Information systems professionals now face the automation of their own work in integrated computer aided software engineering. Organizations need to achieve all the leverage possible from costly IT implementations to enhance competitiveness, profitability, and survival in a rapidly changing environment. ICASE technology is a part of the infrastructure necessary to meet this challenge but appears to present significant difficulties in implementation.

There have been a number of different versioning models proposed. The research in this area can be divided into two categories: object versioning and schema versioning. In this dissertation, both problem domains are considered as a single unit. This dissertation describes a unifying version model (UVM) for maintaining changes to both objects and schema. UVM handles schema versioning operations by using object versioning techniques. The result is that the UVM allows the OODBMS to be much smaller than previous systems. Also, programmers need know only one set of versioning operations; thus, reducing the learning time by half. This dissertation shows that UVM is a simple but semantically sound and powerful version model for both objects and schema.

This study investigated person-situation relations of professional preparation and job classification of secondary school athletic training positions with core job dimensions and affective outcomes within Hackman and Oldham's 1980 Job Characteristics Model. Research focused on which relations show increased affective outcomes; relationships between core job dimensions and affective outcomes; and characteristics of the core job dimensions of task identification, task significance, and skill variety of athletic trainer tasks as defined by the National Athletic Trainers Association Board of Certification, Inc. 1995 Role Delineation Study.

The primary concerns of this study were to describe the most common practices of current college student leadership training programs in the United States and to compare the 1979 and 1997 findings by replicating the 1979 Simonds study. This study provides an overview of related literature on the history of leadership theory and the research on leadership training in higher education, a detailed description of the methodology, results of the survey, a comparative analysis of the 1979 and 1997 findings, and discussion of the current status of leadership training at institutions of higher education. Conclusions are drawn, and implications and recommendations for student affairs professionals are made that may improve the quality of student leadership in higher education.

A transition model (MOSAIC) is used to describe forest dynamics at the landscape scale. The model uses a semi-Markov framework by considering transition probabilities and Erlang distributed holding times in each transition. Parameters for the transition model are derived from a gap model (ZELIG). This procedure ensures conceptual consistency of the landscape model with the fine scale ecological detail represented by the forest gap model. Spatial heterogeneity in the transition model is driven by maps of terrain with characteristics contained in a Geographic Information System (GIS) database. The results of the transition model simulations, percent cover forest type maps, are exported to grid-maps in the GIS. These cover type maps can be classified and used to describe forest dynamics using landscape statistics metrics. The linkage model-GIS enhances the transition model spatial analytical capabilities. A parameterization algorithm was developed that takes as input gap model tracer files which contain the percent occupation of each cover type through time. As output, the algorithm produces a file that contains the parameter values needed for MOSAIC for each one of the possible transitions. Parameters for the holding time distribution were found by calculating an empirical estimate of the cumulative probability function and using a …

Predictors of institutional adjustment for juvenile offenders were examined using a sample of 120 males in a detention facility. While demographic information failed to differentiate between well and poorly adjusted juveniles, psychological measures appeared to be more effective. Several MMPI-A clinical scales were useful predictors with the overall elevation in clinical scales being one of the strongest predictors. In addition, the Psychopathy Checklist - Clinical Version (PCL-CV) was a strong predictor of adjustment. Major ethnic differences occurred in the prediction of adjustment, with the MMPI-A and PCL-CV scales predicting infraction rates for the African American group but not Anglo American or Hispanic American groups.

The study determined the overall persistence rate of first-time full-time entrants into a mid-sized private university during the fall semesters 1989 to 1991 to the 2nd year (1990 to 1992). The study compared the retention rate of recipients and nonrecipients of a variety of financial aid programs. Included is a comparison of groups receiving various types of financial assistance and whether or not there are differences between the groups with respect to types of assistance, gender, ethnicity (African American, Hispanic, Anglo), high school grade point average, and national test scores (SAT, ACT). The types of assistance studied were categorized by academic scholarships, university-operated student employment, need-based grants, activity awards, entitlements, and loans. The question of whether renewal, elimination, or reduction in assistance relates to retention was also studied.

The purpose of the study was to determine the point prevalence of cognitive dysfunction in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and to investigate its association with corticosteroids and depression. The severity of dysfunction and the pattern of cognitive changes were examined. This study hypothesized that cognitive dysfunction is common in SLE and many previous studies have underestimated its prevalence, partially due to using limited neuropsychological batteries and insensitive test instruments. It was further hypothesized that the pattern of cognitive changes in SLE patients will resemble that observed in subcortical dementias.

In Overcoming the Regional Burden: History, Tradition, and Myth in the Novels of Cormac McCarthy, I contend that McCarthy's literary aesthetic develops and changes as he moves from Tennessee to Texas. McCarthy's conspicuous Southern and Southwestern regional affiliations have led critics to expect his works to recapitulate native history, traditions, and myths. Yet, McCarthy transcends provincial regionalism by challenging the creation of the regional and national myths we confuse with our actual histories and identities. McCarthy's fictions point away from accepted histories and point instead to figures marginalized by society and myth makers. These figures, according to McCarthy, are just as much a part of the creation of myth as those figures indelibly imprinted on our consciousness by literary and historical tradition. My dissertation, in many respects, focuses on McCarthy's debunking of both literary and historical tradition, and his concomitant revitalization of American identity.

The purpose of this study was to determine personality characteristics of students who are successful on traditional campuses and students who are successful on alternative campuses. With this knowledge, more students may be served on the traditional campus without the necessity for alternative education.

This controlled descriptive study was designed to investigate the psychological status of couples who are engaged in advanced fertility treatments. A battery of psychological test instruments, including the Millon Behavioral Health Inventory (MBHI), the Health Attribution Test (HAT), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MCSDS), was used to measure psychological variables that have been shown in the infertility research literature to be associated with the psychological experiences of infertility patients. The scores from the four assessment instruments were compared with those of pregnant couples in childbirth education classes to differentiate the impact of stress associated with fertility treatment from the stress experienced by third trimester pregnant couples. Eighty-five subjects (42 male and 43 female) volunteered for the study and completed packets of questionnaires. The groups were designated Treatment (infertile couples) and Control (pregnant couples). The resulting data were collected and analyzed on the basis of group mean scores on the test instruments.

This study centered on competencies needed by entry-level automotive technicians. Many students in automotive technician programs immediately seek employment upon program completion. This study is one step toward identifying areas in the automotive technician curriculum that need the most training emphasis.

The purposes of this study were to (1) identify the recommendations of Curriculum Management Audits conducted in Texas Public School systems, (2) determine the degree to which each of the recommendations had been implemented, and (3) determine the perceptions of stakeholders as to the factors instrumental in the real and potential impact of the audit. The researcher conducted interviews with superintendents and key central office administrators with a working knowledge of the audit report in each of the eleven Texas school districts studied. Respondents were asked to rate recommendations written for their districts using the following descriptors: Implemented, In Progress, Plan to Implement, Recommendation Modified, No Implementation. The ranking of recommendation implementation revealed that 85% of the recommendations made in the 11 audit reports reviewed in this study had received action toward implementation to some degree. Respondents were also asked to cite factors which facilitated or impeded recommendation implementation. Significant factors facilitating the implementation of recommendations were reported to be time, organizational structure/personnel and planning. The analysis of the collective recommendations revealed that school board policies were not adequate to direct the design, delivery and monitoring of curriculum when measured against audit Standard One criteria. School districts in Texas rely …

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) continues to be the most accepted approach for the treatment of addictions in the United States. However, due to recent evidence questioning the effectiveness of AA, the need for alternative approaches to the treatment of addictions has become clear. The following research addresses the efficacy of one such alternative, Rational Recovery (RR). Node-Link Mapping (NLM), a graphic communication technique which uses links and nodes as building blocs to facilitate and enhance communication of information as well as awareness in a counseling environment, was implemented to enhance the recovery process. Three groups of ten (10), chemically dependent, adjudicated subjects were exposed to three different treatment approaches at an outpatient counseling center. The Experimental group received RR with NLM, the Comparison group was exposed only to RR, and the Control group continued in treatment according to the protocol of the counseling agency. All subjects were given the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory-2 (SASSI-2) as a measurement of symptoms associated with chemical dependency. The subjects were also administered the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale (Rotter I-E Scale) to determine locus of control prior to treatment and any change after treatment.

A research study is undertaken to determine if economic incentives exist for noncompliance with regulatory standards, and if accounting related disclosure of regulatory enforcement actions is a determinant of environmental performance.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of principals who had served in their positions prior to and since the state-mandated implementation of site-based management. The study sought to determine if the state mandates impacted the principals' perceptions regarding the pre-existing site-based management in their district. The study also sought to determine relationships between support or lack of support and the principals' gender, age, ethnicity, years as principal, and educational level.

The purpose of this research is to continue examining the project management process. The management of projects is complicated. It is the complexity of the process that makes a project so difficult to control. This research examines the effect of particular facets of the project manager's skill set and operating environment on management decisions.

The effects of random guessing as a measurement disturbance on Rasch fit statistics (unweighted total, weighted total, and unweighted ability between) and the Logit Residual Index (LRI) were examined through simulated data sets of varying sample sizes, test lengths, and distribution types. Three test lengths (25, 50, and 100), three sample sizes (25, 50, and 100), two item difficulty distributions (normal and uniform), and three levels of guessing (no guessing (0%), 25%, and 50%) were used in the simulations, resulting in 54 experimental conditions. The mean logit person ability for each experiment was +1. Each experimental condition was simulated once in an effort to approximate what could happen on the single administration of a four option per item multiple choice test to a group of relatively high ability persons. Previous research has shown that varying item and person parameters have no effect on Rasch fit statistics. Consequently, these parameters were used in the present study to establish realistic test conditions, but were not interpreted as effect factors in determining the results of this study.

In calling for the deployment of high-capacity telecommunications infrastructures, the Clinton Administration is relying on market forces to drive demand toward self-sustaining development. There is little doubt that many firms will embrace the new telecommunications services for a variety of reasons including market differentiation, vertical market integration, and other organization-specific factors. However, there is little evidence at the firm level that adopting the use of increased-capacity telecommunications technologies is associated with improvements in firm profitability. This study seeks to identify the presence of impacts on firm income that can be associated with the adoption of T1 telecommunications services.

The purpose of this study is to revise the genus Suwallia and to evaluate the potential taxonomic importance of adeagal and other genitalic characters, adult pigment patterns and egg characters. The revision concentrates on western North American species while providing coverage of all species, except Suwallia asiatica Zhiltzova and Lavanidova where only presumed females have been available for study. Communication and mate locating behaviors in adult stoneflies are critical for life cycle completion and species perpetuation. Drumming signals are known for numerous species of Plecoptera, but mate searching patterns and specifically, if or how vibrational communication is utilized for locating mates are virtually unknown for all stonefly species. I conducted field or laboratory studies of three species to elucidate mate searching patterns and how vibrational communication is used for locating mates. The species studied included a bushtopper, Suwallia pallidula (Banks); a ground scrambler, Claassenia sabulosa (Banks); and treetopper, Perlinella drymo (Newman). The "fly-tremulate-search". "rock to rock" and "fly-drum-search" search patterns exhibited by these species are described, as well as how vibrational communication is used for mate finding. Vibrational signal production by tremulation is reported for the first time in Suwallia, and for only the second time Plecoptera.

Document representation is a fundamental concept in information retrieval (IR), and has been relied upon in textual IR systems since the advent of library catalogs. The reliance upon text-based representations of stored information has been perpetuated in conventional systems for the retrieval of moving images as well. Although newer systems have added image-based representations of moving image documents as aids to retrieval, there has been little research examining how humans interpret these different types of representations. Such basic research has the potential to inform IR system designers about how best to aid users of their systems in retrieving moving images. One key requirement for the effective use of document representations in either textual or image form is thedegree to which these representations are congruent with the original documents. A measure of congruence is the degree to which human responses to representations are similar to responses produced by the document being represented. The aim of this study was to develop a model for the representation of moving images based upon human judgements of representativeness. The study measured the degree of congruence between moving image documents and their representations, both text and image based, in a non-retrieval environment with and without task …

The purpose of this study was to provide a basis for understanding among Tech Prep and School-to-Work change agents, and educational leaders, of the role that Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) can perform as a part of the core curriculum, within the framework of these reform movements. The literature indicated that the federally supported Tech Prep and School-to-Work reform movements were not acquainted with DBAE reform initiative which were supported by the Getty Education Institute for the Arts through the work of Regional Institutes. Therefore, they had no ideas about the possible worth of art as an education core component. Also, DBAE was not acquainted with Tech Prep and School-to-Work and therefore had established no common terminology to communicate the power of what they do in a manner which was relevant to that audience. The DBAE Regional Institutes provided individuals to assist in the development and validation of the study tools, and to participate in the pilot study. The Regional Institutes also identified the 10 Discipline-Based Art Education experts who composed the national Delphi panel for the study. The findings were reported according to research questions. They show the national Delphi panels' perceptions of which SCANS skills can be developed by …

Humans are very effective at evaluating information visually. Scientific visualization is concerned with the process of presenting complex data in visual form to exploit this capability. A large array of tools is currently available for visual presentation. This research attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of three different presentation models that could be used for scientific visualization. The presentation models studied were, two-dimensional perspective rendering, field sequential stereoscopic three dimensional rendering and immersive virtual reality rendering. A large section of a three dimensional sub surface seismic survey was modeled as four-dimensional data by including a value for seismic reflectivity at each point in the survey. An artificial structure was randomly inserted into this data model and subjects were asked to locate and identify the structures. A group of seventeen volunteers from the University of Houston student body served as subjects for the study. Detection time, discrimination time and discrimination accuracy were recorded. The results showed large inter subject variation in presentation model preference. In addition the data suggest a possible gender effect. Female subjects had better overall performance on the task as well as better task acquisition.

The problem under investigation in this research is the development of a general approach that will establish a students knowledge level so that the student's learning can be optimized by beginning it at the most effective point. In preparation for this study, an active test with an acceptable CT3 homogeneity index was found. Two computer programs, RightOrder and MathTest, were written in Visual Basic. The latter administers the test, producing a file or responses that serves as input for the former, which performs the calculations and matrix manipulation necessary to determine the CT3 of a set of test items and construct a difficulty strata scale. The test was administered twice to the same population, the first time in the original item order. In the second administration, one item from each successive level of difficulty, beginning with the easiest, was given until the respondent answered incorrectly. Then all the remaining items were presented in order of difficulty, beginning with the easiest. The three hypothesis of this study are (a) the difficulty strata scale generated from the computerized retest, using a z-score to be determined as critical value, is congruent with that derived from the analysis done on the data of the …