Speech Entrainment in Accent Modification of Adult English Language Learners

Cizek, Laura Suzanne ProQuest Dissertations & Theses University of Hous 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

Background: Quality candidates for education programs and employment must express their knowledge clearly. If they are unclear, accent modification training provided by speech-language pathologists can help individuals to change the way they speak. To maximize communicative effectiveness, speech that is perceived to be different or accented is targeted in this study. Researchers and practitioners agree that participation in accent modification is beneficial to individuals who seek these elective services as they strive to assimilate both socially and economically. Modifying pronunciation alters brain pathways; thus, motor learning research has investigated the processes involved. Speech entrainment, or providing a speech model for individuals to mimic in unison, is one successful technique used to treat motor speech disorders and is the focus of this study of accent modification. Research Questions: The study investigated the effect of speech entrainment on intelligibility and accentedness of advanced English-language learners seeking accent modification. The participants' rate of speech in conversation was also examined. Methods: A single-subject experimental study was conducted using a range-bound changing criterion (RBCC) design to examine the effects of the entrainment technique. The application of the technique could change the participants’ pronunciation. The design allows changes to occur over time and within a range between lower and upper criteria. The length of the phases and the magnitude of criterion changes were adjusted during the study based on each of the participants’ performances. Using RBCC allowed for flexibility in performance, which is a necessity when learning to speak differently. Five participants were selected from a university speech-language-hearing clinic where they were enrolled in accent modification services. In the study, they attended one-hour sessions regularly for approximately three months. In the sessions, graduate student clinicians, supervised by a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist, addressed the participants' goals using speech entrainment techniques. Verbal feedback regarding the participants' pronunciation was also provided after the application of speech entrainment. Results: The use of speech entrainment yielded significant positive results in accent modification. Together, the overall results showed a decrease in perceived accented speech, a slight increase in the rate of speech, and a slight increase in intelligible speech. Individual performances also showed improvement in pronunciation as the result of using speech entrainment in accent modification sessions. The results of this study provide initial data to suggest that speech entrainment, a technique used to treat motor speech disorders in individuals with brain injury, also facilitates improvement in the pronunciation of individuals with speech differences. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that speech entrainment is an effective technique to use with individuals enrolled in accent modification. The use of speech entrainment played a pivotal role in promoting positive pronunciation changes, reducing perceived accented speech, and increasing communication effectiveness. This study expands evidence in the area of accent modification and gives speech-language pathologists additional techniques with which to teach pronunciation.

Essays on the Macroeconomic Impacts of Energy and Commodity Markets

Zahid, Hamza ProQuest Dissertations & Theses University of Hous 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation consists of two essays on the macroeconomic impacts of energy and commodity markets. The first essay studies the effects of U.S. energy shocks on international economic activity and the world oil market. I use a set of factor augmented vector autoregressions to identify and compare the impact of unanticipated changes in U.S. energy efficiency and U.S. oil supply over the period 1980Q1–2019Q4. The identification strategy relies on the fact that positive shocks in both cases decrease the real price of oil and increase global GDP, while generating opposite implications for world oil production and consumption. On average, U.S. energy efficiency shocks have a larger impact on the real price of oil and global GDP than U.S. oil supply shocks. Historical decompositions suggest that in 2010 2019, U.S. oil supply shocks increased global GDP by 2 percent, while (negative) energy efficiency shocks decreased global GDP by 1.3 percent. The latter effect dominates during the second shale boom, 2017–2019. Considerable heterogeneity exists in cross-country responses, with GDP implications favorable for advanced and emerging market oil importers and adverse for oil exporters. I interpret the empirical findings through the lens of a dynamic general equilibrium multi-country model that features a global oil market and where key parameters are estimated using indirect inference.The second essay studies commodity price cycles and their underlying drivers using a dynamic factor model from a sample of 39 monthly commodity prices for the period 1970:01–2019:12. We identity global and group specific cycles in commodity markets and include them in a structural VAR model together with measures of global economic activity and global inflation to disentangle their response to global demand, global supply and commodity market-specific shocks. We find the following main results: (i) There exists a global cycle in commodity markets that accounts for an increasing fraction of comovement in commodity prices over the past two decades, particularly for energy, metals, and precious metals; (ii) Results are heterogeneous across groups of commodities with group specific commodity cycles existing for grains and precious metals over the full sample period, 1970–2019. Metal and energy prices exhibit within-group synchronization for the period 1970–1999; however, in recent years, their movements have become increasingly aligned with the global business cycle; (iii) Since 2000, the global commodity cycle is largely driven by global supply shocks, such as rapid productivity growth in emerging markets and developing economies, which increase demand for commodities; (iv) The large price spikes observed during the two most prominent commodity market boom-bust episodes of the past half century (i.e., 1972–74 and 2006–08) are driven additionally by shocks orthogonal to global economic activity such as shifts in speculative demand for commodities.

Wear a Mask and Don’t Drink Bleach: The Role of Neurocognition and Health Literacy in COVID-19 Information Seeking Skills, Knowledge, Prevention Intentions, and Prevention Behaviors

Babicz, Michelle A ProQuest Dissertations & Theses University of Hous 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

The rapid development of COVID-19 into a pandemic required people to quickly acquire, evaluate, and apply complex health-related information. The present study examined the possible interplay between neurocognition and health literacy in the early uptake and use of COVID-19 public information. The current study aims were to evaluate: 1) the contribution of neurocognition to COVID-19-related online information seeking skills, knowledge, prevention intentions, and prevention behaviors; and 2) the effects of health literacy on the relationship between neurocognition and these COVID-19 outcomes. Two hundred and seventeen adults completed a telephone-based assessment including standardized measures of neurocognition, health literacy, and COVID-19 health outcomes (i.e., COVID-19 online information seeking skills, knowledge, prevention intentions, and prevention behaviors). Multiple regression models with data-driven covariates revealed that neurocognition, specifically memory and executive functions domains, was independently associated with COVID-19 knowledge, but not COVID-19 online information seeking skills, prevention intentions, or prevention behaviors. A series of hierarchical multiple regressions with data-driven covariates showed that health literacy was independently associated with all measured COVID-19-related outcomes and did not interact with neurocognition for any of these outcomes. These findings suggest that the acquisition of COVID-19 knowledge in the early months of the pandemic was partially explained by individual differences in declarative verbal memory and executive functions. Thus, future studies might examine whether executive functions and memory supports (e.g., spaced retrieval practice) can improve COVID-19-related knowledge in vulnerable populations.

Genealogia transfronteriza: (re)interpretaciones literarias de identidades femeninas en cd. Juarez-El Paso

Fernandez Quintanilla, Sylvia ProQuest Dissertations & Theses University of Hous 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

Responsible Populism: Carl Schmitt's Constitutional Doctrine

Ette, Ndifreke ProQuest Dissertations & Theses University of Hous 2018 해외박사(DDOD)

Despite extensive commentary on Carl Schmitt, the relationship of his constitutional and political theory to constitutional democracy remains deeply contested. Unlike discussions that uncover an anti-liberal or an anti-democratic Schmitt, this dissertation draws from his works a defense of representative government and discerns within them a balancing act between protection of basic rights, through separation of powers, and the desires of a political community expressed through plebiscitary procedures.My dissertation supports this claim by examining his descriptions of constitution and democracy, focusing on three texts from the Weimar period: Verfassungslehre, Volksentscheid und Volksbegehren and Der Huter der Verfassung. According to Schmitt, the people achieves its democratic form through the political unity established by constitutional substance. Based on the substantial acceptance of liberal rights and institutional constraints on the state’s use of power, it supervises representatives and settles disputes between the different branches in government. On the other hand, despite the existence and application of plebiscitary democracy in the Weimar Constitution, especially as an effective check on government, representatives have a reciprocal responsibility to protect this same substance by obstructing the reckless deployment of the ‘people’ through popular initiatives.Consequently, constitutional democracy mediates the claims of both the individual and the collective within the state. Schmitt’s discussions on constitutional democracy are germane to our current concerns about populism because they show that neither the expression of popular participatory democracy, nor the establishment of a stronger executive authority are incompatible with a healthy liberal democracy. Instead, what is required today is a proper articulation of what counts as constitutional substance in Western democracies, as well as a reevaluation of political responsibility under a system of separation of powers.

Design and Synthesis of Fluorinated Porous Molecular Crystals

Hashim, Mohamed ProQuest Dissertations & Theses University of Hous 2018 해외박사(DDOD)

Porous molecular crystals are an emerging class of porous materials that are built from discrete molecules rather than being polymeric in nature. In this thesis, the effects of the molecular structure of the precursors on the formation of porous solid-state structures were examined. One of the trigonal fluorinated porous molecular crystals displayed aggregation-induced emission and this discovery was studied in more detail. Chapter One, summarizes the research literature that discusses the work and applications conducted on crystalline porous materials. The porous materials that are discussed herein are metal-organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, and porous organic molecular crystals that are held together by non-covalent interactions. Chapter Two, discusses the synthetic strategies and methodology utilized in the preparation of six novel fluorinated porous molecular crystal precursors of different geometries. The insights and lessons learned from the successful and failed synthetic attempts are also discussed.Chapter Three, describes the solvothermal synthesis and characterizations of molecular crystals. The gas sorption isotherms and hydrophobic properties of the porous variants are also discussed. Chapter Four, describes the investigations of the fluorescent properties of fluorinated trispyrazole compounds that make up porous molecuclar crystal frameworks. It was found that in a DMF/H2O mixed solvent system one of the compounds displays aggregation-induced emission (AIE), while its iso-structural counterpart does not. The reason for this difference was investigated. Further research conducted on the AIE active compound also led to the discovery that it can discriminate between dicarboxylic acids through assembly induced emissions. In summary, this study the grometry and dimensions of the precursors was varied, resulting in six crystallographically characterized derivatives. Among these derviatives two were found to be porous and posessed surface areas of 903 m2 g-1 and 1821 m2 g-1. It was also revealed that the rigid trigonal geometry plays a key role in the design and prepararation porous molecular crystals.

The Analysis of Two Comprehensive Reading Intervention Programs on Reading Outcomes for Middle School Students with Learning Disabilities

Crawford, Mark Conard ProQuest Dissertations & Theses University of Hous 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

Background: Middle school students with learning disabilities (LDs) are faced with many academic and social challenges that can follow them throughout their lives. Reading achievement scores for middle school students with LDs are substantially lower than that of students without LD. Even more alarming the reading achievement gap has been a continuing challenge for more than 35 years. Additionally, due to the inadequate reading skills of middle school students with LDs, the kind of instruction, practices, materials, and other considerations needed to reach struggling readers differ from those that needed to reach struggling readers in the primary grades. To meet national, state, and district mandates, schools must address inadequate reading skills of middle school students with LDs and implement effective reading intervention programs that will significantly reduce gaps in reading achievement. Purpose: This study examined the effectiveness of two reading intervention programs, Achieve3000 and LANGUAGE! Live that have been utilized with middle school students with LDs at a local public school in the Houston metropolitan area. Specifically, the study was conducted to provide answers to the following three research questions (RQs). RQ1: Was performance on State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) significantly improved, across middle school grades, when enrolled in each program? RQ2: To what extent is one program more effective than the other as measured by the STAAR reading assessment in Grades 6 to 8? RQ3: Do gender or race/ethnicity influence reading outcomes for each of the reading intervention programs? Methods: Two groups of middle school students with LDs in Grades 6, 7, and 8 who participated in either Achieve3000 (n = 31) or LANGUAGE! Live (n = 45) reading intervention programs for at least one year. The sample was diverse, with 75% of students identified as Hispanics, 12% African American, and 10% White. Most (91%) students were eligible for free/reduced-price lunch. Archival data of student performance from the STAAR reading assessment, as well as demographic information, was utilized to answer the three RQs. Results: For RQ- 1, findings indicated there was not significant growth on the STAAR reading test between Grades 6 and 7 and Grades 7 and 8 for the LANGUAGE! Live reading intervention group. However, results indicated significant growth from Grade 6 to Grade 7 for students enrolled in the Achieve3000 reading intervention program; no significant growth was evident from Grades 7 to 8. For RQ- 2, there were no significant differences in effectiveness between the two reading intervention programs for Grades 6 to 8 in terms of student performance on the STAAR. For RQ- 3, results indicated that race/ethnicity was not related to STAAR outcomes for any grade, though gender (females outperformed males) was significantly related to students’ performance on STAAR Grade 7. Conclusion: No conclusive evidence was found to support either Achieve3000 or LANGUAGE! Live, as reading intervention programs that significantly impact STAAR performance of middle school students with LDs Overall, students remained considerably below grade-level peers in reading achievement. Additional research is needed to identify intensive intervention programs and strategies to meet the needs of these students with LDs.

Organicism in Nicolas Bacri's Symphony No. 6

Chapman, Kris Brian ProQuest Dissertations & Theses University of Hous 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

With over 170 compositions, the music of French composer Nicolas Bacri (b. 1961) has received performances by leading international ensembles and soloists throughout Europe and East Asia. Bacri’s compositional aesthetic represents a conscious dichotomy between tradition and modernism. Symphony No. 6, Op. 60 (1998) represents one of Bacri’s most noteworthy works. This piece was commissioned by Radio France for l’Orchestre Nationale de France and premiered in 1999 with Leonard Slatkin conducting. It is at this intersection of the formal inheritance of the symphonic genre and Bacri’s own reference to the organic unfolding of the symphony that my analysis begins. I argue that it is through an organic cultivation of his melodic content that the palpable unity of Bacri's Symphony No. 6, so characteristic of its symphonic legacy, emerges. Rooted in the ancient Greek writings of Aristotle and Plato, a working understanding of organicism has unfolded diachronically. Fundamentally, organicism is a metaphor that likens the life of an organism to that of a musical composition (or other work of art). Writings by three nineteenth-century theorists––Jean Baptiste Robinet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and August Wilhelm Schlegel––will be discussed to distill three basic characteristics of organicism: 1) small unit conception of a initiating cell or prototype, 2) dynamism, and 3) goal-oriented teleology. The majority of the discussion will explain how the three elements of organicism manifest themselves in the melodic content of Bacri’s Sixth Symphony. Musical examples will showcase a hierarchy of recurring set classes (trichords and tetrachords), categories of recurring set classes that represent organic structures, an initiating prototypical set class, and the organic cultivation of a principal motive that unifies all areas of the symphonic form.

The Phenomenon of “Fit” in School Superintendent Selection: A Case Series Study

Boyette, Tammy S ProQuest Dissertations & Theses University of Hous 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

Background/Problem Statement: This qualitative case series study investigated the phenomenon of “fit” as it relates to the underrepresentation of female superintendents in the field of educational leadership. The study was conducted during the 2018-2019 school year. At the time of the study, women represented 23% of the overall population of superintendents in the state in which the study occurred. The conceptual framework guiding the study is based on feminist standpoint and gatekeeping theories. According to feminist standpoint theory, women and men “engage in distinct activities and the two groups are accorded different rights and opportunities” (Wallace, 2014, p.49). As explained by Lewin’s (1951) model on gatekeeping “there are people, events, or situations that control the gates and determine what may pass and/or what is blocked” (p.147). Not only may stereotypical societal influences heavily impact who epitomizes the superintendency, access to the role may also inhibited by biased processes of gatekeeping. This research focused on gender bias as a possible explanation for the division of labor that exists between male and female superintendents.Purpose/Research Questions: This study sought to understand the notion of “fit” by exploring the criteria, both written and unwritten, used by gatekeepers such as consultant firms and school boards charged with overseeing the superintendent selection process. In addition, the study examined whether gatekeepers have biases concerning their definition of leadership potential that is rooted in stereotypical images of the superintendency. In examining the notion of what constitutes a “fit” between a candidate and a job, the research explored the perceptions of all parties involved in the screening and selection process of the superintendent search to compare their experiences on how fit is determined, assessed and utilized in hiring decisions; and if those perceptions and experiences are different between men and women. The following research questions guided the work:RQ1: How is “best fit” defined and assessed in candidates for the superintendent position by those involved in the screening and selection process?RQ2: What differences, if any, exist between the perceptions of superintendents, search firm consultants and school board members regarding how “fit” is determined by gatekeepers during the selection and hiring process, and does it vary by gender?RQ3: What variation in perceptions, if any, exist between current men and women superintendents regarding the criteria gatekeepers use in the superintendent selection process related to the concept of “fit”?Methods: The study took place in the south-central region of the United States and included three different sample groups: Three female and two male superintendents; two female and two male search firm consultants; and two female and two male school board members. The primary data collection instrument consisted of thirteen in-depth, semi-structured, informal interviews. The interviews were recorded and transcribed by Trint software and edited by the researcher. The researcher used NVivo 12 software for coding via computer-assisted content analysis in order to organize, analyze and connect data and to search for disconfirming evidence that runs contrary to the research. The process involved three phases. In the pre-coding phase, data was reviewed for word frequency. In the coding stage, the themes were classified into nodes in order to examine relationships among data. Lastly, in the post-coding stage, the themes were used to present findings related to the research questions. In addition to examining interview data, discourse analysis was used to examine artifacts such as sample candidate profiles, superintendent interview questions, news articles, job postings and researcher field notes. In using discourse analysis (Altheide & Schneider, 2013) the researcher was able to focus on selected nuances of language to assess how vocabulary, word choice, and topics work together to impart meaning about the desired characteristics and expectations of a superintendent as set forth by a hiring entity during the selection process.Results/Findings: The theories that provided the framework for this research were supported in the findings in that the experiences and perceptions of male and female informants varied significantly with regard to access to consultants and therefore, access to the superintendency. This variation supports the feminist standpoint assertion that women do not have the same advantages as men in gaining access to the superintendency. Further, the findings uphold the premise of gatekeeping theory in that there was evidence that implicit biases, rooted in the stereotypical images of the superintendent held by consultants, hinder women from gaining access to the superintendency. The prevailing findings that emerged as having the greatest impact on determining “fit” during the superintendent hiring process are:1. The consultant is the primary gatekeeper that determines access to the superintendency.2. Assuming prerequisite skills are similar among finalists, likeability is the determiningfactor in getting the job.3. There is gender bias in the process.Conclusion: Elements of the routine practices of gatekeepers, combined with the historical, stereotypical images of the school superintendent and dominant social and cultural values, often all work together to diminish the access of women to the role of superintendent. Based on the prevailing findings, the following recommendations are being made:1. Each school board member should be required to attend implicit bias training prior to beginning the superintendent selection process.2. Consultant firms should be required to publish their placement record on their website and provide that information to each board as part of the application process when seeking to represent a Board in the superintendent selection process.3. College preparation programs and administrative leadership organizations must provide opportunities for women to learn how the superintendent selection process works and host networking events for women to meet individually with the actual headhunters that work with school boards.

The Spanish Language as a Conceptual and Corrective Tool in the Classical Vocal Technique

Canedo, Blas ProQuest Dissertations & Theses University of Hous 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

A clear tone, vibrant and balanced chiaroscuro, and rich vocal timbre are desired qualities in classical singing. This project proposes that significant benefits in these qualities can be achieved when the Spanish language is used as a pedagogical tool. This means that an understanding of the syntax and phonemic articulation—the delivery of vowels, syllables, words and sentences—of the language can correct vocal faults and help the singer prepare, deliver and sustain longer segments of sound in the singing voice. A study was conducted to demonstrate these points. This study has three broad parts. The first part examines the scope and limitations of relevant literature on Spanish lyric diction and the Italian bel canto school of singing. The second part specifies how the sounds of the Spanish language can enhance singing technique, regardless of the poetic language. The third part studies how Spanish sounds can be a corrective tool in bel canto training. In conclusion, it is held that familiarization with exercises of Spanish phonemic awareness, practice in Spanish phrase articulation, and the singing of Spanish-language repertoire facilitate the mastery of clear tone and chiaroscuro balance in the classical singing voice.