Thesis (M.A.)--University of Montana, 2008. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed Oct. 2, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 9).

Zugl.: Stuttgart, Universiẗat, Diss., 2008.

The master thesis deals with the work of the Austrian playwright Werner Schwab, who wrote most of his plays during the first half of the 1990s. Its aim is to provide an analysis of his theatre plays. The thesis pays a special attention to his in the Czech contextwell-known cycle Fäkaliendramen (Fecal plays). Schwab's writing represents a new way of writing, so called post-dramatic theatre plays.  The thesis looks at Schwab's  theatre language by dramaturgically analysing his most renowned theatre plays Die Präsidentinnen, Die Volksvernichtung oder Mein Leber ist sinnlos, Übergewicht, unwichtig: Unform, Mein Hundemund and also Pornogeographie in a critical way, it reflects the author’s innovative approach towards the category of dramatic conflict and dramatic language. The thesis also outlines an historical context which served as a platform for the birth of a specific artistic form of Austrian drama after the Second World War.

Revised thesis (doctoral)--Universität Łódź, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-214).

Curriculum standards in social studies encourage a curriculum that helps students understand how minority groups and women have historically sought access to equality of opportunity through organization and struggle, as well as a curriculum that supports democratic dialogue and mutual understanding among groups from diverse backgrounds. This study investigated how preservice social studies teachers have experienced efforts to help them understand dimensions of diversity and how these dimensions implicate classroom practices. Their pedagogical intentions were explored using educational criticism and connoisseurship, a humanities-based qualitative methodology that describes, interprets, and evaluates the various dimensions of educational experiences. This investigation followed four preservice social studies teachers and their instructors as they shared their encounters with difference and a diversity education course. Their experiences were rendered as written portraits of their intentions for teaching and learning. These portraits revealed themes of "earnest impotence" and structural obstacles that made truly transformative multicultural education difficult to achieve. Recommendations for curricular enhancements that attend to the "commonplaces" of curriculum are suggested.

The methods used to store data on DVD-R discs have been proven to work over the last 15 years. However, there has been a growing concern that these discs will be outlasted by the paper records they were meant to replace. The data on a DVD-R is stored as optical contrasts which have the potential to be misread and even damaged. This damage may occur either on the surface or internally to the disc, especially on the recording layer itself. The literature is saturated with studies attempting to determine the time period in which discs may fail and what the general signs of the degradation are, but almost all fail to determine the fundamental causes of DVD degradation. In particular, the exact connection between the physical state of the disc and its digital errors is undetermined. This study undertook to develop a framework to study and understand this relationship. The study also consisted of a characterization validation experiment involving several brands of DVD-Rs. The framework constructed during the course of the research included several tools. Due to the lack of an existing tool able to aggregate the gathered data, a specialized software program, called SectorDraw, was developed. In the course of this study, this software tool was validated. Additionally, it was discovered that physical defects should be evaluated and characterized by using a process of visual inspection, microscope examination, and measurements. Although not all relationships between physical defects and digital errors were explored, the study established the fact that defects can directly cause bursts of digital errors. This indicated that there was a connection between physical defects and digital errors. It was also found that physical defects developed over time after treatments of artificial aging. The developed framework was established as viable for future research to study specific relationships between physical defects and digital errors.

The thesis gives a comprehensive picture of Werner Schwab, Austrian playwright and performer. He ranked among the most performed German-speaking authors at the time of his death in 1994. The main objective of this work, whose basis lies in Schwab's dramatic production, is to provide a comprehensive monographic study. The thesis deals not only with the dramas, but also with their relationship to the theatrical production of Thomas Bernhard and Elfriede Jelinek. The chapter on the author's personal life is followed by chapters "Postdramatic Theatre", "Theatre of Cruelty", and "Folk Play", where you can find the answer to the question of the place of Schwab's drama in the overall concept of literature at the end of the 20th century. Particular attention is paid to the unique language usage he developed, called "Schwabisch" after the author.