This paper explores and compares the ways in which novelist and playwright Tomson Highway and visual artist and poet Neal McLeod use traditional and contemporary Cree narratives to represent personal and collective cultural experiences, both past and present. In Highways novel <i>Kiss of the Fur Queen</i>, and in McLeods exhibition of paintings <i>Sons of a Lost River</i>, the mythic figure of the wîhtikow, a cannibalistic entity that symbolizes the destructive forces of colonialism and urbanization, as well as the self-abusive patterns found within the individual psyche, is used in counterpoint with the Cree trickster wîsahkecâhk, elemental spirits like the Thunderbird, and heroes such as ayash and pîkahin okosisa to express a multi-stylistic array of cultural meanings that avoid absolute interpretations. Highway and McLeod create myths that explore the oppressive as well as the redemptive processes of their cultural heritage over centuries of engagement with colonial powers and institutions.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Duquesne University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 144-152) and index.

This dissertation intervenes in a long-simmering debate about whether literature belongs in composition classes. Using a combination of empirical and textual methods, my scholarship proceeds inductively from analyzing artifacts of teaching, providing a better sense of what is happening in writing classrooms rather than simply speculating about it. In doing so, I revisit arguments made against using literature in composition and argue that the 21st century English department provides a different context within which literature and composition co-exist. One of the charges leveled against using literature to teach writing is that it is a "humanist" practice and therefore elitist. I trace the genealogy of this term and demonstrate the wide range of meanings this term has carried within the last century alone, arguing that those who raise the alarm against humanism need to clarify what they mean. Taking off from the humanistic concern with style, I analyze composition anthologies to see how the questions following the literary selections deal with stylistic concerns. By and large, I find that the literary selections reinforce the themes of the primarily nonfiction chapters, but are not presented as prose from which students can derive stylistic lesson. I then turn to analyzing syllabi, testing the accusation that those coming from literature backgrounds will teach literature in their composition classes at the expense of working on student writing. I find that literature specialists do not necessarily spend an excessive number of class days on literature, but do spend more class days on readings generally, with fewer days devoted to student writing than rhetoric specialists. Finally, I argue that the validity of student evaluations of teaching needs to be assessed by composition scholars because concerns specific to our courses--the small sizes, the frequent feedback teachers give students, the difficulty of assessing student work, and the fact that ours is a female dominated field--mean that research conducted by educational psychologists may not apply to composition. My research reinforces the idea that our course readings, assignments, pedagogy, and assessment methods should align purposively with each other. / text

The formation of the first stars, also known as Population III (Pop III), marked a pivotal point in the universe's evolution from relative smoothness and homogeneity to its current highly structured state. In this dissertation we study key aspects of Pop III star formation. We utilize three-dimensional cosmological simulations to follow the evolution of gas and DM from z ~100 until the first minihalo forms. Once the gas infalls toward the center of the minihalo and condenses, we implement the 'sink particle' method to represent regions that will form a star, and we follow the evolution of the metal-free, star-forming gas for many free-fall times. A disk forms around the initial Pop III star and fragments to form secondary stars with a range of masses (1 - 50 [solar mass]). This is markedly different from the previous paradigm of one single, massive star forming per minihalo. Using a ray-tracing technique, we also examine the effect of radiative feedback on protostellar growth and disk fragmentation. This feedback will not prevent the formation of secondary stars within the disk, but will reduce the final mass reached by the largest Pop III star. Measuring the angular momentum of the gas that falls onto the sink regions, we also find that the more massive Pop III stars accrete sufficient angular momentum to rotate at nearly break-up speeds, and can potentially end their lives as collapsar gamma-ray bursts or hypernovae. We furthermore numerically examine the recently discovered relative streaming motions between dark matter and baryons, originating from the era of recombination. Relative streaming will slightly delay the redshift at which Pop III stars first form, but will otherwise have little impact on Pop III star formation and the history of reionization. We finally evaluate the possible effect of a cosmic ray (CR) background generated by the supernova deaths of massive Pop III stars. A sufficiently large CR background could indirectly enhance the H₂ cooling within the affected minihalos. The resulting lower temperatures would lead to a reduced characteristic stellar mass (~ 10 [solar mass]), providing another possible pathway to form low-mass Pop III stars. / text

This dissertation will identify and describe the state of the law regarding student speech and press freedom. The following questions will be explored: What rights do young people have? What standards have state and federal courts established? To what extent and how clearly have state statutes defined student expressive rights? What do state laws say about this topic? What issues have yet to be addressed, either because a case has not raised certain issues or because the issue does not lend itself to compromise or a clear solution? How does the capacity of social media for widespread and rapid dissemination affect the balancing of First Amendment rights with other interests? Among other topics, the dissertation will discuss the development of First Amendment law, the strengthening of student expression law in the 1960s, the curtailment of student expression rights at the K-12 level in the 1980s, and state legislation that protects student expression at the K-12 and university levels. The conclusion will contain strategies for the enhancement of students’ First Amendment rights.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Feb. 29, 2008). Directed by Ulrich C. Reitzug; submitted to the School of Education. Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-293).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Waikato, 2007. / Title from PDF cover (viewed August 25, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 290-300)

Thesis (doctoral)--Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität zu München, 1939. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-[50]).

Thesis (doctoral)--Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität zu München, 1939. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-[50]).

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 124-137).