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<p>The aim of this essay was to investigate the knowledge of, and attitudes towards unbiased English usage amongst Swedish upper secondary school students. For the purpose of this study, a survey was carried out at an upper secondary school in southern Sweden. In the theoretical background section, terms such as political correctness and gender-neutral language use are defined. In addition, references are made to studies in the United States and Europe on students’ awareness of these aspects of language.</p><p>For the present study, a survey was carried out in which 41 students answered 13 questions in written form. The students attend their third year at four different programmes at upper secondary school.</p><p>The results show that a majority of the students are very aware of the sensitivity of referring to persons of colour, and they are even afraid of being perceived as racists if they use terms such as black American. As regards non-sexist language use, the Swedish students were aware of the fact that terms such as firefighter and police officer can be used to designate both men and women. However, the students have little knowledge of the title Ms and of the neutral alternative to chairman, chair.</p>

Reproduction de : Thèse d'exercice : Pharmacie : Nantes : 2008. / Bibliogr.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-91). Also available in electronic version. Access restricted to campus users.

The word zenzen is an adverb that is used frequently in daily conversational Japanese. From the Meiji period (1868-1912) until the early Showa period (1924-1989) the word was used together with both affirmative and negative words to form expressions. In the early Showa period the grammatical rules in education changed so that the only acceptable use was together with a negative word. From the 1990’s onward, the use together with an affirmative word has made a comeback especially among younger Japanese people. However even though the usage together with an affirmative word has made a comeback and was considered normal once in history, in today’s society it is still considered as slang and thus not recommended usage in formal situations. Foreign language learners however, tend not to learn a language only by textbooks but also by imitating the language of native Japanese speakers and Japanese popular culture. This may lead to a confusion regarding what words are acceptable to use in conversations. Therefore in this study, an online survey that examines the usage and attitudes regarding the word zenzen aimed at Japanese language learners at Swedish universities was conducted. The results of the survey showed that although a majority of the learners showed a good understanding of the usage, more than half of the learners displayed a feeling of confusion regarding the usage of the word. The gender comparison regarding the usage showed no major differences. Having lived in Japan, having Japanese friends whom you speak Japanese with regularly and length of Japanese study was associated with an increased understanding of the usage. Regular consumption of Japanese popular culture, however, was not associated with an increased understanding of the usage. A literature analysis was also conducted to examine the attitudes regarding the usage of zenzen in a variety of books with topics including business language and books aimed at Japanese language teachers. The results showed that zenzen used together with a negative word was considered as the norm while zenzen used together with an affirmative word was not recommended to be used in formal situations. When recommending proper usage of the word zenzen together with an affirmative word to foreign learners of Japanese, hijou-ni and totemo was seen as better alternatives to zenzen in a formal situation.

Poster presentation from the Living the Future 8 Conference, April 23-24, 2012, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / The Library Space Usage Assessment project was initiated in September 2011 in an attempt to answer questions about how public spaces were currently being utilized at the University of Arizona Libraries. The project team utilized iPads and an online data collection form to gather data on customer activity over a period of three weeks during the fall 2011 semester. This poster presents an overview of the tools and methodology developed by the project team to conduct the assessment. The presentation also highlights the results of the project team's assessment efforts and how those results informed recent changes to library services.

Logistic mixed effects models are used to determine whether optimal codons associate with two specific properties of the expressed protein: solvent accessibility, aggregation propensity, or evolutionary conservation. Both random components and fixed structures in the models are decided by following certain selection procedures. More models are also developed by considering different factor combinations using the same selection procedure. The results show that evolutionary conservation is the most important factor for predicting for the optimal codon usage for most amino acids; aggregation propensity is also an important factor, and solvent accessibility is the least important factor for most amino acids.The results of this analysis are consistent with the previous literature, provide more straightforward way to study the research question and also more information for the insight relationships. / text

In the Japanese language, there are various modal elements, which mark speakers' subjective attitudes toward propositions. One of the most common modals is the noda predicate, which possesses the dual function of either asserting the truth of the position or relaying the speaker's desire for information sharing. Japanese Native Speakers (JNSs) use noda frequently in conversation; however, Japanese Language Learners (JLLs) often face difficulty in learning noda because of its wide variety in function and use. To determine the nature of noda use, this study examines conversational data from role-plays and a case study of two JLLs. The main aims of this thesis are 1) to review research on noda and to provide a cohesive and concise explanation of its functions and 2) to examine the use and acquisition of noda by JLLs. Following Noda's (1997) categorization, noda can be divided broadly into two types: scope and mood. Noda of scope exhibits the speaker's assertion that the proposition is true, while noda of mood marks the speaker's strong desire for information to be shared by speaker and hearer. This study proposes a framework with which to understand the functions of noda, and classifies information which is speaker-oriented (+ Speaker/- Hearer knowledge), hearer-oriented (-Speaker/+ Hearer), and shared (+ Speaker/+ Hearer). JLLs first tend to use noda with speaker-oriented information, and later acquire functions related to hearer-oriented and shared information. In the study of role-plays, JLLs with higher oral proficiency levels as rated by the ACTFL-OPI (Oral Proficiency Interview) used a higher frequency of noda. Both the JLLs and JNSs used noda primarily to provide and seek explanations. The intermediate-level JLLs underused noda in providing supplemental explanations. Other uses of noda in the role-plays included emphasizing information, seeking validity, and back-channeling. The two JLLs in the case study did not notice the use of noda during conversations with the JNS, but began to use noda more frequently during practice conversations upon receiving explicit instructions on the use of noda. While the post-test did not demonstrate increased use of noda due to the limited time of this study, there are clear indications for pedagogy. First, because the functions of noda are varied and numerous, Japanese language textbooks and classrooms should not be limited in providing only the 'explanation' function of noda. Second, the frequent use of noda in Japanese conversation suggests that it should be an area of focus in oral practice. Finally, JLLs need to develop skills in both comprehension and production of noda to improve their Japanese discourse.

During last 10-20 years communication between people has changed significantly. New technologies empowered us not only to communicate faster and better, but also to create new business branches. Every day millions of digital messages and documents are sent through the global network or telecommunication systems. Everyone wants to be sure that if some disputes regarding his interest violation arise, he would be able to defend himself using electronic data or electronic documents which were made for or during the relationships with other parties. Unfortunately the litigation of these processes is not so fast as it should be. Internet as a global communication and information centre has very many problems regarding its internationality, anonymity and insecurity. The information can be accessed from everywhere and be displayed everywhere. Thus we must have the possibility to use this information in the court to prove what has happened or should have happened. Many counties and international organizations have their positions regarding the usage of electronic evidences gained from digital relationships. But still this practice is not world wide, it dose not have the unified norms which could be used despite the borders of the countries. Many countries do not have any litigation regarding usage of electronic evidences in civil cases. The main arguments for this are uncertainty of the security of electronic information, its liability, problems of identification of author... [to full text]

Magistro darbo „Paslaugų vartojimo kompetencijų plėtojimas per technologijų pamokas“ tikslas yra ištirti paslaugų vartojimo kompetencijų plėtojimą per technologijų pamokas. Šių pamokų metu mokiniai turi išmokti patys įgyti žinių, jas taikyti praktikoje; mokytojai privalo ugdyti mokinių sugebėjimus, žingeidumą bei norą savarankiškai ieškoti ir kurti. Darbe analizuojama mokslinė, dalykinė ir pedagoginė literatūra, nagrinėjamos vartotojo (moksleivio) žinios apie paslaugų vartojimo kompetencijas, atskleidžiamos paslaugų vartojimo kompetencijų plėtojimo galimybės mokant technologijų dalyko. Suformuluoti paslaugos apibrėžimą sudėtinga, bet paprastai yra iškeliama viena ar kelios paslaugų savybės, kurias autoriai laiko universaliomis. Šios paslaugų savybės yra neapčiuopiamumas, nekaupiamumas, neatskiriamumas, heterogeniškumas (nevienodumas), nepatvarumas, vartotojo dalyvavimas paslaugų teikimo procese, paslaugos teikimo ir vartojimo vienovė (vienalaikiškumas), nuosavybės nekeičiamumas. Literatūroje bene dažniausiai pasitaikanti paslaugų klasifikacija yra paslaug�� skirstymas į vartotojiškas, socialines, gamybines, bei paskirstomąsias paslaugas. Esant didelei paslaugų kiekio bei kokybės įvairovei, svarbi ir vartotojo kompetencija – tai mokėjimas orientuotis šiuolaikiniame materialiame pasaulyje, tvarkytis buitį, prisižiūrėti sveikatą, rūpintis savimi ir aplinka. Kadangi vartojimo problemos dažnai kyla būtent dėl nepakankamos vartojimo kompetencijos, todėl didelę reikšmę įgyja... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The objective of the final thesis for the Master’s Degree – Development of service use competencies at technology lessons – is to analyze the development of service use at technology lessons. During the mentioned lessons, students are expected to develop knowledge and skills themselves and to apply them in practice; teachers should develop students’ lights, intellectual curiosity and encourage them to look for knowledge from other sources. This paper analyses scientific, special and educational literature, knowledge of a consumer (student) about the competence of service use, displays the opportunities how to build the service use competencies at technology lessons. It is not easy to formulate the definition of a service, but usually one or more features of services, considered universal by the authors, are enlightened. These features of the services encompass intangibility, non-accumulativeness, integrity, heterogeneity (promiscuity), instability, user’s involvement in the service delivery process, unity of service delivery and service use (contemporaneousness), non-changeability of ownership. One of the most frequent services classifications met in literature probably is the classification of services into consumer, social, industrial and distributive services. Under conditions of a big variety of service quantities and qualities, user’s competence is also important. This means ability to get oriented in the modern material world, cope with household chores, take care of... [to full text]