Lei Chin-Hai, Betty. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1989. / Bibliography: leaves 229-243.

A new, open-access Global Positioning System (GPS) signal, known as L1C, is the most recent of several modernized Global Positioning System (GPS) signals. The first launch of a GPS satellite with this signal is expected to occur within a few years. One of the interesting features of modern Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals, including GPS L1C, is the presence of data and pilot components. The pilot component is a carrier with a deterministic overlay code but no data symbols; whereas, the data component carries the navigation data symbols used in the receiver processing. A unique aspect of GPS L1C is the asymmetrical power split between the two components, 75% of the power is used for the pilot and the remaining power, or 25%, for the data. In addition, the pilot and the data components are transmitted in phase with orthogonal spreading codes. Unassisted acquisition of GNSS spread spectrum signals requires a two-dimensional search for the spreading code delay and Doppler frequency. For modern two-component GNSS signals, conventional GNSS acquisition schemes may be used on either component, correlating the received signal with either the pilot or the data spreading code. One obvious disadvantage of this approach is the wasting of power; hence, new techniques for combining, or joint acquisition of the pilot and the data components, have been proposed. In this dissertation, acquisition of GPS L1C is analyzed and receiver techniques are proposed for improving acquisition sensitivity. Optimal detectors for GPS L1C acquisition in additive white Gaussian noise are derived, based on various scenarios for a GPS receiver. Monte Carlo simulations are used to determine the performance of these optimal detectors, based on detection and false alarm probabilities. After investigating the optimal detectors for GPS L1C acquisition, various sub-optimal detectors that are more efficient to implement are thoroughly investigated and compared. Finally, schemes for joint acquisition of L1C and the legacy GPS C/A code signal are proposed and analyzed.

This doctoral dissertation reports on an empirical study, which takes a feature-based approach and probes the L2 acquisition and processing of Chinese bei passives by adult English native speakers. In Chinese, an individual passive marker bei is used to mark passive constructions. Whilst historically used as a lexical verb, bei is in the process of being grammaticalised (i.e. semi-lexical) and hence contains a semantic component (Liu, 2012a). Three forms of bei passives and their semantic properties have been investigated: basic long bei passives (i.e. with an external argument), basic short bei passives (i.e. without an external argument), and the retained-object construction of bei. In total, 75 English native speakers with intermediate and advanced Chinese proficiency, and 33 native Mandarin Chinese speakers (serving as a control group) were tested by a series of on-line methods (a self-paced reading task and a reaction-time picture elicited word rearrangement task) and off-line methods (an untimed acceptability judgement task and a fill-in-the-blank task). The current study finds that the reconfiguration of target semantic features of bei is a gradual process and occurs feature-by-feature, depending on consistent and ample input-based evidence. This lends support to the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis (Lardiere, 2005, 2008, 2009). It is also found that morphosyntax-semantics mismatches lead to acquisitional difficulties, as predicted by the Bottleneck Hypothesis (Slabakova, 2008, 2009b), which shares a similar view to the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis. In addition, L1 English L2 Chinese learners are found to be subject to the formation strategy of English short passives, in line with Montrul (2001). A disjunction in L2 performance between off-line and on-line tasks has been found in the advanced learners, who show target-like on-line sensitivity to violations of semantic constraints on bei but fail to converge on the target grammar in off-line judgements. These findings are compatible with Ullman's (2001, 2005) declarative-procedural model and suggest that the increase in convergence on real-time comprehension and production in the advanced learners is a result of the more involved procedural system. The general findings of the current study lend support to the view (Sorace, 2009; White, 2011) that representational and processing difficulties must be teased apart in L2 acquisition.

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a significant pathogen that causes a wide variety of disease in humans and animals. Methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates carrying mecC, the gene that confers resistance to the antibiotic, have been isolated from humans but also from diverse animal species covering livestock, domestic and wild animals throughout Europe. Many of the known MRSA mecC isolates have been whole-genome sequenced by our group to gain insight into the evolution and epidemiology of these emerging lineages. For microbes and humans alike, iron is an essential cofactor in many biochemical reactions and S. aureus requires iron for colonisation and subsequent pathogenesis. The success of S. aureus is partly attributed to its ability to exploit the host iron pool. It does this through multiple iron uptake mechanisms, including at least two high-affinity iron scavenging siderophores (staphyloferrins A and B) and an iron-regulated surface determinant (Isd) pathway for haem-iron acquisition. Here I describe the identification of a novel locus encoding a siderophore-like non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS), directly downstream of the SCCmec insertion site in mecC S. aureus isolates. A homologous region was identified in Streptococcus equi 4047 (S. equi) which encodes a NRPS termed 'equibactin' that is involved in iron acquisition. I have therefore named the NRPS product 'staphylobactin' in MRSA, and the aim of this study was to determine the function of the staphylobactin biosynthesis cluster: is this region involved in iron acquisition and how might it be regulated? Analysis of the prevalence of isolates containing the staphylobactin locus showed it to be present in a large number of mecC strains in our collection but also identified homologues in other staphylococcus isolates. The region is highly conserved in all S. aureus isolates belonging to clonal complex (CC) 130 (broad host range lineage), suggesting that staphylobactin might impact on S. aureus's ability to infect a broad range of host species. The staphylobactin gene cluster contains 14 coding sequences, stbB-F, F1, G-M and O. Bioinformatic analysis results in predictions of domain and gene functions associated with iron acquisition. I hypothesized that staphylobactin might have been acquired to compensate for the lack of another siderophore, such as staphyloferrin B, but the staphyloferrin B biosynthesis cluster and transport is present in nearly all S. aureus strains, ruling out this model. Unlike the equibactin locus, however, the staphylobactin locus lacks a homolog for the iron-dependent regulator eqbA. Instead, expression of this locus appears to be regulated by MntR, a DtxR-like regulator. The staplylobactin gene cluster is flanked by direct repeats which suggest staphylobactin could have been gained by horizontal gene transfer. In order to study the role of the staphylobactin gene cluster, deletion mutants of MntR, the staphylobactin locus and staphyloferrins A and B, were generated using the pIMAY two step gene deletion procedure in the previously un-manipulated mecC S. aureus CC130 strains - a challenging protocol that required significant optimization given the difficulties with manipulating this bacterium. Analysis of the MntR mutant suggests that the staphylobactin operon is regulated by MntR, acting as a positive regulator, in an iron-dependent manner. By RT-PCR, I found that expression of the staphylobactin NRPS genes is increased when cultures are grown in the absence of iron, suggesting an involvement with iron acquisition. Genomic inactivation of the staphyloferrins resulted in a mutant severely incapacitated for growth in serum and transferrin as the sole iron source, and addition of iron reversed this phenotype. However, deletion of staphylobactin alone or in addition to the staphyloferrins, lacked an iron-dependent growth defect, and numerous assays failed to identify a clear role for staphylobactin in iron metabolism. Therefore, further experiments are needed to elucidate the function of this siderophore like NRPS. Analysis of the same sequenced CC130 mecC isolates from our strain collection in which the staphylobactin locus was found, led to the identification of a novel Von Willebrand (vwb) gene. In order to investigate possible reasons for these isolates to infect a wide range of host species, wild-type and vwb deletion mutant strains, along with the novel vwb expressed in lactococcus, were tested using a coagulation assay and were able to clot plasma from a broad range of host species. Thus the specificity of vWbp proteins can be used to infer the host specificity and evolutionary history of the S. aureus strains that harbour them. Although I was unable to generate definitive evidence revealing the biological role for the staphylobactin locus this study has generated valuable tools for further studies and thoroughly tested a number of hypotheses concerning its role in cation metabolism.

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Chen, Hui. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-132). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / 摘要 --- p.iii / Acknowledgments --- p.iv / Table of Contents --- p.ix / List of Tables --- p.xii / List of Figures --- p.xiii / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Nature of vowel length --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.1 --- Definitions of vowel quantity and vowel length --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- Vowel length in relation to language prosody --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2 --- Acquisition of vowel length distinction --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- Current study on the acquisition of vowel length in Cantonese --- p.9 / Chapter 1.4 --- Organization of thesis --- p.10 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Vowel length in Cantonese --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1 --- Long and short vowels in t h e Cantonese vowel system --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- The syllable template of Cantonese --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- The phonetic inventory of Cantonese vowels and their distributions --- p.12 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Two competing analyses of Cantonese vowels --- p.17 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Status of vowel duration in Cantonese vowel length contrasts --- p.26 / Chapter 2.2 --- Vowel length and the prosodic structure of Cantonese syllables --- p.32 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Durational properties of Cantonese vowel length and syllable structure --- p.33 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Towards a constant syllable weight/size --- p.41 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- A prosodic model of Cantonese Syllables --- p.43 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Acquisition of vowel length in Cantonese --- p.50 / Chapter 3.1 --- Cantonese vowel length: the acquisition task --- p.50 / Chapter 3.2 --- Previous studies relevant to the acquisition of vowel length --- p.51 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Previous studies on vowel length and prosodic development --- p.51 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Previous studies on Cantonese vowel development --- p.62 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Kong (1997) on prosodic development in Cantonese --- p.64 / Chapter 3.3 --- Insights and Inadequacies of previous studies --- p.67 / Chapter 3.4 --- Research questions --- p.68 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Vowel length acquisition and prosodic development in Cantonese: A naturalistic case study --- p.70 / Chapter 4.1 --- Objectives of the study --- p.70 / Chapter 4.2 --- Method --- p.70 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Database and subject --- p.71 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Transcription and acoustic measurement --- p.72 / Chapter 4.3 --- Data analysis --- p.76 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Age of onset of vowel quantity --- p.76 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Development of vowel length and prosodic structure in Cantonese . --- p.83 / Chapter Chapter Five --- Acquisition of vowel length and its contrastive function: Experimental studies --- p.90 / Chapter 5.1 --- Objectives of the experimental studies --- p.90 / Chapter 5.2 --- Experiment I - Actual Word Test --- p.91 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Subjects and materials --- p.91 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Procedure --- p.92 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Results --- p.93 / Chapter 5.2.4 --- Summary of findings of the Actual Word experiment --- p.96 / Chapter 5.3 --- Experiment II - Novel Word Test --- p.97 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Experimental design: --- p.97 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Subjects and materials --- p.98 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Procedure --- p.100 / Chapter 5.3.4 --- Results --- p.103 / Chapter 5.3.5 --- Summary of findings of the Novel Word experiment --- p.104 / Chapter 5.4 --- Overview of the two experiments --- p.105 / Chapter Chapter Six --- Conclusions and discussions --- p.106 / Chapter 6.1 --- Vowel length in child Cantonese: Key findings --- p.106 / Chapter 6.2 --- Factors affecting acquisition: the role of vowel quantity in the vowel length contrast --- p.109 / Chapter 6.3 --- Vowel length development viewed as an integral part of the development of prosodic structure --- p.111 / Chapter 6.4 --- Acquiring vowel length as a phonological opposition --- p.113 / Chapter Appendix I --- Results of the complete set of data in the naturalistic longitudinal study --- p.115 / Chapter Appendix II --- The list of words tested in the Actual Word experiment --- p.118 / Chapter Appendix III --- Examples of the test pictures used in Actual Word Test for each of the vowel pairs in various coda environments --- p.119 / Chapter Appendix IV --- "Examples of test pictures used in the Novel Word Test for the Repeat Condition, the Non-contrastive Condition, the Contrastive Condition, and the Control Condition" --- p.122 / References --- p.126

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Le langage non-littéral (expressions idiomatiques, métaphores, métonymies, etc.) se révèle être très présent dans nos conversations de la vie de tous les jours. Contrairement à ce que l’on pourrait penser, l’utilisation du langage figuré ne revêt pas exclusivement une fonction ornementale : au contraire, la linguistique cognitive a montré que le langage non-littéral est le reflet d’un certain nombre de concepts que nous abordons de manière métaphorique (Gibbs, 1995 ; Gibbs et Tendhal, 2006 ; Lakoff et Johnson, 1980 ; et Sperber et Wilson, 1986/1995). En lien avec cet ancrage théorique, un certain nombre de chercheurs se sont intéressés au domaine de l’apprentissage et de l’enseignement des langues secondes. Ils ont proposé des stratégies d’enseignement afin de garantir un apprentissage de la langue le plus complet possible et ont surtout étudié les compétences non-littérales des apprenants en réception (Andreou et al., 2009 ; Boers, 2000 ; Boers et Lindstromberg, 2009; Cooper, 1998 et 1999 ; Komur et Cimen, 2009 ; Kosciuk, 2003 ; et Lennon, 1998). En revanche, très peu de didacticiens se sont interrogés sur les capacités des apprenants à produire du non-littéral dans une langue étrangère à l’exception de Littlemore et al. (2014), MacArthur (2010) et Nacey (2013). Afin de corroborer le travail de ces chercheuses, ce travail de thèse s’intéresse au développement du langage figuratif chez des apprenants de langue seconde tout en proposant une comparaison avec son acquisition en langue maternelle. Dans le but d’avoir une première idée de la façon dont ces deux types de sujets manient le non-littéral, j’analyse tout d’abord le discours d’une petite fille de nationalité anglaise filmée à intervalles réguliers entre l’âge d’un an et quatre ans, puis j’examine les productions écrites en anglais d’apprenants francophones. J’observe ensuite les productions non-littérales d’enfants natifs anglophones âgés de 7, 11 et 15 ans, d’apprenants francophones en classe de seconde, première année de licence d’anglais et deuxième année de master d’anglais, et enfin, d’un groupe contrôle d’adultes anglophones en interactions semi-guidées. Les résultats de ces différentes analyses révèlent de nombreux points communs entre les productions figuratives des enfants natifs anglophones et des apprenants francophones. La principale différence entre ces sujets se situe au niveau de la proportion de formes figuratives produites (croissante chez les enfants, mais constante chez les apprenants), de la proportion de formes figuratives conventionnelles produites (croissante chez les apprenants, mais constante chez les enfants) et de la forte proportion de formes déviantes chez les apprenants. Ces formes proviennent principalement d’une carence en ressources lexicales de la langue étrangère et d’expressions figuratives du français que les apprenants ont souhaité transposer en anglais. Cette thèse propose un ensemble d’implications pédagogiques pour la classe de langue dans le but de remédier à ces difficultés. / Research has shown that non-literalness is pervasive in language and that it is not always an ornamental device (e.g. to invest time in something, to be in love, the leg of a table, etc.). Metaphor permeates our way of thinking (Gibbs, 1995; Gibbs and Tendahl, 2006; Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) and serves a wide variety of discursive functions (Cameron, 2003; Charteris-Black, 2004; Müller, 2008; Steen, 2008, 2011, 2013). In the light of these findings, I propose to examine non-literal language from a second language acquisition perspective, as we know that language learners struggle to develop a successful command of the conceptual and figurative system of their L2 (Andreou and Galantomos, 2009; Irujo, 1986; Cooper, 1999; Danesi, 1992, 1995). Besides, even if recent studies have started to document L2 metaphorical performance (Littlemore et al., 2014; McArthur, 2010; Nacey 2009 and 2013), little is known about the way it actually develops across learning stages. As an attempt to bridge this gap, I propose a comparative study of figurative language development in first and second language acquisition. To get a preliminary picture of the use of non-literal language by native English-speaking children and French learners of English, I analyse the discourse of a young English child aged 1 to 4 using the Forrester Corpus available on the CHILDES database (MacWhinney, 2000), and I investigate essays written by French university students majoring in Arts and learning English as a second language. Then, I propose an L1/L2 comparative study where I analyze semi-guided interactions taking place between native English-speaking children (aged 7, 11 and 15), French learners of English (in their first year of high school, first year of B.A. in English studies and last year of M.A. in English studies), as well as native English-speaking adults. The results of this PhD project revealed many similar aspects in the figurative productions of native English-speaking children and French students. One of the main differences between the two groups is related to the amount of figurative forms produced, which increases across ages in children’s discourse while remaining constant in learners’ discourse. Another important difference is the amount of conventional figurative forms produced; they increase across learning stages in the learner’s production but remain constant in the children’s. Lastly, I observed a large amount of deviant figurative forms in the leaner’s productions, mainly resulting from L1 transfers and lexical overextensions. Taking into account these observations, implications for teaching are presented.