In the area of mass communications and media sociology, connections between theoretical claims and empirical evidence have often been tenuous. Using American national Election Study data gathered by the Center for Political Studies, this dissertation tests a series of hypotheses about the political impact of the mass media. The work profiles the news audience, and examines the public's reliance upon television and newspapers as sources of political information. Next, evidence is brought to bear upon the set of pessimistic assumptions that television news personnel hold about the tastes and capacities of the news audience. Finally, a crucial test is developed in order to evaluate five competing and contradictory hypotheses, all attempting to explain the relationships between the consumption of political materials through the mass media, political interest, and political participation. Of the previously untested claims assessed in the thesis, few were supported by the evidence gathered in research.

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The diploma thesis concentrates on description of qualitative research of media audience. It is divided into three parts, in first of them introducing historical and teoretical background of the attitudes towards media audience and general methodology of quantitative research as well. Stages of the quantitative research project, description of variables and sampling and most widely used ways of field work compose the core of this part. Following section is focused on history of quantitative research of the media audience worldwide and particulary in Czech Republic (or former Czechoslovakia). In detail the most important up-to-date quantitative surveys in field of radio, television, print and internet are presented. The last part can be divided into two - first of them describes the limitations of the research itself by reason of current technical or economical conditions. Second one offers the view of potential future and challenges that might come to the quantitative research of the media audience.

The aim of this project is to study the level of paradigm development in the domain of social media studies. Based on the works of Kuhn (1970), Pfeffer (1993), and Thompson and Tuden (1959), the level of paradigm development was defined as the degree of consensus regarding: research topics, methods, and theories used in a given field of study. A sample of social media research articles was studied to analyze the level paradigm development within this domain of study. The sample consisted of a group of social media research articles that were published in the top ten journals of communication studies in the last five years. Content analysis methodology was used to analyze the research articles and clusters analysis was utilized in order to investigate the level of paradigm development in this field of study. The analysis confirmed the lack of consensus in the social sciences (Pfeffer, 1993). The level of agreement regarding research methods, theoretical concepts, and research topics used in social media studies was quite low. The lack of consensus in this new domain of study may be explained by two factors. Social media as an academic field is still in its infancy (Van Osch and Coursaris, 2014), and thus it lacks of a shared body of theoretical knowledge that can be used to analyze the phenomenon of social media (Van Osch and Coursaris, 2014; Chong and Xie, 2011; and Khang, Ki, and Ye, 2012). In conclusion, this project suggests that social media studies should aim to develop a high level of paradigm development, since academic fields with high levels of consensus are better organized, have fewer power conflicts, and get more funding (Beyer and Lodhl, 1976; Pfeffer, 1993).

Yes / Social media comprises communication websites that facilitate relationship forming between users from diverse backgrounds, resulting in a rich social structure. User generated content encourages inquiry and decision-making. Given the relevance of social media to various stakeholders, it has received significant attention from researchers of various fields, including information systems. There exists no comprehensive review that integrates and synthesises the findings of literature on social media. This study discusses the findings of 132 papers (in selected IS journals) on social media and social networking published between 1997 and 2017. Most papers reviewed here examine the behavioural side of social media, investigate the aspect of reviews and recommendations, and study its integration for organizational purposes. Furthermore, many studies have investigated the viability of online communities/social media as a marketing medium, while others have explored various aspects of social media, including the risks associated with its use, the value that it creates, and the negative stigma attached to it within workplaces. The use of social media for information sharing during critical events as well as for seeking and/or rendering help has also been investigated in prior research. Other contexts include political and public administration, and the comparison between traditional and social media. Overall, our study identifies multiple emergent themes in the existing corpus, thereby furthering our understanding of advances in social media research. The integrated view of the extant literature that our study presents can help avoid duplication by future researchers, whilst offering fruitful lines of enquiry to help shape research for this emerging field.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Communication

Bismuth based nanomaterials have recently attracted attention as heavy element X-ray contrast agents because of the high atomic number and predicted biological compatibility of bismuth. Nanoparticle X-ray contrast agents may enable a number of novel medical imaging applications, including blood pool and site-directed imaging. However these hypothetical applications are hindered by lack of suitable synthetic methods for production of imaging agents. This dissertation describes synthesis of a novel class of bismuth nanoparticles that are aqueously stabilized using poly and monosaccharides. These particles are synthesized using highly biologically compatible reagents and are oxidatively stable in water and in moderately basic buffered solutions. Bismuth nanoparticles stabilized by the polysaccharide dextran have a large hydrodynamic radius and a relatively small bismuth nanocrystal core (4% bismuth by volume.) Glucose-capped particles have a much higher ratio of bismuth by volume (>60%), and experimental CT scans of these particle solutions demonstrate higher X-ray contrast versus a current clinically used radiocontrast agent. Additional syntheses of hydrophobic organoamine-capped bismuth nanoparticles by reduction of an iodobismuth cluster, and development of other X-ray contrast materials, such as a radiopaque surgical sponge marker and ink, using bismuth micoparticles produced by a top-down ball milling method, are also described.

Title: Popularity of the sports media in the press and on the Internet - the sociodemographic profile of readers Target: The aim of thesis is to analyze the popularity of the media in sport. The thesis is focused on the sports media in the press and on the Internet and their development over the last few years. Own contribution of the thesis is the creation of socio-demographic profile of reader and exploring its relationship to sport. After that created profiles are compared to find similarities and differences. Methods: The research part of the thesis is based on analysis and processing of data from market research. Research is focused on sports media in print and on the internet, therefore is the final chapter of the research used the method of comparison that reveals differences and similarities of both types of media. The theoretical part of the thesis uses methods of analysis of documents. Results: The results of the thesis show us that print and online media experience different time and this is also reflected in the sports media. The print media loses popularity and their future is uncertain, on the the other side online media have experienced a sharp increase in popularity in recent years. This is obviously reflected in the different socio-demographic structure of the sports readers both...

Beyond New Media: Discourse and Critique in a Polymediated Age examines a host of differing positions on media in order to explore how those positions can inform one another and build a basis for future engagements with media theory, research, and practice. Herbig, Herrmann, and Tyma have brought together a number of media scholars with differing paradigmatic backgrounds to debate the relative applicability of existing theories and in doing so develop a new approach: polymediation. Each contributor’s disciplinary background is diverse, spanning interpersonal communication, media studies, organizational communication, instructional design, rhetoric, mass communication, gender studies, popular culture studies, informatics, and persuasion. Although each of these scholars brings with them a unique perspective on media’s role in people’s lives, what binds them together is the belief that meaningful discourse about media must be an ongoing conversation that is open to critique and revision in a rapidly changing mediated culture. By studying media in a polymediated way, Beyond New Media addresses more completely our complex relationship to media(tion) in our everyday lives. / https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1132/thumbnail.jpg

This study examined sports photographs in fifty-two issues (thirteen issues each) of The Source Sports, Sports Illustrated for Women. Sports Illustrated and ESPN Magazine for gender differences in the way athletes are visually portrayed. Duncan and Sayaovong's 1990 study was used as the foundation for this new study.The content analysis revealed quantitative differences in photographic depictions of female and male athletes. Like the previous study, gender differences were found in the overall number of photographs of female and male athletes. These photographs were then broken down into one-half page, full-page and pull-out photographs. Gender differences were also found in the number of male and female athletes on the cover of the magazines, and the level of activity or inactivity associated with athletes. Unlike the previous study, the researcher found no gender differences in prominent and supporting positions when both men and women were featured in a photograph and no difference in camera angles. / Department of Journalism