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Some of the material in is restricted to members of the community. By logging in, you may be able to gain additional access to certain collections or items. If you have questions about access or logging in, please use the form on the Contact Page.
Towards a new framework for artificial intelligence research
Description:
This dissertation constitutes an attempt to reconcile artificial intelligence research with the philosophical movement of phenomenology. It is not an easy task, as the initial work relating phenomenology and AI, done by Hubert Dreyfus, ... After an introductory chapter, I examine Dreyfus's arguments against AI. I conclude that these arguments, though they point to difficulties which AI researchers must face, do not provide compelling reasons for AI workers to abandon their... In the next chapter, I examine another set of criticisms of AI done by phenomenologists, that of Terry Winograd and Fernando Flores. I draw similar conclusions with these criticisms as I do with those of Dreyfus. In the fourth chapter, I examine the emerging AI paradigm of "embedded computation." Advocates of this paradigm hold that AI should rely on an "interactionist" theory of mind rather than the "mentalistic" theories traditional AI uses.... Because so many of the criticisms of AI discussed in Chapters Two through Four are inconclusive, in the fifth chapter I attempt to strengthen the arguments involved. I find some of the fundamental tenets of AI research, such as the...
Treatment of test anxiety in the college population: Interference or deficits?
Description:
Test Anxiety affects many college students. It is viewed theoretically as a construct consisting of several components which impair academic performance and general health of students. One theory views the anxiety as being composed of... Students enrolled in introductory psychology classes at Florida State University were screened for test anxiety. Those meeting inclusion criteria were asked to volunteer for the study, resulting in 110 subjects who were randomly assigned... It was hypothesized that test anxiety is the result of both interference and skills deficits and treatment should target both. Thus, the combined treatment group was expected to demonstrate significant anxiety reduction increased...
Photograph, color, of School of Nursing Pinning Ceremony; April 30, 1993. Two women in academic robes face the camera. Other people are visible in the background. The side of the frame reads, FSU - School of Nursing Pinning Ceremony...
Intra-industry trade and ASEAN: The experience of Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore
Description:
Trade in differentiated manufactured goods from the same industry, between developed economies characterized by similar relative factor endowments, has been observed to be an important feature of international trade patterns since the... This study extends the analysis of the structure and determinants of IIT to the bilateral trading arrangements of Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, three members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). These...
But I came here to learn: Students' interpretations of their experiences in a college chemistry class for non-science majors
Description:
This work identified some of the interpretations students make about their experiences in a college-level chemistry course for non-science majors. By understanding such interpretations, chemical educators might be better able to work... In order to understand students' interpretations, several sources of data were collected or crafted including: interviews with students (and the instructor), classroom observations, documents from the class, student essays, and surveys.... Two mechanisms were used to understand interpretations students made of the classroom. First, categorization schemes the students used were studied with the goal of understanding how they categorize their experiences about knowledge, ... The primary findings of this work are two-fold, and have implications for learning, teaching and research. First, students conceptualize knowledge, teaching and learning in a variety of ways. These different conceptualizations have...
The choral accompanist: Perceptions of competencies and attributes
Description:
The purpose of this study was (a) to assemble a list of competencies and attributes considered important in college choral accompanying, (b) to investigate opinions concerning these competencies among college choral conductors and their... The sample included 400 randomly selected college choral conductors who are members of the American Choral Directors Association. Conductors who participated were asked to give the accompanists' survey instrument to their accompanists.... A list of competencies and attributes was derived through a review of literature related to accompanying and through a pilot study. Survey instruments were designed to solicit opinions concerning the "desirability" and the "frequency of... Results of the survey indicated that the skill considered "most desirable" and "most frequently used" was "alertness during rehearsal." The skill considered "least desirable" and "least frequently used" was "ability to read music written... Participants generally agreed that all of the skills listed in the questionnaire were desirable, with few respondents calling any of the skills "not desirable." In both groups of respondents most competencies listed seemed to fall into one of two extreme categories of "seldom used" or "frequently used", suggesting that some skills which are seldom used are still desirable.
Computerized voice recognition systems and their application to the mobility impaired
Description:
This dissertation examines the introduction of a new man-machine interface, namely automatic speech recognition (ASR), and its application to the mobility impaired, who may lack the physical abilities to write, or to access a computer... cent of illnesses reported to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). That compares with only 18 per cent in 1981, and 28 per cent in 1984. The six RSI case studies all reported that computerized voice recognition was...
Unemployment and the incarceration of pretrial defendants
Description:
The Rusche and Kirchheimer thesis, which argues that labor market marginality engenders larger confinement populations, has amassed substantial empirical support in recent years. However, there still remains the question whether these... The results of the time series analysis reveal no statistically discernible relationship between the unemployment rate and the pretrial misdemeanor incarceration rate. The incarceration rate for pretrial felony offenders also varies...
Felix Mendelssohn's works for solo piano and orchestra: Sources and composition
Description:
Felix Mendelssohn's works for solo piano and orchestra are the A-Minor Concerto (1822), the Capriccio brillant, op. 22 (1831-32), the Piano Concerto in G Minor, op. 25 (1831), the Rondo brillant, op. 29 (1833-34), the Piano Concerto in D...
Photograph, color, of School of Nursing Pinning Ceremony; December 17, 1993. A man in a military uniform stands at a podium and talks into a microphone. The bottom of the frame reads, FSU - School of Nursing Pinning Ceremony December 17...
A micro level analysis of prior and proximate causes of infant mortality in Ghana, with special attention to the role of polygyny
Description:
The overall objective of this dissertation is to develop and empirically assess an integrated and systematic theoretical framework to illuminate the effects of polygyny on infant mortality. Mosley and Chen's analytic model was integrated... The pertinent question examined in this study relates to the role marriage form plays in infant mortality. The key point is that if polygyny is beneficial as expected from the environmental theory, for example, then comparable infants... The study is carried out using a sample of infants born in the five years preceding the 1988 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS). Two statistical models are used, a structural equation method and simulations. A causal model is... The findings indicate that maternal education, occupation, rural residence and ethnicity positively influence polygyny, which in turn affects infant survival. Polygyny is found to be an important mediating factor between background... In conclusion there is evidence to suggest that maternal socioeconomic characteristics are associated with not only polygyny but also maternal behavior, environmental contamination and infant survival. Overall, polygyny appears to... In terms of policy implication it is suggested that mothers be given basic techniques regarding disease prevention. Above all, consideration must be given to family structure in planning and implementing programs with respect to...
A rhetorical analysis of Davis v Davis: Merging postmodern and feminist voices
Description:
In this dissertation, I examine the rhetorical analysis of a recent reproductive technology court dispute, Davis v Davis. This case was rendered by the Tennessee State Supreme Court by Justice Daughtrey on June 1, 1992. The opinion seeks... In my analysis, I first make an argument for the merger of postmodern, namely Foucauldian, and feminist voices. Later, I suggest that these postmodern feminists can mobilize around the Critical Legal Studies (CLS) to produce explicit... In chapter seven, I apply the analysis of explicit change to a close reading of Davis. In my reconstruction of Davis, I turn to legal storytelling and feminist narrativity as a possible alternative reading. Last, I conclude the major findings of the study and provide several suggestions for possible future research in the area.
Media selection for knowledge transfer: Theory and practice among Malaysian agricultural extension agencies
Description:
This study examines the ways in which staff of communication units in agricultural extension agencies in Malaysia select communication media for the transfer of knowledge from the agencies to their target audiences. As noted in a number... Two methods of data collection were employed. First, heads of the communication units were interviewed in order to gather background information about the units. Second, the units' staff-members were asked to respond to a self... Results of this study reveal differences among agricultural extension agencies regarding their methods of selecting the most appropriate media for knowledge transfer activities. However, most of the staff-members of the communication... An overwhelming majority of staff-members indicated that they preferred media selection to be conducted in four or fewer steps, beginning with audience identification and followed in order by knowing the type of information, knowing the... Based on the findings of this study, it seems that there is a need to develop a new set of guidelines for media selection in order to better facilitate information and knowledge transfer processes in the nonformal education sector.
Photograph, color, of Homecoming Conference, 1993. Two women stand behind a podium and hold up a garnet T-shirt. The shirt has gold letters that read, Florida State University School of Nursing, and also includes the Florida State...
Photograph, color, of School of Nursing Pinning Ceremony; April 30, 1993. A woman in academic robes stands behind a podium. The bottom of the frame reads, FSU - School of Nursing Pinning Ceremony April 30, 1933.
Photograph, color, of School of Nursing Pinning Ceremony; April 30, 1993. A woman wearing an academic robe faces another woman and raises a hand in the air. A man in a suit stands behind her. The side of the frame reads, FSU - School of...
Education and economic growth in Japan (1890-1914) and Taiwan (1953-1985): A study of the interaction of the state, education and economy
Description:
It is generally assumed that educational expansion has positive effects on economic growth. This assumption has been challenged by recent theoretical and empirical sociological studies. It is argued that the effects of education on... The findings and analyses show that education did not have uniform and automatic effects on the remarkable economic growth in these two countries; rather the effects can be understood in terms of how the state, educational and economic...
Couple communication: A developmental perspective from dating to late marital phase
Description:
The purpose of this study was to determine how relational communication changes over the life-span of couples comprising the cohorts of exclusive dating (6 or more months of exclusive dating), engaged, early married (married less than 5... A convenience sample of 130 couples, across the five cohorts, were administered a slightly modified version of The Marital Communication Inventory (MCI). The results revealed a significant difference in relational communication between... While couples differed along the life-span, correlational data indicated that the longer the couple had been together, the more agreement existed on how they communicated as a couple. Suggestions are made for the practitioner/researcher...
Photograph, black and white, of steps in the street. An Evening of Dance performance of "Steps in the Street" in 1993. Choreography by Martha Graham and performed by Barbara J. Crostic, Alyson L. Jones, Jennifer Vinson, Cynthia C....
A comparison of three schema-based methods of vocabulary instruction
Description:
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of three schema-based methods of vocabulary instruction on vocabulary learning, reading comprehension, transfer of learning, and retention of learning. Two hundred fifty-one ninth-grade...
Race and infant mortality in the United States: A comprehensive examination of individual-level mediating factors
Description:
This dissertation examines the association between race and infant mortality in the United States in the most comprehensive manner to date. Beginning with a sociological conceptualization of race, a framework is developed which... The 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey (NMIHS) is used for the analysis. The NMIHS is the most comprehensive data set ever collected to study poor pregnancy outcome in the United States. Multinomial logit regression... Descriptive findings illustrate that the racial gap in infant mortality is nearly identical for endogenous and exogenous causes of death, with the overall rate of infant mortality among African-Americans about 2.2 times higher than non...
Current academic problems facing public high school bands in the United States: Survey, analysis, and comparisons
Description:
The purpose of this study was to obtain census information and to identify the current academic problems concerning public high school bands in the United States. A national survey was created with support from the College Band Directors National Association, the National Band Association, the American Bandmasters Association, the Texas Music Educators Association, and the American School Band... Responses revealed that 14.99% of students from the high school population play an instrument in band. Directors averaged 13.65 years experience and more than 57% had earned above the bachelor's degree. Seventy-four percent of the bands averaged more than 42 performances a year. The concert band averaged 12.6% of the total performances. The top four areas affected the most by education reform were: job responsibilities, scheduling, ... Teaching discipline, self-esteem, self-worth, responsibility, and leadership was evaluated as the most important of six values and priorities for instruction. Teaching with an emphasis on aesthetic awareness was found to be the sixth... Discussions with colleagues, observing other directors, attending conference conventions, audio or video taping rehearsals, attending workshops and clinics, and reading journal articles were reported to be the six most effective areas... Current and previous studies suggest: (a) band participation and director teaching experience has increased; (b) the role of funding has shifted from the school to parents, students and the community; (c) concert performances have...
(oxygen-16 + thorium-232) incomplete fusion followed by fission at 140 MeV
Description:
Cross sections for incomplete fusion followed by fission have been measured for the reaction ($\sp{16}$O + $\sp{232}$Th) at 140 MeV. In plane and out of plane measurements were made of cross sections for beamlike fragments in coincidence...
An examination of various dimensions of life satisfaction in relationship to menopausal symptomatology and hormone replacement therapy
Description:
Since there is a sharp increase in the number of women approaching menopause, the purpose of this study was to investigate the role of family life changes and physiological/psychological stresses pertaining to menopause upon the coping, ... A survey research design was employed which utilized a national random sample of women (n = 346) between the ages of 45 and 60 who were members of an association of college educated women. The subsample used for this study was comprised... No significant differences were found between women using and not using HRT for the variables, family life changes, menopausal symptomatology, coping, stress, sexual satisfaction, and life satisfaction. A path analysis procedure was...
High resolution structure determination of gramicidin A dimers in various solvent environments by two-dimensional proton-proton NMR
Description:
Gramicidin A forms a variety of structures dependent upon its environment. In organic solvents, it forms either unstructured monomers or a series of highly structured dimers (species 1-4). Two of these dimers have been isolated and their... species 3 out of benzene/ethanol. A surprising degree of agreement is found, particularly in the backbone, but also in the sidechains. Dynamics in solution is correlated with disorder in the crystal for several sites. Similarities and...
A next-to-leading-log Monte Carlo study of photon pairs and the search for the intermediate mass Higgs boson
Description:
Symmetry breaking and the question of the origin of mass are the reasons the Superconducting Super Collider and the Large Hadron Collider are being built. The Standard Model of particle physics provides a solution to this problem by...
The story of Dakota Commonplace follows Alice Hundley, her husband, Rob, and son, Bobby, into a world totally new and foreign to them. Alice finds herself isolated in a South Dakota farmhouse miles from the nearest neighbor, removed from... Rob, a social worker, has been hired by a Sioux Tribal Council to create an educational program for Indian young people. His initial enthusiasm and sense of possibility quickly diminish in the teeth of white resistance and what he... Over the period of four months, Alice and Rob move in different directions, complicating the strains that loneliness and too much interdependence have placed on their marriage. Rob, unable to admit to his own sense of failure, considers... Running parallel to the narrative set in 1969 is the journal or working notes kept by Alice Hundley who, in 1992, studies and reflects upon the area, its people and history. The journal's narrative compliments the progress of the 1969...
The Dragon's Pearl is alternate world fantasy focusing on the search for identity and obligatory duty. Kasandra, the Shamamic priestess, serves a simple island's people with help from Geoys, the silver dragon, whose pearl acts as a... Kasandra learns of a third daughter the elder wife thought was a curse and thus abandoned in the hills. Believing the Shamamic powers to be split among the three girls, Kasandra sends her mother and daughters in search of the third child... The two daughters mature as they face the larger world and death, and the third child journeys from a free-spirited life towards her true family and destiny. The girls' eventual meeting is bittersweet; their reunion with Kasandra fraught...
Photograph, color, of School of Nursing Pinning Ceremony; April 30, 1993. A woman in academic robes stands behind a podium. The podium has the Florida State University seal on it. The bottom of the frame reads, FSU - School of Nursing...
Unwarranted disparity and determinate sentencing: A longitudinal study of presumptive sentencing guidelines in Minnesota
Description:
Using an interrupted time-series design, this paper analyzes the impact of Minnesota's sentencing guidelines on reducing unwarranted disparity in sentencing outcomes that fall within their scope of authority. Specifically, two questions...
The influence of psychosocial factors and television exposure on the drinking behavior of adolescents: An examination of cultivation effects and the theory of reasoned action
Description:
The effect of television on the behavior of its viewers is an area of interest in communication theory. This study focuses on the effect of television and psychosocial factors on adolescents' expectations to drink. The incidence of adolescent drinking is rising and there is a possibility proposed relationship, two theories were probed. The theories are: the Theory of Reasoned Action and Cultivation Effects. An elaborated version of the Theory of Reasoned Action proposes a relationship between an adolescent's expectation to consume alcoholic beverages and the adolescent's behavioral and normative beliefs. Cultivation effects reasons that there is a relationship between the amount of television watched and the beliefs viewers have about the "real" beliefs about the world. Hence, the more a viewer watches television, the more likely his/her... The findings revealed television is not a statistically significant predictor of cultivated beliefs about drinking. Additionally, television cultivated beliefs about the consumption of alcoholic beverages are not significantly...
Controlling the agency costs of insider trading and the role of insider trading in correcting overreactions: Two essays
Description:
Two different aspects of insider trading are explored in two separate essays. The first essay empirically tests the effectiveness of alternative mechanisms for controlling the agency costs of insider trading. Empirical research related to agency conflicts is often limited by difficulty in obtaining direct measures... The second essay examines the role of corporate insiders, as informed traders, in recognizing and reacting to instances of stock price overreaction. The extent and timing of insider trading is examined around instances of potential...
Regional economic development, housing needs, and their impacts on the growth of housing cooperatives: A study of housing cooperatives in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Description:
This study, first, looks at the underlying causes of the housing problem in Iran, and second, examines the relationships of the number of housing co-ops in a region with the level of economic development and the need for decent and... The census data on all 24 ostans (provinces) and 496 cities in Iran are used in this study. The results indicate that in more developed ostans, greater number of housing co-ops can be expected. However, other indicators such as the...
Photograph, color, of School of Nursing Pinning Ceremony; April 30, 1993. Two women in academic robes face the camera. Other people are visible in the background. The side of the frame reads, FSU - School of Nursing Pinning Ceremony...
Photograph, color, of School of Nursing Pinning Ceremony; December 17, 1993. A man in a military uniform faces a person wearing academic robes. Both raise a hand in the air. The side of the frame reads, FSU - School of Nursing Pinning...
The computation of probabilities which involve spacings, with applications to the scan statistic
Description:
We develop a methodology for evaluating probabilities which involve linear combinations of spacings and then present some applications of this methodology. The basic idea underlying our method was given by Huffer (1988): A recursion is...
The relationship of rape supportive beliefs and beliefs in traditional sex roles to sexual aggression and victimization in college students
Description:
The purpose of this study was to expand on the understanding of those college students involved with sexual aggression and victimization. This study determined groups of aggressors, non-aggressors, victims and non-victims for the purpose... The sample was a random cluster sample consisting of 669 college students (353 males, 316 females) surveyed in their classes. The Sex Role Stereotyping Scale (Burt, 1980) was used to measure belief in traditional sex roles. The Rape Myth... No significant differences were found between non-aggressors and aggressors on the dependent variables of rape supportive beliefs, beliefs in traditional sex roles, age or year in college. Aggressors were found to have stronger rape...
Use of intrinsic and payoff criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of instructional materials and their impact on instructor-led training
Description:
The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether an instructional materials formative evaluation model that incorporated both payoff and intrinsic criteria resulted in more effective training materials in an instructor-led... The study focused on the effects of these two versions in both a highly and less-controlled environment. The dependent measures were learner performance and attitude, trainer attitude, trainer effectiveness, and trainee intent to use the... Due to low test reliability in both environments, the posttest results were not interpretable. Participant intent to use course skills was not interpretable due to a ceiling effect. Trainers' attitudes toward the course were more positive for Version X$\sb2$. The results for trainer effectiveness were mixed. In the highly controlled environment, the ratings for this indicator were higher for Version X$\sb2$ for one... Learner attitudes were more positive for Version X$\sb2$ in the highly controlled setting. In the less-controlled environment, the ratings for Version X$\sb2$ were mixed. These results indicate that the use of payoff data as a basis for...
Stress, coping, and adjustment in the postpartum: A case study approach
Description:
This study explored the stress, coping strategies and importance of mothering and working roles in eight postpartum women. The objective was to identify any relationships that existed between the variables of interest by analyzing... Some significant relationships were identified in the quantitative data. Subsequent analysis of the qualitative data called for three alternate hypotheses to be considered. Hypothesis one called for the acceptance of a consistent linear... Potential relationships found in the qualitative data suggested that future research should initially address the process of selection of stressors, rather than the process of reaction to stressors. This type of analysis could ultimately...
Some of the material in is restricted to members of the community. By logging in, you may be able to gain additional access to certain collections or items. If you have questions about access or logging in, please use the form on the Contact Page.