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The focus of this study is change in environmental content in Mexican primary school textbooks before and after the decentralization of public education in 1993. The literature review in the opening chapter gives the background information on environmental education, internationally and in Mexico. The authors mention and discuss the major groups involved in the development and initiation of programs and curriculum such as the UNESCO, Man and the Biosphere (MAB), and the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). The gradual Mexican ownership of the environmental cause and the promotion of awareness in Mexico lead to the main part of the study. This study employs both manifest and latent content analysis to find trends and themes in the textbooks. The primary focus of the manifest content analysis is individual words while the latent content analysis stresses excerpts and images from the textbooks. The use of an Excel database and PivotTables generated by Excel to correlate data indicates areas to examine for differences in content between the textbooks. In addition, the use of the two forms of analysis provides validation and significance when the data agree. The final portion of the study offers some general conclusions for the analysis and a summary of how the environmental content has increased in the primary school textbooks over the period studied. There are also suggestions for future research on the content of textbooks, surveys of environmental knowledge and attitudes, and alternatives to the formal education implied by the use of textbooks in the classroom. / Master of Arts

The goal of this study was to use a nonlinear approach to create a program to teach positive and negative reinforcement and punishment. A specific interest was to determine whether the program and its testing allowed for specific recommendations for future iterations of the program. The tests and program developed for this study were completed by 18 participants. Pre-test and post-test data showed that participants learned the most about positive contingencies, nonexample items, and ambiguous contingencies. Participants learned the least about negative contingencies. The data also revealed where additions to the instructional program were needed to produce better outcomes in future versions of the program.

In this study we have examined how Swedish tabloid newspapers portray supporters in regard to the deadly assault at the Allsvenskan premiere in Helsingborg between Helsingborgs IF and Djurgårdens IF in 2014. We have analyzed published articles in the two biggest tabloid newspapers in Sweden – Aftonbladet and Expressen. Our main findings show that journalists tend to generalize and stigmatize all supporters when writing about hooligans. There is also confusion regarding different groups within the supporter community.

The Western beauty standard revolves around three main attributes: thinness, youth, and whiteness. Combined, this ideal corresponds with privilege. Past studies have explored how racism and ageism are embedded in the beauty standard, but little work has explored how classism is included in the Western beauty standard. Utilizing the classical theoretical work of Bourdieu and Simmel, I explore the ways in which the Western beauty standard is dependent upon privilege and cultural capital. Using the methodology of a content analysis, the current study examines four women’s fashion and beauty magazines. I find that the both the language and the imagery used in the magazines allows for classism to be explicitly and implicitly displayed. I also explore the intersectionality of classism, racism, and ageism to develop a clearer understanding of how the three types of privilege are sustained within the beauty standard.

The gender portrayals study aims to understanding how the roles of men and women are portrayed in magazine advertisements. This has been an issue investigated over the past decades as companies try to achieve a higher level of sales of their products and services and the gender issue influences in how this companies plan one advertising program or another. However, there is a debate among authors: some of them believe that advertising reflects what is already on society and others express that advertisers use the most convenient reality to sell their products. Thus, it makes us wonder what is the actual truth behind this debate. This thesis tries to answer the question of how men and women are portrayed in advertising campaigns. There are several studies on gender portrayals across countries but none that compares France, Spain and Sweden. This thesis tries to fill this gap.   The study is conducted following Hofstede framework that classifies countries whether masculine or feminine, and is completed by analyzing the data gathered from four magazines of these three countries. We classified this data following Courtney and Lockeretz classification scheme and analyzed the data obtained with theories of some other authors.   The results of this thesis show that males were dominant among working roles while females were in non-working roles. The findings might not add a huge contribution to this field of study but may be used as guiding tool for further research.

This exploratory study examined the effect of cross-culture on the content of messages on message boards, more specifically through the sitcom programs shown in United States and Taiwan. The theoretical framework is based on the theory of culture: Individualism vs. Collectivism. However as shown in the study factors such as country of origin as well as viewers’ profile will play a role and have its effect in the findings. Content analysis was applied to analyze the data. The results of this study have important implications for cross-cultural consumer studies and marketing practices. The practical research involved analyzing an organization’s data utilizing data mining tools with the objective of customers and products segmentations. The report ends by pointing out areas for future research. / This exploratory study examined the effect of cross-culture on the content of messages on message boards, more specifically through the sitcom programs shown in United States and Taiwan. The theoretical framework is based on the theory of culture: Individualism vs. Collectivism. However as shown in the study factors such as country of origin as well as viewers’ profile will play a role and have its effect in the findings. Content analysis was applied to analyze the data. The results of this study have important implications for cross-cultural consumer studies and marketing practices. The practical research involved analyzing an organization’s data utilizing data mining tools with the objective of customers and products segmentations. The report ends by pointing out areas for future research.

This study examines how race affects the media’s coverage of candidates in Canadian politics. Situated in the literature on political communication, gendered mediation and race studies, it proposes a new theory of racial mediation, which posits that politics are covered in ways that reflect the assumption of whiteness as standard. Although candidate self-presentation does influence media portrayals, this alone does not account for differences in the framing of candidates’ policy interests, viability and socio-demographic characteristics. The project argues that candidate race has a significant but subtle impact on media portrayals. Articles from the print media coverage of the 2008 Canadian election are analyzed using a hand-coded content analysis, which is replicated through an innovative automated approach. The study finds that visible minority candidates’ coverage is more negative and less prominent than that of their White counterparts. It is less likely to focus on key electoral issues and much more likely to emphasize socio-demographic background. Visible minority candidates are held to a higher standard and in the absence of evidence to the contrary, they are portrayed as less viable and credible than their competitors. Gender can amplify these effects, with raced and gendered discourses characterizing the coverage of visible minority women. The media study is complemented by 40 elite interviews that probe candidates’ communication strategies, issue emphasis and self-presentation, as well as reporters’ negotiation of these elements in their construction of news stories. While there are visible minority candidates who emphasize elements of their ethnocultural heritage, my findings suggest that few rely only on racialized strategies, nor are White candidates immune from racialized appeals. Nonetheless, journalists struggle to adequately portray nuance and candidates’ multi-dimensionality. They employ familiar narratives and tropes, and generally only seize on racialized framing when it applies to visible minority candidates. Although the study does not provide a direct test of media effects on vote choice, it draws on existing literature to argue that because media coverage influences the ways that voters evaluate issues and develop schema for understanding the world around them, the portrayal of visible minority candidates has the potential to alter electoral opportunities and outcomes. As a result, racialized coverage and race continue to matter in Canadian politics. / Thesis (Ph.D, Political Studies) -- Queen's University, 2013-04-22 15:21:07.585