Young people, identity and the media: a study of conceptions of self identity among youth in Southern England.

This thesis seeksto investigate young people's perceptions of their own identities and how the media is used to shapetheir conceptions of self, with specific focus on the understandingsheld by young people themselves. The relationship between media and identity is explored through an examination of previous work on ethnic minority representation in the media, and considered in relation to how representations impact upon audience members' formulations of identities and their social worlds. Conceptualisations of the audience, and approaches employed within audience researchare critically evaluated, with particular reference to individuals' media consumption in the context of lived experience. A discussion of creative and visual methods within social research introduces the methodology undertaken as part of this study. Young people aged 13 to 14, of contrasting class and ethnic backgrounds, drawn from schools across Dorset, Hampshire and London were invited to create identity collages using media materials that expressed'how I see myself' and 'how I think other people seeme', and provided their own interpretations of this work within unstructured interviews. The III identity collages produced and accompanying reflective commentaries formed a body of data upon which the findings of this thesis are based. The analysis reveals that young people view their identities as complex, contradictory and diverse, and demonstrate a reflexive awarenessof their own sense of self as a phenomenon which is personally constructed, continually revised and displayed to others. The study highlights the importance of role models, and how individuals understand their own identities, more strongly than previous studies of young people and the media. It suggeststhat the media functions as a resource young people use to conceptualise and formulate their present identities, as well as articulate possible future selves

Narratives of the in-between: Teenagers' identities and spatialities in a North Wales town.

This thesis considers the experiences of a group of (young) teenagers in a large town in North Wales, UK. Attention focuses upon their identities and spatialities in relation to their 'in-between' or ambiguous positioning between childhood, youth and adulthood. The research demonstrates how teenagers go about actively creating and negotiating their identities in relation to their 'age', traversing and transgressing boundaries and engaging in quasi or temporary rites of passage. Furthermore, the research explores the alternative social and cultural identities teenagers construct for themselves. Such identities become created and enacted through identification with others and particular spaces which take on a symbolic significance in the activities of the groups. By means of deconstructing the popular metaphor of 'the street' as a place for young people to hang around, the research explores the mosaic of micro sites that become (re)produced as part of the teenage landscape. Rather than focusing upon binary conceptualisations of adult domination and teenager resistance, the research demonstrates that relations between adults and teenagers, and similarly between colliding groups of teenagers are better represented as 'entanglements'. The thesis comprises a multi-voiced, multi-sited text, the main emphasis of the work being to explore the narratives and subjective experiences of teenagers. This was achieved through adopting a range of teenager-negotiated qualitative methods with a specific emphasis upon visual and mobile methods. Through placing teenagers at the centre of the research they were active in defining their own multiple identities and spatialities

Artificial Bandwidth Extension of Speech Signals using Neural Networks

Although mobile wideband telephony has been standardized for over 15 years, many countries still do not have a nationwide network with good coverage. As a result, many cellphone calls are still downgraded to narrowband telephony. The resulting loss of quality can be reduced by artificial bandwidth extension. There has been great progress in bandwidth extension in recent years due to the use of neural networks. The topic of this thesis is the enhancement of artificial bandwidth extension using neural networks. A special focus is given to hands-free calls in a car, where the risk is high that the wideband connection is lost due to the fast movement. The bandwidth of narrowband transmission is not only reduced towards higher frequencies above 3.5 kHz but also towards lower frequencies below 300 Hz. There are already methods that estimate the low-frequency components quite well, which will therefore not be covered in this thesis. In most bandwidth extension algorithms, the narrowband signal is initially separated into a spectral envelope and an excitation signal. Both parts are then extended separately in order to finally combine both parts again. While the extension of the excitation can be implemented using simple methods without reducing the speech quality compared to wideband speech, the estimation of the spectral envelope for frequencies above 3.5 kHz is not yet solved satisfyingly. Current bandwidth extension algorithms are just able to reduce the quality loss due to narrowband transmission by a maximum of 50% in most evaluations. In this work, a modification for an existing method for excitation extension is proposed which achieves slight improvements while not generating additional computational complexity. In order to enhance the wideband envelope estimation with neural networks, two modifications of the training process are proposed. On the one hand, the loss function is extended with a discriminative part to address the different characteristics of phoneme classes. On the other hand, by using a GAN (generative adversarial network) for the training phase, a second network is added temporarily to evaluate the quality of the estimation. The neural networks that were trained are compared in subjective and objective evaluations. A final listening test addressed the scenario of a hands-free call in a car, which was simulated acoustically. The quality loss caused by the missing high frequency components could be reduced by 60% with the proposed approach.Obwohl die mobile Breitbandtelefonie bereits seit über 15 Jahren standardisiert ist, gibt es oftmals noch kein flächendeckendes Netz mit einer guten Abdeckung. Das führt dazu, dass weiterhin viele Mobilfunkgespräche auf Schmalbandtelefonie heruntergestuft werden. Der damit einhergehende Qualitätsverlust kann mit künstlicher Bandbreitenerweiterung reduziert werden. Das Thema dieser Arbeit sind Methoden zur weiteren Verbesserungen der Qualität des erweiterten Sprachsignals mithilfe neuronaler Netze. Ein besonderer Fokus liegt auf der Freisprech-Telefonie im Auto, da dabei das Risiko besonders hoch ist, dass durch die schnelle Fortbewegung die Breitbandverbindung verloren geht. Bei der Schmalbandübertragung fehlen neben den hochfrequenten Anteilen (etwa 3.5–7 kHz) auch tiefe Frequenzen unterhalb von etwa 300 Hz. Diese tieffrequenten Anteile können mit bereits vorhandenen Methoden gut geschätzt werden und sind somit nicht Teil dieser Arbeit. In vielen Algorithmen zur Bandbreitenerweiterung wird das Schmalbandsignal zu Beginn in eine spektrale Einhüllende und ein Anregungssignal aufgeteilt. Beide Anteile werden dann separat erweitert und schließlich wieder zusammengeführt. Während die Erweiterung der Anregung nahezu ohne Qualitätsverlust durch einfache Methoden umgesetzt werden kann ist die Schätzung der spektralen Einhüllenden für Frequenzen über 3.5 kHz noch nicht zufriedenstellend gelöst. Mit aktuellen Methoden können im besten Fall nur etwa 50% der durch Schmalbandübertragung reduzierten Qualität zurückgewonnen werden. Für die Anregungserweiterung wird in dieser Arbeit eine Variation vorgestellt, die leichte Verbesserungen erzielt ohne dabei einen Mehraufwand in der Berechnung zu erzeugen. Für die Schätzung der Einhüllenden des Breitbandsignals mithilfe neuronaler Netze werden zwei Änderungen am Trainingsprozess vorgeschlagen. Einerseits wird die Kostenfunktion um einen diskriminativen Anteil erweitert, der das Netz besser zwischen verschiedenen Phonemen unterscheiden lässt. Andererseits wird als Architektur ein GAN (Generative adversarial network) verwendet, wofür in der Trainingsphase ein zweites Netz verwendet wird, das die Qualität der Schätzung bewertet. Die trainierten neuronale Netze wurden in subjektiven und objektiven Tests verglichen. Ein abschließender Hörtest diente zur Evaluierung des Freisprechens im Auto, welches akustisch simuliert wurde. Der Qualitätsverlust durch Wegfallen der hohen Frequenzanteile konnte dabei mit dem vorgeschlagenen Ansatz um etwa 60% reduziert werden

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Exploring Chinese Men’s Friendship Talk: Discourses, Identities and Masculinities

The past decades have seen the rise of studies on masculinity and language; however, there is very little empirical research given on the topic of men’s talk in contemporary China. With empirical evidence collected from two male friendship groups, this thesis explores how Chinese men construct friendships and gender identities in their spontaneous talk. The findings of this thesis contribute to gender and language studies with ethnography-informed discourse analysis and sociocultural linguistics. The empirical evidence from the participants’ friendship talks offers insights into intersectional identities and masculinities in the Chinese context. The other original contribution to knowledge of this research is closing a gap in the existing study of Chinese masculinity, which does not yet offer extensive conclusions in terms of a linguistic perspective on men’s lived experiences. My study adds to the literature on Chinese masculinity by enhancing two underexplored topics: male homosociality in contemporary China and sexual experiences as a retold narrative practice. This thesis explores both the style and discourse of the narratives, conversational humour and personal talk that frequently emerge from men’s talk. Various emerging social constructs, including locality, social class and age, interact to construct participants’ intersectional identities and masculinities. Chinese men in this research still associate with a dominant masculinist discourse that devalues women and femininity. Further, they align themselves with success- and wealth-based hegemonic masculinity. They use their personal talk to define their understanding of male friendship, which suggests that ‘male friendship as a virtue’ has its contemporary expressions. Even though they show a desire to disclose their feelings, their personal and even emotional talk is still a site to lecture, police and reinforce hegemonic gender norms and expectations

Young people, identity and the media : a study of conceptions of self identity among youth in Southern England

This thesis seeksto investigate young people's perceptions of their own identities and how the media is used to shapetheir conceptions of self, with specific focus on the understandingsheld by young people themselves. The relationship between media and identity is explored through an examination of previous work on ethnic minority representation in the media, and considered in relation to how representations impact upon audience members' formulations of identities and their social worlds. Conceptualisations of the audience, and approaches employed within audience researchare critically evaluated, with particular reference to individuals' media consumption in the context of lived experience. A discussion of creative and visual methods within social research introduces the methodology undertaken as part of this study. Young people aged 13 to 14, of contrasting class and ethnic backgrounds, drawn from schools across Dorset, Hampshire and London were invited to create identity collages using media materials that expressed'how I see myself' and 'how I think other people seeme', and provided their own interpretations of this work within unstructured interviews. The III identity collages produced and accompanying reflective commentaries formed a body of data upon which the findings of this thesis are based. The analysis reveals that young people view their identities as complex, contradictory and diverse, and demonstrate a reflexive awarenessof their own sense of self as a phenomenon which is personally constructed, continually revised and displayed to others. The study highlights the importance of role models, and how individuals understand their own identities, more strongly than previous studies of young people and the media. It suggeststhat the media functions as a resource young people use to conceptualise and formulate their present identities, as well as articulate possible future selves.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

More than a Metaphor of Malfunction : Conceptualisations and Uses of Silence in the Worlds of Everyday Life and Teaching.

The word 'silence' is used in many different contexts and has been discussed from the perspective of various disciplines. This thesis compares how this complex concept is understood and embodied in the social practices of everyday life and teaching. The worlds of everyday life and the classroom are constituted by socio-cultural rules and discourses. These shape the ways participants view themselves and their relations with the other components of those worlds. In the current performative educational context, teachers must be 'seen' to teach and learners must be 'seen' to learn. As a consequence, talk and overt performance are assigned more value and significance than the less recoverable 'silent' activities associated with teaching and learning. This thesis explores those 'silent' pedagogies and what they tell us about the ways that teachers and learners position themselves within the cultural world of the classroom. Firstly, the thesis explores how individuals manage their relationship with the sensory environment and how certain types of sounds constitute an individual's sense of 'silence'. Then, it considers the way that individuals use 'silence' as a metaphor for a variety of different relational states in the worlds of everyday life. Using Vygotsky's work on the mediating function of language, the thesis discusses how silence can act as a mediating sign or tool. It then explores teachers' accounts of using many different types of'silence' in the formal learning environment. In contrast with the negative view of silence in the current educational context, teachers' descriptions of silence present a positive framing of its role in teaching and learning. From the data, a range of teaching and learning behaviours associated with silence are identified. Suggestions are presented on how knowledge of different silences can reframe notions of 'good teaching' and how these might inform observations of classroom practice

A framework to evaluate user experience of end user application security features

The use of technology in society moved from satisfying the technical needs of users to giving a lasting user experience while interacting with the technology. The continuous technological advancements have led to a diversity of emerging security concerns. It is necessary to balance security issues with user interaction. As such, designers have adapted to this reality by practising user centred design during product development to cater for the experiential needs of user - product interaction. These User Centred Design best practices and standards ensure that security features are incorporated within End User Programs (EUP). The primary function of EUP is not security, and interaction with security features while performing a program related task does present the end user with an extra burden. Evaluation mechanisms exist to enumerate the performance of the EUP and the user’s experience of the product interaction. Security evaluation standards focus on the program code security as well as on security functionalities of programs designed for security. However, little attention has been paid to evaluating user experience of functionalities offered by embedded security features. A qualitative case study research using problem based and design science research approaches was used to address the lack of criteria to evaluate user experience with embedded security features. User study findings reflect poor user experience with EUP security features, mainly as a result of low awareness of their existence, their location and sometimes even of their importance. From the literature review of the information security and user experience domains and the user study survey findings, four components of the framework were identified, namely: end user characteristics, information security, user experience and end user program security features characteristics. This thesis focuses on developing a framework that can be used to evaluate the user experience of interacting with end user program security features. The framework was designed following the design science research method and was reviewed by peers and experts for its suitability to address the problem. Subject experts in the fields of information security and human computer interaction were engaged, as the research is multidisciplinary. This thesis contributes to the body of knowledge on information security and on user experience elements of human computer interaction security regarding how to evaluate user experience of embedded InfoSec features. The research adds uniquely to the literature in the area of Human Computer Interaction Security evaluation and measurement in general, and is specific to end user program security features. The proposed metrics for evaluating UX of interacting with EUP security features were used to propose intervention to influence UX in an academic setup. The framework, besides presenting UX evaluation strategies for EUP security features, also presents a platform for further academic research on human factors of information security. The impact can be evaluated by assessing security behaviour, and successful security breaches, as well as user experience of interaction with end user programs

A qualitative exploration examining the enhancement of students? personal and professional development through an employability focused curriculum

A strong higher education (HE) system plays an important role in a successful nation's economy and society (Browne 2010). The Leitch Report (2006) emphasised the role of HE in developing the world class skills required to achieve prosperity in an increasingly competitive and rapidly evolving global economy. However, literature suggests that HE institutions (HEIs) are not sufficiently preparing their students for the world of work, and that more needs to be done to better equip students for the requirements of employment (Adecco Group 2012, Blair 2006, Gillinson and O'Leary 2006, Nguyen et al. 2005, The Institute of Directors (loD) 2007). Despite the requirements of the government and employers regarding graduate employability being well documented, the perceived needs of students and graduates are less well researched (Bamett 2007, Crebert et al. 2004, Mason et al. 2003, Sleap and Reed 2006, Yorke 2006). The HE employability agenda should understand students' perceptions of their HE experience to better design programmes that adequately prepare them for the requirements of the labour market (Burgess 2007, Denholm 2011, Kay et al. 2007, Nguyen et al. 2005, UKCES 2009). Utilising the perceptions of HE students and graduates, this research programme aimed to identify what more can be done to prepare students for the world of work and diminish the apparent skills gap that exists between HE graduates and the world of work requirements. To do justice to the complexity of these issues an in-depth qualitative research approach was utilised (Johnston 2003, Tod et al. 2007). The research programme broadly consisted of three phases: 1. Phase 1 involved interviewing 17 Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) School of Sport & Exercise Sciences (SSES) alumni about their attitudes regarding the purpose of HE, the impact their HE experience had in preparing them for the requirements of the world of work, and what more can be done to, prepare students for their post HE lives. 2. Phase 2 utilised an ethnographic research approach and was conducted in two parts. Part 1 involved participant observation within the SSES student learning and teaching (L&T) environment and culture, and aimed to determine what the SSES curriculum provides in preparing students for the post HE world. Part 2 involved conducting focus groups with final year SSES undergraduate students regarding their experiences and perceptions of the employability focused L&T opportunities provided. 3. Phase three involved interviewing 11 SSES graduates at the end of their undergraduate university experience about their attitudes regarding the purpose of HE, and their evaluative perceptions of the SSES course from the perspective of L&T and post HE preparation. Phase 2 found that the SSES had responded to the demand of the competitive graduate job market and developed a three stage employability model that involved opportunities to prepare students for post HE. This included personal development planning (PDP), careers sessions, guest speakers, a placement and reflective practice. The SSES were perceived to be proactive in providing opportunities, advice and encouragement to help students develop personally and professionally. However, the research also demonstrated that students are not engaging sufficiently with these aspects of the curriculum. Yorke (2006) notes that the provision of opportunities to develop employment prerequisites does not guarantee that such development occurs, and that it cannot be assumed that students are employable on the basis of curricular provision alone. Students' lack of engagement was explored through phases 1, 2 and 3 by gaining a better understanding of students' attitudes to L&T within their university culture. This understanding and the subsequent recommendations can be utilised to diminish the dissonance between SSES provision and students' engagement, and determine how the SSES can promote effective learning and post HE preparation within the SSES curriculum. Phase 1 and 3 of this research programme demonstrated that students generally envisage that HE will develop them personally and result in them feeling more prepared for their lives post HE. Since students are orientated to pursue their degrees and post HE preparations in different ways, HEIs need to ensure that they understand and meet the aspirations and needs of the broader student population (Barrie 2007, O'Regan 2009). Understanding the individual needs of students and providing them with the post HE nurturing and support they require will result in them being better prepared to meet the requirements of the working world, which will in turn lead to a more skilled workforce that can enhance the economy and society (Barrie 2007, Brennaner al. 2005, Martin et al. 2000, Minten 2010, O'Regan 2009). Critically, such student support needs to be orientated around an enhanced student awareness of the relevance and value of what they are learning and how it relates to the post HE world. Specifically, students need to be engaged with an effective support network that is grounded in the competitive reality of the world of work, the reality and outcome of their degree, the world of work requirements, and the importance of engaging in curriculum interventions that prepare students for the world of work. Alongside enhancing awareness, students need to be supported and guided through the process of determining and appropriately preparing for their individual post HE aspirations. This process should involve gaining an awareness of the wide range of post HE opportunities that are available, consideration of how these options fit students' individual needs, and gaining some experience of those opportunities. To better prepare students for post HE and diminish the gap that exists between the skills graduates gain from the curriculum and the requirements of the world of work, there needs to be a closer fit between the two. In essence, the world of work realities and requirements need to feature more centrally within HE L&T culture and content to enhance the employability relevance and value students attach to their degree programme