Cette thèse porte sur l’impact de l’usage de la sémantique dans le processus de la classification supervisée de textes. Cet impact est évalué au travers d’une étude expérimentale sur des documents issus du domaine médical et en utilisant UMLS (Unified Medical Language System) en tant que ressource sémantique. Cette évaluation est faite selon quatre scénarii expérimentaux d’ajout de sémantique à plusieurs niveaux du processus de classification. Le premier scénario correspond à la conceptualisation où le texte est enrichi avant indexation par des concepts correspondant dans UMLS ; le deuxième et le troisième scénario concernent l’enrichissement des vecteurs représentant les textes après indexation dans un sac de concepts (BOC – bag of concepts) par des concepts similaires. Enfin le dernier scénario utilise la sémantique au niveau de la prédiction des classes, où les concepts ainsi que les relations entre eux, sont impliqués dans la prise de décision. Le premier scénario est testé en utilisant trois des méthodes de classification: Rocchio, NB et SVM. Les trois autres scénarii sont uniquement testés en utilisant Rocchio qui est le mieux à même d’accueillir les modifications nécessaires. Au travers de ces différentes expérimentations nous avons tout d’abord montré que des améliorations significatives pouvaient être obtenues avec la conceptualisation du texte avant l’indexation. Ensuite, à partir de représentations vectorielles conceptualisées, nous avons constaté des améliorations plus modérées avec d’une part l’enrichissement sémantique de cette représentation vectorielle après indexation, et d’autre part l’usage de mesures de similarité sémantique en prédiction. / The main interest of this research is the effect of using semantics in the process of supervised text classification. This effect is evaluated through an experimental study on documents related to the medical domain using the UMLS (Unified Medical Language System) as a semantic resource. This evaluation follows four scenarios involving semantics at different steps of the classification process: the first scenario incorporates the conceptualization step where text is enriched with corresponding concepts from UMLS; both the second and the third scenarios concern enriching vectors that represent text as Bag of Concepts (BOC) with similar concepts; the last scenario considers using semantics during class prediction, where concepts as well as the relations between them are involved in decision making. We test the first scenario using three popular classification techniques: Rocchio, NB and SVM. We choose Rocchio for the other scenarios for its extendibility with semantics. According to experiment, results demonstrated significant improvement in classification performance using conceptualization before indexing. Moderate improvements are reported using conceptualized text representation with semantic enrichment after indexing or with semantic text-to-text semantic similarity measures for prediction.

Title: The Process of Acquiring the Linguistic Concept of Conjunction by Primary School Pupils Author: Mgr. Jana Martáková Styblíková Department: Czech Language Department Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Eva Hájková, CSc. Abstract: The dissertation deals with the issue of acquiring the linguistic concept and the term of the conjunction by primary school pupils of 1st-5th, works with children's preconceptions in the language area and introduces how the pupils of the first grade of the elementary school work with the term conjunction. It maps the cognitive processes of pupils in the context of the acquisition of the conjunction language phenomenon and the important moments in which the primary child preconception changes into the language term in the pupils mind. Introduces with the process of conceptualizing the language reality, in which he detaches from the naive child concept of conjunction to the specific linguistic term of a conjunction as a verbal type. It describes the individual parts of the research, in which the individual thought movements of pupils in the area of linguistic gripping of the term conjunction are gradually transformed. It presents the individual research methods as tools by which we monitor the development of the preconception of the conjunction in the linguistic concept. Managed interviews...

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This master thesis aims to enhance the understanding of innovation processes at the early stages of development and grant praxeological perspective on exploratory projects. Firstly, it provides a bibliographic overview of the previously conducted research within the Innovation Studies field. It discusses innovation systems, institutions and networks, examines the linkage between innovation and knowledge and defines the specificities of the Natural Resource-Based Industries, which constitutes the context of the present study. Then, an analysis on the most popular, within academia and industry, innovation tracking methodologies, their strengths and weaknesses is carried out. The output seeks to contribute with knowledge and assess the available systems. The thesis is anchored in an embedded case study at an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of heavy machinery for NRBIs and aims to identify the company’s challenges and activities in relation to innovation, as well as possible correlation between them. For this purpose, the research bridges theoretical models on exploratory projects, ambidexterity, Design Thinking (DT) and conceptualization of entrepreneurial management. Findings show that (i) Stevenson’s model of conceptualization of Entrepreneurial Management can be adapted and applied effectively to Innovation Management, (ii) the relationship between exploratory and New Product Development (NPD) projects is more of a parallel, interdependent and overlapping nature rather than linear and sequential and (iii) there is a linkage between the identified challenges and activities. The latter shall (a) serve as a starting point for scholars to carry out further research in the field of Innovation Studies and (b) navigate practitioners through tracking and accelerating innovation at the early stages of development. / Denna masteruppsats syftar till att förbättra för innovationsprocesser i de tidiga utvecklingsstadierna och ge en praxeologisk synvinkel på utforskande projekt. Först ges en bibliografisk översikt över tidigare forskning inom innovationsstudier. Den diskuterar innovationsystem, institutioner och nätverk, undersöker kopplingen mellan innovation och kunskap och definierar särdragen för naturresursbaserade industrier, vilket utgör kontexten för den aktuella studien. Därefter genomförs en analys av de mest populära innovationsuppföljningsmetoderna inom både akademi och industri, deras styrkor och svagheter. Resultatet syftar till att bidra med kunskap och utvärdera tillgängliga system. Uppsatsen är förankrad i en ingående fallstudie hos en originalutrustningstillverkare (OEM) av tunga maskiner för naturresursbaserade industrier och syftar till att identifiera företagets utmaningar och aktiviteter i relation till innovation, samt eventuella samband mellan dem. För detta ändamål kopplar forskningen samman teoretiska modeller om utforskande projekt, ambidextri, Design Thinking (DT) och konceptualisering av entreprenöriellt ledarskap. Resultaten visar att (i) Stevensons modell för konceptualisering av entreprenöriellt ledarskap kan anpassas och tillämpas effektivt på innovationsledning, (ii) relationen mellan utforskande projekt och utveckling av nya produkter (NPD) är mer av en parallell, ömsesidigt beroende och överlappande karaktär snarare än linjär och sekventiell, och (iii) det finns ett samband mellan de identifierade utmaningarna och aktiviteterna. Det senare ska (a) utgöra en utgångspunkt för forskare att genomföra ytterligare forskning inom innovationsstudier och (b) hjälpa praktiker att följa och påskynda innovation i de tidiga utvecklingsstadierna.

Reading this dissertation means joining me on an 8-year journey that began with my desire to understand the lives and decisions of African immigrants in relation to retention and transmission of our native languages and cultures. The Akan say that <i>ntontom pe n'ase fi ako, na nframa ebo no</i>. Wherefore, like the mosquito propelled by the wind blowing me towards my desired direction, I sat under the shade of the heritage tree as I pondered how to get there. The journey became a quest to find an approach or methodology that will not just talk about African languages and cultural retention and transmission, but also center histories, worldviews, and philosophies while actively encouraging these values. Thus, approaching storytelling from the African oral tradition, I arrived at the development of the African Oral Traditional Storytelling (AOTS) Framework as an ethical and culturally centered approach to studying with African peoples. Because I wanted to go far and not fast, two heads (African families in the Midwest) collaborated with me by sharing through our African oral traditions and storytelling, our lived experiences of how we (as parents) navigate usage, retention and transmission of our living native languages and cultures while in the U.S. Emergent in this approach to storying, was the AOTS Framework. Now, what was needed was a description of the framework retrospective of the shared stories; what does it look like? What did/will she do, and how will she birth a transformative and relevant approach to satisfy that hunger for African histories, worldviews, indigenous knowledges and philosophies in research? The AOTS Framework, through African oral traditional storytelling, brings to the fore the relevant and essential role that African philosophies, worldviews, languages, and cultures play in understanding African peoples' experiences. Our stories reveal how our African worldviews and languages (embedded with our indigenous knowledge) inform how we navigate decision on 1) building a community of like-minded people from the continent, same country and ethnic group; 2) decolonizing our minds about the value of African languages, cultures, and worldviews: building a sense of pride in our indigenous ways and teaching them to our children as a resistance to neocolonialism and global erasure; 3) cultural, linguistic, and identity reconceptualization, revitalization, redefinition, and resistance; 4) conscious effort to use native language in the home; and 5) racialized experiences that influence decisions about heritage language retention and transmission. With that, we stand on the shoulders of postcolonial and decolonial theory, as we move through postcolonial indigenous methodologies in resisting imperialism and coloniality in education, research and language in relation to African peoples. Additionally, the AOTS Framework is the arable land that is not selective in growing varied linguistic, cultural, and philosophical perspectives of African peoples in research albeit challenges in relation to transitioning oral techniques into writing. As a framework, our desire and interests in learning with African peoples is not a question-and-answer approach. Instead, it is a collaborative, communal approach where the privileged gatherer shares in co-creating stories, meanings, and understandings with African peoples.<br>

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Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Text in Afrikaans / Die waarde van visueel-perseptuele skoling of terapie vir visueel-perseptueel gestremde leerlinge as 'n subgroep van leergestremdheid, is reeds vir dekades 'n omstrede aangeleentheid. Hierdie omstredenheid is ondersoek aan die hand van sewe internasionaal erkende psigometriese toetse. Die interne konsekwentheidskoeffisiente van hierdie toetse het vir die huidige studie van 0,62 tot 0,95 gestrek. 'n Faktorontleding van die toetsinterkorrelasies het 'n gemeenskaplike faktor blootgele. Ses toetse was primer visueel-perseptueel, en Goodenough <1926> se skaal is vir die bepaling van intelligensie gebruik. Bykomend hiertoe, is leerlinge se prestasies in hul eerste taal, wiskunde en skrif gebruik om die effek van terapie te bepaal. Proefpersone is as visueel-perseptueel gestremd gediagnoseer deur 'n opvoedkundige sielkundige en 'n visuele skolingsentrum in Pretoria, waar eksper imentele leerlinge terapie ontvang het. Hierdie diagnoses is deur die Test for Visual Analysis Skills wat beduidend tussen normale en visueelperseptueel gestremdes onderskei, bevestig. Die toets se geldigheid vir Suid-Afrikaanse omstandighede is in 'n voorstudie bepaal. Honderd en ses, ses- tot negejarige proefpersone (82 seuns en 24 dogters>, van normale intelligensie, gesigskerpte en gehoor, is betrek. Drie en vyftig het die eksperimentele groep gevorm wat onderverdeel is in 32 wat terapie voltooi het, en 21 wat nie het nie. Hierdie leerlinge is individueel afgepaar met kontroleleerlinge van dieselfde geslag, ouderdom, huistaal, sosio-ekonomiese status en skoolstanderd. Eksperimentele leerlinge het visuele terapie in n breer groepsverband vir een uur per week ontvang. Terapieperiodes het van 4 tot 15 maande gewissel. Die eksperimentele ontwerp was 'n voortoets-natoets-tweegroepontwerp. t-Toetse vir afhanklike (afgepaarde) groepe is uitgevoer op die verskille tussen voor- en natoetstellings, asook tussen die eksperimentele en kontrolegroepe. Geeneen van die primer visueel-oerseptuele meettegnieke het beduidende resultate opgelewer nie. Dit is aanduidend van die ondoeltreffendheid van visueel-perseptuele terapie om die tekorte waarop dit gemik is, reg te stel. Die waarde van visueel-perseptueie terapie is inteendeel beperk tot 'n oorhoofse verbetering in konseptualisering en intellektuele ryping by die groep wat terapie voltooi het. Skrif was die enigste vak wat by dieselfde groep beduidend verbeter het. Hierdie resultaat is egter twyfelagtig vanwee beoordelingstekorte. / The value of visual perceptual training or therapy, to visually perceptually impaired pupils as a subgroup of the learning disabled, has been a controversy far decades. This controversy was investigated by means of seven internationally recognised psychometric tests. The internal consistency coefficients of these tests for the present study ranged from 0,62 to 0,95. A factor analysis of test intercorrelations revealed a common factor. Six tests were primarily visual perceptual, whilst the Goodenough (1926) scale determined intelligence. Additionally, pupils' performance in their first language, mathematics and writing, was used to assess the therapeutic effect. Subjects were diagnosed as visually perceptually impaired by an educational psychologist and a visual training centre in Pretoria where experimental pupils received therapy. These diagnoses were confirmed by the Test for Visual Analysis Skills, which significantly differentiates between the normal and visually perceptually impaired. This test's validity for South African circumstances was determined in a prestudy. One hundred and six, six to nine year old subjects <82 boys and 24 girls>, of normal intelligence, visual acuity and hearing, were involved. Fifty three formed the experimental group which was subdivided in 32 who completed therapy, and 21 who did not. These pupils were individualiy matched with controls of similar sex, age, home language, socio economic status and school standard. Experimental pupils received visual therapy within a broader group context for one hour per week. Therapy periods fluctuated between 4 and 15 months. The experimental design was a pretest-posttest two group design. t-Tests for dependant <matched) groups were conducted on the differences between pre and oosttest scores, as well as between the experimental and control groups. None of the primarily visual perceptual tests revealed significant results. This signifies the inefficiency of visual perceptual therapy to rectify the deficits at which it is directed. The value of visual perceptual therapy is, on the contrary, restricted to an overall improvement in conceptualization and intellectual maturation within the group which completed therapy. Writing was the only subject which improved significantly within the same group. However, this result is dubious, due to evaluation deficits. / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

This thesis is about whether language affects thinking. It deals with the linguistic relativity hypothesis, which proposes that the language we speak influences the way we think. This hypothesis is investigated in the domain of caused motion (e.g., ‘The man rolled the tyre into the garage’), by looking at Spanish and Swedish, two languages that show striking differences in how motion events are encoded. The thesis consists of four studies. The first two focus on native speakers of Spanish and Swedish. Study I compares how Spanish and Swedish speakers describe the same set of caused motion events, directing the spotlight at how variable the descriptions are in each language. The results confirm earlier findings from semantic typology regarding the dominant ways of expressing the events in each language: Spanish behaves like a verb-framed language and Swedish like a satellite-framed language (Talmy, 2000). Going beyond previous findings, the study demonstrates—using the tools of entropy and Monte Carlo simulations—that there is markedly more variability in Spanish than in Swedish descriptions. Study II tests whether differences in how Spanish and Swedish speakers describe caused motion events are reflected in how they think about such events. Using a novel similarity arrangement task, it is found that Spanish and Swedish speakers partly differ in how they represent caused motion events if they can access language during the task. However, the differences disappear when the possibility to use language is momentarily blocked by an interference task. The last two studies focus on Swedish learners of Spanish as a second language (L2). Study III explores how Swedish learners (compared to native Spanish speakers) adapt their Spanish motion descriptions to recently encountered input. Using insights from the literature on structural priming, we find that Swedish learners initially expect to encounter in their L2, Spanish, those verb types that are typical in Swedish (manner verbs like ‘roll’) but that, with increasing proficiency, their expectations become increasingly attuned to the typical Spanish pattern of using path verbs (like ‘enter’).  These expectations are reflected in the way L2 learners adapt their own production to the Spanish input. Study IV asks whether recent linguistic experience in an L2 can affect how L2 learners think about motion events. It is found that encountering motion descriptions in the L2 that emphasize different types of information (path or manner) leads L2 speakers to perceive similarity along different dimensions in a subsequent similarity arrangement task. Taken together, the thesis argues that the study of the relation between language and thought affords more valuable insights when not posed as an either-or question (i.e., does language affect thought or not?). In this spirit, the thesis contributes to the wider aim of investigating the conditions under which language does or does not affect thought and explores what the different outcomes tell us about language, thought, and the intricate mechanisms that relate them. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript.</p>

Ce projet de recherche revisite la conceptualisation du logement et des ressources résidentielles pour les adultes avec un trouble mental. Les objectifs visent : (1) à identifier les attributs, dimensions et domaines ; (2) à développer un nouveau modèle ; (3) à concevoir un instrument de mesure pour décrire l’éventail des ressources résidentielles en santé mentale. Méthodologie : Phase 1: Le devis de recherche s’articule autour de la cartographie de concepts, caractérisée par une méthodologie mixte. L’échantillonnage, par choix raisonné, a permis de recueillir une pluralité de perceptions et d’expériences (p.ex. personnes utilisatrices de services, proches, responsables de ressources résidentielles, gestionnaires). Les participants proviennent de cinq régions du Québec (nombre total de participations = 722). Au cours des six étapes de la cartographie de concepts, les participants ont généré des attributs décrivant le logement (n = 221), leur ont accordé une cote numérique (n = 416) et les ont regroupés en catégories (n = 73). Douze participants ont interprété des cartes conceptuelles produites par des analyses multivariées, soit l’échelonnage multidimensionnel (MDS) et la typologie hiérarchique. Des analyses par composantes principales (PCAs) ont été utilisées pour raffiner la conceptualisation (n = 228). Phase II: L’instrument a été développé, utilisé et ajusté à la suite de deux groupes de discussions (n = 23) et d’une étude transversale auprès de ressources résidentielles (n = 258). La passation se fait via une entrevue téléphonique semi-structurée enregistrée, d’une durée moyenne de 130 minutes. Résultats : Les participants ont généré 1382 idées (99.5% de saturation). Les cartes conceptuelles issues de la cartographie de concepts comprennent 140 idées (attributs du logement), 12 dimensions et cinq domaines (indice de stress MDS = 0.2302, 10 itérations). Les analyses PCAs ont permis de retenir quatre domaines, 11 composantes (α = 0.600 à 0.933) et 81 attributs. Les domaines sont : (1) environnement géophysique; (2) atmosphère et fonctionnement du milieu; (3) soutien et interventions offerts; (4) pratiques organisationnelles et managériales. L’instrument développé comprend quatre domaines, 10 dimensions et 83 attributs. À cela s’ajoutent des variables descriptives. L’instrument résulte des Phases I et II de ce projet. Conclusion : L’instrument a été développé en collaboration avec diverses parties prenantes, à partir de considérations ontologiques, réalistes, causales et statistiques. Il dresse le profil détaillé d’une ressource résidentielle sous ses différentes facettes et s’appuie sur la prémisse qu’il n’existe pas de milieu résidentiel idéal pour tous. / It is still a challenge to systematically describe housing for adults with severe mental illness and identify attributes that differentiate between facilities. While revisiting housing conceptualization, this research project objective is threefold: (1) identify common and commensurate housing attributes, dimensions and domains; (2) generate a new housing model; (3) develop an environmental instrument to describe housing ranging from 24-hour staffed congregate settings to apartment with no onsite support. Methods: Phase 1: A mixed-methods participatory approach as well as a purposeful sampling strategy designed to gather a mixture of relevant viewpoints were used. Participants were from five regions of Quebec and included multiple stakeholders (e.g. consumers, family members, operators of facilities, managers). As part of a six-step group concept mapping process, participants brainstormed (n = 221), rated (n = 416) and sorted (n = 73) into categories housing attributes. Participants (n = 12) were also involved in the interpretation of the conceptual maps produced using two-dimensional multidimensional scaling (MDS) and hierarchical cluster analysis (total incidents of participation = 722). These maps and the rating data obtained from a subgroup of participants (n = 228) were used to conduct principal components analyses (PCAs) to refine the conceptualization. Phase II: An instrument was designed, used and adjusted. The study design included two focus groups with experts (n = 23) as well as a cross sectional survey with 258 residential facilities. The instrument was administered using audio-taped semi-structured telephone interviews (130 minutes in average). Results: Participants brainstormed 1382 statements (99.5% saturation). The conceptual maps (MDS stress value = 0.2302, 10 iterations) comprised 140 selected statements (housing attributes), 12 dimensions and five preliminary domains. Corroboration and refinement using PCAs retained four domains, 11 components (α = 0.600 to 0.933) and 81 attributes. The domains are: (1) geo-physical environment; (2) milieu atmosphere and functioning; (3) provision of services and support; (4) organizational and managerial practices. Based on Phase I and II results, the environmental instrument comprises 4 domains, 10 dimensions and 83 attributes. It also includes descriptive variables. Conclusion: The instrument was designed with stakeholders’ inputs and based on conceptual, statistical and empirical considerations. It provides a multifaceted facility profile based on multiple levels attributes. It covers several elements of healthcare quality assessment starting from the assumption that there is no ideal setting for all.

La « pensée mixte » est une approche de la composition caractérisée par l’interaction de trois pensées: la pensée instrumentale, la pensée électroacoustique et la pensée informatique. Elle prend la forme d’un réseau où le compositeur fait des aller-retours entre les trois pensées et réalise des équivalences paramétriques. La pensée instrumentale se rattache à la tradition de l’écriture occidentale, la pensée électroacoustique fait allusion aux pratiques du studio analogique et de la musique acousmatique, et la pensée informatique fait référence aux pratiques numériques de la programmation visuelle et de l’analyse spectrale. Des lieux communs existent où s’opèrent l’interaction des trois pensées: la notion du studio instrumental de Ivo Malec, la notion de musique concrète instrumentale de Helmut Lachenmann, la composition assistée par ordinateur, la musique spectrale, l’approche instrumentale par montage, la musique acousmatique s’inspirant de la tradition musicale écrite et les musiques mixtes. Ces domaines constituent les influences autour desquelles j’ai composé un corpus de deux cycles d’œuvres: Les Larmes du Scaphandre et le Nano-Cosmos. L’analyse des œuvres met en évidence la notion de « pensée mixte » en abordant la pensée électroacoustique dans ma pratique instrumentale, la pensée informatique dans ma pratique musicale, et la pensée instrumentale dans ma pratique électroacoustique. / “Mixed-method thinking” is an approach to composition characterized by the interaction of three streams of compositional thought: instrumental, electroacoustic and computing-based. It takes the form of a network within which the composer goes back and forth between these three types of conceptualization and succeeds in finding equivalences between parameters. Instrumental thinking is connected to the Western notated compositional tradition, electroacoustic thinking alludes to practices derived from the analog studio environment and the acousmatic music tradition, and computing-based thinking refers to visual programming and spectral analysis practices. Common areas exist where all three forms of thinking interact: Ivo Malec’s notion of the instrumental studio, Helmut Lachenmann’s notion of musique concrète instrumentale, computer-assisted composition, spectral music, the montage approach to instrumental composition, acousmatic music inspired by the written musical tradition and genres combining instruments with fixed media or electronics. These areas comprise the influences around which I composed a corpus of two cycles of works: Les Larmes du Scaphandre and Nano-Cosmos. Analysis of these works demonstrates the notion of “mixed-method thinking” through the adoption of electroacoustic thinking in my instrumental composition practice, computational thinking in my musical practice, and instrumental thinking in my electroacoustic practice.