The current study investigates the use of a selected group of nouns in the domain of FIRE in written Mainland Scandinavian languages, i.e. Danish, Norwegian (bokmål) and Swedish. The main goal is to capture the semantic features of the nouns by examining typical situations where they occur, following the frame-method for lexical studies by Rakhilina & Reznikova (2016). The nouns are examined in terms of their combinatorial patterning in compounds with other nouns, in trigrams and in figurative use. The synchronic data is drawn from corpora, lexica and first speaker intuition. Four parameters are formulated, which seem to play a role in the lexical use among the fire words, in the three languages. The nouns are structured according to the parameters and each lexeme displays combinatorial pattern revealing semantic restrictions. The selected ‘fire nouns’ are fairly similar, but differ in terms of semantic load most prominently among the lexemes that refer to controllable fires. The lexemes relevant for the parameter of ‘subcomponents of fire processes’ display an asymmetry, which needs to be studied further. The scope of the current study also includes two lexemes in Swedish that semantically have not been possible to disentangle. On the whole, at least the controllability of the fire is lexically encoded, possibly because that property is crucial for survival.

Achim Jung and Drew Moshier developed a Stone-type duality theory for bitopological spaces, amongst others, as a practical tool for solving a particular problem in the theory of stably compact spaces. By doing so they discovered that the duality of bitopological spaces and their algebraic counterparts, called d-frames, covers several of the known dualities. In this thesis we aim to take Jung's and Moshier's work as a starting point and fill in some of the missing aspects of the theory. In particular, we investigate basic categorical properties of d-frames, we give a Vietoris construction for d-frames which generalises the corresponding known Vietoris constructions for other categories, and we investigate the connection between bispaces and a paraconsistent logic and then develop a suitable (geometric) logic for d-frames.

This is a content analysis of the Chinese news paper People’s Daily (Renmin Ribao 人民日报). It examines articles published by the People’s Daily reporting about Sweden in migration contexts between January 1980 and September 2015. The purpose of the project is to investigate changes over time when it comes to agenda-setting, together with which other countries Sweden is mentioned and framing used in the articles. The topics of the articles are listed and a deductive frame analysis is carried out, showing clear signs of changes over time. The data shows that there has been a shift from reporting on international disputes to reporting on Europe’s migration issues. From investigating with which other countries Sweden is mentioned, a conclusion can be drawn that Sweden is portrayed as a country that collaborates with the other European countries to a great extent. The data also shows that there is a low usage of the conflict frame, but a high usage the responsibility- and ­morality frames in the People’s Daily which is evidence of letting the ideology of the authors shine through. The People’s Daily shows signs of political correctness by shifting from a high usage of episodic framing to thematic framing.

Planned change and change-related communication are perceived very differently by the members of an organization. Strongly varying perceptions of new tasks, work processes and goals make joint action difficult and cause the failure of many change initiatives. The purpose of this study is to investigate how internal communication and sensemaking processes contribute to the perception of strategic change among the members of a public service organization. The following questions are answered: How does the management plan and perform internal communication during a strategic change of the Swedish public service television company Sveriges Television (SVT)? How do the members of the organization make sense of a strategic change and the internal communication related to the changes that are planned and carried out? A social constructivist perspective combined with theories of sensemaking, communication, social identities, roles, groups, power and status constitutes the analytical framework. The investigation is designed as two case studies of the SVT production facilities in Malmö and Örebro. The empirical material consists mainly of personal interviews. Written documents and observations have also been used. The case studies took place between 2002 and 2004. Some main conclusions are as follows: 1) Internal communication is central for how members of an organization make sense of, and participate in, major change. Yet, not even in ideal communication situations do the employees experience that the information has been sufficient and that they have been included in the change process. There are thus reasons for more balanced expectations of what is possible to achieve with internal communication during strategic change. 2) The most influential factor determining how people make sense of change-related communication is the practical everyday reality that constitutes their frames of reference. The reluctance to consider, and act upon, how other individuals conceive of a situation leads to misdirected internal communication and gaps of understanding. 3) Organizational identities, group membership, roles and status function as frames of reference when employees make sense of changes. But irrespective of whether the changes take place on an organizational, departmental or group level, personal identities are the most influential frames of reference for interpreting organizational change. The investigation thus establishes an order of precedence for frames of reference that has important implications for internal communication during strategic change. The thesis contributes to sensemaking theories by demonstrating their extensive ability to explain mutually related phenomena, such as attention, resistance and self-fulfilling prophecies. The apparent ability to explain basically all sensemaking-related issues in organizations, and thus leading to reductionism, is also concluded to be one of the weaknesses of the theories. By connecting sensemaking theories with roles, social identities and power, the study contributes to clarifying the frame concept.

[pt] Neste estudo, são analisados encontros de serviço desempenhados na central de reservas por telefone de uma companhia aérea brasileira. A análise realiza-se com base no arcabouço teórico da Sociolingüística Interacional em relação de interface com a Análise da Conversa. As interações foram coletadas no âmbito de uma metodologia de pesquisa etnográfica. Focaliza-se a manifestação de diferentes dinâmicas de enquadres e alinhamentos bem como a variação nos padrões de organização e construção de turnos de fala. Procura-se mostrar que esses aspectos (i) estão relacionados a diferentes tipos de atendimento e (ii) refletem uma realidade interacional complexa na central de reservas estudada. Tais fatos, conseqüentemente, dificultam a elaboração prévia de comportamento lingüístico na central de reservas, bem como o gerenciamento e controle desse comportamento através da prescrição de scripts de atendimento a clientes. / [en] This study analyzes service encounters held through the telephone in the reservation center of a Brazilian airline company. The analysis was conducted based on the Interactional Sociolinguistics framework interfaced with Conversational Analysis and the data collection was ethnographically oriented. Different dynamics of frames and footings are looked at, as well as the variation in organizational patterns and construction of discourse turns. This study aims to show that these aspects (i) are related to different kinds of attendance, (ii) reflect a complex interactional reality within the reservation center. Thus, these aspects make difficult the management process and as well as the previous control of sequences of linguistic behavior suggested by attendance scripts to clients.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Joye C. Gordon / Global warming and its implications have astounding consequences for the global community. Although some research has been done on the trends within environmental reporting, few studies have looked at the issue of global warming in particular. Global warming is a troublesome issue for reporters for a number of reasons, and hence, it is important that we delve into how newspapers cover the topic. Latin America, especially the Caribbean region, is expected to suffer extreme consequences due to global warming, yet no studies regarding global warming coverage have been done in these regions. The first purpose of this study was to discover how a Mexico newspaper frames the issue of global warming. Next, this study sought to expand the current knowledge of global warming coverage by the media. Lastly, this study sought to expand on existing literature to discover how journalists outside of the United States communicate, to the public, the issue of global warming. Based on previous studies on global warming a frame analysis was conducted to explore how the Mexico City-based newspaper Reforma covers the issue of global warming. This study identified that ecology/science and consequences are the most frequently occurring themes of coverage, while scientific conflict and North/South conflict are present, but in low frequencies and near the end of stories. This study also identified international relations as the most frequent solution to global warming, while global warming story frequencies peaked during international conferences. These results confirm previous research, which has found that news media outside of the United States tend to emphasize international relations and de-emphasize conflicts and controversies.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science / Kimberly W. Kramer / Of seismic steel lateral force resisting systems in practice today, the Moment Frame has most diverse connection types. Special Moment frames resist lateral loads through energy dissipation of the inelastic deformation of the beam members. The 1994 Northridge earthquake proved that the standard for welded beam-column connections were not sufficient to prevent damage to the connection or failure of the connection. Through numerous studies, new methods and standards for Special Moment Frame connections are presented in the Seismic Design Manual 2nd Edition to promote energy dissipation away from the beam-column connection. A common type of SMF is the Reduce Beams Section (RBS). To encourage inelastic deformation away from the beam-column connection, the beam flange’s dimensions are reduced a distance away from the beam-column connection; making the member “weaker” at that specific location dictating where the plastic hinging will occur during a seismic event. The reduction is usually taken in a semi-circular pattern. Another type of SMF connection is the Kaiser Bolted Bracket® (KBB) which consists of brackets that stiffen the beam-column connection. KBB connections are similar to RBS connections as the stiffness is higher near the connection and lower away from the connection. Instead of reducing the beam’s sectional properties, KBB uses a bracket to stiffen the connection. The building used in this parametric study is a 4-story office building. This thesis reports the results of the parametric study by comparing two SMF connections: Reduced Beam Section and Kaiser Bolted Brackets. This parametric study includes results from three Seismic Design Categories; B, C, and D, and the use of two different foundation connections; fixed and pinned. The purpose of this parametric study is to compare member sizes, member forces, and story drift. The results of Seismic Design Category D are discussed in depth in this thesis, while the results of Seismic Design Category B and C are provided in the Appendices.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study has successfully identified transcripts differentially expressed in the salivary gland and midgut and provides candidate genes that are critical to response to parasite invasion. Furthermore, an open-source Glossina resource (G-ESTMAP) was developed that provides interactive features and browsing of functional genomics data for researchers working in the field of Trypanosomiasis on the African continent. / South Africa

Conventional theories about security communities expect that if a region yields high levels of socio-economic interdependence, regional stability is achieved. What we observe in the East Asia region since the 2000s contradict to the theoretical expectations. The aim of this thesis is to explain this empirical puzzle. Security community theory is insufficient for two reasons: first, pre-existing security community may become weaker; and, second, nationalism may influence the level of integration. Building on frame theory, the thesis addresses the question: under what conditions do nationalistic discourses influence the integration level of a security community? I argue when elites’ discourses about foreign relations include ranking frames, they have a deteriorating effect on the integration level of a security community. Ranking frames make the elites’ agenda more competitive towards the other member of the security community and trigger an othering process in a country. With a theory development purpose, I conduct a structured focused comparison of the Sino-Japan relations at two time periods: 1978-82 and 2008-12. Focusing on the political elites’ discourses in Japan, I investigate a systematically developed dataset. My findings suggest that the nationalist discourses containing ranking frames may plausibly explain the process of disintegration of a security community.

The effects of support in steel bridges can present significant challenges during the construction. The tendency of girders to twist or layovers during the construction can present a particularly challenging problem regarding detailing cross-frames that provide bracing to steel girders. Methods of detailing cross-frames have been investigated in the past to identify some of the issues related to the behavior of straight and skewed steel bridges. However, the absence of a complete and simplified design approach has led to disputes between stakeholders, costly repairs and delays in the construction. The main objective of this research is to develop a complete and simplified design approach considering construction, fabrication and detailing of skewed bridges. This objective is achieved by comparing different detailing methods, understanding the mechanism by which skew effects develop in steel bridges, recommending simplified methods of analysis to evaluate them, and developing a complete and simplified design procedure for skew bridges. Girder layovers, flange lateral bending stress, cross-frame forces, component of vertical deflections, component of vertical reactions and lateral reactions or lateral displacements are affected by detailing methods and are referred as lack-of-fit effects. The main conclusion of this research is that lack-of-fit effects for the Final Fit detailing method at the steel dead load stage are equal and opposite to the lack-of-fit effects for the Erected Fit detailing method at the total dead load stage. This conclusion has helped using 2D grid analyses for estimating these lack-of-fit effects for different detailing methods. 3D erection simulations are developed for estimating fit-up forces required to attach the cross-frames to girders. The maximum fit-up force estimated from the 2D grid analysis shows a reasonable agreement with the one obtained from the erection simulations. The erection sequence that reduces the maximum fit-up force is also found by erection simulations. The line girder analysis is recommended for calculating cambers for the Final Fit detailing method. A combination of line girder analysis and 2D grid analysis is recommended for calculating cambers for the Erected Fit detailing method. Finally, flowcharts are developed that facilitate the selection of a detailing method and show the necessary design checks.