Tese de mestrado. Redes e Serviços de Comunicação. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2006

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Redes e Serviços de Comunicação, na Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, sob a orientação do Professor Doutor Raúl Filipe Teixeira Oliveira

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The main objective of this thesis is to investigate acoustic cues for the voicing contrast in stops in Russian for effects of speaking rate and phonetic environment. Although the laryngeal contrast in Russian is assumed to be a [voice] contrast, very few experimental studies have looked at the acoustic properties of Russian voiced and voiceless stops. Most claims about acoustic properties of stops and phonological processes that affect them (voice assimilation and final devoicing) have been made based on impressionistic transcriptions. The present study provides evidence that (1) voicing in voiced stops is affected by speaking rate manipulation, (2) stops in Russian retain underlying voicing contrast in presonorant position and voice assimilation occurs only in obstruent clusters, and (3) phonological processes of voice assimilation and final devoicing do not result in complete neutralization. The target of the investigation is voiced and voiceless intervocalic stops, stops in clusters, and final stops in different prosodic positions within a word and at the phrase level. The acoustic cues to voicing (duration of voicing, stop closure duration, vowel duration, f0, and F1) were measured from the production data of 14 monolingual speakers of Russian recorded in Russia. Speakers produced words and phrases with target stops in three speaking rate conditions: list reading, slow rate and fast rate. The data were analyzed in 5 blocks focusing on (1) word-internal stops, (2) voice assimilation in stops in prepositions, (3) cases of so-called "sonorant transparency", (4) voice assimilation in stops before /v/, and (5) voicing processes across a word boundary. The results of the study present a challenge to the widely-held assumption that phonological processes precede phonetic processes at the phonology-phonetics interface. It is shown that the underlying contrast leaves traces on assimilated and devoiced stops. To account for the findings, a phonology-phonetics interface that allows interaction between the modules is required. In addition, the results show that temporal cues are affected by speaking rate manipulation, but the effect of rate on voicing is found only in voiced stops. Duration of voicing and VOT in voiceless stops are not affected by speaking rate. The results also show that no effect of C2 is obtained on voicing in C1 stops in in obstruent-sonorant-obstruent clusters, thus no "phonological sonorant transparency to voice assimilation" is found in Russian. Rather, the study provides evidence that there is variation in production of voicing in stops in prepositions, and that voice assimilation in stops before /v/ followed by a voiced obstruent is optional for some speakers.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of employee input in the development stage of a new performance appraisal system on their attitudes and work behaviors. A field quasi-experiment with pre-test and post-test measures was conducted in two plants of an organization. The results, consistent with the hypotheses, show that the employees in the experimental plant report higher proximal (satisfaction with the performance appraisal system, procedural justice of the performance appraisal system) and distal (organizational satisfaction, fairness of the organization and citizenship behaviors) outcomes. Also, the proximal outcomes were stronger than the distal ones. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

What follows are the motivations and desires behind my writing and why I chose to pursue writing in the first place. This paper not only gives context to my creative stories, but it also functions as a self-portrait, a glimpse of the writer behind the text. In this paper, I speak of my experiences of growing up in a marginalized group, of being a daughter of Mexican immigrants and a member of the working class. I explain how those experiences helped shape the content and voice that I portray in my collection of short stories called, Somewhere Between Here and There. This collection of short stories emerged at the start of my graduate program but it was a project that was slowly accumulating over the years. The collection centers on the invisibility of a Latino community and dramatizes the challenges that they face as individuals and as a group. Many of my characters face challenges both at an individual and institutional level that causes fragmentation. In the end, each character tries to cope with their situation while trying to find and discover a sense of self and belonging in the world.

Acting Mindfully, is a form of embodiment pedagogy that investigates the ways in which actors can explore their craft through a lens that connects them closer to their mind, body, and voice. The document draws content from a wide variety of theatrical movement and vocal practitioners in combination with mindfulness techniques including yoga, meditation, and energy work. Embodiment pedagogy allows the acting student to approach and perform scenes and monologues with truth and authenticity; while allowing them the ability to tell their own stories. In order to explore this work, a course, Acting and Mindfulness, was introduced at Virginia Commonwealth University as an experimental way to begin to connect students to their artistic work in a mindful way. This document includes research, as well as a mindful acting curriculum, that make connections to embodiment pedagogy.

Video games are an everyday experience for adolescents and have changed how adolescents interact with one another. Prior research has focused on positive and negative aspects of video game play in general, without distinguishing Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIPing) as the mode of play. Grounded in entertainment theory, motivational theory, and psychological distress theory, this cross-sectional, correlational study examined the relationship between VOIPing and quality of life (Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory), Yee's motivation to play video games, and resilience (Child and Youth Resilience Measure). A series of linear regression and multivariate canonical correlation models analyzed self-report responses of 103 adolescents aged 13 to18. Results indicated that VOIPing was not statistically related to quality of life or resilience. However, VOIPing correlated positively with motivation to play video games, particularly with the subscales of socialization and relationships. Canonical analysis of motivation for gaming and quality of life indicated that adolescents with high scores on customization and escapism motivation for gaming subscales tended to also have high scores on each of the emotional, social, and school quality of life subscales. Canonical analysis of motivation for gaming and resilience indicated that adolescents with low scores on the escapism motivation for gaming subscale tended to also have high scores on the individual, relationships, and community resilience subscales. The positive aspects of VOIPing, particularly with increased motivation to play video games, can be effectively used in coaching adolescents in social skills and relationship building.

There are numerous challenges to singing contemporary classical vocal music including a number of harmonic, melodic, rhythmic, and formal elements not commonly seen in the western Classical or Romantic era compositions. There are new notations, new sounds, new ideas, and new demands. Finding a way to train college-aged singers to perform standard classical repertoire alongside contemporary classical repertoire has been a personal goal for many years. This essay contains exercises and vocalises to help train singers to prepare their instrument to perform the demanding music presented in this body of repertoire. Musical concepts covered in this essay include large interval training, laughing drills, tone clusters, and a variety of others. Current scholarship on this subject does not address the pedagogical steps of teaching music classified as contemporary classical vocal music. This essay provides exercises, vocalises, and recommendations for the development of vocal techniques required to perform works from this repertoire with healthy and secure technique.

Original exercises based on the work of Sanford Meisner (as well as Viola Spolin, Jeffrey Agrell and others) are presented in a hypothetical voice studio to address truthfulness, point of view, and "reality of doing" on the vocal recital stage. The exercises present a way of addressing work on the "self" before work on the "role."