Digital Commons Network^™

A Corpus-Based Concatenative Speech Synthesis System For Turkish, Haşi̇m Sak, Tunga Güngör, Yaşar Safkan

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Speech synthesis is the process of converting written text into machine-generated synthetic speech. Concatenative speech synthesis systems form utterances by concatenating pre-recorded speech units. Corpus-based methods use a large inventory to select the units to be concatenated. In this paper, we design and develop an intelligible and natural sounding corpus-based concatenative speech synthesis system for the Turkish language. The implemented system contains a front-end comprised of text analysis, phonetic analysis, and optional use of transplanted prosody. The unit selection algorithm is based on commonly used Viterbi decoding algorithm of the best-path in the network of the speech units using spectral …

An Islander's View Of A Desert Kingdom: Jonathan Napela Recounts His 1869 Visit To Salt Lake City, Fred E. Woods

BYU Studies

Jonathan (Ionatana) Hawaii Napela (fig. 1) bridged cultures. As one of the first Hawaiian converts to Mormonism, he helped George Q. Cannon translate the Book of Mormon into the Hawaiian language in 1852–53, he instigated the first language training center for foreign missionaries in 1853, and he helped establish the first gathering place for the Hawaiian Saints in 1854. In 1869 Napela visited Salt Lake City. In an April 11, 1871, letter to Brigham Young, Napela recounted his visit as he reported it to the Hawaiian king, Kamehameha V. Written in Hawaiian, the letter is evidence of Napela’s ability to …

A Prologue To Genesis: Moses 1 In Light Of Jewish Traditions, E. Douglas Clark

BYU Studies

Referring to ancient and long-lost scripture that Joseph Smith restored, Wilford Woodruff declared it to be part of “the rich treasures that are revealed unto us in the last days.” One such treasure is Moses chapter 1, a scriptural jewel we have hardly begun to appreciate but whose luster has become more apparent in light of various ancient texts and traditions that have emerged since Joseph Smith’s day. So striking are the parallels as to recall Joseph’s own prophecy that “the world will prove Joseph Smith a true prophet by circumstantial evidence.”

The Jean Hersholt Collection Of Anderseniana At The Library Of Congress, Kristi Johnson, Taru Spiegel

The Bridge

Hans Christian Andersen was already well known in the United States during his lifetime. Though he wanted to meet his American admirers, fear of accidents at sea kept Andersen from crossing the Atlantic. Three quarters of a century after the author's death, another Dane ensured that a part of Andersen's legacy would remain permanently in America. The Danish American actor, author, and humanitarian, Jean Hersholt, together with his Danishborn wife, Via, donated a treasure trove of Anderseniana to the Library of Congress in 1951. The Library's preeminent collection of Scandinavian materials is often overlooked amidst the institution's 130 million items …

The Veil Between Fact And Fiction In The Novels Of Kristian Ostergaard, John Mark Nielsen

The Bridge

The bicentennial of the births of Hans Christian Andersen and August de Bournonville and the 150th anniversary of the death of Soren Kierkegaard provide opportunity to reflect and celebrate how artists and philosophers interpret and express the complex network of values and ideas inherent in any culture. Great artists and thinkers are particularly successful in producing work that transcends a specific culture and achieves universality recognizable beyond the boundaries of that culture into which they were born. Certainly the works produced by Andersen, Bournonville, and Kierkgaard are not just Danish; their work engages and invites audiences to consider what it …

Songs Of Denmark, Songs To Live By: Cultural Values Expressed In Traditional Danish Music, Joy Ibsen

The Bridge

This past August [2005] we published Songs of Denmark [Sange for Danskere], Songs to Live By, the culmination of a project that began to take shape three years ago at the 2002 DAHS conference in Omaha, when I met Sisse Brimberg. During that meeting I shared with Sisse my desire to publish a new Danish American songbook with lyrics in both Danish and English, one with beautiful contemporary Danish photographs-a book that would appeal to the next generation. Sisse, a talented National Geographic photographer, was enthusiastic and agreed to provide access to her photographic files for the book.

Hans Christian Andersen In Musical Translation, Jean Christensen

The Bridge

Those of us who work in two cultures are fascinated by the peculiar demands and limitations of translating the sensual and intellectual qualities of one language to those of another, and by the challenges of transferring ideas from one historical time to another. A similar challenge exists for today's composers who set out to transform a text into music, but this is a process that also involves other considerations, for music has the additional potential to project multidimensional time and space. H.C. Andersen was no stranger to musical renditions of his work during his lifetime. In fact, because of his …

Russian As The National Language: An Overview Of Language Planning In The Russian Federation, Joan F. Chevalier

Russian Language Journal

In June of 2005 the federal legislation On the national language was signed into law by Vladimir Putin.1 The bill, revised and renamed several times after its initial introduction in the Duma in 2001, proved to be highly controversial, stimulating lively public debate. The law merits discussion as the first major piece of federation legislation focused on language policy and language planning to appear in the Russian Federation in several years. The law addresses both language‐status planning, which concerns the status and function of the Russian language, and language corpus planning, which attempts to affect changes in language forms and …

“The State Turning To Language”: Power And Identity In Russian Language Policy Today, Lara Ryazanova‐Clarke

Russian Language Journal

The first years of the twenty‐first century in Russia saw a considerable rise in the state’s regulation of language. In the words of one of the agents of this regulation, Natalia Liashchenko, a Consultant for the Committee for the Nationalities, “Определенный поворот к проблемам русского языка произошел и в органах государственной власти России.” The engagement of the state by way of regulations in the national discussion of the nature and quality of the Russian language demonstrates ‘the state power turning to language’.

Ethics, Morality, And Truth-Telling, Lee E. Teitelbaum

Utah Law Review

The most troublesome of these examples is the last-impeachment by prior conviction. Jethro Lieberman's book, The Litigious Society, argues that to impeach a witness to save your client is like a bodyguard throwing an innocent person in the path of a bullet.66 Until 1993 the Criminal Defense Standards suggested that impeachment by prior conviction should be avoided if the witness is testifying truthfully.67 Lieberman's argument reminds one of the dangers of analogy, and the Defense Standards ultimately only hoped that lawyers will not impeach witnesses for the fun of it. Perhaps the real problem is with the evidence rule itself. …

Worlds Together . . . Words Apart: An Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of Arts-Based Curriculum For Second Language Learners, Stephanie Urso Spina

Publications and Research

The objective of this study is to assess whether authentic arts-based1 curricula facilitate the acquisition of English as a second language (ESL) without sacrificing proficiency in the first language (Spanish). This question is examined theoretically and empirically. First, the use of an arts-based curriculum is positioned within a Vygotskiian framework of learning as reflected in current research. This overview is organized by two themes: 1) the authenticity of the art experience and 2) the emphasis on social interaction and the cognitive mediation among sign systems. Applicable findings from related literature are reviewed and synthesized within each of these themes. Secondly, …

Step-By-Step Teaching, Part Three: Collaborative Learning, David Ettinger, Cathy Eisenhower

LOEX Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Review Of The River's Edge, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Allan Dwan's The River's Edge: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2006/07/the-rivers-edge-1957.html

Interaction Of Native- And Second- Language Vowel System(S) In Early And Late Bilinguals, Wendy Baker, Pavel Trofimovich

Faculty Publications

The objective of this study was to determine how bilinguals’ age at the time of language acquisition influenced the organization of their phonetic system(s). The productions of six English and five Korean vowels by English and Korean monolinguals were compared to the productions of the same vowels by early and late Korean-English bilinguals varying in amount of exposure to their second language. Results indicated that bilinguals’ age profoundly influenced both the degree and the direction of the interaction between the phonetic systems of their native (L1) and second (L2) languages. In particular, early bilinguals manifested a bidirectional L1-L2 influence and …

Neoteny And The Plesiomorphic Condition Of The Plesiosaur Basicranium, F. Robin O’Keefe

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

The purpose of this paper is to describe the condition of the braincase in stratigraphically early and morphologically primitive plesiosaurs. Information on the braincase of plesiomorphic taxa is important because it establishes the polarity of characters occurring in more derived plesiosaurs. This paper begins with a short review of braincase anatomy in stem-group sauropterygians. Data on braincase morphology of the plesiomorphic plesiosaur genera Thalassiodracon and Eurycleidus are then presented and interpreted via comparison with other plesiosaurs, stemgroup sauropterygians, and stem diapsids (Araeoscelis). Early diapsids are relevant because plesiosaur skulls more closely resemble early diapsids than stem-group sauropterygians in several key …

Educators' Perceptions Of Mobile Students And The Interventions That Assist Them, Timothy Bruce Bostic, Mary Angela Coleman

MERC Publications

In the educational climate of no Child Left Behind (NCLB), school personnel are searching for any means available to help all children succeed academically and meet state standards. School teachers and administrators in Virginia are no different. All schools and school districts, in Virginia and across the country, must demonstrate through adequate yearly progress (AYP) that children are achieving state standards of education. AYP requires that schools no only show that all students are achieving state standards but also that disaggregated groups of students (e.g. black students, speakers of English as a second language, special education students) are meeting standards …

2006 Cornerstone, Northwestern College, Iowa

Yearbooks

No abstract provided.

The Reality Of Computer-Mediated Communication: An Examination Of An Online Dating Service, James W. Peoples Iii

Student Work

This was an exploratory study to investigate how online users portrayed themselves when using online personals in order to introduce themselves to a prospective partner in hopes of friendship, dating, or possible marriage. The primary method of examining the applicants was by the use of the online resumes that they placed on Yahoo. This study used 72 resumes from heterosexual applicants, male and female, between the ages 18 and 67, evenly proportioned across 5 year age groups, to examine the close-ended answers and open-ended statements that applicants provided. The main perspectives used in analyzing the resumes included Erving Goffman’s Presentation …

Body Image And Beliefs About Appearance: Constraints On The Leisure Of College-Age And Middle-Agewomen, Toni Liechty, Patti A. Freeman, Ramon B. Zabriskie

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among body image, beliefs about appearance, and leisure constraints for college-age women and their mothers. The Body-Image Assessment Scale, the Beliefs About Appearance Scale, and a hierarchical leisure constraints scale were used to assess body image concerns, and leisure constraints. A convenience sample of 116 female students at a private American university and 76 of their mothers was utilized. Multiple regression and t-tests were used to analyze the data. Findings suggested that body image and beliefs about appearance pose leisure constraints for college-age and middle-age women. Findings also suggested that …

The Mystery Of The Missing Referent: Objects, Procedures, And The Problem Of The Instruction Follower, Timothy Koschmann, Charles Goodwin, Curtis Lebaron, Paul Feltovich

Faculty Publications

An omni-relevant issue for workplace studies is how participants engaged in joint activity make sense of the objects that constitute their shared material environment. In this study we examine a surgery taped in a teaching hospital to explore how formal procedures make relevant certain sorts of objects and, at the same time, are constituted through them. We proceed by unpacking on particular strop of talk and demonstrate how its determinate sense rests upon a vernacular understanding of unfolding procedure. We treat surgical procedures as a sequences of projected instructions. Competent design of technologies intended to support cooperative work must rest …

Three Versions Of Nonsense, Paul Campos

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Next Epidemic: Bubbles And The Growth And Decay Of Securities Regulation, Erik F. Gerding

Publications

This article explores how speculative bubbles undermine the effectiveness of securities regulations and spawn epidemics of securities fraud. A brief historical survey demonstrates that stock market bubbles almost invariably coincide with epidemics of securities fraud, and provides a compelling argument that the outbreak of fraud in the Enron era did not stem merely from factors unique to the 1990s, but from the dynamics of an asset price bubble as well.

Drawing on perspectives from securities law practice and economic theory, the article argues that bubbles dilute the deterrent effect of antifraud rules and promote deregulation. Both effects alter the calculus …

Fiduciary Duties And Unincorporated Business Entities: In Defense Of The "Manifestly Unreasonable" Standard, Mark J. Loewenstein

Publications

This article wades into the debate between contractarians and anti-contractarians over the extent to which statutes on unincorporated business entities should limit the ability of the participants in those entities to contract around fiduciary duties. Statutes enacted in the past several years provide considerable, but not complete, freedom to limit fiduciary duties. Contractarians argue that statutory limitations are inefficient and unnecessary, while anti-contractarians take the view that the statutes provide too much freedom of contract. This article stakes out a middle ground, arguing that the drafters of the statutes got it right and that in the absence of statutory limitations …

Let The People Know The Facts: Can Government Information Removed From The Internet Be Reclaimed?, Susan Nevelow Mart

Publications

Ms. Mart examines the legal bases of the public's right to access government information, reviews the types of information that have recently been removed from the Internet, and analyzes the rationales given for the removals. She suggests that the concerted use of the Freedom of Information Act by public interest groups and their constituents is a possible method of returning the information to the Internet.

Against "Academic Deference": How Recent Developments In Employment Discrimination Law Undercut An Already Dubious Doctrine, Scott A. Moss

Publications

When the defendant in an employment case is a college or other institution of higher education, the plaintiff usually will face an "academic deference" argument. Citing the importance of their "academic freedom," defendants and sympathetic courts have asserted that federal courts should decline to "invade" higher education with "federal court supervision." Whether or not courts cite the "academic deference" doctrine expressly, they certainly have proven hostile to professors' claims of discrimination, dismissing as a matter of law claims that seemed quite strong, or at least solid enough to allow a factfinder to rule either way. Indeed, empirical evidence shows that …

A Brief History Of The U.S.-American Indian Nations Relationship, Richard B. Collins

Publications

No abstract provided.

Assessing Internal Revenue Code Section 132 After Twenty Years, Wayne M. Gazur

Publications

In 1984, Congress enacted Internal Revenue Code section 132 to bring more certainty to the taxation of employee fringe benefits. This article examines the impact of the legislation from the standpoint of administrative pronouncements and taxpayer litigation. The article concludes that section 132 has produced little litigation, but primarily because it has played the role of increasing exclusions. It remains unclear whether section 132 has also contained the growth of new forms of nonstatutory fringe benefits.

Environmental Negligence: A Proposal For A New Cause Of Action For The Forgotten Innocent Owners Of Contaminated Land, Melanie R. Kay

Publications

No abstract provided.

Procuring Guilty Pleas For International Crimes: The Limited Influence Of Sentencing Discounts, Nancy Amoury Combs

Faculty Publications

International tribunals prosecuting those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes face many of the same resource constraints that bedevil national criminal justice systems. Consequently, international tribunals have begun to utilize various procedural devices long used by national prosecutors to speed case dispositions. One such procedural device is the guilty plea. National prosecutors induce criminal defendants to plead guilty and waive their rights to trial through a process of plea bargaining; that is, by offering defendants sentencing concessions in exchange for their guilty pleas. International prosecutors who seek to engage in plea bargaining, however, face a host of …

Infusing Technical Communication And Teamwork Within The Ece Curriculum, By April Kedrowicz, Sundy Watanabe, Damon Hall, Cynthia Furse

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

This paper highlights a unique approach to infusing formal training and practice in oral and written communication and teamwork development in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Utah. Faculty and graduate (Ph.D.) students from the College of Humanities have teamed up with faculty from engineering to develop communication and teamwork instruction that is integrated into the existing engineering curriculum. These skills are used as a vehicle to provide better understanding of engineering concepts and their applications.