This project has aim to examine how students experience their concentration ability during mathematics lessons in the mornings and afternoons, and how students’ learning can be in-fluenced by the concentration ability during mathematics lesson in the morning and after-noons respectively? Which role do the methods of learning play in mathematic depending on which time it is carried out during mornings or afternoons with regard to student concentra-tion ability? In order to find out those issues, I used two methods; (interview and observa-tion).Interview with 4 students and 3 teachers and observations of 4 mathematics lessons based on a qualitative method. In order to measure students' concentration ability during ma-thematics education on various times, I distributed questions to 23 students and repeated it during each lesson that I have observed from a quantitative approach in two classes in a sec-ondary school. In the literature I discuss the definition of concentration, and factors affecting the concentration negatively and positively. What is the relationship between concentration, learning and type of activity and how individuals can improve their learning and attention? In addition I studied two earlier studies on the concentration. Survey results show that the con-centration of students seems best in the morning and after lunch in their mathematics lessons and seems the worst before lunch and later in the school day. Generally, the results show that the concentration of students is worse during math lessons in the afternoons. The results also show that fatigue, hunger, advanced data and absent mindedness may affect concentration and learning negatively. The results also show that the activity type has great role in creating or maintaining concentration levels of pupils and the best time for math lessons are in the morn-ing and after lunch.

This study contributes to an understanding of how coherence can be assigned or constructed by participants in authentic multiparty conversational interaction. Coherence is analysed as a type of organisation relevant for the making of meaning in situated interaction, but also in retrospect from a third party's (or analyst's) perspective; it is both constructed and reconstructed. Important questions are: what makes multiparty talk hold together, what do a number of participants in conversation (have to) do in order to sustain coherence, and in what senses can multiparty conversations be argued to be coherent? A notion of episode is (re)introduced as a unit of natural social interaction, manifest at a structurally intermediate, or a global. level of conversation. The use of episode implies that coherence, a pragmatic phenomenon, steadily encompasses text, i.e. talk, context(s) and actions, and sense-making practices invoking contexts during the progression of interaction. This reflects the reciprocal relations between länguage, social interaction, and cognition. Also, a coding method of coherence has been developed, Topical Episode Analysis (abbreviated as TEA). The thesis explores the concept of episode and its place among units of interaction, and describes the episode structure and coherence-making in some specific activity types. The empirical material used, 24 multiparty conversations making up a total of 1500 episodes, consists of dinner conversations among peers, multi-generational family gatherings (involving aphasics), radio talk shows, and conversations recorded at a centre aimed for elderly people (with symptoms of dementia). In all conversations, conversing is a main activity. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses have been carried out. Results include the following points: (i) coherence in multiparty conversation can be regarded as a co-construction; (ii) coherence is accomplished through the invoking of contexts (cotext, situation, and background knowledge), implying that coherence is an attribute of activities in context and not only 'text'; (iii) coherence-making is the unmarked case in authentic conversation and incoherence or non-coherence appear to be theoretical constructs; (iv) coherence patterns are activityspecific; (v) coherence is multilayered, consisting of one local and several global levels; (vi) coherence is constructed through a division of communicative labour, suggesting that also people with communicative impairments contribute to coherence-making.

Physical activity has multiple health benefits, however, physical activity can also lead to the development of excessive exercise, disturbed eating patterns, negative body image and social physique anxiety. This study investigated the relationship between social physique anxiety (SPA), physical activity type, frequency of physical activity, and motives to exercise. Participants were female undergraduates (N=108) enrolled at the University of Victoria. Female students were recruited from Exercise, Physical and Health Education classes that were open to all students from different faculties. A cross-sectional survey assessed social physique anxiety, frequency of physical activity and motives for exercise as well as dividing students according to physical activity type (Varsity, Intramural, High Strenuous Exerciser, Low Strenuous Exerciser). An analysis of variance revealed no association between SPA and physical activity type. Additionally, correlations showed that SPA and frequency of physical activity was not significant. Interestingly, SPA was significant for all motives that include Interest (r=-.371, p<.01), Competence (r=-.330, p<.01), Appearance (r=.430), Fitness (r=-.215, p<.05), and Social (r=-.406, p<.01). A linear regression revealed that only Appearance and Social motives predicted SPA. / Graduate / 0573 / 0347 / 0566 / fawniar@uvic.ca

Physical activity has multiple health benefits, however, physical activity can also lead to the development of excessive exercise, disturbed eating patterns, negative body image and social physique anxiety. This study investigated the relationship between social physique anxiety (SPA), physical activity type, frequency of physical activity, and motives to exercise. Participants were female undergraduates (N=108) enrolled at the University of Victoria. Female students were recruited from Exercise, Physical and Health Education classes that were open to all students from different faculties. A cross-sectional survey assessed social physique anxiety, frequency of physical activity and motives for exercise as well as dividing students according to physical activity type (Varsity, Intramural, High Strenuous Exerciser, Low Strenuous Exerciser). An analysis of variance revealed no association between SPA and physical activity type. Additionally, correlations showed that SPA and frequency of physical activity was not significant. Interestingly, SPA was significant for all motives that include Interest (r=-.371, p<.01), Competence (r=-.330, p<.01), Appearance (r=.430), Fitness (r=-.215, p<.05), and Social (r=-.406, p<.01). A linear regression revealed that only Appearance and Social motives predicted SPA. / Graduate / 0573 / 0347 / 0566 / fawniar@uvic.ca

The aims of this thesis were to describe the verbal interaction in workplace meetings and to relate them to the order of gender. The material consists of five workplace meetings with both female and male participants and was transcribed using a system developed for the purposes of the study. Both the videotapes and transcripts were used in the analyses. Three main studies were carried out. The first study aimed at describing the structuring of the verbal interaction during the meetings, especially in comparison with ordinary conversation. The second study tested the hypothesis that the men in the meetings would dominate the verbal interaction. The third study aimed at describing narratives in the material, especially two narratives told by a male participant in one of the meetings. The methods used in the studies combined qualitative analysis of small sections of talk with quantitative analysis of variables, coded in the material as a whole. The first study showed many similarities between the five meetings in the way interaction was structured, which indicated the possibility that the workplace meeting represents an activity type of its own. One main result was that although the meetings were managed with almost no formal procedures, the verbal interaction was still very structured, and handled with practices belonging to ordinary conversation used in an activity-specific way. The quantitative analysis showed no great differences between the men and the women and the hypothesis was not clearly verified. Two variables indicated that the men dominated the interaction and one variable indicated that the women dominated the interaction, but on the whole the similarities between the men and the women were greater than the differences. The qualitative analysis of the narratives showed how the narratives in the meetings were an interactional achievement and how their meaning was negotiated in the interaction. The analyses also showed how the meaning of the narratives was influenced by normative conceptions about masculinity and thus could be a means of doing gender.

In an effort to better understand the mental processing connected to different kinds of CALL activities, this study collected data on time subjects spent, as well as buttons subjects clicked while doing 10 different CALL activities accompanying a beginning French text book. In addition, a group of subjects thought out loud as they completed the same activities. These subjects were recorded on video, their thinking out loud was transcribed and the transcriptions were coded according to how they indicated they were dealing with the language input. The frequencies of coded categories were compared to see if there were connections between certain activity types and the kind of mental processing that should lead to language acquisition. It found that activities which required language production at least at the sentence level had higher occurrences of the kind of processing that one expects to lead to acquisition. The study also found that activities which required the learners to click as a response were connected to what could be considered shallower processing, or processing that is less likely to lead to language acquisition. It found similar results concerning True/False activities. In investigating the connection between behavior and mental processing in the CALL setting, the study found that button-use does seem to be connected to more effective processing, but that time spent on an activity is something that is perhaps too ambiguous to draw conclusions from.

The first aim of the dissertation is to shed light on how communication at a drama college may obstruct the students’ involvement. There are three studies on this subject in the dissertation. The first study deals with the students’ involvement in their education in general. The second study deals with the applicants’ involvement in the entrance examination to the college. The third study deals with the students’ involvement in a basic acting course at the college. The main theoretical framework is Etienne Wenger’s theories on social practices and social configurations, Per Linell’s activity type theory, and Herbert Clark’s theories on joint projects. The studies reveal a number of potential communicative obstacles, due to different basic communicative circumstances, communicative procedures and normative formulations. The second aim of the dissertation is to offer analytical tools which drama colleges and similar organizations can use to shed light on their own communication. The analytical concepts and the method used in the studies have the potential to be useful for such organizations: the concepts are relatively comprehensible and do not require a specific type of data, and the method offers steps in which to conduct an analysis. The third aim is to develop forms for what in the dissertation is called a practice-oriented communication analysis, in order to contribute to the discussion on how to study language use as part of broader communicative and social contexts, and how to collaborate with those whose communication is studied. The dissertation offers an orderly way to handle such questions, by formulating guidelines for the selection of theories, methods, and data, and by arguing for certain theories, methods, and data in regard to the guidelines.

The subject of this study is language use in a special type of social activity: the exchange of goods, services and information in a commercial setting. The main aim is to gain an understanding of the work that shop assistants perform using language. In the analysis, the focus is on verbal routine work. One part of the analysis thus entails mapping the typical utterances and conversational sequences related to such activities. Another part involves investigating how much non-task-oriented interaction the various activities require or “tolerate”, for instance, in the form of “small talk”. A central theme in the study is the interactants’ conversational rights and obligations, from the perspective of politeness theory, especially Fraser’s theory of the conversational contract. The service encounters are categorised as activity types, according to Levinson’s activity theory. In the comparative parts of the study, the concept of pragmeme is used as a tool to examine different realisations of prototypical situated communicative acts. The empirical material consists of authentic conversations, analysed by methods borrowed from conversation analysis. The conversations were recorded at a supermarket checkout till, a deli counter with manual service and an information desk in a bookshop. It turned out that only a few of the customer conversations were without complications. At the supermarket till, for instance, only one out of four conversations was completely routine and unproblematic. Also presented is a diachronic investigation of the norms relating to service encounters that have been taking place in shops since the 1940s. The main sources here are manuals and study materials for shop employees, together with interviews and material gathered from role playing. In this part of the study, a number of features in the historical change process are described, for instance in the manner of addressing people and the use of politeness expressions.

The main purpose of this study is to observe the L2 acquisition effect of studying abroad during approximately four months in Swedish non-native speakers (NNSs) of Spanish with respect to their use of multi-word structures (MWSs) as compared to native speakers (NSs). In addition, this evolutionary study has a secondary aim which is to see the effect of the activity type on the amount and distribution of the MWSs encountered.    This study shows positive effects of a study abroad period in L2 use and, particularly, regarding MWSs. It has been shown that the amount and variety of the NNSs’ MWSs have increased during their stay in Spain, and that the differences with the NSs in the use of MWSs have diminished or even, in some cases, disappeared. It is notable the improvement in the NNSs’ discourse competence. The study also shows that the type of task affects the results. Thus, the negotiations that contain specialised vocabulary which participants are familiar with, yield a higher token frequency of MWSs among NSs and NNSs than the focus group discussions, more free and spontaneous. The negotiations also yield a higher token frequency of conceptual MWSs, especially noun phrases, because of the specialised vocabulary, more complex and subject to greater nominalisation.The focus group discussions have a higher token frequency of own-management MWSs than the negotiations, which is attributed to a higher communicative pressure. On the other hand, the token frequency of interaction management MWSs is higher among the NSs in the mixed group discussions compared to those with only NSs, as a result of collaborative interaction between the NSs and the NNSs. Individual differences among NNSs have also been observed and five profiles have been distinguished. These differences decrease in general at the end of the stay, which also indicates a positive development. There is a positive development in all profiles, which is reflected in significant changes in the amount and variety of the MWSs, their distribution in categories or in the emergence of more complex types. A direct link has also been observed between communication orientedness, participation in conversation and a positive development.

The adenylate cyclase toxin (CyaA) of Bordetella pertussis is a 1706-residue protein comprising an amino-terminal adenylate cyclase (AC) domain and a carboxy-terminal Repeat-in-Toxin (RTX) domain. The RTX domain is a hallmark of the family of RTX proteins, which are secreted from the cytosol of Gram-negative bacteria to the cell environment through the Type I Secretion System (T1SS). The RTX domain of CyaA consists of five blocks of RTX nonapetide repeats with a consensus sequence X-(L/I/V)-X-G-G-X-G- X-D. The aim of this work was to determine the role of the RTX domain in biological activities of CyaA and its role in the secretion of the toxin molecule from Bordetella pertussis. Systematic deletion analysis revealed that none of the prepared CyaA constructs was able to translocate its AC domain across the cytoplasmic membrane of host cells and make pores in target membranes. Moreover, deletion of individual RTX repeat blocks resulted in a very low efficacy of secretion of CyaA mutants into cell exterior. These data suggested that structural integrity of the RTX domain of CyaA is essential not only for cytotoxic activities of the toxin molecule but also for its secretion through the T1SS.