Comparative analysis is an essential part of understanding how and why things work the way they do. Why postgraduate degree holders really earn more money than those with an undergraduate degree? What factors contribute to pre-term births? Why are some students more successful than others? The above questions require comparison between various classes. Contrast-set mining was first proposed as a way to identify attributes that significantly differentiate between various classes (groups). While contrast-set mining has been widely applied for differentiating between different groups however, no clear picture seems to have emerged regarding how to extract the contrast-sets that discriminate most between the classes. In this thesis we try to address the problem of finding meaningful contrast sets by applying Association Rule Mining. We report a new family of contrast-sets, and we present and compare the results of our experiments with the well known algorithm for contrast-set mining - STUCCO.

No description available.

Learning a language can induce anxiety among students. In addition, students can feel anxious when it comes to being tested on their language skills. Studies of goal attainment among health patients, students, and others have shown that self regulation through the model of Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions (MCII) can help participants reach their goals. In the current study, we sought to determine whether MCII could help learners better cope with anxiety when being orally examined in a second language. Specifically, we examined whether practicing MCII would lead to reductions in language test taking anxiety over time. We compared the levels of test anxiety in students before and after a six-week period where one group was taught MCII and another was not. MCII participants were instructed on MCII in weekly sessions and encouraged to apply it in testing and other situations in their daily lives. Both the MCII group and the control group were given speaking tests at the beginning and end of the six weeks, and anxiety levels were tested at each of these speaking tests. Anxiety was measured using two methods: a self-assessment, the Foreign Language Anxiety Scale, and a physiological measure of anxiety, saliva cortisol level. All students were interviewed by a trained speaking rater, and their cortisol levels were tested before and after the testing experiences at the beginning and end of the study period. We compared anxiety levels for the treatment (MCII) and control groups. Results showed that cortisol levels among treatment and control groups did not have a significant difference. However, the experiment group that had received MCII treatment reported lower levels of anxiety than the control. This suggests that MCII can lower the level of test anxiety perceived by students.

Many scholars have noted the pervasiveness of individualism in American culture, particularly in the marriage culture. Unfortunately, assuming individualism in the marriage culture poses very specific threats to marriage as an institution. Some claim that these individualistic assumptions have also infiltrated the marital sciences, undermining the efforts of researchers who hope to defend marriage. This dissertation explores that claim by analyzing seven of the most popular marital outcome instruments used by marital researchers today for individualistic assumptions. Using a conceptual analysis called "contrasting relations," the meanings of both the content and the process of the instruments are laid out according to their underlying ontological assumptions. Two types of ontology guide the analysis: weak relationality, that from which individualism arises, and strong relationality. As the results demonstrate, the instruments are in fact almost entirely underlain with individualistic assumptions. It is argued that outcome instruments used by marital researchers can only measure individualistic relationships (weak relationality), and are incapable of measuring strong relationships, implying that marital researchers are ill-equipped to measure relationships. Implications and future directions are explored.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-07-09T13:42:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Rumenig Eduardo Pereira Pires_.pdf: 22520212 bytes, checksum: c4e5b64fc97362a75d526446bcab0d6f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-09T13:42:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rumenig Eduardo Pereira Pires_.pdf: 22520212 bytes, checksum: c4e5b64fc97362a75d526446bcab0d6f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-25 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / PROEX - Programa de Excelência Acadêmica / A dissertação tem como proposta principal analisar como filmes constroem experiências de limiar. O corpus é composto por filmes que possuem narrativas embutidas que engendram mundos, entre os quais há um limiar limitado. Partindo deste objetivo geral o texto se estrutura a partir de dois eixos de investigação: um primeiro, concentra-se em como os personagens vivenciam experiências de limiar dentro do construto fílmico, procurando entender como esses construtos são realizados técnica, estética e narrativamente; um segundo, identifica analogias entre a experiência vivida pelos personagens no mundo ficcional do filme e as experiências liminares vividas pelo espectador no mundo cotidiano, encaminhando uma reflexão sobre como tais construtos possibilitam a refiguração da própria relação do espectador com o cinema. A partir de cartografias dos mundos contrastantes dos filmes e constelações de imagens de construto de experiência de limiar, a análise conduziu à conclusão de que o construto em questão é uma virtualidade que se atualiza nos filmes em três níveis: o material, o diegético, e o analógico. O corpus é constituído por Titanic (CAMERON, 1997), Avatar (CAMERON, 2009), O Grande Gatsby (LUHRMANN, 2013) e La La Land (CHAZELLE, 2017). Os principais autores que fundamentam o trabalho são Henri Bergson, Walter Benjamin, Hans Gumbrecht, Vilém Flusser, Bordwell e Thompson, Inês Gil, Kendall Walton, e Paul Ricoeur. / The main purpose of the dissertation is to analyze how films construct threshold experiences. The corpus consists of films that have embedded narratives that engender worlds, between which there is a limited threshold. Starting from this general objective, the text is structured on two research axes: first, it focuses on how the characters experience threshold experiences within the filmic construct, trying to understand how these constructs are realized technically, aesthetically and narratively; a second, identifies analogies between the experience lived by the characters in the film’s fictional world and the liminal experiences lived by the spectator in the everyday world, promoting a reflection on how such constructs enable the refiguration of spectator's own relationship with cinema. Out of cartographies of the films’ contrasting worlds and constellations of threshold experience constructs, the analysis led to the conclusion that the construct in question is a virtuality actualized in the films at three levels: material, diegetic, and analogical. The corpus consists of Titanic (CAMERON, 1997), Avatar (CAMERON, 2009), The Great Gatsby (LUHRMANN, 2013) and La La Land (CHAZELLE, 2017). The main authors worked with are Henri Bergson, Walter Benjamin, Hans Gumbrecht, Vilém Flusser, Bordwell and Thompson, Inês Gil, Kendall Walton, and Paul Ricoeur.

The present study examines Saudi ESL learner perception of three syllable-final English nasal contrasts: /m/-/n/, /m/-/©¯/, and /n/-/©¯/. It was based primarily on two models, the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) and the Speech Learning Model (SLM), in order to determine how Saudi ESL learners categorized nasal segments in their L2, English. In addition, other models, including the Markedness Differential Hypothesis (MDH), contributed in finding the most difficult contrast. The participants, consisting of 24 Saudis studying in the US, were asked to distinguish between 40 English monosyllabic words grouped into minimal pairs. Regardless of their length of exposure, participants had greater difficulty in categorizing /n/ and /©¯/ as separate phonemes, dealing with these sounds as a Single Category (SC). The /n/-/m/ contrast had the fewest errors among participants with more exposure in the US, who were able to distinguish between the word pairs in this contrast, while those with less exposure had more difficulty in distinguishing /n/ from /m/. This fact shows that the participants, especially after receiving more exposure, were able to categorize the /n/ and /m/ as a Two Category (TC). The contrast /m/-/©¯/ had a number of errors somewhat similar to that found with the /n/-/m/ contrast. Therefore, participants in early stages of learning encountered more difficulties in categorizing /m/ and /©¯/ than those who had spent a longer period of time in the US. This study concluded that the categorization between Arabic and English phonemes was highly important in learning English as an L2. Therefore, the absence of the English nasal /©¯/ from the Arabic phonemic inventory caused difficulties for Saudi ESL learners to categorize /©¯/ as a separate phoneme. Additionally, markedness also played a role since the velar nasal /©¯/ is typologically more marked than /n/ and /m/ making it more difficult to acquire in early stages of L2 learning.

This study focuses on how applying MCII, a wish-fulfillment and goal-setting method researched by Gabriele Oettingen, benefits the quantity and quality of English language learners' (ELLs) social networks while participating in a study abroad program in the United States. This is done by instructing participants in the use of MCII, giving them weekly reminders on that instruction and the goals they set, and by measuring change from beginning to end. Analyzing the social networks of 36 English language learners at an intensive English program (IEP) after 14 weeks of instruction shows that the ELLs displayed growth in the number of ways they met new people and in the depth of their relationships. This study also shows although learners who used MCII largely perceived it positively and noted using it in their lives, there was no significant difference between that group and those who did not use MCII in terms of proficiency development.

The present mixed methods study looks at the impact of a specific self-regulatory framework (WOOP) developed within the domain of mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII), and its effects on the self-reported self-regulation of learners in an intensive English program in the United States over the course of one 14-week semester. The research, which includes a total of 187 participants, compares self-reported self-regulation between students who used the framework and those who did not, and the impact the tool has on the different proficiency levels involved in the study. Furthermore, following a sequential explanatory design, the study aims to examine the participants' impressions on the value of this self-regulatory strategy. The quantitative data show that, despite the lack of significant difference between groups, there are meaningful differences across levels of proficiency. Individual interviews with select participants also reveal a general acknowledgement of the value of goal setting and planning in language learning, whether via MCII or not. In summary, MCII and a focus on self-regulation instruction appear to be beneficial in the bigger scheme of ESL learning and teaching.

Polygonella myriophylla (Polygonaceae) is a clonal shrub listed as endangered and narrowly endemic to pyrogenic scrub ecosystems in central Florida. It is almost restricted to gaps within the matrix of shrubs in the scrub but also occurs along adjacent road-side habitats. I hypothesize that persistent disturbed microhabitats and more dynamic sand accretion in roadsides will increase rooting probabilities compared to more stable scrub habitats, affecting survival, growth and reproduction. In April 2004- March 2006, I compared plant (genet) and basal branch (ramet) performance between experimentally manipulated plants in native scrub and roadside habitats at two locations within the Lake Wales Ridge State Forest in Polk County: LC01 and Old School. We completed a total of 6 evaluations in each site (April, July and November 2004, May and November 2005, and March 2006). Fifteen plants per replicated habitat in LCO1 and Old School were selected based on presence of four unrooted branches. Each unrooted branch within a plant randomly received one of four possible treatments: forced branch burial, branch lifting, procedural control, and no manipulation (total N= 60 genets and 240 ramets). Forced burial was implemented to mimic sand burial and evaluate rooting probability and performance in both habitats. Branch lifting was applied to prevent sand burial and evaluate demography of unrooted branches in both habitats. The procedural control served to evaluate wire effects on ramet demography. The control provided vital and rooting rates of branches in natural conditions. Road populations exhibited larger crown area and higher monthly diameter (controlled by initial diameter) and higher monthly length growth rates compared to scrub populations. Rooting probability was only affected by treatment one (buried wire) not habitat or site. Forced sand burial increased rooting (67 % after forced contact vs. 20-30 % for other treatments). Rooted branches did not exhibit variation in survival, growth, or fecundity compared to unrooted branches. Old School populations exhibited larger crown area, higher monthly diameter and monthly length growth rates compared to LC01 populations. Prescribed fires killed several plants explaining significantly higher branch survival at the unburned LC01 (66.1%) compared to recently burned Old School (36.2 %). LC01 populations exhibited higher fecundity and ramet survival compared to Old School populations. In February - December 2006, I describe the reproductive schedule at (LC01) in 10 road and 10 scrub plants. Monthly, I counted number of inflorescences and flowers per inflorescence (one inflorescence per plant) for each plant. Number of inflorescences per plant was highest between May and September and higher in road than in scrub. Our results indicate significant different demographic performance of P. myriophylla at plant and branch level between road and scrub habitats. A longer term study is needed to determine if the persistence of P. myriophylla is threatened by increasing roadside populations.

The present study looks at how utilizing mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII), a form of self-regulation, impacts the social networks of English language learners’ in a study abroad (SA) setting. Over 100 English language learners (ELLs) form the treatment and control groups for this study. This research compares the social network measures between students who used MCII and those who did not over the course of one 14-week semester in an intensive English program in the United States. It also examines students' perception of this self-regulation strategy. Additionally, the impact of MCII on students who are in their first semester of the program versus returning students is compared. The quantitative data show that the most meaningful differences between the control and treatment groups are in terms of social network size and intensity, with MCII students having more and closer social relationships with English speakers by the end of the semester. When comparing new and returning students who used MCII, new students show meaningful and significant gains in thesize, intensity, and density of their social networks. A survey of students’ perceptions toward MCII reveal that over 67% of participants agreed that this strategy was beneficial, which they expound on in entries to writing prompts given throughout the semester. In summary, MCII appears to be beneficial in helping ELLs in their social network development on SA, especially those who are first-semester students.