The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to study why the concept of digital competence previously has been frequently addressed in Swedish politics, and to examine possible connections to the related concepts information literacy and media and information literacy (MIL). These inquiries have been studied using Carol Lee Bacchi’s methodological approach to policy analysis to, with basis in Foucaldian post-structuralist discourse analysis, study representations of the problem present in a public investigation, presented by the Digitization Committee regarding digital competence (SOU 2015:28). In order to perform a discourse analysis according to Bacchi’s methodology, elements from both Foucault’s archeology and genealogy have been used to examine the discursive formations of digital competence. Apart from the public investigation issued by the Digitization Committee, other relevant documents have been studied. The Media public investigation (SOU2015:94), the Government’s Digitization Strategy (N2017/03643/D) and the National IT Strategy for the Swedish School System (U2017/04119/S) have been examined, in search for competing discourses regarding digital competence. The results of the study show that digital competence has been frequently issued in Swedish politics in regard to its part of hegemony discourse and therefore to its prominent position in the economics and technology discourse. Connections to the related concepts information literacy and media and information literacy are identified in their part of a competing humanistic and sociological discourse, and their power and potential to rephrase hegemony discourse, regarding the concept of digital competence.

Introduktion: Parkinsons sjukdom (PS) är en neurodegenerativ sjukdom som påverkar rörelseförmåga, balans, gång och aktivitetsförmåga. Lee Silverman Voice Treatment BIG (LSVT BIG) har goda korttidseffekter men det saknas studier som beskriver personernas egna erfarenheter av att vidmakthålla fysisk träning och färdigheter efter att ha deltagit i LSVT BIG. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att utforska erfarenheter av att vidmakthålla fysisk träning och färdigheter hos personer med PS som deltagit i LSVT BIG.  Metod: Studien var av kvalitativ design med induktiv ansats. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med 12 personer med PS som deltagit i LSVT BIG för minst tre månader sedan. De transkriberade intervjuerna analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys enligt Graneheim och Lundman. Resultat: Analysen resulterade i temat tilltro och drivkraft att påverka funktion och sjukdomens progress. Det övergripande temat baserades på tre kategorier: upplägg som främjar egenträning, motivation att fortsätta träna och förstärkare av träning samt tre underkategorier per kategori. Resultatet beskriver betydelse av struktur på träningen, uppföljning och anpassning för att öka drivkraft och tilltro till att påverka funktion och progress av sjukdomen. Det ligger till grund för vidmakthållande av träning och färdigheter över tid.  Slutsats: Personer med PS som deltagit i LSVT BIG upplever att det är viktigt att upprätthålla motivation och individanpassa förstärkare av beteendet. Deras erfarenhet är att uppföljning och anpassning av träningen är nödvändig för att överbrygga hinder samt stärka tilltro och drivkraft att påverka symtom och progress av sjukdomen. Denna studie kan hjälpa fysioterapeuter och arbetsterapeuter eftersom personer med PS behöver stöd för att stärka resurser och överbrygga hinder gällande motivation, kontext och multisjuklighet. Framtida forskning behövs om långtidseffekter av LSVT BIG och ett beteendemedicinskt förhållningssätt kopplat till vidmakthållande av fysisk träning för personer med PS. / Introduction: Parkinson´s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that affects mobility, balance, ambulation and activity. Lee Silverman Voice Treatment BIG (LSVT BIG) has good short-term effects, but there are no studies describing people's own experiences of maintaining physical exercise and skills after participating in LSVT BIG. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of maintaining physical exercise and skills in people with PD who participated in LSVT BIG. Method: The study was of qualitative design with inductive approach. The semistructured interviews were conducted with 12 people following a minimum of three months post participated in LSVT BIG. The transcribed interviews were analyzed with qualitative content analysis according to Graneheim and Lundman. Results: The analysis revealed in a theme 0f higher confidence and motivation to influence function and slowing the progression of the disorder. Three categories were identified to support the overall theme: arrangement that promote self training, motivation to continue physical exercise and enhancers of exercise, and three sub-categories per category. The results describe the importance of structure in exercise, follow-up and adjustment to increase motivation and confidence in being able to influence function and progression of the disorder. It forms the foundation for maintaining physical exercise and skills over time. Conclusion: The LVST BIG participants with PD felt the importance of motivation and individualized reinforcers of behaviour to maintain physical exercise and skills over time. In their experience, follow up and adaptation of the exercises is necessary in order to overcome barriers, give confidence and strengthen motivation to influence the symptoms and slow progression of the disorder. This study can help physiotherapist and occupational therapist as people with PD need support to strengthen their resources and overcome barriers regarding motivation, context and multi-illness. Long term effects of LSVT BIG and a behavioural medicine approach related to the maintenance and longevity of physical exercise for people with PD requires further research.

In April 2015, the bronze statue of Cecil John Rhodes- notorious mining magnate, archimperialist and champion of a global Anglo-Saxon empire- was removed from its concrete plinth overlooking Cape Town, South Africa. This came as a result of the #RhodesMustFall (#RMF) movement, a movement that would see statues questioned and vandalised across the country. Two years later, fierce contestation over the hegemonic narrative told through the American South’s symbolic landscape erupted over the proposed removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, resulting in the deaths of multiple people in Charlottesville, Virginia. Increasing research on the removal of Rhodes and the removal of Confederate statuary has emerged in recent years. However, previous scholarship has failed to compare the wider phenomena of the calls for removal, from the memorialised figures to their change in symbolic capital, the movements’ inception and its outcomes. There is subsequently a gap in the literature understanding what the politics of statue removal tell us about not only the American and South African commemorative landscapes, but the nations’ interpretations of the past and societies themselves. Therefore, this thesis uses descriptive comparative analysis to compare two case studies where the debate over statue removal has surfaced most vehemently: Rhodes’ statue at the University of Cape Town and Lee’s statue in Charlottesville. Ultimately, this dissertation finds that the calls for the removal of statues are part of a wider change in tenor towards understanding and disrupting prevailing hegemonic narratives of white supremacy, in both society and its symbolic landscape. The phenomena demonstrates that heterogeneous societies with pasts marred by segregation and racism are moving to reject and re-negotiate these histories and their symbols, a move that has elicited deeply divided, emotional responses. Despite waning attention to monument removals, the issue remains unresolved, contentious, and capable of re-igniting.

The housing foreclosure crisis of 2007-2010 in the United States disproportionately affected persons of color. Some states, such as Florida, were heavily impacted by property value losses, yet there has been little research since about the experience of losing a home and recovering from that loss from the perspective of the homeowner. Using Carlson's conceptualization of resiliency theory, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to assess the impact of housing foreclosure and the experience of recovery from foreclosure on Black and Hispanic people in Lee County, Florida. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 15 people in Lee County who experienced foreclosure and recovery. Interview data were inductively coded and then subjected to a thematic analysis procedure. Findings revealed that a common experience among participants was that they lacked knowledge about government programs that may have helped them avoid foreclosure, and only a few participants took advantage of emergency assistance offered through local or regional government organizations. In general, people experienced a sense of isolation and had little guidance on recovery options. The positive social change implications of this study include recommendations to government organizations on all levels to enhance outreach efforts to help struggling families avoid foreclosure, including considering creative funding mechanisms to offer assistance.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Real Estate Development in Conjunction with the Center for Real Estate, 2009. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 121). / The commercial real estate industry is currently in a state of turmoil, as access to capital markets is as constrained as consumer demand. Today many real estate development firms find themselves in difficult positions, with plummeting net operating income and upwardly mobile capitalization rates. Tail events - market events that were believed, based on statistics, to be rare occurrences - seem to be occurring with more and more regularity. With increasing uncertainty and market volatility, the question must be asked: how well can real estate developers predict returns? The purpose of this thesis is threefold: First, to determine whether real estate developers are accurately projecting real estate development returns; second, to determine where input assumption estimation errors are made in the ex ante proforma; and third, we undertake an analysis and application of Monte Carlo Simulation to ascertain whether, by providing practitioners another layer of transaction information, simulation is additive to the development return forecasting process. Through the careful analysis of both ex ante and ex post proformas of real estate development projects, this thesis is one of the first to show how well developers predict the outcomes of their projects. Our findings are rather surprising. We determine that ex ante and ex post real estate returns vary dramatically. On average expected development returns are shown to be 23.2%, while realized returns are only 9.4%. To understand this discrepancy we analyze each project proforma to identify where, during the valuation and development processes, developers made mistakes. / (cont.) Our findings suggest that developers are overly optimistic, especially when estimating hard costs, soft cost, and cashflow timing. The thesis results are consistent with the findings of a study by Dr. James Shilling, who analyzed the discrepancy between ex ante and ex post proforma returns for stabilized institutional properties. Shilling deduced that institutional investors are also misjudging returns, overestimating by an average of nearly 650 basis points. We also seek to augment and improve the valuation process employed by developers by applying Monte Carlo Simulation to discounted cashflow analysis. Applying Monte Carlo Simulation to the ex ante proforma of a real development transaction, we assess whether discounted cashflow analysis coupled with simulation provides an ex ante return that more closely approximates the realized ex post return. Again, our results are surprising. Among our findings, we learn that the simulation preparation process better informs a developer of sensitivities in input assumption variables for the transaction. However, industry data is not comprehensive, transparent, or available for a sufficiently long period of time to apply Monte Carlo Simulation. Despite the additional information provided by simulation, there remains the risk that a simulation proforma using incomplete data will yield inaccurate results. Due to the limited sample size used in our study we acknowledge that our results must be interpreted with some caution. However, we are hopeful that this initial effort to better understand and forecast development returns will encourage further study in this important area. / by Jason J. Foster and Bryan D. Lee. / S.M.

This documentary was filmed primarily in the Czech Republic in 2011 and highlights Czech bluegrass musicians and Lee Bidgood's performance of original Czech bluegrass songs filmed at the Down Home in Johnson City, TN. Post-production work was done at ETSU, and the film was completed in 2013. KLRU in Austin, Texas, is the presenting station for the documentary. / https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1106/thumbnail.jpg

This study examines the detrimental effects of religion on characters in Smith's fiction, with special attention to three general areas of religious influence on women. It considers Smith's illumination of the social, psychological, and artistic harm that organized religion can inflict on the lives of women. This study includes library research of religion and Lee Smith's fiction. The study also concludes that Smith's seemingly casual fiction raises unsettling questions about the negative effects that religion often has on individuals.

Harper Lee wrote a remarkable novel which provides a great deal of moral insight for its readers; through a use of history, moral instruction, and character development, Lee establishes a foundation for how people in an often intolerant world should live peacefully together. Moreover, she reminds the reader that regardless of socioeconomic status or race everyone deserves to be treated with respect and kindness. In establishing this moral analysis one must consider the historical source of Tom Robinson’s trial, the Scottsboro Trial; the Finch children’s consistent and exemplified instruction from their widowed father, Atticus, their housekeeper, Calpurina, and other close neighbors; and the symbolic representation of the mockingbird as a peaceful and protective creature which generally gets along with other bird species.

Though many representations of Appalachian religious practices describe conservative, stagnant, xenophobic, and backward traditions, some authors present Christian practices in Appalachia as a potential source of social and individual progressiveness. Denise Giardina in Storming Heaven and The Unquiet Earth, Jim Wayne Miller in "Brier Sermon: 'You Must Be Born Again,'" and Lee Smith in Fair and Tender Ladies all represent "mountain religion" practices that offer relevancy not only to the characters in the novel but also to the reader. Analysis of these works through their symbolic representations of uniquely Appalachian religious traditions reveals the authors' commitment to sacralizing social and individual struggle through the sacred and mimetic transformations of characters and communities. By reusing and reinterpreting sacred patterns, both biblical and more contemporary regional patterns, the authors associate their works with sacred and regional traditions, demonstrating the viability, the flexibility, and the vitality of regional religious practices.

The area of investigation in the Jake's Women's thesis resides with the actor's preparation in the portrayal of a character who struggles with the pain of loss and betrayal. The acting technique explored centers around the psychology behind the emotional and physical aspects of acting. The results rely on the thoughts and feelings of sensitivity in the actor's body. Development of an actor's inner technique and outer instrument is explored and implemented. An actor's belief in the body to produce effective imaginary people or place within a scene rests in the actor's ability to allow his or her instrument to create real-life emotion. This process of belief is accomplished through the trained technique of relaxation exercises, thus, giving the actor the discipline to concentrate on the process of creating a believable character. The human condition becomes the central focus in the honest representation of a man suffering to forgive and forget his troubles.