This study adapted and validated the CMC-1 questionnaire on Class Motivational Climate to the Venezuelan population. The questionnaire was developed in Spain by Alonso and García (1987) for students aged 11 to 15. The sample contained 1,690 students of both sexes in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades from 12 schools in Caracas (six public and six private). The factorial analysis detected a structure of six factors different from the one detected in the Spanish study. / En el presente estudio, se adaptó y validó para la población venezolana el cuestionario Clima Motivacional de Clase -CMC-1- desarrollado en España por Alonso y García (1987) para alumnos cursantes de la tercera etapa de EGB -11 a 15 años-. Constituyeron la muestra 1690 alumnos, de ambos sexos, cursantes la tercera etapa de Educación Básica -7', 8° y 9° grados- y procedentes de 12 escuelas de Caracas -6 públicas y 6 privadas-. El análisis factorial detectó una estructura de 6 factores diferentes a la detectada en el estudio español.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:38:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RAFAEL FELIX ALVES.pdf: 2156088 bytes, checksum: a82e527c69001eb9cee5a989bde3b8dc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-06-23 / The process of image binarization consists of transforming a color image into a new one with only two colors: black and white. This process is an important step for many modern applica-tions such as Check Clearance, Optical Character Recognition and Handwriting Recognition. Improvements in the automatic process of image binarization represent impacts on applications that rely on this step. The present work proposes a methodology for automatic image binariza-tion. This methodology applies supervised learning algorithms to binarize images and consists of the following steps: images database construction; extraction of the region of interest; pat-terns matrix construction; pattern labelling; database sampling; and classifier training. Experi-mental results are presented using a database of Brazilian bank check images and the competi-tion database DIBCO 2009. In conclusion, the proposal demonstrated to be superior to some of its competitors in terms of accuracy and F-Measure. / O processo de binarização de imagens consiste na transformação de uma imagem colorida em uma nova imagem com apenas duas cores: uma que representa o fundo, outra o objeto de interesse. Este processo é uma importante etapa de diversas aplicações modernas, como a Compensação de Cheque, o Reconhecimento Ótico de Caracteres (do inglês Optical Characterer Recognition) e o Reconhecimento de Texto Manuscrito (do inglês Handwritten Recognition, HWR). Dado que melhorias no processo automático de binarização de imagens representam impactos diretos nas aplicações que dependem desta etapa o presente trabalho propõe uma metodologia para realizar a binarização automática de imagens. A proposta realiza a binarização de forma automática baseado no uso de algoritmos de aprendizagem supervisionada, tais como redes neurais artificiais e árvore de decisão. O processo como um todo consiste das seguintes etapas: construção do banco de imagens; extração da região de interesse; construção da matriz de padrões; rotulação dos padrões; amostragem da base; e treinamento do classificador. Resultados experimentais são apresentados utilizando uma base de imagens de cheques de bancos brasileiros (CMC-7 e montante de cortesia) e a base de imagens da competição DIBCO 2009. Em conclusão, a metodologia proposta apresentou-se competitiva aos métodos da literatura destacando-se em aplicações onde o processamento de imagens está restrito a uma categoria de imagens, como é o caso das imagens de cheques de bancos brasileiros. A presente metodologia apresenta resultados experimentais entre as três primeiras posições e melhores resultados em relação a medida F-Measure quando comparada com as demais.

Les nuages sont essentiels dans le cycle de l'eau et dans le budget climatique mais certains aspects de leur formation sont encore incompris. La théorie de Köhler prédit que les surfactants devraient favoriser l'activation des particules en goutte de nuage alors que les modèles actuels les considèrent comme négligeables. Au début de ce travail de thèse, quelques études commençaient à démontrer le contraire mais des preuves du rôle de ces composés dans l'atmosphère étaient encore manquantes, d'où l'objectif de ce travail de thèse. Le développement d'une méthode pour déterminer la concentration en surfactants dans les aérosols a conduit aux premières courbes de tension de surface de surfactants atmosphériques dans des aérosols PM2.5 côtiers (Suède), et à l'identification du ratio C/CMC comme paramètre clé contrôlant l'efficacité des aérosols à former des nuages. Une seconde étude a révélé des corrélations fortes entre la présence de nuages et les propriétés intrinsèques des surfactants dans des aérosols PM1 boréaux (Finlande), démontrant pour la première fois le rôle des surfactants dans la formation des gouttes de nuage à partir d'observations directes dans l'atmosphère. Les résultats prédisent un nombre de noyaux de condensation en moyenne quatre fois plus important que lorsque les effets des surfactants étaient négligés, montrant l‘importance d'inclure l'effet des surfactants dans les modèles prédictifs. Cette importance a été confirmée en laboratoire par des expériences sur des gouttes individuelles microniques par l'augmentation de leur taille en présence de surfactants. Enfin, les observations à partir des différentes études indiquent une origine biologique des surfactants dans les aérosols atmosphériques / Clouds are essential components of the Earth’s hydrological system and climate but some aspects of their formation are still not completely understood. In particular, although Köhler theory predicts that surfactants should enhance cloud droplet activation, current models consider this role negligible. At the time of this PhD work, a few studies had started to demonstrate the contrary but atmospheric evidence for the role of these compounds was still missing and very little was known about their atmospheric concentrations, sources, and mechanism of action. The objective of this PhD work was to investigate these aspects. A method was developed to quantify surfactant concentrations in aerosols. Its application led to the first absolute atmospheric surfactants’ surface tension curves, in coastal PM2.5 aerosols in Sweden, and to the identification of the ratio C/CMC as the key parameter controlling the cloud-forming efficiency of aerosols. A second study revealed strong correlations between cloud occurrence and intrinsic surfactant properties in boreal PM1 aerosols in Finland, demonstrating for the first time the role of surfactants in cloud formation from direct atmospheric observations. The results predicted Cloud Condensation Nuclei numbers four times larger on average than when neglecting surfactant effects, showing the importance of including surfactant effects in cloud predictions models. The role of surfactants inferred from macroscopic measurements was confirmed by laboratory experiments on individual micron-sized droplets showing an increase of droplet growth in the presence of surfactants. Finally, observations from the different field studies indicated a biological origin for the surfactants present in atmospheric aerosols

Scholars are often studying emojis as pure visual elements or as essential textual parts. Theories in this study bridge these subfields and examine emojis in both fields. This bridging understanding of emojis is applied to hashtag activism in the discursive Black Lives Matter debate to increase the comprehension of the impact of emojis. Emojis can be used in various hashtag activism as reinforcing visual elements that help put a figurative meaning to political movements. Emojis can also be used to change the intonation or meanings in computer-mediated communication and thereby be essential for understanding the textual meaning as a whole. The study is conducted with quantitative content analysis of tweets relating to two, here considered oppositional, hashtags; #blacklivesmatter and #alllivesmatter with the aim of receiving a comprehension of how the support of emojis affect the written statements. The study presents results and a thorough discussion that brings the conclusion of emojis having an immense impact, as both visual and textual support on the tweets written in this political online debate. / Forskare studerar ofta emojis som rena visuella element eller som väsentliga textdelar. Teorier i denna studie överbryggar dessa delfält och undersöker emojis inom båda områdena. Denna överbryggande förståelse för emojis tillämpas på hashtag-aktivism i den diskursiva Black Lives Matter-debatten för att öka förståelsen om påverkan av emojis. Emojis kan användas i olika sorters hashtag-aktivism som förstärkande visuella element som hjälper till att sätta en figurativ betydelse på politiska rörelser. Emojis kan också användas för att ändra intonationen eller betydelsen i datormedierad kommunikation och därmed vara avgörande för att förstå den textuella innebörden som helhet. Studien genomförs med kvantitativ innehållsanalys av tweets relaterade till två, här betraktade som oppositionella hashtags; #blacklivesmatter och #alllivesmatter i syfte att få en förståelse för hur emojis påverkar de skriftliga yttrandena. Studien presenterar resultat och en grundlig diskussion som drar slutsatsen att emojis har en enorm påverkan, både som ett visuellt och textuellt stöd på tweets skrivna i denna politiska online-debatt.

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Den tekniska utvecklingen bidrar till nya möjligheteter och sätt att kommunicera på nätet. Grafikoner introduceras successivt i Facebook och andra sociala medier och erbjuder nya funktioner för användare. I denna studie görs en jämförande analys av grafikoners användning och pragmatiska funktioner i en Facebookgrupp mellan 2012 och 2022. Syftet är att undersöka och diskutera grafikoners utveckling i en svensk kontext. Analysen är avgränsad till följande grafikontyper: emotikoner, emojier och dekaler. Grafikoner i inlägg och kommentarer analyseras med utgångspunkt i tidigare forskning om grafikoners funktioner. Funktionerna som identifieras i denna studie är: dekoration, benämning, handling/gest, reaktion och modifikation av ton. Studiens resultat visar att emotikoner endast förekommer i enstaka fall i materialet från 2012 och inte alls i materialet från 2022. Användningen av emojier har däremot ökat avsevärt mellan 2012 och 2022. I materialet från 2012 fyller emotikoner och emojier liknande funktioner, vilka främst är som modifikation av ton och som reaktion. Den vanligaste emojifunktionen i materialet från 2022 är som handling/gest. Resultatet visar en mer varierad användning av emojier i form av typ, placering och funktion 2022 jämfört med 2012. Den breddade användningen indikerar att emojin fortfarande är aktuell och användbar för svenska sociala media-användare 2022. Dekaler finns endast representerade i materialet från 2022 och den vanligaste funktionen är som reaktion på tidigare innehåll. Dekaler används fortfarande i mindre utsträckning än emojier 2022, men det finns indikationer som tyder på att dekalen kommer att följa samma utvecklingskurva som dess föregångare och öka i popularitet över tid.

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In the last few decades, Internet mediated intercultural competence has received a great attention in the field of applied linguistics and foreign language (FL) education especially with the evolution of web 2.0 technologies and social networking sites that facilitate interaction and communication between different cultural communities and individuals. Research in the field of Online Intercultural Exchange (OIE) is extremely varied and researchers have focused their attention on various aspects of OIE such as promoting intercultural communicative competence (Belz, 2002; O'Dowd, 2003; Schenker, 2011; Muller Hartman, 2000), facilitating online relationship building (Ware, 2005; Thorne, 2003, Jin & Erben, 2007) and improving writing skills (Ware, 2005; O'Dowd, 2003), developing pragmatic competence (Kinginger & Belz, 2005). Despite the plethora of research in this area, gaps in the literature still exist. First, literature lacks studies on language learners of less commonly taught languages (e.g. Arabic), (Thorne, 2006) and more importantly most of the studies are based on western contexts mainly in Europe and the USA. Second, few studies have explored the potentials of social networking sites on OIE projects in promoting intercultural learning (Aoki, 2009; Jin, 2015). In an effort to fill the gaps in the research, this study links English language learners (Saudis) with Arabic language learners (Americans) to investigate to what extent OIE on Facebook between these two groups of learners contributes to their intercultural communicative competence (ICC), specifically, exploring how and what are the components of Byram's model (ICC) manifested in the OIE project. Furthermore, it examined the affordances of Facebook in the OIE project according to students' use, practice and perception. Informed by a sociocultural framework, this study took a constructivist mixed methods approach to analysis of data from learners' online discourse on Facebook, the researcher's journal and observations, pre-survey, semi-structured interviews, and a questionnaire. Data analysis and interpretation revealed that when students' participation were mutually compatible, the students were able to build meaningful relationships, used a range of various questioning techniques, and engaged in genuine dialogue, OIE has a great potential for developing students' intercultural competence, as many objectives of Byram's ICC model were manifested. Findings also revealed that the project has strengthened Saudi students' cultural identity as they found the space to present their culture and country beyond the stereotypical image that dominates the media. As with regard to Facebook affordances, findings showed that the semiotic design and various semiotic resources of Facebook (e.g. multimodal posts, sharing, notification, friending, semi-automated features, etc.) afford students' engagement in intercultural discussion, students' collaboration, and students' interpersonal relationship building. The study also identified some of Facebook's constraints that limited students' participation due to technological, cultural and social factors. In sum this study illuminates the nature of online intercultural communication between Arabic and English language learners, contributing to the scarce research on this population. It also uncovers the unique affordances as well as constraints of Facebook on an OIE project. Based on this study, several pedagogical implications and suggestions are made for future research in the field of online intercultural exchanges.

This thesis focuses on online communities - both their historic and current form. Various forms of communications are described, main focus is then given to identity online and self-presentation - various forms it can take, which expressive devices are used, how trustworthy is it and how is it perceived by other others. Influence of anonymity is mentioned. Empirical part of this work explores online friendship relations, cornerstone of the current wave of social networking services. It asks several questions about ways in which they affect communication between users. Relation between several factors (reciprocity, direction of initiation of said relation) and both quantity and frequency of communication between those users before and after that friendship is established.

Submitted by Cristiane Chim (cristiane.chim@ucpel.edu.br) on 2016-09-08T22:40:47Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Letícia.pdf: 3537022 bytes, checksum: 17b2e03240ebe267ead21a9843ad19ee (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-08T22:40:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Letícia.pdf: 3537022 bytes, checksum: 17b2e03240ebe267ead21a9843ad19ee (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-30 / This study aims to discuss how the symbolic violence can be characterized and perpetuated through “hints”, on Facebook. In other words, “hints” are implicit and subtle constructions that, in many times, are also disguised as humor that threaten directly the online representation of each person. We will discuss in this research some concepts like: symbolic domination, habitus under Bordieu’s perspective, established and outsiders from Norbert Elias (2000) and the delineated border by the own people designing superiority according to their social roles (GOFFMAN, 2013). The idea is showing that violence doesn’t manifests itself just in physical and explicit acts, but it also can be found in the discourses and overlooked in the social relationships, not being different on the online environments. From the characteristics of computers’ mediated conversation and the publics in network (BOYD, 2007; 2010) we will focus on rituals, the online representation of self (BOYD e ELLISON, 2007) and some particularities of network society that we live in, making questions that deal with the construction of face (GOFFMAN, 2012) of each person. After mentioning the theoretical background of this dissertation, we have chosen three pages, which the use of “hints” is frequent and, after that, we selected two posts of each, totaling six publications. We consult the methodology of Mediated Discourse by Computer Analysis (MDCA) developed by Herring (2004; 2012; 2013). This reference is justified due to the necessity to find patterns that can indicate the maintenance of symbolic violence through the resources offered by MDCA, especially in exchanges introduced on Facebook, in order to considerate the particularities of this multimodal context the meaning effects produced, widespread and hidden by the “hint”. / O presente estudo busca discutir como a violência simbólica pode ser caracterizada e perpetuada através das “indiretas” no Facebook, isto é, a partir de construções implícitas, sutis e muitas vezes travestidas de humor e que ameaçam diretamente a representação online de cada sujeito. Traremos para a pesquisa conceitos como o de dominação simbólica e de habitus, sob a perspectiva de Bourdieu (1930), de estabelecidos e outsiders de Norbert Elias (2000) e da fronteira desenhada pelos próprios indivíduos designando superioridade e normas a partir de seus papeis sociais (GOFFMAN, 2013). A ideia é mostrar que a violência não se manifesta somente em atos físicos e explícitos, mas também pode ser encontrada nos discursos e escamoteada nas relações sociais, não sendo diferente no ambiente online. A partir das características da conversação mediada por computador (CMC) e dos públicos em rede (BOYD, 2007; 2010) trataremos questões sobre os rituais, a representação online do self (BOYD e ELLISON, 2007) e particularidades da sociedade em rede (RECUERO, 2012) na qual estamos inseridos, levantando questionamentos que dizem respeito especialmente a construção da face (GOFFMAN, 2012) de cada sujeito. Ancorados em tais conceitos, escolhemos três páginas cujo uso das “indiretas” é frequente e selecionamos duas postagens de cada, totalizando seis publicações. Recorremos à metodologia da Análise do Discurso Mediada por Computador (CMDA) desenvolvida por Herring (2004; 2012; 2013) na tentativa de encontrar padrões capazes de indicar a manutenção da violência simbólica através da apropriação dos recursos oferecidos pela CMC, especialmente nas trocas instauradas no Facebook, de forma a considerar as peculiaridades deste contexto multimodal e os efeitos de sentido produzidos, disseminados e dissimulados pela “indireta”.