This dissertation examines the construction and evolution of categories of indigeneity within the context of the Oblate (Roman Catholic) apostolate at Île-à-Crosse in present-day north-western Saskatchewan between 1845 and 1898. While focusing on one central mission station, this study illuminates broad historical processes that informed Oblate perceptions and impelled their evolution over a fifty-three-year period. In particular, this study illuminates processes that shaped Oblate concepts of sauvage and métis. It does this through a qualitative analysis of missionary correspondence, mission records and published reports. In the process, this dissertation challenges the orthodox notion that Oblate commentators simply discovered and described a singular, empirically existing and readily identifiable Métis population. Rather, this dissertation contends that Oblates played an important role in the conceptual production of les métis.

Once known only as Bodybuilding and Women’s Bodybuilding, the sport has grown to include multiple competition categories that both limit and expand opportunities for female bodybuilders. While the creation of additional categories, such as Fitness, Figure, Bikini, and Physique, appears to make the sport more inclusive to more variations and interpretation of the feminine, muscular physique, it also creates more in-between spaces. This auto ethnographic research explores the ways that multiple female competition categories within the sport of Bodybuilding define, reinforce, and complicate the gendered experiences of female physique athletes, by bringing freak theory into conversation with body categories.

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Understanding the growth pattern of content popularity has become a subject of immense interest to Internet service providers, content makers and on-line advertisers. This understanding is also important for the sustainable development of content distribution systems. As an approach to comprehend the characteristics of this growth pattern, a significant amount of research has been done in analyzing the popularity growth patterns of YouTube videos. Unfortunately, no work has been done that intensively investigates the popularity patterns of YouTube videos based on video object category. In this thesis, an in-depth analysis of the popularity pattern of YouTube videos is performed, considering the categories of videos. Metadata and request patterns were collected by employing category-specific YouTube crawlers. The request patterns were observed for a period of five months. Results confirm that the time varying popularity of di fferent YouTube categories are conspicuously diff erent, in spite of having sets of categories with very similar viewing patterns. In particular, News and Sports exhibit similar growth curves, as do Music and Film. While for some categories views at early ages can be used to predict future popularity, for some others predicting future popularity is a challenging task and require more sophisticated techniques, e.g., time-series clustering. The outcomes of these analyses are instrumental towards designing a reliable workload generator, which can be further used to evaluate diff erent caching policies for YouTube and similar sites. In this thesis, workload generators for four of the YouTube categories are developed. Performance of these workload generators suggest that a complete category-specific workload generator can be developed using time-series clustering. Patterns of users' interaction with YouTube videos are also analyzed from a dataset collected in a local network. This shows the possible ways of improving the performance of Peer-to-Peer video distribution technique along with a new video recommendation method.

Per tal de millorar la qualitat del treball col·laboratiu dels alumnes amb l'ordinador cal parar atenció a la natura de les seves interaccions durant els processos de lectura i escriptura. En aquesta investigació presentem i il·lustrem un mètode d'anàlisi relativament nou basat en l'anàlisi funcional de la llengua. A més de l'anàlisi interpersonal també és interessant investigar com les transcripcions reflecteixen la manera com es construeix la situació d'ensenyament i aprenentatge així com les normes i negociacions dels estudiants per donar forma a la interacció a cada moment.La tesi s'ha estructurat en set parts diferents. La primera, dividida en cinc capítols, dóna una visió de les investigacions actuals sobre la interacció a l'aula i l'aprenentatge de llengües en contextos CALL. Aquest marc teòric es descriu a partir d'un enfocament sociocultural de l'aprenentatge així com des de la lingüística aplicada.A la segona part de la tesi es presenta el seu objectiu principal així com les preguntes d'investigació. Malgrat que les nostres dades sorgeixen de dues situacions diferents -estudi de cas i entrevistes a professors- hem de dir que la informació més rellevant per a la tesi surt de la primera d'elles.La tercera part té a veure amb la metodologia. En aquesta part s'intenta explicar com vam explorar diferents corrents per poder establir un sistema de categories adequat per a l'anàlisi de les dades emergents a l'estudi de cas: anàlisi del discurs, anàlisi de la conversa, tipus de conversa a partir del projecte SLANT (Spoken Language and New Technologies) i en especial el sistema d'anàlisi funcional basat en els estudis de Halliday i Hassan. A la quarta part de la tesi es descriu l'estudi de cas per investigar el tipus d'interacció d'una parella d'alumnes de 2nd d'ESO durant el procés de treball col·laboratiu basat en una tasca amb una aplicació informàtica concreta: una WebQuest de Ciències Naturals en Anglès. L'estudi para una especial atenció a les dinàmiques socials i cognitives dels alumnes relacionades amb els processos de lectura i escriptura. També es té en compte el rol del professor com a dissenyador de la situació d'aprenentatge basada en l'ús de l'ordinador i com a observador participatiu en les activitats centrades en els aprenents. Per a l'obtenció de dades es van enregistrar les interaccions verbals i no verbals dels alumnes i del professor amb vídeo així com els seus moviments a la pantalla de l'ordinador. Posteriorment es va transcriure tota aquesta informació i se li va aplicar el sistema funcional d'anàlisi de la llengua adaptat al nostre estudi.A la cinquena part la investigació es centra en tres entrevistes a professors de llengua anglesa per conèixer les seves creences i opinions sobre el treball col·laboratiu dels alumnes i l'ús de les TIC. Personalment crec que és justament aquesta projecció pragmàtica la que dóna sentit a qualsevol investigació dins l'àmbit educatiu. Com a autor d'aquesta tesi el meu desig és que aquesta publicació ofereixi al lector noves perspectives dins la investigació de la interacció dels alumnes treballant amb una llengua estrangera a través d'una aplicació informàtica interdisciplinària. L'estudi de cas i les entrevistes a professors amb les seves qüestions i mètodes específics, intenten proporcionar més informació sobre els processos i condicions per poder dissenyar i crear aplicacions informàtiques que promoguin ambients d'aprenentatge autònom i col·laboratiu. / This thesis has been structured into seven distinct parts. The first part, divided into five chapters, provides an overview of current research on classroom interaction and foreign language learning in CALL contexts. This theoretical framework is described and located in socio-culturally based ideas of learning.In the second part of the thesis a description of the main goal and research questions are provided. Although I collect data from two different situations -case study and teachers' interviews- I must say that the most relevant findings for my main research question come from the former one.The third part deals with methodology. In this part I try to explain how different approaches to establish a suitable set of categories to analyse the case study data were explored. It specially introduces and describes the emergence of a new analytic framework: the functional analysis system.In the fourth part I describe the case study investigating the nature of a pair of students' interaction -2nd of ESO- during four sessions in the process of a collaborative task-based work assisted by a computer application: a Science WebQuest in English. The study pays special attention to the social and cognitive dynamics in the students' collaborative reading and writing processes. Another focus is also to consider the role of the teacher as a designer of the computer-based learning situation as well as participant in student centred learning activities. In the fifth part some interviews to know about teachers' beliefs and opinions on collaborative work and the use of ICT are presented. Personally, I think pragmatism is what really makes sense to this research. As the author of this thesis, I hope this publication offers the reader new insights into research on students' interaction and foreign language teaching and learning throughout an interdisciplinary computer application. The case study and the teachers' interviews with their specific research questions and methods, are aimed at providing more information about the processes and conditions for designing and creating computer applications that foster collaborative and autonomous learning environments.

Sea R un anillo asociativo no unitario. Un módulo M se dice firme si es isomorfo de forma canónica al producto tensorial sobre R de R por M. La categoría formada por los módulos firmes es una generalización natural de la categoría de módulos unitarios para anillos unitarios.Una propiedad fundamental y que permanecía como problema abierto era la abelianidad de la categoría de módulos firmes. En la memoria se prueba que en general la categoría no es abeliana, mostrando un ejemplo de anillo asociativo R y de un monomorfismo que no es núcleo de ningún otro morfismo de la categoría. Se realiza un estudio profundo de la categoría de módulos firmes y de multitud de propiedades equivalentes a la abelianidad, así como otras propiedades más débiles y que tampoco se cumplen en general. / Let R a nonunital ring. A module M is set to be firm if it is isomorphic in the canonical way to the tensor product about R of R by M. The category of firm modules generalizes the usual category of unital modules for a unital ring.It was a open problem if the category of firm modules is an abelian category. We prove that, in general, this category is not abelian, and we find a ring and a monomorphism that is not a kernel in this category. The category of firm modules has been estudied in detail. We have deeply analyzed several properties equivalent to be abelian, and some others with weaker restrictions that are not satisfied in general

Syftet med vår studie var att se hur Sverigedemokraterna genom sitt principprogram konstruerar svenskhet och på så vis skapar en gräns mellan ”oss och de andra”. Metoden för vår studie har varit en kvalitativ text- och diskursanalys. Vårt resultat visar att texten i programmet påverkar och konstruerar sociala kategorier som är avgörande för människors sociala positioner och tillgång till resurser. Partiets konstruktion av svenskhet bygger på en social och nationell likhet som skapar social ojämlikhet. Resultatet visar även att det är viktigt att kritiskt granska texter som används av vår samhälleliga elit eftersom de i egenskap av sin maktposition har ett tolkningsföreträde. / The purpose of this study was to investigate how Sverigedemokraterna, in their program of principles, design Swedishness and as an effect of this creates a boundary between “us and them”. Our method of choice has been text- and discourse analysis. By analyzing the text in the program we’ve come to the conclusion that it has an effect on, and helps to create social categories that are crucial to people’s social positions and resource possibilities. The party builds their version of Swedishness on a social and national likeness that creates social inequality. Our results also shows that it’s important to examine texts used by the elite of society since they in their powerful position has a preferential right of interpretation.

During recent years (2010), magnitude and quality of household living space of Taiwanese families have both significantly increased. As living aesthetics is pursued as well, furniture and the furnishings have played important roles in their daily lives at the same time. In addition, international titanic chain stores of furniture entered into Taiwan market rapidly, advocating multi-faceted values of living and purveying fashions of furniture. Consequently, many new concepts about furniture and house furnishing have been conceived in the minds of consumers in the Formosa island. The current study has two empirical research: (1) for the market as a whole, observing the relationships among on stores evaluation, attitude towards furniture involvement, purchase risk, and readiness to buy; (2) regarding individual consumers, exploring the alteration of consideration and brand type choices in terms of different situations which are designed by store type, demand situation, and furniture categories, two alternatives for each dimension. In methodology, the first research was conducted by questionnaire survey, with 112 valid samples. For the second, a factorial design of experiment was undertaken with 224 participation, students and rank-and-file populace distributed evenly. The major findings include: (a) the effect of furniture involvement on local store evaluation is moderated by purchase risk; (b) purchase readiness influences the relationship between furniture involvement and store evaluation; (c) furniture stores affect consumers¡¦ brand-category choice; (d) for experienced populace, local traditional store is preferred in purchase for first time; (e) brand and fashion is emphasized more in living room furniture than bed room; (f) when in first purchase for bedroom furniture, the particpants preferred the designer brand, while in replacement purchase, the preference is rendered for living room furniture.

This research is focus on how store image affects perceived risks and purchase intention in different private label brand (PLB) products. Because of 7-Eleven¡¦s positive store image and diverse product categories, this research takes 7-Eleven as the example to explore the difference among its PLB products. The conclusions as follow¡G 1. Positive store image is a necessary condition to develop PLBs. 2. Product category is a success factor to PLBs. 3. Consumers perceive different perceived risks when facing different products. According to the conclusion, suggestions are as bellow¡G 1. Keep maintaining and improving store image. 2. Focus on the products which are highly-related to the store image. 3. Managing perceived risk as a marketing strategy in diverse PLB product categories.

Different theories of cognitive science propose different system descriptions in their models for the explanation of cognitive phenomena. According to one view, they are incompatible and competing theories. The view is defended by theorists and philosophers from different perspectives and they all claim that the proper conception of cognition is the conception provided by the theory which they advocate. The other view, on the other hand, insists on the compatibility of those theories. According to this view which is also defended here, these different theories are not only compatible, but also they are complementary. The cooperation of these theories and integration of the conceptions provided by these theories are needed to have a full account of cognition.