Beliefs are social in nature. and are widely shared within social groups, such as cultures. Shared beliefs reflect how people construct their social world and how they seek meaning and understanding of social realities. and they are context specific. General beliefs are context free and related to a wide spectrum of social behaviours across diverse contexts, actors, targets and periods. These general beliefs function like axioms in mathematics, thus they are basic premises that people endorse and on which they rely to guide their actions. A better understanding of beliefs can therefore be a useful instrument in managing a diverse workforce, such as the workforce found in South Africa. The objectives of this study were to investigate the replicability of the Social Axioms Survey (SAS) in the South African Police Service (SAPS), to examine the construct equivalence and item bias. and to assess the reliability. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study population consisted of applicants (N=1535) who applied for jobs in the SAPS. The SAS instrument was administered. Descriptive statistics, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, scale and item level analysis and estimation of reliability were used to analyse the results. An exploratory factor analysis utilising target rotation applied on all 60 items of the SAS revealed four interpretable factors (Factor 1 = Social Cynicism; Factor 2 = Reward for Application; Factor 4 = Fate Control; and Factor 5 = Spirituality Religiosity) congruent with the model of Leung et al. (2002). The third factor, namely Social Complexity did not replicate. Values of Tucker's phi higher than 0.90 were found for seven culture groups (Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, Swati, Tsonga, Venda and Pedi). This provided a strong indication of the structural equivalence. Analyses of variance showed that item bias was not a major disturbance. Cronbach's alpha reported lower levels of reliability. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

The Master of Arts thesis “Translation of Culture-Specific Drink and Food Items in “Blackberry Wine” by Joanne Harris” presents the analysis of translation strategies applied in translating cultural realia, namely drink and food references in Milda Dyke’s Lithuanian translation of "Blackberry Wine", as well as a short analysis of the translation strategies and their function. The consideration of different translation strategies that were proposed by prominent scholars, such as Mona Baker (1992), Javier-Franco Aixelá and Eirlys E.Davies (2003) in translation studies, and the analysis of the strategies employed by the translator Milda Dyke translating the novel "Blackberry Wine" into Lithuanian are discussed in this thesis. Theoretical aspects are applied in the analytical part, taking into account the most frequent strategies employed for the translation of culture-specific drink and food entities by the translator and the comment on these choices exhibits peculiar cultural aspects. Futhermore, the ways how to handle problems related to the translation of culture-specific drink and food items from English into Lithuanian are analyzed and presented in the analytical part. This paper investigates the two major groups of cultural references, specifically the names of food and drink items, which frequently cause rather complex and sometimes controversial issues while translating literary works. The translation of culture-specific drink and food entities involve the employment of... [to full text] / Šio magistrinio darbo „Gėrimų ir valgių pavadinimų vertimas Joanne Harris romane „Gervuogių vynas” į lietuvių kalbą” tikslas yra išanalizuoti vertimo strategijų pritaikymą gėrimų ir valgių kultūriniams pavadinimams vertime iš anglų kalbos, taip pat pateikiama išsami šių vertimo strategijų ir jų atliekamų funkcijų analizė. Darbe nagrinėjama skirtingos vertimo strategijos, kurios buvo pateikiamos vertimo srityje tokių žinomų mokslininkų kaip Mona Baker (1992), Javier-Franco Aixelá, Eirlys E.Davies (2003). Be to, analizuojama vertėjos Mildos Dyke vartojamos vertimo strategijos į lietuvių kalbą. Teoriniai aspektai analizuojami praktinėje darbo dalyje, atsižvelgiant į dažniausiai vartojamų vertimo strategijų pritaikymą verčiant kultūrinius gėrimų ir valgių pavadinimus bei pastarųjų būdingas savybes verčiant į tikslinę kalbą. Praktinėje dalyje pateikiami vertimo sunkumai ir jų sprendimo būdai pritaikyti verčiant kultūrines realijas. Analizuojamos dvi pagrindinės kultūrinių gėrimų ir valgių denotatų grupės, kurias verčiant sprendžiami sudėtingi ir kartais polemiški klausimai literatūriniuose kūriniuose. Verčiant minėtas realijų grupes yra taikomos įvairios vertimo strategijos, iš kurių pabrėžiamos pačios dažniausios, veiksmingiausios. Šiame darbe yra dvi dalys: teorinė ir praktinė. Teorinėje dalyje pateikiami pagrindiniai darbo uždaviniai, tikslas, metodai, vertimo pavyzdžiai, taip pat aptariami pagrindiniai ekvivalentiškumo klausimai vertimo teorijoje, skirtingi ekvivalentiškumo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

The random Fibonacci sequence is defined by t_1 = t_2 = 1 and t_n = ± t_{n–1} + t_{n–2} , for n ? 3, where each ± sign is chosen at random with P(+) = P(–) = 1/2. We can think of all possible such sequences as forming a binary tree T. Viswanath has shown that almost all random Fibonacci sequences grow exponentially at the rate 1.13198824.... He was only able to find 8 decimal places of this constant through the use of random matrix theory and a fractal measure, although Bai has extended the constant by 5 decimal places. Numerical experimentation is inefficient because the convergence is so slow. We will discuss a new computation of Viswanath's constant which is based on a formula due to Kalmár-Nagy, and uses an interesting reduction R of the tree T developed by Rittaud. Also, we will focus on the growth rate of the expected value of a random Fibonacci sequence, which was studied by Rittaud. This differs from the almost sure growth rate in that we first find an expression for the average of the n^th term in a sequence, and then calculate its growth. We will derive this growth rate using a slightly different and more simplified method than Rittaud, using the tree R and a Pascal-like array of numbers, for which we can further give an explicit formula. We will also consider what happens to random Fibonacci sequences when we remove the randomness. Specifically, we will choose coefficients which belong to the set {1, –1} and form periodic cycles. By rewriting our recurrences using matrix products, we will analyze sequence growth and develop criteria based on eigenvalue, trace and order, for determining whether a given sequence is bounded, grows linearly or grows exponentially. Further, we will introduce an equivalence relation on the coefficient cycles such that each equivalence class has a common growth rate, and consider the number of such classes for a given cycle length. Lastly we will look at two ways to completely characterize the trace, given the coefficient cycle, by breaking the matrix product up into blocks.

This thesis is mainly focused on the equivalence problem for a subclass of Lorentzian manifolds: the degenerate Kundt spacetimes. These spacetimes are not defined uniquely by their scalar curvature invariants. To prove two metrics are diffeomorphic, one must apply Cartan's equivalence algorithm, which is a non-trivial task: in four dimensions Karlhede has adapted the algorithm to the formalism of General Relativity and significant effort has been spent applying this algorithm to particular subcases. No work has been done on the higher dimensional case. First, we study the existence of a non-spacelike symmetry in two well-known subclasses of the N dimensional degenerate Kundt spacetimes: those spacetimes with constant scalar curvature invariants (CSI) and those admitting a covariant constant null vector (CCNV). We classify the CSI and CCNV spacetimes in terms of the form of the Killing vector giving constraints for the metric functions in each case. For the rest of the thesis we fix N=4 and study a subclass of the CSI spacetimes: the CSI-? spacetimes, in which all scalar curvature invariants vanish except those constructed from the cosmological constant. We produce an invariant characterization of all CSI-? spacetimes. The Petrov type N solutions have been classified using two scalar invariants. However, this classification is incomplete: given two plane-fronted gravitational waves in which both pairs of invariants are similar, one cannot prove the two metrics are equivalent. Even in this relatively simple subclass, the Karlhede algorithm is non-trivial to implement. We apply the Karlhede algorithm to the collection of vacuum Type N VSI (CSI-?, ? = 0) spacetimes consisting of the vacuum PP-wave and vacuum Kundt wave spacetimes. We show that the upper-bound needed to classify any Type N vacuum VSI metric is four. In the case of the vacuum PP-waves we have proven that the upper-bound is sharp, while in the case of the Kundt waves we have lowered the upper-bound from five to four. We also produce a suite of invariants that characterize each set of non-equivalent metrics in this collection. As an application we show how these invariants may be related to the physical interpretation of the vacuum plane wave spacetimes.

The present paper reports the results of the study aimed to investigate the problem of discourse markers, their functions and differences and similarities in the English and Lithuanian languages in a book of prose. The methods chosen for the study were content analysis, quantitative method and contrastive method. The study is based on theories of various linguists proposing different terms and definitions for the discourse marker, on the corpus of occurrences of these linguistic items in the examined sources. The investigation also attempts to examine the functional complexity of discourse markers in cohesive texts. The research demonstrated that the most frequently used discourse markers in textual function in the English language are and, but, so. At the same time, the most frequently used discourse markers in interactional function in English are oh, well, eh, however, ah, and now. The research demonstrated that the functions of discourse markers fall into two domains - interactional and textual and they can appear simultaneously. / Šio tyrimo problema yra susijusi su diskurso žymikliais/žymekliais, kurie yra teksto formavimo įrankiai diskurse. Ši tema buvo pasirinkta, nes, visų pirma, diskurso žymekliai tik neseniai patraukė lingvistų dėmesį kaip teksto formavimo įrankiai, kurie taip pat nekompromituoja jau esančios nusistovėjusios sistemos. Pradedant prielaida, jog diskurso žymekliai užtikrina efektyvų bendravimą (taip pat teksto rišlumą ir suderinamumą), yra multifunkciniai bei jų taksonomijos ir funkcijos gali kisti skirtingose kalbose, buvo iškelti šie tyrimo klausimai: 1) kokie yra dažniausiai naudojami diskurso žymekliai analizuotuose tekstuose dviejose kalbose? 2) kokie yra atitikimai/neatitikimai diskurso žymeklių naudojime bei funkcijose lietuvių ir anglų kalbose? Anksčiau minėti faktoriai bei tyrimo klausimai padėjo nustatyti šio darbo tikslą, kuris yra: palyginti ir išanalizuoti diskurso žymeklių taksonomijas ir funkcijas dviejose kalbose. Kad šis tikslas būtų pasiektas, žemiau išvardyti uždaviniai buvo iškelti:  peržiūrėti ir sistemingai pristatyti mokslinę litratūrą susijusią su diskurso žymekliais lietuvių ir anglų kalbose;  jau esamų ir prieinamų tyrimų pagalba apie diskurso žymeklius, buvo nustatytos ir apibrėžtos diskurso žymeklių atliekamos funkcijos rišliame tekste;  remiantis kiekybiniu bei kokybiniu metodais, buvo atskleista diskurso žymeklių skirstymas, dažnumas/pasikartojimas ir dominuojančios jų funkcijos analizuotuose tekstuose. Atliekant šį tyrimą tam tikri metodai buvo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

A large proportion of computationally-oriented theories of grammar operate within the confines of monostratality (i.e. there is only one level of syntactic analysis), compositionality (i.e. the meaning of an expression is determined by the meanings of its syntactic parts, plus their manner of combination), and adjacency (i.e. the only operation on terminal strings is concatenation). This thesis looks at two major approaches falling within these bounds: that based on phrase structure grammar (e.g. Gazdar), and that based on categorial grammar (e.g. Steedman). The theories are examined with reference to extraction and coordination constructions; crucially a range of 'compound' extraction and coordination phenomena are brought to bear. It is argued that the early phrase structure grammar metarules can characterise operations generating compound phenomena, but in so doing require a categorial-like category system. It is also argued that while categorial grammar contains an adequate category apparatus, Steedman's primitives such as composition do not extend to cover the full range of data. A theory is therefore presented integrating the approaches of Gazdar and Steedman. The central issue as regards processing is derivational equivalence: the grammars under consideration typically generate many semantically equivalent derivations of an expression. This problem is addressed by showing how to axiomatise derivational equivalence, and a parser is presented which employs the axiomatisation to avoid following equivalent paths.

Boolean formulas can be used to model real-world facts. In some situation we may havea Boolean formula that closely approximates a real-world fact, but we need to fine-tune itso that it models the real-world fact exactly. This is a problem of theory revision where thetheory is in the form of a Boolean formula. An algorithm is presented for revising a class ofBoolean formulas that are expressible as conjunctions of Horn clauses. Each of the clausesin the formulas considered here has a unique unnegated variable that does not appear inany other clauses, and is not `F'. The revision algorithm uses equivalence and membershipqueries to revise a given formula into a formula that is equivalent to an unknown targetformula having the same set of unnegated variables. The amount of time required by thealgorithm to perform this revision is logarithmic in the number of variables, and polynomialin the number of clauses in the unknown formula. An early version of this work waspresented at the 2003 Midwest Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science Conference [4].

This term paper concerns the translation of three sports texts from English to Swedish. The main aim of the paper was to show which procedures that were used when translating sports terminology and proper nouns. A secondary aim was to look at challenges involved in the translation process, namely, adapting the translations to a new target audience and making sure the target text is up-to-date.                   The method used in the term paper included a couple of steps. The first one was to select primary sources. The material chosen for this study was three articles about the world’s best football or rugby players. Once the translation was accomplished, the second step was to choose examples from the target text on which the analyses could be based. At this stage, it was mostly the hard-to-translate terms and proper nouns, which were chosen. Finally, the mentioned challenges were analysed and the outcome was presented in a qualitative study. To support the analyses various secondary sources were used. The study showed that Ingo’s strategies were applicable while translating proper nouns. Also Ingo’s other guidelines regarding additions and omissions turned out to be useful. On the other hand, Vinay & Darbelnet’s models were helpful when handling sports terminology.

The main objective and primary aim of the paper was to analyze translation strategies which were employed while translating geographical and characters’ names from English into Lithuanian in John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s novel The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.The study set out with the objective of assessing the theoretical background of translation of culture specific items. The main concern was the definition and categorization of non- equivalence and related concepts. Moreover, the core object of the paper was to disclose the usage of translation strategies that were employed while translating the proper names from English into Lithuanian. / Pagrindinis darbo tikslas buvo išanalizuoti vertimo strategijas, kurios buvo naudojamos verčiant veikėjų vardus ir vietovardžius iš anglų kalbos į lietuvių J.R.R. Tolkieno romane Žiedų Valdovas:Žiedo Brolija. Darbo tikslas buvo ištirti teorinę medžiagą susijusią su kultūrinių realijų vertimu. Didelis dėmesys buvo skirtas neekvivalentiškumo ir susijusių konceptų aiškinimui.Be to, pagrindinis darbo uždavinys buvo išsiaiškinti, kaip buvo pritaikytos vertimo strategijos verčiant tikrinius vardus iš anglų kalbos į lietuvių.

Robotic motion planning aspires to match the ease and efficiency with which humans move through and interact with their environment. Yet state of the art robotic planners fall short of human abilities; they are slower in computation, and the results are often of lower quality. One stumbling block in traditional motion planning is that points and paths are often considered in isolation. Many planners fail to recognize that substantial shared information exists among path alternatives. Exploitation of the geometric and topological relationships among path alternatives can therefore lead to increased efficiency and competency. These benefits include: better-informed path sampling, dramatically faster collision checking, and a deeper understanding of the trade-offs in path selection. In path sampling, the principle of locality is introduced as a basis for constructing an adaptive, probabilistic, geometric model to influence the selection of paths for collision test. Recognizing that collision testing consumes a sizable majority of planning time and that only collision-free paths provide value in selecting a path to execute on the robot, this model provides a significant increase in efficiency by circumventing collision testing paths that can be predicted to collide with obstacles. In the area of collision testing, an equivalence relation termed local path equivalence, is employed to discover when the work of testing a path has been previously performed. The swept volumes of adjoining path alternatives frequently overlap, implying that a continuum of intermediate paths exists as well. By recognizing such neighboring paths with related shapes and outcomes, up to 90% of paths may be tested implicitly in experiments, bypassing the traditional, expensive collision test and delivering a net 300% boost in collision test performance. Local path equivalence may also be applied to the path selection problem in order to recognize higher-level navigation options and make smarter choices. This thesis presents theoretical and experimental results in each of these three areas, as well as inspiration on the connections to how humans reason about moving through spaces.