Establishing and maintaining a clear and stable view of oneself is one of the major goals that human beings are motivated by. Individuals' environment is overflowing with a variety of self-relevant feedback. Yet, humans are able to generalize their experience into idiosyncratic self-concept, that despite being the largest, and most complex of all cognitive structures provides a good frame of reference for regulation of action, emotion, and cognition. This research project examined a dynamic model of self-regulation that explains how humans manage to arrive at and maintain a coherent understanding of who they are and what they are like despite the abundance and constant influx of often contradictory self-relevant information. The dynamic model of self-regulation emphasizes the role of selective attention to specific regions of the self-concept as a prerequisite for self-concept adaptive development and functional expression. From a dynamical systems perspective the self-concept is conceptualized as a dynamic cognitive structure of knowledge that becomes organized into meaningful self-aspects (i.e., identities, self-perceived traits, roles) that differ with respect to evaluative coherence. Some self-aspects are coherent and comprise exclusively positive or exclusively negative elements, while other do not achieve evaluative coherence and are comprised of self-beliefs with mixed evaluations. As the focus of conscious attention changes between coherent and incoherent areas, the experience of Self and implications of self-concept for ongoing processes change accordingly. The total number of 296 participants took part in four studies conducted in Poland and in the United States. / The studies utilized interesting procedures to investigate the dynamics and structure of the self-concept and the consequences of the evaluative differentiation of the self-concept for intrapersonal and interpersonal processes. Participants filled out personality and self-concept measures on-line, performed the cardsorting and mouse procedure tasks, and interacted with a chat-bot conversational program. Results of the studies attest to the validity of the model and suggest that individuals focus their attention on incoherent self-aspects to facilitate the formation and development of the self-concept and that focus on coherent self-aspects facilitates effective use of the self-concept for the regulation of ongoing processes. / by Urszula Strawinska. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Com a popularidade e o crescimento das Redes Sociais Online, o interesse pelo entendimento de como seus usuários interagem entre si também tem crescido, configurando assim um cenário rico no qual são criadas oportunidades para melhorar o design de interfaces, compreender a organização de movimentos sociais, o marketing viral e a distribuição de conteúdos multimídia, dentre outros. Na investigação dessas oportunidades de pesquisa, um modelo de representação da atividade dos usuários amplamente empregado é baseado na construção de um grafo. Embora as atividades dos usuários em uma Rede Social Online sejam variadas, assim como as possibilidades de interação entre usuários, a construção de um grafo normalmente considera uma interação específica, que é então analisada a partir da interpretação de medidas baseadas em grafos ou de medidas estatísticas. Técnicas de mineração de dados podem ser empregadas de forma alternativa e complementar ao modelo baseado em grafos, possibilitando a extração e a avaliação de padrões das atividades de usuários. Entretanto, tanto na análise baseada em grafos quanto na utilização de técnicas de mineração de dados, a literatura reporta trabalhos em que são implicitamente representados elementos associados com a atividade dos usuários como ações executadas, mídias compartilhadas, aplicações e tipos de dispositivos utilizados. Nesse cenário, existe uma demanda por um modelo descritivo que permita a representação explícita dos elementos associados com as atividades dos usuários representação essa que possa ser utilizada na extração e na avaliação das interações entre usuários. Para atender essa demanda, nesta tese é apresentada uma técnica e um método para representar, extrair e avaliar interações entre usuários de Redes Sociais Online. São também reportados resultados de experimentos da aplicação da técnica e do método a partir de dados obtidos de uma Rede Social Online / The interest in understanding user interactions is increasing with the popularity of Online Social Networks. This scenario leads to rich opportunities to improve the design of interfaces, to understand the organization of social movements, to model the dynamics of viral marketing and to characterize the distribution of multimedia content, among others. In the investigation of these research opportunities, a widely used representation of users activities is based on graphs as underlying data models. Graph data models usually consider a specific interaction, which is analyzed based on the interpretation of statistical measures and graph-based measures. On the other hand, user activities and possibilities of interaction in social networks are multifaceted, so that singleinteraction graph-based approaches might prove to be unfeasible to properly model the problem. In order to deal with these limitations, data mining techniques may be employed as an alternative to graph-based modeling approaches, by enabling extraction and evaluation of users activities as patterns. However, both in the use of the model graph-based as in the use of data mining techniques, the literature reports an implicit representation of elements associated with the users activities such as executed actions, shared media, used applications and devices. In this scenario, there is a demand for a descriptive model which allows explicit representation of the elements associated with users activities - this representation can be used in the extraction and evaluation of interactions among users. To meet this demand, this thesis presents a technique and a method to represent, to extract and to evaluate interactions among users of Online Social Networks. Results of experimentation of applying the technique and method based on data obtained from an Online Social Network are also reported

När, hur, hur ofta och till vad används ekonomisystemets rapporter? I denna avhandling riktas intresset mot användning av de rapporter som produceras av en organisations ekonomisystem och som månadsvis görs tillgängliga för ekonomiskt ansvariga befattningshavare på olika nivåer; s k månadsrapporter. Enligt studiens föreställningsram antas ekonomisk styrning innefatta användning av ekonomisk information från olika informationskällor. Studiens intresse har därför vidgats till att omfatta rapportanvändares användning av såväl månadsrapporter som vissa andra informationskällor. Studien baseras på ett datamaterial som insamlats genom intervjuer med ett femtiotal operativt ansvariga chefer på mellannivån i tre mycket stora företag. Enligt studiens empiriska material förekommer det mycket stora individuella variationer i enskilda befattningshavares användning av månadsrapporter. Vidare förefaller sociala kontakter med kolleger, den "svarta boken" och operativa dokument vara mycket betydelsefulla informationskällor i den enskilda befattningshavarens arbete med ekonomisk styrning. I syfte att identifiera faktorer som kan medverka till att förklara variationer på individnivån analyseras datamaterialet. Analysen pekar mot att aktuell lönsamhetssituation och verksamhetens karaktär är två betydelsefulla förklaringsfaktorer. Vissa egenskaper i den sociala processen och vissa individspecifika egenskaper förefaller också kunna vara av betydelse. Författaren betonar avslutningsvis att frågan om användning av s k andra informationskällor borde få ett större utrymme i diskussioner av den ekonomiska styrningen av företag och organisationer. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 1995</p>

Beauty is a phenomenon situated within society that everyone is subjected to. A lot of people perform activities of beauty everyday and when interacting socially they observe how other people have performed beauty. Previous research on the topic of beauty declares how beautiful people get more out of life and are treated better in schools and by employers. People even trust beautiful people more compared to the individuals that are argued to not be attractive. Research also claims consuming beauty is an experience in expressing once self but also physical consumption has transformed into physiological experiences where for example the corset has developed into dieting. The author’s aim is to discuss the relationship between the consumption of beauty as an activity of performance and the activity of observing. Both men and women have been incorporated in the study, creating a better understanding of the society in total and also in declaring differences and similarities between the genders. The study has a deductive approach and is based on a literature study including theories by Bourdieu, Foucault and Evans et al.. These authors are involved in topics such as dominant structures within society, the power situated in surveillance and the cause of motivation in consumption referring to Freud and Maslow. The investigation was performed using focus groups and had a qualitative method approach including interviews and questionnaires. The collection of data was divided into four main areas of where the base was the literature study. The data was analysed on the bases of the theoretical framework, and further the results were summarized. The results of this study demonstrate that for women the activity of performance and the activity of observing are just as important. Men also perform beauty but are less observant of others compared to women. Men having a higher level of education invest more time and money on beauty compared to those having less education. This division was not obvious among women who performed beauty more homogeneously. The gaze in the activities of beauty is female according to both men and women. The power within the context of beauty is situated within the dominant culture where the power is trickled down to the individuals. However, the norms changes depending on what social place and part an individual has in a specific social context. The results are in line with previous research on the topic.

Bakgrund: Sveriges folkhälsopolitik utgår idag från elva folkhälsomålområden. I målen finns bland annat fysisk aktivitet, goda matvanor och barns trygga uppväxtvillkor. Övervikt och fetma är ett utbrett och ökande folkhälsoproblem i Sverige, vilket kan leda till bland annat hjärt- och kärlsjukdomar och diabetes. Bland barn och ungdomar har prevalensen för övervikt och fetma fördubblats de senaste två decennierna. Orsaken till övervikt och fetma är främst en obalans i energiintag och förbrukning, men även andra levnadsvanor kan ha en betydelse. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att studera relationen mellan elvaåringars BMI och deras skolupplevelse samt deras levnadsvanor. Material/Metod: Studien utgår från data insamlade av Statens Folkhälsoinstitut (FHI). Datan är insamlad via enkätundersökningen Skolbarns hälsovanor, som är en del av en internationell undersökning om barns hälsa. I den här studien fokuseras det på elvaåriga elever. Data analyserades i SPSS Statistics och skillnader hypotestestades med ANOVA och Chi 2-test. Resultat: Elever med övervikt eller fetma blir i större utsträckning mobbade och trivs sämre i skolan än elever med normalvikt. De upplever sig även få mindre hjälp av pedagoger och lärare under lektionstid. Trivs eleven i skolan har den en ökad chans att prestera bättre. Att vara fysiskt aktiv samvarierar med att eleven upplever sig duktigare i skolan och känner sig piggare. Piggare känner sig även elever som regelbundet äter frukost på vardagarna. Studien visar också på ett samband mellan god sömn och lägre BMI- värde. Konklusion: Skolan är en arena för preventivt arbete mot övervikt och fetma, eftersom barns BMI har ett samband med deras sociala samspel i skolan. Skolan har också möjlighet att arbeta med barns levnadsvanor gällande kost och fysisk aktivitet då barnen spenderar mycket tid där. Det är även viktigt i det preventiva arbetet att barnen får en god sömn, vilket är föräldrarnas ansvar. / Background: The Swedish politics relating to public health are currently divided into eleven different areas of public health goals. The aims contain physical activity, a healthy relationship to food and a safeguard during early stages of a child’s life. Issues such as overweight and obesity are a widespread and increasing public health problem in Sweden. This is an area for the politics to change through the established goals. The prevalence of overweight and obesity has doubled during the last two decades among children and teenagers. The reason for weight-related problems and obesity is mostly a poor balance between the energy - consumption and the exhaustion of energy, which can for instance lead to different heart-diseases and diabetes but other lifestyle factors are important as well. Object and purpose: The purpose of this study is to scrutinize the relationship between the BMI of eleven-year olds and their school-experiences and their practice of living. Material/Method: The study has its support in data collected by the The Swedish National Institute of Public Health  (Statens Folkhälsoinstitut [FHI]). The data is collected through surveys included in the over-all study of schoolchildren’s health-behavior, systematically carried out by the FHI. The health-behavior of schoolchildren is a part of an international analysis of the health of children. This study focuses on eleven-year old students. The data provided by the FHI was analyzed by SPSS Statistics in order to discover relations between the variables, data was analyzed with the Chi 2 – test and Anova. Results: Pupils that are overweight or suffer from obesity are more likely to be bullied and show a lower enjoyment when it comes to attending school than pupils with a normal weight. They also feel like they are not paid the equal attention from pedagogues during lessons. A student that feels comfortable in school has greater prospects for increasing his/her educational accomplishments. Physical activity does generate an enhanced well-being and well-function of the student when it comes to engaging during lessons as well as gaining an increased ability to concentrate. Students that regularly eat breakfast are more alert as well. The study provides indications for a parallel between a good night of sleep and lower BMI. Conclusion: The school is an excellent arena for preventive work against overweight and obesity. This is for the reason that the BMI of children is affected by their social games, which are, to a high extent initiated in school. The school has also a great possibility to work with children’s habits of living in terms of nutrition and physical activity because of the simple fact that children spend numerous hours a day in school. It is also crucial for the preventive work that children get a good rest during the night, which falls within the scope of the responsibility of the parents to ensure.

Stereotypic behaviors in all animals are more often than not associated with poor welfare. Limited access to perform species specific behaviors is often a reason for the development of stereotypies. Elephants with their great intelligence and need of social contact, coupled with a destructive a behavior are especially difficult to house in captivity. To decrease the occurrence of stereotypic behaviors in elephants, environmental enrichment in form of food enrichment is a good option, since elephants have a great need of foraging. The aim of this study was to investigate if an extra supply of food enrichment could decrease the presence of stereotypic behaviors at night in three Asian elephants at Kolmården zoo. Already existing hay nets attached to wires in the roof were used and connected to a timer. The hay nets were lowered to vision trunk reach between 6:00 am and 6:30 am during five days and the frequencies of selected behaviors were compared with the frequencies of the same behaviors during five preceding baseline nights. The animals were filmed using mounted cameras with IR lights. There was a significant decrease of stereotypic behavior for one of the elephants, but all three showed an increase in foraging whereof the increases were significant for two of them. One of the elephants showed no stereotypic behaviors at all during the study. To keep in mind is that the elephants have different backgrounds and experiences which might have influenced the results.

At certain stages of a bumblebee colony life cycle workers lay eggs. Not all workers reproduce, however, since many continue to forage and care for the nest. This leads to questions regarding what differentiates a reproductive worker from a non-reproductive one. It is hypothesized that a form of reproductive competition takes place, where the most behaviourally dominant worker becomes reproductively dominant. The behaviour of orphaned Bombus impatiens pairs was recorded and aggression, social interactions, egg-laying, and ovarian development were identified. Experiment 1 examined the association between aggression and egg-laying. Contrary to the hypothesis, the most aggressive worker did not lay more eggs. When the ovarian development of workers was manipulated and two workers with developed ovaries were paired (Experiment 3), they were more aggressive than pairs with discouraged ovarian development. This provides support for the supposition that aggression and reproduction are related, however, it is only partial support as worker pairs with encouraged ovarian development did not lay more eggs. Since aggression is believed to be only one part of behavioural dominance, Experiment 2 studied the association between social interactions and aggression and reproduction. Results showed that when two socially active bees were paired they were more aggressive than pairs including one or two socially inactive bumblebees. No significant difference in ovarian development between socially active pairs and socially inactive pairs was found. Brood presence was also predicted to affect reproductive control. Experiment 1 found egg-laying and aggression were more likely to co-occur in the absence of brood. Results from Experiment 2 supplemented the first experiment since the absence of brood increased rates of aggression and ovarian development in pairs. Whereas the results confirm aggression has a role in worker reproduction the findings also reveal that behavioural dominance does not equate to reproductive dominance under all conditions. The primary contributions of this thesis were the development of a method to distinguish behavioural dominance from reproductive dominance and determining their relationship under different environments (brood presence) and experimental manipulations (ovarian development). These contributions further define dominance in Bombus impatiens.

Cette recherche consiste en l’étude des interactions sociales entre l’enseignant et les élèves du groupe-Classe de l’école élémentaire, afin d’en saisir l’impact sur les apprentissages académiques. De type ethnographique, l’enquête de terrain, entreprise à la fois dans une perspective interactionniste et une posture inductive, a participé à démontrer que le processus de production des performances scolaires est impacté par le type de socialisation scolaire qui est à l’œuvre au sein du groupe-Classe. En effet, bien que les professeurs des écoles soient des fonctionnaires relevant d’une même institution, nous sommes parvenus à identifier différents modes d’actualisation de l’autorité pédagogique qui est au fondement de cette socialisation. Si pour établir leur stratégie professorale les enseignants se base sur leur double lecture de la composition sociale du groupe des élèves et l’environnement local de l’établissement, des stratégies identiques peuvent se solder par des effets contrastés selon le type de prestation scénique qui est à la base de l’actualisation de l’autorité pédagogique. / This research is aimed at studying social interactions between teachers and pupils in the class group in the elementary school. The goal is to perceive their effects on the learnings.The ethnographic study is conducted in an interactionist prospect and in an inductive position. This work participates to demonstrate that production process of scholastic skills is impacted by the type of scholastic socialization that takes place in the class group. Although elementary school teachers are from the same institution, we reach to indentify different way to apply pedagogic authority which is the keystone of this socialization. Even though, to build their teaching strategy, teachers are establishing it on the double interpretation of social composition of pupils group and the local environment, identical strategies can finished by contrasted effects that depend on the type of theatrical performance which is based on the renewal of the pedagogic authority.

Submitted by Edileide Reis (leyde-landy@hotmail.com) on 2013-05-16T13:52:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Sônia Maria de Souza Ancântara.pdf: 1507304 bytes, checksum: 3b28626ae41bf2075680eb9c960f5b63 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Alda Lima da Silva(sivalda@ufba.br) on 2013-06-04T17:27:00Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Sônia Maria de Souza Ancântara.pdf: 1507304 bytes, checksum: 3b28626ae41bf2075680eb9c960f5b63 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-06-04T17:27:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sônia Maria de Souza Ancântara.pdf: 1507304 bytes, checksum: 3b28626ae41bf2075680eb9c960f5b63 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / A presente dissertação teve como principal objetivo analisar se o desenvolvimento e/ou sensibilização da oralidade, através de atividades lúdicas, pode vir a possibilitar uma melhor aprendizagem da Língua Inglesa. Este estudo partiu de algumas teorias que envolvem o ensino de uma língua estrangeira, dentre elas estão: a teoria da aquisição da linguagem; a questão da compreensão oral e a pronúncia; os diferentes métodos, abordagens e estratégias para o ensino da Língua Inglesa; a teoria da aprendizagem a partir do socionteracionismo de Vygotsky e a presença da ludicidade na práxis pedagógica. Desta forma, foi possível, através de aulas práticas de Língua Inglesa, avaliar o impacto causado pelas atividades orais desenvolvidas junto a 32 estudantes da 7ª série do ensino fundamental em uma escola da rede pública da SEC/Salvador. O percurso metodológico está baseado na abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa, tendo como técnica investigativa o estudo de caso. A conclusão a que se chegou foi a de que o desenvolvimento de atividades orais em sala de aula para o ensino da Língua Inglesa, tendo como agente mediador a ludicidade e perspectiva sociointeracionista, propicia um melhor resultado no aprendizado, principalmente no que se refere à motivação dos educandos. / Bahia

Submitted by Andrea Rezende (andrea.rezende@fgv.br) on 2010-08-09T18:20:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Hugo_Borges_Jales.pdf: 837743 bytes, checksum: b5b62fa6e2b56de86d4a702ef2a8bf18 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2010-08-09T18:20:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Hugo_Borges_Jales.pdf: 837743 bytes, checksum: b5b62fa6e2b56de86d4a702ef2a8bf18 (MD5) / In this paper, I estimate the size of social interactions in the Brazilian educational production function, from the data called “SAEB-2005”. The results show that peer effects are important determinant of observed achievement in the Math exam. Furthermore, I found evidence that this effect is concentrated in the top of the ability distribution. This sugests that policies like “ability tracking” may be optimal. / Este trabalho estima o efeito das Interações Sociais no desempenho dos estudantes no Brasil, a partir dos dados do SAEB 2005. Os resultados apontam que Peer Effects explicam uma parte importante da proficiência observada no exame de Matemática. Além disto, encontramos evidências de que este efeito é concentrado nos alunos no topo da distribuição de habilidade, o que sugere que políticas de ability tracking podem ser ótimas.