Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 2003. / A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Divinity School in candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Also available on the Internet.

Univ., Diss.--Linköping, 2006.

The benefits of early childhood education have been empirically supported. Early childhood education programs in Kansas are not fully funded and available in all communities. Some rural communities in Kansas do not offer a state supported four year old programs. The purpose of this study was to understand what and who influences the development of early childhood education policy in Kansas. The study sought to understand the political environment and how elected policymakers, superintendents, and advocacy groups affect policy decisions in funding early childhood education. Participants in this study included members of the House of Representatives, State Senators, State Board of Education members, Advocacy groups, and Superintendents. Twenty six individual interviews were conducted across four geographical quadrants in Kansas. The findings delivered conclusions that were analyzed through the theoretical framework of Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), and provides implications for advancing early childhood policy development in rural Kansas. An increased interest in early childhood education was noted by elected officials. Professional educators had a significant influence on elected policymakers. Advocacy groups provided technical and scientific information but rural areas were not impacted by these groups. Implications of this study included a need for collaboration of stakeholders to market and advance rural early childhood initiatives. There is a need for internal and external shocks to move early childhood education forward. Rural communities could benefit by utilizing partnerships to strengthen community buy-in and sustain early childhood programs. A collective support of participants in the study indicates a growing interest in early childhood education for all children in Kansas. / Thesis (Ed.D.)-- Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Counseling, Educational Leadership, Education and School Psychology

In the world where initiatives to automate jobs are becoming a norm, it is no surprise that the interest in radio frequency identification (RFID) networks has grown exponentially. With RFID technology, organizations around the world can reduce their workforce and grow their businesses. However, this technology is not yet at a maturity point. For example, in order for a cart full of groceries to go through an unmanned checkout lane, it is crucial that all of the tagged items are read and processed with 100% reliability. Also, the time to process items needs to be fast enough so that customers can pay and be on their way as quickly as possible. In order to achieve speed and reliability, many transmission control protocols have been devised. The most popular protocol with passive RFID equipment manufacturers is Electronic Product Code global (EPCglobal(R)) Class 1 Generation 2, or simply EPC C1G2. Transmission control in the EPC C1G2 protocol is achieved with framed slotted ALOHA (FSA), where tags pick a random slot from choices given by the reader, and when their turn comes, they backscatter their information to the reader. FSA produces three kinds of slots: empty, collided, and successful. Empty and collided slots are categorized under unsuccessful slots, and the time spent on these is considered as wasted time. Several research studies in the past have focused on reducing the occurrence of unsuccessful slots by using new and innovative methods and increasing RFID network throughput. The motivation of this research, however, is to reduce the overall time of reading tags in a passive and active RFID network by minimizing the time spent on unsuccessful slots. This research builds upon methods used in previous research, and proposes three new methods for passive RFID systems and one new method for active RFID systems in order to diminish wasted time on unsuccessful slots. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-- Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

The persistent Black-White disparity in perinatal outcomes is a serious public health issue. Infants born to Black women are two times more likely than white infants to die before the age of one. Prior research has focused primarily on Black women's exposure to risk and protective factors during pregnancy. The life course perspective serves as a useful framework for understanding how Black women's early life experiences influence later health and birth outcomes. Prevention efforts guided by the life course perspective will be key in addressing adverse perinatal outcomes among Black women. The present study is a community-based participatory research partnership with the Kansas Infant Death and SIDS Network, Inc. A transcendental phenomenological approach was used to describe the life experiences, preceding fetal or infant death, among Black women. Five Black women (ages 20-36) were interviewed about their experiences from early childhood through adulthood. Results identified eight broad themes: early childhood context, personal relationships, exposure to multiple sources of stress, maintenance of mental wellness, sexual and reproductive health experiences, pregnancy experiences, health system experience and exposure to fetal/infant death. Life timelines were also generated for each participant to describe life course patterns. The essential, invariant structure described the essence of bereaved Black women's lived experience and was validated through the process of member checking. The findings indicate that black women encounter multi-level risk and protective processes over the course of their life which may impact their own health and their reproductive health advantage. The present study is the only identifiable phenomenological, life course-informed study of black women who have experienced infant death. The results suggest that life course perspective is an appropriate framework for understanding the lived experience of Black women. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-- Wichita State University, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Psychology

This dissertation is sequestered till May 2015. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-- Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

This dissertation provides a complex adaptive system approach to propose effective problem definitions for problems that are hard to formulate, include conflicting opinions of stakeholders, and have hard to differentiate symptoms from the causes, that is, wicked problems. The traditional problem solving methods do not fully address the issues of the ambiguity and uncertainty associated with a wicked problem. The lack of clarity exposes wicked problems to perceptual biases resulting multiple mental models. These inherent characteristics of wicked problems require methods that are solely focused on identifying, defining, and evaluating discrepancies in perceptions. This dissertation proposes a framework, Quandary Translation Engineering, to address the unique challenges of defining a wicked problem. The framework, inspired from complex adaptive systems, utilizes the engineering method approach. The framework defines problem space as a way to capture the complexity of the wicked problem and creates an incremental and evolutionary model of the wicked problem. Next, the framework generates multiple possible problem definitions from the problem space. Finally, the framework provides measures for evaluating and selecting potential problem definitions from the pool of possible problem definitions. The framework is shown to be effective in defining, evaluating, and selecting problem definitions for wicked problems without relying on the completeness of data and any information about solutions. It was found that framework facilitates managers, decision makers, and analysts in modeling incomplete, vague, and conflicting information regarding a wicked problem. The proposed framework is applied to a Kansas strategic planning exercise for businesses in Kansas. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-- Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This study investigated teachers' perceptions of change as it relates the implementing student-led, project-based instruction. Fullan's theory of change implementation was the theoretical framework used to examine what influenced the teachers' willingness to change. The four specific areas of investigation were teachers' perceptions about (a) the need for adding student-led, project-based learning, (b) the clarity of the teachers' knowledge about teaching using student-led, project-based learning, (c) the teachers' preparedness to undertake the complexity of student-led, project-based instruction, and (d) the quality and practicality of current implementation and expansion of practices. The data was collected from interviews with teachers in traditional and project-based classroom environments, informal classroom observations, and a collection of teacher and student related artifacts. The data revealed three themes that impacted their perspective: the different teachers groups perception as to the need for PBL, a clear understanding of what PBL is, the complexity of implementation and the quality and practicality of implementation within the classroom environment. From the findings, I suggest for successful implementation of PBL or other innovative pedagogical methodologies, policymakers need to develop assessments and assessment policies that move away from assessing only discreet content knowledge. Secondly, schools need well-trained experts in the pedagogical methodology being implemented, through pre-service teacher training and/or ongoing professional development. Third, the implementing school or organization should develop a collective, shared definition and vision for the implementation. Finally, teachers, student, and parents should be provided a choice of instructional methodologies as a pathway toward high school graduation. / Thesis (Ed.D.)-- Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Counseling, Educational Leadership, Education and School Psychology

The superintendency is the highest rank one may attain in school organizations and men have historically dominated the position (Brunner & Grogan, 2007; Shakeshaft, 1999; Young & McLeod, 2001). Using a feminist poststructural perspective and a social capital theoretical framework, this narrative inquiry focused on the career experiences of eight women superintendents. This research sought to understand the advantages and disadvantages of social capital in relation to women networking in a male-dominated environment. The study was conducted through the use of eight semi-structured interviews with women superintendents in a Midwest state. The women have varying years of experience in the superintendency and are located across six different regions in the state. The findings from this study found some women superintendents were not lacking in their ability to access and use social capital for beneficial purposes. Implications from this research are made for women superintendents and aspiring women superintendents, state superintendent organizations, and superintendent vacancy search consultants. / Thesis (Ed.D.)-- Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Counseling, Educational Leadership, Education and School Psychology

This qualitative study examined the school experiences of nine academically high achieving Black males in urban schools to understand how this group is able to succeed in school when others perform so poorly. The theoretical perspective of dominant and non dominant cultural capital and the narrative inquiry approach provided the foundation for this study. Data collection involved semi structured open ended interviews. The themes that emerged from the students' providing insight into their school achievements were, high sense of self-efficacy, resiliency, believing that high school is not the end, but a step to higher education, positive relationships, participation in AVID, involvement in extracurricular activities and high expectations from family. / Thesis (Ed.D.)-- Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Counseling, Educational Leadership, Education and School Psychology