In this thesis, an interactional perspective will be taken as the main spirit to explore the functionality of conversational CS. The research will be based on the TV discussion programmes collected from Taiwan. It is found that the loci of CS are tightly correlated with its surrounding contexts such as discourse, code and participants to arrive at locally-situated meanings. Based on such findings, I have proposed three types of CS in terms of its interaction with the contextual configurations: discourse-related CS, code-related CS and participant-related CS. Four basic functions of CS can be inferred from the above findings; they are amplification, contrasting, shifting, framing and differentiation. It is argued that these functions may derive from the features of CS itself: the contrastive codes, the act of switching and the act of marking. An attempt is also made to re-examine intrasentential CS from functional and facilitative perspectives. It is argued that CS is employed by speakers to highlight the implicational meanings of an utterance, a global connection to negate with a prior discussion, or the underlying contradiction between social and self expectations. Besides, the switch sites where CS occurs within a sentence are actually very- flexible, depending on the purposes and communicative effects intended to achieve in each interactive exchange. Reiteration, lexical triggering and force of contrast can best account for such a facilitation process. CS may be creatively deployed by speakers to highlight the pragmatic function/meaning of dui/tioh, tags and metalanguaging phrases, which meanwhile weaken their inherent referential meanings. From the way how CS arrives at locally-situated meanings in conversational exchanges, speakers' intentionality of language alternation can thus be detected. By means of CS, speakers intend to contextualise the upcoming speech activity by relating the current talk to the prior talk or knowledge; in so doing, the interpretations of an utterance or a stretch of talk can thus be constrained and ambiguity can also be avoided. Speakers also intend to solve a potential or an emergent problem caused by either turn-taking rules or personal confrontation, to signal the marginality of metacognitive activities from the main discourse, or to enhance communicative efficiency in internal structuring such as narrative, argumentation and side remarks. Hearers tend to display their willingness for cooperation and participation in the proceeding talk by complying with the code choice made by the current speaker. At last, by repositioning the role of CS in interaction, a procedural model regarding the production and interpretation of CS is then preliminarily proposed.

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Language control studies generally and specifically on bilingualism has been studied by many researchers in different disciplines and on many languages. Although Cattell started the psychological research on bilingualism as early as 1887, there are really scarce studies that have exclusively investigated the language control on Arabic bilinguals. This thesis examines two important aspects of bilingual language control: language switching and word translation, which are two situations where bilinguals must be able to "release" inhibition applied to a previously used language. It reports nine experiments that investigate language switching in Arabic- English adult bilinguals in four tasks: object naming, word reading, digit naming, and word (and digit) translation: In each experiment, there were four main conditions: (a) Non-switch L1 (L1-then-L1); (b) Non-switch L2 (L2- then-L2); (c) Switch L1 (L2-theri-L1); and (d) Switch L2 (Ll-then-L2). Language switch costs were found in all experiments, and the magnitudes of these effects varied with the nature of the task: they were larger for naming objects (which are bivalent stimuli) than for reading aloud words and naming digits (which for Arabic-English bilinguals are univalent stimuli), and were larger for translating words and for producing translation equivalent names of a repeated object. However, the switch costs generally were similar for L2-to-L1 and L1-to-L2 switching. The results are interpreted within the inhibitory control model (Green, 1998), but suggest that inhibition is applied "locally" to the lexical representations of competing responses rather than "globally" to a language as a whole.

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This study explores the spatial-temporal patterns of Section 404 permitting program under the Clean Water Act and examines its impact on mean and peak annual streamflow. The study area consists of 47 sub-basins that are delineated based on USGS streamflow gauges. These sub-basins span from the southern portion of coastal Texas to the easternmost portion of coastal Texas. Descriptive, spatial and spatial-temporal statistical methods are used to explore patterns in Section 404 permitting between 1996 and 2003. The effects of Section 404 permit types on mean and peak annual streamflow over the same 8 year period are also statistically modeled with a host of other relevant control variables. Exploratory analyses of Section 404 permits demonstrated characteristics that were indicative of suburban and, to a larger extent, exurban development. Explanatory analyses of the effects of Section 404 permitting on mean and peak streamflow showed that Section 404 permits increase both measures. These increases were minimal on a per-permit basis but have the ability to accumulate over time and result in much larger increases. Section 404 permits also displayed an ordered effect based on the permit type. Permit types that represent larger impacts had larger effects. The effects of permits of streamflow followed a descending pattern of Individual permits, Letters of Permission, Nationwide permits, and General permits. This “type of permit impact” supports the use of this measure as an indicator of wetland impact and loss and corroborates previous studies that have incorporated this measure.

Informe de Seminario para optar al grado de Licenciado en Historia / Seminario de Grado : Sociedad y política en el mundo greco-romano

This thesis is an interdisciplinary analysis of humans' relationship to the natural environment, specifically how wetlands are reflected in our legislative decisions. Our perceptions of wetlands and our relationship to the environment are influenced by our locality, history, and inter-generational relationships. These perceptions shape decision-making within a community. Our relationship to the natural environment and the way we interact with it can be explained through psychological and geographical theories. Historical trends reveal our consistently negative perspectives of wetlands in the United States and a rapid decline in wetlands acreage. At the federal, state, and local level, Americans have attempted to agree upon regulations that protect both essential wetland functions and private property rights. Literature, academic discourse, newspaper articles, local voices, county employees, and legislation help reveal the relationship between perceptions of wetlands and the regulations that affect these ecosystems. Hillsborough County's wetland controversy exemplifies a debate between differing public attitudes toward wetlands similar to that seen across the state and country. Pressure from landowners and developers encouraged the Hillsborough Environmental Protection Commission to vote to eliminate the county wetland protection division in the summer of 2007. Public concern following this decision led to debate about the significance of local wetland regulations. The decision to eliminate the wetland protection division was placed on hold for further discussion. In the first four chapters I examine the historical, social and psychological roots of our relationship to wetlands. Then, chapters five and six address wetland regulations on the federal and state levels. Chapter seven is a case study of Hillsborough County's wetlands controversy that arose in summer 2007 with a commission vote to do away with the county wetlands protection. Finally, in chapter eight I attempt to bring together all sides of the wetlands conversation into towards finding a solution to what position county governments should take in regulating wetland impacts and use.