This study examined the counter stories of African American Males, ages 36-61, who successfully earned a doctoral degree at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). Critical inquiry was used to examine the worldviews of African American Male (AAM) doctoral students and their doctoral experience through the theoretical lenses of Critical Race Theory, Stereotype Threat, and Racial Identity. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews that gathered data through critical inquiries about these experiences from a post-degree perspective. African American Male doctoral degree attainment is a vital function of student success within a privileged educational paradigm. Results of the study demonstrated that AAM doctoral degree achievement is complex by his perceptions of racism, racial identity, and the issues of diversity at Predominantly White Institutions. / Thesis (Ed.D)--Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Educational Leadership

The goal of this study was to further develop a data-driven, theoretically based, tool that illuminates the risks and resiliencies of young people at-risk of and/or subjugated to domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST). The specific aims of the study were to examine and describe the lived experiences of DMST survivors that may act as risk and/or resiliency factors. This was done in an effort to continue the development of the DMST Risk and Resiliency Assessment (DMST-RRA) – an instrument created to assist social service providers in 1) increasing identification of young people at-risk of and/or subjugated to DMST; and 2) providing effective individualized strengths-based prevention and intervention strategies. The aims of this study were accomplished through a mixed methods design that utilized the instrument development and construct validation (IDCV) process. Such process includes 10 cyclical phases and three specific studies. The first study, completed in May of 2006, included an exploratory pre-test post-test design with 23 homeless, runaway, throwaway youth (HRTY) who attended 10 sessions of an interventional psycho-educational therapy group. In this preliminary study phase, risk factors as well as protective factors, which may act to buffer against DMST, were explored. The most recent research included study 2 and 3. The second study included the analysis of data from 258 youths through the preliminary quantitative Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Risk and Resiliency Assessment (DMST-RRA). The third study sought to further the development of the DMST-RRA by qualitatively exploring DMST survivor risk and resiliency factors. This led to the development of a more robust theoretical explanation as to how the lived experiences of DMST victims and survivors may act as risks and/or resiliencies and thus, DMST-RRA revision recommendations. Discussion focuses on data-driven instrument recommendations and implications of research findings including the application of the DMST-RRA. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Psychology

An antiplasticizer is any chemical that when added, reduces the free volume of a polymer thereby restricting the polymeric chain motions. This type of additive usually increases the modulus and strength but can compromise other important properties such as glass transition temperature and thermal degradation profile. Oligomeric amide additives, which when mixed with TGDDM and DDS, react to form strong hydrogen bonds and reduce the free volume in the system, were synthesized. The nonaromatic additives, especially those that have shorter methylene sequences, had low solubility in the resin, while the mixed amide oligomer additive have better solubility. The effect of these additives to enhance mechanical properties was tested by tensile testing and fracture toughness measurement. Compact tension results indicated that the additives improved the resins’ resistance to crack propagation. In general, when the additive is shorter and additive loading is lower, the material performs better. No general conclusion can be arrived at from the tensile testing due to the variablility of results caused by unavoidable imperfections incurred during specimen preparation. The cure kinetics of the resin was studied using Differential Scanning Calorimetry. Dynamic temperature scanning DSC indicated that the cure reaction was not affected significantly by these additives. However, an increase in activation energy was observed. TMA experiments on resins with nonaromatic additives indicated that the additives slightly increased the softening temperature while DMA experiments on resins with mixed amide oligomers show that the additives slightly increase the glass transition temperature. TGA experiments on resins with mixed amide oligomers indicated that the additives did not introduce significant changes in thermal stability. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Chemistry

This qualitative case study examined the school culture of an urban elementary school and the implementation of a school-wide positive discipline program. Focus groups, interviews, observations and document review were used to understand the existing culture and gather perceptions from staff members and students regarding their opinions of the adopted program. The study used Schein’s (2004) theory of organizational culture and Nodding’s (Noddings, 2005) theory of educational caring as the theoretical framework. The staff members and principal desired to implement a positive discipline program in order to find a better way to discipline students that would preserve student dignity and teach students alternatives to inappropriate behavior. The Effective School Discipline program was chosen to be implemented schoolwide, and all staff received training in the use of this program. Although teachers cared about students and voiced their desire to respond to student misbehaviors in a positive manner, the implementation of Effective School Discipline was not successful due to a school culture which did not allow for professional dialogue or risk-taking to occur. A significant level of distrust existed between the principal and the teachers which hindered the program’s effectiveness. Although the implementation of Effective School Discipline did improve some teacher/student interactions on a limited scale, the programs misuse or nonuse by most staff members reflected the underlying assumptions which existed at the school’s deepest cultural levels. The findings of this study suggest that a healthy school culture is cornerstone to successful school reform. School leaders should work towards creating schools which have collaborative professional learning communities, distributed leadership models, and a high level of trust among all stakeholders in the organization. / Thesis (Ed.D)--Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Educational Leadership

Diffuse Reflectance Near-Infrared (near-IR) Spectroscopy combined with Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression was used to determine the moisture content and degree of cure in unfilled epoxy resins, carbon-reinforced epoxy resin and epoxy resin adhesives. PLS-generated calibration curves were consistently superior than the calibration curves based on Beer’s law. The same technique was also applied to polyimide-based prepregs to determine the degree of cure through the softening temperature, Ts. In both epoxy-based and polyimide-based systems, good correlations were established between the near-IR spectra and the properties of interest. The combination of the rapid, non-destructive technique coupled with a sophisticated chemometric software shows promise as a reliable technique that could be of great benefit to the aviation industry. Another aspect of this study was the evaluation of an epoxy resin prepreg as a candidate material to be used in repair scenarios in the aviation industry. The prepreg was partially characterized using mid-IR and 1H NMR spectroscopies indicating that it contains diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA) and diamino diphenyl sulfone (DDS) as a curing agent. Ramp and soak experiments using the Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) were performed to study the cure kinetics. A recommended cure cycle was determined to be a combination of a dynamic heating to 150-155 °C at 2 °C/min and an isothermal heating at the end temperature for 20 minutes. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Chemistry

The ultimate goal of Information Technology (IT) organizations is to provide tools and services which enhance the performance of the end-user. In order for IT to create business value, the technology it provides must be adopted and fully utilized by the targeted end-user group. The degree to which end-user expectations are met has been shown to play a key role in determining effective adoption and use. End-user expectations of IT must be identified and reliably measured in order to be met. To date, there are no well-established, validated, comprehensive measures that capture end-user expectations at the organizational level. This study created a scale to reliably measure end-user expectations at the organizational level at a large technology corporation. Two samples were used, the first to refine items using exploratory factor analysis, the second to validate reliability using confirmatory factor analysis, to assess criterion validity and to identify potential antecedents to end-user expectations using a structural equation model. It was found that end-users have two expectations related to IT: (1) that IT use will result in ‘Enhanced Work Effectiveness’ and (2) that an IT organization should provide a ‘Relevant, Consistent and Easily Accessible IT Infrastructure’. Results suggest that type of expectation does not meaningfully impact ‘Satisfaction’; however, the degree to which an individual’s expectation is confirmed does. Expectation type was shown to impact system-use behavior: The greater the expectation for enhanced work effectiveness, the more likely it is end-users will engage in productivity-enhancing behaviors. Conversely, the more end-users see the role of IT as supporting them as employees (as opposed to enhancing their work output) by providing a ‘Relevant, Consistent and Easily Accessible IT Infrastructure’, the less likely they are to engage in productivity-enhancing behavior. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Psychology

Small molecules that can selectively recognize phospholipids would likely be useful as tools for chemical biology and may have application as pharmaceuticals. Inspired by the phospholipid binding of antimicrobial peptids found in nature, we have begun to develop synthetic receptors for the head group of phosphatidylglycerol. Among neutral receptors, attention is centered to systems containing the urea subunit. This study reports the re-synthesis of bis-phenolic-oxygen–ether-linked macrocycles and their binding studies towards phosphate anion and phosphatidylglycerol anion by means of 1H NMR and Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC) experiments. Control receptor 8 binds to the inorganic H2PO4- anion in 1:1 binding stoichiometry with a moderate to high binding constant while receptor 7 bind s to PG anion with a moderate binding constant in 1:1 binding stoichiometry. Then it describes the synthesis and characterization of pre-organized neutral anion receptors which could contain a linker with four methylene unit between two aromatic rings. This link could be obtained by olefin ring closing metathesis utilizing Grubb’s catalyst. Finally it describes the study to determine the scope and the utilization of single step ureidoalkylation reaction using N-ethoxymethylene-N’-hexylurea 18 on different types of aromatic rings. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Chemistry

Two methods for the numerical conformal mapping of domains with m < ∞ separated circular holes to domains with m polygonal holes are presented; bounded and unbounded domains are both considered. The methods are based on extensions of the classical Schwarz- Christo el transformation to nitely connected domains. The rst method uses a truncated in nite product expressed in terms of re ections through circles, and is found to have a computational time which increases geometrically with the number of levels of re ection used. The second method uses the boundary behavior of the map to construct a linear system which gives the coe cients of a Laurent series expansion for the map. The second method has a computational time which is polynomial with the number of terms of the truncated series. Both methods require the solution of a non-linear system of equations which gives the correct parameters for the desired map. The solution to the non-linear system is achieved by a numerical continuation (homotopy) method. An application is given. Maps from the circle domains to the canonical slit domains are also computed using similar techniques. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics

This dissertation consists of five submission-ready accepted/submitted papers that address some of the key supply chain problems. Supply chain problems, in terms of the area that they address, can be classified into four major groups: location-allocation problem, transportation problem, manufacturing problem, and inventory problem. In this dissertation, location-allocation and location-routing problems, also called LRPs, are studied using two approaches. In the first approach, presented in Chapters 2 and 3, it is assumed that the value of some parameters of the network are dynamically changing. The objective here is to minimize the total system cost by finding the best location-allocation and routing plan when demand and travel times are dynamic. The dynamic nature of demand/travel time is presented by functions obtained from historical data. In the second approach, the sustainability perspective of the LRP is considered. The objective here is also to minimize the total network cost. However, the total cost is presented in terms of energy cost because of the lack of literature investigating the energy effectiveness of a location-routing plan. Traditionally, the objective function of the LRP is expressed in terms of distance minimization, although distance is not the only factor that contributes to energy consumption in an LRP. This perspective is thoroughly discussed in chapters 4 and 5. Due to the rising price of fuel, industries are concerned more than ever about their transportation costs and modes. In the current economic atmosphere, railway transportation is extremely in demand. Hence, to continue the sustainability part of this dissertation, a rail freight transportation system is investigated. The objective here is to develop a heuristic algorithm that can provide a cost-effective train scheduling plan in a matter of seconds. The main contribution in this section is the integration of a pool of business cost elements and constraints existing in practical train-scheduling problems for obtaining results. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Among the different load conditions on a mechanical system, impact loading and its contribution to the design process require special consideration. The static methods of stress, strain, and deflection analyses are not applicable under impact conditions. The main goal of this study is to address the fundamental aspects of impact and to examine its applications for different design requirements. First, different approaches to the impact phenomena, namely stereomechanics, contact mechanics, stress wave propagation, finite element method, and energy method are investigated in this dissertation. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are pointed out, and the areas of application of each method and the degree of accuracy are examined. Quantification of energy absorption during impact is the most complicated part of impact modeling and is one of the topics of interest addressed in this dissertation. Application of the impact analysis methodologies in vehicular accidents and protection of occupants are the eventual goals of this research, demonstrated using some case studies and applicable examples. Because occupant safety is a major concern in the automobile and aerospace industries, a crashworthy design must be able to dissipate the kinetic energy of impact in a controlled manner. Four test cases or applications related to impact energy management or dissipation, impulse mitigation, and impact injury biodynamics are thus presented. The application examples include the design of a truck side guard and quantification of its effects on reducing occupant injury in the collison of a small car with a truck; lumbar load attenuation for seated occupants of a rotorcraft; injuries to pedestrians impacted by a sport or utility vehicle equipped with a frontal guard; and investigation of a motorcyclist impact with roadside barriers. For each case, an analysis methodolgy is developed, and from the modeling and simulations, impact design issues are addressed. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering