This content analysis examined the portrayal of refugees in the United States by comparing four online news outlets—two conservative outlets: Fox News and Breitbart; and two liberal outlets: CNN and The New Yorker. Fox News and CNN are the most popular outlets among conservatives and liberals, respectively, while Breitbart and The New Yorker are the most polar. The study explored whether the frames used by online U.S. news outlets differ based on the ideological leaning of the outlet, specifically in regards to stories about refugees. Media outlets can influence the public opinion by controlling what they publish and how often they publish it. They can also present information in ways that can alter the way the consumer processes it. For this content analysis, the search term "refugee crisis" was used to collect articles from each outlet's online page. Two online news articles from each of the four news outlets were randomly selected from each month of the year 2016. The frames used to report on refugees were identified and compared between all outlets. The five frames coded for were the responsibility frame, conflict frame, human-interest frame, morality frame, and the economic frame. The difference in the use of the five frames by the four news outlets was analyzed. Breitbart, the most conservative outlet of the four, used the human-interest frame significantly less than CNN and The New Yorker. Breitbart scored the lowest on the human-interest frame while The New Yorker scored the highest. CNN scored higher than Fox News and lower than The New Yorker; however, no significance was established. Comparing the score of the human-interest frame items between groups showed that Breitbart used less personal vignettes and adjectives that generate feelings of empathy-caring, sympathy or compassion than CNN and The New Yorker. On the other hand, The New Yorker used significantly more visuals that generated feelings of empathy-caring, sympathy, or compassion than Fox News and Breitbart. No significant differences between any of the outlets were found in their use of the responsibility, economic, conflict, and morality frames. However, when the mean scores of the 20 items were individually compared between outlets, significant differences were found. Breitbart and The New Yorker scored significantly lower on (morality) item-2 than both CNN and Fox News. This suggests that the coverage of the refugee crisis by highly polarized news outlets on both sides are less likely to reference morality, God, or other religious tenets when compared with more central news outlets.

The study of metaphor has moved from abstraction and poetics into the realms of cognitive science and cultural studies. Rather than being seen as purely figurative and secondary to literal meaning, investigation of metaphors reveals a close relationship to our processes of reasoning, a capacity to both reveal and cover, and a plasticity that forms within surrounding cultural values. I reviewed current metaphor theory, including its concerns and justifications, and designed a simple survey experiment through the Qualtrix webpage. The survey was distributed via the Amazon Mechanical TURK system. The experiment, in two different versions, briefly described obesity and then asked participants to describe their attitudes toward, and preferred solutions for, this emerging public health issue. The paragraphs differed only in the metaphor used to describe obesity. Based upon a metaphorical framing hypothesis, it was predicted that obesity as an "infectious epidemic" would bias readers towards societal causes and a preference for public policy changes, while obesity as "simple calorie math" would bias readers towards individualized causes, and less support for public policy changes. The hypotheses of the study were not supported; there was no significant difference in participant responses between frame conditions. Possible reasons for non-significant results include the survey format, unique aspects of obesity as a public health problem, and participants' level of media exposure to obesity. However, this study could be easily altered into various iterations to confirm or deny many aspects of brief metaphorical framing.

Public health institutions and popular media frequently frame weight loss and weight control as primary benefits of physical activity. This exploratory, descriptive study examined how respondents rated statements exemplifying three physical activity frames: a weight control frame, a medical frame, and an active embodiment frame. An anonymous, online survey was conducted in March 2018; respondents rated frame statements in terms of inspiring motivation to engage in physical activity, and in terms of perceived credibility. They also provided anthropometric data and physical activity data. Data were analyzed for the entire sample as well as stratified by multiple variables, including body mass index, waist circumference, age, and physical activity levels. Overall, the weight control frame was rated the lowest in terms of motivation, and rated moderately in terms of credibility. The active embodiment frame was highly rated in terms of motivation, but did not rate highly in terms of credibility. The medical frame was rated most credible overall, while achieving moderate motivation ratings. A "credibility/motivation gap" was identified when frames were rated highly on one scale (credibility or motivation), but not the other. These findings have implications for how physical activity is framed in public health messaging, and suggest that, as no single frame dominated both the motivation and credibility ratings, a multi-frame approach may have greater success in motivating people to engage physical activity than does the current, weight-control dominant approach.

Thesis (MA. (Mathematics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / Topological structures called Yosida frames and related algebraic frames are studied in the realm of Pointfree Topology. It is shown that in algebraic frames regular elements are those for which compact elements are rather below the regular elements, and algebraic frames are regular if and only if every compact element is rather below itself if and only if the frame has the Finite Intersection Property (FIP) and each prime element is minimal. We also show that Yosida frames are those algebraic frames with the Finite Intersection Property and are finitely subfit; that these frames are also those semi-simple algebraic frames with FIP and a disjointification where dim (L)≤ 1; and we prove that in an algebraic frame with FIP, it holds that dom (L) = dim (L). In relation to normality in Yosida frames, we show that in a coherent normal Yosida frame L, the frame is subfit if and only if it is regular if and only if it is zero- dimensional if and only if every compact element is complemented.

Whilst the underlying mechanisms of atmospheric turbulence are complex, the observed effects on imaging can be described in simpler terms. In this thesis, I address the effects seen as geometric distortions in anisoplanatic imaging and propose new digital restorations techniques that are real-time capable and predictive. The anisoplanatic problem arises in wide-field telescopic imaging and in new ventures of astronomy such as giant telescopes that process wide-field imagery. The methods proposed here, both digital and digital-optical hybrid, remove the position dependent distortions as a precursor to image analysis. Previous existing digital restoration techniques have used a prototype formed by averaging an image time sequence for image registration where valuable high frequencies information is lost due to the low-pass filtering effect of averaging. The proposed techniques are capable of using any arbitrary frame in the sequence as prototype, thus circumventing the low pass filtering effect and also allowing real-time implementation. Furthermore, these techniques are made predictive by the use of Kalman filtering. The predictive capabilities of these techniques open a new path to the combination of digital processing and adaptive optics that can result in hybrid systems. The key to adoption of hybrid systems is to reduce the complexity and expense of the optics and couple this with digital processing prediction. To this end I also propose a new type of inexpensive and fast piezoelectric deformable mirror based on the vibration modes of circular PVDF membranes that exhibit striking similarities to Zernike polynomials. It requires only two electrodes for actuation and a very simple driving signal generator, therefore constituting an inexpensive and viable alternative to existing deformable mirrors. With the emergence of multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) and multiobject adaptive optics (MOAO) in astronomy, and the more demanding correction required for long range surveillance imaging, this inexpensive deformable mirror and the real-time capable digital algorithms are promising building blocks for a hybrid solution to the anisoplanatic imaging problem.

Reinforced concrete structures are usually vulnerable to collapse in areas where the earthquakes are frequent. Although plenty of research has been carried out in that regard the problem is still in place. Furthermore, there are buildings that did not collapse with the first and second earthquake but with the third one. That happens because many buildings are generally declared safe after being thoroughly inspected in the visible areas only, ignoring the extent of the damage in the column-to-foundation connections. The criterion of identifying the failure at the base of the columns of the ground floor is that after the earthquake there are no traces of failure. In other words, the cracks at the base of the columns have been healed and concealed the damage in the core of the columns. / thesis (PhDCivilEngineering)--University of South Australia, 2005.

A considerable amount of research has focused on load-sharing and system effects in repetitive-member wood floor systems subject to transverse loading. However, relatively few studies have been conducted to investigate load-sharing and system effects in repetitive-member wall systems which may be subject to combined transverse and gravity (vertical) loading, and which may have different boundary conditions from floors. This research investigates load-sharing and system effects in light-frame wood wall systems and seeks to develop repetitive-member system factors for codified design that rationally account for load sharing and other system effects. These factors are intended for use in the design of individual wall members, much as repetitive-member factors are used in the design of parallel-member floor and roof systems. As part of this research, an analytical model was developed to account for partial composite action, two-way action, and openings in the wall system. The model was validated using experimental test results and was shown to be able to predict reasonably well the response of light-frame wall systems. The model was then incorporated into a Monte Carlo simulation to perform reliability analyses of light-frame wall systems. Since the structural model is complex, and including a time-history analysis within the time-dependent simulation was not computationally practical, the load combination issue was considered separately from the reliability analysis. Sensitivity studies were conducted to investigate how different system parameters affect strength and reliability of light-frame wall systems. The reliability of light-frame wall systems was next evaluated using a portfolio of representative light-frame wall systems designed according to current code provisions. This portfolio approach was also used in evaluating system factors for light-frame wall systems. Thus, two different approaches (a reliability-based approach and a strength-ratio approach) were considered for developing system factors for member-design to account for load sharing, partial composite action and other system effects. Using the strength-ratio approach, a new framework for system factors (i.e., partial system factors) is suggested in which the effects of partial composite action, load sharing, load redistribution and system size (number of members) are treated separately. / Graduation date: 2003

There are multiple sorts of reasoning by analogy between two domains; the one with which we are concerned is a type of contextual analogy. The purpose of this paper is to see whether two domains that look analogous would be analogous in all aspects and contexts. To perform this, we analyse the domain according to different particularities. For each particularity or context we continue the analysis and search for another one within the same domain. In this way we create a kind of structure for the different domains. This sort of analysis is represented by frames and frames which are nested within each other. This paper describes this concept and an implemented system "MULTI_ANALOG", a limited example of knowledge-acquisition, problem solving, and automatic-acquisition based on this particular form of analogy namely structural analogy.

Over the last decades we have witnessed a profound digitalization of tangible products. While this shift offers great opportunities, it also exposes product developing industries to significant challenges. In these industries organizations, markets, and technologies are tuned for mass production, providing competitive advantage through scale economics. Typically, firms exercise modular strategies to deliver such scale benefits. Rooted in Herbert Simon’s notion of near decomposability, modular product architectures allow for production assets, such as tools, processes, and plants, to be effectively reused across product variants and over generations of designs. However, they come at a price; modularity requires overall design specifications to be frozen well before production. In practice, this tends to inscribe functional purpose in the structures of the system, effectively preventing firms from taking advantage of the speed by which digitized products can be developed and modified. The main objective of this thesis is to investigate and explain how product developing organizations adapt architectural thinking to balance the proven benefits of modularity and the emerging opportunities provided by digital technology. In doing so, it introduces a complementary architectural frame, grounded in Christopher Alexander’s seminal work on patterns. This frame associates the concept of architecture with generativity and reuse of ideas, rather than scale economics and reuse of physical assets. Sensitizing the theoretical framework through a longitudinal case study of digital product innovation this thesis derives several implications for theory and practice. Across four embedded cases in the automotive industry it demonstrates that generative capability follows from a shared organizational view on products as enablers and catalyzers of new, yet unknown functionality. Such an emergence-centric view requires product developing firms to rethink existing governance models. Rather than exercising control through specific functionality, inscribed in modular product structures, it offers the benefit of influencing innovation through general functional patterns, serving as raw material in distributed and largely uncoordinated innovation processes. This shift in focus, from specific functionality to general functional patterns, enables a new strategic asset for product developing firms. It opens up for proactive rather than reactive strategies, where the architecture makes an instrument to cultivate new ideas and business opportunities, rather than a tool for cost savings.

This thesis presents the development and the seismic performance evaluation of steel MRFs with nonlinear replaceable links. Although existing MRFs can provide life safety during a design level earthquake, they are expected to sustain significant damage at the locations of flexural yielding fuses in the beams. The design of the fuse is also interlinked with the design of the beam, often resulting in over-design. These drawbacks can be mitigated by introducing replaceable links at the locations of expected inelastic action. Four full-scale beam-to-column subassemblages with two link types were tested under cyclic loading: i) double channels with bolted web connections, ii) W-sections with bolted end plate connections. The experiments demonstrated that MRFs with replaceable links can provide strength and ductility equivalent to existing MRFs. Finite element models were then developed to capture the observed experimental responses, including local buckling, bolt slipping, and bolt bearing. Finally, preliminary design guidelines were proposed.