In the years since World War II, increasing numbers of women have been ordained as clergy in mainstream Protestant denominations. During this period there has also been a movement to use inclusive language for God. This study examines the possibility that use of inclusive language for God in communal prayer by congregations in specific denominations (United Methodist Church, United Presbyterian Church USA, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Church of Christ, and the Episcopal Church USA) is related to experience with women clergy. Interviews, based on a questionnaire developed for this study, were held with the pastors of six Portland area congregations in each of these denominations. The questions were designed to elicit information about each congregation, the clergy associated with each congregation, and the use of inclusive language for God within each congregation. The results of the study are inconclusive. The United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ began ordaining women many years before the other three denominations did. The two denominations also have produced liturgical materials which use inclusive language for God. However, there did not appear to be a relationship between an individual congregation's experience with women clergy and its use of inclusive language for God in communal prayer.

<p>Infusing models for animal movement with more behavioral realism has been a goal of movement ecologists for several years. As ecologists have begun to collect more and more data on animal distribution and abundance, a clear need has arisen for more sophisticated analysis. Such analysis could include more realistic movement behavior, more information on the organism-environment interaction, and more ways to separate observation error from process error. Because landscape ecologists and behavioral ecologists typically study these same themes at very different scales, it has been proposed that their union could be productive for all (Lima and Zollner, 1996). </p><p>By understanding how animals interact with their land- and seascapes, we can better understand how species partition up resources are large spatial scales. Accordingly I begin this dissertation with a large spatial scale analysis of distribution data for marine mammals from Nova Scotia through the Gulf of Mexico. I analyzed these data in three separate regions, and in the two data-rich regions, find compelling separation between the different communities. In the northernmost region, this separation is broadly along diet based partitions. This research provides a baseline for future study of marine mammal systems, and more importantly highlights several gaps in current data collections.</p><p>In the last 6 years several movement ecologists have begun to imbue sophisticated statistical analyses with increasing amounts of movement behavior. This has changed the way movement ecologists think about movement data and movement processes. In this dissertation I focus my research on continuing this trend. I reviewed the state of movement modeling and then proposed a new Bayesian movement model that builds on three questions of: behavior; organism-environment interaction; and process-based inference with noisy data.</p><p>Application of this model to two different datasets, migrating right whales in the NW Atlantic, and foraging monk seals in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, provides for the first time estimates of how moving animals make choices about the suitability of patches within their perceptual range. By estimating parameters governing this suitability I provide right whale managers a clear depiction of the gaps in their protection in this vulnerable and understudied migratory corridor. For monk seals I provide a behaviorally based view into how animals in different colonies and age and sex groups move throughout their range. This information is crucial for managers who translocate individuals to new habitat as it provides them a quantitative glimpse of how members of certain groups perceive their landscape.</p><p>This model provides critical information about the behaviorally based movement choices animals make. Results can be used to understand the ecology of these patterns, and can be used to help inform conservation actions. Finally this modeling framework provides a way to unite fields of movement ecology and graph theory.</p> / Dissertation

<p>The Piedmont region of the southeastern United States has undergone considerable land-use change since settlement by Europeans and Africans. Forests were cleared for agriculture, followed centuries later by land abandonment. Following abandonment, natural recruitment, plantings for erosion control, and plantation forestry have resulted in a large area of the region covered by loblolly pine, Pinus taeda. Today, the Piedmont is a mosaic of farm fields, pastures, pine forests, and relic woodlots. The Calhoun Experimental Forest, located in Union County, SC, has provided a unique history of land use change's alteration of soil properties and processes, the ability of reforestation to restore or deplete soil fertility, and provided insights into the effects this change has on biological diversity.</p><p>In this work, the diversity of fungi living in soil is examined in the context of land-use change and soil biogeochemical change in and around the Calhoun Forest. This study uses molecular tools to identify fungal species from soil and to identify mycorrhizal associates of loblolly pine in a bioassay of propagule diversity, and proposes a novel use of quantitative PCR to quantify the relative abundance of major fungal families affected by land-use change.</p><p>Fungal diversity in soils is high in all land uses, but fungal communities shift from agricultural field communities largely comprised of unicellular ascomycetes and basal lineages to forest communities dominated by saprophytic and symbiotic basidiomycetes. In addition to this shift across a land use gradient, fungal communities are also responding to changes in carbon quantity and quality, biologically available nitrogen and phosphorus, pH, acidity and texture.</p><p>ECM propagule communities also differ across a land use gradient of cultivated fields, grasslands, pine forests, and mixed hardwood stands. There are few ECM propagules able to associate with loblolly pine in cultivated and grassland soils. There is a trend towards higher ECM diversity in the hardwood and pine soils, and both of those soil communities are distinct from each other as well as from soils from field treatments.</p><p>Quantitative PCR, coupled with a nested set of taxon-specific, fungal primers, is a potential way to estimate the abundance of the given taxon relative to all fungi in an environmental DNA. Primers specific to several taxonomic level of fungi were tested to confirm amplification in PCR, then were tested for taxonomic specificity by generating clone libraries with environmental DNA. Several of the successful primers were tested with soil DNA extracts in QPCR and the calculated ratios of fungal abundance varied widely by method of analysis. The results suggest that many repeated measurements and many replicates are required for a robust estimate of the relative abundance of a specific taxon.</p> / Dissertation

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 185-195).

Controversy still exists among researchers with regard to the most effective intervention methods and the success thereof regarding DCD children. This condition is known to have different underlying causes, which can influence the success of intervention programmes. It is indicated in the literature that intervention of motor difficulties early in the life of the child, can improve motor development and academic achievement and thus contribute to the total wellness of these children. The aims of this study was, firstly, to determine the effect of an intervention programme based on an integrated approach, on 9 to 12 year old farm labourer children with DCD. The data was analyzed by means of descriptive statistics, t-testing as well as effect sizes to determine practical significance. A second aim was to determine the relation between underlying sensory-neurological problems and the measure of success reached with the intervention programme. This data was mainly analysed with descriptive statistics and in a qualitative manner. The third aim was to determine the relation between fine motor manipulation skills and behaviour characteristics as assessed by the teacher and the measure of success reached with an intervention programme. This data was also analysed by means of descriptive data and in a qualitative manner. The sample of the investigation, on a farm in the North-West Province, consists of children of farm workers between the ages of 4 and 12 years (n = 36) who were evaluated according to the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC) test (Henderson & Sugden, 1992) to determine their DCD status. Eight children (5 girls and 3 boys) were classified with DCD. One girl was identified in the 9 to 10 year old group, and 5 boys and 2 girls (n = 7) were in the 1 l to 12 year old group. These children were also evaluated on the "Sensory-Neurological Screening test" (Auxter et al., 2001), the ''Qwck Neurological Screening test" (Mutti et al., 1978), and the "Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor proficiency" (Bruininks, 1978) in order to determine the possible underlying causes of their problems on which the content of the intervention programme was based. The MABC Checklist (Henderson & Sugden, 1992) was used to determine the children's fine motor manipulation skills as well as their behaviour characteristics as assessed by their teachers. The children were tested eight weeks prior to (PREI), and again just before the programme started (PRE2) in order to determine the effect of maturation. Immediately after the intervention programme of 8 weeks, twice a week for 45 minutes was completed, they were tested (POSTI) to determine the effect of the programme, and two months (RTI) and nine months (RT2) later they were re-tested to determine the long term effect of the programme. The intervention programme consists of perceptual-motor, sensory integration and task-specific components. With regard to the first aim of the study, the results indicated that the intervention programme had a positive effect on two of the children, while no effect was noticed on the problems of one, and three of them regressed. The results indicated that with a little modification the intervention programme, based on an integration approach, could have a better effect. The results indicated that each child has different needs, and that the underlying problems might be a reason why the children reacted differently to intervention. However, fine motor manipulation skills increased on the short term, while balance skills showed a long term effect. Further research to determine the reasons of a child's problems, is recommended in order to establish the best method of intervention. With reference to the second and third aim of the study, the comparison of the children who improved (n = 2) with those who regressed (n = 3), indicated that those who regressed after the intervention programme, had more complex underlying sensory-neurological conditions. They also experienced more problems regarding fine motor manipulation skills as well as behaviour. They also showed poor bilateral integration, which was not the case with the other children. Further research concerning the role that bilateral co-ordination plays in DCD is recommended. From the results of this study, it is also recommended that intervention programmes should be conducted on an individual basis in order to assure that the focus is on the child's specific problems, and to ensure that the intervention has a positive effect. Proper assessment of underlying causes must be done in conjunction with the MABC testing, because this will help to determine the method that is selected for intervention. / Thesis (M.A. (Human Movement Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

This study was an integral constituent of a multidisciplinary research project by the School of Psychosocial Behavioural Sciences: Psychology and the School for Bio-kinetics, Recreation and Sport Sciences of the Northwest University (Potchefstroom Campus). Previous research has found that children diagnosed with Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD) manifest with motor impairments and psychological impediments, such as a poor self-concept (Henderson, May & Umney, 1989; Losse et a/., 1991 ; Skinner & Piek, 2001). The purpose of this multidisciplinary research project was thus to intervene holistically in the lives of these children, by presenting a motor-based and psychosocial programme. The aims of this study were to compile a self-concept programme and to determine whether it would affect the self- concept, emotional intelligence and anxiety of the participants. It was a quantitative study, which was conducted using a three-group pre- and post-test design. The child kinetics researcher confirmed the DCD state of the participants (n=67), through the use of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC). Participants were randomly divided into four groups and allocated to an intervention method. Participants were pre-tested with the Tennessee Self- Concept Scale (TSCS), Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Scale (EQ-i:YV) and the Children's Anxiety Scale (CAS). Intervention took place as follows: experimental group 1 (motor-based intervention programme), experimental group 2 (psychological intervention programme), experimental group 3 (integrated psycho-motor intervention programme) and control group 4 (no intervention). For the purpose of this study, all four groups were taken into consideration, but were discussed only as 3 groups. After the intervention, one month was allowed before the post-testing of the subjects took place. Measuring instruments used were: TSCS, EQ-i:YV, CAS as well as the MABC. Findings were as follow: children who participated in the motor-based programme showed significant improvements in their motor proficiencies. Children who participated in the self-concept programme, showed significant improvements in their intrapersonal abilities, adaptability and total emotional intelligence and tendencies towards improvement in the following domains: identity, mood, behaviour, academics and their perception of self in relation to family. In conclusion, children diagnosed with DCD benefit from intervention such as this self- concept programme. Literature (Braet, Mervielde & Vandereycken, 1997; O'Dea & Abraham, 1999; Pierce & Wardle, 1997) however, emphasize that self-concept is not a dimension in isolation, but is also influenced by a child's physical performance and appearance. Therefore, the self-concept programme should preferably be combined with a motor-based intervention programme. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Investigators have shown that elephants exhibit consistent individual differences in behavior by rating elephants using personality adjectives. These adjectives, however, are not based on pre-defined measurements of the behaviors performed. Instead, they are based on the observers’ interpretations of an animal’s behavioral patterns, therefore making them subject to observer bias. Furthermore, elephants have a capacity for learning; thus, they may alter their behavioral patterns over time. This behavioral plasticity in itself might be a way of measuring consistent behavioral differences among individuals. With this in mind, I approached elephant personality as a multivariate problem. I used behavioral observations collected from female elephants in Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa. Instead of grouping behaviors into subjective categories prior to analysis (as is often done in studies of elephant behavior), I used ordination methods to determine which correlations among behaviors were important for defining personality. Ordination methods were performed on matrices of the behavior data set and on subsets of behaviors for each age class. I calculated the angular differences among major axes of covariation from the ordinations of subsets to determine if the behaviors that defined personalities differed by age class. I also defined personalities by centroids (in multidimensional space) for non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) scores of each individual and dispersion of NMDS scores for each individual as a measure of behavioral plasticity. I analyzed the effects of plasticity and age on personality of individual elephants using a non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance. Major axes of covariation were not well defined and therefore not useful in describing differences among groups. The interaction of age and behavioral plasticity did have a significant effect on the personalities of individuals as defined by ordination centroid scores. This suggests that incorporating plasticity may be a helpful measurement in quantifying consistent behavioral differences among individuals.

Abstract available in pdf file.

Controversy still exists among researchers with regard to the most effective intervention methods and the success thereof regarding DCD children. This condition is known to have different underlying causes, which can influence the success of intervention programmes. It is indicated in the literature that intervention of motor difficulties early in the life of the child, can improve motor development and academic achievement and thus contribute to the total wellness of these children. The aims of this study was, firstly, to determine the effect of an intervention programme based on an integrated approach, on 9 to 12 year old farm labourer children with DCD. The data was analyzed by means of descriptive statistics, t-testing as well as effect sizes to determine practical significance. A second aim was to determine the relation between underlying sensory-neurological problems and the measure of success reached with the intervention programme. This data was mainly analysed with descriptive statistics and in a qualitative manner. The third aim was to determine the relation between fine motor manipulation skills and behaviour characteristics as assessed by the teacher and the measure of success reached with an intervention programme. This data was also analysed by means of descriptive data and in a qualitative manner. The sample of the investigation, on a farm in the North-West Province, consists of children of farm workers between the ages of 4 and 12 years (n = 36) who were evaluated according to the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC) test (Henderson & Sugden, 1992) to determine their DCD status. Eight children (5 girls and 3 boys) were classified with DCD. One girl was identified in the 9 to 10 year old group, and 5 boys and 2 girls (n = 7) were in the 1 l to 12 year old group. These children were also evaluated on the "Sensory-Neurological Screening test" (Auxter et al., 2001), the ''Qwck Neurological Screening test" (Mutti et al., 1978), and the "Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor proficiency" (Bruininks, 1978) in order to determine the possible underlying causes of their problems on which the content of the intervention programme was based. The MABC Checklist (Henderson & Sugden, 1992) was used to determine the children's fine motor manipulation skills as well as their behaviour characteristics as assessed by their teachers. The children were tested eight weeks prior to (PREI), and again just before the programme started (PRE2) in order to determine the effect of maturation. Immediately after the intervention programme of 8 weeks, twice a week for 45 minutes was completed, they were tested (POSTI) to determine the effect of the programme, and two months (RTI) and nine months (RT2) later they were re-tested to determine the long term effect of the programme. The intervention programme consists of perceptual-motor, sensory integration and task-specific components. With regard to the first aim of the study, the results indicated that the intervention programme had a positive effect on two of the children, while no effect was noticed on the problems of one, and three of them regressed. The results indicated that with a little modification the intervention programme, based on an integration approach, could have a better effect. The results indicated that each child has different needs, and that the underlying problems might be a reason why the children reacted differently to intervention. However, fine motor manipulation skills increased on the short term, while balance skills showed a long term effect. Further research to determine the reasons of a child's problems, is recommended in order to establish the best method of intervention. With reference to the second and third aim of the study, the comparison of the children who improved (n = 2) with those who regressed (n = 3), indicated that those who regressed after the intervention programme, had more complex underlying sensory-neurological conditions. They also experienced more problems regarding fine motor manipulation skills as well as behaviour. They also showed poor bilateral integration, which was not the case with the other children. Further research concerning the role that bilateral co-ordination plays in DCD is recommended. From the results of this study, it is also recommended that intervention programmes should be conducted on an individual basis in order to assure that the focus is on the child's specific problems, and to ensure that the intervention has a positive effect. Proper assessment of underlying causes must be done in conjunction with the MABC testing, because this will help to determine the method that is selected for intervention. / Thesis (M.A. (Human Movement Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

This study was an integral constituent of a multidisciplinary research project by the School of Psychosocial Behavioural Sciences: Psychology and the School for Bio-kinetics, Recreation and Sport Sciences of the Northwest University (Potchefstroom Campus). Previous research has found that children diagnosed with Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD) manifest with motor impairments and psychological impediments, such as a poor self-concept (Henderson, May & Umney, 1989; Losse et a/., 1991 ; Skinner & Piek, 2001). The purpose of this multidisciplinary research project was thus to intervene holistically in the lives of these children, by presenting a motor-based and psychosocial programme. The aims of this study were to compile a self-concept programme and to determine whether it would affect the self- concept, emotional intelligence and anxiety of the participants. It was a quantitative study, which was conducted using a three-group pre- and post-test design. The child kinetics researcher confirmed the DCD state of the participants (n=67), through the use of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC). Participants were randomly divided into four groups and allocated to an intervention method. Participants were pre-tested with the Tennessee Self- Concept Scale (TSCS), Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Scale (EQ-i:YV) and the Children's Anxiety Scale (CAS). Intervention took place as follows: experimental group 1 (motor-based intervention programme), experimental group 2 (psychological intervention programme), experimental group 3 (integrated psycho-motor intervention programme) and control group 4 (no intervention). For the purpose of this study, all four groups were taken into consideration, but were discussed only as 3 groups. After the intervention, one month was allowed before the post-testing of the subjects took place. Measuring instruments used were: TSCS, EQ-i:YV, CAS as well as the MABC. Findings were as follow: children who participated in the motor-based programme showed significant improvements in their motor proficiencies. Children who participated in the self-concept programme, showed significant improvements in their intrapersonal abilities, adaptability and total emotional intelligence and tendencies towards improvement in the following domains: identity, mood, behaviour, academics and their perception of self in relation to family. In conclusion, children diagnosed with DCD benefit from intervention such as this self- concept programme. Literature (Braet, Mervielde & Vandereycken, 1997; O'Dea & Abraham, 1999; Pierce & Wardle, 1997) however, emphasize that self-concept is not a dimension in isolation, but is also influenced by a child's physical performance and appearance. Therefore, the self-concept programme should preferably be combined with a motor-based intervention programme. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.