Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This study was designed to investigate student understanding of fundamental concepts in the engineering course, signals and systems. The aim of this study was threefold: (1) to identify faulty reasonings students invoke in their study of signals and systems; (2) to identify the reasoning resources that explain the origin of student faulty reasonings; and (3) to identify consistencies in students' invocation of reasoning resources across different signals and systems topics. Fifty-one undergraduate students majoring in aerospace engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology participated in this study. Seven oral problems were designed to test student understanding of central topics in the study of continuous-time linear, time-invariant systems. Participants were divided into seven cohorts and each cohort was interviewed on a different problem. Interview transcriptions were analyzed based from a complex systems perspectiv to identify the knowledge elements of reasoning resources that characterize student reasoning in signals and systems. [TRUNCATED] / 2999-01-02

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Schools and school officials are not immune from the substantial increase in litigation that has occurred over the past few decades in the United States. Public school administrators need to understand the laws that affect their daily decisions and actions. However, most of the available resources on the law are designed for attorneys and other legal experts. The objective of this project is to create a single text for Massachusetts public school administrators that addresses the major legal issues, las and court rulings that apply to their daily decisions and actions. This publication is not designed for attorneys. It is intended to be reader-friendly, and therefore the legal jargon is kept to a minimum. Please note that this text is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. If you are in need of legal advice, you should contact an attorney. The process for determining the appropriate content for this publication involved initial research on the primary legal issues facing public school administrators, and also interviewing several Massachusetts public school administrators for their input. (A description of the study and the findings is in Appendix A.) Once the subject matters were determined, extensive legal research and analysis were conducted to find appropriate court decisions, statutes, administrative regulations, arbitration rulings and articles relevant to the selected subject areas. When this was done, the dissertation was written covering the following topics: public school administrators' need to understand tre law; an overview of the legal system; issues related to teachers, such as hiring, firing and suspensions; issues related to students, such as student discipline, suspensions and expulsions, and special education; students' constitutional rights; other important matters for school administrators, such as the requirements for reporting abuse, student records and individual liability; and worthwhile resources including contact information. This publication is intended to be a valuable resource for Massachusetts public school administrators. They will obtain an understanding of the relevant laws, and this knowledge will enable them to be more effective administrators and more comfortable in addressing the numerous issues they face on a daily basis. / 2999-01-01

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This study was the initial research conducted to ascertain the validity of a prevocational behavior checklist. The instrument under investigation was developed at the South Shore Rehabilitation Center in Quincy, Massachusetts. The Center's assessment instrument entitled, 466 Behaviors Necessary to Function Successfully as a Sheltered Worker, was used for assessing the skills of 60 severely retarded subjects enrolled in the Center's prevocational program. The major purpose of this study was to identify which of the 466 behaviors comprising the checklist contributed highly discriminating information. Test scores from 60 severely retarded adults were collected and processed in two phases of the study. Phase I included the analysis of the distribution of scores, elimination of behaviors that did not discriminate between 5 percent or less of the sample. In Phase II of this study, the investigator statistically analyzed behavior-to-Specific Skill Area correlations. If the analysis resulted in a correlation coefficient of less than +.5, the behavior was dropped from the checklist. This procedure was completed in four consecutive series. Thus, the investigator guaranteed that the remaining items were providing reliable information about the related Specific Skill Areas. Phase I of this study resulted in the elimination of 218 behaviors from the checklist and further calculations. Only 248 behaviors discriminated differences between more than 5 percent of the sample. Of the 248 behaviors, 144 behaviors met the +.5 criterion in Phase II. The investigator concluded that 114 behaviors comprising 25 Specific Skill Areas on the assessment instrument were contributing discriminating information. Recommendations were made to continue research of the prevocational behavior checklist. The recommended research would contribute to validating the instrument, producing an effective method of assessing vocational skills of severely retarded adults. / 2999-01-01

Thesis. 1978. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / M.C.P.

Thesis. 1979. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 193-196. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH / Bibliography: leaves 86-88. / by Nancy Andrea Sackman. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1986. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 209-213). / The focus of this design investigation is the warehouse fabric of the Fort Point Channel and its potentials as a model for further development This extensive configuration of warehouses and access roads is the product of an integrated process of planning. design and building. As such, it forms a useful model for creating a cohesive urban fabric. The warehouses reflect the rules of a concise architectural language. Thus, while each building was designed separately for different clients over the span of fifty years. all work together to form an urban environment which is intense. coherent and humane. Functionally, this fabric has undergone continuous change. Some of the warehouses now accommodate small printing houses and workshops; professional offices. shops, museums, studios and loft apartments. Thus. this tightly ordered 'family' of buildings has proven to be inherently inhabitable. The model represented by the warehouse fabric embodies my own goals and strategies for redeveloping and expanding the Fort Point Channel District as a living and working neighbourhood. My thesis proposes strategies for infrastructure and building typologies which will support high density, lowrise development as an extension to the existing fabric. The new development should be flexible, yet · harmonious: specific enough to suggest a distinct, overall character but open-ended enough to allow innovation in individual buildings and changing uses over time. The method tested through this investigation is therefore a process of layering. Rather than develop highly particularized solutions for each property, strategies are applied to the site as a whole. Once such overall strategies are agreed upon, specific solutions can be developed incrementally, but 'thematically', adjusting to changing circumstances as the need arises but contributing to a coherent whole. / by John Randall Dale. / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture; and, (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 100-107. / The thesis is a study of the security problems due to street crime in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston. The first part of the thesis defines the theories and practices of environmental security .planning, the urban design synoptic approach to crime prevention. The environment is examined in its totality -- the physical, social, economic, and psychological characteristics, all of which are considered. The synoptic approach incorporates some of the traditional forms of crime prevention: the punitive (minimally), corrective and mechanical approaches with emphasis on the spatial perspective and the utilization of physical design strategies to deter crime. A "crime analysis model" is developed which focuses on five components: the offender, the journey to crime, the target, natural surveillance and organized surveillance. The second part is the case study of the Longwood Medical Area (LMA) for which the crime analysis model forms the structure. The currently practiced monolithic approach to crime prevention which primarily restricts itself to the utilization of organized surveillance (private security guards) and limits itself to the defined geographical boundaries of the LMA is examined. This monlithic approach is aggravated by the lack of inter-institutional-community tensions all of which result in an unsatisfactory security planning strategy. The main recommendation of the thesis focuses on a basic conceptual change to a synoptic approach in the security planning of the Longwood Medical Area. A number of recommendations applying to specific situations are given. / by Miriam Gail Garmaise. / M.C.P. / M.S.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / The importance of contextually sensitive design is once again becoming recognized by the architectural profession. A contextual design is based upon an understanding of historical and social factors as well as the physical context of the project. This thesis is an exploration of the relationship between an existing environment and the design for a contemporary building. The design will be set on Boston's Beacon Hill, an architecturally rich area that has been designated as a National Historical Landmark by the National Parks Service. The site itself is a relatively large parcel of land located on the Hill's North Slope, an area of somewhat dilapidated houses, now undergoing considerable rehabilitation. The program chosen, that of a residential community for the area's older residents, will take advantage of the site's relatively large size to develop collective facilities as well as approximately 70-80 apartments. While the overall size and collective nature of this project distinguish it from the prevailing pattern of house size and organization on Beacon Hill, they serve to emphasize the need for traditional patterns to be modified and adapted to serve contemporary needs and lifestyles. The design exploration will be preceded by an examination of the historical, social, and physical features of Beacon Hill. Ways in which these aspects of the environment have been used to create contextually successful buildings will be briefly explored. Then the programmatic principles of congregate living environments for older people will be considered. Contextual decisions will be traced from site planning to building organization, focusing on the development of a formal vocabulary for the building exterior. The goal will be to create a new building, modern in execution, but compatible with the traditional forms of Beacon Hill. / by Donna L. Harris. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Thelma E. Pittman Etheridge. / M.C.P.