I examined the relationship between performance on the Quick Spell Test (Bowers, 1996) and reading ability in an archival sample of Grade 3 (N = 192) and Grade 4 (N = 149) children from Kirby, Parrila, Deacon, and Wade-Woolley’s (2004-2007) longitudinal study. The data included a battery of phonological awareness, naming speed, phonological decoding, orthographic processing, and reading ability measures administered in both grades. I found that the Quick Spell Test was a good concurrent predictor of reading ability in Grade 3, but not a good longitudinal predictor. Orthographic processing and phonological decoding were consistently good predictors of the relationships between the Quick Spell Test and reading ability and of the difference in variance between the Quick Spell Test subscales. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2007-08-23 16:08:11.688

A common feature of text input tools is spell checking. It exists in search engines, email clients and of course in word processors like Microsoft Word. By having a spell checker when you are typing you can be more efficient than if you had to check the spelling with a separate proofing tool. Spell checking is a common request by the users of the room planning software CET Designer which is developed by Configura. In this thesis Windows Spell Checking API is evaluated and compared to alternative spell checkers. A prototype of an integrated spell checker in CET Designer text tool is then implemented with Windows Spell Checking API.

This study is a history of popular spectator sport in the city of Bradford between the years 1836 and 1908. Its major aim is to chart and analyse the experience of Bradford in relation to the national development of sport in the modern city and how spectator sport, in particular, helped shape personal and civic identities in a bourgeoning industrial community. This project builds on a growing body of work on the development of sport and leisure in British towns and cities during the nineteenth century. Furthermore, it will both complement earlier studies on sport in Bradford and West Yorkshire and add to our understanding of how urban sporting and leisure cultures were forged through a combination of national trends and local economic and social peculiarities. The emergence of a national sporting culture ran parallel with an exponential acceleration in urbanisation, the adoption of the factory system, regularised working hours and growth in disposable income. Bradford’s sporting culture, however, was also a product of the city’s shifting social structures, which had been shaped by its unique economy. As a consequence, Bradford also played a significant role in determining the national sporting culture as well as reflecting wider trends. Bradford’s move from an essentially pre-industrial sporting landscape towards a recognisably modern one took place over a period of little more than fifty years. However, it will be shown that this was an uneven process. In challenging Malcolmson’s ‘leisure vacuum’ theory, it will be argued that Bradford’s sporting culture exhibited as much continuity as change. Pre-modern sporting practices, such as the game of knur and spell (presented here as a case study), for example, overlapped with the emergence of codified team sports. Nevertheless, the changes that were wrought in the second half of the nineteenth century were significant and lasting as an increasingly assertive working class had more time and money to spend on leisure. The thesis not only examines and charts how the development of cricket, soccer and rugby within the city were subject to changing economic and cultural contexts, but, especially through an analysis of the switch from rugby to soccer of both Manningham FC and Bradford FC, how agency was a crucial factor in bringing about historical change.

The aim of this dissertation is to provide a unified treatment of various spell checkers and correctors. Firstly, the spell checking and correcting problems are formally described in mathematics in order to provide a better understanding of these tasks. An approach that is similar to the way in which denotational semantics used to describe programming languages is adopted. Secondly, the various attributes of existing spell checking and correcting techniques are discussed. Extensive studies on selected spell checking/correcting algorithms and packages are then performed. Lastly, an empirical investigation of various spell checking/correcting packages is presented. It provides a comparison and suggests a classification of these packages in terms of their functionalities, implementation strategies, and performance. The investigation was conducted on packages for spell checking and correcting in English as well as in Northern Sotho and Chinese. The classification provides a unified presentation of the strengths and weaknesses of the techniques studied in the research. The findings provide a better understanding of these techniques in order to assist in improving some existing spell checking/correcting applications and future spell checking/correcting package designs and implementations. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Computer Science / unrestricted

Several previous studies have found that various characteristics of the Indian monsoon rainfall have shown secular changes over the past century. In this study, using a gridded (1degree) daily rainfall dataset, we analyse the spatio-temporal characteristics of the intensity and duration of monsoon (June through September) rainfall for secular changes over the last 50 years. The characteristics of the duration of rain events are described by wet and dry spells. A wet/dry spell is defined as a period of consecutive days with rainfall above/below a particular threshold. We choose to use a threshold that is a function of the local climatological mean, given the spatial heterogeneity of mean monsoon rainfall. The wet and dry spells are then divided into three categories: short [1 to 7 days], moderate [8 to 10 days], long [11 and more days] and analysed for changes over the past 50 years [19512000]. We find that while the number of short duration wet spells show a significant increase over the last 50 years (~15% change), the number of long duration wet spells show a significant decrease (~25%). Furthermore, while the numbers of short duration dry periods have shown a significant increase, the moderate and long duration dry spells do not shown an appreciable change. This increase and decrease in the short and long duration wet spells offset each other and consequently the total number of rainy days during the season has not shown any significant change over the past 50 years. In addition to the duration of wet and dry spells, we also analysed for changes in the accumulated rainfall of the short, medium and long duration wet spells. Our analysis suggests that while the depth of accumulated rainfall in short duration wet spells has shown a significant increase (~20%), the depth of rain in the long duration spells has shown a significant decrease (~30%) in the past fifty years.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Este trabalho decorre de uma experiência etnográfica entre os Yuhupdeh, na região do alto rio Negro (ou Noroeste Amazônico). Essa região se caracteriza por possuir um sistema social que abarca três grandes famílias lingüísticas: Tukano Oriental, Aruak e Maku. Os Yuhupdeh (Maku) ocupam no sistema regional a posição de mais baixa hierarquia. A experiência buscou compreender aspectos do xamanismo, através de práticas relacionadas à doença e ao ritual. Para tanto, adotou dois focos etnográficos. O primeiro, dirigiu-se a situações em que os benzimentos de cura e de proteção são executados, e o segundo, às situações em que se realizou o dabucuri (festa de oferta de alimentos) com uso das flautas Jurupari (Tí). Os benzimentos de cura e proteção são fórmulas verbais onde o trabalho do benzedor se revelou como sendo o de composição de pessoas. O dabucuri com o uso das flautas Jurupari (Tí) é um ritual conduzido pelo benzedor, que pode incluir a iniciação masculina ou simplesmente a exibição das flautas. Nesse rituais, o trabalho do benzedor se apresenta como sendo o de composição de grupos. Em ambos os casos, os procedimentos são análogos. / The present work derives from an ethnographical experience among the Yuhupdeh, in the Upper Rio Negro region (Northwest Amazonia). The region is distinguished by a social system which includes three linguistic families: EasternTukanoan, Aruak and Maku. The Yuhupdeh (Maku) occupy the lowest hierarchical position in the regional system. The experience aims at understanding certain aspects of shamanism, through praxis related to disease and ritual, adopting two ethnographical focus. First, events of performed healing and protection benzimentos (spells) and second, events of performed dabucuri (give-food ritual) with Jurupari (Tí) flutes. Protection and healing benzimentos are verbal formulæ in which the benzedor appears as a composer of persons. The dabucuri with Jurupari flutes is a ritual conducted by the benzedor, which may include male initiation or simply be an exhibition of the flutes. In these rituals, the benzedor appears as a composer of groups. In both cases, his procedures are analogous.

nÃo hà / Esta etnografia trata de uma modalidade de adoecimento fÃsico-psÃquico conhecido como doenÃa de feitiÃo. Tem por objetivo compreender a dinÃmica desse modo de adoecer a partir das narrativas de pessoas que se dizem afetadas por esse mal e de que modo os curandeiros concebem e tratam a doenÃa a partir de suas experiÃncias espirituais de acordo com uma lÃgica prÃpria centrada nos terreiros de umbanda e candomblà na cidade de MacapÃ-AP. Proponho uma anÃlise das diversas formas de manifestaÃÃo desse fenÃmeno tomando como chave de leitura analÃtica a concepÃÃo cosmolÃgica do universo amazÃnico seus itinerÃrios terapÃuticos e os tipos de rituais de cura acionados no decorrer do tratamento. O material etnogrÃfico aqui descrito e analisado foi obtido durante a pesquisa de campo (entrevistas em profundidade e observaÃÃo participante) no perÃodo entre 2013 e 2015 na cidade de MacapÃ- AP. Verifica-se que a crenÃa no feitiÃo està no cerne de um sistema cosmolÃgico que admite a atuaÃÃo de forÃas ocultas em suas diferentes formas de agir na vida cotidiana individual ou coletiva. Meus dados etnogrÃficos indicam que o feitiÃo à uma crenÃa reguladora da vida amazÃnica e que mesmo diante das demandas da vida moderna impelida pela racionalidade mÃdico-cientifica seu poder de interferÃncia no cotidiano à gerido pela crenÃa na existÃncia de doenÃas nÃo naturais nÃo explicadas pela ciÃncia mÃdica. NÃo obstante o intenso fluxo de informaÃÃes preventivas e a implementaÃÃo de modelos curativos e de cuidados em saÃde capazes de responder Ãs diversas doenÃas presente da vida moderna nÃo foram suficientes para suprimir as ideias e os valores culturais desses indivÃduos que adotam as concepÃÃes e prÃticas tradicionais de cura associadas ou nÃo aos novos mÃtodos mesmo no contexto urbano / This ethnography deals with a form of physical-psychic illness known as spell disease. Its purpose is to understand the dynamics of this way of getting sick from the narratives of people who are said to be affected by this evil and how the healers conceive and treat the disease from their spiritual experiences according to their own logic centered in the terreiros of Umbanda and candomblà in the city of MacapÃ-AP. I propose an analysis of the various forms of manifestation of this phenomenon taking as a key analytical reading the cosmological conception of the Amazonian universe its therapeutic itineraries and the types of healing rituals triggered during the treatment. The ethnographic material described and analyzed here was obtained during field research (in-depth interviews and participant observation) in the period between 2013 and 2015 in the city of MacapÃ-AP. It turns out that belief in the spell is at the core of a cosmological system that admits the performance of hidden forces in their different ways of acting in daily life individual or collective. My ethnographic data indicate that the spell is a regulating belief in Amazonian life and that even in the face of the demands of modern life impelled by medical-scientific rationality, its power of interference in daily life is governed by the belief in the existence of unnatural diseases not explained by medical science . Despite the intense flow of preventive information and the implementation of curative and health care models capable of responding to the various diseases present in modern life they were not enough to suppress the ideas and cultural values ​​of these individuals adopting the traditional

Japanese <i>wh</i>-questions always exhibit focus intonation (FI). Furthermore, the domain of FI exhibits a correspondence to the <i>wh</i>-scope. I propose that this phonology-semantics correspondence is a result of the cyclic computation of FI, which is explained under the notion of <i>Multiple Spell-Out</i> in the recent Minimalist framework. The proposed analysis makes two predictions: (1) embedding of an FI into another is possible; (2) (overt) movement of a <i>wh</i>-phrase to a phase edge position causes a mismatch between FI and <i>wh</i>-scope. Both predictions are tested experimentally, and shown to be borne out.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal