Visualisation of Collage Grammar to CellWorks: ET0L Mode and Part Sensitive Mode

Images are an important aspect of human life as one remembers pictures better than words. Informally, a twodimensional string is called a picture. A two-dimensional language (or picture language) is a set of pictures. Picture generation and analysis has become a widely investigated field in Theoretical Computer Science and in Mathematics. Collage grammars are studied as devices that generate pictures by rewriting based on hyperedge replacement. A cell-work is a finite set of cells where each cell (being a three dimensional entity) is surrounded by one or more faces. This paper focuses on how cell work languages can be captured by collage grammar in ET0L and Part Sensitive modes

Ogden's lemma for random permitting and forbidding context picture languages and table-driven context-free picture languages

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, February 16, 2015.Random context picture grammars are used to generate pictures through successive refinement. There are three important subclasses of random context picture grammars, namely random permitting context picture grammars, random forbidding context picture grammars and table-driven context-free picture grammars. These grammars generate the random permitting context picture languages, random forbidding context picture languages and table-driven context-free picture languages, respectively. Theorems exist which provide necessary conditions that have to be satisfied by a language before it can be classified under a particular subclass. Some of these theorems include the pumping and shrinking lemmas, which have been developed for random permitting context picture languages and random forbidding context picture languages respectively. Two characterization theorems were developed for the table-driven context-free picture languages. This dissertation examines these existing theorems for picture languages, i.e., the pumping and shrinking lemmas and the two characterisation theorems, and attempts to prove theorems, which will provide an alternative to the existing theorems and thus provide new tools for identifying languages that do not belong to the various classes. This will be done by adapting Ogden’s idea of marking parts of a word which was done for the string case. Our theorems essentially involve marking parts of a picture such that the pumping operation increases the number of marked symbols and the shrinking operation reduces it

Cultural Relevance of the Transtheoretical Model in Physical Activity Promotion: Mexican-American Women’s use of the Processes of Change

Hispanic women in the U.S. have disproportionately high rates of obesity and health disparities related to insufficient physical activity (PA). While the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) is one of the most commonly used behavioral theories in interventions promoting PA, there is a lack of evidence to support the cultural relevance of theoretical constructs for increasing PA in Hispanic women. To learn about Hispanic women’s use and interpretation of the construct Processes of Change (POC) for increasing PA, we conducted focus groups with overweight/obese Mexican/Mexican-American females (N=13) ages 27-40 years. Major themes centered on the importance of children and family caretaking, social support, and PA to promote weight loss. Participants identified strategies they use to enact the POC for increasing PA such as retos (challenges), exercise as an alternative to eating, and clothing as a reward/reminder for PA. This study examined culture-specific factors used by Mexican-American women for becoming more physically active as they correspond to the theoretical constructs of the TTM. We showed that the POC examined in our study are culturally relevant and enacted by Mexican-American women for increasing PA, and are poised to be deployed in culturally appropriate PA promotion and weight loss interventions

In a New Land:Mobile Phones, Amplified Pressures and Reduced Capabilities

Framed within the theoretical lens of positive and negative security, this paper presents a study of newcomers to Sweden and the roles of mobile phones in the establishment of a new life. Using creative engagement methods through a series of workshops, two researchers engaged 70 adult participants enrolled into further education colleges in Sweden. Group narratives about mobile phone use were captured in creative outputs, researcher observations and notes and were analysed using thematic analysis. Key findings show that the mobile phone offers security for individuals and a safe space for newcomers to establish a new life in a new land as well as capitalising on other spaces of safety, such as maintaining old ties. This usage produces a series of threats and vulnerabilities beyond traditional technological security thinking related to mobile phone use. The paper concludes with recommendations for policies and support strategies for those working with newcomers

Young children learning in Gaelic: Investigating children's learning experiences in Gaelic-medium pre-school. Research Briefing 6E. Stirling

Gaelic-medium (GM) education is an important part of current efforts to re-vitalise the language in Scotland. Beginning Gaelic-medium education in preschool is seen as a crucial entry point, enhancing the numbers entering GM primary education and facilitating transition to the school learning environment. However, it is essential that GM preschool is of high quality. Government-funded provision is expected to offer children the same learning opportunities as their peers who attend English-medium settings. Meeting these expectations is challenging because most children enter Gaelic-medium preschool from English-speaking homes so that the nursery or playgroup is their only exposure to Gaelic. Our earlier study mapped the range and extent of Gaelic-medium early education and childcare provision but in the research reported here our focus was on what happens within settings, the children’s activities in the playroom and the ways in which practitioners help them to learn Gaelic, as well as ensuring that national expectations about curriculum and learning outcomes are met

The impact of multilingualism & language learning experiences on an immigrant woman\u27s identity: a case study

Following the interpretive qualitative approach, the present study strives to give voice to an immigrant woman by telling her story about the development of her identity as a multilingual learner of English. Using multiple methods of data collection (in-depth interviews, informal observations, documents, artifact, member checks, and peer debriefings), this research attempts to shed light on how an immigrant woman makes sense out of her social world through the languages she uses, their function in her life, the meanings she assigns to each and the role of learning languages on her multilingual identity. Some SLA investigators have argued that because mainstream SLA theorists have paid little attention to and not adequately addressed such language learning experiences as inequitable power relations between language learners and native speakers, there are major gaps in theory in reference to the relationship between the individual language learner and his/her social surroundings. For the participant in this study, these language learning experiences have been leading factors in the development of her multilingual identity and have been an affective factor for her acquisition of English, leading to subtractive bilingualism. The findings from this study call for education programs which foster and lay a foundation for additive bilingualism

Modeling information structure in a cross-linguistic perspective

This study makes substantial contributions to both the theoretical and computational treatment of information structure, with a specific focus on creating natural language processing applications such as multilingual machine translation systems. The present study first provides cross-linguistic findings in regards to information structure meanings and markings. Building upon such findings, the current model represents information structure within the HPSG/MRS framework using Individual Constraints. The primary goal of the present study is to create a multilingual grammar model of information structure for the LinGO Grammar Matrix system. The present study explores the construction of a grammar library for creating customized grammar incorporating information structure and illustrates how the information structure-based model improves performance of transfer-based machine translation

Using a Model to Design Activity-Based Educational Experiences to Improve Cultural Competency among Graduate Students

To improve the cultural competency of 34 students participating in graduate nutrition counseling classes, the Campinha-Bacote Model of Cultural Competence in the Delivery of Health Care Services was used to design, implement, and evaluate counseling classes. Each assignment and activity addressed one or more of the five constructs of the model, i.e., knowledge, skill, desire, encounters, and awareness. A repeated measure ANOVA evaluated pre- and post-test cultural competence scores (Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competence among Healthcare Professionals). The overall cultural competence score significantly improved (p \u3c 0.001) from “culturally aware” (68.7 at pre-test) to “culturally competent” (78.7 at post-test). Students significantly improved (p \u3c 0.001) in four constructs of the model including awareness, knowledge, skill, and encounter. Factor analysis indicated that course activities accounted for 83.2% and course assignments accounted for 74.6% of the total variance of cultural competence. An activity-based counseling course encouraging self-evaluation and reflection and addressing Model constructs significantly improved the cultural competence of students. As class activities and assignments aligned well with the Campinha-Bacote Model constructs, the findings of this study can help guide health educators to design effective cultural competence training and education programs

Using mobile devices to support online collaborative learning

Mobile collaborative learning is considered the next step of on-line collaborative learning by incorporating mobility as a key and breakthrough requirement. Indeed, the current wide spread of mobile devices and wireless technologies brings an enormous potential to e-learning, in terms of ubiquity, pervasiveness, personalization, flexibility, and so on. For this reason, Mobile Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning has recently grown from a minor research field to significant research projects covering a fairly variety of formal and specially informal learning settings, from schools and universities to workplaces, museums, cities and rural areas. Much of this research has shown how mobile technology can offer new opportunities for groups of learners to collaborate inside and beyond the traditional instructor-oriented educational paradigm. However, mobile technologies, when specifically applied to collaborative learning activities, are still in its infancy and many challenges arise. In addition, current research in this domain points to highly specialized study cases, uses, and experiences in specific educational settings and thus the issues addressed in the literature are found dispersed and disconnected from each other. To this end, this paper attempts to bridge relevant aspects of mobile technologies in support for collaborative learning and provides a tighter view by means of a multidimensional approach.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Processpatching: defining new methods in aRt&D

In the context of a rapidly changing domain of contemporary electronic art practice- where the speed of technological innovation and the topicality of art 'process as research' methods are both under constant revision- the process of collaboration between art, computer science and engineering is an important addition to existing 'R&D'. Scholarly as well as practical exploration of artistic methods, viewed in relation to the field of new technology, can be seen to enable and foster innovation in both the conceptualisation and practice of the electronic arts. At the same time, citing new media art in the context of technological innovation brings a mix of scientific and engineering issues to the fore and thereby demands an extended functionality that may lead to R&D, as technology attempts to take account of aesthetic and social considerations in its re-development. This new field of new media or electronic art R&D is different from research and development aimed at practical applications of new technologies as we see them in everyday life. A next step for Research and Development in Art (aRt&D) is a formalisation of the associated work methods, as an essential ingredient for interdisciplinary collaboration. This study investigates how electronic art patches together processes and methods from the arts, engineering and computer science environments. It provides a framework describing the electronic art methods to improve collaboration by informing others about one's artistic research and development approach. This investigation is positioned in the electronic art laboratory where new alliances with other disciplines are established. It provides information about the practical and theoretical aspects of the research and development processes of artists. The investigation addresses fundamental questions about the 'research and development methods' (discussed and defined at length in these pages), of artists who are involved in interdisciplinary collaborations amongst and between the fields of Art, Computer Science, and Engineering. The breadth of the fields studied necessarily forced a tight focus on specific issues in the literature, addressed herein through a series of focused case studies which demonstrate the points of synergy and divergence between the fields of artistic research and development, in a wider art&D' context. The artistic methods proposed in this research include references from a broad set of fields (e. g. Technology, Media Arts, Theatre and Performance, Systems Theories, the Humanities, and Design Practice) relevant to and intrinsically intertwined with this project and its placement in an interdisciplinary knowledge domain. The aRt&D Matrix provides a complete overview of the observed research and development methods in electronic arts, including references to related disciplines and methods from other fields. The new Matrix developed and offered in this thesis also provides an instrument for analysing the interdisciplinary collaboration process that exclusively reflects the information we need for the overview of the team constellation. The tool is used to inform the collaborators about the backgrounds of the other participants and thus about the expected methods and approaches. It provides a map of the bodies of knowledge and expertise represented in any given cross-disciplinary team, and thus aims to lay the groundwork for a future aRt&D framework of use to future scholars and practitioners alike