Au cours du premier millénaire avant notre ère, les bibliothèques, qui apparaissent avec le besoin d'organiser la conservation des textes, sont immédiatement confrontées aux difficultés de l'indexation. Le titre apparaît alors comme une première solution, permettant d'identifier rapidement chaque type d'ouvrage et éventuellement de discerner des ouvrages thématiquement proches.Alors que dans la Grèce Antique, les titres ont une fonction peu informative, mais ont toujours pour objectif d'identifier le document, l'invention de l'imprimerie à caractères mobiles (Gutenberg, XVème siècle) a entraîné une forte augmentation du nombre de documents, offrant désormais une diffusion à grande échelle. Avec la recrudescence des textes imprimés, le titre acquiert peu à peu de nouvelles fonctions, conduisant très souvent à des enjeux d'influence socioculturelle ou politique (notamment dans le cas des articles journalistiques).Aujourd'hui, que le document soit sous forme électronique ou papier, la présence d'un ou de plusieurs titres est très souvent constatée, permettant de créer un premier lien entre le lecteur et le sujet abordé dans le document. Mais comment quelques mots peuvent-ils avoir une si grande influence ? Quelles fonctions les titres doivent-ils remplir en ce début du XXIème siècle ? Comment générer automatiquement des titres respectant ces fonctions ?Le titrage automatique de documents textuels est avant tout un des domaines clés de l'accessibilité des pages Web (standards W3C) tel que défini par la norme proposée par les associations sur le handicap. Côté lecteur, l'objectif est d'augmenter la lisibilité des pages obtenues à partir d'une recherche sur mot-clé(s) et dont la pertinence est souvent faible, décourageant les lecteurs devant fournir de grands efforts cognitifs. Côté producteur de site Web, l'objectif est d'améliorer l'indexation des pages pour une recherche plus pertinente. D'autres intérêts motivent cette étude (titrage de pages Web commerciales, titrage pour la génération automatique de sommaires, titrage pour fournir des éléments d'appui pour la tâche de résumé automatique,).Afin de traiter à grande échelle le titrage automatique de documents textuels, nous employons dans cette étude des méthodes et systèmes de TALN (Traitement Automatique du Langage Naturel). Alors que de nombreux travaux ont été publiés à propos de l'indexation et du résumé automatique, le titrage automatique demeurait jusqu'alors discret et connaissait quelques difficultés quant à son positionnement dans le domaine du TALN. Nous soutenons dans cette étude que le titrage automatique doit pourtant être considéré comme une tâche à part entière.Après avoir défini les problématiques liées au titrage automatique, et après avoir positionné cette tâche parmi les tâches déjà existantes, nous proposons une série de méthodes permettant de produire des titres syntaxiquement corrects selon plusieurs objectifs. En particulier, nous nous intéressons à la production de titres informatifs, et, pour la première fois dans l'histoire du titrage automatique, de titres accrocheurs. Notre système TIT', constitué de trois méthodes (POSTIT, NOMIT et CATIT), permet de produire des ensembles de titres informatifs dans 81% des cas et accrocheurs dans 78% des cas. / During the first millennium BC, the already existing libraries needed to organize texts preservation, and were thus immediately confronted with the difficulties of indexation. The use of a title occurred then as a first solution, enabling a quick indentification of every work, and in most of the cases, helping to discern works thematically close to a given one. While in Ancient Greece, titles have had a little informative function, although still performing an indentification function, the invention of the printing office with mobile characters (Gutenberg, XVth century AD) dramatically increased the number of documents, which are today spread on a large-scale. The title acquired little by little new functions, leaning very often to sociocultural or political influence (in particular in journalistic articles).Today, for both electronic and paper documents, the presence of one or several titles is very often noticed. It helps creating a first link between the reader and the subject of the document. But how some words can have a so big influence? What functions do the titles have to perform at this beginning of the XXIth century? How can one automatically generate titles respecting these functions? The automatic titling of textual documents is one of the key domains of Web pages accessibility (W3C standards) such as defined in a standard given by associations about the disabled. For a given reader, the goal is to increase the readability of pages obtained from a search, since usual searches are often disheartening readers who must supply big cognitive efforts. For a Website designer, the aim is to improve the indexation of pages for a more relevant search. Other interests motivate this study (titling of commercial Web pages, titling in order to automatically generate contents, titling to bring elements to enhance automatic summarization).In this study, we use NLP (Natural Language Processing) methods and systems. While numerous works were published about indexation and automatic summarization, automatic titling remained discreet and knew some difficulties as for its positioning in NLP. We support in this study that the automatic titling must be nevertheless considered as a full task.Having defined problems connected to automatic titling, and having positioned this task among the already existing tasks, we provide a series of methods enabling syntactically correct titles production, according to several objectives. In particular, we are interested in the generation of informative titles, and, for the first time in the history of automatic titling, we introduce the concept of catchiness.Our TIT' system consists of three methods (POSTIT, NOMIT, and CATIT), that enables to produce sets of informative titles in 81% of the cases and catchy titles in 78% of the cases.

This thesis is a collection of essays on the relevance of property right reforms on the wellbeing of poor households in developing countries; specifically titling programmes in urban Peru. The first essay assesses the effects of titling on housing investment. The availability of a unique dataset permits us to trace households' investment behaviour. This allows us to investigate if tenure security induces households to make sizeable investments, the evolution of this effect over time, and whether heterogeneous expectations about future tenure security matter for the estimated impact. Evidence reveals significant effects, especially on large investment; however, the response on this type of investment may take several years to become effective. The second essay contributes to the debate on the sustainability of property rights reforms by emphasising the importance of strong registration systems. Policymakers have focused on the process of granting titles but the conditions needed to maintain the formality of future plot transactions have been left unattended. The analysis exploits an exogenous variation in legislation to examine the impact of a change in the registration process on the registration rate of plot transactions. Evidence suggests a large negative effect, implying that a weak registration system could threaten the reform. The third essay explores the impact of titling on the risk preferences of slum dwellers. The analysis provides evidence that titled dwellers reported lower values of the risk aversion measure than their non-treated counterparts. Results also suggest that tenure security can influence slum dwellers' preference formation process. Evidence shows that beneficiaries who were exposed to tenure security during their youth report on average lower values of the risk aversion indicator than individuals titled at an older age.

Wong Chi Hang. / Thesis submitted in: October 2005. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-94). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.ii / 摘要 --- p.iii / Acknowledgement --- p.iv / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1 --- LyricAlly --- p.5 / Chapter 2.2 --- Singing Voice Detection --- p.6 / Chapter 2.3 --- Singing Transcription System --- p.7 / Chapter 3 --- Background and System Overview --- p.9 / Chapter 3.1 --- Background --- p.9 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Audio Mixing Practices of the popular music industry --- p.10 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Cantonese lyric writer practice --- p.11 / Chapter 3.2 --- System Overview --- p.13 / Chapter 4 --- Vocal Signal Enhancement --- p.15 / Chapter 4.1 --- Method --- p.15 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Non-center Signal Estimation --- p.16 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Center Signal Estimation --- p.17 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- Bass and drum reduction --- p.21 / Chapter 4.2 --- Experimental Results --- p.21 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Experimental Setup --- p.21 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Results and Discussion --- p.24 / Chapter 5 --- Onset Detection --- p.29 / Chapter 5.1 --- Method --- p.29 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Envelope Extraction --- p.30 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Relative Difference Function --- p.32 / Chapter 5.1.3 --- Post-Processing --- p.32 / Chapter 5.2 --- Experimental Results --- p.34 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Experimental Setup --- p.34 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Results and Discussion --- p.35 / Chapter 6 --- Non-vocal Pruning --- p.39 / Chapter 6.1 --- Method --- p.39 / Chapter 6.1.1 --- Vocal Feature Selection --- p.39 / Chapter 6.1.2 --- Feed-forward neural network --- p.44 / Chapter 6.2 --- Experimental Results --- p.46 / Chapter 6.2.1 --- Experimental Setup --- p.46 / Chapter 6.2.2 --- Results and Discussion --- p.48 / Chapter 7 --- Lyric Feature Extraction --- p.51 / Chapter 7.1 --- Features --- p.52 / Chapter 7.1.1 --- Relative Pitch Feature --- p.52 / Chapter 7.1.2 --- Time Distance Feature --- p.54 / Chapter 7.2 --- Pitch Extraction --- p.56 / Chapter 7.2.1 --- f0 Detection Algorithms --- p.56 / Chapter 7.2.2 --- Post-Processing --- p.64 / Chapter 7.2.3 --- Experimental Results --- p.64 / Chapter 8 --- Lyrics Alignment --- p.69 / Chapter 8.1 --- Dynamic Time Warping --- p.69 / Chapter 8.2 --- Experimental Results --- p.72 / Chapter 8.2.1 --- Experimental Setup --- p.72 / Chapter 8.2.2 --- Results and Discussion --- p.74 / Chapter 9 --- Conclusion and Future Work --- p.82 / Chapter 9.1 --- Conclusion --- p.82 / Chapter 9.2 --- Future Work --- p.83 / Chapter A --- Publications --- p.85 / Chapter B --- Symbol Table --- p.86 / Bibliography --- p.89

M.A. (Applied Linguistics and Literary Theory) / Fan subtitling, or fansubbing, has become a new form of subtitling, in which fans, often with little to no training, subtitle a film or series they enjoy, and then release the subtitles or a subtitled version of the film on the internet for free download, often by other fans, who often have an interest in the source language and culture and who may have an interest in using subtitles as a language-learning device. Subtitles produced for this fan audience can differ substantially from those created in a professional environment. For this reason, fansubs could be seen as a new genre of subtitling, employing strategies that would be unacceptable in a professional subtitled product aimed at general consumption. Professional subtitlers and translators are encouraged to follow the norms or ‘best practice’ of their industry in order to produce subtitles that are consistent, of a high quality and that have been made easy to process through methods such as length reduction and domestication. Fansubbers have no such imperatives imposed on their subtitles, being mostly self-taught and often judged by their peers and viewers on the ‘authenticity’ of their translations, rather than by other professionals and their standards. This creates an environment in which more creative translation strategies and presentation become possible, in order to create a translation that will be approved of by fans with a special interest in linguistic and cultural content. This need for the appearance of faithfulness or authenticity seems to result in a more source-oriented and complete translation approach, and a corpus-based investigation of French fansubs appears to confirm this. This dissertation attempts to explore the differences found in the two genres by analysing and comparing a translational corpus of professionally-produced and fanproduced English subtitles of French films. The average length of the subtitles and instances of discourse markers in the two sets of subtitles are compared in order to determine the degree of reduction found in each type of subtitle, and from the source to target culture. The translation strategies used in the two types of subtitling differ, with the fansub opting for a more complete rendering of the source text dialogue and a more source-oriented approach, which retains elements of spoken language found in the film dialogue. It appears that the differences between the target texts may be influenced by very different contexts in which they are produced, and possibly the differing needs and expectations of the audiences of the two genres.

Access to land is vital for providing our basic needs. According to earlier research, private landtitles are a prerequisite for secure land rights and are vital for enabling sustainable economicgrowth and poverty reduction. In Malawi, where a majority of the land is customary, newlaws have been enacted, but not yet implemented. The new laws allow registration ofcustomary land into private land, i.e. land titling. This bachelor thesis investigates the possibleeconomic effects of land titling in Malawi based on earlier research and on the views ofMalawian stakeholders. It was found that the World Bank states that land titling will lead toincreased investments and improved productivity; increased credits access with lowerinterest rate; increased liquidity on transaction markets; increased access to rental market;increased mobility; increased gender equality and decentralization of power. Even though thecultural practices in Malawi partly collide with the privatization of customary land, thestakeholders generally agree with the effects described by the World Bank. It is difficult topredict the effects of the new laws as it depends on various factors. However, land titling willsurely lead to increased tenure security, which inherently is valuable for the landowners. / Tillgång till mark är nödvändigt för att kunna tillgodose våra grundläggande behov. Säkradäganderätt i form av ett landägarbevis är grundläggande för att möjliggöra ekonomisk tillväxtoch fattigdomsbekämpning. I Malawi är endast en minoritet av marken registrerad. Denstörsta andelen mark nyttjas gemensamt av bybor. På initiativ av Världsbanken har Malawiskamyndigheter tagit fram nya land lagar som ännu inte implementeras. De nya lagarnamöjliggör att genom registrering omvandla den mark som nyttjas till byborna till privategendom. Denna studie undersöker vilka ekonomiska effekter som härrör frånlandregistrering i Malawi baserat på tidigare forskning och lokala intressenters kunskap ocherfarenheter. Enligt Världsbanken leder landregistrering i utvecklingsländer till ökadeinvesteringar och ökad produktivitet, ökad kreditgivning med lägre ränta, ökad likviditet påtransaktionsmarknaden, växande hyresmarknad, ökad rörlighet, ökad jämställdhet ochdecentralisering av makt. Trots att de kulturella sedvanorna i Malawi till viss del motverkas avprivatisering av mark, stämmer intressenternas uppfattning överens med de effekter somVärldsbanken beskriver. Det går inte att med säkerhet avgöra vilka ekonomiska effekter somlandregistreringen kommer att resultera i, eftersom att de beror på flera okända faktorer.Landregisteringen kommer dock att säkra äganderätten, vilket i sig är värdefullt för de somnyttjar marken.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of English

Thesis (MPhil)-- Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates subtitling in 7de Laan, comparing episodes from 2007 to episodes from 2010 with a focus on figurative language. It is a quantitative, descriptive study and aims to determine the overall adequacy or acceptability of the subtitles, the translation strategies used, how figurative language and language varieties are translated and compares findings from 2007 to those of 2010 to establish whether there has been a change in approach over this period. The source text, 7de Laan, is discussed in Chapter 1, which also outlines how the study will proceed, the research problem and the research questions. Chapters 2 and 3 are the literature review of the relevant theories. Chapter 2 covers Descriptive Translation Studies and the translation of figurative language. The challenges particular to subtitling, specifically the constraints of the medium, are discussed in Chapter 3. The following two chapters are the analysis and each begins with the methodology used for that analysis. Chapter 4 is a macrolevel analysis of the corpus and determines the acceptability/adequacy of the subtitles, their governing translation norms and analyses the translation strategies used. More specific questions are answered in Chapter 5, which analyses the translation of figurative language, the representation of language varieties in the subtitles and the influence catering for a hearing-impaired audience has on translation decisions. The findings indicate that the subtitles of 7de Laan are mostly acceptable and that acceptability increases in 2010. The translation strategies used and their frequency of usage are similar over the years. However, there are slight changes: in 2010 there is less literal translation, more omission and fewer figurative-specific translation strategies are used. The findings further show that there is less figurative language in the subtitles in 2010. Additionally, there is a tendency of levelling out figurative language in both years which increases in 2010. The analysis of language varieties indicates that for sociolects, age markers influence the subtitles more than race markers do. Idiolects are rendered but how much of an idiolect is rendered depends on its markers. The analysis also finds that subtitling for hearing-impaired audiences is a significant factor in the translation process over and above the spatiotemporal constraint of subtitling. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die onderskrifte van 7de Laan. Dit vergelyk episodes van 2007 met episodes van 2010 en fokus op figuurlike taalgebruik. Die ondersoek is kwantitatief en beskrywend en wil die algehele geskiktheid (adequacy) of aanvaarbaarheid (acceptability) van die onderskrifte vasstel, asook die vertaalstrategieë wat gebruik is en die wyse waarop figuurlike taal en taalvariëteite vertaal word. Die bevindinge van 2007 word vergelyk met dié van 2010 om vas te stel of die vertaalbenadering in die tydperk verander het. Die bronteks, 7de Laan, word in hoofstuk 1 bespreek, wat ‘n oorsig gee oor hoe die studie verloop, die navorsingsprobleem en die navorsingsvrae. Hoofstuk 2 en 3 is die literatuurstudie van die relevante teorieë. Hoofstuk 2 dek beskrywende vertaalstudies (Descriptive Translation Studies) en die vertaling van figuurlike taal. Die probleem eie aan onderskrifte, veral die beperkings in die vertaalproses, word in hoofstuk 3 bespreek. Die volgende twee hoofstukke bestaan uit die ontleding en elke hoofstuk begin met die metodologie wat gebruik is vir daardie ontleding. Hoofstuk 4 is ‘n makrovlakontleding van die korpus en bepaal die geskiktheid/ aanvaarbaarheid van die onderskrifte, oorheersende norme en ontleed die vertaalstrategieë wat gebruik is. Meer spesifieke vrae word in hoofstuk 5 beantwoord, wat betref die vertaling van figuurlike taal, die oordra van taalvariëteite in die onderskrifte en die invloed van die inagneming van gehoorgestremde kykers op vertaalbesluite. Die bevindinge dui aan dat die onderskrifte van 7de Laan meestal aanvaarbaar is en dat aanvaarbaarheid in 2010 toegeneem het. Die vertaalstrategieë en die frekwensie van die gebruik daarvan het oor die jare nie veel verander nie. Daar is egter klein veranderings: in 2010 is daar minder letterlike vertalings, meer weglatings en minder vertaalstrategieë wat spesifiek op figuurlike taalgebruik gemik is. Die bevindings dui ook aan dat daar minder figuurlike taal in die 2010-onderskrifte is. Die ontleding van taalvariëteite toon dat, ten opsigte van sosiolekte, ouderdommerkers ‘n groter invloed op onderskrifte het as rasmerkers. Idiolekte word wel verteenwoordig, maar die mate daarvan word deur die idiolek se merkers bepaal. Die ontleding dui ook aan dat onderskrifte wat gerig is op gehoorgestremde kykers, ‘n groot faktor in die vertaalproses is, benewens die tydruimtelike beperking van onderskrifte as sodanig.

Slum development in the Global South continues at a rapid pace, leading to a search for solutions to the severe environmental, social, and economical challenges facing these settlements. Informal economic activities are central to these communities’ survival and structure. Ownership policies have been initiated that contribute to security for residents, and there is evidence that this can lead to increased social and economic productivity. However, studies have also shown that broad ranging titling reforms may destroy existing networks, practices, and livelihoods of residents. This raises a fundamental question on how land titling and formalization of business ownership can be accomplished, while still maintaining local social networks and livelihoods. This thesis calls attention to the need to develop policy approaches that are context specific while also taking into account the complex economic networks that develop in informal settlements. / text

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:13:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 72060100762.pdf: 4776560 bytes, checksum: eb2411154467964c4dff53cbafba4623 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-10-09T00:00:00Z / Secure property rights are considered a key determinant of economic development. However, the evaluation of the causal effects of land titling is a di¢ cult task. The Brazilian government through a program called ‘Papel Passado’ has issued titles, since 2004, to over 85,000 families and has the goal to reach 750,000. This thesis examines the direct impact of securing a property title on income, labor supply, happiness and child labor force participation. In order to isolate the causal role of ownership security, this study uses a comparison between two close and very similar communities in the City of Osasco (a town with 654,000 people in the S„o Paulo metropolitan area). The key point of this case is that some units get the program and others do not. One of them, Jardim Canaã was chosen to receive the titles in 2007, but the other, Jardim DR, given fiscal constraints, only will be part of the program schedule in 2012, and for that reason became the control group in this research. In terms of Public Policy response to economic growth, understand the effect on income is relevant to measure the ‘Papel Passado’ developmental impact. Furthermore, another topic in Public Policy, that is crucial for developing economies, is child labor force participation. Particularly, in Brazil, about 5.4 million children and teenagers between 5 and 17 years old are still working full time. Last, but not least, how could such subject be related with happiness? The economics of happiness has been applied to a range of issues. These include the relationship between income and happiness, inequality and poverty, the effects of macro-policies on individual welfare and the effect of institutional conditions such as democracy, federalism and security. An evaluation of happiness as a causal effect of land titling has never been applied and such thesis intends to provide an additional input regarding this topic. The estimates suggest, using basically the Difference-in-Difference (DD) econometric approach, that titling results in increase of income and decrease of child labor hours. Also, applying ordered probit model, the property rights have positive impact on happiness as well. Hence, the thesis has presented new evidence on the value of formal property rights in urban squatter community in a developing country.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The thesis examines the characteristics of land tenure among African families with freehold title who trace their relationship to the land to their forebears who first acquired title in the mid-nineteenth century. The evidence was drawn from two field sites in the Eastern Cape, Fingo Village, Grahamstown and Rabula in the Keiskammahoek district of the former Ciskei. The evidence, supported by evidence in other Anglophone countries, shows that African familial relationships reminiscent of ‘customary’ concepts of the family, were not, and are not extinguished when title is issued, though they are altered. Africans with title regard the land as family property held by unilineal descent groups, challenging the western notion of one-to-one proprietal relationships to the land and its devolution. By exploring the intersection between tenure, use and devolution of land, the main findings reveal that local conceptions of land and use diverge considerably from the formal, legal notion of title. Title holders conceive of their land as the property of all recognised members of a patrilineally defined descent group symbolised by the family name. Because freehold is so intimately linked with inheritance, the findings significantly illuminate the social field of gender and kinship. The implications of the findings are that differing concepts of the ‘family’ and ‘property’ are fundamental to the lack of ‘fit’ between the common-law concept of ownership and what I term in the thesis ‘African freehold’. The thesis dissects the implications of culturally constructed variability in familial identities for recognition and transmission of property. Title is legally regulated by Eurocentric notions of both family and property, which lead to significant divergence between western and African interpretations of ownership, transmission and spatial division of land. The deficiencies of the South African legal mindset with regard to property law are thus fundamentally affected by the deficiencies in recognising the broader field of gender and kinship relations. The findings fundamentally challenge the dualistic paradigm currently prevalent in much of South African legal thinking, since the factors that are found to affect land tenure relationships cannot be reduced to the binary distinctions that are conventionally drawn in law, such as ‘western’ vs. ‘customary’ or ‘individual’ vs. iii ‘communal’ tenure. Instead, the important sources of validation of social (importantly, familial) and property relationships are found to be common to all property relationships, but are arranged and calibrated according to different normative patterns of recognition. In the case of the subjects in the field sites, these do not fit into the main ‘categories’ of property defined in law. Neither of the main bodies of official law, the common law and customary law, adequately characterise the relationships among the African freehold title holders. The source of legitimation is, therefore, not the ‘law’ but locally understood norms and practices. The findings suggest that the practices of the freeholders, derived from constructed ideas of kinship and descent, have relevance for a wide range of diverse African land tenure arrangements and categories, and not only ‘African freehold’. The findings therefore have significant implications for law reform more broadly. The thesis suggests that law reform should move away from models that do not match reality, and in particular should heed the warnings that titling policies as presently designed are particularly poorly aligned with the realities presented in the thesis.