Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University, 1981. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-79). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

One type of internal diachronic change that has been extensively studied for spoken languages is grammaticalization whereby lexical elements develop into free or bound grammatical elements. Based on a wealth of spoken languages, a large amount of prototypical grammaticalization pathways has been identified. Moreover, it has been shown that desemanticization, decategorialization, and phonetic erosion are typical characteristics of grammaticalization processes. Not surprisingly, grammaticalization is also responsible for diachronic change in sign languages. Drawing data from a fair number of sign languages, we show that grammaticalization in visual-gestural languages – as far as the development from lexical to grammatical element is concerned – follows the same developmental pathways as in spoken languages. That is, the proposed pathways are modalityindependent. Besides these intriguing parallels, however, sign languages have the possibility of developing grammatical markers from manual and non-manual co-speech gestures. We will discuss various instances of grammaticalized gestures and we will also briefly address the issue of the modality-specificity of this phenomenon.

Mindfulness has been defined in cognitive-behavioural terms in the mental health literature despite its broader application by many practitioners. Mindfulness is a complex and often ambiguous concept that has historically been understood and applied in myriad ways depending on the context; thus its application to psychotherapy outside the cognitive-behavioural tradition is not necessarily straightforward, and has not been addressed. This study addressed this gap in the literature through interviews with 9 experienced psychotherapists who integrate mindfulness with non-cognitive-behavioural psychotherapeutic modalities or eclectic psychotherapy. Interviews addressed how participants a) define mindfulness, b) apply it to psychotherapy, and c) the aims of that integration. Data were analyzed via the grounded theory approach. The results depicted mindfulness and its potential applications as broader than its presentation in the mental health literature, and emphasized the role of contexts in shaping conceptualization and application. A broad, context-based model of mindfulness/psychotherapy integration is proposed.

Mindfulness has been defined in cognitive-behavioural terms in the mental health literature despite its broader application by many practitioners. Mindfulness is a complex and often ambiguous concept that has historically been understood and applied in myriad ways depending on the context; thus its application to psychotherapy outside the cognitive-behavioural tradition is not necessarily straightforward, and has not been addressed. This study addressed this gap in the literature through interviews with 9 experienced psychotherapists who integrate mindfulness with non-cognitive-behavioural psychotherapeutic modalities or eclectic psychotherapy. Interviews addressed how participants a) define mindfulness, b) apply it to psychotherapy, and c) the aims of that integration. Data were analyzed via the grounded theory approach. The results depicted mindfulness and its potential applications as broader than its presentation in the mental health literature, and emphasized the role of contexts in shaping conceptualization and application. A broad, context-based model of mindfulness/psychotherapy integration is proposed.

Texte remanié de : thèse de doctorat : linguistique : l'Université de Beijing : 2005. / Préface, table des matière, biographie de l'auteur et résumé en englais. Bibliogr; P. 364-384. Notes bibliogr.

My guiding question is this: how does what is metaphysically differ from what was, will be, or might have been? The first half of the dissertation concerns ontology: are the apparent disputes over the existence of merely past, merely future, and merely possible entities genuine and nontrivial disputes? After demarcating the various positions one might take in these disputes, I argue that the disputes are, in fact, genuine. I then offer—in the second half of the dissertation—a limited defense of presentism, the view that only present things exist. In particular, I defend presentism against one of the most significant classes of objections to it—the class of objections claiming that it cannot account for a variety of past-oriented truths. In giving this defense, I draw on insights from the dispute between modal actualists—those who hold that everything is actual— and their rivals. / text

This dissertation deals with semantics of modality in general and semantics of the Norwegian modal verbs in particular. My lead-off assumption is that modality deals with people’s attitude towards the trustworthiness of propositions (epistemic attitude) and the presence or absence of obstacles for a state of affairs to occur (non-epistemic attitude). I distinguish between neutral and non-neutral attitude on the one hand and between simple and complex attitude on the other. Neutral attitude means that, in the speaker’s view (or someone else’s view, if the speaker is reporting others’ attitude), there are no obstacles to accept a proposition as correct or a state of affairs as likely to occur. However, the speaker may equally accept that the same proposition may turn out to be incorrect, or the same state of affairs may turn out not to be worth to occur. In either case, no conflict will arise between the speaker’s beliefs (expectations) and the reality. Non-neutral attitude means that the speaker only is willing to accept a proposition as correct, or a state of affairs as likely to occur. If the proposition turns out to be incorrect, or the state of affairs turns out not to be likely to occur, a conflict arises between the speaker’s beliefs (expectations) and reality. At the same time, the speaker may signal that other participants may have different attitudes than her own, which does not mean that the speaker is unsure about her own attitude. I use the terms simple and... [to full text] / Šioje disertacijoje tyrinėjama modalumo semantika, ypatingą dėmesį skiriant norvegų kalbos modaliniams veiksmažodžiams. Modalumas suvokiamas kaip kategorija, susijusi su žmonių požiūriu į propozicijų tikėtinumą (episteminis požiūris) ir į kliūčių įvykiams įvykti ar situacijoms susiklostyti buvimą ar nebuvimą (neepisteminis požiūris). Išskiriami, viena vertus, neutralus ir neneutralus požiūris, ir, kita vertus, paprastas ir kompleksinis požiūris. Terminas paprastas požiūris vartojamas kalbant apie atvejus, kai kalbėtojas posakyje tik išreiškia vieną požiūrį, nesudarymas prielaidų manyti, kad egzistuoja ir kitokių požiūrių galimybė. Terminas kompleksinis požiūris vartojamas kalbant apie atvejus, kai kalbėtojas, išreikšdamas vieną požiūrį, sykiu leidžia manyti, kad galima turėti ir kitokį, alternatyvų požiūrį. Neutralus požiūris visada būna paprastas, o neneutralus gali būti arba paprastas, arba kompleksinis. Toliau disertacijoje šis modelis pritaikomas norvegų kalbos modalinius veiksmažodžių KUNNE, MÅTTE, SKULLE, VILLE ir BURDE semantiniam aprašui. Esamojo laiko forma kan dažniausiai vartojama neutraliam požiūriui išreikšti, o esamojo laiko formos må, skal ir vil dažniausiai vartojamos paprastam neneutraliam požiūriui išreikšti. Ir esamojo laiko forma bør, ir būtojo laiko (preterito) forma burde dažniausiai vartojamos kompleksiniam neneutraliam požiūriui reikšti. Būtojo laiko formos skulle ir ville gali būti pavartojamos ne temporaline reikšme, transformuojant paprastą... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Šioje disertacijoje tyrinėjama modalumo semantika, ypatingą dėmesį skiriant norvegų kalbos modaliniams veiksmažodžiams. Modalumas suvokiamas kaip kategorija, susijusi su požiūriu į propozicijų tikėtinumą (episteminis požiūris) ir kliūčių buvimą ar nebuvimą įvykiams įvykti ar situacijoms susiklostyti (neepisteminis požiūris). Išskiriami, viena vertus, neutralus ir neneutralus požiūris, ir, kita vertus, paprastas ir kompleksinis požiūris. Terminas paprastas požiūris vartojamas kalbant apie atvejus, kai kalbėtojas posakyje tik išreiškia vieną požiūrį, nesudarymas prielaidų manyti, kad egzistuoja ir kitokių požiūrių galimybė. Terminas kompleksinis požiūris vartojamas kalbant apie atvejus, kai kalbėtojas, išreikšdamas vieną požiūrį, sykiu leidžia manyti, kad galima turėti ir kitokį, alternatyvų požiūrį. Neutralus požiūris visada būna paprastas, o neneutralus požiūris gali būti arba paprastas, arba kompleksinis. Toliau disertacijoje šis modelis pritaikomas norvegų kalbos modalinių veiksmažodžių KUNNE, MÅTTE, SKULLE, VILLE ir BURDE semantiniam aprašui. Esamojo laiko forma kan dažniausiai vartojama neutraliam požiūriui išreikšti, o esamojo laiko formos må, skal ir vil dažniausiai vartojamos paprastam neneutraliam požiūriui išreikšti. Ir esamojo laiko forma bør, ir būtojo laiko (preterito) forma burde dažniausiai vartojamos kompleksiniam neneutraliam požiūriui reikšti. Būtojo laiko formos skulle ir ville gali būti pavartojamos ne temporaline reikšme, transformuojant paprastą... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This dissertation deals with semantics of modality in general and semantics of the Norwegian modal verbs in particular. My starting point is the assumption that modality deals with people’s attitude towards the trustworthiness of propositions (epistemic attitude) and the presence or absence of obstacles for states of affairs to occur (non-epistemic attitude). I distinguish between neutral and non-neutral attitude on the one hand and between simple and complex attitude on the other. The terms simple and complex attitude are used to distinguish between cases where the speaker in her utterance expresses only one attitude without admitting any alternative attitudes (simple), and cases where she expresses one attitude at the same time as she signals in the same utterance that other participants may have a different attitude towards the status of the target of attitude (complex). Neutral attitude is always simple, while non-neutral attitude may be either simple or complex. Then I apply this model on the Norwegian modal verbs KUNNE, MÅTTE, SKULLE, VILLE and BURDE. I argue that the present tense form kan typically expresses neutral attitude, while the present tense forms må, skal and vil typically express non-neutral simple attitude. Both the present tense form bør and the preterite form burde typically express non-neutral complex attitude. The preterite forms skulle and ville may be used with non-temporal meaning, to transform a non-neutral simple attitude into complex attitude.

Excessive abdominal obesity, coupled with a decline in muscle mass and physical function that is exacerbated by sedentary living, contributes substantively to the disease and disability common to our aging population. The Senior Study, a randomized controlled trial designed to investigate the health benefits associated with performing resistance exercise (RE), aerobic exercise (AE), or a combination of both exercise modalities (RAE) for six months in the absence of caloric restriction, was conducted on otherwise healthy but abdominally obese, sedentary men (n=57) and women (n=79) between the ages of 60 and 80. The purpose of the first manuscript (Chapter 3) was to compare the effects of exercise modality on visceral obesity and insulin resistance in the Senior Study. All exercise groups significantly reduced total abdominal and visceral fat (P<0.05) and waist circumference (P<0.001), which measure explained 30% of the variance in total abdominal fat changes (P<0.001). AE and RAE improved insulin sensitivity (P<0.05), but the RE group did not (P>0.1). The greatest insulin sensitivity increase was observed within the RAE group (48% increase, P<0.001). The purpose of the second manuscript (Chapter 4) was to evaluate the effects of exercise modality on cardiorespiratory and functional fitness in the Senior Study. AE and RAE increased cardiorespiratory fitness (P<0.001), whereas RE did not (P>0.1). All exercise groups improved functional fitness performance (P<0.001), but age- and sex-specific percentile ranking improvement within RAE was greater than AE (P<0.01). RE and RAE significantly increased skeletal muscle (P<0.01), predominantly in the upper body, while AE did not (P=1.0). AE and RAE reduced total fat (P<0.001). Both fat loss and muscle gain were independent predictors of improvements in functional fitness (P<0.05). The findings from these studies demonstrate conclusively that a combined resistance and aerobic exercise program without caloric restriction is an optimal strategy for the therapeutic reduction of health risk in abdominally obese men and women. While each exercise modality offers distinct benefits and remains a viable option for needs-based exercise prescription, the combination was associated with the greater simultaneous improvements to body composition, insulin resistance, and cardiorespiratory and functional fitness than either resistance or aerobic exercise alone. / Thesis (Ph.D, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2007-09-13 13:21:31.772

This study examined mathematics anxiety among elementary teacher candidates, and to what extent it interacted with the modality principle under various degrees of learner-control. The experiment involved a sample of 186 elementary teacher candidates learning from eight versions of a computer program on division with fractions. The eight versions varied in modality of presentation (diagrams with narration, or diagrams with written text), control of pacing (pacing was controlled by either the learner or the system), and control of sequence (sequence was controlled by either the learner or the system). A pre-test, post-test, demographic questionnaire, subjective measure of mental effort, and the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Survey were also administered. This study revealed that mathematics anxiety was significantly positively correlated with mental effort, and significantly negatively correlated with engagement, pre-test and post-test scores. Additionally, a modality x pacing interaction was observed for both high prior knowledge and low mathematics-anxious students. Under system-pacing, the modality effect was observed, and these students achieved higher far transfer scores when learning from the diagrams and narration modality condition. However, under learner-pacing, the modality effect reversed, and high prior knowledge and low mathematics-anxious students performed better on far transfer scores when learning from the diagrams and written text modality condition. Low prior knowledge, and highly mathematics-anxious students performed poorly in all treatment conditions. Additional interactions involving sequence-control, and a four-way interaction involving prior knowledge, modality, sequence-control, and pacing were also uncovered. The results from this study demonstrate that prior knowledge and mathematics anxiety have a complex relationship with the effectiveness of the format of instruction, and the design of instructional materials needs to take into account these individual differences. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2008-09-25 19:38:33.9