This project investigates the performance of brick-veneer cold-formed steel-framed domestic structures when subjected to earthquake-induced loads. It focuses on the effects of the so-called non-structural components, namely, plasterboard lining and brick veneer cladding. An extensive testing program was conducted on a full scale one-room-house measuring 2.3m x 2.4m x 2.4m high. This house was tested at various stages of construction to assess the contribution of the various components. Different types of loading, including non-destructive swept sine wave, destructive pseudo-static cyclic racking and simulated earthquakes were employed to obtain the various characteristics of the structure. The testing program on the test house was complemented by further tests on critical components such as brick ties and plasterboard connections. Detailed analytical models were developed and verified against the experimental results. These models were then used to conduct a sensitivity analysis to study other configurations, identify critical parameters and develop design guidelines. The experimental and analytical results have shown that the plasterboard wall lining can provide lateral bracing to domestic wall frames since they effectively act as shear walls. The performance of wall lining is greatly enhanced when set corner joints, ceiling cornices and skirting boards are considered. The capacity is increased by more than three times when these extra components are taken into account. Plasterboard also exhibits high damping and energy absorption capacity which are beneficial under earthquake loading. Furthermore, the strength and stiffness contributions of plasterboard lining and strap cross braces are additive.

Thesis (M.Eng.). / Written for the Dept. of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2009/06/17). Includes bibliographical references.

Följande arbete är en studie i hur reklam från köttindustrin kan bidra till ett upprätthållande och skapande av den köttätande normen. Genom att låta tidigare teorier från discipliner såsom medievetenskap, sociologi och filosofi inneha en central roll, ämnar arbetet till att komma närmare en förståelse för hur ramverksbyggande inom reklam kan sätta produkter i sammanhang som anknyter till rådande normer och ideologier. Syftet med arbetet är således att undersöka på vilka sätt medierna, närmare bestämt reklam från de stora aktörerna inom köttindustrin, bidrar till att upprätthålla och skapa den köttätande normen. Frågeställningar som besvaras är i vilka sammanhang som djur i reklam från köttindustrin framställs, på vilka sätt relationen mellan människan och andra djur framställs som i dessa sammanhang och huruvida det finns kopplingar att urskönja mellan föregående frågeställning till hur den enskilda individen upplever sin inställning till andra djur och att hen väljer att äta vissa av dem. Med hjälp av tidigare forskning, en analys av tre reklamfilmer från köttindustrin och med svar från tre intervjuer som komplement, besvarar arbetet ovanstående frågeställningar samt undersöker huruvida processen som löper via ideologi, reklam, konsumtion och norm kan influera den enskilda människans perspektiv på andra djur än henne själv. Jag vill med följande sidor bidra till det ekologiska fältet inom medievetenskapen och belysa hur reklam som medium kan påverka miljön; ur arbetets perspektiv hur det kan besitta den potentiella makten att influera människans förhållande till andra djur och varför människan vidare väljer att se på vissa av dem som mat.

This study examined the effects of framing on participant interest and retention of diversity-related material. In this study, 204 students from undergraduate psychology courses across two universities read a vignette about Kenneth and Mamie Clark. The vignette was presented in the context of one of four frames that either highlighted or did not highlight their minority status and/or their status as leaders in their field. After reading the vignette, students responded to 13 items measuring recall of the material figures and 11 items assessing their interest in these figures. Participants also responded to the Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy (SEE), Modern Racism Scale (MRS), and Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS). The data found in the present study provided varying levels of support for the hypotheses. The effects were stronger for Illinois participants, which may be due to the larger sample size collected and/or the greater diversity of the school population. These results bring to light an interesting potential area of future research that could eventually impact school curricula. It is possible that a better understanding of effective methods for engaging students in discussions of diversity may be around the corner. Participant race, gender, location, and major all had varying degrees of an effect on the results, indicating that, like many other topics in psychology, understanding how people react to diversity discussions is not simply black and white.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF MOHAMMAD DELWAR HOSSAIN, for the Master of Arts degree in Media Theory & Research, presented on May 7, 2010 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: FRAMING THE LIBERATION WAR OF BANGLADESH IN THE U.S. AND U.K. MEDIA: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES AND THE TIMES (LONDON) MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Uche Onyebadi This study examined the framing of the liberation war of Bangladesh in the New York Times and the Times (London). To comprehensively look at the framing, the tones and sources of news in the newspapers have also been studied. The results suggest that both newspapers used three frames most frequently: military-conflict frame, prognostic frame and human interest frame. The findings also show that both newspapers published news stories with more neutral tone than positive and negative tones. The New York Times and the Times (London) relied mostly on official sources as the primary sources in publishing news. The present study is not only the first research on the framing of the liberation war of Bangladesh by the international print media but also a systematic research on the area. Therefore, this study is expected to open up ways of understanding the role of the international print media, especially in the U.S. and U.K., about the war. This study is also a major contribution in the field of framing research and more broadly in understanding how newspapers frame wars in their reports.

This thesis examines news articles to see if obesity has been framed as a moral panic by looking at how the coverage understands the causes of obesity and its solutions. A qualitative textual analysis of 100 articles and 28 images from Time and Newsweek was done spanning 1986 to 2012. I found that the obesity "epidemic" was first discussed as problem of individual responsibility and that the best cure was medicine. The narrative shifted to childhood obesity around 2004 and cited parents as the responsible party while suggesting family bonding as a solution to childhood obesity. I find that the media dialogue around obesity points to individuals rather than systemic factors as the cause of obesity and, in so doing, takes the focus off of social and economic inequalities that are also factors in the obesity epidemic.

The Arab Spring marked a new age of international political participation and support, facilitated by the wide circulation of imagery via social and mass media. Many in the West found themselves in ideological agreement with the political efforts of the protests, upholding the U.S. rhetorical tenets of democracy and freedom of speech. The visual framing of the Arab Spring in U.S. news media played a crucial role in forging this ideological consensus. My thesis focuses specifically on the visual framing of women in the Egyptian uprising by exploring the Western news portrayal of the presence of women in the Egyptian political sphere. In order to ground my assessment of Western perceptions, I conduct a content analysis of coverage of the Egyptian uprising protests from Getty and AP photography databases. My analysis is also supported and influenced by a rigorous theoretical foundation in framing theory, Orientalism, and postcolonial feminist theory.

Hormonal contraception is widely used by women within the U.S. and is considered to be empowering and beneficial for women’s progress in society. Hormonal birth control is framed as having benefits beyond fertility control, often in ways that medicalize and problematize women’s natural reproductive cycle. This study takes a critical look at the framing of hormonal contraception in both women’s and men’s magazines from an ecofeminist perspective. Articles were gathered from Women’s Health, Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health and Maxim and were analyzed through Entman’s four functions of a frame. Special attention was paid to the differences between men’s and women’s magazines. The results show that hormonal contraception is being normalized through medicalizing women’s natural cycle and through naturalizing medical and scientific authority in making health decisions. Men’s magazines discuss contraception far less than women’s magazines, and both continue to place contraceptive responsibility on women.

This thesis examines the media-foreign policy nexus through a specific focus on the moral framing of conflict and interventionism within British media and policy discourses. While morality has been identified as a frequently used frame through which we may understand issues, there has been little extant discussion of the nature of morality embedded within media texts, or how it may shape understanding and policy-making. This research contributes to this void through forwarding cosmopolitan morality framing as a new theoretical framework. Consideration is given to how appeals to a cosmopolitan moral consciousness can resonate and build support for or legitimise particular foreign policies. The thesis further explores how cosmopolitan morality framing may work simultaneously to perpetuate uneven relations through constructed ‘othering’. Ontologically, the research adopts a social constructivist foundation and hermeneutical methodology, utilising frame analysis from the broader interpretivist tradition of discourse analysis as well as a holistic conceptualisation of the media. Data collection is spread across both traditional ‘mainstream’ and ‘new’ media, comprising print, online and social media sources. The sources examined include the British daily newspapers, The Guardian and The Times, the digital news site BBC News Online, and the global social media outlet Twitter. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) provides a regional focus to the research, with three recent conflicts in Libya, Syria and Iraq utilised as empirical case studies. The research focuses on specific ten day periods within each conflict to produce a snapshot of media frames and policy reaction. These periods include; the advance of pro-Gaddafi forces on Benghazi, Libya (9-19 March 2011), the chemical weapons attack on Ghouta, Syria (21-31 August 2013), and the siege of Sinjar by Islamic State forces in Iraq (3-13 August 2014). The research finds that notions of cosmopolitan morality are embedded within media/policy discourses to varying degrees, but are extremely significant when coupled with the cognitive and temporal capacity to impede crisis escalation.

abstract: Scholars have identified the mass media plays a crucial role in the dissemination of terror messages. Since the attacks of September 11th, 2001, much attention has been paid to terrorism in the global television landscape. More recently, the discourse surrounding acts of terror has changed, in part due to the people behind the attacks. This study seeks to understand how global television news broadcasts frame acts of terror based on two current threats: the individual terrorist (the Lone Wolf) and the organized group (the Islamic State). Using the theoretical framework of Entman’s framing theory and Altheide’s (1987) notion of a global drama, this research identifies the ways global news organizations frame acts of terror both visually and verbally based on the classification of the attacker. Using content analysis methodology, this study analyzed six terror attacks that took place between November, 2015 and December, 2016. Three of these attacks were classified as “Lone Wolves” and three were carried out by the terrorist organization called the Islamic State. This study looked at 562 stories on six global news channels and examined 9,479 images. Through a comparative analysis, three American and three International news channels were examined. It was discovered global news networks contain visual differences in framing, but similarities in verbal framing. Although it was expected to find vast differences in global news’ framing of acts of terror, this study finds a homogenization of the television news narrative following terrorist attacks. This study builds on existing research and suggests a global script for covering acts of terror that has several implications from a theoretical and practical standpoint. Findings indicate global coverage of Islamic State attacks employ and “Us vs. Them” frame, while Lone Wolf attacks are framed as “Us vs. Us”, a new frame presented in this study. The results advance the literature focused on framing theory, comparative journalism research and global television news coverage of terrorism. As terrorism has garnered extensive media attention, understanding the ways that global news frames terrorism has vast implications. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Journalism and Mass Communication 2018