They Can All Sound Good

At one time or another every elementary classroom teacher hears a child\u27s oral reading performance which makes him/her feel uncomfortable. Hesitations, repetitions, improper use of intonation skills and word mispronunciations abound. Inconsistent rate and rhythm make comprehension of the text nearly impossible for the listener. One typically associates this type of reading with children who have below grade level reading achievement. however, this need not be the case. In rooms where teachers understand the variables of fluent texting behavior and use techniques which incorporate the principles of effective practice and learning, listeners will not be able to distinguish between the oral reading performances of the highest and lowest achievers. Differences in their performances will be minimized or eliminated

The Virginian-Pilot Newspaper\u27s Role in Moderating Norfolk, Virginia\u27s 1958 School Desegregation Crisis

This dissertation explores the critical role played by the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot newspaper\u27s editor, Lenoir Chambers, in moderating public opinion during Norfolk, Virginia\u27s, 1958/1959 public-school closing. In 1958 the nation\u27s attention was focused on Norfolk. In an attempt to stymy judicially mandated integration, Virginia\u27s Governor J. Lindsay Almond, Jr., supported by the powerful political organization of United States senator Harry Flood Byrd, Sr., ordered the city to close its public schools. Norfolk was a major urban area. Over ten thousand students were displaced by the state action; and four months after the closing, three thousand students were still receiving no education. Massive resistance transformed Norfolk into a civil-rights battleground where massive resisters were pitted against pro-school forces and the courts. In February of 1959, Norfolk\u27s schools were reopened and Virginia\u27s policy of massive resistance was broken. Although the process by which the schools were integrated was far from orderly, the transition was characterized by debate, political maneuvering, and judicial action--not violence. The Virginian-Pilot served as an important influence in facilitating this peaceful integration. The Pilot, alone among Virginia\u27s major white newspapers, urged compliance with the Supreme Court\u27s mandate in Brown v. Board. Chambers was later awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his four-year editorial campaign opposing massive resistance. Data for this study was drawn from a series of oral-history interviews with key actors in the school closing (including all of the surviving members of the Pilot\u27s editorial and publishing staffs), a wide variety of personal papers and documents, the Virginian-Pilot\u27s editorials and reportage, and a review of secondary sources

Pimping and Pornography as Sexual Harassment: Amicus Brief in Support of Plaintiff-Respondent in \u3cem\u3eThoreson v. Penthouse Int\u27l LTD.\u3c/em\u3e

Several issues were raised on appeal to the New York Court of Appeals. Thoreson AKA DiLorenzo was the Respondent on the issue of sexual harassment and the Appellant on the issue of the amount of damages awarded by the Supreme Court. This portion of the brief addresses only the issue of sexual harassment. Wendy C. Lecker (J.D. 1988, New York University School of Law), authored a section on the issue of compensatory damages

Differences in Schema Gap: A Case Study

As Deanna described her son\u27s latest interest in reading and his responses to what he read, we marveled at how far he had come as a reader in the past few years. That morning, Deanna had watched 11 year old McKenzie as he searched in total absorption for clues to decode the alphabetic runes in J.R.R. Tolkien\u27s The Lord of the Rings (1974). Already, she noted, his compiled dictionary of runes was so complete that he could write decipherable messages to family and friends

The Effect of Globalization on Domestic Legal Services

Globalization, in the context of this panel, refers to international, trans-border processes which are not regulated by the international legal framework, either private law or public international law. These processes, these unregulated influences, are having both positive and negative effects and affecting aspects of culture and society which had previously been considered domestic or wholly domestic concerns. This is creating a tension within both the domestic and international environments, and it is this particular tension that this panel seeks to address. E. Clinton Bamberger, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Maryland Law School, will speak about how domestic systems in one country can serve as surrogates or supplements, providers of access to justice, for persons denied access to justice in their own country. Lucie White, Professor of Law, Harvard will talk about how legal aid is affected when different cultures and different communities immigrate or immigrant communities are set up in a country. Filipe Gonzalez Morales, Director, Public Interest Action Program, Deigo Portales University, Chile, will talk about how globalization and other forces are coming together and affecting developing economies of scale in providing legal aid across national borders. Dorchen Leidholdt, Director, Center for Battered Women's Legal Services, Sanctuary for Families, New York will talk about how globalization and enlarging immigrant communities in New York City have affected her work in providing protection for battered women

Repräsentation technologischer Wissensbasen für die Wissensakquisition durch Maschinelles Lernen in der generierenden Arbeitsplanerstellung

Der Wissenserwerb erschwert bisher häufig den Einsatz wissensbasierter Systeme der Arbeitsplanerstellung in der industriellen Praxis. Die meisten Anwendungen gestatten nur das Erfassen und Editieren des durch aufwendige Erhebung, Systematisierung und Formulierung gewonnenen fachspezifischen Planungswissens. Im Rahmen eines DFG-Projektes soll die Anwendbarkeit bekannter maschineller Lernverfahren auf technologische Reihenfolge- und Zuordnungsprobleme im Rahmen der generierenden Arbeitsplanerstellung von Teilefertigungsprozessen im Maschinenbau nachgewiesen werden. Dazu wird ein Prototyp mit Hilfe eines verfügbaren Softwarewerkzeuges entwickelt, der das maschinelle Lernen aus vorgegebenen Beispielen ermöglichen und mit einem existierenden Prototypen der wissensbasierten Arbeistplanung kommunizieren soll. Der folgende Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über das mit Lernverfahren zu behandelnde Planungswissen und stellt mögliche Repräsentationsmöglichkeiten des Wissens zur Diskussion

Urban schoolyards with god sound environment : Acoustic aspects of their design och function

Barn förväntas kunna leka, vila och lära sig på skolgården, men ljudnivåerna är ofta höga. Det ger upphov till frågan om ljudmiljön på skolgårdar ligger på lämpliga nivåer för dessa tre aktiviteter och hur den kan anpassas. Syftet med examensarbetet är att identifiera vad en lämplig ljudmiljö på skolgårdens olika platser är och att identifiera vilka åtgärder och designverktyg som kan användas för att förbättra ljudmiljön. Undersökning av hur och i vilken utsträckning en ljudmiljö kan modifieras för att göra den lämplig för utomhusundervisning utförs också. Examensarbetet avgränsas till grundskolor för barn mellan sex och sexton år och hur skolgården kan anpassas till barn i den åldern. Relevanta studier om hur ljud och ljudmiljö påverkar barns hälsa, inlärnings- och prestationsförmåga undersöktes för att identifiera kriterier för de tre funktionerna: (1) lek, (2) rekreation och (3) pedagogisk verksamhet. Genom att studera både forskning om den akustiska effekten av olika designverktyg och forskning om miljöer för barn identifieras akustiska designverktyg som kan användas för skolgårdar. Slutligen analyserades möjligheten att anpassa olika områden på skolgården för de tre funktionerna genom att modellera i CATT-Acoustic och genom att undersöka ljudmiljön på två befintliga innerstadsskolor som ett ljudlandskap. I CATT-Acoustic användes parametrarna efterklangstid, T20, ljudförstärkning, G, och Speech Transmission Index, STI. Resultatet var att en lämplig ljudmiljö anpassad till (1) lek kan ha en låg taltydlighet (STI mellan 0,46 och 0,66),  en begränsad efterklangstid (T20 under 1,2 s) och är öppen med en ljuddämpande markyta, (2) rekreation har en kort efterklangstid T20 under 0,5 s), en begränsad ekvivalent ljudnivå Leq under 50 dBA) och absorberande eller ojämna ytor i sin omgivning och (3) undervisning bör integreras inom skolgården och bestå av platser där undervisning och annan verksamhet kan äga rum. Där föreslås T20 vara 0,5 s,  Leq  under 50 dBA och absorberande ytor som ger bra förutsättningar för röstkommunikation och lärande. Minst en plats föreslås vara en mötesplats som uppfyller kriterierna för undervisning som förstärker tal genom att ha en reflekterande yta placerad bakom talarens position och vara avskärmad av en absorberande vägg. Undersökningen visade att designen av skolgården och platsen för verksamheten i förhållande till skolgårdsväggarna kan förbättra ljudmiljön. Genom mjuka markmaterial (gräs, sand och grus), indelning av skolgården i flera zoner med exempelvis växtbeklädda barriärer och avskärmning från ljud utanför skolgården, kan ljudmiljön förbättras. Bullriga aktiviteter kan placeras längre bort från reflekterande ytor och ett rekreationsområde kan skapas genom absorberande ytor och diffusa skärmar. Undervisningen kan ske på många olika platser där minst en kan vara nära en reflekterande vägg som förstärker talet.Children are expected to be able to play, rest and have lessons in schoolyards. This made me interested in investigating if the sound environment in schoolyards is at suitable levels for these three activities. The purpose of my master’s thesis was to identify what a suitable sound environment in the different areas of a schoolyard is, and to identify measures and design tools that can be used to improve the sound environment. I also investigate in what extent a sound environment can be modified to make it suitable for outdoor education. The thesis focuses on schools with six- to sixteen-year-old pupils and how children this age are affected by the sound environment. Relevant studies on how sound and the sound environment affect children’s health, learning and performance skills were examined to identify criteria for the three functions: (1) play, (2) recreation and (3) educational activities. By studying research about design tools and their acoustic effect on the one hand and studies about environments for children on the other hand I identified acoustic design tools which could be used in schoolyards. At last I analysed the possibility to adjust different areas for the three functions. I analysed the sound environment on two inner city schools as a “soundscape” and modelled sound distribution in an open space similar to inner-city schoolyards in CATT-Acoustic and used the parameters reverberance time (RT), gain (G) and Speech Transmission Index (STI). As result of this master’s thesis an appropriate sound environment in an area for (1) play has a lower speech understanding (STI between 0.46 and 0.66), has a limited reverberation time (RT under 1,2 s) and open with a sound-damping ground surface (2) recreation has a short reverbaration time (RT under 0.5 s), limited equivalent noise level (Leq under 50 dBA) and a lot of absorbent or diffuse surfaces in its surroundings (3) teaching should be integrated in the schoolyard as places where teaching and other activities can take place. There you should find 0.5 s RT, under 50 dBA Leq and absorbent surfaces that provide good conditions for voice communication and learning. At least one place is proposed to be a meeting place that meets the criteria for teaching and amplifies speech by having a reflective surface placed behind the speaker position and shielded by some absorbent wall. It is found that the design of the schoolyard and the location of the activities in relation to the schoolyard walls can improve the sound environment. The sound environment can be improved through especially soft ground materials (grass, sand and gravel), subdivision of the schoolyard into smaller areas, while using sound absorbing noise barriers which can be combined with planting and protect from noise from outside the schoolyard. Noisy activities can be placed further away from reflective areas and an area for recreation can be created through absorbent surfaces and diffuse screens. Teaching can take place in many different places where at least one of the places can be close to one reflective wall that amplifies the speech.