Dress is both an individual and a societal means of communication. Understanding the meaning of dress within a society, culture, and specific time period can aid researchers in understanding the social, political, and economic events and changes that take place in dress. The Scottish Highland dress differed in the 17th and early 18th centuries from that of the Scottish Lowlanders (i.e., people of Scotland below the Highlands) due to differences in culture and geography. Highland dress has been difficult to study because few extant garments exist before the 19th century and most of the records that exist deal with the upper class garments. The purpose of this research was to determine whether or not poetry (i.e., poems, ballads, and songs) could be used as a source of knowledge on historic dress in a social, political, or economic context, using the dress of Scottish Highlanders from 1603 through 1830 as an example, and to triangulate the findings with other sources that portray dress through the written word or visual image. This research cross-referenced the items of dress with social, political, and economic events that occurred in the lives of the Scottish and Highland people. The main source of documentation for this research was 3,501 Scottish poems written between 1603 and 1830 gathered from 18 anthologies and there were 394 poems with male dress references and 245 poems with female dress references, which was 18% of the poems. A large number (N=1531) of individual dress items were referenced within those poems. The poems were triangulated with 34 letters and 332 portraits from the same time period. The study of Highland dress in poetry expanded the knowledge base regarding specific items worn by males and females. The majority of the poems and dress references were found in the 18th century. The plaid and the kilt were the focus of poems related to war. The letters and portraits provided new information on dress, as well as providing support for the information gathered in the poems. Triangulation with the letters and portraits validated poetry as a source of Highland dress between 1603 and 1830. / Ph. D.

Throughout the 2016 U.S. presidential election, public debate and media coverage was shaped by so called "fake news" – news articles which were intentionally false, and designed to influence opinion and policy. Although fake news itself is not a new concept, the way in which it was covered, and the was it was spread on social media platforms, was. Given this, scholarly literature examining fake news, and specifically the content or stylistic characteristics of fake news, is minimal. My research seeks to address that gap through examining different content characteristics of fake news articles spread on social media in 2016, and testing the impact of those characteristics on Facebook engagement (the number of likes or shares an article received). I find political fake news circulated during the 2016 U.S. election is relatively homogeneous in content: it avoids policy discussion, is highly partisan, and negative in tone. Furthermore, personal content, policy discussion, partisan lean, and article tone have no detectable effect on the engagement received on Facebook. My research serves to provide avenues for future research, and increase our understanding of how fake news is spread. More importantly, given the negative influence fake news has on public discussion and democratic legitimacy, my research also increases our understanding of how to best combat the influence of fake news, and how to limit its spread. / Master of Arts / Throughout the 2016 U.S. presidential election, public debate and media coverage was shaped by so called “fake news” – news articles which were intentionally false, and designed to influence opinion and policy. Although fake news itself is not a new concept, the way in which it was covered, and the was it was spread on social media platforms, was. Given this, scholarly literature examining fake news, and specifically the content or stylistic characteristics of fake news, is minimal. My research seeks to address that gap through examining different content characteristics of fake news articles spread on social media in 2016, and testing the impact of those characteristics on Facebook engagement (the number of likes or shares an article received). I find political fake news circulated during the 2016 U.S. election is relatively homogeneous in content: it avoids policy discussion, is highly partisan, and negative in tone. Furthermore, personal content, policy discussion, partisan lean, and article tone have no detectable effect on the engagement received on Facebook. My research serves to provide avenues for future research, and increase our understanding of how fake news is spread. More importantly, given the negative influence fake news has on public discussion and democratic legitimacy, my research also increases our understanding of how to best combat the influence of fake news, and how to limit its spread.

This research examines changes in the depiction of Muslims in Islamic-themed children's literature over two time strata, one decade before and one decade after the events of September 11, 2001. Random sampling with replacement across the two strata yielded a total sample of 59 books, examined at three coding levels: bibliographic data, story/plot data (genre, rural/urban setting, time epoch, conflict type, conflict context, religious instruction), and primary character data (age, culture/ethnicity, and gender). Content is examined using both quantitative comparisons of manifest characteristics and qualitative comparison of emergent themes. Mann-Whitney U tests revealed no statistically significant changes regarding the quantities of manifest features, while additional qualitative analyses suggest six substantive latent thematic changes identified with respect to genre (3), time epoch/setting (1), conflict type (1), and gender related to conflict type (1). Regarding genre, while the quantity of books with humor, with Arabic glossary additions and those employing non-fiction are consistent, the kinds of humor, the nature of glossaria and the subject focus of non-fictions are believed to have changed. With respect to a story's setting, shifts are identified in the treatment of rural and urban spaces, even while most books continue to be set in rural locales. Finally, with respect to a story's conflict type and the primary characters engaged in that conflict, it is believed that changes are evident with respect to self-versus-self conflict type and that female characters are generally lacking in stories of self-identity discovery. / Master of Science

This study extends notions of framing theory by drawing from research analyzing the framing of Pope Francis within coverage from The New York Times. The mass media has, since the election of Pope Francis in 2013, provided him extensive coverage on a myriad of issues. Previous studies have noted Pope Francis' propensity to draw massive amounts of media attention towards his actions and statements, even noting the potential for Pope Francis to control the media narrative through his own implementation of frames. Drawing on framing theory, this study examines the ways in which coverage of Pope Francis is defined by The New York Times by finding relationships between the issues addressed in Papal coverage, the frames implemented within this coverage, the valence of the messages, and the presentation of Pope Francis himself. This thesis yields that coverage of Pope Francis within The New York Times has shifted from positive valence to primarily neutral valence when comparing the first three years of his papacy to second three years. The findings of this thesis could potentially inform future studies which may wish to determine potential for frame transfer due to the content of articles or for studies which may wish to delve deeper into the issue with a much larger sample. / Master of Arts / Since Pope Francis’ election, the mass media has focused heavily on his statements and actions. Previous literature attests to the notion that Pope Francis is unique among his predecessors when it comes to media coverage, primarily due to his propensity to make statements or moral recommendations that seemingly oppose or deviate from traditional Catholic values. This thesis explores the relationship between Pope Francis and the American mass media by analyzing 226 articles published by The New York Times within the first six years of his Papacy. The findings of this thesis point to notions related to the valence of Papal coverage, which began as primarily positive but have shifted in nature from the beginning of Francis’ Papacy. The findings of this thesis also point towards the religious nature of Papal coverage and also the potential for sexscandal coverage to shift representation of the Pope.

Recent calls in environmental communication literature suggest researchers should understand the relationships between media message content, message construction, and audience effects. This thesis analyzed environmental advertising frames over time to inform strategic environmental communication research and practice. The study was a media content analysis guided by framing theory. Framing theory asserts the construction of media messages involves the selection and salience of particular message characteristics (Entman, 1993). Thus, the analysis examined the characteristics of environmental advertisements (N=449) published in Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News and World Report in 1990, 2000, and 2010. Advertisements were classified based on whether the environmental appeal was issue-specific (e.g., pollution, species/habitat protection) or generic. Findings indicate that responsibility frames were overwhelmingly dominant as the strategy used to advertise products, goods and services. The responsibility frame was also prevalent in issue-specific ads. Macro-frames, which attempt to identify organizing lenses through which environmental advertising appeals are advanced, were not present in advertisements at significant levels during the time periods analyzed. The species/habitat protection issue was the dominant issue in 1990, while energy efficiency was the prevalent issue in 2000 and 2010. Advertisements appearing in the newsmagazine pages primarily were sponsored by for-profit organizations. Environmental advertisements had an overwhelmingly positive valence over time. Results have implications for future environmental communication research exploring media content and effects, public opinion and persuasion, and strategic communication practice. / Master of Arts

No / Islamic Banks (IBs) are considered as having ethical identity, since the foundation of their business philosophy is closely tied to religion. In this article, we explore whether any discrepancy exists between the communicated (based on information disclosed in the annual reports) and ideal (disclosure of information deemed vital based on the Islamic ethical business framework) ethical identities and we measure this by what we have termed the Ethical Identity Index (EII). Our longitudinal survey results over a 3-year period indicate the overall mean EII of only one IB out of seven surveyed to be above average. The remaining six IBs suffer from disparity between the communicated and ideal ethical identities. We further found the largest incongruence to be related to four dimensions: commitments to society; disclosure of corporate vision and mission; contribution to and management of zakah, charity and benevolent loans; and information regarding top management. The results have important implications for communication management if IBs are to enhance their image and reputation in society as well as to remain competitive.

Yes / The extent of intellectual capital (IC) disclosures in corporate annual reports has received increasing attention in recent years. This paper is an exploratory study that considers the efficacy of various IC disclosure measures. It draws on annual reports of leading firms within the financial services sector in nine Western European countries. Content analysis was employed to produce measures based on disclosure indexes and word count to assess the variety, volume and focus of IC in annual reports. Disclosure scores were computed using three forms of presentation - any form, numerical form (reflecting more ‘objective’ disclosure), and all forms. Generally, we found that the form of disclosure index did not significantly affect IC sample rankings and were broadly in line with the IC word count rankings. However, very different rankings emerged when using the focus measure (IC word count as a percentage of total word count in Annual Report). We argue that this measure of relative importance is an important measure, particularly because firm size is typically positively associated with disclosure. Variation in the form of IC (human, structural, relational) is also explored. The paper then reports the findings of a time series analysis of the IC disclosure practices within a UK bank over a 10-year period. Significant variation in IC disclosure was found, with a strong movement in IC content from human capital to relational capital. These findings are discussed.

Yes / This paper investigates the relationship between intellectual capital disclosure and corporate governance variables, controlling for other firm-specific characteristics, for a sample of 100 UK listed firms. Intellectual capital disclosure is measured by a disclosure index score, supported by word count and percentage of word count metrics to assess the variety, volume and focus of intellectual capital disclosure respectively. The independent variables comprise various forms of corporate governance structure: board composition, ownership structure, audit committee size and frequency of audit committee meetings, and CEO role duality. Results of the analysis based on the three measures of intellectual capital disclosure indicate significant association with all the governance factors except for role duality. The influence of corporate governance mechanisms on human, structural and relational capital disclosure, based on all three metrics, is also explored.

Yes / This paper examines trends in the content of reporting within 135 UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It explores the extent to which Integrated Reporting (IR) content elements, reflecting integrated thinking, are disclosed voluntarily and whether HEI specific features influence the resulting disclosures. Existing IR guidelines given by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and the adoption of content analysis have provided the opportunity to examine the trend and extent of IR content elements associated in HEI corporate reports. The evidence was obtained from 405 UK HEI annual reports covering the period 2014-2016. The results indicate a significant increase in the number of IR content elements embedded in HEI annual reports. The HEI specific characteristics examined, such as a) the establishment of HEI (before or after 1992), b) adoption of IR framework and c) size of HEI, are all significantly and positively associated with IR content elements disclosure. This paper argues that institutional theory, isomorphism and isopraxism are relevant for explaining the changes in the contents of HEI annual reports. The findings also suggest that universities are beginning to adopt an integrated thinking approach to the reporting of their activities. The study is based on IR content elements only and could be extended to include the fundamental concepts and basic principles of the IR framework. There are other factors that have a potentially crucial influence on HEI core activities (such as teaching and learning research and internationalisation) which have been omitted from this study. The findings will allow policymakers to evaluate the extent to which integrated thinking is taking place and influencing the UK HEI sector in the selection and presentation of information. A further implication of the findings is that an appropriate a sector-wide enforcement and compliance body, for instance, the British Universities Finance Directors Group (BUFDG), may consider developing voluntary IR guidance in a clear, consistent, concise and comparable format. Also, it may pursue regulatory support for this guidance. In doing so, it may monitor the compliance and disclosure levels of appropriate IR requirements. Within such a framework, IR could be used to assist HEIs to make more sustainable choices and allow stakeholders to better understand aspects of HEI performance. The research has implications for society within and beyond the unique UK HEI sector. Universities are places of advanced thinking and can lead the way for other sectors by demonstrating the potential of integrated thinking to create a cohesive wide-ranging discourse and create engagement among stakeholder groups. Specifically, IR builds on the strong points of accounting, for instance, robust quantitative evidence collecting, relevance, reliability, materiality, comparability and assurability, to explain the sustainability discourse into a ‘‘language’’ logical to HEIs organisational decision-makers. Consequently, IR may generate better visibility and knowledge of the financial values of exploiting capitals (financial, intellectual, human, manufactured, social, and natural) and offer a multifaceted approach to reassess HEIs organisational performance in various sectors that support the growth of integrated thinking.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the use of national references in contemporary Swedish journalism. As a result of this, the study raises the question of the importance of national references throughout the world and provides a deeper understanding of the production of news. Through a qualitative and quantitative content analysis of 23 articles from the Swedish news organizations Dagens Nyheter (DN) and Svenska Dagbladet (SVD), the study examines the material using the agenda-setting theory, the gatekeeping theory, and the theories of news frames and news values. The qualitative approach aims to investigate how national references are used, and the quantitative research investigates to what extent national references are used and which themes are often occurring. The study's main findings show that the usage of national references is identifiable in both SVD and DN. The articles are found to utilize national references linked to Swedish soldiers, Swedish politicians, and the political allies of Sweden to provide cultural links to consumers, thus making the news more accessible and recognizable. National references are regularly implemented by using a narrative that exhibits a unified West where Sweden collaborates with other countries and international organizations such as the European Union and the United Nations. Further, Swedish military involvement in the conflict in Mali is often the subject of the articles examined in the study. The situation of the Swedish soldiers is often put on the agenda, and the Swedish military is generally framed as a responsible military force, protecting democracy and being in a leading position. The involvement of the Swedish government and Swedish politicians is frequently mentioned in the articles, making the Mali issue political, which could impact the 2022 election in Sweden.