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Acquisition of English lexical stress by English language learners
Get PDFThis is a research study that implements a novel pedagogical technique for teaching English stress to English language learners. It belongs to the subfield of language pedagogy under the umbrella of linguistics. This is a Qualifying Paper for Ph.D in linguistics.This study examines the production and perception of English lexical stress by English language learners (ELLs) whose native languages are Arabic, Chinese, and Spanish. The choice of these first languages (L1s) is intended to examine the role of a stressless language (Chinese) and languages with different stress patterns than English (Arabic and Spanish). The scope of this study is limited to examining primary stress in English words of four and five syllables. The main aim of the study is to contribute a pedagogical procedure to help the students acquire English stress. The secondary aim is to assess the impact of the L1 on English stress acquisition and to assist English language instructors to teach stress more effectively. The study is designed to start with a pretest to diagnose the students’ proficiency levels vis-à-vis English stress. Next, the researcher creates an intensive training session on the production and perception of English stress. The instruction makes use of a rule illustrated via a three-word mnemonic: Colorado, Philadelphia, and globalization. The study ends with two posttests to measure the efficacy of the training session and the acquisition rate. Outcomes reveal that Arabic, Chinese, and Spanish ELLs all face difficulty with English stress production, but the degree of difficulty varies according to the L1. Stress perception is an easier task for these ELLs. As far as the impact of the L1 is concerned, Chinese ELLs exhibit the most difficulty in producing stress. Nevertheless, they are good at English stress perception. Arabic and Spanish ELLs did not show the same difficulty. Finally, this pedagogical procedure is shown to be effective in improving English stress production and perception.Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission, Fairfax, V
THE STUDY OF DONGHOON SHIN’S COMPOSITIONAL OEUVRE: WITH A PARTICULAR FOCUS ON SHIN’S YO (2015), THE HUNTER’S FUNERAL (2017), ANECDOTE (2019), AND SONGS AND GAMES (2019)
Get PDFDonghoon Shin, born in 1983 in Seoul, South Korean, and now based in London, UK, is a contemporary classical composer, known for his innovative blend of traditional and modern compositional techniques. This dissertation delves into Shin’s musical characteristics and methodology, influenced by a broad spectrum of traditions and influences. The analysis focuses on four of Shin’s compositions: Yo (2015) for large ensemble, The Hunter’s Funeral (2017) for twelve players, Anecdote (2019) for solo sheng and ensemble, and the piano solo piece, Songs and Games (2018). Through examining Shin’s diverse repertoire across various genres, this study aims to delineate key aspects of his work, such as structure, harmony, melody, rhythm, texture, gesture, and external influences. The objective is to provide a comprehensive insight into Shin’s distinctive musical style and his contributions to the contemporary music world
China’s Foreign Aid: Examining Attitudes Toward China in Recipient States in Africa
Get PDFFollowing China’s increasing foreign aid in the latter half of the 20th century and into the 21st century, scholars and practitioners have noted interest in understanding China’s foreign aid in the context of soft power, and in the context of any implications changes to China’s soft power may have for the international system. Seated between existing bodies of literature on soft power and on aid and public opinion, this project seeks to better understand the extent to which the relationship between aid and attitudes toward China, and the relationship between aid and recipient state behavior toward China, are different based on different types of aid. Do different types of aid impact recipient state attitudes toward China differently? In exploring this question, this project seeks to better understand the relationship between aid and individual attitudes toward China at the sub-national level, as well as the relationship between aid and recipient states’ national-level policy behavior toward China.In doing so, this project models aid in terms of number of projects and value of projects (modeled both together and separately) and models aid in terms of hard development aid only, soft development aid only, and all aid types (both hard development aid and soft development aid). This project used a series of regressions, modeling aid in terms of number of projects, value of projects, number and value of projects, and in terms of hard aid, soft aid, and both hard aid and soft aid, to quantitatively examine the relationship between aid and recipient state behavior toward China at the national level, and to quantitatively examine the relationship between aid and individual attitudes toward China at the sub-national level. Then, this project used two separate descriptive case studies to examine two questions stemming from quantitative results. The first descriptive case study examined hard aid projects and soft aid projects in Benin, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea to further explore differences in the relationships between aid and recipient state behavior in those states. The second descriptive case study explores in detail soft aid projects in Bamako, Mali, the only region for which more than one model examining the relationship between aid and individual attitudes toward China yielded statistically significant results. Two results stood out. First, not all model coefficients were positive, indicating that for some countries, the relationship between aid and recipient state policy behavior toward China was negative. Second, for any given country examined in this study, coefficients were either positive for all models, or negative for all models. There were no countries that saw a positive relationship between aid and state behavior toward China when aid was modeled one way, but a negative relationship between aid and state behavior when aid was modeled another way. These findings indicate that when exploring the relationship between aid and state behavior toward China, it may not matter how aid is modeled, and it may not matter whether hard development aid or soft development aid is modeled. These results point to the likely important role other factors play on the relationship between aid and recipient state behavior toward China, be they domestic factors specific to each country or broader factors impacting different states differently within the international system. Questions focused on the range of domestic and/or international factors that may also be uniquely relevant for the relationship between aid and attitudes, and aid and recipient state behavior, may form the basis for future research inquiries on this topic
Scalable Methods for Spatial Models and Computer Model Calibration
No full textLarge spatial data are becoming increasingly prevalent in various fields such as environmental sciences, public health, and geography. These datasets often exhibit complex spatial dependence, including nonstationarity and asymmetry. Additionally, these data may also be non-Gaussian (e.g., binary, count, or extreme) or multivariate, which presents challenges in model fitting. Next, computer models (or simulators) enable researchers to understand complex dynamic processes such as the global climate, transportation networks, and disease spread. However, these computer models are often computationally expensive to run and have many unknown and uncertain inputs. Moreover, the uncertainty in the inputs propagates into highly uncertain outputs (projections). Computer model calibration focuses on inferring these unknown input parameters, yet it is subject to its own set of challenges. The focus of this thesis is to develop computationally-efficient and adaptive methodology to address these pressing issues. The contributions are as follows: (1) a flexible yet fast approach for modeling large nonstationary and non-Gaussian spatial data. The proposed methodology uses an adaptive and partition-based basis representation approach leveraging reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo to fit hierarchical spatial models; (2) an active subspace method for constructing a low-dimensional subspace sensitive to both signal and noise. The proposed method is then leveraged to build accurate surrogate models to calibrate computer models with high-dimensional inputs; and (3) a scalable approach for modeling multivariate spatial extreme data, motivated by an application in risk mitigation for extreme climate and weather hazards
The Political Economy of Christian Monasticism
Get PDFThis dissertation explores the political economy of Christian monasticism in three eras: its origins in the Eastern Roman Empire, its institutional zenith in Medieval Europe, and its collapse in Reformation England. Across all of these periods, monastics are legitimating agents for a church threatened with co-optation by a secular authority. The first chapter presents a theory of monasticism by combining the literature on the club model of religion (Iannaconne, 1992) with the literature on religious legitimacy (Greif and Rubin, 2024). I offer an analytic narrative of the religious political economy of the Eastern Roman Empire after the legalization of Christianity. Bishops became enmeshed in the rent-seeking society of Roman imperial politics and lose legitimacy as church leaders. The crisis of legitimacy threatened to break the church apart. Instead of endemic schisms, monastics developed in the midst of the larger church and credibly signaled their own independence of worldly affairs, making them impartial legitimating agents for bishops. In return, bishops grant monks the ability to influence the world through the larger church. The resulting institution is ”two-tiered” where an ascetic sect of monastics legitimates the episcopal leadership. A two-tiered church is able to benefit from the wealth and power of urban Rome while maintaining legitimacy. The second chapter explores how monasticism adapted to Europe in the feudal era by organizing into international orders that followed standardized rules. Each monastic order also faced the threat of being co-opted by secular interests and needed to strategically place themselves such that they could maintain their independence. This paper explores (1) how patterns in monastic foundations secured monastic independence and (2) how monastics acted against kings hoping to control the church through the episcopacy. I empirically test hypotheses using a novel dataset of English monasteries and episcopal elections. The third chapter, co-authored with Desiree Desierto and Mark Koyama, explores the consequences of Henry VIII’s dissolution of the English monasteries. The sale of monastic lands created a coalition of individuals who had an interest in preventing a Catholic restoration in England. Drawing on a newly compiled dataset of 16th and 17th century MPs, we first establish that borough constituencies with a higher proportion oflocal monastic lands had MPs who were more likely to support Protestantism during the reign of Mary I. Furthermore, individual MPs with connections to ex-monastic land were more likely to support Protestantism and opposed Mary I. We go on to show that these attitudes persisted in the 17th century. MPs representing boroughs with historic monastic lands were more likely to support the exclusion of the Catholic James II from the throne in 1679-1681
Three Essays on the Relationship Between Game Theory and Agent-Based Modeling
Get PDFGame theory (GT) involves formal analysis of the decisions faced by strategic agents in environments in which the payoffs received by the agents depend on the actions of all. Typically, agents in GT are treated as individually rational, that is, they do what’s best for themselves by making rational choices. GT has been widely applied in social science contexts. Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a computational methodology for representing the behavior of heterogeneous boundedly rational agents who interact through networks, away from equilibrium, i.e., more realistically than in rational choice game theory.This dissertation investigates the intersection between GT and ABM. Specifically, I have built three ABMs that relax some of the mathematically-precise but unrealistic assumptions of conventional game theory including rational choice. The first ABM involves combining social network and ‘walk away’ strategies for the Prisoner’s Dilemma. The second involves transitions from inequitable to equitable norms through collaboration in the context of the Nash demand game. The third involves a strategic context—a vehicular intersection with 4 stop signs—in which agents use their own, local ABMs in order to figure out how to best behave. With my first model, I show that high levels of cooperation in the Prisoner’s Dilemma can be sustained through a variety of mechanisms that permit the emergence of self-organized groups of cooperators. By shifting defectors high payoffs are achieved, endogenously. With the second model, I show that collaboration in inequitable regimes can lead to higher payoff for the overall population and the changes in payoff can be understood computationally despite being hard to deduce analytically. In my third model, I show that a wide variety of outcomes are possible when interacting agents build models of one another, in a 4-way stop sign situation. Incorrect perceptions and imperfect models can result in bad outcomes
Towards Metric Measure Space Learning
Get PDFDensity estimation is pivotal in manifold learning and data analysis, providing insightinto the underlying geometric structure of data. In the first part of this thesis, we link density estimation to the concept of weight from metric geometry. Specifically, we show that the weight function estimates the reciprocal of the data density function on an embedded Riemannian manifold. This leads to a novel normalization method for estimating the Laplace-Beltrami operator. In the second part, we develop the theory to generalize density estimation to metric measure spaces beyond smooth manifolds. By extending the Lebesgue Differentiation Theorem to kernel-weighted integrals, we accommodate a broader class of kernel functions than previously used in manifold learning. The final chapter shows that many aspects of our work fit into enriched category theory. We demonstrate that generalized metric spaces form an enriched category, following Lawvere’s results. This perspective allows us to define generalized kernel spaces and show that the outer measure defines a functor. This section is speculative and aims to inspire future research directions in data science
The Care Promise: Understanding the Role, Promise, and Risk of Care Institutions in Prisoner Reentry
No full textIn 2020, the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police, along with the inequities of COVID-19 impact, fueled a contentious summer of protests. The protests called for a different type of social arrangement rooted in care rather than punishment. I refer to this ideological critique of punishment, articulation of a moral obligation to care for each other, vision for communally sourced collective care, and call for integrating a care ethic into institutions, systems, and processes as the care promise. In this dissertation, I make the case that prisoner reentry constitutes an important testing ground for the care promise as an envisioned politics of care to replace existing institutions and policies of punishment. Reentry as a care institution is charged with supporting the formerly incarcerated in the transition from incarceration to the community. At the same time, it is characterized by disorganized provider networks, unresponsive policies, services that are misaligned with client needs, and programs that generally do not yield improved recidivism outcomes. Given the role of the reentry services provider in linking corrections to the community, reentry is subject to care and coercive practices that could explain many of these contradictions. Yet, we know surprisingly little about the social organization of care provision in community-based reentry. Specifically, there is a dearth of research examining how care and coercion elements interact to support or impede reintegration. Additionally, despite it being a universal human need, a central organizing principle of social life, and a conceptual counterpart to punishment, care is also conspicuously absent within the sociological and criminological inquiry on reentry. Using a broad historical lens and qualitative research design, this dissertation investigates the provision of care in reentry. First, I chronicle the historical, political, and policy shifts that gave rise to the project of care within the criminal legal context. Second, I draw on reentry planning, discharge/release, and community corrections policies and procedures to examine how care is conceptualized and structured for deployment during this early phase of the reentry process. Third, I carry out a multi-level analysis of a reentry services network to understand how the networked arrangement of reentry services provision supports and impedes reentry. Fourth, I make the general case for why care in reentry demands a more significant focus within the sociological discipline and work towards theorizing care related to this population, the post-incarceration re-integration process, and the institutional reentry context. I also consider the implications of my project for informing improved reentry policies and practices that can reduce post-incarceration recidivism and produce more equitable outcomes
Habitat Use and Conservation of Two Species of Conservation Concern in Washington, D.C. – The Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) and Woodchuck (Marmota monax)
Get PDFThe rate of urbanization is increasing exponentially, influencing the environment and wildlife habitats in metropolitan areas. While urbanization has a major impact on wildlife populations, some wildlife species still live in cities. In some cases, these species have become less common and listed as species of conservation concern for local wildlife managers. Effective conservation strategies are essential for maintaining healthy wildlife habitats. However, there is limited literature on the habitat use of specific wildlife species in urban landscapes and this has created knowledge gaps for management practices to conserve these species. This project assessed the distribution and habitat use of two understudied small mammal species in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, eastern cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus) and woodchucks (Marmota monax). Both species are considered species of conservation concern in Washington, D.C., yet very little research has focused on these species in urban environments. Using data from a long-term wildlife monitoring program, I found that tree and shrub cover positively correlated to local extinction of eastern cottontails, indicating that cottontails may prefer patchy meadow-like habitats more than continuous forest patches. I did not find a significant correlation between the variables that I collected and woodchuck occupancy. However, these results do highlight what habitat characteristics are not significant to woodchuck management. The results from this project will support urban land managers in the implementation of management strategies for these species. Studies such as this are crucial for understanding urban wildlife and conserving their habitat in large metropolitan cities
Theater as a Rhetorical Social Intervention: Using Trauma-Responsive Rhetoric with Military and Veteran Communities
Get PDFTrauma is pervasive in military culture; twenty years of war has led many in my community to face a breakdown in identity, agency, meaning and integrity. Cases of military sexual trauma, suicide, and interpersonal violence are on the rise and traditional interventions – like slide shows and lectures - do not drive much needed social change. As a military suicide prevention trainer and sexual assault victim advocate, I have witnessed the devastation of trauma firsthand, but as a theater director and rhetorician, I have also seen how theater brings people together, which helps ease the pain a little. In this dissertation, I take a transrhetorical approach (Wang) to demonstrate how trauma and theater work as Rhetorical Social Interventions (Opt and Gring) that restore hope and healing in three case studies, Social Impact Theater Project, Theater of War, and Depth of Our Souls. I build on Fallot and Harris’ original definition of trauma-informed care to introduce two new terms, Trauma-Responsive Rhetoric (TRR) and Trauma-Responsive Theater (TRT). TRR goes beyond simply being trauma-informed (TI); TRR calls on theater directors and community advocates to desperately believe broken identity, agency, meaning and integrity can be restored; relentlessly find ways to use TI to create social change; and wholeheartedly commit to integrating safety, trust, peer support, collaboration, empowerment, cultural competency, and post-traumatic growth into our rhetorical interventions. In the end, I identify twenty trauma-responsive techniques for theater programs and recommend a new model of collective healing. By sharing these findings with other communities outside the Department of Defense, I hope this project is a continued act of service to help people – military or not – feel a little less alone in our trauma response and recovery