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Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

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The Effect Of Computer-Based Authentic Assignments On Learners' Foreign Language Abilities And Intrinsic Motivation., Aurora Castillo Jan 2007

The Effect Of Computer-Based Authentic Assignments On Learners' Foreign Language Abilities And Intrinsic Motivation., Aurora Castillo

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The present research study investigated the influence of computer-based authentic assignments on learners' foreign language abilities and intrinsic motivation to learn the language. The intervention designed was a WebQuest in Spanish. Four research questions guided the study: Research Question 1: Do computer-based authentic assignments have any effect on learners' foreign language reading comprehension?, Research Question 2: Do computer-based authentic assignments have any effect on learners' writing outcomes?, Research Question 3: Do computer-based authentic assignments have any effect on learners' speaking outcomes?, and Research Question 4: Do computer-based authentic assignments have any effect on learners' intrinsic motivation to learn the target …


Training Experiences And Feelings Of Competency In Utilizing Multicultural Counseling Guidelines., Lauren Rae Krug Jan 2007

Training Experiences And Feelings Of Competency In Utilizing Multicultural Counseling Guidelines., Lauren Rae Krug

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Awareness of changing demographics in the United States has resulted in psychologists paying greater attention to multicultural issues. As a result, in 1993, the APA adopted a set of guidelines, the “Guidelines for Providers of Psychological Services to Ethnic, Linguistic, and Culturally Diverse Populations,” directed to all areas of practice. This document consists of a set of forty brief, action-oriented recommendations. Despite frequent calls for multicultural guidelines and increased attention to multicultural issues, no research has evaluated the use of these guidelines in the context of the treatment setting or examined the impact of training on the incorporation of the …


Appalachian Heritage Language And Appalachian Migration: A Sociolinguistic Family Study., Sarah M. Hamilton Jan 2007

Appalachian Heritage Language And Appalachian Migration: A Sociolinguistic Family Study., Sarah M. Hamilton

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study qualitatively and quantitatively analyzes a selection of the linguistic features evidenced by one Appalachian family affected by the massive out-migration of Appalachian peoples during the mid-twentieth century. After many years away, some of these Appalachian migrants are returning to their original home communities. Unlike some scholars claim (Smith-Jones 1997), the experience of living away from the home community seems to have had an effect on the migrants’ language, in line with other research on mobility and language awareness (Clopper and Pisoni 2006). In analyzing the family’s speech corpus of conversational interviews and reading passages, I consider the distribution …


Before The Acts: The Romantic Sublime, Gender, Art, And The Modern In Virginia Woolf's "Between The Acts"., Erin K. Johns Jan 2007

Before The Acts: The Romantic Sublime, Gender, Art, And The Modern In Virginia Woolf's "Between The Acts"., Erin K. Johns

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A moment that fills a person with awe, terror, agony, and silence is the simplest way to describe Edmund Burke s conception of the sublime, which stems from the Greek rhetorician, Longinus, and undergoes philosophical critique by Immanuel Kant. The male poets of the British Romantic period, like William Wordsworth, P.B. Shelley, and John Keats, created a literary conversation critiquing Burke s binary of the beautiful and the sublime. Although the sublime is often grounded among these poets, the contemporary critic, Anne K. Mellor, argues for a feminist reading of the sublime, which centers around female writers of the Romantic …


Ngos As Agents Of Historical Change: A Comparative Study Of Violence Against Women In Argentina And Brazil., Nicolette M. Wilhide Jan 2007

Ngos As Agents Of Historical Change: A Comparative Study Of Violence Against Women In Argentina And Brazil., Nicolette M. Wilhide

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study examined the issue of violence against women in Latin America as it is addressed by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the region. A comparison was done with NGOs that work with violence against women in Argentina and Brazil from the 1990’s to the present day to establish if the efforts of these groups have had a positive impact given recent statistical increases. Historical background was given on the nature and severity of violence against women in these two nations. International and national conferences as well as domestic changes in legislation were examined in comparison to the historical trajectory of …


A Snomed Annotator For Uima Framework., Deepthi Vl Yellapragada Jan 2007

A Snomed Annotator For Uima Framework., Deepthi Vl Yellapragada

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Paper based health records has proved to be not only costly but also has many disadvantages. Such records are difficult to organize and are hard to manage. This has led to the adoption of computerized electronic health records (EHR). To facilitate interoperability and consistency in exchange of information between various computerized clinical applications standard medical terminologies plays a vital role. These standard terminologies are based on controlled medical vocabularies like SNOMED, ICD9, and LOINC etc. Coding clinical documents with controlled medical vocabularies benefits the health care system in a wide range of applications like laboratory reporting, clinical research, computerized patient …


Building Culture, Community, And Morality: A Case Study Of Constructivist Leadership In The Creation Of A Junior High Football Team., Mark Edward Tankersley Jan 2007

Building Culture, Community, And Morality: A Case Study Of Constructivist Leadership In The Creation Of A Junior High Football Team., Mark Edward Tankersley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research focused upon parents, educators, and community members’ ability to influence school culture, build community, and affect student morality while engaged in a constructivist leadership model in the creation of a junior high football team. The research was conducted in one school located in a Mid-Atlantic state. I was a teacher at that school during the time the study was conducted. A qualitative case study method was chosen in order to answer the how and why questions. Multiple sources of data were collected from observations, documents, and interviews with three parents, four educators, and three community members all associated …


Saudi English As A Foreign Language Learners' Attitudes Toward Computer -Assisted Language Learning, Mishal H. Al Shammari Jan 2007

Saudi English As A Foreign Language Learners' Attitudes Toward Computer -Assisted Language Learning, Mishal H. Al Shammari

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study investigated Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Learners' attitudes toward Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) at the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) in Saudi Arabia. Five research questions were developed: (1) What are the Saudi EFL learners' general attitudes toward CALL at the IPA? (2) What are Saudi EFL learners' attitudes toward the CALL software used at the IPA? (3) What are the differences between IPA Saudi EFL learners' attitudes toward CALL based on their years of English learning? (4) What are the differences between IPA Saudi EFL learners' attitudes toward CALL based on their current computer knowledge? …


Essays On The Economics Of Education, Joshua C. Hall Jan 2007

Essays On The Economics Of Education, Joshua C. Hall

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The dissertation is a collection of essays examining three topics in the economics of education. The essays focus on the institutional structure of local and national education and the implications that demographics and institutional structure has on the productivity and financing of education. The first chapter introduces my essays by providing a brief overview of the economic study of education and highlights some of the major areas of research overlapping the topics covered in this dissertation. Chapter 2 looks at the impact of racial diversity on school performance. A measure of racial diversity is constructed for Ohio school districts to …


Evaluation Of "I Am Moving, I Am Learning" Trainings - A Measure Of Change In Obesity Awareness, Obesity Prevention, And Movement Knowledge., Brandon S. Williams Jan 2007

Evaluation Of "I Am Moving, I Am Learning" Trainings - A Measure Of Change In Obesity Awareness, Obesity Prevention, And Movement Knowledge., Brandon S. Williams

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study examines participants’ change in knowledge before and after attending a childhood obesity training event. A pre-post assessment scale was used to measure and compare knowledge scores among participants of both two and three-day events. The questionnaire included seven subscales of content delivered during the training sessions. These included: training goals and movement guidelines, general obesity knowledge, general movement knowledge, assessing and evaluating children’s motor skills, and three subscales specifically on the movement workshops in the training. This study consisted of 78 personnel working for the Office of Head Start or Women, Infants and Children (WIC) enrolled in one …


The Effects Of Wiki- And Blog-Technologies On The Students' Performance When Learning The Preterite And Imperfect Aspects In Spanish., Daniel Alex Castaneda Vise Jan 2007

The Effects Of Wiki- And Blog-Technologies On The Students' Performance When Learning The Preterite And Imperfect Aspects In Spanish., Daniel Alex Castaneda Vise

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study investigated the influence of asynchronous computer text based technologies on the students performance when learning the preterite and the imperfect aspects. The technology used was a blog powered by Blogger and a wiki powered by Wikispaces. Two research questions guided the study: Research Question 1: Is there a difference in students achievement levels in Spanish preterite and imperfect between those using wiki-technologies and those using blog technologies after controlling for pre-intervention achievement levels? and Research Question 2: Are there differences in satisfaction levels for students learning Spanish preterite and imperfect via blog technologies as compared to those learning …


The Byzantine Perspective Of The First Crusade: A Reexamination Of Alleged Treachery And Betrayal., Laura M. Nelson Jan 2007

The Byzantine Perspective Of The First Crusade: A Reexamination Of Alleged Treachery And Betrayal., Laura M. Nelson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Scholars have generally ignored the Crusades from the Byzantine perspective with the majority of scholarship focusing on the Western, and more recently, Arabic viewpoints. Western sources from the period such as the Gesta Francorum and the account of Fulcher of Chartres typically portray Alexius I, the Byzantine emperor during the First Crusade, as anti-Western. It is this study’s position that Alexius’s actions derived from a need to protect his people and empire rather than a desire to see the crusaders’ mission fail. By studying the Byzantine perspective, we gain a fuller understanding of the First Crusade and the Crusades as …


Agglomeration, Spatio-Economic Clustering And Competitive Performance: Methodological Approaches And Empirical Evidence From The U.S., Gashawbeza W. Bekele Jan 2007

Agglomeration, Spatio-Economic Clustering And Competitive Performance: Methodological Approaches And Empirical Evidence From The U.S., Gashawbeza W. Bekele

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The objective of this dissertation is two fold. Firstly, the dissertation tests how well econometric and spatial analysis can be integrated for conducting industrial cluster analysis. Based on input-output and spatial autocorrelation based multivariate techniques, the dissertation develops a methodological approach for detecting spatially and economically linked industries. The dissertation then operationalizes this methodololigcal framework and applies tit to identify clusters in the U.S. at different geographical scales. The dissertation shows that the application of the methodological frameworks provides an objective mechanism to identify economically, and spatially, and spatio-economically related industries. Secondly, the dissertations empirically examines the extent to which …


An Analysis Of Word Structure Knowledge In Preservice Teacher Preparation Programs., Keely Camden Jan 2007

An Analysis Of Word Structure Knowledge In Preservice Teacher Preparation Programs., Keely Camden

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As the focus in special education shifts to a response to intervention model of early and intensive reading instruction, special emphasis is given to given to the explicit teaching of word structure knowledge in the various research-validated reading programs and reading strategies used in the classroom. The current research, a mixed-methods study, examined the word structure knowledge infused in four teacher preparation programs. Preservice teachers in general education and special education completed tests of word structure knowledge tests designed by Dr. Spear-Swerling. Additionally, course syllabi were analyzed and faculty interviewed regarding the nature and extent of specific word structure knowledge …


A Decision Making Model For Evaluating Suppliers By Multi-Layer Feed Forward Neural Networks., Davood Golmohammadi Jan 2007

A Decision Making Model For Evaluating Suppliers By Multi-Layer Feed Forward Neural Networks., Davood Golmohammadi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

An efficient decision making model was developed to select suppliers using Multi-Layer Feed Forward Neural Networks. Both types of criteria: qualitative and quantitative, were considered in the model. Fuzzy techniques were applied to convert qualitative data to quantitative data. The model structure was designed and tested. The results of the neural network model indicated that the proper structure of the model had a crucial effect on its performance. The selection of appropriate initial weights, learning rate and momentum were critical in improving the model performance. The applied genetic algorithm showed better performance in comparison with backpropagation. The genetic algorithm was …


American Standard, John A. Pascarella Dec 2006

American Standard, John A. Pascarella

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The work included in my MFA thesis exhibition entitled " American Standard" examines our role as narrative-based individuals within the American culture. In this current body of work I use the photographic image as a director uses the medium of film (moving image). Location scouting, casting, lighting, directing, editing, and processing all become intricate parts of the work, all to lead to a single solitary frozen moment in time that I believe creates a story. Story as created not in a fictional sense, but more in the vein of creative non-fiction, as the stories I tell come from a personal …


Democracy By Any Other Name Just Isn't The Same, Clarissa Estep Aug 2006

Democracy By Any Other Name Just Isn't The Same, Clarissa Estep

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Democracy has been one of the fundamental achievements in the post-World War II era. Because evidence of the democratic peace exists, illiberal states are being pressured to form democracies. However, democratic consolidation, on which the democratic peace relies, remains a persistent problem of the Third World. Thus, the paradox remains that democratizing states are prone to violence which undermines peace and security. Considering that the majority of states in the international community are mixed regimes, or anocracies, this poses a problem for reducing interstate and intrastate conflict in these regimes. It is not enough to declare success with the establishment …


The Mythical Speech Of Janine Antoni, Patrick L. Jones May 2006

The Mythical Speech Of Janine Antoni, Patrick L. Jones

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The confrontation of societal myths has been a major concern of many female artists since the 1960s. However, confronting the ideological construction of myth is not enough to discredit it. The semiology of myth, according to Roland Barthes (1915-1980), simply absorbs this confrontation by placing the artist in the position of a signifier of the myth itself. Paradoxically, in order to discredit myth the artist must "speak the myth," in order to empty the ideological content of the myth through the adoption of mythical speech. This produces a counter-myth. Language as a vehicle of feminist expression has been a permeating …


The Five Song Cycles For Voice And Piano By Benjamin Britten Written Specifically For Peter Pears: The Effect Of Their Relationship, Robert Strauss May 2006

The Five Song Cycles For Voice And Piano By Benjamin Britten Written Specifically For Peter Pears: The Effect Of Their Relationship, Robert Strauss

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Benjamin Britten composed five song cycles for voice and piano to be performed by his partner, tenor Peter Pears: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo , opus 22 (1940), The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, opus 35 (1945), Winter Words, opus 52 (1953), Sechs Holderlin Fragmente, opus 61 (1958), and Who Are These Children?, opus 84 (1969). These five cycles span almost the entire length of their personal relationship, the first having been composed the year they consummated their relationship in the United States, and the last seven years before the composer's death. These compositions give insight into the way that Britten …


The Complexity Of A Hybrid Life: Female Immigrants In France And Germany In Search Of Their Own Identity, Anneke V. Seynnaeve May 2006

The Complexity Of A Hybrid Life: Female Immigrants In France And Germany In Search Of Their Own Identity, Anneke V. Seynnaeve

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Female Muslim immigrants in France and Germany are increasingly experiencing challenges integrating into Western lifestyle. They have to adjust to occidental communities in which they try to incorporate their own traditions and values. They experience feelings of simultaneous belonging and rejection at the same time. My research concentrated on the adaptation of Muslim Women in Germany and France. Although many similarities exist between the French and German immigrant groups, it was necessary to examine each one separately. In order to understand Islamic female immigrants' quest for a new identity, it was beneficial not only to address the sociocultural aspects of …


Filling The Silence --An Iserian Reading Of Ilse Aichinger's Work, Julia Sonja Brassat Jan 2006

Filling The Silence --An Iserian Reading Of Ilse Aichinger's Work, Julia Sonja Brassat

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The works of the Austrian writer Ilse Aichinger are often considered impenetrable and incomprehensible. Aichinger’s doubt about conventional language serves as the basis for her use of highly pictorial and complex linguistic constructions. Although many literary scholars have alluded to the impenetrability of Aichinger’s works, few attempts have been made to investigate the meaning of her texts. In his theory of aesthetic response, Wolfgang Iser explains that literary works contain vacancies in the system of the text that need to be filled by the reader’s imagination. They serve as an impetus for the reader, during the process of reading, to …


Adolescent Religiosity And Conformity To Parents: Is Sex A Moderator?, Rebecca Kim Summers Jan 2006

Adolescent Religiosity And Conformity To Parents: Is Sex A Moderator?, Rebecca Kim Summers

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study examines relations between adolescent reports of conformity to their parents and religiosity and if these are moderated by the sex of the adolescent and parent. Self-report data was collected from 121 ninth and tenth graders enrolled in three non-metropolitan high schools. Religiosity was measured by Schumm et al.'s (1991) modified version of Gorsuch and Venable's (1983) scales. Conformity to Parents was assessed using Peterson's (Peterson, Rollins, & Thomas, 1985) Conformity to Parents scales. Four regressions were used. Results indicate that females: (a) report higher levels of conformity to parents and religiosity than males and (b) that when adolescent …


Comparison Between Human Perception Of Risk Of Injury And Niosh Wpg For Lifting Tasks, Viviana Carolina Baggio Jan 2006

Comparison Between Human Perception Of Risk Of Injury And Niosh Wpg For Lifting Tasks, Viviana Carolina Baggio

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Low back injuries are highly prevalent in industry, recreational environs and in work at home. It is believed that humans are not able to judge the biomechanical risk of injury inherent with performing lifting tasks. This experiment studies the impact of lifting geometry (e.g., the horizontal, vertical and travel distances of a lift), frequency, gender and age upon an observer's perception of injury risk when looking at a task before attempting a lift. Subjects completed a questionnaire with a series of 54 pictures showing different lifting tasks; subjects then ranked their perceived risk of injury on a scale of 0 …


The Effects Of A Specifically Designed Pre-School Inclusion Course On The Attitudes Of Early Childhood Personnel, Kellie J. Morgan Jan 2006

The Effects Of A Specifically Designed Pre-School Inclusion Course On The Attitudes Of Early Childhood Personnel, Kellie J. Morgan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The intent of this study was to examine the attitudes of early childhood personnel on preschool inclusion before and after participating in a preschool inclusion class that was specifically designed for preschool teachers. The attitudes of teachers were measured using a 7 point Likert type pre and post-assessment scale. The items on the scale dealt with the inclusion of children with disabilities in a typically developing classroom. The participants in the study included 96 early childhood personnel working in West Virginia. In this pre-experimental design, the total scores of each item for the pre-test were compared to total scores on …


"Mirror Worlds": Transpacific Inspiration And Mimetic Rivalry In American And East Asian Literature, 1945-2005., Matthew J. Packer Jan 2006

"Mirror Worlds": Transpacific Inspiration And Mimetic Rivalry In American And East Asian Literature, 1945-2005., Matthew J. Packer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

One conspicuous trend during the world economy's shift to the Pacific Rim in the late twentieth century has been the increased reciprocal inspiration and mimetic rivalry between American and East Asian cultures. For much of the past century, for example, the Japanese have been stereotyped as cultural copycats, when transpacific imitating actually has been mutual: as East Asians have looked to the West for models of development and the imagination, so have Americans looked to the Far East---as even representing the future, according to novelist William Gibson. Americans have drawn inspiration from Eastern aesthetics, while East Asians have copied Western …


Towards New Possibilities In Esl Instruction: A Phenomenological Investigation Of English As A Second Language (Esl) Students' Perceptions Of Their Experience In An Intensive English Program (Iep)., Weena Isabelle Gaulin Jan 2006

Towards New Possibilities In Esl Instruction: A Phenomenological Investigation Of English As A Second Language (Esl) Students' Perceptions Of Their Experience In An Intensive English Program (Iep)., Weena Isabelle Gaulin

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Conducted in the Fall 2005, this study examined the experience English as a Second Language (ESL) students had while studying in an intensive English program (IEP) hosted at a four-year college. More specifically, the research premise was that phenomenology, for its emphasis on making essential meaning out of lived experience, could serve as a theoretical framework from which to investigate how the students constructed and perceived their experience, and, in the end, inform ESL instructional, curricular, and theoretical practices in a fresh, new way. The research employed qualitative data collection methods, including interviews, artifacts collection, class observations, and journaling on …


Surrendered Resistance: Playing Dead In American Autobiographical Writing, 1840-1933., Georgia R. Kreiger Jan 2006

Surrendered Resistance: Playing Dead In American Autobiographical Writing, 1840-1933., Georgia R. Kreiger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation focuses on the use of death as a metaphor for lived experiences in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American autobiographical writing. Adopting Paul de Man’s definition of autobiography as a figure of reading rather than a genre or mode, the study analyzes autobiographical death acts in a variety of writings, including political discourse, fiction, and poetry. The writers discussed stage deaths-of-the-self to facilitate descriptions of traumatic events that might otherwise defy verbal expression. They “play dead” figuratively in their texts, similarly to the way one might play dead literally as a survival strategy in the presence of an animal …


Sarah Livingston Jay, 1756--1802: Dynamics Of Power, Privilege And Prestige In The Revolutionary Era, Jennifer Megan Janson Dec 2005

Sarah Livingston Jay, 1756--1802: Dynamics Of Power, Privilege And Prestige In The Revolutionary Era, Jennifer Megan Janson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Sarah Livingston Jay was a politically astute woman whose contributions to the success of the American Revolution and reconstruction of post-war society have long been underestimated. She understood the complex political and financial dynamics beneath the decision to declare independence from Great Britain and the international alliances necessary for success. Intelligent, educated and socially skilled, she used her personal gifts, position, and familial connections to exert a strong influence on the course of events that would benefit her fledgling country. She used her social graces to take part in the male-dominated political world, while working within the domestic realm. She …


A West Virginia Family In World War Ii, Miles B. Berger Dec 2005

A West Virginia Family In World War Ii, Miles B. Berger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As an analysis and examination of the letters of two West Virginia residents written during each resident's service in World War II, this thesis compares the wartime experiences of a brother and sister against secondary and primary source literature covering World War II and the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps/Women's Army Corps. The experiences of these two soldiers are told through an interpretation of their letters home and an examination of the training experiences of women and men in World War II. In addition, the first main section of the thesis, Chapter Two, is devoted to an overview and analysis of …


Production Of Conjunctions And T-Units By The Elderly, Benjamin Haymond Dec 2005

Production Of Conjunctions And T-Units By The Elderly, Benjamin Haymond

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Recent research indicates a change in healthy elderly adult language capabilities. More specifically, Shadden (1997) and Ryan (1996) state that language competence is less affected by the processes of aging than production. The topic of this research examined specifically the production of conjunctions from the perspective of Halliday and Hasan (1976) in procedural and narrative discourse by the elderly. The hypothesis stated that the relationship between age and conjunctions produced would be non-significant. In a cross-sectional study, 17 subjects between the ages of 60-86 were interviewed and the transcripts analyzed.;Results supported the hypothesis of a non-significant relationship between age and …