Jan Havlasa was the first Ambassador of Czechoslovakia to Brazil, a distinguished writer and explorer. The purpose of this thesis is to present the explorer's life. Havlasa visited Slovakia after finishing secondary school, and soon after he travelled also to Italy; Saint Louis, Missouri; or the island of Tahiti. After the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Havlasa served as the Ambassador of Czechoslovakia to Brazil (1920-1924); in 1943, Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš called him back into diplomatic service, this time as the Ambassador to Chile. Among his most important formative experiences we can find his membership in the Opium Commission of the League of Nations. Despite the fact that Havlasa spent most of his life abroad, he never relinquished his homeland: he took interest in the situation of Czechoslovakia and fought for its independence on the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. His extensive lecturing activities, as well as his treatise Colonial Policy in Relation to the Great War earned him one year of gaol in Vienna. The thesis also takes into account Havlasa's extensive literary work and his lectures, which took place all over Czechoslovakia and during which he presented his books, photographs and travel experience to his readers and listeners.

Cette thèse a pour origine le constat de l’implication forte d’une fraction de la société civile irlandaise, de l’homme de la rue, d’associations politiques militantes, de syndicats mais aussi de l’appareil diplomatique, dans le rapport de force en Palestine, depuis la Guerre des Six jours de 1967, qui soulève l’indignation populaire. Le paroxysme de ce phénomène prend place en Irlande du Nord, où Unionistes et Nationalistes brandissent les drapeaux israéliens et palestiniens, pour témoigner de leur attachement à l’un ou l’autre des acteurs du conflit au Moyen-Orient. Il s’agit ici d’explorer les origines et l’évolution de cette mobilisation, en définissant le contour d’une perspective irlandaise protéiforme sur le conflit israélo-palestinien, qui s’appuie sur un faisceau multiple de lectures domestiques des événements au Moyen-Orient, fondées sur autant d’appréhensions de l’histoire irlandaise. Celles-ci s’épanouissent dans un entremêlement de narrations contradictoires du conflit israélo- palestinien, qui animent le discours politique irlandais autour du débat sur l’identité postcoloniale de l’Irlande. Cet exposé propose une analyse des manifestations de solidarité transnationale avec Israël et la Palestine, que ce soit à l’échelle nationale et supranationale, des partis politiques, ou des syndicats et des associations civiles. Il s’attache à mettre en lumière les facteurs, à la fois historiques, et par là-même ancrés dans l’identité de l’Etat irlandais et de l’Irlande du Nord, mais aussi stratégiques, diplomatiques et religieux, qui participent à une domestication irlandaise du conflit au Moyen-Orient. La récupération politique de ce conflit dans la propagande du militantisme républicain irlandais au début des années 1970, mais aussi dans les discours politiques et au sein de la société civile, ainsi que la réaction pro-israélienne plus récente, qui échappent encore à un apport théorique, constituent le cœur de ce travail de recherche. / The starting-point of the writing of this thesis is the observation of the strong commitment of a layer of Irish civil society – from the man on the street to political parties, associations and trade unions – to the defence of one antagonist or the other in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ever since the Six Day War in 1967, which aroused international indignation. This phenomenon is particularly striking in Northern Ireland, where Israeli and Palestinian flags have been flown by Unionists and Nationalists as signs of solidarity and identification. The purpose of this research is to look into the origins and the evolutions of such expressions of transnational solidarity, by defining the multifaceted Irish approach to the Middle-East question. This approach is based on a prism of domestic readings of the conflict, originating from different conceptions of Irish history. Indeed, the intermingling of the sometimes contradictory readings of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict feeds into the Irish political debate, revolving around the supposedly postcolonial identity of Ireland. This thesis develops an analysis of the transnational solidarity in Ireland with Israel and Palestine, be it at a national or supranational level, from political parties, trade unions and civil associations. It endeavours to cast light on the factors which structure the Irish domestication of the conflict in the Middle East, be they historical and connected to the very identity of the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland, or strategic, diplomatic and religious. The political exploitation of the conflict in Irish republican propaganda from the beginning of the 1970s, bolstered by connections with Palestinian resistance movements, and the more recent pro-Israeli response particularly within Unionism, which have never been analysed together in a comparative way, are at the core of this research.

In this study the overarching question is in what way the Swedishauthor Alf Henrikson has acted as a popular educator and if he as such hasbeen a part of a popular educational context. The different popular educationalactivities he associated with could be considered as verification thathe did act as a popular educator. Two works of his popular historical authorshipare examined and they are characterized by the intention or ambitionto disseminate historical knowledge. By his historical authorship healso was a part of a popular historical tradition in Sweden.Henrikson appeared at several times as a popular lecturer and hereby hereproduces a tradition from the worker’s institutes and the associations forpopular lectures. He also performed on several occasions in radio programsand TV programs and disseminated knowledge and education. Radio broadcastsas well as television are regarded as popular educational activities. Inconsideration to the subject areas of his knowledge he can be affiliated withan educational ideal in the Swedish worker’s movement and Swedish populareducation. His educational ideal is the personality creating neohumanisticprinciple. Henrikson also supported the thought of taking over the middles-classes idea of cultural heritage.

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This study examined the language socialization of international students in the graduate school context of a western Canadian university. Focusing on one pervasive speech event, academic presentations (APs), this study explored the role this socioculturally organized activity played in facilitating students' linguistic and sociocultural development, and how it aided them in negotiating their entry into the academic world. The participants in this study included 55 graduate students and nine course instructors. Thirty seven students were native speakers (NSs) of English, while the remaining 18- -the focal participants of this study—were non-native speakers of English (NNSs). The sites were seven graduate courses in six different departments in three different faculties (Faculty of Medicine, Faculty o f Arts, and Faculty o f Applied Science). A qualitative approach was employed, and thus multiple kinds of data were gathered over a four-month period. Data collection methods included: (a) open-ended interviews with participants; (b) tape-recorded observations of APs; (c) researcher's fieldnotes of APs; and (d) collection of written documents (e.g., course outlines). Data were analyzed following Bogdan and Biklen (1992) by identifying major and minor themes while iteratively going over the data. A comparison of APs across disciplines is included, examining aspects such as A P content, sequence, length, and format. As well, an analysis of the qualities promoted in each field and of the multiple purposes APs fulfil is provided and related to the complex socialization (i.e., both linguistic and sociocultural) of international graduate students. Findings of the study suggested that APs are a complex task whose meaning is not fixed, but rather is determined by the interplay of the broad context of the academic world, the micro-context of each community of practice, and ultimately by each individual. With regard to the language socialization 6f NNSs, APs challenged students in both linguistic and sociocultural ways. However, by observing, participating in, and reflecting on APs, students gained increased membership and competence within their academic communities.

The fuzzball model of a black hole is an attempt to resolve the many paradoxes and puzzles of black hole physics that have revealed themselves over the last century. These badly behaved solutions of general relativity have given physicists one of the few laboratories to test candidate quantum theories of gravity. Though little is known about exactly what lies beyond the event horizon, and what the ultimate fate of matter that falls in to a black hole is, we know a few intriguing and elegant semi-classical results that have kept physicists occupied. Among these are the known black hole entropy and the Hawking radiation process.

This work examines the chemical and physical effects of a material treatment process on the biopolymers PEEK, POM-h, POM-c, PTFE and UHMWPE. The polymers are analyzed physically and chemically using atomic force microscopy, profilometry, scanning electron microscopy, optical microscopy, contact angle measurement, FT infra-red spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry. PEEK is found to be the most suitable polymer and FT Infra-red spectroscopy an informative analytic tool.

Paper discusses the expected uncertainty of orbital parameters of binary stars as measured by the space-based gravitational wave observatory LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) and how the inclusion of spin in the model of the binary stars affects the uncertainty. The uncertainties are found by calculating the received gravitational wave from a binary pair and then performing a linear least-squares parameter estimation. The case of a 1500 solar mass black hole that is 20 years from coalescing with a 1000 solar mass black hole--both of which are 50 x 10^6 light years away--is analyzed, and the results show that the inclusion of spin has a negligible effect upon the angular resolution of LISA but can increase the accuracy in mass and distance measurements by factors of 15 and 65, respectively.

L’objectif de cette étude est de recueillir des informations biographiques sur Julio Cortázar grâce à des lettres, des interviews, des essais et des documents pédagogiques écrits par l’auteur lui-même. Notre objectif est de remodeler ces éléments de manière à exposer et réfléchir sur la façon dont Cortázar entendait sa fonction d’écrivain et la manière dont il s’y est investi tout au long de sa vie. Grâce à une approche globale de ces sources biographiques, nous avons retracé le parcours de formation et d’évolution littéraire de l’auteur, les inquiétudes intellectuelles, sociales et politiques qui l’entouraient et les problèmes professionnels auxquels il a dû faire face au quotidien. Nous commençons par nous plonger dans la trajectoire chronologique de Cortázar en tant que lecteur. Nous apportons une vision globale des lectures qui l’ont formé et de celles qui l’ont accompagné de son enfance à son décès. Nous poursuivons notre analyse avec une présentation chronologique des opinions qu’il exprime sur son oeuvre. Nous montrons ainsi un jeune poète et auteur de contes qui doute de la qualité littéraire de ses écrits, un écrivain connu de contes fantastiques qui s’impose le défi de changer de modalité ou de genre ainsi qu’un auteur déjà reconnu qui continue à chercher comment briser les moules. Nous apportons enfin des informations sur les aspects pratiques de la fonction d’écrivain. En d’autres termes, nous présentons l’énorme implication de Cortázar dans le processus de publication et de traduction de ses livres ainsi que son interaction avec le monde littéraire et éditorial. / This study aims to garner biographical information on Julio Cortázar, as obtained from his letters, interviews, essays and pedagogical texts, in order to offer new insights that allow us to expose and reflect on how he understood his writing career and worked as a writer throughout his life. In applying a global approach to said biographical sources, this study traces his first years as a writer and his literary evolution, his intellectual, social and political involvement, and the practical problems he had to face on a daily basis. To begin with, the study looks into Cortázar’s trajectory as a reader, providing an overview of the readings in which he was educated and of those that left an imprint on him from childhood to death. A chronological exposition of the opinions he expressed about his work follows. Thus, Cortázar offers a portrait of himself as a young poet and story writer who doubts about the literary quality of his texts, as a known writer of fantastic short stories who challenges himself with the task of changing modalities and genres, and as an acclaimed writer who constantly seeks to break moulds. Finally, this study furnishes data on the practical side of his writing career. Cortázar’s strenuous involvement in the publishing process and translation of his work is discussed, together with his interaction with the literary and editing world.

Les critiques littéraires, dans la dernière partie du 20ème siècle, ont tenté de définir la place occupée par le lecteur au sein de la création littéraire. Abordée sous différents angles (cognitif, culturel, psychanalytique, anthropologique, sociologique, linguistique, esthétique), l'activité du lecteur comme récepteur de l'œuvre est maintenant décrite avec finesse, maintes fois observée pour mieux cerner les conditions dans lesquelles s'organise cette réception. A la suite de ces travaux, la recherche en didactique interroge, elle aussi , la façon dont le lecteur en formation peut installer une relation intime à la littérature et acquérir une posture lui permettant d'entrer dans le jeu auquel le convie l'œuvre littéraire par essence pour s'approprier le texte littéraire, l'actualiser et tirer un bénéfice personnel de ses lectures.Nous pensons que ces postures de lecteurs, pour l'instant décrites à partir de modèles de lecteurs experts, peuvent aussi faire l'objet d'un enseignement simultané à celui d'une acquisition rigoureuse de l'apprentissage de la lecture. Pour répondre à cette problématique, la thèse a défini un cadre épistémologique qui s'appuie d'une part sur les modèles de théorisation du lecteur proposés par Michel Picard et Vincent Jouve, d'autre part sur les recherches en didactique de la littérature renouvelant son enseignement en prenant en compte le lecteur comme sujet. La dimension exploratoire de la recherche, qui compare deux modalités d'apprentissage, a permis de mettre en évidence- les différentes procédures que les élèves mettent en œuvre pour comprendre et investir les textes,- les représentations concernant la lecture qu'ils construisent en fonction des contextes d'apprentissage,- les conditions nécessaires à la mobilisation de leur subjectivité pour construire une lecture participative et/ou distanciée.La recherche aura permis, en outre, de proposer quelques hypothèses pour construire un début de modélisation des instances de lecture à l'œuvre chez l'apprenti lecteur. / In the last decades of the twentieth century, literary critics strove to define what place to give the reader amidst the process of literary creation. Scrutinized under different angles (cognitive, cultural, psychoanalytical, anthropological, sociological, linguistic, aesthetic), the activity of the reader as recipient of a given work has now been described with accuracy, observed again and again to better fathom the conditions in which this reception takes place. In the wake of these studies, didactic research also questions the way a reader in-training can set up an intimate relationship to literature and grow into a position which allows him/her to enter the game -to which a literary work quintessentially invites him/her- in order to assimilate the literary text, to actualize it and draw personal benefit from his/her readings.We believe the various reader positionings, so far described only from the models of expert readers, can also be taught, simultaneously with the rigorous acquisition of reading skills. To tackle this issue, this thesis has defined an epistemological framework based, on the one hand, upon Michel Picard and Vincent Jouve's models of theorization of the readership, and on the other hand, upon research in literature didactics which have renewed the way of teaching it by taking into account the reader as subject. The exploratory dimension of this research which compares two types of learning has permitted to find out-the different processes implemented by pupils to understand and invest the texts-the representations concerning reading that they build according to different learning situations-the conditions necessary to the mobilization of their subjectivity in building a participatory and/or distanciated reading.This research will also have permitted to suggest a few hypotheses aimed at building the bases of the modelization of the reading processes at work for the reader in-training.