Relatively few empirical studies in the professional burnout literature have examined mental health providers (MHPs). Research on other professional groups has demonstrated that certain emotion regulation strategies, known as emotional labor (i.e., deep acting and surface acting), are common responses to perceived display rules (i.e., professional guidelines for emotional expression), and are differentially associated with burnout. The present study aimed to fill a gap in the literature by evaluating the empirical links between work stressors (i.e., role conflict, role ambiguity, and lack of autonomy), personality (i.e., extraversion), emotional labor (i.e., surface acting and deep acting), and burnout in a sample of MHPs. Additional variables (i.e., perceived emotional display rules, client characteristics, etc.) were also explored. Data from an online survey of 188 MHPs working in Florida was analyzed using multivariate and univariate regressions. The results of this study supported several of the hypothesized relationships between predictor variables and burnout. Most notably, extraversion, role conflict, role ambiguity, autonomy, and surface acting were significantly associated with one or more dimensions of burnout. Support was not found for extraversion as a moderator of the relationships between work stressors and burnout or between work stressors and emotional labor strategies. The effects of emotional labor strategies as mediators of the relationships between work stressors and burnout were not statistically significant. Implications and limitations of the findings, as well as suggestions for future research, are discussed.

This dissertation investigates two facts about language processing. The Good Enough Approach claims that language users do not form a fully detailed representation of the input unless the task at hand requires it. On the other hand it has been shown that language users display internal preferences when they are faced with ambiguous input, as to what direction disambiguation should take. It has been proposed that these preferences are based on previous experience with similar inputs. This thesis investigates these two issues using tools from the fields of decision making and reinforcement learning. Specifically feedback and payoffs associated with sentence interpretations are manipulated to explore reading behavior, understood as a process of information seeking, and disambiguation choices. In four eye-tracking-reading experiments, the experimental stimuli are sentences containing a relative clause attachment ambiguity. Experiment 1 investigates whether the combination of the degree of ambiguity of a sentence and the possible payoffs, affect people’s reading times for the potentially ambiguous parts of a sentence, as well as their disambiguation choices. Experiment 2 investigates the role of feedback in such processes, a combination related to expected utility maximization. Experiment 3 studies how participants learn from feedback under risky or non-risky conditions. The last experiment investigates whether participants adjust their responses to evidence provided by feedback even overriding their internal initial bias towards a default response. / text

The ability to retrieve accurate information from databases without an extensive knowledge of the contents and organization of each database is extremely beneficial to the dissemination and utilization of freight data. The challenges, however, are: 1) correctly identifying only the relevant information and keywords from questions when dealing with multiple sentence structures, and 2) automatically retrieving, preprocessing, and understanding multiple data sources to determine the best answer to user’s query. Current named entity recognition systems have the ability to identify entities but require an annotated corpus for training which in the field of transportation planning does not currently exist. A hybrid approach which combines multiple models to classify specific named entities was therefore proposed as an alternative. The retrieval and classification of freight related keywords facilitated the process of finding which databases are capable of answering a question. Values in data dictionaries can be queried by mapping keywords to data element fields in various freight databases using ontologies. A number of challenges still arise as a result of different entities sharing the same names, the same entity having multiple names, and differences in classification systems. Dealing with ambiguities is required to accurately determine which database provides the best answer from the list of applicable sources. This dissertation 1) develops an approach to identify and classifying keywords from freight related natural language queries, 2) develops a standardized knowledge representation of freight data sources using an ontology that both computer systems and domain experts can utilize to identify relevant freight data sources, and 3) provides recommendations for addressing ambiguities in freight related named entities. Finally, the use of knowledge base expert systems to intelligently sift through data sources to determine which ones provide the best answer to a user’s question is proposed. / text

The mediaeval Islamicate world was dominated by a language-obsessed culture that placed great value on words and their meanings. These words and meanings could, for those who used them, make the difference between both earthly success or failure, and salvation or damnation in the hereafter. Scholars were also conscious of the contingency of the links between words and their meanings, and the potential this created for ambiguity. This dissertation is about the mechanisms, models, and assumptions those scholars used to manage linguistic ambiguity. My investigation focuses on ar-Rāġib al-Iṣfahānī (fl. ≤ 409/1018), one such language-obsessed scholar. I provide a comprehensive review of his life, works, and times. He put together a portfolio of intellectual positions in exegesis, theology, ethics, and poetics that was guided by a philosophy of language which accepted and negotiated linguistic ambiguity. Underpinning that philosophy was a theory of meaning that used the pairing of expression and idea (lafẓ and maʿnā) to deal with polysemy, the intent of the speaker, and the function of the lexicon. Ar-Rāġib’s philosophy was emblematic of what I call the Arabic Language Tradition, the shared assumptions of which constituted an indigenous philosophy of language that was able to supply its own answers to the central questions of linguistics and then use those answers across all of the genres encompassed by its scholarship, from grammar to poetics, law, and theology. It was an Arabic Language Tradition that is best understood through comparison to an alternative Classical Language Tradition that had its roots in the Organon and a theory of meaning with little space for ambiguity. Re-telling Islamic intellectual history through the lens of language in this way shows us that in addition to the well-known and oft-studied Islamic engagement with Hellenistic philosophy there was another, indigenous, tradition with its own answers to the problems of mediaeval scholarship. This Arabic Language Tradition saw in language a solution to these problems, rather than seeing language as just another hurdle to be overcome. / Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

In this dissertation, I present a grounded exploration of some processes and mechanisms through which internal ambiguity helps groups adapt to—and thus cope with—external ambiguity and an unpredictably changing environment.

People use facial appearance to infer the social attributes of others. A primary indicator of facial attractiveness is prototypicality (the proximity of an object to its categorical central tendency); faces and objects closer to the central tendency are judged as more attractive. Perceptual fluency theory suggests that cognitive processing speed directly generates positive affect. This dissertation examined the relationships among attractiveness, prototypicality, and affective response in faces and non-face objects across adult and 8-year-old participants using a reaction time (RT) paradigm. RT predicted positive affect and disgust responses to facial stimuli. Of particular note are the series of complementary findings suggesting that reaction to unattractive faces may be both quantitatively (i.e., longer RT latencies) and qualitatively (i.e., judged to be less typical) different from high and medium attractive faces. These findings may help explain how appearance-based stereotypes are formed and maintained. / text

Compared to grammatical knowledge of language (what to use), the ability to use language appropriately depending on a context (how to use) is termed linguistic pragmatic knowledge. Throughout the elementary school years children developmentally not only acquire pragmatic knowledge but also increase their explicit grasp of pragmatic knowledge. This is termed metapragmatic knowledge. It includes the ability to infer meanings that are not expressed literally. In nonliteral uses of language, the speaker means something different from what is said. Among such nonliteral uses of language are indirect requests and irony. As children's metapragmatic knowledge has a positive relationship with their literate proficiency, on which success in school depends, children can benefit from the development of their metapragmatic knowledge in their academic achievement. The study of bilingualism has shown that bilingualism has a positive effect on children's metalinguistic development. Can metapragmatic knowledge be enhanced by increasing exposure to a second language (L2)? Bilingual pupils were given two tasks in which the children's levels of metapragmatic knowledge were investigated. The measure of metapragmatic knowledge consisted of two assessments: (a) understanding of indirect requests, and (b) understanding of irony. Participants listened to eight short stories in which brief interactions were presented in a multimedia, computer-based format. After each story, participants were asked a set of questions to probe subjects' attributions of the speaker's communicative intent and hearer's interpretation. L2 intensity was positively associated with metapragmatic knowledge measured by comprehension of requests. Conversely, the association between L2 intensity and metapragmatic knowledge measured by comprehension of irony was not necessarily positive. Those who scored higher had positive relationship between L2 intensity and their metapragmatic knowledge whereas those who scored lower had negative relationship between L2 intensity and their metapragmatic knowledge. In summary, L2 intensity is not always positively associated with any type of metapragmatic knowledge. This suggests that a larger amount of exposure to L2 is not necessarily beneficial to children's development of metapragmatic knowledge. Therefore, it is important to consider the levels of children's metapragmatic knowledge when planning an increase of exposure to L2 instruction.

Šiame darbe kuriamas įrankis, kuris padėtų nustatyti, kurios morfologinės žymos savybės yra svarbios sprendžiant lietuvių kalbos morfologinio daugiareikšmiškumo problemą. Morfologinio daugiareikšmiškumo problema išsprendžiama tuomet, kai pagal kontekstą vienam žodžiui priskiriama viena morfologinė žyma. Darbe naudojamas tekstynas, kurį sudaro daugiau nei 1.200.000 žodžių. Tekstyne žodžiams morfologines žymas nustatė ekspertas, o visos galimos žodžio morfologinės žymos buvo sugeneruotos su pagalbiniu įrankiu. Morfologinio daugiareikšmiškumo problemoms spręsti suprogramuotas ir taikytas Viterbi algoritmas, randantis tikėtiniausią sakinį atitinkančią kalbos dalių seką pagal sukurtus bigramų ar trigramų kalbos modelius. Atlikus testavimą naudojant dešimt kartų kryžminį patikrinimą, pasiekti toki rezultatai: • 90,10% – tikslumas, kuris parodo ar teisingai priskirta morfologinė žyma daugiareikšmiams žodžiams; • 96,39% – bendras tikslumas, kuris skaičiuojamas įtraukiant ir tuos žodžius, kurie turėjo tik vieną morfologinę žymą. / In this research was developed tool, which helps to determine, which morphological mark attributes are important when solving problem of morphological ambiguity in Lithuanian language. Morphological ambiguity problem is solved, when one word is matched with one morphological mark. Research uses corpus, which contains over than 1.200.000 words. Morphological marks in the corpus were assigned by expert and list of all possible morphological marks was generated with other utility. There was developed and applied Viterbi algorithm to solve morphological ambiguity problem, which finds the most expected path of part of speeches by created bigram or trigram speech models. Testing was implemented using cross validation with 10 folds. There was achieved these results: • 90,10% – accuracy, which shows if morphological mark was correctly match with ambiguous word; • 96,39% – total accuracy, which calculated when included non-ambiguous words.

A decision to recall products by firms can lead to negative consequences such as erosion of shareholder wealth and loss of customer goodwill. Further, the way a recall is managed can lead to more negative consequences than the recall decision itself. Therefore the manner in which firms manage such decisions can help mitigate these negative consequences. This thesis examines two such decisions: recall restitution and time to recall. A firm’s decisions on restitution offered to affected customers and time to recall may evoke conflicting reactions from shareholders and customers, where serving the interests of one stakeholder affects the interests of the other. While higher restitutions and faster recalls improve customer goodwill, they lead to erosion of shareholder wealth. This finding is used to hypothesize the influence of organizational characteristics (position of the firm in the value chain, firm’s internal operations, and firm’s recall experience), and key crisis factors (ambiguity and severity) on these decisions. This thesis uses data on toy recalls issued in the U.S. from 1988 to 2011. The results show that firms tend to favor shareholders by offering lower restitutions to affected customers when they are situated farther from the customer in the supply chain, when they have more experience with recalls, when the crisis is severe, and when the cause of the crisis is ambiguous. When the recall is due to the internal operations of the firm, restitution offered to affected customers is lower only when the severity of the recall is high. Firms issue recalls quickly when the crisis is severe in order to reduce customer hazards and avoid negative publicity. Severe recalls, however, may be delayed when firms are experienced in recall management, and when such recalls are caused by the internal operations of the firm. The findings of this thesis highlight one of the dilemmas that firms face in a crisis decision making situation and help foster an understanding of the conditions under which firms manage shareholder versus customer reactions in order to mitigate the negative consequences of recall management decisions.

This study aims to examine the ways in which English composer Edward Elgar (1857–1934) expanded common-practice tonality; it shows how Elgar employed harmonic structures and syntax in an innovative manner through specific extended-tonal techniques such as the use of chromatic-third relations (both harmonically and as a tonal plan), harmonic substitutions, and local ambiguous sonorities that at times lead to tonal ambiguity. The system that Elgar expanded upon has been called “Classical diatonic tonality”, which was extended when late nineteenth-century composers such as Elgar infused their music with chromaticism. Through an investigation of Elgar’s extended tonal techniques one can come to a better appreciation of his late nineteenth-century harmonic vocabulary. It has been well documented that Elgar modeled his music after that of Wagner and his Germanic contemporaries (from Mendelssohn to Brahms), so that the Elgarian tonal language is one possible projection of a post-Wagnerian extended-tonal discourse. The discussion presented here will survey those parts of Elgar’s tonal language that he learned from his Germanic contemporaries, thereby establishing the context for his own unique chromatic compositional style. This study of Elgar’s work therefore further represents a study of the broader impact of post-Wagnerian chromaticism on late nineteenth-century English extended tonality.