Target Coverage In Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks, Wael Awada

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

We consider a heterogeneous wireless sensor network, which has several supernodes for data relay and a large number of energy-constrained sensor nodes that are deployed randomly to cover certain targets. Since targets are covered by many sensors, we create several cover sets that are active successively to save power. We introduce the Heterogeneous Connected Set Covers (HCSC) which aims to find at least one cover set that covers all the targets and is connected to a data-relaying supernode. A sensor node can participate in different set covers but the sum of energy spent in all sets is constrained by the …


Exploratory Investigation Of Sources Of Individual Differences In Chemistry Performance: The Potential Role Of Visual And Verbal Working Memory And Student Affect In Chemistry Problem Solving, Jason Klein Jan 2006

Exploratory Investigation Of Sources Of Individual Differences In Chemistry Performance: The Potential Role Of Visual And Verbal Working Memory And Student Affect In Chemistry Problem Solving, Jason Klein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This was an exploratory study of factors that predict individual differences in chemistry learning. Consistent with cognitive learning theory, working memory was assumed to be an important predictor of chemistry knowledge. Measures of chemistry affect, cognitive ability, demographics and mathematical ability were examined in relation to visual/schematic and algebra-like stoichiometry chemistry word problem solving ability and strategy use. 139 undergraduate students (91 females, 48 males) at a major Southeastern university participated in this study (Age ranged from 18 to 39 years (M = 20.70 years of age)). Perceived usefulness of the chemistry material, mathematical ability, GPA, and SGPA uniquely predicted …