Digital Commons Network^™

Giving Birth In A Different Country: Bangladeshi Immigrant Women’S Childbirth Experiences In The U.S., Mst Khadija Mitu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Immigrant women often lack the social support and help from extended family and other social relationships, which is very significant during the pregnancy, delivery, and postnatal period. This research was conducted among Bangladeshi immigrant women living in the United States, in order to understand their experiences during pregnancy and childbirth: how they coped with the settings of a different country during that period, and how they felt about this situation. While there are several studies on immigrant women and maternal health issues in anthropology, to my knowledge, there have been none that focused specifically on the childbirth experiences of Bangladeshi …

The Realization Of The Speech Act Of Refusal In Egyptian Arabic By American Learners Of Arabic As A Foreign Language, Nader Morkus

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated how the speech act of refusal is realized in Egyptian Arabic by intermediate and advanced American learners of Arabic as a foreign language. It also compared the performance of the learners to that of native speakers of Egyptian Arabic and native speakers of American English. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between the learners' language proficiency and their pragmatic competence. In addition, it examined the extent of pragmatic transfer from L1 and whether there was a relationship between the degree of pragmatic transfer and the level of L2 proficiency. The study also examined how refusals are …

Classroom Discourse And Teacher Talk Influences On English Language Learner Students' Mathematics Experiences, Mariana M. Petkova

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the features of the classroom discourse in eight Algebra I classes from two urban high schools with diverse student populations. In particular, by using the discursive analysis perspective, the type of communication between teachers and students was examined. The study investigated to what extent teachers' patterns of discourse change as a result of the number of ELLs present or their particular teaching experiences and ESOL endorsement. Furthermore, the impact of teachers' cultural and linguistic backgrounds upon ELLs' mathematics experiences was explored, particularly the teachers' patterns of discourse and adjustments to their teacher talk, or modifications of instructions …

Effects Of Dialect Use On The Fast Mapping Skills Of African American School-Age Children, Jessica Pierre

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has shown that African American children are prone to score lower on vocabulary tests when compared to their white peers (Champion et al., 2003; Qi et al., 2006; Restrepo et al., 2006; Thomas-Tate et al., 2006; Washington & Craig, 1992). The dialect spoken by these children may be affecting their performance. However, little is known about how dialect use interacts with word learning abilities. The current study continues a project initiated by Wyatt, Bahr, and Silliman (2007) which examined dialectal influences on the fast mapping of novel stimuli in preschool children. The participants in the current study were …

Transdiscursive Cosmopolitanism: Foucauldian Freedom, Subjectivity, And The Power Of Resistance, Joanna Rozpedowski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following project will consist in the study and examination of the concepts and theories that lie in the domain of political theory. The enquiry into the dimensions and complexities of the socio-political organization and the political substance of individual human agents will be conducted with the intellectual assistance of the postmodernist turn of thought. I will interrogate and develop a specifically Foucauldian reading of international politics and the emerging global world order as well as situate Foucault's insights and theorizing in a cosmopolitan framework, which calls for a progressive re-conceptualization of the dimensions of power and the modalities of …

Interview With Commissioner Of Police George Asiamah, Ghana National Police Service Interviewed By Gordon A. Crews And Angela D. Crews, Gordon A. Crews, Angela D. Crews

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In January of 2007, Drs. Gordon and Angela Crews traveled with their graduate assistant, Mr. Kofi Annor Boye-Doe, and Ghanaian Fulbright Scholar, Mr. Ken Aikins, to Ghana, West Africa, in order to conduct a research study. The original research plan was to conduct a three part examination of: 1) the blend of indigenous government (rooted in religious practices and strongly associated with spirituality and mysticism) and state government in the Ghanaian justice system; 2) the treatment of women and children within these systems; and 3) the alternative dispute resolution, restorative justice, and conflict resolution strategies within the two systems.

During …

Access And Innovation: A Study Of Two Ngo Schools In North India, Christy Ivie, '09

Honors Projects

Using data collected from two NGO schools in North India, this study presents two case studies that will shed some light on how NGOs in India are increasing access and innovation in the primary education system. By comparing and contrasting the two organizations, this study will also highlight the diversity of NGOs involved in primary education in India. Instead of making broad generalizations about the role and contributions of NGOs in primary education in India, this study aims to provide perspectives on two different organizations and raise questions about NGO schooling in India.

The Internet As Playground And Factory, Robert T. Scholz

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

"Free labour" is central to the Internet. Traditional exploitation of labour was complemented by the monetization of attention between the 1880s and 1950s and then by the commoditization of networked publics starting in the 1980s. Today, commercial interests have colonized the Internet and "labour" is being performed online by hundreds of millions of people. Without being recognized as "labour", it turns profits for corporations. Playful, virtual volunteerism, and social production, driven by the desire for praise, entertainment, and peer recognition, has become a significant driving force of consumer capitalism. I am introducing the term "interactivity labour" to discuss the complex …

To Give Is Better Than To Receive: The Benefits Of Peer Review To The Reviewer’S Own Writing, Wendy Baker, Kristi Lundstrom

Faculty Publications

Although peer review has been shown to be beneficial in many writing classrooms, the benefits of peer review to the reviewer, or the student giving feedback, has not been thoroughly investigated in second-language writing research. The purpose of this study is to determine which is more beneficial to improving student writing: giving or receiving peer feedback. The study was conducted at an intensive English institute with ninety-one students in nine writing classes at two proficiency levels. The ‘‘givers’’ reviewed anonymous papers but received no peer feedback over the course of the semester, while the ‘‘receivers’’ received feedback but did not …

Estimating Dysphonia Severity In Continuous Speech: Application Of A Multi-Parameter Spectral/Cepstral Model, Christopher Dromey, Shaheen N. Awan, Nelson Roy

Faculty Publications

The purpose of the study was to identify a sub-set of spectral/cepstral-based analysis methods that would most effectively predict dysphonia severity (as estimated via auditory-perceptual analysis) in samples of continuous speech. Acoustic estimates of dysphonia severity were used as an objective treatment outcomes measure in a set of pre- vs post-treatment speech samples. Pre- and post-treatment continuous speech samples from 104 females with primary muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) were rated by listeners using a 100 point visual analogue scale (VAS) and analysed acoustically with spectral/cepstral-based measures. Stepwise linear regression produced a three-factor model consisting of the cepstral peak prominence (CPP); …

Laryngeal-Level Amplitude Modulation In Vibrato, Christopher Dromey, Lorie Reese, J Arden Hopkin

Faculty Publications

Summary: The goal of this investigation was to test a new methodology for measuring amplitude modulation (AM) at the level of the vocal folds during vibrato in trained singers, because previous research has suggested that AM arises in large part as an acoustic epiphenomenon through an interaction of the harmonics in the laryngeal source with the resonances of the vocal tract as the fundamental frequency oscillates. A within-subjects model was used to compare vocal activity across three pitch and three loudness conditions. Seventeen female singers with a range of training and experience were recorded with a microphone and an electroglottograph …

Articulatory Changes In Muscle Tension Dysphonia: Evidence Of Vowel Space Expansion Following Manual Circumlaryngeal Therapy, Christopher Dromey, Nelson Roy, Shawn L. Nissen, Shimon Sapir

Faculty Publications

In a preliminary study, we documented significant changes in formant transitions associated with successful manual circumlaryngeal treatment (MCT) of muscle tension dysphonia (MTD), suggesting improvement in speech articulation. The present study explores further the effects of MTD on vowel articulation by means of additional vowel acoustic measures. Pre- and post-treatment audio recordings of 111 women with MTD were analyzed acoustically using two measures: vowel space area (VSA) and vowel articulation index (VAI), constructed using the first (F1) and second (F2) formants of 4 point vowels/ ", i, æ, u/, extracted from eight words within a standard reading passage. Pairwise t-tests …

Social Or Academic Language Intervention? You Don’T Have To Choose, Lee Robinson

Faculty Publications

Students with a variety of types of language impairments exhibit deficits that affect both social interactions and academic performance. Two types of theory of mind underlie social and academic language skills: interpersonal and intrapersonal. In this article, the authors describe strategies for developing interpersonal and intrapersonal theory of mind abilities with the goal of promoting the inferencing skills essential for comprehension of social and academic language.

The Role Of Grandparents In Childcare In Ireland: Towards A Research Agenda, Michelle Share, Liz Kerrins

Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies

This paper discusses the role of grandparents in informal childcare in Ireland. It considers how recent demographic change and government policy on childcare have the potential to place greater pressures on the provision of grandparent childcare. It illustrates research literature that has examined the prevalence and intensity of grandparent care, factors influencing such care, and the role and needs of grandparents in childcare. We argue that there are significant gaps in Irish research evidence about the extent of, role and needs of grandparents as childcarers and outline a data and research agenda that builds on previous research in this area.

Exploratory Study Investigating The Opinions Of Russian-Speaking Parents On Maintaining Their Children's Use Of The Russian Language, Sue Kraftsoff, Sarah Quinn

Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies

This study explored why and how Russian speaking parents in an Irish context maintained the Russian language in their school-age children. Using a self-administered unstandardised questionnaire, the opinions of 16 Russian-speaking parents, reporting on 24 children, were surveyed. Of this sample, five parents were then interviewed using focus group methodology. The main findings revealed that Russian-speaking parents living in Ireland strongly supported Russian language maintenance in their families and wanted their children to be as fluent as possible in the Russian language. The reasons for the support of Russian language were: cultural preservation, general knowledge of languages in addition to …

Object Detection And Texture Classification With Applications To The Diagnosis Of Skin Cancer, Jonathan Blackledge, D. A. Dubovitskiy

Books/Book chapters

We present an approach to object detection and recognition in a digital image using a classification method that is based on the application of a set of features that include fractal parameters such as the Lacunarity and Fractal Dimension. The principal issues associated with object recognition are presented and a self-learning procedure for designing a decision making engine using fuzzy logic and membership function theory considered. The methods discussed, and the ‘system’ developed, have a range of applications in ‘machine vision’ and in this publication, we focus on the development and implementation of a skin cancer screening system that can …

Development Of Cognitive Capabilities In Humanoid Robots, Vadim Tikhanoff

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Building intelligent systems with human level of competence is the ultimate grand challenge for science and technology in general, and especially for the computational intelligence community. Recent theories in autonomous cognitive systems have focused on the close integration (grounding) of communication with perception, categorisation and action. Cognitive systems are essential for integrated multi-platform systems that are capable of sensing and communicating. This thesis presents a cognitive system for a humanoid robot that integrates abilities such as object detection and recognition, which are merged with natural language understanding and refined motor controls. The work includes three studies; (1) the use of …

When Is A Terrorist Not A Terrorist?: American And Chinese Media Portrayals Of The Chinese Uighur Minority Pre And Post 9/11, Anna File, '09

Honors Projects

Over the past sixty years the Uighur population in China has faced a variety of complex issues, both domestically and internationally. In large part due to their geopolitical positioning as inhabitants of Xinjiang Province as well owing to several issues with their Muslim faith, Uighurs have constantly been at odds with the Communist traditions imposed upon them by the central Chinese government. Not only do problems with their religion affect them nationally, but more recently with the trend towards suspicion of Muslim groups by Westerners, the Uighurs are in a seemingly helpless position. This paper hypothesizes however, that this has …

Explaining Ethnic Peace: The Importance Of Institutions, Rebecca Tong, '09

Honors Projects

This paper examines the cause of ethnic peace, and subsequently, the cause of ethnic violence. Varying theories explain ethnic violence: primordialism, instrumentalism, and constructivism. The question central to this study is how master narratives, scarce resources, and democratic institutions have influenced the occurrence of ethnic violence. Small n comparison is used to analyze two pairs of sub-Saharan African nations in order to control for other explanatory variables: (1) Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, and (2) Kenya and Tanzania. In each pair, one nation is relatively peaceful and the other relatively violent. Drawing from ethnographic research papers, and news sources this paper …

Uniarab: An Universal Machine Translator System For Arabic Based On Role And Reference Grammar, Brian Nolan, Yasser Salem

Conference Papers

This paper presents a machine translation system (Hutchins 2003) called UniArab (Salem, Hensman and Nolan 2008). It is a proof-of-concept system supporting the fundamental aspects of Arabic, such as the parts of speech, agreement and tenses. UniArab is based on the linking algorithm of RRG (syntax to semantics and vice versa). UniArab takes MSA Arabic as input in the native orthography, parses the sentence(s) into a logical meta-representation based on the fully expanded RRG logical structures and, using this, generates perfectly grammatical English output with full agreement and morphological resolution. UniArab utilizes an XML-based implementation of elements of the Role …

Designing An Xml Lexicon Architecture For Arabic Machine Translation Based On Role And Reference Grammar, Brian Nolan, Yasser Salem

Conference Papers

Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) is a functional theory of grammar. The main features of Role and Reference Grammar are the use of lexical decomposition, based upon predicate semantics, an analysis of clause structure and the use of a set of thematic roles organized into a hierarchy in which the highestranking roles are Actor (for the most active participant) and Undergoer. The theory allows a sentence in a specific language to be described in terms of its logical structure and grammatical procedures. The lexicon in RRG takes the position that lexical entries for verbs should contain unique information only, with …

Signs Of Access In A Digital World: Online Delivery Of Deaf Studies Curricula In Ireland At Third Level,, Brian Nolan, Lorraine Leeson

Conference Papers

Irish Sign Language (ISL), an indigenous language of Ireland, is recognized by the European Union as a natural language. It is a language separate from the other languages used in Ireland, including English, Irish, and, in Northern Ireland, British Sign Language. Some 5,000 Deaf people use ISL. Given the history of suppression of signed languages across the EU, the average Deaf person leaves school with a reading age of 8.5 to 9 years. Given this, it is no surprise that Deaf people are the most under-represented of all disadvantaged groups at third level. This poses two challenges: (1) getting Deaf …

The Dit Dynamic Speech Corpus, Dermot Campbell, Yi Wang, Ciaran Mcdonnell, Marty Meinardi, Bunny Richardson

Conference papers

This presentation will outline the current development and functionalities of the DIT Dynamic Speech Corpus which is based on natural, informal dialogue and recorded at a high level of audio quality. The presenters will demonstrate how learners can find samples of native-to-native speech (in various L1 varieties) on a chosen topic and, in particular, speed-induced elisions, co-articulations and reductions, studying sequences in their full, natural, dialogic environment. At all stages users will be able to slow down sequences to study how native speakers produce them. First data on the acceptability and effectiveness of the slow-down technology will also be presented.

Shear Class: A Visual Ethnography Of The British Hair Salon: Part Of Portfolio Kurl Up N Dye, I Rae

School of Art, Design and Architecture

In his book The Ongoing Moment, the English writer Geoff Dyer (2005) draws out some of the common themes that have concerned photographers over the last century. His focus is the documentary tradition, primarily American, and within it he notes the homage that younger photographers pay to the history of image making that has gone before them. Barbershops are one example. Tracing a lineage from Walker Evans through Robert Frank to Michael Ormerod, with a short detour by way of Diane Arbus, he notes the ways in which the barbershop has been a recurring motif, how different people have photographed …

The Application Of Bok’S Undergraduate Educational Framework In The Analysis And Acquisition Of Core Competencies Among Camp Adventure Youth Services Seasonal Staff, Bin Ruan

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to investigate the growth trajectory of college and/or university students in core competencies from entry to exit in the Camp Adventure™ Youth Services (CAYS) experience using the lens offered by Bok's framework. Specifically, students' growth patterns in core competencies were charted at three phases, namely, (1) baseline of their core competencies at entry level; (2) after receiving knowledge and practical training on the theory and implementation of CAYS' course but before its field experience; and (3) immediately after the CAYS' field experience. The core competencies included in the study were, according to Bok's framework, …

A Speech Motor Programming Investigation Using Inhibition, Alison Michele Corbett

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Motor learning and its applications have been extensively studied, particularly in the area of sports physiology and kinesiology. From these fields, many theories of movement and its control mechanisms have evolved. Previous research has drawn upon these theatrical principles to investigate the specific parameters of skilled movements, specifically the time required to complete an action. In particular, a finger-lift task has been used to study the refractory period during which a motor program can not be inhibited when trained to occur at a particular temporal target (Slater-Hammel, 1959). The current study applies key methodological concepts from Slater-Hammel's work to examine …

Iranian American Women Writing Their Lives: Poststructuralist Analysis Of Lipstick Jihad, Funny In Farsi And Saffron Sky, Chelsea Ann Thiebaut Delucenay

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study analyzes Azadeh Moaveni's Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America and American in Iran, Firoozeh Dumas's Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America, and Gelareh Asayesh's Saffron Sky: A Life Between Iran and America all examined within, against, and through the lens of poststructuralist feminism. Emphasis is placed on issues of hybridity and naming in a dual-cultured, dual-languaged world. Moaveni, Dumas, and Asayesh begin the task of writing a memoir in order to better understand themselves and to attempt to create a solid identity based on both Iran and America. By …

Cognitive-Linguistic Abilities In Young And Middle-Aged Adults, Jamie Leigh Flatness

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The current study investigated the differences on cognition tests and whether or not an age effect existed between young versus middle-aged adults. Twenty young adults (ages 20-39) and twenty middle-aged adults (40-59) were given four cognitive tests to determine if differences in performance existed across the age groups. Tests included the Ross Information Processing Assessment-2nd revision (RIPA-2; Ross-Swain, 1996), the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RA VLT; Rey, 1964 ), the Wechsler Working Memory (WWM) subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale, 3rd edition (WMS-Ill; Wechsler, 1997), and the Cognitive Linguistic Quick Test (CLQT,· Helm-Estabrooks, 2001 ). A series of one-factor …

Supporting Value Creation By Reducing Cultural Distance As A Barrier To Exporting, Thomas Cooney, Amanda Ratcliffe, Jane Silver

Articles

Value creation at the level of the organisation involves balancing the interests of several different stakeholders, with exporting occasionally viewed as a broad-based strategy capable of achieving such equilibrium. However, while much has been written concerning the logistical and economic challenges faced by SMEs wishing to avail of market opportunities abroad, there remains a dearth of information offering solutions to overcoming cultural distance as a barrier to exporting. An EU project entitled ‘Passport to Trade’ sought to provide greater insight into business culture by collating the customs and subjective norms of all member states within the EU and making the …

The Effects Of Indian-Accented English And Need For Cognition On Message Evaluation: A Field Study, Duoc V. Nguyen

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Research has shown that Americans rate non-accented English speakers more favorably than accented English speakers (e.g., Cargile & Giles, 1997; Frumkin, 2007); however this is not always the case ( e.g., Cargile, 2000; Singer & Eder, 1988). Other factors may be involved when people are processing other people's messages. One motivating factor may be the extent to which people like to think, or have a high need for cognition (NCS; Cacioppo & Petty, 1982). As call center jobs continue to be outsourced to other countries such as India, it is important to ascertain how people with varying degrees of motivation …