This research presents a comparative case study between the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the United State’s invasion of Iraq in 2003. It specifically examines how the two interventions were framed by the political executives. Frame theory and a qualitative content analysis served as theoretical­ and methodological benchmarks to assess selected speeches and public statements delivered by president George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, in order to detect similar motives and justification patterns for the armed occupations. Four distinct war frames emerged from the text material: prevention, common good, state liability and imposed war. The results demonstrate that state leaders are prone to strategically communicate their military ambitions and legitimize their policy agendas through corresponding framing processes.

Bonnier is one of the largest media companies in the Nordic. Because of their strong position in the market, they have an opportunity to influence the media landscape in Sweden. Due to the affects of media concentration, we wanted to find out if Bonniers concentrated ownership changes the outcome of news in the swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Through an quantitive content analysis, we examined how Dagens Nyheter writes news about the two swedish TV-channels TV4 and SVT. Since Bonnier is the owner of both Dagens Nyheter and TV4, it was interesting to see if the news about the two channels somehow differ. Our results indicate that there where no major differences in how the two channels were represented in Dagens Nyheter. Although, the newspaper seems to put more focus on the TV4-profiles, as well as they use more pictures for the articles about TV4. According to the results of this study, our conclusion is that media concentration is not yet a threat to the media landscape in Sweden, at least not when it comes to the cross-ownership of TV-channels and newspaper.

The United States and Cuba announced that they would begin the process of restoring diplomatic relations in December 2014 after over fifty years of political disengagement. The shift in foreign policy produced a plethora of news articles. What do newspaper articles, in particular articles in The New York Times published between January 2014-July 2015, reveal about how, if at all, the representation of Cuba has changed since the two countries have initiated the process of restoring relations? How did the U.S. public react to this change? A qualitative content analysis of 117 articles from The New York Times reveal that the thaw in foreign relations with Cuba does not mean a significant shift in the portrayal of Cuba in U.S. newspapers. Cuba continues to be characterized as an undemocratic, unfree government.

This thesis focuses mainly on the general ethical considerations of staff and not pre-defined specific ethical problems or dilemmas. The aims of this thesis were: first, to map ethical considerations as described by staff members in their everyday work in child and adolescent psychiatry as well as in adult psychiatry; second, from a normative ethical perspective, examine encounters between staff and patients; and third, to describe staff justification for decisions on coercive care in child and adolescent psychiatry. The material in the three first studies comprised ethical diaries written by staff in 13 inpatient clinics. The fourth study included all the medical records of patients who were admitted to coercive care during one year in child and adolescent psychiatry in Sweden. In a final analysis, combining all the four studies, three staff ideals were identified: being a good carer, respecting the patient’s autonomy and integrity and having good relations with patients and relatives. Staff often felt that the only reasonable way in many situations was to act in a paternalistic way and take responsibility, but they considered it to be problematic. Four main themes were identified as ethical considerations. These were the borders of coercion, the emphasis on order and clarity rather than a more reciprocal relationship with patients, a strong expectation of loyalty within the team, and feelings of powerlessness, mostly in relation to patients. I have identified four challenges for inpatient psychiatry. First, formal and informal coercion in inpatient care raise ethical concerns that also can be emotionally difficult for staff. Second, the professional role and care needs to be redeveloped from providing routinised care to providing more individualised care. Third, staff often worry about how patients manage their life after discharge, indicating that patients need better support. Fourth, staff also need support; they often experience feelings of being alone with their thoughts about ethical difficulties at work. Future research could contribute in the mapping of ethical considerations, in helping to develop, implement and evaluate methods for managing these issues in psychiatric settings, and to develop the normative ethical language so that it is more relevant to the clinic reality.

This study examines how the themes of Swedish society- and working life are depicted in two textbooks for SFI, (Swedish For Immigrants); Mål 2 and Samspråk 2. Do the students receive a language that is useful for an active life in society and on the labour market through this educational material? Mål 2 and Samspråk 2 have been reviewed partly by a hermeneutic content analysis, partly via two interviews and two phenomenological surveys, targeted towards students, and towards teachers. The interviews of the two teachers show that Mål 2 is suitable for pupils at the C-level and at the beginning of the D-level and that Samspråk 2 prepares the students well for the national and final D-test. The content analysis shows that among the 193 pages of Mål 2, only about 20 deal with the theme of working life, while the societal themes are dealt with in about ten pages, but also occasionally woven into the text. The diversity in today's Swedish society  does not appear in the text, writing tasks are not included in the  textbook and the student is not fully challenged linguistically by the sentence structure in the fictional texts, though the nonfiction texts are more sufficiently challenging. Regarding Samspråk 2, the societal life permeates the text, while the work theme is treated in four chapters of six. The content is clearly inclusive in terms of diversity and the text is linguistically challenging, for some pupils perhaps even too challenging. The survey targeted towards the teachers regarding Mål 2 gave 57 % positive responses and thus 43 % negative responses. Regarding Samspråk 2 there were not enough responses, only three. Regarding the student responses on Mål 2, 79 % of the student responses were positive, while 87 % of the student responses regarding Samspråk 2 were positive.

This doctoral thesis analyses the concept of risk and how it functions as an organizing principle of discourse, paying close attention to actual linguistic practice.           Article 1 analyses the concepts of risk, safety and security and their relations based on corpus data (the Corpus of Contemporary American English). Lexical, grammatical and semantic contexts of the nouns risk, safety and security, and the adjectives risky, safe and secure are analysed and compared. Similarities and differences are observed, suggesting partial synonymy between safety (safe) and security (secure) and semantic opposition to risk (risky). The findings both support and contrast theoretical assumptions about these concepts in the literature.           Article 2 analyses the concepts of risk and danger and their relation based on corpus data (in this case the British National Corpus). Frame semantics is used to explore the assumptions of the sociologist Niklas Luhmann (and others) that the risk concept presupposes decision-making, while the concept of danger does not. Findings partly support and partly contradict this assumption.           Article 3 analyses how newspapers represent risk and causality. Two theories are used: media framing and the philosopher John Mackie’s account of causality. A central finding of the study is that risks are “framed” with respect to causality in several ways (e.g. one and the same type of risk can be presented as resulting from various causes). Furthermore, newspaper reporting on risk and causality vary in complexity. In some articles, risks are presented without causal explanations, while in other articles, risks are presented as results from complex causal conditions. Considering newspaper reporting on an aggregated overall level, complex schemas of causal explanations emerge.           Article 4 analyses how phenomena referred to by the term nano (e.g. nanotechnology, nanoparticles and nanorobots) are represented as risks in Swedish newspaper reporting. Theoretically, the relational theory of risk and frame semantics are used. Five main groups of nano-risks are identified based on the risk object of the article: (I) nanotechnology; (II) nanotechnology and its artefacts (e.g. nanoparticles and nanomaterials); (III) nanoparticles, without referring to nanotechnology; (IV) non-nanotechnological nanoparticles (e.g. arising from traffic); and (V) nanotechnology and nanorobots. Various patterns are explored within each group, concerning, for example, what is considered to be at stake in relation to these risk objects, and under what conditions. It is concluded that Swedish patterns of newspaper reporting on nano-risks follow international trends, influenced by scientific assessment, as well as science fiction.           Article 5 analyses the construction and negotiation of risk in the Swedish controversy over the use of antibacterial silver in health care and consumer products (e.g. sports clothes and equipment). The controversy involves several actors: print and television news media, Government and parliament, governmental agencies, municipalities, non-government organisations, and companies. In the controversy, antibacterial silver is claimed to be a risk object that negatively affects health, the environment, and sewage treatment industry (objects at risk). In contrast, such claims are denied. Antibacterial silver is even associated with the benefit of mitigating risk objects (e.g. bacteria and micro-organisms) that threaten health and the environment (objects at risk). In other words, both sides of the controversy invoke health and the environment as objects at risk. Three strategies organising risk communication are identified: (i) representation of silver as a risk to health and the environment; (ii) denial of such representations; and (iii) benefit association, where silver is construed to mitigate risks to health and the environment. / Avhandlingen analyserar begreppet risk och hur detta begrepp strukturerar diskurs. Ett centralt intresse för analysen är faktisk språkanvändning.           I den första artikeln analyseras de engelska begreppen risk, safety and security och deras relation. Analysen bygger på korpusdata (the Corpus of Contemporary American English). Lexikala och grammatiska kontexter för substantiven risk, safety och security och adjektiven risky, safe och secure analyseras och jämförs. Både likheter och skillnader identifieras vilka i stort bekräftar att safety (safe) och security (secure) är synonymer och i sin tur motsatser (antonymer) till risk (risky). Studien stödjer flera tidigare antaganden om dessa begrepp inom forskningslitteraturen, men motsäger andra.           I den andra artikeln analyseras de engelska begreppen risk och danger och deras relation baserat på korpusdata (the British National Corpus). Ramsemantik (eng. frame semantics) används för att undersöka antagandet att begreppet risk förutsätter beslutsfattande, medan begreppet danger inte gör det. Studien stödjer delvis detta antagande, men visar också på problem med antagandet.           I den tredje artikeln analyseras hur nyhetspress framställer risk och orsak-verkansamband (kausalitet). Två teorier används. För det första används teorin om medias ”inramning” av händelser (eng. media framing). För det andra används filosofiska perspektiv på kausala beskrivningar. En huvudsaklig slutsats är att risker framställs på många olika sätt med avseende på kausalitet. Exempelvis kan en och samma risk framställas som ett resultat av flera olika orsaker. Vidare framställer nyhetspress riskers kausalitet med olika grader av komplexitet. I vissa tidningsartiklar presenteras risker utan några kausala förklaringar. I andra tidningsartiklar presenteras risker som resultat av komplexa orsak-verkansamband. Om man betraktar nyhetsrapporteringen om risker på en övergripande nivå, så framträder en komplex bild av riskers orsakssamband.           I den fjärde artikeln analyseras framställningar av fenomen som benämns med morfemet nano, exempelvis nanoteknologi, nanomaterial och nanorobotar. Frågan som besvaras är på vilket sätt sådana fenomen framställs som risker i svensk nyhetspress. Teoretiskt utgår studien från den relationella teorin om risk och ramsemantik. Baserat på vilka fenomen som framställs som riskobjekt (eller hot) i tidningsartiklar, identifieras fem grupper av nanorisker: (I) nanoteknologi, (II) nanoteknologi och dess produkter (t.ex. nanopartiklar och nanomaterial), (III) nanopartiklar (utan referens till nanoteknologi), (IV) nanopartiklar som inte är resultat av nanoteknologi (utan istället uppstår t.ex. i trafiken) och (V) nanoteknologi och nanorobotar. För varje grupp undersöks vidare mönster i framställningen av dessa risker, exempelvis, vad som beskrivs som hotat av dessa riskobjekt och under vilka förutsättningar. Studiens empiriska observationer stödjer tidigare forskning om hur nanorisker rapporteras i nyhetspress internationalt. Rapporteringen av nanorisker är influerad av vetenskapliga riskbedömningar, men också av science fiction.           I den femte artikeln analyseras en kontrovers kring användningen av antibakteriellt silver inom sjukvården och i konsumentartiklar som exempelvis träningskläder och sportutrustning. Fokus för artikeln är hur risker uppfattas i den svenska debatten som inbegriper nyhetsmedia (press och TV), regering och riksdag, myndigheter, kommuner, intresseorganisationer och företag. Vissa aktörer menar att silver är ett riskobjekt som påverkar olika värden på ett negativt sätt, till exempel, folkhälsan, miljön, och avloppsreningsindustrin. Andra aktörer förnekar dessa påståenden. De menar till och med att silver har fördelar som att motverka risker som hotar folkhälsan och miljön. Med andra ord åberopar båda sidorna av kontroversen hälsa och miljö som värden viktiga att skydda. Slutligen identifieras tre strategier för riskkommunikation som tillämpas i kontroversen: (i) framställningen av silver som en miljö- och hälsorisk, (ii) förnekande av dessa påståenden, och (iii) nyttoassociationer där silver framställs som något som motverkar miljö- och hälsorisker. / <p>QC 20160127</p>

This study examines the intellectual capital (IC) disclosure practices in the annual reports of 100 listed UK firms selected from sectors considered to be IC-intensive. It also investigates the possible determinants of such disclosure practices from the three perspectives of corporate governance structure, company characteristics and market factors. IC disclosures were captured using content analysis, and were measured by a disclosure index, supported by word count and percentage of word count metrics to assess the variety, volume and focus of IC disclosure respectively, at both overall and subcategory levels. The presentational formats and locations of IC disclosures were also recorded. The results indicate that the UK firms sampled provide considerable IC information in their annual reports, mainly in text form, with popular use of numerical information, while the use of graphs and pictures for many IC elements remains low. The distribution of IC disclosures, captured in three categories, varies by the three measures of disclosure applied. IC information was found in virtually all sections of the annual report and was most concentrated in the Operating and Financial Review section. IC terms typically used in the academic literature do not feature in the sampled annual reports. The results of the statistical analyses based on the three measures of IC disclosure indicate significant associations with a number of corporate governance factors (i.e. board composition, share concentration, audit committee size and frequency of meeting, board directors' shareholding, audit committee directors' shareholding, and board directors with cross-directorships), company characteristics (i.e. firm size, profitability, and listing age), and market factors (i.e. 'hidden value', share price volatility, share turnover, and multiple listing). These findings offer support for a number of theories, such as information asymmetry, agency and signalling theory. The influence of these explanatory factors on human, structural and relational capital disclosures, based on all three disclosure measure metrics, as well as on the format of IC disclosure, was also explored. The study also finds that its IC framework is more effective than a less detailed framework used in prior studies for the purpose of examining IC disclosure practice and its determinants. The study contributes to the further advancement of the state of knowledge in relation to IC disclosure both empirically and methodologically. It provides information users, preparers, regulatory bodies and academics with a state-of-the-art understanding of IC disclosure practices in the annual report. The transparent content analysis process enables future replication and comparison of results. The rigorous measurements of IC disclosure, the greater specificity of disclosure about the location and presentational format, and the more detailed IC research framework can be usefully applied by other studies. By examining the relationship between explanatory factors and IC disclosure, it helps shareholders and other groups of information users as well as the regulatory bodies to identify factors that may encourage IC disclosure in the annual report.

Historically, terrestrial food web research has focused on describing the structure of aboveground grazing webs, and determining how interactions among plants, herbivores and higher trophic levels influence primary productivity. Detrital food webs however, play a significant role in regulation of ecosystem dynamics through direct impacts on decomposition. Unraveling the complex nature of detrital food web structure is critical to developing a better understanding of ecosystem function. Therefore the primary objective of this research was to describe the structure of the leaf-litter food web in a temperate deciduous forest, with emphasis on interactions between a community of generalist predators, the forest-floor spiders, and arthropod prey. Elucidating occurrence of trophic interactions in the forest-floor food web was a formidable task due to the high diversity, small body sizes and cryptic habits of many litter-dwelling arthropods. Analysis of natural variation in consumer stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) formed the crux of this research because it simultaneously permitted quantification of the trophic positions of litterdwelling arthropods and identification of spider resources, including prey subsidies from the grazing web. A monoclonal antibody-based ELISA was employed to analyze the gut contents of spiders to quantify predation on a major arthropod taxon, the forest-floor flies. Surveys of spider distributions and prey availability in the litter layer also provided fundamental knowledge of community structure. Stable isotope analyses suggested that most spiders exhibited strong trophic connections to the detrital web, but weak links to herbivorous prey. Several lines of evidence supported a strong trophic link between large, litterdwelling collembolans (Tomoceridae) and cursorial spiders, including correlation between spider and tomocerid densities on the forest-floor, similarities in spider and tomocerid carbon signatures, and nitrogen enrichment of tomocerids relative to other prey types. Conversely, this research provided conflicting evidence regarding spider consumption of flies. Gut content assays indicated consistent predation on flies by cursorial spiders, while stable isotope models suggested that flies are likely of little importance in the spiders’ diets. This project yielded valuable insights into the role of spiders in the forest-floor food web and the potential importance of species-specific variation in prey consumption for detrital food web dynamics.

When school shootings occur in primary or secondary schools they draw a massive amount of media attention. Frequently, after the shooting stops, the media begins to prognosticate about the factors that led to the occurrence of the tragedy. However, there is a dearth of research examining those factors that are perpetuated by the media, as well as the factors that are most discussed in scholarly publications. Therefore, the aim of this research project was to explore the perpetration factors that have been perpetuated by the media, and compare those to the perpetration factors that are most frequently discussed by researchers. The study posed three research questions, which explored the factors that were most discussed, the differences between print news sources and journal articles in regard to the factors they discussed, and the possible changes of factors through time. The exploration of these research questions was based in social constructionist thought, as the theory provided a framework for exploring how the findings may impact subsequent prevention of the phenomenon. The study found that there were numerous factors discussed by the media and researchers, which broke down into school factors, cultural factors, individual factors, biological facts, and family factors. Through triangulation of available data the study also found that there were differences between the perpetration factors as they are discussed by the print news and scholars, as well as differences in discussion of factors through time. These differences indicate that prevention efforts may be hindered due to a faulty understanding of rampage school shootings, which is being perpetuated by the media. The findings also indicate several areas for future research to focus on, such as: exploration of other media formats, examining the constructs proposed by the research project, and exploring the methods that individuals involved with prevention determine the threat level of individuals who are viewed as posing a risk.

<p><p><strong>Abstract</strong></p></p><p><strong>Authors:</strong> Mikael Gustafsson & Kristofer von Wachenfeldt</p><p><p><strong>Title:</strong> With help from people and cattle; to recover from mental illness in a rural environment [translated title]</p><p><strong>Supervisor:</strong> Kent-Inge Perseius</p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The aim of this study was to examine feelings of recovery from mental illness in the perspective of individuals participating in Nymålen; a rural- situated facility focusing on recreation- and work- related interventions. The study took place outside of Oskarshamn, Sweden. The study focused on if, and in that case how, Nymålen contributes to recovery from mental illness. We were also interested in which factors affecting the recovery-process, as expressed by the participants themselves.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong> Eight individuals from Nymålen participated in individually performed semi- structured interviews. The collected data was then coded and categorized to enable further analysis by using Qualitative content analysis inspired by Graneheim & Lundman (2003). Latent themes that described the underlying meaning of the material were then extracted, using an analysis inspired by Robert K. Merton’s (1967) thesis on manifest and latent functions.</p><p><strong>Results:</strong> The findings of this study suggest that Nymålen in some ways contributes to feelings of recovery from mental illness. Nymålens environment including animals, a feeling of non- demanding chores, perceptive personnel and a positive interaction between the participants were the expressed main factors contributing to recovery from mental illness. Factors interrupting the recovery process were also detected, mainly an unhealthy feeling of competition between the participants, the lack of personnel and feelings of neglect from other psychiatric institutions.</p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> Recovery, Mental illness, Animals, Rural, Rehabilitation, Qualitative content analysis</p></p>