Digital Commons Network^™

A Metaevaluation Of An Evaluation Of A Second Language Course, Edmilson Bezerra Torres

Theses and Dissertations

This project is a metaevaluation or critique of an evaluation of an intermediate course in a second language curriculum. In this report, the intermediate course evaluation is described to provide a basis for understanding the metaevaluation. Then the metaevaluation is presented. The evaluation was the first stage of a department-approved and college-supported curriculum redesign project to improve the quality of a second language curriculum in terms of instructional materials, methodological approaches, and pedagogical practices to promote optimal second language learning gains. Through the evaluation, strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum were identified so that these issues could be addressed during …

Nurturing Joint Forest Management Through Microfinance: A Case From India, K. K. Kaushal, J. C. Kala

Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review

India has embarked upon a community involvement process to restock the state-owned forests through a recent approach called Joint Forest Management. But the success of the Joint Forest Management program lies in the provision of alternative livelihoods to woodcutters and grazers. This article presents how the forest department of a southern state of India devised a potent tool of microfinance promotion for weaning those who are dependent on the forest by implementing a massive externally aided Joint Forest Management Project. Based on a study of 27 program villages in the Tamilnadu state, this paper proves that the success of Joint …

Vol. 07 No. 2 Journal Of Microfinance, Journal Of Microfinance

Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review

No abstract provided.

Microentrepreneurship And Job Creation: Multiple-Case Study Of Hud Microenterprise Development Assistance Programs In Upstate New York, James O. Bates

Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review

This multiple-case study explores local government's use of HUDfunded microenterprise development assistance for job creation and selfemployment of low-to-moderate-income individuals. Respondent information was reviewed and then supplemented with document analysis and interview materials from earlier research on HUD microenterprise development assistance programs in upstate New York. Because the number of local government respondents who self-identified as providers of microenterprise development assistance was small, it was not possible to generalize research findings to the overall public microenterprise development sector. However, the study of this phenomenon, although limited, does have implications for government microfinance instrumentalities and intermediaries and for future research on …

Building Economic Self-Reliance: Trickle Up's Microenterprise Seed Capital For The Extreme Poor In Rural India, Jan Maes, Malika Basu

Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review

The Trickle Up Program is a US-based organization engaged in microenterprise development for very poor households in 14 core countries, including India. Because it targets the most vulnerable sections of the population, such as the rural landless, women-led households, people with disabilities, and economically disadvantaged minorities, TUP employs a seed capital grant strategy to facilitate its clients' movement from absolute poverty toward economic self-reliance. TUP clients cannot risk taking a loan because they have no spare income to make payments if their enterprises do not generate an immediate profit. A conditional grant, in contrast to credit, exposes its recipients to …

School Psychologists' Perceived Concerns Regarding Crisis Intervention With Diverse Populations, Ana E. Kemple

Theses and Dissertations

With the ever-increasing diversity among students in the United States, American schools are seeing more of a mismatch between school personnel and students. Service provision has traditionally addressed multicultural competencies in the area of assessment and more recently in counseling procedures. With the increased attention given to school-related crises, the role of school psychologists has expanded to include crisis intervention. The current study will present information on the need for multicultural competencies in crisis intervention and assess the current concerns of nationally certified school psychologists in this area of service provision. Responses from a random sample of school psychologists (n= …

Joseph Smith In A Personal World, Dallin H. Oaks

BYU Studies

My subject is Joseph Smith in a personal world. My lens is primarily a personal one—his impact on me and believers I have known during my lifetime. I will also discuss Joseph Smith’s own personal world and his impact on his acquaintances and friends. A major focus will be Joseph Smith’s role as a prophet and his teachings on the reality of revelation. By prophet I mean one who speaks for God in revealing divine truth to others. By revelation I mean God’s communication to man—to prophets and to every one of us, if we seek.

Attempting To Situate Joseph Smith, Grant Underwood

BYU Studies

Undergirding Richard Bushman’s insightful paper is a profound recognition (and a reminder) that histories are the creations of authors, not photographs of the past. Every aspect of writing a history, from the selection of sources to the interpretation of those sources bears the imprint of the author. The profoundly precarious and contingent character of all reconstructions of the past led Roland Barthes to quip that biography is “a novel that dare not speak its name.” Clearly, this is an overstatement, but it does warn us away from an unhealthy critical complacency when engaging in studying written histories.

Joseph Smith: Prophecy, Process, And Plenitude, Terryl L. Givens

BYU Studies

Joseph Smith was an explorer, a discoverer, and a revealer of past worlds. He described an ancient America replete with elaborate detail and daring specificity, rooted and grounded in what he claimed were concrete, palpable artifacts. He recuperated texts of Adam, Abraham, Enoch, and Moses to resurrect and reconstitute a series of past patriarchal ages, not as mere shadows and types of things to come, but as dispensations of gospel fullness equaling, and in some cases surpassing, present plenitude. And he revealed an infinitely receding premortal past—not of the largely mythic Platonic variety and not a mere Wordsworthian, sentimental intimation—but …

Joseph Smith Challenges The Theological World, David Paulsen

BYU Studies

In his illuminating book The Story of Christian Theology, Roger Olson states:

Christian theology does not begin at the beginning. That is, Christian theology began well after Jesus Christ walked the earth with his disciples and even after the last disciple and apostle died. . . . The apostles [had] tremendous prestige and authority. . . . While they were alive, there was no need for theology in the same sense as afterward. Theology was born as the heirs of the apostles began to reflect on Jesus’ and the apostles’ teachings to . . . settle controversies about Christian …

Joseph Smith's Theological Challenges: From Revelation And Authority To Metaphysics, Richard J. Mouw

BYU Studies

In his published dialogue with the Evangelical theologian Craig Blomberg, Stephen Robinson observed that one of the factors that makes it so difficult for Mormons and Evangelicals to understand each other is the issue of terminology. The theology of the Latter-day Saints, he noted, has not been shaped by the same developments that Protestants have experienced since the days of the Reformation. This means, Robinson said, that “Latter-day Saints are generally quite naïve when it comes to the technical usage of theological language.”

World Religion: Dynamics And Constraints, Douglas J. Davies

BYU Studies

Mormonism as a world religion and Joseph Smith as its originating prophet furnish the subject of this paper. A brief theoretical reflection on approaching The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides both an opening context for the quantitatively focused debate on Mormonism’s potential for growth into world religion status and an introduction for a more extensive consideration of several factors of a more qualitative kind that may foster or inhibit that development. The paper then ponders the issue of identity in relation to Joseph Smith.

Full Issue, Byu Studies

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

School Counselors' Concerns Regarding Effective Crisis Intervention For Students Of Diverse Backgrounds, Michelle Lynn Canada

Theses and Dissertations

Although school counselors routinely provide crisis intervention, minimal research has focused specifically on providing such services in a manner sensitive to multicultural and ethnically diverse students. Responses of a random national sample of school counselors (n = 276, 69% return rate) indicate that approximately half voice some sort of concern related to providing crisis intervention services to students from diverse backgrounds. The purpose of this study is to summarize school counselor's concerns, providing an initial understanding for this aspect of school-based crisis intervention. Additionally, school counselors' comments were further analyzed to examine possible relationships between the type of concern and …

Cornelius P. Lott And His Contribution To The Temporal Salvation Of The Latter-Day Saint Pioneers Through The Care Of Livestock, Gary S. Ford

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis combines two studies: the role of livestock in the temporal salvation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Mormon exodus of 1846 and Cornelius P. Lott's contribution in the care of cattle and sheep during that time period. At Winter Quarters, the Church and its members depended in large measure for their survival upon the sizeable cattle herds they had acquired prior to their exodus from Nauvoo and during their trek across Iowa. Church leaders relied on men like Lott, whose expertise in the care of livestock, contributed significantly to the salvation of the …

Transparency In The Government Communication Process: The Perspective Of Government Communicators, Jenille Fairbanks

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents an understanding of the role of transparency in the communication processes of agencies of the United States Federal Government, as guided by principles of stakeholder management, models of public relations, and a model for government agency communication. These theories and models all suggest that increased openness in organizations will result in improved organizational functioning and in some instances, increases in organizational trust. The perspectives presented in this paper were collected through eighteen semi-structured in-depth interviews of professional communicators for various agencies in the United States Federal Government. The data shows that government communicators recognize the need for …

Joseph Smith's Many Histories, Richard L. Bushman

BYU Studies

In 1992 my wife, Claudia, published a book titled America Discovers Columbus: How an Italian Explorer Became an American Hero. The book argued that until the American Revolution, Columbus was almost completely neglected in histories of the British colonies. Not until three centuries after the fact did North Americans honor him as the discoverer of America. Even in 1792, it required a stretch of the imagination to give him the credit, since he never touched foot on the North American continent and for centuries the British had distanced themselves from the hated Spanish exploiters of the New World. But …

The Worlds Of Joseph Smith Gallery Display, Byu Studies

BYU Studies

A display of books, manuscripts, photographs, and artifacts was assembled to accompany “The Worlds of Joseph Smith” conference at the Library of Congress. Twelve items in this display came from collections in the Library of Congress; three from the Library-Archives of the Community of Christ in Independence, Missouri; two from the L. Tom Perry Special Collections at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah; and thirteen from the LDS Church History Library, Archives, and Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City.

Biographical Reflections On The American Joseph Smith, Robert V. Remini

BYU Studies

I have long thought that the importance and role of Joseph Smith in the history of religion in America has been muted more than necessary by the Latter-day Saint church. As his biographer, I was and remain very anxious that his contribution to American culture and religion in general be recognized and appreciated, both by Mormons and by non-Mormons.

Archeological Trends And Book Of Mormon Origins, John E. Clark

BYU Studies

Had circumstances permitted a marked grave for the slain prophet, a fitting headstone could have read, “By Joseph Smith, Junior, Author and Proprietor.” Such an epitaph, taken from the title page of the Book of Mormon, captures the enduring bond between the man and the book, and also the controversy which coalesced around both with the book’s publication and the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830. In the ensuing and continuing “war of words” (Joseph Smith–History 1:10) and prejudice, redemption may hang on the single preposition “by.” What hand did Joseph have in producing …

Joseph Smith's Christology: After Two Hundred Years, Robert L. Millet

BYU Studies

During the last decade, a recurring question has been posed to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Is the church “changing?” In addition, it is asked, Is there some effort on the part of church leadership to have the church and its teachings, particularly those concerning Jesus Christ, become more acceptable to and thus more accepted by other Christians? The natural Latter-day Saint inclination is to react sharply that the church’s doctrines concerning Jesus Christ are intact and even eternal, that the doctrines of Joseph Smith’s day and the doctrines of our own day are one …

Joseph Smith And The Making Of A Global Religion, Jan Shipps

BYU Studies

In regard to the other “worlds” of the first Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith was certainly “in that world and of it.” He was clearly in attendance “in his own time;” he attempted to recover past worlds; he was and is present in his own and in the personal worlds of others; and he challenged the theological world of his day.

Testing Primitive Polynomials For Generalized Feedback Shift Register Random Number Generators, Guinan Lian

Theses and Dissertations

The class of generalized feedback shift register (GFSR) random number generators was a promising method for random number generation in the 1980's, but was abandoned because of some flaws such as poor performance on certain tests for randomness. The poor performance may be due to the choice of primitive polynomials used in the generators, rather than inherent flaws in the method. The original GFSR generators were all based on primitive trinomials. This project examines several alternative choices of primitive polynomials with more than one "interior" term to address this problem and hopefully provide access to good random number generators.

Teacher Evaluation In Chinese Elementary Schools: An Historical Account, Ping Zeng

Theses and Dissertations

This research is an historical account of the development of teacher evaluation in Chinese elementary schools. Descriptive by nature, it reviews the historical origins that have shaped the teaching profession and evaluation practice. It also describes the effort made by the government and educators in the reform to improve the elementary school teacher evaluation system in China. The findings of this research focus on the complexity and problems in the teacher evaluation system and painful struggles teachers have experienced. Suggestions are provided in terms of possible improvement of the teacher evaluation system and establishment of national evaluation standards to facilitate …

White Beauty: The Portrayal Of Minorities In Teen Beauty Magazines, Micaela Choo Banks

Theses and Dissertations

This content analysis examines the representations of minorities in the two most popular teen beauty magazines: Seventeen and YM. Nine issues for 2003 constituted the sample frame yielding a total of 620 advertisements containing human models. After setting up a theoretical framework of the new racism and White beauty, this study investigates the portrayals of minority models. Overall, when compared with earlier studies the number of minority models used in mainstream magazine advertising rose and the portrayals of minority models in prominent roles increased. Yet, the subtle nature of the new racism was reinforced in the following findings: Prominent …

Question Of Bias: A Content Analysis Of The Visual Coverage Of The 2004 Presidential Campaign, Angie Bergstrom

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the question of preferential treatment by U.S. national newsmagazines of presidential candidates in the 2004 election as evidenced by their visual coverage. Using content analysis, all the visual depictions of candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry were analyzed for 10 visual attributes to determine whether one had received better pictorial treatment. This study asked if the newsmagazines had printed greater amounts of visuals overall for one candidate and if one candidate's visuals were more or less positive than the other. The author concludes that more coverage was given to Bush over Kerry in a 60/40 …

Gender Issues In Islamic Schools: A Case Study Of Two Schools In The United States, Hilda Yacoub Sabbah

Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to explore and explain how boys, girls, teachers, and principals "do gender" in Islamic schools in the United States. The goal is to seek plausible explanations of how boys and girls interact formally and informally during the day, how they create differences, and how they interact with teachers and principals. This descriptive study utilized a case study design. The education of girls is very important for their individual growth and development, as well as for the welfare of both the Islamic and American societies and nations. Therefore, scholars and educators should work together to solve problems interfering …

The Role Of Phosducin-Like Protein And The Cytosolic Chaperonin Cct In G Beta Gamma Dimer Assembly, Ting Hu

Theses and Dissertations

Phosducin-like protein (PhLP), a G protein beta gamma subunit dimer binder and G protein signaling regulator, was suggested to regulate the activity of cytosolic chaperonin CCT by their high affinity interaction. In the present study, the three-dimensional structure of PhLP:CCT complex has been solved by cryoelectron microscopy. PhLP was found to bind only one of the chaperonin rings with both N- and C-terminal domains. It spans the central folding cavity of CCT and interacts with two opposite sides of the top apical region, inducing the constraining of the entry of the folding cavity. These findings support a putative role of …

Effects Of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement On Mechanical Properties Of Base Materials, Dane A. Cooley

Theses and Dissertations

Reuse of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) in the full-depth recycling (FDR) process is a cost-effective and environmentally responsible method of asphalt pavement reconstruction. Although FDR has been used for several years in some locations, the effect of RAP on the mechanical properties of recycled base materials has not been well documented. The purpose of this research was to investigate the influence of RAP on the mechanical properties of recycled base materials typical of northern Utah. Two sources of RAP, two sources of base, and RAP contents of 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent were utilized in a full-factorial experimental …

Development Of Commercial Applications For Recycled Plastics Using Finite Element Analysis, Nanjunda Narasimhamurthy

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the suitability of thermo-kinetically recycled plastics for use in commercial product applications using finite element analysis and statistics. Different recycled material blends were tested and evaluated for their use in commercial product applications. There are six different blends of thermo-kinetically recycled plastics used for testing and CATIA is used for finite element analysis. The different types of thermo-kinetically recycled plastics blends are: pop bottles made of PolyethyleneTeraphthalate (PET), milk jugs made of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Vinyl seats made of Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) and small amount of Polypropylene (PP) and Urethane, electronic scrap made of engineering resins …