Social media have been growing rapidly in recent years thanks to the innovations of social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook and Twitter, both of which originated in the United States. Currently, SNS and other social media have become global phenomena. This report aims to study the features of SNS that prosper in the U.S., Japan, and China. Through a comparative analysis of the similarities and differences among the top SNS players in each of the three countries, it is possible to identify unique characteristics of each nation’s social networking landscape. The SNS market in the U.S. is relatively mature, while the social networking population is growing in Japan and China. However, contrary to the expectations of some, the Japanese and Chinese social networking landscapes appear to be quite different from one another with regard to SNS usage, despite Japan and China’s similar cultural backgrounds and geographical proximity. / text

Over the last decade, miniature ion thruster development has remained an active area of research do to its low power, low thrust, and high efficiency, however, due to several technical issues; a flight level miniature ion thruster has proved elusive. This thesis covers the design, fabrication, assembly, and test of an altered version of the Miniature Xenon Ion thruster (MiXI), originally developed by lead engineer Dr. Richard Wirz, at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). In collaboration with Dr. Wirz, MiXI-CP-V3 was developed at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with the goal of implementing of a ¼ inch hollow cathode and 3mmx3mm plasma confinement magnets in order to improve the plasma confinement characteristics, reliability, and performance of the MiXI design. Operational testing revealed a mass utilization efficiency of 35-75% and a discharge loss of 550-1200 eV/ion over plasma discharge currents of 0.5-1.5A and propellant flow rates of 0.8-1.3 SCCM. Testing revealed that the MiXI thruster can be operated with a hollow cathode and observations and data gained from this study have led to a greater understanding of the operational parameters of the MiXI thruster, and will contribute to the development and advancement of the MiXI baseline design, with the goal of creating an efficient and reliable flight level miniature ion thruster.

(English) Master thesis is focused on the influence of cultural environment on the user approach to social sites. First chapter of the theoretical part is oriented on the evolution of the human behaviour in the role of an active creator of the content in the hypertext. Next chapter examine the roots of the social networks' usage diversification in Japanese sociocultural environment. Special focus is given on the divergence of the social networks' usage comparing to the global standard. Also, the thesis is trying to reveal possible reasons of the Japanese usage specifics via exploring the historical evolution of the publishing of the users' content in Japan from the first blogs to the most popular social networks worldwide. These platforms are then analysed with emphasis put on description of the Japanese user specifics. In the practical part of the thesis we are trying to support the hypothesis that change of the cultural environment for the long time period (a year of longer) will lead to the change of the usage customs. Following study is concentrated on this question in order to answer it using half-structured interviews with the Japanese respondents who lived/is living in the Czech Republic for the time period longer/equal to one year. The results will be compared with the results from the same...

A computational model of the micro-ion thruster MiXI has been developed, analyzed, and partially verified. This model includes submodels that govern the physical, magnetic, electrostatic, plasma physics, and power deposition of the thruster. Over the past few years, theses have been conducted with the goal of running tests and analyzing the results; this model is used to understand how the thruster components interact so as to make predictions about, and allow for optimization of, the thruster operation. Testing is then performed on the thruster and the results are compared to the output of the code. The magnetic structure of the thruster was analyzed and numerous different configurations generated which were also evaluated by the optimizer and tested. Using the different configurations, models, and optimization tools, the total efficiency of the thruster is theoretically able to reach 69.4%. Operational testing of the thruster at many different throttle settings demonstrated a maximum total efficiency of 45.9 ±24.6%, discharge loss values as low as 109 ±25 eV/ion, and total power required as low as 50.5 ±0.1W to maintain thruster operation with beam extraction. Measurements of the plasma were taken using a Langmuir probe and the interpretation of the tests are used to verify the plasma physics submodel. Power draw measurements and analysis of the throttle inputs during testing are compared to the performance model outputs but were not accurate or consistent enough to fully verify the power deposition and plasma physics models. Analysis of the models and operational testing in this study have led to an increased understanding of the performance and operation of the MiXI-CP-V3 thruster, furthering the effort to create an efficient, flight capable micro-ion thruster.

Detta projekt är en hemsida för Mixi Print AB. Den ska fungera som en framsida för företaget ur ett digitalt synsätt, en plats där det går att få fram information om företaget och dess produkter snabbt och enkelt. Jag har arbetat med programmet flash eftersom det ger möjlighet till bra och enkel men ändå fräsch design. Till detta så har jag kombinerat php och MySQL för att kunna koppla det till en databas. Som en del i projektet så har jag också reflekterat över grafiska bitar på Internet jämfört med hur det var innan. / Detta är en reflektionsdel till en digital medieproduktion.