Digital Commons Network^™

The Authority Of Imagination: Making The Ideal Real, Maggie P. Monteverde

Belmont Humanities Symposium Journal

What then would I say is the value of poetry or fiction? I think the truest answers are drawn from our own experiences of literature (and by this I mean literature of all kinds, not just high brow materials we study in college, or even the classics, those works Italo Calvino says we re-read for love). No, for me the real value of literature is in these communities they create, within themselves and across space and time among those who experience those works.

Accuracy Of Perceptually Based And Acoustically Based Inspiratory Loci In Reading, Yu-Tsai Wang, Jordan R. Green, Ignatius S. B. Nip, Ray D. Kent, Jane Finley Kent, Cara Ullman

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Investigations of speech often involve the identification of inspiratory loci in continuous recordings of speech. The present study investigates the accuracy of perceptually determined and acoustically determined inspiratory loci. While wearing a circumferentially vented mask connected to a pneumotach, 16 participants read two passages. The perceptually determined and acoustically determined inspiratory loci were compared with the actual loci of inspiration, which were determined aerodynamically. The results showed that (1) agreement across all three judges was the most accurate of the approaches considered here for detecting inspiratory loci based on listening; (2) the most accurate pause duration threshold for detecting inspiratory …

From Energy Gradient And Natural Selection To Biodiversity And Stability Of Ecosystems, Bo Deng

Department of Mathematics: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to incorporate well-established ecological principles into a foodweb model consisting of four trophic levels --- abiotic resources, plants, herbivores, and carnivores. The underlining principles include Kimura's neutral theory of genetic evolution, Liebig's Law of the Minimum for plant growth, Holling's functionals for herbivore foraging and carnivore predation, the One-Life Rule for all organisms, and Lotka-Volterra's model for intraand interspecific competitions. Numerical simulations of the model led to the following statistical findings: (a) particular foodwebs can give contradicting observations on biodiversity and productivity, in particular, all known functional forms -- - positive, negative, sigmoidal, and …

Morphological Changes And Immunohistochemical Expression Of Rage And Its Ligands In The Sciatic Nerve Of Hyperglycemic Pig (Sus Scrofa), Judyta K. Juranek, Alexey Aleshin, Eileen M. Rattigan, Lynne Johnson, Wu Qu, Fei Song, Radha Ananthakrishnan, Nosirudeen Quadri, Shi Du Yan, Ravichandran Ramasamy, Ann Marie Schmidt, Matthew S. Geddis

Publications and Research

The aim of our project was to study the effect of streptozotocin (STZ)—induced hyperglycemia on sciatic nerve morphology, blood plasma markers and immunohistochemical expression of RAGE (the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End-products), and its ligands—S100B and Carboxymethyl Lysine (CML)-advanced glycation endproduct (AGE) in the laboratory pig. Six months after STZ—injections, blood plasma measurements, morphometric analysis of sciatic nerve fiber density, immunofluorescent distribution of potential molecular neuropathy contributors, ELISA measurement of plasma AGE level and HPLC analysis of sciatic nerve levels of one of the pre-AGE and the glycolysis intermediate products—methyl-glyoxal (MG) were performed. The results of our study revealed that …

Tracing Cochineal Through The Collection Of The Metropolitan Museum, Elena Phipps, Nobuko Shibayama

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Cochineal, with its origin in the Americas, by the 16th century was exported throughout the world. From the time of the Spanish encounter with the Americas in the late 15th and early 16th century, a dyestuff for a strong, fast, red color was in high demand. While many archival documents and scholarly writing exist on the use and shipment of cochineal throughout the world, and on its impact on the textile industry, this paper traces the pathway of its use through an examination of artworks in the Metropolitan Museum. Scientific analysis aids the study in the identification of cochineal (and …

Chapter 3 - The Use Of Structured Role-Playing To Foster Learning Beyond Content Knowledge, Ana Claudia Harten

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at EMU

No abstract provided.

Language Vitality And Language Attitude Of The Karen Ethnic Group In The Western Region Of Thailand: A Preliminary Report, Somsonge Burusphat, Sumittra Suraratdecha, Patama Patpong, Amon Saengmanee

Manusya, Journal of Humanities

This paper presents preliminary findings of the research project entitled "Ethnicity, Language, Culture and Ethnic Tourism Development." It has three goals. First, it aims to identify the Karen language spoken in six provinces in the western region of Thailand, namely, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Suphan Buri, and Nakhon Pathom. The next goal is to explore Karen language use and attitudes towards languages of the wider community. The final goal is to evaluate the development of sustainable ethnic tourism in the region. A preliminary survey of language use and attitude of Karen people towards the Karen language and Ethnic …

Instructors' Attitudes Toward The Use Of Technology At The University Of Mississippi, Julia Emilia Bussade

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The major purpose of this study was to investigate the Spanish and Portuguese Instructors' attitudes toward technology at the University of Mississippi. In this mixed method study, with a very limited number of participants ( N = 20), attitudes were analyzed by combining the results of all three instruments that composed this research project: a survey, class observations and personal interviews. The results from the triangulation of these three instruments showed that the instructors have a positive attitude toward technology.

This particular investigation adapted and employed two dimensions to assess teachers' attitudes toward technology: (1) anxiety, fear and/or aversion; and …

The Crescent And The Cross: Islamic Influence In Southern Culture, Jesse Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To a large degree, America has adopted African American culture as its own. One may hear and see African American influence in popular music, grammar, fashion and art, but rarely are the sources of these influences divined, in no small part to difficulties inherent in interdisciplinary studies. This thesis will examine the Islamic aesthetics in African American quilts. This work focuses on design and color elements and I trace Islamic influence from West Africa to the U.S. South by way of the slave trade. The original scholarship comes from in the Mississippi Delta, although this thesis also uses quilt books …

The Effect Of De-Contextualized Multimedia Software On Taiwanese College Level Students' English Vocabulary Development, Yaw-Liang Yan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computer technology has been applied widely as an educational tool in second language learning for a long time. There have been many studies discussing the application of computer technology to different aspects in second language learning. However, the learning effect of both de-contextualized multimedia software and sound gloss on second language students had been rarely explored. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of computer-assisted language learning (call) on de-contextualized multimedia software vocabulary learning and retention for college level students in Taiwan. One-hundred-fifty-five participants completed this experiment. The control group class was taught in a regular classroom. …

A Post-Formation Right Of Withdrawal From Customary International Law?: Some Cautionary Notes, Samuel Estreicher

Faculty Articles

The author offers his opinion on the adoption of the Default View which was presented by Curtis Bradley and Mitu Gulati's (B&G) in their article "Withdrawing from International Custom." It discusses the possible effect of B&G's proposal to switch from the Mandatory View to the Default View which gives states a post formation right to withdraw from customary international law (CIL). It concludes that the system needs vigilant insistence on the conventional requirements for CIL formation.

"Just Words": Common Law And The Enforcement Of State Constitutional Social And Economic Rights, Helen Hershkoff

Faculty Articles

[...] not all state constitutions include a state action requirement, and in some states-admittedly, only a few-state courts permit an individual to enforce public rights directly against another private actor. State constitutions do not, however, explicitly subject common law decision making to state constitutional regulation, and so questions about the application of state constitutional norms in the horizontal position remain open. Provisions such as Section 39(2) of the South Africa Constitution, for example, which requires that "[w]hen developing the common law or customary law, every court, tribunal or forum must promote the spirit, purport and objects of the Bill of …

What The Federal Circuit Can Learn From The Supreme Court—And Vice Versa, Rochelle C. Dreyfuss

Faculty Articles

Speech on the institution of the Federal Circuit.

Dependency Aware Live Virtual Machine Migration, Anthony E. Nocentino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Illusion Of Transparency At An Hsi: Rethinking Service And Public Identity In A South Texas Writing Program, Jonikka Charlton, Colin Charlton

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Behavioral Decision Theory And Implications For The Supreme Court's Campaign Finance Jurisprudence, Molly J. Walker Wilson

Cardozo Law Review

America stands at a moment in history when advances in the understanding of human decision-making are increasing the strategic efficacy of political strategy. As campaign spending for the presidential race reaches hundreds of millions of dollars, the potential for harnessing the power of psychological tactics becomes considerable. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has characterized campaign money as "speech" and has required evidence of corruption or the appearance of corruption in order to uphold restrictions on campaign expenditures. Ultimately, the Court has rejected virtually all restrictions on campaign spending on the ground that expenditures, unlike contributions, do not contribute to corruption or …

Tag Dictionaries Accelerate Manual Annotation, Deryle W. Lonsdale, Marc A. Carmen, Paul Felt, Robbie A. Haertel, Peter J. Mcclanahan, Eric K. Ringger, Kevin Seppi

Faculty Publications

Expert human input can contribute in various ways to facilitate automatic annotation of natural language text. For example, a part-of-speech tagger can be trained on labeled input provided offline by experts. In addition, expert input can be solicited by way of active learning to make the most of annotator expertise. However, hiring individuals to perform manual annotation is costly both in terms of money and time. This paper reports on a user study that was performed to determine the degree of effect that a part-of-speech dictionary has on a group of subjects performing the annotation task. The user study was …

The Russian Émigré In America: Translating And Transcending Exile In Vladimir Nabokov's Pnin And Pale Fire, Yelena N. Severina

Master's Theses

This thesis investigates how Vladimir Nabokov's experience as an exiled writer in America serves as a model for the protagonists of Pnin(1957) and Pale Fire(1962), two of Nabokov's English-language novels in which exile is a central theme. Although the protagonists, Pnin and Kinbote, are both true exiles, they illustrate markedly different responses to their dislocations; read in tandem, the novels constitute Nabokov's analysis of exile, his lament over its painfulness, and his transcendence of exile through art. Chapter One looks at Nabokov through the lens of exile while establishing fundamental theoretical concepts and terminology. Chapters Two and Three …

Framing Corporate Social Responsibility On The Websites Of Fortune 10 Green Giants, Kriti Ashok

Master's Theses

This thesis reports a framing study of corporate social responsibility on the Internet. The study explores how Fortune 10 Green Giants frame corporate social responsibility on their websites. The Green Giants are Honda, Continental, Suncor, Tesco, Alcan, PG&E, S.C. Johnson, Goldman Sachs, Swiss Re, and Hewlett-Packard. According to Fortune magazine, these 10 companies have gone beyond what the law requires to operate in an environmentally responsible way. The study is focused on the textual content of these 10 corporation websites. The study involves identification of frames, determination of the most used and the least used frames, and identification of patterns …

Outcomes Of Dialogic Communication Training On A City Government Management Team, Minna Johanna Holopainen

Master's Theses

Managing diversity in today's organizational environments can challenge many organizations. This action research study addresses that challenge by investigating the outcomes of dialogic communication training on a city government management team experiencing organizational diversity. The study consisted of four phases: (1) individual interviews for needs assessment, (2) focus group meeting for training design, (3) dialogic communication training, and (4) individual interviews for assessment of the outcomes. The results of this study indicate that dialogic communication and the development of dialogic style of leadership through dialogic communication training provide a valuable and practical approach for work teams. Specifically, management team members' …

Employment Decisions As A Function Of An Applicant's Accent, Lam Thanh Nguyen

Master's Theses

Using data collected from 167 college students, the present study examined the effects of an applicant's accent (Standard American English vs. Spanish) on employment-related decisions (i.e., job suitability, likelihood of promotion, and decision to hire) and perceived applicant characteristics (i.e., competence and likability). Results showed that Spanish-accented applicants were rated less suitable for an entry-level software engineering job, were perceived as having a lower chance of being promoted to a managerial position, and were hired less frequently compared to the Standard American English-accented applicant. Additionally, the Spanish-accented applicant was rated less competent but just as likable as the Standard American …

Kinna-Uganda: A Review Of Uganda's National Cinema, Kristin Alexandra Rasmussen

Master's Theses

Kinna-Uganda (K-U) is a form of cinema that has emerged in Uganda following decades of the totalitarian political regime of Idi Amin, which in turn followed almost a century of colonial rule. The concept of national cinema is evaluated in this thesis as a tool for analysis of K-U. The national cinema concept is compared with four other models -- regional, continental, Pan-African, and transnational -- that can also be used to analyze and deconstruct films and the academic space within which they reside. This study examines Uganda's pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial times and their impact on the production of …

Back Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Back matter.

Indicators Of Linguistic Processing Constraints In The Narratives Of Individuals With High-Functioning Autism, Katherine Michael Belardi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A current model of autism proposes that it is a disorder of information processing. The purpose of this study was to compare the language production of adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) to that of age and Verbal IQ-matched controls with respect to speech disruptions and formulaic expressions, features which indicate linguistic processing challenges. Standard language measures and language samples from the ADOS Telling a Story from a Book and Create a Story tasks were collected and analyzed. No between-group measures were found to be statistically significant. However, 10 of 16 individuals with HFA exhibited speech disruptions consistent with clinically "tangled" …

The Transcendent Comedy Of The "Canterbury Tales": Harmony In "Quyting," Harmony In Fragmentation, John Zedolik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer has been a controversial work for many years due in part to its tonal variety which leads to questions of genre and the work's purpose. Ambiguity regarding the work's hypothetical finished state, due to its actual fragmented condition, also contributes to critical controversy. Thus the dissertation analyzes certain tales and these tales' relationships to other tales to arrive at an argument that sees the Canterbury Tales as indeed fragmented, but harmoniously complete.

The most important critical point in the dissertation is the "quyting"--paying-back or balancing--which one tale and teller perform upon another tale and …

Visual Phonics And Phonological Awareness Interventions: Stability Of Gains In Language And Literacy, Mara Hampton

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The current study was a follow-up to a pretest-posttest control group experiment that found speech and/or language impaired preschoolers significantly improved their receptive and expressive language skills after ten weeks of phonological awareness interventions. Following ten weeks of phonological awareness intervention, speech and/or language impaired preschoolers also made gains in early literacy skills, with greater gains in a phonological awareness group supplemented by See the Sound/Visual Phonics (visual phonics).

The present study was conducted as a follow-up six months later. The purpose was to determine the stability of gains from the two phonological awareness interventions on the development of auditory …

Increasing Written Language Skills Utilizing Writing Software And Traditional Methods, Caroline Larson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

A grid based computer program, Clicker5, appeared to have many features that logically may assist struggling writers. It utilizes pictures, sound, speech synthesis, word banks and a spelling checker. Karemaker et al. (2008) examined the use of Clicker5 and observed increased attention and focus during reading, and greater gains in word recognition and rhyme awareness. Scattered research exists on some of the multimedia features that Clicker5 utilizes (e.g. auditory and visual instruction, specific feedback, student specific examples, Wissick & Gardner, 2000; composition processes and revision facilitation, MacArthur 2000; spell checkers with strategy instruction, and speech synthesis to increase error …

Grade 7 Earth Day Statistics With Circle And Bar Graphs, Joanne Erenberg

Math

This lesson is designed for seventh grade math. The theme is "Earth Day" and the lesson focus is on circle graphs and bar graphs. Students will explore statistics on conservation and recycling while they learn how to interpret data and convert it into graphs. The differentiations method is cubing tiered on three levels of difficulty with each cube holding six levels of blooms taxonomy. The activities are also differentiated by learning style.

Middle Eastern Studies Program Newsletter - V3.2, Middle Eastern Studies Program

Middle Eastern Studies Program - Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Intercultural Communications: Medicine Across Cultures, Danielle Tomeck

Intertext

No abstract provided.