This thesis interrogates the relationship between the emerging transnational field of nation branding practice and Polish national identity discourse. It sets the analysis of its findings in the contexts of the dominant neo-liberal political economy and promotional culture in Poland, but its examination considers the socio-historical conditions of the post-Soviet era accompanying nation branding as a nation building process. By considering specific settings, it outlines a reflexive case study, addressing a shift in the economy of practices at the crossovers of the Polish state’s structures, business groups, the mass media, and cultural intermediaries of nation branding. This study draws from Bourdieu’s theoretical oeuvre, nationalism scholarship, and corporate communications models. First, it demonstrates the growing impact of corporate communications models on the state as a democratic polity. Second, it sketches out the foundations for the empirical part of the study. Methodologically, it uses an interpretive approach to reveal collective action accompanying the nation branding exercise in Poland. It draws from a range of data to reconstruct the contested vision of the field of nation branding and the dynamics of the relationship between institutional and individual actors performing nation branding in Poland. The findings of this study unfold the implications of the imposition and invasion of nation branding within the Polish field of power, specifically with regards to the marketisation of Polish national identity, its co-construction and reproduction; attempts to further corporatise overseas propaganda on behalf of the Polish field of power; and a growing impact of private sector consultants on public policy making in post-Soviet Poland. Primarily, this thesis argues that one of the biggest consequences of the invasion of nation branding in Poland is the emergence of corpo-nationalism - a form of economic nationalism which was a weak component, until now, of political economy changes in Poland, post 1989.

Clouds and the weather are important aspects of any natural outdoor scene, but existing dynamic techniques within computer graphics only offer the simplest of cloud representations. The problem that this work looks to address is how to provide a means of simulating clouds and weather features such as precipitation, that are suitable for virtual environments. Techniques for cloud simulation are available within the area of meteorology, but numerical weather prediction systems are computationally expensive, give more numerical accuracy than we require for graphics and are restricted to the laws of physics. Within computer graphics, we often need to direct and adjust physical features or to bend reality to meet artistic goals, which is a key difference between the subjects of computer graphics and physical science. Pure physicallybased simulations, however, evolve their solutions according to pre-set rules and are notoriously difficult to control. The challenge then is for the solution to be computationally lightweight and able to be directed in some measure while at the same time producing believable results. This work presents a lightweight physically-based cloud simulation scheme that simulates the dynamic properties of cloud formation and weather effects. The system simulates water vapour, cloud water, cloud ice, rain, snow and hail. The water model incorporates control parameters and the cloud model uses an arbitrary vertical temperature profile, with a tool described to allow the user to define this. The result of this work is that clouds can now be simulated in near real-time complete with precipitation. The temperature profile and tool then provide a means of directing the resulting formation.

With the enormous development of communications and the transmission of national news to all parts of the world in seconds, it has become important to consider the treatment of national crises in the media and the challenges that may be encountered in the production of news during such crises. This is especially important in relation to the transnational problem of terrorism. This study chooses to examine the ways in which the Saudi Arabian national media have treated terrorism news between the period 2006-2007, given the complex position of Saudi Arabia in relation to Islamist terrorism. Therefore, it will focus its theoretical part on examining the political, economic, ideological and social factors that may affect the shaping of news production, and on terrorism news in particular. Then, it will move on to studying the different theories of news framing, and the framing of terrorism news. Then, the empirical part will be focused on content analysis of different news-related stories of terrorism, taken from different Saudi sources, based on Iyengar's theory of news coverage, as well as our own set of categories in order to reveal a deeper explanation of news coverage of terrorism in the Saudi media. This importance of this study comes from the fact that very few studies have focused on examining the performance of the Saudi news media in the rise of terrorism. We hope that this study can help Arab Gulf media in testing and improving the performance of their news media coverage, especially now that incidents like terrorism and the Arab Spring have shown wide public discontent towards the efficiency of news coverage during such events. We also hope that the results of the empirical part can help in shaping a new policy that provides a better vision and framework for news production, as most of the media organisations in this part of the world are state-owned and their methods of news production have arguably not reflected public needs.

How, and how intentionally, have UK chancellors used their rhetoric to support financialization? The scholarly contributions of this thesis are (1) providing a history of chancellor rhetoric about finance, (2) describing how chancellors used their rhetoric to establish, propagate, and protect financialization, and (3) illustrating how chancellors' rhetoric indicated their pro-financialization intentions. Scholars of financialization and the state have speculated that the state has participated in discourses for financialization, but they have not investigated the historical progress of state-elite communication. Furthermore, the macro-economic frameworks used have had difficulty assessing elite intention, and institutionally-focused research can under-appreciate the agency of individuals in history. I conducted a longitudinal, qualitative analysis of the rhetoric of budget statements delivered between 1976 and 2013, supported this with quantitative, corpus-linguistic techniques, and interpreted my findings in light of the historical development of financialization in the UK. At financialization's establishment, Healey's rhetoric was explicitly ante-financialization yet implicitly proto-financialization, especially in terms of industry, while Howe's rhetoric was radically pro-financialization, especially in terms of finance and mass enrolment in it. During the two financialized booms, Lawson strengthened Howe's rhetoric, while Brown mimicked Lawson and Howe and constructed the financialized economy as secure and stable. During the first financialized bust, Major employed very awkward constructions in order to avoid admitting that finance and debt had made the UK economy vulnerable. Darling explicitly defended finance more vigorously than any chancellor, and constructed a state-sponsored right-to-credit. Osborne followed Darling, and also used his new Office of Budgetary Responsibility as an apolitical, expert guarantor in his rhetoric, mediating between financial markets and the Treasury. Since 1976 these UK chancellors have actively and intentionally supported the process of financialization with their public rhetoric by intentionally constructing descriptions in aid of financialization's establishment, propagation, and protection.

Recent studies have recognised that the communication skills learned in the training environment are not always transferred back into the clinical setting. A number of factors have been identified which may have an impact on this, including fears, beliefs and support. Bandura's Social Learning Theory has been used to gain an understanding of the association between these factors, and insights have been gained from the management training literature about the potential to buffer the transfer process. This study investigated the potential of clinical supervision as a method of facilitating transfer. The study compared a three day communication skills training workshop plus an intensive 4 week course of clinical supervision with training alone. 61 Clinical Nurse Specialists were randomised to receiving 12 hours of clinical supervision immediately after a 3-day communication skills training course. Assessments were carried out before the course, immediately after the supervision period and 4 months later. Three real patient encounters were recorded at each time point to assess the nurses' use of skills, their ability to identify concerns and their ability to respond to cues. These were then compared to simulated interviews conducted at the workshop and to measures of self-efficacy, outcome expectancy and burnout. Supervision was found to have a small but significant effect on nurses' ability to transfer skills to the workplace. The nurses in the experimental group showed improvements in 4 of the 18 skills areas associated with significant improvements in self-efficacy, and were found to be more willing to identify concerns of an emotional nature. Conversely the control group showed no improvement in use of skills and identified fewer psychological concerns. Furthermore, it was found that training had a negative effect on burnout. Nurses in the control group experienced increases in both emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Supervision appeared to have a protective effect against this. The study highlighted the gap between competence and performance in the use of communication skills with real patients. It showed the potential of clinical supervision as a forum to facilitate the process of transfer, and raised challenges about negative consequences of training if support is not offered in the crucial transfer phase.

No description available.

The term ‘social communication’ is used within UK health and education services across a number of professional groups. However, it is unclear what social communication is and how professionals should address the needs of children and young people described as having social communication deficits. This thesis explores the understanding and use of the term ‘social communication’ in clinical and educational contexts. A broadly phenomenological approach was adopted in this mixed methods study to consider professionals’ views regarding the concept of ‘social communication’. Five data sets were collected and triangulated. A pilot focus group explored what Speech and Language Therapists (SALTs) mean by the term. A survey across three professional groups, teachers (n=35), Educational Psychologists (n=21) and SALTs (n=37) gathered wider perspectives. Focus groups with SALTs allowed a more detailed exploration from the perspective of a single profession. Semi-structured interviews enabled an in-depth investigation of specific assessment and intervention models. A concurrent systematic synthesis of the literature established current research conclusions regarding the phenomenon. A variety of analytical approaches was used across all five data sets to develop a synergistic overview of views regarding social communication. The synthesised data generated a conceptual framework incorporating 17 sub-themes which fell into three overarching themes: terminology, aetiological considerations and assessment, intervention and outcome factors. Social communication is a complex concept that can be described rather than defined, but a greater understanding of the concept informs models of assessment and intervention relevant to the needs of individual children. Intervention should be individualised and it is essential that ‘context’ is prioritised. Models to support the assessment and intervention process are presented and implications for future research and practice are discussed.

The brand relationship paradigm (Heding et al. 2009) has been applied extensively in the commercial consumer-brand context (Breazale and Fournier 2012) but there has been scant attention to the study of corporate brand relationships (Abratt and Kleyn 2010) and more specifically in the charity domain where there has been a growing interest in charity branding during recent years. Therefore, this study consisted of exploring brand relationships within a particular charity context in the UK whereby the host organisation was a national healthcare charity providing different types of services to people living with arthritis. The conceptual framework guiding this study was drawn from both corporate branding and brand relationship theory with a view to apply new approaches to the study of the charity brand. Due to the exploratory nature of this investigation, an inductive research methodology was adopted where data collection involved qualitative interviews with twenty-two participants including three extensive biographical interviews. Findings suggest the importance for charities to better understand the salient aspects of their corporate brand that effect brand-beneficiary relationships. Six aspects have been identified from the perspectives of beneficiaries and were labelled as follows: brand clarity, brand personality, brand communication, brand presence, brand experience, and brand ethics. Morever, brand relationship were investigated from an interpersonal relationship metaphor perspective (Hinde 1997, Fournier 1998, Saledin 2012) resulting in the identification of four brand relationship roles (Mentor, Befriender, Entertainer, Enabler) and one desired brand relationship role (Medical Expert) from the perspectives of beneficiaries. This study therefore contributes to academic knowledge by providing new insights and perspectives on brand relationships between a healthcare charity brand and its beneficiaries. In addition, practical managerial recommendations are suggested to assist the host charity in its branding efforts.

In this thesis I explore the idea of communicative injustice. That is, I consider the thought that some of our communicative practices are so vital to our flourishing existence as human persons that we suffer an injustice in certain circumstances when these practices fail. For instance, sometimes the ability to successfully communicate consent or refusal means the difference between maintaining authority over our bodies and becoming victims of rape and assault. Sometimes the ability to communicate successfully about an experience like sexual harassment means the difference between vulnerability to confusion, self-doubt, and further injustice and the ability to understand and combat that injustice from a situation of relative epistemic security. I argue that there are conditions under which we should be able to communicate certain things, and that sometimes an inability to communicate constitutes an injustice. That is, under my account, a person may become a victim of injustice when certain kinds of communication become impossible for her.

No description available.