Digital Commons Network^™

A Study Of Qualitative Miscue Analysis Scoring Systems For Identification Of Instructional Reading Levels, Sylvia Estelle Dean

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine the accuracy and practicality of May's Poor Reader (PR) scoring system for the informal reading inventory (IRI), an individual assessment device designed to determine a student's instructional reading level. The PR is a qualitative scoring system developed by Frank May that examines only two miscues (defaults and meaning-denigrating substitutions) in arriving at an estimate of instructional reading level. The predictor variable, PR, was compared for accuracy and practicality with five other predictor variables consisting of four traditional quantitative scoring systems and an additional qualitative system of May's; PR was also compared …

The Relationship Between Internal Organizational Conflict, Authority Structure, And The Social Environment, Mary Ann Barham

Dissertations and Theses

This research seeks to answer the following questions: Do feminist organizations have more internal conflicts than other organizations? And, if so, why?

Analysis Of English Articles Used By Japanese Students, Noriko Iwasaki

Dissertations and Theses

English articles are perhaps the most difficult grammatical items for Japanese students to master. However, because these are among the most frequently occurring grammatical items in English, Japanese students must concern themselves with them.

A Practical Parallel Algorithm For The Minimization Of KröNecker Reed-Muller Expansions, Paul John Gilliam

Dissertations and Theses

A number of recent developments has increased the desirability of using exclusive OR (XOR) gates in the synthesis of switching functions. This has, in turn, led naturally to an increased interest in algorithms for the minimization of Exclusive-Or Sum of Products (ESOP) forms. Although this is an active area of research, it is not nearly as developed as the traditional Sum of Products forms. Computer programs to find minimum ESOPs are not readily available and those that do exist are impractical to use as investigative tools because they are too slow and/or require too much memory. A practical tool would …

Patterns Of Rhetoric/Patterns Of Culture : A Look At The English Writing Of Japanese Students, Suzanne Raschke

Dissertations and Theses

That a link exists between language and culture has long been accepted; however, not only the extent, but also the exact nature of that link remains unclear. In recent years, rhetoricians have raised questions about how culture affects the patterns of organization and other rhetorical features of writing. At present, the search for answers to these questions is made difficult by the cultural bias imposed by the language of any analysis of writing that may be undertaken and by a lack of criteria that can be used in performing such an analysis.

Neural Network Character Recognition With A 2-D Fourier Transform Preprocessor, Daqiao Du

Dissertations and Theses

In pattern recognition applications, it is usually important that the same identification be given for a pattern, independent of a variety of positions, rotations and /or distortions of the pattern within the recognition device's field of view. This research relates to development of a preprocessor for a neural network character recognition system, where the role of the preprocessor is to assist in minimizing the difficulties related to variations of position and rotations of a character within the field of view. The preprocessor explored here was suggested in 1970' (Lendaris & Stanly, 1970), and is implemented here with more recent advances …

Percentage Of Phonological Process Usage In Expressive Language Delayed Children, Sherri Lynn Miller

Dissertations and Theses

Language delay and phonological delay have been shown to coexist. Because they so often co-occur, it is possible that they may interact, sharing a relationship during the child's development. A group of children who were "late talkers" as toddlers, achieved normal development in their syntactic ability by the preschool period. Because their language abilities are known to have increased rapidly, data on their phonological development could provide information on the relationship between phonological and syntactic development.

The purpose of this study was to compare the percentage of phonological process usage of the eight most commonly used simplification processes in four-year-old …

Metaphoric Extension As A Basis For Vocabulary Teaching In English As A Second Language, Dennis L. Bergmann

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis addresses the problem of teaching and learning vocabulary in English as a Second Language (ESL), and proposes that a vocabulary based on the process of metaphoric extension could be taught directly. Despite the fact that an inadequate vocabulary is one of the main obstacles for intermediate-level ESL students, both ESL teachers and applied linguists have emphasized other aspects of English more than the study of vocabulary teaching and learning. Consequently, ESL students have few strategies for learning vocabulary other than reliance on the dictionary, and the predominant strategy for teachers is to present words rather unsystematically in the …

Development Of A Direct, Low Pressure, Laser-Induced Fluorescence Measurement Technique For No2., Ambient Measurements And Urban Nox Chemistry, Linda Acha George

Dissertations and Theses

Nitrogen oxides control the global formation of ozone in the lower atmosphere and influence the much higher levels of ozone formed in areas subjected to photochemical air pollution. As an important member of the nitrogen oxide family, N02 plays a significant role in serving as the only known source of ozone (through photolysis) in the lower atmosphere and as sink for HO via the formation of nitric acid. Ozone can be destroyed by reaction with another member of the nitrogen oxide family, nitric oxide (NO), to reform N02. This cycle between NO, N02 and 03 is known as the NOx-03 …

Development And Applications Of High Resolution Kinetic Atmospheric Pressure Ionization Mass Spectrometry In Atmospheric Chemistry, David Michael Myton

Dissertations and Theses

Much important work has been done to understand reaction pathways and identify products, yields, and reaction rates for atmospheric oxidation processes. Non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) are the most significant of the organic compounds present in the atmosphere from a chemical perspective and are released into the atmosphere from both natural and anthropogenic sources. The oxidation of these hydrocarbons by hydroxyl radical HO generates products that may themselves be toxic, that play a major role in the formation of photochemical smog, and that to a lesser extent contribute to the formation of acid precipitation. NMHCs have chemical reactivities many times that of …

Solvent And Substituent Effects On The Redox Potentials Of Several Substituted Tetraphenylporphyrins, Robert Arthur Ransdell

Dissertations and Theses

Tetraphenylporphyrins can be used to absorb visible light and pass on their excitation energy to electron transfer agents. The purpose of this research has been to investigate our ability to understand and control the energetics of porphyrin derivatives in order to use their electron transfer ability to harness the energy of sunlight. Shifts in the redox (reduction and oxidation) potentials of tetraphenylporphyrins result from variations in the substituents attached at the para- position of the phenyl rings of tetraphenylporphyrins, as well as variations in the state of ionization of those substituents, and the solvent in which the reactions are carried …

Steady State Analysis Of Tropospheric Chemistry, Wen Hsiung Pan

Dissertations and Theses

Hydroxyl radical HO plays a central role in controlling chemical processes in the troposphere. Current mechanisms are believed to accurately describe its formation, destruction and interaction with other atmospheric trace gases in clean air. Hydroperoxyl radical H0₂ is Iinked to HO in several chain processes and serves among other roles as a reservoir for HO. The relative concentration (H0₂/HO) in clean air is believed to be the order of 10². We here examine the conditions under which steady-state kinetics apply to HO₁ chemistry and derive simple relationships which can be used to predict HO and H0₂ concentration from measurable concentrations …

Therapeutic Group Approaches For Issues Related To Suicide, Ardis Sherwood

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to (a) summarize a sample of the literature that pertains to suicidal behavior; (b) explore the benefits of the group approach for people who experience suicide-related issues; (c) provide information and models for special suicide-related groups; and (d) discuss age-variations of suicidal behavior.

Analysis Of A Coordination Framework For Mapping Coarse-Grain Applications To Distributed Systems, Linda Ruth Schaefer

Dissertations and Theses

A paradigm is presented for the parallelization of coarse-grain engineering and scientific applications. The coordination framework provides structure and an organizational strategy for a parallel solution in a distributed environment. Three categories of primitives which define the coordination framework are presented: structural, transformational. and operational. The prototype of the paradigm presented in this thesis is the first step towards a programming development tool. This tool will allow non-specialist programmers to parallelize existing sequential solutions through the distribution, synchronization and collection of tasks. The distributed control, multidimensional pipeline characteristics of the paradigm provide advantages which include load balancing through the use …

Role And Behavior Of Interpreters : An Exploratory Study In American-Chinese Business Negotiations, Zhijian Kevin Yang

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study is to identify the roles and behaviors of interpreters. The context of this research is American-Chinese business negotiations. The focus of this study is on the roles and behaviors of interpreters by means of revealing the perspectives of interpreters and American negotiators.

Story Retelling Skills In 4-Year-Olds With Histories Of Normal And Delayed Language Development, Rita Louise Smith

Dissertations and Theses

There is a growing group of researchers who believe that narrative skills are the bridge from oral language to literacy (Culatta, Page, & Ellis, 1983; Roth & Spekman, 1989; Westby, 1989). Narrative production requires higher level language skills to create a cohesive discourse unit using decontextualized language. Narrative ability has also been found to be the best predictor for normal speech and language development for preschoolers with language impairments (Bishop & Edmundson, 1987) and reading comprehension achievement for learning-disabled, school-age children (Feagans & Applebaum, 1986) . These same skills are prerequisites for achievement of literacy and school success.

The purpose …

The Value Of The Spi In Forecasting Chronic Stuttering, Dena Diane Stork

Dissertations and Theses

Speech-language pathologists are in need of useful assessment instruments which differentiate early stuttering behaviors and will enable them to identify preschool children who need immediate intervention for stuttering. Furthermore, useful assessment tools are needed especially due to the variability across studies of normal disfluency and lack of reliability information on more formal measures of differential evaluation of normal disfluency and incipient stuttering.

Uncertainty Analysis Of Runoff Estimates From Runoff-Depth Contour Maps Produced By Five Automated Procedures For The Northeastern United States, Gary D. Bishop

Dissertations and Theses

Maps of runoff-depth have been found to be useful tools in a variety of water resource applications. Producing such maps can be a challenging and expensive task. One of the standard methods of producing these maps is to use a manual procedure based on gaged runoff data, topographic and past runoff-depth maps, and the expert opinion of hydrologists.

This thesis examined five new automated procedures for producing runoff-depth contour maps to see if the maps produced by these procedures had similar accuracy and characteristics when compared to the manual procedure. An uncertainty analysis was used to determine the accuracy of …

Modification Of The Ca²⁺ Release Channel From Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Of Skeletal Muscle, Hui Xiong

Dissertations and Theses

Muscle contraction and relaxation are controlled by the intracellular free Ca²⁺ concentration. The sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) is an intracellular membrane system which regulates this internal free Ca²⁺ concentration. Responding to an electrical excitation of the cell surface membrane, the SR releases Ca²⁺ through a specific Ca²⁺ release channel, thus elevating the Ca²⁺ concentration inside muscle cell and causing the muscle to contract. Subsequent sequestration of Ca²⁺ by the SR Ca²⁺ pumps restores the resting state of the muscle cell. This research focuses on the Ca²⁺ release channel from skeletal muscle SR. The planar lipid bilayer technique was used to study …

A Structural Analysis Of Corporate Political Activity: An Application Of Euclidean Modeling To The Study Of Intercorporate Relations, Colleen Bridget Mullery

Dissertations and Theses

During the past two decades business has become increasingly active in the political process, and scholars continue to debate the extent to which this activity is organized. This fundamental issue is addressed by examining corporate political activity within the context of resource dependence and class cohesion theories. Political action committee (PAC) campaign contributions, this study's measure for corporate political activity, are structurally analyzed to determine if either resource dependence or class cohesion theory explains the forces which drive business participation in the U.S. public policy process. The rationale which forty-two diverse corporate PACs exercise when selecting which congressional campaigns to …

Comparison Of The Modal Frequency Levels Of Nonsmoking And Cigarette Smoking White Females Between The Ages Of Forty And Fifty Years, Janis Mae Kaufman

Dissertations and Theses

Acoustical analyses have been utilized to ascertain the functional status of the laryngeal mechanism for clinical management of communication disorders. In particular, the modal frequency level (MFL), defined as the fundamental frequency most often used by an individual in the act of spontaneous speech, is one measurement used to determine if a person's pitch level is adequate. Two other pitch measurements used in the voice assessment are the maximum frequency range (MFR) and the optimum pitch level (OPL). Information is needed to provide guidelines for pitch levels as part of the voice evaluation for adult females of different ages. It …

Conformity, Attitude Toward Authority, And Social Class, Alison Carol Welter

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the relationship between attitudes toward authority, identification with authority and conformity in relation to authority in American undergraduate college students. The study consisted of two parts. The first part examined correlates of attitudes toward authority according to social class. Undergraduate college students attending Portland State University comprised the samples in which two groups, a middle-class group and a working-class group of equal sizes (n=63), were formed. A relatively new, standardized measure of attitudes toward institutional authority, the GAIAS (Rigby, 1982), was used to measure orientation toward authority by social class. No significant differences in attitudes toward authority …

High Frequency Acoustic Reflexes In Cochlea-Impaired And Normal Ears, Karen Elizabeth Jones

Dissertations and Theses

The acoustic reflex refers to the contraction of a middle ear muscle in response to sound. The contraction causes a stiffening of the middle ear system and, consequently, the flow of acoustic energy to the cochlea is impeded. By measuring the change in admittance in the auditory system during sound stimulation it is possible to indirectly monitor the middle ear muscle contractions. Such measurements provide useful information regarding the integrity of the auditory system and the location of the auditory pathology.

In subjects with normal hearing sensitivity, the acoustic reflex is typically elicited at a sensation level of between 85 …

Comparison Of Two Behavioral Models In Obesity Treatment, Nina Lucille Dominy

Dissertations and Theses

This study compared the results of two methods of behavioral treatment in combination with a very-low-calorie-diet in the treatment of obesity. Subjects were 28 male and 106 female patients admitted to the medically supervised fasting program at Risk Factor Clinic in Portland, Oregon. Subjects were matched by gender, percent over ideal body weight, and age. Subject group I received a smorgasbord of behavioral techniques from various group leaders in a 60-minute weekly session. Presentation was didactic and theoretical and subjects were accountable to themselves for utilization of the techniques. Subject group II participated in 90-minute weekly sessions with a primary …

Macroinvertebrate Drift Abundance Below Bonneville Dam And Its Relation To Juvenile Salmonid Food Habits, William Douglas Muir

Dissertations and Theses

There is a paucity of information concerning the invertebrate food resources available to juvenile salmonids in the Columbia River as they migrate seaward. Construction of mainstream dams has altered the temperature cycle, flow regime, and substrate which indigenous invertebrates were adapted to. Studies on how the macroinvertebrate community has adapted to these alterations have been neglected. This study was undertaken to help fill this void.

Macroinvertebrate drift samples were collected over a three year period in the Columbia River downstream from Bonneville Dam. Samples were collected with a D-ring plankton net fished on the bottom for one-half hour. Two sites …

Decomposition Of Measured Contours Into Geometric Features For Dimensional Inspection, Devaraj Rajkumar

Dissertations and Theses

Image processing systems used in Vision Assisted Dimensional Inspection usually output a set of boundary pixels representing the part edges. This boundary information must be divided into several subsets representing the various edges of the actual object, so that comparisons with the nominal part can be made.

The purpose of this project is to devise a method to divide the set of pixels obtained from the image processing system into subsets of pixels. Each of these subsets represent an edge in the contour of the actual object. This method must also detect transition points between the adjacent features. This project …

A Comparison Of Two Vocabulary Tests Used With Normal And Delayed Preschool Children, Lynn Safadi

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine if a difference exists between mean standard scores of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - Revised (PPVT-R) (Dunn and Dunn, 1981) and the Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT) (Gardner, 1979) for children in several diagnostic categories. The subjects used in this study were 45 preschool children ranging in age from 36 to 47 months. These subjects were divided into groups of normal, expressively language-delayed (ELD) and normal children with a history of expressive language delay (HELD).

Communication Stressors And Coping Strategies Among Chinese Students In The United States, Qiu Lu Liang

Dissertations and Theses

Following China's open door policy in the late 70's and early 80's, there has been a significant increase in the number of Chinese students and scholars attending academic institutions in the U.S. As sojourners in a foreign culture, Chinese students inevitably experience difficulties in their daily life and academic endeavors. The purpose of the thesis is to examine what are the specific situations that are perceived by Chinese students as stressful, how they cope with the situations, and whether there are correlations between the perceived stressors, coping strategies, and the academic, performance of the Chinese students.

Intelligibility Of Spondees Via Bone Conduction At Elevated Presentation Levels, Pamela S. Ritchie

Dissertations and Theses

Speech reception threshold testing by bone conduction is very useful in diagnostic audiometry. However, there are little data regarding the CID W-1 spondee word lists used with the Radioear B-71 and B-72 and Pracitronic KH 70 bone conduction vibrators at higher presentation levels for testing hearing impaired clients. Data are needed in order that results of speech reception thresholds using the CID W-1 word lists via these three bone conduction vibrators at higher intensity levels can be used confidently in the clinic. More data are available for speech reception thresholds using the CID W-1 word lists via earphones.

This study …

Developmental Sentence Scoring Sample Size Comparison, Peggy Ann Callan

Dissertations and Theses

In 1971, Lee and Canter developed a systematic tool for assessing children's expressive language: Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS). It provides normative data against which a child's delayed or disordered language development can be compared with the normal language of children the same age. A specific scoring system is used to analyze children's use of standard English grammatical rules from a tape-recorded sample of their spontaneous speech during conversation with a clinician.

The corpus of sentences for the DSS is obtained from a sample of 50 complete, different, consecutive, intelligible, non-echolalic sentences elicited from a child in conversation with an …