Effects of Rhyme-rime Connection Training on Second Grade Reading Performannce

Curriculum and Instructio

Fertility goddesses from the Ancient Near East

The purpose of this study is to illustrate the role of fertility goddesses in the lives and beliefs of the people of the Ancient Near East. Artefacts from the late Paleolithic period were crude female figures of pregnant women representing fertility. A mother goddess was specified as the giver and taker of life and vegetation. The polytheism of pre-exilic Israel that existed proves that not only Yahweh but also other gods existed. In the creation stories of the Ancient Near East, creation myths played a major role; in the Ugaritic myths the universe was ruled by powerful deities, and their presence could be felt in rain, vegetation and crops. Fertility cults were the force in their worship. Cultic sites associated with deities were often located in groves of trees, which made them sacred to the people. There was a close relationship between tree and tree figures, as well as gods and goddess images.Biblical and Ancient StudiesM.A. (Biblical Archaeology

Sleep in the Arabian oryx, Oryx leucoryx

Original published work submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Johannesburg, 2018The evolution and function of sleep remains an enigma in modern science. Significant variation can be observed within species and across taxa. Little is understood about how sleep exists, or presents itself in species surviving in extreme conditions. For example, harsh desert ecosystems with notably lower survival rates for resident species. It has been hypothesized that specialized sleep-related behaviours impact thermoregulation to promote survival advantage. The threatened Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx), a member of the Cetartiodactyl superorder, is a large desert dwelling ungulate species successfully residing in the arid zones of the Middle East. Arabian Oryx exhibit numerous morphophysiological adaptations and capabilities to cope with their harsh environment. The current thesis provides an examination of the neuroanatomy, physiology and behavioural patterns related to sleep in wild, freeroaming Arabian oryx under natural conditions. It was our objective to determine whether the extreme conditions and climate of the Arabian Desert has led to novelties within the organization of the oryx’s sleep related neuronal architecture, seasonal behaviour patterns and sleep physiology. Using immunohistochemistry and stereology our results indicate the sleep related nuclei in the brain of the oryx exhibit a typical mammalian organizational plan with additional order-specific and novel, species-specific features. Actigraphy revealed that oryx exhibit temporal niche switching patterns seasonally presenting with winter diurnal- and summer nocturnal activity and intermittent patterns during the transitional periods of spring and autumn. Polysomnography results indicate novel sleep patterns between seasons and physiologically confirm activity-based temporal niche switching at a seasonal level. Our work covers the first examination of the Arabian oryx brain sleep centers as well as its yearlong activity patterns. Importantly, it is the first examination of physiological sleep in wild mammals within a desert environment. Our results suggest that ambient temperature acts a dominant driving force for the adaptive behavioural and physiological features described. The Arabian oryx is a remarkable species, well adapted to such an extreme environment and its highly plastic survival mechanisms appear unique. Considering the continual desertification of our planet and the predicted consequences of climate change, knowledge of such species and their continued conservation is of vital importanceXL201

Prefabricated input in language acquisition: the syntax of storybooks

Despite decades of increasingly intensive research still many questions remain unanswered in the field of first language acquisition. Among the most widely studied and most diversely argued areas is children’s acquisition of the often complex and versatile verb paradigms found in many languages around the world. This thesis takes up that line of research: it presents a comprehensive description and analysis of verb complementation patterns found in English storybooks and discusses the findings against the background of propositions currently held in the domain of first language acquisition by cognitive-functional, usage-based oriented linguists. On the basis of the findings of a growing body of input studies on spontaneously spoken language they argue that human beings acquire their first language by “simply” drawing upon general cognitive abilities and show how children’s developing language skills syntactically mirror the ambient (spoken) language that they are frequently exposed to. The current work now combines such an approach to language acquisition with detailed, corpus-based analyses of lexical verbs in a so far unconsidered source of input language: children’s storybook texts. Its analyses are based on a specifically compiled corpus of children’s storybooks (CSB corpus). Lexical verbs are categorised according to their degree of transitivity; frequencies of occurrence are then compared within and across categories and contrasted with the findings of other input studies. Furthermore, the occurrence of modal verbs and passive constructions is investigated. The present study thus offers insights into structural differences and similarities between the spontaneous spoken and the “prefabricated” written(-to-be-read) language that English-speaking children encounter early in their lives. Trotz jahrzehntelanger, intensiver Forschung gibt es auf dem Gebiet des Erstspracherwerbs bis heute viele unbeantwortete Fragen. Die vorliegende Dissertation greift einen häufig untersuchten und divers diskutierten Bereich auf: das Erlernen der oftmals komplexen und facettenreichen Verbparadigma, die wir in zahlreichen Sprachsystemen finden. Sie liefert eine umfassende Beschreibung und Analyse der in englischsprachigen Kinderbüchern vorkommenden verbalen Komplementationsmuster und erörtert die Ergebnisse vor dem Hintergrund von Prämissen, die gegenwärtig auf dem Gebiet des Erstspracherwerbs von denjenigen vertreten werden, die kognitiv- funktional ausgerichtete Forschungsansätze, deren zentraler Untersuchungsgegenstand der Sprachgebrauch an sich ist, verfolgen. Basierend auf den Ergebnissen einer zunehmenden Anzahl so genannter „Input“-Studien zu spontaner gesprochener Sprache argumentieren sie, dass der Mensch Sprache allein auf der Grundlage allgemeiner kognitiver Fähigkeiten erlernt und zeigen, dass die Sprache der Kinder syntaktisch die (gesprochene) Sprache, die sie in ihrem Alltag hören, frühzeitig widerspiegelt. Die vorliegende Arbeit verbindet diesen Ansatz der Spracherwerbsforschung mit gründlichen, Korpus-basierten Untersuchungen von lexikalischen Verben in einer bis dato unberücksichtigt gebliebenen Inputquelle: Kinderbuchtexte. Ihre Analysen stützen sich auf ein eigens zusammengestelltes Korpus von Kinder(vorlese)büchern. Lexikalische Verben werden gemäss ihres Transitivitätsgrads kategorisiert; das Vorkommen (frequencies) einzelner Verben wird intra- und inter-kategorisch betrachtet und mit den Ergebnissen ähnlicher Input-Studien verglichen. In gleicher Weise werden die Häufigkeiten von Modalverben und Passivkonstruktionen erfasst. Die vorliegende Studie liefert so Erkenntnisse bezüglich struktureller Unterschiede und Ähnlichkeiten zwischen dem spontanem gesprochenen und dem „vorgefertigtem“ geschriebenen sprachlichen Input Englischsprachiger Kinder