The Information-seeking Strategies of Humanities Scholars Using Resources in Languages Other Than English

ABSTRACT THE INFORMATION-SEEKING STRATEGIES OF HUMANITIES SCHOLARS USING RESOURCES IN LANGUAGES OTHER THAN ENGLISH by Carol Sabbar The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2016 Under the Supervision of Dr. Iris Xie This dissertation explores the information-seeking strategies used by scholars in the humanities who rely on resources in languages other than English. It investigates not only the strategies they choose but also the shifts that they make among strategies and the role that language, culture, and geography play in the information-seeking context. The study used purposive sampling to engage 40 human subjects, all of whom are post-doctoral humanities scholars based in the United States who conduct research in a variety of languages. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and research diaries in order to answer three research questions: What information-seeking strategies are used by scholars conducting research in languages other than English? What shifts do scholars make among strategies in routine, disruptive, and/or problematic situations? And In what ways do language, culture, and geography play a role in the information-seeking context, especially in the problematic situations? The data were then analyzed using grounded theory and the constant comparative method. A new conceptual model – the information triangle – was used and is presented in this dissertation to categorize and visually map the strategies and shifts. Based on data collected, thirty distinct strategies were identified and divided into four categories: formal system, informal resource, interactive human, and hybrid strategies. Three types of shifts were considered: planned, opportunistic, and alternative. Finally, factors related to language, culture, and geography were identified and analyzed according to their roles in the information-seeking context. This study is the first of its kind to combine the study of information-seeking behaviors with the factors of language, culture, and geography, and as such, it presents numerous methodological and practical implications along with many opportunities for future research

The Controversy Of Sciences: Humanities Revisited

The present paper is an attempt to explore the various views of the problematic relation between sciences and humanities. It is a relation marked by a great extent of discontent and misconception. It has six sections. The first section is a theoretical background. The second deals with Wells's fiction. The third is devoted to Huxley's. The fourth is about Snow's writings in this field. The fifth section discusses Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. The last section deals with the contribution of the post-modernistic writers to this controversy

Tragedy and its Perpetual Controversy, With a Particular Reference to George Steiner’s Death of Tragedy and Terry Eagleton’s Tragedy

The present article aims to explore the concept of tragedy as delineated by Aristotle, its particularity, nature, objectives, practices, procedures, topics, representations of human beings and complex interrelations with the metaphysical and eschatological factors. A pivotal issue to be highlighted here is the reasons behind the gradual decline or demise of tragedy in our present technological age. This hypothesis implies the economic, cultural, political, ethical and social mutations in European societies throughout the twenty-five centuries ever since its birth in the fifth century BC. The article also provides a sufficient account of the Athenian tragedy as specified by Aristotle and his significant contribution to the tragic genre and its prescriptions and proscriptions. There are some references to the valuable judgments of the philosophers Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. The main argument will concentrate on the striking views of the two twentieth century critics: the French-English George Steiner and his remarkable book, Death of Tragedy (1961), and Tragedy (2020) by the contemporary Irish critic, Terry Eagleton. The main emphasis of the article is on these two critics and their illuminating arguments. The conclusion is a recapitulation and highlighting of the points raised throughout the article.

Gender and Age Effects on Lexical Choice in The Baghdadi Speech Community: A Cognitive Sociolinguistic Analysis

The effects of gender and age on lexical choice in Arabic sociolinguistics have been found to be contradictory and problematic. This is because the prestigious dialect is not necessarily the standard variety, or Standard Arabic (SA) in the Arab world. The objective of this study is to delve into the inner workings of Baghdadis' linguistic system in pursuit of a better understanding of the interface between the social and the linguistic by adding the cognitive approach. The cognitive approach to lexical choice is primarily interested in the subjective meanings or experiences of individual language users within their social groups. This quantitative research is based on the differences in lexical choices depending on gender and age of the literate Baghdadis. Patterns of lexical variables are identified according to males‘/females‘ (24 males/24 females) choice of new lexical items of the Baghdadi Dialect (BD) speakers. This study also identifies any patterns of change according to three age groups (18-24, 30-40, and 50-60) by comparing their lexical choices. The informants were chosen using judgment sampling procedure. The speech of the 48 BD speakers was investigated using face-to-face interviews. Correlations and F-tests were conducted using the SPSS (Version 18) to process data on the independent variables (age and gender) and lexical choices. It was found that variation is not mechanical or automatic, but is based on personal conscious choices. It was also found that gender is one of the most important social factors correlating with lexical variation. Among Baghdadi women, the prestigious linguistic form was found to be associated with Standard Arabic. Thus, females who opt for SA can be considered to represent competent Arabic teachers since they are linguistically more prestige conscious than males. Future studies can analyze the relationship between BD and SA and its educational impact on Iraqi schools

The Use of Mobile –Assisted Language Learning (MALL) by Iraqi EFL College Students' and their Attitudes Towards it

يعد  النقال وسيلة مساعدة في تعلم اللغة ,من المواضيع العصرية في التقنيات التربوية المستخدمة في تحسين التعلم والذي حصل على شعبية بين الطلبة بسبب توافر العديد من التقنيات النقالة المختلفة. وقد اسهم كثيرا لعملية التعلم والتدريس. ولم يعد الطلبة راضيين عن الطرق التقليدية في التدريس واظهروا ميولا للحصول على فوائد التكنولوجيا وبالأخص الوسائل النقالة. تهدف الدراسة الحالية الى التحقق من توجهات الطلبة الدارسين للغة الانكليزية كلغة أجنبية نحو الأدوات النقالة في عملية تعلم اللغة, إضافة إلى أنها تتحرى عن الاستعمال  الواقعي لتلك الأدوات. لذلك صيغت استبانتان, الأولى لمعرفة توجهات الطلبة, والثانية لمعرفة الاستعمال  الحقيقي للأدوات النقالة مساعدا في عملية تعلم اللغة.طبق  كلتا  الاستبانتين على عينة من 237 طالب وطالبة في قسم اللغة الانكليزية. أظهر تحليل نتائج الاستبانة الأولى توجهات الطلبة الايجابية نحو الأدوات النقالة. كما توصلت نتائج الاستبانة الثانية إلى أن الأدوات النقالة تستعمل بكثرة لأغراض تعلم اللغة من قبل الطلبة وتمثلت في الاستخدام  القواميس واستخدامها للبحث وجمع المعلومات. لذلك ينصح باستعمال النقال كمساعد  في عمليات التدريس والتعليم و وسيلة تدريس أو مصدر داعم والذي بدوره يحفز الطلبة ويشركهم بفعالية في عملية التعلم. تبعا لذلك, تعد نتائج الدراسة ملهمة للبحث  التجريبي والتطبيقي وبعمق في موضوع التعلم النقال .Mobile -assisted language learning (MALL) is regarded as a fashionable topic in the educational technology to enhance learning, which has gained popularity among students because of the availability of the  various mobile technologies . It contributes a lot to the teaching and learning process and students are no longer satisfied with the traditional way of teaching and show tendency to gain the advantages of  technology in classes especially mobile devices. The current study aims at investigating EFL students' attitudes towards the mobile devices in the language learning process. In addition, it explores their actual use of mobile devices as assisted tool for the learning  purposes.Two questionnaires have been constructed; first one for students attitudes towards  mobile assisted language learning. Second, a questionnaire of the use of mobile assisted language learning. Both questionnaires were administered to a sample of 237 students at the department of English. The results of the first questionnaire analysis have showed the students' positive attitudes towards mobile devices. And the second one revealed that mobile devices are excessively  used for language learning purposes by the students mostly as dictionaries , and for research and data collection. Thus, it is recommended to make use of MALL in the teaching and learning process as a teaching aid and a supplementary source which can motivate students as well as actively involve them in the learning process. Consequently, the results of this study could be regarded as an inspiration for investigating in deep mobile learning approach practically and experimentally

Characterisation of Static Liquefaction of Sand with Different Mixtures of Fines

Liquefaction is a phenomenon of a sudden reduction in shear strength of saturated soils when subjected to undrained static or cyclic loading. Static liquefaction susceptibility of sand with various amounts of fines was investigated using experimental and artificial intelligence approaches. Liquefaction behaviour of sandy soils was considerably dependent on the fines content and fines types. The artificial intelligence results showed that both of ANN and GP could well predict the liquefaction susceptibility of mixtures

Interpretation: The Infinite Controversy

The following is an attempt to view and perceive the problematic act of interpretation, including its nature, its endless controversies, its horizons and its limitations. The paper is comprised of two sections. The first is an introduction covering the various aspects of the interpretive act. It also deals with the vast potentialities opened up by interpretation. The second section shows some of the limitations of interpretation, as seen in the different interpretations of Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Shakespeare's Hamlet. The approach used throughout is ambivalent in that it stresses the merits and drawbacks of interpretation in reading and understanding texts

Absolute Authority of Literary Criticism and Limited Freedom of Creative Writing: John Keats and Nikolai Gogol as Examples

The question of the paradoxical relationship and misunderstanding between literary criticism and creative literature is a time-honored one. Throughout many centuries, the creative writer has been viewed as the master of his craft, aware of its secrets and challenges so that it finally comes out as a self-contained entity. The critical faculty is often attributed to the creative writer himself such as Ben Jonson, Philip Sidney, John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Matthew Arnold, Dr. Johnson…etc. Only in the last two centuries or so, was there a kind of critical autonomy where the critic could find a niche for him/herself and show his competitive spirit with creative writers. The present paper seeks to show how certain British and Russian critics have played havoc in the lives and writings of John Keats (1795-1821) and Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852). The paper concludes by stating that literary criticism can be subversive and its aftermath might be very catastrophic. Even so, the spark of creativity will always be gleaming and enticing writers to its fascinating and seductive worlds. The paper comprises three parts. The first one is introductory in that it describes the nature of criticism, its rules, and restrictions. Also it refers to critics’ conscious or unconscious breaching of these regulations. Review of related literature helps in showing the different approaches and treatment of the current topic. The main argument explores how some literary critics in England and Russia in the nineteenth century played a malicious role in the lives and works of John Keats and Nikolai Gogol through imposing their convictions on creative writers. The conclusion is a final assessment of this complex relationship between critics and creative writers and how the misconception between the two parties is too wide to be bridged or overcome

Wavelengths switching and allocation algorithms in multicast technology using m-arity tree networks topology

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University London.In this thesis, the m-arity tree networks have been investigated to derive equations for their nodes, links and required wavelengths. The relationship among all parameters such as leaves nodes, destinations, paths and wavelengths has been found. Three situations have been explored, firstly when just one server and the leaves nodes are destinations, secondly when just one server and all other nodes are destinations, thirdly when all nodes are sources and destinations in the same time. The investigation has included binary, ternary, quaternary and finalized by general equations for all m-arity tree networks. Moreover, a multicast technology is analysed in this thesis to transmit data carried by specific wavelengths to several clients. Wavelengths multicast switching is well examined to propose split-convert-split-convert (S-C-S-C) multicast switch which consists of light splitters and wavelengths converters. It has reduced group delay by 13% and 29% compared with split-convert (S-C) and split-convert-split (S-C-S) multicast switches respectively. The proposed switch has also increased the received signal power by a significant value which reaches 28% and 26.92% compared with S-C-S and S-C respectively. In addition, wavelengths allocation algorithms in multicast technology are proposed in this thesis using tree networks topology. Distributed scheme is adopted by placing wavelength assignment controller in all parents’ nodes. Two distributed algorithms proposed shortest wavelength assignment (SWA) and highest number of destinations with shortest wavelength assignment (HND-SWA) algorithms to increase the received signal power, decrease group delay and reduce dispersion. The performance of the SWA algorithm was almost better or same as HND-SWA related to the power, dispersion and group delay but they are always better than other two algorithms. The required numbers of wavelengths and their utilised converters have been examined and calculated for the researched algorithms. The HND-SWA has recorded the superior performance compared with other algorithms. It has reduced number of utilised wavelengths up to about 19% and minimized number of the used wavelengths converters up to about 29%. Finally, the centralised scheme is discussed and researched and proposed a centralised highest number of destinations (CHND) algorithm with static and dynamic scenarios to reduce network capacity decreasing (Cd) after each wavelengths allocation. The CDHND has reduced (Cd) by about 16.7% compared with the other algorithms

Investigate The Integration of PCF in WLAN to Improve its Performance Against Attackers

الشبكات اللاسلكية اصبحت من التقنيات الاكثر شهرة بين الاتصالات الحالية وذلك لرخص ثمن مكوناتها المادية، الحركية، وسهولة التركيب والاستخدام و التوسعة . وبالتالي، فإن أداء الشبكات المحلية اللاسلكية اصبح أمرا مهما.   أن تشويش المهاجمين سوف يقلل من أداء الشبكة اللاسلكية مثل تناقص الإنتاجية، وزيادة التأخير الزمني و يزيد من انخفاض البيانات ... الخ ان المعيار IEEE 802.11 يصف اليتين مختلفين للتحكم بالوصول للوسائطMAC ) :وظيفة التنسيق الموزعة ( DCF) ، وظيفة التنسيق النقطي ( PCF ) . PCF يحقق إنتاجية أعلى من الالية الاخرى، ولهذا فإن هذه الدراسة تحقق التكامل لل PCF في WLAN والتي تعرضت لهجوم من قبل التشويش . أجريت هذه الدراسة باستخدام OPNET Modeler ( v14.5 ) لأنه أداة أكثر ملائمة للشبكات اللاسلكية . بعد تشغيل المحاكاة ، تم جمع النتائج و أظهرت أن PCF أعطى تحسن جيد من حيث زيادة الإنتاجية و التقليل من تراجع البيانات مع مستوى مقبول من التأخير الزمني حتى عندما تم زيادة قدرة الارسال للمهاجمين أكثر من قدرة الارسال لأجهزة الكمبيوتر و PCF أيضا أعطى تحسن جيد في الإنتاجية و التأخير الزمني عندما يصبح عدد المهاجمين اثنين. وهذا من شأنه تحسين أداء النظام.  Wireless network has become the most popular technology among current communities due to cheap hardware, mobility, ease of installation, usage and expandability. Remote system has turned into the most well known innovation among current groups because of modest equipment, portability, simplicity of establishment, use and expandability. There- fore, the performance of WLANs becomes important. Jamming attackers would reduce the performance of wireless network such as decreasing throughput, increasing delay and data dropped ... etc. The IEEE 802.11 standard specifies two different media access con- trol (MAC) mechanisms: distributed coordination function (DCF), point coordination function (PCF). The IEEE 802.11 standard determines two distinct media get to control (MAC) components: disseminated coordination works (DCF), point coordination work (PCF). PCF achieve higher throughput than DCF, therefore, this study investigates the integration of PCF in WLAN which is attacked by Jammers. This study is done using OPNET Modeler (v14.5). OPNET Modeler (v14.5) is used in this work, because it is the more suitable tool for wireless network. After the simulation was run, the results were collected and showed that PCF gave a good improvement by increasing throughput and decreasing data dropped with an acceptable delay even when the transmission power of Jammer was increased more above the transmission power of computers and PCF also gave a good improvement in throughput and delay when the number of Jammers became two. This would improve the performance of the system