This interpretive study uses hermeneutic phenomenological methodology to understand the experience of six college students in Taiwan who participate in TV talk show as studio audience. Texts were collected from in-depth interviews. The result indicated a dramatic interaction framework toward the whole experience: participants as performers must ¡¥act¡¦ like undergraduate students, though the show ¡V from script, setting to personal front ¡V must be ratified by producer. Furthermore, two transformative effects are found in participants. First, they were socialized in the studio through the performance, and learned more social-performing skills and scripts. Second, they are bothered by mixing up their drama-roles with social-roles. It was the producer¡¦s purpose to represent ¡¥a world beneath¡¦ of college students in University. However it became ¡¥a public trial¡¦ on TV after excessive entertainment manipulation.

Les travaux présentés relèvent d'une branche des probabilités que l'on appelle la mécanique statistique.<br />L'idée générale est que l'on étudie des systèmes infinis de particules en essayant d'établir le lien entre les propriétés microscopiques (par exemple l'interaction entre des particules proches) et les propriétés macroscopiques (par exemple<br />les caractéristiques à grande échelle des mesures d'équilibre.)<br /><br />Ce mémoire se divise en trois parties:<br />- Mesures de Gibbs et champs gaussiens<br />- Percolation et mesures de Gibbs<br />- Percolation de premier passage et compétition<br /><br />La première partie<br />traite des mesure de Gibbs gaussiennes, classiques et quantiques.<br />On y étudie finement la structure de l'ensemble des mesures de Gibbs<br />classiques (\resp quantiques) dont le support est raisonnable ainsi que les dynamiques stochastiques de gradient canoniquement associées. Une attention particulière est accordée à l'influence de la transition de phase.<br /><br />La deuxième partie traite de problèmes associant percolation et mesure de<br />Gibbs, à savoir l'existence de transition de percolation dans des modèles issus<br />de perturbations d'interactions quadratiques et des théorèmes de limite centrale pour la répartition des phases dans les modèles d'Ising et de Potts.<br /><br />La troisième partie étudie des modèles de percolation de premier passage et<br />des problèmes de compétion associés. On montre en particulier des théorèmes<br />de forme asymptotique et de grandes déviations pour la percolation de premier<br />passage sur l'amas de percolation Bernoulli et l'on étudie des problèmes<br />de coexistence/non-coexistence entre des espèces qui se propagent de manière analogue à ce qui se passe en percolation de premier passage.

Reproduction de : Thèse de doctorat : Psychologie clinique : Poitiers : 2008. / Titre provenant de l'écran titre. Bibliogr. f. 271-276. Glossaire.

Reproduction de : Thèse d'exercice : Médecine spécialisée : Nancy 1 : 2002. / Thèse : 2002NAN11051. Titre provenant de l'écran-titre.

We introduce Riemannian First-Passage Percolation (Riemannian FPP) as a new model of random differential geometry, by considering a random, smooth Riemannian metric on R^d . We are motivated in our study by the random geometry of first-passage percolation (FPP), a lattice model which was developed to model fluid flow through porous media. By adapting techniques from standard FPP, we prove a shape theorem for our model, which says that large balls under this metric converge to a deterministic shape under rescaling. As a consequence, we show that smooth random Riemannian metrics are geodesically complete with probability one.In differential geometry, geodesics are curves which locally minimize length. They need not do so globally: consider great circles on a sphere. For lattice models of FPP, there are many open questions related to minimizing geodesics; similarly, it is interesting from a geometric perspective when geodesics are globally minimizing. In the present study, we show that for any fixed starting direction v, the geodesic starting from the origin in the direction v is not minimizing with probability one. This is a new result which uses the infinitesimal structure of the continuum, and for which there is no equivalent in discrete lattice models of FPP.

This report details a physical modeling study to investigate the flow characteristics of circular corrugated structural plate (CSP) culverts with 10% embedment and projecting end inlets using a 0.62 m diameter corrugated metal pipe under a range of flows (0.064 m3/s to 0.254 m3/s) and slopes (0%, 0.5% and 1.0%). An automated sampling system was used to record detailed velocity measurements at cross-sections along the length of the model. The velocity data was then used to develop isovel plots and observations were made regarding the effect of water depth, average velocity, boundary roughness and inlet configuration on the velocity structure. Other key aspects examined include the distribution of shear velocity and equivalent sand roughness, Manning’s roughness, an evaluation of composite roughness calculation methods, secondary currents, area-velocity relationships, the effect of embedment on maximum discharge and a simulation of model results using HECRAS. Recommendations are presented to focus future research.

The process of fish migration within rivers and streams is important, especially during the spawning season which often coincides with peak spring discharges in Manitoba. Current environmental regulations for fish passage through culverts require that the average velocity be limited to the prolonged swimming speed of the fish species present. In order to examine the validity of this approach, physical model results were used to calibrate and test a commercially available Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model. Detailed analysis showed that CFD models and the empirical equations used were both able to give a better representation of the flow field than the average velocity. However, the empirical equations were able to provide a more accurate velocity distribution within the fully developed region. A relationship was then developed, to estimate the cumulative percent area less than a threshold velocity within CSP culverts, to be used as a guideline during the design phase.

The Tracks rites of passage are processes that mark the adolescent transition, for the participant, the family and the community, between the two life stages of childhood and adulthood. Adolescent initiation rites offer a community led journey of separation, transition and integration as a way to work meaningfully with adolescents as they move between the life stages of childhood into adulthood. In Aotearoa/New Zealand the Tracks programme provides a five day contemporary rite of passage for adolescents and, where possible, their fathers. The rite of passage is based on the assumption that adolescents need opportunities to find their voices and make meaning if they are to become more aware of who they are and where they belong. The methodology recognises that I, as researcher and insider in the Tracks organisation, needed to develop a holistic approach to insider research so that I could call on my understandings of the organisation and also guard against bias. The holistic approach involves the four interpenetrating strategies of appreciative inquiry, narrative inquiry, a blend of approaches to self-study that include meditation and critical reflection, and most importantly organic inquiry. The four strategies are based on coherence theories that describe learning as being organic, interconnected and emergent. Data were gathered from interviews and cycles of critical self-reflection in the form of a learning journal. Data comes from interviews with the mother or fathers and young men of six families who have participated in the Tracks rite of passage programme. I have also discussed this work with a number of professionals in the field of youth work. The project found that Tracks had created conditions that empowered these young men with an increased capacity to make sense of their lives. Fathers expressed how challenging and rewarding they had found it to speak in honest terms with their sons, and that they were supported to do the inner work necessary to be able to speak in such ways. All of the family members expressed a need to have more support after the event. The findings suggest a need to explore further the nature of the work happening at Tracks. It validates Lashlie’s (2005) theory that adolescents need their fathers and other men to be involved in their lives at the time of transition. Tracks also helps fathers to get to grips with the inner work of developing emotional maturity. The work happening at Tracks invites further research into and debate on the value of emotional intelligence. The Tracks rite of passage offers an alternative perspective to understand the unacceptably high rates of adolescent morbidity and mortality happening in New Zealand.

This thesis consists of two novel contributions to the computation of first passage time distribution for Brownian motion. First, we extend the known formula for boundary crossing probabilities for Brownian motion to the discontinuous piecewise linear boundary. Second, we derive explicit formula for the first passage time density of Brownian motion crossing piecewise linear boundary. Further, we demonstrate how to approximate the boundary crossing probabilities and density for general nonlinear boundaries. Moreover, we use Monte Carlo simulation method and develop algorithms for the numerical computation. This method allows one to assess the accuracy of the numerical approximation. Our approach can be further extended to compute two-sided boundary crossing probabilities.

This report details a physical modeling study to investigate the flow characteristics of circular corrugated structural plate (CSP) culverts with 10% embedment and projecting end inlets using a 0.62 m diameter corrugated metal pipe under a range of flows (0.064 m3/s to 0.254 m3/s) and slopes (0%, 0.5% and 1.0%). An automated sampling system was used to record detailed velocity measurements at cross-sections along the length of the model. The velocity data was then used to develop isovel plots and observations were made regarding the effect of water depth, average velocity, boundary roughness and inlet configuration on the velocity structure. Other key aspects examined include the distribution of shear velocity and equivalent sand roughness, Manning’s roughness, an evaluation of composite roughness calculation methods, secondary currents, area-velocity relationships, the effect of embedment on maximum discharge and a simulation of model results using HECRAS. Recommendations are presented to focus future research.