Au début de l'adolescence, les relations d'amitié jouent un rôle grandissant dans le développement social et affectif des jeunes. Différents aspects des relations entre pairs ont été examinés jusqu'à présent en lien avec le bien-être psychologique. La présente thèse propose de se pencher sur un aspect négligé des relations entre pairs au début de l'adolescence: le niveau de stabilité temporelle du réseau d'amis. La majorité des études présente une conception statique des amitiés. Or, les relations d'amitié à l'adolescence évoluent dans une perspective temporelle. Dans les rares cas où la stabilité est considérée, les amitiés sont typiquement mesurées à deux moments au cours d'une année scolaire. Les mesures annuelles sont restreintes dans leur capacité à bien cerner la nature changeante des réseaux d'amis au début de l'adolescence. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, des innovations sur le plan méthodologique ont donc été proposées afin d'évaluer les variations temporelles du réseau en se basant sur plus de deux temps de mesure et en utilisant des intervalles de temps plus rapprochés. L'objectif général de cette thèse de doctorat consiste à examiner la stabilité dans le réseau d'amis au début de l'adolescence. L'examen de la stabilité est basé sur l'utilisation d'une mesure auto-révélée des amitiés. En effet, les recherches démontrent que la perception des jeunes sur leurs relations interpersonnelles peut avoir un impact sur leur bien-être psychologique. Le premier objectif vise à décrire les changements qui peuvent être observés dans le réseau d'amis sur de très courts intervalles de temps. La stabilité a été examinée en tenant compte de différentes caractéristiques des amitiés qui composent le réseau, notamment le statut des amis (meilleur ami vs. ami secondaire), le sexe des amis (même sexe vs. sexe opposé) et le contexte de fréquentation des amitiés (école, hors école, multicontexte). Le second objectif consiste à approfondir le construit de stabilité du réseau en examinant les liens qu'il présente avec un indicateur de bien-être psychologique en hausse au début de l'adolescence, notamment les sentiments dépressifs. Une nouvelle procédure basée sur des entrevues téléphoniques mensuelles a été développée pour répondre à ces questions de recherche. Cent deux élèves (51 filles; âge moyen = 12 ans) provenant de la grande région de Montréal et de niveaux socio-économiques variés forment l'échantillon de cette étude. Un devis longitudinal a été employé. Les données portant sur le réseau d'amis et les symptômes dépressifs ont été obtenues à partir de questionnaires complétés en classe et d'entrevues téléphoniques menées sur une base mensuelle au cours d'une période de cinq mois. Les résultats indiquent qu'une proportion importante (i.e., environ un tiers) d'amitiés du réseau s'est avérée instable au cours de la période de cinq mois. Cette instabilité semble plus marquée chez les filles. De plus, les meilleures amitiés, celles de même sexe (seulement chez les filles) et celles provenant de multiples contextes ont été perçues comme étant plus stables que les amitiés secondaires, celles de sexe opposé et celles provenant d'un seul contexte. Par ailleurs, les adolescents qui ont rapporté un niveau élevé d'instabilité dans leur réseau ont également éprouvé une augmentation de leurs sentiments dépressifs au cours de la période de cinq mois. Des analyses mensuelles ont permis de déterminer plus spécifiquement la direction de ce lien. Les résultats ont indiqué que des symptômes dépressifs élevés à un mois donné prédit significativement une augmentation du niveau d'instabilité des amitiés le mois suivant. Par contre, la relation inverse ne s'est pas avérée significative. Enfin, la détresse psychologique est surtout observée lorsque les jeunes perçoivent de l'instabilité parmi leurs meilleures amitiés ou parmi leurs amitiés de l'école. En conclusion, la pertinence du construit de stabilité temporelle du réseau d'amis a été montrée dans cette thèse puisque des variations individuelles dans le niveau de stabilité ont été observées et associées à la détresse psychologique. L'analyse du changement basée sur l'utilisation d'un devis longitudinal comprenant de multiples prises de mesure séparées par de courts intervalles de temps a permis d'examiner les amitiés des adolescents sur une perspective temporelle, ce qui contribue ultimement à approfondir notre compréhension des processus dynamiques par lesquels les réseaux d'amis évoluent au début de l'adolescence et affectent leur bien-être psychologique. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Stabilité, Réseau, Amitié, Dépression, Adolescence.

L'astroturfing est une stratégie de communication dont la source réelle est occultée et qui prétend à tort être d'origine citoyenne. Il s'agit d'une stratégie trompeuse, puisqu'elle modifie sa source et ment sur son origine réelle. Bien que l'astroturfing s'inscrive en faux par rapport à la communication démocratique idéale, il en est peu fait mention dans la littérature scientifique, qui n'offre ni cadre théorique pouvant expliquer l'astroturfing, ni définition, ni portrait holistique du phénomène. Notre thèse explore l'astroturfing en présentant un portrait le plus fidèle possible de ce phénomène, puis réfléchit à l'impact qu'il peut avoir dans nos sociétés. L'hypothèse posée est que : Si l'astroturfing participe à la mise à l'agenda, alors il exerce une influence sur les agendas public, médiatique et politique. Ce faisant, l'astroturfing et ses voix astroturfs créent dans l'espace public des dysfonctions susceptibles de nuire à l'exercice de la communication démocratique et de la démocratie. Le cadre théorique s'articule autour de l'idée de démocratie et des jeux d'influence qui s'élaborent dans la communication émergeant au sein de l'espace public. L'idée de démocratie est centrée sur le citoyen, ses opinions et ses décisions, qui forment la pierre angulaire de ce système politique. Ce constat met en exergue l'importance de la voix citoyenne dans les démocraties. L'étude des groupes d'intérêts, de leurs rôles et de leurs impacts dans les démocraties mène à l'exploration des fonctions d'agenda (agenda-building, agenda-setting) et des nombreux mécanismes d'influence (influence interpersonnelle, two-step flow of communication, etc.) qui lient les acteurs en société. Ces théories mettent en évidence la principale motivation de l'astroturfing : influencer les agendas. Par la suite, le concept d'espace public pose les bases normatives de ce que serait la communication démocratique idéale (délibération, création et publicité de l'opinion publique). Ces critères sont ceux auxquels nous confrontons l'astroturfing pour juger de ses effets sur la communication démocratique et sur la démocratie. La recherche empirique menée est de nature exploratoire mixte. Son objectif principal est de déceler un nombre significatif de cas d'astroturfing dont l'analyse permet de dresser un portrait de ce phénomène communicationnel. Par une recherche documentaire sur le Web, 99 cas (s'appuyant sur 548 documents) sont débusqués. Un questionnaire ouvert guide l'analyse de contenu de ce corpus et permet d'identifier les processus de création et de dénonciation de l'astroturfing, ainsi que les objectifs poursuivis et les cibles visées. Dans un troisième temps, les unités d'informations sont catégorisées afin d'identifier les caractéristiques générales du phénomène de l'astroturfing. L'analyse univariée des résultats nous apprend que l'astroturfing est orchestré par une grande variété d'acteurs (entreprises privées, citoyens, gouvernements, OBNL). Il est aussi dénoncé et diffusé par le truchement de nombreux véhicules communicationnels (médias traditionnels, Web 2.0, blogues, etc.). L'astroturfing cible tant l'opinion publique, le consommateur, que le gouvernement. Il a pour objectif d'influencer les enjeux légaux et commerciaux, de même que l'opinion publique au sens large. Les moyens de communication qui soutiennent les stratégies d'astroturfing sont multiples et variés, mais ceux liés aux technologies de l'information et des communications (Web, Web 2.0, blogues, etc.) sont prépondérants. L'analyse bivariée des résultats de cette recherche permet d'établir des liens entre certaines variables et catégories, d'où émerge un portrait global des stratégies astroturfs les plus récurrentes. L'interprétation des résultats fait état, entre autres, des apports de la thèse au développement des connaissances en communication, en proposant une définition, une typologie des stratégies d'astroturfing (action, campagne, groupe conjoncturel, groupe pérenne) ainsi qu'une modélisation de l'astroturfing. Finalement, la discussion apporte des arguments en faveur de l'hypothèse de départ. En effet, les résultats de recherche démontrent que l'astroturfing est une stratégie de communication qui participe à la création et à l'influence des agendas public, politique et médiatique. D'autre part, l'ancrage des données dans les approches et concepts du cadre théorique (espace public, mécanismes de communication démocratique idéale, etc.) démontre que l'astroturfing est nocif puisqu'il corrompt les processus de communication démocratique. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : astroturf, groupes d'intérêts, influence, agenda-building, espace public, citoyens.

Mining has been a major economic activity in the Canadian Arctic for the last century. It has made a valuable contribution to the development of this fragile economy and to the living standards of its inhabitants. The benefits include jobs and income, tax revenues and the social programs they finance, foreign exchange earnings, frontier development, support for local infrastructure, and economic diversification into a broad range of activities beyond the life of the mine. These benefits emerge as the result of activities and influences of several actors that exercise differing degrees of power, whether coercive or exchange by nature. These benefits, however, do not come without costs, particularly to Northern peoples who have suffered historically from the inequitable distribution of resources benefits and inevitable, adverse socio-cultural and biophysical impacts of rapid resource development. <br /><br /> Impact and Benefit Agreements (IBAs) are a mandatory aspect of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. Proponents wishing to develop natural resources on Inuit-owned land are required to negotiate and complete an IBA with the Regional Inuit Organization. These agreements have evolved from simple socio-economic contracts, to multiparty assemblages of agreements designed to promote sustainability beyond the operating life of the mine. <br /><br /> A political ecology approach was taken. Using this approach, it was determined that the distribution of decision-making power appears to be unequal and largely confined to the Industrial and Regional Inuit Association actors. As a result, other affected interests were marginalized in the process including members of the local community, environmental and other non-governmental organizations, and federal, territorial and hamlet government actors. <br /><br /> Nevertheless, the use of IBAs signal a recognition on the part of all stakeholders that historic mining practices are no longer acceptable and that it is now necessary to move towards a more equitable and sustainable approach to mineral development. <br /><br /> In order to answer the question of an IBA's usefulness as a tool of sustainability, a set of sustainable mining criteria was developed and used to assess whether, in fact, the agreement could be used to promote a more sustainable path to mining development in the North. After the application of the criteria to IBAs in general and to one case study in particular, which fell under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, it was discovered that the IBA instrument is limited in its utility&mdash;at least in terms of its current structure. However, in conjunction with other agreements and review processes, the IBAs utility as a tool of sustainability may be enhanced. <br /><br /> By the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement's very nature, decision-making ability on behalf of the community is restricted to the Kitikmeot Inuit Association that only represents the interests of beneficiaries of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and the industrial proponent. Opportunities for broader community (non-beneficiaries) input appear limited, thus restricting the usefulness of IBAs as a tool of community sustainability, at least until this weakness is addressed. Moreover, on a broader level of analysis, it should also be noted that the IBAs still are designed to operate within the global, liberal, capitalist system which itself leads to power imbalances. Nevertheless, it should be noted that IBAs signal a recognition on the part of all stakeholders, that historic mining practices are no longer acceptable and that it is now necessary to move towards a more equitable and sustainable approach to mineral development.

Motor vehicle accidents continue to be a leading cause of cervical spine injury despite a conscientious effort to improve occupant safety. Accurately predicting occupant head and neck response in numerical crash simulations is an essential part of the process for developing better safety solutions. <br /><br /> A biofidelic model of the human cervical spine was developed with a focus on accurate representation of the cervical spine at the local tissue level. These tissues were assembled to create a single segment model that was representative of <em>in vitro</em> spine in quasi-static loading. Finally, the single segment models were assembled to create a full cervical spine model that was simulated in dynamic loading and compared to human volunteer response. <br /><br /> Models of each segment were constructed from the basic building blocks of the cervical spine: the intervertebral disc, the vertebrae, the ligaments, and the facet joints. Each model was simulated in all modes of loading and at different levels of load. The results of the study indicate that the cervical spine segments performed very well in flexion, compression, and tension. Segment response to lateral bending and axial rotation was also good, while response in extension often proved too compliant compared to the experimental data. Furthermore, the single segment models did not fully agree with the experimental shear response, again being more compliant. <br /><br/> The full cervical spine model was assembled from the single segment models incorporating neck musculature. The model was simulated dynamically using a 15 G frontal impact test. Active muscles were used to simulate the response of the human volunteers used in the study. The response of the model was in reasonable agreement with the experimental data, and compared better than current finite element cervical spine models. Higher frequency oscillation caused most of the disagreement between the model and the experimental data, which was attributed to a lack of appropriate dynamic material properties of the soft tissues of the spine. In addition, a study into the active properties of muscle indicated that muscle response has a significant influence on the response of the head. <br /><br /> A number of recommendations were proposed that would improve the biofidelity of the model. Furthermore, it was recommended that the future goal of this model would be to implement injury-predicting capabilities through the development of advance material models.

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has gained increasing prominence as a means of accommodating the goals of sustainability in development planning since the 1990s. However, SEA faces considerable difficulties before it becomes a widely accepted and enduring practice. The concepts of SEA and sustainability are complex. SEA has necessarily to deal with a variety of planning and decision-making contexts, and in addition there is a problem of integrating SEA with planning. This combination of factors makes the future role of SEA in environmental planning highly challenging. Literature on sustainability, environmental assessment, and planning suggests that application of sustainability-led and context-dependent principles for SEA can assist in the realization of goals of sustainability. Meanwhile, the effective integration of SEA and planning processes can serve as a means by which sustainability objectives, urban planning practice and SEA application might be addressed. Central to this integration are institutional arrangements which define the extent to which SEA can promote sustainability. This research has been designed to explore the opportunities offered by SEA to provide the degree of strategic connectivity required to strengthen the position of sustainability concerns in the formulation of policies and planning. In particular, it defines the requisite principles and institutional conditions for using SEA as a tool for facilitating sustainability in the context of urban planning in Chinese cities. The research employs a primary case study design, and multiple data and analytical methods which have involved surveys, key informant interviews, secondary data and direct observation. SEA was introduced as part of the 2003 Chinese environmental impact assessment (EIA) law for use with government plans and programs at various levels. The incorporation of SEA into the master plan for city development in the city of Dalian was the first attempt at the use of SEA in any Chinese city and was designed to serve as a demonstration project for other cities to follow. However, the Dalian SEA case was not successful, highlighting the difficulty of facilitating sustainability goals and achieving integration with the planning process. The problems were complex but could be reduced to two major issues: lack of explicit guidelines or principles for the application of SEA, and fundamental institutional impediments. The research concluded that to increase the effectiveness of SEA application in China it is imperative to formulate a set of explicit and sustainability-based principles for SEA and reform the institutional arrangements for environmental assessment and planning, enabling the integration of SEA and planning processes.

Environmental objective 17: Sustainable consumption - An attempt to integrate the global impact of the Swedish consumption with the environmental objectives system   The aim of this report was to integrate the global impact of the Swedish consumption withthe environmental objectives system through presenting a suggestion for a seventeenth environmental objective – Sustainable consumption. How the Swedish consumption pressures the global environment and methods to measure the affects was investigated. The pressure was divided into five main fields: climate, air, water, land and chemicals. The impacton humans and the biodiversity was also discussed, as well as differences between how men and women affect the environment and get affected when the environment changes. Chosen methods for calculating the impact had to be able to measure the pressure the Swedish consumption has on the environment, and thus humans and the biodiversity. The results show that the Swedish consumption has large internal and external impact on the environment. The methods that met the reports criteria and were analyzed were environmental input-output analysis, ecological footprint, water footprint, carbon footprint and environmental space. An earlier proposal for a seventeenth environmental objective was reviewed, called Restricted environmental pressure in other countries. In the discussion anew environmental objective was presented together with six stage goals. They were based o nthe main fields of environmental pressure. The measuring methods that were suitable and complete were suggested as indicators, namely ecological footprint and carbon footprint. To integrate the global aspect of the Swedish consumption with the environmental politics it’spossible to introduce a new environmental objective. Sustainable consumption is an attempt to do that.

This project aims to develop a rear side airbag and to investigate how the passenger in the rear seat is in need of protection in a side impact. It was found from the literature study that the head of children and thorax of adults are the most exposed body regions in side impacts. The side collision test done with a barrier by LINCAP (Lateral Impact, New Car Assessment Program) was found to produce the highest force on the rear-seated dummy, in comparison to the same test by IIHS (Insurance Institute Highway Safety), and that a high combined pelvic force results in a lower rating of the vehicle. The objective of the airbag concepts is to offer protection area to the most exposed body regions. The airbags are designed with the presumption that the occupant uses a seat belt and a pretensioner to limit the forward motion of the body, with the rationale that this enables design of airbags with reasonable manufacturing costs. The three new concepts of airbags were: thorax; thorax/pelvis and thorax/pelvis extended. From sled tests with the three new airbag concepts, it was found that an airbag, compared to no airbag, reduces the risk of injury at thorax by 70 percentage units and the force on pelvis is considerably reduced in a side impact. The thorax bag showed a reduction of the rib deflection compared to no airbag, but a high force on the pelvis motivates a protection area of pelvis. The tests with the two larger bags thorax/pelvis and thorax/pelvis extended resulted in a better protection of thorax, abdomen and pelvis than without airbag. Problems with positioning the pelvis area of the bags was noticed but not solved and may be a task in further investigations.

Many organizations are familiar with using CRM (Customer relationship management) to manage and enhance the customer relationship. Good customer relationship can bring great benefits and a competitive advantage to organization. And in this era of technology, CRM that consists of eCRM (Electronic customer relationship management) is acknowledged as another potential solution for business. The purpose of this study is to explore what an organization can do to improve the use of eCRM, so eCRM can enhance the customer relationship. In the thesis the authors have studied different eCRM key factors and their relationship in order to improve customer relationship through the use of eCRM. This thesis has used Toyota Mahanakorn, the Toyota dealers in Thailand as a case study for examining the practice of successful eCRM in the organization. Our conclusion is that in order to improve the performance of eCRM, an organization should choose a eCRM technology that suits with organization strategy and practice as well as employees technology and service capabilities. Since this thesis studies the way to improve the use of eCRM in an organization, this thesis will be advantageous to those who plan to implement eCRM in the future and to those who have already implemented eCRM and would like to make it better.

The use of ocean wave energy for electricity production has considerable potential, though it has proven to be difficult. A technology utilizing the heaving (up-and-down) motions of the waves was conceived at Uppsala University in the early 2000´s, and is being further developed for commercial use by Seabased Industry AB. The purpose of this master´s degree project was to increase the knowledge of the environmental performance of Seabased´s wave energy conversion concept and identifying possible areas of improvement. This was done by conducting a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a hypothetical prototype wave power plant. All flows of materials, energy, emissions and waste were calculated for all stages of a wave power plant´s life cycle. The potential environmental impact of these flows was then assessed, using the following impact categories: • Emission of greenhouse gases • Emission of ozone depleting gases • Emission of acidifying gases • Emission of gases that contribute to the forming of ground-level ozone • Emission of substances to water contributing to oxygen depletion (eutrophication) • Energy use (renewable and non-renewable) • Water use The methodology used was that prescribed by the ISO standard for Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) and further defined by the International EPD Programme.The potential environmental impact was calculated per kWh of wave power electricity delivered to the grid. The main result of the study is that the potential environmental impact of a wave power plant mainly stems from the manufacturing phase. In particular, the production of steel parts makes a large contribution to the overall results. Future wave power plant designs are expected to be considerably more material efficient, meaning that there are large possibilities to improve the environmental performance of this technology.

Pedestrian protection performance becomes more and more in focus for the car manufactures and systems to reduce injury risk are under development. A wider understanding of both the present and the future windscreen performance in free moving headform testing is needed to optimize these systems. The purpose of this thesis was therefore to learn and understand windscreen behaviour when subjected to head impact and to gain knowledge of CAE status for head impact in windscreens from a pedestrian point of view. A literature review concluded that there are different ways to model a windscreen. It was found that the computer material models for laminated windscreen glass were not capable of fully representing the behaviour of this material under all impact conditions, particularly the non-linear behaviour after fracture or failure. Experimental testing on three different windscreen models, with a free moving headform in a horizontal impactor, has been performed. Test set up was according to Euro NCAP pedestrian testing protocol and three different windscreen angles were tested. The parameter investigated was curvature and HIC and deformation depth on the windscreen were used as evaluation tools. Deformation was measured with a laser positioned behind the windscreen at impact. Film analysis and integration of headform accelerations were used as comparison. The testing concludes that different curvature alone will not have a big influence on HIC and deformation.   Keywords: PVB laminated windscreen, pedestrian, impact, free moving headform