Digital Commons Network^™

Time-Cost-Quality Trade-Off Analysis For Construction Projects, Mahmoud Elbassuony

Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of construction projects is to finish the project according to an available budget, within a planned schedule, and achieving a pre-specified extent of quality. Therefore, time, cost, and quality are considered the most important attributes of construction projects. The purpose of this study is to incorporate quality into the traditional two-dimensional time-cost trade-off (TCT) in order to develop an advanced three-dimensional time-cost-quality trade-off (TCQT) approach. Time, cost, and quality of construction projects are interrelated and have impacts on each other. It is a challenging task to strike a balance among these three conflicting objectives of construction projects …

Foreign Languages In Academic Librarianship: A Survey Of Skills, Use, And Perceptions, Brian Vetruba

WashU Libraries Publications

No comprehensive study of academic librarians’ attitudes and perceptions toward foreign language skills in libraries has occurred. Similarly, the question of how librarians use foreign languages has only been cursorily examined. The authors conducted an online survey in the spring of 2007 asking academic librarians in the US and Canada about their knowledge of non—English languages, use of languages professionally, and the perceived value of language skills. Results indicate substantial use of and value placed on language skills. Of the 1,858 respondents, more than 25 percent reported using foreign languages daily and over 75 percent desire better language skills to …

Defining The Protected Groups In The Law Of Genocide: Learning From The Experience Of The International Criminal Tribunal For Rwanda, Alison Hopkins

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

April 6, 2009, marked the fifteenth anniversary of the beginning of the Rwandan Genocide. In 1994, international outcry was not immediately forthcoming, but the commitment made by the United Nations Security Council for an international criminal tribunal to bring those who were responsible for the genocide to justice was an important statement condemning the actions of many Rwandans. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (“ICTR”) had many legal issues to face, but the most important, by far, was an exploration of the law of genocide at international law. The ICTR was the first international court to try an individual for …

In Memoriam, East Lib, H- Asia, Japan Foundation

Journal of East Asian Libraries

No abstract provided.

A Discourse On Variegated Aspects Of ‘Taste’: An Analysis Of ‘Class Distinctions’ In F. Scott Fitzgerald’S The Great Gatsby, Satyam S. Moorty

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Turkic And Islamic Factors For Current Kazakhstani Identity Information, Timur Kozyrev

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Playing From Memory: Essays On Music In Life, Tamara Ghattas

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

In five personal essays, this creative-writing project delves into several of the author’s musical experiences, reflecting on the ways in which music informs and illuminates our lives and helps us to forge our identities. As a whole, the essays explore questions such as, What can our attraction to different instruments tell us about ourselves as individuals and about our cultures? How should artists balance the desire for critical approval with the impetus to explore the joy of creating, regardless of an audience? Is music, fundamentally, a private or a shared experience? Specific topics covered include the accordion, the carillon, a …

Hemisphere Differences In Idiom Comprehension: The Influence Of Ambiguity, Transparancy, And Familiarity, Stephen Briner

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Idioms are verb phrases that must be interpreted figuratively, such as "to bury the hatchet" (Gibbs, 1999). Recent finding suggest that the right hemisphere may have an advantage when readers comprehend language that must be understood figuratively (McDonald, 200). However, it is currently unclear how idioms are processed in the right and left hemispheres. It is possible that not all idioms are processed similarly in the hemispheres, and that several factors between idioms may affect hemispheriC processing. First, the plausibility of an idiom's literal interpretation (i.e., ambiguity) may influence processing in the hemispheres. for example, some idioms have plausible literal …

Why Are There So Few Of Us? Counterstories From Women Of Color In Faculty Governance Roles, Noni Mendoza Reis, Mei-Yan Lu

Faculty Publications

Women scholars are underrepresented in faculty governance positions in the university settings. This initial descriptive study described the successes and challenges faced by eight (n = 8) women of color in current or former governance roles in California universities. A semi-structured interview schedule was administered that focused on their perceptions in the three areas: competence, confidence and credibility. The findings were analyzed and implications as well as recommendations for further research were made.

Establishing Normal Psychoacoustic Parameters Using Adaptive Procedures For The Clinical Assessment Of Psychoacoustic Phenomenon, Maria Noelle Burnham

Theses and Dissertations

Masking Level Difference (MLD) tests are an established component of auditory processing test batteries; however, normative data for these tests vary according to procedure. In this study, forty normal, native-English speaking adults between the ages of 18 and 26 were tested for MLD via a newly developed computer software program using both an adaptive procedure (MLDA) and a Bekesy procedure (MLDB). The results from the two procedures were analyzed for sex differences and compared with each other. For both the MLDA and MLDB, the results showed statistically significant sex differences in the masked thresholds used to obtain the MLD (NoSo …

Spirituality At Work And Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Replication Study In Taiwan, Gilbert Tan, Christine Kuo, Eugene Zhen Yao Geh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Interest in Management, Spirituality and Religion (MSR) research has surged over the last decade. However, most of the studies are done in the Western context. Tan and Geh’s (2009) is an exception. In Tan and Geh’s study, they provided a theoretical model linking spirituality at work with organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) through organizational commitment as the mediator and tested it empirically. The findings of the study, though exploratory, were interesting. They affirmed the effectiveness of affective commitment as a mediator between spirituality at work and OCB. Normative commitment, however, was not as effective. Their findings also show that continuance commitment …

Haitian Zombie, Myth, And Modern Identity, Kette Thomas

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

In her article "Haitian Zombie, Myth, and Modern Identity" Kette Thomas analyzes texts by Zora Neale Hurston, Alfred Metraux, and Wade Davis. In these narratives we are re-introduced to the zombie not as a metaphor for lost consciousness, but, rather, as a common system that replaces personal subjectivity with an influence alien to our natural development. The discourse on subjectivity has become a central focus in the modern era but attention to fiction in "third world" cultures is neglected because they are studied almost exclusively through historical, political, sociological, or anthropological lenses or because their collective identities leads scholars to …

Earmstrong, Armstrong Atlantic State University

Armstrong News & Publications: e-Armstrong Newsletter (Archived)

No abstract provided.

Software Application For Computer Aided Vocabulary Learning In A Blended Learning Environment, Rasha Essam Hashem Hassan

Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on the effect of computer-aided vocabulary learning software called 'ArabCAVL on students' vocabulary acquisition. It was hypothesized that students who use the ArabCAVL software in blended learning environment will surpass students who use traditional vocabulary learning strategies in face-to-face learning environment even though both groups were using the same framework for introducing vocabulary. Pre-test and post-test were used for assessing the previously mentioned factors, while a questionnaire with open-ended questions was used to elicit students' attitudes toward using the software. Despite the fact that both the Nation (2001) framework and the ArabCAVL software showed a significant increase …

The Development Of Fluency, Syntactic Complexity, And Grammatical Accuracy In Oral Presentations: A Case Of Egyptian Efl Learners, Mayada Mohammad Tawfik Zaki

Theses and Dissertations

Processing theories (Clahsen, 1984; Pienemann, 1997) have argued that the production of subordinate clauses is the last stage in the development of the second language learner. However, these theories did not refer to details about the development of accuracy and frequency of the production of subordinate clauses in second language learners' speech. They also did not investigate the relation between proficiency level and the production of complex syntax. Thus, more knowledge was required about the development of frequency and accuracy of complex syntax in EFL learners, and the relation between this development and proficiency level. Moreover, both second language and …

Manufacturing Consent: Italy, The Mutamassirun, Egypt, And The Invasion Of Libya, Andrew Heiss

Theses and Dissertations

The period between 1902â 12 reveals a number of insights into both Italy's imperial history and Egypt's colonial experience. Facing an economic crisis at home, hundreds of thousands of Italians emigrated to expatriate communities throughout the world, including Egypt. This massive hemorrhage of Italy's population led the government to embrace emigration, and new policies enacted by the Italian foreign ministry after Italy's military failures in Somalia and Eritrea recast migrant Italians as â colonistsâ and global Italian communities as â colonies.â Egypt posed a particularly difficult problem for the foreign ministryâ because of the multi-ethnic character of the Egyptian social …

Equalizing Classroom Participation: Public Speaking Contexts In The Egyptian Efl Classroom, Mariah Jane Fairley

Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown that about one third of the students in a given classroom are silent, as defined as those students taking fewer than half the class average number of turns. Further, more of these silent students tend to be female than male, an imbalance that has been strongly linked to the phenomenon of male conversational dominance, expressed through: taking more and longer turns; interruption, especially of female students; calling out; topic control; and even the ignoring and insulting of others' contributions. The causes of male conversational dominance and the tendency towards female silence have been theoretically linked to socialization …

The Effect Of Error Correction Types On Grammatical Accuracy In Student Essay Revision, Neveen Saeed Abd Al Kareem Al Saeed

Theses and Dissertations

There has been an on-going debate on whether error feedback helps students to improve their grammatical accuracy from one draft to the other (Ferris, 1999; Truscott, 1996; 1999). Some studies found that error correction was effective (Ferris & Roberts, 2001) and others refuted this argument (Semke, 1984; Kepner, 1990). Their findings showed that feedback had no or non-significant effects on accuracy. According to previous research, one area which has not been properly studied is a comparison between groups receiving feedback and a no feedback group. Therefore, the present study investigated the effect of feedback on grammatical accuracy by comparing three …

Re-Imagining The Ns/Nns Dichotomy: Bicultural Teachers, Heba H. Fathelbab

Theses and Dissertations

EFL teachers have been categorized using the NS/NNS (native speaker/non-native speaker) dichotomy into NESTs (native English speaking teachers) and NNESTs (non-native English speaking teachers). However, this inaccurate dichotomy does not take into account other possible categories that may fall between these two extreme notions, and has shown to have several ramifications. First, students' perception of teacher nativeness may influence students' attitudes and learning (Sahin, 2005). In addition, this perception could have an effect on students' evaluations of their teachers (Al-Issa & Sulieman, 2007). Further, this biased dichotomy contributes to NNESTs' low self-confidence (Butler, 2007). Finally, it may cause unequal job …

I Do Like Them But I Don’T Watch Them: Preschoolers’ Use Of Age As An Accounting Device In Consumption Evaluations, Olivia Freeman

Conference papers

This paper derives from a broader study of children’s consumer culture, specifically an investigation into how preschoolers employ commercial discourses as the building blocks of social selves and relations. Age-based repertoires are found to colour the various discourses produced. ‘Age’ is conceptualised as something that is made sense of for and by children through their utilisation of toys, media, consumables and other commercial artefacts. The ‘choosing child’ is addressed in empirical terms to reveal the social significance of ‘doing’ consumption related evaluations in the focus group setting. A CA-informed discourse analytic approach is utilised to focus on one aspect of …

The Experiences Of Employers Of Work Placement: A Quantity Surveying Perspective, Tony Cunningham

Other Resources

This phenomenological study examines the employers’ experiences of student work placement in quantity surveying practices. The principal aim of the research is to provide a composite comprehensive description of the work placement educational approach as experienced by of quantity surveying employers by presenting the issues, benefits and drawbacks associated with the approach.

The research design is interpretivist and qualitative in nature. The data was gathered through a series of one pilot and four phenomenological interviews with senior representatives of the quantity surveying profession. The primary concern was to gather rich and deep data which would allow a credible account of …

Teacher, Researcher, And Agent For Community Change: A South Texas High School Experience, Francisco Guajardo

Organization and School Leadership Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Arabism And The Syrian Intelligentsia In Cairo: 1900-1918, Justin Hoyle

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis examines the process by which the Syrian intelligentsia in Cairo catalyzed Cairo's transformation into an epicenter of the Arabist movement between 1900 and 1918. I will explore a combination of British diplomatic sources and Arabic-language publications in order to determine the role of the Syrian intelligentsia in Cairo in the burgeoning Arabist movement of the early twentieth century. In addition to contributing to our existing historical understanding of the development of Arabist ideology, this study will demonstrate the utility of analyzing centers of Arabism (in this case Cairo) that have often been neglected in contemporary nationalist historiography. Cairo …

Conceptualizing 'Chinese Diaspora': A Study Of Chinese Migrants In Cairo, Shannon Mcdonald

Theses and Dissertations

While China's recent increased presence and authority in Africa has been noted by national and international media, governments and academic sources, the issue of Chinese migrants living in the African continent and specifically Egypt has largely been left unnoticed. Despite the variance in population statistics, it is clear that Egypt does contain a population of Chinese migrants and that this population will undoubtedly grow as China's relationship with Egypt continues to flourish. Who are these migrants, and how do they relate to other populations of Chinese migrants residing across the world? Several terms have been used to describe this population …

Bridging The Gap: Linking Co-Curricular Activities To Student Learning Outcomes In Community College Students, Katie Lauren Storey

Dissertations

This study investigated the extent to which participation in co-curricular events enhances the achievement of student-learning outcomes in community college students. One community college in Illinois—Chicago Metropolitan Area Community College (CMACC), a pseudonym—was selected to research based on its robust co-curricular activity programming. A concurrent nested mixed methodology (Plano Clark & Creswell, 2007) was used, nesting quantitative data within qualitative data.

To generate quantitative data, a student survey was distributed to 128 students involved with co-curricular activities at CMACC. Participating students were asked to identify their involvement with co-curricular programming and how this participation correlated with the institution’s general education …

The Construction Of Chaos: Cinematic Representations And Politics In Egypt In The 2000s, Fayrouz El Sayed Karawya

Archived Theses and Dissertations

I would like to thank my committee that made writing this thesis a real enjoyment and a fruitful learning process. My committee did not reserve any effort to help me focus on every single detail pertaining to my arguments. They provided me constantly with perspectives and references to deepen my engagement with the subject, suggested new angles and ideas to reinforce the reasoning of my case. They were supportive all the way and extremely passionate about the topic of my thesis and the larger field of my study. I am deeply grateful for Dr. Hanan Sabea, my advisor whom I …

Parallel Active Learning: Eliminating Wait Time With Minimal Staleness, Paul Felt, Robbie Haertel, Eric K. Ringger, Kevin Seppi

Faculty Publications

A practical concern for Active Learning (AL) is the amount of time human experts must wait for the next instance to label. We propose a method for eliminating this wait time independent of specific learning and scoring algorithms by making scores always available for all instances, using old (stale) scores when necessary. The time during which the expert is annotating is used to train models and score instances–in parallel–to maximize the recency of the scores. Our method can be seen as a parameterless, dynamic batch AL algorithm. We analyze the amount of staleness introduced by various AL schemes and then …

Sahar Amer. Crossing Borders: Love Between Women In Medieval French And Arabic Literatures. The Middle Ages Series. Philadelphia: University Of Pennsylvania Press, 2008, Elizabeth A. Hubble

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Grounding Language In Action And Perception: From Cognitive Agents To Humanoid Robots, A Cangelosi

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

In this review we concentrate on a grounded approach to the modeling of cognition through the methodologies of cognitive agents and developmental robotics. This work will focus on the modeling of the evolutionary and developmental acquisition of linguistic capabilities based on the principles of symbol grounding. We review cognitive agent and developmental robotics models of the grounding of language to demonstrate their consistency with the empirical and theoretical evidence on language grounding and embodiment, and to reveal the benefits of such an approach in the design of linguistic capabilities in cognitive robotic agents. In particular, three different models will be …

Friedrich Max Mulller., T. J. Mccormack

The Open Court

No abstract provided.