As of 2016 the number of international students in the United States has reached over one million. Institutions of higher education in the United States have been attracting increasing numbers of international college students, primarily from China and other Southeast Asian countries. As a result, organizations such as the Institute of International Education have encouraged colleges and universities to create pathway programs. Pathway programs accept international students who do not have strong English language and/or academic skills, yet have a desire to study abroad. These students take English as a Second Language (ESL) courses at the university before beginning their degree courses. Some program models also have students taking their first-year courses apart from the rest of the student body to help these students close their skill gaps. However, this study focused solely on a pathway program that offers only ESL courses. Previous studies have shown that students who have academic language proficiency, yet lack the ability to integrate socially, often struggle with acculturation. This, in turn, can lead to problems with persistence in their course work and ultimately lack of degree completion. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the social integration of international Chinese students comparing those who participated in the ESL program and those that did not at the subject university. The study examined the influence of this treatment on college retention and on self-reported social integration of international Chinese students. The study findings demonstrate that international Chinese students at this subject university who have received the intervention persist, having similar graduation rates compared to the general cohort, similar retention rates to the general cohort; and equal to or declining grade point averages based on the treatment-level. The study also shows that the ESL students have less acculturative stress and are more socially active in their college community than the non-ESL students. The effects of this social intervention have been positive not only at the start of their degree programs, but carry through their program. The study presents evidence as to the benefits the treatment offers towards persistence at this university, which supports pathway programs.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-01-30Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:48:46Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 fernandes_fa_me_botfca.pdf: 465475 bytes, checksum: 063d7036f70ae424700b2f7818e66ed8 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A manutenção dos resíduos vegetais na superfície do solo é essencial para a sustentabilidade do sistema plantio direto, para tanto, é fundamental a seleção de coberturas vegetais com elevada capacidade de produção de massa seca, principalmente, em regiões onde as condições climáticas são favoráveis à rápida decomposição, além do estabelecimento de manejos da palhada que minimizem esse efeito, visando à proteção superficial do solo, formação de palhada, bem como reciclagem de nutrientes, com impacto direto nos atributos químicos do solo e na resposta das culturas subseqüentes ou em rotação. Assim o objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar a persistência da palhada de espécies de cobertura em função da aplicação de silicato e calcário e a resposta da cultura do feijão em sucessão em semeadura direta. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi em blocos ao acaso disposto em um esquema fatorial 3x5, com quatro repetições. O trabalho foi desenvolvido em estufa, no Departamento de Produção Vegetal, pertencente à Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas – UNESP, Campus Botucatu. As parcelas foram constituídas por cinco doses de silicato de cálcio, calculadas em função da quantidade necessária para elevar a saturação por bases a 70%, dispostas da seguinte forma: 1 – 0 de silicato cálcio e 100% de calcário; 2 - 25% de silicato de cálcio e 75% de calcário; 3 – 50% de silicato de cálcio e 50% de calcário; 4 – 75% de silicato de cálcio e 25% de calcário; 5 - 100% de... / The maintenance of residual vegetation on the surface of the soil is essential for the sustainability no till, therefore, is essential the selection of covering vegetation with an increase capacity for the production of dry mass, especially in regions where climate conditions are favorable for rapid decomposition, along with establishing ways to handle the ground cover to minimize this effect, aiming for the protection of the soil surface, ground cover formation, as well as nutrients recycling, with direct impact on chemical properties of the soil and on response to subsequent or rotation crop. Therefore, the objective of the research was to evaluate the continued usage of the ground cover species as in function of the correction of the soil with silicate and lime and the response of the beans crop in succession in the direct plantation system. The experimental outlined used was the random blocks arranged in a 3x5 factorial design, with four replication. The experiment was developed in greenhouse, in the Department of Agriculture, of the Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas – FCA – UNESP, Campus Botucatu. The plots were composed by five doses of calcium silicate, calculated as a function of the quantity necessary to increase base saturation to 70%, arranged as follows: 1 – 0% calcium silicate and 100% lime; 2 – 25% calcium silicate and 75% lime; 3 – 50% calcium silicate and 50% lime; 4 – 75% calcium silicate and 25% lime; 5 – 100% calcium silicate and 0% lime and three species of cover crops: millet (Pennisetum americanum L) beard grass (Brachiaria brizantha) pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan L.). The lime used was a mixture of CaCO3 and MgCO3 PA, so as to obtain the same proportions of Ca and Mg, both in the lime and in the silicate, this way varying, only the silicon content in each treatment. The parameters analyzed were: content and accumulation of nutrients ...(Complete abstract, click electronic access below)

O paradigma da orientação a objetos esta se tomando a abordagem preferida para construção de sistemas em ambiente de banco de dados. Por outro lado, a tecnologia relacional e amplamente adotada para gerenciar dados corporativos. Os bancos de dados relacionais tornaram-se o padrão no armazenamento de dados para aplicações de processamento de transações on-line (OLTP). Estas tendências estão motivando a necessidade de construção de aplicações orientadas a objetos que acessem banco de dados relacionais. 0 uso de conceitos orientado a objetos, como herança, permitem uma modelagem !Dais adequada e uma melhor implementação da aplicação baseada em sistema de banco de dados orientado a objetos. Entretanto, os resultados do projeto orientado a objetos, podem também ser aplicados em sistemas clássicos de banco de dados. 0 trabalho apresenta o uso de padrões de projeto na construção de una arquitetura de um framework que auxilie o mapeamento de uma aplicação 00 a um SGBD relacional. Esta arquitetura segue a abordagem de persistência de objetos baseada em gateways, que é uma camada de software inserida entre o sistema gerenciador de banco de dados e a aplicação orientada a objetos, cujo o objetivo é dar suporte a um modelo de programação de aplicações 00. A característica principal desta arquitetura é a separação clara das classes que tratam da base de dados em relação as classes que tratam do domínio do problema da aplicação. Esta divisão de responsabilidades permite a substituição das classes referentes a base de dados por outras, permitindo a migração da aplicação entre bases de dados diferentes. São apresentados neste trabalho, formas de mapeamentos de esquemas orientados a objetos para esquemas relacionais. Estes mapeamentos acontecem do modelo 00 para o modelo relacional. E importante salientar, que a arquitetura que esta sendo proposta, não vai impedir que aplicações estruturadas deixem ter acesso a base de dados relacional mapeada, pois esta abordagem foi escolhida para permitir que novas aplicações 00 tenham acesso a base de dados relacionais já existentes. Como a implementação deste trabalho segue a abordagem de gateway, são apresentados os conceitos de orientação objetos, e como estes serão suportados na arquitetura, ou seja, o que o gateway devera implementar. / The paradigm of the object-oriented is becoming the approach preferred for construction of systems in database environment. On the other hand, the technology relational is adopted thoroughly for management corporate data. The relational databases they became the pattern in the storage of data for applications of processing of transactions on-line (OLTP). These tendencies are motivating the need of construction of applications object-oriented that acessem relational databases. The way of using object-oriented conception, how inheritance, to make possible the better modeling and implementation based in object-oriented database systems. Therefore, the objetc-oriented design results, also is possible to application in classics database systems. The work presents the use of project patterns in the construction of an architecture of a framework that aids the mapeamento of an application 00 to a SGBD relacional. This architecture follows the approach of set persistence of objects in gateways, that is a software layer inserted among the system database manager and the object-oriented application, whose the objective is to give support to a model of programming of applications 00. The main characteristic of this architecture is the clear separation of the classes that are about the database in relation to the classes that are about the domain of the problem of the application. This division of responsibilities allows the substitution of the referring classes the database for other, allowing the migration of the application among different databases. They are presented in this work, forms of mapping the object-oriented model for relational model. These mappings happens of the model 00 for the model relational. It is important to point out, that the architecture that it is being proposed, won't impede that structured applications let to have access to the relational database, because this approach was chosen to allow that new applications 00 has access the relational database already existent. As the implementation of this work follows the gateway approach, the concepts of object-oriented are presented, and as these they will be supported in the architecture, that is to say, which the gateway should implement.

Submitted by (lucia.rodrigues@ufrpe.br) on 2017-03-14T15:38:58Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Katia Cilene da Silva Felix (1).pdf: 376089 bytes, checksum: 45b421012fb39c4ea534d1182006970e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-14T15:38:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Katia Cilene da Silva Felix (1).pdf: 376089 bytes, checksum: 45b421012fb39c4ea534d1182006970e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-02-18 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, race 1, biovars 1 and 3 causes severe damage to pepper growth in Agreste region of state of Pernambuco in Brazil. The pathogen survival in infected tissues of stem and roots incorporated to the soil at 0, 5 and 15 cm; and at 10 different soil types of Pernambuco without host plant was studied by using a spontaneous mutant resistant to 100 mg l-1 of rifampicin (R. solanacearum A1-9Rif). Pathogen survival only showed difference (P<0.05) in relation to vegetal tissue. Pepper root tissues showed higher survival duration (DUR) (17.1 d), area under population curve (AACPOP) (430x104) and population at 7 (POP7) (5.0x104 UFC g-1 tissue) and 21 days (POP21) (3.1x104 UFC g-1 tissue) than stem tissues, which were respectively, 7.0 d; 3.8 x104; 0.35 and 3.1x104 UFC g-1 tissue. On the other hand stem tissues presented higher decomposition index (81.3%) and pH (7.7) than root tissues, respectively 68.9% and 6.8. The previous soil microbiological analysis did not finddifferences among populations of actinomycetes, copiotrophic, bacteria, total bacteria and total fungi respectively 5.02; 3.63; 5.23 and 4.19 log UFC g-1 dry soil. Populations of oligotrophyc bacteria, Bacillus spp., fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. and Trichoderma spp. were not detected. The pathogen was isolated from the soil adjacent to infected tissues of stem and roots at the three depths six weeks after experiment establishment. The analysis of AACPOP in relation to locals (counties) of soil sampling, type of soil coverage at the sampling time and soil texture was not significant by Kruskal-Wallis test (P≤0.05). Among the 10 studied soils, seven were classified as suppressive showing low intervals of DUR (42 to 49 days), AACPOP (0.77 to 4.05), POP14 (5.59 to 6.18 log UFC g-1 soil) and POP42 (5.44 to 6.31 log UFC g-1 soil). The soils S3, S4 and S6 were evaluated as conducive. Considering all soils together or only the suppressive, DUR,AACPOP and POP42 only showed significant correlation with soil physical and chemical characteristics, positive for clay, residual humidity and useful water and negative for pH. The population of copiotrophic bacteria, actinomycetes, total bacteria, total fungi (Fusarium spp., Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp. and Rhizopus spp. were identified) and Bacillus spp. did not differ among the 10 soil types. / A murcha-bacteriana do pimentão é causada por Ralstonia solanacearum, raça 1, biovares 1 e 3 e causa grandes prejuízos à cultura desta solanácea. Este trabalho teve por objetivo estudar a sobrevivência do patógeno em tecidos infectados de caule e raiz incorporados ao solo às profundidades de 0, 5 e 15 cm; e em 10 diferentes tipos de solo na ausência da planta hospedeira. Foi utilizado um mutante resistente a 100 mg l-1 de rifampicina (R. solanacearum A1-9Rif). A sobrevivência do patógeno diferiu significativamente (P<0,05) apenas em relação aos tecidos vegetais analisados isoladamente. Desta forma, tecidos de raiz de pimentão apresentaram maior duração da sobrevivência (17,1 d), área abaixo da curva da população (AACPOP) (430x104) e população aos 7 (POP7) (5,0 x 104 UFC g-1 tecido) e 21 dias (POP21) (3,1 x 104 UFC g- 1 tecido) que os de caule, que foram respectivamente, 7,0 d; 3,8; 0,35 x104 e 0,48 x 104UFC g-1 tecido. Por outro lado, os tecidos do caule apresentaram maior índice de decomposição (81,3%) e pH (7,7) do que os de raízes, respectivamente 68,9% e 6,8. A análise microbiológica prévia deste solo não evidenciou diferenças significativas entre as populações de actinomicetos, bactérias copiotróficas, bactérias totais e fungos totais, que foram de 5,02; 3,63; 5,23 e 4,19 log UFC g-1 solo seco, respectivamente. Não foram encontradas populações de bactérias oligotróficas, Bacillus spp., Pseudomonas spp. fluorescentes, e Trichoderma spp. Entre os 10 tipos de solos estudados, sete foram classificados como supressivos por apresentarem baixas duração da sobrevivência (42 a 49 dias), AACPOP (0,77 a 4,05), POP14 (5,59 a 6,18 log UFC g-1 solo) e POP42 (5,44 a 6,31 log UFC g-1 solo). Os solos S3, S4 e S6 foram avaliados como conducivos. Neste estudo, apenas algumas características físicas e químicas apresentaram correlaçãosignificativa com duração da sobrevivência, AACPOP e POP42, considerando todos ossolos em conjunto ou apenas os supressivos, destacando-se argila, umidade residual e água disponível que apresentaram correlação positiva e o pH com correlação negativa.

Submitted by Sandra Pereira (srpereira@ufrrj.br) on 2016-09-20T14:34:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2011 - Rodrigo Alves de Melo.pdf: 647767 bytes, checksum: 56dbf52b2dc0c6c7d87ccf57e757a793 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-20T14:34:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2011 - Rodrigo Alves de Melo.pdf: 647767 bytes, checksum: 56dbf52b2dc0c6c7d87ccf57e757a793 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-03-21 / This dissertation studies the performance of brazilian mutual funds stock portfolios classified as ?multimercado macro? from april, 2005 to march, 2010 by a multicriteria manner. The research aims to evaluate: (i) the success of market timing and stock picking strategies; (ii) the performance persistence taking into account macroeconomic various periods and (iii) if persistence depends on the time period analyzed, the performance indicator used or other variables such as size, client kind or investment profile. Therefore, were calculated the risk measures beta and standard deviation, the performance measures average return and cumulative return and the stock picking measure Fama?s decomposition for six months, one year and two years and six months periods and the stock picking measure Jensen's alpha and the market timing measure proposed by Treynor and Mazuy for two years and six months periods. The statistical tools used to verify the influence of control variables on performance and whether there is an association between the results were the Mann-Whitney?s test and Spearman?s correlation coefficient. The sample exhibits survivorship bias since it includes only the mutual funds that were actives throughout the studied period. Most studied portfolios failed to outperform the market by using stock picking and market timing strategies. Significant influences of the control variables size and investment profile were found, but only concerning the market timing measure. In the performance persistence analysis, only the systematic risk beta showed persistent evidences throughout the studied period, since the managers couldn?t keep the total risk under control during the financial crisis. In general, the portfolios have been unable to persist in any of the performance indicators, except for the unauthorized-operating-leveraged portfolio group, which showed persistence in average and cumulative returns and in selectivity indicator Fama?s decomposition, but only in long-term. Finally, DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) enabled the creation of a portfolios? efficiency ranking taking into account its cumulative returns and systematic and total risks and only one portfolio showed maximum efficiency for the studied period. / Esta disserta??o estuda o desempenho das carteiras de a??es dos fundos de investimento da categoria multimercado macro no Brasil no per?odo de abril de 2005 a mar?o de 2010 de forma multicriterial. O estudo busca avaliar: (i) o sucesso dos gestores em estrat?gias de market timing e stock picking; (ii) a persist?ncia de performance levando em considera??o per?odos macroecon?micos diversos e (iii) se a persist?ncia depende do per?odo de tempo analisado, do indicador de performance utilizado ou de outras vari?veis, como tamanho, p?blico-alvo ou perfil de investimento. Para tal foram calculadas as medidas de risco beta e desvio-padr?o, as medidas de desempenho retorno m?dio e retorno acumulado e a medida de seletividade decomposi??o de Fama para os per?odos de seis meses, um ano e dois anos e seis meses e as medidas de seletividade alpha de Jensen e de market timing proposta por Treynor e Mazuy para per?odos de dois anos e seis meses. Os instrumentos estat?sticos utilizados para verificar a influ?ncia das vari?veis de controle no desempenho e a exist?ncia ou n?o de associa??o entre os resultados foram o teste de Mann-Whitney e o coeficiente de correla??o de Spearman. A amostra apresenta vi?s de sobreviv?ncia pois compreende apenas os fundos que estiveram ativos durante todo o per?odo estudado. a maioria das carteiras de a??es estudadas n?o conseguiu superar o mercado atrav?s da utiliza??o de estrat?gias de stock picking e market timing. Foram verificadas influ?ncias significativas das vari?veis de controle tamanho e perfil de risco, mas apenas em rela??o ? medida de market timing. Na an?lise de persist?ncia de performance, somente o risco sistem?tico beta apresentou evid?ncias de persist?ncia durante todo o per?odo estudado, uma vez que os gestores n?o conseguiram manter o risco total sob controle durante a crise financeira. De um modo geral, os portf?lios n?o conseguiram apresentar persist?ncia de performance em nenhum dos indicadores de desempenho, com exce??o do grupo de portf?lios n?o autorizados a operarem alavancados, o qual apresentou persist?ncia somente no longo prazo para os indicadores de retornos m?dio e acumulado e de seletividade decomposi??o de Fama. Finalmente a t?cnica DEA (An?lise Envolt?ria de Dados) possibilitou a composi??o de um ranking da efici?ncia das carteiras levando-se em considera??o o retorno acumulado, o risco sistem?tico e o risco total das mesmas e somente uma delas apresentou m?xima efici?ncia para o per?odo estudado.

Rinovírus (RV) é freqüentemente detectado nos tecidos tonsilares e nas secreções de nasofaringe de pacientes com doença adenotonsilar crônica, sem sintomas de infecção respiratória aguda (IRA). O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar a infecção por rinovírus em tonsilas humanas, com base em dois aspectos: infecção in vivo de células linfóides de tonsilas humanas naturalmente infectadas; e infecção ex vivo de células dissociadas desses tecidos inoculadas com rinovírus, visando a contribuir para elucidar possíveis mecanismos de infecção em amígdalas palatinas e adenóides humanas. De um total de 104 pacientes com doenças adenotonsilar crônicas, 21.1% (22/104) e 42.3% (44/104) apresentaram respectivamente amígdalas palatinas e adenóides positivas para RV por PCR. A replicação viral foi confirmada por hibridização in situ com sonda para intermediário replicativo nas regiões internas e externas aos folículos linfóides de amígdalas e adenóides, bem como em porções do epitélio ciliado de adenoides, e apenas raramente nas células epiteliais escamosas de tonsilas palatinas. A presença e distribuição de proteína estrutural do capsídeo viral foi detectada por imunohistoquímica (IHQ), utilizando anticorpos contra proteínas estruturais virais VP1 e VP2 nas tonsilas positivas para RV por qPCR. Os resultados indicaram marcação positiva tanto na superfície (epitélio), quanto em regiões extrafoliculares e centros germinativos. Em seguida, foi possível verificar a co-localização da marcação positiva da proteína estrutural VP2 de RV com marcadores linfocitários de membrana. Células CD4 + e CD20 + apresentaram marcação positiva para VP2 verificada usando estratégia de \'sequential immuno-peroxidase labelling and erasing\' (SIMPLE). Culturas primárias de células linfomononucleares (CLMN) de tonsilas sabidamente negativas para RV por PCR, foram infectadas in vitro, com RV (MOI=1). A replicação de RV foi titulada por TCID50, mostrando aumento inicial (24 h) e subsequente queda após 48 horas. Por IF observamos que os fenótipos de CLMN infectadas com RV in vitro foram células T CD4 + e B, mas também com células CD8 +, CD56 + e CD33 +. RV não infectou células CD123 +. RV foi isolado em WI- 38 e HeLa a partir de tecidos e secreções de nasofaringe de pacientes com hipertrofia tonsilar sem sintomas de infecção respiratória aguda. Nossos resultados confirmam que tonsilas de pacientes sem sintomas respiratórios agudos podem ser reservatórios de RV, que infecta não somente epitélio, mas também CLMN (frequentemente linfócitos T CD4 + e linfócitos B). A detecção de RNA intermediário replicativo e proteínas estruturais VP1 e VP2 nas tonsilas hipertróficas, além do isolamento de vírus infeccioso a partir de tecidos e secreções nasofaríngeas, classificam tonsilas hipertróficas como sítios de infecção e replicação de RV, e sugerem que esses indivíduos hipertróficos são portadores assintomáticos de RV persistente, e podem ser importantes fontes de transmissão de RV na comunidade. / The chronic adenotonsillar diseases are frequent otorhinolaryngologic conditions caused by chronic inflammation of adenoids and palatine tonsils. Rhinovirus (RV) is highly frequently detected in secretions, and tonsillar tissues from patients experience chronic tonsillar hypertrophy without symptoms of ARI, and our goal is to full understanding of viral infections in hypertrophic tonsillar tissues by RV. Of 104 enrolled patients with adenotonsillar chronic diseases, 21.1% (22/104) and 42.3% (44/104) had palatine tonsils and adenoids positive for RV by qPCR, respectively. RV Viral replication was confirmed by in situ hybridizations. Minus-strand RNA were detected in all tested samples (7 tonsils and 9 adenoids), and positive reactions were seen inside and outside of lymphoid follicles from tonsils and adenoids, in the ciliated epithelium of the adenoids and rarely in positive squamous epithelium cells from tonsils. The presence of viral structural protein VP1 and VP2 was detected within and outside of the lymphoid follicles from tonsils and adenoids, and also in epithelial cells from adenoids by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Later, by sequential immuno-peroxidase labelling and erasing protocol (SIMPLE), we saw co-localization of RV VP2 capsid protein staining with CD4 positive cells and CD20 positive cells. We confirmed that RV could infect primary culture of tonsilar mononuclear cells (TMNCs). Additionally, intracellular replication of RV in TMNCs, measured by TCID50 in HeLa cells, had an initial increase in the first 24 hours, and dropped at 48 hours post infection. Immunolocalization staining with anti-RV and TMNCs surface markers indicated that phenotypes of susceptible cells were T-cells both CD4+ and CD20+, but also, we saw co-localization of VP-2 protein with CD8+ cells, CD56+ cells and CD33+ cells. RV-16 couldn\'t infect CD123+ cell in our experiments. Finally, we were able to recover 4 rhinoviruses by inoculating WI-38 fibroblast cells and HeLa cells, confirming by the cytopathic effect and immunofluorescence positive staining with anti-VP1 antibody. Taken together, our results indicate that tonsils and adenoids of patients without ARI may be reservoirs of replicating human rhinovirus, infecting manly Tcells CD4+ and CD20+ B-cells. The high-frequency detection of RNA (-) and VP1 expression in tissues from patients with chronic adenotonsillar diseases, plus the isolation of infectious viral particles, suggests that these detected agents replicate in the adenotonsillar tissues and this specific sites may be important sources of transmission of RV in the community.

Academic policies in higher education address institutional academic standards and student requirements including academic underachievement. Academic probation is one academic policy designed to alert students they are not meeting the minimum academic standards of the institution. Institutions offer a variety of student services to support institutional retention efforts and student persistence to graduation; however, there is little research that addresses academic policies and their role in the success of the college student (Brawner, Frillman, & Ohland, 2010). This qualitative case study was an exploration of the perceptions of undergraduate students and the administration by examining the policy of academic probation at one 4-year, private, small liberal arts college in southwest Virginia. The study explored what the institution intended the purpose of academic probation to serve and the perception of the policy by students who were placed on academic probation. Interviews were conducted with 1 undergraduate student who was currently on academic probation and 2 administrators of the institution who were familiar with the policy of academic probation. Survey questions were administered to 5 additional students on academic probation. A document review of the policy of academic probation was conducted. The findings of this study demonstrated that 3 students and both administrators viewed the policy as a way to alert students to refocusing their attention on academics in order to raise their GPA and meet the academic requirements needed for graduation. The study also revealed that students who were placed on academic probation did not feel they had sufficient knowledge of the policy before they were placed on probation.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the associations between first-time full-time freshmen's attributes and fall-to-fall retention at Northeast State Technical Community College. The 15 attributes included age, first-generation student status, gender, high school classification, race, the student's application date to the institution relative to the start of the semester, the 4 ACT test sub-scores, remedial/developmental course placement, major program of study, financial aid status, first-semester grade point average, and end-of-first-semester credit hour enrollment status. In addition to collecting the variables under study, each first-time full-time freshman's entry term and enrollment status for the subsequent fall semester was ascertained. This information was used to categorize individuals into persister and non-persister classifications for the subsequent fall. The data for this longitudinal study were housed in Northeast State's student records database, Student Information System. A preliminary analysis of the data was conducted to ascertain descriptive statistics. Chi Square and independent samples t tests were used to determine if there was an association between each variable and fall-to-fall retention. A multiple linear regression model was used to estimate the effect of the predictor variables upon the criterion variable, fall-to-fall retention. The results indicated that the variables of age, first-generation student status, gender, and race were not significantly related to fall-to-fall retention, while high school classification, application date, the 4 ACT sub-scores, remedial/developmental course placement, major program of study, financial aid award, first-semester grade point average, and end-of-semester credit hour enrollment status were significantly related to fall-to-fall retention. A multiple linear regression model indicated that the greatest influences upon fall-to-fall retention when researching the collective predictor variables were first-semester grade point average,the number of remedial/developmental courses required,the number of hours in which the student was formally enrolled in at the end of the first semester,an application date greater than or equal to 61 days prior to the start of the fall semester,receipt of financial aid in the form of Pell Grant funds only (negative association),associate of applied science student status (negative association), andGED graduate (negative association).

Many Native American students face challenges when entering and attending institutions of higher learning. For Native Americans, seeking postsecondary education frequently means overcoming hurdles, such as inadequate college preparatory courses work, economic hardships, leaving Native American communities behind and acclimating to the expectancies and values of a dominant culture. These barriers often result in Native American college students leaving college early or failing to graduate. One solution to this problem has been the creation of Tribal colleges where Native American students are able to practice their cultural traditions and preserve tribal values, while at the same time developing skills to become successful college students. The Tribal colleges’ curricula and delivery methods foster more cooperative learning activities rather than academic competition, present the study of natural phenomena through direct observations, and permit cultural research regarding Native American history and language. A survey was distributed to all enrolled members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian (EBCI) college students to compare the experiences of those attending Tribal and non-tribal colleges. The results of the survey provided data for a nonexperimental quantitative study that addressed 18 research questions in an effort to determine whether there is a significant difference between the educational experiences of EBCI college students who attend non-tribal institutions and those who attend Tribal colleges. In particular, there was a focus on three domains: student viewpoints on separation and alienation from their tribal community; tribal community connections; and individual perceptions of success. A comparison of the experiences by gender between students attending Tribal versus non-tribal colleges was made. The researcher used the Native American Collective Orientation and Pursuits in Education Scale (NACOPE) survey results as determinants of the college students’ experiences. The findings of this study indicated there were no significant differences between the experiences of EBCI students who attended either Tribal or nontribal colleges. In addition, there were no significant differences when gender and type of college were considered. However, there were significant differences in those attending Tribal and nontribal colleges regarding some dimensions. Students in both groups had significantly higher survey scores than the median test value on the NACOPE in three areas. These higher scores were observed in their overall experiences being reported as positive; feelings of community connectedness to their home tribe; and less feelings of separation and alienation on their college campuses.

A survey was distributed to all enrolled members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian (EBCI) college students to compare the experiences of those attending Tribal and non-tribal colleges. The results of the survey provided data for a nonexperimental quantitative study that addressed 18 research questions in an effort to determine whether there is a significant difference between the educational experiences of EBCI college students who attend non-tribal institutions and those who attend Tribal colleges. In particular, there was a focus on three domains: student viewpoints on separation and alienation from their tribal community; tribal community connections; and individual perceptions of success. A comparison of the experiences by gender between students attending Tribal versus non-tribal colleges was made. The researcher used the Native American Collective Orientation and Pursuits in Education Scale (NACOPE) survey results as determinants of the college students’ experiences. The findings of this study indicated there were no significant differences between the experiences of EBCI students who attended either Tribal or nontribal colleges. In addition, there were no significant differences when gender and type of college were considered. However, there were significant differences in those attending Tribal and nontribal colleges regarding some dimensions. Students in both groups had significantly higher survey scores than the median test value on the NACOPE in three areas. These higher scores were observed in their overall experiences being reported as positive; feelings of community connectedness to their home tribe; and less feelings of separation and alienation on their college campuses.