After pre assessing students in a third grade classroom, the researcher noted four students, scoring below the 20th Percentile on the reading portion of the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) exam, fall, 2008, in a pilot study. As the researcher further assessed these students, it was noted that these students lacked fluency and vocabulary skills. Focusing on fluency combined with individual, vocabulary instruction, the researcher individualized each of the students' reading program within the regular education classroom. Each of the four students was working at their current level of reading, entering the third grade and progressing throughout the school year. The researcher used a combination of the Power Reading program and coupled it with individual, vocabulary strategies to assist readers with fluency and comprehension. As their reading progressed, students were challenged to next levels. Data was analyzed using the NWEA assessment, Houghton Mifflin Leveled Reading Assessment and Kansas State Reading Assessments during the course of the school year to mark progress. All four students in year one exited the bottom quartile of the NWEA, gained two reading levels according the Houghton Mifflin Leveled Reading Assessments and scored in the top twelve percent of the Kansas State Reading Assessments. The pilot study was replicated in the school year, 2009-2010, Year Two, with ten students with similar needs. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction.

Instrumentation: Flute -- Clarinet in Bb -- Bass Clarinet in Bb -- Alto Saxophone in Eb -- Baritone Saxophone in Eb -- Bassoon -- Horns I and II in F -- Trumpet in Bb -- Bass Trombone -- Percussion I (Suspended Cymbal, Woodblocks, Timpani: 32-30”, 29-28”, 26-25”, and 23”) -- Percussion II (Tom-Toms, Suspended Cymbal) -- Keyboard Percussion (Marimba, Vibraphone) -- Violin I -- Violin II -- Viola -- Violoncello Double Bass All wind instruments should be one to a part, unless the conductor thinks doubling is necessary for balance. The string doublings should be as follows: 3 players to a part for Violin I, Violin II, Viola, and Violoncello; and 2 players for the Double Bass part. / Thesis (M.Mus.)--Wichita State University, College of Fine Arts, Dept. of Music / The score is in C. Energy is a four movement, continuous piece. The movements are: I. Upward -- II. Forward -- III. Circular -- IV. Namaste. Each movement intends to convey the different energies created in certain yoga positions.

The thesis, entitled Barack Obama and World Peace: A Rhetorical Inquiry, is a qualitative research paper that appraises President Obama's commitment to global peace, through a thematic analysis of a cross section of his speeches. Against the background of Mr. Obama's receipt of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, the thesis evaluates in five chapters Mr. Obama's merit as an icon of global peace by seeking a possible rhetorical vision of peace emerging from a cross section of his speeches, and consequently establishing a possible justification for his receipt of the Nobel Prize, using the Fantasy-theme method of rhetorical criticism. The thesis concludes that there is a rhetorical vision of peace emerging from a cross section of President Obama's speeches, and that he may consequently be called an icon of global peace, deserving of having won the Nobel Prize. / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, The Elliott School of Communication.

In early 1779 Father Pierre Gibault, a supporter of the American cause, found himself hiding on an island in the Mississippi River. Both ice and the lack of a formal alliance between Spain and the United States blocked his path to the Spanish west bank, while a British military expedition prevented him from returning to the east bank. As the French-Canadian priest struggled to keep warm he probably pondered the delicacy of his position: surrounded by enemies, unreliable allies, and a host of powerful Native groups he did not understand. In the years before, during, and after the American Revolution, the Mississippi River served as both a highway and a border between empires. Trade, diplomacy, and war all depended on the waters of the river. Other than the Appalachian Mountains, no other physical feature in North America figured as prominently as the Mississippi River. The waters tumbled settlers, soldiers, adventurers, and merchants together along the banks in a complex mixture of cultures. The geographically dictated blending of cultures, the limited number of European settlers residing on the banks of the Mississippi River, and the overwhelming military and political superiority of Native groups who made the region their home, created a unique European middle ground in the heart of the continent. Living under the hammer of a Native dominance that never fell, European and American settlers and soldiers in the region picked their steps carefully. Religious and political concerns paled in comparison to the practical matter of survival. Europeans and Americans on the banks of the river shared a unique political malleability born of vulnerability. This malleability made the western frontier of the American Revolution a peculiar landscape into which, mere handfuls of men were able to tip the balance of power toward the Spanish and American cause. / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of History / This thesis received two awards: (1)Midwest Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) 2010 Distinguished Master's Thesis Award, and (2) WSU Spring 2010 Dora Wallace Hodgson Award for outstanding master's thesis.

This thesis examines the content of Tom Stoppard‟s work, rather than placing emphasis on his form and cleverness. By dissecting the plays Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Travesties, The Invention of Love, and Rock ‘n’ Roll, one can see that Stoppard acts as an impartial playwright. He presents opposing philosophical outlooks within the confines of his plays, but he gives no evidence as to which opinion most closely represents his own viewpoint. By examining the previous research in relation to Tom Stoppard, as well as Stoppard‟s own discussions of his works, it becomes apparent that Stoppard often focuses on three primary themes: an individual‟s attempt to find truth and meaning within his existence, the use of multiple narrative strains to establish a balanced societal view, and the importance of art and intellect to a society. However, after scrutinizing much of the scholarly research around Stoppard‟s works, it became apparent that much of the literary criticism focused on his word play and cleverness, rather than the subject matter of his plays. This thesis hopes to add to the negligible amount of existing analysis of his substance, rather than just his form. Although Tom Stoppard does function as an intellectual gamester and can dazzle with his cleverness, this paper concludes that focusing only on this facet of his plays yields an incomplete appreciation of what he has created. He treats his characters, regardless of whether or not he agrees with their points of view, as equally rational and logical. He leaves it to his audience to decide which character has the “correct” point of view. He is as much a philosophical gamester as he is a wordsmith, and he uses the three previously addressed themes to present the focal points of his philosophical debates. He functions as a playwright on the fence. / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of English

This work will compile recent archaeological information about prehistoric inhabitants of northwest Oklahoma, the environments they occupied, and the archaeological studies that have informed us about them. The purpose is to construct an overview of the region that has been developed since the 1980s. Recommendations are offered about possible research objectives that might help tie this area in with larger studies of landscape archaeology, prehistoric adaptations to the area, and settlement systems. The primary contribution of the present study is to compile and make available in a single source some of the important information recently developed for Alfalfa, Blaine, Dewey, Ellis, Garfield, Grant, Harper, Kingfisher, Major, Woods, and Woodward counties. Studies in this area have added substantial information in the areas of pre-Clovis first Americans, the Clovis and other Paleoindian cultures, Archaic, and more recent inhabitants of the region. / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Anthropology

Heterodimeric pituitary gonadotropins, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), play significant roles in follicular development and maintenance of the female reproductive cycle. FSH functions in the ovary include: stimulation of follicle growth, estradiol synthesis and selection of dominant follicles. FSH exists as two glycoforms, designated di- and tetra-glycosylated FSH. Di-glycosylated FSH contains 2 carbohydrates located only on the α subunit, while tetra-glycosylated FSH has 4 carbohydrates, 2 each on the α and β subunits. Individual pituitary FSH analysis shows that in young, reproductive-age women, di-glycosylated FSH is more abundant than tetra-glycosylated FSH, whereas in postmenopausal women there is more pituitary tetra-glycosylated FSH. In vitro bioassay of di-glycosylated FSH shows that it has significantly greater biological activity than tetra-glycosylated FSH. As the availability of diglycosylated human FSH from natural or mammalian-generated recombinant sources is limited, bacterial expression of recombinant human FSHβ (rec hFSHβ) was explored as an avenue to provide sufficient di-glycosylated hFSH for structural and biological function studies. We chose the E.coli Origami expression system to make non-glycosylated FSHβ because it lacks the ability to N-glycosylate the wild-type protein sequence. The wild-type hFSHβ sequence is desired because mutations to eliminate N-glycosylation are known to reduce expression efficiency. Moreover, mutations to silence the Asn24 glycosylation site, appear to affect protein folding and stability. Bacterially expressed hFSHβ was extracted and separated into soluble and insoluble fractions. We obtained a relatively pure (>90%) hFSHβ preparation derived from the insoluble fraction, which had to be refolded. We also recovered a small quantity of apparently partially folded hFSHβ in the soluble fraction after Affi-Gel Blue purification. The attempts to fold denatured insoluble fraction hFSHβ were unsuccessful, as we could not get the folding reaction product to associate with α subunit and constitute a functional hormone. Furthermore, the soluble fraction, assumed to be folded, because it bound to Affi-Gel Blue via dye intercalation between cystine knot loops 1 and 3, also failed to associate with α subunit. Overall, we could not use a bacterial expression system to make a functional hFSHβ to combine with the α subunit to make a functional intact hormone. Moreover, the electrophoretic mobility of the 12.5 kDa bacterially expressed hFSHβ reflected the formula weight of the primary sequence more closely than that of the 21 kDa non-glycosylated pituitary hFSHβ, suggesting unknown posttranslational modification of the 21 kDa form. However, upon further investigation, the 12.5 kDa band appeared to be a fragment, rather than a full-length subunit. This result rationalizes the failure to fold, as fragments do not fold. / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Biological Sciences.

Nigeria, notorious for its overdependence on oil, is the eighth largest oil producer in the world, and the largest in Africa. Yet, instead of transforming the country into one of the most prosperous in the continent, Nigeria's abundant natural resources have enriched a small minority while the vast majority remains impoverished (Manby, 1999). However, Increased privatization, foreign investment, globalization and competition have served to stimulate growth and competition in the service sector and the economy as a whole (Oshikoya, 2008). This study explored the role and definition of customer service in service companies located in Lagos, the financial, economic and business capital of Nigeria, and how customer service practices are evolving in response to changes in the economy. Interviews with upper level managers in targeted areas were analyzed through thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998) to draw insights into the emergent customer service culture in Lagos. Five themes and multiple sub-­‐themes emerged in analysis. Themes included: conceptualization of quality customer service, importance of quality customer service, facilitation of customer service goals, current Nigerian customer service and barriers to development of quality customer service. Themes and sub-­‐themes reflected participants‘ views of the importance of quality customer service to their organizations, the service sector and the economy, and their optimism about the growth of customer service within Nigerian organization / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, The Elliott School of Communication.

East of Eden (1952), which John Steinbeck considered his masterpiece, constitutes a decidedly strange narrative universe, with characters residing simultaneously in the seemingly contradictory worlds of fiction/myth and nonfictional/biography. Into that frame Steinbeck places one of his most interesting but overlooked characters, the Chinese servant known simply as “Lee,” who becomes central to the development of Steinbeck‟s major themes in the novel. Yet Lee is significant for another reason, too, for he might well represent Steinbeck‟s most ambitious attempt to demonstrate the precariousness of ethnicity. At first he appears as a narrow stereotype of a Chinese servant, but several scenes later he emerges from that disguise as a thoughtful, educated, well-spoken man who has intentionally chosen a life of servitude and obscurity for the multiple benefits it affords him. People are unable (or unwilling) to understand him, he observes, perhaps in part because they are unable to really see him. He tells his friend, Samuel Hamilton, “You are one of those rare people who can separate your observation from your preconception. You see what is, where most people see what they expect” (161). Thus Lee is a character in tension, a man of dual identities created by his position as an ethnic minority. To follow him throughout the novel, then, is to engage Steinbeck‟s apparent interest in Lee‟s cultural identity. While Steinbeck could not fully escape the surrounding culture or his own white, masculine perspective, his portrayal of Lee in East of Eden demonstrates a willingness to question the validity of mainstream views, especially with regard to some of the more common ethnic stereotypes. / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of English.

This thesis presents a study of the effect of controllable riveting parameters, mainly squeeze force, rivet length, rivet diameter tolerance, hole countersunk depth and hole diameter tolerance, on the quality of formed rivet. The quality of a formed rivet is determined by the geometry of its head formation and the extent to which the hole is filled. The study determines maximum allowable tolerance on drilled hole in a 0.064” thick aluminum sheet for a 1/8” rivet. The study is performed using finite element simulation of the riveting process. Theoretical relations between squeeze force and formed rivet head geometry derived in this study is used to validate the finite element model. Statistical design of experiment is employed to analyze the simulation data of riveting and determine the effect of individual factors, their interactions and relationship with the quality of formed rivet head. The results demonstrate that the correct formation of rivet head geometry depends upon all the factors studied. However, correct geometry of rivet head is not enough to determine the quality of a riveted joint, because the countersunk rivet head does not expand enough to fill up the hole completely, thereby creating a gap and leading to a loose rivet. The gap increases with the increase in tolerances in drilled hole, limiting its allowable tolerances to 0.006”. The length of rivet has no significant effect on the gap formation. To ensure the elimination of gap formation, an alternate procedure with reduced countersunk depth is studied, which allows for increased allowable tolerance in drilled hole. Results show that with as little as 0.01” reduced countersunk depth, the allowable tolerances on drilled hole could be increased to 0.03”, without compromising on the quality of the joint. / "December 2006." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-64)