<p> Mass media messages have overwhelmed modern culture. Many of these messages are not created with the best interest of the recipient in mind (Potter, 2008). The Mass media does not operate as a public service. It's big business. Good daily decision making has become increasingly dependent on the ability to be "information literate" - to effectively evaluate the accuracy, currency, and completeness of media messages. But these critical information literacy skills are surprisingly lacking today (Asher &amp; Duke, 2012). One recent study suggests that information literacy skills can be effectively developed through training in media literacy (Van De Vord, 2010). This thesis has replicated this study in an effort to validate the correlation between information literacy and media literacy. Aside from the Van De Vord study, the communications theory of Media Ecology, as proposed by McLuhan, and developed by Postman is foundational to this work. Also referenced are McCombs and Shaw's agenda setting and Noelle-Neumann's spiral of silence theories. Additionally, the work of Potter in media literacy; of McChesney in media economics; and of Duke &amp; Asher in information literacy are also foundational. Quantitative research for this thesis was conducted using an internet-based survey. The gathered empirical data was used in a statistical correlation analysis between information literacy and media literacy. The test results validated that the two variables were weakly correlated in a positive direction with evidence of statistically significant probability. The weakness of the correlation and the limitations inherent in the testing methods suggest that additional study is needed - perhaps utilizing alternate testing methods. Further comparison between the differing methods that are traditionally used in teaching the two different literacies is also suggested.</p>

<p> With the widespread use of the Internet, grief has been extended in its representation. Specifically, social networking sites, like MySpace, have turned grief presentation from private expressions into public displays of mourning. This study utilizes the theoretical foundations of the grief presentation process of K&uuml;bler-Ross' (1969) five categories of bereavement (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance) to determine whether the grief presentation process is present in an online setting. In this study, the researcher conducted an empirical investigation of 4,931 comments, resulting in 22,263 bereavement themes outlined by K&uuml;bler-Ross, which were condensed into 2,288 time-point comparisons posted to 140 MySpace profiles of users who have passed-on. Results revealed noteworthy practices surrounding grief presentation on the MySpace profiles of the deceased. Specifically, bereaved commenters post a significantly greater number of bereavement narratives in the first three months post-mortem as opposed to months four through six. Additionally, race and sex of the deceased, as well as sex of the bereaved, did not prove to be mitigating factors in online grief presentation. Moreover, across observed races and sexes, the bereavement category of acceptance was found most often, followed by depression, denial, anger, and bargaining. Findings suggest that post-mortem commenting behavior blends current memorializing practices while also extending the space for communication and grief presentation. Additional implications for understanding grief communication on MySpace and future directions for research conclude this study.</p>

<p> This study examines how debate judges' perceptions of argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness are influenced by sex in the "reason for decision" stage of parliamentary debate. Participants viewed one of four videos that manipulated the sex of the actor and the level of verbal aggressiveness used to express disagreement after a debate round. The results suggest that judges perceive female debaters as significantly more verbally aggressive than male debaters in their reasons for decisions. Other sex differences for perceived argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness were not significant. The results also indicate that perceived debater argumentativeness is positively related to perceived debater credibility; conversely, perceived debater verbal aggressiveness is negatively related to perceived debater credibility. Finally, the results suggest that female debaters are perceived as significantly lower in interpersonal justice than male debaters in reason for decisions.</p>

<p> This doctoral project seeks to discover whether a correlation exists between an enhanced understanding of genre-sensitive hermeneutics and homiletics and an increase in confidence in preaching Old Testament narrative literature. Many preachers exclude, ignore or abuse the Old Testament narratives in their preaching. It is vital for Romanian preachers to improve their skills in preaching the narrative portions of the Old Testament by learning an appropriate hermeneutical and homiletical paradigm for this genre of Scripture.</p><p> The strategy used to accomplish this was a one-week teaching seminar. The training program consisted of a one-week seminar for seminary students at Emanuel University in Oradea, Romania. The name of the one-week seminar was <i>Interpreting and Preaching Old Testament Narrative Literature </i>. Before participating in the training week, the students were required to complete a written pre-course questionnaire and submit a sermon sample from an Old Testament narrative passage. The same questionnaire was completed again after the training week. The results of the post-course questionnaire were then compared with the results of the pre-course questionnaire. At the conclusion of the course taught by the researcher, students were required to preach a fifteen-minute sermon from an Old Testament narrative passage. The post-course sermons were evaluated by the same criteria as the pre-course sermons. The results of the post-course sermon evaluations were then compared with the results of the pre-course sermon evaluations.</p><p> The results of the study indicate that a relationship exists between an enhanced understanding of genre-sensitive hermeneutics and homiletics and an increase in the selected preachers' confidence in preaching Old Testament narrative literature.</p>

<p> The current study examined how 179 romantic partners of U.S. service members perceived that they and their service members experienced the reintegration transition following a recent deployment. The relational turbulence model (Solomon &amp; Knobloch, 2004) and the theoretical model of communal coping (TMCC; Afifi, Hutchinson, &amp; Krouse, 2006) were used to frame this study. These frameworks had not been previously joined in this context. A revised communal coping measure was constructed to examine 17 hypotheses and 8 research questions because of challenges with the construct and external validity in prior measures. Participants completed an online questionnaire that assessed their perceptions of post-deployment stress, relational satisfaction, communal coping, uncertainty, and partner interference. Results indicated that communal coping completely mediated the association between partner interference and relational satisfaction. However, communal coping only partially mediated the association between uncertainty and relational satisfaction. The relational turbulence variables were also found to mediate the relationship between stress and relational satisfaction. Lastly, communal coping was found to moderate the relationship between stress and satisfaction. Practical contributions are noted in the form of a potential training program for military couples who are experiencing post deployment stress. Limitations and directions for future research are also noted.</p>

No description available.

<p>Many individuals with nonfluent aphasia experience social isolation and depression as a result of their communication impairments. For these individuals, the use of communicative drawing and other communication modalities may potentially overcome barriers to social isolation. This thesis describes a single case, time series design used to evaluate the effectiveness of a drawing treatment program that simultaneously targets drawing recognizability and the use of drawing outside of the structured therapy tasks for an individual with nonfluent aphasia. Results indicated a general improvement in drawing recognizability and an increase in the use of drawing within conversation. Additionally, these results were maintained 8 weeks following the end of therapy. The author discusses these results in relation to the current body of research in the area of aphasia rehabilitation, as well as possible avenues for future research. </p>

<p> The goal of this study was to determine the impact of culture on the practice of public relations in Dubai. Through the Social Judgment Theory, the researcher operationalized culture as a factor and came up with research questions and a hypothesis. The researcher used a purposive sample and qualitative long interviews to gather data from six public relations practitioners currently working in Dubai. Results proved the hypothesis and answered both research questions.</p>

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

<p> Researchers have identified effective coach-athlete communication as a factor in competitive success and participant satisfaction in intercollegiate athletics. Communication difficulties and communication breakdowns may interfere with the possibilities for both success and satisfaction. Another body of research posits that communication breakdowns between coach and student-athletes may result from failures in perception, including self-perception on both sides. Finally, more generally, gender differences have been identified by many researchers as accounting for some communication breakdowns. Using a sample population of male head coaches and female team members from five intercollegiate sports at an NCAA Division I university, this study compared the male coaches' self-perceptions of their communication styles with the perceptions of the women student athletes they coach. Three key findings are presented in this study: Media and the role of social media influence the behavior and communication styles of coaches, the experiences of the coaches and the personalities of the women on their teams affect their communication style, and the self-identification of athletes influence their perception of the head coach's communication style.</p>