Since the early 2000s, Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs) have played a key role in the development of complex applications within a virtual organization (VO) context. Grids and workflows have emerged as vital technologies for addressing the (SOA) paradigm. Given the variety of Grid middleware, scientific workflow systems and Grid workflows available, bringing the two technologies together in a flexible, reusable and generalized way has been largely overlooked, particularly from a scientific end user perspective. The lack of domain focus in this area has led to a slow uptake of Grid technologies. This thesis aims to design a framework for Grid-enabling workflows, which identifies the essential technological components, how these components fit together in layered architecture and the interactions between them. To produce such a framework, this thesis first investigates the definition of a Grid-workflow architecture and mapping Grid functionality to workflow nodes, focusing on striking a balance between performance, usability and the Grid functionality supported. Next, it presents an examination of framework extensions for supporting various forms of Grid heterogeneity, essential for ii VO based collaboration. Given the complex nature of Grid technologies, the work presented here investigates abstracting Grid based workflows through high-level definitions and resolution using semantic technologies. Finally, this thesis presents a way to resolves abstract Grid workflows using semantic technologies and intelligent, autonomous agents. The frameworks presented in this thesis are tested and evaluated within the context of domain-based case studies defined in the SIMDAT, BRIDGE and ARGUGRID EU funded research projects.

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In both Mexico and the U.S., abortion rights protests have been taking place in recent years, but while Mexico is moving forward with the legalization of abortion, the U.S. is going in the opposite direction with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Through framing, journalists select salient information, shaping audiences' understandings of social movements. The protest paradigm suggests that due to journalistic norms and routines, journalists tend to focus on disruptive acts, which can stigmatize the protest. Additionally, scholars have stated that men and women photojournalists have different approaches to covering certain topics. This cross-national research combined a content analysis of photographs in U.S. and Mexican media with in-depth interviews with photojournalists to determine if photojournalists in each country are reproducing the protest paradigm and if there are gendered differences in how they photograph abortion rights protests. The results revealed that women and men photograph differently, with women capturing more intimate photos; however, photojournalists' gendered experiences are also influenced by how protesters perceive them. Furthermore, the study suggests that photojournalists from both countries are questioning objectivity and are attempting to move away from the protest paradigm. This research provides valuable insights into visual framing theory, protest news coverage, and gendered norms in photojournalism.

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For studies of social movements, media is the most crucial aspect when it comes to understanding the movement. And for a civil society choosing to protest under an authoritarian regime, the media is more than crucial, it is key. Based on the social media attention the protests in Iran after Mahsa Aminis death received, this study intends to see how the Swedish daily newspapers SvD and DN framed the protest, focusing on message, political actors and local voices- the key aspects to include when framing a protest. The empirical data for this study consists of articles published between September 16, 2022 and November 16, 2022, making it up to 124 articles to examine. By using a coding scheme for the content analysis, it is based on previous studies regarding the protest paradigm, which is a theory applied to understand the focus on spectacle in media's portrayal of protests. This study developed two coding schemes where the first one is for the aim of identifying the overall portrayal and the second intends to identify frames that further contribute to the constructions of the political actors. Along with the content analysis, framing theory and the protest paradigm, the study adopts the social constructivist view of language to be able to understand the role of news in shaping public perceptions. Analyzing news coverage through this perspective allowed this study to gain a deeper understanding of how knowledge is constructed and how it shapes our understanding of the world. Lastly, by applying discourse analysis the study was able to examine the language within the frames and how it was used to construct reality and political actors in different ways. It was helpful in finding out the influence of the articles in creating as well as changing political and societal discourse around the issue. The study revealed a result that challenged the protest paradigm as well as confirming some results in previous research. Violence frames were in previous literature the main frames, which it was in this study too, however, in this study the violence frames did not get interpreted as in the protest paradigm theory since protest under authoritarian regimes needed another analytical eye focusing more on the context and the way in which the violence was directed towards.

The aim of this study was to conduct a domain analysis of the intellectual structure of Library and Information Science (LIS) from the perspective of Richard Rubins’ (2016) notion of the discipline as consisting of two separate paradigms: a library-paradigm and an information-paradigm. In accordance with the purpose of the study and the theoretical definition of the field of LIS, seven library science journals and five information science journals were identified as the basis of the study. Accordingly, bibliographic data from 5556 documents, published between the years of 2015-2022, were collected from the Web of Science. The library-paradigm revolves around the research areas of academic libraries, information literacy and library instruction. The information-paradigm is both founded on and driven by a technological incentive with strong interdisciplinary ties with computer science. In conclusion, the library-paradigm consists of research areas that to a greater extent are identified as information science research areas than the other way around. To some degree, the result shows that it is reasonable to adhere to the notion of a library-paradigm and an information-paradigm within LIS. However, the close ties between library science and information science implies that the discipline of LIS should not be considered to consist of the two paradigms. On the contrary the discipline should be regarded as consisting of library and information science and that these two spheres of the field should not be separated when conducting an analysis of its intellectual structure.

This thesis explores the debate surrounding BIBFRAME (Bibliographic Framework) in a listserv provided by the Library of Congress (2011-2022). A combined qualitative and quantitative content analysis revealed tensions in the forum between those who prefer MARC (Machine-Readable Cataloging) and those who prefer BIBFRAME. From a theoretical perspective, these tensions are explained as originating in a conflict between two incommensurable bibliographic paradigms. It is argued that standards like MARC, AACR (Anglo-American Cataloging Rules) and ISBD (International Standard Bibliographic Description) belong to a ”record-based” paradigm whereas BIBFRAME, FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) and RDA (Resource Description and Access) belong to an ”E-R” paradigm, based around the concepts of entities and relations. The results revealed that the debate is made up of two distinct dimensions: one theoretical technical and one social. The theoretical-technical tensions are, in turn, shown to revolve around two questions: whether MARC is obsolete and whether BIBFRAME is the right way forward. The social tensions stem from a divide between the library community and the IT people. The results provide evidence on the need for clearer communication on BIBFRAME, regarding its goals and design choices. Likewise, there is need for a closer integration between the library community and the IT world.

Alcohol intoxication has been associated with deliberate self-harm (DSH). However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are poorly understood. The primary purpose of this study was to examine pain tolerance (PT) as a potential mechanism underlying the relationship between alcohol intoxication and DSH. The secondary aim was to determine if borderline personality (BPD) features moderate the mediational model. This model was tested using secondary data of 210 non-alcohol dependent men and women (Mage = 26; SD = 6.97) who consumed a drink containing sufficient alcohol to produce average blood alcohol concentration (BAC) ranging from .000 through .100. Participants then engaged in a validated laboratory self-harm task (The Self-Aggression Paradigm). Results supported the notion that PT mediates the relationship between BAC and DSH. BPD moderated the indirect path between PT and DSH but not BAC and PT. This effect was prominent for men versus women. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.

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