1,647 research outputs found
Rating the vitality of sign languages
No full textThe Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS, Authors 2010), based on Fishman’s (1991) earlier GIDS, was developed with spoken languages in mind. As such, some wording and criteria in it do not apply easily to signed languages, reflecting the fact that signed languages have not figured prominently in the literature on language endangerment. In this paper, we propose a modification and refinement of EGIDS that is equally applicable to signed and spoken languages.
Some modifications are trivial, such as replacing “speakers” with “users” or “speakers/signers”. Since transmission of sign languages is usually not from parent to child (a relatively small proportion of deaf children have parents who know a sign language), phrases such as “transmitting [the language] to their children” need to be rewritten to put the emphasis on whether children are learning the language, not who they are learning it from. Some changes are considerably more challenging, however, such as the importance of writing. Although writing systems have been devised for some sign languages, no signing community makes regular, widespread use of a writing system. Yet, many signed languages are used in schools and thus have institutional support and other mechanisms of standardization that parallels what happens in spoken languages with established writing systems. We propose, therefore, that the key criteria that distinguish EGIDS levels 4 (Educational) and 5 (Developing) from level 6a (Vigorous) is not writing but the extent of standardization and institutional support, particularly from the formal educational system. Similarly, it is necessary to characterize normal use of a language (not in written form) in a way that does not use the word “oral”, which presupposes spoken languages. Instead, we propose “face-to-face communication”.
In making these modifications, some larger questions about language vitality of signed and spoken languages have needed to be considered. What sociolinguistic characteristics of signed languages result in a level of vitality that is comparable to a given level for spoken languages? Or, to put it another way, to what extent are signed and spoken languages affected by the same factors, and when there are differences, are these differences analogous between the two modalities? Are signed languages more or less robust than spoken languages when facing analogous pressures? (Anecdotal evidence suggests that sign languages are very resistant to replacement by spoken languages, but very easily replaced by other sign languages.) The revised EGIDS provides a first step toward answering such questions
The assessment of motivation in the Saint Paul Hotel employees
No full textPlan BKey words: hospitality and tourism, employees’ motivation, turnover, absenteeism, human resource. The collective hotel industry is a significant parrot of the world tourism industry. The industry is by design delivers services to be registered and non registered guests. Key in the process of delivering service in any hotel situation is the hotel staff. The ultimate quality of service provided will depend on the collective ability of staff, training and individual motivation to produce the services demanded by the guest. Hotels are physical structures supported by human resources that enable the delivery of service. Key in the process of delivering quality service is the individual motivation of all employees whether professional, skilled or unskilled. With the growth of the service industry the hotel industry now competes for quality service employees. Research finds that it is a challenge for hotel management today to motivate employees to provide quality services as high turnover and absenteeism is widespread in the United States hotel industry. This study evaluated the motivation factors of employees in a four star hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota. The study centered on why people choose to work for this specific hotel while modeling motivational factors that enable their overall performance. The study also sought to learn if there is a gender based difference in motivational factors. The results of the study revealed that the main reasons people choose to work at the hotel was based on the “quality” class of the hotel, interesting jobs, salary and job security. When considering the gender construct, gender did have a role influencing employees’ perception of motivational factors. Males preferred salary, job security and loyalty to employees, while females preferred interesting jobs, working environment and camaraderie with co-workers
Chern-Simons-like Gravity Theories
No full textA wide class of three-dimensional gravity models can be put into "Chern-Simons-like" form. We perform a Hamiltonian analysis of the general model and then specialise to Einstein-Cartan Gravity, General Massive Gravity, the recently proposed Zwei-Dreibein Gravity and a further parity violating generalisation combining the latter two
Disjoinable Lagrangian spheres and dilations
No full textWe consider open symplectic manifolds which admit dilations (in the sense previously introduced by Solomon and the author). We obtain restrictions on collections of Lagrangian submanifolds which are pairwise disjoint (or pairwise disjoinable by Hamiltonian isotopies) inside such manifolds. This includes the Milnor fibres of isolated hypersurface singularities which have been stabilized (by adding quadratic terms) sufficiently often.Simons Foundation (Simons Investigator Award)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant DMS-1005288
Schrodinger-Chern-Simons vortex dynamics
No full textWe study the motion of vortices in the planar Ginzburg-Landau model with Schrodinger-Chern-Simons dynamics. We compare the moduli space approximation with the results of numerical simulations of the full field theory and find that there is agreement if the coupling constant is very close to the critical value separating type I from type II superconductors. However, there are significant qualitative differences even for modest deviations from the critically coupled regime. Radiation effects produce forces which are of the same order of magnitude as the intervortex force and therefore have a significant impact on vortex motion. We conclude that the moduli space approximation does not provide a good description of the dynamics in this regime
Do Housing Rehabs Pay Their Way? A National Case Study
No full textThis research focuses on if housing rehabilitation by community development corporations pays its own way. The recent experience of ten local housing organizations in the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation network is examined. These organizations assist homeowners in rehabbing existing units and acquire, rehab and transfer units to new occupants. The findings indicate that rehabbed housing units provide substantial benefits to the local economy. The rehabbed units return $0.55, on average, for every local government dollar invested. In addition, economic benefits such as increased property values and tax base, and construction jobs and permanent jobs were created and sustained.
The Simons Observatory: Astro2020 Decadal Project Whitepaper
No full textInternational audienceThe Simons Observatory (SO) is a ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment sited on Cerro Toco in the Atacama Desert in Chile that promises to provide breakthrough discoveries in fundamental physics, cosmology, and astrophysics. Supported by the Simons Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and with contributions from collaborating institutions, SO will see first light in 2021 and start a five year survey in 2022. SO has 287 collaborators from 12 countries and 53 institutions, including 85 students and 90 postdocs. The SO experiment in its currently funded form ('SO-Nominal') consists of three 0.4 m Small Aperture Telescopes (SATs) and one 6 m Large Aperture Telescope (LAT). Optimized for minimizing systematic errors in polarization measurements at large angular scales, the SATs will perform a deep, degree-scale survey of 10% of the sky to search for the signature of primordial gravitational waves. The LAT will survey 40% of the sky with arc-minute resolution. These observations will measure (or limit) the sum of neutrino masses, search for light relics, measure the early behavior of Dark Energy, and refine our understanding of the intergalactic medium, clusters and the role of feedback in galaxy formation. With up to ten times the sensitivity and five times the angular resolution of the Planck satellite, and roughly an order of magnitude increase in mapping speed over currently operating ("Stage 3") experiments, SO will measure the CMB temperature and polarization fluctuations to exquisite precision in six frequency bands from 27 to 280 GHz. SO will rapidly advance CMB science while informing the design of future observatories such as CMB-S4
The Simons Observatory: Astro2020 Decadal Project Whitepaper
No full textInternational audienceThe Simons Observatory (SO) is a ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment sited on Cerro Toco in the Atacama Desert in Chile that promises to provide breakthrough discoveries in fundamental physics, cosmology, and astrophysics. Supported by the Simons Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and with contributions from collaborating institutions, SO will see first light in 2021 and start a five year survey in 2022. SO has 287 collaborators from 12 countries and 53 institutions, including 85 students and 90 postdocs. The SO experiment in its currently funded form ('SO-Nominal') consists of three 0.4 m Small Aperture Telescopes (SATs) and one 6 m Large Aperture Telescope (LAT). Optimized for minimizing systematic errors in polarization measurements at large angular scales, the SATs will perform a deep, degree-scale survey of 10% of the sky to search for the signature of primordial gravitational waves. The LAT will survey 40% of the sky with arc-minute resolution. These observations will measure (or limit) the sum of neutrino masses, search for light relics, measure the early behavior of Dark Energy, and refine our understanding of the intergalactic medium, clusters and the role of feedback in galaxy formation. With up to ten times the sensitivity and five times the angular resolution of the Planck satellite, and roughly an order of magnitude increase in mapping speed over currently operating ("Stage 3") experiments, SO will measure the CMB temperature and polarization fluctuations to exquisite precision in six frequency bands from 27 to 280 GHz. SO will rapidly advance CMB science while informing the design of future observatories such as CMB-S4
The Simons observatory: Astro2020 decadal project whitepaper
No full textThe Simons Observatory (SO) is a ground-based cosmic microwave background
(CMB) experiment sited on Cerro Toco in the Atacama Desert in Chile that
promises to provide breakthrough discoveries in fundamental physics, cosmology,
and astrophysics. Supported by the Simons Foundation, the Heising-Simons
Foundation, and with contributions from collaborating institutions, SO will see
first light in 2021 and start a five year survey in 2022. SO has 287
collaborators from 12 countries and 53 institutions, including 85 students and
90 postdocs.
The SO experiment in its currently funded form ('SO-Nominal') consists of
three 0.4 m Small Aperture Telescopes (SATs) and one 6 m Large Aperture
Telescope (LAT). Optimized for minimizing systematic errors in polarization
measurements at large angular scales, the SATs will perform a deep,
degree-scale survey of 10% of the sky to search for the signature of primordial
gravitational waves. The LAT will survey 40% of the sky with arc-minute
resolution. These observations will measure (or limit) the sum of neutrino
masses, search for light relics, measure the early behavior of Dark Energy, and
refine our understanding of the intergalactic medium, clusters and the role of
feedback in galaxy formation.
With up to ten times the sensitivity and five times the angular resolution of
the Planck satellite, and roughly an order of magnitude increase in mapping
speed over currently operating ("Stage 3") experiments, SO will measure the CMB
temperature and polarization fluctuations to exquisite precision in six
frequency bands from 27 to 280 GHz. SO will rapidly advance CMB science while
informing the design of future observatories such as CMB-S4
1953 Jay-Cee-An - Page [16]
No full textPhotographs of BJC freshmenFRONT L to R: Barbara Schwandt, Gayle
Stedman, Lorraine Stumpf, Elaine Sym, Helen
Schulz
BACK L to R: William Storick, Gary Sauter,
Burt Seims, Leonard Rothfusy, Paul Simons
•••
FRONT L to R: Archie
Underscher, Thomas Stoelt-ing
BACK L to R: Jerry Scha-fer,
Alfred Schock, Glen
Richter, Celeste Svehovec,
Joan Simons, Maggie Stroh
L to R: Bill Hart, Rolland Hart, Ronald Gutten-berg,
Vernon Hartwick, Leonard Goughnour,
Phyllis Grimsrud, Sylvia Hummel, Betty Hankins,
Mary Leach
fRONT L to R: Naemi Walz, Daisy
Wirch, Darlene Wright, Francis J. Wald
BACK L to R: Bill Thompson, Charles
Tolzman, Thomas Withers, Deloris Wegner,
Reuben Guenthe
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