Keywords: literary comic, comic model, theory of carnivalesque, theory of the play, imagination, incongruity The dissertation pursues three main goals: to define the differentiating features of specific comic models (goal A - the differentiation goal); to introduce the principles of the comic in "Švejk", and its polyphony and originality, the technical devices, which shape it, and the semantic procedures of its creation (goal B - the analysis goal); to prove that between Hašek's "Švejk" and the other four works of Bulgarian, Russian and Serbian satirical prose ("Bay Ganyo", "The Twelve Chairs", "The Little Golden Calf" and "Autobiography") there is a stable common basis (a comic model), which is specified in each of those works (goal C - the juxtaposition goal). The conceptual approach in the methodology of the exploration is based on the conviction that the core of the fictional magic in Hašek's "Švejk" is precisely the comic. The methodological approach of the hierarchical systematization wields all known qualifications of the comic in the models displayed here, which have the nature of unifying classification frames. The methodology of the choice and application of the conceptual instruments is based on the taxonomy of the famous Czech cultural critic Vladimír Borecký, whose terminological...

Cormac McCarthy's representation of the comic theories of the carnivalesque, incongruity, and absurdism by the antagonists of Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men demonstrates the unique and ostensible power of humor over (or at least, its awareness of and reconciliation to the absurdity of) death; it also emphasizes the supreme power and influence of humor as a means for destroying other institutions and philosophies which claim knowledge or authority but fail to sustain individuals in times of crisis. This makes humor a formidable factor in determining and justifying the outcome of human interactions and in defining the strengths and limitations of McCarthy's antagonists.

市場上新奇的產品層出不窮，廠商想盡辦法要對產品添加新奇的屬性來達到差異化，但是真正能夠藉由添加新奇屬性在市場上找到利基的廠商卻是少之又少。問題是否出在消費者在面對與既有基模不一致的新產品時，無法理解和吸收資訊？上述現象引發了研究者的興趣。本研究藉由操弄不同類型的產品和新奇屬性，觀察其所產生的產品不一致性對於消費者的產品再認和產品態度有何影響；同時也探討消費者本身的人格特質-消費者創新性，會不會影響消費者對產品的態度。 以往研究均認為增加產品不一致性可以提高消費者對於產品的回憶和再認，但本研究卻發現，提高產品的不一致性並無法讓人留下較為深刻的印象，因此產品不一致性與再認之間的關係可能仍有待後續研究做進一步的釐清。另外，雖然產品類型和新奇屬性類型無法產生交互作用，並藉由提升產品不一致性來影響產品態度，但是「產品類型」在影響產品不一致性且進而提升產品態度上的確是扮演著重要的角色。其中「功能性商品」不管是搭配上何種類型的新奇屬性，產品態度都顯著高於「享樂性商品」與新奇屬性的搭配。由此可知，如果廠商想要在市場上推出新奇的產品，選擇功能性的商品來切入可能比較有利，而且在操弄產品不一致性時也必須要格外小心，雖然新奇的屬性可以提升消費者對產品的評價，但是新奇性同時也會增加產品的不一致性，一旦產品不一致性過高，反而會造成消費者對於產品的負面觀感。 / There are numerous novel products in the market; consequently marketers have been fighting their way to achieve product differentiation by adding novel attributes to the products, yet it is still rare to see marketers that can actually discover niche by adding novel attributes to products. Does the problem lies in how consumers percept and absorb the information of advertisements? The phenomenon above arouses my curiosity to delve into the relation between product incongruity and consumer evaluations. This study examines what influences product incongruity has on product recognition and product attitude by manipulating different types of products and novel attributes, and the moderating role of consumers’ personality is also examined to see whether consumer innovativeness have effects on product attitude or not. The past researches tend to believe that raising product incongruity is beneficial to enhancing product recall and product recognition. However, the result shows that raising product incongruity is of no help to leave deep impression in the products. Thus the relation between product incongruity and product recognition needs to be further clarified by future researches. Additionally, although product types and novel attributes do not interact to have effects on product incongruity and further boost product attitude, ‘product type’ indeed plays a crucial role on boosting product incongruity and enhancing product attitude. Not only product type leads to positive effects on the products, but consumers are apt to give more positive evaluations to utilitarian product than hedonic product, regardless of what novel attributes the products have. In that case, it seems to be more profitable to choose utilitarian products if marketers want to launch novel merchandise. In spite of the fact that adding novel attributes leads to positive product attitude, novelty also leads to more product incongruity that may undermine consumers’ attitude toward the product. The result seems to suggest that marketers have to be extraordinarily cautious when manipulating product incongruity.

In humour studies research, there have been few attempts to elucidate why black humour was such a prevalent, powerful force in late twentieth century culture and why it continues to make a profound impression in the new millennium. As Dana Polan (1991) laments: ???Rarely have there been attempts to offer material, historically specific explanations of particular manifestations of the comic???.1 This thesis offers an interdisciplinary analysis of black humour in the late twentieth century. I contend that the experience of black humour emerges from the intricacies of human beliefs and behaviours surrounding death and through the diverse rituals that shape experiences of loss. I suggest that black humour is an attempt to articulate the tension between the haunting absence and disturbing presence of death in contemporary society. Chapter 1 of this thesis offers an historical and etymological perspective on black humour. In Chapter 2, I argue that the increasing privatisation and medicalisation of death, along with the overt mediatisation of death, creates a problematic juxtaposition. I contend that these unique social conditions created, and continue to foster, an ideal environment for the creation and proliferation of black humour. In Chapters 3 and 4, I examine the structures and functions of black humour through three key theories of humour: incongruity, catharsis and superiority. Chapter 5 looks at ways in which the experience of black humour creates resolutions and forces dissonances for people entwined with loss. In this final chapter, I also consider how black humour may help people make meaning from issues surrounding death. Throughout this theoretical discussion, I interweave the analysis of a range of scenes from contemporary black comic texts (i.e. plays, screenplays and television scripts). On the whole, this thesis works towards a more complex, specific understanding of the phenomenon of black humour within a social context.

I analyze comedian Stephen Colbert's performances as the bloviating "fake" pundit, "Stephen Colbert." Colbert's work reflects the progression of personality-driven media and performance-driven society. His frequent shifts and blending of characters – from actor and entertainer to pundit and politician – call attention to the similarly character-driven nature of "real" figures in politics and media. Using Kenneth Burke's theory of tragic and comic frames of acceptance, I analyze three sets of Colbert's performances – hosting The Colbert Report, speaking at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, and running for president – as well as the conventional situations and discourses he complicates. I argue that Colbert's comic critique provides perspective by incongruity about the processes of production, mediation, and persuasion in the business of news punditry – and the literal staging of politics performed as entertainment.

In humour studies research, there have been few attempts to elucidate why black humour was such a prevalent, powerful force in late twentieth century culture and why it continues to make a profound impression in the new millennium. As Dana Polan (1991) laments: ???Rarely have there been attempts to offer material, historically specific explanations of particular manifestations of the comic???.1 This thesis offers an interdisciplinary analysis of black humour in the late twentieth century. I contend that the experience of black humour emerges from the intricacies of human beliefs and behaviours surrounding death and through the diverse rituals that shape experiences of loss. I suggest that black humour is an attempt to articulate the tension between the haunting absence and disturbing presence of death in contemporary society. Chapter 1 of this thesis offers an historical and etymological perspective on black humour. In Chapter 2, I argue that the increasing privatisation and medicalisation of death, along with the overt mediatisation of death, creates a problematic juxtaposition. I contend that these unique social conditions created, and continue to foster, an ideal environment for the creation and proliferation of black humour. In Chapters 3 and 4, I examine the structures and functions of black humour through three key theories of humour: incongruity, catharsis and superiority. Chapter 5 looks at ways in which the experience of black humour creates resolutions and forces dissonances for people entwined with loss. In this final chapter, I also consider how black humour may help people make meaning from issues surrounding death. Throughout this theoretical discussion, I interweave the analysis of a range of scenes from contemporary black comic texts (i.e. plays, screenplays and television scripts). On the whole, this thesis works towards a more complex, specific understanding of the phenomenon of black humour within a social context.

Pour faire face au volume considérable de logiciels malveillants, les chercheurs en sécurité ont développé des outils dynamiques automatiques d’analyse de malware comme la Sandbox Cuckoo. Ces types d’analyse sont partiellement automatiques et nécessite l’intervention d’un expert humain en sécurité pour détecter et extraire les comportements suspicieux. Afin d’éviter ce travail fastidieux, nous proposons une méthodologie pour extraire automatiquement des comportements dangereux données par les Sandbox. Tout d’abord, nous générons des rapports d’activités provenant des malware depuis la Sandbox Cuckoo. Puis, nous regroupons les malware faisant partie d’une même famille grâce à l’algorithme Avclass. Cet algorithme agrège les labels de malware donnés par VirusTotal. Nous pondérons alors par la méthode TF-IDF les comportements les plus singuliers de chaque famille de malware obtenue précédemment. Enfin, nous agrégeons les familles de malware ayant des comportements similaires par la méthode LSA.De plus, nous détaillons une méthode pour détecter des malware à partir du même type de comportements trouvés précédemment. Comme cette détection est réalisée en environnement réel, nous avons développé des sondes capables de générer des traces de comportements de programmes en exécution de façon continue. A partir de ces traces obtenues, nous construisons un graphe qui représente l’arbre des programmes en exécution avec leurs comportements. Ce graphe est mis à jour de manière incrémentale du fait de la génération de nouvelles traces. Pour mesurer la dangerosité des programmes, nous exécutons l’algorithme PageRank thématique sur ce graphe dès que celui-ci est mis à jour. L’algorithme donne un classement de dangerosité des processus en fonction de leurs comportements suspicieux. Ces scores sont ensuite reportés sur une série temporelle pour visualiser l’évolution de ce score de dangerosité pour chaque programme. Pour finir, nous avons développé plusieurs indicateurs d’alertes de programmes dangereux en exécution sur le système. / To cope with the large volume of malware, researchers have developed automatic dynamic tools for the analysis of malware like the Cuckoo sandbox. This analysis is partially automatic because it requires the intervention of a human expert in security to detect and extract suspicious behaviour. In order to avoid this tedious work, we propose a methodology to automatically extract dangerous behaviors. First of all, we generate activity reports from malware from the sandbox Cuckoo. Then, we group malware that are part of the same family using the Avclass algorithm. We then weight the the most singular behaviors of each malware family obtained previously. Finally, we aggregate malware families with similar behaviors by the LSA method.In addition, we detail a method to detect malware from the same type of behaviors found previously. Since this detection isperformed in real environment, we have developed probes capable of generating traces of program behaviours in continuous execution. From these traces obtained, we let’s build a graph that represents the tree of programs in execution with their behaviors. This graph is updated incrementally because the generation of new traces. To measure the dangerousness of programs, we execute the personalized PageRank algorithm on this graph as soon as it is updated. The algorithm gives a dangerousness ranking processes according to their suspicious behaviour. These scores are then reported on a time series to visualize the evolution of this dangerousness score for each program. Finally, we have developed several alert indicators of dangerous programs in execution on the system.

Vård av transpersoner och professionella underlag är under konstant förändring till följd av omställningar i diagnosmanualer samt till följd av dess sociopolitiska kontext. Det vetenskapliga fältet är relativt nytt och bristfällig i dess kvantitet. Detta föranleder ett intresse av att undersöka ämnet närmare för att fylla kunskapsluckor inom fältet. Den här uppsatsen ämnar till att undersöka konstruktionen och positioneringen av transpersoner i Socialstyrelsens nationella kunskapsstöd för professionella och beslutsfattare. Vidare ämnar uppsatsen undersöka en diskursiv transformering mellan Socialstyrelsens kunskapsstöd från 2015 och 2022. Materialet innefattar två kunskapsstöd från 2015: God vård av vuxna med könsdysfori samt God vård av barn och ungdomar med könsdysfori, och ett kunskapsstöd från 2022: Vård av barn och ungdomar med könsdysfori. Materialet undersöks genom en Foucauldiansk diskursanalys där metoden i denna analys är inspirerad av Carla Willigs (2013) analyssteg. Analysen i denna uppsats innefattar tre steg där citat från materialet placeras i olika koder, vilket sedan analyseras utifrån relevans till uppsatsens syfte och frågeställningar. I linje med den Foucauldianska diskursanalysen används en poststrukturalistisk och abduktiv ansats. Det teoretiska ramverket i uppsatsen innefattar Butlers genusteori samt medikalisering som kompletterande begrepp. Resultatet och analysen är sammanflätade. Uppsatsen visar på en subjektpositionering av transpersoner som ’dysforiska’ eller ’icke dysforiska’ där de ’dysforiska’ konstitueras som ett ’problem’. Socialstyrelsen likställer dysforin hos subjekten med ett funktionshinder där ’problemet’ individualiseras och transpersonerna blir placerad i en ansvarsposition. I analysen framgår även ett stort fokus på det binära genuset inom Socialstyrelsens material från 2015 samt ett fortsatt bibehållande av maskulina och feminina sociala konstruktioner i båda materialen. Fortsatt visar analysen på medikalisering och psykiatrifiering av subjekten samt förekommer ingen skillnad i subjektpositionering i en jämförelse av materialen, trots inkluderingen av icke-binära i det senare kunskapsstödet. / National regulations and care of transgender patients are undergoing constant development due to changing diagnostic manuals and its surrounding socio-political factors. The scientifical field is inadequate and has left gaps within the field. Accordingly, it is of interest to examine these gaps and participate in the advancements within the field. This paper aims to examine the construct and subject positioning of transgender people in The National Board of Health and Welfare papers of national regulations. Furthermore, the paper seeks out to analyze a discursive transformation between the material from 2015 and 2022. The material include two national regulations from 2015, God vård av vuxna med könsdysfori, God vård av barn och ungdomar med könsdysfori, and a paper from 2022, Vård av barn och ungdomar med könsdysfori. The method of Foucauldian discourse in this paper is inspired by Carla Willigs (2013) steps of analysis. The steps of analysis in this research consist of three parts where citations from the material is placed within codes. These are analysed within the scope of the study. Moreover, a poststructuralist and abductive perspective is applied because of its coherence with discourse as a method and theory. The theoretical framework consists of Butler’s gender theory and medicalisation as a complementary construct. The results of this paper show that transgender people are positioned as ‘dysphoric’ or ‘non dysphoric’. Those who are positioned as ‘dysphoric‘ seems to be constructed as a ‘problem’. The subjects are placed in a position of liability where the ‘problem’ is individualized. The binary social construct is prevalent in the material from 2015 and is continued to be reproduced in the material from 2022. Additionally, one can identify a medicalization of the individuals and the same subject positioning in all of the materials even though the latter edition claims to digress from normative binary constructions.

One potent, yet little recognized tool in therapy is humour. As the desire to be entertained through humour is near universal the establishment and return of a positive sense of humour may be considered a goal of therapy. The goal of Gestalt exploration is awareness. From its origin Gestalt theory includes addressing body experiences such as laughter and emotional expression through humour. In Gestalt Theory a contact boundary disturbance such as deflection refers to the ways in which individuals may refuse contact with their environment in order to avoid aware¬ness. The goal of this study was to explore the implementation of humour as a deflective technique where contact boundary disturbances occur, to bring about change. Aspects of humour, namely the ability to perceive the comic as well as the ability to produce it, aid therapy and relationship building, and help the client to deflect in a way that enhances emotional well-being. / Humor, geringskat in terapie, is 'n uiters sterk hulpmiddel. Aangesien die behoefte om vermaak te word deur humor universeel is, is die terugkeer van 'n positiewe sin vir humor 'n deurdagte doel vir terapie. Die doel van die Gestalt eksplorasie is bewuswording. Van die begin af sluit Gestalt teorie liggaamservaringe soos lag en emosioneie uitdrukking deur humor in. In Gestalt Teorie verwys 'n kontakgrens versteuring soos defleksie, na die wyse waarop individue kontak met die omgewing vermy, om sodoende bewuswording te vermy. Die doel van die studie was om die implementering van humor as deflektiewe tegniek, waar kontak grens versteuringe en weerstande voorkom, as verandering teweeg kan bring. Aspekte van humor, naamlik die moontlikheid om die komiese waar te neem, sowel as om dit te produseer, versterk terapie and vehoudingsbou, beide aspekte help die klient om te deflekteer op so 'n wyse dat emosioneie goedvoel bevorder word. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)

This study examines the paradoxical and at the same time interesting relationship between Christian religion and the system of slavery in the American historical context. Through the use of Kenneth Burke’s concept and theory of Perception by Incongruity as a theoretical and conceptual framework, this study examines Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Frederick Douglass’ The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. In the view of this study, Perception by Incongruity, as a theoretical and conceptual tool has the literary and the rhetorical resources to unmask the ironies and paradoxes involved in slave holding religion and religion holding slaves. The principal research question of the present study seeks to probe the usability of the Christian faith by slave owners to dominate and pacify the slaves, and the instrumentalisation by the slaves of the Christian faith as a liberatory and emancipatory belief. Perception by Incongruity enriches the present study in so far as it unmasks the incongruity and paradox of masters and slaves sharing the same definition of God and faith and still remaining in their conflictual positions of masters and slaves. Since this study is a study in literature, the methods of literature study and textual analysis are deployed in examining the primary texts, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. A multiplicity of secondary texts; in form of critical and empirical literature; are used throughout this study to support observations, arguments and conclusions that are advanced by the study. Summatively, this study observes and concludes that religion, in this case Christianity occupies a perceptively incongruous position where it is suable by people in conflicting situations. Further, where domination, power and capitalism as an economic system meet, religion belongs in the mind and the eye of the beholders who seeks to use it to justify and defend their particular interests and positions. / English Studies / M.A. (English Studies)