This thesis focuses on developing a comprehensive framework for understanding the challenges NGOs face with in-kind donations in disaster relief. The overwhelming problem of inappropriate material donations, often referred to as the second disaster, has plagued disaster relief operations for decades now in both domestic and international disaster response. Despite efforts to promote ``cash only'' giving in disaster relief, unsolicited and mostly inappropriate in-kind giving continues to challenge NGOs in every major disaster. Researchers have identified this as one of the most pressing yet understudied challenges in disaster relief to date. This thesis is divided into three parts. In the first part, we conduct a multidisciplinary literature review from philanthropy, economics, public policy, corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility to understand why donors donate in-kind and why NGOs accept those donations. We describe the roles of the various players involved and explain the structure of the distribution channels in-kind donations follow both in disaster and non-disaster contexts. We then explain the challenges NGOs and their donors face with in-kind donations in the context of these channels. We identify systemic issues in the distribution channels and highlight current policies and practices that contribute to the second disaster. In the second part of this thesis, we propose a comprehensive framework to help donors, NGOs and policy makers comprehend the scope of the problem and identify strategies to address the challenge of unsolicited donations in disaster relief. Our framework provides a succinct representation of the main issues and players involved in the process in a format that is simple to work with and easy to understand. It supports comprehension of the many related issues and can help NGOs and policy making bodies (e.g., FEMA, NVOAD, USAID) assess current strategies and devise new approaches and solution strategies. In the third part of the thesis, we exploit our framework to propose a tiered strategy consisting of a set of solutions ranging from decision tools to help NGOs better screen in-kind donation offers to entire new channels for more productive in-kind giving in disaster relief. Each of these solutions may deter only a small fraction of the inappropriate flows, but together they can dramatically diminish the problem. Our proposed NGO decision tools both allow quick screening of donation offers in disaster relief and provide a framework for strategic management of corporate in-kind donations in the long term. We also propose a ``retail donation model" which can transform a portion of the current stream of unwanted and unusable in-kind donations from individuals and community groups into a valuable source of needed relief supplies through an entirely new donation channel. We document a successful implementation of an on-line retail donation model in the 2012 Sandy response.

In this study the aim was to investigate the area of non-celebrity people with a popular Instagram account, and indentify their motives to being active on Instagram, whether or not they maintained an online image and what consequences they could see as results of Instagram activity. Through six interviews with women between 17 and 28 years of age, the results showed the following patterns. The identified motives to Instagram use matched Whiting and Williams (2013) ten ways to apply Uses and Gratificatios Theory, and also identified three new ones: professional use, friendship and validation of oneself. Use of an online image was confirmed, as the interviewees stated how constructed to show ones best sides an Instagram account usually is, both theirs and others. Consequences and effects as result of Instagram use was stated to be both positive and negative, positive as inspiration, affirmation and easing contact with friends. Negative effects such as envy, comparisons, anxiety, a normalised view of unhealthy bodies, and the risk of addiction to Instagram use was noted.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of my research has been to analyze the communi-cation of three cultural heritages and how they are being ex-posed on their respective webpages. The essay has also touched the subject as to how webpages can, through marketing of cul-tural heritages, create a connection to the marketed locations and their cultural environment. A phenomenon you could call “creating a location”. My study has also resulted in an under-standing of how historical sites as cultural actors position them-selves to attract visitors to the location. In this study I will fo-cus on only three of Sweden’s many renaissance castles. These three are Calmare-, Vadstena- and Gripsholm’s castle.My sources consist of the above mentioned cultural heritag-es own webpages, their administrators as well as their partner’s webpages. The information which is communicated in connec-tion to, or directly with the cultural heritages demonstrates what is relevant and important to see and experience.By illuminating these attributes, the possibility for self-interpretation of the cultural landscape can be lessened. Instead, a more direct picture can be created as of what the visitor should relate to and remember of the location. This way, the actors create a location.

This compilation thesis contains an introductory chapter and four original articles. The studies comprising this thesis all concern aspects of how historical culture is constituted in historical media and history teachers’ narratives and teaching. It is argued that the teaching of history is a complex matter due to an internal tension resulting from the fact that history is both a product and a process at the same time. While historical facts, and knowledge thereof, are an important aspect of history, history is also a product of careful interpretation and reconstruction. This study analyses and discusses how history is constituted in history textbooks and popular history magazines, i.e. two common historical media, and in teachers’ narratives and teaching of history. The study finds that the historical media studied generally tend to present history as void of perspective, interpretation and representation, suggesting this to be the culturally warranted form of historical exposition. Moreover, the teachers studied also tend to approach history as if it were not contingent on interpretation and reconstruction. These results indicate that the history disseminated in historical media and history classrooms presents history in a factual way and disregards the procedural aspects of history. Applying the history didactical concepts of historical consciousness, historical culture and uses of history, this thesis argues that an essential aspect of historical understanding is an appreciation of the contextual contingency that characterises history. All history is conceived within a particular context that is pertinent to why and how a certain version of history is constructed. Furthermore, all history is also received within a particular context by people with particular preconceptions of history that are contextually contingent, in the sense that they are situated in a certain historical culture. Readers of historical media are members of societies and are thus affected by how history is perceived and discussed in these contexts. This thesis argues that an awareness of these aspects of history is an important factor for furthering a complex understanding of history that encompasses the tension highlighted above.

Skulle du kunna leva utan din mobiltelefon? Det var en av frågorna som ställdes när denna studie genomfördes. Syftet med detta examensarbete var att undersöka hur individer reflekterar över sin aktivitet på sociala medier och hur beroende individer är av att uppdatera sig. Detta gjordes i en kvalitativ forskningsstudie. Studien tittade närmare på sociala mediers inverkan på individers liv. I studien diskuterades vilka för- och nackdelar sociala medier har bidragit med, hur stort behov individer känner för att ständigt vara uppkopplade på sociala medier. Känslan ”fear of missing out” var signifikant för vad studiens respondenter känner när det kommer till uppdatering på sociala medier. Studien utgick från teorin uses and gratifications, utifrån den reflekterades det över hur den kan kopplas till dagens sociala medier-samhälle. För att ha möjligheten att se samband och diskutera ett fenomen användes fenomenologi som teoretiskt angreppssätt. Den generella slutsatsen blev att individernas huvudsakliga syfte för att använda sociala medier är för att kommunicera. Det kom inte direkt som en chockande nyhet. Studien bekräftar det tidigare studier sagt men klargör ännu tydligare att mobiltelefonen på många sätt den viktigaste pryl vi äger. Den här studien handlar om livet med mobiltelefonen fastklistrad i handen och varför vi är beroende av den.

The city of Richmond has practiced mixed land-use policies to encourage non-private-vehicle commuting for decades based on the successful examples or the empirical evidence of other cities. However, the idea violates one of common logical fallacy—“all things are equal.” Using the indices of land-use diversity, this study explores the correlation between land-use mixture and home-based trip for the city of Richmond. This paper calculates two common indices of land-use mixture—entropy, and dissimilarity. The results indicate that although Richmond’s land-use mixture and home-based trip do have a correlation, the correlation is weak. One possible reason is that socioeconomic actors have a stronger influence on transportation than land-use mixture. However, this assumption still needs further analysis in order to be verified.

Comment les conventions sociales se développent-elles dans les jeux entre enfants de 3 à 7 ans ? L’objectif de cette recherche est de mieux comprendre la co-construction de significations à travers l’étude des détournements d’usages d’objets. Très peu d’études s’intéressent au développement des usages d’objets chez l’enfant après 3 ans au sein de situations sociales et communicatives. La présente thèse vise donc à combler ce vide et suppose que les compétences symboliques enfantines examinées via les usages d’objets se développent entre 3 et 7 ans.Trois études ont été réalisées avec des dyades d’enfants de 3, 4, 5 et 7 ans. Les mêmes objets sont présentés dans chaque étude. La première étude est un jeu libre, sans contrainte. La deuxième invite les enfants à faire de l’humour avec les objets. La troisième est la plus contraignante du point de vue des détournements d’usages d’objets. Les enfants doivent prétendre préparer un repas n’ayant que des objets inadéquats pour le faire. Dans le jeu libre, les principaux résultats montrent que les enfants de 3 ans sont déjà très compétents pour détourner les objets. En revanche, la création d’usages détournés humoristiques est moins élaborée à 3 et 4 ans qu’à 7 ans. Enfin, dans le jeu du repas, les enfants de 3, 4 et 5 ans développent des significations moins complexes que les enfants de 7 ans. Ainsi, plus le jeu est contraint, plus les enfants de 3, 4 et 5 ans ont des difficultés à détourner et s’accorder sur de nouvelles fonctions pour les objets. Ces résultats apportent un regard nouveau sur les relations entre conventions sociales, jeu entre pairs, usages d’objets et théorie de l’esprit dans le champ de la psychologie du développement. / How do social conventions develop in children’s play between the ages of 3 and 7 years? The aim of the present research was to improve current understanding of the co-construction of meanings by investigating symbolic uses of objects. Very few studies have focused on the use of objects in social and communicative situations among children beyond the age of 3 years. The purpose of the current thesis was thus to fill this gap, based on the assumption that children's symbolic skills, examined here via the use of objects, develop between the ages of 3 and 7. Three studies were conducted with dyads of 3-, 4-, 5- and 7-year-old children. The same objects were used in each study. The first study consisted of free, unrestricted play. In the second one, the children were invited to play in a humoristic way with objects. The third one was the most constraining in terms of symbolic uses of objects, as the children had to pretend that they were preparing a meal, but were not given the appropriate objects. Results for the unrestricted play study, showed that the 3-year-olds were already very skilled at using objects in a symbolic way. However, the creation of humoristic symbolic uses was less elaborated in the 3- and 4-year-olds than in the 7-year-olds. Finally, for the pretend meal, the 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds developed less complex meanings than the 7-year-olds. Thus, the greater the level of constraint, the greater the difficulty for the 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds in using objects in a symbolic way, and the greater the difficulty in agreeing on new functions for such objects. These results shed new light on the relationship between social conventions, children’s play, object uses and theory of mind in the field of developmental psychology.

Au collège, en France, l’apprentissage des usages de l’ordinateur désormais piloté par la certification du B2i (Brevet Informatique et Internet) mais sans formation clairement identifiée, est en filigrane d’usages scolaires multiples souvent distincts des usages non scolaires. Chaque collégien est alors au centre d’une tension entre entre les univers d’usage apparemment inconciliables de la sphère scolaire et de sa sphère privée. Sans guidage ni étayage, il se livre à une sorte de butinage numérique, sans pouvoir transférer les acquisitions qu’il réalise dans chacune des sphères. Le problème didactique que cette recherche cherche à résoudre consiste à identifier et à caractériser des éléments et structures propices à l’émergence d’une cohérence à la globalité des rencontres avec les ordinateurs ou systèmes informatisées et des activités numériques du jeune. dans cette perspective, une première analyse propose une possible organisation scolaire qui tiendrait compte de toutes les activités du collégien, sans exception. Une seconde analyse consiste à objectiver ses rencontres numériques pour qu’elles constituent un objet d’étude pertinent. Enfin, sont examinés des éléments structurants communs, porteur de cohérence. Cette triple investigation permet de proposer un cadre d’interprétation et d’analyse comme outil d’intelligibilité du référent empirique constitué par toutes les rencontres. Cet outil pour l’enseignement est organisé par les tâches, leur technicité… Pour mettre à l’épreuve cette suggestion, une série d’enquêtes a été menée auprès de 203 élèves d’un même établissement. Les usages des outils informatisés ont été repérés ainsi que les conditions de l’opérationalisation de la proposition de cette recherche. Les résultats révèlent qu’il est possible d’adapter l’outil conceptuel d’interprétation des rencontres afin d’aider l’élève à construire, à l’échelle d’un curriculum, son propre itinéraire balisé par des étapes structurantes collectives. / In France, at middle school level, teaching for the uses of computer is now driven by the B2i certification (Brevet Informatique et Internet). Meanwhile, it doesn’t exist clearly identified training. So, each pupil stand in the center of tension between two worlds of uses from scholar sphere and the private sphere, that do not seem to go together. Without guidance or support they engage in a sort of digital gathering, without being able to transfer what they acquire in each sphere. The didactic issue that this research aims at solving is to identify and characterise components and structures ideal for the emergence of a consistency in all the digital practices of the pupils. To do that, a first study is conducted on a possible school organisation that would take into account all the activities of the pupils, without any exception. A second one is to objectivise their digital encounters so that they form a relevant object of study. Finally these two studies are challenged in order to reveal common, coherent structural elements. This threefold investigation enables to offer a framework for interpretation and analysis as a tool for the understandability of the empirical referent comprising every encounter. In order to test this study a series of surveys was conducted among 215 pupils attending the same school. Uses of pupils were identified, as well as the terms of the operationalisation of what this research suggests. Results show that the conceptual tool of the interpretation of the encounters can be adapted in order to help pupils build – at curriculum scale – their own path controlled by structuring and collective steps.