<p> When Title IX was first signed into law in the United States in 1972, its intended purpose was to guarantee equal opportunity for women in educational settings. In collegiate athletics Title IX quickly became a battle ground. It became a battle ground over how to increase the number of female collegiate athletes without impacting men&rsquo;s programs, and also a battle ground over who would have primary responsibility for the administration of women&rsquo;s sports. When the male-dominated NCAA took over the administration of women&rsquo;s varsity teams after a 10-year battle with the female-led AIAW, female athletic administrators were forced to relinquish their authority over long-held ideals which governed women&rsquo;s sports. The AIAW and other leaders in women&rsquo;s collegiate athletics didn&rsquo;t go down without a fight, and many expressed grave concern for the direction of women&rsquo;s athletics under the leadership of men. Now, more than 40 years after the implementation of Title IX, after dramatic increases have been realized in the number of women competing on collegiate sports teams across the US, what if those fears have been realized? Are women&rsquo;s sports and female athletes better now that they have been forced to adopt the male model of collegiate competition, or would the increases in participation and the opportunities for female athletes, female coaches, and female administrators have been even more dramatic if the AIAW had survived? The principles of education, participation, and character that governed women&rsquo;s athletics for nearly 100 years have been lost in a system that only sees one way of administering athletics. Women have been forced to adopt a male approach to athletics for the sake of equality, but is equal really better? Is there a path that leads to a future where women once again lead women&rsquo;s athletics? I think there is, and this dissertation points the way.</p>

The causes and implications of differences in geographic variation across species are generally poorly understood, but comparative studies have the potential to provide better understanding of what factors predispose species to undergo population divergence and whether population divergence has lasting evolutionary impacts. Here, I examined geographic variation in birds using molecular data from across the genome. I characterized genetic diversity, estimated population history, and tested for impacts of landscape history as well as ecological traits on genetic parameters. I found evidence that diverse historical processes have led to present-day genetic variation in Neotropical bird species, including divergence, population expansion, migration, and gene flow. Genetic diversity and historical processes differed across species, and some of these differences were associated with habitat. Birds of upland forest had greater genetic diversity, higher divergence between populations, and deeper population histories than birds of floodplain forest in the Amazon. This may result from higher dispersal in floodplain species, recent population expansion in or colonization of floodplain habitats, or persistent demographic differences between habitats. I also found that rates of population divergence within species predicted rates of speciation in their ancestral lineages. This result suggests that traits that predict population divergence within species, such as their habitat associations, will impact their diversification over long evolutionary timescales.

A computerized expert system was constructed for the prediction of environmental impacts resulting from a single clear-cut logging operation in Southeast Alaska. The knowledge base for the system was derived from the pertinent literature and from practicing professionals in the fields of forestry, wildlife, hydrology, soils, and biology. The system contains 62 if –then rules and operates on MS-DOS personal computers with at least 640 K of random access memory and a high-density disk drive. The system gathers input information about the proposed clear-cut operation by asking 22 yes or no questions to which it responds with qualitative predictions of the environmental impacts in the areas of soils, streams, fisheries, biodiversity, and wildlife. The system was validated by additional experts and prospective users to be accurate and easy to use, specific predictions are limited so however, the depth of the system may be inappropriate for intensive environmental impact assessment. The system was determined by the reviewers to be very appropriate for educational uses and broad-based initial management decision-making.

Educators, parents, and concerned citizens have always taken a special interest in education and the outcomes thereof.This interest, however, started mushrooming in the 1960s (Keefe, 1987; Sharan, 1990). During this time research centered on various instructional methods. Much of this research tended to use cooperative learning as an instructional method. David and Roger Johnson and Robert Slavin have been very active in cooperative learning research and its implementation. For the most part, cooperative learning research has been directed toward the elementary and secondary levels of education. These studies have shown positive results regarding student achievement, race, and social relationships, mainstreaming, and other positive student reactions. The major purpose of this study was to investigate cooperative learning as an instructional strategy at the college level. Measurements were made involving achievement, computer anxiety, attitude toward Computer Science, and the relationship between a student's field independent/dependent nature and achievement, Attitude was measured using the Purdue Master Attitude Scale, while anxiety was measured using the Test Attitude Inventory-Worry Scale. Achievement was measured from the scores on written tests, performance tests, and quizzes. Lastly, field independence was calculated from the score that each student obtained on the Group Embedded Figures Test. The subjects consisted of students enrolled in two general education classes and two database software classes. Anxiety, attitude, and the student's field independent or field dependent nature played no role in a student's overall achievement in any of the classes. The general education students taught via cooperative learning had statistically higher achievements than did the students who were taught using the lecture method of instruction. The achievements of the students in the database classes, were slightly higher in the class taught using cooperative learning. However, the differences in achievement between the two classes could not be substantiated statistically. The conclusions, findings and recommendations for further research are presented. in summary, cooperative learning helped general education students in overall achievement, while at the same time it did not adversely affect the vast majority of the other students.

<p> The purpose of this study is to examine the role of physicians in the process of healing within the context of our current medical system. As an autoethnographic study, it explores the healing process from wounds the researcher experienced as a physician, teacher, student, and at times a sick patient. This study reflects on the experiences, insights, and observations that have molded the researcher&rsquo;s spirit toward that of a healer not only of patients but also of the fragmented medical system. This study explores the early childhood experiences and wounds that were instrumental in the researcher&rsquo;s initial pursuit of a medical career. In addition, this study explores how the researcher&rsquo;s journey of over 40 years, dedicated to practicing high tech, high risk, intensive care medicine of critically ill patients has deeply shaped the researcher&rsquo;s persona as a healer. Since the time of the researcher&rsquo;s initial specialization in medicine, other areas of medicine as well as other disciplines relating to the humanities have been explored. This study incorporates the lessons, knowledge, experiences, and perspectives from those disciplines and thereby expands the scope of this research study. The autoethnographic approach is appropriate for gaining a greater understanding of self, others, and the culture. The essence of healing necessitates the integration of mind, body, spirit, and consciousness, which encompass multiple therapeutic approaches. In summary, the healing process incorporates aspects of both art and science that optimally benefit not only the patient, doctor, and healer, but also the medical system.</p>

The offering of online classes has been growing at an incredible rate. Many institutions coerce their instructors into teaching online classes even if they are not prepared. If teachers are unprepared when they teach, there is a negative effect on the students and can jeopardize the reputation of the institution. In order to teach over the Internet, instructors need to learn new competencies. Students in online classes are usually not traditional students. In addition, there can be miscommunication in online classes, because there are no visual cues. Instructors need to learn new communication strategies as well as teaching strategies for reaching the online student. The goal was to determine the specific training needs of college online instructors and to incorporate the findings in a faculty development handbook for quality online instruction across the curriculum. A search of the literature was completed and a survey was given to hundreds of online college instructors. The survey revealed what instructors believe is important in the training process and which specific skills were needed but not taught to them. Open-ended questions allowed the sharing of practical advice. An expert panel of experienced online instructors reviewed the survey before it was administered. They then reviewed the handbook contents to make sure it was worthwhile and relevant. The handbook, built into the concluding chapter, is generalizable to all instructors who teach online classes for a college or university. The practical strategies compiled from hundreds of experienced online instructors can be invaluable to new online instructors.

The main objective of performance measurement in public organizations is to support better decision-making by management, leading to improved outcome for the community, and to meet external accountability requirements. There are different performance measurement models to measure the e-Government initiatives and different studies differ in identifying the key factors and measurement indicator. Many measurement instruments take a too simplistic view and focus on measuring what is easy to measure. Much challenge faced by the existing e-Government studies is understanding what citizens, businesses and government agencies wants and how to measure the return on government's Internet investment. Government administrations, international organizations and consultancy firms have done many e-Government benchmarking and performance studies. The results of these studies vary because most of the e-Government studies are assessed from only one perspective of either citizens, businesses or public officials. Issues analyzed by different evaluations lead to different outcomes and give only part of the answer to what is the level of e-Government in a given country or local community. The main aim of this research was to evaluate the impact of e-Government and its instruments of measurements to develop an e-Government performance measurement framework. The combined research methodology of literature research and case study were chosen to answer the goal of this research. This research analyzed the existing literature on performance measurement models from private and public sector and also the e-Government performance models proposed by many governmental and international organizations. Proposed model was validated with a number of national government Strategies with an illustrative case study approach using documentary analysis. Many of the performance studies are used as the main determinants of public opinion on e-Government and for developing e-Government strategy, it is very important that, what is being measured is crucial for the further development of e-Government.

The use of online Canadian pharmacies has grown over the past decade due to lower cost medications and ease of use. In order for these firms to gain business and marketing information, they collect a variety of consumer data. This has raised concerns among consumers as to privacy issues of the data collected by these online firms. However, researchers have not effectively examined how online consumers value specific privacy factors when deciding whether to use the sites. Also, studies have not determined if many of these sites have comprehensive privacy policies that indicate if they protect consumers' data for a variety of factors. This research included a study of 25 major online Canadian pharmacies to determine the completeness of privacy policy factors among this population. This survey showed the majority of sites did contain a privacy policy. However, the comprehensiveness of policies differed vastly among the sites. This dissertation also included an investigation of consumers' views of the privacy policy factors they feel are important when deciding to use these pharmacy sites. Results of a survey of 147 users of medical Web sites showed that consumers were concerned about privacy on these sites, with opt-in, security and consumer/licensing issues of high importance. However, the study also showed that for consumers who actually used an online pharmacy during the past year, cost savings, rather than privacy issues were the principal concern. This dissertation created an instrument that online firms can use to evaluate consumers perceptions of privacy policies, as well as which policies are important to include on a Web site.

A distance education system has been designed for Nova Southeastern University (NSU) . The design was based on emerging low cost video technology. The report presented the design and summarizes existing distance education efforts and technologies. The design supported multimedia electronic classrooms, and enabled students to participate in multimedia classes using standard telephone networks. Results were presented in three areas: management, courseware, and, systems. In the area of management, the report recommended that the University separately establish, fund, and staff the distance education project. Supporting rationale was included. In the area of courseware, the importance of quality courseware was highlighted. It was found that the development of distance education courseware was difficult; nevertheless, quality courseware was the key to a successful distance education program. In the area of systems, component level designs were presented for a student system, a university host, and a support system. Networks connecting the systems were addressed. The student system was based on widely available multimedia systems. The host system supported up to sixteen participants in a single class. The support system was designed for the development of courseware and the support of future projects in distance education. The report included supporting Proof of Principle demonstrations. These demonstrations showed that low cost video systems had utility at speeds as low as 7. 2 kbps. They also showed that high quality student images were not crucial to the system. The report included three alternate implementation strategies. The initial capability could be operational in 1997. A multi-session, 2000 user system was projected for early in the next century.

The problem expounded by this study was the development of a reliable methodology for processing and maintaining historical records on students’ evaluations of instructors and courses. Two additional factors were critical to the study. First, to give the study the merits of students’ evaluations of instructors. Second, as an outcome of the study, a project was designed and developed that would satisfy the problem. The final project, a computerized system written in a commercial programming language by Ashton-Tate called DBASE III Plus, was developed and named “ICES”—an acronym standing for Instructor/Course Evaluation System. The data base structure and language of dBASE available to users, many books are available on the into additional projects is one of the easiest on the market. Equally important, research of universities in the United States regarding software.