Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding Terrorism: Religious & Political Dimensions, Christopher Cusano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Terrorism in the twenty-first century has had one of greatest effects on the status quo of international relations, peace and war. It has become the 'specter' of our era and in many instances, it has been referred to as the predominant threat of modern civilization. Furthermore, it has the potential to drastically change the world we live in. For these reasons it has rightfully earned our attention and focus. Many efforts to understand terrorism have fallen short of recognizing the underlying causes. In many cases, acts of terror have either been of purely political motivation or have had socioeconomic conditions …

Phonological Features Of Hong Kong English : Patterns Of Variation And Effects On Local Acceptability, Andrew John Sewell

Lingnan Theses

The changing dynamics of international communication in English have led to a intense questioning of the relevance of native-speaker pronunciation models in language teaching and testing. In addition, the World Englishes approach to local varieties has increased their level of recognition. Both of these developments suggest that English pronunciation models need to be reviewed, and Hong Kong represents an interesting case study. Although it has been claimed that Hong Kong English is at the ‘nativization’ stage, the existence of exonormative attitudes towards English is also well known. Two important questions arise from this inherent tension, neither of which has been …

A Comparison Between The Verbal Interruptions By Speakers Of English As A Lingua Franca (Elf) And Speakers Of English As A Native Language (Enl), Yue Yuan Li

Lingnan Theses

Previous research focused primarily on how interruptions vary according to social factors in situations where English is the native language for all speakers (see Menz and Al-Roubaie, 2008; O‟Reilly, 2008; West and Zimmerman, 1983; Zimmerman and West, 1975). Little has been done on interruptions in situations where English is used as a lingua franca. The purpose of this research is to 1) provide conversational evidence on how experienced ELF speakers make interruptions, 2) explore functions of interruptions in ELF communication; 3) compare the types and functions of interruptions in ELF communication with those in ENL communication; 4) compare the types …

The Impact Of Universal Design For Learning-Representation Practices On Concept Maps And The Development Of Quality Scientific Explanations, Lisa A. Finnegan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research project was to determine how my practice of implementing Universal Design for Learning-Representation (UDL-R) principles influenced my students’ understanding of content and enhanced their ability to organize their knowledge using concept maps. A secondary purpose of this action research project was to determine if student created concept maps served as a useful tool to enrich students’ written scientific explanations. Students in this study completed concept maps and wrote explanations about adaptations before and after participating in lessons enriched with UDL-R principles that included the use of multimedia sources, website searches, and trade books. The …

Issues In Validity Generalization The Criterion Problem, Raquel Hodge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Schmidt and Hunter‟s validity generalization model poses seven sources of error variance affecting validation studies. Of the seven sources of error variance, only four sources have been tested. This study looks at an additional source of error variance, the difference between studies in the amount and kind of criterion contamination and deficiency, as proposed by Schmidt and Hunter. The current study proposes a method of evaluating criterion contamination and deficiency in criterion measures in order to minimize their effects on the relationship between criterion and predictor measures. Two unique criteria are used including a traditional subjective measure of current performance …

The Academic Word List Reorganized For Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners, Robert W. Bushong Ii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Published in TESOL Quarterly a decade ago, the Academic Word List (AWL) (Coxhead, 2000) has become increasingly influential in the field of TESOL. With more than 82% of the AWL comprised of words of Latin and Greek, much of this important list logically consists of English-Spanish cognates because Spanish originated from Latin. In order to serve Spanishspeaking English language learners (SSELLs) better, their teachers need to know which AWL words are cognates. Using published sources and linguistic analysis of the 570 items in the AWL, the research in this thesis has resulted in a newly reorganized AWL divided into four …

Writing Center Handbooks And Travel Guidebooks : Redesigning Instructional Texts For Multicultural, Multilingual, And Multinational Contexts, Steven K. Bailey

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

In an increasingly interconnected world characterized by the accelerating interplay of cultural, linguistic, and national difference, the ability to negotiate that difference in an equitable and ethical manner is a crucial skill for both individuals and larger social groups. This dissertation, Writing Center Handbooks and Travel Guidebooks: Redesigning Instructional Texts for Multicultural, Multilingual, and Multinational Contexts, considers how instructional texts that ostensibly support the negotiation of difference (i.e., accepting and learning from difference) actually promote the management of difference (i.e., rejecting, assimilating, and erasing difference).

As a corrective to this focus on managing difference, chapter two constructs a theoretical …

Can There Be A Religion Of Reasons? A Response To Leiter's Circular Conception Of Religious Belief, Jeffrey M. Lipshaw

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

This is a comment on a definition of religion recently proffered by Brian Leiter in support of different conclusions we ought to draw with respect to religion. His analysis is ultimately circular: the problem with religion is that it is not science. Exposing the circularity requires identifying the trick, which is that he employs an appeal to common sense to distinguish religion and science. Nevertheless, the very belief in common sense is the same as the religion Leiter attacks: it is categorical and insulated from further reasons. My argument in response has three major themes. (1) The argument based on …

Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System To Improve The Power Quality Of Variable-Speed Wind Power Generation System, Yüksel Oğuz, Kami̇l Ri̇fat İrfan Güney

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In this study, an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system is designed for output voltage and frequency control of a variable-speed wind power generation system. Variable-speed wind power generation systems (VSWPGS) provide the opportunity to capture more power than fixed speed turbines. On the other hand, the variable-speed wind turbine output can be variable voltage and variable frequency for fluctuating wind speeds. The quality of output power can be improved if adequate controls are incorporated in the system. To bring the output voltage and frequency of system by means of control of blade pitch angle of wind turbine to a desirable value, …

The Skinny On Weight Watchers: A Critical Analysis Of Weight Watcher's Use Of Metaphors, Ashlynn Laura Reynolds-Dyk

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Founded in 1961, with 1.5 million people from around the world attending meetings every week today, Weight Watchers has become a socially and economically significant weight loss organization with the potential to affect the lives of many people. With that in mind, this study describes and analyzes the rhetorical strategies of Weight Watchers. More specifically, this study depicts the metaphors used by Weight Watchers to describe its 2009 program, the Momentum Program. Which metaphors are used, how those metaphors function to create a reality for dieters, how those metaphors produce and filter meaning, and the actions those metaphors encourage and …

Governing The Sulphur Dioxide Emissions Of Multinational Corporations: Putting The Breaks On The Race-To-The-Bottom, Maren Zimmer

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

Multinational corporations are now part of global politics. For effective governance of international environmental problems, their roles in the political process cannot be ignored. This paper will examine “race-to-the-bottom” theory and evaluate whether this race has occurred as a reaction to sulphur dioxide (SO2) regulation, resulting in a need for increased global governance surrounding environmental issues. The paper focuses on SO2 because the Trail Smelter case, which is seen as the birth case for international environmental law, recognized the harm stemming from this pollutant in 1941; scientific evidence has also linked SO2 emissions to acid rain and respiratory problems associated …

The Rule Of Law And Human Dignity: Reexamining Fuller’S Canons, David Luban

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Lon Fuller offered an analysis of the rule of law in the form of eight ‘canons’ of lawmaking. He argued (1) that these canons constitute a ‘procedural natural law’, as distinct from traditional ‘substantive’ natural law; but also (2) that lawmaking conforming to the canons will enhance human dignity—a ‘substantive’ result. This paper argues the following points: first, that Fuller mischaracterized his eight canons, which are substantive rather than procedural; second, that there is an important sense in which they enhance human dignity; third, that they fail to enhance human dignity to the fullest extent because they understand it in …

Stories Told And Untold: Confidentiality Laws And The Master Narrative Of Child Welfare, Matthew I. Fraidin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In most states, child welfare hearings and records are sealed or confidential. This means that by law, court hearings and records may not be observed. The same laws and court rules also preclude those who are authorized to enter and watch from discussing anything learned or observed in a closed courtroom or from a sealed court record with anyone not involved in the case. It is the restriction on speech—on telling stories about child welfare—with which this Article is concerned.

The master narrative of child welfare depicts foster care as a haven for child-victims savagely brutalized by “deviant,” “monstrous” parents. …

Chinese Classifier Acquisition: Comparison Of L1 Child And L2 Adult Development, Jiang Song Gong

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The context of this thesis is the long-debated issue of whether or not adult second language (L2) development is basically similar to child first language (L1) development. The thesis approaches the issue through research dealing with L1 acquisition of Chinese classifiers and a pilot study of L2 adult classifier acquisition. First, evidence that children acquire specific classifiers earlier than measure classifiers is discussed and explained in light of existing language learning theories. With the aim of providing comparable data regarding L2 adult classifier acquisition a pilot study was conducted in which nine adult English-speaking learners of Chinese were tested on …

Review Article: Quidditas And Medieval Studies Today, Erin Felicia Labbie

Quidditas

Medieval studies today may be precisely characterized by quidditas. The Aristotelian term quidditas became central to the development of medieval scholastic inquiry in the West when, in 1066 Anselm of Canterbury wrote the Monologion. This eleventh-century foray into the revival of Aristotelian thought is also seen in Porphyry’s third-century translations of Aristotle and in Boethius’ sixth-century concern with universals elaborated in his commentaries on universals and categories. For Anselm and the developing model of medieval scholastic thought, the Monologion and its immediate successor, the Proslogian, assert a double discourse of the difference between quidditas and haeccitas, …

Full Issue

Quidditas

No abstract provided.

The Overseas Immersion Setting As Contextual Variable In Adult Sla: Learner Behaviors Associated With Language Gain To Level-­‐‑3 Proficiency In Russian, Dan E. Davidson, Maria D. Lekic

Russian Language Journal

Overseas immersion study for second language (L-­‐‑2) acquisition is widely regarded not only as valuable educationally, but also essential for the attainment of upper-­‐‑level proficiencies. Unfortunately, the mechanisms though which overseas language and cultural immersion training may (or may not) foster successful adult acquisition are still not well understood (e.g., Rivers, 1998; Ginsburg & Miller, 2000, Kinginger, 2011). As a result, researchers across a range of disciplinary backgrounds are examining cognitive, psycholinguistic, and cultural factors affecting linguistic outcomes within the study abroad environment, including increased efforts to account for the notable variation that has been observed in actual levels of …

Understanding Same-Sex Attraction: Where To Turn And How To Help, John P. Livingstone, Shirley E. Cox, William C. Duncan, M. Gawain Wells, Kimberly W. Reid, Dennis V. Dahle, A. Dean Byrd, Doris R. Dant

BYU Studies

Readers looking for a book that supports the idea of homosexuality being an innate part of one's identity will not be interested in Understanding Same-Sex Attraction: Where to Turn and How to Help. Instead, the authors of this book assert the unpopular opinion, backed by scientific research, that same-sex attraction can be lessened or eradicated in those who desire change and are willing to try. Readers who empathize with the Church's position on homosexuality will likely find hope and useful ideas in this five-hundred-page compilation, authored by professional psychologists and scholars. The book presents three angles on the topic: the …

À La Recherche Du Temps Perdu: Russian -­‐‑Sja And -­‐‑En-­‐‑ In Asbmt, Leonard H. Babby

Russian Language Journal

In 1973-­‐‑74, Dick Brecht and I wrote an article entitled The Syntax of Voice in Russian, which appeared in Language in 1975 (hereafter B&B 1975). Since then Dick and I have gone off in different directions, but I have returned periodically to the rich vein of data and problems in our paper and return to them again here, this time within the frame-­‐‑ work of the argument-­‐‑structure based theory of morphosyntax (ASBMT) proposed in Babby 2009, 2010a, 2010b, and 2011, which has enabled me, after the passage of 35 years, to pinpoint what was right in the Syntax of Voice …

Some Thoughts On The Societal Impact Of Linguistics, Arto Mustajoki

Russian Language Journal

Today, scholars are obliged to justify the necessity of research in their own fields. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the channels of societal impact of linguistic research. In other words, I will try to answer the following question: in what ways is the work of scholars dealing with language(s) useful for society? The paper is based on my articles published in Finnish (Mustajoki 2005, 2011) and on oral presentations in various academic circles. I will first discuss some general ideas concerning the societal impact of research and researchers. I will then try to apply these ideas to …

On The Status Of Russian Perfective Passives In –Sja, James S. Levine

Russian Language Journal

In an early and important study of voice in Russian, Babby and Brecht (1975) introduced significant theoretical revisions to prevailing transformational analyses of passives in Russian. In their article, B&B demonstrated the inadequacies of previous analyses, which posited a single “passive transformation” for Russian. Instead, they proposed an analysis of voice that achieved maximum generality by accounting in a principled way for the syntactic relations between active, passive, and middle sentences. In particular, they argued that passives formed with the suffix –en-­‐‑ must be derived differently from passives in –sja, the former resulting from a lexical process that derived –en-­‐‑adjectives …

Las Representaciones Ideológicas Del Lenguaje: Discurso Glotopolítico Y Panhispanismo, José Del Valle, Elvira Arnoux

Publications and Research

Linguistic ideologies are defined and placed in the context of glottopolitical studies (or political approaches to language). Ideological representations of Spanish in the context of MERCOSUR and the panhispanic community are discussed.

Teachers’ Attitudes Towards English Language Learners In Rural Schools Implementing Sheltered English And English As A Second Language Compared To Teachers’ Attitudes In Schools With No Clearly Defined Model Of Language Services, Mary R. Smith

Student Work

The need for accurate information about teachers' attitudes towards ELL student services in low incidence districts is essential. The purpose of this posttest-only comparative efficacy study was to determine elementary ( n = 28) and secondary teachers' (n = 28) reported attitudes on the Survey of Teachers in Rural, Low Incidence ELL School Districts (Reeves, 2006) about (a) general beliefs, (b) practices, (c) impact of inclusion, and (d) teacher supports towards English Language Learners in rural low incidence schools with a dual program model of Sheltered English and English as a Second Language compared to elementary ( n = 28) …

Acquiring The High Vowel Contrast In Quebec French: How Assibilation Helps, Wendy Baker, Laura Catharine Smith

Faculty Publications

In Quebec French (QF), /t/ and /d/ are assibilated to [ts] and [dz] before /i/ and /y/, but not before /u/. Since the /y/-/u/ contrast is known to be difficult for English speakers learning French as a second language (L2), we examine whether L2 learners of French who have acquired the assibilation rule have any advantage in producing and perceiving the French /i/-/y/-/u/ contrast over L2 learners who produce less or no assibilation in their L2 French. Results demonstrate that L2 learners who are strong assibilators are better at producing vowels similarly to native QF speakers than weak assibilators, but …

Was Joseph Smith Guilty Of Plagiarism?, John A. Tvedtnes

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

No abstract provided.

F.Scott Fitzgerald`S "Six Of One - An All American Story From Switzerland", Satyam Moorty

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Legal Transitions And The Problem Of Reliance, David M. Hasen

Publications

This Article analyzes the literature on legal transitions. The principal focus is taxation, but the analysis generalizes to other areas. I argue that the theoretical apparatus developed by scholars active in the legal transitions area suffers from significant conceptual shortcomings. These shortcomings include the unwarranted assimilation of legal to factual change, the naturalization of conventional arrangements, and the disregard of the distinction between making law and finding it. As a consequence, the recent literature offers an analysis that is unable either to explain actual transitions or to provide an adequate theory of how legal change should take place. In the …

Alienated: A Reworking Of The Racialization Thesis After September 11, Ming H. Chen

Publications

This article revises widespread application of the racialization thesis to Arabs, Muslims, and South Asians following September 11. It suggests in its place an “alienation thesis” to describe the formation of an alien identity for those perceived and treated as noncitizens. This thesis draws on Asian American and critical race scholarship to re-interpret sociological understandings of the post-September 11 response to Arabs, Muslims, and South Asians. The article concludes that shifting conceptions of this phenomenon is critical to reforming “alienating” practices that function not only to cause harm to their intended targets, but also to distort the legal requirements of …

Coercing Voluntariness, Wadie E. Said

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Grammar Of Trademarks, Laura A. Heymann

Faculty Publications

How do people talk when they talk about trademarks? If trademarks have
become, as linguist Geoffrey Nunberg suggests, our “new global tongue,”
perhaps we should pay greater attention to the grammar we use when we
talk about them. We use “Coke” to refer to the Coca-Cola beverage in the
North, and “coke” to refer to any kind of soda in the South, yet we still
manage to get the drinks we desire. We use trademarks as verbs—we
“xerox” a document or “tivo” a television program—without losing sight
of the fact that “Xerox” and “TiVo” are brands of particular products.
We …