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Listening comprehension has been the forgotten skill in second language acquisition. However, in recent years, more and more studies have focused on listening comprehension and now acknowledge its importance in language acquisition. Empirical studies have explored how listeners use the two main listening processes (top-down processing and bottom-up processing). In this study, 31 low-proficiency level Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) learners from Brigham Young University took the Chinese Computer Adaptive Language Test (CCALT) and listened to four listening passages, measured by idea unit analysis and local and global question types. The data from these measurements suggest that low-proficiency level CFL participants in this study used both top-down and bottom-up processing while they listened to short listening passages. The results suggest listening comprehension at various proficiency levels needs to be studied further in Chinese and with different types of listening passages.

Listening has proved to be a difficult skill to teach in the language classroom. Research has shown that pre-listening activities, or those activities done with students prior to listening, can have an effect on listening comprehension outcomes. This research addressed the effectiveness of two types of pre-listening activities: top-down and bottom-up. Volunteers from intermediate level courses taught at Brigham Young University were divided into two treatment groups and a control group. The treatment groups followed a mixed models design by each going through a top-down and bottom-up pre-listening activity, followed by listening to a passage in Mandarin Chinese and taking a multiple-choice test. The bottom-up activity chosen for this research was a vocabulary preview activity, with an advance organizer being chosen for the top-down activity. Results showed both treatment groups significantly outperformed the control group for both the top-down and bottom-up activities (p=0.0123 and p=0.0181 respectively). No significant difference existed in scores between top-down and bottom-up activities (p=0.9456). It was determined that both the vocabulary activity and the advance organizer helped to increase the listening comprehension of intermediate level students of Mandarin Chinese.

It has been widely acknowledged that environmental damage and changes in the global climate can be attributed to human activities. In their attempt to deal with these issues, current top down approaches to mitigate climate change not only have limited efficacy, but also fail at changing people’s behaviour. In this thesis, we argue that bottom up initiatives can be more successful at engaging people in pro-environmental behaviour change and action than the current top down strategies. The potential of bottom up actions to encourage such change and action is first assessed in literature. A more specific perspective of bottom up initiatives is looked at in which pro-environmental behaviour is encouraged and observed through the lens of urbanism. A practical event on sustainability, co-organized by the authors of this paper at KTH Campus, is then taken as a case study to test and verify if bottom up actions can bring about change in behaviours and generate public engagement in public spaces. The results show that bottom up actions have great potential to reach the community and engage people into sustainable practices. As it was positive and solution-oriented, but also accessible, participative and fun, the event easily attracted people’s attention and interest. The stimulating environment then facilitates the process of sharing and learning information and consequently, it also increases the chances of influencing behaviour change and action.

The initiation, bloom, and bust of harmful Cyanobacteria and algae blooms (HAB) in lakes are controlled by top-down and bottom-up ecological controls. Excess phosphorous and nitrogen inputs from anthropogenic sources are primary to blame, but eukaryotic grazers may also promote or curb Cyanobacteria dominance. We tracked shifts in bacterial composition, lake chemistry, and eukaryotic grazing community weekly or bi-weekly through spring and summer and modeled the causes of specific Cyanobacterial species blooms and busts across three lakes in Utah, USA, with differing lake trophic states. Regardless of trophic status, all three lakes experienced blooms of varying composition and duration. Aphanizomenon strain MDT14a was the most dominant species in every bloom on Utah Lake, comprising up to 44.16% of the bacterial community. Utah Lake experienced a total of 18 blooms across all sites ranging in duration from one to six weeks. Phormidiaceae sp. (8.5  6.1%) and Microcystis sp. (9.7  4.7%) were the most abundant species in the Deer Creek bloom. Deer creek experienced one bloom at the beginning of fall. Nodularia sp. (9.7  2.1) dominated Great Salt Lake bloom. The Great Salt Lake experienced four separate blooms during the summer months that lasted one to three weeks. Phosphorous concentrations on Utah Lake varied across site and season. Nitrate concentrations on Deer Creek increased over season with a ten-fold increase in concentration. We characterized Cyanobacteria blooms as either bloom communities (growing populations of Cyanobacteria) or as bust communities (declining populations of Cyanobacteria). Using these designations, we modeled the growth and decline of the Cyanobacteria populations across season with top-down and bottom up-controls. Based on generalized least-squared modeling, eukaryotic grazing does not affect relative Cyanobacteria abundances as much as nutrient limitations. Aphanizomenom strain MDT14a was positively correlated with temperature (P < 0.028) and the concentration of K (P = 0.007) and negatively correlated with increases in conductivity (P = 0.0088). Microcystis was positively correlated with increasing levels of SRP (P < 0.001) and negatively correlated with higher Ca concentrations (P = 0.008) and PP (P = 0.008). Busts of Microcystis were related to decreases in nitrate (P = 0.06) and lower total lake depths (P = 0.03). Phormidiaceae sp. relative abundance was negatively correlated with higher levels of TDN (P = 0.01-0.001) and Mg (P = 0.01) and positively correlated with higher S concentrations (P = 0.007). Our findings suggest that micronutrients and more bioavailable forms of P may potentially allow Cyanobacteria to break dormancy and proliferate HAB communities.

This study investigates whether there are differences in the Swedish Armed Forces' gender equality work before and after the introduction of gender-neutral conscription. Previous research indicates that military organizations often encounter resistance in gender equality work, due to deeply entrenched norms. Theoretically grounded in the concept of gender as a social construct and a top-down perspective within implementation theory, this study focuses on three critical factors for successful implementation: clarity, participation, and motivation. The research is structured as a case study. The pre-conscription period spans from the years 2014 to 2017, while the post-conscription period covers the years 2018 to 2022. The study employs qualitative text analysis of the Swedish Armed Forces' official documents, including regulatory letters, action plans, and annual reports. It examines three levels within the organization: policy formulation, decision-makers, and the operational level. The findings reveal differences in gender equality work between the two time periods with policy formulation and decision-making levels, indicating a decline in critical factors following the introduction of conscription. However, this does not seem to have impacted the practical implementation of gender equality measures, as evidenced at the operational level. The study suggests that other informal factors may influence gender equality work, warranting further research in this area.

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