Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Colour terms'

This thesis examines usage of English colour terms in context, based on an extensive computerised text corpus, the Bank of English. It describes the ways in which English colour terms may be used to refer to nuances outside their normal area of designation and to attributes outside the colour domain. Usage patterns are analysed on three different levels: with regard to the overall frequency of occurrences, nominal domains and individual tokens, respectively.

Cognitive linguistics supplies the theoretical framework employed in the analyses of the observed patterns. The study identifies three types of usage where colour terms refer to peripheral colour nuances or to concepts outside the colour domain: classifying, figurative and marked usage.

When a colour term has a classifying function, it can be used outside the normal area of designation. This usage is analysed as a type of reference-point construction where a term referring to a salient point in the colour domain is used to subcategorise an entity whose actual colour may be only a peripheral member of the category named by the colour term. An analysis of the OED and the Bank of English shows that this type of usage is primarily restricted to a few of the most salient basic terms.

This study points to the close affinities between classifying and figurative usage. Figurative expressions of colour terms frequently have a classifying function. I argue that figurative meanings are derived through two types of metonymy: +SALIENT ATTRIBUTE FOR OBJECT+ and +SALIENT CONCRETE ATTRIBUTE FOR SALIENT ABSTRACT ATTRIBUTE+.

Marked usage arises when specific colour terms are used in nominal domains where the specificity is not expected. This phenomenon is consequently confined to non-basic colour terms.

On the basis of the established patterns of usage and the frequency of occurrences, this thesis suggests that the colour category may be analysed as a radial category, with the basic colour terms forming the centre.

Much research suggests that there exist universal colour names. Investigations involving paint and paper media have revealed co-incidence of especially salient names and their concomitant sensations, within and between cultures. These names have been called Basic Colour Terms (BCfs), and their prototypical sensations focal colours (or foci). The highest levelof colour name development within cultures includes eleven BCfs. A literature review revealed certain omissions in the colour naming work. Firstly was a lack of usage of CRT-baseddisplay of colours. This was considered an important omission given the implicit, but largely untested assumption that CRT and surface media may be equivalent. A second omission identified was a lack of detailed quantification of realistic naming behaviour. Two CRT-based experiments were then devised to quantify colour naming, one involving unconstrained naming of colours, one involving selection of which colours were exemplars of (thirteen) pre-generated colour names. These experiments revealed certain regularities in naming within a (perceptually uniform) colour space. Thus a naming space and its underlying structure was obtained. Naming space was found to be a composite of they way membership of (BCf) categories was expressed, and an underlying set of five fundamental colour sensations. Evidencewas then forthcoming that this structure might be modelable. The quantified data obtained was then used to investigate the search-efficacy of easy to name colours. Such easy to name palettes were generated, based on the data obtained, and compared with colorimetrically matched, and highly discriminable palettes. It was found that easy to name as a colour palette variable was meaningful, and capable of adjusting user performance, despite evidence that individuals may possess relatively stable, idiosyncratic colour vocabularies. That CRT work has generality was verified by comparison of foci obtained from a series of studies involving different media. Although some differences were evident, these followed clear patterns which were not inconsistent with universal colour naming. This thesis suggests that there exist complex aspects of colour naming behaviour which are nevertheless understandable, and largely predictable. Such theoretical data should allow for improvements in certain human-interactions, where tasks involve naming colours.

This thesis investigates language acquisition and evolution, using the methodologies of Bayesian inference and expression-induction modelling, making specific reference to colour term typology, and syntactic acquisition. In order to test Berlin and Kay's (1969) hypothesis that the typological patterns observed in basic colour term systems are produced by a process of cultural evolution under the influence of universal aspects of human neurophysiology, an expression-induction model was created. Ten artificial people were simulated, each of which was a computational agent. These people could learn colour term denotations by generalizing from examples using Bayesian inference, and the resulting denotations had the prototype properties characteristic of basic colour terms. Conversations between these people, in which they learned from one-another, were simulated over several generations, and the languages emerging at the end of each simulation were investigated. The proportion of colour terms of each type correlated closely with the equivalent frequencies found in the World Colour Survey, and most of the emergent languages could be placed on one of the evolutionary trajectories proposed by Kay and Maffi (1999). The simulation therefore demonstrates how typological patterns can emerge as a result of learning biases acting over a period of time. Further work applied the minimum description length form of Bayesian inference to modelling syntactic acquisition. The particular problem investigated was the acquisition of the dative alternation in English. This alternation presents a learnability paradox, because only some verbs alternate, but children typically do not receive reliable evidence indicating which verbs do not participate in the alternation (Pinker, 1989). The model presented in this thesis took note of the frequency with which each verb occurred in each subcategorization, and so was able to infer which subcategorizations were conspicuously absent, and so presumably ungrammatical. Crucially, it also incorporated a measure of grammar complexity, and a preference for simpler grammars, so that more general grammars would be learned unless there was sufficient evidence to support the incorporation of some restriction. The model was able to learn the correct subcategorizations for both alternating and non-alternating verbs, and could generalise to allow novel verbs to appear in both constructions. When less data was observed, it also overgeneralized the alternation, which is a behaviour characteristic of children when they are learning verb subcategorizations. These results demonstrate that the dative alternation is learnable, and therefore that universal grammar may not be necessary to account for syntactic acquisition. Overall, these results suggest that the forms of languages may be determined to a much greater extent by learning, and by cumulative historical changes, than would be expected if the universal grammar hypothesis were correct.

This thesis investigates language acquisition and evolution, using the methodologies of Bayesian inference and expression-induction modelling, making specific reference to colour term typology, and syntactic acquisition. In order to test Berlin and Kay�s (1969) hypothesis that the typological patterns observed in basic colour term systems are produced by a process of cultural evolution under the influence of universal aspects of human neurophysiology, an expression-induction model was created. Ten artificial people were simulated, each of which was a computational agent. These people could learn colour term denotations by generalizing from examples using Bayesian inference, and the resulting denotations had the prototype properties characteristic of basic colour terms. Conversations between these people, in which they learned from one-another, were simulated over several generations, and the languages emerging at the end of each simulation were investigated. The proportion of colour terms of each type correlated closely with the equivalent frequencies found in the World Colour Survey, and most of the emergent languages could be placed on one of the evolutionary trajectories proposed by Kay and Maffi (1999). The simulation therefore demonstrates how typological patterns can emerge as a result of learning biases acting over a period of time. Further work applied the minimum description length form of Bayesian inference to modelling syntactic acquisition. The particular problem investigated was the acquisition of the dative alternation in English. This alternation presents a learnability paradox, because only some verbs alternate, but children typically do not receive reliable evidence indicating which verbs do not participate in the alternation (Pinker, 1989). The model presented in this thesis took note of the frequency with which each verb occurred in each subcategorization, and so was able to infer which subcategorizations were conspicuously absent, and so presumably ungrammatical. Crucially, it also incorporated a measure of grammar complexity, and a preference for simpler grammars, so that more general grammars would be learned unless there was sufficient evidence to support the incorporation of some restriction. The model was able to learn the correct subcategorizations for both alternating and non-alternating verbs, and could generalise to allow novel verbs to appear in both constructions. When less data was observed, it also overgeneralized the alternation, which is a behaviour characteristic of children when they are learning verb subcategorizations. These results demonstrate that the dative alternation is learnable, and therefore that universal grammar may not be necessary to account for syntactic acquisition. Overall, these results suggest that the forms of languages may be determined to a much greater extent by learning, and by cumulative historical changes, than would be expected if the universal grammar hypothesis were correct.

Colour is a basic aspect of perception and the perception of colour varies from individual to individual. This indicates that the perception of colours mean different semantics in various contexts to different individuals. Therefore, these differences in perception forms to behave in different attitudes towards colours among individuals and it is likely to achieve different attitudinal responses to colours from individuals. Relying on the effects of colours on individuals, the initial interest of this thesis is to explore the attitudinal approaches of individuals to colours. This thesis is first and foremost exploratory in nature. This thesis intended as a first step towards exploring the ways in which the individuals think of, construe and give meaning to colours in their own words. The subjective approach proposed in terms of this thesis is based on the underlying philosophy behind Personal Construct Theory (PCT). In order to elicit the individuals&rsquo
ways of construing and giving meaning to colours in their own words, an experiment was conducted with the utilisation of the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT). Sixty undergraduate students of Middle East Technical University (METU) Faculty of Architecture were voluntarily participated in the experiment. As a stimuli, eleven basic colours which were black, grey, white, yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, brown, blue and green were utilised. For the second step, this thesis intended investigating the structure and interrelations between the elicited attitudes of individuals and eleven basic colours. As a result of the experiment, 60 repertory grids were elicited and were analysed by using the qualitative and quantitative applications of content analysis. The resulted data afterwards were analysed by using multivariate statistical analysis methods. The overall results of this research can support certain information for further scientific investigations on colour perception and colour psychology. Additionally, the results of this research can help and guide designers to attain objective understandings about the individuals&rsquo
attitudes to colours. This can contribute to designers as a practical worthwhile during colour design and colour planning in their products and services.

This thesis explores whether colour terms (e.g., “red”, “blue”, “purple”, etc.) influence visual processing of colour, and if so, the time course of any effect. Broadly, this issue relates to debate concerning whether language affects the way we perceive the world (i.e., the theory of linguistic relativity). Three of the experiments conducted used the event-related potential method (ERP), taking electrophysiological measurements of visual processing and visual cognition in human participants. The ERP provides high-resolution information about the timing of neural activity in the brain and can therefore be used to effectively investigate the time course of a potential influence of colour terms on visual processing. The first study, using a behavioural approach, identified that colour terms can influence the detection of colours and colour-associated objects suppressed from awareness by continuous flash suppression. The second study found that a cross-linguistic difference in colour lexicons affected a post-perceptual ERP component (the P2-N2 complex), but not sensory ERP components occurring early in visual processing. However, the third study found that differences in colour naming within a language do affect an early sensory ERP component (the P1). The final study used ERPs to identify a post-perceptual neural marker (in the posterior P2 component) for the unique ‘pure' hues (red, yellow, green, and blue), which had previously only been defined and identified linguistically. All of the studies provide evidence that colour terms affect colour processing, and the specific time course of this effect is identified as being task-dependent. These findings have implications for broader debate about the influence of language on visual cognition and perception.

“Gold” is a colour indicating the colour of an object. It is a unique colour word which represents the colour of gold. From ancient to the present, “gold” is a common Chinese word which is frequently used in the literature. Furthermore, “gold” is the symbol of goodness in the traditional Chinese society. Nowadays, “gold” represents noble, luxury, wealth, hope, etc in the cultural connotation. This dissertation consists of five chapters. The first chapter introduces the research background, purpose of the topic and key points of the study. The second chapter is divided into three parts. In the first part, it begins to look for the semantic origin of the colour word “gold” by analyzing its original meaning, aboriginal meaning and quotative meaning. In the second part, it demonstrates the development of cultural connotation in China and elaborates the cultural connotation in the present Chinese society. In the third part, the colour word “gold” is compared with the colour words “yellow” and “red” to identify their differences and similarities of cultural connotations. In the third chapter, it mainly focuses on phraseology function of “gold” and its combinations. Meanwhile, the aspects of word-formation, syntactical functions, sentence structure of “gold” and its combinations will be discussed. The fourth chapter analyzes the usage and effect of “gold” and its combinations with regard to rhetoric. It also illustrates and explains the features of usage and rhetorical effects on seven categories of figures of speech which are fairly typical. The last chapter is the conclusion of the whole dissertation. “Gold” is a very unique colour word which differentiates from other colour words such as “red”, “yellow” and so on. “Gold” has been representing a positive image from the past, even nowadays, “gold” is still one of the most glamorous colours.
published_or_final_version
Chinese Language and Literature
Master
Master of Arts

Die Arbeit prüft, inwieweit die Übersetzungstheorien von Otto Kade et al., Werner Koller und die Skopostheorie das Problem der kulturgebundenen Farbwortvielfalt bei der Übersetzung zu lösen versuchen. Im ersten Teil wird hierfür der Grundstein gelegt, indem interdisziplinäres Wissen auf die Bildung von Farbbezeichnungen, ihrer Herkunft und ihrer biologischen und physikalischen Grundsätze angewendet wird. In diesem Zusammenhang wird auch die Sapir-Whorf-Hypothese diskutiert. Die Etymologie bestehender Farbbezeichnungen verschiedenster Sprachen bildet dabei das Zentrum, sowohl für die Erklärung der Farbwahrnehmung und die Kulturgebundenheit ihrer Bezeichnungen als auch der Neuschöpfung von Farbbezeichnungen in den Übersetzungssituationen. Anhand fiktiver Übersetzungssituationen aus dem Alltag wird der Übersetzungsprozess für jede Übersetzungstheorie simuliert und aus ihrer Sicht verfolgt. Im Abschluss werden die Ergebnisse gegenübergestellt und diskutiert.

This dissertation explores the main question, "What are the issues involved in the definition and translation of color terms in dictionaries?" To answer this question, I examined color term definitions in monolingual dictionaries of French and English, and color term translations in bilingual dictionaries of French paired with nine languages. From this data, I made several discoveries. First, I created a typology of strategies used to define color terms that includes three strategies: Defining with Reference to the Spectrum of Visible Light, Defining with Reference to Relationship with Other Colors, and Defining with Reference to Objects. Second, both color definitions and color translations suggest that there is a smaller difference between color words (which have non-scientific senses) and color terms (which have scientific senses) than between scientific and non-scientific senses of many other words/terms. In addition, color word translating often involves treating differences in the grammar, semantics, and division of color space between two languages. I took a closer look at the French translations of the color words brown and purple, two particularly difficult words to translate into French due to semantic restrictions. I found that, whereas the translation patterns of modern Quebec French match those of older hexagonal French dictionaries, hexagonal French dictionaries now display a different pattern. All of these discoveries lead to avenues for future research that may improve color term defining and translating.

The relationship between language and colour categorisation is explored testing the predictions of the linguistic relativity hypothesis. The basic colour terms of Turkish are investigated, with findings suggesting that the Berlin and Kay (1969) theory of universal colour term evolution might require further revisions. The maximum number allowed by the theory is exceeded by the Turkish colour term inventory, by an extra term in the blue region. This difference between Turkish and English is exploited to test the effects of linguistic categories on colour perception and cognition. Evidence is presented suggesting that some aspects of categorical colour perception may not be fixed and universal, but flexible and culture-specific. Perceived similarity of colours seems to be open to influence by a linguistic category boundary. The argument of flexibility is further investigated using a category learning paradigm. Evidence suggested that perceptual and cognitive effects of colour category boundaries might be acquired through laboratory training. Subjects judge colours to be different more accurately when they come from different categories acquired in training than when they are from the same category. Mechanisms, which may be responsible for such flexibility, are explored in relation to findings in the literature. It is argued that perception and cognition may not be distinguished from each other by clear-cut boundaries. Rather, and interaction between percepts and concepts may facilitate effects of language and learning on human colour categorisation.

This study aims at examining the use of color word “qing” and its combinations in Chinese language. “Qing” is one of the earliest appeared color words in Chinese language. It is a unique color word which can represent the colors of green, blue, black and white. Due to its complex meaning, it is difficult to understand which color does “qing” stand for in different cases. On the other hand, “qing” is a frequently used color word in both ancient and modern Chinese language. Words and phrases formed by “qing” can express symbolic meanings other than color. To begin with, the first chapter introduces the research background, objectives and key points of the study. In the second chapter, the origin, inherent and extended meaning, as well as the combinations of “qing” and other color words will be analyzed. Apart from their meanings, the grammatical characteristics are also important to a comprehensive study of “qing” and its combinations. In the third chapter, “qing” and its combinations will be discussed in the aspects of word-formation, syntactical functions and sentence structure. The fourth chapter is about the usage and effect of “qing” and its combinations with regard to rhetoric. Examples of “qing” and its combinations which create specific rhetorical effects in Chinese literature were discussed. The last chapter serves as a conclusion, highlighting the research results of this study. This dissertation attempts to discuss “qing” and its combinations in different angles to provide nutrition to the overall study of “qing”.
published_or_final_version
Chinese Language and Literature
Master
Master of Arts

This thesis concerns the evolution of language. A proliferation of theoretical models have been presented in recent years purporting to offer evolutionary accounts for various aspects of modern languages. These models rely heavily on abstract mechanistic models of the production and reception of language by modern humans, drawn from various approaches in linguistics which aim at such models. A very basic and ubiquitous assumption is that expressions have meaning in virtue of being associated with internal representations, and that therefore the evolution of language can be modelled on the basis of individuals trying to produce external manifestations of these internal “meanings”. I examine the role of this assumption in language evolution theorising, and review evidence from neuroscience and first language acquisition relevant to the validity of this assumption. The chaotic nature of the relationship between “meaning” and the brain undermines the supposition that the evolution of language was driven by spontaneous association between internal structures and external forms. I then turn to the philosophical basis of language evolution theorising, adopting a Wittgensteinian perspective on the cognitive interpretation of linguistic theories. I argue that the theoretical apparatus of such approaches is embedded in language games whose complicated rules relate to linguistic behaviour (and idealisations of that behaviour) but not to neural organisation. The reinterpretation of such descriptions of language as descriptions of the internal structures of language users is rejected as a grammatical confusion: if the rules for constructing linguistic theory descriptions do not mention neural structures, then theoretical descriptions of the linguistic abilities of an individual say nothing non-trivial about their internal brain structure. I do not deny that it would, in principle, be possible to reduce linguistic theories (reinterpreted as mechanistic descriptions) to neural structures, but claim that this possibility is guaranteed only by leaving the practice of re-describing physical brain descriptions entirely unconstrained. Thus the idea that we can reasonably infer the behaviour of humans and prehumans in more primitive communicative environments by manipulation of the models of linguistic theories is unfounded: we have no idea how such a manipulation would translate into statements about neural organisation, and so no idea how plausible such statements about earlier neural organisation (and the resultant behaviours) are. As such, cognitive interpretations of linguistic theories provide no better ground for statements about behaviour during earlier stages in the evolution of language than guessing. Rejecting internal-mechanism based accounts as unfounded leaves the evolution of language unexplained. In the latter parts of this thesis, I offer a more neutral approach which is sensitive to the limited possibilities available for making predictions about human (and pre-human) behaviour at earlier stages in the evolution of language. Rather than focusing on the individual and imputed internal language machinery, the account considers the communicative affordances available to individuals. The shifts in what individuals can learn to do in interaction with others, that result in turn from the learning of interactive practices by others, form the basis of this account. General trends in the development of communicative affordances are used to account for generalisations over attested semantic change, and to suggest how certain aspects of modern language use developed without simply assuming that it is “natural” for humans to (spontaneously) behave in these ways. The model is used in an account of the evolution and common structure of colour terms across different languages.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 1998.
"A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, April 30, 1998." Also available in print.

The Japanese language has a colour term, 'ao' (or 'aoi'), which is usually referred to in bilingual dictionaries as being the equivalent of English 'blue'. Very often, however, it is used to describe things which English speakers would describe as being green. Granny Smith apples are 'ao', so are all Westerners' eyes, regardless of whether they would be described as being 'blue' or 'green' in English. The sky and the sea are prototypically 'ao', but this term is also used to describe lawns, forests, traffic lights and unripe tomatoes. What, then, do Japanese native speakers (henceforth JNS) understand by this term? How do its semantic boundaries relate to those of the term 'midori' (`green')? What is the JNS understanding of the foreign loan words 'guriin' (green) and 'buruu' (blue)? This study pursues these questions seeking to delineate the semantic boundaries of the colour term 'ao'.

The Japanese language has a colour term, 'ao' (or 'aoi'), which is usually referred to in bilingual dictionaries as being the equivalent of English 'blue'. Very often, however, it is used to describe things which English speakers would describe as being green. Granny Smith apples are 'ao', so are all Westerners' eyes, regardless of whether they would be described as being 'blue' or 'green' in English. The sky and the sea are prototypically 'ao', but this term is also used to describe lawns, forests, traffic lights and unripe tomatoes. What, then, do Japanese native speakers (henceforth JNS) understand by this term? How do its semantic boundaries relate to those of the term 'midori' (`green')? What is the JNS understanding of the foreign loan words 'guriin' (green) and 'buruu' (blue)? This study pursues these questions seeking to delineate the semantic boundaries of the colour term 'ao'.

Every language has distinct features that reflect the values of its culture. Some societies are similar or different in such aspects as gestures, talk, gender, dialects, colors and so on. This study focuses on the variables of gender and region on Saudi use of Arabic vs. newly borrowed color terms. For the theoretical background, the researcher used related studies related to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, Berlin and Kay's hypothesis and Core Value theory. A total of 20 participants were asked to complete a single task in which they had to name 12 colors in Arabic writing. Participants were evenly divided between male and female and rural vs. urban region. The data was analyzed through descriptive multiple t-tests. The results had interesting implications for how color terms are currently being used by Saudi Arabic speakers, and what that usage might indicate about their background. In the case of the variable of gender, women displayed a significantly higher usage of newly borrowed color terms (33%) compared to men (18%). These findings were in keeping with similar results from other studies, although such studies were somewhat dated. In the case of region, participants from urban areas also displayed a statistically higher usage of newly borrowed color terms (32%) compared to those from rural areas (18%). This may have been due to people living in cities being exposed to, and therefore tending to use, a larger variety of color terms from different languages, such as English, Turkish and French. The newly borrowed color term used by participants the most was beige, while the traditional Arabic color term that was used the most was azraq 'blue' and ahmar 'red'. This was likely because these are considered more basic or fundamental colors and would therefore be less likely to be exchanged with a foreign word than a color that was not as commonly used in everyday life. These results could also have practical implications in areas where using such terms are prominent, such as business, trade, and education. In the area of business in particular, could be relevant to advertising, especially in the case of decoration, which deals with the labeling of colors.

Due to variability in aircraft overflight type and associated animal responses, there is a lack of consensus on the effects of overflights on wildlife populations. My objectives were to 1) evaluate the potential impacts that reduced-altitude tactical speed military aircraft might generate on nesting colonial waterbirds, and to place any impacts in the context of other human events, 2) a) identify key least tern (Sternula antillarum) demographic drivers, b) evaluate the accuracy of assigning nest fates without using remote cameras, and c) assess the effects of camera-monitoring on nest survival, and 3) evaluate the agreement between two techniques used to estimate peak least tern breeding abundance. I conducted my study at Cape Lookout National Seashore, North Carolina from May-August 2010-2012. I surveyed colonies once every 3-5 days and deployed audio recorders and time-lapse cameras at individual nests in 9 colonies. Birds did not incubate less or engage in alert behaviors during overflights compared with control periods. Least terns reduced incubation by a mean of 12% when pedestrians were observed near nests (S = -2.2, p = 0.04). Demographic effects from overflights or recreation are unlikely given the patterns of use in this study. Least tern demographic rates were driven by raccoon depredation. Cameras reduced daily nest survival (SE) from 0.85 (0.06) to 0.79 (0.08). However, cameras also decreased the frequency of unknown or misclassified nest fates by > 30%. Incubating adult counts were effective in assessing peak nest abundance at colonies where topography did not impede scanning from the perimeter.
Master of Science

The aim of this thesis was to investigate how visual information is organised in perceptual short term memory, with special interest in colour, spatial frequency and velocity. Previous studies of VSTM have indicated the existence of specific memory mechanisms for visual attributes such as orientation, spatial frequency, velocity, contrast and colour. The retention of information in visual short term memory for these basic visual attributes can be disrupted by the presentation of masking stimuli during inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs), which are outside the range of traditional sensory masking. We exploited this memory masking effect in order to examine the organisation of visual information in VSTM. Four groups of experiments were conducted in which participants carried out a delayed discrimination paradigm that employed a two-alternative forced choice (2-AFC) procedure in conjunction with a method of constant stimuli. The fidelity of VSTM was measured by performance markers such as discrimination thresholds and point of subjective equalities. We have found selective memory masking effects, which serve as further evidence in favour of the modular organisation in VSTM, namely, that human visual perceptual memory is based upon multiple, tuned channels in case of colour, spatial frequency and speed, similar to those found in the earliest stages of visual processing for spatial frequency. Moreover, each of these storage mechanisms are tuned to a relatively narrow range of stimulus parameters that are closely linked to visual discrimination mechanisms. These findings add further support to the view that low-level sensory processing mechanisms form the basis for the retention of colour, spatial frequency and velocity information in perceptual memory. We also found evidence for the broad range of transfer of memory masking effects across spatial location, which indicates more long range, long duration interactions between channels that are likely to rely upon contributions from neural processes located in higher visual areas. In conclusion, the experiments presented in this thesis provide significant insight into the organization of visual information in perceptual short term memory.
Federation of Ophthalmic and Dispensing Opticians

The aim of this thesis was to investigate how visual information is organised in perceptual short term memory, with special interest in colour, spatial frequency and velocity. Previous studies of VSTM have indicated the existence of specific memory mechanisms for visual attributes such as orientation, spatial frequency, velocity, contrast and colour. The retention of information in visual short term memory for these basic visual attributes can be disrupted by the presentation of masking stimuli during inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs), which are outside the range of traditional sensory masking. We exploited this memory masking effect in order to examine the organisation of visual information in VSTM. Four groups of experiments were conducted in which participants carried out a delayed discrimination paradigm that employed a two-alternative forced choice (2-AFC) procedure in conjunction with a method of constant stimuli. The fidelity of VSTM was measured by performance markers such as discrimination thresholds and point of subjective equalities. We have found selective memory masking effects, which serve as further evidence in favour of the modular organisation in VSTM, namely, that human visual perceptual memory is based upon multiple, tuned channels in case of colour, spatial frequency and speed, similar to those found in the earliest stages of visual processing for spatial frequency. Moreover, each of these storage mechanisms are tuned to a relatively narrow range of stimulus parameters that are closely linked to visual discrimination mechanisms. These findings add further support to the view that low-level sensory processing mechanisms form the basis for the retention of colour, spatial frequency and velocity information in perceptual memory. We also found evidence for the broad range of transfer of memory masking effects across spatial location, which indicates more long range, long duration interactions between channels that are likely to rely upon contributions from neural processes located in higher visual areas. In conclusion, the experiments presented in this thesis provide significant insight into the organization of visual information in perceptual short term memory.

The Imperial Dock Lock Special Protection Area (SPA) in Leith Docks on the Firth of Forth currently supports the largest common tern (Sterna hirundo) colony in Scotland. The nest site, a former lock wall in an operational port, was designated as an SPA for the species in 2004 but very little is known about the ecology of common terns in this man-made environment. This thesis examined their ecology using a combination of long-term data for the Firth of Forth region and field research at the colony. The dynamics of the Firth of Forth breeding population of common terns was linked both to local influences of predators and the regional status of their main food source, the Firth of Forth sprat stock. Colonisation of Leith Docks resulted from relocation of birds from natural islands in the Firth of Forth which were abandoned due to unsustainable levels of predation by gulls. Herring gulls (Larus argentatus) and lesser black-backed gulls (L. fuscus) are active predators in Leith Docks but at relatively low levels. Predation attempts by mink present a serious threat and could be highly detrimental to the colony. Foraging studies revealed that terns are feeding primarily in the Forth of Forth rather than within the docks, and that their diet consists mostly of sprat, but also sandeels and gadoids. The importance of sprat in the diet is discussed in relation to the potential reopening of the sprat fishery. Surveys of birds commuting between the colony and the feeding grounds showed that a range of flight lines are used but to different extents, and found no evidence of collisions with buildings or other man-made structures. Terns were well-habituated to regular human activity but were sensitive to unusual or high-level human disturbance factors. Gulls and crows, rather than humans, were the greatest disturbance factors for nesting birds overall. Currently the Imperial Dock Lock SPA is the only site in the region that could support common terns breeding in considerable numbers, and so the future of the Firth of Forth population of common terns is now dependent on this one site. There are a number of management options available, and the future persistence of the population relies on the continued monitoring of breeding numbers of terns, of predation levels and further assessment of the sprat stock.

Transplanted coral (Order: Scleractinia) colony condition was surveyed at five injury event sites, two coral nurseries, and one impact minimization location off the coast of Broward County, Florida, USA in 2012. Because stony corals are long-lived and slow growing, generally growing less than one centimeter in diameter per year, determining transplantation success requires long-term (greater than two years) monitoring. Long-term monitoring efforts, however, are rarely completed. This study is unique in that it examined stony coral transplantation success of several projects over a time period of 6-17 years. Control colonies were also surveyed in order to compare naturally growing coral colonies to the experimental (transplanted) colonies. Because the transplantation activities at the projects examined in this study occurred over a long time period (oldest population occurred 17 years prior to this study and the youngest occurred six years), colony percent partial mortality was used as a measure of success (colony condition). A successful effort should result in transplanted colonies experiencing partial morality similar to that of control colonies over extended periods of time. The control colonies used came from Broward County Annual Monitoring sites, and the M/V Firat and the C/V Hind ship grounding sites. The experimental colonies used came from five injury events (C/V Hind, Clipper Lasco, M/V Firat, and M/V Spar Orion ship grounding sites and Hillsboro Cable Drag location), two stony coral nurseries (DERM Modules and Warren Modules), and one impact minimization location (Broward County Mitigation Boulders). With all control colonies pooled and experimental colonies pooled, no significant differences in colony partial mortality were found between the experimental and control colonies. Once each experimental coral colony was reattached to the substrate, it generally appeared similar to the control colonies; the mean percent mortality for control colonies was 50% (2.95 ±SE) and the mean percent mortality for experimental colonies was 56% (1.24 ±SE). However, differences were found between stony coral species within each treatment (control and experimental). Colony mortality for identified control corals was greatest for Porites astreoides, Siderastrea siderea, and Montastrea annularis complex. For experimental colonies, S. siderea and P. astreoides had the most mortality. The least mortality of the control corals were found in Montastrea cavernosa, Solenastrea bournoni, and Meandrina meandrites. Of the experimental colonies, S. bournoni, M. meandrites, and Montastrea annularis complex had the least mortality. Resource managers need to consider colony transplantation location, coral species, and percent initial colony mortality when allocating efforts for injury and impact minimization events. Also, project initial restoration and final reports documenting transplantation locations and colony species, size and/or mortality should to be more detailed; this would be beneficial for future monitoring efforts.

Swarm robotics is an emerging field that is expected to provide robust solutions to spatially distributed problems. Human operators will often be required to guide a swarm in the fulfillment of a mission. Occasionally, large tasks may require multiple spatial swarms to cooperate in their completion. We hypothesize that when latency, bandwidth, operator dropout, and communication noise are significant factors, human organizations that promote individual initiative perform more effectively and resiliently than hierarchies in the cooperative best-m-of-n task. Simulations automating the behavior of hub-based swarm robotic agents and groups of human operators are used to evaluate this hypothesis. To make the comparisons between the team and hierarchies meaningful, we explore parameter values determining how simulated human operators behave in teams and hierarchies to optimize the performance of the respective organizations. We show that simulation results generally support the hypothesis with respect to the effect of latency and bandwidth on organizational performance.

L’impression 2.5D est une technologie à mi-chemin entre l’impression couleur traditionnelle, à laquelle elle emprunte son procédé et la qualité de reproduction des couleurs, et l’impression 3D qui crée des reliefs et des formes. Par ses qualités visuelles, elle pourrait permettre la reproduction réaliste de multiples surfaces, mais un frein s’oppose à cette perspective : les encres brillent. En modulant la rugosité des surfaces imprimées à l'échelle du micromètre, en fréquence et en amplitude, nous avons réussi à réduire et contrôler le brillant des encres. Des stratégies d'impression différentes ont été proposées et étudiées pour diminuer l’effet scintillant et permettre l’impression d’une couche couleur mate : la création d'un espace à cinq dimensions dans lequel le brillant et la couleur sont modélisés aboutit à l'uniformisation des niveaux de brillant colorés. Les protocoles d'impression développés ont ensuite été appliqués à des cas concrets issus de la conservation – restauration du patrimoine. Plusieurs exemples distincts sont présentés, qui abordent un point particulier sur lequel l’impression 2.5D est pertinente: comblement de lacune, création de répliques réalistes, intérêt de l'aspect visuel mat pour la lisibilité des œuvres
2.5D printing is between traditional color printing, for the process and its visual quality, and 3D printing, which makes forms and reliefs by ink superposition. Because of its properties, 2.5D printing could allow the realistic reproduction of objects and surfaces, but inks are too glossy. To reduce and control this glossy aspect of inks, we modulate the roughness of the printed layers, at the micro-scale, both in frequency and amplitude. Influence of parameters was measured, and different strategies were suggested to reduce sparkle and to allow the creation of matte colored layers: by constituting a 5D space where gloss and color are modeled, we can make gloss level of colored surfaces uniform.Several case studies form the Conservation of Cultural Heritage were considered, where 2.5D printing could help the curator, the conservator or the archivist. We studied in particular the issues of the the gap filling on an archaeological object, the realistic reproduction of surfaces, and the creation of matte objects for readability

La gestione del suolo in agricoltura puo’ contribuire significativamente ad accrescere la qualita’ dei suoli. Pratiche quali le lavorazioni minime, l’applicazione di ammendanti organici e la coltivazione di colture di copertura costituiscono delle valide strategie per accrescere il contenuto di sostanza organica nei suoli agricoli e squestrare CO2 dall’atmosfera, riducendo l’impatto ambientale dell’attivita’ agricola. Il contenuto di carbonio organico (OC) nel suolo e’ controllato dall’entita’ degli input di materiale organico che giungono al suolo in seguito alla coltivazione, e dalla resistenza offerta dalla sostanza organica alla degradazione microbica. Lo studio dei meccanismi che presiedono la stabilizzazione della sostanza organica del suolo (SOM) e’ quindi di primaria importanza. La resistenza offerta dalla SOM alla degradazione microbica dipende dalle sue proprieta’ chimiche e, in maggior misura, dalle interazioni che si stabiliscono fra le molecole organiche e la matrice del suolo. Rivestono particolare importanza l’occlusione dei residui organici grossolani all’interno degli aggregati e le interazioni che si stabiliscono fra molecole organiche e superfici delle particelle minerali. La coltivazione influenza in maniera profonda questi meccanismi, determinando la quantita’ di input organici che giungono al suolo ad ogni ciclo colturale e disturbando la formazione degli aggregati tramite le lavorazioni. Lo scopo di questa ricerca e’ stato quello di analizzare come le rotazioni colturali influenzano i processi che si trovano alla base della stabilizzazione della SOM nei suoli agricoli. Lo studio ha preso in esame due rotazioni colturali svolte in un arco temporale di 13 anni. Una delle due rotazioni e’ stata caratterizzata da lavorazioni del suolo poco frequenti e dalla presenza di residui colturali ricchi in N (ALF), mentre l’altra rispondeva alle esigenze di un’agricoltura piu’ intensiva, con lavorazioni frequenti e prevalenza di colture sfruttanti (CON). I due campi sperimentali sono stati coltivati con grano duro e cece in due successive stagioni colturali e gli effetti delle rotazioni colturali effettuate nei 13 anni precedenti l’inizio dell’esperimento, cosi’ come quelli relativi alla coltivazione di grano e cece nei due campi, sono stati analizzati approfonditamente. Il primo esperimento ha preso in considerazione gli effetti delle pratiche sopra citate sulla composizione chimica della sostanza organica. Un frazionamento chimico sequenziale e’ stato applicato ai campioni di suolo, in modo da ottenere un pool di SOM labile, composto dalla frazione leggera (LF) e dal carbonio organico solubile (WSOC), e un pool recalcitrante costituito dalla frazione umica, ulteriormente divisa in acidi umici (HAs) e acidi fulvici (FAs). Il secondo esperimento ha avuto come oggetto l’analisi degli effetti delle stesse pratiche colturali sull’occlusione della sostanza organica negli aggregati e sulla formazione di complessi organo-minerali. Durante il secondo esperimento sono state isolate, mediante frazionamento per classi di aggregati e per densita’il contenuto e la composizione chimica delle particelle organiche grossolane libere (fPOM) e di quelle occluse in aggregati di diverse dimensioni, cosi’ come della frazione organica intimamente legata alle superfici dei minerali. I risultati ottenuti hanno evidenziato che la stabilizzazione della SOM e’ influenzata sia dalla intensita’ delle lavorazioni, sia dalla composizione chimica dei residui colturali, principalmente attraverso l’influenza che questi due fattori esercitano sulla formazione degli aggregati e sull’interazione fra molecole organiche e superfici dei minerali. Le lavorazioni hanno esercitato un’azione dirompente sugli aggregati, particolarmente evidente nella classe dei macro-aggregati (>200 μm). Di conseguenza, la quantita’ di macro aggregati in ALF era significativamente maggiore che in CON all’inizio dell’esperimento. Le lavorazioni svolte durante la coltivazione del grano e del cece, sebbene abbiano causato una diminuzione del contenuto di macro-aggregati in ALF, non hanno determinato una riduzione del contenuto di sostanza organica occlusa all’interno degli aggregati, probabilmente a causa della forte azione cementante svolta dal carbonato di calcio (CaCO3) sugli aggregati. I continui input di materiale organico avvenuti in ALF durante i 13 anni precedenti l’inizio dell’esperimento, hanno favorito le attivita’ della comunita’ microbica, che a sua volta ha determinato un’alta capacita’ di mineralizzare la fPOM. La composizione chimica della sostanza organica e’ cambiata significativamente nei due suoli in seguito alla coltivazione di grano e cece, come si evince dai risultati emersi in entrambi gli esperimenti. Il frazionamento chimico sequenziale ha messo in luce un aumento del contenuto di acidi umici e fulvici in entrambi i suoli in seguito alla coltivazione del cece. Il frazionamento dei suoli per classi di aggregati e per densita’ ha meso in luce un pattern piu’ complesso. In ALF l’aumento dell’intensita’ delle pratiche agricole ha determinato il rimescolamento della fPOM grossolana con parte della fPOM piu’ fine e degradata, probabilmente a causa dell’interruzione della continuita’ degli input di residui organici. Il contenuto di OC nei macro aggregati e’ diminuito, mentre e’ aumentato il ternore di OC nelle particelle non aggreagate piu’ fini. In CON la coltivazione di grano, e soprattutto del cece, ha determinato l’arrivo al suolo di residui ricchi in N. Questo ha fatto si’ che il conteuto di OC e N aumentasse nelle particelle minerali piu’ fini. L’accresciuta attivita’ microbica avvenuta in CON durante la prova di campo, e’ probabilmente alla base dell’accumulo di materiale organico relativamente “fresco” avvenuto all’interno degli aggregati. Questa ricerca ha mostrato come gli effetti delle rotazioni colturali non dipendono solamente dall’azione di disturbo alla formazione degli aggregati esercitata dalle lavorazioni del suolo, ma anche dalla qualita’ degli input organici e da processi mediati dalla comunita’ microbica, i quali influenzano l’occlusione della SOM negli aggregati e l’interazione della sostanza organica con le particell minerali.
Soil management can contribute significantly to increasing agricultural soil quality. Practices such as reduced tillage, organic amendments application and cover cropping are all recognized as valuable ways to restore the depleted SOM pools and sequester CO2 from the atmosphere, hence reducing the environmental impact of farming. The amount of organic carbon (OC) in the soil is controlled by the amount of OC returning to the soil during cultivation, and the decomposition rate, i.e. stability, of the organic input. Therefore, it is of key importance to understand the mechanisms that allow SOM to stabilize within the soil matrix. Soil organic matter (SOM) resistance to degradation depends on its chemical properties and, more importantly, on the interactions between organic molecules and the soil matrix i.e. occlusion within soil aggregates and interaction with mineral particles surfaces. Cultivation has a profound effect on of these mechanisms, as it determines the amount and chemical composition of the organic inputs that reach the soil, and includes tillage practices that disrupt soil aggregates, decreasing SOM stability. The aim of this research was to provide a scientific contribution to the understanding of how crop rotations affect the processes that underlie SOM accumulation within cropland soils. The study examined the effects of two long term (13 y) crop rotations, one characterized by low tillage intensity and N rich crop residues (ALF) and the other by higher tillage intensity and lower N input from plant residues (CON), on SOM stabilization. The effects of the introduction of a cereal-legume cropping sequence in the two fields were also observed on SOM amount and chemical composition. This experimental design allowed gaining an insight on both the long term and the short term consequences of cultivation on soil organic matter stabilization dynamics. In a first experiment, a sequential chemical fractionation was conducted on soil samples from ALF and CON in order to isolate: light fraction (LF), water soluble organic carbon (WSOC), fulvic acids (FAs) and humic acids (HAs). In a second experiment the same soil samples were subjected to a combined aggregate size and density fractionation, in order to isolate fPOM, oPOM from macro and micro-aggregates, and mineral associated organic matter in macro-aggregates, micro-aggregates and in silt and clay size particles. Our results showed that cultivation intensity and plant residues chemical composition both affected the extent to which SOM stabilizes within the soil profile, mostly via occlusion within soil aggregates and association with mineral particles. Tillage exerted a disrupting action against soil aggregates, which allowed more coarse aggregates to form in ALF, as compared to CON. Nevertheless, tillage operations conducted during the cultivation of winter wheat and chickpea, despite affecting negatively the amount of macro-aggregates in ALF, did not determine the mineralization of occluded POM, due to high level of inorganic C which acted as a cementing agent for soil aggregates. The continuous input of organic material which occurred in ALF during the 13 years before the beginning of the experiment, determined high levels of microbial activity, which determined in turn a high capacity to mineralize fPOM once the continuity of the organic input was interrupted. SOM chemical composition changed significantly in the two soils following the cultivation of winter wheat and chickpea, as it emerged from both the chemical fractionation experiment and the combined aggregate size and density fractionation experiment. In the former, we observed a consistent increase of HAs and FAs content in both the soils at 0-10 following the cultivation of chickpea. In the latter this corresponded to a complex pattern of changes occurring in the two soils across different aggregate and density fractions. In ALF, the conversion to the more intensive cropping system caused coarse fPOM to mix with finer and more degraded fPOM, as a consequence of the interruption of the continuous OC inputs. SOC content decreased in the macro-aggregates and relocated towards the silt and clay size particles, as an effect of the total macro-aggregates mass lost. The cultivation of winter wheat and chickpea in CON determined the introduction of fresh N rich plant residues. This in turn allowed for OC and N to accumulate in close association with silt and clay size particles. In addition, the cereal-legume cropping sequence caused new SOM to accumulate within soil aggregates, possibly as an effect of microbial mediated reactions. Our study showed that the effect of crop rotations on SOM accumulation and stability is not determined only by tillage disrupting action towards soil aggregates, as organic inputs quality and microbial mediated processes affect the mechanisms that allow for SOM protection via spatial inaccessibility and interaction with mineral surfaces.

Las unidades fraseológicas de una lengua, así como sus usos figurados, reflejan las ideas de sus hablantes, por lo que la semántica puede ser un instrumento útil para estudiar su cultura. Entre estas unidades fraseológicas y usos figurados, unos de los más característicos son los relacionados con los colores. Por ello, esta investigación explora de manera sistemática los significados connotados de los términos básicos de color utilizados en las unidades fraseológicas de las comunidades lingüísticas española y china. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar las connotaciones introducidas mediante términos de color utilizando herramientas procedentes de la lingüística y los estudios culturales en ambas lenguas y, más concretamente, realizar una comparación tanto cualitativa como cuantitativa de las ideologías transmitidas a través de los términos de color basándonos en las unidades fraseológicas recopiladas en el corpus, en el que se nos aportan datos estadísticos. Con el fin de lograr el objetivo de la presente tesis, se estableció el marco teórico y metodológico necesario para llevar a cabo este estudio, así como también para elaborar el corpus: a) identificación y clasificación de los valores connotados y denotados basándonos en los estudios previos de este ámbito y los estudios precedentes con relación a los mecanismos cognitivos aplicados para la creación de los valores connotados, b) adaptación de las taxonomías fraseológicas más corrientes y adecuadas en ambas comunidades lingüísticas para el estudio, y c) delimitación de los términos de los colores que se deben incluir en nuestro estudio basándonos en los criterios de Berlin y Kay (1991) para los términos básicos de color y los estudios previos de este ámbito. Desde una perspectiva cuantitativa, se estudiaron los valores connotados resumidos desde el corpus: a) los posibles orígenes o motivos de los valores generados, b) algunos cambios de comprensión de algún color a lo largo del desarrollo de la lengua o de la sociedad, y c) las diferencias y las similitudes entre los diferentes valores en ambas lenguas. Desde una perspectiva cuantitativa, se estudió la comprensión general de los términos de color: a) los valores más destacados de los nueve colores elegidos (negro, blanco, rojo, amarillo, verde, azul, morado, naranja, gris y marrón) y de sus términos hiperónimos (color, yan, se, yanse) para la investigación, y b) las emociones y sentimientos asociados con los colores, y c) la jerarquía de estos colores en cada comunidad lingüística. Los resultados de este estudio revelan que, en líneas generales, los valores connotados de los términos de los colores varían en las dos comunidades lingüísticas, tanto en los orígenes como en el peso de los valores, así como también las asociaciones generales de un mismo color. Dependiendo del color en cuestión, los valores connotados compartidos pueden ser más o pueden ser menos. Además, la cantidad de unidades fraseológicas y de valores de los términos para los colores no siempre son conformes a la evolución de los términos de color en esta lengua, ya que puede haber casos excepcionales. En comparación con el español, la filosofía de los colores tiene un impacto más profundo en el chino y se han generado más unidades fraseológicas y más subvalores en esta comunidad lingüística. El desequilibrio cuantitativo respecto a las unidades fraseológicas y los subvalores en las dos lenguas es importante. Por un lado, se ha constatado la importancia de la filosofía de los Cinco Colores en China y cómo esta influye en todos aspectos de la vida. Por otro lado, también se ha confirmado que los asiáticos tienden a expresarse de manera implícita e indirecta y a usar expresiones eufemísticas implícitamente.
The phraseological units of a language, as well as its figurative uses, reflect the ideas of its speakers. For this reason, semantics can be a useful instrument to study the culture associated with a specific language. Among these phraseological units and figurative uses, those related to colours are some of the most characteristic ones. Therefore, this research explores systematically the connoted meanings of the basic colour terms reflected in the phraseological units used by the Spanish and Chinese linguistic communities. The objective of this study is to analyse the connoted meanings of basic colour terms by using different linguistic tools and cultural studies in both languages and, more specifically, to make a qualitative and quantitative comparison of the ideologies transmitted by colour terms bearing in mind the phraseological units collected in the corpus, which provides us with statistical data. To achieve the objective of this thesis, we established the theoretical and methodological framework required to carry out this study and build the corpus: a) identification and classification of the connoted and denoted values based on previous studies in this area and previous studies regarding the cognitive mechanisms applied to create connoted values, b) adaptation of the most current and adequate phraseological taxonomies in both linguistic communities for this study, and c) delimitation of the colour terms to be included in our study based on the criteria proposed by Berlin and Kay (1991) for basic colour terms and previous studies in this area. From a qualitative perspective, we analysed the connoted values summarised from the corpus: a) the possible origins or reasons of the generated values, b) some changes related to the way certain colour terms are understood as languages or societies develop, and c) the differences and similarities between the different values in both languages. From a quantitative perspective, we studied the general understanding of colour terms: a) the most prominent values of the nine colours chosen (black, white, red, yellow, green, blue, purple, orange, grey, and brown) and of their hypernym terms (colour, yan, se, yanse) for this research, b) the emotions and feelings associated with these colours, and c) the hierarchy of these colours in each linguistic community. The results of this study reveal that, in general terms, the connoted values of colour terms are different in these two linguistic communities. This is not only perceived in the origins or the importance of each value, but in the general associations of a same colour. Depending on the colour chosen, the shared connoted values may vary. In addition, the number of phraseological units and values of certain colour terms do not always coincide with the evolution of colour terms in a language since there may be some exceptional cases. Compared to Spanish, the philosophy of colours has a deeper impact on Chinese. In fact, a higher number of phraseological units and subvalues have been generated in this language community. A significant quantitative imbalance of the phraseological units and subvalues in these two languages has also been reported. On the one hand, we have observed that the philosophy of the Five Colours is very important in China and influences all aspects of life. On the other hand, we have also demonstrated that Asians tend to express themselves in an implicit and indirect way and use euphemistic expressions implicitly.

The long-term evolution (LTE) network has been proposed to provide better network capacity than the earlier 3G network. Driven by the market, the conventional LTE (3G) network standard could not achieve the expectations of the international mobile telecommunications advanced (IMT-Advanced) standard. To satisfy this gap, the LTE-Advanced was introduced with additional network functionalities to meet up with the IMT-Advanced Standard. In addition, due to the need to minimize operational expenditure (OPEX) and reduce human interventions, the wireless cellular networks are required to be self-aware, self-reconfigurable, self-adaptive and smart. An example of such network involves transceiver base stations (BTSs) within a self-organizing network (SON). Besides these great breakthroughs, the conventional LTE and LTE-Advanced networks have not been designed with the intelligence of scalable capacity output especially in sudden demographic changes, namely during events of football, malls, worship centres or during religious and cultural festivals. Since most of these events cannot be predicted, modern cellular networks must be scalable in terms of capacity and coverage in such unpredictable demographic surge. Thus, the use of dynamic BTSs is proposed to be used in modern and future cellular networks for crowd and demographic change managements. Dynamic BTSs are complements of the capability of SONs to search, determine and deploy less crowded/idle BTSs to densely crowded cells for scalable capacity management. The mobile BTSs will discover areas of dark coverages and fill-up the gap in terms of providing cellular services. The proposed network relieves the LTE network from overloading thus reducing packet loss, delay and improves fair load sharing. In order to trail the best (least) path, a bio-inspired optimization algorithm based on swarm-particle optimization is proposed over the dynamic BTS network. It uses the ant-colony optimization algorithm (ACOA) to find the least path. A comparison between an optimized path and the un-optimized path showed huge gain in terms of delay, fair load sharing and the percentage of packet loss.

The aim of this study was to explore the effect a coloring condition had on minimizing anxiety and stress experienced daily by veterans. The effect that coloring had on working memory was also explored. A sample of 24 armed forces veterans were split into two coloring conditions, a mandala and a free draw condition, and asked to complete the Primary Care PTSD Screen, the Perceived Stress Scale and the Brief State Trait Anxiety Inventory. Working memory scores were established via a Backward Digit Recall task; pre-and posttest scores were evaluated for significant differences. Our research suggests the act of coloring, not the coloring condition, resulted in significant decreases in stress and anxiety and an increase in working memory. We also found that participants who suffer from PTSD displayed significant decreases in stress and anxiety and significant increases in working memory when compared to individuals without PTSD.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect on selected Upward Bound students' vocabulary retention rate and attitude toward computers when using color in a computer assisted instructional (CAI) program. Past research on the use of color in the educational process does not answer questions about possible effects it may have when used in CAI programs. Specific areas addressed by this study include: (1) differences in color computer assisted instructional software and achromatic versions of the lesson, (2) differences in the short-term vocabulary retention rate for color versus achromatic versions, (3) differences in the long-term vocabulary retention rate for color versus achromatic versions, (4) differences on the affective attitude scale for color versus achromatic versions, (5) differences in short-term memory based on gender and computer experience, (6) differences in long-term memory based on gender and computer experience and (7) differences on the affective attitude scale based on gender and computer experience. Subjects in the experiment were high school students participating in Upward Bound programs at Texas Christian University and the University of North Texas. A pretestposttest design was used and data were obtained from seventy-one students. A CAI program presented students with twenty words and definitions via a drill and practice mode. The words came from Schuster's list of rare and seldom used words considered easy to learn. Two computer systems were used in this study, achromatic and color. Students completed the Computer Attitude Scale at the beginning and end of the CAI lesson. A pretest, immediate posttest and two week delayed posttest were administered to both experimental groups. Analysis of the data revealed a significant difference in long-term memory based on gender and computer experience. Girls using the color version of the lesson scored significantly higher on the delayed posttest than girls using the achromatic version.

Данное диссертационное исследование посвящено специфике перевода цветообозначений в романе М. Зусака «Книжный вор» на примере монологов Смерти. Работа выполнена в русле актуальных филологических и междисциплинарных исследований в области переводоведения. В ходе исследования рассмотрены особенности использования цветообозначений в художественном тексте и способы их перевода. На примере романа рассмотрен перевод цветообозначений, задействованных в 513 контекстах. Посредством сопоставительного метода произведен анализ перевода цветообозначений с английского на русский и испанский языки. Структура работы состоит из двух глав: теоретической и практической. В теоретической части рассматриваются теоретические предпосылки изучения цветообозначения; способы классификации цветообозначений; цветообозначения в художественном тексте и специфика их перевода; различные подходы к классификации переводческих трансформаций. В практической части выведена классификация цветообозначений, задействованных в романе; произведен сопоставительный анализ трансформаций, использованных при переводе романа с английского на испанский; выявлена закономерность использования определенных трансформаций при переводе цветообозначений, относящихся к конкретной группе; рассмотрены основные ошибки при переводе цветообозначений; произведен анализ символизации основных цветообозначений в романе.
This thesis is devoted to the specifics of translation of color terms in the novel by M. Zusak “The Book Thief” in the case of the monologues of Death. The work was carried out in line with current philological and interdisciplinary research in the field of translation studies. In the course of the study, the peculiarities of the use of color meanings in a literary text and the ways of their translation are considered. The translation of colour terms involved in 513 contexts had been examined by our research. By means of a comparative method, an analysis of the translation of color terms from English into Russian and Spanish was made. The structure of the work consists of two chapters: theoretical and practical. The theoretical part deals with the theoretical background of the study of color terms; methods of classification of color terms; color terms in the literary text and the specifics of their translation; different approaches to the classification of lexico-grammatical transformations. In the practical part, the classification of color terms involved in the novel is derived; a comparative analysis of the transformations used in the translation of the novel from English to Spanish is made; the regularity of the use of certain transformations in the translation of color terms belonging to a particular group is revealed; the main issues in the translation of color terms are classified; the analysis of the symbolization of the main color terms in the novel is made. In conclusion, the research findings are presented.

Przedłożona rozprawa doktorska zatytułowana Analiza łączliwości leksykalnej w ujęciu leksykograficznym (na przykładzie nazw barw w języku polskim i języku angielskim) jest pracą z zakresu językoznawstwa, a jej celem było poddanie analizie leksykalnej haseł słownikowych definiujących podstawowe nazwy barw w języku polskim oraz języku angielskim w celu ukazania sposobów konceptualizacji barw podstawowych w analizowanych językach. Przed przystąpieniem do badań empirycznych niezbędne było zapoznanie się z teorią koloru w ujęciu diachronicznym ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem ujęcia językoznawczego, następnie omówienie sposobów kategoryzacji barw w obydwu językach przez pryzmat nauk językoznawczych jak również innych, takich jak filozofia, historia sztuki czy fizyka, by następnie przejść do opisu leksykograficznego, na podstawie którego wyodrębnione zostały elementy mikrostruktury stanowiące przedmiot analizy leksykalnej.

博士
國立交通大學
應用藝術研究所
98
The lexical color categorization is a critical mechanism within color perception, which involves sorting visual responses of lights into certain color categories and coding them with language. The issue of verbalizing color experience, or color naming, had drawn many attentions from visual psychologists, linguistic anthropologists, and color scientists. Some anthropologists suspected that the amount of color vocabulary circulated within a language could be positively related to the technological and cultural complexity held by the speakers. However, the development status of Mandarin regarding color categories and the naming could not be fully clarified based on the existing data. Besides the theoretical impact on linguistic anthropology, the behavior of naming the color experience is also considered a mirror reflecting the cognitive structure of inner structure of color space. English color naming is a well-discussed topic, and there were over a hundred of different languages in previous extensive color naming survey (WCS). However, there is still a considerable vacancy of empirical color naming data in the relevant domain. The study aims at establishing the groundwork of lexical color terms and categories in Mandarin by collecting empirical data from native speakers. This fundamental-orientated study holds several specific objectives: 1. to investigating synchronic Mandarin color lexicon and the popularity of frequent color vocabularies. 2. to acquire behavioral data of color naming. 3. to determine Mandarin basic color terms by analyzing results of empirical the survey. 4. to locating Mandarin speakers’ foci and boundaries of known lexical color categories in a standardized chromaticity diagram. The empirical works in the study includes: 1. a free-recall survey of prevalent color terms involving 189 informants who are native Mandarin speakers. The gathered data would help establishing color lexicon of current cultural context. 2. a free color naming experiment with written color terms and response times as dependent variables. It is supposed that these variables provide not only the simple popularity counts of color terms, but also an index to the psychological links between color categorization and naming. 3. a 12-terms color sorting experiment. There are 461 color stimuli varying in hue, saturation and brightness in this experiment and participants were asked to sort them into twelve color terms. The results of the three empirical works found 1. there are twelve Mandarin color terms are consistently recalled and named, 紅(Hung), 橘(Ju), 黃(Huang), 綠(Lu), 藍(Lan), 紫(Zi), 黑(Hei), 灰(Hui), 白(Bai), 咖啡(Ka-fei), 粉紅(Feng-Hung) and 桃紅(Tao-hung). These terms are corresponding to the eleven color categories found by linguistic anthropologists Berlin and Kay, and can be regarded as basic Mandarin color terms. 2. There are eight tone modifiers found to be frequently used in the free naming experiment,亮(bright),暗(dark), 淡(pale), 粉(powder), 淺(light), 深(deep), 偏(-ish), and正(central, correct). 3. Comparing with English color naming study, current Mandarin color naming result in using more compound color terms and less basic or monolexemic color terms. The response times of Mandarin color naming are longer, and participants’ confidence scores are lower. 4. Comparing the current results with Japanese color sorting experiment in similar viewing condition, the location of blue-green boundary is quite different in two studies. Generally, this study conducted the exploratory survey on modern Mandarin color terms and color naming, and also provides the experimental data of the space of Mandarin lexical color categories. These results complement the empirical vacancy in the related field in world community, and also serve as the backbone in further studies.

碩士
國立臺灣藝術大學
圖文傳播藝術學系
97
Recently Color Appearance Model has included many important input elements, for example, hue, brightness, chroma and luminance et al. We’re able to observe some color appearance phenomena based on the definitions of background colors, object sizes and spatial characteristics. This study designs three graphical user interfaces implemented by MATLAB for assisting the experiments to discuss their influences on color appearances. The three experiments include: (1) background effects derived from color target on achromatic background; (2) background effects and size effect derived from achromatic target on color background; (3) Spatial Frequency in juxtaposed two-color mixtures.The results of this study conclude: (1) the lightness of backgrounds can affect the lightness and saturation of central patches, when the lightness of background is higher than target’s, the lightness would decrease. On the other hand, if the lightness of background becomes higher, the chroma of target also becomes higher. (2) When the size of background becomes larger, the background effect becomes stronger. (3) The color patches tend to assimilate another juxtaposed color when the spatial frequencies increase. We expect this study will be helpful to predict more complex color phenomena and establish more advanced color appearance model in the future.

Are objects remembered with a more saturated color? Some of the evidence supporting this statement comes from research using “memory colors”—the typical colors of particular objects, for example, the green of grass. The problematic aspect of these findings is that many different exemplars exist, some of which might exhibit a higher saturation than the one measured by the experimenter. Here we avoid this problem by using unique personal items and comparing long- and short-term color memory matches (in hue, value, and chroma) with those obtained with the object present. Our results, on average, confirm that objects are remembered as more saturated than they are.