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This thesis sets out to design and execute an in-depth study of the True Fruits controversial advertisements by applying Encoding/Decoding as a theoretical model. It aims at examining visual rhetoric and through Critical Discourse Analysis understanding the cause and effect of the controversial True Fruits advertisements in their 2017 campaign. The research attempts to answer the question: ‘What happened on social media after True Fruits published their controversial advertisements in 2017?’. The thesis presents an analysis of True Fruits´ visual rhetoric in #jetztösterreichts campaign advertisements and then reveals consumer responses to it on social media in 2017. Thus, the thesis presents a comprehensive review of the relevant literature leading toward the key themes of German advertisement, controversial advertisement, and the representation of immigration in advertisements. Towards the end, it states the final remarks concluding the entire discussion and reflects upon the attempts that True Fruits made to communicate a political message and how consumers in social media responded to it.

In the United States, eating disorders affect approximately 20 million women annually (National Institutes of Health, 2011). With such a high prevalence, ensuring help-seeking in individuals with eating disorders is critical. A previously-supported eating disorder prevention approach includes cognitive dissonance intervention (CDI). CDI’s purpose is to change a person’s behavior to reflect their attitude or cognition. While true self intervention has not been with previously been applied to eating disorders, it has been efficacious in improving psychological risk factors associated with eating disorder risk. The current study combined true self and CDI to test a more holistic prevention tool (i.e. combining psychological and cognitive approaches to prevention). Specifically, the current study compared the combination prevention to true self intervention only, CDI only, and a control condition to examine outcomes of body satisfaction, eating disorder pathology, psychological outcomes, and help-seeking intentions. Overall, evidence did not support the preventions’ combined prevention superiority to control within the entire sample. When exploring individuals at risk of an eating disorder, however, CDI was significantly better than true self in reducing binge episodes and self-esteem. Furthermore, the combination prevention was significantly better than true self at increasing self-esteem. The following results warrant more research exploring other potential preventions to increase positive psychological outcomes. Moreover, future research should explore more options for increasing help-seeking intentions.

This thesis deals with the sphenopterid types of ferns from the Czech Carboniferous basins. Thesis is presented as a combination of two published papers in peer-reviewed journals, one manuscript in review and one manuscript ready for submission. The actual text of the thesis is a general introduction with introduction to the study subject of sphenopterid ferns, methodology, studied type collections, terminology and the result of my study. The introduction of the thesis provides a general overview of the ferns and history of their studies. All four papers presented here are focussed on modern redescription, redefinition, emendation and revision of genera Boweria Kidston, Dendraena Němejc, Sturia Němejc. Based on the revision of these genera, following two new genera were established: Kidstoniopteris gen.nov. and Paraszea gen.nov. A new species Boweria nowarudensis has been described during the course of this study. The "whole plant concept" was applied to all studied specimens, which allows to obtain as much information on the ferns morphology, anatomy, and reproductive organs as possible. This was combined with data on in situ spores as well as sedimentological and petrological analyses. The sporangial cells as annulus, stomium and apical cells and in situ spores were described for all genera and...

Creating, producing and listening to podcasts has become an increasingly popular way for cultural transmission. Among an infinitely number of genres true crime has been rising in popularity during the last decade. By consuming true crime- podcasts we also affirm the relevance of the cultural exchange. The aim of this study is therefore to examine what this contemporary cultural exchange consists and in what way the transmission affect the actors.  The study was implemented by interviewing creators of true crime- podcasts as well as women consuming numerous podcasts within the genre. By applying Bourdieus theoretical concepts combined with Boltanski and Thevenots theory about orders of worth in the analyses of the empirical material we can acquire a profound understanding of individual practices as well as how they legitimize their actions. From the comprehensive material generated from the interviews we found some distinctive results. First, the creators aim to educade, inform and engender a reflective practice within the consumers. The podcastconsumers assigned that they are listening to true crime- podcast in the purpose of entertainment and the acquisition of information. Also, they keep listening although many of them have experienced feelings of fear and have become more cautious towards their surroundings. The cultural exchange that takes place within the podcast is the creation of meaning and reflection itself.

Background: As the expanding digital tools of communications provide new ways for people to interact online, new ways of initiating relationships have emerged from this technological development. From traditional online dating sites to today’s proximity dating applications that enable users to easily interact with other users nearby with the help of geolocation technology. This fast-paced movement allows dating applications to enter the market to assist people with the search for their soulmate. These dating applications such as Tinder allows people to manage their self-presentation as desired to pursue their goals online.    Problem: Previous literature about self-presentation and behaviour online has mainly focused on Facebook as the context. Because of its popularity among emerging adults today, this thesis has chosen to study Tinder as a context. Additionally, previous literature about Tinder has mainly focused on the motives behind using the app. However, the examination of self-presentation focusing solely on young women and how Tinder is utilized to reach one’s goal is not thoroughly researched.     Purpose: The purpose of this study is to increase the knowledge of how young heterosexual women in Sweden use self-presentation and utilize digital social platforms to reach their goal. This research examines the context of the online dating application Tinder to study experiences and get insights into how the users utilize the app and different strategies to succeed. To fulfil the purpose of this research, the research team is going to thoroughly analyse the participants’ experiences and opinions to further understand how self-presentation and strategies are implemented in a context as Tinder.     Method: This thesis has followed a qualitative approach where an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) strategy is used. Ten semi-structured interviews have been conducted on young heterosexual women between 18-25 in Sweden utilizing the online dating application Tinder.    Results: The findings suggest that the participants use different strategies and have a varying perception of Tinder depending on how they want other users to perceive them and what their goals are. The discovered strategies are how the participants select pictures, what information they disclose in their profile, and how they interact with male users on the application. The development of the digital environment has impacted how users behave online, and findings suggest that social online platforms do not facilitate the expression of the true self online as previous literature has stated.

Denna studie har i syfte att nå utökad kunskap inom genren true-crime, dess historiska utveckling samt senaste tillskott. Studiens metodik består av såväl en litteraturstudie av tidigare forskning som en narrativanalys av serien The Tiger King. Tre kompletterande frågeställningar har framställts i syfte att vägleda studien och dess disposition. Det teoretiska ramverket består av genreteori och teorier i narrativanalys från Gerard Genette och Ian Punnett. Litteraturstudien, som är presenterad kronologiskt, identifierar ett antal intentionsmässiga utvecklingar för true-crimes historia. Dessa intentioner består av sensation, verklighetsrapportering, underhållning samt oskyldighetsrevolution. Den narrativa analysen av serien the Tiger King är uppdelad och analyseras kronologiskt utefter sina sju avsnitt. Analysen tyder på en stundvis avsaknad av narrativa aspekter som är väsentliga för true-crime och inslag av såväl sensationella som underhållande intentioner. Resultaten av litteraturstudien och den narrativa analysen sammanställs för studiens tredje frågeställning där the Tiger King behandlas utifrån genrens historiska utveckling. Förändringar i narrativets tidsaspekter, mängden avbildade aktörer och porträtteringen av rättsväsendet identifierades i studiens jämförelseanalys. Genrens mest uppseendeväckande förändring var dess porträtterande av offer och anklagade, samt hur dessa roller blivit ombytta. Dessa resultat leder studien till en diskussion kring genrens framtida utveckling och att the Tiger King kan innebära att true-crime genren återgår till underhållande intentioner. Studien diskuterar slutligen huruvida utvecklingarna inom genren dessutom tyder på en större samhällsförändring av attityderna mot brott och straff.

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The continual increase of wireless technologies in the world has motivated the use of phased arrays to mitigate radio frequency interference (RFI). There are many methods of performing beamforming for RFI rejection, but they are traditionally physically large and complicated solutions. Phased arrays need to be shrunk and made cheaper for them to see widespread use. This work presents several compact phased array receivers for different applications. The first part of this thesis presents a software GPS processor for a digital beamforming GPS receiver. The receiver is small enough to be flown on drones and enables GPS signals to be processed and a user’s position to be determined. Using digital beamforming, it can operate even under poor conditions such as intentional jamming, RFI, and large multipath effects. Next, this work builds a frontend RF chain for a true time delay phased array receiver. The receiver uses analog true delay delay chips to mitigate radio frequency interference in sensitive instruments. True time delay allows for analog beamforming over a wide bandwidth, but compact true time delay solutions are new and untested. The receiver allows these solutions to be properly vetted in a full system. The chain uses novel compact wideband antennas for L-band frequencies and traditional low cost amplifiers and filters. The last section of this thesis updates the open-source CASPER project to fully support RF system-on-chips. CASPER is an open-source framework for radio astronomy instruments. It speeds up the design and implementation of radio astronomy instruments on compact platforms and makes them easier to interact with. This work expands the framework to use the transmit abilities of advanced RF system-on-chip platforms. With this expansion, full duplex systems such as communications and radar can now also use CASPER. A full loopback beamforming test built on CASPER demonstrates both transmit and receive beamforming.

This study explores the true crime documentary Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story and aims to investigate the protagonist Cyntoia Brown in relation to how her character and story is represented. Due to the consistent rise of awareness in equal rights, as well as the steady increase of black representation in popular television, one might think that it would reflect positively in mass media. Although there have been few changes to representation, the findings that are to be presented suggest otherwise. Narratives within television still heavily relies on stereotyping and following societal norms, which this study desires to expose through a discourse analysis.