This comparative case study examining epidemiological practices in Vietnam and the US revealed three pandemic influenza paradoxes: The paradox of attribution which asserts that pandemic influenza comes exclusively from Asia even though historical evidence points to the contrary; the paradox of prevention which encourages industrial methods (i.e., factory farming) for combating influenza even though there is conflicting evidence for any superiority of this method in terms of means of production or disease prevention; and the paradox of action where epidemiologists act in ways not consistent with prevailing epidemiological recommendations.  The existence of these paradoxes may, in fact, impede efforts at stopping and preventing pandemic influenza.  In order to find the root causes of these paradoxes, this study examined indigenous media and historical and contemporary research reports on pandemic influenza.  This archival information was juxtaposed to viewpoints garnered from ethnographic interviews with epidemiologists who have worked in Vietnam, the United States, or in both countries.  This study found that these paradoxes endure because of the dual nature of science " the known and the unknown elements of current knowledge " and assumptions made between the two.  The dual nature of science describes both the information that has been codified and information that has not been codified and the implications between the two. In other words, in between the spaces of known information, there are attempts to fill in the gaps in knowledge, which results in paradoxes. Of particular importance in this gap-filling process are the three "C's" of collaboration, conflict, and competition.  Collaboration is integral to the successful prevention of influenza pandemics; however, it is this same collaboration wherein which epidemiologists are trained to be so highly specialized that they often depend on unvetted external expert information.  Conflict and competition occur from the geopolitical level all they way down to the level of the individual epidemiologist and are influenced by the political and scientific economy along with social and cultural factors. / Ph. D.

The goal of this research project is to tell the story of acquisition expertise development within the DOD using the evolution of the Defense Acquisition University as its backdrop. It is a story about the persistent frame that claims expertise leads to acquisition success. It is about 40 plus years of competing perspectives of how best to acquire that expertise and their shaping effects. It is about technology choices amidst cultural and political conflict. It is about how budget, users, infrastructure, existing and emerging technologies, identity and geography all interrelate as elements within the technology of expertise development. Finally, it is about how at various times in the evolution of the Defense Acquisition University the technologies of tacit knowledge transfer have been elevated or diminished. / Ph. D.

Environmental quality is a construct that has currency at the interface between science and policy—it is used both to describe current conditions as well as prescribe desired future conditions. However, environmental quality has a multiplicity of definitions, owing to: a) the fact that there are a number of terms (or "sub constructs") taken to be synonymous with environmental quality (i.e. environmental health, sustainability, biodiversity, integrity, and the like), and b) the fact that each of these sub constructs, in turn, have multiple meanings. Many in the field of natural sciences have been working on this problem of ambiguity—attempting to develop precise and powerful definitions. Still others argue that environmental quality is a concept open to societal negotiation (in addition to scientific discovery). In this thesis, I argue that environmental quality can be understood and discussed by examining understandings of Nature and evaluations for Nature that seem to contribute to the ambiguity of meanings and outcomes for environmental quality. To reach these conclusions, I interviewed 24 stakeholders who represented a broad range of concerns about and interests in environmental quality on private forest land in Southwest Virginia. I reviewed nearly 300 pages of interview text, looking for emerging themes and structures from their hour-long (on average) discussions of environmental quality. I found that among these 24 stakeholders, there were indeed, many ways of defining environmental quality (i.e. health, biodiversity, site productivity, et cetera). Additionally, I found that these different definitions for environmental quality seem to correlate with different understandings of Nature (what is Nature like?) and different values for Nature (how should Nature be used?) I conclude by discussing these implications, using examples from forestry outreach and extension. / Master of Science

The cultural paradigm shift from modernism to postmodernism offers challenges and opportunities to the church to develop pastoral practises that address the changing needs of members of congregations. In my research I follow a contextual approach to the study of theology. I describe the context of postmodernism and how the church manages its pastoral practises in this context. The social construction discourse and narrative epistemology offer new perspectives on how appropriate pastoral practises can be established within this context. I research the possible ways in which the social construction discourse and narrative epistemology can contribute to three key areas of congregational pastoral practices, namely preaching, group work and pastoral visiting. My research highlights the important contribution that members of a congregation can make in the process of constructing narrative pastoral practises that will assist them to story their lives in the context of the Great Story of God. The fusion of the life stories of the faithful with the Great Story of God inspires them to describe their life stories in rich and more fulfilling ways. In the process of this research, I endeavoured to make audible the input of as many of those that contributed to the construction of new narratiewe pastoral practises. I have accordingly included their contribution more comprehensively than would normally be done. / Practical Theology / D.Th. (Practical Theology - specialising in Pastoral Therapy)

The cultural paradigm shift from modernism to postmodernism offers challenges and opportunities to the church to develop pastoral practises that address the changing needs of members of congregations. In my research I follow a contextual approach to the study of theology. I describe the context of postmodernism and how the church manages its pastoral practises in this context. The social construction discourse and narrative epistemology offer new perspectives on how appropriate pastoral practises can be established within this context. I research the possible ways in which the social construction discourse and narrative epistemology can contribute to three key areas of congregational pastoral practices, namely preaching, group work and pastoral visiting. My research highlights the important contribution that members of a congregation can make in the process of constructing narrative pastoral practises that will assist them to story their lives in the context of the Great Story of God. The fusion of the life stories of the faithful with the Great Story of God inspires them to describe their life stories in rich and more fulfilling ways. In the process of this research, I endeavoured to make audible the input of as many of those that contributed to the construction of new narratiewe pastoral practises. I have accordingly included their contribution more comprehensively than would normally be done. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th. (Practical Theology - specialising in Pastoral Therapy)

Migration is a phenomenon which has strong impact on the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic is currently under transformation from transit country to immigration country. At the present time the situation is even more complicated because of the migrant crises which impact all of us. I suppose that the Members of Parliament will create social constructions or narratives about migrants during the sitting of parliament. I aim to identify social constructions of migrants that are created by the Czech political parties represented in the Chamber of Deputies since the 2013 election. I will divide social construction into two main groups. Ones belong to migrants and the other ones to refugees. I would like to find out if there are more positive or negative social constructions and how are benefits and punishments distributed to these groups. I would like to discover key narratives of particular political negotiation as well. Theoretical background of this thesis is the social construction of target population theory of Anne Schneider and Helen Ingram. In the manner of Lina Newton's article "It is not a question of being anti-immigrant: Categories of deservedness in immigration policy making", I will use a combination of discursive and narrative analysis as the main method. I will analyse statements and...

This studies aim was to understand and analyze how social workers in family law constructs risk assessments. Furthermore the study aimed to describe social workers in family laws perspective on the construction of risk assessment. To achieve the goals of this study qualitative interviews was used. In total six social workers was interviewed which all worked with family law in social services. To understand how the social workers constructed the risk assessments a theory from social constructivism was used, namely the institutional theory by Berger and Luckmann. The results show that the procedure of how the risk assessment was similarly executed, the social workers gathered information and then they weighted the information. Though there was a difference in how they gathered the information and how they weighted the information. The main discovery of this study is however that according to the informants the construction of a risk assessment is influenced by seven factors, and these factors could be located on three levels from individual to workplace and to the law and Socialstyrelse. Depending on which level the factor was located it made a difference on how the factor was incorporated to the construction of the risk assessment.

Syftet med denna studie är att belysa några grundsärskolelärares konstruktioner av elevers delaktighet i ämnet matematik. För att kunna belysa lärares konstruktioner har jag genomfört kvalitativa gruppintervjuer med lärare, inom grundsärskolans olika stadier, som alla undervisar i ämnet. Jag har genom intervjuerna tagit del av lärarnas gemensamma beskrivningar och sedan analyserat dem ur ett socialkonstruktionistiskt perspektiv. Utifrån de intervjuade lärarnas konstruktioner handlar elevers egna önskemål om delaktighet i matematikämnet främst om tillgång till digitala verktyg i form av Ipads och här beskrivs elever som skickliga användare. Hinder för delaktighet däremot kan handla om elevers okunskap om hur man gör sig delaktig emedan möjlighet till delaktighet kan handla om att läraren är positivt inställd till ämnet. En matematikundervisning som är nivåanpassad och variationsrik och som präglas av lyhördhet och prestigelöshet kan inverka gynnsamt på elevers möjligheter att vara delaktiga. Variationer mellan stadier handlar bland annat om graden av initiativförmåga som tenderar att öka med stigande ålder men även om elevers förståelse av ämnet som blir mer tydligt ju äldre eleverna blir. Min förhoppning är att denna studie kan bidra till ökad förståelse för hur viktig lärarrollen är för grundsärskoleelevers möjligheter att bli delaktiga i matematikundervisningen. / The purpose of this study is to describe the constructions of student participation in mathematics made by some special school teachers. In order to obtain teachers' constructions of student participation in mathematics I conducted qualitative group interviews with teachers in special schools from different stages, each of which teaches the subject. Through the interviews I have been able to take part of the teachers’ common descriptions and I have analyzed these from a social constructionist perspective. Based on teachers’ constructions is students' own preferences about participation in mathematics mainly for access to digital tools as Ipads and the teachers describes students as skilled users. The picture of what can prevent participation include students' lack of knowledge about how to do their part. On the contrary if the teacher has a positive attitude towards mathematics opportunities for participation might be given. Mathematics teaching, if graded and varied and if characterized by sensitivity and modesty, have a positive impact on pupils' opportunities to be involved. Variations between stages include the degree of initiative that tends to increase with age but also students' understanding of the subject that becomes more evident the older the students are. My hope is that this study can contribute to greater understanding of how important the teachers role is for special school students’ opportunities to become involved in the teaching of mathematics.

This study addresses the post-revolutionary history of Roma in the Romanian public sphere by examining the social construction of this minority in press and history textbooks. The objective is to illuminate synchronic and diachronic structural patterns in public texts debating Roma in order to offer a deeper understanding of the Romanian xenophobia assuming that the public debate affects the status quo of Roma. Public texts represent fruitful channels of communication through which selective social realities par excellence, stocks of knowledge and typifications are proclaimed by different societal actors. The press possess a critical function whilst history textbooks a manipulative function advocating normative historical realties par excellence. The modi operandi utilized are quantitative, qualitative content- and critical discourse analysis, which are applied in the monitoring of approximately 6000 newspapers, 197 articles (1991-2012) and 6 textbooks (2008-2014). The results indicate that the media history of Roma resembled police investigations rather than conventional journalism. Manifest and latent stereotypifications have synchronically and diachronically formed uncritical and demonizing stocks of knowledge, whose societal truths sustained the othering of Roma in press and were depicted as a force behind the destruction of [“our”] national self-image. History textbooks have offered an inexistent stock of historical knowledge omitting, e.g. the slavery and deportations of Roma but highlighting ethnocentric perspectives, patriotism and other minorities.

The notion of Mode 2, as a shift from Mode 1 science-as-we-know-it, depicts science as practically relevant, socially distributed and democratic. Debates remain over the empirical substantiation of Mode 2. In particular, our understanding has been impeded by the mutually exclusive framing of Mode 1/Mode 2. Looking at how academic science is justified to diverse institutional interests – a situation associated with Mode 2 – it is asked, “What happens to Mode 1 where Mode 2 is in demand?” This study comprises two sequential phases. It combines interviews with 18 university spinout founders as micro-level Mode 2 exemplars, and macro-level policy narratives from 72 expert witnesses examined by select committees. An interpretive scheme (Greenwood and Hinings, 1988) is applied to capture the internal means-ends structure of each mode, where the end is to satisfy demand constituents, both in academia (Mode 1) and beyond (Mode 2). Results indicate Mode 1’s enduring influence even where non-academic demands are concerned, thus refuting that means and ends necessarily operate together as a stable mode. The causal ambiguity inherent in scientific advances necessitates (i) Mode 1 peer review as the only quality control regime systematically applicable ex ante, and (ii) Mode 1 means of knowledge production as essential for the health and diversity of the science base. Modifications to performance criteria are proposed to create a synergy between modes and justify public investment, especially in the absence of immediate outcomes. The study presents a framework of Mode1/Mode 2 coexistence that eases the problem with the either/or perception and renders Mode 2 more amenable to empirical research. It is crucial to note, though, that this is contingent on given vested interests. In this study, Mode 1’s fate is seen through academic scientists whose imperative is unique from those of other constituents, thereby potentially entailing further struggles and negotiation.