Digital Commons Network^™

The Environmental And Linguistic Linkages Between Poverty And Education, Susan Mccarroll

All ETDs from UAB

Statistically, children who live in poverty are unfairly plagued primarily with a life of educational deficits. Researchers are constantly studying this phenomenon and have attributed several factors to the decrease in quality of life seen by impoverished children. For example, quality of the physical environment, of parental care, and of school systems all can play a large role in the intellectual ability of a child living in poverty. Moreover, children who have lower exposure to toxins, such as lead, have higher IQs and better reading ability than children who have had over-abundant exposure to negative environmental factors. Nationally, early education …

Occupational Stress, Job Satisfaction And Job Performance Among Hospital Nurses In Kampala Uganda, Rose Chalo Nabirye

All ETDs from UAB

ABSTRACT Occupational stress, a common occurrence among various professions worldwide, is regarded as a major occupational health problem for healthcare professionals especially nurses. Occupational stress has been reported to affect job satisfaction and job performance among nurses, thus compromising nursing care and placing patients' lives at risk. Stress is a complex phenomenon resulting from the interaction between individuals and the environment. Therefore, significant differences in occupational stress, job satisfaction and job performance among nurses may exist due to different work settings. The aims of the study were to: 1) examine the relationships between occupational stress, job satisfaction and job performance …

A Missionary's Journey, Denise Turner

All ETDs from UAB

No abstract provided.

A Functional Model Of The Aesthetic Response, Daniel Conrad

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

In a process of somatic evolution, the brain semi-randomly generates initially-unstable neural circuits that are selectively stabilized if they succeed in making sense out of raw sensory input. The human aesthetic response serves the function of stabilizing the circuits that successfully mediate perception and interpretation, making those faculties more agile, conferring selective advantage. It is triggered by structures in art and nature that provoke the making of sense. Art is deliberate human action aimed at triggering the aesthetic response in others; thus, if successful, it serves the same function of making perception and interpretation more agile. These few principles initiate …

Brain-Based Learning Theory: The Incorporation Of Movement To Increase Learning, Eva Patrice Pennington

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study investigated the use of kinesthetic movement as a vehicle by which to teach grammar to high school students. Brain-based theorists believe that, since the anatomical parts of the brain that coordinate basic physical movement are also the physical components used to coordinate the movement of thought, movement is necessary for optimal learning to occur. While purposeful incorporation of movement in the classroom is a popular and increasingly important aspect of brain-based theory, little empirical evidence exists to support the experiences, conjectures, and evidence across multiple disciplines and neurological findings when applied to the high school student. The study …

Scene Painting:Research And The Importance Of A Scenic Morgue, Roy Mckeowan Lockhart

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

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A Typical Scene In Mexico: Images Of War, Race, And Gender In The Mexican Revolution, Rosa Lorena Estala

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

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The Impact Of Physical Classroom Environment On Student Satisfaction And Student Evaluation Of Teaching In The University Environment, Mary C. Hill, Kathryn K. Epps

Faculty Articles

Recently, many colleges and universities have made significant investments in upgraded classrooms and learning centers, incorporating such factors as tiered seating, customized lighting packages, upgraded desk and seat quality, and individual computers. To date, few studies have examined the impact of classroom environment at post-secondary institutions. The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of classroom environment factors on individual student satisfaction measures and on student evaluation of teaching in the university environment. Two-hundred thirty-seven undergraduate business students were surveyed regarding their perceptions of classroom environment factors and their satisfaction with their classroom, instructor, and course. The results …

Statement, Winter 2010, Office Of Alumni Relations. Morehead State University

Morehead State Alumni Association Publications

Statement Magazine of Morehead State University from Winter of 2010.

Immigration As A "Theologizing Experience": Spiritual Well-Being As A Moderating Factor In Migratory Grief And Acculturation, Irma A. Sharp

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of spiritual well-being to migratory grief and acculturation. The study employed a cross-sectional design and a convenience sampling method. Data were collected from 75 Mexican immigrant adult education students in the city of Chicago. Instruments used to collect data were a demographic form, Spiritual Well-Being Scale, Migratory Grief and Loss Questionnaire, and the Stephenson Multigroup Acculturation Scale. All instruments were translated into Spanish, the native language of the participants. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the moderator effects of existential well-being and religious well-being, the two sub-scales of the …

The Contours Of Secularism In South Asian Minority Writing, Roger Mcnamara

Dissertations

My dissertation explores the intricate relationship between secularism and identity in South Asian minority writing. Though India and Sri Lanka were founded as secular states in the 1940s, they have consistently failed to protect the rights of religious and ethnic minorities since the 1980s. Thus, critics have been debating whether secularism as a political doctrine--one that separates religion from the state to protect minority communities--is still relevant. However, this debate only assumes that secularism protects minorities, while I argue that secularism has actively shaped minority identity and experience. I consider secularism to be a process that facilitated the modernization of …

Sacred Spaces, Public Places: The Intersection Of Religion And Space In Three Chicago Communities, 1869-1932, Elizabeth Hoffman Ransford

Dissertations

Manifestations of religion in the built environment and in conceptions of space illuminate a variety of cultural impulses. As the most tangible display of religion on the landscape, religious structures embody and shape the theological understandings, cultural assumptions, and social aspirations of believers; sacred buildings convey how congregations perceive themselves and how they aspire to be perceived by others. Moreover, because houses of worship serve as visible markers of the cultural authority and political status of their builders, religious structures also reflect the secular values and aesthetic fashions of the public sphere. In less materially tangible ways, religious groups' engagement …

Foundations In Wisconsin: A Directory [29th Ed. 2010], Marquette University - Funding Information Center, Mary C. Frenn, Melanie Baier, Jeremy Blackwood, Anne Carpenter, Sarah Martin, Greg Sikora

Foundations in Wisconsin: A Directory

The 2010 production of Foundations in Wisconsin marks the 29th edition of the print directory and the 10th anniversary of the online version (www.wifoundations.org). The directory is designed as a research tool for grantseekers interested in locating information on private, corporate, and community foundations registered in Wisconsin. Each entry in this new edition has been updated or reviewed to provide the most current information available. Most of the data was drawn from IRS 990-PF tax returns filed by the foundations. Additional information was obtained from surveys, foundation Web sites, annual reports, and newsletters.

The nation’s economic downturn continued to have …

Visualising 'The Waste Land': Discovering A Praxis Of Adaptation, Sally Waterman

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This research examines the issues and visual processes that arise in the production of self-representations derived from literary texts. The construction of a series of photographic and video installations drawing upon T. S Eliot’s poem 'The Waste Land' (1922) allowed for the exploration and analysis of how literature functions as a device to represent autobiographical experience within my media arts practice. The study considered the relevance and usage of the literary source in relation to specific adaptation procedures, in terms of what complexities were encountered and how these were understood. Whilst orthodox film adaptation provided a theoretical framework for initial …

Shifting Interfaces: Art Research At The Intersections Of Live Performance And Technology, Scott Delahunta

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This collection of published works is an outcome of my practice-led inter-disciplinary collaborative artistic research into deepening understanding of creative process in the field of contemporary dance. It comprises thirty written works published from 1999 to 2007 in various formats and platforms. This collection is framed by a methodological discussion that provides insight into how this research has intersected over time with diverse fields of practice including contemporary dance, digital and new media arts and non-art domains such as cognitive and social science. Fields are understood in the context of this research to be largely constituted out of the expert …

Private Military Companies, Peacekeeping, And African States: A Critical Analysis Of Pmcs In Peacekeeping Operations In Africa, Ian Murphy

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis analyses critically the hypothesis that Private Military Companies (PMCs) are a viable option for direct involvement in UN peacekeeping missions in African states. The involvement of PMCs in the affairs of states is a controversial and divisive issue, but since the end of the Cold War, they have become increasingly involved in the security structures of African states, and in post-conflict reform of such structures. They have also become involved in tasks related to commercial activities central to the political economies of African states. Indeed, Africa was the theatre in which PMCs evolved from an opportunist phenomenon that …

Amergent Music: Behavior And Becoming In Technoetic & Media Arts, Norbert F. Herber

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Technoetic and media arts are environments of mediated interaction and emergence, where meaning is negotiated by individuals through a personal examination and experience—or becoming—within the mediated space. This thesis examines these environments from a musical perspective and considers how sound functions as an analog to this becoming. Five distinct, original musical works explore the possibilities as to how the emergent dynamics of mediated, interactive exchange can be leveraged towards the construction of musical sound. In the context of this research, becoming can be understood relative to Henri Bergson’s description of the appearance of reality—something that is making or unmaking but …

Participation As Media: A Compositional System For Staging Participation With Reflective Scenography, Karin Sondergaard

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

The practice-led research develops a compositional system for staging participation within reflective scenographies, and suggests an artistic concept of 'participation as media', which propose the participatory involvement as compositional material in itself. The research takes a starting point in the author's expert practice as a performer and director, and identifies key compositional problems from analysis of previous productions of participatory artworks. The practice-led research processes were organised into two laboratory events, a series of method investigations, and the production of two participatory installation artworks Mirror-Zone-Site and Zen- Sofa Arrangement. The approach is to rethink theatre as a complex communicational system …

The Physiological And Molecular Characteristics Of Chemically Induced Abiotic Stress Resistant Mutants Of Cauliflower (Brassica Oleracea Var. Botrytis), Fazal Hadi

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

N-nitroso-N-ethyleurea (NEU) and N-nitroso-N-methyleurea (NMU) induced mutants and control plants had been maintained in in-vitro condition for 3 years by continuous sub-culturing and screened 2 generations for resistant mutants selection. In this study highly resistant mutants were regenerated and assessed by leaf discs assay for drought, salt and frost resistance to confirm the persistence of mutation over generations of subculture. Assessment was carried out using mannitol (drought stress), NaCl (salt stress) and freezing (frost stress). Cold-acclimated and non-acclimated leaves were assessed for frost resistance. Results confirmed the persistence of mutations in clones with enhanced tolerance levels to stresses over control …

In Momentum: The Navigation, Narration, And Negotiation Of Continuing Professional Development By Mid-Career Artists In South West England, Karen Mary Smith

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis explores the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of mid-career artists in England and the South West of England in particular during 2000 to 2010. It identifies what their needs are and asks what CPD means to them; how they navigate their careers through their practice; how they articulate their needs; and how they negotiate to fulfil those needs. It examines to what extent the providers’ thinking about, and provision of, CPD in the region is aligned with the needs of the artists themselves. The individual narratives of artists are represented at the centre of this research. The research was …

Fostering Nonverbal Immediacy And Teacher Identity Through An Acting Course In English Teacher Education, Kemal Sinan Özmen

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This research study focuses on integrating acting theories in pre-service English teacher education so as to improve nonverbal immediacy behavior and to contribute to the development process of teacher identity. Studies on incorporation of acting literature into teacher education provide educators with some significant findings clearly indicating that certain teacher competences can be fostered effectively by benefiting from acting theories and practices. While focusing on different aspects and competences of the teaching profession, these studies are in a general accord with the idea that teacher education programs should give more attention to actor preparation theories and techniques so as to …

Other Tomorrows: Postcoloniality, Science Fiction And India, Suparno Banerjee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation I argue that science fiction as a genre intervenes in the history-oriented discourse of postcolonial Anglophone Indian literature and refocuses attention on the nation’s future—its position in global politics, its shifting religious and social values, its rapid industrialization, the clash between orthodoxy and modernity, and ultimately the dream of a multicultural nation. Anglophone Indian science fiction also indicates India’s movement away from a nation trying to negotiate the stigma of colonialism to a nation emerging as a new world power. Thus, this genre reconstructs the Indian identity not only in the domestic sphere, but also in a …

The Alfred Cortot Study Edition Of Chopin's Etudes & How The Alexander Technique Can Facilitate Progress Towards Performance Through His Suggested Exercises, Li-Fang Wu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research paper is to study how the Alexander Technique can be applied to the process of pianistic practicing, and specific technique issues. The sets of exercises I choose to focus on are from the Alfred Cortot study edition of Chopin’s Etudes, op. 10 and op. 25. The Alexander Technique is a method of releasing unnecessary muscular tension when performing every action, including motions in piano playing. Therefore, the preparatory exercises suggested by Alfred Cortot in his study editions can be more effectively executed by applying the Alexander Technique principles. This research paper is divided into four …

Stacy Garrop's Settings Of Sonnets By Edna St. Vincent Millay: A Conductor's Analysis, Justin W. Durham

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Stacy Garrop is an emerging composer of choral and orchestral music. The focus of this research is to provide information on her career and compositional style and to provide a conductor’s analysis of six multi-movement a cappella works which set to music sonnets by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Works to be examined: Sonnets of Love and Chaos (2001) Sonnets of Vanity, Loss, and Rapture (2002) Sonnets of War and Mankind (2003) Sonnets of Desire, Longing, and Whimsy (2004) Sonnets of the Fatal Interview (2005) Sonnets of Beauty and Music (2006) The document is divided into nine chapters tracing the musical …

A Survey Of Professional Operatic Entertainment In Little Rock, Arkansas: 1870-1900, Jenna M. Tucker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The late nineteenth century was a time of great political, economic, and social change in the state of Arkansas. The population of Little Rock, the state capital, nearly tripled in the last thirty years of the century. As more people settled in Little Rock, the demand for entertainment grew. Poor transportation was an initial obstacle; but as railroads gradually linked Little Rock to larger cities, traveling professional theatrical troupes began to include Little Rock on their itineraries. The purpose of this project is to document the history of professional operatic entertainment in Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1870—when the first professional …

Writing About The South "In Her Own Way": Gender And Region In The Work Of Southern Women Playwrights, Casey Kayser

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines how identity—gender, race, sexuality, regional affiliation—intersects with considerations of the dramatic genre, commercial and critical factors in the American theatre, and understandings about the American South to complicate how contemporary southern women playwrights represent region. In light of the always-already "performative" nature of the South, and geographical, commercial, and ideological factors that set the South in opposition to the North, southern women playwrights face additional difficulties in navigating issues of authenticity and simulacra, the universal versus the specific, ideas about southern "backwardness" versus northern sophistication, and audience participation in fetishizing or distancing the South. Using drama as …

Designing Irishness: Ethnicity, Heritage, And Imagined Connection To Place Through Language, Thomas James Sullivan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In North America, those who are descended from "old world" immigrant groups—for example Germans, Greeks, Italians, Poles, and Irish—are thought to be assimilated or acculturated into the mainstream American culture. Since the late 1970s, however, sociologists have observed how a number of white ethnics, particularly those descended from third- and fourth-generation (and beyond) immigrants, continue to maintain a link to an ethnic group. This phenomenon—labeled symbolic or optional ethnicity—is now seen as a latter-stage development in the larger process of assimilation and ethnic-group identification. In this dissertation I show how the meaning of Irish identity has evolved in North America …

"Chromatic Fantasy Sonata" By Davide Brubeck, Vasil Atanasov Cvetkov

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Dave Brubeck (b. 1920) is best known as a jazz composer, pianist, and bandleader, but he has also composed dozens of works that reach beyond the realm of jazz. His Chromatic Fantasy Sonata represents a milestone in his compositional activity, artfully fusing elements from European art music and the American jazz idiom. The work's subtitle ("inspired by J. S. Bach") makes clear the influence of the Baroque master, but gives no hint of the thoroughgoing jazz influences Brubeck also included in the piece. The Chromatic Fantasy Sonata was originally commissioned in 1988 by the chamber group An die Musik (oboe, …

A Performance Guide To Lori Laitman's Living In The Body, Kathryn Mary Drake

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this document is to provide a complete performer’s guide to American composer Lori Laitman’s Living in the Body, a song cycle consisting of six songs for soprano and saxophone set to the poetry of Joyce Sutphen. Living in the Body is one of very few cycles written for soprano and saxophone, and the combination is both unusual and interesting to investigate. The cycle explores letting go of the past and focusing on what will happen in the second half of life. The text is set expertly for soprano, bringing important words to the listener’s attention while keeping …

A Survey And Guide To The Most Frequently Programmed Lieder In The Undergraduate Studios Of Selected Major Music Institutions In The United States, Joseph Christopher Turner

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Among the many challenges faced by the new collegiate voice teacher is the assigning of appropriate music literature. There are numerous published guides to aid in this area, but they vary greatly. Some provide large amounts of literature and very little information, while others give more information but deal with a predetermined set of songs. What if the young teacher knew the core literature being used by veteran voice teachers from around the country? In order to address this problem, information was gathered from eight major music institutions chosen by a survey of voice faculty at Louisiana State University. At …