Digital Commons Network^™

Saturday's Women: Female Characters As Angels And Monsters In Saturday's Warrior And Reunion, Nola Diane Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Using theories of feminist criticism as explained by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, the study concludes that both Saturday's Warrior, a "home literature" style play, and Reunion, a more artistically challenging play, reflect repressive cultural images of women. Both plays cast female characters into the roles of passive Angel, domestic Angel/Monster, and active Monster.

The Social Construction Of Abortion, Alexis Lora Ruffin

Theses and Dissertations

The essential socio-political question abortion raises is twofold: within whose legitimate province is the abortion decision to be made and what are the salient factors in determining subsequent resolutions over access. The answers speak to perceptions of legitimate authority, which are fundamental to the social construction of abortion.

The disparate literature on abortion was examined to develop a typology of perspectives on abortion. Theories from feminist sociology and social psychology were employed to examine the impact abortion access and the subsequent negotiation over legitimate authority have on the social order. The underlying hypothesis of this research is that abortion is …

Denitrification In The Elk Valley Aquifer, Northeastern North Dakota, Gale G. Mayer

Theses and Dissertations

Biological denitrification controls nitrate distribution in the Elk Valley aquifer, which underlies approximately 725 square kilometres of northeastern North Dakota and provides drinking water for farms and rural communities in the area. Increased irrigation has raised concerns over potential contamination from agricultural practices. The purpose of this study was to establish the role of biological denitrification in minimizing concentration and distribution of nitrate and to determine the effect irrigation practices have on groundwater flow and nitrate distribution in the saturated zone.

The aquifer is unconfined and consists of up to 20 metres of glacial outwash and deltaic shale-rich sand deposits. …

An Assessment Of Measured Learning In Selected Classes Of An Interactive Television Network In Six Northwestern Minnesota High Schools., Virginia T. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

The intention of the researcher was to study the effect of interactive television (ITV) in selected high school classes, using both quantitative and qualitative research techniques. The ITV network chosen for study was the Northwest Educational Technology Cooperative (NETC) operated by seven school districts in northwestern Minnesota (Argyle, Hallock, Kennedy, Stephen, Valley North (Alvarado and Oslo), and Warren). This system uses two-way interactive video and audio technology networked by fiber optics. Classes selected included Spanish I, Spanish II, and probability and statistics. Data collection was done during the fall semester, 1990.Quantitative methods compared means of scores achieved on pre-tests and …

Perceived Health Education Needs Of Older Adults In Rural And Urban Communities, Donna M. Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Sentencing Disparity : A Study Of Whites And Native Americans In North Dakota, Lewis D. Parrill

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Rape Empathy, Victim Resistance, And Defendant Occupation : Effects On Attributions Of Responsibility For Rape, Sheila M. Rydell

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Vietnam : The Question Of An Alternative Revolution, Philip A. O'Brien

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Captain Planet : Effects Of Schema On Environmental Learning From Television Programs, Patrick J. Osowski

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Interpersonal Communication In The Elderly, Stephannie R. Motuz

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Health-Promoting Lifestyle Beliefs And Their Relationship To Physical Fitness Scores Of Army Nurse Corps Officers, Charles Ewald

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

From Blast-Off To Burn-In : An Analysis Of Media Coverage Of Nasa's Skylab Mission, Faith A. Chapman

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Changing Attitudes Toward The Visually Impaired, Michelle A. Geisert

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Medora : An Original Play Based On The Life Of The Marquis De Mores, Walter E. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Fitness Tests As Opportunities For Cognitive Learning : Teaching Body Fatness Concepts While Skinfold Testing, Albert C. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Leadership Development : The Relationship Between Perceived Community Support And Individual Empowerment Among Leaders In Small Communities, Dana Bickford Tipton

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Overproduction Of The E Protein Of Bacteriophage Øx174, Mohan U. Shenoy

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Education On Proper Handling Of Pesticides Reduces The Risk Of Contamination, Mary Long Schlosser

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Increased Knowledge On Students' Attitudes Towards Aids Patients, Mary Ann Graham

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Reading Growth Of Two Randomly Selected "At-Risk" Students: A Four Year Study, Gayle D. Moyle

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Into The Use Of Computer-Assisted Instruction To Present Basic English Grammar Concepts, Frank E. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to develop a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) tutorial that would address basic grammatical concepts. The research consisted of four phases. The first phase was a review of applicable CAI literature, including theories, instructional and programming techniques, and previous research findings. The second phase was a survey of communication professors to determine the grammatical errors commonly committed by students. The third phase involved development of the tutorial content and the program software. The resulting tutorial presents basic grammar in terms of the three building elements of language (words, phrases, clauses) and the five functions they perform …

Effects Of An Exercise Program On Mentally Impaired Older Adults In A Long-Term Care Facility, Linda D. Bane Frizzell

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a contradistinction to research which assesses the effects of exercise only on older adults who are in good health. This study examined the effect of an eight-week exercise program on 24 individuals with mental impairments, primarily Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Subjects were volunteers who resided in a long-term care skilled nursing facility (SNF). Group composition was 7 males, mean age 83.29 and 17 females, mean age 88.71; mental and physical function levels varied from supervised to total dependence of care. Six variables were tested: right and left shoulder flexibility, right and left hand grip strength, modified sit …

Music As Communication: A Rhetorical Perspective Based On Susanne Langer's Theory Of Aesthetic Symbolism, Deanna D. Sellnow

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to create a rhetorical perspective by which to understand and analyze music as aesthetic communication. Specifically, this study extends Susanne Langer's theory of aesthetic symbolism as it relates to music as a mode of communication. Once the rhetorical perspective for analyzing music as communication has been depicted, the perspective is operationalized to analyze music from two contemporary social movements in the United States. The music analyzed in this dissertation comes from the Neo-Nazi Skinhead movement and the New Age movement. By approaching music as aesthetic communication in this way, the reader is able to …

The Blood-Oocyte Barrier: Morphological Evidence Implicating The Zona Pellucida, Allan D. Forsman

Theses and Dissertations

A developing oocyte is capable of synthesizing "non-self" proteins recognized as foreign by the maternal immune system. Since the oocyte may be perceived as foreign it must be protected from interaction with the immune system in order for it to mature to the point of ovulation. Oocytes that begin development but do not mature to the point of ovulation become atretic and are destroyed and phagocytized by the maternal system. This study proposes that the zona pellucida of the ovarian follicle is the barrier between the immune system and the oocyte. The suggestion is made that the oocyte may play …

A Study Of The Adoption And Effectiveness Of Electronic Mail At The Air Force Institute Of Technology, Douglas D. White

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated the relationship between the adoption and effectiveness of electronic mail at the Air Force institute of Technology's School of Systems and Logistics (LS). In this research, theories concerning innovation adoption and measurement of system effectiveness are discussed. Survey instruments from both areas were selected, tested, and used to collect data from the LS faculty and staff. Correlation analysis was performed using the data collected. Findings indicate a correlation does exist between the adoption of electronic mail and the effectiveness surrogate measurement, user satisfaction. There was a significantly strong negative correlation between electronic mail complexity and user satisfaction.

Structured Hypermedia Application Development Model (Shadm): A Structured Model For Technical Documentation Application Design, Peter W. Cassell

Theses and Dissertations

This research was conducted to determine how a Royal Australian Air Force technical maintenance publication could be transformed into a task oriented hypermedia application and to develop a model that could be used for future similar transformations. The model was developed following in-depth analysis of the existing USAF F-15E maintenance publication set and validation was conducted using a prototype developed in HyperWriter, a commercial hypermedia product. The prototype model was based around the performance of three maintenance tasks on an aircraft sub-subsystem and incorporated online user access to the necessary support data for task completion. Publication managers, producers, and users …

An Approach For The Distance Delivery Of Afit/Ls Resident Degree Curricula, Mark C. Harris

Theses and Dissertations

This research developed an approach for adapting a resident graduate course, offered by the School of Systems and Logistics, for delivery to remote students through distance education resources and techniques. A review of literature-along with personal interviews of professionals from the fields of education, telecommunications, and technology-provided the information for a model of distance education and an assessment of AFIT's existing and near future resources that may be applied to distance delivery of graduate courses. Semantic network construction software was used to organize the information gathered for the distance education model. Key concepts were distilled from the conceptually multi-dimensional semantic …

An Event Driven State Based Interface For Synthetic Environments, Mark J. Gerken

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) has produced synthetic environments using head mounted displays (HMDs) and hand measurement devices. This thesis is a continuation of AFIT synthetic environment research. Hand measurement data from a VPL DataGlove is combined with hand orientation and translational data to define a set of valid gestures. These gestures form the basis of an input language for class of finite automata known as finite state machines. Using the input symbols from this language, the user may define a finite state machine which associates a stream of input symbols with one or more …

A Cache Design To Exploit Structural Locality, Curtis M. Winstead

Theses and Dissertations

A design and VHDL implementation of a content-addressable memory (CAM) to exploit structural locality is the subject of this research. The concept of structural locality is that memory locations are referenced in the same order as they were previously referenced. Therefore, if memory locations that exhibit structural locality can be made available to the CPU (Center Processing Unit) through a fast data store, an increase in speed of the computer system can be realized. The CAM's purpose is to store memory references in the order they were used by the CPU and prefetch these locations to a smaller on- chip …

Radar Scattering From Foamed Plastic Target Supports, Michael W. Chambers

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the scattering from foamed ranges to support all sizes of targets for radar cross section measurements. Two common foamed plastics, styrofoam and expanded bead polystyrene (EPS), are discussed. Two types of scattering are associated with foamed plastic, coherent and incoherent. The incoherent is normally the lowest, but has not been satisfactorily quantified. Coherent scattering is related to the shape of the target, and the emphasis of this study is on the coherent return. One goal was to predict the coherent RCS of an EPS column using the Uniform Theory of Diffraction (UTD). It was found that UTD …