All democratic organisations operate under a particular set of rules. Such procedures are implemented by the very individuals that create and maintain them, usually under a majority voting rule. This research project engages with the question of why and how members of parliament "abdicate" procedural power, focusing on the evolution of the rules of debate in the UK House of Commons. Working from newly collected data on the reform of Standing Orders of the House spanning 205 years (1811 - 2015), as well as records of over six million speeches, it provides a new perspective on procedural choice. Framing debate as a platform for speech-as-filibuster behaviour, I develop a formal model where the decision to support an anti-dilatory reform is primarily a function of polarisation. I show that legislators adopt restrictive rules when they are more likely to share policy preferences with colleagues within their party. The presence of shared views, then, motivates MPs to prioritise responsible use of the common resource of plenary time over individual policy influence. Both empirically and theoretically, my research offers new insights into the process of parliamentary reform in the absence of party discipline, and studies how the dynamics of procedural choice change as political parties enter the stage. Methodologically, it makes a contribution to the text-as-data field, exploring the use of novel machine-learning techniques in the measurement of political preferences.

This master thesis deals with the text analysis of cover letter in German and with identifying characteristic text structures of this text type. The theoretical part covers the main concepts of text linguistics. Based on the scientific literature are defined the basic outline for the text analysis. The practical part concerns the analysis of the corpus of 30 cover letters written by Czech candidates in compliance with the criteria for job application in supposed language German. After that, the communication context, textual theme, function and text structures significant for this text type are determined. Finally, the results are compared with the set hypotheses.

The purpose of this Diploma Thesis is to describe very clearly the form and frequency of the subject in Spanish non-literary texts in comparison with Czech. The Thesis is divided into two parts, theoretical and practical. The theoretical passage is focused on description and characterization of Czech and Spanish subjects, based on particular representative grammars. I have used primarily The Hand Grammar of Czech Language for a description of the subject in Czech texts and to describe the subject in Spanish I have especially used The New Grammar of Spanish. Further theoretical chapters of the Thesis are focused on word order and journalistic style. The practical part contains the results of analysis of the form and frequency of the subject in non-literary texts. The result of these analysis helps us to compare all occurrences of researched languages. Summary in Spanish makes part in the end of this Thesis.

abstract: Computational tools in the digital humanities often either work on the macro-scale, enabling researchers to analyze huge amounts of data, or on the micro-scale, supporting scholars in the interpretation and analysis of individual documents. The proposed research system that was developed in the context of this dissertation ("Quadriga System") works to bridge these two extremes by offering tools to support close reading and interpretation of texts, while at the same time providing a means for collaboration and data collection that could lead to analyses based on big datasets. In the field of history of science, researchers usually use unstructured data such as texts or images. To computationally analyze such data, it first has to be transformed into a machine-understandable format. The Quadriga System is based on the idea to represent texts as graphs of contextualized triples (or quadruples). Those graphs (or networks) can then be mathematically analyzed and visualized. This dissertation describes two projects that use the Quadriga System for the analysis and exploration of texts and the creation of social networks. Furthermore, a model for digital humanities education is proposed that brings together students from the humanities and computer science in order to develop user-oriented, innovative tools, methods, and infrastructures. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Biology 2014

Resumo: Esta pesquisa apresenta um caminho de encenar um texto teatral a partir da ação dramática de cada cena, utilizando a análise de texto e a movimentação corporal do ator como estímulos de criação, articulando, ao longo do percurso, esses dois elementos. Desenvolvemos esse trabalho fundamentados pelos estudos de Constantin Stanislávski e Rudolf Laban. Em um primeiro momento, aprofundamos nosso conhecimento sobre os dois autores e recortamos dos seus sistemas o que era pertinente a nossa proposta, isto é, os elementos que poderiam influenciar no tratamento da ação dramática. Em um segundo momento, aplicamos esses conteúdos na encenação do texto teatral O Provedor, de Marcos Benedito de Oliveira. No caminho que percorremos do texto a sua representação, confirmamos a hipótese formulada: a análise de texto segundo Stanislávski pode identificar e resumir as ações dramáticas de cada cena; por sua vez, o movimento corporal do ator preparado por meio do Sistema Laban pode executar essas ações expressivamente, estabelecendo-se, a partir do momento em que começamos a levantar o espetáculo, um diálogo dinâmico e constante entre esses dois elementos. Os resumos das ações dramáticas constituíram-se nas nossas células matrizes de criação, e a encenação foi construída e elaborada a partir deles... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This research presents a way of acting a theatrical text starting from the dramatic action in each scene, using the text analysis and the actor's body movement as creation incentive, joining, along the movement, these two elements together. We developed this job based on Constantin Stanislávski and Rudolf Laban's studies. In the first moment, we went deeper into our knowledge about these two authors and we took from their systems what was pertinent to our proposal, that is to say, the elements that could have influence in the treatment of the dramatic action. In the second moment, we applied these contents in the staging of the theatrical text O Provedor, of Marcos Benedito de Oliveira. From the text to the performance, we confirmed the formulated hypothesis: the text analysis according to Stanislávski can identify and summarize the dramatic actions of each scene; on the other hand, the actor's body movement prepared by the Laban's System can accomplish these actions meaningfully, establishing, since we started to build the show, a constant and dynamic dialog between these two elements. The summaries of the dramatic actions were formed in our creation mother cells, and the staging was built and elaborated from them. In this way, we highligt the relation between the stage score generated by the study of the text and the body movement, one supplementing and transforming the other... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Orientador: José Manuel Lázaro de Ortecho Ramirez / Coorientador: Kathya Maria Ayres de Godoy / Mestre

The aim of this study was to identify discourses about oracy and the spoken language, how these discourses were constructed as well as investigating how these discourses compared to those about writing and written language. Through the use of a social-constructivist approach, we have analysed central documents in the Swedish school system and deconstructed these to uncover implicit meanings bound to them. The materials analysed include a standardised test taken by pupils in the 6th grade along with an excerpt from the Swedish curriculum, containing the aim of Swedish as a school subject, as well as a complimentary material provided for clarifying purposes. We’ve fragmented these documents to identify discourse-indicating variables and their possible function in constructing discourse. In this study we have identified small-scale discourses which we believe to be contributing to the present view on oracy as well as an implicit undermining of its legitimacy, something which we haven’t found any signs of in texts associated with written-language education.This undermining presents itself as language which is hard to decipher, which may be perceived as leading to the expressed uncertainty amongst Swedish teachers and a vertigo linked to these forms of educating. Conclusions drawn from this study point toward a favouring of written activities in the texts, reasons for which we believe could be historical and/or social in nature.

The following essay aims to examine the use of lyrical themes linked to religion. The music styles in focus in this study are death metal and melodic death metal in Sweden. The study is based on 14 Swedish bands that are or have been active during the last 30 years. In this study I ask which themes connected to religion are used in the lyrics from the middle of the 80’s till today and how the use of themes changes during this time period.       My hypothesis was that since metal’s function and purpose is to break boundaries and test the social limits the lyrics inevitably must change over time to continue to draw attention and provoke. The lyrics have been studied with qualitative text analysis and put in a timeline divided in four eras to see the changes over time and how they are expressed. Each era is divided into different categories and themes that are found in the lyrics.       This study shows that the lyrics in the chosen genres connected to religion change over time, in accordance with my hypothesis. The main lyrical themes are Satanism, Anti-religion and religion critics, Christian themes, Esoterism and mysticism and Mythology. The lyrical themes have changed from dealing primarily with Satanism and anti-Christianity/religion in the 80’s and early 90’s to more complex lyrics about esoterism, mysticism, spiritism, and mythology today.

Trust is necessary for human interactions. It provides the ability to participate in risky behaviors without engaging in a laborious risk-benefit analysis about the situation at hand. The introduction of information and communication technologies has brought about new ways of communicating (e.g., text messaging, video conferencing). Despite the benefits stemming from the ability to communicate through technology, the lower quality and quantity of communication cues exchanged during a technology-mediated interaction can hamper the development of trust. This study examined the relationship between interpersonal trust and trust in technology during a technology-mediated dyadic interaction and aimed to determine whether interpersonal trust and trust in technology had different relationships with outcomes of interest. The Mayer et al. (1995) interpersonal trust model was augmented by including trust in technology. To test the hypothesized relationships between interpersonal trust, trust in technology, collaboration and performance, an interchangeable member dyadic path model was fit to the data. Three alternative models were fit to the data. Results revealed that interpersonal trust impacted trust in technology, which in turn impacts collaboration behaviors. Both types of trust had an effect on intentions to continue the interpersonal interaction and intentions to use the technology in the future, however interpersonal trust had a stronger influence on both intentions. The results of the study help us understand how trust operates in technology-mediated environment. Future research should focus on examining how interpersonal trust and trust in technology unfold over time.

The purpose of this study is to investigate, from a dialogical perspective, what messages are conveyed about the Swedish Police Agency's reorganization in the big city press for a limited period in the autumn of 2016. Dialogical analysis provides a tool to not only investigate each text individually, but also to examine the internal relationships between the texts in our selection. The study answers the following questions: What image of the Police Agency's reorganization is conveyed in the media? How does the message about the reorganization of the police agency change by the interplay of the media texts? The result shows that different messages emerge depending on how the reorganization is put into context when different actors' voices and different content topics are highlighted. The results also shows several examples of intertextual relationships between the different texts. Intertextual relationships are shaped when a text uses information or quotes from other texts and puts it into a new context. This study shows how information from a significant news article about the Swedish Police Agency’s effectivity is re-used in other articles and how this leads to a shift of message. The method used is dialogical analysis and partly also a discursive perspective. This study, which emerges from a social constructivist perspective, contributes to the understanding of how media texts interact and the effect this have for the reader(s).

The purpose with this thesis is to analyze how written text and images interact in a traditional and digital learning component in chemistry. • How does text and images interact in a traditional and digital teaching material for grades 4-6 in the field of water characteristics and circuits? • What are the multimodal similarities and differences between the two teaching tools? To answer the questions, a quality multimodal text analysis has been used together with a model that focuses on the text's overall structure and the interaction between the text's parts. The result showed that there was interaction between text and images in all the teaching materials. The properties and circuits of the water are reinforced through pictures and accompanying text in both study units. The difference was in the traditional teaching medium, where there were more pictures and shorter text, while in the digital learning medium there were long information-proof texts.