Inaug. Diss. - Leipzig. / Vita.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

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

An empirical exploration of factors that facilitate priming in young children was undertaken utilizing sequentially degraded pictures (fragpix) developed by Snodgrass and her colleagues. The identification of fragmented pictures was studied by 288 children across four experiments. In the first two experiments abbreviated sets of fragpix were generated for use with young children. Experiments 3 and 4 manipulated five attributes of the priming stimulus to measure their effect on direct and indirect tests of memory. Experiment 3 was a scaling study that delineated age associated identification thresholds for fragpix. It also examined hypotheses regarding the impact of prior exposure and perceptual closure on indirect and direct tests of memory. During the exposure and test condition, 3-, 4-, 5- and 8-year olds were shown fragpix in descending degrees of fragmentation until they correctly named the picture. Snodgrass proposed perceptual closure as an explanatory mechanism for identification of incomplete pictures. To explore this hypothesis, following identification of each fragpic, half the children were shown the completed picture. This manipulation had no facilitative effect on identification or recall of fragmented pictures. Two measures of prior exposure, priming and transfer, were also computed. Age differences were found on picture identification, free recall, and picture recognition measures of discrimination and response bias. A linear trend was revealed on measures of priming for picture identification, and for picture recognition but not for recall. A similar method was used for each of the first three experiments: Fragpix were presented in their most degraded form with pictorial information systematically added until the picture was named. Snodgrass and Feenan (1990) suggested that priming might be equally effective if only single levels of fragmentation were presented. They reported that exposing adults to moderately fragmented pictures promoted closure and was more beneficial for later identification, than exposure to maximally-fragmented or nearly completed pictures. Experiment 4 tested this "optimal level" hypothesis with 5- and 8-year olds. Scores from Experiment 3 were used to select age-specific levels of fragmentation that made fragpix easy, moderately easy, or difficult to identify. Attributes of the priming stimulus were manipulated in Experiment 4 to examine the differential impact of varying exposure conditions on performance and on the magnitude of priming. Three manipulations occurred: One varied number of stimulus changes across levels of fragmentation, a second varied order of difficulty, and a third varied the nature of stimulus change (random or systematic). Manipulating the priming stimulus influenced fragpix identification and priming, but had little definitive impact on free recall. For both ages stimuli presented in a systematic rather than random order facilitated picture identification and the magnitude of priming. In addition, developmental differences emerged among systematic orders of presentation. Five-year-olds demonstrated optimal performance in picture identification and measures of picture recognition when there were multiple changes in temporal contrast, while order of difficulty (moderate to easy to hard) was more facilitative for 8-year-olds. A finding for a quadratic function for 8-year-olds on picture identification and magnitude of priming supported a moderately fragmented stimulus being an optimal prime, while for 5-year-olds, the relationship was monotonic. This pattern was not observed on the direct memory tests. It is argued that both perceptual and cognitive components of the task influence performance in an integrative manner on indirect and direct memory tests. A modified form of transfer appropriate processing is proposed as a reasonable explanation of the findings. / Graduate

The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential for children to use the turtle methaphor to develop understandings of intrinsic, euclidean and cartesian geometrical ideas. Four aspects of the problem were investigated. a) the nature of the schema children form when they identify with the turtle in order to change its state on the screen; b) whether it is possible for them to use the schema to gain insights into certain basic geometrical principles of the cartesian geometrical system; c) how they might use the schema to form understandings of euclidean geometry developed inductively from specific experiences; d) the criteria they develop for choosing between intrinsic and euclidean ideas. Ten 11 to 12 year - old children participated in the research, previously having had 40 to 50 hours of experience with Turtle geometry. The research involved three case - studies of pairs of children engaging in cooperative activities, each case - study within a geometrical Logo microworld. The data included hard copies of everything that was said, typed and written. Issues a) and b) were investigated by means of the first case - study which involved three pairs of children and a microworld embedding intrinsic and coordinate ideas. A model of the children's intrinsic schema and a model of the coordinate schema which they formed during the study were devised. The analysis shows that the two schemas remained separate in the children's minds with the exception of a limited number of occasions of context specific links between the two. Issue c) was investigated in the second case - study involving one pair of children and a microworld where the turtle was equipped with distance and turn measuring instruments and a facility to mark positions. The analysis illustrates how a turtle geometric environment of a dynamic mathematical nature was generated by the children, who used their intrinsic schema and predominantly engaged in inductive thinking. The geometrical content available to the children within this environment was extended from intrinsic to both intrinsic and euclidean geometry. Issue d) was investigated by means of the third case - study involving a pair of children and a microworld where the children could choose among circle procedures embedding intrinsic and/or euclidean notions in order to construct figures of circle compositions. The analysis shows that the children employed their turtle schema in using both kinds of notions and did not seem to perceive qualitative differences between them. Their decisions on which type of notion to use were influenced by certain broader aspects of the mathematical situations generated in the study.

No description available.

This dissertation explores why two countries with vastly different configurations in tax systems, electoral institutions and production regimes, Germany and the US, implemented similar tax reforms since the 1980s. I conducted a historical content analysis of tax debates in the American Congress and the German Bundestag to understand under which conditions the neoliberal paradigm was persuasive to majorities of policy makers in parliamentary bodies. I found that the prime movers, Ronald Reagan and Helmut Kohl, had serious issues implementing their tax plans due to massive protest that sparked among parliamentarians and later in civil society. This protest diminished in time and gave way to tax reforms which considerably shifted the tax burden from higher incomes and corporations to lower incomes and consumption in the early 2000s. I argue on the basis of the theory of discursive institutionalism that coherent narratives of normative and cognitive beliefs can become crucial in convincing parliamentarians of tax cuts for higher incomes and creating coalitions for institutional change. This coordinative discourse was more successful in the 2000s when George W. Bush and Gerhard Schröder were able to justify the tax reforms under consistent discrediting of social justice and a strong normative moralization of the tax reforms under the concepts of market justice. It took twenty years to shift the dominant normative discourse. But eventually a reinterpretation of the credibility of actors to comment on tax policy and a reconceptualization of the concept of tax policy itself as apolitical but moral in the realm of markets made the concept of neoliberal tax policy persuasive and it could transcend the boundaries of different national institutions.

This study attempt to find in swift's Gulliver's Travels some constructive ideas which were far in advance of his time. This thesis elaborated on contemporary ideas of education, birth control, and government in order to show how much the present age has thought and written about these subjects, and to throw on this background Swift's thoughts, which are not elaborated.

This thesis concerns the use of makeup by men during the late eighteenth century andthroughout the nineteenth century. The purpose is to study the discourse of makeup duringthis period, but with special focus on the man’s problematic use of makeup. To analyze this Ihave used toilet booklets (toiletthäften) as my main source of material and used discourseanalysis to analyze the material. In this thesis I discuss the view of using makeup among men. The concept andword “beauty” and the relationship between makeup and the new cleanliness practices thatemerged during the 19th century. Results show that makeup was seen as something very treacherous, whetherit was worn by men or women. The word “beauty” was in itself described as a woman andthis could have played a part in why men were urged not to openly show that they caredabout their appearance. The hygienic practices may have had a connection to the practice ofmakeup, but more research is needed. Key words: makeup, masculinity, beauty, hygiene.

No description available.