Digital Commons Network^™

Problems With Truth: Scope, Mixing, And Truth Pluralism, Christopher Dyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, I will be taking up the debate between monistic and pluralistic inflationary theories of truth. Truth monism claims that there is one explanatory story which accounts for the truth of all and only true propositions. There seem to be, however, certain domains of discourse wherein monistic theories fail. If monistic theories cannot provide an explanation for how all true propositions are true, then they would not be adequate theories of truth. Truth pluralism is motivated to avoid the scope problem. The pluralist sees that there are as many truth properties as there are domains of discourse. A …

The Underrepresentation Of English Learners In Mississippi's Intellectually Gifted Education Program: A Framework For Change, Vicki Patterson-Davidson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

School districts have been struggling with the challenges of educating English learners for decades, long before the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Yet, considering the abundance of research on English learners, relatively few studies have examined specific methods or efforts of districts and schools to identify English learners for participation in an intellectually gifted education program. The purpose of this study was to determine if particular gifted education programming, or programming criteria, impacts this student population's identification for participation in Mississippi's intellectually gifted education program. Specifically, this study aimed to investigate the district- and school-level …

Mcintyre In Context: A Very Personal Perspective, Arthur R. Miller

Faculty Articles

The author reflects on his involvement with the procedure in civil cases as commentator, teacher, and participant. He mentions that in 1938 the typical lawsuit involved a single plaintiff and a single defendant whereas today science, technology, communications, and mass phenomena characterize many cases. He mentions that social and technological revolutions after World War II have transformed the business of national courts.

Talk About Talking About Constitutional Law, Adam M. Samaha

Faculty Articles

Constitutional theory branches into decision theory and discourse theory. The former branch concentrates on how constitutional decisions are or should be made, the latter on how constitutional issues are or should be discussed. For its part, originalism initially was promoted as a method for resolving constitutional disagreement, but it has spread into discourse theory as well. Jack Balkin’s “living originalism” illustrates this extension. This Article examines inclusive versions of originalism like Balkin’s that permit many different answers to constitutional questions. The Article then suggests pathologies associated with loose constitutional discourse in general. For instance, a large domain for constitutional discourse …

Do You Hear What I See?, Jonathan Sudler

School of Art Graduate Exhibitions, Portfolios, and Theses

No abstract provided.

Immersion Within Call, Jaime Ann Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to explore the idea of immersion and what constitutes immersion in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). CALL has increasingly become important in the field of SLA (Second Language Acquisition) and continues to grow in usage each year. As a graduate instructor of a basic level French course, my research focused on the immersion factor of CALL programs. This research was designed to obtain and analyze first year French students opinions of a CD-ROM CALL program by asking the following questions: (1) Did the participants feel immersed in the French language using the CD-ROM? …

Black Men's Responsible Fatherhood Narratives: Fatherhood, Responsibility, Race, And Gender, Shane Chaplin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the last few decades increasing rates of single mother households in the United States have triggered a national alarm over the effects of father absence on society. Father absence has been linked specifically to many of the problems plaguing black communities in the United States (e.g. poverty, low educational attainment, etc.) and as a result community and political leaders alike have consistently promoted responsible fatherhood practices as a way to address them. Although responsible fatherhood has received, in this context, a considerable amount of social attention, this attention has come intertwined with considerable political and moral rhetoric at all …

Explaining The Role Of Scripture In The Economy Of Redemption As It Relates To The Theological And Hermeneutical Contributions Of David Tracy, Hans Frei, Kevin Vanhoozer And Henri De Lubac, Kevin Storer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the hermeneutical impasses which have resulted from the recent debates about the theological interpretation of Scripture between revisionist theologian David Tracy and postliberal theologian Hans Frei and suggests that locating the role of Scripture in the economy of redemption would ease many of these methodological tensions. The works of Evangelical theologian Kevin Vanhoozer and Ressourcement theologian Henri de Lubac, it is argued, provide helpful resources for these discussions as these theologians explicitly seek to explain the role of Scripture in mediating the relationship between Christ and the Church. The dissertation suggests that examining the role of Scripture …

An Investigation Of The Additive Benefits Of Parent Dialogic Reading Techniques In Older Preschool Children, Sarah O'Neill Switalski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the additive benefit of parent dialogic reading techniques in older, high-risk preschool children using multiple baseline design across participants, a single subject research design, as was as well as pre-test and post-test measures. Five preschoolers age-eligible to begin kindergarten the following school year participated. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fourth Edition (PPVT-4) and Expressive Vocabulary Test, Second Edition (EVT-2) were administered pre-intervention and post-intervention implementation. Consistent with multiple baseline design, all students received weekly progress monitoring using the Picture Naming (PN) Individual Growth and Development Indicator (IGDI) throughout the entire investigation. Caregivers received in-person video-based training in …

Literary Imagination And Community Mental Health: A Deleuzian Analysis Of Discourse In A Fiction Reading Group, Rodney Teague

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study presents an empirical, qualitative investigation of transformations as they occurred in the participants' language during a fiction reading and discussion group in a community mental health setting. Session transcripts have been analyzed from the perspective of researcher as literary critic and through the Deleuzian lens of rhizomatic assemblages (Deleuze & Guattari, 1980/2005). This nonlinear, non-hierarchical and non-referential approach re-imagins the relationship among readers, texts and authors. Three themes follow from the rhizomatic perspective on transcript data.

The first of these, Assemblage, details the ways that participants engage in and with fictional story-worlds. This engagement is such that text, …

Listening To Language In Gadamer's Hermeneutics, Sanda Tomuletiu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Subscribing to Hans-Georg Gadamer's belief that human beings are called to be insightful and discerning, this dissertation explores Gadamer's idea and practice of listening to language in order to understand the relationship between a constitutive theory of language and a life of wisdom. As Gadamer's texts reveal, the hermeneutic practice of listening to language is a reflective engagement of language that is theoretically grounded in a constitutive view of language. First, we need to listen to language because language, not consciousness, is the critical element in understanding. Second, the ontological priority of language over subjectivity comes with the nature of …

Back Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

No abstract provided.

Codice Verbale E Codice Iconico Nel Riadattamento Della Divina Commedia - Fumetto Di Seymour Chwast, Emirjona Molla

Wayne State University Theses

This thesis takes a critical look at the way the semiotic code is treated by the author Seymour Chwast in his comic book the Divine Comedy. In the introduction I focused on examining parts of the communication which is based on verbal and non-verbal speech. The symbolic code belongs to the verbal speech which is analytical, conventional and arbitrary. The interpretation of the symbolic code depends also on the cultural unit. The iconic code on the other hand could be motivated or conventional depending on the way the message is brought up to the reader. The iconic code could need …

Functional Correlates Of Verbal Working Memory In Healthy Aging And Early Alzheimer's Disease, Michael Adam Sugarman

Wayne State University Theses

Deficits in the working memory system are common in patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, little is known regarding the neurobiological basis of this impairment. The current study examined the neurobiological functional correlates of the working memory system in early AD patients and cognitively intact control participants using a word list repetition task performed during positron emission tomography (PET). Compared to a reading control task, both the AD and control groups utilized a network of parietal, frontal, and cerebellar regions while completing the word rehearsal task. However, control participants displayed greater activation in all regions, especially in the parietal …

Using Virtual Worlds To Identify Multidimensional Student Engagement In High School Foreign Language Learning Classrooms, Laura Beth Jacob

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Virtual world environments have evolved from object-oriented, text-based online games to complex three-dimensional immersive social spaces where the lines between reality and computer-generated begin to blur. Educators use virtual worlds to create engaging three-dimensional learning spaces for students, but the impact of virtual worlds in comparison to the traditional face-to-face counterpart has been uncertain in terms of multidimensional student engagement. Research has a need to determine the impact of virtual worlds on student engagement in comparison to the traditional face-to-face environment. The study examined the effects of virtual world and face-to-face learning environments on high school foreign language students' emotional, …

On New Rhetoric, John Henry Newman And The Language Of Metaphors: Implications For Branding Higher Education, Jennifer Lynn Lawler-Brunner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project interprets how John Henry Newman's (1801-1890) system of thought informs the philosophical and theoretical grounds for rhetorical praxis in the marketplace. His seminal lessons in "An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent"(1870) and "The Idea of a University" (1873 ed.) demonstrate the metaphoric power of words with regard for diverse modes of epistemology. Newman's scholarship on the unifying role of imagery grounds his theory of language on three claims: a holistic engagement of knowledge, communicable notions, and formative praxis. These essential principles correspond with fostering identity and promoting a public good. Specifically, Newman's philosophical perspective and …

Effectiveness Of Manual Gesture Treatment On Residual /R/ Articulation Errors, Jessica Lynch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The functional speech sound disorder, American English /r/ articulation errors, presents a unique and confounding clinical challenge as "therapy resistant" residual errors persist into adolescence and adulthood in many cases. Finding paucity of empirical research for /r/ treatment, evidence-based practice (EBP) exploration in motor-related disorders informed clinical practice and research directions. This study investigated the efficacy of "manual mimicry" (a kinesthetic, gestural, and visual cue) in treating intractable /r/ errors in a young adult using a single subject ABAB design. Perceptual accuracy judgments of three types of listeners (experts, graduate clinician, and naïve listeners) indicated a positive treatment effect of …

The Lived Experiences Of The Aging Of Hong Kong Chinese Baby Boomers Residing In The United States, Helena Ng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rapid aging of the majority and minority populations is occurring in the United States. Diverse aspects of aging, concerns of the aging of the baby boomer generation, and the heterogeneities among aging persons from diverse races and ethnicities have been examined in detail; however, there is a void in the literature that offers information about the aging of Chinese baby boomers. This qualitative study used a hermeneutic-phenomenological method to investigate the aging experiences of Hong Kong Chinese baby boomers who are residing in the United States. The findings of this study will possibly enhance the literature about the cultural parameters …

Decolonizing Psychic Space: Remembering The Indigenous Psychology Movement In Taiwan, Rong-Bang Peng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project is part of the historical struggle of the indigenous psychology movement in Taiwan. It turns a critical gaze back upon the movement itself in order to decolonize it from colonial cultural imaginary. The contribution of this project is two-fold. First, on the theoretical level, it introduces a critical perspective into the growing body of indigenous psychological research. The indigenous psychology movement risks repeating the vicious cycle of colonization and re-colonization without critically looking back at its own historical trajectory. Second, on the level of intervention, writing the history of the indigenous psychology movement will make this project a …

Graduate Recital, Clarinet, Paul Quinn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This recital seeks to explore the various ways in which Eastern-European composers have utilized traditional folk-music as inspiration for their works. The programing focuses on several techniques used as a means for synthesizing folk-songs and art-music, ranging from setting preexisting melodies to accompaniment, to manipulating the idiomatic musical and linguistic features of folk-music as the basis for one's musical language. In addition, this recital reveals the wide range of styles and genres, including neoclassicism, expressionism, and polytonality, that can be derived from Eastern-European folk-songs. In this regard, the program itself highlights the relevance of folk-music as a viable source of …

Neuropsychological Predictors Of Math Calculation And Reasoning In School-Aged Children, Dana Schneider

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

After multiple reviews of the literature, which documented that multiple cognitive processes may be involved in mathematics ability and disability, Geary (1993) proposed a model that included three subtypes of math disability: Semantic, Procedural, and Visuospatial. A review of the extant literature produced three studies that examined Geary's three subtypes, which provided some support for Geary's model. Given the paucity of research examining Geary's subtypes of math disability, this study aimed to add to the literature by exploring the presence of these three subtypes in a sample of school-aged children. The sample consisted of 60 participants (30 males, 30 females) …

Grace In Intimate Interpersonal Communication: C.S. Lewis On Its Presence And Practice, Celeste Seymour

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project builds a theory of the presence and practice of grace in intimate interpersonal communication utilizing the writings of C.S. Lewis and his intellectual mentors. Lewis, who wrote extensively on the theory and practice of love, offers a compelling approach to understanding human relationships from a Christian philosophical perspective.

The first chapter begins with major questions and themes in the interpersonal literature concerning human discourse, relation, and action. Lewis frames human relationships in a robustly theoretical and practical manner, characterizing the conditions of our discursive relational selves as difficult yet joyful. He argues that the work of intimate interpersonal …

The Rhetoric And Philosophy Of Education: Finding Whole Learning In An Age Of Mechanistic Pedagogy, Georgia Bedford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the communicative structure of the contemporary rhetoric of crisis and reform narrative dominating public conversation about education, as a post-industrial body of discourse deeply embedded in historical ideals for a mass system of public education. In challenging the crisis-centered narrative, this work seeks to identify historical discourse strands that have shaped thinking and action in the construction of educational policy, legislation, administration and pedagogy. This work evaluates the misalignment in the assumptions which guide the perception that an academic relationship exists between higher education and secondary school which is in contrast to the original purpose for a …

The Triptych Tetrad: Marshall Mcluhan's Neo-Medieval Communication Theory, Anthony Wachs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The work of Marshall McLuhan has often been reduced to the form of catchphrases and "McLuhanisms," such as the "global village" and "the medium is the message" in the field of communication. Though these phrases capture an aspect of his thought, the scholarly understanding of McLuhan's vision remains incomplete, even within the specialized area of Media Ecology, of which McLuhan is recognized as the intellectual father. Throughout his corpus, McLuhan makes reference to the classical and medieval trivium, which was the basis for education throughout Western history until the Renaissance. Indeed, he developed a history of the trivium up to …

Battlefield Borders, Threat Rhetoric, And The Militarization Of State And Local Law Enforcement, Danielle C. Jefferis

American University National Security Law Brief

No abstract provided.

A Myth Of Transformation, Transformed Again, Julie A. Sparks

Faculty Publications, English and Comparative Literature

No abstract provided.

When Should Philosophers Be Silent?, Jason Decker, Charles Taliaferro

Philosophy Faculty Work

Are there general precepts governing when philosophers should not conduct inquiry on a given topic? When, if ever, should a philosopher just be silent? In this paper we look at a number of practical, epistemic, and moral arguments for philosophical silence. Some are quite general, and suggest that it is best never to engage in philosophical inquiry, while others are more domain – or context – specific. We argue that these arguments fail to establish their conclusions. We do, however, try to identify and defend several substantive constraints on philosophical dialogue and inquiry. In practice, though, respecting these constraints needn’t …

Honors And Awards Council Awards List, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Archives

No abstract provided.

Undergraduate Latinas' Self-Definition Of Academic Success, Carla Machado Rodrigues

Master's Theses and Capstones

This master's level thesis's objective was to gain a better understanding of how a sample of 13 undergraduate Latinas who graduated high school and immediately enrolled into college define academic success. Through interviews, these undergraduate Latinas explain where these self-definitions came from, mentors that may have influenced these definitions, and if their ethnicity and gender has played any role in the way they perceive academic success. The study also considers findings from previous research regarding academic resilience factors associated with Latinas, such as: being involved in college ready initiatives, obtaining academic support from significant others, having mentors, receiving various messages …

Infinite Intrusions: Solipsism And David Foster Wallace's Authorial Objectivity, Jacob Daniel Smith

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.