Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of The “Universal Voyager Literacy” Reading Program On Reading Achievement And Instructional Practices In An Urban School District, Shanika L. Hope

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Studies

Founded in 1994, Voyager Expanded Learning is a provider of K-3 in-school reading programs, as well as K-8 reading intervention programs for school districts throughout the United States. Voyager Universal Literacy's systematic, precise framework fully addresses the five elements of reading instruction, through an explicit succession of ability growth. Voyager Universal Literacy was developed to be a comprehensive program encompassing the subsequent requisites: in-school broad reading program, progress monitoring methods, extensive-day and summer activities, home learning syllabus, implementation monitoring, and on-going professional development. Voyager Universal Literacy Program activities are organized to provide a thorough range and progression for reading instruction. …

2008 Betcha Can't Do It Like We Did It, Northern University High School

Malcolm Price Laboratory School Yearbooks

The student yearbook of the Northern University High School, part of the Malcolm Price Laboratory School of the University of Northern Iowa.

Nonlinear Random Response Of Large-Scale Sparse Finite Element Plate Bending Problems, Swati Chokshi

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Acoustic fatigue is one of the major design considerations for skin panels exposed to high levels of random pressure at subsonic/supersonic/hypersonic speeds. The nonlinear large deflection random response of the single-bay panels aerospace structures subjected to random excitations at various sound pressure levels (SPLs) is investigated. The nonlinear responses of plate analyses are limited to determine the root-mean-square displacement under uniformly distributed pressure random loads. Efficient computational technologies like sparse storage schemes and parallel computation are proposed and incorporated to solve large-scale, nonlinear large deflection random vibration problems for both types of loading cases: (1) synchronized in time and (2) …

Social-Cognitive Biases In Simulated Airline Luggage Screening, Jeremy R. Brown

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The study examined the role that social-cognitive biases play in decision making processes during airline luggage screening, Participants (n = 96) performed a computer simulated task where they tried to detect hidden weapons in 200 x-ray images of passenger luggage. Participants saw each luggage image for either two seconds (high time pressure) or six seconds (low time pressure). In addition, on each trial, participants observed the pictures of the "passenger" to whom the luggage purportedly belongs. The "pre-anchor group" answered questions about the passenger before the luggage image appears, the "post-anchor" group answered questions after the luggage appears, and the …

Perceptions Of Second-Level Managers' Performance In Student Affairs, Jennifer Kingsley

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

This study explored first- (subordinates) and second-level (managers) student affairs professionals' perceptions of managers' skills and abilities (N = 193). Participants in this study were members of the National Association for Student Personnel Administrators, National Association for Campus Activities, Association of College an University Housing Officer-International, and the Association on Higher Education and Disability in Virginia. Two instruments were used for the study: (1) Demographics, collecting demographic information and qualitative data, (2) Survey of Management Practices, which assesses managers' skills and abilities.

The respondents were predominantly Caucasian (82%), female (62%), between 26–40 years old (72%), and held a master's degree …

The Impact Of The 101s: A Guide To Positive Discipline Training On Teacher Interaction Practices, Attitudes, And Prosocial Skill Outcomes In Preschool Classrooms, Marie Louise Talayco Masterson

Theses and Dissertations in Early Childhood Education

This study investigated the impact of The 101s: A Guide to Positive Discipline on teachers of preschool Title 1 children. Current research supports the impact of responsive social emotional support and positive teacher-child interactions on both short and long term social and academic outcomes, with specific remediating benefits for children most at risk of school failure. The 101s training and materials evaluated in this study included ten principles/skills to support respectful, responsive interactions hypothesized to support positive prosocial skill responding. Training was provided to 34 teachers with control and experimental groups. Analysis of quantitative pre and post observation data found …

Effects Of Leader Relationship Quality (Lmx), Supervisor Support, And Upward Influence In National Science Foundation Industry /University Cooperative Research Centers, Janet L. Bryant

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) is a type of partnership between industries and universities supported by the National Science Foundation. These partnerships enable the transfer of leading-edge technology developed in universities to industrial firms. Leadership plays a powerful role in the success of these research partnerships by creating an environment that is conducive to innovation. Directors of I/UCRCs must be able to successfully lead upward, that is, develop and maintain strong relationships with the university administrators to whom they report, to obtain the necessary support to sustain the center and foster innovation. This study uses leader-member exchange (LMX) theory …

Exploring Interactions During Multiorganizational Policy Implementation: A Case Study Of The Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program, Madeleine Wright Mcnamara

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Organizations face implementation challenges compounded by complex and interconnected public problems. In the environmental arena, the inabilities of individual organizations to resolve these problems independently are exacerbated by the scope, duration, and tremendous diversity of tasks coupled with a lack of funding. As a result, multiorganizational arrangements are created as public, private, and nonprofit organizations work together to implement policy. These relationships increase organizational capacities through the diversification of resources and expertise.

Multiorganizational implementation is complicated by various legal authorities, missions, goals, and operational procedures that guide individual organizations. One way to approach these complexities is to expand our understanding …

Annual Report Of The Registrar 2007/2008, University Of Northern Iowa

Institutional Effectiveness & Planning Documents

Contents:

--- Definitions
--- Annual Report Data
--- Summary of Attendance
--- Attendance by Session
--- Full-time Equivalency Enrollment
--- Degrees Granted --Degree Summary
--- Program Certificates
--- Pupils in Price Laboratory School
--- Miscellaneous Enrollment Information
--- Degrees Granted by College, Degree Objective, and Racial/Ethnic Classification

Corpulent Counter-Publics: Radical Cheerleading And Resignification Of The Fat Body, Emily Dianne Cram

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This thesis investigates the power of language, discourse, and symbols in the dominant construction of corpulence, and how it simultaneously constricts subjectivity and offers avenues of resistance and revolt. I focus my analysis on the public protest actions of San Francisco's radical cheerleading troupe The Bod Squad. I argue that The Bod Squad's protest constitutes a counter-public sphere in its rhetorical functions of positive self-representation and public confrontation. Through their protest actions, The Bod Squad stretches dominant ideologies of corpulence to create discursive space for alternative articulations of identities, interests, and needs. This thesis challenges traditional counter-public sphere theory and …

Aging Effects On The Transcription Of Differentially Impaired Dysarthric Speech, Molly Anne Duggan

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Thirty participants transcribed 60 words and 30 sentences spoken by persons with dysarthria. Participants, all aged 65 and older were divided into three age groups: Young-Old, Middle-Old, and Old-Old. Each group was comprised of 10 participants. Stimuli were recorded by two male speakers with differing severity levels of dysarthria. Results suggested age did affect the transcription scores, as the Young-Old participants were able to transcribe words and sentences with greater accuracy than the Old-Old participants. The severity of the dysarthric speaker also affected the accuracy of participants in transcribing their words and sentences. Utterances produced by the speaker with mild …

Western Images In African Media: A Semiotic Investigation Of Three Nigerian-Made Films, Terence Ebi Ekiseh

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study makes a critical analysis of the portrayal of Western images in African-made films as represented in three selected Nigerian home-made movies. In other words, the study seeks to find out how images of Western European and North American cultures are portrayed in African films. The three films selected for the study are Spirit cf Love, Market Seller, and One Dollar. The films were selected on the basis of their popularity among Nigerian film audiences. They were also selected because they are recent, and are produced by renowned Nigerian filmmakers. The study utilized qualitative method to achieve its objective. …

Comparing The Effects Of Sung Versus Spoken Lyrics On Speech And Language Acquisition In Late-Talking Toddlers, Chelsea Ki Sook Clock Bell

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to explore the use of two intervention approaches with children who are delayed in their development of expressive language (i.e. "late talkers"). Identification and intervention for late talkers is often controversial. This study examined whether music therapy has an equal or greater effect on speech and language acquisition in two toddlers with late-developing speech and expressive language when compared to a literacy-based intervention involving storybook reading. The use of storybook reading in speech and language therapy has been examined and found successful when used with children with communication disorders. However additional research is needed …

Academic Success: A Qualitative Case Study Of Student Perspectives, Heather Marie Bentley

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Over the past eight years of teaching high school, I have noticed more and more high school students seem to be apathetic about their school work and academic success. I wanted to explore why students appeared to care less about their academic success. After consulting the literature, I realized the student voice was missing from most of the current studies; therefore, I wanted my qualitative study to focus on student views. In order to do so, I created two surveys: one for students and another for teachers, and I also interviewed a small sample of students after completion of the …

The Paradox Of Financial Services Regulation: Preserving Client Expectations Of Loyalty In An Industry Rife With Conflicts Of Interest, Andrew F. Tuch

Scholarship@WashULaw

This paper considers the implications of Australian Securities and Investments Commission v. Citigroup [2007] FCA 963, a landmark decision of the Federal Court of Australia. The case highlights an apparent paradox in financial services regulation: at the same time as allowing, or even fostering, the development of financial services conglomerates, regulation in multiple jurisdictions preserves potentially incompatible general law obligations that arise from client expectations of loyalty. The paradox is most evident in the context of the modern investment bank.

The paper discusses the dynamic nature of investment banks, their organizational structure, the types of conflicts they typically face and …

Uni Graduating Senior Survey 2007-2008, University Of Northern Iowa

Institutional Effectiveness & Planning Documents

Contents:

Survey Administration --- 2

Response Rate --- 3

Demographic Characteristics of Respondents --- 5

Summary of Responses by College --- 8

Multiple Year Comparison --- 59

Appendix A --- 68

Respiratory Kinematics Of Adult Males During Graded Listening Tasks, Laura Lerette Gingrich

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Covert speech movements have been observed to increase with linguistic complexity during listening tasks. This study investigated the presence of covert respiratory movements during listening tasks of increasing complexity to answer the following research questions: 1. Do normal adult male listeners aged fifty and above without central nervous system injury change from rest breathing patterns to speech breathing patterns while listening to passages of increasing complexity; 2. Is there a greater shift towards speech breathing while listening to passages of greater complexity? Chest wall kinematics often male participants were obtained and analyzed for significant changes from rest breathing during four …

Population Based Estimates Of Medial Ulnar Collateral Ligament Injury, Samantha Lynne Sweet

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Injuries to the elbow are common among overhead throwers, especially in baseball players. There has been speculation that medial ulnar collateral ligament (MUCL) injuries have been increasing over the past fifteen years, however, population based estimates of MUCL injuries currently do not exist. The purpose of this study was to determine MUCL injury incidence rates derived from the National Center for Health Statistics over a three-year period. Non-identifiable, aggregate data provided by the National Center for Health Statistics were used in this study. The two main databases utilized were the NAMCS and the NHAMCS. Injury data from 2003 - 2005 …

Effects Of Problem Solving Team Processes On Student Outcomes, Brooke A. Dahl

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Systematic data collection and case documentation are vital components in the consultative problem solving process. Carefully documented and easily understood data allow problem solving teams to make informed decisions about intervention development and implementation, as well as future programming for struggling students. The Instructional Consultation (IC) Team Model was developed as an organized and efficient process for conducting pre-referral problem solving (Rosenfield, 1987). The present research explores the relationship between processes and/or procedures as prescribed by the IC Team Model and student outcomes. Processes utilized by problem solving teams following the IC Team Model and other models of problem solving …

The Roles Of Coaches And Teachers : Fostering A Climate For Motivation In An Age Of Accountability, Jocelyn Hays

Graduate Research Papers

This paper examines the difference between how a coach motivates an athlete or fosters a climate for motivation versus how a teacher motivates a student or fosters a climate for motivation. One way to examine how coaches and teachers motivate their athletes and students is to examine the roles of coaches and teachers as motivators. Examining the roles of coaches and teachers as motivators and the subsequent discussion of how the roles of coaches as motivators could inform the roles of teachers as motivators seeks to satisfy society's call for teacher accountability.

Student Led Video Production Projects In The Classroom, Slade Hovick

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to review the literature on using video production projects in educational settings, and second, to evaluate their effectiveness. Specifically, the issues of student motivation and student retention, and what effects student-led video production projects have on these areas, are considered closely.

How Teacher-Librarians Can Effectively Support Technology Integration In 21st Century Schools, Holly L. Karlen

Graduate Research Papers

Schools and the role of the teacher-librarian are rapidly changing as we begin the twenty-first century. This review examines the historical and current role of teacher-librarians, concepts of information literacy and technology integration, and how teacher-librarians can integrate these skills in twenty-first century schools. New technologies and how teacher-librarians can gain support for their new role are also examined.

Through an extensive literature review and synthesis of information, a series of five research questions are evaluated. This review shows that the teacher-librarian's role has changed dramatically in the last twenty-five years. By emphasizing information literacy and technology integration into both …

Experimental Investigation Of Active Control Of Bluff Body Vortex Shedding, Ilteris Koc

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Mean and fluctuating forces acting on a body are strongly related to vortex shedding generated behind it. Therefore, it is possible to obtain substantial reductions of at least the unsteady forces if vortex shedding is controlled or its regularity is reduced. While conventional active flow control methods are mainly concerned with direct interaction with, and alteration of, the mean flow about a body, modern techniques involve altering existing flow instabilities using relatively small inputs to obtain large-scale changes of mean flows. Aerodynamic flow control may be intended to delay or suppress boundary layer separation through creation of a boundary layer …

Mother-Daughter Communication And Media Influence On Self-Esteem And Body Image, Tori Austin

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Societal norms based on media venues influence the perception young females have of themselves; however, some literature indicates the mother daughter relationship can help minimize the possible negative effects. Young women are more susceptible to desire distorted media images of glamorous and thin women. As they make social comparisons with mediated images of womanhood, they may become disappointed in their own body image and possess lower self-esteem. The previous research has gaps when discussing mother daughter relationships, media's influence, and the impact on adolescent girls' self-esteem and body image. To determine predictors to young women's self-esteem and body image, 119 …

Rapid Prototyping For Virtual Environments, Emre Baydogan

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Development of Virtual Environment (VE) applications is challenging where application developers are required to have expertise in the target VE technologies along with the problem domain expertise. New VE technologies impose a significant learning curve to even the most experienced VE developer. The proposed solution relies on synthesis to automate the migration of a VE application to a new unfamiliar VE platform/technology. To solve the problem, the Common Scene Definition Framework (CSDF) is developed, that serves as a superset/model representation of the target virtual world. Input modules are developed to populate the framework with the capabilities of the virtual world …

The Effects Of Parental Involvement On Early Reading Acquisition Among Kindergarten Students, Erin Vander Velde

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Children begin to develop literacy skills long before they enter formal education. It has been found that parental involvement in the early literacy process through both formal and informal activities at home can help to improve a child's reading abilities, even when risk factors are present. Providing skills to parents may help them to bolster their child's reading acquisition. This study sought to determine the impact of parental on the reading skills of kindergarten students, as measured by the Dynamic Indicators of Parents of three students receiving Title I services in reading attended a reading seminar. Children of parents attending …

Web Citation Availability: A Follow-Up Study, Mary F. Casserly, James E. Bird

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

The researchers report on a study to examine the persistence of Web-based content. In 2002, a sample of 500 citations to Internet resources from articles published in library and information science journals in 1999 and 2000 were analyzed by citation characteristics and searched to determine cited content persistence, availability on the Web, and availability in the Internet Archive. Statistical analyses were conducted to identify citation characteristics associated with availability. The sample URLs were searched again between August 2005 and June 2006 to determine persistence, availability on the Web, and in the Internet Archive. As in the original study, the researchers …

Research In Academic Library Collection Management, Mary F. Casserly

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

This chapter describes the empirical quantitative and qualitative research and case studies pertaining to collection management practice in academic libraries published between 1990 and 2007. The topics covered include collection size and growth, material cost, library expenditures, budgets and budgeting, collection development policies, collection composition, organization and staffing for collection management, selection, and the evaluation of the collection development process and the collection itself. The chapter identifies the most influential and useful studies and the most active areas of research. The collection management research literature was limited in the methodologies employed (surveys and case studies), statistical analyses applied (basic and …

Low Reproductive Success Of Mallards In A Grassland-Dominated Landscape In The Sandhills Of Nebraska, Larkin A. Powell, Johann Walker, Zach Cunningham, Mark P. Vrtiska, Scott Stephens

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The Sandhills of Nebraska comprise approximately 5,000,000 ha of native grassland interspersed with numerous groundwater-fed wetlands. A substantial population of the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) nests in this region. Previous investigations of nest survival probability of ducks in the Sandhills have estimated surprisingly low rates of nest survival for a grassland-dominated landscape. These investigations were conducted on public lands and most nest searching took place near wetlands where activity of nest predators might be highest. We predicted that mallards would nest at varying distances from wetlands and that survival probability of a representative sample of duck nests would increase with distance …

Creating Preservation-Ready Web Resources, Joan A. Smith, Michael L. Nelson

Computer Science Faculty Publications

There are innumerable departmental, community, and personal web sites worthy of long-term preservation but proportionally fewer archivists available to properly prepare and process such sites. We propose a simple model for such everyday web sites which takes advantage of the web server itself to help prepare the site's resources for preservation. This is accomplished by having metadata utilities analyze the resource at the time of dissemination. The web server responds to the archiving repository crawler by sending both the resource and the just-in-time generated metadata as a straight-forward XML-formatted response. We call this complex object (resource + metadata) a CRATE. …