Building on sociological studies regarding college choice and persistence, this qualitative study investigates the college and post college experiences of 15 current students with NFL aspirations and 13 former students who held NFL aspirations, all from Division I Football Bowl Series (FBS) programs. A phenomenological design is implemented to explore participants' lived experiences, and awareness of their educational and occupational options. Deil-Amen and Tevis' (2010) Circumscribed Agency frames this study and provides a lens for examining the college choice and departure process. The role of the student exerting agency as circumscribed by context, habitus, and self-efficacy is emphasized with self-perceptions being essential in the process of enacting individual behavior and decisions. Perna's (2006) conceptual college choice model is made up of four contextual layers and is used to further explain students' college choice behaviors. Findings are consistent with Bowen and Schulman (2001) in that students' college decisions are driven by their athletic pursuits. This study also addresses persistence for this group of students. Tinto's (1993) theory on departure is used as a platform from which to examine commitment and social integration. Traditionally, degree commitment has been measured as strong or which severely limits our understanding of persistence. Findings reveal degree commitment to be fluid and contingent upon perceived occupational options, health status, and year in college. The majority of current students express commitment to degree attainment as a priority. However, further investigation reveals degree commitment to exist without a specific time frame set by students. This adds a time dimension to our understanding of degree commitment. This study further extends Tinto's concept of commitment with evidence of two competing goal commitments: degree and occupational. Decisions to leave college early for the NFL are driven by participants' self-perception of their athletic abilities despite where they are on the team's talent roster. This decision is further shaped by their college community integration consisting of teammates, coaches, and the NFL. Former students who stopped out of college reveal unanticipated challenges with re-entry into college. However, in contemplating a return to complete their bachelor’s degree, stop outs articulate a renewed sense of energy and degree commitment given a change in their occupational trajectory and situated context.

The system known as 360-degree feedback, also called multi-source or multi-rater feedback, is a development program that provides a recipient with feedback from supervisors, peers, and subordinates. There is currently no institutionalized, Navywide 360-degree feedback program for leadership development. Due to widespread civilian acceptance and to the success of the 360-degree program for the Navy's flag officers, the 2004 Surface Warfare Commanders Conference recommended a pilot program for 360-degree feedback be tested on a portion of the Surface Warfare Officer community. Results of the pilot program will be used to inform decisions on implementation of a Navy-wide 360-degree feedback program. The objectives of this thesis were to review the research evidence in the literature on the effectiveness and best practices of 360-degree programs and to identify general program evaluation techniques. The thesis then presents a conceptual analysis of the Navy pilot program and makes recommendations for modifications to the program based on comparisons with empirical research evidence and identified best practices of 360-degree programs. The thesis concludes by developing some guidelines and recommendations for a program evaluation plan that can be used to assess or revise the pilot program during and after its implementation.

This thesis is an exploratory case study that investigates the epistemological beliefs of students’ on a Foundation degree in Teaching and learning, and the possible influence of these beliefs on their learning. Critical realism provides the theoretical context for this case study through a multi-phase approach. This study explores the students’ beliefs of knowledge, knowing and learning through the employment of questionnaires and in-depth interviews which reveals the stories and experiences of five of the students. The research data suggests there is an apparent relationship between personal epistemological beliefs and the engagement with learning in higher education for these students. Moreover it emerged that there were personal transformations in their attitudes and beliefs towards knowledge, knowing and learning that had a profound impact on their self-belief. The changes can be attributed, in part, to the students’ capacity for change-readiness and openness to learning mediated by the situated and contextualised nature of the learning environment. Findings from this case study are not generalisable due to its specificity to one particular setting and small number of participants. However, a conceptual model of the relationship between students’ epistemological beliefs and transformation is offered exposing the complexity of social phenomena in real-life settings. The findings are discussed within the context of previous research. As part of my own learning, and in harmony with the theme of learning and change of the participants, I have also explored my learning changes as a result of engaging in my doctoral studies.

Vita. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

The Shores of Light is an orchestral composition which seeks to explore musical processes of coherence and evolution at a deeper level. The piece charts the journey of a single musical identity across a shifting aural landscape. This thematic idea — a strongly modal melody reminiscent of both plainchant and folksong, which serves as both the initial premise and foundation for the piece — is rooted in serene yet archaic stasis. After a brief introduction, the theme is subjected to tremendous pressure by external forces, which eventually crush it beyond recognition via a series of 'destructive' harmonic, contrapuntal, and acoustic procedures. Reduced to a shadow of its former self, the theme then undergoes a series of transformations, culminating in restoration — not to its original form, but to a new identity which functions as part of a whole, a 'master' entity whose components have been discreetly but gradually cohering throughout. This final realization is glimpsed but not necessarily fulfilled (hence the "shores of light") and the work, while striving at every register to return to its initial tonic, ends on a note that suggests (somewhat ominously) the possibility of a cyclical process. It is the essential tension between hierarchical complexity (tonality) and disorder (perceptual dissonance generated either by highly chromatic aggregates, acoustic saturation, or both) which plays the most crucial role in this discourse. The evolution toward greater and greater cohesion is achieved, necessarily, in opposition to the chaotic undercurrent which threatens to overwhelm or shatter the 'cohering' elements at every turn. The final chorale is a triumph of the 'meek,' as the elements of noise and distortion (ie. disorder) are stripped away to reveal an image of luminous simplicity. The use of tonal and non-tonal material as metaphors for order and chaos seems to betray an arbitrary initial condition — after all, there is no explicit logical connection between these parameters. But order, like beauty or meaning, is a perceptual phenomenon that transcends its processes. For me, the true complexity of the tonal hierarchy lies in its emergent qualities — the layers of content that emerge from a highly structured syntax. Thus, the gradual accretion of jumbled musical letters into recognizable words, then coherent sentences, then paragraphs imbued with specific meaning, carries with its own symbolism and structural significance.

The Shores of Light is an orchestral composition which seeks to explore musical processes of coherence and evolution at a deeper level. The piece charts the journey of a single musical identity across a shifting aural landscape. This thematic idea — a strongly modal melody reminiscent of both plainchant and folksong, which serves as both the initial premise and foundation for the piece — is rooted in serene yet archaic stasis. After a brief introduction, the theme is subjected to tremendous pressure by external forces, which eventually crush it beyond recognition via a series of 'destructive' harmonic, contrapuntal, and acoustic procedures. Reduced to a shadow of its former self, the theme then undergoes a series of transformations, culminating in restoration — not to its original form, but to a new identity which functions as part of a whole, a 'master' entity whose components have been discreetly but gradually cohering throughout. This final realization is glimpsed but not necessarily fulfilled (hence the "shores of light") and the work, while striving at every register to return to its initial tonic, ends on a note that suggests (somewhat ominously) the possibility of a cyclical process. It is the essential tension between hierarchical complexity (tonality) and disorder (perceptual dissonance generated either by highly chromatic aggregates, acoustic saturation, or both) which plays the most crucial role in this discourse. The evolution toward greater and greater cohesion is achieved, necessarily, in opposition to the chaotic undercurrent which threatens to overwhelm or shatter the 'cohering' elements at every turn. The final chorale is a triumph of the 'meek,' as the elements of noise and distortion (ie. disorder) are stripped away to reveal an image of luminous simplicity. The use of tonal and non-tonal material as metaphors for order and chaos seems to betray an arbitrary initial condition — after all, there is no explicit logical connection between these parameters. But order, like beauty or meaning, is a perceptual phenomenon that transcends its processes. For me, the true complexity of the tonal hierarchy lies in its emergent qualities — the layers of content that emerge from a highly structured syntax. Thus, the gradual accretion of jumbled musical letters into recognizable words, then coherent sentences, then paragraphs imbued with specific meaning, carries with its own symbolism and structural significance.

This study was designed to provide data pertaining to factors affecting pass/fail performance of associate degree graduate nurses on the licensing examination. The problem was to determine if age, cumulative grade index of nursing courses, university cumulative grade index upon completion of the program, continuous enrollment in nursing courses, previous college enrollment, and the average grade of three required science courses could be predictors of pass/fail performance of associate degree graduate nurses on the licensing examination.The population of the study were graduates of an associate degree nursing program offered by a small, private liberal arts university in the midwest. The representative sample of the population consisted of 253 associate degree graduate nurses completing the associate degree nursing program and writing the licensing examination during the years 1977 through 1979.One instrument was employed to collect the data. This instrument was constructed by the investigator to record the data pertaining to each factor under investigation.The statistical analysis of the data was performed by using difference in proportion of large samples test, difference in large sample means test following the application of the F test to sample variance, the non-parametric rank sum test, Kruskal-Wallis Test, and two-way analysis of co-variance test. Data pertaining to each factor was organized into two groups, the number of associate degree graduate nurses passing the licensing examination and the number of associate degree graduate nurses failing the licensing examination.Analysis of the data revealed that the mean cumulative grade point index upon completion of the nursing program and the mean cumulative grade index of nursing courses for the group of graduate nurses passing the licensing examination was found to be higher than the mean cumulative grade point index upon completion of the nursing program and the mean cumulative grade index of nursing courses for the group of graduate nurses failing the licensing examination. Mastery of content of nursing courses affected pass/fail performance of associate degree graduate nurses on the licensing examination.Partitioning of graduate nurses into age groups, continuous enrollment in nursing courses, previous college enrollment prior to admission to the nursing program and the average grade of three required science courses did not influence the pass/fail performance of associate degree graduate nurses on the licensing examination.As the result of the findings of the study, it may be concluded that age of the associate degree graduate is not an influencing factor upon pass/fail performance on the licensing examination. Previous college experience, continuous enrollment in nursing courses and high academic performance in science courses do not influence successful performance on the licensing examination.Cumulative grade index of nursing courses as well as university cumulative grade index upon completion of the nursing program, may be the best predictors as to whether or not the associate degree graduate nurse will pass the licensing examination.The results of the study suggest: (1) replicate study in same setting using a second representative sample of the population to determine if the findings of the study were unique to the first representative sample of the population. (2) Replicate study in another institution offering an associate degree nursing program to determine if findings of study would be the same or unique to the representative sample of the population. (3) Investigate how required science courses in an associate degree nursing curriculum support nursing courses if academic performance in the science courses are not a significant factor influencing pass/fail performance on the licensing examination. (4) Investigate the test taking skills of the group of graduate nurses failing the licensing examination in the representative sample of the population of this study. (5) And, using the same population investigate the methods of study of the group passing the licensing examination and the group failing the licensing examination.

The rapid growth of associate degree programs in nursing in the United States had not been paralleled by documentation of curricular development and alterations. A study was designed to accomplish a dual purpose (1) to determine what changes, if any, had occurred in programs of learning utilized in associate degree education for nurses from 1951 through 1981 and (2) to determine if selected leaders in nursing education perceived any needed changes in the program of learning currently-,-implemented in the education of technical nurses.The distinctives of the Montag-model of associate degree education were utilized as the basis for the data collection instrument. Questionnaires were mailed to the chairpersons of 125 associate degree nursing programs in institutions which met the stated criteria. Eighty-two percent of the chairpersons responded. Respondents represented junior-community colleges, senior colleges and universities located within thirty-seven states.The findings and conclusions were based upon the review of literature and related research and the analysis and evaluation of data supplied by the one hundred nursing educators which comprised the study population. The most significant findings related to the nursing component of the program of study were: (1) thirty-seven percent of the programs has retained the entire nursing component originally presented by Montag; (2) twenty-four programs included an independent course in nursing leadership; (3) clock hour allocations in clinical nursing experiences had increased by a mean of 100.5 percent; (4) class hours required in nursing courses had increased by a mean of 224.7 percent; and (5) thirty-four percent of the population responding required a summer term which extended the length of student enrollment to five semesters or seven quarters. Additional findings were reported relating to the non-nursing component and to the program of learning as a whole. Recommendations were directed to nursing educators as a whole and to specific official nursing agencies.

This is a Bachelor Degree Project report based on the design of a plastic vending cup.The project is carried out in cooperation with the company Promens Lidköping,manufacturer of a wide range of plastic products as food packaging, trays, pots, cups andsheets for the food industry. A vending cup is a product used to contain hot beverages which come from vendingcoffee machines. It is a product daily used in many different environments as hospitals,offices, libraries and common places, etc. Consequently it is aimed at a varied public. The redesign was focused mainly on the aesthetics aspect attempting to transmit aninnovative touch that would change the concept of today’s simple vending cup in a waythat it attracts the customer’s attention. The so called Mistral Vending Cup is a plastic cup which is out of the ordinary currentvending cup by means of a new bright colour, orange, and also its innovative shape, inthis field, constituted basically from organic lines and curve surfaces unlike the today’svending cups. The Mistral Vending cup introduces a great change, a new era in thehistory of the vending cups due to its organic shapes never seen in the market.

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