Are we all castrati? Venanzio Rauzzini: ‘The father of a new style in English singing’

Though the castrato has been absent from the operatic stage since the nineteenth century, this voice is often described as the mysterious link in understanding the vocal techniques attributed to bel canto. The mystery lies in the fact that the voice of the operatic castrato cannot be heard by modern ears; and yet its legacy can be seen in the vocal tuition of several successful opera singers at the turn of the nineteenth century. What is unusual about this period is that some of the most successful singers of the day, including Nancy Storace, John Braham and Elizabeth Billington were British and shared the same vocal teacher. The castrato Venanzio Rauzzini (1746-1810) began his career as a primo uomo on the continent and while he established himself in various areas of musical activity, his main contribution and legacy was as a vocal teacher. During his residency in Britain from 1774 until his death, he trained several leading British professional singers who were the stars of opera in London and on the continent. They each demonstrated a use of techniques associated with the castrato vocal aesthetic and popularised a new vocal style, which can be traced to Rauzzini. Through this thesis, I will draw attention to the importance of Rauzzini’s impact on vocal teaching practice in Britain and his wider influence on the development of vocal style. I will demonstrate that Rauzzini should be considered part of the vocal teaching canon to which Pier Francesco Tosi (c.1653-1732), Nicola Porpora (1686-1768) and Manual García II (1805-1906), three other foreign vocal teachers, who were resident in Britain, already belong. By examining exactly what the expected vocal aesthetics were for all singers, castrato, non-castrated male and female during the period in which Rauzzini was active, I will demystify the castrato technique and provide a more tangible understanding of what this encompassed, demonstrating that many of these techniques were learned, performed and popularised by other voice types such as the female soprano and the male tenor.

The functional structure of the sentence: evidence from non-finite clauses

Non-finite clauses are sentential constituents with a verbal head that lacks a morphological specification for tense and agreement. In this paper I contend that these clauses are defective not only morphologically but also syntactically, in the sense that they all lack some of the functional categories that make up a full sentence. In particular I argue that to-infinitive clauses, gerund(ive) clauses and participial clauses differ among themselves, and with respect to other subordinate clauses, in the degree of structural defectiveness they display, which goes from the almost complete functional structure of the infinitive to the maximal degree of syntactic truncation of participial clauses (analyzed here as verbal small clauses). I also show the significant parallelism that exists in this respect between English and Spanish non-finite clauses, pointing to the implication this may have for a cross-linguistic approach to the cartography of syntactic structures.

The experience of teaching statistics to non-specialist students in Saudi universities

Undoubtedly, statistics has become one of the most important subjects in the modern world, where its applications are ubiquitous. The importance of statistics is not limited to statisticians, but also impacts upon non-statisticians who have to use statistics within their own disciplines. Several studies have indicated that most of the academic departments around the world have realized the importance of statistics to non-specialist students. Therefore, the number of students enrolled in statistics courses has vastly increased, coming from a variety of disciplines. Consequently, research within the scope of statistics education has been able to develop throughout the last few years. One important issue is how statistics is best taught to, and learned by, non-specialist students. This issue is controlled by several factors that affect the learning and teaching of statistics to non-specialist students, such as the use of technology, the role of the English language (especially for those whose first language is not English), the effectiveness of statistics teachers and their approach towards teaching statistics courses, students’ motivation to learn statistics and the relevance of statistics courses to the main subjects of non-specialist students. Several studies, focused on aspects of learning and teaching statistics, have been conducted in different countries around the world, particularly in Western countries. Conversely, the situation in Arab countries, especially in Saudi Arabia, is different; here, there is very little research in this scope, and what there is does not meet the needs of those countries towards the development of learning and teaching statistics to non-specialist students. This research was instituted in order to develop the field of statistics education. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to generate new insights into this subject by investigating how statistics courses are currently taught to non-specialist students in Saudi universities. Hence, this study will contribute towards filling the knowledge gap that exists in Saudi Arabia. This study used multiple data collection approaches, including questionnaire surveys from 1053 non-specialist students who had completed at least one statistics course in different colleges of the universities in Saudi Arabia. These surveys were followed up with qualitative data collected via semi-structured interviews with 16 teachers of statistics from colleges within all six universities where statistics is taught to non-specialist students in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Region. The data from questionnaires included several types, so different techniques were used in analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the demographic characteristics of the participants. The chi-square test was used to determine associations between variables. Based on the main issues that are raised from literature review, the questions (items scales) were grouped and five key groups of questions were obtained which are: 1) Effectiveness of Teachers; 2) English Language; 3) Relevance of Course; 4) Student Engagement; 5) Using Technology. Exploratory data analysis was used to explore these issues in more detail. Furthermore, with the existence of clustering in the data (students within departments within colleges, within universities), multilevel generalized linear models for dichotomous analysis have been used to clarify the effects of clustering at those levels. Factor analysis was conducted confirming the dimension reduction of variables (items scales). The data from teachers’ interviews were analysed on an individual basis. The responses were assigned to one of the eight themes that emerged from within the data: 1) the lack of students’ motivation to learn statistics; 2) students' participation; 3) students’ assessment; 4) the effective use of technology; 5) the level of previous mathematical and statistical skills of non-specialist students; 6) the English language ability of non-specialist students; 7) the need for extra time for teaching and learning statistics; and 8) the role of administrators. All the data from students and teachers indicated that the situation of learning and teaching statistics to non-specialist students in Saudi universities needs to be improved in order to meet the needs of those students. The findings of this study suggested a weakness in the use of statistical software applications in these courses. This study showed that there is lack of application of technology such as statistical software programs in these courses, which would allow non-specialist students to consolidate their knowledge. The results also indicated that English language is considered one of the main challenges in learning and teaching statistics, particularly in institutions where English is not used as the main language. Moreover, the weakness of mathematical skills of students is considered another major challenge. Additionally, the results indicated that there was a need to tailor statistics courses to the needs of non-specialist students based on their main subjects. The findings indicate that statistics teachers need to choose appropriate methods when teaching statistics courses.

Learning strategies implemented by the students of Advanced Intensive English I courses for improving oral discourse in the Bachelor of Arts in English Teaching, Department of Foreign Languages, University of El Salvador, year 2014.

There are many learning strategies some, more successful than others when they are applied in a correct way. “Strategies are most successful when they are implemented in a system that encourages collaboration among staff and students, and in which each is a part of a well-planned whole system” (Johns Hopkins, 2000). Additionally, Learning strategies have become an effective instrument in the field of education because students can make use of several strategies in order to enhance their English level in terms of communication. To communicate in a meaningful way, it is important to express ideas inside and outside the classroom; it is part of the development and improvement of speaking.

Faulkner revisited : narrating property, race, gender and history in William Faulkner's Go Down, Moses, Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon and Gloria Naylor's Mama Day

My thesis explores the formation of the subject in the novels of Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses, Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, and Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day. I attach the concept of property in terms of how male protagonists are obsessed with materialistic ownership and with the subordination of women who, as properties, consolidate their manhood. The three novelists despite their racial, gendered, and literary differences share the view that identity and truth are mere social and cultural constructs. I incorporate the work of Judith Butler and other poststructuralist figures, who see identity as a matter of performance rather than a natural entity. My thesis explores the theme of freedom, which I attached to the ways characters use their bodies either to confine or to emancipate themselves from the restricting world of race, class, and gender. The three novelists deconstruct any system of belief that promulgates the objectivity of truth in historical documents. History in the three novels, as with the protagonists, perception of identity, remains a social construct laden with distortions to serve particular political or ideological agendas. My thesis gives voice to African American female characters who are associated with love and racial and gender resistance. They become the reservoirs of the African American legacy in terms of their association with the oral and intuitionist mode of knowing, which subverts the male characters’ obsession with property and with the mainstream empiricist world. In this dissertation, I use the concept of hybridity as a literary and theoretical devise that African-American writers employ. In effect, I embark on the postcolonial studies of Henry Louise Gates, Paul Gilroy, W. E. B Du Bois, James Clifford, and Arjun Appadurai in order to reflect upon the fluidity of Morrison’s and Naylor’s works. I show how these two novelists subvert Faulkner’s essentialist perception of truth, and of racial and gendered identity. They associate the myth of the Flying African with the notion of hybridity by making their male protagonists criss-cross Northern and Southern regions. I refer to Mae Gwendolyn Henderson’s article on “Speaking in Tongues” in my analysis of how Naylor subverts the patriarchal text of both Faulkner and Morrison in embarking on a more feminine version of the flying African, which she relates to an ex-slave, Sapphira Wade, a volatile female character who resists fixed claim over her story and identity. In dealing with the concept of hybridity, I show that Naylor rewrites both authors’ South by making Willow Springs a more fluid space, an assumption that unsettles the scores of critics who associate the island with authenticity and exclusive rootedness.

Promoting oral interaction in the EFL classroom through the use of speaking activities

Este trabajo de investigación es sobre el uso de un folleto con actividades de expresión oral utilizados en una clase de Inglés de estudiantes de primer año del colegio "Integración Iberoamericano" y discute intereses de los estudiantes en desarrollo estas actividades para una interacción oral significativa entre (estudiantes y profesores) y (estudiantes-estudiantes). Además, este trabajo de investigacióntiene 5secciones: la primera secciónes una introducciónacerca de laimportancia de la comunicaciónen nuestra vidadiaria, la segunda secciónpresenta laliteratura, sección en la quese mencionandiferentesautores quepresentanalgunas perspectivassobreel desarrollo de comunicación oralen el EFL clase, así como en la tercera secciónse mencionala metodología utilizadadurante el desarrollodel trabajo de investigación. Por otra parte, en la cuarta secciónse presentaelanálisis de los datoscon los resultadosobtenidospor los participantesdespués de haber sido aplicado elfolleto conlasactividades de expresión oral, y, finalmente,en la quinta sección, se presentanlas conclusiones yrecomendacionesdespués de haberterminado el trabajo de investigación. Esimportante mencionarque el usode este folletoserá considerado como una opcióndiferente yuna metodología innovadoraque los futurosprofesores pueden utilizaren las clasescomo una herramientaútily significativa parael desarrollo deloshabilidades para hablar y una buena comunicación oral de los estudiantes.

Breaking Images, Widening Perceptions : Reflections on Horacio Quiroga in Translation

Horacio Quiroga (1878-1937) es uno de los escritores más logrados por sus cuentos y sigue siendo aclamado por la crítica en el mundo de habla hispana. Sus obras son consideradas parte del canon dentro de la tradición literaria sudamericana. Algunas de sus historias más renombradas circulan para la audiencia más global, publicadas en diversas colecciones y antologías que han sido posibles por haber sido traducidas al inglés. La versión más disponible en inglés es la traducción realizada por Margaret Sayers Peden ((1976) 2004), Quiroga habla por medio de las elecciones que realizó la traductora. Sin embargo, cabe preguntarse: ¿es este el Horacio Quiroga que las generaciones anteriores conocieron, apreciaron y alabaron? ¿Han logrado sobrevivir a la operación traductológica en inglés su prosa exquisita y su narrativa fotográfica para los lectores en inglés? Este artículo intenta abordar temas centrales de la traducción literaria en cuanto los textos de Quiroga y de Sayers Peden. También trata sobre las estrategias de domesticación, sobre cómo la manipulación del original puede traer consecuencias para la legibilidad, además la importancia de conocer bien los rasgos sociopolíticos y las características geográficas y, no menor, la responsabilidad profesional implícita en el rol del traductor como mediador cultural ya que selecciona, edita y publica literatura que no pertenece a lo convencional y establecido.

UNDERSTANDING ESSAY RATING AS A SOCIALLY MEDIATED ACTIVITY: THE CASE OF A HIGH-STAKES ENGLISH TEST IN CHINA

Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2016-09-22 22:05:24.246

From field to fermentation: characterisation and application of non-dairy cultures in dairy foods

This thesis investigates the phenotypic and genotypic diversity of non-dairy L. lactis strains and their application to dairy fermentations. A bank of non-dairy lactococci were isolated from grass, vegetables and the bovine rumen. Subsequent analysis of these L. lactis strains revealed seven strains to possess cremoris genotypes which did not correlate with their observed phenotypes. Multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) and average nucleotide identity (ANI) highlighted the genetic diversity of lactis and cremoris subspecies. The application of these non-dairy lactococci to cheese production was also assessed. In milk, non-dairy strains formed diverse volatile profiles and selected strains were used as adjuncts in a mini Gouda-type cheese system. Sensory analysis showed non-dairy strains to be strongly associated with the development of off-flavours and bitterness. However, microfluidisation appeared to reduce bitterness. A novel bacteriophage, ɸL47, was isolated using the grass isolate L. lactis ssp. cremoris DPC6860 as a host. The phage, a member of the Siphoviridae, possessed a long tail fiber, previously unseen in dairy lactococcal phages. Genome sequencing revealed ɸL47 to be the largest sequenced lactococcal phage to date and owing to the high % similarity with ɸ949, a second member of the 949 group. Finally, to identify and characterise specific genes which may be important in niche adaptation and for applications to dairy fermentations, comparative genome sequence analysis was performed on L. lactis from corn (DPC6853), the bovine rumen (DPC6853) and grass (DPC6860). This study highlights the contribution of niche specialisation to the intra-species diversity of L. lactis and the adaptation of this organism to different environments. In summary this thesis describes the genetic diversity of L. lactis strains from outside the dairy environment and their potential application in dairy fermentations.

When do dialects become languages? A cognitive perspective

Several definitions exist that offer to identify the boundaries between languages and dialects, yet these distinctions are inconsistent and are often as political as they are linguistic (Chambers & Trudgill, 1998). A different perspective is offered in this thesis, by investigating how closely related linguistic varieties are represented in the brain and whether they engender similar cognitive effects as is often reported for bilingual speakers of recognised independent languages, based on the principles of Green’s (1998) model of bilingual language control. Study 1 investigated whether bidialectal speakers exhibit similar benefits in non-linguistic inhibitory control as a result of the maintenance and use of two dialects, as has been proposed for bilinguals who regularly employ inhibitory control mechanisms, in order to suppress one language while speaking the other. The results revealed virtually identical performance across all monolingual, bidialectal and bilingual participant groups, thereby not just failing to find a cognitive control advantage in bidialectal speakers over monodialectals/monolinguals, but also in bilinguals; adding to a growing body of evidence which challenges this bilingual advantage in non-linguistic inhibitory control. Study 2 investigated the cognitive representation of dialects using an adaptation of a Language Switching Paradigm to determine if the effort required to switch between dialects is similar to the effort required to switch between languages. The results closely replicated what is typically shown for bilinguals: Bidialectal speakers exhibited a symmetrical switch cost like balanced bilinguals while monodialectal speakers, who were taught to use the dialect words before the experiment, showed the asymmetrical switch cost typically displayed by second language learners. These findings augment Green’s (1998) model by suggesting that words from different dialects are also tagged in the mental lexicon, just like words from different languages, and as a consequence, it takes cognitive effort to switch between these mental settings. Study 3 explored an additional explanation for language switching costs by investigating whether changes in articulatory settings when switching between different linguistic varieties could - at least in part – be responsible for these previously reported switching costs. Using a paradigm which required participants to switch between using different articulatory settings, e.g. glottal stops/aspirated /t/ and whispers/normal phonation, the results also demonstrated the presence of switch costs, suggesting that switching between linguistic varieties has a motor task-switching component which is independent of representations in the mental lexicon. Finally, Study 4 investigated how much exposure is needed to be able to distinguish between different varieties using two novel language categorisation tasks which compared German vs Russian cognates, and Standard Scottish English vs Dundonian Scots cognates. The results showed that even a small amount of exposure (i.e. a couple of days’ worth) is required to enable listeners to distinguish between different languages, dialects or accents based on general phonetic and phonological characteristics, suggesting that the general sound template of a language variety can be represented before exact lexical representations have been formed. Overall, these results show that bidialectal use of typologically closely related linguistic varieties employs similar cognitive mechanisms as bilingual language use. This thesis is the first to explore the cognitive representations and mechanisms that underpin the use of typologically closely related varieties. It offers a few novel insights and serves as the starting point for a research agenda that can yield a more fine-grained understanding of the cognitive mechanisms that may operate when speakers use closely related varieties. In doing so, it urges caution when making assumptions about differences in the mechanisms used by individuals commonly categorised as monolinguals, to avoid potentially confounding any comparisons made with bilinguals.

Capital and Non-Capital Investigator Policies

This gives the rules and guidelines for investigators that agree to adhere to investigator policies and rates established by SCCID. In order to receive payment from SCCID an investigator must be on the list of approved investigators maintained by SCCID and adhere to certain policies and regulations.

Performance Standards for Public Defenders and Assigned Counsel (Non-Capital)

Juvenile delinquency proceedings in the South Carolina Family Court are fundamentally different than adult criminal cases. Judges are charged by the South Carolina Code of Laws with acting in the “best interests of the child,” this emphasis on the rehabilitation of the child contrasts with the more punitive model used by the adult criminal justice system. The standards listed in the document aim to provide guidance to appointed counsel in juvenile matters with particular emphasis on the distinctive requirements of the South Carolina juvenile justice system.

SCDC Staff Report by Location Security vs. Non-Security Filled Positions as of September 1, 2016 - Payroll Date

This lists the number of correctional officers and non-security positions at correctional facilities in South Carolina as well as the number of inmates and gives an inmate to correctional officer ratio for each institution.

SCDC Staff Report by Location Security vs. Non-Security Filled Positions as of October 1, 2016 - Payroll Date

This lists the number of correctional officers and non-security positions at correctional facilities in South Carolina as well as the number of inmates and gives an inmate to correctional officer ratio for each institution.

SCDC Staff Report by Location Security vs. Non-Security Filled Positions as of November 1, 2016 - Payroll Date

This lists the number of correctional officers and non-security positions at correctional facilities in South Carolina as well as the number of inmates and gives an inmate to correctional officer ratio for each institution.