It is well established that musicians deviate substantially from regular timing in music performance, and numerous studies have sought to characterize the origin of different expressive deviations. However, this work has thus far been limited by the necessity of analyzing renditions produced by highly-trained adult musicians, which precludes the opportunity to ask questions about how development and formal experience might affect expressive timing. In the present dissertation, I introduce a new paradigm for examining musical production in non-expert participants, the musical dwell time paradigm. In Chapters 2 and 3, I show that musically untrained adults and children as young as three years pause on phrase-final chords when self-pacing through chord sequences, mirroring the phenomenon of phrase-final lengthening that has been reported in expert music performance. I additionally demonstrate that by four years of age, this lengthening can be elicited by harmonic cues when other cues to phrase boundaries (metrical regularity and melodic contour) are controlled for. In Chapter 4, I show that when communicating different emotions through music, nonmusicians use expressive cues in a way that is highly consistent with expert musicians, and that there is striking similarity across participants despite a wide range of musical training. Finally, in Chapter 5, I demonstrate that children as young as 5 years olds’ performances mirror adults’ in their use of timing and loudness cues, and that their renditions become more adult-like by 7 years. Altogether, these findings corroborate previous claims that musically untrained adults are “listening experts” with substantial musical knowledge, extend these results to show that in performance musically untrained adults use timing and loudness similarly as expert musicians to delineate phrases and express emotions, and show that some elements are in place by early childhood. Overall, the musical dwell time paradigm offers a new, highly flexible method for examining musical production in participants with a wide variety of musical training. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Musicians often deviate from the durations notated in their musical score, slowing and speeding over the course of a performance. In the absence of deviations, music sounds mechanical or computerized rather than expressive. Studies of performances by highly-trained musicians have identified patterns in the way these duration changes are implemented, but no previous research has investigated whether formal musical experiences and development contribute to these patterns. I developed a simple music production apparatus that enables musically untrained adults and children to perform music. I asked participants to “perform” chord sequences under different conditions and measured the amount of time they spent on each chord. I uncovered how young children and untrained adults use timing deviations to delineate musical phrase groups and to communicate musical emotions. Overall, my work offers a new way to examine expressive timing patterns and suggest that formal training alone does not fully account for these patterns.

The basal ganglia provide a major neural system through which the cortex affects behavior. Most notable among these effects are those related to the voluntary control of movement as seen in neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s disease (PD). Well known tests of visual perception in PD “explicitly” measure object recognition (a high-level visual process) but “implicitly” rely on intact mid-level visual processes like grouping and figure-ground segmentation to structure the image. Hence, exploring the importance of the basal ganglia in perceptual organization (PO) abilities by examining the specific impairments incurred with the damage of such a vital structure is imperative. Therefore, this study attempted to investigate PD performance in tasks in computerized classic gestalt perception experiments with the aim of identifying any mid-level visuo-perceptual deficits. Differences were observed in the grouping by proximity dot counting task but not in other tasks that involved figure-ground segregation, part detection in embedded contexts or shape discrimination. / M.S. / Damage to the basal ganglia, a group of structures in the subcortical part of the brain (below the cerebral cortex), has long been associated primarily with Parkinson’s Disease (PD), a neurological disorder that manifests with symptoms like muscle rigidity and tremors. While several key visual and perceptual problems have also been connected to this area, very few studies have tried to describe the mechanisms by which PD functionally alters their ability to perceive the visual world. Hence, this study attempted to investigate PD performance in computerized classic perception experiments with the aim of exploring mechanisms that organize incoming visual information to structure the image called perceptual organization (PO). Differences were observed in tasks that tested their ability to group “dots” when they are varied by proximity to each other but not in other tasks that involved their ability to segregate figures from the ground, detect parts of shapes in embedded contexts or discriminate between shapes.

RTI has gained popularity in recent years. RTI uses research-based instruction, data based decisions, and early interventions to identify and remediate students early. However, little research exists regarding the effects of RTI implementation in schools. This embedded case study looks at how a subject school implemented RTI, how it intervened with its most at-risk students, and the relationship between reading scores in first grade and at the end of fourth grade. The findings show that the school implemented RTI utilizing a hybrid model, incorporating components of both the standard protocol and problem-solving approaches to RTI. To monitor student progress, the school also utilized a hybrid model incorporating components of both the direct approach and the progress monitoring approach. To provide a common understanding of the RTI model, the district created a manual that documented the RTI expectations and a manual that documented the problem-solving process. The district addressed fidelity of implementing these expectations by holding the schools accountable for instructional fidelity. The district monitored instructional fidelity through quarterly superintendent reports, monthly data meetings, and by hiring an outside consultant. The data regarding the relationship between first and fourth grade scores suggested that RTI does not differ from current research, suggesting there is a relationship between first grade reading scores and fourth grade reading scores. / Ed. D.

This study describes my experience 111 the research 1 conducted in two Harare secondary schools in which the interpretive ethnographic qualitative research methodology was used. The objective of the research was to assess the infuence of ability grouping on learners, given that ability grouping is a common practice in Zimbabwean schools. In particular, this study sought to find out how this practice affected classroom instruction, learner performance and the social relationship among learners. This study was conducted over three months at each of the schools, during which time formal interviews with teachers, administrators and learners, were conducted. These were complemented with informal conversations, where relevant comments were noted. Observation and limited participation in the two schools were also employed as means of collecting data. Analysis of documents was also done to supply more data about the practice and how it was implemented. As customary with qualitative research, I, as the researcher, was the instrument for data collection. Data were analysed by identifying themes which emerged from the statements of the respondents, and interpretation was done using the mechanism of thick description of what the respondents said and did during the interviews and observation, and what the documents had to say about this practice. I, as researcher, concluded from this study that ability grouping had a negative effect on classroom instruction for the low ability groups, since teachers tended not to prepare thoroughly for them. There was also a tendency among high ability groups to look down upon the low ability groups and to stigmatise them as "those who do not want to learn." Naturally this created a counter reaction from the low ability groups, making social relationships between members of the groups sour. l, as researcher, recommend a re-examination of this practice by the schools, with a view to either discontinue it or to work out mechanisms to remove the negative factors. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Arts in Education

O trabalho apresentado por essa dissertação busca contribuir com a atenuação do problema da correspondência em visão estéreo a partir de uma abordagem local de soluções. São usadas duas estratégias como solução às ambigüidades e às oclusões da cena: a análise multi-resolução das imagens empregando a estrutura piramidal, e a força de agrupamento perceptual, conhecida como Gestalt theory na psicologia. Inspirado no sistema visual humano, a visão estéreo é uma área de grande interesse em visão computacional, e está relacionada à recuperação de informações tridimensionais de uma cena a partir de imagens da mesma. Para isso, as imagens são capturadas em posições diferentes para o futuro relacionamento das várias projeções de um mesmo ponto 3D. Apesar de ser estudada há quase quatro décadas, ela ainda apresenta problemas de difícil solução devido às dificuldades relacionadas às distorções produzidas pela mudança da perspectiva de visualização. Dentre esses problemas destacam-se os relacionados à oclusão de pontos e também à ambigüidade gerada pela repetição ou ausência de textura nas imagens. Esses por sua vez compõem a base do problema estéreo, chamado de problema da correspondência. Os resultados obtidos são equivalentes aos obtidos por técnicas globais, com a vantagem de requerer menor complexidade computacional. O uso da teoria de agrupamento perceptual faz desse trabalho um método moderno de estimação de disparidades, visto que essa técnica é alvo de atenção especial em recentes estudos na área de visão computacional. / This work aims to give a contribution to the correspondence problem using a local approach. Two strategies are used as solution to ambiguities and occlusions: the multi-resolution analysis with irnages pyramids and the other is the perceptual grouping weight, called Gestalt theory in the psychology. Inspired by human vision system, the stereo vision is an very important area in computer vision. It is related with the 3D information recovery from a pair of images. The images are captured frorn different positions to hereafter association of the 3D point projections. Although it has being studied for quite a long time, stereo vision presents some difficult problems, related to the change of visualisation perspective. Among the different problems originated from point of view changes, occlusions and ambiguities have special attention and compose the foundation of stereo problem, named correspondence problem. The results obtained were closer to the ones generated by global techniques, with the advantage of requiring less computational complexity. The use of Gestalt theory makes this a modern disparity estimation method, as this theory has been received special attention in computer vision researchs.

O trabalho apresentado por essa dissertação busca contribuir com a atenuação do problema da correspondência em visão estéreo a partir de uma abordagem local de soluções. São usadas duas estratégias como solução às ambigüidades e às oclusões da cena: a análise multi-resolução das imagens empregando a estrutura piramidal, e a força de agrupamento perceptual, conhecida como Gestalt theory na psicologia. Inspirado no sistema visual humano, a visão estéreo é uma área de grande interesse em visão computacional, e está relacionada à recuperação de informações tridimensionais de uma cena a partir de imagens da mesma. Para isso, as imagens são capturadas em posições diferentes para o futuro relacionamento das várias projeções de um mesmo ponto 3D. Apesar de ser estudada há quase quatro décadas, ela ainda apresenta problemas de difícil solução devido às dificuldades relacionadas às distorções produzidas pela mudança da perspectiva de visualização. Dentre esses problemas destacam-se os relacionados à oclusão de pontos e também à ambigüidade gerada pela repetição ou ausência de textura nas imagens. Esses por sua vez compõem a base do problema estéreo, chamado de problema da correspondência. Os resultados obtidos são equivalentes aos obtidos por técnicas globais, com a vantagem de requerer menor complexidade computacional. O uso da teoria de agrupamento perceptual faz desse trabalho um método moderno de estimação de disparidades, visto que essa técnica é alvo de atenção especial em recentes estudos na área de visão computacional. / This work aims to give a contribution to the correspondence problem using a local approach. Two strategies are used as solution to ambiguities and occlusions: the multi-resolution analysis with irnages pyramids and the other is the perceptual grouping weight, called Gestalt theory in the psychology. Inspired by human vision system, the stereo vision is an very important area in computer vision. It is related with the 3D information recovery from a pair of images. The images are captured frorn different positions to hereafter association of the 3D point projections. Although it has being studied for quite a long time, stereo vision presents some difficult problems, related to the change of visualisation perspective. Among the different problems originated from point of view changes, occlusions and ambiguities have special attention and compose the foundation of stereo problem, named correspondence problem. The results obtained were closer to the ones generated by global techniques, with the advantage of requiring less computational complexity. The use of Gestalt theory makes this a modern disparity estimation method, as this theory has been received special attention in computer vision researchs.

The topic of ability level grouping of students for instructional purposes is one of the most studied areas of research in educational literature. However, because of the inconclusive findings in the literature, no clear answer to the question of whether homogeneous or heterogeneous grouping is in the best educational interest of students has been established. Middle level administrators play a particularly important role in the debate concerning the use of ability grouping in individual schools because the pattern for future educational tracks of students is established at the middle level. An exploration of the factors that affect the decision making processes of middle school principals concerning whether to implement homogeneous versus heterogeneous grouping was deemed to be important in lending understanding to practitioners in the field faced with the responsibility of implementation of middle school programming. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the factors that influence middle level principals in the east Tennessee region when deciding to implement homogeneous or heterogeneous grouping of students in their schools. Data were collected through a series of audio taped interviews and transcribed for inductive analysis. Themes that emerged from the data analysis of the open-ended interviews were deducted into findings presented within the context of reviewed literature. The impact of student achievement, standardized test accountability, social factors that affect students, the perceptions of teachers and parents, programming for special education and gifted students, the impact of educational research, and the personal philosophies of the research participants concerning homogeneous versus heterogeneous instruction emerged as influential themes that affected principals' decisions to implement ability level grouping. Specific recommendations for educational practice included the implementation of ability grouping at the middle level exclusively in the areas of mathematics, language, and reading, flexible scheduling that allows for movement of students between groups, and changing the yearly assignment of teachers to a specific ability group for instruction. The need for additional quantitative and qualitative research was also suggested.

Thesis (M.I.T.)--The Evergreen State College, 2010. / Title from title screen (viewed 7/7/2010). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-161).

This study describes my experience 111 the research 1 conducted in two Harare secondary schools in which the interpretive ethnographic qualitative research methodology was used. The objective of the research was to assess the infuence of ability grouping on learners, given that ability grouping is a common practice in Zimbabwean schools. In particular, this study sought to find out how this practice affected classroom instruction, learner performance and the social relationship among learners. This study was conducted over three months at each of the schools, during which time formal interviews with teachers, administrators and learners, were conducted. These were complemented with informal conversations, where relevant comments were noted. Observation and limited participation in the two schools were also employed as means of collecting data. Analysis of documents was also done to supply more data about the practice and how it was implemented. As customary with qualitative research, I, as the researcher, was the instrument for data collection. Data were analysed by identifying themes which emerged from the statements of the respondents, and interpretation was done using the mechanism of thick description of what the respondents said and did during the interviews and observation, and what the documents had to say about this practice. I, as researcher, concluded from this study that ability grouping had a negative effect on classroom instruction for the low ability groups, since teachers tended not to prepare thoroughly for them. There was also a tendency among high ability groups to look down upon the low ability groups and to stigmatise them as "those who do not want to learn." Naturally this created a counter reaction from the low ability groups, making social relationships between members of the groups sour. l, as researcher, recommend a re-examination of this practice by the schools, with a view to either discontinue it or to work out mechanisms to remove the negative factors. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)