Digital Commons Network^™

Any Given Tuesday: Performance Of Law During Small Claims Court, Michael E. Muhme

Masters Theses

Building on Hasian's examination of Jurisprudence as performance and Nolan's research of performance in drug courts, this study looks at Small Claims Court as cultural performance through the examination of face-to-face interactions in the courtroom. They are evaluated through the metaphoric lens of Tumer's social drama as well as integrating the legal metaphors of law as grid, energy, and perspective. This study found that the court uses scripts to limit issues and that claimants are rewarded more for following the rules of the court rather than resolving the conflict. Additionally, Small Claims Court exacerbates conflict between low-income tenants and the …

Assessing The Accuracy Of The Differential Assessment Of Autism And Other Developmental Disorders (Daadd) As A Screening Tool, Christine Jurgens

Masters Theses

Professionals are encountering children with developmental disorders more often and with more diversity than ever before. Disorder labels are being introduced increasingly early in a child's life in order to qualify them for services. However, characteristics of developmental disorders overlap significantly in young children, with features beginning to differentiate as the child enters formal education at kindergarten age. Debate continues on whether the autistic spectrum is being over-diagnosed, based on increasing incidence and prevalence statistics.

Research has suggested that developmental disorders impact multiple developmental areas, including language, socialization, sensory, motor, and medical/physical aspects and skills. Therefore, distinguishing one developmental disorder …

An Assessment Of Speech-Language Pathologists, ' Special Educators, ' And Elementary Teachers' Language Knowledge Related To Reading Instruction, Jessica Catto

Masters Theses

An assessment was designed from Louisa Cook Moats' (1996, 2000) research and questions to assess the knowledge of elementary education teachers (grades 1-3), special education teachers, and speech language pathologists in regard to several areas of reading instruction including phonemic awareness, phonics, and vocabulary/morphology.

Subjects consisted of a total of 57 educational professionals, 19 subjects in each group. Results revealed that speech-language pathologists scored significantly higher on the phonemic awareness portion of the assessment as well as total test score, when compared with elementary and special education teachers. Mean scores on the total test ranged from 78-89% accuracy. Mean scores …

Bringing Her Fist Down On That Wholeness: Rewriting Gendered Narratives In Zoeìˆ Wicomb's Fiction, Rachel Heicher

Masters Theses

This thesis situates South African writer Zoë Wicomb's fictional work within a critical context of current feminist theory, exploring Wicomb's response to a central problem for poststructuralist feminism-how can we deconstruct femininity while simultaneously conserving a platform for feminist political activism; how can we assert. on the one hand, that there are no "women", and then, on the other, continue to campaign on behalf of "women's" rights? Wicomb's two novels to date, You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town (1987) and David's Story (2000) serve as test studies for a model of gender that fluctuates and purposefully and constructively embodies …

Cultural And Individual Influences On Foreign Policy, Emine Sunduz Demir

Masters Theses

The principle aim of this thesis is to examine how strategic culture affects foreign policy decision-making, as contrasted to the particular decree of influence the individuals have on the foreign policy process in the concept of an immediate extended deterrence. This thesis is based on three case studies that are tested separately using both Cha's notion of strategic culture and Allison's Bureaucratic Politics Model in order to find which model (if any) best explains foreign policy decision making. Cases are: The SemiVietnamese War in 1979 and Deng Xiaoping, the Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996 and Jiang Zemin, and the Kosovo …

Ethnicity And Religion: An Inquiry Into The Origin And Nature Of Conflicts In Nigeria, Ugochukwu Chrys. Nwabueze

Masters Theses

The policy goal of a Pax Nigeriana in the African continent is hardly realizable without a focused confrontation by Nigeria of its own security deficits. A security and politically deficient Nigeria will have nothing to offer the African continent in terms of peace and political stability if it cannot by example overcome its own accidental and structural flaws.

With this in mind, the work sets out to address the origin, nature and resolution of conflict in Nigeria. Before adequate resolution therapy could be recommended for violent conflicts in Nigeria, any intending researcher must of necessity address the origin and nature …

‘Þæt Is Yrre': The Construction And Use Of Anger In Anglo-Saxon Literature, Hilary E. Fox

Masters Theses

An examination of the linguistic background and literary conceptions of anger in Old English. The first point of analysis will be the vocabulary of used to discuss anger and its manifestations in Old English prose didactic texts, particularly homilies and translations from Latin materials. Subsequent chapters will discuss anger as a literary phenomenon, first with respect to its use in the Old English hagiographic poem The Passion of St. Juliana and then Beowulf. The goal of these two chapters collectively is to outline the social use ( or misuse) of anger, and Christian understandings of how anger must be …

The Effects Of Service Delivery On Teacher Behavior, Miranda R. Glover Duncan

Masters Theses

The current study investigated how teacher assistance with articulation goals was affected by participation in traditional nonintegrated service delivery, consultative service delivery, and collaborative service delivery. Two kindergarten teachers participated in the single subject design comparing service delivery models. One speech-language pathologist consulted and collaborated with the teachers. During the traditional pull-out condition, the SLP informally communicated with teachers about the children in their classrooms who had speech-language deficits. Students with speech-language goals were treated in the pull-out setting, with no treatment provided in the classroom during this phase. The consultative condition involved the SLP meeting with each teacher weekly …

Observing, Navigating, Exploring: The Fourfold Path Of Nourishing Wrath And Others, Greg Holden

Masters Theses

A good poet to illustrate the distinction between modernism and postmodernism would be George Oppen (1908-1986). I believe Oppen's "objectivism" - coupled with a judicious use of deliberate ambiguity - nicely gets us past the postmodern insistence on the illusions of selfhood, reason, and order by insisting on the centrality of the perceiver/thinker amid the objective chaos of perceptions/ideas, while at the same time recognizing the multi-vocal construction of the perceiver/thinker. I believe the self may project its illusions onto reality, but not all reality (including the "self') is always thereby a false image. I have tried to fulfill Oppen's …

A Study Of The Language And Music In The Songs Of The Methodist Church, Robert J. Ford

Masters Theses

The focus of this study is to demonstrate that the language used to write the texts for sacred music of the Methodist Church including psalms, hymns, camp meeting songs, Negro spirituals, and gospel music has been adapted throughout history to meet the changing spiritual needs of society.

This thesis reveals details about the lyrics of sacred songs from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries that are pertinent to historic and modern Methodist music. Furthermore, it includes comparisons of numerous song texts and Bible verses. These compositions exhibit the most eminent church leaders' and composers' works from each stage of Methodist …

Exploring The Subjective Meanings And Experiences Of Depression, Reena Sheth

Masters Theses

This study aimed to provide subjectivist accounts of how people understand and interpret their experience of depression. In the mainstream research on depression, the voices of people who experience depression are largely absent. Therefore, the meanings and experiences of depression from the perspective of people who are living with depression themselves were explored in this study by drawing on in-depth interviews. The stories of two participants diagnosed with depression were examined using the holistic-content and the holistic-form analysis approach proposed by Lieblich, Mashiach, and Ziber (1998). Illness narrative forms outlined by Frank (1998) were also utilized to explore how the …

Chinese And English Discourse In Business Communication: A Case Study Of A U.S. Executive Of A Multinational Corporation In China, Jinghui Liu

Masters Theses

This case study is an examination of business communication forms both in Chinese and English discourse from the perspective of a U.S. executive of multinational corporation in one business working day in China. Forms of oral communication and written communication provide a basis for understanding the executive's business activities in real business practice, as opposed to only written communication. The theoretical framework for this study is provided by Louhiala-Salminen (2002), focusing on the investigation of discourse activities in business communication. The data were collected through use of a business daily activity protocol questionnaire and a longdistance interview. The participant is …

Cultural Competency In Healthcare: How Effective Are Cultural Diversity Training Modules Developed By The University Of Illinois, College Of Nursing,, Linda M. Moore

Masters Theses

Cultural diversity is a core part of our country and its impact has significant implications for quality health care delivery throughout the United States. The need for culturally competent health care services for diverse populations is gaining attention from health providers and educators. Cultural competency is about delivering quality patient care while demonstrating cultural awareness, respect, and concern for other cultures and social groups. Generally there has been a lack of research in the area of cultural competency in health care and the effectiveness of cultural competency training programs on health care providers. The purpose of this study was to …

Sachu Saharu: Tru Helper. A Melodic Analysis Of Christian Music In Garhwal, North India, Laura Eilders

Masters Theses

This thesis is an ethnomusicological examination of the development of indigenous worship music in Garhwal; a region in Northern India. It focuses on a comparative aspect so as to draw conclusions regarding the elements of music that is identified as Garhwali. It includes a melodic analysis of Garhwali Christian songs written by Rajesh Dongriyal and songs recorded by young women at two Garhwali villages. The theoretical framework is based upon the need of every group of people to have music about Christ in their own language and style of music. The assumption is that this will serve as a powerful …

Preferences Of Chinese Alzheimer’S Patients For Music Therapy Activities: Singing, Instruments, Games, Dance/Movement, And Composition/Improvisation, Karen Kwok

Masters Theses

This research, based on Brotons and Pickett-Cooper’s 1994 study, examined the preferences of Chinese Alzheimer’s patients for music therapy activities. Fifteen Chinese senior residents residing in a Toronto, Canada ethnic nursing home participated in this study. Five different language and culturally appropriate music therapy activities were used, which included singing, dance/movement with music, musical games, instrument manipulation and improvisation/composition. Subjects met in small groups of 3 for a total of five 30-minute sessions in two weeks. During each session, one of the five music therapy activities was presented. At the end of each session, subjects were asked to state how …

A Comparison Of The Shopping Preferences Of College Age Apparel Shoppers In Turkey And The United States, William C. Perrine

Masters Theses

This study compared the store attribute preferences of college-age apparel shoppers in Turkey with those of their United States counterparts. The American respondents were selected from a convenience sample of students from a Midwestern university. The Turkish respondents consisted of a convenience sample of undergraduate and graduate students from two urban universities. Ninety-six surveys were given in Turkey and 113 were given in the United States to currently enrolled female and male undergraduate and graduate students between the ages of 17 and 51, yielding 204 usable surveys at a 97 percent response rate. Twenty-one shopping preferences were included in the …

An African American Cultural Critique Of Weight, Race, Gender And Class Using A Semiotic Analysis Of Queen Latifah’ S Film Roles, Angela Denise Prater

Masters Theses

This project examined the interconnectedness of race, gender, class and the physical body as interrelated marginalization factors in media representations. Using the feminist body image literature, critical/cultural theory and Black feminist thought this study examined the significance of weight as a marginalization variable interdependent with race, gender and class. The motion picture character portrayals of the iconic figure Queen Latifah are subjected to a semiotics analysis, a traditional method in critical cultural studies to examine media representations. This analysis is informed by the cultural standpoint of the author as an overweight African American female. This study revealed that Queen Latifah's …

Acoustic, Kinematic, And Auditory Perceptual Characteristics Of Clear Speech, Kristin L. Greilick

Masters Theses

This study characterized the speech motor transformations that underlie speech clarity changes in a group of 49 healthy young speakers. Clarity judgments based on auditory perception of the speech samples were determined by a panel of 30 undergraduate and graduate students. This study specifically aimed to characterize (1) the auditory-perceptual judgments of clarity, (2) the acoustic measures of clear and causal speech, (3) the temporal and spatial features of articulatory movements of clear and casual speech, and (4) test the hypothesis that auditory perceptual scaling of clarity (perceptual salience) would be associated with kinematic indicators of physical effort.

Results suggested …

A Drug Free America? A Web Page Discourse Analysis, Darrin Kowitz

Masters Theses

Using the methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this research will seek to identify the ways in which social power is exercised through the creation and manipulation of linguistic categories within the text of the web page for the Partnership for a Drug Free America (PDFA). A preliminary examination of the web page identified three general mechanisms of power at work for the PDFA, the use of authority, fear inducement, and identity manipulation. The use of these mechanisms will be analyzed to explain ideological hegemony as the adoption of cognitive categories by individuals from social-structural, or institutional, sources.

Who Are "The Japanese"?: Negotiation Of Identity Among Nikkei In Brazil, Chihiro Nagasue

Masters Theses

When Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil in the beginning of the 20th century, they recognized, for the first time, that they were "Japanese" and different from other ethnic people since it was rare for them to meet ethnically foreign people in Japan. In the ethnically and linguistically foreign country of Brazil, the Nikkei have had to constantly redefine their identity by resisting and accommodating dominant pressures and ideologies such as the Brazilian assimilation policies before and during the Second World War as well as the essentialist ideology of Nihonjinron (what it means to be Japanese). As a result of globalization, …

Measuring Spelling Growth Over Time In Elementary Writing Samples, Pamela M. Ansell

Masters Theses

Developmental spelling stage theories have been proposed and disputed for 30 years. The current study used Gentry's (1982) model to assign category ratings to narrative writing samples produced by 32 students over two years to observe developmental growth over time. In addition, quantitative measures were obtained from the samples, including an index of control (Laminack & Wood, 1996) and a percentage correct. Analyses were also used to test the effectiveness of using a writing lab approach (Nelson, Bahr & Van Meter, 2004) on spelling development. During the last half of second grade, all 32 students received intervention guided by the …

Understanding Ethno-Nationalism: Sikh Diasporic Imaginings In Southwest Michigan, Rory G. Mccarthy

Masters Theses

Diaspora as a category is both useful and troublesome for researchers in the discipline of anthropology. It is useful, for it allows anthropologists to approach cultural studies from a position that recognizes flaws in the conception of culture as geographically bounded. Studying diasporic populations, therefore, enables anthropologists to apply new theoretical approaches to culture, without reifying and essentializing social practices. Conversely, using diaspora as a category can homogenize groups by glossing over differences in ethnicity, religion, and migratory expenence.

This study aims at bettering the understanding of diversity within a diasporic population by examining the role that religion plays in …

Dialect Density And Discourse Maturity Of African American Elementary Students, Brandi Lynette Newkirk

Masters Theses

This was a report of an investigation of the effects of dialectal features in African American students' narratives on discourse ratings by trained judges. The question addressed in this research was whether dialectal features influence judges who are evaluating discourse. Graduate students in speech-language pathology (n = 18) learning to analyze discourse samples served as the judges. Two versions of narratives (n = 27) written by third- and fourth-grade African American students (the original version and the edited version) were used to determine if narratives that contain dialectal features would be rated lower. The judges were trained in narrative discourse …

The Battle For The University: The Vietnam-Era Student Movement At Universities In Central Illinois, David Bell

Masters Theses

America in the 1960s ran the gamut of social, economic, and political changes, from the assassination of political leaders to the apocalyptic potential of the Cuban Missile Crisis; from President Lyndon B. Johnson's promises of a Great Society, to the paralyzing effects of the Vietnam War. At the center of these domestic and international battles lay the "baby boomers," the largest-ever generation of Americans, and, not coincidentally, the largest generation of college students to enter the "ivory towers" of higher education. Raised in an era defined by cries for civil rights and "participatory democracy," these youths entered higher education determined …

Do Caucasian And African American Students Have Different Learning Styles?, Robin J. Black-Vannoy

Masters Theses

This study explored whether African American and Caucasian students have different learning styles. It specifically examined differences in preferred modes of information processing and instruction. Participants in the study completed the Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Inventory and the Kolb Learning Style Inventory. Subsequent analyses revealed that there were no significant differences in how African American and Caucasian students choose to process information for learning. However, there were some significant differences in preferred modes of instruction. African American students were more likely to prefer noisier and warmer learning environments, to snack while learning, and to learn in the late morning. …

A Similarity Based Concordance Approach To Word Sense Disambiguation, Ramakrishnan B. Guru

Masters Theses

This study attempts to solve the problem of Word Sense Disambiguation using a combination of statistical, probabilistic and word matching algorithms. These algorithms consider that words and sentences have some hidden similarities and that the polysemous words in any context should be assigned to a sense after each execution of the algorithm. The algorithm was tested with sufficient sample data and the efficiency of the disambiguation performance has proven to increase significantly after the inclusion of the concordance methodology.

Proportional Representation Electoral Systems And Indigenous Representation: Case Studies From Bolivia, Ecuador, And Peru, Arne Romanowski

Masters Theses

The central question of this analysis is how the proportional representation electoral systems in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru are linked to indigenous political representation. I argue that the electoral system and its affect on party structures and party development are part of the reason why indigenous people, who make up a great part of the population in these three countries, are chronically under-represented in their political systems. In these case studies, district and national level data from the two most recent elections for the national legislatures was analyzed in terms of indigenous party formation and success. The study concludes that …

Effects Of Computer Troubleshooting On Elementary Students' Problem Solving Skills, Anne Todd Ottenbreit

Masters Theses

The lack problem solving skills exhibited by students has generated concerns at national and state levels of education (Coleman, King, and Ruth, 2001). If the educational technology curriculum involved computer troubleshooting, students could possibly increase their problem solving abilities. Because computer troubleshooting follows similar procedures to problem solving, there is possibility of an educational transfer and could be easily included into the educational technology curriculum. The purpose of the research study was to discover if the computer troubleshooting curriculum designed by the researcher affected the elementary students' problem solving abilities. Technology education at the elementary level includes keyboarding and 'practice …

Mindful Communication In A Crisis: Communication Behaviors Of Shared Mindfulness And Effective Pilot Decision Outcomes In Crisis Situations, Janice L. Krieger

Masters Theses

Despite the high reliability of current aeronautical technology and safety improvements, human error continues to be a factor in 60-80% of all aviation mishaps. Training to diminish potential errors is often based on analysis of faulty procedures, or lack of procedures without a systemic view including human factors such as communication, decision-making and interaction dynamics. This research explores the existence of the psychological construct of shared mindfulness and examines how it is communicatively constructed and enacted in a high reliability environment such as the aviation industry. The present qualitative study examines shared mindfulness in 10 aviation student dyads in a …

Right Hemisphere Effects On Language Processing: Suppression Or Activation Deficit, Sarah A. Orjada

Masters Theses

This study was designed to add to the body of research that examines the possibility of semantic activation or suppression deficits as underlying right hemisphere communication disorders. Modified treatment techniques for activation and suppression deficits proposed by Myers (1999) were used as stimuli for the experimental tasks. A total of four RHD participants and four control participants matched in age, gender, and level of education were included in the study. The study aimed to answer the following questions. Do RHD or control participants have higher scores on the suppression tasks? Do RHD participants have longer reaction times? Do RHD or …