title: Plurilingualism in University English Classes: A Case Study from Timor-Leste

authors: Barnard, Roger

abstract: Codeswitching between languages in English language classrooms has been disparaged by textbook writers, methodologists and educational policymakers in many countries.
This paper reports an action research project which examined language use in English classes in Timor-Leste. The first aim was to identify the extent of codeswitching by audio-recording four lessons and the second to explore the teachers’ attitudes in follow-up interviews.
Transcript examples of codeswitching show that while one teacher used only English throughout the lesson, the others used varying amounts of Tetum, Portuguese, and Bahasa Indonesia. Extracts from interviews will report the teachers’ views.
The data suggests that plurilingualism rather than multilingualism is a more appropriate term for the use of different languages in the increasingly complex linguistic context in which English is taught in many Asian classrooms. The findings also support recent published arguments (e.g., Cook, 2010) for a more positive attitude towards plurilingual use in English language classrooms.

text: Plurilingualism in University English Classes: A Case Study from Timor-Leste Codeswitching between languages in English language classrooms has been disparaged by textbook writers, methodologists and educational policymakers in many countries.
This paper reports an action research project which examined language use in English classes in Timor-Leste. The first aim was to identify the extent of codeswitching by audio-recording four lessons and the second to explore the teachers’ attitudes in follow-up interviews.
Transcript examples of codeswitching show that while one teacher used only English throughout the lesson, the others used varying amounts of Tetum, Portuguese, and Bahasa Indonesia. Extracts from interviews will report the teachers’ views.
The data suggests that plurilingualism rather than multilingualism is a more appropriate term for the use of different languages in the increasingly complex linguistic context in which English is taught in many Asian classrooms. The findings also support recent published arguments (e.g., Cook, 2010) for a more positive attitude towards plurilingual use in English language classrooms.

year: 2011

title: Super-resolution of satellite imagery

authors: Bull, Daniel

subjects: Super-resolution

abstract: Can deep neural networks super-resolve satellite imagery to a high perceptual quality? This thesis explores the juxtaposition between the pixel accuracy and perceptual qualities of super-resolved imagery by comparing and combining a discriminative and a generative network. Rather than solving a theoretical problem, we tackle a real-world low-resolution scenario: Sentinel-2 imagery is super-resolved and evaluated against high-resolution aerial photos as ground truth; this is in contrast to super-resolving previously down-sampled data, which is the methodology used in most other studies. An existing feed-forward network architecture designed for super-resolution, called DeepSUM, is used to super-resolve multiple low-resolution images by a factor of four to obtain a single high-resolution image. DeepSUM is trained using a range of loss functions, to assess the e ect on network accuracy. A novel loss function is created, called variation loss, to help better define edges and textures to create a sharper, perceptually better product. Using an SSIM loss function gives the best result in terms of pixel-based performance. Running DeepSUM alone creates a superior output compared to bicubically up-sampling the input data, but the output is blurry and not photo-realistic. A probabilistic model from the literature, ESRGAN (Enhanced SRGAN), a Generative Adversarial Network, is trained against both raw Sentinel-2 data and the output of DeepSUM. Using ERS-GAN for super-resolution, creates a perceptually better, more realistic looking output. However, the ESRGAN output is less accurate than the DeepSUM output, as measured using pixel-based metrics. Combining ESRGAN with DeepSUM is found to inherit some of the advantages of both approaches. In an end-to-end process, using ESRGAN with the output of DeepSUM trained using variation loss is found to super-resolve an image to better show boundaries, textures and detail.

text: Super-resolution of satellite imagery Can deep neural networks super-resolve satellite imagery to a high perceptual quality? This thesis explores the juxtaposition between the pixel accuracy and perceptual qualities of super-resolved imagery by comparing and combining a discriminative and a generative network. Rather than solving a theoretical problem, we tackle a real-world low-resolution scenario: Sentinel-2 imagery is super-resolved and evaluated against high-resolution aerial photos as ground truth; this is in contrast to super-resolving previously down-sampled data, which is the methodology used in most other studies. An existing feed-forward network architecture designed for super-resolution, called DeepSUM, is used to super-resolve multiple low-resolution images by a factor of four to obtain a single high-resolution image. DeepSUM is trained using a range of loss functions, to assess the e ect on network accuracy. A novel loss function is created, called variation loss, to help better define edges and textures to create a sharper, perceptually better product. Using an SSIM loss function gives the best result in terms of pixel-based performance. Running DeepSUM alone creates a superior output compared to bicubically up-sampling the input data, but the output is blurry and not photo-realistic. A probabilistic model from the literature, ESRGAN (Enhanced SRGAN), a Generative Adversarial Network, is trained against both raw Sentinel-2 data and the output of DeepSUM. Using ERS-GAN for super-resolution, creates a perceptually better, more realistic looking output. However, the ESRGAN output is less accurate than the DeepSUM output, as measured using pixel-based metrics. Combining ESRGAN with DeepSUM is found to inherit some of the advantages of both approaches. In an end-to-end process, using ESRGAN with the output of DeepSUM trained using variation loss is found to super-resolve an image to better show boundaries, textures and detail.

year: 2021

title: Evaluation of treatment responsivity in a psychopathic prison treatment sample

authors: Champion, Michelle Elizabeth

subjects: psychopathy

abstract: Although punishment still dominates the criminal justice system, the progression of research on offending and imprisonment has led to a general consensus that rehabilitation programmes are the appropriate method to effectively reduce both recidivism and prison populations. Hence, many effective offender treatment programmes have been developed. This thesis evaluated phase one of a 10 month pilot treatment programme which used the theories and principles of effective programming to develop an effective programme for male high risk violent offenders assessed with elevated psychopathic personality (High Risk Personality Programme; HRPP), a population of offenders that is often regarded as treatment resistant. Specifically, phase one of the HRPP was designed to address the participants’ responsivity barriers (namely, antisocial interpersonal style) in order to increase self-efficacy, therapeutic alliance, treatability, and readiness, and to reduce perceived coercion in order to aid engagement and success in treatment. A sample of 11 male HRPP inmates had data collected before and after their 17-week first phase of the 10 month three-phase programme. Treatment contact comprised four sessions per week, including three group sessions of 2.5 hours, and 1 individual session of one hour, as well as a two-hour group cultural session that focused on Maori cultural identity (10 of the 11 men were Maori). The battery of tests employed included the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire; the responsivity and readiness scales of the Treatment Readiness Responsivity and Gain Scale; the Corrections Victoria Treatment Readiness Questionnaire, the Paulhus Deception Scale, and the therapist and client versions of the Working Alliance Inventory Short Form, the Perceived Coercion Scale, and an evaluation questionnaire. Demographic data was also collected. The results indicated that the majority of the participants came to the intervention ready or motivated to change. Perceived coercion remained low throughout the programme, representing the participant’s voluntary status. On average participants’ levels of self-efficacy and treatability (except callousness) improved significantly over the course of the treatment. Differing levels of improvement were found for the client and therapist perspective of the therapeutic alliance, indicating they interpreted the alliance differently. Participants with high PCL-R factor one scores showed a decrease in coercion, compared to an increase by their counterparts with low PCL-R factor one scores. Participants with high PCL-R factor one scores also had higher overall scores on the CVTRQ readiness measure, and the participant’s perspective of the therapeutic alliance. Individually, six of the treatment participants made significant improvements on at least five of the seven responsivity measures. These findings and their implications for treatment of psychopathic offenders are discussed, along with the relevance of the study’s responsivity measures, the strengths and limitations of the research project, and future research in this area.

text: Evaluation of treatment responsivity in a psychopathic prison treatment sample Although punishment still dominates the criminal justice system, the progression of research on offending and imprisonment has led to a general consensus that rehabilitation programmes are the appropriate method to effectively reduce both recidivism and prison populations. Hence, many effective offender treatment programmes have been developed. This thesis evaluated phase one of a 10 month pilot treatment programme which used the theories and principles of effective programming to develop an effective programme for male high risk violent offenders assessed with elevated psychopathic personality (High Risk Personality Programme; HRPP), a population of offenders that is often regarded as treatment resistant. Specifically, phase one of the HRPP was designed to address the participants’ responsivity barriers (namely, antisocial interpersonal style) in order to increase self-efficacy, therapeutic alliance, treatability, and readiness, and to reduce perceived coercion in order to aid engagement and success in treatment. A sample of 11 male HRPP inmates had data collected before and after their 17-week first phase of the 10 month three-phase programme. Treatment contact comprised four sessions per week, including three group sessions of 2.5 hours, and 1 individual session of one hour, as well as a two-hour group cultural session that focused on Maori cultural identity (10 of the 11 men were Maori). The battery of tests employed included the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire; the responsivity and readiness scales of the Treatment Readiness Responsivity and Gain Scale; the Corrections Victoria Treatment Readiness Questionnaire, the Paulhus Deception Scale, and the therapist and client versions of the Working Alliance Inventory Short Form, the Perceived Coercion Scale, and an evaluation questionnaire. Demographic data was also collected. The results indicated that the majority of the participants came to the intervention ready or motivated to change. Perceived coercion remained low throughout the programme, representing the participant’s voluntary status. On average participants’ levels of self-efficacy and treatability (except callousness) improved significantly over the course of the treatment. Differing levels of improvement were found for the client and therapist perspective of the therapeutic alliance, indicating they interpreted the alliance differently. Participants with high PCL-R factor one scores showed a decrease in coercion, compared to an increase by their counterparts with low PCL-R factor one scores. Participants with high PCL-R factor one scores also had higher overall scores on the CVTRQ readiness measure, and the participant’s perspective of the therapeutic alliance. Individually, six of the treatment participants made significant improvements on at least five of the seven responsivity measures. These findings and their implications for treatment of psychopathic offenders are discussed, along with the relevance of the study’s responsivity measures, the strengths and limitations of the research project, and future research in this area.

year: 2010