The aim of this thesis is to examine how thesauri constructed with latent semantic indexing LSI are performing when used for query expansion. There is a well-known problem with synonymy in information retrieval and one solution to this problem is to use a thesaurus. In this thesis thesauri are created automatically to find statistically related words and not only synonyms. LSI is a method that uses singular value decomposition SVD to reduce dimensions in a matrix and find latent relationships between words. We constructed nine thesauri and used them for query expansion in a Swedish database, GP_HDINF.

AbstractMy purpose with this essey is to study how they work in preschool whir language- stimulation. I will try a way to work with this trough intervjus whit teacher at preschool. My main questions are: Way dose teachers use language- stimulation? How dose teachers use language- stimulation when it comes to there way of working and methods? Do the teachers think that language- stimulation help the childrens development?To answer these questions I interviewed 6 teachers I central Sweden and used this as data. I have written about language, language- development in a biologik and theoretical aspect, teachers plan, language- stimulation, playing by language sounds and TRAS (early registration of language development) in my literary review.My result shows that working whit language- stimulation helps children in there language- development, it also develops there self-image and identity.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to evaluate three general query-based web search engines. The search engines chosen are Google, Yahoo! and Live Search. The topics, which where transformed into twenty queries, are based on real users? information needs, taken from an ask-a-question service.

The purpose of this thesis is to make a comparative literary study of ten laboratory experiments with different kind of sources for query expansion terms. The experiments are grouped according to categories of term sources, which are: search results, collection dependent knowledge structures, collection independent knowledge structures and one that combines the two last mentioned sources into one. To enable a comparison all other variables were held as constant as possible. There is the improvement measured in mean average precision, which is used to measure the various sources potential. The result from the study shows a strong connection between the kind of source for the expansion term and improvement of the result.

In this Masters thesis we investigate query expansion using an electronic thesaurus. We formed 30 topics from the library and information science field. For each topic three searches were made in the bibliographic database LISA Library and Information Science Abstracts via CSA Cambridge Scientific Abstracts. LISA has an electronic thesaurus attached. We used this thesaurus to form baseline queries, baseline queries expanded with synonyms, and baseline queries expanded with both synonyms and related terms.

The question whether controlled vocabulary or natural language free-text terms is the most effective search strategy has occupied researchers in LIS for many decades. This Masters thesis is an empirical study which aims to compare these two search strategies in LISA Library and Information Science Abstracts, an online bibliographic database. 22 topics from the discipline of Library and Information Science were constructed and out of each topic one query for each search strategy was formed. Queries in natural language were formed with terms from different sources, for example dictionaries, while queries in controlled vocabulary were built with terms from LISAs electronic thesaurus. The measures used in this study were precision, relative recall pooling method and overlap.

In information retrieval there is a problem with ambiguous words. To solve this problem word sense disambiguation WSD is used. Few studies combining information retrieval and word sense disambiguation have been conducted with Swedish words. The purpose of this thesis has been divided in two. The first purpose was to examine Swedish information retrieval and disambiguation in the query phase.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the performance of different types of queries in the AltaVista query-based search engine. Thirty information needs have been collected from an ask-a-question service on the World Wide Web, which means that they are based on real users information needs. This is done to avoid partiality in the study. The author has invented different types of queries for each and every one of the information needs in accordance with the search syntax available for AltaVista. The types used are Boolean expressions, queries including proximity operators, phrases and queries directed towards a specific field.

AbstractIn my work on language development in preschool the purpose was to examine how and to what extent the pre-school supports children with special needs in their language development. Trough qualitative interviews with four preschool teachers, I wanted to see how they work with language development in preschool. In the study, Main questions asked in the inquiry :How do teachers and support children?s language development?What techniques, resources and tools available to facilitate language development? The conclusion that I made from my inquiry is that the primary language stimulation methods teachers use to encourage children?s language development are rhymes telling, books reading and song singing based on active selection of pieces that match the children?s maturity level.And how they are using different language stimulation techniques Karlstad model, TAKK (Signs of augmentative and alternative communication) and TRAS (Early registration of language development) to promote children?s language development. Keyword: Language development, language stimulation, treatment, communication, methods..

The purpose of this study is to investigate what five primary teachers in five different schools with many second language students have for an idea about inclusion, language development, practices and environment of the multilingual classrooms. In my study I discusses teachers 'views on the multilingual classroom, inclusion, development of language in a language developing classroom environment and the importance of language skills has for multilingual pupils' language development and learning of the Swedish language. The method used was unstructured interviews using a digital recording device. The results showed that for these five teachers, meeting second language learners was in there everyday teaching, while it is a challenge to motivate and support them on their level. The teachers work diligently to find a balance and a working classroom environment for the multilingual classroom where all students, regardless of conditions, background, experience, knowledge and language could be offered an equal opportunity to education. .

The main purpose of this study was to examine how preschool teachers are working to promote each child's language development and whether they can ensure that they do that. Therefore I wanted to find out what a good language development implies for each teacher, how they work to promote each child's language development in daily practice, how they measure the actual language development and also what conditions the teachers have, to engage in a language development way to work. For the study, I chose a qualitative method, with structured interviews and all together I interviewed six preschool teachers, within the same organization in a suburb close to Stockholm.  The results showed that there is an ambiguity, among the preschool teachers, in what a good language development means, but it can be stated that they do have a language development way to work even if it needs to be developed. Further on, it has emerged that the teachers have the tools to measure children's language development, although they do not have the conditions yet to use the method to the fullest. About the preschool teachers own conditions in order to operate in a language development way to work, I concluded that they have a strong foundation to build on, but they still have much work ahead of them.

The Division of Language and Communication at Chalmers uses a web-based language tool, named EngOnline, to teach English grammar. The language tool suffers from some shortcomings. These include stability problems and an outdated interface but, above all, there is no documentation. Because of the lack of documentation and EngOnline?s need of maintenance, the Division of Language and Communication has decided to replace the language tool with a new and well documented one.The new language tool was developed using an agile work process; detailed documentation was replaced with more efficient communication.

This research shows and analyses how pupils in ninth grade in the nine-year compulsory school look at being multilingual, at the Swedish language and at Swedish as a second language. I also want to know if language and culture knowledge are taken care of in school as it says in official documents for the Swedish school and as it also is desired in an intercultural education. For my research I do eight interviews in a suburb school south of Stockholm.My work includes a limited account for the current research about being multilingual, Swedish as a second language and about the close relationship between language and culture. The applied theory is a social constructivist theory which in short can be explained like that we construct social structures that have consequences on the individual as well as on the society.I show in my research how the view of the world around the pupils influences their view on their languages, their school and their neighbourhood. I also draw conclusions from my interviews that language knowledge is little appreciated in school and that Swedish as a second language has a low status..

Abstract In general, language is the key to the community, to self-sufficiency and independence. Being able to speak the Swedish language is a part of the community integration. Integration also has a practical aspect that includes everyday life and affects one's opportunities in the labor market. Therefore, we have selected in this paper to focus on the language and integration but inevitably we will also discuss the education you need on the labor market. The purpose of this study is to describe how the staffs at the Language Café Nobel works for an increased integration in Malmo, and examine the significance of Language Café Nobel have for their participants.

The purpose of my examination is contributing with knowledge about the relation between language- stimulation in preschool and read- and writes developing and teachers thought about that. In order to meet the purpose I read literature that deals with my matter and is based previous research. I also made qualitative interviews with three elementary school teachers and three preschool teachers who work within preschools that concentrate on development of language in a town in the middle of Sweden.  In this way I find out about their thoughts about what they think is important to work with about language in preschool and how the preschool teachers can work with the development of language to make it easier for the children in their read- and writes developing. The result shows that it is important to work with children?s development of language in preschool.