A wide range of individuals, from counselors to psychiatrists, have recognized the value of residential treatment centers for at-risk youth. Many residential treatment centers foster therapeutic interventions indoors. Typically, however, there have been few initiatives taken to enhance the outdoor landscapes of these facilities. In particular, potential supplements to therapeutic practices such as landforms and sculpture have been overlooked. This creative project explores how outdoor settings can be enhanced with landforms to provide at-risk youth with alternative venues to address aggressive and antisocial behaviors. Additionally, group activities are considered that could take place in these spaces, using landforms as educational tools.The purpose of this creative project was to determine ways to utilize sculptural landforms in support of treatment plans at a residential treatment facility. The research process included interviews with employees of the Youth Opportunity Center (YOC) in Muncie, Indiana, site visits to various outdoor public spaces, and reviews of the writings of Clare Cooper Marcus and Marni Barnes. The research phase contributed to the development of a design program, and led to the development of design concepts for the YOC. These concepts are documented in master plan, elevation, and sketch form. The research and design concepts are found in the following document. / Department of Landscape Architecture

The main goal of this project is to design the experience of motion along a mixed-use arterial roadway as a work of art. The research component of this project proposes to determine the influences on the experience of traveling along a road, the key components of environmental art, and how these can be combined to enhance the driving experience. This project will focus on the section of McGalliard Road from Morrison Road to Walnut Street, in Muncie, Indiana.McGalliard Road is one of Muncie's most heavily traveled roads. If one examines its length, the unorganized fashion in which the street has developed is readily apparent. Different and often conflicting uses are scattered up and down the road, in a spectrum ranging from rural/ agricultural to residential to commercial. The result is a confusing sequence of buildings and spaces with little or no focus. Thousands of people use roads similar to McGalliard in their everyday life. Generally the experience of driving these roads is mundane, involving countless parking lots, stores, and chain restaurants. By utilizing the principles of environmental art in the redesign of the experience of a mixed-use arterial roadway, the user's experiences can be greatly enhanced and the road can be infused with a new identity and meaning with which peoplecan identify and take pride.The user's experience of a mixed-use arterial roadway is the main issue I plan to examine in this project. When driving on a highway the sense of motion, space, and sequence is dominant. These sensations are most affected by objects passing overhead and near the roadside (Appleyard, 1966). The primary objects in the user's view are signs, telephone poles, and other vehicles, with nearly nothing overhead.Roads are an integral component of a city's fabric, one of its most intensely used public spaces, which provide linkages between different parts of a city (Moughtin, 1992). A successful road is one that captures the attention of its user. Without this, the user's attention can begin to wander and the experience becomes uninteresting. McGalliard Road has little to catch or hold the user's attention. The nearby surroundings consist mainly of signs, large parking lots, or buildings set far back from the street with nothing to focus the driver's attention. In redesigning the experience a user has while traveling along McGalliard Road, it is important to work with these elements in the near roadside environment, utilizing their attributes in the creation of an experiential work of art.Art has the potential to add another layer to the experience of the landscape, instilling it with new meaning. Works of environmental art are bound to their site and take a large part of their content from the relationship they have with the characteristics of their surrounding sites (Beardsley, 1998), thus drawing meaning directly from the surrounding landscape and culture. Ultimately the success of a city depends on the success of its roads. Art can enhance both the experience of a road, city, and the lives of its citizens. Integrating commercialism, art, and the driving experience, the designer can create a unique experience in which the user is an integral component in the design. / Department of Landscape Architecture

This thesis presents a descriptive analysis of the police arrest records for Muncie, Indiana, to determine if there was a decrease in the sex ratio of adults arrested for non-traffic violations from 1967-1970. The Muncie police arrest records were compared to the national arrest statistics as published in the Uniform Crime Report. The problems associated with absolute figures on the number r of arrests were avoided by considering the total population of Muncie and the nation. The results of the study showed that on the whole, Muncie followed the general national trend of a decreasing sex ratio of arrests. Although the general national trend was towards a decreasing sex ratio of arrests, there were a few years namely 1962, 1965, and 1966 in which the sex ratio of national arrests increased slightly. Further, Muncie's trend of a decreasing sex ratio of arrests was interruped in 1970 by a slight increase.

This thesis investigated the dimensions of well-being in public housing families. The five indicators used in the evaluation were poor liveability, fear of crime, identification with the project, future aspirations and social ties. Sex, race and age were the independent variables.It was hypothesized that whites would score higher on feelings of well-being than blacks and that there is a direct relationship between age and feelings of well-being or avowed happiness. The final hypothesis stated that the family's dimension of well-being would be predicted by the characteristics of the project where they lived.The data did not support any of the hypotheses; explanations for the findings are offered as well as suggestions for further research.

This thesis has investigated the difference in the acceptance and of subsequent purchase between two baked products according to sex of the individual. The study was conducted on 350 shoppers at selected supermarkets in Muncie, Indiana, to determine if there is a need for further study in the area of sex difference as a determinant in the type of criteria used to judge products in the marketplace. The development of the instrument used to collect the data and method of administration of the instrument are discussed.Analysis of Variance was used to analyze the data. No significant difference was found in the hypotheses tested. Recommendations for further study in the area of sex as a factor in products behavior are discussed.

Researcher Frederick Woodress has added another study, one on media as it has impacted the elderly, to the large 65-year-old data bank for Muncie Indiana's "Middletown." The basic data was established in 1924 when Robert and Helen Lynd, pioneer sociologists, arrived in the Midwestern town to research and write their Middletown books. This new study covers 553 males and females ages 19 to 92--400 over 60 selected at random by computer, 75 in the 30 to 50 group, also selected at random by computer, and 78 journalism students. The elderly and 30 to 50 year-olds were interviewed by telephone while the students completed questionnaires face-to-face.As part of this investigation, Woodress surveyed prominent newspaper columnists, TV news people and editors about their perceptions of the media's coverage of the elderly. With 53 percent return, the author summarized the results of this mail survey.The 14 mediums examined included television, radio, newspapers, tabloids, magazines, books, comics, computers, VCR's and motion pictures. Complaints and compliments were expressed about various media with television rating as the medium the respondents of all ages would miss the most with newspapers a distant second. Elderly respondents displayed a strong interest in television, newspapers, magazines and books, spent considerable time listening to police/fire radio scanners and showed some interest in using computers. The elderly were very critical of the movie industry and two-thirds said they had not attended a movie for at least a year. Almost one-third of the 30-50 age group also admitted they had not attended a movie theater showing for a year, but all groups were watching movies on television, cable and VCR's.All three groups commented on the media coverage of the 1988 presidential election campaign and told what activities they would rather be doing than reading newspapers, listening to radio or watching television. This study is an overview of the growing elderly population, a group given scant attention in previous Middletown studies. It provides important insights for the media concerning this growing segment of the population.

This thesis examined the relationship between basic employment and derived employment for the Muncie Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. The study also presented graphically, by use of monthly time series data from 1965 to 1972, employment growth patterns by industrial group. A conceptual model was developed relating the contributions of, basic employment to the growth of derived employment. The model also related the lagged, primary -secondary, and wage scale effects of basic employment upon derived employment. The model assumed that the earnings off workers in basic employment is a major determinant of derived employment growth. Total monthly earnings for each industrial group were specified as explanatory variables in a series of multiple regression equations to determine the various basic industries' contributions to the growth of derived employment. Five-year derived employment projections were computed assuming various growth rates in earnings for each of the significant basic industries. The study concluded that the growth of Ball State University employment (basic government) was the most significant factor effecting the growth of derived employment in the Muncie Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area.

I believe that a work of man serves him for it is a product of his physical and mental needs, but as man lives in society his works should serve himself and society if he is to live in peace within a larger context...Anthony C. AntoniadesI agree that a work of architecture can not be conceived as separate from the communal sphers of environmental design such as urban design and urban planning. Architecture and urban design when balanced create the equilibrium between personal (or individual) needs and communal (or collective) needs of a certain communal order. Small-scale Architecture (architecture of individual buildings) and large-scale architecture (urban design-urban planning), considering both individual and collective needs, create and maintain peaceful co-existance among the members of society.While considering potential topics for my creative project, I was led toward a topic which involved working in a neighborhood, developing an architectural program with its urban space, while working together with the people in "the shaping of their environment" in such a way that the final product or "built environment" would be the closest response to the needs of these people of this particular place, for I will be developing a program based on their needs. I believe that the "design of the environment" is the organization of four components which are: space, time, meaning and communication. I also believe that if the work is done on the basis of the needs of the people, then, the result may be that the DESIGN or the "purposeful change" of the above four components and their physical expression achieves real worth.I finally got the answer to what I was looking for when I found that help was needed in the community of Muncie. There is an area of low income housing located on South Madison Street. There is a Youth Center located on the same street surrounded by housing that needs an extension. I then decided to do for my thesis a creative project for the Youth Center based on the needs of the people. To achieve this task, I interviewed the people at the center to find out their needs. I also did a research on the latest architectural projects related to this topicThis creative project proved to be an excellent opportunity for me to fulfill a design task based on the emotional and other non-pragmatic needs of the people and the most important which is the opportunity to get involved with reality.I truly believe that Architecture should be a tool for people, a means to the brotherly union of the human race, an incentive for catharsis. This should be the relationship of Architecture and society. / Department of Architecture

This study investigated the personal medication management practices of some Medicare eligible university retirees and their dependents. This is important since older adults often take multiple medications and are more susceptible to adverse reactions and interactions. The general hypothesis regarding where retirees medications are obtained and their understanding of their use was not supported. Responses to the research questions revealed a higher level of understanding and compliance than previously reported by others. Also, they are unlikely to participate in an employer sponsored educational intervention. This may be related to the educational level of the sample. Suggestions for future research including sample selection, questionnaire wording and scaling are discussed. / Fisher Institute for Wellness and Gerontology

This thesis explores the events and controversies surrounding the smallpox epidemic that hit Muncie, Indiana, in the summer and fall of 1893. The disease struck 150 individuals and left 22 dead, but it also raised broad questions regarding the authority of local and state public health officials to force vaccination upon citizens. Following recent historiographical trends that interpret anti-vaccinationist sentiment in Progressive-Era America as an important part of the political dialog, it argues that anti-vaccinationists in connection with the Muncie epidemic were not simply anti-modem, but had reasonable concerns as to the safety of smallpox vaccination and the government's authority to enforce it. / Department of History