Digital Commons Network^™

Job Satisfaction And The Internship In State Level Law Enforcement, Catherine J. Sapp

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

It was the hypothesis of the researcher that exposing criminal justice students to the career field through the completion of a criminal justice internship will increase job satisfaction for the individual in state level investigative law enforcement and the field as a whole. Increased job satisfaction, in turn, produces higher retention rates which may lead to making the state level investigative law enforcement field a more stable environment. Therefore, the purpose of this correlational study was to discover if there was a difference in the score on Spector's Job Satisfaction Survey between state level investigative law enforcement personnel who completed …

The Examination Of Real-Life Implementations Of Critical Elements In A Professional Learning Community For High-Performing Middle Schools And Low-Performing Middle Schools, Damita Griffin Bynes

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In a September 2 Education Week Commentary, Kahlenberg (2009) identified 5,000 schools across the nation categorized as failing or low-performing schools. A significant amount of attention and resources are dedicated to transform low-performing schools to high-performing schools promoting student achievement. Because of the increasing demand that low-performing schools be turned around, Georgia schools that do not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) two consecutive years for the same indicator are placed in Needs Improvement (NI) status and face escalating consequences from the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE). In the midst of all of the demands to meet local and state requirements, …

Why Do Parents Choose To Send Their Children To Private Schools?, Ava M. Davis

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Private schools were the original educational entities in the United States and have continued playing a prominent role in educating America's youth. The number of private schools has increased over the last decade while the number of private school students has remained stable at approximately nine percent of school-aged children. The reasons for choosing a private school are just as varied as the types of private schools available. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the reasons parents give for choosing a private school education for their children. A basic interpretive qualitative study was used to discover and …

African American Male Students' Perceptions Of Factors That Contribute To Their Academic Success, Gertrude Rolland

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study sought to understand African American high school males' perceptions of factors contributing to academic success. The researcher gathered information by interviewing students and collecting their demographic profile data. This qualitative research method enabled the researcher to learn directly from students what factors African American male students associated with academic success as well as challenges to academic success and solutions for achieving academic success. Participants were three junior and three senior African American high school male students attending a rural high school in Georgia. Data collection occurred during the spring semester of 2011. Each participant was asked 16 questions …

Teacher Candidates' Digital Literacy And Their Technology Integration Efficacy, Rona Lynette Tyger

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate perceived digital literacy levels and technology integration efficacy of preservice teaching (PST) candidates. The sample was comprised of PST candidates from two universities and one college in the southeastern United States that differ in size and culture. The study used a quantitative approach. PST candidates self-rated their digital literacy levels and technology integration efficacy using an online digital literacy survey. The relationship between PST candidates' perceptions of their digital literacy level and their level of technology integration efficacy was investigated. The existence of a digital divide has recently been of concern to …

A Delayed Birth Of Freedom? Public School Graduates' Perceptions Of School Choice Viewed Through The Pragmatic Lenses Of The American Ideal, Donald B. Porter

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study was conducted to identify public school graduates perceptions regarding school choice options and their preparedness for success after high school. This is accomplished by presenting a historical and contextual overview of education as it specifically relates to low socioeconomic and minority populations. It analyzes governmental controls that may serve to restrict access to a quality education. This study seeks to promote equity through education as viewed through a social justice perspective. While governmental mandates, societal changes, and legal remedies have evolved and shaped America's education history, it has yet to fully empower parents and guardians to freely choose …

The Relationship Of Teachers' Perceptions Of High School Principal's Monitoring Student Progress And Student Achievement In Southeastern Ohio, T. C. Chappelear

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Principals in school buildings across this nation and perhaps throughout the world are under immense pressure to improve outcomes for all students. Recent literature suggests this accountability may be warranted, at least in part, as there is overwhelming evidence that building principals can positively impact student achievement through their behavior as effective instructional leaders. Much of the evidence for this emanates from the elementary school level. The problem is that little research exists at the high school level to examine the relationship between building principals monitoring student progress and student achievement.;This baseline study examined the relationship between teachers' perceptions of …

The Impact Of A Modified Cooperative Learning Technique On The Grade Frequencies Observed In A Preparatory Chemistry Course, Bridget J. Hayes Russell

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation explored the impact of a modified cooperative learning technique on the final grade frequencies observed in a large preparatory chemistry course designed for pre-science majors. Although the use of cooperative learning at all educational levels is well researched and validated in the literature, traditional lectures still dominate as the primary methodology of teaching. This study modified cooperative learning techniques by addressing commonly cited reasons for not using the methodology. Preparatory chemistry students were asked to meet in cooperative groups outside of class time to complete homework assignments. A chi-square goodness-of-fit revealed that the final grade frequency distributions observed …

Survey Of Response-To-Intervention's Challenges For School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists, Jane D. Simmerman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

With the introduction of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have experienced a new focus on language and literacy within their roles and responsibilities to provide services to students. The American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) support the role of SLPs in literacy efforts through their policies regarding expanded roles and responsibilities for school-based SLPs. ASHA notes that school-based SLPs have a clearly defined role in Response to Intervention (RTI) based on their expertise, knowledge and training to provide services as a resource and an interventionist when appropriate. The effect of the redefined roles and responsibilities …

Parental Support And Pressure In Sports And Children's Anger, Sadness, And Worry Regulation, Cara A. Palmer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Despite large amounts of child sport participation, research suggests that this activity is not always associated with positive outcomes for youth. This study examined factors that might contribute to discrepant findings associated with youth sports participation. Specifically, parental pressure and support in competitive soccer families and its relation to their children's general emotion regulation were examined. Participants were 91 parent-child dyads (49 males, 42 female, 67 moms, 23 dads) with children between the ages of 8-12 years (M = 10.24, SD = 1.19). Children completed several self-report measures on their parent's pressure and support behaviors in general and in soccer, …

Hyperreal Battlefields: Individual Action And The Composition Of Enemy In Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 1 & 2, Jeffrey Allen Yeager

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Speculative fictions present us with stories that ask the question "what if?" In the past decades there has been a noticeable increase in the amount of speculative fiction in Western popular media. War-themed video games represent one of the most popular interactive texts that have embraced the speculative fiction genre. There is a multitude of research that examines non-fiction war games and those based loosely on some actual or historical conflict. This research diverges from that path by analyzing the narrative and structure of a series of fictional war games set in the modern era. The game presents a narrative …

Behavior That Hurts: Theoretical Orientation, Terminology, And Diagnosis Of Self-Injury, Susannah C. Rowan Flamm

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Self-injurious behavior prevalence continues to rise in both adolescent and adult non-clinical populations and within adolescent and adult clinical populations. Despite a large volume of literature regarding the antecedents and functions of self-injury, exploration of clinician factors in regard to these clients is sparse. This study examined the associations among 346 doctoral level clinicians' theoretical orientations, preferred terminology to describe self-injurious behaviors, and preferred diagnoses for clients who engage in self-injury. Therapist variables such as age, years in practice, and gender were examined for their association with terminology and diagnostic preferences. Chi-square analyses were conducted for the two-way interactions and …

Report On Advances In The Field Of Artificial Intelligence Attributed To Captcha, Craig M. Schow

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

A CAPTCHA is a specialized human interaction proof that exploits gaps between human and computer recognition abilities. By design, the hardness of a CAPTCHA is based on the difficulty of advancing the underlying artificial intelligence [AI] technology to a level that eliminates any exploitable gap. Due to this fact computer scientists have concluded that the widespread use of CAPTCHA would accelerate research in the underlying fields of AI eventually leading to near-­‐human capabilities in certain AI systems. Despite these predictions no attempt has been made to identify advances in AI which can be attributed to the use of CAPTCHA.

The …

Closed-Loop Attitude Control Using Fluid Dynamic Vectoring On An Aerospike Nozzle, Nathan Erni

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Attitude control of a prototype satellite bus using fluid mechanical vectoring on an aerospike nozzle is demonstrated. The design achieves thrust vectoring by injecting propellant asymmetrically into the unconstrained aerospike exhaust plume near the nozzle base. The prototype system uses cold-gas thrusters to both spin-up and de-tumble the test article. The system is configured with axially directed annular flows that produce large longitudinal thrusts and smaller secondary lateral-injection flows for side thrusts. Both open and closed-loop attitude control, with and without main aerospike annular flow active, are demonstrated. Proportional, integral, derivative (PID) regulation is used for closed-loop attitude control. When …

Enhancing Inettest By Improving The Programming Question And Group Grading, Sushil Dosi

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This report describes an improvement to the Utah State University iNetTest testing system. The iNetTest system allows instructors and/or students to: • Create/take tests with rich sets of question types (multiple choice, essay, true/false, computational programming question, etc.); • Monitor the test takers for cheating; • Auto-grade for many types of questions, as well as group grade for all question types; and • Send scores to students via either email or SMS. Specifically, this report discusses the design and development of an improved computational programming question for the iNetTest system. For programming questions, iNetTest allows for the use of various …

A Model For Rapid Charging Events On International Space Station, Debrup Hui

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Surface charging by plasma can be a serious issue for any spacecraft. Though significant charging is not observed in all spacecrafts at all times, it only requires a single episode of extreme charging to result in serious damage. The International Space Station (ISS) is an interesting platform to study these charging effects because of its size and relatively high voltage systems. Of the many kinds of charging observed on ISS, the rapid charging events during solar eclipse exit in a low-density ionosphere is not yet understood. This report is an investigation to understand this phenomenon. This report proposes a simple …

Critical Review Of Inundation Mapping Procedures For Floodplain Management, Richard M. Wise

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Inundation mapping is a major component of floodplain management, providing critical information as to the consequences of potential failures of flood control structures, such as dams. To develop inundation maps, a dam and river system are modeled with engineering computer programs, and a simulation of the dam failure is performed to generate data for the flood. This output data is input into other programs to develop inundation maps. Inundation maps have traditionally been produced in a paper format, but recent advances in computer modeling have provided the capability for virtual inundation maps. Thus, these mapping methods need to be investigated …

Modeling Of Utility Distribution Feeder In Opendss With Steady State Impact Analysis Of Distributed Generation, Vaidyanath Ramachandran

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

With the deregulation of the electric power industry and the advancement of new technologies, the attention of the utilities has been drawn towards adopting Distributed Generation (DG) into their existing infrastructure. The deployment of DG brings ample technological and environmental benefits to the traditional distribution networks. The appropriate sizing and placement of DGs which generate power locally to fulfill consumer demands, helps to reduce power losses and avoid transmission and distribution system expansion.;The primary objective of this thesis is to model a utility distribution feeder in OpenDSS. Studies are conducted on the data obtained from American Electric Power utility. This …

The Nature Of Context-Sensitive Solutions, Stakeholder Involvement And Critical Issues In The Urban Context, Marta Panero, Jan Botha

Mineta Transportation Institute

Over the last several decades many transportation and planning agencies have experienced conflicting demands emerging from the need to develop projects in an expeditious manner while at the same time involving stakeholders in the decision-making process, which sometimes is perceived as slowing project delivery and/or increasing costs. Given this tension between apparently conflicting demands, it is important to understand how the stakeholder involvement is being carried out and what best practices may be recommended. This study examines the issue in the context of a relatively new policy framework – Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) – which supports the early integration of …

The Social Transformation Of Coffee Houses: The Emergence Of Chain Establishments And The Private Nature Of Usage, Dawn Marie Lozzi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Much attention is given to Ray Oldenburg's (1989) concept of third places as environments that offer visitors friendship and a sense of community. However, given that coffee houses have moved from small-scale businesses to chain-owned and many people now use them to work on laptops, this idealized image of the coffee house also may be changing. Few empirical studies have addressed such possibilities. Using unobtrusive observation data on three independently-owned coffee houses and three chain-based coffee houses, this research examines the concept of third places to better understand the ways in which modern coffee houses live up to Oldenburg's social …

Solidarity Versus Sisterhood: Women's Issues, Feminism And Potential In Poland, Abigail E. Miller

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Exploring the history and trajectory of women's issues and activism in Poland, this work begins discussing the early twentieth century, moving through to the time period of the Solidarity trade union movement, continuing through the political transitions during the 1990s and ending in the present day. By examining a multitude of issues which affect women's lives (in the quotidian and overall senses), the existence, development and necessity of women's organizations and feminist activism in Poland becomes apparent. Labor, social, legal, and economic issues are of primary concern in contextualizing Polish women's place in society.;The introductory chapter begins by examining Polish …

Hardware Prototype For A Multi Agent Grid Management System, Jerry Lee Thompson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

There is great effort in the power industry to incorporate Smart Grid functionalities to existing power systems. Distributed generation and the hardware necessary to interface the existing grid, as well as control algorithms to efficiently couple and operate these systems are being researched and implemented extensively. However, the added complexity of such components results in greater opportunities for failure in a system which is already challenging to protect.;There is great effort in the power industry to incorporate Smart Grid functionalities to existing power systems. Distributed generation and the hardware necessary to interface the existing grid, as well as control algorithms …

Sequence Stratigraphy, Depositional Environments, And Regional Mapping Of The Late Devonian Interval, Upper Three Forks Formation, Sanish Member, And Lower Bakken Shale, U.S. Portion Of The Williston Basin, Steven A. Sesack

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Cores of the Late Devonian upper Three Forks, Sanish, and lower Bakken units from eight wells were examined and described at the North Dakota core depository. Core descriptions, wireline log correlation and mapping, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) data were integrated to recognize seven facies: The Three Forks D and the (600-900API) lower Bakken Shale, four facies belonging to the Sanish, and a basal siltstone facies assigned to the Lower Bakken. Facies identified were then grouped into separate systems tracts based on the identification of several significant sequence stratigraphic surfaces.;The four facies identified in the Sanish include: Facies A, a dolomitic …

Social Skills As Predictors Of Theory Of Mind Development Among Children, Lucia A. Salinas

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The present study examined relationships among social skills including deceptive behavior, socioeconomic status, and theory of mind development in 98 predominantly Hispanic 3- to 7-year-old children residing in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Measures were of vocabulary, deceptive ability, true belief, and false belief understanding. Children’s interactions with others were also measured through observational methods and parental data was obtained to compute socioeconomic status and validate social skills information. It was hypothesized that social skill development, including deception would emerge along with theory of mind understanding in this population, and that children from households of lower socioeconomic status would …

Subthreshold 3 Phase Mixers, Jesus Angel Torres

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This thesis will discuss subthreshold FET mixers with a focus on conversion loss derivations. To begin understanding the mixers, a look into the FET model is first taken in Chapter II. Then in Chapter III, a single FET device mixer is studied and its conversion loss is found from its small-signal model. The chapter will then include a two FET device mixer and a four device FET mixer. Finally a new type of mixer will be discussed in Chapter IV. The new type of mixer is a 3 phase mixer with the phase angles being 0°, 120°, and 240°. The …

Sexuality Education, Eva Goldfarb, Norman A. Constantine

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Sexuality education comprises the lifelong intentional processes by which people learn about themselves and others as sexual, gendered beings from biological, psychological, and sociocultural perspectives. It takes place through a potentially wide range of programs and activities in schools, community settings, religious centers, as well as informally within families, among peers, and through electronic and other media. Sexuality education for adolescents occurs in the context of the biological, cognitive, and social-emotional developmental progressions and issues of adolescence. Formal sexuality education falls into two main categories: behavior change approaches, which are represented by abstinence-only and abstinence-plus models, and healthy sexual development …

Peddlers Of Hate: The Existence Of Norm Entrepreneurs As A Necessary Precursor To Genocide, Lauren Elise Fairbanks

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Over the course of the 20th century genocide has been responsible for the murder of more than 170 million people; it is has proven to be four times deadlier than war (Voth, 2007). Although it often appears spontaneous, Genocide is instead a result of certain preconditions. Studies into the causes of genocide ought to aid in the formation of methods intended to keep violence from occurring. Unfortunately, seemingly different factors such as economic crisis, resource scarcity, institutional weakness, and ethnic resentment prove difficult to classify as the ultimate cause. Instead these conditions work collectively to create an atmosphere that is …

Development, Implementation, And Evaluation Of A Social Skills Training Intervention In A Rural Special-School Setting For Students With Mild/Moderate Disabilities, Sheree Duncan

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Given the critical degree to which a person’s level of social competence influences one’s academic, mental, social, and interpersonal success, it is imperative that schools facilitate the learning of social skills. The purpose of this study was to design, implement and evaluate a social skills training intervention for students with mild disabilities (and behaviors that adversely affect their participation in a general curriculum or resource settings) in a rural special school setting. A review of literature guided the design and evaluation of the intervention. According to analysis of data on student behavior, the social skills training intervention did not consistently …

Low Power Wake-Up Signaling For Dense Sensor Networks, Ahmed M. Abuseta Ammar

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In wireless sensor networks, nodes are required to reduce their idle listening time in order to minimize energy consumption and increase their lifetime. The idle listening time is decreased by making the nodes remain in sleep mode and wake up only when they are required to sense or transmit information about an event. This strategy requires the source node to send a wake-up signal before it transmits data to the network. This wake-up signal requires energy and the objective of this work is to lower this signal's energy consumption.;In order to achieve this, this work uses Near Field Magnetic Induction …

Religious Affiliation And Attendance As Predictors Of Immigration Attitudes In Nebraska, Courtney Lyons Breitkreutz

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examines the relationship between religious affiliation, church attendance, and attitudes towards immigration. Following the ethnoreligious perspective, I predict that those who identify as Mainline Protestant, Evangelical Protestant, or Catholic will hold more positive attitudes than those who do not affiliate, which would reflect the teachings of their churches. I also predict that Catholics may have particularly positive attitudes because of social identity theory. Attending church services should be associated with more positive attitudes, according to religious restructuralism. Using 2006 telephone survey data of 1,135 Nebraskans from the Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS), I use binary logistic regression …