It is an initial assumption of this paper that the reading of a poem is an experience which the reader undergoes, or in which he participates. The reader is part of the process of the poem. Hence the discussion of "A": 1-12 is focussed on a consideration of what happens in the reading of the poem. The point of view taken is that the poem itself is an exercise in how to read. In the pursuit of this discussion, the poem is observed as an object, as anoordered device; as Zukofsky's model of the universe he perceives. Communication theory is used as an initial model for an analysis of the way in which meaning is conveyed to the reader. The subsequent discussion involves a study of Zukofsky's use of analogies and technics, as well as an analysis of the ways in which he uses language. As a cumulative result, a sense of the subjective experience of the poem is derived through the metaphor of cyclicality. The discussion of movements within the poem become cycles of movement between the reader and the poem, and between the writing and the poem. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Ph. D.

M.S.

The thesis of this investigation was that a systematic program of career exploration for college freshmen can improve their career decidedness. A Career Exploration Program was designed by the writer to facilitate two principal objectives of the career exploration process: (a) the understanding of personal needs and values which affect career decisions; and (b) the acquisition of meaningful career information from individuals in the world of work. The program consisted of two components designed to achieve these objectives. In the first component, a standardized self-appraisal inventory, the Hall Occupational Orientation Inventory (HALL), was administered to students following a ninety-minute orientation to decision-making theory. In the second component, college alumni were recruited to meet with students at work locations. Meetings were scheduled with alumni in careers corresponding to the students' stated interests. Students were encouraged to correlate information about themselves derived from the HALL with information obtained in interviews. The investigation was conducted in 1977-78 at Roanoke College, a small private liberal arts college in Salem, Virginia. One hundred-sixty freshmen were selected randomly to participate and assigned to one of four equal size groups. Group 1 served as a control. Group 2 received the orientation and completed the HALL. Group 3 interviewed alumni. Group 4 participated in both of these components of the program. It was hypothesized that participation by Groups 2, 3, and 4 in the components of the program would result in students exhibiting greater career decidedness over the control group. The Assessment of Career Decision Making-Form B (ACDM-B), developed by Vincent A. Harren, was administered to members of each group at six week intervals in a pretest/ posttest/post-posttest format. The instrument measured change in career decidedness along a continuum of four decision-making stages identified by David V. Tiedeman: exploration, crystallization, choice, and clarification. A multivariate analysis of covariance was used to test for group, sex, and group-sex interaction. A multiple comparisons analysis was used to compare all possible pairs of groups. A two-factor analysis of variance with repeated measures was performed to identify interaction effects across time. In tests of the stated hypotheses, it was determined that: (a) students in Group 2 differed significantly (.05) from the control on the clarification stage; (b) students in Group 3 did not differ significantly from any of the groups; and (c) students in Group 4 differed significantly (.05) from the control on the choice stage and on the ACDM-B weighted score. It was concluded that the three groups receiving treatments exhibited movement in the hypothesized direction toward greater decidedness. Clearly Group 4, which participated in the combination of components, evidenced the greatest change in career decidedness. Sex was not found to influence career decidedness. The self-appraisal experience alone and the combination of self-appraisal and alumni interviews resulted in significant differences from the pretest to posttest. Significant interaction (.05) was found among group means on the tests. A slight decline was noted on the post-posttest for Groups 2 and 4, which exhibited significant change on the posttest. Conversely, Group 3, participating in only the alumni interviews, increased slightly on post-posttest scores--evidence of a delayed effect of treatment. The findings suggest that the integrated self-appraisal and alumni visitation program had a positive effect on the career decision-making behavior of college freshmen. / Ed. D.

An investigation was conducted at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College in Richmond, Virginia in order to (1) obtain a descriptive profile of the elderly in its community; (2) determine what factors affected attendance of the elderly at the college; and (3) ascertain the educational services perceived as needed by older persons in the Metropolitan area of Richmond, Virginia which may be provided by the community college. The design of the investigation was a questionnaire mailed to 400 participants systematically drawn from a list which was representative of the population of those age 60 and over in Metropolitan Richmond, Virginia. The list was provided by the Capital Area Agency on Aging. Structured interviews were conducted with the nonrespondents. One hundred and thirty four responses were received through the mail, and 101 persons responded through interviews for a total response rate of 59 percent. Age, sex, marital status, race, and income were cross tabulated with transportation, health, level of education achieved and desired, and employment status to determine what factors affected the attendance of the elderly at the community college. Potential courses, programs or activities were ranked in their order of importance by the elderly. The respondents to the study resided in Metropolitan Richmond, Virginia. Sixty-eight percent of the participants were between 60 and 69 years of age. The median age was 67. Sixty-six percent were female, 50 percent were married, and 59 percent had an annual income of $6,000 or above. Over half of those who responded to employment status were unemployed" and did not indicate a need for employment. The non-white older adults had more need for and showed more interest in further education than white adults. Fifty-nine percent of the respondents to this investigation said they would attend the college if classes were offered at a convenient time and location, and 41 percent said they would not. Factors which affected attendance at the community college were transportation, health, physical handicaps, time and location of course offerings, and lack of awareness of the educational services available at the college. Forty-seven percent of those who would attend the college preferred classes in the morning, and 82 percent desired a location near their homes for college activities. The older adults were interested in varied courses, programs and activities, such as Home Maintenance, Care of House Plants, Tennis, Bowling, Health and Nutrition, Needlework, Legal Information, English Skills, and Painting and Sketching. There are two major hindrances in delivering information to the elderly about the college: visibility and flow of information. Many older adults are isolated. More aggressive and innovative approaches to reaching the aged should be initiated by the community college. Programs for assessing the needs of the elderly should be ongoing at the college. Courses, programs and activities designed for today's elderly may have to be redesigned in the future. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to design a method to evaluate the process of community education and to test the new evaluative method in a small set of community education schools. Based upon the review of the literature, a questionnaire was developed with the assistance of the researcher's advisory committee to evaluate the process of community education and submitted to a panel of experts for review and revision, and then field tested to gather data from the sample of community education schools involved in the study. Four major categories of respondents were sampled from six community education schools drawn from the total population of 193 community education schools in the Mid-Atlantic region. The four categories of respondents included the community education coordinator, staff members, advisory council members, and community residents. All the subjects in the sample were sent the developed questionnaire to collect data regarding their perceptions of the existence and importance of a systematic approach to meeting community needs, the way they were involved, and the extent of their involvement. A frequency distribution and percentage analysis were performed. The results were recorded and analyzed to produce the findings of the study. The findings of the study were: 1. A method to evaluate the process of community education was developed and could effectively be administered by community education coordinators. 2. The developed method could determine the perceptions of four groups of respondents and their perception of the existence, importance, and extent of their involvement in the community education process. 3. The developed instrument could gather data to ascertain the involvement of people in the community education process in eight systematic approaches to meeting community needs. 4. The following conclusions were based on the findings of the study: a. A majority of all the respondents indicated that a systematic approach to meeting community needs did exist. b. The results of the findings indicated that a systematic approach to meeting community needs was important to all groups responding. c. The majority of the staff and coordinators were involved in all approaches to meeting community needs. Community residents and advisory council members were split between a great deal of involvement and only some involvement in meeting community needs. Community residents perceived their involvement to be less than any other group of respondents. d. Community residents and staff members indicated their greatest involvement was with the use of a questionnaire. Advisory council members believed their greatest involvement was by serving on the advisory council. The community education coordinators cited working on task-forces, working with the advisory council, and attending public meetings as the areas of their greatest involvement in meeting community needs. The coordinators were all involved in more than three ways, while the majority of the other three groups of respondents were involved in only one way. e. The results indicated that sex was the only variable whereby the advisory council represented the community residents who were participating in the program at the time of this study. / Ed. D.

This dissertation consists of a series of four experiments designed to examine the interfacing of behavior, genetics, physiology and disease resistance in the domestic fowl. The principle objective was to obtain insights into the mechanisms involved in the responses of the domestic chicken to various husbandry situations. A second objective was to determine the degree of generalization of inferences which could be made to various populations of chickens that had different genetic backgrounds. Differences were found among various lines for "fear", head shaking, body weight and reproductive traits. In all cases the association of "fear" with head shaking was of a low magnitude and neither behavior had, on a within line basis, a significant relationship with growth and reproductive traits. A temporal effect which declined over time was noted for "fear" of humans by females maintained individually in cages suggesting habituation to such a husbandry situation. The effect of the sex-linked gene for dwarfing on the frequency of head shaking, antibody titers to sheep red blood cells, and plasma corticosterone levels was influenced by the genetic background of the population studied. Line differences were observed for the degree of mortality, lesions, and abnormal droppings in response to a challenge with E. coli. The disease and social history of the populations would, however, mask differences due to the particular genome of the population studied. Therefore, the response of a population of chickens to E. coli depends upon its genetic background, previous history, and the current husbandry situation. The stability of the social hierarchy after an E. coli challenge was influenced more by the degree of resistance of the individual to infection than by social inertia. The influence of short-term physical and social environmental changes were cumulative for traits such as antibody production, plasma corticosterone levels, plus changes in body weight, lymphocytes and heterophils. Lymphocytes were more responsive to the short term changes than heterophils. It appears from the data that "fear" and head shaking behaviors are vehicles by which chickens adapt to long term environmental changes, but are not used for short term adaptations. The data demonstrate specific relationships among the genome and mechanisms involved in the response of chickens to various husbandry situations. This implies that the adaptiveness of populations to various husbandry practices is greatly influenced by the genetic background of the specific population. The plasticity of populations, however, suggests that selection for various husbandry situations is feasible. / Ph. D.

For many years there has been concern about the performance of community college (CC) students who transfer from community to senior institutions. This concern has led to considerable research, most of which has shown that CC grade point average (GPA) declined in the first year of student transfer from one-half to a full point, a decline attributed to transfer shock. However, there has been little research on the overall success rate of transfer students and/or if certain measures of a student's performance in the CC might be more useful than such variables as scholastic aptitude test (SAT) scores or high school class rank (HSCR) in predicting performance in senior institutions, particularly in terms of different curricula. The purpose of this study was to determine if selected independent variables can be of assistance in answering questions for admissions officers, counselors, and students in terms of how well CC transfer students will do academically at a senior institution. Three hundred sixty-one students transferring to Virginia Tech (VPI) from the 23 Virginia CC in 1974 represented the study population. Thirty-two independent variables known prior to transfer were used in an effort to determine the value of these variables in conjunction with each other as better predictors than the three variables (HSCR, SAT scores, and CC GPA) analysed most often in previous research. Two dependent variables were considered in the study: (1) academic standing at VPI that would classify the student as successful ( 2.0 or higher on a 4.0 grading scale), marginal (above academic drop level but below 2.0), or failure which would terminate enrollment at the end of the spring quarter, and (2) GPA at Virginia Tech. Statistical techniques used to investigate the relationship of the 32 independent variables to GPA and academic standing at VPI included stepwise regression analysis, analysis of variance, and stepwise discriminant analysis. It was found that SAT scores and HSCR were less significant in predicting the transfer student's success in senior college than CC performance. The major predictors of GPA and academic success were found to be: (1) CC GPA, (2) CC mathematics, science, and English program including grades received and hours transferred, (3) quarter hours of credit transferred from the CC, (4) CC location, (5) VPI curriculum choice, and (6) completion of an Associate in Science or Associate in Arts degree before transfer. It was also found that a branching diagram might be developed from data collected which could be usefully employed to demonstrate the CC student's expected GPA at VPI based on independent variables used in the study and curriculum selected at VPI. This research concludes that the most recent academic information is the best predictor of senior college GPA. This contradicts previous research which shows that SAT scores and HSCR are the best predictors. Selection of a curriculum is an important moderator variable. Verbal skills appear important in humanities, education, and business; quantitative skills in engineering, architecture, and agriculture. Transfer students graduating with a CC GPA of 3.0 or higher in the Associate in Science or Associate in Arts degree had approximately the same success rate at VPI as native students. Replication of the study is recommended in other states to determine if the findings are representative, and to obtain information of specific value to a specific institution. / Ed. D.

The present study investigated the extent to which movement time and practice influenced usage of feedback by subjects to make corrections in the spatial-temporal movement pattern of coincident timing responses. Twenty-four college males and females watched a .01 sec timer and attempted to knock over a barrier at the precise moment that the sweep hand reached a "target position" (250, 500, and 1000 msec). All subjects were given 100 trials of practice at a particular "target position" on each of four consecutive days. Schmidt's (1972) index of preprogramming was calculated for each subject each day in order to estimate the level of feedback involvement in controlling the movement, while the spatial-temporal pattern of the response was characterized by segmental movement time and variability. The results indicated that the index of preprogramming increased as instructed movement time decreased but remained stable throughout all trials. This suggests that movement time and not practice limits the extent to which a response is programmed, with rapid performance more likely to be pre-programmed than slower performance. Likewise, the spatial-temporal pattern of the movement was found to fluctuate as instructed movement time increased but remained stable over practice. Indeed, the 250 and 500 msec movements appeared to be primarily ballistic while the 1000 msec movement appeared to be adjusted in the terminal phase of the response by accelerating or decelerating the rate of movement. Thus, it was assumed that the index of preprogramming was sensitive to changes, as a result of feedback based corrections, in the spatial-temporal pattern of the movement. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this research was to study whether child-rearing attitudes would differ over time in three different classes in the Department of Management, Housing and Family Development, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. These classes were Creative Expression of Young Children (Class I); Human Development I: Infancy Through Middle Childhood (Class II); and Introductory Household Equipment (Class III). A total of one hundred and twenty-two subjects were given both a pre- and a posttest using the Child-Rearing Attitude Scale developed by Block (1955). Information was gathered on subjects' age, sex, race, year in school, previous child-related courses, education and marital status of parents, and parent's child-rearing behavior. Using the t-test as the statistical method of analysis, results showed significant differences between pretest and posttest means for each individual class. Statistically significant differences were also found between the pretest and posttest means of Classes I and II and Classes I and III. However, when a correction was made for initial pretest differences, no further increase in mean differences on the posttest were found. A much higher percentage of subjects in Class I answered “yes” when asked if they had taken any previous child-related courses and reported having taken more of these courses than subjects in either Classes II or III. Results showed that Class I subjects had the lowest mean scores on the Child-Rearing Attitude Scale, which reflects more democratic, rather than authoritarian, child-rearing attributes. / M. S.