title: The architecture of an optimistic CPU: the WarpEngine

authors: Cleary, John G.

subjects: computer science

abstract: The architecture for a shared memory CPU is described. The CPU allows for parallelism down to the level of single instructions and is tolerant of memory latency. All executable instructions and memory accesses are time stamped. The TimeWarp algorithm is used for managing synchronisation. This algorithm is optimistic and requires that all computations can be rolled back. The basic functions required for implementing the control and memory system used by TimeWarp are described. The memory model presented to the programmer is a single linear address space modified by a single thread of control. Thus, at the software level there is no need for explicit synchronising actions when accessing memory. The physical implementation, however, is multiple CPUs with their own caches and local memory with each CPU simultaneously executing multiple threads of control.

text: The architecture of an optimistic CPU: the WarpEngine The architecture for a shared memory CPU is described. The CPU allows for parallelism down to the level of single instructions and is tolerant of memory latency. All executable instructions and memory accesses are time stamped. The TimeWarp algorithm is used for managing synchronisation. This algorithm is optimistic and requires that all computations can be rolled back. The basic functions required for implementing the control and memory system used by TimeWarp are described. The memory model presented to the programmer is a single linear address space modified by a single thread of control. Thus, at the software level there is no need for explicit synchronising actions when accessing memory. The physical implementation, however, is multiple CPUs with their own caches and local memory with each CPU simultaneously executing multiple threads of control.

year: 1994-09

title: Examining a dyadic coaching based reminiscing intervention for parents of children with autism: Two exploratory case studies

authors: Joll, Melissa Anne

abstract: Parent-child interactions that involve discussion about past events are known as reminiscing. These conversations have been associated with child outcomes such as coherency in child narratives, advanced use of language, self-regulation abilities, and socioemotional skills (Waters et al., 2019). Differences in developmental outcomes such as verbal fluency and language, autobiographical memory and theory of mind and social/emotional understanding are often associated with autism (Faust, 2009; McDonnell et al., 2020; Gaelen, 2021). Interest in potential benefits of reminiscing interventions for children with autism has grown in recent years, given the associations between elaborative and emotion-rich reminiscing for typically developing children’s developmental outcomes (Brien & Hutchins, 2024). The aim of this study was to examine whether a three-session reminiscing intervention that includes live coaching would be associated with an increase in specific parent verbalisations, described in the intervention as ONCE skills: asking Open-ended questions, introducing Novel information, Confirming child utterances, and referencing internal/external Emotions/cognitions (Risi et al., 2024), as well as an increase in child elaborative and emotion/cognitive verbalisations.
Participants were two parent-child dyads, where the child had a prior diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The dyads were asked to complete a pre-reminiscing intervention parent-child conversation without any coaching present. They discussed two conversations from everyday life: (1) a time their child did something new or different, and (2) a time their child did something when their parent wasn’t there. The first intervention session was parent only, during which an intervention handout detailing ONCE skills was reviewed alongside strategies to increase these skills, types of utterances to decrease during reminiscing conversations, and examples and role playing to teach concepts. Session two involved both the parent and child, in which dyads discussed three parent-selected past events. Parents were encouraged to bring photos or other cues related to the event (Bhana et al., 2023). Live coaching via a headset occurred during this session, where the coach highlighted and encouraged use of the ONCE skills (Risi et al., 2024; Vess & Campbell, 2022). Session three was the second coaching session, in which dyads were again asked to discuss the three-parent selected past events, to bring photos or other cues, and live coaching again occurred. All sessions were conducted over Zoom.
The current study found that for both dyads, parental use of novel information increased from pre-reminiscing conversations to either one or both subsequent intervention session conversations. Novel information included statement elaborations, elaborative yes/no questions, and elaborative open-ended questions. Counter to our predictions, there was minimal change in parental use of open-ended questions, confirmations, or references to emotions and cognitions. The current study also intended to examine whether parent training of ONCE skills was associated with an increase in children’s use of memory elaborations and emotion/cognition verbalisations during reminiscing. For children in both dyads, average memory elaborations increased from pre-reminiscing to intervention sessions. Counter to predictions, for both dyads, children’s use of emotion and cognition verbalisations decreased slightly from the pre-reminiscing session to the intervention sessions. Overall, the intervention was associated with an increase in novel information verbalisations from parents during parent-child reminiscing conversations, and an increase in memory elaborations from children.
Further research is needed to understand how novel information, open-ended questions, and emotion discussion function for children with autism and their parents, to inform future reminiscing interventions.

text: Examining a dyadic coaching based reminiscing intervention for parents of children with autism: Two exploratory case studies Parent-child interactions that involve discussion about past events are known as reminiscing. These conversations have been associated with child outcomes such as coherency in child narratives, advanced use of language, self-regulation abilities, and socioemotional skills (Waters et al., 2019). Differences in developmental outcomes such as verbal fluency and language, autobiographical memory and theory of mind and social/emotional understanding are often associated with autism (Faust, 2009; McDonnell et al., 2020; Gaelen, 2021). Interest in potential benefits of reminiscing interventions for children with autism has grown in recent years, given the associations between elaborative and emotion-rich reminiscing for typically developing children’s developmental outcomes (Brien & Hutchins, 2024). The aim of this study was to examine whether a three-session reminiscing intervention that includes live coaching would be associated with an increase in specific parent verbalisations, described in the intervention as ONCE skills: asking Open-ended questions, introducing Novel information, Confirming child utterances, and referencing internal/external Emotions/cognitions (Risi et al., 2024), as well as an increase in child elaborative and emotion/cognitive verbalisations.
Participants were two parent-child dyads, where the child had a prior diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The dyads were asked to complete a pre-reminiscing intervention parent-child conversation without any coaching present. They discussed two conversations from everyday life: (1) a time their child did something new or different, and (2) a time their child did something when their parent wasn’t there. The first intervention session was parent only, during which an intervention handout detailing ONCE skills was reviewed alongside strategies to increase these skills, types of utterances to decrease during reminiscing conversations, and examples and role playing to teach concepts. Session two involved both the parent and child, in which dyads discussed three parent-selected past events. Parents were encouraged to bring photos or other cues related to the event (Bhana et al., 2023). Live coaching via a headset occurred during this session, where the coach highlighted and encouraged use of the ONCE skills (Risi et al., 2024; Vess & Campbell, 2022). Session three was the second coaching session, in which dyads were again asked to discuss the three-parent selected past events, to bring photos or other cues, and live coaching again occurred. All sessions were conducted over Zoom.
The current study found that for both dyads, parental use of novel information increased from pre-reminiscing conversations to either one or both subsequent intervention session conversations. Novel information included statement elaborations, elaborative yes/no questions, and elaborative open-ended questions. Counter to our predictions, there was minimal change in parental use of open-ended questions, confirmations, or references to emotions and cognitions. The current study also intended to examine whether parent training of ONCE skills was associated with an increase in children’s use of memory elaborations and emotion/cognition verbalisations during reminiscing. For children in both dyads, average memory elaborations increased from pre-reminiscing to intervention sessions. Counter to predictions, for both dyads, children’s use of emotion and cognition verbalisations decreased slightly from the pre-reminiscing session to the intervention sessions. Overall, the intervention was associated with an increase in novel information verbalisations from parents during parent-child reminiscing conversations, and an increase in memory elaborations from children.
Further research is needed to understand how novel information, open-ended questions, and emotion discussion function for children with autism and their parents, to inform future reminiscing interventions.

year: 2024

title: Formulaic Discourse Patterning in Mōteatea

authors: Roa, Te Raukura o Te Rangimarie

subjects: mōteatea

abstract: Oral formulaic composition, which involves the use of communally owned formulae of various kinds, is a common feature of verbal arts produced in many different languages. It is particularly associated with pre-literate cultures and tends to be gradually replaced by more individualistic verbal art forms when societies become literate. There are very few publications in which the analysis of mōteatea (Māori laments) is linked explicitly to oral formulaic theory. Nevertheless, there is, I believe, sufficient evidence in published sources to indicate that traditional mōteatea (defined here as mōteatea that are not fundamentally influenced by European cultural beliefs and practices) exhibit evidence of regularly recurring, conventional themes (such as death, separation, loss and travel) and motifs (such as the setting sun, the presence of rain or mist and sleeplessness).  There is, however, considerably less evidence that traditional mōteatea make extensive use of verbal formulae, that is, of the same or very similar groups of words derived from a common store of poetic resources. Although there are references in the literature to the conventionalized use of language in mōteatea, and although it has been claimed that there are at least some commonly recurring verbal expressions, this is by no means evidence of reliance on a common stock of verbal formulae. Indeed, no attempt has hitherto been made to define precisely what might be meant by the term 'oral formula' in the context of compositions in te reo Māori, something that is clearly required in view, in particular, of the fact that the phrasal structure of the language means that certain groupings (e.g. i te X; ki te X) are very likely to occur in certain contexts irrespective of genre. Furthermore, in the literature on oral formulaic composition, oral formulae are generally linked to particular metrical conditions and there is, it is argued here, no convincing empirically-based evidence that mōteatea conform to any common metrical structure or structures (see Chapters 2 and 4).

In the context of a critical review of selected literature on oral formulaic theory (Chapter 2) and mōteatea (Chapter 3), this thesis sets out to test the hypothesis that traditional mōteatea were composed, in whole or in large part, from a common stock of oral formulae. The conclusion, based on analysis of a selection of mōteatea included in Ngā mōteatea, a collection initially established by Sir Apirana Ngata, is that this hypothesis must be rejected (Chapter 4). However, a model derived from a review of selected literature on discourse structure (Chapter 5) was also applied to the analysis of a sample of these mōteatea (Chapter 6). On the basis of this analysis, it is concluded that they exhibit one of two very similar discourse prototypes, each of which involves a particular combination of discourse elements. What distinguishes the two prototypes is the fact that only one of them is characterized by the inclusion of hortatory sections in which the poet urges one or more of the protagonists to undergo one or more steps or stages required to achieve a particular outcome, such as entry into the spirit world or vengeance for death and/ or humiliation.

text: Formulaic Discourse Patterning in Mōteatea Oral formulaic composition, which involves the use of communally owned formulae of various kinds, is a common feature of verbal arts produced in many different languages. It is particularly associated with pre-literate cultures and tends to be gradually replaced by more individualistic verbal art forms when societies become literate. There are very few publications in which the analysis of mōteatea (Māori laments) is linked explicitly to oral formulaic theory. Nevertheless, there is, I believe, sufficient evidence in published sources to indicate that traditional mōteatea (defined here as mōteatea that are not fundamentally influenced by European cultural beliefs and practices) exhibit evidence of regularly recurring, conventional themes (such as death, separation, loss and travel) and motifs (such as the setting sun, the presence of rain or mist and sleeplessness).  There is, however, considerably less evidence that traditional mōteatea make extensive use of verbal formulae, that is, of the same or very similar groups of words derived from a common store of poetic resources. Although there are references in the literature to the conventionalized use of language in mōteatea, and although it has been claimed that there are at least some commonly recurring verbal expressions, this is by no means evidence of reliance on a common stock of verbal formulae. Indeed, no attempt has hitherto been made to define precisely what might be meant by the term 'oral formula' in the context of compositions in te reo Māori, something that is clearly required in view, in particular, of the fact that the phrasal structure of the language means that certain groupings (e.g. i te X; ki te X) are very likely to occur in certain contexts irrespective of genre. Furthermore, in the literature on oral formulaic composition, oral formulae are generally linked to particular metrical conditions and there is, it is argued here, no convincing empirically-based evidence that mōteatea conform to any common metrical structure or structures (see Chapters 2 and 4).

In the context of a critical review of selected literature on oral formulaic theory (Chapter 2) and mōteatea (Chapter 3), this thesis sets out to test the hypothesis that traditional mōteatea were composed, in whole or in large part, from a common stock of oral formulae. The conclusion, based on analysis of a selection of mōteatea included in Ngā mōteatea, a collection initially established by Sir Apirana Ngata, is that this hypothesis must be rejected (Chapter 4). However, a model derived from a review of selected literature on discourse structure (Chapter 5) was also applied to the analysis of a sample of these mōteatea (Chapter 6). On the basis of this analysis, it is concluded that they exhibit one of two very similar discourse prototypes, each of which involves a particular combination of discourse elements. What distinguishes the two prototypes is the fact that only one of them is characterized by the inclusion of hortatory sections in which the poet urges one or more of the protagonists to undergo one or more steps or stages required to achieve a particular outcome, such as entry into the spirit world or vengeance for death and/ or humiliation.

year: 2008