Thesis (M.S. in Computer Science)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2010. / Thesis Advisor(s): Martell, Craig H. ; Second Reader: Young, Joel D. "June 2010." Description based on title screen as viewed on July 16, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Persuasion, conversation, machine learning, naive bayes, maximum entropy, support vector machine, Waco, David Koresh, negotiation, transcript, Cialdini. Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-107). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Aberdeen University, 2008. / Title from web page (viewed on Mar. 30, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2006. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät--München--Lugwig-Maximilians Universität, 1995. / Bibliogr. p. 162-167.

abstract: The present study examined daily survey data collected from married couples over the course roughly 14 days. I investigated the relationships of the morning quality ratings of three distinct spousal interactions conversation (physical affection, and sexual activity) reported in mornings on later-day positive and negative affect, as well as next-day intensity of negative somatic symptoms (e.g. headaches, dizziness, aches and pains). Hierarchical linear modeling was used to estimate path models for both husbands and wives. Direct and indirect effects were observed. Results showed that quality of conversation and physical affection increased later-day positive mood for both husbands and wives; however, positive quality activity increased later-day positive affect for wives only. Quality of sexual activity decreased later-day negative affect for wives only. Less later-day negative affect decreased next-day intensity of symptoms for both husbands and wives. Lastly, quality of sexual activity decreased later-day negative affect, which decreased next-day somatic symptoms for wives. This was the only significant indirect effect. Implications are that high marital quality is important for maintaining psychological health for both spouses, and physical health, particularly for wives. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Psychology 2012

Public conversation is an important aspect of a day-to-day social life in African social world. Its scope also extends into the political realm, be being a critical dimension of democratisation in the continent. This dissertation aims at constructing the contours of an African theology of public conversation. It embarks on the analysis of the notion of ‘public' as understood within the constellations of African politics and African theology, with the aim of establishing the possibility of context-focused theological reflection on the role of public conversation in Africa. Taking a cue from the literature on the interactions between Jürgen Habermas and some theologians, it establishes the possibility of African theological reflection on communicative action and advance contextual sensitivity in theological constructions by bring cultural and local values that are of significance, without necessarily resorting into cultural nostalgia. To this end, the study turns to a detailed study of African palaver, a customary conflict-resolving mechanism, as a model of public conversation. Palaver stands as a paradigm of traditional consensual democracy, which is communally bound, narratively structured and enshrines anamnestic solidarity between the visible and invisible members of a community. It will be argued that the structured interplay between community, narrative and memory makes African palaver an effective tool of communicative action. In order to advance this argument, it will be demonstrated that palaver offers a site of argumentative reasoning, a kind of narrative rationality, conceived as alternative form of communicative rationality to the one suggested by Habermas. On a theological level, the study builds on Johannes Baptist Metz's memory-oriented narrative theology, as embodied by his idea of ‘dangerous memory' and advances the argument for a contextual theological categorisation of memory-oriented (anamnestic) solidarity. In the final analysis, the study provides a hypothetical ground for theological contextualisation on the basis of a symmetrical conversation between culture and theology.

Background: Semantic dementia occurs as part of the frontotemporal dementia spectrum of conditions and presents with a progressive and striking receptive and expressive communication disorder. Studies thus far have generally concentrated on quantitative assessment of cognition and behaviour and there is a paucity of research examining conversation skills in everyday life, despite people with this condition and their family carers identifying this as the primary focus of their difficulties. There is also a gap in the literature in examining the first-hand experiences of people with semantic dementia and their family carers, in terms of how they live day to day with this condition. There is currently no evidence based advice for management of everyday communication issues in semantic dementia. Aims: This thesis used a multiple case study design to explore everyday conversation at home with five individuals with semantic dementia and their spouses and in one case study, also a daughter. Individuals ranged from early semantic dementia to the advanced stages of this condition. Each case study used an innovative combination of conversation analysis of video and audio data alongside biographical interviewing in a longitudinal design. A total of 74 home visits gathered 45 hours of interview data and 12 hours of video data. Information derived from these strands was then used to design an individually tailored intervention which focussed on the specific everyday conversation issues in each situation. This included aspects of life story work and interaction-focused therapy. Findings: A range of challenges and skills were present in the everyday conversations of these individuals with semantic dementia and their family carers. Some of this variability arose from differences in the severity of the semantic dementia across individuals in the study. However, differences were also apparent in how individuals with semantic dementia and their family carers adapted to the condition. Interaction-focussed therapy was delivered in one case study, with measureable changes in post-therapy conversations at home. Life story work was delivered in all cases using a variety of formats. Analysis of outcomes highlighted that the work could be conceptualised under various points of connection: including interactional connections, emotional connections, building new connections, practical care connections and future connections. Cognitive, psychological and social factors impacted on the life story work. Creativity in practice was important to enhance not just information exchange but foster interaction using verbal, paralinguistic and embodied behaviours. Conclusion: The study contributes to knowledge by providing in-depth understanding of the changes in everyday conversation for those living with semantic dementia and their family carers, as well as exploring interventions directly relevant for clinical practice. In this study both interaction-focussed therapy and life story work offered promise to support and enhance adaptation to changes in interaction for all concerned. Aspects of both interventions, grounded in the study data, were proposed in an exploratory model to underpin ‘interaction-focussed life story work’ in semantic dementia, i.e. life story practice with a central aim to enhance strategies for interaction in everyday life.

Parental divorce is considered one of the most stressful events in the lives of children. The adult perspective has dominated the discourse on divorce, and only recently has research started to consider the viewpoint of children. Research indicates that the nature of the divorce process as experienced by the child is the most important factor in post-divorce adjustment. It also remains a relatively unexplored area, with research on the manner in which children experience the divorce process being limited. The current study aimed to conduct a narrative inquiry into the experiences and perceptions of parental divorce, of a purposive sample of 9 to 10 year old children. The primary aim of the study was to highlight and honour the voice of the child in a parental divorce process. The current research was qualitative in nature and adopted a narrative paradigm. Five children were interviewed qualitatively using an unstructured interview. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Seven themes were identified. The first theme explored children’s endeavours to describe and explain parental divorce. An additional six themes were developed around the types of stories children told of the divorce process. Themes included, What is a Divorcement, Stories of Loss, Stories of Gain, Stories of Change, Stories of Stability, Healing Stories, and Complicating Stories. This study endeavoured to provide divorced parents and those working with children a greater understanding of the way in which children perceive parental divorce, and insight into the factors that facilitate children’s positive adjustment to parental divorce.

This thesis is concerned with the analysis of talk in a corpus of German market research focus groups. The nature of interaction taking place in these focus groups is studied from a conversation-analytic and discourse-analytic perspective.