No description available.

Sorace (1993) suggests that competence at the final stage of non-native acquisition falls into qualitatively distinct categories: (1) incomplete grammar, which lacks a representation for a part of the target system; (2) divergent grammar, which has the target distinctions with non-target instantiations. She captures the general nature of the two systems but leaves their contents undefined. This study adopts her proposal and investigates non-native grammars with respect to acquisition of the Polish aspects: completive, pofective and perfective, in an attempt to define the properties of incomplete or divergent knowledge in the domain of aspect. / According to the account of the aspectual system of Polish proposed in this thesis, acquisition of this system requires knowledge of the following semantic and morpho-syntactic properties: (1) aspectual interpretations, which depend on the semantic features of a VP; (2) the semantic features carried by the aspects; (3) the distinct feature context required for each aspectual interpretation; (4) restriction on feature composition with respect to the syntactic domain of derivation, namely l(exical)-syntax vs. s(syntactic)-syntax. The learners' competence, therefore, must contain information about which feature context yields which interpretation, which interpretations are unrealizable in these contexts, and which aspectual structures are allowed by virtue of their syntactic vs. lexical feature character. The Polish aspectual system involves many elements of knowledge that must be acquired for the L2 end-state to be complete. It also provides a wide range of properties whose nontarget status would lead to a divergent grammar. / Experimental data were elicited from two groups of English speakers who were advanced or near-native learners of Polish in a series of tests (grammaticality judgments, semantic and end-state compatibility tasks, and picture selection) each addressing separate sets of restrictions governing the system. Results were compared to native speaker adult and child controls. / Although the results reveal two types of competence, these cannot be categorically defined as either complete or divergent. While the near-natives' knowledge manifests a complete representation of the elements of the target grammar and native-like distinctions between the aspects, it also bears some characteristics of an incomplete system. The advanced learners manifest a system that is both divergent and incomplete. The study shows that the classification proposed by Sorace (1993) is only appropriate with reference to individual properties of grammar, as a single system of knowledge may show the characteristics of complete, incomplete, divergent and, possibly, non-divergent competence.

Les deux articles présentés dans la thèse portent sur le raisonnement conditionnel. Ce type de raisonnement occupe une place importante dans la vie courante et implique de faire des inférences avec une prémisse majeure de type « Si P, alors Q » et l'une des quatre prémisses mineures possibles. Le Modus Ponens (MP : P est vrai) et le Modus Tollens (MT : Q est faux) sont deux formes logiques dites valides puisqu'elles conduisent à une seule conclusion possible. L'Affirmation du Conséquent (AC : Q est vrai) et la Négation de l'Antécédent (NA : P est faux) sont des formes logiques invalides puisque qu'elles ne conduisent pas à une seule conclusion possible. Dans le premier article (Lortie Forgues & Markovits, 2010), nous avons évalué une prédiction tirée d'un modèle théorique développé au laboratoire (Markovits & Barrouillet, 2002) selon lequel les gens doivent inhiber l'interférence induite par la récupération d'information qui met en doute les prémisses afin de répondre logiquement aux formes valides (MP et MT). Pour tester cette hypothèse, nous avons évalué 152 participants qui ont répondu à une série aléatoire de 36 problèmes de raisonnement conditionnel (comprenant les quatre formes logiques, MP, MT, AC, NA pour chaque prémisse majeure) à l'intérieur d'un temps limité, soit avant 8,5 secondes ou avant 12,5 secondes pour chaque problème. Les résultats démontrent qu'en réduisant le temps alloué pour faire une inférence, seulement la performance aux formes MP et MT est diminuée. La performance aux formes invalides AC et NA reste, quant à elle, stable. Ces résultats sont consistants avec le modèle proposé par Markovits et Barrouillet (2002), si on assume que la réduction du temps limite spécifiquement les ressources investies dans le processus d'inhibition. Dans le second article (Lortie Forgues & Markovits, 2012) nous avons utilisé une méthodologie similaire afin de valider un des postulats fondamentaux de la théorie des Modèles Mentaux (Johnson-Laird & Byrne, 1991, 2002), une des théories les plus influentes sur le raisonnement conditionnel. Selon celle-ci, les gens raisonnent d'abord selon le modèle initial, une représentation simple menant à l'acceptation du MP et de l'AC, et complexifient leur représentation s'ils disposent des ressources cognitives nécessaires. Aucune étude ne démontre directement l'existence du modèle initial. Pour tester cette hypothèse, nous avons réalisé trois expérimentations dans lesquelles nous avons présenté à 238 participants des inférences et limité la quantité de ressources cognitives disponibles en contraignant le temps et en manipulant le niveau de familiarité du contenu des prémisses. Dans une première expérimentation, les participants devaient résoudre des problèmes construits avec des prémisses arbitraires incluant des négations avec un temps limité de 9 s, 15 s, ou un temps illimité. Une analyse des patrons individuels de réponse a démontré qu'une proportion significative de raisonneurs répondait selon le modèle initial. Dans une seconde expérimentation, nous avons présenté des prémisses arbitraires sans négation avec un temps limité de 6 s ou 8 s. Nous avons observé une augmentation du nombre de modèles initiaux avec le temps. Finalement, dans une troisième expérimentation, nous avons présenté des prémisses familières avec un temps limité de 5 s, 7 s ou un temps illimité. Les résultats ont démontré un nombre limité de modèles initiaux dans les trois conditions de temps. Globalement, les résultats des trois expérimentations suggèrent que ce type de modèle est davantage présent quand le contenu des prémisses est arbitraire. ______________________________________________________________________________

Thefts are the most prevailed crime in Lithuania as they are common worldwide, they make the biggest part of the crimes, and the increasing number of the crimes is connected to the arising number of the thievery. The thefts in this research work are examined as a separate crime sort. The key attention is paid to the examination of the thefts executed in the city of Klaipeda, the examination period includes the years from 1995 to 2003. The paper work consists of three parts. The first part surveys the conception of the thievery, the state and the level of the thefts, as well as the structure and dynamics of the thievery are disclosed as they are researched in the context of the total delinquency of Lithuania. The general criminological characteristics of the thefts in Klaipeda is researched in the second part of this work; there is looked through the social and demographic peculiarities of the city, the features of the crime situation of Klaipeda city in comparison with the ones in other biggest cities and of Lithuania in whole are overviewed at this part of the work. The thefts executed in the city of Klaipeda are examined comparing the rates of Klaipeda and other cities within Lithuanian with the rates of the whole country. The rates of the thefts performed in the city of Vilnius are emphasized. There are given characteristics of the persons who execute the thievery in the city of Klaipeda. The third part of the research paper work covers the policy of thievery control and... [to full text]

This study, based on data collected in 2006, examined the effect of microclimate, as solar aspect, on yield and quality parameters of Riesling vines of a vineyard in the Niagara Peninsula, Thirty Bench Winery, Beamsville, Ontario. Precision viticulture practices including GPS (Global Positioning System), GIS (Geographic Information System) and LIDAR (Laser Range Finder) were used to delineate the microclimate and categorize variations within the vineyard. Within GIS, slope and aspect analysis tools generated solar aspect data. Two different zones were identified and compared for yield and quality data. Monoterpene concentrations in grapes differed by solar aspect, with vines receiving elevated solar radiation showing increased monoterpene concentrations. Since monoterpenes are important to the aroma and flavour of Riesling wines, a difference could impact the quality of the wine produced. Overall, this work shows the potential of precision viticulture in the development of terroir –specific wine in the Niagara region.

Aspect-Oriented Requirement Engineering (AORE) is an emerging software engineering paradigm with increasing attention from academic as well as industrial communities. AORE aims at the systematic identification, modularization, composition and analysis of crosscutting concerns that manifest in requirements. It is believed that systematically managing crosscutting concerns early on at the requirement engineering stage can provide valuable insight at the architecture design and implementation stages and can help identify and thus manage crosscutting concerns at these stages. Moreover, identifying crosscutting concerns in requirements can help to reveal the scope of each concern in a software system, to detect potential conflicts between concerns and to facilitate trade-off negotiation early on. Hundreds of papers regarding AORE have been published in AORE communities. However, few of them address crosscutting concerns in real world requirements. Whether the proposed AORE approaches are productive when applied to real world requirements is unknown. In this thesis, we conduct an AORE case study consisting of an experiment using a real world software requirement specification in order to examine how crosscutting concerns present in real world requirement documents, explore the difference between crosscutting concerns in requirements and crosscutting concerns in code, and reason whether identifying and thus managing crosscutting concerns from real world requirements is a productive practice. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2009-09-21 15:09:27.262

This dissertation describes and compares the tense-aspect systems found in three southeastern Bantu languages, viz. Chichewa, Citumbuka and Cisena. For each language, an in-depth description of the tense-aspect categories and their use is given based on the analysis of different sources of data: audio recordings of arranged conversations and narratives, questionnaires in which native speakers of Chichewa, Citumbuka and Cisena translated English sentences into their own language, and parallel corpora of Biblical texts as well as direct elicitation and consultation sessions. The description provides evidence of dialectal variation in the tense-aspect systems in each language that has not been described systematically before. Furthermore, it discusses specific diachronic changes, such as the development of the present progressive marker -ku- into a present tense marker in Chichewa. Remoteness distinctions in the past and future tenses, which are common across Bantu, are also found in the three languages under investigation here. The use of these categories is studied in detail and a certain extent of flexibility in their use is observed. For some varieties of Chichewa, a remoteness distinction is even found for past imperfective forms referring to habits or continuous events in the past, a distinction that has not been described previously. Further emphasis is placed on the comparison of tense-aspect markings in negated as opposed to affirmative clauses. In all three languages, the perfect marker -a- is only found in affirmative clauses while a past tense marker or a particular form only found in clauses of this type, a negative perfect marker, occurs in the corresponding negative. The comparison of the three tense-aspect systems shows that the overall design of the systems and the distinctions that are made in the three languages are, despite certain differences, rather similar while the markers that express these distinctions differ across languages in many respects.

Measurement of the strength development of Cemented Paste Backfill in laboratory cast cylinders does not replicate the in situ strengths of CPB in mine stopes. The mass of CPB in a filled stope is large and temperature rises due to the heat of hydration of the cementing materials, thus accelerating the gain in strength, relative to laboratory specimens stored at ambient temperature. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact on strength development when CPB test cylinders were subjected to a temperature profile mimicking that in a large mass, such as a mine stope. Also, maturity (the integral of time and temperature during hydration of the CPB) was compared to actual strengths, and the maturity – strength concept used in concrete technology was applied. It was found that the strength- maturity relationship was applicable to CPB once the base line or datum temperature was adjusted.

Measurement of the strength development of Cemented Paste Backfill in laboratory cast cylinders does not replicate the in situ strengths of CPB in mine stopes. The mass of CPB in a filled stope is large and temperature rises due to the heat of hydration of the cementing materials, thus accelerating the gain in strength, relative to laboratory specimens stored at ambient temperature. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact on strength development when CPB test cylinders were subjected to a temperature profile mimicking that in a large mass, such as a mine stope. Also, maturity (the integral of time and temperature during hydration of the CPB) was compared to actual strengths, and the maturity – strength concept used in concrete technology was applied. It was found that the strength- maturity relationship was applicable to CPB once the base line or datum temperature was adjusted.

The focus of this research was to investigate the use of functionalized/non-functionalized multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as reinforcements for the Portland cement paste. The unique geometrical characteristics of the carbon nanotubes (CNTs), as well as its unique mechanical properties such as high strength, ductility and stiffness, were the vital motivation for this study. In this research, we combined this unique material (CNTs) with concrete which is the most used man-made material. When compared to other composite materials, a limited amount of research has been conducted on the CNTs/cement composites. In order to investigate how the aspect ratio of functionalized/non-functionalized MWCNTs affects the mechanical properties of cementitious composites, ten different mixes of the MWCNTs/cement composites were prepared and tested. The different batches had a fixed water/cement ratio of 0.4, and variations of MWCNTs length, concentration and surface treatment. The cement nanocomposites were cast in small-scale specimens (beams) for the three-point flexural testing. Four major mechanical properties were evaluated at ages of 7, 14, and 28 days from the casting day: the maximum flexural strength, ultimate strain capacity (ductility), modulus of elasticity, and modulus of toughness. The results for the different nanocomposite batches were compared with the plain cement (reference) batch. The mechanical testing results showed that at 28 days almost all of the MWCNTs composites increased the flexural strength of the cement nanocomposites. At 28 days, the long MWCNTs increased the flexural strength more than the short MWCNTs. In general, the ultimate strain (ductility) of the short MWCNTs nanocomposites was higher than the ultimate strain of the long MWCNTs nanocomposites. The flexural strength of short 0.2 percent MWNT and long 0.04 percent MWNT (OH) increased by 269 percent and 83 percent, respectively, compared to the plain cement sample at 28 days. The highest ductility at 28 days for the short 0.1 percent MWNT and the short 0.2 percent MWNT was 86 percent and 81 percent, respectively. Clear evidence was obtained from the SEM images for micro-crack bridging; many of the MWCNTs were stretching across the micro-cracks. In conclusion, CNTs as nano reinforcements, can effectively improve certain mechanical properties of the cement paste composites.