The Presence and Use of the Native American and African American Oral Trickster Traditions in Zitkala-Sa's Old Indian Legends and American Indian Stories and Charles Chesnutt's The Conjure Woman My dissertation examines early Native American and African American oral trickster tales and shows how the pioneering authors Zitkala-Sa (Lakota) and Charles W. Chesnutt (African American) drew on them to provide the basis for a written literature that critiqued the political and social oppression their peoples were experiencing. The dissertation comprises 5 chapters. Chapter 1 defines the meaning and role of the oral trickster figure in Native American and African American folklore. It also explains how my participation in the Native American and African American communities as a long-time storyteller and as a trained academic combine to allow me to discern the hidden messages contained in Native American and African American oral and written trickster literature. Chapter 2 pinpoints what is distinctive about the Native American oral tradition, provides examples of trickster tales, explains their meaning, purpose, and cultural grounding, and discusses the challenges of translating the oral tradition into print. The chapter also includes an analysis of Jane Schoolcraft's short story "Mishosha" (1827). Chapter 3 focuses on Zitkala-Sa's Old Indian Legends (1901) and American Indian Stories (1921). In the legends and stories, Zitkala-Sa is able to preserve much of the mystical, magical, supernatural, and mythical quality of the original oral trickster tradition. She also uses the oral trickster tradition to describe and critique her particular nineteenth-century situation, the larger historical, cultural, and political context of the Sioux Nation, and Native American oppression under the United States government. Chapter 4 examines the African American oral tradition, provides examples of African and African American trickster tales, and explains their meaning, purpose, and cultural grounding. The chapter ends with close readings of the trickster tale elements embedded in William Wells Brown's Clotel; or, The President's Daughter (1853), Harriett Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), and Martin R. Delany's Blake, or the Huts of America (serialized 1859 - 1862). Chapter 5 shows how Charles Chesnutt's The Conjure Woman rests upon African-derived oral trickster myths, legends, and folklore preserved in enslavement culture. Throughout the Conjure tales, Chesnutt uses the supernatural as a metaphor for enslaved people's resistance, survival skills and methods, and for leveling the ground upon which Blacks and Whites struggled within the confines of the enslavement and post-Reconstruction South. Native American and African American oral and written trickster tales give voice to their authors' concerns about the social and political quality of life for themselves and for members of their communities. My dissertation allows these voices a forum from which to "speak." / English

This dissertation aimed to expand the current literature's understanding of Indigenous epistemology within contemporary social media environments. The qualitative study used social descriptive analysis from forty TikTok videos and comment threads. The descriptive analysis captured major cultural themes, common informal learning behaviors, and perceptions of Indigenous culture. The findings revealed that Indigenous creators and audiences engaged in questions and answers, personal experience sharing, evaluative feedback, and expressed forms of appreciation to learn with TikTok content. Although the audience perceived Indigenous culture and content positively, community guideline considerations and power challenges to making cultural content available in social media environments still exist.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Grain Science and Industry / Hulya Dogan / Jon Faubion / Bread quality and final crumb grain are reflective of the ability for wheat flour dough to retain and stabilize gas cells during the baking process. The visco-elastic properties of dough allow for the incorporation of air cells and expansion during fermentation and baking. The gluten-starch matrix provides the backbone support. However, following the end of proofing and during the beginning of baking, the structure weakens due to over-extension and expansion and the matrix begins to separate and eventually break down. Native wheat lipids, which are found in small quantities in wheat flour, provide a secondary support for gas cell stabilization because of their amphiphilic characteristics and ability to move to the interface and form condensed monolayers. The objectives of this research were to evaluate the influence of native wheat lipids on the rheological properties of dough and the microstructure of bread. Native wheat lipids were extracted from straight-grade flour and separated into total, free, bound, nonpolar, glycolipids, and phospholipids using solid-phase extraction (SPE) with polar and nonpolar solvents. Defatted flour was reconstituted using each lipid fraction at a range of levels between 0.2% and 2.8%. Dough and bread were made following AACC Method 10-10.03. Rheological testing of the dough and evaluation of the microstructure of the bread was conducted using small and large deformation testing, C-Cell imaging, and x-ray microtomography analysis to determine changes in visco-elastic properties and gas cell structure and distribution. Rheological assessment through small amplitude oscillatory measurements demonstrated that nonpolar, phospholipids, and glycolipid fractions had a greater interaction with both proteins and starch in the matrix, creating weaker dough. Nonpolar, phospholipids, and glycolipids, varied in their ability to stabilize gas cells as determined by strain hardening index. C-Cell imaging and x-ray microtomograpy testing found that treatments containing higher concentrations of polar lipids (glycolipids and phospholipids) had a greater effect on overall loaf volume, cell size, and distribution. This illustrates that level and type of native wheat lipids influence the visco-elastic properties of dough and gas cell size, distribution, cell wall thickness, and cell stability in bread.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / William P. Winslow III / The site for the Riverpond Visitor Center is located three miles northeast of Manhattan, Kansas, along K-13 on the eastern end of Riverpond Park. The design of the visitor center addresses four problems: 1) the fact that many families prefer to stay inside their homes rather than experience the outdoors, based on a study done by the Center on Education Policy in 2008, 2) people are uninformed about sustainable design practices and sustainable energies 3) people lack experience and knowledge of the natural environment creating a preference for the visual characteristics of non-native plant species, and 4) interpretive centers that attempt to reconnect people and the landscape use prescriptive interpretive methods that distract the visitor from the interpretive process. To better understand the relationship of people and the landscape, research was conducted to address the problems stated above. Two articles were reviewed that describe the importance of drawing attention to beauty in the landscape. Two precedent studies were conducted on built projects that use native plant species and vernacular architecture. The program for the visitor center was based on the project research and informed the site inventory and analysis. The site inventory and analysis of existing site conditions creates a strong foundation from which to design the visitor center. The project then went into schematic design and design development. The design of the Riverpond Visitor Center connects people to the landscape by directing them through the native tall grass prairie, informs visitors about stormwater management, wind and solar energy through demonstration, is designed using native prairie species and native limestone, and focuses visitors’ experience on the tall grass prairie by fading the line between architecture and landscape.

Master of Science / Department of Biology / Keith B. Gido / The upper Gila River basin in southwest New Mexico, USA is one of the few unimpounded drainage basins in North America and is a stronghold for the unique and endemic fishes west of the Continental Divide. Multiple non-indigenous fishes have been introduced to the Gila River and are a potential threat to native fishes, yet very little is known of the trophic ecology of the native and nonnative fishes. We used diet and stable isotopes collected from native and nonnative fishes to identify their trophic relationships and evaluate potential interactions in the upper Gila River basin during June-July, 2007 and 2008. Diet and stable isotope data indicated aquatic invertebrates were the primary food for both native and nonnative fishes. Native large-bodied fishes were mainly algivore/detritivores and native small-bodied fishes were primarily insectivores. Small-bodied nonnative fishes fed on detritus and aquatic invertebrates. Nonnative predators preyed on small-bodied fishes and predaceous aquatic invertebrates and had higher trophic positions than all native fishes. Although nonnative predators did not rely exclusively on native fishes as prey, their presence extended community food-chain lengths, and the combined predation on juvenile native fishes by multiple apex predators may threaten persistence of native fishes. The lack of concise evidence for negative effects suggested that impacts of nonnative predators were more subtle and confirmed the underlying complexity of a relatively simple community The extensive database on feeding relations of Gila River fishes allowed us to further understand how energy moves through ecosystems. Specifically, the goal of chapter two was to characterize variation in fish-community food web structure within and among study reaches on the Gila River using [superscript]13C and [superscript]15N stable isotopes. We hypothesized that food web structure would reflect variation in fish community structure, resource availability and environmental conditions across habitats. Food web structure in isotope bi-plot space was estimated using community-wide measures of trophic structure, mean trophic position, and food-chain length. Permutational multivariate analysis of variance indicated that indices of food web structure were more variable among than within reaches and this pattern was primarily associated with variation in trophicl area occupied by taxa in isotope bi-plot space and mean trophic position of those taxa. Variation in food web structure was significantly associated with fish species richness across macrohabitats but was weakly associated with abiotic reach-scale factors. Variation in food web structure was concordant with variation in fish community composition and suggested that factors influencing the distribution of fishes also influence food web structure.

This study investigates the possibilities of incorporating African languages in skills development and training in South Africa as part of functional multilingualism. This investigation is done in relation to the Skills Development Act (Act No.97 of 1998) promulgated by the South African government, through parliament in order to address skills shortage among workers in South Africa the majority of whom are black whose education and training needs can be more effectively addressed through mother-tongue instruction than through English or Afrikaans. A literature review of global trends in skills-development initiatives and strategies indicates that the use of indigenous languages in skills development ensures success in skills transference and also enhances language development and language promotion. Empirical research was done in the mining and minerals industry at Beatrix Gold Mine, Free State. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

ITC/USA 2006 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Second Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 23-26, 2006 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / This paper presents the description of the updated Data Display Markup Language (DDML), a neutral format for data display configurations. The development of DDML is motivated by the fact that in joint service program systems, there is a critical need for common data displays to support distributed T&E missions, irrespective of the test location, data acquisition system, and display system. DDML enables standard data displays to be specified for any given system under test, irrespective of the display vendor or system in which they will be implemented. The version 3.0 of DDML represents a more mature language than the version 1.0 presented at the 2003 ITC. The updated version has been validated for completeness and robustness by developing translators between DDML and numerous vendor formats. The DDML schema has been presented to the Range Commander’s Council (RCC) Data Multiplex Committee for consideration for inclusion in the IRIG 106 standard. The DDML model will be described in terms of both the XML schema and the UML model, and various examples of DDML models will be presented. The intent of this paper is to solicit specific input from the community on this potential RCC standard.

Language is a tool for communication. Through language we build relationships, share and create experiences with other people. Furthermore, language is an essential part of our identity. Our society is multicultural and it means that many people in Sweden are multilingual. The views on multilingualism has not always been positive, they have changed over the years and research shows the benefits of being multilingual. The purpose of this study is to gain knowledge of how preschool is working with multilingual children to give them the same opportunities that monolingual children already have from start. In this study I have investigated the vision educators have on multilingualism and the way they work to promote the development of multilingual children. This is an important topic because multilingualism is increasing dramatically in our society. There are more and more multilingual preschool children. According to the preschool’s teaching programme (Lpfö98 rev2010), every child has the right to develop its mother tongue as well as the Swedish language. Every child should also be entitled to the same stimulating environment and the same conditions for development and learning. It should feel safe and natural to be himself. To carry out this study, I have used qualitative methods. It means that I have visited three preschools and interviewed three preschool teachers and one preschool director. In my study, I have concluded that the preschool teachers I interviewed think highly of multilingualism and on how to promote it. They are aware that they need different methods, but especially that they need to keep up with the scientific developments.

The aim of this thesis is to explain user attitudes toward advertising on Instagram. Two forms of marketing communication that we chose to focus on were native advertising and promoted advertising through celebrities. The main goal was to find out which attitudes Instagram users aged 18-35 years had toward these two types of advertising. The data was collected through a quantitative survey, which was conducted digitally on Facebook. Our empirical findings showed us a result that confirmed previous research in the area - that users have negative attitudes towards any type of advertising. We identified minor demographical differences, but the main differences were in the comparison of the two types of advertising. As we analyzed the respondents’ answers through a perspective from the chosen theories, it showed us that users tend to have more positive attitudes towards promoted advertising from celebrities, and more negative attitudes towards native advertising.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilka strategier pedagoger använder sig utav för att underlätta deltagandet i samlingen för barn med andra modersmålän svenska. Studien vilar på webbenkäter som skickats ut till pedagoger runt om i Mellansverige. Resultatet visar att barngruppens storlek har en stor betydelse för barnens deltagande och kommunicerande, i mindre grupper ges barnen större talutrymme och pedagogerna hinner möta varje barn utifrån varje barns behov och intressen. Samlingens syfte visar sig vara olika beroende på om samlingen genomförs i helgrupp eller i mindre grupper. I mindre grupper anses syftet vara språkutveckling medan det i helgrupp är att skapa gemenskap. Verktyg som pedagoger använder sig utav för att förtydliga och underlätta deltagandet i samlingen för barn med andra modersmål än svenska är bl.a. bilder/fotografier, föremål, TAKK (tecken som alternativ och kompletterande kommunikation) och kroppsspråk. Språkstöd i form av bl.a. modersmålslärare och flerspråkiga pedagoger visar sig också vara något som pedagoger använder sig utav för att främja deltagandet i samlingen för barn med andra modersmål än svenska. Pedagogerna ser det som en stor tillgång, dock är det många som saknar ett samarbete med just modersmålslärare och eller flerspråkiga pedagoger. / The purpose of this study is to examine what kinds of strategies educators use to ease the participation in group activities for children with other native languages than Swedish. The study is based on web surveys that were sent out to educators all around middle Sweden. The results show that the size of the childrens's group has a significant impact on the children's participation and communication. In smaller groups, children get more space to talk and the educators hav the time to meet each child based on their need and interest. The purpose with the group activities turns out to be different depending on whether or not the activity is performed in one big group, or in smaller groups. In smaller groups the purpose of the activity is considered to be language development, while in one big group, the purpose isto create community. Tools that educators use to illustrate and help the participation for children with other native languages than Swedish are for instnce pictures/photographs, objects, TAKK (signs for alternative additional communication) and body language. Language support in terms of native language teacher and multilingual educators also appears to be something educators make use of to encourage the participation in groups for children with other native languages than Swedish. The educators consider mixed language groups a huge asset, but many lack cooperation with the native language teacher and/ or multilingual educators.