Undergraduate honors paper--Mount Holyoke College, 2005. Dept. of Psychology. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-136).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2005. / Vita. Thesis advisor: Mark Johnson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-138). Also available online.

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The thesis investigates how ambiguity - created through a smooth, continuous building envelope- can be used to alter the perception and understanding of discrete typological or primitive forms with a focus on material expression. The use of basic, primitive forms is tied to a contemporary discourse of discreteness. Contemporary practitioners are exhausted with the seductive, smooth, continuous envelopes from the 90s digital project. As a result, they have turned to generating form through loosely associated, blocky parts. However, the thesis proves - through a vast series of investigations - that there is still room to explore smooth envelopes and gradients from the 90s project - as it relates to the creation of ambiguity - with the discrete, primitive forms of contemporary discourse in order to propose an alternative way of generating form through loosely associated, blocky parts. Furthermore, by deploying basic, primitive forms, the task of analysis and interpretation is open to a larger audience. The ambiguous techniques that the thesis explores serve to challenge the typical viewer's perception of the familiar, primitive forms. By challenging their perceptions, the thesis asks for their participation and reinterpretation of the basic volumes. As a result of this participation from multiple audiences, the discipline of architecture becomes open to more people and ideas. / Master of Architecture / The thesis investigates how a continuous and ambiguous building envelope can be used to alter the perception and understanding of individual, familiar forms with a focus on material expression. Contemporary practitioners are focusing on how to generate form through individual, basic geometric objects - cubes, cylinders, cones, etc. However, the thesis proves - through a vast series of investigations - that there is room to explore continuous, smooth building envelopes with the contemporary discrete, basic objects in order to propose an alternative way of generating form through individual, basic parts. Furthermore, by deploying basic objects, the task of analysis and interpretation is open to a larger audience. The ambiguous techniques that the thesis explores serve to challenge the typical viewer's perception of the familiar objects. By challenging their perceptions, the thesis asks for their participation and reinterpretation of the volumes. As a result of this participation from multiple audiences, the discipline of architecture becomes open to more people and ideas.

<p> The structure of one of the complexes of rhenium (V) is discussed in this work, namely,[ReOOH(en) 2] (ClO4)2. Chapter I, the Introduction, surveys some of the recent work on rhenium complexes and introduces the basic problems. Chapter II contains a summary of most of the relevant theory for crystal structure determinations. The partial solution of the structure is given in Chapter III entitled Experimental. This section concludes with a discussion of the ambiguity of the actual space group, the ambiguity being whether the space group is P1, or P1. Chapter IV summarizes and discusses the results obtained and compares them with other known results. Anomolous dispersion and neutron diffraction are suggested as possible means for complete solution.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

This dissertation is an investigation into the determinants of demand for service contracts on new vehicles. In the first chapter, I characterize the consumer decision to buy a service contract with a discrete choice model. Hypotheses and conjectures are tested empirically using survey data from new vehicle buyers. The second chapter consists of the development and testing of an instrument for measuring attitudes toward uncertainty. This tool is useful in gauging aversion toward weak ambiguity. Finally, in the third chapter, I use additional survey and experimental data from new vehicle buyers to further differentiate between the factors that significantly affect the service contract purchase decision. A variety of uncertainty measures and their predictive powers are discussed. I would like to thank the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Network on Preferences and Norms, for their generous financial support, which was indispensable to the completion of this research. / Ph. D.

This research study provides a conceptual framework to understand how public managers strategically engage ambiguity and translate the complexity associated with ambiguity to manageable objectives to control complex work within federal programs. A central assumption for this study is that ambiguity is an organizational reality due to the social nature of administrative systems, influencing how managers approach and understand problem sets. This research study demonstrates the impact of management strategies in combating organizational ambiguity, at a strategic level, as well as mitigating and reducing uncertainty at more tactical levels of an organization. Theoretically, this study engages the current divide between organizational theory and public management scholarship by providing an empirical perspective on the management and execution of a key national security program. Through examination of the Container Security Initiative (CSI) program within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP), this research explores how ambiguity and uncertainty, within bureaucratic settings, is managed on an ongoing basis in the pursuit of defined goals and objectives. Examination of how public managers strategically engage ambiguity and implementation pressures, which manifest as a result of systemic external and internal pressures, to translate complexity associated with the ambiguity into manageable program objectives, provides valuable insight into the impact of managerial processes within public organizations. Through this managerial process and by setting priorities and objectives, public managers decompose and translate ambiguity and complexity in order to more actively and effectively utilize strategies and resources in support of those defined objectives. Central to the translation process is managing the interface between the strategic and tactical dimensions of programs, through goal setting and priority definition, enabling the execution of key program activities and operations. This study's findings build upon existing research that examines the role of management within public organizations, as well as challenges several assumptions within the extant literature regarding the influence and consequences of ambiguity within public organizations. Addressing the need to empirically demonstrate how management matters, this research emphasizes the role public managers play in actively engaging and managing organizational and program complexity in order to accomplish the objectives of public bureaucracies. / Ph. D.

Thesis (M.A. (Translation studies and Lingustics)) --University of Limpopo, 2015 / The aim of this study is to investigate ambiguity in Xitsonga. There are many kinds of ambiguity, but the study mainly focuses on lexical and structural ambiguity. Lexical ambiguity occurs at word level and is caused by homonyms (homophones and homographs) and polysemes. Structural ambiguity occurs at sentence level. This kind of ambiguity manifests in the structure of the sentence itself. Data were collected through self-observation as a native Xitsonga speaker. Words and sentences with multiple meanings in Xitsonga were listed and tree diagrams were used to illustrate and disambiguate ambiguity. The study reveals that, like other languages, Xitsonga has words and sentences with double or many meanings. KEYWORDS AMBIGUITY, LEXICAL AMBIGUITY, STRUCTURAL AMBIGUITY, HOMONYM, HOMOPHONES, HOMOGRAPHS, POLYSEMES.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / An artifact of QPSK modems is ambiguity of the recovered data. There are four variations of the output data for a given input data stream. All are equally probable. To resolve this ambiguity, the QPSK data streams can be differentially encoded before modulation and differentially decoded after demodulation. The encoder maps each input data pair to a phase angle change of the QPSK carrier. In the demodulator, the inverse is performed - each phase change of the input QPSK carrier is mapped to an output data pair. This paper discusses a very simple and unique differential encoder/decoder that handles all possible data pair/phase change permutations.

Language processing is a complex task requiring the integration of many different streams of information. Theorists have considered that working memory plays an important role in language processing and that a reduction in available working memory resources will reduce the efficacy of the system. In debate, however, is whether or not there exists a single pool of resources from which all language processes draw, or if the resource pool is functionally fractionated into modular subsections (e.g. syntactic processing, lexical processing etc.). This thesis seeks to investigate the role that working memory capacity plays in the utilisation of context to facilitate language processing. We experimentally manipulated the resources available to each participant using a titrated extrinsic memory load (a string of digits the length of which was tailored to each participant). Participants had to maintain the digits in memory while reading target sentences. Using this methodology we conducted six eyetracking experiments to investigate how a reduction of working memory resources influences the use of context in different language processes. Two experiments examined the resolution of syntactic ambiguities (reduced relative clauses); three examined the resolution of lexical ambiguities (balanced homonyms such as appendix); and one explored semantic predictability (It was a windy day so the boy went to the park to fly his… kite). General conclusions are hard to draw in the face of variable findings. All three experiment areas (syntactic, lexical, and semantic) show that memory loads interact with context, but there is little consistency as to where and how this occurs. In the syntactic experiments we see hints towards a general degradation in context use (supporting Single Resource Theories) whereas in the Lexical and Semantic experiments we see mixed support leaning in the direction of Multiple Resource Theories. Additionally, while individual experiments suggest that limiting working memory resources reduces the role that context plays in guiding both syntactic and lexical ambiguity resolution, more sophisticated statistical investigation indicates that these findings are not reliable. Taken together, the findings of all the experiments lead us to tentatively conclude that imposing limitations on working memory resources can influence the use of context in some language processes, but also that that influence is variant, subtle, and hard to statistically detect.