Digital Commons Network^™

The Dispute Resolution Market, Gerhard Wagner

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Speaker Dependent Voice Recognition With Word-Tense Association And Part-Of-Speech Tagging, Theodore Philip King Ernst

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Extensive Research has been conducted on speech recognition and Speaker Recognition over the past few decades. Speaker recognition deals with identifying the speaker from multiple speakers and the ability to filter out the voice of an individual from the background for computational understanding. The more commonly researched method, speech recognition, deals only with computational linguistics. This thesis deals with speaker recognition and natural language processing. The most common speaker recognition systems are Text-Dependent and identify the speaker after a key word/phrase is uttered. This thesis presents Text-Independent Speaker recognition systems that incorporate the collaborative effort and research of noise-filtering, Speech …

Oppositional And Anxiety Behavior Profiles In A Clinical Sample Of Youth With Selective Mutism, Rachele Diliberto

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Children with selective mutism often present as a very heterogeneous population, with both anxious (APA, 2000; 2013; Kristensen 2000; Manassis et al., 2007; Steinhausen & Juzi, 1996; Yeganeh et al., 2003) and oppositional symptoms (APA, 2013; Andersson & Thomsen, 1998; Kolvin & Fundudis, 1981; Krohn, Weckstein, & Wright, 1992). This study sought to identify anxiety and oppositional behavior profiles in a clinical sample of children with selective mutism. Also, this study sought to determine both discriminant and concurrent validity for these profiles and examine their association with family expressiveness, conflict and control. Participants (n=57) included youth receiving treatment at the …

Songs By Hsiao Tyzen: The Interaction Between His Music And Taiwan, Pei-Ning Ku

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this document is to understand Taiwanese composer Hsiao Tyzen's artistic persona through analysis of the textual and musical characteristics of his songs. This document is comprised of: 1) an historical overview of Taiwan, 2) a history of Taiwanese vocal music, 3) a description of Hsiao Tyzen's life and career, 4) an introduction to Taiwanese diction, 5) an examination and analysis of musical components (melody, rhythm, accompaniment and form) of four of Tyzen's songs, and 6) a conclusion based upon sociological factors, historical influences and musical devices to define what constitutes the stylistic characteristics of the songs of …

Influence Of Social Media In Stages Of Democratization, Ira David Sternberg

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Internet and social media have become a pervasive part of our global environment over the last few decades, utilized primarily for commerce, communication, and entertainment. The last several years, however, have seen an increase in the application of social media in political discourse and activities, primarily in developed democracies and autocracies. Does that mean social media can influence democratic transition and consolidation in the 21st century? Are the examples of the Green Movement in 2009 and the Arab Spring in 2011 a validation of social media in service to democracy, or is social media also a tool for surveillance …

Impact Of A Grade Contract Model In A College Composition Course: A Multiple Case Study, Nayelee Villanueva

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Due to the complex nature of assessment in critical pedagogy practices, continued research is necessary in order to investigate the constantly evolving nature of education and the way we come to know how people learn. To research assessment in the critical classroom requires both instructor and students. This qualitative multiple case study investigated impacts of a grading contract as a form of assessment on student writing in a Basic Writing composition course. This study examined the impacts of a grade contract on students' writing, motivation for writing, revision practices, authorship and expectations of a Basic Writing composition course. Through a …

Number 18, 2014, Palara Editors

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

Complete Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1, Fall 2014; 'Fixing' The First Sale Doctrine: Adapting Copyright Law To The New Media Distribution Paradigm, Samuel Perkins

Northern Illinois Law Review Supplement

This Article discusses Section 109 of the Copyright Act, the first sale doctrine, in the context of digital media and internet-based storage. Traditionally, the first sale doctrine served as an important limitation on the exclusive rights of copyright owners, allowing copies of lawfully obtained works to be resold without interference from the copyright owner. As a result of this limitation, physical media remains freely alienable after the first sale, providing secondary markets for used copies and more consumer choice. However, due to the nature of digital media and the recent market shift among media distributors, first sale doctrine has become …

Early Bilingual Education: An Examination Of Purposely Selected Teacher Viewpoints: South East China And San Francisco Area, Shan Chen

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

In the coming years, an increasing number of children in urban Chinese areas are taking a second language at an early age. It leads to an argument about whether it is appropriate for children to learn a second language in an early age Some people disagree that idea, because children are not developed enough to receive foreign language learning.

Learning a second language early is disadvantageous for young children because they should first learn to speak the primary language well. Whereas, other people support that children should start learning second language early for three main reasons: children’s talent for language …

The Update, December 2014, University Of Northern Iowa. College Of Humanities, Arts And Sciences.

Update

Inside this issue:

-- Harlem Hellfighters: UNI Alumnus Publishes Award Winning Book
-- Department News
-- School of Music Events
-- Science Students Travel to Minneapolis: 50th Anniversary of the Nobel Conference
-- Faculty Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Awards
-- Graphic Design Students Create Work for the Community: Students Created Work for the Hearst Center for the Arts and Cedar Rock State Park
-- Alumni Spotlight: Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry: Dane Jacobson
-- Alumni Spotlight: Department of Physics: Jack Dostal
-- Alumni Spotlight: Department of Earth Science: Cara Wright
-- Student Spotlight: Department of Philosophy & World Religions: …

Assessment Of The Transition From Pinyin To Hanzi In University Level Introductory Chinese Language Courses, Ronnie Hess

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The purpose of this study was to assess how Chinese language instructors transition from pinyin to hanzi when teaching Chinese as a second language to adult learners in a university setting.

Meeting The Needs Of Students With Traumatic Brain Lnjury, Heather K. Koole

Dissertations

School reintegration following pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) presents a number of challenges. This dissertation comprises three studies exploring common themes of best practice, training, and supporting success for students with TBI in school settings.

Study 1 reports the results of a survey of 70 speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who responded to questions about their use of clinical activities that described more or less contextualized services. Current literature supports contextualized service delivery as best practice. Findings indicated that 98% of participants reported using at least one contextualized practice. Higher use of contextualized practices was associated with working in schools (compared to …

Bound By Words: Oath-Taking And Oath-Breaking In Medieval Lceland And Anglo-Saxon England, Gregory L. Laing

Dissertations

The legal and literary texts of early medieval England and Iceland share a common emphasis on truth and demonstrate its importance through the sheer volume of textual references. One of the most common applications of truth-seeking in these sources occurs in the swearing of oaths. Instances of oath-taking and oath-breaking, therefore, are critical textual loci wherein the language of swearing unites an individual’s socially constructed reputation and his personal guarantees under the careful supervision of the community. Traditionally, scholars looking at truth and attestation from the later medieval period tend to view early cases of swearing as procedural, artless, or …

The Triple Double: Racially Ambiguous Afro-Latino Identities In America, Yen Rodriguez

Master of Arts in American Studies Capstones

Historically, racial identities in the United States of America have operated on a binary platform of ethno-racial consideration. In turn, this system has classified most racially ambiguous members of society into categories that fail to acknowledge the complexity of their ethnic and racial identities. These pre-determined classifications have lasting effects on the accessibility of opportunities and the social spaces available to ethno-racially unidentifiable members of society. These groups of racially ambiguous Americans, however, challenge the efficacy of an 'either/or' binary system. This piece outlines a learning community for first year students, exploring the ethno-racial ambiguity of Afro-Latino identities in America. …

Constructing Community In The Central Arkansas River Valley: Ceramic Compositional Analysis And Collaborative Archaeology, Rebecca Wiewel

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the Central Arkansas River Valley, archaeological investigations of the protohistoric occupation in the Carden Bottoms locality of Yell County, Arkansas suggest the interaction of groups from three adjoining regions at the site (the Central Mississippi Valley, the Lower

Arkansas River Valley, and the Middle Ouachita region). Until now, the analysis of whole ceramic vessels associated with the site (derived from looted contexts) constituted the strongest evidence of this process, but this analysis was based on stylistic cues and macroscopic examination of pastes to discriminate between local and nonlocal wares. This project employed instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) as an …

America's Closet Door: An Investigation Of Television And Its Effects On Perceptions Of Homosexuality, Sara Moroni

Honors Theses

This study investigates the relationship between television and social perceptions. It uses the television shows Will&Grace, The L Word, Queer as Folk, and Modern Family for rhetorical analysis. Then, it uses the information gained from the analysis to hypothesize how and why these television shows both reflect and affect social perceptions of homosexuality.

Assessing Pragmatic Language In Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Yale In Vivo Pragmatic Protocol, Elizabeth Schoen Simmons, Rhea Paul, Fred Volkmar

Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Purpose: This study compared pragmatic language in youths (9–17 years) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those with typical development (TD) on the Yale in vivo Pragmatic Protocol (YiPP), a semistructured, dynamic conversational assessment. Method: Participants (n = 118) were divided into groups based on age and diagnosis. Each completed the YiPP, which included 4 pragmatic domains (discourse management, communicative functions, conversational repair, presupposition). The participant’s response to each probe was scored correct or incorrect; incorrect scores elicited cues from the examiner, and level of cue required for a correction was also scored. Results: The YiPP showed high reliability and …

Pedagogy : Reconsiderations And Reorientations., John Vance

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a critical intervention into the question of student agency. An interdisciplinary project that draws upon philosophy and linguistics, it reviews four major tendencies that have animated composition pedagogy over the last several decades— process theory, social-constructivism, procedural rhetoric, and trans-lingual pedagogies— and identifies some of the key tensions that both motivate and problematize these approaches. First, it examines the debate between Peter Elbow and David Bartholomae, and the interplay between teachers’ authority and student agency. Second, it explores the imbrications between representation and materiality in social constructivism. Third, it uses Alain Badiou’s Being and Event to analyze …

Against The Grain : The Challenges Of Black Discourse Within Intercollegiate Policy Debate., Tiffany Yvonne Dillard-Knox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research uses the speech community model of analysis to illustrate how language is used to determine inclusion into and exclusion from Debate. This has been done by examining the use of four Black discourse types in Intercollegiate Policy Debate: signifying, call and response, tonal semantics, and narrative sequencing to show the ways in which current debate practices (un)intentionally exclude Blacks. Upon examination, one can see that there is educational value to the methods used by majority of the Black student population within Debate. In addition to being a tool of empowerment for this student population, these students can also …

Perceived Mother And Father Acceptance-Rejection Predict Four Unique Aspects Of Child Adjustment Across Nine Countries, Diane L. Putnick, Marc H. Bornstein, Jennifer E. Lansford, Patrick S. Malone, Concetta Pastorelli, Ann T. Skinner, Emma Sorbring, Sombat Tapanya, Liliana Maria Uribe Tirado, Arnaldo Zelli, Liane Peña Alampay, Suha M. Al-Hassan, Dario Bacchini, Anna Silvia Bombi, Lei Chang, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Laura Di Giunta, Kenneth A. Dodge, Paul Oburu

Psychology Department Faculty Publications

Background

It is generally believed that parental rejection of children leads to child maladaptation. However, the specific effects of perceived parental acceptance-rejection on diverse domains of child adjustment and development have been incompletely documented, and whether these effects hold across diverse populations and for mothers and fathers are still open questions.

Methods

This study assessed children's perceptions of mother and father acceptance-rejection in 1247 families from China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States as antecedent predictors of later internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, school performance, prosocial behavior, and social competence.

Results

Higher perceived parental …

Increasing Student Achievement In English Language Learners Through Dual Language: A Policy Advocacy Document, Melissa Durrance

Dissertations

English language learners (ELL) represent the fastest growing population of learners in our schools. A substantial and continuing education achievement gap exists between ELLs and English speaking students and an alarmingly disproportionate number of ELL students contribute to the dropout rate. As educators, it is imperative that we provide educational programs to help reduce the achievement gap. All students deserve an education that will enable them to be productive citizens and that will provide them with the skills needed to enter either a career or an institution of continuing education upon graduation. As a solution to the increasing dropout rate …

Teacher And Evaluator Perspectives On The Teacher Evaluation Process For Teachers Of English Language Learners: A Change Leadership Plan, Nancy Martinez

Dissertations

This paper examines the need to add indicators to the current teacher evaluation system that are specific to English Language Learners (ELLs). Florida teacher evaluation protocols do not specify ELL-specific instructional strategies. This study explores perceptions of ELL teachers and school administrators on the fairness of current evaluative practices for ELL teachers. I considered research that supported the need for differentiated instruction for ELLs. I used the diagnostic framework by Wagner et al. (2006) to identify “arenas” of change: culture, context, conditions, and competencies. I used these arenas to present the existing situation in a school district. I then presented …

A Clinical Approach To Disorders Of Speech, Apoorva Pauranik

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

Disorders of speech and communication, including Aphasia (mainly post stroke) are a major community health burden in terms of DALY (Disability Adjusted Life Years). Unfortunately they are relatively neglected with huge treatment gap. Traditionally aphasia related lesion sites have been grouped with reference to Rolandic & Sylvian fissures. However the theoretical models of language and speech organization in brain have undergone major conceptual shifts due to advances in cognitive neuropsychology, linguistics and functional neuro-imaging. Much more widely distributed overlapping neural networks are understood to be actively involved in various communication activities. The notion of speech centers or areas is somewhat …

Beyond Gothic : Ye Si's Spectral Hong Kong And The Global Culture Crisis = 哥特之外 : 也斯的鬼怪香港與全球化危機, Andrea Riemenschnitter

Journal of Modern Literature in Chinese 現代中文文學學報

No abstract provided.

Designing Acoustics For Linguistically Diverse Classrooms: Effects Of Background Noise, Reverberation And Talker Foreign Accent On Speech Comprehension By Native And Non-Native English-Speaking Listeners, Z. Ellen Peng

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The current classroom acoustics standard (ANSI S12.60-2010) recommends core learning spaces not to exceed background noise level (BNL) of 35 dBA and reverberation time (RT) of 0.6 second, based on speech intelligibility performance mainly by the native English-speaking population. Existing literature has not correlated these recommended values well with student learning outcomes. With a growing population of non-native English speakers in American classrooms, the special needs for perceiving degraded speech among non-native listeners, either due to realistic room acoustics or talker foreign accent, have not been addressed in the current standard. This research seeks to investigate the effects of BNL …

The Effect Of Computer-Based Pronunciation Readings On Esl Learners' Perception And Production Of Prosodic Features In A Short-Term Esp Course, Caitlin Jolley

Theses and Dissertations

Recent studies on pronunciation teaching in ESL classrooms have found that the teaching of suprasegmentals, namely stress, pausing, and intonation, has a great effect on improving intelligibility (Derwing, Munro, & Wiebe, 1998; Kang, Rubin, & Pickering, 2010; Morley, 1991). The current project describes the development and implementation of computer-based pronunciation materials used for an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) program. The pronunciation program made use of cued pronunciation readings (CPRs) which used suprasegmentals and were developed for English as a second language (ESL) missionaries at the Provo, Utah, Missionary Training Center (MTC). Because there was no pronunciation program in place …

A Comparison Of Fifth Grade Mathematics Curriculum Materials, Michael E. Starks Sr.

Dissertations

In the USA, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 resulted in requirements placed on school districts to show student achievement in mathematics, based on measured adequate yearly progress. This caused school districts to search for standards based programs that improve mathematics learning. A quantitative multi-year study was used to compare the state-assessed achievement levels of 1,695 fifth-grade Midwestern children in the state of Missouri, who learned mathematics from two different curriculum-delivery programs, EveryDay Mathematics and EnVision Mathematics. A 2 by 2 by 8 research design was used through the choice of two elementary schools using EveryDay Mathematics and …

Native Mandarin Speakers' Perception And Production Of English Stop + Liquid Clusters In Onset Position, Melissa Lea Walden

Theses - ALL

ABSTRACT

Much of the past research on Native Mandarin speakers' acquisition of English consonants has focused on codas because of the constraint against stop phonemes as codas. Native Mandarin speakers face a range of challenges in the process of acquiring English because of the variation between the syllable structures of English and Mandarin, and the variation between the two phonological systems. Past research has investigated native Mandarin speakers' perception, and production of English words. Based on the reviewed literature for this study, stop and liquid clusters in onset position which contrast according to voicing have not been the focus of …

Book Reviews: Monographic Musings, Debbie Vaughn

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

Inclusive Recreation: The Malleability Of Attitudes Toward Disability Through Peer Interaction, Megan Fort

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the malleability of attitudes with the goal of improving social inclusion for a stigmatized group, specifically individuals with developmental disabilities. Contact Theory was used as an intentional structure for meaningful intergroup contact to assess, understand, and improve meanings applied to individuals with disabilities at an inclusive summer day camp. Adolescent volunteers were administered quantitative questionnaires utilizing the Contact with Disabled Persons Scale (CDP) and the Multi-Dimensional Attitude Scale (MAS). Collected data were used to determine the efficacy of involvement in an inclusive recreation program on adolescent participants' attitudes toward disability. After a covariate-adjusted regression analysis, contact with …