No description available.

It has been demonstrated that in early visual word processing, monolingual speakers process morphologically complex words in terms of their constituent morphemes (e.g., hunt+er), irrespective of the semantic relationship between stem and suffix (e.g., corn+er) (e.g., Longtin, Segui, & Halle, 2003; Rastle, Davis, & New, 2004). However, research into bilingual morphological processing has produced support for and against the notion that bilinguals process morphologically complex words akin to monolingual speakers (Clahsen, Felser, Neubauer, Sato, & Silva, 2010; Diependaele, Dufiabeitia, Morris, & Keuleers, 2011). The experiments in this work explored the nature of bilingual morphological processing in early visual word recognition, by means of masked priming. Using prime target pairs sharing a morphological a nd semantic (e.g., hunter-hunt), only a pseudo-morphological (e.g., corner-corn), and neither morphological nor semantic relationship (e.g., yellow-yell), Experiments 1 and 2 explored morphological priming in English for English L1 - German L2 and German L1 - English L2 speakers, respectively. The design was expanded to German, testing bilingual German L1 and L2 speakers in Experiments 3 and 4. Results showed similar trends with consistent priming across all conditions for bilingual English L1 and L2 speakers, but different priming magnitudes for bilingual German L1 and L2 speakers. Using primes ranging from very low to very high frequencies, the relative contribution of prime frequency with respect to these findings was explored first for native English speakers in Experiment 5, and expanded to English L2 speakers in Experiment 6. Although prime frequency affected reaction latencies in both monolingual and bilingual speakers, Experiment 7, a re-test of Experiment 1 with monolingual speakers with no knowledge of a foreign language, indicated that it may be the sound command of another language that influences morphological processing in the participants' native language. The results are discussed in relation to the current literature and models of bilingual word processing.

Spatial data collected over 3 years is presented to assess the extent of morphological variability under seasonal and storm waves at four high-energy macrotidal beaches. A novel approach is adopted to identify and classify the beach response which is used to assess the relative stability of the system to changes in the dominant forcing conditions. Field measurements and modelling simulations using XBeach provide further support for a storm dominated system exhibiting relative stability. Morphologically the beaches range from dissipative to intermediate and are characterised by low tide bar/rip morphology which plays a key role in the nearshore dynamics and beach safety. Located in the north coast of Cornwall the sites are exposed to high-energy waves that dominate the stability and behaviour of beaches in this region. The growing need for marine renewable energy in the UK has led to the deployment of a Wave Hub on the seabed off the north coast of Cornwall, designed to provide grid connection for wave energy devices (WECs). As a unique development much has been done to address concerns over potential impacts cause by arrays of WECs during its construction and operational lifetime; these predicted impacts include changes in the quality of waves for surfing and effects on the beach dynamics which determines beach safety through the presence of bar/rip features. In this thesis three years of monthly topographic surveys were collected from beaches in the proposed Wave Hub shadow zone to assess their morphodynamic variability. Realtime kinematic (RTK) GPS surveys were undertaken using an all-terrain vehicle to measure the three dimensional (3D) morphology at four beaches (Perranporth, Chapel Porth, Porthtowan and Gwithian) situated along a 23 km stretch of the north Cornish coast. In addition nearshore wave data, in-situ hydrodynamic measurements, local tide gauges and Argus video data allowed detailed analysis of process-response mechanisms for long term (yearly); seasonal (monthly); storm (weekly/daily); and tidal (hourly) morphological behaviour. Of particular interest was the degree to which the beaches displayed bar/rip morphology, characterised by the three dimensionality (3D) of beach response, which determines wave breaking and affects beach safety. Using a combination of measured shoreline variability and empirical beach classification schemes, the response to changes in the wave conditions at each beach have been assessed. The sites exhibited net long term accretion derived from the intertidal beach volume. Throughout the survey period intersite similarity in beach response was observed in response to storm waves, yet coupling between the seasonal wave climate and the beach morphology was not evident at any of the sites, due to the dominance of recovery phases following storm events. The role of increased wave conditions (exceeding Hs=4 m) during sustained storm events (> 50 hrs) led to offshore transport from the beach face to the subtidal bar region. Post-storm recovery was characterised by onshore transport and the development of substantial 3D low tide morphology. Under normal wave conditions (Hs=1.6 m) the dominant 3D features smoothed out as channels in-filled and bars reduced over a period of 2-3 months. This cyclicity was observed on ~3 occasions at the northern sites, while Gwithian remained more stable throughout; reflecting the more sheltered position of the beach. Overall the beaches exhibited a significant storm dominated morphological response cycle, unlike the more familiar winter/summer seasonal response. Nearshore bar behaviour at Perranporth and Porthtowan, assessed using ARGUS images, was dominated by offshore migration (ca.20 m/yr) following closely the net intertidal accretion, while bar shape exhibited changes over monthly periods. Intensive field studies of morphological change, nearshore current flows and surf zone wave conditions were undertaken at Porthtowan during small swell dominated waves and large energetic storm conditions in May and October 2010 respectively. The field data highlighted accretionary response under small swell dominated waves, and strong offshore directed undertow flows (0.5 m/s-1) during erosive energetic conditions (>Hs = 4m) which were then related to the monthly surveys. These results were applied to XBeach model simulations which helped further identify the importance of antecedent morphology and the complexities of intertidal geology in controlling beach response. The study provides the longest continuous record of beach morphology dynamics for macrotidal energetic sites and provides a valuable addition to work in this field. The dominance of storm driven morphological response was clear with highly threedimensional morphology developing under post storm conditions and continued beach evolution driven by the seasonal conditions. Antecedent morphology was found to be a key element of beach response with geological control an additional component. The projected reduction in wave conditions due to the Wave Hub and the natural variability observed indicates the sites are unlikely to shift significantly from their current dynamic state in response to the Wave Hub, and as such the potential impact on nearshore and beach dynamics is minimal.

Tokenization, or word boundary detection, is a critical first step for most NLP applications. This is often given little attention in English and other languages which use explicit spaces between written words, but standard orthographies for many languages lack explicit markers. Tokenization systems for such languages are usually engineered on an individual basis, with little re-use. The human ability to decode any written language, however, suggests that a general algorithm exists.This thesis presents simple morphologically-based and statistical methods for identifying word boundaries in multiple languages. Statistical methods tend to over-predict, while lexical and morphological methods fail when encountering unknown words. I demonstrate that a generic hybrid approach to tokenization using both morphological and statistical information generalizes well across multiple languages and improves performance over morphological or statistical methods alone, and show that it can be used for efficient tokenization of English, Korean, and Arabic.

The genus Fimbristylis in Taiwan was taxonomically revised based on morphological, phytogeographical, and ecological evidences. In this study, style and achene morphologies are the most valuable characters for the classification within the genus in Taiwan. The ornamentation of achene surface could be divided into 5 types, which are transversely rugulose, verruculose, smooth, reticulate, reticulate- verruculose. The results showed that these types are taxonomic characters for classification of section, series and species. Twenty-three species, three varieties, and one uncertain species as recognized in conclusion. Fimbristylis microcarya var. tainanensis (Ohwi) H. Y. Liu was elevated to specific status F. tainanemsis Ohwi. F. tomentosa Vahl and F. umbellaris (Lam.) Vahl do not occur in Taiwan in fact, which are previously erroneous identification of F. dichotoma (L.) Vahl and F. littoralis Guad., respectively. Additionally, F. macassarensis Steud. is treated as uncertain species due to insufficiency of evidence.

Over recent years cultural geography has refrained the parameters within which landscape and human agency are examined. Textual sources, social conditions, and ideological programmes are all seen as having a bearing on the shape of the environment and the human reaction to it. This thesis considers landscape change on the periphery of Tokyo known before 1868 as Edo) within the general framework of this new cultural geography and the specific context of the history of Japan's largest city. Situated in the northeastern outskirts of the city on the banks of its main river, Miukvjima was before about 1900 a place of recreation and diversion. Its temples, shrines, and ornamental gardens were a favoured site for blossom viewing and, in general terms, for dad, trips from the city centre. Around the turn of the century, however, factories were built, and the area was transformed within a few decades into an industrial periphery specializing in the manufacture of textiles, leather, matches, and other light industrial goods. The thesis contains two principal arguments, The first relates to the process of landscape creation and appreciation It is argued that the Japanese sensibility to space is informed by an innate appreciation of its symbolic content and by an exceptionally close assdciation between place itself and its textual and pictoral representation, The second relates to the process of urban change in the context of a modernising city. it is argued that alternative views of the urban environment arose but that, despite these differing interpretations, open space did not become an arena for contention. By examining the nature and process of urban change as well as perceptions of a chosen environment, the thesis sets out the structural context of rapid social transformation.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-01-04T10:25:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 brunostefaniferreiradeoliveira.pdf: 714261 bytes, checksum: ee8494fe1d9b406575240e4e36235327 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-01-25T15:35:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 brunostefaniferreiradeoliveira.pdf: 714261 bytes, checksum: ee8494fe1d9b406575240e4e36235327 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-25T15:35:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 brunostefaniferreiradeoliveira.pdf: 714261 bytes, checksum: ee8494fe1d9b406575240e4e36235327 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-23 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / - / Research conducted in several countries has shown the importance of morphology in literacy. However, the results of the studies conducted in Brazilian−Portuguese are still inconsistent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between morphological awareness and morphological processing and reading in Brazilian−Portuguese. The study included 141 children from Grades 2−5 from private schools. Morphological awareness, phonological awareness, phonological memory and nonverbal intelligence were evaluated. Also an experimental task of lexical decision with priming technique was developed, to assess the morphological processing. The results indicated that the relationship between morphological awareness and reading appears only when the children analyzed were in the Grade 1 and Grade 5. The morphological awareness explains 10% of the reading ability, when controlled other variables in the regression analysis assessed. The morphological processing is perceived in children from Grade 2 and gradually developed until the Grade 1, when it is possible to notice a pattern similar to adults. There was no correlation between morphological awareness and morphological processing. Therefore, morphological awareness has a very important function in children from Grade 4, which reinforces the importance of teaching strategies in literacy that take into account the function of the ability to manipulate the words in the morpheme level.

In recent years the role of morphology has gained a great deal of attention regarding research on vocabulary and literacy learning. An attendant literature investigating morphology as a potentially rich context for instructional innovation has grown as well. Chapter 1 of this dissertation presents a critical review of that research. Its focus is on ways that this growing interest in morphology builds on lessons from previous decades of research on the relative effectiveness of instruction which targeted phonological features of words (sub-lexical features) compared to those which targeted learning to read words from context. A detailed description of the linguistic account of how English orthography operates to represent morphology and phonology is also presented. Two studies investigating the role of morphology and morphology instruction in relation to literacy learning and theories of reading are reported. The first study is an intervention using experimental and control classes (Grade 4 and 5) to investigate the effect of instruction about morphology on vocabulary learning. Hierarchical regression analyses controlling for initial vocabulary showed that the experimental group gained in measures of vocabulary compared to a control group and that the morphological treatment group made better use of existing vocabulary knowledge in learning new vocabulary. The second study is a quantitative synthesis of instructional studies assessing the effects of morphological instruction on sub-lexical, lexical and supra-lexical outcomes. Positive effects were found for morphological treatments compared to the 10 studies that used typical classroom instruction controls and effects equal to alternative treatments that mostly used well-established research-based instruction. Less able students and younger students generally exhibited greater gains than undifferentiated and older students. The results of these studies are discussed within the context of previous instructional research and established theories of reading and literacy instruction. It is suggested that the findings from these studies support the view that instruction should encourage learners to explicitly attend to the ordered lexical/sub-lexical morphological and phonological features of how oral and written words work as a means to foster generative word learning and greater literacy. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2013-01-08 12:45:26.124

PhD - Science / The study of the human metatarsals reveals frequent morphological variations from the typical descriptions. Pathologies of these bones in contemporary humans are common, and it has been suggested that some of these may be associated with some of these variants. Within this context, it was not clear to what extent footwear and other environmental factors such as modern substrates have influenced metatarsal morphology. This study essentially consists of three parts. First a preliminary morphometric study of the first, second and fifth metatarsals, to demonstrate the broad patterns of discrimination between selected hominoidea, namely humans, gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans. In addition, the SKX 5017 first metatarsal fossil thought to be of Paranthropus robustus was included. Second, a primary morphometric investigation into the patterns of morphological discrimination in the five metatarsals of selected humans from South Africa, namely Sotho, Zulu, European and pre-pastoral subgroups. The contemporary human subgroups are associated with modern lifestyles and the pre-pastoral individuals represent habitually unshod forager societies from the western and southern Cape, dated 9750 - 2000 B.P. Third, a non-metric investigation into the patterns of variation in epigenetic and pathological variants of the metatarsus of the four human subgroups. A suite of existing metrical data was utilized for the preliminary hominoid study, and a suite of metrical and non-metrical data was collected for the primary human study from appropriate skeletal collections. Univariate analysis of these iv samples revealed important, though simplistic trends in morphology. Subsequent multivariate analyses utilizing principal components and canonical variates analysis were undertaken. Multivariate analysis of the hominoid samples revealed large scale variation between the species. This discrimination was on the basis of genetics, locomotor function and geography. Multivariate analysis of the human metrical data revealed very subtle morphological discrimination within and between the subgroups. Most of this discrimination appears to be genetic, followed by a functional or life-style based discrimination suggesting a broad discrimination between recent humans and the habitually unshod pre-pastoral subgroup. The epigenetic traits reveal considerable variation within groups, with similar trends between them. All subgroups have an appreciable number of identifiable pathological changes, with the recent human subgroups having the most and the prepastoral subgroup the least. In all subgroups, the hallucal metatarsal displays by far the greatest frequency in osseous modification. The main conclusions of this study are: 1.) The general patterns of morphological discrimination between the metatarsals of the human subgroups are very subtle. The non-metric traits are very variable, but do not discriminate between any of the subgroups. 2.) Both recent and ancient human groups present with similar patterns of pathological changes, but the frequency is different, these changes are to a great extent influenced by lifestyle. Regardless of temporal context, no clear correlation between morphological variation and pathological changes could be found.

Skeletal superstructure characteristics such as thick cranial vaults and well-developed supraorbital, infraorbital, zygomatic, temporal, and nuchal regions in hominins are collectively referred to as aspects of craniofacial robusticity. A better understanding of craniofacial robusticity is important because these features are regularly employed as individual traits in circumscribing fossil hominins as a means to separate other taxonomic groups from modern Homo sapiens even though the developmental and functional underpinnings of such traits are incompletely understood. The work of some researchers suggests that these features may be tied to a broader "robusticity complex", in which the expression of all the classically "robust" characteristics of the hominin cranium are intercorrelated and intrinsically linked. If true, then previous studies that have focused on characteristics of craniofacial robusticity as individual characters could be flawed. This study tests for the presence of an intercorrelated craniofacial robusticity complex in a geographically diverse sample of recent Homo sapiens using a morphological integration framework. Within this framework, significant levels of correlation between features of craniofacial robusticity are demonstrative of integration and thus a "robusticity complex", while non-significant levels of correlation provide evidence for modularity and therefore an independent expression of these traits. Craniofacial robusticity is examined among four anatomical areas of the human cranium including the frontal, zygomaxillary, temporal, and occipital regions. The expression of robusticity among these anatomical regions is quantified using three-dimensional coordinate landmark data in addition to classical discrete measures and is analyzed via two-block partial least squares regression analysis. The results show that levels of interaction between these major anatomical units are characterized by a range of correlation values with most obtaining statistical significance. These results frequently provide evidence for integration between subunits demonstrating at least partial evidence for a "robusticity complex" in the craniofacial skeleton of extant humans.