In today's globalized society, English is one of the main ways of communication. Therefore, teaching students English in such a way that they not only understand the basics, but are confident enough to communicate with an international population of varied ability and linguistic background becomes a high priority in school. In this study we look at the reported communicative confidence level (CCL) of learners at a Swedish upper secondary school. This quantitative study collected data from questionnaires from upper secondary students in the Swedish school. We found that the participants displayed an above average level of perceived communicative confidence; that a higher academic achievement correlated with a higher CCL; that the expected need, the context, and the interlocutors do not correlate with the CCL; and that a higher degree of formality and unfamiliarity of a communication situation seems to correlate with a lower CCL. To be able to make confident generalisations in the future about CCL, we suggest this study be reproduced on a larger set of data and that actual CCL, as opposed to participant perception of CCL, could be observed.

Examinations administered by the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) play a major role in the musical education of many individuals across Canada. The evaluative process needs to be a constructive one in order to ensure its positive impact on students’ musical education. Examiners who are confident and comfortable in their roles as assessors are more likely to provide this ideal environment for the students. Individuals at the dawn of their examining careers are prone to lower confidence and comfort levels due to their inexperience. Yet all music students deserve an optimal examination situation, even from new examiners. Ensuring that an examiner receives proper training will help to increase their confidence and comfort levels while assessing students. This study examined the elements of an examiner’s education, experience and preparation which contributed to higher confidence and comfort levels as they participated in the RCM evaluative process. Ten individuals participated in surveys and interviews. Seven were recent apprentices of the examiner training program and three were senior examiners. Their experiences and insights given in a narrative form shed light on which elements of their background and training benefited them as examiners. According to the participants, varied and extensive pedagogical training, taking exams as students and intensive performance education gave them the most advantages during their early careers as examiners. Regarding the examiner apprenticeship program, participants felt that they would have benefited from more practical experience during the early classroom seminar, additional opportunities to observe students at varying performing levels and more time for discussion with their mentors. These recommendations for background preparation and enhanced training are intended to give examiners greater confidence in their evaluative roles early in their careers, enabling them to provide constructive and effective assessments for students and their teachers.

Examinations administered by the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) play a major role in the musical education of many individuals across Canada. The evaluative process needs to be a constructive one in order to ensure its positive impact on students’ musical education. Examiners who are confident and comfortable in their roles as assessors are more likely to provide this ideal environment for the students. Individuals at the dawn of their examining careers are prone to lower confidence and comfort levels due to their inexperience. Yet all music students deserve an optimal examination situation, even from new examiners. Ensuring that an examiner receives proper training will help to increase their confidence and comfort levels while assessing students. This study examined the elements of an examiner’s education, experience and preparation which contributed to higher confidence and comfort levels as they participated in the RCM evaluative process. Ten individuals participated in surveys and interviews. Seven were recent apprentices of the examiner training program and three were senior examiners. Their experiences and insights given in a narrative form shed light on which elements of their background and training benefited them as examiners. According to the participants, varied and extensive pedagogical training, taking exams as students and intensive performance education gave them the most advantages during their early careers as examiners. Regarding the examiner apprenticeship program, participants felt that they would have benefited from more practical experience during the early classroom seminar, additional opportunities to observe students at varying performing levels and more time for discussion with their mentors. These recommendations for background preparation and enhanced training are intended to give examiners greater confidence in their evaluative roles early in their careers, enabling them to provide constructive and effective assessments for students and their teachers.

L'expérience CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid), construite sur l'anneau du LHC (Large Hadron Collider), enregistre des données provenant des collisions proton-proton depuis 2 ans. L'alignement entre toutes les couches du trajectographe, sous-détecteur de CMS permettant la reconstruction et la mesure de l'impulstion des particules chargées, est effectué à l'aide de traces de particules créées lors de la collision et des traces créées par le passage de muons d'origine cosmique à travers ce détecteur. La première partie de ce livre sera dédiée à la reconstruction des traces de ces muons lors des collisions. Une nouvelle méthode, appelée reconstruction cosmique régionale, a été développée et mise en place. L'efficacité de 69% et le taux de faux de l'ordre de 1% permettent l'utilisation de ces traces pour l'alignement. La deuxième partie, portant sur l'analyse des données de collision, s'intéressera à la recherche de particules prédites par un modèle d'extension du Modèle Standard, la Supersymétrie, dans un scénario particulier, le scénario du Stop Léger. Dans le cas d'un fort mélange dans la troisième génération de squarks, le stop, partenaire supersymétrique du quark top, peut être léger. Dans l'analyse effectuée au cours de cette thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés au cas au mstop < mtop. Dans le MSSM avec conservation de la R-parité, le gluino serait formé par paire et se désintégrerait en un squark stop et un quark top. Le stop se désintégrerait quant-à-lui en un quark c et un neutralino, particule supersymétrique la plus légère du modèle, stable et interagissant faiblement. Aucun excès par rapport aux prédictions du Modèle Standard n'a été relevé en utilisant les 40pb-1 de données enregistrées par CMS en 2010. Les limites obtenues à 95% de niveau de confiance permettent d'exclure des masses de stop jusqu'à 175 GeV pour des masses de gluinos allant jusqu'à 350 GeV et des faibles différences de masses entre le stop et le neutralino / The CMS experiment (Compact Muon Solenoid), built on the ring of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider), is recording data from proton-proton collisions for 2 years now. The alignment between all layers of the tracker, the sub-detector of CMS allowing the reconstruction and the measurement of the momentum of charged particles, is made by using tracks of particles created during collisions and tracks created by the passage of cosmic muons through this sub-detector. A first part of the presentation will be dedicated to the reconstruction of the tracks of these cosmic muons during collisions. A new method, called regional cosmic reconstruction, was developed and implemented. The 69 % efficiency and the fake rate around 1 % allow to use these tracks for the alignment. The second part, dedicated to the analysis of collision data, will concern the search of particles predicted by a model of extension of the Standard Model, the Supersymmetry, in a particular scenario, the light Stop scenario. In the case of a strong mixing in the third generation of squarks, the stop, supersymmetric partner of the top quark, could be light. In the analysis developped during this thesis, we were interested in the case where the mstop < mtop. In the MSSM with R-parity conservation, the gluino would be created by pair and would decay in a stop squark and a top quark. Stop would decays in a c quark and a neutralino, the lightest supereymmetric particle of the model, stable and interacting weakly. No excess with regards to Standard Model predictions was observed in 40pb-1 of data recorded by CMS in 2010. The limits obtained at 95 % confidence level allow to exclude masses of stop until 175 GeV for masses of gluinos going up to 350 GeV and low differences of masses between stop and neutralino

Kontroll av zinkskikt på monterat räckesmaterial som görs ute i fält saknar en fastställd metod. Zinktjockleken har ett minimum tjocklekskrav enligt den svenska standarden ISO 1461:2009, som bestäms av dimensionen på ståldetaljens tjocklek. Trafikverket begär att med hjälp av detta examensarbete kunna begränsa antal mätningar på plats, då kan det ta allt för mycket tid och arbetsresurser i fall det skulle behövas kontroll av väg-och bro räckesanläggningar från beställaren. Sannolikhetsläran och stickprov i statistik hjälper oss att begränsa antalet mätningarna på skyddsanordningarna som görs ute i fält. Med hjälp av normalfördelning kommer man fram till den efter strävade metoden, som med en rimlig arbetsinsats ger en rättvisbild av skikttjockleken på monterat räckesmaterial. Vid variation av varmförzinkaren på vägräckesanläggningar undersöker man varje leverantörs räckesdel för sig, alltså man mäter zinktjockleken på en varmförzikare för sig, kontrollerar zinkskiktstjockleken på de och tar slutsatser sedan går man vidare till nästa tillverkare. Om vägräckena är mindre än 30 stycken mäter man zinktjockleken på respektive anläggning. För beräkning av zinkskiktstjockleken på monterad räckesmaterial börjar man med 30 mätningar och användning av den centrala gränsvärde satsen för att approximera till normalfördelning och analysera resultatet. Det slutliga resultatet av examensarbetet är ett Excelprogram med inmatade formler. Excel programmet är ett hjälpmedel för framtagning av 95 % konfidensintervall. Med hjälp av detta intervall kan man ta slutsatser om zinkskiktet på vägräckena uppfyller kravet eller inte och kunna komma fram till ett resultat. Om kravet ligger i intervallet eller store än intervallet är materialet godkänt. / Control of zinc coating on assembled railing materials made on site lacks a common methodology. Zinc coating should have a minimum thickness requirements according to the Swedish standard ISO 1461:2009, which is determined by the dimension of the steel thickness. Trafikverket expects that with help from this thesis it could limit the number of measurements on site, otherwise it will take too much time and labor resources, in case control of road and bridge railing systems are required from the customer.  Probabilities and sampling in statistics helps us to limit the number of measurements of the protective devices that are made in the field. Using normal distribution, one arrive at the element of method that with reasonable effort gives a fair picture of the layer thickness of the assembled railing materials. Upon variation of the galvanizers on road barrier systems, each part is investigated separately by measuring zinc thickness of a galvanizers, checking the zinc coating thickness on them, take conclusions and later on investigate the next manufacturer. If a crash barrier is less than 30 pieces, the zinc coating thickness is measured at each facility by itself. For calculation of the zinc coating thickness on a mounted railing material one begins with 30 measurements and the use of the central limit theorem to approximate it to normal distribution and analyze the results. The final result of the thesis is an Excel program with input formulas. The Excel program is a tool for producing 95% confidence interval. Using this interval, one can make conclusions that if the zinc coating on a crash barrier fulfills the requirement or not and later on be able to come up with a result. If the requirement is in the interval or larger than the interval, the material is approved.

In this paper, we will investigate the important properties of three major parts of statistical inference: point estimation, interval estimation and hypothesis testing. For point estimation, we consider the two methods of finding estimators: moment estimators and maximum likelihood estimators, and three methods of evaluating estimators: mean squared error, best unbiased estimators and sufficiency and unbiasedness. For interval estimation, we consider the the general confidence interval, confidence interval in one sample, confidence interval in two samples, sample sizes and finite population correction factors. In hypothesis testing, we consider the theory of testing of hypotheses, testing in one sample, testing in two samples, and the three methods of finding tests: uniformly most powerful test, likelihood ratio test and goodness of fit test. Many examples are used to illustrate their applications.