Neural networks underpinning working memory demonstrate sign language specific components possibly related to differences in temporary storage mechanisms. A processing approach to memory systems suggests that the organisation of memory storage is related to type of memory processing as well. In the present study, we investigated for the first time semantic, phonological and orthographic processing in working memory for sign- and speech-based language. During fMRI we administered a picture-based 2-back working memory task with Semantic, Phonological, Orthographic and Baseline conditions to 11 deaf signers and 20 hearing non-signers. Behavioural data showed poorer and slower performance for both groups in Phonological and Orthographic conditions than in the Semantic condition, in line with depth-of-processing theory. An exclusive masking procedure revealed distinct sign-specific neural networks supporting working memory components at all three levels of processing. The overall pattern of sign-specific activations may reflect a relative intermodality difference in the relationship between phonology and semantics influencing working memory storage and processing.

Applying a human rights perspective on plurilingualism as a national as well as a transnational concern, with a focus on the interaction taking place in foreign language teaching and learning practices at a Swedish Special Needs School for pupils with deafness or impaired hearing, the overall aim of this study is to describe and discuss this interaction in performative terms, i.e. in terms of what is said by whom, to whom, why, and with what consequences. Although extensive research has already been carried out within the field of plurilingualism, for example from linguistic, sociological and political points of departure, research on plurilingualism with regard to foreign language teaching and learning interaction in Swedish sign language contexts has been largely missing. The ambition of this work, therefore, is to add to the diversity of research on plurilingualism. It is also hoped that this work will contribute to the debate in educational politics concerning a human rights perspective on plurilingualism, especially with regard to modern European languages as a transnational issue. Methodologically, an ethnographic approach has been employed to document, by means of two video cameras in combination with field notes, the practices of communication emerging from teacherstudent interaction. Using notions from Conversational Analysis and alongside established conventions of sign language transcription, a model of transcription was designed for the specific purpose of describing, in detail, the plurilingual interaction where Swedish sign language is used as a mediating tool. Three lessons in English and four lessons – or lesson extracts – in Spanish, at secondary level in a Special Needs School for pupils with deafness or impaired hearing, have been documented and analysed. The analyses were carried out in two different steps, one describing and one discussing the results of the empirical investigation. The institutionally formalised interaction observed appears to have contributed to the heavy dominance of the teacher, and of the IRE sequence used during the lessons, to a much greater extent than students’ deafness or impaired hearing. Although the aims and objectives of the curricular texts intended for these students, as well as for hearing ones, are expressed in communicative terms – for example, learning to read texts of relatively high complexity, or developing writing skills for communication across linguistic boundaries – almost all the lessons that were investigated concerned the translation of isolated words into sign language, often taken out of their English or Spanish context. Nonetheless, the students took part in the classroom interaction when protesting, joking, asking questions and helping each other. Thus, the teacher dominance noted does not imply suppression, but rather a tendency on the part of the teacher to underestimate the students, as well as reflecting a selective tradition within foreign language teaching and learning practices in a general Swedish school context. However, when viewed from a human rights perspective on future plurilingual European citizens, using their language skills to reach out into the world for mutual understanding, the students involved in the language teaching and learning interaction observed in this study may hardly be expected to reach out across linguistic boundaries, at least not as a result of the language education they have experienced.

This thesis presents an ethnographic action research study of Deaf and hearing parents and infants participating in a family American Sign Language (ASL) literacy program in Ontario. The thesis documents the context for parents and children’s learning of ASL in an environment where resources for supporting early ASL literacy have been scarce. At the time of the study, restrictions were placed on young Deaf and hard of hearing children’s learning of ASL, as the Ontario government’s Infant Hearing Program frequently did not provide ASL services to children who received cochlear implants or auditory-verbal therapy. This operational language policy of Ontario infant hearing screening and early intervention services was maintained despite evidence for the benefits that learning ASL confers on spoken and written language development in Deaf children. In this context, participation in a family ASL literacy program is a means for both supporting emerging ASL literacy in young children and resisting pathologizing Discourses (Gee, 2008) regarding signed language and Deaf identity. Through semi-structured interviews and observations of six individual families or parent-child dyads, the study documents participants’ encounters with gatekeepers who regulate Deaf children and their families’ access to ASL. At the same time, the setting of the ASL Parent-Child Mother Goose Program is presented as a Deaf cultural space and thereby a counter-Discourse to medical Discourses regarding Deaf identity and bilingualism. This space features the Deaf mother participants’ ASL literacy and numeracy practices and improvisations of ASL rhymes and stories to enhance their suitability for young children. The practices of the ASL Parent-Child Mother Goose Program leader also serve to define and support emergent ASL literacy in young children. In addition, a Deaf cultural space inside a broader context of public services to young Deaf children provides a means for the hearing mother participants to facilitate critical inquiry of issues surrounding bilingualism, ASL, and a Deaf identity. Collectively, the findings from this study highlight the benefits of emergent ASL literacy in Deaf children and their families, and provide an evidence-based rationale for Canadian governments and government agencies to better support this development.

This thesis presents an ethnographic action research study of Deaf and hearing parents and infants participating in a family American Sign Language (ASL) literacy program in Ontario. The thesis documents the context for parents and children’s learning of ASL in an environment where resources for supporting early ASL literacy have been scarce. At the time of the study, restrictions were placed on young Deaf and hard of hearing children’s learning of ASL, as the Ontario government’s Infant Hearing Program frequently did not provide ASL services to children who received cochlear implants or auditory-verbal therapy. This operational language policy of Ontario infant hearing screening and early intervention services was maintained despite evidence for the benefits that learning ASL confers on spoken and written language development in Deaf children. In this context, participation in a family ASL literacy program is a means for both supporting emerging ASL literacy in young children and resisting pathologizing Discourses (Gee, 2008) regarding signed language and Deaf identity. Through semi-structured interviews and observations of six individual families or parent-child dyads, the study documents participants’ encounters with gatekeepers who regulate Deaf children and their families’ access to ASL. At the same time, the setting of the ASL Parent-Child Mother Goose Program is presented as a Deaf cultural space and thereby a counter-Discourse to medical Discourses regarding Deaf identity and bilingualism. This space features the Deaf mother participants’ ASL literacy and numeracy practices and improvisations of ASL rhymes and stories to enhance their suitability for young children. The practices of the ASL Parent-Child Mother Goose Program leader also serve to define and support emergent ASL literacy in young children. In addition, a Deaf cultural space inside a broader context of public services to young Deaf children provides a means for the hearing mother participants to facilitate critical inquiry of issues surrounding bilingualism, ASL, and a Deaf identity. Collectively, the findings from this study highlight the benefits of emergent ASL literacy in Deaf children and their families, and provide an evidence-based rationale for Canadian governments and government agencies to better support this development.

No description available.

Sign language in Tanzania is a relatively new field of linguistics that is yet to attract many researchers and linguists in particular Tanzanian Sign Language (TSL) functions as a unifying tool for the deaf in the country and, probably, beyond. This language, which is still at its early stage of development, is used in the same linguistic environment with Kiswahili, the national language, which is more established. The situation leaves TSL disadvantaged and is thus likely to cause a one-way linguistic influence, from Kiswahili to TSL. This paper, therefore, examines the nature and impact of the situation. Firstly, it focuses on the question of whether or not TSL is an independent language that has developed as a seperate language, quite distinct from the spoken languages of the communities that surround it, especially Kiswahili. Secondly, it examines the extent to which Kiswahili has influenced TSL and thus the role that the former plays in learning and developing the latter. The results of the study show that Kiswahili has had some influence on TSL but the influence is marginal at lexical level. Of all the signs studied, only 13% were directly related to Kiswahili. The majority of the signs studied were found to be iconic in nature, but only 12% of all signs were semantically transparent. Even in these cases where the signs are transparent, the transparency of the signs is not based on one`s knowledge of Kiswahili. Most of the transparent signs are common gestures that any person of any ethnic origin can interpret. The study has thus established that TSL is more of a sign language than signed language. It is an indigenous African sign language, unrelated to the Western Sign Languages, except for the manual alphabet. Finally, the study predicts that much of the transperancy and iconicity in TSL will gradually fade away as the language develops across time, space, and generations.

The purpose of this study is to investigate students¡¦ understanding of the equal sign, problem-solving strategies of equations with one unknown, and the strategies of solving equations with one unknown under different understanding types of the equal sign. To achieve this purpose, the investigator did a survey and development instruments. The participants were 203 seventh-grade students in a convenient sample. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data in frequency and percentages. The main results was that participants with a relational definition of the equal sign were the most (close to 50%), and an operational definition of the equal sign was approximately 1/4. There was a higher successful performance associated with a relational definition than an operational definition. The primary strategy of operations on the left-hand side of equal sign is the mathematical operations; the main strategy of an unknown quantity on the right-hand side of the equal sign was by going to the parenthesis-reverse and bringing different denominators into a common denominator; the principal strategies of one number on the right-hand side of the equal sign, equations with operations on the right side of the equal sign and equations with operations on both sides of the equal sign are cover-up and transposing. To use the strategies of trial and error substitution and undoing is minority in a linear equation with one unknown. The strategy of an operational definition participant in five equal sign topics is similar to the strategy of one with a relational definition. However, those with a relational definition apply multiple strategies and exhibited varying particular and algebraic property. On the other hand, participants with an operational definition used arithmetic strategies more frequently than participants with a relational definition. From the above results, the researcher suggested instruction to include strategies with algebraic property to help learners to develop stable understanding of the equal sign in Algebra. In addition, the recommendation is to have teachers to encourage students to apply multi-dimensional thinking and different strategies in algebraic problem-solving.

This paper presents a novel power management analysis method to reduce the power consumption for the non-contact vital sign sensor. The sensor consisting of the class-E power amplifier (PA), low noise amplifier (LNA), single pole double through (SPDT) switch, and circularly polarized antenna (CPA) is integrated on the Flame Retardant Class 4 (FR-4) epoxy-glass laminate substrate. The appropriate pulse width and pulse period are determined to decrease the power consumption and accurately detect the human physiological signals (respiration and heartbeat). A simple direct down-conversion architecture with a tunable phase shifter is utilized to eliminate the null detection point and the direct current (DC) offset. The overall power consumption of the proposed sensor with the novel power management technique is only 40 % of the conventional system with the DC bias, which can be utilized for the green energy application.

The power management technique is employed in the direct down-conversion non-quadrature microwave Doppler radar transceiver for the non-contact vital sign detection based on 0.18 µm CMOS technology. The overshoot and undershoot types of the transient waveform distortion and the simultaneous switching noise (SSN) caused by the high speed pulse signal will severely influence the accuracy for the vital sign detection, so that this investigation clearly analyzes the pulse period, pulse width, rise/fall times and the voltage levels of the pulse bias. In the circuit design, the low power current-reused (CRU) power amplifier (PA) can maintain enough output power by using the crucial double primary transformer (DPTF) and balun. The presented LNA with a differential inductor can provide the noise matching needed and increase the transducer gain in order to achieve the optimal power consumption and the transducer gain in the Rx mode. The excellent isolation between the Tx and Rx mode is obtained with the new parallel directed switch. The overall power consumption of the presented transceiver with the optimal pulse bias is 60% lower than the conventional transceiver with the direct current (DC) bias, and the null detection point and DC offset can be eliminated by the tunable phase shifter.

Differences between indoor non-contact vital sign sensor and general sensors are ¡§indoor¡¨ and ¡§vital sign¡¨. In indoor environment, receiving signals encounter multipath problem caused by the reflection of walls and furniture. Two main vital signs that we are concerned with are heartbeat and respiration; both of them are weaker than general signals used in communication. To overcome problems caused by multipath and weak signal strength, in this thesis, we design a narrow beamwidth antenna operating at 2.45 GHz for indoor non-contact vital sign sensor. We propose a ground surrounded antenna (GSA) which differs from traditional slot and patch antenna. The proposed GSA excites slot mode and patch mode at the same time, so that we can achieve dual-bands or wide band by adjusting its physical parameters. Meanwhile, the reflected wave bounced back from the surrounding ground plane can cause constructive interference so that the antenna possesses better gain and beamwidth. Using GSA as the unit antenna of antenna array to achieve narrow beamwidth design, and adding the concept of superstrate can enhance antenna gain and reduce backlobe radiation. The minimum beamwidth at two orthogonal planes are 26 and 52 degrees respectively, and the antenna gain achieves 12.2 dBi. To reduce the interference between receiving and transmitting signals in single antenna, we use two separate antennas. Finally, we discuss and improve isolation problem between two antennas.