The U.S. apparel/textile product manufacturing environment has traditionally been a very labor intensive industry. As the quality movement is adopted in the U.S. apparel/textile product manufacturing environment, there is a growing focus on the human side of the enterprise. The purpose of this research was to examine the quality training of three case studies of N.C. apparel/textile product manufacturers and to build a model for TQM training. The case study method (i.e., personal interviews, Surveys, group activities) was used to investigate the quality practices and training practices, as well as the organizational culture of the three case studies. The participating companies were drawn from a published directory of N.C. manufacturers. Several companies were contacted and three were chosen using research criteria. Data collection was done in six phases using Mink et. al. (1993) Total Transformation Management Process (TTMP), a model for managing change within an organization, as the conceptual framework. The six phases were (a) examining the need for change, (b) future state of the organization, (c) present state of the organization, (d) analyzing the planning of the change strategy, (e) examining the organization’s reaction to change, and (f) measuring the overall effectiveness of the change. Method triangulation was used to distill TQM, firm-based training, and organizational culture findings to identify a parsimonious model of TQM implementation strategies. All three case studies had appropriate reasons for why a quality change was needed for their particular organization, even though the three case studies differed in product produced, production method used, company size, competitive strategy, worker compensation, and training practices. Company A has addressed training problems of adult learners (Gordon, 1993) in a vestibule training program, and Companies B and C rely on co-worker, on-the-job training. Employee turnover rate is also in sharp contrast among the three case studies, with Company A having about a 30% turnover rate, and Companies B and C having approximately 100% turnover rate. The company that has worked through all of the TTMP phases, including training and employee empowerment, is the company that is achieving the best results. This research showed that an organized training program in quality corresponded with effective results, which is also in agreement with the current training and organization development literature (Dodge, 1993a; Hodgetts et al., 1993; Jones & Reid, 1993; Nilson, 1990; Parry, 1993). The case studies also revealed that employees’ basic needs (i.e., wages) need to be addressed before employees’ training needs (i.e., quality training) can be successful and effective. This finding is consistent with training, quality, and organizational development literature (Dick & Carey, 1993; Goldstein, 1993; Hodgetts et al., 1993; Jones & Reid, 1993; Nilson, 1990; Parry, 1993; Troy, 1991). These findings also provide empirical support for theories in training and quality. / Ph. D.

This dissertation describes the development and application of a characterization methodology that improves the performance of robotic systems. To achieve accurate positioning, robot geometry must be precisely defined, both in new system design and in upgrading existing robots. This can be accomplished by developing rigorous calibration methods to model, identify, analyze, and minimize errors in robot geometric parameters. Throughout this work, the geometric parameters that describe the kinematics of a given robot are treated as unknowns. The robot characterization process involves finding the optimal values of these parameters to best fit a set of measured or simulated positions of the robot end-effector. In this dissertation, well-established robot kinematic link transformation techniques are first used to model the robotic manipulator system. Next, engineering knowledge of the robot system, its work environment and detailed component specifications are used to identify possible sources of error. This results in a list of error parameters and their range. A system sensitivity analysis is performed on these parameters to determine which have the greatest effect on system accuracy. To characterize an existing robot, experimental calibration data is gathered using a suitable measurement technique. Using this data, optimization of the previously isolated critical parameters is performed. The newly determined values of these parameters are implemented into the control system and performance is compared before and after the characterization process. To design a new robot system, the isolated critical parameters are again found through optimization. In this case, however, the measured data 1s gathered by a simulation, with the error parameter values randomly generated each time. The performance of the system is analyzed after this exhaustive simulation. In both of the cases described, the characterization process is iterative. The characterization process has been successfully applied to the design of a positioning system for a mobile, underwater nuclear-reactor-vessel-inspection robot. Also, the performance of an existing PUMA 562 industrial robot has been improved using this characterization procedure. The advantages of this methodology over previous ones are that it can be applied to both new and existing robot systems and it is specifically aimed at meeting performance goals. A cost-performance tradeoff is accomplished by optimizing only for the critical parameters required to meet the specified performance objectives. / Ph. D.

This study discovered and explored conditions related to the academic performance of African Americans at a comprehensive public research university in rural southwest Virginia. The above quote captures the essence of students’ perspectives and experiences as they relate to academic performance at Virginia Tech. Data for this study were collected by conducting focus groups interviews with African American students at Va. Tech. A total of 35 students participated in seven focus group interviews. Data collection involved 15 students with QCAs less than 2.0, six students with QCAs between 2.0 and 3.0, and 14 students with QCAs greater than 3.0. Data were analyzed by the constant comparative analysis method. The findings of this study indicate that academic performance of African American students at Va. Tech is related to interactions between the student and the social and academic environments. These interactions are explained by three themes. Achievement motivation explains the personal attributes and commitments students bring to the institution, and are willing to invest in their education. Social infrastructure is the relationship and interaction patterns with peers, family and parents. Faculty issues refer to interactions with white faculty and the importance of black faculty. All students believed that a good adjustment, hard work and effort, clear goals, choice of major, and strong study skills and habits were important to academic performance. Other issues of importance included negative racial stereotypes, negative faculty attitudes, interaction with white students, discomfort in the environment, poor adjustment, and parental influence. Opinions on how these factors affected academic performance varied among groups. The students who had not excelled academically took complete responsibility for their failure. Some questions remain unanswered regarding this finding. Other students believed they had excelled because they worked hard, had clear goals and were pleased with their majors. However, according to the students with QCAs greater than 3.0, the underlying motivation for their determination to succeed was to “prove them wrong.” / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to determine the long-term effect of participation in secondary vocational education and Co-operative Education for non-college attending high school graduates in general, and selected ethnic minorities and females specifically. Minority individuals represented in the study were African-American and Hispanic-American high school graduates from the 1980 sophomore cohort of the High School and Beyond, Fourth Follow-up. While previous research has purported to show that secondary vocational education has short-term economic benefit for non-college attending youth, these benefits have been mixed and/or nonexistent for minority youth. Few studies have examined the long-term benefit of participation in vocational education during high school. Path analysis was used to examine the long-term direct and indirect effects of secondary vocational education on the post secondary labor market experiences of non-college attending females and selected minorities. A causal model was devised to determine the influence of taking vocational education courses and participation in Co-op during high school on length of employment and annual income for young people entering the labor force with only a high school diploma. For non-college attending youth, these analyses found no long-term effect on their post graduation labor market experiences as a result of taking secondary vocational education courses and/or participating in Co-op during high school. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this research is to clarify the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and borderline personality disorder. A path-analytic model was developed and tested to explore a causal link between childhood sexual abuse and borderline personality disorder. This model was developed by integrating theories and empirical findings with regard to childhood sexual abuse and borderline personality disorder. The model is consistent with the concept of developmental psychopathology in that childhood sexual abuse is viewed as contributing to one possible pathway of several toward the outcome of borderline personality disorder and borderline personality disorder as one of several possible outcomes of childhood sexual abuse. The model predicted that childhood sexual abuse contributes to the development of borderline personality disorder if the abuse is chronic and severe and occurs compounded with other types of abuse or trauma and within the context of dysfunctional family characteristics. Subjects were 41 adult females with a history of childhood sexual abuse who were recruited from outpatient mental health clinics and one psychiatric hospital. The borderline portion of the Personality Disorder Examination, the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-III-R, and Finkelhor’s Family Experiences Survey were administered in addition to two self-report questionnaires on family dynamics and coping with sexual abuse. A path analysis was conducted on the data. The path model predicted that borderline personality disorder would be present with greater risk factors, greater family dysfunction, a higher severity of sexual abuse, utilization of cognitive rumination to cope with the abuse, and lower perceived parental support. None of the path coefficients in the path model were statistically significant. A discussion of reasons for the lack of significant findings follows the analyses. / Ph. D.

The objective of this study was to investigate thermal stresses in oxidation protection coatings on carbon-carbon composites. Multilayer coatings with each layer of coating applied at a different temperature, and gradient coatings with continuously varying properties through the thickness of the coating were considered. Particular emphasis was on the prediction of the thermal stresses in the vicinity of geometric discontinuities. For the analysis an incremental generalized plane-strain finite element model that accounts for temperature-dependent material properties and continuously varying properties in the gradient coatings was developed. The model is based on an incremental constitutive equation for linear thermoelastic materials that accounts for the coupling between stresses and the temperature-dependence of the material properties. In addition to the finite element model, an incremental simplified plane stress analysis for the prediction of stresses away from geometric discontinuities was developed. Analyses of carbon-carbon substrates with coatings showed that large stress concentrations in the coatings may be present near the geometric discontinuities. It was found that inserting a compliant layer between the carbon-carbon substrate and the oxidation protection coatings, or inserting a gradient coating with properties varying from those of a compliant material near the carbon-carbon substrate to those of the oxidation protection coating near the oxidation protection coating, could be used to significantly reduce the magnitudes of the stresses in the stress concentrations. The influence of geometric and material parameters on the stresses was studied and for some combinations of parameters stresses near the geometric discontinuities could be reduced to magnitudes that were smaller than the magnitudes of the stresses away from the discontinuities. For coatings applied at different temperatures, the application temperature of the coatings significantly influenced the magnitude of the stresses. The lowest stresses were obtained for gradient coatings for which the application temperature of the gradient coating varied continuously, proportional to the material composition in the gradient coating. / Ph. D.

Ph. D.

A model that simulates test of metal:-plate-connected wood trusses was developed. The truss test model built on previous research efforts to simulate ultimate failure of structural systems. For years, lumber failure models have used failure equations that were derived from design equations. This approach was applied to the strengths of metal plate connected joints. The model uses actual steel properties data for modelling the strength of the joints, and uses the most current lumber data to model the lumber strength and stiffness properties in the trusses. One of the unique features of the model is the use of basic fundamental engineering properties to predict the strengths of the individual components of the structural systems. These general principles allow the model to be used for many truss configurations. This flexibility differs from several current metal plate connected wood truss models in the literature. Although the safety factor for lumber is the smallest of all the truss components, many of the simulated truss failures were controlled by plate failures. The metal plate connected joints were the weakest link in the truss system. To improve the overall strength of a truss, the plates would need to be strengthened. Two different truss configurations were used for the simulations. Both truss simulations performed well, when compared to actual test data. / Ph. D.

A major battle in the struggle for African American civil rights has been the pursuit of educational opportunity. Little has been written about the early civil rights movement in western and southwestern Virginia. There is an especial paucity of information about the efforts of African American Southwest Virginians to improve their educational opportunities. This dissertation addresses that need by centering the study on an individual educator's life during the period 1913-1940 in Pulaski, Virginia. Chauncey Depew Harmon, Senior, was an African American educator born in Pulaski, Virginia, in 1913. Educated at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute during 1929-35, he returned to Pulaski to become principal of Calfee Training School in 1938. With the assistance of the NAACP and the Virginia State Teachers Association, Harmon led one of the earliest campaigns for equalization of teacher salaries and facilities during the 1938-39 school term. In March of 1939, the Pulaski County School Board decided to send its African American high school students to the Christiansburg Industrial Institute, effectively eliminating Harmon's position. Harmon's efforts resulted in a suit, Corbin et al. v. County School Board of Pulaski County, that was one of eleven facility equalization suits supported by the NAACP prior to Brown v. Board of Education. The study is an example of microhistory. Microhistory is the detailed, intensive study of the lives of particular individuals or groups. The study employs accepted methods of historical research. The study is organized chronologically. The outcomes of the study are threefold. First, the study serves to document the youth, education, and, early career of Harmon. Second, the study examines the persons, events, and institutions of the period that played a role in leading up to Harmon's decisions and actions to push for equalization of teacher salaries and school facilities in Pulaski. Finally, the study endeavors to add to the body of knowledge and understanding of the issue of race in American education. / Ed. D.

In 1965, a study funded by the Carnegie Corporation identified 21 functions considered to comprise a basic student personnel program at any two-year college. Many changes have occurred in the two-year college over the past 29 years. Two-year colleges experienced continuous growth and expansion during the 1970s, wrestled with budget cuts and retrenchment in the 1980s, and faced an uncertain future in the 1990s. The purpose of this study was to conduct a survey to determine if differences existed: (a) between 1965 and 1994 in student personnel functions at large and small two-year colleges, (b) between large and small two-year colleges in student personnel functions purportedly offered in 1994, (c) between large and small two-year colleges in the scope and quality of student personnel functions provided in 1994, and (d) between large and small two-year colleges in ten selected institutional factors in 1994. The Basic Services Questionnaire (BSQ) was developed and administered to a random national sample of 200 principal student affairs officers stratified by size of college. The survey required responses to 28 student personnel functions, perceptions of the scope and quality of these functions, and ten selected institutional factors. The Chi Square Test of Independence and the Multivariate Analysis of Variance were utilized to analyze the data. The results of the study confirmed that the 21 basic student personnel functions identified in the 1965 Carnegie study were provided in 1994 by both large and small colleges, that seven additional functions were identified as basic student personnel functions provided by two-year colleges in 1994, and that the majority of the 238 student personnel functions provided at both large and small two-year colleges were perceived to be provided with the same scope and quality in 1994. The results of this study could be used by principal student affairs officers as both a model for implementation and evaluation of student personnel programs at their colleges. / Ph. D.