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A pragmatic reconstruction of M.A.K. Halliday’s systemic functional grammar
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 319-347.1. Introduction -- 2. Halliday’s metafunctional functionalism -- 3. A pragmatic conception of symbolism -- 4. A pragmatic reconstruction of the metafunctions -- 5. A comparison of the subject notions -- 6. Halliday’s account of grammatical metaphor -- 7. A pragmatic account of grammatical variation -- 8. Conclusion -- Bibliography.M.A.K. Halliday’s metafunctional functionalism, which forms the basis for the semantics of his grammar, is based upon a revision of Bühler’s triadic functions of language. However, the more philosophical, classical American branch of the pragmatic tradition developed a likewise triadic understanding of experience, which also differs from Bühler’s. Whitehead’s pragmatic metaphysics provides the most comprehensive example of such a non-reductive philosophical system, crowned by an aesthetically-based general theory of value.These different functional trajectories suggest the possibility of reconstructing Halliday’s central functional notions, including his three metafunctions and subject notions (Theme, Subject and Actor), thereby radicalizing existing critiques advanced by McGregor, Martin, Bateman and others. On this view, the organic unity of language is based upon its expressive compositionality, grounded in the compositionality of value rather than independent metafunctions. An emphasis on action, motivated by the expression and realization of value, means that the underlying conceptions of language also differ. Although Halliday’s grammar is amongst the more comprehensive, functional linguistic theories, his functionalism is based upon the system network formalism. On this pragmatic view, the contents conveyed by a grammar are not abstract, general categories as Halliday holds, but rather valuations intrinsic to the organization of language itself. These function to organize the now grammatically central activity of reference, understood not representationally, as language transcendent, but immanently. The content of the grammar, now understood as composed of indexicals or shifters, generalized beyond words to all forms of grammatical expression, is, then, essentially reflexive, relative and variable. Indeed, not just Halliday’s textual metafunction, but the whole of the grammar provides language users with the means to jointly coordinate their linguistic activities by varying the valuations that form the organizational basis for their discourse.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xii, 347 pages) diagrams, table
Postfeminism and the representation of acquaintance rape in young adult fiction
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 231-239.Introduction -- Chapter 1. Postfeminism and paratexts : the cultural context of rape in young adult fiction -- Chapter 2. Controlling consumption : the regulation of girls' bodies in young adult rape fiction -- Chapter 3. Silence and the regulation of feminist anger in young adult rape fiction -- Chapter 4. Adolescent masculinities in young adult rape fiction -- Chapter 5. Reckoning with rape culture : individual and community in young adult rape fiction -- Conclusion -- Works cited.Anti-rape discourse was key to the success of the Women's Liberation Movement, which insisted on bringing rape into public focus. Western popular culture is now inundated with rape stories, and yet the feminism has largely disappeared from these narratives. This shift can be ascribed to postfeminism, which appears feminist through a use of feminist vocabulary but instead promotes anti-feminist neoliberal meaning. The last fifteen years have seen an increasing number of young adult novels about rape. My first chapter asserts that while authorial intention is doubtlessly to empower teenage girls, as evidenced in paratextual direct addresses to the reader, implicit anti-feminist neoliberal ideologies in the texts undermine that goal. Chapter Two examines how novels naturalise rape and condone surveillance frameworks through restrictive discourses on clothing and food, presenting female bodies as rape spaces. Chapter Three shifts focus to the affective regulation of mental states, arguing that the predominant 'silent victim' script stigmatises feminist anger, and makes the victim's traumatised psyche the 'problem' of the 'problem novel.' My fourth chapter shifts focus to boyhood, particularly the New Age Boyfriend type, whose construction in contrast to the essentially evil and undeveloped off-page rapist not only exonerates 'good guy' types from a potential to rape, but identifies rape as an inhuman, and therefore uninterrogable act. My final chapter argues that novels which reject dominant schemas of victims as isolated within hostile communities are better able to demonstrate feminist models of collectivity and interrogate rape culture. The success of the #MeToo movement signals a return to the second-wave tactic of reclaiming rape narratives as a means of empowerment. This thesis participates in this reclamation by examining how young adult fiction displaces feminism in its anti-rape discourse, and how it might be restored to promote an empowering vision of girlhood.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (239 pages
Infant-directed speech of Australian English mothers and fathers: a high and variable pitch with a more breathy and less creaky voice quality
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 79-91.1. Literature review -- 2. Methodology -- 3. Results -- 4. Discussion -- References -- Appendices.Adults spontaneously speak differently to infants, in Infant-Directed Speech (IDS), compared to Adult Directed Speech (ADS). Key acoustic characteristics of IDS are the increased utterance-level pitch measures, specifically an increased mean or median, minimum, maximum and range. Lesser-studied characteristics of IDS include increased variability in utterance-level F0 across an interaction and a breathier voice quality. Moreover, while there is an abundance of literature on mothers' IDS, there is still limited understanding of fathers' IDS. To address these gaps in the literature, this study compared utterance-level pitch properties, across-conversation pitch variability and voice quality of Australian English mothers' and fathers' IDS, compared to ADS. The final study sample consisted of eight Australian English mother-father dyads and their infant (6-12 months). IDS was elicited from parent-infant dyads during play with toys, and ADS was elicited from mother-father dyads during a play task. The IDS and ADS elicitation tasks were closely matched, maintaining consistency in interlocutor familiarity and the type of activity engaged in by dyads, thus isolating the effect of the infants' presence on both mothers' and fathers' speech. Audio recordings were segmented into utterances and perceptually coded for the presence of whispered speech, and breathy and creaky voice. Utterance-level pitch measures, the standard deviation of utterance-level F0, and the prevalence of voice quality types, were compared across parent genders and registers. Both mothers and fathers increased all utterance-level pitch measures as well as acrossconversation pitch variability in IDS, compared to ADS. Both parent genders, and especially mothers, decreased their creakiness and increased their breathiness in IDS, compared to ADS. These results are discussed in relation to methodological choices, including measures of pitch and voice quality, automated coding in acoustic analyses and task-design considerations -- abstract.1 online resource (vi, 109 pages
Self, Song, Other: identity at play in song
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 157-170.Chapter One: Introduction and thesis outline -- Chapter Two: Literature review -- Chapter Three: Methodology -- Chapter Four: Conceptual framework -- Chapter Five: Portfolio -- Chapter Six: Similarity variables -- Chapter Seven: Difference variables -- Chapter Eight: Dimensions of optimality -- Chapter Nine: Conclusion -- References -- Links to portfolio songs -- Discography (portfolio) -- Discography (general).This is a practitioner-based enquiry into the way original songwriting artists construct their public identity through songs. It views original songs as vehicles that introduce and sustain public impressions of original artists, and seeks to elicit the means by which songs perform this function. Based upon a portfolio of three commercial albums written and produced by the researcher, the thesis develops a model with which to anatomize those song variables with bearing on the public impression of the original artist. These high-profile projects provide the sites from which insights into the inner workings of creative practice emerge. Practitioner based enquiry places the professional in immersive situations, mobilising experiential knowledge to hone observational data. This methodology deploys the analytical autoethnography method for its ability to document professional situations so as to transform lived experience into theory with utility for both songwriters and scholars. Observational data witness key variables emerging in the constructions of identity within portfolio songs, and analysis is then structured by the principles of optimal distinctiveness theory (Brewer, 1991). This is the social identity theory that suggests individuals make social choices seeking a balance between drives to assimilate and drives to differentiate. This theory has also been adapted and utilised byproduct designers balancing typicality and novelty in consumer products. Optimal distinctiveness theory is adopted here to underpin a conceptual framework for understanding aspects of similarity and difference active in song, as well as assimilation and distinction in relation to peers, audience and gatekeepers. A model emerges of a range of creative choices negotiated by original artists seeking to communicate distinctive identities through songs in the Pop Rock genre. UK singer Carl Barât, and torch song balladeers CousteauX both achieved levels of prominence sufficient for industrially sourced data to triangulate both process observation and portfolio outcomes -- abstract.1 online resource (173 pages) illustration
Quantum algorithmic techniques for fault-tolerant quantum computers
No full textEmpirical thesis.Degree carried out under a cotutelle program with the University of Waterloo.Bibliography: pages139-161.1. Introduction -- 2. Background -- 3. Quantum sort and shuffle -- 4. Simulation of time-dependent Hamiltonians -- 5. Training and tomography with quantum Boltzmann machines -- 6. Conclusion and future work -- Abbreviations -- References -- Appendices.Quantum computers have the potential to push the limits of computation in areas such as quantum chemistry, cryptography, optimization, and machine learning. Even though many quantum algorithms show asymptotic improvement compared to classical ones, the overhead of running quantum computers limits when quantum computing becomes useful. Thus, by optimizing components of quantum algorithms, we can bring the regime of quantum advantage closer. My work focuses on developing efficient subroutines for quantum computation. I focus specifically on algorithms for scalable, fault-tolerant quantum computers. While it is possible that even noisy quantum computers can outperform classical ones for specific tasks, high-depth and therefore fault-tolerance is likely required for most applications. In this thesis, I introduce three sets of techniques that can be used by themselves or as subroutines in other algorithms.The first components are coherent versions of classical sort and shuffle. We require that a quantum shuffle prepares a uniform superposition over all permutations of a sequence. The quantum sort is used within the shuffle and as well as in the next algorithm in this thesis. The quantum shuffle is an essential part of state preparation for quantum chemistry computation in first quantization.Second, I review the progress of Hamiltonian simulations and give a new algorithm for simulating time-dependent Hamiltonians. This algorithm scales polylogarithmic in the inverse error, and the query complexity does not depend on the derivatives of the Hamiltonian. A time-dependent Hamiltonian simulation was recently used for interaction picture simulation with applications to quantum chemistry.Next, I present a fully quantum Boltzmann machine. I show that our algorithm can train on quantum data and learn a classical description of quantum states. This type of machine learning can be used for tomography, Hamiltonian learning, and approximate quantum cloning.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xv, 166 pages) colour illustration
Skills and rural-urban wage differences in Australia
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 63-68.1. Introduction and purpose -- 2. Literature review -- 3. Theoretical model and econometric specifications -- 4. Zoning structures -- 5. Data descriptions -- Results and discussion -- 7. Conclusions -- References -- Appendices.Growing research on the urban wage premium shows that workers in urban areas earn more than workers with similar skill levels in rural areas. In Australia, little is known about whether the urban wage premium exists or the magnitude of the premium. Using a panel approach, the study finds that differences in cognitive ability and personality traits have little impact on rural-urban wage differentials. When other differences in individual characteristics are considered, Australian workers in large urban centers still earn around 7.5% more than workers in rural areas. The relationship between local economy size and local wages is robust when endogeneity issues are accounted for by instruments. It is not evidenced from the study that stayers in urban areas enjoy higher wage growth than stayers in rural areas as the learning hypothesis suggests. It is more likely that rural-to-urban migrants go through a period of social acclimatization when they do not receive a full urban wage premium upon arrival but experience high wage growth the following year. The analysis undertaken in this dissertation suggest that in Australia, like in other countries, how much we earn depends not only on our abilities but also external factors.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (79 pages) diagrams, graphs, table
Three essays on market discipline in the banking industry
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 143-155.1. Introduction -- 2. Literature review and hypothesis development -- 3. Do the Basel III capital reforms reduce the implicit subsidy of systemically important banks? Australian evidence -- 4. Do the Basel III bail-in rules increase investors’ incentives to monitor banking risks? Evidence from the subordinated debt market -- 5. Impact of the Basel III loss absorbency requirements on the pricing and liquidity of bank capital instruments -- 6. Conclusion -- References -- Appendix.This thesis presents the reuslts of empirical research on the pricing and liquidity of various funding instruments issued by Australian banks and investigates the effects ofthe Basel III regulatory framework in promoting the risk-based pricing of banks’ funding instruments and reducing the implicit subsidies realised by systemically important banks. The research focuses on three related areas: the impact of more stringent capital regulation on the value extracted from implicit government guarantees and the associated funding cost advantage realised by systemically important banks; the impact of the Basel III bail-in mechanism (the discretionary point of non-viability trigger mechanism) on the pricing of banks’ subordinated debt securities; and the impact of the Basel III contingent convertible loss absorbency requirements (the discretionary point of non-viability trigger mechanism and the mechanical common equity capital ratio trigger mechanism) on the pricing and liquidity of banks’ hybrid debt-equity securities. An overview of previous literature identifies some important questions that this thesis aims to resolve for the benefit of regulators and industry practitioners.The first study reported in this thesis examines whether systemically important banks realise an implicit subsidy when raising wholesale debt funding and evaluates the effectiveness of the Basel III capital reforms in reducing the subsidy. The estimations suggest that, before the reforms, systemically important banks realise a subsidy of around 29-35 basis points when they raise senior unsecured borrowings and that, after the reforms are implemented, the subsidy is reduced by approximately one-half. This study finds evidence that the default protection provided by a stronger capital base substitutes for the protection provided by implicit government guarantees in lifting investor confidence in a systemically important bank.The second study examines the extent to which a bail-in risk premium is embedded in the credit spreads of bank subordinated debt securities issued with a discretionary point of non-viability trigger mechanism under the Basel III rules. Using monthly credit spreads of subordinated bonds issued by Australian banks and traded in the secondary market from 2013 to 2017, the results suggest that the Basel III point of non-viability trigger mechanism is assessed by investors when they price the subordinated debt securities issued by banks. The average bail-in risk premium is estimated to be approximately 73 basis points for fixed-rate subordinated bonds and 45 basis points for floating-rate subordinated bonds relative to old-style subordinated bonds without the bail-in mechanism. In addition, this study finds the pricing of Basel III bail-in subordinated debt has become more sensitive to bank-specific risk, 20as captured by market-based risk measures, than the old-style subordinated debt securities.The third study examines whether investors in Basel III contingent convertible capital instruments (CoCos) demand an additional risk premium when transacting the instruments in the secondary market and which of the trigger mechanisms, the regulatory discretionary trigger or the mechanical trigger, has a greater impact on the pricing of the instruments.The estimations suggest that: (i) investors in Basel III CoCos with the discretionary trigger mechanism demand an additional risk premium of around 50-60 basis points compared with hybrid securities issued without the loss absorption triggers; (ii) the additional risk premium can be attributed to the discretionary point of non-viability trigger mechanism rather than the mechanical 5.125% common equity capital ratio trigger mechanism prescribed under the Basel III rules; and (iii) compared with conventional hybrid securities, the pricing of Basel III CoCos issued with both the discretionary and mechanical trigger mechanisms is more sensitive to systematic bank risk, however, the pricing is less sensitive to bank-specific risk as captured by the distance-to-default and idiosyncratic equity volatility. Furthermore, this study investigates whether the Basel III loss absorption triggers have had an impact on the secondary market liquidity for bank hybrid securities and finds no evidence that liquidity has deteriorated overall. The results suggest that the Basel III loss absorption features have enhanced the loss-absorbing capacity of banks without disrupting the liquidity of the capital instruments in the secondary market.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (x, 157 pages) table
Enriched regular theories
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 51-52.Introduction -- 1. Background -- 2. Bases for enrichment -- 3. Regular and exact V-categories -- 4. Definable V-categories -- 5. Future directions -- Bibliography.Regular and exact categories were first introduced by Michael Barr in 1971; since then, the theory has developed and found many applications in algebra, geometry, and logic. In particular, a small regular category determines a certain theory, in the sense of logic, whose models are the regular functors into Set. In 1986 Barr showed that each small and regular category can be embedded in a particular category of presheaves; then in 1990 Makkai gave a simple explicit characterization of the essential image of the embedding, in the case where the original regular category is moreover exact. More recently Prest and Rajani, in the additive context, and Kuber and Rosicky, in the ordinary one, described a duality which connects an exact category with its (definable) category of models. Considering a suitable base for enrichment, we define an enriched notion of regularity and exactness, and prove a corresponding version of the theorems of Barr, of Makkai, and of Prest-Rajani/Kuber-Rosicky.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (i, 52 pages
Elucidating the cellular mechanisms associated with novel and known ALS genes
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 127-149.1. Introduction -- 2. Materials -- 3. Methods -- 4. Results -- 5. Discussion -- Appendix -- Ethics approval -- References.Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease wherein both upper and lower motor neurons degenerate. As the only proven cause of ALS, gene mutations not only inform diagnostic testing but also implicate disease mechanisms that underlie ALS and guide the development of cell and animal models and therapeutics. A novel gene discovery strategy prioritised two candidate genes, VPS29 and ACACB,from an Australian ALS family that was negative for known ALS mutations. This thesis sought to evaluate the pathogenicity of both candidate genes. This study found that ACACB p.I619T mislocalised and displayed increased colocalisation with TDP-43 as compared to wild-type, consistent with known cellular ALS pathology. Preliminary observations revealed that the co-expression of ACACB p.I619T with the top-ranking candidate variant VPS29 p.P70L resulted in exacerbated cellular ALS-like pathology. Proteomic analyses of cells expressing these two candidate variants suggested that pro-apoptotic PTEN and death receptor signaling pathways were dysregulated. A preliminary histopathological assessment of known ALS gene GLE1 in patient spinal cord tissue was performed to reveal whether GLE1-associated mechanisms are perturbed in ALS. Preliminary staining revealed GLE1-positive inclusion-like structures in sporadic ALS motor neurons. Overall, this study investigated the pathogenic roles of novel and known ALS genes to assess the mechanism underlying ALS pathogenesis to improve our understanding of ALS biology.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xvi, 149 pages) colour illustration
The effects of using blended learning approach on EFL students' essay writing at Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia
No full textTheoretical thesis.Includes bibliographical references and appendices.Abstract -- Chapter One: Introduction to the Study -- Chapter Two: Literature Review -- 2.0 Introduction -- 2.1. College-level Academic Writing in English as an Additional Language Contexts -- 2.2. Approaches to Teaching Academic Writing -- 2.3. The Use of Technology in Teaching -- 2.4. Blended Learning Approach in Teaching EFL Writing -- 2.5. Related Studies on Using Blended Learning in Teaching Academic Writing in EFL Contexts -- 2.6. Previous Studies in the Saudi Arabian Context -- Chapter Three: Research Methodology -- Chapter Four: Results and Discussion -- Chapter Five: Conclusion - References - Appendices.Blended learning approach has become an emerging trend in the field of education and has caught the attention and interest of many educators and researchers as a new approach to encourage students in their learning process. Although there have been some studies on the effectiveness of blended learning in teaching and learning of English writing skills in ESL and EFL contexts, yet the exploration of this important topic has been scarce in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To fill in this gap, the study reported in this thesis attempted to examine the impact of blended learning approach on improving Saudi EFL students' English essay writing skill at Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia. The sample of the study consisted of 70 EFL English major students. They were purposely chosen from the English department, Shaqra University. In order to study the effect of blended learning, an experimental research design was deemed appropriate. The experiment was conducted for six weeks (November-December 2018). The experimental group was taught using the blended learning approach whereas the control group was taught through conventional method. A pre- and post-essay test was used to measure the effect of the blended learning approach on essay writing skills. Results of the study revealed that there were significant differences in the scores of the control and the experimental groups in favour of the experimental group. The results and implications for teaching writing to Saudi students and similar English language learners are discussed.1 online resource (66 pages) table