As video games and other gaming has become a popular media form, with 60% of Americans playing games daily (Entertainment Software Association [ESA], 2018), gaming communities have increased in size and participation. While scholarly research has consistently found that women are marginalized in these communities, little research has looked at how men see these communities. Research on homosociality shows that men use communities and relationships with other men to access masculinity (Bird, 1996; Dellinger, 2004; Houston, 2012). Building on game studies and masculinity studies, this research looks at the way men in tabletop roleplaying game communities understand their involvement and the ways their involvement connects with masculinity. Tabletop gaming communities give men access to a form of masculinity they may be denied, primarily by providing access to other ways of building social capital and relationships with other men.

This thesis is a creative work of fiction in the form of one novella and four short stories. The collection is a work of humour and entertainment. “The Coin Collective” delves into the cut-throat world of cosplay, “The Dead of Waynesboro” follows Declan Mortel as her tries to create the ultimate zombie movie in true gothic fashion, “220 Torren Mill Road” is an epistolary horror story about a whack-job mother and her game-addicted son, “Dragon’s Lair Comics & Collectables” is set during a Magic the Gathering tournament and questions ‘what makes a monster?,’ and Chemical Connection explores drug and raver culture through an eclectic variety of characters. I hope the collection will speak to an entire generation of self-described and closet geeks. For those without intimate knowledge of the material, I endeavoured to exhibit, even expose, aspects of specific subcultures, shedding light on the basement dwellers who inhabit them.

This project is an analytical history of the discourse of media panics that have affected comics-like forms in the mid- to late-1800s, comic books in the mid-1900s, and comics media in 1990s and the contemporary moment. The study of these media panics shapes a theory of nerd culture in general and comics culture specifically in order to better understand the delicate and foundational dialectic that sustains a consumer identity that is paradoxical in its indulgence in and animosity towards popular culture. With its historical formation in mind, this project explores the formation of geek chic as a consumer identity that, in many ways, troubles and even threatens the status quo of nerd culture.

Recent event drew the attention of many on the food security and resilience issues. Climate change also questions our capacity to produce food and minimize our impact on soil, water, and biodiversity. The lack of dynamism of the rural areas and the crisis the conventional farmers are going through, forces us to look at other horizons. Permaculture farming, a concept created in the 70’s during the oil crisis, already questioned the conventional farming model and its long-term sustainability, almost ten years before the Brundtland report. Now the permaculture principles have spread in various parts of the world, permaculture farms can be found in many countries, with different climates and different practices. But what about Sweden? In this study we looked at the permaculture farming in the Swedish context. We will try to uncover the processes and realities behind it, we tried to look at the establishment process in the first time, then we focus on the personal motives behind this establishment. In a third question we questioned how they create local or global interactions through their farm and finally we interrogated how this contribute to the placemaking of the communities they are implanted in. To answers those questions, we used the theories of placemaking, neo-endogenous rural development and sustainable livelihoods. We proceeded to four interviews with permaculture practitioners, all located in Sweden. The data we gathered and analyzed through a thematic analysis showed that the farmers engaged in a variety of interactions with their community and even beyond. The results underline the significant role of these farmers in creating dynamism in their rural community and being active actors of the placemaking of their communities. Moreover, the study depicts the potential and the current limitations that farmers are facing. The study shows that permaculture farmers can be important actors of local dynamism if they are supported by their community and institutional structures. In other word they can create the rural development everybody is looking for.

Jag kommer i denna uppsats använda min egen upplevelse och mitt eget perspektiv för att kunna återberätta det som kan vara avgörande för att ett fotbollslag ska klara alla hinder framför sig. Vad det kan innebära för otränade individer att sättas i en grupp och försöka fungera som en grupp. Vad ledarskapets roll kan betyda för en grupp eller vad det kan orsaka för problem om den som blir ledare inte vet hur en ledare ska vara eller vad dess roll innebär inom fotboll.vad det innebär att vara i en grupp och vad som krävs att en grupp ska fungera som ett lag. / I will in this paper to use my own experience and my own perspective to retell that which can be crucial to a football team must clear all obstacles in front of him . What that might mean for untrained individuals to be in a group and try to act as a group . What leadership role mean for a group or whatever it may cause problems if that becomes the leader does not know how a leader should be or what its role is in fotboll.vad it means to be in a group and what it takes to a group to work as a team.

I denna uppsats återberättar jag min upplevelse och mitt perspektiv på vad som kan vara avgörande för att ett fotbollslag ska klara av hinder framför sig. Uppsaten fokuserar på hur skilda individer kan skapa en tillhörighet och gemenskap när de försätts i ett sammanhang där de delar ett utanförskap i samhället. Denna gemenskap i utanförskap kopplas till teorier kring etniska grupper och gruppstrukturer. / In this essay i will retell my experience and my view on what can be crucial for a soccer team to clear all obstacles in front of a team. The paper focus on how different individuals kan create a unity and kinship when they share a context when they are viewed as outsiders in the society. The unity in the exclusion connects to theories about ethnic groups and group structures.

Pacientes com doença do refluxo não erosiva apresentam sintomas típicos causados pelo refluxo do conteúdo gástrico para o esôfago. Entretanto, estes pacientes não apresentam alterações de mucosa visualizadas à endoscopia. O objetivo deste estudo é caracterizar a expressão de moléculas relacionadas à junção celular (claudinas 1, 3 e 4), da proteína pró-inflamatória Cox-2, da população global de linfócitos (CD45), população de linfócitos T (CD3), linfócitos B (CD20) e natural killer (CD57) em portadores de esofagite de refluxo erosiva e não erosiva. O estudo verificou que quanto mais intensa e crônica a inflamação no epitélio escamoso esofágico, menor a expressão das proteínas juncionais (claudinas 1 e 4), não alterando a expressão da claudina 3. Em relação à Cox-2 o estudo mostra aumento de sua expressão na forma erosiva da doença. Em relação à população de linfócitos, não foi detectada diferença significativa / Patients with non-erosive reflux disease conditions show typical symptons caused by the reflux of the gastric content to the esophagus. However, these patients dont show any alteration on the mucous membrane visualized trhough endoscopy. The aim of this study is to characterize the molecule expression related to the cell junction (claudins 1 , 3 and 4)the Cox 2 pro-inflamatory protein, the general population of (CD45) lymphocytes ,the population of lymphocytes T (CD3),the B (CD20) lymphocytes and the(CD57) natural killer in patients with erosive and non-erosive reflux esophagitis. The study found that the more intense and chronic the inflamation is in the esophageal squamous epithelium, less junction protein expressios (claudins 1 and 4) were found, not altering the 3 expressions of claudin 3. Regarding Cox 2, the study shows increase in its expression in the erosive form of the disease. Regarding the population of lymphocytes, no significant difference was detected

Through a combination of personal interviews and participant-observation in three field sites ? the Tim Miller workshop and performance of October 2010 and the student organizations Cepheid Variable and the GLBT Aggies ? I argue that manifestations of utopian desire and performance circulate within and among marginalized groups on the Texas A&M University campus, undermining the heteronormative and monolithic utopia the university attempts to present. I participated in each night of rehearsal during the Tim Miller workshop, as well as the creation and performance of my own solo autobiographical monologue as a part of the ensemble. My participant-observation in Cepheid Variable and the GLBT Aggies was concurrent, consisting of attendance at both weekly organizational meetings and outside events sponsored by the organizations over two years. I argue that the Tim Miller workshop and performance is best understood by examining the intersection of queer intimacy, utopia, and performance. I argue that processes of connection, sharing, and mutual transformation allowed it to function as an example of queer utopian performance qua performance at Texas A&M. I explore the links between the ?nerd,? ?queer,? and ?family? identities of Cepheid Variable, arguing that the intersection of these identity-markers and the performance practices which reinforce them enable Cepheid Variable to create a utopian space on the Texas A&M campus for those students who do not fit traditional notions of Aggie identity. I explore two Cepheid performance practices: noise-making and storytelling, arguing that they construct, support, and interweave each element of Cepheid identity, allowing the organization to perpetuate and reaffirm its utopian and counterpublic statuses at Texas A&M. I explore what the GLBT Aggies claims to provide in theory, juxtaposed with what it actually accomplishes in practice. I examine a moment of crisis the LGBTQ community at Texas A&M faced in spring 2011. I argue that the utopia the GLBTA promises remains unfulfilled because the marginalization of the LGBTQ community at large leaves diversity within that community unaddressed. I conclude that utopian communities persist if able to adapt, and that the strength of the intimacy built into queer utopias in particular sustains them through time.

This thesis outlines the structure and functionality of a selection of webseries, webshows, and eSports casting examples, in order to add to the discourse on online video. Webtelevision, or Web TV production, distribution, and financing systems will be detailed in the case studies made; and industry actors such as entrepreneurs, independents, corporations and conglomerates will be discussed and identified. Who are the producers, the advertisers, the distribution platforms, the sponsors, the rights holders, and how do they interact? In exploring the structure of some examples of Web TV, I wish to debunk the online-amateur association as an inaccurate or insufficient description which permeates much prior academic study on online video. Webshow content, business strategies, legal and copyright issues, as well as fan culture aspects will also be investigated; and in regards to eSports, the question of televised as opposed to streamcast tournaments will be examined.

Pacientes com doença do refluxo não erosiva apresentam sintomas típicos causados pelo refluxo do conteúdo gástrico para o esôfago. Entretanto, estes pacientes não apresentam alterações de mucosa visualizadas à endoscopia. O objetivo deste estudo é caracterizar a expressão de moléculas relacionadas à junção celular (claudinas 1, 3 e 4), da proteína pró-inflamatória Cox-2, da população global de linfócitos (CD45), população de linfócitos T (CD3), linfócitos B (CD20) e natural killer (CD57) em portadores de esofagite de refluxo erosiva e não erosiva. O estudo verificou que quanto mais intensa e crônica a inflamação no epitélio escamoso esofágico, menor a expressão das proteínas juncionais (claudinas 1 e 4), não alterando a expressão da claudina 3. Em relação à Cox-2 o estudo mostra aumento de sua expressão na forma erosiva da doença. Em relação à população de linfócitos, não foi detectada diferença significativa / Patients with non-erosive reflux disease conditions show typical symptons caused by the reflux of the gastric content to the esophagus. However, these patients dont show any alteration on the mucous membrane visualized trhough endoscopy. The aim of this study is to characterize the molecule expression related to the cell junction (claudins 1 , 3 and 4)the Cox 2 pro-inflamatory protein, the general population of (CD45) lymphocytes ,the population of lymphocytes T (CD3),the B (CD20) lymphocytes and the(CD57) natural killer in patients with erosive and non-erosive reflux esophagitis. The study found that the more intense and chronic the inflamation is in the esophageal squamous epithelium, less junction protein expressios (claudins 1 and 4) were found, not altering the 3 expressions of claudin 3. Regarding Cox 2, the study shows increase in its expression in the erosive form of the disease. Regarding the population of lymphocytes, no significant difference was detected