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Using Transposable Elements As Tools To Better Understand Evolution At The Genomic Level, Roy Nelson Platt Ii May 2014

Using Transposable Elements As Tools To Better Understand Evolution At The Genomic Level, Roy Nelson Platt Ii

Theses and Dissertations

Transposable elements (TEs), also known as jumping genes, are DNA sequences capable of mobilizing and replicating within the genome. In mammals, it is not uncommon for 50% of the genome to be derived from TEs, yet they remain an underutilized tool for tracking evolutionary change. With the increasing number of publicly funded genome projects and affordable access to next-generation sequencing platforms, it is important to demonstrate the role TEs may play in helping us understand evolutionary patterns. The research presented herein utilizes TEs to investigate such patterns at the genomic, specific, and generic levels in three distinct ways. First at …

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Influence Of Coastal Processes On Speleogenesis And Landforms In The Caribbean Region, Patricia Kambesis May 2014

Influence Of Coastal Processes On Speleogenesis And Landforms In The Caribbean Region, Patricia Kambesis

Theses and Dissertations

Evolution of rocky coastlines is controlled by littoral, biological and fluvial processes. Resultant landforms are overprinted and/or new ones formed as a result of changes in sea level caused by glacioeustasy and/or local tectonics. On carbonate coasts, chemical erosion in the form of karstification takes on a dominant role. Type of karstification is an important factor in understanding carbonate coast evolution and landform development so it is critical to identify type of karstification. In this research, fractal indices were used to distinguish cave and thus karstification type. It was determined that fractal indices effectively differentiated cave types and the indices …

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Guardians Of Historical Knowledge: Textbook Politics, Conservative Activism, And School Reform In Mississippi, 1928-1982, Kevin Boland Johnson May 2014

Guardians Of Historical Knowledge: Textbook Politics, Conservative Activism, And School Reform In Mississippi, 1928-1982, Kevin Boland Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the role cultural transmission of historical myths plays in power relationships and identity formation through a study of the Mississippi textbook regulatory agency and various civic organizations that shaped education policy in addition to textbook content. A study of massive resistance to integration, my project focuses on the anticommunism and conservative ideology of grassroots segregationists. Civic-patriotic societies such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, the American Legion, and Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation formed as the major alliance affecting the state’s education system in the post-World War II era. Once the state department of education centralized its …

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Potential Energy And The Three Odalisques, Yamins Roxanne May 2014

Potential Energy And The Three Odalisques, Yamins Roxanne

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this paper is to examine some ways in which BEHAVIOR, POTENTIAL ENERGY, and EMPATHY are critical components in my thinking and work. The impetus for my work is an investigation of how these three components can be manifested in visually expressive and powerful states. My masters thesis, The Three Odalisques, is an attempt at making a space and world which privileges these components and the potential for art to express these ideas. This paper is divided into two parts. The first section is a formal analysis of the pieces in my work from my MFA thesis show. …

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Conspecific Attraction In A Low-Density Population Of A Threatened Songbird, Daniel James Albrecht-Mallinger May 2014

Conspecific Attraction In A Low-Density Population Of A Threatened Songbird, Daniel James Albrecht-Mallinger

Theses and Dissertations

Many organisms use both vegetation structure and social cues in selecting habitats. Many species of songbirds use the presence of breeding conspecifics as a social cue and sign of habitat quality, and can be induced to settle in unoccupied habitats by artificially broadcasting breeding song, a process referred to as “conspecific attraction”. In our study, we tested response to conspecific attraction a low-density population of the threatened Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) in Highland County, VA. Response to broadcast song was observed, with a modest increase in mean male abundance at survey points within 250 meters of treatments, and mean abundance …

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Poverty Deconcentration Priorities In Low-Income Housing Policy: A Content Analysis Of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (Lihtc) Qualified Allocation Plans, Monique Johnson May 2014

Poverty Deconcentration Priorities In Low-Income Housing Policy: A Content Analysis Of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (Lihtc) Qualified Allocation Plans, Monique Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Structural inequalities within the social and economic environment have wide reaching impacts on the housing conditions of the poor. These households are marginalized by swelling housing cost burdens, shelter insufficiency, and sociospatial restriction to the lowest income communities. Housing research has examined the correlation between policy and the social location of low-income individuals. However, very little research analyzes the intersection of low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) policy design and sociospatial trends among low-income households. Using content analysis, the purpose of this dissertation is to determine whether the policy documents that guide allocation of the LIHTC encourage poverty deconcentration. The research …

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District Size And Implementation Of High School School Improvement Grants, Marla Robinson Apr 2014

District Size And Implementation Of High School School Improvement Grants, Marla Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation employs organizational theory, the history of school reform, the role school district leadership, and the impact of district size to provide a foundation for study of high school reform implemented in twenty high schools with histories of academic challenges. The Federal Department of Education School Improvement Grant Program was created to financially support reform in persistently failing schools. The schools in this study are all located in the same Midwestern state; however, they have wide-ranging student enrollments and are located in suburban, urban, rural, and metropolitan school districts of differing sizes. The mixed method study includes two phases. …

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The Devil Can’T Find You If You Hum: Post-Environmental Conductivity, Thomas Burkett Apr 2014

The Devil Can’T Find You If You Hum: Post-Environmental Conductivity, Thomas Burkett

Theses and Dissertations

What would a repositioned concept of environmentalism look like, one that is specifically determined by the geography and the human rights at stake within the environmental politics of a place? I am interested in determining how performative engagements act as an art form that counters dispossessing industrial, political and environmental regimes. Within this discussion of environmental dispossession I will discuss ways I have used drawing as a conceptual space to explore resistance, redefine cultural capital and challenge archeological structures of knowledge, through my presence and protest.

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Spatial Variability Of Erosion Patterns Along The Eastern Margin Of The Rio Grande Rift, Lauren Hoffman Apr 2014

Spatial Variability Of Erosion Patterns Along The Eastern Margin Of The Rio Grande Rift, Lauren Hoffman

Theses and Dissertations

The actively spreading Rio Grande Rift influenced uplift and erosion in Southwest North America, however the timing and progression of these processes is not well constrained in some smaller mountain ranges of the region. The Guadalupe and Sacramento Mountains located along the eastern margin of the rift in southern New Mexico were studied to improve our understanding of landscape evolution related to rifting. To address landscape evolution and the influence of tectonics I analyzed spatial distributions of erosion for each mountains range. I identified knickpoints along five longitudinal stream profiles from five canyons (4 in the Guadalupe Mountains and 1 …

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Anti-Heroics, Modesty, And Bad Taste, Philip Hinge Apr 2014

Anti-Heroics, Modesty, And Bad Taste, Philip Hinge

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis work revolves around investigating painting’s relationship with “bad taste” and heroism. By comparing my paintings to illustrative depictions of “heroism”, artists who turn bad art good, ideas concerning modesty, humor, and invention I will contextualize my stance towards “heroism” and bad taste. By establishing my relationship to the aforementioned examples I will trace the growth of my work over the past few years and discuss how its role within contemporary painting has changed as well as how it interacts with various cultural references.

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Integrating Gis And Hydrology For Flood Risk Analysis, Anas B. Rabie Apr 2014

Integrating Gis And Hydrology For Flood Risk Analysis, Anas B. Rabie

Theses and Dissertations

Spatial analysis using GIS was evaluated for its ability to predict the potential hazard of a flood event in the Illinois River region in the State of Illinois. The data employed in the analysis are available to the public from trusted organizations such as Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS), and the US Geological Survey (USGS). The purposes of this study are to 1) examine the applicability of GIS spatial analysis to determine flood inundation risk, and 2) to determine how to do so with the least amount of data possible, while still producing an accurate flood inundation risk map. This …

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Determining The Source Of Anomalous Segments In A Karst Stream, Kathryn Emily Schroeder Apr 2014

Determining The Source Of Anomalous Segments In A Karst Stream, Kathryn Emily Schroeder

Theses and Dissertations

Southeastern Minnesota is characterized by an extensive karst network. In Kentucky, Carter Caves State Resort Park is a similar karst area that has exhibited karst anomalies, or `bumps,' in a longitudinal stream profile. This study aimed to determine if these same karst anomalies can be found in southeast Minnesota, where LiDAR data are available, and if these bumps are actually karst features. Profiles of carbonate and siliciclastic streams were observed to determine if the presence of anomalies in only carbonate streams, both lithologies, or neither. Another objective was to determine if GIS could be an effective method at generating these …

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Using Cbct As A Diagnostic Tool For Evaluation Of Infrabony Defects In Vivo, Anya Rost Apr 2014

Using Cbct As A Diagnostic Tool For Evaluation Of Infrabony Defects In Vivo, Anya Rost

Theses and Dissertations

BACKGROUND: Clinicians rely on radiographs and clinical exam to assess infrabony defects. However, two-dimensional radiographs have many limitations. Three-dimensional imaging has shown promise and has provided more precise measurements of defects created in skulls. The aim of this study is to compare the diagnostic efficacy of cone beam computed tomography to clinical measurements in patients presenting with infrabony defects. METHODS: The study population included 20 patients with 25 infrabony defects. Clinical measurements of pocket depth (PD), gingival margin (GM), bone sounding (BS) were obtained and PD and BS were compared to CBCT measurements. RESULTS: The average difference between the means …

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More Than Just Hospitals: An Examination Of Cluster Components And Configurations, Patrick Shay Apr 2014

More Than Just Hospitals: An Examination Of Cluster Components And Configurations, Patrick Shay

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past 25 years, health care organization scholars have observed the dramatic emergence of hospital-based clusters in local markets throughout the U.S. These important organizational forms require same-system ownership of multiple general, acute care hospitals operating within a single local market, and as such they include multi-hospital systems that are entirely contained in a single urban market as well as clustered extensions or subsystems of larger regional and national systems. However, despite their noted growth as powerful forces in local markets, relatively few studies have examined these clusters, and as a result there remains a significant gap in our …

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Gettin' Weird Together: The Performance Of Identity And Community Through Cultural Artifacts Of Electronic Dance Music Culture, Andrew Matthew Wagner Apr 2014

Gettin' Weird Together: The Performance Of Identity And Community Through Cultural Artifacts Of Electronic Dance Music Culture, Andrew Matthew Wagner

Theses and Dissertations

The growing popularity of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) on nearly every continent has given rise to the transition of EDM music from underground raves to large scale, multiple-day music festivals. Attendance at EDM events, whether at concerts or festivals, is primarily dominated by today's youth generation. The number of youth attending these events continues to grow as elements of EDM are being mixed into other mainstream music genres. This increase in the popularity of EDM has been an area of research interest in the past decades for a variety of disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, marketing, and tourism. The present …

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A Sequence Of French Vernacular Architectural Design And Construction Methods In Colonial North America, 1690 -- 1850, Wade Terrell Tharp Apr 2014

A Sequence Of French Vernacular Architectural Design And Construction Methods In Colonial North America, 1690 -- 1850, Wade Terrell Tharp

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines published and unpublished historical archaeological research, historical documents research, and datable extant buildings to develop a temporal and geographical sequence of French colonial architectural designs and construction methods, particularly the poteaux-en-terre (posts-in-ground) and poteaux-sur-solle (posts-on-sill) elements in vernacular buildings, from the Western Great Lakes region to Louisiana, dating from 1690 to 1850. Such a sequence is needed to provide a basis for scholarship, discovery, and hypotheses about prospective French colonial archaeological sites. The integration of architectural material culture data and the historical record could also further scholarship on subjects such as how the French in colonial North …

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A Moral Panic? A Content Analysis Of Prominent Newspapers And Their Portrayal Of Tik Addiction, Chiara Keune Apr 2014

A Moral Panic? A Content Analysis Of Prominent Newspapers And Their Portrayal Of Tik Addiction, Chiara Keune

Theses and Dissertations

The rise of tik (methamphetamine) in the Western Cape of South Africa was an issue of contention for government and health care officials. Tik is the label given to the homemade crystal methamphetamine in South Africa, and the primary substance of abuse for many addicts seeking help. This paper sets out to examine tik from a moral panic perspective to understand if tik is an actual threat or a moral panic phenomenon. Two prominent newspapers were examined using content analysis. The Cape Times and Cape Argus were sampled to understand the social construction of tik. A moral panic is simply …

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An Evaluation Of Prenatal Care Clinic Selection And The Association With Subsequent Process/Outcome Measures Among Medicaid Beneficiaries, Lynn Vanderwielen Apr 2014

An Evaluation Of Prenatal Care Clinic Selection And The Association With Subsequent Process/Outcome Measures Among Medicaid Beneficiaries, Lynn Vanderwielen

Theses and Dissertations

In 2010 Medicaid financed approximately 48% of all births in the United States and nearly 30% of all births in Virginia. Due to strict state-specific eligibility criteria, many low-income women qualify for Medicaid coverage exclusively as a result of pregnancy status. As the nation moves forward with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), state-elected Medicaid expansion has the potential to expand services to women of reproductive age that would precede pregnancy events and offer continuous access to care postpartum. Despite this potential influx of newly insured women, little is known about how this population may make decisions regarding …

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The Impact Of Standards-Based Report Cards On Reading Achievement In The Third Grade, Terri L. Wyrosdick Apr 2014

The Impact Of Standards-Based Report Cards On Reading Achievement In The Third Grade, Terri L. Wyrosdick

Theses and Dissertations

School districts across the nation are transitioning away from traditional A-F letter grade report cards in favor of standards-based report cards (SBRC). Previous studies have indicated that many parents were confused by SBRC. The purpose of this study was to determine if a difference exists between the reading achievement of third-grade students using traditional A-F letter grade report cards and those students using SBRC. Pre-existing CRCT data of the pass/fail percentage of third graders from five school districts and 118 schools in 2009 and 2010, the year prior to and the year of implementation of SBRC, were analyzed. A chi …

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Exploring The Retention Of Credit-Hour Value In Terms Of Workload For University Core Courses Taught In A Time-Compressed Format, Lyndell E. Lutes Mar 2014

Exploring The Retention Of Credit-Hour Value In Terms Of Workload For University Core Courses Taught In A Time-Compressed Format, Lyndell E. Lutes

Theses and Dissertations

This study compared the workload and value of work done outside of class reported by 3512 undergraduate students at Brigham Young University completing 16-week semester and 8-week term University Core (General Education and Religion) classes. Based on the results of this analysis, significant differences in workloads were found when comparing them by occasion (semester versus term). Significant differences were also found in workload and value of homework based on the autonomy of the instructors. On average, the workload difference by occasion equates to approximately 54 minutes more per week in a 3-credit semester course when compared to a term course. …

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Study Abroad As A Transformative Experience: Measuring Transformative Learning Phases And Outcomes, Garrett Anderson Stone Mar 2014

Study Abroad As A Transformative Experience: Measuring Transformative Learning Phases And Outcomes, Garrett Anderson Stone

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to verify Mezirow's (1978) Transformative Learning Theory as a model to explain how study abroad participation facilitates efforts to internationalize students in higher education. Specifically this study used block-entry, logistic and linear regression models to explore the relationship between transformative learning processes and study abroad outcomes. Data were collected from business students (N =107) at Brigham Young University using a retrospective pretest method. Findings indicated transformative learning was occurring in short term study abroad settings and transformative learning phases were related to increases in Intercultural Competence. These findings were consistent between year cohorts suggesting …

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Old World, New Media: Cross-Cultural Explorations With Camera And Analytic Text In Cusco, Peru, Scott Dupre Mills Mar 2014

Old World, New Media: Cross-Cultural Explorations With Camera And Analytic Text In Cusco, Peru, Scott Dupre Mills

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract OLD WORLD, NEW MEDIA: CROSS-CULTURAL EXPLORATIONS WITH CAMERA AND ANALYTIC TEXT IN CUSCO, PERU By Scott DuPre Mills, PhD. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2014 Major Director: Dr. Nicholas A Sharp, Assistant Professor, Department of English This dissertation draws on my field research in Cusco, Peru, documenting Old World methods of making Andean musical instruments. The cross-cultural interactions I engaged in are concretized and documented in the ethnographic film I shot at the time and in my experimentation with original music …

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An Analysis Of The Archaeological Work Of The Provo River Delta, Utah, Adrien Carole Mooney Mar 2014

An Analysis Of The Archaeological Work Of The Provo River Delta, Utah, Adrien Carole Mooney

Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the 20th century, a significant amount of work was conducted at archaeological sites in Utah Valley dating to the Archaic, Fremont, and Late Prehistoric periods. Despite the amount of work conducted, very little has actually been reported in the past. As a result, very little has previously been known about either the prehistoric archaeology of the Provo River Delta area or the historic archaeological work that has taken place. This thesis presents a synthesis of historical work, a reanalysis of artifacts from previous excavations, and a review of extant documentation (including field notes, maps, and student reports) of several …

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On Man, On Nature, And On Human Life: William Knight's Life Of William Wordsworth And The Invention Of "Home At Grasmere", Patria Isabel Wright Mar 2014

On Man, On Nature, And On Human Life: William Knight's Life Of William Wordsworth And The Invention Of "Home At Grasmere", Patria Isabel Wright

Theses and Dissertations

Victorian scholar William Knight remains one of the most prolific Wordsworth scholars of the nineteenth century. His many publications helped establish Wordsworth's positive Victorian reputation that twentieth and twenty-first century scholars inherited. My particular focus is how Knight's 1889 inclusion of "Home at Grasmere" in his Life of William Wordsworth, rather than in his chronological sequencing of the poems, establishes a way to read the poem as a biographical artifact for his late-Victorian audience. Knight's detailed account of the poet's life, often told through letters and journal accounts, provides more contexts-including Dorothy's journal entries and correspondence of the early 1800s-to …

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Empirical Analysis Of Human Capital, Learning Culture, And Knowledge Management As Antecedents To Organizational Performance: Theoretical And Practical Implications For Logistics Readiness Officer Force Development, Matt J. Cherry Mar 2014

Empirical Analysis Of Human Capital, Learning Culture, And Knowledge Management As Antecedents To Organizational Performance: Theoretical And Practical Implications For Logistics Readiness Officer Force Development, Matt J. Cherry

Theses and Dissertations

The ubiquitous nature of economic uncertainty that has plagued the Department of Defense has necessitated the relentless pursuit of cost savings and efficiency improvements. Under the auspices of force development, drawing on resource-based theory, this research analyzed the impact of Logistics Readiness Officer (LRO) human capital, learning culture, and knowledge management on organizational performance as a means to increase competitive advantage. Survey methodology was utilized to garner data with both theoretical and practical implications on LRO force development practices. Solicitation of information regarding LRO competencies, the utility of logistics courses, and the latent construct was conducted via a web-based self-reporting …

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Optimizing The Disposition And Retrograde Of United States Air Force Class Vii Equipment From Afghanistan, Arthur R. Litchfield Iii Mar 2014

Optimizing The Disposition And Retrograde Of United States Air Force Class Vii Equipment From Afghanistan, Arthur R. Litchfield Iii

Theses and Dissertations

To meet the President's established OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM drawdown date of 1 December 2014, the United States Air Force, while continuing to conduct and support combat operations, must begin to plan disposition and execute retrograde its Class VII equipment. Calling upon concepts utilized in the management of closed-loop supply chains and optimization, this research proposes a multiple objective linear program to optimize the alignment of Bagram and Kandahar Air Base positioned equipment with in-garrison demand. Closed-loop supply chains provide planning process guidelines necessary for second use value creation and efficient reverse logistical flows. Optimization concepts provide the methodology for model …

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The Military Inventory Routing Problem With Direct Delivery, Ian M. Mccormack Mar 2014

The Military Inventory Routing Problem With Direct Delivery, Ian M. Mccormack

Theses and Dissertations

The inventory routing problem coordinates inventory management and transportation policies when implementing vendor managed inventory replenishment, the business practice were a vendor monitors the inventory of its customers and determines a strategy to replenish each customer. The United States Army uses vendor managed inventory replenishment during combat situations to manage resupply. The military variant of the stochastic inventory routing problem considers delivery failure due to hostile actions. We formulate a Markov decision process model for the military inventory routing problem, with the objective to determine an optimal unmanned tactical airlift policy for resupplying brigade combat team elements in a combat …

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Data Fusion For Decision Support, Rebecca A. Unruh Mar 2014

Data Fusion For Decision Support, Rebecca A. Unruh

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis demonstrates the utility of fusing data from multiple sources, including remote sensing data, in a Geographic Information System (GIS) for decision support by designing a new method of assessing wildfire risk in the wilderness urban interface (WUI) to facilitate better informed land management decisions and reduce mission impacts of wildfires on the military. Information from remote sensing systems has been used for decades to support decisions. Today, data are time and location tagged, making it possible to correlate and fuse disparate sources in a GIS, from which data can be stored, analyzed, and the resulting information shared. The …

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Removing Parallax-Induced False Changes In Change Detection, Karmon M. Vongsy Mar 2014

Removing Parallax-Induced False Changes In Change Detection, Karmon M. Vongsy

Theses and Dissertations

Accurate change detection (CD) results in urban environments is of interest to a diverse set of applications including military surveillance, environmental monitoring, and urban development. This work presents a hyperspectral CD (HSCD) framework. The framework uncovers the need for HSCD methods that resolve false change caused by image parallax. A Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test (GLRT) statistic for HSCD is developed that accommodates unknown mis-registration between imagery described by a prior probability density function for the spatial mis-registration. The potential of the derived method to incorporate more complex signal proccessing functions is demonstrated by the incorporation of a parallax error mitigation …

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A Maoli-Based Art Education: Ku'u Mau Kuamo'o 'Ōlelo, Raquel Malia Andrus Mar 2014

A Maoli-Based Art Education: Ku'u Mau Kuamo'o 'Ōlelo, Raquel Malia Andrus

Theses and Dissertations

Leaders in K-12 education in Hawai'i are increasingly advocating for and utilizing the culture and knowledge of the kānaka Maoli, the native people of these islands, as a context for learning in a variety of curricular disciplines and approaches (Benham & Heck, 1998; Kani'iaupuni, Ledward & Jensen, 2010; Kana'iaupuni & Malone, 2006; Kahakalau, 2004; Meyer, 2004). To expand upon this trend, this thesis uses a combination of autoethnographic and critical indigenous methodologies to present a personal narrative that looks specifically at approaching art education from a Maoli perspective. Through extensive participant/observer reflections, two place-based and culture-based art education experiences are …

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