The etymology of the business term dita, which survives in America and in Andalusia, is still considered unresolved in the online version of the dictionary of the Real Academia. Over a hundred years ago, Cuervo proposed an Italian origin, while Corominas later preferred a Catalan origin. In this article, I intend to show that the term indeed has Italian roots, but entered Spanish via Catalan. I will also argue that the hypotheses put forward by Cuervo and Corominas concerning the concrete word that served as a model were incorrect. The correct etymon is Italian detta, which in the Middle Ages referred to the words pronounced by a banker when transferring Money from one account to another.

Now, it is the world that high and new technology industries dominate. With the expansion of different industry chains and the trend of economic globalization, thousands of innovative solutions enter into the life of people. However, with the appearance of these ideas, initiators always face the challenge of presenting them. An intuitive and absorbing presentation plays the most important role of making the ideas accepted. As the saying goes, “No matter how good a movie is, it is boring without voice”. No matter how superior the products are, they will not be understood without perfect technical documents. This thesis presents the latest information typing architecture – DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) which gives you an overview of technical presentations. As a newly developing XML-based (Extensible Markup Language) standard, DITA is not as popular as it ought to be. Seldom people even technical writers know about DITA and its characteristics. So far, the lack of practical materials leads to the difficulty for beginners to study DITA. The aim of this thesis is mainly to introduce DITA and make a technical tutorial. In order to strengthen the comprehension about DITA, the thesis makes a comparison with DocBook, another popular XML-based standard for technical writing and the most competitive standard of DITA. In the thesis, we collect a large number of materials of DITA and DocBook, and refine them for their comparison. For the practical tutorial, we make some simple examples in a DITA project and implement them on Serna Free, an XML editor. As a result, the thesis presents the detailed comparison between DITA and Docbook, and the tutorial includes the basic and vital part of DITA features.   Key words: DITA map, topic, Syntext Serna Free, tutorial

This thesis discusses the specific effects of single sourcing methodologies on the role of the technical communicator, his or her job responsibilities, qualifications, collaboration with coworkers, employee and employer expectations, and the effects on career progression. The methodologies discussed included all types of single sourcing methods for technical documentation (such as XML-based), advanced and non-advanced Content Management Systems (CMS), and Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems. Other topics explored are an overview of single sourcing for technical documentation, a comparison of the "craftsman model" to the current trend of single sourcing and structured content, specific effects on technical communicators such as role changes, the effects of incorporating XML into a technical communicator's daily work environment, and the effects of other emerging technologies such as advanced CMS and DAM systems on technical communicators. General findings include that the practice of single sourcing, whether a positive or negative development, has continued and likely will continue to increase in technical communication groups within organizations. Single sourcing, especially for dynamic, customized content is also increasing because of the current marketplace, but works best via the use of a CMS and other systems used by large organizations. Single sourcing is also best implemented after extensive strategic planning and training of employees. Many technical communicators will have to accept new roles and positions, the direction of which is greatly impacted by the extent of their skills. Recommendations are made for additional research on the effects of single sourcing implementation on the technical communicator, and how to adapt to changes. Additional research is also needed on XML, DITA (Darwinian Information Typing Architecture), and DAM systems, all related specifically to technical communication.

Pin-up images have played an important role in American culture, in both their illustrated and photographic configurations. The pin-up is viewed as a significant representational cultural artifact of idealistic and aspirational femininity and of consumerism and material wealth, especially reflective of the mid-twentieth century period in America spanning the 1930s to the 1960s. These images not only reflect great shifts in social mores and women’s social status, but also affected changes in both areas in turn. Furthermore, pin-up images internationally circulated in magazines, advertising and promotional material, contributed to the manner in which America was idealized in Europe and beyond. Crucially, they influenced how an eroticized and glamorous, yet unrealistic, example of femininity came to be generalized as a desirous model of femininity. In recent years there has been vital, though limited, scholarly research into the cultural and social impact of pin-up imagery, to which this thesis adds to. This thesis takes a genealogical approach, charting the development of popular female-centric “pin-up” imagery in America since the 1860s and up to the 1960s, and its resurgence since the 1980s onwards. In doing so this thesis aims to provide a social, political and cultural context to the emergence of a specific archetypal sexualized femininity, with the aim of challenging the tendency to dismiss sexualized imagery as “anti-feminist” or as trivial. Toward that end, I examine the complexity of intentions behind the production of “pin-up” images. In taking this revisionist approach I am better able to conclusively analyze the reasons for the resurgence and reappropriation of pin-up imagery in late-twentieth- and early-twenty-first-century popular culture, and consider what the gendered cultural implications may be.