This thesis provides a situated understanding of the ways in which the reality of a new technology is socially constructed. In particular, it examines how members of the aged interpretive community made sense of the computer as an interruption event, a technology not yet routinised as part of their everyday taken-for-granted reality, and needing to be consciously considered and evaluated to make it understandable. Members' sensemaking is studied as a narrative process in which meaning is produced by drawing on a repertoire of narratives, evaluating and developing localised responses to those narratives for the purpose of action taking. Two hundred and four participants over the age of 55 years, recruited predominantly from senior citizens' and SeniorNet organisations in the North Island of New Zealand, were interviewed in 28 focus groups over an eighteen month period between September 2001 and May 2003. Participants were categorised according to their self-identified membership of one of three groups: computer users affiliated to SeniorNet member organisations; computer users without SeniorNet organisational affiliation; and non-computer-users. Their computer-related stories were analysed using narrative analysis to identify and map the similar and different ways in which they constructed computers and themselves in relation to computers, in the stories they told. The research findings from this interpretive study augment the largely functionalist literature on older people and computers and provide insights not identified in previous studies. In particular, the findings indicate that participants identified a common meaning for the computer as actually or potentially useful for older people, but their meanings also varied according to their membership of one of the three participant groups, with SeniorNet members tending to identify the computer as an opportunity; Users, as a tool; and Nonusers, as a threat. Participants' meanings were traced through a storying process that identified three narrative elements as key: the settings in which accounts of the principal protagonists older people and computers were produced; the strength of the narrator's identification with old stories and values; and the ways in which the narrators oriented to the computer in the context of other technologies and events, or in isolation from them. The study makes a contribution to knowledge by enhancing understanding of older people's relationships with computers, through a micro level investigation of their experiences with, and meanings for, the technology. In addition, by identifying and explicating the processes through which the ongoing reality of a new technology is constructed and negotiated, and compared and contrasted in relation to three separate sub-groups of the one demographic population, the study contributes to social construction of technology theory. The study also makes a contribution to practice by showing how the alignment of old stories and new stories is a crucial component in the process for enabling those new to a technology to negotiate an appropriate placement for it, and how such alignment can be influenced by age-peer groups and the imperatives of inter-generational family communication.

Increasingly, communities in regional areas are turning to sports events of a small scale to bring new money into their local economy, provide employment, and provide intangible benefits such as increased community pride. Sports events held on an irregular basis can attract visitors from outside a host community, thus resulting in an increase in business during slow periods and possibly promote the host region as a tourist destination after an event has been staged.In many instances, sponsorship has proven to be the financial lifeblood of sport tourism events held in regional areas, and often provides a majority of the revenue necessary to sustain the successful staging of such events. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) frequently provide the sponsorship necessary to stage such events, owing to the fact that large businesses are sparse in regional areas.The academic community has paid little attention to the sponsorship nexus between SMEs and regional sport tourism events, which this study aimed to address. Grounded in the interpretivist social sciences paradigm, this qualitative study examined five case studies through interviewing five SME owner/managers and five managers of regional sport tourism events. Areas examined included perceptions of sponsorship, reasons why SMEs provided sponsorship to regional sport tourism events, sponsorship leveraging, evaluation of sponsorship effectiveness, and how sponsorships were initiated between SMEs and regional sport tourism events.The results of this research found that the event managers and SME sponsors shared differing perceptions of what constitutes ‘sponsorship’. Volunteer event managers tended to view sponsorship in a somewhat philanthropic manner, while professional event managers were well aware of the importance of reciprocating a return on investment to their sponsors. Sponsorships in this context were initiated either through formal request or networks of personal contacts between SMEs and event organising committees. The sponsorships studied were found to be highly informal in nature and bound by gentlemen’s agreements, as opposed to legally binding contracts.The primary reasons driving SMEs to sponsor such events were related to supporting their local community and to be seen as socially responsible. Engaging in sponsorship to achieve bottom-line objectives were secondary to community involvement, which confirmed findings from similar studies conducted previously.The results also indicated that sponsorship leveraging and evaluation of sponsorship effectiveness did occur, albeit with varying degrees of success. Both sponsors and event managers tended to exhibit low levels of proficiency in being able to carry out effective sponsorship leveraging and evaluations, and as such leveraging and evaluation techniques employed in these sponsorships tended to be unsophisticated and inexpensive to execute. Only one of the five events studied provided any written post-event feedback to their sponsors.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD), / Until recently, Northwestern Australia was thought to be relatively free of serious fruit fly pests. Although a noxious strain, present in Darwin since 1985, was widely believed to be an infestation of the Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni, from the East coast, the fruit flies present outside this area were believed to be the benign endemic species, B. aquilonis. However, during the year 2000, infestations of fruit flies were discovered on major commercial crops in both Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It was not known whether these outbreaks were due to an invasion of the major pest species, Bactrocera tryoni, a change in the behaviour of B. aquilonis, or a hybridisation event between the two species. Finding the source of these outbreaks has been complicated by the fact that, since B. tryoni and B. aquilonis are virtually indistinguishable morphologically, it was not known which species are present in the region. Traditionally any tryoni complex fly caught in the Northwest was called B. aquilonis based solely on location. In order to get a good population profile of the region, an extensive trapping program was set up to include flies from urban areas, commercial crops and natural areas where the benign strain is thought to remain. Tests of genetic differentiation and clustering analyses revealed a high degree of homogeneity in the Northwest samples, suggesting that just one species is present in the region. The Northwest samples were genetically differentiated from the Queensland samples but only to a small degree (FST =0.0153). MtDNA sequencing results also showed a small degree of differentiation between these regions. A morphological study of wing shape indicated that there are some minor identifiable morphological differences between East coast and Northwest laboratory reared flies. This difference was greater than that seen between B. jarvisi populations across the same geographic range. The results suggest that the flies caught in the Northwest are a separate population of B. tryoni. Soon after pest flies were discovered in Darwin, a population became established in Alice Springs. This population had a low genetic diversity compared with Queensland and Darwin populations, and showed evidence of being heavily founded. In 2000, an outbreak was discovered in the nearby town of Ti Tree. Due to the geographic and genetic similarity of these populations, Alice Springs was determined to be the source of the Ti Tree outbreak. To investigate the founding of these populations, a program was developed to estimate the propagule size. Using a simulation method seven different statistics were tested for estimating the propagule size of an outbreak population. For outbreaks originating from populations with high genetic diversity, the number of alleles was a good estimator of propagule size. When, however, the genetic diversity of the source population was already reduced, allele frequency measures, particularly the likelihood of obtaining the outbreak population from the source population, gave more accurate estimates. Applying this information to the Alice Springs samples, it was estimated that just five flies were needed to found the major population in and around Alice Springs. For Ti Tree, the propagule size was estimated to be 27 flies (minimum 10). In 2000, a much larger outbreak occurred in the developing horticultural region of Kununurra in northern Western Australia. An important question for the management of the problem is whether there is an established fly population or the flies are reinvading each year. This population was found to have a large amount of gene flow from the Northern Territory. Within the Kununurra samples, one group of flies was genetically differentiated from all the other samples. This group came from a small geographic area on the periphery of Kununurra and appeared to be the result of an invasion into this area at the time when the population was building up following the dry season. A further threat to the Northwest horticultural regions comes from B. jarvisi. A recent increase in the host range of this species has lead to speculation that it may become a greater pest in Northwestern Australia. At the present time, protocols for the population monitoring and disinfestation of this species are not in place. Here it is shown that B. jarvisi eggs are more heat tolerant than B. tryoni eggs and that monitoring of B. jarvisi populations is possible using cue lure traps placed according to fruiting time and location of their favoured host, Planchonia careya.

<p>Tidigare forskning pekar på att psykologiska faktorer påverkar hur individen rekryteras till en sekt. Förförståelsen inför denna intervjustudie var att det skulle kunna finnas ett behov av ett rehabiliteringscentrum i Sverige, och frågeställningen gällde vilka behov som föreligger hos en individ som lämnar en destruktiv sekt sett utifrån professionella hjälpares perspektiv. 14 personer deltog, psykiatriker, präster, politiker, terapeuter och psykologer. Resultatet visade att det finns olika anledningar till att individer rekryteras in i en sekt liksom till att de lämnar den. Resultatet visade också att det föreligger ett hjälpbehov hos individer som lämnar sekter och gemensamma svar för alla respondenter var att det behövs: (1) samtal, (2) gemenskap, (3) någon som lyssnar.</p>

This dissertation presents results from three studies that address major scientific questions in glacial geology and paleoclimatology for the late Pleistocene and Holocene using relatively new geochemical and statistical techniques. Each of the studies attempts to answer a longstanding question in the respective field using geochemical or statistical methods that have not been applied to the problem thus far. A longstanding question in glaciology is the nature and mechanism of the so- called "Heinrich events" of the last ~60 ka. These massive iceberg discharge events into the North Atlantic from the partial breakup of the Laurentide Ice Sheet are identified from distinct ice rafted debris and detrital carbonate layers in marine sediment cores. The mechanism associated with the initiation of these events is commonly thought to be related to internal ice sheet instabilities. However, Heinrich events consistently occur following a long cooling trend that culminates in an extreme cold event, thus suggesting a possible triggering mechanism by climate. Recent modeling work has proposed an oceanic mechanism associated with ocean warming, but no physical evidence has been made available to date. To test this ocean-warming hypothesis, we measured temperature sensitive trace metals and stable isotopes in benthic foraminifera from a sediment core collected in the western North Atlantic that spans the last six Heinrich events and compared our results to climate model simulations using CCSM3. Our results show subsurface warming occurred prior to or coeval with nearly all of the Heinrich events of the last ~60 ka, thus implicating subsurface ocean warming as the main trigger of these rapid breakups of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. In the field of glacial geology a longstanding question has been the timing of alpine glacial advances during the Holocene. A number of studies have interpreted several Holocene glacial advances in western North America, but age control is based largely on relative dating techniques, which have been shown to be in error by up to 10,000 yrs in some cases. Based on 124 ¹⁰Be surface exposure ages from twenty cirque moraines in ten mountain ranges across western North America, glacier were retreating from moraine positions during the latest Pleistocene or earliest Holocene and not throughout the Holocene epoch as previously assumed, thus requiring a refined interpretation of Holocene glacial activity in western North America and the associated climate forcing. In the field of paleoclimatology a question regarding how global temperature varied over the entirety of the Holocene epoch has remained to be answered for some time. While many temperature reconstructions exist for the last 2000 years, a full Holocene temperature stack does not exist, despite its potential utility of putting modern climate change into a full interglacial perspective. Based on a global composite of 73 proxy based temperature record, a Holocene temperature stack was constructed and used to demonstrate that a general cooling of ~1°C has occurred from the early to mid Holocene and that centennial and millennial scale variability is modest. We account for both temperature calibration and chronologic uncertainties using a Monte Carlo based approach. Our results are consistent with prior reconstructions of the last 2000 years and now allow for a full Holocene temperature perspective for evaluation with present and future climate change. / Graduation date: 2011 / Access restricted to the OSU Community, at author's request, from May 5, 2011 - May 5, 2012

Tidigare forskning pekar på att psykologiska faktorer påverkar hur individen rekryteras till en sekt. Förförståelsen inför denna intervjustudie var att det skulle kunna finnas ett behov av ett rehabiliteringscentrum i Sverige, och frågeställningen gällde vilka behov som föreligger hos en individ som lämnar en destruktiv sekt sett utifrån professionella hjälpares perspektiv. 14 personer deltog, psykiatriker, präster, politiker, terapeuter och psykologer. Resultatet visade att det finns olika anledningar till att individer rekryteras in i en sekt liksom till att de lämnar den. Resultatet visade också att det föreligger ett hjälpbehov hos individer som lämnar sekter och gemensamma svar för alla respondenter var att det behövs: (1) samtal, (2) gemenskap, (3) någon som lyssnar.

This study was motivated by encounters with persons with repeated suicidality in clinical psychiatry. Their suicide attempts are frequently regarded as manipulative, and the patients are often labelled a “borderline personality disorder”. They cause frustration and are sometimes met with repellent attitudes among clinicians, but clinical experience as well as research shows that their personal history regularly includes severe childhood trauma and often childhood sexual abuse. The first part of the study was undertaken to investigate the frequency of borderline personality disorder among consecutive persons admitted to hospital after a suicide attempt, the experience of adverse life events among them and the motives for the act. The concept and definition of parasuicide was used as inclusion criterion. During the 10 months of the study 81% of all parasuicide inpatients gave their consent to partake, altogether 64 patients, 41 women and 23 men. Standardized instruments were used for assessment of personality disorders, and self-report questionnaires were used to investigate motives and adverse life events. Seven years later, follow-up interviews were conducted with 51 of these persons, 32 women and 19 men. This second part of the study used qualitative methods in the form of thematic open-ended interviews to allow for the patients’ own descriptions of their suicidality and mental health in the years following the suicide attempt. The role of psychiatry in this process was one of the themes in the interview. Use of psychiatric treatment and support during the follow-up period was investigated through a review of the medical charts recorded at the psychiatric clinic. The quantitative part of the study showed that among the parasuicide patients there was a considerable overrepresentation of borderline personality disorder, and that the frequency of adverse life events was much higher in this subgroup. The motives for the parasuicide did not differ between those with borderline personality disorder and the others. Childhood sexual abuse could be identified as the most important factor influencing suicidality and extent of psychiatric treatment after the index parasuicide. The patients’ own descriptions in the follow-up interview were related to the theoretical perspectives of symbolic interactionism, therapeutic alliance, perception of difference, empowerment and the concept of modernity. In the narratives a picture emerges of a psychiatric health care that carries the potential to offer therapeutic relationships, but often fails in its aims. In therapeutic alliances built on personal relationships, characterized by close and frequent encounters and a focus not only the weaknesses but also the strengths of the patient, there was room for personal development. A reliance on therapeutic method instead of a therapeutic alliance with the patient and a lack of a collaborative perspective in therapeutic work set definite hindrances for the therapeutic process, according to the views of the patients. Regardless of the severity of the life experiences and personality dimensions that had lead to the parasuicide, the core prerequisite for subsequent stabilisation was an orientation towards significant others that saw and supported the potential for change and helped redefine the situation. These significant others were sometimes found in the psychiatric health care services, but were mainly found outside of psychiatry. The conclusions of the study are that there is a close correlation between repeated suicidality, borderline personality disorder, female gender and adverse events such as childhood sexual abuse, and that the repeated suicidality is better explained by adverse events such as childhood sexual abuse than by personality disorder. This background seriously challenges repellent attitudes towards these patients. The narratives of the patients pose definite challenges for the therapeutic community to embrace new ways to find working therapeutic alliances after a parasuicide, possibly based around perspectives of empowerment and mutuality. Identifying the processes that helps the person find “the difference that makes a difference” should be in focus of future psychiatric research and at the heart of psychiatric support and treatment after parasuicide, to enable the patients to find their own strengths and resources and in this way be able to leave it all behind.

The purpose of this study was to understand the governance of Olympic Games legacy. Legacy is broadly described as “all planned and unplanned, positive and negative, intangible and tangible structures created by and for a sport event that remain for a longer time than the event itself” (Preuss, 2007a, p. 86). The specific objectives of this study were: a) to map the historical evolution of legacy throughout the modern Olympic Movement (OM) (i.e., 1896-current day) in order to contextualize and conceptualize the major trends (e.g., changes in legacy, network actors/stakeholders, governance structures and processes) over time; b) to understand, explain, and compare/contrast the network governance of Olympic legacy, using Australian and Canadian case settings; and c) to critically analyze the overall structure and process of the governance of legacy within the OM focusing specifically on the aspects of performance, transparency, accountability, and participation to build a framework and provide policy recommendations for the governance of legacy in mega-events. In order to accomplish these objectives, a historical review of legacy within the OM and two descriptive case studies (Sydney 2000 and Vancouver 2010) were built using interviews and archival materials. Findings showed how the growth of the Games has culminated in the increased use and importance of legacy, leading to greater concept complexity. This resulted in the emergence of several trends including: new legacy themes, heightened interconnectedness, and formalization of governance mechanisms. Institutional theory was then applied to further explore the emergence of legacy and its habitualization, objectification, and sedimentation as an accepted norm in the Olympic Field. The examination of the legacy governance networks in the two cases showed four legacy network governance phases: legacy conceptualization, legacy planning and implementation, legacy transfer, and post-Games legacy governance, as well as a number of governance mechanisms (e.g., contracts, policies) that had an impact on the overall governance of the event’s legacy. Finally, a critical analysis of the governance of Olympic Games legacy was completed. The end result of the research project was a theoretical framework detailing the levels and fluidity of legacy governance in the OM.

The behaviour of a large, distributed system is inherently complex. One step towards making this behaviour more understandable to a user involves instrumenting the system and collecting data about its execution. We can model the data as traces (representing various sequential entities in the system such as single-threaded processes) that contain both events local to the trace and communication events involving another trace. Visualizing this data provides a modest benefit to users as it makes basic interactions in the system clearer and, with some user effort, more complex interactions can be determined. Unfortunately, visualization by itself is not an adequate solution, especially for large numbers of events and complex interactions among traces. A search facility has the ability to make this event data more useful. Work has been done previously on various frameworks and algorithms that could form the core of such a search facility; however, various shortcomings in the completeness of the frameworks and in the efficiency of the algorithms resulted in an inconsistent, incomplete, and inefficient solution. This thesis takes steps to remedy this situation. We propose a provably-complete framework for determining precedence between sets of events and propose additions to a previous pattern-specification language so it can specify a wider variety of search patterns. We improve the efficiency of the existing search algorithm, and provide a new, more efficient, algorithm that processes a pattern in a fundamentally different way. Furthermore, the various proposed improvements have been implemented and are analysed empirically.

Environmental accounting, as a newly developed cross-field subject, has been received increasing attentions in recent years. With public awareness of corporate social responsibility and sustainability, corporate environmental performance also has been aroused among social public, stakeholders, and internal management. Environmental disclosure, as an effective link between corporate management and social responsibility, is becoming a valuable research topic.   One unsolved problem of the environmental disclosure is the corporate behavior of listed companies in terms of environmental reporting in the post environmental events period, from 2005 to 2009. Those corporation environmental events, exposed by media, include over pollution, over emissions and illegal environmental activities. According to legitimacy theory, negative social perception and “legitimacy gaps” of the community result from illegitimate corporate activities, like environmental events, and corporations are therefore been threatened in its existence. In this case, enhanced environmental disclosure in annual reports is supposed to be an appropriate way to eliminate threats for corporations and ameliorate negative social perceptions. It imply that corporations with lower level of environmental performance are required to have more environmental disclosure for sustainability.   Some prior studies provided evidences that in the period from 1980 to 2002, after some incidents, corporations involved in these incidents indicate a higher level of environmental disclosure in the year when the environmental incidents happened, which align with legitimacy theory. Furthermore, there were incongruence previous results of the relationships between environmental disclosure and firm size and industry characters. We aim to find that whether the corporation environmental disclosure is in a relation with firm size and industry characters or not. And we are to revisit the association between corporate environmental performance and environmental disclosure.   This study took the quantitative method statistical technology was used for analysis. In order to get the answer for the research question, four hypotheses were set in this research. Finally, firm size and industry characters have no significant relationship with the level of environmental disclosure. The results indicate that the level of environmental information disclosure in annual reports of 2008 is higher than those of 2005. However, environmental events could not be deemed as a determinant of environmental disclosure, and the results partially support the legitimacy theory. The quality of environmental disclosure of 21 sample companies did not improve significantly in the year when the environmental events happened, but only the environmental disclosure sample companies with environmental events which happened in the year of 2008 improved significantly, compared with the previous year.