This thesis deals with the possibilities of using television series `Friends' in teaching English on B2 level to further linguistic and communicative competences of the students. The purpose of this thesis was to find out, whether a systematic use of the series, as a motivation to the students, for sparking a discussion or conversation among them or as means of immersion in the language and acquisition of the language, would be possible in a high school English teaching environment for a prolonged period of time. The thesis also debates the advantages and disadvantages of using series, compared to the advantages and disadvantages of using different multimedia. The thesis contains a list of activities that have been used during the testing of the series and several ideas on their modification.

Un des thèmes pratiques, mais hautement sensibles, est le problème de sondage dans les réseaux sociaux où le caractère secret des informations sélectionnées et la réputation de l’utilisateur sont très critiques. En effet, les utilisateurs désirent préserver la confidentialité de leurs votes et dissimuler, le cas échéant, leurs mauvais comportements. Récemment, Guerraoui et al. ont propose des protocoles de sondage basés sur la partage de secret et ne nécessitant aucune infrastructure cryptographique. Néanmoins, ces protocoles ne sont applicables que si le graphe social a une structure d’anneau et le nombre d’utilisateurs est un carré parfait. Dans cette thèse, nous traitons, d’une part, du problème du déploiement décentralisé des protocoles de sondage qui sont basés sur des graphes sociaux ayant des structures générales, et d’autre part, du problème de transformation des graphes sociaux pour augmenter les propriétés de vie privée et de précision, nécessaires au déroulement sûr et rentable du sondage décentralisé. Premièrement, nous proposons trois protocoles décentralisés qui s’appuient sur l’état originel (sans transformation) des graphes sociaux. Les deux premiers protocoles utilisent respectivement des modèles de communication synchrone et asynchrone, et manipulent des procédures de vérification pour détecter les utilisateurs malhonnêtes. Quant au troisième protocole, il est asynchrone et ne nécessite pas de procédures de vérification. Pour que ce protocole permette une diffusion efficace de messages, nous avons défini une propriété sur les graphes sociaux, appelée “m-broadcasting”. Dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, nous formalisons le problème de “l’ajout des amis” qui consiste à trouver une transformation optimale des graphes sociaux pour les adapter au partage de secret. Pour résoudre ce problème, nous présentons deux algorithmes selon deux approches différentes: centralisée et décentralisée. Une évaluation expérimentale montre que nos protocoles sont précis et restreints aux bornes théoriques / One of the current practical, useful but sensitive topic in social networks is polling problem where the privacy of exchanged information and user reputation are very critical. Indeed, users want to preserve the confidentiality of their votes and to hide, if any, their misbehaviors. Recently, Guerraoui et al. proposed polling protocols based on simple secret sharing scheme and without requiring any central authority or cryptography system. However these protocols can be deployed safely and efficiently provided that the social graph structure should be transformed into a ring structure-based overlay and the number of participating users is perfect square. In this thesis, we address the problem of deploying decentralized polling protocols for general social graphs and how to transform these graphs in order to increase the privacy and/or accuracy properties. First, we propose three simple decentralized polling protocols that rely on the current state of social graphs. The two first protocols use synchronous and asynchronous models and verification procedures to detect the misbehaving users. The third protocol is an asynchronous one that does not require any verification procedures and contains a method for efficiently broadcasting message under a family of social graphs satisfying what we call the “m-broadcasting” property. Second, we formalize the “adding friends” problem such that we can reuse the social graphs after some minimum structural modifications consisting in adding new friendship relations. We also devise algorithms for solving this problem in centralized and decentralized networks. We validate our solutions with some performance evaluations which show that our protocols are accurate, and inside the theoretical bounds

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:23:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elaine Rampazzi.pdf: 2874748 bytes, checksum: e131f6647d36c33ebf39a4d745daaf70 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-10-28 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The aim of this research was to create activities that can aid the development of the oral fluency of English students of language institutes through Corpus Linguistics analysis. In that regard, the research aimed at finding which are the most frequently phrasal verbs and verbal associations in the oral speech as well as its most typical lexical patterns - to help teachers in preparing material Hence, the main theoretical underpinning for the present study was provided by Corpus Linguistics, which can be defined as a field of Linguistic study concerned with collecting and analysing corpora, which are collections of electronic texts that have been carefully collected for linguistic research. Three corpora have been used in this study. The main corpus is composed by all the episodes of the ten seasons of the sitcom Friends and the nine seasons of the sitcom Seinfeld, made up of 1.622.991 words. The reference corpus contains the oral component of the British National Corpus (BNC), amounting to 4,335,731 words. The research questions pursued in this study aimed at identifying, in the corpora, the most frequent phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs used in oral speech as well as the its most frequent lexicogrammatical patterns. The results of the analysis made it possible to select the terms and its lexicogrammatical patterns to be included in the activities suggested at the end of chapter three. This study will hopefully have made a creative contribution to the existing body of Corpus Linguistics research, more specifically in the area of EFL teaching, as it provides a practical use of Corpus Linguistics and its tools in English Language Teaching and proposes classroom activities based on an oral and audiovisual corpus, seeking to provide the EFL classroom with more enjoyment and efficiency / Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo descobrir os verbos frasais (phrasal verbs) e verbos preposicionados mais freqüentes no corpus de estudo, bem como os padrões léxico-gramaticais com os quais podem ser encontrados neste mesmo corpus, partindo-se da investigação linguística utilizando corpora. Ao mesmo tempo, teve como objetivo secundário aplicar o resultado da análise na preparação de atividades que ajudem a promover o aprendizado de alguns destes padrões, criteriosamente selecionados dos corpora dos seriados Friends e Seinfeld. Para tanto, a presente pesquisa buscou suporte teórico na Lingüística de Corpus que podemos definir como o ramo da Lingüística que se ocupa da coleta e exploração de corpora, ou conjunto de dados lingüísticos textuais, em formato legível por computador, que foram coletados criteriosamente com o propósito de servirem para a pesquisa de uma língua ou variedade lingüística (Berber Sardinha, 2004:3). Três corpora foram utilizados na pesquisa. O corpus de estudo é composto por todos os episódios das 10 temporadas de Friends e das nove temporadas do seriado Seinfeld, totalizando 1.622.991 palavras. O corpus de referência é composto pela parte oral do British National Corpus (BNC), com 4.335.731 palavras. As perguntas de pesquisa tiveram o objetivo de identificar, nos corpora, os chunks mais frequêntes para verbos frasais e preposicionados utilizados no discurso oral, bem como seus padrões léxico-gramaticais mais frequêntes. Os resultados da análise permitiram a escolha criteriosa dos itens a serem utilizados na elaboração das atividades sugeridas ao final do capítulo três. A pesquisa pretende ter contribuído para a área de Lingüística de Corpus, especificamente para a área de Ensino de Idiomas, na medida em que proporciona uma aplicação da Lingüística de Corpus e de suas ferramentas no ensino de Língua Inglesa e propõe a elaboração de atividades didáticas com base em um corpus de linguagem oral e audiovisual, buscando transformar o estudo de Língua Inglesa em sala de aula em uma experiência mais divertida e eficaz

Health Studies / M. P. H.

This essay examines the Swedish missionary association Bible Faithful Friends’ (Bibeltrogna Vänner, BV) ecclesiological development between the years 1911 – 1986 and their relation to the Church of Sweden. This essay’s three main questions are: - How did the ecclesiology of BV develop during the years 1911 – 1986, with certain focus on 1967-1986? - In what way was this ecclesiology imprinted by a) the structure of the missionary association? b) and the ecclesiological standpoint of the leader Axel B. Svensson? As regards the first question, the study shows that BV's ecclesiology, particularly in the years 1967 – 1986, is characterized by a church debate between BV's board and the promoters and founders of the Lutheran Confessional Church (Lutherska Bekännelsekyrkan, LBK). The latter was founded due to what they identified as confessional deviations in the Church of Sweden. Their view of church fellowship was that the invisible and the visible church should be uniform in doctrine, faith and confession. Accordingly, they argued that the lack of church discipline had led the Church of Sweden to deviate from the word of God and the apostles' doctrine. In the 1980’s, a proposal to allow Evangelical Lutheran congregations to form within BV, initiated a theological work by the board. The annual meeting of 1986 resolves not only to permit the emergence of free Evangelical Lutheran congregations within BV, but rather to encourage such a transition. In the second question, this study shows that the varying local church conditions among missionaries in northern Skåne in the 1870’s, resulted in the formation of "Communion fellowships". The historical explanations to the formation of these fellowships vary. However, essential to this study is the explanation given in BV’s internal historiography. This reveals that these fellowships were founded out of a need to receive Holy Communion as they had been excommunicated from the parish church. In other areas, missionaries were welcomed and encouraged by the church; hence Holy Communion was not here an issue. These varying local conditions in the grassroots movement BV contributed most likely to the association's pragmatic position in the church issue. Furthermore, one was united in the focus of mission, both near and abroad. In the third question, the study shows that Axel B. Svensson's ecclesiology had an essential impact on BV's official position in the church issue. Moreover, the absence of his voice after his death in 1967 makes clear that his ecclesiology was considered indicative to both BV and LBK. Both used him as legitimizing their own position but perceived him quite differently. However the dominating position among BV members was to remain within the Church of Sweden by working for spiritual revival in her midst. Being an ecclesiola in ecclesian, and thereby promote revival. At the same time one was open towards a relationship change towards the Church of Sweden if this would be considered necessary. 1986 is the year when one could regard this statement to be put to test: through encouraging the formation of Evangelical Lutheran congregations within BV, the association proves to stay true to its pragmatic ecclesiological standpoint were collaboration on the mission field, home and abroad, is superior to union in church issues. My analysis of these results comes to the conclusion that BV was once and is still founded in the identity of being "ecclesiola in ecclesia". Therefore, during the 1967 – 1986 debate, this identity is challenged by certain BV members wanting to be ecclesia instead of ecclesiola. The pragmatic ecclesiological standpoint, which has long been practiced in the northern Skåne example, in the work of Axel B. Svensson and in the decision of 1986, was hence the reason to why BV was able to stay true to their particular mission: being ecclesiola in ecclesia.

Cette étude s’intéresse aux relations d’amitié et aux caractéristiques des amis comme facteurs de risque interpersonnels susceptibles de prédire les changements à travers le temps, de la victimisation par les pairs au début du secondaire. L’échantillon est composé de 524 élèves de secondaire I et II pour lesquels le niveau de victimisation a été mesuré par les pairs lors de deux années consécutives. Les facteurs de risque individuel associés à la victimisation par les pairs (i.e. les comportements agressifs, les comportements de retrait social et le rejet par les pairs) ainsi que les caractéristiques des amis (i.e. agressivité, retrait social et victimisation des amis) ont également été évalués par les pairs lors du premier temps de mesure. Les résultats démontrent qu’au-delà des facteurs de risque individuels, un plus grand nombre d’amis prédit une diminution de la victimisation par les pairs sur une période d’un an. De plus, pour les élèves rejetés socialement, la victimisation des amis permet de rendre compte d’une augmentation de la victimisation dans le temps. Contrairement aux résultats obtenus par d’autres études, l’agressivité des amis permet de prédire une diminution de la victimisation seulement pour les élèves bien acceptés socialement. Pour les jeunes qui sont rejetés socialement, l’agressivité des amis permet de prédire une augmentation de la victimisation par les pairs. Ces résultats apportent un regard nouveau sur l’inter influence entre l’identité des amis et le contexte social dans lequel les adolescents évoluent. / This study examined the association between friend’s characteristics and the pattern of changes in peer victimization in the first years of middle school. The sample was composed of 524 grade 7 and 8 French-Canadian students from two middle schools. Student’s level of victimization as perceived by their peers was evaluated during two consecutive school years. Individual risk factors (i.e. aggressive behaviors, social withdrawal and peer rejection) and friend’s characteristics (i.e. friend’s aggression, social withdrawal and victimization) were also measured with peer nominations during the first year of the study. Results show that beyond individual risk factors, the number of friends was associated with a decrease over time in peer victimization. Moreover, for socially rejected students, having friends who are victimized within the peer group was associated with an increase in peer victimization. Results also show that having aggressive friends lead to a decrease in peer victimization, but only for popular students. However, for socially-rejected students, having aggressive friends was associated with an increase over time in peer victimization. This study brings a new light on the dynamic influences between friends’ identity and the social context in which adolescents evolve.

Intimate relationships function not in isolation, but within a broader social network and social environment, in which the opinions and actions of close network members can play a role in how a relationship develops. The current study investigated how perceiving support for one’s relationship (including same-sex and mixed-sex relationships) from friends and family is associated with not only relationship well-being, but also the mental and physical health of the individuals within the relationship. After establishing that social support specifically for a relationship was indeed a separate and unique construct as compared to more general social support for an individual, the study tested a hypothesized model using structural equation modeling, finding evidence for a model in which the association between support for a relationship and the health outcomes for an individual is fully mediated by relationship well-being. Relationship type (i.e., same-sex versus mixed-sex) was not a significant moderator, indicating that regardless of relationship type, individuals who perceive more support for their relationship are also more likely to report greater relationship satisfaction and better mental and physical health. Furthermore, participants provided data up to three times over a period of three years, allowing for an examination of how social support for a relationship functions as a predictor of relationship well-being and health outcomes over time. Perceived social support for a relationship at Time 1 was found to be a significant predictor of the rate of relationship dissolution over the course of the study as well as relational and health outcomes at later points in time. With respect to the source of support for the relationship, evidence was found that support from parents and friends both have associations with relationship outcomes, but these findings were inconsistent across analyses with support from parents having stronger associations in some analyses and support from friends having stronger associations in others. Reasons for these discrepancies are discussed, as well as theoretical implications concerning the role that perceived social support for relationships plays in the prediction of relationship well-being and mental and physical health. / Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2012-05-29 21:04:59.381

Studien fokuserar kommunikation mellan vuxna personer med grav förvärvad hjärnskada och deras närstående. Syftet är att med utgångspunkt från de närståendes berättelser beskriva hur kommunikationen manifesteras, samt att ge en teoretisk beskrivning av vilka faktorer som understödjer respektive motverkar kommunikationen. Elva gravt hjärnskadade personer ingår i studien. Orsaken till hjärnskadan är stroke, traumatisk hjärnskada eller syrebristskada. Personernas ålder varierar från 16 till 64 år vid skadetillfället. Samtliga har som en följd av hjärnskadan grava språkstörningar och kognitiva funktionshinder. Datamaterialet baseras på intervjuer och videofilm. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten är symbolisk interaktionism och den metod som används är grundad teori. Resultatet presenteras i en empiriskt grundad teoretisk modell för hur kommunikation hos studiens aktörer manifesteras. Kommunikationsmodellen innehåller kärnprocessen, kommunikationsnycklar. De öppnande nycklarna består av inledande och vidmakthållande faktorer, samt av den betryggande faktorn. Den senare får stor betydelse, utan den kommer inte kommunikationen till stånd. Resultatet diskuteras i förhållande till sociala kommunikationsteorier och begreppet kommunikativ kompetens. Teorin förväntas ge de närstående stöd i hur de förhåller sig i mötet med en person som har ett kommunikativt funktionshinder. / This study focuses on communication between adults with severe acquired brain damage and persons close to them. The purpose of the study is to describe, on the basis of accounts given by caregivers, the caregivers are referred to as relatives and personnel, how communication is manifested and to provide a theoretical description of the factors that facilitate or hinder communication. Eleven persons with severe brain damage are included in the study along with their caregivers. The brain damage has been caused by stroke, traumatic brain injury or lack of oxygen and in all cases has resulted in severe language impairment and cognitive disabilities. Age at time of injury varies from 16 to 64 years. The empirical material consists of interviews and video film. The theoretical framework applied is Symbolic Interactionism and the method used is Grounded Theory. The results are presented in the form of an empirically grounded theoretical model of how communication is manifested in the context of the study. This model comprises the core process and the communication keys. The keys are the introductory and maintaining factors as well as the confidence factor. The confidence factor has great significance; without it, communication cannot be established. The results are discussed in relation to theories of social communication and the term communicative ability. It is expected that application of the theory can make it easier for caregivers to interact with persons with severe communicative disability.

La consommation de substances psychoactives débute généralement à l’adolescence. Cette pratique, bien qu’illégale, est répandue à cet âge. Toutefois, elle peut avoir de graves répercussions sur le développement de l’individu. Il est important de mieux connaître les facteurs pouvant influencer sa fréquence d’utilisation afin d’en diminuer les risques. Ce mémoire vise à examiner le rôle des amis déviants et de la pratique d’un sport organisé dans le développement de l’intoxication à l’alcool et la consommation de cannabis à l’adolescence. Plus précisément, l’étude vise à déterminer si la pratique d’un sport organisé a des effets modérateurs sur la relation entre les amis déviants et l’intoxication à l’alcool et la consommation de cannabis. Les analyses ont été réalisées séparément pour l’alcool et le cannabis. L’échantillon utilisé provient de l’étude longitudinale de la Stratégie d’Intervention Agir Autrement et comprend 4219 adolescents. Des régressions probit ont été effectuées. Tel qu’attendu, les résultats montrent que la fréquentation d’amis déviants est associée au risque d’intoxication à l’alcool et de consommation de cannabis. De plus, les résultats ont démontré le rôle modérateur protecteur de la pratique d’un sport organisé pour l’alcool. Un jeune qui a des amis déviants et qui participe à un sport organisé consommerait généralement moins d’alcool qu’un jeune qui a des amis déviants et qui ne participe pas une activité sportive organisée. Les implications de ces résultats pour la recherche sont discutées. / Substance use generally emerges during adolescence and, even if prohibited, is widespread at that age. However, it can have severe consequences on human development. It is important to better understand the factors that influence the frequency of drug use in order to reduce risk. This research project aims to examine the role of deviant friends and organized sport practice in the development of alcohol abuse and cannabis use in adolescence. More specifically, this study aims to determine whether an organised sport practice held a moderating effect on the relationship between deviant friends and alcohol abuse and cannabis use. Analyzes were performed separately for alcohol and cannabis. The sample is drawn from the longitudinal study of New Approach, New Solutions and includes 4219 adolescents. Probit regressions were performed and showed, as expected, that deviant friends are associated with alcohol abuse and cannabis use. In addition, the results support the protective moderating role of organized sport practice for alcohol. Youth who has deviant friends and participate in organized sport generally consume less alcohol that youth who has deviant friends and is not involved in organized sport activity. The implications of these findings are discussed.

This thesis is about a pastoral theology of participation, guided by the process of participatory action research. It explores through the lived experience of the participants practical ways of doing friendship. On this research journey, I explore the discourse of individualism and how it blinds us to our connectedness as creations in the image of God. Without denying the benefits scientific development have to offer, I argue for a more richly textured individualism, inviting concern for the consequences of our actions on the well-being of others as part of our ethical ways of being. The Fourth Century description of a Christian as `friend of God' was the inspiration for the metaphor of friendship as a powerful counterweight against the isolating forces of a culture where the distorting ideology of consumerism and individualism are prevailing. I argue for the re-membering of this metaphor for God as friend, and the church as community-of-friends. Through the telling of tales of living friendship, interwoven with and giving life to the philosophy of friendship, I build further on the metaphor for the church as community-of-friends. I propose a Friendship Position Map and the metaphor of a circle of concern, arguing that although it comes more natural to us to love those close to us, and reach out to them in friendship, in an ethical spirituality of participation and mutual care, we are to follow Jesus' example and show hospitality towards all others, including strangers and enemies. Where many authors write about the importance of community, this thesis is about how to create the nourishing community we long for. It explores practical ways in which communities can overcome obstacles in their way to connect to each other through ethical ways of loving and doing friendship. It offers some ideas about learning to be friends in the inner circles of the circle of concern with those close to us, in order to do friendship in the outer circles. I explore the role of the church and faith communities as habitat for the nurturing and/or cultivating of living friendships, in inviting faith communities to live as community-of-friends; friends of God and of one another. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th. - (Practical Theology--Pastoral Therapy)