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I argue that Xing hun (Contract marriage)” and “Coming out with Chinese characteristics” are creative and feasible approaches for Chinese Tongzhi (queer) from the perspective of vertical historical development. My study is a critical intercultural examination of the western-centric in dominant queer discourse. I discussed the non-confrontational communication practices which are different from the western confrontational practices (visibility & sexuality identity). / Transnational forces in the processes of globalization have determined the identities of the Chinese queer population. This thesis aims to explore how global capitalism, information and communication technology, and international collaboration in dealing with HIV and AIDS have facilitated the spread of western queer discourses and ideologies to China, and how these forces have influenced the construction of Chinese Tongzhi/queer identities. I use the discourse analysis to argue that the western norms of queer “coming out” and “declaring identity” can be an action accompanied by risk in the Chinese social, cultural, and political contexts, given that homosexual desires have challenged the institutions--not just sexuality but also marriage and family-- of heteronormativity. Chinese Tongzhi have to deal with the tension between Chinese traditional norms and western queer culture by negotiating some complex and dynamic strategies for defining their sexual identities. These strategies include “keeping silent about one’s sexual identity, or not coming out” and “having xinghun (contract and fake marriages with opposite-sex individuals.)” as a compromise between their traditional family obligations and homosexual desires in order to be able to live a “tolerable” queer life. I conclude that the strategies of the Chinese Tongzhi illustrate the agency of Chinese queers in creating a feasible space in which to live with their sexual identities and the process of globalized queer culture in a specifically Chinese context. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW) / This thesis aims to explore how global capitalism, information and communication technology, and international collaboration in dealing with HIV and AIDS have facilitated the spread of western queer discourses and ideologies to China, and how these forces have influenced the construction of Chinese Tongzhi/queer identities.Chinese Tongzhi has to deal with the tension between traditional Chinese norms and western queer culture by negotiating some complex and dynamic strategies for defining their sexual identities.

Designers and non-designers alike often describe fabric in ways that are markedly different or unclear. For example, two designers might attribute qualities such as ``heavy'' to a material, but actually mean completely different things, despite using the same words. This ambiguity in description becomes more prominent when the designer has to make sense of the fabric remotely, such as shopping online. This ambiguity in description presets an opportunity to study user interface design that supports, rather than diminishes, the role of ambiguity, which is often a resource in design domains. Our most important research question was: How can we design interfaces with standard interface toolkits to help designers explore and understand material remotely? For our approach, we studied how people described distinct fabrics, from experts, novices, to everyday people and the crowdsourcing community on how they interpret fabrics. We applied that information to designs that communicated materiality and ambiguity in various ways, and studied how interfaces affected a user's process of exploring materials and negotiating the meaning of materiality. The most important findings are user interface guidelines that apply to designing technology any domain focused on description and ambiguity, such as design domains. Such design guidelines include: (1) the importance to communicate distinctions between description and category, (2) The role of ambiguity in design, while well-supported in the literature, is a value not shared among all practitioners, and (3) a better understanding of the different ways users negotiate with description and make sense of material remotely. / Ph. D.

Yes / Older people have an increased risk of falling during locomotion, with falls on stairs being particularly common and dangerous. Step going (i.e., the horizontal distance between two consecutive step edges) defines the base of support available for foot placement on stairs, as with smaller going, the user's ability to balance on the steps may become problematic. Here we quantified how stair negotiation in older participants changes between four goings (175, 225, 275, and 325 mm) and compared stair negotiation with and without a walking approach. Twenty-one younger (29 ± 6 years) and 20 older (74 ± 4 years) participants negotiated a 7-step experimental stair. Motion capture and step-embedded force platform data were collected. Handrail use was also monitored. From the motion capture data, body velocity, trunk orientation, foot clearance and foot overhang were quantified. For all participants, as stair going decreased, gait velocity (ascent pA = 0.033, descent pD = 0.003) and horizontal step clearance decreased (pA = 0.001), while trunk rotation (pD = 0.002) and foot overhang increased (pA,D < 0.001). Compared to the younger group, older participants used the handrail more, were slower across all conditions (pA < 0.001, pD = 0.001) and their foot clearance tended to be smaller. With a walking approach, the older group (Group x Start interaction) showed a larger trunk rotation (pA = 0.011, pD = 0.015), and smaller lead foot horizontal (pA = 0.046) and vertical clearances (pD = 0.039) compared to the younger group. A regression analysis to determine the predictors of foot clearance and amount of overhang showed that physical activity was a common predictor for both age groups. In addition, for the older group, medications and fear of falling were found to predict stair performance for most goings, while sway during single-legged standing was the most common predictor for the younger group. Older participants adapted to smaller goings by using the handrails and reducing gait velocity. The predictors of performance suggest that motor and fall risk assessment is complex and multifactorial. The results shown here are consistent with the recommendation that larger going and pausing before negotiating stairs may improve stair safety, especially for older users. / This study was supported by the New Dynamics of Aging (RES-356-25-0037).

Negotiation is gaining recognition as a vital tool in both public and private urban planning. Planners need special knowledge for the formal roles of negotiator or mediator, and for informal roles as advocate or facilitator, in interactions with government agencies, developers, community organizations, and other special interest groups. A review of the negotiation literature was conducted to formulate a "practical theory" for practicing planners, trainers, and researchers seeking to understand how to negotiate more effectively. The theory statement is presented on two levels. First, two general conceptual frameworks for understanding the process and dynamics of negotiation are formulated. Key and sub-variables identified in the literature are divided into: a) those considered in each of seven developmental stages, and b) those consistently monitored throughout the negotiation. Second, a detailed model of negotiation is developed with tests to measure adequacy of the variables and recommendations for action, if needed. The complete model provides the planner/negotiator with a useful guide for addressing the complex, multi-issue, multi-party conflicts that too often thwart public and private efforts needed for community progress. The model also serves as an elaborate statement of theoretical propositions that can stimulate academic discussion and the formulation of future research designs. / Ph. D.

Since the People's Republic of China opened its market to the rest of the world, an enormous necessity to negotiate with Chinese business partners has arisen. Businessmen from the Czech Republic as well as those from all over the world face Chinese counterparts more and more often. Business relations are becoming deeper and negotiating skills play one of the key roles in the successful process of entering the Chinese market. Good interpersonal relations with Chinese business partners seem to be of great importance for creating and maintaining long-term business relations. This work mainly focuses on fundamental cultural determinants which influence the Chinese business behaviour. The goal of this thesis is to identify the core cultural factors which might cause misunderstandings or even conflicts in cooperation within any Czech-Chinese business negotiation. Through critical interviewing existing relevant literature the author studied specifics of Chinese business behaviour and defined areas requiring further research. According to the analysis of methods being used in managerial research and the aim of the thesis the author designed her own research to explore the above mentioned areas in detail (to identify the key problematic aspects of Czech-Chinese business negotiation process). Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews with Czech businessmen and analyzed by using grounded theory. The work provides models of Chinese business negotiation behaviour, points out its specifics and concludes by designing a Czech-Chinese cross-cultural training.

This thesis is a review of relevant literature on business negotiation between Japanese and American and an analysis of cultural differences in negotiation from an intercultural perspective. The following four key issues are explored and analyzed with intercultural communication concepts: 1. major differences in approaches to the process of business negotiation between the United States and Japan; 2. potential friction between Japanese and Americans in business negotiation that is attributable to Japanese and American cultural differences; 3. the applicability and usefulness of an intercultural perspective in enhancing business negotiation skills; and 4. main factors affecting the use of an intercultural perspective in cross-cultural business negotiation and the degree to which they are manifested in the u.s.-Japan business negotiations.

<p>I den här uppsatsen har jag undersökt internkommunikationen på ett multikulturellt företag för att se hur olika kulturer visar sig i olika förhandlingsstilar. Mitt material har bestått av sexton mejl mellan en tysk och en svensk affärsman från det multikulturella företaget Volkswagen. Mina frågeställningar var:</p><p>1. Skiljer sig Sch och Joh:s sätt att formulera sig och vilken betydelse får det i så fall för förhandlingen? 2. Vilka förhandlingsstilar används? Vad får de för konsekvenser? 3. Hade genomtänkta retoriska strategier kunnat effektivisera förhandlingens gång och i så fall vilka?</p><p>För att svara på frågorna har jag gjort en stilanalys kompletterad av en strukturell analys. Jag har även gjort en förhandlingsanalys och till sist undersökt de två kulturerna genom en jämförelse. Min uppsats lutar sig mot Hofstedes teori om kulturella dimensioner samt Ghauris teori om förhandlingens tre faser, för att nämna några.</p><p> </p><p>Viktiga slutsatser är att det finns större och mer betydelsefulla skillnader mellan tyskar och svenskar än väntat. Jag har också kommit fram till att kurser i förhandlingsteknik kan visa sig vara lönsamma för multikulturella företag och det är det jag vill förmedla med den här uppsatsen. </p><p> </p> / <p><p>In this essay I want to investigate the internal communication of an transcultural company to see how different cultures are shown in different styles of negotiation. I have been looking at sixteen emails between a German businessman and a Swedish businessman, both working at the transcultural company Volkswagen.</p><p>The essay’s research questions are: 1. Do the German and the Swede differ when it comes to manner of speaking, and if so, how does that effect the negotiation?  2. Which styles do they use in negotiation? What kind of consequences do the styles cause? 3. Would carefully prepared rhetorical strategies make the negotiation more effective, and in that case, which strategies would that be?</p><p>To answer these questions I have made a stylistic and a structural analysis, followed by an analysis of the negotiation style and strategies. At last I studied the two cultures and made a comparison between them. I have built my essay on the theory of cultural dimensions by Hofstede and Ghauri’s idea about the phases of negotiation, to mention a few.</p>Conclusions I’ve made are that there are bigger differences between Germans and Swedes then I expected. I’ve also seen that education in negotiation could be profitable for transcultural companies, which I with this essay would like to convey. </p>

I den här uppsatsen har jag undersökt internkommunikationen på ett multikulturellt företag för att se hur olika kulturer visar sig i olika förhandlingsstilar. Mitt material har bestått av sexton mejl mellan en tysk och en svensk affärsman från det multikulturella företaget Volkswagen. Mina frågeställningar var: 1. Skiljer sig Sch och Joh:s sätt att formulera sig och vilken betydelse får det i så fall för förhandlingen? 2. Vilka förhandlingsstilar används? Vad får de för konsekvenser? 3. Hade genomtänkta retoriska strategier kunnat effektivisera förhandlingens gång och i så fall vilka? För att svara på frågorna har jag gjort en stilanalys kompletterad av en strukturell analys. Jag har även gjort en förhandlingsanalys och till sist undersökt de två kulturerna genom en jämförelse. Min uppsats lutar sig mot Hofstedes teori om kulturella dimensioner samt Ghauris teori om förhandlingens tre faser, för att nämna några.   Viktiga slutsatser är att det finns större och mer betydelsefulla skillnader mellan tyskar och svenskar än väntat. Jag har också kommit fram till att kurser i förhandlingsteknik kan visa sig vara lönsamma för multikulturella företag och det är det jag vill förmedla med den här uppsatsen. / In this essay I want to investigate the internal communication of an transcultural company to see how different cultures are shown in different styles of negotiation. I have been looking at sixteen emails between a German businessman and a Swedish businessman, both working at the transcultural company Volkswagen. The essay’s research questions are: 1. Do the German and the Swede differ when it comes to manner of speaking, and if so, how does that effect the negotiation?  2. Which styles do they use in negotiation? What kind of consequences do the styles cause? 3. Would carefully prepared rhetorical strategies make the negotiation more effective, and in that case, which strategies would that be? To answer these questions I have made a stylistic and a structural analysis, followed by an analysis of the negotiation style and strategies. At last I studied the two cultures and made a comparison between them. I have built my essay on the theory of cultural dimensions by Hofstede and Ghauri’s idea about the phases of negotiation, to mention a few. Conclusions I’ve made are that there are bigger differences between Germans and Swedes then I expected. I’ve also seen that education in negotiation could be profitable for transcultural companies, which I with this essay would like to convey.