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A Computer/Tutorial System Compared With A Workbook/Tutorial System For Presenting Instructional Material To At-Risk Elementary School Students, Vincent O. Hodge

Dissertations

Two different ways of presenting instructional material and reacting to students’ responses were compared. One, taking advantage of several features of multimedia instruction involved a desktop computer and various computer-presented consequences of correct and incorrect responses (largely chosen by the student). The other consisted in presenting the same instructional materials (the SRA primary curriculum) in a workbook form with tutors' comments and praise as the main form of response consequence. The two methods were compared with respect to various measures of student and system performance, including student accuracy (percent correct responses), types of errors, amount of correct response repetition (over-responding), …

Laterality Of The Perception Of Computer Presented Written Sexual Words By Right-Handed Males And Females, Randall W. Stewart

Dissertations

The right hemisphere of males has been shown to possess a greater capacity for accurate perception of emotional non-verbal material (pictures) than the left hemisphere. The same is true for females, but with a smaller difference between the two hemispheres. Some previous research has partially confirmed these relationships using tachistoscopic presentation of emotional words. The present study, using briefly exposed computerpresented sexual words, compared perception accuracy with respect to a sexuality rating of clearly sexual and clearly non-sexual words, in the right versus the left visual field, and with males versus females. As with previous research using verbal stimuli, the …

Image Processing Based On A Fuzzy Logic Edge Detection Algorithm, Jamshid Khazaai

Masters Theses

One of the major problems in image processing is that of efficient edge detection. This is because the automated determination of an edge requires a subjective interpretation of just what the image author intended to be an edge. By training an edge determination algorithm to be sensitive to edges in a consistent manner, efficiency can be improved. This is the central idea of this thesis in which I define edge occurrences for the intensity (monochrome) images using fuzzy sets.

Edge characteristic functions are proposed for detecting edge pixels within a desired block of an (intensity and binary) image based on …

The Comparison Of Selection-Based And Topography-Based Verbal Behavior Across Populations, Carl T. Sundberg

Dissertations

Michael (1985) distinguished between selection-based (SB) and topography-based (TB) verbal behavior. Several studies comparing the ease of learning the two systems have shown conflicting results. The data indicate that subjects with fewer lower verbal skills have done better with TB systems (subjects with developmental disabilities in studies by Hodges & Schwethelm, 1984; Sundberg & Sundberg, 1990; Weirmanski, 1984; Wraikat, 1991; Wraikat, Sundberg, & Michael, 1991; and the bottom half of subjects in Cresson, 1994). The higher functioning subjects have done better (or have not shown a difference) with SB systems. (Bristow & Fristoe, 1984; Stratton , 1992; Tan, Bredin, Poison, …

Simulation Of The Hybrid Fuzzy-Boolean Finite State Machine (Hfb-Fsm), Hamed Shakouri

Masters Theses

Several models of fuzzy finite-state automata have been proposed in the literature. One model which benefits from the existing algorithms for designing Boolean finite-state machines, has been proposed by J. L. Grantner [8]. This model, which is called Hybrid Fuzzy-Boolean Finite State Machine (HFB-FSM), along with its algorithmic design procedure, can be used for implementing dynamic linguistic systems [7,8,13]. In this thesis we have developed a simulation program for the HFB-FSM model using C++ programming language. In order to simulate a HFB-FSM model, the user provides the information defining the system's behavior. Based on the algorithm proposed in [8], the …

Integrating Technology And Foreign Language Learning, Margaret Bullard

Honors Theses

We are currently experiencing what some refer to as an "information revolution." This began with the appearance of writing systems, the invention of the printing press, the telephone, the mass production of audio and video tape recorders, the photocopy machine, the microcomputer, and now the Internet and Worldwide Web (WWW). The growth rate of the WWW has been incredible since the first version was made available in 1993. Aside from the large number of web sites that have been created, the U.S. Department of Education claims that 20,000 educational software titles have been developed and more than one million students …

Gatherings No. 18 Spring 1998, Friends Of The University Libraries

Gatherings: Friends of the University Libraries Newsletter

Complete issue of Gatherings no. 18. Edited by Laurel Grotzinger.

Crying Fowler, David Isaacson

Gatherings: Friends of the University Libraries Newsletter

No abstract provided.

One Way To Learn: A Web Tutorial, Patricia Fravel Vander Meer

Gatherings: Friends of the University Libraries Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Academic Diversity: Reading Instruction For Students With Special Needs, William H. Rupley, William D. Nichols

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Provisions to assure that all children are provided quality reading instruction have always been a concern for classroom teachers. Today, greater sensitivity to learners with special needs has led to their inclusion in regular classrooms for the full instructional day. Implications for the reading instructional program are clear; it must employ a variety of instructional and organizational techniques to suit a wide range of student abilities. This article addresses legislation that led to the present focus on classroom inclusion for students with special needs and accommodation of the students with special needs in the classroom reading program. Particular discussion is …

Reading Horizons Vol. 38, No. 4

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Complete issue of Reading Horizons volume 38, issue 4.

The Application Of First Language Reading Models To Second Language Study: A Recent Historical Perspective, Carolyn Lally

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This article examines the influence of first language reading models on second language reading theory and research. Second, this essay recommends a sharing and transfer of knowledge between related disciplines, such as first- and second-language reading, to increase our understanding of the reading process, regardless of the target language.

The Effect Of Guided Imagery And Music Workshops On Locus Of Control And Self Concept Of Mental Health Outpatients, Roberta Wigle Justice

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of guided imagery and music (GIM) in a group format on the locus of control and self-concept in mental health outpatients. Twenty adult mental health consumers took part in the experimental study with 10 subjects in the experimental condition and 10 subjects in the control condition.

The revised Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS:2) short form (Fitts & Warren, 1996) was used to measure self-concept and the Levenson Locus of Control Scale (Levenson, 1981) was used to measure locus of control. Pre- and post-test data collected from these instruments revealed no significant …

Reclaiming Communities And Languages, Rebecca Benjamin, Regis Pecos, Mary Eunice Romero, Lily Wong Filmore

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article discusses efforts by tribal leaders and members of Cochiti Pueblo, one of the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico, to restore aspects of community life that had been damaged by federal programs-programs that had been carried out without careful study of how they might affect the community. The construction of a dam above the Pueblo by the Army Corps of Engineers nearly three decades ago resulted in the destruction of the pueblo's farmlands. It caused profound disruptions in the lives of the people in this agrarian community, not only in economic terms but in nearly every other aspect of …

Esl Learners: Process Writing And Publishing Good Literature, Jane F. Rudden, Anita R. Nedeff

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The purpose of this article is to report on our examination of books written by children who are ESL learners, and compare the books with criteria for meritorious literature (Norton, 1995), and to discuss the implications of the results relevant to process writing instruction with second language learners. The books examined were written by students in grades K through 5 in a rural elementary school. They had been in the United States for a short period of time. Their familiarization with process writing was due to its being a part of their daily curriculum. The school's writing program embraces those …

Educational Implications Relating Neuroanotomical Research And Developmental Dyslexia, Joseph P. Kender, Mark A. Kender

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Studies on autopsy of the brains of dyslexics and those measuring brain functioning during cognition during the past decade and a half have shed some light on the possible causes of developmental or specific dyslexia. This article briefly reviews some of the most pertinent research and offers some guidelines for the prognosis and treatment of dyslexic individuals and literary options for reading teachers and specialists to use in working with dyslexia.

Reading Horizons Vol. 38, No. 3

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Complete issue of Reading Horizons volume 38, issue 3.

Early Book Sharing: What Teachers Should Know, Sherry Kragler, Linda Martin

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The purpose of this paper is to describe strategies that caregivers use while reading books with young children. Research indicates that caregivers: a) use strategies that simplify or extend book language, b) use prosody, and c) use management strategies so the book reading event is meaningful for children. Then, how teachers of preschool children can use these same strategies to plan meaningful book sharing events for children in preschool settings is described.

Western News, Dec. 4, 1997, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: WMU researchers help Portage company put scientific data behind their product, Des staffers working to wipe out 'millennium bug', Graduate internship established in honor of Beauregard.

A Study Of Ideological Change In Reggae Music From 1971 To 1993, William H. Stanley

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to see if the reggae music that became popular in the United States was ideologically different from the reggae that originated in Jamaica. The hypothesized change was derived from a model developed by Humphrey Regis (1994, 1988) labeled “cultural domination by re-exportation”. It was determined that early reggae music and the Rastafarian religion had very similar ideologies. The change within reggae music was measured against the Rastafarian belief system.

A content analysis of twenty-five songs was undertaken. The method of doing ideological analysis of the reggae lyrics was derived from Cormack (1992). The sample …

Mastodon, 80% Complete: Poems, Jonathan Johnson

Dissertations

Many of the poems in this collection are set in the vast woods and along the Lake Superior coastline of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Others take place in and around the poet's remote cabin in northern Idaho where the Selkirk, Bitteroot, and Cabinet mountain ranges converge. However, they all take as their definition of wilderness the complete external beyond the individual consciousness, including the body, other people, and the decaying cultural landscape, as well as vistas of yet unmolested nature. The poems chronicle an ongoing attempt to occupy the borderlands of faith between imaginative will and allegiance to the world, that …

Perceived Differences Between Male And Female Occupational Therapists’ Treatment And Other Related Gender Issues, Dennis Robert Jones

Masters Theses

This study explored how occupational therapy clients perceive the treatment they receive from male and female occupational therapists. The study was conducted in a qualitative manner. Occupational therapy supervisors who have supervised both female and male occupational therapists were interviewed to gain an initial understanding of the relevant issues. More structured interviews were then conducted with clients who have been treated by both a female and a male occupational therapist. Therapists and clients were also observed during four treatment sessions.

Analysis of the data collected through interviews revealed that supervisors and clients do notice some behavioral differences in male and …

Professional Football Players Attitudes Toward Women And Violence, Shannon Marie O'Toole

Masters Theses

This study examined whether or not professional football players, because of the violence and aggression associated with their sport, tended to have attitudes that condoned or were conducive to violence against women. The forty-six subjects in this study were active members on teams in the National Football League and/or the National Football League sponsored World League. Information was gathered through the sue of self-reporting, non-random, questionnaires and interviews.

The study also explored the dynamics of domestic violence, the linking of aggression with professional sports and the characteristics of sport in United States society, especially as it relates to masculinity and …

Civil Society In Palestine: A Palestine Profile, Shadia Kanaan

Masters Theses

One definition of civil society dominated all theoretical and historical perspectives when it comes to the special case of civil society in Palestine. "Civil society is concerned with a society's total self re-producing ability through its inner strength in a manner that is distinct from the state" (Bishara 1995, 143). The hypothesis of this work is that civil society in Palestine existed and flourished in spite the absence of a national state and had played a fundamental role in the social and economic development of Palestinian society throughout its history. Civil society in Palestine poses an exception to the theory …

The Influence Of Drawing On Third Graders' Writing Performance, Edith A. Norris, Carla Reichard, Kouider Mokhtari

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This study compared the writing products of 60 third grade students who drew before writing a story on a self-selected topic (Experimental Group) with the writing products of 59 third grade students who simply wrote without drawing (Control Group). An analysis of the students' writing products revealed two important findings. First, students who drew be fore writing tended to produce more words, more sentences, and more idea units, and their overall writing performance was higher than the students who wrote without drawing. Second, these results were consistent for boys and girls regardless of group membership. The findings indicate that the …

Reading Horizons Vol. 38, No. 1

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Complete issue of Reading Horizons volume 38, issue 1.

The Western Michigan University Magazine, Fall 1997, Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University Magazine (1997-present)

Features

• Up in the Air and Under Control: Nowhere to go except up for career saavy aviation graduate
• Following the Sun: Student racing team takes its solar car on the ultimate college road trip
• Provost's Global View Lights Path to Future: Provost Timothy Light, up close and personal
• Bronco Bash Is a Smash: A look at the biggest party of the season
• It's a Whole New Ball Game
• One-on-one with new football coach Gary Darnell

Sections

• University News
• College News
• Alumni Relations
• Classnotes
• Obituaries
• Essay

Successful Adaptation Of Immigrants From The Former Soviet Union To Project Renewal Neighborhoods: The Influential Factors, Haya Itzhaky

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Migration has been an international phenomenon for centuries. The widespread trend toward migration in recent years has resulted in efforts to examine the factors involved in the adaptation of immigrants to life in the host country. This study examines the factors that effect immigrant adaptation and integration in urban neighborhoods in Israel that are undergoing a process of rehabilitation. Adaptation is defined by the variables: contact with neighbors, participation in community activities, sense of belonging to the community and well-being. These mediator and dependent variables were found to be directly effected by home and host related variables. These variables were …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 24, No. 3 (September 1997)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• EDITORIAL - Bob Leighninger
• ESCAPING POVERTY AND BECOMING SELF-SUFFICIENT - Richard K. Caputo
• SUCCESSFUL ADAPTATION OF IMMIGRANTS FROM THE FORMER SOVIET UNION TO PROJECT RENEWAL NEIGHBORHOODS - Haya Itzhaky
• THE FRAMING OF POLITICAL ADVOCACY AND SERVICE RESPONSES IN THE CRIME VICTIM RIGHTS MOVEMENT - Frank J. Weed
• CONCEIVING IDENTITY: BISEXUAL, LESBIAN AND GAY PARENTS CONSIDER THEIR CHILDREN'S SEXUAL ORIENTATIONS - Carrie Yang Costello
• A MAN WITHOUT A JOB IS A DEAD MAN: THE MEANING OF WORK AND WELFARE IN THE LIVES OF YOUNG MEN - Kathleen A. Kost
• MOVING ALONG: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF HOMELESS WOMEN WITH …

The Old English Prose Homily On The Phoenix, Patricia Relf Hanavan

Masters Theses

The Old English prose homily on the phoenix, which is found in two manuscripts, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 198 (eleventh century), and London, British Library, MS Cotton Vespasian D. xiv (twelfth century), is the subject of this thesis. The study addresses the homily's imagery, sources, and context.

Comparison of the homily with two of its closest analogues, the Old English verse Phoenix and its source, the Latin De ave phoenice attributed to Lactantius, reveals that, in spite of similarities, the homily was based upon neither; its source likely was an overtly Christian Latin text unknown to us today. In …