Every day customers and companies become more conscious about the choices they makethat affect the society and environment that they live in. It is now more important than ever tocommunicate right, rethink and redo the way we communicate in order to evolvesustainability. In this study we have researched how prominent and established corporations(who’s brand identity have incorporated sustainability and Agenda 2030) communicatesustainability. Furthermore we have analyzed how they successfully have contributed toenhance sustainability in the world today and what part design plays in doing so.Through a semiotic rhetorical qualitative text-analysis based on the theories of brand equityand identity, green washing, sustainable marketing and design we have been able to analyzethree video-campaigns made by the corporates in question. Using the data we have gatheredwe have been able to identify several themes within sustainable marketing; companies needto be transparent in their marketing; use rhetorical tools and figures of speech in order to beviewed as a superior source of sustainability within their field; make sure to be creative andoriginal in their communication and finally companies need to inspire the customer to makemore sustainable choices instead of telling them to.From the results of our analysis we have been able to create a “cheat sheet” for designers instartups that want to integrate sustainability into their market communication and don’t knowhow to go about it.

With social movements like Black Lives matter, #MeToo and Fridays For Future on the rise consumers expect companies to take a stand on these socio-political topics. A new marketing strategy, called brand activism is used to communicate brands values and actions. This paper will conduct a case study of the company Oatly which has been standing out for its daring marketing strategies and analyze their visual communication by using the methods of visual analysis, semiotics and critical discourse analysis. The main research question is how Oalty uses its visual communication to convey brand activism. By analyzing one oat drink packaging, an ad campaign and an Instagram post the findings of this paper conclude that Oatly has several ways of communicating brand activism. These include the use of value based communication, referencing historical activism movements and the sociopolitical theme of promoting a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. The question arises about the authenticity of their opinions and the motives behind their brand activism. So whilst it's clear that companies like Oatly can convey the message of brand activism, this new marketing strategy needs further guidelines and methods of verification to ensure the use of authentic brand activism.

<p>We present the results from a series of experiments which support a novel hypothesis for a special motivational circuit underlying both the detection and response to potential threat, and the typical symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Szechtman and Woody (2004) proposed that the Security-Motivation System (SMS) has two primary responsibilities: surveillance of the environment for subtle cues that may indicate the potential for danger, and motivation towards avoidance of this harm through participation in appropriate behavioural motor programs. To determine the parameters under which the SMS operates, we designed and implemented several novel paradigms for examining both typical and atypical response of the SMS to potential threat in a number of populations. It was demonstrated that the SMS is specifically activated after exposure to cues that suggest the possibility of harm to the self or others, such as via threats to personal safety or contaminated objects. Once activated, the SMS can only be disengaged through participation in the appropriate motivated corrective behaviour – such as hand washing or checking for danger. Results showed that this essential termination feedback cannot be substituted with cognitive strategies, and that in the absence of these behaviours, activation of the SMS persists; the consequence of incomplete SMS termination strongly resembles the stereotypic compulsions in OCD. Indeed, results demonstrated that patients with OCD are unable to achieve satisfaction from task completion after corrective behaviour, resulting in continued SMS activation, after exposure to stimuli specific to the patients’ symptom profile. Our collective results provide a solid foundation for the view of OCD as a dysfunction of Security-Motivation, and indicate that the SMS is indeed an essential circuit for potential threat detection.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Scholars such as Jonathan Klawans have distinguished between two types of impurity described in priestly texts: ritual and moral. The former, which denotes bodily pollution, occurs as a result of natural human processes (i.e., birth, death, genital discharge) and can render one temporarily unfit for temple worship, though it bears no clear ethical implications. Conversely, moral impurity refers to the more permanent defilement brought about by ethical transgressions (i.e., murder, apostasy, adultery), and has the capacity to stain the land of Israel itself, in addition to threatening the sanctity of the temple. However, this separation between ritual and moral dimensions of pollution are not absolute, as even Klawans allows that these categories are rather “pliable” (and to a certain extent, intertwined.) This thesis explores the concept of purity (both ritual and moral) in early Jewish literature, through a detailed analysis of water and cleansing language. In particular, I emphasise conceptual links between water for a) ritual washing and b) moral cleansing or sanctification. In this way, I highlight the flexibility of scholarly purity categories, demonstrating how purification can often be understood “holistically,” as encompassing both ritual and moral dimensions. I also illustrate how water seems to embody liminal tensions, oscillating between thresholds of purity and pollution, as well as primordial chaos and cosmic order. The thesis is divided into two major sections: Part One focuses on representations of water in the Hebrew Bible, whereas Part Two examines non-canonical texts from the Second Temple period. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Sun protection has gained worldwide attention because repetitive overexposure to ultraviolet radiation can result in harmful effects on human skin, including sunburn, premature skin ageing, and in the worst case, skin cancer (Eckhardt and Rohwer, 2000; Sengupta and Blain, 2001). The diminishing stratospheric ozone layer, due to environmental degradation in the past few decades, combined with the modern outdoor-oriented lifestyles, are leading to unexpected levels of skin cancer (Davis, Capjack, Kerr, and Fedosejevs, 1997). Wearing Ultraviolet protective clothing is a simple way of practicing sun safety; however, regular cotton generally has very low ultraviolet protection and it is one of the most environmentally damaging crops despite of it is commonly used to make summer clothing. With the increased interest of public awareness related to sustainability and environmental issues, naturally colored cotton was recommended as it provides better ultraviolet protection than regular cotton. In addition, the production of naturally colored cotton is more environmentally friendly than regular cotton. Although several studies have been conducted on the UVR protection of naturally colored cotton, many questions regarding the factors that influence the UVR protection of fabrics remain unanswered. The primary purpose of the study was to examine the effects of perspiration application, weathering exposures, washing action of automatic home clothes washers, and repeated laundering on the UVR protection of a NC lightweight cotton fabric. In addition, five fabric property changes in the test specimen after the treatments of perspiration, weathering exposure, washing action, and repeated laundering (i.e., fabric count change, thickness change, weight change, color change and dimensional change) were included in this study to serve as secondary dependent variables to examine if the four treatment factors (i.e., perspiration application, weathering exposures, washing action of automatic home clothes washers, and repeated laundering) will cause changes in these five fabric properties, and if these changes will lead to changes of UVR protection of NC lightweight cotton fabric. Based on the purpose and objectives of the study, a split-plot repeated measures experimental design was used for the current study. In this study, the whole plot treatment was the weathering exposure, which contained three levels (i.e., semi-tropical climate without water spray, semi-arid climate, and standard conditioning), and the split plot treatments were the combinations of two treatment factors. In order to understand the effects of repeated laundering on the UVR protection and the five fabric properties, except for the control group, all test specimens were laundered after being treated with the three treatment factors (i.e., perspiration, weathering exposure, and washing action), and this process was repeated 15 times. The UVR protection (i.e., express in UPF value change in current study) and the five fabric properties of these treated test specimens were measured before laundering, and after each laundering cycle. The results of UPF value change showed that test specimens treated with perspiration had a lower change in UPF value than the specimens without treatment. The test specimens exposed to Florida condition had the most UPF value change, followed by Arizona and Standard textile testing conditions. A significant difference also found in test specimens that laundered in a traditional washer after ninth cycle and the UPF value decreased as the number of laundering cycle increased. However, test specimens that laundered in a front-loading HE washer showed no significant UPF value change. For the five fabric properties that listed in secondary objective, all four treatments significantly influenced fabric count, fabric thickness and fabric weight. However, perspiration treatment had no significant effect on the dimensional change in warp direction of test specimens, and washing action had no significant effect on the dimensional change in filling direction of the test specimen as well as both Delta E and Delta L of color change. For testing the relationship between the changes of the five fabric properties and UPF value change, Delta E and Delta L of color change had the highest correlation coefficient with UPF value change. Therefore, it is possible that the changes of these two properties caused by the four treatments and lead to the UPF value change. Future research is needed to confirm this relationship. In conclusion, of perspiration application, weathering exposures, washing action of automatic home clothes washers, and repeated laundering do have influence on the ultraviolet protection of the naturally colored cotton. The color change of the test specimens caused by these four treatments possible lead to the change of the ultraviolet protection of the test specimens. More studies are needed to confirm this relationship. / Ph. D.

This thesis pertains to the processing of ultra-fine mineral particles and low rank coal using the hydrophobic--hydrophilic separation (HHS) method. Several explorative experimental tests have been carried out to study the effect of the various physical and chemical parameters on the HHS process. In this study, the HHS process has been employed to upgrade a chalcopyrite ore. A systematic experimental study on the effects of various physical and chemical parameters such as particle size, reagent dosage and reaction time on the separation efficiencies have been performed. For this, a copper rougher concentrate (assaying 15.9 %Cu) was wet ground and treated with a reagent to selectively hydrophobize the copper-bearing mineral (chalcopyrite), leaving the siliceous gangue minerals hydrophilic. The slurry was subjected to a high-shear agitation to selectively agglomerate the chalcopyrite and to leave the siliceous gangue dispersed in aqueous phase. The agglomerates were then separated from dispersed gangue minerals by screening and the agglomerates dispersed in a hydrophobic liquid (n-pentane) to liberate the water trapped in the agglomerates. The chalcopyrite dispersed in the hydrophobic liquid was separated from the medium to obtain a concentrate substantially free of gangue minerals and moisture. The copper recoveries were substantially higher than those obtained by flotation. The HHS process was also tested on ultrafine mono-sized silica beads. The results were superior to those obtained by flotation, particularly with ultrafine particles. The HHS process has also been tested successfully for upgrading subbituminous coals. Low-rank coals are not as hydrophobic as high-rank coals such as bituminous and anthracite coals. In the present work, a low-rank coal from Wyoming was hydrophobized with appropriate reagents and subjected to the HHS in a similar manner as described for processing copper. The results showed that the HHS process reduced the moisture substantially and increased the heating value up to 50% without heating the coal. Laboratory-scale tests conducted under different conditions, e.g., particle size, reagent type, reaction time, and pretreatments, showed promising results. Implementation for the HHS process for upgrading low-rank coals should help reduce CO2 emissions by improving combustion efficiencies. / Master of Science

As a consequence of new coal mining practices, coal preparation plants have been inundated with increased loads of coal and clay particles in their wastewaters. Traditionally, the industry has employed primary sedimentation as the fundamental treatment scheme for these sediment-laden blackwaters. This study was undertaken to determine the effects of a combination of coagulant addition and rapid mixing on the settleability of these particles. After initial testing, aluminum sulfate and two low molecular weight cationic polymers, Cyanamid Magnifloc 513C and Cyanamid 515C, were chosen as primary coagulants for use in this work. An artificial wastewater was prepared from finely powdered (62 to <38 microns) raw coal samples and tap water, after initial tests indicated that typical frothing and/or collector agents had no demonstrable effect on coagulant function. Initially determined optimum coagulant dosages, as well as flocculation and sedimentation times, were kept constant while rapid mix intensities were varied at G values of 330 sec⁻¹, 700 sec⁻¹, 2000 sec⁻¹ and 7000 sec⁻¹ for each sample. Using a combination of residual turbidity and particle size analyses to determine the effectiveness of each rapid mix intensity, it was discovered that only the highest mixing intensities and durations (G(t) values) caused floe disintegration due to overmixing. At the lower G(t) matrices floe formation and settleability was consistently good. When aluminum sulfate was used as a coagulant, the wastewater was tested at a high pH of 8.1 to 8.3 and a low pH of 5.5 to observe floe behavior under different conditions of coagulant mechanism. The test results were similar for both pH values except at the lowest mixing intensities where the high pH samples settled well, resulting in low residual turbidities, but the low pH samples had relatively high turbidities. / Master of Science

Gegenstand dieser Arbeit ist die Entwicklung und Untersuchung eines Aufbereitungsprozesses zur Gewinnung von Bitumen aus kanadischem Athabasca Ölsand, der im Tagebau gewonnen wurde. Es wird ein mechanisch-thermisches Verfahren zur Fest-Flüssig-Trennung eingesetzt. Dabei handelt es sich um vier Schritte: (1) Suspendierung des Ölsandes mit den organischen Lösungsmitteln, Toluol und n-Heptan, (2) Filterkuchenbildung, (3) Waschung des Filterkuchens mit Wechsel der Waschflüssigkeiten (gradierte Waschung) und (4) Dampfbeaufschlagung. Der Prozess stellt eine Alternative zur herkömmlichen Heißwasser-extraktion des Ölsandes dar. Die Nachteile der Heißwasserextraktion sind ökologische Probleme, ein hoher Energie- und Frischwasserbedarf. Die Ziele des Alternativprozesses sind die Minimierung des Wasser- und Energiebedarfs, Vermeidung schädlicher Abfallstoffe sowie die Maximierung der Bitumenausbeute. Als Produkte sollen feststofffreies Bitumen und rückstandsfreier, deponierbarer Feststoff gewonnen werden.

Black Lives Matter rörelsen engagerade människor både internationellt och nationellt under våren 2020. Företag var inte sena med att ta ställning och visa deras stöd i frågan, vilket ledde till olika typer av reaktioner bland deras konsumenter. Denna studie ämnar undersöka svenska konsumenters attityd gentemot företag som använder sig av brand activism som svar på sociala rörelser, där Black Lives Matter valts som empiriskt kontext. Studien ämnar också besvara vilka de viktigaste aspekterna bakom konsumenters attityd är. En förstudie har gjorts genom netnografi och empiri har samlats in genom en webbenkät med 260 svenska respondenter. Studiens analys och resultat tyder på att respondenternas generella inställning till brand activism är positiv i de fall då respondenterna anser att den sociala rörelsen som stöttas är viktig. Det finns dock tre dimensioner som påverkar den övergripande attityden. Dessa är autentiskt innehåll, attityd gentemot företaget och värdet i handlingar. Inom dessa dimensioner utrönas flertalet teman där företagets historia och storlek, innehållet i själva budskapet samt att det genomsyrar organisationen är de viktigaste. Vidare är även temana utbildande, genuin och handlingskraftig kommunikation inom brand activism viktiga delar att ta med sig från resultatet. / The Black Lives Matter movement engaged people both internationally and nationally in the spring of 2020. Companies were not late to join in and show their support in favour of the movement, which led to various reactions among their consumers. This study aims to examine the attitude of Swedish consumers towards companies that use brand activism as a response to social movements, where the Black Lives Matter movement serves as an empirical context. The study also intends to answer what the key aspects behind the studied consumer attitudes are. A prestudy has been done through netnography and empirical data has been collected for the main study through a web survey with 260 Swedish respondents. The study’s analysis and results indicate that the respondents’ general attitude towards the use of brand activism is positive in cases where the respondents believe that the social movement being endorsed is of importance. However, there are three dimensions that affect the overall attitude. These are authentic content, attitude towards the company and the value of actions. Within these dimensions several themes are identified, where the company’s history and size, the content of the message itself and that it permeates the organization are the most important. Furthermore, the themes of educational, genuine and actionable communication within brand activism are also important takeaways from the result.

I denna studie har glampingkonceptet studerats utifrån ett ekologiskt hållbarhetsperspektiv som fördjupat sig i svenska glampingföretags praktiska arbetsstrategier för att värna om miljön som glampingen äger rum i, samt hur hållbarhet är framträdande i aktörernas marknadsföring. Vårt intresse till studiens ämne baserades på nyfikenhet kring naturturismens ökande efterfrågan och hur det kommer att påverka den svenska naturen. Vi valde därför att fokusera på det naturbaserade turismfenomenet glamping, som förespås bli en efterfrågad produkt. Vi genomförde semistrukturerade intervjuer med etablerade glampingaktörer i Sverige för att samla kunskap om hur de arbetar för att driva en hållbar turismprodukt utan att överexploatera naturens miljö. Vidare studerades också hur hållbarhet framställs i aktörernas marknadsföring då tidigare forskare har konstaterat att glamping är en hållbar variant av naturturism. För att studera likheter och skillnader mellan aktörernas marknadsföring utfördes strukturerade observationer av varje företags Instagram och webbplats. Studien genererade ett resultat som påvisade att de intervjuade aktörerna använde likartade metoder för att värna om platserna som glamping utövas på. Däremot fanns det skillnader i företagens marknadsföring och hur de använde och framställde hållbarhet. / In this study, the glamping concept has been studied from an ecological sustainability perspective, focusing on Swedish glamping companies’ practical strategies to protect the environment in which glamping takes place, and how sustainability is prominent in their marketing. Our interest in this subject was based on curiosity about the growing demand of nature-based tourism and how it will affect the Swedish nature. Therefore, we chose to focus on the nature-based tourism phenomenon glamping, which researchers say will become a high-demand product. We interviewed established glamping companies in Sweden to gather knowledge about how they work to run a sustainable tourism product without over-exploiting the nature and environment. We also studied whether and how sustainability is produced in the marketing as previous researchers have found that glamping is a sustainable alternative of natural tourism. In order to study similarities and differences between the companies marketing, observations were made of each company’s Instagram and website. The study generated a result that demonstrated that the companies used similar methods and strategies to safeguard the environment were glamping is practiced. However, there were differences in the companies’ marketing and how they used and produced sustainability.