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Somali Immigrant Perceptions Of Mental Health And Illness: An Ethnonursing Study, Kimberly Michelle Wolf Jan 2013

Somali Immigrant Perceptions Of Mental Health And Illness: An Ethnonursing Study, Kimberly Michelle Wolf

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative ethnonursing research study was to explore, discover, and understand the mental health meanings, beliefs, and practices from the perspective of immigrant Somalis living in the United States. Leininger's Culture Care Diversity and Universality Theory, ethnonursing method, and ethnonursing enablers were utilized as organizing frameworks for studying the domain of inquiry. Interviews were conducted with 21 general informants and 9 key informants, all of whom were Somali immigrants living in Minnesota. Utilizing the ethnonursing data analysis enabler, analysis of the interviews revealed 21 categories and 9 patterns from which two main themes emerged. The themes were …


Talking Back To History: Leanne Howe, Linda Hogan, And Louis Owens's Rewriting Of The Southeastern Native Past Through Fiction, Kimberlee Kaitlyn Hodges Jan 2013

Talking Back To History: Leanne Howe, Linda Hogan, And Louis Owens's Rewriting Of The Southeastern Native Past Through Fiction, Kimberlee Kaitlyn Hodges

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For years, non-Native anthropologists and historians have endeavored to unravel the inner-workings of Native American culture through close examinations of archeological evidence, Euro-American historical record, and oral histories. Consequently, in an attempt to reclaim and re-appropriate these pasts are the stories written by Native American authors and novelists such as LeAnne Howe (Choctaw), Louis Owens (Choctaw), and Linda Hogan (Chickasaw). Through their writings, one is able to more fully understand the history of Southeastern Native American tribes as they are given insight into what was and is most valued by Native American people to this day such as kinship, spirituality, …


The Afro-American Slave Music Project: Building A Case For Digital History, Laura Cepero Jan 2013

The Afro-American Slave Music Project: Building A Case For Digital History, Laura Cepero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This public history thesis project experimented with the application of new technology in creating an educational resource aimed at twenty-first century public audiences. The project presents the history, musicology, and historiography of Afro-American slave music in the United States. In doing so, the project utilizes two digital media tools: VuVox, to create interactive collages; and VisualEyes, to create digital visualizations. The purpose of this thesis is to assess how the project balances the goals of digital history, public history, and academic history. During the production of the Afro-American Slave Music Project, a number of the promises of digital history were …


Sustainability Analysis Of Intelligent Transportation Systems, Tolga Ercan Jan 2013

Sustainability Analysis Of Intelligent Transportation Systems, Tolga Ercan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Commuters in urban areas suffer from traffic congestion on a daily basis. The increasing number of vehicles and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) are exacerbating this congested roadway problem for society. Although literature contains numerous studies that strive to propose solutions to this congestion problem, the problem is still prevalent today. Traffic congestion problem affects society’s quality of life socially, economically, and environmentally. In order to alleviate the unsustainable impacts of the congested roadway problem, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) has been utilized to improve sustainable transportation systems in the world. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the sustainable impacts …


The Phenomenological Experience Of Narrative Transportation, William Buchanan Jan 2013

The Phenomenological Experience Of Narrative Transportation, William Buchanan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has attempted to identify consequences of mental transportation into narrative worlds. While scales have been developed and validated to measure readers' levels of transportation, the objective quantification has left researchers at a descriptive disadvantage for the full range of qualitative responses to this phenomenon. This study presents a qualitative method of inquiry designed to get at the experience of narrative transportation as it is lived: the phenomenological interview. Interview transcripts were inductively analyzed for common themes that indicate intersubjective features of narrative experience. Four main themes were identified, which were composed of 22 base-level experiences reported by participants. …


The Effects Of The Vocabulary Think Chart Strategy On Seventh-Grade Students' Scientific Vocabulary Knowledge: A Mixed-Method Study., Paloma Ferreira Jan 2013

The Effects Of The Vocabulary Think Chart Strategy On Seventh-Grade Students' Scientific Vocabulary Knowledge: A Mixed-Method Study., Paloma Ferreira

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-method study examined the effects of the use of the Vocabulary Think Chart in seventh-grade science students’ understanding of scientific vocabulary. Participants included 89 students who attended the only three regular Earth Science classes in the study site. Participants were assigned to the treatment and comparison group according to the teachers’ wish on how they wanted to participate in the study. The experimental group received one week long preparation on the use of the Vocabulary Think Chart, followed by five weeks of using the strategy independently. Results of the study did not show a significant change on students’ scientific …


The Intricate Relationship Between Measures Of Vocabulary Size And Lexical Diversity As Evidenced In Non-Native And Native Speaker Academic Compositions, Melanie Gonzalez Jan 2013

The Intricate Relationship Between Measures Of Vocabulary Size And Lexical Diversity As Evidenced In Non-Native And Native Speaker Academic Compositions, Melanie Gonzalez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study, a quantitative lexical analysis, examines the extent to which vocabulary size and lexical diversity contribute to writing scores on advanced non-native speakers’ and native speakers’ academic compositions. The data consists of essays composed by 104 adult non-native English learners enrolled in advanced second language writing courses and 68 native speaking university students in a first-year composition course. The lexical diversity of the sample essays is quantified by both the Measure of Textual Lexical Diversity (MTLD) and the voc-D while vocabulary size is measured by CELEX word frequency means, three instruments that are available in the computational linguistics …


The Effect Of Face Threat Mitigation On Instructor Credibility And Student Motivation In The Absence Of Instructor Nonverbal Immediacy, Laura Trad Jan 2013

The Effect Of Face Threat Mitigation On Instructor Credibility And Student Motivation In The Absence Of Instructor Nonverbal Immediacy, Laura Trad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many years of communication research have shown that an increase in immediacy has been a major factor that affects students‘ perceptions of instructor credibility which in turn affects, both students‘ cognitive and affective learning, student state motivation and a variety of other positive outcomes. However, in order for immediacy to be effective, instructor and student must be in the same location at the same time. With the recent push toward on-line classes, what can we find to act like immediacy in a text based format? This research suggests that face threat mitigation can be used in a text-based environment, to …


The Inclusion Of Women's History In The Secondary Social Studies Classroom, Cicely Scheiner-Fisher Jan 2013

The Inclusion Of Women's History In The Secondary Social Studies Classroom, Cicely Scheiner-Fisher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The author examined the motivation for why, and methods of how, some secondary social studies teachers incorporate women’s voices into the traditional history framework. A multi-layered qualitative methodology was employed for this study using survey, case study, and phenomenological approaches, including interviews and classroom observations of participants. The researcher discovered the percentage of teachers who claim to incorporate women’s history/perspectives into their lessons; how teachers incorporate women’s history/perspectives into their lessons; and, the factors that contribute to teachers including women’s history/perspectives into their classes.


Eighth-Grade Students Reading Nonfiction Literature On The Ipad: An Exploratory Case Study, Victoria Cardullo Jan 2013

Eighth-Grade Students Reading Nonfiction Literature On The Ipad: An Exploratory Case Study, Victoria Cardullo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this qualitative research study was to investigate the experiences of eighth-grade readers as they read nonfiction text on an iPad for academic purposes. Analysis of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) calls for close reading requiring readers to interact with the text to create meaning (Fisher, n.d.). With this in mind, the researcher investigated reading strategies students used to support their reading as well as what role the iPad features played in the reading process. Several theoretical perspectives informed the framework for this study: (a) New Literacies theory, (b) transactional theory, (c) constructivist theory, and (d) metacognition …


Study On Spanish For Native Speakers Curriculum And Academic Achievement In Florida, Paola Maino Jan 2013

Study On Spanish For Native Speakers Curriculum And Academic Achievement In Florida, Paola Maino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using data on all Hispanic high school students in Central and Southern Florida, this study examines Cummins’ Linguistic Interdependence concept by studying how the availability and English Language Learners (ELL) student participation in Spanish for Native Speakers (SNS) programs in Florida high schools is associated with Hispanic academic achievement. The availability of SNS programs was studied using data provided by the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) on all high schools in Florida for 2009-2010. The study used individual level data on all Hispanic ELL students in Central and Southeast counties who attended 12th grade during each year from 2006/2007 through …


Respresentation Of Hispanic Students In High Incidence Categories In Exceptional Student Education Programs And Educational Environments In K-12 Schools Across The State Of Florida, Douglas Miller Jan 2013

Respresentation Of Hispanic Students In High Incidence Categories In Exceptional Student Education Programs And Educational Environments In K-12 Schools Across The State Of Florida, Douglas Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was first passed in 1975 and requires states to have policies in place to prevent misidentification and overrepresentation, and to monitor disproportionate representation by race/ethnicity and disability category. The fundamental premise of this legislation is to ensure that students with disabilities are afforded a free and appropriate education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). Even with the passage of IDEA, the disproportionate representation of minority students continues to be a national issue. The disproportionate placement of minority students in Exceptional Student Education (ESE) began to receive attention prior to IDEA and has …


Investigating The Relationship Between Adverse Events And Infrastructure Development In An Active War Theater Using Soft Computing Techniques, Erman Cakit Jan 2013

Investigating The Relationship Between Adverse Events And Infrastructure Development In An Active War Theater Using Soft Computing Techniques, Erman Cakit

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The military recently recognized the importance of taking sociocultural factors into consideration. Therefore, Human Social Culture Behavior (HSCB) modeling has been getting much attention in current and future operational requirements to successfully understand the effects of social and cultural factors on human behavior. There are different kinds of modeling approaches to the data that are being used in this field and so far none of them has been widely accepted. HSCB modeling needs the capability to represent complex, ill-defined, and imprecise concepts, and soft computing modeling can deal with these concepts. There is currently no study on the use of …


Developing A Group Decision Support System (Gdss) For Decision Making Under Uncertainty, Soroush Mokhtari Jan 2013

Developing A Group Decision Support System (Gdss) For Decision Making Under Uncertainty, Soroush Mokhtari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) problems are often associated with tradeoffs between performances of the available alternative solutions under decision making criteria. These problems become more complex when performances are associated with uncertainty. This study proposes a stochastic MCDM procedure that can handle uncertainty in MCDM problems. The proposed method coverts a stochastic MCDM problem into many deterministic ones through a Monte-Carlo (MC) selection. Each deterministic problem is then solved using a range of MCDM methods and the ranking order of the alternatives is established for each deterministic MCDM. The final ranking of the alternatives can be determined based on winning …


Automatically Acquiring A Semantic Network Of Related Concepts, Sean Szumlanski Jan 2013

Automatically Acquiring A Semantic Network Of Related Concepts, Sean Szumlanski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We describe the automatic acquisition of a semantic network in which over 7,500 of the most frequently occurring nouns in the English language are linked to their semantically related concepts in the WordNet noun ontology. Relatedness between nouns is discovered automatically from lexical co-occurrence in Wikipedia texts using a novel adaptation of an information theoretic inspired measure. Our algorithm then capitalizes on salient sense clustering among these semantic associates to automatically disambiguate them to their corresponding WordNet noun senses (i.e., concepts). The resultant concept-to-concept associations, stemming from 7,593 target nouns, with 17,104 distinct senses among them, constitute a large-scale semantic …


Recognition Of Complex Events In Open-Source Web-Scale Videos: Features, Intermediate Representations And Their Temporal Interactions, Subhabrata Bhattacharya Jan 2013

Recognition Of Complex Events In Open-Source Web-Scale Videos: Features, Intermediate Representations And Their Temporal Interactions, Subhabrata Bhattacharya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recognition of complex events in consumer uploaded Internet videos, captured under realworld settings, has emerged as a challenging area of research across both computer vision and multimedia community. In this dissertation, we present a systematic decomposition of complex events into hierarchical components and make an in-depth analysis of how existing research are being used to cater to various levels of this hierarchy and identify three key stages where we make novel contributions, keeping complex events in focus. These are listed as follows: (a) Extraction of novel semi-global features – firstly, we introduce a Lie-algebra based representation of dominant camera motion …


Etude Sur Balzac: De La Question Du Mariage Et Du Bonheur Chez Les Aristocrates Dans La Comedie Humaine, Servane Geraldine Neolet Jan 2013

Etude Sur Balzac: De La Question Du Mariage Et Du Bonheur Chez Les Aristocrates Dans La Comedie Humaine, Servane Geraldine Neolet

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.


Illegitimate Celebrity In The British Long Eighteenth Century, Melissa Wehler Jan 2013

Illegitimate Celebrity In The British Long Eighteenth Century, Melissa Wehler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the discussions about contemporary celebrities, the femme fatale, the bad boy, the child star, and the wannabe have become accepted and even celebrated figures. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, however, actors and actresses who challenged acceptable strategies for celebrity behavior were often punished by exile, debt, disgrace, and humiliation. Some performers even faced a veritable textual and historical oblivion. Illegitimate Celebrity considers the careers of Dorothy Jordan, William Henry West Betty, Edmund Kean, and Margaret Agnes Bunn, and offers a historical genealogy of "illegitimate" performers who dared to break with social convention and struggled to define …


Teaching English In Iraq:An Analysis Of An Efl Textbook, Sarab Al-Akraa Jan 2013

Teaching English In Iraq:An Analysis Of An Efl Textbook, Sarab Al-Akraa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluates the fifth- grade beginning English textbook, Iraq Opportunities 3, which was introduced in elementary schools by the Iraqi Ministry of Education in 2012. This mixed methods research aims to analyze the content of a new textbook that is considered to be the foundation of the English language program in Iraq. This is a valuable research project since its findings reveal the strengths and weaknesses of Iraq Opportunities 3 based on three critical components: grammar, vocabulary, and culture. A survey questionnaire was used in this study to elicit the perspectives of English language teachers who are using this …


Investigating The Universality And Comprehensive Ability Of Measures To Assess The State Of Workload, Julian Abich Jan 2013

Investigating The Universality And Comprehensive Ability Of Measures To Assess The State Of Workload, Julian Abich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Measures of workload have been developed on the basis of the various definitions, some are designed to capture the multi-dimensional aspects of a unitary resource pool (Kahneman, 1973) while others are developed on the basis of multiple resource theory (Wickens, 2002). Although many theory based workload measures exist, others have often been constructed to serve the purpose of specific experimental tasks. As a result, it is likely that not every workload measure is reliable and valid for all tasks, much less each domain. To date, no single measure, systematically tested across experimental tasks, domains, and other measures is considered a …


Intersection(S) Between Sociocultural Knowledge, Classroom Discourse And Stance, John Munyui Muchira Jan 2013

Intersection(S) Between Sociocultural Knowledge, Classroom Discourse And Stance, John Munyui Muchira

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Speakers of all languages align their talk to that of their peers in order to create identity in social discourse. While students' interactions in class reveal awareness of their personal educational achievements, they also exhibit a desire to inform others about their socio-cultural knowledge, their beliefs, and feelings. A number of studies have shown how participants create interactional environments where they can not only expand their knowledge in instructional styles but to a great extent construct and reconstruct their personas. Sociocultural knowledge and stancetaking has a great impact on classroom discourse and language learning. My study was conducted on an …


An Investigation Of Attitudes And Perceptions Of Preservice Teachers Compared To First Year Teachers Toward Inclusion, Nancy Eugenia Douglas Jan 2013

An Investigation Of Attitudes And Perceptions Of Preservice Teachers Compared To First Year Teachers Toward Inclusion, Nancy Eugenia Douglas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract: over the last decade the mandated "push" for full inclusion has changed the dynamics of our general education classrooms to the extent that our general education teachers do not feel adequately prepared to teach. The lack of preparation may affect the pre-service teachers' attitude and perception of students with disabilities in a general education classroom. The limited research in this area prompted this study. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional study was to investigate how the perceptions and attitudes of inclusion and teacher efficacy differ from preservice teacher candidates to first year teachers. Preservice teacher candidates (n=40) and first …


Empowering Communities From The Ground Up: Perspectives On A Lay Mental Health Project In Post-Earthquake Haiti, Gilberte Bastien Jan 2013

Empowering Communities From The Ground Up: Perspectives On A Lay Mental Health Project In Post-Earthquake Haiti, Gilberte Bastien

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.


Psychotherapy As Constitutional Practice: A Detailed Interaction Analysis Of The Change Process In Psychotherapy, Cody L. Maddox Jan 2013

Psychotherapy As Constitutional Practice: A Detailed Interaction Analysis Of The Change Process In Psychotherapy, Cody L. Maddox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Psychotherapy is concerned with changing individuals: it is a practice devoted to the constitution of certain kinds of subjects. Although the various therapeutic schools have their own explanations of psychotherapeutic change, more empirical work needs to be dedicated to understanding how this process takes place. In this study, a fine grain research methodology is used to produce an account of the change process that occurred over the course of two psychotherapy sessions. The data consists of naturally occurring video recordings of a single therapist and client dyad. The goal of this research is to examine the relationship of mutual formation …


Expressing Future Time In Spoken Conversational English: A Corpus-Based Analysis Of The Sitcom Friends, Brandon Harris Jan 2013

Expressing Future Time In Spoken Conversational English: A Corpus-Based Analysis Of The Sitcom Friends, Brandon Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Far from being simply will, a survey of English grammar textbooks revealed that a multitude of expressions exists in the English language to express the future time. These expressions include, but are not limited to, will, be going to, the simple present tense, modals, the future perfect tense, and the present progressive tense. With so many choices and with a lack of direct relationship between tense and time, a language learner may certainly have difficulties in choosing which expression to use when attempting to produce a future utterance. A corpus-based approach to analyzing real language has been demonstrated to be …


Parental Beliefs And Attitudes On Enrollment In A Dual Language Program At An Elementary School, Leah Delorenzo Jan 2013

Parental Beliefs And Attitudes On Enrollment In A Dual Language Program At An Elementary School, Leah Delorenzo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the 2010-2011 school year, there were almost a quarter of a million English language learners (ELLs) enrolled in Florida public schools (Florida Department of Education, 2011), most of whom were placed in mainstream schools with segregated language remediation. Dual language education (DLE) programs offer developmental opportunities in two languages that mainstream schools cannot. The purpose of this research was to identify parental attitudes toward immersion programs and define the reasons that parents enroll their children in DLEs. Sixty participants completed a questionnaire sent home from their student's DLE. The study data included biographical information, statements depicting the reasons for …


The Effect Of Input Modality On Pronunciation Accuracy Of English Language Learners, Marcella A. Farina Phd Jan 2013

The Effect Of Input Modality On Pronunciation Accuracy Of English Language Learners, Marcella A. Farina Phd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The issues relative to foreign accent continue to puzzle second language researchers, educators, and learners today. Although once thought to be at the root, maturational constraints have fallen short of definitively accounting for the myriad levels and rates of phonological attainment (Bialystok & Miller, 1999, p. 128). This study, a Posttest-only Control Group Design, examined how the pronunciation accuracy of adult, English language learners, as demonstrated by utterance length, was related to two input stimuli: auditory-only input and auditoryorthographic input. Utterance length and input modality were further examined with the added variables of native language, specifically Arabic and Spanish, and …


Twentieth Century Maya Worldview, Mackenzie See Jan 2013

Twentieth Century Maya Worldview, Mackenzie See

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Maya Folktales offer insight into how twentieth century Maya worldview is a hybrid of indigenous Maya and European beliefs. Analysis was conducted on twenty-eight Maya folktales from the highlands of Guatemala found in folklore anthologies. Stories like The Spirits of the Dead in folklore anthologies can reveal new perspectives on how the Maya feel about rituals spaces, the fabric that separates the land of the dead from the land of the living, and the importance of showing respect to the dead in one’s community. Other stories, show the connection the Maya feel with their heritage and the connection they feel …


Meme World Syndrome: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of The First World Problems And Third World Success Internet Memes, Robert Chandler Jan 2013

Meme World Syndrome: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of The First World Problems And Third World Success Internet Memes, Robert Chandler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis applies the theory and method of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine the ideological components of the First World Problems (FWP) and Third World Success (TWS) Internet memes. Drawing on analytical concepts from CDA and related perspectives, such as multimodal discourse analysis and social semiotics, the paper analyzes the visual and textual elements of a sample of the FWP and TWS memes. The paper argues that the text and images featured in the memes are ideologically salient and discursively construct oppositional binaries between “us” and “them” in terms of wealth disparity.


Textual Analysis Of The Portrayals Of The Roma In A U.S. Newspaper, Sabrina Deaton Jan 2013

Textual Analysis Of The Portrayals Of The Roma In A U.S. Newspaper, Sabrina Deaton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the media portrayals of Roma in the United States by taking a closer look at ―Gypsy crime‖ articles in a purposive sample of newspaper articles. These newspaper articles give details of ―confidence‖ crimes and name the alleged perpetrators as Roma or members of the ethnic minority group commonly known as Gypsies. A textual analysis was conducted of 23 articles appearing in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel from August 16, 2011 to February 8, 2013 covering fraud charges against several members of the Marks family. This primary evaluation narrowed the initial sample to nine articles that contained references to …