Sociolinguistic variability in oral narrative.

This thesis begins with a sociolinguistic correlational study of three phonetic variables - (h), (t) and (ing) - as used by four occupational groups - nurses, chefs, hairdressers and taxi-drivers. The groups were selected to incorporate three independent variables: sex (male-dominated versus female-dominated occupations); training (length and specialisation - nurses and chefs being more specialised than hairdressers and taxi-drivers) and location (the populations were selected from two cities - Liverpool and Birmingham). Although the correlational work demonstrates intra-sex and occupation consistency in speakers' choice of linguistic variants (females (particularly nurses) being significantly closer to the prestige norm), it is essentially non-explanatory and cannot accout for narrative dynamics and style shift. Therefore, an in-depth qualitative examination of the data (which draws mainly on Narrative and Discourse Analysis) forms the major part of the analysis. The study first analyses features common to all the narratives, direct speech, expressive phonology and linguistic ambiguity emerging as characteristic of all humorous storytelling. Secondly, three major sources of inter-personal variation are invetigated: narrator perspective, sex and occuptational role. Perspective is found to vary with topic and personality, greater narrator involvement coinciding with a higher proportion of internal evaluation devices. Sex differences include topic choice and bonding in the storytelling sessions. Sex differences are also evident in style shifting, where the narrator mimics the voice of a character in the narrative (aodpting segmental and/or prosodic tokens to signal a change of persona). The research finds that female narrators rarely employ segmental accommodation downwards on the social scale (whereas men do), but are on the other hand adept at using prosodic effects for mimicry. Taxi-drivers emerge as the group with the most distinctive narrative flair, a fact which is related to their occupation. The conclusion stresses a need for both quantitative and qualitative approaches to data; the importance of occupational role, as opposed to sex role per se in determining narrative conventions; the view of narrative as a negotiable entity, which is the product of relationships among participants; and the importance of considering the totality of the communicative act.

The use of ERS-1 crossovers and TOPEX/Poseidon repeat pass data for global sea surface variability studies

In previous sea-surface variability studies, researchers have failed to utilise the full ERS-1 mission due to the varying orbital characteristics in each mission phase, and most have simply ignored the Ice and Geodetic phases. This project aims to introduce a technique which will allow the straightforward use of all orbital phases, regardless of orbit type. This technique is based upon single satellite crossovers. Unfortunately the ERS-1 orbital height is still poorly resolved (due to higher air drag and stronger gravitational effects) when compared with that of TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P), so to make best use of the ERS-1 crossover data corrections to the ERS-1 orbital heights are calculated by fitting a cubic-spline to dual-crossover residuals with T/P. This correction is validated by comparison of dual satellite crossovers with tide gauge data. The crossover processing technique is validated by comparing the extracted sea-surface variability information with that from T/P repeat pass data. The two data sets are then combined into a single consistent data set for analysis of sea-surface variability patterns. These patterns are simplified by the use of an empirical orthogonal function decomposition which breaks the signals into spatial modes which are then discussed separately. Further studies carried out on these data include an analysis of the characteristics of the annual signal, discussion of evidence for Rossby wave propagation on a global basis, and finally analysis of the evidence for global mean sea level rise.

Changes in heart rate variability associated with moderate alcohol consumption

Technological advances have driven some attempt of vital parameters monitoring in adverse environments; these improvements will make possible to monitor cardiac activity also in automotive environments. In this scenario, heart rate changes associated with alcohol consumption, become of great importance to assess the drivers state during time. This paper presents the results of a first set of experiments aimed to discover heart rate variability modification induced by moderate assumption of alcoholic drink (i.e. single draft beer) as that typically occurs in weekend among some people. In the study, twenty subjects were enrolled and for each of them two electrocardiographic recordings were carried out: the first before alcohol ingestion and the second after 25-30 minutes. Each participant remained fasting until the second ECG acquisition was completed. ECG signal were analyzed by typical timedomain, frequency and non linear analysis. Results showed a small increase in LF/HF ratio which reflects a dominance of the sympathetic system over the parasympathetic system, and an increase in signal complexity as proven by non linear analysis. However, the study highlighted the need to monitor HRV starting from alcohol ingestion until its complete metabolization to allow a more precise description of its variation. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.

Floatingline estimation in FHR signal analysis

Cardiotocography provides significant information on foetal oxygenation linked to characteristics of foetal heart rate signals. Among most important we can mention foetal heart rate variability, whose spectral analysis is recognised like useful in improving diagnosis of pathologic conditions. However, despite its importance, a standardisation of definition and estimation of foetal heart rate variability is still searched. Some guidelines state that variability refers to fluctuations in the baseline free from accelerations and decelerations. This is an important limit in clinical routine since variability in correspondence of these FHR alterations has always been regarded as particularly significant in terms of prognostic value. In this work we compute foetal heart rate variability as difference between foetal heart rate and floatingline and we propose a method for extraction of floatingline which takes into account accelerations and decelerations. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.