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The Association Between Articulator Movement And Formant Trajectories In Diphthongs, Katherine Morris Mckell Jun 2016

The Association Between Articulator Movement And Formant Trajectories In Diphthongs, Katherine Morris Mckell

Theses and Dissertations

The current study examined the association between formant trajectories and tongue and lip movements in the American English diphthongs /aɪ/, /aʊ/, and /ɔɪ/. Seventeen native speakers of American English had electromagnetic sensors placed on their tongues and lips to record movement data along with corresponding acoustic data during productions of the diphthongs in isolation. F1 and F2 trajectories were extracted from the middle 50% of the diphthongs and compared with time-aligned kinematic data from tongue and lip movements. The movement and formant tracks were converted to z-scores and plotted together on a common time scale. Absolute difference scores between kinematic …


Using Perceptually Grounded Semantic Models To Autonomously Convey Meaning Through Visual Art, Derrall L. Heath Jun 2016

Using Perceptually Grounded Semantic Models To Autonomously Convey Meaning Through Visual Art, Derrall L. Heath

Theses and Dissertations

Developing advanced semantic models is important in building computational systems that can not only understand language but also convey ideas and concepts to others. Semantic models can allow a creative image-producing-agent to autonomously produce artifacts that communicate an intended meaning. This notion of communicating meaning through art is often considered a necessary part of eliciting an aesthetic experience in the viewer and can thus enhance the (perceived) creativity of the agent. Computational creativity, a subfield of artificial intelligence, deals with designing computational systems and algorithms that either automatically create original and functional products, or that augment the ability of humans …


Student Academic Freedom Policy In Egyptian Higher Education; Case Study: Faculty Of Economics And Political Science, Cairo University., Israa Medhat Tawfik Esmat Jun 2016

Student Academic Freedom Policy In Egyptian Higher Education; Case Study: Faculty Of Economics And Political Science, Cairo University., Israa Medhat Tawfik Esmat

Theses and Dissertations

The study aimed to explore stakeholders’ perceptions of an effective policy for student academic freedom in Egyptian Higher Education. The significance of the study stemmed from both theoretical and practical considerations. Theoretical considerations originated from the dearth of studies tackling student academic freedom, while practical considerations, as reported by local and international non-governmental organizations, were related to infringements on student academic freedom in Egyptian Higher Education. The study’s main research question was: How do students and faculty members perceive elements of an effective policy for student academic freedom in Egyptian Higher Education? In this context, the study explored the perceptions …


Getting All The Ducks In A Row: Towards A Method For The Consolidation Of English Idioms, Ethan Michael Lynn Jun 2016

Getting All The Ducks In A Row: Towards A Method For The Consolidation Of English Idioms, Ethan Michael Lynn

Theses and Dissertations

Idioms play an important role in language acquisition but learners do not have sufficient time to learn all of them. Therefore, learners need to focus on the most frequently occurring idioms, which can be determined by corpus searches. Building off previous corpus studies, this study generated a comprehensive list of English idioms by combining lists from several sources and developed a methodology for organizing and sorting idioms within the list. In total, over 27,000 idiom forms were amalgamated and a portion of the list was compiled, which featured 2,697 core idioms and 5,559 variant idiom forms. It was found that …


The Effectiveness Of Using Written Feedback To Improve Adult Esl Learners' Spontaneous Pronunciation Of English Suprasegmentals, Chirstin Stephens Jun 2016

The Effectiveness Of Using Written Feedback To Improve Adult Esl Learners' Spontaneous Pronunciation Of English Suprasegmentals, Chirstin Stephens

Theses and Dissertations

This report describes a systematic procedure designed to give students pronunciation feedback on suprasegmental features of English in spontaneous production (rather than students' pronunciation during a read-aloud task). The procedure was developed to find out if written feedback (given frequently enough) could impact students' spontaneous production of suprasegmentals. Pronunciation feedback was given to the treatment group by marking transcripts of spontaneous speech with written symbols. Both the treatment group and the control group received form-focused pronunciation instruction. After 14 weeks, there was no significant difference between the groups, but there was a statistically significant improvement in students' comprehensibility overall (regardless …


Trending Topic Extraction From Social Media, Nada Ayman A. Mostafa Jun 2016

Trending Topic Extraction From Social Media, Nada Ayman A. Mostafa

Theses and Dissertations

Social media has become the first source of information for many people. The amount of information posted on social media daily has become very vast that it became difficult to track. One of the most popular social media applications is Twitter. Users follow lots of news accounts, public figures, and their friends so they can be updated by the latest events around them. Since the dialect language and the style of writing differ from a region to another, our objective in this research is to extract trending topics for an Egyptian twitter user. In this way, the user can easily …


A Hybrid Approach To Cross-Linguistic Tokenization: Morphology With Statistics, Logan R. Kearsley Jun 2016

A Hybrid Approach To Cross-Linguistic Tokenization: Morphology With Statistics, Logan R. Kearsley

Theses and Dissertations

Tokenization, or word boundary detection, is a critical first step for most NLP applications. This is often given little attention in English and other languages which use explicit spaces between written words, but standard orthographies for many languages lack explicit markers. Tokenization systems for such languages are usually engineered on an individual basis, with little re-use. The human ability to decode any written language, however, suggests that a general algorithm exists.This thesis presents simple morphologically-based and statistical methods for identifying word boundaries in multiple languages. Statistical methods tend to over-predict, while lexical and morphological methods fail when encountering unknown words. …


Japanese Vocabulary Learning Through An Interactive Video Platform: Comparative Effects Of L1 Versus L2 Definitions And Kana Versus Kanji Presentation, Ryler Jay Nielsen Jun 2016

Japanese Vocabulary Learning Through An Interactive Video Platform: Comparative Effects Of L1 Versus L2 Definitions And Kana Versus Kanji Presentation, Ryler Jay Nielsen

Theses and Dissertations

Advances in digital technology have recently allowed for richer text annotation in combination with authentic second language video media. As a result, many educational researchers are focusing increased attention on the effect this application of technology can have on second language acquisition. This study examines the comparative effectiveness of target vocabulary treatments with either native language (L1) definitions or target language (L2) definitions when target vocabulary is presented in either kana or kanji as a part of the subtitles of an L2 film based on participant performance on vocabulary assessments. This study also examines the participants' perceived levels of helpfulness …


Psychometrically Equivalent Bisyllabic Word Lists For Spanish Pediatric Word Recognition Testing, Brenda Karina Peterson Jun 2016

Psychometrically Equivalent Bisyllabic Word Lists For Spanish Pediatric Word Recognition Testing, Brenda Karina Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

While recorded speech audiometry materials have been developed in Spanish for adults, currently there are no speech audiometry materials available in Spanish that are suitable for a pediatric population. Thus, the purposes of this study were (a) to analyze Spanish bisyllabic words previously developed for adults to determine the words' appropriateness when testing word recognition scores in native Spanish-speaking children and (b) to compare the logistic regressions results from the Spanish adult data obtained in a previous study with the logistic regressions from Spanish pediatric data obtained in the present study. Using common-use children's dictionaries in the Spanish language, a …


The Efficacy Of A Literature-Based Social Communication Intervention On Teacher Report Of Sociability For Children With Language Impairment, Mnisa Lyn Harlow Jun 2016

The Efficacy Of A Literature-Based Social Communication Intervention On Teacher Report Of Sociability For Children With Language Impairment, Mnisa Lyn Harlow

Theses and Dissertations

Recent research indicates that children with language impairment (LI) often experience difficulties with social communication. Although the empirical basis for general social communication intervention is growing, information documenting the efficacy of these interventions for children with LI remains limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a social communication intervention on teacher perceptions of sociability in five elementary-aged children with LI. The intervention focused on the presentation and use of children's stories to target aspects of emotion understanding. The two sociability subscales of the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (TBRS), impulse control/likeability and prosocial behavior, were used …


Death As Meridian: Paul Celan's Translations Of Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" And "Let Down The Bars, Oh Death", Alyssa Devey Jun 2016

Death As Meridian: Paul Celan's Translations Of Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" And "Let Down The Bars, Oh Death", Alyssa Devey

Theses and Dissertations

Paul Celan's translations of Emily Dickinson's poems Because I could not stop for Death and Let down the Bars, Oh Death illuminate the global metaphor inherent in both poems' exploration of death. Celan's The Meridian speech, coupled with Dickinson's poems I saw no way and Tell all the truth, suggest that language can move in different directions across a globe at the same time. When these different lines meet, they reach a meridian of the spiritual and the material. As Celan translates Dickinson's two poems, he uses this global metaphor to place more emphasis on death and to further illuminate …


Ba’Da And Qabla In Online News: A Corpus-Based Study, Ayman Eddakrouri Jun 2016

Ba’Da And Qabla In Online News: A Corpus-Based Study, Ayman Eddakrouri

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis offers a corpus-based analysis and description of two of the most frequently used words in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), namely بَعْدَ /ba’da/ (after, after [that]) and قَبْلَ /qabla/ (before, ago). To this end, a corpus of 4,102,134 tokens was compiled from two prominent Arabic news websites: CNN and BBC as a purposive sample. The investigation of this study adopted the linguistic analysis as a main research method to characterize these two adverbial nouns, using WordSmith Tools as a main instrument for data analysis, based on Sinclair's model (1999) for data sampling, and Hunston’s classification (2002, p. 46) for …


Egyptian Public Diplomacy: Past Performance And Future Strategies ( Case Study), Manar Abd El-Wahed Jun 2016

Egyptian Public Diplomacy: Past Performance And Future Strategies ( Case Study), Manar Abd El-Wahed

Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to explore whether the types of Egyptian public diplomacy, if any, follow strategies, content, and priorities of new public diplomacy by analyzing public diplomacy strategies followed by the two of main informational bodies in the Egyptian state: the State Information Service (SIS), and the public diplomacy division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). The study advances a theoretical framework designed to help find a connection between strategies followed by public diplomacy institutions and agenda-building function of those institutions. The analysis reflected the lack of strategic planning in the two institutions to reach and influence foreign publics. …


Code-Choice On Twitter: How Stance-Taking And Linguistic Accommodation Reflect The Identity Of Polyglossic Egyptian Users, Sahar Mashhour Jun 2016

Code-Choice On Twitter: How Stance-Taking And Linguistic Accommodation Reflect The Identity Of Polyglossic Egyptian Users, Sahar Mashhour

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the online identity of polyglossic Egyptian users of Twitter. It is descriptive and exploratory utilizing a qualitative design with some frequency count which adds descriptive data. Data were collected using a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) where the participants were presented with a number of tweets and were asked to type another tweet in response to each. The findings from the study suggest that polyglossic Egyptians, those who are proficient in English as well as Arabic, exhibited an assertive identity on Twitter. This identity was constructed through the choice of code, the linguistic accommodation to the tweet authors, …


The Development Of Acoustics In The Religious Architecture Of Cairo From The Arab Conquest Through The Ottoman Period 640-1914, Ahmad Hussein Jun 2016

The Development Of Acoustics In The Religious Architecture Of Cairo From The Arab Conquest Through The Ottoman Period 640-1914, Ahmad Hussein

Theses and Dissertations

It is strongly believed that the scholarship in the field of Islamic art and architecture ‎still has many important under-researched areas, behind its visual aspects, that need to ‎be explored and analyzed. Archaeoacoustics, which is scientifically known as "The ‎archaeology of sound," is considered one of the significant disciplines in the field of ‎acoustics due to its role in revealing priceless information about different ‎archaeological sites and historic buildings around the world from the acoustic ‎perspective. Unfortunately, the archaeoacoustic studies of historic Islamic religious ‎buildings, especially in Cairo, are relatively neglected. Accordingly, this study aims in ‎the first place at …


Refugee Response In Egypt: A Public Administration And Policy Perspective. A Case Study Of Syrian Refugee Response In Egypt: 2012 To The Present, Nadine Elshokeiry Jun 2016

Refugee Response In Egypt: A Public Administration And Policy Perspective. A Case Study Of Syrian Refugee Response In Egypt: 2012 To The Present, Nadine Elshokeiry

Theses and Dissertations

This descriptive and exploratory study attempts to look at refugee response in Egypt. It takes the Syrian refugee response in Egypt as a holistic single-case study to understand what the Egyptian government did, and why. The study aims to discuss the case study and its surrounding context from an overarching public policy and administration perspective, through a Public Policy System approach coupled with Jacobsen’s Theory of Public Policy Choices in Host states. It proceeds from a right-based approach to refugees issues, and employs a number of methodologies to provide a full perspective of the topic of study, including a comparative …


An Investigation Of Teachers' Written Feedback Practices At Different Proficiency Levels: An Egyptian Perspective, Noura Nabil Soliman Jun 2016

An Investigation Of Teachers' Written Feedback Practices At Different Proficiency Levels: An Egyptian Perspective, Noura Nabil Soliman

Theses and Dissertations

There have been ongoing investigations on whether providing written corrective feedback on students' errors in L2 writing is effective in improving their writing skills. Research has focused mainly on the effectiveness of different feedback techniques, students' preferences and perception, and teachers' beliefs and practices regarding written corrective feedback. However, limited research has investigated teacher feedback practices at different levels of students' proficiency. This study investigated teacher feedback practices at two different proficiency levels in an English-medium university in Cairo, Egypt. The study adopted a mixed-methods data collection approach, where data were gathered by interviewing five English as a Foreign Language …


Negotiated Identity Of Teachers Of English As A Foreign Language (Efl): A Sociocultural Perspective, Nesma Hossam Eldin Abdel Fattah Jun 2016

Negotiated Identity Of Teachers Of English As A Foreign Language (Efl): A Sociocultural Perspective, Nesma Hossam Eldin Abdel Fattah

Theses and Dissertations

Many studies have investigated the sociocultural aspects of professional identities of EFL teachers in different contexts. However, a limited amount of research has been conducted on the negotiation of teachers’ identities particularly in the Arab world and in Egypt. The current study investigates the factors that contribute to forming and negotiating the sociocultural aspects of the professional identity of six experienced and six novice Egyptian teachers of English as a second language (EFL). The study is conducted in two English language programs, one in a private university and the other in a public university context. Interviews and classroom observations were …


The Integration Of Children With Autism In The Egyptian Society By The Use Of Ict Tools, Aline Bahari Jun 2016

The Integration Of Children With Autism In The Egyptian Society By The Use Of Ict Tools, Aline Bahari

Theses and Dissertations

Autism has been discussed through the fields of medicine, sociology or psychology all over the past decades. Today, however it is being discussed through a different lens: „Communication‟. Being privileged by so many virtues, the Mass communication field not only spreads information, news and discusses views but also bonds people together. In that sense, Children with Autism should be part of this dynamic sphere, with the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tools, integrating those suffering from autism within the Egyptian society. A Descriptive Survey research clarifies the actual use of children with autism to ICT tools through the …


Challenges Of Social Service Delivery To Persons With Disabilities In Egypt: A Stakeholders' Analysis, Amira Ayman El Refaei Jun 2016

Challenges Of Social Service Delivery To Persons With Disabilities In Egypt: A Stakeholders' Analysis, Amira Ayman El Refaei

Theses and Dissertations

Social Rehabilitation Offices are one of the most vital outlets in Egypt that provide services to persons with disabilities (PWDs) under the supervision of the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MoSS). This study seeks to document the performance of Social Rehabilitation Offices from a multi-dimensional perspective; persons with disabilities (beneficiaries), Rehabilitation Offices (service providers), partner non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the field of disability, and MoSS (regulators). A mixed methods approach was used to gain an in-depth perspective to the complexity of the issues present in the Egyptian social service delivery system. It was clear that not all Rehabilitation Offices are …


Alternative Causes Of Civil War Onset – Repression And Signals From External Actors: A Comparative Case Study Of Bahrain And Syria, Katherine Kassanitz Jun 2016

Alternative Causes Of Civil War Onset – Repression And Signals From External Actors: A Comparative Case Study Of Bahrain And Syria, Katherine Kassanitz

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis looks at alternative causes of civil war onset. Specifically, the role of repression is examined to show how the specific type, being nonviolent or violent, and the target, being indiscriminate or selective, matter and depending on the tactics undertaken can lead to the onset of civil war. It also sheds light on the often understudied role that external actors in the international system can play in escalating an uprising towards the onset of civil war as well.


On The Limitations Of The Archive: Affective Traces, Sensible Intensities And The Humming Background Noise Of The Universe, Mohammad Shawky Hassan Jun 2016

On The Limitations Of The Archive: Affective Traces, Sensible Intensities And The Humming Background Noise Of The Universe, Mohammad Shawky Hassan

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims at unpacking the notion of the archive and determining its limitations as a mediator between past experiences and their account in historical discourse, which has granted it its superior status in epistemological hierarchy and consequently, has long been fetishized by historians and artists alike. By thoroughly engaging with the various interpretations of the archive and its agency in the construction of historical knowledge, the thesis deals with the archive not only as a compilation of the physical traces of the past, but also as an intricate linguistic and discursive system which constitutes the law of what can …


The Artist And The "Information" Machine: Conceptualism, Technology, And Design In 1970, Jeremiah William Mccarthy May 2016

The Artist And The "Information" Machine: Conceptualism, Technology, And Design In 1970, Jeremiah William Mccarthy

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the dialectical relationship between conceptualism and design in the year 1970, by focusing on Kynaston McShine’s landmark exhibition Information, held at the Museum of Modern Art. Specifically, it centers on the understudied “information machine,” a film apparatus designed by Ettore Sottsass, Jr., for use within the exhibition.


The Over-Representation Of Hispanics In Special Education Programs In New Jersey, Alexandra Lynne Chey May 2016

The Over-Representation Of Hispanics In Special Education Programs In New Jersey, Alexandra Lynne Chey

Theses and Dissertations

The over-representation of Hispanics of Special Education programs has been a debate for years now. Over-representation happens when the percentage of minority students in special education programs is greater than in the school population as a whole. This study attempts to evaluate the causes and problems of the over-representation. There are a number of factors that could explain the disproportionality of this issue. This study identifies multiple factors that shape this problem. One of the factors that could be influencing this issue is poverty and low SES. This paper looks at the lowest SES county in New Jersey vs. the …


School Readiness In Urban Communities, Cree Brooks May 2016

School Readiness In Urban Communities, Cree Brooks

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this exploratory investigation were to (a) ascertain school readiness influences of young children ages birth to three in the New Jersey Early Intervention System, (b) to analyze race and ethnicity trends of the children within the program, (c) and to see if individual race/ethnicity played a role in children’s school readiness. Publicly available data from the Department of Health/Division of Family Health Services / Early Intervention System was used to analyze two New Jersey counties, Camden County and Somerset County, and to identify amount of school readiness in early intervention results reported from 2013 to 2014. The …


The Effects Of Using Direct Instruction And Computer-Assisted Instruction On Teaching Decoding Skills To Elementary Students With Learning Disabilities, Jessica Lauren Schramm May 2016

The Effects Of Using Direct Instruction And Computer-Assisted Instruction On Teaching Decoding Skills To Elementary Students With Learning Disabilities, Jessica Lauren Schramm

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study are to examine the effect of the Project Read program in teaching decoding skills to students with learning disabilities, and evaluate the effects of the supplemental computer program, Explode the Code. Three second grade students with learning disabilities participated in this study. Both interventions were administered to each student, at different times, during the school day. Project Read was administered followed by 15-20 minutes of Explode the Code. A multiple baseline research design across students with A B phases was used in this study. The results of the current study showed significant growth in the …


The Role Of Professional Advising In The Liberal Arts, Kimberly Rose Poolos May 2016

The Role Of Professional Advising In The Liberal Arts, Kimberly Rose Poolos

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of professional academic advising in the liberal arts. This study focused on the impact of professional academic advising in the liberal arts. This study also focused on the extent to which professional administrators are involved in supporting the professional academic advisors. This was a Total Population Study since all five College of Humanities and Social Sciences embedded advisors participated in this study and the four administrators participated in this study. Qualitative research, through the use of 30 minute individual interviews, was used to collect data. Interview questions focused on demographic …


Social Positioning: Positioning Adults With Severe And Multiple Disabilities And Complex Communication Needs For Social Interaction, Dena Bonnike May 2016

Social Positioning: Positioning Adults With Severe And Multiple Disabilities And Complex Communication Needs For Social Interaction, Dena Bonnike

Theses and Dissertations

This single subject multiple probe study across dyads investigated the effects of social positioning on the nonsymbolic and symbolic communication of adult peers with severe and multiple disabilities and complex communication needs (SMD-CCN) when they were out of their wheelchairs. Social positioning referred to the positioning of adults with SMD-CCN in proximity and facing one another (no more than three ft apart) with access to speech generating devices (SGDs) with appropriate messages for communicating and socializing with peers. Videotapes of the adults were analyzed to collect event recording data of their nonsymbolic (eye gaze, reaching, and vocalization) and symbolic (SGD …


“Fired Up About Education: ” A Quantitative Exploration Of Positive And Negative Slang, Richard Heyne May 2016

“Fired Up About Education: ” A Quantitative Exploration Of Positive And Negative Slang, Richard Heyne

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the variables of immediacy, clarity, classroom climate, professionalism, and credibility as they relate to instructors use of slang in the classroom. This investigation advances our understanding of how students perceive an instructor or professor who uses “slang language” while teaching a lesson. While all of these variables will make up the student’s overall perception of the teacher, the study also examines how these results vary depending on the age of the instructor. Thus, the central focus for the present study is how different types of slang are perceived by students when used by instructors of different age. …


A Biogeochemistry Approach To Geographic Origin And Mortuary Arrangement At The Talgua Cave Ossuaries, Olancho, Honduras, Monica Michelle Warner May 2016

A Biogeochemistry Approach To Geographic Origin And Mortuary Arrangement At The Talgua Cave Ossuaries, Olancho, Honduras, Monica Michelle Warner

Theses and Dissertations

Isotopic assays, including stable carbon, stable oxygen, and radiogenic strontium were measured for 37 individuals from the Talgua cave ossuaries to understand human movement and mortuary practice during Formative Period Honduras. Likelihood assignment models demonstrated that the individuals had diverse childhood geographic origins within the surrounding valleys. This shows that different kin or ethnic groups from diverse geographic origins were utilizing the ossuaries. Five possible ‘non-local’ individuals were identified from the radiogenic strontium and stable oxygen isotope datasets, suggesting minimal human movement into northeast Honduras from outside Lower Central America. The low number of ‘non-local’ individuals at Talgua Caves also …