Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to describe the social media usage of five European official national tourism organizations (NTO). The essay proceeds to discuss and evaluate the findings, whilst reflecting on the advantages of social media usage from the point of view of an official national tourism organization. Method: The authors used three different methods of research: one structured observation to study the national tourism organizations’ everyday work in social media, one field stimulation to study if and how different NTO respond if a prospective visitor makes them a direct question via social media and finally an email interview to gain insight into NTO’s underlying strategies and policies about social media usage. Theoretical framework: The theories that have been used in this paper include the Uses and gratifications model, theories of one-way and multi-way communication, theories of social media and relationship marketing. Conclusion: By making use of social media the company releases some of its control to the customers as the latter can express their opinions freely in this type of media. One of the advantages of social media is that the platform favors dialogue and feedback. Social media can be used for traditional one-way communication, but works best as a supplement to the regular marketing activities, allowing the activities on social media platforms to focus on branding and building long-term customer relationships. Relationship marketing is extra profitable for services such as tourism, and social media provide suitable formats for e-WOM, one of the most trusted sources for information before traveling. The five NTO examined here are using various social media. All of them use Facebook and Twitter. However, the investigation has shown that only Facebook, and to some extent also Twitter, is used for multi-way communication. Other social media networks are simply used by the NTO as another channel for one-way marketing communications. Although regrettable that they do not fully profit from the opportunities of dialogue that social media offer, there is still value in being visible in different kinds of social media, in part due to the large group of people who use them daily.

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Despite a rising democratic defict in dominant Canadian media they continue to hold much influce on policy-makers, government officials and citizens. While some scholars argue that recent advancements in communication technology change the dynamics of media production, making it more accessible, others argue that online media reflects what occurs offline. To test which position is correct, this thesis compares dominant and alternative news media websites. Overall, it appears that online media practices are a reflection of offline media. At best, alternative media adopt a hybrid model of production where they chose to selectively incorporate dominant media practices in the aim to meet the goals of alternative media.

The importance of consumers’ active engagement in a firm’s online brand community in social network sites has received increasing attention from both academia and industry. The study applied a Netnography of the official Popchips Facebook community to provide a baseline understanding of the consumer-firm relationship in this type of environment. Unlike more traditional studies that focus on brand communities for niche or luxury brands, this study dealt with a convenience product called Popchips. It is also one of the brands that utilized a strong social media strategy to communicate to its consumers. Findings suggested four classifications of a fan signifying their relationships with the company: ‘pending relationship status’, ‘it’s complicated’, ‘in a relationship’ and ‘married’. This study provides useful managerial implications for marketers who want to tap into this new marketing communication tool and medium, for the purpose of building stronger relationships with their consumers.

Two experiments were performed to investigate the interaction of a combustion wave with porous media. The first experiment was performed in a 1.22m long, 76mm wide, and 152mm high horizontal channel with a nitrogen-diluted stoichiometric methane-oxygen mixture at initial pressures of 20-50kPa. A layer of 12.7mm diameter ceramic-oxide spheres was placed along the bottom to partially obstruct the channel, leaving a gap of free space above. For a fixed gap height the bead layer thickness had very little effect on explosion propagation. For a fixed bead layer thickness the explosion propagation was strongly influenced by the gap height. For example, a 31% nitrogen diluted mixture at room temperature resulted in DDT for a gap height of 38mm at initial pressures of 30-50 kPa, but not for 109mm over the same pressures. The gap above the bead layer permits DDT as long as the gap height is larger than one detonation cell width. Propagation of the detonation wave over the bead layer is possible if the gap height can accommodate at least two detonation cells. For a 38mm gap, velocity measurements and sooted foil imprints indicate that the detonation undergoes successive failure and re-initiation, referred to as “galloping” in the literature. In the second experiment, the head-on collision of a combustion front with a layer of 3 and 12.7mm diameter ceramic-oxide spheres was investigated in a 61cm long, 76.2mm diameter vertical tube for a nitrogen-diluted stoichiometric ethylene-oxygen mixture at initial pressures of 10-100kPa. Four orifice plates were placed at the ignition end to accelerate the premixed flame to a “fast-flame” or a detonation wave. For fast-flames pressures recorded at the bead layer face were up to five times the reflected CJ detonation pressure. This explosion iv developed by two distinct mechanisms: a) shock reflection off the bead layer face and b) shock transmission into the bead layer and subsequent explosion therein. The measured explosion delay time (time after shock reflection from the bead layer face) was found to be independent of the incident shock velocity. Thus, it was shown that explosion initiation is not the direct result of shock reflection but is more likely due to the interaction of the reflected shock with the trailing flame. The bead layer was found to be very effective in attenuating the explosion and isolating the tube endplate. / Thesis (Master, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2008-08-15 17:57:22.213

Social media services like Facebook mark the continued domestication of surveillance technology. Facebook has been remarkably successful at establishing a presence within a variety of social settings, including the interpersonal sphere, the academic sector, and the marketplace. As a platform shared by these spheres, Facebook distributes personal information beyond intended contexts. This research will develop a sociological understanding of individual, institutional, and aggregate surveillance through social networking sites. A series of semi-structured face-to-face interviews with students, university administrators and business employees provides a detailed understanding of surveillance practices on Facebook. Three kinds of surveillance are considered. First, lateral – or peer-to-peer – surveillance refers to interpersonal scrutiny between individuals. Second, institutional surveillance is the scrutiny of key populations by universities and other institutions. Third, aggregated surveillance is used primarily by businesses to study relevant markets. I propose that mutual augmentation exists between individual, institutional, and aggregate forms of surveillance on social media. These three models are situated within the same informational platform. By sharing not only the same information, but also the same interface used to access that information, formerly discrete surveillance practices feed off one another. New personal details, criteria, and searching techniques become common knowledge. Marketers and institutions now benefit from ‘user-generated value’ when individuals exchange relevant information amongst themselves. Likewise, university-age users have adopted new criteria like ‘employability’ and ‘liability’ to assess their peers as well as themselves. / Thesis (Ph.D, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2010-12-31 05:12:00.199

An analytical model is presented for the interpretation of pumping tests conducted in a fractured rock aquifer. The solution accommodates multiple horizontal fractures intersecting pumping and observation wells with interconnecting vertical fracture features. The uppermost horizontal fracture is connected via this fracture network to a free surface boundary. Wellbore storage is included at the pumping and observation wells using an approximate superposition technique and the solution is derived using the Laplace transform method. Evaluation is performed by numerical inversion using the Talbot algorithm. Sensitivity of the model to the governing hydraulic parameters for both pumping and observation well data is presented for a realistic range of values for fractured rock. A field example is given to demonstrate the application of the model and to explore the uniqueness of the interpreted values. Based on the results obtained using the present analytical model, estimation of unique values of the vertical hydraulic parameters in a sedimentary rock setting may not be possible using pumping test results. Subsequently, measuring aquifer properties from various testing methods was investigated to explore the significance of fracture heterogeneities relative to tested volumes and to determine which testing methods were capable of producing reliable parameter estimates. The hydrogeological study was performed in a fractured sedimentary rock aquifer using four different field testing methods: constant head tests, pulse interference tests, 12-hour isolated interval pumping tests and 48-hour open-hole pumping tests. Particular emphasis was placed on the reliable estimation of vertical hydraulic parameters in this setting. The evaluation of the pumping test data was performed using the analytical model derived earlier to determine whether the new pumping test model could produce confident estimates of vertical hydraulic parameters. While estimates of horizontal hydraulic conductivity measurements were not affected by test method, open-well pumping tests do not appear able to predict values of vertical hydraulic conductivity and specific yield. Alternatively, pulse interference tests may be a less time-intensive option to constant head injection tests for determining vertical parameters in a sedimentary rock setting. / Thesis (Master, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-14 11:28:14.466

Concern regarding grinding media wear is as old as the invention of the tumbling mill itself. Over the years many techniques have been tried in an attempt to minimize costs associated with grinding. These have included experimentation with different metals, non-metals and different shapes. Through all this, steel grinding balls have proved the most effective media for comminution in tumbling mills. / As old as the tumbling mill is, no accurate technique for estimating the wear of the ball charge has been developed. The mining industry still utilizes the Bond Abrasion test that was developed in the early 1960s. This test which is based solely on the ore properties is inadequate giving a standard deviation in excess of 100%. This can results in high degree of error which for greenfield applications can indicate profitability for non-profitable operations and vice versa. / Peter Radziszewski proposed a decoupled total grinding media wear model that could be used to predict grinding media instead of using the Bond abrasion test. This new model had a standard deviation of 56%, which was a great improvement over the bond abrasion wear estimates. This new model also allowed for the first time, the three wear modes, abrasion, corrosion and impact, responsible for grinding media wear to be quantified. This was an important development as the ability to identify the dominant wear mode in any given operation gives operators a chance to target reduction of wear. The current mining trend is towards exploitation of lower grade ores as the higher grades become depleted. These low-grade ores require finer grinding for the liberation of the value minerals. This in turn means higher ball consumption and higher beneficiation costs. The reduction of ball wear to minimise the overall cost of ore processing operation is going to be a primary concern for all concentrators. / The objective of the research that forms the basis of this thesis was to improve the accuracy of the decoupled grinding media wear model. This was achieved by refining the tests and methodologies used to determine the wear components that make up the decoupled grinding media wear model, performing fundamental testwork to determine a more accurate structure of the decoupled model, and validating this new model. / The new model termed the "modified decoupled grinding media wear model", gives better accuracy in predicting grinding media wear than both the Bond abrasion test and the original decoupled model.

<p>&quot / This study investigates the ever-changing trends in visual texts and images used during HIV-prevention campaigns in South Africa. The aim is to evaluate and analyse the effect of multimodal texts used in HIV/AIDS campaigns on the understanding and interpretation by the target group, and thus gauge their effectiveness. Using a text-based multimodal approach (Kress and van Leeuwen, 1996/2006 / Martin and Rose, 2004), the study takes into account variables such as socio-economic status, literacy levels, language and cultural differences of readers to evaluate the efficacy of loveLife campaigns to disseminate the HIV/AIDS prevention message. This study focuses on the choice of images and words, and whether they cohere to make a meaningful message. The study analyses how the design features, including images, colour and words, impact on the interpretation of the message and also how the design acts as an aid or barrier to the process of decoding the message. The choice of a two-pronged approach combining multimodality and a text-based (discourse) analyses often favoured by those working in systemic functional linguistics is that it enables the researcher to account for social context, economic, linguistic, cultural and behavioural factors that play a role during the decoding phase...&quot / </p>