Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2004. / "UMI number: 3156241." Abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Thesis (PhD) -- University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The researcher encountered the following problems while teaching braille IWSic notation to blind learners at the Pioneer School in Worcester: • Young learners learning to read braille IWSic notation with the piano as mediwn appeared to struggle technically. For example, blind children experienced difficulty finding the correct keys over seven octaves; they had generally weak posture; they had to learn to play one part with one hand while the other hand would read; they had to memorise the music for each clef individually and then combine them cognitively; they had to memorise the soprano, alto, tenor and bass parts of a piece; they often experienced discouragement because of the very slow progress they made compared with their sighted peers. • Although learners seemed to find the recorder technically more manageable, currently available braille recorder tutors proved to be inadequate. This inadequacy was a result of the tutors having been designed for the sighted child. The researcher thus set out to design a more appropriate approach than is currently available for teaching braille music notation to the blind, with the recorder as medium. The research method was qualitative and included a literature survey which covered the following unique needs of the blind learner: • psychological • emotional and social • concept development • motor skills (orientation, laterality, posture, coordination) • tactile perception • creativity and self expression The qualitative research also included video observation of a series ofiodividual and group lessons. The lesson material emerged from a programme designed by the researcher and was based on the literatme study. An observation panel. together with the researcher, evaluated the lessons on predetenDned coded assessment criteria 'The lessons and progrannne were adapted according to feedback from the lessons. The qualitative research includes interviews with five blind learners and six teachers of braille music notation. The interviews were designed to gather information on how blind learners can more appropriately be taught the braille music code. The unique needs of blind learners, in particular those concerning orientation and perceptual awareness, are considered in this alternative approach for teaching braille music notation to blind learners. 'The alternative programme is skills based and can be used convElliently in conlunetion with the Outcomes- Based Education (OBE) modeL / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die navorser het die volgende probleme ondervind tydens baar onderrig van braille musieknotasie aan blinde leerders by Pionierskool in Worcester: • Dit wil voorkom asofjong leerders wat braille musieknotasie moet aanleer met die klavier as medium, tegniese probleme ondervind. Blinde kinders het dit byvoorbeeld moeilik gevind om die korrekte toetse oor sewe oktawe te vind; oor die algemeen was hulle houding swak; hulle moes leer om een stemparty met een hand te lees terwyl die ander hand gespeel het; hulle moes die musiek vir elke sleutelteken apart memoriseer en die stemme kognitiefbymekaar sit; hulle moes die sopraan, alt. tenoor en bas stempartye van 'n stuk memoriseer, hulle is baie keer moedeloos, weens hulle stadige vordering, in vergelyking met hulle siende portuurgroep. • A1hoewel dit gelyk het asof leerders die bioldIuit tegnies meer hanteerbaar gevind het, blyk huidige beskikbare braille bloldluit handleidings nie geskik te wees nie. Hierdie ontoereikendheid is as gevolg van die feit dat die handleidings vir die siende kind ontwerp IS. Derhalwe het die navorser gepoog om 'n meer toeganklike benadering te ontwikkel as wat tans beskikbaar is vir die onderrig van braille misieknotasie aan die blinde, met die bioldIuit as medium. Die ondersoekmetode was kwalitatief van aard en het onder andere 'n literatuuroorsig ingesluit wat die volgende unieke behoeftes van die blinde leerder ingesluit het: • siellnmdig • emosioneel en sosiaal • konsep ontwikkeling • motoriese vaardighede (oriëntasie, lateraliteit, houding, koOrdinasie) • gevoelswaarneming

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 1994. / Title from title page screen, viewed March 28, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Edward R. Hines (chair), Paul J. Baker, Ming-Gon John Lian, George A. Padavil. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 150-163) and abstract. Also available in print.

Membership in a social movement organization (SMO) and membership discourse provide space for participants to name and reconstitute their experiences, bodies, and self-images through an embodiment of organizational frames. This reconstitution is especially affirmed in the interaction of marginalized groups, such as individuals with disabilities, whom make up disability focused organizations and social movements. As a group with multiple intersectionalities, as well as an even smaller subsection of various marginalized populations, individuals with blindness face unique barriers when consideration of participants' identities and self-understandings is central in understanding entry as well as ongoing participation in organizations. Disability based organizations, represented by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), must carefully frame the organizational membership of certain individuals whom could threaten cohesion through differing understanding of identities, not revolving around disability. This thesis is an examination of the organizational discourse and the "membership meetness" of participating persons in the NFB. Goffman’s notion of “breaking frame” theoretically informs this analysis of organizational discourse produced by the 'collective blind' in one of the oldest American disability social movement organizations to date. The NFB’s attempt to mitigate the “broken frame” introduced by the incorporation of members whom are not seemingly suitable and do not self identify as blind, into an overwhelmingly blindness based enterprise is to strategically mend existing frames to reinterpret extant social norms. The purpose of this thesis is to use a grounded theory approach, to tease out how membership is framed. In the NFB, frame alignment is accomplished by: framing blindness through allies transformed as friends, framing blindness as a characteristic, framing blindness as respectability, and framing blindness through rhetorical humor in narrative. The above four frames to disability based social movements offers researchers the opportunity to understand how groups attempt to integrate into their activities members who lack “membership meetness” while simultaneously garnering support and advancing interests within the larger movement. / text

No description available.

Currently, students who read tactually must learn specific braille indicators that correspond to typeset changes such as bold, italic, and underline. These symbols do not stand out like printed attributes. To learn emphasis indicators, students must understand the concepts of print and memorize corresponding braille coding, which requires explicit training. Because tactile readers can only "see" that which is under his/her fingers, scanning and locating indicators is difficult. One must scan the passage word by word to find the emphasis indicator. In contrast, a sighted child can quickly glance at a page and recognize attributes instantly. The difficulty in tactually recognizing typeset, leads to slower recognition of important information and potentially affects reading fluency for beginning readers.This research study compared the use of the current braille code (CBC) with two alternate ways of presenting typeset. The research questions were: (a) Is there a difference in speed in finding the emphasis indicators when presented in three different formats? (b) Is there a difference in accuracy of recognizing the emphasis indicator when presented in three different formats? (c) What are the students' perceptions and opinions about the various indicators?A quasi-experimental design was implemented and three types of data were collected: (a) measurement of speed - in seconds, (b) measurement of accuracy - in number of correctly identified words and indicators, and (c) the perceptions of students before and after the data were collected. The independent variables were the three ways of presenting typeset (CBC, Ua, and Ub), and the dependent variables were speed and accuracy. Quantitative data were analyzed using ANOVA for speed and accuracy and correlational data were conducted to determine if relationships existed between speed and accuracy. Qualitative data were categorized and reported.Results showed a statistical difference between the speed at which students located words with emphasis, but no difference was found in their accuracy. Interview data showed that most students did not have a grasp of print concepts or understand the purposes of using the indicators. Students also indicated that they preferred the alternate formats (Ua or Ub), rather than the current braille code (CBC).

No description available.

Dans cette thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés aux méthodes de séparation de mélanges convolutifs de signaux cyclostationnaires, et particulièrement de signaux issus de systèmes de communications numériques. Les résultats de ces travaux concernent principalement les méthodes de séparation basées sur la minimisation d'un critère du type CMA avec une approche par déflation. Dans la première partie de ce manuscrit nous nous sommes concentrés sur les mélanges de sources non-circulaires à l'ordre 2, notamment des sources BPSK ou CPM d'indice 1/2. Nous avons montré que dans le cas où les sources ont des caractéristiques différentes (en terme de débit et de résidu de porteuse) la minimisation du critère du module constant couplée avec une approche par déflation permet d'extraire les sources du mélange sans connaître leurs fréquences cycliques ni leurs fréquences cycliques non conjuguées. Dans le cas opposé, où les sources partagent les mêmes fréquences cycliques et les mêmes fréquences cycliques non conjuguées, nous avons prouvé l'existence de minima locaux non-séparants du critère du CMA. Nous avons aussi montré que le critère du CMA converge dans un grand nombre de cas vers ces points et que par conséquent la séparation de sources n'est pas toujours réalisée pour ce type de mélanges. Nous avons ensuite proposé un nouveau critère basé sur le critère du CMA qui, couplé avec une approche par déflation, assure l'extraction des sources dans ces situations. Ce nouveau critère ne nécessite pas la connaissance des fréquences cycliques des signaux mais nécessite quand même la connaissance des fréquences cycliques non-conjuguées les plus significatives. Nous avons proposé une méthode assez grossière d'estimation de ces fréquences et nous avons montré que, avec les fréquences cycliques non-conjuguées significatives ainsi estimées, l'algorithme proposé fonctionne correctement et qu'il est capable d'extraire les sources des mélanges pour lesquels le critère du CMA échoue. Dans la deuxième partie de ce manuscript, nous nous sommes intéressés aux séparateurs dérivés du principe du maximum de vraisemblance. Nous avons d'abord étudié des mélanges instantanés des signaux cyclostationnaires et circulaires à l'ordre 2. Dans ce contexte, nous avons mis en évidence des estimateurs basés sur le principe du maximum de vraisemblance et nous avons présenté une méthode pour les implanter. Nous avons ensuite étudié les propriétés asymptotiques de ces estimateurs et nous avons montré que, dans des conditions idéales (absence du bruit), ces estimateurs permettent d'améliorer les performances du critère du CMA. Toujours dans ces conditions, nous avons montré que les estimateurs dérivés du critère du maximum de vraisemblance permettent dans certains cas d'estimer la source ayant la bande passante la plus petite avec une erreur plus petite que les méthodes usuelles. Ces résultats ne sont malheureusement plus vrais dans un context plus réaliste comme en présence de bruit. Nous avons généralisé les idées développées dans le cas de mélanges instantanés au cas de mélanges convolutifs mais pour ce type de mélanges, nous n'avons pas constaté d'amélioration des performances du critère du CMA même dans le cas non-bruité. Bien qu'en pratique cette étude n'apporte pas de grandes contributions, elle a néanmoins un intérêt théorique certain / This thesis addresses the problem of blind separation of convolutive mixtures of cyclostationnary, linearly modulated signals. We mainly focus on signals issued from digital communications systems. Our work involves separating methods based on the minimisation of a criterion (like the constant modulus) combined with a deflation approach. In the first part of the manuscript we considered convolutive mixtures of non second order circular signals such as BPSK and $1/2$ index CPM modulations. We have proven that if the transmission sources all have different baud rates and offset frequencies, minimizing the constant modulus criterion and using a deflation approach successfully achieves the extraction of the original signals from the mixture without prior knowledge of the signal cyclic and non conjugate cyclic frequencies. This result is no longer obtained if all the transmission sources have the same baud rate and frequency offset. We have proven that in this case the CMA criterion has non separating local minima and that the minimisation algorithm very often converges to these spurious points. This means that in a non-negligible number of cases separation is not achieved for this type of mixtures. We therefore propose a new criterion based on the CMA which combined with a deflation approach ensures the extraction of source signals from this particular type of mixtures. This new criterion does not need prior knowledge of the cyclic frequencies but does need information on the most significant non conjugate cyclic frequencies of the signals. We also propose an estimation method for these frequencies and we show that our new algorithm works correctly with the estimated non conjugate cyclic frequencies and that it is capable to extract all the source signals from those types of mixtures for which the CMA fails.The second part of this manuscript focuses on a class of Maximum Likelihood derived separators. We are only considering second order circularly modulated signals. We first studied the case of instantaneous mixtures and then extended our results to convolutive mixtures. For the instantaneous mixtures, we have developed Maximum Likelihood based estimators and presented an implementation method for them. We have then studied their asymptotic properties and we have shown that, in the absence of noise, these estimators improve the performance of the CMA algorithm. Under the same assumptions we have shown that the Maximum Likelihood based estimators allow, in some cases, to extract the signal with the largest bandwidth with a lower error than the one obtained when using other well known separating methods. This results however are no longer true in more realistic contexts such as the presence of noise. We have extended this study to the convolutive mixtures of signals but in this case we have not seen an important improvement on the performances achieved by the CMA algorithm, not even in the absence of noise. Even though this study does not have practical applications, it has nevertheless a certain theoretical significance

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University