A study of two kinds of activities of preschool children : dressing activities and play activities affected by the homemaker's activities

One of the most difficult problems the average family meets today is that of providing a dwelling which adequately meets its needs, at a cost it can afford to pay. According to Agan: Each period in the family life cycle has its set of circumstances which pose their own unique problems. Aside from the challenging problems of human relations and of the financial and other management of the home, there is also the problem of use of the present dwelling to the best advantage as a background for family life or the choice of another house. For either choice, it is necessary to understand the functions required of the dwelling to carry on all the activities of the family members and to be able to interpret house design in terms of the ease with which these activities can be carried on. . . . The house in whatever form it is, is the center of family life.1 Since the house itself has such a marked effect upon the life that goes on within it, there has been much interest in finding out what makes it livable for different types of families. Research sponsored by the Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics and the Agricultural Experiment Station, which seeks to determine the housing preferences of families, is providing a more scientific basis for planning houses to fit family needs. Each of the four regions of the United States has research in progress. North Carolina has chosen for its contribution to the Southern Region housing study, the housing needs of preschool children

Paternal, infant, and social contextual characteristics as determinants of competent parental functioning by fathers with young infants

The purpose of this investigation was to examine factors considered salient to competent parental functioning by fathers with infants. Only recently has fathers' ability to be sensitive, competent parents for infants been recognized. The void remaining in our knowledge of competent parenting by fathers is an identification and understanding of factors associated with fathers' sensitive involvement with infants. The current study sought to explore the association of paternal, infant, and social contextual characteristics with fathers' behaviors during father-infant play. Sixty couples completed questionnaires when their infants were three months old. Fathers completed measures of locus of control, knowledge of infant development, beliefs of effective parenting practices, value of parenthood, infant temperament, spousal support, and participation in infant care activities. Mothers completed measures of infant temperament, paternal participation in infant care activities, and demographic information. When the infants were five to six months old, fathers were observed interacting with their infants in a free-play situation

The Neurosciences and Music Education: An Online Database of Neuromusical Brain Imaging Research

The purpose of this study was to create an online database to organize and summarize the field of neuromusical research (i.e., the study of brain processes involved with musical experiences). The guiding principles of this dissertation were to (1) assess and clarify the current state of neuromusical research, and (2) explore how this research relates to the pedagogical, psychological and philosophical foundations of music education. Given the rise of brain-imaging neuromusical research in the last two decades, in conjunction with a lack of holistic efforts to evaluate these studies, there is a clear need to compile and summarize neuromusical research into a summative database. Until this time, no such resource has existed. The resulting database of this project has been titled the Musical Brain Imaging Research Database (MusicBIRD) and currently holds 473 studies of neuromusical research available online at http://www.uncg.edu/mus/mri/neuromusical.html. Qualifying neuromusical studies were identified with a keyword search for "music" and "brain" in leading electronic research databases (e.g., PubMed and RILM). After reviewing each study, summative information was entered into an electronic storage format within the following data fields: Title, Author(s), Date, Keywords, Source, Volume, Issue, Online Source, and Abstract. A content analysis of the studies in the final database was conducted to reveal trends in neuromusical research and insights for music educators about the role of neuroscience in music teaching. Among the leading trends in neuromusical research identified in the content analysis were the most frequently used brain imaging device (EEG in 28.8% of all MusicBIRD studies), the most common research methodologies - evaluating changes in brain activity due to music processing (35.57% of all MusicBIRD studies), and comparisons between musically and non-musically trained subjects (25.57% of all MusicBIRD studies). The implications of neuromusical research for music educators include a strengthening of the belief that the potential for music processing is ubiquitous to all humans, and that until more longitudinal studies can be conducted, a clear understanding of whether musical training does or does not have an effect on non-musical brain processes (e.g., language skills) is not possible at this time. Based on a review of neuromusical research through 2006, several recommendations for future research include brain imaging scans associated with effective pedagogical music learning practices, longitudinal studies of brain development during periods of musical training (e.g., preschool to adulthood), and investigating the potential for shared, proximal, or distinct neural networks dedicated to music and non-music systems

Beginning with homelessness: a rhizoanalysis of neoliberalism, social justice, and community

Homelessness in the United States is identified as a social problem (Amster, 2008; Gowan, 2010; Marvasti, 2003; Stern, 1984). It receives attention from social service agencies, local and national government departments, faith-based institutions, advocacy groups, legal organizations, and grassroots coalitions. It has implications at both local and national levels. The people experiencing homelessness—their unique stories, perspectives, and ways of being—are overshadowed, even usurped, by constituted ideas about homelessness; as a result they themselves are surveilled, categorized, and pathologized. Additionally, the concept of homelessness is hegemonized, disciplined through a master narrative imbricated with crisis, pity, victim-blaming, medicalization, and criminalization. This rhizoanalysis considers how the current master narrative of homelessness as a social problem is a form of oppression and domination fed by neoliberalism and often evaluated by whether one is a “contributing member of society.” The intractability of this narrative makes it very difficult to radically imagine a construction of homelessness beyond that which is, yet, people are resisting this status quo and imagining a different future in which they hope to live. Informed by a postmodern, anarchist, feminist epistemology, I apply various methods in this dissertation, including critical storytelling, performance narrative, and qualitative inquiry with people experiencing homelessness, to (a) understand and expose the dominant narrative about homelessness, (b) identify ways that homelessness is used as a resistance tactic against oppression, and (c) imagine new ways of engaging with each other and the world around us

External nature in the poetry of Robert Browning

Robert Browning is best known as a writer of poems which dramatically reveal human character. Unlike the Romantic poets, Browning seldom writes about nature as an isolated entity, yet significant natural description figures in much of his poetry. Instead of composing poems about nature, Browning typically uses details of external nature to create a setting which establishes mood and reveals character. While natural description is admittedly a subsidiary facet of Browning's art, it is of consequence because it supports his primary purpose—character portrayal. This study of Browning's use of external nature is organized around the poets, artists, and aesthetic movements that influenced him. Chapter I documents Browning's love of external nature and establishes the perimeters for the analysis of his poetry which follows. Chapter II examines the influence of Gerard de Lairesse, an eighteenth-century Dutch painter whose treatise on art Browning read as a child. Chapter III discusses characteristics of the picturesque and the sublime which surface in Browning's landscapes and natural imagery. Chapter IV explores the effect of Romanticism on Browning's treatment of nature. Grotesque natural detail is the subject of Chapter V. Chapter VI compares Browning's poetry to that of selected Victorians to ascertain the extent of contemporary influences. The final chapter, Chapter VII, attempts to account for Browning's eclectic and oblique method

The Effects of Health Insurance on Health Care in the United States

The development of universal health insurance in the United States has been pending for hundreds of years. As the years progress, the need for such a system increases. The impact of the lack of health insurance is presented from the perspective of someone who works in the healthcare system along with a recipient of healthcare outside of the United States for further comparison. Obamacare has the potential to provide quality universal healthcare, reducing the amount of debt in the United States. In order for our country to move forward, one must recognize the importance of the installation of quality health insurance to alleviate the burden of debt in our country

To Be Rather than to Seem: Liberal Education and Personal Growth through Documentary Production

Caretakers of classical liberal arts curricula have historically considered media production courses as one more area where the liberal arts have caved in to the pragmatic vocationalism and careerism often demanded by students and their parents. The advocates of classical liberal arts are quick to remind media faculty that a university should not be in the business of training entry-level employees for the local affiliates. (Usually this reminder follows requests to upgrade tired "cuts only" edit suites to nonlinear editing systems or any increased budget request for equipment purchases.) On the other hand, many students demand "hands on" experience with media technology. They want courses that will serve their goals for future employment. They want equipment operating skills and ultimately they want to produce technically superior resume tapes that will open doors to media careers. Growing undergraduate enrollments in media courses in the 1990s suggest that media programs must be benefiting from, if not delivering on, this expectation (Becker and Kosicki 63)

Firewalking: A Contemporary Ritual and Transformation

Firewalking is an ancient ritual that can be categorized as a wondrous performance with a powerful effect on believers. The New Age movement is reviving the ceremony through workshops and seminars. The event involves a form of mutual social pretense that overcomes logical convention. A participant in a firewalk that became part of a documentary video describes the experience

Intercollegiate and Community Collaboration: Film Productions for Students and Community Volunteers

The “Tribulations” of Collaborations the collegiate system puts much stronger emphasis on intercollegiate competition than it does collaboration, so the idea of intercollegiate collaboration carries a peculiar burden even for film and video productions, where the notion of collaboration is a necessity. Campuses are more often competitors than collaborators. The long tradition of intercollegiate sports competitions in America has firmly established this kind of thinking. Campuses do not compete only in sports; they compete for status, for students, for funding, for honors, and for standing within their communities. Each college wants its team, its programs, its students, and its faculty to be on top. The concept of intercollegiate parity on collaborative efforts is not an idea that comes naturally, and it takes commitment to maintain