Syftet med föreliggande studie var att göra jämförelser mellan små barn med typisk språklig utveckling och små barn med språkstörning avseende impressivt och expressivt ordförråd samt användning av gester. Fyra barn med typisk språkutveckling rekryterades till studien. Dessa barn var köns- och åldersmatchade med redan insamlat material från fyra barn med språkstörning. Åldrarna på barnen (en flicka, tre pojkar) var 33–51 månader. Impressivt och expressivt ordförråd testades med Picture Naming Game (PiNG) och testsituationen videofilmades för att möjliggöra undersökning av barnens användning av deiktiska, ikoniska och emblematiska gester. Resultaten visar att barnen med typisk språklig utveckling på gruppnivå erhöll ett högre resultat på PiNG jämfört med de matchade barnen med språkstörning. Barnen med typisk utveckling utförde ett lägre antal totalt använda gester, ett lägre antal deiktiska och ikoniska gester samt hade färre gester synkroniserade med tal jämfört med barnen med språkstörning. Barnen med typisk språklig utveckling utförde fler emblematiska gester samt hade en högre andel gester synkroniserade med tal än barnen med språkstörning. Endast en av de uppmätta skillnaderna uppnådde statistisk signifikans vilket identifierades i användandet av emblem under expressiva testuppgifter där TD-gruppen använde signifikant fler emblem än barnen i DLD-gruppen. Då inga signifikanta skillnader förelåg mellan gruppernas totala PiNG-resultat och användning av gester gjordes en gemensam korrelationsanalys där en stark och signifikant negativ korrelation (p=0,01832) mellan barnens ålder och användning av ikoniska gester identifierades. Resultatet i föreliggande studie indikerar att gestanvändningen kan vara värdefull att inkludera vid bedömning av barn och utredning av eventuell språkstörning. Det finns dock behov av fler studier inom detta område och analys av en större mängd data behövs. / The purpose of the present study was to make comparisons between young children with typical language development and young children with developmental language disorder regarding impressive and expressive vocabulary and use of gestures. Four children with typical language development were recruited to the study. These children were sex- and age-matched with already collected data from four children with language impairment. The ages of the children (one girl, three boys) were 33- 51 months. Receptive and expressive vocabulary was tested with the Picture Naming Game (PiNG) and the test situation was video recorded to enable examination of the children's use of deictic, iconic and emblematic gestures. The results show that the children with typical language development at the group level obtained a higher result on the PiNG compared to the age- and gender matched children with a developmental language disorder. The children with typical development performed a lower number of total gestures, a lower number of deictic and iconic gestures as well as fewer gestures synchronized with speech in comparison to the children with developmental language disorder. The children with typical language development performed more emblematic gestures and had a higher percentage of gestures synchronized with speech than the children with language disorder. Only one significant difference was identified between the groups. Statistical significance was identified in the use of emblematic gestures during expressive tasks of PiNG where the children in the TD-group used significantly more emblematic gestures than the children in the DLD-group. As there were no significant differences between the groups regarding the total result of PiNG and the use of gestures, a joint correlation analysis was performed where a strong and significant negative correlation (p=0.01832) between the children's age and the use of iconic gestures was identified. The results of the present study indicate that the use of gestures can be valuable to include when assessing children and investigating possible language disorders. However, there is a need for more studies in this area and analysis of a larger amount of data is needed.

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The use in pictorial art of visual reference to prototypes and conventions in encoding reality forms the crux of the theoretical research. The theoretical component complements the practical research, which focuses on the interplay between perceptions of 'reality' and visual conventions in landscape art. The existence of diverse realities, based on individual ideological and sociocultural perspectives, is acknowledged. In encoding these realities, artists may draw on a reservoir of stylistic, formal and conceptual prototypes. Visual reference constitutes an allegorical procedure because the artist refers to an antecedent text in the representation of a particular 'reality'. Pictorial signs also rely on conventions to convey meaning. Both the perception and the artistic recreation of different realities may thus be regarded as recycling processes. In a world saturated with visual information, reference to prototypes is a powerful procedure which assists contemporary pictorial artists in the creation of meaningful images of current realities. / Art History, Visual Arts & Musicology / M.A. (Fine Arts)

本研究旨在探討「以常用詞根輔以圖像構詞式詞彙教學法」、「常用詞根無圖像構詞式詞彙教學法」及傳統的「詞義說明式詞彙教學法」在學生的詞彙記憶上的差異；本研究亦探討學生的英文詞彙量、構詞察覺度、短期記憶、長期記憶及拼詞能力之間的相關。 本研究的主要發現如下：接受「以常用詞根輔以圖像構詞式詞彙教學法」的學生比接受「常用詞根無圖像構詞式詞彙教學法」及傳統的「詞義說明式詞彙教學法」的學生表現出更好的構詞察覺度、短期記憶、長期記憶及拼詞能力。在這三組中，構詞察覺度較高的學生對生詞有較佳的短期記憶與長期記憶能力，反之亦然；在詞彙記憶方面，短期記憶力較佳則長期記憶力也是較佳，反之亦然；並且，一星期後的後測分數比較高的學生在一個月後的後後測分數也會比較高；再者，詞彙的短期記憶與學生英文詞彙量的差異無關，因為學生所記住的生詞都可以持續短暫的時間，但不一定能長久記憶。 / This study aims to investigate the discrepancy in the use of the iconic-morphological approach via commonly-used roots, the non-iconic morphological approach via commonly-used roots, and the traditional definition-based teaching method in vocabulary memorization. It also explores the correlation between English vocabulary size, awareness of morphology, short-term memory for words, long-term memory for words, and vocabulary spelling abilities. The subjects of this study are 91 third-year students studying at the National Overseas Chinese Experimental Senior High School in Taipei County. They received instruction in the iconic-morphological approach via commonly-used roots, the non-iconic morphological approach via commonly-used roots, and the traditional definition-based teaching method, respectively. In the beginning, the three groups took the same pre-test to examine their vocabulary size. Then, subjects were immediately asked to take post-test 1 to examine their awareness of morphology after receiving different instructions. Later, subjects were asked to memorize forty unknown words within twenty minutes and then to take post-test 2 to investigate their short-term memory for words. A week later, post-test 3 was held to check their long-term memory for words. A month later, they sat for post-test 4, used to explore their longer-term memory for the forty words. In conclusion, the study summarizes the main findings pertinent to the proposed research questions. The students who receive instruction in the iconic-morphological approach via commonly-used roots finally develop higher awareness of morphology, better short-term memory for words, better long-term memory for words, and better spelling ability than those who learn in the traditional definition-based approach or in the non-iconic morphological approach via commonly-used roots. Among the three groups, the students who display higher awareness of morphology have better short-term memory and long-term memory for words, and vice versa. Moreover, those who have better short-term memory have better long-term memory, and vice versa; those who have better one-week long-term memory for words definitely have better one-month long-term memory for words. Interestingly, students can learn words by rote for a short period of time regardless of their vocabulary size. That is, one person’s short-term memory for words is not correlated with his vocabulary size.

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The New Zealand Wool Industry (NZWI) contributes over a billion dollars a year to NZ gross output. However, this industry is at a crossroads and the incumbent practitioners are looking for ways to increase the value of the New Zealand wool clip. The value of the industry to the economy is directly related to the price which buyers are prepared to pay for wool, primarily as a result of the marketing approaches used, physical parameters of wool as well as intra and inter-fibre competition. The inflation adjusted price has steadily decreased over recent years and understanding of its dynamics is a fundamental problem for the stakeholders. Among the stakeholders, buyers / exporters, heavily involved in the process of price formation currently face a real time problem of sourcing strong wool from two parallel but different marketing systems operated simultaneously – auction and direct supply. The underlying mathematics which governs the decision making of buyers on the price dynamics in these sourcing options is poorly understood. This study developed system models for price formation in both auction and direct supply sourcing and an associated optimization model for the buyer / exporter of the New Zealand wool clip. All three of these models were original and none appear to have been described previously. It is hoped that these three models will be of quite general utility and also be useful therefore for other agricultural commodities that are traded simultaneously via auction and direct supply. The average price for a given wool type, which is the output from this new modelling exercise is precisely what is required as input data for solving the minimization problem in wool blending models.

No description available.

The use in pictorial art of visual reference to prototypes and conventions in encoding reality forms the crux of the theoretical research. The theoretical component complements the practical research, which focuses on the interplay between perceptions of 'reality' and visual conventions in landscape art. The existence of diverse realities, based on individual ideological and sociocultural perspectives, is acknowledged. In encoding these realities, artists may draw on a reservoir of stylistic, formal and conceptual prototypes. Visual reference constitutes an allegorical procedure because the artist refers to an antecedent text in the representation of a particular 'reality'. Pictorial signs also rely on conventions to convey meaning. Both the perception and the artistic recreation of different realities may thus be regarded as recycling processes. In a world saturated with visual information, reference to prototypes is a powerful procedure which assists contemporary pictorial artists in the creation of meaningful images of current realities. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / M.A. (Fine Arts)

Cette étude se penche sur la façon dont le pouvoir politique se est imaginé et imagée dans le centre-ville de Nairobi. Il examine comment l'environnement bâti de la ville a transformé l'ubiquité en place-de-appartenance. Construit culture est considérée comme un outil (mais non exclusif) pour forger une relation entre la société et un contexte spatial donné; un support pour la société de «personnaliser» son espace. L'accent est mis bâtiments emblématiques situées dans l'espace central, public et symbolique et est en outre délimitée à leur style architectural. L'autorité politique, mais pas singulièrement responsables de l'identité collective, a été choisi comme point de départ, car sa contribution est décisive. Par conséquent, il est aussi un produit de la performance politique Nairobi est interrogé. Une exploration des connotations et les nuances des styles utilisés pour ériger ses bâtiments emblématiques possibles sont esquissées. Gouvernement colonial de Nairobi utilisé un style néo-classique. Kenyatta, le premier président indigène, se est éloigné de cette tradition néo-classique. Sa préférence était une déclaration stylisée-africaine. Et, en plus de choisir un style différent, il réorienté la dynamique spatiale dans City Square ainsi ré-articuler son identité. Pour un examen plus complet de Nairobi, elle est comparée à Dar es-Salaam (la capitale commerciale de la Tanzanie) voisin. Dar es Salaam dispose d'une plus grande variété dans les styles architecturaux: arabo-swahili, classique européenne avec des fonctionnalités omanais-arabes et les Sarrasins compositions décoratives. Pendant ce temps, la variété architecturale à Nairobi coloniale, où les Britanniques avaient plus de six décennies undisturbed- pour élaborer leur image, est carrément néo-classique. Présenté avec plus (ou moins) polarisée images coloniales, les présidents autochtones du Kenya et de la Tanzanie ont réagi différemment. L'image postcoloniale de Nairobi est ouvertement «africaine» peut-être une réponse au classicisme néo aussi manifeste des coloniaux. Dar es Salaam, d'autre part, est dépourvu de stridente de va-et-vient dans ses discours stylistiques. En conclusion, il semble que le plus fougueux du concours sous-jacente de posséder une ville, plus articuler son image spatiale; plus contesté un espace a été, le plus spectaculaire de l'image qu'il porte. Nairobi a connu un concours de propriété plus intense par rapport à Dar es-Salaam. Une concurrence intense nécessite un style architectural décisive tout pluralisme stylistique prospère où le concours est moins intense. Cela peut ne pas se applique à toutes les villes en Afrique, mais ce est la vue en gros plan, l'identité imagé dans l'espace central de Nairobi. / This study looks at how political power has imagined-and-imaged itself in Nairobi’s city centre. It examines how the city’s built environment has transformed ubiquity into place-of-belonging. Built culture is considered as a tool (though not an exclusive one) for forging a relation between society and a given spatial context; a medium for society to ‘personalise’ its space. The focus is iconic buildings sited in the central, public and symbolic space and is further delimited to their architectural style. Political authority, though not singularly responsible for collective identity, has been selected as the point of departure because its contribution is decisive. Therefore, it is as a product of political performance that Nairobi is interrogated. An exploration of possible connotations and nuances of the styles employed to erect its iconic buildings are sketched out. Nairobi’s colonial government used a neo classical style. Kenyatta, the first indigenous president, distanced himself from this neo-classical tradition. His preference was a stylised-African statement. And, in addition to selecting a different style he re-oriented the spatial dynamics in City Square thus re-articulating its identity. For a fuller scrutiny of Nairobi, it is compared to neighbouring Dar es Salaam (the commercial capital of Tanzania). Dar es Salaam features greater variety in architectural styles: Arab-Swahili, European classical with Omani-Arab features and the decorative saracenic compositions. Meanwhile, architectural variety in colonial Nairobi, where the British had over six decades–undisturbed– to craft their image, is bluntly neo-classical. Presented with more (or less) polarised colonial images, the indigenous presidents of Kenya and Tanzania reacted differently. Nairobi’s postcolonial image is overtly ‘african’ perhaps as a response to the equally overt neo classicism of the colonials. Dar es Salaam, on the other hand, is devoid of strident back-and-forth in its stylistic discourses. In conclusion, it appears the more spirited the underlying contest to own a city, the more articulate its spatial image; the more contested a space has been, the more spectacular the image it bears. Nairobi has experienced a more intense ownership contest compared to Dar es Salaam. Intense competition necessitates a decisive architectural style while stylistic pluralism thrives where the contest is less intense. This may not apply to all the cities in Africa but it is the close-up view, the imaged identity in Nairobi’s central space.

No description available.