Digital Commons Network^™

Singing At Tertiary Level : Training The Female Singer In The First Year Of Studying Voice, Claire Lenyk

Theses : Honours

No abstract provided.

Visions Must Be Re-Visioned : Gender Politics In Earthsea, Audrey Barton

Theses : Honours

This thesis analyses Ursula Le Guin's interpretation of gender and genre in her Earthsea novels, A Wizarf of Earthsea (1968) and Teha1111 (1990). Examining Le Guin's assertion for the need to "re-vision" her former work with the latter, I interrogate the ways in which she attempts to "break free" from the ideologies that impose themselves upon her work. Part one explores the mode of the hero quest used in A Wizard of Earthsea and examines the significance of this in terms of "gendering" the text. Part two examines the revisioned text Tehanu and the ways in which the …

The Abject In The Technological Other, Alex Bradley

Theses : Honours

A photographic project and exegesis demonstrating artificial intelligence and artificial life as occurrences of the abject. In the photographic project '0=2', the technologies of artificial intelligence and artificial life are examined in relation to identity, via an elaboration of the psychoanalytic concert of the 'abject'. An exegesis of the creative project contains an investigation of computer technologies in regard to identity, an analysis of the basic concepts and paradigms of the sciences of artificial intelligence and artificial life, and an elaboration of the psychoanalytic concept of the abject - demonstrating A.l. and a-life as cultural instantiations of abjection. In addition, …

Beach-Cast Wrack As A Determinant Of Macroinvertebrate Assemblages And Trophic Subsidy To Sandy Beach Ecosystems, Rebecca Ince

Theses : Honours

The transport of detached macrophytes from seagrass meadows and reefs, otherwise known as wrack, has been identified in some parts of the world as a marine subsidy which can increase the productivity of coastal ecosystems. The aim of this study was to determine whether wrack deposits act as a marine subsidy on sandy beaches in Perth, by determining whether it influences the structure of, and is a source of nutrient to, the macroinvertebrate communities in this ecosystem. This was achieved by examining the abundance, composition and nutrient source of macrofauna, including epifauna, infauna and flying fauna, on three sandy beaches …

Influences On The Uptake Of Covenant Mechanisms For Nature Conservation On Private Lands In Australia, Thomas I. Kabii

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Globally management agreements have emerged as more effective in assuring long-term nature conservation on private land, than regulatory mechanisms alone. Restrictive permanent covenants in particular, which are legally binding management agreements in perpetuity, have been adopted in most States and Territories in Australia. However, there is reluctance among landholders to take them up. Sound understanding of the factors that influence the decisions of landholders regarding the uptake of permanent covenants is important in planning and strategizing for increased covenant uptake. The aim of this thesis is to further this understanding and to support the design of a coordinated covenant mechanism …

Resisting Aggression : Graphic Re-Presentations For Other Bodies, Camilla C. Loveridge

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

These chapters consider how art can provide a space for wider critical debate on established patriarchal power relations, which have operated in Western culture since the Enlightenment period. As a female artist, I want to explore the space in art of both the female body and the community body. This work seeks to position the female body within the "form" of her subjectivity, to destabilize patriarchal strongholds through the displacement of the traditionally aestheticised female "nude”. That is, I examine the (historicized) notion of a “subject” and the representation of an "object”, and understand the female "nude” as a representation …

Student Beliefs About Learning In Religion And Science In Catholic Schools, Philip F. Cox

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The focus of this study is the impact of student perception of the validity of content on student learning. It is proposed that, if the content of a subject is perceived by students as being different to the content of another subject, a result of this perceived difference is that students will treat their learning in these subjects differently. To test this proposal, student beliefs about items from the content of the religious education course are compared with student responses to items of content of their science course. A sample of 1418, year 11 students from nine co-educational Catholic secondary …

Contrast Enhancement Of Ultrasound Images Using Shunting Inhibitory Cellular Neural Networks, Murali M. Gogineni

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Evolving from neuro-biological insights, neural network technology gives a computer system an amazing capacity to actually generate decisions dynamically. However, as the amount of data to be processed increases, there is a demand for developing new types of networks such as Cellular Neural Networks (CNN), to ease the computational burden without compromising the outcomes. The objective of this thesis is to research the capability of Shunting Inhibitory Cellular Neural Networks (SICNN) to solve the clarity problems in ultrasound imaging. In this thesis, we begin by reviewing a number of traditional enhancement techniques and measures. Since the entire work of this …

An Investigation Of The Equity Premium Using Habit Utility And Equity Returns: Australian Evidence, Lurion De Mello

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The gap between the return on stocks and the return on the risk free assets represented by bonds is named the 'Equity Premium' or 'Equity Risk Premium'. In the history of asset pricing models, one of the most serious problems for the equity premium is that the average equity premium is too large to be explained by standard general equilibrium asset pricing models. Researcher's have tried to use variables such as dividend yield's to explain the gap between stocks and bonds with mixed results. After retrieving around a one percent equity premium with the most standard consumption base asset pricing …

Outcomes Of A Participatory Approach To Interpretive Planning In The Shark Bay World Heritage Area, Western Australia, Kelly J. Chapman

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis examines a participatory approach to interpretive planning, employed in the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, Western Australia. At the project outset relations between the conservation agency responsible for administering World Heritage and the local community were strained, and complicated by a history of conflict over the World Heritage listing and subsequent management of the area. A participatory approach to interpretive planning was adopted in the hope that doing so would achieve the following: improved relations between polarised stakeholder groups, increased community support for the plan and its implementation, and improved access to the variety of knowledge pools within …

An Examination Of Fathers' Satisfaction With The Legal System: Exploring The Concept In Relation To Fathers' Experience With The Family Law Court Of Western Australia, Janelle M. Hawes

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Although the importance of fathers' post divorce contact with their children has been linked with a better outcome for the children and is valued by society, studies in the United States and Australia have suggested that up to 30 percent of fathers do not maintain regular contact with their children post divorce. To date, the literature has focused mainly on demographic variables and some personal characteristics of the father. An area, which has been neglected, is the influence of fathers' perception of legal proceedings and rules on their contact with their children post divorce. This study aimed to explore the …

Experiences Of Anglo-Burmese Migrants In Perth, Western Australia : A Substantive Theory Of Marginalisation, Adaptation And Community, Simon D. Colquhoun

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The experience of migration and adaptation of ethnically mixed migrants; like the Anglo-Burmese migrants, has received little attention. This group began migrating to Australia, in particular Western Australia, in the 1960s due to changing socio-political circumstances in Burma. The examination of cultural issues in psychological research has operated in a number of different perspectives including cross-cultural psychology, cultural psychology and more recently, community psychology in Australia. The development of community psychology in Australia has led to the development of a community research approach by Bishop, Sonn, Drew and Contos (2002). This approach requires the exploration of the substantive domain using …

The Young School-Age Assessment Of Attachment (Ysaa): Development And Preliminary Validation, Lynn E. Priddis

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This manuscript describes the development and preliminary validation of a new assessment procedure called the Young School-age Assessment of Attachment (YSAA). The tool has clinical as well as research relevance in that it identifies the attachment strategies of children aged 5-7 years as well as recognising attachment related problems for this age group. The YSAA is a representational procedure that uses line drawings of a child teddy in attachment-related situations. The stimulus cards, probes, and administration procedures were piloted and refined in the initial stages of this study. The children's narratives that were generated from this procedure were examined for …

Introduction To Radio Production, Steelman Library, Steven E. Dendrinos

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

20 Years Of Speleothem Paleoluminescence Records Of Environmental Changes: An Overview, Yavor Y. Shopov

International Journal of Speleology

This paper discusses advance of the research on Speleothem Paleoluminescence Records of Environmental Changes after it have been first introduced by the author 20 years ago. It is demonstrated that most of the progress in this field was made in result of the operation of the International Program “Luminescence of Cave Minerals” of the commission on Physical Chemistry and Hydrogeology of Karst of UIS of UNESCO. Potential, resolution and limitations of high resolution luminescence speleothem proxy records of Paleotemperature, Solar Insolation, Solar Luminosity, Glaciations, Sea Level advances, Past Precipitation, Plants Populations, Paleosoils, Past Karst Denudation, Chemical Pollution, Geomagnetic field and …

The Role Of The Environmental Archaeologist In The Study And Reconstruction Of Cave Palaeoclimate, Maria Gkioni

International Journal of Speleology

Man and environment are engaged in a continuous battle to impose themselves on one another. The results are found in environmental modifications or climatic oscillations and, as far as man is concerned, in the different character of cultural remains. Man responds to environmental changes by migrating or evolving technological innovations, both of which leave important remains that the archaeologist is called on to recognise and interpret during and after an excavation. They both also reflect the sociocultural responses to climatic stress. This paper refers to a specific case study, caves, which housed man and his activities from the very early …

A Generic Approach To Supporting The Management Of Computerised Clinical Guidelines And Protocols, Kudakwashe Dube

Doctoral

Clinical guidelines or protocols (CGPs) are statements that are systematically developed for the purpose of guiding the clinician and the patient in making decisions about appropriate healthcare for specific clinical problems. Using CGPs is one of the most effective and proven ways to attaining improved quality, optimised resource utilisation, cost containment and reduced variation in healthcare practice. CGPs exist mainly as paper-based natural language statements, but are increasingly being computerised. Supporting computerised CGPs in a healthcare environment so that they are incorporated into the routine used daily by clinicians is complex and presents major information management challenges. This thesis contends …

Improving Performance On Standardized Tests Through Planned Interventions At Independence Alternative High School, Josephine Bell Jones

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This study was an investigation of the effects of a tutorial intervention on the grades and standardized test scores of low-performing students in an alternative school setting in the Winston-Salem Forsyth County System. Students in this study attended Independence Alternative High School (IAHSP) because of low test scores, declining grades, and behavioral problems. There had been a continuous decline in the end-of-course tests scores for these students for 3 consecutive years.

During the 1998-2000 school years, the academic performance of these students declined by 10.8%. These students were discouraged learners who did not achieve in the standard high school program. …

The Development Of An Instructional Leadership Training Seminar For Elementary Assistant Principals, Lisa R. Buffaloe

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The purpose of this project was to supply first or second year elementary assistant principals with a school-based training seminar that would strengthen their instructional leadership skills and provide a network of professional support to beginning administrators. The product was a human resource development activity. The goal of the seminar, while providing leadership theory and practical strategies, was to advance the understanding of the connection between effective leadership and improved student learning.

A nonexperimental, descriptive research design that incorporated survey methodology to collect the data needed to identify common areas of concern and to develop the curriculum for a seminar …

Collaborative Research: Narratives Of Domestic Violence Workers & Volunteers, Elizabeth A. Curry

Library Faculty Presentations & Publications

My research paper focuses on multiple layers of retrospective sensemaking based on a university colloquium about “Developing the Research Relationship.” The original idea for the colloquium panel was a presentation by two research assistants about our research relationship with staff members of CASA, a community organization that works against domestic violence. When we expanded the panel to include two staff members from the research site who actively participated in the research project, it became an enactment of the relationships. The panel became a relational experience that was part of the continuing relationships and an occasion for reflexivity on my identity …

Investigating The Impact Of Differentiating Instruction On Student Learning In Middle School Mathematics Class, Marcia Adams O’Neil

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Mathematical achievement across this country lags behind not only that of other industrialized nations but also behind that of other disciplines in the United States as documented by the Third International Math and Science Survey (National Center for Educational Statistics, 1999). Archival data from the state assessment, Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, over the past 4 years document that mathematics performance lags behind English/language arts at all levels. Moreover, performance in mathematics is stagnant at the middle school level, Grades 6-8, unlike continual gains at the elementary and high school level. Clearly, student performance at the middle school level is an …

Evaluation Of The Influence Of Prior Health Care Experience On Physician Assistant Student Academic Performance, Salvatore Barese

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Considerable variability exists in the use of prior health care experience (HCE) as an admission criterion by physician assistant (PA) educational programs. The problem was to justify the current amount and type of HCE required by the New York Institute of Technology PA Program.

The purpose of this project was to determine how PA programs use and define prior HCE and to determine whether the type and/or amount of HCE influence academic performance.

Research questions include how PA programs utilize and define HCE; whether the type and/or amount of HCE predicts academic performance in PA programs, performance on summative and …

Colorado Superintendency Attrition And Its Effects On The Fourth-Grade Reading Achievement: A Reflective Practitioner’S Investigation, Rod L. Blunck

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to gather a greater understanding of the impact of superintendent turnover and the effect on student achievement. The data-based accountability systems in place in Colorado place a great deal of pressure on superintendents to produce empirical results indicating increased student achievement.

The author gathered data from the Colorado Department of Education for student achievement results for the 4th grade reading assessment as measured by the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) for academic years 2001, 2002, and 2003 and for superintendent turnover as measured during academic years 2001 and 2002. Randomly selected, 5 superintendents were to …

Symptoms And Possible Causes For Low Enrollment And Participation In The Advanced Placement Program, Debra A. Calvin

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to increase the participation rate of students in the advanced placement (AP) program in a comprehensive high school. The participation rate at this particular site was 8.69% for the 2001-2002 school year. An audit conducted at that time indicated that given the school’s demographics, the AP participation rate should have been at 20%. A strong AP program is advantageous not only to the students actually taking the course but to the entire student body as well. A system was set in place that did not promote the growth and development of AP.

The writer developed …

Social And Behavioral Aspect Of Mother’S Health Behaviors And Neonatal Health: Risk Factor Analysis Of Neonatal Septicemia In Urban Slums Of Muntinlupa, Philippines, Chisaki Sato

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reducing neonatal mortality can contribute to the further reduction of infant mortality rates in international health as it is responsible for about half of the mortality rate for those underfive today. The situation of infant mortality in the Philippines is no exception to this global trend. This study of the social demographic aspects of sepsis neonatorum in the Philippines has explored the conditions of the urban environment, and local cultures related to newborn illnesses and the patterns of health seeking behaviors of urban poor mothers which can affect the survival of newborns. The mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods …

Using Mediation Techniques To Manage Conflict And Create Healthy Work Environments, Debra Gerardi

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Curing Conflict, Debra Gerardi, Dale C. Hetzler, Virginia L. Morrison, Lorraine Sanchez Hayes

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Two Wrongs Make A Right: Hybrid Claims Of Discrimination, Ming Hsu Chen

Faculty Scholarship

This Note reinterprets and recontextualizes the pronouncement in Employment Division v. Smith (Smith II) that exemptions from generally applicable laws will not be granted unless claims of free exercise are accompanied by the assertion of another constitutional right. It argues that when Arab American Muslims, and others who are of minority race and religion, bring claims for exemption from gen­ erally applicable laws on the basis of free exercise and equal protection principles, they ought to be able to invoke Smith Il's hybridity exception, thus meriting height­ ened judicial scrutiny and increased solicitude from courts.

Enterprise Risk Management : Integrated Framework: Executive Summary, Framework, September 2004, Pricewaterhousecoopers Llp, Committee Of Sponsoring Organizations Of The Treadway Commission

Association Sections, Divisions, Boards, Teams

No abstract provided.

Asb Meeting Minutes, 2004, May 4;Auditing Standards Board Conference Call, Approved Highlights, 2004, May 4, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants. Auditing Standards Board

Association Sections, Divisions, Boards, Teams

No abstract provided.