Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Perspectives Of Change: Municipal Park And Recreation Directors Perceptions Of The Importance Of Specified Organizational Goals 1983–2008, Daniel Archie Wheeler

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study examines specified goals park and recreation directors have previously determined are important for their organizations, and how those goals rank in importance in their present estimations, and how those goals rank in future importance. It compares a similar study of goals from 1983, and reports on changes in levels of importance from 1983 to 2008.

Directors' perceptions of goal importance of 2008 present levels and 2008 future levels were determined to be significantly different in 23 of 26 cases. Goals were grouped in four categories, (a) management/adaptation,/positional, having to do with management tasks, (b) groups served, those targeted …

Pain Stages Of Change: Variations In Pain Acceptance, Catastrophizing, And Emotional Distress Across A Model Of Readiness For Behavior Change, Melinda J. Collingwood

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Pain often signals a problem that needs our attention, but after healing has occurred and pain persists, protective behaviors may become maladaptive to day-to-day functioning. Through education, therapy, and self-management, individuals can learn to function well on a daily basis even with some pain present, but not all pain patients are ready for this type of self-management. The transtheoretical model has been adapted to assess individuals with chronic pain. If individuals are not ready for behavior change, relapse chances increase; therefore it becomes beneficial to understand an individual's level of readiness to change when judging potential treatment success. The ability …

Exploring The Relationship Between Parent Beliefs And Athletes' Perceptions: A Sport Commitment Approach, Heather M. Dewaard

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between parents' and gymnasts' perceptions on sport commitment constructs. The sport commitment model developed by Scanlan et al. (1993) provides a theoretical framework in which to explain why athletes participate. Two constructs in the sport commitment model, social constraints and support, represent the social influence factors which can be perceived as supportive or pressuring and may come from a variety of sources such as: parents, coaches, teachers, and peers. Parents tend to play an important role in their child's sport experiences (M.R. Weiss & Ferrer-Caja, 2002), and may influence an …

Surface Temperature Mapping Of The University Of Northern Iowa Campus Using High Resolution Thermal Infrared Aerial Imagery, Alexander Savelyev

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The goal of this study was to produce and analyze a heat loss map of the University of the Northern Iowa campus using thermal infrared remote sensing data. Aerial data with the spatial resolution of 0.29m and radiometric resolution of 14 bit was collected. A model for the pixel to radiance and temperature conversion was developed with its parameters estimated with an R² of 0.78. Temperature imagery was shown to be consistent over the time of the survey and accurate to within 12°C. The temperature map then was used to assess the conditions of the rooftops and steam pipelines …

A Case Study Of A Rural Iowa School Preparing To Meet New State Guidelines For School Libraries [Dissertation], Karla Steege Krueger

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The national school library guidelines place the greatest emphasis upon the teaching and learning component of school library programs led by professional school librarians. Despite findings linking school library programming, including instruction by professional school librarians, to increased student achievement on standardized tests and improved content learning through student inquiry using library resources, the importance of the instructional role of the school librarian remains largely unrecognized by administrators and teachers.

A qualitative case study of one rural Iowa elementary school provided insight into the issue of small schools without library programs as they are preparing to meet the Iowa reinstatement …