The thesis named Game of Thrones as a Game deals with fantasy saga Song of Ice and Fire written by G. R. R. Martin. The main theme is the interconnection of the five-volume narrative with basic game mechanics and features defined by R. Caillois and J. Huizinga. Game of Thrones shows many characteristics of board games and the interpretaion is based on this aproach. Game aspects of the narrative are observed in the analysis of character classes, narrative forms, fictional world functioning and modality and character motivation which are related to game worlds, characters, rules and objectives.

This thesis aims to explain how politics in 14th century Scandinavia were structured by a set of rules or norms of conduct – rules which were neither codified nor enforced by any outside agency, yet had a very real impact on the patterns by which political action was conducted. Taking inspiration from historical anthropology, the study sets out to analyze the ways in which political tensions and relationships, primarily within the royal elite, were negotiated in various situations. The source material – mainly letters of treaties, but also contemporary literary sources – are treated as remains of political communication within a common discursive framework. The findings of the study go against some established notions about politics in the 14th century that are prevalent in current Scandinavian research. On the whole, patterns of political behaviour during the period show great similarities to those of the earlier Middle Ages, despite the discontinuity implied by the idea of the 13th century as the era of "state formation" in Scandinavia. Rather, the kings and princes of the 14th century appear to have been ruled by quite similar norms of behaviour to those of their predecessors, albeit on a more complex scale. The concepts of peace and justice are shown to have been central to the way that political action was legitimized. No functional difference can be shown to have been made between "feudal" or personal relations, and those of the state. Peace was conceived as a state of harmony, which could only be achieved through the establishment of mutual positive bonds, and an active striving for justice. The latter was achieved, both with the aid of mediators and negotiators, and through the demonstration of force, in patterns largely similar to the practice of feuding. Likewise, acts of supplication and reconciliation are shown to have played an active part in the way that political relations were reified during the process of ending an armed conflict.

Sandstedt, Thomas (2013) – On Recruitment in Academia in the Cases of Department Heads and Research Students   This thesis study how academic and scientific culture act and handle the balance between different interests, demands and preferences and what is considered central and valuable in the leading and managing within universities in Sweden. These are set against each other whenever department heads and research students are to be recruited.  Questions are asked whether procedures come into play when recruiting heads of department, and whether the final choice is determined by regulations and/or academic norms. There has only been marginal research in the field. The recruitment of department heads has not been statutory since 1993, while admission to research studies is regulated in detail.  The study was implemented before the autonomy reform of 2011. Central and local regulatory systems between 1993 and 2011 form the juridical framework of the study.       My frame of reference is a New Institutional Theory approach together with studies of the environment, history and traditions of academia.  The basis of the studied context is the scholarly community of academics.  Demands from government and parliament as expressed in regulatory systems, general guidelines, funding, policies and letters of regulation have also been taken into account within the reference frame.  The empirical material consists of interviews with professors including associate professors conducted in seven universities and eight departments between 2007 and 2009. The results show that there are certain rules of the game that are applied when department heads and research students are being recruited, which give an indication of what is considered valuable for internal management within Swedish universities. The recruitment processes are informal, collegial and institutionalized. When department heads are recruited all colleagues have the possibility to participate, whereas when research students are recruited the group involved is more limited.  In the latter case it is financing as well as the role of the supervisor that seem to play the crucial role in finding the most suitable doctoral student. Internal criteria are reformulated into rules of the game by colleagues and the process is situation-bound. These rules are based on collegial and scholarly interests, demands, norms, traditions and values. Informal criteria offer the opportunity for flexibility and situational adaptation when departments choose their head. These criteria contribute to limiting the number of candidates, which may make it difficult to find the right person. The students admitted to research education are expected to be able to profit by such education and to possess a scientific attitude. These requirements may vary from one admission to another, and the impression is that the circle of potential research students is limited.

Notre recherche porte sur les relations interpersonnelles au sein de services administratifs publics. Nous nous intéressons à la communication interne dans les organismes de communication « publique ». Nous sommes donc amenées, dans le cadre de la thèse, à nous intéresser à l’expression de « communication publique », qui est souvent distinguée de l’expression « communication privée ». Tout d’abord, de manière théorique, nous avons à la fois exploré la notion de communication « publique », déconstruit les catégories généralement utilisées, et donc construit notre propre « objet » d’étude, avant d’aller sur le terrain qui nous proposera des situations d’échanges au travail. Nous avons ensuite réalisé une recherche qualitative ou subjectiviste au sein de services de communication, pour montrer que la distinction simpliste entre ces deux types de communication (publique et privée) n’est pas si évidente. En effet, la légitimité de la dénomination de la communication publique ne fait pas référence au modèle émetteur-récepteur, mais aux « mondes de la justification » de BOLTANSKI, THEVENOT et CHIAPELLO. Nous utilisons la méthode systémique qualitative des communications ou des relations d’Alex MUCCHIELLI pour faire l’analyse de notre « objet » d’étude. Méthode pour construire le système des relations. En effet, nous adoptons le positionnement épistémologique des Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication (S.I.C.) qui se situent dans le paradigme compréhensif – dans lequel il faut inclure le paradigme de la complexité qui s’appuie sur le systémisme et le constructivisme. Nous répondons alors à la question : « Comment une analyse systémique qualitative des communications permet de comprendre les relations interpersonnelles au sein de services administratifs publics ». / Our resserearch focuses on interpersonal relationships within public administrative services. We focus on internal communication in "public" communication organizations. We are thus brought within the framework of the thesis, to be interested in the term "public communication", which is often distinguished from the term "private communication". First, theoretically, we have both explored the notion of "public" communication and deconstructed the categories generally used, and therefore builted our own "object" of study, before going on the ground that proposed us exchange situations at work. We then conducted a qualitative or subjective research in communication services, to show that the simplistic distinction between these two types of communication (public and private) is not so obvious. Indeed, the legitimacy of the name of public communication does not refer to the model transceiver, but to the "worlds of justification” of BOLTANSKI, THEVENOT and CHIAPELLO. We use the qualitative system of communications or relationships of Alex MUCCHIELLI to analyze our "object" of study. Method to construct the system of relations. Indeed, we adopt the epistemological position of Information and Communication Sciences (SIC) that are within the paradigm of understanding - in which to include the paradigm of complexity based on the systemism and constructivism. We answer then the question: "How a qualitative analysis of communications systems brings us to understand relationships within public administrative services."

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries women troubadours in southern France called trobairitz participated in dialogue or debate poems called tensons with male troubadours. Of the nine existing tensons that include a male and a female voice, we will only analyze five tensons with the known identities of both the trobairitz and the troubadour that debate the subject of love, and we will include the following trobairitz tensons in this paper: Alamanda, Isabella, Garsenda, Lombarda and Maria de Ventadorn. We will discuss the thematic elements these five tensons share. Scholars such as Pierre Bec, Peter Dronke and Katharina Wilson note trobairitz' themes vary from those of traditional male troubadours. Troubadours concentrate on the outward or social manifestations of the courtly love game and values, yet trobairitz focus on the intimate, private pleasures of love by deviating from generally accepted courtly love conventions and social behaviors. Since the subject of love is debated in these five tensons, the personal character in these tensons alludes to the trobairitz's life—circumstances and incidents. A trobairitz's personal character is also illustrated in the tenson by her willingness to show personal qualities about a love relationship and as Deborah Perkal-Balinsky calls it "a willingness to deviate from accepted social behavior or perhaps the rules of the game, in an effort to attain the intimate pleasures in a love relationship" (46). The tensons discussed provide valuable information about trobairitz and courtly love—the publicly displayed values of honor, valor and mercy. At times, trobairitz solicit love by revolting against the courtly love rules to win a man. In courtly love tensons, trobairitz use the literary style, courtly vocabulary and courtly values to express both their support and criticism for the system. Through the use of courtly vocabulary, trobairitz conform to the styles developed by troubadours, yet when trobairitz write as female lovers and poets, they also discard the conventions set forth by troubadours, since they are not male lovers and poets. In each tenson the literary mode is man-in-society, and the theme centers around love"”either the praise of it or the blame from lack thereof or both (Hagen 27). In each of the five tensons, there are three common threads in the trobairitz love relationships: (1) in each tenson we see the personal character of the trobairitz; (2) we see them deviate from the accepted social behavior or the rules of the game; and (3) we witness that the trobairitz are usually unhappy with their love relationships. We will examine each tenson individually regarding these three aspects.

Between 1980-2006, thousands of South African pension funds converted members from defined benefit to defined contribution structures. This research set out to answer the questions of why this phenomenon occurred and whether peculiar environmental circumstances influenced the outcome. The research framework identified various stakeholders in the retirement fund industry - government; regulator; pension fund adjudicator; ombudsman for long term insurance; trade unions; members; trustees; business; employers and service providers - and isolated the elements to be considered in the research. Industry experts were interviewed to obtain a macro view of the phenomenon and specific manifestations of the phenomenon were also considered in case studies. The purpose of the research was to develop a model for managers to assist them in dealing with environmental change. Qualitative research methodology was utilised and feedback from semi-structured interviews was categorised into several emergent themes. Within-case and cross-case analyses were conducted. Research results indicate that the conversion phenomenon occurred in two waves - one initiated in the 1980s and driven by the trade unions and a second in the 1990s, driven by employers, often at the advice of their consultants. Evidence of the start of a third wave also emerged. Results indicate that an environmental shock exerted a substantial influence on the course of events. Under these:  Various factors combined to drive organisational evolution (i.e. adaptation to the environment).  Adaptation speed was inappropriate and exceeded that which was required for sufficient thought.  Uncertainty and vacuum circumstances arose leading to consequences that require redress.  The power of the relative stakeholders changed and influenced the strategic outcome.  An imbalance in stakeholder interests arose and ethical factors became consequential.  Business acted to restore certainty for itself. Existing literature explained organisational behaviour in environments of competitive shock and high turbulence, but not in circumstances of environmental shock. A model emerged to assist managers to deal with environmental change, which was applied to an analysis of pension fund reform. It was also applied to the pension fund perspective on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment. This model may also be applied in analysis of land redistribution, sanctions and constitutional development. / Business Management / DBL

Between 1980-2006, thousands of South African pension funds converted members from defined benefit to defined contribution structures. This research set out to answer the questions of why this phenomenon occurred and whether peculiar environmental circumstances influenced the outcome. The research framework identified various stakeholders in the retirement fund industry - government; regulator; pension fund adjudicator; ombudsman for long term insurance; trade unions; members; trustees; business; employers and service providers - and isolated the elements to be considered in the research. Industry experts were interviewed to obtain a macro view of the phenomenon and specific manifestations of the phenomenon were also considered in case studies. The purpose of the research was to develop a model for managers to assist them in dealing with environmental change. Qualitative research methodology was utilised and feedback from semi-structured interviews was categorised into several emergent themes. Within-case and cross-case analyses were conducted. Research results indicate that the conversion phenomenon occurred in two waves - one initiated in the 1980s and driven by the trade unions and a second in the 1990s, driven by employers, often at the advice of their consultants. Evidence of the start of a third wave also emerged. Results indicate that an environmental shock exerted a substantial influence on the course of events. Under these:  Various factors combined to drive organisational evolution (i.e. adaptation to the environment).  Adaptation speed was inappropriate and exceeded that which was required for sufficient thought.  Uncertainty and vacuum circumstances arose leading to consequences that require redress.  The power of the relative stakeholders changed and influenced the strategic outcome.  An imbalance in stakeholder interests arose and ethical factors became consequential.  Business acted to restore certainty for itself. Existing literature explained organisational behaviour in environments of competitive shock and high turbulence, but not in circumstances of environmental shock. A model emerged to assist managers to deal with environmental change, which was applied to an analysis of pension fund reform. It was also applied to the pension fund perspective on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment. This model may also be applied in analysis of land redistribution, sanctions and constitutional development. / Business Management / DBL

The author is reviewing the research that E. Kuruczová demonstrated in her diploma thesis called The effect of social organization of games on the orientation in their moral dimension. The main goal of the diploma thesis Kuruczová developed another contribution to Piaget's theory of the development of moral reasoning of school-age children. Piaget's empirical data suggested that social organizations could influence orientation in their moral dimensions. Kuruczová found that in her 180 children from one school (aged 1st - 9th grade) the development of orientation in the moral dimension of the game King of Deer Hunters (organized as a competition) performs ahead of the development of orientation in the moral dimension of the game Hot Potato (organized as a collaboration). Furthermore, in the research, children of Kuruczová think about the stories of unjust play situations organized by "Mrs. Teacher". Even the youngest and unoriented did not argue the evaluation of the situation as a fair authority of the teacher - which, according to Piaget's theory, could assume the key role of the criterion of obedience of authority in the heteronomous understanding of the criteria of moral evaluation. This thesis therefore answers the question of whether it can replicate these findings. Unlike Kuruczová,...