Digital Commons Network^™

Drawing As Language, Rebecca B. Whitson

Theses and Dissertations

All too often, the “I can’t draw” sentiment is believed by both the frustrated adolescent and adult alike. This is especially evident within the school environment. This paper aims to discuss how visual art --specifically drawing-- is structured, formed and expressed as a type of language, similar to a verbal, written, or physical one. This may give hope to even the most reluctant drawer that they can learn how to draw, opening another means of communication. An individual attains fluency when they are adept at drawing through the use of expression, technical, and observational skills, through practice and motivation, and …

William Bernard Cooke, George Cooke, And J.M.W. Turner: Business Of The Topographical Print Series, Saskia C. Turpijn

Theses and Dissertations

The organization of eighteenth and nineteenth-century British printmaking and publishing was based on economic principles and occurred in the collaborative sphere of the engraver’s studio. Print designers, engravers, printers, and publishers formed a professional network that operated on economic principles, publishing prints that served to generate income for its participants. These ventures faced great challenges in the lengthy and laborious processes of engraving and publishing, and in financing the project for the duration of that time.

This project examines the economic structure of early nineteenth-century prints. Using comprehensive accounting records, it analyzes two well-known topographical print series. The profitable Southern …

Kindergarten Parent Engagement And Student Reading Literacy In Title I Schools: A Systematic Literature Review And Meta-Synthesis, Stacy L. M. Mcdonald

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to systematically review research on the relationship between parent engagement and student reading outcomes in Title I schools at Kindergarten level. The following research questions guided this study:

1. What is the relationship between parent engagement and student reading literacy outcomes in low socioeconomic students in kindergarten? Findings show that parent engagement brings parents together with the school staff working with one another to promote a child’s reading literacy. Parent engagement includes the parent as an active member who shares responsibility for a child’s achievement. A need for teacher professional development for teachers on building …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between High School Seniors And High School Seniors Participating In A Multi-Year, Looping, School-Based Mentoring Program, Devon Alaine Lassetter

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have indicated that secondary school students were more likely to be truant than primary school students which lead to students dropping out of school and becoming less productive citizens as adults. Researchers have also shown that participation in a school-based mentoring program can positively influence the students and help them make better life decisions. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent a multi-year, looping, school-based mentoring program has on the attendance data, behavioral data, achievement data, and graduation rate of high school seniors at a rural high school in west Georgia. The researcher conducted a …

About Men: A Retrospective Into The Evolution Of The Male Form Through The Female Gaze, Laura Briseño

Theses and Dissertations

It is philosophized that subjectivity is founded on subjection, a subjection based on the view point of the viewer. Through the centuries the idea of the male form has been transformed through various representations from the context of art, architecture, and culture from Ancient Greece (Classical period of 5th and 4th centuries BC) to Contemporary art (1946–present).

The purpose is to create an exhibition that provides a female gaze on the representations of the male form through or in art. Examining how and why male forms are represented in the content we know them as of current curation. Which brings …

Combining Faithfulness With Learning: Avoiding The Path Of Secularization At Brigham Young University, J. Gordon Daines Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Most research universities in the United States began as religiously affiliated institutions. Beginning in the late 19th century and continuing over the course of the 20th century, the vast majority of these institutions engaged in a process of secularization through which faith moved from the center of academic life to the periphery. This paper elucidates a conceptual framework for understanding how and why Brigham Young University did not follow the path of secularization that so many research universities, originally religious in nature, pursued. It examines the steps that the university and its sponsoring institution (The Church of Jesus Christ of …

Constructing A Data-Based Mortality Profile For Avian Tower Kills At Telecommunication Towers In Illinois, Rachel Dipietro

Theses and Dissertations

During spring and fall seasons, Neotropical migratory passerines travel nocturnally across the Western Hemisphere between their wintering and breeding grounds, often encountering man-made threats. One hazard that has gained considerable publicity in recent decades is the communication tower. While there have been many tower kill studies recorded, there has been no attempt at predicting the risk of towers based on their different attributes (e.g., height, type of light, landscape placement) spatially on a regional scale. The objective of this study was to create seasonal mortality profile maps in GIS for Illinois, based on tower attributes combined with key factors such …

After Faith, Hope, And Love: The Unique Divergence Of Asceticism By Gregory The Great And Maximus The Confessor, Caleb N. Zuiderveen

Theses and Dissertations

In the late sixth and early seventh centuries, asceticism continued as a frequent expression of Christian devotion. Despite communications between the Eastern and Western Churches and a common patristic foundation, theology in the East and West during this time diverged on the results of asceticism. This paper explores this divergence by examining two theologians, Gregory the Great and Maximus the Confessor. Current scholarship has examined Gregory the Great and Maximus the Confessor on their own, yet the dialogue between each tradition and its implications remains understudied. Thus, this study contextualizes Gregory the Great’s On the Song of Songs and Maximus …

A Critical Interpretation Of Study Abroad, Participant Identity, And Second Language Learning, Laura Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

In this study I explore the history of study abroad as a sojourn for the privileged, notions of whiteness, institutional racism and inequality, and nationality and linguicism, and apply theory from critical applied linguistics and post-colonialism to analyze and interpret data collected from five participants of either a semester or year-long study abroad at the Centre International d’Études Françaises (CIDEF) in Angers, France. The principal research questions are: What is the nature of how students negotiate their identities (racial, national, and gender), L2 learning, and engagement (or lack of) with various communities of practice while studying abroad in a non-English …

A Cognitive Approach To Predicting Academic Success In Computing, Colby Goettel

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the possible correlations between a computing student's learning preference and their academic success, as well as their overall satisfaction with their major. CS and IT seniors at BYU were surveyed about their learning preferences and satisfaction with their major. The research found that IT students who are more reflective in their learning preference tend to have higher grades in their major. Additionally, it found that student age and their parents' education level were significant players in their academic success. However, there were no correlations found between major satisfaction and academic performance.

Schools Of Identity: Rhetorical Experience In The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Rachel Elizabeth Winkel

Theses and Dissertations

In the following pages I assert that important rhetorical work is being carried out by aesthetic means in museums and memorials in order to facilitate experiences of identification. I describe in rhetorical terms how that work is done, especially within my primary artifact of study, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Specifically, this paper explores concepts developed in studies of epideictic rhetoric, the rhetoric of place, and museology. The theoretical framework of this paper is founded on the ideas of John Dewey and Kenneth Burke. Deweys theories discuss how we learn from experience and the role of the aesthetic in …

Tactical Implementation Of Strategic Guidance During The American Revolutionary War: Pedagogical Application For Classroom Use, Ryan Menath

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Air Force Academy is a specialized institution of higher learning dedicated to producing military officers in the U.S. Air Force. Specialized graduation requirements, like a required Military History course, present the opportunity for the implementation of unique pedagogical methodologies. Further, as a technologically forward-looking branch of service designed to control air, space, and cyberspace in a contested environment, the Air Force places a premium on twenty- and twenty-first century military history. Unfortunately, pre-airpower American military history gets overshadowed compared to later conflicts to the point where cadets attending the Air Force Academy get relatively little exposure to …

Shake, Rattle, And Read: An Analysis Of An Adaptation Of A Multisensory Phonics Program’S Impact On The Reading Achievement Of Kindergarten Students, Heather Mascuch Holmes

Theses and Dissertations

This paper describes a problem of practice stemming from the disparity in reading achievement that exists among kindergarten students due to varying life and academic experiences. This action research study investigated the impact of a multisensory instructional program that attempts to improve students’ decoding skills, and therefore, overall reading ability by answering the following question: How does an adaptation of the Project Read Primary Phonics program affect the reading level of kindergarten students as measured by the DRA2+? This study employed an action research methodology, specifically Mertler’s (2014) action research cycle: planning, acting, developing, and reflecting. The planning stage was …

American Indian Biculturalism Inventory - Pueblo, Royleen J. Ross

Theses and Dissertations

A time in American history existed when Native Americans were not allowed to express, much less retain their traditions, culture, language, and livelihood. Today, Natives are thriving in various fields at many different professional levels and have not only mastered majority culture’s ways, but have integrated them, on their own terms, into their lives. Warfare was declared upon Native Americans in the educational arena beginning in the late 1800’s, resulting in many indigenous individuals not only meeting the educational challenge posed to them, but excelled beyond expectation. Thus, in contemporary society, many Native Americans have retained their traditional ways and …

"The Mission Always Comes First": A Phenomenological Study Of Active Military Students In Online Community College Courses, Marilyn Brock

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this study was to develop greater understanding about the unique experiences of active-duty military soldiers who are taking online courses. The qualitative phenomenological study was comprised of online active military (OAM) students taking undergraduate college level courses offered by the Distance Learning Military Programs at a Californian community college. Six participants volunteered while taking online courses from various locations around the world, including sites that were located in an increased zone of conflict. The study’s results provided information that may assist with improving future military students’ learning experiences while they are facing the conflicts associated with military …

Common Strategies And Practices Among Facilitators Of Innovative Thinking In Organizations, Matthew D. M. Watson

Theses and Dissertations

Innovation is researched significantly throughout academic literature, ranging from leadership to organizational culture, with the aim of understanding how to enable greater creativity. This study attempted to address the knowledge gap on the common strategies of facilitating innovation in a group setting by evaluating this condition through four specific areas: environment, process, team dynamics, and facilitator behavior. This study built upon those four areas aiming to understand the process a facilitator puts a group of individuals through to stimulate innovation. Applying a qualitative phenomenological study, the researcher interviewed 15 facilitators of innovative thinking to understand the common strategies applied by …

The Political Nature Of The Paris Commune Of 1871 And Manifestations Of Marxist Ideology In The Official Publications Of The Central Committee, Emily M. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Historians originally claimed that the 1871 Paris Commune was inspired by Karl Marx. Since the 1960s, however, this assertion has been rejected by scholars who either claim that Marx had no influence over the Paris Communards or do not address the possibility that this influence existed. Many scholars have also claimed that the Commune was not political in any way, but was a rebellion inspired by patriotism, bitterness for the Versailles government’s capitulation of Paris to Prussia, or a spontaneous reaction to hostility from the national army’s attempt to disarm the indignant, rapidly organizing Parisian workers who called for municipal …

Print On Demand: Stereotyping And Electrotyping In The United States Printing Trades And Publishing Industry, 1812-1860, Jeffrey Michael Makala

Theses and Dissertations

Print on Demand explores the role and significance of stereotyping and electrotyping in the United States printing trades and publishing industry during the early nineteenth century. Stereotyping—the creation of solid printing plates cast from moveable type—fundamentally changed the ways in which books (and later, periodicals) were printed. The commissioning of plates altered shop practices, distribution methods, and the author/publisher relationship. Because of this new embodiment of capital and texts in the form of printing plates, a secondhand market for stereotyped works prolonged and complicated the production and distribution of material texts. The primary focus of this study is the ways …

The Impact Of Self-Assessment On Student Engagement During Independent Reading, Jonnell Atkins

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a self-assessment rubric on a students’ ability to self-monitor and self-regulate engaged reading behaviors. The research attempts to answer the following question: What impact does self-assessment have on the engagement of second-grade students during Independent Reading? Using an action research design, data was collected using a pretest and posttest, weekly engagement assessments, field notes and pre/post interviews. Both the quantitative and qualitative data were collected over a period of six weeks on Mondays and Wednesdays during Independent Reading. Student-participants included seven second-grade students and their classroom teacher as a …

Evaluative Study Of Jazz History Courses At The Collegiate Level, Charles Lawrence Bergeron

Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to compare quantitative information concerning jazz history courses being taught in schools of music across America. The secondary purpose of the study was to solicit and analyze opinions from experienced jazz history instructors regarding the place and importance of these courses in college curricula. Curricula in use in university music programs that offer bachelor’s degrees in jazz studies must be evaluated regarding the content and relevance of subject matter presented in jazz history classes.

Questions concerning the number of semesters required to teach a continually increasing amount of material were paramount to this …

Tone In Acatlán Mixtec Nouns, Esteban I. Méndez-Hord

Theses and Dissertations

Varieties of Mixtec (an Oto-Manguean language group spoken in southern Mexico) have often been analyzed as having a three-way tonal distinction: Low, Mid and High. I present evidence from original research on simple, alienable nouns, that only two lexical tones, /H/ (corresponding to the traditional Mid tone) and /L/, where some H tones are floating, are needed to describe noun roots in Acatlán Mixtec. In essence, the extra-H tone (corresponding to the traditional Hi tone) only occurs in derived environments, which involve the interaction of tones from two or more morphemes. The bulk of the analysis uses H and L …

Hablando De Negocios: Three Rio Grande Valley Businesses During The Great Depression, 1929-1939, Karla A. Lira

Theses and Dissertations

The Rio Grande Valley is in the South most tip of Texas and borders Northern Mexico, it includes Willacy, Cameron, Hidalgo, and Starr Counties. Scholars have focused on gender, agriculture, and labor of the area. However, historians have failed to research the region through a business perspective during the Great Depression. This thesis then seeks to analyze ways in which the Great Depression affected the Rio Grande Valley through the research of two stores and one business in the area: The Manuel Guerra Store, Edelstein’s furniture store, and John Shary’s land selling business. Its objective will fill an existing gap …

Containerizing Containment: The Automation And Globalization Of The National Security Waterfront, 1945-1997, John Douglas Forrest

Theses and Dissertations

After the introduction of the cargo container and related automation systems in the late 1950s, the numbers of maritime laborers who worked along the piers and aboard ship along American waterways steadily declined. In the late 1950s, tens of thousands of longshoremen and merchant mariners plied their respective trades, but the process of “containerization” reduced their numbers by nearly 70 percent by the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Department of Defense (DoD) similarly containerized and automated its cargo handling during this era. The introduction of the container also had negative consequences for defense maritime policy. Containerization of the National …

Public Records, Private Texts: Richard Carlile's Publication Of The Age Of Reason And The Birth Of Public Domain, Andrew S. Doub

Theses and Dissertations

Between 1818 and 1824, radical printer and publisher Richard Carlile made a determined effort to disseminate copies of Thomas Paine's banned text The Age of Reason in England. Despite strict censorship laws and harsh legal penalties used to curtail previous publishers of this title, Carlile employed a number of creative techniques that kept Paine's deistic writings in print and in circulation during the Regency period. These included republishing public domain court documents when he was charged with seditious libel and reading The Age of Reason in its entirety into testimony during his trial, making it part of the public record. …

Creating History Towards Utopia: The 2016 Taiwanese Lds Celebration, Ting-Chun Chang

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that emotions and memories in a community are essential to shaping a common future. Furthermore, when performed on stage, these memories and emotions create a utopian experience that moves performers and audience members towards a brighter future. The foundation for this thesis is built upon the ideas of utopian performative theories combined with the Asian Ganzhi belief that every sixty years a new cycle of hope begins. This thesis also includes a practical work. I was invited to write and direct a cultural production for the 60th year anniversary celebration of The Church of Jesus Christ of …

Death In The Gobi: A Case Study Of Skeletal Trauma From The Hets Mountain Cave In Mongolia, Christina Marie Ramazani

Theses and Dissertations

This study represents a contextualized analysis of the perimortem trauma and postmortem treatment of an assemblage (n=9) of naturally mummified individuals recovered from the Hets Mountain Cave in southern Mongolia. The assemblage dates AD 1434-1651, a period characterized by political instability and widespread conflict. Analysis of the trauma was completed utilizing radiological evaluation of 3D CT data. The perimortem trauma and postmortem treatment are contextualized within documentary and archaeological data on contemporary Mongolian mortuary and cultural practices to understand the social identities of these individuals. The trauma patterns are consistent with execution methods reserved for higher status Mongolians; the mortuary …

Neuronal Tissue Deposition Of Gadolinium Following Single In Vivo Intravenous Exposure Of Low Doses Of Gadodiamide In The Brains Of Healthy Dogs And Comparison Of Single- And Multi-Voxel Spectroscopy In The Normal Canine Brain At 3 Tesla, Alison Margret Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Proton MR spectroscopy is a tool that provides quantified brain bioprofiles. Two methods exist: single- and multi-voxel spectroscopy. No studies compare their clinical validity in vivo. Gadolinium based MR contrast agents are used to improve lesional conspicuity. Adverse events are reported. Brain deposition occurs following administration in people and murine models. In dogs, doses are anecdotal and deposition is not described. Eight normal dogs underwent MRI at 3 Tesla with two methods of spectroscopy and were administered varying doses of gadodiamide. No differences were seen between single- and multi-voxel spectroscopy when interrogating identical regions of interest. Brains were harvested and …

One Woman's College And Medical School Experience In The 1920s: Hilla Sheriff's Story, Jennifer L. Daniel

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this historical biography is to describe the educational experiences of Hilla Sheriff, an extraordinary woman who challenged attitudes about women’s education and employment in the medical field in the United States in the 1920s. Although the majority of women who attended a college or university at that time went to co-educational institutions, they were often limited to traditional gender role coursework such as home economics, nursing, or teaching. This study of Sheriff’s educational experiences particularizes attitudes about women’s education and employment in the 1920s. Many people did not see value in higher education for women. The thread …

The Byline Of Europe: An Examination Of Foreign Correspondents' Reporting From 1930 To 1941, Kerry J. Garvey

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on two of the largest foreign correspondents’ networks the one of the Chicago Tribune and New York Times- in prewar Europe and especially in Germany, thus providing a wider perspective on the foreign correspondents’ role in news reporting and, more importantly, how their reporting appeared in the published newspaper. It provides a new, broader perspective on how foreign news reporting portrayed European events to the American public. It describes the correspondents’ role in publishing articles over three time periods- 1930 to 1933, 1933-1939, and 1939 to 1941. Reporting and consequently the published paper depended on the correspondents’ …

The Influence Of Rural Primary Care Providers Level Of Stigma On Recognition Of Suicidal Ideation In Patients, Megan Obert

Theses and Dissertations

Although there has been an abundance of research in the last thirty years about primary care providers (PCPs) last contact with patients before they completed suicide, little is known about what may impede a PCPs ability to identify suicidal ideation in patients. The current study investigated implicit and explicit bias toward mental illness compared to physical illness among PCPs and students and how this may affect clinical decision making and identification of suicidal ideation in patients. The participants completed an online survey which assessed implicit stigma, explicit stigma, and clinical decision making in regard to a vignette that depicted a …