Digital Commons Network^™

Effectiveness Of A Time Out From Reinforcement Package For Escape-Maintained Behaviors Exhibited By Typically Developing Children In Head Start, Melissa Marie Harber

Theses and Dissertations

This investigation identified children whose noncompliant behavior was maintained by negative reinforcement through brief functional analysis conditions and then evaluated the effectiveness of a contraindicated treatment (i.e., time-out package) for decreasing the noncompliant behavior to developmentally appropriate levels. The current results provided initial supporting data that time-out, in conjunction with other treatment variables, can be an effective strategy in reducing escape maintained noncompliance. Brief experimental analysis conditions consistent with the methodology demonstrated by Northup and colleagues (1991), were utilized to identify escape as the maintaining variable for noncompliance. Following identification of the function of the behavior, baseline data were collected. …

An Exploratory Study Of The Effect Of Instruction On Student, Gladys E. Vint

Theses and Dissertations

Although substantial research has been conducted regarding the instruction of reading, students are still not reaching a desired level of reading competency (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). The Reading First program was established to address this dilemma. In order to examine the impact the Reading First method of teaching reading had on the schools in Arkansas, a population was identified and classified into four categories: funded Reading First and non-funded Reading First, and matched control groups for both funded and non-funded. These schools were followed for three years, first grade through the third grade year, by obtaining achievement data obtained …

Ascents And Descents: Personal Pilgrimage In Hieronymus Bosch's The Haywain, Alison Daines

Theses and Dissertations

At the end of the fifteenth century, Hieronymus Bosch provided the foremost expression of the strict religious piety embodied by the Devotio Moderna and the impending embrace of secular humanism. As a result, Bosch's seemingly complex images provided viewers with positive messages concerning the journey of life through the use of binary symbolism. He utilized the pilgrimage motif as a guide throughout his paintings and in relation to the liminal spaces surrounding his works. This article will examine his important triptych, The Haywain, (c.1495-1516) as an example of spiritual paths taken simultaneously by both religious and contemporary figures, along …

Developing A Heuristic For A Workplace Challenge: Discovering The Contributions Of Business, Psychology, And Sociology To A Rhetorical Workplace Situation, Erin Nicole Marks

Theses and Dissertations

I am the Safety Coordinator for approximately 300 retail stores throughout the United States. I frequently have to visit store locations in order to gain the cooperation of all store personnel in acting safely, preventing safety hazards, and maintaining compliance with workplace safety regulations. I must persuade store management to change their behavior in a way that improves the safety culture of their store. To do this, I must maintain an appropriate balance of being a caring corporate communicator and being an authoritative corporate representative. I need to be able to analyze each communication situation so that I can produce …

The P600 Event-Related Potential Across Ages And Ear Conditions, Kyla Lewis Tree

Theses and Dissertations

Studying language development through event-related potentials provides specific information regarding how the brain processes specific aspects of language over time. In this study, the P600 component, a positive wave occurring approximately 600 ms post-stimulus and known for detecting syntactic errors, was specifically analyzed. Thirty children between the ages of 5 and 12 years listened to linguistically correct, syntactically incorrect, and semantically incorrect sentences in three ear conditions: monaurally to the right ear, monaurally to the left ear, and binaurally. The participants were instructed to judge the sentences to be correct or incorrect. Comparisons were then made of the latency and …

Statistical Tools For Linking Engine-Generated Malware To Its Engine, Edna Chelangat Milgo

Theses and Dissertations

Malware-generating engines challenge typical malware analysts by requiring them to quickly extract and upload to their customers' machines, a signature for each of a possibly vast number of never-before-seen malware instances that an engine can generate in a short amount of time In this thesis we propose and evaluate two methods for linking variants of engine-generated malware to its engine. The proposed methods use the w-gram frequency vector (NFV) of the opcode mnemonics of an engine-generated malware in- stance as a feature vector for the instance. An NFV is a tuple that maps «-grams with their frequencies. The in-formation contained …

The Relationship Between Procrastination And Intrapersonal Intelligence In College Students, Christa Grant

Theses and Dissertations

Procrastination is ubiquitous, encompasses many domains of life, i.e., school, work, and home, and for many people has negative results. Therefore, researchers, educators, psychologists, and counselors need to discover ways to alleviate the problem. When Gardner's multiple intelligences are used in pedagogical implementation in elementary and high schools, researchers have found positive results. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between procrastination and intrapersonal intelligence as well as the other dimensions of multiple intelligence among students in higher education in order to illuminate possible solutions to the problem of procrastination. Because intrapersonal intelligence is associated with the …

Topicalization In Malagasy: Effects Of Teaching Malagasy As A Topic Language, Jeremy D. Workman

Theses and Dissertations

This study discusses teaching Malagasy as a second language. Malagasy is the native language spoken on the island of Madagascar. Traditionally, Malagasy has been taught as a language that is similar to English in the way that it uses active and passive voice constructions. However, most native-English students struggle to produce native-like utterances using non-active voice constructions in Malagasy. Recent studies have suggested that Malagasy more closely relates to Germanic V2 languages than it does to English (Pearson 2005, Hyams et al. 2006). This might explain why students taught Malagasy as an English-like language struggle. This study compares the relative …

The Efficacy Of Dynamic Written Corrective Feedback On Intermediate-High Esl Learners' Writing Accuracy, Soon Yeun Lee

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the efficacy of dynamic written corrective feedback (DWCF) on intermediate-high students' writing accuracy when compared to a traditional grammar instruction approach. DWCF is an innovative written corrective feedback method that requires a multifaceted process and interaction between the teacher and the students in order to help the students improve their writing accuracy. The central principle of DWCF is that feedback should be manageable, meaningful, timely, and constant. The research question was raised based on the positive effects of DWCF found in advanced-low and advanced-mid proficiency level students (Evans et al., in press; Evans, Hartshorn, & Strong-Krause, 2009; …

A Case Study Of A Three-Year Pilot Program On One District’S Attempt To Increase The Gifted Identification Of Diverse Elementary School Students By Having A Talent Development Program, Robin Franklin

Theses and Dissertations

This case study examined ways elementary school students from diverse populations (minorities and children from low socioeconomic status environments) were included in a talent development program, and determined if that inclusion proved to be beneficial for gifted identification. With intentional regard for the idea of talent development, this study sought to uncover the nuts and bolts of one district’s effort to create a program for young elementary school students (K-3). This investigation used interviews, a focus group, document reviews, and standardized achievement measures to study how the talent development program for underrepresented students was created and implemented. A synthesis of …

The Home Of Truth: The Metaphysical World Of Marie Ogden, Stanley J. Thayne

Theses and Dissertations

Marie Ogden's Home of Truth colony—a religious community that was located in southern Utah during the 1930s and 40s—was part of a segment of the American religious landscape that has largely been overlooked. As such, her movement points to a significant gap in the historiography of American religion. In addition to documenting the history of this obscure community, I situate Marie Ogden as part of what I call the early new age of American religion, an underdeveloped part of the broader categories of metaphysical religion or Western esotericism. This thesis also points to several other overlooked figures from the same …

An Analysis Of Reading Instruction For Fifth Grade Students With Disabilities Served In Inclusive Elementary Classrooms, Elizabeth Dragone

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study was designed to identify and analyze instructional strategies used by fifth grade teachers to meet the needs of students with disabilities receiving reading instruction in inclusive settings. Seven participants in a large suburban school system were chosen through purposeful, criterion-based sampling. Semi-structured interviews were used to gain information about how teachers use data related to student readiness, interests, and learning profiles to design differentiated instruction. Observations were used to gain information about how the teachers implemented differentiated content, process, and products in the classroom. As more students with disabilities are served in inclusive settings, teachers are …

You Don't Know Jack: The Dynamics Of Mormon Religious/Ethnic Identity, Michael R. Cope

Theses and Dissertations

For much of human existence identity was ascribed based on the group one was born into. In such cultures all aspects of social life were fused into one incontrovertible identity: group identity. However as modern mindsets took root individuals began to shift the foundation of meaning and identity away from the fixed focal point of the group to one of personal preference. In response to this modern trend many groups began to intensify the maintenance of group identity as paramount in the lives of group members. Hammond and Warner (1993) assert that a powerful mechanism for sustaining group identity is …

Second Language Acquisition Of The Spanish Tap And Trill In A Contact Learning Environment, Andrew M. Weech

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to study whether target-like articulation of the Spanish tap [ɾ] and trill [r] is achieved by second language learners who have lived in a Spanish-speaking environment for an extensive period of time. The subjects of this study were students at Brigham Young University (BYU) who had spent 18 months to two years in a Spanish-speaking country. Most of the subjects had little to no previous Spanish instruction, but rather learned the language primarily through their contact with native speakers while abroad. In addition to whether or not subjects achieved target-like pronunciation of these two …

Developing And Studying The Effectiveness Of Efr Annotations For Chinese Language Learners, Amber Marie Chen

Theses and Dissertations

This project is intended to take the film To Live, directed by Zhang Yimou, and apply the Electronic Film Review (EFR) approach to it in a Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) setting. The Electronic Film Review project, developed by Alan K. Melby, is aimed at providing a superior language learning experience for Americans learning Chinese. Using feature films as a teaching tool has been found to stimulate and motivate students to achieve higher language levels, but in order for optimal learning to occur the material must be challenging yet accessible to the student. Most feature films, by themselves, …

Parameter Estimation For The Lognormal Distribution, Brenda Faith Ginos

Theses and Dissertations

The lognormal distribution is useful in modeling continuous random variables which are greater than or equal to zero. Example scenarios in which the lognormal distribution is used include, among many others: in medicine, latent periods of infectious diseases; in environmental science, the distribution of particles, chemicals, and organisms in the environment; in linguistics, the number of letters per word and the number of words per sentence; and in economics, age of marriage, farm size, and income. The lognormal distribution is also useful in modeling data which would be considered normally distributed except for the fact that it may be more …

Incarcerated Male Adolescent Suicide In Utah: A Case Study, Kristy Straubhaar

Theses and Dissertations

Adolescent suicide has been described as a major public health problem calling for the aid of researchers willing to better identify factors related to suicide risk. Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year olds. Despite the fact incarcerated adolescents act in self-destructive ways, minimal research has focused on suicide behavior among incarcerated adolescents. Existing data indicates that suicide among adolescent males is especially prevalent in the juvenile justice system. Several variables have been identified as risk factors for suicidal behavior, including interpersonal relationship dysfunction, substance abuse, and psychological variables such as depression and dichotomous thinking. …

An Evaluation Of A Curriculum For Basic Training In Tesol, Gordon Travis Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

A formal evaluation of BYU's Basic Training in TESOL course shows the strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum of this course. Interns take this course in preparation for international internships where they may be asked to teach English. However, the interns are generally not seeking majors or even minors in TESOL. Furthermore, most interns are not seeking any teaching major. Internship locations vary throughout the world and include, but are not limited to the following regions: Central and South America, Africa, Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. This MA curriculum evaluation project reports findings of a formal evaluation of …

Character Development In A Distance Education Literature Course: Perspectives On Independent Study English 395r-Christian Fantasy Literature, Michael C. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The goals of higher education often entail the development of students' character. Rarely, however, are these character development goals connected to the unique design and delivery of distance education programs. Additionally, the research literature that explores the character development aspects of distance education is sparse. Thus the purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of how character development may occur in a distance context. Taking a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, I examined instructor and student perceptions of character development in a fantasy literature independent study course. Findings indicate that students perceived development of traits and strengths in the …

The Indigenismo Of Emilio "El Indio" Fernández: Myth, Mestizaje, And Modern Mexico, Mathew J. K. Hill

Theses and Dissertations

As one of the major directors of Mexico's Golden Age of Cinema (1936-1956), Emilio “El Indio” Fernández (1904-1986) created films which for many came to express the official vision of Mexican identity. Part of this identity was based on the ideology of indigenismo, which posited that the pre-Columbian past held the basic kernel of Mexico's national essence while advocating the incorporation of modern Indian groups into mainstream society. El Indio's films reflect the paradox of indigenismo: praise for indigenous cultures and a simultaneous effort to make them disappear. The following study examines three of his indigenista films, Marí­a …

Automated Identification Of Noun Clauses In Clinical Language Samples, Britney Richey Manning

Theses and Dissertations

The identification of complex grammatical structures including noun clauses is of clinical importance because differences in the use of these structures have been found between individuals with and without language impairment. In recent years, computer software has been used to assist in analyzing clinical language samples. However, this software has been unable to accurately identify complex syntactic structures such as noun clauses. The present study investigated the accuracy of new software, called Cx, in identifying finite wh- and that-noun clauses. Two sets of language samples were used. One set included 10 children with language impairment, 10 age-matched peers, …

Improved Algorithms For Discovery Of New Genes In Bacterial Genomes, Nan Wang

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we describe a new approach for gene finding that can utilize proteomics information in addition to DNA and RNA to identify new genes in prokaryote genomes. Proteomics processing pipelines require identification of small pieces of proteins called peptides. Peptide identification is a very error-prone process and we have developed a new algorithm for validating peptide identifications using a distance-based outlier detection method. We demonstrate that our method identifies more peptides than other popular methods using standard mixtures of known proteins. In addition, our algorithm provides a much more accurate estimate of the false discovery rate than other …

An Evaluation Of Readiness Factors For Online Education, Delena Rae Lang Hukle

Theses and Dissertations

Online education has grown substantially over the years because of the flexibility it has given the student in acquiring an education. For many, higher education is now a reality instead of just a dream. With this educational format, traditional and non-traditional students are taking classes to obtain a degree or pursue lifelong learning. Unfortunately, some students are taking online classes without being equipped with the necessary skills required for successful completion. The purpose of the evaluation was to investigate the readiness factors of students taking online classes. The Readiness for Education At a Distance Indicator (READI) assessment was completed by …

The Effect Of A Worked Example On Online Debate Quality In An Information Systems Course, Christopher Scott Tollison

Theses and Dissertations

The current study investigates the effects of preparing learners for an online debate through a worked example in terms of student perception, participation, level of cognitive skill, and electronic interaction patterns. There has been a change in the focus of distance learning research from comparative media studies to the means to improve the quality of distance education. One of the key elements in this changing impetus are strategies to promote interaction such as the introduction of structure or scaffolding argumentation (McIsaac & Blocher, 1998). One such strategy is the online debate in which students are organized into teams to take …

The Virgin Of Guadalupe Comes To Mississippi: Social Stressors And Ways Of Coping Among Hispanic Im/Migrants, Mary Rebecca Read

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods study uses ritual analysis, key informant interviews, and a semi-structured questionnaire to explore stressors and coping among Hispanic im/migrants to rural Mississippi. The study applies Turner’s model of ritual analysis to the procession of la Virgen de Guadalupe for insight into the values, concerns, actions, and motivations of the community. Results from ritual analysis suggest the precession of la Virgen de Guadalupe unites the multi-national community and empowers the participants through their faith in God and la Virgen de Guadalupe. Results from the semi-structured questionnaire identify stressors among the Hispanic community relating to separation from family and friends, …

Development Of Psychometrically Equivalent Speech Audiometry Materials For Testing Children In Mongolian, Meghan Elizabeth Caldwell

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and equate Mongolian monosyllabic and bisyllabic child-appropriate words which can be used in the measurement of word recognition scores and speech-reception threshold (SRT) in children who are native speakers of Mongolian. Based on data collected from a survey of Mongolian child language professionals, a subset of child-appropriate materials was adapted from a set of materials developed for Mongolian adults. Two lists of 50 monosyllabic words and four half-lists of 25 words each were developed for testing the word recognition abilities of Mongolian children. The developed lists and half-lists were …

Map, Manuscript, And Memory: The Emergence Of An Anglo-Saxon Identity Between Origins And Apocalypse, Juliana Marie Chapman

Theses and Dissertations

As the only extant detailed world map of the Anglo-Saxon period, the Anglo-Saxon map, c. 1025, presents a unique opportunity to explore a sense of Anglo-Saxon social identity as evidenced in this graphic worldview. The Anglo-Saxon map has most often been dismissed as an ill-fitting illustration when viewed solely in its manuscript context or an equally poor navigational tool when considered in the context of modern cartography. The purpose of this thesis is to present the argument that the Anglo-Saxon world map is neither simply a bad illustration nor a poorly rendered map intended for travel, but is rather a …

Patterns Of Vowel Production In Speakers Of American English From The State Of Utah, Larkin Hopkins Reeves

Theses and Dissertations

The English spoken in the United States has traditionally been divided into six dialect regions: New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southern, Midland, Northern, and Western. The acoustic properties of American English spoken in the Southern and Northern dialect regions have been the subject of intense research, but the acoustic properties of the Western dialect region have not been analyzed as thoroughly. The umbrella term, Western American English, includes the English spoken in a large geographic area that stretches from Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico to the Pacific coast. Research that has focused on the Western dialect has included participants from several …

The Withdrawn And Sociable Behaviors Of Children With Specific And Nonspecific Language Impairment, Heather Haskin

Theses and Dissertations

Recently researchers have identified a group of children with language impairment (LI) whose IQ scores are below the typical IQ cutoff of 85 for specific language impairment (SLI) but above the IQ cutoff of 70 for intellectual disability (Weismer et al., 2000). This group is referred to as having nonspecific language impairment (NLI). Eleven children with NLI, eleven same-age peers with SLI, and eleven same-age typical peers were compared on withdrawn and sociable behaviors demonstrated in the classroom setting using the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (Hart & Robinson, 1996). Three subtypes of withdrawal (solitary-active, solitary-passive, reticent) and two subtypes of …

Narrative Theory And Fort Berthold's Stories Of The Paranormal Or Supernatural, Waylon C. Baker

Theses and Dissertations

The author collected stories of the paranormal and supernatural from 10 enrolled members of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold, North Dakota. The research participants were members of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes. Five research questions guided the study: (1) Where did these contemporary stories of the paranormal or supernatural originate? (2) What is the meaning behind these stories? (3) How are these stories different from other stories of the paranormal or supernatural? (4) Do the respondents “believe” in these stories of the paranormal? (5) Do these stories connect to traditional American Indian customs and beliefs?

The content …