Digital Commons Network^™

Redeeming The Loss Of Being: Ontology And Possibility In Thomas Pynchon's Later Novels, Andrew Field

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis takes up two novels written by Thomas Pynchon, and attempts gain a better understanding of how these two novels pose, reframe and resolve questions concerning existence in a postmodern era. Characterized by a loss of tangible meaning, uncertainty, and ever-increasing variability, the postmodern period has forced artists to define large philosophical concepts such as being, knowledge, and understanding without the sensibilities which grounded bygone eras. Mason & Dixon and Against the Day, both novels by Thomas Pynchon, take up the question of being in an uncertain time, and offers a reconceptualization of the political responsiblities of the individual …

An Essay On Musical Narrative Theory And Its Role In Interpretation, With Analyses Of Works For Saxophone By Alfred Desenclos And John Harbison, Ian Macdonald Jeffress

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years the field of semiotics has increasingly been applied to musicology, with particular attention paid to the area of narrative theory. This study will provide an introduction to the essential concepts of semiotics and narrative theory, the development of a methodology of narrative analysis with examples from the saxophone repertoire, and the application of that analytical approach to Alfred Desenclos' Prélude, Cadence, et Finale and John Harbison's San Antonio. The goal of this study will be the demonstration of narrative theory's applicability to a variety of styles pertinent to the concert saxophone repertoire. It is hoped that this …

The Development Of The Femme Fatale On Stage As Seen In The Works Of Jesse Lynch Williams And Edna St. Vincent Millay, Hillary Elizabeth Macarthur

Theses and Dissertations

The Femme Fatale in the United States developed from certain characteristics represented by the New Woman movement of the 1920's. Jesse Lynch Williams and Edna St. Vincent Millay capture the identifying factors of what a Femme Fatale is and should be. This paper will explore the differences and similarities in the images of the Femme Fatale and New Woman, and discuss how those differences are related to origins of the image of the New Woman.

Cortisol And Working Memory In Boys With Fragile X Syndrome, Jessica F. Scherr

Theses and Dissertations

Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder and the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability. Although FXS is associated with global cognitive impairments, specific deficits in working memory have been reported in young males with FXS. Working memory is an important cognitive process that involves the ability to temporarily store and manipulate information over a short period of time. Deficits in working memory can negatively impact an individual's academic, behavioral, and social functioning. Chronic stress can adversely influence working memory performance and can be measured physiologically through salivary cortisol. It is important to study the complex relationship of …

The Relevance Of Sarcasm In Resolving Ambiguous References In Spoken Discourse, Sara Ann Peters

Theses and Dissertations

DISS_para>Sarcasm, or sarcastic irony, involves expressing a message that is often opposite of the literal meaning of what is being said, in a way that may sound bitter, or caustic (Gibbs, 1986). In the past, sarcasm has been viewed as a method of introducing the possibility of alternative interpretations of a discourse, by creating ambiguity as to the intended discourse interpretation. The current series of experiments sought to demonstrate that sarcasm could be viewed as beneficial in resolving ambiguity in conversation, by highlighting particular interpretations and thus ease processing, dependent on other available contextual information. Two Visual World studies …

Promoting Early Childhood Development Through Community Health Worker Interventions: Implementation And Measurement Issues In Rural Pakistan, Zaeem Haq

Theses and Dissertations

Appropriate nutrition and psychosocial stimulation during the first three years of life can have long-lasting effects on a child's health and development. However, not all children in the world receive adequate nutrition and psychosocial stimulation during this period. There has been enormous interest in developing the evidence on the most effective ways of implementing and assessing early childhood development (ECD) promotion interventions in resource poor settings. Despite the interest, the integration of ECD interventions into pre-existing public health programs, and assessment of these interventions in extended family, rural household environment have not been addressed.

The dissertation research presented here was …

The Evolution Of The Politics Of Genocide: Why American Efforts To Prevent And Intervene In The Sudan Failed, Shane Andrew Lesko

Theses and Dissertations

DISS_para>This thesis aims to examine and critique the United States' historical response to genocide. Beginning with the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crimes of Genocide in 1948, the author will highlight the lives of Raphael Lemkin and Senator William Proxmire in their personal crusades for U.S. ratification of the genocide ban. Culminating in a case study of the genocide in Sudan, the U.S. foreign policy towards genocide will be evaluated and charted through its evolution since 1948, through to ratification, and then at its applications in Cambodia, Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Sudan. The self-proclaimed …

Grammar In Context And Isolated Units: The Impact Of Dichotomized Teaching Methods In A Rural Southern High School, Amy Kae Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to use qualitative research methods to identify which methods a group of language arts teachers from a suburban high school use to teach grammar and why. Specific research questions included:

1. How do teachers who were educated with grammar as an isolated curricular unit perceive the current debate on language instruction? How do their perceptions impact their classroom instructional practice?

2. How do teachers who were educated with grammar as a whole language curricular unit perceive the current debate on language instruction? How do their perceptions impact their classroom instructional practice?

This study examined …

Is There A Disconnect? Comparing North Dakota And National Geography Standards, Lori Jean Young

Theses and Dissertations

In 1994, Geography for Life was published. From this publication the national geography and state geography standards were developed. These national standards were the basis of the state standards.

North Dakota Studies is a Grade 9-12 course offered in North Dakota high schools. This course is offered under mandate in North Dakota high schools, so a broad range of data could be obtained by contacting those teachers.

Prior research has shown that students exposed to 3-D geographic technologies have better spatial abilities than students without a technologic background. A recent study showed that adults wanted to know more about geography …

Assessing The Impact Of The Court Response To Domestic Violence In Two Neighboring Counties, Gillian Mira Pinchevsky

Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1970s, there has been a proliferation of research on domestic violence (DV). The majority of research, however, has focused on the correlates of DV and far fewer studies have examined the criminal justice system's approach to addressing DV. This is particularly concerning given that historically, the criminal justice system was rooted in English Common Law and tolerant of marital discipline to maintain household stability. Through the efforts of women's rights advocates, policy makers began devising innovative strategies for responding to DV, including provisions for mandatory arrests, no-drop policies, and the establishment of specialized DV courts. Although there has …

The Rhetorical Event Of Modern Southern Humor: "A Requisite Element In Discourse", David Allen Wright

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the rhetorical nature and dynamics of Southern humor in the second half of the twentieth century by analyzing, from a distinctly rhetorical perspective, a selection of popular Southern humor texts. It seeks to understand how Southern humor happens--its methods and techniques--and it also seeks to understand, as much as possible, the implications of these events for the various interlocutors and participants involved. By investigating the stylistic, storytelling, and linguistic techniques of Southern humor, while relying on the scholarship of writers in a variety of academic disciplines, I hope to answer the following research question: how does Southern …

I Can Be Silent And Be Saying A Lot: Teachers' Racial Literacy In A Southern Elementary School, Kimberly J. Howard

Theses and Dissertations

In order to better understand how teachers make sense of race in schools today, this ethnographic study explores the following research question: How do teachers in this school make sense of race, and how does the spatiality of the school inform this process? The study was conducted over a 14-month period in a southern elementary school and is presented as a poetic, narrative, and thematic analysis of the connections between the geographic location of this particular school and the teachers' practices, pedagogies, and conversations about race both inside their classrooms and in other school spaces. This study demonstrates how teachers' …

Shifting Landscapes: The Social And Economic Development Of Aqaba, Jordan, Kimberly K. Cavanagh

Theses and Dissertations

In my dissertation, 'Shifting Landscapes: the Social and Economic Development of Aqaba, Jordan', I examine the role of the global in (re)defining the local by considering the anticipated impact of the planned large-scale urban development within Aqaba. I contend that the identities of the citizens change as the city itself undergoes `renovation' through political adjustments, globalization, tourism development, and commercialization. I argue that these transformations provide opportunities of empowerment, albeit often limited, for marginalized populations who attempt to broaden the dominant local identity by taking advantage of new economic opportunities and increasing their agency within the city. This research provides …

Working Memory-Learning Condition Interactions: Proficiency In L2 Russian Under Naturalistic And Formal Learning Conditions, Marc Canner

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the relationships between working memory (WM) and three commonly used learning strategies or conditions in the nature of proficiency among adult L2 Russian learners. Based on the aptitude-learning condition interaction framework articulated by Robinson (2002b), the study identifies two types of relationships between the fixed variables of working memory and learning condition, and four variables related to second language proficiency (SLP) in Russian: accuracy, fluency, overall general proficiency or `native-likeness', and the occurrence of potentially fossilized forms in speech. Three main learning contexts were identified, including strictly naturalistic conditions resulting from immersion …

Re:Creation, Heather Boone

Theses and Dissertations

This intent of this project is to explore the importance of handmade objects in the age of information.

Transforming Narratives, Lucia Weilein

Theses and Dissertations

Narrative, often considered synonymous with “story,” can be viewed from a structuralist perspective and analyzed independent of any particular content. Breaking narrative into categories of story and discourse, this autonomous structure makes possible a translation of content from one form to another. The various media and form types common in graphic design can serve as both recipient and translator of narratives, converting content into a framework that includes the concept of craftsmanship, aesthetic components and specifications, legibility and composition, and the physical form of the designed object. To examine how this framework functions in practice, I have developed a series …

The Teaching Of Reading, Writing And Language In A Clinical Speech And Language Setting: A Blended Therapy Intervention Approach, Kerrie Allen Ammons

Theses and Dissertations

With a growing body of research that supports a link between language and literacy, governing bodies in the field of speech and language pathology have recognized the need to reconsider the role of speech-language pathologists in addressing the emergent literacy needs of preschoolers who struggle with literacy and language concepts. This study contributes to the research on speech and language pathology's clinical approaches by researching a blended approach to therapy using individualized language needs with embedded emergent literacy practices to expand not only the expressive and receptive language repertoire but also the emergent literacy learning of language-delayed preschool children receiving …

El Círculo Familiar Bilingüe De Libros / The Bilingual Family Book Club: Creating Translanguaging Spaces With Latin@ Picture Books, Kelli Edenfield Criss

Theses and Dissertations

The study employed a bilingual family book club framework to group parents and children together during bilingual literature discussion and response. Employing a qualitative design and constant comparative analysis, the researcher examined what happened when a bi-monthly bilingual family book club, involving seven emergent bilingual children, their parents, and a researcher/facilitator, was initiated and sustained over a five month period. The study's context was a Florida panhandle elementary school's media center and a public library branch. Through analysis of book club session and interview transcripts, the researcher discovered that students and parents employed their repertoires of linguistic and cultural practices. …

What?: Visual Interpretations Of The Miscommunication Between The Hearing And Deaf, Virginia Shou

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis visualizes the communication challenges both latent and obvious of my daily life as a hard of hearing individual. By focusing on a variety of experiences and examples I demonstrate the implications of a hard of hearing individual’s life. The prints, objects and videos that I have created for my visual thesis aim to enrich the understanding of a broader public on issues regularly faced by Deaf people. At the heart of my work my goal is to generate mutual empathy between the hearing and the Deaf.

Second Language Learnerhood Among Cross-Cultural Field Workers, Thor Andrew Sawin

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation studies second language learnerhood (ideologies about why and how to acquire a target language) among American field workers of a multinational, faith-based development organization, "Love the World". This organizational ethnography is longitudinal, tracking how learnerhood changes across the first years of field service. It is also multi-sited, tracing learnerhood across an assemblage of interconnected nodes. Field workers' learnerhoods are shaped by two larger ideologies of language learning which interact across the nodes of and individual trajectories through Love the World. One ideology, rooted in academic tradition, developmental second language acquisition and modernist missiological theory, valorizes the individual learner …

The Role Of The Trickster Figure And Four Afro-Caribbean Meta-Tropes In The Realization Of Agency By Three Slave Protagonists, David Sebastian Cross

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I aim to demonstrate that the figure of the trickster is a key trope for the achievement of agency by the narrators of the three slave narratives Autobiografia de un esclavo, "Routes in North Africa by Abu Bekr es siddik" [sic], and Biografia de un cimarron. I also intend to show how both the realization of the trickster's role and the achievement of agency to which such a role is oriented are dependent on the use of the four Afro-Caribbean meta-tropes ndoki, nkisi, nganga, and simbi. To demonstrate this, I plan to analyze these four meta-tropes; their …

Putting Place Back Into Displacement: Reevaluating Diaspora In The Contemporary Literature Of Migration, Christiane Brigitte Steckenbiller

Theses and Dissertations

In order to improve the engineering properties of soft soils, materials, such as cement and fiber, can be introduced to the soil mass. Currently, design criterion for a cement-soil mixture requires only the measurement of unconfined compressive strength. This simple measurement may not be adequate to describe the behavior that results from differing field loading conditions. A series of consolidation tests and unconfined compression tests were conducted with special attention being paid to the effects of curing time and vertical curing stress. It is shown that the introduction of cement into soft soils results in decreased compressibility and increased unconfined …

Professional Conversations About Race, Culture And Language In Early Childhood Literacy Education: An Administrator's Journey, Sabina Maria Mosso-Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

Year after year, children of Color, speakers of languages other than English, and children of poverty are served less well in public schools then their White, middle-class peers. The lives of children from White, middle-class homes are regularly normalized as they are described by teachers, administrators, policy makers, and educational programs as those with the most worth and knowledge. In all too many settings, cultures and languages outside this narrowly-defined norm are perceived from deficit perspectives. This hierarchy perpetuates a status quo that privileges and therefore supports the success of some, while devaluing and contributing to the failure of others. …

Perceptions Of Breast Cancer-Related Stigma And Genetic Knowledge Among Latina Women: El Mejor Entendimiento Del Miedo., Jade Cognetti

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among Latina women, with BRCA1/2 gene mutations accounting for a commensurate proportion of breast/ovarian cancer in Latina women as compared to non-Latina women. Despite this statistic, it has been shown that Latino populations exhibit low awareness and use of genetic services and that they hold culturally-related beliefs which stigmatize cancer. We hypothesized that a simple, culturally-tailored educational flier would improve genetics knowledge as well as decrease breast cancer-related stigma among Latina women in our sample. Method: Two groups of Latina women (N = 19) were provided with a pre-survey, educational …

Contested Identities And Language Education: Inculcating Nationalist Ideologies In The Basque Region, William Joseph Hogan

Theses and Dissertations

Nationalist sentiment has a long history in the Basque regions of northern Spain. Culturally separate from the dominant Castilian society, separatists have for many years advocated for an independent Basque state. Following democratic reforms under the Constitution of 1978, regional cultures and languages were explicitly recognized and protected in Spain. This allowed for the current set of language laws in the Autonomous Community of Pa├â┬¡s Vasco in which Castilian Spanish and the Basque language of Euskara are held in equal status and recognition. Furthermore, Euskara has been recognized as a defining characteristic of Basque identity. The regional government has instituted …

A Case Study Of Principals' Knowledge Of Early Childhood Literacy, Christine Elizabeth Leblanc

Theses and Dissertations

Nationally approximately 40 percent of third grade students do not read at grade level. Principals play a critical role in providing leadership in the implementation of Response to Intervention (RtI) to ensure that students not making adequate yearly progress receive targeted instruction to address their deficiencies. The purpose of this study is to explore the experience of five principals through an investigation of their understanding of the reading process as it relates to the implementation of RtI in their schools. I specifically wish to understand: What do principals know about early childhood literacy and how do they use that knowledge …

Rewriting The Human: Death Anxiety And Posthuman Vision In Literature Since 1945, John Allen Brooks

Theses and Dissertations

ISS_para>The technology-driven years following the close of World War II provided a new lens through which the human subject could be rethought and, theoretically, improved: no longer did physical and mental shortcomings have to limit the capacity of the individual. The atomic bomb and Colossus computer, though destructive forces, pushed scientists and philosophers to consider new models of the human, including flesh/machine amalgamation and reinscription as downloadable, digital information. While these posthuman constructions promised to distance the human from its material shortcomings, especially its vulnerability to bodily decay and death, they encountered significant resistance in the twentieth century.

By …

A Global Joyce: Early Sightings Of Cosmopolitan Ethics In Ulysses, Matthew Zeller

Theses and Dissertations

'Ulysses is like a great net let down upon the life of a microcosmic city-state, Dublin, wherein lie captured all sorts and conditions of men and minds,' wrote Stuart Gilbert, the famous literary scholar whose landmark 1930 book-length investigation into Joyce's magnum opus cemented his legacy as one of the first Joyceans. In saying so, Gilbert quietly proposes an early reading of Joyce's global ethics long before the study of humanities had developed the post-colonial focus necessary to more fully grasp the cosmopolitan ethics asserted in Ulysses. Gilbert was not alone. Because of his self-imposed exile and thematic insistence on …

International Graduate Students' Experiences With Race, Racial Identity, And Racialization At Home And In The United States: A Comparative Case Study, Ashlee Amanda Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

As the number of students studying in the United States (U.S.) has risen, scholars have increasingly paid attention to multiple aspects of the international student experience. Despite a proliferation of studies generally addressing the topic of international students, few studies have explicitly addressed the ways in which international students' sense of identity may be complicated during their time living and studying in the U.S. Scholarly inquiries into how international students experience racialization and the American racial paradigm have been missing from the overall discourse around "the international student experience."

This dissertation study contributes to that discourse by examining international graduate …

Pathways To Equity: An Auto-Ethnographic And Narrative Study Of Teacher Educator And Preservice Teachers In A One-Credit Course And Community-Based Field Experience, Lisa Reid

Theses and Dissertations

the student population in the United States within the next several years, while predominately White teachers will continue to compromise the teaching population. Schools continually fail to serve racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse students, particularly African American students. As such, a critical issue within teacher education is how to best prepare teachers to teach across the lines of ethnicity/race, language, and social class.

In response to this issue, this study looked closely at the identities, perspectives, and experiences of a teacher educator and undergraduate, preservice teachers throughout a one-credit education course infused with elements of equity pedagogies and an added …