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• 1.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för naturvetenskap och teknik, Institutionen för datavetenskap, fysik och matematik, DFM.
A Differentiable Approach to Stochastic Differential Equations: the Smoluchowski Limit Revisited2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

In this thesis we generalize results by Smoluchowski [43], Chandrasekhar[6], Kramers, and Nelson [30]. Their aim is to construct Brownian motion as a limit of stochastic processes with differentiable sample paths by exploiting a scaling limit which is a particular type of averaging studied by Papanicolao [35]. Their construction of Brownian motion differs from the one given by Einstein since it constitutes a dynamical theory of Brownian motion. Nelson sets off by studying scaled standard Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes. Physically these describe classical point particles subject to a deterministic friction and an external random force of White Noise type, which models perpetuous collisions with surrounding(water) molecules. Nelson also studies the case when the particles are subject to an additional deterministic nonlinear force. The present thesis generalizes the work of Chandrasekhar in that it deals with finite dimensional α-stable Lévy processes with 0 < α < 2, and Fractional Brownian motion as driving noises and mathematical techniques like deterministic time change and a Girsanov theorem. We consider uniform convergence almost everywhere and in $L^2$-sense. In order to pursue the limit we multiply all vector fields in the cotangent space by the scaling parameter including the noise. For α-stable Lévy processes this correspondsto scaling the process in the tangent space, $v_{t}$, $t\geq 0$, according to $\beta v_{t}=v_{\beta^{\alpha}t}$. Sending β to infinity means sending time to infinity. In doing so the noise evolves with a different speed in time compared to the component processes. For α≠2, α-stable Lévy processes are of pure jump type, therefore the approximation by processes having continuous sample paths constitutes a valuable mathematical tool. α-stable Lévy processes exceed the class studied by Zhang [46]. In another publication related to this thesis we elaborate on including a mean-field term into the globally Lipschitz continuous nonlinear part of the drift while the noise is Brownian motion, whereas Narita [28] studied a linear dissipation containing a mean-field term. Also the classical McKean-Vlasov model is linear in the mean-field. In a result not included in this thesis the scaling result of Narita [29], which concerns another scaling limit of the tangent space process (velocity) towards a stationary distribution, is generalized to α-stable Lévy processes. The stationary distribution derived by Narita is related to the Boltzmann distribution. In the last part of this thesis we study Fractional Brownian motion with a focus on deriving a scaling limit of Smoluchowski-Kramers type. Since Fractional Brownian motion is no semimartingale the underlying theory of stochastic differential equations is rather involved. We choose to use a Girsanov theorem to approach the scaling limit since the exponent in the Girsanov denvsity does not contain the scaling parameter explicitly. We prove that the Girsanov theorem holds with a linear growth condition alone on the drift for 0 < H < 1, where H is the Hurst parameterof the Fractional Brownian motion.

• 2.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap, Institutionen för språk och litteratur, SOL.
Ambiguity and Estrangement: Peer-Led Deliberative Dialogues on Literature in the EFL Classroom2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

The thesis focuses on ideological and emotional dimensions of literature reading in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. The empirical data at the heart of this dissertation comprises questionnaires, group sessions, student texts, and post-study evaluation. Drawing on the fields of postcolonial studies, reader response theories, and critical literacy, the study investigates upper secondary students’ formulations of values in carefully staged peer-led deliberative dialogues on literature. Bakhtin’s theory on internally persuasive discourse has been instrumental in examining the properties of the novel that inspire students to formulate values. Moreover, the concept of positionality provides a framework for understanding how the text decenters the subject position of the students but also how reading is productive of creating moments of instability because of the positions offered in the EFL setting. The discussion of how the students move between reading stances is located in reader response theories dealing with aesthetic reading. My proposition is that the ambiguity of literary texts and the added estrangement effects of reading in EFL conjoin in fostering a predisposition towards language, literature, and interaction characterized by what Bakhtin calls ideological becoming.

The organization of reading into deliberative dialogues makes it possible to delineate ecologies of transformation created over the course of the project. Representations of the texts change by way of social interaction in the groups, but there is also transformation in the individual brought about by this kind of active and dynamic reading. In short, the reading process that occurs in the project can be said to reflect bounder crossings and the in-between spaces of human textual transactions; between personal world and imagined text world as well as the collaborative meaning negotiated in the groups. An important finding regards the points of convergence for axes of disaffiliation and affiliation in this EFL setting, leading to reinforcement of positions of privilege and constructions of difference. Nevertheless, the overarching argument remains that deliberative dialogues on literature in EFL can function as a hands-on democratic practice generating critical exploration of ideological dimensions coupled with respectful reading of the experiences of Another.

Keywords: literature, EFL, peer-led deliberative dialogues, civic values, postcolonial, positionality, ambiguity, estrangement, aesthetic reading, internally persuasive discourse, upper secondary students, transformative learning.

• 3.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för hälsa, socialt arbete och beteendevetenskap, Institutionen för hälso- och vårdvetenskap, HV.
Bipolär sjukdom - ur ett existentiellt perspektiv2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Aim: The overall aim was to create knowledge about what it means to live with bipolar disorder from an existential perspective, both for individuals with the diagnosis and for their close relatives.

Method: An existential perspective in this context entails that it is explored and described from a lifeworld perspective of individuals who in various ways experience that which is termed as bipolar disorder. The lifeworld phenomenological approach Reflective Lifeworld Research (RLR) was used in the four empirical studies. Meaning-oriented interviews and analysis were conducted following the leading methodological principles of the chosen scientific approach. A synthesis, based on lifeworld hermeneutic existential philosophy, then presents how it is possible to understand the perspective of individuals with bipolar disorder and their close relatives as a coherent whole.

Findings and conclusions: A magnitude and complexity of experiencing, which means that life with bipolar disorder is characterized by extra dimensions, specific tension and contradictions, has been elucidated. Knowledge of the meaning of these aspects enables for the persons with the illness and for their close relatives to understand, to put words to, and to communicate how their life is and what they need, which in turn enhances their ability to influence their lives. It also increases the opportunities for professional caregivers to develop care, both in content and organization, so that it can meet the actual needs of those concerned in an adequate way.

Living with bipolar disorder means so much more than the usual description with changes between episodes of depression and mania. The diagnosis “bipolar disorder” thus appears to be an inadequate label that only reflects the more obvious and visible dimensions of the illness, while those that characterize life in its entirety remain hidden.

The thesis also shows that the importance of the common everyday life of persons with bipolar disorder and their close relatives should be highlighted as the most important factor in a liveable existence. A change in the view of mental health care is thus needed; a change that is characterized by consensus, collaboration and transparent communication between the person with the illness, their close relatives and mental health care. The common goal should be about meeting actual needs, and to strengthen a profound connectedness in order to make everyday life more liveable.

• 4.
Lund University, Sweden.
Budgetary control in public health care: a study about perceptions of budgetary control among clinical directors2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Health care expenditures have increased rapidly in most OECD-countries, and several reforms have been considered for the improvement of cost-containment in the health care sector. Physicians in particular have been recognized to have considerable impact on health care expenditures and as a result they have become increasingly involved in budgetary control with the hope of a more efficient use of resources. Until 1997 only physicians were allowed to take clinical directional positions in Sweden. Then a new regulation made it possible for non-physicians to become clinical directors of a hospital department or primary care centre. Most often it has been nurses who entered such positions in the Swedish health care. The overall aim of this thesis was to analyse perceptions of tight budgetary control among clinical directors with different professional backgrounds in public health care organizations. Three questionnaire surveys of clinical directors in both hospitals and primary health care have been conducted. The results suggest that the perception of budgetary control differs between groups of clinical directors. The nurses often perceived the budgetary control as tighter than the physicians. The findings adhere to previous theories that nurses in directorial positions adopt administrative principles more easily; they accept and feel more bound by budgetary control than physicians in the same position. An alternative interpretation is that nurses in these positions actually are more controlled by the hospital management than the physicians. The nursing profession has a lower status and nurses in directorial positions may have less autonomy for managing their department.

• 5.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för naturvetenskap och teknik, Institutionen för teknik, TEK.
Characterisation of green-glued wood adhesive bonds2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

• 6.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för naturvetenskap och teknik, Institutionen för naturvetenskap, NV.
Clinical pharmacy services within a multiprofessional healthcare team2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Background: The purpose of drug treatment is to reduce morbidity and mortality, and to improve health-related quality of life. However, there are frequent problems associated with drug treatment, especially among the elderly. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the impact of clinical pharmacy services within a multiprofessional healthcare team on quality and safety of patients’ drug therapy, and to study the frequency and nature of medication history errors on admission to hospital.

Methods: A model for clinical pharmacy services within a multiprofessional healthcare team (the Lund Integrated Medicines Management model, LIMM) was introduced in three hospital wards. On admission of patients to hospital, clinical pharmacists conducted medication reconciliation (i.e. identified the most accurate list of a patient’s current medications) to identify any errors in the hospital medication list. To identify, solve and prevent any other drug-related problems, the clinical pharmacists interviewed patients and performed medication reviews and monitoring of drug therapy. Drug-related problems were discussed within the multiprofessional team and the physicians adjusted the drug therapy as appropriate.

Results: On admission to hospital, drug-related problems, such as low adherence to drug therapy and concerns about treatment, were identified. Different statistical approaches to present results from ordinal data on adherence and beliefs about medicines were suggested. Approximately half of the patients were affected by errors in the medication history at admission to hospital; patients who had many prescription drugs had a higher risk for errors. Medication reconciliation and review reduced the number of inappropriate medications and reduced drug-related hospital revisits. No impact on all-cause hospital revisits was demonstrated.

Conclusion: Patients admitted to hospital are at high risk for being affected by medication history errors and there is a high potential to improve their drug therapy. By reducing medication history errors and improving medication appropriateness, clinical pharmacy services within a multiprofessional healthcare team improve the quality and safety of patients’ drug therapy. The impact of routine implementation of medication reconciliation and review on healthcare visits will need further evaluation; the results from this thesis suggest that drug-related hospital revisits could be reduced.

• 7.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för hälsa, socialt arbete och beteendevetenskap, Institutionen för socialt arbete, SA.
Creating social citizenship: Young people, ethnicity and participation in a Swedish local context2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

This thesis concerns social participation in the Swedish welfare state among young people from ethnic minorities, the opportunities open to them and the constraints they face. It focuses on the interplay between structural social conditions related to social exclusion and subjective experiences in everyday life among these young people. The aim is to study how experiences of social citizenship are manifested in everyday life, and how young women and men from ethnic minorities create opportunities and overcome obstacles. How can experiences of social citizenship be understood through acts of citizenship? How do such experiences become driving forces in constructing lived citizenship? The theoretical framework is based on Thomas Humphrey Marshall’s (1950) understanding of social citizenship, and incorporates contemporary debate aimed at further developing his approach. Special attention is paid to substantive social citizenship, which Tom Bottomore (1992) brought to the discussion, and the subjective perspective developed and emphasized by Ruth Lister (2003, 2007). The data material used in the empirical study includes qualitative interviews with seventeen young people, eleven women and six men, from various ethnic and national backgrounds in the age range of seventeen to twenty-six years. Most research in this field focuses on metropolitan suburban municipalities and large cities, whereas this study investigates young migrants living in a medium-sized Swedish town. Subjective experiences of opportunities for and constraints on achieving equality, social inclusion and social participation in everyday life are explored. These experiences become incentives for their resistance against ethnic discrimination and claims on inclusive social citizenship. One of the main findings is that the content and boundaries of social citizenship are constantly being defined and re-defined by the young people depending on their everyday experiences and the character of their social networks, and also on their length of residence in Sweden and their gender. The main conclusion is that young people are not passive victims of structural ethnic discrimination, but are active in the process of enacting themselves as citizens.

• 8.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för naturvetenskap och teknik, Institutionen för naturvetenskap, NV.
Drivers of polymorphism dynamics in pygmy grasshoppers2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

In this thesis, I used colour polymorphism in pygmy grasshoppers as a model system to study the influence of selection, developmental plasticity, mating behaviour and gene flow on patterns of phenotypic and genetic diversity within and among populations in changing environments.

Data for more than 5,000 individuals collected from natural populations showed that the incidence of black (melanic) pygmy grasshoppers was higher in burnt than in non-burnt areas, and rapidly declined over time within populations in post-fire environments. A common garden experiment confirmed that differences among populations were genetically determined. A split brood experiment further uncovered no developmental plasticity in response to rearing substrate, but a high resemblance between mothers and their offspring thus indicating that colour morphs are under strong genetic control.

To investigate the role of polyandry, I experimentally mated virgin females to multiple males; genotyped families using microsatellite markers developed for this purpose, and demonstrated that polyandrous females can produce offspring sired by different males. Analysis of families produced by females collected from a natural population confirmed that multiple paternities can increase colour morph diversity among half-siblings in the wild. Analysis of 130 AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism) markers in individuals from 5 localities uncovered two distinct gene clusters, as well as high genetic diversity within and significant divergence among populations within each cluster.

My studies of colour polymorphism dynamics demonstrate an important role of population differentiation and rapid adaptive evolution in response to selection in heterogeneous environments, indicate limited effects of plasticity and gene flow, and implicate multiple mating as promoting diversity within populations in this pygmy grasshopper system.

• 9.
Jönköping University, Sweden.
Dynamics of macroeconomic and financial variables in different time horizons2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

This dissertation consists of an introductory chapter and four papers dealing with financial issues of open economies, which can be in two broad categorizations: 1) exchange rate movements and 2) stock market interdependence. The first paper covers how the exchange rate changes affect the prices of internationally traded goods. With the variables (the price of exports in exporters’ currency and the exchange rate, both of which are in logarithmic form) being cointegrated, a model with both long- and short-run characteristics (the Error Correction Model, ECM) is formulated.

The second paper relates to the standard macroeconomic models of exchange rate determination. This paper investigates the relationship between the exchange rate and the domestic-foreign interest rate differential.

A relevant issue associated with the relationship between export prices and exchange rates for different industries is found in the third paper. The responsiveness of firms’ profitability to changes in exchange rates (i.e. exchange rate exposure) is tested using a factor model.

After the three papers noted above, the dissertation moves on to the final paper which explores the relationship between national stock markets (i.e. interdependence). The causal linkages of the U.S. stock market to each of six eastern Asian national stock markets (China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan) as well as the causal linkages among those Asian equity markets are tested in a vector autoregression (VAR) model using wavelet-decomposed data.

• 10.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för hälsa, socialt arbete och beteendevetenskap, Institutionen för socialt arbete, SA.
Erkännande, makt och möten: En studie av inflytande och självbestämmande med LSS2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

The dissertation is about people with serious functional impairments who receive support pursuant to the Swedish LSS – the Act Concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments. LSS gives compensatory support, so that a person can enjoy the right to live a life like anyone else. The user’s right to influence and self-determination is emphasized in the Act.

The overall aim of the dissertation is to describe and analyse conditions, possibilities, and limitations to influence and self-determination for people receiving LSS support. The investigation includes two interview studies. One is a study of influence and self-determination in everyday life with personal assistance. The other study focuses on people receiving some form of LSS service in combination with having a limited guardian.

The thesis shows that LSS can be understood on a general level as a judicial recognition of the group’s right to support for citizenship on individual terms. In many cases LSS service give the user influence and self-determination in everyday life. The interaction between the user and the supporting persons are crucial. If it involves mutual recognition of equality and recognition of difference – the right to be compensated for restricted abilities – then the user can act autonomously. The study deals with power and recognition as essential aspects. The analysis shows that recognition and power together contribute to an understanding of the complex situation that users of LSS measures have in their day-to-day lives. The intention behind the care is to ensure the user’s best interest. Relations and encounters around the user are affected by pastoral power with a caring purpose where support and control are interwoven. Mis-directed recognition is perceived as an infringement of integrity. The dilemma is that care that aims for something good without recognition reduces the user to an object and disrespect. The studies reveal a tension between the ideal of influence and self-determination as ”subject of rights” and the user’s everyday life. Personal assistance can be designed to contribute to achieving the intentions. Among many people receiving LSS support and having a legal guardian, the personal influence and self-determination are not distinct and guardianship is unclear. Relations are characterized by dilemmas concerning the preferential right of interpretation. The individuals are seen as “objects of care” by others. Influence and self-determination depend on a fundamental recognition of the user as subject with a need for individually adapted care. This means the right to be and act as a “subject of care”. Recognition, relations and power are keys to influence and self-determination in LSS.

• 11.
Uppsala University.
Essays on the Economics of Income Taxation2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

This thesis consists of five self-contained essays.

Essay 1. (with Sören Blomquist and Luca Micheletto)

Using a calibrated overlapping-generations model we quantify the welfare gains of an age-dependent labor income tax. Agents face uncertainty regarding future abilities and can transfer consumption across periods through savings. The welfare gain of switching from an age-independent to an age-dependent nonlinear tax varies between 2.4% and 4% of GDP. Part of the welfare gain is due to capital accumulation effects and part descends from relaxing incentive-compatibility constraints. The welfare gain is of about the same magnitude as the welfare gain that can be achieved by moving from a linear- to a nonlinear labor income tax. Finally, the welfare loss from tax-exempting interest income is negligible under an optimal age-dependent labor income tax.

Essay 2. (with Sören Blomquist and Luca Micheletto)

Previous literature has shown that public provision of private goods can be a welfare-enhancing device in second-best settings where governments pursue redistributive goals. However, three issues have so far been neglected. First, the case for supplementing an optimal nonlinear income tax with public provision of private goods has been made in models where agents differ only in terms of market ability. Second, the magnitude of the welfare gains achievable through public provision schemes has not been assessed. Third, the similarities/differences between public provision schemes and tagging schemes have not been thoroughly analyzed. Our purpose in this paper is therefore threefold: first, to extend previous contributions by incorporating in the theoretical analysis both heterogeneity in market ability and in the need for the publicly provided good; second, to perform numerical simulations to quantify the size of the potential welfare gains achievable by introducing a public provision scheme, and to characterize the conditions under which these welfare gains are sizeable; finally, to compare the welfare gains from public provision with the welfare gains from tagging.

Essay 3. (with Sören Blomquist and Luca Micheletto)

Subsidized child care is a common phenomenon in both Europe and the United States. In this paper we study the efficiency of some of the most common types of child care subsidies. These are a (refundable) tax credit, tax deductibility and public provision. We evaluate the relative efficiency of these instruments using a quantitative simulation model calibrated to resemble the US economy. In our framework there is a special tax treatment for families with children of child care age, which is based on an assumption that agrees with facts pertaining to actual circumstances in the United States, as well as many other countries. We keep the net tax revenue for this group of tax payers constant, hence the subsidies to child care are paid for by the group itself. It is a commonly held view that in a 'good society' all children should have equal opportunities in life. Many proponents of subsidized childcare argue that one way to move in this direction is to allow all children access to good quality child care. We capture this ideological perspective by using a paternalistic social welfare function which places special emphasis on the quality of child care purchased by households. Using a standard social welfare function we find tax deductibility to be the most efficient instrument to subsidize child care and public provision the least efficient instrument. These results are completely reversed when using the paternalistic welfare function and when  society has the goal of providing all children with access to good quality child care.  Public provision then becomes the best way to subsidize child care.  An important aspect of public provision is that it is an efficient instrument in raising the quality of child care.

Essay 4.

In a recent paper Alesina et al. (2011) construct a model in which different labor supply elasticities for men and women emerge endogenously from intra-household bargaining. In this paper I explore the optimal tax implications of their model in an economy with both singles and couples and inequality across as well as within households. In the model, the welfare of married women can be improved by lowering taxes for single women. However, this benefit must be weighed against the welfare cost of taxing single men and women at different rates. Moreover, if single men earn more than single women, the welfare of married women can alternatively be improved by a gender-neutral tax scheme which taxes singles at a higher rate. Because the government is concerned not only with equalizing utilities within families, but also with the redistribution between high income and low income households, gender-based adjustments in the income tax must be weighed against the welfare consequences of changing the progressivity of the tax system. I find that larger lump-sum transfers to women is always optimal. Interestingly, marginal tax rates, on the other hand, should be lower for women only if the exogenous bargaining power of men is moderate. The welfare gains of gender based taxation are sizable and the welfare gains of having tax instruments which depend on household composition are even larger.

Essay 5. (with Håkan Selin)

Recent microeconometric studies of taxpayers' responsiveness to taxation have shown that intensive margin labor supply and earnings elasticities typically are modest and sometimes equal to zero. However,a common view is that long-run responses might still be large since micro-estimates are downward biased owing to optimization frictions. In this paper we estimate the taxable income elasticity at a very large kink point of the Swedish tax schedule using the bunching method. During the period of study the change in the log net-of-tax rate reached a maximum value of 45.6%. Interestingly, we obtain a precise elasticity estimate of zero for wage earners at this large kink. The size of the kink allows us to derive tighter bounds on the long-run elasticity than previous studies. If wage earners on average tolerate 1% of their disposable income in optimization costs, the upper bound on the long-run taxable income elasticity is 0.39. We also evaluate the performance of the bunching estimator by performing Monte Carlo simulations.

• 12.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper, SV.
Femininity at Work: Gender, Labour, and Changing Relations of Power in a Swedish Hospital2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Gender scholarship has identified how paid care work reproduces male dominance and reinforces women’s subordination, but also how labour and workplaces provide a critical space for women through the development of new forms of identity and struggle. In this ethnographic study of Swedish nurses’ work, the concept of normative femininity is used in order to explore gender, labour, and changing relations of power in the context of the neoliberal transformation of the Swedish welfare state.

The study shows how nursing has undergone dramatic changes in terms of work intensification and new forms of subordination and class boundaries. At the same time, the nursing profession has embraced nurses’ new role as adjunct managers in running clinics and taking on new responsibilities offered by New Public Management.

Gendered subjectivities are at the level of the work place produced and reproduced through notions of femininities that shape and are shaped by the labour process. The study is located within the emerging field of ethnographies of neoliberalism and offers an empirical analysis of change and continuity in the relationship between femininity and care work among nurses employed in a Swedish hospital.

• 13.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för naturvetenskap och teknik, Institutionen för naturvetenskap, NV.
Functional aspects of inorganic phosphate transport2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Inorganic phosphate is an essential nutrient for all organisms. It is required for many cellular components as nucleic acids and phospholipids, and as energy-carrying compounds such as ATP. Thus, a regulated uptake of this pivotal nutrient is of outermost importance. Depending of the availability of phosphate in the surroundings the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae make use of two different systems for transporting phosphate into the interior of the cell: a low-affinity system that is active during surplus phosphate conditions and a high-affinity system that is active when the availability becomes limited. This thesis focuses on the high-affinity system, which is comprised of the Pho84 and Pho89 transporters. Of the two transporters, Pho84 is the predominant one, responsible for almost all phosphate uptake during low phosphate conditions, and the contribution of Pho89 is of minor importance. Hence Pho84 is by far the most well characterized phosphate transporter. Even though much is known about phosphate transporters in yeast little in known about how phosphate is transported. The work in this thesis aims to broaden the knowledge about the transport mechanism by the means of site-directed mutagenesis and functional characterization. Also the similarity of Pho84 to glucose sensors and the potential role of conserved residues in phosphate signaling are investigated. By the use of a high-affinity system deletion strain (∆Pho84 ∆Pho89), we also managed to investigate the functional importance of well conserved residues in Pho89. In summary: the work presented in this thesis has contributed to increase the knowledge about transport mechanisms in phosphate transporters.

• 14.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för hälsa, socialt arbete och beteendevetenskap, Institutionen för hälso- och vårdvetenskap, HV.
Förlossningsrädsla: med fokus på kvinnors upplevelser av att föda barn2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Aim: The overall aim of this study is to describe experiences of, and the association between, fear of childbirth and birth experiences of women with fear ofchildbirth.

Methods: In studies I, II, and IV, a reflective lifeworld approach based on phenomenological philosophy was used to describe women’s experiences of fear of childbirth (I), previous birth experiences (II), and fear of childbirth and of birth experience in a long-term perspective (IV). In study III, differences between women who reported fear of childbirth and those who did not were calculated using risk ratios with a 95 % confidence interval and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Data were collected from interviews with eight (I) and nine (II) pregnant women with intense fear of childbirth, and with six women who had sought care for intense fear of childbirth 7 to 11 years prior to the interview (IV), and via questionnaire from a sample of 763 women during pregnancy and again one year following birth (III).

Findings: Fear of childbirth was described as “to lose oneself as a woman into loneliness” (I). Previous birth experience was described as “a sense of not being present in the delivery room and an incomplete childbirth experience” (II). Fear of childbirth was associated with a previous negative birth experience and a previous emergency caesarean section (III). From a long-term perspective, fear of childbirth and birth experience was described as “an effort to make all the pieces come together” (IV).

Conclusions: This thesis generates evidence on the importance of previous birth experience for women with fear of childbirth, from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. These perspectives illustrate the complexity where women´s experiences in the delivery room are central. To avoid creating fear of childbirth, it is important that maternity care services focus on women’s birth experiences and critically evaluate care in relation to childbirth.

• 15.
USI, Switzerland .
Gene Regulation by Numbers: Steady-State and Equilibrium Binding Applied to Gene Regulation Systems.2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)
• 16.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för hälsa, socialt arbete och beteendevetenskap, Institutionen för hälso- och vårdvetenskap, HV.
Guilt and shame in end-of-life care: the next-of-kin's perspectives2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Aim: The overall aim of the thesis was to explore and describe the concepts of guilt and shame and gain a greater understanding of the next-of-kin’s experiences of guilt and shame in end-of-life care.

Methods: Study I was a qualitative secondary analysis of 47 interviews with next-of-kin searching for experiences of guilt and shame. In study II a semantic concept analysis of the two concepts guilt and shame was performed. In studies III and IV a hermeneutic approach inspired by Gadamer was used to analyze next-of-kin’s experiences of guilt (Study III), and shame (Study IV) in end-of-life care.

Main findings: The concept of guilt focus on behaviour and the concept of shame on the influence on the self.  The situation of being next-of-kin in end-of-life care involves a commitment to make the remaining time for the loved one as good as possible. When, for some reason, the commitment cannot be accomplished there is a risk that the next-of-kin experience guilt such as not having done enough, not having been together during important events, not having talked enough to each other, or not having done the right things. Aspects such as not having fulfilled a commitment, omission, and being the cause of can be present in these experiences. The guilt experience has a focus on what the next-of-kin has, or has not done. The experiences of shame are also linked to a perception that the remaining time for the loved one should be as good as possible. Shame can occur when the next-of-kin is involved and actually causes harm to the loved one as well as in situations that are beyond their control. Shame that the next-of-kin experience can also emanate from being put in situations by other people. Feelings of inferiority and powerlessness, second order shame, and family conflicts that are brought into the open are experiences of shame found in the studies as well as ignominy, humiliation, and disgrace. The shame experience has a focus on the next-of-kin’s self.

Conclusion: The situation of being next-of-kin in end-of-life care is complex and demanding, something that health professionals should be aware of. Acknowledgement of experiences of guilt and shame can help the next-of-kin in their adaptation to the end-of-life situation as a whole and maybe also give useful tools to support next-of-kin during bereavement.

• 17.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för naturvetenskap och teknik, Institutionen för naturvetenskap, NV.
Interactions between platelets and complement with implications for the regulation at surfaces2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Disturbances of host integrity have the potential to evoke activation of innate immunologic and hemostatic protection mechanisms in blood. Irrespective of whether the activating stimulus is typically immunogenic or thrombotic, it will generally affect both the complement system and platelets to a certain degree. The theme of this thesis is complement and platelet activity, which is intersected in all five included papers. The initial aim was to study the responses and mechanisms of the complement cascade in relation to platelet activation. The secondary aim was to use an applied approach to regulate platelets and complement on model biomaterial and cell surfaces.

Complement activation was found in the fluid phase in response to platelet activation in whole blood. The mechanism was traced to platelet release of stored chondroitin sulfate-A (CS-A) and classical pathway activation via C1q. C3 was detected at the platelet surface, though its binding was independent of complement activation. The inhibitors factor H and C4-binding protein (C4BP) were detected on activated platelets, and their binding was partly dependent on surface-exposed CS-A. Collectively, these results showed that platelet activation induces inflammatory complement activation in the fluid phase. CS-A was shown to be a central molecule in the complement-modulatory functions of platelets by its interaction with C1q, C4BP, and factor H.

Platelet activation and surface adherence were successfully attenuated by conjugating an ADP-degrading apyrase on a model biomaterial. Only minor complement regulation was seen, and was therefore targeted specifically on surfaces and cells by co-immobilizing a factor H-binding peptide together with the apyrase. This combined approach led to a synchronized inhibition of both platelet and complement activation at the interface of biomaterials/xenogeneic cells and blood.

In conclusion, here presents a novel crosstalk-mechanism for activation of complement when triggering platelets, which highlights the importance of regulating both complement and platelets to lower inflammatory events. In addition, a strategy to enhance the biocompatibility of biomaterials and cells by simultaneously targeting ADP-dependent platelet activation and the alternative complement C3-convertase is proposed.

• 18.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för ekonomi och design, Ekonomihögskolan, ELNU.
Internationalization processes of small and medium-sized enterprises: Entering and taking off from emerging markets2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

• 19.
Vienna University of Technology.
Investigations on the Serviceability Limit State of Dowel-Type Timber Connections2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

• 20.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för ekonomi och design, Ekonomihögskolan, ELNU.
Issues of Complex Hierarchical Data and Multilevel Analysis: Applications in Empirical Economics2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

This thesis consists of four individual essays and an introduction chapter. The essays are in the field of multilevel analysis of economic data. The first essay estimates capitalisation effects of farm attributes, with a particular focus on single farm payments (SFP), into the price of farms. Using a sample of Swedish farm transactions sold all across the country, the results from a spatial multiple-membership model suggests that the local effect of SFP is negative while there is a positive between-region effect of SFP, on farm prices.

The second essay investigates the extent to which differences in the probability to exit from part-time unemployment to a full-time job can be accounted for by spatial contextual factors and individual characteristics. To correctly incorporate contextual effects, a multilevel analysis was applied to explore whether contextual factors account for differences in the probability of transition to full-time employment between individuals with different characteristics. The results indicate that there is a contextual effect and that there are some spatial spill-over effects from neighbouring municipalities.

The third essay investigates the determinants of educational attainment for third-generation immigrants and natives in Sweden. Using a mixed-effects model that includes unobserved family heterogeneity, for linked register data, the main result is that the effect of parent’s educational attainment is mainly due to the between-parental education effect of family income.

The fourth and last essay presents a new robust strategy for performance evaluation in the case of panel data that is based on routinely collected variables or indicators. The suggested strategy applies a cross-classified, mixed-effect model. The strategy is implemented in two illustrative empirical examples, and the robustness is investigated in a Monte Carlo study.

• 21.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper, SV.
Justice and the Prejudices of Culture: On Choice, Social Background and Unequal Opportunities in the Liberal Society2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Egalitarian liberal theories of justice – so this dissertation argues – fail to take into accountthe full implications of the way citizens’ socio-cultural backgrounds work to undermine theequal opportunities these same theories demand. While egalitarians support extensiveredistribution of income and wealth from the privileged to the less privileged, and advocateequal opportunities for all, they do not properly attend either to how our shared societalcultures structure social esteem and related advantages, or to how our individual socioculturalenvironments structure the very act of choice. They thus fail to acknowledge ourunequal opportunities to make choices which bring us esteem and related advantages,particularly the advantages that flow from our having established for ourselves lives thatothers consider good.

Alternative approaches to the interplay between justice, culture, and choice are rejected forillegitimately restricting the right to go our own way (communitarianism), or for regulatingpolitically that which cannot legitimately be regulated politically (recognition theory).Against the former position it is argued that we should draw on our culturalunderstandings, not to restrict free choice, but to identify opportunities to be safeguarded.Against the latter it is argued that we should not renegotiate prevailing cultural structurespolitically, but rather acknowledge these same structures and ensure that no one falls too farbehind in the competition for the advantages they generate.

Suggesting that one of the more thoroughgoing hierarchies of esteem and disesteem is thatattached to our occupational positions, broadly construed, the dissertation concretizes theclaims defended in relation to this hierarchy in particular. It is argued that the just societyowes it to its citizens to protect them from involuntary occupation of positions that comewith potentially harmful disesteem attached. It is not for society to overrule theindependent choices of citizens, however, but rather to provide enduring opportunities totraining and education for more highly regarded positions, thus both equalizingopportunities to esteem and related advantages, and ensuring that those who continue tooccupy positions at the lower end of the hierarchy in question do so through their owngenuinely free choice.

• 22.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för hälsa, socialt arbete och beteendevetenskap, Institutionen för pedagogik, psykologi och idrottsvetenskap, PPI.
Kunskapens politik: En studie av kunskapsdiskurser i svensk och europeisk utbildningspolicy2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

In recent years knowledge has been brought forward as an important political issue both in the EU and in Sweden. It is said to be of the uttermost importance not just for education but for society as a whole. As a result of increased globalization and a European striving for economic growth, knowledge has come to be associated with both individual and national competitiveness, and education and learning in schools and workplaces have become a political priority. In this global competition the EU has become an important policy actor in the educational field trying to create a common European education policy field. Despite this development, only a limited number of reports relating the European arena to Swedish educational reforms have been published. Against this background the aim of this thesis is to deepen the understanding of the knowledge discourses which struggle for legitimacy in Swedish and European education policy and how these discourses relate to each other and change over time. The empirical material consists of a number of fundamental official policy texts produced by the EU and the Swedish state. The study takes its theoretical point of departure in critical discourse analysis using an analytical grid where production, content and communication are seen as three aspects constituting every knowledge discourse. The result shows a process of silent Europeanization in Swedish school reform where European knowledge discourse is being re-contextualised and in many cases re-interpreted without any declaration in terms of explicit references. It also confirms the general trend towards increased focus on learning outcomes and demands for measurability. Furthermore, the result shows how competition rhetoric dominating the EU contributes to an increased sense of crisis in both European and Swedish educational reforms. As a result of this crisis rhetoric the study shows how the proactive reform-perspective is being replaced by a retrospective where solving already existing problems replaces the planning of an uncertain future.

• 23.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap, Institutionen för språk och litteratur, SOL.
L'Autorité dissimulée - l'autorité manifeste: L'écriture de la violence chez Yasmina Khadra2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

L’Autorité dissimulée – l’autorité manifeste. L’écriture de la violence chez Yasmina Khadra.

(Dissimulated authority – manifest authority. Yasmina Khadra’s representation of violence.)

This study examines the representation of violence in two novels by Algerian author Yasmina Khadra (1955 - ): Les Agneaux du Seigneur (1998) and À quoi rêvent les loups (1999). The narrative techniques employed in these texts and, more directly, the assertions made by the author in interviews and autobiographical works give the impression of a writer aiming to impose on the reader a specific view of the Algerian civil war (1992-1998) while at the same time asserting that the novels are objective representations of the same historical period.

This authoritative position, it is argued, is surprising in the light of two discourses. According to the first, events of extreme violence are fundamentally inexpressible and therefore any work of art dealing with such events must find a way to express this inexpressibility. Secondly, many historians, journalists and writers argue that the civil war in Algeria was particularly ungraspable, and eludes being rendered affirmatively in any work, fictional or not.

The study aims to explain how Yasmina Khadra construes his authority in the fictional texts and via his performance in the media. The concepts of a dissimulated authority and a manifest authority are conceived in order to elucidate the ambiguous discourse created by Khadra in which we find both a need to convince the reader of the legitimacy of his rendering of the violent events and a tendency to explicitly take control of and guide our interpretation of the novels.

The final chapter of the dissertation argues that Khadra’s prolific use of animal vocabulary at once dissimulates and makes manifest the idea of an author wanting to impose certain ideas and ‘truths’ on the reader. In the conclusion it is suggested that the violence of the novels extends beyond the subject matter into Khadra's very approach to writing: that the two novels do not so much reflect the idea of the violence as a creator of chaos, but rather, in browbeating the reader into a passive role, end up imitating the very forcefulness and single-mindedness of violence itself.

The methodological approach of the study consists of a close reading as well as a thorough contextualization of the novels. The classical narratological concepts established by Gérard Genette are used to examine the dominant narrative modes of the stories. In explaining the ways in which Khadra proceeds to persuade the reader of the truth-value of the texts the theory on realistic discourse developed by Philippe Hamon constitutes an important reference.

• 24.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap, Institutionen för språk och litteratur, SOL.
L'Écriture comme seul pays. Construction et subversion des discours identitaires : hybridité et genre chez Assia Djebar et Nina Bouraoui2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

This thesis, situated in the context of francophone and maghrebian postcolonial studies, examines the impact of identity discourses on the protagonists’ subjectivity in Assia Djebar’s La Femme sans sépulture (2002) and La Disparition de la langue française (2003) and Nina Bouraoui’s Garçon manqué (2000) and Mes mauvaises pensées (2005). These novels draw a parallel between two historically connected spaces, France and Algeria, and periods,  the years of the Algerian war of independence and the rise of Islamists in 1990s  Algeria. The movement between the two spaces and periods constitutes in a literal and figurative sense a third space that contributes to the protagonist’s hybridisation.

Hybridity is analysed as a narrative and discursive strategy that subverts and recodifies different identity dis­courses that transmit normative ideas about cultural, ethnic and gendered belonging. Hybridity is also shown in the literary genre. By connecting the past and the present through individual and collective reminiscence, the four novels reinterpret history while transgressing the frontiers of classical genres: the fictional, the testimonial and the autobiographical intertwine with the historiographical. Through the character of the narrator-cineaste and the story of Zoulikha, Assia Djebar reconstitutes in La Femme sans sépulture her own heritage and that of the interviewed women which is associated with Luce Irigaray’s theory of feminine genealogy as a model of identification. The languages’ different transcultural influences are shown in La Disparition de la langue française in the light of Homi Bhabha’s theory of cultural translation. Bouraoui’s fiction shows more radically than Djebar’s the body as a surface of cultural inscription, determined by ethnic and gendered norms. To emphasize the sociocultural dimension of the Bouraouian protagonist’s problems of identity the analysis uses Judith Butler’s theories about the performativity, the recognition and the melancholy of gender. In the four novels the return to one’s origins remains an illusion. The only place where the protagonists can negotiate and express their hybrid subjectivity is constituted in and through their writing.

• 25.
Umeå university.
Mellan frihet och trygghet: personalgemensamt förhållningssätt i psykiatrisk omvårdnad2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Bakgrund: Personalgemensamt förhållningssätt i psykiatrisk omvårdnad har inte tidigare studerats explicit. Forskning i närliggande område, på sociala processer i psykiatrisk omvårdnad, lyfter fram interaktionen mellan patient och vårdare som betydelsefull för att förstå kommunikationsmönster och attityder. Andra studier av social ordning och makt inom psykiatrisk omvårdnad visar på att vårdare och patienter befinner sig i ett hierarkiskt system där de förra är överordnade de senare.

Syfte: Det övergripande syftet i denna avhandling är att studera fenomenet "personalgemensamt förhållningssätt" hur det uppkommer, hur det används och hur det upplevs av personal och patienter.

Metod: I studie I användes grounded theory som analysmetod då vårdare och brukare vid två kommunala gruppboenden observerades och intervjuades under en period av nio månader. I studie II genomfördes narrativa intervjuer med nio vårdare i psykiatrisk slutenvård och analyserades med fenomenologisk hermeneutik. I studie III genomfördes nio narrativa intervjuer med brukare, alla med erfarenhet av att vårdas i psykiatrisk slutenvård. Intervjuerna har analyserats med fenomenologisk hermeneutisk metod. I studie IV genomfördes en vinjettstudie med 13 vårdare och insamlade intervjudata har analyserats med kvalitativ innehållsanalys.

Resultat: Ett personalgemensamt förhållningssätt kan ses som en social process i socialpsykiatrisk omsorg och psykiatrisk slutenvård, involverande vårdare och brukare/patient, med syfte att bevara och återställa en av vårdarna definierad ordning. Om ‘ordningen’ störs försöker vårdarna återställa den genom att besluta och tillämpa ett gemensamt förhållningssätt gentemot den patient som upplevs hota ordningen (studie I). Vårdarna upplever att det är problematiskt att ge omvårdnad utifrån ett personalgemensamt förhållningssätt då kollegor tolkar situationer olika och 8

patienter kan dela upp personalen i "goda" och "onda". Det är också som vårdare att erfara att patienten kan lida av det gemensamma förhållningssättet används gentemot patienten (studie II). Patienternas upplevelser bekräftar delvis vårdarnas upplevelser – den dominerande bilden är att patienterna beskriver sig ansatta och lider då förhållningssättet används. I vissa situationer kan emellertid förhållningssättet av patienten upplevas stödjande och beskrivs främja återhämtning (studie III). Vårdarnas etiska resonemang vid använda av ett personalgemensamt förhållningssätt visar att vårdarnas argumentation för ett visst förhållningssätt är individuellt baserat och förändras beroende på hur och vem som argumentationen riktas mot, samt att vårdarna grundar sina etiska resonemang med utgångspunkt i antingen omvärlden eller i sig själva (studie IV).

Slutsats: Sammantaget visar resultatet av de fyra delstudierna att vid användande av ett personalgemensamt förhållningssätt så är vårdarnas behov överordnat patienternas behov; att anlägga och vidmakthålla förhållningssättet handlar om makt och maktutövning; att det är en svår valsituation för vårdarna att fokusera på patient eller kollegor; att patienterna ofta lider då det personalgemensamma förhållningssätet tillämpas; samt att vårdarna ofta är omedvetna om det lidande som uppstår hos patienterna. Ett personalgemensamt förhållningssätt är inte en del av en utformad vårdstrategi; det är inte en medvetet utformad vårdplanering; istället framstår det som ett sätt att kontrollera en patient när vårdarna känner sig sårbara och pressad av patientens hållning och handlingar.

• 26.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för hälsa, socialt arbete och beteendevetenskap, Institutionen för hälso- och vårdvetenskap, HV.
Mobil IKT inom omvårdnad: studier om sjuksköterskors och studenters användning av handdatorer2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

• 27.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för naturvetenskap och teknik, Institutionen för teknik, TEK.
Modification of Float Glass Surfaces by Ion Exchange2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Glass is a common material in each person’s life, e.g. drinking vessels, windows, displays, insulation and optical fibres. By modifying the glass surface it is possible to change the performance of the entire glass object, generally known as Surface Engineering. Ion exchange is a convenient technique to modify the glass surface composition and its properties, e.g. optical, mechanical, electrical and chemical properties, without ruining the surface finish of the glass.

This thesis reports the findings of two different research tasks; characterisation of the single-side ion exchange process and the novel properties induced. The characterisation of the ion exchange process was mainly performed by utilising a novel analytical equipment: the Surface Ablation Cell (SAC), allowing continuous removal of the flat glass surface by controlled isotropic dissolution. SAC-AAS has provided concentration vs. depth profiles of float glass ion exchanged with K+, Cu+, Rb+ and Cs+. In addition, SEM-EDX has provided concentration vs. depth profiles of Ag+ ion exchanged samples and validation of a copper concentration vs. depth profile. From the concentration vs. depth profiles, the effective diffusion coefficients and activation energies of the ion exchange processes have been calculated. Depending on the treatment time and treatment temperature, penetration depths in the range of 5-10 μm (Rb+, Cs+), 20-30 μm (K+, Cu+) and 80-100 μm (Ag+) can be readily obtained. The effective diffusion coefficients followed the order Ag+>K+>Cu+>Rb+>Cs+. This is in accordance with the ionic radii for the alkali ions (K+<Rb+<Cs+) but reverse for the noble metal ions (Cu+<Ag+).

The glass properties modified by single-side ion exchange have mainly been characterised by UV-VIS spectroscopy and flexural strength measurements. Cu+ and Ag+ ion exchange give rise to surface colouration, Cu+ copper-ruby and Ag+ yellow/amber. The surface-ruby colouration was found to depend on the residual tin ions in the tin-side of the float glass. The flexural strength was studied using the coaxial double ring-test method which also was suitable for holed specimens. The flexural strength of K+ ion exchanged float glass samples was found to substantially increase compared to untreated.

• 28.
Blekinge Tekniska Högskola.
Multi-Agent Potential Field based Architectures for Real-Time Strategy Game Bots2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Real-Time Strategy (RTS) is a sub-genre of strategy games which is running in real-time, typically in a war setting. The player uses workers to gather resources, which in turn are used for creating new buildings, training combat units, build upgrades and do research. The game is won when all buildings of the opponent(s) have been destroyed. The numerous tasks that need to be handled in real-time can be very demanding for a player. Computer players (bots) for RTS games face the same challenges, and also have to navigate units in highly dynamic game worlds and deal with other low-level tasks such as attacking enemy units within fire range.

This thesis is a compilation grouped into three parts. The first part deals with navigation in dynamic game worlds which can be a complex and resource demanding task. Typically it is solved by using pathfinding algorithms. We investigate an alternative approach based on Artificial Potential Fields and show how an APF based navigation system can be used without any need of pathfinding algorithms.

In RTS games players usually have a limited visibility of the game world, known as Fog of War. Bots on the other hand often have complete visibility to aid the AI in making better decisions. We show that a Multi-Agent PF based bot with limited visibility can match and even surpass bots with complete visibility in some RTS scenarios. We also show how the bot can be extended and used in a full RTS scenario with base building and unit construction.

In the next section we propose a flexible and expandable RTS game architecture that can be modified at several levels of abstraction to test different techniques and ideas. The proposed architecture is implemented in the famous RTS game StarCraft, and we show how the high-level architecture goals of flexibility and expandability can be achieved.

In the last section we present two studies related to gameplay experience in RTS games. In games players usually have to select a static difficulty level when playing against computer oppo- nents. In the first study we use a bot that during runtime can adapt the difficulty level depending on the skills of the opponent, and study how it affects the perceived enjoyment and variation in playing against the bot.

To create bots that are interesting and challenging for human players a goal is often to create bots that play more human-like. In the second study we asked participants to watch replays of recorded RTS games between bots and human players. The participants were asked to guess and motivate if a player was controlled by a human or a bot. This information was then used to identify human-like and bot-like characteristics for RTS game players.

• 29.
Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för baltiska språk, finska och tyska.
Musik in der Prosa von Günter Grass: Intermediale Bezüge  —Transmediale Perspektiven2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

The thesis explores the role of music in Günter Grass’s novels. In pointing out the vital role of intermediality for Grass’s narrative strategies, the thesis opens up for a new, intermedial perspective on his work. It shows how references to music are used to realise Grass’s poetological concept “paspresenture” – the simultaneous presence of past, present and future – as well as his constant strive towards concreteness.

The study draws on theories of intermediality, with a special focus on the role of transmedial media characteristics. It develops a transmedial methodology for analysing intermedial references, stressing how the notion of “musicality” within the text is created by media characteristics shared by both music and literature. Intermedial references are conceived as highlighting structures that are inherent in literature.

The textual analyses of The Tin Drum (1959), Too Far Afield (1995) and Crabwalk (2002) are divided into three steps. First, explicit musical references in the narratives are interpreted as indexes pointing towards transmedial structures relevant to this specific context. Second, the examination demonstrates the prominent role of transmedial characteristics such as repetitivity, contrast, simultaneity and performativity within the texts. Third and last, the function of musical reference is discussed: in all three narratives, the focus on transmedial structures supplies a more consistent interpretation of passages which otherwise prove difficult to decipher. In Grass’s fiction, issues appear not to be discussed but performatively reenacted and thus remind more of musical than literary development. What is more, music – as handled by Grass – does not appear absolute or transcendent; rather, its manipulative potential is always prominent. However, the way musical references are used to realise Grass’s poetological aims stresses the bodily presence of musical performance, thus making music appear as the performative realisation of time.

• 30.
University of Edinburgh.
Northern Noble Savages?: Edward Daniel Clarke and British Primitivist Narratives on Scotland and Scandinavia, c. 1760-18222012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)
• 31.
Om organsystemens organisation och funktion: analys av elevsvar från Sverige och Sydafrika2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Syftet med denna avhandling är att studera svenska och sydafrikanska elevers föreställningar om kroppens byggnad och funktion, samt hur dessa föreställningar påverkar närliggande frågeställningar. Datainsamling har skett genom att flera olika typer av enkäter samt intervjuer använts. Samtliga elever som deltog gick i årskurs nio. Det var 88 elever i den svenska och 166 i den Sydafrikanska datainsamlingen.

Resultaten visar att elever har en god förmåga att beskriva matspjälkningssystemet då de beskriver en smörgås väg genom kroppen, och de visar även god förmåga att koppla samman blodsystemet till matspjälkningsorganen för detta scenario. Däremot har eleverna svårigheter att överföra denna kunskap till ett nytt sammanhang då de skulle beskriva en värktabletts väg genom kroppen. Eleverna hade inte fått undervisning om värktablettens väg genom kroppen, så detta var ett nytt sammanhang för dem. Det visade sig vara än svårare för eleverna att koppla samman ytterligare ett organsystem, det vill säga urinorganen, när de skulle beskriva vattnets väg genom kroppen. Trots att urinorganen finns beskrivna i läroboken och eleverna hade fått undervisning om dessa. Det fanns också elever som visade icke vetenskapligt vedertagna modeller och beskrev vattnets väg genom kroppen genom att rita ett rör direkt från halsen till njuren. Dessa elever kunde inte beskriva njuren främsta funktion som är att rena blodet. En liknande studie genomfördes i fem Sydafrikanska skolor och det visade sig att den i Sverige, och i andra europeiska studier, vanliga icke vetenskapliga förklaringen med en direktkoppling mellan matspjälkningsorganen och njurarna var mycket ovanlig bland dessa elever. Nästan hälften av de sydafrikanska eleverna visade istället en föreställning om att vattnet passerar lungorna på sin väg till magsäcken. Det fanns även mindre mängd elever som även ansåg att maten skulle passera lungorna innan magsäcken. När det gäller vattenfrågan har en djupare analys gjorts på 5 av de svenska elevernas enkät- och intervjusvar. Det visade sig att elevernas föreställningar antingen var desamma eller förändrades till en mindre sofistikerad förklaringsmodell mellan enkät och intervjusvar då det gällde vattnets väg genom kroppen, detta skiljer sig från frågeställningen med smörgåsen där intervjun visade på liknande eller bättre resultat.

• 32.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för naturvetenskap och teknik, Institutionen för naturvetenskap, NV.
Optimal Use of Peripheral Vision2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

People who lose their central vision have to rely on their peripheral vision for all visual tasks. The ability to resolve fine details in the periphery is reduced due to retinal limitations and the optical aberrations arising from the use of off-axis vision. The aim of this work is to improve vision by enhancing the image quality at the preferred retinal locus by means of correcting the optical errors. The focus of this thesis has been to measure and correct peripheral optical errors, as well as to evaluate their impact on resolution acuity in both normal and central visual field loss subjects.

In order to measure peripheral optics we employed a COAS HD VR open view aberrometer which is based on the Hartmann-Shack principle. Psychophysical methods were used to evaluate peripheral grating resolution acuity. We assessed the repeatability of the wavefront sensor in measuring the peripheral ocular aberrations. The symmetry of peripheral ocular aberrations between the left and right eyes was examined. The influence of age on peripheral ocular aberrations was also investigated. We evaluated peripheral vision with sphero-cylindrical correction in healthy eyes and performed the first adaptive optics aberration correction at the preferred retinal locus of a single central visual field loss subject.

We found that the aberrometer was repeatable and reliable in measuring peripheral ocular aberrations. There was mirror symmetry between the two eyes for most of the peripheral aberration coefficients. Age had a significant influence on peripheral ocular aberrations; there were larger amounts of higher-order aberrations in old eyes than in young eyes. Peripheral low contrast resolution acuity improved with peripheral refractive correction in subjects who had higher amounts of off-axis astigmatism. Finally, adaptive optics aberration correction improved both high and low contrast resolution acuity measured at the preferred retinal locus of the single low vision subject.

Because of their versatility, open view aberrometers will hopefully be a standard clinical instrument at low vision clinics as they allow for measurements to be rapidly performed at any location in the visual field. The existence of off-axis astigmatism should be better communicated within the low-vision rehabilitation community. Currently, the off-axis refractive errors can be corrected with conventional methods and we hope that the higher-order aberrations can also be corrected in a more realistic ways in the future.

In conclusion, this thesis has shown that peripheral visual function can be improved by optical correction. The findings of this thesis have broadened the knowledge of peripheral optical errors and their influence on vision.

• 33.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper, SV.
Politiska skandaler!: Behandlas kvinnor och män olika i massmedia?2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Granskning av makt och makthavare är ett av mediernas viktigaste uppdrag och i en jämställd politisk miljö bör uttalanden och ageranden bedömas utifrån lika villkor. Det för ingenting gott med sig om medierna gör en orättvis skillnad på kvinnor och män i deras rapportering om politiska skandaler. Det finns många påståenden om en genusdimension i mediernas rapportering, men relativt få vetenskapliga belägg för detta. Syftet med avhandlingen är att undersöka i vilken utsträckning det förekommer likheter och skillnader i hur nyhetsmedier rapporterar om kvinnor och män i svenska politiska skandaler samt bidra med en förståelse för förekomsten av dessa eventuella likheter och skillnader.

I en kvantitativ innehållsanalys analyseras 4345 tidningsartiklar fördelade på 92 svenska skandaler med förtroendevalda politiker på den nationella och den europeiska nivån mellan åren 1997 och 2010. Utifrån teoretiska antaganden om mediernas dagordningsmakt, gestaltningsmakt och medielogik undersöks nyhetsmedierna Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Expressen och Svenska Dagbladet.

Studiens resultat visar på flera stora könsskillnader som är till kvinnornas nackdel, men i datamaterialet framträder också många likheter. Som grupp betraktat missgynnas dock kvinnor i flera avseenden gentemot män vilket kan innebära att kvinnor kan få sämre möjligheter till att hantera och överleva politiska skandaler än män. En slutsats är att huvudpersonens kön är en viktig aspekt i strävan efter förståelse för hur politiska skandaler tar sin början, utvecklas och kommer till avslut.

• 34.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för naturvetenskap och teknik, Institutionen för naturvetenskap, NV.
Population-level consequences of variation2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Consequences of within population variation have recently attracted an increased interest in evolutionary ecology research. Theoretical models suggest important population-level consequences, but many of these predictions still remain to be tested. These issues are important for a deepened understanding of population performances and persistence, especially in a world characterized by rapid fragmentation of natural habitats and other environmental changes.

I review theoretical models of consequences from intra population genetic and phenotypic variation. I find that more variable populations are predicted to be characterized by broader resource use, reduced intraspecific competition, reduced vulnerability to environmental changes, more stable population dynamics, higher invasive potential, enhanced colonization and establishment success, larger distribution ranges, higher evolvability, higher productivity, faster population growth rate, decreased extinction risk, and higher speciation rate, compared with less variable populations.

To test some of these predictions I performed experiments and compared how different degree of colour polymorphism influences predation risk and establishment success in small groups. My comparisons of predation risk in mono- and polymorphic artificial prey populations showed that the risk of being eaten by birds does not only depend on the coloration of the individual prey item itself, but also on the coloration of the other members of the group. Two experiments on establishment success in small founder groups of

Tetrix subulata pygmy grasshoppers with different degree of colour morph diversity show that establishment success increases with higher degree of diversity, both under controlled conditions in outdoor enclosures and in the wild. These findings may be important for re-stocking of declining populations or re-introductions of locally extinct populations in conservation biology projects.

I report on remarkably rapid evolutionary shifts in colour morph frequencies in response to the changed environmental conditions in replicated natural populations of pygmy grasshoppers in fire ravaged areas. This finding

1

illustrates the high adaptive potential in a polymorphic species, and indicates the importance of preserved within-species diversity for evolutionary rescue.

Finally, I review if theoretical predictions are supported by other published empirical tests and find strong support for the predictions that more variable groups benefit from reduced vulnerability to environmental changes, reduced population fluctuations and extinction risk, larger distribution ranges, and higher colonization or establishment success.

In conclusion, my thesis illustrates how within-population variation influences ecological and evolutionary performances of populations both in the short and long term. As such, it emphasizes the need for conservation of biodiversity also within populations.

• 35.
Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Propagation of cosmic rays in the galaxy and their measurements at very high energies with LORA2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)
• 36.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för naturvetenskap och teknik, Institutionen för naturvetenskap, NV.
Relationships between models used for teaching chemistry and those expressed by students2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

This thesis is focused upon chemistry as a school subject and students' interpretations and use of formally introduced teaching models. To explore students' developing repertoire of chemical models, a longitudinal interview study was undertaken spanning the first year of upper secondary school chemistry. Matter in its different states was selected as the target framework for this study. The results presented are derived from both generalisations of groups of students as well as a case study describing an individual learner's interpretation of formal content. The results obtained demonstrated that the formal teaching models provided to the students included in this study were not sufficient to afford them a coherent framework of matter in its different states or for chemical bonding. Instead, students' expressed models of matter and phase change were to a high degree dependent on electron movement (Paper I), anthropomorphism (Paper II) and, for one student, a mechanistic approach based on small particles and gravitation (Paper III). The results from this study place focus on the importance of learners' prior learning (previous experiences) and the need to develop a coherent framework of formal teaching models for the nature of matter and phase change.

• 37.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap, Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper, KV.
"Rätt för kvinnan att blifva människa - fullt och helt.": Svenska kvinnors ekonomiska medborgarskap 1921-19712012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

The aim of this dissertation is to review the molding process of the politics that preceeded the work for gender equality which inSwedengathered speed in the early 1970s. Particular focus has been put to how society through legislation, economic and social privileges during the years 1921-1971 affected Swedish women’s possibilities to make a living and to achieve economic independence. In the dissertation three commissions initiated by the government have been analysed, all of which have been considered paramount for Swedish women’s economic emancipation. The stance that has been applied presumes that the way in which a “problem” has been formulated and framed is of importance for which measures will obtain interpretative preference, thus having an influence on both legislation and the politics pursued, and which measures were considered inconceivable. The dissertation demonstrates that different interpretations of the problems, based on disparate values and indisputable suppositions of how women as regards economic issues should be, choose and act, to varying degree and effect converged in the reports presented by the commissions. In the politics applied women were then manouvered into another economic practice than men, but also into different activities for different groups of women.

One of the main arguments in this dissertation is that in spite of the fact that parts of the women’s liberation movement were active in this molding process during the years 1921-1971, it was not the result of liberal and women-friendly politics. Change over time was pushed by governmentality. By, in the commissions analysed, problematising how certain women’s behaviour contributed to major social problems, such as a dropping marriage frequency, decreasing nativity and preventing economy from expanding, the rights and other social benefits would steer them into serving what was regarded as the public good. Thus, during the time period reviwed, Swedish women´s extended rights and other social benefits were not implemented to create possibilities for women to achieve economic independence, but as a means to resolve other superior social problems.

• 38.
Lund University.
Samverkan blir kamp: En sociologisk analys av ett projekt i ungdomsvården2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

• 39.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för ekonomi och design, Ekonomihögskolan, ELNU.
Searching for keys to successful post-merger integration: A longitudinal case-study following a public sector merger2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

• 40.
University of Oregon, USA.
Second language acquisition in 6- to 8-year-old native Spanish-speaking children: ERP studies of phonological awareness, semantics, and syntax2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Most people in the world and about a fifth of all school-aged Americans speak at least two languages. Nevertheless, little is known about second language (L2) processing in development, even though language proficiency is strongly related to success in almost all domains. Whereas behavioral studies of L2 acquisition in children are abundant, neurocognitive studies of L2 processing typically are limited to adults with several years of exposure, who may use general cognitive mechanisms to compensate for any difficulties in L2 processing. Research on bilingual adults suggests that age of acquisition (AoA) and proficiency have different effects on different aspects of L2 processing. The present study therefore recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in order to index processes of phonological awareness (Rhyming effect: RE), semantics (N400), and syntax (LAN, P600) in bilingual and monolingual children 6-8 years of age. Even though behaviorally, bilingual children with an average AoA of 4 years had lower English proficiency than monolingual children, proficiency predicted similar differences in ERPs across groups: greater proficiency was linked with shorter latencies and higher amplitudes of all ERP components. Latency in these cases represents speed of processing while amplitude of ERP effects in children can be thought of as an indication of detection of the introduced violations. The appearance of the anterior rhyming effect, latency of the posterior rhyming effect, along with the distribution of the anterior ERP effect for phrase structure violations were related to AoA. More specifically, bilingual 6- to 8-year olds of higher English proficiency processed rhyming nonwords slower than 3- to 5-year-old monolingual children, which could have a strong impact on later vocabulary acquisition. Differences across lingualism groups in distribution of the anterior negativity elicited by phrase structure violations could indicate different neural generators for processing of syntax. Noteworthy is that differences in processing as illustrated by these ERP effects were recorded even though in both these cases bilingual children's English proficiency were within the normal range expected of monolingual children of similar age. Early acquisition was thus important for processing of rhyming and for more automatic syntactic processing as revealed by differences in the anterior negativity.

• 41.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för naturvetenskap och teknik, Institutionen för datavetenskap, fysik och matematik, DFM.
Sensitivity Analysis and Material Parameter Estimation using Electromagnetic Modelling2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Estimering av parametrar är att finna deras värde utifrån mätningar och modellering. Parametrar beskriver egenskaper hos system och till exempel material kan definieras med mekaniska, elektriska och kemiska parametrar. Fisherinformation är ett informationsmått som ger information om hur ändringar i en parameter påverkar estimeringen. Fisherinformationen ges av en fysikalisk modell av problemet och en statistisk modell av mätbruset. Cramér-Rao-gränsen är inversen av Fisherinformationen och ger den bästa möjliga variansen för alla väntevärdesriktiga estimatorer.Den här avhandlingen behandlar aspekter av känslighetsanalys i två tillämpade estimeringsproblem för materialparametrar. Känslighetsanalys med Fisherinformation och Cramér-Rao-gränsen används som ett redskap för utvärdering av möjligheten att mäta och för jämförelser av mätuppställningar, samt som ett kvantitativt mått på avvägningen mellan noggrannhet och upplösning för inversa bilder.

Den första tillämpningen är estimering av fibervinkeln hos träd och stockar. Fibervinkeln är vinkeln mellan växtriktningen och riktningen hos träfibern och en stor fibervinkel är relaterad till problem med formstabilitet i färdiga brädor. Mikrovågsmätningar av fibervinkeln presenteras som en snabb och robust mätteknik. I avhandlingen beskrivs två- och tredimensionella elektromagnetiska modeller som utnyttjar anisotropin hos trä. Eftersom matematisk modellering minskar komplexiteten och beräkningstiden är det en viktig del i estimeringen. Enligt känslighetsanalys med Cramér-Rao-gränsen är estimering av fibervinkeln hos trä möjlig.

Den andra tillämpningen är elektrisk impedanstomografi, där ledningsförmågan hos objekt bestäms genom mätningar på ytan. Elektrisk impedanstomografi har tillämpningar inom till exempel medicinska bilder, geologisk övervakning och trämätningar. Olika mätkonfigurationer och brusmodeller utvärderas med känslighetsanalys för ett tvådimensionellt exempel på elektrisk impedanstomografi. Relationen mellan noggrannhet och upplösning analyseras med Fisher information.

För att sammanfatta beskrivs känslighetsanalys som en metod för att förbättra estimeringen av materialparametrar. Metoderna för känslighetsanalys är generella och kan tillämpas också på andra estimeringsproblem för parametrar.

• 42.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för naturvetenskap och teknik, Institutionen för naturvetenskap, NV.
Solid waste management based on cost-benefit analysis using the WAMED model2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Efficient waste management enables the protection of human health, reducing environmental pollution, saving of natural resources, and achieving sustainable and profitable management of energy. In many countries, the general guidelines for waste management are set by national or local waste management plans. Various models provide local authorities with decision-making tools in planning long-term waste management scenarios.This study aims at providing a special model framework for the evaluation of ecological–economic efficiency (ECO-EE) of waste management. This will serve as an information support tool for decision making by actors of a solid waste management (SWM) scheme, primarily at the municipal and regional levels. The objective of this study is to apply the waste management’s efficient decision (WAMED) model along with the company statistical business tool for environmental recovery indicator (COSTBUSTER) model to SWM and municipal solid waste (MSW) schemes in general in order to evaluate and improve their ECO-EE. COSTBUSTER is a mathematical indicator for the size and extent of implementation costs of a certain SWM scheme, compared with the total size of the average financial budget of a SWM actor of a certain kind. In particular, WAMED is proposed for evaluating the suitability to invest in baling technology. Baling of solid waste is an emerging technology which is extensively used worldwide to temporarily store waste for either incineration or recovery of raw materials. The model for efficient use of resources for optimal production economy (the EUROPE model) is for the first time applied to emissions from baling facilities. It has been analysed how cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and full cost accounting (FCA) can facilitate environmental optimisation of SWM schemes. The effort in this work represents a continuation of such ambitions as an enlargement of the research area of CBA based modelling within SWM. In the thesis, certain theoretical and economic aspects of SWM were analysed as case studies. A shift of viewpoints within the field of waste management is presented. This shift is in accordance with the prevailing concept of sustainable development, as commonly understood. It is concluded that in the practical SWM context, the findings of the study point at the possibilities to modify the common CBA- and FCA-based methods by WAMED, COSTBUSTER, and EUROPE. Therefore, it can be said that estimations in a SWM scheme can be carried out by using certain economic model, if properly modified in a logical and plausible way. New principles for cost allocation to SWM residual products are presented in the current work. They imply strong industrial cost saving incentives through promoting the introduction of new and improved processing technologies for rest-waste. Such incentives then strongly promote investments that are likely to improve both the environment and the corporate profitability. Thereby, the occurrence of non-commercialised, and hence not utilized, wastes is reduced. This improves the short term corporate economy through saving raw materials such as solid waste fuel, spending less time for administrating waste flows, and less wear and tear of the plant machinery. Additional environmental advantages which affect the balance sheets in a favourable way are related to the long-term business economy and extended environmental goodwill. This is due to the recently introduced way of considering solid waste as regular goods in financial terms - the equality principle. If waste is seen as goods, and not wasted in landfills, the environment will improve. This, in turn, leads to an improved quality of life. Based on the current study, it is recommended to apply WAMED to SWM schemes in order to evaluate their ECO–EE to justify decision making and investments. Also, it is recommended to apply COSTBUSTER, based on the current WAMED outcome, to SWM schemes to determine their relative size and extent. It is recommended to apply EUROPE to the emissions in case of accidental burning, treatment of leachate, andabatement with odours at any SWM scheme, based on the induced economic incentives, in order to reduce unwanted substances and phenomena.

• 43.
Uppsala University.
Stable Numerical Methods with Boundary and Interface Treatment for Applications in Aerodynamics2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

In numerical simulations, problems stemming from aerodynamics pose many challenges for the method used. Some of these are addressed in this thesis, such as the fluid interacting with objects, the presence of shocks, and various types of boundary conditions.

Scenarios of the kind mentioned above are described mathematically by initial boundary value problems (IBVPs). We discretize the IBVPs using high order accurate finite difference schemes on summation by parts form (SBP), combined with weakly imposed boundary conditions, a technique called simultaneous approximation term (SAT). By using the energy method, stability can be shown.

The weak implementation is compared to the more commonly used strong implementation, and it is shown that the weak technique enhances the rate of convergence to steady state for problems with solid wall boundary conditions. The analysis is carried out for a linear problem and supported numerically by simulations of the fully non-linear Navier–Stokes equations.

Another aspect of the boundary treatment is observed for fluid structure interaction problems. When exposed to eigenfrequencies, the coupled system starts oscillating, a phenomenon called flutter. We show that the strong implementation sometimes cause instabilities that can be mistaken for flutter.

Most numerical schemes dealing with flows including shocks are first order accurate to avoid spurious oscillations in the solution. By modifying the SBP-SAT technique, a conservative and energy stable scheme is derived where the order of accuracy can be lowered locally. The new scheme is coupled to a shock-capturing scheme and it retains the high accuracy in smooth regions.

For problems with complicated geometry, one strategy is to couple the finite difference method to the finite volume method. We analyze the accuracy of the latter on unstructured grids. For grids of bad quality the truncation error can be of zeroth order, indicating that the method is inconsistent, but we show that some of the accuracy is recovered.

We also consider artificial boundary closures on unbounded domains. Non-reflecting boundary conditions for an incompletely parabolic problem are derived, and it is shown that they yield well-posedness. The SBP-SAT methodology is employed, and we prove that the discretized problem is stable.

• 44.
The bottom line of cultural diversity at the top: the top management team's cultural diversity and its influence on organisational outcomes2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

This dissertation investigates the relationship between cultural diversity in top management team (TMT) and organisational outcomes. The theoretical framework developed within this dissertation identifies three major concerns in this relationship. Firstly, the issues related to the lack of research on the contingencies, secondly problems associated with the method of inquiry, and thirdly the conceptualisation of culture. Adopting these issues as a guide for further investigation, this dissertation investigates the black box of the TMT process through the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods/concepts, adopting national and ethnic diversity as proxies for cultural diversity. The majority of the studies in the group and TMT research indicate that cultural diversity is usually associated with negative group and organisational outcomes. The finding of this dissertation, however, indicate that TMT cultural diversity has a positive effect on organisational outcomes albeit under two conditions. Firstly, when TMT cultural diversity mirrors cultural diversity of the Board of Directors, indicating the importance of TMT interaction in the upper apex of the organisation, and secondly, when TMT has a shared vision that reduces the perceived negative influence of cultural diversity on TMT process and subsequently on organisational outcomes.

• 45.
Lund University.
The Most Delicate Subject: A History of Sex Education Films in Sweden2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

The aim of this dissertation is to present a history of sex education films in Sweden, from their beginnings until the late 1970s, relating the films to the changing historical context of the Swedish welfare society. Within this framework, the dissertation explores two main sets of questions. First, utilizing a contextual understanding of genre, the dissertation analyzes how the films were produced, exhibited, and censored, what position and status they had, and where the borders were understood to be to kindred types of film, such as exploitation and pornography. Second, the norms and ideas about sexuality that the films construct are explored from a social constructionist perspective and put in historical context. Apart from the films themselves, the material used consists of censorship records, archival material, and articles and reviews from the daily press and the trade press.

The study demonstrates that the sex education film has always been a delicate genre, and that this delicacy is related to the medium and to the fact that cinema is part of the commercial market. The sex education film came to Sweden through imported films during the silent era and was relatively common at Swedish movie theaters from the 1920s to the early 1970s. Very quickly, it became a contested genre thought to be in need of regulation, which can be seen in the censorship procedures. For instance, until the 1950s, screenings were often restricted through gender segregation. When film censorship was liberalized in the 1960s, sex education films could show more than before, and when the films in the sexually explicit Language of Love series (1969–1972) were released, their relationship to pornography became a central point of discussion. The changing views on using film in school sex education are also examined. Here, it is shown that if film was seen as a potentially helpful tool in the 1920s and 1930s, this view had changed into a more skeptical position by the early 1970s.

In the analysis of the content of the films, only Swedish examples are studied. In the first group of theatrically shown films of this kind, which appeared in the 1940s and 1950s, sexuality is represented as problematic through the themes of venereal disease and abortion. Here, casual sex is seen as immoral and abortion is condemned. At the same time, the films display how traditional and modern views on sexuality and gender were under negotiation during this period. While reproduction was the dominating perspective in school films well into the 1970s, the Language of Love films display a radically different perspective on sex, not least because of their focus on sexual pleasure. However, while the films advocate a liberal idea about sexuality according to which science leads to liberation, a focus on romantic long-term relationships can also be noted. Throughout the period, there is an emphasis on rationality and science and on a secular perspective on sex in which love is seen as more important than matrimony. In this way, the films in general reflect a strong belief in modernity and progress that was characteristic of Sweden during the welfare era.

• 46.
Technical University of Denmark.
Thermal/moisture-related stresses and fracture behaviour in solid wood members during forced drying: Modelling and experimental study2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)
• 47.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för naturvetenskap och teknik, Institutionen för naturvetenskap, NV.
Tissue tropism and oncolytic potential of enteroviruses2012Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)
• 48.
The University of Edinburgh, UK.
Towards a Poetics of Nostalgia: The Nostalgic Experience in Modern Fiction2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

In recent years there has been a body of studies relating nostalgia and fiction in political, sociological, feminist, or historical ways. This thesis, instead, sets out to perform an unusual textual study of nostalgia in modern fiction in order to work towards a poetics of nostalgia. Although the experience of emotion is private, the object of analytical discourse must be to approach this experience with objective tools. The thesis therefore develops a method for analyzing the experience of nostalgia in literary texts and then uses this method to study how nostalgia can be evoked in readers. The method works through close textual readings, developed through reader-response and narratological theories and validated through a thorough investigation of modern nostalgia in general. The result is a taxonomy of nostalgic strategies that possibly create nostalgic reactions in readers.

• 49.
Linnéuniversitetet, Fakultetsnämnden för ekonomi och design, Ekonomihögskolan, ELNU.
Transfer of brand associations over time: the brand extension of Nivea2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Brand extension has been the source of strategic growth for many firms during recent decades. Introducing new products under existing brand names is one way to use the image of a brand name to enter new markets. Previous research has shown that the success of a brand extension depends on the transfer of the parent brand associations to the extended product. Although the transfer of brand associations from the parent brand to the extension is recognised as crucial for the success of brand extension, surprisingly little research has been conducted on how brand associations actually are transferred. In the present research, I argue for expanding the view on brand extension to include market communication of product introductions. Explanations are provided on how brand associations are transferred in multiple brand extension from an advertising perspective.

The empirical data are based on a case study of the personal and skin care brand Nivea and include an advertising analysis that spans a time period of 72 years, interviews with executives, and a document analysis. The interpretation of the case is guided by a review of the literature on brand extension, brand associations, and brand personality. Insights into how brand associations are transferred in multiple brand extension are advanced in the conclusion, emphasising that brand associations are transferred not only from parent brand to extended product but also from one extension to another. The results also show that the brand associations change due to contextual changes as a consequence of the transfer to a new product. The context refers to the intended user or usage situation. Furthermore, the study suggests that corporate associations reinforce brand associations of extended products. Finally, I propose that future research should include the organisation as part of the brand extension process. The study is intended to contribute to an increased understanding of brand extension, facilitating the creation of new hypotheses, research designs, and methods in the research area.

• 50.
Utveckling av samverkan: ett deltagarorienterat aktionsforskningsprojekt inom hälso- och sjukvård2012Doktorsavhandling, monografi (Övrigt vetenskapligt)

Syfte: Det övergripande vetenskapliga syftet med denna avhandling att nå en ökad förståelse om samverkansprocesser.

Ansats och metoder: Studien har bedrivits genom deltagarorienterad aktionsforskning inom hälso- och sjukvården i Hässleholm. Aktörer på verksamhetsfältet har strävat efter att utveckla samverkan för att tillsammans kunna utveckla närsjukvård. Forskningen har genererat kunskap utifrån lokala omständigheter att tjäna som underlag för beslut om att genomföra praktiska förändringar i verksamheten. En kombination av olika metoder har använts för att generera empiriskt material, där den huvudsakliga metoden har varit deltagande observationer med dialog. Därutöver har intervjuer och granskning av dokument använts samt en forskningscirkel, som är en speciell metod inom deltagarorienterad aktionsforskning. Studien har haft en hermeneutisk ansats och tolkningar har gjorts med stöd av olika teoretiska perspektiv och modeller. Kurt Lewins fältteori har utgjort en övergripande teoretisk ram för studien.

Resultat: En ökad förståelse om den studerade samverkansprocessen kunde nås genom att beskriva och tolka skeenden som antogs ha påverkat utvecklingen av samverkan. Processen beskrevs både utifrån vertikal och horisontell integrering inom och mellan organisationer. Beskrivningen innefattade komponenter som fanns både inom arbetsprocesser och sociala processer. Den studerade samverkansprocessen delades in i delprocesser där var och en del innehöll en viss typ av aktivitet som genomfördes för att stödja utvecklingen av samverkan. Två olika strategier för utvecklingen av samverkan identifierades och illustrerades genom olika modeller: den linjära hierarkiska modellen respektive den dynamiska modellen. Den sistnämnda utvecklades genom aktionsforskningen.

Slutsatser:I ett första skede bedrev deltagarna på fältet samverkan med stöd av den linjära hierarkiska modellen. Denna modell utgör ett tankeschema där samverkan utvecklas i en linjär hierarkisk process. Politiker fattar beslut, chefer planerar och professionella genomför aktiviteterna. Modellen utgår ifrån ett konsensusteoretiskt perspektiv där konflikter betraktas som störande element. Det innebar i detta fall att aktörer inom olika domäner och organisationer undvek varandras olika föreställningsvärldar varpå samverkansprocessen stötte  på hinder i utvecklingen. Aktionsforskningen intervenerade i processen genom arrangera kommunikationsarenor med deltagare från olika domäner och organisationer. Samverkan utvecklades på så sätt utifrån den dynamiska modellen. Denna modell innehåller antaganden om att samverkansprocesser är dynamiska och har sin utgångspunkt i ett konfliktteoretiskt perspektiv där konflikter betraktas som naturliga i processen.

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