Early child education classrooms are beginning to see a trend in the way play is viewed and utilized in the daily structure of classroom environments and curriculums. A high emphasis on the accountability of how a curriculum is delivered and how students are learning continues to develop more structured environments. Kindergartens and pre-kindergarten classrooms are beginning to feel the pressures of accountability in the way they are teaching children the basic skills and subjects needed for later success in school. The purpose of this study is to compare an academically structured pre-kindergarten classroom to a more traditionally or play-based pre-kindergarten classroom in a large, urban school district in the Midwest. The focus is on developmentally appropriate practices and the achievement of students for kindergarten and/or school readiness. The study analyzes and reports on each prekindergarten curriculum and environment and how they are meeting developmentally appropriate practices using the The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scales: revised Edition (ECERS-R) (2005), The Four Curricular Subscales Extension to the ECERS-R (ECERS-E) (2011), and The Core Knowledge Preschool Assessment Tool (CT-PAK) (2004) was administered to random sample of six pre-kindergarten participants to asses kindergarten readiness. Finally, comparison and discussion of both pre-kindergarten curriculums and environments as well as their effectiveness on school and/or kindergarten readiness. / Thesis (M.A.T.)--Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction

The capacitated lot-sizing problem (CLSP) is a core problem for successfully reducing overall costs in any production process. The exact approaches proposed for solving the CLSP are based on two major methods: mixed-integer programming and dynamic programming. This thesis provides a new idea for approximating the inventory cost function to be used in a truncated dynamic program for solving the CLSP. In the proposed method, by using only a partial dynamic process, the inventory cost function is approximated, and then the resulting approximate cost function is used as a value function in each stage of the approximate dynamic program. In this thesis, six different algorithms are developed for the CLSP, based on three different types of approximate dynamic programming approaches. The general methodology combines dynamic programming with data fitting and approximation techniques to estimate the inventory cost function at each stage of the dynamic program. Furthermore, three main algorithmic frameworks to compute a piecewise linear approximate inventory cost function for the CLSP are provided. The first approach integrates regression models into an approximate dynamic program. The second approach uses the information obtained by a partial dynamic process to approximate the piecewise linear inventory cost function. The third approach uses slope-check and bisection techniques to locate the breakpoints of the piecewise linear function in order to approximate the inventory cost function for the CLSP. The effectiveness of the proposed methods are analyzed on various types of CLSP instances with different cost and capacity characteristics. Computational results show that approximation approaches could considerably decrease the computational time required by the dynamic program and the integer program for different CLSP instances. Furthermore, in most cases, some of the proposed approaches can accurately capture the optimal solution of the problem. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The purpose of this research was to determine whether or not students in high school chemistry have the prerequisite math skills, the application of equivalent fractions to unit conversions, needed to work dimensional analysis problems in chemistry. If students do not have the math skills but are actively taught them, then they should be able to use this skill to solve chemistry problems. The participants of the study included 78 honors and non-honors high school chemistry students. The math data was analyzed from the fall Northwest Evaluation Association, NWEA, data and correlated with a student's chemistry pretest data involving dimensional analysis. In teaching dimensional analysis, teacher-centered instruction was compared to manipulative-assisted instruction. The teacher-centered instruction involved the use of notes, lecture, and problem worksheets. The manipulative-assisted instruction dealt with the use of unit conversion manipulatives, specifically animal/insect picture cards. Students who used the picture cards were found to have higher average retention test scores compared to those who used the teacher -centered strategy. Although the average score was higher with the picture cards, the increases were not statistically significant. In order to show statistical significance, the cards need to be used earlier in the year or possibly in previous courses for extensive exposure. As students work with the cards, they will internalize dimensional analysis and should improve the retention test scores. Keywords: chemistry, dimensional analysis, mathematics, and unit conversion / Thesis (M.Ed.)--Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction

Over the last few years, Internet use has expanded to the older adult population, according to the Pew Internet Project, 53% of adults aged 65 and over are now online (2012). Once online, studies have suggested that seeking out health information is one of the most popular online activities for adults. The purpose of this study was to better understand the potential of older adults improving their health literacy through the gathering of Internet-based health information. This project was designed to evaluate the relationship between Internet use, Internet self-efficacy, health literacy, and health status among adults aged 50 years and older. One hundred and eighty three men and women (mean age = 75.01 plus/minus 10.53 yrs) were recruited from local community programs, senior centers, and retirement communities. Participants completed five questionnaires. Based on results participants were separated into two groups: health literate and low health literate. There was no difference between the groups and the level of health literacy and self-reported health. There was a trend for the health literate participants to report greater self-rated health. The largest differences were observed for physical and emotional limitations. Health literate participants achieved a higher level of education. Results suggest that regardless of level of health literacy, the older adults in this sample had similar experience with computer/Internet use and ownership. With respect to self-efficacy, differences were noted for the variable addressing the gathering of information, but none of the other variables. / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Health Professionals, Dept. of Public Health Sciences

The Solar Updraft Tower Power Plant (SUTPP) is a simple proven concept capable of producing power from sunlight with relatively little complexity and few moving parts. Unfortunately, it requires a large investment to build huge greenhouse-like collector to feed heated air into a very tall chimney, where it rises due to natural convection and spins turbo-generators that provide electric power. Substantial research has gone into understanding its physics, modeling its performance, and optimizing its fundamental design aspects. Economic analyses indicate it is feasible, proposals have been made, and the proposal for the first commercial plant has been floated. This thesis considers a few well researched configurations, and examines their environmental impacts (via a Life Cycle Assessment) of Global Warming Potential (GWP), and Energy Returned On Energy Invested (EROEI), including some of the practical aspects of building and operating a SUTPP. The best glass SUTPP studied had an EROEI of 7, comparable to photovoltaic power generation. Use of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) raised that to 14, approaching wind power (18), and permitted an EROEI of 10 for an airflow regulated SUTPP capable of baseload power or of shifting some generation to peak demand times. The collector was the largest contributor to life cycle impacts. Sites with risk of damaging hail should be avoided. Glass and ETFE offer favorable combinations of durability and recyclability. Evidence is cited suggesting the collector needs a cleaning system. Design strategies to facilitate cleaning and employ ETFE are discussed. Areas requiring further research have been identified and recommendations have been provided, along with the most promising SUTPP configurations based upon this research. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

Much of the research on teen dating violence has attempted to take the ideas associated with adult domestic violence and intimate partner violence and apply it to teen relationships. This research was conducted to discover the underlying dimensions of teen relationships and the violence that exists in these relationships in order to provide a conceptual idea of who should be targeted, with what information, and at what age with prevention efforts aimed at reducing teen dating violence. Wichita Kansas has implemented a variety of prevention and intervention strategies aimed at reducing the prevalence of teen dating violence in the community for almost a decade. Participants in this study were recruited from 6th through 10th graders who were scheduled to receive intervention curriculum in their schools. Several items from the General Youth Relationship Survey-Student Version (Hertzog, Matson, & Rowley) were analyzed using factor analysis to discover the underlying dimensions of teen dating violence. Physical/emotional abuse, monitoring and controlling behaviors, and relational entitlements were the key dimensions gleaned from this analysis. An examination of the factor score means with several student characteristics were also analyzed. Girls were found to witness more teen dating violence in their friend’s relationships as well as hold more agreement with relational entitlements than boys. African American teens were more likely to report witnessing teen dating violence than Hispanic or white teens; however, Hispanic teens were more likely to report that a person has certain relational entitlements over their partner. This study also found that, in order to provide actual prevention, efforts should be targeted towards late elementary to early middle school-aged students. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Psychology

This thesis examines the prospects for international implementation of E-Commerce (EC) in the contexts of the armed forces of Brazil and South Korea. It describes the functions, roles and infrastructure of EC technology. It weighs the advantages and disadvantages of E-Commerce. Particular attention is paid to legal issues, electronic funds transfer and on-line reverse auctions. An E-Commerce implementation plan is presented, benchmarked on the experience of the United States military in using EC to reduce costs and enhance readiness. This plan includes measures of organizational outcomes to evaluate the success of an EC implementation.

No description available.

M.Comm. / This study aims to provide information on the macroeconomic impact of electronic commerce and its effects on business, consumer and government sectors. Electronic commerce as a new phenomenon has the potential to bring substantial benefits to government, businesses and consumers. Developed countries such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom have had an experience of electronic commerce for the last ten years. Electronic commerce is the catchall phrase for many advances in technology centred on the Internet, and heralds fundamental changes for the world economy. The expansion of the Internet globally has made it an ideal means to conduct commercial transactions. The Internet is being used more and more to advertise and sell goods and service globally. Electronic commerce is an instrument that is handy to globalise trade among countries and nations. It has become highly possible to conduct business transactions with all parts of the world that have access to Internet, without being physically there. The transactions take place technologically. The use of Internet and the World Wide Web is creating a revolution in the manner in which business transactions are conducted. The increase in the number of users is taking place at a rapid pace, especially in the developed economies. It is estimated that there are now more than 150 million users, and the figure increases by more than 50 000 on a daily basis (UNCTAD, 1999:55). More than half of the current user population is located in the United States of America, but the geographical spread is fast diversifying. Even developing countries are now having an access to the Internet. Revenue attributed to electronic commerce is still relatively small though it is projected to grow over the years. Empirical evidence about the use of electronic commerce is largely confined to developed countries, though developing countries are now using it. It shows that in several sectors, which include financial services, tourism, books, music and entertainment industry, the digital revolution is spreading rapidly. This also shows that many aspects of governments' dealings with communities, international project management and consultancy work are increasingly being facilitated by electronic operations. The United States has developed the Global Information Infrastructure, which is seen as a global marketplace, to enable it to reach every comer of the globe on trade. This development is based on the following principles:- • Private sector leadership The private sector is leading the development of electronic commerce and the Internet, though the government assisted with bulk financing. Innovation, expanded services, broader participation, and lower prices will arise in a market-driven arena, not in an environment that operates as a regulated industry. The American government is encouraging industry self-regulation whenever appropriate, and supports all initiatives and efforts of the private sector to develop mechanisms to facilitate the successful operation of the Internet and electronic commerce. • Government to avoid undue restrictions on electronic commerce The government has not intervened when business transactions on goods and services are effected across the Internet. The government is of the view that intervention and unnecessary regulation of commercial activities will distort the development of an electronic marketplace by decreasing supply and raising the cost of goods and services for consumers globally. The United States government has further undertaken to refrain from imposing new regulations, bureaucratic procedures, or taxes and tariffs on commercial activities that take place via the Internet. • Minimum government intervention when necessary The government will intervene to support and enforce a predictable, consistent and simple legal environment for commerce. In some areas it will be necessary for government to play a minimal role where consumers have to be protected.

University of Technology, Sydney. / The dramatic impact of Internet-based electronic commerce is attracting a great deal of attention in the business world. It is a reality that Internet-based electronic commerce is still in its infancy and it will take a few more years or a decade before it becomes a full medium of business operations. However, many long vision organisations are implementing Internet-based electronic commerce (e -commerce) in their business operations in order to be able to cope, survive and obtain competitive advantage in this very dynamic, and rapidly changing global business environment. E-commerce refers to moving business-related operations and transactions from paper-based to a fully electronic (digital) environment over the Internet. Therefore, as we enter the third millennium, business operations all around the world are starting to move inevitably from the traditional method to the Internet-based electronic commerce. Threat or opportunity, e-commerce over the Internet will change the way we do business. The development of Internet-based e-commerce might be seen as one of the most exciting trends in the business marketplace. Research shows that almost every organisation that wants to stay in business beyond the turn of the century must re-evaluate every aspect of its strategy and operations from customer service to marketing, product development to retailing, and logistics to distribution and all value-added supply chain business processes. That is why Internet-based e-commerce is essential for companies entering a virtual distribution marketplace to survive in this very competitive business environment. This study attempts to identify, examine, analyse, test and empirically determine the strategic critical (key) success factors (CSFs) in order to develop a comprehensive model for successful implementation of Internet-based e-commerce in business operations. CSFs were considered in this research from the perspective of Internet-based e-commerce user companies' executives and managers. There is no previous and specific study on the critical success factors for the implementation of Internet-based electronic commerce at the time of this study. This research consists of two parts. In order to realise the research purpose, the study employed two Focus Group sessions, a pilot-test (pre-test) followed by a comprehensive quantitative survey. Questionnaires were mailed to CEOs, Directors and IS/E-commerce executives/managers from randomly selected e-commerce user companies in Australia. There was no comprehensive business index available for e-commerce user companies at the time of this research. Therefore, e-commerce user companies were randomly selected from the Internet by using one of the most powerful and popular search engines, Yahoo! The collected data was examined for validity and reliability. Statistical tests included descriptive analysis, Chi-Square goodness-of-fit, canonical correlation analysis, factor analysis, and regression analysis. As a result of the statistical analysis, the top ten critical success factors for Internet-based e-commerce implementation success were identified. The ten CSFs were statistically significant for e-commerce implementation success and supported the proposed original research model. The expected contribution of this study is to identify and provide knowledge on key or critical success factors for companies who have already implemented or plan to implement Internet-based e-commerce in their business operations. The recommended key strategic success factors for Internet-based e-commerce implementation enables executives, managers or practitioners (implementors) to use effectively and efficiently these strategic factors when planning, developing and implementing an e-commerce business operations system over the Internet. This study also provides a basic knowledge for further research on CSF and e-commerce implementation. E-commerce user companies may also benefit from the results and may be able to utilise the critical success factors for planning purposes. Further, this research, like any other research, is subject to a number of limitations. However, this is the first study of its kind as far as the researcher is aware. The findings are clear and significantly supported by statistical analysis. Additional research is however needed for better understanding of this new medium of digital business operations. Finally, a model was developed to present the most critical success factors for successful implementation of Internet-based e-commerce in business operations. It may be said that the developed model is one of the first developments in this field.