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Title: Remembering Paul A. M. Dirac. Florida State colleagues recall the legendary physicist.
Creator: Fineout, Gary, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Article which describes Paul A. M. Dirac on a more personal level from the perspectives of his colleagues at Florida State University, including his taciturn nature and his love of walking. Originally published in the Florida State Times, Volume 14, No. 6.
Date Issued: 2009-04
Identifier: 465223999, 332864, FSUdirac_fsutimesarticle
Format: Image (JPEG2000)

Title: Sedimentologic history of the lower St. Johns River estuary, northeast Florida.
Creator: O'Sullivan, Michael O., Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The goal of this study was to determine the sediment history of the Cedar and Ortega River estuaries, part of the lower St. Johns River (LSJR) in northeastern Florida. Sedimentation rate data based on 210Pb and 137Cs analyses, combined with the profiles of bulk sediment properties, reveal how natural and anthropogenic factors have altered the quantity and character of sediments in this urbanized estuary. This investigation also provides a chronology for future contaminant studies. Knowledge...
Show moreThe goal of this study was to determine the sediment history of the Cedar and Ortega River estuaries, part of the lower St. Johns River (LSJR) in northeastern Florida. Sedimentation rate data based on 210Pb and 137Cs analyses, combined with the profiles of bulk sediment properties, reveal how natural and anthropogenic factors have altered the quantity and character of sediments in this urbanized estuary. This investigation also provides a chronology for future contaminant studies. Knowledge of the timing of contaminant input to the sediments is useful in controlling the future introduction of contaminants. An additional goal of this study was to test the applicability of two sedimentation models, the Constant Initial Concentration (CIC) and the Constant Rate of Supply (CRS) models, to estuarine sedimentation., Forty-seven cores collected from the Cedar and Ortega Rivers were analyzed for percent water, percent organics, percent fines, bulk density, color, and sedimentary structure by x-radiography. A subset was analyzed for historic sedimentation rate using 210Pb analysis, and a smaller subset of cores was analyzed for short-term (~50 years) sedimentation rate using 137Cs. These measurements provide a record of historic changes in the geological and land-use conditions of the estuary. Additionally, several sets of bridge borings were examined to investigate longer-term trends in sedimentation in the estuary, and to establish the history of sedimentation during late Quaternary time. The large set of dated cores analyzed in this study provide a unique insight into the sedimentation history of a large estuary. In addition to being significant in its own right, this history provides a chronology for contaminant studies. Continuing studies of organic and trace metal pollutants--performed in the Cedar and Ortega Rivers on these and other cores--will employ the results of this investigation to determine the history of contamination in the lower St. Johns River.
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Date Issued: 2001
Identifier: 567773903, 1191552, FSDT1191552, fsu:14646
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Late Quaternary history of southern Cumberland Island, Georgia.
Creator: Robertson, Joseph Drew., Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The response of coastal barrier environments to late Quaternary sea-level oscillations and environmental change has long been of interest to coastal scientists. The coast of southeast Georgia and northeast Florida provides a relatively undeveloped setting in which to examine barrier response to long-term changes in sea level, salinity, and water temperature. Four sites along the southern tip of Cumberland Island, Georgia, a coastal barrier with a complex history, were selected for core...
Show moreThe response of coastal barrier environments to late Quaternary sea-level oscillations and environmental change has long been of interest to coastal scientists. The coast of southeast Georgia and northeast Florida provides a relatively undeveloped setting in which to examine barrier response to long-term changes in sea level, salinity, and water temperature. Four sites along the southern tip of Cumberland Island, Georgia, a coastal barrier with a complex history, were selected for core sampling and analysis. In this barrier setting, the results provide some insight as to how the coastal environments of southeastern Georgia and northeastern Florida have responded to late Quaternary oscillations in sea level, salinity, climate, and water temperature. The results may aid in predicting the response of such barrier environments to future changes in sea level and climatic conditions.
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Date Issued: 2001
Identifier: 574323882, 1191554, FSDT1191554, fsu:14648
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Manipulation of stimulus encoding in the study of retroactive inhibition in paired-associate learning.
Creator: Fagan, Robert L., Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Sixteen S's in each of eight experimental and two control groups participated in an experiment designed to study the relation between stimulus encoding and retroactive inhibition, in the A-B, A-C/D-C and A-B, A-Br/D-C P-A paradigms. In addition to manipulating stimulus encoding by instructions a modified cued recall test was employed to control for the effects of response competition. It was found that the encoding of instructions were unsuccessful, thus both the encoding and repetition...
Show moreSixteen S's in each of eight experimental and two control groups participated in an experiment designed to study the relation between stimulus encoding and retroactive inhibition, in the A-B, A-C/D-C and A-B, A-Br/D-C P-A paradigms. In addition to manipulating stimulus encoding by instructions a modified cued recall test was employed to control for the effects of response competition. It was found that the encoding of instructions were unsuccessful, thus both the encoding and repetition groups reported a significant amount of encoding. It was further found that recall was related to encoding, e.g., if an item was differentially encoded it was more likely to be recalled than if it was not differentially encoded. The results were interpreted as consistent with a cognitive-operant analysis of PAL.
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Date Issued: 1972
Identifier: 560430454, 1193387, FSDT1193387, fsu:14649
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Conversations with Ray Bradbury.
Creator: Aggelis, Steven Louis, Bickley, R. Bruce, Sandon, Leo, Lhamon, William T., McElrath, Joseph, Department of English, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Conversations with Ray Bradbury, edited by Steven Aggelis and published by the University Press of Mississippi in Spring 2004, is a collection of Ray Bradbury interviews from 1948 to 2002, with the last of these interviews being conducted by the editor. Besides the interviews, the university Press of Mississippi collection contains an introduction, chronology, and index. This dissertation includes and supplements the published work. Although the interviews in the published collection appear...
Show moreConversations with Ray Bradbury, edited by Steven Aggelis and published by the University Press of Mississippi in Spring 2004, is a collection of Ray Bradbury interviews from 1948 to 2002, with the last of these interviews being conducted by the editor. Besides the interviews, the university Press of Mississippi collection contains an introduction, chronology, and index. This dissertation includes and supplements the published work. Although the interviews in the published collection appear in the hard-copy of the dissertation, along with other interviews not in the University Press of Mississippi collection, they are excluded from the electronic copy, due to copyright restrictions. However, the electronic version does contain the following additional dissertation material: the unabridged introduction; chronology; two Bradbury interviews by Steven Aggelis, including the published interview and one not previously released; an annotated bibliography of published interviews with Ray Bradbury that consists of interviews selected for the collection as well as entries and excerpts from others not chosen; and an exhaustive bibliography of Bradbury primary and secondary sources, i.e., works by and about the author and his writings. The interviews reveal Bradbury's recurring interest in science, an appeal to and reliance on emotion versus reason, censorship and tyranny, urban planning, comics and cartoons, death, education, Hollywood, love or passion as a creative force, magic, outer space, morality, myth, philosophy, politics, psychology, racial relations, technology, sex, the economy, the future, the horror genre, films, the media, the use of metaphor, war, writing and writers, religion, and more.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0001
Format: Thesis

Title: Understanding Decentralization Local Power over Decision-Making for Comprehensive Planning in Florida.
Creator: Ali, Amal Kamal, Doan, Petra L., Serow, William, Miles, Rebecca, RuBino, Richard, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Decentralization strategies have been applied widely in both developed and developing countries. Previous research analyzes decentralization from above by dealing with two aggregated levels of government: the state and the local. Measures adopted by previous studies fail to reflect the various dimensions of decentralization. They do not show how decentralization is performed at the local level or whether local governments are empowered and able to make independent decisions without direct of...
Show moreDecentralization strategies have been applied widely in both developed and developing countries. Previous research analyzes decentralization from above by dealing with two aggregated levels of government: the state and the local. Measures adopted by previous studies fail to reflect the various dimensions of decentralization. They do not show how decentralization is performed at the local level or whether local governments are empowered and able to make independent decisions without direct of indirect intervention from the central government. In this research, I argue that local power over decision-making for comprehensive planning reflects governmental decentralization and captures its economic, political, and administrative dimensions. This research develops and tests a set of empirical measures of local agency power over decision-making for comprehensive planning. The measures analyze decentralization from below by investigating the extent of agency power over decision-making for comprehensive planning at the municipal level. It deals with local governments as disaggregated units, which enables us to compare and trace levels of power over decision-making across municipalities and over time. Major questions of the research are: what are empirical measures of local agency power over decision-making for comprehensive planning? and to what extent do proposed measures of local agency power succeed in reflecting levels of governmental decentralization? Florida was selected as the case study, because it has experienced xiii changes in its governmental decentralization levels since the adoption of its growth management system in the late 1960s. The unit of analysis is a governmental planning agency within municipalities having 10,000 or more inhabitants. A Delphi study was conducted to develop measures of each major dimension of local agency power over decision-making for comprehensive planning. Dimensions of power include agency legal authority, relative autonomy, control over local planning actions, and capacity to make planning decisions. Agency capacity consists of four sub-dimensions: technical, fiscal, institutional, and enforcement capacity. The proposed set of measures of local agency power over decision-making was tested empirically in Florida. Its applicability as an indicator of governmental decentralization was investigated by contrasting the model with measures of decentralization proposed by previous studies. The proposed empirical measures succeed in: 1) analyzing decentralization from below by dealing with local governments as disaggregated units, 2) demonstrating the variation in levels of power across Florida's municipalities, and 3) providing a comprehensive picture of decentralization by capturing its economic, political, and administrative dimensions. The research indicates that Florida's growth management system has shaped the structure of power over decision-making for comprehensive planning. The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) has been given a dominant role in the process of local planning. Regional planning councils (RPCs) have no power over decision-making despite their responsibilities as technical assistants, facilitators, and negotiators. Local governments have been required to prepare local comprehensive plans/plan amendments consistent with state and regional plans. Sanctions are used to ensure local compliance xiv with state requirements and standards. Therefore, the growth management system of Florida has reduced the power of local governments over decision-making for comprehensive planning, which increases levels of centralization in Florida. This research fills partially a gap in the literature of international development planning by presenting a tool to analyze decentralization from below, which enables us to design better strategies to establish decentralization at the local level. The research also contributes to the field of growth management by providing empirical measures of local agency power over decision-making for comprehensive planning. These measures should be addressed in policy analysis of growth management in order to improve planning systems and practices.
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Date Issued: 2002
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0002
Format: Thesis

Title: Living on the Hyphen: The Literature of the Early Arab-Americans Between 1870-1940.
Creator: Al-Issa, Fadi Ahmad, Goodman, Robin, Shinn, Christopher, Vitkus, Daniel, Department of English, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: In this thesis, I focus on the early from 1870 to 1940. I confirm that they did try to preserve their ethnic identity through language by applying Benedict Anderson's theory "imagined communities." In the first chapter, I explain the first encounters between the American and the Arab cultures and the influences of the Protestant missionaries in the Arab countries. In the second chapter, I discuss the issue of Arab-American literature and how it reflected the experiences and turmoil of the...
Show moreIn this thesis, I focus on the early from 1870 to 1940. I confirm that they did try to preserve their ethnic identity through language by applying Benedict Anderson's theory "imagined communities." In the first chapter, I explain the first encounters between the American and the Arab cultures and the influences of the Protestant missionaries in the Arab countries. In the second chapter, I discuss the issue of Arab-American literature and how it reflected the experiences and turmoil of the early Arab immigrants. In the third chapter I apply Andersons' concept of "imagined communities" to the Arab-American ethnicity.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0003
Format: Thesis

Title: Initiation of Treatment for Alcohol Abuse: A Developmental Approach.
Creator: Allgood, Jane G., McNeece, C. Aaron, Miles, Rebecca, Harrison, Dianne F., College of Social Work, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Alcohol abuse is often considered a young person's rite of passage and part of the maturing process. Indeed, the developmental periods when alcohol misuse and abuse are highest are those of adolescence and early adulthood. The focus for alcohol use research and funding over the years has been with adolescent prevention and intervention. Because of this focus on adolescents, little is being done to explore and to learn more about adult use and adult entry into treatment. Since the average age...
Show moreAlcohol abuse is often considered a young person's rite of passage and part of the maturing process. Indeed, the developmental periods when alcohol misuse and abuse are highest are those of adolescence and early adulthood. The focus for alcohol use research and funding over the years has been with adolescent prevention and intervention. Because of this focus on adolescents, little is being done to explore and to learn more about adult use and adult entry into treatment. Since the average age of the population is increasing, these attitudes toward alcohol use and treatment are no longer valid. Use, misuse, and abuse of alcohol in adulthood, especially that leading to addiction and then treatment, is a problem within the United States (US) that merits careful attention. The purpose of this dissertation research is to investigate specific aspects of entry into alcohol abuse treatment across stages of the life course. The investigation used the sequential life course theory of Levinson as the primary guiding theory and incorporated those aspects of Bronfenbrenner's social ecology theory used by Levinson. Specifically, with a population of approximately 94,000, this research examined the differences among individuals who began alcohol abuse treatment in mid-life and who experienced variations in time duration from the age of first use to the age of first treatment. Additionally, this research evaluated the timing of treatment episodes in light of the transitions within the life course as outlined by Levinson.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0004
Format: Thesis

Title: The Effects of Coaches' Behaviors and Burnout on the Satisfaction and Burnout of Athletes.
Creator: Altahayneh, Ziad L., Kent, Aubrey, Tenenbaum, Gershon, Jackson, E. Newton, Quarterman, Jerome, Department of Sport Management, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between coaches' burnout, coaches' behaviors, and levels of burnout and satisfaction experienced by college athletes. The secondary purposes were to examine how coaches' levels of burnout were related to perceived coaching behavior, and to examine the link between athletes' levels of burnout and satisfaction. Forty two male and female coaches employed at the 8 public universities in Jordan, and 413 male and female college...
Show moreThe main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between coaches' burnout, coaches' behaviors, and levels of burnout and satisfaction experienced by college athletes. The secondary purposes were to examine how coaches' levels of burnout were related to perceived coaching behavior, and to examine the link between athletes' levels of burnout and satisfaction. Forty two male and female coaches employed at the 8 public universities in Jordan, and 413 male and female college athletes participated in this study. The participants completed translated version of the Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS; Chelladurai & Saleh, 1980), Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ; Raedeke & Smith, 2001), Athlete Satisfaction Questionnaire (ASQ; Riemer & Chelladurai, 1998), and Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients, and stepwise regression. The results of this study suggest that there is a significant relationship between coaches' leadership behaviors and burnout. It was discovered that personal accomplishment and emotional exhaustion to be significant predictors of the coaches' leadership behaviors. Significant relationships were found between perceived coaching behaviors and athletes' outcomes. Athletes who perceived their coaches as providing more training and instruction, social support, feedback, and exhibiting more democratic behavior and less autocratic behavior were more satisfied and less burned out. In addition, significant negative relationships were found between athletes' satisfaction and athletes' burnout.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0005
Format: Thesis

Title: The Managerial Decision Styles of Florida's State University Libraries' Managers.
Creator: Alqarni, Abdulrahman O., Bertot, John, Garretson, Peter, Hart, Thomas, Burke, Darrell, School of Library and Information Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Decision-making is one of the most important elements in the administration of any organization. University libraries are, of course, organizations. Inside these organizations the managers make a variety of decisions that will have a significant impact on the success of those libraries. Libraries' managers utilize different methods in processing their decisions. Many factors play roles in the success of libraries' managers. The manager's managerial decision style is one factor that...
Show moreDecision-making is one of the most important elements in the administration of any organization. University libraries are, of course, organizations. Inside these organizations the managers make a variety of decisions that will have a significant impact on the success of those libraries. Libraries' managers utilize different methods in processing their decisions. Many factors play roles in the success of libraries' managers. The manager's managerial decision style is one factor that contributes to the success of the manager and therefore to the success of their organization; and yet, there is a dearth of research about decision styles used in library administration and how they influence the decision-making process. The main purpose of this study was to explore the managerial decision styles of the managers (directors, associate directors, assistant directors, and the heads of departments) of Florida's state university libraries. A second purpose was to determine the relation between the variety of managers' decision styles and the following seven variables: gender, age, ethnicity, educational level, educational major, administrative experience, and current position. The results of this study will provide baseline information to improve our understanding of library managers and management. This study was grounded in the Decision Style Model developed by Alan Rowe and Richard O. Mason (1987). A survey questionnaire was employed in this study. The questionnaire included two parts: 1. "The Decision Style Inventory" (DSI) developed by Row and Mason (1987). This inventory was applied to measure the decision styles of the managers of Florida's state university main libraries. 2. The second part of the questionnaire consisted of questions designed to obtain descriptive data such as gender, age, ethnicity, educational level, educational major, current position, and administrative experience. According to the Decision Style Model, it was found that the predominant decision style for the majority of Florida's state university main libraries' managers was the behavioral decision style, followed by the conceptual decision style. The directive decision style was the style used least often by most of these managers. As for the decision style patterns, the findings inform us that the majority of Florida's state university main libraries' managers think using the right side of the brain rather than the left side. It was also found that there was no relationship was found between Florida's state university libraries' managers and their gender, age, or highest academic degree. On the other hand, the findings of this study indicated that years of administrative experience, ethnicity, position, and educational major of these managers were indeed related to the decision style or styles used by these managers. To date there has been no research conducted on profiling the decision styles of Florida's state university libraries' managers and the process of how they think in order to reach their decisions. Given this, the results of this study provided baseline information to improve our understanding of library managers and management in general and in particular, understanding of library managers and management in Florida's state university libraries.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0006
Format: Thesis

Title: A Study Examining the Effectiveness of Two Instructional Treatments on Student Achievement, Motivation, and Cognitive Reasoning Processes in a Complex Concept Domain.
Creator: Amirault, Ray J., Wager, Walter W., Biance, Michael C., Herrington, Carolyn D., Keller, John M., Morgan, Robert M., Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems,...
Show moreAmirault, Ray J., Wager, Walter W., Biance, Michael C., Herrington, Carolyn D., Keller, John M., Morgan, Robert M., Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, Florida State University
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Abstract/Description: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a concept-focused and a procedures-focused instructional approach on adult learner concept acquisition in terms of performance, motivation, and concept usage in reasoning. The concepts in the study consisted of complex defined concepts from a highly technical domain. Eleven students in a graduate instructional design program were assigned via stratified groups to one of two instructional treatment groups, one concept-focused and...
Show moreThe purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a concept-focused and a procedures-focused instructional approach on adult learner concept acquisition in terms of performance, motivation, and concept usage in reasoning. The concepts in the study consisted of complex defined concepts from a highly technical domain. Eleven students in a graduate instructional design program were assigned via stratified groups to one of two instructional treatment groups, one concept-focused and one procedures-focused. Learners in the Concept-Focused Group received conceptual relational database design instruction early in the instructional sequence, prior to procedural instruction. Learners in the Procedures-Focused Group were presented the identical conceptual information, but embedded throughout an instructional sequence that emphasized procedural knowledge. Significant positive differences were found for far transfer performance and motivation levels in learners between the two groups. Verbal protocol analysis revealed no differences in time or trial and error strategies learners in the two groups took to solve a far transfer problem. These findings suggest that a concept-focused instructional strategy can positively impact student learning and motivation when learning complex defined concepts, and can assist learners in developing a more accurate mental model of these complex concepts. Suggestions for future research are presented.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0007
Format: Thesis

Title: Sylvester H. Scovel, Journalist, and the Spanish-American War.
Creator: Andreu, Darien Elizabeth, McElrath, Joseph R., Rehder, Ernest, Bickley, R. Bruce, Fenstermaker, John, Department of English, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Sylvester Henry "Harry" Scovel (1869-1905) was one of the most celebrated journalists of the Spanish-American War. Almost every scholar who has written about the correspondents of this late nineteenth-century engagement has made use of Scovel's dispatches from the New York World, particularly his on-the-scene reports of the explosion of the Maine. For the first time, all of Scovel's "war" writing for the Joseph Pulitzer owned New York World are here made available in edited form: 132...
Show moreSylvester Henry "Harry" Scovel (1869-1905) was one of the most celebrated journalists of the Spanish-American War. Almost every scholar who has written about the correspondents of this late nineteenth-century engagement has made use of Scovel's dispatches from the New York World, particularly his on-the-scene reports of the explosion of the Maine. For the first time, all of Scovel's "war" writing for the Joseph Pulitzer owned New York World are here made available in edited form: 132 dispatches dating from the explosion of the Maine on February 15, 1898, to his letter of August 10, 1898, an explanation and apology for the events surrounding his confrontation with General Shafter at the flag-raising ceremony in Santiago. Following an introduction treating the correspondent's life and experiences during the war is a transcription of each article, which has been given a close proofreading and then edited to reflect the discernible intentions of the author within the conventions of contemporaneous usage. The arrangement is chronological, and an "Editorial Methodology" explains how and why these articles are edited as they appear.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0008
Format: Thesis

Title: Institutional Influences and Control of Software Development Projects: An Examination of Air Force Software Project Teams.
Creator: Ayres, Bradley Jay, George, Joey F., Zmud, Robert W., Anthony, William P., Paradice, David, Department of Management Information Systems, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this dissertation was to expand current knowledge about control of software development projects by examining the effects that institutional influences have on the use of control mechanisms by software project teams, and how the different institutional influences affect each other. The findings provide support for an important relationship between institutional profiles and the adoption of formal control mechanisms by software project teams. First, different institutional...
Show moreThe purpose of this dissertation was to expand current knowledge about control of software development projects by examining the effects that institutional influences have on the use of control mechanisms by software project teams, and how the different institutional influences affect each other. The findings provide support for an important relationship between institutional profiles and the adoption of formal control mechanisms by software project teams. First, different institutional profiles will support different types of adoption of formal control mechanisms. Second, when the enacted profile of a software project team is consistent with a dominant institutional profile, the use of formal control mechanisms will be faithful to this profile. Third, when the enacted profile is conflicted, the use of formal control mechanisms will be mixed with both ceremonial and faithful appropriations. Fourth, the higher the tenure of the software project team, the more likely the enacted profile will be consistent with the older institutional context. Finally, the level of congruence of software project managers with a particular institutional profile will be positively related to the adoption of formal control mechanisms consistent with that profile. The study also found that when institutional elements are complementary to each other in the form of an institutional profile, they have a much greater influence on social actors than when the elements are independent of each other.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0009
Format: Thesis

Title: Gender Wage Differential and the Under-Representation of Women in IT Education Programs & IT Workforce.
Creator: Aydin, Necati, Lunstrum, John P., MacDonald, Victoria M., Cobbe, James H., Hansen, John H., Harris, Douglas N., Department of Middle and Secondary Education, Florida State...
Show moreAydin, Necati, Lunstrum, John P., MacDonald, Victoria M., Cobbe, James H., Hansen, John H., Harris, Douglas N., Department of Middle and Secondary Education, Florida State University
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Abstract/Description: This study examines the determinants of earnings and gender wage differentials for Florida's IT graduates and IT workers by using the Mincerian regression model and the Blinder-Oaxaca wage decomposition model. Florida Education and Training Placement Information Program (FETPIP) data and Census Microdata (PUMS) are used in both models to shed some light on the increasing under-representation of women in the IT workforce. The study finds that there has been little or no gender wage difference...
Show moreThis study examines the determinants of earnings and gender wage differentials for Florida's IT graduates and IT workers by using the Mincerian regression model and the Blinder-Oaxaca wage decomposition model. Florida Education and Training Placement Information Program (FETPIP) data and Census Microdata (PUMS) are used in both models to shed some light on the increasing under-representation of women in the IT workforce. The study finds that there has been little or no gender wage difference for IT graduates from the Community Colleges (CC) and Post-Secondary Education (PSE) programs, while there has been an increasing gender wage difference for the Public University (SUS) IT graduates since 1993. The gender coefficients from the Mincerian regression models indicate that the rate for the SUS IT graduates increased from its low value of 2% to the high value of 12% in the year 2002. The gender wage differential rates for the SUS IT graduates measured from the Blinder-Oaxaca model are consistent with the Mincerian Regression results. The wage decomposition model reveals that the gender wage differentials for SUS IT graduates increased from 10% in the year 1996, to 18% in the year 2002. The model further indicates that 30% of this wage gap in the year 2002 was due to gender discrimination. The study finds that a proxy experience variable overestimates the impact of experience on earnings for female workers. The study presents a notable difference between the impact of the actual experience variable based on FETPIP data and that of a proxy variable based on the PUMS data.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0010
Format: Thesis

Title: Florida Preservice Teachers' Attitudes Toward African American Vernacular English.
Creator: Abdul-Hakim, Isma'Il, Department of Middle and Secondary Education, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The study assessed the attitudes of preservice teachers in the state of Florida by using the African American Teacher Attitude Scale (AAETAS), a four point 46-item Likert Scale designed by Hoover et al (1997). This study also sought to determine which nine demographic variables were associated with the preservice teachers attitudes. The demographic variables were comprised of 1.) race, 2.) university attended, 3.) hometown size, 4.) gender, 5.) age, 6.) socio economic status, 7.) primary...
Show moreThe study assessed the attitudes of preservice teachers in the state of Florida by using the African American Teacher Attitude Scale (AAETAS), a four point 46-item Likert Scale designed by Hoover et al (1997). This study also sought to determine which nine demographic variables were associated with the preservice teachers attitudes. The demographic variables were comprised of 1.) race, 2.) university attended, 3.) hometown size, 4.) gender, 5.) age, 6.) socio economic status, 7.) primary language spoken at home/ in community, 8.) exposure to AAVE through high school course work, and 9.) exposure to AAVE through university course work. The Likert Scale (questionnaire) was comprised of statements that were made by educators during the 1970s. The questionnaire was graded and the researcher used the standard deviation and mean to set the ranges of under 110 (low), 110-153 (middle), and 154 or above (high). Furthermore, the researcher compared the ranges of the current study with the ranges (under 120/deficit, 120-159/difference and 160 or above) set by Hoover et al (1997). The researcher conducted a multiple regression analysis on the scores (dependent variable) and the demographic variables (independent variables). The subjects for this study were preservice teachers as well as education majors at two large universities in North Florida. The sample was a sample of convenience. A total of 153 preservice teachers completed the surveys. The results of the study indicate that language spoken at home and hometown population are closely associated with preservice teachers' attitudes. In addition, the results revealed that suburban bidialectical preservice teachers (i.e. those who speak both Standard English (SE) and AAVE as their primary languages at home) viewed AAVE more positively than preservice teachers from rural and urban areas who either speak SE, AAVE or both.
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Date Issued: 2002
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0011
Format: Thesis

Title: The Fantasy of Victorian Cross-Dressing.
Creator: Abbott, Stacey G., Faulk, Barry, Fenstermaker, John, Hawkins, Hunt, Department of English, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis discusses the manner in which imperialism affected race, gender, and class in Victorian England. In Victorian literature, the different periods of imperialism are evident within the literature—early imperialism literature shows how the English were aware of imperialism, but also how it was considered to be an issue usually outside of England, and New imperialism literature shows how England became extremely involved in world affairs. The two stages also exhibit varying degrees of...
Show moreThis thesis discusses the manner in which imperialism affected race, gender, and class in Victorian England. In Victorian literature, the different periods of imperialism are evident within the literature—early imperialism literature shows how the English were aware of imperialism, but also how it was considered to be an issue usually outside of England, and New imperialism literature shows how England became extremely involved in world affairs. The two stages also exhibit varying degrees of imperialism and conquering both inside the country of England and outside. In order to cope with this issue, many people cross-dressed (dressed, thought, or behaved) in a manner that was not consistent with their own gender, class, or race. Using theory from Anne McClintock as a springboard, I link global imperialism to the internal need within England to control its own people. I trace this phenomenon through early imperialism works Gaskell's Mary Barton, Bronte's Jane Eyre, and Dickens's Great Expectations, and New imperialism works Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and several of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes mysteries.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0012
Format: Thesis

Title: Factors Affecting the Performance Levels of Risk Management Behaviors of Florida High School Athletic Directors.
Creator: Aaron, Thomas C., Clement, Annie, Toole, Tonya, Jackson, E. Newton, Reynaud, B. Cecile, Department of Sport Management, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to measure the degree to which Florida High School athletic directors utilize risk management within their athletic program and (2) to determine whether selected demographic factors (i. e. undergraduate major, years of experience as Athletic Director, level of education, etc.) have an effect on the performance levels of these risk management behaviors. A 42-item survey was used to collect data related to specific risk management behaviors and 12...
Show moreThe purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to measure the degree to which Florida High School athletic directors utilize risk management within their athletic program and (2) to determine whether selected demographic factors (i. e. undergraduate major, years of experience as Athletic Director, level of education, etc.) have an effect on the performance levels of these risk management behaviors. A 42-item survey was used to collect data related to specific risk management behaviors and 12 demographic items. Descriptive statistics were calculated for each factor on the demographic section of the survey, the composite scores for each of the individual items on the survey, for all of the items combined (grand mean), and for the composite scores of each conceptual area (i.e. medical concerns, facilities, etc.). A one-way ANOVA was then used to test for significance among the independent variables (selected demographic factors) and dependent variables (risk management behavior scores of the (1) grand mean, (2) conceptual area means, and (3) individual item means). Results of the study suggest that (1) the risk management behaviors being performed within Florida High School athletic departments are being performed on a rather consistent basis and that (2) the two primary factors that influenced FHSAA athletic director's performance of risk management behaviors were current employment status and current coaching status.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0013
Format: Thesis

Title: Distance Learning Students' Perceptions of the Online Instructor Roles and Competencies.
Creator: Abdulla, Ahmad G., Hart, Thomas L., Garretson, Peter P., Bertot, John C., Kazmer, Michelle M., School of Library and Information Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: One of the most important roles of the online instructor is to insure successful teaching by keeping students' interactions and discussions focused on topic, adding knowledge and expertise, and maintaining group harmony. Therefore, the success of online learning depends on the instructors' ability to acquire new competencies, rather than mastering the technology. Despite the growth in online instructor competency related studies, there is a lack of research regarding the instructors' roles...
Show moreOne of the most important roles of the online instructor is to insure successful teaching by keeping students' interactions and discussions focused on topic, adding knowledge and expertise, and maintaining group harmony. Therefore, the success of online learning depends on the instructors' ability to acquire new competencies, rather than mastering the technology. Despite the growth in online instructor competency related studies, there is a lack of research regarding the instructors' roles and competencies from the distance learning students' perspective. This study was an attempt to explore distance learning students' perceptions of the roles and competencies defined by experts in the field. A comprehensive list of roles, outputs, and competencies of online instructors were provided to the students in order to rate the importance of each role and competency. It was the purpose of this study to compare the findings of this study with the findings of pervious studies. The population of this study included all distance learning graduate students (n = 328) currently enrolled in the School of Information Studies at Florida State University. Forty-two percent (n = 140) of the original student population of 328, completed and submitted the online survey. Roles and competencies were ranked by their importance; ranking was also achieved by taking the average of competency means across roles and competencies. Results for the top ten competencies in overall importance, based on highest mean rating are: Content Knowledge, Facilitation (discussion) Skills, Organizational Skills, Planning Skills, English Proficiency, Presentation Skills, Interpersonal Communication Skills, Learning Styles and Theory, Teaching Strategies/models, Skills with Internet Tools for Instruction. The findings also determined that when compared to previous competency studies, there was a significant difference between students' perceptions and experts' perceptions regarding the most important online instructor competencies. Experts rated social competencies (interpersonal communication skills) number one in the list of top ten most important online instructor competencies; on the other hand, students rated intellectual competencies (content knowledge) number one in their list of top ten. However, both experts and students concurred regarding managerial competencies, because both rated at least four managerial skills in the list of top ten competencies. Distance learning students' responses indicated that instructors should give careful attention to the development and improvement of their intellectual, social, managerial, and technical roles and competencies. The importance of paying attention to the technical and managerial roles, in addition to intellectual and social competencies of the online instructor, were emphasized as critical factors for the success of discussion and interaction in the online environment. This dissertation has helped bridge the gap between the perceptions of distance education experts and distance learning students by providing a comprehensive list of important online instructors' roles and competencies. Due to the rate of change in technologies used to deliver instruction and related changes in higher education, it is recommended to do another study to identify more roles and competencies. This study should be expanded to include the perceptions of students in different disciplines and other countries.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0014
Format: Thesis

Title: Power Plays: A Longitudinal Examination of Ceo/Bod Power Circulation and Its Impact on Organizational Performance.
Creator: Adams, Garry L., Lamont, Bruce T., Kacmar, Charles J., Ferris, Gerald R., Jr., David J. Ketchen, Department of Management, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This dissertation focuses on CEO and BOD power relationships, examining individual and organizational antecedent and outcome factors impacted by CEO and BOD powers. Four primary research questions are explored, specifically 1) What is the temporal structure of power relationships, and how should these relationships be modeled in empirical study? 2) What is the nature of the dyadic relationship between CEO and BOD power?, 3) Is there a reciprocal relationship between CEO and BOD powers and...
Show moreThis dissertation focuses on CEO and BOD power relationships, examining individual and organizational antecedent and outcome factors impacted by CEO and BOD powers. Four primary research questions are explored, specifically 1) What is the temporal structure of power relationships, and how should these relationships be modeled in empirical study? 2) What is the nature of the dyadic relationship between CEO and BOD power?, 3) Is there a reciprocal relationship between CEO and BOD powers and firm performance?, and 4) What are the primary antecedents of CEO and BOD powers, and how do these antecedents influence CEO and BOD power development? A longitudinal study design is employed to inspect the determinants and consequences of organizational power circulation over time, and polynomial lag regression techniques are employed to explore different relationships within the study model. The primary goal of this study is to develop a greater understanding of the nature of CEO and BOD power relationships, and to examine their impact on firm performance. A variety of corporate governance theories, including agency, managerial hegemony, resource dependency, and power circulation theories, are utilized to build a contingent model of power and governance. This merging of governance theories offers greater insight into the nature of CEO – BOD power relationships, as well as drivers of power shifts within the firm over time. The study findings support reciprocity in the relationship between CEO power and firm performance, validating the Daily and Johnson (1997) study results and managerial hegemony theoretical perspectives of governance relationships. The study results did not support a reciprocal relationship between BOD power and performance, with significant findings for the BOD power – performance linkage but insignificant results for the performance – BOD power linkage. In addition, post hoc analysis supports the hypothesized relationship of Strategic Choice mediating the CEO Power – Organizational Performance linkage. The study findings also offer some support for temporal modeling of power antecedent and outcome relationships. Study conclusions, limitations, and directions for future research are also offered for consideration.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0015
Format: Thesis

Title: Development of a Solid Hydrogen Particle Generator for Feasibility Testing of a Solid Hydrogen Optical Mass Gauging System Prototype.
Creator: Adams, Thomas Edgar, Sciver, Steven W. Van, Luongo, Cesar A., Kalu, Peter N., Department of Mechanical Engineering, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: In recent years, NASA has become interested in densified fuels such as solid hydrogen. A change from liquid to solid-state fuel storage would result in an approximately 15% smaller onboard fuel tank, and thus a lower gross vehicle lift off weight. A lower lift off weight would allow for heavier payloads, more crewmembers, or longer space flight missions. The ability to store and use solid-state fuels would also lend to the possibility of more powerful atomic based propellants, such as boron...
Show moreIn recent years, NASA has become interested in densified fuels such as solid hydrogen. A change from liquid to solid-state fuel storage would result in an approximately 15% smaller onboard fuel tank, and thus a lower gross vehicle lift off weight. A lower lift off weight would allow for heavier payloads, more crewmembers, or longer space flight missions. The ability to store and use solid-state fuels would also lend to the possibility of more powerful atomic based propellants, such as boron or carbon, in the future. However, currently used techniques for liquid based mass gauging, required for quantifying the remaining mass in onboard fuel tanks, are not applicable to solid mass gauging. A new mass gauging technique is required to implement the use of solid-state fuel. It is required that this new mass gauging technique be capable of continuous measurement despite variations in fuel distribution, changes in gravitational forces, and other effects associated with mass in motion experienced during space flight. Furthermore, this technique and its related equipment must be minimally invasive to the fuel system, both mechanically and thermally. Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), has recently developed an optical mass gauging system with promising results in ground based tests on liquid hydrogen. The optical mass gauging system developed by ATG is coupled to a fuel tank via fiber-optic cables and utilizes the unique absorption spectra of molecular hydrogen, a tunable laser light source, a pseudo-integration optical sphere, and a spectrometer to gauge mass. A nearly monochromatic light, including an absorption wavelength for molecular hydrogen at a given intensity, is reflected uniformly within the pseudo integration sphere containing hydrogen. The intensity of the absorption wavelength is attenuated by hydrogen mass absorption, and the remainder is uniformly reflected about the internal surface of the pseudo-integration sphere. A ratiometric calculation is then used to approximate the attenuation due to mass, and ultimately the mass present, based on intensity measurements taken for an absorption wavelength and a non-absorption wavelength from the spheres internal surface. This system is minimally invasive and can be used to gauge quantities of solid mass by adjusting the emitted spectra to overlap the primary absorption wavelength of solid hydrogen at approximately 797.4 [nm]. In the present work, a solid hydrogen particle generator was designed and fabricated to test the response of the solid hydrogen optical mass gauging system (SHOMGS) prototype developed by ATG. The solid hydrogen particle generator consists of several components. Pre-cooled hydrogen gas (~80 K) was introduced from a cold trap into an encapsulated temperature controlled reservoir that was partially submerged in a bath of liquid helium at 4.2 K. This reservoir utilized the latent heat of the liquid helium bath as well as the heat capacity of the helium vapor to condense the hydrogen gas into liquid at approximately 19 K. Following condensation of a desired quantity of liquid hydrogen, the ullage in the reservoir was pressurized with helium gas to create a favorable pressure gradient for injection. A valve at the base of the reservoir was then opened to inject a fine spray of liquid hydrogen through an injection nozzle into a SHOMGS equipped pseudo-integration sphere containing a bath of liquid helium at approximately 4.2 K. The liquid helium bath of the sphere is used to solidify the droplets of liquid hydrogen into solid particles. A coaxial capacitor liquid level sensor was used in the liquid hydrogen reservoir to quantify the amount of mass injected from the particle generation system during each injection. Seven experiments were conducted. In each experiment, 10 to 20 mass injections were made to determine the response of the SHOMGS and the reproducibility of the results from the particle generation system. Raw data was recorded of the liquid hydrogen conditions before and after each injection, as well as associated changes in capacitance. These values were then used to calculate the injected mass. In addition, raw data was recorded from the SHOMGS regarding changes in reflected light intensity corresponding to each injection. Ratiometric analysis was performed on the light intensity data and this response was plotted against the quantities of mass injected to correlate the SHOMGS response. Following this battery of tests, several conclusions were determined. The solid hydrogen particle generator is capable of repeatable results and can provide known quantities of solid hydrogen with a calculated mass error of 10-20% dependant largely on the amount injected. The SHOMGS developed by ATG exhibits responses correlated to changes in mass injected. Following further development, this prototype could be modified for use on future space flight platforms.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0016
Format: Thesis

Title: Improving Monte Carlo Linear Solvers Through Better Iterative Processes.
Creator: Aggarwal, Vikram, Srinivasan, Ashok, Mascagni, Michael, Engelen, Robert van, Department of Computer Science, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Monte Carlo (MC) linear solvers are fundamentally based on the ability to estimate a matrix-vector product, using a random sampling process. They use the fact that deterministic stationary iterative processes to solve linear systems can be written as sums of a series of matrix-vector products. Replacing the deterministic matrix-vector products with MC estimates yields a MC linear solver. While MC linear solvers have a long history, they did not gain widespread acceptance in the numerical...
Show moreMonte Carlo (MC) linear solvers are fundamentally based on the ability to estimate a matrix-vector product, using a random sampling process. They use the fact that deterministic stationary iterative processes to solve linear systems can be written as sums of a series of matrix-vector products. Replacing the deterministic matrix-vector products with MC estimates yields a MC linear solver. While MC linear solvers have a long history, they did not gain widespread acceptance in the numerical linear algebra community, for the following reasons: (i) their slow convergence, and (ii) the limited class of problems for which they converged. Slow convergence is caused by both, the MC process for estimating the matrix-vector product, and the stationary process underlying the MC technique, while the latter is caused primarily by the stationary iterative process. The MC linear algebra community made significant advances in reducing the errors from slow convergence through better techniques for estimating the matrix-vector product, and also through a variety of variance reduction techniques. However, use of MC linear algebra is still limited, since the techniques use only stationary iterative processes resulting from a diagonal splitting (for example, Jacobi), which have poor convergence properties. The reason for using such splittings is because it is believed that efficient MC implementations of more sophisticated splittings is not feasible. Consequently, little effort has been placed by the MC community on addressing this important issue. In this thesis, we address the issue of improving the iterative process underlying the MC linear solvers. In particular, we demonstrate that the reasons for considering only diagonal splitting is not valid, and show a specific non-diagonal splitting for which an efficient MC implementation is feasible, even though it superficially suffers from the drawbacks for which non-diagonal splittings were not considered by the MC linear algebra community. We also show that conventional techniques to improve deterministic iterative processes, such as the Chebyshev method, show promise in improving MC techniques too. Despite such improvements, we do not expect MC techniques to be competitive with modern deterministic techniques to accurately solve linear systems. However, MC techniques have the advantage that they can obtain approximate solutions fast. For example, an estimate of the solution can be obtained in constant time, independent of the size of the matrix, if we permit a small amount of preprocessing. There are other advantages too, such as the ability to estimate specific components of a solution, and latency and fault tolerance in parallel and distributed environments. There are a variety of applications where fast, approximate, solutions are useful, such as preconditioning, graph partitioning, and information retrieval. Thus MC linear algebra techniques are of relevance to important classes of applications. We demonstrate this by showing its benefits in an application to dynamic load balancing of parallel computations.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0017
Format: Thesis

Title: Evaluation and Enhancement of Electro-Kinetic Technology for Remediation of Chromium Copper Arsenic from Clayey Soil.
Creator: Ahmad, Hafiz, Leszczynska, Danuta, Tull, James F., Dzurik, Andrew, Chan-Hilton, Amy, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: A relatively new technique of electro-kinetic remediation is examined to evaluate and enhance removal of residual of the CCA (chromated copper arsenate) from clayey soil. A short duration (25-hours) treatment approach was initiated for this purpose. Laboratory 1-D column tests were performed on kaolin soil under the influence of DC electric field. Different chemicals (acid, alkali and oxidizing agents) and tap water were purged through electro-osmotic flow to enhance chromium, copper, arsenic...
Show moreA relatively new technique of electro-kinetic remediation is examined to evaluate and enhance removal of residual of the CCA (chromated copper arsenate) from clayey soil. A short duration (25-hours) treatment approach was initiated for this purpose. Laboratory 1-D column tests were performed on kaolin soil under the influence of DC electric field. Different chemicals (acid, alkali and oxidizing agents) and tap water were purged through electro-osmotic flow to enhance chromium, copper, arsenic remediation. Configuration of electrodes/reactor setup was also adjusted to improve the removal efficiency of the CCA chemicals by inducing buoyancy with electro-osmotic flow. Interesting results were obtained showing up to 78% of arsenic and 72% copper removal by purging sodium hypo-chlorite (NaOCl). Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) purging also indicated enhanced removal with 74% arsenic and 72% copper removal. It was difficult to remove chromium and maximum removal was only 3.75% when the soil was purged with tap water. The batch experiments show that with respect to individual contaminant remediation, the removal efficiency increases many times when contaminants in the soil are in mixed-form. Inclined reactor setup showed enhanced electro-osmotic flow due to the effect of buoyancy. A model combining main phenomena of contaminant movement: electro-migration, electro-osmosis, diffusion, and buoyancy was developed for a small Debye length. The model predicts the behavior of pH, which is an important parameter that governs the migration of contaminants. Calculation based on the model showed excellent agreement when compared with the pH profile of experimental data of tap water purging for copper remediation. Although additional modeling and experimentation is needed, the results of this thesis demonstrate that electro-kinetic remediation with suitable purging chemicals may offer enhanced removal of polluted soil.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0018
Format: Thesis

Title: Antigenicity of the Low Molecular Weight Proteins in Selected Tree Nuts, Oilseeds, Legumes and Cereals.
Creator: Ahrens, Susan Ellen, Sathe, Shridhar K., Roux, Kenneth H., Mistry, Anahita, Department of Nutrition, Food, and Exercise Science, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The antigenic properties of the low molecular weight (LMW) proteins, polypeptides and peptides of several plant foods were evaluated. Trichloroacetic acid (0.6 M) was used to isolate the non-proteins nitrogen fraction of selected tree nuts, oilseeds, legumes and cereals. The antigenicity and cross-reactivity for LMW proteins, polypeptides and peptides were evaluated with polyclonal antibodies raised against almond, almond major protein (AMP), cashew major protein (CMP), peanut, pecan,...
Show moreThe antigenic properties of the low molecular weight (LMW) proteins, polypeptides and peptides of several plant foods were evaluated. Trichloroacetic acid (0.6 M) was used to isolate the non-proteins nitrogen fraction of selected tree nuts, oilseeds, legumes and cereals. The antigenicity and cross-reactivity for LMW proteins, polypeptides and peptides were evaluated with polyclonal antibodies raised against almond, almond major protein (AMP), cashew major protein (CMP), peanut, pecan, pistachio and walnut glutelin and monoclonal antibodies raised against AMP (mAb 4C10 and 4F10) and cashew (Ana o 1-4B7 and Ana o 2-4H9). Three immunological assays were utilized to determine antigenicity and cross-reactivity, including Dot blotting, Western blotting and ELISA. The ELISA utilized in this study used rabbit anti almond as the primary antibody, and the almond standard curve had an IC50 value of 0.4837 ± 0.028 mg/ml. Significant antigenicity and cross-reactivity in the NPN fraction was found with Dot blot, Western blot and ELISA assays. Antigenic peptides with a molecular weight range of 7.69-31.02 kDa were identified. TCA extracted tree nut and oilseed samples were typically more cross reactive than legumes and cereals. Typically, cereals were not determined to be cross-reactive in more than one assay. Polyclonal antibodies that were raised against whole proteins recognized more antigenic LMW species than polyclonal antibodies that were more specific. Also, monoclonal antibodies did not recognize any cross-reactive species in the NPN fraction. This study serves as a preliminary tool for LMW antigen identification and can guide the direction of future research in this area. Establishing clinical relevance in humans will be important before these LMW antigens can be considered allergens. If identified antigens are determined to be allergens, research focused on reducing their allergenicity can be approached.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0019
Format: Thesis

Title: Commercialism, Accessibility, Popularity, and Originality in American High-Art Music: Richard Danielpour, a Case Study.
Creator: Akers, Ruth Ruggels, Glahn, Denise Von, Jumonville, Neil, Brewer, Charles, Bridger, Carolyn Ann, College of Music, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This dissertation considers the life and music of Richard Danielpour (b. 1956) and how they intersect with the issues of commercialism, accessibility, popularity, and originality in twentieth- and twenty-first century American art music. It also explores Danielpour's motivations for composing and the position of his music in American culture within the context of the changes that have occurred–particularly in the last twenty to thirty years–in the criteria for assessing musical value and...
Show moreThis dissertation considers the life and music of Richard Danielpour (b. 1956) and how they intersect with the issues of commercialism, accessibility, popularity, and originality in twentieth- and twenty-first century American art music. It also explores Danielpour's motivations for composing and the position of his music in American culture within the context of the changes that have occurred–particularly in the last twenty to thirty years–in the criteria for assessing musical value and meaning in American high art. Much of the music being written and performed well into the third quarter of the twentieth century was completely unintelligible to a majority of concert goers, and a huge gap had developed between classical composers and their public. Richard Danielpour is one of many composers in the late twentieth- and early twenty-first centuries who have sought to bridge that gap, in part by aligning themselves with the tradition of writing music that is emotionally evocative and musically valid. Danielpour's concern for reaching his audience underscores his sincere desire to be appreciated artistically and understood intellectually. Danielpour writes in an accessible, neo-romantic style that embraces tonality despite frequent dissonances. Some critics suggest that he borrows too much from others, but his music possesses many distinctive qualities. In addition, Danielpour's detailed programs help listeners relate to music that they might not otherwise understand. Of the ten recordings of his music, the Pittsburgh Symphony's CD of his Concerto for Orchestra was nominated for a Grammy in the category of "classical contemporary composition." Yo-Yo Ma's recording that included Danielpour's first cello concerto won three Grammies. Frequent commissions from major orchestras and well-known soloists indicate the degree of popularity that Danielpour has achieved in the classical musical world. Although this may not equal the commercial success of pop composers, Danielpour can still be considered financially successful: in an age when many contemporary composers struggle to be heard at all, Danielpour's compositions receive multiple performances here and abroad.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0020
Format: Thesis

Title: Like a Tree on Its Side.
Creator: Kantrowitz, Dana, Stuckey-French, Ned, Gardner, Joann, Department of English, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis is a collection of lyric poetry and personal essays. The two genres are spliced together in a design intended to use their visual differences and contextual similarities to more fully understand the people, places, and events examined here. The material is based on the author's personal experiences, but is reflected upon and shared in this form in hopes of highlighting the universality of human emotions. Thematically, it delves into the complexities of personal relationships...
Show moreThis thesis is a collection of lyric poetry and personal essays. The two genres are spliced together in a design intended to use their visual differences and contextual similarities to more fully understand the people, places, and events examined here. The material is based on the author's personal experiences, but is reflected upon and shared in this form in hopes of highlighting the universality of human emotions. Thematically, it delves into the complexities of personal relationships—family dynamics, romantic interests, and one's knowledge of herself—and explores how they change over time.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0022
Format: Thesis

Title: A Scale Development for Sport Fan Motivation.
Creator: Al-Thibiti, Yousof, Jackson, E. Newton, Kamata, Akihito, Quarterman, Jerome, Ragheb, Mounir, Department of Sport Management, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The primary purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument to assess sport fan motivation. Also, the new measure was employed to examine the relationship between sport fan motivation and ethnic identity. One hundred sixty nine college students from two southeastern institutions participated in this study. Data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, Bivariate correlation, t test, ANOVA, and descriptive statistics. The Fan Motivation Scale (FMS),...
Show moreThe primary purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument to assess sport fan motivation. Also, the new measure was employed to examine the relationship between sport fan motivation and ethnic identity. One hundred sixty nine college students from two southeastern institutions participated in this study. Data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, Bivariate correlation, t test, ANOVA, and descriptive statistics. The Fan Motivation Scale (FMS), developed in this study, consisted of six components with 22 items. The number of items under every component range from 5 to 2 items (quality of the game 4 items, escape 5 items, boredom avoidance 5 items, social 3 items, entertainment 3 items, and sport atmosphere 2 items). In addition, two hypotheses were tested in the current study. The first hypothesis was that ethnic identity is positively related to sport fan motivation. The second hypothesis assumed that there was a difference between African Americans and European Americans in their ethnic identity. The results revealed the FMS is a reliable measure with an overall alpha score of 0.90. Significant differences were found between participants in the total FMS and some of the subscales based on gender and ethnicity. However, the outcomes of the samples examined in this study do not support the first hypothesis. Therefore, no significant relationship was found between sport fan motivation and ethnic identity. Regarding the second hypothesis, a significant difference was found between African Americans and European Americans in their ethnic identity.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0023
Format: Thesis

Title: Graduate Students' Information Needs from Electronic Information Resources in Saudi Arabia.
Creator: Al-Saleh, Yasir Nasser, Burnett, Kathleen, Garretson, Peter, Hart, Thomas, Burke, Darrell, School of Library and Information Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This study was driven by the growing importance of electronic information resources in university scholarly inquiry. The main focus of the research was to discover graduate students' information needs, the level of these needs, and the extent to which they were being met in relation to accessing and utilizing electronic information in an academic environment. The study's conceptual framework was grounded in Dervin's sense-making theory. It used Kari's modification of sense-making to clarify...
Show moreThis study was driven by the growing importance of electronic information resources in university scholarly inquiry. The main focus of the research was to discover graduate students' information needs, the level of these needs, and the extent to which they were being met in relation to accessing and utilizing electronic information in an academic environment. The study's conceptual framework was grounded in Dervin's sense-making theory. It used Kari's modification of sense-making to clarify the research questions and guide the survey questionnaire to examine Saudi graduate students' information actions (needs, seeking, and use) in the context of academic electronic information resources in Saudi Arabian universities. The study examined graduate students in three Saudi universities: Umm Al-Qura University, King Saud University, and King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals. Because the researcher wanted to examine a large sample of Saudi university graduate students' information needs, a quantitative survey was most practical and cost-effective. The variables of the study were gender, age, academic degree, major, English language proficiency, Internet experience, and university. The sample of the study was 502 graduate students (10% of all Saudi Arabian graduate students) in the three universities. There were 480 usable responses which were coded and analyzed using SPSS software. The study used both descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings indicated that only half of graduate students used the library's electronic resources for their academic information needs. Chi-square test found a significant relationship between graduate students' use or lack of use of their library's electronic resources and the students' situational variables. Of those students who used the library's electronic resources, only about half needed these for written class assignments (61.1%), their thesis or dissertation (59.8%), and/or personal use (47.1%). Only 18.4% needed electronic information for oral class presentations and 8.6% for other purposes. For information strategies, the library's electronic resources were never ranked as the first strategy of the six that were available. Kendall's tau-b test indicated a significant relationship between graduate students' strategies and their English proficiency. Of those graduate students who used the library's electronic resources, most said they always accessed the Online Catalog (59.0%) and the Internet (60.2%), but only sometimes used electronic journals (52.9%), databases (50.4%), and other links on the library website (45.1%). The analysis of variance (ANOVA) test revealed significant differences between students' English language proficiency and the frequency of their use of these resources. Most students tended to agree that they were able to make sense of the information they got from the library's electronic resources. However, they could not tell if they achieved information success or information overall satisfaction. ANOVA showed significant differences between students' major and their judgment on the usefulness of the retrieved information. The main barrier to student information actions was insufficient instructions for using or searching the library's electronic resources followed by not enough librarians to help. Other barriers were insufficient availability of computers or computer labs and libraries did not improve graduate students information technology skills. Difficulty accessing the Internet and the library's electronic resources, clarity and ease of use of these resources, and relationship to their field were additional barriers to electronic information. Overall, the study showed that, for a variety of reasons, the considerable electronic information resources of Saudi university libraries are under-utilized because they are not meeting graduate student needs. The most striking finding for this study was that most of the graduate students were deterred from using electronic resources, apparently due to experienced or perceived barriers. Graduate students who accessed these resources often found them not useful for their needs, further discouraging use. Instead, many graduate students' information seeking situations were very diverse, yet the usefulness of library electronic information was questionable.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0024
Format: Thesis

Title: New Strategies for Proteomics and Peptidomics Using Polymer Liquid Crystals for Electrophoresis.
Creator: Al-Sayah, Mohammad Ahmed, Rill, Randolph L., Winkle, David H. Van, Dorsey, John G., Schlenoff, Joseph B., Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Different gel matrices were explored to extend the use of two dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis for peptide analysis. Excellent separations of peptides labeled with the fluorescent dye Cascade Yellow were achieved in one dimension on two gel media: traditional polyacrylamide and reversible liquid crystalline gels of Pluronic F127. Separations on both media depended primarily on size to charge ratio, excepting a few peptides strongly retained by Pluronic F127. A unique 2D gel...
Show moreDifferent gel matrices were explored to extend the use of two dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis for peptide analysis. Excellent separations of peptides labeled with the fluorescent dye Cascade Yellow were achieved in one dimension on two gel media: traditional polyacrylamide and reversible liquid crystalline gels of Pluronic F127. Separations on both media depended primarily on size to charge ratio, excepting a few peptides strongly retained by Pluronic F127. A unique 2D gel electrophoresis system for peptide separation coupled with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry for identification was developed. Cascade Yellow succinimidyl ester, an amine-reactive dye, labels the amino-terminus of peptides and the å-amino group of lysines at pH 7-9. Occasional labeling of tyrosine residues was also observed. Specific amino-terminal labeling was achieved at alkaline pH (pH >10) due to the base-lability of the å-amino and the tyrosine adducts. The 2D system utilized 15% polyacrylamide with the basic (pH 8.3) Laemmli buffer system (without SDS) in the first dimension. Pluronic F127 (24%) was used in the second dimension with acidic Tris-ClCH2COOH buffer (pH 3.0). The second dimension in Pluronic F127 was done horizontally with a thin overlayer of buffer to provide direct access to the separated peptides. Due to its semi-fluid nature, Pluronic F127 provided a good interface between the two dimensions so that the peptides migrated smoothly from the first dimension to the second. The peak capacity of the 2D mini-gel system (8x10 cm) was approximately 500. Larger gels are expected to yield a peak capacity of about 2000, competitive with many 2D HPLC methods. MALDI-TOF MS was used to identify peptides in spots directly sipped from gels. Peptide samples with concentrations > 0.5 ìg/ml were directly spotted on MALDI targets and identified without further purification. Small polymer chains contaminating Pluronic F127 started to interfere with the detection of peptides at concentrations 10) due to the base-lability of the å-amino and the tyrosine adducts. The 2D system utilized 15% polyacrylamide with the basic (pH 8.3) Laemmli buffer system (without SDS) in the first dimension. Pluronic F127 (24%) was used in the second dimension with acidic Tris-ClCH2COOH buffer (pH 3.0). The second dimension in Pluronic F127 was done horizontally with a thin overlayer of buffer to provide direct access to the separated peptides. Due to its semi-fluid nature, Pluronic F127 provided a good interface between the two dimensions so that the peptides migrated smoothly from the first dimension to the second. The peak capacity of the 2D mini-gel system (8x10 cm) was approximately 500. Larger gels are expected to yield a peak capacity of about 2000, competitive with many 2D HPLC methods. MALDI-TOF MS was used to identify peptides in spots directly sipped from gels. Peptide samples with concentrations > 0.5 ìg/ml were directly spotted on MALDI targets and identified without further purification. Small polymer chains contaminating Pluronic F127 started to interfere with the detection of peptides at concentrations 0.5 ìg/ml were directly spotted on MALDI targets and identified without further purification. Small polymer chains contaminating Pluronic F127 started to interfere with the detection of peptides at concentrations
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0025
Format: Thesis

Title: Phylogeography of the Sigmodontine Rodent, Phyllotis Xanthopygus, and a Test of the Sensitivity of Nested Clade Analysis to Elevation-Based Alternative Distances.
Creator: Albright, James Christopher, Steppan, Scott, Levitan, Don, Swofford, David, Department of Biological Science, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: I undertook a phylogenetic and phylogeographic study of the widespread Andean rodent, Phyllotis xanthopygus. My goals were to obtain general information about the history of the species and to explore some issues of Nested Clade Analysis (NCA) sensitivity in an empirical framework. The mitochondrial marker, cytochrome-b, was sequenced to produce an intraspecific maximum-likelihoo phylogeny of Phyllotis xanthopygus. I assessed the sensitivity of NCA to alternative distances by incorporating...
Show moreI undertook a phylogenetic and phylogeographic study of the widespread Andean rodent, Phyllotis xanthopygus. My goals were to obtain general information about the history of the species and to explore some issues of Nested Clade Analysis (NCA) sensitivity in an empirical framework. The mitochondrial marker, cytochrome-b, was sequenced to produce an intraspecific maximum-likelihoo phylogeny of Phyllotis xanthopygus. I assessed the sensitivity of NCA to alternative distances by incorporating physiognomic information in the form of two elevation distances based on isolines. The elevation distances were largely congruent, but they both differed from the standard great-circle distance metrics. Only three out of nine phylogeographic inferences were the same for the different approaches.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0026
Format: Thesis

Title: Numerical Study of the Relevance of Clustered States in Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors and High Temperature Superconductors.
Creator: Alvarez, Gonzalo, Dagotto, Elbio, Dalal, Naresh, Moreo, Adriana, Brooks, James, Piekarewicz, Jorge, Department of Physics, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Several models for materials of much current interest in condensed matter physics have been numerically studied, using unbiased methods, including Monte Carlo simulations and exact treatment of the fermionic trace at finite temperature. It was found that many of these materials share common phenomenological aspects due to the presence of intrinsic inhomogeneities in the form of "clustered states". Some of these states are highly susceptible to external perturbations. The list includes diluted...
Show moreSeveral models for materials of much current interest in condensed matter physics have been numerically studied, using unbiased methods, including Monte Carlo simulations and exact treatment of the fermionic trace at finite temperature. It was found that many of these materials share common phenomenological aspects due to the presence of intrinsic inhomogeneities in the form of "clustered states". Some of these states are highly susceptible to external perturbations. The list includes diluted magnetic semiconductors and high temperature superconducting cuprates among others.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0027
Format: Thesis

Title: A Design Methodology for the Implementation of Fuzzy Logic Traffic Controller Using Field Programmable Gate Array.
Creator: Ambre, Mandar Shriram, Kwan, Bing, Meyer-Baese, Uwe, Foo, Simon, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: In this thesis, an approach is proposed for the design and implementation of fuzzy traffic controllers using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs).The focus of this study is to develop an effective traffic signaling strategy to be implemented at a typical intersection with four approaches. Adaptive traffic control using fuzzy principles has been demonstrated and reported by the authors in the literature. Here a high-level design approach is suggested, which involves VHDL-based logic...
Show moreIn this thesis, an approach is proposed for the design and implementation of fuzzy traffic controllers using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs).The focus of this study is to develop an effective traffic signaling strategy to be implemented at a typical intersection with four approaches. Adaptive traffic control using fuzzy principles has been demonstrated and reported by the authors in the literature. Here a high-level design approach is suggested, which involves VHDL-based logic synthesis and the use of state diagrams with a VHDL backend for graphical design description. The operations of the fuzzifier and the defuzzifier of the fuzzy controller are described in VHDL. The fuzzy rule base for the controller is described using the state diagrams. Specifically, the fuzzy inference based on the fuzzy rules is implemented using MATLAB code. The output of the MATLAB program is stored in a ROM for use in the VHDL code. Once VHDL code is obtained then the hardware is implemented using the UP1 Education board. After the design was tested by using UP1 board the next step was to design a printed circuit board for this system. This was done by using Protel Design Explorer where the input to the circuit board comes from traffic sensors in the field and the output of the circuit board is given to the traffic controller.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0028
Format: Thesis

Title: The Effect of Congruence of Leadership Behaviors on Motivation, Commitment, and Satisfaction of College Tennis Players.
Creator: Andrew, Damon Patrick Sermons, Kent, Aubrey, Perrewe, Pamela, James, Jeffrey, Mondello, Michael, Department of Sport Management, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of congruence of leadership behaviors on motivation, commitment, and satisfaction of college tennis players. Respondents (n = 245) included collegiate tennis players from all NCAA division levels (I, II, and III). The athletes were asked to complete a demographic questionnaire, the preferred and perceived versions of the Revised Leadership Scale for Sports, Sport Motivation Scale, Sport Commitment Model Scale, and Athlete Satisfaction...
Show moreThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of congruence of leadership behaviors on motivation, commitment, and satisfaction of college tennis players. Respondents (n = 245) included collegiate tennis players from all NCAA division levels (I, II, and III). The athletes were asked to complete a demographic questionnaire, the preferred and perceived versions of the Revised Leadership Scale for Sports, Sport Motivation Scale, Sport Commitment Model Scale, and Athlete Satisfaction Questionnaire. The responses were collected in an online format. Descriptive statistics were calculated for each of the demographic variables. Alpha (Cronbach) coefficients were calculated for the components of each measurement scale to verify internal consistency. Multivariate multiple regression analyses were utilized to determine the effect of demographic variables on leadership behavior preferences. In order to avoid the potential problems associated with the use of difference scores (Peter, Churchill, & Brown, 1993), a regression technique was applied to evaluate the leadership congruence hypothesis. The base scores (i.e. preferences and perceptions) were entered first followed by their interactional term (preferred x perceived). Two sets of multiple regression equations were calculated. In the first set, preference scores were entered first followed by the perceptions and the interaction term, and the second set followed a similar format but reversed the order of the preference and perception terms. The congruence hypothesis was accepted if the interaction significantly increased the amount of variance explained. The results of this study indicated that neither gender nor ability level were predictive of preferred leadership behavior. Furthermore, the congruency of certain preferred and perceived leadership behaviors predicted intrinsic motivation to know, intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation, extrinsic motivation identified, amotivation, sport commitment, sport enjoyment, individual performance satisfaction, personal treatment satisfaction, team performance satisfaction, and training and instruction satisfaction. The findings are discussed in the context of Chelladurai's (1999) Multidimensional Model of Leadership. Future research suggestions are forwarded.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0029
Format: Thesis

Title: Topology Aggregation for Networks with Two Additive Metrics.
Creator: Ansari, Almas, Yuan, Xin, Hawkes, Lois, Aggarwal, Sudhir, Department of Computer Science, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Topology Aggregation is concerned about summarizing a network domain in a concise manner. This thesis deals with topology aggregation for networks with two additive metrics. Summarizing such a network domain is difficult for a number of reasons. First, computing paths between two nodes with two additive metrics is NP-Hard. Second, it is unclear how the quality of two paths with two additive metrics can be compared, which leads to the difficulty in determining the quality of topology...
Show moreTopology Aggregation is concerned about summarizing a network domain in a concise manner. This thesis deals with topology aggregation for networks with two additive metrics. Summarizing such a network domain is difficult for a number of reasons. First, computing paths between two nodes with two additive metrics is NP-Hard. Second, it is unclear how the quality of two paths with two additive metrics can be compared, which leads to the difficulty in determining the quality of topology aggregation schemes. In this thesis, we develop a method to evaluate the quality of aggregation schemes for networks with two additive metrics, propose to compute the full mesh representation of a domain using the limited path heuristic and demonstrate that the information carried in the full mesh representation is very close to that in the original network representation. We also develop and study a number of schemes to reduce the full mesh representation to the spanning tree based representation. The performance of the proposed schemes is studied through simulation. The results show that minimum spanning tree based schemes yield reasonable performance.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0030
Format: Thesis

Title: Dopamine Regulation of Social Attachment.
Creator: Aragona, Brandon James, Wang, Zuoxin, Houpt, Thomas A., Stephan, Friedrich K., Meredith, Michael, Licht, Mark H., Department of Psychology, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: In this Dissertation, I detail how dopamine within the nucleus accumbens regulates social attachment. I first describe our animal model for social attachment, the monogamous prairie vole, and our experimental methods. I then present two studies assessing the manner in which extracellular dopamine regulates pair bond formation and maintenance in the prairie vole. Next, I describe the intracellular regulation of this behavior. These studies are followed by a detailed comparison of dopamine...
Show moreIn this Dissertation, I detail how dopamine within the nucleus accumbens regulates social attachment. I first describe our animal model for social attachment, the monogamous prairie vole, and our experimental methods. I then present two studies assessing the manner in which extracellular dopamine regulates pair bond formation and maintenance in the prairie vole. Next, I describe the intracellular regulation of this behavior. These studies are followed by a detailed comparison of dopamine neuroanatomy between the monogamous prairie vole and a closely related but non-monogamous species of vole. Finally, I provide a general discussion of these findings and related them to dopamine regulation of other behaviors.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0031
Format: Thesis

Title: The Wheels of Heaven.
Creator: Armstrong, Stephen Blodgett, Suarez, Virgil, Rehder, Ernest, Teague, Deborah Coxwell, Fowler, Douglas, Department of English, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The Wheels of Heaven, a noir fable, chronicles the adventures of a man after he loses the one thing he cares about most, his wife. Combining the determinism of a Fritz Lang movie with the revenge themes found in samurai stories, it affirms the idea that good prevails. Sooner or later, no matter the odds, good always prevails.
Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0032
Format: Thesis

Title: Access and Equity: Performing Diversity at the New World Theatre.
Creator: Aronson, Donna Beth, Graham-Jones, Jean, Nudd, Donna, Baker, Stuart, Sandahl, Carrie, School of Theatre, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This dissertation examines the background, production history, and outreach projects of the New WORLD Theater (NWT) in terms of the NWT's usefulness as a model for diversifying theatre programs and, more importantly, for utilizing the work of theatre programs to address issues of access and equity in higher education for at-risk and students of color. Determining how theatre might be used as a tool to encourage young people to participate in society and eventually matriculate to higher...
Show moreThis dissertation examines the background, production history, and outreach projects of the New WORLD Theater (NWT) in terms of the NWT's usefulness as a model for diversifying theatre programs and, more importantly, for utilizing the work of theatre programs to address issues of access and equity in higher education for at-risk and students of color. Determining how theatre might be used as a tool to encourage young people to participate in society and eventually matriculate to higher education is integral to the motivation behind this study. The researcher's extensive experience in both theatre and higher education, and awareness of equity and access issues among both students and faculty informs the goals for this study as well. Chapter two's literature review concentrates on research related to diversity, access, and equity. Additionally, the review covers critical educational theory and its relation to theatre and praxis. The production history and background presented in Chapter Three provides the context through which the NWT outreach projects were developed. Chapter Four describes the outreach projects of the NWT, beginning with the Latino Theatre Project and the Asian Theatre Project, two projects that set the stage for the Looking In/To the Future project. Chapter four also provides a detailed description of the Looking In/To the Future/Project 2050, as well as an in-depth account of the activities of and changes to the outreach program over a three-year period. Finally, Chapter Five considers the applicability of the NWT's outreach projects to the national issue of student and faculty recruitment and retention, and the usefulness of the NWT as a model for expanding diversity in theatre programs at institutions of higher education. This study finds that the NWT's Looking In/To The Future/Project 2050 is consistent with current national issues related to diversity, access, and equity in higher education institutions. By bringing together marginalized artists and scholars of color, the NWT has provided a site for continued discourse. The work of the project seeks to politicize the discourse of at-risk and youth of color, and, as such, is situated in the politics of performance.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0033
Format: Thesis

Title: "Sound of Praise": Reflexive Ethnopedagogy and Two Gospel Choirs in Tallahassee, Florida.
Creator: Arthur, Sarah Kathleen, Gunderson, Frank, Olsen, Dale A., Koen, Benjamin, College of Music, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis is an ethnomusicological study of gospel music as performed and experienced by the Florida State University Gospel Choir and the Youth, Collegiate, and Young Adult Choir at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Tallahassee, Florida. Gospel music has become an increasingly important form of artistic expression for understanding the roots of American music. Unfortunately, it has been marginalized as an area of study in universities and colleges for decades. This thesis...
Show moreThis thesis is an ethnomusicological study of gospel music as performed and experienced by the Florida State University Gospel Choir and the Youth, Collegiate, and Young Adult Choir at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Tallahassee, Florida. Gospel music has become an increasingly important form of artistic expression for understanding the roots of American music. Unfortunately, it has been marginalized as an area of study in universities and colleges for decades. This thesis emphasizes gospel music as a musical genre worthy of study in educational institutions. Its rich history, cultural significance, and pedagogical value make it an important part of American music. This thesis also explores how the ethnomusicological study of pedagogy in culture, or what I call ethnopedagogy, provides a deeper understanding of the gospel music tradition and culture. This thesis provides educators, choral directors, and ethnomusicologists with a resource for teaching African American gospel music traditions, and it will serve as a model for ethnopedagogy and its applicability to the social sciences.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0034
Format: Thesis

Title: A History of the Oregon Bach Festival.
Creator: Aspaas, Christopher Paul, Thomas, André J., Morris, Richard, Bowers, Judy, Fenton, Kevin, VanWeelden, Kimberly, College of Music, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The Oregon Bach Festival completed its thirty-fifth season of performances in Eugene, Oregon on Sunday, July 11, 2004. Beginning as a summer school program organized by Royce Saltzman in 1970 at the University of Oregon, the Festival's first season concluded in one concert of German choral music conducted by Helmuth Rilling in addition to a solo organ recital performed by the conductor. Since its inception, the Oregon Bach Festival has involved more than 500,000 concertgoers, 1,000 conducting...
Show moreThe Oregon Bach Festival completed its thirty-fifth season of performances in Eugene, Oregon on Sunday, July 11, 2004. Beginning as a summer school program organized by Royce Saltzman in 1970 at the University of Oregon, the Festival's first season concluded in one concert of German choral music conducted by Helmuth Rilling in addition to a solo organ recital performed by the conductor. Since its inception, the Oregon Bach Festival has involved more than 500,000 concertgoers, 1,000 conducting master class students, 500 Youth Choral Academy singers and hundreds of choral and orchestral musicians. In spite of its name, the Oregon Bach Festival has strongly supported the commissioning and premiere of new works. The Festival has premiered eight commissioned works and provided the venue for the World, United States and West Coast premieres of many others. The Festival has also embraced international collaborations, bringing guest artists, ensembles and choirs from around the world to perform in Eugene. Great concern about the future of the Oregon Bach Festival exists since the co-founders, Saltzman and Rilling recently celebrated their 75th and 71st birthdays respectively. Saltzman's initial attempt at retirement from the Festival failed in 1997 after two seasons under new leadership, which has reinforced the belief that Saltzman and Rilling may be the only individuals who can successfully operate the Oregon Bach Festival. This dissertation includes examinations of the founding and initial development of the Oregon Bach Festival, the many component parts of the Festival, the people who support and operate the Festival, the programming and literature performed and the commissions and special projects sponsored by the Festival. Additionally, this project concludes with an examination of the philosophy of the Festival as well as concerns for the future.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0035
Format: Thesis

Title: The Effects of Social Relationships and Temperament on Kindergarten Students' Use of Literate Language.
Creator: Atay-Turhan, Tulay, Jones, Ithel, Hanline, Mary Frances, Wolfgang, Charles H., Lake, Vickie E., School of Teacher Education, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This study examined the effects of social relationships and individual differences in the forms of gender and temperament on kindergarten students' use of literate language. Literate language is defined as a specific oral language register. It was hypothesized that friend compared to non-friend context would elicit more literate language, or verbalizations indicative of reflection upon cognitive and linguistic processes. Same gender dyads of 64 kindergarteners were observed during their...
Show moreThis study examined the effects of social relationships and individual differences in the forms of gender and temperament on kindergarten students' use of literate language. Literate language is defined as a specific oral language register. It was hypothesized that friend compared to non-friend context would elicit more literate language, or verbalizations indicative of reflection upon cognitive and linguistic processes. Same gender dyads of 64 kindergarteners were observed during their interactions about a story in friend and non-friend dyads, and measures of oral language were collected. The effects of peer relationships, gender, and temperament were analyzed on the measures of oral language including literate language, linguistic terms, cognitive terms, emotion terms, conflicts, and resolutions. By using within-subjects design, the same students were observed both in friends and nonfriends conditions. Children's oral language derived from their interactions during literacy writing sessions and play episodes. Furthermore, children's oral language measures were examined to determine the correlation between them and literacy measures. The research findings suggested that different peer relationships differentially affect children's interactions and early literacy. The differences were mostly favorable to the friends group as predicted. Both male and female students generated more linguistic terms and resolved more conflicts while interacting with friends. Furthermore, female friends used more emotion terms in friends condition than they did in nonfriends condition. Interestingly, however, male nonfriends outperformed male friends in the literate language measure, which is opposite to the prediction. Even though the literate language scores of children with inhibited temperament were higher in friends condition than that of in nonfriends condition, it was statistically not significant. It was concluded that interacting with friends facilitated the oral language use of kindergarten students. Interpretation of the results of the study was provided in light of previous research and theory. Implications of the study were also discussed along with suggestions for future research.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0036
Format: Thesis

Title: Yukawa Unification in SO(10) Susy Guts.
Creator: Auto, Daniel M., Baer, Howard, Hunter, Christopher, Reina, Laura, Prosper, Harrison, Piekarewicz, Jorge, Department of Physics, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Supersymmetric grand unified models based on the SO(10) gauge group are especially attractive in light of recent data on neutrino masses. The simplest SO(10) SUSY GUT models predict unification of third generation Yukawa couplings (t –b – Ƭ) in addition to the usual gauge coupling unification. An assessment of the viability of such Yukawa unified models is presented. For the superpotential Higgs mass parameter μ>0, it is found that unification to less than 1% is possible, but only for GUT...
Show moreSupersymmetric grand unified models based on the SO(10) gauge group are especially attractive in light of recent data on neutrino masses. The simplest SO(10) SUSY GUT models predict unification of third generation Yukawa couplings (t –b – Ƭ) in addition to the usual gauge coupling unification. An assessment of the viability of such Yukawa unified models is presented. For the superpotential Higgs mass parameter μ>0, it is found that unification to less than 1% is possible, but only for GUT scale scalar mass parameter m16 ~ 8 – 20 TeV, and small values of gaugino mass m1/2 ≤ 150 GeV. Such models require tha a GUT scale mass splitting exists amongst Higgs scalars with m2Hu < m2Hd. Viable solutions lead to a radiatively generated inverted scalar mass hierarchy, with third generation and Higgs scalars being lighter than other sfermions. These models have a very heavy sfermions, so that unwanted flavor changing and CP violating SUSY processes are suppressed, but may suffer from some fine-tuning requirements. While the generated spectra satisify b → sγ and (g – 2)μ constraints, there exists tension with the dark matter relic density unless m16 ≤ 3TeV. These models offer prospects for SUSY discovery at the Fermilab Tevatron collider via the search for W1Z2 → 3l events, or via gluino pair production. If μ < 0, Yujawa coupling unification to less than 5% can occur for m16 and m 1/2≥ 1 – 2 TeV. Consistency of negative μ Yukawa unified models with b → sγ, (g – 2)μ, and relic density Ωh2 all imply very large values of m1/2 typically greater than about 2.5 TeV, in which case direct dection of sparticles may be a challenge even at the LHC. To address the tension between Yukawa unification and the excess of dark matter that the μ>0 models tend to predict, a couple of possible improvements are surveyed. One solution- lowering the GUT scale mass value of first and second generation scalars, leads to uR and cR squark masses in the 90 – 120 GeV regime, which should be accessible to Fermilab Tavatron experiments. Another possibility is relaxing gaugino mass universality which may solve the relic density problem by having neutralino annihilations via the Z or h resonances, or by having a wino-like LSP.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0037
Format: Thesis

Title: Eye and Mind's Eye: Evidence for Perceptually-Grounded Mental Imagery.
Creator: Aveyard, Mark, Zwaan, Rolf, Kaschak, Mike, Schatschneider, Chris, Department of Psychology, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis aims to show a relationship between mental imagery and sensory perception through texts that prime change blindness between mental images and visual displays. In Experiment 1, participants read short texts depicting a visual scene. Following the text, one of three types of photographs was presented: a photograph representing the scene exactly (match), a photograph representing the scene with a change (mismatch), or a photograph representing an unrelated scene (filler)....
Show moreThis thesis aims to show a relationship between mental imagery and sensory perception through texts that prime change blindness between mental images and visual displays. In Experiment 1, participants read short texts depicting a visual scene. Following the text, one of three types of photographs was presented: a photograph representing the scene exactly (match), a photograph representing the scene with a change (mismatch), or a photograph representing an unrelated scene (filler). Participants judged whether the picture matched the preceding text. Three types of changes were presented: color, deletion, and addition. Mirroring results from studies in visual perception, subjects showed change blindness in comparing mental images with pictures, even though critical information from the original text was recognized with a high degree of accuracy. A text variable was also included to measure the effects of language and attentional focus on change detection: each text contained a final sentence with relevant or irrelevant information related to the changed aspect of the scene. Although there were no differences in accuracy of change detection, subjects were faster to detect changes with relevant texts than irrelevant texts. Experiment 2 served as a control for comparing types of change blindness in a conventional flicker paradigm without mental imagery. As a whole, these results mirror those within change blindness studies investigating visual perception—suggesting that focused attention is necessary in comparing mental images and pictures and that mental imagery is analogous to its corresponding perceptual mode.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0038
Format: Thesis

Title: Hurricane Surface Wind Model for Risk Management.
Creator: Axe, Lizabeth Marie, Krishnamurti, T. N., Ruscher, Paul H., Cunningham, Philip, Cocke, Steven, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The landfalls of extreme hurricane events in recent years reveal the need for more accurate predictions of winds during landfalling tropical cyclone events to help reduce property damage. The goal of this study is to develop a high-resolution surface wind exposure model that incorporates an effective roughness model. In this study, the wind model calculates flight- level winds of a rankine- like vortex in a simple synthetic large-scale environment at a 1 km resolution. The flight-level winds...
Show moreThe landfalls of extreme hurricane events in recent years reveal the need for more accurate predictions of winds during landfalling tropical cyclone events to help reduce property damage. The goal of this study is to develop a high-resolution surface wind exposure model that incorporates an effective roughness model. In this study, the wind model calculates flight- level winds of a rankine- like vortex in a simple synthetic large-scale environment at a 1 km resolution. The flight-level winds are then reduced to 10 m using a reduction scheme based on GPS dropwindsonde profiles. The roughness component calculates the effective roughness length using a radial weight function based on the source area model developed by Schmid and Oke, with an upwind fetch of 5 km. The weight function is dependent on the distance from sensor, sensor height, surface roughness (approximately 100 m resolution), and the Monin-Obukov length. The weighted average of roughness values is taken over 8 possible wind directions to give a more sophisticated effective roughness length for all land points. The high-resolution wind exposure model provides realistic analyses for hurricane Andrew (1992), Erin (1995), Kate (1985), and Donna (1960) at the time of their Florida landfalls. It is also useful for recreating historical hurricane case studies. There is a potential for further development into a real-time analysis and forecasting tool during tropical cyclone landfall events.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0039
Format: Thesis

Title: Identifying the Critical Aspects of the Built Environment for Effective Art Education in Institutions of Higher Education.
Creator: Abdul-Hafeez, Nezar Selah, McRorie, Sally, Moore, Mary Ann, Rosal, Marcia, Ohazama, Tock, Department of Art, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This study was designed to use quantitative and qualitative methods for two research purposes. The first purpose was to identify the critical aspects of the built environment in selected art education classrooms at Florida State University. The second purpose was to examine the use of such facilities by teachers and students under the current conditions of the built environment in these selected art education classrooms. Three research questions were established to guide this study. These...
Show moreThis study was designed to use quantitative and qualitative methods for two research purposes. The first purpose was to identify the critical aspects of the built environment in selected art education classrooms at Florida State University. The second purpose was to examine the use of such facilities by teachers and students under the current conditions of the built environment in these selected art education classrooms. Three research questions were established to guide this study. These questions were: (1) What are the critical aspects of the built environment of selected art education classrooms in institutions of higher education? (2) How do students and their teachers perceive the different aspects of the built environment of selected art education classrooms? (3) How do teachers and students use the space under the current conditions of the built environment of selected art education classrooms? Three research methodologies were designed to achieve the defined purposes of this study and to answer the previous questions. A survey questionnaire, which concentrated on the perceptions of students and teachers regarding the aspects of the built environment, was used to answer the first two questions. An observational study was conducted to investigate the teachers. and students. use of space under current conditions of the two selected classrooms. Finally, interviews were conducted with four participants in order to obtain in-depth information regarding the use of students and teachers of the spaces. The target population of this study was all full-time faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduate students in institutions of higher education within the state of Florida. A convenience sample of 112 individuals was used in this study. The sample included eleven teachers, 66 graduate students, and 35 undergraduate students in the department of Art Education at Florida State University. The researcher concluded that the current status of the physical aspects of two selected art education classrooms was fair. Of the sixteen identified aspects, less than half were found to be critical. The lack of adequate technology was found to be a significant factor in both classrooms but was not necessarily a critical aspect according to the study.s findings. The outcome of the study indicated that students perceived the impact of the overall environmental conditions in both classrooms more positively than their teachers. All teachers were dissatisfied with both classrooms under study, although their perceptions of which of the two rooms had the most critical aspects was the reverse of the judgment of the students. The majority of the subjects used various senses to help them make a judgment about their perceptions, as the data were gathered directly in the rooms under question. Additionally, subjects may have relied on their past experiences with the spaces in shaping their responses. However, it was beyond the scope of this study to investigate the latter issue. The researcher also concluded that the role of teachers in planning the physical environment of a classroom cannot be ignored, and concluded that they should be professionally trained to do so. Regardless of the question of funds, improvement of certain aspects of a physical environment cannot be well done without the involvement of teachers. Further, such conditions would remain unchanged unless both teachers and students established a strong cooperation as the two classrooms were shared among many teachers and students of different levels. Accordingly, a further conclusion was that all students preparing to become teachers should be prepared in methods of improving art classroom environments. Finally, this study strongly emphasized the importance of providing accessible facilities for differently disabled students in art education classrooms.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0040
Format: Thesis

Title: Predicting the Risk of Compassion Fatigue: An Empirical Study of Hospice Nurses.
Creator: Abendroth, Maryann, Flannery, Jeanne, Tucker, Denise, Faria, Sandra, College of Nursing, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Health care literature and mainstream media sources have produced volumes of information regarding the current and projected effects of the nursing shortage. Little, however, has been written regarding the deleterious effects of this phenomenon, and other work-related factors, on the nurses in the trenches. Compassion Fatigue among care providers has emerged in the literature as a concept worthy of study; however, the population of hospice nurses has been virtually ignored. The present...
Show moreHealth care literature and mainstream media sources have produced volumes of information regarding the current and projected effects of the nursing shortage. Little, however, has been written regarding the deleterious effects of this phenomenon, and other work-related factors, on the nurses in the trenches. Compassion Fatigue among care providers has emerged in the literature as a concept worthy of study; however, the population of hospice nurses has been virtually ignored. The present inquiry utilized descriptive and inferential statistics to accomplish a two-fold purpose. Initially, it investigated the prevalence of CF risk among Florida's hospice nurses and analyzed relationships among demographic, work-related, and personal health factors. Secondly, the study employed the use of multiple independent variables in a regression equation for the prediction of compassion fatigue risk. Findings revealed that 78% of the sampled hospice nurses were at moderate to high risk for compassion fatigue with approximately 26% in the "high risk" category. Additionally, participants from the entire sample were experiencing the overt effects of stress, manifested in hypertension (30%), depression/PTSD (22%), and headaches (28%). These effects were, no doubt, exacerbated by the fact that more than half (53%) reported stress from finances, slightly less than half were encountering five or more patient deaths per month, and almost 65% were sacrificing their own personal needs for the needs of their patients. Major factors such as trauma, anxiety, life demands, and excessive empathy (leading to blurred professional boundaries) were key determinants of CF risk in a multiple regression model that accounted for 91% of the variance in this dependent variable. With knowledge of these few variables, hospice organizations may identify nurses at risk and take measures not only to provide needed support for these individuals, but also, to seek to eliminate or reduce the contributing factors. This inquiry provided a first glimpse into the stressful world of Hospice nurses, provided a means for the identification of those at risk of compassion fatigue and an estimate of prevalence in a state where the demands on these caregivers are expected to increase exponentially. While these results appear to have prescriptive value, replication is warranted to validate the model's, as well as the study's, other descriptive findings.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0041
Format: Thesis

Title: The Effects of Music Therapy and Deep Breathing on Pain in Patients Recovering from Gynecologic Surgery in the Pacu.
Creator: Adams, Kristen S., Standley, Jayne M., Gregory, Dianne, Madsen, Clifford, College of Music, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This study examined the effects of music therapy paired with deep breathing in the PACU. Dependent variables were amount of pain medication administered (measured in morphine equivalents), hospital length of stay, and perceptual data. Subjects were fifty (N=50) women undergoing gynecologic surgery requiring a hospital stay of at least one night. Subjects were randomly assigned to an experimental music group (N=25) or control group (N=25). Results showed no significant differences for pain...
Show moreThis study examined the effects of music therapy paired with deep breathing in the PACU. Dependent variables were amount of pain medication administered (measured in morphine equivalents), hospital length of stay, and perceptual data. Subjects were fifty (N=50) women undergoing gynecologic surgery requiring a hospital stay of at least one night. Subjects were randomly assigned to an experimental music group (N=25) or control group (N=25). Results showed no significant differences for pain medication between groups. The length of hospital stay was significantly shorter for the music group. Subjects in the music group also reported their post-PACU pain levels to be significantly lower than the control group. Further results and implications are discussed.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0042
Format: Thesis

Title: Compassion Fatigue in Middle Aged Public Health Nurses Working on Disaster Relief Teams.
Creator: Adkinson, Lauren Fullenkamp, Frank, Deborah, Karioth, Sally, Zeni, Mary Beth, College of Nursing, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The nursing shortage is of growing concern to the nation's health care system. The problem and thus the solution are multifaceted. Many solutions exist in alleviating the nursing shortage, one of those solutions is to reduce the incidence of compassion fatigue among nurses. Compassion Fatigue can be a precursor to burnout, a phenomena that may be causing nurses to leave the profession. Compassion fatigue and burnout are a real threat to the nursing profession. During an outbreak of Severe...
Show moreThe nursing shortage is of growing concern to the nation's health care system. The problem and thus the solution are multifaceted. Many solutions exist in alleviating the nursing shortage, one of those solutions is to reduce the incidence of compassion fatigue among nurses. Compassion Fatigue can be a precursor to burnout, a phenomena that may be causing nurses to leave the profession. Compassion fatigue and burnout are a real threat to the nursing profession. During an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Toronto Canada in 2003, 5 nurses decided to quit their jobs. They decided to quit after "a month of putting up with long hours under unusually strenuous conditions" (CBC News Online Staff, 2003, p. 1). Strenuous conditions included working 12 hour shifts without the allotted breaks, wearing heavy protective gear that caused the nurses to break out in rashes, and fearing they might contract the potentially fatal disease or bring it home to their families. The purpose of this study was to examine the factor of compassion fatigue, and the role it plays in nurses who provide assistance during natural disasters. This study chose to examine only female middle aged nurses who provided care to victims of the 2004 Hurricane season in Florida. The rationale for choosing only female middle aged nurses lies in the fact that they comprise the majority of the current nursing population. Variables such as marital status, number of times deployed to assist victims and number of years in public health, were examined for their effect on levels of risk for compassion fatigue. This study used a subset of data from a pre-existing data set. The original study utilized a retrospective design and had participants complete a survey 3-4 months after they assisted hurricane victims. A total of 500 participants were selected at random by the Department of Health; addresses for those participants were also provided by the Department of Health. Survey packets containing a letter of introduction, letter of consent, stamped return envelope, demographic data sheet and two copies of the Compassion Fatigue Self Test (CFST) were mailed to the 500 participants. Each packet was numerically coded, to keep the participants anonymous, only the original researchers had access to the master list of participants and corresponding codes. Return of the survey served as consent for the study. For the current study only female participants age 40-60 years with complete data were included in the sample. The total number of participants who met the inclusion criteria was 55. Descriptive statistics, factorial ANOVA and simple effects were used to analyze the data. Findings indicate that the majority of the participants were non-Hispanic white, married and had no children living with them at the time they provided care to victims of the hurricanes. This was the first experience assisting victims of a hurricane for the majority of the sample, and they had also not provided assistance in other types of natural disasters. As a result, the average level of risk for compassion fatigue, both during the hurricanes and 3-4 months after, was low. Of the variables that were examined as possible moderating variables on level of risk for compassion fatigue, only years in public health proved to be significant. Results from analyses on years in public heath and compassion fatigue revealed that those with 11-20 years of experience in public health had the greatest rate of change in levels of risk for compassion fatigue experienced during the hurricanes and 3-4 months after. Those who had the most experience in public health did not experience significant levels of risk for compassion fatigue, and they also showed little change from levels experienced during the hurricanes and 3-4 months later. The factors of being middle aged and female seemed to prove beneficial in dealing with compassion stress/fatigue.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0043
Format: Thesis

Title: Evaluation of Age as a Contributing Factor for Fatal Crashes in the State of Florida.
Creator: Alam, Bhuiyan Monwar, Spainhour, Lisa K., Ping, Virgil, AbdelRazig, Yassir, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The study investigates the age of at-fault drivers as a contributing factor for fatal crashes in Florida. The main objective of the research was to provide an in-depth analysis of the relationships between the ages of the at-fault drivers and different aspects of roadway, traffic, weather, and other related contributing factors, and recommend various countermeasures, both behavioral and roadway-related so that appropriate actions can be initiated to improve safety on Florida's highways. It...
Show moreThe study investigates the age of at-fault drivers as a contributing factor for fatal crashes in Florida. The main objective of the research was to provide an in-depth analysis of the relationships between the ages of the at-fault drivers and different aspects of roadway, traffic, weather, and other related contributing factors, and recommend various countermeasures, both behavioral and roadway-related so that appropriate actions can be initiated to improve safety on Florida's highways. It also investigates the relationships between age vs. race, and age vs. sex. The study focuses on the driving behaviors of the younger (=years) and older (65-74 years, and >=75 years) drivers although the data of middle-age (25-64 years) drivers are also analyzed.=75 years) drivers although the data of middle-age (25-64 years) drivers are also analyzed. The younger and older drivers of both sexes are more likely to cause fatal crashes compared to the 'average' drivers. Among these, the female oldest (>=75 years) drivers are at highest level of vulnerability of causing fatal crashes followed by younger male drivers. The younger drivers of all races and only the white older drivers are more likely to cause such crashes. The older drivers of black, Hispanic, and 'other' races are less likely to cause fatal crashes compared to the 'average' drivers. In case of number of vehicles involved in crashes, the younger drivers are more likely to contribute to 1-vehicle, 2-vehicle, 3-vehicle, and >=4-vehicle crashes while the older drivers are also more likely to cause all of these types, except 1-vehicle crashes.=75 years) drivers are at highest level of vulnerability of causing fatal crashes followed by younger male drivers. The younger drivers of all races and only the white older drivers are more likely to cause such crashes. The older drivers of black, Hispanic, and 'other' races are less likely to cause fatal crashes compared to the 'average' drivers. In case of number of vehicles involved in crashes, the younger drivers are more likely to contribute to 1-vehicle, 2-vehicle, 3-vehicle, and >=4-vehicle crashes while the older drivers are also more likely to cause all of these types, except 1-vehicle crashes.=4-vehicle crashes while the older drivers are also more likely to cause all of these types, except 1-vehicle crashes. The study finds significant impacts of age of the at-fault drivers on contributing factors like crash hour, lighting conditions, road grades, road surface types, site locations, and vehicle speed while no significant impacts are found on road surface conditions, weather conditions, lane types (left, right, etc.), and shoulder types. The study reveals that the older drivers are involved in more intersection crashes than non-intersection crashes while the situation is opposite for the younger drivers. Among others the reasons for intersection crashes by the older drivers include misjudgment of speeds of the oncoming vehicles (18.0%), failure to observe the vehicle/all sides before approaching the intersection (17.0%), disregarding traffic signals (13.4%), and improper left turn (12.4%) are four major contributing factors each of which contributes to >=10% of intersection crashes by the older drivers. In case of non-intersection crashes, the study reveals that sudden loss of control contributes to more than one-third (37.1%) while driving under the influence of alcohol contributes to almost one-fifth (18.6%) of such crashes.=10% of intersection crashes by the older drivers. In case of non-intersection crashes, the study reveals that sudden loss of control contributes to more than one-third (37.1%) while driving under the influence of alcohol contributes to almost one-fifth (18.6%) of such crashes. It is evident that driving under the influence of alcohol (28.4%), exceeding safe speed limits (19.7%), and loss of control (19.7%) by the younger drivers are three major causes of fatal crashes in Florida, specially the 1-vehicle, high-speed, pedestrian/bicycle related, and loss of control type crashes. Among others disregarding traffic signals (6.6%) and failure to stop to avoid rear-end collision (6.3%) contribute to >=5% while failure to observe vehicles/all sides (3.3%), disregarding stop signs (3.0%), improper left turn (2.3%), and improper lane change (2.0%) contribute to >=2% of crashes on highways by the younger drivers whether at intersection or non-intersection. In case of intersection crashes, driving under the influence of alcohol (23.9%), disregarding traffic signals (18.8%), and exceeding safe speed limits (12.3%) come out as three major contributing causes. Other important contributing factors are disregarding stop signs, failure to observe vehicles/all sides, failure to stop to avoid rear-end collision, improper left turn, and loss of control that contribute to >=5% of intersection crashes. On the other hand, driving under the influence of alcohol (30.7%), loss of control of the vehicle (27.6%), exceeding safe speed limits (23.7%), and failure to stop the vehicle to avoid rear-end collision (5.8%) come out as four major contributing factors that cause >=5% of the non-intersection crashes by these drivers.=5% while failure to observe vehicles/all sides (3.3%), disregarding stop signs (3.0%), improper left turn (2.3%), and improper lane change (2.0%) contribute to >=2% of crashes on highways by the younger drivers whether at intersection or non-intersection. In case of intersection crashes, driving under the influence of alcohol (23.9%), disregarding traffic signals (18.8%), and exceeding safe speed limits (12.3%) come out as three major contributing causes. Other important contributing factors are disregarding stop signs, failure to observe vehicles/all sides, failure to stop to avoid rear-end collision, improper left turn, and loss of control that contribute to >=5% of intersection crashes. On the other hand, driving under the influence of alcohol (30.7%), loss of control of the vehicle (27.6%), exceeding safe speed limits (23.7%), and failure to stop the vehicle to avoid rear-end collision (5.8%) come out as four major contributing factors that cause >=5% of the non-intersection crashes by these drivers.=2% of crashes on highways by the younger drivers whether at intersection or non-intersection. In case of intersection crashes, driving under the influence of alcohol (23.9%), disregarding traffic signals (18.8%), and exceeding safe speed limits (12.3%) come out as three major contributing causes. Other important contributing factors are disregarding stop signs, failure to observe vehicles/all sides, failure to stop to avoid rear-end collision, improper left turn, and loss of control that contribute to >=5% of intersection crashes. On the other hand, driving under the influence of alcohol (30.7%), loss of control of the vehicle (27.6%), exceeding safe speed limits (23.7%), and failure to stop the vehicle to avoid rear-end collision (5.8%) come out as four major contributing factors that cause >=5% of the non-intersection crashes by these drivers.=5% of intersection crashes. On the other hand, driving under the influence of alcohol (30.7%), loss of control of the vehicle (27.6%), exceeding safe speed limits (23.7%), and failure to stop the vehicle to avoid rear-end collision (5.8%) come out as four major contributing factors that cause >=5% of the non-intersection crashes by these drivers.=5% of the non-intersection crashes by these drivers. In brief, the study reveals that driving under the influence of alcohol is the sole important contributing factor for all types of crashes by both younger and older drivers, except the intersection crashes by the older drivers for which misjudgment of speed and failure to observe are the major contributing factors. Other important factors are exceeding safe speed limits, disregarding traffic signals, and sudden loss of control of the vehicles. Another important finding of the study is that the investigation officers have tendency to frequently use the terms 'careless driving' for the younger-non-intersection crashes and 'failure to yield right of way' for older-intersection crashes. Finally, the study finds that about half of the at-fault drivers do not wear safety equipments that cause severe fatality. The study recommends that more efficient and frequent public transit services should be provided to the older drivers, and their driving licenses should be renewed every year to lessen the number of older drivers on the streets. On the other hand, training and educational programs should be initiated for the younger drivers. Stricter laws should be introduced for driving under the influence of alcohol/drug, driving at unsafe speeds, not wearing seat belts, and other offences so the younger drivers act with more responsibility on the streets. The numbers of traffic and billboard signs should also be kept at the minimum so the older drivers are not confused with unnecessary signs.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0044
Format: Thesis

Title: Influence of Transit Accessibility to Jobs on the Employability of the Welfare Recipients: The Case of Broward County, Florida.
Creator: Alam, Bhuiyan Monwar, Thompson, Gregory L., Ihlanfeldt, Keith, Connerly, Charles E., Brown, Jeffrey, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Much research has been done on transportation accessibility of the central-city minorities and its impacts on income, automobile ownership, and employment. The proportion of people using transit for any purpose in the U.S. is so minuscule that most of these studies consider accessibility to jobs by automobile as general transportation accessibility. However, few studies reveal that transit accessibility to jobs could be an important factor for the employment outcomes of the welfare recipients...
Show moreMuch research has been done on transportation accessibility of the central-city minorities and its impacts on income, automobile ownership, and employment. The proportion of people using transit for any purpose in the U.S. is so minuscule that most of these studies consider accessibility to jobs by automobile as general transportation accessibility. However, few studies reveal that transit accessibility to jobs could be an important factor for the employment outcomes of the welfare recipients as they are dependent on public transit, and not on automobile. This study investigates the impacts of transit accessibility to jobs on the employability of the welfare recipients in Broward County, Florida, expressed by a surrogate variable 'length of stay in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program by the welfare recipients' and measured in 'number of months.' The study develops an OLS regression model that includes both the aggregate data at traffic analysis zone (TAZ) level and disaggregate data at individual welfare recipient's level. To these, the variable transit accessibility to jobs is added, and its contribution is examined statistically. The study uses an ArcMap GIS for geocoding the welfare recipients' addresses in each specific TAZ, and then relates the TAZ features to those of the individual welfare recipients by spatially joining the maps. The study finds that most of the welfare recipients live in the TAZs associated with high accessibility indices instead of concentrating only in the inner city areas. Some also reside in the TAZs attached to low accessibility indices. It finds that the people living in accessible-rich TAZs stay shorter period of time in the TANF program, and vice versa. It leads to the inference that transit accessibility to jobs of a TAZ has inverse impacts on the employability of the welfare recipients living in that specific TAZ. The study also finds that the women and the U.S. citizens have direct effects while the blacks and the neighborhood quality variable the ratio of number of vehicles to number of households at TAZ level has significant inverse effects on the employability of the welfare recipients.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0045
Format: Thesis

Title: A Comparative Analysis of Business Majors' Attitudes Toward Disability, Job Applicant Disability Status, and the Placeability of Persons with Disabilities.
Creator: Albritton, Felix Reginald, Ebener, Deborah J., Macpherson, David A., Menchetti, Bruce M., Department of Childhood Education, Reading and Disability Services, Florida State...
Show moreAlbritton, Felix Reginald, Ebener, Deborah J., Macpherson, David A., Menchetti, Bruce M., Department of Childhood Education, Reading and Disability Services, Florida State University
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Abstract/Description: In this study, undergraduate students majoring in business (n = 124) were asked to examine then rate the overall strength of a job applicant's qualifications. The main thrust of this investigation was to examine the association between job applicant disability status and the strength of rating given the job applicant for employment. Three focal areas comprised this study. The first examined the impact of (a) disability status of the job applicant, (b) attitudes of the participants toward...
Show moreIn this study, undergraduate students majoring in business (n = 124) were asked to examine then rate the overall strength of a job applicant's qualifications. The main thrust of this investigation was to examine the association between job applicant disability status and the strength of rating given the job applicant for employment. Three focal areas comprised this study. The first examined the impact of (a) disability status of the job applicant, (b) attitudes of the participants toward people with a disability, and (c) prior contact with people having a disability on the hiring decisions of the participants. The second focal area examined the extent to which the association between the job applicant's disability status and strength of rating given the applicant varied depending on the participants' (a) attitudes toward people with a disability and (b) extent of prior contact with disability. The third focal area examined the extent to which attitudes toward people with a disability may be influenced by a job applicant's disability status and whether attitudes toward people with a disability mediate the association between the job applicant's disability status and the strength of rating given the applicant for employment. The Attitude Toward Disabled Persons (ATDP) Scale, Form – O (Yuker, Block, & Campbell, 1960) provided a measure of attitudes. A six-point job applicant rating scale was used to measure the propensity for hiring the applicant. A four-point scale was adopted to provide a measure of prior contact with disability. The demographic factors of age, gender, and race/ethnicity were also incorporated into the analyses. The participants of the study were randomly assigned to one of two groups based on their class membership. One group of participants viewed a video depicting the job applicant sitting in a wheelchair when greeted by the interviewer while participants assigned to the second group viewed a video showing the job applicant walking when being greeted. Results of bivariate as well as multivariate analysis indicated that the participants in both groups comprising this study tended to rank both job applicants favorably without regard to their disability status. Ratings submitted by participants viewing the job applicant not in a wheelchair versus those viewing the job applicant in a wheelchair were 1.295 and 1.370 respectively (p = 0.6920). Multivariate analysis revealed that a significant amount of the variance in attitudes toward people with a disability was explained by the set of independent variables (R2 = 0.1459, p = 0.0092). The variance in attitudes toward people with a disability was explained primarily by disability status (â = 7.2895, p = 0.0011) and Hispanic ethnicity (â = 7.9547, p = 0.0241), with those viewing the job applicant in a wheelchair having more positive attitudes toward people with a disability than those viewing the job applicant not in a wheelchair, and those of Hispanic ethnicity having more positive attitudes toward people with a disability than whites. The implications for assessment and placement practices in the field of vocational rehabilitation have been provided as well as suggestions for future research.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0046
Format: Thesis

Title: Students with Learning Disabilities Who Are Admitted to the University Using Alternative Criteria: How Do They Fare?.
Creator: Allison, Katie Coddington, Proctor, Briley, Prevatt, Frances, Li, Huijun, Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Many post-secondary institutions now have programs for special admission considerations for students with learning disabilities (LD's). These programs review information to determine the eligibility of students with disabilities who may not otherwise meet minimum standards for admissions. This study examines the academic success of students with LD's admitted through a Special Admissions Committee (SAC) when compared to students admitted through the "normal" process. An analysis of...
Show moreMany post-secondary institutions now have programs for special admission considerations for students with learning disabilities (LD's). These programs review information to determine the eligibility of students with disabilities who may not otherwise meet minimum standards for admissions. This study examines the academic success of students with LD's admitted through a Special Admissions Committee (SAC) when compared to students admitted through the "normal" process. An analysis of documentation of 45 undergraduate students submitted to an SAC indicates that they have lower high school GPA's and lower standardized test scores than their non-LD counterparts, but have similar levels of success (as measured by comparing cumulative college GPA's, number of failed courses, and outcome status three semesters after matriculation).
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0047
Format: Thesis

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