Meshfree methods provide a more practical approach to solving problems involving large deformation and modeling fracture compared to the Finite Element Method (FEM). However meshfree methods are more computationally intensive compared to FEM, which can limit their practicality in engineering. Meshfree methods also lack a clear boundary definition, restricting available visualization techniques. Determining particle locations and attributes such that a consistent approximation is ensured can be challenging in meshfree methods, especially when employing h-refinement. The primary objective of this work is to address the limitations associated with computational efficiency, meshfree domain discretization, and h-refinement, including both placement of particles as well as determination of particle attributes. To demonstrate the efficacy of these algorithms, a model predicting the failure of laminated composite structures using a meshfree method will be presented.

Master of Arts / Department of Modern Languages / Earl K. Brown / How to teach phrasal verbs to L2 learners of English has been the subject of debate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) courses and materials alike. These multi-part verbs, consisting of a verb and one or more particles, convey a new lexical meaning different from their individual parts. Further complicating this is the fact that some transitive phrasal verbs can be separated from their particles to varying degrees by a direct object. Though variables affecting verb-particle separation lie below the level of consciousness for most native speakers, they make the acquisition of particle placement difficult for L2 English language learners. Additionally, the presentation of these verbs in EFL textbooks and university English language programs (ELPs) is inadequate. TEFL textbooks tend to place emphasis on the lexical acquisition of phrasal verbs, ignoring separable versus non-separable distinctions. However, native English speakers separate phrasal verbs from their particles about 66.5% of the time in spoken conversation. In order to determine whether traditional textbook problems associated with phrasal verb presentation persist, I analyzed eleven TEFL textbooks used in Kansas State University’s ELP. I also administered a grammaticality judgment survey in order to find out whether L1 Spanish speakers of L2 English view separation of transitive phrasal verbs and their particles to be grammatical. L1 Spanish Speakers of L2 English are disadvantaged by the fact that their native language is verb-framed, meaning that it does not make use of particles in the same way that English does. It is for this reason that native Spanish-speakers of L2 English constitute the experimental group in this study. The results of the TEFL textbook analysis reveal that none of the eleven textbooks analyzed could stand alone in the classroom to effectively teach phrasal verbs. The results of the grammaticality judgment survey show that L1 Spanish speakers of L2 English differ at a statistically significant level from L1 American English speakers in their acceptability of phrasal verb-particle separation. These findings have pedagogical implications for TEFL instructors, textbook writers, and English language programs, and demonstrate the need for more extensive and authentic phrasal verb instruction.

Bien que typiques et incontournables de la langue anglaise, les phrasal verbs représentent cependant un véritable fléau pour les apprenants non-anglophones. Une étude quantitative s’appuyant sur la comparaison d’un corpus d’interlangue de l’anglais langue étrangère (International Corpus of Learner English, Version 2) et d’un corpus contrôle (Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays) met ainsi en lumière la sous-représentation des phrasal verbs dans les productions écrites d’étudiants non-anglophones. En second lieu, à partir d’une étude qualitative examinant l’usage des phrasal verbs dans les extraits de dissertations d’étudiants non-natifs, nous établissons une typologie des erreurs commises par les apprenants non-anglophones à l’égard des phrasal verbs. Une réflexion sur de nouvelles approches visant un meilleur apprentissage/enseignement des phrasal verbs est également proposée.Pour apporter des éléments de réponse à cette question, notre démarche consiste à observer la genèse de cette construction dans le langage de l’enfant anglophone. En effet, le rôle des constructions formées de plusieurs mots a notamment été mis en évidence dans les théories de l’acquisition de la langue maternelle (Goldberg, 1995 ; Tomasello, 2003). En outre, elles représentent une source de prédication riche et productive que les enfants de la plupart des communautés linguistiques acquièrent à un âge très précoce. Aucune étude dédiée à l’acquisition et l’usage des phrasal verbs chez le jeune enfant anglophone n’a cependant été réalisée à ce jour. Cette thèse se propose d’étudier l’émergence et le développement des constructions verbe-particule dans le langage de l’enfant en analysant les données longitudinales du discours oral spontané de deux enfants uniligues anglophones, Naima et Ella, suivies respectivement entre 0;11 et 3;10 et entre 1;00 et 4;00. Les transcriptions des corpus sont issues de la base de données CHILDES (MacWhinney, 2000a).Enfin, cette thèse s’intéresse également à l’acquisition et à l’usage du placement de la particule adverbiale au sein des verbes à particule transitifs directs dans le discours de l’enfant anglophone. En particulier, une analyse multifactorielle de plusieurs variables linguistiques sera conduite afin de voir si l’enfant reproduit le même schéma linguistique que l’adulte dans ses emplois des constructions verbe-particule transitives directes de type continu V-Prt-O et discontinu V-O-Prt. / Although typical and inevitable in the English language, phrasal verbs, however, represent a real scourge to non-English-speaking students. A quantitative study based on a comparison between an interlanguage corpus of English as a foreign language (International Corpus of Learner English, Version 2) and a control corpus (Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays) thus highlights the underrepresentation of phrasal verbs in non-English-speaking students’ written productions. Secondly, from a qualitative study examining the use of phrasal verbs in excerpts from non-native students’ essays, we draw up a typology of errors made by non-English-speaking learners with regard to phrasal verbs. A discussion on new approaches to a better learning/teaching of phrasal verbs is also proposed.To provide some answers to this question, our approach consists in observing the genesis of this construction in the English-speaking child’s language. Indeed, the role of multiword constructions has particularly been emphasized in theories of first language acquisition (Goldberg, 1995; Tomasello, 2003). Besides, they are a rich and productive source of predication that children from most of the language communities acquire at a very early age. Yet, no studies dedicated to the acquisition and usage of verb-particle constructions in young English-speaking children have been carried out so far. This thesis aims to study the emergence and development of verb-particle constructions in child language by analyzing longitudinal data from the spontaneous oral speech of two monolingual English-speaking children, Naima and Ella, respectively followed between ages 0;11 and 3;10 and between ages 1;00 and 4;00. The corpora transcripts come from the CHILDES database (MacWhinney, 2000a).Finally, this thesis also focuses on the acquisition and use of particle placement within direct transitive phrasal verbs in English-speaking children’s speech. In particular, a multifactorial analysis of several linguistic variables will be conducted to see if children reproduce the same linguistic pattern as adults in their productions of both types of direct transitive verb-particle constructions (i.e. continuous configuration V-Prt-O and split configuration V-O-Prt).