Eavan Boland and Paula Meehan : Irish voices of the past

History, myth, exile, identity—for generations those have been the themes of Irish poetry, an Irish poetry written almost exclusively by male poets. As women moved in to claim a voice the themes were often the same, though reworked in essential ways. The key to that reworking, the pivot for an Irish women’s poetry, was the development of a female poetic identity. Eavan Boland led the way. In particular, Boland’s struggles as the first prominent female poet of modern Irish Literature emphasize a search for self-identity. At the forefront of this movement and a precedent for those around her, she establishes themes that pave the way for Irish women writers. With Boland, comes a hopeful recovery of the contemporary female literary experience, with the perspective and approach towards self-identity endlessly evolving over time with each new poet. Inspired by Boland, but a generation younger, Paula Meehan explores similar themes of female constraint, yet raises her own distinctive concerns, in particular the division of male and female roles and generational conflict, exploring what is real and ordinary.

CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLIGENT CONVERSATIONAL ASSISTANTS IN AUTOMOTIVE ENVIRONMENTS

Esta tesis presenta el diseño y desarrollo del Asistente Conversacional del Automóvil, Voice User Help en inglés, un sistema conversacional basado en el paradigma pregunta-respuesta y diseñado para consultar documentación del vehículo duartne la conducción. Este trabajo recoge investigaciones realizadas en los campos de la documentación técnica, recuperación de información, procesamineto de lenguaje natural, diseñode interfaces de usuario para vehículos, experiencia del usuario y computación afectiva con el fin de crear un asistente adaptativo y dinámico que modifica su comportamiento conversacional dependiendo del estado emocional del usuario.

A uniform phase representation for the harmonic model in speech synthesis applications

Feature-based vocoders, e.g., STRAIGHT, offer a way to manipulate the perceived characteristics of the speech signal in speech transformation and synthesis. For the harmonic model, which provide excellent perceived quality, features for the amplitude parameters already exist (e.g., Line Spectral Frequencies (LSF), Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC)). However, because of the wrapping of the phase parameters, phase features are more difficult to design. To randomize the phase of the harmonic model during synthesis, a voicing feature is commonly used, which distinguishes voiced and unvoiced segments. However, voice production allows smooth transitions between voiced/unvoiced states which makes voicing segmentation sometimes tricky to estimate. In this article, two-phase features are suggested to represent the phase of the harmonic model in a uniform way, without voicing decision. The synthesis quality of the resulting vocoder has been evaluated, using subjective listening tests, in the context of resynthesis, pitch scaling, and Hidden Markov Model (HMM)-based synthesis. The experiments show that the suggested signal model is comparable to STRAIGHT or even better in some scenarios. They also reveal some limitations of the harmonic framework itself in the case of high fundamental frequencies.

Frances E. W. Harper and Pauline E. Hopkins: the uplifting of black women through literature

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo apresentar duas influentes autoras afro-americanas do século XIX, Frances E. W. Harper e Pauline E. Hopkins. Ambas as autoras, através de seus romances Iola Leroy, or, Shadows Uplifted (1892) e Contending Forces: a Romance Illustrative of Negro Life North and South (1900) respectivamente, entrelaçam ficção e história com o propósito de criar novas alternativas de discurso, afastando-se, portanto, do oficial. Ademais, o presente trabalho propõe demonstrar como Frances Harper e Pauline Hopkins fazem uso do espaço literário com a finalidade de escrever a história do oprimido, permitindo, principalmente, que as mulheres afro-americanas dessem voz as suas experiências e as suas próprias histórias. Assim sendo, a literatura produzida por Frances e Harper e Pauline Hopkins será analisada como forma de empoderamento da comunidade afro-americana, principalmente como forma de aquisição de poder para as Mulheres Afro-Americanas.

Mixed source model and its adapted vocal tract filter estimate for voice transformation and synthesis

In current methods for voice transformation and speech synthesis, the vocal tract filter is usually assumed to be excited by a flat amplitude spectrum. In this article, we present a method using a mixed source model defined as a mixture of the Liljencrants-Fant (LF) model and Gaussian noise. Using the LF model, the base approach used in this presented work is therefore close to a vocoder using exogenous input like ARX-based methods or the Glottal Spectral Separation (GSS) method. Such approaches are therefore dedicated to voice processing promising an improved naturalness compared to generic signal models. To estimate the Vocal Tract Filter (VTF), using spectral division like in GSS, we show that a glottal source model can be used with any envelope estimation method conversely to ARX approach where a least square AR solution is used. We therefore derive a VTF estimate which takes into account the amplitude spectra of both deterministic and random components of the glottal source. The proposed mixed source model is controlled by a small set of intuitive and independent parameters. The relevance of this voice production model is evaluated, through listening tests, in the context of resynthesis, HMM-based speech synthesis, breathiness modification and pitch transposition. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

AI in the 21st century - With historical reflections

The discipline of Artificial Intelligence (AI) was born in the summer of 1956 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Half of a century has passed, and AI has turned into an important field whose influence on our daily lives can hardly be overestimated. The original view of intelligence as a computer program - a set of algorithms to process symbols - has led to many useful applications now found in internet search engines, voice recognition software, cars, home appliances, and consumer electronics, but it has not yet contributed significantly to our understanding of natural forms of intelligence. Since the 1980s, AI has expanded into a broader study of the interaction between the body, brain, and environment, and how intelligence emerges from such interaction. This advent of embodiment has provided an entirely new way of thinking that goes well beyond artificial intelligence proper, to include the study of intelligent action in agents other than organisms or robots. For example, it supplies powerful metaphors for viewing corporations, groups of agents, and networked embedded devices as intelligent and adaptive systems acting in highly uncertain and unpredictable environments. In addition to giving us a novel outlook on information technology in general, this broader view of AI also offers unexpected perspectives into how to think about ourselves and the world around us. In this chapter, we briefly review the turbulent history of AI research, point to some of its current trends, and to challenges that the AI of the 21st century will have to face. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.

Impact of Early Postnatal Androgen Exposure on Voice Development

Background: the impact of early postnatal androgen exposure on female laryngeal tissue may depend on certain characteristics of this exposure. We assessed the impact of the dose, duration, and timing of early androgen exposure on the vocal development of female subjects who had been treated for adrenocortical tumor (ACT) in childhood.Methods: the long-term effects of androgen exposure on the fundamental vocal frequency (F0), vocal pitch, and final height and the presence of virilizing signs were examined in 9 adult (age, 18.4 to 33.5 years) and 10 adolescent (13.6 to 17.8 years) female ACT patients. We also compared the current values with values obtained 0.9 years to 7.4 years after these subjects had undergone ACT surgery, a period during which they had shown normal androgen levels.Results: of the 19 subjects, 17 (89%) had been diagnosed with ACT before 4 years of age, 1 (5%) at 8.16 years, and 1 (5%) at 10.75 years. Androgen exposure (2 to 30 months) was sufficiently strong to cause pubic hair growth in all subjects and clitoromegaly in 74% (14/19) of the subjects, but did not reduce their height from the target value. Although androgen exposure induced a remarkable reduction in F0 (132 Hz) and moderate pitch virilization in 1 subject and partial F0 virilization, resulting in F0 of 165 and 169 Hz, in 2 subjects, the majority had normal F0 ranging from 189 to 245 Hz.Conclusions: Female laryngeal tissue is less sensitive to androgen exposure between birth and adrenarche than during other periods. Differential larynx sensitivity to androgen exposure in childhood and F0 irreversibility in adulthood are age-, concentration-, duration-, and timing-dependent events that may also be affected by exposure to inhibitory or stimulatory hormones. Further studies are required to better characterize each of these factors.

Voice Performance Evaluation of Street Children From Aracaju, Brazil Using Perceptual-Auditory and Acoustic Analyses

Objective. To compare the voice performance of children involved in street labor with regular children using perceptual-auditory and acoustic analyses.Methods. A controlled cross-sectional study was carried out on 7- to 10-year-old children of both genders. Children from both groups lived with their families and attended school regularly; however, child labor was evident in one group and not the other. A total of 200 potentially eligible street children, assisted by the Child Labor Elimination Programme (PETI), and 400 regular children were interviewed. Those with any vocal discomfort (106, 53% and 90, 22.5%) had their voices assessed for resonance, pitch, loudness, speech rate, maximum phonation time, and other acoustic measurements.Results. A total of 106 street children (study group [SG]) and 90 regular children (control group [CG]) were evaluated. the SG group demonstrated higher oral and nasal resonance, reduced loudness, a lower pitch, and a slower speech rate than the CG. the maximum phonation time, fundamental frequency, and upper harmonics were higher in the SG than the CG. Jitter and shimmer were higher in the CG than the SG.Conclusion. Using perceptual-auditory and acoustic analyses, we determined that there were differences in voice performance between the two groups, with street children having better quality perceptual and acoustic vocal parameters than regular children. We believe that this is due to the procedures and activities performed by the Child Labor Elimination Program (PETI), which helps children to cope with their living conditions.

Griping, bitching and speaking your mind: defamation and free expression on the internet

Diane Rowland, Griping, Bitching and Speaking Your Mind: Defamation and Free Expression on the Internet, Pennsylvania State Law Review Symposium Issue 110, no. 3 (2006): 519?538; RAE2008

Ben Marais (1909-1999): The influences on and heritage of a South African Prophet during two periods of transformation

University of Pretoria / Dissertation / Department of Church History and Church Policy / Advised by Prof J W Hofmeyr

The Challenges of Pluralism: Locating Religion in a World of Diversity

This is a postprint (author's final draft) version of an article published in the journal Social Compass in 2010. The final version of this article may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0037768610362406 (login may be required). The version made available in OpenBU was supplied by the author.

Edmund Burke and the heritage of oral culture

The dissertation proposes that one of the more fruitful ways of interpreting Burke's work is to evaluate him as an oral performer rather than a literary practitioner and it argues that in his voice can be heard the modulations of the genres and conventions of oral composition of eighteenth-century Gaelic Ireland. The first chapter situates Burke in the milieu of the Gaelic landed class of eighteenth-century Ireland. The next chapter examines how the rich oral culture of the Munster Gaelic gentry, where Burke spent his childhood days, was to provide a lasting influence on the form and content of Burke's work. His speeches on the British constitution are read in the context of the historical and literary culture of the Jacobites, specifically the speculum principis, Párliament na mBán. The third chapter surveys the tradition of Anglo-Irish theoretical writings on oratory and discusses how Burke is aligned with this school. The focus is on how Burke's thought and practice, his 'idioms', might be understood as being mediated through the criterion of orality rather than literature. The remaining chapters discuss Burke's politics and performance in the light of Gaelic cultural practices such as the rituals of the courts of poetry, the Warrant Poems or Barántas; the performance of funeral laments and elegies, Caoineadh, the laments for the fallen nobility, Marbhna na daoine uaisle, the satires and the political vision allegories of Munster, Aislingí na Mumhan; to show how they provide us with a remarkable context for discussing Burke's poetical-political performance. In hearing Burke's voice through the body of Gaelic culture our understanding of Burke's position in the wider world of the eighteenth century (and hence his meaning) is profoundly affected.

Genteel revolutionaries: the lives of Anna and Thomas Haslam

The lives of Thomas and Anna Haslam were dedicated to the attainment of women's equality. They were feminists before the word was coined. In an era when respectable women were not supposed to know of the existence of prostitutes, Anna became empowered to do the unthinkable, not only to speak in public but to discuss openly matters sexual and to attack the double standard of sexuality which was enshrined in the official treatment of prostitutes. Their life-long commitment to the cause of women's suffrage never faltered, despite the repeated discouragement of the fate of bills defeated in the House of Commons. The Haslams represented an Ireland which did not survive them. While they were dedicated to the union with Westminster, they worked happily with those who applied themselves to its destruction. Although in many ways they exemplified the virtues of their Quaker backgrounds, they did not subscribe to any organised religion. Despite living in straitened circumstances, they were part of an urban intellectual elite and participated in the social and cultural life of Dublin for over fifty years. It is tempting to speculate how the Haslams would have fared in post independence Ireland. Hanna Sheehy Skeffington who had impeccable nationalist credentials, was effectively marginalised. It is likely that they would have protested against discriminatory legislation in their usual law abiding manner but, in a country which quickly developed an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic ethos, would they have had a voice or a constituency? Ironically, Thomas's teaching on chastity would have found favour with the hierarchy; his message was disseminated in a simple and more pious manner in numerous Catholic Truth Society pamphlets. The Protestant minority never sought to subvert the institutions of the state, was careful not to criticise and kept its collective head down. Dáil Éireann was not bombarded with petitions for the restoration of divorce facilities or the unbanning of birth control. Those who sought such amenities obtained them quietly 'in another jurisdiction.' Fifty years were to pass before the condom wielding 'comely maidens' erupted on to the front pages of the Sunday papers. They were, one imagines, the spiritual descendants of the militant rather than the constitutional suffrage movement. "Once and for all we need to commit ourselves to the concept that women's rights are not factional or sectional privileges, bestowed on the few at the whim of the many. They are human rights. In a society in which the rights and potential of women are constrained no man can be truly free." These words spoken by Mary Robinson as President of Ireland are an echo of the principles to which the Haslams dedicated their lives and are, perhaps, a tribute to their efforts.

Student voice in Irish post-primary schools: a drama of voices

This research is an exploration of the expression of student voice in Irish post-primary schools and how its affordance could impact on students’ and teachers’ experiences in the classroom, and at whole-school level through a student council. Student voice refers to the inclusion of students in decisions that shape their experiences in classrooms and schools, and is fundamental to a rights-based perspective that facilitates students to have a voice and a say in their education. Student voice is essential to the development of democratic principles, active citizenship, and learning and pedagogy. This qualitative research, based in three post-primary case-study schools, concerns teachers in eighteen classrooms engaging in dialogic consultation with their students over one school year. Teachers considered the students’ commentary and then adjusted their practice. The operation of student councils was also examined through the voices of council members, liaison teachers and school principals. Theorised within socio-cultural (social constructivist), social constructionist and poststructural frames, the complexity of student voice emerges from its conceptualisation and enactment. Affording students a voice in their classroom presented positive findings in the context of relationships, pedagogical change and students’ engagement, participation and achievement. The power and authority of the teacher and discordant student voices, particularly relating to examinations, presented challenges affecting teachers’ practice and students’ expectations. The functional redundancy of the student council as a construct for student voice at whole-school level, and its partial redundancy as a construct to reflect prefigurative democracy and active citizenship also emerge from the research. Current policy initiatives in Irish education situate student voice in pedagogy and as dialogic consultation at classroom and whole-school level. This work endorses the necessity for and benefit of such a positioning with the author further arguing that it should not become the instrumental student voice of data source, accountability and performativity.