Worth it? - A visual reading of spectacle, food porn and culinary capital in YouTube food media

Studies on food media rarely engage with the visual aspects. If it does it is mostly concerning cookbooks, television and film. This thesis will take another approach by examining food media on YouTube, through the YouTube channel Buzzfeed and their series “Worth it”. Through the theoretical concepts of spectacle, food porn and culinary capital the thesis Worth it? – A visual reading of spectacle, food porn and culinary capital in YouTube food media studies the visual representation of food within a selection of three “Worth it” episodes using the method of social semiotics. The objective of this thesis is to study how food and food experiences are portrayed in this series. Focusing on the representation of the food, the cooking process, the restaurants and the emotions included in the episodes. The thesis results in an understanding on how we visually consume food. This turns out to be essential for the spectacle of food and the food porn. The thesis also show that the visual representations are shaped based on the culinary capital

Investigating time variability of X-ray absorption in Swift GRBs

The existence of excess absorption in the X-ray spectra of GRBs is well known, but the primary location of the absorbing material is still uncertain. To gain more knowledge about this, we have performed a time-resolved analysis of the X-ray spectra of 199 GRBs observed by the \textit{Swift} X-ray telescope, searching for evidence of a decreasing column density ($N_{\mathrm{H,intr}}$) that would indicate that the GRBs are ionizing matter in their surroundings. We structured the analysis as Bayesian inference and used an absorbed power-law as our baseline model. We also explored alternative spectral models in cases where decreasing absorption was inferred. The analysis reveals seven GRBs that show signs of a decrease in $N_{\mathrm{H,intr}}$, but we note that alternative models for the spectral evolution cannot be ruled out. We conclude that the excess absorption in the vast majority of GRBs must originate on large scales of the host galaxies and/or in the intergalactic medium. Our results also imply that an evolving column density is unlikely to affect the spectral analysis of the early X-ray spectra of GRBs. In line with this, we show that estimating the total $N_{\mathrm{H,intr}}$ from early {\it Swift} data in Window Timing mode reveals the same increasing trend with redshift as previous results based on data taken at later times, but with tighter constraints.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Employer Branding och Generation Y. Vilken betydelse har generationstillhörigheten för organisationers Employer Branding?

Bakgrund/Problem: I samband med generationsskiftet på arbetsmarknaden uppstår frågan hur arbetsgivarna ur ett rent strategiskt perspektiv kan ta ställning till Generation Y (födda under andra halvan av sjuttiotalet fram till ca år 2000) i arbetslivet. Generation Y verkar nämligen ha en förändrad syn jämfört med äldre generationer när det gäller hur man ser på arbetets roll i livet. Företagen måste börja uppmärksamma dessa förändrade värderingar för att genom sitt Employer Brand kunna locka till sig den yngre generationen på bästa sätt. Syfte: I denna uppsats presenterar jag sociologiska teorier och empiriska fakta om generationer, för att försöka se vilken betydelse generationstillhörigheten kan ha för organisationers Employer Branding. På detta sätt vill jag utveckla och föra fram ett tankesätt som grundar sig i en genera-tionssociologisk analys av fenomenet. Material: Mitt material kommer huvudsakligen från forskningsstudier, forskningsartiklar, littera-tur, medier och från teorier av sociologerna Hans Zetterberg, Ronald Inglehart och Karl Mann-heim. Slutsats: Generationstillhörigheten verkar ha en stor betydelse för företagens Employer Branding. Det finns idag en större fokus på fritid och person framför arbete. Dessutom har olika sam-hällsförändringar, som exempelvis den ekonomiska uppgången efter andra världskriget som bi-dragit till mer post-materiella värderingar, medfört till generationsskillnader i arbetsvärderingar, något som företagen bör ta i beaktande

Floral scent and pollinator visitation in relation to floral colour morph in the mixed-mating annual herb Collinsia heterophylla

Even though floral scent is of major importance for pollinator attraction, it is less investigated than other floral traits. Previous studies suggest the importance of joint exploration of olfactory and visual floral cues to understand plant-pollinator interactions. We investigated flower scents in Collinsia heterophylla, a bee-pollinated, annual herb a with mixed-mating system combining self- and outcross-pollination. In Collinsia, floral size and development variation is related to mating system, ranging from large-flowered mixed-mating species to small-flowered self-pollinated species. However, to our knowledge, flower scent has not been described in any species in the genus. We also studied whether flower-emitted volatiles were coupled to presence versus absence of a coloured band on the upper lip within a population in C. heterophylla, and if these colour morphs affected pollinator visitation. We performed headspace collections of volatiles in the greenhouse from potted flowering plants, and compared these to controls in the bud stage. Flower-specific volatiles were highly dominated by terpenoid compounds typical of bee-pollinated plants, such as beta-myrcene, (Z)- and (E)-ocimene and sesquiterpenes (E)-alpha-bergamotene and beta-sesquiphellandrene. The aliphatic ester methyl hexanoate was also prominent, together with additional esters, whereas methyl cinnamate constituted the only aromatic compound. Floral colour morphs showed no qualitative difference in volatiles, but the coloured morph produced significantly higher quantities for seven of the 26 individual flower compounds. A field experiment performed within a natural population, using behavioural observations and florescent dyes dusted on the flowers, could not detect any differences in pollinator visitation between colour morphs. We conclude that C. heterophylla flowers emit volatile compounds commonly associated with attraction of their most important pollinators. It would be highly interesting to explore the function of floral scent for pollinator attraction and relate floral scent to mating system variation across Collinsia for a better understanding of pollinator influence on floral evolution

Progenitors of Long Gamma-ray Bursts

Pinpointing the progenitors of long duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) remains an extremely important question, although it is now clear that at least a fraction of LGRBs originate in the core collapse of massive stars in type Ic supernovae, the pathways to the production of these stars, and their initial masses, remain uncertain. Rotation is thought to be vital in the creation of LGRBs, and it is likely that black hole creation is also necessary. We suggest that these two constraints can be met if the GRB progenitors are very massive stars (>20 solar masses) and are formed in tight binary systems. Using simple models we compare the predictions of this scenario with observations and find that the location of GRBs on their host galaxies are suggestive of main-sequence masses in excess of 20 solar masses, while 50% of the known compact binary systems may have been sufficiently close to have had the necessary rotation rates for GRB creation. Thus, massive stars in compact binaries are a likely channel for at least some fraction of LGRBs.Comment: To appear in "Gamma-ray bursts: Prospects for GLAST", AIP Conference proceedings 906, Editors M. Axelsson and F Ryd