Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Symbolic interaction'
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Baghdadi, Leila. "Symbolic interactionism the role of interaction in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict /." Connect to Electronic Thesis (CONTENTdm), 2009. http://worldcat.org/oclc/642201302/viewonline.
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Zinovieff, Fiona M. "Interaction of lexical-semantic and imagery representations." Thesis, Bangor University, 2000. https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/interaction-of-lexicalsemantic-and-imagery-representations(75423ae6-238f-4577-a935-e08dc4219c9c).html.
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We report a series of experiments using a new methodology to investigate the relationships between visual and verbal representations and the process of acquiring new semantic associations. Transfer of associative information between stimulus modalities was investigated by training paired associations between novel pictures and novel words. Our results showed that the transfer of associations is a symbolic process, occurring only when participants are aware of the correspondence between the visual and the verbal items afforded by the name relations. We also obtained evidence to suggest that symbolic associations develop more readily from picture associations than from word associations. We argue that this is evidence that semantic knowledge is grounded in perceptual experience. Our most striking result, replicated across experiments, is that transfer of associations between modalities only occurs when subjects have specific conscious awareness about the relationships among associations. This should have implications for cognitive theories of symbolic representation. The methods we developed to expose this phenomenon can be extended to examine those implications more thoroughly. We discuss some of these implications in the terms of competing and complementary cognitive and behavioural theories relating representation to perception and symbols. Dual coding models fit our modality-transfer results more readily than single semantic store models, but neither is well suited for interpreting our awareness results, or for iv discussing perceptual grounding of representation. The models of Deacon and Barsalou both focus on systems of distributed representations grounded in perception; the role of awareness in symbol acquisition in their models is discussed and contrasted with theories from the stimulus equivalence tradition of behaviourist research. From these considerations, we argue that implicit associations underpin symbolic associations, but that semantic knowledge is conscious knowledge about the patterns of association which link representations.
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Blom, Joakim, and Christoffer Elestedt. "Symbolik i reklamfilmer : En kvalitativ innehålsanalys av symbolik i reklamfilmer." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Sociologiska institutionen, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-445305.
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This paper examines the use of symbolism when companies communicate through advertisement. This is done by using a symbolic interactionist and dramaturgical approach to the use of symbols in advertisements. The field of previous research has also been studied and taken into consideration when analyzing the advertisements. The setup of this study is a unique combination between the field of social psychology and marketing. The base perspective of Blumers symbolic interactionism and Goffmans dramaturgy is used when examining how symbolism are used by companies in advertisements. This is where the study’s uniqueness comes from. Although previous research has touched the topic, none have looked at symbolism in marketing this way. The aim of this study is to contribute with research that brings knowledge to the field of both social psychology and marketing. The analysis of the advertisements shows that all the companies use symbolism in different ways to communicate their intended message. A consistent way that symbolism is used through the different advertisements is by connecting the symbolism of everyday situations to the company or their products. Through symbolic messaging the advertisements proved to also attempt to imbue the products with a symbolic meaning. Additional ways that symbolism is used in advertising are discussed thoroughly in the paper.
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Oxenford, Douglas R. "Symbolic interaction and the social self : role identity of Cub Scout leaders /." The Ohio State University, 1991. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487687485810009.
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Fritschi, Lois P. "A quantitative application of symbolic interactionism to advance directive completion by older adults." FIU Digital Commons, 2004. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3610.
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This study examined contextual and situational influences on older adults’ decision to complete advance directives by means of a conceptual framework derived from symbolic interactionist theory and a cross-sectional, correlational research design. It was hypothesized that completion of advance directives among older adults would be associated with visiting or participating in the care of a terminally ill or permanently incompetent individual sustained by technology. Using a 53-item questionnaire, computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI) were conducted with 398 community dwelling adults between September and October 2003. Respondents were contacted using random-select dialing from a listed sample of 99% of household telephone numbers in one South Florida census tract. Over 90% of households in this tract include an individual age 65 or older.
The results revealed that contrary to most reports in the literature a substantial proportion of older adults (82%) had completed advance directives and that the link between older adults and document completion was mainly through attorneys and not mandated agents, health care professionals. Further, more than one third of older adults reported that religion/spirituality was not an important part of their life, suggesting that the recommended practice of offering religious/spiritual counseling to all those approaching death be reexamined. The hypothesis was not supported (p > .05) and is explained by the situational emphasis on the variables rather than on structural influences. In logistic regression analysis, only increasing age (p = .001) and higher education (p = < .001) were significant but explained only 10% of the variance in document completion.
Based on the findings, increased interdisciplinary collaboration is suggested with regard to the advance directive agenda. Since attorneys play a key role in document completion, other professions should seek their expertise and collaboration. In addition, the inclusion of a religious/spiritual preference section in all living wills should be considered as an essential part of a holistic and individually appropriate document. Implications for social work education, practice, and advocacy are discussed as well as suggestions for farther research.
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Boostrom, Robert E. Singelmann Peter. "Symbolic interaction in brand equity theory the Ford Mustang as an abstract object /." Diss., UMK access, 2004.
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Thesis (M.A.)--Dept. of Sociology. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2004."A thesis in sociology." Typescript. Advisor: Peter Singelmann. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed Feb. 22, 2006. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-46). Online version of the print edition.
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Hafiz, Amir. "Sustainable Interaction : Putting the social aspect of Sustainable Development on the agenda." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-193979.
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In a world of development and scarce resources sustainable development has been presented as an approach of dealing with our issues of welfare. Economic, environmental and social aspects are incorporated in the approach in order to solve the problems of today. While sustainable development is pervaded in policies and planning of nations and communities, the three aspects of it have all specific definitions which are to be applied, some aspects are well defined whilst others are not yet fully determined. The purpose of this qualitative study is to highlight the social aspect of sustainable development. The social sustainability is assessed by investigating how a municipality in Sweden meets the variables of social sustainability established by the Swedish government. It investigates the structure plans of a community south of Stockholm, Haninge Municipality. It seeks to understand how the municipality implements social sustainability in practice to solve the issues of the alienated residential area Jordbro. By using a method of interpretation of texts in form of governmental documents of social sustainability, municipal structure plans together with incorporated interviews with locals and an internship at the municipality house of Haninge, the study gives a comprehensive understanding of social sustainability in Stockholm and issues which the municipality is to deal with. It indicates that social sustainability is taking a smaller role in the structure planning documents of the municipality, and it also indicates a lack of interaction and incorporation of locals. Furthermore the study suggests some solutions to the problems of social sustainability.
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Vogel, Peggy MacLeod. "Biculturalism and Identity in Contemporary Gullah Families." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/37496.
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A qualitative study, using an oral history method was completed. Seven participants (2 men, 5 women) of Gullah descent from the St. Helenaâ s Island and Charleston, South Carolina area were extensively interviewed. Symbolic interactionism provided the theoretical framework for the study. Findings included the recognition of the Gullah as a unique cultural group and the possible effects of slavery on identity formation for individuals as well as the Gullah community. Striking differences in physical space utilization between Gullah and non-Gullah residents were suggested. The presence of conflict between African and European beliefs and practices were seen in areas such as religious traditions, child rearing, and language. The pervasive effect of racism on identity and its relationship to biculturalism was discussed. Biculturalism appeared to be strongly related to survival as well as being an integral part of the participantsâ identities.Ph. D.
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Sturgill, Aaron A. "An Investigation of College Men's and Women's Fashion Adoption Influenced by Celebrities." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1308166054.
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Ross, Valerie, and kimg@deakin edu au. "EXTERNAL PUBLIC PIANO EXAMINATIONS IN MALAYSIA: SOCIAL AND SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE." Deakin University, 2002. http://tux.lib.deakin.edu.au./adt-VDU/public/adt-VDU20031028.140256.
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The thesis investigated the social and symbolic significance of acquiring a 'music education' through the taking of piano tuition and external public music examinations. It aimed to discover why the learning of the piano and the certification of musical attainment are so prevalent and revered among Malaysian music students. Its purpose was to unravel the socio-cultural raison d'etre of this approach to music education through the creation of a metatheoretical schema, which is premised upon the theories of symbolic interactionist, George Herbert Mead, music analyst, Heinrich Schenker and social theorist, George Ritzer.
Central to the argument in this instance is the symbolic significance associated with the act of playing the piano. The investigation attempted to determine if this 'act' conveyed a symbolic meaning that is peculiar to a specific cultural vista. It further examined the degree to which this practice represented both a validation and a sense of conformity to social norms in the continuity and stability of an expanding middle class society in Malaysia.
The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) is the largest of the five main external public music examination boards that operate in Malaysia. Since 1948, over one million candidates have enrolled for ABRSM examinations in Malaysia and a team of approximately thirty ABRSM examiners visit Malaysia for three months every year. The majority of the candidates are pianists. Given such large numbers of piano candidates, one might expect a healthy development of musical talent in the country with aspiring pianists eager to demonstrate their musical prowess. However, this does not seem to be the case. On the contrary, there appears to be a curious lacuna between the growing number of students who enrol for external public music examinations and the seemingly lack of interest in public music making and the honing of general musicianship skills. The thesis hence examined the symbolic meaning of this socio-rausicological phenomena.
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Ross, Valerie, and mikewood@deakin edu au. "External public piano examinations in Malaysia: Social and symbolic significance." Deakin University, 2002. http://tux.lib.deakin.edu.au./adt-VDU/public/adt-VDU20050808.135747.
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The thesis investigated the social and symbolic significance of acquiring a 'music education' through the taking of piano tuition and external public music examinations. It aimed to discover why the learning of the piano and the certification of musical attainment are so prevalent and revered among Malaysian music students. Its purpose was to unravel the socio-cultural raison d'etre of this approach to music education through the creation of a metatheoretical schema, which is premised upon the theories of symbolic interactionist, George Herbert Mead, music analyst, Heinrich Schenker and social theorist, George Ritzer. Central to the argument in this instance is the symbolic significance associated with the act of playing the piano. The investigation attempted to determine if this 'act' conveyed a symbolic meaning that is peculiar to a specific cultural vista. It further examined the degree to which this practice represented both a validation and a sense of conformity to social norms in the continuity and stability of an expanding middle class society in Malaysia. The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) is the largest of the five main external public music examination boards that operate in Malaysia. Since 1948, over one million candidates have enrolled for ABRSM examinations in Malaysia and a team of approximately thirty ABRSM examiners visit Malaysia for three months every year. The majority of the candidates are pianists. Given such large numbers of piano candidates, one might expect a healthy development of musical talent in the country with aspiring pianists eager to demonstrate their musical prowess. However, this does not seem to be the case. On the contrary, there appears to be a curious lacuna between the growing number of students who enrol for external public music examinations and the seemingly lack of interest in public music making and the honing of general musicianship skills. The thesis hence examined the symbolic meaning of this socio-musicological phenomena.
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Kagolobya, Richard. "Symbolic interaction and intercultural theatre performance dynamics in Uganda : the case of Makerere Universitys Intercultural Theatre Collaborations." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/96034.
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Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation investigates and examines the dynamics of intercultural theatre practice. Existing scholarship on interculturalism in theatre praxis regards intercultural theatre as a site for bridging cultures and cross-cultural performance traditions, and for investigating the performance of power between the collaborating parties, learning, cultural imperialism, cultural translation and hybridity, among other features. However, much of the existing literature does not offer a historical perspective allowing one to understand the dynamics of contemporary North-South collaborations. Moreover, most studies do not adequately weave the experiences of the participants in such collaborations into their analyses. This study contributes to filling that research gap. This research specifically seeks to investigate and examine the dynamics of intercultural theatre collaborations in Uganda, taking Makerere University‘s Department of Performing Arts and Film‘s intercultural theatre activities in recent years as case studies. The inquiry was mainly driven by the impetus to explore the North-South intercultural theatre dynamics and to examine the socio-cultural, socio-political, socio-economic features and other notions that were manifested in these intercultural theatre collaborations and performances. In order to pursue the above line of inquiry I used a multiple case study design by examining three cases: the Stanford-Makerere, New York-Makerere and the Norwegian College of Dance-Makerere collaborations. The multi-case study model was reinforced by the use of personal interviews, direct observation, focus group discussions, document analysis and emails of inquiry in order to solicit the views of individuals who had participated in the above collaborations. Theoretically, the study is hinged on a multiplicity of concepts and discourses: symbolic interaction, intercultural communication, theatre studies, postcolonial studies, international education and the discourse on globalisation. In the analysis of the different cases it was discovered that the issue of economic inequality in the contribution towards the funding of the collaborations, among the different modes of power performativity manifested in the collaboration processes, sometimes leads to an imbalance in the decision-making process. Consequently, the power imbalance contributes to the North-South intercultural theatre collaborations‘ unending crisis of identification with imperialism. The study further shows that there are cultural, linguistic, pedagogical, structural and socio-psychological aspects of difference that are negotiated during the course of the collaborations. It was found that the process of navigating the socio-cultural differences provides the participants with an experiential learning environment of living with/within and appreciating cultural differences, thus providing a bridge across the socio-cultural divide. The cultural bridge in theatrical terms, however, leads to the generation of theatrical hybridity and fusion, which again brings into play the debate on intercultural performance authenticity/inauthenticity in theatre discourse. Also, based on the view that intercultural theatre collaborations are microcosms of multifaceted global intercultural interactions, it was seen that the socio-cultural differences that are negotiated through the intercultural theatre collaborations can give one a microcosmic platform for critiquing the grand concept of the ―global village‖ and the associated notion of ―world cultural homogenisation‖. Since this study uses a novel multidisciplinary approach in the analysis of intercultural theatre phenomena, I believe it will contribute to critical theatre studies in Uganda and elsewhere. The findings will also hopefully contribute towards the assessment of intercultural theatre collaborations at Makerere University in order to improve them. The study will also advance the view that intercultural theatre‘s aesthetic and experiential processes can help in interpreting and understanding our respective multicultural environments. Broadly, it will contribute to the discourse on intercultural communication, performance and cultural studies.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif ondersoek die dinamika van interkulturele teaterpraktyk. Bestaande navorsing oor interkulturaliteit in die teaterpraktyk beskou interkulturele teater as ‘n forum vir die oorbrugging van kultuurgrense en interkulturele opvoeringstradisies, en vir die ondersoek na aangeleenthede soos die uitvoering van mag tussen die deelnemende partye, leer, kulturele imperialisme, kulturele vertaling en hibriditeit. Die bestaande literatuur bied egter grotendeels nie ‘n historiese perspektief waaruit die dinamika van kontemporêre Noord-na-Suid-samewerkings verstaan kan word nie. Verder verweef die meeste ondersoeke nie die ervarings van die deelnemers aan sulke samewerkings bevredigend in hul analises nie. Hierdie ondersoek dra by tot die vul van daardie navorsingsgaping. Hierdie navorsing poog spesifiek om die dinamika van interkulturele teatersamewerkings in Uganda te ondersoek deur van onlangse interkulturele teateraktiwiteite aan die Departement Uitvoerende Kuns en Film aan die Makerere Universiteit gebruik te maak as gevallestudies. Die beweegrede vir die ondersoek is hoofsaaklik die verkenning van die dinamika van interkulturele Noord-na-Suid-teatersamewerking en ‘n ondersoek na die sosio-kulturele, sosio-politiese en sosio-ekonomiese kenmerke en ander opvattinge wat in hierdie interkulturele teatersamewerkings en -opvoerings gemanifesteer het. Om hierdie ondersoek te onderneem, het ek drie gevalle in ‘n meervoudigegevallestudie-ontwerp bestudeer: die samewerkings tussen onderskeidelik Stanford en Makerere, New York en Makerere, en die Norwegian College of Dance en Makerere. Die meervoudigegevalle-ontwerp is versterk deur die gebruik van persoonlike onderhoude, direkte waarneming, fokusgroepgesprekke, dokumentanalise en e-posnavrae in ‘n poging om die opvattings van individue wat aan die bogenoemde samewerkings deelgeneem het, te verkry. Teoreties is die studie gefundeer in ‘n veelvoud konsepte en diskoerse: simboliese interaksie, interkulturele kommunikasie, teaterstudies, postkoloniale studies, internasionale opvoedkunde en die diskoers oor globalisering. In die analise van die verskillende gevalle is bevind dat die kwessie van ekonomiese ongelykheid in bydraes tot die befondsing van samewerkings, onder die verskillende modusse van magsperformatiwiteit wat in die samewerkingsprosesse gemanifesteer het, soms ‘n wanbalans in die besluitnemingsproses tot gevolg het. Gevolglik dra hierdie magswanbalans by tot die nimmereindigende krisis van identifikasie met imperialisme waaronder interkulturele Noord-na-Suid-teatersamewerkings gebuk gaan. Die ondersoek toon verder dat daar kulturele, linguistiese, pedagogiese, strukturele en sosio-psigologiese verskille is wat oorkom moet word vir suksesvolle samewerkings om plaas te vind. Daar is bevind dat die hantering van sosio-kulturele verskille die deelnemers van ‘n eksperimentele leeromgewing voorsien vir die belewing en waardering van kultuurverskille, waardeur die sosio-kulturele skeiding oorbrug word. Die kulturele brug lei egter, in toneelmatige terme, na die ontwikkeling van toneelmatige hibriditeit en versmelting, wat weer die debat oor die outentisiteit al dan nie van interkulturele opvoerings in die teaterdiskoers aktiveer. Verder is daar, gebaseer op die siening dat interkulturele teatersamewerkings mikrokosmosse van veelvlakkige globale interkulturele interaksie is, bevind dat die sosio-kulturele verskille wat deur interkulturele teatersamewerkings oorkom word, ‘n mikrokosmiese platform kan voorsien vir die kritisering van die begrip van die sogenaamde ―wêrelddorpie‖ en verwante nosies van wêreldwye kulturele homogenisering. Aangesien hierdie ondersoek ‘n nuwe multidissiplinêre benadering tot die analise van interkulturele teaterverskynsels gebruik, glo ek dit sal bydra tot die teaterkritiek in Uganda en elders. Die bevindinge sal hopelik bydra tot die assessering van interkulturele teatersamewerkings aan Makerere Universiteit om hulle te verbeter. Die ondersoek sal ook die siening voortdra dat interkulturele teater se estetiese en ervaringsprosesse kan help met die interpretasie en verstaan van ons onderskeie multikulturele omgewings. Breedweg sal dit bydra tot die diskoers oor interkulturele kommunikasie, opvoering en kultuurstudie.
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Letard, Vincent. "Apprentissage incrémental de modèles de domaines par interaction dialogique." Thesis, Université Paris-Saclay (ComUE), 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017SACLS100/document.
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L'intelligence artificielle est la discipline de recherche d'imitation ou de remplacement de fonctions cognitives humaines. À ce titre, l'une de ses branches s'inscrit dans l'automatisation progressive du processus de programmation. Il s'agit alors de transférer de l'intelligence ou, à défaut de définition, de transférer de la charge cognitive depuis l'humain vers le système, qu'il soit autonome ou guidé par l'utilisateur. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, nous considérons les conditions de l'évolution depuis un système guidé par son utilisateur vers un système autonome, en nous appuyant sur une autre branche de l'intelligence artificielle : l'apprentissage artificiel. Notre cadre applicatif est celui de la conception d'un assistant opérationnel incrémental, c'est-à-dire d'un système capable de réagir à des requêtes formulées par l'utilisateur en adoptant les actions appropriées, et capable d'apprendre à le faire. Pour nos travaux, les requêtes sont exprimées en français, et les actions sont désignées par les commandes correspondantes dans un langage de programmation (ici, R ou bash). L'apprentissage du système est effectué à l'aide d'un ensemble d'exemples constitué par les utilisateurs eux-mêmes lors de leurs interactions. Ce sont donc ces derniers qui définissent, progressivement, les actions qui sont appropriées pour chaque requête, afin de rendre le système de plus en plus autonome. Nous avons collecté plusieurs ensembles d'exemples pour l'évaluation des méthodes d'apprentissage, en analysant et réduisant progressivement les biais induits. Le protocole que nous proposons est fondé sur l'amorçage incrémental des connaissances du système à partir d'un ensemble vide ou très restreint. Cela présente l'avantage de constituer une base de connaissances très représentative des besoins des utilisateurs, mais aussi l'inconvénient de n'aquérir qu'un nombre très limité d'exemples. Nous utilisons donc, après examen des performances d'une méthode naïve, une méthode de raisonnement à partir de cas : le raisonnement par analogie formelle. Nous montrons que cette méthode permet une précision très élevée dans les réponses du système, mais également une couverture relativement faible. L'extension de la base d'exemples par analogie est explorée afin d'augmenter la couverture des réponses données. Dans une autre perspective, nous explorons également la piste de rendre l'analogie plus tolérante au bruit et aux faibles différences en entrée en autorisant les approximations, ce qui a également pour effet la production de réponses incorrectes plus nombreuses. La durée d'exécution de l'approche par analogie, déjà de l'ordre de la seconde, souffre beaucoup de l'extension de la base et de l'approximation. Nous avons exploré plusieurs méthodes de segmentation des séquences en entrée afin de réduire cette durée, mais elle reste encore le principal obstacle à contourner pour l'utilisation de l'analogie formelle dans le traitement automatique de la langue. Enfin, l'assistant opérationnel incrémental fondé sur le raisonnement analogique a été testé en condition incrémentale simulée, afin d'étudier la progression de l'apprentissage du système au cours du temps. On en retient que le modèle permet d'atteindre un taux de réponse stable après une dizaine d'exemples vus en moyenne pour chaque type de commande. Bien que la performance effective varie selon le nombre total de commandes considérées, cette propriété ouvre sur des applications intéressantes dans le cadre incrémental du transfert depuis un domaine riche (la langue naturelle) vers un domaine moins riche (le langage de programmation)Artificial Intelligence is the field of research aiming at mimicking or replacing human cognitive abilities. As such, one of its subfields is focused on the progressive automation of the programming process. In other words, the goal is to transfer cognitive load from the human to the system, whether it be autonomous or guided by the user. In this thesis, we investigate the conditions for making a user-guided system autonomous using another subfield of Artificial Intelligence : Machine Learning. As an implementation framework, we chose the design of an incremental operational assistant, that is a system able to react to natural language requests from the user with relevant actions. The system must also be able to learn the correct reactions, incrementally. In our work, the requests are in written French, and the associated actions are represented by corresponding instructions in a programming language (here R and bash). The learning is performed using a set of examples composed by the users themselves while interacting. Thus they progressively define the most relevant actions for each request, making the system more autonomous. We collected several example sets for evaluation of the learning methods, analyzing and reducing the inherent collection biases. The proposed protocol is based on incremental bootstrapping of the system, starting from an empty or limited knowledge base. As a result of this choice, the obtained knowledge base reflects the user needs, the downside being that the overall number of examples is limited. To avoid this problem, after assessing a baseline method, we apply a case base reasoning approach to the request to command transfer problem: formal analogical reasoning. We show that this method yields answers with a very high precision, but also a relatively low coverage. We explore the analogical extension of the example base in order to increase the coverage of the provided answers. We also assess the relaxation of analogical constraints for an increased tolerance of analogical reasoning to noise in the examples. The running delay of the simple analogical approach is already around 1 second, and is badly influenced by both the automatic extension of the base and the relaxation of the constraints. We explored several segmentation strategies on the input examples in order to reduce reduce this time. The delay however remains the main obstacle to using analogical reasoning for natural language processing with usual volumes of data. Finally, the incremental operational assistant based on analogical reasoning was tested in simulated incremental condition in order to assess the learning behavior over time. The system reaches a stable correct answer rate after a dozen examples given in average for each command type. Although the effective performance depends on the total number of accounted commands, this observation opens interesting applicative tracks for the considered task of transferring from a rich source domain (natural language) to a less rich target domain (programming language)
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Love, Tony Paul. "Construction and validation of a behavioral measure of role-taking." [College Station, Tex. : Texas A&M University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-3249.
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Bailey, Maykal. "The Trajectory of Gang Membership: The Desistance from a "Deviant" Identity." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/31991.
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The public acts of violence during the summer of 2012 in Toronto brought the theme of gangs back to the forefront in Canadian media coverage. As renewed debates argued old subject matters, our understanding of gangs was not able to diverge from its endless roundabout.
This paper inverts the study of gangs that has classically looked towards the gang as a collective to explain its sub-cultural delinquent and sometimes violent tendencies, and explores the individualized interpretation of gang membership from the perspective of four Latin-Canadian males from the Greater Toronto Area. This study takes on the challenge of observing the trajectory of gang membership based on the first hand experiences of self-proclaimed ex-gang members and through an in-depth dialogue with these participants, ventures through the turning points that led these individual actors through the process of onset; commitment and desistance.
This exploration into the lived experiences of gang membership is seen through a Symbolic Interactionist lens and views gang membership as one of many identities that can actively be portrayed by the social being. In this perspective, the concepts of gangs and gang membership are described as a subjective experience completely open to interpretation, but guided by the flow of unique interactions that these individuals encountered within a variety of complex situations and environments. That which is being observed herein is the process of how the participants interacted with their existing environments and the circumstances produced by them, highlighting the momentous events that continuously defined the individuals understanding of their own self concept as a gang member up until the point of non-membership.
What was observed by a dissection of the interviewee’s accounts was that the onset of gang membership was influenced primarily by a feeling of disassociation and alienation which the participants actively sought to suppress, whereby the idea of belonging to a gang offered the remedy. The aspect of commitment was shown to be focused more towards upholding the identity of gang membership and their reputation than towards the gang itself. Reinforcing the identity maintained the individual’s social status and relevance amongst their peers, solidifying the aspired identity of gang membership. Finally, the process of desistance surfaced once the gang member identity no longer seemed beneficial. Life threats, a re-emergence of the feeling of solidarity, the experience of disloyalty and the acceptance of another identity as being more imperative were factors that separately influenced the move for the discontinuance for the projection of the gang member identity. Although the participants admit to and self proclaim ex-membership, they do nonetheless acknowledge that the gang mask could once again be put back on.
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Behounek, Elaina. "Mediated Relationships: An Ethnography of Family Law Mediation." Scholar Commons, 2015. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5909.
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In my dissertation, I use multi-ethnographic methods to examine how mediators talk about, manage, and process families going through divorce. I show how a dominant narrative about marriage and the cultural expectations of parenthood provide a framework for mediators to manage the discourse of divorcing parties so assets and care giving can be split 50/50. The dominant P.E.A.C.E. narrative (P=parenting plan, E=equitable distribution, A=alimony, C=child support, E=everything else) restricts available discourse in mediation and guides mediators’ behaviors in ways that homogenize families by providing a linear formula for mediators to follow which results in only certain stories being allowed to enter the mediation. Next, I show how constructions about power and violence serve to frame and shape understandings of divorce for mediators, thereby guiding their actions in mediation and discursively impacting the discourses of mediated parties. Power and violence are constructed in ways that conflate the concepts, and no clear protocol is offered to manage these complicated concerns for family law mediators. The outcome is mediators report being unsure and often fearful about mediating cases where intimate partner violence is a concern. Finally, an analytic autoethnographic examination of family law mediation provides an example of the power of ideology and makes clear my positionality within this dissertation. I explore my own identity as a white, heterosexual, female, in a world ripe with expectations about marriage and family creation as I encounter alternative messages and information in my fieldwork. Throughout my dissertation, I uncover larger cultural narratives about marriage, and families that guide and manage people, illustrating the ways identities, stories of violence, and the ideology of marriage are shaped.
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Chen, Yuliu. "Pending between Destructivity and Constructivity in Disagreements on Land Management in China -- A Case Study of the Wukan Protests." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-188335.
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In the Chinese village Wukan, violence between the authorities and protesters took place when farmers resisted land transaction 2011. Wukan is one out of about ten thousand local protests annually in China, but unique in the modern Chinese history since it resulted in suspension of land transaction and the leaders of the protest where elected into the village committee, in an election which is considered by external observers as the most democratic in China. The aim of this paper is to understand destructive and constructive processes emerging out of interaction between protesters and the authorities. The focus is on how the actors (the authorities vs. protesting farmers) interpret their opportunities to: a) understand the intention of the other, b) be understood by the other, and c) influence the action of the other, in the different phases of the conflict. The conclusion is that when actors respond to disagreement with discursive closure, the destructivity increases, and vice versa.
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sacleux, patrick. "A Study of Regional Language and Identities in a Small Occitan Village." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2009. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/2417.
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This exploratory study utilized qualitative methods to approach regional language abilities of local respondents and how it affects their regional identity. The theoretical framework of this study explored some of the tenets of symbolic interaction emphasizing on identity theory and how the flexible aspect of face-to-face interaction can define the self and someone's regional identity as it relates to their regional language use. Data for this study were collected in a small Occitan village in Southern France. In particular, the study explored the link between an individual residential setting, his/her age and his/her ability to speak the regional language. The results indicate that the ability to speak the specific regional or even sub regional language does not greatly affect an individual's regional identity, thus potentially contributing to the continuing decline of that language in the region. Furthermore, that future studies are merited to explore whether these results are specific or if they can more broadly be applied to other Occitan regions or elsewhere where regional languages are spoken.M.A.
Department of Sociology
Sciences
Applied Sociology MA
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Ford, James Leslie. "Doing the Right Thing: Relational Ethics in Institutional Caregiving for Veterans." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/29445.
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This research explored psychological, social, and relational aspects of caregiving. It examined documented resolution of ethical dilemmas precipitated by veteransâ medical crises and involved formal caregivers, informal caregivers, and veteran patients. The unit of analysis was caregiving relationships.
The main research question asked, how does case documentation and documented processes of resolving ethical dilemmas in institutional healthcare for veterans reflect relational ethics? Relational ethics was defined as fairness of interpersonal give and take and included efforts to elicit, understand, and honor veteranâ s values and care preferences.
The caregiving context was a Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC). The research population was 25 male veterans whose cases required intervention by the VAMC ethics committee. The research was conducted in three phases using grounded theory methodology. The research purpose, guided by symbolic interaction theory, was to develop substantive theory in relational ethics. Study analyses used Atlas.ti qualitative software.
Main study one, Veteran-Formal Caregiver Relations, focused on relational processes internal to the VAMC. It explored how members of professional healthcare disciplines documented ethical caregiving concerns amongst themselves and in interactions with veteran patients. Agency emerged as the core category. Agency meant that veteran patients could make choices and act on those choices in ways that impacted their care. When veteransâ agency was compromised, formal caregiversâ roles became more salient. The substantive theory was the dynamic process of clarifying agency.
Main study two, Formal-Informal Caregiver Relations, focused on interactions between VAMC staff and veteransâ significant others. It explored medical center staff communications with informal caregivers regarding veteransâ health problems. Documented interactions confirmed the impact of relational ethics. Agendas and advocacy emerged as key categories that determined and respected veteransâ relational autonomy. Relational autonomy validated other ethical concerns and resource demands, considered social context, and included obligations as well as entitlements. The substantive theory was the agenda to advocate for relational autonomy.
Substantive theories from the two main studies were integrated. Categorical dimensions were combined into substantive theory; that doing the right thing in institutional caregiving for veterans was the dynamic process of clarifying agency with the agenda to advocate for relational autonomy.Ph. D.
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Bellinger, Veronica Genee. "Gender differences related to corporate dressing down." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/42896.
Full textAbstract:
In recent years corporate organizations have implemented casual wear as an alternative to traditional dress codes to encourage comfort, relaxation,productivity, and manager/employee interactions. The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences related to attitudes towards casual work attire and productivity, to examine perceptions of the effects of casual attire on the office atmosphere, and to determine what constitutes appropriate
casual dress in corporate offices. The study involved a comparative analysis of males and females to determine the differences between perceptions and attitudes towards corporate dressing down.
The sample was comprised of 66 employees of 3 major companies in the southeast. Respondents completed the Manager /Employee Questionnaire on Corporate Dressing Down which contained 38 Likert-type questions and 2 questions requiring the respondents to rank apparel ensembles. The questionnaire was pilot tested for content validity and
reliability. Data were analyzed using factor analysis, frequencies, t-tests, and MANOVAs.
T -tests revealed no significant differences between male and female attitudes towards dressing down, attitudes towards productivity, perceptions of the atmosphere, and perceptions of manager and employee interactions.
Examination of frequencies revealed that males and females differed in their selection of appropriate male and female casual wear for the workplace. Multiple analysis of variance indicated no significant difference between males and female perceptions of casual and traditional work attire.Master of Science
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Lester, Amy. "Paternal Support for Breastfeeding: A Mixed Methods Study to Identify Positive and Negative Forms of Paternal Social Support for Breastfeeding As Perceived by First-time Parent Couples." Scholar Commons, 2014. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5059.
Full textAbstract:
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life, and continue to breastfeed throughout the first year of life and as long after as is mutually desired. Recent survey data suggests that initiation rates of breastfeeding are high; according to the CDC, 75.0 percent of children in the U.S. have been breastfed. Although initiation rates of breastfeeding are high, breastfeeding duration rates consistent are much lower; 33.0 percent of infants were exclusively breastfed at three months, and only 13.3 percent of infants were exclusively breastfed at six months. Additionally, only 22.4 percent of infants were still breastfeeding at twelve months.
Social and behavioral research has identified social support received from the infant's father to be one of the most important predictors of breastfeeding initiation and duration. Although several prior studies have identified paternal attitudes and support to be important influences of breastfeeding duration, few studies have been conducted to understand the specific forms of paternal support that are most important to mothers, and the forms of paternal support that are most predictive of breastfeeding duration. Also, to the author's knowledge, this was the first study to investigate negative forms of paternal support that may discourage breastfeeding.
This mixed-methods study sought to better understand the perceived forms of positive and negative paternal support for breastfeeding amongst a cohort of first-time parent couples. A longitudinal study design was utilized, in which each parent participated in an in-depth interview at four time points: prenatally, and at one, three, and six month post-partum. At each time point, mothers and fathers also completed a quantitative survey; breastfeeding intention was assessed at the prenatal period, and information about current breastfeeding status was collected at the post-natal time points. A final sample of fourteen parent couples was recruited from Champions for Children prenatal classes, and all interviews took place between June 2013 and February 2014.
The quantitative portion of this study found that at one month post-partum, mothers with higher prenatal breastfeeding intention scores were more likely to still be breastfeeding (85.7%), with the largest percentage of mothers still exclusively breastfeeding (50.0%); additionally, mothers with lower prenatal breastfeeding intention scores were more likely to be exclusively formula feeding (14.3%) (p = 0.03). In general, mothers with higher prenatal breastfeeding intention scores also identified more types of positive paternal support for breastfeeding; however, the only association found to be statistically significant was appraisal support (p=0.03).
For the qualitative portion of this study, expectant mothers and fathers identified forms of paternal support that they perceived to be either positively or negatively supportive of breastfeeding. More often than any other type of positive support, mothers and fathers mentioned a father providing instrumental support as helpful to sustain breastfeeding, and at the post-natal time points, almost every mother identified help with household chores as being the support they receive most often which helps them to sustain breastfeeding. Whereas mothers mentioned instrumental support most often when asked to identify forms of paternal support for breastfeeding, after delivery mothers indicated that emotional support was truly most valuable; almost every mother identified words of encouragement and motivation as being the support they receive from their partner that is most important, and which helps to sustain breastfeeding.
At the post-natal time-points very few mothers or fathers identified any forms of negative support actually received from their partner; mothers and fathers instead elaborated on examples of support that they perceived as negative for a mother to receive from her partner including failure to provide positive support, indifference to infant feeding method, a negative attitude towards breastfeeding or preference for formula, and negative or discouraging comments. At the post-natal time points, the majority of mothers perceived a father being verbally negative about breastfeeding as the worst form of negative support for breastfeeding.
This study primarily used qualitative methods to gather rich, in-depth personal accounts of first-time mothers' and first-time fathers' perceptions of paternal support for breastfeeding. This provided valuable insight and allowed for an emic perspective of the participants' personal experiences which led to a more in-depth understanding of the specific forms of paternal support most important to mothers. Unlike previous studies conducted to better understand paternal support for breastfeeding, this study utilized a longitudinal design which allowed for the collection of data at four time points, both pre- and post-natal. A longitudinal design strengthened this study as perceived forms of paternal support were compared at different time points, and shifts in perceptions over time amongst mothers and fathers were captured.
This study contributes new knowledge to the field of breastfeeding promotion regarding the specific forms of paternal support that mothers and fathers perceive as positive or negative of breastfeeding. It is imperative to improve our understanding of the precise forms of paternal support which are most positively associated with breastfeeding exclusivity and duration, so that future efforts to increase positive paternal support and decrease negative paternal support are most effective. The findings of this study can be used to help engage fathers in the breastfeeding process, including educating them on the specific ways that they can offer meaningful support to their breastfeeding partner.
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Boquist, Theres, and Mariah Lindefur. ""Mycket snack och lite verkstad" : En kvalitativ studie om delaktighet för brukarrepresentanter." Thesis, Högskolan Väst, Avd för socialpedagogik och sociologi, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-8053.
Full textAbstract:
Följande studie behandlar delaktighet för brukarrepresentanter från olika sociala företag. Det övergripande syftet med studien är att undersöka hur delaktighet kan påverkas genom social interaktion mellan blivande socionomer och representanter från sociala företag. En kvalitativ studie har genomförts genom en deltagande observation under två dagar i en framtidsverkstad mellan socionomstudenter, lärare och brukarrepresentanter. Empirin har analyserats med hjälp av symbolisk interaktionism och Goffmans dramaturgiska teaterscen. Åldersspannet på deltagarna i studien ligger på 22 - 70 år, och det var en övervägande kvinnlig deltagarskara. Studiens resultat visar att delaktighet med ett reellt inflytande är något som eftersträvas både från politiskt håll bl.a. av socialstyrelsens riktlinjer och från samhällsmedborgarna, i den här studien i form av studenter och brukarrepresentanter. Detta är dock inget som visar sig i praktiken utan det handlar snarare om en pseudodelaktighet, som innefattar "mycket snack och lite verkstad", där delaktigheten inte leder till något reellt inflytande. Det krävs en jämn maktfördelning mellan olika grupprepresentanter för att ge rätt förutsättningar i skapandet av delaktighet på lika villkor. Tidsbrist är en förhindrande faktor. Det visas att en framgångsfaktor för delaktighet är att vi delar samma verklighetsförståelse och eftersträvar en maktutjämning för bekämpning av stigmatisering. För detta krävs gemensamma mötesplatser. Studien visar att det krävs en långsiktighet för en lyckad implementering i alla led från utbildning till arbetsplats till medborgare. Det är en lång kedja där mycket kan gå fel på vägen. Detta kan förklara den tröghet som påvisas i denna studie.The following study deals with the participation of user-representatives from various social enterprises. The overall aim of the study is to examine how participation can be influenced by social interactions between future social workers and user-representatives from social enterprises. A qualified study has been carried out through a participant observation for two days in a future-workshop between social work students, teachers and user-representatives. Empirical data has been analyzed by means of symbolic interactionsm and Goffman's dramaturgical theater analysis. The age range of study participants is at 22-70 years and it was predominately female group of participants. The study-results show that the inclusion of real influence is something pursued both from the policies of the National board and from community citizens, in this study in terms of students and user representatives. However, this is nothing that shows in practice, it is rather a pseudoparticipation which includes a lot of talk and little action, where participation does not lead to any real influence. It requires an even division of power between different group representatives to provide the right conditions in the making of participation on equal terms. Lack of time is a preventing factor. It appears that the success of participation is that we share the same understanding of reality and pursue a power leveling to fight stigmatization. This requires common meeting places. The study shows that a long term approach for a successful implementation at all stages from education to the workplace to the citizen is required. There is at long chain where much can go wrong along the way. This may explain the inertia detected in this study.
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Campos-Holland, Ana Lilia. ""Doing" parenthood : fragile families in the fast life and under mass correctional supervision." Diss., University of Iowa, 2012. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/1301.
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Parenthood is a role that shapes the lives of parents and children. According to the sociology of families and marriages, criminology, and the sociology of punishment, the most alienated individuals in unequal America practice parenthood in fragile families struggling with poverty, the code of the street, and under correctional supervision. In attempts to connect and contribute to these literatures, this research project examines how individuals' delinquent/criminal role performance on the street stage and client/inmate role performance on the correctional stage influence their parent role performance on the home stage. To do so, this qualitative study collected 57 semi-structured interviews (12 mothers and 45 fathers) and analyzes participants' parent role, delinquent/criminal role, and client/inmate role. The findings suggest that a cross-generational role conflict shapes participants' parent role performance throughout their life course. Although conflicting roles (roles with conflicting expectations) can coexist in the self, limited resources (time, energy, and money) and problematic boundaries (weak or impenetrable) between social situations bring role conflict to the center of role performance. In this case, the role conflict between participants' ideal parent role on the home stage, delinquent/criminal role on the street stage, and client/inmate role on the correctional stage shapes participants' parent role performance throughout their life course.
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Lallement, Raphael. "Symbolic and Geometric Planning for teams of Robots and Humans." Thesis, Toulouse, INSA, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016ISAT0010/document.
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La planification HTN (Hierarchical Task Network, ou Réseau Hiérarchique de Tâches) est une approche très souvent utilisée pour produire des séquences de tâches servant à contrôler des systèmes intelligents. Cette thèse présente le planificateur HATP (Hierarchical Agent-base Task Planner, ou Planificateur Hiérarchique centré Agent) qui étend la planification HTN classique en enrichissant la représentation des domaines et leur sémantique afin d'être plus adaptées à la robotique, tout en offrant aussi une prise en compte des humains. Quand on souhaite générer un plan pour des robots tout en prenant en compte les humains, il apparaît que les problèmes sont complexes et fortement interdépendants. Afin de faire face à cette complexité, nous avons intégré à HATP un planificateur géométrique apte à déduire l'effet réel des actions sur l'environnement et ainsi permettre de considérer la visibilité et l'accessibilité des éléments. Cette thèse se concentre sur l'intégration de ces deux planificateurs de nature différente et étudie comment par leur combinaison ils permettent de résoudre de nouvelles classes de problèmes de planification pour la robotiqueHierarchical Task Network (HTN) planning is a popular approach to build task plans to control intelligent systems. This thesis presents the HATP (Hierarchical Agent-based Task Planner) planning framework which extends the traditional HTN planning domain representation and semantics by making them more suitable for roboticists, and by offering human-awareness capabilities. When computing human-aware robot plans, it appears that the problems are very complex and highly intricate. To deal with this complexity we have integrated a geometric planner to reason about the actual impact of actions on the environment and allow to take into account the affordances (reachability, visibility). This thesis presents in detail this integration between two heterogeneous planning layers and explores how they can be combined to solve new classes of robotic planning problems
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Farquhar, Lee Keenan. "Identity negotiation on Facebook.com." Diss., University of Iowa, 2009. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/289.
Full textAbstract:
This study examines identity presentations on the online social networking site, Facebook.com. The two-phase research design includes a period of participant observation of a sample of 346 college students and recent graduates followed by an interview period with a sample subset of 48 interviewees. The study analyzes key performance components on the site using a symbolic interaction perspective, to determine common characteristics of Facebook profiles, importance of performance components, and categories of identity performance.
Identity performance components are broken into two general categories, static and dynamic. Dynamic components, those that are updated frequently and drive much of the activity online, are far more important in terms of identity performance. Dynamic components on Facebook found to be important in this study are status updates, use of bumper stickers and pieces of flair, giving gifts, and photos.
Analysis of these components supports the symbolic interaction literature in general and the works of George H. Mead specifically. The Facebook news feed allows Facebookers to continually observe identity performances of others as well as to give and receive feedback on performances. This continual flow of information allows for the development of a generalized other, used as the basis for anticipating reactions from others to potential activity. Based on these anticipations, in an effort to reduce misinterpretations, Facebookers develop exaggerated performances that serve to distinguish in-groups from out-groups.
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Lindberg, Maja. "The innate ability to cope with mathematics : A comparative fMRI study of children's and adults' neural activity during non-symbolic mathematical tasks." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för datavetenskap, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-158199.
Full textAbstract:
Humans as well as animals are born with a number sense, an innate ability to make approximations (Dehaene, 1997). However, low numeracy is an issue today and have a larger impact on the individuals lives than poor reading abilities (Parsons & Bynner, 2006). To be able to understand the cause of developmental dyscalculia the fully functional brain coping with numbers must be further investigated. The aim of this study is hence to examine how the number sense develop during maturation. Seven children and seven adults (all healthy) have participated in this neuro imaging study. The participants were required to perform a non-symbolic mathematic task and a control task both outside and within the scanner. The results indicate a transition of active areas in the brain during maturation. In the children prefrontal areas were recruited, and for the adults the activation was primarily found in the parietal cortex. These findings, despite low statistical power indicates a shift of neural activity from a more cognitive demanding task into an automated task. Further studies will have to replicate the experiment to validate the findings of this study.
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Borrero, Brittni M. "Faded Glory: Captain America and the Wilted American Dream." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1334586489.
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Atkins, Chris. "'Just Little Things': Nurses' perceptions of quality of life for people with severe multiple impairments." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/395.
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ABSTRACT Notions of quality of life dictate philosophies and policies for services for people with developmental disabilities. There is an abundance of research on quality of life, much of which has influenced the significant amount of study of quality of life for people with developmental disabilities. According to specialist developmental disability nurses, however, this research has little meaning for one group of people with developmental disabilities with whom they work - people with severe multiple impairments. Nevertheless, judgements and decisions about the lives of this group continue to be driven by the idea of quality of life. While the literature review found that researchers are urged to seek the perceptions of people regarding their own quality of life by asking them, some authors have noted the difficulty in pursuing such a method with people, such as people with severe multiple impairments, who are unable to communicate in the usual ways. Given, then, that it is difficult to directly determine the views of people with severe multiple impairments, this study sought the perceptions of nurses about the quality of life of the people with whom they work. In order to discover and conceptualise nurses' views, a symbolic interaction perspective was chosen to guide this study and data were analysed using the grounded theory approach. The study was conducted in two stages. Stage One consisted of semi-structured indepth interviews with expert nurses to explore their perceptions of quality of life for the people with whom they worked. A significant finding in these interviews was that perceptions of quality of life are mediated by interaction. Consequently, Stage Two involved a participant observation study in which the interactions of nurses and people with severe multiple impairments were examined. Specialist developmental disability nurses have a unique view of quality of life for people with severe multiple impairments. They refer to it as 'just little things', a phrase which masks complex nursing knowledge and skills, and which can be described by four interrelated categories which emerged from the data: humans being, supporting, becoming intimate, and situated belonging. As nurses become more intimate with individuals, they perceive that people with severe multiple impairments are humans being as they wish, and that quality resides in supporting their everyday lives in a context of situated belonging. This thesis represents a new conceptualisation of quality of life for people with severe multiple impairments, a conceptualisation which may have significance for other groups and, indeed, for the whole quality of life enterprise. This conceptualisation draws on knowledge not usually related to quality of life, that is, knowledge of the body, of the emotions, of identity and of humanness. Such findings demonstrate the power of an interpretive approach in explicating the meanings nurses have regarding quality of life. Further, these findings have implications for how the question of quality of life is approached, for how different ways of thinking about people impact on quality of life, and for the importance of the life in quality of life.
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Atkins, Chris. "'Just Little Things': Nurses' perceptions of quality of life for people with severe multiple impairments." University of Sydney, Nursing, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/395.
Full textAbstract:
ABSTRACT Notions of quality of life dictate philosophies and policies for services for people with developmental disabilities. There is an abundance of research on quality of life, much of which has influenced the significant amount of study of quality of life for people with developmental disabilities. According to specialist developmental disability nurses, however, this research has little meaning for one group of people with developmental disabilities with whom they work - people with severe multiple impairments. Nevertheless, judgements and decisions about the lives of this group continue to be driven by the idea of quality of life. While the literature review found that researchers are urged to seek the perceptions of people regarding their own quality of life by asking them, some authors have noted the difficulty in pursuing such a method with people, such as people with severe multiple impairments, who are unable to communicate in the usual ways. Given, then, that it is difficult to directly determine the views of people with severe multiple impairments, this study sought the perceptions of nurses about the quality of life of the people with whom they work. In order to discover and conceptualise nurses' views, a symbolic interaction perspective was chosen to guide this study and data were analysed using the grounded theory approach. The study was conducted in two stages. Stage One consisted of semi-structured indepth interviews with expert nurses to explore their perceptions of quality of life for the people with whom they worked. A significant finding in these interviews was that perceptions of quality of life are mediated by interaction. Consequently, Stage Two involved a participant observation study in which the interactions of nurses and people with severe multiple impairments were examined. Specialist developmental disability nurses have a unique view of quality of life for people with severe multiple impairments. They refer to it as 'just little things', a phrase which masks complex nursing knowledge and skills, and which can be described by four interrelated categories which emerged from the data: humans being, supporting, becoming intimate, and situated belonging. As nurses become more intimate with individuals, they perceive that people with severe multiple impairments are humans being as they wish, and that quality resides in supporting their everyday lives in a context of situated belonging. This thesis represents a new conceptualisation of quality of life for people with severe multiple impairments, a conceptualisation which may have significance for other groups and, indeed, for the whole quality of life enterprise. This conceptualisation draws on knowledge not usually related to quality of life, that is, knowledge of the body, of the emotions, of identity and of humanness. Such findings demonstrate the power of an interpretive approach in explicating the meanings nurses have regarding quality of life. Further, these findings have implications for how the question of quality of life is approached, for how different ways of thinking about people impact on quality of life, and for the importance of the life in quality of life.
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Kremmel, Susan. "Understanding Eating Boundaries: A Study of Vegetarian Identities." [Tampa, Fla] : University of South Florida, 2006. http://purl.fcla.edu/usf/dc/et/SFE0001604.
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Khariwal, Pooja. "Her Self: Exploration of a Woman's Self in Intimate Partner Violence." The Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1248918274.
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Gharbi, Mamoun. "Geometric reasoning planning in the context of Human-Robot Interaction." Thesis, Toulouse, INSA, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015ISAT0047/document.
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Au cours des dernières années, la communauté robotique s'est largement intéressée au domaine de l'interaction homme-robot (HRI). Un des aspects de ce domaine est de faire agir les robots en présence de l'homme, tout en respectant sa sécurité ainsi que son confort. Pour atteindre cet objectif, un robot doit planifier ses actions tout en prenant explicitement en compte les humains afin d'adapter le plan à leurs positions, leurs capacités et leurs préférences. La première partie de cette thèse concerne les transferts d'objets entre humains et robots : où, quand et comment les effectuer? Dépendant des préférences de l'Homme, il est parfois préférable, ou pas, partager l'effort du transfert d'objet entre lui et le robot, mais encore, à certains moments, un seul transfert d'objet n'est pas suffisant pour atteindre l'objectif (amener l'objet à un agent cible), le robot doit alors planifier une séquence de transfert d'objet entre plusieurs agents afin d'arriver à ses fins. Quel que soit le cas, pendant le transfert d'objet, un certain nombre de signaux doivent être échangés par les deux protagonistes afin de réussir l'action. Un des signaux les plus utilisés est le regard. Lorsque le donneur tend le bras afin de transférer l'objet, il doit regarder successivement le receveur puis l'objet afin de faciliter le transfert. Le transfert d'objet peut être considéré comme une action de base dans un plan plus vaste, nous amenant à la seconde partie de cette thèse qui présente une formalization de ce type d'actions de base" et d'actions plus complexes utilisant des conditions, des espaces de recherche et des contraintes. Cette partie rend aussi compte du framework et des différents algorithmes utilisés pour résoudre et calculer ces actions en fonction de leur description. La dernière partie de la thèse montre comment ce framework peut s'adapter à un planificateur de plus haut niveau (un planificateur de tâches par exemple) et une méthode pour combiner la planification symbolique et géométrique. Le planificateur de tâches utilise des appels à des fonctions externes lui permettant de vérifier la faisabilité de la tâche courante, et en cas de succès, de récupérer l'état du monde fourni par le raisonneur géométrique et de l'utilisé afin de poursuivre la planification. Cette partie montre également différentes extensions de cette algorithme, tels que les \validation géométriques" où nous testons l'infaisabilité de plusieurs actions à la fois ou \les contraintes" où l'ajout de contraintes au niveau symbolique peut dirigée la recherche géométrique ou encore \recherche dirigé par coût" où le planificateur symbolique utilise les informations fournies par la partie géométrique afin d'éviter le calcul de plans moins intéressantsIn the last few years, the Human robot interaction (HRI) field has been in the spotlight of the robotics community. One aspect of this field is making robots act in the presence of humans, while keeping them safe and comfortable. In order to achieve this, a robot needs to plan its actions while explicitly taking into account the humans and adapt its plans to their whereabouts, capacities and preferences. The first part of this thesis is about human-robot handover: where, when and how to perform them? Depending on the human preferences, it may be better, or not, to share the handover effort between him and the robot, while in other cases, a unique handover might not be enough to achieve the goal (bringing the object to a target agent) and a sequence of handovers might be needed. In any case, during the handover, a number of cues should be used by both protagonists involved in one handover. One of the most used cue is the gaze. When the giver reaches out with his arm, he should look at the object, and when the motion is finished, he should look at the receiver's face to facilitate the transfer. The handover can be considered as a basic action in a bigger plan. The second part of this thesis reports about a formalization of these kind of basic actions" and more complex ones by the use of conditions, search spaces and restraints. It also reports about a framework and different algorithms used to solve and compute these actions based on their description. The last part of the thesis shows how the previously cited framework can fit in with a higher level planner (such as a task planner) and a method to combine a symbolic and geometric planner. The task planner uses external calls to the geometric planner to assess the feasibility of the current task, and in case of success, retrieve the state of the world provided by the geometric reasoner and use it to continue the planning. This part also shows different extensions enabling a faster search. Some of these extensions are \Geometric checks" where we test the infeasibility of multiple actions at once, \constraints" where adding constraints at the symbolic level can drive the geometric search, and \cost driven search" where the symbolic planner uses information form the geometric one to prune out over costly plans
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Leonard, Diana Kay. "Shaping Fuzzy Goals through Teacher-Student Interaction: A Detailed Look at Communication between Community College Faculty and Transfer Students." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/193806.
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SHAPING FUZZY GOALS THROUGH TEACHER-STUDENT INTERACTION: A DETAILED LOOK AT THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY AND TRANSFER STUDENTS by Diana K. Leonard Faculty-student interactions have been largely neglected in the research regarding community colleges and community college transfer students. Yet faculty serve as points of institutional contact, and might also serve a central role in student experiences and decision-making. The purpose of this study was to increase our understanding of the dynamics and interactions that impact student experiences and decisions regarding transfer at the community college and to understand how those interactions contributed to goal formation. Symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1969) provided a framework to guide the mixed-methods approach, which was primarily qualitative, utilizing online surveys and personal interviews to investigate students' interpretations of the student-teacher interactions. Quantitative data analysis measured teacher influence. 429 students who successfully transferred to a Research I university in the southwest, from in-state community colleges completed the survey. Ten students from this pool, subsequently interviewed, reflected various levels of uncertainty in their goals to transfer. These uncertain goals were termed "fuzzy" goals.In addition to symbolic interactionism as a framework, Stanton-Salazar's (1997) concept of institutional agents, supported with Bourdieu's (1977) cultural and social capital and Tinto's (1975) theory of social and academic integration were used to guide this study. Findings illustrated that students did utilize their teachers as institutional agents, who provided them with cultural knowledge and facilitated their understanding of procedures and processes through active as well as passive teacher-agency. Five themes emerged in students' interpretation of the student-teacher interactions: support, motivation, guidance, inspiration, and modeling. All had varying effects on students' uncertainty and contributed to shaping their fuzzy goals and to their social and academic integration into academe.This study can inform our understanding of the well-known gap in BA attainment between students who begin at a community college intending to transfer and students who begin at a four-year institution. Further, this study can inform strategic planning geared toward supporting teachers more fully in their role as institutional agents conveying social and cultural capital to students to increase their leverage for success once they transfer to the university.
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Herrmann, Andrew F. "Never Mind the Scholar, Here’s the Old Punk: Identity, Community, and the Aging Music Fan." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2012. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/461.
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Book Summary: Part I, 'Theoretical Openings,' of Volume 39 of Studies in Symbolic Interaction contains outstanding contributions by leading interactionists on welfare reform, history, biography and memory. The three chapters in Part II, 'Studies in Social Construction,' interrogate the complexities of social interaction, interpersonal and professional identity, and the cinematic representation of alcoholism. Part III takes up important interpretive interventions on the topics of imagination and intimate deception in everyday life.
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Haywood, Abby C. "Reconceptualizing music education and introducing the timeline integration model: an interdisciplinary approach using socio-historical contexts." Thesis, University of Iowa, 2014. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/4641.
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Since the early part of the 1800s many aspects of music education have remained "very traditional" with little changes in underpinning rationales (Jorgensen, 2003, p. 3). Due to this lack of change, a divide exists "between musical ideology and education practice" (p. 4). The primary purpose of this thesis is to suggest that changing the music education profession begins with reconceptualizing music education. The secondary purpose is to propose one solution, the Timeline Integration Model. Reconceptualization is the process of challenging the atheoretical and ahistorical perspectives of traditional curricula (Pinar, 1975). Rethinking curriculum research starts at the intersections of social structure, history, and biography (Popkewitz, 1988). This philosophical qualitative research thesis presents an analysis of the social structure of School of Music programs. It uses the symbolic interaction theory to investigate how language and music-for-music's-sake ideology influence the music education profession. It briefly examines the history of music education and provides a review of literature of symbolic interaction theory and reconceptualization in relation to music education. The symbolic interaction theory is also applied to an autobiography to further investigate the social structure of School of Music programs and the music education profession. The autobiography demonstrates how social structure, history, and biography are interconnected. This thesis introduces the Timeline Integration Model. The Timeline Integration Model is an interdisciplinary approach developed by the author that uses socio-historical contexts to rethink musical learning. The Timeline Integration Model also provides teachers with tools to design meaningful and integrative lessons in K-12 general music classrooms.
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Gargas, Eugene Frank III. "Generation and use of a discrete robotic controls alphabet for high-level tasks." Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/43651.
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The objective of this thesis is to generate a discrete alphabet of low-level robotic controllers rich enough to mimic the actions of high-level users using the robot for a specific task. This alphabet will be built through the analysis of various user data sets in a modified version of the motion description language, MDLe. It can then be used to mimic the actions of a future user attempting to perform the task by calling scaled versions of the controls in the alphabet, potentially reducing the amount of data required to be transmitted to the robot, with minimal error.
In this thesis, theory is developed that will allow the construction of such an alphabet, as well as its use to mimic new actions. A MATLAB algorithm is then built to implement the theory. This is followed by an experiment in which various users drive a Khepera robot through different courses with a joystick. The thesis concludes by presenting results which suggest that a relatively small group of users can generate an alphabet capable of mimicking the actions of other users, while drastically reducing bandwidth.
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Uddsten, Veronica. "Chinese Men and "Leftover Women" : How do Chinese Men Position Themselves in Relation to the Concept of Labelling Women as "Leftover"?" Thesis, Högskolan Dalarna, Kinesiska, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-23239.
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In recent years there has been a resurgence of gender inequality in China. Today, women are pressured to get married by the state and their social surroundings, as they told if they remain unmarried and have the "three highs"; high age, education and salary, they will become leftovers on the marriage market. Previous research on the concept of labelling women as "leftover" has 4 shown that labelling women as "leftover" can have several different negative impacts. In this thesis, both the theory of masculine hegemony and the theory of symbolic interaction have been used. The concept creates a hegemonic masculinity as it is a normative practice that promotes the subordination of women. However, as the concept is based on the notion that all Chinese men, or at least those of relevant social standing, would find the "three highs" undesirable, it is relevant to see how Chinese men in fact do position themselves in relation to the hegemonic masculinity on an individual level. In symbolic interaction, the concept of gender is created through social construction when people attach special meanings to the sex of a person, a process which is called "doing gender". Therefore symbolic interaction is used to see what special meaning Chinese men attach to women having the "three highs" and masculine hegemony to put their answers into a larger context. If it could be shown that Chinese men do not comply with the hegemonic masculinity, Chinese women would not have to feel obliged to adjust to the hegemonic masculinity and thereby making it easier for them to pursue higher education, high paying jobs and marrying at a later age. However, as this thesis is a qualitative study, and therefore a limited number of data subjects, the generalizability of the result should not be exaggerated. The interviews that were conducted for this thesis showed that the data subjects were familiar with the concept and that they considered it to be natural for there to be women China labelled as "leftover". Nevertheless, in relation to their own marital choices, the data subjects did not attach the negative meaning as set out by the hegemonic masculinity, a result which to some extent was confirmed by the data subjects’ experiences and other control questions. The result is interesting, and enforces Connell and MesserSchmidt’s theory, that even though a hegemonic masculinity is normative, not everyone has to comply with it. As the cornerstone of the concept is that Chinese men find women with the "three highs" undesirable, the result of the study shows that there is a need for the concept to be further examined and questioned.近年，性别不平等在中国又开始回潮。今天，中国女性在婚姻问题上受到来自社会的不小压力。如果这些女性尚未结婚而又具有?三高? ，即高龄、高学历和高薪，那她们将有可能成为婚姻上的剩女。以往研究表明，女性被打上?剩女? 的标签后，这?剩? 字会给她们带来若干负面影响。本文运用两个理论：「支配性男性气质」(hegemonic masculinity) 和「象征性互动」(symbolic interaction) 理论。「支配性男性气质」作为理论说明男性如何建立规范使妇女处于从属地位。此观念基于这样一个已有概念，即中国男性不喜欢?三高? 女性。本文主要讨论中国男人在「支配性男性气质」主导的社会里如何自我定位。根据「象征性互动」理论，性别的概念是经由社会建構创造的性意思，过程被称为「做性别」(doing gender) 。「象征性互动」理论因此被用来观察中国男性对?三高?女性存在的特殊想法。而「支配性男性气质」的理论则把他们的回答放到一个更大的范围内。如果我们能够证明中国男性并不完全赞同「支配性男性气质」的概念，那么中国女性就没有必要认为必须顺应「支配性男性气质」的一些规范，从而使这些女性更愿意接受高等教育，从事高收入工作和晚婚。需要指出的是，由于本论文是定性研究，样本数量有限，结果不一定具有普遍性。本文受访者均熟悉・剩女?这个观念，并且觉得这些・三高・女性很自然地被社会标签为?剩余?。但尽管如此，当谈及他们自己的婚姻选择时，这些受访者却并不在意「支配性男性气质」对女性标签的负面意义。此现象在一定程度上从受访者个人经历和我们附加的对照性问题上得到证实。这一结果相当有意思，根据康奈尔（Connell）和梅塞施密特（MesserSchmidt）的理论，即使「支配性男性气质」是一个常态，但其在统计学上并不一定最常见。由于已有的概念认为中国男性不喜欢?三高?女性，本研究结果显示，有必要对这一概念作进一步的探讨和分析。
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Bondyfalat, Didier. "Interaction entre symbolique et numérique : application à la vision artificielle." Phd thesis, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, 2000. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00685629.
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Les motivations initiales de ce travail proviennent de l'étalonnage de caméras en vision artificielle. Nous nous sommes surtout intéressés aux manières d'exploiter des mesures dans les images (détection d'objets) et des considérations géométriques formelles. Nous avons élargi nos recherches à la problématique suivante :"l'interaction entre symbolique et numérique ". Ce travail se divise en trois parties. La première partie traite de la résolution d'équations polynomiales avec des coefficients approchés. Nous étudions des méthodes matricielles qui transforment la résolution en la recherche des valeurs et des vecteurs propres d'une matrice. Ces transformations et et les calculs de valeurs et vecteurs propres sont continues par rapport aux coefficients et permettent donc de résoudre des équations à coefficients approchés. La deuxième partie présente un cadre algébrique permettant d'exprimer simplement des contraintes géométriques. Ce formalisme nous a permis de modéliser de manière fine l'étalonnage d'une ou plusieurs caméras avec l'aide d'un plan. L'étalonnage ne peut être effectué pratiquement qu'avec des résolutions numériques de systèmes linéaires. La troisième partie est consacrée à l'étude et surtout à l'utilisation des outils de démonstration automatique en géométrie pour la construction de modèles 3D articulés. Par des optimisations numériques, nous déterminons les paramètres des modèles articulés qui permettent aux images de ces modèles de coïncider avec les données extraites des photographies
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Hoover, Debra Lynne. "Possible selves: conceptions and conversations regarding career success in higher education." The Ohio State University, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1182318621.
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BANKSTON, KAREN DENISE. "COLLECTIVE SELF-ESTEEM AND ATTITUDES TOWARD COLLABORATION AS PREDICTORS TO COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE BEHAVIORS USED BY REGISTERED NURSES AND PHYSICIANS IN ACUATE CARE HOSPITALS." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2005. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1131630469.
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Rolt, Clóvis Da. "Um rio de muitas margens: sociabilidade, interações simbólicas e práticas de apropriação da arte." Universidade do Vale do Rio do Sinos, 2009. http://www.repositorio.jesuita.org.br/handle/UNISINOS/2146.
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Esta pesquisa propõe como objeto de investigação as interações de sociabilidade entre participantes de um contexto de exposição de artes visuais do tipo Bienal, tendo como campo empírico a 6ª Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul, evento ocorrido em Porto Alegre-RS, de 1º de setembro a 18 de novembro de 2007. Amparado nas premissas conceituais da teoria do interacionismo simbólico, o estudo busca discutir como se estruturam alguns aspectos relativos à sociabilidade, às práticas de apropriação, às representações e aos usos sociais da arte contemporânea num contexto expositivo de arte visuais do tipo Bienal.
This research proposes an investigation of sociability interactions among participants, who are situated in a context of a Biennial art exhibition type. The empirical field is focused in the 6th Mercosul Biennial, which happened in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), from September 1st to November 18th, 2007. Supported by the premises of the symbolic interaction theory, the study intends to discuss the structure of certain aspects related to sociability, to art appropriation practices, to representations and to social uses of the contemporary art in a context of the Biennial art exhibition type.
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Pohnert, Tami. "The Effects of Pet Ownership on Physical Well-Being in Older Adults." VCU Scholars Compass, 2010. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/2238.
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A large percentage of Americans own pets which may impact their health. This study examines pet ownership’s effect on well being in older adults looking at race/ethnicity. A sample of 6,565 older adults (>60) was selected from the Third National Health and Nutrition Survey. Pet owners comprised 28.3% of the sample. The theories of symbolic interaction and social integration were used to examine pet ownership’s effect on physical components of well-being. The descriptive results showed statistically significant differences in age, education, income, and marital status between pet owners and non-pet owners. Pet owners were younger, more educate, higher income and married. Similar results were found for Caucasians, African Americans and Mexican Americans. Logistic regression for the entire sample revealed pet owners were more likely to have a positive self perception of health, normal blood pressure, improved function, less chronic conditions, improved function and more falls. Multiple regression revealed pet owners had more hospital stays, but fewer physician visits and nursing home stays than non-pet owners. When examined by race/ethnicity differences were found between pet owners and non-pet owners that differed from the general sample results. This research revealed that pets overall positively impact their owners’ health but it appears to differ based on race/ethnicity. Further research is needed on pet ownership’s effect on older adults specifically in regards to race.
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Michael, Carlsson, and Jonna Lahdensuo. "”På Facebook slipper man vara närvarande” : En studie kring unga vuxnas syn på användande, identitetsskapande och kvarlämnade digitala identiteter på Facebook." Thesis, Jönköping University, HLK. Media and communication science, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-11651.
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Bakgrund: Facebook är ett socialt onlinenätverk som under sina levnadsår har ökat explosionsartat i popularitet. På Facebook sköter många användare stora delar av sina sociala relationer och delar med sig mycket av sig själva. Det finns inget tidigare socialt nätverk i stil med Facebook som har haft samma genomslagskraft hos internetanvändarna. I användandet skapas en digital identitet som lämnar spår på Facebook, även om en användare är död. Kring dessa kvalämnade digitala identiteter vill vi undersöka unga vuxnas syn.
Syfte: Vårt syfte med denna uppsats är att ta reda på hur unga vuxna ser på sitt och andras användande av Facebook kopplat till digitala spår och döden.
Metod: Vi har valt att använda fokusgruppssamtal som metod för insamling av det empiriska materialet. Denna metod är både kvalitativ och induktiv. Det empiriska materialet har vi analyserat med den symboliska interaktionismen som metodologisk ansats.
Resultat: Det finns många meningsskillnader i vårt resultat. Deltagarna i fokusgrupperna ser både styrkor och svagheter med mediet Facebook då det kommer till döden. Detta handlar i mångt och mycket om att deltagarna ser Facebook som ofullständigt i detta avseende.
Background: Facebook is a social online network that has expanded in popularity during the course of its existence. Many users manage large parts of their social life and share much information about themselves on Facebook. There is no previous social online network like Facebook, that has had the same development among the internet users. In the use of Facebook users create digital identities, which leave traces on Facebook, even if the user is dead. With this as an aspect, we want to study young adults’ views on digital identities and death on Facebook.
Purpose: Our purpose in this study is to find out how young adults view upon their own as well as others use of Facebook related to digital traces and death.
Method: We chose to use focus group as a method of collecting the empirical material. This method is both qualitative and inductive. The empirical material is analyzed with the symbolic interaction as a methodological approach.
Conclusion: There are many different opinions in our results. The participants in the focus groups see both strengths and weaknesses of the medium Facebook when it comes to death and digital traces. This based on the participants view of Facebook as incomplete medium in this aspect.
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Mattsson, Sydner Ylva. "Den maktlösa måltiden : Om mat inom äldreomsorgen." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala University, Department of Domestic Sciences, 2002. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-2534.
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In the Swedish elderly-care sector the institutions are of different character and the kind of care and food-supply they offer vary in scope and intensity. The aim of this study was to analyse how food and meals were handled and provided to the elderly living within those situations and in this context, how food was expressed as a substance or/and in symbols. This study focus on the social organisation that embraces the diet of the elderly and shapes the provisions of their meals, on the norms, values and behaviours of the different social identities in the organisation. The empirical work included in-depth interviews and participant observations in four different residential care homes, including various hierarchical levels, i.e. politicians and different personnel, in the organisation of food-supply to the elderly. In each care home different types of care and food-supply were studied, i.e. elderly having their meals in 24hour care, partime day care and those who ate in the restaurants. Generally, provision of meals was routine and meals were planned, prepared and served with little or no attention to what substanse and symbol it brought to the elderly. The elderly had limited possibilities to influence their own meals and those with the largest need of care, being the most fragile and sick had the least influence. The views of politicians and different personnel indicated that they considered themself powerless, which resulted in a "freedom of responsibility". It was obvious that there existed a clear discrepancy between how the informants considered the provision of food and meals should be organised and carried out, in comparison to reality. The current unsatisfactory provision of meals to the elderly is attributed to the marginalisation of specifically three areas: the symbolic value of food, the life and needs of the elderly and the traditional knowledge and experiences of women in their role as housewife and carer of the family.
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Lindahl, Gustav, and Mimi Öhlund. "Personal Branding ThroughImagification in Social Media : Identity Creation and Alteration Through Images." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Marknadsföring, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-98967.
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The general purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate how individuals today, in a societywhere people spend more and more time on social media, create and alter their identity throughimages. The study is focused on Instagram, the most widespread social media only focused onphotos. The study is based on a postmodern perspective and focuses on symbolic interactionism,identity capital and psychological self. The empirical data was collected through semi-structuredinterviews with fifteen Instagram users, most of who are from the Stockholm, Sweden region. Thestudy was influenced by the Grounded Theory method where emergent themes describing howindividuals alter and create their identity through images were deduced from the interviews. Thesethemes were: showing a nuanced image of themselves, images as a means of conveying identity forrecognition, imagification as personal branding tool and reflexive social interaction.The findings suggest that individuals show only a selected, a nuanced, part of their identity onInstagram and Instagram gives a greater freedom to express what people want to express as theiridentity and their self. By using photos in social media individuals are not as limited as they wouldotherwise be in the real world in terms of how they want to market their identity. But there is also afrustration among many users of Instagram and other social media as many feel that the nuancedand perfected image that many people convey is fake and annoying to see and this could thus havea negative impact on that person’s personal brand. Images were seen to be more efficient than textfor the purpose of personal branding and it also appeared that identity creation through imagescould create a more expressive society.
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Marshall, Debra. "Has the Song Remained the Same?: Perceptions of Effectiveness in Family Safety Work." Doctoral diss., University of Central Florida, 2012. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/5418.
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National and international research on governmental privatization efforts reflects myriad successes and failures. However, little is known about the effectiveness of family safety privatization efforts in the state of Florida. In Brevard County, Florida, family safety privatization efforts have been underway for several years now, and while evaluations are taking place, they do not reflect one key piece of information—the perceptions of family safety workers. A snowball sample was obtained from former and current child safety workers and open- and closed-ended questions were administered with a total of 15 former and current family safety workers who work or worked for several different public and private family safety agencies within Brevard County, Florida. Information was obtained regarding perceptions of privatization to adequately and more efficiently do the work of public entities. The results show two primary areas of interest. The model of care which has been instituted post-privatization (CARES) has been perceived as more effective than the former state model; the strongest problematic themes that developed concerned power, control, and the perception of unfairness. These themes are explored using a backwards mapping approach and recommendations for continued growth and cohesion are explored.ID: 031001442; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Adviser: John Lynxwiler.; Title from PDF title page (viewed June 26, 2013).; Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2012.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-173).
Ph.D.
Doctorate
Sociology
Sciences
Sociology
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Kristensen, Emily, and Boberg Helen Sartz. "How are the conditions?" Thesis, Malmö högskola, Fakulteten för hälsa och samhälle (HS), 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-26723.
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The purpose of this study is to describe and analyse how school and social service in the city of Malmö cooperate regarding children at risk and what they do in order to meet their needs. We also aim to explore the view and knowledge of the personnel and their experience of the guardians’ impact during collaboration. The empirical data was collected by personal interviews with personnel from the school and social service. The results have been analysed from a theory of organizational culture and symbolic interaction.The study shows that the organizations have various forms of cooperation, whereof the majority occur in individual cases, and that preventative work is not a priority due to reorganisations and changes in society. One of the central aspects regarding collaboration is intervention in an early stage to meet the childrens needs. We question if this could be done if preventative work would be a low priority. Both parties experiencing frustration from the personnel of the other organization, which mainly occurs from lack of trust and knowledge about the working situation of the other. The personnel from school and social service consider themselves to have an understanding for the personnel of the other organization. However, this is not a comprehension, which the personnel are experiencing from the personnel of the other organization. The view of the personnel between school and social service differs, which could be explained by “language differences” seen from a perspective of symbolic interaction. The differences might decrease and result in a better understanding between the parties if preventative work were to be prioritized for creating networks and strengthen their relations. The results also show that the guardians have a significant impact concerning the organizations to be able to cooperate in individual cases. This is because the confidentiality needs to be removed in order to enable cooperation between the parties. One conclusion based on the results is that visions and guidelines are not conformed in what is possible to integrate in the daily practical work of the personnel. Furthermore, several political decisions have to be made in order to give the personnel in school and social service adequate conditions for cooperation.
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Danford, Kayla Sue. "100 Years to Live: Marital Experiences and Advice of Ohio Centenarian Women." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1303848437.
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Rangel, Tainara Serodio Amim. "Vivendo a contradição entre ser mulher e ser profissional no processo de cuidar de mulheres soropositivas para o Hiv." Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, 2010. http://www.bdtd.uerj.br/tde_busca/arquivo.php?codArquivo=1949.
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A presente pesquisa pretendeu investigar os significados atribuídos por mulheres profissionais ao processo de cuidar de mulheres com Hiv, considerando a vulnerabilidade no contexto da feminização do Hiv/Aids. Para isto traçou como objetivos: descrever os significados atribuídos por mulheres que cuidam de mulheres soropositivo para o Hiv, considerando a vulnerabilidade no contexto da feminização do Hiv/Aids; analisar o processo de interação de mulheres profissionais no cuidado de mulheres soropositivo para o Hiv à luz do interacionismo simbólico A metodologia empregada foi a abordagem qualitativa subsidiada pela Grounded Theory. A técnica de coleta de dados escolhida foi entrevista semi-estruturada. Em consoante com a Grounded Theory, o referencial de análise dos dados foi o Interacionismo Simbólico. A pesquisa apontou duas categorias centrais pelas quais permeiam os significados do cuidado em questão. Na primeira, a mulher-profissional fala como mulher que crê estar ao imune ao Hiv por via sexual mantendo relacionamento estável, onde se verifica forte vulnerabilidade de gênero para o Hiv; na segunda, a profissional-mulher reconhece a vulnerabilidade das mulheres que cuida, e dita regras de como viver e como se prevenir para o Hiv, como o uso do preservativo. A partir destas categorias identificou-se que os significados atribuídos por mulheres profissionais ao processo de cuidar de mulheres com Hiv, considerando a vulnerabilidade no contexto da feminização do Hiv/Aids, assumiu significados diferentes a partir das diversas situações vividas e das experiências interacionais das profissionais. Assim, os significados se agruparam em dois fenômenos: o de Saúde para a mulher e o de Morte para a mulher e riscos para si. O estudo concluiu que as profissionais ainda trazem consigo a antiga visão do Hiv/Aids, o que contribui para o fomento da discriminação e do preconceito, mesmo estes não estando presentes em seus discursos. Desta forma, cuidar de uma mulher com Hiv pode ser especial por ser uma oportunidade de esperança e recomeço para a mulher, como também um momento de julgamento e condenação e, ainda, de se colocar em risco para cuidar do outro.This research intended to investigate the meanings attributed by professional women to the process of taking care of women with HIV, considering the vulnerability in the context of feminization of HIV/Aids. Therefore, it was established as objectives: to describe the meanings given by women that take care of HIV seropositive women, considering the vulnerability in the context of feminization of HIV/Aids; to analyze the interaction process of professional women in the care of HIV seropositive women, in relation to the symbolic interaction. The methodology used was the qualitative approach, subsided by the Grounded Theory. The data collection technique chosen was the semi-structure interview. In accordance with the Grounded Theory, the referential of analysis of the data was the Symbolic Interaction. The research has pointed out two main categories through which the meanings of the care at issue permeate. In the first, the professional woman talks as a woman who believes to the immune to sexually acquired HIV, keeping a stable relationship, where it can be verified a strong vulnerability of the genre for the HIV; in the second one, the professional woman recognizes the vulnerability of the women she takes care of, and she dictates the rules on how to live and how a woman can prevent the HIV, by using preservatives, for instance. From these categories, it was identified that the meanings attributed by professional women to the process of taking care of women with HIV, considering the vulnerability in the context of feminization of HIV/Aids has assumed different meanings as from the several situations lived and from the interaction experiences of the professionals. This way, the meanings were grouped in two phenomena, the Health one, for the woman, and the Death one, for the woman and the risks for herself. The study has concluded that the professionals still have the old vision of HIV/Aids, which contributed for the phenomenon of discrimination and of prejudice, even if they are not present in their speech. Therefore, to take care of a woman with HIV may be special, for it is an opportunity of hope and a fresh start for the woman, as well as a judgment and condemnation moment, and also, of putting herself in risk to take care of others.
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Van, de Voorde Cécile Valérie. "Freedom fighters, freedom haters, martyrs, and evildoers: The social construction of suicide terrorism." Scholar Commons, 2006. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/2734.
Full textAbstract:
Suicide terrorism is characterized by the willingness of physically and psychologically war-trained individuals to die while destroying or attempting to annihilate enemy targets in furtherance of certain political or social objectives. Rooted in the historical, social, and psychological dimensions of international terrorism, suicide terrorism is neither a unique nor a new phenomenon. Its recent resurgence and the extensive media coverage it has received account for the misleading uniqueness of this violent, complex, and adaptive form of terrorism. This qualitative study examines the definitional and rhetorical processes by which suicide terrorism is socially constructed. Using a social constructionist theoretical framework coupled with a symbolic interactionist approach, this multi-case study effectively moves the analysis of suicide bombings beyond essentialist debates on asymmetrical warfare or terrorism and into a more nuanced appreciation of cultural meaning and human
interaction. Hence this case study emphasizes how the interpretive understanding of suicide terrorism is associated with a biased representation of events and their alleged causes that is conditioned by deliberate attempts to stigmatize ideological enemies, manipulate public perceptions, and promote certain political interests. The primary research question is: How are socio-political processes, bureaucratic imperatives, and media structures involved in the social construction of suicide terrorism? Secondary research questions focus on determining how suicide terrorism is (a) a political weapon, (b) a communication tool, and (c) a politicized issue that fits into a moral panic framework. Methods used to conduct the analysis include in-depth interviews (phenomenological and elite interviewing) and document analysis (general document review and historical review). Findings highlight the interactions between suicide bombers (as contemporary folk devils), the news and entertainment media,
the public, and agents of social control (politicians, lawmakers, law enforcement, and action groups), and their respective roles in the social construction of suicide terrorism. The limitations of the study, its significant theoretical and practical implications, as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.