Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Theses and Dissertations

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication Year

Articles 2041 - 2070 of 6043

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Latinx Immigrant Health And Well-Being In The United States: Examining Legal Status As A Social Determinant Of Health, Ayli Carrero Pinedo Jan 2021

Latinx Immigrant Health And Well-Being In The United States: Examining Legal Status As A Social Determinant Of Health, Ayli Carrero Pinedo

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Much of the body of research on Latinx immigrant health has focused on border states or coastal shoreline regions and less is known about the health experiences of Latinx immigrants in the Midwest. Objective: Using a social determinants of health framework, the first aim of the study was to examine a model of Latinx immigrant health and to determine whether the relations from acculturation and enculturation to subjective health and well-being are partially or fully mediated by perceived discrimination and acculturative stress. The second aim was to investigate if and how legal status moderates the relations within the retained …

Go to article

Leveraging The Inductive Bias Of Large Language Models For Abstract Textual Reasoning, Christopher Michael Rytting Dec 2020

Leveraging The Inductive Bias Of Large Language Models For Abstract Textual Reasoning, Christopher Michael Rytting

Theses and Dissertations

Large natural language models (such as GPT-2 or T5) demonstrate impressive abilities across a range of general NLP tasks. Here, we show that the knowledge embedded in such models provides a useful inductive bias, not just on traditional NLP tasks, but also in the nontraditional task of training a symbolic reasoning engine. We observe that these engines learn quickly and generalize in a natural way that reflects human intuition. For example, training such a system to model block-stacking might naturally generalize to stacking other types of objects because of structure in the real world that has been partially captured by …

Go to article

Are Giant Pandas (Ailuropoda Melanoleuca) Averse To Inequity?, Miranda R. Trapani Dec 2020

Are Giant Pandas (Ailuropoda Melanoleuca) Averse To Inequity?, Miranda R. Trapani

Theses and Dissertations

Inequity aversion, a negative response to situations of unequal reward distribution, is a cognitive trait usually seen in social species. This capacity is thought to regulate cooperative relationships in intelligent, cognitively flexible animals. Giant pandas are a unique case in that wild populations are characterized as nonsocial, however captive populations are socially housed until sexual maturity. This allows for the study of a nonsocial species in a social context and thus the assessment of socio-cognitive flexibility across evolutionarily distant taxa. Here, we assessed whether the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) displays inequity aversion by testing ten juveniles living at …

Go to article

A Discourse Analysis Of The Science Of Reading Through The Lens Of A Social Media Twitter Hashtag, April Darlene Evans Dec 2020

A Discourse Analysis Of The Science Of Reading Through The Lens Of A Social Media Twitter Hashtag, April Darlene Evans

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative virtual ethnographic study was conducted to explore the discourse around the science of reading topic through the lens of a social media Twitter hashtag known as #scienceofreading. Participants for this study consisted of any person that had an account on Twitter and entered into the discourse of the topic of the science of reading using the #scienceofreading contained within their tweet or attached to their tweet. Participants were observed in the public social media platform of Twitter. Three research questions were used to explain the phenomenon: 1) What are the roles of the participants involved in the discourse …

Go to article

Understanding Classroom Teachers' Knowledge And Practices For Teaching Reading To Students At-Risk For Dyslexia, Amanda Mccaleb Dec 2020

Understanding Classroom Teachers' Knowledge And Practices For Teaching Reading To Students At-Risk For Dyslexia, Amanda Mccaleb

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods study examined the knowledge base of 130 elementary classroom teachers for teaching reading to students at-risk for dyslexia. A multiple-choice knowledge survey included items situated in classroom contexts and assessed participants’ knowledge about the five components of reading including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Additionally, qualitative data were collected to better understand what is informing classroom teachers’ knowledge and practices for teaching reading to students at-risk for dyslexia. Overall, participants obtained the highest scores on the knowledge survey subscale involving fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension and the lowest subscale involving phonemic awareness and phonics. Mean percentages correct …

Go to article

Penetrating Dissonance, Miguel A. Payano Jr Dec 2020

Penetrating Dissonance, Miguel A. Payano Jr

Theses and Dissertations

This paper attempts to provide insight into the cultural and linguistic influences that form and inform my artistic practice. Inspired by my tri-cultural life journey, my research focuses on the effects of socialization and linguistics on the thought processes at the center of my creative pursuits.

Go to article

An Examination Of Motivation Types And Their Influence On English Proficiency For Current High School Students In South Korean, Euiyong Jung Dec 2020

An Examination Of Motivation Types And Their Influence On English Proficiency For Current High School Students In South Korean, Euiyong Jung

Theses and Dissertations

Despite huge investments in national English language policies, few South Koreans develop communicable English proficiency. Yet, English language proficiency for all secondary and college students continues to be the goal of these policies (Moodie & Nam, 2015; Ahn, 2015). One of the fundamental reasons for the lack of communicable English proficiency was based on the social phenomenon, called 'hakbuljueui', or academic elitism, in Korea (Kim. T.-Y., 2006) whereby students seem to be instrumentally motivated to learn English only to pass the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), and gain admission to elite Universities (Kim, T.-Y., 2006; Kim, K., 2016). The current …

Go to article

Experienced Esl Teachers' Attitudes Towards Using Phonetic Symbols In Teaching English Pronunciation To Adult Esl Students, Oxana Kodirova Dec 2020

Experienced Esl Teachers' Attitudes Towards Using Phonetic Symbols In Teaching English Pronunciation To Adult Esl Students, Oxana Kodirova

Theses and Dissertations

Different opinions exist about the use of phonetic alphabet symbols in teaching English pronunciation to second language learners. Some authors and researchers believe phonetic symbols can benefit students in many ways; others consider this tool hardly recommendable. However, little empirical research has been done to find out what ESL teachers think about the use of this linguistic tool. Thus, via an online survey this study sought to identify ESL teachers' attitudes towards the use of phonetic symbols in teaching ESL pronunciation. A total of 120 teachers took the survey and most of them were experienced in teaching pronunciation to adult …

Go to article

L, M, N, O, P, Matt Jones Dec 2020

L, M, N, O, P, Matt Jones

Theses and Dissertations

A meditation on my painting and drawing practice in relation to the work of Philip Guston, Nancy Spero, and Frank Moore, among others, just before and during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Go to article

Exploring Dialogue Journals As A Context For Connecting With And Supporting The Emotional Lives Of Fourth Graders, Samantha Simone Johnson Dec 2020

Exploring Dialogue Journals As A Context For Connecting With And Supporting The Emotional Lives Of Fourth Graders, Samantha Simone Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

About 20 percent of school-aged children, 18 years and younger, struggle with mental health issues in America today. Mental health issues lead to greater rates of suicide, depression, loneliness, anxiety, and bullying that takes place in and out of schools. This exploratory multiple case study looks at how 10 fourth graders, five male and five female, use a weekly entry in a dialogue journal letter to their teacher to share their emotional lives. I explore how a dialogue journal can open up a space between students and teachers for emotional aspects of life and learning to be included in schools. …

Go to article

Application Of A Self-Regulation Framework In An Esl Classroom: Effects On Iep International Students, Claudia Mencarelli Dec 2020

Application Of A Self-Regulation Framework In An Esl Classroom: Effects On Iep International Students, Claudia Mencarelli

Theses and Dissertations

The present mixed methods study looks at the impact of a specific self-regulatory framework (WOOP) developed within the domain of mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII), and its effects on the self-reported self-regulation of learners in an intensive English program in the United States over the course of one 14-week semester. The research, which includes a total of 187 participants, compares self-reported self-regulation between students who used the framework and those who did not, and the impact the tool has on the different proficiency levels involved in the study. Furthermore, following a sequential explanatory design, the study aims to examine …

Go to article

The Effect Of Language Learning Experience On Motivation And Anxiety Of Foreign Language Learning Students, Josie Eileen Thacker Dec 2020

The Effect Of Language Learning Experience On Motivation And Anxiety Of Foreign Language Learning Students, Josie Eileen Thacker

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how motivation and anxiety within learners studying a foreign language are affected by a participant's language requirement (whether a participant has a language requirement as part of their education), language class level, and language learning environment (those with traditional classroom verses significant in- country experience). The current study surveyed and analyzed the responses of 124 students currently enrolled in a language class at Brigham Young University. Self- reported survey results demonstrate the relationship between motivation and anxiety with relation to language class level, language learning experience, and language requirement fulfillment. Further analyses …

Go to article

Translating Greek Mythology In Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction, Emily Olive Moore Dec 2020

Translating Greek Mythology In Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction, Emily Olive Moore

Theses and Dissertations

Given its early connection to western science fiction, it is not entirely surprising that contemporary Chinese science fiction (csf) frequently references the "west" in general and Greek mythology in particular. The three works that I analyze in this paper are Xia Jia's "Psychology Game," Gu Shi's "Chimera," and Egoyan Zheng's The Dream Devourer. These three texts utilize Greek mythology in different ways, to different degrees, and with different purposes, and yet they all use Greek mythology to visually disrupt their respective texts. Xia Jia ends "Psychology Game" with a direct Greek-language quotation. Throughout "Chimera," Gu Shi quotes Chinese translations of …

Go to article

Metalearning By Exploiting Granular Machine Learning Pipeline Metadata, Brandon J. Schoenfeld Dec 2020

Metalearning By Exploiting Granular Machine Learning Pipeline Metadata, Brandon J. Schoenfeld

Theses and Dissertations

Automatic machine learning (AutoML) systems have been shown to perform better when they use metamodels trained offline. Existing offline metalearning approaches treat ML models as black boxes. However, modern ML models often compose multiple ML algorithms into ML pipelines. We expand previous metalearning work on estimating the performance and ranking of ML models by exploiting the metadata about which ML algorithms are used in a given pipeline. We propose a dynamically assembled neural network with the potential to model arbitrary DAG structures. We compare our proposed metamodel against reasonable baselines that exploit varying amounts of pipeline metadata, including metamodels used …

Go to article

Factor Structure Of The Jordan Performance Appraisal System: A Multilevel Multigroup Study Using Categorical And Count Data, Holly Lee Allen Dec 2020

Factor Structure Of The Jordan Performance Appraisal System: A Multilevel Multigroup Study Using Categorical And Count Data, Holly Lee Allen

Theses and Dissertations

Development of the Jordan Performance Appraisal System (JPAS) was completed in 1996. This study examined the factor structure of the classroom observation instrument used in the JPAS. Using observed classroom instructional quality ratings of 1220 elementary teachers of Grades 1-6 in the Jordan School District, this study estimated the factor structure of the data and the rater effect on relevant structural parameters. This study also tested for measurement invariance at the within and between levels across teachers of two grade-level groups (a) lower grades: Grades 1-3 and (b) upper grades: Grades 4-6. Factor structure was estimated using complex exploratory factor …

Go to article

Teaching Second-Grade Students To Write Expository Text, Angenette Cox Imbler Dec 2020

Teaching Second-Grade Students To Write Expository Text, Angenette Cox Imbler

Theses and Dissertations

Writing is necessary to participate in public discourse. Much of today's communication is based on information, yet many students do not adequately learn how to write expository text. Learning to write is difficult, but expository text can be especially difficult as it requires knowledge of both a subject and special text structures. The purpose of this study was to give teachers a research-proven method for teaching students to write expository text and to give more information on how to evaluate students' writing. In this quasi-experimental quantitative research design, the expository writing of students before and after receiving a new science …

Go to article

Domestic Vs. Foreign Immersion Experiences: Listening Comprehension Of Multiple Dialects In Spanish, Nathan Thomas Adams Dec 2020

Domestic Vs. Foreign Immersion Experiences: Listening Comprehension Of Multiple Dialects In Spanish, Nathan Thomas Adams

Theses and Dissertations

Study abroad has been shown to improve students' linguistic and cultural competence, but students who gain their fluency abroad may struggle to adapt to the plethora of regional dialects they encounter in their studies and interactions after they've returned from their study abroad. The researchers of this study posited that learning Spanish in a domestic immersion context may improve a student's flexibility or tolerance for dialectal variation in regard to listening comprehension. Using a detailed survey and multi-dialectal listening assessment, the researchers examined the degree to which Spanish language learners, in this case 183 missionaries, were exposed to a variety …

Go to article

Ranking Aspect-Based Features In Restaurant Reviews, Jacob Ling Hang Chan Dec 2020

Ranking Aspect-Based Features In Restaurant Reviews, Jacob Ling Hang Chan

Theses and Dissertations

Consumers continuously review products and services on the internet. Others have frequently relied on those reviews in making purchasing decisions. Review texts are usually free-form and associated with a star rating on a 5-point scale. The majority of restaurants receive a 3.5 or 4 star rating on average, so a standalone star rating does not provide adequate information for readers to make a decision. Many researchers have approached the problem with sentiment analysis to classify a sentence or a text as expressing a positive or a negative review. Sentiment analysis, even at the fine-grained level, can only provide classification of …

Go to article

Middle School Leaders' Perceptions Of Self-Efficacy In An Urban School District Along The Texas-Mexico Border, Rachel R. Ayala Dec 2020

Middle School Leaders' Perceptions Of Self-Efficacy In An Urban School District Along The Texas-Mexico Border, Rachel R. Ayala

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the case study was to comprehend the relationship between the accountability movement as characterized by the Texas A-F Accountability System and ESSA on a middle school principal’s sense of self-efficacy in an urban school district located at the southeastern-most point of the Rio Grande Valley along the Texas-Mexico border. The case study employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design and allowed for the collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data in two consecutive phases within one study to investigate the research questions in depth. The quantitative portion of this mixed methods case study relied on …

Go to article

The Implementation And Comparison Of Fuzzy Logic Control Systems To Modern Control Methods On Low-Cost Hardware, Cristian A. Barron Dec 2020

The Implementation And Comparison Of Fuzzy Logic Control Systems To Modern Control Methods On Low-Cost Hardware, Cristian A. Barron

Theses and Dissertations

Modern control engineering provides many options to automate systems for which a mathematical model is required. Another control does not rely on the mathematical model of the system and is known as fuzzy logic control. In this study, a literature review is conducted on existing control systems strategies such as proportional integral and derivative (PID), linear quadratic regulator (LQR), and fuzzy logic controller (FLC), the complexity of the systems they control, and their strengths and weaknesses. In addition, a series of experiments are conducted, both through simulations in MATLAB Simulink and using their implementation using the actual physical hardware to …

Go to article

The Relationship Between The 9th Grade State Assessment And Extra Curricular School Activities And Gender For Disadvantaged Hispanic Students In South Texas, Paz Elizondo Jr. Dec 2020

The Relationship Between The 9th Grade State Assessment And Extra Curricular School Activities And Gender For Disadvantaged Hispanic Students In South Texas, Paz Elizondo Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between the 9th grade state assessment test scores for Disadvantaged Hispanic students who are taking the English I State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness End-of-Course exam. The group analyzed was comprised of the 2016-2017 cohort students from a South Texas High School.

Go to article

Attitudes Of Criminal Justice Students' Towards Women: Hegemonic Masculinity In The Workplace, Lauren Escovedo Dec 2020

Attitudes Of Criminal Justice Students' Towards Women: Hegemonic Masculinity In The Workplace, Lauren Escovedo

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the following study is to examine positive, benevolent, and hostile attitudes towards women in the workplace held by criminal justice students enrolled at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. As well, to examine whether or not criminal justice students enrolled at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley believe that criminal justice personnel create a gender-neutral classroom environment. The application Qualtrics XM was used to comprise a 35 question survey that, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, was administered online to students for a two week period during the Fall 2020 semester. Criminal justice students …

Go to article

The Influence Of College Preparation In The Relationship Between High School Socioeconomic Context And College Enrollment, Jeffery J. Huerta Dec 2020

The Influence Of College Preparation In The Relationship Between High School Socioeconomic Context And College Enrollment, Jeffery J. Huerta

Theses and Dissertations

Recent research has documented that the socioeconomic context of high schools plays a significant role in students’ postsecondary enrollment outcomes (Engberg & Wolniak, 2014; Roderick et al., 2011; Engberg & Wolniak, 2010; Nuñez & Kim, 2012; Hill, 2008; Perna & Titus, 2005; Perna, 2000), with lower college outcomes occurring due to students at lower SES high schools having lower amounts of capital, less access to rigorous curriculum, and more negative peer influences than students at higher SES high schools. However, absent in these studies is whether efforts of comprehensive college preparation were taking place and if such efforts are also …

Go to article

Exploring The Implementation Of A Proficiency-Focused, Performance-Based Approach In Foreign Language Teaching, Yuka Kato Dec 2020

Exploring The Implementation Of A Proficiency-Focused, Performance-Based Approach In Foreign Language Teaching, Yuka Kato

Theses and Dissertations

Foreign language teachers in one district faced a paradigm shift in the ways language should be taught and in their pedagogical beliefs. They were asked to shift from a traditional approach to the Proficiency-Focused, Performance-Based (PFPB) approach in order to meet the national Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century, created by ACTFL (1999 & 2006). The expectation was that every foreign language teacher in the district would use the PFPB approach. However, the problem was that some of the teachers would not understand the approach or how to implement it, with the result that the approach …

Go to article

The Layered Frames Of Performed Tabletop: Actual-Play Podcasts And The Laminations Of Media, Brendan Decicio Dec 2020

The Layered Frames Of Performed Tabletop: Actual-Play Podcasts And The Laminations Of Media, Brendan Decicio

Theses and Dissertations

Despite their sudden growth in popularity, the role-playing actual-play podcasts have either been ignored or grouped with the genre of audio drama in prior scholarly works. Examination using frame analysis shows, however, that these podcasts are distinct in their engagement of the audience on multiple, simultaneous levels; levels which correspond with well-known media genres such as Documentary, Fiction, and Game Play. Each frame has its own layer of identities, conduct, and avenue for appealing to audiences just as these genres have their own distinct appeals. Through the combinations of these frames, familiar tropes and techniques such as Short-Form Improv and …

Go to article

Framework For Reasoning With Speech Processing, Ahmed Laarfi Dec 2020

Framework For Reasoning With Speech Processing, Ahmed Laarfi

Theses and Dissertations

It is known that programming languages are textual. We try here to take the advantages of Speech Recognition (SR) and employ them in creating a verbal Language, which takes its instruction from the voice. Because this work is a novel approach in the programming world, we could not find any resources. This dissertation aims to make essential developments in Speech Recognition (SR)and Artificial Intelligence by constructing a new compiler that receives commands verbally and executes them. That means entering data into the Computer by voice commands. This method of input means that we link several major computer topics with several …

Go to article

Modern Standard Arabic Speech Recognition: Using Formants Measurements To Extract Vowels From Arabic Words’ Consonant-Vowel-Consonant-Vowel Structure, Mohamed Ali Alshaari Dec 2020

Modern Standard Arabic Speech Recognition: Using Formants Measurements To Extract Vowels From Arabic Words’ Consonant-Vowel-Consonant-Vowel Structure, Mohamed Ali Alshaari

Theses and Dissertations

Arabic texts suffer from missing diacritics (short vowels) which become obstacles for new learners. Speech Recognition is the translation of words spoken to text through intelligent computer programs. As of today, it has been integrated into many computer systems. Arabic Speech Recognition has made progress over the years, but it is still not as good as English speech recognition due to the problem of short vowels not being recognized. This is mainly because the Arabic language is unlike the English language in the nature because it is a Semitic language. This is reflected in different characteristics such as grammar, morphology, …

Go to article

The Vowels Of Urban Qatari Arabic, Mark Daniel Shockley Dec 2020

The Vowels Of Urban Qatari Arabic, Mark Daniel Shockley

Theses and Dissertations

Urban Qatari Arabic is a variety of Gulf Arabic [afb] spoken by Qataris with traditionally sedentary tribal backgrounds. This study examines phonetic and phonological aspects of Urban Qatari Arabic vowels using acoustic phonetic data gathered in Qatar. A new phonemic vowel inventory is proposed, including five long vowels and two short vowels. This finding contradicts published studies on Gulf Arabic, which include three or more short vowels; however, it is not unexpected when studies are compared from nearby Arabic varieties. The vowel inventory is also investigated using four linear mixed-effects regression models. In Gulf Arabic, variation in short vowel backness …

Go to article

The Phonology Of Mbati, Sarah Gloria Lepage Dec 2020

The Phonology Of Mbati, Sarah Gloria Lepage

Theses and Dissertations

This description of the phonology of Mbati/Isongo (C13) (mdn) of CAR is based on a word-list recorded by native Mbati speakers. A description of nominal and verbal morphology is included as a foundation for discussing morphophonemic processes. Only open syllables and consonant-glide clusters are allowed. Alveolar and velar plosives are affricated or palatalized before the high front vowel. Prenasalized consonants act as phonological units, rather than clusters. Mid-vowels within noun roots harmonize according to the feature [ATR]. [−ATR]-dominated vowel assimilation occurs within verb stems. Vowel hiatus is resolved by glide formation, diphthong formation, elision, and epenthesis, depending on the vowels …

Go to article

A Finite State Automata-Based Description Of Device States For Function Modeling Of Multi-State Technical Devices, Ahmed Mohammed Sobhan Chowdhury Dec 2020

A Finite State Automata-Based Description Of Device States For Function Modeling Of Multi-State Technical Devices, Ahmed Mohammed Sobhan Chowdhury

Theses and Dissertations

Many modern and innovative design problems require multi-modal, reconfigurable solutions. Function modeling (FM) is a common tool used to explore solutions in early stages of mechanical engineering design. Currently, function structure representations do not abet the modeling of formally-defined reconfigurable function models as graph-based function models used in early-stage systems design usually represent only one operational mode of the system. Currently there is a need, but no rigorous formalism to model multiple possible modes in the model and logically predict the behavior of the system as it transitions between the modes. Additionally, function modeling representations will benefit from dynamically capturing …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last