When theories become practice - a metaphorical analysis of adult-education school-leaders’ talk

Marketization has changed the education system. If we say that education is a market, this transforms the understanding of education and influences how people act. In this paper, adult-education school-leaders’ talk is analysed and seven metaphors for education are found: education as administration, market, matching, democracy, policy work, integration and learning. Exploring empirical metaphors provides a rich illustration of coinciding meanings. In line with studies on policy texts, economic metaphors are found to dominate. This should be understood not only as representing liberal ideology, as is often discussed in analyses of policy papers, but also as representing economic theory. In other words, contemporary adult education can be understood as driven by economic theories. The difference and relation between ideology and theory should be further examined since they have an impact on our society and on our everyday lives. (DIPF/Orig.)

A MORE COMPLETE STREET A STREET FOR EVERYONE TO ENJOY, NORTH EAST STREET, FREDERICK, MARYLAND – A DESIGN INVESTIGATION OF DIFFERENT STREET DESIGN THEORIES

This design-research thesis suggests that the improvement of North East Street performances by using Complete Streets, Green Street, Place Making and Context Sensitive Solution principles and practices. Heavily used by a variety of users, often conflicting with one another, University of Maryland Campus Drive would benefit from a major planning and design amelioration to meet the increasing demands of serving as a city main street. The goal of this thesis project is to prioritize the benefits for pedestrians in the right-of-way and improve the pedestrian experience. This goal also responds to the recent North East Street Extension Phrase I of economic renaissances. The goal of this design-research thesis will be achieved focusing on four aspects. First, the plans and designs will suggest to building mixed use blocks, increase the diversity of street economic types and convenience of people’s living. Second, design and plans will propose bike lanes, separate driving lanes from sidewalks and bike lanes by street tree planters, and narrow driving lanes to reduce vehicular traffic volume and speed in order to reduce pedestrian and vehicle conflicts. Third, plans and designs will introduce bioswales, living walls and raingardens to treat and reuse rain water. Finally, the plans and designs will seek to preserve local culture and history by adding murals and farmers market. The outcome of the design-research thesis project is expected to serve as an example of implementing Complete Streets, Green Street, Place Making and Context Sensitive Solution principles and practices in urban landscape, where transportation, environment and social needs interact with each other.

On neutron stars in ƒ (R) theories: Small radii, large masses and large energy emitted in a merger

In the context of ƒ (R) gravity theories, we show that the apparent mass of a neutron star as seen from an observer at infinity is numerically calculable but requires careful matching, first at the star’s edge, between interior and exterior solutions, none of them being totally Schwarzschild-like but presenting instead small oscillations of the curvature scalar R; and second at large radii, where the Newtonian potential is used to identify the mass of the neutron star. We find that for the same equation of state, this mass definition is always larger than its general relativistic counterpart. We exemplify this with quadratic R^2 and Hu-Sawicki-like modifications of the standard General Relativity action. Therefore, the finding of two-solar mass neutron stars basically imposes no constraint on stable ƒ (R) theories. However, star radii are in general smaller than in General Relativity, which can give an observational handle on such classes of models at the astrophysical level. Both larger masses and smaller matter radii are due to much of the apparent effective energy residing in the outer metric for scalar-tensor theories. Finally, because the ƒ (R) neutron star masses can be much larger than General Relativity counterparts, the total energy available for radiating gravitational waves could be of order several solar masses, and thus a merger of these stars constitutes an interesting wave source.

Equivalence of quantum field theories related by the θ-exact Seiberg-Witten map

The equivalence of the noncommutative U(N) quantum field theories related by the θ-exact Seiberg-Witten maps is, in this paper, proven to all orders in the perturbation theory with respect to the coupling constant. We show that this holds for super Yang-Mills theories with N=0, 1, 2, 4 supersymmetry. A direct check of this equivalence relation is performed by computing the one-loop quantum corrections to the quadratic part of the effective action in the noncommutative U(1) gauge theory with N=0, 1, 2, 4 supersymmetry.

Queerelämää? Vastustava luenta, queer ja camp televisiosarjassa Sinkkuelämää

Tässä työssä tarkastelen amerikkalaisen televisiosarja Sinkkuelämän neljää naishenkilöä viimeisen tuotantokauden kahdessa jaksossa. Teen tutkijaluentaa naishahmoista käyttäen apunani vastustavaa luentaa ja queer-luentaa sekä etsin campin piirteitä. Lähden liikkeelle Stuart Hallin jo 1970-luvulla esittämästä sisäänkoodaus/uloskoodausmallista, jossa televisiotekstin sisältöä voi lukea sisäänkoodattua merkitystä vastustaen, sisältöä uudelleen muokaten. Tuon Hallin mallin mukaan queer-luentaan, ja koitan selvittää miten heteronormatiivista televisiosarjaa Sinkkuelämää voidaan tulkita normeja haastaen. Queer tässä työssä tarkoittaa siis normien ulkopuolelle jäävää, niitä horjuttavaa ja vastustavaa. Työstän vastustavaa luentaa lähiluvun metodilla. Tekstistä, kuten televisio-ohjelmasta, tehdään tulkintoja toistuvien havaintojen perusteella, kiinnittäen huomiota myös pieniin yksityiskohtiin. Olen asennoitunut vastustavaan luentaan queer-tutkimusta tekevien tutkijoiden töiden inspiroimana, etenkin Annamari Vänskä ja Sanna Karkulehto ovat olleet työni kannalta tärkeitä. Tarkastelen Sinkkuelämää-sarjan naishahmoja erityisesti heteronormatiivisuuden ja normatiivisen heterouden kautta. Ensimmäisellä tarkoitetaan heteroseksuaalisuuden pitämistä luonnollisena ja normina, ja normatiivisen heterouden käsitteellä haluan tuoda esille kategorian heterous monimuotoisuuden: sen, että heterouden sisällä on normista poikkeavia muotoja. Esimerkkinä tästä on analyysini Charlottesta, jonka päältäpäin näyttävän normatiivinen heteronaiseus joutuu kyseenalaistetuksi, kun tämä ei tulekaan biologisesti luonnollisella tavalla raskaaksi. Campin avulla Sinkkuelämän queeriys herkullisesti esille. Sarja on esteettinen, muun muassa muotiin ja tyyliin on käytetty erityisen paljon aikaa. Campin esteettisyyden ja teatraalisuuden avulla Samanthan roolihahmo tulee herkullisesti esille naisen käydessä läpi kemoterapian jälkeistä hiustenlähtöä. Sinkkuelämän tyylille uskollisesti vakavallekin aiheelle, kuten rintasyövälle tässä tapauksessa, voidaan nauraa – tietyissä puitteissa. Graduni tarkoitus on aineiston perusteella osoittaa televisiosarjan sukupuolittunut maailma ja miten normatiivisuuden haastamiseen, vastustavaan queer-luentaan, tulee tilaisuuksia yksityiskohtaisen lähiluvun avulla.

Spiritual Violence: Queer People and the Sacrament of Communion

This thesis addresses spiritual violence done to queer people in the sacrament of Communion, or Eucharist, in both Protestant and Roman Catholic churches in the U.S. Rooted in the sexual dimorphic interpretation of Genesis, theologians engendered Christianity with sexism and patriarchy, both of which have since developed into intricate intersections of oppressions. Religious abuse is founded on the tradition of exclusionary practices and is validated through narrow interpretations of Scripture that work to reassert the authority of the experiences of the dominant culture. The resultant culture of oppression manifests itself in ritualized spiritual violence. Queer people are deemed “unworthy” to take ‘the body and blood of the Christ’ and, in fact, are excluded altogether. This “unworthiness” is expressed as spiritual violence against queer people who are shunned and humiliated, internalize hateful messages, and are denied spiritual guidance or life-affirming messages. By “queering” Scripture, or reading the Bible anew through a framework of justice, queer people have begun to sacramentalize their experiences and reclaim their place at the table.

Scoping review of adherence promotion theories in pelvic floor muscle training : 2011 ics state-of-the-science seminar research paper I of IV

Aims This paper, the first of four emanating from the International Continence Society's 2011 State-of-the-Science Seminar on pelvic-floor-muscle training (PFMT) adherence, aimed to summarize the literature on theoretical models to promote PFMT adherence, as identified in the research, or suggested by the seminar's expert panel, and recommends future directions for clinical practice and research. Methods Existing literature on theories of health behavior were identified through a conventional subject search of electronic databases, reference-list checking, and input from the expert panel. A core eligibility criterion was that the study included a theoretical model to underpin adherence strategies used in an intervention to promote PFM training/exercise. Results A brief critique of 12 theoretical models/theories is provided and, were appropriate, their use in PFMT adherence strategies identified or examples of possible uses in future studies outlined. Conclusion A better theoretical-based understanding of interventions to promote PFMT adherence through changes in health behaviors is required. The results of this scoping review and expert opinions identified several promising models. Future research should explicitly map the theories behind interventions that are thought to improve adherence in various populations (e.g., perinatal women to prevent or lessen urinary incontinence). In addition, identified behavioral theories applied to PFMT require a process whereby their impact can be evaluated.

When theories become practice—a metaphorical analysis of adult-education school-leaders’ talk

Marketization has changed the education system. If we say that education is a market, this transforms the understanding of education and influences how people act. In this paper, adult-education school-leaders’ talk is analysed and seven metaphors for education are found: education as administration, market, matching, democracy, policy work, integration and learning. Exploring empirical metaphors provides a rich illustration of coinciding meanings. In line with studies on policy texts, economic metaphors are found to dominate. This should be understood not only as representing liberal ideology, as is often discussed in analyses of policy papers, but also as representing economic theory. In other words, contemporary adult education can be understood as driven by economic theories. The difference and relation between ideology and theory should be further examined since they have an impact on our society and on our everyday lives.

Geschlechtersonderwissen von Expert_innen für Inter*- und Trans*themen

Anhand von Expert_inneninterviews mit Aktivist_innen und Therapeut_innen aus dem Inter*- und Trans*bereich wird herausgestellt, wie Expert_innen Geschlecht thematisieren und auf welche Wissensformen sie hierfür Bezug nehmen. Professionssoziologische und gender- und queertheoretische Überlegungen werden in dieser wissenssoziologischen Untersuchung miteinander verknüpft, um Expert_innen des Geschlechts zu definieren und die im Rahmen der teilnehmenden Beobachtung erfassten Veränderungen im Diskurs um Inter*- und Trans*personen zu kontextualisieren. Dabei wird herausgestellt, dass zwar alternatives Wissen von Professionsangehörigen nicht mehr ausgeschlossen wird eine Deprofessionalisierung im Inter*- und Trans*bereich allerdings unwahrscheinlich erscheint. Vielmehr wird eine binäre Konstruktion von Expert_innen insbesondere von Professionsangehörigen reproduziert. Hierbei wird differenziert in professionsangehörige Expert_innen und Aktivist_innen, wobei erstere sich für gesellschaftliche Werte einsetzten würden und Aktivist_innen sich lediglich im Eigeninteresse handeln würden. Zur Einbettung und Erklärung der empirischen Erkenntnisse wird sich auf gender- und queertheoretische, psychoanalytische, diskurstheoretische, phänomenologische und emotionssoziologische Ansätze bezogen. Darüber wird die Fragilität der Kategorien Expert_in und Geschlecht und die Notwendigkeit der Anerkennung dieser für die eigene Handlungsfähigkeit verdeutlicht, ebenso wie die (Gefühls)Arbeit, die Expert_innen des Geschlechts alltäglich leisten müssen, um als Expert_in oder/und Inter*- oder Trans*person anerkannt zu werden. Grundsätzlich wird von Expert_innen des Geschlechts dem inkorporierten Wissen ein stärkeres Gewicht beigemessen als noch vor zehn Jahren, so das Fazit der Studie. Die Fokussierung auf inkorporiertes Wissen wird, anders als im bisherigen (Forschungs)Diskurs um Inter*- und Trans*personen allerdings in seiner Ambivalenz gesehen, da sie neben der Anerkennung alternativer Wissensformen auch zu einer Unmöglichkeit der Infragestellung dieses Wissens führen könne.

Scoping review of adherence promotion theories in pelvic floor muscle training : 2011 ics state-of-the-science seminar research paper I of IV

Aims This paper, the first of four emanating from the International Continence Society's 2011 State-of-the-Science Seminar on pelvic-floor-muscle training (PFMT) adherence, aimed to summarize the literature on theoretical models to promote PFMT adherence, as identified in the research, or suggested by the seminar's expert panel, and recommends future directions for clinical practice and research. Methods Existing literature on theories of health behavior were identified through a conventional subject search of electronic databases, reference-list checking, and input from the expert panel. A core eligibility criterion was that the study included a theoretical model to underpin adherence strategies used in an intervention to promote PFM training/exercise. Results A brief critique of 12 theoretical models/theories is provided and, were appropriate, their use in PFMT adherence strategies identified or examples of possible uses in future studies outlined. Conclusion A better theoretical-based understanding of interventions to promote PFMT adherence through changes in health behaviors is required. The results of this scoping review and expert opinions identified several promising models. Future research should explicitly map the theories behind interventions that are thought to improve adherence in various populations (e.g., perinatal women to prevent or lessen urinary incontinence). In addition, identified behavioral theories applied to PFMT require a process whereby their impact can be evaluated.

The influence of queer theory on marriage and civil partnership in Scotland

This thesis will explore the whether queer theory has had any real influence on the law on marriage and civil partnership in Scotland. It will do so by examining the work of Michael Foucault and Judith Butler, reviewing both The History of Sexuality Volume One, and Gender Trouble to establish what queer theory has to say on gender and sexuality. Both works expose the artificiality of gender and sexuality, and in doing so, show that marriage and civil partnership are institutions created to support these artificial structures. Marriage and civil partnership are not isolated from the continuing influence of queer discourse on both gender and sexuality; however, as I will show, the influence has been contained largely to opening up privilege, both legally and socially, to those who wish to conform to structures that remain heteronormative and prescriptive.

Effective field theories and their phenomenological applications

Effective field theories (EFTs) are ubiquitous in theoretical physics and in particular in field theory descriptions of quantum systems probed at energies much lower than one or few characterizing scales. More recently, EFTs have gained a prominent role in the study of fundamental interactions and in particular in the parametriasation of new physics beyond the Standard Model, which would occur at scales Λ, much larger than the electroweak scale. In this thesis, EFTs are employed to study three different physics cases. First, we consider light-by-light scattering as a possible probe of new physics. At low energies it can be described by dimension-8 operators, leading to the well-known Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian. We consider the explicit dependence of matching coefficients on type of particle running in the loop, confirming the sensitiveness to the spin, mass, and interactions of possibly new particles. Second, we consider EFTs to describe Dark Matter (DM) interactions with SM particles. We consider a phenomenologically motivated case, i.e., a new fermion state that couples to the Hypercharge through a form factor and has no interactions with photons and the Z boson. Results from direct, indirect and collider searches for DM are used to constrain the parameter space of the model. Third, we consider EFTs that describe axion-like particles (ALPs), whose phenomenology is inspired by the Peccei-Quinn solution to strong CP problem. ALPs generically couple to ordinary matter through dimension-5 operators. In our case study, we investigate the rather unique phenomenological implications of ALPs with enhanced couplings to the top quark.

Quantum integrability as a new method for exact results on N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories and black holes

In this thesis I show a triple new connection we found between quantum integrability, N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories and black holes perturbation theory. I use the approach of the ODE/IM correspondence between Ordinary Differential Equations (ODE) and Integrable Models (IM), first to connect basic integrability functions - the Baxter’s Q, T and Y functions - to the gauge theory periods. This fundamental identification allows several new results for both theories, for example: an exact non linear integral equation (Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz, TBA) for the gauge periods; an interpretation of the integrability functional relations as new exact R-symmetry relations for the periods; new formulas for the local integrals of motion in terms of gauge periods. This I develop in all details at least for the SU(2) gauge theory with Nf=0,1,2 matter flavours. Still through to the ODE/IM correspondence, I connect the mathematically precise definition of quasinormal modes of black holes (having an important role in gravitational waves’ obervations) with quantization conditions on the Q, Y functions. In this way I also give a mathematical explanation of the recently found connection between quasinormal modes and N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories. Moreover, it follows a new simple and effective method to numerically compute the quasinormal modes - the TBA - which I compare with other standard methods. The spacetimes for which I show these in all details are in the simplest Nf=0 case the D3 brane in the Nf=1,2 case a generalization of extremal Reissner-Nordström (charged) black holes. Then I begin treating also the Nf=3,4 theories and argue on how our integrability-gauge-gravity correspondence can generalize to other types of black holes in either asymptotically flat (Nf=3) or Anti-de-Sitter (Nf=4) spacetime. Finally I begin to show the extension to a 4-fold correspondence with also Conformal Field Theory (CFT), through the renowned AdS/CFT correspondence.

Understanding food waste through behavioural theories in different settings

SDG 12.3 aims to promote sustainable consumption and production patterns by addressing the global food loss and waste problem. Given the multiple interrelated impacts, food waste is recognized as one of the major food system challenges. The scope of this work is to contribute to the understanding on food waste generation and potential approaches to tackle it. This work was specifically designed to achieve the following goals: 1) Understand specific factors that affect individual behaviours to generate FW at household, 2) Analyse the effective ways to reduce FW through behaviour change perspective given the catering and hospitality sector, and 3) Provide an evidence synthesis on intervention study that incorporate stakeholder insights focus on school meals. The first goal of identifying food waste drivers was achieved by the systematically reviewing on peer-reviewed and grey literature. The Motivation-Opportunity-Ability (MOA) framework was applied to frame consumer behavioural drivers and identify levers that could be potentially utilized to reduce food waste. Consumer segmentation was further discussed to provide insights for developing tailored food waste reduction interventions. The second goal required the identification on practical interventions, which has been accomplished by systematic literature review basing on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The efficiency and working mechanism of interventions were evaluated basing on the combination of MOA and behavioural change wheel. Building on the evidence of effective interventions, a roadmap was developed for policymakers and practitioners to lead their own pathway on intervention study and upscaling. The third aim has been achieved with a school meals interventions mapping and the implementation of stakeholder workshops. The method was built on the literature review and then enriched by intervention co-design dialogue among stakeholders. The overall conclusion addressed challenges of food waste determents identification, tailored reduction interventions developing, sustainable consumption promotion with school meals.