Recent studies indicate that Americans have grown increasingly divided and polarized in recent years cite{boxell2022cross}, cite{hawdon2020social}. This research aims to describe and measure polarization trends across a historical archive of US-based, primarily regional, newspapers. The newspapers chosen are from various US markets to capture any regional differences in the discussion of issues/topics. Our modeling approach employs the Structural Topic Model (STM) to identify topics within a given corpus and measure the tonal differences of articles discussing the same topic. Specifically, we use the STM to infer potentially related articles and a sentiment analyzer called VADER to identify topics with a high level of semantic disparity. Using this method, we assess the polarization of developing and evolving topics, such as sports, politics, and entertainment, and compare how polarization between and within these topics has changed over time. Through this, we create topic-specific sentiment distributions, referred to as polarization distributions. We conclude by demonstrating the usefulness of these distributions in identifying polarization and showing how high polarization aligns with significant social events. / Doctor of Philosophy / Most Americans have a sense that their nation is becoming more socially polarized. Numerous studies and anecdotal evidence supports this. Our aim with this work is develop a method to quantify polarization in text media and apply this method to news articles published in local and national newspapers. Using a statistical model we are able to group articles based on a common shared topic. We then analyze the sentiment of each article and evaluate how sentiments for a particular topic change over time. We then compare newspapers based on location, political endorsements, and ownership groups.

Context. Software testing is the process, where a particular software product, or a system is executed, in order to find out the bugs, or issues which may otherwise degrade its performance. Software testing is usually done based on pre-defined test cases. A test case can be defined as a set of terms, or conditions that are used by the software testers to determine, if a particular system that is under test operates as it is supposed to or not. However, in numerous situations, test cases can be so many that executing each and every test case is practically impossible, as there may be many constraints. This causes the testers to prioritize the functions that are to be tested. This is where the ability of topic models can be exploited. Topic models are unsupervised machine learning algorithms that can explore large corpora of data, and classify them by identifying the hidden thematic structure in those corpora. Using topic models for test case prioritization can save a lot of time and resources. Objectives. In our study, we provide an overview of the amount of research that has been done in relation to topic models. We want to uncover various quality criteria, evaluation methods, and metrics that can be used to evaluate the topic models. Furthermore, we would also like to compare the performance of two topic models that are optimized for different quality criteria, on a particular interpretability task, and thereby determine the topic model that produces the best results for that task. Methods. A systematic mapping study was performed to gain an overview of the previous research that has been done on the evaluation of topic models. The mapping study focused on identifying quality criteria, evaluation methods, and metrics that have been used to evaluate topic models. The results of mapping study were then used to identify the most used quality criteria. The evaluation methods related to those criteria were then used to generate two optimized topic models. An experiment was conducted, where the topics generated from those two topic models were provided to a group of 20 subjects. The task was designed, so as to evaluate the interpretability of the generated topics. The performance of the two topic models was then compared by using the Precision, Recall, and F-measure. Results. Based on the results obtained from the mapping study, Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was found to be the most widely used topic model. Two LDA topic models were created, optimizing one for the quality criterion Generalizability (TG), and one for Interpretability (TI); using the Perplexity, and Point-wise Mutual Information (PMI) measures respectively. For the selected metrics, TI showed better performance, in Precision and F-measure, than TG. However, the performance of both TI and TG was comparable in case of Recall. The total run time of TI was also found to be significantly high than TG. The run time of TI was 46 hours, and 35 minutes, whereas for TG it was 3 hours, and 30 minutes.Conclusions. Looking at the F-measure, it can be concluded that the interpretability topic model (TI) performs better than the generalizability topic model (TG). However, while TI performed better in precision, Conclusions. Looking at the F-measure, it can be concluded that the interpretability topic model (TI) performs better than the generalizability topic model (TG). However, while TI performed better in precision, recall was comparable. Furthermore, the computational cost to create TI is significantly higher than for TG. Hence, we conclude that, the selection of the topic model optimization should be based on the aim of the task the model is used for. If the task requires high interpretability of the model, and precision is important, such as for the prioritization of test cases based on content, then TI would be the right choice, provided time is not a limiting factor. However, if the task aims at generating topics that provide a basic understanding of the concepts (i.e., interpretability is not a high priority), then TG is the most suitable choice; thus making it more suitable for time critical tasks.

Cette thèse s’inscrit dans le cadre de la construction et de l’évolution de Topic Maps en tant que ressources sémantiques servant à l’organisation de contenus pluridisciplinaires et multilingues. Cette Topic Map vise à prendre en charge la variation du sens des termes afin d’assurer une meilleure recherche d’informations au sein d'un contenu. Une approche de visualisation de cette Topic Map a également été proposée. La problématique de cette thèse a découlé du programme FSP-Maghreb qui est un projet franco-maghrébin initié par la FMSH (Fondation Maison des Sciences Humaines et Sociales). Ce projet vise à promouvoir l'échange et le partage de connaissances dans le domaine des sciences humaines et sociales. Ce projet consiste en la construction et la mise en œuvre d’un Wiktionnaire (dictionnaire électronique implémenté sous la technologie wiki sémantique) multilingue et multiculturel pour les sciences humaines et sociales. / This thesis concerns the construction and the evolution of Topic Maps as semantic ressource used to describe and organise multidisciplinary and multilingual contents. This Topic Map aims to support variation of meaning to ensure a better information retrieval in content.The problematic of this research work is resulted from a project initiated by the FMSH called FSP-Maghreb. This project allows exchanges between Maghrebi and French researchers. It also allows the sharing of knowledge related to the two cultures and to the two societies in the human and social sciences. This project consists of the construction of an on-line multicultural and multilingual dictionary based on wiki technology.

Submitted by Aline Gomes Garcia (aline.ggarcia@yahoo.com) on 2018-06-26T17:33:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação pós-defesa - versão final.pdf: 2193739 bytes, checksum: 79d5da48d626aeb8da8bdbc96a2573f7 (MD5) / Rejected by Elza Mitiko Sato null (elzasato@ibilce.unesp.br), reason: Solicitamos que realize correções na submissão seguindo as orientações abaixo: Problema 01) Ocorreu uma divergência na FICHA CATALOGRÁFICA, ela será reenviada pela Biblioteca; solicitamos que faça a substituição da mesma no arquivo, Lembramos que o arquivo depositado no repositório deve ser igual ao impresso. Agradecemos a compreensão. on 2018-06-26T18:17:53Z (GMT) / Submitted by Aline Gomes Garcia (aline.ggarcia@yahoo.com) on 2018-06-26T20:24:13Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação pós-defesa - versão final com ficha corrigida.pdf: 2201244 bytes, checksum: c77c97726e44ac0c1519356841905ab6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Elza Mitiko Sato null (elzasato@ibilce.unesp.br) on 2018-06-27T11:18:57Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 garcia_ag_me_sjrp.pdf: 2201244 bytes, checksum: c77c97726e44ac0c1519356841905ab6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-27T11:18:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 garcia_ag_me_sjrp.pdf: 2201244 bytes, checksum: c77c97726e44ac0c1519356841905ab6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-05-02 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Com base no quadro teórico-metodológico da Gramática Textual-Interativa, no presente trabalho, apresentamos um estudo do processo de Organização Tópica em editoriais de jornais paulistas do século XXI. Abordamos os dois níveis de funcionamento desse processo – o intertópico e o intratópico. No que diz respeito ao primeiro nível, analisamos a complexidade intertópica dos editoriais a partir de três aspectos: (i) quantidade de tópicos discursivos específicos por editorial; (ii) grau de complexidade hierárquica; (iii) formas de linearização tópica. Quanto ao segundo nível, investigamos a existência de uma regra geral de estruturação interna de Segmentos Tópicos mínimos (SegTs) nos editoriais paulistas atuais. Na análise desses dois níveis do processo de Organização Tópica, procuramos discutir em que medida particularidades da Organização Tópica no gênero editorial estariam vinculadas a aspectos da finalidade sociocomunicativa do gênero. O material de análise compreende editoriais dos jornais Folha de S. Paulo e O Estado de S. Paulo, publicados ao longo do mês de agosto de 2016, e a investigação segue o método de análise tópica, que possibilita a análise textual com base na categoria analítica abstrata do tópico discursivo e na unidade de análise chamada de Segmento Tópico. Os dados revelam que os editoriais paulistas podem apresentar dois, três ou quatro tópicos discursivos mais específicos, organizados, no que diz respeito à complexidade hierárquica, em um ou dois Quadros Tópicos. Além disso, nossas análises mostram que o gênero editorial se caracteriza por apresentar a continuidade como a forma de linearização tópica predominante. Nosso estudo também demonstra que, no gênero editorial, o SegT mínimo organiza-se internamente segundo a combinação potencialmente recursiva de duas unidades de organização intratópica – posição e suporte, ou seja, nosso trabalho mostra que, no gênero em estudo, a estruturação interna de SegTs mínimos envolve a combinação potencialmente recursiva de grupos de enunciados que constroem referências centrais e agrupamentos de enunciados que constroem referências subsidiárias relativamente ao tópico discursivo do SegT. Defendemos que o funcionamento do processo de Organização Tópica em editoriais de jornais paulistas do século XXI está bastante relacionado com a finalidade sociocomunicativa de defesa de posicionamento crítico do gênero editorial e assumimos ainda que o caráter bastante fixo do editorial e a restrição quanto ao espaço ocupado pelo gênero no jornal determinam características da Organização Tópica nos editoriais paulistas atuais / In this work, based on the theoretical framework of Textual-Interactive Grammar, we present a study of the Topic Organization process in newspaper editorials in the state of São Paulo of the 21st century. We broach the two levels of functioning of this process – the intertopic and intratopic levels. With regard to the first level, we analyze the intertopic complexity of editorials from three aspects: (i) quantity of specific discourse topics for each editorial; (ii) degree of hierarchical complexity; (iii) forms of topic sequencing. As for the second level, we investigate the existence of a general rule of internal structuring of minimal Topic Segments (SegTs) in current São Paulo editorials. In the analysis of these two levels of the Topic Organization process, we tried to demonstrate to what extent particularities of Topic Organization in the editorial genre would be related to aspects of the sociocommunicative purpose of the genre. The corpus includes editorials from Folha de S. Paulo and O Estado de S. Paulo newspapers, published during August 2016, and the research follows the method of topic analysis, which enables textual analysis based on the abstract category of discourse topic and on the unit of analysis called the Topic Segment. The data show that newspaper editorials from São Paulo can present two, three or four more particularizing discourse topics, organized, in terms of hierarchical complexity, in one or two Topic Frames. Furthermore, our analyzes show that the editorial genre is characterized by presenting continuity as the predominant topical linearization form. Our research also shows that, in the editorial genre, the minimal SegT is organized internally according to the potentially recursive combination of two units of intratopic organization – position and support, that is, our work shows that, in the genre studied, the internal structuring of minimal SegTs involves the potentially recursive combination of groups of utterances the construct central references and groupings of statements that construct subsidiary references to the discourse topic of SegT. We argue that the functioning of the Topic Organization process in editorial of São Paulo newspapers of 21st century is closely related to sociocommunicative purpose of critical position defense of editorial genre. We also assume that the very fixed character of the editorial and restriction regarding the space occupied by the genre in the newspaper determine features Topic Organization in the current editorials of the state of São Paulo. / 2016/09046-1

國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士在職專班 碩士論文提要 論文名稱：對比修辭：高中學生英文寫作中介語言之研究 指導教授: 林啟一博士 研究生: 彭宜秝 論文提要內容: 學習者的語言，中介語言，已經被視為有它自己的規則的一個獨特的語言系統。本研究旨在探討學生英文寫作上的中介語言的結構及形成原因。 本研究蒐集了576篇高三學生模擬考英文作文，加以分析歸納出錯置的主詞和不良的虛主詞兩大類高中生中介語句型。這兩類句型正如銅板的兩面，凸顯了主題明顯的中文和主詞明顯的英文類型結構的對比，也證明學生在以英文表情達意時，不自覺的以中文主題明顯之架構為其中介語之基底結構，以致於表面上雖為主詞+動詞之英語句式卻仍有不知所云的困窘。本研究結果建議在英語教學上同時也應喚醒學生主題明顯的中文語言意識，並在生活上營造真正以英語為第二語言的情境，使學生能耳濡目染充分接觸英語，浸潤在主詞明顯的英語環境中，以利學生中介語更趨近目標語之發展。 / Abstract Learners’ language, interlanguage, has been recognized as a unique language system with rules of its own. The purpose of this study is to figure out the constructions and causes of senior high school students’ interlanguage (termed as SSIL) in their English compositions. Five hundred and seventy six compositions written by seniors in senior high schools in the Taipei area, were collected and analyzed in this study. Two major SSIL constructions were derived: Misused Subjects and Ill-formed Expletives. The two constructions are like the two sides of a coin manifesting the contrast between topic-prominent Chinese and subject-prominent English. Two major factors contribute to the construction of SSIL: topicalization and poor awareness of L1 structures. It is suggested that students’ language awareness of their native language, Chinese, should be aroused, and that the creation of a more English conscious environment in real life situation may facilitate the development of SSIL toward the target language, English. key words: interlanguage, topic-prominence, subject-prominence, topicalization, language awareness

The topic chain is an important concept used in narratives. However, its content is not very clear. This thesis mainly investigates a kind of topic chain in which the topic is introduced by Locative-Verb-Noun Phrase (LVNP) sentences. LVNP sentences have a locative phrase as the surface subject, followed by the main verb with the suffix zhe (the duration marker, DUR) or le (the perfect tense marker, PRT), and then the subject or the object. Following structural analysis and by surveying actual data--a novel, we examined and based on the distributions of ZA, PA, and NA which occur in topic chains to generalize three basic patterns and one derived pattern to explain their inner structures. The findings show that topic chains can be categorized according to the patterns they show. Besides, different types of topic chains show different inner structures. By describing the inner structures, the topic chain is not just a concept at all and we learn its actual content more clearly.

The main aim of this thesis is to examine, through an analysis of relevant case law, the way in which the courts interpret and apply primary legislation pursuant to the interpretative obligation contained in section 2(1) and (4) of the European Communities Act 1972 and section 3(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998, and to assess current judicial attitudes to the traditional concept of parliamentary sovereignty in the light of the judicial perception of the interpretative obligation in the above-mentioned provisions. As an essential prelude to the examination of the case law on the judicial treatment of the interpretative obligation in the 1972 and 1998 Acts, chapter 2 of the thesis discusses the traditional, Diceyan concept of parliamentary sovereignty. This is considered without the effects of the 1972 and 1998 Acts. This chapter demonstrates that the courts perceived it as their constitutional duty to obey and apply the latest will of Parliament without question. It is observed that no legal grounds could exist for challenging the validity or enforceability of primary legislation. Chapter 3 discusses conventional methods of statutory interpretation. It is observed that conventionally, the principal aim of statutory interpretation is the ascertainment of parliamentary intention in the statute under consideration. Where the intention of Parliament is clear and unambiguous and is not absurd in any way, the courts feel duty-bound to carry out the identified parliamentary intention in line with the rule, demanded by the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, that courts obey without question the latest will of Parliament. The rest of the thesis is devoted to an examination of the way in which the courts use their interpretative powers under section 2(1) and (4) of the 1972 Act and section 3(1) of the 1998 Act when interpreting and applying primary legislation coming within the purview of these enactments. It is argued that while the courts appear to continue to acknowledge the sovereignty or supremacy of Parliament, the case law reveals that in appropriate cases, section 2(1) and (4) of the 1972 Act and section 3(1) of the 1998 Act has enabled judges to interpret and apply primary legislation in a way that substantially challenges the traditional, Diceyan concept of parliamentary sovereignty. They feel able to ignore or otherwise modify the legal effects of unambiguous primary legislation in appropriate cases.

In partial fulfilment of the degree of MSc. Med (Bioethics & Health Law) Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg June 2016 / It is estimated that about two billion people, one-third of the world's population, lack regular access to essential medicines (Forman & Kohler 2012: 26). The situation is worst in Africa and South East Asia, where it is reported that about half the population do not have regular access to potentially life-saving drugs (Forman & Kohler 2012:26). A normative study was undertaken to probe whether legal duties to provide affordable medicines place or ought to place limitations on the exercise of pharmaceutical patents in developing countries. I have used the bioethics theory of justice and the jurisprudence on the right-to-health, enshrined in international human rights law, as my argumentative framework. Like other pro-health equity academics (Forman & Kohler 2012, Cameron 2005, Gostin 2014) I argue that the exorbitant prices charged by the multinational pharmaceutical industry for patented drugs are a barrier to equitable access to essential medicines for the world’s poor, most of whom live in developing countries. I concur with (Forman and Kohler 2012:1) that, “access to essential medicines (should be) authoritatively interpreted to constitute a minimum core entitlement under the human right to the highest attainable standard of health (the right-to-health), placing correlative duties on a range of actors to enable and ensure access." In addition, I posit that the interests of social justice ought to justify a partial infringement of private commercial interests in the public interest – to speed up regular and affordable access to essential medicines to all who need them. My argument proceeds as follows: Firstly, nation states bear the primary responsibility to meet right-to-health responsibilities as espoused in international human rights law and applicable African regional laws. Secondly, I argue that richer states (should) have joint legal and moral responsibilities to assist poorer nations to realize access to the "highest attainable standard of health" which is the legal entitlement of "every person" (WHO 1946, African Charter of Human Rights, 1981). I conclude by arguing that the multinational pharmaceutical industry ought to assume binding right-to-health human rights obligations, with nation states. / MT2016

This thesis examines the Women’s International League (WIL) to explore the wider themes of feminism, pacifism and transnational activism during the Great War and the interwar years. WIL was formed in October 1915 as the British national section of what came to be known as the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). The thesis interrogates the concept of feminist pacifism by analysing WIL’s campaigns for peace, disarmament and international law alongside its pursuit of women’s rights. The thesis also demonstrates the interplay between activism on the local, national and international stages. In chronological terms, the focus is on the first twenty years of WIL’s activism: from the circumstances that led to its foundation in 1915 to the challenges faced in 1935 – a time when the political consensus within WILPF came under threat and when hopes that internationalism would secure peace began to fade. The study comprises five chapters. The first explores the foundations of WIL and examines the methods it used to link its opposition to war to its feminist demands. The remaining chapters are thematic and cover the organisation’s work during the interwar years. Chapter Two analyses WIL’s campaigns for women’s rights, including the nationality of married women and the debate over protective legislation. Chapter Three highlights the organisation’s gendered approach to peace, including its campaigns for disarmament. Chapter Four investigates WIL’s commitment to internationalism through an analysis of its organisational structure and its work at the transnational level. The final chapter examines how the organisation built and maintained a network of activists, exploring the shared interests between WIL and a range of other voluntary associations, including those working for peace, humanitarian relief, liberal internationalism and socialism. This study firmly places WIL within British and international movements for peace and women’s rights. Work by Leila Rupp, Marie Sandell and Karen Offen demonstrates the wealth of activism by and for women at the international level during the twentieth century. However, previous scholarship has not focussed on WIL in any depth. By offering a detailed analysis of this organisation, the thesis sheds light on a range of issues: the campaign for female citizenship and political participation; the connections between feminism and pacifism; the development of international organisations during the interwar years; and the nature of transnational women’s activism.

Anti-Money Laundering has become the term for many stakeholders including Financial Institutions and law enforcement agencies that attempt to prevent the movement of money obtained from criminal activity. This research combines two important areas within the money laundering arena: Anti-Money Laundering preventative measures and Anti-Money Laundering Policy. This study aims to discover significant determinants that influence the current anti-money laundering policy (AML) by understanding the relationship between criminal activity, stakeholder activity and public policy. This research adopts a pragmatic approach which embraces the use of mixed methods. The strategy using mixed method (triangulation) approach for data collection increase the rigor and robustness of the research in terms of exploration, validation and confirmation of findings. From a pragmatic perspective a better understanding of the research problem could be achieved that overcomes complexities in the context of the research, such as access to key stakeholders. The research question “What are the factors that influence the effectiveness of AML policy implementation in the UK?” is answered using a four phase approach to data collection and analysis that incorporates theme identification from literature, focus group interviews, survey questionnaire and verification of factors through individual participation. The findings of the research point to three areas of activity that could be confirmed as areas in which policy changes can be applied. These are ‘sentencing’ as a deterrent to crime; ‘reporting regime’ for suspicious activity reports, and ‘criminal knowledge’ based on law enforcement tactics’. The methods used also provided an abundance of additional material that set the findings in their appropriate environment.