Conflict resolution strategies in special education are necessary in view of increased disability and civil rights legislation impacting schools. With increase in federal laws and regulations comes an increase in parental expectations and unclear interpretations of "what is right" and "what is legal" regarding meeting the educational needs of students with disabilities. The purpose of the study was to identify factors that escalate and de-escalate parent-school conflict in special education and to understand the special education mediation process from the perspectives of parents, school officials and mediators in Massachusetts. Data were collected through telephone interviews with 44 participants. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Parent participants had experienced special education mediation either during the school year 1995-1996 or 1996-1997. School officials and mediators had experienced multiple special education mediations. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze data. Eight categories of factors that escalate parent-school conflict in special education were identified: (a) Discrepant Views of a Child's Needs, (b) Knowledge, (c) Service Delivery, (d) Valuation, (e) Reciprocal Power, (f) Constraints, (g) Communication, and (h) Trust. Participants in each group revealed that the mediation process was of value even though one may not achieve the desired outcome. Strengths of the mediation process were identified in the areas of its ability to provide disclosure, empower participants, provide opportunity for communication, provide suitable outcomes, strengthen relationships and provide a pragmatic approach to problem-solving. Limitations of mediation were reported in it's ability to be misused by participants seeking opportunities for fact-finding and it's lack of ability to be enforced. Results indicated that training in conflict handling strategies is needed by parents and school officials. Results of the study supported using early intervention conflict identification and resolution strategies so that conciliatory attitudes and trust might be preserved in parent-school relationships. / Ed. D.

A wall is a primordial architectural artifact. The power and potential of a wall lies in its ability to transcend the necessities of construction and become a generator of architecture. A wall can be more than a plane in space, it can sculpt light and provide housing for various activities within its tectonic dimension. These additional functions can create an experience of both solidity of a wall as well as the possibility of inhabiting a wall. The creation of a "place". A wall also possesses the ability to create a sense of place. This can occur not only through the provision of habitable space, but also through the provision of bearing points for other structural members, illuminable surfaces, or zones of both visual and physical penetration. Within this thesis project, the wall generates a stair, and together, they begin to produce the rest of the architecture. At first there is a wall. Then there is the apartment. / Master of Architecture

Le but de l’étude est l’examen des facteurs potentiels de développement et de maintien du Trouble Obsessionnel Compulsif en comparant un groupe à Tendance Obsessionnelle Modérée (TOM) avec un groupe à Tendance Obsessionnelle Élevée (TOE). La formation des groupes s’effectue à partir des scores des participants à l’Inventaire de Padova. Ils sont ensuite reclassés selon leurs scores aux sous-échelles du Yale-Brown. Les résultats indiquent que les participants du groupe TOE ont rapporté un plus grand nombre de facteurs expliquant le développement et le maintien de leur pensée ou de leur comportement que les participants du groupe TOM. De façon générale, les résultats suggèrent que les participants du groupe TOE anticipent davantage de conséquences négatives et évaluent plus sévèrement la conséquence négative ultime pouvant résulter de leur pensée ou de leur comportement comparativement au groupe TOM. De plus, ils perçoivent que leur pensée ou leur comportement est plus raisonnable que les participants du groupe TOM. Les résultats sont discutés en fonction des implications diagnostiques et cliniques.

Notre mémoire intitulé « Le personnage-enfant à la recherche de l'utopie féminine » se proposera d'examiner la manifestation de la figure du personnage-enfant dans Les petits enfants du siècle et La porte du fond de Christiane Rochefort. Nous nous intéressons à la fonction que remplit ce personnage romanesque, en tant que narrateur et personnage principal de l'intrigue, dans les deux romans de Rochefort. Sous cet angle, nous examinerons la relation qui se noue entre le personnage-enfant et son lecteur, ainsi que les stratégies de narration des personnages-enfants de Rochefort. Ce jeune personnage va remplir différentes fonctions dans le texte ainsi qu'il va orienter la réception du lecteur. En effet, mettre en scène un personnage-enfant provoque une adhésion immédiate du lecteur, puisqu'il constitue le garant d'une certaine naïveté et d'une certaine vraisemblance Cette analyse s'appuiera sur les théories de sociocritique que développe Edmond Cros dans son ouvrage La sociocritique pour montrer comment le social influence le littéraire, c'est-à-dire, comment le milieu social va influencer la figuration et le discours narratif du personnage-enfant dans la littérature. En effet, l'univers fictionnel telle que créé par Rochefort est un univers structuré qui nous a transmis une certaine vision du monde d'un certain groupe social à travers la fiction. Dans cette perspective, nous étudierons la relation que noue ce jeune personnage avec sa société s'urbanisant et se trouvant en pleine mutation. De plus, nous examinerons le rapport qui lie le personnage-enfant à sa famille dont le rôle s'affaiblit de plus en plus et aux adultes qui l'entourent. D'ailleurs, le contexte social et la représentation de l'espace vont influencer la personnalité du personnage-enfant et, par conséquent, sa vision utopique de monde.

The following project involves the design of a series of row houses at Broce street in the town of Blacksburg. The proposed scheme can be described as a line of units that are parallel to the street. Though the project deals with issues that are related to housing at the scale of the unit as well as at the scale of the collective whole, the underlying concern is the issue of habitation in architecture. With this project I will propose architecture that encourages the individual to participate in the making of the living environment, and at the same time address habitation in terms of structure and meaning. / Master of Architecture

Throughout the Civil War, Americans relied upon religion to shape their understanding of the conflict. As furious campaigns raged across the national landscape, Northerners and Southerners saw the hand of God at work in human history. Unfortunately, historians have not adequately dealt with this aspect of the conflict. In order to treat this historiographical void, this work focuses on the changes in religion wrought by civil war. More precisely, it concentrates on warfare's effects on Virginia's homefront Baptist churches and how these churches responded. This study, therefore, sheds light on the physical and spiritual ramifications that America's greatest trial had on Virginia's religious institutions. / Master of Arts

The essence of an architectural intervention is the reconciliation of the joint between the old and the new, the historic, and the present. / Master of Architecture

The Tlinglt people have lived along the southeastern coast of Alaska since 1730. Historically, the highly decorated Tlingit tunics were worn at potlatches, as the first layer of regalia. The tunics were often covered with dance aprons. bibs, and blankets. Potlatches are still held today but with less frequency. Today, Celebration is held every two years, so that the Tlingit may gather to celebrate their heritage through music, dance, and art. The purpose of the research was to define the physical tunic, as well as. to determine meaning associated with the tunics. Models were created to divide the fifty tunics into more manageable sections, which were originally based on DeLong’s (1987) use of Gestalt theory of part-to-whole and whole-to-part viewing. The viewing relationships of interior design lines, silhouette, and surface design readily organized appearance into visual categories. The models were further divided into subsections which displayed information on a particular part of the tunic (for example, side silhouette shapes). Meaning was determined by using form associations. An expressive response scale, which deals specifically with the Tlingit tunics, was adapted from DeLong's (1987) form association scale. The researcher visited six museums along the Inner Passage of Alaska. Twenty-eight relics were viewed at the various museums. Nine old photographs were also viewed at the museums. Celebration "96 In Juneau, as well as a dance event In Haines, were attended and videotaped so that the tunics could be seen in actual use. Thirteen tunics were viewable using the videotape. Definition of the tunics was determined by analyzing the interior design lines, silhouette, and the surface design. The physical tunic had a simple silhouette and interior design lines, while the surface design was found to be much more complex. In other words, the non-complex outline framed a complex surface design. Tunics were placed into four possible categories in the expressive response scale. The tunics distinctly fell into two of the four categories.. Meaning determined that the shape was large with emphasis on the silhouette. Line was discontinuous while the color tended to be bright. The texture was able to fill the surface with coarse areas usually due to beadwork. Group Identity was conveyed through the use of similar silhouettes and interior design lines. Individuality was expressed in the uniqueness of the surface designs - in the type of design, varied location, and use of materials. / Master of Science

This thesis is a community study that centers on the Carroll County Courtroom Shootout of 1912. The shootout provides an opportunity to examine the dynamics of a small Appalachian community by looking at the years leading up to 1912. This study focuses on issues of causality, including a series of intense political feuds, land disputes, and general hostilities between certain members of the court administration and members of a particular family within the county. This thesis adds to revisionist histories on Appalachia and serves as a corrective to views of the region as monolithic, isolated, and impoverished. By placing the Hillsville Shootout in a historical framework for the first time, one can explain and deconstruct some of the myths surrounding the Carroll County tragedy and more generally Appalachia itself. / Master of Arts

The Book of Exodus in the Old Testament recounts the liberation and salvation of an oppressed people and their subsequent journey to and arrival at the Promised Land. In the Christian Church, this journey continues in the lives of believers. The spiritual journey begins with salvation, continues with a repeated process of suffering and redemption, and terminates with an awakening to a better understanding of God.<p> The spiritual journey made concrete is the concern of this project. The Christian life, grossly simplified, is a passage from one place to another. The believer is constantly passing through the threshold from this life to the next, from an old, limited understanding of the divine to a new understanding.<p> In the Catholic Church, this process of passage is ritualized in the journey of the believer to the church each Sunday. Upon entering the church building, the believer passes from the secular and mundane to the sacred and holy.<p> Where does the secular end and the sacred begin? How does one delimit a boundary between the two? How does one cross the threshold from the profane to the sacred? That is the focus of this project. / Master of Architecture