An analysis of kindergarten children's language in conversations about television.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

The Automation of Obtaining Customer Billing Data

XYZ Telecom received bi-monthly customer PDF billing data (identical to the paper customer invoices) from the print vendor Gilmore, Inc via CD media shipped by FedEx. Upon receipt, this data would then be posted to the CD/DVD media server through a manual entry process. The Billing Disputes Team often required immediate access to this data to deal with customer inquiries for telephone dispute calls regarding current or previous billing periods. Through the use of a dedicated VPN connection, VBScript and Windows Server technology an automated solution was put into place which ultimately saved XYZ Telecom approximately 20 hours of IT employee labor per month

The Relative Importance of Intensity and Time Stress in Singing

The factors that enter into the production and perception of rhythm in singing are so varied and complex that they almost defy clarification. In discussing rhythm of the singer, musicians have confined themselves almost entirely to one general term: stress, with its loose synonyms, accent and emphasis. These terms are not well-defined, although generally the context implies that stress, accent, and emphasis mean an increase in dynamics, a push in intensity. It is the purpose of this paper to attempt to clarify the nature of vocal rhythm by discussing some studies of two major factors that are involved: time stress and intensity stress

The Hearing of the Vocal Vibrato

Paralleling the extensive study of the artistic use of the vocal and instrumental vibrato is this study in the perception of the vocal vibrato. By using a synthetic tone-mixer, variations in pitch and intensity deviations, both as to rate and extent, were produced for the observers who responded by several methods - production, comparison and estimate. The data indicate that the observers, all of whom possess high musical discrimination for pitch and intensity, hear the deviations in pitch extent as about one-third the actual amount, that different rates of oscillation near the average of artistic usage, have little significant effect upon the perceived extent. The study is intensive rather than extensive. Some illusory effects are noted. The relation to musical sonance is discussed

A New Scientific Musical Staff

The psychological laboratory in the University of Iowa is conducting a number of studies in the psychology of music, laying scientific foundations for the theory and practice of the art. To make these scientific findings in the interpretation of vocal and instrumental music as actually rendered, it has been necessary to design a scientific type of musical score. This has been built as closely as possible in musical terminology but is so designed as to show in great detail how the notes are actually sung and played. For example, instead of indicating the note C by the usual musical notation, a graph is substituted showing exactly how the tone was rendered. Parallel with this is a method of showing changes in loudness and stress in the rhythm and another notation to indicate the tone quality

Seashore Electric Railway Pamplets

The Seashore Electric Railway got its start in 1939 when a dozen men brought an open summer trolley car from nearby Saco. Now it owns 45 cars from 23 railway systems in 14 states and England. These cars represent the entire development of street and interurban railway transportation from the horse car to the dawn of streamlining. They include a former horse car dating back to the 1870\u27s, an all-aluminum interurban car capable of speeds up to 85 miles per hour, the last passenger trolley and the last electric locomotive to operate in the state of Maine, a double-deck tram car from England, a car carrying the famous destination sign Desire, a car peculiar to Los Angeles -- but known to movie-goers the world over and a sequence of a dozen cars from Boston.https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/books_pubs/1115/thumbnail.jp

The Quality of Public Education in Boston: An Assessment and Some Recommendations

Motivation, self-esteem, achievement and the development of tolerance and acceptance of others -- these are the goals that most, like Crain, et al., have come to accept as legitimate objectives of public schooling. Yet, there is substantial opinion that the public schools of Boston have been unable to achieve standards in these areas that are acceptable to the public, the students who occupy the schools, and the professionals who run them. For example, a recent survey of Boston residents\u27 attitudes toward the schools indicates that approximately 3/4 of all respondents -- irrespective of race, or whether there were any school age children in the house -- believed the quality of the schools to be fair or poor. In addition, a substantial majority of both black and white parents believe that the schools are getting worse, rather than better. In this paper, a brief review of the past and present status of the Boston schools, based on existing, accessible empirical evidence, will be presented, to determine the degree to which the overwhelmingly negative opinions about the schools are supported. In addition, studies and research that bear upon strategies for improving the educational system will be discussed. A few words should be said about the assumptions under which this review is organized. First, this paper is limited to a discussion of public elementary and secondary education. Second, the review of both the current status of the schools and potential strategies for improving them will be limited to: (1) areas in which there is some reason to expect that involving concerned public interest groups such as the Boston Committee would be useful, and (2) where there is some potential for implementing relatively short-term programs or activities. In sum, the definition of problems and remedies will focus on improving the current system, rather than designing a substantially new one