Digital Commons Network^™

Can Someone "Snatch The Sound?" The Impact Of African Vernacular Appropriation In Popular Music, Taylor Smith

Volume 13

From the Washington University Office of Undergraduate Research Digest (WUURD), Vol. 13, 05-01-2018. Published by the Office of Undergraduate Research. Joy Zalis Kiefer, Director of Undergraduate Research and Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences; Lindsey Paunovich, Editor; Helen Human, Programs Manager and Assistant Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences Mentor(s): Virginia Slachmann

Washington University Senior Undergraduate Research Digest (Wuurd), Spring 2018, Office Of Undergraduate Research

Volume 13

From the Washington University Office of Undergraduate Research Digest (WUURD), Vol. 13, 05-01-2018. Published by the Office of Undergraduate Research. Joy Zalis Kiefer, Director of Undergraduate Research and Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Scienc

Poetics Of Iconicity: Reading American Sign Language Poetry, Deborah Rookey

Spring 2018

From the Washington University Senior Honors Thesis Abstracts (WUSHTA), Spring 2018. Published by the Office of Undergraduate Research. Joy Zalis Kiefer, Director of Undergraduate Research and Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences; Lindsey Paunovich, Editor; Helen Human, Programs Manager and Assistant Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences Mentor: Anca Parvulescu

Table Of Contents, Washington University Senior Honors Thesis Abstracts (Wushta), Spring 2018, Office Of Undergraduate Research

Spring 2018

Table of contents, Washington University Senior Honors Thesis Abstracts (WUSHTA), Spring 2018. Published by the Office of Undergraduate Research. Joy Zalis Kiefer, Director of Undergraduate Research and Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences; Lindsey Paunovich Editor; Kristin G. Sobotka, Programs Manager; Jennifer Kohl.

J.M. Coetzee’S Hall Of Mirrors: Elizabeth Costello And The Animal-Poet, Alec Ciferno

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.

“For The Homeland”: Die Deutsche Hausfrau And Reader Responses To World War I, Julie Sliva Davis

History Theses & Dissertations

When the Great War broke out in the summer of 1914, many German Americans living in the United States expressed renewed support and loyalty for Germany in the German-language press. While scholars have thoroughly examined the collective experiences and sentiments of German Americans in the U.S. during World War I, particularly in their press, German-American women and their press have remained largely underrepresented. Notably, however, as evidenced by the largest nationally circulated monthly women’s journal of the time, Die Deutsche Hausfrau (The German Housewife), German-American women did indeed use their press as well to convey increasingly pro-German rhetoric in support …

Design And Implementation Of An Artificial Neural Network Controller For Quadrotor Flight In Confined Environment, Ahmed Mekky

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Quadrotors offer practical solutions for many applications, such as emergency rescue, surveillance, military operations, videography and many more. For this reason, they have recently attracted the attention of research and industry. Even though they have been intensively studied, quadrotors still suffer from some challenges that limit their use, such as trajectory measurement, attitude estimation, obstacle avoidance, safety precautions, and land cybersecurity. One major problem is flying in a confined environment, such as closed buildings and tunnels, where the aerodynamics around the quadrotor are affected by close proximity objects, which result in tracking performance deterioration, and sometimes instability. To address this …

Numerical Framing And Emotional Arousal As Moderators Of Review Valence And Consumer Choices, Anh Dang

Marketing Theses & Dissertations

Online reviews are gaining importance in determining consumers’ purchase decisions since many consumers trust them as much as personal word-of-mouth. One aspect of reviews that has received great research attention is valence. Valence refers to consumers’ positive or negative evaluations of products. It can be reflected by star ratings or dichotomous choices such as recommendation rates and thumbs up or down rates. The effects of valence reported in previous studies have been equivocal at best. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation is to identify factors that help reconcile these inconclusive findings.

The first essay examined emotional arousal (e.g., sad versus …

An Examination Of The Key Features Of Salman Rushdie’S Historiographic Metafiction: A Possible Worlds Theory Approach, George Shamshayooadeh

English Theses & Dissertations

This investigative study is informed by Ursula Kluwick’s contention that Salman Rushdie’s novels – Midnight’s Children and Shame – written within the postcolonial context, need to be approached and conceptualized differently from the magical realist fiction produced by Latin American novelists such as Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende, and Laura Esquivel due to the fact that the relations between the realistic and magical/supernatural codes in Rushdie’s texts are not harmonious and are, for the most part, antithetical in ways that manifest and highlight the friction between the twin codes, which render them ‘contingent’ and ‘provisional,’ but beyond that destabilize the narrative …

Hume On Thick And Thin Causation, Alexander Bozzo

Dissertations (1934 -)

Hume is known for his claim that our idea of causation is nothing beyond constant conjunction, and that our idea of necessary connection is nothing beyond a felt determination of the mind. In short, Hume endorses a "thin" conception of causation and necessary connection. In recent years, however, a sizeable number of philosophers have come to view Hume as someone who believes in the existence of thick causal connections - that is, causal connections that allow one to infer a priori the effect from the cause, and vice versa. Hume doesn't wish to deny such connections, said philosopher's claim, he …

Hoc Est Sacrificium Laudis: The Influence Of Hebrews On The Origin, Structure, And Theology Of The Roman Canon Missae, Matthew S. C. Olver

Dissertations (1934 -)

One area of study that received a newfound level of attention during the twentieth century’s Liturgical Movement was the relationship between the Bible and liturgy. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum concilium, highlights the importance and centrality of this relationship, declaring that “[s]acred scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy” (SC 24). The broad movements of ressourcement and la nouvelle théologie, particularly figures such as Jean Daniélou and Henri de Lubac, emphasized the deep unity between Scripture and the very text of liturgical rites and argued that the liturgy is an expression of spiritual …

A Guide For The Development Of Theoretical Understanding And Practice Of Teaching For Artistic Behavior: A Response For 21st Century Art Education, Lisa Van Plew-Cid

Masters Theses

Education in the 21st century is restructuring to meet the needs of an increasingly technological society where learning objectives need to focus more on learning abilities rather than knowledge acquisition. Creativity and authentic learning have been identified as new learning objectives for the 21st century. Throughout the history of education, art education has maintained relevance through the integral role it plays in meeting the learning and developmental needs of our students. Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) offers both a philosophy and practice for relevant 21st century art education.

Through research and deep reflection on my ten year practice as an …

Switch-Reference In Pastaza Kichwa, Alexander Harrison Rice

Theses and Dissertations

Pastaza Kichwa is a Quechuan language spoken in eastern Ecuador. This thesis describes its use of switch-reference which is traditionally understood to be an interclausal cross-referencing feature. Switch-reference is manifested by one of two morphemes that mark a subordinate clause as having either the same or different subject as another clause. Switch-reference has been described for other Quechuan languages and some of these studies present challenges to the theoretical underpinnings of switch reference (Stewart 1988, Dreidemie 2007) others present associated functions of switch-reference morphemes (Cole 1982). This study tests some of the propositions made about switch-reference in other Quechuan languages …

The Classroom Teaching Of Chinese Formulaic Language And Its Effects On Students' Writing Performance, Lin Guo

Theses and Dissertations

Formulaic language (FL) has long been a research topic investigated by various schools of researchers. Most of the previous researches focused on English as Second Language. The applicability of the past research results to other languages, especially Chinese as a second language, is still uncertain.The present study attempts to investigate the classroom teaching of Chinese formulaic language and its effects on students writing performance. Two sections of 3rd year Chinese L2 learners at Brigham Young University were chosen to participate the research, serving as the treatment group and the control group respectively. Both groups were required to write on the …

Deep Learning For Chatbots, Vyas Ajay Bhagwat

Master's Projects

Natural Language Processing (NLP) requires modelling complex relationships between the semantics of the language. While traditional machine learning techniques are used for NLP, the models built for conversations, called chatbots, are unable to be truly generic. While chatbots have been made with traditional machine learning techniques, deep learning has allowed the complexities within NLP to be easier to model and can be leveraged to build a chatbot which has a real conversation with a human. In this project, we explore the problems and techniques used to build chatbots and where improvements can be made. We analyze different architectures to build …

Deep Learning Algorithm Recommender, Rajat Kabra

Master's Projects

Deep learning contains a set of algorithms that are based on the functioning of human brain i.e. neural networks. These algorithms require a lot of computation power and time along with complex setup to get good results. The project contains several artificial neural network implementation for a variety of tasks like data classification, image classification, natural language processing and more. The project contains an exploratory analysis of hyperparameters of deep learning algorithms in domain of deep learning applications to prove that it is possible to achieve a good accuracy with less resources.

International Team Research In Comparative Higher Education: Shedding Some Light On Its Social Side, Anna Kosmützky

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Transforming Disability To Advantage: A Phenomenological Study Of Career Success For Dyslexics, Bonnie A. Blake

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis study was to understand how dyslexics’ and non-dyslexics’ perceptions about dyslexia impacted the life experiences of dyslexic individuals with successful careers. Six dyslexic participants described meaningful experiences in their lives and career success in individual, semistructured, in-person interviews in the New York tri-state area. The participants shared insights that revealed four themes: (1) Challenging Academic Experiences, (2) Thinking Differently and Creating Success, (3) Championing a Growth Mindset and Positive Thinking, and (4) Leading with Strengths and Talents.

This study explored the transformative shift from narrowly viewing dyslexia as a neurological disorder to a …

Critical Literacy And Engagement In Special Education, Sara Nelson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This Capstone addresses the research question, what is the effect of critical literacy practices on engagement in secondary special education classrooms? Motivated by a desire to provide secondary special educators with tools to meet diverse learner needs in innovative, engaging and challenging ways, the author chronicles the key experiences that led to the topic choice and reviews the literature related to the research question. Additionally, the document includes an overview of educator professional development methodology and an outline for the design of the final Capstone project. The project derived from this research includes a year-long professional development plan for secondary …

Promoting Effective Language Development In English Language Learners Through A School Garden-Based Curriculum, Krista Steffen

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question for this project was, how does interacting with a school garden-based curriculum promote more effective language development for English Language Learner (ELL) students? The goal of this project was to design a language-focused curriculum for ELL students to be delivered through the hands-on learning that happens in a school garden. Bringing research from experts in ELL together with studies focused on science and outdoor education, eight best practices were unearthed from the research that guided the development of the project. The best practices included: using additional instructional supports, combining strategies for maximum impact, embedding language instruction and …

The Attitudinal And Motivational Effects Of Extensive Reading On Adult Ells In A Non-Intensive Abe/Esl Program, Jason Garvey

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This study examined the extent to which extensive reading (ER) coupled with sustained silent reading (SSR) impacts the attitudes and motivation toward L2 reading of adult ELLs in a non- intensive ABE/ESL program. While participating in a nine-week SSR program, 17 learners were asked to provide their perceptions of the program and the practice of ER via pretest/posttest questionnaires, weekly reading logs, and semi-structured interviews. In addition to increasing their group average weekly time spent reading for pleasure in English outside of class by 113 minutes, the participants reported that they (1) felt more confident in their L2 acquisition; (2) …

The Impact Of Newsela On Disciplinary Content Area Literacy To Improve Vocabulary Instruction, Nicole Anderson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project was, what is the impact of Newsela on developing disciplinary content area literacies to improve vocabulary instruction? The author describes the process of researching and creating a literacy action plan developed for the purpose of providing secondary schools with the timeline and implementation tasks for engaging students in authentic literacy experiences in all content areas. Research around effective literacy plans, specifically by Irvin, Meltzer, and Dukes assisted in development of goals, implementation tasks, and criteria for success. The author defines the key components of this plan, detailing new learnings and struggles throughout the …

Improving Reading Comprehension And Oral Proficiency Through The Use Of Literature Circles, Glorimar Rodriguez

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed is, how can literature circles be used to improve fluency and reading comprehension while allowing students to actively communicate in the target language? Oral practice of English in Puerto Rico is a topic of struggle for most who learn English since infancy but are not provided opportunities for oral practice outside of the language classroom. English learners need an environment where they can practice the language, skills and tools learned in the classroom. Literature circles provide students with an environment conducive to oral communication and active participation. Students take ownership of their learning and integrate themselves …

How Social Studies Curriculum Can Help Spanish Immersion Students To Develop And Improve Their Grammar And Language Skills, Juan Perona

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The purpose of the project is to develop examples of activities and lessons within the regular social studies curriculum of Spanish immersion students in middle school that reinforce Spanish language skills that most of these students seen to struggle to master. The rationale of the project came from the observations of the author of the language skills of Spanish immersion students in middle school, in which he notice that, although their communication and understanding skills were very advanced, the students have gaps in language areas like specific grammar concepts, and develop academic Spanish language. The literature review major studies on …

Thematic, Interdisciplinary Curricular Unit Developed For Fourth Grade On ‘The Science And Engineering Of Slime, Laura Johnston

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Teaching literacy units based on language arts standards alone can leave some students lacking background knowledge and vocabulary that is necessary to deeply comprehend what they read. This reality led to the asking of the research question What is the impact of thematic, interdisciplinary teaching on students’ reading engagement and achievement in a language immersion setting? A review of pertinent literature was conducted regarding thematic, interdisciplinary instructional methodology, content area literacy, research-based practices for multilingual learners, and student engagement. In response, a thematic, interdisciplinary curricular unit capstone project was developed to provide students a learning context for literacy tasks. The …

Adapting Tools To Measure Students' Affective Filter For The Elementary Dual-Immersion Context, Megan Frutiger

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to discover what tools were available to educators to measure students’ affective filter; it further sought to adapt current tools for use in the Spanish-English dual-immersion elementary context. Research revealed that R. C. Gardner developed a measure called the Anxiety and Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) in 1985. Another measure, the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) had been developed by Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope in 1986. For this project, these two measures were synthesized and adapted for the elementary dual- immersion context. Careful attention was given to each survey item to ensure that it …

Fossilization Of L And R Phonemes And Effective Pronunciation Teaching Practices For Adult English Language Students, Sacha Chandavong

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question answered in this paper was, in order to implement effective pronunciation instruction, to what extent does fossilization affect adult learners' ability to acquire another language? The concluding research found that despite adult English learners’ (EL) long exposure to the target language, some ELs find themselves unable to progress in their second language development due to fossilization. Thus, ultimate attainment to achieve native-like comprehensibility becomes difficult, but not impossible. The literature researches the details of fossilization, phonemic awareness, and best approaches for pronunciation instruction in the classroom. The paper includes a complementary curriculum project that comprises /l/ and …

Increasing Target Language Input For L2 Students: Strategies For Success In Classroom-Based Language Acquisition, Katie Schmidt

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question investigated in this project was, in what ways can teachers enhance language input for L2 students in classroom-based language acquisition? Generally, students do not get sufficient exposure to the target language in the average classroom setting. This project explores the role of input/exposure on language acquisition and success. The research in this capstone provides evidence for the importance of strong language input as well as other factors that attribute to language acquisition. By closely analyzing the studies completed in the classroom, a clear connection was found between language input and interaction. The curriculum created for this project …

Implementing Multicultural Curriculum In A Metro Area Middle School 6th Grade Minnesota Studies Class, Megan De La Forest

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

As the United States is becoming more diverse, so are our classrooms. Experts in the field of multicultural education agree that educators need to consider multiple perspectives, while teaching, in order to develop meaningful curriculum for all students. Therefore, the researcher aimed to design curriculum that supports the benefits of multicultural education and answers the research question: How can I change the current 6th grade Minnesota Studies curriculum to meet the needs of the changing, diverse population in a metro area middle school? The author shares of her personal experiences related to multiculturalism, which lacked diversity during her school career. …

The Pragmatics Of Politeness As Expressed By Native Arabic-Speaking English Learners, Michael Marn

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project was, what are the areas of pragmatic difficulty for adult, native Arabic-speaking English learners when expressing politeness in English in ESL settings? Research of literature on the topic, accounts by cultural informants, and the author’s observations as an instructor of adult, native Arabic- speaking ELs informed five areas targeted for lessons in a pragmatics education seminar designed for this group—compliments, requests, inter-familial communication, communication between the sexes, and euphemisms. The author documents the details of the seminar lessons, which use a variety of student-centered instruction based on authentic language samples as advocated by …