Digital Commons Network^™

Post-Correctional Education Interventions: A Phenomenological Case Study Of Empowerment Education Curriculum For Formerly Incarcerated African American Males, Rolanda Jean West

Dissertations

This phenomenological case study describes how a Post-Correctional Education Intervention (PCEI) was developed for a local community-based organization that had recently constructed a transition house for formerly incarcerated adults who converted to Islam while incarcerated. The PCEI was an eight-week course curriculum with 60 hours of direct instruction that included social justice, health and wellness and critical thinking teaching modules and affective teaching and learning methodologies. This research contains experiential data used to assess how a PCEI affected the identity and self-concept of the participants of a reentry program designed to create an atmosphere of empowerment.

Limited English Proficient Mothers' Perceptions Of The Transition Process From Early Intervention Programs To Preschool Programs: Cultural And Linguistic Barriers, Celia Arresola

Dissertations

This study explored the satisfaction level of limited English proficient (LEP) mothers with the transition process from early intervention programs to preschool special education programs in a culturally and linguistically diverse Illinois public school district. The research focused on understanding if LEP parents of students with disabilities perceived that their own cultural and linguistic diversity affected the overall transition process. It also reviewed the mothers' perceptions about the cultural and linguistic considerations provided to them during the transition process, including the provision of translated materials and interpreters during meetings. The research indicated the level of satisfaction experienced during the transition …

Incompatible: The Construction Of The Homosexual Subject In American Mainline Protestantism, John Joseph Anderson

Dissertations

Many American mainline Protestant denominations discriminate against gays and lesbians or have discriminated against them in recent history by denying ordination to "self-avowed practicing homosexuals." This dissertation analyzes such ordination policies and their enforcement in ecclesial courts in three denominations, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Moving from a theoretical framework that integrates Michel Foucault's theories of discourse and subjectivity with Christian body theology, this dissertation argues that the language of the "self-avowed practicing homosexual" discursively produces a homosexual subject that does violence to gays and lesbians in these churches.

The …

Engaging In Another Person’S Telling As A Recipient In L2 Japanese: Development Of Interactional Competence During One-Year Study Abroad, Midori Ishida

Faculty Publications

This study investigates the development of interactional competence through the analysis of conversational data collected in a longitudinal design. It examines, using conversation analysis (CA), how a learner of Japanese as a second language (L2) engages in conversation as a story recipient, and identifies changes that suggest the learner’s development.

Benefitting The Educator And Student Alike: Effective Publications Strategies For Supporting The Academic Language Development Of English Learner (El) Teacher Candidates, Katya A. Karathanos, M Aminy

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Methodology Of Comparative Law, Edward J. Eberle

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Architecture Of First Amendment Free Speech, Edward J. Eberle

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Computer Assisted Assessment In Oman: Factors Affecting Student Performance, Amina Obaid Al-Hajri

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Theses

This thesis investigates the social and psychological factors that might affect Omani higher education students if computerised assessment was to be implemented. A review of the literature and the historical and cultural development in Oman suggested that a number of different variables might affect students‘ performance when taking computerised assessment. These factors which include gender, college of study and geographical region of residence may cause unwanted and selective differences in student performance which are not related to the content of the assessment. In addition, the potential effects of such variables as computer experience and computer self-efficacy on student performance were …

Application Of Intermediate Multi-Agent Systems To Integrated Algorithmic Composition And Expressive Performance Of Music, Alexis Kirke

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

We investigate the properties of a new Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) for computer-aided composition called IPCS (pronounced “ipp-siss”) the Intermediate Performance Composition System which generates expressive performance as part of its compositional process, and produces emergent melodic structures by a novel multi-agent process. IPCS consists of a small-medium size (2 to 16) collection of agents in which each agent can perform monophonic tunes and learn monophonic tunes from other agents. Each agent has an affective state (an “artificial emotional state”) which affects how it performs the music to other agents; e.g. a “happy” agent will perform “happier” music. The agent performance …

Ludics For A Ludic Society. The Art And Politics Of Play, Margarete Jahrmann

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This dissertation provides an analysis of, and critical commentary on, the practice of playfulness as persistent phenomenon in the arts, technology and theory. Its aim is to introduce political reflections on agency through the study of playful technological artefacts, which were largely ignored in the recent discussions on game and play. Following the critical analysis of historic discourses and actual studies of play under differing auspices, and in order to understand play as inherently political agency, this thesis’ research question addresses the immersive effects of playful agency in symbolic exchange systems and in the material consciousness of the player. This …

Representing ‘The Real’: Realism And Visual Culture In Tourism, Leisure And Ethnography, Ian Gilhespy, Dave Harris

Journal of Tourism Consumption and Practice

The collection and use of visual evidence is widespread in a wide range of academic and professional activities. The paper explores the similarities and differences of a range of related phenomena: realism, documentary and authenticity. The status of the ‘realism effect’ is evaluated in a range of leisure activities with an emphasis on tourism and the significance of realist texts in popular culture in narrative and nonnarrative forms. The creative treatment of the representation of reality in the documentary tradition is highlighted. The paper emphasises the pleasures to be gained from ‘experiencing the real’ using semiotics and film theory, in …

Conference Reports: Journal Of Tourism Consumption And Practice Volume 3 No.2 2011, Graham Busby

Journal of Tourism Consumption and Practice

British and American Studies XXI, Timisoara, 19-21 May 2011 Sixth Annual International Conference on Tourism, held at St George Lycabettus Hotel, Athens, 1-4 July 2010

Necessity, Possibility And The Search For Counterexamples In Human Reasoning, Sylvia Mary Parnell Serpell

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Abstract Necessity, Possibility and the Search for Counterexamples in Human Reasoning Sylvia Mary Parnell Serpell This thesis presents a series of experiments where endorsement rates, latencies and measures of cognitive ability were collected, to investigate the extent to which people search for counterexamples under necessity instructions, and alternative models under possibility instructions. The research was motivated by a syllogistic reasoning study carried out by Evans, Handley, Harper, and Johnson-Laird (1999), and predictions were derived from mental model theory (Johnson-Laird, 1983; Johnson-Laird & Byrne, 1991). With regard to the endorsement rate data: Experiment 1 failed to find evidence that a search …

A Mythography Of The Crossroads:How Is The Severance/Threshold/Return Progression In Both Mythology And Modern Wilderness Rites-Of-Passage Established Through Metaphor? An Enquiry Conducted Through Contemporary Storytelling Practice, Martin Shaw

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

How is the Severance/Threshold/Return progression in both mythology and modern wilderness rites-of-passage established through metaphor? An enquiry conducted through contemporary storytelling practice. This research examines the metaphorical structures within seven selected myths in relation to wilderness rites-of-passage, and the key thematic progression of Severance/Threshold/Return. These rites-of-passage are an essential component of an ongoing programme offered to the general public. The research is primarily creative in that the oral texts have been developed from extant myth over several years, and adapted to a variety of performance contexts. The evolution of these oral texts is examined in an analytical text, which draws …

Communicating The Unspeakable: Linguistic Phenomena In The Psychedelic Sphere, Diana R. Slattery

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Psychedelics can enable a broad and paradoxical spectrum of linguistic phenomena from the unspeakability of mystical experience to the eloquence of the songs of the shaman or curandera. Interior dialogues with the Other, whether framed as the voice of the Logos, an alien download, or communion with ancestors and spirits, are relatively common. Sentient visual languages are encountered, their forms unrelated to the representation of speech in natural language writing systems. This thesis constructs a theoretical model of linguistic phenomena encountered in the psychedelic sphere for the field of altered states of consciousness research (ASCR). The model is developed from …

The Supervisory Assemblage: A Singular Doctoral Experience, Elizabeth Done

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

In this thesis, I apply Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s ontology of becoming to my own learning, thinking and writing. The adopted method - nomadic inquiry, is derived from the philosophising of Deleuze, whose concepts function as pedagogic values that I mobilise throughout my writing and perform – not merely explain, to problematise common perceptions of the thesis, supervision and doctoral experience. Deleuze resists models that inhibit context-specific creativity, yet I can readily identify the defining features of my own supervision: resolutely student-centred, facilitative of free experimentation, supportive of my becoming as an academic subject and the writing through which …

Voices Being Heard : Experiences Of Adults With Congenital Hearing Loss Being Raised In Hearing Families, Kimberly Anne Wedner

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative research was conducted to study how people with congenital hearing loss experienced the impact of being raised in families where all other members were hearing. Literature pertaining specifically to people with congenital hearing loss was limited. Therefore this study reviewed previous written works mainly on families with a deaf member and linked them to the topic of people with congenital hearing loss in hearing families. The literature spoke to the importance of family members collectively contributing to the needs of a person with a disability on many levels. The theoretical framework of family therapy was used to study …

An Invitation To Wander, Lyudmila Lavrova

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

―An invitation to wander‖ is Lyudmila Lavrova’s introduction to the book Contrasts, collection of poems by Hamlet Isaxanli which were translated from Azerbaijani into Russian by Alla Akhundova (Izograf, Moscow, 2006). Lavrova describes Isaxanli’s poetry as ―transparent and simple,‖ comparing him to a medieval Arab-Islamic philosopher because of the themes throughout his works of ―Many and One.‖ Even in small details of life and nature, he finds cause to revere the Divine. His poetry is also notable for its connection to mathematics and its foundation of reason. This is logical given Isakhanli’s background as a mathematician; Lavrova offers an extensive …

Azerbaijan: How Equitable Is Access To Higher Education?, Rashan Aliyev

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This paper aims to shed light on some of the issues that impede the development of higher education sector in Azerbaijan, focusing on the growing inequality in the educational outcomes at the secondary level and the ensuing unequal access in higher education. It assesses the performance of the education sector in the Republic of Azerbaijan in terms of ensuring equitable access in higher education (H.E.) across the country. A comparison of university admission rates among different groups in question acts as a fairly good proxy for most aspects of equity in access in higher education. For that reason, this analysis …

The Decentralization And Centralization Of Curriculum In The Primary Education Of Burkina Faso, Simon A. Ziba

Master's Theses

In Burkina Faso, a decree which transfers competences and resources related to basic education to municipalities, does not mention the case of curriculum. This study seeks to understand how do educational policymakers in Burkina Faso explain why educational decentralization initiatives have not heretofore affected curriculum issues, and how do they view the possibility and desirability of a decentralized curriculum. It uses qualitative and quantitative methods. This nationwide study has participants who are primary education bureaucrats and educational policymakers at the central, regional and provincial levels of the ministry in charge of basic education. The results of this study show that …

Indigenous Intercultural Universities In Latin America: Interpreting Interculturalism In Mexico And Bolivia, Luciano Pedota

Master's Theses

The newly created Indigenous Intercultural Universities in Latin America challenge the conventional conception of universities and their "universal" quality. Such universities seek to decolonize knowledge by generating knowledge that is relevant to the communities in which they are located. These intentions, however, do not necessarily exclude the knowledge and research methods imparted by long-established Western universities. Instead, they have been conceived as Intercultural institutions designed to train indigenous community leaders capable of hybridizing or carrying out a "dialogue of knowledges"(Mato, 2007) and research methods of what are ultimately two different, and often times, opposing and contentious paradigms, one stemming from …

Being In The Know: Punk, Confrontation, And The Process Of Validating Truth Claims, Christopher Richard Penna

Master's Theses

Since the birth of punk, it has been a harbinger of trends within both youth culture and what cultural theorist Theodor Adorno calls the "culture industry" (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1947; Adorno, 1971). However, punk has never been fully embraced by the culture industry, largely, by design. Punk arose as a response, borne out of the frustration of a stagnant world that values profit over people (Sabin, 1999, p. 3). Present within opposition is confrontation--which is the very nature of punk. This thesis seeks to exemplify how punk uses confrontation as the instrument through which punk comes to know truths. The …

Global Influences And Resistance Within: Inclusive Practices And South Africa's Apartheid Government, Jean Marie Fagin

Master's Theses

South Africa's racially segregating apartheid government officially lasted for over forty years, from 1948 to 1994. Black South Africans were the victims of established oppression resulting in poverty, poor health care, and limited educational opportunities. Black South Africans with disabilities faced even greater exclusion from society due to their physical and cognitive challenges. Education for black students was neither compulsory nor free, and few black students with disabilities received services.

During the apartheid regime (1948-1994), disability issues were being address globally. The United Nations issued declarations, conventions, and a programme of action devoted to people with disabilities. In the early …

Modularizing Crosscutting Concerns In Software, Nalin Saigal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Code modularization provides benefits throughout the software life cycle; however, the presence of crosscutting concerns (CCCs) in software hinders its complete modularization. Traditional modularization techniques work well under the assumption that code being modularized is functionally orthogonal to the rest of the code; as a result, software engineers try to separate code segments that are orthogonal in their functionality into distinct modules. However, in practice, software does not decompose neatly into modules with distinct, orthogonal functionality. In this thesis, we investigate the modularization of CCCs in software using two different techniques.

Firstly, we discuss IVCon, a GUI-based tool that provides …

Charting A Course For Missionary Education, Cheryl Doss

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Achieving The Impossible? Teaching Practice Component Of A Pre-Service Distance English Language Teacher Training Program In Turkey, Ilknur Kecik, Belgin Aydin

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The aim of this article is to describe the model developed for the teaching practice component of the pre-service Distance English Language Teacher Training Program (DELTT) at Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Turkey. The steps taken to improve the model over a six-year period will be explained and the recent developments in the teaching practice area of the current program will be discussed in the light of recent research on learning and personal development. Lessons learned and the steps taken during this developmental process will be explored and recommendations for other programs concerned with the teaching practice component will be made.

International Field Experience – What Do Student Teachers Learn?, Jackie Fung King Lee

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This inquiry aimed to examine the benefits of having international field experience for a group of Hong Kong postgraduate student teachers who joined a six-week immersion programme in New Zealand. Through participants’ reflections, interviews and programme evaluations, the present investigation found that the overseas field experience not only enriched their cultural understanding, pedagogical knowledge and skills, but also enhanced their language awareness, classroom language and recognition of different English varieties

Conceptual Modeling Foundations For A Web Of Knowledge, David W. Embley, Stephen W. Liddle, Deryle W. Lonsdale

Faculty Publications

The semantic web purports to be a web of knowledge that can answer our questions, help us reason about everyday problems as well as scientific endeavors, and service many of our wants and needs. Researchers and others expound various views about exactly what this means. Here we propose an answer with conceptual modeling as its foundation. We define a web of knowledge as a collection of interconnected knowledge bundles superimposed over a web of documents. Knowledge bundles are conceptual model instances augmented with facilities that provide for both extensional and intensional facts, for linking between knowledge bundles yielding a web …

Cooperative Patent Prosecution: Viewing Patents Through A Pragmatics Len, Kristen Jakobsen Osenga

Law Faculty Publications

This Article constructs a linguistics-based framework to consider patent claim construction and demonstrates that the often-told story that claim construction is broken is, in fact, wrong. Rather, it is the underlying conversations that comprise the patent acquisition process that are to blame. In Part I of this Article, I use linguistics to describe the characteristics of everyday conversation, as well as how it is interpreted. In Part II, I explain what patent conversations look like and how they are similar to and different from everyday conversation. In Part III, I apply the theories of interpreting everyday conversation to patent conversation. …

Organizational Learning In Schools Pursuing Social Justice: Fostering Educational Entrepreneurship And Boundary Spanning, Martin Scanlan

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

The field of socially just educational leadership is focused on promoting improvements in the teaching and learning environment as demonstrated by student learning gains, particularly for traditionally marginalized students. The field has identified priorities (i.e., school improvement, democratic community, and social justice) and steps to pursue these priorities (specific strategies school leaders can take and conditions they can foster). Building on this literature, this article examines organizational learning in school communities that claim to be pursuing these priorities. It argues that organizational learning is a lens for socially just educational leaders to link theory with practice and to shift their …