The aim of this dissertation is two-fold. First, the discussion seeks to understand the concepts of nationalism and patriotism and how they relate to one another. In respect to the more critical literature concerning nationalism, it asks whether these two concepts are as different as is sometimes assumed. Furthermore, by problematizing nation-branding as an “updated” form of nationalism, it seeks to understand whether we are facing the possible emergence of a new type of nationalism. Second, the study endeavors to discursively analyze the ”bottom-up” processes of national reproduction and re-definition in an online, post-socialist context through an empirical examination of the online debate and polemic about the new Polish patriotism. The dissertation argues that approaching nationalism as a broad phenomenon and ideology which operates discursively is helpful for understanding patriotism as an element of the nationalist rhetoric that can be employed to study national unity, sameness, and difference. Emphasizing patriotism within the Central European context as neither an alternative to nor as a type of nationalism may make it possible to explain the popularity and continuous endurance of nationalism and of practices of national identification in different and changing contexts. Instead of facing a new type of nationalism, we can then speak of new forms of engagement which take place in cyberspace that contribute to the process of reproduction of nationalism. The growing field of nation-branding, with both its practical and political implications, is presented as one of the ways in which nationalism is reproduced and maintained as a form of “soft” rather than “hard” power within the global context. The concept of nation re-branding is introduced in order to account for the role that citizens play in the process of nation branding, which has often been neglected in the literature. This concept is utilized to critically examine, understand, and explain the dynamics of nation brand construction and re-definition, with a particular focus on the discursive practices of citizens in cyberspace. It is argued that citizens in the post-socialist countries, including Poland, can engage in the process of nation re-branding online. It is also argued that this process of online nation re-branding may legitimately be regarded as a type of civic practice through which citizens connect with each other and reproduce a form of cultural national intimacy. The results of the analysis of the online empirical material illustrate that nation re-branding is a complex, dynamic, and ambivalent phenomenon. It involves a process of discursive negotiation of nation and of national identity, but also challenges, dismantles, and transforms the national image as it is communicated both internally and externally. This reveals nation re-branding as an element in the post-socialist transformation from a ”nation” to a ”Western,” ”modern,” and ”normal” country in which dealing with an ”old” nation brand is as equally important as the introduction of the new brand. Nationalism does not disappear in the digital age, but rather becomes part of the new way of doing politics online, whereby citizens are potentially granted a form of agency in the democratic process.

Aim: This thesis aims to describe perceived overall well-being, coping strategies, experiences of intimacy and sexuality, and global and dimension-specific self-esteem among children and adolescents with mobility impairment. Methods: The study included 141 children and adolescents aged 7–18 years with mobility impairment. Data was gathered by comprehensive semi-structured interviews and the self-report inventories “Children’s Coping Strategies Checklist” (CCSC) and “I Think I am”. Perceived overall well-being was measured by the nine-grade visual “Snoopy scale”. Motor function and pain were measured by the BL motor assessment, and independence or dependence by Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living. Results: The majority reported a favourable level of perceived overall well-being and positive global and dimension-specific self-esteem. Lower global self-esteem was significantly related to: greater age, being a first-generation immigrant, having an acquired disease or injury and experience of pain, while lower level of perceived overall well-being was significantly related to all of these in addition to not living with both parents. Generally, children and adolescents identified themselves as sexual beings and most expressed future aspirations as living together with partner having children. However, many had limited or no experience of partner-related intimacy and sexual activities, and socio-demographic and disability characteristics had a marginal influence. A history of sexual abuse was reported by 7% in the age cohort 13–18 years. A four-dimensional model of coping strategies including “active coping”, “distraction”, “avoidance” and “support seeking” strategies provided an adequate fit to the CCSC data. Three of the four strategies, all except “avoidance”, were significantly related to several demographic and disability features. Well-being was not significantly related to coping strategies, although the higher the trust in the strategies, the higher the estimation of well-being. Conclusion: The understanding of vulnerability factors as well as identification of coping strategies among children and adolescents with mobility impairment is essential for providing proper care, treatment and support during childhood and adolescence.

ABSTRACT Title: ”Dating Online. Self-Marketing Through Sweden's Biggest Dating Site – Match.com” Number of pages: 34 Author: Joanna Stokowska Tutor: Amelie Hössjer Course: Media and Communication Studies C Period: Autumn term 2005 University: Division of Media and Communication Studies, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University Purpose/aim: The aim of this paper is to study the online dating phenomenon. The questions to be answered are: how do people form their personal profiles? Does the method of how one markets him/herself, within an online dating service, vary among different age groups? Material/method: 100 personal profiles have been downloaded and analysed from Sweden's largest dating website, Match.com. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used when analysing the data. Main results: Match.com gives clear instructions on how to form a profile. The company makes sure that the content of all the personal sites fulfils the company’s policy. The differences in how people in different age groups and of different gender advertise themselves, through profiles, are relatively small. Most of individuals tend to focus on descriptions of their personality, favourite activities and body. Interaction through the profiles (seen as channels) tends to have an intimate form. Keywords: Dating online, personal profiles, mediated intimacy, mediated interaction.

An estimated 5.4 million individuals in the United States have Alzheimer’s disease, and the number is expected to rise exponentially over the next 50 years. Content analysis was used to examine the availability and content of online resources accessible through the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) that addressed emotional and physical intimacy for a marital unit. The analysis resulted in ten documents from the Alzheimer’s Association’s website, seven from the NIA’s website, and four additional documents produced from external links that met these criteria. Five major themes emerged from these documents regarding the subject of emotional and physical intimacy. These categories included: (a) defining sexuality and intimacy, (b) changes that occur in the relationship due to a dementia diagnosis, (c) reasons for the change in the relationship, (d) responses to a dementia diagnosis, and (e) strategies for managing the changes due to a dementia diagnosis.

The aim of this study is to combine the various concepts, in the field of SME in service based industry, being developed independently by researchers. The goal is to provide a comprehensive overview on the rules and interactions of the involved factors. An investigation of the influence of corporate image and relationship quality on customer loyalty, among SMEs in the banking sector, is carried out. The moderating role of switching barrier is investigated. Furthermore the background variables, affecting relationship quality and corporate image, are investigated. This provides a deeper understanding on how customer loyalty is achieved. Such a deeper understanding on achieving customer loyalty can be regarded as a competitive tool especially in the banking sector with many financial providers and the products being alike. This article is based on 335 valid questionnaires returned from SME customers established in Sweden. The negative impact of Switching barrier on customer loyalty indicates that switching barrier should be avoided thus it decreases customer loyalty and does not have a moderating role. Instead focus should be put on delivering high professionalism which will contribute to higher level of relationship quality and positive perception of corporate image. This, in turn, will eliminate the moderating role of switching barrier and lead to customer loyalty.

How to build customer loyalty and retain customers are important issues for most businesses. Personalized services have been used as a strategy for such purposes. The advancement of information technology has enabled a business to keep track of customer preferences and provide personalized services accordingly. Several theories have been proposed to explain the effect of positive customer attitude toward personalized services, such as reducing information overload and the Elaboration Likelihood Model. This study is focus on the perspective of intimate relationship with customers through personalized services, and proposes that the intimacy relationship induced from personalized advertising plays a major role in building customer loyalty. An experiment was designed to test our hypotheses. An experimental website was developed to interact with the subjects for building relationship. Experimental advertisement was then sent to the subject for evaluation. The experiment results in 355 completed data, which were then analyzed using the SPSS and SmartPLS. The results reveal that (1)personalized content has a significant effect intimacy;(2) Personalized message doesn¡¦t influence intimacy;(3)customer intimacy has effects on the attitude toward advertising and customer¡¦s purchasing intention. We also find that the relationship between customer intimacy and the recommendation effect was not significantly different for different product categories.

This dissertation examines the relationship between body, subjectivity and modernity in the making of modern Turkey. It explores how the &ldquo / disenchanted&rdquo / world of the people was &ldquo / re-enchanted&rdquo / by the modern, Eurocentric, nationalist and republican program of the republican elite. I call this program as the &ldquo / politico-moral pedagogy&rdquo / and argue that it arrives at its peak in the 1930s, when the republican regime was consolidated enough to colonize the bodies and the intimacies of people. More particularly, this dissertation studies the republican power at the intersection of the contested domains of the public and the private. It explores how the Kemalist elite, through operating a public, republican discourse, exerted a significant amount of energy and resources at the intimate sphere for creating civilized, healthy and virtuous generations. It traces the genealogy of the &ldquo / republican morality&rdquo / as the kernel of the republican &ldquo / corporeal&rdquo / and &ldquo / sentimental&rdquo / education under the program of the national pedagogy in the constructed and performative domains of the intimate, where people become the pedagogical object to be transformed into &ldquo / good, strong and healthy&rdquo / republican citizens.

In this study, construction of sexuality has been studied among middle class, educated women who are living considered &#039 / normal&#039 / , in a social structure assumed where sexuality from one side is talked about a lot and from another full of unknowns about perceptions and experiences. Certain conclusions were derived on construction of women sexuality following the interviews performed with twenty nine women whose ages vary from twenties to fifties.

Email has developed into one of the most extensively used computer applications. Email interfaces, on the other hand, have gone through very few transformations since their inception. As the growing volumes of email data accumulate in users' email boxes, these interfaces fail to provide effective message handling and browsing support. Saved email messages provide not only a vast and pulsating record of one's electronic past, but also a potential source of valuable insights into the structure and dynamics of one's social network. In this thesis, we introduce a visualization approach to email that draws upon email’s inherently personal character and uses intimacy as a key parameter. We have developed faMailiar, a novel email interface that visualizes email in a chronological manner through two alternative, calendar-like views that present email activity on different time granularity scales. Visual mappings of email data and support for filtering help the user see rhythms and patterns in her social interactions. Zooming, panning and implicit semantic zooming facilitate navigation across large email collections. This thesis also describes our iterative, human-centered design method. Two user studies have been performed at different stages of the process, and we explain their purpose, results and implications.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-151). Also available via the Internet.