Digital Commons Network^™

Negotiating Voices: Ethnography Of Interactive Theatre Techniques Within A Classroom, Jana Gymer-Koch

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

During the Spring 2001 semester I had the opportunity to conduct an ethnography of Dr. Karen Mitchell's course "Texts and Contexts: Performance and Social Change" at the University of Northern Iowa. This course is designed to link performance with social change issues, by utilizing personal narrative and Augusto Boal' s Theatre of the Oppressed techniques: forum theatre, image theatre, and invisible theatre. These techniques were chosen by Dr. Mitchell on the basis of their capacity to involve both actors and audiences in the issues to be addressed and because they are based on Paulo Freire' s principles of liberatory education. …

Three-Dimensional Reconstruction Algorithm For A Reverse-Geometry Volumetric Ct System With A Large-Array Scanned Source, Taly Gilat Schmidt, Rebecca Fahrig, Norbert J. Pelc

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

We have proposed a CT system design to rapidly produce volumetric images with negligible cone beam artifacts. The investigated system uses a large array scanned source with a smaller array of fast detectors. The x-ray source is electronically steered across a 2D target every few milliseconds as the system rotates. The proposed reconstruction algorithm for this system is a modified 3D filtered backprojection method. The data are rebinned into 2D parallel ray projections, most of which are tilted with respect to the axis of rotation. Each projection is filtered with a 2D kernel and backprojected onto the desired image matrix. …

Tolstoy And The Christian Lawyer, Raymond B. Marcin

Scholarly Articles

It may be that there is no literate person alive in the Western world who has not heard of Count Lyof Nikolaevich Tolstoi (Tolstoy), author of what some have called the quintessential novel among all recorded literature: War and Peace. It may also be that most literate persons are aware that Tolstoy was a moralist of some renown-of great renown in his day-whose pacifist thought presaged and influenced Mohandas K. Gandhi, the great and saintly Mahatma of India. One doubts, however, whether many are aware that Tolstoy penned what is perhaps the most devastating attack in all religious literature on …

Portrayal Of Women In Magazine Advertisements Targeted Toward Three Age Groups Of Women : A Content Analysis, Stephanie Lynn Cummings

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Prior research has established that women are portrayed in sex roles in magazine advertisements. The purpose of this study was to explore this trend and to examine if the trend appears across audiences of various ages of women. Content analysis was used to analyze advertisements in magazines with female target audiences. Additionally, three categories of magazines, which correspond to the three age groups of women, were explored to see if the advertisements with sex role images of women appear across all three groups of women. The results of the advertisements revealed that teen and young women's magazines contained ads, which …

A Qualitative Study Of Relational Aggression In Sixth Grade Girls, Catherine Tinsley Mclallen

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Middle school can be a time of great upheaval and unfamiliar footing for a new sixth grader. When students enter middle school, the peer hierarchy and social dynamics of elementary school are often shifted in ways that can be confusing and intimidating. Many new things are expected of a sixth grader that was not expected from a fifth grader. Suddenly there are different teachers for all the classes. There is a choice of classes to take, homework, there is a schedule to memorize. Students are asked to take the initiative and decide what they want to do, rather than having …

Childhood Depression And Resiliency : An Evaluation Of The Devereux Early Childhood Assessment Program, Sarah Carroll Jones

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Some researchers have investigated the use of resiliency-building programs to prevent childhood depression in at risk populations (Comer, 1985; Gladstone & Beardslee, 2000; Seligman, 1995). The following study investigates the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment Program (DECA). The DECA Program is designed to build resiliency in preschool children by increasing factors that have been found to be related to resiliency: initiative, self-control, and attachment. The study evaluated the short-term effectiveness of the DECA Program. Two Head Start Centers participated in the study. Pretest DECA rating scales were completed by the classroom teachers. For the next three months the experimental classrooms used …

Selected Influences On The Smoking Behavior Among Female And Male College Students Of The University Of Northern Iowa, Evelyn Adom-Boateng

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study primarily, was to investigate and identify the influence of the four focus areas (media, family, peer, and psychological coping technique) on the smoking behavior among female and male college students of the University of Northern Iowa. A description of differences in the influences of the focus areas on the smoking behavior on gender was included in the study. A non-random (convenient) sample of 100 students was drawn from the various Departments and Schools from five colleges in the University (57% males and 43% females).

The Sample responded to a 44-item self-report (survey) questionnaire. Overall means …

An Analysis Of Physical Activity And Two Forms Of Self Defense Training And Their Impact On Women’S Sense Of Self-Efficacy, Elizabeth Susan Guernsey

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Since the mid-l 970s, incidences of rape in the United States have steadily increased. American females aged 16-24 are at the greatest risk to experience rape. This indicates that college-aged women have a high probability of experiencing a sexual assault during their college years. Women are at particularly high risk of being raped by an acquaintance or a date. This may be due to traditional social gender roles in American society. Rape Aggression Defense Systems is the largest self defense program for women that has become particularly popular on college campuses. Ozer and Bandura (1990) sought to study possible increases …

The Effect Of Life Stress And Coping Resources On The Occurrence And Severity Of Athletic Injuries In Female Collegiate Athletics, Susan E. Stoker

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study was designed to investigate the effects of life stress and coping resources on the occurrence and severity of athletic injuries for female collegiate athletes. Subjects from the university's women's volleyball and soccer team were classified as either injured or non-injured, depending on whether injury occurred during the athletic season. A further separation of the injured players divided them according to the severity of their injuries (minor, significant, and major). The LESCA and Coping Resources section of the Stress Audit Questionnaire were used to test life stress and coping resources athletes have for dealing with stress. Psychometric data was …

The Effects Of The Breathe-Right Nasal Strip On Oronasal Maximum Voluntary Ventilation, Sean Michael Linck

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In recent years coaches and athletes have given attention to the Breathe-Right nasal strip (BRNS) to help improve breathing and possibly enhance exercise performance. The BRNS is placed on the outer nose and is supposed to lift and expand the flexible cartilage of the nasal valve and make it "easier to breathe." This study was conducted to determine whether the application of the BRNS will improve maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV) using both nasal and oral breathing ( oronasal breathing). An MVV test is often used to simulate breathing at peak exercise and is the best indicator of overall function of …

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Application Of Instructional Design Elements In The Distance Teaching Process, Lihua Zheng

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Educators use an instructional design process to improve instruction and to ensure learning. Faculty who teach at a distance must rely heavily on the instructional design process because of constraints in distance instruction. Thus, it is especially important for instructors to know, understand, and apply instructional design elements when planning to teaching at a distance. However, little research has been done in this field. Therefore, additional research has become the focus of this study. This study examines the perceptions of instructors at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), Cedar Falls, Iowa, regarding how they understood and applied instructional design elements …

Student Perceptions Of Ethics And Professionalism In Computer Science: Does Age, Gender, Or Experience Matter?, James Stuart Bohy

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This work explores several factors that impact ethics education in undergraduate computer science, including: the overall understanding of ethics material, any differences between male and female subjects, any differences between traditional age and non-traditional age subjects, and any differences in experience level. Instruments (attitudinal surveys and reflective scenarios) were distributed to four institutions in the Midwest; 74 out of 170 were returned.

Female subjects demonstrated a markedly better ability to distinguish between ethical and unethical behavior in the scenarios (especially in areas where the distinctions were less obvious) and produced higher quality written justifications. There were only 4 attitudinal survey …

An Investigation Of The Concept Of Balance In Children Ages 6–9: Logic And Protologic Identifiable In Making Mobiles, Seon Chun

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This research was conducted to explore children's construction of protologic (foreshadowing of operations) in the context of experience with balance mobiles in a constructivist setting and to explore the usefulness of making mobiles in promoting children's development of the concept of balance.

The statement of the problem is (a) Can constructivist principles of cognitive development be used to understand children's progress in the course of educational activities involving balance? If so, how? What does the progressive construction of notions about balance look like in children's behaviors? and (b) Does children's understanding of balance improve after experimenting with making mobiles?

The …

Social Experiences Of African-American Female Students On A Predominantly White Campus, Guy Alexander Sims

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study examined the social experiences of African American female students at a predominantly white institution finding that in several areas of student life African American female students persisted to graduation without necessarily establishing informal social interactions within the university community. This is contrary to Vincent Tinto's posit that students who fail to make a connection with the campus community are more likely to withdraw from the institution. This study introduces the term irrelation as a descriptor of a social construct I have applied to African American female college students on the campus of a large, public, mid-western university. Irrelation …

The Design And Evaluation Of A Plc-Based Model Predictive Controller For Application In Industrial Food Processes, Bryan T. Griffen

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Model Predictive Control (MPC) is a viable control strategy for industrial processes that display relatively large variations in the process variable, have complex process variable interactions, or display a large amount of process deadtime. The objective of using MPC in manufacturing is to reduce overall process variability, the result being an increase in process accuracy, precision and efficiency. This study focused on the implementation of model predictive control techniques on an industrial sugar cooking process. The goal was to implement a successful MPC solution directly on a programmable logic controller (PLC) rather than on a personal computer (PC). Although there …

Toward A Unified Theory Of Cognition: A Kantian Analysis, Clayton Daniel Austin

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this paper is to provide classroom teachers a more unified theory of cognition. The current cognitive theories of information processing, schema theory, and constructivism exhibit limitations and a lack of cohesion that make their implications for teachers unclear. This paper will be presented in five sections. 1) The first describes problems with current cognitive theories and the need for a unified theory of cognition 2) The second provides a review of the literature of current cognitive theories. 3) The third section consists of research in the history of cognitive theory both in philosophy and psychology. 4) The …

Young Children’S Responses To Conflictual Adult Conversation, Jessica A. Cartozian

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current study evaluated relationships among children's cognitions following exposure to scripted conflictual interactions between adults. Thirty- five mother-child dyads were assessed using self-report measures, and continuous measures of behavioral and physiological distress (cardiac function, skin conductance). Four hypotheses were investigated: Exposure to conflict would be related to greater distress following the conflictual script; attributional errors would be related to greater distress; child distress would be positively correlated with parental conflict at home; maternal psychopathology would be positively related with distress responses to the stimulus. All hypotheses were found to be non-significant. Explanations for non-significance include the normative sample, the …

A Preliminary Study Of Sustainable Eco-Industrial Partnerships In The State Of Iowa, Kathleen L. Hennings

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The proliferation of industry around the globe, coupled with concerns about the dwindling supply of raw materials, has fostered the emergence of a new manufacturing ideology. In contrast to the linear manufacturing model, raw material in and finished product out, precision manufacturing takes waste material in and provides a new product out. Companies in this study who participated in precision manufacturing were identified as partners when one company sold or traded a waste product to a separate company who used the waste in their primary production. This study was initiated to determine the factors present in successful waste exchange partnerships …

Block Scheduling And Music Education: Building Time For Effective Education, Laura J. Horst

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Block scheduling is investigated in this study as a strategy of scheduling, specifically in the secondary vocal music program. There is a need to document the process of effective teaching in vocal music for extended teaching periods. Although there are certain agreed upon elements of successful music programs, much is unknown about teaching in the block format in vocal music. Nationally, music education programs are calling for an increased level of awareness in alternative scheduling, and therefore, teacher preparation programs have answered with various courses and integrated attempts to prepare preservice teachers as well as retrain experienced teachers to work …

Connecting Community And School: A Systems Approach, Nichole Kea Zumbach Johnson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Making community and school connections is vital as the nation experiences an economic downturn. Financial consideration and collaborative projects are extremely important when beginning a community/school project. However, the common aspect running through any community/school project is communication. The level of communication that must exist for the system to be successful is incredible. This is not an analysis of one theory; instead it is a testament to how communication studies must be utilized, in every aspect, to make the system function as efficiently as possible. Systems theorists present a fitting outline to determine challenges that exist when trying to create …

Psychosocial Identity Development In College Students With Orthopedic Disabilities: College As Transformation, Kimberly Sue Jolly

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of my research study was to examine the processes of psychosocial identity development of college students with orthopedic disabilities. Using qualitative methods allowed my participants to speak for themselves-something that does not always happen-about their life experiences, many times showing the positive role college attendance played in their lives. Nine individuals participated in my study: three graduate students, one alumnus, and five undergraduates. The experiences they shared with me were looked at individually as well as together. I compared the data to a preliminary model I developed prior to the interviews, through reading and analyzing various minority identity …

Students’ Perceptions Of Instructor’S Written Feedback: Uncertainty Reduction In The Basic Communication Course, Naoki Kambe

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study is an ethnographic examination of a performance-based basic communication course, Oral Communication, at the University of Northern Iowa. During the Fall 2002 semester, I stayed in a lab section as a participant observer. After the semester was over, I conducted in-depth interviews with the selected students and the instructor. I looked at the classroom from an interpersonal perspective. Specifically, I focused on two major topics: students' uncertainty reduction in the classroom and their perceptions of the instructor's written feedback. Through this examination, I found that several important factors affected students' uncertainty reduction and their perceptions. Regarding written feedback, …

The United Student-Athletes Of America: Should College Athletes Organize In Order To Protect Their Rights And Address The Ills Of Intercollgiate Athletics?, Marc Jenkins

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This note will focus on the legal feasibility and practicality of forming a student-athlete players association or union. It assumes that a strike is a possible avenue the CAC may take in the future. Unlike the professional sports unions, the make-up of athletes on college campuses is in constant flux. This will obviously make it harder to initiate a strike. Part I of the note will concentrate on the realities of major college sports and the athletes that play them. This background will establish why student-athletes may want to form a players association. Part II will analyze the NCAA governing …

Pop Goes The Commercial: The Evolution Of The Relationship Between Popular Music And Television Commercials, Nora Miles

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Although the use of new pop songs in commercials is a recent development, the fact that music plays an important role in advertising is certainly not news. Music is and has always been an integral part in nearly all commercial advertising campaigns. Since the advent of radio and television the consumer public has been exposed to marketing through music. In order to understand the implications of the trends in music advertising, this note examines the more traditional schemes of music in advertising. To that end, there are several different routes an advertiser can choose when selecting music for a particular …

Lack Of Copyright Term Harmony With The European Union Strikes A Sour Chord For Performing Artists And Labels, Alisa Roberts

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Everyday, more performing artists and labels in the United States lose a valuable revenue stream as their sound recordings fall into the public domain in the European Union (E.U.). While the rights of authors, composers, visual artists, and even film directors are protected under the E.U.'s copyright scheme for the life of the author plus seventy years, "related rights"--which include sound recordings--receive protection for a term of only fifty years. The fifty-year term, established by a 1993 European Union Council Directive ("Directive"), is not only lacking synchrony with author's rights within the E.U., but also puts the term of protection …

Making A Mountain Out Of A Mogul: Jeremy Bloom V. Ncaa And Unjustified Denial Of Compensation Under Ncaa Amateurism Rules, Gordon G. Gouveia

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Note argues that the NCAA's interpretation of the amateurism provisions of the NCAA Division I Manual, with respect to Jeremy Bloom, is unreasonable, particularly in light of the NCAA's treatment of other dual-sport professional athletes. Consequently, the NCAA should create an exception to its amateurism provisions allowing Bloom and similarly-situated student-athletes to earn income from sources unrelated to the amateur sport in which they compete. Furthermore, since the NCAA Bylaws constitute a contract to which student-athletes are third-party beneficiaries, courts should provide a forum to ensure the consistent and equitable application of the provisions of that contract. Part I …

Major League Baseball's Answer To Salary Disputes And The Strike:, Brien M. Wassner

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Initially, this paper will briefly consider arbitration in general and then discuss the evolution of FOA and its implementation into MLB salary disputes. This paper will thereafter analyze the praises and criticisms of FOA, and establish that FOA is a superior mechanism for resolving salary disputes in professional sports because the FOA system is designed to facilitate negotiation and settlement rather than to resolve the dispute subsequent to adversarial hearings.

Almost Famous: Reality Television Participants As Limited-Purpose Public Figures, Darby Green

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Note begins with an overview of the basic facets of privacy law, focusing on the tort of the public disclosure of private facts and its interaction with the First Amendment. Next, this Note explores the differences in rules for public, private, and involuntary public figures. The law of defamation is offered as a model for privacy law to emulate, specifically, the limited-purpose public figure created under Gertz and its progeny. Then, the issue of whether one's status as a public figure may diminish over the passage of time is considered. This Note posits that limited-purpose public figures should exist …

New Video Game: Japan's Video Game Producers Lose At The Litigation Game, Dan Rosen

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Video games present a legal problem that may be more difficult for courts to solve than the games themselves. In Japan, each court took a somewhat different approach. In its opinion, the Tokyo District Court tried to differentiate between movies and video games by focusing on the role of the audience. That court emphasized the fact that while movie audiences are passive and have no effect on the course of the movie, video game audiences actively affect the progression of the storyline. To illustrate the difference that the Tokyo Court emphasized, consider the Pokemon cast. They were originally characters in …

Teaching Literature For Relevance, Mary Kay-Costa-Valentine

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

No abstract provided.