Year in year out, hundreds of diplomats and civil society representatives partake in a seemingly endless stream of meetings on nuclear disarmament. These meetings seldom produce materially significant agreements. In fact, no nuclear warhead has ever been dismantled as a direct result of multilateral negotiations. And yet the web of institutions that make up the 'multilateral nuclear disarmament framework' continues to expand. Why? In this thesis, I identify three waves of institutional expansion in the multilateral nuclear disarmament framework (1975-1978; 1991-1999; 2013-2017), linking them to crises of legitimacy in the nuclear order. Institutional expansion, I argue, has been driven by 'struggles for recognition' by non-nuclear powers loath to accept permanent legal subordination. Institutional contestation has allowed non-nuclear powers to exercise symbolic resistance to the frozen nuclear hierarchy enshrined by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its distinction between nuclear 'haves' and 'have-nots'. But the relegitimising function of institutional contestation reveals an irony: By solving recurrent crises of legitimacy in the nuclear order, the expansion of the disarmament framework has served to stabilise nuclear inequality in the long term. However, the 2017 adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) may signal an end to this cyclical pattern of de- and relegitimisation. After half a century of contestation within the hierarchical NPT framework, the TPNW represents a legal negation of nuclear hierarchy as such.

This work represents a theoretical and empirical study of distinct subcomponents of the explicit power motive (broadly defined as conscious desires to attain control and prestige) matching distinctions between social hierarchies (e.g., hierarchies based on forced or voluntary deference). Three factor analytic studies showed a consistent three factor structure in existing and newly created questionnaire items matching the power motive definition and selected for being able to distinguish between different kinds of hierarchies. These factors represented distinct motives for dominance (i.e., the desire to coerce others), prestige (i.e., the desire to attain others’ respect), and leadership (i.e., the desire to direct others): the DoPL motives. Several further studies were conducted to provide evidence for the DoPL motives’ validity and their distinct properties. First, mostly in line with the theoretical predictions, the DoPL motives showed differential correlations with relevant personality characteristics such as the BIG 5 personality traits or self-reported anger/aggression. Second, the DoPL motives explained more than 80% of variance in two power motive scales, showing that they indeed represent constituent parts of the power motive. Third, whereas the leadership motive predicted full-time employees’ rank across different fields of work, the prestige motive predicted participants’ endorsement of moral concerns. Fourth, the dominance motive predicted the amount of money participants kept for themselves in two dictator games. Fifth, whereas the dominance motive was negatively, the leadership motive was positively related to charitable giving behaviour. Sixth, a sample of Donald Trump voters in the 2016 US election showed more agreement with accusations of unfair treatment of their candidate as a function of their dominance motive. This effect was stronger before as compared to after the election. Seventh, a study related to effort mobilisation in tasks ostensibly related to the DoPL motives found no significant effects. In conclusion, this work amplifies the importance of differentiating between subcomponents of the explicit power motive by showing their differential relationship to a range of behavioural and cognitive outcomes and other relevant characteristics.

abstract: Throughout generative syntax, verb movement has been discussed and debated to varying degrees. Syntacticians have attempted to describe this unique form of head movement and its constraints cross-linguistically. Pollock’s (1985, 1997) elaborate comparison of French and English verb movement restrictions has been considered one of the major contributions to the discussion. His analysis has led to the general understanding that auxiliaries are the only variety of verbs in English capable of moving to a higher position in the TP-layer—i.e. the T. In order to prove this claim, Pollock and others (e.g. Roberts 1993, Ernst 2002, Engels 2012, etc.) have examined the placement of other constituents—i.e. adverbs, negation, etc. In terms of adverb placement, Cinque (1999) assigns a position for each adverb in a rigid hierarchy. Claiming the adverbs are in the specifier position, this syntactic representation follows the rich Cartographic framework. I agree that adverbs are base-generated in the specifiers; however, I argue that such a specific ordering of adverbs is rather difficult to justify. Therefore, I adopt the scope-based approach, which groups adverbs into “zones” throughout the TP-layer. By analyzing spoken corpus data, this thesis provides empirical evidence of auxiliary verb movement occurring in Modern English. I argue that, despite being considered optional, English speakers move auxiliaries to the T more frequently, which is consistently indicated by the analysis of adverb placement in the TP-layer. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis English 2017

Mexico is widely known as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, according to advocacy groups and human rights organizations. The phenomenon is especially true in northern Mexico, where journalists have to cover violence committed by drug cartels that seek to hold on to turf in which to conduct operations to sell narcotics to the lucrative U.S. market. This study focuses on the types of trauma that journalists working in an environment marked by violence and threats experience, as well as the resilience they must employ to continue working as a professional there. Twenty-six print journalists in eight cities near the U.S. border have been interviewed to discover the types of trauma and the extent of resilience they have achieved, as well as the way they go about doing so. The study utilizes Shoemaker and Reese’s Hierarchy of Influences model to examine trauma and resilience.

The present study investigated the impact of a number of assessor characteristics upon the relative contribution of individual assessor ratings to the final assessment centre decision. Berger, Cohen and Zelditch (1966) have suggested that status characteristics such as gender can affect the influence hierarchy of the group in that women are seen to be of a lower status than men and as such are allowed less influence over the group task. It was therefore proposed that male assessors would have more influence over the final assessment centre decision than female assessors. It has also been suggested that personality characteristics may affect the amount of influence that an individual is allowed over a group discussion. Previous literature has proposed that individuals who demonstrate high dominance and masculinity and low femininity may be allowed more influence over a group decision. The present study also proposes therefore that assessors who show high dominance or masculinity and low femininity will have more influence over the consensus discussion in an assessment centre. These hypotheses were investigated using two alternate studies. The first of these consisted of a laboratory-based simulation of an assessment centre. The results showed that sex, dominance and masculinity did not have an impact on influence, whereas femininity had a negative effect in that assessors who were less feminine had more influence over the consensus discussion. The second study was designed to assess the external validity of the findings of the first study using information that from archive records of candidates who participated in a real life assessment centre. The results demonstrated an effect of sex but not of femininity upon influence therefore contradicting the findings of study one. These findings are discussed with regard to the literature on sex and personality differences in group-decision-making.

During my years working in pre-school, I have been fearful of bumping into colleagues and ending up with a conflict in the workplace. I have worked in a handful of preschools around Stockholm and more or less have encounted the same phenomenon everywhere.   In my study, I want to immerse myself in this phenomenon. I want to hear from those who work in preschools if they also have experienced what I have experienced.  In order to complete this qualitative study, I have used semi-structured interviews with preschool teachers and pre-school assistants to collect empirical data for the purpose of transcribing and interpreting it. Interviews have taken place in the southern suburbs of Stockholm within the reach of the metro.   The study shows that preschool assistants and preschool teachers have fairly similar views of conflicts and conflict management but differ in their solutions of how to respond to and work with them within the work team. The study also reveals that the assistants often feel inferior to the teachers despite the similarity in tasks and this is because of the power that comes with higher education. At the same time that assistants feel inferior, they also have a great respect for the pre-school teachers.   The main reason for conflicts between educators is stress, misunderstanding and criticism, but they can also involve lesser issues.   Furthermore, the study shows that it is necessary and desired to have more knowledge about conflict management, but that this is rarely available due of the lack of time. / Under mina år som jag arbetat i förskolan har jag varit rädd för att stöta mig med kollegor och hamna i en konflikt på arbetsplatsen. Jag har arbetat på flera förskolor runt om i Stockholm och har stött på samma fenomen överallt.   I min studie fördjupar jag mig i detta fenomen. Jag vill höra från de som arbetar i förskolan om de också har upplevt det jag har upplevt. För att genomföra denna kvalitativa studie har jag använt halvstrukturerade intervjuer med förskollärare och barnskötare för att samla empiriska data att transkribera och tolka. Intervjuerna har ägt rum i Stockholms södra förorter inom tunnelbanans räckhåll.   Studien visar att barnskötare och förskollärare har ganska liknande åsikter om konflikter och konflikthantering men skiljer sig åt i sina lösningar på hur man svarar och arbetar med dem inom arbetslag. Studien visar också att barnskötarna ofta känner sig underlägsna förskollärarna trots likheter i uppgifterna och att detta beror på kraften som följer med högre utbildning. Samtidigt som barnskötarna känner sig underlägsna, har de också stor respekt för förskollärarna.   Den främsta orsaken till konflikter mellan lärare är stress, missförstånd och kritik, men de kan också orsakas av mindre problem.   Vidare visar studien att det är nödvändigt och önskat att ha mer kunskap om konflikthantering, men att detta sällan är möjligt på grund av brist på tid.

This study questions the way sports fans create (a sense of) community through online conversations. Here, ‘community’ and ‘internet’ are seen as invitational terms that suggest an authentic social interaction. By examining the language used by fans to sustain a sense of solidarity in the virtual realm, this study questions the ways in which rhetoric frames the situation. Participation in the virtual space relies on practices of identification derived from physical engagements. By using a rhetorical approach, this study illuminates the way individual participants operationalize a rhetoric in virtual conversations that spiritualize the fan’s experience at the base of a sporting hierarchy. This study centralizes identification as key to participation and the formation of community identity. The same language practices that work to shape the group also reinforce a sports ideology that spiritualizes fan participation. What emerges as a dominant substance is loyalty as key to identification/participation in the virtual community. This value-based substance offers the fan the ability to re-purpose their role as a profit source in the capitalist sporting structure. Therefore, the individuals focus on loyalty is rhetorical due to the internet space as capitalized communication. This study speaks to the way communication fosters virtual organizations, and points to how our cultured understandings conceal the rhetoric in everyday interactions.

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Narratives help individuals to make sense of their lives and their everyday worlds. Within these narratives, individuals make sense of identities. Historically, people with disabilities have been depicted as helpless victims of their own bodies. However, during the twentieth century, disability rights social movements constructed a counter-narrative, stating that society’s reactions to different bodies was the real source of disability. While this was a positive status change for people with disabilities, it did not do enough to shed the status as victim. Yet many students with disabilities do not see themselves as victims. Therefore, I used narrative analysis to answer the question: “How do university students with disabilities make sense of their identities as adults with agency through narratives?” Furthermore, these narratives are not created in a vacuum. Many stories of identity-making surrounded narratives of being included or excluded from various social situations, leading to my second research question: To what extent have students with disabilities felt included/excluded in aspects of university life including clubs, organizations, sporting events, and other social aspects of the university in which other students participate? I am focusing on people with disabilities who seek accommodations, as they are acknowledging that they need help, which goes against the narrative of rugged individualism found in the United States of America. However, my research found that university students who seek accommodations do not construct themselves as victims. On the contrary, many students receiving accommodations construct narratives in which they are more hard working and more moral than other students.

Signals on hierarchical trees can be viewed as a generalization of discrete signals of length 2^N. In this work, we extend the classic discrete Haar wavelets to a Haar-like wavelet basis that works for signals on hierarchical trees. We first construct a specific wavelet basis and give its inverse and normalized transform matrices. As analogue to the classic case, operators and wavelet generating functions are constructed for the tree structure. This leads to the definition of multiresolution analysis on a hierarchical tree. We prove the previously selected wavelet basis is an orthogonal multiresolution. Classification of all possible wavelet basis that generate an orthogonal multiresolution is then given. In attempt to find more efficient encoding and decoding algorithms, we construct a second wavelet basis and show that it is also an orthogonal multiresolution. The encoding and decoding algorithms are given and their time complexity are analyzed. In order to link change of tree structure and encoded signal, we define weighted hierarchical tree, tree cut and extension. It is then shown that a simply relation can be established without the need for global change of the transform matrix. Finally, we apply thresholding to the transform and give an upper bound of error.