Thesis (M.A.)--Ball State University, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Sept. 08, 2009).

“Luke Tower sat in front of his laptop, staring first at the unyielding, blinking cursor and then to the bright red “8:05” displayed on his alarm clock. He always made sure to hide the taskbar on his screen, so that time was never an issue, but somehow it always managed to find him in one way or the other.” In many ways, this opening passage sums up Luke’s story. His life is almost a constant state of battle, whether it’s against writer’s block, time, or his unrealized feelings. Through the following story, Luke’s character takes a journey, searching for clues to the mystery of the colony of Roanoake, that may also end up leading him to find other things in his own life, some of which he wasn’t even aware were lost. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of English

A proposition for a theater in Roanoke, Virginia is the vehicle for the exploration of architectural ideas on space, form, materiality, and atmosphere. The thesis developed through a series of models and drawings that studied oppositions in mass, scale, transparency, opacity, and most importantly, light vs. dark and day vs. night. / Master of Architecture

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Louisiana State University, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 385-398).

With an average employee turnover rate of nearly 250% in the food service industry, operators agree that this problem is probably the most pervasive in the industry. An estimation of seven to ten percent of revenue is spent on turnover. This study addresses an approach to diminish this figure by enhancing employee job satisfaction which the literature reveals is a precursor to the decision or intent to leave. One of the major influences of satisfaction is the quality of the manager/subordinate relationship. Therefore, the current research investigates the potential of managerial behavioral characteristics and their effects on subordinate job satisfaction. Through a set of three surveys, respondents were asked to identify how important 77 behaviors were to them in their manager, their personal level of job satisfaction and the level of competency their immediate supervisor displays on the importance behaviors. Through correlation analysis 51 behaviors were identified as having significant relationships to the composite job satisfaction score. Seventeen variables saw higher correlation values for respondents who indicated the behavior is "Very Important" to them in a manager they work for. This supports one of the hypotheses which states that the level of importance an employee designates to a particular behavior influences whether or not the level of competency can affect job satisfaction. The results of this study can be immediately operationalized through training and development programs provided to managers. By increasing the level of satisfaction through these programs, management could transfer turnover dollars into profit dollars, an advantage to any organization. / Master of Science

Benefits from a flood control project that accrue to a landowner are defined as the amount the landowner is willing to pay for the reduction in flood risk. The primary method utilized by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to estimate a residential landowner's benefits is the property damages avoided method. Only under a set of restrictive assumptions will this method accurately estimate landowner willingness to pay. Therefore, several alternative techniques, such as the hedonic price method, are approved for use by the Corps but it is not known how they compare. The purpose of this study is to examine the benefit measures from the property damages avoided and hedonic price methods and two new measures, restricted willingness to pay (RWTP) and restricted willingness to accept (RWTA). The measures RWTP and RWTA are biased estimates of willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to accept (WTA) where the direction of the bias is known. In addition, the methods that calculate these measures, the RWTP and RWTA methods, do not require data on income or an aggregator for the prices of all goods not in the analysis. Benefit estimates from the hedonic price and RWTP methods provide upper and lower bounds on WTP for non-marginal reductions in flood risk and converge for marginal reductions. / Master of Science

Intra-urban office location research has traditionally described office location patterns in large metropolises. Research is needed to determine whether these findings accurately describe locational patterns in average-sized American cities, such as Roanoke, Virginia. The pattern of insurance office location in Roanoke, Virginia, was examined from 1960 to 1983. It was determined that research in large metropolises accurately described certain trends in Roanoke but inaccurately described others, particularly with regards to office construction and office migration patterns. Insurance offices in Roanoke were stratified on the basis of their affiliation, or the way the office marketed its products. Four common types of insurance offices were identified: independent agencies, general agencies, captive agencies, and indirect writers. Questionnaires were distributed to a random stratified sample of each office type. Chi-square tests revealed significant differences in the organizational features, contact patterns, and locational characteristics of independent agencies, general agencies, captive agencies, and indirect writers. Future research should attempt to understand the structure of other office industries and identify industry-specific factors affecting the locational characteristics of each industry segment. / M.S.

Land use pattern and plans influence future urban development. More desired urban forms can be created through land use decisions and policing power. Unfortunately, land use data is rarely analyzed, and researchers rely on a few historical, morphological studies for any information on land use change. Historical, morphological studies show that cities, and sections of cities, face different developmental problems at various points In time; for example, out-migration, poor quality housing, competition among employment sectors and lack of undeveloped land. How these problems are addressed depends on the current state of planning. Well-organized and up-dated plans address current and future growth, and foster or hinder specific kinds of growth. In Roanoke, Virginia, a bounded city with limited vacant land, redevelopment has become an essential element of growth. A case study of Roanoke examined the transformation of Roanoke's zoning ordinance from 1966 to 1987 when Roanoke was emerging from development into redevelopment. Publications by Roanoke City Government, rezoning request notices for the city from 1978 to 1991 and rezoning request files from 1982 to 1991 and publications on five neighborhoods were used to examine the (1) differences between the 1966 and 1987 zoning ordinances, (2) application of the 1966 zoning ordinance, (3) application of the 1987 zoning ordinance, and (4) application of conditional zoning. The data showed that zoning affected the land use pattern by fostering or hindering specific land use categories. The 1966 ordinance's large minimum lot sizes hindered the application of residential zoning categories by stopping small scale, inner city developments. The 1966 ordinance fostered the expansion of commercial and industrial zoning categories through an absence of lot size requirements. The 1987 zoning ordinance decreased the minimum lot size in several residential categories and added lot width, area and yardage requirements to commercial and industrial zoning categories. This ordinance preserved old. inner city structures through techniques, including historic districts. By addressing different developmental stages within the city, the ordinance encouraged infill development in inner city areas and planned unit developments in peripheral locations. Conditional zoning influenced the land use pattern by limiting changes. Land usage limitations give planners more control over land use changes that occur outside of the traditional rezoning process. Time limitations result in an automatic reversion of zoning if construction does not begin within the specified time. The zoning decision-makers used discretion in implementing zoning. Such decisions are important to planning and influence the types of land use changes approved. / Master of Science

The research investigated acquisition and disposition behavior of purchasers, purchasers/consignors, and consignors of secondhand clothing in consignment stores. A questionnaire was administered to 168 women and two men in three Roanoke, Virginia stores. It was hypothesized that (1) long-time purchasers (three to five years) patronized other secondhand sellers more than short-time purchasers (two years or less); and that purchasers (2) acquired (a) primarily to save money and (b) secondarily to have well-made clothing, (3) bought two to four times a month, and (4) were satisfied with stores' merchandise and services. Hypotheses 2a and 4 were supported but 1, 2b, and 3 were not. A hypothesis that consignors consigned to obtain a return on clothing investments and get rid of unwanted items was supported. Friends were important information sources about stores. Chi-square analysis indicated that respondent groups were similar demographically, in the types of clothing they purchased and/or consigned, and in the uses of clothing purchased. Host respondents were Caucasian, 30-49 years old, and often had baccalaureates or other post-high school education. Twenty-seven percent of the respondents had total household incomes of $40,000 or more. The most frequently purchased and consigned garments were shirts or blouses. Purchasers and purchasers/consignors used purchased clothing primarily for social occasions. Purchasers and consignors differed on the number of years they had been patronizing stores and on their purchasing and consigning frequencies. Also, more purchasers than purchasers/consignors patronized flea markets and garage sales. / M.S.

Project (M.S. Ed.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-139). Also available via the Internet.