The health effects of forced retirement on older New Zealanders :|ba thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

This study investigated the relationship between forced retirement and physical and mental health of older New Zealanders. As well, individuals’ social support, socioeconomic status, and participation in employment and voluntary and recreational activities also impacted health and adjustment to retirement. Participants who responded to all three surveys conducted by the Health, Work, and Retirement (HWR) study, and the New Zealand Longitudinal Study of Ageing (NZLSA), over 2006, 2008, and 2010 were included in the study. Bivariate and multivariate methods were applied to data from 2006 and 2010. The findings showed a negative relationship between forced retirement and mental health at 2010 when health and age at 2006 were held constant. High social support was associated with better physical and mental health, and low and high socioeconomic status showed physical health benefits. Employment in retirement was positive for physical health, and participation in recreational activities was positive for mental health and adjustment to retirement. Participation in voluntary activities was associated with adjustment difficulties. It is argued that the loss of control associated with forced retirement is regained through participation in meaningful employment and recreational activities

Hierarchical video summarisation in reference frame subspace

In this paper, a hierarchical video structure summarization approach using Laplacian Eigenmap is proposed, where a small set of reference frames is selected from the video sequence to form a reference subspace to measure the dissimilarity between two arbitrary frames. In the proposed summarization scheme, the shot-level key frames are first detected from the continuity of inter-frame dissimilarity, and the sub-shot level and scene level representative frames are then summarized by using k-mean clustering. The experiment is carried on both test videos and movies, and the results show that in comparison with a similar approach using latent semantic analysis, the proposed approach using Laplacian Eigenmap can achieve a better recall rate in keyframe detection, and gives an efficient hierarchical summarization at sub shot, shot and scene levels subsequently

Metatheory for Second Language Teaching

Outline (1) Theories in applied linguistics: SLA not SLT (2) Concepts for an explanatory theory of SLT – 2.1. Explanatory theories – 2.2. Multiple causality and oPen systems – 2.3 Aclivc agents intcracting – 2.4 Lcvels of thmry –– (3) Gencrative mcchanisms relating SL learning and teaching – 3.1 Thc tcachcr-lcarncr system –– (4) Elemcnts of a systematic theory of SLT – 4.1 Good systcmatics is that which rcflects cxplanatory theory – 4.2 Elements of a thtx.rry of SLT bascd on SLA – 4.3 Elcmcrrts of a theory of SLT not basc'd on SLA: Teaching leamcrs as opPoscd to teaching a leamer –– (5) lndividual theories of SLT and a scientific theory of SLT –– (6) Summar

Action Research and Second Language Teachers –It's Not Just Teacher Research

Although 11action research" has a long history, it is a term which has only quite recently become known and used in ESL. It is apparently, therefore, something "new'', and predictably has already become a buzzword within the field of second language studies. There are good reasons for being sceptical of anything the ESL field takes up and finds fashionable, and this has already led to the suspicion in some quarters that action research implies a new research methodology which will lead to work of poor quality or undesirable in other ways (a position acknowledged, though not argued for, by Brumfit & Mitchell, 1989; Usher & Bryant, 1989; and Winter, 1989). It is the purpose of the present paper to clarify the nature of action research, and thereby dispel this suspicion. Accordingly, I first outline the history of action research, and distinguish between two kinds of action research, both of considerable importance and utility to the SL field. I then discuss the rhetorical manifestations of action research, which are part of the source of the suspicions concerning quality, and argue that, while the forms of action research reports are different from those of orthodox research, they are of interest and potential benefit to both the regular SL teacher and the profession as a whole

1999 NFLRC Summer Institute Evaluation: “Self-Directed Learning: Materials and Strategies”

The University of Hawaiʻi National Foreign Language Resource Center has been operating for nine years. Each year a Summer Institute (SI) has been run, and it is generally the most intensive and expensive operation in the yearly activities. Although they last only a few weeks, yearly planning for the next one begins almost as soon as the current one has finished, and a great deal of person-power and accumulated expertise goes into the delivery of each Institute. The Advisory Board, as part of its general oversight role considers each year’s Institute as proposed and reviews it upon completion by way of an evaluation report. The present report, then, is directed to the Board1, UH NFLRC Director, and to the Workshop facilitators, as its primary audience (though it is, or will be, a publicly-available document, of interest to other readers as well). The present evaluation report is intended to provide the reader with an accounting of this part of the work of the University of Hawaiʻi NFLRC, through giving a sense of the form and processes of the SI, as well as a providing good faith assessment by an appropriately qualified observer. This year’s Summer Institute was the ninth to date, and was entitled “Self-Directed Learning: Materials and Strategies.” A particular focus, as with past summer institutes at this site, as well as ongoing activities of this NFLRC, was the less-commonly taught languages.The University of Hawaiʻi National Foreign Language Resource Center has been operating for nine years. Each year a Summer Institute (SI) has been run, and it is generally the most intensive and expensive operation in the yearly activities. Although they last only a few weeks, yearly planning for the next one begins almost as soon as the current one has finished, and a great deal of person-power and accumulated expertise goes into the delivery of each Institute. The Advisory Board, as part of its general oversight role considers each year’s Institute as proposed and reviews it upon completion by way of an evaluation report. The present report, then, is directed to the Board1, UH NFLRC Director, and to the Workshop facilitators, as its primary audience (though it is, or will be, a publicly-available document, of interest to other readers as well). The present evaluation report is intended to provide the reader with an accounting of this part of the work of the University of Hawaiʻi NFLRC, through giving a sense of the form and processes of the SI, as well as a providing good faith assessment by an appropriately qualified observer. This year’s Summer Institute was the ninth to date, and was entitled “Self-Directed Learning: Materials and Strategies.” A particular focus, as with past summer institutes at this site, as well as ongoing activities of this NFLRC, was the less-commonly taught languages

Improved integration of communications and scholarly roles can help academics become successful digital influencers

It has become increasingly incumbent upon higher education institutions to improve the visibility of their academic research. Heather Crookes has examined the role of university departments in transitioning academic researchers into digital influencers able to engage with non-academic publics. Although the value and opportunities presented by this are clear, some obstacles remain. It is improved integration of communications and scholarly roles that will lead to increased digital scholarship

Motivation: Reopening the Research Agenda

Motivation is not currently the subject of extensive investigation in applied linguistics, despite the interest that many teachers have in it. Although there is intermittent discussion of social-psychological explanations of second language (SL) learning in major journals (Au 1988; Soh, 1987; Svanes, 1987) and although introductory texts on second language learning inevitably contain a chapter or sub-unit on the topic of motivation (Brown, 1987; Dulay, Burt & Krashen, 1982; Ellis, 1985; Klein, 1986; Stern, 1983), one indication of the current lack of vitality of research in this area is the fact that the discussion of motivation in such texts is curiously isolated from broader theoretical concerns. As far as second language acquisition theory is concerned, motivation is typically grouped together with various aspects of personality and emotion - miscellaneous factors which may play a role in acquisition. Current SL discussion on this topic lacks validity in that it is not well-grounded in the real world domain of the SL classroom, nor is it well-connected to other related educational research (though this should be particularly important in an interdisciplinary area). In this paper, we first review the limitations in what the SL research community has generally termed "motivation". Then we note the difference between the way the term has been used by SL researchers and how it is used by regular teachers. Taking these two points as indicative of the problematicity of this area of work at present, we then go on to review educational and psychological research done on the topic which should inform SL studies. We conclude by setting out a research agenda which if carried out might redress the current unsatisfactory understanding of this topic in the SL field.Motivation is not currently the subject of extensive investigation in applied linguistics, despite the interest that many teachers have in it. Although there is intermittent discussion of social-psychological explanations of second language (SL) learning in major journals (Au 1988; Soh, 1987; Svanes, 1987) and although introductory texts on second language learning inevitably contain a chapter or sub-unit on the topic of motivation (Brown, 1987; Dulay, Burt & Krashen, 1982; Ellis, 1985; Klein, 1986; Stern, 1983), one indication of the current lack of vitality of research in this area is the fact that the discussion of motivation in such texts is curiously isolated from broader theoretical concerns. As far as second language acquisition theory is concerned, motivation is typically grouped together with various aspects of personality and emotion - miscellaneous factors which may play a role in acquisition. Current SL discussion on this topic lacks validity in that it is not well-grounded in the real world domain of the SL classroom, nor is it well-connected to other related educational research (though this should be particularly important in an interdisciplinary area). In this paper, we first review the limitations in what the SL research community has generally termed "motivation". Then we note the difference between the way the term has been used by SL researchers and how it is used by regular teachers. Taking these two points as indicative of the problematicity of this area of work at present, we then go on to review educational and psychological research done on the topic which should inform SL studies. We conclude by setting out a research agenda which if carried out might redress the current unsatisfactory understanding of this topic in the SL field.Motivation is not currently the subject of extensive investigation in applied linguistics, despite the interest that many teachers have in it. Although there is intermittent discussion of social-psychological explanations of second language (SL) learning in major journals (Au 1988; Soh, 1987; Svanes, 1987) and although introductory texts on second language learning inevitably contain a chapter or sub-unit on the topic of motivation (Brown, 1987; Dulay, Burt & Krashen, 1982; Ellis, 1985; Klein, 1986; Stern, 1983), one indication of the current lack of vitality of research in this area is the fact that the discussion of motivation in such texts is curiously isolated from broader theoretical concerns. As far as second language acquisition theory is concerned, motivation is typically grouped together with various aspects of personality and emotion - miscellaneous factors which may play a role in acquisition. Current SL discussion on this topic lacks validity in that it is not well-grounded in the real world domain of the SL classroom, nor is it well-connected to other related educational research (though this should be particularly important in an interdisciplinary area). In this paper, we first review the limitations in what the SL research community has generally termed "motivation". Then we note the difference between the way the term has been used by SL researchers and how it is used by regular teachers. Taking these two points as indicative of the problematicity of this area of work at present, we then go on to review educational and psychological research done on the topic which should inform SL studies. We conclude by setting out a research agenda which if carried out might redress the current unsatisfactory understanding of this topic in the SL field.Motivation is not currently the subject of extensive investigation in applied linguistics, despite the interest that many teachers have in it. Although there is intermittent discussion of social-psychological explanations of second language (SL) learning in major journals (Au 1988; Soh, 1987; Svanes, 1987) and although introductory texts on second language learning inevitably contain a chapter or sub-unit on the topic of motivation (Brown, 1987; Dulay, Burt & Krashen, 1982; Ellis, 1985; Klein, 1986; Stern, 1983), one indication of the current lack of vitality of research in this area is the fact that the discussion of motivation in such texts is curiously isolated from broader theoretical concerns. As far as second language acquisition theory is concerned, motivation is typically grouped together with various aspects of personality and emotion - miscellaneous factors which may play a role in acquisition. Current SL discussion on this topic lacks validity in that it is not well-grounded in the real world domain of the SL classroom, nor is it well-connected to other related educational research (though this should be particularly important in an interdisciplinary area). In this paper, we first review the limitations in what the SL research community has generally termed "motivation". Then we note the difference between the way the term has been used by SL researchers and how it is used by regular teachers. Taking these two points as indicative of the problematicity of this area of work at present, we then go on to review educational and psychological research done on the topic which should inform SL studies. We conclude by setting out a research agenda which if carried out might redress the current unsatisfactory understanding of this topic in the SL field

Speech Enhancement Based on Full-Sentence Correlation and Clean Speech Recognition

Conventional speech enhancement methods, based on frame, multi-frame or segment estimation, require knowledge about the noise. This paper presents a new method which aims to reduce or effectively remove this requirement. It is shown that, by using the Zero-mean Normalized Correlation Coefficient (ZNCC) as the comparison measure, and by extending the effective length of speech segment matching to sentencelong speech utterances, it is possible to obtain an accurate speech estimate from noise without requiring specific knowledge about the noise. The new method, thus, could be used to deal with unpredictable noise or noise without proper training data. This paper is focused on realizing and evaluating this potential. We propose a novel realization that integrates full-sentence speech correlation with clean speech recognition, formulated as a constrained maximization problem, to overcome the data sparsity problem. Then we propose an efficient implementation algorithm to solve this constrained maximization problem, to produce speech sentence estimates. For evaluation, we build the new system on one training data set and test it on two different test data sets across two databases, for a range of different noises including highly nonstationary ones. It is shown that the new approach, without any estimation of the noise, is able to significantly outperform conventional methods which use optimized noise tracking, in terms of various objective measures including automatic speech recognition

Theory Format and Structured and SLA Theory

SLA theory development has reached the stage where a meta-understanding of the forms and structures is needed to facilitate theory development. This paper reviews work in the philosophy of science pertinent to SL theory formats and structures, relating it to recent SLA theories