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<p> The purpose of this investigation was to examine romantic lesbian dating scripts, understand the meanings shared among them, and compare them to heterosexual dating scripts. Twelve in-depth interviews constructed around three research questions were conducted with lesbian women between the ages of 18 and 43. Results indicated that lesbian women used both hypothetical and interpersonal dating scripts, which were affected by butch and femme identities, as well as high levels of privacy and self-awareness that characterize lesbian women. Specific actions such as initiation between potential partners, preparation for dates, and payment methods were frequently discussed. Results also indicated that social media has revolutionized lesbian dating, allowing for more preferred dating scripts to be used. With the lack of gender to dictate roles, communication is key for lesbians to both negotiate and assign acceptable dating behavior. </p>

<p> Over the years, growing concerns for the environment have increased discourse regarding the problems and solutions to environmental crises. Messages in popular culture have implications for public perceptions of the environment and, as a result, impact how we interact with and understand our natural surroundings. While we understand the impact of rhetorical strategies in a general sense, research is needed when exploring how speaker credibility influences environmental messages. </p><p> This thesis explores two concepts: how credibility impacts environmental messages and the concept of speaking for the environment. I explore these concepts through a media-centered rhetorical criticism of the film, <i> The Lorax</i> (2012). I analyze seven selected scenes, drawing on McCroskey&rsquo;s (1966) scale of ethos and Spangle and Knapp&rsquo;s (1996) study of tactics and appeals. The analysis reveals several tactics used by the two main characters, the Lorax and Once-ler, to establish their credibility. How the Lorax and Once-ler establish or fail to establish credibility impacts the future state of the environment. Ethos is a key communication concept in speaking for the environment, as the way we speak and represent the environment has consequences for how we interact with the natural world.</p>

<p> This study investigated the relationships between international students' use of social networking sites (SNS), their acculturative stress and social connectedness. A survey was conducted among 63 international students who attended a rural, Midwestern University in the United States. To keep in contact with individuals from their home country and individuals in the U.S., international students reported using both U.S.-based SNS such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as SNS geared towards their home countries, such as Weibo and WeChat. Positive correlations were found between Guilt and Culture Shock, Culture Shock and Homesickness, Guilt and Homesickness, Guilt and Perceived Hatred, Culture Shock and Perceived Hatred, Perceived Discrimination and Perceived Hatred, Perceived Discrimination and Culture Shock, and between Perceived Discrimination and Guilt. Hours spent per day on social networking sites was negatively correlated with Perceived Hatred, Guilt and Social Connectedness, but positively correlated with Relationship Maintenance, Social Surveillance, Socializing, Culture Shock and Perceived Discrimination. Social Connectedness was negatively associated with all five components of Acculturative Stress and Social Surveillance, but positively associated with Relationship Maintenance. The findings suggest that international students' SNS use may be associated with their ability to adjust to life in the foreign country and to continue feeling connected to a network of social support. The small sample size and other limitations are discussed, as are the potential implications.</p>

<p> This study examines how LGBT activists and LGBT youth make meaning of a strategic advocacy campaign. By examining activist and advocacy efforts aimed at youth, this research brings to light how LGBT organizations use campaigns to articulate identity and, conversely, how LGBT youth articulate notions of identity. Through the lens of the It Gets Better Project, a nonprofit activist organization, this dissertation uses in-depth interviews with organizational members and chat-based interviews with LGBT youth to study the meanings participants brought to the campaign. </p><p> Strategic communication has been instrumental in construction of LGBT as a cohesive collective identity and has played a vital role in the early stages of the gay rights movement. This research demonstrates how contemporary LGBT advocacy, through strategic communication, works to shape understandings of LGBT youth. </p><p> Instead of focusing on the Internet as a democratic space that equalizes power differentials between an organization and its publics, this study shows that the construction of identity is the result of a dynamic process between producers and consumers in which power is localized and does not simply belong to an organization or its public. </p><p> This research challenges the Internet as a democratic space and demonstrates that identity is a discursive struggle over meaning that is bound up in the intimate dance between producers and consumers of a campaign. In contrast to functionalist understandings of public relations that privileges the organization, this dissertation contends that a cultural-economic approach focuses on the processes of communication. A cultural-economic approach gives voice to the diverse audiences of a communication campaign and addresses the role communication plays as a discursive force that influences the construction of identities. </p>

The aim of this thesis work is to investigate the algorithm of speech emotion recognition using MATLAB. Firstly, five most commonly used features are selected and extracted from speech signal. After this, statistical values such as mean, variance will be derived from the features. These data along with their related emotion target will be fed to MATLAB neural network tool to train and test to make up the classifier. The overall system provides a reliable performance, classifying correctly more than 82% speech samples after properly training.

HEARING AND SPEECH SCIENCES The Stability and Validity of Automated Vocal Analysis in Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Early Stages of Language Development Tiffany Woynaroski Dissertation under the direction of C. Melanie Schuele, Ph.D. and Paul Yoder, Ph.D. Learning to use spoken words to communicate during the preschool years has been repeatedly linked with long-term outcomes in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This replicated finding has motivated much research into the predictors of spoken language in young children with ASD. Previous studies have demonstrated that measures of child vocalization complexity and adult linguistic input as derived from conventional communication samples predict spoken language in samples of preschoolers with ASD who are heterogeneous in spoken language level. Measures of child vocalization complexity and adult linguistic input may be even more useful in predicting who will use words to communicate amongst the subset of children with ASD who are preverbal or just beginning to use words to communicate. Unfortunately, the time and cost inherent to conventional communication sampling make it difficult for clinicians to measure these important predictors in everyday clinical practice. This study drew on extant data from a recent longitudinal correlational study to explore whether automated vocal analysis, a less time-consuming and costly approach, may provide a valid and reliable alternative to conventional communication sampling for measurement of child vocalization complexity and adult linguistic input in preschoolers with ASD who are still in the early stages of language development. Our selected index of child vocalization complexity as derived via automated vocal analysis was stable with a single day-long audio-recording and non-significantly different from our index of child vocalization complexity as measured in conventional communication samples. In contrast, the stability and validity of our index of adult linguistic input as derived via the novel automated vocal analysis approach was not confirmed. Post hoc analyses demonstrated that both indices of child vocalization complexity had "added value" in predicting spoken vocabulary size in our sample even when controlling for adult linguistic input as measured in conventional communication samples. Results highlight the importance of child vocalization complexity as a predictor of useful speech in this population and support the use of time-efficient and cost-effective automated vocal analysis as a viable method of measuring this construct in everyday clinical practice. Keywords: useful speech, vocabulary, language development, automated vocal analysis, LENA, autism spectrum disorder

<p> The sequelae of brain injury often result in the need for life-long rehabilitation. Yet, patients in the United States often have limited opportunity to participate in a professional rehabilitation environment following their initial injury. This research investigates whether provision of a health literacy presentation on neuroplasticity and translational rehabilitation principles can contribute to increased internal Locus of Control (LoC) in rehabilitation participants. The researcher provided a 15 minute presentation to participants in two community brain injury groups. Results indicate an increase in the understanding of neuroplastic principles in two of three probes and in internal LoC in four of six probes. Clinical implications are discussed.</p>

There is no abstract available for this thesis.